Is it time to say arrivederci to Christopher Columbus?

A movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day has gained momentum in some parts of the U.S., with Los Angeles in August becoming the biggest city yet to decide to stop honoring the Italian explorer and instead recognize victims of colonialism.

Austin, Texas, followed suit. It joined cities including San Francisco, Seattle and Denver, which had previously booted Columbus in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day.

But the gesture to recognize indigenous people rather than the man who opened the Americas to European domination also has prompted howls of outrage from some Italian-Americans, who say eliminating their festival of ethnic pride is culturally insensitive, too.

We had a very difficult time in this country for well over a hundred years, said Basil Russo, president of the Order Italian Sons and Daughters of America. Columbus Day is a day that weve chosen to celebrate who we are. And were entitled to do that just as they are entitled to celebrate who they are.

Its not about taking anything away from Italian-Americans, said Cliff Matias, cultural director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, which is hosting a Re-Thinking Columbus Day event this week in New York.

The conversation is Columbus, he said. If theyre going to celebrate Columbus, we need to celebrate the fact that we survived Columbus.

The debate over Columbus historical legacy is an old one, but it became emotionally charged after a similar debate in the South over monuments to Confederate generals flared into deadly violence in August at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In Akron, Ohio, a September vote over whether to dump Columbus opened a racial rift on the city council that was so heated conflict mediators were brought in to sooth tensions.

In New York, where 35,000 people are expected to march in todays Columbus Day parade, vandals last month doused the hands of a Christopher Columbus statue in blood-red paint and scrawled the words hate will not be tolerated. Activists calling for the city to change the parades name also are expected to hold a demonstration.

On Sunday, three demonstrators briefly interrupted a wreath-

laying ceremony at the Columbus statue in Columbus Circle. The protesters, two dressed in fake chains and one wearing a hooded white sheet, spoke out before being escorted away. Police said one person was arrested.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, appointed a committee to evaluate whether monuments to certain historical figures should be removed, prompting a backlash from fellow Italian-Americans who vowed to defend the Columbus statue, which has stood over Columbus Circle for more than a century.

Many Italians who migrated to the U.S. initially had a rough time. In 1891, 11 Italians were lynched in New Orleans by a mob that held them responsible for the death of a police official.

At the end of the 1800s, Italians began to link themselves more with Columbus. Italian-American businessman and newspaper owner Generoso Pope was among those who worked to get Columbus Day recognized as a federal holiday in 1937.

It was one of the things that would allow them to become Americans symbolically, said Fred Gardaphe, a professor of Italian-American studies at Queens College.

Indigenous Peoples Day began to gel as an idea before the 500th anniversary of Columbus first voyage to the Americas.

South Dakota began celebrating Native American Day on the second Monday of October in 1990. Berkeley, California, got rid of Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992.

Many places that have adopted Indigenous Peoples Day since then, including Alaska, have sizable Native American populations.

A few cities have compromised. Salt Lake City officials declared they would keep Columbus Day but celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on the same day.

In Akron, a city with few Native Americans and a large Italian-

American community, an attempt to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day on Sept. 11 split the all-Democrat city council along racial lines. Five black members voted to rename the holiday, and eight white members voted against it, following a debate that devolved into shouting.

The first voyage of Columbus to the Americas initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It would lead to the kidnapping, deaths and slavery of tens of millions of African people, said Councilman Russel Neal, who is black.

But Councilman Jeff Fusco, who is Italian-American, said, Its a celebration of Italian heritage. Its very similar to other days throughout the year that we celebrate for many other cultures.

States and municipalities arent legally bound to recognize federal holidays, though most do. Columbus Day is already one of the most inconsistently celebrated. Places that choose to replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day may give their own workers or schoolchildren a day off, teach in schools about Native Americans instead of Columbus, issue proclamations or mark it in other ways.

There is no question that Columbus arrival in the New World under the sponsorship of Spain was bad for the indigenous people of Hispaniola, the island he colonized that is now split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Many of the native people of the island were forced into servitude. Multitudes died of disease. Spain repopulated the workforce with African slaves.

Columbus is celebrated in Latin America, too. A massive monument to the explorer, the Columbus Lighthouse, opened in 1992 in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico commemorates Discovery Day on Nov. 19, marking the day Columbus landed there.

Ralph Arellanes, chairman of the activist group Hispano Round Table of New Mexico, said that as a Hispanic he supports Columbus Day.

It was the marriage of two peoples creating a new people, in a new land, he said.

Though Columbus wasnt a saint, he said, he believes Anglo-Americans like President Andrew Jackson should be held more responsible than the Spanish for the hardships Native Americans faced.

Arellanes also said he doesnt understand why Italians claim Columbus for themselves when Columbus was sailing for Spain. Deepti Hajela & Dake Kang, New York, AP
What's next for SD Gov. Kristi Noem as she heads into her second term?

politics
MONTREALOttawa has announced a short list of nine so-called supercluster proposals that could qualify for a piece of a $950-million federal fund the government hopes will boost the economy and job creation.

The finalists come from different regions of the country and Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said the proposals focus on fast-growing areas like artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and clean technology.

This is really about our governments focus on building the economy of the future, Bains said in an interview.

The decision is going to be based on the best proposals  this is about a full-blown competition.

On Tuesday, Bains was in Halifax to announce that an oceans supercluster is among the contenders.

The proposal is an industry consortium that would expand digital technologies in aquaculture, fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and clean energy. It is led by Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador, and includes Emera Inc., and Dalhousie University.

The announcement was the first in a cross-country tour to reveal the short list, following the submission of more than 50 proposals involving over 1,000 firms and 350 participants. Full applications from the nine finalists are due Nov. 24 and applicants are being encouraged to grow their ranks and, in some cases, partner with other applicants who werent shortlisted.

The winners will be announced in early 2018.

The proposed tech hubs are aimed at fostering public-private partnerships in industries across the country.

The contest, a cornerstone of Ottawas so-called innovation agenda, aims to lift the economy, promote research and create high-quality jobs. Bains has said hes looking for ambitious bids that also feature intellectual property strategies designed to keep benefits for Canada.

According to Yoshua Bengio, an expert in artificial intelligence and head of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms, the supercluster approach will likely benefit large companies, but smaller firms and startups  particularly in the AI sector  may not see similar advantages.

I think that the government needs to think about what they can do to help the startups and small business, and especially in AI, this is a really important aspect of the strategy to make Canada a leader in this field.

Bains was also in Montreal Tuesday to announce another proposal on the short list that is designed to bolster Canadian leadership in artificial intelligence and data science. It is led by the Optel Group and includes proponents such as Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Bell Canada, CGI Group Inc., AgroPur, Aldo, Cascades Inc. and the University of Montreals Polytechnique.

Montreal-based flight training and simulator company CAE Inc. leads the mobility systems and technologies supercluster proposal, which includes more than 170 firms.

In Ontario, a proposed clean, low-energy supercluster led by the Canada Mining Innovation Council wants to position Canada as a leader in clean resources, clean technology and responsible sourcing of metals. It would also tackle global challenges such as energy intensity, water use and environmental footprint.

An advanced manufacturing supercluster involving the MaRs Discovery District, Linamar Corp., Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and the University of Waterloo wants to drive collaboration between the technology and manufacturing sectors.

A protein innovations supercluster in the Prairies would position Canada as the global supplier of plant-based proteins and related products. Led by Ag-West Bio Inc. and including the University of Saskatchewan, it would focus on new technologies and value-added supply-chain infrastructure.

A smart agri-food supercluster led by Agrium Inc. would work on building information technologies in the crop, livestock and agri-food processing sectors.

Stantec Inc. leads a proposed infrastructure supercluster that aims to use advanced digital communications and interconnected applications to improve design and construction.

A proposed digital technology supercluster led by Telus Corp. and including Microsoft Canada Development Centre and six post-secondary institutions in B.C. wants to focus on inventing, developing and applying digital technologies.

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MONTREALQuebecs police ethics commission has found a former Montreal officer known as Agent 728 guilty of five code violations.

The case against Stefanie Trudeau involved a young Montrealer who was subjected in May 2012 to a so-called Starlight Tour in which he was driven around town in the back of a cruiser and dropped off far from home.

In a decision issued last Friday, Trudeau was found guilty of five violations, including excessive force and negligently putting the health and safety of Julian Menezes at risk.

Menezes had attempted to defend a cyclist who he said was being intimidated by police, but was arrested and dropped off in another part of the city.

He said he was handcuffed and had his face slammed against the Plexiglas divider in the back of the cruiser a number of times.

The ethics committee did not uphold four of the violations, including one involving an alleged racial slur against Menezes, who is of South Asian descent.

It said the burden of requirement was not met in terms of proof.

It raises questions as to the process of the police ethics commission  the requirements for preponderant proof, Menezes said in an interview Tuesday.

Racial profiling is often implicit, instead of explicit. It was her testimony against mine in a closed car with no witnesses ... how is it possible for me to provide a preponderant proof apart from my own testimony in that situation.

Trudeau, who has since left the police force, became a household name after a number of high-profile arrests put her in the spotlight.

While she wont learn her punishment until later this year, its unlikely to change much, given her policing days are done.

Regardless, Menezes says he hopes for a strong sanction to set a precedent.

Even if they cant be enforced upon her, they at least set precedence and jurisprudence for the next cases, he said.

Earlier this year, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal awarded Menezes $40,000 for the same incident, but the city is challenging the award.

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A Kenora justice of the peace is the subject of at least two formal complaints to Ontarios JP oversight body for remarks he made to a lawyer in court that have been called culturally insensitive and racist, the Star has learned.

The remarks in question were made in bail court in August. Justice of the Peace Robert McNally was presiding, and Shannon McDunnough, who is Mikmaq, was attending as duty counsel  a legal aid-funded lawyer who can appear for accused persons who have not yet retained their own lawyers.

According to a court transcript, McNally said at one point: Sometimes I think were in the middle of a Benny Hill set here. Nobody knows who Benny Hill is, referring to the late British comedian.

When McDunnough told him that she knew who Benny Hill was, McNally replied: Your ancestors probably scalped him or something.

Those remarks are now the subject of formal complaints filed with the Justices of the Peace Review Council, the independent body tasked with investigating and disciplining JPs.

One is a joint complaint from Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services, McDunnoughs employer, and the Grand Council Treaty No. 3, while the other is from the Criminal Lawyers Association.

McNallys comment used obnoxious and racist language against an Indigenous female lawyer appearing before him that was a direct insult to her, to Mikmaq persons and to Indigenous persons in general, reads the joint complaint.

The nature of the comment is such that the only appropriate remedy is his removal from judicial office.

The joint complaint also says that Kenora bail court deals predominantly with Indigenous persons who are incarcerated at an astonishing rate in that district, and that at any given time, 90 to 95 per cent of men remanded into custody in the northwestern Ontario citys jail are Indigenous.

The Criminal Lawyers Association, which didnt specify any particular punishment it is seeking in its complaint, said that it became aware of the remarks from a third party.

It is our position that the above comment is culturally insensitive, racist, and entirely inappropriate, association president Anthony Moustacalis wrote in the complaint letter.

It is shocking that this comment was made on the record in a courtroom by a judicial official in Canada. It is also deeply troubling that this comment was made in Kenora, a community with a significant First Nations population.

JP McNallys comment is inexcusable no matter what his intention.

McDunnough declined to comment to the Star. McNally also declined to comment. A spokesperson with the Ontario Court of Justice would not confirm if he is still presiding over cases.

Given that you indicate that a complaint has been filed with the Justices of the Peace Review Council, it would be inappropriate for the court to comment about matters before the council, said Kate Andrew. It is important to respect the councils independent due process.

Duties of justices of the peace, who earn about $130,000 a year, include conducting bail hearings, signing off on search warrants and presiding over provincial offences matters, which do not lead to a criminal record.

McNally was appointed by the NDP provincial government in 1993. According to a news release at the time, he moved to Minaki, Ont., from Alberta in the 1970s, and was the owner of the Beaver House fishing lodge.

He has played key volunteer roles in Minaki business development groups such as the Atikokan-Minaki Waterway Corp. in Fort Frances, and the Minaki Economic Resource Area Committee, said the news release.

In 1990, he received funding from the Ontario Heritage Foundation to help record the history and beliefs of the Islington people in Whitedog.

The Justices of the Peace Review Councils policy is that it will not confirm or deny that a particular complaint has been made to it, unless a complaints committee determines that there will be a discipline hearing, which is public, the councils registrar told the Star.

The council considers that in accordance with the statutory framework set out in the Justices of the Peace Act, the complaints process is confidential, said registrar Marilyn King.

She said a complaint received by the council is assigned to a complaints committee made up of a judge, a justice of the peace, and a lawyer or community member.

Outcomes available to the committee include dismissing the complaint, referring it to the chief justice, or sending it to a public discipline hearing.

In the interim, the complaints committee can recommend to the regional senior justice that the JP not be assigned work, King said, but legislation requires that the JP still be paid.

If the outcome is anything other than a public discipline hearing, King pointed out that a summary of the complaint is included in the councils annual report, which becomes public after being tabled in the legislature.

Those summaries do not include the name of the JP or any other identifying information. As previously reported by the Star, the Ministry of the Attorney General has repeatedly failed to promptly table the annual reports after receiving them from the review council.

For example, the JP review councils 2014 annual report was made public only in February this year, despite the council delivering it to the ministry in November 2015.

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One man has been arrested after the death of a Toronto man in Corozal, Belize last week.

A 52-year-old Belize man was arrested on Oct. 6 and will appear in court Tuesday morning, according to Corozal police.

Thirty-eight-year-old Toronto man Gabriel Bochnia was shot and killed on Oct. 4 when he and his wife and three children were returning to their home in Chula Vista, which is about 135 km north of Belize City.

Bochnia died in hospital.

Hi wife, 27-year-old Jeshanah Maritza Zetina, and the children were not injured.

His sister Kate Bochnia said his body is on its way to Toronto and a visitation and funeral is planned for this weekend.

With files from Alex McKeen

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In the space of three days, a family of Syrian refugees who lost everything in a house fire has ridden an emotional roller-coaster, experiencing everything from frightening tragedy to overwhelming gratitude for the kindness of strangers.

On Sunday morning, Khaled Alawad did not know where to turn. I have lost myself, he said in an interview as he surveyed the scorched remains of his Mississauga townhome.

On Sunday night, local businessman Alex Haditaghi heard about Alawads plight. Deeply moved, Haditaghi, who came to Canada as a refugee from Iran in 1988, called the Star to say he would offer the family of five an apartment, rent-free for a year, in one of his North York buildings.

On Monday morning, Alawad, his wife and three children met their benefactor for the first time outside an apartment building on Sheppard Ave.

Haditaghi greeted the family, who were dressed in clothes donated by a friend, shaking their hands as he listed the reasons North York is a great place to live  its a family-oriented and multicultural area, close to schools and shopping, and close to the subway  before leading them indoors to choose an apartment.

He showed Alawad and his family a couple of options before they decided on a two-bedroom, second-floor unit with a balcony. While the apartment is small for a family of five and in need of some repairs, Haditaghi promised to have it cleaned, painted and furnished within a week. Hes also arranged for the family to have a free membership to the local YMCA.

While their parents beamed happily, the Alawad children rhymed off the apartments most enticing features.

The balcony  outside, the environment is really nice, said Odai, 11. And there are a lot of plugs, so I could charge my stuff.

Nine-year-old Marina said, I like to live in buildings better than townhouses because like I hate stairs.

Mera, 4, didnt say much, but seemed to enjoy running in circles around the living room.

The family will move in as soon as the unit is ready  by the end of this week, Haditaghi hopes.

He said he decided to reach out to them after reading in the Star about the familys ordeal: the Saturday morning fire that claimed their home, all their belongings and documents, and the unsettling incident that preceded it.

Alawad initially suspected his family had been targeted after a man came to his home on Friday and argued with him about a bike that he said was his. The man then allegedly tried to break into the home. A man has been arrested in that incident, although police stress they are making no connection between that and the fire the next day.

The blaze is being investigated by the fire marshals office, police said Monday. In the meantime the family is staying with a friend.

I know what it feels like not to have anything, Haditaghi said. My family was refugees and I know what it feels like to be a refugee and be homeless.

Haditaghi, who once donated 1,400 turkeys to the Scott Mission, said he sees it as his duty to help other humans.

I promise, these young kids  someday theyre going to do it for the next generation, he said.

Haditaghi was 12  just a year older than Alawads son, Odai, is now  when he came to Canada with his family in 1988.

He said his family spent the first three months living in a shelter. When they finally got a place of their own, they had no money for furniture.

People were good to us, he said, as he assured the Alawads: Youll be OK.

Sure enough, people have stepped up to help the Syrian family as well. A GoFundMe page launched on Saturday, asking for help to rebuild their lives after the fire, had already surpassed its goal of $20,000 as of Monday.

Alawad is hopeful that his new home, closer to the city centre, will make it easier to find work. A petroleum engineer, he has 13 years of experience working in Abu Dhabi and Syria. While hes had interviews since moving to Canada, he hasnt found a job yet, and has been told its because he doesnt have any Canadian experience.

Haditaghi has heard similar tales about the challenges refugees face finding work in their fields. His own mother was a teacher who wound up cleaning windows. Today, he knows a doctor from Syria who drives an Uber.

But he remains optimistic that things will work out for the Alawads.

I believe in karma and good things will happen to good people, he said.

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In one of the first jobs she had, Sabeen Saeed was told she would be the only woman on a team of 10 men and asked if she could handle it.

After a decade in the male-dominated field of finance, she says she has gotten used to being the only woman at the table. But Saeed, who identifies as Muslim, admits its been a challenge being a minority within a minority in the fast-paced industry.

This isnt a field where you see many women from diverse backgrounds, said Saeed, who now works in a Toronto investment firm.

When I started out, I didnt really have access to any role models or mentors that I could relate to, she said. I think if I had women to talk to who had dealt with the same challenges I had faced, it would have been helpful.

Thats why she was eager to give her time to a newly launched mentoring initiative called MAX Mentors  which aims to connect students and young professionals with established Muslim professionals in Toronto.

Saeed was recently paired up with Sara Raza, a first-year student at the Richard Ivey School of Business, who was quick to notice she stood out in her class.

I recognized right away that there is a serious lack of representation in this field, said Raza, a visible Muslim who wears the hijab.

She welcomes the knowledge Saeed has to share: To get this insight as to how it is to be a woman in the business space is invaluable, Raza said.

MAX mentors is the latest initiative of MAX (Muslim Awards for Excellence), an organization that made its debut last year with a flashy awards dinner, with the feel of a Muslim Oscars, to celebrate and encourage achievement in the Canadian Muslim community. It was established at a time of rising anti-Muslim sentiment locally and abroad.

The organization is the brainchild of Aazar Zafar, who says he launched MAX in 2015, in an effort to change the narrative around the Canadian Muslim community and show a counterpoint to the misconceptions that exist about Muslims, their faith and their contributions to Canada.

This narrative of violence and terrorism is not the Islam the vast majority of Muslims have grown up with, said Zafar, a portfolio manager for a pension fund. Education and service are tenets of Islam, and are also central Canadian values. MAX honours that, and as proud Canadians, we aim to recognize and motivate high achievement in the country.

The aim of the event is simple, and admittedly in part, a bit of a public relations push to elevate the brand of Muslims in Canada.

In its first year, as its mandate suggested, MAX aimed high. The event took place at the glitzy Ritz-Carlton and was attended by Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Toronto Mayor John Tory. The keynote speakers included Ryerson University president Mohamed Lachemi, and City of Toronto Film Commissioner and actor Zaib Shaikh.

This year, the dinner and awards ceremony takes place at Roy Thomson Hall on Oct. 14. They plan to present 14 awards to community members, including women of the year, and 21 scholarships to students  worth around $84,000.

Zafar says the mentorship program was initiated by a student who was awarded one of the 11 scholarships given out last year. So far, 100 people have signed up to be part of the program, and 35 pairs have been matched, including many of those outside the traditional realms of law and medicine.

It was this non-traditional outlook that drew entrepreneur Ibrahim Hyder to the program. It was really unique to be connected with someone who has directly related to what Im doing, said Hyder, who runs a business called TruWood, which sells wooden watches online.

He was paired up with Saad Uddin, founder of Native Touch, a mobile advertising company, who says he got involved because he could have benefited from a similar initiative when he was starting out.

I always thought it would be good to have a mentor who is going through building a business, but could understand some of our priorities and goals that take our faith into consideration as well.

The mentorship program, which has had three events so far, has already ventured into topics not normally discussed in workplace settings  such as resiliency, and mental health. The hope is to expand the program beyond the GTA, in Ontario, and eventually across the country.

Saeed says for many professionals like herself, MAX is finally giving the Muslim community a platform to challenge stereotypes that exist.

I think in the world we live in, its increasingly important to show Canadian Muslims who are giving back and contributing, said Saeed. I think in the past, we havent done the greatest job of highlighting our successes and achievements as a community  I think MAX brings something to the table that was sorely lacking.

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Long before diversity became part of Canadas identity, the Ward in downtown Toronto, near todays city hall, was already a place where people from different cultural backgrounds lived and worked together.

From the 1830s until the mid-20th century when the land was gradually expropriated, the neighbourhood was the first settlement destination for many newcomers to the city, including previously enslaved Black Americans, Eastern European Jews, Italians, the Irish and the Chinese.

Although the neighbourhood  bounded by College St., Queen St. W., Yonge St. and University Ave.  gave way to new developments such as Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, the memories have stayed with many original residents and their descendants in photo albums and artifacts in basements.

Now those memories are part of a multimedia exhibition by a group of storytellers who share the early-day immigrant experiences in the Ward. Called Block by Block, the project has been launched online with stories, audio interviews and personal photos of the storytellers and their families.

There were lots of families. The street was filled with Jews, Italians, Blacks, Chinese down at the bottom of Elizabeth (St.). All around there, said George Carter, who was born in 1921 in Toronto, near Queen and Spadina Ave., and graduated from Harbord Collegiate Institute in 1941 before being appointed to become the first Canadian-born Black judge in 1979.

John Ackerman was born the same year as Carter. His parents, Jacob and Mindel, ran a small grocery store at Dundas and Elizabeth Sts. A graduate of Jarvis Collegiate, Ackerman enrolled in University of Torontos dentistry school and opened his own practice above the Royal Bank at the same intersection where his parents store was.

My dad grew up very poor, and yet he never talked about it as something that was negative or bad. He ended up living in the Ward his whole life, said his youngest son, David Ackerman.

He grew up there, and then his dentist office was down there. So he was very comfortable in that place. There were a lot of different groups but everyone seemed to get along.

Funded by Canada 150, Ontario 150, 6 Degrees and Artscape Toronto, the national project focuses on three historic immigrant neighbourhoods: Cote-des-Neiges in Montreal, the Ward in Toronto and Strathcona in Vancouver.

The project brought together diverse people and perspectives into conversation around the role that neighbourhoods play in settlement, as well as engaging folks in a critical dialogue around how neighbourhoods can or cannot be welcoming places for newcomers, Gracia Dyer Jalea of The Ward Museum, the projects Toronto partner.

How can newcomers continue to advocate for their interests and rights particularly in areas close to the downtown core, as the Ward once was? What has history taught us and what are strategies that we can borrow and adopt to fight current development plans that do not act in the best interest of these communities and seek to displace folks from their homes and communities?

Meet the storytellers

George Carter attended the old Hester How Public School and Harbord Collegiate before getting his undergrad degree from Trinity College. He served in the infantry during the Second World War before studying law at Osgoode Hall and becoming one of Canadas first Black lawyers.

Arlene Chans mother, Jean Lumb (1919-2002) was raised in Nanaimo, B.C. before she moved to Toronto to work at age 16. Lumb and her husband, Doyle, had six children and they opened Kwong Chow, a popular Chinese-Canadian restaurant in the Ward in 1959. After most of Torontos first Chinatown was demolished for the new city hall, she led the Save Chinatown committee to fight further demolition of the community.

Joseph, John and Paul Piccininni were the children of Viola DeFrancesco Piccininni (1922-2012), who was born in Toronto to Italian immigrant parents. She grew up in the ward, living first on Chesnut St. and then Elm St. She attended Hester How Public School and later went to Central Technical School, studying sewing and dressmaking. She married Joseph Piccininni, who went on to become a Toronto city councillor. After having three kids, she went back to school to be a teacher and taught at her alma mater, Central Tech, before retiring in 1980s.

David Ackerman is one of three children of John Ackerman (1921-2008), a lifelong resident of the Ward. The familys story in the neighbourhood began with Davids grandparents, Jacob and Mindel, who ran a small grocery store at Dundas and Elizabeth Sts. Besides being an accomplished dentist, John was an avid photographer who had collections documenting his family life, Toronto and his military involvement. He retired in the mid-1990s and died in 2008.

Correction  October 10, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Torontos Ward neighbourhood was the first settlement destination for many newcomers to Toronto between 1830s until the mid-19th century.

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The decisions of two veteran cabinet ministers to retire before next Junes provincial election doesnt mean key Liberals are losing confidence in their chances, Premier Kathleen Wynne says.

With her party struggling behind Patrick Browns Progressive Conservatives in most public opinion polls, Wynne portrayed the pending departures of Deputy Premier Deb Matthews and Treasury Board President Liz Sandals as personal choices by women with long track records in public service.

Every single one of my caucus members has a whole life outside of their political lives. Both Liz and Deb are grandmoms, the premier said at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington on Monday.

As a grandmother, myself, I can tell you there is nothing as rewarding as spending time with your grandchildren and wondering how much time youre going to have. We dont know how much time were going to have.

Matthews, 63, and Sandals, 69, made their announcements Friday afternoon on the eve of the Thanksgiving long weekend with the Legislature not sitting this week.

Both said they remain confident about Liberal prospects, with Matthews re-affirming her commitment to co-chair the partys re-election campaign.

Matthews, who also serves as minister of advanced education and skills development, is one of Wynnes most trusted advisors.

Sandals, from Guelph, has been a school trustee and MPP for almost 30 years and Matthews was first elected in London North Centre in 2003.

Wynne cautioned against reading too much into the departures, which follow a recent decision by Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid, 55, not to seek re-election. He suffered a mild heart attack last year.

Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray quit as environment minister during the summer for a new job leading the Pembina Insitute, while Speaker Dave Levac, the Liberal MPP for Brantford, has said last May he will not run again.

People give their time. They do an enormous amount, and then we need to, without rancour or criticism, let them make a decision thats good for their families and good for themselves . . . . We owe (them) that, the premier said.

There are people across all party lines who have made a huge contribution and they deserve to be able to make a decision.

Wynne insisted she has not set a deadline for other MPPs or cabinet ministers to decide if they are running again.

People have to come to these decisions in their own time, in their own lives. I cant dictate. Nor would I want to.

The moves by Sandals and Matthews give their riding associations time to line up new candidates.

Matthews is the lone Liberal MPP in the London area, where New Democrats have gained two ridings from the governing party in recent years, and enjoyed strong margins of victory. Hoping for an electoral breakthough with Sandals off the ballot, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will run again in Guelph.

In London, Matthews won her riding in the 2014 election with 36 per cent support, 2,496 votes ahead of the New Democrat candidate who had 30.4 per cent. The Progressive Conservative candidate had 26.4 per cent.

Sandals had an easier time in Guelph, with 41.5 per cent support, double that of her closest rival, a Progressive Conservative who had 20.84 per cent. Schreiner was slightly behind that at 19.3 per cent of the vote and the NDP candidate accounted for 17.7 per cent.

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The night after Esmeralda Hernandez delivered her stillborn, premature baby in April 2013, she kept the tiny boy close by in her hospital room overnight. With family members by her side, she mourned the loss of the boy shed named Jose.

The staff of Regions Hospital, in St. Paul, Minnesota, offered to arrange for the cremation of the babys remains in a respectful and dignified manner, according to a lawyer for the family. The Hernandez family agreed.

But about two weeks later, the grieving family heard of a report on the news: The body of an infant, born at Regions Hospital, had been found amid dirty linens in a laundry facility in the town of Red Wing, 72 kilometres south of the hospital. The baby, still wearing a diaper and hospital identification bracelets, flew out of the dirty laundry and landed on a metal grate in front of the facilitys employees.

According to court documents, when the family heard the news report, they wondered: Could it be Jose?

They called the hospital, and soon after learned it was their child. Wrapped in linen, the body had been placed on a shelf in the morgue, Regions Hospital representatives told reporters a day later. A hospital employee, mistaking the remains as dirty linens, discarded them in the laundry.

Now, in a lawsuit filed this month, the Hernandez family is accusing the hospital of interfering with baby Joses body, demonstrating a disregard and indifference for the familys rights. They allege that Regions knew the infant found at the laundry facility was Jose but decided not to tell the family until they called and inquired.

Laundry workers gawked at Baby Jose, took photos of him, and sent pictures of him into cyberspace, the lawsuit alleges.

Ten of the Hernandez family members, many of whom now live in Texas, demand a jury trial and a reward for each in excess of $50,000 (U.S.) for the mental pain and suffering they have endured and will endure, according to the lawsuit.

We want to say again that we are truly sorry for our mistake, a Regions Hospital spokesperson said in a statement provided to the Pioneer Press on Monday afternoon. We immediately reached out to the family in 2013 to apologize and to try and help ease their loss. We have continued to work with their lawyer - always open to a reasonable resolution.

Indeed, the day after the baby was found, Christine Boese, then the hospitals chief nursing officer, said in a news conference that Regions was deeply saddened and troubled that this happened and working to identify the gap in the system to make sure the error does not happen again.

In the day or two that followed, Regions hospital learned that another babys remains were missing. A baby named Chang, delivered four days after Jose, was most probably delivered to the same laundry service, according to the lawsuit. Days later, the remains had not been located.

An internal review at the hospital found that both sets of the remains were mistaken as empty linens and placed in the laundry at the same time by a hospital employee, Boese told reporters in mid-April, according to Minnesota Public Radio. She called both incidents a tragic human error.

A death investigation by police later revealed to the family, and the public, the details of how baby Joses body was found.

Red Wing police first learned about the body after an anonymous woman called them, according to their report. The woman said her daughter, an employee of Crothall Laundry Services, told her there was a dead baby in the laundry that day.

She said she was upset because her daughter had to see this dead baby and they wouldnt let her leave work, an officer wrote in a police report.

An employee of the facility named Nick Murphy had been tearing open bags of dirty hospital linens and pulling them out when he felt something hit him on the shoulder, he later told police.

Dude, look down at the floor, one of his co-workers told him, he later recounted to police, appearing visibly upset as he spoke, the police report stated.

The dead baby had landed on the floor of the facilitys catwalk, a large, narrow grate beside a conveyor belt where dirty linens were placed, according to the report.

The laundry facilitys staff called Regions Hospital, which sent representatives to retrieve the body. Neither Crothall Laundry Services nor Regions Hospital called the police to notify them. When contacted by police, Regions Hospital said the mother had consented to disposal of the body without a funeral.

The office manager told police it was not uncommon for the laundry employees to find medical waste in the linens from Regions which may consist of tissue, blood, and on occasion, an appendage, a police report stated.

In the weeks that followed, the discovery of Joses body brought to light the issue of how hospitals across the state disposed of and stored the bodies of stillborn infants. Two of the states largest hospitals placed most bodies in plastic bags or containers with clear labels, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Regions Hospital, however, did not use body bags. It wrapped stillborn remains in linens, stored on a shelf in the morgue, an area that was accessible to some non-morgue employees, according to the MPR report.

I think what the problem was, is it was wrapped in linen, which can easily be mistaken as soiled linen, Regions Hospital spokesperson Kristen Kaufmann told MPR. The hospital acknowledged that method could easily lead to devastating errors.

Im not sure why they were wrapped in linen. Im honestly not, Kaufmann told the radio station. Ive seen speculations out there, but I cant attest to why it has been done that way. The hospital subsequently decided to begin storing the bodies in bags, and made efforts to provide more security and supervision in the morgue.

Hospitals at the time were required to report stillborn deaths with state regulators within five days. But the state Department of Health told the Star Tribune that Regions had not filed such a report by April 17, even though the death had occurred on April 3.

Other similar instances have taken placed nationwide over the past several years. In Miami earlier this year, a couple claimed in court that a hospital threw out the remains of their stillborn baby girl. They had hoped to give her a funeral.

In Lorain, Ohio, last year, a hospital misplaced the remains of a stillborn baby after the body was believed to be sent with the laundry.

Pearlean Bohannon, the infant girls great grandmother, told Cleveland 19 television station that a funeral home was supposed to pick the baby up from the hospital, but the baby could not be found.

Its unbelievable, Bohannon told Cleveland 19. Its unforgivable. Its like no one cared! How can you just lose a baby?

In Fort Worth, Texas, in 2008, a stillborn boy was accidentally sent to a laundry facility. The body was later found to be crushed and disfigured, the Star Tribune reported. The mother sued the hospital and settled out of court.

I felt disgusted because its a baby, its not a piece of trash, the mother told the Star Tribune in 2013. Six years later, Im still grieving over Jacob.

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WASHINGTONAs he prepares to welcome Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump is musing again about terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I happen to think that NAFTA will have to be terminated if were going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you cant negotiate a good deal, Trump told Forbes magazine in an interview published Tuesday.

(The Trans-Pacific Partnership) would have been a large-scale version of NAFTA. It would have been a disaster. Its a great honour to have  I consider that a great accomplishment, stopping that. And there are many people that agree with me. I like bilateral deals.

Trump is scheduled to meet with Trudeau at the White House on Wednesday, the same day the fourth round of NAFTA renegotiation talks will begin in a Washington suburb.

Trump has threatened to terminate NAFTA on several numerous occasions, appearing to see such threats as a useful negotiating tactic.

The latest remark was slightly different. In the past, he has usually said he will cancel the agreement if the U.S. cannot secure a good deal. This time, he suggested that a good deal can only be secured after a cancellation.

Canadian officials have brushed off the Trump administrations previous harsh rhetoric, saying such words are inevitable in any trade negotiation. And Trump has frequently declined to act on his musings about trade and other subjects.

Trump spoke amid growing concern that the negotiations could be headed for failure because of the Trump administrations positions. The fourth round, scheduled to run Wednesday to Sunday, is seen as a crucial test of the level of U.S. interest in reaching an amended deal.

Everything you need to know about NAFTA in 3 Minutes. Why Donald Trump says NAFTA is a bad deal for the U.S. and what the negotiations could mean to Canada.

Trudeau will use the meeting to explain really clearly to the president of the United States that Canada is not Americas problem, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told CTV on Sunday.

In an interview on stage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women conference I Washington on Tuesday, Freeland declined to comment directly on Trump or to predict what would happen with NAFTA. She did go out of her way to remind the audience that the U.S. has had a small trade surplus with Canada; Trump, unlike most economists, has emphasized the importance of U.S. trade deficits.

Asked about the weekend comments of Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who warned that Trumps recklessness could lead the world to World War III, Freeland said, Look, there are a lot of things that are concerning in the world right now. I think that this is probably the most uncertain moment in international relations since the end of the Second World War.

Trudeau is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. His first event is an onstage interview about womens economic empowerment at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and Freeland are scheduled to participate in a roundtable discussion on gender equality. The prime minister and Freeland will then meet with the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, an important committee on the trade file.

Next, Trudeau will proceed from the Capitol to the White House for a meeting with Trump that is scheduled for about an hour and a half.

Their time together will be shorter and less elaborate than in February, when Trudeau brought a large delegation of ministers and aides for his first meeting with Trump. A Trudeau official said the Fortune womens summit, not the Trump meeting, was the original purpose of this visit.

Before heading to Mexico, Trudeau will hold a solo press conference at the Canadian embassy. Trudeau spokesperson Cameron Ahmad said the prime minister would have been happy to hold the usual joint press conference with Trump, as they did in February, but the White House had scheduling issues.

Trump is expected to travel to Pennsylvania the same day for a speech on tax reform.

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RIO DE JANEIROMore than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiros largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs.

In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha.

The press office of the police said there was one confrontation during Tuesdays operation, but it did not have additional details.

Rio, which has long struggled with crime, is experiencing its worst wave of violence in a decade amid a national economic crisis.

About 8,500 troops were deployed in August to curb violence a year after Rio hosted the Summer Olympics.

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BARCELONA, SPAINCatalan separatists on Tuesday signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain to cheers and applause in the regional parliament. Catalonias president said he would delay implementing it for several weeks to give dialogue a chance.

Spain, however, called an emergency Cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning and gave little indication it is willing to talk.

In his highly anticipated speech, regional President Carles Puigdemont said the landslide victory in a disputed Oct. 1 referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain.

But he proposed that the regional parliament suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue, not only for reducing tension but for reaching an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people.

We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state, Puigdemont said.

The central government in Madrid responded that it did not accept the declaration of independence by the separatists and did not consider the referendum or its results to be valid. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said an emergency Cabinet meeting had been called for Wednesday.

The Catalan leader doesnt know where he is, where he is going and with whom he wants to go, she said.

Saenz de Santamaria said the government couldnt accept the Catalan governments validation of its referendum law because it is suspended by the constitutional Court, or the results of the Oct. 1 vote because it was illegal and void of guarantees.

She said Puigdemont had put Catalonia in the greatest level of uncertainty seen yet.

Read more:

As Spain splinters, Europe shudders: Burman

Quebec passes unanimous motion condemning Spains authoritarianism over Catalonia

One of the governments options at the Wednesday meeting could be to set about applying Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the central government to take some or total control of any of its 17 regions that dont comply with their legal obligations. This would begin with a Cabinet meeting and a warning to the regional government to fall into line. Then, the Senate could be called to approve the measure.

Puigdemont also could be called in for questioning in court and possibly arrested.

Following his speech, the Catalan leader was the first to sign the document titled Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia. Dozens of other separatist lawmakers signed it after him.

The signatories said the document was a full declaration of independence.

Joan Barcelo, a researcher on political conflicts at Washington University in St. Louis, said the mixed messages sent by Puigdemonts speech did little in his effort to rally international support.

Its a mess and a mistake in political communication strategy, Barcelo said. He was trying not to burn bridges to dialogue, but hes going to create doubts among his supporters.

In his remarks, Puigdemont was highly critical of the Spanish governments response to the referendum and the violent police reaction that left hundreds injured on voting day, but said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

We are not criminals, we are not crazy, we are not pulling off a coup, we are not out of our minds. We are normal people who want to vote, he said.

Opposition leader Ines Arrimadas of the Ciutadans (Citizens) party slammed the speech.

Thousands of protesters dressed in white and carrying balloons filled a plaza in Barcelona on Saturday to express their support for dialogue instead of confrontation in the standoff over Catalonian independence. (The Associated Press)

This is a coup. Nobody has recognized the result of the referendum. Nobody in Europe supports what you have just done, she said.

The majority of Catalans feels they are Catalans, Spanish and European. ... We wont let you break our hearts into bits, Arrimadas said.

Socialist leader Miquel Iceta also was highly critical.

You are proposing to suspend a declaration that hasnt been made, thats pretty tough, he said with irony, adding that you cant claim a mandate from the Oct. 1 vote ... a vote that had no guarantees.

Puigdemonts speech marked a critical point in a decade-long standoff between Catalan separatists and Spains central authorities. Security was tight in Barcelona and police cordoned off a park surrounding the legislative building.

In Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded directly with the Catalan leadership ahead of the speech to choose dialogue rather than a divisive call for independence.

I ask you to respect in your intentions the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible, he said.

Some 2.3 million Catalans  or 43 per cent of the electorate in the northeastern region  voted in the referendum. Regional authorities say 90 per cent were in favour and declared the results valid. Those who opposed the referendum had said they would boycott the vote.

Rajoys government had repeatedly refused to grant Catalonia permission to hold a referendum on the grounds that it was unconstitutional, since it would only poll a portion of Spains 46 million residents.

Catalonias separatists camp has grown in recent years, strengthened by Spains recent economic crisis and by Madrids rejection of attempts to increase self-rule in the region.

The political deadlock has plunged Spain into its deepest political crisis in more than four decades, since democratic rule was restored following the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

Thousands rallied in Barcelonas streets and watched Puigdemonts speech. For some, his move to not declare outright secession was disappointing.

I feel a little sad because now is not independence, said 55-year-old Maria Gill. We must wait a few weeks, a few weeks we must talk with the government of Spain.

Others took a more stoic approach.

Perhaps it isnt the decisive declaration, declaring the republic and breaking away (from Spain) from today before any negotiation, said Oscar Baldes. But its a first step and thats important.

Any declaration of independence wont immediately lead to the creation of a new state because the Catalan government will need to figure out how to wrest control of its sovereignty from a Spanish government that has the law, and international support, on its side, said Barcelo, the researcher on political conflicts.

He said any declaration must be viewed through the lens of the Catalan governments long-term strategy of provoking an extraordinary and even clumsy reaction from central authorities to build support.

Hundreds of thousands have turned out for protests in Barcelona and other towns in the past month to back independence and protest against police violence during the vote. Those committed to national unity have also staged separate, large-scale rallies.

Polls indicate that Catalonias 7.5 million residents are evenly divided over secession, although a majority support holding a referendum on independence authorized by central authorities.

The tension has already affected the economy, with dozens of companies relocating their corporate addresses to remain under Spanish and European laws if Catalonia secedes. The moves of the firms bases have not so far affected jobs or investments, but they dont send a message of confidence in the Puigdemont government.

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LONDONBritains government unlawfully imprisoned victims of torture in immigration detention centres, the High Court said Tuesday.

Judge Duncan Ouseley ruled in favour of former detainees and a charity who said the government relied on an unreasonably narrow definition of torture when deciding whether asylum applicants should be detained while their cases were processed.

Government policy says asylum-seekers who can show evidence of torture should only be detained in exceptional circumstances because of the risk they may be harmed by detention.

But a change introduced in September 2016 narrowed the definition of torture to cover only acts committed by state agents or terror groups holding territory, rather than by any individual or group.

The claimants lawyers argued that policy had led to many detainees, including victims of trafficking, no longer being recognized as torture victims. The seven claimants included victims of sexual trafficking and a man who had been kidnapped by the Taliban.

The judge ruled that the policy lacked a rational or evidence basis and excludes certain individuals whose experiences of the infliction of severe pain and suffering may indeed make them particularly vulnerable to harm in detention.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors, which represented five of the former detainees, said the ruling was a reminder to the government that it is not above the law.

The firm said that the policy on torture was just one cog in the machinery by which the Home Office demeans and degrades those most in need of protection.

The Home Office said in a statement that it was considering how it can best address the courts findings.

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DALLASA Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who had been booking him on a drug possession charge, telling detectives he had done something illogical and that he was the one that shot their friend, an investigator said.

In an affidavit released Tuesday, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department said Hollis Daniels III confessed to killing Officer Floyd East Jr. after his recapture Monday night.

Campus Police Chief Kyle Bonath said at a news conference Tuesday that his department received reports of a student acting erratically who might have a weapon. University officials said East went to Daniels room to perform a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. East arrested Daniels and took him to the campus police station to book him.

According to Bonds, the 19-year-old wasnt handcuffed while East was processing the paperwork. Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. Easts body camera was also missing, but his service weapon was still holstered.

Read more: Campus police officer shot and killed at Texas Tech University; suspect caught

Bonath said Daniels pulled a gun and shot East at the station, but he didnt specify whether it was a gun Daniels had on him or one that belonged to the department. He also didnt say whether East checked Daniels for weapons when arresting him, and he didnt take questions.

The campus was locked down for about an hour Monday night and the schools more than 36,000 students were ordered to shelter in place during the search.

Daniels was recaptured following a foot chase near the police station. He had the body camera and a handgun, Bonds wrote.

Bonath said that during the lockdown, the universitys counselling centre told police that Daniels family had called to say he might be suicidal and have a gun. It wasnt clear whether the chief meant they called the centre before or after East was shot, and school officials didnt respond to messages seeking additional details.

Daniels, who is from the San Antonio suburb of Seguin, is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is being held in the Lubbock County jail on a $5 million (U.S.) bond. Online jail records dont indicate whether he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Hes had prior run-ins with the law. Daniels was charged two years ago in Guadalupe County, which includes Seguin, with possession of drug paraphernalia, but the case was dismissed. The Lubbock County sheriffs office confirmed that Daniels was arrested in Sept. 2016 on charges of marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Daniels is the son of H. A. Dan Daniels, a well-known figure in Seguin. The elder Daniels was a city councilman from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2010, when term limits prevented him from running for re-election. He didnt immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment that were left at a family business and calls to the familys home got a busy signal.

The schools president, Lawrence Schovanec, said Easts family is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community. East, 48, joined the department as a guard at the El Paso office in 2015 and became an officer in May. It was his first job in law enforcement, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Schovanec said East was married with two young daughters.

I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sherriffs Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response, Schovanec said.

Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement expressing his condolences and saying he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation. State Attorney General Ken Paxton went to the school Tuesday to show support.

Texas passed a law last year allowing students with concealed carry permits to bring guns into university classrooms and buildings. But a person must be at least 21 years old to get a concealed carry permit in Texas, so Daniels wouldnt qualify.

The state Democratic Party apologized Tuesday for a tweet it sent linking the campus carry law to Mondays shooting. The party had tweeted that allowing guns on college campuses was a dumb and dangerous idea but later backtracked and deleted the tweet.

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JACKSON, MISS.Advocates of same-sex marriage are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a new Mississippi law that lets government workers and business people cite their own religious objections to refuse services to LGBT people.

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed within hours of when the law took effect Tuesday. Legal experts say its the broadest religious-objections law enacted by any state since the nations high court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.

The law was championed and signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in 2016, but the law had been on hold amid federal court challenges. It protects three beliefs: that marriage is only between a man and a woman, sex should only take place in such a marriage, and a persons gender is determined at birth and cannot be altered.

Read more:

Judge blocks Mississippi anti-gay religious freedom law

U.S. anti-gay religious liberty laws facing backlash from big business

In an appeal Tuesday to the Supreme Court, attorneys for some of the gay and straight Mississippi residents who sued the state wrote that the law is a transparent attempt to undermine the equal dignity of LGBT citizens established in this courts decisions, starting with a 2003 decision that struck down a Texas law against sodomy and continuing to the 2015 decision that effectively legalized same-sex marriage.

It is an equally transparent attempt to endorse particular religious beliefs as state policy, wrote the attorneys from the national gay-rights group Lambda Legal Defence & Education Fund and the Mississippi Center for Justice.

It was not immediately clear whether the Supreme Court would consider the appeal.

The Mississippi law would allow clerks to cite religious objections to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and would protect merchants who refuse services to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. It could affect adoptions and foster care, business practices and school bathroom policies. Opponents say it could also allow pharmacies to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions for unmarried women.

The Supreme Court will hear a case this term about a Colorado baker who said he should not be forced to violate his own religious beliefs by making a cake for a married same-sex couple. U.S. President Donald Trumps administration is supporting the baker, who disagreed with a Colorado law that bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Mississippi law would affect actions by government workers and people working for private businesses.

An Arizona-based Christian group, Alliance Defending Freedom, helped write the Mississippi law. Bryant said Oct. 2 that this law was democratically enacted and is perfectly constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves blocked the Mississippi law from taking effect in July 2016, ruling it unconstitutionally establishes preferred beliefs and creates unequal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

A panel of judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the hold on the law June 22, saying people who sued the state had failed to show they would be harmed. Plaintiffs asked the whole appeals court to reverse that decision, but the court said Sept. 29 that it would not do so. That opened the way for the law to take effect in Mississippi.

The 5th Circuit handles appeals from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and is considered one of the most conservative federal appeals courts. Opponents of the law wrote in their appeal to the Supreme Court that the 5th Circuit decision conflicts with decisions from other federal appeals courts and it has staggering implications.

Under the (appeals) courts reasoning, a state could enact a statute establishing Christianity  or any other religion  as the official religion of the state, and no plaintiff would have standing to challenge that statute, the opponents attorneys wrote. They noted that numerous bills similar to Mississippis have been introduced in other state legislatures.

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Although we now live in a vast internet landscape with immense amounts of content, the diversity and quality of the news media we consume continues to be a concern. Large sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google should not be trusted to solve these problems.

Internet news platforms have contributed to the closure of traditional news outlets that are the source of much of the quality news consumed online. The internet has facilitated the rise to dominance of a few global mega-platforms. Some of these platforms encourage click bait  stories with enticing headlines and no substance. They create filter bubbles that discourage access to multiple perspectives.

Unfortunately, the Canadian governments new cultural policy, the Creative Canada Policy Framework, does not adequately address these concerns. The framework, issued by Canadian Heritage, calls support for local news production a pillar of its plan, acknowledging challenges within the traditional news ecosystem.

Yet the framework offers virtually no new support to Canadian news production, one of the most important and most threatened foundations of Canadian democracy. In a speech announcing the new policy, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly said the Liberal government has no plan to bail out industry models that are no longer viable. This lack of support for news production is the frameworks most disastrous failing.

While the government has recently made a commitment to increase funding to the CBC, the Creative Canada framework dedicates no new funding for Canadian local news, despite urgent recommendations by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in June and the Public Policy Forum in February.

There will be no new funding to the Canadian Periodical Fund to support Canadian newspapers, though the framework suggests expanding the programs eligibility criteria. Expanding eligibility criteria, with no additional funds, could mean less funding per publication. Further, the eligibility criteria are not expanded to permit daily newspapers to qualify, despite the recommendation made by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in June to expand the fund to daily newspapers.

Rather than providing a way forward, the Liberal government suggests Facebook, Twitter and Google will jumpstart digital news innovation. The efforts of these organizations in the realm of news have, to date, been widely criticized for spreading fake news, soaking up advertising dollars that once supported news production, and permitting unsavoury ad targeting.

Furthermore, Facebooks founder does not accept that Facebook is a media company. Creative Canadas reliance on social media companies to solve the problems facing the news industry is woefully misplaced.

With appropriate interventions and support, the internet could be a tremendous force for content diversification in news and other media. However, those recent recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and the Public Policy Forum have been ignored or rejected by the government in this new policy framework.

Some of these recommendations included: A Future of Journalism and Democracy Fund; an expansion of the funding categories within the Canadian Periodical Fund to include daily and free community newspapers; greater emphasis on CBCs news and information functions; a recommendation to publish CBC content on Creative Commons licences, opening the content to other news organizations; a CRTC review to encourage greater monitoring of local news production requirements; the incorporation of a diversity of voices test to ensure media mergers do not eliminate media competition in the Competition Act; and the application of ethics guidelines and press councils to digital media.

The new framework takes several positive steps. The governments commitments to reach gender parity within its creative institutions is hopeful. The policy makes commitments to women-directed productions at the CBC, NFB and Telefilm Canada and promises to use Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+), an analytic tool used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people may experience policies, programs and initiatives.

As well, the government has plans to invest in Indigenous creators. The creation of an Indigenous Screen Office in June and new training by the CBC to encourage Indigenous voices point to positive changes.

Fortunately, there are several opportunities in the near future for the Canadian government to step up to the plate. Creative Canada suggests more announcements may be made regarding the Canadian Periodical Fund in 2018. The federal governments review of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act could provide another opportunity to put recommendations regarding the CBC and the CRTC into action, strengthening its pillar of support for Canadian news.

Sara Bannerman is associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Communication Policy and Governance at McMaster University in Hamilton.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Disclosure information is available on the original site.

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Pfizer Inc. shares are set to open at one-year high Tuesday after the group said it was considering the sale of its consumer healthcare business.

Pfizer said the division, which had about $3.4 billion in 2016 sales and houses brands such as Advil and Chaptstick, was unique enough from its core operations to warrant consideration for sale. Any on the group would be decided next year, the company said, and may include a full or partial sale.

"Pfizer Consumer Healthcare is a leading player in the largest OTC categories, with iconic brands, robust retail partnerships, global reach and strong fundamentals," said CEO Ian Read. "Although there is a strong connection between Consumer Healthcare and elements of our core biopharmaceutical businesses, it is also distinct enough from our core business that there is potential for its value to be more fully realized outside the company.

"By exploring strategic options, we can evaluate how best to fuel the future success and expansion of Consumer Healthcare while simultaneously unlocking potential value for our shareholders," he added

Pfizer shares were marked 1% higher in pre-market trading from their Monday close, indicating an opening price of $36.50, the highest since August 2016.

The move follows a similar strategy from Germany's Merck KGaA, which said in early September that it may sell all or part of its consumer healthcare business as it looks to strategic options to boost shareholder value.

Merck said the sale of the unit, which had 860 million ($1.02 billion) in sales last year, would help continue the group's shift towards becoming a "leading science and technology company" and that proceeds would be used to deliver on the company's overall financial targets.
More alarming news related to the data breach at credit reporting agency Equifax (EFX) - Get Free Report crept up on Tuesday.

It was discovered that driver's license data for roughly 10.9 million Americans were endangered during September's hack which impacted over 145 million people, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report follows statements made by Equifax on Tuesday that a UK file comprising of 15.2 million consumer records was also breached during the hack.

Shares of Equifax closed higher over 1.2%, but are lower nearly 20% since last month's data breach.

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NEW YORK/LONDON  Thomson Reuters today announced the 2017 top 100 most diverse and inclusive organizations globally as ranked by the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index. This year, 35 new companies earned a top 100 spot on the index. The D&I Index demonstrates Thomson Reuters vision of delivering news, information and analytics to the global financial and corporate communities. The index ratings are informed by Thomson Reuters environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, designed to transparently and objectively measure the relative performance of more than 6,000 companies and provide clients with differentiated insight.

The D&I Index is available on Thomson Reuters Eikon, as are the underlying diversity and inclusion metrics, which can be used to help financial professionals screen companies for long-term opportunities and risks in their investments. Scores of the D&I Index are calculated for each company for the Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversy pillars. Only companies with scores across all four pillars are assigned an overall score (the average of the pillar scores). The top 100 ranked companies with the best overall scores are selected for the Index.

The global evidence is overwhelmingly clear, diversity is increasingly becoming a performance issue, a growth engine, and companies can no longer afford not to realize its societal benefits as well, said Debra Walton, managing director, customer proposition, Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters. Our research shows that over 1, 3, and 5-year periods companies that make investments and focus on ESG metrics can have a stronger stock performance and better long-term profitability. We remain committed to providing our global clients with exclusive access to this important data and information through our Diversity & Inclusion Index and metrics, thereby helping them to make better informed investment and socially responsible decisions.

Now in its second year, the D&I index continues to receive recognition from industry analysts across the globe:

Virginie O'Shea, research director at Aite Group, commented: ESG investment has become a global phenomenon, reflecting the rising importance of factors such as diversity and inclusion to the investor community  on the part of both institutional and retail investors. Generational shifts are likely to fuel this trend further, along with the focus of national regulators and governments in encouraging corporate governance and socially responsible investment over the long-term.

Will Jan, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell, commented: In an increasingly globalized business environment, diversity and inclusion is more critical than ever. Having access to such information to drive responsible decisions is a natural next step in the evolution of financial services.

Brad Bailey, research director, capital markets at Celent, commented: As we continue to see growing interest in ESG investing, it is crucial to have transparent benchmarks for portfolio managers (PMs) and investors to ensure that they have a clear framework for the effective allocation of resources into companies with the most astute approaches to diversity.

At Thomson Reuters, we understand that focusing on total societal impact is fundamental to driving long-term financial success, said Patsy Doerr, global head of corporate responsibility and inclusion at Thomson Reuters. Creating the workforce of the future means building diverse teams which attract the best and brightest from around the world. The D&I Index helps investors and analysts identify the companies that are getting this right, helping them to make investment decisions that align with their values and the bottom line. We look forward to working with our customers to implement best-in-class strategies for sustainable business growth.

The D&I Index, launched in 2016, ranks the top 100 publicly traded companies globally with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, as measured by 24 metrics across four key categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. The Index is then calculated by weighing each metric based on importance in the market and how each company compares with its peers.

For more information about the D&I Index (Methodology, Factsheet) please visit http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/data-analytics/market-data/indices/diversity-index.html.

Top 25 Index ranking and their corresponding overall D&I percentage score (%):

1 Contact Energy Ltd 84.25 2 Gap Inc 81.00 3 Johnson & Johnson 81.00 4 DiGi.Com Bhd 80.00 5 Diageo PLC 79.25 6 Colgate-Palmolive Co 79.00 7 Novartis AG 79.00 8 Roche Holding AG 79.00 9 Kathmandu Holdings Ltd 78.75 10 Cisco Systems Inc 78.50 11 Natura Cosmeticos SA 78.25 12 Accenture PLC 78.00 13 Medtronic PLC 77.50 14 Eli Lilly and Co 77.25 15 Hera SpA 77.25 16 Nedbank Group Ltd 76.75 17 Unilever NV 76.25 18 Allianz SE 76.00 19 Bank of Montreal 76.00 20 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co 75.75 21 Norsk Hydro ASA 75.75 22 Procter & Gamble Co 75.75 23 Unilever Indonesia Tbk PT 75.75 24 Kering SA 75.25 25 Verbund AG 75.25



For a complete list of the Top 100 Most Diverse & Inclusive Organizations Globally, please visit: http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/content/dam/openweb/documents/pdf/financial/diversity-and-inclusion-top-100-companies.pdf.

To learn what top-ranked institutions are saying about the D&I index, please visit: http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/content/dam/openweb/documents/pdf/financial/diversity-and-inclusion-quotes.pdf.

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Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to independently operated dealer stations, distributors and other consumer of motor fuel, and partnership operated stations, as well as to commission agent locations. The All Other segment operates retail stores that offer motor fuel, merchandise, foodservice, and other services that include credit card processing, car washes, lottery, automated teller machines, money orders, prepaid phone cards, and wireless services. It also leases and subleases real estate properties; and operates terminal facilities on the Hawaiian Islands. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 78 retail stores in Hawaii and New Jersey. Sunoco GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Susser Petroleum Partners LP and changed its name to Sunoco LP in October 2014. Sunoco LP was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Citigroup Inc. is one of the worlds largest financial institutions. It is the 13th largest bank globally by assets and 8th by market cap with operations in consumer and institutional banking. In the US, Citigroup is the 3rd largest bank by assets and one of the Big Four deemed systemically important and too big to fail.

Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. The bank was run by Samuel Osgood who led the company with success for many years, even throughout the War of 1812. The bank was later renamed the National City Bank of New York in 1865 and by 1895 is the largest bank in the US. In 1913 it was the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a few years later it began to expand into overseas territories.

The bank became the First National City Bank of New York after another merger in 1955 and then later, the New York part was dropped off as part of the 150th-anniversary celebration. By 1974 the company is known as Citicorp which is still the operational branch of the business and a global banking powerhouse. A merger with Travelers insurance group in 1998 resulted in the name Citigroup but the joint venture did not last. By 2002 Travelers was publicly traded once again but Citigroup retained the new name.

Today, the company is headquartered in New York, New York but boasts more than 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries worldwide. As of mid-2022, it operated 2,649 branches in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. The company reports nearly 725 branches in the US and 1499 in Mexico with the rest scattered throughout its territory. Total annual revenue topped $75 billion in 2022.

Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that owns Citicorp among other assets. The companys mission is to serve as a trusted partner providing responsible financial solutions to its clients. Citigroup provides financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. The company operates in two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG).

The GCB segment offers traditional banking services including deposit and saving accounts, credit cards, personal loans, home loans, and investment services. This segment operates through local branches and digital means. The ICG segment offers wholesale banking products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients.
Tyler Technologies, Inc. provides integrated information management solutions and services for the public sector. The company operates in three segments: Enterprise Software; Appraisal and Tax; and NIC. It offers financial management solutions, including modular fund accounting systems for government agencies or not-for-profit entities; utility billing systems for the billing and collection of metered and non-metered services; products to automate city and county functions, such as municipal courts, parking tickets, equipment and project costing, animal and business licenses, permits and inspections, code enforcement, citizen complaint tracking, ambulance billing, fleet maintenance, and cemetery records management; and student information and transportation solutions for K-12 schools. The company also provides a suite of judicial solutions comprising court case management, court and law enforcement, prosecutor, and supervision systems to handle multi-jurisdictional county or statewide implementations, and single county systems; public safety software solutions; systems and software to automate the appraisal and assessment of real and personal property, as well as tax applications for agencies that bill and collect taxes; planning, regulatory, and maintenance software solutions for public sector agencies; software applications to enhance and automate operations involving records and document management; and data and insights solutions. In addition, it offers software as a service arrangements and electronic document filing solutions for courts and law offices; software and hardware installation, data conversion, training, product modification, and maintenance and support services; and property appraisal outsourcing services for taxing jurisdictions. The company has a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services for cloud hosting services. Tyler Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.
The following companies are subsidiares of Vodafone Group Public: 360 Connect S.A., 3@ Telecom, A-ccelerator B.V., A-ccelerator Holding B.V, AAA (Euro) Limited, AAA (MCR) Limited, AAA (UK) Limited, Acorn Communications Limited, Africonnect (Zambia) Limited, Ag Mercantile Company Private Limited, Al-Amin Investments Limited, Amsterdamse Beheer- en Consultingmaatschappij B.V., Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited, Array Holdings Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, Aspective Limited, Astec Communications Limited, Autoconnex Limited, Aztec Limited, BelCompany BV, Bluefish Apac Communications Pte. Ltd, Bluefish Communications, Bluefish Communications Limited, Business Serve Limited, C&W Worldwide Nigeria Limited, C.S.P. Solutions Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., CGP India Investments Ltd., CGP Investments (Holdings) Limited, COOP Mobil s.r.o, CT Networks Limited, CWGNL S.A., CWW Operations Limited, Cable & Wireless Access Limited, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems Inc., Cable & Wireless Aspac Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Services Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Svyaz LLC, Cable & Wireless Capital Limited , Cable & Wireless Communications Data Network Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Starclass Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch), Cable & Wireless Europe Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless GN Limited, Cable & Wireless Global (India) Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Business Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Holding Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Telecommunication Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Holdco Limited, Cable & Wireless Networks India Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Trade Mark Management Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Waterside Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Pension Trustee Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Voice Messaging Limited, Cable & Wireless a-Services Inc, Cable & Wireless a-Services Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited Indian Branch Office, Cable and Wireless Nominee Limited, Cable and Wireless Worldwide South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cavalry Holdings Ltd, Celfocus  Solucoes Informaticas Para Telecomunicacoes S.A, Cellops Limited, Cellular Operations Limited, Central Communications Group Limited, Central Telecom (Northern) Limited, Centurion GSM Limited, Chelys Limited, City Cable (Holdings) Limited, Cobra do Brasil Servicos de Telematica ltda., Commnet Cellular Inc., Complete Network Technology, Connect (India) Mobile Technologies Private Limited, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, Dataroam Limited , Device Insight, Digital Island (UK) Ltd, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, East Africa Investment (Mauritius) Limited, Emtel Europe Limited, Energis (Ireland) Limited, Energis Communications Limited, Energis Holdings Limited, Energis Local Access Limited, Energis Management Limited, Energis Squared Limited, Erudite Systems Limited, Esprit Telecom B.V., Eudokia Limited, Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., Eurocall Holdings Limited, Europolitan Holdings AB (now Europolitan Vodafone AB), FB Holdings Limited, FM Associates (UK) Limited, FinCo Partner 1 B.V., FireFly Networks Limited, Flexphone Limited, GS Telecom (Pty) Limited, Gateway Communications Africa (UK) Limited, Gateway Communications Tanzania Limited, General Mobile Corporation, Generation Telecom Limited, Ghana Telecommunications, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, Global Cellular Rental Limited, Globe Limited, GrandCentrix GmbH, Grupo Corporativo ONO S.A.U., H3ga Properties (No 3) Pty Limited, HBO Nederland Cooperatief U.A., HBO Netherlands Channels sro, HBO Netherlands Distribution B.V., Hellas Online, How2 Telecom Limited, Hutchison Essar Ltd, Indus Towers Limited, Intercell Communications Limited, Internet Network Services Limited, Invitation Digital Limited, Ipergy Communications NV, Isis Telecommunications Management Limited, Jaguar Communications Limited, Jaykay Finholding (India) Private Limited, Jupicol (Proprietary) Limited, KABELCOM Braunschweig Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, KABELCOM Wolfsburg Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Deutschland Holding, Kabel Deutschland Holding Erste Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Holding Zweite Beteilgungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Neunte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Siebte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabelfernsehen Munchen Servicenter GmbH & Co. KG, LG Financing Partnership, LGE HoldCo V B.V., LGE HoldCo VI B.V., LGE HoldCo VIII B.V., LGE Holdco VII B.V., LLC Vodafone Enterprise Ukraine, Le Bunt Holdings Limited, Legend Communications Limited, Liberty Global, Liberty Global Content Netherlands B.V., London Hydraulic Power Company, M-PESA Foundation, M-PESA Holding Co. Limited, ML Integration Group Limited, ML Integration Limited, ML Integration Services Limited, MV Healthcare Services Private Limited, Mannesmann AG, MetroHoldings Limited, Mezzanine Ware Proprietary Limited (RF), Mirambo Limited, Misrfone Trading Company LLC, MobiFon S.A., Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited, Mobile Phone Centre Limited, Mobile Wallet VM1, Mobile Wallet VM2, Mobile by Sainsburys Limited, Mobiles 4 Business.com Limited, Mobileworld Communications Pty Limited, Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd, Mobilvest, Motifpros 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Multi Risk Indemnity Company Limited, Multi Risk Limited, ND Callus Info Services Private Limited, Nadal Trading Company Private Limited, Nat Comm Air Limited, National Communications Backbone Company Limited, Navtrak Ltd, Netforce Group Limited, Netgrid Telecom SRL, Number Portability Company (Proprietary) Limited, ONO, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited, Oni Way  Infocomunicacoes S.A, Oskar Mobil S.R.O., Oxygen Solutions Limited, P.C.P. (North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U.  Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited  Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal  Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V..

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Powerball numbers for Monday, Nov. 14, 2022

Here are the winning Powerball numbers and results for the lottery jackpot drawing on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022.
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The Nicoya peninsula is large with a wide range of beaches and beach towns. They will all be crowded at the end of December because most Ticos have this week off and it sometimes seems like every one has headed right to whichever beach you pick.

There really is no place to stay inland on the peninsula itself which makes much sense for a visitor. Nicoya, the largest city in the area is smack dab near the middle but has little to interest tourists. You might be better off checking out Monteverde, Arenal or Tenorio volcano/Rio Celeste before heading to a beach. A nature spot that's not super touristy is a tough one at this time of year, but Tenorio National Park and the nearby town of Bijagua might be your best bet.

For beaches it all depends on what you;re looking for. Montezuma has a super laid back vibe with miles of beaches and several waterfalls but it's a tiny town. Two nature reserves are nearby - Cabo Blanco and Curu.

MalPais and Santa Teresa are surfing towns with a linear layout strung along the one road parallel to the beach. Not a good choice if you prefer to swim in the ocean rather than surf.

Samara is a small town on a big bay, easily walkable with a good swimming beach and a great place to hang out although it will tend to be crowded at this time of year. Nearby Nosara has a more laid back surfing and yoga vibe but it is a sprawled out area and a car is necessary.

Tamarindo at the north end of the peninsula is one of the largest beach towns with tons of restaurants and nightlife as well as a surfing beach.

You'll need to do a little research and figure out which appeals to you most. One good place to start is http://nicoyapeninsula.com/general/map.php

Your choices will be limited as the last week of December tends to book up 6 months out, so can't really recommend specific hotels.

Whether you should fly into Liberia or SJO depends on which beach town you pick. You can drive from Liberia to Tamarindo or Samara in 2 hours or less. For the southern tip of the peninsula (Montezuma and Santa Teresa) it makes more senes to fly into SJO and either fly on to Tambor before taking a taxi or taking one of the shared shuttles directly from San Jose which includes a ferry ride across the Gulf of Nicoya.

I wouldn't decide on a car until after you find a spot. You can use shared shuttles between the airport and your 1st destination but the farther out of the way spot you pcik, the more you'll need a car to explore.
I'm going on a very last minute trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in November 2017. We don't have a lot of time so I'm planning on squeezing in as much as possible (I weirdly prefer this method of travelling).

I have some spare time between Friday 10th Nov and Saturday 11th before flying to Hanoi (on Saturday). I'm in Ho Chi Minh city on Thursday 9th to do the tunnels and museum. I'm wondering, would people recommend getting the night bus that evening (Thurs 9th) to Da Lat from Ho Chi Minh city if I wanted to do a day tour that next morning at 8:30am in Da lat? I know I know I'm pushing it for time, but is it possible? I was thinking of flying there but the flight leaves Ho Chi Minh at 7am on Friday 10th and gets to Da Lat at 8:20am annoyingly. There isn't any evening flights the night before.

Or are there any tours in Da Lat that leave slightly later? Suggestions welcome!
This forum does not allow an image to be posted. We'll be staying with friends in Long Xuyen for a few days. But the Cambodian border may be too far for us to visit Cambodia from there. The chances are good we will use this border crossing since HCMC public bus 70-3 goes to this border crossing >> Bavet Border Post. We want to arrive by that public bus and walk or taxi over to that area of Cambodia near the border. Spend a day and back to HCMC and maybe back to Cambodia again. So multi visits. I read in some article that tourist could not do a same day arrival same day departure. I'll see if I can find it. If a $30 single visit visa will let us go back and forth across the border more than one time, at that spot then of course it will work for us.

--------------------

Day trips (arriving and departing on the same day) are not permitted except when arriving and departing via Phnom Penh International Airport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Cambodia

Edited: 5 years ago
You can get a water taxi but it is expensive, seaplane and probably helicopter. You need to check in at the Marina 1/2 hr prior to departure, taxi to marina 20 mins on a good day then 30 to 40 mins to clear customs and immigration depending on how busy it is. It is really cutting it fine, you will need to have Fiji dollars for the taxi.

Coming back you can wait up to 1/2 for you luggage to be off loaded then 20 to 30 mins to get to airport by taxi.l Check in closes 1 hour prior to flight.
Reno to Carson City (and back) will be an easy freeway drive on 580/395. Its very easy drive.

The only thing that makes that stretch more interesting is if its snowing.

The speed limit for part of it is 70 mph. In city of course speed limits are lower.

The state museum (check if open) is well worth seeing.

For Virginia City, it is a hill drive so expect curving roads, valley views, but the road is good. I would suggest driving Reno route to Virginia City.

I am assuming you are not going to Lake Tahoe? If you did drive 80 from Reno to Truckee, drive from Truckee to North Lake Tahoe..... There is some long uphill and downhill stretches to get from Reno to Truckee on the 80, but its freeway. There are 2 or 3 lanes (in some parts) on 80. its a major truck route. The Nevada side of the lake is easiest to drive. (Note - The only sheer drop offs is a short stretch of road on the Eastern side of the lake south of Emerald Bay. Given your description, I would avoid that stretch since it fits your description.

Drive what you are comfortable driving. Use turn outs if locals who know the roads want to drive faster.

In Virginia City there is a city tour costs $5 I would suggest taking that while there - its very good..

Edited: 5 years ago
I'd like to give you my experience of the Washington Square Hotel. I don't know anything about the Embassy Suites. But I definitely Prefer the location of Greenwich Village. My stay was June 2016. I agree the location is the best thing about this hotel considering the price. I would not call the rooms tiny, I would call them small. Hotel is Not kinda dumpy either IMO. Dumpy to me means things are broken & dirty ,not the case. I had a double bedded room with a partial view of wash square park. Everything Clean , bathroom was immaculately clean,with spotlessly clean looking tub. Lots of counter space.

The closet was small . Room has a half size ironing board. Which was my main complaint. Seating in the room Besides bed is a small plastic chair and a backless bench in front of a large mirror &counter opposite the bed. The bed was a very comfortable with fresh-smelling quality Linens. The breakfast included Is in a small quiet room at the back of the hotel near the elevator . They offered Juice ,coffee,,tea, milk, yogurt, bagels cream cheese, jam , butter , muffins. Self service. Breakfast room was a quiet place and okay if that's what you're into. I prefer a hot breakfast. To clarify breakfast is not served in the North Star Restaurant. But it is a nice restaurant. And very convenient being attached to the hotel. The staff was super friendly and helpful. There was always cabs out in front of this hotel. Even at 4 or 5 p.m.

if I were needing 2 hotel rooms with your budget I would definitely keep both of those reservations and keep looking For a better deal.. Because the rooms are small here and that would be the biggest drawback I would think, for your family.
Hi there

Family of 4 inc 2 kids aged 15 and 12 visiting NY from 15 to 20 September 2018. Know it's an expensive time to visit so booking early.

Currently have bookings in Washington square hotel 2 twin rooms inc breakfast $2662.80

And Embassy suites by Hilton NY Midtown Manhattan 2 king studio inc breakfast $2892.27

Cannot find any reviews on Embassy suites as I think it is new.

Can anyone recommend which is better? We plan on doing the usual touristy stuff!

Thanks so much
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- Lenana School was closed after students protested the death of their colleague

- The students suffered Chicken Pox and was quarantined in the school

- He died on Saturday after his condition worsened

Lenana School was closed indefinitely on Monday, October 9, and its students sent home following protests sparked by the death of a form 3 student.

The national school's students spilled to the streets, blocking the busy Ngong Road and demanding answers to the death of Amos Mumo.

According to the students, Mumo was taken ill on Wednesday, October 4. The school established he had Chicken Pox after he was taken to the school clinic.

Lenana school students were angered by the death of their colleague Photo: Twitter/Lenana School

READ ALSO: Why repeat poll is likely to go on even if Raila withdraws from race

He was quarantined in one of the areas in the school but his condition worsened. On Saturday, students claim they saw Amos being hurried carried into the school ambulance covered in a bed sheet.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Kikuyu Hospital in Kiambu.

Students suspect Amos had already died when he was rushed into the ambulance.

READ ALSO: Raila given 4 days to formally announce his participation in repeat election

Regional education coordinator John Olontua admitted Amos was taken ill and admitted at the school dispensary.

He said investigations have began to establish if there was any case of negligence on the part of the school administration.

READ ALSO: Do not pay Joho's govt for services not delivered, Uhuru tells Mombasa traders

Lenana School is one of the most popularly national schools in the country. It has kept its spot among the top 100 schools in the country in national exams.

It is the school that hosts Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's adopted son.

From a drug trafficker to a mentor on TUKO TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- NASA's Raila Odinga has formally withdrawn from the presidential election, TUKO.co.ke has learnt

- Raila explained that his withdrawal from the race is the only way that Kenya can have a credible election

- Raila says that his withdrawal means that the IEBC is expected to conduct fresh nominations with the election of October 26 getting cancelled

- The opposition has been demanding that the IEBC implements the irreducible mimumums if the election will be free and fair

NASA leader Raila Odinga has formally withdrawn from the fresh presidential election set for later this month.

By doing so, Odinga said the IEBC should now cancel the repeat election and conduct fresh nominations.

He said on Tuesday, October 10 that his decision was of the conviction that their withdrawal is in the best interest of the country and a win-win for everyone.

Raila Odinga addressing his supporters in Vihiga County. Photo: NASA

READ ALSO: Diamond Platnumz house

Odinga accused the IEBC of acting in bad faith for calling for the October 26 election without addressing the Opposition's irreducible minimums it had presented.

"For over five weeks, the commission has engaged us in a ping pong game well knowing they had no intention to streamline the electoral system to accord with the constitution and electoral laws.

"It is now clear that the same criminal enterprise that perpetuated the fraud in the August election is firmly in charge of the Commission and setting up even more lethal mechanisms to defraud the Kenyan voter, he said.

Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka during a past rally in Nairobi. Photo: NASA

On Jubilee Party, Odinga said it had embarked on ill-conceived amendments to election laws that are not only unconstitutional but go against international best practice that in the middle of an elections contest.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is on record having said that he will not hesitate in signing into law the new changes being pushed in Parliament.

Odinga and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka accused the IEBC and Jubilee of working together to commit the illegalities and irregularities that were found to have been committed in the August 8 election.

"It is now evident that jubilee is firmly in charge of IEBC through four commissioners who have set out to implement the jubilee agenda within the commission," said Odinga.

Raila Odinga withdraws from repeat presidential race, calls for fresh election

The Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta's reelection victory after Odinga successfully proved that the election was done in contravention of the law.

Odinga said they had written to IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati informing him of his withdrawal from the race.

Biggest anti-IEBC demos witnessed in Nairobi

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- The decision by NASA leader Raila Odinga to withdraw from the fresh presidential race has come as a huge surprise

- Lawyers are divided in opinion on the way forward after the earth shaking announcement by Raila

- Some argue elections must be held in 90 days with fresh nomination of candidates

- Others says Uhuru should immediately be sworn in now that he has no competitor

NASA leader Raila Odinga's decision to withdraw from the fresh election set for October 26 has come as a big surprise to many including his supporters.

But what does his move mean for the country and for himself?

Lawyers are divided in opinion with some saying fresh election must be held in 90 days yet others argue President Uhuru Kenyatta should be sworn in as he has no competitor.

READ ALSO: Possible scenario of what would happen if Raila or Uhuru pulled out of the fresh election

According to lawyer Wahome Thuku,fresh nominations must now be held and IEBC ought to organise the election in 90 days time.

He bases his argument on a 2013 Supreme Court ruling which said that if a candidate dies or withdraws from the race, then fresh nominations must be done.

The same argument is advanced by former LSK Chairman Apollo Mboya.

Paragraph 290 of the 2013 ruling states that: "Suppose, however, that the candidates, or a candidate who took part in the original election, dies or abandons the electoral quest before the scheduled date: then the provisions of Article 138(8) (b) would become applicable, with fresh nominations ensuing".

This means Kenyans will have to endure another round of rigorous campaigns with the election to be done around January 2018.

Lawyer Nelson Havi also agrees with the two saying Kenyans should prepare for fresh election.

READ ALSO: I will sign the Election Amendment Bill into law immediately Parliament passes it-Uhuru

Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka withdraw from participation in 26.10.17 election. Fresh election to be held in terms of Article 138 of the Constitution of Kenya, he argued.

But Lawyer Ahamednassir Abdullahi opines that Uhuru must now be sworn in as president since he has no competitor.

He bases his argument on Regulations 52 and 53 of the Elections Act which stipulates what should happen should a candidate withdraw in a two horse race.

Under Regulations 52 and 53, IEBC must declare H.E Uhuru duly elected president of Kenya, said Ahmednassir.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga withdraws from repeat presidential race, calls for fresh election

READ ALSO: What Kenyans think of Raila withdrawing from the presidential race

But lawyers Donald Kipkorir and Miguna Miguna have described Railas move as a serious constitutional cricis.

Thank you @RailaOdinga for creating a constitutional crisis; the Sine qua non for Transformation. Let's separate quacks from patriots! said Miguna in a tweet.

Kipkorir says Railas action has taken Kenya to uncharted waters and new legal and constitutional territory.

Due to this lacunae in our Constitution, only two options are available: 1. All Presidential Candidates Of August 8 to reach political decision and agree on Fresh Elections. 2. Constitutional amendment thereafter be gone into to cure this lacunae and other contradictions in the Constitution... there are many, argues the lawyer.

Biggest anti-IEBC demos witnessed in Nairobi

Source: TUKO.co.ke
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It was fun in the sun on Sunday as the Aranguez savannah was the place to crown winners of t
The Ukrainian military industry is increasingly getting integrated into the Western model, and all the equipment has been tested in combat conditions.

Several dozen types of innovative developments of the Ukrainian defense sector, including armored vehicles, small arms, aviation, missile systems and other new products, were showcased for the first time in the United States at the prestigious international exhibition AUSA 2017 (the Association of the United States Army). A three-day exhibition, attended by about 600 companies from all over the world, began in central Washington on Monday, October 9. Domestic machinery and weapons are officially represented by the Ukroboronprom State Concern.

UKRAINIAN SOLUTIONS TESTED IN COMBAT CONDITIONS

The exposition is located at the Washington Convention Center, which usually hosts events on a global scale. For example, last year it hosted a nuclear security summit involving the presidents and heads of government. Its main feature was the unprecedented level of security within a radius of a few districts, with a secret service, helicopters, metal detectors, and dogs.

The main feature of the current exhibition is hundreds of people in the uniforms of different countries both inside the center and on the street, mainly senior officers. However, there are also many civilians (probably investors and defense business representatives). The American logistics of mass events is well organized as usual.

BTR-4E

The exhibition itself is located in pavilions on the lower tier. The first impression when you descend an escalator is that everything is bright, modern, and very diverse. The Ukrainian stand is one of the most expressive in the pavilion thanks to the exhibited full-scale samples of armored vehicles. The sand-yellow combat module Phantom 2 (an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier), a BTR-4E armored personnel carrier, a new 6TD-2 tank engine, and small arms samples, including the new Ukrainian-U.S. M4 assault rifle (WAC-47), are only part of the presented samples. The models of An-132 and An-158 planes, armored KrAZ trucks - Hulk and Fiona, as well as an Oplot tank and other Ukrainian developments, are also showcased. The main emphasis is that all the equipment has been tested in combat conditions. It is a very important signal for customers.

U.S. INTERESTED IN HOW TO REACT TO MODERN FORMS OF AGRESION

"The main task of participation in this exhibition is maximum cooperation with American companies. Here we want to demonstrate the capabilities of our defense industry and invite Americans to work together," Roman Romanov, Director General of the Ukroboronprom State Concern, said in comments to Ukrinform.

He said that Ukraine was creating weapons of the next level and seeking to finally end its dependence on Russia, which existed even in 2014. By that time, about 50% of weapons samples were designed using components from Russia. "Today, in order to move forward and create new high-tech projects, we need to communicate with American companies, we need their systems that already work and are present on the U.S. market, and we are ready to apply them," Romanov said.

Roman Romanov, Valeriy Chaly, and Andriy Kovalchuk (from left to right)

According to him, Americans are also interested in joint work with Ukraine, because new developments are capable of responding more effectively to modern forms of armed aggression. In addition, the Ukrainian defense industry is backed by experienced engineers. "This potential may be of interest to American companies and corporations. We can unite our efforts and create modern developments with the best possible value," the Ukroboronprom chief said.

In this regard, he provided examples of successful joint projects, including the creation of border surveillance systems, the joint production of the M4 assault rifle (WAC-47), which can use ammunition of NATO and former Soviet standards, as well as projects in the aviation sector. In the long-term, there will be developments in the production of armored vehicles, as well as in the field of aviation and communications.

"All of these projects are very necessary for Ukraine, and I think that in any case it will be mutual development of the competence of both countries, that is, it will benefit both the Ukrainian side and the United States," the Ukroboronprom director said.

An-158 model

BETTER PROSPECTS FOR UKRAINE IN U.S.

Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine's ambassador in Washington, told the agency that the current situation in the U.S. defense sector is becoming more favorable for Ukrainian-U.S. cooperation in this area.

"The situation is changing now. The current U.S. administration is paying more attention to the development of the army, navy, and aviation, with targeted funds allocated for this purpose. The U.S. Department of Defense budget for 2018 envisages large sums - bigger than last year, and this attracts the attention of American business," the Ukrainian diplomat said.

He also noted that Ukraine now creates better conditions for U.S. investment in the arms and ammunition sector. "That is, we now have other conditions for political dialogue, other conditions for military-technical cooperation," the ambassador said.

Phantom 2

At the same time, he noted that such cooperation would not affect the prospects of providing Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons from the United States. "We are appealing to the United States with the request to supply us with what we lack. These are counter-battery radars, secure communications systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other equipment and weapons. This is absolutely additional [military equipment] to what our industry produces," the diplomat said.

On the other hand, according to him, "Americans also have free niches, the cost of which will be very expensive and will take time." Because of this, the United States is interested in Ukrainian developments. "Therefore, this is a two-way road," Chaly said.

Automatic grenade launcher KBA.117

He drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian pavilion, Ukrainian samples occupy one of the central places in the exhibition, both geographically and in terms of attention. "And this is also the image of the country, which testifies that Ukraine is developing, in particular, in this area, which is a very important element in Washington," the ambassador said.

There is another significant detail announced during a press conference by the Ukrainian delegation in Washington - the competitiveness of Ukrainian defense potential is increasingly recognized in the world.

Even in 2014, when Russia began armed aggression against Ukraine, the Ukroboronprom State Concern was not even listed in the DefenseNews rating. In 2015, the concern took 92nd position, in 2016 - 68th place, and in mid-2017 it rose to 62nd spot in the ranking. This means one thing - successive progress and deprivation of dependence on the old Soviet military-industrial complex.

In other words, the Ukrainian military industry is increasingly getting integrated into the Western model. For Ukraine this is now another important direction in diversifying and reducing the hybrid impact of the former "fraternal" country, which ultimately only enhances the conditions for its own isolation and moves away from the civilized world.

Yaroslav Dovgopol, Washington
On October 11, 2017, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) will host the Ukrainian-Vietnamese business forum.

Ukrinform learned this from the press service of the UCCI.

The forum will be attended by representatives of the Vietnamese government, who will be able to answer a question regarding the specifics of cooperation with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The event will be attended by Vietnamese entrepreneurs working in such areas as tourism, logistics, light and food industry, agriculture, construction, education, banking.

A photo exhibition will be presented at the forum, which will promote the development of cooperation in the field of tourism.

The entrepreneurs and representatives of departments will meet in a B2B format.

ish
Turkey continues to support Ukraine's territorial integrity and the introduction of a peacekeeping force to Donbas, the Ukrainian president's press secretary, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, has said.

"Ankara continues to support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the introduction of a peacekeeping mission to Donbas," he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.

As reported, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived on an official visit to Ukraine on October 9.

The talks between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Erdogan lasted three hours instead of the scheduled 45 minutes.

The heads of state also chaired the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey.

During the meeting, the sides discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in all strategic directions, as well as issues of international peace and regional security.

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The EU Delegation to Ukraine expects that Ukrainian Pavlo Hryb and other Ukrainian citizens illegally detained and convicted in Russia will be immediately released.

This is stated in the statement made by the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

"The EU Delegation to Ukraine met with Ihor Hryb, the father of Pavlo Hryb, abducted in Gomel, Belarus, on August 24. Pavlo Hryb is now in the pretrial detention center in Krasnodar, the Russian Federation. There is still no clear verdict of guilty against him delivered by the Russian authorities, except for general charges of committing a terrorist act," the statement reads.

As noted, Pavlo Hrybs unreasonable detention poses a serious threat to his health, since he needs special medical treatment that he has not yet been provided with.

"His case is another example of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms that the Russian government is carrying out against the citizens of Ukraine. An illegal abduction of a person in the territory of a third country was also revealed in the case of Pavlo Hryb. We expect that Pavlo Hryb and all other Ukrainian citizens, illegally detained and / or convicted, will be immediately released," the statement of the EU Delegation to Ukraine noted.

As reported, on August 27, a Ukrainian citizen and a former border guard officer, Ihor Hryb, appealed to the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk with a statement that his son, Pavlo, born in 1998, disappeared in Belarus.

On August 24, the young man left Chernihiv for Gomel and disappeared there. Ihor Hryb initially searched for his son in Belarus independently. Police representatives in Gomel reported that his son had been placed on the wanted list by the FSB of the Krasnodar Krai of Russia under an article "terrorist act."

ish
Ukraine is interested in increasing Turkish representation in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and expects Turkey to support the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated this when opening the sixth session of the Ukraine-Turkey High-Level Strategic Council, the presidents press service reported on Monday evening, October 9.

We would be really interested in increasing Turkish representation in the OSCE SMM. We are grateful for a well-coordinated work of the special monitoring mission headed by the Turkish representative. In the near future, Turkey's support for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will be of particular importance to us, Petro Poroshenko emphasized, noting that the given issue had been discussed during the negotiations.

The President also noted that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey is at the very high level, just as the level of trust between the Presidents.

And already not 2.5, but 3 hours we spent with Mr. President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] during the meeting in vis-a-vis format provide all grounds for optimism in the development of all spheres of our bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination, he said.

President Poroshenko also thanked President Erdogan for Turkeys firm support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, and non-recognition of Russian aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea.

iy
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have signed a joint statement following the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey, the press service of the Ukrainian president has reported.

"Today's agreements, of course, will help us raise the scope of our cooperation," Poroshenko said at a press conference following the meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council in Kyiv on Monday.

The head of state also noted that the bilateral agreement on investment protection and the changes made to the agreement on avoidance of double taxation would give an additional impetus to bilateral cooperation.

The Ukrainian and Turkish sides also signed an action plan for the development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Turkey for 2017-2019.

After the meeting of the strategic council, the sides signed a memorandum of cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Diplomatic Academy of Turkey. The document shows the readiness of the two educational institutions to develop cooperation in the educational sphere, promotes the exchange of scientific experience and the development of educational programs between the diplomatic academies of Ukraine and Turkey.

The sides also signed an intergovernmental agreement introducing amendments to the agreement on mutual assistance and protection of investment. The document defines the procedure for facilitating the attraction of mutual investments from Turkey to Ukraine and from Ukraine to Turkey, determines the mechanism of their mutual protection in the territories of both states, and promotes a fair and equal regime of investment.

In addition, the sides signed a protocol between the governments of Ukraine and Turkey on the introduction of amendments to the agreement on avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of tax evasion with respect to taxes on income and property, as well as an implementation protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of Turkey on cooperation in the field of geographic information.

Contracts between Ukrainian and Turkish defense companies were also signed.

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Turkey supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea, and does not recognize its annexation.

President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this after a meeting with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko during a joint briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"During the talks, an agreement was reached on coordination of actions between our countries in the issue of ensuring security of the Black Sea region... I have once again assured Mr. Poroshenko that Turkey will continue to support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea, as well as political consolidation. We did not recognize and do not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea," the President of Turkey said.

He especially noted the support of Ukraine to the Crimean Tatars and assured that Turkey would continue to support the Crimean Tatars issue on the international agenda.

ish
The European Parliament proposes concrete measures in support of the Eastern Partnership countries, particularly Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

This is stated in the draft report approved on Tuesday by the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, which contains recommendations to the Council, the Commission and the EEAS on the Eastern Partnership, in the run-up to the November 2017 Summit, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In particular, the European Parliament supports the creation of the so-called Eastern Partnership+ model for countries, which have made significant progress in implementing the reforms aimed at rapprochement with the EU, that would include joining the customs union and Schengen area, further EU internal market access, participation in other EU programmes, additional unilateral tariff preferences, the abolition of roaming tariffs.

The document also mentions the establishment of a separate investment window in the form of a trust fund for Ukraine based on the best practices of multi-donor instruments, stressing that this trust fund should focus on private and public investments.

The EP committee also supports further economic reforms in the Eastern Partnership countries, including the liquidation of monopolies, restriction of the role of oligarchs, prevention of money laundering and tax evasion.

In addition, the draft report stresses the need to maintain collective pressure on Russia to solve the conflict in Ukraine through genuine implementation of the Minsk agreements, to re-establishing Ukraines full sovereignty in Crimea, and that of Georgia in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and of Moldova in Transnistria.

The draft report is planned to be voted on at the European Parliament plenary session in November.

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Representatives of the Consular Services of Ukraine and Qatar discuss the issue of liberalization of the visa regime for citizens of both countries.

The Department of Consular Service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry informed this on Facebook.

"On October 10, Director of the Department of Consular Service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Serhii Pohoreltsev met with Director of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the State of Qatar Mohammed Al-Subaie to discuss the issue of liberalization of the visa regime for citizens of both countries, as well as organization of Ukrainian-Qatari consultations on consular issues," the report said.

ish
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said at a meeting with Zakarpattia Regional Governor Hennadiy Moskal that the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU should be reviewed because of the law on education.

Moskal reported this on his official website, noting that "the conversation was held in an informal setting."

"The main topic for discussion was the recent adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the law on education, which caused an ambiguous reaction of the neighbors of Ukraine, members of the European Union," Moskal said.

According to him, a number of provisions of the adopted law do not correspond to international agreements and interstate agreements ratified by Ukraine. "Therefore, Zakarpattia Regional Council appealed to the president of Ukraine with the request to send the law on education for an expert opinion to European institutions. The fact that the law was actually sent to the Venice Commission shows that our appeal was true," Moskal said.

He believes that the level of knowledge of the state language by representatives of national minorities should be improved by increasing the number of hours of the Ukrainian language and improving the teaching methodology. This issue lies in the competence of the Ukrainian Education and Science Ministry.

Szijjarto, in turn, said that the support of the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia (as well as in the regions of other neighboring countries where the Hungarians live) was very important for Hungary and that Hungary would continue to assist the Zakarpattia minority as part of all existing cooperation projects.

At the same time, Szijjarto emphasized the need to review the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and that Hungary, for its part, would initiate this review.

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UNICEF/WHO

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 10 October 2017  A massive cholera immunization campaign started today near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, to protect newly arrived Rohingya and host communities from the life-threatening diarrheal disease. 900 000 doses of the vaccine have been mobilized and are being delivered by more than 200 mobile vaccination teams, making it the second largest oral cholera vaccination campaign ever.



The campaign, which is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, is being held in Ukhiya and Teknaf, where more than half a million people have arrived from across the border since August, joining vast numbers already residing in a series of settlements and camps.



The first round of the campaign will cover 650,000 people aged one year and older. The second round will commence on 31 October and will target 250,000 children between one and five years with an additional dose of the vaccine for added protection.



This is the second largest oral vaccination campaign in the world after Haiti in 2016, says Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh. Cholera is a dangerous disease, especially among children living in cramped, unhygienic conditions. Prevention is essential.



In the last week, at least 10,292 cases of diarrhoea have been reported and treated from across the settlements and camps. WHO has warned of the potential for an outbreak of cholera.



UNICEF and WHO are supporting the Ministry of Health with planning, distribution, volunteer orientation, operational costs and monitoring.



Emergency vaccination saves lives. The risk of cholera is clear and present, and the need for decisive action apparent, says Dr. N Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Bangladesh. WHO is committed to mobilizing its full technical and operational capacity to support the Ministry and our partners to protect, promote and secure the health of this immensely vulnerable population.



In Ukhiya 150 teams have been deployed to vaccinate the target population, while 55 teams have been deployed in Teknaf. Each team is comprised of five members.

Though vaccination can provide life-saving protection against cholera, it supplements but does not replace other traditional cholera control measures such as access to clean water, adequate sanitation and good hygiene.



To help meet present water, sanitation and hygiene needs, UNICEF is working to scale up its interventions and communication on safe practices, and is prepositioning critical supplies for case management. WHO is monitoring water quality and working with the Department of Public Health Engineering to increase local laboratory capacity, has raised an early warning, alert and response emergency surveillance system, and has prepositioned life-saving supplies to ensure a rapid response if and when an outbreak occurs. In addition, the WHO-led Health Sector has supported the Ministry set up diarrhea treatment centres among other response-oriented interventions.



###



Notes for editors:

Broadcast quality photos and videos available here



For further information please contact:



Jean Jacques Simon, UNICEF Bangladesh, jsimon@unicef.org, +880 01713043478

AM Sakil Faizullah, UNICEF Bangladesh, asfaizullah@unicef.org +880 1713 049900

Faria Selim, UNICEF Bangladesh, fselim@unicef.org +880 1817 586 096

Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF Spokesperson in Geneva, cboulierac@unicef.org, +41 799639244

Joe English, UNICEF New York, jenglish@unicef.org +1 917 893 0692

Michael Vurens van Es, WHO, in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, vurensm@who.int +880 1730 032 329

Shamila Sharma, WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, sharmasha@who.int +91 9818287256
Cambodias interior ministry has ordered officials to report on the activities of civil society groups and grassroots associations and said it will stop planned events if they are deemed a threat to national security.

In a letter from the ministry distributed on October 2, the ministry said officials should report on the nature of activity at least three days prior to any planned event.

The increased pressure on civil society comes amid a widespread crackdown on political freedoms that have seen the leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Kem Sokha, jailed on questionable charges and legal proceedings launched that could see the CNRP dissolved.

Officials are legally allowed to stop public gatherings from taking place only in extreme circumstances, but in practice, the law has been used by authorities to stop civil society events which the government opposes on political grounds, including documentary screenings and charity bike rides.

Under the recently passed Law on Associations and NGOs, civil society groups are not required to report their daily activities to the government.

Khieu Sopheak, an interior spokesman, said on Monday that it was illegal for NGOs to be involved in organizing protests, without referring to what part of Cambodian jurisprudence prohibited NGOs from organizing protest events.

If they are involved in such activities, they would break the Law on Peaceful Demonstrations. We should look up the law and see what we can do, he said.

Yoeung Sotheara, a legal officer with election watchdog Comfrel, said that while NGOs and associations were obliged to notify the authorities if they were planning to hold a public event, they did not have to ask for permission.

The order of the interior ministry is contradictory to the constitution and seriously threatens peoples freedom of expression, he said.

Soeung Sen Karona, a rights worker with local group Adhoc, which regularly sends observers to demonstrations as witnesses, agreed. I think that it undermines the peoples freedom of expression and is a concern for some organizations regarding their activities. They will have a hard time to fulfill their duties to help people.
Cambodias Supreme Court is considering the dissolution of the countrys main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, following a request from the interior ministry.



The interior ministry on Friday lodged a complaint with the court after the ministry said it had received two separate complaints from the Cambodian Youth Party and Funcinpec. Under recent amendments to the political parties law the court can dissolve the opposition if it finds that the party has associated with convicted felons or conspired against the national interest.



The CNRP president, Kem Sokha, is currently in jail on charges of treason while several senior officials and Prime Minister Hun Sen have alleged the party was involved in a plot to topple the government.



Ky Tech, a lawyer for Hun Sen, told reporters on Friday that the interior ministrys legal team had sent 21 pieces of evidence that it believes proves the CNRP has violated the law and thus should be dissolved.



As a lawyer representing the Ministry of Interior, and according to the investigation and consideration [of the evidence], it can be seen that the evidence is sufficient for the court to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party, he said.



The dissolution of the CNRP could leave the Cambodian Peoples Party unopposed in parliament. The CNRP currently holds 55 of the National Assemblys 123 seats, with the ruling CPP holding the other 68.



So Chantha, a political scientist, said the dissolution of the CNRP would undermine democracy in Cambodia. I think Cambodia will be punished, especially by the big democratic countries around the world, he added.



Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia division, said in a statement on Friday that the government was turning next years general election into a bad joke.



Make no mistake, the dissolution of the CNRP is a done deal because the Supreme Court is totally controlled by the ruling CPP party and the judges will perform exactly as Hun Sen orders. This is a strongman's coup detat, with Hun Sen shamelessly transforming himself into a dictator for the whole world to see, he said.



Khieu Sopheak, interior ministry spokesman, said that if the court decides to dissolve the CNRP, its 55 sitting MPs would be out of a job.



Son Chhay, CNRP chief whip, could not be reached for comment. In recent weeks, numerous CNRP officials have left the country fearing arrest.
The European Union and rights groups have said that Cambodias move to dissolve the opposition party would undermine the credibility of elections next year and deal a severe blow to democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

The government on Friday filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against the Cambodia National Rescue Party, prompting the E.U. to describe the development as very worrying.

The enforced removal from the political scene of a party that won more than 40 percent of the popular vote in the recent commune and sangkat elections would be a serious blow to democracy in Cambodia and would undermine the credibility of the current election process. We urge the Government of Cambodia to reconsider," it said.

The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday echoed the E.U. statement in an email to VOA Khmer and called for the release of jailed CNRP president Kem Sokha.

We are aware of press reports that the Cambodian Ministry of Interior filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court requesting the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Arend Zwartjes, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, wrote in an email.

Genuine competition is essential to democracy and to the legitimacy of Cambodias 2018 national elections. We urge the government to consider the serious implications of this action. We renew our call that the leader of the CNRPKem Sokhabe released from prison, he added.

Sok Eysan, ruling Cambodian Peoples Party spokesman, said the appeals would not deter the courts from dissolving the CNRP if it was found to have broken the law, which prohibits political parties from associating with convicted criminals.

I think there is no choice but to implement the law to improve democracy, he said.

Khieu Sopheak, an interior spokesman, declined to comment, but Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said Cambodia was a sovereign and independent country and not subject to any regime or under colonialism of any NGO or country.

Separately, Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called the move a naked grab for total power.

Governments that still insist Cambodia is democratically ruled should act to reverse this development or share the blame for democracys demise under Hun Sens autocratic rule, said James Ross, its legal and policy director.

The Supreme Court is likely to uphold the complaint as the judiciary has historically operated at the behest of the ruling party.

The move comes amid a widespread crackdown on dissent ahead of the election, which has seen independent media targeted and a U.S.-funded democracy promotion group told to leave the country.

A defiant Sam Rainsy, the exiled former leader of the CNRP, told supporters in Italy last week that the crackdown would only provoke anger among Cambodians and while it would ensure the CPP won next years election his victory over such an election has no value, apparently referring to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Calls for foreign intervention in Cambodia in light of an ongoing crackdown on dissent are growing as the Khmer diaspora seeks ways to bring attention to the unfolding political crisis.

Hong Lim, a Cambodian-Australian member of the Victorian legislative assembly, joined calls for further intervention while on a mission in the United States.

He said only intervention from the international community could pressure the government into curtailing its moves to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party and roll back the freedom of civil society.

We have to remember that the Paris Peace Accord was created because the international community saw the then Hun Sens government installed by the Vietnamese as illegitimate, he said, referring to the U.N.-brokered agreement that ended Cambodias civil war in 1991.

Therefore if Mr. Hun Sen continues to pressure the opposition till they are not able to compete equally and freely, the new government from this election will be illegitimate again.

Protests against the arrest of the CNRP president, Kem Sokha, last month broke out in far-flung places such as Japan, South Korea, and Germany, as well as countries with large Cambodian expatriate communities, such as the United States, Australia, and France.

Lim said the scale and coordination of the protests showed that Cambodias diaspora communities had matured. We are now more organized. We are now more conscious about the need to act together.

He added that he would retire from Australian politics at the end of the current term of office, in November 2018, to focus on uniting the Cambodian diaspora.

I would say that with my knowledge, with my experience as a member of parliament, with my involvement very intensively with my political party I have so much to offer in terms of advising, he said.

We have more voices, and theyre depending on us to reflect their aspiration, their concern, their wishes to be heard of.

Ben Bao, president of Cambodian Community Day, a community network, who attended a gathering with Lim in Washington on Friday, agreed that the diaspora communities needed to unite in the face of what is happening in Cambodia.

Personally, I believe that we dont have someone whom everybody could pay attention to when he speaks, he said. If Hong Lim can play a role to coordinate among them all with good intention by listening to others and basing his decision on justice, I believe that Cambodian people will respect him.

Vannak Men, a community organizer in Lowell, MA, said a figure such as Lim, with a respectable background in politics in a western democracy, could help push the international community to take action.

This is a good initiative that I really appreciate, he said. We are happy to cooperate and work together with him. We welcome his recommendations.
Standing next to newly erected tents clustered on a hillside, Abdul Malek explains one of the biggest problems facing the more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar for the relative safety of Bangladesh.

Finding a bathroom

Until three days ago, we faced many difficulties with the toilet, said Malek, a Rohingya man from Myanmars northern Rakhine State, where fighting erupted on Aug.25 when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked security forces, prompting an exodus over the border that a top United Nations Human Rights official called a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

By many difficulties, Malek meant there was no toilet, and answering natures call involved wandering down into a field below. In the past week, however, a new latrine was installed by the U.N. refugee agency.

Though the toilet serves the needs of hundreds of people, creating long lines in the morning, its better than nothing.

Now, its okay, he said.

As Rohingya continue to pour into refugee camps and whatever open land can be found in Coxs Bazar district in southern Bangladesh, fears of waterborne diseases such as cholera, which can spread through contaminated drinking sources, are growing by the day.

The problem is compounded because the camps and new settlements are heavily congested areas with large numbers of children who have weakened immune systems.

To help combat a potential health emergency, aid groups are hurriedly installing thousands of tube wells for clean drinking water and as many latrines as they can.

Asif Saleh, a senior director with the Bangladeshi relief organization BRAC, said it was targeting installation of 15,000 latrines by Oct. 15.

He said building temporary facilities that may last only a month was more important than constructing permanent structures, as the current settlements themselves are not permanent. So far it has set up 4,600 latrines.

We need to get people to use toilets, as fast as we can, as much as we can expand, that is the goal, rather than doing longer-term initiatives, which will take much longer to do per toilet, he said. I think the biggest typical emergency situation risk is on health risks. And a lot of the diseases spread from open defecation and not having access to clean water. Currently we have the risk that cholera might break out.

Health concerns

Cholera has not been detected yet, but there are other worrisome signs regarding sanitation-related health problems.

The number of patients visiting BRACs mobile clinics with diarrhea and dysentery has risen from two percent to almost 20 percent, Saleh said.

Vivian Tan, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in an email that to date the organization and its partners have installed 500 latrines serving some 25,000 people, mainly in the now-extended section of the Kutupalong camp. UNHCR has also installed tube wells providing nearly 37,000 refugees with access to clean water.

The work is ongoing amid land constraints and we hope to improve the ratio of facilities accessible to each family as soon as we can, Tan said.

An additional safeguard for controlling the spread of cholera is vaccination.

With support from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, Bangladeshs Ministry of Health rolled out an ambitious oral cholera vaccination campaign on Tuesday at many of the settlement sites in the Cox's Bazar sub-districts of Ukhia and Tekhnaf.

According to UNICEF spokesperson Jean-Jacques Simon, 900,000 doses of the vaccine are in the process of being delivered by mobile teams, and the drive represents the second-largest oral cholera vaccination campaign ever, the first being in Haiti last year.

Simon noted that in the last week alone, nearly 10,300 new cases of diarrhea have been reported.

The initial phase of the vaccination campaign will target more than 650,000 people aged one year and older, while the second part will begin at the end of this month and aim to cover some 250,000 children between the ages of 1 and 5.

But the scope of the humanitarian response and the changing situation on the ground can sometimes brush up against unexpected realities.

For Malek and his neighbors, the installation of the new latrine helped, but not everyone is using it. He explained that the families living in tents surrounding the toilet had recently decided that it would be for women only because they need more privacy.

When asked where men go, he gestured towards the hills and fields.

Were men, we can go anywhere, he said.
Envoys from the United States and Europe have called on Phnom Penh to broaden the space for workers rights in Cambodia following the recent conclusion of minimum wage talks in the vital sector.



Cambodias Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) recently concluded tripartite talks between unions, the government and employers, setting next years minimum wage at $165 per month -- a figure boosted by a customary $5 per month by Prime Minister Hun Sen.



U.S. Ambassador William Heidt and E.U. Ambassador George Edgar announced the move on Facebook after a meeting with Cambodias labor minister, Ith Sam Heng.



The two Ambassadors touched on a range of worker rights issues important to both major brands and their two governments. They reinforced the importance of making clear progress on the recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO) dealing with the rights of workers to choose their own unions, register unions under a fair and transparent process, and settle collective labor disputes in a transparent, time-bound manner, they said in a statement.



Ambassador Heidt noted that, over the years, Cambodias cooperation with its international partners has significantly bolstered the confidence of major brands from the United States and the European Union to source from Cambodia. He noted that continued progress on worker rights issues would be important to maintaining the current level of market access to the United States as well as the confidence of American buyers, according to the statement.



Cambodias garment sector employs some 700,000 people, mostly women, and created exports worth more than $6 billion last year, according to industry figures.



A labor spokesman told pro-government news website Freshnews that despite recent political tensions between Phnom Penh and the West, Europe and the United States would continue to buy Cambodian garments.



Yang Sophoan, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, told VOA that the prevalence of unions in Cambodia - there are several thousand unions registered with the government - was misleading, as the majority were established by employers to placate workers.



Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, called on politicians to end disputes and restore full relations with Western countries to protect Cambodian industries.



The U.S. and E.U. together represent about two thirds of Cambodias garment exports, according to trade data.
Australia's High Court began a three-day hearing on Tuesday to determine the eligibility of seven lawmakers who may hold dual citizenship, a case that could determine whether the government is able to maintain its razor-thin majority.

Australia's parliament was rocked by revelations in August that the seven politicians, including the deputy prime minister and two other Cabinet members in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's coalition government, are dual citizens.

That means they are potentially ineligible to hold elected office under Australia's constitution.

Turnbull's unpopular centre-right government holds just a one-seat majority in parliament, meaning its future could rest on the outcome of the citizenship crisis.

The seven lawmakers accept they were dual nationals at the time of their election last year but the government argues that five of them, including all three Cabinet members, should be cleared because they were unaware that they had contravened the constitutional requirement at the time.

Australian Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue urged the seven justices of the High Court not to interpret the constitution literally.

Donaghue said instead the constitution should only disqualify politicians if they had prior knowledge that they maybe dual citizens but did not take "reasonable steps" to investigate and renounce their second citizenship where needed.

A ruling could come as soon as Thursday.

Should the High Court rule Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the sole lower house lawmaker caught up in the crisis, is ineligible, Turnbull will then need to win the support of one of three independent lawmakers to keep his minority government.

Joyce acquired dual citizenship from his New Zealand-born father. He said in a submission to the court he believed that his father had renounced his New Zealand citizenship before he was born. He did not know until he was 10 that his father was still a New Zealand citizen, Joyce said.

Turnbull's government is already in a minority in the upper house Senate and, should the High Court disqualify all seven lawmakers, he will face a government reshuffle after losing two more Cabinet members who are senators.

Support for Turnbull continues to languish near a six-month low, but political analysts believe he might receive a boost if he is able to win passage of a same-sex marriage bill.

Turnbull's government won High Court approval last month to stage a non-binding postal survey on the issue, which is widely popular among Australians. Results of that poll will be announced on Nov. 15.
As the mass exodus of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh slows, the focus has turned to reuniting families affected by the crisis. Steve Sandford spoke to relief workers and traumatized family members in Cox's Bazar, a fishing port in Bangladesh, about the future prospects for the refugee families.
As the mass exodus of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh slows, the focus has turned to reuniting families affected by the crisis. VOA spoke to relief workers and traumatized family members in Cox's Bazar, a fishing port in Bangladesh, about the future prospects for the refugee families.

Injured victims of the ongoing military crackdown in Myanmar outnumber the beds here at the main hospital in Coxs Bazar.

Few families have been spared by what many observers are calling textbook ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Myanmars military in Rakhine state.

Six-year-old Fatima broke her leg jumping off the second floor of her burning home to flee a Burmese army attack. Now she barely talks, says her father Muhib Bullah.

"Im feeling sad not only for my child but also for other children who have been killed by the military. The fathers of such children might feel sad for their children like me. The army raped many girls, beat and killed many people," Bulla said.

Many families were torn apart during the perilous journey across the border, leaving many youngsters without guidance and care.

Registering the children and tracing their families is the first priority for aid groups. But with more than 500,000 arrivals, the task is daunting, says Myriem el Khatib of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"Its difficult in terms of restoring family links to follow up on a person because they move a lot and theyre scattered around the different camps from Ookea to Teknaf, so locating them first and maintaining contact with them is complicated," Khatib said.

As injuries get treated, there are also plans for a mental health clinic for families suffering from severe trauma. For Dr. Shaheen Chowdhury of Sadar Hospital the challenge is unprecedented.

We are doctors and we are human beings also and this is totally unbearable the pain they are suffering through. The situation they are going through is totally devastating. I havent seen this type of thing before, Chowdhury said.

While Bangladesh prepares to build up existing camps for more than half a million new arrivals, many remain concerned that the unseen damages will not be looked after.
Americans who work for one of Chinas biggest glass manufacturers are trying to organize a labor union at their factory in the Midwest state of Ohio.

Chinas Fuyao Glass came to Dayton, Ohio, two years ago with $600 million to refurbish a closed automobile plant. The investment added about 2,000 new jobs to the local economy and boosted Fuyaos share of the U.S. auto glass market.

But the factory has also been cited for workplace safety violations that employee Larry Yates Jr. says show different ways of doing business.

How they work in China is not how we work over here in America," he said. "In China, you work seven days a week. You do whatever youre told to do. And in America, you have rules and regulations and guidance that you have to go by. If you dont go by those, youre in trouble.



Federal records show Labor Department inspectors have been to the Fuyao factory more times than to any other similar U.S. plant. The company has been assessed more than $100,000 in penalties for safety and health violations.

Yates says this shows it is time for Fuyao employees to organize with the United Auto Workers union, or UAW.

With the UAW being involved, and them helping us, showing us where to go, which way to go, we can make it a safer place to work," Yates said. "Plus, we would also have a voice on the bargaining table.

Fuyao America President Jeff Liu says the firm cooperates fully with all U.S. safety inspections and modifications. Fuyaos approach, he says, reflects American self-reliance, not organized labor.

In America, we advocate for the American Dream. What is the American Dream? Its relying on yourself," he said. "Its not going to help you by relying on someone else. So whether its a third party or a third person, its not going to work. Were going to do our thing, and do it well. Then well be able to achieve what you need.

Fuyao is looking for ways to bridge the gap between a Chinese company and an American community. At the same time, people are also watching: Is Fuyao committed to the Dayton area? Do they care about the people who work for them?

The company is funding a $1 million local charity to demonstrate its commitment to the community.

Were talking about cultural clash, right?" said Dewang Cao, chairman of Fuyao Glass. "Lots of American companies set up philanthropic foundations. For a company, participating in community events and charitable works is a moral obligation, as well as a social responsibility.

Fuyao employee Wendel Rutledge says while he knows about the charity, he would rather have help paying for his daughters college. But he does not believe a union is the answer.

What do you need a union for? The rules are rules," said Rutledge. "Thats just me. I dont believe everybodys rules are the same. This is America. Everybodys going to be here sooner or later. We are all going to learn to adapt to the rules and the lifestyles.

Union backers need signatures from 30 percent of production workers to vote for organizing. Fuyao has formed a new safety committee to hear employee concerns and earlier this year gave production workers a $2-an-hour raise.
Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighborhoods.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the 10 deadliest in California history, and the death toll is expected to grow.

Fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire trucks raced by smoldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

One of the homes that was reduced to ash had a Mercedes Benz in the garage. Two cars parked across the street were untouched.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area. Two were in critical condition and one was in serious condition. The number of injured is expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid. One neighborhood of older homes was scorched, leaving only brick chimneys and downed power lines.

Residents who gathered at emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

"All that good stuff, I'm never going to see it again,'' said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighborhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

In the rush to leave, Okrepkie and his wife were able to gather important documents, photos and mementos, like letters from his wife's late father. Still, Okrepkie was tortured by the things he left behind, including a framed photo of his grandfather that his grandmother had carried with her for a decade after he died.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away. The causes of the fires were unknown.

Winds have posed a challenge to firefighters in the state this year despite a relatively wet winter that followed years of drought. The fires that broke out Sunday burned ``at explosive rates'' because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires. What was unusual Sunday, however, was to have so many fires take off at the same time.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties. Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Orange County burned at least half a dozen homes and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate. Brown also declared a state of emergency for Orange County.

The inferno in Northern California blackened miles along Highway 12, one of the main gateways into wine country.

Wooden fence posts and guard rails burned fiercely. Thick smoke roiled from the JR Cohn winery.

The fires also damaged the Silverado Resort in Napa and a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa.

Guests told to flee

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1 a.m., and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

"We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe,'' Hoe said.

They returned in the morning to find the hotel had been destroyed along with most of their possessions. Hoe was relieved he had taken his passport and a few essential items.

Santa Rosa lost a Kmart, restaurants, businesses and homes.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the center's sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen. Emergency workers leapt from their cars to aid the evacuation.

Crews got the more than 200 people from the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Mike Turpen, 38, was at a bar in Glen Ellen early Monday when a stranger wearing a smoke mask ran in and yelled that there was a fire. Turpen raced home through flames in his Ford F-250.

"It was like Armageddon was on,'' Turpen said. "Every branch of every tree was on fire.''

He stayed to try to defend his own rental home.

By late morning, Turpen, wearing shorts, a kerchief mask and goggles, was the last man standing for miles along one abandoned road. His yard and all those around him were burned, smoking and still flaming in a few spots. But his home was still standing.
Leaders of the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions were meeting in Cairo Tuesday under the auspices of the Egyptian government amid high hopes that both sides would finally reach a reconciliation deal after a 10-year schism

Top officials from the two Palestinian factions have been mulling the details of an Egyptian draft reconciliation deal, as both sides appear to be inching closer to an agreement that would bring the Hamas-run Gaza Strip back under the control of a Palestinian unity government. Egyptian intelligence officials, who have been pressing both sides for a compromise, have kept a tight lid on information filtering out of the talks.

Egyptian media quoted Fatah delegate to the talks Azzam Ahmed as saying the "key issue now is to allow the Palestinian government [led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah] to take the reins of control over Gaza, along with the implementation of a 2011 reconciliation agreement." That agreement failed, amid bickering on both sides.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told journalists in Gaza that Hamas' priorities in reaching a deal were resolving a festering economic crisis, along with finding a solution to security concerns.

He said that Hamas' main concerns are humanitarian ones, such as the electricity crisis in Gaza, along with the issue of paying the salaries of unpaid government employees in addition to resolving the dispute over the control of border posts.

Hamas has refused until now to allow Fatah security forces or European Union monitors to exercise control over Gaza's main border post with Egypt at Rafah, as per a 2005 agreement with Israel. Hamas purged Fatah officials and security forces from the administration of Gaza in 2007.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri raised one potential sticking point with both Egypt and Israel, telling Arab media that "the arms of the Palestinian 'resistance' are not negotiable." Various armed Palestinian factions continue to control swaths of turf inside Gaza and occasionally lob rockets into Israel.

Another point of contention, according to Egyptian mediators, is what to do with some 50,000 government employees and security forces whom Hamas hired since it broke with Fatah in 2007. Fatah would like to see many, if not most of those employees, laid off.

Discussions are also taking place over the issue of holding fresh Palestinian elections some time next year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is defending the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee, accusing him of being a spy.

"How did these spies infiltrate the American consulate? If they didn't infiltrate the American consulate, who put them there?'' Erdogan said, speaking Tuesday alongside Serbia's president in Belgrade. "No state would allow such spies that pose an internal threat.''

Last week, Turkey arrested Metin Topuz, a U.S. consulate employee and Turkish national, accusing him of regular communication with alleged leading members of what Turkey has deemed a terrorist network blamed for a failed coup against Erdogan last year. Turkey has said it will also be questioning a second consulate employee.

The arrest led to a diplomatic feud between the two countries in recent days. Following the arrest, the U.S. embassy in Ankara announced that it would temporary halt all non-immigrant visa applications - a move that was quickly mirrored by Turkey.

A statement Sunday from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara said, "Recent events have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. Mission facilities and personnel." The statement did not say how long the suspension would last.

The statement added, "In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey."

Hours later, Turkey retaliated by announcing its own suspension of visa services in the United States, using language that parroted the U.S. statement and reasons for the halt.

Applicants for these visas said that upon going to the embassy for their appointments, they were simply given a piece of paper instructing them to call a phone number for more information.

"I came here for my appointment, which was confirmed, I want to reiterate that," Ali Guney, a visa applicant, told VOA Turkish.

"But the security gave me this paper, saying we can contact them via the phone number written on it and get information. Ive called this number over and over again but dont have any results. A voicemail operator answers, no real person behind, and no one gives any further information in the consulate. I dont know what I am going to do, just sitting in this cafe, waiting."

Omer Yavuz, who had planned to travel to Houston, Texas to visit his cousin, said he also was told to call the number but has received no response.

"No one is giving any complete information," he said, adding that he anticipates having to cancel his plans.

VOA Turkish contributed to this report.
The European Union and rights groups say the Cambodian government's move to dissolve the main opposition party would be a serious blow to democracy and undermine the credibility of elections next year.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the government of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen is making a "naked grab for total power."



Cambodia's government took initial legal steps last week to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party, its latest move to kneecap the opposition ahead of next year's general election.



Two minor political parties believed to be operating on behalf of the government asked the Supreme Court to disband the opposition on the ground that it was allegedly involved in a plot to topple Hun Sen's administration.



Human Rights Watch along with other rights groups and the European Union are calling on the government to drop the court case.



"Governments that still insist Cambodia is democratically ruled should act to reverse this development, or share the blame for democracy's demise under Hun Sen's autocratic rule," Human Rights Watch said. An EU statement said the situation is "very worrying" and urged the government to reconsider the legal steps.



The CNRP is the only party aside from the ruling Cambodian People's Party with representatives in parliament, and no third party comes close in terms of popularity and support. The CNRP posed an unexpectedly strong challenge in 2013's general election and the government has since taken steps to tighten its grip on power.



The CNRP has denied seeking to unlawfully or violently overthrow the government, saying the charge is politically motivated.



If the Supreme Court finds the opposition party guilty of violating the Political Party Law, not only would it be dissolved, but its leaders would be banned from involvement in politics for five years.



The court is likely to uphold the complaint, since the country's judiciary is widely considered to operate at the behest of Hun Sen.



Son Chhay, a senior opposition politician, said millions of Cambodians support the CNRP and the ruling party should resume dialogue with it rather than taking steps that will damage Cambodia's reputation.



In other recent moves that tightened the grip of Hun Sen's government, an independent English-language newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, was shut down after being accused of not paying a huge tax bill, an assessment it strongly disputed.



More than a dozen radio stations that broadcast dissident voices or used programming from the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia were forced to stop broadcasting for alleged breach of regulations.
European Union Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday that Brexit negotiations will not move to the next stage focused on trade relations before December at the earliest  not later this month, as Britain was hoping.

Tusk bemoaned the slow pace of divorce negotiations with London and said it was still far too early to move to the next phase of planning a new trade relationship because the initial breakup talks have yet to reach sufficient progress.

We are negotiating in good faith, and we still hope that the so-called sufficient progress will be possible by December, Tusk said.



He added that if it turns out that the talks continue at a slow pace, then together with our U.K. friends we will have to think about where we are heading. He did not elaborate.

Divorce talks are in fifth round

Negotiators are holding a fifth round of talks this week on divorce proceedings, centered on the rights of citizens in each others nations once the breakup is complete, the border between Ireland and the U.K. and the financial commitments Britain will have to pay.

As a compromise on those issues remains elusive, both sides have said the onus is on the other to take the initiative. On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted the ball is in their court.

When asked about it following his lunch with his British counterpart David Davis, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier chided journalists chasing him and said: Brexit is not a game. Dont forget it.

More than a year has passed since Britain voted to leave the EU, and six months since Britain triggered the two-year countdown to its EU exit.

May hints talks may not be completed

On Monday, May said the U.K. was planning for the possibility that the two-year negotiating period might end without a deal.

Critics have accused the government of failing to prepare for a no deal Brexit, which would mean an end to tariff-free trade with the EU and would be a shock to the British economy.

May focused on a 'good deal'

May said Tuesday Britain wanted to strike a good deal with the EU, but we have teams of people working on every possible outcome.

If there is no deal, we have to be prepared for it, she told LBC radio.

Tusk insisted the EU is hoping to avoid that.



We hear from London that the U.K. government is preparing for a no deal scenario. I would like to say very clearly that the EU is not working on such a scenario, the EU leader insisted.
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is accused of raping three women in a report published Tuesday by the New Yorker. The accusation comes as Weinstein is engulfed in a scandal involving his decades-long sexual harassment of women in the film industry.

Actresses Asia Argento and Lucia Evans went on-the-record in the New Yorker story to accuse Weinstein of raping them, while another woman chose to remain anonymous.

According to the report, 13 women accused Weinstein of sexually harassing or assaulting them. Several of those accusations were previously reported by the New York Times, which published a story last week detailing eight sexual assault claims against Weinstein. All of those accusations resulted in financial settlements.

Among the accusers are some of Hollywood's A-listers, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette.

The New Yorker story says 16 current and former employees as the Weinstein Co. and Miramax either witnessed of knew of Weinsteins sexual abuse. According to the report, all of those employees said Weinsteins sexual deviancy was widely known within the two companies.

Weinstein was fired by the board of the Weinstein Co. on Monday following the explosive Times report.

The 65-year-old Weinstein oversaw production of many popular films over the last 30 years, including "Shakespeare in Love," "Pulp Fiction," "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "The English Patient," "Good Will Hunting" and "Lee Daniels' The Butler." He ran Miramax and later the Weinstein movie companies with his brother Bob Weinstein.

His fall came quickly after Times reported on his unwanted sexual advances on women stretching over nearly three decades. The story said Weinstein, who is known in Hollywood for his demanding control of film productions and angry outbursts, had paid confidential settlements to his female accusers.

In a statement last week, Weinstein said that "the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it." Later, he claimed some of the newspaper's claims were false and said he would sue for defamation.

Immediate termination

Weinstein took a leave of absence from his company on Friday, but on Sunday the board said that "in light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days," it had told him that "his employment is terminated, effective immediately."

Weinstein has been big donor in recent years to Democratic politicians in the U.S., including twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. But with the sexual harassment revelations, Democratic political figures scrambled over the weekend to distance themselves from the disgraced filmmaker.

Several Democrat politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have promised to donate money they received from Weinstein to charities supporting women.

Clinton broke her silence on the matter on Tuesday, saying she was "shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein." "The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated," she added in a statement.

"Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status," former President Barack Obama said in a statement Tuesday. "We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories."

President Donald Trump said over the weekend hes known Harvey Weinstein for a long time and he is not at all surprised by the sexual abuse allegations.

Matt Damon's first film, "Good Will Hunting," won him his first Oscar after Weinstein took a chance on a script from Damon and fellow unknown, Ben Affleck.

"We know this stuff goes on in the world. I did five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this," Damon told CNN's Deadline in an interview published Tuesday.

He added later in the interview: "This morning, I just feel absolutely sick to my stomach."
An Egyptian has been honored with one of the most prestigious awards granted to human rights defenders but was unable to accept the prize in person because his government has banned him from travel over his work documenting abuses.

Mohamed Zaree is one of several prominent Egyptian activists and human rights workers who are banned from travel over allegations of harming national security, part of a wide-scale crackdown on dissent that has stamped out much of the country's once-vibrant civil society.

The Martin Ennals award is given out by 10 of the world's leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to recognize outstanding work done at great personal risk. Zaree's wife and daughters accepted it on his behalf at a ceremony in Geneva.

Zaree said he hoped the award would offer some protection to him and other members of Egypt's dwindling human rights community, nearly all of whom face prosecution under sweeping laws targeting those accused of "undermining national unity."

"We are all banned from traveling, and some have had their bank accounts frozen," he told The Associated Press. "There is a danger for myself and my colleagues, but I believe the biggest danger is when the victims of human rights violations are denied their last hope."

Zaree, 37, leads activities in Egypt for the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, which focuses on the Arab world. The group moved its base to Tunisia in 2014 after Egypt unleashed a wave of repression against such organizations following the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president the previous year.

High-profile cases

The group has handled high-profile cases, including that of Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi, who had established a foundation to aid street children in 2013 and was jailed on charges of child abuse that were dismissed as bogus by human rights groups and U.S. officials. She was released and allowed to return to the U.S. earlier this year after nearly three years in prison.

The award, named after a former head of Britain-based Amnesty, is among the most prestigious in the field. The other finalists were El Salvador transgender woman and activist Karla Avelar, and the FreeThe5KH group  five human rights defenders who were recently released after more than a year in pretrial detention in Cambodia.

In Geneva, award founder Hans Thoolen celebrated Zaree's "heroic" behavior in "holding the fort" nearly alone amid the crackdown on human rights organizations.

"There was a very clear understanding that the Egyptian regime seems to be emboldened by the lack of action in the U.N. and by major states," he said.

Local human rights organizations and other civil society groups played a major role in documenting abuses under President Hosni Mubarak, who resigned in the face of a popular uprising in 2011 after nearly three decades in power. Such groups continued to operate until the military overthrew his successor, the freely elected but divisive Mohammed Morsi, two years later.

But Egypt's current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who led Morsi's overthrow, has presided over the heaviest crackdown in decades. Authorities have jailed tens of thousands, mainly Islamist supporters of Morsi but also several prominent secular activists.

The government has also pressed ahead with a law that would place heavy restrictions on civil society groups, which pro-government media outlets routinely portray as part of a foreign plot to destabilize the country.

'Darkest time' for Egypt

"There is no comparison  it's the darkest time Egypt has ever seen for human rights," Zaree said. He said that under Mubarak "it was a fight to defend the space we had."

"Now it's a fight for our very existence  the current regime doesn't want to deal with any human rights organizations, political parties, activists or journalists," he said.

Last month, Ibrahim Metwally, a prominent rights lawyer who focused on the issue of forced disappearances, was himself arrested in secret, with authorities not acknowledging his detention until days later. He remains in custody on charges of "spreading false news." Metwally's son went missing during clashes at an Islamist protest in 2013 and has not been seen since.

Police have also launched a crackdown targeting gay men after a rainbow flag was waved at a concert last month, charging over two dozen individuals with violating laws on public decency.

The United States, which provides Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in mainly military aid, moved to halt or delay the transfer of nearly $300 million earlier this year, citing the country's poor human rights record. But President Donald Trump has also praised el-Sissi as an ally against terrorism, and European countries still offer Egypt generous financing for advanced weapons systems.

As the award ceremony began in Geneva, Zaree, who was stuck in Cairo, called on Egypt's foreign backers to do more to press for change, saying "security and human rights cannot be separated."

"It is the basis of stability  countries with economic and military relations with Egypt should make sure that the weapons they sell it are not used in human rights violations," he said. "There must be oversight that ensures these weapons are not used against peaceful civilians."
As the Indian capital, New Delhi, battles deadly air pollution, it might be missing the customary fireworks during the Hindu festival of lights, following a temporary ban imposed by the Supreme Court on the sale of firecrackers



The order has raised a firestorm in the city of about 18 million as it gears up for Diwali on October 19. Complaining that the order strikes at the heart of a quintessential Hindu tradition, critics compared it to banning Christmas trees on Christmas. Jubilant supporters pointed out that the top priority is the health of citizens in a city where the air turns toxic at this time of the year because of slower winds and colder temperatures that trap more pollution.

Lets try at least one Diwali without firecrackers, said one judge as the court announced the order Monday. The Supreme Court ban is not new  it was also imposed last year, but only after the festival, when New Delhi was already enveloped in a haze of smog.



The ban was partially lifted last month as Diwali approached, but it has been reimposed in connection with a public interest lawsuit on behalf of three children who are seeking the courts intervention to better clean up Delhis toxic air.



Supporters of the ban hope the preemptive measure will prevent pollution from reaching levels of last year, when air quality was nearly 20 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organization in the days following the festival. Many people became sick and that led city authorities to impose emergency measures such as closing schools.



But opponents of the ban, who question why only firecrackers are being targeted, say it is more important to tackle the year-round contributors to Delhis filthy air, such as the city's massive vehicle fleet and the burning of crop stubble in neighboring states that worsens air quality. Setting off firecrackers for a few hours, they say, will not diminish the city's air pollution problem.



Environmental experts, however, point out the measure would help at a time when the air is already saturated with pollutants.



Indias environment minister, Harsh Vardhan, welcomed the order and urged people to abide by it and give green Diwali and our environment a chance.



But there were sharp divisions. Some in his Hindu nationalist party voiced anger at what they saw as a blow to an age old Hindu custom. Diwali is known as the festival of lights, when homes are decorated with oil lamps, but it is also customary to set off firecrackers at night.

Pointing out that the ban only covered the sale and not the lighting of firecrackers, a BJP spokesperson in the state unit in Delhi, Tajinder Singh Bagga, vowed not to give up his annual custom of distributing firecrackers among slum children in the city. He says he got a massive response from social media. When I tweeted yesterday we are going to distribute, many people sent the message we also want to distribute, because of this ban, because people were in anger.



A popular author, Chetan Bhagat, compared the ruling to banning Christmas trees on Christmas and tweeted "Regulate. Don't ban. Respect traditions."



It is unclear who will win out on Diwali day  environmentalists, thousands of ordinary citizens and school children, who have conducted campaigns for several years to abandon the tradition and rejoice in other ways or diehard enthusiasts, who say the order has left the door open for them to bring in firecrackers from neighboring towns.



No one, however, including the critics, dispute that Delhis air pollution needs urgent attention. A 2015 study said that the lungs of half the children in the city have been damaged due to the toxic air. Doctors also link the dirty air to a rise in respiratory diseases and heart attacks and advise elderly people to leave the city in winter.



After last years experience, city authorities have put in place an action plan starting Sunday to tackle any alarming rise in pollution levels. That will include banning trucks from the city, halting construction activity and restricting traffic.
Indian women over the age of 45 and traveling in groups of four will be able to go for the Islamic haj pilgrimage without a male guardian next year, if the government adopts proposed reforms.

Women meeting these criteria will no longer have to be accompanied by a mahram, or close male relative, such as a father, husband, brother or son, a government-appointment panel recommended in the countrys first haj policy review.

The mahram rule was there from the very beginning for women  in case they face any difficulty while traveling, it can be taken care of, said Maqsood Ahmed Khan of the Haj Committee of India, a government body which organises the pilgrimages. This (dropping of male kin) is an important recommendation, the chief executive told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Nearly half of pilgrims are women

Nearly half of an estimated 170,000 pilgrims who went for the annual religious celebration in Saudi Arabia from India this year were women, officials said.

The panel of bureaucrats and intellectuals was appointed by the ministry of minority affairs to review Indias haj policy for the first time.

Officials from the ministry, which will decide whether to adopt the recommendations, were not available for comment.

The policy would cover the next five years from 2018 and is in line with Saudi Arabia's haj requirements.

Changes are not enough

Womens rights campaigners welcomed the proposal but said it did not go far enough.

Muslim women are traveling across the world independently, said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, which campaigns for Muslim womens rights and won a ban on an instant divorce law in August. While this is a good decision, the restrictions on age and group size should go.

If the new rule is implemented, solo women will no longer have to pay private tour operators to provide them with a mahram for a fee of 10,000 Indian rupees ($153.29), campaigners said.
The Italian government on Tuesday called for confidence votes in the lower house of parliament to try to force through an electoral law that is likely to penalize the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

The new voting law, which would be used in a national election due by next May, is backed by the ruling Democratic Party (PD), former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the anti-migrant Northern League.

Unlike the current rules, the new system, known as the Rosatellum, would allow the formation of broad coalitions before the ballot, a factor likely to hurt the maverick 5-Star, which refuses to join alliances.

The party, which tops many opinion polls, says the Rosatellum could cost it up to 50 seats in parliament. It has called for protests on Wednesday, when the lower house is due to hold two confidence motions. A third vote is set for Thursday.

"This is a mortal blow to democracy, a violation of democratic laws," said Luigi Di Maio, the 5-Star's candidate for prime minister. "The aim is to destroy us."

Italy's political landscape is highly fragmented and successive governments have failed to reduce the nation's huge debt mountain and struggled to revive the economy. Investors fear political instability here could undermine the euro.

President Sergio Mattarella, the only figure with the power to dissolve parliament, has demanded new voting rules be drawn up because at present there is too much divergence between the systems for electing members of the two houses of parliament.

Previous efforts at reform have all ended in failure thanks to a matrix of conflicting interests. The latest version offers a mix of first-past-the-post and proportional representation, and gives party leaders a huge say over nominating candidates.

Although the Rosatellum will likely hurt 5-Star, analysts say it looks unlikely to throw up a clear parliamentary majority, with opinion polls showing the center-left, center-right and 5-Star splitting the vote three ways.

A government is obliged to resign if it loses a confidence vote, so only deploys the motion if it thinks key legislation might get held up or radically altered without its intervention.

In this case, the government motions will sweep away dozens of secret votes on various aspects of the law, which would have allowed disaffected parliamentarians from the traditional parties to sink the bill, as happened in June during a prior attempt to introduce new electoral rules.

The ruling PD dismissed accusations that it was subverting democracy, saying there would still be one final secret vote on the whole package.

"In this secret vote we will see if the law is good or bad," said Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the PD who has put his name to the reform.

"This is the last chance we have to put in place an electoral law and we want to avoid, just weeks ahead of the ballot, any traps," he told reporters.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni hopes to get the bill through the lower house of parliament by the end of the week, after which it will go to the upper house Senate, where the government has no clearly defined majority.
A Japanese court has ordered millions of dollars in payments to thousands of residents living near the Fukushima nuclear plant after they lost their homes and livelihoods during the 2011 radiation crisis caused by a tsunami.

The court ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which ran the Fukushima plant, to pay $4.5 million to 3,800 plaintiffs after it said the company failed to make safety improvements, even though leaders there knew the risk a massive tsunami would pose to the plant.

The ruling marks the end of the biggest class action lawsuit so far stemming from the nuclear plant disaster. Dozens of similar lawsuits involving 12,000 people are still pending.

The court supported the plaintiffs argument that the disaster could have been avoided had TEPCO moved the emergency diesel generators located in its basement to a higher spot and made its reactor buildings water tight, based on a 2002 study that recommended those changes.

The 2011 tsunami damaged the cooling system for the nuclear reactor and flooded backup generators that could have kept the plant functional after it was hit by a massive wave that followed an earthquake.

Nuclear Regulation Authority spokesman Kazuhiro Okuma reacted to the court ruling by saying he was unsure whether the government would appeal the decision.

The ruling follows a similar March court decision that forced the government and TEPCO to pay $336,000 to 62 former Fukushima residents. In another ruling last month, a court ordered TEPCO to pay $3.4 million to around 45 former Fukushima residents.
More than a week after gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 others, investigators in Las Vegas still have no motive for the attack and say figuring out why it happened remains their top goal.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Monday that Paddock hid his actions in the time leading up to the shootings, which is making the process of seeking answers more difficult.

But he said local police officers are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the probe that involves behavioral analysts, repeat visits to Paddock's homes, analysis of his electronics and the ongoing work at the shooting site on the Las Vegas Strip.

"Currently we do not believe there is one particular event in the suspect's life for us to key on," Lombardo said. "We believe he decided to take the lives he did, and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."

Investigators are talking with one of Paddock's brothers, as well as his girlfriend, about Paddock's movements and contacts during the time he would have been planning the attack as well as about his gun purchases.

Authorities have said they found 23 guns inside the Mandalay Bay hotel room where Paddock broke a window and fired on an outdoor country music concert across the street.

He also had substances in his car that could be mixed together to make explosives, as well as what Lombardo described as "personal protection equipment" in the hotel room. The sheriff said there are indications Lombardo, who killed himself, had planned to escape as authorities responded to the attack.

Investigators have so far uncovered no evidence there was another shooter involved, nor that Paddock was linked to any known terrorist group or ideology.

Lombardo also announced Monday a change in the timeline of the October 1 shooting. He had said earlier that Paddock shot a security guard in the hallway of the hotel after firing on the concert, but now says the guard was shot first.
2 An election official shows to a woman how to cast her ballot during Liberia's presidential election in Monrovia, Oct. 10, 2017.
A mass oral cholera vaccination campaign for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and host communities is taking place in Bangladesh. The campaign is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by the World Health Organization and U.N. Childrens Fund.

In the last week, nearly 10,300 cases of diarrhea have been reported in the makeshift settlements and camps for more than one-half-million Rohingya refugees in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh. So far, no case of cholera has been discovered and U.N. agencies want to keep it that way.

The World Health Organization says the life-saving oral cholera vaccination campaign, which began Tuesday, is intended to protect vulnerable refugees. Cholera thrives in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions and poses a risk for the Rohingya.

WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier tells VOA the vaccination campaign is the worlds second largest after one conducted in Haiti in 2016 following Hurricane Matthew. He says a target population of more than 650,000 newly arrived Rohingya refugees and host communities over the age of one will be vaccinated in the first round.

It goes, as you say, with a whole, large team of medical and health staff through the camps and makeshift and spontaneous settlements in Ukhiya and the Teknaf areasMore than 200 mobile vaccination teams are implementing this campaign," said Lindmeier. "So, it is a huge effort.

Lindmeier says a second round of vaccinations will begin October 31. He says it will target 250,000 children between the ages of one and five, with a second dose of the oral vaccine for added protection.

While a vaccine can provide life-saving protection against cholera, the WHO says it does not replace other traditional control measures. It says access to clean water, as well as good sanitation and hygiene, are critical for keeping the disease at bay.
The Pentagon says a diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the United States has not affected military operations or personnel out of Turkey, including efforts to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

"I can confirm that these developments have not impacted our operations or personnel," Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Robert Manning told reporters on Tuesday. Coalition counter-IS operations out of Incirlik and other Turkish facilities are closely coordinated with and have the full support of our Turkish partners.

Manning said the Turkish air force base in Incirlik continues to fulfill an important rolein NATO and coalition efforts.

Since the rise of Islamic State, the U.S.-led coalition has used Incirlik Air Base as the main staging area for air attacks against IS in Syria and in northern Iraq. The facility is also used to support U.S. forces in both countries.

Counter-Islamic State flights from ships in the Mediterranean Sea also typically fly through Turkish airspace during their missions.

Relations between the NATO allies have hit a new low, with Turkey and the U.S. blocking bilateral business and tourist travel.

Last week, Turkey arrested a U.S. consulate employee and Turkish national, accusing him of regular communication with alleged leading members of what Turkey has deemed a terrorist network blamed for a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year.

Following the arrest, the U.S. embassy in Ankara announced that it would temporary halt all non-immigrant visa applications - a move that was quickly mirrored by Turkey.

U.S. intelligence officials have long been concerned about increasingly strained relations between Washington and Ankara.



One factor has been Turkish frustration with the U.S. for refusing to extradite Fetullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric blamed by many in Turkey for engineering last years failed coup. Gulen has denied involvement.



Another factor has been U.S. willingness to partner with Kurdish Peoples Protection Units ((YPG)) forces in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.



Ankara calculates that the United States has empowered Turkeys primary security threat, according to the U.S. intelligence communitys Worldwide Threat Assessment, issued this past May.



Turkey views the YPG as just another arm of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, considered by both Turkey and the U.S. to be a terrorist group.



Additionally, there have been concerns about Turkeys recent overtures to Russia.



Ankaras turn toward Moscow for S-400 missile defense systems and coordination to establish de-escalation zones in Idlib, Syria, highlight the difficulties, Nicholas Glavin, an independent researcher formerly at the U.S. Naval War College's Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups, told VOA.

At its worst," he added, "two NATO allies are on the brink of fighting one another through proxies in northern Syria.
A South Korean lawmaker says North Korean computer hackers stole a large number of classified military documents from the South, including plans to "decapitate" the North's leadership.

Lee Cheol-Hee of the ruling Democratic party cited South Korean defense officials Tuesday.

Officials believe hackers broke into a South Korean military data center in September 2016 and made off with the secret documents.

They include planned attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to "decapitate" the North's leadership in case war breaks out.

"Also among them were contingency plans for the South's special forces, reports to allies' top commanders, and information on key military facilities and power plants," Lee told the Yonhap news agency.

He says 80 percent of the stolen documents have yet to be identified.

Meeting with reporters in Washington, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning would not confirm or deny the documents were stolen.

"What I am going to tell you is that the [South Korean]-U.S. alliance, that bilateral entity, is there to deal with those types of situations and safeguard against them."

Manning said the Pentagon is confident in the security of its operations in Korea, including the ability to deal with any threat from the North.

News of the stolen military documents comes a day after the United Nations announced it has banned four ships that were transporting prohibited goods to and from North Korea from entering any port in the world.

A maritime database that monitors naval vessels identified the banned vessels as the Petrel 8, which is registered in Comoros; the Hao Fan 6, which sails under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis; and North Korea's Tong San 2. The fourth ship, the Jie Shun, was not registered with any country.

North Korea is barred from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood because of its recent test of an apparent hydrogen bomb and its refusal to stop testing intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Human Rights Watch says Rwandan soldiers routinely tortured detainees, engaging in beatings, electric shock and mock executions to extract confessions.

The New York-based group issued a 91-page report Tuesday that reveals 104 confirmed cases of people who were illegally detained in Rwandan military detention centers between 2010 and 2016.

Many of those arrested were suspected of either being members of, or working with, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a predominantly Rwandan Hutu armed group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some members of the group are suspected to have taken part in the 1994 genocide.

When asked about the report, Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said, "We no longer respond to Human Rights Watch."

"We in fact have no collaboration with them anymore," Busingye told VOA's Africa division via text message. "They make unsubstantiated claims that have no evidence or grounds to back them. This is not about Human Rights, it is about a motive against Rwanda."

Many of victims told HRW investigators that they signed false confessions because they could not take any more abuse, or believed they were about to die. The report says that systematic torture was often ignored by prosecutors and judges whenever the victims complained.

The group says the total number of victims is likely much higher than the number they have confirmed.

Human rights groups have accused President Paul Kagame's party of harassing opponents and using intimidation to stifle any dissent to his rule. Kagame has led Rwanda since 1994 and was re-elected to a third term in August.

Diane Rwigara, a womens rights activist and vocal critic of Kagame who ran against the president, has been in detention since her arrest on Sept. 23 on charges of "offenses against state security and forgery." Her family believes the only crime she committed was challenging Kagame's authority by running for president.
Labor unions have existed in the United States since the late 19th Century. They were created to protect the working population from abuses such as sweatshops and unsafe working conditions. VOA's Nikoleta Ilic visited an exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington to find out how the American labor movement developed and where it stands today.
Somalilands National Electoral Commission has released the total number of registered Voters with Identification Cards to vote in the upcoming November election.

The data which was released at a news conference Tuesday put the total number of registered and eligible voters in Somaliland at 704,089.

Speaking to VOA Somali, NEC spokesman, Said Ali Muse said the commission has completed the distribution and the cleaning up of voter registration identification cards and released the list to Somalands three political parties and the minister of interior.



Now, 704,089 took their voter registration cards and 169,242 who earlier registered to vote were not able to show up to take the voter registration cards because of the recent drought that hit the region, which created population movement, said Muse.

This election has suffered several delays, Somalilands presidential election was scheduled at one stage to happen last March, but drought, coupled with political disagreement among the political parties, caused that date to be rescheduled.

Muse said all preparations have been made and political parties will began their campaigns soon.

We have made all preparations for the election to take place on time. From our side as the Electoral Commission, nothing remains, he said,

On November 13, voters will cast their ballots at 1,642 polling stations in 21 constituencies across Somaliland.

Candidates from the only three political parties vying for the election are, Muse Bihi of the incumbent Peace, Unity and Development party (Kulmiye), Faisal Ali Waraabe of the For Justice and Development party (UCID) and Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro of the Wadani party.

A breakaway, semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, but is not recognized by the international community, leaving it in a legal limbo.

Unlike, Southern Somalia, it has been enjoying a relative peace in which it has set up its own government institutions, written its own laws and constitution, and held credible elections.

Since April 2003, two presidential elections, a parliamentary election and two local government elections have been held in Somaliland. In those elections, international observers praised Somaliland for bringing more democracy with less money and no international recognition.

Last week, a high-level delegation of international partners visited Hargeisa to encourage all stake-holders to work together towards peaceful, inclusive and transparent elections.
Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night.

University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels.

According to a university statement, campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and - upon entering the room - found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

During this time, the suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer, Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said. The suspect fled on foot and later apprehended by... [campus police] near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus to take shelter in a safe location.

The family of the officer is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community, said Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec. I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sherriff's Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also issued a statement about the shooting late Monday, saying hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed. Abbott also said he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation.
Q: I heard Soran Restaurants deliver meals to firefighters battling local range fires. How long have they been doing this and how far do they travel?

A: We started feeding Bureau of Land Management and Sawtooth National Forest fire crews on site in the late 1960s from the Depot Grill, said Steve Soran, president of Soran Restaurants, Inc. We normally try to keep our fire camps within a one-way four-hour drive time from Twin Falls, which means that could be near a highway way past Stanley or just a few miles down a non-existent dirt trail.

He said his father and brother prepared sandwiches and delivered them to the South Hills in a station wagon.

I was a teenager, he said. The drive just beat the car.

Since then, Soran has two full-sized trucks, four vans with freezers, and a couple of personal rigs. Its been very exciting over the years.

The company has contracts with both the Sawtooth National Forest and South Central Idaho Interagency Dispatch Center.

Soran has received calls with a few hours notice.

I have an excellent staff, Soran said. My staff has worked double or triple shifts. They realize what an effort it takes.

Fire crews must be on site for 24 hours before Soran can be called on for catering.

Weve had fires burn through camp, Soran said.

General Manager Don Olson said he received help from local ranchers 30 miles outside Jackpot, Nev., when he was washed off the road.

Weve driven through fires on both sides, Soran said. Weve learned to go where its already black. Weve been lost a few times. There were only four deliveries we didnt make over the years.

The restaurant can provide three meals a day.

The fire crews are the most appreciative customer because they like a hot meal, Soran said.

The company has had requests to go to northern Idaho, and occasionally to Reno, Nev., or Boise, but they try to stay closer to home.

Sorans has been providing meals to firefighters for 20-plus years, said Julie Thomas, spokeswoman for the Sawtooth National Forest. They have provided meals as far north as Stanley and as far south as Snowville, Utah. Sorans meets the national standards for firefighter meal requirements and the firefighters are consistently satisfied with the quality and variety of food that Sorans provides.
The head of Thailand's military junta announced Tuesday that the country will hold a general election next year, four years after the military seized power from the country's last democratically elected government.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters in Bangkok the election would be in November 2018 and the exact date will be announced next June.

Prayuth led the May 2014 coup that ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government, ending years of political instability and violent protests. The ruling junta has announced several dates for new elections during its rule, but has repeatedly canceled them as it drafted a new constitution.

The prime minister also said the junta was considering whether to allow political activity  which it suspended after taking office  to resume after funeral services later this month for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last year.

The coup that overthrew Yingluck Shinawatra capped a decade-long period of political turmoil that began when her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was himself forced out of office in 2006 by the military, which backed Thailand's Bangkok-based royalist-leaning, wealthy elite.

The anti-Thaksin forces, who protested in the streets of Bangkok wearing yellow shirts, gave rise to the pro-Thaksin Red Shirts, whose ranks included the rural poor who strongly supported Thaksin's policies. The two sides engaged in violent, sometimes deadly clashes in the streets of Bangkok during that era.

Thaksin himself has lived in exile since 2008 to avoid corruption charges brought against him.

Yingluck was convicted by Thailand's supreme court late last month on charges of negligence in connection with a botched rice buying program and sentenced in absentia to five years in prison. The verdict was initially scheduled to be issued last month, but Yingluck failed to appear for the hearing. Prime Minister Prayuth later said Yingluck had fled to Dubai to escape a prison sentence.

Yingluck has denied the charges, claiming they were politically motivated.
U.S. President Donald Trump is suggesting he would beat Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an IQ test competition after reports that the country's top diplomat called him a "moron."

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said in an interview Forbes magazine published Tuesday.



Still, Trump told reporters he has confidence in Tillerson and denied he undercut him with the quip about the IQ test.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "He made a joke, nothing more than that," adding that reporters asking about it should adopt a sense of humor.

Recent reports said Tillerson uttered the profane assessment of Trump's intelligence at a Pentagon meeting several months ago. In recent days, Tillerson has reaffirmed his commitment to Trump, but has not denied that he made the comment.

"I'm not going to deal with petty stuff like that," Tillerson said last week as news of his remark surfaced. "I'm just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration."

Tillerson has distanced himself from some of Trump's foreign policy statements, most notably the president's taunts against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and whether the U.S. should negotiate with Pyongyang to curb its nuclear weapons development.

"I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump said last week in a Twitter comment. "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"



NBC News said Tillerson considered resigning over foreign policy disagreements with Trump, but the U.S. leader dismissed the report, calling it "Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me."

Whatever the state of their discord, Trump had a face-to-face meeting with Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday at a White House lunch.

Trump fired one more barbed comment Tuesday at another key U.S. foreign affairs figure, Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said in a New York Times interview Sunday that he sees Trump as treating his role as the U.S. leader like a reality television show with threats toward other countries that could put the United States "on the path to World War Three."

"The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!" Trump said.

Later, talking to reporters, Trump responded to a question about Corker's comment about the prospect of another world war.

We were on the wrong path before," Trump said. "All you have to do is have to take a look. If you look over the last 25 years, through numerous administrations, we were on the path to a very big problem, a problem like this world has never seen. Were on the right path right now, believe me.



Corker told the newspaper, "I don't think he appreciates that when the president of the United States speaks and says the things that he does, the impact that it has around the world, especially in the region that he's addressing."

Trump, in an earlier tweet Sunday, said Corker, who has announced his retirement after the 2018 election, did not have the "guts" to run for a third six-year term in the Senate.

Corker quickly responded on Twitter, "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged gas, investment and support for the Balkans on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to expand influence in a region frustrated by the slow pace of EU accession.

His two-day trip to Serbia  a mainly Orthodox Christian country at fierce odds with Turkey during Yugoslavia's bloody collapse  could help grow Turkeys role in a region that spent centuries under Ottoman rule and remains susceptible to big-power rivalries.

Turkish influence is already strong among fellow Muslims in Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo. Serbia is Russias closest ally in the Balkans.

Together with Serbia and with the entire Balkans, we want to make steps to resolve all the problems, Erdogan told reporters in Belgrade, saying Ankara planned to build a road between Serbia and Bosnia.

Erdogan and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, signed a political declaration to create a cooperation body that would meet annually to coordinate joint projects.

Erdogan confident in relationship with Russia

Erdogan expressed confidence that Russia would not object to a Turkish plan to transfer natural gas from its TurkStream project to Serbia.

We do not want any division of the Balkans or that someone might see those countries as their sphere of influence. We oppose all those who want that, Erdogan told a business forum.

The visit, and Erdogans thanks to Vucic for his support during a failed coup in 2016, will not go unnoticed in the European Union, where some diplomats are concerned about deepening authoritarianism among some Balkan leaders in the absence of tangible progress towards EU accession.

Serbia still looks to join EU

Serbia has to balance its ambition of joining the EU with an affinity felt by many Serbs for fellow Orthodox Russia. It also badly needs investment to grow an economy still in transition from communism and recovering from the demise of Yugoslavia.

(Turkish) relations with the EU are not that great at the moment; the Balkans is the closest they (Turks) can get to Europe, Mahmud Busatlija, a foreign investment consultant in Belgrade, told Reuters of Erdogans first to Serbia since 2010 when he was prime minister.

This visit is meant to build up political ties between the two countries. Whether that political cooperation will result in investment depends to a great extent on Serbia and what it can offer to Turkish companies.

Free trade deal signed

Some 70 Turkish companies do business in Serbia and trade exchanges are expected to reach $1 billion this year. Erdogan said they should target $5 billion and signed deals with Vucic to expand a free trade agreement to include sunflower oil and beef.

Erdogan was due to visit an Ottoman-era fortress in Belgrade later on Tuesday before traveling south on Wednesday to Novi Pazar, center of the Muslim-majority region of Sandzak that has witnessed large-scale emigration to Turkey since the wars of the 1990s.
Miroslav Lajcak, president of the 72nd session of the U.N. General Assembly, has an ambitious agenda of global issues he wishes to focus on in the coming year, and moving the implementation of the Paris climate change agreement forward is one of his top priorities.

The Slovak diplomat told VOA the U.S. government's decision to withdraw from the agreement was regrettable, but he noted that the resolution had energized other U.N. member states to press harder for the accord's enactment.

He said 40 countries would present their national plans for curbing greenhouse gas emissions during the assembly session.

Following the Trump administration's declaration that it intended to withdraw, he said, French President Emmanuel Macron proclaimed his government would continue to be a global leader on this issue.

"So, I really hope that we will be able to mobilize probably even stronger support behind that agreement," Lajcak said. "And, the truth is that with recent natural disasters and hurricanes in the Caribbean area, I think it is quite clear that climate change is a real danger that is affecting the lives of people, and we have to do something about it. And, the Paris climate agreement is the best platform for that."

Peacekeeping funds

Another of Lajcak's priorities is to prevent conflicts. U.N. peacekeepers play a pivotal role in that. Again, Lajcak said he regretted the U.S. decision to cut its share of the U.N.'s peacekeeping missions, but he told VOA he thought there would be no gap in financing.

The shortfall "will not be that significant, and there are member states who have already announced their readiness to cover," he said. "So, there is no reason to be afraid that our peacekeeping operation will be underfunded."

This year's peacekeeping budget is $7.8 billion. The U.S. share of that cost is more than 28 percent, or $2.2 billion. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a 3 percent cut, or $600 million, in the U.S. contribution to the peacekeeping operation.
Iran is warning the United States against designating its Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, saying it would put the United States on the side of the Islamic State group.

Government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht told reporters Tuesday the guards are the defender of the nation and if the United States designates the military force a terror organization it puts itself in the camp of terrorists.

"Any country that wants to have such a position about the Guards will share this view with the Daesh terrorists," he said, using another name the Islamic State group.

U.S. media reports indicate President Donald Trump may designate the Guards as a terrorist organization as part of a larger strategy to increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

Trump has repeatedly bashed a deal signed last year by Iran and leading world powers curbing Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. He must decide by Sunday whether to recertify the agreement, but is widely expected to declare Iran non-compliant with it, which would require Congress to make a decision on re-imposing sanctions.

Iranian Armed Forces spokesman Masoud Jazayeri told ISNA if Trump decides to designate the Guards as terrorists, Iran would teach Americans a new lesson.

"It seems the Trump administration only understands swear words, and needs some shocks to understand the new meaning of power in the world," Jazayeri said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by former trade unionist, Morgan Tsvangirai, has urged Zimbabweans to register in centers set up by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in what the commission calls a nationwide Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) blitz.

In a statement, Tsvangirai said, The democratic notion of one person one vote was one of the key pillars and rallying points of the armed liberation struggle against racist colonial exploitation and subjugation.

As a social democratic political party, the MDC fervently believes in and indeed, passionately advocates for a situation in which all eligible Zimbabweans, without exception, are able to exercise their constitutional right not only to register to vote but also to be able to freely and fairly cast their ballot on polling day.

Tsvangirai commended ZEC for re-energizing the BVR exercise, which started Tuesday.

This is a historic exercise that must, without fail, cover each and one of the countrys 1,958 wards. Mobile BVR teams should be capacitated to reach even the most remote of the countrys wards. By the time that the mobile BVR exercise comes to a halt in January, 2018, no single eligible Zimbabwean should be left out in the registration process.

Thousands of gallant sons and daughters of the soil paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we obtain the one person one vote principle. Thus, we shouldnt betray these gallant and selfless heroes and heroines by deliberately disenfranchising eligible Zimbabweans.

He noted that there were millions of people, who were regarded as aliens, that may be left out of the BVR exercise and as a result wont vote in the 2018 general elections.

These are people whose parents, grandparents and great grandparents originally came from neighbouring countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and some of these peoples ancestors also came from overseas countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany and many other countries. These people consider Zimbabwe to be their permanent home and it is actually degrading and insulting to continue to refer to these people as aliens.

The word alien smacks of discrimination and segregation. This word should actually be immediately removed from our vocabulary if we are to foster a united and patriotic Republic of Zimbabwe in which there is no discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, creed, ethnicity and religion.

He appealed to Zimbabweans living abroad to ensure that they register to vote. The MDC would like to take this opportunity to, once again, call upon all eligible Zimbabweans, including those people living in the Diaspora, to make sure that they sacrifice and come back home to enable them to register to vote.

Our fight for the Diaspora vote continues unabated but in the interim, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora are kindly called upon to do the honourable and patriotic duty of coming back home to register to vote. The millions of Zimbabweans in the South African Diaspora are humbly urged to cross the border into the town of Beitbridge where they can register to vote before they can return to their foreign bases.

Tsvangirai also noted that there are several issues that continue dogging the BVR exercise, which include severs that will be used to store and transmit all the recorded names and related information.

Our eyes and ears are firmly and securely on the ball. We are leaving absolutely nothing to chance. Once beaten, twice shy. After the BVR exercise has been completed, the MDC and other stakeholders have put in place a mechanism that will ensure the thorough and exhaustive audit of the national voters roll by a firm of reputable and independent experts. Thus, there is absolutely no reason for Zimbabweans to be apathetic this time around. We should know that the Zanu PF dictatorship has always subsisted on voter apathy; particularly in the urban areas.

He also urged youth, who constitute 64 percent of eligible voters, to register in large numbers. The future of our great country belongs to the youth and as such, we look forward to the enthusiastic participation of our youths in the electoral processes.
Zimbabwe on Tuesday kicked off its voter registration blitz throughout the country, in what officials hope will be a signal for hundreds to hurry to various centers to register to vote in the 2018 general elections.

The voter registration process, which was officially launched by President Robert Mugabe at the State House in September, aims to enroll seven million eligible voters into the system, before the end of January.

Following disputed outcomes in previous elections and allegations of voter fraud, the country has ditched the old paper system in favor of the fool-proof Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits, which will use finger prints, eye pupils and other tamper-proof ways to ensure that only those registered can vote, and only once.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has secured 3,000 BVR kits for the registration process, and will be rotating them around the country, during its four-phase registration period.

The first phase of the registration process kicked off Tuesday, October 10 and will end on Wednesday, October 25th. Three other phases will follow through December 19th. Registration will take place in 63-districts in all of the countrys 10 Provinces.

For details of the voter registration centers, visit http://www.zec.gov.zw. Below is a synopsis of the various districts for the 1st Phase, extracted from the ZEC website.

Bulawayo Metropolitan:

Bulawayo Central

Bulawayo East

Makokoba

Harare Metropolitan:

Chitungwiza: St. Marys Zengeza East & West, Chitungwiza North

Epworth

Harare Central

Southerton

Highfield East

Budiriro

Dzivarasekwa

Mount Pleasant

Mabvuku Tafara

Manicaland:

Chipinge  Central, West, East And South

Musikavanhu

Chimanimani  East & West

Mutare  South & West

Buhera South

Mashonaland Central:

Mbire  Guruve North

Muzarabani  North & South

Mt. Darwin  North & West

Mashonaland East:

Mudzi  North, West & South

Mutoko  East, North And South

Uzumba  Maramba Pfungwe

Mashonaland West:

Kariba  Nyaminyami

Hurungwe  Magunje, Central, East, North & West

Masvingo:

Chiredzi  East, West, South & North

Mwenezi  East & West

Chivi  South

Matabeleland North:

Lupane  East & West

Binga  North & South

Matabeleland South:

Umzingwane  Matobo North & Umbzingwane

Insiza  Insiza, North & South

Midlands:

Gwokwe North 

Gokwe Kabuyuni

Gokwe  Chireya

Gokwe  Nembudziya

Gokwe  Gumunyu

Gokwe South -

Gokwe Mapfungauta

Gokwe Central

Gokwe Kana

Gokwe Sengwa
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe wasted no time in reshuffling his cabinet, less than two days after announcing his intention to do so, at a youth conference at his Zanu-PF Headquarters in Harare, Saturday.

President Mugabe reassigned 10-ministers and appointed eight new ministers in cabinet reshuffle, secured through a constitutional mandate.

Among the casualties of the reshuffle is Patrick Chinamasa, currently in Washington for the Annual and Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, in his capacity as the countrys finance minister.

Chinamasa will now head a newly-established ministry  Cyber Security, Threat Detention and Mitigation.

Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya, who is among the delegation in Washington for the IMF/World Bank meetings, would not comment on Chinamasas ouster from the finance ministry, but said he was optimistic about the new cabinet.

We want the cabinet to push the Zimbabwe agenda of development to ensure that the economy benefits from its policies, so obliviously we expect the new cabinet to deliver on the development agenda. The economy is expanding as we said and therefore we want to take advantage of that development and go forward.

Chinamasa was not immediately available for comment.
Frustrated by his Cabinet and angry that he has not received enough credit for his handling of three successive hurricanes, President Trump is now lashing out, rupturing alliances and imperiling his legislative agenda, numerous White House officials and outside advisers said Monday.

In a matter of days, Trump has torched bridges all around him, nearly imploded an informal deal with Democrats to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and plunged himself into the culture wars on issues ranging from birth control to the national anthem.

In doing so, Trump is laboring to solidify his standing with his populist base and return to the comforts of his campaign  especially after the embarrassing defeat of Sen. Luther Strange in last month's Alabama GOP special election, despite the president's trip there to campaign with the senator.

Sen. Bob Corker's brutal assessment of Trump's fitness for office  warning that the president's reckless behavior could launch the nation "on the path to World War III"  also hit like a thunderclap inside the White House, where aides feared possible ripple effects among other Republicans on Capitol Hill.

After a caustic volley of Twitter insults between Trump and Corker, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, few GOP leaders came to the presidents defense Monday  though few sided openly with Corker, either. The most vocal Trump defender was the one under the presidents direction, Vice President Pence.

Trump in recent days has shown flashes of fury and left his aides, including White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, scrambling to manage his outbursts. He has been frustrated in particular with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was reported last week to have earlier called the president a "moron." Trump's Sunday morning Twitter tirade against Corker caught staffers by surprise, although the president had been brooding over the senator's comment a few days earlier about Trump's "chaos" endangering the nation.

One Trump confidant likened the president to a whistling teapot, saying that when he does not blow off steam, he can turn into a pressure cooker and explode. I think we are in pressure cooker territory, said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.

This portrait of the president increasingly isolated in the capital city is based on interviews with 18 White House officials, outside advisers and other Trump associates.

[Trump attacks Corker, who responds by calling the White House an adult day care]

In a late-afternoon, unsolicited email to reporters Monday, Pences office blasted out a blanket response under the vice presidents name addressing criticisms of the president. The statement bemoaned empty rhetoric and baseless attacks against Trump while touting his handling of global threats, from Islamic State terrorists to North Korea.

Thats what American leadership on the world stage looks like and no amount of criticism at home can diminish those results, the statement concluded.

But Pences words did little to reassure some Trump allies, who fear that the presidents feud with Corker could cause more trouble for the administration and further unravel threadbare relationships on Capitol Hill.

One Trump loyalist  noting that Corker has many more friends in the Senate than Trump does  said the rift could dash chances for a tax law overhaul or other meaningful legislation. His presidency could be doomed, said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to alienate the president or his staff.

"We have been watching the slow-motion breakup of the Republican Party, and Trump is doing what he can to speed it up," said Patrick Caddell, a veteran pollster who has worked with Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, who now runs Breitbart News, a conservative website.

Trump is firmly placing himself on the outside, trying to become an almost independent president, Caddell said. He knows that many people will be with him, that he helps himself when hes not seen as the Republican president. But what about his program? Thats the question  and possibly the cost of what hes doing.

Inside the White House, reaction to Corkers comments has been mixed. Some Trump aides believe it is dangerous for the president to fight with Corker, the chairman of a powerful Senate committee who is not running for reelection and therefore feels he has nothing to lose.

Other Trump aides blame Corker for what they consider an act of betrayal, arguing that he started the feud in a bid for relevance by a lame-duck lawmaker. They also accuse Corker of hypocrisy, noting that he was chummy with Trump and did not voice any concerns about his leadership style when he thought he might be picked as vice president or secretary of state.

Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax and a Trump friend, said: Donald Trump never truly severs relationships. There is always a dialogue. And with Corker, this isnt a total endpoint. Trump sees relationships as negotiations, and thats what theyre in.

Many in the White House say they appreciate the disciplined structure Kelly has implemented, but it has left Trump without the free-flowing conversations with staff and outsiders that he had come to relish. These familiar faces often buoyed Trumps mood and gave him a safe sounding board, even if they at times interfered with the workings of the government.

Trump is also without his longtime aide-de-camp and former head of security, Keith Schiller, who departed the White House this fall as director of Oval Office operations. Schiller was a constant at Trumps side for years and was adept at soothing his foul moods. His absence has left Trump with few generational peers with whom he feels comfortable venting about his staff or his rivals, or just talking about sports, according to some of the presidents friends.

Trump, meanwhile, has been seeking regular counsel from friends outside the government, including investor Thomas J. Barrack Jr., who chaired his inauguration.

Among some in Trumps circle, Barrack has been buzzed about as a possible replacement for Kelly, should tensions between the president and his top aide become unsustainable. But people familiar with Barracks thinking said he feels he can best serve Trump as a friend and outside adviser, rather than as a member of the White House staff.

The president has given no indication publicly that he is mulling another change and over the weekend heaped praise on Kelly. John Kelly is one of the best people Ive ever worked with, Trump told reporters Saturday. Hes doing an incredible job, and he told me for the last two months he loves it more than anything hes ever done. . . . He will be here, in my opinion, for the entire seven remaining years.

[Death spiral: Tillerson makes nice but may not last long with Trump]

Still, Trump is facing political head winds, including from his base. The Alabama Senate primary last month, in which a far-right challenger defeated a more establishment Republican whom the president had endorsed, served as a warning flare for Trump's team, highlighting the risk he could run if he alienates the core supporters who helped lift him to electoral victory.

The president has groused to numerous White House aides about his concerns over his popularity with my people  his base. He blames the Republican establishment and others for failing to enact his agenda and making him look feckless, and is unhappy with losing in Alabama, according to people briefed on White House deliberations.

Trump also made it known to several people that he wished to have a rally in North Carolina over the weekend and not just a fundraiser  but he ultimately flew down for only the fundraiser, spending just two hours on the ground in Greensboro. Trump complained that he wished he had gotten back out in front of the rowdy crowds he loves, these people said.

Donald Trump got elected with minority support from the American electorate, and most of his efforts thus far are focused on energizing and solidifying the 40 percent of Americans who were with him, primarily by attacking the 60 percent who were not, Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. That is great for his supporters, but it makes it very difficult to accomplish anything in a democracy.

Trump's political calculus is complicated by Bannon's return to his previous role at the helm of Breitbart. Now working to forward a nationalist agenda from outside the confines of the administration, Bannon has vowed war against any Republican lawmakers he believes are insufficiently conservative or who fail to help push through the agenda he and Trump outlined during the campaign.

Bannon is recruiting GOP primary challengers in nearly all of the 2018 Senate races, looking for candidates who could defeat Republicans he views as too establishment and highlight the presidents stances on issues such as immigration and trade.

The White House effort to woo back the populist wing of the party after stumbling in the Alabama race has been mixed. When Trump advisers contacted Breitbart writers Sunday to highlight a list of hard-line immigration principles the administration had just released, there was little enthusiasm for the White House's outreach and skepticism of Trump's commitment to combating illegal immigration, according to two people familiar with the exchanges.

Even the Trump family has become a flash point. On Monday, the president's first and third wives  Ivana and Melania, respectively  engaged in a public spat.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" to promote her new book, "Raising Trump," Ivana Trump, the mother of the president's three eldest children, said: "I'm basically first Trump wife. Okay? I'm first lady."

The actual first lady, Melania Trump, did not let the slight go unanswered. Her spokeswoman at the White House, Stephanie Grisham, issued a statement dismissing Ivanas comments as attention-seeking and self-serving noise.
Columnist

You know the screams you hear when watching a horror movie in a theater?

Thats what I want to let out every time theres another data breach.

Im not alone.

Were really scared, wrote readers Ellen and David, who are still scrambling for a feeling of security after the massive Equifax breach that left 145.5 million consumer files compromised. Last week, Yahoo announced its own breach in 2013 affected all 3 billion of its users.

These terrifying tales sent me looking for a book I had been meaning to read for quite some time. My former Washington Post colleague Brian Krebs left the newspaper in 2009 to dedicate himself to a blog on cybersecurity: KrebsOnSecurity.com. Out of his work and research came "Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime  From Global Epidemic to Your Front Door."

The book is this months Color of Money Book Club selection.

Can I be honest?

I read the first few chapters and set the book down. I could sense it making me so paranoid and furious that I didnt want to read any further.

Did I really want to dive deep into the underworld of cybercriminals who have become masterful in identity theft?

Why do I need to know how my personal information is stolen? I just want the hacks and heists to stop. I want the companies that collect my information to do their job and protect my data.

But Krebs has made a background believer out of me.

Our passivity and procrastination in doing what we need to do to prevent identity theft help the crooks.

The Internet of today is truly a transformative communications and learning tool that radically enriches the lives of billions each day, Krebs writes. Yet, never before in the history of the Internet has this medium been more fraught with snares and neer-do-wells looking to fleece the unwary.

You may not understand the value of your computer, your Internet connection, your inbox, or your digital files, but I guarantee you the bad guys do, and theyve become quite adept at extracting full value from these digital assets.

What we dont know can cost us money and, just as importantly, can leave us feeling vulnerable and scared.

One thing I didnt know: Spam is still the main villain. Its the doorway many cybercriminals use to get your information and gain access to company systems.

With our spam filters and the constant drilling to not open suspicious emails, weve been lulled into a false sense of security, Krebs says.

A lot of people still fall victim to malicious emails on which dangerous software rides piggyback. Do you feel safe about your anti-virus and anti-spam defenses?

Foolish you.

The spam ecosystem is a constantly evolving technological and sociological crime machine that feeds on itself, writes Krebs. Thus far, the criminals responsible for unleashing this daily glut of digital disease are doing a stupendous job of overwhelming the security industry.

Here is a scary statistic from cybersecurity giant McAfees most recent threat report: In the first quarter of this year, there were 244 new cyberthreats every minute, or more than four every second.

Another chilling finding from the report: Ransomware, which is mostly spread through spam, grew by 59 percent in the past four quarters. This is when a hacker locks you out of your computer by encrypting your files and demands payment to give you access to your own data.

Krebs spends a lot of time introducing the major and minor spam players. Its like a Jason Bourne movie but with criminals who dont shoot at folks (well, some do). They instead fire out malicious spam infecting tens of millions of computers and, as a result, rake in millions of dollars.

Waiting for you at the end of the book is a very resourceful chapter on how to protect yourself. Youll be safer following Krebss three rules for online security:

Rule No. 1: If you didnt go looking for it, dont install it.

Rule No. 2: If you installed it, update it.

Rule No. 3: If you no longer need it, remove it.

Even if you dont buy Spam Nation, make Krebss blog regular reading. His reporting will frighten you. It does me. As he writes, those who endeavor to remain blissfully unaware of their role in becoming part of the solution will almost invariably end up becoming part of the problem.

I'm hosting an online discussion about "Spam Nation" at noon Eastern time on Nov. 2 at washingtonpost.com/discussions. Krebs will join me to answer your cybersecurity questions.

Readers may write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or singletarym@washpost.com. Personal responses may not be possible, and comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless otherwise requested. To read previous Color of Money columns, go to wapo.st/michelle-singletary
More than a dozen wildfires are ravaging Californias wine country, killing at least 10 people, burning tens of thousands of acres and destroying more than 2,000 homes and other structures. More than 100 people are missing.





The Tubbs fire, the largest blaze in Sonoma County, started late Sunday night in Calistoga before spreading to Santa Rosa according to a Cal Fire official. It's estimated the fire has burned 25,000 acres.





A second firethe Atlas Firestarted off Atlas Peak Road before burning southwest to just outside of the city of Napa, according to Cal Fire, which confirmed two deaths in the blaze and Napa County. The fast-moving fire is also estimated to have destroyed 25,000 acres.

There are at least two other fires in Sonoma and Napa counties with another happening just north in Mendocino County near Redwood Valley as of Monday evening. One person was killed in the Mendocino County fire. The sheriff of Sonoma County has confirmed seven additional deaths.

How these fires got so bad





A big ridge of high pressure has lingered just east of Californias mountains this month over the Great Basin. In this type of weather pattern, wind from the east rises on the mountains upslope, which causes moisture to condense. Clouds form and sometimes it rains on that side of the mountains, removing moisture.

Winds then crest over the ridge and sink. As the air moves along the downslope, it is compressed by the change in pressure, causing the wind to become faster, hotter and dryer making conditions for wildfires worse.





Mandatory evacuation

Santa Rosa issued a mandatory evacuation of its residents in affected areas at 10 a.m. PT Monday morning after the city manager declared the fires a local emergency. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) also declared a state emergency as fires continued to rip through northern and southern parts of the state.





Several neighborhoods in northern Santa Rosa were almost completely burned to the ground including Fountaingrove, according to Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott, who spoke with the Los Angeles Times.

Its fair to say its been destroyed, he said of the Fountaingrove neighborhood.

Laris Karklis, John Muyskens, Aaron Williams, Aaron Steckelberg, Angela Fritz and Tim Meko contributed to this report.

About this story

Evacuation data from the Santa Rosa Fire Department. Active fire data from the NOAA Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke database. GOES-16 Satellite imagery from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere.
Excitement about Naomi Alderman's dystopian novel "The Power" has been arcing across the Atlantic since it won the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction earlier this year in England. Now, finally, Americans can feel the jolt of this extraordinary book for themselves. Alderman has written our era's "Handmaid's Tale," and, like Margaret Atwood's classic, "The Power" is one of those essential feminist works that terrifies and illuminates, enrages and encourages.



****HANDOUT IMAGE The Power, by Naomi Alderman, (credit: Little, Brown and Company) ***NOT FOR RESALE (Little, Brown)

Aldermans premise is simple; her execution endlessly inventive: Teenage girls everywhere suddenly discover that their bodies can produce a deadly electrical charge.

The science is unsettled, but not entirely fantastical. After all, electric eels can generate a jolt, why not humans? Alderman describes "a strip of striated muscle across the girls' collarbones which they name the organ of electricity, or the skein for its twisted strands." Perhaps environmental pollution has triggered this bioelectrogenetic organ in girls, or maybe it's a physiological ability reasserting itself after millennia of latency. But whatever the cause, the capacity of women to shock and awe quickly disrupts the structure of civilization. Suddenly, young men have to be careful. "Already," Alderman writes, "there are parents telling their boys not to go out alone, not to stray too far."

Aldermans greatest feat is keeping this premise from settling toward anything obvious as she considers how the world would adjust if women held the balance of energy and could discharge it at will. What if every interaction was predicated on female supremacy? What if men had to worry about being outshined, overpowered, raped? For Alderman, this isnt just a matter of putting women in all the traditionally male roles. The reversal she imagines is nothing so neat.

[American War follows todays vitriol to a dystopian future]

The whole novel is powered by an alternating current of horror and wit. (Alderman's skill is delightfully broad: She's one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists and co-creator of the popular "Zombies, Run!" fitness game.) The narrative moves from an American girl's bedroom to a British gang's hangout, to a European forest and beyond, tracing the way this new power surges through families and governments, singeing male pride, inflaming chauvinism and burning the patriarchy to a crisp.

That globe-spanning ambition could easily have dissipated the novels focus, but Alderman keeps her story grounded in the lives of four characters who are usually sympathetic, sometimes reprehensible:

 The daughter of a London crime boss discovers she has an extraordinarily potent charge.

 An ambitious U.S. politician struggles to manage her power and win over a skittish electorate.

 An abused foster child feels inspired to be the Goddesss voice on Earth.

 A young Nigerian dedicates his life to reporting on the worlds gender revolutions.

Chapter by chapter, Alderman rotates among these characters, following their adventures through societies in radical transformation. In India, Saudi Arabia and Moldova, women riot with lightning shooting out of their hands, and men counterattack with bullets and bombs. In liberal Western countries, the transition is more measured; women are counseled to control their power and channel it in positive ways. Schools teach classes in abstinence: Just Dont Do It.



Author Naomi Alderman (Justine Stoddard)

This book sparks with such electric satire that you should read it wearing insulated gloves. Sometimes, its small, like Aldermans portrayal of a newscast hosted by a serious woman and her good-looking male sidekick. But other sections will raise the hair on your arms, like the descriptions of war crimes committed by roving bands of blood-lusting women.

Indeed, this is no "Herland," that classic feminist utopia from 1915 in which Charlotte Perkins Gilman describes a matriarchy of peace and wisdom. And it's certainly no "Sleeping Beauties," the bestseller by Stephen King and Owen King that imagines women transported to a parallel realm of feminine wisdom. No, in the female-ascendent world of "The Power," crime and brutality persist and mutate as half the human race panics that its long realm of domination is over, while the other half wonders how to exercise its newfound force.

The novels most fascinating elements concern the reconstruction of sexuality and theology. We see glimpses of Internet porn reconceived when pleasure and pain are spliced in new ways. Even in polite society, courtship is rewired: While making out, a nice young woman hopes she doesnt lose control and zap her date to death. That new paradigm reverberates all the way down: Boys dressing as girls to seem more powerful. Girls dressing as boys to shake off the meaning of the power. And archaeological drawings sprinkled through the text add another dimension of grim comedy. One depicts the curbing procedure  also known as male genital mutilation.

[Stephen King and Owen King imagine a world where women arent woke]

The revolution courses through religious organizations, too, tearing down old icons and erecting fresh ones. The Gospels must be reimagined. A Church founded on the Father and the Son must adapt, willingly or unwillingly, to the new supremacy of the Mother. She has overturned heaven and earth for us, a young prophetess announces. Oh, therell still be room for men to serve, of course, but only in the subordinate roles appropriate for their lesser agency.

In her acknowledgments, Alderman thanks Margaret Atwood, Karen Joy Fowler and Ursula Le Guin  possibly the most brilliant triumvirate of grandmothers any novel has ever had. That lineage shows in this endlessly surprising and provocative story that deconstructs not just the obvious expressions of sexism but the internal ribs of power that we have tolerated, honored and romanticized for centuries.

So many books  even great ones  quickly go dim that picking one that might stay lit for decades is a fools errand. But in this case, Im eager to be that fool.

Ron Charles is the editor of Book World and the host of TotallyHipVideoBookReview.com.
Dear Amy: My parents and my wifes parents both live 20 minutes from us. Both sets of parents purposely moved to be close to us.

Both sets of parents tell people how often they see their grandkids, which is simply not true.

My mom speaks as if she sees them multiple times a week, but she generally sees them about once a month.

She does watch my niece three days a week, but speaks as if all of her grandkids fall into that category.

My wifes parents see me, my wife and our two kids about twice a month, but they have told others it is all the time, and when we meet, they basically ignore the kids.

The reason I am bothered by this is twofold: Theyre all getting credit for helping us out and I am sick of hearing how lucky I am to have such wonderful grandparents for the past 12 years. This has actually caused us to lose help from extended family when they visit, since they think we are given so much help from our folks.

Is there a nice way to tell them that the story they are selling is fiction? We really do love our parents. We simply want them to help out the way they claim to already.

Sad Dad

Sad Dad: Your problem is predicated on the notion that your parents and in-laws are supposed to help you. You claim that their exaggeration discourages other family members from helping you during their visits.

How much help do you and your wife require with your two children?

Your mother is already providing regular child care with one of her grandchildren. If you would like for her to increase her efforts, perhaps you could ask her outright if she could double up on those days and watch your kids, too. Or maybe they would be willing to host your children for an occasional overnight. Have you asked?

Im suggesting that if you arent getting what you want, then you should ask for it, nicely. Have you done this, or are you expecting them to intuit that this is what you want from them?

The way to correct their exaggeration of the role in your kids lives is to have a private conversation, and tell them that you love them, but this bothers you.

You could try harder to fold these grandparents into your family by inviting them to spend time with you, to attend school events and to basically be with you when you dont really want anything from them.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you and your children ARE probably lucky to have grandparents close at hand, even if their effort is disappointing. It would be unfortunate if you realized this only in retrospect, after they were gone.

Dear Amy: I am 65, and I met a wonderful woman. We were planning on getting married on the beach in Hawaii at my brothers timeshare, and then celebrate with family later.

I have four kids who say they want to be there when we say our vows. They cannot afford to go.

I told them that this is not our first marriage (we are both widowed) and we just want a small thing in Hawaii, and then to celebrate with them afterward.

My one daughter is getting married next month, and she said, How would I like it if we went off and got married and then came back to celebrate?

I feel that this is her first wedding, and it is a big celebration. We dont want a big wedding. We just want a small celebration. Should we say our vows in Hawaii, or should we save it for home?

Concerned Father

Concerned Father: You should have the wedding you want to have (and so should your daughter).

However, while I dont usually advocate for the tail wagging the dog, given how many adult children dont welcome a parents second spouse into their lives, perhaps you should be honored by their enthusiasm. Maybe you could plan a small ceremony and brunch in your home with children and spouses, and then catch your flight to Hawaii for your honeymoon.

Dear Amy: Lucky Sibling wanted to give their siblings cash gifts. Your response: When you give, you also have to let go, reminded me of a favorite quote from Dr. SunWolf:

The paradox of gifts: I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received.

Gifted

Gifted: Very wise.
D.C. schools with a significant share of struggling students are receiving an infusion of money, part of a campaign to bridge achievement gaps in the District.

The venture, called Excellence through Equity, sent a total of $2.6 million from the District to the citys 115 public schools, according to D.C. Public Schools. The largest sums went to schools with the greatest concentration of students receiving low scores on college and career readiness tests.

We are doubling down on our efforts to build a system that is focused on both excellence and equity  a system that meets the needs of all families and sets every student, in every school, up for success, Mayor Muriel E. Boswer (D) said in a statement.

Schools can use the awards  which ranged from $95,250 for Columbia Heights Educational Campus to less than $1,000 at eight schools  to address attendance, math and literacy instruction, or social emotional learning, which aims to help students gain skills to understand and manage emotions. Aside from those guidelines, schools are free to design programs as they see fit.

The freedom allows schools to innovate and provide the programming that best supports their unique school situation and population, said Michelle Lerner, a spokeswoman for the D.C. public schools.

At Brightwood Education Campus, which received $62,500, money will be put toward professional development and staff training in social and emotional development at the Ward 4 school, according to the school system.

Other programs include math and literacy clubs at Stuart-Hobson Middle School and after-school tutoring at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.

Funding for schools was determined by the concentration of students who last school year received a 1 or 2, which denotes that a student did not meet or partially met expectations, on Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessments  widely known by the acronym PARCC.

As part of a five-year plan detailed by D.C. Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson in September, the school district will embark on getting all K-2 students up to reading level, narrowing the achievement gap and ensuring that students are challenged and prepared.

The latest initiative, Lerner said, aligns with those priorities.

Its really the direction we want to go, she said.
The Districts elected leaders spent the final months of 2016 debating and adopting a law that guaranteed eight weeks of paid leave to new parents who work in the nations capital.

Now it seems they are preparing to spend the final months of 2017 arguing over how, and whether, that landmark legislation needs to be overhauled.

A D.C. Council committee held a hearing Tuesday on suggested changes to the law, which, in addition to parental leave, guarantees six weeks of paid time off to care for ailing relatives and two weeks of personal sick time. The requirements apply to private-sector workers in the District, but not federal workers or employees of the city government.

Proponents of the various amendments say they would preserve the same amount of time off for workers while lightening the tax burden the current law places on businesses and avoiding the creation of a large new District bureaucracy to oversee the benefits.

But advocates for the original law passed by the council last December say it could be fatally weakened by the tweaks under review, such as a provision that would allow large businesses that already grant their employees the prescribed amounts of paid leave to opt out of the city's program and not support it through taxes.

David Grosso (I-At Large), one of the progressive council members who introduced the original legislation last year, said the proposed amendments were a manufactured solution to a made-up problem.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who opposed the current law but did not veto it, declined to say Thursday whether the mayor supports any of the changes being debated by the council.

The Districts current program would increase employers payroll taxes by 0.62 percent, using the resulting revenue  projected to be about $250 million annually  to create a public insurance pool that would pay workers during their time off.

[Bowing to business unrest, D.C. Council will revisit family-leave law]

The city would reimburse employees for 90 percent of their first $900 in weekly pay and 50 percent of their remaining weekly pay, with a cap of $1,000 per week. Those benefits are supposed to be available under the existing law beginning in 2020.

The proposed amendments on the table would ostensibly maintain benefits at those levels but change who pays for them and how.

Some would reduce or eliminate the tax on businesses while requiring them to provide paid-leave benefits on their own  an "employer mandate" that contrasts with the current system in which reimbursements for time off will be paid directly by the city.

The employer mandate has been championed by business groups and would particularly benefit large organizations that already provide some form of paid time off and dont want to be saddled with an additional tax. But critics say it would unfairly burden small businesses and could invite abuse by companies that try to evade the mandate.

Pronita Gupta of the Center for Law and Social Policy said in her testimony that the Districts new publicly administered benefit program, in contrast to the employer mandate, makes it harder for low-road employers to try to skip out on contributing their fair share.

Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3)  who both voted for the current paid-leave law and drafted or co-sponsored several of the changes under consideration  said smaller companies could still be eligible for some form of insurance policy that paid their workers' benefits  either through a private company or through the District government.

Cheh also said she favors shifting part of the cost of the benefits to employees.

Other states such as California and Rhode Island use worker contributions to fund their paid-leave programs, but District officials avoided that approach because the city is barred by federal law from taxing those who work in the District but live outside the city.

Cheh said the prohibition could be avoided by setting up the employee contribution as a fee rather than a tax, though she acknowledged such an approach could be challenged in court.
On the first day of the World War II Battle of Tarawa in the central Pacific, Marine Corps 2nd. Lt. George S. Bussa was assigned to take his platoon and assault a huge Japanese bunker on Red Beach 3.

Bussa, a battle-tested veteran, had earned the Silver Star for gallantry a year earlier at Guadalcanal as a platoon sergeant. He had a wife  and a baby girl he had never met  back in California and several brothers in the service.

As the platoon attacked, it was assailed by enemy soldiers inside the bunker. Bussa, who was 29, was killed, and his men were driven back. After the battle, his body was buried in a trench, but after the war, it could not be found and he was declared lost.

On Tuesday, 73 years after his death, Bussas body, recently recovered and identified, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery as his daughter, Jerilyn Heise, 75, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren looked on beneath a stand of towering Willow Oaks.

Next week, another Marine killed at Tarawa, Cpl. Walter G. Critchley, 24, of New Rochelle, N.Y., is scheduled to be buried in Arlington.

On Nov. 14, a third Marine killed and lost in the battle, Cpl. Anthony G. Guerriero, 21, of Boston, is to be buried there.

And on Dec. 8, a fourth killed and lost at Tarawa, Archie W. Newell, 22, of Faith, South Dakota, is scheduled for burial there.



Sprawled bodies on beach of Tarawa reflect the ferocity of the struggle for this stretch of sand during World War II. (Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations)

The funerals are the result of work by the Defense Department and the nonprofit Florida research group History Flight, which have recovered scores of lost or unknown remains from the battlefield and a cemetery in Hawaii in the past two years.

More than 1,000 Marines were killed in the multi-day battle in late November 1943 in the amphibious landing on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll, 2,400 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Most were buried on the island in dozens of scattered plots. But after the war, some of the plots could not be found, and the bodies of hundreds of Marines were never located and brought home, according to History Flight.

The bodies of other Marines were found after the battle but could not be identified. They were eventually reburied in a cemetery in Hawaii, known as the Punchbowl, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

Last year and earlier this year, the Pentagon, spurred by scientific advances in identification processes, exhumed all 94 Tarawa caskets from the Punchbowl to try to identify those within.

[75 years after Pearl Harbor, the USS Oklahomas dead are being identified]

In 2015, History Fight said it had recovered and subsequently turned over to the Pentagon 35 sets of remains found in a lost burial plot on Betio.

In 2016, it found at least a dozen more  Bussas included, it turned out, the organization said. His remains were found under a building that had to be jacked up to gain access to his grave.

In July, History Flight announced that it had found and turned over an additional 24.

The DPAAs website indicates that 57 servicemen killed at Tarawa, most of them Marines, have been identified since 2014.

Hundreds more may still be on the island, said Mark Noah, executive director of History Flight.

Some of them may never be found on the now-densely populated island, he said.

Weve recovered Marines underneath houses . . . underneath roads, underneath pigpens, he said.

Bussa, who hailed from Chicago but was living in Van Nuys, Calif., had suffered multiple fractures of the skull, limbs and ribs from blast injuries, according to a Pentagon report on his case last April.

His flashlight, canteen and toothbrushes, among other items, were reportedly found with him, the report said.

His body was identified using DNA comparison with his family as well as dental and anthropological examination and material evidence, the Pentagon said.

[The USS Monitors crew laid to rest 150 years after it sank]



Jerilyn Heise, 74, was 14 months old when her father, Marine Corps 2nd. Lt. George Bussa, was killed. (Molly Moser/AP)

In January 1944, Bussas wife, Ellen, 28, who had grown up on a farm in Kansas, wrote the Marine Corps commandant, asking for more details.

I have a little daughter 15-months-old whom he never saw, she wrote. I would like to tell her where and the date her daddy lost his life. . . . Its hard enough to lose them, then not to know where and how they were buried make it much worse.

That May, on a parade ground in Los Angeles, a military officer presented Ellen Bussa with the Silver Star her husband earned at Guadalcanal in 1942. The Los Angeles Times reported that daughter Jerilyn, not yet 2, looked on in wonderment.

Under heavy fire

The heavily fortified enemy outpost and airstrip at Tarawa was targeted for elimination as the United States began to roll back the Japanese tide of conquest in 1943.

But when the attack was launched by the Marines on Nov. 20, the massive American naval and air bombardment had failed to knock out many of the enemy positions.

In addition, to their consternation, the assault forces found that their landing boats couldnt get over Betios outlying reef. Many men had to leave their boats and wade hundreds of yards in neck-deep water to the beach under heavy enemy fire, according to historians Eric Hammel, John E. Lane and news accounts.

Casualties were enormous, and the water was soon littered with dead Marines.

Once ashore, the Americans encountered two days of fierce fighting as they assaulted Japanese bunkers with flamethrowers, grenades and machine guns. In the end, the enemy garrison of several thousand was wiped out, and the burials began.

Initial burials . . . were made by Marines with no graves registration training and resulted in poor [location] records . . . and in trench burial methods, DPAA historian Heather Harris wrote in 2006 memo.

And after the battle, military construction projects on Betio moved many grave markers without moving remains, she wrote, making rediscovery all but impossible.

Many of the Marines were buried with their gear, helmets and boots on. There was no time for the modern conveniences, Noah, of History Flight, said in a telephone interview last week.

War correspondent Robert Sherrod, who covered the battle, remembered of the burials: The bulldozer scoops a long trench, three feet deep.

The bodies, not even covered by a blanket or poncho, are brought over and placed in the trench, side by side, he wrote. A mans last ceremony should be dignified, but this isnt. The bulldozer pushes some more dirt in the Marines faces and that is all there is to it.

A very special place

Jerilyn Heise was 14 months old when her father was killed.

Her mother remarried when Jerilyn was about 5, and she learned only bits and pieces of her fathers life over the years, but not a lot.

I went to visit my grandparents that lived in Chicago, she said in a telephone interview from her home in Minden, Nev. I definitely should have asked more questions as I got older, but didnt.

Her mother died in 2012. And last May, she got a call from the Defense Department saying that her father had been identified.

It was a surprise, and its still a surprise to me, she said. After 74 years, how would I even expect that I would be able to have his remains brought back to the United States.

She said it was important that he be buried at Arlington.

I just felt that that was a very special place, she said.

As for the Silver Star, she still has a copy provided by the government, but the original, given to her mother in 1944, has been lost.
Columnist

When the D.C. chapter of Concerned Black Men was founded in 1982, membership in the mentoring group quickly grew to dozens and then to hundreds. The roster included Eric H. Holder Jr., then a D.C. Superior Court judge who went on to become the nations first black U.S. attorney general, and Broderick Johnson, then a congressional legislative counsel who became an assistant to President Barack Obama.

We wanted to provide black boys with role models and positive examples, said Donald Temple, a D.C. lawyer who founded the group and became its first president.

Now, in its 35th year and with an anniversary celebration planned for January, membership is down. Way down  to 15 men.

The group's highly touted reading and mentoring programs have been sharply reduced. Hundreds of boys, many from single-parent households, had joined. Now, only 15 boys are enrolled.

Two of the organizations signature events  the Martin Luther King Jr. oratory contest and the African American History Bee  were canceled last year. Not enough men to organize it. The International Awareness Program, which takes kids on trips abroad, has been curtailed for lack of money and chaperons.

With fewer people doing more work, theres a lot of burnout, said Dedan Bruner, a 41-year-old lawyer and the groups president. We had a treasurer that was in place for over a decade because nobody wanted to step up. Nobody wants a lifetime appointment as treasurer.

The first chapter was founded in Philadelphia 40 years ago, the brainchild of Temples brother, who was a city police officer, and a friend who was a city firefighter. The group put emphasis on developing reading skills and self-development programs that taught boys how to dress professionally and speak effectively.

Other chapters followed, including groups in Prince George's and Charles counties in Maryland.

Reginald Broddie, president and chief executive of Concerned Black Men of America, said the struggle to increase membership and bring in younger members has been across the board.

At one point, we had more than 70 chapters, Broddie said. Now there are only 14.

The Prince Georges chapter has 39 members, with the average age of 55, he said. The Charles County chapter has 15 members and the average age is above 60.

When he took over as president of the national organization 15 months ago, CBMs chapters had a combined membership of 350, Broddie said. Since then, the organization has changed the membership rules. Now, anyone can sign up for a national membership, and those new members will eventually be deployed to local chapters.

The result has been an increase in membership to 2,414, he said. But the three chapters in the Washington area have not seen the fruits of those efforts.

The D.C. chapter had always been one of most highly touted.

The membership was a diverse mix of white and blue-collar men , young and elderly, wealthy and those of modest means. During the 1980s and early '90s, when homicides and crack cocaine were ravaging many black neighborhoods, hundreds of youngsters were finding safe haven and guidance in Concerned Black Men.

Few of the boys we mentor have a safe place to work out problems they may be having, say with girls at school, or talk about how they perceive their future, said Bruner, an employment attorney who has been a member of the organization for seven years. They want to talk about the news and how to think critically about what is going on.

The program caters to boys ages 9 to 15. They meet for workshops on the first and third Saturdays of each month. The sessions last five hours and usually involve reading and discussion groups. They also take trips throughout the city.

Last year the boys bought food and prepared bag lunches, Bruner recalled. Rather than just feeding themselves, they took the lunches to a homeless shelter and distributed them. Even guys who can be hard to reach sometimes, hard to get through to, they really step it up when its time to serve others.

Bruner attributed the membership decline in part to the people moving out of the area  mostly college students who left after graduating and military personnel who were transferredto other posts.

He added: I think the definition of activism has changed and not perceived as rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in neighborhoods. It involves Twitter and social media. Not in a bad way, but its moved online and deals mostly with isolated events  a march for this or that. Its not necessarily about investing in the lives of young people.

As for Holder and Johnson, Bruner said they are still members. They fall into the group that writes the checks, he said. We need that. But we also need more boots on the ground.

One group trying to fill in the gap for Concerned Black Men are black women.

Women have always expressed an interest in our mission, Bruner said. So, about three years ago, we began to welcome them as volunteers. Now women are serving in vital roles on all of our committees.

Still, he is hopeful he can find a new generation of men to step up. After two years as president, Bruner was ready to step down and last year he decided not to seek reelection. But he still ended up as president.

Nobody else wanted the job.

To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy.
Armando Calderon Sol, who served as president of El Salvador in the 1990s and led his country out of the mayhem of its 12-year civil war, died Oct. 9 at a hospital in Houston. He was 69.

Milena Calderon de Escalon, the former presidents sister and a legislative assembly member who belongs to his right-wing party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance, confirmed his death to the Associated Press. Mr. Calderon Sol was reported to have had cancer.

Mr. Calderon Sol was trained as a lawyer and served as mayor of the capital city, San Salvador, before winning a five-year term as president in 1994. The long civil war, pitting Marxist rebels against a rightist government and repressive military, took 70,000 lives and had ended only two years earlier.

The United States spent $5 billion to buttress the Salvadoran government in the conflict, which, like the one in Nicaragua, brought the ideological battles of the Cold War to Central America.

When Mr. Calderon Sol took office, many opponents and some observers doubted whether he would enforce the terms of a U.N.-brokered peace treaty for El Salvador, which called for the removal of military officers who had participated in human-rights abuses, the transfer of land to former rebels, the formation of a civilian police force and a reformed judiciary.



Mr. Calderon Sol gives the Arena party salute in front of a portrait of d'Aubuisson. (Alexander Renderos/For The Washington Post)

Suspicions about Mr. Calderon Sol stemmed from his long-standing leadership roles in the Nationalist Republican Alliance. More widely known as Arena, the party had been founded in 1981 by Roberto d'Aubuisson, a cashiered army officer who was widely regarded as the father of El Salvador's right-wing death squads. Mr. Calderon Sol had served, among other roles, as secretary to d'Aubuisson, who reportedly called him "Armandito."

William LeoGrande, a professor of government at American University in Washington, described Arena as the political expression of the death-squad apparatus that had been formed to eliminate leftists and other political adversaries.

Forces led by d'Aubuisson were linked to thousands of murders, among them the assassination of Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980. Mr. Calderon Sol strenuously disputed allegations that he had participated in any violence, although U.S. intelligence reports said he had opened his home to death squad organizers planning their activities.

As president, however, Mr. Calderon Sol appeared to push his party away from radicalism.

"We have left behind the language of confrontation, of clashes," Mr. Calderon Sol told The Washington Post in 1994. "We are faithful to our past in the defense of free enterprise, a market economy, private property and individual liberties. But we use a different rhetoric, softer, more profound, easier for other groups to understand. . . . We have to reach people who did not like our rhetoric, with a position of tolerance."

LeoGrande, the author of the book Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992, credited Mr. Calderon Sol with following the peace agreement as it was written.

Some people worried that . . . as president he might give a green light to increasing the political violence and might back away from the agreement, LeoGrande said. But he didnt. And that was an important step in moving El Salvador from a brutal civil conflict to a functioning democracy. Not that they dont still have problems, but their democratic institutions do work.

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LeoGrande said Mr. Calderon Sol failed to implement economic policies that might have resolved underlying causes of the civil war. But he credited him with freeing Salvadoran politics from the military and establishing the framework for free elections  major milestones in a country where the military had long had an overriding influence on government.

Mr. Calderon Sol was somebody who started out believing that the solution to El Salvadors conflict was to kill all the leftists, LeoGrande remarked, and ended up as a president who implemented a peace agreement with them.

Armando Calderon Sol was born to a landowning family in San Salvador on June 24, 1948. After a Jesuit education, he received a law degree from the University of El Salvador.

The Post reported that in his early career, Mr. Calderon Sol belonged to the Salvadoran Nationalist Movement, a group of young men who promised their lives to the cause of defeating communism.

He was married to the former Elizabeth Aguirre, with whom he had several sons. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

Term limits restricted Mr. Calderon Sol to one term in office. Since 2009, El Salvador has been governed by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the leftist party that he defeated to become president.
In 1996, Rep. Jerry Kleczka (D-Wis.) thanks his supporters for their help in defeating a Republican challenger. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/AP)

Gerald D. Jerry Kleczka, a liberal Democrat who served in the U.S. House for 20 years and represented a Wisconsin district that included his home town of Milwaukee, died Sept. 10 at a care center in the Madison, Wis., area. He was 73.

His nephew, Jeff Kleczka, confirmed the death but did not provide a specific cause.

A factory workers son, Mr. Kleczka served in the House from 1984 to 2005 before retiring from Congress. He said he had grown weary of campaign fundraising, telling the Associated Press that it was the most embarrassing thing Ive had to do in my life  calling strangers and begging for money.

Before winning a special election to the House in 1984 to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Clement Zablocki (D), Mr. Kleczka served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate. On Capitol Hill, he was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and later the House Budget Committee.

His career centered around tirelessly helping his constituents and community in Milwaukee, with a steadfast focus on national and state policy designed to better the lives of the poor, the disadvantaged and the elderly, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin said in a statement.



Kleczka in 1999 holds his dog Colby's leash as he speaks in Washington about fur coats made from dog hair. (Joe Marquette/AP)

Mr. Kleczka worked to ban drive-through baby deliveries, in which mothers were sent home soon after giving birth, and to protect seniors living in public housing. He also secured money for education and housing programs.

In 1999, he sponsored legislation with Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) that made selling or making products with dog or cat fur a federal crime. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law in 2000.

He voted against two American incursions in the Middle East  the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first was motivated by a quest for oil, he said, and the second was built on false information about a threat to the West.

Its easy for 535 legislators in D.C., miles away from their homes, to do this, knowing full well they aint going, he told the AP about his votes against war. I knew full well if I supported it, Id be sending your kids, not mine.

Gerald Daniel Kleczka was born in Milwaukee on Nov. 26, 1943. He attended the University of Wisconsin and served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from 1963 to 1969.

Mr. Kleczkas struggle with alcoholism became public in 1995 after he was arrested for a second time in Northern Virginia for drunken driving; the first time was in 1987.

My family and friends and constituents rallied behind me, he told the AP. At the treatment center, we were told how to ask God for some help, and hes been there with me over the last nine years of sobriety. Its a gift that I have that I dont intend to give up because Im leaving Congress.

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Survivors include his wife of 39 years, Bonnie, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A female college student from Bowie was shot by a police officer in Miami Beach and died Sunday after leaving the scene of a collision and striking another officer with a car, Miami Beach police said.

The woman was identified as Cariann Hithon, whose father said she was a senior at Temple University in Philadelphia and was in Florida to celebrate her 22nd birthday.

Cary Hithon, the womans father and a retired Navy captain, said he knew little about the incident beyond what had appeared in news accounts.

Apparently she was accosted by officers, and for whatever reason didnt satisfy their demands, he said.

In a news conference shortly after the incident Sunday, Miami Beach police Chief Daniel Oates said that a woman whose name he did not then know had been driving a car that had collided with another vehicle there. At some point after that collision, he said, she accelerated, in what he described as an apparent attempt to flee, and struck a Miami Beach officer who was on foot.

He was thrown to the ground and lost consciousness for a time, the chief said.

After the officer was hit, Oates said, another officer opened fire. At least one shot struck the woman, he said. She died at a hospital, the chief said.

Oates said the Miami-Dade Police Department would investigate the shooting.

A few seconds of video provided to the Miami Herald and posted on its website purportedly shows part of the incident. In it, a black car appears stopped in traffic. People begin to gather around it. One person appears to direct angry remarks toward whoever was in the car.

Then the car moves forward. Behind it, as it moves, someone appears to be on the ground.

The video later shows additional cars that were hit.

Hithon grew up in Bowie and went to St. Johns College High School in Northwest Washington, her father said.

She then attended Hampton University, where she was an honor student, before transferring to Temple, he said.

Hithon called his daughter intelligent and conscientious. She was socially conscious, he said, and really looked forward to becoming a lawyer to represent people who had been underserved.

In addition, he said, she liked cooking and baking, and had a knack for makeup, which she enjoyed applying on herself and on others.

Cariann was all about giving, he said.

Oates said the injured officer was being treated at a hospital for a head injury and possible internal injuries.

The Miami Beach police said in a tweet that the officer was expected to be OK.
The firefighter found Richard Dabate on the floor of his kitchen, where he had made a desperate 911 call minutes earlier, court records show. Bleeding and lashed to a chair with zip ties, the man moaned a chilling warning: Theyre still in the house.

Smoke hung in the air, and a trail of blood led to a darkened basement, as Connecticut State Police swarmed the large home in the Hartford suburbs two days before Christmas in 2015.

Richard, 41, told authorities a masked intruder with a Vin Diesel voice killed his wife, Connie, in front of him and tortured him. Police combed the home and town of Ellington but found no suspect.

With no witnesses other than Richard, detectives turned to the vast array of data and sensors that increasingly surround us. An important bit of evidence came from an unlikely source: the Fitbit tracking Connies movements.

Others from the homes smart alarm systems, Facebook, cellphones, email and a key fob allowed police to re-create a nearly minute-by-minute account of the morning that they said revealed Richards story was an elaborately staged fiction.



Richard Dabate, left, watches the casket bearing his wife, Connie Dabate, being carried during her funeral in December 2015. (Jim Michaud/Journal Inquirier/Associated Press)

Undone by his data, Richard was charged with his wifes murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case, which is in pretrial motions, is perhaps the best example to date of how Internet-connected, data-collecting smart devices such as fitness trackers, digital home assistants, thermostats, TVs and even pill bottles are beginning to transform criminal justice.

The ubiquitous devices can serve as a legion of witnesses, capturing our every move, biometrics and what we have ingested. They sometimes listen in or watch us in the privacy of our homes. And police are increasingly looking to the devices for clues.

The prospect has alarmed privacy advocates, who say too many consumers are unaware of the revealing information these devices are harvesting. They also point out there are few laws specifically crafted to guide how law enforcement officials collect smart-device data.

Andrew Ferguson, a University of the District of Columbia law professor, says we are entering an era of sensorveillance when we can expect one device or another to be monitoring us much of the time. The title of a law paper on the topic put the prospect this way: Technology is Killing Our Opportunity to Lie.

The business research company Gartner estimates 8.4 billion devices were connected to the Internet in 2017, a 31 percent increase over the previous year. By 2020, the company estimates there will be roughly three smart devices for every person on the planet.

Americans are just waking up to the fact that their smart devices are going to snitch on them, Ferguson said. And that they are going to reveal intimate details about their lives they did not intend law enforcement to have.

A killing in the suburbs

The Dabates yellow Colonial was festively decorated with wreaths on the windows the morning of Dec. 23, 2015. Richard, Connie and their two boys, ages 6 and 9, bustled around getting ready for the day.

To many of their acquaintances, the family appeared to be an ordinary one in a quiet bedroom community. Richard was a network administrator, and Connie worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative.

Joann Knapp, a former neighbor of the Dabates, fondly recalls Connie popping over to her house to ask her out for walks while Knapp was having a difficult pregnancy. Knapp said Connie and Richard appeared to have a happy  even passionate  marriage.

They couldnt keep their eyes off each other, Knapp said. It was a look that you would want.

But behind that public face, Connies killing would reveal a darkly tangled relationship and a major secret.

Richard and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Richard gave a detailed  but shifting  account of Connies killing to detectives over six hours on the day of the slaying. It is contained in his arrest warrant.

On the drive to work that morning, Richard said, he got an alert on his phone that the homes alarm had been triggered. He said he shot an email to his boss and returned home, arriving there between 8:45 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Richard told police he heard a noise on the second floor and found a hulking intruder wearing camouflage and a mask inside the walk-in closet of the master bedroom. The intruder demanded his wallet at knifepoint.

Soon after, Connie returned home from an exercise class; Richard told investigators he yelled at her to run. Connie fled into the basement, and the intruder followed.

When Richard arrived on the lower level, he made his way through darkness, finding the man pointing a gun at Connies head. Richard said that the gun was his own and that Connie must have removed it from a safe to defend herself.

Richard said he charged but heard a deafening blast and fell. When he got up, Connie was slumped on the ground. Police would later determine the gunshot hit her in the back of her head.

The intruder disabled Richard and then zip-tied one of Richards arms and one of his legs to a folding chair, according to the account.

The intruder jabbed Richard with a box cutter. The man also started a fire in a cardboard box using a blow torch, which he then turned on Richards ankle.

Richard told investigators he saw an opening: He jammed the blow torch in the mans face and singed it. The intruder ran out.

Richard said he crawled upstairs with the chair still attached, activated the panic alarm, called 911 and collapsed. The firefighter found him soon after.

Data tells a different tale

The chaotic scene inside the Dabate home had all the hallmarks of a home invasion, but a few details would prompt investigators to take a closer look.

Dogs brought in to track the suspect could find no scent trails leaving the property and circled back to Richard, according to arrest records. Richard also aroused suspicion when detectives asked whether their probe would reveal any problems between him and Connie.

He took a deep breath and offered: Yes and no.

Richard told a bizarre story. He said that he had gotten a high school friend pregnant and that it was Connies idea. He said the three planned to co-parent the child, since his wife wanted another baby but could not have one for health reasons.

Later, Richard changed his story, saying that the pregnancy was unplanned and that he had a romantic relationship with the friend. Detectives found no evidence Connie knew of the pregnancy.

This situation popped up like a frickin soap opera, Richard told detectives.

The admission pointed toward a possible motive for Connies killing, but it would be the data detectives uncovered that would give them evidence to conclude his story was a lie.

Detectives had noticed Connie was wearing a Fitbit when they found her body.

They requested the devices data, which showed she had walked 1217 feet after returning home from the exercise class, far more than the 125 feet it would take her to go from the car in the garage to the basement in Richards telling of what happened.

The Fitbit also registered Connie moving roughly an hour after Richard said she was killed before 9:10 a.m. Facebook records also cast doubt on Richards timeline, showing Connie had posted as late as 9:46 a.m.

Detectives would also come to doubt that Richard left home that morning, after examining data from his home alarm system and his email account.

Records indicate he used a key fob to activate his home alarm from his basement at 8:50 a.m. and then disabled it at 8:59 a.m. from the same location.

Richard also told investigators he emailed his boss from the road after getting the alert about the alarm. But records from his Microsoft Outlook account showed he sent the email from the IP address associated with his home.

Combined, the data punched major holes in Richards story. Police obtained an arrest warrant for him in April.

The high school friend of Richards told authorities he had said he planned to serve divorce papers on Connie the week she was killed. Richard had texted her the night before Connies death: Ill see you tomorrow my little love nugget.

The future of evidence

The Dabate case is just one of a handful in which law enforcement officials have resorted to smart-device sleuthing.

In September 2016, an Ohio man told authorities he awoke to find his home ablaze, but police quickly suspected he set the fire himself. They filed a search warrant to get data from his pacemaker.

Authorities said his heart rate and cardiac rhythms indicated the man was awake at the time he claimed he was sleeping. He was charged with arson and insurance fraud.

Prosecutors in a 2015 Arkansas murder case sought recordings from the suspects Amazon Echo when a 47-year-old man was found floating in the suspects hot tub after a night of partying. Authorities thought the voice-activated assistant may have recorded valuable evidence of the crime.

Amazon.com challenged the search warrant in court, saying that the request was overly broad and that government seizure of such data would chill customers First Amendment rights to free speech. But the challenge was eventually dropped because the suspect agreed to allow Amazon to turn over the information.

(Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.)

Virginia State Police Special Agent Robert J. Brown III of the High Technology Division said the current trickle of such smart-device cases will likely soon become a flood.

It will definitely be something in five or 10 years, in every case, we will look to see if this information is available, Brown said.

Amazon and Fitbit said in statements that they wont release customers data to authorities without a valid legal demand, but they declined to say how many such requests they have received from law enforcement.

Respect for the privacy of our users drives our approach, Fitbit said in its statement.

Ferguson, the law professor, said a case before the Supreme Court could be key in determining how exposed smart-device data is to searches by law enforcement.

In 2011, investigators in Detroit obtained months of cellphone location data on a suspect in a robbery investigation without a search warrant. Timothy Carpenter was later convicted, in part on this information gleaned from cellphone companies.

Carpenter is arguing in his appeal that such cellphone location data is so powerful it should be covered by the protections of the Fourth Amendment and that police should be required to get a search warrant to obtain it.

Courts have long held that people who voluntarily disclose information to a bank, cellphone company or other third party have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Ferguson said that since many smart devices transfer data to company servers, this third-party doctrine could apply to them, as well.

Ferguson said a ruling against Carpenter might clear the way for authorities to seek smart-device data stored on those servers without a warrant.

In a world of truly ubiquitous connectivity where we are recording our heartbeat, our steps, our location. . .if all of that data is now available to law enforcement without a warrant, that is a big change, he said. And thats a big invasion of what most of us think our privacy should include.
Clifford Lee Staley was known for walking around the area of Hagerstown, Md. Saturday evening was no different.

He had two dogs close in tow  one, which belonged to him, was a bulldog, and the other appeared to be a Shiba Inu, a popular dog breed with reddish fur that comes from Japan.

When one of the dogs  the Shiba Inu  darted into the road and a minivan struck it, tossing it across the median, Staley ran into the roadway to try to save it.

But just as he crouched next to the dog, Staley, 49, was struck by another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

He died. So did the dog.

Any time you have the loss of a life, it is tragic, said Deputy 1st Class Carly Hose, a spokeswoman for the Washington County, Md., sheriffs department. But this ones just sad all around.

[Mama duck and a dozen ducklings rescued from 6th floor of Library of Congress building]

Authorities said the incident started when a resident in the 13400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue called 911 for a report of a stranger knocking on his door and walking around the property.

When sheriffs deputies arrived, they saw a man  later identified as Staley, who has no fixed address  walking away from the home with two dogs following closely behind, officials said. Deputies talked to Staley, who told them he had been at the house but had committed no crimes.

Deputies, who knew Staley, agreed he had done nothing wrong. Staley didnt really offer them much of an explanation as to why he was knocking on doors, officials said.

[Pet Russian tortoise, last seen in the Japanese ambassadors property, is found]

He eventually told deputies he was going to walk into Hagerstown. The deputies told him he was free to leave and not to come back to that home.

Staley began walking south on the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue with the two dogs following him. The deputies went to their patrol car and waited in the area.

But Staley had only made it about 60 feet when a southbound minivan struck one of the dogs as it walked out into the road.

The dog was thrown across the median and lay partially in the northbound lane. Staley, officials said, immediately ran into the roadway to tend to the dog.

One deputy went to help him with the dog and the other talked to the driver of the minivan, who stayed at the scene.

[Hes figured out the big roads: Black bear spotted nine times in D.C. suburbs]

As one of the deputies ran back to the patrol car to get gloves, a blanket and other supplies to help the dog, he warned Staley several times to stay out of the roadway.

But officials said Staley ignored the orders. He crouched down by the injured dog.

Just then, another vehicle came in the northbound lane and struck Staley.

He was helped by both deputies and transported with critical injuries to a hospital. Staley died Sunday.

No charges have been filed against either driver, officials said.

The other dog that belonged to Staley was taken into the care of the Humane Society of Washington County, according to the sheriffs office.
Tristan Schulz, left, is held by his mother Mindy. Tristan, 5-months-old was killed when he and his mother were struck by a Jeep in Loudoun County Aug. 31, 2016. (Courtesy of Aliyah Dastour/Alimond Studios)

A driver who struck and killed an infant being pushed in a stroller in Loudoun County, Va., was convicted Tuesday of reckless driving.

Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge Stephen E. Sincavage found John Miller IV guilty of reckless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian. Miller pleaded no contest to the reckless driving charge and guilty to the charge of failure to yield to a pedestrian.

Miller was driving about 8:10 a.m. on Aug. 31 last year, headed north on Coton Manor Drive onto Riverside Parkway in Lansdowne. He struck 5-month-old Tristan Schulz, who was in a stroller being pushed in a crosswalk by his mother, Mindy Schulz.

Tristan was killed; his mother was also hit and suffered injuries.



John Miller IV (Courtesy of Loudoun County Sheriff)

Schulz had just dropped off her 7-year-old son at a nearby school and was walking to get fresh air.

In September, prosecutors dropped an involuntary manslaughter charge against Miller.

[Prosecutors seek to drop manslaughter charge against man charged in crash that killed 5-month-old]

Authorities said Miller was not intoxicated and remained at the scene.

At one point in the investigation, prosecutors said the evidence appeared to show Miller might have been using his phone at the time of the crash. They later said a forensic evaluation of the phone did not show that it had been in use.

Millers lawyer, Steven T. Webster, declined to comment after the Tuesday court hearing.

Miller is on bond, pending a sentencing hearing set for Friday. He faces up to a year in jail for his conviction for reckless driving, a misdemeanor. The charge also carries a fine of up to $2,500.

The failure-to-yield charge, a traffic infraction, carries a fine of up to $250, officials said.

[Manslaughter case shows how texting detector could help convict, absolve driver]

Schulz, the babys mother, wrote in an email after the crash, it hurts at a level so visceral, so primal, that just surviving the pain and darkness of that loss feels insurmountable.

This is what we try to process every moment of every day.
The black man beaten in a Charlottesville parking garage by white supremacists after a Unite the Right rally has been charged with a crime in connection with the incident, even as police arrested a third person accused of kicking him to the ground and pummeling him.

A local magistrate issued an arrest warrant Monday for DeAndre Harris on a felony charge of unlawful wounding after a man, identified by Harriss attorney as Harold Ray Crews, reported that he was injured by the 20-year-old during the August brawl. Crews, who describes himself as a Southern Nationalist and an attorney on Twitter, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The magistrate's charge against Harris, who suffered a spinal injury and a head laceration that required 10 stitches, came less than 48 hours after a second rally by white supremacists and white nationalists in Charlottesville and caught the city's police department by surprise.

We were not expecting this. We were expecting to do our own investigation into the mans allegations, said Detective Sgt. Jake Via, who is supervising the parking garage case.

But alleged crime victims can go to magistrates for warrants after theyve filed police reports.

Harris's attorney, S. Lee Merritt, denounced the charge and said it was orchestrated by the League of the South, an organization labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. Crews, who runs the group's North Carolina chapter, was not injured "in any way" by Harris, Merritt said.

We find it highly offensive and upsetting, Merritt said, but whats more jarring is that hes been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him.

[Third white supremacist arrested in Charlottesville garage beating of black man]

The brutal attack, which occurred in a garage next to police department headquarters, was captured in a video that went viral in the days after the rally. The confrontation has come to symbolize the racial hatred that was unleashed in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, when white supremacists, Klan members and neo-Nazis clashed with counterprotesters. The violence left one counterprotester, Heather Heyer, dead.

Harris's beating has inspired a social-media campaign by activists to identify his attackers, two of whom were charged weeks ago. A third man, Jacob Scott Goodwin, a 22-year-old from Ward, Ark., was arrested by U.S. Marshals Tuesday night after being identified by online sleuths, who are led by journalist and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King.

King, who has spent hundreds of hours poring over photos and video footage of the rally and the parking garage attack, said he was appalled that Harris has been charged.

I am disgusted that the justice system bent over backwards to issue a warrant for one of the primary victims of that day, when I and others had to fight like hell to get that same justice system to prosecute people who were vicious in their attacks against Harris and others, King said. Now, were seeing white supremacists celebrate on social media, bragging about Harriss arrest. Theyre hailing this as a victory.

Indeed, after the charge was announced, Hunter Wallace, a prominent white nationalist, issued a celebratory tweet  along with a photo of the main character from the film "American Psycho" grinning widely.

"Did you hear the news?" Wallace asked. "DeAndre Harris is going to jail. Yeah, he is being booked this morning. His whole story was another race hoax."

Avnel Coates, the chief magistrate for the district that includes Charlottesville, declined to say whether she issued the arrest warrant. She referred The Washington Post to Kristi Wright, the director of the states Department of Legislative and Public Relations, who said Coates cannot comment on pending or concluded legal matters in her office.

Any alleged crime victim can approach a magistrate to obtain a warrant against the alleged perpetrator. The alleged victim must file a police report, and then the magistrate needs probable cause to issue an arrest warrant, based on that persons testimony.

Via said Harriss alleged victim did file a complaint with police, who told him theyd investigate the allegations. Crews apparently also went to the magistrates office, which needed only evidence of a police report to issue a warrant.

The arrest warrant was based solely on the victims testimony, Via said.

Once the warrant is served on Harris  probably this week  the decision of whether to prosecute the case falls to Commonwealths Attorney Warner D. Dave Chapman. The prosecutor told The Post on Tuesday evening that it wouldnt be appropriate to comment on a pending investigation.

[Finding the white supremacists who beat a black man in Charlottesville]

Meanwhile, King and the other online sleuths had been waiting for the police department to act on their evidence against Goodwin, whom they initially nicknamed Shield because of what he was carrying that day.

They watched footage of the parking garage attack multiple times from different angles. They noticed that Shield had stuffed his large ponytail into the back of his military helmet. They measured his military goggles and examined his plastic, body-length shield. They zoomed in and saw that he wore a twisted, copper-colored bracelet. They also discovered that he wore a Traditionalist Worker Party pin.

"Dear Jacob Scott Goodwin, age 22, of Ward, Arkansas," King posted on his own Facebook page Sept. 24. "We have looked for you for a month. In the end it was your hair, your bracelets, your glasses, your tattoo on your forearm, the white supremacist pins and necklaces, and your own bragging online that helped us identify you as one of the felony attackers of DeAndre Harris in Charlottesville. Soon, you will be arrested."

King and his online investigators also gathered information that led to the arrests of two other alleged attackers: Daniel P. Borden, 18, of Ohio, and Alex Michael Ramos, 33, of Georgia. Both have been charged with malicious wounding.

They also identified a suspected attacker from a separate incident during the Charlottesville rally  a man accused of punching a counterprotester on the street. Dennis Mothersbaugh, 37, who lives in North Vernon, Ind., was arrested by police Sept. 28 and charged with assault and battery, and awaits extradition to Virginia.

Its me, and maybe 15 people, all Internet volunteers, were all doing this together, said King, a columnist with the Intercept. We have Facebook messages, Twitter and email conversations, and whenever we find something, we share it. Were doing it knowing we cant afford to make a mistake.

In video of the parking garage fight, the man identified as Crews tries to spear a counterprotester with the pole of a Confederate flag. Harris retaliates, swinging a flashlight at Crews, appearing to strike him. But Harriss attorney, Merritt, said that the flashlight failed to make significant contact and that Crews was injured in a separate incident that did not involve Harris.

Within seconds of Harris swinging the flashlight, he was kicked to the ground by a group of at least five white supremacists, who began hitting him with wooden sticks and a large board. In the video, the man police have identified as Goodwin, clad in military tactical gear, kicks Harris. At one point, he appears to strike Harris with his shield. As the fight is ending, a counterprotester sucker-punches Goodwins helmeted head.

Goodwin did not return a message seeking comment.

In an interview, his mother, Tamera Goodwin, who also attended the Charlottesville rally, confirmed that it is her son in the video wearing military tactical gear and carrying a shield. She asked him about his involvement in the attack that day, she said.

I told him, It does look like you kicked him, but he said, No, Mom, I didnt,  she said.

He said, We just tried to get out, but there was no way out other than to fight back. 

King and his team noticed that he was wearing a red pin with the number 88  code for "Heil Hitler," because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Then, they focused on the pin for the Traditionalist Worker Party, a white nationalist group run by Matthew Heimbach.

[This white nationalist who shoved a Trump protester may be the next David Duke]

Maybe, they thought, Shield had attended the Traditionalist Worker Party rally in Pikeville, Ky., in the spring. They began sifting through the partys public Facebook pages for photos from the gathering.

Wed click on each person who liked a photo from the Pikeville rally, and every person who commented on a photo. And thats how we got to Jacobs page, King said. We clicked on his profile, and there he was, with the exact same bracelets and necklaces. He even explained where he got his helmet.

Not only did they finally have a name, they took screenshots of Goodwins Facebook page: Smiling with his mom. Posing in a camouflage uniform, clutching a long firearm.

Then King did what he always does. He passed the evidence on to police.
Corey Stewart, who ran as a mini-Trump but lost the GOP nomination for governor to Ed Gillespie, is negotiating with the Gillespie campaign for Stewarts endorsement. (Linda Davidson/AP)

Corey Stewart, who pilloried Republican Ed Gillespie during their GOP gubernatorial primary fight in Virginia, has been communicating with Gillespie about a potential endorsement at the urging of former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and President Trump's former deputy campaign manager, David N. Bossie, according to five people familiar with the matter.

Stewart, who had run for governor in Trumps anti-establishment mold and derided Gillespie as Establishment Ed, withheld his support after narrowly losing the June 13 primary.

At the time, Stewart declared that he would not back Gillespie unless the nominee took a harder line on protecting Confederate statues and against illegal immigration. There is one word you will never hear from me, and thats unity, Stewart said in June.

But Gillespie, whose internal polls show him in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Ralph Northam, needs voters who backed both Stewart and Trump to turn out for him.

Virginia is holding the only competitive statewide election in the nation on Nov. 7, an election that both major parties see as a test of electoral politics in the Trump era and a hint of what may come in the 2018 midterms.

Last month, Gillespie made an overture to that populist wing of the GOP, rolling out a series of hard-line ads against illegal immigration. And in recent days, he aired ads in which he defends Confederate statues.

Stewart confirmed his willingness to endorse and stump for Gillespie in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, praising the candidate for moving further to the right. He declined to comment on any behind-the-scenes communication with Gillespie, Bannon or Bossie.

If it takes an endorsement to help defeat the radical, antifa left from taking over control of our state, I will do it, Stewart said, using a word used to describe left-wing, anti-fascist activists. But whether thats an endorsement or bringing some energy to the base to show up and vote, whatever it takes, I will do whatever Im asked to do.

Bannon and Bossie encouraged Stewart, who wants to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) next year, to patch things up with Gillespie at a private meeting on Capitol Hill, according to the four people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations between Gillespie and Stewart. Bossie, who lives in Maryland, is a member of the Republican National Committee.

Stewart broke the ice recently with a text message to Gillespie, but there was no response until after Stewart ran into Gillespies wife, Cathy, at the Family Foundations annual gala last weekend in Richmond, two of the people said.

Cathy Gillespie apologized to Stewart that her husband had not yet responded to his text. Soon afterward, Gillespie himself replied and the two have since texted back and forth.

[Gillespies primary scare has White House, others urging Trump world hires]

View Graphic The latest stories and details on the 2017 Virginia general election and race for governor.

While its not unusual for primary foes to bury the hatchet once a nomination is won, Stewart and Gillespie had a particularly bitter fight. Even after the primary, Stewart continued to criticize Gillespie in highly personal terms, at one point calling him boring and publicly advising him to lose the dorky Mister Rogers sweater that Gillespie favors in TV ads.

[Stewart to Gillespie: No one cares that your dad owned a grocery store]

Stewart, the chair of the Prince William Board of Supervisors, said he would not consider helping Gillespie unless he focused on issues Stewart cared most about, including illegal immigration and protection of Confederate monuments.

Gillespie, a former White House counselor to President George W. Bush and chair of the RNC, helped build the traditional Republican Party of the last 30 years. His critics say he embodies the Republican establishment that Trump and Stewart railed against.

Gillespie has struggled to energize Trump supporters without alienating moderates and independents that he needs to overcome a Democratic base that is united behind Northam. Gillespies ambivalence toward Trump was on display last week, when the president tweeted his endorsement of the Republican but Gillespie did not mention it until the next day when asked by reporters.

[Trump roils Virginia governors race with tweeted endorsement]

Each of the players in the negotiations have something to gain.

For Stewart, any work he does to help Gillespie over the finish line on Nov. 7 could earn him goodwill in the state GOP in his primary fight next year.

Bossie and Bannon could notch a win for their wing of the party  and thwart the possible political takeaway that Trumps unpopularity sank Gillespie in this years only competitive governors race, and threatens to do the same for Republicans running in next years congressional midterms.

Gillespie spokesman David Abrams did not respond directly to questions about whether a Stewart endorsement was in the works.

Im sure Eds texted with Corey, Abrams said in a two-sentence statement that also referred to Gillespies other GOP primary opponent. Ed appreciates all that Corey Stewart and Frank Wagner have done to bring their party together in this critically important election.

Bossie declined to comment and Bannon was unavailable for comment.

Partnering with Stewart, however, raises the risk that Gillespie will energize Democrats and turn off moderates who were repulsed by Stewarts antics, which included rallies in front of the Confederate flag and raffling off a semiautomatic rifle to donors. Four of the five Republicans who serve with Stewart on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors all endorsed Gillespie during the primary because they objected to what they considered Stewarts divisive rhetoric.

[Do Corey Stewarts antics help Gillespie or hurt the GOP brand?]

Stewart said there are no complicated machinations behind his willingness to help Gillespie.

Theres no, quote, deal, Stewart said. Theres nothing there. I want to do whatever I can to help defeat the radical antifa-led Democratic Party.

He also said his role for Gillespie is yet to be determined.

We havent had a chance to sit down together and figure that out, he said. I think these formal endorsements, the value of them is completely overblown. The fact that Ed is moving further to the right will help his campaign in terms of energizing the base.

Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report.
Democratic candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, left, shakes hands with Republican challenger Ed Gillespie after a debate at the University of Virginia-Wise in Wise, Va., Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. (Steve Helber/AP)

Virginia's two major-party candidates for governor went after each other in their third and final debate before the Nov. 7 election but never focused on the one name that has hung over the race from the start: Donald Trump.

Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie kept a civil tone but clashed over themes of economic progress for rural Virginia in a debate held Monday night in the states ailing coal country.

Northam, who during the campaign has repeatedly tried to tie Gillespie to an unpopular President Trump, uttered the name only in passing this time as he instead took every opportunity to paint his opponent as a creature of Washington and K Street.

[President Trump endorses Gillespie in a tweet, lobs false accusation against Northam]

He believes in giving tax cuts to the wealthy at the expense of the working class, said Northam, Virginias lieutenant governor.

For his part, Gillespie hammered on Virginias economy, painting a picture of a struggling state whose slow growth is belied by its low, 3.8 percent unemployment rate.

The fact is, our economic growth has been stuck for six straight years now, Gillespie said.

Speaking at the Wise campus of the University of Virginia, a plush oasis in an otherwise struggling part of the state, the two candidates returned to themes of opportunity for rural areas.

This has not been a high-

profile theme so far in the race, as the populous suburbs of Northern Virginia and the areas around Richmond and Hampton Roads make up more and more of the electorate and draw an outsize portion of campaign time.

[Poll shows Trump Effect in Virginia]

Gillespie was playing to a friendly crowd of more than 550 in the cavernous gymnasium, as many attendees in this solidly red county wore Gillespie shirts or stickers.

While Virginia as a whole was the only Southern state to go for Hillary Clinton last year, this part of the state went heavily for Trump  largely because of the issue of coal.

View Graphic The latest stories and details on the 2017 Virginia general election and race for governor.

Even on a question about education, Gillespie bent his answer toward jobs and coal. We are not going to increase jobs in southwest Virginia by doing what the lieutenant governor wants to do, which is to impose an Obama-style Clean Power Plan on Virginia, he said. That will only result in more laid-off miners.

As the candidates sparred over the economy, it sounded as if they were talking about two different states.

Northam took credit for 215,000 new jobs that he said had been created during the term of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is prohibited by the state constitution from serving a second consecutive term. Northam touted the unemployment rates drop from a high of 5.4 percent and noted that the state has expanded transportation funding and access to high-speed Internet.

Gillespie described a Virginia young people are fleeing because of a lack of opportunity and said Northam would raise taxes and make electricity bills go up.

Gillespie touted his plan for an across-the-board 10 percent tax cut as a way to renew growth, and he cast Northam as a liberal big spender.

He doesnt oppose tax cuts because theyre tax cuts for the rich, he opposes them because theyre tax cuts, the Republican said.

Northam countered by citing an analysis saying that Gillespies plan would reduce state revenue by $1.4 billion a year when fully enacted and asked how his opponent would pay for his promises for better teacher pay and better roads without that funding.

That was one of several instances where the candidates directly confronted one another with a little more vinegar than in the past two debates.

On a question about partisan gerrymandering, for instance, Northam said he wants a nonpartisan commission to draw political boundaries.

My opponent, he added, is actually the architect of gerrymandering throughout this country.

He was referring to Gillespies time as chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee, when he helped engineer redistricting that resulted in Republican takeovers of statehouses around the country.

Gillespie shot back that Northam voted for a Democratic-drawn map when he served in the legislature.

He tried to deflect Northams accusations with a joke: In my history books, it was Eldridge Gerry who came up with gerrymandering, he said.

When each man was given the opportunity to query his opponent, both pitched off-kilter questions as a way of trying to underscore what they perceive as their strengths.

Gillespie asked Northam a question about McAuliffes decision to cancel a meeting with the sheriffs association as a way to present himself as a champion of law enforcement.

[Gillespie rolls out ad linking Northam to violent MS-13 gang]

Northam, a physician, asked Gillespie a question about federally funded, long-acting reversible contraception to reinforce his posture as a supporter of womens reproductive rights.

[Northam beats Gillespie in new Post poll]

Northam also tried to pin Gillespie down on whether he would support universal background checks for firearms purchases in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas and other recent gun violence.

As you know, there are universal background checks, Gillespie said, noting that state police are at all gun shows.

A 2016 gun deal struck between the Republican-controlled General Assembly and McAuliffe made provisions for background checks at all gun shows, but the checks remain voluntary if the sellers are not licensed dealers.

Northam played up their very different resumes, even using his military service to beat back Gillespies criticism that Northam was a no-show at various meetings of state boards on which he had formal membership as lieutenant governor.

I served for eight years in the U.S. Army. I showed up for this country . . . Youve been a K Street lobbyist in Washington. The only time you show up is when you get paid, Northam said.

As a candidate often criticized for his mild tone, that qualified as a zinger for Northam.

Gillespie didnt flinch. I did show up for my clients . . . and I was effective, he said.

[Critics say Gillespie lobbied for lenders who sought to increase the cost of college]

In the end, the two wrapped up the debate on a more polite tone, thanking each other  and their wives  for running this year.

The candidates are not scheduled to meet again before the election.

Most public polls released in the past few weeks show Northam and Gillespie neck and neck or Northam with a slight lead.

Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Gillespie worked to engineer redistricting across the country as chair of the Republican National Committee. He was chair of the Republican State Leadership Committee at the time. This story has been updated.
Drapes billow out of broken windows on Oct. 2 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip following the massacre. (John Locher/AP)

When the Las Vegas gunman arrived at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino late last month, he assembled an armory in his room, according to one of the police officers who went inside.

Authorities said Stephen Paddock, 64, had secreted nearly two dozen guns in his two-room suite on the 32nd floor. He also had stacks of ammunition, cameras, drills and computers as he methodically planned and carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

But the first shots Paddock fired were not aimed at the country music festival far below. Instead, police now say, six minutes before Paddock aimed his guns at the concertgoers, he shot a hotel security guard who happened into his hallway on an unrelated call.

The new detail, which contradicts a significant element of the earlier timeline offered by police in the days since the shooting, raises additional questions about the law enforcement response to the massacre and why officers took as long as they did to arrive at Paddock's gunshot-riddled door.

These questions come as investigators, who have scoured Paddocks life in search of a motive since the Oct. 1 rampage, remain unable to explain why the avid gambler killed 58 people and injured hundreds more before shooting himself in the head.

Im frustrated, Joseph Lombardo, the Las Vegas sheriff, said at a news briefing Monday night. This individual purposefully hid his actions leading up to this event and it is difficult for us to find answers for those actions.

Lombardo said that police are still unable to explain why the gunman stopped firing from his suite after 10 minutes of sustained volleys into the concert crowd.

Police previously said that the guard, Jesus Campos, was wounded during the shooting, and Lombardo had said that while he did not know for sure, he thought that Paddock saw Campos approaching and was in fear that he was about to be breached.

Information released immediately after shootings or other mass-casualty attacks is often not firm while officials sift through reports and rumors in search of facts; it often takes time, for example, to dispel reports of multiple shooters or secondary attacks.

In Las Vegas, though, details released by law enforcement have remained remarkably fluid, illustrated by the revelation Monday  eight days after the shooting  that the guard was injured before, not during, the concert shooting.

The new detail raises still more questions, including when reports of the initial shots were relayed to others before and during the massacre to follow. Lombardo said Campos immediately notified hotel security after being shot, and he said police  who were searching the hotel for the source of the gunfire  did not know Campos had been hit until emerging on the 32nd floor.



An investigator works in the room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino where the gunman opened fire, killing 58 people below at an Oct. 1 concert. (Gregory Bull/AP)

It was not clear whether hotel security officials told police that Campos had been shot and whether that information was then relayed to officers searching the hotel  potentially critical information as the shooting unfolded. An MGM spokeswoman expressed doubts about the timeline offered by Lombardo.

As evidenced by law enforcement briefings over the past week, many facts are still unverified and continue to change as events are under review, Debra DeShong, the spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday night. We cannot be certain about the most recent timeline that has been communicated publicly, she said, and we believe what is currently being expressed may not be accurate.

DeShong said it is not appropriate for us to comment further at this time on what remains an open matter for law enforcement.

Las Vegas police did not respond to a list of questions regarding the timeline and declined to make Lombardo available for an interview.

In his briefing, Lombardo called the updated timeline a minute change that he said emerged during the investigation.

As I have conveyed to you from the very beginning, in your zest for information, in my zest to ensure the public safety, the calming of their minds, is some things are going to change, Lombardo told reporters.

Exactly when information about the security guard being shot was relayed  and to whom  could be crucial as other police departments, in an effort to train their officers for a mass shooting, look to what happened in Las Vegas for lessons.

Similar exercises have followed high-profile mass shootings across the country, including those in San Bernardino, Calif., and at the Washington Navy Yard.

Experts say that the main focus for law enforcement during a shooting is to find and eliminate the attacker.

Once they determine an active shooting is going on, the first priority is to stop the killing, said Peter Blair, a criminal justice professor and executive director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. The longer delay there is in finding that person, the more time that person has to operate, to shoot people, to cause damage and chaos. So its important to keep that window as small as possible.

Blair, who co-authored a 2013 FBI study examining 160 mass shootings, cautioned that it is unclear precisely when and how information was relayed in Las Vegas. But he said that chaos is common during mass attacks.

Having seen a lot of these events, theres always a lot of confusion going on, Blair said. The police, once the attack starts, dispatch is drowning in this information, you hear all these reports of gunshots going on and the confusion about what is going on is very, very common.

Lombardo said that Campos was shot at 9:59 p.m. after heading to the 32nd floor in response to an alarm reporting an open door to another room. Paddock saw the guard on cameras he had stashed in his door and the hallway, Lombardo said last week, and shot Campos, who survived.

Paddock then began firing into the crowd at 10:05 p.m. and stopped 10 minutes later, according to a police timeline. Authorities have said that Paddock used devices called bump stocks to turn at least a dozen rifles into something akin to automatic weapons.

Bump stocks have become the focus of controversy since the shooting, and a prominent gun-control group on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against a manufacturer of these devices.

During the shooting, two officers searching on the 31st floor heard gunfire above them, Lombardo said. When they arrived on the 32nd floor at 10:17 p.m., Campos told them that he was shot and directed them toward Paddocks room.

They werent aware of him being shot until they met him in the hallway after exiting the elevator, Lombardo said Monday.

Police have called Campos a hero and Lombardo on Monday described the guard as pivotal in helping pinpoint the location of the suspect. He also said that after Campos was shot, a maintenance worker arrived on the floor, but the guard prevented him from receiving any injuries.

Lombardo said Monday he would not assume that seeing Camposs approach prompted Paddock to speed up his shooting timeline, though he acknowledged that police remain unaware of what the gunmans ultimate plans were.

The sheriff noted that Paddock had explosives in his car and said he apparently tried to shoot at large fuel tanks near the concert venue.

We do not know whether he had planned to cause additional harm outside of what happened at Mandalay Bay, Lombardo said.

Officers who arrived at Paddocks suite cleared the other rooms on the floor and did not rush into the suite because he had stopped firing, so they viewed the situation as a barricade rather than an active shooting, Lombardo said during an earlier briefing.

When the officers breached the room at 11:20 p.m., they found Paddock dead on the floor with a gun nearby.
More than 50,000 acres are burning in Napa and Sonoma counties. Authorities say wildfires have destroyed at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures.

Oct. 13, 2017 The swimming pool where Daniel and Cindy Pomplun took refuge as the Tubbs fire burned through their home in Santa Rosa, Calif. Stuart Palley/for The Washington Post
ISRAEL

Top Netanyahu ally is disappointed in Trump

A top Israeli minister close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed rare criticism of President Trump on Monday and said he expects the Israeli government to approve more construction in West Bank Jewish settlements next week.

Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin said he is disappointed that Trump has not fulfilled his campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

There were very clear election promises, not to the state of Israel but to the American voter, of moving the embassy, and I very much regret the delay, Elkin told Army Radio.

Israel considers Jerusalem its capital. Palestinians demand East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state.

Trump has backed away from the campaign pledge on the embassy move as his Middle East envoy attempts to breathe life into moribund peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Elkin also said Israel is set to give the green light next week to new homes in Jewish West Bank settlements. Israeli Channel 2 TV reported Sunday that about 4,000 homes are expected to be granted approval. The Palestinians consider settlements illegal.

 Associated Press

IRAN

Imprisoned Briton facing new charges

An Iranian British woman serving a five-year prison sentence in Iran for plotting the soft toppling of its government while traveling with her toddler daughter faces new charges that could add 16 years to her sentence, her husband said Monday.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced a court hearing Sunday in Tehrans Evin prison, where she heard of the new charges being brought against her by Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps, which prevent her from seeking early release next month.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe pleaded not guilty to the new charges, which involve her previously working for the BBC and being a current employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said her husband, Richard Ratcliffe.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of several dual nationals held by hard-liners in Iran on espionage charges, likely to be used as bargaining chips in future negotiations with the West.

 Associated Press

GERMANY

Conservative parties agree on migrant limit

Germanys conservative parties said Monday that they have agreed on a policy that would cap the number of migrants allowed to enter the country every year  though the government and Parliament will have the power to change the figure in the future.

Chancellor Angela Merkels party and its sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union, say they want to limit the annual number of migrants to 200,000. However, that number can be increased or lowered in response to any refugee crisis.

The migrant issue had been a major stumbling block between the two parties as they head into coalition talks next week with the pro-business Free Democratic Party and the Greens to form a new government after last months national election.

Merkel and the CSUs leader wrangled over a migrant cap for almost two years. Merkel repeatedly refused to agree to an annual cap for migrants, while the CSU demanded a limit.

The issue is likely to play a big role in the coalition talks as the Greens oppose eroding Germanys generous asylum rights.

 Associated Press

Red Cross scaling back in Afghanistan: The International Committee of the Red Cross said it will soon close two offices in Afghanistan's northern Faryab and Kunduz provinces and reduce activities in the northern province of Balkh after attacks on its staff. Since December, the attacks have killed one foreign and six Afghan staff members.

Court acquits ex-Srebrenica commander of war crimes: Bosnia's war crimes court has acquitted the wartime commander of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, accused of committing atrocities against Serbs during the 1992-1995 Balkan conflict. The court said the prosecution did not prove that Naser Oric had committed those crimes. Many Muslim Bosnians view Oric as a hero for his role in defending Srebrenica, where Serb forces massacred about 8,000 Muslims in 1995.

India court commutes death sentences in deadly 2002 riots: An Indian court commuted the death sentences given by a lower court to 11 people after riots swept the western state of Gujarat 15 years ago, killing more than 1,000 people. The 11 will now face life in prison. The riots pitted Hindus against Muslims.

 From news services
Columnist

At least seven Cabinet-level officials, and a smattering of aides, appear to have abused their access to publicly funded travel. Collectively, these bureaucrats billed taxpayers for millions of dollars worth of private jets, military flights, spousal travel and other questionable expenses.

Yet so far just one of them, former health and human services secretary Tom Price, has been forced to step down.

The White House argues that while Price may have misbehaved, there is plenty of precedent for such extravagant government travel. And the administration is right. Government officials were abusing travel budgets long before President Trump came on the scene.

Like, a really long time before Trump  we're talking ancient Rome here.

So maybe examining how Roman emperors dealt with the problem can offer insight into how to deal with it now.

During the Roman Empire, government representatives traveling on official business used a state-authorized transportation system, called vehiculatio. They received special travel passes (called diplomata, and issued by emperors or governors) that allowed them to requisition carts, horses, food, lodging and guides from provincial populations along their route.

[The issue that is  unfortunately  uniting Americans on the left and the right]

Locals were usually compensated at set rates. But otherwise, "the rules varied from province to province, reinforced or modified over time as governors and emperors saw fit," according to Hunter College classics professor W. Graham Claytor, an expert in Greco-Roman documents.

In practice, this led to a lot of abuse.

Public officials took personal trips disguised as work trips. They spent, and extracted from locals, much more than they really needed. They seemed indifferent to the hardships created by their profligacy and oblivious to more productive uses for the scarce taxpayer resources they were gobbling up.

Sound familiar?

Consider a petition from the villagers of Skaptopara in Thrace (today Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria), sent to Emperor Gordian III in 238 A.D.

The village, renowned for its hot springs, was located between two army camps and a famous market. Villagers complained that soldiers leave their proper routes to stay in their town, where the soldiers demanded hospitality and provisions free of charge. Governors and other officials also frequented the town, further burdening locals.

Villagers warned the emperor that the abuses might force them to pick up and leave  and take their tax dollars with them:

If we are weighed down, we will flee our homes and the treasury will suffer the greatest loss; therefore, receiving pity through your divine foresight and remaining in our homes, we will be able to supply the sacred tribute and the other contributions.

In other ancient correspondence, officials tried to expand their already-generous travel perks.

In one letter, Pliny the Younger (governor of Bithynia and Pontus in 110 A.D.) used flattery to justify a travel pass he had recently issued to his wife, even though she was traveling on a private matter.

It was for familial piety, Pliny explained; surely the beneficent Emperor Trajan would understand. Trajan replied that he did.

When emperors or governors did get mad about such abuses, sometimes they issued financial or other penalties. Often enough, though, the result was another edict reminding officials to please, please follow the rules  and stop making the government look bad!

Here's one, from Marcus Petronius Mamertinus, provincial governor of Egypt, dated 133-137 A.D.:

I have learned that many soldiers, traveling through the countryside without a diploma, unjustly demand boats, baggage animals, and men, sometimes taking things by force, sometimes receiving them from the local governors as a favor or service. As a result, private citizens suffer insults and abuse, and the army is accused of greed and injustice. Therefore I command once and for all that the local governors and their lieutenants furnish none of the things given for escort to anyone without a diploma, neither to those going by boat nor those traveling on foot. I shall forcibly punish anyone who, after this proclamation, is caught either taking or giving any of the things specified.

[Why Democrats need a 50-state strategy]

You can find many similar edicts issued across centuries. Which shows that travel-related corruption and abuse were a recurring problem.

Why wouldn't this problem go away? Because, as scholar Russell S. Gentry has argued, rulers preferred to cast bad behavior as isolated incidents rather than systemic flaws in an empire that treated provincials as unimportant and afforded government elites relatively little oversight.

Just as, say, Trump might prefer to cast a jet-setting former health secretary as a bad apple not representative of the spirit of his administration, Claytor observes.

It took centuries for Roman emperors to realize they needed to make real, system-wide changes if they hoped to curb the wanton abuse of taxpayer resources. How long will it take Trump?
Matthew H. Birkhold is an assistant professor at Ohio State University.

As an openly gay professor at a large, public university in the Midwest, I have witnessed many students come out. Whether in my office, by email or even through class essays, students make these proclamations sometimes through anxious tears but always with a sort of existential relief and a new sense of freedom.

Coming out, weve been trained, is one of the most important parts of a gay persons life  something he or she gets to do on his or her own terms, when ready. Ive seen firsthand the benefits of this act: the self-affirmation, the discovery of a new community and the broadening of worldviews for friends and families.

But Id like to propose a new practice for my gay students and gay people everywhere: stop coming out.

Wednesday marks the 29th National Coming Out Day. In the 1980s, when many people did not know any openly gay people, ignorance and silence allowed homophobia to persist. Coming out was a form of activism  a way to challenge conventional ideas and fears by showing that gays and lesbians were a part of everyday life. Since 1988, this day has fostered a safer world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by raising awareness of the community. It continues to affirm our lives, worth and dignity.

But America is a safer place in 2017. Polls suggest most Americans consider same-sex relations morally acceptable. Same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. And the latest Gallup survey indicates that most Americans believe new laws are needed to reduce discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.

That doesn't mean things are perfect, as the shooting in Orlando last year tragically testifies. Further, I recognize that as a white, 30-something, married professor, I am writing from a place of social, institutional and personal security. And I realize I probably would not be able to make this argument without the existence of National Coming Out Day for the past 28 years. For people in different circumstances, this day might provide much-needed support and strength.

Nevertheless, we should question whether the benefits of National Coming Out Day still outweigh its harms. Continuing to use the rhetoric of coming out reinforces a view that heterosexuality is the norm. Coming out implicitly announces  to LGBTQ individuals, allies and enemies  that gay people are aberrant. Our homosexuality is so different that we must proclaim it; heterosexuality, however, is normal and expected.

Imagine we proclaim a National Coming Out Day for everyone. Whether straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning or curious, Oct. 11 could be a chance to broadcast our sexuality. You can imagine the pubescent middle-schooler anxiously awaiting Oct. 11 to declare whether Jack and/or Jill should ask her to the dance.

Or imagine we assume everyone is gay. Oct. 11 could be a day for straight people to announce their sexuality. Until he comes out, casually ask your neighbors son if he has a boyfriend. Nudge him and point out the cute boys in the neighborhood. I suspect your neighbors son will not be pleased, assuming hes straight. The reaction is understandable. Having ones sexuality mistaken is alienating and destructive to ones sense of self.

These alternatives would be absurd. But they make clear that sexuality is no way to organize our judgments about people and that no particular sexuality should be the expected default. Whether one adopts a homonormative or heteronormative view, clinging to a belief that a certain sexual orientation is normal and natural marks those who fall outside it deviant  a label that has long proved to be the basis of prejudice, discrimination and hate.

Lets dismantle the norm altogether and abandon the concept of coming out. Straight people dont come out. Why should gay people?

Of course, National Coming Out Day helpfully raises awareness of the gay community, its interests and its rights. But, paradoxically, the more Coming Out is celebrated, the more it reinforces a normative ideal that is harmful to gay people. In the process of trying to make ourselves safe and visible, we are marginalizing ourselves. This will end either when all people are expected to come out or when no one is expected to do so.

So this week, to promote a safer America for the LGBTQ community, to normalize our existence and to show that we are a part of everyday life, I propose we cease reinforcing the idea that heterosexuality is the norm. Stop fortifying this implicit assumption, and maybe eventually we wont have any concept of normal or aberrant sexuality. Celebrate being gay Wednesday  just dont come out.
Columnist

I recently cut the cord. I did so because my cable bill was sky high and I knew I was paying for channels I never watched. So I called in Leo, who is my personal help desk, and he figured out what he could do, and then asked if I wanted him to de-cable me then and there. Impulsively, I said yes, and so for a week I had no television at all. I felt like Thoreau at Walden Pond.

Let me tell you, seven days without Wolf Blitzer is heaven. A week outside The Situation Room is downright calming. No breaking news! No hype. Blitzer is a first-class journalist and I mention him only by way of acknowledging his fame. I could have chosen Rachel Maddow, who could turn the long-range weather forecast into a half-hour jeremiad against President Trump, or almost anyone else on any cable network. What I came to realize is that I had come to see the news as an assault. It made me anxious.

Nowadays, so much of the news is either terrifying or anxiety-producing. We have a president who has been called a "moron" by his own secretary of state  truth in labeling, no doubt  and who trades insults with a North Korean despot who keeps threatening nuclear Armageddon. When Rex Tillerson acts to reassure us by saying he has established lines of communication with Kim Jong Un, the president tweets his disparagement: "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" What Trump thinks "has to be done" has me staring at the ceiling in the dead of night.

The news tells us that a madman in Las Vegas assembled an arsenal of heavy weaponry in his hotel room and murdered at least 58 people who were attending a music festival 32 floors below. Bad luck. In Paris, something similar happened in a single night. 130 dead. More bad luck. It's random, and therefore almost unavoidable.

Evil comes in through the cable and through the Internet. We look forward to the advent of driverless cars. But they can be hacked. You could be riding along and some 14-year-old in Romania takes over your car, so you end up running the lights and losing your brakes or, worse, listening to Eminem. What's the purpose?

Equifax has been hacked. Your personal information is gone. Where? Who's got your Social Security number? No one knows yet. What about your Yahoo account? Hacked also. By whom? For what purpose? How are these things done? I have no idea. Do you?

"Waves of anger and fear circulate . . . obsessing our private lives." W.H. Auden wrote those words the day World War II began. They are even more true today than they were for me during the Vietnam War draft. The incessant waves of bad news came with the Internet. Before then, serenity could be found in the home, the fields, the farm, the family. Now, only the offline can be serene.

There was a time when an ordinary American could close the door and keep the world at bay. Now the world comes elbowing in every time you go online. Pandora tells me Ive listened to 638 hours of music. Whats it their business? A certain pair of shoes I considered buying stalks me all over the Internet, popping up in the margins of unrelated Web pages. The same holds for the Nicole Krauss book Forest Dark, which has been following me around for about a month. I may buy it anyway.

The Earth is warming. Storms are surging. The ocean is coming our way. My president does not care. He pulls the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. He dismantles environmental protections. He slyly and not so slyly stokes the fury of white goons. He appears anti-black, anti-Mexican and a misogynist. In short, he's a bigot. If you look at him long enough on television, the picture goes from color to black and white  Europe in the 1930s. Trump has all the tics. He's a colorized newsreel. Get your Milk Duds. This is a sequel.

Auden would undoubtedly have recognized ours as an age of anxiety. We fear war. We fear rising seas. We fear ordinary men with extraordinary guns murdering utter strangers not even out of hate. We fear hackers lifting our digital wallet, a public accounting of our private lives, and we wonder if the shoes that follow us around the Internet will someday, with the click of a distant mouse, look like the jackboots of old.

Read more from Richard Cohen's archive.
Columnist

The truth can no longer be ignored: Donald Trump is dangerously unfit to be president and could lead the nation to unthinkable disaster. So what are we going to do about it?

The White House "has become an adult day care center," where the president's senior aides spend "every single day . . . trying to contain him." That terrifying bit of information was disclosed Sunday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whose decision not to run for reelection has freed him to point out that the emperor is indeed naked.

"Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we're dealing with here," Corker told the New York Times. His colleagues in the GOP Senate majority "understand the volatility that we're dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around [Trump] to keep him in the middle of the road." Trump treats the presidency as if it were "a reality show" and is so erratic that he could put us "on the path to World War III."

The shocking thing is that Corker is merely saying publicly what many others say in private. Trump is not qualified, by temperament or character, to exercise the awesome powers of the presidency. A man who acts like a bratty, vindictive child has been given the power to launch nuclear weapons.

He has three years and three months remaining in his presidential term. What are we going to do?

[What if Corker is right?]

Corker counts on "those people who are closely working with him, what I would call the good guys"  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly  to keep the apocalypse at bay. But no one can prevent all potential damage. Trump petulantly sabotages the health-care system because it bears his predecessor's name. He cynically amplifies white racial grievance for political gain. He unnerves our longtime allies and recklessly goads our adversaries. He lies so shamelessly that he defiles the honor of the office held by Washington and Lincoln.

The alarming problem isnt Trumps policies, to the extent he has any coherent set of policy positions. This crisis isnt about conservative governance vs. progressive governance. Its about soundness of mind and judgment.

The Constitution does not offer much of a playbook for the situation we find ourselves in. Impeachment is reserved for "high crimes and misdemeanors"  a phrase that means anything Congress wants it to mean. Assume special counsel Robert S. Mueller III eventually concludes that Trump obstructed justice or even participated in a collusion scheme with the Russians. Would Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and the Republican majority in the House actually move to impeach the president? Or would they be too fearful of the wrath of the GOP base? Unless the evidence were overwhelming, would there really be enough votes in the Senate to remove Trump from office?

Im skeptical on all counts. Impeachment is, and will remain, a very long shot.

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to relieve Trump of his powers, with Congress the ultimate arbiter if Trump were to protest. But this procedure  intended for when a president suffers, for example, a debilitating stroke  looks plausible only as a fail-safe mechanism if the president literally starts howling at the moon and trying to launch nuclear missiles. Lets pray it doesnt come to that.

Our most likely course of action is containment. The generals who play nanny at the adult day care center are already acting as the first line of defense. Corker and his colleagues in Congress must begin acting as the second.

[What to do with an unfit president]

Congress has great powers of investigation and oversight. The House has primacy in exercising the power of the purse; the Senate has the responsibility to advise and grant  or withhold  consent. Back in January, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) might have dreamed that Trump, whatever his failings, would at least allow them to implement an orthodox GOP agenda. By now they must realize how wrong they were.

Republicans need to stop talking and begin acting to constrain an out-of-control president. They probably wont, however  which makes it imperative that Democrats win one or both chambers of Congress in 2018.

Massive people power displays of resistance are stirring. But if you really want to make a difference, go out and work to turn the House and Senate into bodies that will ferociously protect our democracy  from a president who grievously threatens it.

Read more from Eugene Robinson's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
THE TROUBLE with forging a deal to allow dreamers to remain legally in this country isnt that Democrats and Republicans cant agree with each other. Its that President Trump cant agree with himself.

At various times, Mr. Trump has suggested that dreamers should, and should not, be allowed to stay in the United States. He has said that a massively expensive border wall should, and should not, be part of any compromise on dreamers. He has repeatedly expressed compassion for dreamers, and now, by connecting their prospects to a kitchen-sink set of hard-line demands, made clear he sees them as no more than a bargaining chip to advance the Republican Party's sweeping nativist agenda.

The president's shape-shifting on the dreamers, as on so many other issues, is a symptom of his indifference to policy and absent moral compass. Which is why Congress should step in and resolve the plight of these nearly 700,000 young immigrants, most of them brought to this country illegally by their parents as children, whose protection from the threat of deportation will lapse next year owing to Mr. Trump's decision to rescind President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Congress need not be captive to the White House's laundry list of demands, released Sunday, to which hard-liners would attach  and thereby doom  legislation to legalize the dreamers' status in the United States. Those demands include funding for a border wall; a constriction of long-standing rules governing legal immigration; a crackdown on minors from Central America who enter the country illegally; tools to prevent employers from hiring undocumented immigrants; and other priorities of Republican xenophobes who see political peril and cultural decay in the specter of an increasingly diverse United States.

In fact, there is political and moral logic in pushing ahead with a clean bill to deal with the dreamers.

The political logic is there is no immigration-related issue on which Americans have reached so broad a consensus as they have on conferring legal status on the dreamers, to shield them from the threat of deportation and allow them to study, work and lead normal lives. In polls, a large majority of Americans agree on this; in Congress, all Democrats and many Republicans also agree. So why gum it up with more contentious immigration debates?

The moral logic is just as clear-cut. Dreamers, most of them in their teens, 20s and early 30s, have grown up in the United States, gone to American schools and colleges, speak English and, having qualified for the DACA program in the first place, have clean records. Many work; some own cars, homes and businesses. They are neighbors, friends, classmates and colleagues; they are Americans in all but the most technical sense. It would be preposterous at this point to threaten them with deportation, let alone to expel them en masse.

Thats why its also politically and morally illogical, and untenable, to freight their cause with every other immigration issue. This one issue really can stand alone, and be fixed  even by a Congress that seems incapable of fixing anything else.
I am off lingonberries for the time being and Volvos and flat white furniture from Ikea. No meatballs, thank you. Once again the humorless Swedes have chosen a writer of migraines for the Nobel Prize in literature, an author of twilight meditations on time and memory and mortality and cold toast by loners looking at bad wallpaper. It's not a prize for literature, it's a prize for nihilism. The Swedes said he's like Jane Austen combined with Kafka with some of Proust, three other writers you'd never invite to a party. Well, at least they didn't give it to Joni Mitchell.

That Swedes give out the Nobel is like the Swiss deciding the Cy Young Award. Were talking tone-deaf, people. The words Swedish and comedy seldom appear in the same sentence except as a joke. All the Swedes with a sense of humor came to America and so what the Nobel judges recognize is bleak, cramped, emotionally stunted, enigmatic, pretentious. Millions of people around the world understand the concept of reading books for pleasure, but the Swedes think of it as a form of colonoscopy. If they gave a Nobel Prize for food, theyd give it to quinoa. Of course all the book critics applauded the choice of Kazuo Ishiguro: Praising the dull and deadly is a time-tested way to demonstrate intellectual superiority. Its like taking a ski vacation in North Dakota: It sets you apart from the crowd. And comedy is so utterly adolescent.

No, if you want to write a Nobel Prize-winning book, start with this paragraph:

He did not know where he was. It was midnight and the train seemed to be moving, he couldnt be sure. There were voices nearby, or maybe he was only imagining them. He could smell creosote. He knew creosote from his years in Albertbad. He had been shipped there for crimes against the Directorate and had spent years driving truckloads of creosote to the canyon and dumping them in. Ever since then, his tea had tasted of creosote, his eggs, his morning muffin.

Do not  I repeat, Do Not  begin with a paragraph like this:

She sat at the table in the far corner of the cafe, waiting for him, and flashed a brilliant smile as he approached. He noticed the balloon on the cushion of the chair opposite her. A large semi-inflated orange balloon. Her eyes glittered, she was delighted to see him, and suddenly he knew what he needed to do. He pretended not to notice the balloon. He walked to the chair, took her pale hand and kissed it, sat down firmly and from beneath came a loud bubbly fluttery exclamation of flatulence, and from her came peals of laughter, like bells on Christmas morning. And that was where it all began. From that decision to sit on it.

Meanwhile, it is a beautiful October day and I'm sitting in the kitchen, enjoying a hearty licorice tea and looking at my lovely wife. I don't recall anyone doing anything like that in Mr. Ishiguro's books. As the Nobel committee said, he "has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world." Beauty is an illusion, as are licorice tea and marriage and, of course, the kitchen, which sits on the edge of a cliff looking down at nothingness 100 miles deep.

The man who shouldve won the prize goes by the name Philip Roth and what disqualifies him are the many rich descriptive passages revealing a love of the physical world and the elements of storytelling such as conversation, some of which is, since the speakers are American, way too funny, way too connected to the world.

In their long-standing campaign against comedy, the Swedish Academy is doing almost as much damage as old man Nobel did with his hard work developing better rockets, cannon and explosives. They are leading young writers to aspire to vacuity. I say, let the Swedes give the prize for urban planning. Let the Jews give the Nobel Prize. They know from literature. Compare a list of great Jewish writers and a list of great Swedish writers. I rest my case. Swedish literature is made up of small dark stories in which people are very silent and then it starts snowing and a dog barks and someone reaches for the aquavit.

Poor Ishiguro. A week ago he was a writer struggling to put himself on paper and now hes become a granite statue in the park, pigeons sitting on his shoulders. Write something funny, Ish. Astonish us. Go to the Nobel banquet in Stockholm in December and sit down on the balloon.

Garrison Keillor is an author and radio personality.
SEN. BOB CORKER, a Tennessee Republican, says "the vast majority" of Senate Republicans understand the "volatility" of President Trump "and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road."

If that is so  and Mr. Corker seems liberated into candor by his decision not to run for reelection next year  how should the Republican caucus make use of that knowledge?

We were critical of Republican leaders from early in Mr. Trump's candidacy for their refusal to stand against the malign sentiments he voiced. It continues to be important, in our view, that they defend tolerance, constitutional norms and other values that Mr. Trump has challenged. But speaking isn't enough; and getting into Twitter battles with the president, as Mr. Corker did Sunday morning, may not be all that productive.

[What if Corker is right?]

One avenue open to Congress would be to remove the president from office. If indeed Mr. Trump is so reckless that he could set the nation on the path to World War III, as Mr. Corker said Sunday in an interview with the New York Times, this possibility cant be dismissed. He concerns me, said Mr. Corker, who serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.

But Congress is not ready to consider such an option  nor, in our view, should it be. Impeachment is an extreme measure that would roil the nation and should be embarked upon only with clear justification. So we repeat: What is the right response for a congressional majority that understands its president is unfit?

It seems to us the answer falls into two baskets. First, Congress should seize the initiative on issues where it knows Mr. Trump is wrong. We've seen encouraging signs of this already: Congress refused to repeal Obamacare, albeit by the slimmest of margins; imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia; and has explored how to protect the independence of the special counsel. It could do far more. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) must know it makes no sense to torpedo successful trade pacts with reliable U.S. allies such as Canada, Mexico and South Korea. They could, at a minimum, hold hearings to make that case. Surely congressional leaders understand the United States would weaken itself if it sharply reduced Bush-era programs to counter AIDS, polio and other diseases in Africa. Right now Congress could act to save the nearly 700,000 young "dreamers" from the deportation that would undeservedly ruin their lives. It could hold hearings on the rise of white-supremacist organizations.

[The issue that is  unfortunately  uniting Americans on the left and the right]

Second, congressional leaders can offer a contrast to what Mr. Corker described as the "adult day care center" at the White House simply by presiding over their branch with institutional dignity and respect for tradition. This would include letting Democrats have a say in the debate, in implicit contrast to the president's contempt for those who disagree with him. It would include legislating based on facts and evidence, including the best available guidance from the Congressional Budget Office. Ideally, it would demonstrate that governance based on ideals tempered by compromise, rather than showmanship and cynicism, can produce results.
Columnist

Given the partys recent losses, Democrats latest attempts to compete at the federal level in traditionally red states may seem off base. In 2018, 10 Democratic senators are up for reelection in states where President Trump prevailed, while just one Republican incumbent is running in a state that Hillary Clinton carried. Yet despite the daunting landscape, some Democrats are setting their sights on races in Texas and, more unexpectedly, deep-red Alabama.

Unlike with previous bids to expand the electoral map, however, these Democrats are not relying on outside money or slickly produced ads. They are doing it with strong candidates who are running smart, locally driven campaigns.

The first opportunity for a Democratic pickup will come in December when Alabama voters head to the polls for a special election to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race pits former U.S. attorney Doug Jones (D) against extreme right-wing candidate Roy Moore (R), a former judge with a history of espousing theocratic and bigoted views. Moore's victory in the Republican primary last month put the race on the national radar, but Democrats now have a chance to compete because of work that Jones and his supporters, including local activists affiliated with MoveOn.org, have been doing on the ground for months.

For Alabama voters, the choice between Moore and Jones, who is best known across the state for prosecuting former members of the Ku Klux Klan, is stark. That is partly because of Moore's extremism, but it's also because Jones is running an unusually progressive campaign for a statewide candidate in Alabama. Although he stops short of endorsing Medicare for all, Jones supports a public option, saying that "health care is a right." He is unequivocally pro-choice. And he has called for criminal-justice reform, an issue on which he is particularly qualified to lead, criticizing Sessions's moves to roll back Obama-era sentencing reforms.

Just three years after Sessions was reelected with more than 97 percent of the vote  Democrats did not even bother to put up a nominee in 2014  polls now show a surprisingly tight race with Moore's lead in the single digits.

The situation is similar in Texas, where Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D) is mounting a challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz (R), whose approval rating is underwater. Like Jones, O'Rourke, a former tech entrepreneur from El Paso, is attempting to prove that a progressive candidate can win over rural voters. A longtime critic of the war on drugs, O'Rourke is a passionate supporter of criminal-justice reform and has worked to build trans-partisan alliances on the issue. He has endorsed "a single-payer health care system for all Americans." And he has used his standing as the representative of a border region to push for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

It is the kind of campaign that O'Rouke is running, as much as his policies, that makes him stand out. Lamenting that "politics has become very corporate," O'Rourke is refusing to accept PAC money and spurning high-priced consultants. Meanwhile, he spent much of the summer crisscrossing the state to engage with potential voters. "In August alone, he held scheduled events in 32 towns and cities, and stopped in others along the way," the Texas Observer recently reported, "many of them places that few prominent Democrats ever go." O'Rourke has likened the campaign to his time in a punk rock band, explaining that it's about "a direct, honest connection between people."

While a poll this year showed O'Rourke running even with Cruz, he, like Jones, clearly faces an uphill battle. But it is notable that both candidates are gaining traction without running to the center or running, at least primarily, against Trump. Instead, they are going to meet voters  including Trump voters  where they live, talking about the issues that affect their lives and working to make a real connection that transcends partisan lines.

These are still uphill races. But both candidates are proving why, for Democrats to go from resistance to power, a bold 50-state strategy is critical. Even if the Jones and O'Rourke campaigns do not end in victory, there is clear value in mobilizing progressive voters and building the state and local infrastructure to compete in future races, particularly at the all-important state and local levels. On that front, the recent string of progressive victories in local elections nationwide, some in places where Democrats had not won in years, shows that there is a real desire for progressive solutions in every part of the country, including areas that many Democrats have unfortunately written off.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and Vice Chairman Keith Ellison have discussed the importance of a 50-state strategy. Looking ahead to 2018, Democrats would be wise to remember the lesson that they could have learned during Howard Deans tenure at the DNC a decade ago  that they win the national argument if they are willing to take and make their case all over the country.

Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvel's archive or follow her on Twitter.
The appeal of one of Osama bin Ladens top aides ended Tuesday, as the Supreme Court declined to review whether his conviction by a military tribunal exceeded that bodys authority.

Without comment, the justices turned down an appeal by Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul, a propagandist for al-Qaeda and a former media secretary for bin Laden. In 2008, he was convicted of conspiracy by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and sentenced to life in prison.

Attorneys for Bahlul claimed that the Yemeni mans conviction violated a constitutional requirement that most criminal prosecutions take place in federal courts. The charge against Bahlul was a domestic one, not a violation of international law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has debated the powers of the military tribunal system since the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that those held at Guantanamo Bay have some rights in federal courts to challenge their detention.

Constitutional and international law experts and civil rights groups had joined Bahluls attorneys in urging the justices to take the case, saying it raised constitutional questions only the Supreme Court could answer.

But the court has steadfastly refused requests to take a case that would amplify its ruling in Boumediene v. Bush.

Bahlul, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, was originally convicted of conspiracy to commit war crimes, solicitation of others to commit crimes and providing material support for terrorism.

Only the conspiracy charge remained, however, and the circuit court split in upholding that conviction.

Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote for several other judges to say that Congress may designate military commissions to try domestic offenses typically heard by civilian courts.

The Constitution does not give foreign nations (acting through the international law of war or otherwise) a de facto veto over Congresss determination of which war crimes may be tried by U.S. military commissions, he wrote in an opinion joined by Judges Janice Rogers Brown and Thomas B. Griffith.

Other judges, endorsing more limited legal reasoning, joined to make a six-member majority to uphold the conviction.

In a 67-page dissent, three judges said that there are constitutionally prescribed boundaries between military and civilian courts and that the prosecution could have instead charged Bahlul with recognized war crimes or charged him in federal court.

Judges David S. Tatel, Judith W. Rogers and Cornelia T.L. Pillard said in their dissent that even though Bahlul has admitted to serving as bin Ladens personal secretary and making al-Qaeda recruitment videos, the challenges of the war on terror do not necessitate truncating the judicial power to make room for a new constitutional order.

A ruling against the government would have made it more difficult to prosecute low-level detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The Supreme Court gave no reason for not accepting Bahlul v. United States, and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch took no part.

Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a proposed rule Tuesday that would repeal sweeping regulation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing U.S. power plants.

The move, aimed at bolstering the nations struggling coal industry, will trigger an immediate court fight and could result in months, if not years of litigation. Yet the policy reversal is unlikely to affect the nations overall shift from coal to natural gas and renewable power generation in the electricity sector.

We are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate, Pruitt said in a statement. Any replacement rule will be done carefully, properly, and with humility, by listening to all those affected by the rule.

The Obama-era climate rule, dubbed the Clean Power Plan, aimed to cut carbon emissions from the nations electricity sector 32 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. That measure, which the Supreme Court stayed after 28 attorneys general and the utility industry challenged it in court, would have required states to meet targets by reducing emissions at individual plants as well as by deploying renewable energy and taking other energy-efficiency steps.

[EPA chief Scott Pruitt tells coal miners he will repeal power plant rule Tuesday: The war against coal is over]

As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt argued that EPA exceeded its statutory authority under the Clean Air Act in requiring utilities to pursue emissions reductions beyond their actual facilities. The notice of proposed rulemaking does not indicate whether EPA will replace the Clean Power Plan with a new rule, though the agency determined in 2009 that it was obligated to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the law because it endangered public health.

We can now assess whether further regulatory action is warranted, and, if so, what is the most appropriate path forward, consistent with the Clean Air Act and principles of cooperative federalism, Pruitt said. The previous rule, he added, ignored states concerns and eroded long-standing and important partnerships that are a necessary part of achieving positive environmental outcomes.

Although the 2014 climate rule never took effect, coal continues to decline as a source of the nations electricity. Coal accounted for about 30 percent last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it accounted for about 30 percent of output last year, putting it below natural gas (nearly 34 percent) for the first time. Non-fossil-fuel generation (almost 36 percent) outranked fossil fuels for the first time since World War II.

[Trump officials begin review of Obama emissions standards for cars]

A new analysis by the Rhodium Group estimates that CO2 emissions from the U.S. power sector in 2025 will be 27 percent to 35 percent below 2005 levels. But the same group projects that absent new federal or state action, the nation is on track to fall short of long-term climate targets it adopted under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. As part of that global accord, which President Trump has vowed to exit, the United States pledged to cut total carbon emissions between 26 percent and 28 percent by 2025.

John Larsen, the Rhodium Groups director, said the rules repeal would not alter broader energy trends but could affect between 12 and 21 states not already on track to meet its targets.

If a state wasnt already acting to scale back emissions, the Clean Power Plan would nudge them to do that, he said.

Many top Republicans on Capitol Hill hailed Pruitts announcement, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (Wyo.). It would have hurt energy workers in Wyoming and harmed the states economy, Barrasso said.

But several business and environmental groups decried the rollback, saying it would impede the deployment of clean energy and other measures, such as EPAs Clean Energy Incentive Program, which focuses on improving energy efficiency in low-income communities.

Undoing this plan would be a step backward for energy efficiency and the benefits it delivers for consumers and businesses alike, Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said in a statement.

Some states and corporations say they will maintain their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, despite the policy changes underway in Washington. Mars, Inc. which has pledged to make its direct operations carbon-free by 2040, said it will continue to advance that goal.

At least four Democratic attorneys general  from California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon  have pledged to challenge EPAs proposed rule in federal court, along with environmental groups such as Earthjustice.
As the public feud between President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker stretched through its third day on Tuesday, a collective, if private, acknowledgment emerged that Corker was speaking for most Senate Republicans when he stood up to a Trump taunt.

You wouldnt know it from senators public pronouncements. After Corker tweeted on Sunday that the White House had been turned into an adult day-care center, most Republicans were silent  deciding to ride out this moment with the belief that it would fade away.

Their statements about the dispute have cited simple facts and avoided taking sides with either Trump or their Republican colleague from Tennessee. They do not intend to get drawn into the fight themselves, and there is no big wave of new GOP senators about to join Corker in his vast condemnation of the president.

Their goal? To avoid alienating Trumps base ahead of the 2018 midterm elections  and to keep some hope alive that they can achieve a legislative victory before the end of the year.

Its left the entire Republican caucus in something resembling institutional paralysis, unsure of what to do or how to do it, but doing it in sync with nearly identical bland statements of nothingness.

A case in point is Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who drew the unlucky straw of being in charge Tuesday of overseeing a pro forma session of the Senate while the rest of his colleagues were away for a recess. Afterward, CNNs Ted Barrett tracked him down outside the Capitol to ask about the back-and-forth between the president and the Corker.

"I'm supportive of both of them. I'd like to see it stop," Blunt said. Pressed by Barrett about which one needs to take the first step, Blunt ducked the issue.

I think Ive said all I need to say, he said, then dodged one more question and got into his car.

Bob Corker, the ex-Chattanooga mayor at center of debate on Iran nuclear pact

Despite such public postures, many Republicans are exhausted by the presidents impulsive nature and his unwillingness to dive too deeply into the details of the legislative agenda. They blame his erratic steps for the policy failures so far. They have bristled at his repeated attacks on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over the past two years and at his lieutenants alleged threats to withhold federal funding to Alaska if Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) opposed the GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

McCain and Murkowski delivered two of the three Republican votes that defeated the repeal effort, leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) just one vote short.

Many Republicans are most dismayed by Trumps behavior on the global stage, which led to Corkers outburst Sunday night to the New York Times, suggesting that Trump could lead the nation accidentally into World War III.

By Tuesday morning Trump had still not let the matter fade away, dubbing the senator Liddle Bob Corker and saying that the senator had been duped by the Times into speaking so freely.

All of this comes after Corker had voiced concerns about the size of an emerging plan to cut taxes that is likely to require the support of at least 50 of the 52 Senate Republicans to win approval. There is a palpable fear that the tax effort will replay the saga of the health-care struggle  ending in defeat, with a few Republicans personally disparaged by Trump choosing to oppose him.

The frustration is still mostly beneath the surface, provided in background comments or off-the-record venting, from lawmakers themselves or their senior advisers.

What made Corker different was his willingness to go public with his critique, something only a few other Republicans, including McCain, have done.

Corkers comments came just days after he announced he would retire next year rather than seek reelection. And McCain, 81, won reelection last year by a wide margin and is now battling brain cancer.

They might never have to face Republican voters again in a primary, while their colleagues planning to remain in office either fully embrace Trump or try to avoid angering conservative base voters. The lone exception has been Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who this year published a book sharply criticizing fellow Republicans for not doing more to stop Trump.

The result? Flake is now viewed as trailing his primary opponent, a former state senator, ahead of next Augusts primary.

Given Flakes current state, most Republicans have decided to not to follow in his, or Corkers or McCains, path of trying to verbally challenge Trump.

Tuesday started as a bad day for Mitch McConnell. It only got worse.

One step would be to advance legislation drafted by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) that would provide job insurance for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, should the president try to fire him while his investigation continues into the 2016 campaigns ties to Russia.

That legislation is still sitting in the Judiciary Committee, where it is viewed as a break-the-glass solution if Trump does fire Mueller because it includes retroactive protections for the office.

Aside from Mueller, the Senate Intelligence Committee continues its parallel look into Russian efforts to influence the election, but that probe will last deep into this year or possibly well into next.

Its leaders, Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), held a news briefing last week that seemed designed merely to assure the world that they were making progress but that nothing was imminent.

This makes it all the more likely that Corker  now on a family vacation and not talking to the press  will remain a lonely outlier in his sharp criticisms of Trump on the Republican side of the aisle.

It has left many former senators flummoxed by the institutional fear of challenging a president from ones own party, a lessening of the bodys overall influence. Walking through the Capitol on Tuesday, one former senator recalled the lesson that the late Robert C. Byrd, the Democrat from West Virginia and the longest serving senator ever, often imparted on colleagues.

Byrd was once asked how many presidents he had served under.

None, Byrd would say. I have served with presidents, not under them.

Read more from Paul Kane's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Scientists say liberals and conservatives have different brain patterns. The difference could be a lot like the distinct wiring between men and women. The distinctions make dialogue and agreement difficult. There may be no common ground. One side is going to be victorious and the opposition relegated to a second-class status. Last week I read a newspaper editorial once again suggesting the culture wars are over and the American right lost.

Im not so sure about the consensus. Electoral numbers across the country continually favor the politics of the right. Idaho is a case study. A writer examining the libertarian drift in state politics reflects the Gem State was not long ago slightly blue. Today 85 percent of elective offices are held by Republicans. Concerns about expatriates from California restoring some political balance are hogwash. The Golden State refugees I meet all tell me theyre happy they escaped the insane asylum. Ill coin a new word and term. Redward drift.

Congress, the presidency, 31 of 50 governors and state legislatures are increasingly Republican. Whats going on here?

A great many people were silent as the culture wars raged. People expressing traditional values even faced loss of jobs. A fire chief in Atlanta, Ga., was dismissed because of his Christian views. The man had authored a book about marriage from an evangelical perspective. Mind you, he didnt make it assigned reading for anyone in his department. Nobody had to buy a copy or take one as a gift as a requirement for employment. Instead when some members of the department asked for copies he gladly shared the book. Its called testimony and Christians are called to share their faith. In the fire chiefs case he didnt go out of his way to proselytize. He only shared belief by personal request. Then he was fired.

Browbeating the faithful and threatening them with loss of livelihood doesnt mean youve converted them to the liberal cause. My developing theory is conservatives are responding at the ballot box. Its private. You may guess how some of us vote but you dont have certainty. The pendulum may well be swinging the other direction. A president who speaks his mind and doesnt give a whit about what elites think is a powerful force. Hes telling people they can fight back. The growth of conservative media also allows a platform for lobbing return fire. I chuckle when the management of this paper labels me a shock jock. Then the editor is quoted by the New York Times Magazine taking the Lords name in vain. Let the good people of the Magic Valley decide which guy better represents their values.

In one of the few moments where I found agreement with the crowned heads of the Times-News was a discussion about local Republican politicians. The mostly men serving in elective office (politics is a lot like media, still a mans world) in the region arent anywhere near as conservative as the constituency. Those of us in media see it in the cautious statements and aversion to controversy. Local politicians are more Jeb Bush than Donald Trump. There is an attempt to maintain courtliness in public and, yet. We appear to be living in a moment much like the one depicted in the Cherry Orchard. The old order is passing away.

Talk radio is a leading indicator of the rambunctious nature of whats ahead. The Disruptor-in-Chief has laid down the new electoral blueprint but talk radio has been doing the excavating for three decades. The number of people wholl actually call a radio show over the course of a lifetime is about the same as the percentage of the population wholl seek public office. While small it doesnt mean it isnt representative of the same browbeaten public voting ever increasingly rightward. At a local GOP meeting last month I was asked why so much of the public is inflamed. I can speak from personal experience. When I was a kid my dad bought a new car every two years. He made a good living first as a plant millwright and then as a civil servant. He gave up the first line of work because it was fading away. Many of his friends never had civil service opportunities. As the factories closed they found they could never replace their previous wages.

Huge swaths of the country have been hollowed out. A low jobless rate doesnt mean Americans are on easy street. Local legislators share with me there are jobs available but for many the pay will never allow a decent home. Tens of thousands of Magic Valley citizens are one paycheck away from disaster. People fear the future and what it means for their children.

None of this should be a shock. Weve watched it unfold for decades. Meanwhile, the Democrats who once claimed to be looking out for your concerns got caught up in arguments about bestiality.

Local Republicans neednt fear a political movement from the left. For the moment they can get away with prattling on about building relationships in Boise. The thing is, the virus unleashed by Trump will spread. From the top and down through the culture. We havent seen many people articulate it locally. The challengers within Republican ranks often appear one issue candidates. Its not to say one issue wont work. The upstarts just havent gravitated to the economic argument. Tie it to the tone deafness of the leftist culture warriors and youve got a winning strategy.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga arrives at the Supreme Court in Nairobi in September. He challenged the Aug. 8 presidential election, in which he was the losing candidate, as flawed. (Ben Curtis/AP)

Kenya's main opposition leader announced Tuesday that he was dropping out of a rerun of the August presidential election, casting doubts on the legitimacy of the voting process.

Kenya is a key U.S. partner on the continent and has the most dynamic economy in East Africa, but its rowdy elections are often plagued by violence, threatening the countrys stability.

Even for Kenyas often lively politics, however, the latest developments mark a plunge into uncharted waters, with first an election outcome struck down and now a candidate walking away.

It was a legal challenge by opposition politician Raila Odinga that prompted the Supreme Court, citing irregularities, to nullify the results of the Aug. 8 election, won by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta. But Odinga, who leads the National Super Alliance (NASA), says not enough has been done to address the problems. He has singled out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for particular criticism, deeming it "rotten."

We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention from IEBC to make sure that the irregularities and illegalities witnessed before do not happen again, Odinga told reporters Tuesday as he announced his withdrawal from the new election planned for Oct. 26. We believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidacy in the election.

Legal expert Dunstan Omari described the stalemate as a constitutional crisis and said the two main parties  Odingas NASA and Kenyattas Jubilee Party  would have to consult the courts for guidance.

He said the Supreme Court is most likely to rule that new candidates will have to be found in the next 90 days, though other experts said the election could go ahead with just one candidate, akin to a yes-or-no vote.

Odinga called for nationwide protests Wednesday.

Politics in Kenya have often been marred by violence, frequently along ethnic lines. At least 37 people died in the August vote, but in 2007, at least 1,400 people died in a wave of violence after Odinga lost to Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent.

For his part, Kenyatta said the election would go forward, according to the Nation newspaper. While Odinga had the right to pull out, the president said, he should know that Kenyans have a right to choose their leaders.

In its ruling invalidating the August election, the high court cited a consistent pattern of irregularities in polling stations reporting results. It ordered a new vote within 60 days.

Kenyatta had said he would abide by the courts decision but repeatedly accused the justices of standing in the way of the peoples will. He also said he would use his partys majority in parliament to impeach Odinga if the latter won.

In the run-up to the new election, the Jubilee Party attempted to overhaul electoral laws and the IEBC, but the opposition dismissed the efforts as insincere.

The Jubilee administrations proposed amendments to election laws demonstrate that it has no intention of competition on a level playing field, Odinga said. All indications are that the election scheduled for October 26 will be worse than the previous one.

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday boycotted a session of the National Assembly dedicated to amending the election laws.

John Otieno, an Odinga supporter, said he was very disappointed that his candidate would not run. He said he had hoped that the ruling party and the electoral commission would heed demands for reforms.

Raila was our only hope. Our future for now seems very uncertain, Otieno said. We will wait to see what happens next, but for now, we will heed his call of countrywide protests starting tomorrow.

Odingas supporters have been holding weekly demonstrations, in the capital as well as in their strongholds of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu, to pressure the electoral commission.

The protests have been heating up, with police opening fire on a demonstration in Nairobi on Monday, injuring one man. Last week, the University of Nairobi was shut down indefinitely after clashes between students and police.

Supporters of Kenyatta, however, dismissed Odingas withdrawal as political theater and said he was never ready for office.

We want Kenyatta to be sworn in as early as tomorrow so that we can celebrate, said Francis Kinyajui. This was a joke; it was a waste of time. These were just plans to cause divisions in the country.

Amid the political furor, gunmen attacked a university near Mombasa along the coast and killed two staff members.

The attackers, thought to be members of neighboring Somalias al-Shabab Islamist group, opened fire on a vehicle carrying university staffers.

Schemm reported from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Read more:

Kenya Supreme Court annuls election result, orders new vote

Election return in Kenya raises fears about violence and economic troubles

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Inside a sprawling tent camp protected by a U.N. tank and a line of barbed wire, Jerry Zoumatchi cradled an ancient rifle.

He said hed never touched a weapon until four months ago. But then rebels shot dead his father and his 17-year-old brother, sending him fleeing to this displaced-persons site in search of refuge and revenge.

I took up my gun to kill the [rebels] who killed my father and brother, the 29-year-old said, fiddling with three bullets in his free hand. I need to avenge the deaths.

Zoumatchis thirst for vengeance led him to join a local self-defense militia, which gave him a firearm and a role in the newest chapter of a conflict that has left thousands dead in this former French colony. The violence has persisted for four years despite efforts by the United Nations, humanitarian groups and even Pope Francis to end the fighting.

Successful democratic elections early last year spurred hopes that the conflict might finally end. But clashes erupted again in November. Since then, hundreds have died, and tens of thousands have been forced from their homes amid escalating violence between the dozen or so armed groups controlling some 80 percent of the Central African Republic. Attacks are taking on increasingly sectarian overtones.





U.N. officials have raised alarms about early warning signs of genocide. Diplomats and relief workers say this impoverished country of about 4.6 million runs the risk of an all-out civil war, which would compound the humanitarian crisis and create new security problems in a region already grappling with extremist groups such as Boko Haram.

[The hospital at the center of a Muslim-Christian war in Africa]

The violence began when a predominantly Muslim coalition of rebels called the Seleka swept to power in 2013 after killing and burning their way through this majority Christian country. Mostly Christian groups known as the anti-balaka formed to fight back. Many of the armed groups subsequently splintered. The Seleka rulers were eventually replaced by an interim government, and a former prime minister, Faustin-Archange Touadera, became president last year in what many saw as a sign of progress.

Analysts say the latest violence is due in part to the new governments failure to satisfy the armed groups demands for political representation and amnesty.

"To get what they want, they need to increase the power of negotiation. And in order to increase the power of negotiations, they need to represent a threat," said Nathalia Dukhan, an analyst at the Enough Project, a Washington-based research group focused on African conflicts. "They increased their capacity to harm."

That hasnt been hard to do in a country where the central government wields little power outside the capital, the army is ineffective and ill-equipped, and infrastructure such as roads is limited.

Ex-Seleka factions are now fighting one another  in some cases teaming up with their former opponents. Anti-balaka, frequently referred to as self-defense groups, have expanded.

The capital city of Bangui, guarded by U.N. peacekeepers, remains calm, but taxicab radios blare the growing list of hot spots across the country: Zemio, Batangafo, Obo. In addition to the internally displaced  who now number 600,000  about 500,000 people have fled to neighboring countries since 2013, according to the United Nations.

Areas previously spared high levels of violence now have become flash points, with the country's southeast of particular concern. Some experts say the withdrawal this past spring of U.S. and Ugandan forces positioned in the area to search for Joseph Kony, the rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, created a power vacuum  one armed groups are looking to fill.

Armed groups have taken over the whole of the country, said Joseph Inganji, the U.N. humanitarian agencys chief of office for the Central African Republic.

There have been numerous failed attempts to broker peace, including a deal struck in June in Rome by representatives of the armed groups. Less than 24 hours later, new clashes killed dozens.

The mandate for the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in the country expires in November, and Touadera is among those calling for a renewal and a troop increase. But peacekeepers are also in the crosshairs  10 have been killed this year. Civilian animosity toward peacekeepers has grown, exacerbated by a sexual abuse scandal and allegations of inaction in the face of attacks.

[The growing scandal over the U.N. and peacekeeper babies]

More than half the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. But amid the surge in violence, access to aid has sharply deteriorated. Eleven aid workers have been killed since the start of the year  making it one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian work. Aid compounds have been looted and attacked, prompting many organizations to pull back or limit their activities.

In some parts of the country, villagers are holed up in churches and hospitals, unable to venture out for fear of being killed. Food supplies in some places are running low.

"The main risk is really to come back to a conflict like it was in 2013 . . . very close to a kind of civil war," said Thibaud Lesueur, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that seeks to resolve violent conflicts. At the time, large numbers of civilians were killed or raped, and scores of villages were destroyed.

David Brownstein, who as charge daffaires is the senior U.S. diplomat here, said it is important to prevent a security vacuum in a region already grappling with the Islamist extremists of Boko Haram and, further afield, the Islamic State.

Because of its geographical position, the Central African Republic plays a fundamental role in either enhancing and promoting regional stability, or, conversely, if its weakened or failed, it could have a fundamentally negative impact on regional stability, he said.

Many say religion isnt really driving the violence  that armed groups are looking to gain power and to profit off resources such as diamonds and gold. But that doesnt mean fighters arent exploiting ethnic and religious differences.

Stephen O'Brien, who until recently served as the U.N. humanitarian chief, said after a visit in July to the Central African Republic that "the early warning signs of genocide are there," with growing ethnically and religiously targeted attacks.

The sectarian tension is evident in Bria.

Just four months ago, fighting forced 40,000 civilians to flee their homes and set up makeshift shelters on the edge of a U.N. base.

We Christians dont want to have problems, local anti-balaka leader Jethro Soukou said on a recent morning. Its the Muslims that make the problems.

They treat us like animals, he said, voice nearing a shout. When theyre out on their patrols and see one of us, they kill him in the street.

Months ago, a rare machete tucked into a waistband was the only sign of weaponry in the camp. Today, men with guns slung over their backs roam the maze of tents.

Francoise Reneheta had only recently arrived from a small village near Bria. Voice scratchy from exhaustion, Reneheta said loud booms had shattered her morning 10 days earlier.

I started to hear shots, weapons firing, said the 25-year-old. She said she dropped the manioc shed been preparing for breakfast, grabbed her children and ran.

Reneheta held no hopes of returning to her village; she had heard their house was torched along with others.

She didnt say so outright, but many at the camp credit the anti-balaka within the perimeter for ensuring their safety. Anti-balaka fighters scoffed when asked about the need to bear arms given the presence of peacekeepers, saying the contingents dont protect the population.

Thats why members of the ragtag band of fighters said they go on patrol, sometimes leaving the site to combat the Muslims in town they consider a direct threat.

Not far down the red-dirt road, theres a main drag of shops where armed men  the enemy  stroll or laze under trees with AK-47s between their knees.

On a recent afternoon, Abdraman Djiabaladin, who guessed he was in his 80s, stacked broken branches in front of his house near the towns center.

Three weeks earlier, he said, anti-balaka members had surrounded this neighborhood and opened fire.

There were so many bullets that they broke the branches of the mango tree, he said, adding that he survived by firing back.

He said he would not be driven from his home.

We dont have any enemies other than the anti-balaka, he said. I need to stay and fight.

Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Read more

The Central African Republics complex war, explained in the journey of a baby

The Central African Republic descending into complete chaos

Pope Francis visits mosque in war-torn Central African Republic

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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In a long-awaited speech, Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont affirmed on Tuesday the right of Catalonia to be an independent country. But he notably stopped short of declaring the region an independent polity, calling for further dialogue with the Spanish government.

By suspending the secession process, Puigdemont signaled an overture to critics and observers in Spain and across the European Union who feared the rise of separatism in the increasingly embattled 28-state bloc. He said that Catalonias conflict with Spain could be resolved in a rational way and suggested exploring international mediation as a possible solution.

Earlier Tuesday, the Spanish government rejected any offer of negotiation.

Throughout a long and often bitter process, Madrid fiercely rejected the prospect of Catalan independence, deploying police to interrupt the vote in violent clashes and threatening to throw Puigdemont in jail if he went any further. Spain's constitutional court had ruled Catalonia's referendum illegal, and although a majority of those who voted supported leaving Spain, fewer than 50 percent of eligible Catalan residents ultimately cast ballots.

After Puigdemont spoke, Spanish Vice President Soraya Saenz de Santamaria attacked the speech. Carles Puigdemont has pushed the autonomous region to the greatest level of uncertainty, she said on Spanish television. Neither Mr. Puigdemont nor anyone else can derive conclusions from a law that does not exist, or a referendum that was never produced of the will of the Catalan people who, once again, want it to be appropriate.

[Everything you need to know about the vote in Catalonia]

Puigdemonts address, delivered more than a week after the referendum, is likely to resolve little in an escalating conflict that has shocked observers worldwide.

In a move that some commentators said was intended to please both sides, he presented Catalan independence as an inevitability, but delayed the prospect of independence to allow room for further discussion with Spanish and European officials.

Just after the formal parliamentary session, Puigdemont and 71 of the 135 parliamentarians retired to a large hall within the parliament building and signed a declaration as representatives of a sovereign Catalan Republic. The move further confused the ambiguous official statement and had politicians and analysts deciphering the ramifications of the declaration.

I want to follow the peoples will for Catalonia to become an independent state, he said. But Puigdemont also said that by suspending the independence process, we are making a gesture of responsibility in favor of dialogue.

Following the referendum, European leaders warned Catalan authorities not to make a rash decision that would preclude any negotiations with an angry Madrid.

Earlier Tuesday, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, addressed Puigdemont directly in a strongly worded statement, urging him not to go through with independence.





A few days ago I asked Prime Minister [Mariano] Rajoy to look for a solution to the problem without the use of force, to look for dialogue, because the force of argument is always better than the argument of force, Tusk said. Today I ask you to respect in your intentions the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible.

Puigdemonts remarks suggest that he heeded those exhortations, but his political opponents were quick to pounce on the potential for a future crisis they still see as imminent.

No one in Europe is going to accept a declaration of independence, whether it be deferred, delayed or in phases, said Ines Arrimadas, a leader of the Citizens Party, who gave the first response to Puigdemonts speech in the Catalan parliament Tuesday evening.

This was never about democracy. This was always about independence, she said. It wasnt about polls. It was about nationalism. Nationalism is the antithesis of the project that is Europe. You are in the wrong place and century.

Others, particularly some among his allies, expressed disappointment and outrage that Puigdemont did not go further with pushing for immediate independence.

Barcelonas city government estimated that 30,000 people were crowded near the parliament building, awaiting the speech. Many erupted in cheers as Puigdemont said that he assumed the mandate for an independent Catalonia, but they soon fell silent when he said that secession would be suspended. Some whistled their disapproval.

We thought that what was going to happen was the solemn declaration of independence of the Catalan Republic, said Anna Gabriel, a leader of the far-left anarchist CUP party, which partners with Puigdemonts party to form a fragile pro-independence coalition. We believed that that is what today was about and that maybe we have missed the chance.

Puigdemonts remarks, postponed an hour because of what Spanish media said were 11th-hour negotiations, did not address the large or small logistical concerns that independence would present.

For one, European officials have suggested that Catalonia would not be automatically welcomed into the European Union and would need to apply. On a more local level, French officials, in alliance with Spain, have said they would not consider a newly formed state a legal entity. France's minister of European affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, said Monday that France would not recognize an independent Catalonia on its borders  a move that could leave the region isolated and vulnerable.

If there were to be a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral, and it would not be recognized, she said.

Catalonia, which prides itself on being the wealthiest region in Spain, is now also facing an exodus by some of the biggest companies based in its capital, Barcelona.

Conglomerates such as Colonial, Abertis and Cellnex have joined the banks Sabadell and Caixabank and energy company Gas Natural to switch their fiscal headquarters to Madrid or other Spanish cities in advance of a possible declaration of independence.

In all, at least 11 publicly listed companies worth more than $80 billion have changed their fiscal addresses in the past week. The pharmaceutical company Grifols is the only entity from the Ibex-35 exchange still based in Barcelona, but there are rumors that it, too, could move.

In a symbolic gesture, the president of the Catalan sparkling-wine company Freixenet, long identified as a symbol of the regions heritage and international appeal, said he would ask the board to move its headquarters out of Catalonia should independence be announced.

[Spains king calls independence vote totally outside law and democracy]

These developments seemed to trouble even some of Puigdemonts allies.

The lack of an independent border force, for instance, was among the concerns voiced by Artur Mas, Catalonias former president and current leader of the regions governing, pro-separation Catalan European Democratic Party.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Friday, Mas said that while Catalonia has "won the right to become an independent state," it was not yet ready for "real independence."

Among Mass principal concerns were issues such as border control, tax collection and a functioning judicial system independent of Madrid  none of which Catalonia can currently claim.

In remarks that fanned the flames of outrage in Catalonia, a spokesman for Spains center-right governing party warned that Puigdemont could face jail time if he declared independence.

Specifically, the spokesman said, he might end up like the previous Catalan president who proclaimed independence in 1934: Lluis Companys was imprisoned and ultimately executed by firing squad in 1940 by the regime of dictator Francisco Franco.

Rajoy, Spains prime minister, has refused to budge. Should the region try to secede from Spain, he said, Madrid is ready to suspend Catalonias regional government and demand new elections.

In his speech, Puigdemont suggested that secession proceedings could formally begin in as soon as a few weeks.

McAuley reported from Paris. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

Read More:

We dont know how good we have it here: Many Catalans dont want a break with Spain

Catalonias pro-independence parents occupy polling stations in mass act of civil disobedience

Why Catalonia poses a real crisis for both Spain and Europe

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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British Prime Minister Theresa May, second from left, hosts a discussion of the governments Race Disparity Audit at 10 Downing Street. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AP)

The British government on Tuesday unveiled an extraordinary website and accompanying report called the "Race Disparity Audit," which reveals through a trove of data sets how its citizens of different ethnicities and races are faring in health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

The release of data on a hot-button topic seeks to highlight, rather than hide, stark differences in how the rainbow of people are doing in the multicultural United Kingdom in 2017.

That the data was presented by the conservative Tories did not escape attention  and received some polite applause from their opponents.

The data is especially timely in the wake of the countrys decision last year to break away from the European Union, a vote that was driven in part by anxieties about immigration.

As expected, there is much in the audit that highlights long-known disparities here  blacks are more likely to be arrested, whites more likely to be cops  but the numbers and graphs offer glimpses of life that might be surprising to some.

Adults from an Indian background report the highest average ratings for happiness and the feeling that things they do in life are worthwhile. British whites are in the middle.

Children from Chinese families excel in school, while British whites, especially boys, often struggle.

Black adults are tops at helping others: the most likely to participate in some form of formal volunteering on a regular basis.

The audit found "marked differences between ethnic groups in the extent to which people felt able to influence local decisions." Blacks report that they have the most influence, whites the least.

The proportion of people identifying as White British in England and Wales dropped from 87.4 percent in 2001 to 80.5 percent in 2011.

The Times of London called the audit the most ambitious project of its kind in the world.

Shortly after becoming prime minister in 2016, Theresa May promised to tackle burning injustices experienced by people across the United Kingdom.

During her first speech outside 10 Downing Street, she listed a number of disparities in Britain.

If youre born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If youre black, youre treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if youre white. If youre a white, working-class boy, youre less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university, she said.

Shortly afterward, she ordered the audit, saying that it would "reveal difficult truths."

The report found that Asian, black and other ethnic minority groups are the most likely to be in persistent poverty.

It also found that white Britons are more likely than black Britons to own their own homes and to be employed.

Upon release of the audit, First Secretary of State Damian Green said, We believe that how far you go in life should be based on your talent and how hard you work  and nothing else.

Will the data sets lead to change or improvement?

BBC home editor Mark Easton wrote in a column: The people being nudged are the people who sit around the cabinet table with the prime minister  her own government. Explain or change, the PM will tell them. Where disparities exist, ministers will be encouraged to explain why they exist.

The audit is designed to be not just a snapshot but an ongoing project  and an accessible online tool for citizens to judge how well this or any succeeding government is doing.

Regarding health, the British, like their American cousins, could lose a few pounds. The audit found that more than half of adults in all ethnic groups other than the Chinese group were overweight.

The report also found that newcomers are trying hard to fit in and that communities are relatively nurturing  that neighbors greet one another frequently, for example.

A substantial majority of adults across all ethnic groups felt they belonged to Britain.

Only 1.3 percent of the population age 3 and over cannot speak English well, and just 0.3 percent cannot speak English at all, the audit reported.

Polish is the most common language after English, at 1 percent, followed by Punjabi and Urdu, at fractions.

Karla Adam contributed to this report.

Read more

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British Prime Minister Theresa May offers Brexit details in landmark speech

Britains Theresa May is trying to keep E.U. divorce from going totally off the rails

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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The family of Raya Chidiac leaves Our Lady Church in Miziara, northern Lebanon, on Oct. 1, 2017. A Syrian who worked for the family has been charged with raping and murdering her on Sept. 22, 2017. (Diego Ibarra Sanchez/Me-Mo for The Washington Post)

When Syrians began streaming into Lebanon six years ago to escape their country's war, around 1,000 of them found a welcome in the small Christian village of Miziara, in the pine-clad mountains of the north.

That was until the discovery in her home last month of the body of Raya Chidiac, 26, a daughter of one of the villages wealthiest businessmen. She had been bound, raped and suffocated with a plastic bag. The Syrian caretaker at the familys home confessed to the killing and was arrested and charged with murder.

The ensuing backlash against Syrians has rippled across Lebanon, exposing razor-sharp tensions between the countrys 1 million Syrian refugees and their hosts that increasingly threaten to open up Lebanons own fragile sectarian divisions.

As Europe and the United States are closing their doors to the worlds spiraling number of refugees, especially Syrians, the burden is intensifying in countries like Lebanon that border war zones and receive the vast majority of refugees.

Syrias neighbors are hosting 5 million Syrian refugees, compared with about 18,000 admitted by the United States and 1 million who have sought asylum in Europe. As the war in Syria drags into an eighth year with no sign either of an end to the fighting or a peace settlement that will guarantee safe returns, concerns are growing that the refugees will not be going home.





Turkey hosts by far the biggest number, with 3.2 million Syrians registered as refugees with the United Nations. But it is tiny Lebanon that perhaps feels the strain most acutely. Including the 450,000 Palestinian refugees also living here, refugees now account for nearly a quarter of the population, the highest concentration in the world.

Chidiacs killing touched a nerve among Lebanese who feel they are shouldering a disproportionate share of the refugee crisis. Calls are mounting for the refugees to be sent back regardless of conditions inside Syria.

The countrys most senior Christian prelate called their presence unbearable. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil tweeted on Sunday that Lebanese are racist and want the refugees gone. Every foreigner present in our land against our will is occupying our land, he said.

[As Trump bars Syrian refugees, life in their camps is getting harder]

The United Nations has appealed to the Lebanese to refrain from collective reprisals as a result of one tragic incident, said Mireille Girard, who heads the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon.

But for the Syrians living in Miziara, it was already too late. All of them, refugees or not, were ordered to leave the town after Chidiac was killed, setting a precedent many Syrians fear may soon be replicated across Lebanon.

Existing tensions

Tensions had been building between the Lebanese and the Syrian refugees for months before Chidiacs death. Syrians have spilled into every corner of the country, taking up residence in unfinished buildings, parking garages, abandoned shopping malls, warehouses and in thousands of makeshift camps that have sprung up in rural areas.





All of them, including those in camps, pay rent to private landlords, and the Syrians have contributed to the economy as well as subsisted on it. The United Nations has injected $4.2 billion worth of aid over the past five years.

Some Syrians have found work, mostly the kind of menial, low-paid jobs that Lebanese do not like to do, such as picking fruit and laboring on construction sites  jobs that were routinely performed by migrant workers from Syria for decades before the Syrian war.

But aid contributions are dwindling as international interest in Syria wanes, increasing the hardship among the Syrians. Lebanons economy has been hit by the war. Resentment has steadily grown against refugees perceived to be stealing Lebanese jobs and driving down wages.

Miziara is one of the communities with a long history of employing Syrian workers. Some 2,000 of the villages 5,000-strong population are themselves migrants, working in Nigerias booming oil economy. They have spent their money building lavish mansions in their home town, including one that is a replica of an Airbus A380 and another designed as a pyramid.

Syrians were hired to build the homes, including the man accused of murdering Chidiac. Identified in Lebanese police reports only by his initials, B.H., he was employed a year before the war began to work on one of the Chidiac familys houses, an elaborate palace complete with columns, balustrades and a wall adorned with elephant tusks.

After the house was finished, he was kept on as a caretaker, family members said, and he was at the house when Chidiac was there, alone, in the early hours of Sept. 22. He told police that he held her at knifepoint, asked for money and when she said there wasn't any, tied her up, raped her and suffocated her, according to the police report.

The shock of the alleged betrayal ricocheted across Miziara and beyond. The family trusted him for years, and he did this, said Father Yusuf Fadoul, after conducting a Mass for Chidiacs soul at Miziaras Maronite Christian church last week.

[Syrias war created millions of refugees. Some might be forced to return home.]

Although the accused was not officially a refugee but a migrant worker, the village turned its anger on all the Syrians living there. Miziara is wholly Christian, and most of the Syrian refugees are Sunni Muslims, a religious and cultural difference that had already caused friction.

Were not angry at the Syrian people, were angry at the number of people they have thrown onto us, Fadoul said. Those who have come here have not been living in a civilized society. They dont have our social manners, our civilized behavior.

They have big families. They have four wives and 17 children, and we only have two children, added George Karkar, the local mukhtar, a sort of honorary mayor, echoing a familiar complaint.

They drive their motorcycles around the town at night disturbing people. They hold big gatherings and we dont know what they are talking about, he said.

After funeral services for Chidiac, residents marched through the village, some holding placards calling on the Syrians to leave.

Many of the Syrians fled overnight after realizing the mood had soured against them. Others left over the next two days after the municipality issued a deadline for them to get out, the mukhtar said.

To be honest, if they didnt leave we would have killed them, said Boulos Dib, who runs a local grocery store. The whole town is against them. All Lebanon is against them.

Mutual fears

Some of the Syrians were given a nudge. Mustafa, a Syrian car dealer, moved to Miziara after war broke out in Syria with more than 20 members of his extended family, joining a brother who worked there. He asked that he be identified by only his first name because he fears for his safety.

On the evening after Chidiacs funeral, two local police officers waited outside his home and harassed his son, twice punching him in the face, Mustafa said.

The police returned after midnight, accompanied by dozens of the towns young men, carrying guns, he said. They warned him to leave before dawn. The family quickly piled into cars and drove to a different town, where they are now living.

Other Syrians lay low for a few days, hoping the anger would die down. Yasmina, 26, arrived in Miziara with her family in 2012 after her brother was killed in the Syrian war. She got a well-paying job at the local hairdressing salon. Her sister gave birth to two children. Her older nephew attended the local school.

After her employer called to say she should leave Miziara for her own safety, she and her family piled their possessions onto a pickup truck and left to stay with relatives in a town about 40 miles away.

One of her customers was Chidiac, the murdered woman. She had a lovely personality, and she didnt discriminate against people, Yasmina recalled. I am so sad about everything. I loved my job. I loved Miziara. The people there are so nice. But after what happened, they had had enough of us.

As the Syrians scattered, fear spread among refugees across Lebanon. At least one other local municipality has ordered its Syrian residents to leave. Other towns in the vicinity of Miziara have imposed curfews, telling Syrians not to go out after dark.

They told us it is for our own safety, in case Lebanese come and attack us, said Houloud al-Sayegh, who lives in a shack in an olive grove outside the Sunni Muslim town of Mariata. The people here are good, they dont want us to be harmed.

Of course everyone is afraid, said Mohammed, a refugee from the province of Idlib who lives in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon and travels among Syrian refugee settlements selling vegetables. We are afraid someone will come and kill a Syrian and it will cause a civil war.

Fears that the Syrians presence will trigger civil strife in a country eternally hostage to sectarian rivalries underpin concerns among Lebanese that the recent arrivals are here to stay. No one has forgotten that it was another influx of refugees, the Palestinians who fled Israel in 1948, that helped fuel Lebanons 15-year civil war between Christians and Muslims over 30 years ago.

At a coffee shop in the center of Miziara, three elderly men who sat playing cards said they would prefer not to discuss the recent tensions in the town.

Its better that we dont say anything about the situation now, said one, a white-haired man who was forced to flee his home in Tripoli nearly four decades ago and has since lived in Miziara. There are many different factions, and we dont know what will happen next.

Suzan Haidamous contributed to this report.

Read more:

Can Lebanon survive Syria, Israel  and President Trump?

In Lebanon, Syrian refugee children find safety from war but new dangers on the streets

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A picture taken from the West Bank city of Hebron on June 25 shows a view of the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement on the outskirts of the Palestinian city. (Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved building plans for 3,736 new units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, in what activists say is part of a new wave of construction spurred by the Trump administration's more accommodating stance.

The units will be built in numerous settlements, including in Hebron and other contentious areas, said an Israeli official who discussed the announcement on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Some of the units, which include homes, communal buildings and institutions, are slated for isolated communities that sit deep inside the territory Palestinians want for a future state.

Most nations consider the settlements illegal. Israel disputes that.

This year is looking to maybe even be a record year, said Hagit Ofran, director of Settlement Watch for the left-wing Peace Now organization, referring to the number of new units approved. Its without doubt due to the fact that there have been changes in the White House.





President Trump has said that settlements are not a good thing for peace, but announcements of plans to build thousands of new units since his inauguration have been met with limited rebuke.

[U.S. ambassador breaks with policy: I think the settlements are part of Israel]

The settlements expanded during the presidency of Barack Obama, but his administration was more vocal in its opposition, calling them illegitimate and a major barrier to achieving peace and a two-state solution.

In December, Obama broke with U.S. custom by declining to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution labeling Israeli settlements as illegal.

Palestinians say that by building settlements, Israel seeks to block a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank.

Israel is bent on entrenching the military occupation and its illegal settlement enterprise, further reaffirming its intentions of displacing Palestine and replacing it with Greater Israel,  said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

She called on the global community to hold Israel accountable for acting outside the law before it destroys the prospects of a viable Palestinian state, peace and stability indefinitely.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed this year that he will not remove a single Jewish settlement from the West Bank.

There will be no more uprooting of settlements in the land of Israel, he said in a speech in August at the settlement of Barkan. We are here to stay.

About 400,000 Jews live in roughly 150 settlements in the West Bank, and an additional 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want to become the capital of a future state.

Israel approves such projects every few months but until recently focused on approving buildings in the major settlement blocs, which it hopes to keep as part of any eventual peace settlement. Tuesdays plans include units in areas outside the blocs.

Things we never saw before are now happening, Ofran said.

With Netanyahus approval, the next stage is for the civil administration, the Israeli military authority that governs the West Bank, to give technical approval to the building plans. In some cases, land will be zoned for new homes, and in others, existing structures built without the necessary permits will be legalized.

The approval process for construction in Israels settlements in the West Bank involves several stages. Some of the units announced Tuesday were given a final level of approval from the government; others are at their first stage.

In addition to the latest approval, plans for about 5,000 housing units have been advanced this year by a government committee, and an additional 3,000 tenders have been issued.

Those who say this is not a significant improvement are misleading the public, the Israeli official said. There is no one who works harder for settlements than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But settler leaders were quick to condemn the announcement, saying it was a bluff that would lead nowhere.

Announcements are nice, but bricks and mortar are what is needed, said Oded Revivi, the foreign envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlers in the West Bank, which most Israelis refer to as Judea and Samaria.

Its time to massively accelerate building across Judea and Samaria to accommodate the huge demand for housing. The era of timidly tiptoeing around with tenders has ended, he said.

Read more:



The sea was a breath of fresh air for isolated Gaza. Now the water stinks.

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Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein indicated Tuesday that the Justice Department may be more aggressive in trying to secure access to encrypted information from technology companies during criminal and terrorism investigations.

In a speech in Annapolis, Rosenstein, the second-highest-ranking official in the Justice Department, acknowledged the balancing act between privacy and public safety but said the needs of law enforcement can outweigh personal privacy when crimes need to be prevented and solved.

Warrant-proof encryption is a serious problem, Rosenstein said in his speech at a conference at the U.S. Naval Academy. The public bears the cost. When investigations of violent criminal organizations come to a halt because we cannot access a phone, even with a court order, lives may be lost. When child molesters can operate anonymously over the Internet, children may be exploited. When terrorists can communicate covertly without fear of detention, chaos may follow.

Rosenstein did not offer policy proposals or specific steps Justice Department officials will take to combat what law enforcement refers to as going dark. But he strongly criticized technology companies and said the governments efforts to engage with them has not been successful.

[Former national security officials urge government to embrace rise of encryption]

Technology companies almost certainly will not develop responsible encryption if left to their own devices, Rosenstein said. They are in the business of selling products and making money. . . . We are in the business of preventing crime and saving lives.

Ari Schwartz, a former senior director for cybersecurity in the Obama White House, said that while there are a few instances in which technology companies do not help the government, there are plenty of cases in which they do.

Im not seeing how this gets us closer to having the real discussion about solutions in this space, said Schwartz, managing director of cybersecurity services at the Venable law firm. The government feels as though tech companies have to find a solution for them, and the tech companies feel as though the government just doesnt understand how theyre putting the larger security at risk here.

Rosenstein highlighted the February 2016 case in San Bernardino, Calif., when the FBI obtained the iPhone used by a terrorist who shot and killed 14 people and injured 22 others. The data on the iPhone was encrypted, and the government sought Apples assistance to find out whether there was evidence of other attack plans.

Apple rejected the governments request, although it had the technical capability to help, Rosenstein said.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on Rosensteins remarks.

The Obama administration went to court to obtain an order requiring Apple to help, and Apple said it would appeal the order. The FBI was eventually able to access the data on the phone without Apples assistance, by enlisting the help of professional hackers.

[FBI paid professional hackers one-time fee to crack San Bernardino iPhone]

But the problem persists, Rosenstein said. Today, thousands of seized devices sit in storage, impervious to search warrants. Over the past year, the FBI was unable to access about 7,500 mobile devices submitted to its computer analysis and response team, even though there was legal authority to do so.

Rosenstein said that while technology companies do not cooperate with Justice Department officials, they operate in foreign countries that censor and suppress information, citing incidents that involved Facebook and Amazon.com. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

American technology providers sell products and services in foreign markets where the governments have questionable human rights records and enforce laws affording them access to customer data, without American due process or legal protections, Rosenstein said. Surely those same companies and their engineers could help American law enforcement officers enforce court orders issued by American judges, pursuant to American rule-of-law principles.

Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.

Read more:

As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security
A court in Turkey has sentenced a Wall Street Journal reporter to more than two years in prison on terrorism charges over an article, the newspaper said in a statement Tuesday, in a case that highlighted the Turkish government's escalating clampdown on press freedoms.

The reporter, Ayla Albayrak, was in New York at the time of the sentencing and planned to appeal the decision, the Journal said.

Scores of media workers are imprisoned in Turkey, which has earned the distinction of being the world's leading jailer of journalists. The latest verdict was unusual, however, in that it targeted a reporter for a U.S. newspaper. It came as the Trump administration and the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are locked in a bitter dispute over Turkey's recent arrest of a U.S. Consulate employee in Istanbul.

The charges against Albayrak, a dual citizen of Turkey and Finland, stemmed from an article that she wrote two years ago on Turkey's ongoing war with Kurdish militants, the Journal statement said.

The sole purpose of the article was to provide objective and independent reporting on events in Turkey, and it succeeded, said Gerard Baker, editor in chief of the Journal, according to the statement. This was an unfounded criminal charge and wildly inappropriate conviction that wrongly singled out a balanced Wall Street Journal report.

Turkish officials have disputed that large numbers of journalists are in prison, arguing that many should not be considered members of the press because they are criminal suspects or spies in the employ of foreign countries. The authorities also have shown little tolerance for reporting on groups classified as terrorist entities by the state, including the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a subject of Albayraks 2015 article.

Many Turkish reporters have been swept up in a far-reaching campaign of arrests by Turkish authorities in the wake of a failed coup in July 2016. The journalists include 17 employees of Cumhuriyet, one of Turkeys oldest and most prominent newspapers.

Given the current climate in Turkey, this appalling decision shouldnt have come as a surprise to me, but it did, the Journal statement quoted Albayrak as saying. The ruling, she added, shows yet again, that the international media is not immune to the ongoing press crackdown in Turkey.

The sentence appeared certain to aggravate the ongoing dispute between Turkey and the United States. The feud burst into public view Sunday, when the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced that it was suspending the issuing of nonimmigrant visas at its missions in Turkey. The move was taken in response to Turkeys arrest this month of the consulate employee, Metin Topuz, on espionage charges.

Turkey retaliated by quickly announcing an almost identical visa suspension. Erdogan, speaking in Belgrade, Serbia, weighed in on the dispute Tuesday, saying that "the offender in this problem is the United States of America itself," according to Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu news agency.

Read more

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Indigenous child welfare services got a major boost Tuesday with a pair of funding announcements in Winnipeg aimed at reversing the provinces high rates of indigenous children and newborn babies who are taken into care.

Both announcements focus on reuniting broken families by restoring family units in safe, healthy environments.

The issue of children and their families is of the utmost importance, said federal Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott who made twin appearances for the separate but related funding announcements.

One agreement was a tripartite partnership with Ottawa, Manitoba and the Winnipeg Foundation helping vulnerable children stay with their families.

The province and the foundation will each provide $1 million over a three-year period to help Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Inc. expand its Family Group Conferencing services for indigenous families in Winnipeg. Ottawa will provide $500,000 over three years for a total commitment of $2.5 million.

The second announcement will see Ottawa provide $800,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs for its First Nations Family Advocate Office, which does similar work for First Nation families on reserves.

Canadas support for the Advocates Office is a positive step in a series of many required to realize true First Nation Child and Family Services reform, AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said in a statement.

Both funding announcements are expected to expand the scope of advocacy to reverse the staggering numbers of Indigenous children taken into child and family services, a total critics have compared to Canadas dark chapter with residential schools.

Philpott drew attention to Manitobas child welfare epidemic in an interview Wednesday.

Manitoba in particular has one of the highest rates of children not living with their family, being in care. Upwards of 11,000 children, and 90 per cent are indigenous children.

Theres a lot of work to be done to bring Indigenous families back together, Philpott said.

Manitoba Family Services Minister Scott Fielding said the provinces $1 million portion to the tripartite partnership with Ma Mawi in Winnipeg is part of a planned series of reforms the Pallister government expects to roll out for the child welfare system.

In our throne speech we talked about a comprehensive reform plan in child and family services and well be announcing that in the coming days.

We believe that reuniting children with their parents, when safe, is an appropriate step and we obviously want to do as much as we can to reunite children with their families, Fielding said.

Rick Frost, CEO of the Winnipeg Foundation, said the foundations contribution was made possible through the Moffat Family Fund, a donor-advised fund it administers. He praised the months of effort it took Ma Mawi to steer the tripartite partnership to a successful completion and linked it to Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action.

This is only the second such deal the Foundation has negotiated with both levels of government, Frost said. To get all three partners to come together is a really unusual thing.

Reconciliation is the top of our agenda, Frost added. We dont always know exactly where that will take us and its like walking in a fog but steps like these are taking us in the right direction.

The Ma Mawi Centre is the oldest Indigenous social services agency in Winnipeg, created in 1984 by Indigenous people in Winnipeg who sought to support and rebuild their families.

Ma Mawi brings together people affected by social issues and in Winnipeg that typically involves the child welfare system. Parents meet with child welfare officials to come up with a solution, working with Ma Mawi, to mediate the settlements. The agency then follows up with each family to ensure homes where children are returned remain safe.

The family group conferences have worked with 15 new families a year, managing to set a record of success with seven out of every 10 families safely reunited, every year for the last 15 years.

The provinces Families Minister said the agencys proven track record is the reason Manitoba backed the initiative.

This is a model where theyre showing evidence, upwards of 70 per cent, of children who have been able to be reunited with their parents, Fielding said. He predicted the new funding will expand the program to cover more families and save the province millions of dollars in child welfare costs.

Ma Mawi agency representative Sharon Redsky said the new funding broadens and deepens the core of a program that the Maori indigenous people of New Zealand entrusted the agency to adapt in Winnipeg.

The new funding will allow 105 new families to sign up for the conferencing, potentially helping 1,200 children in the process, Redsky said

This will mean children will spend less time in care and they will be able to return to their families. This is such an incredible program and it will be a great demonstration for other programs that will follow, Redsky said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Federal Tory Leader Andrew Scheer will stop in Winnipeg Wednesday to meet with his Conservative base as the party eyes Manitoba as key to winning the House of Commons in 2019.

The Free Press has learned Scheer has organized two closed-door events, but wont be speaking with media.

The Winnipeg visit comes in the midst of two important byelections for the party. Scheer spent Tuesday canvassing a Tory stronghold near Edmonton, and will spend the end of the week in Quebec, pushing back fierce competition from the Liberals and NDP in an area that voted blue for the past decade.

JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS The Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Andrew Scheer

The House of Commons is on a weeks break, which is prime time for Ottawa politicians to shore up support in key ridings. But Scheer was in Winnipeg just a month ago for the partys fall strategy session, suggesting it will be a Tory focus for the fall 2019 general election.

Its a busy week, and its significant hes taking some time to be back in Winnipeg, said spokesman Jake Enwright. Its a region thats incredibly important to us, he said, saying locals support lower government spending and firmer border policies.

Scheer will hold a roundtable with Winnipeg community groups and small businesses, aimed at highlighting the partys opposition to Liberal tax reforms, especially for multicultural entrepreneurs. Enwright said Scheer will also be hearing from them about what is top of mind for them and the city of Winnipeg.

Scheer will also attend a volunteer-appreciation event. But he wont be doing any media appearances, which Enwright blamed on time constraints.

Two federal cabinet ministers are already visiting Winnipeg this week.

Federal Energy Minister and Winnipeg South Centre MP Jim Carr made a green-tech announcement Tuesday, ahead of a two-day summit on the future of Canadas energy strategy. Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott visited Winnipeg Tuesday for two funding announcements, and tomorrow will attend the launch of a First Nations-run school board in Brokenhead.

Recently elected NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has said he plans to visit Manitoba, but has not yet announced a visit.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STONEWALL  Jody Ansell never had a Thanksgiving full of more thanks than last weekend after surviving the biggest mass shooting in United States history in Las Vegas.

You have no idea, you have no idea, Ansell stated emphatically when asked how it feels to be home.

Just breathing the Canadian air, being surrounded by my family. Its just so good to be back.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jody Ansell is now at home in Stonewall after being shot in the arm in Las Vegas.

Ansell was shot in the right arm just below the elbow on Oct. 1 while attending the third and last night of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas. A man sprayed gunfire into the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, across Las Vegas Boulevard.

The dit-dit-dit-dit of machine gun fire, as Ansell described it, continued unabated, except for brief intervals for reloading, for at least 10 minutes. She said it seemed more like 20 minutes.

The shooter killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500 others. Investigators continue to search for a motive explaining why the 64-year-old Nevada resident, who took his own life after the shooting, opened fire.

In an interview from her hospital bed in Las Vegas last week, Ansell told the Free Press some of what happened during the shooting. But she said Tuesday that doctors had her on morphine and she doesnt remember the interview.

There was a lot she left out.

Ansell and her friend Jan Lambourne, from Inwood, were standing and listening to what Ansell believes was the fourth song in the set list of country music star Jason Aldean.

They looked at each other in amazement when they heard what sounded like gunfire. Ansell has her hunter safety certificate, so she recognized the sound.

Then Lambourne, who was shot in the pelvis, dropped down and Ansell was shot through the arm.

I heard voices yelling to take cover. I was bleeding so bad. I ran a little ways to the tent area, it was a booth of some kind, and I ducked down behind a garbage can where there were two other people.

The dit-dit-dit-dit continued.

I had these big platform shoes on and I just thought to myself, Im going to take these shoes off and Im going to run.

She ran to a chain-link fence nearly two metres high and tried to scale it. She got to the top but couldnt quite get over and recalls screaming, Push me, push me. Ive been shot, when the fence collapsed from the weight of so many people trying to get over it.

I had no socks, no shoes, and I was running over what was a gravel parking lot, and my feet were so sore, and I kept running and running, and my legs were covered in blood, she said. She could still hear the gunfire.

She got past the parking lot to a paved road and tried to flag down help, but cars wouldnt stop. Finally, I just thought the next car Im going to stand in front and its either going to stop or run me down because I need help.

A car full of women stopped. They took her inside and one woman took off her own top to wrap Ansells wound. Ansell tried to get out her cell phone to call her husband but she was too weak and dropped it in the car and lost it.

I could still hear dit-dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit-dit. The guy was still shooting the whole time I was running away and in the car.

They came across a hangar where helicopter tours were boarded and Ansell asked them to drop her off. A nurse there named Christine and an army medic named Melissa dressed her wound, using two tourniquets, one high and one low, because the bleeding wouldnt stop.

After what felt like two hours, she was told an ambulance had finally arrived, but it turned out to be a pickup truck.

I still dont understand why, she said. She was taken away in the open back of the truck along with several others. She was traumatized and insisted the people duck down in case the shooting started again, even though considerable time had passed by then.

I was so scared of shots being fired, and of being in the open, and they all ducked down with me, and they drove me to the end of the road where there was a police officer. I just remember saying, are these windows (of the police cruiser) bulletproof? and the officer said, Dont worry, Jody. Were going to get you to the hospital.'

She was taken to St. Rose Siena Hospital; she has praise for the staff there and the treatment she received. Her husband travelled to Las Vegas after the shooting and they flew to Vancouver after she was discharged. They work for a pipeline company that sends them all over Canada, and their last eight-month stint has been in the West Coast city. Then they drove home to Stonewall, pulling a trailer with their belongings from their Vancouver rental.

She has reconnected with Lambourne, who is also back in Winnipeg and is still in hospital. They were able to meet in Las Vegas again after the shooting, and have been talking once or twice a day since.

Lambourne emailed from her hospital bed in Winnipeg to say that Ive been overwhelmed with (media) requests and all my body wants to do is sleep. Ive been sleeping most of the week.

Lambourne said she and her husband and son, who travelled to Las Vegas to be with her after the shooting, got back Saturday night.

I have a long recovery ahead but I said I was coming home and we did last night. My husband and son with me were flown by a AMR jet (AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines) back to Winnipeg where Im resting comfortably in a Winnipeg hospital. Just focusing on getting stronger and getting healed up. Made it home for Thanksgiving with my family Jan

Fortunately for Ansell, the bullet that struck her went straight through her arm  she has entry and exit wounds  and didnt hit any bones or leave shrapnel.

She said she has no idea when her life will feel normal again.

(The shooting) is replayed in my mind constantly  constantly  you have no idea, she said, adding it makes her feel anxious.

Being home definitely helps but its going to take a while. I have not left the house yet, and I got back Saturday. Its just the anxiety.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite legislative changes intended to make it easier for domestic-violence victims to ask the courts for urgent protection against alleged abusers, fewer than half of all protection-order applications are granted in Manitoba.

Courts approved only 44 per cent of protection-order applications this fiscal year  a slight increase from the previous year, but still in keeping with a longstanding trend in which the majority of victim applications are dismissed or withdrawn.

Manitoba Justice statistics show 864 orders were denied or withdrawn in 2016-17, while 684 were granted. Some of those granted may have been later challenged by the alleged abuser and set aside by the courts, but the department doesnt track how many of the approved orders were later overturned in any given year.

MIKE APORIUS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Three women who accused Manuel Ruiz of domestic violence and stalking behaviour were denied protection orders against him in 2001, 2006 and 2010. The 52-year-old Winnipeg firefighter and martial arts instructor is charged with sexual assault and drug offences that have raised questions about the abuse allegations in his past  a past from which women sought protection.

Manitobas domestic violence laws have changed since then, but as for whether protection orders are easier to get since the Domestic Violence and Stalking Act was updated last spring, that remains to be seen.

Anna Pazdzierski, executive director of Nova House womens shelter in Selkirk, said the legislation hasnt completely curbed a systemic problem.

I think the big issue, even with legislation, is that we have trouble getting the JJP (justices of the peace) who hear those orders to actually believe women. Thats the big issue, she said.

There hasnt been any recent research on domestic-violence protection orders in Manitoba, so its difficult to know whether the provinces updated domestic-violence laws have prompted real change, said law Prof. Karen Busby, director of the University of Manitobas Centre for Human Rights Research.

In some cases where domestic violence is alleged along with an ongoing family-court dispute, the protection order applicant will withdraw her request in favour of applying for a prevention order instead.

Prevention orders, unlike protection orders, are not imposed on an urgent basis, and the court will typically hear from both sides before deciding whether to grant one. They can last longer and have more conditions applied, as well. That could be why dismissed/withdrawn protection-order applications still make up the majority, Busby said.

That might explain it. Thats going to explain some cases. Does it explain a lot or most? I dont know, she said.

About 15 years ago, Busby joined researchers in Alberta and Saskatchewan to look at how the protection-order process differed across the Prairies. They found different legislation in each province made a big difference in the handling of domestic-violence complaints.

Applications for emergency orders under Manitobas broader Domestic Violence and Stalking Act were more widely used than in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the study found. Manitoba dealt with more protection order applications than the other provinces. Manitobans appeared to be more likely to apply for protection orders, and they were also more likely to be denied.

In Manitoba in 2002, 48.8 per cent of protection-order applications were granted, according to the study, published in Whats Law Got to Do With It?: the Law, Specialized Courts and Domestic Violence in Canada. In 2003, the number of granted orders dipped to 36 per cent. The percentage of granted applications in Alberta and Saskatchewan, meanwhile, hovered around 80 per cent to 85 per cent during that time. Despite the percentage gap, Manitoba issued more protection orders compared with the other Prairie provinces at the time of the study.

I think its been below 50 per cent for some time, in Manitoba, Busby said.

Protection orders are meant to prohibit an abuser from contacting or going near a victim in cases involving domestic violence or stalking, and the justice of the peace who hears from the complainant doesnt need to hear from the person who would be bound by the order before granting it. But before that happens, the complainants  usually women  have to go to court and explain why theyre in need of protection.

Its up to the justice of the peace to decide whether to impose the protection order. And in the wake of the homicides of two Winnipeg women who were each killed by their partners in October 2015, despite having sought protection orders  Selena Keeper was denied an order, while Camille Runke granted one  the province pledged to strengthen its domestic-violence laws and make the process easier for victims.

The changes included removing a requirement for complainants to be in imminent danger before a protection order could be granted, allowing a support person to accompany the complainant during the court hearing, strengthening rules requiring a person bound by a protection order to give up any firearms, and requiring justices of the peace to check the court registry for any legal records  including past requests for protection orders against an individual.

But Pazdzierski said despite the changes, women who dont get help from a protection order designate  someone like Pazdzierski, whos trained to help fill out the paperwork and prepare for the court hearing  likely wont be granted a protection order. She and other protection-order designates spend up to four hours preparing a protection-order application, and shes seen a pattern along the way.

Justices of the peace are more likely to grant protection orders in cases where the victims are crying or emotional instead of well-spoken, Pazdzierski said. They want to see that the victim fears for her life, and they want precise dates when the violence or stalking behaviours happened.

You need to be fearful that that person is going to hurt you, and you need to have experienced where hes hurt you before, and then you need to plead your case before this person who, we find, often would sooner take the side of the abuser than the victim, she said. If theres children involved, they often think a woman is only going for a protection order so that she can get custody of her children.

They just automatically seem to assume that women arent telling the truth, that theyre using the protection order for their own benefit.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
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This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dolly the deer isnt just an animal with a broken hoof.

The story of her hospital stay is the subject of a new kids book with a distinct focus on the importance of preserving Indigenous languages, one of the key recommendations from Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Childrens Hospital launched the book Nindooshkinagadenima My New Friend on Tuesday. More than 25 per cent of the kids admitted to the provinces childrens hospital are Indigenous and this is the first book of its kind written in any Indigenous language here.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Canadian childrens author and Illustrator Mike Parkhill at the unveiling of a new book he co-developed with Gerda Schell aimed at addressing common anxieties indigenous children have when visiting a hospital.

Children learn so easily and children need to understand their culture and its important for healing the past, said Dr. Celia Rodd, a specialist in endocrinology at the hospital.

Written in English and Cree, Okimaw-Cree and Ojibwa, the illustrated volume is designed to ease kids anxiety when they fly into the big city from remote regions.

It is also the latest addition to the hospitals READ literacy program, which provides reading material to more than 4,000 children every year and encourages parents to read to their children.

Childrens hospitals in Kitchener, Montreal and Halifax also circulate similar books but the one issued Tuesday in Winnipeg is considered the most ambitious of the group. Plans for the book in Manitoba include translating it into additional Indigenous languages.

The book was introduced publicly by Childrens Hospital Foundation president and CEO Lawrence Prout and Rick Frost, CEO of the Winnipeg Foundation, who mentioned the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of the projects inspiration.

A grant from the Winnipeg Foundation contributed to the cost of producing the book.

Donations from Winnipegs Schell family picked up the remaining costs. Family member Gerta Schell helped develop the storyline to introduce hospital procedures to children under the age of six.

About 4,000 copies will be distributed across pediatric health systems in Nunavut and Manitoba in the coming months.

The book is based on concept credited to late-New Brunswick Maliseet elder Veronica Atwin and illustrated by award-winning childrens author Mike Parkhill, a former Microsoft tech executive who works closely with Indigenous people in the Maritimes.

Parkhill worked with translators here, including Cree Cross Lake mother Marsha Blacksmith, who flew to Winnipeg for the launch.

Its important because it instils the identity back into our lives, to have that language to teach our children and to be able to guide them in their lives, Blacksmith said.

The book is also available in a digital format, with translation in Indigenous languages.
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This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Friday night, the stars of a documentary on how a Winnipeg area once called a slum was transformed into a good place to live gathered for its premiere, oblivious to a provincial government consultants report suggesting that privatization might be the solution to public housing problems.

Thats a bad idea, said one of the people featured in A Good Place to Live: Transforming Public Housing in Lord Selkirk Park.

Private companies are interested in making a profit, said Jim Silver, chairman of the department of urban and inner-city studies at the University of Winnipeg and a member of the Manitoba Research Alliance, which paid for the film.

What weve done in Lord Selkirk Park is invest in things that werent oriented towards making a profit but specifically tailored to the community, he said Friday before 200 community members gathered outdoors for a barbecue and to watch the 20-minute film for the first time under the stars.

Work on the documentary began long before Manitoba had a Progressive Conservative government eyeing major public spending cuts and privatizing services, Silver said.

We started on this when the former NDP government was still in office, he said. We made the film because we feel that this is quite a story. All across North America, public housing projects have been bulldozed. In 2005, we took a different approach: turn things around by listening to what the people want to do and encourage the provincial government to invest. It worked. Its still a low-income place but its become a much, much healthier, safer place than when we started. If it can work in Lord Selkirk Park, it can work anywhere.

The day the first family moved into Lord Selkirk Park on Dec. 14, 1967 was heralded in a Winnipeg Tribune story with the headline Shining housing project rises from a city slum.

Many shining public housing projects built in the 50s and 60s in Canada and the U.S. began deteriorating in the 80s and 90s and governments bulldozed many of them. In 2005, Lord Selkirk Park was still standing  but barely, Silver said in the film.

Some people were saying This place is a mess. We ought to bulldoze it.'

The public housing project was overrun with gangs, crime and vandalism. Windows were boarded up and broken beer bottles littered the area.

You didnt really want to be outside, longtime resident Rochelle Ross says in the film. You didnt want to get to know your neighbour. You didnt want to walk around.

Its indescribable, recalls Carolyn Young, director of the Manidoo Go-Miini Gonaan child care centre at the park. The houses looked terrible  they were boarded up. Ive seen Third World countries that lived better than they did here in the 90s and it wasnt an existence for a baby to live in, thats for sure.

Submitted Photo People attend the premiere Friday of A Good Place to Live: Transforming Public Housing in Lord Selkirk Park.

They referred to Lord Selkirk Park as the place of last resort to live: a war zone, Janice Goodman with the North End Renewal Corp. says in the 20-minute doc by Winnipeg filmmaker Ian Mauro. It was kind of the last place they wanted to be, but thats where they got placed.

Instead of bulldozing Lord Selkirk Park, the film shows how it received intensive care and nurturing and grew into a place that thrives today as a hub of education and hope for the community.

Many of its residents were offered skills training and jobs during the renovations. A family resource centre set up in one of the units held events such as community barbecues that brought the residents together. Calls from single moms who wanted to get off social assistance and get their Grade 12 led to the formation of an adult education centre and a literacy program.

Education is the key to having a chance to better themselves and to be positive role models for their children, Linda Smith, an instructor with the literacy program, says in the film.

Until three years ago, 100 per cent of the literacy program participants were Indigenous. Now, shes seeing more students for whom English is a second language, as more newcomers to Canada make Lord Selkirk Park home.

Nobody cares about your colour, your background, where you come from, says resident Amina Kasfa, a refugee who sees the Park as a place thats raising a generation not hung up on race or nationality.

Im from Uganda, the next door is Aboriginal. The other door is someone from Rwanda. The children play together. They dont see that theyre different. I like it. I love it. I wish everybody could get the same opportunity, Kasfa says.

Her children attend the day care, Manidoo Go-Miini Gonaan, where Healthy Child Manitoba introduced the Abecedarian Approach in 2012. The U.S.-based state-of-the-art early childhood education program has lower child-to-adult ratios, with learning built into the caregiving all day, every day  even a diaper change is an opportunity. That focus on education  from babies in diapers to seniors learning to read, to moms earning their high school diplomas  has kept Lord Selkirk Park on a positive trajectory, longtime residents say.

The public housing project is saving taxpayers money, too, said Silver, who believes that public housing is worth investing in when governments listen to and work with residents.

Submitted Photo Hamburgers are grilled at the premiere Friday of A Good Place to Live: Transforming Public Housing in Lord Selkirk Park.

Our education initiative has made everyone better off with fewer people going to prison and more people employed, he added. Silver thinks privatizing public housing would be a disaster.

Even hiring private management firms to run public housing would be a bad idea and a missed opportunity, he said.

That company is just going to collect the rent. Theres no incentive to make social investments to make these good places to live.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Winnipeg MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette has asked for House of Commons interpretation for Indigenous languages, putting his Liberal governments commitment to reconciliation to the test.

Its the right thing to do, Ouellette said.

Ouellette has spoken at least twice in the House in the Cree dialect of Nehiyo. Each time, his comments have been marked (Member spoke in Cree) in the Hansard transcript.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Robert-Falcon Ouellette

On June 8, Ouellete raised a point of privilege, arguing his rights as an MP have been violated because I could not be understood by my fellow parliamentarians and Canadians viewing the proceedings, thus negating the debate.

That month, the Speaker ruled that Ouellettes rights hadnt been violated, but wrote on Sept. 25 to the House procedure committee, suggesting it study the issue.

That committee is wading through issues ranging from political financing to a sexual-harassment code and hasnt yet decided whether it will debate providing Indigenous interpretation.

Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux sits on the committee as a non-voting member. He said hes open to having that debate. I think thats recognizing that Canada is a multicultural society; our founding First Nations are obviously important.

Lamoureux suggested MPs could provide written translations in advance. Im all in favour of us being able to use multiple languages; the issue then becomes, How do you provide translation services?

The idea is supported by Indigenous MPs such as Romeo Saganash, who recalled asking reluctant Commons clerks if he could speak in Cree right after his 2011 election.

Its part of reconciliation in this country, to acknowledge that there were languages spoken thousands of years before English or French was even heard on this part of the world.

Saganash, who represents northern Quebec for the NDP, said hes not running in the 2019 election. I want to leave that place with that assurance that no other Indigenous person has to fight for the right to speak their language in the House of Commons.

The Speaker has noted that the House of Commons might not have the physical space to include more interpreters, who must see people speaking to ensure they accurately capture what people are saying.

But Saganash pointed out that the House is undergoing a major renovation as soon as next year, which could provide more space for interpreters.

Both Ouellette and Saganash argue they have a right to speak their language under the Charters section on treaty rights. Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, a former regional chief, declined an interview request Tuesday and wouldnt say whether she agrees with that understanding.

Last December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged legislation to preserve Indigenous languages, which is expected next year.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools suggested calling for language laws, funding and college programs.

The House of Commons introduced simultaneous interpretation of both official languages in 1958, after MPs argued they had a right not just to speak, but to be understood.

In 2008, the Senate voted to introduce Inuktitut interpretation in Red Chamber debates and at two committees pertinent to Nunavut. The move came to accommodate two Inuk senators who speak English as a second language.

Typically, those senators give 48 hours notice that they plan to speak in Inuktitut and an interpreter is brought in to translate their remarks into English, which is then translated simultaneously in a separate booth into French. The Speaker or committee chair normally starts the proceedings by telling senators Inuktitut will be spoken and what language channel to tune their headsets.

Both senators had asked for full-time interpretation. A report suggested the idea could be broadened to include other Indigenous languages, but that hasnt happened yet.

Ouellette suggested the Senates approach could be a model for the House. But Saganash said hed be offended to have to request interpretation in advance.

My language has been spoken for 7,000 years; why should I be obliged to provide notice to one of the most democratic places in this country, that I want to speak my language? he said, bristling at the Speaker mentioning Indigenous languages alongside immigrant ones.

Indigenous languages have a rightful place constitutionally in this country, he said.

The Northwest Territories provides daily interpretation on a rotating basis for English, French and nine languages that are indigenous to the territory.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

House of Commons Speaker ruling and letter
The Popular Party (PP) government has stepped up its threats of carrying out brutal repression in Catalonia on the eve of todays potential unilateral declaration on independence by the Catalan parliament.

Yesterday, PP Secretary of Communication Pablo Casado compared the future fate of Catalan Premier Carles Puigdemont with that of Lluis Companys, president of the regional government of 1934 that declared independence. Exiled after the war, he was captured by the Gestapo in Paris and handed over to the fascist regime of Francisco Franco, who had him executed by firing squad in 1940.

We will prevent independence, we will take whatever measures are necessary, everything will be done without giving up any instrument of the Constitution or the Penal Code, said Casado. The Spanish government is promising a firm hand against secessionism. We shouldnt repeat the story because [Puigdemont] might just end up like Companys!

Journalist Anabel Diez from El Pais reacted immediately and asked Casado to confirm whether he was referring to 1934, when Companys was jailed for proclaiming the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic, or when he was executed in 1940.

The answer was ambiguous: I mean what for them [the separatists] is an epic datethe declaration of independencehad a response. I am neither a historian nor a futurist.

After the press conference, the PP was obliged to specify the answer and confirm that Casado was referring to the imprisonment of Companys.

This threat should be taken as a warning. In October 6, 1934, Companys proclaimed the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic amid a revolutionary struggle of workers and peasants throughout Spain, especially in Asturias, where workers fought the army for two weeks. It was sparked by the entry of fascist ministers into a conservative government, in the context of fascisms takeover of Germany, Italy and Austria.

The Catalan Republic lasted just 10 hours before it was violently repressed. The result was 46 dead, 3,000 imprisoned, the criminal conviction of Companys, Catalan self-government suspended indefinitely and the region put under military rule. Having crushed the Catalan secessionists and the Asturias commune, the government imposed savage repression throughout Spain, closing down newspapers and detaining thousands of workers and left-wing political leaders.

With these statements, Casado was making clear that the PP will not even accept a symbolic unilateral declaration on independence today, as some sources in Puigdemonts Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDdeCat) are suggesting.

Throughout yesterday, PP members continued their threats. The government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, said that national police and civil guards deployed in Catalonia are ready to halt a unilateral declaration of independence.

In an interview on radio station COPE, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria warned that the government will take all necessary measures, without ruling out Article 155 of the constitution if a unilateral declaration of independence is passed todaywith the objective of restoring law and democracy. Invoking Article 155 would suspend the Catalan government and impose direct rule from Madrid. Such a measure cannot be implemented without some sort of military deployment to back up the 12,000 to 16,000 police and civil guards in Catalonia.

Other options include invoking Article 116, which would impose a state of emergency in Catalonia and herald the deployment of the army and the suspension of basic democratic rightsincluding freedom of thought and expression, the right to strike, elections and the imposition of press censorship.

The Socialist Party (PSOE) also intervened yesterday. General Secretary Pedro Sanchez made clear he would support any measures taken by the PP. Sanchez said the PSOE will support the response of the government before the unilateral bankruptcy which threatens the coexistence between the Spaniards.

The fascistic atmosphere promoted by these political forces and the media, which is denigrating the Catalan separatists with every possible insult, has emboldened the far right.

A group of fascists in Valencia attacked a demonstration organised by the pseudo-left Catalan separatist group Candidatures of Popular Unity (CUP) and its youth wing Arran under the slogan independence is the only way. The protest was attacked by an unauthorised counter-demonstration led by the group Yomus that was allowed to go ahead. A number of people were injured, including a woman, a couple and a photojournalist from El Pais, after fascists armed with sticks and iron bars attacked.

Online videos show the studied indifference of the national police, glorified these days by the press for their repression in the referendum, to flagrant violence on the part of the fascists. The attack was recorded live on LaSexta.

Under conditions in which the ruling class, backed by the media, is preparing a massive crackdown in Catalonia, the pseudo-left has demonstrated its political bankruptcy. No tendency is seeking to mobilise workers in both Catalonia and Spain against the ruling class drive towards dictatorship. Not one is making an international appeal to the European working class, under conditions where the major imperialist powers have endorsed the PPs crackdown on the referendum.

Instead, the pseudo-left groups in their majority line up behind support for a unilateral declaration of independence, which is supported by just 42 percent of the Catalan population, and especially in support of the CUP. Yesterday, Benet Salellas of the CUP declared, We have won the referendum and this Tuesday we have to apply the results.

It would not be right to postpone the proclamation of the Catalan Republic, he added, in a message directed solely to the CUPs right-wing allies in PDeCAT, who have expressed their doubts about an immediate declaration of independence.

The umbrella Catalan National Assembly has called for a demonstration in front of the regional parliament. In a message to its followers under the title, Lets stand next to our institutions. Hello Republic, the ANC wrote, The people have spoken and said yes to independence now.

Podemos continues its role in disarming working-class opposition, despite rising worries that another civil war is on the horizon. Pablo Echenique, the partys secretary of organisation, said, We regret that the PSOE is joining the block [with the PP] these days.  If after what happens tomorrow we must mourn the injured, [PSOE] leader Pedro Sanchez must take responsibility for being the leader of a [political] force that supports a government that does not hesitate to use force against the civilian population.

Echenique added, in a remark worthy of Pontius Pilate, Hopefully tomorrow there is no unilateral declaration on independence and the PP does not apply 155 or 116.
The British government is in discussions with the Trump administration on its role in a military confrontation with North Korea. On Monday, the Daily Mail published an article that included detailed information on the British militarys plans to back the US military. The article cited Royal Navy, government and civil service sources.

The Mail said a war against Korea would involve Britain sending a fleet to the Korean peninsula, along similar lines as what Britain did in its war against Argentina in 1982. The Mail stated, One option involves deploying Britains new aircraft carrierdue to be handed over to the Navy later this yearto the region before she has undergone flight trials.

Under this scenario, the 3 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth, carrying 12 F-35B fighter jets, would join US warships off the Korean peninsula. The Queen Elizabeth carrier is currently involved in a sea trial around its Portsmouth base and not due to enter full service until 2020. However, the article noted that the ship will be commissioned at the end of this year. It continued, Navy sources said she could technically then be sent to war.

The article stated, In 1982, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was rushed into service early for the war with Argentina. The report cited a Navy source saying, In the Falklands we had to react to an event and HMS Illustrious was accelerated to respond. This was a reaction to protect British territory, however. In this case [North Korea], the UK would be part of a united global coalition. We would see what support we could give.

The newspaper also cited a senior Whitehall source, who said, We have plenty of ships to send the Type-45 destroyers, the Type-23 frigates. Britains new aircraft carrier could be pressed into service early if things turn south.

The information cited by the Mail was also reported in the Telegraph, the Daily Express, the Sun and the Metro.

The Mail article follows the belligerent speech made last week by UK Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon at the Conservative Partys annual conference. A substantial part of his speech dealt with the necessity to prepare for future armed conflict.

Fallon warned of an increased threat of Russian aggression, saying Moscow was engaged in the the highest level of submarine activity since the Cold War, with thousands of troops exercising on NATOs borders. He omitted to mention the now permanent stationing of troops on Russias western border by NATO, with the UK playing a central role.

He told the conference that Britain already had an armed forces presence in 25 countries, but what was immediately required was stepping up our response.

North Korea firing ballistic missiles over Japan was a threat to our security. On this basis, he said, From Asia Pacific, to the Middle East, to Europe we are deepening our defence ties with allies and partners. And we have no greater ally, Conference, than the United States.

He added, In [US] Defence Secretary Jim Mattis we have a true friend of our nation with whom I work closely on Russia, on North Korea, and on the campaign against Daesh [Islamic State].

Fallon declared that his government was renewing our nuclear deterrent, including building four Dreadnought class submarines. Britain already meets the NATO targetinsisted on by the USthat member states spend 2 percent of GDP on defence, he said, adding that Britain has the fifth biggest defence budget in the world. But we should aim to do better still.

In a further pointed reference to North Korea, Fallon said that the UK would deploy our ships, our planes, and, yes, our troops on the ground where we and our allies are asked to help.

The squandering of additional billions on military spending was also demanded by Sir Gerald Howarth, a defence minister in the previous government of David Cameron. At a fringe meeting on defence policy, which he chaired, Howarth said, Im alongside those who have left the Armed Forces who believe that the budget is inadequate  We need more ships, more men and we do need adequate supply. I think the budget has got to be increased.

Fallon told the same fringe meeting that after the disastrous military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, I dont think it follows from that we should say to ourselves we are never going to deploy combat troops ever again. I think that is far too sweeping and I think we need to be ready to prepare our public.

He continued, If you have this and you are asked to help in a specific situation where there arent those local forces, then there may be circumstances in which we should be ready to do so again. I do not think we should be squeamish about that.

On taking over as prime minister following the resignation of Cameron after last years Brexit referendum, Theresa May stated that she would be prepared to push the button on a nuclear strike that would kill 100,000 men, women and children. Fallon repeated the threat that his government was prepared to use nuclear weapons against North Korea or another adversary.

Attacking statements made by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that he would not a launch a first strike nuclear attack, Fallon said to applause, It is all very well Jeremy Corbyn saying he would never use nuclear weapons, but Manchester and London are closer to Pyongyang than Los Angeles. Being prepared, in the most extreme circumstances, to use nuclear weapons is what separates a prime minister from a pacifist.

Last month, the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies published a paper, Preparing for War in Korea. Authored by Malcolm Chalmers, it stated apocalyptically, During this first phase of the war, heavy casualtiesboth military and civilianwould be expected on both sides. Tensand perhaps hundredsof thousands would be killed by the end of the week, and many more wounded and traumatised. Large parts of both North Korea and South Korea would become scenes of carnage, with millions of refugees seeking shelter in areas spared from the initial destruction, and many of these attempting to flee to neighbouring countries.

The paper warns, If nuclear weapons were used, the damage could be much greater. A single nuclear weapon used on Seoul could lead to hundreds of thousands of additional fatalities within a week, and many more injured and sick.
An important aim of the new national defence policy Justin Trudeaus Liberal government announced last June is to integrate the countrys universities more fully into the ruling class aggressive and increasingly militarist foreign policy.

The 113-page defence policy document outlines policy changes to draw universities, individual academics, and promising graduate students into playing a more important role in developing high-tech armaments and formulating strategy and propaganda for the aggressive assertion of Canadian imperialisms interests and ambitions around the world.

The defence policy calls for a major rearmament program as well as the modernization of NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defence Command), in furtherance of the Canadian Armed Forces participation in ongoing and future US-led wars around the globe.

The real objective of the policy was made clear by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in early June when she said Canada must be ready to use hard power, i.e. wage war, to defend its interests under conditions of growing threats arising from the rise of China, Russian expansionism, and the collapse in popular support for the US-led world capitalist order.

The document commits the government to a $62 billion increase in military spending over the next two decades, including a 73 percent hike in the next 10 years, which will boost the annual defence budget from its current level of $18.9 billion to $32.7 billion in 2026-27. It includes plans for an additional 5,000 troops, the purchase of 88 fighter jets rather than the 65 proposed by the previous Conservative government, 15 new warships, the procurement of armed drones for surveillance and combat, and additional armoured and supply vehicles for the army. Canadas military will also develop a team of cybersecurity experts to conduct offensive cyber warfare.

The defence policy argues that in all these initiatives the Canadian Armed Forces must collaborate more closely with the academic community. In other words, the Canadian ruling class wants to transform universities into research laboratories for the military, including in the development of new high-tech armaments, cyberwar software, aerospace technologies, and electronic and photographic surveillance.

The government is also seeking to use universities as think tanks and propaganda departments for Canadian imperialism. It aims to use them more explicitly and systematically to recruit and train academics who can assist in developing Canadas geostrategic-military policy and promoting an aggressive foreign policy, including by providing humanitarian and social justice pretexts for imperialist war. In this regard, it is important to note that Canadian academics, politicians and retired officers including Michael Ignatieff, Lloyd and Tom Axworthy, General Romeo Dallaire, and Jennifer Welsh played an important role in fashioning and popularizing the so-called Responsibility to Protect doctrine that the US and Canada have repeatedly invoked to justify imperialist regime-change wars.

The latest effort by the Canadian bourgeoisie to cloak its predatory ambitions in progressive garb is a defence policy pledge, which will no doubt find favour among the well-paid purveyors of identity politics on campuses across the country, to significantly increase the percentage of women and visible minorities serving in the armed forces.

An explicit aim of the new defence policy is to draw top-level students into Canadian military-strategic/foreign policy circles. The policy statement calls for developing collaborative networks of academic and analytic communities, so as to be able to broaden the diversity of the pool of experts that we can draw upon.

As part of its increased military budget, the CAF will dedicate $4.5 million per year in a revamped and expanded defence engagement program. According to the document, this money will be used to develop networks of researchers and experts, a new scholarship program for graduate students and post-Doctoral fellows as well as the expansion of an existing expert-briefing program.

The defence policy statement also announced the launching of a new program called Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEAS), which will see $1.6 billion invested over the next 20 years to develop new cooperative partnerships with the private sector, universities, and academics. Fields of research for these new clusters will include surveillance, cyber tools for defence, space, alternative fuels, remotely-piloted systems, data analytics, and counter-improvised explosive device solutions.

The Liberals defence policy exposes the fraudulent character of Prime Minister Trudeaus anti-war posturing during the 2015 election campaign. In fact, his government has expanded Canadas involvement in Washingtons military-strategic offensives in the Middle East as well as against Russia and China.

While the Liberals are intent on expanding the Canadian bourgeoisies economic and military partnership with the US, the crisis of American capitalism is also pushing them to strive for a larger role for Canada in world affairs and this is a key aim of the new defence policy. One of the major points Foreign Minister Freeland made in her June speech is that Canada must set its own clear and sovereign course and this requires that it expand its capacities to intervene militarily in conflicts around the globe.

Longstanding collaboration between universities and the military

The new defence policy notes that the Canadian Armed Forces has worked with academia for many years and that continuing to do so will deepen the Governments understanding of global threats and the complexity of modern conflict.

It commits the Defence Ministry to working more closely with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the ministry in charge of Canadas economic policy, including financing university science research aimed at fostering a competitive, knowledge-based economy.

Mechanisms are already well established for merging universities with the imperialist agenda of the Canadian bourgeoisie. Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), an agency of Canadas Department of National Defence (DND), explains on its website that it provides the DND, the Canadian Armed Forces and other government departments as well as the public safety and national security communities, the knowledge and technological advantage needed to defend and protect Canadas interests at home and abroad.

DRDC also claims that Universities can generate knowledge, provide access to resources and develop highly-qualified personnel in support of the (militarys) Science & Technology investment in defence and security; and it stipulates that the required science and technology should be accessed directly from industry and academic institutions in areas where DRDC cannot or should not be the source of supply and where legal, security or sovereignty issues are not impediments.

The ties between the military, private companies and academia have expanded rapidly over the past decade. An anti-militarist group called De-militarize McGill, active at Montreals McGill University, exposed that one of Canadas principal research universities has increasingly become the site of a wide range of military research projects, for both the Canadian military and the US Air Force. It reported that between 2011 and 2014, McGill received more than $1 million in defence contracts from Canadas Department of National Defence.

The student organisation revealed through documents gained from access-to-information requests that some McGill professors led research aimed at developing software for guided missiles and for drones to be used in urban warfare. Other researchers were involved in developing lethal thermobaric explosives and tools for surveilling social media, profiling real-world communities, and influencing and controlling social movements that might destabilize governments.

In 2016, De-militarize McGill showed that McGill professor and director of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Laboratory, Wagdi Habashi, used the CFD lab to develop military software that was then sold to aerospace companies via his own private company, Newmerical Technologies International. The lab is funded in large part by aerospace manufacturers Bombardier, CAE, and Bell Helicopter Textron, all of which have close ties to the Canadian and US militaries.

The CFD software, called FENSAP-ICE, is used to optimize the design of drones and to develop discrete anti-icing systems. As Habashi noted in a 2009 paper, UAV (drone) missions during the NATO war in Afghanistan were marked by unforeseen mid-level icing encounters. FENSAP-ICE sought to provide a new form of ice protection. Habashis company also sold software to Lockheed Martin in the early 2000s for use in the development of the F-35 fighter jet.

Many more such examples were exposed by De-militarize McGill, and it is not hard to imagine that military-oriented research, often conducted without public scrutiny, is widespread across Canadian universities.

The arms industry is a major player in Canada. A governmental study published in 2014 showed that the Canadian defence industry had annual sales of almost $10 billion in goods and services, produced by close to 640 firms. The industry boasts that it accounts for some 63,000 jobs spread throughout Canada and contributes $6.7 billion to GDP. This has increased in recent years and continuing expansion is a specific defence policy goal. According to IHS Janes, the defence industry publisher that tracks military spending, Canada ranked sixth overall among all arms-exporting countries in 2016 and became the second biggest arms-seller to the Middle East after the United States.

Since the Second World War, Canadas armaments industry has been deeply integrated into the American military machine. With the 1956 Defence Industry Productivity Sharing Agreement, the defence sector became the first industry to achieve a form of Canada-US free trade, giving Canadian arms manufacturers duty-free access to the US market.

The growing military involvement of Canadas academic institutions should be vigorously opposed by students and youth. Universities and colleges should be institutions where science and knowledge are taught and research and experimentation encouraged with the aim of elevating the intellectual and cultural level of the populationnot tied to the military and to private enterprises dedicated to enabling an aggressive, militarist foreign policy in pursuit of profits, resources and strategic advantages for Canadian big business.

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Canada to hike military spending by 70 percent over next decade

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[8 June 2017]

Human rights propaganda in support of imperialist war

[18 May 2017]
In comments that underscore the advanced US preparations for war with North Korea, Defence Secretary James Mattis declared yesterday that the armed forces had to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ if needed.

Mattiss remarks to the Association of the US Army Exposition on Building Readiness directly echoed President Trumps instruction last Thursday to a meeting of his top military and intelligence chiefs, including Mattis. I also expect you to provide me with a broad range of military options, when needed, at a much faster pace, Trump stated.

The defence secretary yesterday emphasised that the US army must stand ready. He pointedly urged his military audience to read T.R. Fehrenbachs This Kind of Wara history of the bloody US-led Korean War of 195053to make clear that the army could well be flung into another devastating conflict in the near future.

In a chilling indication of what is being planned and what would be required of the army, Mattis quoted Fehrenbach: You may fly over a nation forever, you may bomb it, atomise it, pulverise it and wipe it clean of life. But if you desire to defend it... you must do this on the ground the way the Roman legions did: by putting your young men in the mud.

Speaking to the media at the same military gathering, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley declared that the military was ready to act, warning that time was short. Its not an indefinite amount of time. And there will be a decision made, there is no question about it, he said.

Like Mattis, Milley warned of what lay in store in a war on North Korea: There are no good, easy, risk-free options here. This is extraordinarily difficult, extraordinarily dangerous. No one should underestimate it.

In his comments, Mattis maintained that the White House is engaged in a diplomatically-led, economically sanction-buttressed effort to try to turn North Korea off this path [towards war].

President Trump, however, has repeatedly and openly dismissed efforts to start talks with North Korea, declaring just last week that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was wasting his time in putting out feelers for negotiations with Pyongyang.

Yesterday, Trump echoed his threatening tweet on Saturday that only one thing will work with North Koreanamely, a war of total destruction. On Monday, he tweeted: Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didnt work?

Trumps crude, ignorant and menacing threats evoke no significant opposition or criticism in the compliant American and international media, which once again serves as a propaganda arm for war, through its incessant demonisation of the Pyongyang regime. The real threat to the world is not North Korea and its limited nuclear arsenal, but US imperialism, which is on the brink of launching a war that could drag in all of the major nuclear-armed powers.

Over the past 25 years, successive US governments have pursued a policy of undisguised hostility towards Pyongyang and have never negotiated in good faith. In 1994, President Clinton was on the brink of launching an all-out war against North Korea. He only pulled back at the last moment when his generals made clear that there would be tens of thousands of US military casualties and nearly half a million South Korean military casualties in the first three months of a war.

The Clinton administration never carried out the terms of the hastily reached 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea, which was rapidly overturned by the incoming Bush administration. Bush himself only negotiated the 2007 denuclearisation agreement with Pyongyang because the American military was bogged down in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He effectively sabotaged the deal by unilaterally demanding a new, more intrusive inspection regime. Obama never attempted to resurrect talks.

Trumps declaration that only one thing will work in dealing with North Korea makes clear that nothing short of Pyongyangs complete capitulation to Washingtons demands will halt the US drive to war.

The imminence of a war in North East Asia with incalculable consequences is generating tensions within Washington, including within the White House, as well as in capitals around the world.

Concerned about the danger of a broader conflict and the potential for an eruption of anti-war opposition, Mattis and Tillerson have both stressed the need to exhaust diplomatic avenues, while backing the so-called military option.

Other longstanding establishment figures, none of whom are fundamentally opposed to a war on North Korea, have voiced similar concerns.

On CNN yesterday, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper suggested that Trump should cool his statements, which North Korea could easily construe... as a declaration or at least a threat of war. He warned that Trumps bellicose rhetoric only heightened the danger that Pyongyang would respond.

Speaking to an International Bar Association conference in Sydney on Monday, former US Defence Secretary Robert Gates stated that a pre-emptive US strike on North Korea would be a big mistake that risked triggering a devastating war. At what point do the tweets become provocative and create a situation in which any incident could lead to a much broader conflict? he asked.

In the wake of Trumps belligerent tweets, Russia and China yesterday called on all sides to pull back. Kremlin spokesman Dmity Peskov appealed for all parties to exercise restraint and to avoid steps that would only worsen the situation. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying described the situation as extremely complex and serious. While both countries have opposed North Koreas nuclear programs, neither wants a major war on its doorstep.

At the same time, the US and its allies are preparing for conflict. South Koreas Hankyoreh reported last week that the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan would be joining South Korean warships in mid-October for high intensity joint exercises. The Australian navy is reportedly sending two navy frigates to South Korea later this month to participate in a week of military exercises.

In Britain, the Daily Mail reported that British officials are drawing up war plans that could involve the dispatch of the navys new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, and other warships to a US war in North East Asia.
The first order of the day is the need to defend the Catalan masses against the repression of the Spanish state and forge the greatest possible unity between Catalan and Spanish workers to defend democratic rights and oppose the danger of military rule. It is necessary to warn workers across Spain that the October 1 crackdown in Catalonia was a dress rehearsal for a move to military dictatorship in all of Spain. It has been supported by the governments of all the major imperialist powers in Europe and in North America because they are also preparing mass repression and police state rule.

The Catalan crisis is exposing the reactionary role of Frances Pabloite New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) and its allies in Spain, the Anticapitalistas. As Madrid prepares to send the army into Catalonia and impose a state of emergency across Spain, the NPA promotes the Catalan regional governments bankrupt policy of appealing to the European bourgeoisie to support its bid to establish a separate capitalist state. It tells the workers and youth of Catalonia and Spain to place their trust in moral appeals to the European ruling elites.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) condemns the military repression, demands the removal of all Spanish troops and civil guards, and opposes any attempt by Madrid to forcibly hold Catalonia within Spain. This does not, however, imply support for the policies or the program of the Catalan separatists.

The NPA, on the other hand, dismisses the danger of civil war and the Spanish medias whipping up of fascistic Spanish nationalism, all but welcoming an army crackdown as a boon to their perspective of building an independent capitalist state in Catalonia.

In a statement, Let us support the struggle of the Catalan people, the NPA and its international affiliates claim the October 1 referendum struck a blow against the regime that emerged in the 1978 Transition from Francisco Francos fascist regime to parliamentary democracy. They hail the referendum, which produced an 89 percent vote for separation, but on the basis of a voter turnout of just 42 percent, for having led the 1978 regime to a major political defeat in Catalonia.

Now, they write, Spains king, the ruling Popular Party (PP), the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the media have begun a campaign of slander, lies and smearing of the Catalan popular movement. They continue: One should take this into account; it is a factor of indoctrination of the popular classes of the Spanish State (and of the European Union) to set them against the Catalan people and to cow them with the excuse of the unity of the Spanish nation. The objective of this power bloc is to justify in the eyes of the people of the Spanish State, and at an international level, new and greater repressive measures...

The NPAs analysis, dismissing the Spanish and European working class as indoctrinated by fascism, is pessimistic and demoralized. Mass opposition exists in the working class to the PP, which, like the PSOE, has been discredited by decades of imperialist war and social austerity, which have economically devastated Spain. The PP was able to form a minority government only after a nearly year-long crisis in 2016, after elections repeatedly led to a hung parliament.

The NPAs premise that workers in Spain and across Europe are virtual fascists is a horrific political lie. Objective conditions are ripe for uniting workers in Spain and across Europe in struggle against social inequality, militarism and the attacks on democratic rights being carried out by European imperialism.

The NPA and other petty-bourgeois parties such as Podemos in Spain bear enormous political responsibility for blocking such a development and strengthening, by default, right-wing forces. While Podemos encourages Spanish workers and youth to hope that the PP will have a change of heart and negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Catalan nationalists, the NPA and its allies encourage them to back the Catalan nationalists.

The NPA views the state repression as politically useful insofar as it might push broader layers of the Catalan population, who are currently alienated by the Catalan nationalists right-wing and anti-worker policies, to support the separatists. The NPA writes, A faltering institutional rupture has begun, which is sure to radicalize under the blows of state repression.

Hoping this repression will horrify governments worldwide and convince them to change course, they ask readers to pressure their respective states to recognize the act of sovereignty that is taking place and recognize an eventual proclamation of the Catalan Republic or Declaration of Independence.

This is identical to the line of the Catalan government. It is a complacent and false assessment of the situation that can only disarm the workers and youth, with potentially devastating consequences. In repeated statements of the European Union (EU) Commission and the governments of Germany, Britain and France endorsing Rajoy as the leader of Spain after the October 1 police crackdown, the European bourgeoisie has made clear it is giving a blank check to the PP. As Spanish Guardia Civil and soldiers deploy in Catalonia and neighbouring regions, a crackdown is being prepared.

The October 1 referendum has not dealt a revolutionary blow to the crumbling post-Transition regime in Spain. Indeed, it was called by political forcesthe Catalan nationalist parties and their petty-bourgeois supporters, such as the Candidatures of Popular Unity (CUP)which are an integral part of that regime. They have long held power in the Catalan regional government, pursuing austerity against the workers in line with the entire EU, particularly since the 2008 Wall Street crash.

Far from having been dealt a decisive defeat, the Spanish army is poised to intervene against Catalonia with EU support, as Madrid whips up a fascistic atmosphere inside Spain. The media are denouncing Catalonia and promoting far-right protests in cities across Spain, where protesters are singing Francoite songs like the Hymn to the Legion and Cara al Sol. The political establishment is actively discussing imposing a state of emergency and suspending democratic rights in Spain.

There is deep, historically-rooted opposition in the working class in Spain and across Europe to a return to fascistic and authoritarian forms of rule. However, this opposition can only be mobilised independently of and in revolutionary opposition to the entire European ruling class, including the corrupt forces that have held power in Catalonia and across Spain. As the ICFI has explained, this entails first and foremost a struggle for the unity of the Catalan and Spanish workers on a socialist and internationalist perspective.

The NPA and its allies, which speak for a layer of the affluent middle class in Europe that emerged from the post-1968 student movement, propose a different, pro-capitalist perspective. Dismissing the Spanish and European working class as indoctrinated by fascism, they try to convince Catalans to fight for an independent capitalist state by making moral appeals to the conscience of European imperialism.

This Catalan nationalist program can only aid the Spanish and European bourgeoisie in dividing the working class and weakening its opposition to state repression and authoritarian rule.

Moral appeals to the EU will obtain nothing. Over the course of the quarter century since the Stalinist bureaucracys dissolution of the Soviet Union removed a major counterweight to imperialist wars and the impoverishment of the working class, the ruling class has shown time and again that it is completely indifferent to human suffering. Imperialist wars from Iraq and Syria to Libya have claimed millions of lives and turned tens of millions of people into refugees. And deep EU austerity has ravaged the European working class, particularly since 2008.

The other EU powers will not stop Rajoy, because they are preparing similar policies at home. The crackdown in Catalonia, the legitimisation of Francoism and the turn to military rule in Spain are part of a crisis of capitalism and a turn towards authoritarian forms of rule across Europe. France is installing a permanent state of emergency in order to impose anti-worker labour reforms; after the German elections last month, a fascistic party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), will have seats in the German parliament for the first time since World War II and the end of the Nazi regime.

This enormous social and economic crisis is tearing apart the political foundations of capitalist Europe. The epoch of imperialism and war, Lenin remarked during World War I, obliterates the difference between the democratic-republican and the reactionary-monarchist imperialist bourgeoisie precisely because they are both rotting alive. What is occurring in Spain, amid historic attacks on democratic rights across Europe, is the elimination of the remaining differences between the post-Transition regime in Spain and the Franco regime from which it emerged.

Amid this deep crisis, the NPA and its allies have consistently intervened to try to tie workers and youth to pro-capitalist forces, including far-right parties. In the wars in Libya and Syria, they insisted that European governments should arm insurgencies dominated by Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militias in order to effect regime-change. In 2014, they called to build a Left Sector within the Ukrainian fascist Right Sector, thus backing the spearhead of NATOs toppling of the pro-Russian government in Ukraine.

The Pabloites Catalan nationalism and indifference to the threat of military-fascist repression in Catalonia and Spain is of a piece with this reactionary international policy. By their own account, the demand for separation served to build up a petty-bourgeois movement supporting austerity and attacks on the working class.

Since 2008, the Catalan bourgeois and petty-bourgeois nationalists have engaged in bitter budget battles with the Spanish central government, as the administrations in Barcelona and in Madrid both worked to slash jobs and social spending and enrich the banks and the financial aristocracy.

The Catalan nationalists led anti-worker regional governments in Barcelona, imposing austerity and smashing strikes of train drivers and airport workers. As forces like the Anticapitalistas and the IAC trade union blocked the building of a political movement in the working class, Puigdemont and his allies were able to fill the resulting political vacuum by whipping up Catalan nationalism against Madrid. The goal was to prevent the emergence of an independent political movement of the workers.

This was pursued as a deliberate strategy, in which the NPA and its Catalan affiliates participated. The current Catalan councillor in charge of business, Santi Vila, remarked in a meeting of politicians and businessmen that if Catalonia had not put forward a discourse based on nationalism, how would it have weathered adjustments of over 6 billion?

The Anticapitalistas leadership itself states that the independence movement is a pro-austerity movement of the middle class, hostile to the interests of the working class and including significant sections of the political rightand nevertheless supports it. In his article, Catalans decision, Josep Maria Antentas writes that although it was not directed against austerity, the independence movement was able to benefit from discontent with the economic situation and offered a concrete proposalindependence from Spainas a way out of the current situation.

That is, the demand for Catalan independence from Spain served to give a radical gloss to the Barcelona regime as it pursued policies broadly in line with EU austerity across the continent. This meant that the Catalan nationalists and petty-bourgeois nationalist parties like the CUP found little support in the working classa fact that the Anticapitalistas also admit.

Antentas writes, The independence movement cuts across class and generational lines, but the middle classes and young people dominate it. The high bourgeoisie has opposed the independence process from the beginning and consistently attempted from behind the scenes to derail it. The traditional working classhistorically, immigrants who came to Catalonia from southern Spain in the 1960shas been less involved. Workers in Catalonia remain divided on independence, and a significant part of them do not view an independent state as a future horizon.

The longstanding indifference and opposition in the working class to the perspective of building an independent Catalan state, Antentas adds, is bound up with the influence of openly right-wing forces inside the independence movement. He writes, A paradox of the independence movement is that the dominant political force since it began has been the Catalan nationalist right, Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya (CDC).

The character of the Catalan nationalist parties, which are hostile to the working class and virtually indistinguishable in their policies from other pro-austerity and pro-war governments across Europe, confirms the ICFIs call for a no vote in the October 1 referendum. Handing power to such forces to form a Catalan state would do nothing for Catalan workers except divide them from their class brothers and sisters in the rest of Spain.

The task of struggling against the Catalan nationalists belongs to the workers. However reactionary their policies, the task of opposing them cannot be left to the efforts of the PP government, its fascistic allies, the PSOE and the bayonets of the Spanish army to impose an enforced unity of Spain.

In the face of the growing danger of an army crackdown in Catalonia, the struggle against the danger of civil war and authoritarian rule can be waged only as a revolutionary struggle of the working class against the capitalist state, the bourgeois parties and their petty-bourgeois pseudo-left allies.
Newly released footage of an August 13 police killing shows that Salt Lake City, Utah police officers killed Patrick Harmon, 50, as he was running away. The bodycam footage was released on October 4, concurrent with a decision by Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill that the shooting was justified and no charge would be brought against the officers.

Harmon, whose last known address was a homeless shelter, was pulled over by Salt Lake City police officer Kris Smith for allegedly riding his bicycle across several lanes of traffic and missing a required red rear tail light.

Police Kill Patrick Harmon

Smith learned that Harmon had an arrest warrant on record, and called for backup. The bodycam footage shows that Harmon, who appeared distraught, was surrounded by three officers as he was being arrested. The three arresting officers are white; Harmon was black.

Before he was handcuffed, Harmon attempted to flee. As Harmon ran away, one officer shouted, Ill fucking shoot you! Officer Clinton Fox then shot Harmon, hitting him three times. Another officer fired his Taser simultaneously.

Harmon, who was handcuffed on the ground and given first aid, was pronounced dead at an area hospital shortly after the shooting.

Fox later claimed that Harmon was armed with a knife after he attempted to flee, although it is difficult to determine from the footage if he was indeed armed. Investigators released a photo of a knife on the ground purportedly wielded by Harmon in his final moments.

However, other claims by the officers have already unraveled. Fox was interviewed by investigators on August 22over a week after the police killingand told them that Mr. Harmon stopped running, turned and yelled: Ill fucking stab you, as summarized in the report. However, bodycam footage shows that Harmon did not stop running.

Moreover, while Harmon was turning his upper body to look behind him as he fled, he did not stop or reverse direction, nor is there any indication in the video that he was preparing to run toward or attack the officers. Finally, the claim that Harmon yelled that he would stab an officer is entirely contradicted by the video, which clearly indicates that an officer, presumably Fox himself, shouted an obscene threat to shoot Harmon right before the shooting occurred.

The other two officers on the scene, Smith and Scott Robinson, were both interviewed the day after the killing. The DA report did not describe either Smith or Robinson claiming that Harmon had stopped.

The DA report however accepts the officers claims that Mr. Harmon threatened to stab or cut the officers as they tried to arrest him as good coin, and concludes that Foxs use of deadly force was justified under Utah State law.

Accordingly, the report continues, the District Attorneys Office declines to file criminal charges and prosecute or otherwise pursue matters against Officer Fox.

Harmons family has opposed the police/prosecutor account of his killing. They just murdered him flat out, Harmons niece Alisha Shaw told the Guardian. They are lying. There is no way they were threatened by anything. He was only trying to get away.

Adriane Harmon, another niece of Patrick Harmon, said after viewing the bodycam video: He was scared. All he did was run. It hurts.  They said Im going to kill you and they shot him three times. Hes just moaning on the ground.

Antoinette Harmon, Patrick Harmons sister, said that she had not seen her brother since the funeral of one of their siblings several years prior, and that he was potentially struggling with mental illness.

She said that the family had grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, and later moved to Utah. She and other family members moved back to St. Louis, but apparently Patrick Harmon remained in Utah. In Utah, she said, the family often experienced racism.

Jacque Pace-Fivas, a family friend, told the press: Patrick had many wonderful qualities, and he also had his demons. He was a person who was tormented by the constant pull between those two sides. At his core, he was a good man.

Pace-Fivas noted that Harmon had issues with drugs, but was trying to avoid them and get a job helping people who are struggling with drug problems. He had difficulty finding work and housing due to prior convictions.

Demonstrators gathered outside of the Public Safety Building, which serves as police headquarters, Sunday to protest Harmons death. They chanted Black Lives Matter, Fire Officer Fox, and Shame on Sim Gill, according to local media.

Protest organizer Lex Scott, who is affiliated with Black Lives Matter and a civil rights organization called United Front, called for replacing Gill as DA if he would not hold police accountable.

Even before the DA report concluding that Harmons killing was justifiable, Harmons family had joined protests after driving from St. Louis to pick up his body.

The Guardian notes, Salt Lake City has previously received national praise for its de-escalation training, aimed at encouraging officers to communicate with people and limit confrontation and use of lethal force. Despite the de-escalation program and body cameras, Harmon was still gunned down over an incident that began with him allegedly riding his bicycle dangerously.
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Amid the allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, Nathan Lane said Weinstein threw him against a wall at Hillary Clintons birthday party. During an interview at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night, Lane recalled firing back, You cant hurt me, I dont have a film career.

Amid the allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, Broadway funnyman Nathan Lane recounted an incident where the producer attacked him at Hillary Clintons birthday party in 2000.

The Birdcage star was the emcee at the event thrown by the 65-year-old mogul, a longtime supporter of the Clintons, and Weinstein blew up at the actor for telling a comb-over joke about Rudy Giuliani, reports Page Six.

This is my fking show, we dont need you, Weinstein reportedly said to Lane, tossing the actor against a wall.

During an interview at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night, Lane recalled firing back, You cant hurt me, I dont have a film career.

On Thursday, The New York Times published an article in which eight women, including actress Ashley Judd, spoke out against Weinstein, accusing him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.

Weinstein responded to the allegations in the report, saying he was working with a therapist to address his issues head-on. I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it, he said. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.

Weinsteins then-attorney Lisa Bloom said in a statement that her client denies many of the accusations as patently false, though Weinstein said that he bear[s] responsibility for my actions in an interview to The New York Post on Friday. Another lawyer for Weinstein, Charles Harder, said the mogul has plans to sue the New York Times. (Bloom announced she was resigning from advising Weinstein on Saturday afternoon.)

Similar allegations have continued to pour in, including from British aristocrat Liza Campbell, who claimed the producer invited her to join him in the bath at a hotel room, while Lauren Sivan told the Huffington Post that Weinstein allegedly masturbated in front of her.

After previously announcing the mogul would take an indefinite leave of absence, the Weinstein Company announced that Weinstein was removed from the company on Sunday.

In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company  Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar  have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately, the Weinstein Company said in a statement.
Harvey Weinstein is heard admitting to groping model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in audio obtained from an NYPD sting operation, and published by the New Yorker on Tuesday.

The tape is part of a larger bombshell expose. Ronan Farrow spent 10 months interviewing 13 women who reported they were harassed or assaulted by Weinstein. The explosive report alleges the embattled mogul raped three women, including actress Asia Argento.

The tape was published after Gutierrezs 2015 criminal charge was investigated, then dropped, by the NYPD. Gutierrez went public with her claims that the mogul had touched her breasts and put his hand up her skirt without her consent. Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr. ultimately decided not to press charges, which a police source tells was a mistake.

We had the evidence, the source told the New Yorker, with the author noting that if convicted of assault, Weinstein could have faced jail time.

In the tape, Gutierrez is heard asking Weinstein, Why yesterday you touch my breast?

Weinstein responds, Oh, please, Im sorry, just come on in, Im used to that. Come in, please.

She replies, Youre used to that?

Yes, come in, he says.

Gutierrez says, No, but Im not used to that.

To which Weinstein pleads, I wont do it again, come on, sit here. Sit here for a minute, please?

Hear the full tape, recorded by the NYPD, and published by the New Yorker, below:

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Dame Judi Dench, one of Harvey Weinsteins most esteemed recurring collaborators, is speaking out on recent accusations of sexual misconduct against the film distribution mogul.

In a statement provided to EW, the Oscar-winning actress remarks: Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out.

The pairs working relationship took off in 1997, when Weinsteins former studio, Miramax, released the period drama Mrs. Brown, for which Dench received her first of seven total Oscar nominations to date. She would later go on to win the Academy Award for her supporting turn in Miramaxs Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love, further working with the movie titans eponymous company, The Weinstein Company, for the theatrical runs of 2005s Mrs. Henderson Presents and 2013s Philomena.

Well, it is true that Mrs. Brown was made for television, Dench previously told EW while promoting her latest release, Victoria and Abdul. And then came Harvey. It was he who saw it and said, This is a movie. Quite suddenly it kicked off a whole movie career for me. I had done very few films before that.

Over the years, Dench has also joked about having Weinsteins name tattooed on her buttocks, a rumor that has circulated for years following an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

I once said to him, I have your named tattooed on my bum. He laughed and was, well, quite embarrassed, actually. Its quite difficult to embarrass Harvey, but I did! she told the publication. And then, we went out to lunch, to the Four Seasons. Charlie Rose was there and I think my agent was there. Beforehand, I got my makeup lady to actually write Harveys name. [laughs] Then I brought it up at lunch and said, You know, I do have it on my bum  and then I actually got up and showed him! Ive never seen a man more embarrassed and Ive never let him forget it. [laughs] Perhaps I should have it done and really shock him!

Weinstein himself has relayed that claim as well, but Dench wouldnt confirm whether the tattoo was real or not earlier this year. Well, well, yes that is a fact that only Harvey and I know, she told EW. Youll have to trust Harvey about that.

Via an Oct. 5 New York Times expose, news broke that Weinstein had a three-decade history of harassment allegations throughout his career. A slew of Hollywood celebrities have spoken out against Weinstein in recent days, and he was formally ousted Sunday from his post at The Weinstein Company by its board of directors. In a statement to the Times, Weinstein apologized for the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past, before quoting Jay-Zs album 4:44, communicating his intentions to to learn about myself and conquer my demons.
More than four months after sparking nationwide outrage for posing with a replica of President Donald Trumps bloodied, decapitated head in her hand, Kathy Griffin has returned to stand-up  wearing none other than a Trump mask.

The 56-year-old comedian  who, in the wake of the scandal, was fired from CNNs New Years Eve broadcast, which she had co-hosted with Anderson Cooper for 10 years  made her bold return to comedy Sunday night at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, taking the stage wearing a mask of the presidents face, though this one free of blood and gore.

She discarded the mask within seconds and tossed it on the floor.

Hello gays! Its me, Kathy Griffin, a genuine comedy fugitive, she proclaimed to the audience. Can you handle it?

Making first public appearance, @kathygriffin takes stage at LA drag show wearing @realDonaldTrump mask, waving middle fingers in air. #BIDS pic.twitter.com/55QHdifqwP  Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) October 9, 2017

According to THR, the events judges included Dylan McDermott, Selma Blair, Holland Taylor and Marc Cherry, and additional celebrity guests such as Debbie Allen filled the audience.

Griffin didnt focus her set on Trump, instead choosing to skewer Harvey Weinstein, Billy Bush and the many deplorables who she said sent her death threats and hate mail after the photo went viral in May.

Would you like to hear my consolation note from none other than Billy fing Bush? she asked.

And then he [writes], Whats happening here is that theres no time for debate. Action goes straight into consequence, and then he goes in parentheses, Even an off-the-cuff conversation 12 years ago  she continued. Billy Bush is trying to be nice; I get it. I dont want to be in your club.

Story continues

Griffin then took aim at Weinstein, who was recently removed from his powerhouse film studio amid allegations of decades of sexual misconduct. (Weinstein responded to the accusations with a statement announcing hes working with a therapist to address his issues head-on: I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it, he said. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.)

Weinsteins then-attorney, Lisa Bloom, said in a statement last week that he denies many of the accusations as patently false.

The Weinstein thing is just fing unbelievable, but Im not afraid to say anything because I dont appear in movies ever and no one will ever put me in one, Griffin said. That guy seems to be whats called a rapist. Im using it as a broad term. Theres a lot of them, and they are everywhere. So its time we started to fing look out for each other because this s has been going on for way too long.

While making light of death threats, @kathygriffin addresses Harvey Weinstein story; uses word rapist, says theyre everywhere in Hwood pic.twitter.com/ll6DOvC2Cc  Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) October 9, 2017

Griffin ended her set with an anecdote involving her former CNN colleague Cooper, reading a vicious and profanity-filled letter a man sent them both, slamming him for not supporting Griffin throughout the controversy. (Griffin has since revealed she ended her nearly two decade-long friendship with Cooper after he publicly condemned her for the beheading photo.)

Im going to leave you with a cup of gay tea...and it involves @andersoncooper. @kathygriffin reads letter they both received. ?? pic.twitter.com/VxqETeiKXO  Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) October 9, 2017

I know people have the cellphones out, and this is going to be on Breitbart and the Daily Caller, she said. I dont care, because I fing love you guys. What we all fing need is to fing talk to each other and laugh.

In an in-depth interview with New York magazines The Cut in August, Griffin said shes tired of apologizing for the severed-head photo.

Why are people still expecting me to apologize and grovel to a man that tweets like this? she said. Im a comedian; hes our fing president.

President Trump just pardoned Joe Arpaio, who was essentially running a concentration camp in the Arizona desert, she added. He said there are some good Nazis, and hes kicking out young adults who were brought here as kids by their parents, and Im the one who has to continue to apologize?
Last month, according to authorities, a 15-year-old girl escaped from a weeks-long captivity after being abducted near her home and then physically and sexually assaulted while held against her will.

Last week, the 65-year-old Minnesota farmer who came to the frightened teens aid during her escape accepted a $7,000 reward in the case  and then promptly gave it to the girl, whom police say he called the real hero.

Its the best thing Ive ever done, Earl Melchert said in an interview with the New York Times.

He was presented on Friday with a check for the reward money  which included $2,000 from the girls family  after which he went to dinner with them, according to the Times.

What a retirement present, he said, to hand over some money to people that really need it.

The family needs the money, he explained. To me, yeah, thats a lot of money, but they need it way worse than I do.

Melchert, who has retired since he found the escaped girl running across a field on his property in Alexandria, Minnesota, reportedly said he wasnt even supposed to be home that afternoon, on Sept. 5, but had returned from work to retrieve a gas can.

As he prepared to head back, he spotted something moving in his field about a half-mile away. I thought at first it was a deer, Melchert, whom PEOPLE could not reach on Monday, told the Times.

But he soon realized it was no animal  it was the 15-year-old girl who had vanished on Aug. 8 from her Alexandria home.

I could make out her face, and I went, Oh my gosh, this is the gal from Alexandria thats been gone for 29 days,  Melchert told the paper. Itd been on the news, itd been online. It went national. It was on posters, in stores, her face, her picture. Right away, I recognized her.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Earl Melchert (left) and Alexandria Police Chief Richard Wyffels

Melchert called authorities and the teen told them she had been abducted several weeks earlier. She then led detectives to her alleged captors: Thomas Barker, 32, Steven Powers, 20, and 31-year-old Joshua Holby.

Story continues

All three have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and assault. They are being held without bail. They have not yet entered pleas or retained attorneys who could comment on their behalf.

The girl told police that shed escaped from an abandoned house, near Melcherts property, where the three suspects allegedly kept her for the previous few days.

When they went to buy some food, she made her escape, she said. After knocking on the doors of several homes and not getting any responses, she swam across a lake to Melcherts land.

Police said in a previous statement that, according to a preliminary investigation, the teen was approached by Barker, whom she knew, outside her home around 11 p.m. on Aug. 8 on the pretense that he needed help with a situation.

She offered to assist and entered Barkers vehicle, police said.

At that point, Barker allegedly drove her to his home, where he restrained her with zip ties, repeatedly assaulted her and threatened her with weapons, police said.

Barker and Holby were roommates, according to investigators, who suspect Holby also took part in the assaults, as did Mr. Powers, who arrived at the home about [two] weeks following the abduction.

The assaults happened regularly over several weeks, police allege.

During her captivity, the girl was also taken from Barkers residence to various locations including a cornfield and a foreclosed property in Grant County, police said.

 PEOPLEs special edition True Crime Stories: 35 Real Cases That Inspired the Show Law & Order is on sale now.

From left: Thomas Barker, Joshua Holby and Steven Powers

The teen told police she spent much of her captivity locked in a closet.

Alexandria Police Chief Richard Wyffels called her amazing and a young lady with a lot of strength, according to the Times.

In a Facebook post after Melchert received his reward on Friday, Wyffels wrote:

What no one expected was the kindness and generosity that came straight from Earls heart today. He believes that young lady that came running towards him that September day is the real hero and without hesitation, Earl handed the reward over to her, followed by a big hug.

Thank you Earl, it is people like you that make this world a better place.
Designer Donna Karan defended Harvey Weinstein by suggesting women may be asking for it

While many Hollywood figures have spoken out against Harvey Weinstein, Donna Karan is defending the movie mogul amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

When asked to address the allegations leveled against Weinstein, 65, according to a video interview on the Daily Mail, the designer, 69, said women may be asking for it.

You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble, Karan said at the CineFashion Film Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Late Monday, the designer said in a statement to PEOPLE that her comments had been taken out of context and she was truly sorry to anyone she offended.

Related article: The Harvey Weinstein scandal: All of the Hollywood figures who have spoken out against movie mogul

Initially during the red carpet interview with the Daily Mail, the designer talked about injustice women faced around the world before defending her movie mogul friend.

I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified, she told the reporter. Certainly in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, its been a hard time for women. To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show?

Karan, who is friends with Weinsteins wife and Marchesa co-founder Georgina Chapman, also said, Harvey has done some amazing things, adding Weinstein and Chapman are wonderful people.

When asked if Weinstein was busted following The New York Time expose, Karan responded in the video, I dont think its only Harvey Weinstein.

Story continues

Donna Karan you are a DEPLORABLE Aiding and abetting is a moral crime. You are scum in a fancy dress pic.twitter.com/Vze7lnpdvj  rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017

Related article: Celebs react to sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein: This can not be tolerated

With her comments sparking outrage on Monday night, the DKNY later spoke out saying she did not mean to offend.

Last night, I was honored at the Cinemoi Fashion Film Awards in Hollywood and while answering a question on the red carpet I made a statement that unfortunately is not representative of how I feel or what I believe, she said in a statement. I have spent my life championing women. My life has been dedicated to dressing and addressing the needs of women, empowering them and promoting equal rights. My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein. I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual. I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.

One of those who was offended by her comments was Rose McGowan, who reportedly reached a settlement with Weinstein after an alleged inappropriate incident.

McGowan  who previously branded Weinstein a monster  was shocked at Karans comments.

Donna Karan you are a DEPLORABLE Aiding and abetting is a moral crime. You are scum in a fancy dress, McGowan tweeted.

While celebrity chef and CNN star Anthony Bourdain also came out against Karans comments.

To @dkny How many seventeen year olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, asking for it? Bourdain also shared, along with a DKNY ad.

To @dkny How many seventeen year olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, "asking for it "? https://t.co/oYyO9tfFKz pic.twitter.com/Fck0h5m13R  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 10, 2017

Related article: Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie allege they were sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein  and Brad Pitt threatened him

The Weinstein scandal comes after the NYT reported Thursday that eight women, including actress Ashley Judd, came forward to accuse the film mogul of sexual misconduct. Following the allegations, the Oscar-winning film producer was removed from his powerhouse film studio The Weinstein Company.

I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go, Weinstein said, adding that he was working with therapists and planned to take time off to deal with this issue head-on.

According to the NYT, Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women, including McGowan. In their claims, they allege that Weinstein behaved inappropriately during work meetings.

This article originally appeared in People.com
Right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is insisting the Las Vegas shooter could not have acted alone, sharing a video that he claims shows a second attackereven though law enforcement officials are rejecting the claim.

The InfoWars host has put forward several different conspiracy theories since the deadly mass shooting, including suggesting that shooter Stephen Paddock was a member of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), and that he was a militant leftist who was against President Donald Trump.

In a video shared on Monday, Jones suggests footage of the massacre shows a gun was being fired from the fourth floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, despite there being no verification for the claim and authorities dismissing the idea there was a second shooter.

In the footage, Jones also interviewed someone who claimed to be a former neighbor of Paddock and suggested the body police found in the hotel room was not the shooter and that it was a set-up.

Why would an alleged Trump supporter open fire on a country music festival that is largely made up of Trumps base? the Jones video asked.

Could Stephen Paddock, the lone Vegas shooter, have been a patsy to kick off the lefts war with the right in the streets of America and to simultaneously roll in the Rapiscan naked body scanners that profit former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, George Soros and a handful of lobbyists connected to the management of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino? the conspiracy theory video added.

Responding to claims in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy that there had been a second shooter in the attack that left 58 people dead, Assistant Sheriff Todd Fasulo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told The New York Times last week: I want to emphasize we believe Paddock is solely responsible for this heinous act. We are aware of the rumors outside of the media and also on social media that there was more than one assailant.

Story continues

He added: We have no information or evidence to support that theory or that rumor. We believe there was only one shooter and that was Stephen Paddock.

Jones last week said he had spoken with a high-ranking CIA official he refused to name, stating: Theyre saying clearly hes Antifa. Clearly, its the M.O., to trigger a helter-skelter revolution.

All I know is, theyre trying to blame gun owners when it was patriots that got targeted. Theyre making their move. The Democrats have said theyre going to have a huge uprising in October, November. Its here, he added.

Jones, who has a history of claiming high-profile tragedies are not real, asserting the Sandy Hook massacre and 9/11 were fake news and an inside job, respectively, is not alone in struggling to accept the Las Vegas attack was carried out by a white, Christian man whose motive has not been determined.

A number of conservative pundits and conspiracy theorists, including Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren and right wing conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, have suggested there is information about the shooter that has not yet been revealed to the public.

The alleged ISIS connection, which was initially played up by right-wing commentators, has been dismissed by the FBI, and Senator Richard M. Burr, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, also said the attack "doesn't seem to have a terrorism nexus."

Police have so far followed more than 1,000 leads and have as yet failed to find a motive behind the attack. This has not stopped Jones from insisting InfoWars is the most accurate media operation so far in reporting on the tragedy.

Related Articles
Algiers (AFP) - Ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who rarely appears in public, received Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday, the APS news agency reported.

Russian and Algerian state media published pictures of the meeting, which was closed to other news outlets.

Bouteflika, who is 80 and has held office since 1999, suffered a mini-stroke in 2013 that affected his speech and mobility.

He has since used a wheelchair and is occasionally featured in state media receiving foreign dignitaries.

In September, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro paid a 24-hour visit to Algeria without officially meeting Bouteflika, despite intense speculation that he would do so.

Before Medvedev, the last senior foreign visitor officially received by Bouteflika was his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso, on March 28 in Algiers.

Critics have questioned Bouteflika's ability to govern since his stroke, but the president's inner circle has insisted he has fully exercised his powers.
(WASHINGTON)  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a veteran California Democrat, said Monday that shes running for another term.

The 84-year-old took to Twitter to declare that Im all in.

I am running for re-election to the Senate. Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to health care, Feinstein said.

She would be running for her fifth full term. She joined the Senate in 1992 after winning a special election. She had a serious challenge in 1994 from wealthy GOP Rep. Michael Huffington but has cruised since.

On Sunday, Feinstein told NBCs Meet the Press that Im ready for a good fight. Ive got things to fight for.

Before coming to the Senate, Feinstein was a two-term mayor of San Francisco

Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, where she has focused, often in futility, on gun control issues and immigration. She is also a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, a post that has enabled her to tend to Californias needs, and the intelligence panel.

She is an environmentalist but worked with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to broker an agreement on divisive Central Valley water issues that was opposed by former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Feinstein, who had a pacemaker implanted in January, is the oldest senator in a chamber where its not uncommon for people to serve into their 80s.
Barely a week after Austria's controversial "burqa ban" took effect, a man has been arrested under it for wearing a full-body shark costume, Austrian media reported on Monday. When confronted by police, the manwho was dressed up to promote a new McShark electronics storerefused to remove his shark head, after which he was fined 150 euros.

"I'm just doing my job," the mascot told police, according to local paper Heute.

Related: We are not better than the Taliban if we ban the burqa

An advertising agency called the Warda Network was responsible for the promotion. "I did not know that the law is so far that mascots are affected," said Eugen Prosquill, the agency's managing director.

Mascots are affected, though, as is anyone wearing any sort of mask, apparently. Austria's burqa ban is different from that of other European nations. For fear of being labeled as discriminatory, the nation did not prohibit burqas, specifically. Instead, it banned everyone in the country from covering their faces. This has created widespread confusion, and local paper Osterreich reports that those who reported the man in the shark costume as violating the law were likely doing so to prove a point.

This isn't the first time the new law has been questionably enforced. Although none of them have been fined, several bikers have been pulled over for covering their faces with scarves. The Warda Network has said that it will not appeal the fine given to its sidewalk shark, but police said that the charges will likely be dropped.

As Europe began to take in Muslim migrants in 2016, several nations have called for and subsequently instituted bans on "full veil" coverings. "The full veil is not appropriate here," German Prime Minister Angela Merkel said last year. "It should be banned wherever it's legally possible."

German parliament went on to pass a partial burqa ban in April. "Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries lie of our tolerance towards other cultures," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. "The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that."

Story continues

Not only does Austria's banwhich was protested across the country and even by its own presidentprevent anyone from covering their face, it requires all new migrants to attend classes to learn to speak German and understand Austrian culture. Though the face-covering restriction has resulted in problems thus far, Austrians need not to worry about getting slapped with a ticket at the end of the month: Police have said that anyone dressing up for Halloween will be exempt.

Related Articles
(WASHINGTON)  Sen. Bob Corker is hardly the only Republican lambasting Donald Trump and raising dark concerns about harm the president might cause the U.S. and the world.

Hes just the only one whos sounding off in public.

With his Twitter broadsides and his explosive New York Times interview  he charged that Trump could set the nation on the path to World War III  Corker gave voice to concerns that circulate widely on Capitol Hill about an unpredictable president whose tendency to personalize every issue creates risks for the nation.

But Trumps enduring popularity with a segment of the GOP base serves as a political muzzle that keeps most elected Republicans from saying anything similar, even those who believe it to be true.

The few Republican senators who did provide public views on Monday aligned themselves with Trump, not Corker.

For example, Montanas Steve Daines office said simply that the senator has confidence in the president.

GOP Sen. John Barrasso disagrees with Corker, according to his office. Referring to Barrasso and Trump, the Wyoming senators office said, On tax cuts, border security, and rebuilding American infrastructure, they fight the same fight.

Barrasso is among the establishment Republicans who face potential primary challenges from pro-Trump activists on the right, heightening the political dangers if they should break with the president.

The Associated Press sought to contact all 52 Republican senators on Monday for their response to Corkers comments and ask whether they believe Trump is fit for office, a question Corker declined to answer in the Times interview. With the Senate on recess this week and many offices closed for Columbus Day, the inquiries elicited few responses, and those who did largely declined comment.

Corker offered no solution to the problem he identified so graphically. Trump is the president, and few doubt that he will remain so, despite constitutional provisions for impeachment or for the vice president to take over if the commander in chief cannot discharge his duties,

Story continues

Moreover, Republicans political fortunes remain tied to the presidents. They need his signature if they are to rescue a flagging agenda and pass a tax overhaul, a goal many believe is imperative if the GOP is to retain control of Congress in next years midterm elections. So unlike Corker, who recently announced he is not running for re-election in Tennessee, even GOP Trump critics will continue to mute their concerns about his behavior and try to work with the administration.

Sen. Corker, whos been a strong supporter of the president in the past, is essentially saying the emperor has no clothes, said Michael Steel, who served as spokesman to former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

But, Steel added, The president was elected under our constitutional system and thats where we stand. Congressional leaders are going to continue concentrating on doing everything they can to get big things done for the American people, and they hope to have as much support from the administration as possible.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the target of Trump attacks after the Senates failure to pass health care legislation, didnt directly answer when asked at an event in Hazard, Kentucky, whether he shared Corkers sentiments.

Sen. Corker is a valuable member of the Senate Republican caucus and hes also on the Budget Committee and a particularly important player as we move to the floor on the budget next week, McConnell said.

His comments underscored what has frustrated Republicans most about the Trump-Corker feud, which burst open Sunday when Trump began tweeting, inaccurately, that Corker had begged for his endorsement and decided not to run for re-election when Trump turned him down. Trump will need Corker if he is to get big tax changes through the Senate, where the narrow GOP majority thwarted McConnells efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And Corker also figures to be a key player if Trump moves as expected to unwind the Iran nuclear deal.

Republicans do frequently complain about Trumps attacks on fellow Republicans like McConnell, his failure to stay focused on his legislative agenda and his tendency to make demands on Congress and then blame lawmakers for poor results. But those GOP comments are nothing like Corkers apocalyptic statements.

The senators who vocally criticize the president understandably get an outsized amount of media attention but are not representative of how the caucus overall wants to approach Trump, said Alex Conant, formerly a top adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. There are Republican senators who truly believe the president is great.

For House Republicans, who face voters every two years and largely represent conservative districts where support for the president remains strong, theres even less incentive to turn against the commander in chief. Sixty-eight percent of Republican voters approve of Trump, though thats down from 80 percent in March, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, criticized Corker, saying he finds those type of comments to not be appropriate especially coming from the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and certainly not in keeping with what I know of the way that things are conducted in the West Wing, having been there multiple times.

Its really easy to be bold when youre not coming back, Meadows added of Corker.
Step aside Rick and Morty watchers, the "real" Rick and Morty fans once again have no chill.

After a Season 3 episode in which Rick goes to excessive lengthshaving a multidimensional battle with all the other Ricks which leads the show to fold over itselfjust to get some throwback Szechuan dipping sauce from McDonald's, the fast food chain decided to take seemingly harmless advantage of the opportunity. But it led to complete chaos.

For one day, this past Saturday, McDonald's brought back the sauce. Unfortunately, they miscalculated the demand and the ravenous, immature nature of the fandom.

Fans waited in lines for so long, sometimes even crossing the border into Canada to get their precious sauce, that when it was no longer available, they freaked tf out.

See below where a bunch of jerks harass fast food employees over a sauce promotion inspired by a cartoon.

SEE ALSO: McDonald's relents to rabid 'Rick and Morty' fans, promises more Szechuan sauce

Here at the San Jose Mcdonalds. This is our reaction to the shortage of #szechuansauce #giveusthesauce #rickandmorty pic.twitter.com/sIGaUZKDKj  Kevin Alberi (@Chauncey_Boy) October 7, 2017

But wait, there's more.

Fans who were able to get a hold of the sauce after waiting in line for hours are now taking pictures of it to sell online.

So you can't buy the actual sauce, but for $10, you can have a framed photo of it. Of sauce.

God help us.

Image: ebay

If you want a real sauce packet, well, that'll cost you up to $300. And then you just have a packet of $300 McDonald's Szechuan sauce lying around, waiting for that special day. Rabid fans, if you're reading this, don't make the same mistake I did when Lisa Frank was closing down.

Story continues

Meanwhile, the co-creators of the show are distancing themselves from the incident, making it clear that they and Adult Swim had nothing to do with the promotion, and didn't like the way fans were reacting.

FYI: We had nothing to do with this McDonald's stuff. Not happy w/how this was handled. Please be cool to the employees it's not their fault  Justin Roiland (@JustinRoiland) October 8, 2017

McDonald's was surprisingly apologetic of the shortage, announcing that they would do another promotion for a longer period of time so they don't sell out. If the harassment and angry chanting workers received (which sometimes led to getting the police involved) was worth it, good for them I guess?

But if I were them, I would bury it all under the rug quick so the Rick and Morty groupies can go back to their homes to stay in and watch Rick and Morty. Let this be a lesson to Shoney's.

In the meantime, I'm just thankful I wasn't craving one of those delicious McDonald's hash browns on Saturday.

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Asian-American activists in California are hoping for another big win on the immigration front following Gov. Jerry Browns signing of the sanctuary state bill last Thursday.

Nonprofits are pushing for two of the states immigration bills that they say would expand protections and services for the immigrant community. The bills are part of a legislative package that includes the sanctuary state bill SB54, which will significantly limit the ways in which state and local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Now, Asian-American organizations are calling on the community to focus on advocating for the remainder of the bundle. Andrew Medina, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-CAs (AAAJ-CA) policy manager, told HuffPost that this is particularly important in light the administrations string of attempted crackdowns on legal and illegal immigration.

In an era where Trump is trying to roll back voting rights, bolster his ruthless deportation machine, and scapegoat the Muslim community and other vulnerable communities - California needs to be a leader in the nation in providing these services and protections, Medina, whose organization sponsored several bills in the package, told HuffPost.

Currently, Asian-American nonprofits are awaiting news on the legislative packages AB 918, which would guarantee language access to voters. Theyre also hoping for the signing of SB31, aimed at preventing the federal government from compiling a registry based on religious affiliation, national origin, or ethnicity. Both bills would have great significance to the Asian-American and immigrant communities, Medina said.

The minority group has the countrys highest rate of limited English proficiency (LEP), defined as individuals who have limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English, at 35 percent. And California has one of the highest concentrations of LEP individuals. However, not all of its LEP voters are getting the help they need at the ballots.

Story continues

Most bilingual voters are covered under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which stipulates that localities that possess enough members of a certain foreign language group over a threshold are required to provide language assistance to those voters. But as Medina pointed out to HuffPost, this still leaves a huge chunk of Asian-Americans as well as Latino voters unaccounted for. Thats more than 530,000 constituents who live in precincts without proper language assistance.

Though itd create some cost for the state, AB 918 could greatly bolster voter turnout in the Asian-American community, Medina says. Success has been seen in areas with greater language assistance. In fact, after San Diego County boosted its language services, it saw a more than 20 percent increase in voter registration among Filipino Americans. And Vietnamese American registration surged by 40 percent.

As for SB31, Asian-Americans can attest to how registries based on religion or ethnicity can be used to harm an entire group of peoples civil liberties. After all, theyve been through it.

We only need to look to the history of Japanese internment to see how programs that scapegoat a certain community is a blight to our democracy, Medina points out.

Whats more, such registries have not shown success in protecting the U.S. The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a Bush-era program for registering non-citizen visa holders, overwhelmingly targeted those from Muslim-majority countries. While NSEERS was intended to highlight the vulnerabilities of our immigration system and provide a vital line of defense in the war against terrorism, as then-Attorney General John Ashcroft said, the results show otherwise. The program monitored more than 80,000 registrants and placed more than 13,000 in deportation proceedings, a report from Penn State Law indicated. But it failed to result in a single known terrorism conviction.

History has demonstrated that registries based on religious affiliation and national origin are not effective law enforcement or anti-terrorism tools, Medina said, underscoring the importance of SB31.

Medina added that following President Donald Trumps travel ban and the cancellation of DACA, among several other policy moves, hes observed a heightened level of fear in the Asian-American community. With California being a majority-minority state, the bills would serve as a way to protect its at-risk populations, he said.

While we have made many strides in this legislative session establishing protections, resisting harmful Trump policies, and advancing services, there is still more work to be done to ensure that our most vulnerable populations can succeed.

The governor has until Oct. 15th to act on the pending legislation.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By Colin Packham CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia is trying to move asylum seekers held in one of its two remote Pacific detention centres to the second camp, a notice seen by Reuters shows, as Canberra seeks a way to close one down. Men held on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island can move to the centre on the tiny island nation of Nauru if they have been awarded refugee status and are being considered for U.S. resettlement, the letter posted in the camp and seen by Reuters shows. "Refugees in the United States process can now apply for transfer to Nauru," the letter read. The Manus camp only holds men. The letter marks Australia's latest attempt to empty the Manus centre, which is scheduled to close on Oct. 31. Under Canberra's hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia are sent for processing at the Manus and Nauru camps. They are told they will never be settled in Australia. More than 20 men left to be resettled in the United States last month, the first part of a refugee swap between the Washington and Canberra which U.S. President Donald Trump has branded a "dumb deal". But nearly 800 remain in the Manus camp and nearly all are refusing to move to a nearby transit centre, citing fears for their safety. [nL4N1M05PI] "The refugees have not left the detention centre despite the government's efforts to push them out in the past few months," said Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish journalist held on Manus. Many have been awarded refugee status and are eligible for U.S resettlement under the deal Australia secured with former U.S. president Barack Obama late last year. The United States will resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held on PNG and Nauru. In exchange, Australia agreed to take several dozen Central American refugees. Australia will begin resettling several dozen Central American refugees within weeks. Any transfer will further strain conditions on Nauru, where more than 1,200 men, women and children have been for four years in a camp widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups for abuses, including sexual abuse, and self-harming. (Editing by Nick Macfie)
Sydney (AFP) - Seven politicians embroiled in a dual citizenship crisis faced Australia's highest court Tuesday in the first of three days of hearings that could upend the government's one-seat parliamentary majority.

The lawmakers, from different parties, had their cases referred to the High Court after falling afoul of a previously obscure constitutional rule that bars dual citizens from sitting in parliament.

The most critical case involves Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, whose potential ouster from parliament could jeopardise Malcolm Turnbull's coalition government.

Joyce, the leader of the rural-based National Party, is Australian-born but found out in August that he had automatically acquired New Zealand citizenship through his father.

His deputy and upper house Senator Fiona Nash, fellow Nationals Senator Matt Canavan and four other senators from minor parties are also caught up in the controversy.

Solicitor-General Stephen Donoghue is arguing that the cases involving foreign-born politicians -- One Nation's Malcolm Roberts (India) and the Greens' Scott Ludlam (New Zealand) -- should be treated differently from those who inherited foreign nationality by descent.

Donoghue, who is leading the government's case, told the full bench in Canberra that Roberts and Ludlam fell into the category of those who had knowledge of their status as dual citizens but "shut their eyes to it", Fairfax Media reported.

The other five, all born in Australia except Greens Senator Larissa Waters who left Canada as a baby, had not breached the constitution as they were unaware of their overseas citizenship, he added.

Joyce has since formally renounced his New Zealand citizenship.

If the court disqualifies him from parliament, he would have to recontest his seat in a by-election, extending the political uncertainty for the government.

The dual citizenship rule was originally inserted into the 1901 constitution to ensure parliamentarians were loyal solely to Australia.

However, critics say it is out of step with the country's modern reality, where 50 percent of the population are either foreign-born or the children of immigrants.
A pair of House lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday to ban bump stocks, the devices that allowed the Las Vegas mass killer to fire semi-automatic assault rifles nearly as fast as machine guns.

The bill, authored by Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), would prohibit the manufacture, possession, or transfer of bump stocks and similar devices, such as trigger cranks that simulate automatic gunfire. The Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, used 12 firearms retrofitted with bump stocks when he killed 58 people on Oct. 1  the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

For the first time in decades, there is growing bipartisan consensus for sensible gun policy, a polarizing issue that has deeply divided Republicans and Democrats, Curbelo said in a statement. This common-sense legislation will ban devices that blatantly circumvent already existing law without restricting Second Amendment rights.

The bill is one of several offered in the wake of the shooting. Last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced her own legislation aiming to ban bump stocks. The Curbelo-Moulton measures, however, is the only bill that has bipartisan support with 20 initial co-sponsors, nine of which are Republicans.

House Republican co-sponsors include Peter King (N.Y.), Leonard Lance (N.J.), Patrick Meehan (Pa.), Ed Royce (Calif.), Chris Smith (N.J.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.), Ryan Costello (Pa.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.).

Still, any attempt at gun legislation would face tough odds in a Republican-controlled Congress. Notably, the list of GOP co-sponsors to the Curbelo-Moulton legislation includes mostly moderates and no representatives from the South.

Moreover, its not clear what method GOP leaders in Congress and the White House prefer to address bump stocks. Democrats have said they prefer congressional action. The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun rights advocacy group, on the other hand, has said bump stocks should be subject to additional regulations  suggesting it favored administrative action over legislation.

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The NRA also encouraged Congress to pass a concealed carry reciprocity bill, which would significantly loosen gun restrictions by requiring states to recognize concealed-carry gun permits from all other states. Such a provision, if tacked onto a measure like the Curbelo-Moulton bill, would likely lose Democratic support.

Also on HuffPost

Candles are lit during a vigil held at Las Vegas City Hall.

A crowd starts to gather for the vigil.

Mourners place candles and flowers down on the ground during the vigil.

A crowd gathers together for a candlelight vigil held on the north end of the Las Vegas strip.

Mourners attend a candlelight vigil at the corner of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

A vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims.

People attend a candlelight vigil at the University of Las Vegas student union.

People hold up candles during a vigil on the Las Vegas strip.

People attend a candlelight vigil at the University of Las Vegas student union.

People pray together during a vigil at Guardian Angel Cathedral.

Candles make up a large vigil on the Las Vegas Strip.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Erik Prince, who founded a private military contractor that has faced lawsuits for shootings and other misconduct in Iraq, is considering challenging a Republican Senator from Wyoming in a primary next year, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Steve Bannon, U.S. President Donald Trump's former chief strategist, had urged Prince to run for the seat now held by John Barrasso, an ally of Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as part of an effort to shake up Republican leadership, the paper said. Prince, a former Navy SEAL and the brother of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, founded the company formerly known as Blackwater. Some of its guards had been convicted of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007, an incident that outraged Iraqis and inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment around the world. Prince has told DeVos that he would like to run against Barrasso, a person with knowledge of the conversation told the Times, and he traveled this weekend to Wyoming to investigate how to attain residency. Efforts by Reuters to reach Prince and DeVos for comment were unsuccessful. North Carolina-based Blackwater was sold and renamed several times after the Baghdad incident. It is now called Academi and is based in northern Virginia. Prince later co-founded FSG, a separate logistics, security and insurance provider. A company spokesman had no comment on the Times report. (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Trump blasts chair of Senate foreign relations committee over Iran and endorsement begging as Corker warns Trumps threats risk global conflict

Senator Bob Corker speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Donald Trumps fractious relationship with the Republican establishment reached a bizarre new level on Sunday when Senator Bob Corker described the White House as an adult day care center and warned that the president risked setting the US on the path to World War III.



An extraordinary exchange between Trump and the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee began when Trump accused Corker, who is retiring, of not having the guts to run for re-election.

In response, Corker tweeted: Its a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

Trump also said that Corker had begged him for an endorsement for re-election. He also wanted to be secretary of state, I said NO THANKS, Trump tweeted. He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran deal!

In a statement to the Guardian, Corkers chief of staff, Todd Womack, directly contradicted Trump. The president called Sen Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times, he said.

Corker was considered for both vice-president and secretary of state and was a key Trump ally during much of the 2016 campaign. He has since become a vocal critic.

In an interview with the New York Times later in the day, Corker said he was alarmed about a president who acted like hes doing The Apprentice or something  a reference to the reality television show Trump had once hosted.

He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation, the senator said, adding that Trumps threats towards other countries could set the nation on the path to World War III.

Corker is an important and supportive voice on the deal between Iran and six major nations including the US that restricts Tehrans pursuit of nuclear weapons. It was reported this week that Trump, against the wishes of senior advisers, will not re-certify the deal. That would put it in the hands of Congress, which would decide whether to reimpose sanctions, a move that would threaten the deals existence.

Story continues

Corker announced his decision to retire last month. The most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months, he said, hinting at his opposition to the president. I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career.

The president called Senator Corker on Monday  and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him Todd Womack, Corker chief of staff

Last week, he made headlines when he implied that Trump was leading the US to the brink of chaos.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill about reports that the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, called Trump a fucking moron and considered resigning, Corker said: I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary [of defense Jim] Mattis and Chief of Staff [John] Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos.

Asked if he was referring to Trump, he said: [Mattis, Kelly and Tillerson] work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration that dont. I hope they stay because theyre valuable to the national security of our nation.

On Wednesday, Tillerson denied he had thought of resigning but did not say he had not called the president a moron, leading to reports of presidential fury. Speaking briefly to reporters on Saturday, Trump said he and Tillerson had a very good relationship but said the secretary of state could be tougher.

Last weekend, the president, who in his debut at the United Nations said the US could totally destroy North Korea, slapped down his top diplomat over efforts to pursue talks. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that only one thing will work to rein in Pyongyang. In his remarks to the press, he refused to clarify what that meant.

Corker has also said he could oppose moves by Trump and congressional Republicans to pass tax reform, a priority after the repeated failure of attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Corker has insisted that any changes to the tax code must reduce the deficit. Trumps plan would probably increase it. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate, making defections costly.

Later on Sunday, Trump tweeted again: Bob Corker gave us the Iran deal, & thats about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!

Trumps endorsement for Senate races, meanwhile, may be of dubious utility. Last month in Alabama, Luther Strange, the man Trump endorsed for the seat vacated by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, lost a party primary runoff to Roy Moore, a hardline conservative twice removed from the state supreme court.



Trump subsequently deleted tweets in support of Strange and switched his support to Moore.
By Daniel Ramos VALLEGRANDE, Bolivia (Reuters) - Thousands gathered on Monday in a small town in southern Bolivia, where the leader of the Cuban revolution Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers 50 years earlier. Bolivia's President Evo Morales, one of few remaining leftist leaders in a region that has shifted to the political right, camped in a sleeping bag and tent and welcomed dignitaries from allies Cuba and Venezuela. "50 years later, the legend of Ernesto Che Guevara lives in the young people, in their unquestionable struggle for equality and liberation," Morales wrote on Twitter ahead of a scheduled speech. Over the weekend artists, activists, veterans of the Cuban revolution and Guevara's descendants gathered to commemorate the revolutionary hero in Vallegrande, where he was buried in a hidden, unmarked grave in 1967 before his remains were moved to Cuba 30 years later. The Argentine-born doctor met Fidel Castro in Mexico, where they trained and bought guns in preparation for the Cuban revolution before setting sail for the island on Nov. 25, 1956, to start the insurgency that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista two years later. Guevara rose to become one of the most important men in the rebel force and later in Cuba's revolutionary government, heading the central bank and industry ministry. He had hoped to replicate the revolution in Congo and then in Bolivia, but his call to arms largely failed and he was surrounded by U.S.-trained soldiers and caught in a ravine near La Higuera on Oct. 8, 1967. The next day he was taken to Vallegrande, 60 km (37 miles) away and Bolivia's then-President Rene Barrientos ordered his execution, avoiding a trial. Guevara was 39. His remains were exhumed and reburied in Santa Clara, Cuba, in 1997, when the Cuban Communism he helped build was struggling to survive after the Soviet Union collapsed. Commemorative ceremonies were held in Santa Clara on Sunday, and Cuba's Vice President Ramiro Valdes joined Morales in Bolivia on Monday. Guevara remains an anti-imperialist hero to many, especially in Latin America and Africa. In Cuba he is remembered for promoting unpaid voluntary work by toiling shirtless on building sites and hauling sacks of sugar. But in the town of Rosario, Argentina, where he was born, some residents have been collecting signatures to have his statue removed, protesting what they call his violent means to promote communism and lack of human rights in today's Cuba. (Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Some 500 soldiers, some in armored vehicles, swept into Rio de Janeiro's Rocinha favela Tuesday to support a police raid after gun fights broke out between rival drug gangs.

Officials said the operation was focused on the outskirts of Rocinha, especially in the forested area that borders the upscale Gavea neighborhood, where authorities say some of the drug traffickers are hiding.

Rio police, supported by the Brazilian military, "searched the jungle area of the Rocinha community," the state security office wrote on Twitter.

When soldiers are deployed in anti-crime operations in the favelas, they usually surround the area, deploy at strategic locations, and then let civil and military police conduct searches.

But "this is not a surround operation like the others," military spokesman Colonel Roberto Itamar told Globo TV news.

The military is offering "technical support" for an operation "to find hidden material that was already detected" by intelligence agents, Itamar said.

"We're searching for weapons, ammunition, explosives, all that material that's being used" by the rival gangs struggling to control the favela.

Itamar said that this was a "targeted" operation, and that the soldiers will leave Rocinha once the job is done.

Rocinha, a teeming cluster of small homes on hillsides overlooking wealthy western Rio, is Brazil's most populous favela.

Nowhere else in Brazil do rich and poor live so close together as in Rio, whose poorest neighborhoods are part of the fabric of the city and not kept at arm's length in the outskirts, as in Brasilia or Sao Paolo.

Violence is common in favelas, where around a quarter of Rio's population of 6.5 million live. Drug gangs control much of the territory and police are forced to remain on permanent alert.

The Rocinha criminal power struggle reportedly pits supporters of Antonio Francisco "Nem" Bonfim, who used to control crime in Rocinha but has been in prison since 2011, and his wayward successor, Rogerio Avelino da Silva.

Story continues

- School's out -

Some 3,000 students at nine Rocinha schools were told to stay home Tuesday due to the violence. Stray bullets from gun battles can hit random civilians, and are known to land far from the fighting.

Security in Rio has declined steadily since last year's Olympic Games, to the point that the federal government two months ago sent 8,500 soldiers to help maintain security.

Tuesday's operation comes after 950 troops were sent to Rocinha in September to back police after heavily armed drug traffickers rampaged through the favela.

The troops left the favela on September 29, when officials declared the situation "stabilized."

On Friday, about 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a large-scale operation to hunt for drug traffickers in northern Rio's Morro dos Macacos favela.
Romola Garai (playing Sarah Churchill) on stage during the 'Queen Anne' photocall at Theatre Royal on July 6, 2017 in London, England. (Photo: Chris Jackson via Getty Images)

A British actress became the latest woman to come forward about an uncomfortable interaction with Harvey Weinstein.

Describing the experience as humiliating and extremely problematic, Romola Garai said that the Hollywood mogul invited her to his hotel room for an audition, and then answered the door in his bathrobe.

Garai said that she felt violated by Weinstein, who was fired from his namesake company this weekend in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations.

Like every other woman in the industry, Ive had an audition with Harvey Weinstein, where Id actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him, the actress told The Guardian. So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory.

Garais story mirrors claims made by other women in Hollywood about Weinstein, which begin with an invitation to his hotel room and result in an encounter that was either explicitly or implicitly sexual.

The transaction was just that I was there, said the actress, who has appeared in such films as Atonement and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didnt have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power.

Although she sensed that it was weird, she said she tried to brush it off since she viewed it as a job interview. I didnt feel like I had the right to complain.

Garai said that she isnt surprised that the allegations against Weinstein were made public.

You cant find an actress that doesnt have that kind of story about Harvey, she said. Given how powerful he is, and given that they are always with women who are a lot younger than him, I think there is clearly an imbalance of power in those relationships.

The New York Times published a bombshell report Thursday revealing decades of abuse allegations against Weinstein, including from former staffers and actresses like Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan. The Times reported that Weinstein had reached at least eight financial settlements with the women.

Story continues

More women have since come forward, including television journalist Lauren Sivan, who told HuffPost that Weinstein once cornered her and masturbated in front of her in a New York restaurant.

A number of celebrities, mostly women, have also spoken out against Weinstein and the culture that enabled his behavior for years.

Abuse, threats and coercion have been the norm for so many women trying to do business or make art, Lena Dunham wrote in The New York Times. Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but hes certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere.

Also on HuffPost

Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd told the New York Times that Harvey Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked her if he could give her a massage or if she wanted to watch him shower.



She told the Times that she thought, How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow told the New York Times that Weinstein touched her inappropriately.



I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, she said, noting that when Weinstein found out she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, "I thought he was going to fire me."

Angelina Jolie

I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did, Angelina Jolie told the New York Times. This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet told Variety that she had heard rumors of Weinstein's behavior for years.



"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naive," she said. "And it makes me so angry. There must be no tolerance of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep told HuffPost that the women who came forward about Weinstein's behavior are "heroes."



The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported," she said in a statement.

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan has been vocal about the scandal since the New York Times published its bombshell report on Weinstein's alleged misconduct. McGowan, the Times said, was one of several women with whom Weinstein reached a financial settlement following the alleged abuse.



After The Weinstein Company fired Harvey, the actress and director called on the rest of the studio's board to resign.



"They knew," she said in a tweet. "They funded. They advised. They covered up. They must be exposed. They must resign."

Ben Affleck

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Ben Affleck posted on Twitter. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick."



Actress Rose McGowan denounced Affleck for implying that he didn't know of the abuse before this week, saying that the pair had previously discussed Weinstein's treatment of her.



"You lie," she tweeted.

Lena Dunham

'Girls' co-creator and star Lena Dunham penned an op-ed for the New York Times calling on more men to speak out against Weinstein and others like him.



"Abuse, threats and coercion have been the norm for so many women trying to do business or make art," she wrote. "Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but hes certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere."

George Clooney

In an interview with The Daily Beast, George Clooney said that, for decades, he'd heard rumors about Weinstein, but dismissed them as gossip. Calling Weinstein's behavior "disturbing" and "indefensible," Clooney said he had no idea of the severity of the accusations.



"A good bunch of people that I know would say, Yeah, Harveys a dog or Harveys chasing girls, but again, this is a very different kind of thing," the actor told the Daily Beast. "This is harassment on a very high level. And theres an argument that everyone is complicit in it. I suppose the argument would be that its not just about Hollywood, but about all of usthat every time you see someone using their power and influence to take advantage of someone without power and influence and you dont speak up, youre complicit. And theres no question about that."

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence won an Academy Award for "Silver Linings Playbook," which The Weinstein Company distributed. She called the alleged harassment "inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."



"I worked with Harvey five years ago, and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting," Lawrence said in a statement. "My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."

Hillary Clinton

Weinstein was a major Democratic Party benefactor, having donated to or raised money for a host of candidates, including Hillary Clinton.



Clinton said that she "was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Barack and Michelle Obama

Weinstein visited the White House multiple times while Obama was in office after having raised huge funds for his presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Malia Obama also reportedly worked for the Weinstein Company.



"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein," the Obamas said in a statement. "Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture -- including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect -- so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future."

Judi Dench

Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her performance in the Weinstein-backed "Shakespeare in Love" and was nominated for two other films under his wing, denounced the alleged abuse.



"Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and whole-hearted support to those who have spoken out," she said in a statement.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio worked with Weinstein on blockbuster films like Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and Django Unchained.



"There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or sexual assault-- no matter who you are and no matter what profession," DiCarpio said in a Facebook Post. "I applaud the strength and courage of the women who came forward and made their voices heard."

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain has been one of the most outspoken critics of Weinstein and of Hollywood's complicity since The New York Times published its damning report.



"I was warned from the beginning" about Weinstein, she said in a tweet. "The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."

Julianne Moore

Moore, who starred in the Weinstein-backed film "A Single Man," tweeted that "coming forward about sexual abuse and coercion is scary and women have nothing to be gained personally by doing so. But through their bravery we move forward as a culture, and I thank them. Stand with @AshleyJudd @rosemcgowan and others."

Colin Firth

Calling Weinstein a "frightening man to stand up to," Colin Firth told The Guardian that reading about the allegations gave him "a feeling of nausea."



It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out. And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage."

Tamron Hall

Its a womans worst nightmare to be in a situation where you believe someone more powerful has control over your life, former "Today" show host Tamron Hall told HuffPost. She called the allegations against Weinstein "horrifying."

Blake Lively

Blake Lively spoke out against Weinstein in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.



The actress said that she was unaware of the abuse but admitted that "it's devastating to hear."



"It's important that women are furious right now. It's important that there is an uprising. It's important that we don't stand for this and that we don't focus on one or two or three or four stories. It's important that we focus on humanity in general and say, 'This is unacceptable.'"

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts gave a statement to People, saying, A corrupt, powerful man wields his influence to abuse and manipulate women. Weve heard this infuriating, heartbreaking story countless times before. And now here we go again. I stand firm in the hope that we will finally come together as a society to stand up against this kind of predatory behavior, to help victims find their voices and their healing, and to stop it once and for all."

Ryan Gosling

I want to add my voice of support for the women who have had the courage to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, Gosling wrote in a note on Twitter. Like most people in Hollywood, I have worked with him and Im deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. He is emblematic of a systemic problem. Men should stand with women and work together until there is real accountability and change.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Flames from a wildfire consume a home Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, east of Napa, Calif: AP/Rich Pedroncelli

Huge wind-fanned wildfires in California wine country killed at least 10 people, destroyed thousands of buildings and drove mass evacuations, forcing many people to flee the advancing flames in the dead of night.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for three affected counties, writing that the blazes had damaged critical infrastructure, threatened thousands of homes and caused the evacuation of residents. Officials said at least 10 people died and two were seriously injured, and flames obliterated at least 1,500 structures.

This is really serious. Its moving fast. the heat, the lack of humidity and the wind are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse, Mr Brown told reporters. "It's not under control by any means.

On a day when dozens of fires burned around California, powerful winds helped whip up multiple conflagrations in an area known for the vineyards clinging to its rolling hills. As of early Monday morning, the larger Tubbs Fire had spread across more than 20,000 acres and the Atlas Fire had consumed more than 8,000 acres.

City and county officials shuttered schools, evacuated a pair of hospitals in the town of Santa Rosa and issued widening mandatory evacuation orders for areas in the path of the flames. Multiple shelters were at capacity and roads around the area were closed.

Many people were forced out of their homes in the middle of the night. Even as elected officials implored non-evacuating people to stay off major roads, residents described a desperate scramble for safety.

People are running red lights, there is chaos ensuing, Ron Dodds told KTVU. It's a scary time. It looks like Armageddon.

Harrowing images and videos from the ground showed roaring flames and the utter devastation they left behind, with homes and other structures reduced to charred skeletons.

This is the Nectar Restaurant right now pic.twitter.com/XLB03JGlYT

 Jill Tucker (@jilltucker) October 9, 2017

A haze was visible in the San Francisco Bay Area, miles away from the epicenter of the flames, and an air quality regulator urged people to remain inside.
When Earl Melchert was handed a $7,000 reward last week for rescuing an abducted teenager, he immediately and without hesitation gave his windfall to the girl he saved. She was the real hero, he insisted.

Richard Wyffels, the police chief in Alexandria, Minnesota, said in a Facebook post on Friday that Melcherts gesture was an incredible example of kindness.

Thank you Earl, Wyffels wrote. It is people like you that make this world a better place.

Melchert, 65, rescued 15-year-old Jasmine Block on Sept. 5. She told investigators she had been held against her will for 29 days by three men, including a family acquaintance, who subjected her to repeated sexual and physical abuse. She said she managed to escape while the men were out getting food, and swam across a lake near Melcherts property in search of safety.

Melchert said he hadnt intended to be home that afternoon, but popped in to pick up something hed forgotten. He said he spotted what he first thought was a deer in the field outside his home. As the teenager got nearer, Melchert said he recognized her right away.

I could make out her face, and I went, Oh my gosh, this is the gal from Alexandria thats been gone for 29 days, Melchert told The New York Times. Itd been on the news, itd been online. It went national. It was on posters, in stores, her face, her picture.

Melchert immediately brought her to safety and called 911.

I was in the right place at the right time, Melchert, who retired last week, told the Pioneer Press. I did what I had to do.

At a news conference last month, the police chief said Block helped authorities capture the three accused abductors. He called the teen an unbelievable young woman with a lot of strength.

The three men have been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment, reported KSTP-TV. At least two also face a charge of criminal sexual conduct.

On Friday, Wyffels presented Melchert with a $7,000 reward that had been offered by Blocks family and an anonymous donor for the teenagers safe return.

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Melchert, who retired from his job at a fertilizer plant last week, promptly handed the money over to Block and her family.

To me, yeah, thats a lot of money, but they need it way worse than I do, Melchert told the Times.

Also on HuffPost

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People hold on to Catalan separatist flags on top of an air vent during a demonstration two days after the banned independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain, October 3. (Photo: Enrique Calvo / Reuters)

Spain watched intently on Tuesday as Catalonias president, Carles Puigdemont, gave a much-anticipated speech on whether the region would declare its complete independence and attempt to break away from the Spanish state.

But as the political crisis grew over Catalonias independence bid, Puigdemont ended up not asking the autonomous regions parliament to pursue an immediate vote on secession.

Instead, Puigdemont said that although he has a mandate to declare independence, he is requesting that Catalan parliament suspend the results of its Oct 1. independence referendum to allow time for talks with Spains government. He added that he supports a Catalan state, but said he is delaying a formal declaration in favor of dialogue.

The announcement was originally slotted for 6 p.m. local time, but was delayed for over an hour as last-minute deliberations took place. When Puigdemont eventually entered parliament, he gave a long oration on Catalan grievances against government attempts to stop independence.

We are not criminals, we are not mad. We are normal people, and we just want to vote, Puigdemont said, switching from Catalan to Spanish for a moment to address those outside Catalonia.

Puigdemont had been expected to issue a declaration since last week, when he announced that he would ask the regional parliament to vote on independence in the coming days. Anticipating the move, Spains constitutional court on Monday suspended the Catalan regional parliaments voting session in a bid to deter Catalan lawmakers.

Puigdemont appeared to be moving forward with his plans for unilaterally declaring independence, but he ultimately chose a more diplomatic route as both domestic and international pressure grew for him to reverse tack.

The parliament session on Tuesday was the first since a contentious referendum on Oct. 1 saw Spanish law enforcement violently crack down on the vote.

Scenes of riot police beating protesters and seizing ballot boxes drew international attention to Catalonia and spurred criticism of how Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy handled the independence movement. The violence also emboldened the separatist movement, giving them a public relations victory against the central government in Madrid.

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Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalan regional police officers, stand guard outside the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona, Spain, October 10, 2017. (Photo: Rafael Marchante / Reuters)

Both Rajoy and Spains courts regarded the referendum as illegal and did not recognize the result of the vote. In a rare political address last week, Spanish King Felipe VI also denounced the Catalan leaders and accused them of sowing division in the region. As Tuesdays announcement approached, France added to the opposition, saying it would not recognize an independent Catalan state under current circumstances.

Despite such warnings from the Spanish government and judiciary, Catalonia has persisted in its bid for independence  but its unclear how many people in the region actually support that status. The government claimed that 90 percent of those who voted in the referendum favor leaving Spain, but the turnout only saw around 43 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots amid criticism of its legitimacy.

In a shift from the massive independence rallies of recent weeks, tens of thousands of people rallied on Sunday in the Catalan capital of Barcelona to show their support for staying as part of the Spanish state. Demonstrators waved Spains national flag and held signs that proclaimed their affinity for both the Spanish and Catalan identities.

The Spanish government still faces a significant crisis in how to deal with the separatist Catalan government, but for now has been given an opening to negotiate and avoid further violence.

If Puigdemont had declared independence on Tuesday, Rajoy could have invoked a never-used provision of Spains Constitution, Article 155. The article would have allowed the government in Madrid to take away Catalonias autonomy. Article 155 states that the central government may take control of any region that seriously threatens Spains interests or violates its constitution.

The political uncertainty over Catalonias push for independence has already begun to have a destabilizing effect on Spain. Major business, including Spains third-largest bank, have moved their headquarters out of the region in recent weeks.

Catalonia has been largely autonomous since Spain transitioned to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, and the region has its own government, security forces and parliament. But separatists have long held that the regions unique culture, language and economic success should enable it to fully separate from Spain.

Also on HuffPost

A woman screams towards Spanish Civil Guard officers outside a polling station.

People protest as police try to control the area at a polling station in the referendum vote.

Police and gendarmerie crew intervene to stop voters in the Catalan independence referendum.

Riot police drag a member of the public away from a school being used as a polling station.

Clashes between voters and the police injured hundreds on Sunday.

Police seized ballots and closed polling stations during the vote.

Riot police clash with members of the public outside a school being used as a polling station for the banned referendum.

There were several arrests amid the demonstrations.

Police fired rubber bullets in some areas and used batons.

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Belgrade (AFP) - Catalonia's drive to secede from Spain is rekindling dreams of independence in ethnic pockets across the Balkans, a potentially dangerous ambition in a region where nationalist violence claimed tens of thousands of lives in the 1990s.

From ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia to the Serbs of Republika Srpska, separatist leaders are asking the same question in the wake of the banned Catalan referendum: Why don't we do the same?

On election day, graffiti of Catalan flags appeared in Novi Sad and several other towns in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, along with the claim that "Vojvodina = Catalonia".

Meanwhile in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, a giant banner appeared near the cathedral showing the flags of Catalonia and Herceg-Bosna, the self-styled Croat entity, reading "Good luck. We are the next," according to local media.

The fact that one region -- Kosovo -- managed to secure its independence has emboldened many like-minded leaders in the region, while infuriating many others.

Brussels's argument that it considers Catalonia's referendum illegal, while backing Kosovo's independence as a "special case", infuriated Serbia, which denounced the EU's "double standard".

- 'How did you legalise?' -

Belgrade has fiercely rejected Kosovo's unilateral declaration of secession in 2008, which carved off the southern Serbian province into a country in which 90 percent are ethnic Albanians.

The move came a decade after the bloody 1998-1999 war which claimed 13,000 lives, ending only after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign which kicked Serbian armed forces, controlled by Slobodan Milosevic, out of the breakaway territory.

"How did you legalise the secession of Kosovo even without a referendum?" asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

"How did 22 EU member states legalise the secession that violated European law which is a foundation of EU politics?"

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Vucic, who at the time advocated a "Greater Serbia" as Milosevic's information minister, has firmly backed Madrid as he now faces the possibility of resurgent nationalist fever at home.

Among the potential hot spots are the southern Presevo Valley, another home of ethnic Albanians; the Muslim-populated Sandzak area; and the autonomous province of Vojvodina, with more than two-dozen minorities.

Nenad Canak, the leader of the regional LSV party and a staunch advocate of Vojovodina's self-rule, went to Barcelona for its October 1 referendum.

But for Florian Bieber, a professor of southeast European studies at the University of Graz in Austria, Vojvodina is not a cause for worry.

It is a region "with some sense of identity, but no strong movements for independence and no cultural distinction of the intensity in Catalonia," Bieber told AFP.

But that is not the case with the Presevo Valley bordering Kosovo and its 75,000 inhabitants, most ethnic Albanians who fought against Serbian forces in 2001, hoping to throw off Belgrade's rule and join Kosovo.

The conflict ended with an internationally brokered peace agreement.

Jonuz Musliu, the hardline leader of a region's ethnic Albanian party, seized the Catalan referendum as a chance to urge global leaders to recognise the 1992 ethnic Albanian referendum in southern Serbia, which has largely been ignored.

"A referendum about ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley is also legitimate," Musliu said.

- 'Real potential case' -

Bosnia also has a delicate line to walk with the Republika Srpska, home to Serbs who make up nearly a third of the country's 3.5 million people.

More than 20 years after the war that claimed 100,000 lives, Bosnian Serbs are more turned toward Belgrade than to Sarajevo, and the Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik, has repeatedly threatened to organise an independence referendum.

"It may be the time to start talking rationally about a possible peaceful separation in Bosnia," he said after the Catalan vote.

For Bieber, "in the case Catalonia were successful, it would encourage... Dodik to pursue his goal."

Bieber also said he believes there is another "real potential case" that could be inspired by the Catalan vote: Serb-populated northern Kosovo.

In the Serb-run part of Mitrovica, a northern Kosovo town divided along ethnic lines, Serbian flags are everywhere and Vucic's portraits are omnipresent.

This summer Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic openly advocated "a separation, or whatever it is being called" of the northern Kosovo that borders Serbia.

But regardless of the outcome in Catalonia, Bieber said, international leaders will show little appetite for a new and potentially painful redrawing of Balkan maps along separatist lines.

The international community recognises new states "in extraordinary circumstances" such as a "massive repression... a strong, violent independence movement, as in Kosovo... (or) when the state had already disintegrated... as it was in Yugoslavia," he said.

"Catalonia does not fit any of these categories, and neither Republika Srpska nor the north of Kosovo would qualify."
Barcelona (AFP) - Carles Puigdemont, the separatist president of Catalonia, has pursued his political career based on a childhood dream: seeing the region split away from Spain.

On Tuesday, he said in a highly-anticipated address to Catalan lawmakers that he had the mandate from the people to declare independence, but proposed suspending the process to allow for dialogue.

To the outside world, the 54-year-old former journalist with a thick mop of brown hair has become the face of the Catalan independence movement.

But the task has presented difficulties.

There is talk of a "Puigdemont effect" on companies -- some of which have moved their headquarters from the northeastern region -- since October 1, when he raised the stakes by holding an independence referendum, despite it being banned by Madrid and Spanish courts.

"Puigdemont to jail," shout defenders of Spanish unity. His retort has been to say that he is not scared of arrest.

So where does the determination of this married father of two girls come from?

- Independence 'in his blood' -

In a biography published in 2016, Carles Porta, a journalist and friend of Puigdemont, describes him as an "honest and resilient" man, a dyed-in-the-wool partisan of independence.

"He has this quality (or this flaw): he's stubborn," Porta writes.

But a high-ranking critic who knows him but refused to be identified in order to speak freely, said he "does not have much preparation... to take on this big challenge", even though he has the independence of Catalonia "in his blood, as a unique driving force".

Puigdemont's destiny changed in January 2016 when he was selected to lead a coalition of separatist parties which had won a majority of seats in the regional parliament three months earlier, tasked with leading 7.5 million Catalans to independence.

Mayor of the city of Girona since 2001 and a lawmaker in the regional parliament, Puigdemont replaced Artur Mas as the Catalan president.

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Mas, who had led Catalonia since 2010, was deeply unpopular with far-left separatists for austerity measures he implemented during Spain's severe economic crisis.

They wanted him out, and so it was that Puigdemont took over, becoming the Spanish government's public enemy number one.

He does though share one thing in common with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy: Both suffered serious car accidents when they were younger.

Rajoy has his scars hidden under his beard, Puigdemont on his forehead, under his fringe.

- 'Flair for showmanship' -

Puigdemont was born in Amer, a small mountain village of 2,200 people, on December 29, 1962, the second of eight siblings.

The son and grandson of bakers, he was just nine when he was sent to boarding school and "learnt to be a fighter", Porta says.

He was 13 when Spain's dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975.

Hugely attached to the Catalan language and passionate about history, the teenager would forever remember Franco's severe repression of the region.

In 1980, he joined Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya, the conservative and nationalist party which became the Catalan European Democratic Party in 2016.

Hired in 1982 by the nationalist newspaper El Punt Avui, he rose up the ranks and became editor, combining journalism with activism.

At the time, pro-independence Catalans were still a minority.

In the summer of 1991, he travelled to the Republic of Slovenia, which had just declared independence from Yugoslavia after a banned referendum, followed by a brief armed conflict.

In the following years, he sought to widen support for independence, always by peaceful means, inspired by India's icon Mahatma Gandhi.

At ease with social media, he also speaks French, English and Romanian -- his wife Marcela Topor comes from Romania.

He founded a Catalan news agency and an English-language newspaper on the region, and headed up the Association of Municipalities for Independence, which brings together local entities to promote the right to self-determination.

"He has a great flair for showmanship and knows how to use the media," political analyst Anton Losada said.

Since 2012, Catalonia has been the scene of mass rallies asking for an independence referendum.

Some Catalans are thankful he organised such a vote, even though it was banned by Madrid, repressed by police and not held according to official electoral standards.

More than 90 percent voted in favour of independence out of a turnout of just 43 percent.

Other Catalans, though, criticise a "democratic fraud" aimed at legitimising a declaration of independence, and accuse him of turning his back on those who reject breaking away from Spain.

For political analyst Joan Botella, "Puigdemont believes he has been called by destiny to take Catalans to the promised land, and his entourage is very unpredictable."

But "he doesn't at all appear to be a demented zealot as described by Madrid".
Oct. 10 is World Mental Health Day, aimed at raising awareness around and expressing support for those struggling with their mental health. Despite the prevalence of mental health problems, which affect more than 18 percent of Americans, the stigma of shame surrounding such invisible illnesses is powerful. Read on for 19 celebrities who are working to break the stereotypes by publicly voicing their battles with mental illness.

Read more from Yahoo Beauty + Style:

Selena Gomez (Photo: Getty Images)

Selena Gomez suffers from anxiety and depression, and in the summer of 2016, she canceled the remainder of her Revival tour to seek treatment. Tours are a really lonely place for me. My self-esteem was shot, she told Vogue. I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting onstage, or right after leaving the stage. Basically I felt I wasnt good enough, wasnt capable. I felt I wasnt giving my fans anything, and they could see it  which, I think, was a complete distortion.

Demi Lovato (Photo: Getty Images)

For years, Demi Lovato has been vocal about her struggles with bipolar disorder, cocaine addiction, and eating disorders. Now she continues to give voice to these invisible afflictions. Im proud to be bipolar and speak about it. Bipolar is a mood disorder. I deal with mood swings; I deal with episodes of mania, and bipolar-depression phases as well, she told Rolling Stone in October. But Ive used my voice to help others, and I feel proud that Ive been able to do that.

Lady Gaga (Photo: Getty Images)

In December 2016, Lady Gaga revealed that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being raped at the age of 19. I told the kids today that I suffer from a mental illness, she said in a Today show interview, referencing a speech she gave at the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth in New York the month before. I suffer from PTSD. Ive never told anyone that before, so here we are. But the kindness thats shown to me by doctors as well as my family, and my friends, its really saved my life.

Story continues

Lena Dunham (Photo: Getty Images)

Actively breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health disorders, Lena Dunham has been open about her struggle with anxiety for years. Ive always been anxious, but I havent been the kind of anxious that makes you run 10 miles a day and make a lot of calls on your BlackBerry, she said in a Refinery29 video. Im the kind of anxious that makes you like, Im not going to be able to come out tonight, tomorrow night, or maybe for the next 67 nights. She opened up about the negative images in the media surrounding medication and otherwise seeking help. Meds didnt make me a hollowed-out version of my former self or a messy bar patron with a bad bleach job, Dunham wrote on Instagram. They allowed me to really meet myself. I wish that for every lady who has ever struggled. Theres really no shame.

Lily Collins (Photo: Getty Images)

While preparing to play a woman with an eating disorder in To the Bone, Lily Collins reached a new level in her own eating-disorder recovery. Although I was in recovery for several years before the movie, preparing for the film allowed me to gather facts about eating disorders from professionals. It was a new form of recovery for me. I got to experience it as my character, Ellen, but also as Lily, she told Shape in June. I was terrified that doing the movie would take me backward, but I had to remind myself that they hired me to tell a story, not to be a certain weight. In the end, it was a gift to be able to step back into shoes I had once worn but from a more mature place.

Katy Perry (Photo: Getty Images)

In June, Katy Perry live-streamed an hour-long therapy session and revealed that she struggled to balance her celebrity persona with who she really is; she opened up about her thoughts of self-harm, suicide, and bouts of alcoholism. Because, of course, Katy Perrys so strong, she said. I feel ashamed that I would have those thoughts, that Id feel that low and that depressed. Now prioritizing her mental health and seeing a therapist regularly for the past five years, Perry added, I really want to be my authentic self, 100 percent.

Chrissy Teigen (Photo: Getty Images)

In an open letter for Glamour in March, Chrissy Teigen opened up about her anxiety and postpartum depression. How can I feel this way when everything is so great? Ive had a hard time coming to terms with that, and I hesitated to even talk about this, as everything becomes such a thing, she wrote. But its such a major part of my life and so, so many other womens lives. It would feel wrong to write anything else.  I still dont really like to say, I have postpartum depression, because the word depression scares a lot of people. I often just call it postpartum. Maybe I should say it, though. Maybe it will lessen the stigma a bit.

Gabourey Sidibe (Photo: Getty Images)

Opening up about her struggle with mental health in her memoir, This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare, Gabourey Sidibe detailed her battle with depression, anxiety, bulimia, and suicidal thoughts. Heres the thing about therapy and why its so important. I love my mom, but theres so much I couldnt talk to her about during my Hoe Phase, she wrote. I couldnt tell her that I couldnt stop crying and that I hated everything about myself. Whenever I did try to open up, my mom seemed unconcerned. When I was sad about something, she told me to get a thicker skin. When I was upset, she told me to stop nitpicking. My mom has always had faith that things would be OK, but saying tomorrow will be a better day wasnt enough for me.

Cara Delevinge (Photo: AP Images)

In a series of tweets in 2016, Cara Delevingne revealed that the height of her modeling career was also the peak of her depression. Now shes releasing a book, Mirror Mirror, which she hopes will get people talking about mental health more openly. If you learn to love yourself and not give in to what other people think about you or not care what they think, and just follow your dreams, you can achieve anything, she said on This Morning. And thats what I want to be for teenagers  not necessarily a role model but someone who has gone through it and come out the other side.

Miranda Kerr (Photo: AP Images)

Miranda Kerr revealed that she struggled with depression following her split from ex-husband Orlando Bloom. When Orlando and I separated [in 2013], I actually fell into a really bad depression, she told Elle Canada in October of 2016. I never understood the depth of that feeling or the reality of that because I was naturally a very happy person. She used meditation to take control of her mental health, adding: Every thought you have affects your reality, and only you have control of your mind.

Gina Rodriguez (Photo: AP Images)

In May, Gina Rodriguez revealed that she struggles with anxiety, sharing a raw clip of herself from her friend Anton Soggius series Ten Second Portraits. Bare and exposed in the streets of L.A. No makeup. No styling. Just me, she wrote on Instagram. I suffer from anxiety. And watching this clip I could see how anxious I was but I empathize with myself. I wanted to protect her and tell her its OK to be anxious, there is nothing different or strange about having anxiety and I will prevail. I like watching this video. It makes me uncomfortable but there is a freedom I feel maybe even an acceptance. This is me. Puro Gina.

Brooke Shields (Photo: Getty Images)

Brooke Shields has been vocal about her struggle with postpartum depression after her first pregnancy. Pay attention to the feelings that youre feeling and talk about it and ask your doctor, she said in an interview with Oprah. Find out what medicines available. You dont have to be miserable.

Zoe Kravitz (Photo: Getty Images)

I had a really hard time when I was 16, 17, 18. I started with the eating disorder in high school, actress Zoe Kravitz told Complex in 2015 about her anorexia and bulimia. Just [a hard time] loving myself. She revealed that she fell back into disordered habits in 2013 when playing an anorexic woman in The Road Within, opening up about the assumptions that people tend to make about people who struggle with eating disorders. Its either: youre conceited, or insecure, as opposed to just loving yourself.

Sarah Silverman (Photo: Getty Images)

Opening up about her battle with depression, which began in her early teenage years, comedian Sarah Silverman told NPR, It feels like Im terribly homesick, but Im home. Theres no way to satiate it. I dont know that I knew the word satiate at that time, but  thats what it felt like. After trying out medication that left her feeling numb, she now manages her mental health in other ways. I have lows, you know, everybody does  but I kind of know how to handle it. I like to let myself wallow in it. I enforce it with terribly sad music, and it kind of pushes me through to the other side eventually, and I always know its going to pass.

Kendall Jenner (Photo: Getty Images)

Anxiety was a huge hurdle for me to deal with this past year (and security concerns didnt help), but I think Im finally learning how to cope, model Kendall Jenner wrote on her app in a list of her peaks and pits from 2016. [I] learned that its all mental, so I try to prevent anxiety attacks by bringing my mind somewhere else.

Emma Stone (Photo: Getty Images)

I was a very, very anxious child, and I had a lot of panic attacks. I benefited in a big way from therapy  I started it at 7, Stone said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in September. Acting and improvisation helped me so much  I still have anxiety to this day but not panic attacks, knock on wood.

Wayne Brady (Photos: Getty Images)

Its difficult for men in general, I think, because of just the way that were raised. We feel any of the negative emotions or that dark cloud settle on you, and you feel like you need to cry out or speak to someone about it, and, Nope, Im not gonna do that, because Im a man, comedian Wayne Brady told People magazine in 2015. What kind of man would I sound like if I told somebody, Hey, I am so sad. Im cripplingly sad. I cant get out of bed. I just feel empty. Help me. Id be [seen as] some sissy. Id be soft. Thats what youre taught. Thats how you were programmed. And thats what kills us.

Amanda Seyfried (Photo: Getty Images)

In 2016, actress Amanda Seyfried revealed that she struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Im on Lexapro, and Ill never get off of it. Ive been on it since I was 19, so 11 years. Im on the lowest dose. I dont see the point of getting off of it. Whether its placebo or not, I dont want to risk it. And what are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool? A mental illness is a thing that people cast in a different category [from other illnesses], but I dont think it is. It should be taken as seriously as anything else, she told Allure. I had pretty bad health anxiety that came from the OCD and thought I had a tumor in my brain. I had an MRI, and the neurologist referred me to a psychiatrist. As I get older, the compulsive thoughts and fears have diminished a lot. Knowing that a lot of my fears are not reality-based really helps.

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Photo: Getty Images)

[Bipolar] is something I have been dealing with for a long time, actress Catherine Zeta Jones told the Telegraph in 2013. When you get sideswiped like that [with her husbands cancer diagnosis] its an obvious trigger for your balance to be a little bit off  not sleeping, worry, stress. Its a classic trigger.  I know Im not the only person who suffers with it or has to deal with it on a day-to-day basis. So if Ive helped anybody by discussing bipolar or depression, thats great.
Cuba remembered the 50th anniversary of the death of a key figure in the Marxist revolution that overturned U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and brought the Fidel Castroled regime to power.

Ernesto Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia on October 9, 1967, and the CIA's role in his death remains controversial.

"His captors cared nothing for the dignity and etiquette his revolutionary legacy demanded, and [he] was vilely murdered. But history only remembers the cowardice of those murderers, while the colossal example of Che lives on and multiples day after day," Cubas vice president, Miguel Diaz-Canela likely successor to the Castro brothers as the islands presidentnoted at a commemoration rally on Sunday.

The secret services had trained and were involved with the battalion that would capture and kill Guevara, as declassified CIA documents archived by the George Washington University showed.

According to one debriefing document, the order to kill Guevara and other Marxist fighters trying to bring the Cuban revolution to Bolivia came on the morning of October 9 and marked a departure from previous orders. The first soldier who was given the task to execute Guevara was unable to carry out the order, so it was passed on to another soldier who fortified his courage with several beers.

The debriefing also confirmed that Guevara, who had refused to sit down as ordered by the executioner, uttered his final words: Know this, you are killing a man before the soldier shot him with his M2 Carbine, a combat rifle, knocking Guevara back into the wall of the small house.

10_09_Che_Guevara

Stringer/Filer Photo/Reuters

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CIA operative Felix Rodriguez was with the battalion that captured Guevara and interrogated the revolutionary fighter ahead of his death. As he recounted in interviews years later, the order to execute the prisoner came from the Bolivian military's high command, while his orders as CIA officer were to keep him alive.

A White House memorandum signed by Walt Whitman Rostow, national security adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, also attributed the order to kill Guevara to Bolivian military leader General Alfredo Ovando Candia. I regard this as stupid, Rostow wrote about the execution order, adding, but it is understandable from a Bolivian standpoint.

Two American human and civil rights lawyers however didnt believe the CIA role could be so easily dismissed. In their book Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away With Murder, Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith reviewed previously unpublished documents from CIA, White House, State and Defense Departments and argued the CIA wanted and expected Guevara to be killed, if captured.

The line of the government was that: The Bolivians did it as we couldnt do anything about it. That isnt true. This whole operation was organized out of the White House by Walt Whitman Rostow and the CIA, Smith told Democracy Now in 2012.

The U.S. wanted Che dead because that was the way to end revolutionary fervour in Latin America and around the world, Ratner added.

10_09_Guevara_Cuba

Sven Creutzmann/Mambo photo/Getty Images

But for millions of people, as Diaz-Canel said in Cuba on Sunday, Guevara remains an icon for revolution and change.

Che hasnt died like his murderers wanted, his figure continues to grow with time as new generations of Cubans, raised under his example and that of his legacy, discover, recognize and assume his paradigm as a revolutionary, he said.

Instrumental in that memory is the iconic picture of Guevara shot by photographer Alberto Korda in 1960 that artist Jim Fitzpatrick turned into an easy to reproduce, high-contrast drawing. The way they killed him, there was to be no memorial, no place of pilgrimage, nothing. I was determined that the image should receive the broadest possible circulation," Fitzpatrick, told the BBC in 2007.

10_09_bolivia_Morales_Guevara

Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images

Guevara's body had been buried in an unmarked grave along with the corpses of other two prisoners, his hands chopped off so that his fingerprints could be used as proof of his death. The remains were found in 1997 and later brought to Cuba.

Joining attendees at the ceremony on Sunday was Evo Morales, the socialist leader of Bolivia, alongside the revolutionarys daughter, Aleida Guevara. On Monday, Morales joined members of Che Guevara's family and representatives of the Cuban government in a pilgrimage to La Higuera, the town where he was killed.

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Hillary Clinton broke her silence on Harvey Weinstein in the wake of mounting allegations of sexual assault and harassment, spanning three decades, by numerous women against the Oscar-winning movie mogul and Democratic donor.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, the former secretary of state said in a statement on Tuesday provided by her spokesman, Nick Merrill. The behavior described by the women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.

Both Clinton and former President Barack Obama had been criticized for not immediately joining other Democrats in publicly denouncing Weinstein, who has deep ties to both the Clintons and the Obamas.

On Tuesday afternoon, the former president and first lady released their own statement.

Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein. Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status, the statement said. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a cultureincluding by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respectso we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future.

Clinton did not mention the Weinstein scandal during an appearance at the University of California at Davis on Monday night  four days after the New York Times reported that Weinstein had reached settlements with at least eight women who accused him of sexual harassment between 1990 and 2015. The newspaper also included accounts from other women, including actress Ashley Judd, who said he asked her to watch him shower during a breakfast meeting in his hotel suite in the mid-1990s.

HRC spoke for 90 mins last nite, didnt mention Harvey Weinstein, CNNs Erin Burnett tweeted on Tuesday. She wont give women a pass for not voting for her, but she gave him one.

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Hillary Clinton and producer Harvey Weinstein attend the 2012 Time 100 Gala in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday morning, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clintons 2016 running mate, said he expected she would address the scandal.

Any leader should condemn this, Kaine said. These allegations are low-life behavior.

Where is Hillary Clinton? MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski wondered aloud.

Weinstein was fired from the film studio he co-founded, the Weinstein Co., on Sunday. The companys board of directors said his termination was effective immediately, in light of new information about misconduct by Weinstein.

On Tuesday afternoon, the New Yorker magazine published another bombshell, also detailing Weinsteins history of sexual harassment and exposing far more serious claims of sexual assault and rape. The story includes allegations from three women, including actress and director Asia Argento, who say Weinstein raped them. The magazine also published an audio recording, captured during a New York Police Department sting operation in 2015, in which Weinstein admits to groping an aspiring Filipino-Italian actress, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.

Weinstein, in conversation with Gutierrez, admits to groping her. Heres the audio: https://t.co/zSQbK5NV0c pic.twitter.com/vmrrSUp43w  The New Yorker (@NewYorker) October 10, 2017

In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, a spokeswoman for Weinstein said with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.

Weinstein, a longtime Clinton donor, hosted a fundraiser for her in New York City in June 2016, and the filmmaker offered strategic advice to the Clinton campaign during her primary battle against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The disgraced filmmaker has a similarly tight relationship with the Obamas.

During the 2012 presidential race, Weinstein held a fundraiser for Obama at his Connecticut home. The next year, Weinstein organized a student film symposium at the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama praised him as a wonderful human being, a good friend and just a powerhouse. Obamas eldest daughter, Malia, served as an intern with the Weinstein Co. this year. And Anita Dunn, a former top adviser to Barack Obama and ex-White House communications director, was reportedly among the list of public relations professionals and lawyers who offered Weinstein free damage-control advice days before the Times expose was published.

According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Weinstein and his family have given more than $1.4 million in political contributions since the 1992 election cycle  nearly all of them to Democrats or Democratic causes.

Following the Times report, numerous Democratic lawmakers  including the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as well as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.  said they intended to donate Weinsteins contributions to charities supporting women.

Weinstein donated $5,400 to Clinton during the 2016 campaign, per the Center for Responsive Politics, and more than $30,000 to the Democratic National Committee. The mogul donated $5,000 to Obama during his reelection campaign, and more than $30,000 to the DNC during that cycle.

A day after the revelations against Weinstein were published, the New York Times editorial board urged both Clinton and Obama to speak out.

Mr. Weinsteins prominent friends need to publicly assert that the behavior that has made him notorious cannot be tolerated. Not from anyone.

President Trump  who last year faced a wave of allegations of sexual harassment from more than a dozen women who said they were inappropriately touched by him in separate incidents dating back to the early 1970s  has not yet denounced Weinstein.

On Saturday night, the president was asked about the allegations against the filmmaker.

Ive known Harvey Weinstein for a long time, Trump said. Im not at all surprised to see it.

Read more from Yahoo News:
A reveler performs during a "pow-wow" celebrating the Indigenous Peoples' Day Festival in Randalls Island in New York on 8 October 2017: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Today is Columbus Day, celebrated as a federal holiday in the US since 1937 and intended to honour Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas in October 1492.

Columbus - famously supposed to be setting out for Asia - has been hailed in the "New World" since Italian-Americans in New York City marked the 300th anniversary of their ancestor's arrival in 1792, but the day was only formally recognised when the state of Colorado made it an official holiday in 1905.

Since its national acceptance by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 32 years later, US citizens have seized the day as a chance to reflect on their heritage.

However, in recent decades Columbus Day has come to be regarded as problematic in many quarters, on the grounds that the Italian did not "discover" the continent at all - it was already populated by indigenous people - and merely facilitated its colonisation by Western European powers, whose efforts to bring "civilisation" saw the Native American population systematically decimated by white imperialists claiming the land as their own.

With this bloody history in mind, Indigenous People's Day was born in 1977 as a more culturally-sensitive alternative. A celebration intended to recognise and respect the proud traditions and customs of North America's great tribes, it was first marked in 1992, five centuries on from Columbus setting sail.

Berkeley in California was the first to recognise the day in place of Columbus Day, but more and more towns do so every year, with 23 new locales observing Indigenous People's Day for the first time in 2017.

Austin in Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, decided to opt for the new holiday as late as last week and Santa Barbara, California; Silver City, New Mexico; and Miami County in Kansas have all expressed interest in following suit in future.

Los Angeles is set to make the switch in 2019, the biggest city to do so thus far.

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The date Indigenous People's Day is held on varies slightly every year however and, in 2017, America's states and towns face a stark choice as both holidays fall on the same day.

In a moment when the US is tackling tough questions regarding its attitude to race and reassessing the darker aspects of its history - in the age of Black Lives Matter and Confederate flag-bearing white supremacists rallying in Charlottesville, Virginia - the debate over the future of Columbus Day couldn't be more timely.

Native Americans remain an important voice in US society and the Sioux's recent struggle to oppose an oil pipeline running through the Standing Rock Reservation in North and South Dakota only serves to highlight their ongoing plight.

New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio is currently considering whether to pull down a number of divisive statues across the Big Apple, including one of Columbus near Central Park. If that monument is toppled, Columbus Day itself could soon follow.
Police in Texas are searching for a 3-year-old who disappeared after her father allegedly put her out of the house as punishment for not drinking her milk.

Wesley Mathews, 37, allegedly took his 3-year-old adopted daughter, Sherin Mathews, outside their Richardson home at 3 a.m. Saturday to discipline her, police said. He reportedly told her to stand near a large tree in their backyard, but when he went outside 15 minutes later, the 3-year-old was gone.

Read: Has 'Party Monster' Reinvented Himself? 20 Years After Manslaughter Sentence, Michael Alig Looks Forward

Mathews admitted to police that he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he left her, Dallas News reported.

Richardson police said they werent called to the home until five hours after the toddler vanished.

Police then issued an Amber Alert for the 3-year-old, who they said has developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills.

Sherin is thought to be in grave or immediate danger," reports said.

"Why was the last sighting at 3 o'clock and the parents not call us until after 8 a.m.? That's the question we want answered as well," Richardson police spokesman Kevin Perlich told NBC5. "As far as why she was out there, how long she was out there  [those are] the questions we have for the parents."

Mathews was arrested Saturday and charged with abandoning or endangering a child, police said.

Officers said they and other volunteers went door-to-door searching for the young girl, to no avail.

The couple had another daughter, who is 4 years old. She was removed from the home and placed in foster care, WFAA reported.

Read: Remains Found in Septic Tank Belong to Woman, 21, Missing for More Than 10 Years

Sherin was last seen wearing a pink top and black pajama bottoms.

Mathews was released was released from custody on Sunday after posting $250,000 bond.

Watch: Police Searching for 4 Young Men Who Went Missing Within Days of Each Other

Story continues

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Deadly wildfires ravage Northern California, threaten wine country A firefighter looks for flammable items in an evacuated residential area as wildfires continue to burn Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)

Thousands more Californians evacuated their homes on Saturday as fierce wildfires spread due to constantly shifting winds, and officials expected the official death toll of 35 to rise with hundreds of people still missing.

Sixteen major wildfires, some encompassing several smaller merged blazes, in areas north of San Francisco consumed nearly 214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) over seven days, or roughly 334 square miles, an area larger than New York City.

The 35 confirmed fatalities, including 19 in Sonoma County, make it the deadliest fire event in California history. Some 100,000 people have been forced from their homes, including 3,000 evacuated on Saturday from the city of Santa Rosa, about 50 miles (80 km) north of San Francisco, and another 250 from nearby Sonoma city. The fires have reduced many homes and businesses to piles of ash. (Reuters)

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Is there any such thing as too soon when it comes to finding love again after a spouse dies? Some of Tiffany Thorntons critics assert that there is.

Tiffany Thornton and Josiah Capaci. (Photo: Instagram/tiffthornton)

The former Disney star  whose first husband, Chris Carney, died in a car accident in 2015  married new love Josiah Capaci in a ceremony she shared on Instagram on Sunday, dubbing it, Best day of my life. And while the flood of commenters appear to be supportive and congratulatory, some have apparently called Thornton out for being disloyal, according to the long follow-up post she added in self-defense.

You are the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I'll love you forever. A post shared by Tiffany Thornton (@tiffthornton) on Oct 7, 2017 at 8:39pm PDT

This. This is love. That all encompassing, enduring, accepting, near perfect love. The kind that trumps my need to snap back at people who have the audacity to comment on my Instagram about whether I loved my first husband or not. But let me take a moment to explain something to you, she wrote. There is no timeline for grief or for when God moves in your life in undeniable ways.

Thornton closes out with this: When I say Jo is the greatest thing thats ever happened to me that in no way indicates that I didnt love my first husband with all that I had. How dare any one of you judge me and say that on a social platform. It doesnt make you any better of a person to cast judgment on others and sit in the seat of mockers. I will always love chris and jo knows that. And I will always love Jo. The beautiful thing about love is that it multiplies as new blessings come into your life. I dont have to share one bucket of love with the special people in my life. Each one has their own bucket. Get it? Isnt that amazing?? Gods timing is not our own. And I praise Him for that. You should too.

Thornton, known for her roles on Sonny With a Chance and So Random!, had announced her engagement to Capaci, a Gospel Light Church worship pastor, in August. And while her move into a new relationship after such a traumatic loss likely required some emotional work on her part, its one that is certainly not out of the norm.

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By 25 months after a spouses death, 61 percent of men and 19 percent of women were either remarried or involved in a new romance, according to a 1996 study (which is out of date, but consistent with even older findings). It may be helpful for family, friends, and therapists to know that dating and remarriage are common and appear to be highly adaptive behaviors among the recently bereaved, the study noted.

Still, some people just cant help but criticize when a survivor moves into another relationship. A high profile controversy erupted when, for example, Sheryl Sandberg began dating Bobby Kotick, of Activision video games, about 10 months after the sudden death of her husband Dave Goldberg, whose death inspired a raw and public expression of grief from the Facebook COO.

The social media backlash to Sandbergs step forward was nothing less than nasty  just as it was when comedian and actor Patton Oswalt announced plans to remarry a year and a half after his wife, Michelle McNamara, died suddenly in her sleep, leaving Oswalt and their young daughter behind. Online trolls came out in full force then, with one saying, Id like to be mourned for more than a couple months, and another suggesting Oswalt was getting grief laid.

That tirade inspired at least one forceful clap back, from blogger Erica Roman, a young widow who responded on behalf of Oswalt, herself, and anyone else in the position of being judged for finding love again.

You arent entitled to an opinion, she wrote to the critics. You dont get to comment on the choices of a widower while you sit happily next to your own living spouse. You didnt have to stand and watch your mundane morning turn into your absolute worst nightmare Go back to scrolling Facebook and keep your ignorance to yourself. Who gave you the position to judge when its too soon for a person who has suffered the worst to be able to find happiness and companionship again?

Connecticut-based psychologist Barbara Greenberg agrees that its no one elses place to say when its appropriate to embrace new love. Its very judgmental, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle, noting that people can have a very hard time celebrating other peoples joys. Further, she says about Thornton, Maybe she had a good experience in her first marriage, which would make her open to embracing a second one. I dont think theres any rule about when one should remarry or how long one should grieve. Theres no timeline, Greenberg adds.

Regarding feelings of guilt that a surviving spouse may struggle with as they move toward a new marriage or relationship, Greenberg advises, Shes got to stay grounded in her own beliefs that this is right, and work hard to honor her own feelings. Because, she says, At the end of the day its her life, and she doesnt have to defend her life to anyone.

A Brooklyn editor and mother of two tells Yahoo Lifestyle that a year after her husband died of cancer, she began dating her late spouses close friend, ultimately marrying him 8 years after that. For me it was best to take it slowly, even though we initially got together in a timeline that some would consider too quick, she says. Only I knew when it felt right. No one else lived through what I did or knew what it was like to mourn or raise kids who lost a father at a young age.

She also notes that just because you start dating or marry someone else doesnt mean that you officially stop mourning. I didnt stop remembering my late husband when I got involved with someone else. He is still a part of our lives. We celebrate his birthday and think of him on the day he died and at milestone moments for my kids, and spend time with his family.

Also sharing her experiences with Yahoo Lifestyle is a New York Citybased writer, whose wife died of cancer after they were married for just four years; she entered into a relationship with someone new less than two years after her wifes death.

I think when youve had a happy marriage you are more apt to have an open heart about finding love again, she explains. I dont feel burned by love and to me thats a good thing. There was no betrayal of trust to get over. But everyone is different, and I think it would be unkind to judge another persons choices, especially after theyve gone through such a loss. Too soon? Too late? Theres no one-size-fits all response to loss and grief; its a process.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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The New Yorker published a report on Tuesday detailing accusations of sexual assault and rape against film executive Harvey Weinstein.

Too few women were willing to speak, much less allow a reporter to use their names, and Weinstein and his associates used nondisclosure agreements, monetary payoffs, and legal threats to suppress these myriad stories, Ronan Farrow writes.

Farrow goes on to say that over the course of 10 months, he was told by thirteen women that, between the nineteen-nineties and 2015, Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them, allegations that corroborate and overlap with the Timess revelations, and also include far more serious claims.

Sallie Hofmeister, a spokeswoman for Weinstein, issued a statement to The New Yorker in response to the allegations.

Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein, it reads. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously cant speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.

Those accusations include:

1) Audio of Weinstein that was captured during a New York Police Department sting operation in 2015. In it, the executive admits to groping a Filipina-Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, describing it as behavior he is used to.

2) Actress and director Asia Argento claiming Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her, which then led to complicated sexual encounters that she said brought her back to the little girl that I was when I was twenty-one. She added: When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak... After the rape, he won.

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Argento said that, after she reluctantly agreed to give Weinstein a massage, he pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop. Weinstein terrified me, and he was so big, she said. It wouldnt stop. It was a nightmare. ...Argento told me, He made it sound like he was my friend and he really appreciated me. She said that she had consensual sexual relations with him multiple times over the course of the next five years, though she described the encounters as one-sided and onanistic.

3) Allegations that many of Weinsteins former and current colleagues and employees knew of his behavior.

Sixteen former and current executives and assistants at Weinsteins companies told me that they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinsteins films and in the workplace.

4) Actresses saying they saw the repercussions of rejecting Weinsteins sexual advances.

Four actresses, including Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette, told me they suspected that, after they rejected Weinsteins advances or complained about them to company representatives, Weinstein had them removed from projects or dissuaded people from hiring them.

5) Lucia Stoller, now Lucia Evans, told Farrow about a meeting with Weinstein went from him flattering her to demeaning her, and then physically assaulting her to the point that she felt forced to give up.

In the meeting, Evans recalled, he immediately was simultaneously flattering me and demeaning me and making me feel bad about myself. Weinstein told her that shed be great in Project Runway the show, which Weinstein helped produce, premiered later that yearbut only if she lost weight... At that point, after that, is when he assaulted me, Evans said. He forced me to perform oral sex on him. As she objected, Weinstein took his penis out of his pants and pulled her head down onto it. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont,  she said. I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him. In the end, she said, Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. At a certain point, she said, I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault.

6) Ambra Battilana Gutierrez told Farrow of an event that happened in Weinsteins office. She filed a report with the New York Police Department, which led to a sting operation in which Gutierrez wore a wire in an attempt to extract a confession or incriminating statement. The audio from the wire is embedded within the report.

Guterriez arrived at Weinsteins office in Tribeca early the next evening with her modelling portfolio. In the office, she sat with Weinstein on a couch to review the portfolio, and he began staring at her breasts, asking if they were real. Gutierrez later told officers of the New York Police Department Special Victims Division that Weinstein then lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt while she protested. He finally backed off and told her that his assistant would give her tickets to Finding Neverland, a Broadway play that he was producing. He said that he would meet her at the show that evening.

7) A complaint from Emily Nestor, who temporarily worked as a front-desk assistant, was also referenced in a New York Times report about allegations against Weinstein. Farrows piece describes a meeting Nestor said was the most excruciating and uncomfortable hour of my life.

After Weinstein offered her career help, she said, he began to boast about his sexual liaisons with other women, including famous actresses. He said, You know, we could have a lot of fun,  Nestor recalled. I could put you in my London office, and you could work there and you could be my girlfriend. She declined. He asked to hold her hand; she said no. In Nestors account of the exchange, Weinstein said, Oh, the girls always say no. You know, No, no. And then they have a beer or two and then theyre throwing themselves at me. In a tone that Nestor described as very weirdly proud, Weinstein added that hed never had to do anything like Bill Cosby. She assumed that he meant hed never drugged a woman. Its just a bizarre thing to be so proud of, she said. That youve never had to resort to doing that. It was just so far removed from reality and normal rules of consent.

8) Weinstein allegedly planted news stories so he could control coverage pertaining to him and his projects.

Weinstein interrupted their conversation to yell into his cell phone, enraged over a spat that Amy Adams, a star in the Weinstein movie Big Eyes, was having in the press. Afterward, Weinstein told Nestor to keep an eye on the news cycle, which he promised would be spun in his favor. Later in the day, there were indeed negative news items about his opponents, and Weinstein stopped by Nestors desk to be sure that shed seen them.

9) French actress Emma de Caunes accused Weinstein of exposing himself to her.

When I hung up the phone, I heard the shower go on in the bathroom, she said. I was, like, What the fuck, is he taking a shower? Weinstein came out, naked and with an erection. What are you doing? she asked. Weinstein demanded that she lie on the bed and told her that many other women had done so before her.

10) Weinstein operated his office with what his female employees referred to as a honeypot. His goal was apparently to get women alone with him.

The female executive said that she was especially disturbed by the involvement of other employees. It almost felt like the executive or assistant was made to be a honeypot to lure these women in, to make them feel safe, she said. Then he would dismiss the executive or the assistant, and then these women were alone with him. And that did not feel like it was appropriate behavior or safe behavior.

Farrow is the son of actress Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen. He has been in the public eye for speaking out about sexual harassment and assault allegations within his own family. His sister Dylan Farrow has alleged that Allen groomed her with inappropriate touching as a young girl and sexually assaulted her when she was 7 years old. Ronan Farrow published a lengthy piece last year in The Hollywood Reporter about his contentious relationship with these allegations. He ultimately said he believed his sister.

The New Yorkers article comes after The New York Times published a damning report last week that said Weinstein had settled sexual harassment lawsuits with at least eight women. Weinstein has since been fired from the film company he co-founded.

You can read Farrows entire piece here.

Also on HuffPost

Andrea Constand

Constand alleged that she visited the comedian at his Cheltenham home in January 2004. NBC News reported that she claimed Cosby had given her pills that he said were "herbal medication." According to The Smoking Gun, she claimed that after she took the pills, Cosby "laid her down on a sofa and proceeded to sexually assault her. She awoke hours later to discover her clothes and undergarments in disarray," when she said "she was greeted by a bathrobe-clad Cosby."Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby in Nov. 2006. Thirteen other women, 12 of whom asked to remain anonymous, are mentioned in court papers as Jane Doe witnesses. The case was settled out of court that November. Read more here.

Shawn Upshaw

In a 2005 interview with the National Enquirer, Upshaw claimed to have had a consensual affair with Cosby, and that the actor is the father of her daughter. She alsoclaimed that Cosby had had drugged her at some point in the '70s. "He fixed me a drink that looked strange to me -- there were several layers of color to it," she told the Enquirer. "I didn't want to drink it, but he kept telling me to finish it, and I did. I immediately felt very out of sorts. I knew definitely that I had been heavily drugged. Finally he took me to the bedroom and put me to bed. That's the last I remember of the night. I woke up in the morning knowing I'd had sex during my sleep." Read more here.

Tamara Green

Green came forward shortly after Constand's allegations had been reported in the media. The California lawyer, who was 57 at the time she went public, spoke with Matt Lauer on the "Today Show" about an alleged incident with Cosby in the 1970s. Green claimed that during a working lunch in Los Angeles, Cosby offered what he said was cold medicine. After about 10 minutes, she was "almost literally face down on the table of this restaurant." Green said that after the comedian drove her home, he began taking her clothes off to put her into bed. She told Lauer that, "He had gone from helping me to groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling me and you know, taking off my clothes ... I actually told him that he would have to kill me, that if he didn't kill me and he tried to rape me, it was going to go very badly." Read more here.

Beth Ferrier

Identified as Jane Doe #5 in Constands lawsuit, the 56-year-old claimed that after she had ended a consensual affair with Cosby in the mid-'80s, the comedian drugged her after a performance in Denver. TheFree Republic reported in 2005 that Ferrier said Cosby gave her a coffee after the show, and that she immediately began to feel "woozy." A few hours later, she came to with little idea of what had happened. "I woke up and I was in the back of my car all alone," she told the Free Republic. "My clothes were a mess. My bra was undone. My top was untucked. And I'm sitting there going, 'Oh my God. Where am I?' What's going on? I was so out of it. It was just awful." Read more here.

Barbara Bowman

Joan Tarshis

In an interview with Hollywood Elsewhere, the music industry publicist and journalist claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted her twice in 1969 when she was 19. The former actress and Cosby were both working at Universal Studios at the time. Cosby often pushed alcohol on her, she said, and on one occasion she fell unconscious at his bungalow after having a cocktail he made. "The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed," Tarshis wrote. "I thought I was being clever when I told him I had an infection and he would catch it and his wife would know he had sex with someone. But he just found another orifice to use." Read more here.

Linda Joy Traitz

Janice Dickinson

During an interview with "Entertainment Tonight," the supermodel, 59, accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her at a meeting in 1982 to discuss a possible role for her on "The Cosby Show." "He gave me wine and a pill. The next morning I woke up, and I wasn't wearing my pajamas, and I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man," she said. Read more here.

Therese Serignese

Serignese said she met Cosby in 1976 in Las Vegas, where he invited her to come see the show he was headlining at the Hilton. She says that after the show, she was escorted back to the green room, where she claims Cosby gave her two white pills. She told The Huffington Post, "The next memory I have was I was in a bathroom and I was kind of bending forward and he was behind me having sex with me ... I was just there, thinking 'I'm on drugs, I'm drugged.' I felt drugged and I was being raped and it was kind of surreal. My frame of mind was that it would be over soon and I could just get out of there." Read more here.

Carla Ferrigno

The actress and wife of actor Lou Ferrigno alleged that Cosby invited her to his home in 1967 where he attempted to force himself on her. "He walked over to me and grabbed me, pulls me really tight to him, kisses me on the mouth, like really, really rough. And I just took my hands and I pushed him away," Ferrigno told KFI radio station. She said that after pushing him away, she immediately left the house. Read more here.

Louisa Moritz

The 68-year-old former actress, best known for her role on the 1970s show "Love American Style," claims that in 1971 Cosby forced her to perform oral sex on him in the green room of Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," TMZ reported. Read more here.

Renita Chaney Hill

Hill, now 47, told CBS Pittsburgh that she met Cosby in Pittsburgh in the 1980s when she was a 15-year-old model. She was cast in Cosby's "Picture Pages," a series of educational TV segments, and said she was in contact with the comedian over the next four years. Hill said that she now believes Cosby drugged her on more than one occasion, insisting that she drink despite being underage. "One time, I remember just before I passed out, I remember him kissing and touching me and I remember the taste of his cigar on his breath, and I didn't like it," Hill told CBS Pittsburgh. "I remember another time when I woke up in my bed the next day and he was leaving, he mentioned you should probably lose a little weight. I thought that odd, how would he know that? I always thought it was odd that after I had this drink I would end up in my bed the next morning and I wouldn't remember anything." Hill says that she cut off contact with Cosby when she was 19. Read more here.

Angela Leslie

Kristina Ruehli

The 71-year-old says she was one of the anonymous Jane Does scheduled to testify in Constand's 2005 lawsuit. Ruehli alleged to Philadelphia Magazine that in 1965, at age 22, she met Cosby while working as a secretary at a talent agency. She says Cosby invited her to a party, and when she showed up, it was only the two of them. "He proceeded to pour some bourbon," she told Philadelphia Magazine, and she felt foggy after two drinks. She said she now believes he drugged her. According to Ruehli, her next memory was being in Cosby's bed. "He was attempting to force me into oral sex," she said, adding, "It never went past that. I immediately came to and was immediately very sick. I pushed myself away and ran to the bathroom and threw up." Read more here.

Michelle Hurd

The actress posted about her alleged experiences with Cosby when she was a stand-in on The Cosby Show on Facebook. Hurd, who has appeared on shows like "Gossip Girl" and "Law & Order: SVU" wrote: "It started innocently, lunch in his dressing room, daily, then onto weird acting exercises were he would move his hands up and down my body, (cant believe I fell for that) I was instructed to NEVER tell anyone what we did together, (he said other actors would become jealous) and then fortunately, I dodged the ultimate bullet with him when he asked me to come to his house, take a shower so we could blow dry my hair and see what it looked like straightened. At that point my own red flags went off and I told him, No, Ill just come to work tomorrow with my hair straightened. Neither Hurd nor her representatives have responded to media requests for further comment. Read more here.

Victoria Valentino

The former Playboy Playmate was identified in a Washington Post story that detailed many of the alleged victims' experiences with Cosby. Valentino recalls meeting Cosby in 1970 through a mutual friend. She describes a dinner she had with Cosby and another friend, at which the three of them took pills. They drove to an apartment, and then, Valentino says, "He came over to me and sat down on the love seat and opened his fly and grabbed my head and pushed my head down ... And then he turned me over. It was like a waking nightmare." Read more here.

Jewel Allison

The former model told the New York Daily News that she was introduced to Cosby in the 80s by her agent, Sue Charney -- who also discovered Janice Dickinson. Allison recalls accepting a dinner invitation at Cosbys New York brownstone where he gave her a glass of wine that made her feel "woozy and ill." She told the Daily News that "Cosby grabbed her hand and placed it on his genitals." Then, she recalls, He turned me around and said, 'Lets get you home.' At the door, he gave me a very hard embrace and a hard kiss." Read more here.

Donna Motsinger

The now 73-year-old told the New York Post that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1971 when she was a waitress at a jazz club in California. Motsinger also claims that she was Jane Doe #8 in Andrea Contand's 2005 civil lawsuit against Cosby. Read more here.

Judy Huth

The Southern California woman claims that Cosby molested her around 1974 at the Playboy Mansion, when she was just 15 years old. Huth claims that "Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him with her hand." This is the first time a woman has publicly accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her when she was under the age of 18. The AP reported that she is now suing Cosby for damages. Read more here.

Helen Hayes

In a press conference hosted by lawyer Gloria Allred, Northern California resident Helen Hayes said that she met Cosby in 1973 at Clint Eastwood's Celebrity Tennis Tournament. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Hayes recalls that Cosby followed her and two friends around. "We felt we were safe," she said, adding. "But then when he found us in the last restaurant he approached me from behind and reached over my shoulder and grabbed my right breast ... his behavior was like that of a predator." According to Variety, during the press conference, Allred challenged Cosby to waive the statue of limitations and stand trial.Read more here.

Chelan

During the December 3rd press conference, a woman named Chelan said she met Cosby in Las Vegas when she was 17 years old and an aspiring model. She alleges that the comedian gave her a blue pill. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter,she said, "I laid down. He laid down next to me on the bed and began pinching my left nipple and humping my leg while he was grunting. Chelan remembers passing out, then waking up many hours later. She says Cosby gave her $1,500. Read more here.

P.J. Masten

The now 64-year-old former Playboy bunny told the NY Daily news that Cosby "attacked" her in 1979. Masten was working at the Playboy Club in Chicago and met the comedian who told her he'd take her out to dinner. She arrived at his hotel room and recalls he was smoking cigars with friends and offered her a drink. I dont remember anything after I drank it... The next thing I knew it was 4 oclock in the morning and I woke up naked with this disgusting man next to me," she told The News. I have no idea what he gave me, but I woke up feeling very groggy and very sore. I knew I had been raped. Read more here.

Beverly Johnson

Model Beverly Johnson poses at the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in Palm Springs, California, January 3, 2015. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT HEADSHOT)

Chloe Goins

The 24-year-old model and actress told The Daily Mail that she believes Cosby drugged her drink at a party at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. Goins says that at the time she was 18 years old. She told The Daily Mail that Cosby had brought her a drink, and after having a few sips "everything kind of went a little foggy." She claims that the comedian then led her to a room in the mansion, and when she later came to, Cosby was crouched over her, licking and kissing her feet. She also believes he was licking other parts of her body. "I remember waking up and feeling moist all over, like he had been licking all over me. He wasn't on my breasts when I woke, but I could feel, you know, the saliva on them and that he'd been licking on me," she told The Daily Mail. Read more here.

Linda Kirkpatrick

n a Wednesday Jan. 7 press conference, lawyer Gloria Allred introduced three women who have come forward for the first time to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. Kirkpatrick claimed that she met Cosby in 1981, where he invited her to see his show. She alleges that he offered her a drink during a party in his dressing room, after which she blacked out and came to to find Cosby on top of her, kissing her forcefully. Kirkpatrick says that she went back to the show the following night after Cosby apologized, and that he aggressively kissed her and tried to take his advances further despite her insistence that she was not interested in a sexual encounter. She managed to leave before any further assault occurred. Read more here.

Lynn Neal

During the Jan. 7 press conference, Neal said that she met Cosby while she was working as a therapist at a health club where he was a regular client. Cosby allegedly invited her to see his show, where he offered her drinks and would not let her eat. After the show, Neal says she began feeling "disoriented and confused." She claims that Cosby then walked her to his dressing room where he raped her. Read more here.

Kacey

Also during the Jan. 7 press conference, Kacey, who did not want her real name shared, alleges that Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1996 while she was working for Tom Illius, Cosby's agent at the William Morris Agency. Kacey revealed that she had a friendly working relationship with Cosby and considered him a "father figure or favorite uncle." She and her children had dined with Cosby and other colleagues before, and she took calls from him at her home. During a one-on-one meeting at the Bel Air hotel where Cosby had invited her to discuss her future career plans, Kacey claims that he insisted she take a "large white pill" to help her "relax," after which she remembers nothing until she woke up in a bed next to Cosby, who was naked under a bathrobe. Read more here.

Cindra Ladd

The former entertainment executive claims that Cosby assaulted her in 1969. She wrote about her experiences with the comedian in a blog for The Huffington Post. Ladd, who met Cosby in 1969 while she was in New York working for film producer Ray Stark, says that the assault took place at the apartment of a friend of Cosby's. She had stopped by the apartment to meet Cosby before they went to the movies. She says that she had a headache, so Cosby offered her a "miracle cure his doctor had given him." Ladd recalls her memories of that evening in her blog post: "He went into another room and came back with a capsule. I asked a couple of times what it was. Each time he reassured me, asking, "Don't you trust me?" Of course I did. This was Bill Cosby. For more than 45 years I have tried to recall exactly what happened that night. To this day it remains a blur...What I do recall, vividly and clearly, is waking up the next morning nude in the bed of his friend's apartment and seeing Cosby wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and acting as if there was nothing unusual. It was obvious to me that he had had sex with me. I was horrified, embarrassed and ashamed." Read more here

Linda Brown

n a Feb. 12 press conference organized by attorney Gloria Allred, former models Linda Brown and made a statement alleging how Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1969. Cosby gave her a ticket to one of his shows, and afterward, Brown went to dinner with the comedian and his entourage. After, he invited her to his apartment. Cosby allegedly poured her a soda to drink while he made the call. The next thing Brown said she remembered was waking up naked in Cosby's bed, unable to move or speak. Then Cosby allegedly raped her. Read more about Brown's story here.

Lise-Lotte Lublin

In the Feb. 12 press conference, Lublin, also a former model, said she met Cosby in 1989. On their third meeting, Cosby allegedly invited her to the Elvis suite of the Las Vegas Hilton to help her with her acting. Lublin said that, in the suite, Cosby fixed her a shot of alcohol, saying that it would help her relax. Lublin, who did not drink at the time, declined the offer, but Cosby insisted. He then allegedly gave her a second drink. Within minutes, Lublin said, she felt dizzy and disoriented. The last thing she said she recalls clearly is sitting on the couch with Cosby stroking her hair. Lublin believes that she was then sexually assaulted. Read more about Lublin's story here.

Heidi Thomas

The former model told CNN that, in 1984, she had a glass of wine and awoke to Cosby forcing himself in [her] mouth." Read more about Thomas' story here.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Mr Trump is said to have lashed out at those around him: Getty

Donald Trump, angry with officials he appointed and frustrated with his failure to progress his legislative agenda, is said to have turned into a pressure cooker who frequently explodes at those around him.

Reports suggest that in recent days, Mr Trump, fed up with criticism of his handling of the crisis in Puerto Rico and furious over comments from a senior Republican who claimed he was setting the US on the path to World War III, the President has been lashing out at those around him and burning political bridges.

Meanwhile, his relationship with Chief of Staff John Kelly, the former general appointed to try and bring order to the chaos of the White House, may have become irreparable, according to one report.

Senator Bob Corker "begged" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said "NO" and he dropped out (said he could not win without...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

Im not all all surprised by this, Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, told The Independent. He has never had to work together with people before, he has always been the king.

She added: He doesnt not seem to understand that the President is a public servant and those people working for you are meant to help make you better.

The Washington Post said Mr Trumps fuse had been lit by several factors. He was perturbed when it was reported last that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called him a moron. America top diplomat held a press conference to deny reports that he had considered quitting, but Mr Trump was sufficiently thin-skinned to suggest the pair of them take IQ tests and compare the results.

Over the weekend, Mr Trump hit out on Twitter at Republican Senator Bob Corker, who had said the White House had devolved into an an adult day care centre.

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Mr Trump said of Mr Corker, who has announced he will not seek reelection to his Tennessee seat: Senator Bob Corker begged me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said NO and he dropped out.

The Post said the President had in recent days been displaying flashes of fury. It said one confidant of Mr Trump had likened the President to a whistling teapot, adding that when he did not blow off steam, he can turn into a pressure cooker and explode.

I think we are in pressure cooker territory, the person added.

It has fallen to Mr Kelly to try and deal with this fall-out and smooth things over. Yet the atmosphere inside the White House may have already taken its took on the former military officer, who joined the administration in January as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

John Kelly during the President's Q and A at Trump Tower pic.twitter.com/vxR3hTUqe3  Kristin Donnelly (@kristindonnelly) August 15, 2017

Last month it was reported that Mr Trump delivered an ear-bashing to Mr Kelly that the former officer said was unprecedented in his 35 years of military service. While Mr Trump, along with his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were said to be working though Mr Kellys lines of authority, the President has become frustrated at the latest attempt to rein him in.

Mr Kelly has on several occasions been photographed looking exasperated at various events, most memorably at a press conference inside Trump Tower when the President clashed with reporters over the violence during a neo-Nazi led rally in Charlottesville.

Now Vanity Fair has said the relationship between Mr Trump and Mr kelly may have become irreparable.

One person close to Mr Kelly, said: He doesnt love this job. Hes doing it as a duty for the country.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Donald Trump confer during a working lunch with African leaders during the UN General Assembly in September: REUTERS

Donald Trump has challenged Rex Tillerson to "compare IQ tests" if the Secretary of State did call him a "moron", as reported.

The president said he believed the reports were "fake news" but boasted he would win in a battle of wits with Mr Tillerson.

The pair's tense relationship burst into public view last week. An NBC News story claimed Vice President Mike Pence had to talk the secretary of state out of resigning this summer and that Mr Tillerson had described the president as a "moron."

In an interview with Forbes magazine, Mr Trump said: "I think it's fake news. But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

Mr Tillerson, who is scheduled to have lunch with Mr Trump and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday, held a special press conference last week to deny considering quitting. His spokeswoman insisted he had not used the language attributed to him.

Mr Trump also took to Twitter to deny the story last week, writing: "Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me."

But he was reportedly left "seething" after footage of him comforting victims of the Las Vegas massacre was overshadowed by the story.

MSNBC anchorwoman Stephanie Ruhle, who broke the story, was later quoted as saying: My source didnt just say he called him a moron. He said he called him an f***ing moron.

...Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017

Mr Tillerson was reported to have made the remarks during at meeting with national security officials at the Pentagon after Mr Trump's highly politicised speech - likened by some to a "drunk stepdad" - to the Boy Scouts of America in July.

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The Secretary of State once led the Boy Scouts organisation and was said to be unhappy with the president's election victory boasts and political attacks in his address to an audience of thousands of children at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree.

In Thursday's press conference, however, he insisted the reports were "erroneous" and described Mr Trump as "smart".

Pressed of the alleged moron comment, the former Exxon chief executive described the story as "misreported... petty nonsense meant to divide the Trump administration.

The president and his secretary of state have not always seen eye to eye. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate" with North Korea amid escalating fears of nuclear war.

"Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done," he wrote on Twitter.
Donald Trump boards Air Force One. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Donald Trump only lets photographers to take pictures of him from certain angles so that no one sees his double chin, according to a new book written by White House news photographers.

In Ultimate Insiders, White House Photographers and How They Shape History, a number of photographers report that The President loves having his picture taken.

But one of the books authors Kenneth T Walsh, the White House correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, claims Mr Trump is somewhat particular about the way he is pictured.

Its clear that for many years Trump has sought to create and enhance an image of being a larger-than-life leader, says Walsh.

But, Walsh writes, the President does as much as possible to minimize photos of him from the front at a low angle or from the sides, because he thought his double chin became too obvious.

Donald Trump is pictured before boarding Marine One to depart from the White House on 3 October. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Mr Trumps disdain for what he refers to as the fake news media extends to photojournalists, the book claims.

[He is] deeply distrustful of what the called the fake mainstream news media, including the photojournalists, Walsh writes.

Mr Trump is not the only president to carefully control the images of him that appear in the press, according to the photographers.

Barack Obama was extremely guarded over his image, and only allowed his official White House photographer Pete Souza to some key events, excluding other photojournalists.

Mr Souza has become something of a cult figure since the election of Mr Trump with a series of not-so-subtle barbs at the President.

After Mr Trump was accused of tweeting a misogynistic comment, Mr Souza posted a series of images on Instagram of Obama during his presidency, each captioned Respect for women.

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In terms of his physical appearance, however, Trumps apparent double chin isnt the only thing he may be sensitive about.

The billionaire  who is listed at 191 cm making the second tallest US President in history  has also long been associated with having small hands.

During the campaign to secure the Republican nomination in 2016, rival Marco Rubio branded him a con artist and said he had small hands (a charge Trump took to mean as questioning the size of his manhood).

In the following debate, Trump protested: He hit my hands  nobody has ever hit my hands.

Look at those hands. Are they small hands?

He added that if Rubio was insinuating something else must be small I guarantee you theres no problem.

Trump also seemingly referenced the size of his hands during his recent trip to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

"My hands are too big," President Trump jokes while putting on gloves to serve food at Houston shelter https://t.co/je6NirYHoC  NBC News (@NBCNews) September 2, 2017

And the Presidents hair?

According to his hairdresser, Amy Lasch, it is neither a toupee not a hair piece and Trump just has really long hair and he combs it back straight.
A South Korean soldier stands guard at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea - GETTY IMAGES ASIAPAC / POOL

Donald Trump could next month be standing just metres from Kim Jong-uns gun-toting soldiers during a possible visit to the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

Officials from Washington have reportedly visited the tense border area between the two countries  who remain technically at war  as they draw up detailed plans for the US presidents upcoming visit to South Korea.

Mr Trump is heading to the South as part of a tour of Asia when he is expected to deliver a strong message to Pyongyang over its build up of nuclear weapons.

An anonymous South Korean defence official told Yonhap news agency that an advance team of US officials looked around Panmunjom and Observation Post Ouellette.

Panmunjom is located in the 4-km (2.5 mile) wide buffer zone between the North and South, who never signed a peace treaty ending their 1950-53 war, only an armistice.

Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump have traded threats in recent months

Inside the truce village is a Joint Security Area (JSA) where North Korean troops carry pistols and take photographs and video of visitors.

Last March, one North Korean solider was seen standing directly behind Rex Tillerson as he took a picture of the US Secretary of State when he visited Panmunjom.

Barack Obama visited Observation Post Ouellette in 2012, while two years later Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates  who were then senior officials in his administration - toured Panmunjom together.

"No US president can tolerate the threat of a nuclear-armed North Korea able to range the continental US"@paulhaenlehttps://t.co/KPFjimiAZX  Neil Connor (@neilaconnor) March 18, 2017

However, a visit by Mr Trump to the DMZ would likely create a major security headache for South Korean authorities.

Mr Trump has vowed to destroy North Korea if it threatened the US, and also warned Mr Kims regime that it would face fire and fury as tensions over Pyongyangs military build-up have escalated in recent months.

Visitors who join a tour to the JSA must fill out a declaration that states the visit "will entail the entrance into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death as a result of enemy action".
Fashion designer Donna Karan sparked outrage online when she defended her friend, the wonderful Harvey Weinstein, in a red carpet interview on Sunday night and suggested that his alleged sexual harassment victims were somehow asking for it.

Speaking to a reporter at the CineFashion Film Awards in Los Angeles, Karan, 69, implied that the blame for the alleged attacks couldnt be borne by the studio executive alone. Video of the exchange was shared online Monday by the U.K. tabloid the Daily Mail.

I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified. Certainly in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, its been a hard time for women, Karan said. To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?

According to the Daily Mail, the reporter then asked Karan whether Hollywood had been busted after Weinsteins alleged past as a sexual predator was laid bare by a recent New York Times investigation.

Karan said she doesnt think were only looking at [Weinstein]. I think were looking at a world much deeper than that.

Harvey has done some amazing things, Karan continued. I think we have to look at our world and what we want to say and how we want to say it as well. You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.

Donna Karan, right, pictured with Harvey Weinstein, second from left, at the amfAR New York Gala in 2011. (Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Celebrities like actress Mia Farrow and chef Anthony Bourdain were swift in their condemnation of Karans comments. Actress and director Rose McGowan, who the Times reported was one of at least eight women who settled lawsuits against Weinstein, called Karan deplorable.

Donna Karan you are a DEPLORABLE Aiding and abetting is a moral crime. You are scum in a fancy dress pic.twitter.com/Vze7lnpdvj  rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017

To @dkny How many seventeen year olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, "asking for it "? https://t.co/oYyO9tfFKz pic.twitter.com/Fck0h5m13R  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 10, 2017

No more Donna Karan for me https://t.co/QsflmGq7hz  Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) October 10, 2017

Donna Karan just single handedly ruined her career and any chance of being respected as a champion of women's causes ever again. Wow.  Sarah Wynter (@sarahwynter) October 9, 2017

Other netizens were similarly scathing in their criticism.

Story continues

Donna Karan trying to profit off womens sexuality while simultaneously condemning it makes her... basically like all of America.  Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) October 10, 2017

If I owned any Donna Karan, I would burn it.  Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 10, 2017

Donna Karen just devalued a lifetime of work by devaluing victims of sexual harassment and assault. A true shame to see.  Lizelle van Vuuren (@heylizelle) October 10, 2017

Say it together now: no matter how you dress, nobody is entitled to sexually harass/assault you. #basics #DonnaKaran https://t.co/sGKgM2qeM3  Heidi Phelps (@msheidip) October 10, 2017

Karan later distanced herself from her comments, saying they were taken out of context.

Last night ... while answering a question on the red carpet I made a statement that unfortunately is not representative of how I feel or what I believe, Karan said.

My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein, Karan added. I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable ... I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

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Related...

These Are The Most Incendiary Accusations Against Harvey Weinstein

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Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
(HAZARD, Ky.)  The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that he will sign a new rule overriding the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era effort to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The war on coal is over, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt declared in the coal mining state of Kentucky. He said no federal agency should ever use its authority to declare war on any sector of our economy.

For Pruitt, getting rid of the Clean Power Plan will mark the culmination of a long fight he began as the elected attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt was among about two-dozen attorney generals who sued to stop President Barack Obamas push to limit carbon emissions.

Closely tied to the oil and gas industry in his home state, Pruitt rejects the consensus of scientists that man-man emissions from burning fossil fuels are the primary driver of global climate change.

President Donald Trump, who appointed Pruitt and shares his skepticism of established climate science, promised to kill the Clean Power Plan during the 2016 campaign as part of his broader pledge to revive the nations struggling coal mines.

In his order Tuesday, Pruitt is expected to declare that the Obama-era rule exceeded federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet.

Pruitt appeared at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at Whayne Supply, a Hazard, Kentucky, company that sells coal mining supplies. The stores owners have been forced to lay off about 60 percent of its workers in recent years.

While cheering the demise of the Clean Power Plan as a way to stop the bleeding, McConnell conceded most of those lost jobs are never coming back.

A lot of damage has been done, said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. This doesnt immediately bring everything back, but we think it stops further decline of coal fired plants in the United States and that means there will still be some market here.

Obamas plan was designed to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The rule dictated specific emission targets for states based on power-plant emissions and gave officials broad latitude to decide how to achieve reductions.

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The Supreme Court put the plan on hold last year following legal challenges by industry and coal-friendly states.

Even so, the plan helped drive a recent wave of retirements of coal-fired plants, which also are being squeezed by lower costs for natural gas and renewable power, as well as state mandates promoting energy conservation.

The withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan is the latest in a series of moves by Trump and Pruitt to dismantle Obamas legacy on fighting climate change, including the delay or roll back of rules limiting levels of toxic pollution in smokestack emissions and wastewater discharges from coal-burning power plants.

The president announced earlier this year that he will pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Nearly 200 countries have committed to combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

This president has tremendous courage, Pruitt said Monday. He put America first and said to the rest of the world we are going to say no and exit the Paris Accord. That was the right thing to do.

Environmental groups and public health advocates quickly derided the decision as short sighted.

Trump is not just ignoring the deadly cost of pollution, hes ignoring the clean energy deployment that is rapidly creating jobs across the country, said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club.
Mr Prince would need to establish residence in Wyoming: Getty

One of Americas most controversial mercenaries is being encouraged to make a run for the US Senate - the latest insurgent candidate to be backed by Donald Trumps former strategist, Steve Bannon.

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a private security contractor firm used extensively by the administration of George W Bush, is said to be seriously considering challenging Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who currently holds a senior position in the Senate Republican leadership.

Mr Bannon, the arch-nationalist who served as Mr Trumps chief strategist until he was fired this summer, is seeking to push numerous anti-establishment candidates to challenge mainstream Republicans across the country ahead of the 2018 mid-terms. Last month, Mr Bannons populist mission received a boost when the candidate he backed in the Republican primary for the senate seat in Alabama, beat the mainstream politician who had been supported by Mr Trump and the Republican leadership.

14 Iraqi civilians were killed and 18 injured in an incident in Baghdad involving Blackwater contractors in September 2007 (AP)

Reports said Mr Prince, a former US Navy SEAL officer, spent the weekend in Wyoming to discuss a possible campaign with family members. To be eligible to run, Mr Prince, who currently lives in Middleburg, Virginia, would need to establish residency in Wyoming. His family owns a large ranch in the states Wapiti Valley.

Mr Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, generated both headlines and controversy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when the Bush administration sought to make use of private contractors as part its so-called war on terror. Human rights groups highlighted reports of torture and abuse linked to various mercenaries.

The Associated Press said Mr Prince received millions of dollars worth of government contracts. Yet in 2007, several Blackwater employees were involved in the shooting deaths of 14 civilians in Baghdad. Four former employees were convicted on federal charges in 2014 - one for murder and the others for voluntary manslaughter.

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But an appeals court in August ordered a new trial for the defendant convicted of murder and re-sentencings for the defendants convicted of manslaughter.

This summer, Mr Prince, 48, whose business was bought by investors in 2010 and which has since been renamed Academi, found himself back in Washington where he was pitching a plan to bring an end to Americas longest running war - the conflict in Afghanistan.

Mr Prince has been shopping around a plan to replace thousands of American soldiers in Afghanistan with contractors from foreign countries led by a viceroy with huge power over US military policy. The plan received the support of Mr Bannon.

This plan would use former Special Operations veterans as contractors who would live, train and patrol alongside their Afghan counterparts at the lowest company and battalion levels - where it matters most, Mr Price wrote.

Mr Bannon, now back at the helm of the powerful Breitbart News, has said he hopes to support numerous anti-establishment candidates, making use not just his news platform but millions of dollars from New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.

Mr Bannon has already indicated he has plans to back challenges in Arizona, Nevada and Mississippi. Yet he also has his sights on Nebraska and Tennessee, where the retirement of Senator Bob Corker has created a vacancy.

Neither Mr Barrasso or Mr Prince have yet to comment on the report. Mr Prince did not immediately respond to inquiries.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Union should not mediate in the secession crisis in Spain's northern region of Catalonia as Madrid is able to handle the situation, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. Macron was speaking ahead of a possible proclamation of independence later on Tuesday by Carles Puigdemont, president of the Catalan regional government, that would aggravate Spain's worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981. "Why are Europe, France and Germany not interfering in the Catalan issue? Because Europe is made up of sovereign states," Macron said on a visit to Frankfurt, Germany, where he later met Chancellor Angela Merkel. "If I were to intervene in the Catalan matter it would be interfering in the domestic affairs of Spain and that would be intolerable for the prime minister and for the Spanish monarch." Macron backed Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in his standoff with the secessionists. "I don't have the feeling that they are being oppressed," he said. "That is why I continue to hold firm to this line in my declarations of support for Mariano Rajoy - because if I don't there will be disintegration," he said in a debate before university students. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Additional reporting by Michel Rose in Paris; Editing by Michelle Martin/Mark Heinrich)
Community members at an interfaith iftar organized by Crescent Peace Society in June.

After President Donald Trumps election and a corresponding spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes, one small group in the Kansas City area started organizing monthly Meet a Muslim events  an effort to show community members who Muslims really are in real life, as opposed to the negative stereotypesthey might seein the news.

The events were an idea from the nonprofit Crescent Peace Society, which has been seeking to raise awareness and improve understanding of Muslim cultures through interfaith events and dialogue since its founding in 1996.

The volunteer-run group was started by a handful of Muslim parents after the Oklahoma City bombing, when some of their kids were afraid to return to school because classmates said they were responsible for the attack.

Since then, the group has been organizing annual interfaith dinners, local visit a mosque events, and a yearly iftar to break the Ramadan fast  all with non-Muslim community members so they can get to know Muslims face-to-face and counter misconceptions.

But late last year, almost exactly two decades after the groups founding, Trump won the presidency with a campaign full of anti-Muslim rhetoric. Crescent Peace Society, which is based in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, received a wave of requests from neighbors around the Kansas City area who wanted to do something for the Muslim community but didnt know how  or had never even met a Muslim, the groups president, Ahsan Latif, told HuffPost.

Thats when he started the monthly Meet a Muslim events, inviting non-Muslims to sit around a table with Muslims and just talk  about current events, their families, their faith, anything. The events, which are free and open to the public, have been at locations including an Islamic Center, a church and a synagogue. The first drew about 200 people and subsequent events have brought in about 150 each.

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I was surprised by my own misconceptions, particularly about the lives of women within the Muslim religion, participant Becky Plate, who is non-Muslim, told HuffPost by email of her experience at one event. I consider myself a pretty well-informed individual ... but even I had allowed news stories, about things like women secretly learning to drive in Saudi Arabia, to color my opinions.

For Latif, this type of myth-busting is exactly what the events are all about.

It distills our mission down to one event: getting to know people on a person-to-person basis, Latif said. Its harder to demonize someone or think theyre monolithic when you actually get to know them.

We speak as average people, not as mosque officials, he added. So people get to know who regular people are who practice the faith.

Muslim and Jewish community members speak at a "Meet a Muslim" event at a synagogue in March.

Latif, a 36-year-old attorney who had attended the organizations annual dinners when he was younger, became president of the group three years ago after one of the aunties asked me to  and I dont like to say no to the aunties, he said.

Latif usually kicks off the events with a short introduction about the group and Islam in general and then hands control back to the tables  which each have at least one Muslim moderator  to carry on their own, more intimate discussions.

The tables all have handouts to help guide conversation, with facts about Islam and Muslims in Kansas City and the U.S. After an hour or so, the Muslim moderators rotate to new tables. Latif said he makes a point of ensuring a diverse group of Muslims are present, with moderators including everyone from an Iraqi refugee to a Somali-American couple to an African-American recent convert, so they can see we come in all different looks and ethnicities, he said.

Table moderator Zehra Shabbir, who is Muslim and has been a member of Crescent Peace Society for four years, has attended several events. She was surprised both by the level of concern for and solidarity with Muslims she saw from non-Muslim attendees, as well as by some of the misconceptions people had about Islam, including everything from the veil to womens rights.

How can there be such a negative outlook on a group of people that nearly 60 percent of Americans have never even spoken to? Shabbir told HuffPost by email. That stat alone makes initiatives like this important. We all fear the unknown, but that fear can be broken once you sit down with someone different and just talk to them.

This photo was shared to the Crescent Peace Society Facebook page in June by a community member who had attended an interfaith event. It included the comment: "Gracious, warm hospitality accompanied by amazing cuisine. Thank you for giving us the chance to break bread together. This is exactly how real communities are built, made stronger. We were honored to be your guests."

The Crescent Peace Societys Meet a Muslim events are one of a handful of similar initiatives that have sprung up across the country since the election. One Muslim couple started a dinner with your Muslim neighbor project in Seattle, for instance, and a Muslim veteran has been traveling the country with a sign reading Im Muslim and a U.S. Marine, ask anything.

When asked whether such projects place undue responsibility on Muslims to have to humanize themselves to non-Muslims, particularly in an environment of increased fear among the Muslim community, Latif demurred.

Theres a lot of discussion in progressive circles on whose job it is to humanize people, and I understand its off-putting to explain, Im just a human being just like you are, he said. But weve found in our work that waiting for other people to do the work doesnt get anything done. You have to take that first step and hope that other people will join you.

If we dont speak, then other people write the narratives for us, he added.

Amid a recent rise in anti-Muslim hate groups nationwide  and spate of hate crimes in recent years in the Kansas City area  Latif recognizes the effect and reach of the groups events are small. But even if they touch only a few hundred people, he believes they still have value.

There are so few Muslims and so much said about them, Latif said. Even just meeting people who [already] support us, they can say to their extended families: Ive met a Muslim person and this is what I found out, so its a ripple that hopefully reverberates further out.

My goal is to make a difference with people around me, he added. There are things happening in the world I cant control  what I can control is to project the message and get to know people in the local community, and hopefully do good that way.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Campaigning began on Tuesday in an election that pits Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party against the fledgling Party of Hope led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and other smaller parties contesting seats in Japan's more powerful lower house of parliament. The following are the stances on key policies from the LDP, Party of Hope and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), another new party made up of the rump of the disbanded opposition Democratic Party. The election is Oct. 22. SALES TAX HIKE LDP - Proceed with a planned sales tax hike in 2019 to 10 percent from the current 8 percent. Use part of the revenue from the increase for childcare and welfare programmes. Hope - Freeze the scheduled sales tax hike to ensure economic recovery. CDPJ - The sales tax should not be raised to 10 percent at once. ECONOMY LDP - Accelerate the "Abenomics" recipe of hyper-easy monetary policy and fiscal spending to realise economic recovery and break away from deflation. - Maintain the objective of turning Japans budget balance to a surplus, without setting a deadline for achieving it. The party previously said it aimed to hit the goal by fiscal 2020. - Boost Japan's productivity and cope with labour shortages through innovation in such areas as robots, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. - Maintain the Bank of Japan's ultra-easy monetary policy as debate on withdrawing the stimulus is premature. Hope - Scrap over-reliance on fiscal spending and monetary easing. Maintain the Bank of Japan's massive stimulus for the time being, but call on the government and the BOJ to work together to seek a smooth exit from ultra-loose monetary policy. - Impose tax on companies' huge internal reserves and use the proceeds to improve Japan's fiscal health and make up for a shortfall of revenues from freezing the sales tax hike. - Seek to adopt a "basic income" system, in which all citizens receive a set amount of money on a regular basis, to help low-income households. - Maintain the Bank of Japan's ultra-easy policy for the time being but urge the central bank to work with the government to seek a smooth withdrawal of stimulus in the future. CDPJ - Boost wages of childcare and nursing care workers. - Put a cap on working hours and raise minimum wages. - Realise "equal pay for equal work". CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION LDP - Revise the pacifist constitution to provide a firm legal basis for Japan's military, which is called the Self-Defense Forces. Article 9 of the constitution, which was drafted by the United States after World War Two, renounces war as a means for resolving international disputes, and the maintenance of armed forces for this purpose. Hope - Hold debate on possible revisions to Article 9 and other parts of the constitution. CDPJ - Oppose the LDP's plan to clarify the status of the military in the constitution. SECURITY LDP - Take a leading role as the international community applies pressure on North Korea to convince Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes. - Further solidify Japan's alliance with the United States and strengthen Tokyo's missile defence capabilities. Hope - Echoes the LDP's calls for strict enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, early return of those Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, and tighter alliance with the United States. CDPJ - Use diplomacy to resolve the North Korean crisis peacefully. Uphold exclusively defensive security policy. NUCLEAR POWER LDP - Utilise nuclear power as an important part of Japan's energy mix for now as long as its safety is ensured, but will lower the country's dependence on nuclear energy as more renewable energy sources are introduced. Hope - End nuclear power by 2030 amid public safety worries after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Offer government aid on research to increase the ratio of renewable energy to 30 percent. CDPJ - Put an end to nuclear power as soon as possible. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Malcolm Foster & Simon Cameron-Moore)
A little bit of fall fun turned into a nightmare for a Utah family after they realized they left their young son behind in a local corn maze.

Police officers were called to the Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan, Utah, at 7:30 p.m. on Monday night after it was reported that a child had been left behind, according to KUCW.

When officials could not get in touch with the 3-year-old boy's parents, they brought the child to Division of Child and Family Services and allowed him to stay the night.

Thankfully, the boy's distraught mother called the police station the next day at 7:40 a.m. to report that her child was missing.

Although the child is back in his parents' care, police are still investigating the circumstances behind the incident.

RELATED: Check out these pumpkin spice products for fall:
Seth Meyers says of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, "I was disgusted and shocked." A fair response to the news that a man allegedly spent decades sexually harrassing women  but his female writers were not so shocked.

SEE ALSO: Harvey Weinstein has been fired from The Weinstein Company

Three writers on Late Night with Seth Meyers tore into Weinstein's apology, and made the point that women put up with creepy behaviour like that displayed by Weinstein all the time, so the news really isn't shocking. "Every woman in the American workforce has been harassed at some point," they assert.

"So while we weren't shocked by Weinstein's actions, the women on our staff had some pretty strong reactions to his apology." They then cut to a sketch of women reading the official apology, spitting beverages, binning phones and rolling their eyes right out of their heads.

To finish off Seth Meyers asked the writers what could be done to counter this sort of behaviour, to which they answered, "Sexual harassment training, believing women when they come forward with complaints, also men could stop being such fucking creeps."

It wasn't all world-weariness though, as Meyers told the writers that Weinstein had indeed been fired, and they responded with a group beverage-spray. They'd finally been shocked after all.
PureWow

King Charles is taking on yet another important role that was previously held by his late father, Prince Philip. This week, the royal family released a brand-new portrait of the monarch, as he officially takes on the role of Park Ranger of Windsor Great Park. In the photograph, His Majesty is standing next to a giant oak tree in an open field while the sun shines brightly. King Charles looks like a whole new man in the pic and is dressed in a camel-colored suit and holding a cane in his hand. Vi
Berlin (AFP) - Two men in Berlin became the first same-sex couple to adopt a child in Germany, a human rights association said Tuesday, cheering another "big step forward" for gay people.

Germany took big strides towards granting equal rights to gays and lesbians when it allowed same-sex couples to wed from October 1.

Berliners Michael and Kai Korok promptly transformed their civil partnership into marriage on October 2.

Two days later, they submitted their wedding certificate to seek legal adoption of a two-year-old boy who has lived with them as a foster child since birth.

Confirmation of their adoption came through on October 5, said the gay and lesbian rights organisation LSVD in Berlin and Brandenburg state.

"It's once again a big step forward for gays and lesbians with better judicial security," LSVD spokesman Joerg Steinert told AFP.

"It is also proof that 'marriage for all' is not just symbolic."

Lawmakers this year voted to give Germany's roughly 94,000 same-sex couples the right to marry, following a shift in position by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Through the extension of existing marriage law to same-sex couples, gays and lesbians automatically gained the same tax advantages and adoption rights as other families.

Merkel had surprisingly allowed conservative MPs to follow their conscience on a gay marriage vote -- the trigger for the rush to pass a bill before the parliament's summer recess.

The German leader explained her thinking had changed after a "memorable experience" when she met a lesbian couple who had lovingly cared for eight foster children in her Baltic coast constituency.

Her shift in position -- after 12 years of blockade by her Christian Democrats and their Bavarian allies -- was seen by some as a tactical move to deprive her challengers of a popular campaign issue ahead of September's election.
By Gul Yousafzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - (This October 9 story has been refiled to correct paragraphs 1, 5 after police revise toll to three Hazaras killed, not five.) Gunmen killed five men, including three Shia Muslims from the ethnic Hazara minority, in southwest Pakistan on Monday, a police official said, giving details of the second shooting targeting Hazaras in a month. The attack took place in Quetta, where nearly half a million Hazaras have settled since fleeing Afghanistan to escape the violence in their homeland during the past four decades. The attackers opened fire from a motorcycle killing the five men who were traveling in the back of a pick-up truck, on their way to sell vegetables at a market, the official said. "It was a sectarian target killing," senior police officer Malik Nisar told Reuters, adding that the attackers escaped after opening fire. "It was unclear initially, but now we know that it was three Hazaras among the five people killed," he said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Hazaras are frequently targeted by Taliban and Islamic State militants, and other Sunni Muslim militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. More than 20 Hazaras have been killed in similar shootings in Baluchistan in the past two years, police say. In 2013, three separate bombings killed over 200 people in Hazara neighborhoods, raising international awareness of the plight of the community. The ongoing violence in Pakistan's Baluchistan province has fueled concern about security for projects in the $57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a transport and energy link planned to run from western China to Pakistans southern deep-water port of Gwadar. A suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in the Baluch town of Jhal Magsi on Thursday killed 22 people and wounded more than 30 others. The bombing was claimed by Islamic State and is the latest sectarian attack in the restive province. Taliban and other Sunni Islamist militants are active in the province, while ethnic Baluch separatists have run a low level insurgency for decades, mounting attacks on security forces and other targets linked to the central government. Elsewhere in Pakistan on Monday, an official said gunmen killed three soldiers and wounded eight in an attack on their vehicle in the semi-autonomous tribal region of North Waziristan. North Waziristan was a Taliban stronghold until 2014, when Pakistan's military launched a major offensive against the group and pushed many of its fighters across the border into Afghanistan. Following Monday's attack, security forces closed off roads in Razmak district, and surrounding villages. (Additional reporting by Haji Mujtaba; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Flipboard is changing the way it works with online publishers, thanks to two connected announcements.

First, publishers no longer need to work directly with Flipboard in order to get their stories into the app. Instead, there's a new self-serve signup option, allowing Flipboard to automatically pull in stories from publishers' RSS feeds.

To be clear, CEO Mike McCue said Flipboard isn't going to let everyone into the app. Instead, there's going to be a review process after a publisher is submitted, to ensure that they comply with Flipboard's content rules (among other things, those rules forbid hate speech).

Second, Flipboard doesn't plan to convert all of those articles into the app's native format. Instead, it's going to focus on the mobile web.

Flipboard already includes some non-native articles, but now it's creating a more formal system around them, where publishers who meet certain content and advertising guidelines will get a "RED bolt" by their articles (the symbol is, in fact, a red lightning bolt, but the name also stands for Reader Enhanced Display).

Flipboard RED bolt

The idea, McCue said, is to "celebrate the best of the mobile web," giving readers a clear signal about which articles will load quickly without any annoying advertising. In addition, RED bolt articles will be prioritized in Flipboard.

Publishers who are participating in the Google-led Accelerated Mobile Pages project will probably be RED Bolt-ready from the start, and they'll be fast-tracked accordingly. (The guidelines requires pages to load in one second or less and to avoid aggressive pop-up ads.)

McCue said the native article format isn't going away entirely  but it does sound like the focus is shifting. Flipboard says there are hundreds of RED Bolt publishers on-board already, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Verge and Axios.

Since these are the publisher's own pages, the publishers will remain in charge of the ads. However, McCue said he's interested in working with publishers on new types of mobile ad units in the future.

Story continues

When I asked if moving away from native articles could hurt Flipboard's opportunities to make money from advertising, he replied, "I'm not too worried about that part"  because if the audience is happy and publishers are happy, "Flipboard is going to do great from a monetization point of view."

Instead, McCue said, "What I am concerned about is the state of mobile web advertising." Contrasting the crummy ads that we often see on mobile web pages with the beautiful and relevant advertising that can appear in the best magazines, he argued that his goal is to figure out, "How do we create an environment digitally, on the mobile web, that replicates and modernizes those fundamental principles?"

As for why bringing on more publishers is important in the first place, McCue acknowledged that Flipboard isn't suffering from a dearth of content on some subjects (like Donald Trump). However, he suggested that this will give Flipboard more depth in narrower topics (the company's aim, after all, is to help people follow their passions, whatever those passions might be). This could also help Flipboard make inroads in countries where it doesn't have many editorial partnerships.

Those publishers will be encouraged to promote their Flipboard accounts through social plug-ins  a strategy that could help publishers get more traffic through Flipboard, and could provide a nice boost for Flipboard itself.
France will not recognize Catalonia if it declares independence from Spain, according to Nathalie Loiseau, the countrys minister of European affairs.

If there were a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral [and] it would not be recognized, Loiseau told French news channel CNEWS. If Catalonia were independent, Loiseau cautioned, the first consequence is that automatically it would leave the European Union.

Carles Puigdemont, the president of the wealthy northeastern Spanish region, may declare independence Tuesday when the Catalan Parliament next meets. That threat comes after Spanish government forces cracked down on what they viewed as an illegal independence referendum held Oct. 1.

EU officials have long hinted sotto voce that the laws of the land are those of member states  meaning Spains constitution would prevail in the dispute. The countrys Constitutional Court declared Catalonias bid unconstitutional. But Frances vocal rejection makes clear the perilous path that any independent Catalonia would have to tread.

Just one no vote on recognition would prevent an independent Catalan membership in the EU and NATO.

Frances reaction is easy to understand, as the splintering of centuries-old states in Europe is rekindling Frances own separatist fires. Corsican and Breton nationalists have pushed to leave the third-largest economy in the EU. French President Emmanuel Macrons coalition handily won the June legislative elections but took no seats in Corsica. Instead, the island chose three members of parliament from a Corsican secessionist alliance.

Corsican separatists went to Catalonia to follow the referendum firsthand, and its leaders hinted at a similar move down the road. In about 10 years, if the Corsicans are assured of having material and economic stability, we may be in the same conditions as Catalonia today, said Jean-Guy Talamoni, the president of the Corsican Assembly.

Breton nationalists in Nantes last week demanded that the city leave Frances Pays de la Loire region and then form an independent Brittany. A banner depicting a version of the Catalan flag with the flag of Brittany declared, In Brittany, as in Catalonia, it is we who decide.

Story continues

Let us recall that the definition of the French nation, around a pact called republican, has never been validated by any referendum in [France], said Caroline Ollivro, the president of Breizh Europa, a Breton nationalist organization.

On the ground in Catalonia, as separatist rhetoric turns into nationalist action, banks and businesses are increasingly getting spooked. The Catalan business association says capital is fleeing and estimates that hundreds of companies could be pulling up stakes in the region and heading to other parts of Spain.

On Friday, the board of CaixaBank, which makes up roughly half of Catalonias banking sector, announced that it would be moving its headquarters to Valencia. Theres a simple reason why: Banks deal in real currencies with existing economies.

The bank wants to protect the interests of [its] customers, shareholders and employees by ensuring that the entity remains in the euro-zone and under the supervision of the European Central Bank, it said in a release.

Sabadell, another of Spains largest banks, said it would move from Barcelona to Alicante, another city in the Valencia region.

Sabadell emphasized that it would continue to operate with absolute normality under the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority, according to a press release last week.

Toll road management company Abertis and wireless company Cellnex Telecom, each based in Barcelona, were likely to talk about leaving on Monday, according to one BBC report.

Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
"I know Christians, and they dont confront people in the street, or in a place of business," Bedlam Coffee co-owner Ben Borgman said. (Photo: Ben Borgman)

The openly gay co-owner of a Seattle coffee shop is feeling the heat after a video of him asking a group of anti-abortion activists to leave his establishment surfaced last week.

Ben Borgman, who co-owns Bedlam Coffee in Seattles Belltown neighborhood, got into an argument with members of Abolish Human Abortion when he asked the group to take their business elsewhere. A video of the altercation was posted to Abolish Human Abortions Facebook page with the caption, Angry homosexual kicks Christian customers out of coffee shop.

Prior to their coffee shop visit, Abolish Human Abortion members had reportedly been distributing anti-abortion leaflets with an anti-LGBTQ message around the city. One of the leaflets, which can be viewed here and here, showed an image of an aborted fetus lying beneath a pair of rainbow-colored hands dripping with blood.

We are a prideful culture full of hatred, bigotry, intolerance and oppression, the brochure read. All our talk about loving and accepting people for who they are is nothing but self-serving hypocrisy  a flimsy, transparent lie.

Some say God is hateful, but God is merciful, it continued. Yet God still hates sin.

In the video, Borgman can be seen holding one of the leaflets. This is offensive to me. I own the place, he can be heard saying in the video, before asking the group to leave the shop. When one of the groups members asks Borgman why hes not willing to tolerate our presence, he responds, If I go get my boyfriend and f*ck him in the a** right here... are you going to tolerate it?

Bedlam Coffee is located in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. (Photo: Bedlam Coffee)

Out Magazine, The Stranger and LGBTQ Nation are among the many outlets to have posted about the video, which has been viewed over 660,000 times since it was uploaded last week. Conservative sites like The Blaze and The Washington Times have published their own takes, too. (Warning: the video contains graphic language.)

Later, one member of the group tells Borgman that Jesus Christ can save him from that lifestyle. Im not going to be saved by anything, he fires back. Id f*ck Christ in the a**, OK? Hes hot!

Story continues

Borgman, who has co-owned and operated Bedlam Coffee for eight years, told HuffPost he politely asked the Abolish Human Abortion members to leave before the discussion became heated.

I know Christians, and they dont confront people in the street, or in a place of business, he said. They certainly dont print out a bunch of hate messages and fold them up like pretty butterflies and leave them in parks for kids to find. Theres the crime in this story  what did that cost Seattle to clean up, I wonder?

Meanwhile, hes dismissed the accusation that he and his company were discriminating against Christians when he asked the activists to leave the shop.

We have religious organizations that meet here regularly, he said. These people were not thrown out for being Christian. Ive been so clear about that. This removal was very focused on this group, or any group like them.

He continued, They were put out because they print ugly crap and hand it out in my town, period. I would have thrown out a group that tried to print ugly crap about Christians, too. Trying to stir up hate and discontent is not how to fix things.

One of the activists, Caytie Davis, said the pamphlet was one that the group had been handing out elsewhere in the city, but stressed that none of us had dropped anything in the store.

We had nothing on us, we werent distributing anything, she told The Liberator. They had good coffee. Its just too bad the service sucked.

Ultimately, Davis hopes Borgman and his colleagues will continue to think about the literature, and it convicts them to the point of repentance.

Borgman, on the other hand, wont apologize for his remarks.

Nothing gets erased by apologies, just words. My words are out there, on video... I have to stand by them, theyre mine, he told HuffPost. [I hope that people] take away that we dont hate Christians, we dont even hate anti-abortionists. Its these groups that picket funerals, and blow up clinics, and paint swastikas. These are the groups who cant meet here.

Catch the latest in LGBTQ news by subscribing to the Queer Voices newsletter.

Also on HuffPost

Apple

Not only is Tim Cook, the tech company's CEO, an out and proud gay man, Apple has long had a record of supporting the queer community.



In 2014, thousands of Apple employees celebrated Pride and the company released a statement in support of the Supreme Court's 2013 decision regarding marriage equality saying, "Apple strongly supports marriage equality and we consider it a civil rights issue. We applaud the Supreme Court for its decisions today."

Doritos

Doritos released a special limited edition rainbow-colored version of its beloved chips in September 2015 to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the It Gets Better project.Sadly, the brand's bold and beautiful move drew anger and calls for a boycott from some consumers.

Starbucks

Starbucks has a long history of support for and solidarity with the LGBT community. Not only did the organization raise a Pride flag over its Seattle headquarters in 2014, but the company's CEO famously told an anti-gay shareholder that he was free to "sell [his] shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company" if he had a problem with the company's pro-gay values. The company also released its first LGBT commercial in 2014 featuring drag queens Bianca Del Rio and Adore Delano.



In November 2015 the coffee chain partnered with the Seattle Police Departments (SPD) Safe Place program, an initiative that reportedly aims to train 2,000 Starbucks employees on how to respond to and engage with LGBT victims of violence and effectively report hate crimes to police.

American Apparel

In 2009, American Apparel put its "Legalize Gay" t-shirt in storefront windows in Washinton, D.C. When a group of anti-LGBT vandals broke the store's windows, the company didn't back down, but rather agreed to send shirts to any group in D.C. that was fighting for gay rights.



The company also released a line of LGBT t-shirts in 2013 in cooperation with GLAAD and has featured queer models -- including transgender models -- on numerous occasions.

Levi's

In 2011, Levi's found itself at odds with the Boy Scout's 'Three Gs' principle that had guided the Scouts' membership model for more than 80 years -- that everyone is welcome, provided they are not gay, godless, or a girl. The San Francisco-based denim company pulled its Boy Scout funding, due to the group's exclusionary practice at the time.



In 2014 the company launched a line of Pride-themed t-shirts and hats to support the community.

Oreo

In June 2012, Oreo posted a photo of a rainbow sextuple-stacked cookie to its Facebook page in honor of Pride month. While the responses were mostly positive, some commenters were outraged, even calling for a boycott of the product. Still, Basil Maglaris, Kraft's associate director of corporate affairs, said that the positive comments on the post "far outweighed" the negative ones.

Home Depot

A May 2012 post on the American Family Association web site proclaims, "AFA is promoting a boycott of Home Depot until it agrees to remain neutral in the homosexual culture war. The total number of people who have signed the Home Depot boycott pledge is 719,037." The pledge condemned Home Depot for giving "financial and corporate support to open displays of homosexual activism," because this helps expose "small children to lascivious displays of sexual conduct by homosexuals and cross-dressers." In response to the pledge, which was delivered at Home Depot's annual shareholder meeting, Chairman Blake responded, "We are, and will remain, committed to a culture that fosters an inclusive environment for our associates, our customers and communities in which we exist."

Target

Ben & Jerry's

Nike

Nike got into the LGBT Pride Month spirit in 2013 a very big way -- with the expansion of its all-new, gay-friendly shoe and clothing line.



According to Esquire, profits from the sale of the athletic giant's rainbow-hued #BeTrue collection will be donated to the LGBT Sports Coalition.



In 2012, the company launched the Nike LGBT Sports Summit in Portland, Oregon. The event, founded by Outsports' Cyd Zeigler, the National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project Director Helen Carroll and LGBT sports pioneer Pat Griffin, included college and professional athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, political figures, LGBT advocates, journalists and more.

Chobani

The yogurt company debuted a stunning -- and sexy -- lesbian-themed ad in June 2015.



The inclusive message of the ad, a Chobani spokeperson told The Huffington Post via email, is in line with the company's longtime support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. "As part of our founding mission to make better food for more people, inclusiveness is at the heart of Chobani," the spokesperson added. "Were proud that our products are enjoyed by all and we celebrate that diversity whenever -- and however -- we can."

J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney has shown support for the LGBT community over the years, but that support hasn't come without controversy.



Aside from One Million Mom's infamous boycott of the department store for choosing Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson, J.C. Penney also came under fire in June 2012 when its catalog featured two men on the floor playing and hugging their two children at home indicating, according to the American Family Association, that the company made a "departure from its moorings to God's Word and Mr. Penney's leadership by taking sides in the cultural war in celebration of homosexuality."

Sabra Hummus

Sabra Hummus made an awesome display of support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community by including a real-life gay couple in their advertising campaign in May 2015.

Gap

In March 2015, Gap and Levi's issued a joint statement denouncing an Indiana law which could protect business owners who refuse service to LGBT customers, and a similar bill approved by the Arkansas Senate.



In June 2015 thirteen Gap employees shared their coming out stories in a powerful video for GLAAD's #GotYourBack campaign.



The video was the latest installment in the ongoing GLAAD effort, which aims to encourage allies to speak out in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community throughout Pride Month.Paul Tew of Gap Inc.'s GEAR (Gay Employees, Allies and Resources) said the project was in line with his corporation's belief that "lifting voices out of isolation -- and vocalizing support -- is a critical step in achieving equality."

Kohl's

The department store launched a new ad in November 2015 that featured a same-sex couple.

Part of Kohl's #AllTogetherNow campaign, the ad shows a diverse family preparing a holiday meal together in a bustling kitchen. As they sit down to dinner, a handsome gay couple shares a toast that, from the looks of it, might be celebrating an engagement.

Adidas

Three Adidas staples -- the Stan Smith, the Adilette Slide and the Superstar -- got a limited edition makeover as part of the company's "Pride Pack" in 2015.



Each of the designs draws inspiration from the LGBT rainbow flag, "a symbol of equality and inclusiveness that signifies the diversity of the LGBT community," according to press materials.



A portion of the sales was donated to Portland's New Avenues for Youth, an Oregon-based advocacy group focused on homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adolescents and teens.

Tiffany & Co.

In 2015 Tiffany featured a gay couple for the first time in an ad.



Tiffany rep Linda Buckley told ELLE in a statement that love stories come "in a variety of forms." "The Tiffany engagement ring is the first sentence of the story that a couple will write together as they create a life that is deeply intimate and exceptional."

Nordstrom

"It is our belief that our gay and lesbian employees are entitled to the same rights and protections marriage provides under the law as our other employees," Nordstrom officials said in a 2012 statement. "We also believe supporting freedom to marry will help us create a more attractive and inclusive workplace for our current and prospective employees."



The company also released an ad in 2013 called "The Ultimate Wedding Party," which featured pairs of heterosexual and same-sex couples reveling at a large-scale reception.

Coca Cola

In June 2015 an ad from the beverage giant depicted what appeared to be a queer family with the phrase "'We choose happiness over tradition.' - the Van Bergen family."



The Coca-Cola Company values and celebrates diversity," a representative from The Coca-Cola Company told The Huffington Post. "This ad was developed as part of our Choose Happiness campaign, launched in North West Europe in May. The campaign encourages us all to spread happiness, while fostering unity, diversity and respect.



Coca-Cola previously showed support for the LGBT community through their advertising, including a Superbowl commercial in 2014 that featured two gay dads.

Tylenol

Gay and lesbian couples feature prominently in Tylenol's #HowWeFamily campaign, launched in June 2015, which aims to celebrate the diversity of modern families.



Manoj Raghunandanan, Senior Director of Marketing for Johnson and Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare, told Advertising Age that the ad was representative of his company's commitment to celebrating how "families look and feel different [now] than they did before."

Hallmark

As part of an ongoing social media campaign, Hallmark launched a "social experiment" in which participants were asked to talk about their loved ones on camera without using the expressions "I love you" and "thank you.



The 2015 Valentine's Day installment of "Put Your Heart to Paper" featured a same-sex couple and the Mother's Day version of the campaign included Alex, who identifies as transgender, recounting his touching relationship with his mom, Pam, whom he describes as "the strongest, most wonderful person I know."

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George Clooney has joined other powerful showbiz voices denouncing producer Harvey Weinsteins alleged sexual misconduct.

Its indefensible, the actor told The Daily Beast on Monday. Thats the only word you can start with.

Weinstein, an Oscar-winning movie executive, preyed on women for decades, settling financially with at least eight who accused him of sexual harassment, according to a New York Times report.

Clooney noted that Weinstein gave him his first big break as an actor in From Dusk Till Dawn, and as a director on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Clooney insisted he never knew Weinstein was a serial predator.

A lot of people are doing the you had to know thing right now, and yes, if youre asking if I knew that someone who was very powerful had a tendency to hit on young, beautiful women, sure, Clooney said to the Daily Beast. But I had no idea that it had gone to the level of having to pay off eight women for their silence, and that these women were threatened and victimized.

George Clooney and Harvey Weinstein share a laugh in 2013. Clooney called the accusations against Weinstein "disturbing" in part because many people may have covered them up. (Photo: Michael Kovac via Getty Images)

A day after Meryl Streep told HuffPost that Weinsteins actions were inexcusable, Clooney stepped up the criticism of Weinstein, who was fired this week from his own company.

Its disturbing on a whole lot of levels, because there had to be a lot of people involved in covering that up, Clooney said.

Visit The Daily Beast for the full story.

Weinstein and Clooney, pictured in 2005, collaborated on Clooney's directorial debut, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." (Photo: Evan Agostini via Getty Images)

Also on HuffPost

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Gordon Ramsay has been in the restaurant industry since the 1980s, but if there's one thing he's still not accustomed to, it's the industry's "dirty little secret."

The cocaine epidemic is the subject of Ramsay's new ITV documentary "Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine," in which he travels to Colombia to explore the drug-making process. "I've cooked some serious st in my life but nothing quite on this level," he said while watching a farmer cook the drug.

In the series, he also meets with the drug smugglers responsible for transporting the problem.

RELATED

According to Ramsay, the drug is so prevalent in the industry that he's found cocaine traces in 30 out of 31 of his restaurants around the world, said the Guardian.

He said, "This started the whole dilemma of how far this is going on and the pressure restaurants are up against from customers."

Not only are patrons taking the drug secretly -- in the bathroom -- but they've outright asked the celebrity chef to infuse cocaine in his recipes. Explained Ramsay in an interview with the Radio Times, "When dessert arrived the couple came to me and said, 'Look, everyone on the table is happy you're here, but can you make a souffle like never before and combine icing sugar with coke and dust it?'"

While the series currently only airs on British television, many are hopeful it makes its way to the United States.
By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Two staff members of a Kenyan university were killed south of Mombasa on Tuesday when gunmen fired on vehicles carrying them and students to their campus, the area police chief said. The identity of the gunmen was unclear. Police in the coastal county of Kwale, where the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) has a campus, said they could be robbers or militants. Security is poor in the area and the convoy had a police escort. Somali Islamist militants al Shabaab frequently carry out attacks along the Kenyan coast and have been recruiting new members there. In 2015, al Shabaab gunmen killed 148 students at a university in Kenya's Garissa town near the Kenya-Somali border, an attack that provoked shock and outrage in Kenya and abroad. Two staff members of the university were killed Tuesday's attack, and a driver and two policemen were wounded, area police chief Joseph Chebusit told Reuters. "A bus carrying students of TUM was ferrying them from their hostels to the campus in Ukunda for classes and was being escorted by a van that had some staff of the college and two escort police officers," the policeman said. "Armed men numbering about 10 emerged from the bushes and started firing at the van in front. As a result two ladies who are staff of TUM were killed in the van. The driver of the van and two police officers were injured," he said. "We have information that the attackers had other accomplices along the road who were monitoring the movement of the two vehicles and communicating with them to enable the attack," he added. "For now we are treating it as a crime like any other as we continue with investigations but that does not mean we are ruling out al Shabaab." A witness who did not want to be named told Reuters she and several other students had fled their vehicle when gunmen opened fire on them and had seen several students covered in blood. But Chebusit said no students were injured. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among several women to come forward with claims against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in recent days

Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have come forward to allege that Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul, sexually harassed them when they were young aspiring actresses.

It came as Weinstein, 65, was accused of rape by three other women in an explosive expose in the New Yorker magazine.

The allegations marked a shocking escalation of a scandal that has engulfed Hollywood.

Both Paltrow and Jolie described how the producer, who was instrumental in launching Paltrow's career, made unwanted advances toward them in hotel rooms. In the same article in the New York Times, five other women went on the record to allege sexual assualt or harassment at the hands of Weinstein.

He has vehemently denied the claims and said all his sexual relations were consensual.

Gwyneth Paltrow with Harvey Weinstein on the night she won a Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. She said she was 'petrified' after he tried to pressure the actress into a massage Credit: Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Weinstein also denied claims by the actresses Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino that he damaged their careers after they rejected his unwanted advances.

Paltrow was 22 when Weinstein hired her for her breakthrough lead role in an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.

Paltrow describes encounter

Before filming she was asked to visit his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting, Paltrow told the New York Times.

She said Weinstein then attempted to encourage her into his bedroom for massages. The actress told the New York Times: "I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified. I thought you were my Uncle Harvey."

Paltrow refused and confided in her then boyfriend Brad Pitt who later confronted Weinstein and told him never to touch her again.

The actress said Weinstein yelled at her for telling Pitt and she thought she would be fired. She said: "He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal. I was expected to keep the secret."

She added: "Were at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over. This way of treating women ends now."

Jolie had 'bad experience'

Paltrow's account was echoed by Jolie who said Weinstein made unwanted advances to her in a hotel room during the release of Playing by Heart in the late 1990s. She rejected him.

Story continues

Jolie told the New York Times: "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.

Angelina Jolie said she had warned other actresses about Mr Weinstein after he made unwanted advances toward her Credit: Getty

"This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.

The New Yorker also published an audio tape of a conversation between Weinstein and an Italian model from 2015, in which he can be heard apparently confessing to sexual assault.

Amid the mounting allegations, Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, broke her six-day silence by telling People she was leaving the film mogul she married in 2007.

Weinstein's wife to leave him

The revelation, following Weinstein's remarks last week that she was standing by her man, came as some on social media called for a boycott of her fashion label Marchesa.

"My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband.

"Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time," Chapman said in her statement.

Marchesa did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Weinstein championed the careers of a host of A-list stars, and counted the Clintons and Obamas as friends. Hilary Clinton last night said she was "shocked and appalled" by the allegations, in her first remarks since reports emerged.

She said: "The behaviour described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping stop this kind of behaviour."

Obama breaks silence on scandal

Barack Obama also broke his silence on the scandal, saying he and his wife Michelle were "disgusted by the recent reports".

"Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth and status.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, left, smiles as first lady Michelle Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House Credit: AP

"We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture - including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect - so we can make such behaviour less prevalent in the future."

Amid claims Weinstein's behaviour had been an open secret in Hollywood, George Clooney, who got his first big movie break from the producer, said: "I've never seen any of this behaviour - ever.

"If you're asking if I knew that someone who was very powerful had a tendency to hit on young, beautiful women, sure."

George Clooney said he had 'no idea' the extent of the claims against Weinstein Credit: Getty

But he had "no idea" that "women were threatened and victimised".

Ben Affleck, who also got his first big break from Weinstein, said he felt "sick" after reading the allegations.

Colin Firth, who starred in the Oscar-winning and Weinstein-produced King's Speech, said he was reading the reports with a feeling of nausea.

"He was a powerful and frightening man to stand up to. It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out," he said in a statement to the Guardian. "And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage,."

Arquette: I'll never be that girl

In an article in the New Yorker, Asia Argento, an Italian actress best known for her role in the action film xXx, and a former aspiring actress named Lucia Evans went on the record to allege Weinstein had raped them. A third woman who also said Weinstein raped her declined to be named.

In both articles, Rosanna Arquette claimed that in the early 1990s she went to pick up a script at the Beverly Hills Hotel, arriving at Weinstein's room to find him in a bathrobe and asking for a massage.

She claimed he then tried to forcibly initiate a sexual encounter and, when she refused, named another actress who had advanced her career that way. Arquette said she told him: "Ill never be that girl."

Rosanna Arquette and Harvey Weinstein Credit: Wireimage

The article was written by Ronan Farrow, the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, who said it was the result of a 10-month investigation.

Farrow said he spoke to a total of 13 women who claimed Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015.

Some of those incidents overlapped with eight allegations of sexual harassment reported by The New York Times last week, all of which resulted in financial settlements.

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, seen here with her lawyer, accused Mr Weinstein of groping her breasts during a 'business meeting' Credit: REX

The New Yorker published an audio tape of a conversation between Weinstein and Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, in 2015.

'Caught on tape'

She had gone to New York police following a previous encounter in Weinstein's office when she said he lunged at her, groping her breasts, and tried to put a hand up her skirt.

Gutierrez was fitted with a wire by police in a sting operation. On the tape he could be heard encouraging her into his room as she repeatedly said "I don't want to".

She asked him why he had touched her breast the previous evening. Weinstein said "Im used to that. Come on. Please." He added: "Don't ruin your friendship with me for five minutes."

Miss Gutierrez, a former Miss Italy finalist, was previously invited to one of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's infamous "bunga-bunga" parties when she was 18. The model said she was shocked by the event and demanded to be taken home.

Argento said she was 21 when she invited to a studio party at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, on the French Riviera in 1997.

Asia Argento with Harvey Weinstein in 2004. Ms Argento said Mr Weinstein had forced himself on her Credit: WireImage

She said Weinstein was the only person there and changed into a bathrobe before asking her to give him a massage. She claimed he forced himself on her and she was "terrified".

Mira Sorvino told the New Yorker that Weinstein came to her hotel room and she got him to leave by saying her new boyfriend was arriving.

On the effect on her career she said: "I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it.

Mira Sorvino said Mr Weinstein sexually harassed her when she was promoting the film Mighty Aphrodite, which he produced Credit: REX

In a statement to the New Yorker a spokeswoman for Weinstein said: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.

"Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances."

The statement added: "Mr Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.

Weinstein Co. 'shocked' by allegations

The Weinstein Co of Representatives issued a statement on Tuesday night, saying the alleged actions were "antithetical to human decency".

"The Weinstein Company's Board of Representatives - Bob Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar - are shocked and dismayed by the recently emerged allegations of extreme sexual misconduct and sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein.

"These alleged actions are antithetical to human decency. These allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board. Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false.

"We are committed to assisting with our full energies in all criminal or other investigations of these alleged acts, while pursuing justice for the victims and a full and independent investigation of our own."
The New Yorkers stomach-turning article about Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein published Tuesday, which details several rape allegations, comes with newly released audio of Weinstein admitting to groping a model in 2015.

The way the interaction unfolds (listen below) is all too familiar. Weinstein, who was captured on tape through a police investigation, can be heard alternately pleading with and threatening the model, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, citing his own influence and power while trying to diminish her.

At one point, he tells her, Im a famous guy.

The recording eerily mirrors the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape, released almost exactly a year ago, in which then-reality TV star Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women.

Trumps claim at the time: When youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

Following publication of the tape by The Washington Posts David Fahrenthold in October 2016, Trump dismissed his boasting about sexual assault as locker room talk. Meanwhile, more than a dozen women came forward with stories detailing Trumps history of misogyny.

After The New York Times published its revelatory report on Weinstein last week, Weinstein apologized in a widely criticized statement. He blamed his behavior on the fact that he came of age in the 60s and 70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different.

When faced with allegations of their own mistreatment of women, Weinstein and Trump relied on similar tactics: seeking to discredit their accusers, threatening lawsuits against them and reaching private settlements in an attempt to silence them.

Had there been no stories about Trump  or the accusations against other powerful men such as comedian Bill Cosby and Fox News Roger Ailes and Bill OReilly  the revelations about Weinstein might not have come to light.

Former Weinstein employee Emily Nestor, who said Weinstein sexually harassed her in 2014, told The New Yorker that some of the top figures at his companies knew about his behavior. Back then, she said Irwin Reiter, a longtime Weinstein executive, characterized the mistreatment of women as a longstanding problem within the Weinstein Company.

Story continues

Reiter even reached out to Nestor last year, writing, All this Trump stuff made me think of you.

Over the weekend, President Trump said he was not at all surprised by the allegations against the Hollywood mogul, noting that he has known Harvey Weinstein for a long time.

The president would not say whether he thought Weinsteins alleged actions were inappropriate, only remarking, Well, he says they were inappropriate.

When asked whether Weinsteins history was different from his, Trump again dismissed the Access Hollywood tape as locker room talk and refused to answer further questions about it.

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Since allegations of sexual assault and harassment were publicly leveled against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, hes been fired from his studio and will likely be persona non grata in Hollywood.

His wife, British fashion design Georgina Chapman, is also facing backlash and uncertainty surrounding her fashion label, Marchesa, which has become a red carpet mainstay thanks in part to their relationship.

Weinstein has been married for 10 years to Chapman, who launched her brand in 2004 alongside her business partner Keren Craig. Despite his statements to the contrary, his Hollywood connections have played an integral role in catapulting the fantastical fashion brand to its current star status. Weinstein has produced countless award-winning movies, many of which have been honored at awards shows to which the actresses in those movies have worn Marchesa gowns.

In a 2007 New York Times article, Ruth La Ferla compared Chapman and Craigs fast success to something of a fairy tale: Two designers with no fashion credentials to boast of quickly became a red carpet mainstay after Renee Zellweger opted to wear a dress of their design to the London premiere of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004. The movie was produced by Miramax, Weinsteins production company at the time.

Zellweger in Marchesa. (Photo: Ian West - PA Images via Getty Images)

He has previously dismissed the idea that actresses wear the label to get in his good graces. He told Vogue in 2013 that although he maybe... helped, but just very, very little, with Renee Zellweger, eventually it became actresses calling me on the phone asking if [Chapman] was available for them.

Frieda Pinto in Marchesa at the 2009 SAG Awards. She starred in The Weinstein Company's "Miral." (Photo: Michael Buckner via Getty Images)

But Weinstein hasnt just helped the brand with his star power and connections. He helped with his wallet, too.

Mr. Weinstein, too, has made timely contributions in amounts [Marchesa] would not disclose, the Times reported in 2007. The Weinstein connection has been a source of gossip on the Internet and in the tabloids.

In the years since that piece was written, Marchesa has struggled to set itself apart from Weinstein in public perception. While fashion show reviews tend to focus more on the labels wow factor, publications were as recently as 2014 still pointing out that its robust presence on the red carpet may have to do with its Hollywood connections.

Story continues

Emma Watson in Marchesa at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. She starred in The Weinstein Company's "My Week With Marilyn." (Photo: Anthony Harvey via Getty Images)

Chapman has not yet issued a statement on the new allegations against her husband, and a request for comment went unanswered on Tuesday. Weinstein faced similar allegations in 2015 when he was questioned by police for allegedly groping Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. While the New York Daily News reported at the time that Chapman was furious and humiliated, her public support was steadfast. Days after news broke her husband would not be charged, she posted an Instagram of flowers he gave her for her birthday.

Since Weinstein has been dismissed from his namesake company, its only natural for people to speculate about the fate of the fashion brand so synonymous with his wife, his Hollywood connections and the red carpet, and what role Marchesa may play this awards season. The Hollywood Reporter quoted an anonymous fashion publicists claim that no star is ever going to want to wear the brand again.

That hardly seems fair, since Chapman is not her husband, and is not responsible for his actions. But that has not stopped people from taking to social media to call upon her to make a statement (or else).

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Interesting that Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, hasn't made a public statement about her husband.  Sil Lai Abrams (@Sil_Lai) October 5, 2017

WHERE IS GEORGINA CHAPMAN?  Claudia Oshry (@girlwithnojob) October 10, 2017

I just want the Georgina Chapman tell-all  Laura Turner (@lkoturner) October 5, 2017

While #HarveyWeinstein is busy sinking, are #Marchesa gowns still a must have for the #Oscars?



Asking for a friend.  Anna (@Annagnagna) October 10, 2017

So, Marchesa and Donna Karan are gonna be SOL this awards season. Shoot your shot, indie designers.  ChrisCourtney Martin (@DaRealChrisCo) October 10, 2017

Well have to wait and see how this thread unravels.

UPDATE: Chapman announced Tuesday evening she is separating from Weinstein. My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions, she said in a statement to People.I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time.

Related...

How Harvey Weinstein Put The Media In A Headlock

Olivia Wilde 'Disturbed And Disgusted' By Harvey Weinstein Allegations

British Actress Reveals 'Humiliating' Encounter With Harvey Weinstein

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Hillary Clinton is speaking out against film executive Harvey Weinstein days after The New York Times published a bombshell report detailing numerous sexual harassment allegations against him.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Clinton wrote in a statement released Tuesday. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.

Statement from Secretary Clinton on Harvey Weinstein: pic.twitter.com/L1l2wl9l0I  Nick Merrill (@NickMerrill) October 10, 2017

Until Tuesday afternoon, Clinton had been notably silent on the matter. She didnt mention Weinstein, who has donated and helped raise large sums for the Clintons and the Democratic Party, on Monday at a book tour event at the University of California, Davis  her first public appearance since the news broke.

The former secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, benefited from Weinsteins donations for more than two decades. Weinstein donated in the range of $100,001 to $250,000 to The Clinton Foundation through June 2017, according to the nonprofits website.

Weinstein was a bundler  someone who collects money from others after donating the maximum legal personal contribution to a candidate  for both Clinton and Obama. Hes given a total of $1,422,683 to federal candidates, parties and PACs in all election cycles since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former President Barack Obama has yet to comment on Weinstein. Obama has appeared at several fundraisers Weinstein hosted, praising the Hollywood bigwig for his amazing movies at one such event in 2013. Malia Obama, the former presidents eldest daughter, interned at The Weinstein Company earlier this year.

Story continues

Former Vice President Joe Biden, an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual assault, also hasnt addressed the Weinstein scandal.

Representatives for both Obama and Clinton did not immediately return HuffPosts requests for comment. A representative for Biden declined to comment, as did Sitrick and Company, the high-profile PR crisis firm representing Weinstein.

On Tuesday, The New Yorker published an explosive report that took the accusations against Weinstein even further. Thirteen women interviewed for the story claimed he sexually harassed or assaulted them between the 1990s and 2015. Three of the women allege Weinstein raped them.

One woman, Lucia Evans, told the magazine she was forced to perform oral sex on Weinstein in 2004 at the New York office building for Miramax, the film production company he then ran with his brother.

I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont,  Evans told the magazine. Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. ... I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: People give up, and then they feel like its their fault.

The Times report prompted the board of The Weinstein Company, a film studio Weinstein founded with his brother in 2005, to fire him on Sunday.

Some Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, quickly condemned Weinstein after the initial Times story and said they would be donating to charities campaign contributions from him.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) announced Friday that she would donate the $5,000 she received from Weinstein to a California-based charity that advocates for womens equality.

The Times published an editorial Friday asking major Democratic players, including Obama and the Clintons, to weigh in on the Weinstein reports.

These Democratic leaders, admired by many young women and men, should make clear that Mr. Weinstein also deserves condemnation, the editorial said. If such powerful leaders take the money and stay mum, who will speak for women like Mr. Weinsteins accusers?

The Democratic National Committee got at least $100,000 from Weinstein over the years, according to the Times. DNC officials have announced they will donate $30,000  the amount Weinstein gave the committee during the last campaign cycle  to various groups that work to elect women to office.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said Weinstein raised $1,422,683 between 1990 and 2016 for Clinton and $679,275 between 1990 and 2012 for Obama. The former amount reflects how much he gave to all federal candidates, parties and PACs in all election cycles since 1990, according to CRP.

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As Houston begins the long rebuilding process after Hurricane Harvey, it has an opportunity to transform itself into a city ready and resilient in the face of climate change and the possibility of more extreme weather events.

Known as the oil and gas capital of the world, this city has grappled for years with the challenge of adapting to global warming. While its difficult to know whether climate change is directly responsible for a particular hurricane, some scientists say it will make storms worse and more frequent, and their aftermaths more deadly. Protecting against this now could mitigate future catastrophes. The devastation that Harvey wreaked underscores the importance of urgent action.

In late August, Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm, dumping more than 50 inches of rain on parts of Houston and causing over $150 billion in damage. Before the deluge, Americas fourth-largest metropolis had been taking its first steps toward climate change preparation. Now, experts say the city must ramp up efforts to make energy usage more efficient and improve rules around urban development.

Even if there are people who dont believe in climate change, they accept that the weather has changed, that we are having more storms, said Lara Cottingham, Houstons deputy assistant director for sustainability and strategic customer initiatives.

Cottingham also notes that Hurricane Harvey was Houstons third 100-year flood  an event with a 1 percent probability of occurring in any year  in the past three years.

Interstate 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey seen during widespread flooding in Houston on Aug. 27, 2017.

As a member of C40, a network of the worlds megacities committed to addressing climate change, Houston has already retrofitted city-owned buildings to reduce emissions, and it requires all new city buildings to be LEED-certified, a rating in the global green building system. The Environmental Protection Agency ranked Houston eighth on its list of the top 25 Energy Star cities, behind places such as Dallas and Chicago. More than 50 percent of the city-owned nonemergency passenger cars are hybrids. As of 2017, 89 percent of the city governments total power needs are met by renewableenergy sources.

Story continues

The city is fairly environmentally progressive, compared to much of the rest of Texas. Cottingham calls Houston a blue city in a big, red state. Indeed, Texas Republican governor, Greg Abbott, is a climate change skeptic; Houstons Democratic mayor, Sylvester Turner, is not. But Houston has a limited influence on the fossil fuel industry: Cottingham noted that many of those companies that are based in the area are outside the city limits.

Texas currently ranks 26th among all 50 states in terms of energy efficiency, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Still, Houstons energy-efficiency effort has encouraged other private building owners to seek LEED and Energy Star certification, with many of the oil and gas companies demanding this prime real estate, said Gavin Dillingham, program director for clean energy policy at Houston Advanced Research Center, a group working closely with the city on its sustainability initiatives.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, above, is worried about climate change, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a climate change skeptic.

Dillingham hopes that, post-Harvey, private buildings will take advantage of programs that encourage renewable energy adoption and water conservation, such as the Property Assessed Clean Energy measure, which gives Houston commercial property owners access to low-cost loans to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation projects.

That could be a real game changer if we can get enough uptake by building owners, he said of the PACE program.

Yet energy-efficiency codes dont help prevent flooding. Houston is a flood-prone city, after all. It is flat, situated on a low-lying coastal plain, and built on soil that doesnt drain well. But critics say runaway urban development hasnt helped.

The media heaped blame for the catastrophic Harvey flooding on Houstons famously loose zoning regulations. In a tweet posted Aug. 30, the mayor of Houston challenged this notion. Zoning wouldnt have changed anything, he wrote. The staggering amount of rain dumped on the city would have caused damage no matter how strict the zoning regulations were, he argued.

Though zoning is now under scrutiny, especially in the most flood-prone areas of Houston, Dillingham said theres been no discussion by city officials about making changes to urban planning rules so far.

Moving forward from a storm like Harvey will require actions and collaboration on behalf of residents and regulators, said Robert Muir-Wood, chief research officer at RMS, a catastrophe risk modeling company.

You cant have the fourth-largest city in the U.S. shut down simply because it rained hard, Muir-Wood noted.

During Harvey, about 136,000 buildings flooded in Harris County, which includes Houston, with many of those constructed before 1980s regulations prohibited construction on floodplains. Dillingham said future development will likely change when new floodplain maps are released in 2018 and as more flooded homeowners are seeking buyouts from the county and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Homeowner Maurice Teixeira stands in the entrance way to his family home as he begins cleanup after floodwaters receded in the aftermath of Harvey.

Houston may be loath to regulate land use with zoning laws, but another option is to tighten building codes and more closely monitor how structures are made. These codes can account for rising sea level projections, said Pernille Jgerfelt, editor at the Cities 100 publication at Sustainia, a think tank that highlights successful city solutions on climate change.

Vancouver changed its building bylaws to ensure new buildings were built to withstand the future projections, she said.

Building designs incorporating green infrastructure and low-impact development like permeable surfaces, cisterns and ways to treat stormwater during heavy rains were already growing in popularity in Houston and may see a greater push, Dillingham said. Houston building codes now require some sort of stormwater mitigation methods, he added, and the city is trying to make its new development more low-impact, too.

Jgerfelt said a key trend is cities thinking about green and blue infrastructure, where parks double as water retention basins. Before it was developed, Houston was filled with bayous, which are flat, low-lying marshy areas, and the city is transforming some of these into parks, like the Buffalo Bayou in downtown, Cottingham said. Buffalo Bayou, which was a public-private partnership, is central to Houstons flood control efforts.

The moment to implement sweeping changes may have arrived, and the city cant afford to delay action.

There is often the political will to take action in the aftermath of a disaster. It doesnt last that long, Muir-Wood noted. Six months to a year later, the physical will and the opportunity to spend money will fade.
The internet has made purchasing a car easier than ever before. There are dozens of websites, including Autoblog, that have apps and search tools to help find and compare new car prices. Still, the idea of actually walking into a dealership to deal with haggling, trade-ins, financing and paperwork still seems daunting. Starting soon, Hyundai will be streamlining much of that process with its new Shopper Assurance program. The new service helps knock out much of the legwork before you even step into a dealer. There's even a money-back guarantee.



With Shopper Assurance, potential customers can search Hyundai inventory with "market prices" listed. That price includes the car's MSRP minus incentives and other dealer discounts. Most of the paperwork for the purchase can be done online. This includes valuing a trade-in, applying for financing, checking credit scores and calculating payments. Test drives can be scheduled online and can be done anywhere, including a customer's home or office.



The most interesting part of the new service is the three-day money back guarantee. If for some reason a customer isn't satisfied, they can return the car for full refund. That said, there are a couple of caveats. The car must have fewer than 300 miles on the odometer since purchase and a dealer must inspect the car for damage or wear.



The new service will launch later this year in Miami, Orlando, Dallas and Houston and will roll out in 2018 nationwide.



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Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq said Tuesday it was looking to revive a defunct oil pipeline to Turkey as it looks to restore key exports amid a dispute with the Kurds over their independence vote.

Energy Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi asked three state-owned firms "to come up urgently with a mechanism to repair and renovate" the pipeline from the Kirkuk region claimed by both Baghdad and Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, officials said in a statement.

The move could help restore a strategic alternative route for the central authorities to rival a parallel Kurdish pipeline that also runs from the region's oilfields to Ceyhan.

The Iraqi pipeline was cut off after the Islamic State group seized swathes of the country in 2014, halting a flow of oil to Turkey of up to 400,000 barrels a day.

Both Baghdad and Iraq's Kurdistan region lay claim to Kirkuk province, with each side controlling three of the area's lucrative oilfields.

The Kurdish pipeline -- opened in 2013 -- has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day and accounts for some half of the autonomous region's overall oil exports.

Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP the plan to revive the pipeline was made possible after government forces recaptured areas it crosses from IS.

Iraqi energy expert Ruba Husari said the move showed Iraq's "determination" to "reverse the situation created by the Kurds over the past few years".

Baghdad and Arbil have been locked in a stand-off since voters in Kurdistan overwhelmingly opted two weeks ago for independence in a referendum that the central government slammed as illegal.

Iraq has cut Kurdistan off from the outside world by severing air links to the region, while neighbouring Turkey and Iran have threatened to close their borders and block oil exports.
Actor Jason Ritter from the new ABC dramedy, "Kevin (Probably) Saves The World" visited BUILD Series to discuss his role as the lead character Kevin Finn. He also dished about some of the quirks his character has that he himself relates to and how well he would do if he was granted the ability to save the world.

The show is about Kevin Finn (Ritter) and his down-on-his-luck life when after a meteorite crashes near his house he suddenly meets the celestial being Yvette, played by Kimberly Hebert Gregory, who tells him of his mandatory mission to save the world via acts of kindness.

Ritter told the audience that he enjoyed playing Kevin because "there's a freedom to him because we meet him at a crossroads in life. What's nice about him is he's not particularly cool or good at anything and so I think what's fun is that whatever he's feeling at any particular time is allowed. I never sort of have to feel like, 'Oh he wouldn't do that,' he's kind of like all over the place."

Ritter revealed that he can relate to Kevin's sense of guilt with the relationships he has in his life.

"I feel there are times, certainly, where I've been focused on other things, I've been focused on work and I assume that everyone I know in my life knows that I love them and knows that I care. That was sort of painful to hear that at any point in my life, friends or family members have gone [and say], 'Is this a real relationship?' That was very painful for me to realize!"

Ritter admitted that he can "fall behind the 8-ball in terms of trying to make things up to people," however like Kevin in "Kevin Probably", he will do his best to make amends with his friends or family members whom he neglected far too long for comfort.

Another aspect about Kevin that Ritter thinks he shares in common with is the notion of thinking too far ahead.

"I can think until tomorrow! It's infuriating because someone would be like, 'Hey! Want to do something next week and they see my eyes roll back and then they go, 'Can I call you the day before?,' said Ritter laughingly.

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Since the show revolves around the idea of saving the world so that humanity doesn't lose all hope, if Ritter had the power to save the real world, you probably shouldn't rely on him. He confessed he would be "pretty bad."

"I would really try. I would do my best," Ritter added.

"I have a very low, sort of, anxiety meter especially with this thing of not being able to think too far ahead. I do a lot of, 'It's so and so's birthday tomorrow, I have to go get something,' and I'm just in a store...or I'm at the mall and I would be like 'I can't think of anything...okay I'll get this for me...that's one good thing,'" Ritter concluded.

You can catch Jason Ritter in "Kevin (Probably) Saves The World" Tuesdays at 10pm on ABC!
Amman (AFP) - Authorities in Jordan on Tuesday estimated at more than $10 billion the cost of hosting thousands of refugees displaced from neighbouring Syria since the civil war broke out there in 2011.

The UN says that some 650,000 Syrian refugees are currently being housed in Jordan, but the government puts the figure far higher at around 1.3 million people.

In a statement released on social media, the foreign ministry said "more than $10.3 billion" (8.7 billion euros) had been spent on putting up the refugees.

That figure covered additional expenses in sectors including health, education and employment, and also extra money spent on public services and subsidised food, it said.

Jordan, which shares a 370 kilometre (230 mile) border with Syria, estimates that almost $1.7 billion will be needed to cover the refugees this year.

The kingdom -- which has called for the international community to do more on the crisis -- has recently come under fire from Human Rights Watch for allegedly "summarily deporting" Syrian refugees.

The group said that on average some 400 refugees were being removed each month at the start of 2017 in a move that could be aimed at preventing the violence in Syria spilling over onto Jordanian territory after several armed attacks.

Authorities insisted that any return of refugees to Syria was voluntary and that they only headed to areas in the country that are considered safe.

The UN refugee agency says 93 percent of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live below the poverty line. Around 180,000 of them are housed in two sprawling camps in the desert.

Fighting in Syria has claimed more than 330,000 lives since a brutal crackdown by the army on protesters in 2011 spiralled into all-out conflict.

The UN estimates that more than five million Syrians have been driven from the country by fighting, with the majority settling in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators marched through the Kenyan capital demanding election reforms on Monday, as a rights group said at least 37 people were killed in three days of protests that followed a presidential vote on Aug. 8 that was voided. Last month the Supreme Court nullified incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta's August win due to procedural irregularities. Kenya is due to repeat the presidential election on Oct. 26, pitting Kenyatta against opposition leader Raila Odinga. But Odinga's opposition alliance is threatening to boycott the poll unless the election board changes some personnel. The uncertainty has created political turmoil in the east African nation, which is a regional trade hub and staunch Western ally. Opposition senator James Orengo said demonstrators also wanted to warn ruling party lawmakers not to pass a proposed amendment to the election law that would limit the circumstances in which the Supreme Court could void an election on procedural grounds. "If parliament passes the law tomorrow, it will be like declaring war on the Kenyan people," he said. Shots were fired in the air as the demonstrators marched towards the election board, and police on horseback set up blockades to prevent them from accessing some roads. A police crackdown during three days of protests following the Aug. 8 polls killed at least 37 people, the government-backed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said in a report released on Monday, the highest death toll yet given. Some deaths were "attributed to police using live bullets and a few from police bludgeoning using clubs," the report said. It named a 6-month-old baby girl, a 7-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old girl as victims. (Reporting by John Ndiso; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga hold his picture during a rally in the Mathare slum in Nairobi - REUTERS

Kenyas opposition leader on Tuesday withdrew from the rerun of a presidential election voided by judges in August, tipping an already turbulent country into constitutional crisis.

Raila Odinga said he would not participate in the new vote, to be held on October 26th, after accusing the electoral commission and the ruling party of Uhuru Kenyatta, the president, of plotting to cheat him of victory for a second time.

Raising fears of renewed unrest after police killed more than 30 opposition protesters in the aftermath of the August vote, Mr Odingas coalition called his supporters back onto the streets with demonstrations under the slogan no reforms, no elections to begin from Wednesday.

Mr Odinga said that ruling party loyalists in the commission had refused to make any changes after the supreme court cited widespread illegalities and irregularities in its historic invalidation of President Kenyattas re-election in August.

All the indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one, Mr Odinga, who has run for president four times in the past 20 years, told reporters in Nairobi. It is now clear that the same criminal enterprise that perpetuated the fraud in the August election is firmly in charge of the commission.

By withdrawing from the vote, Mr Odinga said that the electoral commission was legally obliged to postpone the election for 90 days, giving it time to enact the changes he has demanded to ensure a free and fair vote.

But it is far from clear whether the oppositions interpretation of the law is correct.

According to Kenyas constitution, the re-run of the election must be held within 60 days of the supreme courts ruling, a deadline that expires on November 1.

President Kenyatta insisted that the election must go ahead with himself as the sole candidate, prompting celebrations from ruling party supporters.

But victory in a one-man election would almost certainly see another challenge brought before the supreme court and its chief justice, David Maraga, whose duties include swearing in a new president.

Story continues

Perhaps unwisely, the president, furious that his victory had been nullified, has accused Mr Maraga of presiding over a court of crooks in the pay of whites and other trash.

Kenya has grown increasingly politically and ethnically polarised since the supreme courts decision, with the ruling party seeking to use its majority in parliament to force through legislation that would make it harder for judges to overturn Mr Kenyattas victory should he win again.

Western states have accused both the president and his rival of intransigence, condemning Mr Kenyatta for baiting the supreme court and Mr Odinga for making unreasonable demands to remove virtually all the senior leadership of the electoral commission.

The standoff between the two men has led to opposition clashes with police, who have often responded brutally, chasing and beating university students in their halls of residence and teargassing a nursery school in western Kenya. Politicians have also been accused of stirring ethnic tensions.

The ruling party MP for the presidents constituency was arrested last month for vowing to hunt down those who voted for the opposition and circumcise them  an ethnic slur aimed at Mr Railas Luo tribe, which, unlike the presidents Kikuyu, does not practice male circumcision.

An opposition MP, Paul Ongili, was similarly charged with hate speech after calling the president a son of a dog.

Demonstrating the increasingly fraught political atmosphere in the country, a ruling party MP chased Mr Ongili through the grounds of parliament on Tuesday, throwing punches and shouting: We will teach you a lesson. You must respect the president.
Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga withdrew Tuesday from a re-run of the presidential election in the latest twist to a political saga that has plunged the nation into uncertainty.

Odinga, 72, said he was pulling out because Kenya's election panel had failed to make vital reforms -- but he indicated this did not mean his battle was over.

He cited legal arguments which his party believes will compel election officials to begin the whole process from scratch.

The Supreme Court stunned the nation last month when it annulled the August 8 election victory by President Uhuru Kenyatta, citing what it called widespread irregularities in the counting process.

Since then Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) have vowed not to take part in the re-run unless far-reaching changes are made to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

"We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel... All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one," said Odinga.

"After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election... we believe that all will be best served by (the party) vacating its presidential candidature in the election."

Odinga said he was not giving up entirely, but that his move was the only way to ensure a free and fair election.

Leaning on a 2013 ruling by the Supreme Court, the opposition said that if a candidate withdraws, then the IEBC is required to conduct fresh nominations for the presidency.

"It is clear that this provision gives adequate time to undertake the reforms necessary to conduct an election that is in strict conformity with the Constitution," NASA said in a statement.

The legal validity of this argument is likely to be subject to heated debate.

Kenyatta said he was not deterred by Odinga's decision.

Story continues

"We are ready to vote we are ready for elections... it is democratic his right to participate or not," he said.

"We are also telling him it is the people right to choose their leader. It is their sovereign right to choose their leader of choice."

Prominent NASA senator James Orengo called for countrywide demonstrations on Wednesday.

- Electoral law changes -

Odinga's announcement comes as the ruling party dominated parliament pushed forward Tuesday with plans to change electoral laws to reduce "ambiguities" that led to the poll being cancelled.

However the opposition sees the laws as a bid to legalise the "irregularities and illegalities" in the counting process cited by the Supreme Court.

While Kenyans voted peacefully on August 8, the opposition quickly cried foul over tallying and the Supreme Court agreed, citing "disturbing, if not startling, revelations" about the conduct of the IEBC.

These included failing to ensure tally forms were properly transmitted and announcing a presidential result that could not be verified, due to original forms being missing.

The IEBC was also hauled over the coals for failing to open up its computer servers, after the opposition alleged the system was hacked and rigged.

While the beleaguered IEBC has said it has tried to reform its procedures, this has not been enough to placate the opposition, which demanded the firing of top officials and the contracting of new companies to print tallying forms and run the vote counting technology.

The election has plunged Kenya into its worst political crisis since a disputed poll in 2007, which led to violence that left more than 1,100 people died.

However while violence immediately after the August election left 37 people dead -- mostly at the hands of police -- according to a Kenyan rights group, protests have since remained largely peaceful.

The uncertainty has also hamstrung east Africa's largest economy, leading to a slowdown in business across the private sector.
The promotion of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's 28-year-old sister to the country's top decision-making body is a sign he is strengthening his position by drawing his most important people closer to the center of power, experts and officials say.

Kim Yo Jong was named as an alternate member of the politburo within the ruling Workers' Party of Koreathe opaque, all-powerful party organ where top state affairs are decided, the North's official media said on Sunday.

It makes her only the second woman in patriarchal North Korea to join the exclusive club after Kim Kyong Hui, who held powerful roles when her brother Kim Jong Il ruled the country.

"Since she is a female, Kim Jong Un likely does not see her as a threat and a challenge to his leadership," said Moon Hong-sik, research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy. "As the saying goes blood is thicker than water, Kim Jong Un thinks Kim Yo Jong can be trusted."

Unlike her aunt, who was promoted to the politburo in 2012 after serving more than three decades in the party, Kim Yo Jong has risen to power at an unprecedented pace.

Kim Kyong Hui has not been seen since her husband, Jang Song Thaek, once regarded as the No.2 leader in Pyongyang, was executed in 2013. South Korea's spy agency believes she is now in a secluded place near Pyongyang undergoing a treatment for an unidentified disease, according to an August briefing to parliament.

Jang and his wife are not the only relatives to fall from Kim Jong Un's favor.

Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed with a toxic nerve agent at a Malaysian airport in February. Two women are on trial for the murder, which South Korean and U.S. officials believe Kim Jong Un's regime was behind.

Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in Macau, had criticized his family's dynastic rule and his brother had issued a standing order for his execution, according to some South Korean lawmakers.

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In a ponytail and black suits

The smartly dressed Kim Yo Jong, her hair usually pulled back in a ponytail and mostly seen in black suits and black-heeled shoes, made her first debut on state media in December 2011, seen standing tearfully next to Kim Jong Un at the funeral of their father.

Since then, Kim has made several appearances with her brother, giggling at concerts, riding a white horse, smiling as she receives flowers on his behalf at state functions.

Her youth and bubbly personality seen in state media are in stark contrast to the usually glum generals and aging party cadres who follow Kim Jong Un on official duties.

Having previously only occasionally appeared in the background, the young heiress has moved to the front and center of media photos more recently, assisting her brother at numerous high-profile state events.

10_09_Kim Yo Jong

Damir Sagolj/Reuters

At a massive military parade in April to mark the 105th birth anniversary of founding father Kim Il Sung, she was seen rushing out from behind pillars to bring paperwork to her brother as he prepared to give an address.

The same month, she stood alongside him during the unveiling ceremony of a construction project in Pyongyang.

In March 2016, she accompanied Kim Jong Un to a field guidance for nuclear scientists, where he claimed successful miniaturisation of nuclear warheads.

"Kim Yo Jong's official inclusion in the 30-strong exclusive club of North Korea's chief policy makers means her role within the regime will be expanded further," Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute south of Seoul.

Apart from her age, little is known about Kim Yo Jong. She was publicly identified for the first time in February 2011 when a South Korean TV station caught her at a Eric Clapton concert in Singapore with her other brother, Kim Jong Chol.

The three, who all reportedly went to school in Switzerland, are full blood siblings, born to Kim Jong Il's fourth partner, Ko Yong Hui.

Kim Jong Chol, the oldest of Kim Jong Il's sons, does not involve himself in politics, leading a quiet life in Pyongyang where he plays guitar in a band, according to Thae Yong Ho, North Koreas former deputy ambassador in London who defected to the South.

In 2014, Kim Yo Jong was made vice director of the Workers' Party's Propaganda and Agitation Department, which handles ideological messaging through the media, arts and culture.

The position led the U.S. Treasury Department to blacklist her along with six other North Korean officials in January for "severe human rights abuses" and censorship that concealed the regime's "inhumane and oppressive behavior."

Last year, South Korea's former spy chief said Kim Yo Jong was seen "abusing power," punishing propaganda department executives for "minor mistakes".

In a North Korean state media photo in January 2015, she was spotted wearing a ring on her fourth finger during a visit to a child care center.

South Korean intelligence officials say Kim might have married a schoolmate from the prestigious Kim Il Sung University, but this has not been confirmed.

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According to a student, the teachers comments sparked a shouting match in the classroom: Reuters

A professor from Las Vegas has suggested Donald Trump must take some blame for the mass shooting which plagued the city because he has encouraged violence during his presidency.

The US was catapulted into a state of shock just over a week ago after a gunman opened fire on an outdoor country music event and killed 58 and injured more than 500.

Tessa Winkelmann, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, works just minutes away from the strip where the killing spree took place.

Four days after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, Ms Winklemann told her history students people are likely to die because of Mr Trumps tenure. She said she predicted President Trumps election would cause death.

Right when he got elected, I told my classes, three semesters ago, that some of us wont be affected by this presidency, but others are going to die, Ms Winkelmann said to her class on Thursday in a video obtained by the Las Vegas-Review Journal.

She added: "And weve seen this happen right? I dont know that these events would have inevitably happened whether or not he got elected, but he has rhetorical powers every president has to encourage or to discourage [violence]. Right so far all he has done is to encourage violence."

While Ms Winkelmann did not explicitly refer to the Vegas carnage in the video, she cited President Trumps violent, aggressive threats towards North Korea as an example of how rhetoric can lead to violence.

She said: And words, especially if they are coming from someone who is president, have consequences.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned Ms Winklemann and argued the academic should be ashamed of herself.

It is sad she is teaching students such divisive, inaccurate and irresponsible rhetoric, Ms Sanders told the publication. She should be ashamed of herself, and the university should look into it. What a terrible example to set for students.

According to a student, the teachers comments sparked a shouting match in the classroom.

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Ms Winklemann has since apologised for her remarks, saying: I regret that my comments caused more pain during this difficult time. Emotions were running high, and I wish I would have been more thoughtful in how I directed the conversation.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has not yet stated whether Ms Winkelmann will be reprimanded for her remarks.

While we respect academic freedom in the classroom and the right to free speech, we believe the comments were insensitive, especially given the series of events this week and the healing process that has begun in the community, University spokesman Tony Allen said in a statement.

This is not the first time President Trump has been a source of tension and friction in the classroom. The billionaire property developer is said to be a divisive issue among teachers and students alike.

Last month, a Maths teacher at River Ridge High School near Atlanta prohibited students from wearing t-shirts bearing President Trumps signature campaign slogan Make America Great Again. The principal immediately apologised to both the students and their families for what had happened.

In a similar vein, back in June, a New Jersey student called Grant Bernardo wore a Trump Make America Great Again t-shirt on school picture day. However, when his yearbook arrived he found the lettering on his shirt had been digitally removed and he had been left simply wearing a plain black top.

"He was disappointed. This was the first election he has been interested in," his father, Joseph Berardo, said at the time.
The broken window of the hotel room from which Stephen Paddock opened fire - Getty Images North America

A hotel security guard was shot by the Las Vegas mass shootings gunman six minutes before he opened fire on concert-goers, authorities said on Monday, revising the timeline of the attack.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo had previously said the guard was shot after gunman Stephen Paddock fired at the country music festival and that the guards arrival in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel may have caused Paddock to stop firing.

It was not immediately clear why the timeline of the shooting changed a week later and what the impact could be on the investigation.

On Monday, Lombardo said security guard Jesus Campos was in a hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel responding to a report of an open door when he heard drilling from Stephen Craig Paddocks room.

Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security officials, Lombardo said.

Social media photo of Las Vegas gunman Stephen PaddockCredit: Reuters

Six minutes later, Paddock began a 10-minute killing spree that killed 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, Lombardo said.

Authorities also said on Monday that Paddock targeted aviation fuel tanks, stocked his car with explosives and had personal protection gear as part of an escape plan.

Paddock had power tools and was attempting to drill a hole in an adjacent wall, perhaps to mount another camera or to point a rifle through, but he never completed the work, Lombardo said. He also drilled holes and bolted a metal bar to try to prevent the opening of an emergency exit stairwell door near the door of his room.

Lombardo again expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation, but not with the investigators who have yet to pinpoint the motive behind the shooters decision to fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino on a Las Vegas Strip concert crowd of 22,000 on October 1.

"Its because this individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Lombardo said. "We believe he decided to take the lives he did and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."

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There is still no evidence Paddock was motivated by ideology, or that there was another shooter, he said. Investigators have found 200 incidents of Paddock moving through the city, and at no time was he with anyone else, Lombardo said.

Lombardo said police and FBI agents, including behavioural profilers, still havent found a particular event in Paddocks life that might have triggered the shooting. The sheriff added that a complete evaluation of Paddocks mental condition was not yet done. Authorities didnt find a note in his room, only a paper with numbers, he said.

Investigators believe the numbers represented calculations for more precise shots, according to a law enforcement official.

The sheriff also confirmed investigators were talking with Paddocks brother Eric Paddock, who travelled to Las Vegas, and continue to speak with the shooters girlfriend, Marilou Danley, to get insight.

Lombardo declined to reveal what theyve said, but he stated, "Every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle."

Eric Paddock said he came to Las Vegas to retrieve his brothers body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said on Monday he could not discuss the results of an autopsy done on Stephen Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived at the Las Vegas Strip hotel suite from which he rained gunfire on a concert crowd below.

Eric Paddock told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he planned to put his brothers assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims.

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Watch original series, sports and more on go90.
By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's parliament approved contentious taxes needed to finance a public sector pay rise on Monday and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri warned the alternative was a collapse of the Lebanese pound in six months. "Without taxes it would have been better in popular terms, but six months later the lira would have collapsed," Hariri said after the parliament session. "If we carried out the (public sector salary law) without revenues it would be a disaster for the country." Lebanon has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 148 percent, one of the highest in the world, and recorded a fiscal deficit of $4.9 billion last year. Parliament approved a $917 million rise in public sector salaries and a series of tax increases to fund it in July. Despite objections from business and some political groups, President Michel Aoun ratified the laws in late August and people have since begun receiving increased salaries. But in September the constitutional council annulled the tax law after a political party brought a legal challenge and the council referred it back to parliament for amendments. A Lebanese official told Reuters the taxes approved on Monday remained "mostly as they were before being challenged in the Constitutional Council and do not contain any substantive amendments". A key argument of those opposing increased taxes is that the Lebanese government offers little in return. The country's infrastructure has been awaiting repair since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990 - roads are clogged with cars, beaches are littered with waste, internet links are slow or patchy and cuts to power and water supplies are frequent. ANOTHER CHALLENGE? Sami Gemeyal, leader of the Christian Kataeb party which filed an appeal against the earlier version of the law, said it would do all it could to challenge it again. "We will study it and see if it is possible to contest the law at the constitutional council," said Gemeyal. Kataeb is the only major political party not part of Lebanon's coalition government. Lebanon expects to hold a general election next year and the public sector pay rises have proved a popular move. But the business community has warned higher taxes could damage Lebanon's fragile economy, which has been battered by conflict in neighboring Syria. Growth fell from 8-9 percent to below 2 percent after war began in 2011. Business leaders say Lebanon instead needs better tax collection, a credible economic plan and a budget to be passed for the first time since 2005. CONTENTIOUS The banking sector, the cornerstone of Lebanon's economy, objected strongly to the law. The changes raised corporation tax to 17 percent from 15 percent and also applies taxes on bank transactions in a way bankers say amounts to double taxation. The effective tax rate on banks currently stands at around 15 percent, but would rise to around 50 percent if the proposed tax changes are enacted, Freddie Baz, Group Strategy Director of Bank Audi and board member of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) lobby group, told Reuters. The laws have provoked a number of street protests, with people asking for pay rises and also protesting hikes which raised value-added tax (VAT) by 1 percentage point to 11 percent. The head of Lebanon's General Labor Union Beshara al-Asmar said before the vote on Monday there would be a "complete strike" which would ground the country to a halt if positive results were not achieved. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Laila Bassam and Ellen Francis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Lena Dunham has spoken out once again against Harvey Weinstein, as allegations of sexual harassment continue to surface.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, the Girls creator condemned Weinsteins behavior and urged the men of Hollywood to speak up in support of the women whove come forward with accusations against the producer. She previously spoke out against Weinstein on social media.

Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but hes certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild, Dunham wrote. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere.

The actress and director made sure to point out the hypocrisy of Hollywood, a left-leaning industry that was quick to condemn similar behavior from right-leaning men like Bill OReilly, Roger Ailes and President Donald Trump.

So why the deafening silence, particularly from the industrys men, when one of our own is outed as having a nasty taste for humiliating and traumatizing women? she asked.

Dunham went on, writing about her own experience of being sexually harassed by a male director.

[T]he response by the powers that be was to defend him, question the women ferociously and take ages before letting him go from the network. It was a move based less on his skill than on some ancient loyalty, she wrote. Its that kind of behavior that normalizes this abuse of power.

Dunham continued:

The reason I am zeroing in on the men is that they have the least to lose and the most power to shift the narrative, and are probably not dealing with the same level of collective and personal trauma around these allegations. But here we are, days later, waiting for Mr. Weinsteins most powerful collaborators to say something.

The 31-year-old also apologized for choosing to perform at a benefit for Hillary Clinton, which was organized by The Weinstein Company. Dunham admitted she was aware of the rumors about Weinstein, and while she says she felt the appearance betrayed her values, she so desperately wanted to support Clinton.

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Im sorry I shook the hand of someone I knew was not a friend to women in my industry, she said, before asking, Men of Hollywood, what are you sorry for? What will you refuse to accept anymore? What will you say to fill the void and change the standard?

When we stay silent, we condone behavior that none of us could possibly believe is O.K. (unless you do). When we stay silent, we stay on the same path that led us here, she wrote. Making noise is making change. Making change is why we tell stories. We dont want to have to tell stories like this one again and again. Speak louder.

Some men in Hollywood have spoken out against Weinsteins actions. Director Kevin Smith said he felt ashamed knowing Weinstein financed various films during his career, while George Clooney lambasted the Miramax founders behavior as indefensible. Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn also wrote a poignant statement slamming Weinstein and criticizing everyone who enabled [Weinstein] to get away with such behavior.

However, many of the producers most famous collaborators, like Matt Damon, David O. Russell, Russell Crowe, Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Bradley Cooper, have remained silent. Reps for these men did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

The damning sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein were first published in a bombshell New York Times article last week. Since it was released, a growing number of female celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close have slammed the producers behavior.

In the wake of the report, Weinstein was fired from his production company. The Weinstein Company also reportedly has plans to change its name and according to Deadline, gave studios the go-ahead to remove Weinsteins executive producer credit from future TV series and film releases.

If you have more information about Harvey Weinstein, send us an email: scoops@huffingtonpost.com.

Also on HuffPost

Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd told the New York Times that Harvey Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked her if he could give her a massage or if she wanted to watch him shower.



She told the Times that she thought, How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow told the New York Times that Weinstein touched her inappropriately.



I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, she said, noting that when Weinstein found out she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, "I thought he was going to fire me."

Angelina Jolie

I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did, Angelina Jolie told the New York Times. This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet told Variety that she had heard rumors of Weinstein's behavior for years.



"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naive," she said. "And it makes me so angry. There must be no tolerance of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep told HuffPost that the women who came forward about Weinstein's behavior are "heroes."



The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported," she said in a statement.

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan has been vocal about the scandal since the New York Times published its bombshell report on Weinstein's alleged misconduct. McGowan, the Times said, was one of several women with whom Weinstein reached a financial settlement following the alleged abuse.



After The Weinstein Company fired Harvey, the actress and director called on the rest of the studio's board to resign.



"They knew," she said in a tweet. "They funded. They advised. They covered up. They must be exposed. They must resign."

Ben Affleck

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Ben Affleck posted on Twitter. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick."



Actress Rose McGowan denounced Affleck for implying that he didn't know of the abuse before this week, saying that the pair had previously discussed Weinstein's treatment of her.



"You lie," she tweeted.

Lena Dunham

'Girls' co-creator and star Lena Dunham penned an op-ed for the New York Times calling on more men to speak out against Weinstein and others like him.



"Abuse, threats and coercion have been the norm for so many women trying to do business or make art," she wrote. "Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but hes certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere."

George Clooney

In an interview with The Daily Beast, George Clooney said that, for decades, he'd heard rumors about Weinstein, but dismissed them as gossip. Calling Weinstein's behavior "disturbing" and "indefensible," Clooney said he had no idea of the severity of the accusations.



"A good bunch of people that I know would say, Yeah, Harveys a dog or Harveys chasing girls, but again, this is a very different kind of thing," the actor told the Daily Beast. "This is harassment on a very high level. And theres an argument that everyone is complicit in it. I suppose the argument would be that its not just about Hollywood, but about all of usthat every time you see someone using their power and influence to take advantage of someone without power and influence and you dont speak up, youre complicit. And theres no question about that."

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence won an Academy Award for "Silver Linings Playbook," which The Weinstein Company distributed. She called the alleged harassment "inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."



"I worked with Harvey five years ago, and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting," Lawrence said in a statement. "My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."

Hillary Clinton

Weinstein was a major Democratic Party benefactor, having donated to or raised money for a host of candidates, including Hillary Clinton.



Clinton said that she "was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Barack and Michelle Obama

Weinstein visited the White House multiple times while Obama was in office after having raised huge funds for his presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Malia Obama also reportedly worked for the Weinstein Company.



"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein," the Obamas said in a statement. "Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture -- including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect -- so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future."

Judi Dench

Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her performance in the Weinstein-backed "Shakespeare in Love" and was nominated for two other films under his wing, denounced the alleged abuse.



"Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and whole-hearted support to those who have spoken out," she said in a statement.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio worked with Weinstein on blockbuster films like Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and Django Unchained.



"There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or sexual assault-- no matter who you are and no matter what profession," DiCarpio said in a Facebook Post. "I applaud the strength and courage of the women who came forward and made their voices heard."

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain has been one of the most outspoken critics of Weinstein and of Hollywood's complicity since The New York Times published its damning report.



"I was warned from the beginning" about Weinstein, she said in a tweet. "The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."

Julianne Moore

Moore, who starred in the Weinstein-backed film "A Single Man," tweeted that "coming forward about sexual abuse and coercion is scary and women have nothing to be gained personally by doing so. But through their bravery we move forward as a culture, and I thank them. Stand with @AshleyJudd @rosemcgowan and others."

Colin Firth

Calling Weinstein a "frightening man to stand up to," Colin Firth told The Guardian that reading about the allegations gave him "a feeling of nausea."



It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out. And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage."

Tamron Hall

Its a womans worst nightmare to be in a situation where you believe someone more powerful has control over your life, former "Today" show host Tamron Hall told HuffPost. She called the allegations against Weinstein "horrifying."

Blake Lively

Blake Lively spoke out against Weinstein in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.



The actress said that she was unaware of the abuse but admitted that "it's devastating to hear."



"It's important that women are furious right now. It's important that there is an uprising. It's important that we don't stand for this and that we don't focus on one or two or three or four stories. It's important that we focus on humanity in general and say, 'This is unacceptable.'"

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts gave a statement to People, saying, A corrupt, powerful man wields his influence to abuse and manipulate women. Weve heard this infuriating, heartbreaking story countless times before. And now here we go again. I stand firm in the hope that we will finally come together as a society to stand up against this kind of predatory behavior, to help victims find their voices and their healing, and to stop it once and for all."

Ryan Gosling

I want to add my voice of support for the women who have had the courage to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, Gosling wrote in a note on Twitter. Like most people in Hollywood, I have worked with him and Im deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. He is emblematic of a systemic problem. Men should stand with women and work together until there is real accountability and change.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Crazy Horses, by the Osmonds (Photo: MGM Records)

Forty-five years ago, metal hell froze over, and the seemingly unfathomable happened. On Oct. 14, 1972, one of the most unlikely hard rock albums was released to an unsuspecting, Tiger Beat-reading public. That album was Crazy Horses, by the Osmonds.

Yes, those Osmonds.

While the sweet-faced, scrubbed-clean brothers had been known previously as Utahs Mormon answer to the Jackson 5, with their own kiddie cartoon show and bubblegum pop singles like One Bad Apple and Puppy Love, in January 1972 they released Phase III, which showcased a grittier new direction and more self-penned material. Phase III went gold and yielded two top 10 singles, but it was nine months later, with the psychedelic, bananas boogie-rock of Crazy Horses, that the boys truly entered a new musical phase  and, at least temporarily, shed their teen idol image.

My brothers and I had been whats now called a boy band: All our songs were chosen for us by the record company, Merrill Osmond told the Guardian in early 2017. But now, having been successful, we wanted to freak out and make our own music. We were rehearsing in a basement one day when Wayne started playing this heavy rock riff. I came up with a melody and Alan got the chords. Within an hour, we had the song [Crazy Horses].  This track was heavier than anything wed ever done. When the label heard it, they said: Guys, what on earth are you doing? But when the record started flying up the [British] charts, we got their respect, even though it was initially banned in France because they thought smoking up the sky was about drugs.

Co-produced by Michael Lloyd of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and evoking Led Zeppelin, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, Tower of Power, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Crazy Horses earned the Osmonds respect from other musicians as well  even from their ultimate rock idols, Zep. When we were on tour in Europe, Led Zeppelin invited us onstage [at Earls Court, to sing Stairway to Heaven], Merrill revealed to Death and Taxes magazine in 2014. Later we hung out backstage and talked about how we really dug their entire music concept. Added Jimmy Osmond: It is really cool for us to know that people from top groups like Led Zeppelin have raised their hands and said, Isnt that a great riff? or They really did have amazing musical talent.

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Zeppelin drummer John Bonham even brought his son Jason to an Osmonds concert and took him backstage afterward to meet the band. The night made an impression on the younger Bonham, who told Death and Taxes: They started with Crazy Horses. They were on these wires and they came out across the audience back then, so Bon Jovi wasnt the first guy to do it.

Because we were this family, we were Christians, we just didnt fit in the mould.  the rock press would never give us a break, Jimmy griped to Bang Showbiz in 2015. However, many years later, in 1991, noted metal critic Chuck Eddy controversially but unapologetically ranked Crazy Horses at No. 66 (or No. 66.6) in his anthology Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe, smack in between Billy Squier and the Pink Fairies. Among other colorful and unironic pro-Osmond rants, Eddy wrote: Maries and Little Jims big bros open with a cannibalistic Immigrant Song rip called Hold Her Tight and keep up to date with rebellious teen trends by dressing up like drug-crazed Electric Company rejects.

But it was the thundering, feverishly paced, dystopian, and completely bonkers title track that turned Crazy Horses into a cult classic. (The most apocalyptic Book of Revelation imagery this side of Dylan/Osbourne, and I swear to Joseph Smith its demented kicks and whinnies were stolen outright by Aerosmith in Back in the Saddle, Eddy gushed.) Crazy Horses has been sampled by Pop Will Eat Itself and covered by KMFDM, Electric Six, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the Mission U.K., and even Metallica  and its one of Ozzy Osbournes favorite rock songs of all time.

While Crazy Horses focused less on the Osmonds main heartthrob and vocalist, Donny, due to his midpuberty voice change, and most of the tracks were written by eldest brothers Alan, Merrill, and Wayne Osmond, Donny is proud of the record  he only wishes it had opened more doors for its follow-up, 1973s The Plan, an ambitious concept album about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (The Plan stalled at No. 58 on the Billboard album chart, compared to respective peaks of No. 10 and No. 14 for Phase III and Crazy Horses.)

Donny Osmond recently spoke to Yahoo Music about Crazy Horses legacy and the Osmonds semi-secret hard rock past. It turns out he wasnt lying when he said he was a little bit rock n roll.

Yahoo Music: Crazy Horses comes up as a surprising influence among many credible rock artists. How did it become this underground phenomenon?

Donny Osmond: Well, I think its kind of interesting how the Osmond name has been really seen on both side of the pendulum. Theres obviously the bubblegum side, but for people who really know about music, its clear on the other side. As a matter of fact, I find it quite ironic that Metallica used to cover Crazy Horses. It was a cutting-edge album.

How was it received at the time?

Over in the European markets, particularly in the U.K., it was huge.  Over in the U.K., Crazy Horses is still revered as one of the great rock n roll songs in pop culture. Its been covered by so many bands and used in commercials. Over in England, Ive got such a different image  Im more of a musician. Its a whole different thing over there. But here in the States, once people locked their jaws into something, whether it be the Puppy Love era or the cartoon or whatever, then those people figure a band doing cartoons cant do rock n roll music. The Jackson 5, now, were a different dynamic, because they werent considered rock n roll  that was R&B. But for white guys doing cartoons, people thought, They cant be doing songs like Crazy Horses!

British fans attend an Osmonds concert in England, November 1972. (Photo: AP/Robert Dear)

Are you aware of this Chuck Eddy book that praises the album?

No, I dont know it.

Well, the book is called Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe, and Crazy Horses is No. 66.

Are you kidding me???

Seriously! No. 66 out of 500. Of course, Chuck got a lot of flak for that, because there were many metal purists who couldnt understand how an Osmonds record could possibly be on that list.

I think thats so cool that he would be willing to do that.

He had a strong argument for why it should be included, saying one of the most metal or punk-rock things a group like the Osmonds could do would be to make a record like Crazy Horses.

Wow. That is cool.

Do you have any stories of other rock fans or musicians expressing their love for the album or song?

Ozzy Osbourne came up to me during the [Dancing With the Stars Season 9] finals. Kelly Osbourne was in the finals with me  she came in third, and then Mya came in second, and I won. During a commercial break he had to go to the bathroom, and Im backstage, and Im on pins and needles because its the finals. And Ozzy comes right up to me and says, I just want you to know that Crazy Horses is one of my favorite rock n roll songs of all time.

Donny and Marie Osmond with Ozzy Osbourne in a 2010 Super Bowl Pepsi commercial. (Photo: Pepsi Co./Getty Images)

Whoa! Anyone else?

Simon Le Bon [of Duran Duran] once said to me, I think it would be cool if you would come up onstage and tour with us, and we would do Crazy Horses and just blow people away, because I love that song.

Well, I think you should remake the Crazy Horses album, with guest appearances by all the rock musicians who say theyve been inspired by it, like Ozzy, Duran Duran, Metallica, KMFDM

Wouldnt that be cool? If theyd be willing to be a part of it!

Get on that! That album really does need to be more in the public consciousness.

Well, Im glad to hear you say that, because were certainly proud of it. It was really frustrating for us as a band, because of the image vs. the reality.

The Osmonds pose at Schiphol, Netherlands, in 1972: left to right, Alan, Donny, Jay, Merrill, Wayne (Photo: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)

Do you regret that the Osmonds didnt go in a rock direction from the very beginning?

Well, see, that was the direction we were all headed in, but then the teenybopper career was just so powerful with Puppy Love and all those other songs. And unfortunately, it was just a machine. My producer at the time, he said, Lets just pump out as much as we possibly can, and didnt look at a lot of quality. I recorded songs like Lollipops, Lace, and Lipstick and all that stuff. It was selling; thats what the little teeny- and weenyboppers wanted. But I was into Tower of Power, and Earth, Wind & Fire, and all those kinds of bands. So it was really a juxtaposition: I was the kid who sang Puppy Love, so it was part of me, but I was all across the board musically growing up.

Perhaps Crazy Horses needed to be released with no name on it at first, so it could get more cred in the States.

Yeah! That should have been our White Album! As a matter of fact, we did an album called The Plan where we did that very thing. There was some hard rock radio station in L.A., and we white-labeled the album and my brother Alan took it in. The program director was like, This is fantastic! It sounds like the Who, Led Zeppelin. Whats the name of the band? Alan said, Well  its the Osmonds. And the guy was like, Oh, man. I cant play this.

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Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron takes his push for deeper European integration to Germany Tuesday, where he and Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the world's largest book fair in Frankfurt.

In his landmark speech on the future of Europe last month at the Sorbonne university in Paris, Macron stressed that "culture will always be the strongest cement of the European Union".

France is this year's guest of honour at the October 11-15 Frankfurt Book Fair, where more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries are expected.

French literary stars like novelist Michel Houellebecq and Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio will join peers like Margaret Atwood and Dan Brown to add glamour to the event where Macron is expected to underline new cultural exchanges with the EU's biggest economy.

The French leader will discuss his ideas on Europe with the public at an open debate at Frankfurt's renown Goethe University, before heading into a bilateral meeting with Merkel.

The two European leaders will also print the first page of the universal declaration of human rights with a replica of the Gutenberg printing press, which was invented in the 15th century in nearby Mainz.

- 'European passion' -

The book fair's director Juergen Boos said Merkel and Macron's joint opening of the Frankfurt literature extravaganza underlined the important role culture can play in creating "a strong, unified Europe".

"Culture is the right approach to strengthen the European project, it's easier than starting with the economy," Boos told AFP after the opening press conference.

While talk of new cooperation in the arts is likely to be embraced by Germany, Macron may not get the same reception as he makes his pitch for a common eurozone finance minister, budget and parliament.

Merkel has welcomed the "European passion" shown by the French president in his speech, but her government has said it was premature to comment on the details.

Story continues

Although Merkel won a fourth-term victory in September 24 elections, she is now distracted by thorny talks on forming a new government, with coalition talks with two smaller parties set to start next week.

One of them is the liberal and pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), which views Macron's proposals sceptically and opposes any idea of German taxpayers' money flowing to weaker EU economies.

With an eye on weeks or months of tricky coalition talks ahead, Merkel has so far given only cautious backing to Macron's ambitious plans and signalled that the devil is in the details.

Macron's reform plans have received a mixed response with the German public, according to opinion research institute YouGov.

Forty percent advocate a strengthening of the EU and a further convergence of the member states, while 33 percent reject it, the poll found.

Almost 70 percent favour harmonising EU immigration laws, and 54 per cent support bringing corporate tax rates in line. However, backing for a common eurozone finance minister reached only 30 percent.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. had evidence of Harvey Weinsteins sexually predatory behavior toward a woman, but didnt pursue the case, according to an explosive New Yorker piece published Tuesday.

The story describes how model and former Miss Italy contestant Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accepted a meeting with Weinstein in March 2015. During the meeting, she told the outlet, Weinstein groped her breasts and put his hands up her skirt.

Gutierrez went to the New York Police Department, which counseled her to wear a wire and meet with Weinstein the next day at his hotel.

The New Yorker published the recorded audio of their exchange.

Oh, please, Im sorry, just come on in, Weinstein tells Gutierrez. Im used to that. Come on. Please.

Youre used to that? she replies.

Yes, Weinstein says. He later adds, I wont do it again.

Weinstein, in conversation with Gutierrez, admits to groping her. Heres the audio: https://t.co/zSQbK5NV0c pic.twitter.com/vmrrSUp43w  The New Yorker (@NewYorker) October 10, 2017

A police investigation ensued, at which point hit pieces about Gutierrezs past began to appear in the tabloids, she said. After two weeks, Vance didnt file any charges.

This case was taken seriously from the outset, with a thorough investigation conducted by our Sex Crimes Unit. After analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported, the DAs office said in a statement at the time.

Yet a police source close to the investigation told the magazine the NYPD had the evidence. Its a case that made me angrier than I thought possible, and I have been on the force a long time, the source said.

In an emailed statement, NYPD told HuffPost that their investigation was carried out by experienced detectives and supervisors from NYPDs Special Victims Unit.

Story continues

The detectives used well established investigative techniques, NYPD said. The recorded conversation with the subject corroborates the acts that were the basis for the victims complaint to the police a day earlier. This follow-up recorded conversation was just one aspect of the case against the subject. This evidence, along with other statements and timeline information was presented to the office of the Manhattan District Attorney.

Gutierrez couldnt comment further since she had signed a nondisclosure agreement with Weinstein, including an affidavit stating that the acts Weinstein admits to in the recording never happened, the article says.

Vances campaign referred HuffPost to the DAs office, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Chief Assistant DA Karen Freedman Agnifilo said Tuesday in a statement that if we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have. Agnifilo went on to say that what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law because it did not establish criminal intent.

Subsequent investigative steps undertaken in order to establish intent were not successful, she said.

Statement by Chief ADA Karen Friedman Agnifilo on allegations against Harvey Weinstein  pic.twitter.com/4kLfEk60re  Cyrus Vance, Jr. (@ManhattanDA) October 10, 2017

Vance appeared in another piece published last week by The New Yorker, ProPublica and WNYC. The story alleges Vance dropped a 2012 criminal investigation into Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. after Mark Kasowitz, a lawyer for their father, donated tens of thousands of dollars to Vances campaign.

This article has been updated with comment from Agnifilo and the NYPD.

Matt Ferner contributed to reporting.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
(Photo: Stephen Lam / Reuters)

WASHINGTON  One of the richest men in the world is financially backing a startup nonprofit that aims to take down bail systems that keep Americans locked up because theyre poor.

Via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are among the largest donors to Civil Rights Corps, an organization opposed to mass human caging that has been filing lawsuits challenging wealth-based pretrial detention in the United States. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative made its support for Civil Rights Corps public on Monday, writing in a Facebook post that the organization is engaging in high-impact litigation challenging long-standing systemic injustices.

Civil Rights Corps has filed several suits against jurisdictions with cash bail systems, which hold people facing minor charges in jail because they lack the cash to purchase their freedom. Because they cannot afford bail, poor defendants facing low-level charges can face jail stays that upend their lives, or can be forced to pay a non-refundable fee to a for-profit bail bondsman, even though they are legally presumed innocent. Often, poor defendants will plead guilty to a crime just to get out of jail.

Civil Rights Corps argues that holding a person in jail because they cant afford a certain amount of money violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and has no place in modern American law.

Civil Rights Corps has had some success. In one landmark case against Harris County, Texas  a large jurisdiction with a massive jail with a higher per capita death rate than most other facilities in the country, according to HuffPosts jail deaths investigation  a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that forced officials to release misdemeanor defendants who couldnt afford bail within 24 hours of their arrest. Harris County officials and the bail industry are fighting that ruling, and they squared off with Civil Rights Corps attorneys before a panel of 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in New Orleans last week.

Story continues

Alec Karakatsanis, the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives support enormously exciting for his organization. Karakatsanis declined to comment on how much the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has donated, but the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative told HuffPost that Civil Rights Corps and two other groups would receive a combined $2.3 million over the next year.

Karakatsanis said the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives donation made the organization one of Civil Rights Corps biggest donors.

It reflects a growing consensus that this countrys unprecedented addiction to mass human caging must urgently be confronted, Karakatsanis told HuffPost. And it enables us to continue our fight to re-sensitize our legal system and our culture to the everyday brutality that we visit upon the most vulnerable people in our society.

Alec Karakatsanis, the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, outside the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week. (Photo: Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost)

Chan and Zuckerberg announced the creation of the Initiative in December 2015 following the birth of their first child. They pledged to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares in the course of their lifetime. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was expected to be worth around $3 billion by 2018.

The Facebook post announcing the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives support for Civil Rights Corps also revealed the groups support for ACUF Center for Criminal Justice Reform  a conservative-oriented organization that backs changes to the criminal justice system  as well as Fair and Just Prosecution, an organization that helps reform-minded prosecutors.

At the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, were proud to support groups like Civil Rights Corps who are fighting for a better criminal justice system that advances human potential and promotes equal opportunity, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative wrote in a Facebook post Monday.

Our work is just getting started, but were proud to partner with and continue to learn from such an effective group of leaders as they bring about a better, fairer, and more just system, the Initiative wrote.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives post highlighted the story of Maranda ODonnell, the named plaintiff in Civil Rights Corps suit against Harris County. In May 2016, ODonnell, a young mother, was on her way to pick up her daughter when she was arrested for driving on an invalid license. Unable to afford her $2,500 bail, she was forced to spend several days in jail.

Karakatsanis, while at his previous organization, was involved in a separate lawsuit involving a mentally ill man who spent six days behind bars on a pedestrian under the influence charge because he didnt have $160. Last August, the Obama Justice Department filed an amicus brief in that case, arguing that fixed bail schedules that only allow for the pretrial release of defendants who can pay unlawfully discriminate based on indigence.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives donation to Civil Rights Corps indicates that the Initiative is taking what might be considered a more aggressive approach to criminal justice reform, compared to other philanthropic groups whose methods have been more collaborative. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, for example, is spending over $100 million on the Safety and Justice Challenge, which partnered with local jurisdictions to reduce incarceration. Last week, they announced that eight jurisdictions had received $11.3 million in additional funding.

The MacArthur Foundations goal was to have jurisdictions that received funding reduce their jail populations by 18 to 30 percent. Laurie Garduque, director for Justice Reform at the MacArthur Foundation, said that some of the jurisdictions theyve worked with through the Safety and Justice Challenge have reduced their populations by about 5 percent.

In talking to policymakers, even when the numbers are flat, theyre excited, because usually the projections that theyre looking at suggest that their numbers are going to go up. So if theres no increase, they consider that a win, Garduque said. I dont know that we would.

Garduque said that jurisdictions have used pretrial risk assessment, expanded electronic monitoring and automated court reminders to try to release more defendants without financial conditions. While the MacArthur Foundation hasnt taken to filing lawsuits against jurisdictions, such a multi-pronged approach will likely be important to reduce jail populations across the United States.

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Were looking at system actors as being our partners, and so it is awkward to litigate at the same time that youre trying to have them move in the direction of what you think would be a fair and effective and efficient system, Garduque said. So litigation isnt an arrow in our quiver right now, which isnt to say that were opposed to litigation. But she said their work could complement other efforts to reduce jail populations.

Litigation and law reform often take a long time, and in the meantime theres positive changes that can be made in reducing reliance on money bail, and so thats where we think we can contribute, Garduque said. She said the MacArthur Foundations effort could also help reduce the opposition to getting rid of money bail.

Garduque said that the bail bond industry is often heavily invested in the elections of prosecutors, sheriffs and judges, and that theres a hesitancy to make any changes when theres not a reliable alternative to the money bail system in place.

If [the Safety and Justice Challenge] can get a running start on some of these issues, lets just say that it makes the arguments of the bail bondsman less persuasive, Garduque said.

The bail bonds industry has brought out the legal big guns to oppose Civil Rights Corps fight against the money bail system. Last week, Harris County was represented before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by Charles Cooper, a well-known conservative lawyer who is representing Attorney General Jeff Sessions in connection with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The American Bail Coalition is being represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement in several ongoing legal battles over the future of bail.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives latest announcement came on top of the $24 million the organization said last month that it would donate to several other groups over the coming year, including Families Against Mandatory Minimums, JustLeadershipUSA, FWD.us and the Alliance for Safety and Justice.

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Maryland Court Overhauls Bail System That Jails Defendants Just Because They're Poor

How Locking Up Judges Could End Debtors' Prisons

As DOJ Zeros In On Profit-Driven Policing, Advocates Urge Crackdown

A Judge Halted This Unconstitutional Cash Bail System. The Status Quo Fought Back.

Obama Justice Department Joins The Fight Against America's Bail Industry

Our Bail System Is Leaving Innocent People To Die In Jail Because They're Poor

Judge Tells Woman That Jailing Her For Traffic Offenses Is Good For His 'Job Security'

Ryan J. Reilly is HuffPosts senior justice reporter, covering criminal justice, federal law enforcement and legal affairs. Have a tip? Reach him at ryan.reilly@huffingtonpost.com or on Signal at 202-527-9261.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Critics called the demo video disaster tourism." (Photo: Mark Zuckerberg)

Mark Zuckerberg is under fire this week for livestreaming a virtual reality tour of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

Avatars of the Facebook CEO and the companys head of social VR Rachel Franklin appeared Monday in a virtual reality video of the hurricane-ravaged island posted to the social network. The video doubled as a demo of the Facebook Spaces app and as a platform to announce the companys initiative with the Red Cross during natural disasters.

Critics called the move disaster tourism and accused the company of using the suffering of the U.S. territory for promotion.

Zuck showing off seriously weird VR hurricane disaster tourism on FB right now btw https://t.co/kjbmJqAAMf pic.twitter.com/KxlmQzBK3H  Carl Franzen (@carlfranzen) October 9, 2017

Zuckerberg responded to the backlash on Tuesday, in a statement Facebook gave to HuffPost:

One of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. My goal here was to show how VR can raise awareness and help us see whats happening in different parts of the world. I also wanted to share the news of our partnership with the Red Cross to help with the recovery. Reading some of the comments, I realize this wasnt clear, and Im sorry to anyone this offended.

Zuckerberg also posted his statement below the livestream, where many had voiced their outrage.

Other critics expressed their discontent via Twitter.

Tech billionaire wearing a face computer says it's just like being in the middle of a devastated country where people are suffering https://t.co/DOPeo59lIt  Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) October 9, 2017

a billionaire's avatar high fiving in front of footage of a humanitarian disaster in virtual reality as part of a product demo forever pic.twitter.com/sOMgML7YDL  Church Harvest Party (@bombsfall) October 10, 2017

This is the actual footage I saw when I watched Zuckerberg's virtual tour of Puerto Rico. (Background is survivors on the island.) pic.twitter.com/X9Zhyrn7G9  Spooky Tech CEO  (@anildash) October 10, 2017

Mark Zuckerberg talks about the dire situation in Puerto Rico as an AR toon.



"Crazy to feel like we're in the middle of it."



End me. pic.twitter.com/a7mOoCIlHC  Scream Porg  (@GenePark) October 9, 2017

In the video, avatar versions of Zuckerberg and Franklin teleport into a 360-degree video NPR shot of the ravaged island.

Story continues

Were on a bridge here, its flooded, Zuckerberg says during the video. You can get a sense of some of the damage here that the hurricanes have done. One of the things thats really magical about virtual reality is you can get the feeling that youre really in a place.

At one point, the two Facebook leaders high-five in the middle of a flooded street to show they are both in separate locations in the real world but interacting in a virtual world.

You know, were looking around and it feels like were really here in Puerto Rico, Zuckerberg later reiterates. Its obviously a tough place to get to now and a lot of people are really suffering with the aftermath of the hurricanes.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the video had more than 1.7 million views.

During the livestream, Zuckerberg also touted what Facebook had done in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria  including sending employees to the island to get telecommunications systems up and running. After emphasizing the importance of having internet access after a disaster, the CEO announced a partnership with the Red Cross to restore connectivity in communities like the ones suffering in Puerto Rico.

We build artificial intelligence to build what we call population maps, so you can look at satellite imagery of an area and get a sense of where it is that people actually live and the density of different places and were theres infrastructure going to those places, he explained during the video. Thats going to help the Red Cross figure out where people are who need help and figure out how to connect them with them.

Only 53 percent of telecommunications services in Puerto Rico were functioning as of Tuesday afternoon, nearly three weeks after Hurricane Maria slammed into the island.

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Thankhali (Bangladesh) (AFP) - The United Nations launched one of its biggest ever cholera vaccination drives in the vast refugee camps of southeast Bangladesh Tuesday amid fears of an outbreak among nearly a million Rohingya now living there.

Thousands of Rohingya men and women lined up in intense heat at makeshift health centres on Tuesday, many with young children in their arms, to receive the oral vaccine against the disease.

The UN is working with the Bangladesh government to vaccinate 650,000 people living in the sprawling camps against cholera, which spreads through dirty water and can kill if left untreated.

"These people lack most of the basic services -- toilets, water sanitation and everything," UNICEF spokesman A M Sakil Faizullah told AFP.

"When we have this kind of situation, there's a heavy possibility of a cholera outbreak."

Nearly 520,000 Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh since late August, fleeing a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar that the UN has said likely amounts of ethnic cleansing.

Poor and overpopulated Bangladesh has struggled to cope with the mass influx of people, many of whom have to travel for days or even weeks to reach safety and arrive exhausted and malnourished.

The influx had slowed in recent weeks, but now appears to have picked up again. An estimated 10,000 new refugees arrived on Monday.

World Health Organization workers supported by around a thousand local volunteers plan to vaccinate 650,000 Rohingya over the coming weeks.

They will follow up with a second dose of the vaccine for an estimated 250,000 children aged between one and five. Those under one will not be vaccinated.

It is thought to be the second biggest such campaign ever, after 800,000 people were immunised against the disease in Haiti in November.

Volunteers at the Thankhali camp used loudhailers to appeal to refugees to go to the centres, where they queued to have the vial placed in their mouths.

Story continues

"The health workers told us we would be better with medicines, that we wouldn't have any more diseases," said Nabi Hossain, a 35-year-old refugee who arrived at the camp two weeks ago, as he queued with two of his sons.

Abdus Salam, a senior health official with the local government, said workers would go door to door to ensure no refugees were left out of the drive.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority who have long faced persecution in Myanmar, which regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The UN says more than 600,000 have arrived in the last year, swelling camps that were already home to between 300,000 and 400,000 refugees.

Bangladesh has allocated land to accommodate some 800,000 refugees in one massive camp, but the UN has warned that such a large concentration in one area could promote the spread of disease.
This year's Tokyo Motor Show is shaping up to be an interesting one, with a Nismo Leaf, Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept, and a pair of interestingToyota concepts already lined up. Now Mazda is joining with its own big reveal of two concepts. One is a design concept that will give us an idea of where the company is heading, and another is all but guaranteed to be our first look at the new Mazda3.





Mazda hatchback concept





There are a few reasons we say that one of these concepts has to be the next Mazda3. One is the fact that Mazda says it's a concept planned for production. The company also describes it as "a compact hatchback that fuses next-generation technology and design," and it uses the new Skyactiv-X spark-controlled compression ignition engine and "Skyactiv-Vehicle Architecture." Plus, just looking at the teasers, the design is a clear evolution of the current Mazda3 hatchback. It looks as though the hood and roofline curve a bit more, and some of the sharp creases of the current car have been smoothed out.





Mazda design concept





The other concept Mazda is bringing to the Tokyo Motor Show seems to be just that, a concept. Mazda says it's just a design concept meant to exhibit how other Mazdas will look. Apparently it's a continuation of the company's current "Kodo" design language. Based on the teaser image, the car appears to be a sedan and consists mainly of clean, elegant curves, with hardly a crease anywhere except the edge of the trunk. The elegant lines are reminiscent of the RX-Vision concept, just with a couple extra doors and a different color.



Mazda will have a couple of other new vehicles on display in Tokyo as well. The company will show the Japan-only CX-8 three-row crossover and a special-edition Roadster (Miata) Red Top edition. We presume it's a Miata with a red soft top. Stay tuned for more details from the full reveal.



Related Video:
Russian search giant Yandex has unveiled its virtual assistant Alice. Like Alexa or Siri, Alice provides users with directions, weather forecasts and news as well as incorporating access to other Yandex offerings like its music service. And, of course, it does all of this in Russian, which Yandex points out isn't an easy language for AI to tackle. "Speech recognition is especially challenging for the Russian language due to its grammatical and morphological complexities," Yandex it said in a statement. "According to word error rate measurements, SpeechKit provides world-best accuracy for spoken Russian recognition, enabling Alice to understand speech with a near human-level accuracy."

And that accuracy applies to Russian slang as well. Yandex says that when a user asks for the weather in Moscow, for example, and then follows that up with "And what about Peter?" Alice knows to give the weather forecast for St. Petersburg.

Yandex isn't the only regional company to incorporate a voice-activated assistant into its repertoire. Chinese tech company Baidu did the same thing in 2015, demonstrating just how popular and in-demand virtual assistants have become. Alice is now available through the Yandex search app for iOS and Android. A Windows version is currently in beta testing.
Like a lot of firms, the 41-year-old venture firm Menlo Ventures has decided to jump into healthcare investing after a long hiatus, hiring new partner Greg Yap to lead the charge.

A molecular biology major at Princeton, Yap was most recently the CEO of an early-stage medical startup called Pyrames, as well as an entrepreneur-in-residence with the year-old, life-sciences-focused venture firm Illumina Ventures. Going back a few years, he also managed a 200-person team at Ventana Medical Systems, a biotechnology company based in Arizona, and co-founded Biodesy, a three-year-old biotech company in South San Francisco.

Menlo's leap into healthcare isn't surprising. A growing number of IT-focused investment firms have grown to believe there is financial promise in startups that aim to solve biological problems through data, including via data genomics, diagnostics and synthetic biology.

Early-stage venture firm True Ventures was among the earliest to jump into the space, making what seemed at the time to be unusual bets on synthetic biology and neurosciences and generally wading back into markets that had previously been difficult to finance but that an underlying data revolution has made more capital-efficient.

In 2015, Andreessen Horowitz was among others to make its own big move into biotech, establishing a $200 million new fund called the AH Bio Fund to invest in mostly early-stage startups at the intersection of computer science and life sciences. It's the only sector-focused fund the firm has created to date.

In spring, the venture firm CRV also put bioengineering on its shopping list.

"Either these firms pivot or theyll disappear -- they just wont be relevant," as founder Stuart Peterson of Artis Ventures told us back in April of biotech investing. (Artis made a killing off the sale of cancer drug developer Stemcentrx to AbbVie last year for $10.2 billion. The firm led Stemcentrx's Series A round.)

For Menlo, the move is actually a return to healthcare investing, a practice it ended roughly 20 years ago, owing to the then capital-intensive nature of healthcare investing and what seemed like endless waits for FDA approval. As Menlo's longtime managing director Mark Siegel tells VentureBeat, most of the companies that Menlo will be chasing don't require FDA approval. And for those that do, they will usually enter into a licensing agreement with a larger pharmaceutical company that will handle the FDA part.

Menlo closed its most recent early-stage fund with $450 million in May.
A newborn baby was found dead in a duffel bag in the Georgia woods this week and police are questioning her father about the case.

Caliyah McNabb was just 15 days old when she disappeared Saturday. Her parents told police she was fed around 5 a.m. but when they checked on her hours later, she had vanished.

Read: Anti-Vaxxer Mom Is Jailed After Rejecting Order to Immunize Her Son

Cops searched the family's Newton County home as a search party fanned out in the area hoping to find Caliyah.

Her body was found in a drawstring sack in the woods on Sunday afternoon.

The infant's mother was questioned by police and released, WGCL reports. She is not considered a person of interest.

"I pray to God that she had nothing to do with it," the mother's father, Tim Bell, told reporters.

However, authorities wanted to speak with the father but were not able to locate him immediately after the infant was found.

According to local reports, Christopher McNabb was later found near a convenience store where witnesses said he told them he didn't kill his baby.

McNabb, referred to by police as a person of interest in the case, was arrested Sunday evening on an unrelated probation violation brought in for questioning.

Read: Father Admits Punching 5-Month-Old Daughter to Death During Hurricane Irma: Cops

"We'll be getting with the D.A.'s office, presenting them with all the info and evidence that we have," said Capt. Keith Crum with the Newton County Sheriff's Office.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death.

Watch: 2 Infants Found In Car With Their Overdosing Mothers

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It's Tuesday morning and we've got a proper trailer for The Last Jedi and WiFi networks that can monitor your breathing. Oh, and a monstrous new RED camera that you probably can't afford, but would like to hear all about.

A modding tool for adding emulated games supports Nintendo's mini-console.

Nintendo's mini SNES has already been cracked to run more games

It appears that Nintendo really doesn't mind modders cracking open its little retro consoles and using them for more than they were originally intended. Back when the NES Classic Edition was released, it took Russian tinkerer Cluster just a few months to figure out how to side-load additional games on to the system. Nintendo doesn't seem to have made the process any more difficult on the new mini SNES., as little more than a week after its release.

Let's scratch that itch.

Here's your full-length 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' trailer

Luke, Leia, some high-tech butterfly stitches on Kylo Ren, and a whole lot of fighting and build-up. The Last Jedi gets its first full-length trailer, and while some fans might want to resist, the force is strong with this one. (I clicked.)

They just need to add Origin Wireless' algorithm.

WiFi mesh networks can detect your breathing

In the world of indoor security systems, motion detection usually relies on cameras or, at least, dedicated sensors. Both types of solution add to hardware plus installation costs, not to mention that not everyone is comfortable with having cameras pointing at them all the time. Origin Wireless, on the other hand, found a way to make use of WiFi signals bouncing around a room to detect even the slightest movement -- down to something as subtle as a person's breathing rate. What's more, this Time Reversal Machine technology is just some clever algorithmic work with little burden on the processor, so it can potentially be added to any existing WiFi mesh routers via a firmware update.

Story continues

The Vista Vision sensor has more dynamic range and lower noise levels.

Red's new flagship camera is the $80,000 Monstro 8K VV

RED's cinema cameras are too expensive for most of us, but they do push the state-of-the-art, making future cameras you can afford better. Take RED's latest sensor, called the Monstro 8K VV (Vista Vision). The bombastic name aside, it packs impressive specs. The sensor handles 35.4-megapixel stills and 8K, 60 fps video, features 17+ claimed stops of dynamic range and shoots at higher ISOs with lower noise than the last model. It's all good stuff.

Why stop at Twitter and Facebook?

Google also found traces of Russian influence in US election

According to the Washington Post, Google has found evidence that Russian agents purchased election-linked ads on YouTube, Google Search, Gmail and the company's DoubleClick ad network. However, the investigation is said to be in its "early stages," so the number of accounts and dollar figures are still unknown.

The Big Picture.

Twitter bot's 'Glitch Art' is a digital impressionist dream

While most people find video glitches or artifacts distracting, some folks see the beauty in them. One of those is programmer and visual artist David Kraftsow, known for his trippy YooouuuTuuube generator and delightfully droll First Person Tetris. One of his latest projects is a Twitter bot called @youtubeartifact, which generates so-called Glitch Art out of the occasionally delightful hiccups produced by YouTube's MP4 motion compensation algorithm.

The name really nails it.

Google created a fun way to learn about simple AI

Teachable Machine is a fun way to break down the complex notion of machine learning without having to dive into code. Through your camera and microphone, this Google project can pick up on enough cues to perform simple tasks like displaying a particular picture when you wave your hand. It's an interesting gimmick right now, but this could be the setup process for your next AI-powered phone or smart home device.

But wait, there's more...
Nicole Kidman joined the chorus of voices supporting the many women who have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment.

Kidmans publicist sent the actress statement to HuffPost and other media outlets on Tuesday: As Ive stated before publicly, I support and applaud all women and these women who speak out against any abuse and misuse of power  be it domestic violence or sexual harassment in the workforce. We need to eradicate this behavior.

Kidman worked with Weinstein as recently as last year. She earned an Oscar nomination for Lion, which The Weinstein Company distributed. From 2001 to 2003, Kidman also starred in several movies for Miramax, the powerful studio that Weinstein managed before launching TWC: Birthday Girl, The Others, The Hours (which won Kidman an Oscar), The Human Stain and Cold Mountain.

(Photo: Dave Benett/amfAR2017 via Getty Images)

Many actors and actresses have denounced Weinstein following years worth of disturbing sexual harassment allegations, constituting an open secret in Hollywood that The New York Times formally reported last week. (Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan were among Weinsteins accusers.)

In the days since the Times bombshell, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Lena Dunham, Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence and more have expressed support for the victims of Weinsteins revolting advances. On Tuesday, the Times reported that Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rosanna Arquette and Judith Godreche were also subjected to his alleged behavior, as were many women who did not go on to lead the same illustrious careers.

A New Yorker report published Tuesday included audio of Weinstein admitting to groping a Filipina-Italian model and attempting to lure her into his hotel room.

Kidman also spoke out against domestic violence last month while accepting the Emmy for her performance in Big Little Lies.

Weve shone a light on domestic abuse, she said. It is a complicated, insidious disease. It exists far more than we allow ourselves to know. It is filled with shame and secrecy, and by you acknowledging me with this award, it shines a light on it even more. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I bow down to you.

Story continues

If you have more information about Harvey Weinstein, send us an email: scoops@huffingtonpost.com.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Americas most powerful gun-rights lobbying group has claimed nothing could have been done to prevent the mass shooting in Las Vegas in which 58 people were killed and more than 500 injured.

In the aftermath of the shooting perpetrated by a 64-year-old former accountant, many have called on politicians to seize on the movement to demand tougher restrictions on guns.

Yet, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association (NRA), which endorsed Donald Trump and donated millions of dollars to his campaign, sought to dismiss such suggestions.

Theres nothing that could have been done, unfortunately, to prevent this tragedy, Dana Loesch told Fox News.

She added: I know this investigation is ongoing and I dont want to get ahead of the law enforcement thats involved in this right now, but usually with individuals like these there are some sort of red flags and Im just curious what kind of vibe, what kind of red flags, this individual was putting out.

Following the shooting, the White House said it was not the right time to discuss the issue of gun regulations. Mr Trump said the topic would be addressed as time goes on.

Yet others said it was crucial the country used the incident to press for greater controls.

The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots, Hillary Clinton tweeted the day after the attack.

Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get.

She added: Our grief isnt enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again.

Investigators said they believed the arsenal of weapons amassed by the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, had been legally purchased. Police have said the 64-year old used a so-called bump-stock device to fire one or more of numerous semi-automatic weapons he took to the 32nd Floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino, as if they were fully automatic.

Want to help? Send us cards so we can share them with our community as we heal together #hearts4vegas #vegasstrong https://t.co/ygLWvGOYK4 pic.twitter.com/wOrwSUklLO  City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) October 4, 2017

Last week, the NRA had stunned many Washington observers when it said it was willing to support a restriction on bump stocks.

Story continues

Yet over the weekend, it clarified its position, saying it would oppose an outright ban on such devices.

We dont believe that bans have ever worked on anything, said Chris Cox, the NRAs chief lobbyist.

What we have said has been very clear - that if something transfers a semiautomatic to function like a fully automatic, then it ought to be regulated differently.

Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein told NBC the US was a gun-happy country.

And I think there are many of us in growing numbers that dont want a gun-happy country, she said.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State took control of some Syrian villages in a rebel-controlled area east of Hama on Monday, opening a new frontline days after the Syrian military said it had cleared Islamic State from a nearby area. Islamic State said in a statement it had taken control of 12 villages and carried out a big attack on the jihadist alliance Tahrir al-Sham. Tahrir al-Sham, spearheaded by al Qaeda's former affiliate the Nusra Front, said in its own statement that Islamic State had stormed several villages and accused the Syrian army of allowing it to cross government territory. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Islamic State had taken 15 villages from Tahrir al-Sham, but that the jihadist alliance then took five of them back. On Friday the Syrian army said it had cleared Islamic State from its last pocket of territory in a nearby part of the countryside east of Hama after months of fighting. The Observatory and Tahrir al-Sham said those same fighters were the ones that captured the villages, appearing to have crossed government-held territory. The Observatory said some of them had crossed with groups of civilians. Although Islamic State and the groups that make up Tahrir al-Sham, including the Nusra Front, subscribe to hardline jihadist ideology, they have opposed each other for years. Islamic State has not held territory abutting areas held by jihadists or other rebel groups in northwest Syria, the most populous area held by the insurgency, since last year. It has since lost swathes of ground to the Syrian army, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militias, and a rival campaign by Kurdish and Arab groups in the north supported by the United States. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Ellen Francis in Beirut and Mohamed el Sherif in Cairo; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Updated | The New York Timess explosive report last week alleging sexual harassment by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has resulted in the Oscar-winning producer being ousted from his own company. But a former reporter for the newspaper has claimed that she could have exposed Weinsteins purported misdemeanors 13 years ago, but that editors killed a story she had reported on the subject, perhaps under pressure from Weinstein himself.

Sharon Waxman, editor of Hollywood business trade website TheWrap, wrote Sunday that she investigated oft-repeated allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein while a relatively new reporter at the Times in 2004. Waxman says she "had the facts" that proved similar allegations to those made last week, but that she was told by the then culture editor at the Times that the story was unimportant.

Newsweek cannot independently verify Waxman's claims.

In 2004, Weinstein was head of the Disney-owned Miramax production company. He co-founded his now former firm, The Weinstein Company, a year later, in 2005.

Waxman said she traveled to Rome in 2004 to track down the head of Miramax Italy, Fabrizio Lombardo, whom she had been told had no film experience and his real job was to take care of Weinsteins women needs, among other things.

Waxman wrote: I had people on the record telling me Lombardo knew nothing about film, and others citing evenings he organized with Russian escorts.

Waxman also said she traveled to London and met with a woman who had been paid off after an unwanted sexual encounter with Weinstein. Waxman added: "She was terrified to speak because of her non-disclosure agreement, but at least we had evidence of a pay-off."

Waxman further alleges that Weinstein visited the Timess offices to make his displeasure known about the proposed story. She wrote that he was a major advertiser in the Times, and that he was a powerful person overall.

The Times ran a story under Waxman's byline concerning a court case between Miramax and Lombardo, but no mention was made of any alleged impropriety by Weinstein. "The story I reported never ran," Waxman wrote.

Story continues

"The Times newsroom has a long history of exposing corruption and abuse by powerful people and institutions. Our newsroom was the first to publish a meticulously reported investigation of Mr. Weinstein revealing numerous settlements for sexual harassment, New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha tells Newsweek.

"Our former colleague Sharon Waxman wrote about a story that was published in the Times in 2004. No one currently at the Times has knowledge of editorial decisions made on that story. But in general the only reason a story or specific information would be held is if it did not meet our standards for publication."

Harvey Weinstein fired

Todd Williamson/Getty

Further complicating the complex story about Weinsteins supposed behavior, TheWrap founder implicated two Hollywood actors in allegedly helping defend Weinstein and negate her story. Waxman says that Matt Damon and Russell Crowe called her personally to vouch for Lombardo and his credentials as head of Miramax Italy.

Today I wonder, if this story had come to light at the time, would Weinstein have continued his behavior for another decade, evidenced by the scathing 2015 memo by former staffer Lauren OConnor, Waxman wrote, referring to an internal memo by a former Weinstein Company employee alleging misconduct by Weinstein that was mentioned in the New York Times piece October 5.

After news broke of the accusations against Weinstein, the movie producer admitted the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.

Weinstein took a leave of absence from The Weinstein Company. However, he was terminated from the production firmof which he and brother Bob Weinstein own 42 percentSunday in light of new information about misconduct.

Weinstein has produced numerous Oscar winning movies including Shakespeare in Love, The King's Speech and The Artist.

Representatives for Harvey Weinstein, The Weinstein Company, Matt Damon and Russell Crowe did not immediately respond to Newsweeks request for comment.

This story has been updated to include comment from The New York Times.

Related Articles
Former President Barack Obama has been silent so far on the firestorm surrounding Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer and major Democratic donor who was accused last week of three decades' worth of sexual harassment. And as Republicans and Twitter users continued to blast him Monday for not commenting, a few brought up a unique connection the ex-president has to Weinstein: His daughter just interned for him.

Malia Obama, 19, landed an internship at the Weinstein Company right after her dad left office earlier this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Working in the New York City office, she was doing more than fetching coffeeTMZ reported that Malia Obama was "ensconced in the production/development department," tasked with "reading through scripts and deciding which ones move on to Weinstein brass."

Her internship has come under new scrutiny in the wake of a New York Times investigation that revealed Weinstein paid off at least eight women who accused him of sexual harassment, which often included unwanted touching or promises that he would help further their careers. For example, Frank Rich, an executive producer for Veep and a New York writer, tweeted about how Weinstein's transgressions were not a secret.

"Biggest mystery of @nytimes Weinstein story: How exemplary parents like Obamas let their daughter work there. The stories were out there," Rich wrote on Twitter.

The Weinstein Company fired Weinstein on Sunday after the Times story broke. The company released a statement saying it had terminated the producer "in light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days."

The business isn't the only one distancing itself from Weinstein. Weinstein was a major donor to Democratic candidates, and now several of them, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, have vowed to give equivalent sums to charity.

Story continues

The Obama family has its own history with the producer. Weinstein gave to Barack Obama's campaign and in November 2013 his first lady thanked Weinstein at a career event.

"This is possible because of Harvey. He is a wonderful human being, a good friend and just a powerhouse," she said at the time.

The office for Barack and Michelle Obama did not return Newsweek's emailed requests for comment about Malia Obama's internship.

Since last week, the controversy over Weinstein has pulled in politicians and celebrities alike. Corey Lewandowski, the ex-campaign manager for now-President Donald Trump, wrote in a column for The Hill that 'Harvey Weinstein Democrats'live one way and preach that everybody else live by a different set of standards."

The GOP tweeted that the Democratic National Committee should give back his donations, but liberal commentator Keith Olbermann argued back that it should return all the "in-kind" contributions from alleged sexual harassers such as Fox News figures Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly.

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Olivia Wilde became the latest A-lister to speak out against Harvey Weinstein in the wake of disturbing allegations detailing rampant sexual harassment spanning decades.

Lets be clear, Wilde tweeted Monday night. What Harvey Weinstein did to those women was nothing short of abuse. I am disturbed, and disgusted. Its appalling.

1. Let's be clear. What Harvey Weinstein did to those women was nothing short of abuse. I am disturbed, and disgusted. It's appalling.  olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 10, 2017

2. Though I never witnessed it, I stand in solidarity with his victims, and hope their bravery sends a loud message to all abusers of power.  olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 10, 2017

3. The victim blaming needs to stop. As does the shaming of women who didn't come forward earlier. They spoke, and we are here to listen.  olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 10, 2017

Similar to Meryl Streeps reaction to the news earlier Monday, Wilde clarified that she did not personally experience any harassment by Weinstein. Still, she said, she stood by those who were coming forward.

The victim blaming needs to stop, she added. They spoke, and we are here to listen.

Actress Olivia Wilde with producer Harvey Weinstein in 2012 at a Cinema Society event's after-party in New York City. (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage via Getty Images)

Wilde, an activist, feminist and vocal supporter of womens rights, became the latest celebrity to speak out against the allegations that have rocked Hollywood in the past few days. Over the weekend, actors including Emmy Rossum, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo tweeted messages of support to women who were coming forward with their accounts.

Weinstein was fired from his production company Saturday. The Weinstein Co. reportedly plans to change its name. Deadline also reported that the production company gave studios the green light to scrub Weinsteins executive producer credit from any TV series and future film releases.

Story continues

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Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd told the New York Times that Harvey Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked her if he could give her a massage or if she wanted to watch him shower.



She told the Times that she thought, How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow told the New York Times that Weinstein touched her inappropriately.



I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, she said, noting that when Weinstein found out she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, "I thought he was going to fire me."

Angelina Jolie

I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did, Angelina Jolie told the New York Times. This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet told Variety that she had heard rumors of Weinstein's behavior for years.



"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naive," she said. "And it makes me so angry. There must be no tolerance of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep told HuffPost that the women who came forward about Weinstein's behavior are "heroes."



The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported," she said in a statement.

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan has been vocal about the scandal since the New York Times published its bombshell report on Weinstein's alleged misconduct. McGowan, the Times said, was one of several women with whom Weinstein reached a financial settlement following the alleged abuse.



After The Weinstein Company fired Harvey, the actress and director called on the rest of the studio's board to resign.



"They knew," she said in a tweet. "They funded. They advised. They covered up. They must be exposed. They must resign."

Ben Affleck

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Ben Affleck posted on Twitter. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick."



Actress Rose McGowan denounced Affleck for implying that he didn't know of the abuse before this week, saying that the pair had previously discussed Weinstein's treatment of her.



"You lie," she tweeted.

Lena Dunham

'Girls' co-creator and star Lena Dunham penned an op-ed for the New York Times calling on more men to speak out against Weinstein and others like him.



"Abuse, threats and coercion have been the norm for so many women trying to do business or make art," she wrote. "Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but hes certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere."

George Clooney

In an interview with The Daily Beast, George Clooney said that, for decades, he'd heard rumors about Weinstein, but dismissed them as gossip. Calling Weinstein's behavior "disturbing" and "indefensible," Clooney said he had no idea of the severity of the accusations.



"A good bunch of people that I know would say, Yeah, Harveys a dog or Harveys chasing girls, but again, this is a very different kind of thing," the actor told the Daily Beast. "This is harassment on a very high level. And theres an argument that everyone is complicit in it. I suppose the argument would be that its not just about Hollywood, but about all of usthat every time you see someone using their power and influence to take advantage of someone without power and influence and you dont speak up, youre complicit. And theres no question about that."

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence won an Academy Award for "Silver Linings Playbook," which The Weinstein Company distributed. She called the alleged harassment "inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."



"I worked with Harvey five years ago, and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting," Lawrence said in a statement. "My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."

Hillary Clinton

Weinstein was a major Democratic Party benefactor, having donated to or raised money for a host of candidates, including Hillary Clinton.



Clinton said that she "was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Barack and Michelle Obama

Weinstein visited the White House multiple times while Obama was in office after having raised huge funds for his presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Malia Obama also reportedly worked for the Weinstein Company.



"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein," the Obamas said in a statement. "Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture -- including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect -- so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future."

Judi Dench

Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her performance in the Weinstein-backed "Shakespeare in Love" and was nominated for two other films under his wing, denounced the alleged abuse.



"Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and whole-hearted support to those who have spoken out," she said in a statement.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio worked with Weinstein on blockbuster films like Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and Django Unchained.



"There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or sexual assault-- no matter who you are and no matter what profession," DiCarpio said in a Facebook Post. "I applaud the strength and courage of the women who came forward and made their voices heard."

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain has been one of the most outspoken critics of Weinstein and of Hollywood's complicity since The New York Times published its damning report.



"I was warned from the beginning" about Weinstein, she said in a tweet. "The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."

Julianne Moore

Moore, who starred in the Weinstein-backed film "A Single Man," tweeted that "coming forward about sexual abuse and coercion is scary and women have nothing to be gained personally by doing so. But through their bravery we move forward as a culture, and I thank them. Stand with @AshleyJudd @rosemcgowan and others."

Colin Firth

Calling Weinstein a "frightening man to stand up to," Colin Firth told The Guardian that reading about the allegations gave him "a feeling of nausea."



It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out. And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage."

Tamron Hall

Its a womans worst nightmare to be in a situation where you believe someone more powerful has control over your life, former "Today" show host Tamron Hall told HuffPost. She called the allegations against Weinstein "horrifying."

Blake Lively

Blake Lively spoke out against Weinstein in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.



The actress said that she was unaware of the abuse but admitted that "it's devastating to hear."



"It's important that women are furious right now. It's important that there is an uprising. It's important that we don't stand for this and that we don't focus on one or two or three or four stories. It's important that we focus on humanity in general and say, 'This is unacceptable.'"

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts gave a statement to People, saying, A corrupt, powerful man wields his influence to abuse and manipulate women. Weve heard this infuriating, heartbreaking story countless times before. And now here we go again. I stand firm in the hope that we will finally come together as a society to stand up against this kind of predatory behavior, to help victims find their voices and their healing, and to stop it once and for all."

Ryan Gosling

I want to add my voice of support for the women who have had the courage to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, Gosling wrote in a note on Twitter. Like most people in Hollywood, I have worked with him and Im deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. He is emblematic of a systemic problem. Men should stand with women and work together until there is real accountability and change.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
SHAWNEE, Kan.  The walls and shelves of Suzanne Wheelers home office in this tidy middle-class suburb of Kansas City are filled with awards and memorabilia from her 32 years in the Army. At the height of her career, she was in charge of plans, operations and training for the Kansas National Guard, responsible for 7,400 soldiers and airmen. She did combat tours in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and retired last year as a colonel.

Dressed in white sandals and a flowing bright shell, she walks over to a table and picks up an elegant wood-handled Army combat knife.

The knife was given to me at retirement. Its my favorite retirement gift, Wheeler says.

Engraved on the handle is a quote from a 1910 speech by Teddy Roosevelt: The credit belongs to the man whos actually in the arena. On the back side of the knife is the name  Howard E. Wheeler. Oh, thats my old name, she says casually. A lot of the retirement gifts came in my old name.

Wheeler started taking hormones about a year and a half before her retirement. It was six months before President Barack Obama lifted the ban on transgender people serving in the military.

Her face and body began to change quickly, she says. People asked if she was sick.

She shopped for baggier uniforms as she developed breasts and hips, and found herself sneaking around, making sure she was the last one in the shower after workouts, dressing in private.

It didnt take long for her to decide to come out to her leaders.

The general who I came out to had known me for a very, very long time, she says. Pretty conservative guy. I told him what was going on, and when we got all done, he got up and gave me a big hug.

Other colleagues offered similar support. One was a friend, a conservative Southern Baptist from rural Tennessee. I was really worried about him, she says. He got up and said, You know, Wheeler, I dont know much about the whole transgender thing, but I know you and I will always love you.

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In this photo, Suzanne Wheeler (standing, with soda) is seen prior to her transition with the tank company she commanded. The photo, taken in July 1994, now sits on the desk in Wheeler's home office.

Many trans men and women, once they transition, refer to the names they were given at birth as dead names. Wheeler doesnt. She points to a faded 4-by-6 photograph of herself as a captain at Fort Riley, Kansas, surrounded by some of the troops she commanded. In the picture, she projects an image as masculine as any on a vintage Army recruitment poster. She doesnt want to forget that person.

All of those folks in that picture, I can still name their names, she says. It would dismiss all of them from my past, and that wouldnt be right.

Data on the transgender population in the military is scarce. The armed forces historically havent tracked this demographic.

And even though Obama lifted a long-standing ban on military service for trans men and women in July 2016, many service members whove come out say they know others who have stayed in the closet.

Before Obamas ruling, his administration commissioned a study by the Rand Corporation on the impact of trans men and women in the military. The report concluded that the annual cost of serving the health care needs of active-duty trans soldiers would be minuscule  between $2.4 million and $8.4 million  compared with the Pentagons multibillion-dollar budget. A 2015 New England Journal of Medicine report found the same thing.

The Rand study examined how trans enlistees have affected the military in other countries, finding little or no impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness.

Another study, from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, suggests there are as many as 15,000 trans people whove served in the armed forces, with more than 8,000 currently on active duty. It goes on to say that trans men and women most likely serve in disproportionately higher numbers than the general population.

So when President Donald Trump outlined his plan to reinstate the ban in a series of tweets in August, the transgender community reacted with confusion and fear. The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security have said they will consider recommendations in the White House proposal.

They have until March to decide.

There has long been a strong military culture in and around Kansas City.

The area is home to a number of large military posts. The Veterans of Foreign Wars is headquartered here. But the presidents action is seen as the latest attack on the civil rights of the trans community as a whole. Advocates have already filed lawsuits in Washington state and Maryland challenging its constitutionality.

It was nerve-wracking, says Madeline Johnson, who was a Polish and German interpreter for the Army in the late 1980s. She didnt transition until much later, and is now a Kansas City attorney who mostly represents trans men and women.

Almost all of attorney Madeline Johnsons clients are from the LGBTQ community, and the majority of them are trans. Johnson is seen here in her office in midtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Johnson says she knew from the time she was little that her real gender wasnt the one shed been assigned at birth. Growing up, she was so miserable, she sometimes fantasized about driving her car into oncoming traffic.

The military seemed like a reasonable way to convince her conservative Southern Baptist family, her friends, and perhaps most of all herself that she wasnt the sissy  or worse, the sinner  that shed be labeled if she came out.

But I was adamantly denying, of course, that I was gay or transgender or anything, Johnson says. So I was deeply closeted... deeply in denial... yet at the same time... I wore womens underwear under my uniform.

Ceri Anne Lewis grew up in rural Minnesota. She joined the Navy during the Reagan years as a photographer in a high-security intelligence post.

If I tell you any more Ill have to kill you, she quips.

Lewis says she, too, came from a fundamentalist Christian background and repressed early feelings that she was trans. That was the farthest thing from what I wanted to [be], she says. Also, she knew that coming out would mean an immediate discharge from the Navy. Shed known people whod had that experience.

Ceri Anne Lewis speaks at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, Sept. 21, 2017. She did high-level Navy intelligence work during the Reagan years and is now a photographer who does technical photography equipment repair. She leads support groups in the community for LGBTQ people who feel abandoned by God, or by their faith, because of who they are.

Today, Lewis has come back to her religious roots.

Standing before a small LGBT support group on a recent evening at one of Kansas Citys largest and most progressive churches, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, she describes the revelation that freed her to accept her true gender identity.

When I was 50, I had a weekend home alone and I had the urge to dress, she says, brushing her thin, long hair behind her shoulders. I was looking at myself in the hall mirror in my home. Her voice drops almost to a whisper. I heard a voice over my shoulder that said... You can do this.

She wasnt sure what this was, but today, she travels the country identifying herself as a transgender woman and a Christian. She has a PowerPoint presentation in which she cites passages from Scripture that underscore her interpretation of the Bible  that God excludes no one.

From Galatians 3:28, she says, looking up at a screen that displays her slides. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Lewis sees her message as particularly relevant in the wake of a controversial document the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released in August. The so-called Nashville Statement was signed by thousands of evangelical educators, pastors, advocates and leaders. It lays out what the signatories claim is the biblical case against same-sex marriage and transgender identity, among other things.

Neither the Nashville Statement nor the military ban has deterred Carmen Xavier. In fact, what she sees as a recent escalation in hostile rhetoric has only inspired her to get more involved.

[I] grew up in a household with FDR right next to Jesus Christ on the wall, she says. My mother and father raised me to respect the office of the presidency of these United States of America.

Xavier grew up on Kansas Citys West Side, historically home to many of the areas Mexican and Mexican-American families. She enlisted in the Army at the height of the Vietnam War and spent five years in the Medical Corps in Bitburg, Germany, providing treatment to American soldiers.

Carmen Xavier was in the Air Force, 36th Tactical Air Command, in Bitburg, Germany, during the Vietnam War era. When she moved to the small town of Smithville, Missouri, her rainbow pride flag was vandalized. People threw eggs at her windows and paint balloons at her garage door.

She came home and spent the next several decades in and out of college, doing community work and holding elected office on her local school board and county legislature.

But, she says, she was not living her authentic life.

I was not Carmen Xavier, she says, sitting at her kitchen table in Smithville, Missouri. Its a small bedroom community, just north of Kansas City, where she recently moved.

If it serves the purpose, my dead name was Frederico Sanchez, or Fred, as I used to be called.

Her name is familiar to those in Kansas Citys political inner circle. Xavier became politically active prior to her transition, after her father was killed crossing a new highway that ran through her community. She helped organize the effort to build an overpass. Later, she was elected to her local school board and then to the Jackson County legislature. Shes worked in the back rooms of many political campaigns.

Building on her military service in the Medical Corps, Xavier pursued an education in nursing, specializing to become a nurse-anesthetist. She studied in the Kansas City area and in California, where she met other trans women who supported her in her transition.

In 2010, she made a decision.

I made a commitment in the presence of other trans women on Mission Bay, San Diego... to proceed with transition, she says proudly. It was at that birth ceremony I was given my name, Carmen Xavier.

Xaviers move to Smithville has been challenging.

Not long after she moved in, she raised her rainbow flag up the pole in her front yard. Vandals soon pelted her windows with eggs and threw paint balloons against her garage door. She felt scared, and began to sleep with a handgun under her pillow.

The silver lining, she says, is that the local officer who responded to her call has become a dear friend. Officer Chris Mendoza  who, it turns out, was the first Latino on the Smithville force, and who grew up not far from Xaviers home in Kansas City  now stops by regularly to check on her. The first time he came in, she says, her voice breaking with emotion, he said that he would take care of me.

Even though the rhetoric coming out of Washington rattles Xavier, shes decided to re-enter the political arena with a run for the Smithville school board next spring.

Im a different kind of soldier now. Im a citizen, Xavier says.

Caitlyn Jenner is not the only issue affecting America. Joe Six-pack has problems. Tom I-lost-my-job Smith has problems. I think transgender people... need to extend a hand and say, Im willing to discuss your issue.

Challenges remain for many of the 5,000 to 10,000 people in the Kansas City metropolitan area who identify as gender-nonconforming. Violence against trans women of color, for example, is disproportionately high in the metro area.

Many rural communities can be hostile to trans people. Just last month, a young trans girl in southern Missouri was murdered and mutilated. Both Kansas and Missouri voted overwhelmingly for Trump, and have state legislatures debating anti-LGBTQ policies.

Suzanne Wheeler always has, and always will, consider herself a patriot.

In the garage at their Shawnee home, Suzanne Wheeler and her fiancee, Marsha Riley, show off a transgender flag, with a gay pride flag on the wall.

Shes also a mentor to young people at LGBT support groups throughout the Midwest.

She says many who are struggling to define their gender identity are politically aware, and theyre scared of decisions like the military ban and the recent memo from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that excluded gender identity from civil rights protections.

They know these decisions could affect them their entire lives, she says. They see [military service] as a way forward for themselves... They want to serve the cause of freedom because they want freedom themselves.
Randy Bryce speaking at a panel discussion at the Pasadena (Calif.) Convention Center on July 30, 2017. (Photo: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon)

Speaker Paul Ryan has his hands full in Washington trying to herd a fractured GOP majority in the House. But back home, a social media-savvy ironworker and Army veteran is making a serious bid to unseat him thats picking up steam on the left.

Randy Bryce, whos lived in southeastern Wisconsin his whole life, is running as a blue-collar populist who would be a voice for the states workers in Washington. In the viral ad that launched his candidacy in June, he challenged the speaker while wearing a hard hat: Lets trade places, Paul Ryan you can come work the iron, and Ill go to D.C.

Since then, Bryces candidacy has attracted momentum among Democrats hungry for a win that would pack a serious symbolic punch. Swing Left, the grassroots group attempting to flip vulnerable Republican districts, added Ryans district to its list of targets, which was announced last week on the Pod Save America podcast popular among liberals. Bryce raised more than $1.5 million since June, most in small-dollar contributions, and also picked up the endorsement of Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee focused on electing Latinos.

Bryces candidacy is a long shot  Ryan has handily won his seat every election since the late 1990s in the Republican district that stretches from Lake Michigan to Ryans hometown of Janesville and all the way up to southern Milwaukee. In 2016, Ryan won the district by 35 points, and he has $10 million in the bank for his reelection campaign.

Speaker Ryan works tirelessly to represent the best interests of the Wisconsinites that he serves, said Kevin C. Seifert, executive director of Team Ryan. Voters know him and believe in what he stands for. I am confident they will continue to support him in 2018.

Bryce has also lost in bids for two statewide offices, once in a Democratic primary for state assembly in 2012 and two years later in a general election for state Senate, raising questions about his viability this time around.

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But Bryces team counters that Ryan hasnt had to face a real challenger since he was first elected in the late 1990s  and they point to polling that shows his support in the district may be slipping now that hes the face of congressional Republicans writ large and not just a congressman. Bryces campaign manager, David Keith, said he believes Republicans are scared that Paul is more vulnerable than he looks.

The NRCC, Paul Ryans own campaign and the state GOP relentlessly goes after @ironstache almost on a weekly basis, Keith said, referencing Bryces Twitter handle.

A Global Strategy Group poll of likely voters in the district from August found that 50 percent see Ryan favorably, but only 46 percent would vote for him if Bryce runs against him. Thirty-seven percent would vote for Bryce. That Ryan has just a single-digit lead against a relatively unknown challenger is likely a cause for concern for his campaign. The polling also shows deep skepticism among many voters in the area for the House-passed Obamacare repeal bill that ultimately died in the Senate.

The shine has completely gone from Paul Ryan in the district, Bryce told Yahoo News.

Randy Bryce holds up a court order to open the doors of the state Capitol, Madison, Wis., March 1, 2011. (Photo: Andy Manis)

The president of Latino Victory, Cristobal Alex, also said he believes the districts small but growing Latino population could be mobilized in support of Bryce, who supports immigration reform and whose father is of Mexican descent. We think the race will be close enough where several thousand Latinos voting for their champion could flip the district, Alex said.

From his Twitter handle @ironstache, Bryce has also repeatedly poked at Ryan for failing to have public town halls in his district for more than 600 days, saying he has lost touch with the people back home. Ryan later held a CNN-moderated town hall a few months ago that residents could apply to get into.

Bryce bills himself as the speakers polar opposite. Ryan has a technocratic, even scholarly vibe, occasionally presenting legislation to his members in Powerpoint form to make sure no wonky detail is missed. Bryce appeared in a mud-spattered denim shirt and hardhat in his first ad, and stressed in our interview that he knows whats its like to struggle to pay the bills.

Its about knowing, understanding the daily trials of being a working person, raising a son and being a couple of paychecks away from being out on the street, he said.

You couldnt draw a more perfect opposite character to Paul Ryan if you look at the two people and their histories, Keith, Bryces campaign manager, said.

But Bryce is already showing some Washington savvy by dodging a question about whether he would support Nancy Pelosi as House Democrats leader if he manages to unseat Ryan. Republicans are likely to tie Bryce to the nationally unpopular minority leader, calling him a Nancy Pelosi liberal as a way to discredit him in the district.

I always choose an election based on the best possible candidate, he said, when asked if hed back her. I dont know who would even be running against her.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Eric Paddock last week - AP

Investigators have met the brother of the Las Vegas gunman while friends and relatives of the 58 killed and other concert-goers returned to the scene to reclaim shoes, phones and bags left behind in the panic as they fled.

The interviews with Stephen Paddock's brother were part of an exhaustive search through the 64-year-old's life in search of clues about why he unleashed gunfire from broken windows in the 32rd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino.

Eric Paddock declined to say what he was asked, but he said he is co-operating with investigators, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"I'm trying to get them to understand Steve's mindset," Eric Paddock told the newspaper. "I don't want them to chase bad leads."

In a newly revealed court document obtained by CNN, Stephen Paddock described himself as a nocturnal creature who bet up to $1 million each night at Las Vegas casinos in flip-flops and tracksuits, catching sleep in the day.

The description of his lifestyle comes from a deposition filed as part of a civil lawsuit he filed against Cosmopolitan Hotel, where he slipped and fell in 2011.

The personal effects being recovered were strewn across the massive grassy concert venue where 22,000 country music fans attended the Route 91 Harvest festival. They have become sentimental memories of loved ones for some, and haunting reminders of the night of terror for others.

Some of the victims of the deadliest shooting in modern US history have already been returned home for funerals while many others are en route ahead of services planned for later dates.

People dive for cover during the shootingCredit: Getty Images

Eric Paddock said he came to Las Vegas to retrieve his brother's body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said he could not discuss the results of a post-mortem done on Stephen Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived at the Las Vegas Strip hotel suite.

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Eric Paddock told the Review-Journal that he plans to put his brother's assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims. He has described his brother as a multimillionaire who considered himself a professional gambler and owned real estate.

The family of one of the victims, 56-year-old John Phippen, of Santa Clarita, California, has already asked a Nevada judge to appoint a special administrator to take control of the gunman's assets. The lawyers said that is a necessary step to allow lawsuits to be brought against Paddock's estate.

Related:
High school graduation may be a few months away, but now is the time for college-bound students to start thinking about financial aid.

On Oct.1, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) became available to students across the nation. On that first day, nearly 238,000 online applications were submitted, an 8% jump from last year.

The FAFSA is an important key to securing federal aid in the form of grants and low-interest loans. Operated by the Department of Education, the office of Federal Student Aid provides more than $120 billion in assistance every year, helping more than 13 million students pay for college.

Completing your FAFSA early could greatly impact your award. First, every school has a different deadline, so getting it in early will prevent you from accidentally missing out. Additionally, some funds are awarded on a first come, first served basis, so its wise to send in your application early, even if youre unsure of where youre going to school.

What you need

Before you go online, plan ahead and have the following information available.

FSA ID

Sign up for an FSA ID. This is what allows you to access the Federal Student Aid system online. Secondly, it will serve as your legal signature on the FAFSA. You can easily create a new FSA ID online. Note: If a parent is providing information on a FAFSA, he or she will also need his or her own FSA ID.

Financial information

In order to create a full financial picture, the FAFSA will ask for your familys 2016 tax information. For this, you will need to provide your federal income tax return and W2 form. You can also use the IRS data retrieval tool to easily access this information.

On top of tax documents, the FAFSA will also ask to see your bank statements, records of investments, and records of any untaxed income.

If you are a dependent student, you must provide all of the same information for your parents.

Personal information

In addition to your tax details, the FAFSA will also require your Social Security number or Alien Registration Number if youre not a U.S. citizen.

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Tools to help

If youre not ready to file your FAFSA, but want an estimation of your aid, try the FAFSA4caster. This free tool will estimate your financial aid eligibility. After entering the name of a specific school or university, the calculator will summarize the cost of attendance and provide an estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC). It can also estimate your Pell Grant and federal loan eligibility.

As you move through the FAFSA process, its wise to familiarize yourself with some of the most common terms with this helpful info sheet. From Expected Family Contribution to Direct Unsubsidized Loans, knowing the definition of these key terms will help you to better understand your financial aid offer.

Brittany is a reporter at Yahoo Finance.

How FAFSA changes will affect your college financial aid

3 essential tips for parents with college-bound kids

Free college tuition could become a reality  at least in these states
(WASHINGTON)  Even as President Donald Trumps advisers encourage him to accept the realities of special counsel Robert Muellers probe, longtime friends and allies are pushing Trump to fight back, citing concerns that his lawyers are naive to the existential threat facing the president.

Trump supporters and associates inside and outside the White House see the conciliatory path as risky to the maverick presidents tenure. Instead, they want the street-fighting tweeter to criticize Mueller with abandon.

The struggle between supporters of the legal teams steady, cooperative approach, and the band of Trump loyalists who yearn for a fight, comes as the Mueller probe begins lapping at the door of the Oval Office. Mueller, who is investigating the firing of former FBI director James Comey and other key actions of the Trump administration, has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested large batches of documents from the executive branch.

In private, Trump remains relatively calm for now, but that doesnt mean he thinks the Russia probe is legitimate, and he could return to fighting Mueller at any moment, according to a group of about 15 Trump allies, advisers and former campaign aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with the White House.

The president still periodically flashes his anger, blasting the Senate intelligence committees investigation in a tweet last Thursday and urging them to investigate journalists instead of his campaign and family. And in a private dinner with social conservatives last month, Trump expressed frustration over Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusal, which helped pave the road to Muellers appointment.

The president respects what Bob Mueller is doing and has fully cooperated and asked everyone around him to fully cooperate with Bob, said Trumps attorney, John Dowd. And as a result, he added, there has been for months a very productive, professional relationship.

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Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer responsible for responding to Muellers information requests, said its important to Trump and the country to get this behind us.

The White House is working diligently in full cooperation with the special counsel to complete the responses to all pending requests, and the presidents frustration does not extend to the special counsel personally in any way, he added.

Lawyers have been gathering documents requested by Muellers investigators  which include records about the brief tenure of ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn  and working to schedule interviews with aides. In recent weeks, theyve also discussed a legal defense fund that could cover the cost of lower-level White House officials who may get wrapped up in the probe, and about the possibility of a single pool counsel to represent some aides.

But the question of cooperation is far from settled for Trumps allies, many of whom are pressing him to fight Mueller more aggressively.

That tension was apparent at a private dinner of close to a dozen conservative leaders with Trump and his top aides on Sept. 25, though accounts of the gathering vary.

In one version, one guest peppered Trump with questions about what he was going to do about the special counsels investigation. While Trump was dismissive, the president said he was keeping his head low and such questions should be posed to Sessions himself, according to two people who were present and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner.

But a third person in the room said that Trump was visibly angry with Sessions and made a flippant remark about the attorney generals decision to recuse himself from overseeing the federal Russia probe.

One former Trump campaign aide in contact with the president said Trumps feelings about Sessions have evolved in the last few months. Trump believes Sessions hurt him by not disclosing his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the vetting process for attorney general.

Sessions should have been upfront with Trump and alerted him to those encounters rather than waiting for word of them to become public, the former campaign aide said. But the presidents anger with Sessions also has diminished greatly in recent months, the same aide noted.

Supporters of Trumps legal team and the discipline imposed by Chief of Staff John Kelly are hoping that Trump will remain even-keeled and not jeopardize himself with public outbursts. They consider Muellers appointment the product of the most serious of self-inflicted wounds  Trumps firing of Comey  but are confident Trump will survive the investigation.

The president, the White House staff and others are relieved to have some structure inside the White House after months of chaos growing from the combative approach, said one White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks inside the White House.

But others, including many who worked closely with Trump on his successful election campaign, dont trust Mueller and believe White House lawyers are foolhardy to cooperate when the president is at risk.

The president and his team need to understand that this is a political brawl  not just a legal fight  and take that fight to Mueller, said the former campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions with the president and his team.

Trump will remain under control, one associate noted, as long as Mueller remains focused on Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, both of whom are under investigation. If the federal probe turns back toward the Trump family and business empire, then Trump may try to fire Mueller, the associate predicted.

The lay-low strategy is a departure in style for a president accustomed to rhetorical bombast. But after a period several months ago in which his advocates discussed ways to undercut the credibility of Muellers investigation, his attorneys now talk openly about their respect for Mueller and their desire for full cooperation.

The anger inside and outside the White House stems from almost everyone in the presidents orbit seeing the allegations of collusion as a nothing burger. But, with the reality of the investigations, its a nothing burger theyre now acknowledging they have to deal with.
Progressives are seeking to mount a Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said she will pursue re-election to a sixth term in 2018.

Top California Democrats quickly endorsed Feinsteins bid, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Kamala Harris. Harris already has begun raising money for the senior senators re-election.

Feinsteins critics on the left, however, pounced. Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, called Feinstein out of touch with the grassroots on issues like the economy and foreign policy.

The fact that the establishment is rallying around her re-election shows that DC insiders continue to privilege protecting one of their own over the voters concerns, Khanna, a freshman in Congress, said on Monday.

Khanna said he wont challenge Feinstein himself. He told Politico that he has contacted liberal Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, urging them to run instead.

Feinstein, 84, a former San Francisco mayor who has served in the Senate since 1992, would be 91 at the end of her prospective term. Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. Im all in! Feinstein tweeted Monday in announcing shell run for re-election.

Feinstein drew the ire of progressives in August after expressing hope that Donald Trump could be a good president and arguing he can learn and change with patience. Her comments didnt play well in California, where the liberal Trump resistance movement is especially active.

Feinstein also has irked progressives on health care, which is quickly emerging as a litmus test in the Democratic Party. While she supports a public option for health insurance, she has been hesitant to embrace single-payer health care because of its large price tag.

Other potential primary challengers to Feinstein in 2018 include California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, who is Latino. De Leon has not yet announced whether he will run.

Story continues

The New York Times reported that Feinstein declared her bid for re-election this week because an announcement from de Leon was imminent.

Markos Moulitsas, publisher of Daily Kos, a liberal blog that raises funds for progressive candidates around the country, cheered a possible de Leon candidacy on Twitter.

We share a common interest in this Senate race. Lets beat the most pro-Trump Blue-state Dem in the country! Moulitsas tweeted Monday.

Wealthy California entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg, another potential challenger in the Senate race, took to Twitter to tweak Feinstein for her comments about working with Trump.

California deserves a bold progressive fighter who will stand up to Trump  bullies like Trump are defeated by courage, not patience, Sanberg wrote. More important than ever that all CAs representatives in DC lead not appease  at stake are those lives of Californians struggling!

Feinstein dismissed talk of a primary challenge on Tuesday, maintaining she is the best person to challenge the Trump administrations policies on issues like immigration, health care, womens rights and the environment.

Im not interested in sparring with fellow Democrats, Im interested in defending California against President Trumps repeated attacks against our state, she said in a statement.

Any Democrat who runs against Feinstein will face a formidable challenge. Her campaign reported nearly $3.6 million cash on hand in June, a significant advantage in Californias expensive media market. She is an experienced politician, and much of the Democratic establishment backs her.

This story has been updated with Sen. Feinsteins statement.

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Moscow (AFP) - A Sukhoi military jet crashed while trying to take off from Russia's Hmeimim base in Syria on Tuesday, killing the crew, Russian news agencies quoted a military spokesman as saying.

"The Su-24 plane rolled off the runway and broke up while accelerating for takeoff... The plane's crew did not have time to eject and died," the spokesman said.

He did not clarify how many people died, but the Su-24 usually has a crew of two.

"According to a report from the scene of the accident, the reason could be a technical failure," he added.

Russia has staged air strikes in Syria in support of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since 2015.

On Tuesday, the defence ministry said Russian planes are currently carrying out 150 strikes per day in eastern Syria against Islamic State jihadists.

The latest casualties put the toll of Russian servicemen officially reported killed in Syria at 37.

Last month a Russian general was killed near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where Russian special forces are participating in the regime's ground offensive.
Paris (AFP) - They are like the infamous images from Abu Ghraib prison, only worse. Iraqi civilians in Mosul facing rape, torture and murder from members of their own army who had retaken the city from the Islamic State.

"They are the most sinister, upsetting pictures I have seen in my entire life," the veteran BBC war correspondent Jeremy Bowen said of the images taken by Kurdish photographer Ali Arkady.

This weekend the brutal series of pictures called "Kissing Death" Arkady took last year while embedded with members of an Iraqi special forces unit, won France's top prize for war correspondents.

The photographs were not just "really strong" said Bowen, who chaired the Bayeux-Calvados jury, "they were evil".

But it wasn't only their content that disturbed the jury. Arkady, 34, admitted to being pressured into hitting two suspects during a torture session to save his own skin, actions of which he said he was "not proud".

But other war photographers asked whether a line had been crossed?

While Bowen insisted that "the service he did by taking those pictures is more powerful that the fact he made some mistakes", others were not so sure.

Another member of the jury, who asked not be named, told AFP that he was disturbed by the ethical issues the "shocking" pictures raised.

"The story is not clear. A lot of people think he has been very brave in telling this story... but I think we are not sending the right message in rewarding this type of work," he added.

- 'He admitted his mistakes' -

Arkady was forced to flee Iraq with his family earlier this year, bringing with him images and films which he said proved war crimes were committed by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) which he had followed for two months.

Arkady said he kept working with the unit after the torture began partly from guilt because he had painted the soldiers as heroes in an earlier report for the US television network, ABC.

Story continues

"What began for Ali as a positive story about Shia and Sunni Iraqi soldiers fighting on the same side against a mutual enemy, turned into a horrific journey that included torture, rape, killing and thieving of innocent Iraqi civilians by the ERD," said the US-based photo agency, VII, who helped get him out of Iraq.

"I'd seen two heroes (the unit's commanders) do something bad," Arkady told AFP. "They started torturing people, raping women. Everything changed in my mind. I was confused. I decided to investigate more."

Bowen, who has spent decades reporting from the Middle East, said the fact that Arkady had exposed abuses that would otherwise have gone unreported was the overriding factor.

"I think it is very important he admitted the mistakes he made. In moral terms, he is not a torturer," he told AFP.

Award-winning British war photographer Sean Smith of The Guardian, who was not on the jury, said he "would not condemn" Arkady either.

For him, however, "the system which put him in that position -- where often inexperienced locally hired freelance 'stringers' provide the coverage" from dangerous war zones, is the real problem.

- 'Whole system compromised' -

"The whole thing has got so compromised because major news organisations are sending fewer and fewer experienced people," he said.

"There is no one there. Virtually all the coverage is coming from stringers and social media," he said.

Stringers often go "from not covering anything to covering extreme stuff. They just feed the machine" of photo agencies that want to show "they are still in the business even if they don't cover most things anymore.

"And then when something goes wrong, the guy becomes a scapegoat and everyone becomes very self-righteous."

VII co-founder Gary Knight told AFP that the agency did not know what Arkady had uncovered while he was working on the story.

"We did not pressure Ali to publish the images, the opposite is true," said Knight.

"We suggested that he think long and hard... because we knew that he would have to leave the country for his own security -- possibly forever -- if he did," he added.

Knight said he and the agency's other acclaimed war photographers Christopher Morris and Ron Haviv had mentored "Ali for years to offer him support and advice".

Smith said although Arkady should not have taken part in torture, photographers were sometimes put in desperate positions.

"If you go with people like that you can't say, 'I don't agree with what you are doing.' You blend in and disappear, you may even end up getting drunk with them."

For there is always "a very real danger you can end up dumped by the side of a road with a bullet in your head", he said.
By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - A 19-year-old student confessed to fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer hours after the suspect's family warned the school he could be suicidal, according to police and an arrest warrant posted online on Tuesday.

Hollis Daniels was arrested on Monday night following a lockdown at the school and charged with killing officer Floyd East, Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath told reporters. Texas Tech is in Lubbock, about 300 miles (480 km) west of Dallas.

Daniels' records posted online by the Lubbock County Jail did not list an attorney. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported that he was a freshman from Seguin, Texas, near San Antonio.

Bonath said that Texas Tech police received a report of a possibly armed student acting erratically, and sent two officers to Daniels' dorm room.

The officers found drug paraphernalia in the room, and when Daniels arrived, arrested him, and took him to the university police station, Bonath said.

Daniels pulled a gun at the police station, shot East in the head and fled on foot before being caught, officials said.

An arrest warrant filed by Lubbock police said Daniels stated at the beginning of an interview with two detectives that he had shot the officer and done "something illogical," according to the warrant posted online by local media.

A Texas Tech spokesman told ABC News that a family call had led university police to check on Daniels.

Bonath said that the Texas Tech counseling center got a call earlier on Monday from Daniels' family saying he may have a weapon and be suicidal.

Bonath was not clear about when the counseling center called police.

East, 48, had worked since May as an officer at the Lubbock campus. He began working for the university's El Paso campus in 2014. East is survived by a wife and two daughters, Bonath said.

First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)
By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley

Trump to the DMZ? President Donald Trump may visit the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea when he visits Seoul next month, South Korean media reports. An anonymous South Korean military official tells Yonhap that Trump is expected to send message to North Korea, either verbally or kinetically, during his trip. Trump will likely do something like that and his aides are making the relevant preparations, added the official.

Washingtons North Korea policy of the day. In Washington, the contradictory messages being sent by the president and his cabinet over North Korea policy are dizzying. FPs Robbie Gramer and Paul McLeary write that it can be best summed up as: The United States cant rule out military options for North Korea. Theres no military solution to North Korea. Diplomacy is our best bet with North Korea. Dont waste time with diplomacy.

Latest from Pentagon brass. U.S. military leaders, in particular, continue to insist that any engagement with the North Koreans must be led by the countrys diplomats. The American effort is diplomatically led, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told an annual U.S. Army conference in Washington on Monday. What does the future hold? Neither you nor I can say, so theres one thing the U.S. Army can do, and that is youve got to be readyif needed, he added.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters Monday that a full-blown war on the Korean Peninsula will be horrific by any stretch of the imagination,. But equally horrific, he said, would be an attack on the United States. It would be horrible, theres no question about it, but so would an intercontinental ballistic missile striking Los Angeles or New York City. That would be equally horrible.

Just going to leave this here. For those keeping score at home, the United Nations atomic agency chief on Monday affirmed Iran is sticking to the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump is working to dismantle. I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the (nuclear agreement) are being implemented, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in prepared remarks during a conference in Rome.

Story continues

Trump says hes smarter than Tillerson. Alternate headline we suggest: Were all dumber now. In an interview with Forbes magazine, President Trump takes on multiple stories that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him a fucking moron. Trump, unsurprisingly, hits back: I think its fake news, but if he did that, I guess well have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.

Airstrikes hit new high in Afghanistan. American warplanes dropped more bombs in Afghanistan in September than at any point since 2012, pounding the Taliban and the Islamic State with 751 munitions  a 50 percent jump from August.

The U.S. Air Force command in the Middle East said in a statement on Monday that the increase can be attributed to the presidents strategy to more proactively target extremist groups that threaten the stability and security of the Afghan people. The Air Force said that the bombing campaign has been aided by the recent addition of six F-16s to Bagram Air Base, and more B-52s dedicated to Afghanistan.

The long war and its toll. After 30 years of medical work during some of Afghanistans bloodiest times, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that it was drastically reducing its presence in the country after a series of attacks on its staff. The group said violence was simply too high to continue to operate in some provinces.

AUSA roundup. Monday kicked off the annual Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, the Armys biggest and most important meet-and-greet of the year where the service tells its story, tries to lay out its future, and checks out some of the defense industrys newest toys. Some highlights from Day One:

Kremlin still No. 1. Russia is the most pressing near-term threat to the United States, while China remains a more long-term threat, Army intel chief Brig. Gen. Kevin Wulfhorst said.

These great power competitors have invested heavily in anti-access area denial capabilities to compensate for their own perceived military weaknesses against the United States, Wulfhorst said.

Army modernization. The Army is revamping how it buys equipment, and is undergoing the largest internal restructuring in 40 years. To get after it, the service is setting up a new command to ensure its modernization programs get the attention, thought and care needed to get new gear in the hands of soldiers, faster.

Drone killer. The Army is testing a new vehicle-mounted weapon that can shoot down drones, and is rushing to deploy them overseas by next year. Other vehicles can be mounted with machine guns or Hellfire missiles to take down drones or low-flying aircraft.

Missile protection. The services missile defense chief is fully confident that his gear can shoot down any missile fired at the United States or its allies.

Africa focus. Just days after four U.S. Army soldiers were killed by what are thought to be Islamic State fighters while on a training mission in Niger, the acting head of U.S. Army Africa says that approximately 80 percent of our theater security cooperation activities are going to be focused in Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon area for next year.

Welcome to SitRep. As always, please send any tips, thoughts or national security events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or via Twitter: @paulmcleary.

Toxic command. One of the Navys most important ships for ballistic missile defense in the Pacific suffered plunging morale under its former captain, with sailors entertaining suicidal thoughts and suffering from exhaustion under a seemingly toxic command. Navy Times obtained command climate reports from the USS Shiloh under Capt. Adam M. Aycock, described as shocking, unforgivable, and a nightmare by retired Navy commanders who reviewed them.

Fake news targets vets. A new study from Oxford University found that Russia used fake news websites to create an entire ecosystem of junk news about national security issues that is deliberately crafted for U.S. veterans and active military personnel. The study charted the influence of three websites linked to Russia, tracing the flow of conspiracy theories peddled by the sites to veterans and active duty personnel on Twitter and Facebook, finding significant and persistent interactions with Russia-linked accounts.

Russian ads. Google says it that, like Facebook and Twitter, its discovered that Russian-linked operatives used its social media platforms to spread propaganda targeted at the 2016 presidential election. A source tells Reuters that Russian ad buyers purchased under $100,000 worth of political ads to run on YouTube, Gmail, and Googles flagship search engine. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that its currently investigating whether Russia used ads on its Bing search engine to target American voters during the campaign.

Tit-for-tat. Russias Justice Ministry has warned the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Russian-language news radio stations that your organizations activity may be restricted as the Russian government considers it a foreign agent. The move follows threats from the Russian Foreign Ministry to retaliate against American media with similar measures after complaints that the U.S. Justice Department asked Russian government funded RT news channel to register as a foreign agent.

Syria. Israel briefly considered striking crematoria used to burn the bodies of Assad regime prisoners killed at Saydnaya military prison, with one anonymous participant in the discussions telling Israeli news media some participants argued that A country that lost millions of its people to crematoria cannot stand by when it happens to another people a few dozens of kilometers from our border.

Idlib. Turkey is preparing to establish a de-escalation zone in Syrias Idlib Province by sending a military reconnaissance teams into the province. Turkey has sought to undermine the power of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al Qaedas affiliate in Syria, working with Free Syrian Army units to chip away at HTSs control of the province.

Turkey. Turkey says itd be nice if the U.S. restored nonimmigrant visa services to Turkish citizens at its consulate after the U.S. cut back on consular activity following the arrest of a Turkish employee of the U.S. consulate. But there doesnt seem to be an end to the feud in sight, especially given that a second Turkish employee of the U.S. diplomatic mission in the country has been invited to the Turkish prosecutors office and had his wife and child briefly detained.

Rule 34. The Islamic States Yemen affiliate is into some pretty weird stuff under the guise of training.
Barcelona (AFP) - Catalan leaders signed a declaration of independence from Spain on Tuesday but immediately put it on hold and called for talks with Madrid on the country's worst political crisis in decades.

As Spain headed into the unknown, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was to chair an emergency cabinet meeting early Wednesday to discuss the central government's response.

In a speech to regional lawmakers in Barcelona that drew both praise and criticism from separatists, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he had accepted "the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent republic" following a banned referendum on October 1.

But the 54-year-old asked the Catalan parliament to "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to initiate dialogue in the coming weeks".

Rajoy has vowed to use everything in his power to prevent independence and has refused to rule out imposing direct rule over the semi-autonomous region -- an unprecedented move many fear could lead to unrest.

He has called the cabinet meeting for 0700 GMT Wednesday.

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have come out against secession, concerned over the country's biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.

Puigdemont and his allies signed an independence declaration outside the parliament chamber, but he then suspended it and again called for dialogue, a regional government spokesman told AFP.

Deputy prime minister Soraya Saenza de Santamaria told reporters shortly after the signing that Puigdemont was "a person who doesn't know where he is, where he's going or with whom he wants to go".

- 'A historic day' -

EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that any Catalan move to break away from Madrid could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain's shock decision to leave.

Reaction was mixed among those who had hoped to witness a historic moment for a region that remains deeply divided over independence.

Story continues

Merce Hernandez, a 35-year-old architect, said: "I am very emotional, this is a historic day. I'm satisfied."

But in Barcelona's trendy Gracia neighbourhood, resident Maria Rosa Bertran said she was against a delayed secession.

"I find it even worse because it is suffering a longer agony, indecision and uncertainty is the worst thing that can happen to us," she told AFP.

Police deployed en masse around the regional parliament ahead of Puigdemont's address, blocking public access to a park that houses the building as crowds watched the session on giant screens, waving Catalan flags and some brandishing signs reading "democracy."

At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people deeply divided over independence, one of Spain's economic powerhouses whose drive to break away has raised concern for stability in the European Union.

EU President Donald Tusk had earlier urged Puigdemont against making a decision that would make "dialogue impossible".

But the Catalan president says the result of the independence referendum that was held in defiance of a Spanish court ban justified splitting from Madrid.

Around 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted for independence but the poll was poorly monitored and many Catalans opposed to secession boycotted what Madrid branded an illegal plebiscite.

Spain had sought to prevent the referendum from taking place by seizing ballot boxes and arresting a number of organisers, and police used rubber bullets and batons against voters on the day, triggering concern at home and abroad.

- Anger on both sides -

On Monday, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned that a unilateral declaration of independence would put "social cohesion" at risk.

Pro-unity and pro-independence supporters have staged mass rallies in Barcelona over the past week, highlighting divisions in Catalonia.

Puigdemont's regional government allies, the far-left CUP, lamented a missed opportunity for independence.

"We believed that today was the day to solemnly declare a Catalan republic, and we probably missed an opportunity," said party lawmaker Anna Gabriel.

The crisis has also caused deep uncertainty for businesses in one of the wealthiest regions in the eurozone's fourth largest economy.

Spain's stock market shed nearly 1.0 percent ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary session and a string of companies have already moved their legal headquarters -- but not their employees -- from Catalonia to other parts of the country.

"The companies have left, the banks are gone, we are all going to see what will happen," said Barcelona resident Bertran.

Publishing house Planeta was the latest to announce a move to Madrid after Puigdemont's speech.

Demands for independence in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, date back centuries.

But a 2010 move by Spain's Constitutional Court to water down a statute that gave Catalonia additional powers, combined with a deep economic meltdown in Spain, sparked a surge in support for independence.

burs-pg/txw
Barcelona (AFP) - Spain's economy minister Luis de Guindos said Tuesday that Madrid has the full support of the European Union in its response to the independence crisis in Catalonia.

One of Spain's most respected politicians internationally, de Guindos slammed the independence call as a "rebellion against the rule of law", just ahead of a key speech by Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont.

"What I can say is that everyone has supported the position of the Spanish government," said De Guindos, as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts after breakfast talks with ministers from the European People's Party, the bloc's right-of-centre political grouping.

The support comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, and French President Emmanuel Macron backed Spanish unity in recent telephone calls with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Ministers from Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Hungary, as well as European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis took part in the breakfast meeting, according to Spanish government sources.

"This is not an issue of independence... This regards a rebellion against the rule of law, and the rule of law is the basis not only for coexistence in Spain but also for coexistence in Europe," said De Guindos.

De Guindos also highlighted the support of the EU institutions, as well as member states, which in recent weeks have said they consider the Catalan crisis to be an internal Spanish matter and voiced respect for Spain's legal framework.

Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said he hoped the Catalonia crisis "would not transform into a crisis for the euro and EU" as a whole.

"Spain has taken all the precautions needed to overcome the crisis," Schelling said, adding that the EU was prepared to help Madrid if needed.

"I think we are all ready to assist in a mediation if Spain would need this," he said.

Story continues

His comments come hours before an expected speech by Puigdemont, the first since Catalonia held an referendum prohibited by the central government which overwhelmingly backed independence.

It is not known whether the 54-year-old Catalan president will actually go ahead with a declaration of independence or back down.

"It's all up to Mr Puigdemont right now," said De Guindos, who wanted the return of "common sense, not only for Catalonia as a whole, but also for the whole of Spain and Europe."
President Donald Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon has vowed to remove establishment Republicans who are critical of the presidents agenda from office.

Bannon called on Tennessee Senator Bob Corkerwho has quarreled publicly with President Trump over the past weekto resign during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday.

If Bob Corker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately, Bannon said.

09_15_Steve_Bannon

Bill O'Leary, Getty

Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday Trump could put the U.S. on the path to World War III because of his aggressive approach the North Korea and unpredictable behavior in office like hes doing The Apprentice or something.

Corker is set to retire in 2018, but Bannon told Hannity there's a coalition that's coming together that's going to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz.

Were going to cut off the oxygen to Mitch McConnell, Bannon said, taking aim at the Senates Republican Majority leader. Bannon said he intends to cut off money to McConnell, who is unpopular in his home state and got a 19-percent favorability rating in a recent national poll.

Bannon also named Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, chair of the Senates Finance Committee, as another target. Bannon said the names of more establishment Republicans he intends to target will come out over the next couple weeks, suggesting there would be about 15.

Read more: Ex-convict Michael Grimm: Steve Bannon is "very excited" to get me re-elected to Congress

Bannon accused Republicans of taking part in economic hate crimes on the American working men and women in this country because of the trade deals.

Were going after these guys tooth and nail, he said. We are declaring war on the Republican establishment that does not back the agenda that Donald Trump ran on. This agenda works. The American people voted for it.

Story continues

Bannon said he would replace establishment Republicans and then go after the Democrats. This is something youre going to have to grind out day in and day out for the next five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, he said. Theres no magic wand we can wave and drain the swamp.

Bannon left his White House position on August 18, capping a tumultuous period of changeover in the Trump administration that saw the rapid resignations of White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and the firing of Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

The same day he left the Trump administration, Bannon returned to his former job as executive chairman of the hard-right news website Breitbart News. Im free. Ive got my hands back on my weapons, Bannon told The Weekly Standard at the time. I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart. And now Im about to go back, knowing what I know, and were about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.

An investigation of Breitbart by BuzzFeed News October 5 revealed how Bannon used the publication to give a voice to white supremacists and white nationalists.

Since his return to Breitbart, Bannon has helped hard-right Republican Roy Moore in his bid to unseat establishment Republican Luther Strange in the primaries of Alabamas special election in December. Bannon has said he intends to be Trump's wingman outside the administration.

Related Articles
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Sen. Bob Corker to resign immediately after the Tennessee Republicans blistering attack against President Donald Trump.

Sen. Corker is an absolute disgrace, Bannon, who left the White House in August, told Fox News Sean Hannity. If Bob Corker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately. He should not let those words stand.

Bannon said Corkers comments were totally unacceptable in a time of war.

We have troops in Afghanistan, in the northwest Pacific and Korea, we have a major problem that could be like World War I, in the South China Sea, in the Persian Gulf, we have American lives at risk every day.

In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Corker said he was concerned Trumps volatility could lead to World War III and said he believed the president had hurt the country at times with his online Twitter tirades. Such opinions, the senator continued, were shared by the vast majority of congressional Republicans.

Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what were dealing with here, Corker said. Of course they understand the volatility that were dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road.

Bannon  who continued to heap scorn on Corker, calling him arrogant and an elitist snob  said he was continuing to ramp up his so-called war on established GOP politicians.

Story continues

Steve Bannon: "There's a coalition coming together that's going to challenge every Republican incumbent, except for @SenTedCruz." #Hannity pic.twitter.com/EbZpt6DPnz  Fox News (@FoxNews) October 10, 2017

Were going to go after them. Theres a coalition coming together thats going to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz, Bannon said Monday night. We are declaring war on the Republican establishment that does not back the agenda that Donald Trump ran on. Were going after these guys tooth and nail.

Trump launched an attack at Corker, a powerful Republican in Congress, earlier Sunday, saying the senator begged him for an endorsement, even though he had announced his retirement last September.

Senator Bob Corker "begged" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said "NO" and he dropped out (said he could not win without...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

Corker shot back just an hour later, saying it was a shame the White House has become an adult day care center.

This article has been updated to include additional comments from Bannons interview with Hannity.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese authorities believe a criminal gang is responsible for the abduction of a Swiss humanitarian worker who disappeared outside her home in Sudan's troubled Darfur region on Friday. Authorities have intensified the search in and around the city of al-Fashir and believe the gang is looking for a ransom, North Darfur's Deputy Governor Mohamed Birama told Reuters on Monday. "We expect that she will be found very soon," he said. Switzerland on Sunday called for a rapid and unconditional release of the woman but did not give any other details about her. Sudan will extend a unilateral ceasefire with rebels until the end of December, state news agency SUNA reported on Sunday, days after the United States lifted 20-year-old sanctions tied to progress on resolving ongoing conflicts. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan's Arab-led government. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz,; Writing by Nadine Awadalla, editing by Ed Osmond)
By Fabian Hamacher TAIPEI (Reuters) - President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Tuesday to defend Taiwan's freedom and democracy amid growing pressure from giant neighbor China, using a National Day speech to warn that the self-ruled island would not bow to pressure. China considers proudly democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Relations with Beijing have deteriorated sharply since Tsai, who leads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, took office last year, with China suspecting she wants to push for the island's formal independence, a red line for Beijing. China has cut off a regular dialogue mechanism with Taiwan, ramped up military drills around the island and stepped up international pressure to limit Taiwan's diplomatic footprint. Tsai, who has pledged to maintain peace with China, said her government was still seeking breakthroughs in ties with Beijing and promised consistent and stable policies. "We need to remember democracy and freedom were rights obtained through all of Taiwan people's countless efforts," Tsai said. "Therefore, we need to use all our power to defend Taiwan's democratic and freedom values and lifestyle," she said. Tsai's speech came a week before China holds its twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress, where President Xi Jinping, who has taken a robust approach to territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, will cement his grip on power. Her government has continued to rattle Beijing, with her newly appointed premier, William Lai, telling parliament last month he was a "political worker who advocates Taiwan independence". However, Tsai has also sought to give Beijing a roadmap where its "goodwill" can be extended, which in turn could give her a chance to reciprocate and rein in the more independence-leaning hardliners on the island. "We have offered our greatest goodwill," she said in her 20-minute address. "I have repeatedly said, our goodwill doesn't change, our promises don't change; we won't walk on the old path of confrontation, but we won't bow to pressure," Tsai said. Responding to Tsai's speech, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Taiwan had to clearly state that Taiwan and mainland China belonged to "one China". "Only if the one China principle is upheld and Taiwan independence opposed can there be peaceful and stable development of relations across the Taiwan Strait," it said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency. Tsai reiterated the importance of implementing the island's new "southbound" policy of forging closer ties with countries in the region, saying Taiwan was seeking to find a new position in the international community. "In the face of rapid change in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan is already prepared to play an even more important role in the region's prosperity and stability," she said. (Reporting by Fabian Hamacher; Writing by Jessica Macy Yu and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Greg Torode and Clarence Fernandez)
Discussion on sexual abuse by powerful men has focused on women this week as the number of Harvey Weinsteins accusers keeps growing.

Showing that it can happen to anyone, Terry Crews shared his own unwanted experience over Twitter on Tuesday in response to revelations about the Hollywood super-producer.

This whole thing with Harvey Weinstein is giving me PTSD, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor began, adding, Because this kind of thing happened to ME.

Crews went on to detail an incident that allegedly occurred at a Hollywood function he attended with his wife last year. After an unnamed high level executive groped my privates, the actor said he jumped back in surprise.

He just grinned like a jerk, Crews said of the perpetrator. He explained that he didnt immediately react because he was afraid of how it would look. (240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood Honcho would be the headline the next day, he wrote.) The actor said he talked about the incident with everyone I knew that worked with him, but eventually let it go because he didnt want to be ostracized.

I understand why many women who this happens to let it go, Crews said, before ending on a positive note. Hopefully, me coming forward with my story will deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless.

A representative for Crews told HuffPost the actor would not be commenting further.

Crews story comes after Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette, Rose McGowan and other women in Hollywood have gone public with tales of the harassment and abuse they say they sustained at the hands of Weinstein. A small but growing number of high-profile celebrities  including Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and George Clooney  have spoken out against Weinstein and in praise of the women whove shared their experiences so far.

The Weinstein Company fired its co-founder on Sunday in response to the allegations against him.

Read Crews whole series of tweets below.

Story continues

This whole thing with Harvey Weinstein is giving me PTSD. Why? Because this kind of thing happened to ME. (1/Cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

My wife n I were at a Hollywood function last year n a high level Hollywood executive came over 2 me and groped my privates. (2/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Jumping back I said What are you doing?! My wife saw everything n we looked at him like he was crazy. He just grinned like a jerk. (3/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

I was going to kick his ass right then but I thought twice about how the whole thing would appear. (4/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood Honcho would be the headline the next day. (5/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Only I probably wouldnt have been able to read it because I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL. So we left.

(6/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

That night and the next day I talked to everyone I knew that worked with him about what happened. (7/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

He called me the next day with an apology but never really explained why he did what he did. (8/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

I decided not 2 take it further becuz I didnt want 2b ostracized par 4 the course when the predator has power n influence. (9/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

I let it go. And I understand why many women who this happens to let it go. (10/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Whos going 2 believe you? ( few) What r the repercussions?(many) Do u want 2 work again? (Yes) R you prepared 2b ostracized?(No)(11/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

I love what I do. But its a shame and the height of disappointment when someone tries to takes advantage of that. (12/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

He knows who he is. But sumtimes Uhav2 wait & compare notes w/ others whove been victimized in order 2gain a position of strength. (13cont)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

I understand and empathize with those who have remained silent. But Harvey Weinstein is not the only perpetrator. (14/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Hollywood is not the only business were this happens, and to the casualties of this behavior you are not alone. (15/cont.)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Hopefully, me coming forward with my story will deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless. (16/end)  terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A public feud between President Donald Trump and influential fellow Republican Bob Corker could narrow the path for a tax overhaul in the U.S. Senate, where a Republican go-it-alone effort is already showing signs of disunity. Days after the Republican-controlled Congress took important steps toward advancing tax legislation, Trumps Twitter attacks on Senator Corker over the weekend threatened to further alienate the president from other key Republicans such as Senator John McCain, whose No vote was pivotal in the partys failure to repeal Obamacare in July. Although a foreign policy specialist, Corker is also a key player in the tax debate. He helped the Senate move closer to legislation by agreeing to a budget resolution that would allow tax reforms to reduce government revenue by up to $1.5 trillion over a decade, but he wants savings elsewhere and has vowed not to vote for a tax package that adds to the federal deficit. Republicans hope Corker will ultimately vote for tax reform in hopes of boosting economic growth. But Trump's tweets do not help, especially now that Corker has decided against seeking re-election next year and is free to vote whichever way he wants without having to face voters again. Republicans are desperate to push through tax reform, seeing it as their last good chance to get a major legislative victory in the first year since 2006 that the party has controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress. Trump and top Republican lawmakers have unveiled a plan to slash taxes for businesses and individuals, the first comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. tax code since 1986. They hope to get it done by January. The tax push has been dogged by delays and distractions such as Trump's criticisms of his own party's leaders, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. The latest incident erupted on Sunday when Trump lashed out at Corker in a series of derisive tweets saying the lawmaker had begged him for his endorsement ahead of the midterm election next year and announced his retirement after being turned down. Corker replied by describing the White House as an adult day care center, and told the New York Times that Trump risks setting the country on the path to "World War Three". The spat complicates things for Republicans as they try to move tax legislation through the Senate, which they control by a slim 52-48 margin. Most Democrats oppose the plan, and Republicans cannot pass it if they lose support from more than two lawmakers of their own party. "This is a delicate balance," said Stephen Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who helped write Trump's campaign tax plan. "It all comes down to whether you can get 50 votes in the Senate. Right now, by my count, theyre at about 48. A few votes short." Divisions have emerged over proposals to repeal the federal inheritance tax and a popular deduction for state and local taxes. Senate Republican Rand Paul has expressed unhappiness over reports that Trump's tax plan could raise taxes on some middle-class Americans. Republicans need to keep Corker on board and prevent him from becoming a maverick like McCain, known for his sharply independent streak. "Bob Corker, at this point, is as free as John McCain is to do what he thinks is right," said William Galston, who was a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist with close ties to Congress and the White House, said he thinks most Republican senators will get in line despite their concerns over Trumps treatment of their colleagues. "While it may really bother other Senate Republicans and it's unnerving that one of their own is being attacked, most arent retiring and know they must still work with the White House or answer to frustrated voters," Bonjean said. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Howard Goller)
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in Boston on June 16, 2017. (Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)

WASHINGTON  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says that if Confederate monuments are taken down, theres no telling how far America might go Native Americans could call for the removal of statues commemorating leaders who orchestrated violence against their ancestors.

Where do you start and where do you stop? Zinke asked in an interview with Breitbart published Sunday. Its a slippery slope. If youre a native Indian, I can tell you, youre not very happy about the history of General Sherman or perhaps President Grant.

William Sherman was a Union general during the Civil War who later used the military to force American Indian tribes to move to reservations. He wrote in 1868 that, the more I see of these Indians the more convinced I am that they all have to be killed or be maintained as a species of paupers.

Former President Ulysses Grant covertly provoked an illegal war with Plains Indians, as Smithsonian Magazine reported, and also presided over the mass slaughter of the buffalo, a culturally significant animal that was also a major resource for many tribes.

Zinke, who oversees the countrys national park system as head of the Interior Department, told Breitbart that the Trump administration will not remove any monuments from federal land, including Confederate monuments. When you try to erase history, what happens is you also erase how it happened and why it happened and the ability to learn from it, Zinke said.

But Zinkes remarks seem to ignore the fact that Native Americans have already been calling for the removal of monuments that commemorate white supremacy and historical figures who committed violence against indigenous people.

Members of a racial justice organization prepare to hang a banner on a monument to Confederate soldier John B. Castleman in Louisville, Kentucky, on Aug. 19, 2017. (Photo: Bryan Woolston / Reuters)

Many Confederate monuments were erected long after the Civil War had ended, not to honor those who fought, but to promote a white supremacist future, as University of Chicago history professor Jane Dailey told NPR. The proper place for this history is in a museum, Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Centers Intelligence Project, told HuffPost.

Story continues

In Zinkes home state of Montana, Native American lawmakers have called for the removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers that they say stands for segregation, secession, and slavery.

Last month, representatives of several tribes also gathered in Gardiner, Montana  the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park  to petition the government to change the names of two park features named after historical figures: Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, who helped lead a massacre of more than 150 Native Americans in 1870, and Ferdinand Hayden, who once wrote that unless [Native Americans] are localized and made to enter upon agricultural and pastoral pursuits they must ultimately be exterminated.

In blasting the removal of Confederate statues, Zinke is echoing President Donald Trump, who remarked in August, You really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?

Critics say Zinkes latest statement about American Indians is dismissive and misses the point of efforts to remove Confederate statues in the first place.

He seeks to sidestep the initial issue and casually mentions American Indian complaints as a reason why the Confederate statues should stay, Candessa Tehee, former executive director of the Cherokee Heritage Center in Oklahoma, told HuffPost. His comparison is like saying one wrong move justifies another.

Zinke is acting as an apologist for Confederate monuments that make no effort to present a balanced and informed view of history, said David Hayes, the Interior Departments deputy secretary under President Barack Obama.

The National Park Service rightly prides itself in providing an accurate and balanced view of Americas historical sites, Hayes added, pointing to the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana.

The National Park Service doesnt always get it right. But for many years, it has recognized its special obligation to responsibly present our nations history, Hayes said. Abdication of this responsibility with simplistic rhetoric ... is, at best, unbecoming to the Interior Department and the National Park Service.

Zinke is obligated to appreciate, preserve and explain American history, Hayes added.

The Interior Department did not respond to HuffPosts requests for comment.

Zinkes relationship with Indian Country has been rocky. In 2014, when he was running for a Montana House seat, he drew fire for saying the problem of unemployment on local reservations stemmed from a dependence on the government. Tribal representatives accused Zinke of promoting stereotypes about Native Americans and of lacking empathy and historical awareness.

When Zinke was sworn in as Interior Department head in March, he vowed to champion indigenous communities. He said sovereignty should mean something and that Indian nations and territories must have the respect and freedom they deserve. Some Native Americans say they are hopeful about his policies, even as he has pushed a proposal that would slash the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget more than 10 percent and cut $64.4 million from Indian Affairs education programs.

In August, Zinke revised the agencys Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, which aims to address the widespread problem in Indian Country of land fractionation, a threat to tribal sovereignty. The sudden change meant dozens of tribes were cut out of the program entirely. A former Interior official told HuffPost at the time that there was no consultation with tribal leaders about the new strategy.

Zinke has suggested that Trump consider establishing a new national monument in Montanas 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine area, a site the Blackfeet Nation considers sacred. But he has also recommended shrinking or otherwise weakening at least 10 existing monuments that safeguard natural resources, according to a leaked copy of the report Zinke submitted to the White House in late August.

Among the monuments Zinke sent to Trumps chopping block is Bears Ears National Monument, 1.35 million acres of protected public land in southeastern Utah that is home to thousands of Native American archaeological and cultural sites. The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, a group of five tribes, condemned Zinkes recommendation as a slap in the face.

It says a lot about Zinke that hes willing to go to bat for monuments to Confederate generals but not those that protect sacred Native American sites, said Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress.

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President Trump implied Tuesday that the New York Times tricked Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., by taping the interview in which Corker said he thought Trump might start World War III.

The Failing @nytimes set Liddle Bob Corker up by recording his conversation, Trump tweeted Tuesday. Was made to sound a fool, and thats what I am dealing with!

Trump was referencing an interview Corker gave to the New York Times Sunday. The senator, who recently announced he will not seek reelection, said, on the record, that he worried the country was heading towards World War III as a result of Trumps provocative comments about North Korea.

Bob Corker, Donald Trump. (Photos: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The interview was recorded both by the Times reporter, Jonathan Martin, and two Corker staffers who were on the line. In a partial transcript, Corker begins the interview by confirming, I understand were on the record.

A spokesman for the Times told Yahoo News, Sen. Corker agreed to the interview and knew it was being recorded, as is standard practice for interviews with public officials. Corkers office had no comment.

The liddle moniker is recycled from the primary campaign, when Trump would use it to demean Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., emphasizing the diminutive spelling at rallies and in an interview. Corker is 5 feet 7. Rubio is 5 feet 9. Trump claims to be 6 feet 3.

The president has repeatedly lashed out at the senator in recent days, apparently provoked by Corkers comment that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly are all that separate the country from chaos.

Senator Bob Corker begged me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee, Trump tweeted Sunday in response. I said NO and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said NO THANKS.

Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda, Trump added. Didnt have the guts to run!

Story continues

Corker responded, Its a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

Read more from Yahoo News:
President Donald Trump said he would surpass Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an IQ test, if Tillerson really called him a moron.

Last week, after NBC News reported that Tillerson, increasingly angry with Trump and other administration figures, referred to Trump as a moron, the president dismissed the story as phony.

But in an interview with Forbes magazine published Tuesday, Trump said that if the NBC report was true, hed compare IQ test results with Tillerson and come out the smartest.

I think its fake news, Trump said in the interview. But if he did that, I guess well have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.

Tillerson last week gave an unscheduled press conference to address the story, praising his boss as smart and affirming his commitment to the president and the success of our country. Notably, he did not specifically deny calling Trump a moron.

(Photo: Carlos Barria / Reuters)

The secretary of state left the job of disputing the story to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who told reporters the secretary does not use that type of language.

Later that day, Trump said that he appreciated Tillerson showering him with praise. Despite rumblings that Tillerson may be on his way out, the president said he has total confidence in Rex.

Trump on Tuesday brushed off reporters asking whether his IQ comment undercut Tillerson.

No, I didnt undercut anybody. I dont believe in undercutting people, Trump said.

The president has repeatedly undermined Tillersons diplomatic efforts, contradicting his top diplomat and admonishing him on Twitter.

Trump met with with Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for lunch Tuesday.

At a press briefing that afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Trumps comment was merely a joke, nothing more than that, and that the president never implied that the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent.

Sanders repeated that Trump has full confidence in the secretary of state.

Story continues

Asked during the State Department briefing later in the day about Tillersons IQ, Nauert said: Its high.

I think that the presidents allowed to joke, Nauert added.



This story has been updated to include comments from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as additional comments from Trump and Nauert.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said "only one thing will work" in dealing with North Korea after previous administrations had talked to Pyongyang without results. "Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid," Trump said in a tweet. "...Hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!" Trump did not make clear to what he was referring, but his comments seemed to be a further suggestion that military action was on his mind. The president has previously said the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea if necessary to protect itself and its allies from Pyongyang's nuclear threats. Earlier this week, during a meeting with top U.S. military leaders and their spouses, Trump told reporters it was the "calm before the storm." Asked for clarification then on what he meant, Trump said: "You'll find out." Speaking to reporters on Saturday ahead of a trip to North Carolina, Trump said he had nothing more to clarify. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders referred to Iran and North Korea the following day when asked about Trump's "calm before the storm" comments. Asked on Saturday about Trump's tweet, Sanders said she had nothing to add to the president's comments. The Pentagon referred a question for clarification to the White House and said the Defense Department's job was to "present the president military options and carry out orders." Trump repeatedly has made clear his distaste for dialogue with North Korea. On Sunday he dismissed the idea of talks as a waste of time, a day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington was maintaining open lines of communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government. Trump said on Saturday that he had a good relationship with his secretary of state despite some disagreements. "We have a very good relationship. We disagree on a couple of things. Sometimes Id like him to be a little bit tougher, but other than that we have a very good relationship, he said. A Russian lawmaker on Friday was quoted saying North Korea was preparing to test a long-range missile that it believes can reach the west coast of the United States. Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, was part of a Russian delegation that visited Pyongyang from Oct. 2-6, according to Russian RIA news agency. North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs have driven up tensions in the region and around the world in recent months, particularly after it conducted a test explosion of what it said was a hydrogen bomb. (Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Paul Simao and Diane Craft)
President Trump took fresh digs at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a new interview published on Tuesday, suggesting a solution that could settle the recent point of controversy between the pair.

In the new Forbes interview, the U.S. commander in chief pokes at the recent report that Tillerson called Trump a "moron," offering an IQ test as a way to compare Trump and Tillerson's intelligence.

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests," Trump said. "And I can tell you who is going to win."

RELATED: Members past and present of President Trump's inner circle



The comment from Trump comes after the 45th president slammed NBC News for their report which cited three officials who say Tillerson dropped the "moron" bomb after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon. Trump fired off tweets aimed at NBC News multiple times last week, calling for the outlet to issue an apology and suggesting there was grounds for a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the "Fake News Networks."

Tillerson almost immediately addressed the American public in a televised address following the report, reaffirming his commitment to the Trump Administration.

"My commitment to the success of our president and our country is as strong as it was the day I accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state," Tillerson said.

Still, though, Axios' Mike Allen reported on Monday that the president -- known for making snap decisions on who stays and goes within his inner circle -- might look to replace Tillerson with CIA director Mike Pompeo.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Donald Trump confer during a working lunch with African leaders during the UN General Assembly in September: REUTERS

Like me, you may remember furious debates, even back to university days, about American meddling in the world. In my day, it was Ronald Reagan. We marched when he deployed medium range ballistic missiles in western Europe and sighed knowingly after he was caught secretly selling weapons to Iran and using the proceeds to fund the Contras in Nicaragua.

Quite likely you have your own mental scrapbook of American malfeasances. Vietnam may need volumes. Yet in our maturer years, most of us would acknowledge  I think  that the final tally, at least since the end of World War II, is in Americas favour. It has used its wealth and heft to keep us from dissolving into chaos. Peace though strength, a common description of Reagans approach, sounds glib, but we know what it means.

The rebuilding of western Europe after 1945 with the Marshall Plan, the creation of an international architecture for stability (the UN, the IMF, Nato and so on), the spread of free trade, democratic governance and human rights and, yes, the fall of the Soviet Union, all happened because America considered them a sine qua non for the establishment of security for all of us.

How does "peace through pandemonium" sound? Not good, I am guessing, but that is essentially the condition of Washingtons foreign policy apparatus today. We have a galloping crisis of global leadership that has Americas allies gawping in dismay. Their fear is partly born of bafflement. They dont even know who to try to talk to when they need answers on pressing issues. Are you going to war with North Korea? Are you interested in doing a trade deal with us? Should they call Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee? He and Trump barely talk. Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Err, no.

The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017

It is more, "Hello, is there anyone there?" Quite likely not. The State Department in Foggy Bottom, which is meant to be the engine room of American diplomacy, is increasingly devoid of people to pick up the phone. On the one hand, seasoned diplomats who were appalled from the moment Donald Trump used his inauguration speech to rehearse his America First doctrine  a throwback to the isolationists who tried to keep America out of World War II  have been fleeing the building in droves. On the other, Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State, has simply left hundreds of senior posts unfilled. "Hello, operator, please connect me to the US ambassador to South Korea, its important". Reply: "Im sorry, there is no US ambassador to South Korea."

Story continues

Senator Bob Corker speaks to reporters while going to the Senate Chamber for a vote on Capitol Hill (Getty Images)

According to a head count by the New Yorker, 48 ambassadorships are vacant. All but two of the 23 Assistant Secretary of State positions  a vital layer of top, seasoned diplomats  are either empty or occupied by a temporary fill-ins. Tillerson is steering a ship bereft of officers on deck, in part because of his own mission to strip its operating budget, which he laid out within days of arriving in Foggy Bottom last winter. These cuts will decimate the Foreign Service, Nick Burns, a former Under-Secretary of State, told the New Yorker. The Foreign Service is a jewel of the United States. There is no other institution in our government with such deep knowledge of the history, culture, language, and politics of the rest of the world.

Sometimes, Tillerson, who may now rue the day he left the CEO suite at Exxon, has identified people he wanted by his side only to have the White House nix them. Which brings us to the Rex-Donald divorce proceedings. Rex, by all accounts, is headed for Rexit. That they were even scheduled to have lunch together on Tuesday seemed like a minor miracle, not least given what Trump had said on Twitter earlier in the day. If it was true that Tillerson had called him a moron maybe hed like to come by the Oval Office and see which one of them is really the dunderhead, he said. Well have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.

I am not being funny. What Tillerson actually called Trump, we recently learned, was a f***ing moron. It happened at a private meeting of top foreign policy bods in July attended also by Defense Secretary James Mattis. Last week NBC News reported that around the same time Tillerson came to the brink of resigning but was pulled back by Mattis and others. The NBC report prompted Tillerson to hold an impromptu press conference to avow his faith in the president. If he wasnt crossing his fingers, he should have been, given Tuesdays IQ quip.

The undercutting of Tillerson by irascible Trump is not new. No issue is more concerning today than North Korea and the Presidents repeated threats of military action to totally destroy it. When Tillerson told reporters a few days ago that, contrary to all impressions, he was talking directly to the regime in Pyongyang to seek a diplomatic solution to the stand-off over its nuclear weapons programme, Trump contradicted him by Tweet. I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man, he averred. Save your energy Rex, well do what has to be done! Which will be what, the world is now asking?

Corker is engaged in his own pissing match with the President, also as priceless as it is mind-boggling. It started when Corker, who had just decided he would not seek re-election next year, remarked that Tillerson, Mattis and Chief of Staff John Kelly, were the people that help separate our country from chaos. This past weekend, an angered Trump implied Corker was retiring because hed refused to endorse him for a new term. Corker hit back. It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning. On Tuesday, Trump took it a step further, suggesting that an interview with the New York Times had made Corker look a ninny. The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!

Consider. What do foreign adversaries of the US and allies alike think when they look to Washington these days? Do they think Tillerson is a reliable spokesperson for the president and has his confidence? Of course they do not. Can they even take Trump seriously when senior members of his own party are suggesting he needs adult daycare supervision to prevent the outbreak of chaos?

If you are still of the view that America is a net detriment to the world  you would be in the company of Kim Jong-un, the leadership in Tehran and of Bashar al-Assad of Syria  then you will be cheered by this escalating farce in Washington and the collapsed morale of its diplomatic service.

If you think that in this most dangerous of times it would be helpful, vital even, to have an America that is resolute, steady and responsible, then you will not be sleeping at night.
President Trump said he believes reports that Rex Tillerson called him a moron are not true  but either way, he says, hes smarter than his secretary of state.

I think its fake news, but if he did that, I guess well have to compare IQ tests, Trump told Forbes magazine for a cover story that was published online Tuesday. And I can tell you who is going to win.

Last week, NBC News reported that Tillerson considered resigning in July after Trumps rambling, highly politicized speech to a gathering of Boy Scouts, and that Vice President Mike Pence had to talk him out of it. NBC also said that after the speech, Tillerson called Trump a moron.

The report prompted Tillerson to abruptly call a hastily arranged press conference during which he refuted the story and reaffirmed his commitment to the Trump agenda.

The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because I have never considered leaving this post, Tillerson said.

Trump subsequently called the NBC report fake news on Twitter and demanded the network apologize.

The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017

But when asked specifically whether he had called the president a moron, Tillerson did not deny it, saying, Im not going to deal with petty stuff like that.

Shortly after the press conference, CNN said it had confirmed through its own sources the moron remark, and MSNBC reporter Stephanie Rule elaborated on that, saying the exact phrase Tillerson used was f***ing moron.

Story continues

Trump and Tillerson are scheduled to have lunch at the White House Tuesday.

Before their lunch, Trump was asked by a pool reporter if his comments to Forbes were intended to undercut his chief diplomat.

I didnt undercut anybody, Trump replied. I dont believe in undercutting people.

Asked if he still had confidence in Tillerson, Trump replied, Yes.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks as President Trump listens during his ceremonial swearing-in at the White House, Feb. 1, 2017. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Trump has long claimed to have a high IQ, and has a fixation on comparing his with others.

Sorry losers and haters, Trump tweeted in 2013, but my I.Q. is one of the highest and you all know it! Please dont feel so stupid or insecure, its not your fault.

He also tweeted his IQ is higher than Jon Stewarts, and earlier this year tweeted that MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinskis was low.

Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure,it's not your fault  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2013

"@NJWineGeek: @realDonaldTrump but Jon Stewart has a much higher IQ. Wrong, Jon Stewart(?) is an obnoxious lightweight with a lower I.Q.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2013

 With reporting by Chris Wilson and Olivier Knox

Read more from Yahoo News:
The United States cant rule out military options for North Korea. Theres no military solution to North Korea. Diplomacy is our best bet with North Korea. Dont waste time with diplomacy.

The world is reeling from the contradictory messages President Donald Trump and his administration are churning out on North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns nuclear threat. That includes Trump tweeting on Oct. 1 that Rex Tillerson, his own secretary of state, was wasting his time trying to negotiate an end to the North Korean conflict, and tweeting on Oct. 7 that after 25 years of failed talks, only one thing will work!

In the midst of the policy whiplash from the top, the Pentagon and State Department are quietly chugging away at the ground level, where the foreign policy of Trumps Twitter feed is competing with foreign policy of the rest of the U.S. government.

U.S. military leaders, in particular, continue to insist that any engagement with the North Koreans must be led by the countrys diplomats.

The American effort is diplomatically led, Defense Secretary James Mattis told an annual U.S. Army conference in Washington on Monday. Its an economic sanction-buttressed effort to try to turn North Korea off this path, Mattis said.

What does the future hold? Neither you nor I can say, so theres one thing the U.S. Army can do, and that is youve got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ, if needed, he added.

Mattiss line echoed remarks he has made for weeks about the militarys willingness to take a back seat to the State Department. But the Pentagons top generals say they have no illusions what the future might look like if hostilities were unleashed.

A full-blown war on the Korean Peninsula will be horrific by any stretch of the imagination, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters Monday. But equally horrific, he said, would be an attack on the United States.

It would be horrible, theres no question about it, but so would an intercontinental ballistic missile striking Los Angeles or New York City. That would be equally horrible.

Story continues

Top Republican lawmakers are wringing their hands over the lack of any realistic military option even as Trump appears to be counting on one to bring Pyongyang to reason.

There is no viable military option. It would be horrific, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on CNN.

Behind the scenes, the State Department is working bit by bit and country by country to cut off North Koreas lifelines to the outside world. Under the auspices of what the State Department dubs a new pressure campaign, 20 countries have cut back diplomatic relations or moneymaking operations of the Hermit Kingdom, the Wall Street Journal reported. Italy, Spain, Kuwait, Peru, and Mexico all booted North Koreas ambassadors out of their countries in recent months after Washington warned they were using their embassies as a front to ship weapons, contraband, and cash to Pyongyang.

Other countries, including Kuwait and Qatar, agreed to slash economic ties and North Korean foreign workers programs to tighten the economic noose around the North Korean regime. And as Washington lifted decades-old sanctions on Sudan for the first time on Oct. 6, Sudan agreed to not pursue new arms deals with Pyongyang.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, remains defiant.

On Monday, North Korean state news agency Minju Choson issued a quintessentially North Korean threat to South Korea as the military showdown with the United States and its Asian allies continued: The ridiculous farce of the puppet forces only provokes derision and censure of people and will only bring earlier the miserable end of the imbeciles going helter-skelter just like a puppy fearless of a tiger, the newspaper said, as tracked by North Korean news aggregation website KCNA Watch.

Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey could seek a deal to acquire a missile defense system with another country if Russia does not agree to joint production of a defense shield, its foreign minister was quoted as saying on Monday. NATO member Turkey is seeking to buy the S-400 system from Russia, alarming Washington and other members of the Western alliance, and President Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara has already paid a deposit on the deal. Turkey hopes that the deal would allow it to acquire the technology to develop its own defense system, and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview with Turkish newspaper Aksam, said the two countries had agreed on joint production. "If Russia doesn't want to comply, we'll make an agreement with another country," he said when asked about reports that Russia was reluctant to share the technology. "But we haven't got any official negative replies (from Russia)". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked in a conference call with reporters if the deal would go ahead if Moscow did not agree to joint production, said: "Contacts and negotiations at an expert level in the context of this deal are ongoing. This is all I can say for now." Cavusoglu said Turkey had initially hoped to reach agreement with producers from NATO allies. Western firms which had bid for the contract included U.S. firm Raytheon, which put in an offer with its Patriot missile defense system. Franco-Italian group Eurosam, owned by the multinational European missile maker MBDA and Frances Thales, came second in the tender. Turkey, with the second-largest army in the alliance, has enormous strategic importance for NATO, abutting as it does Syria, Iraq and Iran. But the relationship has become fractious since an attempted coup against Erdogan in July 2016 and a subsequent crackdown. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul and Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow; Editing by Dominic Evans and Richard Balmforth)
Turkey arrested a locally hired employee of the U.S. consulate in Istanbul last week, sparking a fierce diplomatic spat between the two countries that came to a head over the weekend when each country suspended consular services in the other.

But the spat isnt over, and now Turkey is digging in its heels.

On Monday, Turkish authorities summoned a second U.S. consulate worker to testify as a suspect in a terror case, Turkish state media reported.

An employee at the U.S. Consulate Istanbul  who does not have diplomatic immunity, has been summoned to our chief public prosecutors office [in Istanbul] for his testimony, Istanbuls Chief Prosecutors Office said in a statement on Monday. The statement also said the employees wife and child were detained on terror charges, as Turkish state news Anadolu Agency reported.

Its the latest example of a growing rift between Washington and Ankara, which are (at least on paper) close allies. Critics fear the local hires at the embassy, who dont have U.S. citizenship nor diplomatic immunity, could become pawns in Turkeys larger geopolitical game and bilateral showdown with Western countries bristling at its backslide toward authoritarian rule.

On Oct. 4, Turkish authorities arrested Metin Topuz, a local employee at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, amid accusations of espionage and terrorism over alleged ties to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen, once a political ally, for a botched coup attempt in July 2016. The U.S. embassy in Ankara issued a statement saying the U.S. government was deeply disturbed by the arrest and the charges rested on baseless, anonymous allegations.

The State Department slapped back, effectively cutting off Turks from traveling to the United States by suspending indefinitely nonimmigrant visa services. Turkey took the same action in response.

The whole row appears to have personally hurt Erdogan, as he said in a news conference on Monday. This decision is very, very saddening. For the [U.S.] embassy to take a decision like this, to put into practice, is saddening, Erdogan said, speaking from Kiev, Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it summoned the U.S. deputy chief of mission in Turkey, Philip Kosnett, to push him to lift the visa suspensions.

Story continues

While they exchange a war of words and consular spats, the United States and Turkey remain key partners in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State terrorist group. Theyre also NATO allies  meaning theyre treaty obligated to defend one another in the event of an outside attack.

But the cooperation may start and end there. Since the failed 2016 coup, Erdogan has consolidated his own power and chipped away at the countrys democratic institutions. He has thrown tens of thousands of military personnel, civil servants, dissidents, and journalists into jail. That has sparked new tensions with Washington and other European allies, who are eyeing Erdogans power grab and bend toward authoritarianism warily.

Top European leaders have said in recent months Erdogan effectively killed Turkeys chances of ever joining the European Union, further pushing Ankara away from its historic western allies.

Photo credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court has sentenced a journalist from the Wall Street Journal to two years and one month in prison in absentia on charges of carrying out propaganda for Kurdish militants, the newspaper said on Tuesday. Ayla Albayrak, a Wall Street Journal reporter with dual Turkish and Finnish citizenship, was sentenced over a 2015 story about ongoing clashes between Turkish security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey. "This was an unfounded criminal charge and wildly inappropriate conviction that wrongly singled out a balanced Wall Street Journal report," the paper quoted its editor-in-chief Gerard Baker as saying. Albayrak, who is currently in the United States, will appeal against the conviction, the Wall Street Journal said. The court decision coincides with an escalating row between Turkey and the United States after the NATO allies mutually suspended visa services on Sunday, plunging already strained relations to a new low. Rights groups and Turkey's Western allies have complained of deteriorating human rights under President Tayyip Erdogan, and fear the country is sliding towards greater authoritarianism. In a security crackdown since a July 2016 failed coup, authorities have jailed 50,000 people pending trial and have detained or dismissed from their jobs some 150,000. As part of the purge some 150 media outlets have been shut down and around 160 journalists are in jail, according to the Turkish Journalists' Association. "Given the current climate in Turkey, this appalling decision shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, but it did," Albayrak was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Niklas Pollard, Anna Ringstrom and Suzannah Gonzales STOCKHOLM/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. academic Richard Thaler, who helped popularize the idea of "nudging" people towards doing what was best for them, won the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for his work on how human nature affects supposedly rational markets. Influential in the field of behavioral economics, his research showed how traits such as lack of self-control and fear of losing what you already have prompt decisions that may not have the best outcome in the longer term. "I think the most important impact (of my research) is the recognition that economic agents are human and economic models have to incorporate that," Thaler, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said in a call broadcast at the Nobel news conference. Asked at a separate news conference in Chicago if it was difficult to get traditional, data-oriented economists to embrace his ideas, Thaler said it was "impossible...economists don't do a lot of embracing actually." Awarding the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: "Richard Thaler's contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making." "His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy." Thaler brought to prominence the idea of "nudge" economics, where individuals are subtly guided toward beneficial behaviors without heavy-handed compulsion, the theme of a 2008 book he co-wrote which caught the eye of policymakers around the world. In research focused on self control - or the lack of it - Thaler touched on an age-old problem: why New Year's resolutions to change aspects of your life are notoriously hard to keep. The issue has relevance for economics as individuals' tendency to fall prey to temptation often negatively affects plans to, for instance, save for retirement. Together with Professor Cass Sunstein, he argued that society - while maintaining freedom of choice - should actively try to guide individuals in the right direction. Their book, titled 'Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness' became popular with some western politicians seeking ways to encourage their citizens to save and live healthily, without incurring voters' wrath for raising taxes or banning behavior outright. "This has also been used in public pension systems in the United States and the general idea of 'nudging' ... has made a breakthrough in public policy making," Torsten Persson, economics prize committee member, told Reuters. "There's also a nudging unit for the UK government, there's one for the Australian government, it even affects the Swedish government when they think about these things."' David Laibson, chair of Harvard Universitys economics department, said many of Thaler's theories have been widely applied by business and government, aiming to get individuals to do a range of actions such as paying parking tickets and getting flu shots. "If you live in a developed country, there's some firm or entity that has read these ideas and started to affect your life," Laibson said. Influential in academic circles, the movie-going public may have noticed Thaler make a brief cameo in the 2015 film "The Big Short", explaining the so-called "hot-hand fallacy" where past success is expected to also warrant success in the future, with pop star Selena Gomez. "I basically have made a career stealing ideas from psychologists," Thaler joked at the Chicago news conference. Asked how he would spend his prize money, he said: "I will spend it as irrationally as possible." MANY AMERICANS, NO WOMEN The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobel's 1895 will. Economy is the last of this year's Nobels, with prizes for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace awarded last week. The United States has dominated the economics prize, with American economists accounting for roughly half of laureates since the inception of the award. Indeed, between 2000 and 2013, U.S. academics won or shared the prize every year. While Americans have dominated the Nobel science and economics prizes, another category of researchers - women - have been few and far between. Indeed only one woman - Elinor Ostrom in 2009 - has won the economics prize to date, and not a single individual woman won any Nobel award in 2017. "We are disappointed looking in a larger perspective that there arent more women who have been rewarded," the Academy's secretary general Goran Hansson said. He said the Academy would hold a conference to discuss the issue and nominators will be asked to identify women scientists for recognition and also consider ethnic and geographic diversity. "We are concerned, we are taking measures. I hope that in five years, 10 years, we will see a very different distribution," Hansson said. (For graphic on Nobel Prize winners, click - http://tmsnrt.rs/2hMJ6aQ) (Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Anna Ringstrom; additional reporting by Helena Soderpalm, Johannes Hellstrom, Daniel Dickson and Johan Sennero in Stockholm, Ross Kerber in Boston and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago.; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Ubers app will stop UK drivers working excessive hours

Earlier today, executives from Uber, Deliveroo and courier company Hermes addressed the UK government's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which is investigating how it might be possible to balance the flexible "gig economy" working model with fair pay and appropriate benefits. While discussing employment practices, Uber's Andrew Byrne was quizzed on passenger safety, at which point he revealed the ride-sharing company is testing a system that automatically logs off drivers deemed to be working excessive hours.

Uber already tracks the hours of UK drivers, who are called directly and reminded of safe driving practices if they are clocking up serious hours over short periods. The feature in development sets a strict logged-on limit, expected to be between 10 and 12 hours within any one, rolling 24-hour period. This would be impossible to breach, as drivers would be booted off the app for a mandatory rest period -- that doesn't stop them working for a different private hire operator in between, of course. A similar system was introduced in New York City early last year, stopping drivers from working more than 12 hours per day.

When asked about the pressure drivers may face to log on when poorly, Byrne mentioned the subsidised illness and injury insurance policies Uber offers drivers through the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE). While the government committee is looking at the gig economy as a whole, news of in-testing safety measures could have a direct impact on Uber's current issues with Transport for London (TfL), which recently decided not to renew the ride-hailing company's private hire licence in the capital.

In the shock announcement, TfL noted several safety concerns among a broader criticism of Uber's business practices. The service is still allowed to operate beyond the expiry of its current licence while it exhausts the appeals process, expected to take several months at least. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has already flown over to meet with TfL, and it's likely a strict limit on driver hours will form one of many concessions Uber will make to show it's a "fit and proper" operator worthy of a renewed private hire licence.
Romantic yet pared back wedding dresses are the key focus of Vera Wang's Fall 2018 bridal collection.

For the new season, the designer has created a series that conjures up a dreamy elegance, veering away from the elaborate styles of her previous, bohemian collection. "I am seeing that girls today are ready for a return to classicism; there is a wanting for something simpler...it's not necessarily traditional, but with more restraint," the US designer told Harper's Bazaar.

This season's lookbook is set in Paris, on an autumnal day in the Jardin des Tuileries, with the models holding umbrellas and crunching fallen leaves underfoot. Fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier captures the designs, which are a modern play on the classical ball gown, featuring details such as silk corsets, hand applique macrame lace panels, and French tulle overlays. The traditional bridal veil has been replaced by free-spirited feather hair accessories, beaded headbands or three-dimensional floral headpieces, while feather boas add a luxurious element to the aesthetic.



It is not the first time Wang has honored the French capital in her work -- last year saw the designer Autumn/Winter 2017 ready-to-wear collection via a video titled 'It was Paris from the start'.
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a one-time finalist to be President Trumps Secretary of State, delivered one of the most biting critiques yet of the commander in chief Sunday in response to a presidential tweetstorm. Its a shame the White House has become an adult day care center, Corker tweeted. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning. He didnt stop there. In a later interview with the New York Times, Corker delivered a blistering broadside at the Oval Office, suggesting Trumps unpredictability and refusal to listen to the advice of his top aides was setting the nation on a path toward World War III.

Corker, of course, is a Republican, and said the majority of his colleagues share his perspective, even if theyre unwilling to voice it publicly. Corker is free, in large part because he set to retire from the Senate at the end of the current Congress. But it would be a mistake to read Corkers critique as just a reaction to Trumps attack. He was sending up a warning signal to the West Wing that Republican lawmakers are running out of patience with the White House. Dont expect too many GOP lawmakers to follow Corkers lead  they want to win reelection after all  but his criticism is fresh indication that Republicans dont fear Trump. (They fear his voters.) And that should Trump come knocking for help in the comings months and years, he shouldnt expect blind support because of the R after his name.

Trump rolls back contraceptive mandate. The White House lays out its price for a DACA fix. And Pence walks out.

Here are your must reads:

Must Reads

Bob Corker Says Trumps Recklessness Threatens World War III

Top GOP lawmakers unleashes on Trump [New York Times]

Trump Seeks Border Wall, Crackdown on Unaccompanied Minors for Dreamer Deal

Democrats say he breached agreement [Reuters]

Traveling in Style: Trumps White House Wrestles With Cabinet Costs

A half-dozen agencies under scrutiny [Washington Post]

Story continues

U.S. Pressure on North Koreas Global Ties Bears Fruit

Campaign to close Pyongyangs embassies and curb its business activities world-wide has led more than 20 nations to restrict operations [Wall Street Journal]

Anger, Praise in Scotland as Losses Mount at Trumps Resorts

Business trouble for the president [Associated Press]

The Trump Administration Just Rolled Back the Birth Control Mandate.

Heres What That Means [TIME]

Politics NewsletterSign up to receive the days top political stories View Sample

Sound Off

Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & thats about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!  President Trumps Twitter riposte to Corkers tweet

I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.  Trump taking credit for Pence walking out of an Indianapolis Colts game after some San Francisco 49ers players took a knee during the National Anthem

Bits and Bites

Vice President Mike Pence Leaves Football Game After Players Kneel During National Anthem [TIME]

President Trumps Immigration Wishlist Could Kill a Deal to Help the Dreamers [TIME]

Facebook embeds, Russia and the Trump campaigns secret weapon [CBS]

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms [Washington Post]

Melania Trump saying 2 words more often: first lady [Associated Press]

Heres How President Trumps Tax Plan Would Affect You [TIME]

White House Finalizing Executive Order to Expand Health Care Plans [Associated Press]

Donald Trump: Unfunny Late-Night Hosts Should Give Republicans Equal Time [TIME]

EPA Chief Announces Roll Back of Obama-Era Clean Power Plan [Associated Press]

Democrats Rush to Return Donations From Harvey Weinstein [TIME]

President Trump Loves Coal So Much Its Starting to Annoy the Oil and Gas Industry [TIME]

President Trump Adopted a Spanish Accent to Say Puerto Rico [Associated Press]

Armed People Are a Free People. NRA Supporters Arent Swayed After Las Vegas [TIME]
WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - Wilmington Trust Corp has reached an agreement on criminal charges that the bank concealed its deteriorating condition from regulators and investors in 2009 and 2010, a U.S. judge said on Tuesday, just as a trial was set to begin.

U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews said the trial against the four individual defendants, who are former Wilmington Trust executives, was postponed until March 12, 2018.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by W Simon)
One teenager was surprised to find her PrettyLittleThing pants came up to her chin. [Photo: Caters]

Weve all experienced disappointing online shopping orders, but one 18-year-old was surprised to find that her purchase was completely ludicrous.

Bethany McNamara ordered a pair of high-waisted flared pants from U.K.-based clothing company PrettyLittleThing, only to find that the waistband came up to her chin.

The 5-foot-2 hairdresser took a photo proving that the pants were the entire length of her body, captioning it: When PrettyLittleThing think I have legs like Kendall Jenner.

When Pretty Little Thing think I have legs like Kendal Jenner pic.twitter.com/b3oZYLbUDY  Bethmcnamara (@BethmaccaNew) October 3, 2017

After swiftly sending the pants back, McNamara spoke out to remind stores that not every woman has the proportions of a supermodel.

I shop at PrettyLittleThing a lot. I love their clothes and always go to them when I need an outfit for a night out, the Manchester, England, resident told the news agency Caters. When I opened the parcel, I picked the trousers up and I did think they were a bit long but I put them on anyway. I didnt think they would be as big as they actually were.

Bethany wants to remind brands that not all women have the figure of a supermodel. [Photo: Caters]

I took them off and held them up against me to see just how long they were. When I put them against my body, I couldnt believe that they actually reached my chin.

They looked like something Simon Cowell would wear. They must think I have legs like Kendall Jenner or a supermodel. They are already on their way back to the shop.

It seems as though PrettyLittleThing is taking the situation (a little bit too) seriously. A spokesperson commented: We take anything like this seriously and will investigate into this specific case, as well as investigating with any suppliers involved in this style along with our quality control department.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Story continues

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.




Manila (AFP) - A Filipino doctor accused of wiring money for a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square rejects the allegations and has vowed to fight US extradition, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016.

On Tuesday, his lawyer said Salic, a 37-year-old Muslim orthopaedic surgeon who trained at a government hospital in the southern Philippines, had no connection with terrorist activities and groups.

"He even said that he is mad at terrorist activities. He said that in Islam, terrorism is prohibited. He is a devout Muslim. He is praying five times a day," lawyer Dalomilang Parahiman told AFP.

Salic is accused of transferring $423 in May 2016 to the other suspects to help fund a thwarted operation that was planned through internet messaging applications, according to the US Justice Department.

New York's subway, Times Square and some concert venues were identified as targets in the plot that was monitored by an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow jihadist, US authorities said.

His lawyer said Salic voluntarily surrendered to Filipino authorities in April, contradicting the US government's statement that he was arrested.

A Manila court will next week hear the US extradition request for Salic that was filed by the Philippine government, state prosecutors told AFP.

They expect the legal proceedings to last less than a year.

"Yes, of course he would (contest it). He is innocent," Parahiman said. "They (wove) stories to link the person" to the plot, he added.

The undercover agent said in a sworn statement that the FBI had monitored several social media accounts which he believed to be Salic's, in which the doctor posted content "supportive of" IS, religious war and terrorist activities.

Story continues

- A 'silent guy' -

But Parahiman said Salic was not in control of his social media account at the time.

"According to the doctor, his (social media) account was hacked. It took him several weeks before he recovered the account."

On Monday the Philippine military accused Salic of having ties to pro-IS militants who attacked the southern city of Marawi, and of funding terrorists in the United States, the Middle East and Malaysia.

Salic's lawyer said his client only gave money to unspecified individuals and a charitable group for "humanitarian considerations".

"He just took pity at these people because he was a bachelor and did not have many expenses. He just wanted to help them," Parahiman said.

The chief of the government hospital in Cagayan de Oro city where Salic worked as a resident physician and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon expressed surprise at the allegations.

"I can't believe it because I can't imagine doctors would be involved in those kinds of activities," Northern Mindanao Medical Centre chief Jose Chan told AFP, adding that co-workers shared his sentiment.

"He is a silent guy. He gets along well with other doctors in the department or other doctors in the other departments, just like any other resident in the hospital," Chan said.

The hospital chief also said he knew nothing of the personal life or religious beliefs of Salic, who completed his residency in April last year.
YouTube has banned and removed some video tutorials that show users how to modify gunsincluding ones that provide instructions for making semiautomatic rifles fire nearly as quickly as fully automatic ones, a tactic used in the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas last week.

The company said it had taken down some tutorial videos that featured a bump stock, a legal attachment to semiautomatic rifles that makes them fire more rapidly. Stephen Paddock used a bump stock when he killed at least 58 people and injured over 500 in one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history.

"In the wake of the recent tragedy in Las Vegas, we took a closer look at videos that demonstrate how to convert firearms to make them fire more quickly, and we expanded our existing policy to prohibit these videos," a YouTube spokeswoman wrote in an email to Newsweek.

The move is an expansion of the company's existing policy against dangerous content. While it might not seem fair to say you cant show something because of what viewers might do in response, we draw the line at content that intends to incite violence or encourage dangerous or illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death," YouTube's policies page reads.

Bump stocks, which were popularized by an Air Force veteran from Texas in 2010, can increase the speed of gunfire to hundreds of rounds per minute. The veteran's company, Slide Fire, has temporarily suspended new orders to process current orders as quickly as possible, according to its website, after gun owners flocked to buy the accessory in the days following the deadly shooting, many fearing it would be banned. Several guns in Paddocks room at Mandalay Bay hotel featured the modification, officials said.

Before this week, YouTube users could watch videos on how to attach bump stocks to guns and how to fashion homemade bump stocks (which were popular even before the invention of the Slide Fire bump stock) with tools like belts.

Story continues

YouTube is full of gun enthusiast videos, handgun tutorials, "funny gun fails," home videos of children firing weapons and fetish videos of bikini-clad women using high-powered weaponry. Such videos apparently do not violate YouTube's standards.

The company, like many other platforms, has been criticized before for failing to monitor and block hateful or dangerous content from its website. In February, YouTube canceled a season of a reality show hosted by popular vlogger PewDiePie after he posted about an anti-Semitic prank he pulled for a video, in which he paid people $5 to hold up signs that read Death to All Jews. It recently began to block accounts linked to white supremacists. It confused researchers in September when it banned videos from a popular North Korean channel, The Washington Post reported.

Most gun regulation attempts are contentious, but the bump stock is one area where both sides are finding agreement. Legislators have agreed across the aisle to ban bump stocks, and even the National Rifle Association released a statement last week that it would call for the same thing, but only on the condition that lawmakers passed concealed-carry reciprocity. The move sparked criticism, and the legislation is one of the NRA's biggest goals at the momentit would allow gun owners with concealed carry permits to use those permits in other states, despite the differences in state laws and requirements for those permits.

Related Articles
This womans grandmother showed up to her party with quite a shocking bouquet of birthday balloons. (Photo: Twitter/Arihrih)

Birthdays can be full of surprises, whether good, bad, or straight up inappropriate. But its not usually grandma who comes up with the last category. For one womans 22nd birthday, however, it was her grandmothers gift that made the most shocking statement of the night.

In a photo tweeted out by the birthday girls sister Ariana, their grandma is seen holding a bouquet of balloons that she kindly brought for her granddaughter, not realizing the messages on the balloons are, to say the least, wildly inappropriate.

My grandma who doesnt speak English showed up with some birthday balloons for my sister Ariana tweeted, letting the words on the balloons speak for themselves.

Their grandma is from Mexico, Ariana tells Yahoo Lifestyle, explaining that a language barrier was the reason behind the mixup. While the family later found out that the balloons were given to her as a gag gift during a white elephant gift exchange, they were able to piece together that she had assumed they said Happy birthday and Celebrate!  or something like that. Luckily, the friends and family at the party had a good sense of humor about it, and grandma did, too.

At first, we were shocked to read what was printed on the balloons, but were immediately rolling on the floor laughing about it, Ariana says. [Our grandma] was initially confused as to why peoples reactions were so strong, as everyone was laughing. Once we had explained to her what the balloons said, she was definitely embarrassed and apologized to my sister, but there was no need, because my sister loved them.

It seems safe to say that the balloons were a highlight of the night, and that this womans grandma is pretty epic.

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President Donald Trump's plan to slash corporate tax from 35% to 20%, as announced by the White House two weeks ago, may have a knock-on effect on Israel's own corporate tax which could be reduced beyond the reduction plan already in place.

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In addition, lowering income tax rates are also set to be reviewed, a move supported by the Prime Minister's Office.





Photo: Shutterstock

This purported reduction will be financed by the country's significant tax overcharge of recent years, which came to NIS 12-15 billion more than anticipated in the beginning of the year.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) announced Monday he would move to further reduce taxes soon following the unexpected immense revenue generated.

Israel Tax Authority data show September was a record-breaking month for tax collection, with the state accruing more than NIS 30 billion in that month alone.

The Israel Tax Authority (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Surplus was further increased by taxing capital gains of Mobileye stock holders following the company's sale to Intel . The Tax Authority will collect NIS 4 billion thanks to the deal, a bounty not anticipated in the beginning of the current tax year

In light of this fact, Israel's cumulative budget deficit dropped to a mere 1.9% of the GDP, the lowest it has been in recent memory.

Back to the matter of corporate tax, the projected Trump slash will likely bring cuts to the same tax in many other countries that will do so to avoid losing companies operating within their borders to the more attractive American market.

President Trump is expected to slash corporate tax, a move with global ramifications (Photo: AP)

According to the American plan, the US's income tax brackets will be reduced from seven to merely three, while those of affluence will pay a 35% tax instead of the 40% paid today.

In Israel, the maximum amount of income tax paid is 50%, with the addition of surtax.

Israel's current corporate tax rate, meanwhile, is 24%, after it was already reduced by one percent earlier this year.

On January 1, the tax will be cut again to 23% in accordance with a plan already approved by both the government and the Knesset, but the rate is still considered relatively high compared to other countries.

The PM maintains his traditional support of lowering taxes (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)

One of the chief supporters of lowering corporate tax is none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was the prime force behind the 2015 lowering of the corporate levy by two percent, simultaneous to lowering VAT from 18% to 17%.

"Without a doubt, Israel's taxes should be further lowered. We must review lowering income tax rates, which are exceedingly highespecially for those making higher wagesand we should definitely consider lowering corporate tax again. The impact of the American slash on that tax should be examined, especially as it may bring about the same move in other countries," said Chairman of the National Economic Council Prof. Avi Simhon, who's the economics authority closest to Netanyahu.

Alleviating exporters' tax burden

"We have different corporate tax fields. We lowered tax on large tech firms to only 6% because we want them to keep their know-how inside Israel and employ more people," Simhon said.

Economy czar Simhon says income tax should be lowered, but not necessarily on lower brackets

Simhon then went on to speak about income tax rates. "Tax rate reductions are definitely worthy of consideration now, and not necessarily for the lower echelons of society that barely pay any tax anyway," the National Economic Council chief said.

"Just as an example, Israeli engineers employed in the US pay roughly two thirds of the taxes they would have paid if they worked in Israel, and we want those engineers to work here, not there," he explained.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, former Finance Minister Yair Lapid said he supported current minister Kahlon in further reducing taxes.

Former Finance Minister Lapid supports lowering taxes (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

"Unlike current Governor of the Bank of Israel Karnit Flug I am definitely in favor of lowering taxes, but before the Finance Ministry does that it should wait and see exactly which parts of President Trump's tax plan he can actually get through Congress. If America lowers corporate tax to 20%, Israel would have to follow suit quickly," the former minister said.

After the High Holy Days, the Prime Minister and Finance Ministries are expected to discuss lowering taxes before January 1, 2018, the start of the new budgetary and tax year.
Donald Trumps presidential campaign was a lot of hot air. Full of himself, as if second to none, he went from one rally to another, declaring that hes the only one who can do it: Hell fix, hell build it, he'll nix it, he'll break it. He'll simply bring about a revolution, the liks of which the world has never seen.

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There were no medium shades in his messages: Hes the good guy, theyre the bad guys, and hes the only one who can fix America, build a wall with Mexico and make it pay for it, destroy former President Barack Obamas healthcare plan and rebuild the infrastructures and airports.

When he entered the White House, he intensified the noisemaking and tantrums to divert the attention from the fact that he wasnt doing any of the things he had promised to. And so His Royal Trumpness kept speaking with great volume and running the White House his way: Hurling insults, creating chaoswith zero results.

US President Donald Trump. Marching the army to war, with a terrifying nuclear arsenal in his hand (Photo: AFP)

Trump will soon mark the end of his first year as president, and he should be losing sleep over his approval ratings: According to an Associated Press poll published earlier this week, only 44 percent of Republicans believe America is headed in the right direction. Just four months ago, 60 percent of Republicans said the country was headed in the right directionwhich means he is experiencing a major decline in his own power base.

This decline was echoed Monday in the words of senior Republican senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who said that Trumps recklessness could put the United States on the path to World War III. And this comes after Trumps secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, called the president a moron.

In this state of affairs, Trump knows that he has to rally his political base again and indicate that he is keeping his promises. This week, the agreement with Iran is on the table, the agreement he is threatening to decertify . This doesnt mean he will cancel it, but he could open a window to a lot of trouble for the world, the United States and Israel.

I doubt Trump has ever read the full agreement signed between the world powers and Iran, but he has concluded that its the worst agreement ever. The entire American security echelon, as well as the Israeli military echelon, were of the opinion that Iran was honoring the commitments it had undertaken and had frozen its nuclear program.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Trumps move could prompt Iran to walk away from the agreement and resume its nuclear program (Photo: EPA)

The agreement, which was signed during the Obama era with the former presidents intensive involvement, did what a military operation couldnt do: It completely halted the centrifuges and blocked the Iranian nuclear program. This hasnt turned Iran into part of the family of nations, of courseit still supports terror and undermines Middle East stabilitybut thats not part of the nuclear agreement.

What Trump is about to do will play into the hands of Iran, which will have the best of all possible worlds: The heavy sanctions have been lifted, the blocked funds have been flowing in, and the Islamic Republic is exporting oil and conducting international business deals. Trumps move thus seems like another chapter in his march of folly. It could even prompt Iran to declare later on that the US did not hold up its part of the agreement, and that the agreement is therefore canceled and Iran is resuming its nuclear program.

Trump, like General Tom Thumb, is marching the army to war, threatening North Korea with fire and rage and declaring that he is capable of destroying it. However, he isnt marching with a sharp pin in his hand, but with a terrifying nuclear arsenal.

Instead of hushing the Iranian arena at a time of such a serious crisis with North Korea , the president is banging the drums of war in pursuit of his obsessive goal to destroy everything achieved by Obama. And entirely for the sake of showing that he is better, he is about to undermine one of the worlds most important achievements: The historic agreement with Iran, which has provided relative calm for Israel too.
ONE of the suspects in the hazing death of UST law student Horacio Atio Castillo returned to the Philippines on Tuesday after weeks of staying in the United States and following a police search for him.

Aegis Juris member Ralph Trangia arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport around 11:40 a.m. on board EVA Air flight from the United States through Taipei in a connecting flight.

In other developments:

 University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina on Tuesday shrugged off the inclusion of his name in the criminal complaint filed before the Justice Department in connection with the hazing conducted by Aegis Juris Fraternity members that resulted in the death of 22-year-old freshman law student Castillo.

I am sure it is baseless since I have not breached any law and have always discharged my functions as dean with utmost diligence, Divina said.

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 Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Tuesday ordered the Manila Police District to go after the 35 suspects in the death of Castillo.

He tasked the police to hunt down the suspects to ensure justice was served to Castillos family.

HE IS BACK. Aegis Juris Fraternity officer Ralph Trangia, one of the suspects in the fatal hazing of University of Sto. Tomas law student Horacio Castillo III, returns with his mother to the Philippines Tuesday from three weeks stay in Chicago, Illinois via Taipei where they had gone after Castillos death. Norman Cruz

If theres evidence, arrest them, Estrada said after being briefed by MPD Chief Joel Coronel on the investigation of the case.

Let them face the court and answer the charges.

Trangia arrived with his mother Rosemarie who was with him in Chicago. They were welcomed by airport security personnel and men from the Manila Police District.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office earlier said Trangia flew to Chicago through Taiwan on a transit flight from Manila on Sept. 19.

Red Marinas, head of the Bureau of Immigration Port Operations Division, earlier told ABS-CBN News that the Interpol office in the US relayed to their office details of Trangias return to Manila.

He said Trangia opted for a voluntary return after the government reportedly planned to revoke his passport after he was tagged in Castillos death.

In a statement, the Justice Department said Trangias return was a welcome development in the case. It said it would assess if Trangia could be a potential witness.

While he may be a suspect as of the moment, he could be a potential witness, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said.

And for this reason, the DoJ offers to him and to his family the protection of our Witness Protection Program.

Trangia, a UST student, along with several other suspects, are facing charges of murder, robbery and violation of the anti-hazing law.

An autopsy report from the Manila Police District concluded that Atio died of a heart attack due to massive injuries from hazing.

Castillo, who was described by his relatives as a humble kid with big dreams, was buried on Sept. 27.

Also facing charges in connection with Atios death are Divina and the trustees of the Aegis Juris Foundation.

Divina, an Aegis Juris fratman on leave, told a Senate inquiry that he had already talked to the Atios parents and vowed to help them find justice.

Part-time medical technologist John Paul Solano, another primary suspect and also an Aegis Juris member, was released after being detained for seven days.

Solano denied his participation in the hazing. He said he rushed Castillo to the hospital Sunday morning after being called by fraternity brothers to give the neophyte first aid.

Rey E. Requejo and Bill Casas

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Saudi Arabia has decided to open a Public Relations office in Moscow to be tasked with improving its image in the large soviet country.

The office to open its doors by the end of January 2018 will boost cultural exchanges and bilingual communication to reach out to the Russian population.

The center will host academic discussions and introduce Saudi culture to the Russian public via art galleries, music festivals and other research cooperation programs.

The announcement by the kingdoms culture and information minister Dr Awwad Al-Awwad follows the recent visit to Moscow by King Salman. The visit marked a new area in relation between the two countries, which have been opposed on the international front.

Russia, long-standing US rival, enjoys good ties with Iran and Syrias Bashar Al-Assad who is wanted out by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Syrian crisis.

Reports say Riyadh is mulling plans to establish similar offices in other global cities to counter negative coverage.

Those cities include Beijing, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Paris.
Whats incredible about this mutant is that it hit a sweet spot, Attardi said. Embryos can make it through development without any obvious effects, and then adult mice show greatly enhanced resistance to tumor growth.

Mice that harbored the favorable mutation, which occurred in a transcriptional activation domain called TAD2, displayed longer, pancreatic cancer-free survival than mice with normal copies of the p53 gene. Attardis study showed that, at 400 days old, nearly 40 percent of the mice with normal p53 function had succumbed to pancreatic cancer, whereas none of the mice with the mutant form showed signs of tumor formation.

Its not to say that mice with the mutated version of p53 would never get cancer, but this experiment suggests that this particular mutant is really potent in limiting tumor development, Attardi said.

It turned out that the mutant hyperactivates p53, causing a subset of its downstream targets to get a surge of activity, too. But with more than 100 target genes sent into overdrive, it was critical for Attardis team to narrow down which genes directly affected tumor suppression. Genomic data and past studies in human cancers pointed the team to the gene Ptpn14. More importantly, Ptpn14 is a known regulator of Yap, a protein that, when unchecked, turns on cancer-promoting genes in the body.

The axis of tumor super-suppression

Attardis findings allowed her to define a pathway, or axis, consisting of three proteins that contribute to p53-mediated tumor suppression, and it works in a linear fashion. In the chain of command, p53 ranks highest and activates Ptpn14; Ptpn14 then suppresses Yap to keep cells from turning cancerous.

In collaboration with co-author Christina Curtis, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and of genetics, and postdoctoral scholar Jose Seoane, PhD, Attardi used human cancer genomic data to extend the paradigm further, showing that when p53 is mutated in human cancer, Yap activity increases, allowing tumors to develop.

Whats incredible about this mutant is that it hit a sweet spot.

Attardi said the axis actually suggests that p53 and Ptpn14 deficiency can promote the same consequence of Yap activation.

I think this p53-Ptpn14-Yap axis is a central mechanism, Attardi said. P53 affects a lot of tumor-suppression processes, so if it influences a central protein like Yap, which also controls a lot of cancer processes, it can have widespread effects on cell behavior.

Attardi added that she would be hesitant to say that this is the one and only mechanism. It would be too simplistic to think that this is absolutely the only pathway thats involved in p53-mediated suppression of pancreatic cancer, so I suspect that there will be other contributions as well.

The teams findings could inform a new type of therapeutic, mimicking the p53 super-mutant to upregulate tumor suppression. It could also inform those who are developing therapeutic Yap inhibitors.

Clearly, Yap is a very potent oncogene, Attardi said. And our study suggests that perhaps the focus should be on developing Yap inhibitors for tumors where p53 is gone  maybe its more critical in those cancers.

Now, Attardi and her team are continuing to investigate whether their newly uncovered p53 mechanism holds true for a wide range of cancers, not just pancreatic.

We want to know if this is a tissue-specific pathway and if this really is relevant for different tumor types, Attardi said. So were turning to experimental models to test that.

Other Stanford co-authors of the study are postdoctoral scholars Liz Valente, PhD, Nitin Raj, PhD, and Jonghyeob Lee, PhD; graduate student Brittany Flowers; life sciences researcher Jacob McClendon; research associate Kathryn Bieging-Rolett, PhD; resident Margaret Kozak, MD; Daniel Chang, MD, professor of radiation oncology; Teri Longacre, MD, professor of pathology; Albert Koong, MD, PhD, professor of radiation oncology; Seung Kim, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology and of medicine; and Hannes Vogel, MD, professor of pathology.

Researchers at the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins University also contributed to the work.

The research was supported by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and by the National Institutes of Health (grants R21CA169673, R01CA140875 and R35CA197591).

Stanfords departments of Radiation Oncology and of Genetics also supported the work.
Two staff of the Technical University of Mombasa have been killed in the early hours of Tuesday, after unidentified gunmen fired on vehicles carrying students to the universitys campus in coastal Kwale County, local media reports.

According to the initial details provided by the police and witnesses, two people, staff members of the university were killed. Several students and university employees were injured.

The attack will revive memories of April 2015, when more than 147 people, including 142 students were killed in their dormitories at Kenyas Garissa University by the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab.

The attack was the bloodiest in Kenya since al-Qaeda bombed the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing 213 people.

Al-Shabab, which wants to impose its strict interpretation of Islam in Somalia, has carried out frequent past attacks in the country and border towns of Kenya in its bid to topple the Western-backed government and drive out African Union troops, Amisom.

The group has been at war with Kenya ever since Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 2011 in an effort to crush them. As part of Amisom, Kenya has 3,664 troops in Sector 2 of the Mission, which is under the African Union jurisdiction, but is technically a UN mission.
The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) warned that a nutrition crisis, exacerbated by continuing violence, instability and displacement, is threatening the lives and futures of thousands of children in Mali.

A report published by the UN agency on Monday shows that an estimated 165,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition across the country in 2018.

Behind these figures are the lives of the most vulnerable and forgotten girls and boys in Mali, said UNICEF Representative Lucia Elmi in a press release.

The rate of acute malnutrition among children under five has reached critical levels in the conflict-affected areas of Timbuktu and Gao, while the national rate also remains very high.

Children who suffer from the severe form of acute malnutrition have grave muscle wasting, very low weight for their height, and are nine times more likely to die in case of disease due to a weakened immune system.

Since the 2012 political and security crisis in Mali, violence and instability have led to displacements of population and disruption of social services in the north of the country, with detrimental impact on the nutritional status of the most vulnerable girls and boys.

Other factors, such as limited access to water and sanitation in northern areas and childhood diseases like diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and malaria, have aggravated the situation.
Largest trading centre in South Caucasus opens in Georgia

The Georgian capital of Tbilisi will have one of the largest trading centres in the South Caucasus as Hualing Tbilisi Sea Plaza has officially opened.With a total investment of around $150 million USD (about 370 million GEL) the trading centre offers up to 400 shops.Congratulating the major Chinese company Hualing Group on the successful implementation of the project, Georgian Prime Minister GiorgiKvirikashvili welcomed increased direct investment from China in recent years.China is one of the largest investors in our economy. As deepening cooperation between our countries is among the main priorities of our government, I especially welcome the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in recent months that, I believe, is a historic agreement, Kvirikahsvili said.Attending the trading centre opening ceremony, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili welcomed the fact that Georgia is the first country in the region to have signed such an agreement with China.Tbilisi Sea Plaza will now be the largest wholesale commercial and retail core in not only Georgia but the South Caucasus. It will also become a goods/trade collecting and distributing center in the Eurasian region.
The News in Brief

President Margvelashvili Holds NSC Session



President Giorgi Margvelashvili presided over a session of the National Security Council (NSC) on September 29, which was convened to discuss a range of issues, among them the personnel numbers of the Georgian Armed Forces, the countrys National Defense Plan and its cooperation with NATO.



We discussed all those issues that were put on the agenda. First of all, we discussed the number of personnel in the Armed Forces. The respective document has been prepared and sent to the Parliament for approval, President Margvelashvili said after the NSC meeting.



He also stated that the meeting participants covered NATO-Georgia cooperation formats and the countrys progress to that end. We also spoke on the preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit, Georgias defense plan, the situation in Georgias occupied regions, military exercises that are carried out in the occupied territories and the difficulties that our citizens are facing in these regions he added.



David Rakviashvili, Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia, said after the meeting that the number of Georgias Armed Forces would remain unchanged at 37 000 for 2018.



He also touched upon the situation in the occupied regions, saying the Russian military presence is an ongoing threat, and will only be mitigated when occupation is over. There are no direct indicators which could translate in immediate threats, but whats happening in the occupied territories, militarization and regular trainings in particular, are sources of threats and there has to be a permanent discussion on these both within the country and with our partners, he noted.



Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, Head of the State Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri, Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili and other officials participated in the meeting.

(Civil.ge)







Minister : We must be proud that Georgians produce high quality and good products



The main thing is to get acquainted with Georgian products and be proud that Georgians produce high quality and good products, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Gakharia said on a two-day entrepreneurial market event.



The Minister arrived at the event to view the Georgian products being exhibited.



"We should establish this tradition in Tbilisi as it is everywhere in Europe. This is a Sunday market where participants of the program Produce in Georgia represent their products.



The main thing is that the products are of high quality and are produced in Georgia, which will attract not only tourists but residents of Tbilisi as well, said the Giorgi Gakharia.

(ipn)







European Commission proposes 45 mln in financial aid to Georgia



The European Commission has proposed up to 45 million in new Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) to Georgia to help it cover part of its external financing needs.



Welcoming Georgias "significant progress with economic reforms, the European Commission said "its macroeconomic outlook remains vulnerable.



The proposal for additional assistance is another sign of the EU's strong support for the Georgian people. As Georgia continues its economic transition, we are helping the country to preserve macroeconomic stability and continue the reform process, which is needed to achieve stronger and more inclusive growth, Pierre Moscovici Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs said.



The MFA program was intended to strengthen Georgia's balance of payments and budgetary position and to support reforms aimed at reinforcing economic governance, increasing social inclusiveness and promoting closer economic integration with the EU.



Of the total 45 million, 10 million will be provided in the form of grants and up to 35 million in medium-term loans at favourable financing conditions, helping to reduce uncertainties surrounding the economy's short-term balance of payments and fiscal issues, the Commission said.



If adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission believes this assistance will help address some of the weaknesses of the Georgian economy, complement the reforms agreed in the context of the EU's budgetary and other support operations, and the EU-Georgia Association Agreement which envisages the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).

(Agenda)




@PatriciaMazzei

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has hired a political fundraiser, a significant step in his potential 2018 bid for Florida governor.

Levine's political committee, All About Florida, announced the hiring Tuesday morning of Courtney Whitney, a Democratic fundraiser who has worked for Weston Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and former Miami Rep. Joe Garcia. The committee has already collected nearly $4.8 million since its formation in February, including about $2.6 million from Levine himself.

"Mayor Levine possesses a unique entrepreneurial background, with a robust network of international business leaders," Whitney said in a statement. "This won't be a traditional fundraising operation, and I am thrilled to be a part of the team at All About Florida for this one-of-a-kind opportunity."

Levine's team includes Christian Ulvert, fresh off state Sen. Annette Taddeo's special-election victory last month, and Matthew Van Name, former campaign manager for St. Petersburg Rep. Charlie Crist.

Were Levine to jump into the Democratic primary -- a decision he intends to announce in November -- he'd have already outraised Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former Tallahassee Rep. Gwen Graham and Winter Park entrepreneur Chris King. Orlando atrial attorney John Morgan, another potential Democratic candidate, recently had a friendly meeting with Levine and posted about it on Twitter.

Last month, Levine traveled to Puerto Rico to deliver Hurricane Maria relief supplies to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz -- and took the opportunity to criticize President Donald Trump on national television for a slow response to storm's devastation.
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The federal government has announced a program to provide $1.3 billion in debt relief for about 36,000 farmers who have fallen behind on loan payments or face foreclosure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the farm loan relief program funded from $3.1 billion set aside in the Inflation Reduction Act allocated toward assisting distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by USDA. The law was passed by Congress and signed by Biden in August. The money anounced Tuesday is the first round of payments designed to help farmers hard hit by pandemic-induced market disruptions or climate-driven natural disasters including drought stay in business or re-enter farming. The USDA says additional programs are to come.
A Missoula-based telecommunications company will lend technical expertise to allow T-Mobile to build in the neighborhood of 200 new mobile sites in Montana and northern Wyoming.

Blackfoot announced Monday it has entered into what it called a definitive agreement to provide fiber back-haul services, the underground wiring that connects tower sites to switching hubs and on to wireless phones and the internet.

By building out these cell sites with Blackfoot, and delivering new or expanded mobile coverage, T-Mobile can provide wireless choice to customers who were previously forced to choose from limited mobile provider offerings in-market, a news release from Blackfoot said.

It will affect service areas such as Bozeman, Great Falls and Billings while extending service in Helena and Butte, the release stated.

Laura Marshall, vice president for Blackfoot, said she wasn't aware whether some of the new mobile sites will be in western Montana.

Jason Williams, Blackfoots CEO, said Blackfoot has been pushing the technology envelope locally for more than a decade.

T-Mobile is exactly the type of innovative partner we are pleased to do business with, Williams said in a statement.

Blackfoots physical presence also is expanding. Long a telephone company in western Montana, Blackfoot now has offices in Bozeman and St. Anthony, Idaho, with roughly 180 employees from Thompson Falls to Billings.

We go where our customers go, Marshall said. We consider ourselves a growing regional provider of voice data. I dont think thats a story a lot of people know.

T-Mobiles predominant Montana presence is in the west. It calls itself the Un-carrier, a marketing campaign dating back to 2013 based on a plan that drops contracts, overage fees for data and early termination fees.

As the Un-carrier, were all about giving customers the best wireless experience on Americas best unlimited network, said Dave Mayo, a senior vice president at T-Mobile, which has U.S. headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Now, with Blackfoots engineering and fiber expertise, T-Mobile can rapidly expand our LTE coverage to rural Montana and Wyoming, bringing wireless choice for customers while creating near- and long-term job opportunities in the state.

LTE (Long-Term Evolution) refers to a standard for wireless data networks for smooth and efficient transitions toward increasing capacity and speed.

Marshall said she listened to an inspiring message from Neville Ray, the chief technology officer for T-Mobile, at Mondays Montana High Tech Jobs Summit at the University of Montana.

Their commitment to this region is pretty tremendous, and their vision is very dynamic, she said. Theyll say it really straightforward. Theyre here to compete with Verizon and AT&T.

Mondays announcement came on the heels of news of a pending merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported late last week that the two wireless networks are putting the finishing touches on an agreement thats expected to be announced when quarterly earnings are reported at the end of October.

The wireless carriers are pursuing the deal to bulk up against larger competitors AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. in a cutthroat market for mobile-phone customers, Bloombergs Alex Sherman and Scott Moritz reported.

The merger likely will be scrutinized carefully by the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department and its new head, Makan Delrahim.

If approved, it will cut the number of national wireless carriers from four to three, according to the Bloomberg report.
On a crisp fall morning, Homecoming Week activities had the University of Montana campus abuzz Monday with this years theme (Reflections: Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future) promising plenty of traditions old and new.

Students crouched on the roped-off sidewalk in front of Turner Hall painting dozens of greetings for the annual Hello Walk in various languages (Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hawaiian) and idiomatic English (whats up buttercup, hey girl, whaddup and whattup) that covered the faded hellos of years past.

Across the Oval, the pumpkin spiked on the Main Hall spire continued a two-decade fall tradition, while adding an earlier-timed twist to the homecoming festivities, perhaps one of those promised new traditions.

The squash usually appears the week before Halloween; the change in timing may have been purposeful after last years climber, Peter Breigenzer, was arrested by UM Police after climbing down from Main Hall. He was taken into custody early in the morning of Oct. 27.

Breigenzer, who was charged with obstructing a peace officer and criminal trespass, was just the second person to be caught placing the pumpkin.

But even the fresh threat of a misdemeanor arrest wasnt enough to keep the surreptitious squash spikers at bay this weekend.

A student was charged with trespassing in 2004, after UM Police tracked him through word of mouth and his climbing gear that was left at the scene, according to a 2011 report from the Missoula Independents Fresh Facts guide.

A 2010 documentary by then-student Jesse Spaulding called The Pumpkin Man burrowed into the origins and supposed identity of the student (or students) who place the pumpkin, before showing nighttime footage of a person, with face covered, climbing the clock tower.

Once at the top, the climber pulled up a bag holding the pumpkin, spiked the gourd and rappelled down.

The foremost concern from administrators and public safety officials on campus has been student safety, though there have been no recorded injuries from the climb.

UM Police Chief Marty Ludemann could not be reached for comment Monday.

Breigenzer paid bail last year before a scheduled appearance in Missoula Municipal Court, though records with additional information were unavailable Monday due to the holiday.
A talk by a University of Montana professor in Butte Monday flared into a heated discussion about the role of racism in America.

Tobin Miller Shearer  whose class on white supremacy made headlines recently after someone replaced a flier for the class with a racially charged flier mimicking it spoke at the monthly Burros Club luncheon at Butte Country Club.

Shearer, the featured speaker, didnt waste any time getting to the heart of the matter.

Since (the flier), this story has been picked up by a couple of national news sources, said Shearer. "The white supremacy movement in this country has also picked up on it. Theyve now posted my picture on (some of their) websites and have included all my contact information, he added.

The now infamous flier was posted Thursday and took aim at Shearers White Supremacy History/Defeat class. That day, The Missoulian reported, someone anonymously replaced a flier for Shearers class with another flier for a fictitious course called Black Nationalism History/Defeat, parodying core objectives of Shearers course by replacing the phrase white supremacy with black nationalism. The false sign also said the class would include group projects aimed at dismantling race-baiting hypocrisy.

Shearer said Monday the author of the flier was creating a false equivalence. He said the author took the cowards way out by creating the poster anonymously and said that he would have been happy to talk with anyone who wanted to speak critically about the class.

Shearer then gave an abbreviated history of Europeans in the United States, saying that the country went from creating institutions designed to serve white people exclusively to a society that created similar but inferior systems and institutions for people of color. It is only in the past 60 years or so, he said, that Americans have started to examine critically the impacts of white privilege in a way that extends beyond mere multiculturalism and tokenism.

To fight white supremacy, Shearer said, one has to stop thinking of racism as something that only occurred in the past and reflect on how racism has come to shape world views in the United States and examine the purpose that racism serves for those with social, cultural, and economic power.

Shearer said most media accounts of racism describe it as something that hurts and demeans people of color, but its also something that serves to preserve the status quo of white power, the department director said.

The real purpose of racism is to ensure that white people are made to feel safe, comfortable, served, and protected by the systems of our country, said Shearer.

He added that the point of thinking critically about racism shouldnt be to instill guilt or impart blame but rather should be used as a source of awareness so one can be an effective ally in turning back the tide against white supremacy.

When Shearer opened the floor to questions, topics initially ranged from comparisons between equality movements among women, working people, and people of color to effective ways of responding to racist comments from friends and family members in light of recent events in the NFL.

But a few comments from the audience made clear that Shearer wasnt speaking only to the choir.

One woman said that she believed countries made up of people of color didnt seem to have the same racial tensions present in the United States. Given this, she said, she wondered aloud why immigrants should come to the United States.

Were importing more black and brown people, and I dont see the necessity in that when they have their own countries, said the woman.

Another member of the audience wanted to know if it was possible for white people to experience racism. The mans hands shook as a he told a story of living in Chicago. There, he said, he was harassed for being white.

So youre saying that I cannot have racism against me because Im white? Is that what you're saying? the man said.

I know you had a few softball questions here, but let me explain my question, please, the man continued after the audience erupted in commentary.

Shearer said that the question was not a yes-or-no question  that the situation is more complex than a black-and-white answer. Eventually he agreed that yes, white people can experience racism. But he maintained there is a difference between systemic racism and individual racial incidents.

Michele Robinson of the Public Housing Authority of Butte was also at the meeting.

As a Native American member of the Arapaho tribe, I would like to welcome all of you immigrants to my native land, said Robinson in response to the earlier comment about immigration. The audience laughed and clapped.

Later, after the luncheon, Robinson spoke with The Montana Standard. She said she believes in talking with compassion to people with different ideologies.

If we find people who dont agree with us, discuss it, said Robinson.

Shearer said he gives these types of talks often and wasnt surprised by some of the responses in the room.

These are very important topics. People are very passionate about them, said Shearer.

Im always glad for people to push me, he said, adding, our goal is civil discourse whenever possible.
The talk of Missoula for the last few days has been Seth Bodnars acceptance of the position of University of Montana president. As a senior studying English literature and philosophy at the university, and a regent for the Montana University System, I am the only student of the seven people who decided to extend this offer. As such, I can lend both a campus and a regents perspective on our new president.

Lets start with the elephant in the room: Seth Bodnar was the only non-traditional finalist, as he lacks higher education administration experience. As a prospective PhD student, I can understand the worry and frustrations of other traditional academics. In times like the these, it is easy to despair, and every decision can seem like the wrong one.

I am also deeply attached to this university. When I first visited Montana, I knew instantly that I was home. What I didnt realize that first visit was that my home was in Missoula, right under Mount Sentinel. When I discovered that as a freshman, I decided to work as hard as I could to earn the privilege of spending my life in service to this beautiful and inspiring university.

We are in the worst shape in our history, and we need a true leader  a visionary with the guts to do what is right despite the immense pressures we face  and I firmly believe that we have found that leader in Seth Bodnar.

Very few non-traditional candidates could pull me away from my roots, but I can unequivocally say that I am ready to believe in Seth Bodnar. Ready for a new chapter in our legacy. Ready to thrive.

My mother once taught me that we always have three choices in difficult situations: we can accept the situation; we can remove ourselves from it; or we can try to change it. I think that her lesson rings true, but choosing to change our situation  while often the most desirable option, is difficult to get right.

Disappointed individuals could spend their time trying to change the reality that Seth Bodnar will become our 18th president. But such wasteful action will only sink our already waterlogged ship much faster.

We face incredible challenges: a 25 percent enrollment drop, state cuts as large as $12 million (this year alone) and tuition increases. The only way we solve them is together, and I truly believe that our new leader is the right one to lead us onward.

Seth Bodnar can handle these great challenges, and can create positive, tangible change for our university. But he will only truly be successful if there is a strong, vibrant and prepared community behind him.

I challenge all of us, as one Missoula, to do what I know we are capable of doing: welcoming this brilliant, diligent and committed new leader to our community. Missoula did it for me four years ago, and gave me every tool to be successful here. That is exactly what we need to do today for Seth Bodnar.

Lets collaborate and share our different perspectives, and united we can bring about a new era of growth, stability and happiness for our beloved university. It is well past time that we set aside our quibbles and start tackling our problems as a community.

When Seth Bodnar arrives in the near future to begin his work on our campus, I am certain that I will be right there beside him  doing everything I can to provide the resources and knowledge he needs to lead successfully. Only one question remains in my mind: will you be there with us?
Police reports

Assault on family members

 Police arrested Michael Dilbeck, 37, of Butte for allegedly choking a female, holding her in his house, and taking her cellphone at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday on the 11900 block of Silver Bow Road. The victim got away and ran to a neighbors house to call police. According to police, the victim had signs of injuries but did not go to the hospital. Police booked Dilbeck for partner-family member assault, serious bodily injury, which is a felony.

 Police arrested Daniel Pratt, 48, of Butte for allegedly assaulting his live-in girlfriend at about 1 a.m. Sunday on the 900 block of Zarelda Street. According to police, the woman had signs of minor injuries. He was booked on partner-family member assault, a misdemeanor.

Assault with bodily fluids

Police booked a 25-year-old Butte male for assault with bodily fluids, a misdemeanor, at about 2:30 a.m. Monday at the Butte jail. Police took the man into protective custody for a mental health evaluation after he made threats of harming himself during a family fight on the 1000 block of Empire Street. Once at the jail, the man reportedly spit at and swore at the officers.

DUI with injuries

Police cited a man for DUI and improper turn, both misdemeanors, following a two-vehicle accident at the Walmart traffic light, 3901 Harrison Ave., at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. He was taken to the hospital, and details were not available on his injuries.

Burglary charge

Erika Cozino, 35, of Butte was arrested on a burglary charge on the 1700 block of Elizabeth Warren Avenue at about 7 p.m. Sunday. A landlord was trying to evict a tenant from a residence when Cozino, who was visiting the tenant, entered into another residence on the property without permission, according to police. Police also found a Butte city court arrest warrant and a separate arrest warrant out of Missoula for Cozino.

Repeat DUI offense

Police arrested Jamie Best, 63, of Butte for a felony DUI for repeated offense and probation violation, also a felony. An officer stopped best after observing the driver driving erratically eastbound on George Street. Best was also cited for failing to drive on the right side of the road and driving with no liability insurance, both misdemeanors.

Violation of protection order

Police arrested Nancy Roth, 59, of Butte for violating a protection order at about 3 p.m. Friday on the 400 block of West Granite Street. She was allegedly knocking on the door of a residence occupied by the person who requested the protection order.

Obstructing a peace officer

Police arrested Nathaniel Wickham, 36, of Butte at about 9 p.m. Friday at the Butte Civic Center on a complaint that he stole a cellphone. The female who reported the missing phone pointed Wickham out to police. When they approached Wickham, they said he gave a false name. He was booked on theft and obstructing a peace officer, both misdemeanors.

Minor in possession of alcohol

Police cited a juvenile at McKinley and Sanders Streets at about 1 a.m. Saturday for possession of alcohol and turned him over to his mother. Police first spotted the juvenile when he was driving 55 mph in a 35 mph speed zone on Harrison Avenue. Police gave pursuit, and the juvenile allegedly ran a couple of stop signs before abandoning the truck on the 3000 block of Paxson Street. The police found the juvenile hiding in a yard and gave him a Breathalyzer test, according to police. The juvenile reportedly did not blow over the legal limit.

Misdemeanor DUI charge

Brad Federenko, 45, of Billings faces a misdemeanor DUI charge after police stopped him at Montana and Mercury Streets at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He allegedly failed a field sobriety test. Police stopped Federenko because he was driving with his headlights turned off.

Outstanding warrant

When Eliza Krause, 20, of Butte visited a prisoner in the Butte jail, police found a warrant for her arrest for criminal contempt. Krause was taken into custody.

Repeat offender arrested twice

Isaiah Otherbull, 24, of Butte was arrested twice on Sunday afternoon for misdemeanors.

Police initially booked Otherbull at 3:10 p.m. at the Chances Are Casino, 3707 Harrison Ave. When he failed to leave after being asked, police were called. Otherbull allegedly resisted being handcuffed; he was booked for resisting arrest and bonded out of jail.

Otherbull then fell on the sidewalk on the first block of West Broadway at about 5:30 p.m. He was transported to St. James Healthcare, where he began swearing at medical staff and then was asked to leave. Police were called, and he was booked at about 6:10 p.m. for failure to disperse.

Criminal mischief complaints

 Police arrested Larry White, 46, of Butte on the 600 block of Maryland Avenue for criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and obstructing a peace officer, all misdemeanors. White allegedly broke out a window in a residence. When police arrived, White attempted to flee.

 Police responded to a call of a suspicious person trying to enter vehicles parked on the 500 block of North Franklin Street and the 500 block of West Woolman Street at 6:15 p.m. Sunday. When police located Tangee Jessen, 46, of Butte, a resident on the 500 block of West Woolman identified Jessen as having broken lawn ornaments. She was booked on criminal mischief, a misdemeanor.
Twin Bridges center serves lunch

TWIN BRIDGES  Lunch is served every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the Twin Bridges Senior and Community Center. The menu through Oct. 20 is listed below:

Wednesday, Oct. 11  Pork chops, green beans, rolls, fruit, and apple pie.

Friday, Oct. 13  Witches brew, corn bread, frozen fruit, and pudding

Monday, Oct. 16  Tuna casserole, vegetable, fruit, and dump cake

Wednesday, Oct. 18  Spare ribs, mashed potatoes, rolls, fruit, and cupcakes

Friday, Oct. 20  Goulash, mixed vegetables, fruit, and dessert

Firemen to visit library

Butte firemen will visit the Butte Public Library, 226 W. Broadway St., at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 13. A fire truck will be displayed, and youngsters will listen to stories, sing songs, and do an activity. All ages are welcome. Details: Cathy at 406-723-3361.

Memorial fun run, walk set for Oct. 29

The Light Up Mariah 5k Fun Run and Memorial Walk will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the drunk driving accident that took the life of 14-year-old Mariah McCarthy as she walked home on Oct. 28, 2007.

The event will be held Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Butte Country Club, 3400 Elizabeth Warren Ave.

Participants can register from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at Leo McCarthy State Farm Insurance, 15 Discovery Dr. Race-day registration closes at 9:30. The cost is $15 for kids and $25 for adults.

All funds raised go directly to the Mariah Daye McCarthy Scholarship Foundation. Details: Jenna McCarthy at 406-490-8432 or Eddi Walker at 406-490-1233.

Tech plans two open houses

Montana Tech will be hosting its Fall Open House events from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Fridays, Oct. 13 and Nov. 17.

Activities may include academic program open houses, interactive classroom sessions, and paying for college sessions.

Montana Tech is also hosting an open house at the Highlands College campus from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Come see what the schools certificate and associate programs can offer.
TUESDAY, OCT. 10

SENIOR WORKSHOP

A workshop to help build confidence and reduce falls among older adults will run every Tuesday through Nov. 7 at St. James Healthcare, 400 S. Clark St. Classes are from 2 to 4 p.m. at St. James Healthcare and are free. Details: 406-723-2540.

AT THE LIBRARY

Evening story time at the Butte Public Library, 226 W. Broadway St., starts at 6:30 p.m. in the children's room. The subject is leaves, and youngsters will listen to books, sing songs, and do an activity. All ages are welcome. Details: Cathy at 406-723-3361.

FILM AT TECH

CINEMAtech continues at 7 p.m. with a post-punk Western, Allison Anders' tribute to 1980s rock culture: Border Radio. The film will be viewed at the Montana Tech library auditorium. Admission is free.

CLUBS AND MEETINGS

BUTTE

The next meeting of Uptown Toasters is at noon at the Butte Archives, 17 W. Quartz St. Details: 406-782-3280.

Ancient Order of Hibernians meet at 7 p.m. in the Carpenters Union Hall.

Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians will have a Halloween dinner and meeting at 6 p.m. in The Springs community room. Pasties, coleslaw, and a dessert will be served for $10.

Open AA meetings start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the United Congregational Church, 2945 Bayard St. Details: 406-560-7330.
How do you know if your state legislator is representing your values in Helena? For many Montanans, the only reference point they have is the legislator themselves. Every even-numbered year, the lawmaker shows up at their door to tell them how great of a job they did. Every odd-numbered year they seem to disappear into a black hole.

Most Montanans are too busy going about their lives to keep a close eye on Helena, and many legislators are too busy during the session to respond to emails. This is not a criticism of legislators or voters. Its just the reality of our system.

And while Montana newspapers make a valiant effort to report accurately on the session, for many readers the legislative process remains opaque at best.

It costs too much  in time and money  for most people to peel back the layers to find out whats really going on.

The result is that few Montanans have the opportunity to find out the totality of what happened during the legislative session and to understand if their representatives voted their values.

At Americans for Prosperity-Montana, we call this problem the Helena bubble. How can we expect Montanans to make educated decisions about who should represent them when their access to information is so limited?

To solve this problem, we launched Montanascorecard.com, which provides an easy-to-understand 0-100 score of each members voting record during the legislative session.

It has proven quite popular, but not everyone is enamored of the idea. Some legislators are so afraid of citizens knowing what theyre doing, in fact, that they consider keeping track of their votes a veiled threat.

In a way, I suppose, it is. Its a threat to the legislatures ability to conduct its business out of the public eye. Its a threat to lawmakers doing one thing and telling voters another. Its a threat to the big government status quo.

But legislators should be working for Montanans, not the other way around.

So Montanascorecard.com grades legislators based on their alignment with AFP-Montanas philosophy of a free and open society on a simple 0-100 scale.

For example, freshman Missoula Rep. Adam Hertz scored 91 percent. Hertz did a great job advocating fora free and open society, and we believe the folks in his district deserve to know about those votes. And a scorecard, unlike anecdotal stories, can illustrate an overall alignment with values over time.

Kalispell Republican Rep. Frank Garner carried the gas tax increase and was overall unreliable on free-society issues. He scored 68 percent for the session, barely above his 60 percent lifetime rating. Now his constituents can be empowered to ask the hard questions that make democracy work.

Rating legislators isnt some revolutionary concept. Other groups all along the political spectrum have similar scorecards. None, liberal or conservative, single-issue or broad-based, treats what theyre doing as a threat to lawmakers. Were all holding them accountable for what they do. If members of the legislature cant stand this little bit of heat, they know where the door out of the kitchen is.

If you believe in the values of individual rights and limited government, then Montanascorecard.com can be a great tool to see how your legislator is doing. I invite you to visit our website and check out your legislators votes. Very soon they will be showing up at your doorstep again to tell you how well they did. Now you can easily see for yourself.

--David Herbst is the Montana state director of Americans for Prosperity.
Zinke played with taxpayer money

Commander Ryan Zinke just shot off his mouth and scored a direct hit on his foot, which was apparently inserted into his mouth at the time.

$12,375 for a one-way trip from Las Vegas to Montana is "BS" indeed, and not just a little of it. Apparently what happens in Vegas does not always stay there.

I certainly wish that Zinke had stayed there. It seems the perfect environment for him. He gambled with our tax money and now we are all losers.

-- Jeff Stevens, Missoula
MUSCATINE  Kent Corporation hopes matching community donations will inspire residents to support four projects in the city of Muscatine.

The "Pearls of Progress" projects include the new Musser Public Library, community dog park, the Westside Trail and cabins at Deep Lakes Park. By raising money for all four projects at the same time, city officials hope they can make a stronger case to the Enhance Iowa Board.

The city is seeking a $500,000 Community Attractions and Transportation (CAT) grant, but must contribute a half-a-million dollar match to qualify. Previously, City Planner Andrew Fangman said he hopes to have the money raised by the end of the year. Now, that goal is twice as likely, thanks to an announcement last week from Kent Corp.

Spokesperson Carol Reynolds said Kent's matching dollars will help "expedite the final result. We are committing a match, dollar for dollar, up to the necessary project goal."

Kent Chairman and CEO Gage Kent said, in a news release, the company is proud to work with the city, residents and other organizations making the projects become a reality.

"For more than 80 years, Muscatine has been our home and we are proud to partner in its long-term success," he said. "Supporting these public projects is reflective of our ongoing commitment to this wonderful community."

Along with the match from Kent Corp, the city has benefited from another major corporation as it works to secure funding. HNI Corp. donated its former headquarters, at 408 E. 2nd St., to become the new Musser Public Library. Including the $5 million building, the city has secured more than $7 million for the projects.

Work on the new HNI Community Center and Musser Public Library could wrap up as early as next spring. Around $5.7 million has been pledged for the project, and the city still needs to raise $420,000.

Fundraising is also underway for a new community dog park off Houser Street, across from Kent-Stein Park. The 14-acre leash-free park should open next year, and $22,000 is still needed to fully fund the project.

The city and Muscatine County also hope to raise more than $170,000 to finish funding an extension of its trail system, from Kent-Stein Park to Discovery Park. The trail could be completed in 2019.

Finally, the Muscatine County Conservation Board needs around $500,000 to build the first rentable cabins at Deep Lakes Park. The city hopes the cabins, which will sleep up to eight people, will open next year.

On Wednesday, Muscatine officials will travel to Sioux City to update the state CAT Review Committee on its fundraising efforts and pitch the importance of the Pearls of Progress projects.

To donate to the projects, residents can send a tax deductible gift of $10 or more to the city, at 215 Sycamore St., Muscatine. For more information, visit the city's Pearls of Progress web page.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
On Monday, the Starbucks cafe at South Napa Marketplace was packed from the cash register inside to the patio outside. But the lattes were not the main reason for the packed house  as the smoke-fouled air and the smartphones on every ear made clear.

One man vainly sought word from his daughters in Sonoma, having been diverted to Napa on the last leg of a trip home from Mexico. A woman texted her two children in North Carolina to reassure them their parents were safe in Napa, though without power to the house. And Phillip Busick had driven all the way down from his home outside St. Helena simply to find someplace, any place, with a working Wi-Fi connection  to check on his friends from Justin-Siena High School whose cell connections were as dead as his own.

I saw the fire as it broke out at 10 last night, he said between thumbing out phone messages. I live on the crest of a hill, and when the power went out, I saw it ignite on Atlas Peak.

As the line inside the Soscol Avenue cafe extended to the front door, Busick was one of the dozens of people stopping by the tables and chairs in front, all within the routers reach. After tracking down his acquaintances, he hoped to offer rides to those needing them, get supplies of water to others  or even invite a guest to temporarily crash at his home Upvalley.

I came here because I have a lot of friends to check on, to see if theyre OK, he said. A few of my friends have been evacuated  some from the (Coombsville) avenues, one from Browns Valley, and another friend had to leave Calistoga.

The handful of businesses whose electricity and Internet connections were intact proved invaluable in a city where large swaths, especially in the north, remained blacked out more than 12 hours after the fires erupted. Elsewhere, groceries and shops along north Soscol Avenue and Trancas Street remained mostly dark, traffic signals were out of service, and parking lots empty.

Even for some at the Starbucks with a working phone connection, the slow trickle of information sometimes exasperated people.

Weve evacuated; my parents and I split up, said a testy Ana Gibert of her familys departure from the fire-threatened Silverado Highlands at 11 p.m. Sunday. Its a disaster; we dont even know where the fires are. Weve been to the (CrossWalk Community Church) shelter; Ive been to the Sheriffs Office, and no one knows anything. Now I cant get to my family, and my dad doesnt even know if theres fires in the highlands because we cant get up there now.

With news updates slow to reach her phone, Gibert, a photographer, settled for WhatsApp calls and texts to reach a brother in Los Angeles, and snatches of TV broadcasts at a nearby Dennys. Otherwise, she was left with little but her camera, computer, passport and uncertainty.

My parents know people who lost their homes, she said. I hope they didnt lose theirs.

In the parking lot overlooking the Starbucks were more than a dozen RVs. According to one of the owners, James DiLienzo, most of the motor homes and trailers belonged to families living around Napa, who turned to their vacation vehicles for shelter as evacuation orders multiplied with the flames.

We got back from Mount George and we saw four or five houses burn at the end, he said, standing outside his Ford pickup truck and its attached Airstream camper. The smoke at our house was so bad; I came here because of the smoke. When I got here about 3:30 there four trailers in the lot. When I woke up, there were 40.

DiLienzos story would have a safe ending: Weve checked the house; were fine.

On the opposite side of the shopping center, couples and families  many wearing dust masks  emerged from Target with red carts stuffed with canned goods, drinks, clothing and diapers. In nearly every cart were bottles of water, chest-wide blister packs of bottled water.

The water packs were a hedge for Laura Kelley-Weakley, in case power outages stalled the well pump at her familys home on Milton Road, which the Justin-Siena English teacher had left overnight but planned to check on. For news of her friends, she had already made one stop  to little effect.

Had to drive to the airport to get a cell signal so I could touch base with my neighbors  who, it turned out, dont have any service, so I couldnt get hold of them anyway, she said with a slight chuckle.

Kelley-Weakley planned to make another go at finding a signal or a Wi-Fi connection, this time for word of her students. A lot of them are up in the hills, she said.

As Napa locals sought food, water and a signal, much of the downtown district appeared as quiet and empty as on a national holiday. Traffic on First Street remained thin even at midday, and the storefronts were pocked with the darkened windows of businesses that, by choice or circumstance, had stayed closed  Anettes Chocolates, Small World, the Bounty Hunter restaurant and various wine tasting lounges, among others.

Plenty of tables were available inside Tarlas restaurant, as its owner had predicted  but he saw opening it as a public service of sorts.

We have power, so we decided to keep it open to support the locals. A lot of them have no power, said Yusuf Topal inside the eatery, which also was offering free delivery service. Behind him, a handful of customers took up a half-dozen tables inside  and one on the sidewalk, despite sticky afternoon air that smelled of fireplace dregs, with ashes to match.

Steps away from Tarla, guests at the Andaz hotel had vacated about 60 rooms since the fires had erupted the night before, according to general manager Jeffrey Miller. But the hotel remained full as Andaz staff took in mostly Napa residents  many of them evacuees  at reduced rates, he said.

In the hotel lobby, Steve Metzler, his wife and two friends checked in, evacuees during their own vacation after leaving behind a fire-menaced house rental in Glen Ellen in Sonoma County.

Definitely not what we expected on vacation, said Metzler, who with his group was visiting from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Been here four times and Id love to come back, but we didnt know what we were in for, thats for sure.

Spirits soon lifted, however, when a hotel employee arrived with four glasses of chardonnay. We made it! Were alive, they quipped to one another, clinking glasses.

One downtown eatery managed to keep most of the buzz of a normal, safe midday  even if the television facing the front door carried an endless loop of combusting forests and burned-out buildings from around the North Bay.

Its a holiday Monday; what do you expect? said Jon Crane, manager of Norman Rose Tavern on First Street, where nearly every table was accounted for at lunch. The restaurant phone began ringing with reservation calls just after 9:30, nearly two hours before the opening.
Three large wildfires raged through Napa County on Monday, destroying homes, forcing hundreds to evacuate and prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

Wind gusts of 35 mph and greater fanned flames during a hellacious Sunday night that gave way to a hellacious Monday. Dozens of homes in the Atlas Peak/Silverado area and at least one in the Carneros area went up in smoke.

By 4:30 p.m. Monday, the state reported the Atlas Fire east of the city of Napa had consumed 25,000 acres and the Partrick Fire west of the city had consumed 3,000 acres. The Tubbs Fire west of Calistoga had consumed 25,000 acres, devastating part of Santa Rosa.

Also at 4:30 p.m. Monday, county spokesman Kevin Lemieux said containment was zero for all three fires. None of the countys numerous evacuation area orders had been lifted.

Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said the Atlas Fire destroyed more than 50 homes, barns and other structures, though that was an initial estimate.

This fire developed rapidly, Biermann said. When the first units got on scene, it was reported to be 100 acres to 200 acres in the hills of Atlas Peak and it rapidly advanced with the very strong wind on it.

By 9:30 a.m. Monday, the Atlas Fire had spread several miles from Atlas Peak south to near the Solano County line. People evacuated from such areas as Silverado, Wooden Valley and Coombsville, though emergency officials couldnt give a number.

On the other side of the city of Napa, the Partrick Road fire moved toward Sonoma County. It destroyed at least one home on Henry Road and prompted more than 200 evacuations from various parts of the Carneros area, including the Carneros Resort & Spa.

Emergency officials said the unusually high winds were a key ingredient to the fire outbreak. Still, why three large fires in different parts of the county starting in a single night?

I dont know, Biermann said. The causes will be under investigation, for sure. But when we have high winds, its not uncommon to have trees that go down  these could bring power lines down. We have very low humidity. It doesnt take much for anything to cause a fire.

He called the fire conditions Sunday night pretty unprecedented for the valley at this time of year.

We had very strong gusts, Biermann said. It was erratic winds. Once the fires got started, they rapidly developed.

Queen of the Valley Medical Center canceled elective outpatient procedures Monday after losing power and having to operate on generators. Power was restored by 9 a.m., said Vanessa DeGier, a hospital spokeswoman.

The hospital emergency room treated 50 people for fire-related conditions, including respiratory distress and mostly minor burns, she said. One person had to be evacuated to a regional burn center. Others broke bones in falls during evacuations.

For evacuees, Monday was a stressful day of waiting to find out if their homes had survived the blaze.

Joel Tranmer was eating in downtown Napa around 11 a.m., having been forced to flee his house on the slopes of Mount George. The Atlas Fire swept through that general area on its way toward the Solano County line.

We dont know if the house burned or not, Tranmer said. They just said the fire is still going.

He recalled having another house consumed in another monster blaze, the notorious 1981 Atlas Peak Fire that destroyed 65 structures and blackened 23,000 acres. But he had never seen anything like Sunday night and Monday morning, when Napa Valley seemed to be wall-to-wall flames and smoke.

Even that fire wasnt anything like this, Tranmer said.

Jami Laveder, her 87-year-old mother and 15-year-daughter evacuated their small ranch near Hagen Road east of the city of Napa at about 3 a.m. Monday. As they left, they could see the glow of the Atlas Fire less than a mile away.

They ended up at the Napa County Expo because it had plug-in services for their house trailer, as well as room for their 3-month-old calf. They sat outside at 12:30 p.m. Monday under a smokey sky, emergency fire reports blaring over their radio and large ashes occasionally wafting down.

We know nothing, Laveder said as they pondered the fate of their house.

She said she has lived there for 47 years. She too recalled the 1981 Atlas Peak Fire, though she didnt have to evacuate that time. Shed never seen Napa County ablaze as on Monday.

Absolutely not, Laveder said. Ive never, ever experienced anything like this before.

Napa Mayor Jill Techel said Monday morning that no homes had burned within the city of Napa. The city has been concerned about the Browns Valley area in the west and the Alta Heights area in the east and had bulldozers helping to put in fire lines.

The city evacuated about 100 homes from Montecito Boulevard and Monte Vista Avenue areas of Alta Heights. People trying to reach local residents by phone should know that cellphone coverage within the city has been very limited, Techel said.

Napa County Sheriff John Robertson at the Monday press conference said Sheriffs officials went door-to-door Sunday night and Monday morning telling people to evacuate from the fires. They were assisted by officials from the Contra Costa and Solano County sheriffs offices and the Napa and Fairfield police departments.

We have areas we could not get to because trees were down and power poles were down, preventing us from going in, Robertson said. This was a rapid, rapid fire event. There were some places we just couldnt get to. We havent had any reported injuries yet, so were praying for the best.

Some people were rescued from the Atlas Peak area by helicopter, he said.

Napa County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Belia Ramos said at 3 p.m. Monday that Cal Fire had requested 24 strike teams. Equipment from around the state was coming to the county, she said.

A Cal Fire fire crew strike team has at least 30 firefighters, according to the agency. An engine strike team has five fire engines with three to four firefighters in each engine. On Monday, fire equipment from such places as Los Angeles and Alameda counties could be seen in Napa.

Biermann said the emergency crews on Monday morning had an air attack to help try to control the fires, though he didnt say how many air tankers were available. Air resources will be prioritized among the multiple fires in the area, he said.

He stressed the importance of the firefighting aircraft.

As of right now, with these conditions, we cant get in front of this (Atlas) fire and do anything about its forward progress, he said during the morning press conference.

While the Tubbs Fire started outside Calistoga near Bennett Lane, it moved west into Santa Rosa in Sonoma County where it did its major damage, leveling businesses and residential areas.

No evacuations were called for in Calistoga, but the Napa County Fairgrounds served as a shelter for Upvalley residents.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said Napa County faced a tragic situation.

Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, called Monday a really devastating day. On behalf of the Assembly speaker, she said the state will do whatever it can so people can put their lives back together.

Gov. Browns state of emergency declaration covers Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties because of multiple fires in the area.
After every mass shooting, the nation trudges through the same familiar steps. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Don't politicize a tragedy by trying to stop the next one. OK, propose something, but unless it would have prevented the last incident, we're not interested. Eventually, the debate dies down -- until next time.

Last weekend's massacre in Las Vegas might be an exception to that pattern. For once, there actually is a proposal that would make it more difficult for the next Stephen Paddock to kill and injure so many people: a ban on "bump stocks" and other devices that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire more rapidly than normal. Without bump stocks, Paddock still could have killed dozens of people with his 23 weapons, but the toll might have been lower.

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have introduced a bill to impose such a ban. Several Republicans have said the question deserves a serious look.

More proof that it's a good idea: the National Rifle Association quickly tried to neuter the Democrats' bill. The NRA said bump stocks should be scrutinized -- not by Congress, legislating in the aftermath of tragedy, but by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That won the NRA undeserved praise for statesmanship. In fact, it was a gambit to make it less likely that tough restrictions will be put in place.

Don't take my word for that. That's also the view of the top gun rights champion at the right-wing Breitbart News service, A.W.R. "Rusty" Hawkins. "The NRA is calling on members of Congress to squash talk of more gun control by moving the bump stock discussion back where it began in 2010: with the ATF," he explained last week.

In 2010, ATF ruled that bump stocks are legal because they don't physically change semiautomatic weapons to turn them into machine guns. In 2013, ATF said it doesn't think it has the legal authority to do anything about the devices.

That's why the problem still requires legislation, Feinstein argued last week.

If anything, the Feinstein bill is vulnerable to the criticism that it's unambitious. Outlawing bump stocks won't stop mass shootings or individual homicides -- far from it. And what about all the other causes of death by firearm, including accidents and suicides?

But the impulse to tackle too many problems at once is one of the reasons Congress hasn't succeeded in passing any major restriction on firearms in more than a decade.

Even after Sandy Hook, when a gunman killed 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, nothing changed. Now, with a Republican majority and a president who has promised to "come through" for the NRA, broad gun control is an impossible goal.

Feinstein's narrow proposal, responding to a single horrifying incident, is a kind of pilot project: an attempt to see if Congress can pass anything over objections from the NRA. And if legislation gets through, there's a long list of other narrow measures waiting their turn.

One is background checks. Anyone who buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer must undergo a background check. In much of the country, however, if you buy your weapons on the internet or from an amateur dealer, no check is required. That's a boon to criminals and gun traffickers.

Another is the "domestic violence loophole." Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of domestic violence against a spouse or child from owning a gun. But the ban doesn't apply to anyone who abuses a parent, a sibling or a short-term partner. It doesn't apply to convicted stalkers, either.

A third: gun trafficking. Remarkably, there's no clear federal statute that makes gun trafficking a federal crime. Much of the time, transferring a gun to someone who shouldn't have it is treated as a paperwork violation. That makes it harder for ATF and other law enforcement agencies to prosecute trafficking rings.

Finally, a mundane problem that should be easy to fix: ATF is underfunded and understaffed. The agency hasn't grown in a decade, even though the number of guns in private hands has exploded. One of the reasons the current background check system doesn't work as well as it should is that ATF doesn't have the resources to answer every query within 72 hours -- after which the buyer automatically gets his gun. (That's how Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, was able to buy a pistol despite having a criminal record.) And the problem's about to get worse: President Trump's budget would cut 14 percent from gun enforcement over the next decade. That's nuts.

A single law won't end mass shootings, any more than laws against homicide can prevent all murders. But gun laws can still be improved, and they can be better enforced. Feinstein's bill is one place to start.

Will Congress step up? That will depend on what it hears from constituents, especially gun owners. The 2nd Amendment guarantees their right to bear arms. Are they willing to get along without bump stocks to spare their fellow citizens from harm?
Las Vegas now adds to its world-famous reputation by being the location of the largest mass murder by a private citizen in American history. That is very sad, but what may be even sadder is that I fear it won't hold that title for long.

If nothing changes, there surely will be another, even more horrific and more deadly. As comedian Irwin Corey quipped, "If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."

So, where does the trend say we are going? How do we change direction? What can we do?

Some will say there is nothing we can do because of the Second Amendment. Others will say we need to severely restrict the ability for private citizens to own any kind of firearm. Both extremes are unreasonable, in my opinion.

But there is something we should start pursuing. I am advocating a two-pronged approach.

One is to limit the availability of weapons of mass destruction, including severely restricting the private ownership of rifles with high-capacity magazines while outlawing the manufacture and sale of magazines holding more than six rounds and make the manufacture and sale of devices capable of converting firearms to fully automatic.

I believe this can be crafted to pass Second Amendment scrutiny. The courts have already held that government may prohibit the private ownership of other types of "arms" such as bombs, hand grenades etc.. and the Second Amendment doesn't specify what it means by "Arms."

In 1791, it probably meant knives, swords, and single-shot muzzle loaders. Civil Libertarians on the right and the NRA will decry this approach. I realize that one could kill people with handguns, shotguns, and six-round capacity rifles and I do not blame the weapons for the perpetrator's act. I do blame the type of weapon on the shooter's ability to take out nearly 600 innocent people in minutes from several hundred yards away.

The second prong is, perhaps, just as controversial. That is the reform of our mental health laws with regard to involuntary treatment of dangerous persons and more and better funded and more accessible community based mental health services. Civil libertarians on the left and the ACLU will decry this approach.

Congressman Thompson is on the right track with a call for a joint, bi-partisan, Congressional committee to look at what can be done. I urge them to include in the discussion my recommendation and call as witnesses experts from law enforcement, mental health, NRA, ACLU, and other stakeholders.

You can write Mike Thompson or send in your own letter to the editor and express your support of his leadership in this critical public safety issue.We have to change direction now and do what we can to mitigate the death toll.

Dan Monez

Napa
- Iran fires back at U.S. for attempting to label IRGC as terrorists.





- IRGC is Iran's most powerful security force.





- U.S. would be taking sides with terrorists if it calls the IRGC a terrorist organisation.

Iran has disclosed on Tuesday that if the United States chooses to designate designate its elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, they would be joining the camp of terrorists themselves.





The IRGC is Iran's most powerful security force and U.S. President Donald Trump has been very critical of them in recent times especially as he aims to curb Iran's influence in the region.





"The world should be thankful to the Revolutionary Guards for its fight against terrorists, especially against Daesh (Islamic State)," Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a weekly news conference broadcast live on state television.





"So by taking a stance against the Revolutionary Guards and designating it a terrorist group, the Americans would be joining the terrorists' camp," he added.





President Trump is widely expected to make a decision on whether to decertify the deal Iran struck in 2015 with world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of most international sanctions.





IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Sunday that if Washington designated the Guards a terrorist organization, they "will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world."





Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday that Tehran would give a "firm, decisive and crushing" response if the United States goes ahead with such a plan.
- U.N. reports over 11,000 Rohingya Muslims entering Bangladesh daily.





- Reports were confirmed by Bangladesh border guards.





- U.N. in a situation of full alert as far as influxes are concerned.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has disclosed that as many as 11,000 Rohingya Muslims are crossing over from Myanmar to Bangladesh on a daily basis as a result of the ongoing violence in the Rakhine State region of the Budhist-majority nation.





"We're back in a situation of full alert as far as influxes are concerned. It is a big increase to see 11,000," Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.





"UNHCR is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit center to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days," he said.





The U.N. agency further disclosed that the Bangladesh border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into the country on Monday.
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SIU to host annual Cybersecurity Day Oct. 21

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  A workshop next week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will focus on improving cyber defense skills.

The School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies is hosting the fifth annual SIU Cybersecurity Day 2017on Oct. 21. The workshop runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is directed toward high school and community college students, but the public is also invited. The event is free, but registration is requested for lunch consideration.

The workshops, primarily student-produced and led, feature topics that include beginning and advanced Linux and Windows operating systems, firewall basics, Google hacking queries and Wireshark for network analysis. The Security Dawgs cyber defense team and registered student organization will provide hands on instruction and demonstrations of tools and skills, and there will be an afternoon mock mini-cyber defense competition.

The workshop will be beneficial to participants regardless of whether they have any previous cybersecurity experience, Tom Imboden, associate professor in ISAT, said.

"This year we focus on providing hands-on, instructional workshops on a variety of topics in preparation for our attendees participation in our mock defense competition, he said. Whether you are a high school or college student, or even a community member interested in learning more about security, there should be something of interest for everyone at our event."

Media Advisory

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the SIU Cybersecurity Day at SIU Carbondale, Saturday, Oct. 21. Go to Room 111 in the Applied Sciences and Arts Building C. For more information, contact Tom Imboden, Information Systems and Applied Technologies associate professor, at 618/694-1297 or by email at timboden@siu.edu.

Daryl R. Hancock, a 30-year U.S. Navy veteran and retired captain, is the keynote speaker. He will present Cybersecurity & Education  An Imperative for National Security.

Hancocks career includes being the first director of intelligence for the Navys Tenth Fleet and Fleet Cyber command, responsible for identifying and defending against cyberspace threats to the Navys networks. He was also with NATO as the U.S. senior national representative, principal intelligence adviser to the commander, and team leader for a NATO advisory team to the Tunisian military. He is now executive director for online programs at McKendree Universitys Kentucky campuses and Center at Scott Air Force Base.

Registration information is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/5HMT9J3.

The John A. Logan College Logan Defenders are also assisting with the event. There will be lunch, T-shirts, along with door prizes and probably prizes for the mini competition too.

More information on the universitys IST program is available at ist.siu.edu/.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-09 20:33:46|Editor: liuxin

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Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2017 shows Turkish army vehicles stationed near the Turkey- Syria border in Reyhanli district, Hatay province, Turkey. Turkish troops have crossed border into Syria's Idlib province as of Sunday to conduct reconnaissance mission there, the Turkish Armed Forces announced on Monday.(Xinhua)

ANKARA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish troops have crossed border into Syria's Idlib province as of Sunday to conduct reconnaissance mission there, the Turkish Armed Forces announced on Monday.

The operation in Syria's Idlib is under an international agreement to establish de-escalation zones agreed with Russia and Iran during the Astana peace talks.

"The military elements have started their expedition to establish observation sites during the operation," the Turkish Armed Forces said in a written statement issued on its website.

The reconnaissance mission is being conducted within the rules of engagement agreed between the guarantor countries, it added.

Turkey's latest military intervention followed Operation Euphrates Shield launched in August 2016, which backs the Free Syrian Army forces to clear Islamic State from Turkey's borders.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-09 23:24:58|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter on Monday met with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano in Lugano, a major city in southern Switzerland's Italian-speaking Ticino region, in an efforts to strengthen the ties between the two countries.

The Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Switzerland's policy on Europe and current developments in European migration policy were discussed alongside bilateral concerns relating mainly to tax and financial matters and the agreement on the taxation of cross-border commuters.

Before their meeting, the two ministers officially opened the fourth "Forum for Dialogue between Italy and Switzerland," taking place from Oct. 9 to 10 in Lugano.

According to the figures issued by the Swiss authority, some 320,000 Italian citizens currently live in Switzerland, forming the largest group of foreign nationals in the country, while another 70,000 Italians cross the border each day to work in Switzerland.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-09 23:35:01|Editor: yan

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SHANGHAI, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- National bank card association China UnionPay saw record payments during the National Day holiday, the association said Monday.

Payment over the China UnionPay network reached 1.37 trillion yuan (206 billion U.S. dollars) with a total of 728 million transactions. The daily averages went up 36.2 percent and 11.7 percent respectively year on year.

Xiamen City, in east China's Fujian Province, was among the areas with the highest increase, with daily transactions up more than 50 percent year on year, said Chen Han, a data analyst with China UnionPay.

Xiamen was already a popular travel destination, but the ninth BRICS summit held in early September further increased the city's appeal to tourists.

A total of 2.13 million tourists visited the coastal city from Oct. 1 to 8, a jump of 23.57 percent from a year ago.

China UnionPay is the country's largest bank card payment processor.

UnionPay cards are popular among Chinese tourists traveling abroad and accepted in more than 160 countries and regions around the world.

China had an eight-day holiday for National Day this year, one more day than usual as Mid-Autumn Day fell on Oct. 4.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 00:20:21|Editor: yan

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ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome on Monday affirmed that the east African country's target to become a middle income economy is achievable with the ongoing socio-economic growth registered in the country.

Teshome made the remarks while addressing the joint opening session of the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives and House of Federation, in which he also outlined Ethiopia's socio-economic targets for the just commenced Ethiopian 2017-2018 fiscal year.

According to Teshome, Ethiopia's economy has registered "two-digit economic growth during the last decade with the help of the first and second five-year Growth and Transformation Plans (GTP I and GTP II)."

The Ethiopian government had previously announced the country's long term strategy, which envisages reaching a middle income economy by 2025.

"If we are able to sustain the ongoing economic growth that has been witnessed since the new Ethiopian millennium, the target to reach a middle income economy is achievable," the president affirmed.

The president also affirmed that the ongoing shift from the previous agriculture-dominated economy to a combined agriculture-led industry sector with a significant contribution from the service sector as one major proof for the planned middle income economy.

Ethiopia's economy has registered a 10.9 economic growth during the previous year, close to the projected 11 percent economic growth. The country has also projected 11 percent economic growth for the current fiscal year.

The Ethiopian government envisages industrial parks development, enhancing mechanized farming, infrastructure development, and investment in the manufacturing sector as priority sectors to realize the planned middle income status.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 00:25:23|Editor: yan

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JUBA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Former political detainees in South Sudan have pinned hope on concerted efforts by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to revitalize the stalled peace process and restore stability in the strife-torn country.

"It is our strong belief and hope that the convening of the proposed revitalization forum by IGAD will greatly enhance durable peace and stability in our strife-torn country and end the immense suffering of our people," Deng Alor Kuol, leader of former political detainees, told a press briefing in Juba on Monday.

Heads of state from IGAD member countries endorsed the creation of a High Level Revitalization Forum to bolster the now-defunct 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS).

A delegation of foreign ministers from the region will visit Juba this week on pre-revitalization consultation prior to the commencement of the actual peace forum later this month.

"The group believes that the process can help the parties to address enormous challenges facing the implementation of the peace agreement," Kuol said.

"In our capacity as the representatives of the former political detainees in the transitional government of national unity we accept IGAD initiative to reduce violence and restore peace in South Sudan," said Kuol.

On his part, the leader of Sudan People's Liberation Movement, Former Detainees (SPLM-FDs), Pagan Amum Okiech, told Xinhua over the phone from Nairobi that the forum will bring all stakeholders to discuss how to achieve durable solution to the political crisis in the country.

"Our hope is that all the parties will be positive in the interest of peace in South Sudan," said Okiech.

Regional and pan-African blocs have joined hands with multilateral agencies in meditating talks that resulted in the August 2015 peace accord, which aimed to end bloodshed and introduce a series of fundamental political, security, economic and transitional justice reforms.

Despite regional and international endorsement, the peace agreement stalled months after Machar returned to the country in April 2016.

The 2015 agreement was again violated in July 2016 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and former First Vice President resumed fighting in the capital, Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions that have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 00:55:33|Editor: yan

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NAIROBI, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A man was shot and injured while three others seriously wounded by a motorist during Monday's protest across Kenya to push for changes at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of the repeat presidential polls scheduled for Oct. 26.

The trouble begun on the Nairobi street after armed man in a government vehicle shot one protester for allegedly trying to steal from the van. There was no confirmation about the theft and it was also not clear whether a police officer was behind the shooting.

The driver of the vehicle tried to speed off as demonstrators approached but ended up running over three people, just as the protesters were starting their march.

Police in plain clothes fired shots as hundreds of opposition supporters marched toward IEBC headquarters in Nairobi, demanding reforms at the electoral body.

Protesters had gathered at Central Park and started their march when gunshots were heard from Uhuru Highway amid claims the shot victim had tried to snatch a mobile phone from the motorist.

"The car stopped and one man in civilian (clothing) stepped out before he shot the victim once in the leg near the ankle and kicked him before he jumped back," said a witness. "As the other protesters sought to know why he had shot him, the driver sped off running over two others."

The registration numbers of the car were circulated and some Kenyans managed to identify him and even his photograph demanding action from the police.

The victims were attended and rushed to hospital as the protests proceeded with the group of more than 1,000 marched through Nairobi streets.

Nairobi Police County Commander Japheth Koome said investigations have been launched to determine the true identity of the shooter and the victims too.

Hundreds of National Super Alliance (NASA) supporters took to the streets demanding the resignation of IEBC officials who opposition leaders have accused of bungling the nullified Aug. 8 presidential election in favor of the ruling Jubilee Party candidate, President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Some traders closed their businesses for fear of looting as protesters barricaded roads to prevent people from accessing the central business district.

Senator James Orengo, who is also the opposition NASA's lead counsel, said that before an election is conducted the so-called irreducible minimums must be met.

Orengo warned ruling party lawmakers not to pass a proposed amendment to the election laws that would limit circumstances in which the Supreme Court could nullify an election.

"Until and after our demands are met we will not negotiate. We will only participate in an election where we know the outcome will be free and fair," said Orengo, who was accompanied by more than 10 other lawmakers.

Riot police watched from a distance as the protesters marched past IEBC headquarters.

The opposition wants both systems and personnel changes at the commission, including the dropping of Dubai-based ballots printer Al Ghurair and technology supplier OT-Morpho of France.

Anti-IEBC protests also took place in western Kenya, eastern and coastal regions.

Apart from Nairobi, protests happened in Lamu, Vihiga, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kakamega, Makueni among other major towns. Protests in the areas were generally peaceful except for Kisumu, where police reportedly used teargas and gunfire to drive demonstrators out of town.

Businesses remained closed and transport paralyzed in the lakeside town.

Protesters barricaded the Nairobi-Kisumu highway using rocks and burning tyres.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 01:00:36|Editor: yan

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RABAT, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's Minister for the Administration of National Defense, Abdellatif Loudyi discussed with his Gabonese counterpart Etienne Makaga here on Monday means to strengthen military cooperation.

Talks between the two ministers examined various aspects of bilateral cooperation in the field of national defense, especially in the area of training, the Moroccan ministry said in a statement.

The two sides expressed their satisfaction with the excellence and momentum of the bilateral cooperation between the two departments of defense, the statement pointed out.

They also vowed to further cement bilateral defense cooperation in the same spirit of friendship, solidarity and mutual respect, it added.

The ministers hailed the historical ties binding Morocco and Gabon in various areas.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 01:30:49|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to the Russia-China Friendship Association on the 60th anniversary of its founding.

In the message, Xi said that over the past six decades, the Russia-China Friendship Association has adhered to the principle of friendship in managing relations with China, actively carried out people-to-people exchanges, and made significant contribution to promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

Calling the association an important force in cementing and developing China-Russia ties, Xi stressed that the key to sound relations between states lies in amity between the people.

China-Russia relations have reached a new historical starting point, Xi said, expressing his hope that the association will open up a new chapter in promoting exchanges between the two peoples and make greater contribution to strengthening people-to-people bonds, fueling the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination at a high level.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent congratulations to the association, which held a gala meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Saudi Arabia's King Salman in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia October 5, 2017. (SPUTNIK PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia has agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with a range of sophisticated modern weapons including S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said Monday.

"An agreement has been reached with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the supply of S-400 air defense systems," spokeswoman Maria Vorobyova was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Russia will also supply Saudi Arabia with Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems, Buratino TOS-1 heavy flamethrower systems, AGS-30 automatic grenade launchers and Kalashnikov AK-103 assault rifles, Vorobyova said.

She did not provide the volume or the value of the possible deals.

During the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Russia last week, deals worth at least 2.1 billion U.S. dollars were signed, according to a Kremlin statement.

Russia's Rosoboronexport state arms exporter and the Saudi Military Industries Corporation signed a contract for the licensed production of Kalashnikov AK-103 and cartridges in Saudi Arabia, as well as a memorandum on the purchase of Russian military products and localization of their production.

No details about the two deals were disclosed.

The S-400 is Russia's most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system and can carry three types of missiles capable of destroying targets, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

Last month Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey had signed a deal with Russia to buy S-400 missile defense systems.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 03:11:21|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on July 23, 2014 shows the exterior view of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The United States has suspended all non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic facilities in Turkey, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced on Oct. 8, 2017. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday condemned the decision by the U.S. embassy to stop non-immigrant visa services in Turkey amid a diplomatic row.

"The embassy's decision to suspend all non-immigrant visa applications is upsetting," Erdogan said in a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Porochenko in Ukraine's capital Kiev, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The president said he had suggested Turkish foreign ministry officials to response "based on the rules of reciprocity."

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced it had suspended non-immigrant visa services at all diplomatic facilities in Turkey. In response, Turkey's Washington Embassy subsequently suspended non-immigrant visa services in the U.S. citing security concerns.

The spat between the two countries was ignited by the recent arrest of Metin Topuz, a U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul who was accused of suspected links to the group of U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt that killed 249 people in Turkey.

Earlier Monday, Turkish foreign ministry summoned the undersecretary of U.S. Embassy, urging for an immediate reversal of the decision.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 03:56:31|Editor: Liangyu

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British Prime Minister Theresa May (Xinhua file photo)

LONDON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May gave her clearest indication so far on Monday that Britain would be prepared to leave the European Union with no deal.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons on the first day back after the conference season, May said achieving a special partnership after Brexit will require leadership and flexibility, not just from Britain, but from the 27 nations of the EU.

"As we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic it will receive a positive response," May told MPs in her first parliamentary statement since her big speech last month in Florence.

May added: "What we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us, but I believe that will also be the best possible deal for our European friends too. Progress will not always be smooth but by approaching these negotiations in a constructive way in a spirit of friendship and cooperation and with our sights firmly set on the future, I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong."

In her statement, May said the British government had published Monday two new policy consultation statements on trade and customs.

"These pave the way for legislation to allow the UK to operate as an independent trading nation and to create an innovative customs system that will help us achieve the greatest possible tariff and barrier-free trade as we leave the EU," said May.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, responded to May's speech by saying that 16 months on after the referendum, no significant progress has been made.

The government is no closer to deciding what it wants, said Corbyn.

May's statement came as the fifth round of negotiations between Britain and the EU started in Brussels.

Brexit Secretary David Davis sat alongside May as she delivered her statement, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson seated some distance away.

Some media observers speculated this could be significant after calls on May to fire or demote Johnson.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 04:06:35|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday said that after a series of attacks on its staff, it has taken the decision to reduce its presence in Afghanistan.

"Following intensive discussions, together with the organization's headquarters in Geneva, the ICRC has reached the conclusion that there is no other choice but to drastically reduce its presence and activities in Afghanistan, in particular in the north of the country," the ICRC said in a statement.

"Since December 2016, the ICRC has been directly targeted in northern Afghanistan three times, including in what we considered one of our safest facilities, the rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif," it said.

Monica Zanarelli, head of delegation for the ICRC in Afghanistan, said that "these incidents have affected not only the ICRC in Afghanistan, but the organization as a whole."

According to the latest statement, the ICRC's offices of Maimana and Kunduz will be closed, while its sub-delegation in Mazar-i-Sharif will be seriously downsized. The rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif will remain open, while the ICRC assesses the ability of partners to take over the running of the centre.

In the rest of the country, activities are also being reviewed, it added.

"This is a difficult moment for the ICRC and the staff, after 30 years of continuous presence in the country, we are reducing our presence and operations, but let's be very clear, we are not leaving Afghanistan," said Zanarelli.

In December 2016, an ICRC staff member was abducted in Kunduz province, and released four weeks later. This incident was followed by the brutal killing of six staff and the abduction of two others in Jawzjan province.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 06:37:18|Editor: yan

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A statue of Christopher Columbus in western U.S. city of Los Angeles was covered up in paper and surrounded by fence on Monday as the city holds ceremony for Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day.

A white cover was placed over the sculpture of Christopher Columbus and the block it stands on, and a chain-link fence erected around it. The cover was removed later Monday morning, but the chain-link fence remained, CBSLA reported.

Los Angeles joined the growing list of U.S. cities this year that redesignated Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. According to a motion passed by the County Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles, starting no later than 2019, the second Monday in October will be observed as a holiday honoring Native Americans, also designates as Italian American Heritage Day.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell is planning to celebrate the new holiday with students at the Los Feliz Charter School for the Arts and at an event at the Fowler Museum of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

O' Farrell is a member of the Wyandotte Native American Tribe. He led the drive on the City Council to replace Columbus Day and successfully argued that the explorer's connection to brutality and slavery makes him unworthy of celebration, City News Service reported.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 07:09:37|Editor: Yamei

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ISTANBUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A superior court in Istanbul on Monday ordered a retrial of Enis Berberoglu, a lawmaker from the main opposition party imprisoned over espionage charges, annulling his 25-year-in-prison sentence, local media reported.

The decision came after Berberoglu's lawyers appealed and asked for a re-examination of his case, the Hurriyet daily said.

The court, however, ordered his continued detention and ruled out any possibility of probation, citing "the status of current evidence and his potential to escape," the daily said.

Berberoglu from the Republican People's Party was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail in June by an Istanbul court for providing a Turkish daily with video purporting to show Turkey's intelligence agency trucking weapons to Syria in early 2014.

The main opposition responded by launching a so-called Justice March, in which the party's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and thousands of followers marched on foot from Ankara, the national capital, to Istanbul, a route that stretches some 450 km.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 07:28:54|Editor: Song Lifang

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Pakistani security personnel inspect the attack site in southwest Pakistan's Quetta on Oct. 9, 2017. At least five people were killed and one was seriously wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire at their vehicle in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta on Monday morning, local Urdu TV channel Dunya reported. (Xinhua/Asad)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 07:37:28|Editor: Yamei

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. private spaceflight company SpaceX successfully delivered 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and landed its Falcon 9 on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:37 a.m. PDT (1237 GMT), carrying 10 satellites for Iridium Communications, as part of the company's Iridium Next constellation.

About seven and a half minutes later, the California-based company successfully landed the rocket's first stage on "Just Read the Instructions" droneship that was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

Cheers and applause broke out in the SpaceX control room as the launch was streamed live online.

The mission also marked SpaceX's 14th launch this year and the 17th successful landing of a Falcon 9 first stage. SpaceX has been reusing Falcon 9 first stages and is pursuing fully reusable rockets in an effort to lower the cost of spaceflight.

The Iridium Next satellites were deployed about 57 minutes after liftoff, with the entire process taking about 15 minutes.

"We're 10 for 10!" John Insprucker, Falcon 9's principal integration engineer, said in a webcast. "A clean sweep of Iridium Next satellite deployment in the desired final orbit."

"Iridium has acquired healthy signals from all 10 satellites," SpaceX then tweeted.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, then posted a photo on Instagram, showing a satellite was deploying. "The last of ten Iridium global communication satellites delivered to orbit several hundred miles above Earth, traveling at over 17,000 mph. They will circle the planet every 90 minutes," he said.

This is the third of eight scheduled SpaceX launches for Iridium's next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT, which brings the total number of satellites now in orbit up to 30. The first launch occurred in January, followed by the second on June 25.

The company announced early this month that it has begun live testing of the Iridium Certus service on operational Iridium NEXT satellites.

Beginning on Sept. 25, the testing and validation process has involved uploading and activating software to the Iridium NEXT satellites already in orbit to enable Iridium Certus. As of Oct. 4, several Iridium NEXT satellites in operation were already undergoing live on-orbit Iridium Certus testing.

Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. According to the company, it is on track to fully replace the world's largest commercial satellite network of low-earth orbit satellites in what will be one of the largest "tech upgrades" in history.

The satellite communications company has partnered with Thales Alenia Space for the manufacturing, assembly and testing of 81 Iridium NEXT satellites, 75 of which will be launched by SpaceX.

These 75 Iridium NEXT satellites are scheduled to be deployed by mid-2018. The process of replacing the satellites one-by-one in a constellation of this size and scale has never been completed before.

The next generation global satellite constellation will deploy a cross-linked Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) architecture, providing coverage over 100 percent of the earth's surface, including across oceans, airways and polar regions.

"It has been a great morning," said Insprucker.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 08:02:32|Editor: Song Lifang

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People attend Columbus Day parade on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in New York, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2017. Thousands of people participated in the celebration of the Italian American culture and heritage here on Monday. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

By Xinhua writers Yang Shilong, Li Ming

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Gloomy overcast skies and showers on Monday could not stop thousands of people, mostly Italian-Americans, to march up the iconic Fifth Avenue of New York City to celebrate Columbus Day, which marks the landing of the Italian-born explorer Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492.

Columbus Day, which became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937, comes this year amid a heated debate over statues dedicated to controversial historical figures in the wake of the violence sparked by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The New York Police Department began providing 24/7 body-guard services ahead of the holiday in hopes of preventing any more vandalism. A pair of Columbus statues in the Big Apple were recently vandalized, including one in Central Park, where a vandal daubed red paint on its hands and scrawled "Hate will not be tolerated" on its pedestal.

"We should not hero worship murderers. Columbus was a murderer. He was a racist. He was a colonizer and enslaved African people," Charles Barron, assembly member, representing 16th Assembly District of the New York State, told a gathering on Monday at the marble statue of Columbus in Columbus Circle at the southwest corner of Central Park.

Barron said he was there to introduce a bill in the state assembly to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day, following suit of more than 50 U.S. cities, along with a few universities, counties and states.

"We should tell the truth about American history, tell our children the true, stop feeding our children lies," the lawmaker said. "Christopher Columbus not only did not discover America. Many historians said he never set foot on American soil, and if he did, people were here already. You can't discover a place where people already exist."

Barron's words was echoed by Tyrik Washington, Co-chair of Operation Power, a local organization in New York.

"We are here in solidarity support. I am also here as a father that says "We don't glorify murderers, we don' t glorify rapist, we don't glorify people who steal land," Washington told Xinhua.

"I can't look to my son and say, here's Columbus Day you should be off from school. Here is the respectful and indigenous people that sacrifices so much that is paying the price even now everyday by living in reservation camps," he added.

However, many Italian Americans were outraged by the on-going movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

"They are stupid for being against Columbus, he didn't mean to come here and kill Indians, that's absurd (of what they are doing), " Christina, 73, an Italian decedent from Argentina, told Xinhua.

"Columbus Day is a celebration of Columbus and the Italian community here, its kind of become a political issue, I am so sad that they want to darken this celebration and Columbus'figure," she said. "It is so unfair for the Italian American community, I am against it."

Mark Gunble, 61, who has retired from postal services, also slammed the attacks on Columbus.

"I just want to say that you can not just picking someone, you could say the Dutch were here, they were involved in the slave trade, the English came," Gunble said. "Let's be honest, they utilize and took resources. The French, what they did with the Indians. Who do you want to blame? We could blame more. They all made mistakes."

"So to pick someone out like that, to say 'He's the guy' that doesn't solve any problems. I think it just exacerbates problems, just fuels the fire to give people who were wanted demonstrate a reason to demonstrate," he said. "What it is (actually is) that certain people, certain organizations have an agenda, either personally or politically or financially and they get people picking sides."

"It is a mistake for people to play the 'identity' card. Tearing down things others see as important is divisive. But 'white' people really have a very narrow and arrogant view of what 'America' means, " Michael C. Munger, Director of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program, department of Political Science at Duke University, told Xinhua via email on Monday.

Since the deadly events of Charlottesville, calls to remove or destroy Confederate statues and other controversial historical figures in the U.S. have only gotten louder. In August, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would be forming a committee to consider the future of the Columbus's statue and others similar to it.

Some experts have expressed concern over the removal of these historical monuments.

"When a nation tears down its statues, it's toppling more than brass and marble. It is in a way toppling itself. When you tear down statues, you tear down avenues of communication, between generations," wrote Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal following the Charlottesville violence in August.

In a related development, two Columbus statues were vandalized in the U.S. state of Connecticut over the weekend, according to local new reports.

The two statues were painted in red in Middletown and New Havel, and have since been cleaned up, and local police said they will step patrol around the statues.

On Columbus day Monday, protests are expected in Southington, Connecticut, as advocate groups said the festival celebrated the pain European colonialists inflicted on indigenous people in America.

"We will have a peaceful, silent protest," advocate Erica Byrne of Southington said.

Under a facebook post of the town announcing a ceremony celebrating Columbus day, most of the 150 comments opposed to any public honor of Columbus.

While in Chicago, the city directed its big trucks to block the major intersections along the State Street, a populous shopping street in downtown Chicago, as a safety precaution for the Columbus Day Parade held Monday.

The parade, consisting of more than 150 bands, floats and other marching units, marks its 65th anniversary in Chicago.

Italian related organizations have made up nearly half of the marching units: the Italian American Club, Chicago Italian American Charitable Organization, and Italian restaurants in Chicago.

(Liu Yang and Xu Jing also contribute to the news article)
People attend Columbus Day parade on Manhartan's Fifth Avenue in New York, the United States, Oct. 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

By Xinhua writers Yang Shilong, Li Ming

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Gloomy overcast skies and showers on Monday could not stop thousands of people, mostly Italian-Americans, to march up the iconic Fifth Avenue of New York City to celebrate Columbus Day, which marks the landing of the Italian-born explorer Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492.

Columbus Day, which became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937, comes this year amid a heated debate over statues dedicated to controversial historical figures in the wake of the violence sparked by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The New York Police Department began providing 24/7 body-guard services ahead of the holiday in hopes of preventing any more vandalism. A pair of Columbus statues in the Big Apple were recently vandalized, including one in Central Park, where a vandal daubed red paint on its hands and scrawled "Hate will not be tolerated" on its pedestal.

"We should not hero worship murderers. Columbus was a murderer. He was a racist. He was a colonizer and enslaved African people," Charles Barron, assembly member, representing 16th Assembly District of the New York State, told a gathering on Monday at the marble statue of Columbus in Columbus Circle at the southwest corner of Central Park.

Barron said he was there to introduce a bill in the state assembly to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day, following suit of more than 50 U.S. cities, along with a few universities, counties and states.

"We should tell the truth about American history, tell our children the true, stop feeding our children lies," the lawmaker said. "Christopher Columbus not only did not discover America. Many historians said he never set foot on American soil, and if he did, people were here already. You can't discover a place where people already exist."

Barron's words was echoed by Tyrik Washington, Co-chair of Operation Power, a local organization in New York.

"We are here in solidarity support. I am also here as a father that says "We don't glorify murderers, we don' t glorify rapist, we don't glorify people who steal land," Washington told Xinhua.

"I can't look to my son and say, here's Columbus Day you should be off from school. Here is the respectful and indigenous people that sacrifices so much that is paying the price even now everyday by living in reservation camps," he added.

However, many Italian Americans were outraged by the on-going movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

"They are stupid for being against Columbus, he didn't mean to come here and kill Indians, that's absurd (of what they are doing), " Christina, 73, an Italian decedent from Argentina, told Xinhua.

"Columbus Day is a celebration of Columbus and the Italian community here, its kind of become a political issue, I am so sad that they want to darken this celebration and Columbus'figure," she said. "It is so unfair for the Italian American community, I am against it."

Mark Gunble, 61, who has retired from postal services, also slammed the attacks on Columbus.

"I just want to say that you can not just picking someone, you could say the Dutch were here, they were involved in the slave trade, the English came," Gunble said. "Let's be honest, they utilize and took resources. The French, what they did with the Indians. Who do you want to blame? We could blame more. They all made mistakes."

"So to pick someone out like that, to say 'He's the guy' that doesn't solve any problems. I think it just exacerbates problems, just fuels the fire to give people who were wanted demonstrate a reason to demonstrate," he said. "What it is (actually is) that certain people, certain organizations have an agenda, either personally or politically or financially and they get people picking sides."

"It is a mistake for people to play the 'identity' card. Tearing down things others see as important is divisive. But 'white' people really have a very narrow and arrogant view of what 'America' means, " Michael C. Munger, Director of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program, department of Political Science at Duke University, told Xinhua via email on Monday.

Since the deadly events of Charlottesville, calls to remove or destroy Confederate statues and other controversial historical figures in the U.S. have only gotten louder. In August, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would be forming a committee to consider the future of the Columbus's statue and others similar to it.

Some experts have expressed concern over the removal of these historical monuments.

"When a nation tears down its statues, it's toppling more than brass and marble. It is in a way toppling itself. When you tear down statues, you tear down avenues of communication, between generations," wrote Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal following the Charlottesville violence in August.

In a related development, two Columbus statues were vandalized in the U.S. state of Connecticut over the weekend, according to local new reports.

The two statues were painted in red in Middletown and New Havel, and have since been cleaned up, and local police said they will step patrol around the statues.

On Columbus day Monday, protests are expected in Southington, Connecticut, as advocate groups said the festival celebrated the pain European colonialists inflicted on indigenous people in America.

"We will have a peaceful, silent protest," advocate Erica Byrne of Southington said.

Under a facebook post of the town announcing a ceremony celebrating Columbus day, most of the 150 comments opposed to any public honor of Columbus.

While in Chicago, the city directed its big trucks to block the major intersections along the State Street, a populous shopping street in downtown Chicago, as a safety precaution for the Columbus Day Parade held Monday.

The parade, consisting of more than 150 bands, floats and other marching units, marks its 65th anniversary in Chicago.

Italian related organizations have made up nearly half of the marching units: the Italian American Club, Chicago Italian American Charitable Organization, and Italian restaurants in Chicago. (Xinhua reporters Liu Yang in Washington D.C. and Xu Jing in Chicago also contribute to the story)
People carry the body of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employee in Jawzjan province, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2017. (Xinhua/Mohammad Jan Aria)

KABUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reduced its presence in militancy-hit Afghanistan following a series of attacks on its staff, the organization announced Monday.

"Following intensive discussions, together with the organization's headquarters in Geneva, the ICRC has reached the conclusion that there is no other choice but to drastically reduce its presence and activities in Afghanistan, in particular in the north of the country," the ICRC said in a statement issued here.

The decision came one month after a female Spanish physiotherapist was shot dead by a patient in a ICRC hospital in northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

"Since December 2016, the ICRC has been directly targeted in northern Afghanistan three times, including in what we considered one of our safest facilities, the rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif. These incidents have affected not only the ICRC inAfghanistan, but the organization as a whole," Monica Zanarelli, head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, was quoted in the statement as saying.

Zanarelli said that "this is a difficult moment for the ICRC and the staff.

"After 30 years of continuous presence in the country, we are reducing our presence and operations. But let's be very clear, we are not leaving Afghanistan. Limiting our staff's exposure to risks is our focus, all the while assisting the people affected by the conflict the best way we can," she said.

More than 1,800 staff have been working for the ICRC's operation in Afghanistan, which is one of the biggest of its kind in the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 09:42:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

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By Xinhua writers Liu Wei, An Yang and Qu Ting

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Beijing-born photographer Lyu Yang is fascinated by everything about the Forbidden City. Over the past decade, the 35-year-old has taken pictures of this century-old complex every week.

Lyu often volunteers to tell stories about the museum's history and cultural objects to foreign visitors. His five-year-old daughter also takes a great interest in the stories and is fond of the history-themed activites at the Palace Museum.

In recent years, the museum has been revitalized and gained fame online.

"China's economic growth has brought better lives for Chinese people, yet modern life has alienated many from traditional culture. What the museum has done is to creatively attract people to get closer to traditional treasures," said Lyu.

LIVENING UP THE ANCIENT PALACE

Curator Shan Jixiang is the man behind the scenes. Since 2012, the self-proclaimed "gatekeeper of the museum" launched a comprehensive field research project on the museum.

Over the course of five months, he stepped foot in every one of the 9,000-plus rooms, wearing out 20 pairs of cloth shoes. The former director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage could even recall the exact number of cultural relics housed in the museum.

As the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world, the museum houses more Chinese treasures and is among the most visited attractions in the world.

"But do these facts matter?" Shan said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "If 70 percent of its space is not open to the public and 99 percent of its relics are not showcased to patrons -- or if visitors don't look at any exhibitions but just walk down the central axis from the front entrance to the back gate -- it is not a museum that people can enjoy from the bottom of their hearts."

He said changes must be made if the Palace Museum cannot reach out to the public and affect their real lives.

In five years, the museum has increased the proportion of the area of the Forbidden City open to the public to 76 percent. The 2,800-square-meter Yan Chi building of Wu Gate used to be a storehouse, but now has been renovated to be an exhibition hall to showcase precious historical relics from other countries.

This year, the first exhibition of Afghan cultural relics in China, exhibitions featuring French jewelry from the 18th century, and cultural relics from the Maritime Silk Road have all been displayed.

"We have built 20 viewing platforms that enable visitors to ascend to the top to take a close look at the structure of ancient buildings and the delicate paintings on them. We have even opened the walls to the public so tourists can look out over the Forbidden City and watch a 25-minute VR film to learn how the Palace Museum was built from thousands of pieces of wood and without even one single nail," said Shan.

In 2016, "Masters in the Forbidden City," a documentary series that profiled the work of museum conservators became a surprise online hit.

"It takes a seasoned conservator a whole year to restore just three to four paintings. This spirit of craftsmanship is in our blood," said Lyu, who has watched the documentary three times.

CHINA SHARES ITS EXPERIENCE

Shan, 63, is proud of what the museum has done. After visiting many countries with ancient civilizations, he came to realize that all cultural traditions, no matter in China or elsewhere, are passed down through generations and worthy of respect.X "Every single person in the world is responsible for protecting and preserving cultural relics and passing on cultural diversity. However, many glorious civilizations have faced various threats," said Shan.

In 2015, Shan went to Afghanistan. He was asked to put on a bullet-proof jacket once he boarded the airplane. When he arrived, he wasn't able to visit local historical relics because of social unrest.

That's when he got the idea to build a dialogue platform for countries with ancient civilizations to work to preserve them despite natural disasters, war, terrorism, illegal sales and improper protection methods.

With the support of the Chinese government, the first and second Taihe Forum were held in Beijing for two consecutive years starting in 2016. The theme of this year's forum was "Echoes of the Ancient Civilizations" and delegates from 21 countries and three international organizations attended the forum in September and shared views on addressing challenges and exploring effective conservation practices.

"ISIS has bombarded cultural relics in Iraq -- even Al-Hadba' Minaret and Al-Nouri Mosque. Local culture and cultural diversity in Iraq are in great jeopardy," said Fryad Rwandzi, Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.

Shan said at the forum that the museum has sponsored a Taihe Forum Fund to provide academic and technical support for countries facing troubles, such as Iraq and Syria due to war and terrorist attacks and Mexico following earthquakes.

Olga Orive, an archeologist and member of the Executive Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS, Mexico), expressed her gratitude and was impressed by the restoration skills of the museum.

"Similarly, we have a 'relics hospital' in Mexico, but our techniques, equipment and specialized conservators are in short supply. Mexico and China should collaborate more in such fields," said Orive.

PRESERVATION URGENTLY NEEDED

"The Palace Museum has built a communication mechanism for all countries. Three decades ago, you could hardly imagine conservation experts talking about how to combat threats together," said Giora Solar, Israeli architect and urban planner and a member of ICOMOS. "Such exchanges are quite necessary in a globalized era."

In Solar's opinion, it's dangerous to try to transform old, diverse cultures into a single culture.

"Conflicts between different civilizations are inevitable, but that shows the various unique nations and cultural features," said Solar.

Maintaining cultural diversity under globalization faces growing challenges, and countries have tried to find their own methods for preservation.

Papantla Indigenous Art Center in Mexico is one such attempt. The center consists of 16 "house-schools," each specializing in one of the arts of the Totonac people, including ceramics, textiles, painting, the art of healing, and traditional dance.

In 2012, the center was added to the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices for intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Orive said the new media methods adopted by the Palace Museum are innovative and worth learning from.

"The forum has built a platform across borders, countries, religions and even races," said Solar, pointing at his forum name card. "You see, there is no nationality. We are here for the sake of cultural inheritance."

Solar said he was glad to see he was treated as a professional instead of an official.

On the eve of this year's Taihe forum, traditional Chinese opera and folk music were heard in the Forbidden City's Changyin Pavilion. The former royal theater had been renovated for the first time in over a century.

"This is a way to keep traditional cultures alive. Audiences will hear the echoes of history from the stage," said Solar.

When Lyu heard Changyin Pavilion will soon to open to the public and host traditional Peking Opera performances, he was excited.

"I can't wait to watch the performance and record this historical moment with my camera," said Lyu.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 09:57:49|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BANGKOK, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of Chinese engineers have passed the geology and theoretical tests as required by the first phase of the Thailand-China railway project.

It was announced Monday by the Council of Thai Engineers and the Council of Thai Architects in Bangkok. There are 77 Chinese engineers in the first batch.

The criteria set to test the Chinese engineers include not only their engineering qualifications, but also knowledge of Thai geography and how to deal with disastrous floods such as the 2011 Thailand floods, according to Kamol Takkabutr, chairman of The Council of Thai Engineers.

Meanwhile, Kamol said training courses will be held for the following batches of Chinese engineers. After the engineering theoretical tests, the Chinese engineers will have to sit for architectural tests.

Thailand will start the construction of the first phase of the Thailand-China railway project in October, or no later than November, once the environmental impact assessment report is approved, said Thai Minister of Transport Arkhom Termpittayapaisith in an interview with Xinhua last month.

Thailand and China signed two contracts, namely the design contract and the supervision contract, for the 253-km first phase project earlier September, which will link Thai capital Bangkok and the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 09:57:51|Editor: Jiaxin

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YANGON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government has launched an action plan on disaster risk reduction-2017 in an effort to boost disaster risk prevention investment in the country.

Second Vice President U Henry Van Thio Monday told a launching ceremony of the action plan that the plan will cover natural hazards as well as man-made accidents, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.

He stressed the need to mobilize both domestic and international resources to achieve its successful implementation of the action plan, the draft of which began in October 2016.

Myanmar experiences average annual loss of 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) due to natural disaster and over the past three years.

The country saw changes in disaster risk landscape in which small and medium scale disaster and climate-induced disaster such as flood and cyclone are on a rise.

The country's changes in rainfall pattern, sea level rise and temperature increase were blamed for exacerbating the occurrence of disasters in Myanmar.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 10:12:56|Editor: Jiaxin

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CARACAS, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday hailed China's launch of the South American nation's satellite as a "historic event" key to furthering national independence.

The satellite was launched into orbit a little past midnight Caracas time Monday, from China's satellite launch center in Jiuquan, in northwest Gansu province.

Maduro celebrated the development as a milestone for national independence.

"It is a historic event, unimaginable. This is technological independence that we are gaining ... with our brothers from the People's Republic of China," said Maduro.

The satellite, named in honor of Venezuelan-born independence hero Antonio Jose de Sucre, is the third satellite the two countries have jointly launched into space.

Vice President Tareck El Aissami said the Sucre will allow Venezuela to optimize its ground observation systems and make strides in agriculture, mining and oil exploration, among other things.

Weighing nearly a ton, the 1.6-meter-long and 2.1-meter-tall satellite will orbit in sync with the sun at an approximate distance of 645 km from the earth, providing high resolution images that can be used to monitor and assess resources, as well as natural disasters and urban development.

"The launching of this technological instrument is possible thanks to the close ties of cooperation and integration" between China and Venezuela, the Ministry of Communication and Information said in a statement.

Venezuela's previous two satellites, the Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Miranda, were launched in cooperation with China in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 10:38:01|Editor: Xiang Bo

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MACAO, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Macao welcomed a total of 920,631 visitors during the eight-day Golden Week holiday period, and the total visitor arrivals from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7 registered a year-on-year rise of 11.6 percent, the special administrative region's tourism office said on Tuesday.

Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said more Chinese mainland residents opted for travel during the Golden Week this year, with both the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival falling on this eight-day holiday (Oct. 1-8).

According to the preliminary statistical figures (non-resident employees and students have been excluded from visitor arrivals) provided by the Public Security Police Force, Macao welcomed a total of 920,631 visitors. In comparison with the corresponding seven-day period of last year, total visitor arrivals marked a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent.

Specifically, Macao welcomed a total of 696,636 visitors from Chinese mainland throughout the eight-day Golden Week, which constitutes 75.7 percent of total visitor arrivals to Macao.

MGTO also mentioned that before and during the Golden Week, it had actively prepared for the arrival of the peak period by carrying out a series of tasks including operation of tourism notification system.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 11:08:08|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has been all over the country on inspection tours.

Five years ago, Xi chose Shenzhen as his first stop of inspection, outside the capital, after being elected as the Party's top leader. Shenzhen is in Guangdong Province, China's reform and opening up frontier.

Shortly after returning from Guangdong, he visited impoverished villages in Hebei Province, near Beijing, to inspect poverty alleviation efforts.

These moves signalled the focus of Xi's governance, which has highlighted fulfilling the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and realizing the goals set for the centenaries of the CPC in 2020 and the People's Republic of China in 2049.

Since 2012, Xi has completed 50 inspection tours across the country, totaling 151 days.

REFORM & INNOVATION

Reform and innovation have always been in Xi's thoughts.

In 2016, Xi visited Xiaogang, Anhui Province, and walked into the courtyard where in 1978, 18 farmers signed a secret agreement to divide communally owned farmland into family plots and ignited the flame for China's rural land reform. Xi chose here to say that reform is the only way out and that the word should be repeatedly injected with new meaning.

During his visits to the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Tianjin Binhai New Area, Wuhan Countryside Comprehensive Property Exchange and others, Xi put comprehensively deepened reform on top of his agenda.

In the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong and Hubei, he stressed the need for bold exploration and advancing reform, and explicitly stated balance should be properly dealt with in the process, including that between boldness and steadiness, and reform and stability.

In 2014, Xi went to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China and boarded the sample of C919, China's self-developed large passenger aircraft. He encouraged engineers to give themselves progressive goals and strive to get China's own passenger aircraft in the air. Only three years later, C919 completed its maiden flight.

While inspecting research institutes, universities, hi-tech companies and new development zones, he has always stressed the need for innovation and the importance of commercializing research results.

POVERTY RELIEF

In the past five years, Xi visited a number of impoverished places and households. From the Liupanshan Mountain region in west China to the Dabieshan Mountain region in the east, Xi went to all the poorest areas.

He visited homes of impoverished workers and villagers in Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Ningxia, amongst others, to see with his own eyes the life of people in poverty in order to work out solutions for improvement.

Xi said it was heart wrenching to see people live in such difficulties.

He also presided over a series of symposiums across the country, bringing what he had seen and heard during the inspection trips to discuss with participants.

China has set the baseline task to lift all people out of poverty by 2020 and build an "all-round well-off society," or a moderately prosperous society, in all respects.

Since China started the reform and opening-up drive more than 30 years ago, over 700 million have shaken off poverty since, accounting for over 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

MAJOR POLICY PLANNING

On February 23, 2017, Xi visited Anxin County of Hebei Province to learn about local population density, geological and hydrological conditions.

Little over a month later on April 1, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China's cabinet, announced to set up a national-level new area there.

The inspection tours of Xi often come with the planning and implementation of major policies but he also listens to public opinions on these policies.

When documents were being compiled for the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee two years ago, Xi visited the east, middle, west, and northeast parts of the country to have better ideas on planning the economic and social development during the 13th five-year plan.

He also presided over symposiums in the provinces of Zhejiang, Guizhou and Jilin to hear from leaders in 18 provinces on development during the 13th five-year plan.

As the 19th CPC National Congress is to be held later this month, when Xi visited Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in April, he talked with grassroots-level delegates to the congress about their advice and expectations for the event.

He stressed that preparations for the congress must take in wisdom from people of all ethnicities in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 11:08:09|Editor: Jiaxin

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's arms procurement agency said Tuesday that it had entered the completion phase to develop the combat system of its indigenous submarines.

The project to develop the combat system for 3,000-ton Chang Bogo III submarines recently received an assessment from the defense ministry that it is provisionally suitable for combat, according to the press release from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The combat system, called the "brain" of submarines, refers to an operating system integrating and processing data relevant to combat.

The final approval would be granted after test-operating the combat system equipped in submarines.

South Korea plans to develop its homegrown 3,000-ton submarines under the Chang Bogo III project and to build a total of nine such subs.

The first batch was slated to be launched next year. The new 3,000-ton submarines would replace nine aging 1,200-ton subs in stages.

The sonar system under the country's homegrown submarine development project was already assessed in June by the defense ministry to be suitable for use, according to the DAPA.

The sonar system, dubbed the "ears" of submarines, is a core element of the 3,000-ton indigenous subs along with the combat system.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 11:23:15|Editor: Jiaxin

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ALGIERS, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev began an official visit to Algeria on Monday evening at the invitation of his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Ouyahia.

Medvedev was received at the Houari Boumediene International Airport in Algiers by Ouyahia and several members of the government.

According to a statement issued by the Algerian prime minister on Monday, Medvedev's visit aims to deepen and strengthen the bilateral strategic dialogue between Algeria and Russia and their multi-faceted cooperation based on the strategic partnership agreement signed between the two countries in 2001.

The visit comes after the eighth session of the joint committee of cooperation between the two countries in Algeria on Sept. 20.

Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel said on Sunday that the visit of Medvedev to Algeria would open "a new chapter in the distinguished relations linking the two countries."

He underlined the willingness to "widen existing bilateral cooperation in the political and security fields to other fields, especially in agriculture, trade, energy and so on."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 11:38:17|Editor: Yamei

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Photo of Richard H. Thaler is displayed on the screen during the press conference to announce the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 9, 2017. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, or officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was awarded to Richard H. Thaler "for his contributions to behavioural economics," announced the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences here on Monday. (Xinhua/Shi Tiansheng)

CHICAGO, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- When economics professor Richard Thaler was waken up by a phone call at 4 a.m. on Monday, he felt excited rather than being annoyed -- The phone number was from Sweden.

"I had a pretty good idea what that might be," he told a press conference on Monday at the Booth School of Business in the University of Chicago.

He has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioral economics, a relatively new field that bridges the gap between economics and psychology. The award was especially meaningful because behavioral economics was "really out in the wilderness 40 years ago," as Thaler himself put it.

Described as "the father of behavioral economics," Thaler wrote Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics and Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. Both books became best-sellers.

In the latter, he explained that being human, people are susceptible to various biases that can lead to mistakes, which make you poorer and less healthy.

With co-author Cass Sunstein from Harvard Law School, Thaler pointed out in the book that some choice environments can be designed to make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.

Putting healthier foods on a higher shelf, for example, can increase sales. No matter whether customers do or don't know obesity problems, they can easily choose the healthier foods that are in their eye line.

Similarly, schools can nudge boys and girls toward healthy food choices by putting fruit at eye level in the cafeteria.

The nudge theory has prompted the British government to establish a Behavioral Insight Team, dubbed "Nudge Unit," in 2010 to create policies that nudge British citizens to make better choices, thus to save the state budget in the long-run. "If you want to get people to do something, make it easy. Remove the obstacles," Thaler explained.

Chicago Booth Dean Madhav Rajan spoke highly of Thaler's contribution to the business school.

Based on the nudge theory, a combination of psychology and economics, Thaler has not only produced knowledge with enduring impact to influence and educate current and future leaders, but also vastly expanded the school's footprint and stature in this field, said Rajan.

Before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1995, Thaler taught at the University of Rochester and Cornell University. He served as the president of American Economic Association in 2015.

Thaler is the 90th scholar associated with the University of Chicago to win a Nobel Prize.

However, his easy-to-understand scenarios have not been easily accepted by some of his fellow economists.

So he has been making attempts to make his theory appealing to young scholars, "whose minds aren't already made up," he told a packed audience comprising members of the press, students and faculty.

"Many great, young economists have embraced behavioral economics," he added.

A humorous Thaler also quipped that after he won the Nobel Prize, "this is the first time that the (university) president and dean had a conversation about me where the phrase 'pain in the ass' was not mentioned."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 11:53:19|Editor: Yamei

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CANBERRA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Seven members of Australian Parliament failing to find out and disclose that they are dual citizens are facing the High Court in Canberra on Tuesday in a hearing set to determine their political future.

After months of speculation surrounding the political future of seven members of Parliament including Deputy Prime Minster Barnaby Joyce, the High Court will, over the next three days, deliberate as to whether or not they may continue their careers in the federal Parliament.

Under Section 44 of the Australian constitution, any person who is "under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power" may not run for a federal seat.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was the first to find out that he was a dual-citizen of both Australia and New Zealand and announced his resignation from the Senate on July 14 this year.

Not long after, fellow Greens Senator Larissa Waters also resigned due to being a dual Australian-Canadian citizen.

The announcement sent shockwaves through Canberra at the time, with many members of Parliament and Senators scrambling to find out if they were unwitting dual-citizens, something Ludlam and Waters both claimed at the time.

The wash-up proved costly for the governing Malcolm Turnbull government which holds just a one-seat majority in the Lower House. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was also found to be a dual-citizen of Australia and News Zealand. If the High Court finds him guilty, he may be booted from Parliament, forcing a by-election in his seat of New England.

Also under investigation are two of the government's Senate seats, with Nationals Senators Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan also declaring they were in breach of Section 44.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon and One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts are also facing the hearing, though Xenophon has already declared he was quitting federal politics to contest in the state of South Australia.

The High Court will hear a similar defence for all contesting their potential disqualification, and that is that they were unaware that they were dual-citizens.

The hearing begins on Tuesday and will last three days before a verdict is handed down.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 12:23:26|Editor: Yamei

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CANBERRA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A swag of leading Australian politicians on Tuesday criticized former Prime Minister Tony Abbott after he said that global warming was "probably doing more good than harm."

Speaking at the Global Warming Policy Forum in Britain overnight, Abbott, now a backbencher for the governing Liberal government, said that "far more people" die during cold snaps, and that a "gradual lift" in temperatures might benefit the world, something which drew the ire of his Parliamentary colleagues back in Canberra.

Speaking on Sky News television on Tuesday, deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek described Abbott's speech as "nuts."

"This is just weird stuff from the former Prime Minister. I've been to Kiribati where people's homes - which used to be on dry land - are now in the ocean," Plibersek said.

"We know that climate change is having an effect in Australia as well, and to be denying it in this way is so intellectually inconsistent. It's just nuts."

Meanwhile Greens Senator and national spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Peter Whish-Wilson, said that there was far too much evidence pointing to the contrary for Abbott to make such uninformed comments, declaring that the former PM's speech "demeans" the work of climate scientists.

"Almost half the Great Barrier Reef is dead from mass coral bleaching, summer after summer we have unprecedented heatwaves and bushfire risk," Whish-Wilson said on Tuesday.

"Australia has out-and-out the best climate scientists in the world and the widespread publication of Tony Abbott's (opinions) ... demeans the work of climate scientists and demeans us all."

Speaking in London overnight, Abbott also said it was a myth that natural disasters were doing more damage in modern times, simply saying that there was "more to destroy" in the 21st century.

"In Australia the floods are not bigger, the bushfires are not worse, the droughts are not deeper or longer, and the cyclones are not more severe than they were in the 1800s," Abbott said at the forum.

"Sometimes, they do more damage but that's because there's more to destroy, not because their intensity has increased.

"(And) in most countries, far more people die in cold snaps than in heatwaves, so a gradual lift in global temperatures, especially if it's accompanied by more prosperity and more capacity to adapt to change, might even be beneficial."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 12:43:28|Editor: Liu

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by Xinhua writer Gao Shan

DENVER, the United States, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Staring at a large thangka of Potala Palace hanging on the wall of the north stairwell of the Boulder Municipal Building in Colorado State, Dr. Bill Warnock paused for a long moment before talking, plainly overcome by his thoughts.

"This thangka was given to the people of Boulder in 1987 by the mayor of Lhasa," said the president of Boulder-Lhasa Sister City Project (BLSCP).

Thangka, meaning "cloth painting," is a traditional Tibetan painting art form.

Boulder, Tibet's only sister city in the United States, is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the State of Colorado in the west, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Denver.

"During my first trip in 1988, I was impressed by the friendliness, compassion, and appreciation shown by the Tibetan people. This motivated me to develop and implement many exchanges, particularly to help Tibetans in rural Lhasa Prefecture in health care and solar electricity," Warnock told Xinhua.

Established in 1986, the BLSCP has contributed to the development of the city of Lhasa and some other Tibetan areas in China through exchanges in health care, education, environmental protection, as well as culture and art.

As an American who has visited Tibetan areas in China 22 times since 1988, including 17 journeys to Lhasa and five journeys to Tibetan areas in the western part of China's Sichuan Province, Warnock has witnessed changes in Lhasa over the years.

"Lhasa and the surrounding rural areas of Lhasa Prefecture have become much more developed over the past thirty years," said Warnock, adding that people there were "very friendly, compassionate, and appreciative toward me and others."

Showing an old picture taken by himself of the Obstetrics-Gynecology ward at Lhasa City Hospital in 1990, Warnock said that he was surprised by the hospital's change.

"It was really a very old building," he pointed to the bungalow in the picture, joking that it could be built one hundred years ago.

"Having led so many health care delegations to Lhasa, I have seen a tremendous change in Lhasa City Hospital. During our exchanges in 1991 to 1993, the hospital staff performed very well, but they were rather limited by their facilities. When we conducted a training exchange there in 2010, the hospital had been completely re-built with modern facilities through funding from China's eastern province of Jiangsu," said Warnock.

The BLSCP has conducted eight significant projects in Lhasa and one recent project in the Tibetan area of western Sichuan Province. Most of the funding came from residents in Boulder and elsewhere in the United States, as well as people in foreign countries.

"We advertise our fundraising drives through our website, e-mails, texts, phone calls, and occasional fundraiser dinners. A significant fraction of support has come from in-kind contributions and through partnership with other organizations," Warnock said, emphasizing that the BLSCP gets good support from the local community and the city council.

Former Boulder Mayor Shaun McGrath recalled his visit with a Boulder delegation to Lhasa following an invitation from the Lhasa mayor in 2008 "a wonderful experience."

"It's a very beautiful city with a wonderful deep culture of Buddhism. It's a nice mix of both the old and the new," said McGrath, noting that sister-city partnerships are meant to build close relationships across nations at the city level.

He praised the BLSCP under the leadership of Warnock as a group that is active and continues to further relationships between sister cities on a strong base.

Lisa Morzel, a member of the Boulder City Council, said: "Dr. Warnock had done incredible service."

"We are proud to be sister city of Lhasa and we are very happy to learn more about the people of Lhasa and the culture of Lhasa. We hope this will lead to more cultural exchanges," she told Xinhua.

Warnock will soon set off his 23rd trip to Tibetan areas in China for the upcoming Student Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Project in Sichuan Province later this month. The BLSCP has raised some 30,000 U.S. dollars for the project thanks to donations from 79 different individuals, foundations, and corporations.

To avoid future suffering, 45 Tibetan primary school students who have been tested positive for cysticercosis, a dangerous and highly prevalent parasitic disease, will travel to the city of Xichang in Sichuan Province to undergo MRI brain scans with BLSCP funding assistance.

"I keep working every year to help Tibetan people improve their medical condition. I have paid for most of my trips to China from my own funds because it's hard enough to raise funds for the health care," said Warnock.

"I am very excited about this project. I've not met any of the 45 kids, but I think it's going to be a big chance for them to have a successful future," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:18:34|Editor: Song Lifang

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Jerry Brown Monday evening issued an emergency order for five more counties affected by wildfires erupted Sunday night or Monday morning.

The proclamation released by the Governor' s office said Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties were kept in state of emergency due to the effects of multiple wildfires, including the Cherokee, LaPorte, Sulphur, Potter, Cascade, Lobo and Canyon Fires.

The Governor also requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support the state and local response to fires burning in Northern California, following an emergency proclamation issued earlier Monday for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

In a five-page-letter sent to President Donald Trump, Brown said: "Thousands of firefighters were deployed to fight the fires, including California National Guard members."

Due to an extreme wind, the wildfires can not be controlled immediately, and "in last 24 hours, more than 18 wildfires...have collectively burned more than 80,000 acres (323.7 square km)," he said.

He said the Golden State has been suffering a terrible fire season, which cost the government a huge amount of resources.

"I have proclaimed state of emergencies for ten fire events throughout the state since July 2017. Additionally, there have been over 7,484 fire starts in California since January 2017," the letter read.

More than 20 wildfires, scorching California from north to south, have killed 10, serious injured at least two, destroyed at least 1,500 structures and forced 20,000 people to be evacuated.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:23:35|Editor: Song Lifang

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HOUSTON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Texas Tech University police officer was shot and killed Monday night, and the suspect was arrested later.

An officer was shot in the head, said Chris Cook, managing director of communications and marketing office in the university's public media, in a statement.

The police found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia during a student welfare check Monday evening.

The suspect was brought to the police station for standard debriefing. During the process, the suspect pulled a gun and shot at the police officer in the head.

Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, about 840 km northwest of Houston.

Established in 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, the university shares its campus with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, making it the only campus in Texas to house an undergraduate university, a law school, and a medical school.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:28:37|Editor: Song Lifang

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday strongly condemned a series of attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which killed two peacekeepers and injured 18 others.

The secretary-general offered his condolences to the friends and families of the deceased Tanzanian soldiers, as well as to the Tanzanian government. He wished a speedy recovery to those injured, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a statement.

The secretary-general urged the DRC authorities to swiftly investigate these incidents in the North Kivu province and bring the perpetrators to justice.

He once again called on all armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons and noted that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, said the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:28:38|Editor: Song Lifang

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korean activists have floated propaganda leaflets against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) early on Tuesday to denounce Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocations.

The Fighters for a Free North Korea, a civic group composed mostly of DPRK defectors, said in an e-mailed statement that its eight members sent some 300,000 leaflets toward the DPRK from the western city of Gimpo near the border with the DPRK at about 6: 00 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Monday).

The anti-DPRK fliers were floated by large balloons to condemn the DPRK's nuclear and missile provocations.

Also contained in the giant balloons were 2,000 one-U.S. dollar bills, aimed to encourage DPRK people to pick up the fliers, as well as 300 booklets denouncing the DPRK's missile provocations, according to the statement.

Pyongyang had vehemently opposed the leafleting as it hurts inter-Korean relations, but Seoul had claimed it had no right to block the moves by civic group activists.

It marked the first time that such activists dispersed anti-DPRK leaflets under the new South Korean government of President Moon Jae-in who took office in May.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:28:38|Editor: Song Lifang

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TOKYO, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Official campaigning began Tuesday for Japan's Oct. 22 Lower House election, with the contest widely thought to be a three horse race between the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and newly-formed opposition parties including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's Party of Hope.

Party candidates and independents are vying for the 465 seats in the lower house of Japan's bicameral parliament, and 289 lawmakers will be elected directly and 176 will be elected through a system of proportional representation.

Abe has said if his ruling coalition does not achieve the minimum majority needed in the election at a combined 233 seats, then he will step down as prime minister.

As with previous elections, the prime minister began his own campaign in Fukushima Prefecture, in a bid to draw attention to the government's recovery work since the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, which ravaged the region.

"Recovery is moving forward without a doubt," Abe was quoted as telling a crowd in the northeastern prefecture.

Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) along with its coalition Komeito ally are facing stiff opposition from the newly-formed Party of Hope headed by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.

Koike has said her party plans to wrestle power away from the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and has outlined in the election platform its pledges that distinguish it from the ruling bloc.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 13:43:42|Editor: Yamei

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Three people died on Monday when a small plane crashed in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, a southeastern city of Brazil.

Local authorities said the small plane, a single-engine model manufactured by U.S. company Beech Aircraft, crashed into the backyard of a house near the Sao Jose do Rio Preto airport, where the plane would have landed.

All three occupants of the plane died at the site. There were people in the house, but no one was injured; there were no casualties on the ground.

The plane was flying from the small town of Tangara da Serra in midwestern Brazil to Sao Jose do Rio Preto, about 1.1 km away. It crashed into a residential area near the landing site, about three blocks from the airport.

The plane was owned by Hotel Sakr and was being piloted by the proprietor, William Rayes Sakr, aged 59. The other victims were identified as 25-year-old Caique Caciolato and 33-year-old Allyson Lima dos Santos Verciano.

Aviation authorities said they will find out the cause of the crash. Experts from Cenipa, Brazil's plane crash prevention and investigation agency, are at the site to conduct investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 14:03:48|Editor: Yamei

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SUVA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Fiji celebrated on Tuesday its Independence Day in Nadi, the third largest city in the South Pacific Island state with the participation of more than 4,000 people from across the country.

People turned up at Nadi's Prince Charles Park with happiness as they celebrated Fiji's independence from Britain's colonial rule 47 years ago.

The celebrations included the trooping of the colours and a 21-gun salute by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

In his national address on Fiji Day, President Jioji Konrote of Fiji said that unity has been the single greatest driver for the island nation's progress, and the Fijian people's common identity and shared purpose were the cornerstone of the country's success.

Fiji marked eight straight years of economic growth in 2017 and this reduced inequality among the people of this nation, he said, adding that a nation succeeded through hard work by the government and every citizen's effort.

Fiji became an independent sovereign state from Britain on Oct. 10, 1970.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 14:59:00|Editor: Mengjie

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea tumbled this year amid an unabated controversy over the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment in South Korea, hitting hardest the country's tourism industry.

According to the justice ministry's immigration data cited last week by Yonhap news agency, the number of Chinese travelers to South Korea was 3,022,590 from January to August.

It was almost halved from the same period of last year. During the cited period, the tourists from Japan, the United States, Thailand and Russia all increased.

The sharp fall in Chinese tourists, which account for the largest portion of the total foreign visitors, led to a double-digit decline in overall foreign travelers to South Korea for the first eight months of this year.

Relations between South Korea and China, which were once depicted as better than ever in history, turned strained sharply since Seoul and Washington jointly announced the decision in July last year to deploy one THAAD battery in southeast of South Korea.

China has strongly opposed the U.S. missile shield installation as its radar peers deeply into the Chinese territory, damaging security interests of China and boosting arms race in the region.

South Korea has claimed it was aimed to defend against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile attacks though the THAAD has little capability to intercept DPRK missiles targeting South Korea's territory.

Ordinary Chinese people refrained from going on a tour to South Korea amid the soured bilateral relations, inflicting the biggest damage on South Korea's tourism industry.

According to Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) estimates in May, the domestic economic think tank predicted an 8.5 trillion won (7.5 billion U.S. dollars) in losses to South Korea's economy in 2017 alone due to the controversy over the THAAD issue.

The losses were believed to account for about 0.5 percent of South Korea's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) this year, including 7.1 trillion won from tourism industry and 1.4 trillion won in exports.

Local duty-free shops, which had been crowded with Chinese tourists before the THAAD controversy, got silent this year even during the Chuseok holiday that had lasted for over a week through Monday.

Lotte Duty Free, the country's top operator of duty free stores, saw its sales from Chinese tourists tumble 25 percent for seven days from Oct. 1 compared with the same period of last year. It pulled down its overall sales by 15 percent in the cited period.

According to Yonhap report, construction of the duty-free shop complex at a main port of South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju was already completed in July, but it had yet to be opened amid the falling number of Chinese travelers.

No single Chinese cruise ship visited the port since mid-March. About 10 billion won was spent building the 6,453-sqaure-meter duty-free complex, according to the report.

From Jan. 1 to Oct. 9 this year, the number of Chinese visitors to the resort island stood at 667,935, sharply falling from 2,512,899 tallied in the same period of last year.(1 U.S. dollar equals 1136.4 S.Korean won)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:04:04|Editor: liuxin

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Hi, here's what you should know about China for the past 24 hours.

BEIJING -- Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has been all over the country on inspection tours.

Five years ago, Xi chose Shenzhen as his first stop of inspection, outside the capital, after being elected as the Party's top leader. Shenzhen is in Guangdong Province, China's reform and opening up frontier.

- - - -

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to the Russia-China Friendship Association on the 60th anniversary of its founding.

In the message, Xi said that over the past six decades, the Russia-China Friendship Association has adhered to the principle of friendship in managing relations with China, actively carried out people-to-people exchanges, and made significant contribution to promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

- - - -

BEIJING -- China and Britain on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to a "golden era" of bilateral ties.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Mark Sedwill, national security advisor to the British prime minister made the remarks during their meeting in Beijing.

- - - -

SHANGHAI -- National bank card association China UnionPay saw record payments during the National Day holiday, the association said Monday.

Payment over the China UnionPay network reached 1.37 trillion yuan (206 billion U.S. dollars) with a total of 728 million transactions. The daily averages went up 36.2 percent and 11.7 percent respectively year on year.

- - - -

BEIJING -- After one year of trial operation, the China-based FAST, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, has identified two pulsars, the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) said Tuesday.

The pulsars, named J1859-01 and J1931-01, are 16,000 light years and 4,100 light years from Earth with rotation periods of 1.83 seconds and 0.59 seconds, respectively.

- - - -

ATHENS -- Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos praised the significance of the Belt and Road initiative in promoting international cooperation and growth during an economic forum hosted in Athens on Monday.

"Greece supports this initiative and you all know that we have supported from the start all events promoting the global significance of the construction of the modern Silk Road," the Greek leader said addressing the opening session of the EU-Eurasia-China Business summit.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:04:04|Editor: liuxin

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SHENYANG, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- In late 2016, Li Fengqin, 82, went missing in Yanjiao, north China's Hebei Province. Twenty-four hours later Zeng Hua was notified she was missing.

After a verification process, Zeng, who runs a missing persons service called Toutiao Xunren on news app toutiao.com, pushed a notification message to the app's 282,000 users in Yanjiao.

Soon a user contacted Li's family, saying that she had seen Li on a motorcycle taxi.

The search area was narrowed. Another user reported to police that he had seen the woman near a railway station.

Five hours after Zeng sent the notification Li was found.

Two months later, an elderly woman was reported missing at Beijing West Railway Station. After one hour, her family contacted Toutiao Xunren for help.

Zeng's team predicted that the woman could have traveled no more than five kilometers within that one hour and pushed a notification message to users within a five-km radius of the railway station. She was found and reunited with her family.

In October 2016, the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute and Toutiao jointly released a survey, showing 1,370 senior citizens, with an average age of 76, go missing every day in China.

The survey noted that many of them suffer from mental illnesses, with 72 percent suffering from some form of memory impairment and 25 percent diagnosed with dementia.

Instead of hanging missing persons notices in the streets, more and more families are now turning to technology for help in locating lost relatives.

Earlier this year, a group of taxi drivers in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, set up a chat group dedicated to locating missing persons on instant messaging service WeChat.

Within the first six months, it helped reunite 90 missing people with their families.

Taxi driver Qiu Zhongqi, a member of the group, said that when they find lost people, they take them to police stations or homeless shelters, then advise Toutiao Xunren.

"Due to the widespread use of smart phones in China, one message can be seen by many people and spread very fast," said Qiu.

Toutiao launched the missing person service in February 2016. As of Monday, it had released more than 21,000 missing persons notifications and helped reunite 3,400 people with their family members, the company told Xinhua.

The service is not the only one of its kind in China. In May 2016, the Ministry of Public Security and internet giant Alibaba jointly launched a service called Tuanyuan, or reunion, which releases information about missing children on popular mobile applications.

As of Sept. 1, it had released information on 1,918 children and helped locate 1,847 lost children across China, including 41 who had been abducted.

However, missing persons services based on technology such as big data are more effective in large cities than in remote rural areas.

In Shanghai, a missing person notification may reach more than 1.7 million Toutiao users within a five-km radius, but in the city of Dingxi in northwest China's Gansu Province, it would only reach 120 users.

However, technology does offer a better way to search for missing people as it makes communication more effective, according to Wang Lei, a sociologist at Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

"Some online platforms have a large number of users. One notification can mobilize all of them, old and young, men and women, to offer help," said Wang.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:24:08|Editor: liuxin

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BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The performance of Chinese banks in the first six months of this year showed better asset quality, but the banks' lower net interest margins put pressure on their profitability, according to a recently leased report by Moody's.

"The banks' H1 performance demonstrates that regulatory measures implemented since January this year have been successful in containing financial risks and unwinding some shadow banking and interbank activities," said Nicholas Zhu, Moody's vice president and senior analyst.

Zhu said these positive results will likely continue under the current regulatory environment, a credit positive for the banks, because such a situation would relieve the strain on their capital and funding positions, although at the expense of profitability.

Moody's also pointed out that banks that have relied on market funds to support the previous phase of their asset expansions will likely face lower profitability.

The analysis was contained in the report on the H1 2017 results of 16 banks rated by Moody's. These banks account for more than 70 percent of total assets for Chinese commercial banks.

The banks' average asset growth slowed markedly to 4.4 percent during H1 2017, due partly to general declines in their investment in loans and receivables. Loan growth also remained subdued, with mortgage loans under strain from tightened macro-prudential measures on property transactions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:39:11|Editor: liuxin

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BANGKOK, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Tuesday that the exact date of general election will be announced in June 2018 and he expects it to be held in November.

As for lifting the ban on political activities of political parties, Prayut said he is considering accordingly.

Prayut was speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting at the the Government House.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:44:13|Editor: liuxin

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three workers were killed and two others injured when a high-rise tower crane collapsed in South Korea earlier Tuesday, local media reported citing the police and firefighting authorities.

The 20-story-high crane snapped and fell to the ground at about 1:36 p.m. local time (0436 GMT) at an apartment construction site in Uijeongbu city, Gyeonggi province.

At the time of collapse, four workers were dismantling the tower crane on top of it. Among them, three were killed after it fell down to the ground.

The other worker was fortunately hooked with cords of the crane and was rescued about an hour later, according to the media reports. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for a heavy injury.

The tower crane driver was wounded, but it was a minor injury as he escaped from the driving seat located in land.

The firefighting authorities were quoted as saying there was no more casualty found from the debris after searching operations. The exact cause of the accident was still under investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 15:54:15|Editor: liuxin

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TEHRAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said the intelligence forces have identified and arrested a number of suspects over the past weeks before they could carry out terror plots, Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday.

The arrested people planned to conduct operations against security forces during Shiite Muslims mourning ceremonies, Alavi said.

"They were not organized terrorists, but active as individuals," he said, adding that they intended to act in different Iranian provinces.

Over the past weeks, Shiite Muslims in Iran marked the holy days of Muslims' lunar month of Muharram to commemorate the death anniversary of Shiite leader Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his companions in Iraq's Karbala city in AD 680.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 16:09:18|Editor: Mengjie

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KUNMING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- India-China Yoga College (ICYC), China's first dedicated yoga college, opened enrollment for its new master's program on Tuesday.

Students can now sign up for the three-year program, the first two years of which will be completed in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and the final year in India, according to Lu Fang, deputy dean on ICYC.

Students who complete the program will receive degree diplomas from both Yunnan Minzu University and India's Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, Lu said.

Postgraduate courses will include asana (poses), pranayama (breathing), yoga therapy and physiology as well as Hindi and Sanskrit to eliminate language barriers.

In order to help students prepare to study in India, the college will also offer courses on Indian culture.

ICYC was jointly set up by Yunnan Minzu University and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 16:14:21|Editor: liuxin

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TEHRAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran and its northern neighbor Armenia plan to establish a free trade zone in the border region to enhance mutual economic and trade ties, Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday.

The plan was announced by visiting Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan in a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in the capital Tehran on Monday.

"Yerevan has invited Eurasian and European parties to get involved in the free trade zone trade and economic activities," Karapetyan was quoted as saying.

"The free trade zone would be of significance for foreign businesses given its proximity to Iran," he said, adding that Iranian merchants could lead to an economic boom in the zone by taking an active role.

He expressed Armenia's willingness to form a new type of relations with Iran with a new outlook.

For his part, Larijani pointed to the reciprocal investment between the two neighbors, saying they should develop a clear understanding of each other's trade needs.

He also hailed the decision by Yerevan to remove visa requirements for travels between Iran and Armenia, saying it has greatly helped the tourism industry in both countries.

Iranian and Armenian officials signed three memoranda of understanding in veterinary, technology and cultural sectors on Monday at the sidelines of a meeting between Karapetyan and Iranian first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri.

During the meeting, Jahangiri said Iran is keen on deepening relations with neighboring countries, and sees no obstacle to boosting cooperation with its neighbors, especially Armenia.

Lauding Tehran-Yerevan ties as "age-old," the vice president said the relationship between the people of the two countries is based on numerous commonalities.

Jahangiri also said various fields of gas, electricity, agriculture, converting industries, technical and engineering services, as well as transport, can be among the areas of cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Karapetyan pointed to some joint projects between the two countries and stressed the need to eliminate the problems hampering the implementation of these projects.

The Armenian prime minister also emphasized his country's readiness to boost bilateral trade with Iran remarkably.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Karapetyan arrived in Tehran on Monday at the invitation of Jahangiri.
Supporters of Kenya's main opposition party, National Super Alliance engaged in street protests to force changes at Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ahead of the repeat presidential polls slated for Oct. 26 in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on Oct. 9, 2017. (Xinhua/John Okoyo)

NAIROBI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Opposition coalition National Super Alliance (NASA) is keeping the country guessing over its game plan ahead of the Oct. 26 repeat presidential polls as it retreats from political campaigns.

NASA leader Raila Odinga and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka have kept off the campaign trail for the past two weeks, even as ruling Jubilee Party led by President Uhuru Kenyatta intensified their campaigns, visiting both their strongholds and those of NASA.

NASA has insisted that there would be no polls in the country on Oct. 26 if their demands, which include the sacking of electoral officials accused of bungling the Aug. 8, are not met.

Instead, it has resorted to street protests to push for changes at the electoral commission and force Jubilee to withdraw amendments to the electoral laws.

The protests have been held twice a week for the past two weeks, but starting this week, NASA said they would now be held thrice a week.

But protests aside, it is NASA's withdrawal from campaigns some 16 days to elections that is baffling both foes and friends.

Odinga flies out of the country later this week for visits to the United States and Britain for an unspecified period in an unprecedented political move that has shocked even his supporters.

Before his departure, Odinga and his brigade had cancelled campaign rallies on Sunday at the Coast allegedly to avoid clashing with President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was also visiting the region.

Jubilee Party leaders have accused Odinga of not being keen on repeat polls because he knows he would lose, the reason why he is not campaigning.

Instead, President Kenyatta on Sunday said Odinga is scheming for a coalition government with the help of foreign entities.

"A time has come in our nation when we need to differentiate between leaders who seek leadership for the sake of gaining power and those whose intent is to serve Kenyans and transform lives," he told his supporters.

But Odinga has said he does not need to go to the campaign trail himself as he has hundreds of supporters who are campaigning for him.

"I have soldiers on the ground who are campaigning for me. We have a huge support base so Kenyans already know who their President will be," said Odinga.

His supporters and critics are divided down in the middle on Odinga's strategy to keep off the campaign trail.

"Odinga can boycott the polls. Veteran politician Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba boycotted 1997 presidential elections, the country never stopped. Odinga borrows a leaf," said Kimani Ichungwa, a Jubilee lawmaker.

"Who leaves a campaign mid-stream to go to the UK? What could be so urgent? Could it be for medical reasons?" posed Mumbi Seraki, a Jubilee supporter.

Odinga's supporters, however, noted that he cannot hit the campaign trail to create an impression that all is well with the elections yet the ground is not leveled.

"Jubilee is campaigning to create perceptions of winning hearts because they think Kenyans easily change their minds. We cannot fall into such a trap," said Seth Odongo, a NASA supporter.

"There will be no election for President of Republic of Kenya unless and until election commission is reformed and freed from the Jubilee government," noted Nelson Havi, a lawyer and supporter of Odinga.

Lawyer Donald Kipkorir, on the other hand, supported Odinga's trip to the western nation, noting that the tour is important for the reforms process.

"Forget rumors that Raila Odinga will be away until after Oct. 26. He leaves for three days only and will be back to continue push for truth and justice in electoral processes," he said.

NASA lawmaker Opiyo Wandayi noted that there is no need to campaign in elections the party would not participate in.

Henry Wandera, an economics lecturer in Nairobi, noted that while NASA's retreat from political campaigns is baffling, it is informed from the position that they believe their support base is intact.

"NASA knows Kenya's voting pattern, which is that even if they campaign in Jubilee strongholds 100 times, they would not add their basket of votes. On the other hand, even if they don't campaign in their strongholds, they would not lose any votes," he noted.

Wandera added that with all its complaints against the electoral commission, which has not met its demands, it would be foolhardy for NASA to keep on campaigning assuring their supporters that all is well.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 16:39:34|Editor: liuxin

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Scientists have found that reading stories, regardless of cultural and language differences, is a universal experience that may result in people feeling greater empathy towards one another.

According to a study published in the scientific journal Human Brain Mapping, researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have found universal patterns of brain activation when people find meaning in stories, regardless of the language.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scientists mapped brain responses to narratives in three different languages - English, Persian and Mandarin Chinese.

The narratives were chosen using a software to sift through more than 20 million blog posts, narrowing down to 40 stories on personal topics, the USC said in a news release on its website.

The stories were then translated into the three languages and read by a total of 90 American, Chinese and Iranian participants in their native language while their brains were being scanned. The participants also answered general questions about the stories while under the scanner.

"Even given these fundamental differences in language, which can be read in a different direction or contain a completely different alphabet altogether, there is something universal about what occurs in the brain at the point when we are processing narratives," said Morteza Dehghani, the study's lead author and a researcher at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the USC.

The study is believed to be a first for neuroscience, according to the release. It opens up the possibility that exposure to narrative storytelling can have a widespread effect on triggering better self-awareness and empathy for others, regardless of the language or origin of the person exposed to it.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:09:46|Editor: Mengjie

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ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mutual visa suspension is a crucial signal of the tense Turkey-U.S. relations which have turned from bad to worse, as the two NATO allies are facing the toughest challenge, local experts said Tuesday.

Visa suspension is the harshest measure taken by Ankara and Washington in their undulate relations because it will directly hurt their citizens, said Deniz Zeyrek, daily Hurriyet columnist.

The latest spat came after the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, over "espionage" and suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of masterminding a failed military coup in July 2016.

The U.S. Embassy to Turkey has slammed the arrest, saying allegations against the employee were "baseless" and Washington is "deeply disturbed by the arrest."

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy announced the halt of all non-immigrant visa services in Turkey while it reassessed Turkey's commitment to the security of its missions and staff. Hours after the U.S. decision, Turkey retaliated by suspending all non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic facilities in the United States.

Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Monday, urging the end of its "disproportionate" visa measure.

Also on Monday, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office summoned a staff member of the U.S. Consulate in the city to testify as a suspect.

On the same day, his wife and son were detained in the Black Sea province of Amasya on charges of supporting the Gulen Movement.

"I hope the U.S. will review its decision," Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said in a televised interview, adding that Turkey is "open to pursuing judicial cooperation" with the U.S. but stressing that the government would not intervene in judicial decisions.

In a statement late Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said the duration of the suspension of visa services in Turkey is unknown, as it depends on the discussion with Turkish government about the reasons of the U.S. Consulate staff member's detention.

The U.S. administration seems to understand that Turkey is conducting a "hostage policy," Zeyrek said.

He pointed to Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, has also been jailed since last year for alleged links to Fethullah Gulen.

Hamza Ulucay, another local employee of the U.S. consulate in the southern province of Adana, was arrested on charges of being a member of the anti-government Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on March 7.

U.S. officials earlier expressed "unease" over arrest of American citizens, but there was no indication for visa suspension, a Turkish official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Washington was pressing Turkey to return a "cleric" while refusing to hand over another "cleric," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, referring to Turkey's repeated calls for the extradition of Gulen.

Turkey-U.S. relations have been in a tense state because of the latter's support to Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, which Ankara sees as an offshoot of the PKK, the trial crisis against Erdogan's guards after a brawl during his visit to Washington in May, and the decision of Ankara to buy S-400 missile system from Russia.

Tension with Washington was exacerbated over an indictment last month by a U.S. court for Turkey's former Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, who is charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.

"The U.S.-Turkey relations are falling into decline since 2013 with the Syrian crises. Visa restriction is a very crucial step in this crisis," said Bahadir Kaynak, an international relations associate from Altinbas University.

Citing the ongoing dispute between Turkey and Germany over arrested German citizens, Kaynak said Ankara would continue facing problems with other countries amid this "trend of arrest."
U.S. President Donald Trump reaches to shake Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hand before a meeting at the Palace Hotel during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2017 in New York City. (AFP Photo)

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mutual visa suspension is a crucial signal of the tense Turkey-U.S. relations which have turned from bad to worse, as the two NATO allies are facing the toughest challenge, local experts said Tuesday.

Visa suspension is the harshest measure taken by Ankara and Washington in their undulate relations because it will directly hurt their citizens, said Deniz Zeyrek, daily Hurriyet columnist.

The latest spat came after the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, over "espionage" and suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of masterminding a failed military coup in July 2016.

The U.S. Embassy to Turkey has slammed the arrest, saying allegations against the employee were "baseless" and Washington is "deeply disturbed by the arrest."

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy announced the halt of all non-immigrant visa services in Turkey while it reassessed Turkey's commitment to the security of its missions and staff. Hours after the U.S. decision, Turkey retaliated by suspending all non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic facilities in the United States.

Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Monday, urging the end of its "disproportionate" visa measure.

Also on Monday, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office summoned a staff member of the U.S. Consulate in the city to testify as a suspect.

On the same day, his wife and son were detained in the Black Sea province of Amasya on charges of supporting the Gulen Movement.

"I hope the U.S. will review its decision," Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said in a televised interview, adding that Turkey is "open to pursuing judicial cooperation" with the U.S. but stressing that the government would not intervene in judicial decisions.

In a statement late Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said the duration of the suspension of visa services in Turkey is unknown, as it depends on the discussion with Turkish government about the reasons of the U.S. Consulate staff member's detention.

The U.S. administration seems to understand that Turkey is conducting a "hostage policy," Zeyrek said.

He pointed to Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, has also been jailed since last year for alleged links to Fethullah Gulen.

Hamza Ulucay, another local employee of the U.S. consulate in the southern province of Adana, was arrested on charges of being a member of the anti-government Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on March 7.

U.S. officials earlier expressed "unease" over arrest of American citizens, but there was no indication for visa suspension, a Turkish official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Washington was pressing Turkey to return a "cleric" while refusing to hand over another "cleric," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, referring to Turkey's repeated calls for the extradition of Gulen.

Turkey-U.S. relations have been in a tense state because of the latter's support to Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, which Ankara sees as an offshoot of the PKK, the trial crisis against Erdogan's guards after a brawl during his visit to Washington in May, and the decision of Ankara to buy S-400 missile system from Russia.

Tension with Washington was exacerbated over an indictment last month by a U.S. court for Turkey's former Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, who is charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.

"The U.S.-Turkey relations are falling into decline since 2013 with the Syrian crises. Visa restriction is a very crucial step in this crisis," said Bahadir Kaynak, an international relations associate from Altinbas University.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:24:51|Editor: Mengjie

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MOMBASA, Kenya, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least two university staff were shot dead by suspected Al-Shabaab militants in the coastal town of Kwale on Tuesday.

Regional police commander Larry Kieng said the assailants sprayed a private car with the bullets, killing the two from the Technical University of Mombasa on the spot.

Two police officers who were in the car were also injured and rushed to hospital in critical condition. The officers were escorting the staff when they were ambushed by the assailants, Kieng told Xinhua.

He said a team of security officers were mobilized and are hunting down the gunmen suspected to be Al-Shabaab returnees.

Kieng said the injured police officers managed to repulse the motorbike-riding attackers who had targeted to rob their rifles.

The police commander did not rule out terrorism. Police believe the suspects were behind the killing of two police officers on Sept. 3 in Kwale.

The officers were killed in an attack at a local church in Ukunda and their rifles were taken by gunmen.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:24:54|Editor: Mengjie

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HONG KONG, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) announced Tuesday a ban on import of poultry meat and eggs from Matjhabeng Local Municipality, South Africa.

In view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Matjhabeng Local Municipality, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the Hong Kong SAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has banned the import of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from the area, the CFS said.

The ban, with immediate effect, aims to protect public health in Hong Kong, it added.

A CFS spokesman said that no poultry meat or poultry eggs were imported from South Africa in the first six months of this year.

"The CFS has contacted the South African authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate actions will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:34:59|Editor: Mengjie

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday called for bipartisan efforts on security issues at a meeting with top five leaders in the administrative, judiciary and legislative branches of the government.

Moon said at the meeting that if a permanent consultation body is formed between ruling and opposition parties and the government to share views on security and make bipartisan efforts, it would help unite people's minds.

The president stressed the importance for the unified minds of people by sharing the government's security views with people, according to the presidential Blue House.

Attending the meeting was Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, the new chief of the Supreme Court Kim Meong-su, head of the National Election Commission Kim Yong-deok and a justice and acting chief of the Constitutional Court Kim Yi-su.

It was the second time since Moon's inauguration in May that the president met with the five highest-level leaders of the country.

South Korea, Moon said, was not in a situation that the country can play a leading role in the current security crisis on the Korean Peninsula as the crisis was created by external factors.

Moon did not elaborate on what the external factors were but he emphasized that if the country is internally united, the crisis could be overcome despite the external factors.

Tensions ran high on the Korean peninsula following the resumed war of rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:40:01|Editor: Mengjie

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PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Some 100 Buddhist monks from different countries gathered here on Tuesday for a week-long prayer for peace and prosperity in the world, especially in Cambodia.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An and Cults and Religion Minister Him Chhem attended the ceremony, which was held at the Diamond Island's city hall in Phnom Penh.

The religious event was organized by the Association of Khmer-Chinese in Cambodia. Pung Kheav Se, president of the Association of Khmer-Chinese in Cambodia, said the prayer ceremony brought together 100 Buddhist monks from China, the United States, Canada, Australia and France.

"This is a rare Buddhist event and is the first time that Cambodia hosts such an event," he said, adding that a group of Cambodian Buddhist monks also took part in the ceremony.

Buddhism is the state religion in Cambodia and more than 95 percent of the country's population is Buddhists.

Men Sam An said Cambodia has 4,872 pagodas with 69,199 monks, and the monks have played a crucial role in educating people to behave well and to walk on the right track in the society.

"The prayer ceremony has clearly reflected unity and solidarity among the Buddhists," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:40:02|Editor: Mengjie

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MANILA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Supreme Court dismissed on Tuesday Senator Leila de Limas petition to nullify her arrest on drug charges.

De Lima, who is detained in a police jail since February, is a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Voting 9-6, the Supreme Court ruled to reject De Limas motion to recall her warrant of arrest issued by a lower court.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) in February filed three criminal charges against De Lima for allegedly receiving bribes from jailed drug lords in exchange of their protection during her term as justice secretary.

The DOJ also accused De Lima of using the money from illegal drug trade to fund her 2016 senatorial campaign.

The lower court charged De Lima with three counts of violation of Section No. 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to trafficking and criminal liability of government officials.

De Lima, who served as justice secretary during the previous Aquino administration, has vehemently denied the charges, saying her arrest and detention are meant to silence her and it was a political prosecution.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:40:03|Editor: liuxin

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Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn delivers a speech during the launching ceremony of the National Secretariat of Cambodia for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 10, 2017. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said on Tuesday that the Southeast Asian nation saw the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) as an important comprehensive sub-regional cooperation framework in political, economic and socio-cultural aspects.(Xinhua/Sovannara)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said on Tuesday that the Southeast Asian nation saw the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) as an important comprehensive sub-regional cooperation framework in political, economic and socio-cultural aspects.

LMC was established in 2015 by six countries, namely China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

"Politically, it binds the destiny of six riparian countries that share geographically a sub-region located along the Mekong River," Sokhonn said during the launching ceremony of the National Secretariat of Cambodia for LMC in Phnom Penh.

He said within a short-time span of just two years, the strong political engagement of the leaders of six Lancang-Mekong countries had brought about the realization of an idea conceived in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar during the 17th China-ASEAN Summit into a thriving full-fledged cooperation mechanism.

The Cambodian top diplomat said the five priority areas under the LMC included connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction.

Commenting on the National Secretariat of Cambodia for LMC, Sokhonn said so far, all six Lancang-Mekong countries had officially established their National Secretariats or Coordination Units to further strengthen the MLC mechanism.

"Its primary role is to serve as a coordinating body among the line ministries and institutions for all matters related to the implementation of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation," he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo said the establishment of LMC truly reflected the common will of the six countries in further expanding cooperation and accelerating common development.

"We believe that the LMC will elevate the relationship of the six Lancang-Mekong countries to a new high," he said at the launching event, which was also attended by ambassadors or representatives of other Lancang-Mekong countries in Cambodia.

Xiong said the LMC would significantly contribute to building a community with common destiny for the Lancang-Mekong countries in particular and for the ASEAN-China in general.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:50:07|Editor: Mengjie

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MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Russian fighter jet crashed during takeoff in the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria Tuesday, killing all its crew, local media reported, citing a Russian Defense Ministry statement.

The crew did not have time to eject, the statement said, without disclosing the number of people aboard.

The ministry said a technical malfunction could be the possible reason for the crash.

The jet was an Su-24, a supersonic, twin-engine attack jet designed in the Soviet era.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 17:55:09|Editor: Mengjie

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NEW DELHI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Indian Navy has, for the first time, sacked a sailor for undergoing a sex change operation while on leave last year.

In a statement issued Monday, the Indian Navy said that action was taken against Manish Giri -- a naval sailor posted at a facility in the southern port city of Visakhapatnam -- after he was found guilty of breaching service rules.

"The Indian Navy has discharged Manish Giri, a naval sailor, evoking the clause of Service No Longer Required under the Navy regulations," the statement said.

"The individual chose to undergo irreversible gender re-assignment on his own accord, whilst on leave wilfully altering his gender status from the one he was recruited for at the time of his induction," it added.

Under the law, Giri can approach the Armed Forces Tribunal and subsequently India's Supreme Court against his dismissal from the Navy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 18:10:14|Editor: Mengjie

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TEHRAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN nuclear watchdog has pledged to remain "impartial" in its reports about Iran's nuclear program subject to the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and the world powers, Press TV reported Tuesday.

Amano reassured Iran that political developments, particularly in the United States, will not influence the organization's reporting on the Islamic republic and his agency's reports would be based on the objective assessments.

The announcement came during the Monday meeting between Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, at the Iranian Embassy in Rome.

During the meeting, they exchanged views on the latest political developments related to the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers sealed in July 2015 and implemented in December 2016.

They also discussed the recent U.S. stances against the deal, as U.S. President Donald Trump has said the deal, which was signed during former U.S. President Barack Obama, is "the worst deal ever" and an "embarrassment" to his country.

Trump also claimed that Iran is not committed to the spirit of the deal, while Iran has dismissed the charges and repeatedly stressed its adherence to all obligations.

Under the deal, the IAEA is tasked to monitor Iran's nuclear activities and assures the parties of Iran's commitments to the accord.

"What is important to us is objectively assessing countries' nuclear activities and obligations toward the IAEA, which forms and will form the basis of statements and reports by the agency," Amano stressed.

"From that standpoint, political developments will not be affecting the agency's assessment," he added.

Amano and Salehi are in Italy's capital Rome to attend the 20th Edoardo Amaldi Conference, which is held under the theme of "International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-Proliferation."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 18:15:18|Editor: liuxin

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by Xinhua writers Li Laifang and Zhang Zhengfu

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three years ahead of the end date of China's plan to achieve a moderately prosperous society, the Communist Party of China (CPC) is set to draw a new strategic blueprint for the nation at its upcoming 19th national congress.

China has created somewhat of a miracle with the rapid and sustained rise of its economic might over the past 40 years of reform and opening up. Its overall national strength and people's standard of living have improved substantially. The country is getting ever closer to the center of the world stage.

The successes of the populous country have come with the failure of such predictions as the "end of history," held by Francis Fukuyama who argued for the inevitable triumph of Western liberal democracy, and the "collapse of China" trumpeted by various observers from time to time. Such predictions appeared after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the changes in eastern European countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

What reasons lie behind China's successful path of development?

PEOPLE-CENTERED MODE

In Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, life is easier for herder Yu Lianhai. He and his wife still live in their decades-old clay house, but will move to a newly-built brick house provided by the local government once they have purchased new furniture.

Three years ago, Yu received a low-interest loan and bought cattle to breed. Three cows, provided by the village committee's poverty reduction program last year, produced calves this year. Yu sold them for a total of 15,000 yuan (2,263 U.S. dollars). His household income is set to increase by 30 percent to reach 30,000 yuan this year.

"I believe our life will get better year by year," said the 48-year-old herder, who tries to find part-time jobs to increase revenue. For one month during the summer, he worked as a cook at a nearby scenic area.

Poverty remains a challenge in the building of an all-round prosperous society. China is continuing a large-scale program to eradicate poverty with precise measures in areas such as finance, industry and tourism.

Over the past 30-plus years, the country has lifted 700 million people out of poverty, a figure that represents more than 70 percent of the global reduction in poverty. This achievement has won worldwide praise.

"To meet the people's desire for a happy life is our mission," Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has said, stressing adherence to people-centered development and putting forward the concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.

Hu Angang, director of the Center for China Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said people-centered development is the "soul" of Xi's thought on governance. The development concept is also aimed at realizing the overall development of the people, he said.

With a history of 96 years and 89 million members, the CPC -- the world's largest ruling party -- is leading the nation to common prosperity and achieving the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

"The core of the Chinese model is the leadership of the CPC, which carries on the people-oriented thinking of ancient Chinese culture," said Pan Wei, director of the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs at Peking University.

INNOVATION,REFORM AND OPENING UP

On Sept. 21, high-speed trains on the Beijing-Shanghai railway ran at a maximum speed of 350 kph, becoming the world's fastest train service.

Besides high-speed trains, China's nuclear power, smartphone and e-commerce sectors, among others, have built up their cutting-edge competitiveness after years of hefty investment in research. The country has made significant progress in a number of frontier fields such as space technology, quantum communication and large jets.

In July, Chinese firms filled an unprecedented 115 places on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2017, the 14th straight year that the country's firms have increased their presence on the list. Internet service giants Alibaba and Tencent joined the list for the first time.

As a participant, propellent and beneficiary of globalization, China is moving closer to the center of the world economic arena and remains the largest engine of world economic growth, said Hu.

"Judged by the current indices, China is sure to be victorious in achieving a moderately prosperous society by 2020," said the professor, noting that he was more interested in the development after 2020.

"As an innovative party, the CPC leads and advances the people's innovation. China's pursuit of its own development path is itself a large innovation," he said.

The CPC's economic system reform has been evolving, changing the role of the market from a basic to a decisive one. Social and ecological progress has been gradually added to the overall structure of socialist construction which originally covered political, economic and cultural aspects.

China is building a socialist market economy through progressive reforms, according to Justin Lin Yifu, a professor at Peking University and former World Bank chief economist.

There is not just one model in the world. China has its own distinctive economic, political and social models, which contribute to its success, said Pan.

After the 2008 financial crisis, China has contributed more than 30 percent of global economic growth annually on average and its growth rate is still high among major economies.

"China's contribution to the world has been its rapid growth, especially since the global financial crisis. Sustaining this contribution will require further reform, not only of state-owned enterprises, but of the state-dominated financial system," said Nicholas Lardy, senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics.

INSPIRATION TO THE WORLD

Taking its own path, China has made a historic leap from standing-up to becoming better-off to getting stronger. Chinese leaders say the Chinese people today are closer, more confident and more able to achieve national rejuvenation than ever before.

With the Belt and Road Initiative, or the "project of the century" as Xi has put it, and Chinese concepts such as the building of a shared future for mankind, China has offered the world inspiration in development.

It is a fact that China achieved leapfrog development without copying the Western model. Few countries have succeeded in their sustained development by copying Western models. The turmoil which has hit some countries in the Middle East since 2011 is proof of that.

China's successful governance model has offered reference for improving global governance. The Chinese government has a management mode with clear goals, a solid foundation and tangible results, said Ronnie Lins, a Brazilian expert on China studies.

"The Chinese model is our own. With its own advantages of focusing efforts on important projects and long-term strategic plans, China's achievements are by no means inferior to those of any other country," said Pan.

"In contrast, some Western leaders tend to be short-sighted, only focusing on election campaigns and becoming elected," he said. "The Chinese model is a key inspiration for other developing nations."
Iran says Tuesday it has "all options on table" if the US blacklists the Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a terror group. (Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran warned Tuesday it has "all options on table" if the U.S. designates the Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, news agency ISNA reported.

A top aide to Iran's Supreme Leader warned the U.S. Tuesday against designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, saying Tehran has "all options on table," report said.

"The Americans are supporting Daesh (Islamic State). That's why they are angry with the Revolutionary Guards. But they are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards," Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by ISNA.

"Whatever they do we will take reciprocal measures. We have all options on the table," he added.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano gestures during an interview with Reuters at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria September 26, 2017. (Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN nuclear watchdog has pledged to remain "impartial" in its reports about Iran's nuclear program subject to the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and the world powers, Press TV reported Tuesday.

Amano reassured Iran that political developments, particularly in the United States, will not influence the organization's reporting on the Islamic republic and his agency's reports would be based on the objective assessments.

The announcement came during the Monday meeting between Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, at the Iranian Embassy in Rome.

During the meeting, they exchanged views on the latest political developments related to the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers sealed in July 2015 and implemented in December 2016.

They also discussed the recent U.S. stances against the deal, as U.S. President Donald Trump has said the deal, which was signed during former U.S. President Barack Obama, is "the worst deal ever" and an "embarrassment" to his country.

Trump also claimed that Iran is not committed to the spirit of the deal, while Iran has dismissed the charges and repeatedly stressed its adherence to all obligations.

Under the deal, the IAEA is tasked to monitor Iran's nuclear activities and assures the parties of Iran's commitments to the accord.

"What is important to us is objectively assessing countries' nuclear activities and obligations toward the IAEA, which forms and will form the basis of statements and reports by the agency," Amano stressed.

"From that standpoint, political developments will not be affecting the agency's assessment," he added.

Amano and Salehi are in Italy's capital Rome to attend the 20th Edoardo Amaldi Conference, which is held under the theme of "International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-Proliferation."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 18:40:23|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Up to 12 militants and five security personnel have been killed as clash erupted in Imam Sahib district of Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province on Tuesday, police said.

"The clash flared up in Qurgan Tipa area of Imam Sahib district today morning and so far 12 Taliban rebels and five security personnel have been killed," provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Hamidi told reporters here.

He also added that eight Taliban fighters and four security personnel sustained injuries.

Meanwhile, Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in contact with media confirmed eruption of fighting in Imam Sahib district on Tuesday morning.

He claimed that the militants besides killing five soldiers and injuring seven others also destroyed three battle tanks.

Imam Sahib district has been the scene of fighting between security forces and Taliban militants over the past nearly two weeks and according to the official more than 100 militants including some foreign nationals have been killed.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 18:45:26|Editor: liuxin

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Alexander Pechtold (front), leader of the leftist liberals D66 and Prime Minister Mark Rutte (back), leader of the rightist liberals VVD, step out the lower house of parliament after the coalition government talks in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 10, 2017. The parliamentary groups of the four parties that reached a coalition government deal on Monday have all accepted the political program for the coming years, paving the way for Prime Minister Mark Rutte to start assembling his cabinet. (Xinhua/Rick Nederstigt)

THE HAGUE, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The parliamentary groups of the four parties that reached a coalition government deal on Monday have all accepted the political program for the coming years, paving the way for Prime Minister Mark Rutte to start assembling his cabinet.

On Tuesday morning, Rutte of the rightist liberals VVD, Sybrand Buma of the Christian democrats CDA, Alexander Pechtold of the leftist liberals D66 and Gert-Jan Segers of the small Christian party ChristenUnie announced that their respective parties have all given the stamp of approval to the deal. Details of the deal is expected to be announced later.

The four parties have won a thin majority of 76 seats at the 150-seat lower house following the parliamentary election held on March 15.

Rutte, twice Prime Minister (2010-2012 and 2012-now), is expected to start assembling his third administration soon. Once his team is formed, in about two weeks, the new cabinet will be sworn in by King Willem-Alexander.

Of the four party leaders, Rutte is the only one to be part of the cabinet as the other three will remain in the lower house to maintain party discipline, according to Dutch media.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 19:00:31|Editor: liuxin

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XI'AN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The first film co-produced by China and Kazakhstan began shooting on Tuesday in the city of Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

"Composer" details a period in the life of Xian Xinghai, a 20th century Chinese composer best known for his work "Yellow River Cantata," focusing on his friendship with Kazakh composer Bakhitzhan Baykadamov.

At the outset of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, Xian was stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan, while trying to return to China from Russia. He was suffering from tuberculosis, poor and alone, and received the care of Baykadamov, with whom he developed a deep friendship.

It will be filmed at Xian's former residence and the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, where he worked as a teacher. The cast will include Chinese actor Hu Jun and Kazakhstan's Berik Aitzhanov, according to Xirzat Yahup, director of the film.

The film comes after a cooperation agreement was signed by the two countries in June this year under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 19:10:34|Editor: Mengjie

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by Marian Draganov

SOFIA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- With China's efforts to safeguard world peace, promote sustainable development and boost international cooperation in all areas demonstrating its sense of responsibility to create a better world and a better life for all, the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is of great importance, both to China and the world, a Bulgarian scholar has said.

Mariana Malinova Tian, an associate professor with the Institute for Historical Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences who has authored books on China, made the remarks to Xinhua ahead of the congress, which will open in Beijing on Oct. 18.

"We are talking about (the) congress of the world's largest party, which ... leads the most populous country, the second largest economy and a major geopolitical player," she stressed.

Tian, who spent several years in China from 2006, said she herself witnessed many of the stunning successes the country has achieved in a wide range of spheres -- from improving public welfare to the introduction of smart technologies and utilization of space and the ocean for peaceful purposes.

At a time when the world is faced with many challenges, such as policy uncertainties in the United States and the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union, China has been making great global contributions, she said.

She cited the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, calling it "the project of the 21st century" which is contributing not only to regional but also to global development.

The initiative aims to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which will enhance the historical trade routes and create greater links between Asia, Europe and Africa.

Tian attributed China's success to continuous reform and improving governance. "The formula for the CPC's governance success contains an enviable combination of wisdom and flexibility," she remarked.

She emphasized the CPC's strong support for development of science and education, and involving the academic community in solving the country's internal problems and shaping its positions on global issues.

She also said the CPC is one of the few parties in the world to tighten party discipline, noting that a number of senior officials as well as lower-ranking functionaries have been punished in the party's battle against corruption

Tian has authored two books on China, "Bulgarian-Chinese Relations in Modern History" and "Genesis and Development of Chinese Civilization".
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 19:15:38|Editor: liuxin

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JUBA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Tuesday that former rebel fighters are now being integrated into the national army (SPLA) in line with the agreement between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Taban Deng Gai last year.

Minister of Defence Kuol Manyang Juuk told Xinhua that absence of cantonment areas due to financial difficulty have forced them to directly integrate into the SPLA some former SPLA-in opposition (SPLA-IO) rebels allied to former First Vice President Riek Machar.

"We have started integrating the elements of the SPLA-IO in the Yei area. They are now being taken into the SPLA directly, because the cantonment areas are not yet in place due to lack of financial support for setting up these areas," Juuk said in Juba.

The now weakened 2015 peace agreement currently being revitalized by regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), calls for creation of cantonment areas for opposition fighters before being integrated into the SPLA.

Juuk disclosed that they are also overseeing retrenchment of some soldiers as part of the ongoing reforms at professionalizing the hitherto guerilla character within the SPLA.

"We are working out a plan for the downsizing of the army. Some elderly and wounded soldiers are some of the soldiers being removed from the army," he revealed.

He also added that the ex-servicemen upon retrenchment will be supported with pension besides tractors, water pumps to carry out agricultural activities in villages.

"We are still making plans so that we engage (retirees) them in agricultural areas, such as setting up some agricultural villages where they can be supported by tractors and water pumps, and building some modern small houses, because we can not just throw them on the streets otherwise they will pick up arms again," he said.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to fighting that pitted mostly Dinka ethnic soldiers loyal to President Kiir against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital forcing Machar to flee into exile.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions that have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 19:45:48|Editor: Mengjie

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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Noh Young-min, the first South Korean ambassador to China under the government of President Moon Jae-in who took office in May, left for Beijing Tuesday on his mission to develop what he said was "fateful" relations between the two countries.

Noh is known to be one of the closest aides to President Moon, playing a major role in Moon's campaign team for the May 9 presidential by-election. He also served as Moon's chief of staff when Moon ran for presidency in 2012.

When nominating Noh as his first top envoy to China, Moon said the nomination "itself" had an intention to send a message to China, the new head of the South Korean mission in Beijing said in an interview with Xinhua before his departure.

The message was that South Korea was setting a high value on relations with China, Noh said.

Noh said he got to have a great interest in China, especially its culture and history, when he was a college student. Since then, he learned much about China and began to like the neighboring country.

Unfortunately, he had no opportunity to learn the Chinese language, but he planned to learn it this time in Beijing as he likes Chinese poetry, especially the ones written by Du Fu, a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.

"How happy it would be for me to be able to memorize Chinese poetry, which I like, in Chinese," said Noh.

He traveled a lot to many regions across China both publicly and privately. Noh said he was very shocked when he visited the Nanjing Massacre Museum which exhibits the terrible history of Japan's invasion and what he said was a "genocide" of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people.

Noh said it was very regrettable for Japan not to acknowledge its wartime history and not to take responsibility for the wartime atrocities as "a war criminal state" during World War II.

During his stay in and visits to China, Noh got to make a broad range of personal connections to Chinese friends, which he said would be beneficial to his mission in China as a top South Korean envoy.

In addition to his official mission, Noh said he would like to learn more about China and make more Chinese friends.

"China is our neighbor fatefully. We are close historically and geographically. It's a fate from thousands of years of history," said Noh.

Born in Cheongju city, almost at the center of the country, in 1957, he majored in business administration at Yonsei University in Seoul.

It took nearly 14 years for Noh to graduate from the university in 1990 as he was imprisoned and removed from a university register while he fought against the military dictatorships in 1970s and 1980s.

He was a labor agitator for 15 years, before entering politics in 2000. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2004, and re-elected in 2008 and 2012.

"Politics can have the most influence on our lives, though it cannot change all aspects of our lives. A way to politics is doing something for reality reform and future hope," said Noh.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 19:55:51|Editor: liuxin

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NAIROBI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A wave of defections have hit Kenya's political landscape with many opposition politicians who lost in the Aug. 8 elections joining the ruling Jubilee Party.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, while on campaign tours ahead of the Oct. 26 repeat elections, has over the last week received over five senior opposition politicians, who have pledged to support him.

The defections have been seen as move by Kenyatta and his Jubilee Party to cannibalize the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) led by Raila Odinga ahead of the polls, thus denying him crucial support in his strongholds.

All those who have defected in the last weeks ran for the governor's post in the opposition strongholds and came in second or third.

The politicians cried foul following their losses in the Aug. 8 polls and some bitterly blamed party leader Odinga for supporting their opponents.

Some of those who have defected were Odinga's key allies and have supported him for years as he sought to clinch the presidency.

"I welcome you and your supporters in my team, bring your problems to us and let us work together to solve them and see how we can help our people," Kenyatta said on Monday at the Kenyan Coast as he received Hassan Omar and John Mruttu, both of whom vied for the Mombasa and Taita Taveta governor seats and lost.

Besides at the Coast, other governor contestants who have ditched the opposition to join Jubilee are from Kajiado, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Busia in western Kenya and Bomet in the Rift Valley, among other leaders, mainly MP aspirants.

The politicians accused NASA leader Odinga of sidelining them before and after the polls even after they massively campaigned for him.

"After losing election, no NASA leader called me to check up on me or even to encourage me... But on Aug. 11, the Deputy President called me. He encouraged me to take positives from the loss. He made me think about who my true friends were and I was persuaded to join Jubilee," said Omar.

NASA leaders have, however, dismissed the defectors and termed them as "rent-seekers" who have been bought off by Jubilee.

On Monday, Odinga claimed that Kenyatta's party had set up a defectors' fund to finance the buying of leaders and losers to create an impression of a mass exodus from NASA.

"We are aware that Jubilee has set up a fund to finance the buying of leaders with money stolen from the public and it is the reason the economy has stagnated and nearly all workers are on strike," said Odinga.

The defections have come as a surprise to opposition supporters while their Jubilee counterparts celebrated the loss of "key backers" of Odinga.

"NASA has no chance at the Coast. Omar Hassan's defection has dented the team in the region that it would take great effort for Odinga to regain support," said Jubilee senator Irungu Kangata.

Opposition Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr noted that Omar's defection baffled many of his supporters who stood by him in his quest for justice as a human rights' defender.

"The defection has surprised many who believed in his quest for justice and social rights which he has fought for, for many years. Historians will have a lot to say," said the senator, acknowledging that the defection had affected NASA support in the region.

Opiyo Wandayi, an MP and Odinga supporter, however, noted that even with the defections, NASA would not turn back on its demands for credible polls.

"There is no turning back. Elections are only elections if they're credible. With or without Jubilee's special defection fund."

Some ordinary NASA supporters are, however, worried about the defection of the leaders, noting that Odinga is doing little to keep his allies.

"I don't like the notion people are creating that Omar was just bought to leave NASA. There are fundamental leadership issues underlying which NASA should solve," said NASA blogger and supporter Ken Oguok.

Henry Wandera, an economics lecturer and political analyst in Nairobi, observed that defections are entrenched in the Kenyan politics as political parties stand for no ideology but are just vehicles to gain power.

"Defections were perfected during the Moi era and slowed down during Kibaki's time but it is certain they are back during Kenyatta's reign as politicians seek to satisfy their interests and shake off the 'coldness' in the opposition."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 20:00:53|Editor: liuxin

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TRIPOLI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 43 people have been killed and 340 others wounded since the beginning of the clashes in Libya's western city of Sabratha, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

Some injuries are serious, and facilities in the city's hospital, including the Health Care Unit, are partly functioning because of the damage caused by the clashes, it said.

Late in September, the ministry announced that many of the injured were transferred to private clinics in the nearby cities of Aljailat, Zintan, Tripoli, Misratah, Sorman and Zwara, while those who couldn't be treated inside Libya were sent to hospitals abroad.

Sabratha, some 70 km west of the capital Tripoli, has witnessed three weeks of violent clashes between rival armed groups.

The clashes broke out after a member of armed groups affiliated with the city's military council was killed by the anti-Islamic State (IS) operation chamber.

On Friday, the group announced the takeover of the entire city after three weeks of clashes, according to a military source.

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the North African country has been plagued with escalating violence and unrest.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 20:00:53|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Tuesday it is preparing for a new influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh as UN agencies said they are working on mass immunization against the threat of cholera.

UN migration agency, IOM, spokesperson Joel Millman said, "Since August 25, an estimated 519,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh having fled violence in Myanmar in the largest and speediest movement of a civilian population in Asia since the 1970s."

Speaking at a media briefing, Millman said that the IOM is, with health teams in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh in a race to prevent an outbreak of cholera among the more than half a million Rohingya refugees who have arrived in the past six weeks

It launched a mass immunization operation to dispense oral cholera vaccine, he said.

The first round of the campaign, carried out at sub-district level, will immunize 650,000 Rohingya men, women and children, aged one year and above, over the next seven days, said Millman.

More than 4,500 Rohingya have already been treated for diarrhea and many others for dehydration, with over 14,000 children under the age of 5 having severe acute malnutrition, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group in Cox's Bazar, said IOM.

Malnourished children are at least six times more prone to die from a diarrheal disease like cholera.

The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision is working on this in an operation that brings together WHO, (World Health Organization) UNICEF, MSF, and the International Federation of the Red Cross.

At the same briefing, UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards said the agency is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit center to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days.

"This is in view of yesterday's sudden increase in people arriving from Myanmar," said Edwards.

He noted that Bangladesh border guards reported that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land the day before into southeastern Bangladesh through several points.

Edwards said the current arrivals are approaching some of the earlier peak levels in the current period.

"Clearly, we have to be ready for more arrivals. It is still a situation that has the potential to worsen," he said adding, "Help needs cannot be overstated." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 20:36:05|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- China has made hefty investment in water conservancy projects over the past five years, benefiting hundreds of millions of people in poor regions, a senior official said Tuesday.

As part of the country's poverty-relief efforts, such investment from the central government reached a record high of 226.6 billion yuan (about 34.3 billion U.S. dollars) between 2012 and 2016, Zhou Xuewen, deputy minister of water resources, told a forum.

The investment helped lift more than 300,000 rural people out of poverty, enabled 110 million rural residents to have safe drinking water, built water-saving irrigation systems on 34 million mu (about 2.3 million hectares) of farmland, and treated water and soil erosion on 41,000 square kilometers of land, Zhou said.

Zhou said the government will continue to increase investment in water conservancy projects in poor regions, and ensure that more than 80 percent of rural residents will enjoy centralized water supply by 2020.

The country also aims to improve the mechanism for water conservancy project investment and financing, encouraging private capital to invest in construction and operation of water conservancy projects in poor regions, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 20:41:06|Editor: liuxin

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RAMALLAH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Fatah party said Tuesday that the meeting with the Islamic Hamas movement delegation in Cairo will start with the empowerment of the national unity government in Gaza.

The meeting to be held under the patronage of the Egyptian intelligence will start with "enabling the government to work in the Gaza Strip, how the government will run the ministries and how Hamas treats the ministers during their visit to Gaza," Azzam Al-Ahmad, head of the Palestinian Fatah party to the national reconciliation talks, told official Voice of Palestine in a statement.

The talks with Hamas will review all items of the reconciliation deal signed in Cairo in May 2011, and preparations for the factions meeting a month later, according to the statement.

The talks will also discuss the issues of elections, the judiciary, security and the Palestine Liberation Organization, he said, adding that the decision of war or peace as well as the mode of resistance is a national decision and not a factional one.

The issues of border crossings and public employees appointed by Hamas will also be on the agenda of the Cairo talks.

The meeting starting Tuesday in Cairo is the first of its kind since June 2016, when talks between the two rival factions took place in Doha but with no breakthrough.

Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah led a top government delegation to Gaza to take over the administration of the enclave from Hamas as part of a serious move toward national reconciliation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:06:15|Editor: liuxin

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DUBAI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Dubai carrier Emirates Airline, said on Tuesday that it has signed a deal with Luxembourg's airline Cargolux to establish a codeshare partnership for air cargo transport.

The agreement was signed in Dubai by Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Nabil Sultan, and Richard Forson, the president and chief executive officer of Cargolux, in the presence of Francois Bausch, Luxembourg's minister of sustainable development and infrastructure.

Earlier in the year, the two carriers started a strategic operational partnership where they work closely on a number of operational areas including block space and interline agreements, aircraft charter, hub connectivity between Dubai and Luxembourg, and cargo handling cooperation.

The partnership has been off to a successful start with Emirates SkyCargo commencing weekly freighter services to Luxembourg from June 2017 and Cargolux transferring handling for their freighter flights at Dubai World Central to Emirates SkyCargo in September 2017.

Since July 2017, Emirates SkyCargo has also chartered Boeing 747 freighter aircraft from Cargolux's fleet.

The new codeshare partnership between the two carriers is a progression of the operational partnership under which both carriers would now be able to procure cargo capacity on each other's flights and then offer it to their customers under their own airway bills and flight numbers.

The codeshare agreement will be applicable for cargo capacity on both passenger as well as freighter flights.

"Over the last five months we have achieved a number of the milestones that we targeted at the outset," said Sultan. "We will now be able to deepen this partnership through our codeshare agreement and offer a more seamless and broader range of product and service offerings to our customers."

"Our customers greatly benefit from this partnership as we can offer high-quality products and services to more destinations than ever before," Forson said.

Emirates SkyCargo connects cargo customers to more than 155 cities across 84 countries in six continents.

Luxembourg-based Cargolux has a fleet of 14 Boeing 747-8 freighters and 13 Boeing 747-400 freighters, covering over 90 destinations.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:06:16|Editor: liuxin

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JUBA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- An air raid allegedly carried out by government warplanes killed at least 13 civilians and injured dozens in Waat in northeastern South Sudan, a rebel spokesman said on Tuesday.

Lam Paul Gabriel, Sudan People's Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO) deputy spokesman, said two government warplanes on Monday launched air bombardment around Waat, Bieh State, killing at least 13 civilians.

"So far people have counted about 13 civilians killed but there were several who are injured. We don't know how many might have died in hospital this morning," Gabriel said.

Fresh clashes erupted there last week between government forces and rebels loyal to the country's former deputy president Riek Machar, leaving over 90 dead and dozens injured, according to the South Sudan army (SPLA).

SPLA deputy spokesman Santo Domic Chol acknowledged that fighting took place in Waat in the early hours of Monday but denied the rebel's accusation that it used warplanes during the fighting.

Chol said the rebels attacked their positions in Waat at around 6 a.m. and the battle lasted for 23 minutes.

"The rebels don't maintain ground in Waat, it is the SPLA that is in Waat, but they are only trying to capture it," Chol told Xinhua in a phone interview from the South Sudanese capital of Juba.

The East African nation has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has have taken a devastating toll on the people of South Sudan.

A peace pact signed in Addis Ababa in 2015 under intense international pressure was shattered again following renewed violence between rival government and opposition troops in the capital Juba in July 2016.

The conflict has since spread to other regions that had enjoyed relative peace, causing displacement of least 4 million people, ethnic polarization and tribal violence that has killed tens of thousands.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:11:19|Editor: liuxin

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MANILA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Commission on Appointments rejected on Tuesday the appointment of acting Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, who was the fifth of President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet nominations to be rejected by lawmakers.

The commission hasn't given any reason for the rejection.

Ubial was an assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Duterte picked her to run the department since June 2016.

Just a couple of days before the hearing, more than 100 employees from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation employee signed a manifesto against Ubial citing to "grave abuse of power and usurpation of authority."

The Philippine local media reported that Ubial suspended allowances and salary adjustments of all the employees from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.

In addition, some Senates earlier criticized Ubial that "she recorded a significant number of foreign and domestic trips in her short period in office and that in some instances, she brought along members of her family."

After the rejection, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman, Ernesto Abella, expressed regret over the congressional commission's decision.

"We regret the commission's non-confirmation of Department of Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial," Abella said in a statement.

"We are deeply grateful for Secretary Ubial's service to the health department and for epitomizing the president's caring attitude through her 'All for Health, towards Health for All' Philippine health agenda."

"We wish Secretary Ubial well in all her future endeavors," Abella said.

Ubial is the fifth Duterte appointee rejected by the powerful congressional commission. The body has also rejected acting Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, acting Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, acting Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, and acting Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay.

In the Philippines, the cabinet appointees have to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, which is composed of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The confirmation can be held even long time after a secretary takes office.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:36:28|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- China has spoken highly of the positive attitude and efforts taken by governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to properly handle the refugee issue, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a question regarding Myanmar's proposal to take back refugees in Bangladesh and the south Asian country's efforts to build more refugee camps.

According to reports, Bangladesh's foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said Monday that Myanmar has "made proposals for taking back Rohingya refugees".

Ali made the remarks after meeting with a Myanmar delegation led by U Kyaw Tint Swe, minister of the state counselor's office.

As a friendly neighbor to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, China hopes that both countries can maintain momentum in talks and consultation and handle their differences appropriately, Hua said, adding that China is willing to play a constructive role in the process.

Reports say that as the number of refugees increased, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Bangladesh's minister for disaster management and relief, said more land has been set aside for new camps.

China hails the efforts made by the Bangladesh government, Hua said, stressing that China has provided and will continue to provide assistance to Bangladesh to accommodate those displaced.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:36:28|Editor: liuxin

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MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led coalition has reduced airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Iraq, allowing it to send reinforcements to Syria and complicate the advance of Syrian troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The international coalition has sharply cut the number of airstrikes against IS in Iraq since September to just several times a day, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The decrease in intensity of strikes coincided "in a strange way" with the arrival of IS militants from Iraqi border areas to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, where Syrian government troops have significantly expanded the territory liberated from terrorists over the past week, he said.

The continued fueling of terrorists from Iraq raised serious questions about the objectives of U.S.-led anti-terrorist operations in the region, he said.

In a separate statement, Konashenkov said Russian warplanes delivered 182 strikes over the past 24 hours in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour against IS militants coming from Iraq, killing dozens of them.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, U.S., September 21, 2017. (REUTERS PHOTO)

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday that Turkey will not ask the U.S. for permission to detain or prosecute suspects.

"There is rule of law in Turkey and if someone from the U.S. diplomatic mission commits a crime, he/she will not have any privileges," Yildirim said at the ruling party's weekly parliamentary group meeting in Ankara.

His remarks came two days after the U.S. suspended non-immigrant visa operations in Turkey.

"The two countries should solve the visa issue through talks as soon as possible," Yildirim noted.

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced it had suspended non-immigrant visa services at all diplomatic facilities in Turkey.

In response, Turkey's Washington Embassy also suspended non-immigrant visa services in the United States, citing security concerns.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the U.S. decision as "upsetting," saying Turkey's response is "based on the rules of reciprocity."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 21:46:31|Editor: liuxin

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BERLIN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The newspaper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) reported on Tuesday German authorities are allegedly attempting to hide the full extent of the Fipronil scandal from the public.

According to the German newspaper, the poisonous insecticide Fipronil has been found in high concentrations in several other products which contained eggs such as pastries and liquor.

A preliminary analysis by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture cited by SZ found that 20 percent of products tested contained traces of Fipronil of which every fourth measured in excess of regulatory limits.

Experts quoted by in the report described the numbers as "remarkable". An unnamed employee in an officially-approved laboratory further complained to SZ that pressure had been exerted on his institution to only carry out superficial tests which failed to provide the public with adequate information about their food safety.

The anonymous source accused the German government of creating a "Consumer Non-Information" system to shield producers from costly recalls. While some products had been removed from supermarket shelves voluntarily, nothing was being done to seize products purchased by consumers before the Fipronil scandal was revealed.

The situation has led to a spat between the federal and regional levels of German government. The heavily-affected state of Lower Saxony on the Dutch border, in particular, has urged Berlin to prioritize consumer safety and shift towards a tougher "zero tolerance" policy on Fipronil-contaminated products.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:06:39|Editor: liuxin

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KIEV, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine plans to build a new highway to countries in the European Union (EU) to boost its trade and transit potential, the country's state road agency Ukravtodor said on Tuesday.

The road is expected to link Ukraine's western city of Lviv, which lies near the Polish border, with the Hungarian border. With a length of about 300 km, the highway is expected to halve the travel time from Ukraine to Hungary.

In the long term, the highway will be extended to the Ukrainian border with Slovakia.

"This road will become the main artery for the export of Ukrainian goods to the countries in Eastern and Southern Europe and the transit corridor of international trade through Ukraine," the Ukravtodor said in a statement.

The Ukravtodor is preparing a pre-feasibility study on the first stage of the project together with the World Bank. The estimated cost of the project has yet to be revealed.

According to Ukrainian traffic authorities, countries in Eastern Europe have about 170,000 km of roads, with half the length in need of a major revamp.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:11:44|Editor: liuxin

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TIRANA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Albania should implement a set of recommendations from the European Union in order to make headway in its bid to open accession talks, Christian Danielsson, director-general for Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission, told Albanian Speaker Gramoz Ruci.

Albanian Parliament's press service informed Tuesday that during the meeting with Ruci, the EU senior official declared that Albania should take advantage of current positive climate in Europe by addressing the EU recommendations to open accession talks.

Danielsson welcomed priorities and the impressive agenda of Albania's Parliament, highlighting Parliament's role in addressing the EU integration challenges and praising personal commitment of Parliament Speaker Ruci to advance the country's integration agenda, the speaker's cabinet said.

On his part, the Parliament Speaker noted that despite different approaches, no differences exist among Albanian political parties on the country's path towards the EU.

Ruci also highlighted the Parliament's progress in its efforts to address the recommendations set forth by the European Commission in its reports.

The Speaker put emphasis particularly on the new steps towards implementation of the justice system reform through the approval of the vetting bodies that will screen Albanian prosecutors and judges for their moral integrity, professionalism and wealth.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:16:46|Editor: liuxin

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SANAA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels said on Tuesday that they fired a ballistic missile toward a military command center in a Saudi border province.

The missile targeted the Saudi command center in Samitah area in the southwestern province of Jizan, the Houthis said in a statement carried by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

There were no comments yet from the Saudi side.

It is the latest in a series of ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen toward Saudi cities since Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemeni war more than two and a half years ago.

Most of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi anti-missile system.

On Sept. 24, Saudi Arabia said its Air Defense Force intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile over Khamis Mushait in Saudi border province of Asir and bombarded its launch pad inside Yemen.

On July 27, Saudi said it intercepted a missile launched by Houthi militias toward the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of 10 countries and intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015 to back the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Iranian-allied Shiite Houthis who stormed the capital Sanaa and control much of the country's north.

More than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war that also displaced more than 3 million others, according to UN agencies.

Yemen has also been hit by a deadly cholera epidemic and is on the brink of mass famine.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:16:46|Editor: liuxin

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BRUSSELS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The other 27 members of the Europe Union (EU) are not working on a "no deal" scenario in their Brexit talks with London, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on his Twitter account Tuesday.

"We negotiate in good faith and hope for 'sufficient progress' by December," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:16:47|Editor: liuxin

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VIENTIANE, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The fifth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management is scheduled to be held in northern Lao city of Luang Prabang with focus on the need to prepare resources in readiness for disasters so as to lessen their impacts.

The meeting, slated for Oct. 17-19, will emphasize the importance of public awareness, community participation, promoting partnerships and collaboration, and mainstreaming disaster management in the development process, Lao state-run media Vientiane Times reported on Tuesday.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) ministers responsible for disaster management would review the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Center's services in Jakarta, Indonesia, to ensure it acted as the regional hub for disaster management, information and knowledge, Director General of the ministry's Social Welfare Department Prasong Vongkhamchanh was quoted as saying.

"Floods occur every year somewhere in ASEAN member countries including in Laos and the nation is vulnerable to natural disasters as a result of poor infrastructure and low resilience, with the majority of people living in rural areas," Prasong said.

Discussions at the meeting will also focus on materialization of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, as well as the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN One Response - ASEAN Responding to Disasters as One in the Region and Outside the Region, which were approved by regional leaders in Vientiane in September 2016, he added.

Prasong said the sub-committees in charge of meeting preparations were ready and had completed all the planned content, economic, protocol and security arrangements according to ministry guidelines.

The meeting would play an important role in implementing international and ASEAN strategies on preventing disasters, reducing their impacts, and providing humanitarian aid to victims of natural and man-made disasters, he added.

The fifth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting will adopt the ASEAN 2025 Vision on Disaster Management as a strategic policy document that will guide the region over the next 10 years in disaster management and emergency response.

The first to fourth ASEAN ministerial meetings on disaster management were held in Cambodia in 2004, Brunei in 2014, Cambodia in 2015, and last year in Indonesia.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:26:49|Editor: Mengjie

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BANGKOK, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said Tuesday that the government will try to solve problems related to environmental impact assessment (EIA) this month, so as to start the construction of the long-awaited Thailand-China railway project.

"As soon as the EIA is approved, we can start the construction. EIA is the requirement for the construction," Arkhom told Xinhua during a press conference in the Transport Ministry.

He mentioned that the only remaining problem that hinder the approval of EIA lies in three cement companies in Saraburi Province.

"We are now talking with the three companies and we will send the EIA for the seventh time to the expert team for approval, we hope we can figure it out in this month," Arkhom said, adding that once the EIA is approved, the first section of the project can begin.

Thailand plans to start the construction of the 253-km railway, linking Thai capital Bangkok with northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, in four sections, with the first running 3.5 km long, the second 11 km, the third 119.5 km and the fourth 119 km.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:31:52|Editor: yan

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VILNIUS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania has three months to submit a plan to the European Commission to correct the situation following the dismantling of a railway track between Lithuania and neighboring Latvia back in 2008, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Tuesday.

"Rebuilding of the railway track would be the most obvious solution, however, there are also other options," she was quoted as saying by local media.

Earlier this month, the Commission imposed a 28 million euro (33 million U.S. dollars) fine on the Lithuanian national railway operator Lithuanian Railways for breaching the EU antitrust rules following the Commission's investigation.

In 2008, Lithuanian Railways dismantled a 19 km railway track connection between Lithuania and neighboring Latvia, preventing oil company Orlen Lietuva, a subsidiary of Polish oil company PKN Orlen, from using the services of other railway companies. Orlen Lietuva is a major customer of Lithuanian Railways.

Vestager noted that Lithuanian Railways should still have to pay the fine even if it decided to rebuild the questioned railway track.

"I believe the government and Lithuanian Railways must decide now how to respond," the Commissioner said.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis said the government will seek a compromise in order to settle the issue.

"Avoiding of a compromise took us into this situation where we were imposed with a huge fine. There are various options; we will discuss them," Skvernelis was quoted as saying by local website vz.lt.

It is "too early" to say if it is possible to reduce the fine imposed by the Commission, he added.

"It is unacceptable and unprecedented that a company dismantles a public rail infrastructure to protect itself from competition," Vestager said, announcing the Commission's fine to Lithuanian Railways.

In recent years, state controlled Lithuanian Railways has seen its management completely reshuffled, amid corruption scandals. The fine from the Commission is burden inherited from the previous management, said the company and the leaders of the Baltic country.

"Tolerated for several years by several governments, 'the state within the state' and its irresponsible behavior has caused financial and reputation harm to the entire country," Grybauskaite, the Lithuanian president, was earlier quoted as saying by news agency BNS, using the term "the state within the state" to describe the previous management of Lithuanian Railways.

Vestager met with Grybauskaite, Skvernelis and members of Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) during her visit to Vilnius on Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:31:54|Editor: yan

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BRUSSELS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Tuesday further tightened its sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month in response to the country's nuclear and ballistic missile program.

The EU will introduce a ban on the sale of natural gas liquids to the DPRK and on the importation of its textiles, the Council of the EU said in a statement.

It will also impose a cap on the sale of refined petroleum products and crude oil to the DPRK.

In addition, EU member states will not provide new work authorizations for DPRK nationals to enter and work in their territories, "as they are suspected of generating revenue which is used to support the country's illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs," said the council.

The UN Security Council on Sept. 11 unanimously adopted a resolution to impose fresh sanctions on the DPRK over its nuclear test on Sept. 3 in violation of previous Security Council resolutions.

The new sanctions severely restrict the DPRK's oil imports, and ban its textile exports worth 800 million U.S. dollars and the remittances from about 93,000 overseas DPRK laborers.

Reiterating that the "dual-track approach" and the "suspension for suspension" initiative are practical methods to solve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang has called on all relevant parties to actively support China's efforts to push for dialogue and negotiation, and play a constructive role for a peaceful solution of the issue.

Pyongyang on Sept. 3 detonated a hydrogen bomb capable of being carried by an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the sixth nuclear test it has undertaken, running counter to relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 22:46:59|Editor: yan

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by Ejidiah Wangui

NAIROBI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan farmer Geoffrey Koech was staring at his ten-acre maize plantation shortly before the harvest with regret and bewilderment, aware that his investment had gone down the drain due to armyworm infestation.

"We are staring into a disaster," he told Xinhua in a recent interview as hired laborers geared up to clear the corn that had retarded due to attack by the voracious pest

Koech's farm located 159 km southwest of Nairobi was invaded by the fall armyworm (FAW) a few months ago and his efforts to salvage a portion of the farm from the fast-spreading pest were futile.

He now faces tough days ahead as farming is his only source of income.

The pests have caught many farmers like Koech by surprise, leaving a trail of destruction that is expected to trickle down to millions of households across Kenya that rely on corn as their staple food.

"It all started like a joke, during one of my tours around the farm, I noticed some of the plants had been attacked but I thought it is the usual worms that we deal with here. Within two weeks, I couldn't believe my eyes as most of the plants had been attacked. I tried using pesticides but it was too late," said Koech.

He had only heard about the FAW invasion in neighboring Uganda but never thought anything of the sort could strike closer home.

As small-holder farmers like Koech ponder on their next move, Kenya as a country stares at a 20 to 25-percent drop in maize yields in 2017, further complicating the situation as the East African nation is still reeling from the harsh effects of drought.

According to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), the caterpillar could cause maize losses costing 12 African countries up to 6.1 billion U.S. dollars per annum, unless control methods are urgently put in place.

The FAW which was previously reported in Western Kenya has now spread to other regions such as Kwale County in the Coast.

In its latest "evidence note" report on the FAW, CABI said the caterpillar has the potential to cause maize yield losses ranging from 8.3 to 20.6 million tonnes per annum, in the absence of any control methods, in just 12 of Africa's maize-producing countries.

According to the report, FAW should be expected to spread throughout suitable habitats in mainland sub-Saharan Africa within the next few cropping seasons.

Northern Africa and Madagascar are also at risk. In September, 28 countries in Africa confirmed presence of the pest, compared to only 12 five months earlier.

A further nine countries have conducted or are presently conducting surveys, and either strongly suspect its presence or are awaiting official confirmation.

According to Roger Day, CABI's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Coordinator, to avert the looming food crisis, affected nations need to come up with an integrated approach to deal with the crisis.

"Work must also start to assess which crop varieties can resist or tolerate FAW. In the longer run, national policies should promote lower risk control options through short-term subsidies and rapid assessment and registration of biopesticides and biological control products," Day said.

Immediate recommendations in the report include raising awareness on FAW symptoms, early detection and control, and the creation and communication of a list of recommended, regulated pesticides.

"If I was well informed on what to look out for and what to do when I discovered the first worm, I believe I could have saved close to a quarter of my farm from being invaded," said Koech.

In July, Kenya's Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett expressed concern over the FAW invasion saying the country's food security was at stake as production in 2017 is forecast to drop by 9 million bags.

The worm, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is native to the Americas but there is no documented evidence to indicate how it crossed oceans to land in Africa.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:17:11|Editor: Yang Yi

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Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah speaks during a stone laying foundation ceremony in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Oct. 10, 2017. Afghan and Chinese authorities on Tuesday launched the construction work of two China-aided buildings in Kabul University, the latest of China's assistance to the war-hit nation. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

KABUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and Chinese authorities on Tuesday launched the construction work of two China-aided buildings in Kabul University, the latest of China's assistance to the war-hit nation.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Yao Jing were among the officials attending the stone laying foundation ceremony which marked the start of construction of an Integrated Teaching Complex and an Auditorium inside the 85-year-old university.

"Investment in higher education in a society means focusing on safe future and welfare of next generation of the society. And Afghan government welcomes today's launch of construction of two key facilities in Kabul University, that will be built by China," Abdullah told the audience.

He also said the new buildings would provide more facilities for teachers and students in coming years.

Abdullah also expressed gratitude to China for its cooperation with the government and the people of Afghanistan particularly in the field of education.

The teaching building will accommodate an academic lecture hall and 30 classrooms and the auditorium with a capacity of 1,490 people at one time, which will be the largest hall in Kabul University, would be built within 27 months.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Yao Jing said that China will continue to support Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction process to see a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

He also emphasized for more people-to-people contact between the two nations.

In April, Afghan and Chinese officials also launched construction of a new building for a vocational and technical institute at nearby Kabul National Vocational Institute that will provide new facilities to 5,000 students.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:22:13|Editor: An

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TAIYUAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- While people in the rustbelt of China's northeast are looking into the future, photographer Wang Yuwen is tending to the past.

Wang, 69, took tens of thousands of photos in the past 40 years, chronicling glory, gloom and hopes in the old industrial heartland of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. An exhibition of Wang's work was held at the 17th China Pingyao International Photography Festival in late September.

The region enjoyed decades of prosperity until the late 1970s. A campaign led by the central government in 2003 helped it regain some steam. However, fettered by a legacy of central planning, the region has lagged behind again since 2013.

"The old heavy industries made tremendous contributions to New China. Numerous workers gave their lives to the cause. We should remember that," Wang said.

Born into a family of miners in Liaoning where most of his photos were taken, Wang has a special bond with those who made their living underground. "My grandfather, father and sisters all worked in the mines," he said, and many of his photos depict life and death in the mines.

A picture taken in 1983 shows Haizhou coal mine, which opened in the 1950s and was Asia's largest open colliery at the time. The mine used the most sophisticated technology available, with all machinery imported.

By the 1990s when many heavy industries were struggling, some mines were closed and workers were laid off. A picture shot in 2003 shows a former miner from Haizhou raising sheep. "Many workers became street vendors or did other manual work. They understood what had happened," Wang said.

Two years later, the mine was completely shut down and the site was transformed into a park in 2009.

Other photos include one showing pedicabs driven by former miner in Liaoning crossing trolley rails and one of children playing on rails overgrown with grass.

High-polluting, low-tech, inefficient factories in northeast China began to be phased out around 2005.

In 2016, the central government began a new effort to rejuvenate the area through industrial restructuring. It hopes to develop the region into a base for advanced equipment manufacturing and raw materials with international competitiveness.

During the past year or two, Wang's shots have depicted how the goal is being attained: new production lines for high-speed trains, cars and robots.

As "craftsman spirit" is encouraged, Wang concentrates on skilled workers, including Chen Xinhai with Shenyang Machine Tool, a model worker who maintains imported machines.

In addition to radical changes in the region, those things that remain unchanged impress Wang.

"After leaving the shaft, what miners did for leisure was smoking, showering and drinking. That has never changed in all these years," Wang said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:27:16|Editor: yan

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by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Greek lawmakers passed on Tuesday a bill which sets the framework for the legal recognition of gender identity change from the age of 15, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

A total of 171 MPs voted in favor of the bill out of 285 deputies present in the roll call vote which was broadcast live on the parliament's television channel.

In particular on the article 3 of the draft law which outlined in more detail the conditions, setting the minimum age for the change to 15 years, a total of 148 lawmakers voted in favor, 124 against and 13 abstained.

The issue had caused rifts within the ruling two-partite coalition government, as well as within opposition parties.

Currently transgender people who want to change sex identity have to undergo surgery and psychiatric tests.

Under the new law the gender change legal procedure will become easier by submitting an application to authorities, without medical examinations, operations and psychiatric assessments.

The 15 year old threshold was one of the key thorny issues which raised the most objections inside and outside the parliament.

Addressing the parliament during the debate Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras defended the bill as an obligation of the state to ensure the right to self-determination for every person living in Greece.

"No tradition, no religion, no perception of family requires people to remain on the sidelines, or be pushed into an institutional and social oblivion," he said.

The Greek leader did not manage to convince some of his Radical Left SYRIZA party MPs and ministers, including Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the Independent Greeks, the Right-wing junior coalition partner, as well as conservative opposition parties.

The government coalition has 153 deputies in the 300-member strong assembly.

The bill passed with the votes in favor cast by deputies of centre- Left parties.

Main opposition centre- Right New Democracy party opposed the bill as "irresponsible" counter proposing to increase the minimum age threshold to 17 years.

Citing reservations voiced by Greek Medical Associations and experts, critics argued that the bill created new complex issues in the future. Some doubted whether a 15 year old was mature enough to make such life-changing decisions.

Stavros Boufidis, a psychiatrist who took part in a protest in favor of the bill organized by the transgender community outside the Greek parliament on Monday, told Xinhua that he would suggest further lowering the age threshold to 13.

"Usually at the beginning of puberty hormone therapy starts. If along the hormone therapy process we launch the legal procedure of changing gender identity the teenager or child will avoid bullying and racism at school," he said.

"The legal recognition of gender identity without delays will facilitate trans persons to integrate easier in the labor market and society in general," he stressed.

Lee was born a girl. From elementary school he felt like a boy. He came out to his family, friends and classmates at 17. In a short video posted on his personal social media account he explained what it was like.

"They started ignoring me because they obviously were scared. There is so much transphobia," he said about his classmates.

"Elderly people with conservative views, good hearted, but you can understand," he said recalling the reaction of his teachers at school and college. "The bigger problems I faced were within the family circle," he underlined.

Trans activist Antogoni Mouranou introduced herself during Monday's demonstration as a human being.

She told Xinhua that the community and their families have waited for this law for many years. She hopes that it will help eliminate discriminations and make everyday life easier.

"Simple things which are non issues for the average person are a nightmare for us. I am talking about opening a bank account and renting a house to showing up at a public service office or seeking treatment in a hospital. We have so many problems," she explained. All of them start from the fact that her appearance is not "compatible" with the gender identity written on her identity card and passport.

"For trans persons this is a great day," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:27:17|Editor: yan

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THE HAGUE, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The bomb alerts that seven education facilities in the Netherlands received on Tuesday were false and police are investigating whether the various reports are related, Dutch media reported.

International schools in The Hague, Maastricht, Eindhoven and Haren, one school in Utrecht and two in Leeuwarden were evacuated after receiving bomb alerts. Nothing suspicious was found during investigations.

The National Office of the Public Prosecutor is examining whether this was the act of one person or a coordinated action, according to NOS news.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:42:24|Editor: yan

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KIGALI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The aviation industry across Africa remains largely unexplored, presenting huge investment opportunities to global private businesses, said delegates attending an aviation meeting here on Tuesday.

Nearly 1,000 aviation and hospitality sectors experts, investors and government officials from Africa and beyond are attending the three-day Aviation Africa 2017 (AviaDev 2017) event in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

"The continent is characterized by vast distances and it has neither good road nor rail systems. Air transport presents strong business opportunities for freight, business, leisure and tourism between African economies," said Jon Howell, managing director of AviaDev, Africa's leading airline route development conference.

Home to 12 percent of the world's population, Africa accounts for less than 2 percent of the global air service market, according to the World Bank.

African continent remains the world's most attractive investment area in aviation industry, Howell said.

He said air travel is essential to the prosperity of Africa as it opens up opportunities and facilitates regional integration on the continent.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), across Africa, air transport supports 6.8 million jobs and contributes 72.5 billion U.S. dollars to the African continent's gross domestic product (GDP).

IATA predicts that the top 10 fastest growing aviation markets in the next 20 years will all be in Africa.

James Musoni, Rwanda's minister of infrastructure, said the aviation industry is crucial for social and economic transformation of Africa, noting that RwandAir has expanded its wings across African economies and beyond.

Africa needs more investment in the airline industry and should develop better infrastructures that support aviation development, Musoni said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-10 23:52:29|Editor: yan

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NICOSIA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised upwards its projections for the Cyprus economy for this and the next year in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The statement which made available in Nicosia said that GDP growth this year will reach 3.4 percent compared to its original estimate of 2.5 percent and to 2.6 percent in 2018 from an original estimate of 2.3 percent.

The IMF also said that it expects Cyprus's current account deficit to shrink to 3.8 percent this year, compared to 5.3 percent last year and to 2.7 percent in 2018 percent.

The IMF said in a statement on Friday that the Cypriot economy has achieved an impressive turnaround since the 2012-2013 economic and banking crisis but also urged Cyprus to get rid of important legacies from its earlier boom bust cycle to avoid a new crisis.

The IMF new estimates coincided with an announcement by the Cyprus Statistical Service on Tuesday revising upwards GDP growth for 2016 to 3 percent, from the previous estimate of 2.8 percent.

It also revised upwards the 2015 growth to 2 percent from the original estimate of 1.7 percent.

Cyprus was pulled back from the brink of an economic meltdown in March, 2013, in a 10-billion-euro economic assistance deal by the Eurogroup and the IMF.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 00:02:31|Editor: yan

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HAVANA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday led a new burial ceremony for the island's first independence hero, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, as well as Mariana Grajales, who is considered among the most important historical figures of this nation.

In a ceremony at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, Castro placed Cespedes' remains at a new location situated next to the island's national hero, Jose Marti.

Previously, the memorial for Cespedes, known as the "Father of the Homeland," was at another location which is known as the "patrimonial area" at the center of the cemetery.

Meanwhile, a new burial place was also erected for Mariana Grajales, mother of several independence war fighters including the most prominent one, Antonio Maceo who fought in two of the three liberation wars.

Grajales' remains were placed at her memorial by Teresa Amarelle, secretary general of the Cuban Women's Federation.

Eusebio Leal, a prominent Cuban historian, said the ceremony was "historic" and happens once in a lifetime to honor patriots that sacrificed their own lives for the good of the nation.

"Cespedes was the first patriot to fight for our independence and led a historic declaration to start the first liberation war. He broke off with his family history and economic well-being for the good and future of the nation," he said.

On this day in 1868, Cespedes freed his slaves from his plantations in eastern Cuba and led a movement which declared its independence from Spain and started the Ten Years' War.

Meanwhile, Leal highlighted Mariana Grajales' courage as a mother who always put the island's independence in mind and sent off several of her sons to fight in the liberation wars.

"She gave birth to 14 children whom she raised firmly and were taught to love their homeland," he added.

After the ceremony, Castro and other top government and Communist Party officials paid tribute to Cespedes and Grajales at their new burial sites. The head of state also placed flowers at the memorials of Jose Marti and Cuban Revolution founder and his brother, Fidel Castro, whose remains are located at the same cemetery.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 00:07:32|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Nokia plans to halt development of its virtual reality camera "OZO" and reduce up to 310 employees, announced the Finnish IT giant on Tuesday.

"The slower-than-expected development of the VR market means that Nokia Technologies plans to reduce investments and focus more on technology licensing opportunities," said Nokia in a press release.

The Technologies division is set to halt development of further versions of the OZO VR camera and hardware, resulting in slashing up to 310 jobs, which account for nearly 30 percent of the workforce in the division.

The company said that the job cuts will affect employees mainly in Finland, the United States and Britain.

The OZO camera, a 360-degree stereoscopic camera, was released in November 2015. Since then, its market price has dropped from 60,000 U.S. dollars to 25,000 dollars.

Nokia said it will continue to focus on digital health and patent and brand licensing business.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 00:27:37|Editor: yan

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PARIS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- French civil servants, teachers, medical staff and railway workers walked out of their offices Tuesday to join trade unions call to reject pro-market Prsident Emmanuel Macron labor law.

As the end of a showdown over the new labor rules is not in sight, the country's nine public sector unions, representing 5.4 million workers at public services, backed the protest call, the first such move in a decade.

Some 130 demonstrations were planned in French cities to express public discontent over work conditions and the new labor code, forcing schools to close their doors and airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

"The government does not seem to have taken the full measure of the deep malaise among public sector workers," Laurent Berger, head of CFDT, France's second-biggest union, was quoted as saying by local media.

Data released by the education ministry showed 17.5 percent of teachers took part in the strike, while trade unions put the figure up to 50 percent.

Around 30 percent of flights in and out of Paris and other major cities were cancelled. However, limited impact had been reported on railway networks.

In the fourth show of force in one month, 400,000 people took the streets on Tuesday with 45,000 were numbered in Paris rally, unions figures showed.

Macron in May pledged to lessen labor rules and offer more freedom in terms of recruitment, firing and pay conditions.

Despite street protests which prompted a fall in his public support, France's youngest head of state in modern history, signed, last month, the controversial new labor rules into law which will take effect by year-end.

"It's unprecedented in-depth reform of labor market which is essential to our economy and society," Macron said.

New anti-labor law protest is scheduled for Oct. 19.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 00:57:47|Editor: yan

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BELGRADE, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Serbia and Turkey signed 12 agreements here in Belgrade with an aim to achieve closer ties, expand trade and boost economic cooperation through Turkish investments in Serbia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Serbia Tuesday for a two-day visit. During a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Palace of Serbia, the two leaders talked about bilateral political and economic relations, and signed 12 agreements.

Among the agreements is a political declaration of Vucic and Erdogan on the establishment of a High Political Council for cooperation between Serbia and Turkey.

Another is a new agreement on free trade, which will replace the one made in 2009 and will enable Serbia to export its sunflowers and beef to Turkey without customs fees.

Remaining agreements deal with the reconstruction of some Turkish cultural sites in Serbia, as well as concrete cooperation in several fields like agriculture, forestry, water management, urbanism, transport, infrastructure, energy and education.

Four more agreements will be signed Wednesday when Vucic and Erdogan will jointly visit Serbian city of Novi Pazar, populated mostly by Bosniak Muslims.

Vucic revealed at the press conference after meeting Erdogan that Wednesday's agreements will include a memorandum with a Turkish company in the area of textile that will invest in Serbian city of Kraljevo and employ 2,500 people.

Serbia and Turkey will in the future build better relations and their trade balance will exceed 1 billion U.S. dollars by the end of this year, Vucic predicted.

"We want and we wish for the best possible relations with Turkey, and we are going to build them," Vucic said.

He pointed out that the agreements which have been signed will have an important influence to economic and the overall cooperation between the two countries.

Erdogan said Turkey wishes to raise the level of trade with Serbia to 3 to 5 billion dollars annually and that it is important that the two countries develop their education, health services, justice and security.
A U.S. military convoy drives on a highway from Kobane to Ain Issa in Syria on September 29, 2017. (AFP PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led coalition has reduced airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Iraq, allowing it to send reinforcements to Syria and complicate the advance of Syrian troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The international coalition has sharply cut the number of airstrikes against IS in Iraq since September to just several times a day, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The decrease in intensity of strikes coincided "in a strange way" with the arrival of IS militants from Iraqi border areas to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, where Syrian government troops have significantly expanded the territory liberated from terrorists over the past week, he said.

The continued fueling of terrorists from Iraq raised serious questions about the objectives of U.S.-led anti-terrorist operations in the region, he said.

In a separate statement, Konashenkov said Russian warplanes delivered 182 strikes over the past 24 hours in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour against IS militants coming from Iraq, killing dozens of them.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 03:43:43|Editor: Yang Yi

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Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special envoy for Yemen, speaks to the press on the situation in Yemen during a press encounter at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 10, 2017. The UN Security Council on Tuesday called on all parties in Yemen, particularly the Houthis, to engage in meaningful dialogue to stop fighting and resolve the conflict. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday called on all parties in Yemen, particularly the Houthis, to engage in meaningful dialogue to stop fighting and resolve the conflict.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their support for a political solution as the only way to end the conflict in Yemen and their call on all parties to immediately agree on the modalities for a durable cessation of hostilities, French ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre, who is president of the Security Council for October, told reporters.

"The members of the Security Council deeply regretted the lack of progress in the political process and the worsening of the humanitarian situation," he said after Security Council consultations on Yemen.

The council asked for the implementation of relevant resolutions and demanded safe, rapid, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access to all populations in all affected governorates, he said.

In a briefing to the Security Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said the disaster in Yemen is man-made.

The recent sharp increase in civilian casualties showed the parties' continued disregard for the loss of civilian life and their obligations under international humanitarian law, said the envoy.

"I am in the process of developing a proposal that include confidence-building measures that will allow the parties to resume negotiations in order to reach a comprehensive agreement," he told reporters after the council meeting.

Yemen is in a civil war since 2015, pitting Sanaa-based Houthi forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces loyal to the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, based in Aden, in addition to attacks by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State terrorist groups.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 03:53:48|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Algeria on Tuesday signed five cooperation agreements as part of the two-day official visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the North Africa nation.

The signing ceremony was held in capital Algiers with the presence of Medvedev and his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Ouyahia, as well as several ministers from both countries.

The agreements involve sectors of justice, health care, vocational training, and energy.

In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding about civil nuclear energy was signed between the Algerian Atomic Energy Commission and the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. It aims at opening ways of cooperation and exchanging of experience between the two countries.

After the signing ceremony, Medvedev told reporters that his visit to Algeria is part of the continuous bilateral dialogue between Moscow and Algiers, saying that "the signing of these cooperation agreements confirms our commitment to continue the implementation of the recommendations of the 8th joint committee of cooperation between the two countries held in Algiers in September."

For his part, Ouyahia said the visit of Medvedev has been a success as it will open new perspectives for bilateral relations, which have been given a new impetus in 2001, after the signature of the Strategic Cooperation Declaration by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Official figures show the two nations' trade exchange hit about 4 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Medvedev wraps up Tuesday his two-day visit to Algeria, which he kicked off on Monday.

The latest visit of a top Russian official to the North African nation was conducted by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in February 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 04:13:55|Editor: Yang Yi

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Ali Salah Ali (R), chairman of Sudan's Importers' Union, and Sudanese political and economic analyst Hassan al-Saoury attend a symposium in Khartoum, Sudan, on Oct. 10, 2017. The U.S. decision to lift economic sanctions on Sudan constituted a turning point in Sudan's foreign relations, marking its return to the world trade and financial system, according to Sudanese experts. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

KHARTOUM, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. decision to lift economic sanctions on Sudan constituted a turning point in Sudan's foreign relations, marking its return to the world trade and financial system, according to Sudanese experts.

For nearly 20 years, the U.S. economic sanctions have cast severe damaged on the Sudanese economy, including the freezing of more than 7 million U.S. dollars belonging to the banking sector in Sudan.

The sanctions have also caused heavy losses to foreign investors in Sudan regarding foreign transactions, and added additional restrictions for exporters in commercial transactions.

The sanctions led to mistrust in dealings between Sudan and financial institutions and donor countries, causing Sudan to lose predictable resources that were capable of filling in the external gap.

Experts in Sudan agreed that the lifting of the sanctions is likely to enable Sudan to restore its trade and economic relations with the world, facilitate banking operations and procedures for exports and imports.

It would also ease access to commodities, basic production inputs, as well as health and education services, and also resume the country's communication with international financial and investment institutions, particularly for the Sudanese private sector.

"The decision to lift the sanctions on Sudan represents an important shift in Sudan's economic relations," Ali Salah Ali, chairman of Sudan's Importers' Union, said when addressing a symposium Tuesday titled "Post Sanctions lifting: Reading the Economic and Political Reality."

He noted that the lifting of the sanctions represents a new shift in commercial transactions both with exports and imports. It will also contribute to "improving exchange rate of the national currency."

He stressed that the Sudanese pound is strengthening against dollar in the past few days, and the prices of some consumer goods are also declining.

Ali further explained that the private sector could be the biggest beneficiary as there would be more access to financing outlets to obtain funds.

He also highlighted the "positive and direct" impact on the overall performance of the Sudanese economy, as the lifting of the sanction removes "many of the complexities that accompanied the business performance."

Sudanese political and economic analyst Hassan al-Saoury, also addressing the symposium, expected that the sanctions lifting decision would have a positive impact on the production sectors in Sudan.

"The agricultural sector represents the main production base of Sudan's economy," he noted, adding that the sector would benefit from more access to spare parts, fertilizers, seeds and modern technologies, which will increase the productivity and exports.

"It will also boost the competitiveness of Sudanese agricultural products in foreign markets," he said.

Al-Saoury, meanwhile, urged the Sudanese government to develop a package of policies to make use of the sanctions lifting, suggesting strong partnerships be created with major U.S. companies "to act as guarantors to avoid re-imposing of the sanctions."

On Oct. 6, the United States decided to lift its economic sanctions on Sudan permanently, citing Sudan's "sustained positive actions" to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas, improve humanitarian access, and maintain cooperation with the United States "on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism."

The U.S. State Department announced that the decision would go into effect as of Oct. 12.

The United States has been imposing sanctions on Sudan since 1997 and listing it one of the countries sponsoring terrorism.

Although there are no accurate statistics on Sudan's total loss due to the sanctions, Sudanese sources estimate it at around 500 billion U.S. dollars, with indirect loss estimated at about 4 billion dollars per year.

The U.S. sanctions included a ban on all kinds of commercial and financial dealings with Sudan. The Sudanese banking sector was cut off from the global financial system.

In transport sector, Sudan Airways has lost its place as a national carrier as the sanctions denied it access to spare parts and regular maintenance for planes, which caused most of its planes to be out of service.

Meanwhile, Sudan's railway lost 83 percent of its infrastructure due to the sanctions, with many trains being paralleled.

In the health sector, the sanctions prevented Sudan from obtaining U.S. medical equipment and medicines, and decreased the efficiency of medical laboratories in the country.

Late July, the United States extended a review period of three months to decide whether to permanently lift trade sanctions given its human rights records and other issues.

On Jan. 13, former U.S. President Barack Obama issued a decision to cancel two executive orders imposing economic sanctions on Sudan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 04:18:58|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" Monday's attacks perpetrated by the Allied Democratic Forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against a base of the UN mission in the country, which killed two peacekeepers and injured 18 others.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the Tanzanian peacekeepers killed, as well as to the Tanzanian government, and to the UN mission in the DRC, called Monusco. They wished the injured peacekeepers a speedy recovery.

The council members condemned in the strongest terms all attacks and provocations against Monusco by armed groups and called on the DRC government to swiftly investigate these attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.

They called on all armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons and underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for Monusco and expressed their deep appreciation to the mission's troop- and police-contributing countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also condemned the attacks on Monusco in the DRC's North Kivu province.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 04:29:00|Editor: Yamei

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An Iraqi soldier helps civilians cross a river near the city of Kirkuk, Iraq, on Oct. 4, 2017. Because of the conflict between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in the north recently, almost one thousand civilians from Hawijah arrived at safe areas near the city of Kirkuk on Wednesday. These civilians will be transfered by local authorities to relocation camps. (Xinhua/Ako Jihad)

BAGHDAD, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday expected the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq to be completely defeated this year.

In a televised press conference after his weekly cabinet meeting, Abadi hailed the victories of the Iraqi security forces against IS group, especially in the last offensive in Hawijah Pocket in the western part of Iraq's ethnically mixed province of Kirkuk.

"The Iraqi joint forces liberated areas (near Hawijah) which any forces did not reach since the era of the former regime. Today horror dominates Daesh (IS group) everywhere (in Iraq), and as we promised this year will be the complete end of IS terrorist group in Iraq," Abadi said.

As for the referendum crisis with the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, Abadi reaffirmed Baghdad's stance "not to discuss the referendum with anyone or negotiate before it is cancelled."

"We cannot stand with arms folded in front of attempts to break up the country's unity. Any dialogue should be based on Iraq's unity, the constitution and the rejection of the referendum," Abadi said.

Abadi also called on the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, "not to clash with the federal forces in the disputed areas (mainly controlled by Peshmerga), as the security responsibility is the duty of the federal government."

Abadi's comments came as the Iraqi security forces are carrying out an offensive to dislodge the extremist IS militants from the city of Hawijah and surrounding areas in west of Kirkuk.

The city of Kirkuk is part of the disputed areas claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdish region. Most of the disputed areas are under control of the Peshmerga.

The operation to free Hawijah came as tensions are running high between Baghdad government and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after the Kurdish region held a controversial referendum on independence of Kurdistan and disputed areas in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces.

The referendum was widely opposed because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and it could undermine fight against IS.

In addition, neighboring countries such as Turkey, Iran and Syria see that such a step would threaten their territorial integrity, as large populations of Kurds live in those countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 04:34:02|Editor: Yang Yi

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (L, Front) congratulates Thokozile Mathuthu (R, Front) after she was sworn in as new Minister of State for Matabeleland North at the State House in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 10, 2017. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday swore into office six new ministers he appointed in a cabinet reshuffle on Monday. (Xinhua)

HARARE, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday swore into office six new ministers he appointed in a cabinet reshuffle on Monday.

Two new ministers were not available and would be sworn in at a later date.

The ministers who took oaths of office and loyalty are former head of intelligence services Happyton Bonyongwe, who was appointed Justice Minister, taking over from Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Youth Development, Indigenization and Employment Creation Minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa and Edger Mbwembwe, the new minister of tourism.

Mabuwa is former deputy minister of Industry and Commerce while Mbwembwe was deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ministers of State for Matabeleland North, Mashonaland West and Masvingo Provinces also took their oaths of office and loyalty.

In his cabinet reshuffle, Mugabe reassigned 10 ministers, appointed eight new ministers and dropped three ministers.

Among those reassigned are former finance minister Patrick Chinamasa who is now cyber security minister.

Former Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo replaced Chinamasa while former tourism minister Walter Mzembi is now Foreign Affairs Minister, taking over from Simbarashe Mumbengegwi who was moved to Macro-Economic Planning ministry.

Mugabe last reshuffled cabinet in 2015 and the current reshuffle comes ahead of the 2018 polls in which the veteran president will seek re-election.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 04:54:08|Editor: yan

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CAPE TOWN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- As part of its commitments to the Paris Agreement, South Africa will introduce a climate change legislation by 2018, Parliament said on Tuesday.

Parliament has been informed of this development by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs (PCEA) said.

"The Committee is happy to note that there is such a commitment which will ensure that South Africa as a country lives up to its commitments to the Paris Agreement and begins to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies as part of the peak, plateau and decline trajectory," spokesperson Philemon Mapulane said.

The legislation, once adopted, will oblige the DEA to make a climate change impact assessment as a prerequisite for opening any coal-powered stations.

The PCEA believes that a climate change legislation will assist in avoiding litigation cases and judgments, Mapulane said.

He was referring to South Africa's first climate change court case against the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).

Early this year, Earthlife Africa (ELA), represented by the Center for Environmental Rights, filed a lawsuit against the DEA, arguing that the department had granted the Thabametsi power station in Mpumalanga Province an environmental authorization without adequate information about its potential climate change impacts.

But lawyers for the DEA argue that, while climate change is a relevant factor to consider, the regulatory regime does not currently require a climate change impact assessment as a prerequisite for granting an environmental authorization.

In March, the Pretoria High Court reserved judgment on the case.

If ELA is successful, the authorization for Thabametsi Station will be set aside and referred back to the DEA. The department will then need to consider the full and final climate change impact assessment, along with public comment thereon, before making a decision whether to re-issue the authorization.

Such an order by the court would also have wider implications for the consideration of climate impacts in the authorization of future coal-fired power stations.

A climate change legislation has been under consideration for long.

South Africa has presented its White Paper on environment which envisions an effective climate change response and long-term goals towards a lower-carbon economy and climate resilient society. It includes proposal to set emissions reduction outcomes for each significant sector in the economy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:04:11|Editor: yan

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Steam rises from the coal-fired Jim Bridger power plant outside Rock Springs, Wyoming, U.S. April 5, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took a formal step on Tuesday to repeal measures put in place by former U.S. President Barack Obama that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to repeal the so-called Clean Power Plan because it "exceeds the agency's statutory authority."

"We are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate," Pruitt said in a statement.

"Any replacement rule will be done carefully, properly, and with humility, by listening to all those affected by the rule," he said.

The EPA has sent the notice to the Federal Register for publication and the public will now have 60 days to submit comments.

It's an unastonishing move because President Donald Trump, who once called climate change a "hoax," has already announced in June that his country will leave the Paris Agreement on curbing global warming.

His administration considered efforts to fight climate change just to "be a waste of your money," a position met with widespread criticism both at home and abroad.

The Clean Power Plan, issued by the Obama administration in 2015, required coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, but it was put on hold by the U.S. Supreme Court in a five to four decision in February 2016.

In March this year, Trump signed an executive order, directing the EPA to "suspend, revise, or rescind" the Obama-era regulation.

The agency said Tuesday that repealing the plan will "facilitate the development of U.S. energy resources and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens associated with the development of those resources."

More specifically, the Trump administration claimed that the proposed repeal could provide up to 33 billion U.S. dollars in avoided compliance costs in 2030.

Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator under Obama who released the Clean Power Plan, however, said in a statement that a proposal to repeal it "without any timeline or even a commitment to propose a rule to reduce carbon pollution, isn't a step forward."

"The (current) administration is using contrived problems with our energy system to take money out of consumers' pockets and giving it to fossil fuel companies, so they can force a shift away from clean energy and back to dirty fossil fuel," she said.

Reaction to the proposed repeal was deeply divided, with industry groups welcoming it, and environmental groups decrying the move.

Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, cheered it as a "first step" toward replacing the plan with "a common-sense regulatory framework" that provides "much-needed flexibility and certainty" to meet their members' energy needs.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement that the Trump administration has "made the right decision" and "manufacturing workers can feel a tremendous sense of relief today."

Sam Adams, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute and former mayor of Portland, Oregon, however, wrote in a blog that this move flies in the face of common sense and that it will hurt America's security and economy.

"It also won't bring back lost jobs in the coal industry, and instead, pours cold water on the country's shift to renewable energy," Adams said. "Rolling it back won't move the country forward -- it will sadly just leave the country with a fuzzier roadmap for the future."

Experts said that it's unlikely the U.S. will see any immediate effects from rolling back the plan, but undoubtedly, it will slow the country's transition from coal power to natural gas, wind and solar.

Many U.S. states, cities and companies have pledged to work to reduce emissions without Washington, but it's unclear if this will be enough.

Attorneys general of multiple states like New York vowed to sue the Trump administration.

The EPA determined in 2009 that carbon dioxide constitutes a pollutant under the country's Clean Air Act, so the agency is required to act to regulate emissions.

"Fuel-burning power plants are one of our nation's largest sources of climate change pollution, and common-sense science -- and the law -- dictate that EPA take action to cut these emissions," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.

"The Trump administration's persistent and indefensible denial of climate change -- and their continued assault on actions essential to stemming its increasing devastation -- is reprehensible, and I will use every available legal tool to fight their dangerous agenda," Schneiderman said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:24:15|Editor: Yamei

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DAMASCUS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- As a political solution in Syria seems close, the government has already started securing economic deals for the reconstruction process in the war-torn country.

For now, the Syrian government seems to concentrate on making economic deals with its main international ally, Russia.

In the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, a government delegation headed by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem took part in the plenary session of the Syrian-Russian joint Committee for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation and signed protocols of economic cooperation for the implementation of projects in Syria.

Al-Moallem said Tuesday the meetings in Sochi have built a solid base for strategic cooperation in the economic field between both countries, according to state news agency SANA.

"We are getting closer, through cooperation with you (Russia) and with the rest of our allies, to final victory," said al-Moallem during his meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

He went on saying that "it is normal that we fight together our battle of building the Syrian economy," stressing that both sides have been able, at the end of the Joint Committee, to "build a strategic base for the economic building between us."

The head of the Syria diplomacy, meanwhile, noted that he is "not worried about the speed of implementing what we have agreed on," adding that the faster the Russian companies meet their obligations, the faster the Syrian economy recovers, "and the more assured you will be about your investments in the Syrian economy being remunerative."

For his part, Rogozin said that the Russian companies will commence their work in the reconstruction process in Syria, following reaching specific agreements.

In a statement to journalists following the signature ceremony, al-Moallem said that the agreements included strategic projects that will be "immediately implemented" in addition to other projects to be carried out within specific timelines outlined in the agreements.

Meanwhile, Minister of Petroleum Ali Ghanem, who was part of the government delegation to Sochi, announced the signature of several memos of understanding with Russia on cooperation in the oil sector, adding that the Syrian side held a number of effective meetings with Russian companies operating in this field, according to SANA.

He underlined the ministry's efforts to rehabilitate facilities damaged by the war, stressing that the oil sector has been subjected to systematic attacks by terrorists and the U.S.-led coalition alike, resulting in economic losses estimated at 68 billion U.S. dollars.

For his part, Ali Hammoud, the minister of transportation, said his ministry signed with Russia several agreements, including a project to link the coastal region in Syria with phosphate mines in the central province of Homs to transport 10 million tons of phosphate annually through the sea.

Electricity Minister Mohammad Kharboutli also stated that his ministry signed a protocol with the Russian side to complete the implementation of four strategic power generation projects that will be established in four different areas in Syria.

A day earlier, the Ministry of Economy announced launching a "regular maritime link" between the port of the coastal city of Latakia and the Novorossiysk seaport in Russia.

The cargo ships would sail from Latakia to Mersin in Turkey, Odessa in Ukraine all the way to Novorssiysk in a trip that would take seven days.

Mahdi al-Dali, the general director of the local production committee, was cited by SANA as saying that the importance of the maritime link is to ensure a fast transportation of goods, most importantly the agricultural ones to preserve their quality and validity.

Al-Dali noted that opening the new sea line is part of the government's efforts to open new markets for exportation in order to alleviate the hardships resulted from the Westerns sanctions on Syria.

Experts in Syria believe that when the war is over, Syria is expected to be the main attraction of foreign companies, and governments, particularly those interested in the reconstruction process.

Foreign investments will also play a role in shoring up the sluggish economy in Syria, which took a heavy beating during the war.

After six years of war in Syria, the country's economy has become crippled with the wide-ranging U.S. and European sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's government.

The total economic losses so far are calculated at about 226 billion dollars, "about four times the Syrian GDP in 2010," according to estimates published by the World Bank last month.

The effects will be felt for decades, as it's estimated that it would take 10 to 15 years for Syria's per capita GDP to return to pre-war levels.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:29:16|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and Russia on Tuesday underlined convergent views to rebalance the oil market through cutting oil output by almost 1.2 million barrels per day.

The slashing of output is in accordance with the Vienna Agreement signed earlier this year.

Visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev made the remarks after signing here with his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Ouyahia five cooperation agreements between the two countries.

"Algeria and Russia share convergent views, including in terms of the necessity to cut output to bring back balance to oil market, in line with what was agreed in Vienna," Medvedev said.

"Russia has endorsed the message of (Algerian) President Bouteflika to Vienna general meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC members (held earlier this year), thanks to which an agreement was reached to cut output," the Russian PM noted.

He further called upon OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to respect the implementation of Vienna Declaration, hailing "Algeria's compliance with production levels set out in the said agreement, which likely to help stabilizing the market, providing oil prices at reasonable levels, increasing revenues and ultimately creating new growth opportunities."

For his part, Ouyahia said that "dialogue is continuing on the Vienna Agreement with a view to ensuring compliance with its recommendations."

He further hailed Russia's contribution to the mobilization non-OPEC producing countries to join the Vienna Agreement.

Medvedev has wrapped up on Tuesday night his two-day visit to Algeria.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:29:18|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures closed moderately lower on Tuesday as investors awaited a key monthly supply and demand report.

The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 0.25 cent, or 0.07 percent, to 3.4925 dollars per bushel. December wheat delivery went down 0.75 cent, or 0.17 percent, to 4.3525 dollars per bushel. November soybeans lost 0.75 cent, or 0.08 percent, to settle at 9.66 dollars per bushel.

CBOT floor brokers reported that funds bought 2,000 contracts of corn, 1,200 contracts of wheat and 3,100 contracts of soybeans.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expected to release its monthly supply and demand report on Thursday, so many investors are poised to wait and see before they take on big new positions.

"A lot of traders believe that USDA might go slightly higher with their yield number this month," said Joe Vaclavik with Standard Grain.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:39:20|Editor: yan

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BANJUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) handed dismissal letters to seven of its senior members on Tuesday, according to a senior member of the army, suspicion that they were giving information to former President Yahya Jammeh who is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea.

The dismissed officers are Major Kebba Gibba, Major Karamba Jammeh, Major Alieu Sowe, Major Kebba Gibba, Major Lamin Manneh alias Gilbert), Major Gibril Jammeh, and Captain Sulayman Jammeh. No official reason is stated on the letter as to what led to their discharge of duties.

Major Kebba Gibba confirmed to Xinhua his dismissal but he could not tell the reason why he has been laid off from service as the content is scanty.

However, a senior member in the army who prefers anonymity said the officers were being put under surveillance following the suspicion that they were giving information to the former President Jammeh.

According to him, the GAF was able to intercept their communications with Jammeh which has a potential of undermining the national security of The Gambia.

Currently, several military officers are being held after they were allegedly caught using WhatsApp groups to send information to the ex-leader.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 05:44:21|Editor: Yamei

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People wave Spanish national flags in a march with the slogan "Enough and let's recover the sensibility", to defend the Spanish constitution and the unity of Spain in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 8, 2017. (Xinhua/Juan Carlos Rojas)

MADRID, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government will meet on Wednesday due to the extraordinary situation created on Tuesday after president of the regional government of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, said that the effects of the declaration of independence would be suspended to open a period of dialogue.

Spain's Deputy Prime Minster, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said on Tuesday there would be an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

Saenz de Santamaria said that Puigdemont has made Catalonia unstable and that his speech showed he does not know where he is going.

According to Saenz de Santamaria, the regional government of Catalonia, Generalitat, cannot confirm the results of the referendum because it is illegal.

Neither Puigdemont nor others can draw conclusions from a law that does not exist, a referendum that did not take place, she said, adding that the laws passed by the Catalan parliament were illegal too.

Puigdemont appeared at the Catalan parliament on Tuesday and proposed to suspend the effects of the declaration of independence a few weeks in order to open a process of dialogue.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 06:04:27|Editor: yan

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BEIRUT, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- An international conference to discuss the Syrian displacement repercussions was held Tuesday trying to narrow the gaps between the human rights and human trafficking.

NGOs and civil society organizations gathered to discuss the difficulties that Syrian refugees and hosting countries are suffering after more than six years of the Syrian civil war.

The conference was organized by "Mawad Civil Society Organization" with the collaboration of Besme International and the Lebanese Internal Security Forces.

Besme International General Manager Gulshan Suglam thanked the Lebanese state and government for the generosity they showed in addressing the Syrian refugee issue.

She expressed appreciation to the Lebanese government for its "efforts to address the issue of the Syrian refugees," however also pointed out that Lebanon is somehow bind to address this issue as its obligations stipulated in the constitution.

She added "we do not forget that Lebanon embraced in its constitution the International Declaration on Human rights and the related resolutions issued by the United Nations in this matter and Lebanon is bind to apply all the regulations stated in these resolutions."

Representative of State Minister for Refugees Ziad al-Sayegh for his part tried to line out the repercussions of the Syrian refugees on Lebanon.

"Lebanon is committed through its constitution to respect the Human Rights, and is also committed to all the resolutions and agreements adopted by the United Nations and the Arab League," he said.

"But we have sometimes to differentiate between signing and commitment, and the repercussions that Lebanon is witnessing due to the displacement and refuge, meaning that the scientific logic must be reconsidered in addressing the problems of displacement and refuge," he added.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to the United Nations Higher Commission for refugees, count about 1 million, a matter that Lebanon has complained repeatedly about the huge burden it has taken, and cannot take alone anymore.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 06:24:31|Editor: yan

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By Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The promise of a domestically made car is the pride and joy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is very keen on this long-awaited project which would make Turkey a player in the car market.

In recent years, this progress has been made and Turkey's own car could hit the road in 2020.

For decades, Turks ask themselves why their country is not producing it's own car. Some attempts were made towards this end in the 1960s but eventually failed. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by Erdogan sees a national car as a way to reduce the country's trade deficit.

In fact, Turkey is a significant producer of cars which are an important export material. The sizable auto industry of Turkey accounts for nearly two percent of global manufacture.

But all cars made in Turkey, some 1.5 million last year, are either licenses products or based on western products and 75 percent are finally exported. The automotive sector is the driving force behind the strength of the economy in Turkey.

Kits of cars come to Turkey ready to be assembled and only a small share of parts are made in Turkey. Several globally known brands have factories in Turkey, such as Ford, Fiat or Renault. There is also a Toyota site production as well.

These plants are concentrated in the industrialized north-western cities of Turkey, like Bursa and Sakarya, and employ tens of thousands of workers.

President Erdogan insists on Turkey having it's own brand of car to show that it can be done and that his country is up to the task in getting involved in international competition.

The first production was planned for 2016 but financial challenges and the initial reluctance of national automotive firms to get involved delayed the project.

According to sources in the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Turkey intends to produce it's own car which will be an electric one, since the age of combustion motorized cars comes towards an end.

Science and Technology Minister Faruk Ozlu said early September that "an announcement will be made regarding the national car this month," but this announcement has not yet been made. He however told journalists that "works are going very well in this field."

"We have no problem in the design and production areas. The issue is a commercial one. There are global players involved in the automotive sector who produce millions of cars," he pointed out, calling on Turkish companies to be more immersed in the project.

Several globally important countries such as Britain and France and also China, the world's biggest car market, have announced that the production of petrol and diesel cars will be banned in the near future to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. China made 28 million cars last year, almost a third of the global total.

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak), a public institution, considered initially developing its own vehicle from scratch but calculated at least 1 billion U.S. dollars in cost.

The government and Tubitak turned last year to buying the intellectual property rights for the second generation of the Swedish automotive Saab 9-3 platform, a company which had very serious financial problems before being acquired in 2012 by a Chinese-led consortium NEVS (National Electric Vehicles Sweden).

"Turkey has taken a shortcut towards the goal of domestic car production, rather than developing a new car from scratch, it decided to use Saab as a backbone. Tubitak has an important role to play in this project which is something of a dream for us," told Xinhua a official source who chose to remain anonymous.

The goal is at least 85 percent of the components to be made in Turkey, from design to production, according to this source.

And to enhance its future competitiveness, Ankara decided that the new automobile would be exempt from a special consumption tax levied on all motorized vehicles and also luxury items in Turkey.

This would make the future car's price significantly cheaper than cars already in the Turkish market, by 30 to 35 percent, according to experts.

Several prototypes have been presented in spring of this year to the press. Yet some experts remained unimpressed about the project of a local Turkish car which has no name for the time.

"Investing in areas we already have a competitive advantage in makes much more sense than taking the challenge in producing a national car brand, which we lack the market size and the competitive advantage," wrote Ersu Ablak, a technology journalist with the Hurriyet Daily News.

In February, during a speech at a meeting of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), Erdogan reiterated his call for a "Made in Turkey" automobile.

Underscoring the issue of a domestically manufactured automobile on a number of other occasions, Erdogan called on the members of TOBB to manufacture a fully indigenous, "Made in Turkey" automobile.

The TOBB General Assembly initiated endeavors after TOBB Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu responded positively to Erdogan's demand to produce such cars under the union's roof.

Recalling that he has urged business people in the automobile industry many times over the last 15 years to manufacture a fully indigenous automobile, the president projected a critical perspective on the assembly line where automobile parts are sent to Turkey from abroad and assembled at Turkish factories.

"Assembly line manufacturing does not suit this nation. Automobile parts are only bought in from abroad, assembled here and then released to the market. Now this nation has the intellect and products to undertake this initiative," Erdogan noted.

Some specialized automobile sites have speculated that famous and internationally recognized car designer Ugur Sahin is also involved in the car project. Sahin is best known for impressive and futuristic supercar concepts.

Besides building its own local car, Erdogan is also seeking to turn Turkey into a major defense industry power by manufacturing its war plane, helicopter, satellite and tank. His sights are set on this for the centenary of the Turkish republic's foundation in 2023.

Turkey, who shares a border with Syria and Iraq, spends around 18 billion dollars a year on defense with just over half of its equipment made domestically.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 06:29:33|Editor: yan

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BAGHDAD, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi security forces on Tuesday fully liberated Hawijah area from Islamic State (IS) militants in west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, the Iraqi military said.

The Iraqi army, Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), federal police, interior ministry's commandos, known as Rapid Response, and the paramilitary brigades of Hashd Shaabi, ended their tasks in the liberation of Hawijah area from the extremist IS militants, Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, Commander of Hawijah Operations, said in a brief statement.

On Thursday, Yarallah announced the liberation of the city of Hawijah, some 45 km west of Kirkuk, but the troops were still on their advance outside the city to hunt down the extremists and to recapture the remaining rural area, known as Hawijah Pocket.

The battles in Hawijah Pocket ended fast, indicating that the extremist group has suffered dramatic decline in its ability to cling to the ground, according to military officials.

The battles in Hawijah were part of an offensive that began on Sept. 29 when the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of the second phase of offensive to dislodge IS militants from their stronghold in the city and surrounding areas.

The operation to free Hawijah came as tensions are running high between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after the latter held a controversial independence referendum.

The referendum was widely opposed because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and could undermine the fight against IS militants.

In addition, neighboring countries such as Turkey, Iran and Syria see that such a step would threaten their territorial integrity, as larger populations of Kurds live in those countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-11 06:39:35|Editor: Yang Yi

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TRIPOLI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan eastern-based parliament on Tuesday approved the amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement and granted the Tripoli-based Presidential Council the specialty to choose senior military and security leaders.

"The parliament voted to grant the Presidential Council the specialty to choose senior military and security leaders, following the completion of the amendment of the political agreement, which should lead to the restructuring of a new three-member presidential council instead of the current one," Mohammad Abdullaha, a Libyan parliament member told Xinhua.

Abdullah pointed out that there is optimism in the parliament on the consensus on these proposals to amend the agreement, and expected the amendment to be completed in a few weeks.

Article 8 of the Libyan UN-sponsored political agreement is one of the most important obstacles facing its implementation, according to which the appointment of all senior military and security leaders is the specialty of the Presidential Council.

The eastern-based parliament and army reject the article, demanding that the parliament would have the authority to choose supreme security and army leaders.

The parliament Speaker, Agila Saleh Issa, also opposes the composition of the current Presidential Council, demanding that it be composed of a president and only two deputies, instead of nine.

Following UN-sponsored dialogue meetings in Tunisia later in September, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced that representatives of both the parliament and the Higher Council of State have reached an agreement on restructuring the Presidential Council, reducing its membership to three and separating it from the government.

UNSMIL confirmed that the preliminary agreement will be followed by consultations within the parliament and the Higher Council of State and a final round to discuss the remaining issues of political agreement.

UNSMIL also announced on Sunday that meetings between dialogue committees of the parliament and the Higher Council of State will be resumed on Saturday.
Vice President to inaugurate tomorrow the third International Conference on Yoga

New Delhi, Tue, 10 Oct 2017 NI Wire

The theme of this year's conference will be 'Yoga for Wellness'

Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the two-day International Conference on Yoga for Wellness' tomorrow at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik will preside over the inaugural function.

The conference is being organized by Ministry of AYUSH as a part of commemorating the celebration of 21st June as International Day of Yoga declared by the United Nations. Secretary (AYUSH), Shri C.K. Mishra, Special Secretary, Shri Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha and Yoga Gurus of International repute will also be present. About 500 delegates including 69 from 44 overseas countries are registered to attend the conference.

Yoga focused deliberations of the conference will be organized in six technical sessions followed by Panel Discussion among 16 interdisciplinary experts from prominent scientific institutions. The thematic areas of deliberations include Yoga research in non-communicable diseases and scope of Yoga in Integrated Medicine, Control of Cancer, Depression, Gynecological disorders and Pain Management. 25 national and international experts will be the speakers and 11 highly reckoned resource persons of Yoga and Medical field as Chairpersons and Co-chairpersons of the technical sessions.

The conference will conclude with a Valedictory Function to wrap up the proceedings in the presence of Minister of Road Transport, Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Gadkari as Chief Guest.

This conference will provide a common platform for the AYUSH and Allopathy Practitioners, Researchers, Academicians, Policy Makers and students and enable them to capture and understand various dimensions of yoga for wellness.

Interest and enthusiasm for Yoga has increased tremendously all over the world during the last three years with the UN declaration of International Day of Yoga and its global celebrations. The International Conference has been organized with the technical and logistic support of Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy and Moraji Desai National Institute of Yoga and it is an attempt to project the potential of Yoga in the management of certain health problems and for promotion of wellness and for sharing of scientific experiences.

This will be the third International Conference on Yoga organized by the Ministry of AYUSH. The last two International conferences on the themes of Yoga for Holistic Health' and Yoga for Body and Beyond' were organized in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Source: PIB
PM's Modi interaction with global oil and gas CEOs and experts

New Delhi, Tue, 10 Oct 2017 NI Wire

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, yesterday interacted with oil and gas CEOs and experts from across the world.

Top CEOs and officials from Rosneft, BP, Reliance, Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Vedanta, Wood MacKenzie, IHS Markit, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Xcoal, ONGC, IndianOil, GAIL, Petronet LNG, Oil India, HPCL, Delonex Energy, NIPFP, International Gas Union, World Bank, and International Energy Agency were present at the meeting.

Union Ministers Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, and Shri R.K. Singh, and senior officials from NITI Aayog, PMO, Petroleum Ministry and Finance Ministry were also present.

The meeting was coordinated by the NITI Aayog. In their brief opening remarks, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, and Shri Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog gave an overview of the work done in this sector. They also emphasized the expected growth in energy demand in India, and the significant progress made in electrification and LPG expansion.

In a short presentation, CEO, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant outlined the recent developments and challenges in the oil and gas sector in India.

Various participants appreciated the progress and reforms made in India in the last three years. Participants appreciated the pace and drive with which Prime Minister Modi has brought about reform in the energy sector. Subjects such as the need for a unified energy policy, contract frameworks and arrangements, requirement of seismic data sets, encouragement for biofuels, improving gas supply, setting up of a gas hub, and regulatory issues came up for discussion. Many participants strongly recommended the inclusion of gas and electricity in the GST framework. The Revenue Secretary, Shri Hasmukh Adhia, highlighted the recent decisions of the GST Council regarding the oil and gas sector.

Thanking the participants for sharing their views, the Prime Minister said that many suggestions received in the last meeting in 2016 have helped policy making. He also said that scope for reform in many areas still exists. The Prime Minister appreciated the focussed suggestions made by the participants.

The Prime Minister thanked all participants for sharing holistic suggestions, keeping in mind India's unique potential and requirements in the oil and gas sector, instead of merely confining themselves to the concerns of their respective organisations.

The Prime Minister observed that the suggestions made today covered policy, administrative as well as regulatory issues.

The Prime Minister thanked the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Rosneft, for their commitments and support to the energy sector in India. He appreciated the 2030 vision document of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Warmly recalling his visit to Saudi Arabia, he said many progressive decisions are being taken there in the energy sector. He looked forward to various opportunities for cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia in the near future.

The Prime Minister said that the status of the energy sector in India is highly uneven. He welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy. He stressed on the need to develop energy infrastructure and access to energy in Eastern India. He flagged the potential of biomass energy and also invited participation and joint ventures in coal gasification. He welcomed all possibilities for innovation and research in the oil and gas sector.

The Prime Minister indicated that as India moves towards a cleaner and more fuel-efficient economy, he also wants its benefits to expand horizontally to all sections of the society, and in particular to the poorest.

Source: PIB
President of India Presents 2017 Vayoshreshtha Samman

New Delhi, Tue, 10 Oct 2017 NI Wire

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presented the Vayoshreshtha Samman - a scheme of National Awards for senior citizens yesterday (October 9, 2017) at a function held in New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that there is a healthy tradition of respecting and taking care of elders in our country. He added according to the last census, the population of senior citizens in our country was approximately 10.5 crore, which was about 8.5% of our total population. The average life expectancy has increased in recent decades due to improvement in health services and other reasons. It is estimated that by the year 2050, the number of senior citizens will be approximately 19% of our total population.

The President said that he was happy to note that the Government of India has taken several steps for the welfare of elderly persons. These include the National Programme for Healthcare of the Elderly wherein specialised services will be provided for their treatment. Under the National Health Insurance Scheme implemented with the help of State Governments, additional health insurance is being provided.

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.
India Post Payments Bank will help in financial inclusion- Manoj Sinha

New Delhi, Tue, 10 Oct 2017 NI Wire

Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha yesterday said that Government is working on setting up 650 India Post Payments Bank and gearing up fast to provide its financial services through all of 1.55 lakh post offices to fulfil the Prime Ministers vision of financial inclusion. Speaking here on the occasion of World Post Day, he said that Indian Postal Department is undergoing major transformationwith changing times, be it the inter-operability of ATMs, core banking or providing of Passport Seva and Aadhar enrolment. He said that so far 57 Post Offices are providing Passport Seva and in coming days 93 more will be added to the list.

Sinha launched International Tracked Packetservice designed speciallyto meet the cross border requirements of e-Commerce sector in Asia-Pacific Region. He said, at the beginning, the service will be available to 12 countries and gradually the whole world will be covered. This new service has many special features like affordable price, track & trace, volume discounts, pick up facility, compensation for loss or damage and, therefore, high value for money.He said, with the launch of this service, Department of Posts is set to start a new chapter of close collaboration between the post office and the business in India that want to reach to their customers abroad.

The Minister also launched e-IPO (Indian Postal Order) in the denominations of Rs. 10/-, Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/- &Rs. 100/-, as a pilot project in Bihar, Delhi and Karnataka and said that in the next two months, the service will cover the entire country.e-IPO will be used for all purposes like fee payment for RTI/ educational institutions/ Court/ online registration for Cable Operators etc. Customer can purchase e-IPO online from ones home or workplace, as per ones convenience. This launch is a part of Digital India Initiative as the payment will be made through Debit Card/ Credit Card / Net Banking.eIPO can be purchased online at:https://www.epostoffice.gov.inor, it can also be accessed through a link at Official website of India Post i.e. http://www.indiapost.gov.in

Sinha also unveiled the revamped website of the India Post which is made more user-friendly and informative to meet the need of customers in a better way. The citizens shall benefit by getting relevant information fast and in a user- friendly manner.

During the function, commemorative stationery in the Post Card, Inland Letter and Envelope Category, each featuring five postal heritage buildings viz. Patna G.P.O, Delhi G.P.O, Mumbai G.P.O, Shimla G.P.O & Kolkata G.P.O.was also issued.For the first time, the stationery has been issued in multi-colour format.

Members of Parliament Ms. MeenakshiLekhi, Dr.Udit Raj and Shri Ramesh Bidhuri graced the occasion as guest of honour. Secretary (Posts) Shri A. N. Nanda and Member (Planning) Ms. MeeraHanda were also present on the occasion.

India Post celebrates the National Postal Week every October from 9th to 15th October, starting with World Post Day which is celebrated each year on 9th October, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in Berne. The purpose of World Post Day is to create awareness of the role of the postal sector in peoples and businesses everyday lives and its contribution to the social and economic development of countries. Moving a step ahead, Department of Posts celebrates National Postal Week undertaking programme/ activities aimed at generating a broader awareness of its role and activities among the public and media on a national scale.

Source: PIB
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Nokia (News - Alert) has expanded its ultra-broadband offerings with new fixed wireless access and in-home Wi-Fi solutions. The company has also expanded its virtualized portfolio.





The fixed wireless solution employs WiGig technology and a passive optical network architecture. That enables operators to deliver gigabit services to end customers and to accelerate fiber-to-the-home deployments, Nokia says.

New fiber and high-speed DSL deployment options including outdoor and data center fiber nodes, a 212Mhz reverse power G.fast solution, and DSL backhaul remote nodes, Nokia adds.

The new fixed wireless technology means service providers can now deliver gigabit-level broadband solutions across across cable, copper, fiber and wireless connections.

"Nokia's Intelligent Access solution addresses several key pain points operators are challenged with today, said Erik Keith, principal analyst at GlobalData. First it provides a broad set of deployment options - across fiber, DSL, cable, and now fixed wireless access - that are essential for connecting everyone to everything, and to ensuring the success of evolving operator business cases.

New Wi-Fi solutions from Nokia allow for whole-home gigabit coverage. Because the Nokia Wi-Fi solution delivers coverage to every corner of the home, the company adds, it lowers helpdesk costs for carriers. Thats important given more than 30 percent of calls to communication service provider helpdesks are related to poor in-home connectivity, the company explains.

Intelligent Access also unlocks whole-home Wi-Fi which is critical to enabling a truly end-to-end gigabit experience, said Keith. Finally, it delivers virtualization elements which will be key to automate, simplify, scale the network, and deliver new capabilities."

Nokia also has introduced a virtualized distributed access architecture and cable solution. The Unified Cable Access solution is based on a virtualized cable modem termination system and supports R-PHY, R-MACPHY, or a combination of both. Meanwhile, Nokias new Software-Defined Access Network solution features automated operations, cloud-native software, and open programmable hardware.

The company has also come out with services to help carriers more effectives predict and address network problems before they effect customer services. These

predictive care services leverage a set of algorithms to do the job.

Federico Guillen, president of Nokia's Fixed Networks Business Group, said: The technologies, nodes, traffic, and services needed to support today's ultra-broadband requirements are adding significant complexity to the network, and those who can master this complexity the fastest will come out ahead. Nokia is providing operators with a smarter approach to fixed access that combines the intelligent application of technology with the intelligence of the network to help make broadband networks faster, better, and smarter."

Edited by Mandi Nowitz
FREMANTLEMEDIA KIDS & FAMILY ANNOUNCE NEW SALES FOR THE WORLDS GREATEST SECRET AGENT!

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Original FremantleMedia Kids & Family Press Release, via the official FMK press office 10 October 2017FremantleMedia Kids & Family(FMK) announced today that Discovery Italia has acquired both series of the CBBC/FMK co-produced high-action, comedy animation Danger Mouse. In addition, Nickelodeon in Germany, and Sky Television in New Zealand have both picked up the second series.Following the success of series 1 (52 x 11) on the channel Nickelodeon will air series 2 in Q1 2018 whilst Sky Television is due to premiere the series in December this year.In additionwill also premiere on leading free-to-air childrens channel Gulli in France and on MBC in the Middle East in early 18.This continued international linear roll out follows the global launch of the series on Netflix in the US and other territories last spring.FremantleMedia Kids & Family, alongside their respective agents Biplano, MBC and ProsiebenSat.1, is now implementing licensing programmes in these key territories.Tessa Moore, SVP Global Brand Management at FremantleMedia Kids & Family, said: The top-rating and critically acclaimed newhas made a huge impact since returning to UK screens after a 23-year absence. Licensed to thrill a whole new generation of fans, the riotous new high-octane adventures, ingeniously rebooted for todays tech-savvy and humour-hungry kids has now been sold to over 100 territories.is co-produced by CBBC and FremantleMedia Kids & Family and is animated by Boulder Media. FremantleMedia Kids & Family owns the global TV and licensing rights to the series.
Nickelodeon Israel will start to premiere and show, a brand-new unscripted kids prank show, in December 2017!features a group of diverse, energetic, free-spirited and charismatic teens who live for pranks and devise and execute them on celebrities, innocent passersby and each other. The series makes frequent use of slapstick and nonsense and is suitable for family viewing.is co-produced by comedy legend Billy Crystal () and his Jennilind Productions, Bunim/Murray Productions (creators ofand), and Nutz Productions, the the kids and youth content arm of Ananey Communications Group, who produces all original series for the Viacom brands in Israel as well as the recent Netflix teen drama Greenhouse Academy, based on Nutz's Nickelodeon Israel hitThe series will mark the official launch of Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP) kids division, BMP Kids, run by Emmy Award-winning producer Maria Pepin. Her current and past projects include collaborations with Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Universal Kids, DHX, go90, Spin Master, DreamWorksTV.com, Disney and Disney XD.While BMP Kids is Bunim/Murray Productions first official childrens unit, the prodco began its move into kids content by recently partnering with popular YouTuber GloZell on her new online preschool channel, GloBugz.The series premiere on Nickelodeon Israel will mark the launch of the format.BMP Kids are also in development with Nick Jr. and Universal Kids on several shows on several shows.Nickelodeon Israel is the countrys top kids channel. A number of Nutz Productions original TV series are getting high ratings on Nickelodeon Israel, notably such),), and), which was just greenlit for a third season.Banijay International is selling the worldwide format rights forand introducing the show to buyers at the MIP Jr. kids TV market in Cannes this weekend.Comedy has been in my blood throughout my life and career, said Crystal. I started performing when I was a kid, and I loved playing funny practical jokes on my friends and family. Developing and producingand helping youngsters share the gift of comedy with their peers was really appealing.Its thrilling to be able to embark on this comedic journey with Orly and all our good friends over at Nutz Productions as well as the incomparable Billy Crystal, said Gil Goldschein, the CEO and chairman of Bunim/Murray Productions. Comedy is a universal languageone that is needed now more than everand we look forward to spreading laughter around the globe.Billy is a comedic legend, and it is a real honor to parlay his unique talent into a new show, commented Orly Atlas Katz, the CEO of Ananey Communications Group, parent company of Nutz Productions. With Bunims three decades of experience in unscripted television and our kids productions abilities, we have no doubt that this format will land well with audiences around the globe.With an influx of new distribution platforms and technologies, its a really exciting time for Bunim/Murray to take a vested interest in the burgeoning kids and co-viewing television space, remarked BMPs Pepin. Were thrilled to showcases immensely talented and hilarious group of young comedians as the official launching pad for BMP Kids, and were excited to do it in partnership with Billy Crystal and Israels Nutz Productions.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has made it clear on Monday that he had no plan to contest the 2019 presidential election.

Osinbajo said this when he was asked at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London if he had considered running for the presidency.

None of that is on the cards, the vice-president reportedly said.

Osinbajo had earlier disowned a group known as Osinbajo Volunteers, which is campaigning for his election as president in 2019.

His media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande, had asked Nigerians to disregard the group, adding that he had nothing to do with them.

The group had said Nigeria now has a leader who has a clue what to do and (how to) turn Nigeria the beloved to the land of our dreams.

Osinbajo, who regretted that Nigeria had lost as much as 1 million barrels per day of oil production last year following militant attacks on oil installations, said that all that had ceased as Nigeria now pumps about 1.85 million barrels per day and climbing towards 2 million, which is closer to its targeted production of around 2.2 million barrels per day.

He added that the federal government was making concerted efforts to diversify its oil-dependent economy because we dont have all the time in the world with oil. We have to use oil while it makes sense to do so.
General Yakubu Gowon (retd), former Nigerias head of state on Sunday, October 8, called on different ethnic groups agitating for self determination to have a rethink of their actions.

He urged agitators to imbibe the ideals of one young Nigerian who in an article during the Nigerian Civil War, urged fellow citizens to Go On With One Nigeria.

Gowon said this after receiving the 2017 Leadership Award at this years Trinity House Honour Nigeria Awards in Lagos for his sterling leadership role in Nigerian and African politics, Vanguard reports.

Gowon who thanked the church and its leadership for the honour in an interview with journalists said:

I am really humbled and grateful for this honour done to us today. Im grateful also to know that so many people have been honoured before now, all deserving of the honour that they got. Mine is for leadership. I can assure you that leadership wouldnt have been possible without that patriotic Nigerian who asked me whether I know the meaning of Gowon. I replied him, its my name and in my local language it means the owner of the masquerade in a gong.

That young man wrote an article in one of the dailies, and when I read the article that early morning, he gave the meaning of Gowon as Go On With One Nigeria. He created an acronym that Goes on with one Nigeria. I can assure you, I was very impressive as I said, so this is what Nigerians want me to do and this is what I was trying to get Nigerians to support me do it.

But that message made me to be more determined to ensure that Nigeria remains as one for all of us and for the future generations. The honour today, I accept it on behalf of all Nigerians, past, present and also future. This church is about the love of God and the unity of the country.

Speaking on the current agitations for self determination several years after the Nigerian Civil war, he said: I think I have answered it. You work hard to make sure you convince those who are calling for the break up of Nigeria. Tell them that Nigeria is one. This is what Nigerians told me to do, and this is what I tried to do. And I can achieve that through your help. We should work hard to convince those who want the country to break up. I can assure you there are more people who love Nigeria and would want Nigeria to continue to exist as one nation than those who are trying to create problem for the country.

Going further, Gowon urged every Nigerian to be honest to God, saying: If you are honest to God and you love Him the way you should, and also, your neighbourhonestly, if we can practice that, things will begin to work well for us all. I love Nigeria, I believe in Nigeria like many other Nigerians.

Like that young man that wrote the article, telling me that the meaning of Gowon is Go On with One Nigeria. He sent a message to me and he gave me the courage that I can do it correctly and with the fear of God. Thats the reason why that civi war, we fought with a code of conductto be truthful. We ensured that we did not call them anything. We tried not to call the other side enemy and we never called them enemies.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian pointed out that only sovereign states are entitled to participate in the EU-Africa Summit, to be held in Abidjan, thus making it clear that France rejects categorically the attempts by separatist proponents to impose the participation of the separatist SADR entity.

The Minister said Monday in Rabat at a joint press briefing with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, that the polisario is not eligible to represent the Sahara and has no right to partake in such a sovereign summit open only to UN member states.

Le Drian reiterated on the same occasion his countrys firm stand in support of Moroccos autonomy proposal as a sound basis for negotiations.

He added that the UN Secretary General is called upon to take initiatives on the basis of the autonomy proposal.

We hope that the EU-Africa summit will take place in best conditions. The choice of participating countries should be taken by consensus between sovereign states, he added.

For his part, Bourita noted that Morocco insists on maintaining the summit will take place at a special continental context requiring collective efforts. Therefore, he warned against derailing the summit and indulging in unnecessary debates.

As it endures setbacks one after the other in its ideologically anachronistic foreign policy, Algeria indulges in terminology games claiming that the African Union and the EU are in negotiation to change the appellation of the event into EU-AU Summit in a scheme to impose the participation of its puppet Sahrawi Republic.

The fake news was propagated by the Algerian government mouthpiece, Algeria Press Service news agency, which relayed the fallacious statements of its Ambassador in Brussels, Amar Belani, saying that the Polisario will receive an invitation to attend the EU-Africa summit.

Such statements show the short memory of the Algerian diplomacy, which seems not to learn from past mistakes. Sources within the EU maintain that only countries that are member of the UN are entitled to take part in the EU-Africa summit. No decision has been made to change the name of the event that will be hosted by Abidjan on November 29-30.
Qatars candidate in the race for the post of UNESCO Director General, Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawar, Monday won the first round of elections ahead of Friday final decision.

Kawar won 19 out of 58 votes outdoing French candidate Audrey Azoulay and Cairos candidate Moushira Khattab who got respectively 13 and 11 votes.

The four other candidates who participated in the race were from China, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and Vietnam.

The Monday results do not reflect the final outcome as voters are expected to cast their votes until Friday. The candidate with the majority of votes will be announced Friday.

If by Thursday no candidate emerges with a majority of votes, the two top candidates will clash in Friday vote where delegates will decide the next leader of the UN culture agency.

Israels ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen has indicated that Kawars win of the first round is no good news for the organization and for the Jewish state.

Israel and the US have suspended their funding to the UNESCO following 2011 acceptance of Palestine as full-fledged member of the organization.

Tel Aviv has also expressed its fury after the Paris-based organization declared the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank an endangered world heritage site.

Qatar is known as staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and as pillar of support for Hamas.

The election of the Executive Boards nominee is expected to take place on November 10 and the new Director-General is scheduled to take office on November 15, in replacement of Irina Bokova (Bulgaria) who will have served two four-year terms at the head of UNESCO.
Tunisia will get 200 million loan from the European Union, part of the second Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA-II) program to the North African country.

The disbursement of the loan was approved Monday by The European Commission, said a EU press release, adding that a total of 500 million will be disbursed in three instalments in 2017 and 2018.

Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said the disbursement to Tunisia evidences the EUs strong commitment to support the successful economic recovery of one of our closest neighbors.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Tunisia has reaffirmed its dedication to an effective partnership. The EU stands firmly with Tunisia in achieving prosperity for all of its people, said the commissioner.

The second Macro-Financial Assistance program was proposed following the terrorist attacks of 2015, which contributed to halting Tunisias economic recovery. This had a significant impact on the countrys balance of payments position and financing needs.

The second and third instalments of the MFA-II (amounting to 150 million each) will be tied to the implementation of a number of policy conditions targeting fiscal consolidation as well as the improvement of Tunisias social assistance schemes and business climate.

The EUs strategy of assistance to Tunisia also includes budget support programs under the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI), of which Tunisia is a major recipient among the Southern Neighborhood countries, and substantial loans from the European Investment Bank.
Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Turkey John Bass implicitly accused by Erdogan of manufacturing a crisis to hide complicity in the failed 2016 coup attempt. Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

A war of words and dueling sanctions between the United States and Turkey, a once-valued ally in the worlds most sensitive region, just got worse. And this time, it was Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who personally delivered the slap at the Trump administration, as Reuters reports:

President Tayyip Erdogan blamed the U.S. ambassador to Turkey on Tuesday for a diplomatic crisis between the two countries and said Ankara no longer considered him Washingtons envoy.

In a blunt and personal attack on outgoing ambassador John Bass, Erdogan suggested Bass acted unilaterally in suspending visa services in Turkey after the arrest of a U.S. consulate worker, and said agents had infiltrated U.S. missions.

Bass, a career diplomat, has been nominated to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. But Erdogan is going out of his way to insult his integrity on the way out the door.

There are a variety of tensions surrounding the U.S.-Turkey relationship, stemming from developments as diverse as Americas decision to arm Syrian Kurds to the beating of protesters in Washington by Erdogans bodyguards during a presidential visit to meet with Trump. But the current problems seem rooted in the failed July 2016 coup against Erdogan that the regime blames on agents and followers of Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish religious leader living in Pennsylvania.

An arrest by Turkish authorities of a Turkish employee of the U.S. embassy in Ankara for alleged complicity in the coup conspiracy blew up into a diplomatic crisis over the weekend, as the U.S. suspended travel visas to the U.S. from Turkey, and the Turks reciprocated with identical countermeasures. Erdogans attack on Bass insinuates that the sanctions on his country were designed to cover up embassy involvement in the coup.

Erdogans words also represented something of a calculated insult to Trump and to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:

An ambassador in Ankara taking decisions and saying he is doing so in the name of his government is strange, Erdogan said. If our ambassador did this, we wouldnt keep him there even a minute.

Presumably Erdogan knows that if he gets engaged in an extended exchange of insults with Donald Trump, it may be difficult to rein it all in. But for the moment, he seems transfixed by anger that the U.S. hasnt arrested and extradited Gulen. Indeed, hes suggested his government will only release U.S. clergyman Andrew Brinson, jailed a year ago for supposedly spying on the regime, if the U.S. serves up Gulen on a platter. Its an increasingly dangerous standoff.
A vigil held on Sunday, October 8, on the Las Vegas Strip to mark the one-week anniversary of the shooting. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Police made a significant revision to their timeline for the shooting in Las Vegas on Monday, revealing that a hotel security guard was shot before, not after, Stephen Paddock opened fire on concertgoers below, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds.

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police previously said that Paddock wounded security guard Jesus Campos at 10:18 p.m., about three minutes after the concert shooting ended. Paddock had set up cameras in the hallway outside his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and last week, Lombardo said it was his assumption that Paddock stopped firing at the crowd because he observed the security guard, and he was in fear that he was about to be breached, so he was doing everything possible to figure out how to escape at that point.

But on Monday, Lombardo said Paddock shot the guard through his hotel door at 9:59 p.m., meaning Campos was encountered by the suspect prior to his shooting to the outside world. Lombardo said Campos, who was responding to a door alarm in another room on the 32nd floor, helped protect a maintenance worker from being injured, but would not weigh in on how Camposs presence might have affected Paddocks plot.

Previously, authorities had hailed Campos as a hero, saying that the guard calling in his shooting was absolutely critical in locating Paddock in the 3,221-room hotel. While Lombardo described the shift as one of the minute changes thats common in a complex investigation, it raises new questions about the shooting.

First, this may mean that there was a breakdown in communications between hotel security and police. Lombardo did not say on Monday whether Campos had called in the attack against him, but the sheriff said police officers who searched the hotel did not know about Campos until they met him in the hallway after exiting the elevator.

Second, its now unclear why Paddock stopped shooting and turned his weapon on himself. The shooter had explosives in his car, and Lombardo revealed on Monday that Paddock attempted to shoot at the fuel tanks near the concert site. Lombardo speculated that he may have been planning to flee, and thought that the chaos caused by the shooting would have enabled the first responders to be directing their attention in other locations, which would enable Mr. Paddock to just leave the hotel.

More than a week after the attack, weve learned much about Paddocks life, but his motive remains a mystery. Im frustrated, Lombardo said. Because this individual purposefully hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find answers for those actions.
Moore is less. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Roy Moore has been a household name in Alabama for decades. The good people of the Yellowhammer State elected the far-right theocrat chief justice of their Supreme Court  saw him removed from the bench for refusing to respect the rule of law  and then elected him chief justice again, ten years later. Moores contempt for homosexuality, and his belief that (his interpretation of) Gods law supersedes the U.S. Constitution, has earned him the devoted support of Alabama Evangelicals.

Luther Strange was appointed to the Senate by the scandal-plagued governor whom he was supposed to be investigating. This is the primary thing that Alabamians know him for.

Last month, 14 percent of the Alabama electorate went to the polls to vote in a run-off of a Republican Senate primary. The candidate with 100 percent name recognition  and a politically engaged base that he had built over decades in public life  beat the disgraced former governors suspected crony by 10 points.

Incidentally, Steve Bannon stumped for the first candidate, while Donald Trump halfheartedly endorsed the latter.

Bannon would like you to believe that those last two facts were more important to the elections outcome than any others. Forget Moores fame, Stranges infamy, and the exceptionally low turnout. What happened in Alabama last month was simple: Donald Trumps base announced that it is more loyal to Breitbarts anti-immigration agenda than to the president himself.

Few who dwell outside the far-right fever swamp would accept this interpretation of events. But thats no issue for Bannon: After all, the president of the United States spends a hefty chunk of his waking hours submerged in those fetid waters.

Weeks ago, Trump called on Congress to grant DACA recipients some form of protection from deportation. He then suggested that if Congress failed to give such protection to these law-abiding, gainfully employed undocumented immigrants  who were brought to the United States as children  he might go ahead and protect them, himself, through executive action. Shortly thereafter, the president reached a tentative agreement with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer over the outlines of a DACA deal  the president would provide legal status to Dreamers, if the Democrats ponied up more money for border security. At that time, Trump explicitly disavowed the idea of demanding more radical anti-immigration measures as a ransom for the Dreamers security, saying, The wall will come later.

Now, the president says that there will be no deal on Dreamers until Congress agrees to fund his border wall, end federal grants to sanctuary cities, reduce legal immigration, and make it more difficult for foreigners to seek asylum in the United States, among other measures.

This is a wish list designed to alienate far more lawmakers than just Chuck and Nancy. There are plenty of congressional Republicans who oppose the border wall and cuts to legal immigration. If Trump truly intends to stick by these demands, then he intends to subject 800,000 Dreamers to an indefinite threat of deportation.

Trump affirmed his new hard-line stance in a tweet Tuesday morning.

The problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the Democrats don't want secure borders,they don't care about safety for U.S.A.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017

In early September, the president described amnesty for Dreamers as an end in itself. One month later, hes framing it as a painful concession that he wont make for anything less than a restrictionist revolution in our nations immigration policies.

If you want an explanation of the presidents change of heart, look to Breitbarts coverage of Roy Moores victory. Or so this dispatch from the Washington Post would suggest:

In a matter of days, Trump has torched bridges all around him, nearly imploded an informal deal with Democrats to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and plunged himself into the culture wars on issues ranging from birth control to the national anthem.

In doing so, Trump is laboring to solidify his standing with his populist base and return to the comforts of his campaign  especially after the embarrassing defeat of Sen. Luther Strange in last months Alabama GOP special election, despite the presidents trip there to campaign with the senator.

 The Alabama Senate primary last month, in which a far-right challenger defeated a more establishment Republican whom the president had endorsed, served as a warning flare for Trumps team, highlighting the risk he could run if he alienates the core supporters who helped lift him to electoral victory.

The president has groused to numerous White House aides about his concerns over his popularity with my people  his base. He blames the Republican establishment and others for failing to enact his agenda and making him look feckless, and is unhappy with losing in Alabama, according to people briefed on White House deliberations.

A Morning Consult poll last month found that 69 percent of Republicans  and two-thirds of Trump voters  want Dreamers who meet DACAs requirements to be given either citizenship or legal status. Research from YouGov has demonstrated that Trumps core supporters follow his lead on policy matters  even when that means moving to the left.

Graphic: : The New York Times

But Roy Moore beat Luther Strange in the low-turnout run-off in an off-year, Republican Senate primary in Alabama. And so, 800,000 people may have to lose the right to live in the country they were raised in.
Thanks, Twitter. Photo: Kris Connor/WireImage for NARAS

Over the weekend, Representative Marsha Blackburn launched her Senate campaign with a video that attempts to portray her as a tenacious underdog. It may not be immediately clear why a hardcore, card-carrying Tennessee conservative is at a disadvantage when Republicans control both Congress and the White House. As Blackburn explains, she stands with President Trump  on everything from building the wall to demanding that athletes stop protesting during the national anthem  in his battle against the Republican elites blocking his agenda in the Senate.

Blackburn has served in the House for nearly 15 years, so its a bit of a stretch for her to run on Trumps drain the swamp message. But luckily for the congresswoman, Twitter gave her a better opponent than GOP elites when it blocked her campaign spot from Twitter ads. The social-media company objected to Blackburns claim that she stopped the sale of baby body parts, but said the video could run as a paid ad if the line was omitted. The decision does not prevent the original video from being posted by Blackburn and others on Twitter.

With battles raging on free speech, censorship, and social medias role in spreading fake news, tech companies have been taking steps to show that theyre addressing the criticism. A Twitter representative said Blackburns promoted ad was rejected because the baby body parts line was deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.

That makes it sound like Twitter objected because the line is upsetting to liberals, when the issue is actually that its false.

Blackburn says: Im 100 percent pro-life. I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts, thank God. Shes referring to leading a House investigation sparked by the 2015 release of heavily edited videos that accused Planned Parenthood of profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. After spending nearly $1.6 million in taxpayer funds, the report produced by the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives last year made scientifically dubious accusations about the value of fetal-tissue research, and recommended that the government defund Planned Parenthood and enact other anti-abortion measures.

The sale of fetal tissue for profit has been banned under federal law since 1993, but abortion providers can be reimbursed for handling and shipping costs. Planned Parenthood denied the allegations, and a dozen state investigations found no evidence of wrongdoing. The only indictments stemming from the incident were against the anti-abortion activists who filmed the video, but those charges were eventually dropped.

Blackburn could argue that she worked to ensure that abortion providers are abiding by the 1993 law and pushed for even tighter restrictions. However, she neither proved that anyone was breaking the law by selling baby body parts nor enacted new fetal-tissue laws.

But since Twitter only objected to Blackburns line evoking a strong negative reaction, she was able to claim that she is being persecuted for her pro-life views. Her campaign Twitter account asked people to promote the video (for free), saying, join me in standing up to Silicon Valley. In a fundraising email to her supporters, she claimed Im being censored for telling the truth.

Naturally, conservatives were quick to come to Blackburns defense, taking the opportunity to promote her video, revive the Planned Parenthood debate, and allege that conservatives are being silenced. The representative also got to repeat her false claim on Fox News, telling Brian Kilmeade, Yes indeed, as chairman of the selective investigative panel, the work that our committee delivered stopped this practice of selling baby body parts. Its something that people wanted to see shut down.

If anything, Twitter has probably encouraged Republican midterm candidates to throw some unproven, inflammatory statements into the ads. Maybe theyll luck out like Blackburn and earn themselves some free advertising and TV coverage.
Photo: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

We tried our best to live in our country, Grace Jo says. We tried so many different ways, and we tried our best to survive. But there was no way to survive there.

There is North Korea, and Jo is one of just a thousand or so who flee each year from perhaps the most sealed-off nation on Earth. Jo, who is 26, fled during the reign of Kim Jong-il with her mother and sister. It took her three tries  a decade from the first time she crossed the Tumen River into China, sitting inside her moms backpack, to her arrival in the United States as a legal refugee, around 2008. An orphanage shelter, a detention center, and forced labor filled some years in between.

Jo escaped around the early aughts when mass starvation and famine left her family no other choice. But since Kim Jong-un took power in 2012, the number of defectors has dropped dramatically. Sokeel Park, director of research and strategy at Liberty in North Korea, a U.S. and South Korean NGO that helps defectors, said many factors are at play  including a somewhat improving situation within North Korea and a Chinese security crackdown under President Xi Jinping.

Park said tightened security may actually be an unintended consequence of Chinese pressure on North Korea, which the U.S. and the Trump administration have been aggressively pushing. China has not gone as far as America wants, but theyve gone pretty far, Park said of the economic pressure. Its really significant in terms of their relationship over the last few years. The border crackdown, Park explained, sends a subtle message to Pyongyang that Chinas still on North Koreas side. Letting a lot of North Koreans through would potentially send a signal to the North Korean government that China is really playing along with the Americans, and trying to undermine their state, he said.

Even as fewer refugees and defectors have fled, the outside world has started to wedge itself into North Korea. Technology has improved, allowing discreet ways to pass along foreign media. Young North Koreans, especially in urban areas, are sneaking in South Korean dramas  which offer a much more compelling narrative than the regimes propaganda. Its the forbidden fruit, Park said, even though the risks are so high.

How, or if, those small acts of subversion will alter the North Korean regime remain unclear. But they are at least reminders that nearly 25 million people are struggling, and surviving, every day in North Korea. The media fascination with the sheer strangeness and brutality of the regime, Joseph Kim, a 27-year-old defector from New York explained, often overshadows the humanity of the North Korean people.

Daily Intelligencer spoke with five North Korean defectors and refugees to better understand what life is like under the Kim regime, now in its third generation. Most, like both Jo and Kim, escaped out of desperation. Stay and die; leave, and maybe survive. They are critical and clear-eyed in their assessment of North Korea, but they are not ready to abandon their birthplace. Its a place I want to be good, Kim said. Its home.

Lee Seongmin, 30

Lee fled from North Korea to China in 2009. He arrived in South Korea via Laos in 2010, where he lived with his mother and sister, activist Hyeonseo Lee. Lee came to the United States in January 2016, and he is studying political science at Columbia University in New York City.

My house was located on the border with China. I didnt know much about China. In school, we learned only about the glorious socialist system in North Korea. Whenever I saw China just across the Yalu River, I started having curiosity because the Chinese side is super bright at night. The North Korean side is completely dark. There is no electricity at all.

So during the famine, around 1998, I started having curiosities about China. Living on the border, once the winter comes, the river becomes frozen perfectly. It becomes like the highway. Once the border river is frozen, Chinese kids and the North Korean kids, they are crossing over the river and meeting where security is weak. One time, I got a Chinese chocolate. I hadnt tried it before, that kind of flavor in North Korea. Then I started going to a kids house, and his mom gave me chocolate and cookies, that kind of thing.

I realized there was a business opportunity. So I started engaging in a cross-border business and started sneaking into China at night, making money to support my family. I bought items in the North Korean market, and I sold them in China with an added margin. I would buy Chinese items like grain or cigarettes or saccharin and other kinds of things. Then I smuggled them back to North Korea.

I started sneaking into China at age 13. My mom and I were supporting each other to survive throughout the famine. As the great famine kicked off  the so-called Arduous March  it was all a government-controlled system. But then people started doing market activity. It sounds very grand, but basically, you make something  bread or even noodles or rice. You cook rice, and sell to people in need. That kind of small activity started growing and growing.

Theyd interrogate me, Why did you go to China? What did you do there? Theyd make me swear I wouldnt go to China again.

As my business opportunities started to build, I knew what North Korea was saying  that North Korea was the paradise country  was not necessarily true. I was able to compare life in North Korea to China. Also around that time, I happened to have the opportunity to watch a South Korean drama. I was quite literally shocked because North Korea always says, Well, enemy countries like the United States and South Korea are producing a bunch of decadent films to subvert the socialist system of North Korea. The thing is, as I watched that South Korean movie, I realized there was no criticism of the North Korean system at all. They were describing daily subjects like dating, having coffee, breakups. Thats how I started learning about South Korea, and also, indirectly, the United States.

I went to prison multiple times because of the illegal crossing. I cannot remember how many times; it was a lot. Even though I knew where it was safer to cross, it wasnt always successful. I was only caught at the North Korean side, not the Chinese side, which is strange because North Korean soldiers do not patrol the border 24/7, unlike the Chinese.

I would be caught by the hidden border guards and then be beaten up and thrown in jail, and then in a detention center. They didnt send me to a prison camp, I think because I was a minor at that time. Even in a system like North Korea, you have a certain kind of law. I was like 12, 13, and 14. They would release me almost immediately after a few hours. Theyd interrogate me, Why did you go to China? What did you do there? Theyd make me swear I wouldnt go to China again. Sometimes it wasnt too serious; it depended on the border guard. As I got older, like 17 or 18, I started making friends with the border guards, so it was safer.

When I was 21 or 22, I started working in an agency operated by the provinces Peoples Security bureau  similar to a police department. I wasnt directly involved in law enforcement, but I was involved in exploiting resources  such as zinc, copper, even wood  and bringing them into trading companies that deal with the Chinese directly. I was in charge of the transportation, like organizing the vehicle and making sure those resources got to a particular destination in time.

In North Korea, if youre born as a man, you have certain kinds of obligations for military service  a ten-year service. So for my service I decided to work for the police department, it was almost equal to military service. After all, I was trying to maintain my status socially and politically in North Korea. You have no option to leave  somehow you have to commit to survive to maintain faith, so it was almost an inevitable choice for me. If I didnt defect, Id probably be still serving in that department.

I was able to see kind of the dark side of the North Korean system. A lot of corruption. The guys at the top positions were sending the money, using their position as a tool to get bribes. Among these high-ranking guys, thats a common practice in North Korea. Normal people who dont have power, who dont have authority, life is harder for them. On the other hand, there are guys who are getting richer and richer. When you compare whats actually happening on the ground with what the North Korean government actually says in the media, its a total lie. It was not paradise.

That was another reason we decided to flee North Korea. That was the only way for our family to live together. I have a sister, who is six years older, who went to China when she was maybe 17, but the Chinese government doesnt recognize North Koreans as refugees, so my sister went to South Korea first, and she got a South Korean passport, and then she came back to China, to the border area with North Korea, near our home. Thats how we were able to arrange to get across. Also, at the time with my government job, I was conducting border business, so many border guards were my friends. For us, it was relatively easier and safer crossing the border into China.

Park Sang-Hak, who heads a group of North Korean defectors, tears a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during an anti-North Korea rally outside South Korean government complex in Seoul on September 22, 2017. Photo: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images

It was not as easy as Im saying. It was really risky, and we encountered multiple occasions where we were almost captured by Chinese police. At certain points, around 2000, North Korean defectors were able to go to any South Korean or American embassy in Beijing, but thats not the case anymore. The Chinese government basically threatened all foreign embassies in Beijing to not accept defectors out of concerns with diplomatic issues with Pyongyang. Nowadays you have to go to other countries like Vietnam or Laos or Cambodia. We went to Laos. We were captured in Laos for illegal entry and were thrown in a prison there. After two months of imprisonment, they handed us over to the embassy in South Korea.

North Korea is well-known to Americans and the world because of its nuclear technology, its nuclear provocations. Whenever I have conversations with American students, the stereotype of North Korea is summarized in three words: Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-un is like the whole image of North Korea. The fact is, there are about 25 million people in North Korea.

Politicians are talking about political issues, and human-rights activists are talking about human-rights aspects only. Its really important to resolve the human crisis in North Korea. After all, the North Korean system is maintained because of isolation. The North Korean regime has cut off all external information, trying to brainwash its people. This kind of thing is oppressive. You have to deal with it in a holistic way. North Korea is not a problem you can resolve by just attacking one single aspect.

This is what the North Korean regime is most scared about. The real anchor that the North Korean regime relies on for its survival is not a few nuclear weapons, but a system cemented on deception and confinement of its people from the world. I lived in South Korea for a few years and now in the U.S. These experiences naturally allowed me to compare life here to that of my home country. People here believe that individual liberty and human rights are so precious. People travel to nearly any place on the planet if they want, and they freely talk with friends wherever they live. All these concepts are just alien to most North Koreans. But once people learn the value of dignity and rights that you can claim as humans, they will fight for them and become able to set their future on their terms.

Hye-soo*, 20s**

Hye-soo now lives in the United States, but must closely guard her identity for fear of retribution against her family.

It was hard to get over what I had learned for 19 years in North Korea. I always learned America is the enemy country, and American people are the enemy. Even though I was in South Korea for a long time, I still had a lot of prejudice and it was difficult to adjust my mentality. When I came to America  people are very kind, and theyre very friendly. Its confusing. Confusing in a good way.

I defected before Kim Jong-un became the leader. Im living with an American host family now, and my North Korean friends, who are also defectors, they are always teasing me, Youre living with an American family! But they all realize its in a good way. Are you scared? theyll say.

In North Korea, they dont just call Americans Americans. They call them American bastards and all these different kinds of names. They show Americans as beasts rather than people. In our imagination, American people have big noses, big eyes. Theyre very tall, and their faces look like angry faces. Like, really a beast. [Laughs.] Im sorry, that is true  I believed it was true.

During shooting practice, the targets were American.

They taught us the war was started by Americans and South Koreans. It took me three years to believe that North Korea was actually the one to start the Korean War. Every year, North Korea showed a documentary about the Korean War. It was propaganda made very perfectly: On Sunday, June 25, the [North Korean] people were very peaceful and then they became the target of the American enemy. They show very violent images of Americans killing North Koreans. The whole point is so the people dont forget what the Americans did to the North Korean people. Every year I saw this. I used to think that I will die at the hands of the Americans if war starts again.

All of North Korea is taught a war could begin at any time by the Americans. They prepare all ages. During shooting practice, the targets were American. They aim at an American manikin. I did it, too. It was a requirement to graduate.

The famine started when I was in elementary school. The North Korean people were starving. I saw many people die of hunger. My hometown is a big city, so during the famine many people came to our area. There were a lot of kotjebi, orphaned children who live on the streets.

North Korea used to have a public-distribution system, but during the famine that stopped completely. Many families couldnt even help the kotjebi because they werent even getting their rations. If I went to school or to the market, I would see children picking [food] off the ground. They would go through the trash cans. They would enter into homes and steal food. If they got caught by the homeowner, they could get beaten severely.

I felt very poor at the time, but thankfully, my family was okay. There was so little food in North Korea that for the families like mine that did live well  not well, but decently  we would sometimes gather the rice we had and give it to some of our best friends. People were so hungry they couldnt go to school, so I would give it to my classmates.

Even the people in the military were so malnourished you could see all their bones. Up to ten soldiers stole from my family. They entered our house at night when we were sleeping. At first, we were very scared, but when my father caught them, he couldnt even try to hit them or anything because they were just so thin. Like theyre about to die. I wasnt even scared after I saw them because they looked like they were barely hanging on to life. I thought, That might be my cousin. We gave them a meal and we gave them some food. My father said he would not report them as long as they didnt come back.

All the nicer homes were broken into. I will tell you simply: My family was lucky because we didnt starve. The songbun  the social system  is very important. My father was a businessman. So Im really lucky our songbun was okay.

My father was a businessman, so we had foreign products  a Japanese car and furniture, for example. Even though we were taught North Korea is the best country in the world, when Im using things from Japan, I know the quality is very good. Stuff from North Korea you use once and throw away.

I was a very good student in North Korea, and I always cleaned the pictures of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Because I was in a high level in my classes, I got to read about Kim Il-sung to my classmates every morning, like its the Bible. I was so proud.

In a photo taken on July 25, 2013 North Korean schoolchildren walk before the portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-Sung (top L) and Kim Jong-Il (top R) at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum in Pyongyang. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

The cult of personality was really strong. During Kim Jong-ils reign, people would say, I wish I could meet Kim Jong-il before I die. For me, it would have been like meeting Ryan Gosling. I dont know what its like now, but North Koreans didnt always blame Kim Jong-un for the abuses of the Inmin Boanbu, the Ministry of Peoples Security. They understand the security is under the leadership of the Kim regime, but especially after the famine, people thought, Kim Jong-il is at the top doing good work, but all these people beneath him arent doing good work.

But by the time I was in middle school, I thought I couldnt live in North Korea forever. I already watched a lot of American movies, South Korean dramas, and from India, China, and Japan. I read books from other countries, so I struggled with my future. At school, theyre teaching us the same thing: South Korea is a very poor country. America is bad. North Korea is the best in the world, always. But theyre lying.

In North Korea, there is an underground market. The goods come from a few people who have passports; they go to China and come back, and things start to spread. People make copies of DVDs and sell them on the black market. I got Gone With the Wind. The vendors always said, Be careful.

Joseph Kim, 27

Kim escaped North Korea in 2006 after both his mom and sister disappeared. He arrived in the United States in 2007. He is currently a student at Bard College.

I left North Korea because it was time for me to choose life or death. I had nothing to lose.

The great famine began right before I was entering elementary school, so Ive seen the effects with my own eyes. My father died of starvation when I was 12. My sister went to China and my mom was also going to China, back and forth, and was eventually caught by the government and that left me an orphan and homeless. I didnt see my mom getting arrested; it was just a story that some of my homeless friends told me on the street. I cant really validate whether she was really arrested or went to China and never came back.

I survived as a beggar for three years on the street. I begged for food, and sometimes I worked in the coal mines. Over ten hours for a free lunch. The people I worked with knew my age, and even though everyone else had difficulties, they tried to give me the easier jobs. They were trying to protect me.

I didnt know a lot about the outside world while I was in North Korea. But I heard stories of abundance of food, rice, meats in China from people who went to China and got caught and came back. So I knew, at least, in China it would be a bit easier because people had more food. And I wanted to look for my sister there.

I went to a town that was right next to the Chinese border. I escaped during wintertime, in February. The water of the river that serves as a national border was frozen. I ran over the ice.

Once in China, I started to go to house after house to ask for leftover rice or anything to eat. I wasnt very successful at the beginning because the Chinese government doesnt recognize North Korean defectors or refugees  they see us as economic migrants. It is illegal for Chinese citizens to help North Koreans. Even giving them a cup of water could make them subject to huge fines, so there are limits to what the average Chinese person could do. At the same time I was dependent on their help, and a lot were kind and generous. One Chinese woman told me I should go to church for help. I began to learn of these Christian churches, and most of the help I received was from South Korean missionaries in underground churches in China.

Most of the missionaries, they dont have that much power or money  they just give temporary assistance. But in my case, there was a missionary woman who really wanted to help me out, and she used her networks to find a human-rights organization in America.

I had an option to either go to South Korea or the U.S., and I chose to come to the U.S. Its a long story, but there was a sense that the U.S. was asking leading questions like, Why dont you want to go to South Korea? Its the same language, heritage, and culture. To put it simply, I didnt really like the fact that they were almost telling me where to go, so I decided, I guess, on the opposite of what I was told.

A girl yawns as she watches a propaganda troupe perform a flag-waving routine outside the central railway station in Pyongyang on September 27, 2017. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Yes, North Korea is a bad place. Its a place that Im not proud of, but at the same time, its a place that has to be restored, not destroyed. Im concerned that the more Western society portrays North Korea in the way they do now, people may no longer associate it as a place that needs to be restored. Its a place I want to be good. Its home. The reason why I share this story is so that I can go back to North Korea and lead the nation  not to mock North Korea, or to show how bad it is to live there. Because everybody knows that already, or should know, if you spend five minutes online.

I do believe changes will happen. I dont have evidence, but I do have a faith, mostly because I believe in the North Korean people, my own people, average people who are trying to survive every day. More and more foreign and outside information is being smuggled into North Korea, and I think that helps people to change their perception about the government. Theres a stark difference between the regimes propaganda versus reality. That has really forced people to think. Thats a very bad situation for the government, but a very helpful start for people like me who hope to see a free North Korea.

For example, growing up, Ive been brainwashed that North Korea is the best country in the world and has nothing to envy. But when I started living and surviving on my own, some of the kids I saw on the street were dying of starvation. As a kid, I didnt have the ability to raise questions of poverty, or ask, Is this government good or not? But I did have to think, Well, is this the best country? Do we still have nothing to envy?

Reality doesnt match with the regimes propaganda: Those are the push-and-pull factors for average North Korean people to think and question the government. There was a movie Ive seen growing up as a child, which I liked watching a lot. It was basically about the Joseon Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and there were farmers or peasants who were rising up against the kingdom to demand human dignity and basic necessities. After I came to America, I heard that the North Korean government banned that movie because its kind of similar to whats happening in North Korea now. The nobles or the elite, they live a really good life  they give white rice to their dog, when these homeless kids are starving to death on the street. Thats pretty similar to what that movie was about. Now that movie is banned.

Charles Ryu, 22

Ryu first escaped North Korea at 14. His father, who was Chinese, abandoned him and his mother when he was a young child. His mother died of starvation when he was 11. He bounced between relatives and the streets, until one of his half-brothers from his fathers previous relationship helped him escape to China. Ryu was captured and tortured and sent to a prison camp. He fled again, this time for good, at 16. He made it to a detention camp in Southeast Asia, and applied to come to the United States in 2012.

My father left my mother and me to go to China. He abandoned us and he never returned. Before he left, he borrowed so much money from the neighbors that people were coming to our house. They just wanted to get their money back, but my mom didnt have any money. She just had to tell people, Maybe a month later, maybe a week later, my husband will come back.

My mom died of starvation when I was 11. She collapsed, couldnt walk anymore. She lay in the hospital bed. I had to give her food and basically act the nurse. I couldnt go to school. She was like a vegetable. I guess she fell into a coma or something like that. And then she never got up and passed away in her bed, without saying any last words.

That was a common struggle and common tragedy in North Korea. My aunt took me in for two years, but she and my uncle hated me. For the most part, it was over food, because they were really struggling to feed their family. Now me, on top of that. Many nights, I got kicked out  not forever, but like a week, two weeks, three months. In freezing weather and summer heat, I had to sleep on the roof of the garage. Or I slept on the stairs in apartment buildings. Or in an empty train. For eating, I sometimes had to steal from people or the black market, called jangmadang.

My aunt forced me to write to my father all the time. She would threaten him, If he doesnt send money, she will send me to an orphanage, or she will kick me out, or in the worst case, shes gonna kill me and chop me up. My father didnt have any money, but I guess he didnt want to lose me, so he sent my stepbrother, who had a passport, from China to North Korea to rescue me when I was 14.

We had a broker, who I guess had a connection with border security. They just say, One of my clients is gonna try to escape through the river. So would you mind just keeping quiet? I swam the river.

I was reunited with my father. Life was like heaven in China because I didnt have to beg for food. I didnt have to find a place to sleep. I didnt really worry that much because my father was Chinese, so I thought, Of course, Ill be Chinese, too. I was going outside and I was meeting people and I was making friends. Nobody was telling me, Oh, youre gonna get captured if you go outside. If somebody had told me that, I wouldnt have gone outside.

Chinese citizens reported me to the government. They get rewards if they report North Koreans. Maybe one of my friends reported me; Im not really sure.

First I went through a really high-security interrogation because the North Korean authorities had to find out where I was trying to go and where I was staying in China. They wanted to know if I was trying to escape to South Korea, but I was just living in China with my father. They kept beating me, even though I was telling them the truth. They wanted to hear something different. I mean, I watched a lot of South Korean dramas, but I couldnt really tell them that. I was just, In China, I just ate and I just slept, and I went outside, and Id play video games. I was only a kid, so they didnt really try to break my bones.

I was sent to a political labor camp for nine months. A living hell. They fed us 50 corn kernels per meal. Fifty pieces of corn every meal, a total of 150, and they expected us to work 12 hours straight. Every morning wed get up at 7 a.m., and then wed go out, eat those 50 kernels, and then go to work. We cut wood, and helped farm outside the camp. Even if you dont have anything to do, theyd just make us move those bricks from one place to another place. We stop whenever they wanted us to stop.

At the end of the nine months, I was almost dead from malnutrition. I was bones and skin. I was just lying down on the floor of the cell. I couldnt get up. So they called my stepbrother and they just let me go. I was dead, almost.

I was really halfway to hell. It took me six months recover. But my brother didnt want to take care of me anymore, so I ended up in coal mines. I wanted to leave, but they fed me well, and they paid me rice. I was getting into a kind of comfort zone. At the same time, I saw a lot of accidents happening. People are losing their arms, legs, and even their life, getting smashed under rocks. So I worked there for a year and a half, and I decided to escape again in May 2011.

I didnt have any connections, so I escaped the coal mine first and I was homeless for three months. Then, out of nowhere, one day, there was a train stopped in the middle of this railroad, which happens a lot in North Korea because the power runs out. People are coming off the train and just talking, chilling. I went down to the train and I was going to beg for food from strangers, and then I saw the sign saying the train is going from Pyongyang to the border city. I was like, Yes! This is it. This is the opportunity for me to escape. I blended into the crowd, trying to pretend I belonged. A few hours later the power came back up. I got on the train.

I managed to hide during most of the ride, but I got caught by the train security because I wasnt carrying the proper documents to travel. Every single piece inside of me broke because I knew they were going to deport me back to my hometown, and they were gonna throw me in jail.

The train security locked me in this huge room and left me. At first I was really hopeless and I was really scared. Then I realized I could escape through the window. The train slowed as it approached the station. I opened the window and I jumped out. I walked for a few hours, and then I got to the next train station. When the train arrived, I got on it again, the same one, and went to the border city.

I went to the house of the broker I knew from the first time I escaped. I slept for a bit and then headed out toward the river. There were a lot of security guards with guns, so I had to wait for darkness. I was hiding under the tall dry grass for most of the day. When it came, I stepped in the water and I swam across.

I walked for three days without water or any food. My feet were bruised and blistered, bleeding. After three days, I collapsed on the highway. A Chinese man found me in the middle of the road. He took me into his house, fed me, and gave me medication and clothing, and he connected me to a South Korean pastor.

The South Korean pastor offered to help me get to South Korea. And I was like, No. I was just trying to find my father here [in China]. So the pastor bought me a bus ticket to my fathers house. When I got there, my father was so shocked. Heres this 16-year-old kid who just crossed a thousand miles to find his dad. He was so surprised, but he told me, Okay, you should go to South Korea, because youre gonna get captured here again and deported back to North Korea, and this is the second time, and you are almost an adult. If I had gotten caught again, there was no chance of me surviving in those prison camps.

So we found a broker, and I embarked on another long journey from China to Southeast Asia. I was in an immigration detention center in Southeast Asia, and I applied for political asylum to the South Korean embassy. But the South Korean embassy rejected me as a refugee because my father was Chinese. They were like, You know what? We cannot really accept you. We would love to help you out, but we cannot change the law. I told them, I escaped to live with my father, but I got captured and deported back to North Korea, so Im not really Chinese. They didnt care. So I applied as a political asylee to the United States, and I got accepted in 2012.

The first thing you think about North Korea is, Kim Jong-un has a crazy haircut, and the nuclear weapons. But focus on the people, not the regime. I feel really betrayed; I feel really angry at the North Korean government that lied to us. And I feel betrayed by the upper class, the businesspeople, who are really rich.

My brother was Chinese, so he could go to China and come back. Not many can do that in North Korea, but my brother could. Every time he went to China, he brought K-pop tapes and some movies. I watched those movies, so I knew about South Korea and the United States. I wasnt certain if that was just in movies, or if that was regular life. North Korea kept telling us theyre just making those movies to put crappy things in our minds, poison our thoughts. I wasnt 100 percent certain when I was 13. But after China, I was like, This is 100 percent a lie.

When I was in the coal mine, all of us were risking our lives together, so we shared everything. I used to tell them all these things I had seen in China. I told them what I ate, the movies I watched, all those freedoms I had. They were going crazy. They wanted to hear more and more and more. The people who worked with me were so happy. The next day, they wanted to work with me again, to hear all about it. I used to tell them, This is what I ate. This is what it tastes like. We had to trust each other. I wouldnt tell random people, I went to China, and I got deported. I wouldnt even tell them that.

There are three types of classes in North Korea. The first class is loyal, the second class is disloyal, and the lower class waverings. Not all of the loyals in North Korea are rich, but most of the loyals who live in the capital city, or who are in charge of one factory, are. For example, if my father was in charge of a factory, I am supposed to go into military, and I can apply to the same position my father has. Its all inherited. There is no way to move, unless you do something  like you were in the military and you met Kim Jong-il while you were serving in the military, and you did something particularly special for Kim Jong-il. Otherwise there is no way to jump up from the lowest to the highest class.

About 100,000 North Koreans attend an anti-American rally at Pyongyangs Kim Il Sung Square on Sept. 23, 2017, amid escalating tensions between the two countries. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo Photo: Kyodo via AP

People who are protesting the United States or South Korea, those are village people. They dont want to do it, but theyre forced by the government. If you dont, youre going to get collective punishment. For example, when Kim Jong-il died, people had to cry, otherwise youre going to get in trouble. Police officers would say, Why arent you crying? Its something like that.

I strongly believe that the North Korean regime is going to collapse in my lifetime. The younger generation in North Korea knows more about the foreign world. Every day the technology is getting better. When I was 11, I first got exposed to DVD players. When I was 14, I got exposed to a cell phone. Then I got exposed to USB sticks and the Notel DVD players.

You can get punished, but most people who get caught watching foreign media dont go to jail right away. The police officers give them an option: Do you want to go to jail and serve your time  ten years  or do you want to bribe me now and continue bribing me? If I can bribe the police officer for the rest of my life  If you are watching foreign media that means youre kind of rich, so most people can pay those bribes. Thats why the foreign media is getting more spread out.

Grace Jo, 26

Jo grew up in North Korea with her mother, father, maternal grandmother, and five siblings. Her father died while being transferred to a prison camp; her grandmother, older brother, and youngest brother died of starvation. Her older sister disappeared attempting to cross into China. Jos mother decided to flee with Jo, her sister, and her last surviving brother to China. Her mother couldnt manage three kids crossing the river, so she left Jos brother behind with friends, planning to retrieve him in North Korea days later. Jos mom could not make it back in time, and her family found out that Jos brother had also died. Jo herself was captured and repatriated to North Korea twice. On her third attempt, with the help of a Korean-American pastor, her mom and older sister came to the United States in 2008. She is now vice-president of the North Korean Refugees in the United States, a nonprofit organization.

It was pretty challenging for us as I grew older. We moved from the city to a village, and the hungry days came more often. I didnt see porridge or grain anymore. We just ate the green vegetables we collected and hot water and sometimes cold water for ten days. In the winter time, we suffered a lot because we didnt have food, or we didnt have any grass, or we didnt have any wild vegetables to collect. Sometimes our parents brought some dried potato skins. One day my mother discovered newborn baby mice, and she and my grandmother started talking about how they can cook and feed one of the children. They decided to feed me. My family said, Its medicine.

My father passed away while he was being transferred to prison. He violated regulations because he traveled to China without a passport or visa to ask his cousin to help him to get rice and other materials to help our family. After he came back to North Korea, some people in the village reported him, so officers took my father away. He never came back. Later, we found out while they were transferring him to the prison, the train stopped because the electricity went out. We dont know how long the train was stopped for, but nobody gave my father water or food and his hands were handcuffed to the train-seat area, so he wasnt able to see or stand. He basically died because of dehydration and starvation. But the officers who were transferring my father didnt want to get punished, so they said my father tried to escape from the train and was running toward the border with China, so they shot him. That was the story we heard from the government, but my mom couldnt believe it. So she searched the whole village and found one of the inmates, and he told us the true story.

After my father died, my grandmother passed away. My mother lost her husband, her mother, her sons, and one of her daughters in several months. My brothers died of starvation, and my older sister disappeared trying to cross into China. My mother also got tortured by the officers because they claimed my sister  the one who went missing  brought food to my mom. My mom bled a lot from the beating. She was almost giving up.

In a photo taken on September 22, 2017 a group of women walk across Kim Il-Sung sqaure in Pyongyang. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

About two weeks after my grandmother died, officers sent the leaders from the village to our house, and they warned my mother: We will give you 15 days. After 15 days, if you dont leave this house we will burn it down. My mom tried to beg them, We lost everybody in this house, and I have small kids. Where can we go? But they said, No, you have to go. The officers claimed we had to vote for Kim Jong-il in the city, even though we had lived in this village for more than four years. But the real reason was because my father had violated regulations and we were considered a criminal family. The leaders didnt want us to live in that village.

That was in 1997 or 1998. My mom tried to beg them, but it didnt work, so she decided to take us to China. We walked for three days. My mom told us we had to be quiet; we had to walk carefully, slow down, hide in the grass. We finally reached the Tumen River. I was 6 and a half years old at the time, and my sister was 10. My mom had very bad health and my sister was a really thin, small girl, so as you can imagine, the water was a little strong and both of them struggled in the river. My mom was carrying me on her back. I was looking down at the water and the water was pretty deep. It came to my moms hips, almost touching my feet.

In China, we were basically hiding for four years. We helped a Chinese family with farming and stuff to earn some money. When I was 10, a Korean-Chinese pastor heard about my family and tried to help us. He took me and my sister to his house, and I lived there for two years. I went to school, and I was able to learn the Bible and how to write Korean and Chinese. In about 2001 or 2002, my mom decided to try to go to South Korea, so she picked me up and the three of us tried to go to the South Korean embassy in Beijing. But we got caught along the way. We got interviewed by Chinese officers and, three days later, we were sent back to North Korea. That was my first time realizing that Im North Korean. I thought I was the same as Chinese girls because I attended school with all the Chinese students.

Back in North Korea, I was in an orphanage shelter, and separated from my family. Wed wake up at six in the morning and line up in the hallway for a count and walk to the kitchen line by line. The guards would call the names of different age groups and would send the older kids to the workforce, to the mountains to help people cut wood, or to farm. I think I stayed there for a month, and then they had to transfer me to the main orphanage shelter that receives all the orphan kids from different states. So many kids are brought there, and there is not enough food and the work is so hard. I was 12 years old and I was little  like a really tiny girl  and I had never done difficult work, so people thought if I went to that main orphanage shelter, I would definitely die. So I escaped while I was transferring. I took that same train in the opposite direction, and I went to my cousins house, which was where my mom had told me to go before we were separated. I went there to wait for my mother to get released from prison. In that time, I sold honey on the street.

After we were reunited  my sister, too  my mom tried to rearrange again to escape to China. The three of us couldnt escape together because we feared the North Korean government was watching us; the plan was for me and my mom to head to China first, and then our sister would join us. My mom and I made it across the border, but about a week later, we took a train and got caught by plainclothes Chinese officers who interviewed us and confirmed we were North Koreans. They detained us at a hotel for a few hours, and then returned us to the train station again, to send us back. At that time, my mom told me I should try to escape from the Chinese officers, so I escaped in the parking lot, took a taxi, and ran away. My mom had told me the location I should go to in China for help, so I found the place and stayed there until my mom and sister found me.

When my mom read that, she said, If theres this kind of opportunity, I will choose to go to America instead of South Korea.

About eight or nine months later, I was reunited with my mom and sister in China. This was in 2002. In the Chinese village, we met a Korean-Chinese pastor who introduced us to a Korean-American pastor. He supported us and other North Korean defectors. We had the option to escape to South Korea, but it was around 2004, when George W. Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act that allows North Korean refugees to legally come to America. When my mom read that, she said, If theres this kind of opportunity, I will choose to go to America instead of South Korea. So we waited and stayed in China and tried to help the pastor with another group of defectors. Unfortunately, Chinese plainclothes officers had followed two groups of defectors from the train to our apartment. Those Chinese officers caught everybody. Some people tried to commit suicide. One lady cut her throat and both her arms and she was bleeding all over her body.

We all got caught and we were sentenced for 15 months in a Chinese prison near the border for North Korean defectors. I was 14 years old. We could not go outside; we could not breathe the fresh air; it was very difficult. We only had one blanket. Two adult men could stand on top of each other and that was the height of the wall. Normally we stayed about 30 people, maybe 40 people, in the room. I wasnt in a good condition at the time, so I complained and I moved to a different room. Usually with 15 or 20 people in the room, but sometimes 2 or 3.

We were sentenced to go back to North Korea, but the Korean-American pastor had gone back to America, and he fundraised money  about $10,000  to help rescue my family. He sent brokers and money to bribe the North Korean agents to let us go. Money talks. It was a success. We got to safety in China again with the help of the pastor, who then worked with different activists and we got protected by United Nations officers as refugees. I was 16 years old when we came to the U.S., to Seattle.

We tried our best to live in our country, North Korea. We tried so many different ways, and we tried our best to survive. But there was no way to survive there. My mom didnt want to give up her life and her childrens lives, so her only choice was to escape to China. Our family is an example of 99 percent of regular people from North Korea. Every North Korean has a slightly different story, but they all struggle, family members have died of starvation or torture. We were not the only ones.

The information in North Korea is so isolated  people dont know whats happening on the other side of the village  so its very hard to become united. Everybody was monitored by the government, and if they did something wrong, theyd never see their family members again. Three generations will get punished. Not only a single person. Your parents will get punished, your siblings will get punished, and your child will get punished. If you think in American terms its very hard to understand what thats like, but if youre brainwashed since you were able to speak momma and daddy, its very hard [to go] against the government.

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

** Translated with help from Rosa Park of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
You think Susan Collins is a moderate Republican? Back in the day, moderate Republicans like Chuck Percy and Ed Brooke hung out with Jesse Jackson! Photo: D. Michael Cheers/AP

Ah, these terrible moderate Republicans of the Senate! Theyre obstructing everything the GOP promised to accomplish when they took power last November. All sorts of right-wing groups ranging from the Senate Conservatives Fund to the Heritage Foundation to FreedomWorks are dedicated to their destruction. Steve Bannon has declared war on them.

But heres the thing: The Senates moderate Republicans have been hunted nearly to extinction over the years. Within living memory, not only moderate but by any definition liberal Republicans were thick on the ground in the U.S. Senate. But today, moderate is mainly just a term of contempt for any GOP senator maverick-y enough to break ranks on something the heavily conservative party has decided it needs.

To illustrate the trend, I looked at the gold standard for measurements of congressional Republicans ideological fidelity since 1971, the American Conservative Unions lifetime ratings for members of the Senate. I took a less-than-50-percent rating as a pretty noncontroversial benchmark for moderation.

Forty years ago, in 1977, there were 14 Senate Republicans with a less-than-50-percent lifetime rating from ACU: Ted Stevens, Lowell Weicker, Charles Percy, James Pearson, Charles Mathias, Edward Brooke, Clifford Case, Jacob Javits, Mark Hatfield, Bob Packwood, John Heinz, Richard Schweiker, John Chafee, and Robert Stafford.

Thirty years ago, in 1987, the number of moderate Republicans in the Senate had dropped to nine: Lowell Weicker, David Durenberger, Mark Hatfield, Bob Packwood, John Heinz, Arlen Specter, John Chafee, Robert Stafford, and Dan Evans.

Twenty years ago, in 1997, the Senates moderate GOP tribe had shrunk to five: Susan Collins, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Arlen Specter, John Chafee, and Jim Jeffords.

Ten years ago, in 2007, there were two moderate Republican senators left according to the ACU standard: Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter.

And now, theres just one: Susan Collins (who temporarily lifted herself to a 50-plus ACU lifetime rating before lapsing back into heresy).

Collins is now thinking about leaving Washington for the cozier confines of Augusta, Maine, by running for governor. Not everyone left is a hard-core conservative; Lisa Murkowski will still be around with her 60 percent lifetime ACU rating. But its not like there is a bench of moderate Republicans out there moving inexorably toward the U.S. Senate. So in a very real sense, Collins could be the last of the breed. Its been a long sharp downward road to nowhere.
A fortnight ago, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) expressed concern at a slight dip in registration for final exams, especially at primary leaving exam level.

Now the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) has come up with similar concerns, as ALI TWAHA reports.

Until recently, every pupil in Kihiihi township, Kanungu district attended the government-supported Kihiihi primary school. Today, many of the fairly affluent parents are sending their children to the privately-founded Kihiihi Progressive primary school.

The dip in enrolment at Kihiihi primary school is not yet severe enough to cause concern, but it is in line with the findings of the latest Uganda National Household Survey 2016/17.

The survey found that the number of pupils enrolled under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme has significantly dropped in the last five years.

The survey, prepared by Ubos, shows that enrolment figures dropped from a peak of 11 million recorded in 2012/13 to 9.4 million learners. However, there has been no big difference between the number of males and females who enroll in UPE.

Students at Lowell Girls' School in Wakiso; the Ubos report showed that many children are being allowed to drop out of school

In 2012/13, more males (5.3 million) pupils were enrolled under the UPE programme compared to the females (5.1 million). This situation is also reflected in Uneb reports, where registration has reached gender parity.

In presenting the report, Ubos director of social economic surveys, James Muwonge, explained that there were several reasons for the drop in the UPE enrolment.

We cant rule out the improving fortunes of private schools. But net enrollment is decreasing, which is a worrying trend. But that is something our colleagues from the sector could explain better, Muwonge said.

However, the education ministrys permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, has found out what he feels are more compelling reasons affecting enrolment.

In some of the districts, children are lured away from school by the need to support their family through menial jobs at car washing bays, sugarcane plantations and becoming housemaids, Kakooza said recently. We are working with the local government leaders to set up by-laws to stop [all] this.



STARTLING NUMBERS

This latest Ubos survey collected information on socio-economic characteristics at both household and community levels. It was intended to collect high-quality data on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of households for monitoring the countrys development performance key indicators in the various sectors.

At least 17,450 households countrywide were surveyed for the study. There are about seven million households in Uganda, with an average of seven persons.

The statistics compiled by Ubos indicate that in four every ten children aged six to 12 years (43 per cent) said they do not attend school because their parents consider them too young.

Some five out of every ten children said they do not attend school simply because their parents did not want them to. Muwonge added that some of the parents (nearly 14 per cent of those interviewed) responded that school was too expensive for them.

At least six per cent of these said they preferred to have their children help them with cultivation on their farms instead of going to school.

The report found that although they were not required to pay tuition fees under the UPE programme, some parents still could not afford scholastic materials for their children. This, the researchers concluded, could be the reason some parents keep their children at home.

The report also finds that 23 per cent of the children surveyed were not attending school at the time of the survey but had previously attended.

Ubos also cited poverty figures, which had increased during the period under review, with those rated as living under the poverty line said to have climbed from 6.5 million to 10 million as of 2016/17.

This translates to a higher likelihood that more [children] are attending school on empty stomachs, Muwonge offered. He added that many more were also traveling long distances to get to school.

For instance, across areas of northern Uganda, where the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan programme is still in effect, high poverty levels were reported in several communities.

The survey found that majority of people in these communities reported that there was a government school, outside the LC-I but within a distance of more than 5km, which made access to school difficult.



PROBLEM SOLVING

The Ubos researchers say the report only confirms that there are problems with the UPE programme, which need to be resolved, since its initial intentions were honourable. Kakooza says he acknowledges as much, indicating that private schools are taking advantage of the problems under the UPE programme.

They have solved some of our teething problems such as teacher and learner absenteeism, and are working to improve their infrastructure  we need to do our bit to catch up, he said, early last month.

This admission should add confidence to parents sending their pupils to Kihiihi Progressive primary school, as well as those who still frequent Kihiihi primary school.



alitwaha@observer.ug




NASA presidential candidate, veteran politician Raila Amolo Odinga announced today that he and his running mate, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, will not take part in the repeat election, occasioned by the September 1 Supreme court ruling that nullified the election.



"After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election, considering the interests of the people of Kenya, the region and the world at large, we believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October 2017," said Odinga.



Raila Odinga casting his presidential ballot earlier in August Odinga said NASA has been calling for a free and fair election in accordance to the constitution. He explained that NASA leaders came to the conclusion that there is no intention from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to guard against "the irregularities and illegalities witnessed in the August 8 elections.



Odinga, who has been a presidential candidate on four occasions, accused IEBC stalling any changes to its operations and personnel that led to the invalidation of the elections. Kenya's opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) has withdrawn from the October 26 presidential election rerun.NASA presidential candidate, veteran politician Raila Amolo Odinga announced today that he and his running mate, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, will not take part in the repeat election, occasioned by the September 1 Supreme court ruling that nullified the election."After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election, considering the interests of the people of Kenya, the region and the world at large, we believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October 2017," said Odinga.Odinga said NASA has been calling for a free and fair election in accordance to the constitution. He explained that NASA leaders came to the conclusion that there is no intention from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to guard against "the irregularities and illegalities witnessed in the August 8 elections.Odinga, who has been a presidential candidate on four occasions, accused IEBC stalling any changes to its operations and personnel that led to the invalidation of the elections.

"All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one," he said.



He accused President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto planning to use the Jubilee party majority in the National Assembly and Senate "to overthrow our new constitutional order and re-install the old order."



On September 1, a six-judge bench under the leadership of Chief Justice David Maraga nullified the presidential election saying that that the outcome of the vote was invalid, null and void", ordering for a rerun.

Two of the six judges on the panel, however, disagreed with the verdict, while a seventh judge was in hospital and so he played no significant role in the petition.



IEBC had on August 10 declared President Kenyatta winner of the August 8 elections with 54.27% against Odinga's 44.74% of the total votes cast.

According to figures released by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, the incumbent garnered 8,203,290 votes while Odinga managed 6,762,224 votes.



But Odinga challenged the outcome of the elections, accusing IEBC of organising what he called a shambolic election "in a manner that violated constitutional and legal provisions."



In fact, he and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka rejected the results even before they were announced on August 10. They accused the commission of imposing on Kenyans what they called computer-generated leaders.
Pakistan no more reliant on USA for military requirements: Shahid Khaqan

Pakistan is no more reliant on the United States for military requirements and will reach out to others if one source [of military supplies] dries up, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbas said in an interview with the Arab News on Sunday.



"If one source dries up, we have no option but to go to another source. It may cost more, it may consume more resources, but we have to fight that war, and thats what we emphasised to all the people that we met," said the PM. "We have major US weapons systems in our military, but weve also diversified. We have Chinese and European systems. Recently, for the first time we inducted Russian attack helicopters."



Reiterating his stance on Pakistan's fight against terrorism, Abbasi said that the world needs to recognise the country's efforts. "Any sanctions or restraints [] put on our systems only degrades our efforts to fight terror, and it affects the whole equation in this region," he was quoted as saying.



Speaking about his "unscheduled" meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he said that they were held on the request of the US administration and proved to be "very constructive".



Abbasis meeting with VP Pence was the highest contact between the two sides since Trump's new policy was announced on Aug 21. Pakistan had after the policy announcement postponed the then planned bilateral interactions.



"Whatever concerns they [the US] have, weve shown our willingness to address those concerns, Abbasi said about his meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.



"We can categorically state that we dont provide any sanctuaries to anybody," he said, refuting repeated US allegations of terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. "Today we have a common objective: to destroy terror and bring peace to Afghanistan."



"We dont believe that injecting India into the Pakistan-US relationship will help resolve anything, especially in Afghanistan, where we dont see any role for India."



"The reality today is that much of the area bordering Pakistan is controlled by the Taliban," Abbasi said, adding that terrorists from Afghanistan carry out attacks in Pakistan which is why Pakistan was fencing its western borders.



"Whatever happens in Afghanistan, affects us. Whatever happens here, affects them.



While speaking to the Arab News on the economic challenges the country is facing, the prime minister said that Pakistan will neither reach out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nor devalue its currency.



He conceded that declining reserves is a serious issue but said that Pakistan will look to solve it within its own resources. "I dont think the IMF program is something that we intend to pursue."



Abbasi also accepted that falling exports and rising imports were widening the current account deficit but, he said, falling exports is a worldwide trend while the rise in imports "actually signals growth in the economy because the people have more money to spend on luxury goods."



Pinning economic hopes on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Abbasi said that the project will boost Pakistan's infrastructure which he termed "the basic ingredient" of any economy.



"Its really a game-changer and it will have multiplier effect. It will attract more investment, it will attract more projects. So, its really something that we feel will pay very high dividends for Pakistan."



According to the Arab News article, Abbasi rejected suggestions that large investments would give China undue influence in Pakistan. Its a two-way relationship, he said.



He added that Pakistan does not see the CPEC as being "a threat of any kind". "They have equity investments here but mostly, it is debt or loans of some kind and it is basically focused on certain areas."
Pakistan trying to restart quadrilateral peace process for ending Afghan war

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is trying to restart the quadrilateral peace process for ending the Afghan war and has asked the group members to meet in Muscat, Oman, on Oct 16.



Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan are members of the group.



Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told VOA Urdu in Washington last week that Pakistan would play a leading role in this quadrilateral session, aimed at bringing the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table.



The Quadrilateral Cooperation Group first met in January 2016 and has had five sessions so far, the last being held in May 2016 in Murree.



The process was plagued by problems from the beginning. First the Taliban refused to join it unless given the same status as the Afghan government. When they were persuaded to attend, relations between Kabul and Islamabad strained.



The first four meetings, however, did show some progress. Chinas participation was particularly encouraging as both Pakistan and Afghanistan set aside their acrimony to welcome China. Pakistan hoped that Chinas involvement would answer its main concern, Indias growing influence in Afghanistan. The Afghan government hoped that Chinas clout with Pakistan could have help persuade Islamabad to improve its ties with Kabul.



The international community too welcomed the quadrilateral talks because all four countries are seen as crucial to ensuring the success of any peace talks on Afghanistan.



But during the fifth session, some officials in Kabul leaked news to the media saying that the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died in Karachi in 2013 but Pakistan was hiding this news because it feared losing its influence on the Taliban.



The revelation derailed the talks as officials from each of the four governments opted to return to their capitals for consultations. On May 21, 2016, Mullah Omars successor, Mullah Mansour was also killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, which further delayed the peace process.



Since then, Pakistan has made several attempts to restart the talks but none of the four parties seemed very keen on returning to negotiations.



In Afghanistan, the Taliban increased their attacks on both US and Afghan government targets. And in the United States, the new Trump administration concluded that the best way is to force the Taliban to talk.



At a recent news briefing in Washington, US State Departments spokesperson Heather Nauert expressed doubts about the success of these peace efforts when she questioned the efficacy of the Talibans non-official diplomatic post in Qatar.



Weve been now in that war for 16 years but they have not been able to come to any kind of peace and reconciliation, so just by having folks sit around in Qatar, in probably a pretty cushy life there, has not demonstrated, has not brought to the table any kind of significant peace efforts, she said.



And during his three-day visit to Washington last week, the Pakistani foreign minister acknowledged that Pakistan too was losing its influence on the Taliban.



At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is mistrust, Mr Asif told VOA Urdu, adding that he believes Russia today has more influence on the Taliban than Pakistan does.



Despite these concerns, all four members of this group want some peace in Afghanistan and are likely to participate in the Muscat meeting.
QUEENSBURY  On Sunday mornings, Amy Davis of Queensbury picks up concrete spheres that weigh about 100 pounds, walks with a weight rack on her shoulders, flips a truck tire nearly as tall as she is, then uses a sledgehammer to beat on that same truck tire.

This is my favorite time of the week, Davis said Sunday at Lake George CrossFit in Queensbury. This is absolutely empowering.

Sundays class was a small one, but instructor Wayne Strong, a Spanish teacher at Hadley-Luzerne Central School, said he sometimes has as many as 25 people at the class, which is open to Lake George members and those from their sister club in Saratoga Springs, CrossFit 12866.

We stress safety first, and when you have that many people, you really need to be thinking about safety all the time, said Strong, who noted that sometimes participants in the smaller class get an even better workout.

With fewer people, theres not as much waiting, and we can do more things, he said. Like today, everybody gets their own sledgehammer.

The local CrossFit gym offers a variety of classes, sends its members to competitions and also does a great deal of fundraising, including a breast cancer fundraiser on Saturday.

Strong said CrossFit offers a basic instructor certification, then has specialties, such as Strongman.

Davis, who works with people with traumatic brain injuries, said she focuses hard on her Sunday workouts, and that is apparent from watching her.

Her workout partner, Emilee Davenport, was an assistant district attorney for Warren County, at times working on sex crimes.

This is what helped me keep my sanity, said Davenport, now the law clerk for state Court of Claims Judge Kate Hogan.

Strong said he thinks theres a very basic instinct that gets people involved in the Strongman classes.

I think its the primal movements, he said. There is something primal about it, and the movements are easy to learn.

Fundraiser set

Some of the Strongman participants will be taking part in the ninth annual Barbells For Boobs fundraiser at the Queensbury facility.

The event benefits a charity that provides funding to pay for breast cancer detection services as a last resort for thousands of people who dont qualify for assistance elsewhere.

The first Barbells for Boobs event was held in a parking lot in Corona Del Mar in Newport Beach, California, with 60 athletes from three local CrossFit affiliates. Now it involves more than 45,000 participants across 1,300 affiliates in 23 countries.

For more information, go to fundraise.barbellsforboobs.org.
QUEENSBURY  Kevin Coakley, general manager of the local Red Lobster restaurant, has received national recognition from his company for three years of coordinating backpack drives to help students returning to school.

He is one of eight general managers selected from the more than 700 Red Lobster restaurant leaders throughout North America to receive the Community Involvement Award for making a positive impact with the support of his restaurant team.

Kevin is passionate about leading his restaurant team by example, said Chip Wade, Red Lobsters executive vice president of operations, in a news release. He is dedicated to making a difference in the community through acts of genuine caring and giving.

Coakley has spearheaded numerous community activities. In August, his restaurant team hosted a back-to-school drive that provided more than 500 backpacks filled with school supplies. Over the holiday season, Coakley led a snack pack program to feed more than 60 elementary school children.

Kevin is a champion of the Queensbury community and is continuously demonstrating our core values of hospitality and respect, said Chris Madormo, director of the Queensbury Red Lobster location.

In addition, through Red Lobsters charity program, RL Shares, all Red Lobster restaurants, including Coakleys, partner with local community organizations to donate unused food on a weekly basis.
TICONDEROGA  The original Capt. Kirk, William Shatner, will visit the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in May, entrepreneur James Crawley announced in a news release.

The Canadian born TV actor will be available for autographs, photo ops, a meet and greet and a question and answer session on May 4 and 5 as part of William Shatner Weekend.

The tour is located in downtown Ticonderoga and features rebuilt sets by Crawley, who used original blueprints from the show.

For more information and ticket pricing visit www.startrektour.com.
HEBRON  A Fort Edward man was jailed Monday after he was found to illegally have a rifle when police responded to a home in Hebron for a "physical domestic dispute," authorities said.

Mark A. Ross, 38, of Drifting Ridge Road, was charged after police were called to a home on James Road at 5:32 a.m. Monday, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Police said he twice headbutted the victim, causing injuries, and while officers were at the home, they found he had a rifle that he couldn't possess because of a felony conviction.

Ross was charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of a weapon and non-criminal harassment and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail.

Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Sullivan and deputies Lance Barber and Matt Jackson handled the case.
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Owner Revolution Inc., or ORI, has acquired Blue Wave Ultrasonics, a Davenport-based manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems, as the latest addition to its group of Iowa companies.

The acquisition, finalized last week, unites Blue Wave with ORI, a holding company based in Adair, Iowa. With facilities in both Adair and Atlantic, Iowa, ORI has four wholly owned subsidiaries: Schafer Systems, Connect-A-Dock, The Plastics Professionals and Schafer Solutions.

Blue Wave is a 70-year-old manufacturer with its headquarters/manufacturing plant at 960 S. Rolff St. in west Davenport. Details of the sale were not disclosed.

"We are on a journey to build a diverse portfolio of manufacturing businesses that have demonstrated success in their particular markets," Don Hudak, ORI's president and CEO, said in a news release.

In an interview Monday, Blue Wave President Jeff Hancock said that by combining with ORI, Blue Wave can continue its own growth and expansion. "We've been a great, little, profitable company, that's why they were interested in us," he said. "We're looking for them to help us grow."

Now as part of the ORI family, he hopes Blue Wave can double its 20-person operation and expand its reach to more customers over time. "We have more customer demand than we can support right now," Hancock said.

Serving customers around the globe, he said its main market is North America. Blue Wave has between $4 million and $5 million in sales annually.

Hancock, who will remain on as company president, said Blue Wave will retain its identity, brand and Davenport operation. "Now we will have additional support from the corporate end," he said. The company plans to hire additional engineers in the near term.

"ORI is employee-owned, so we are now part of that employee stock ownership plan," he said, adding the change will make his employees feel an ownership as well as help attract new talent. The company employs engineers, manufacturing staff and support staff.

Blue Wave traces a rich history of manufacturing ultrasonic cleaning systems for industry and health care. It serves customers in a number of manufacturing industries including automotive, aerospace, hospital/surgical, molds/tooling, textiles, medical devices, pharmaceutical, electronics/semiconductor, and marine, heavy duty and off-road equipment.

Ultrasonic Cleaning involves the use of high-frequency sound waves to intricately remove contaminants from parts immersed in aqueous media. Contaminants can include dirt, oil, grease, buffing/polishing compounds and mold release agents. Materials that can be cleaned include metals, glass, ceramics and plastics.

Hancock said the systems "are used on anything that needs to be very, very clean for the next step (in manufacturing)."

Founded in 1986, ORI became employee-owned in 1999. Its four other companies have a combined 300,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space and employ about 100 people. Blue Waves is its first Quad-City company.

Schafer Systems is a leading manufacturer of lottery ticket dispensers and promotional displays worldwide. Connect-A-Dock sells floating modular dock and personal watercraft float systems in the worldwide marine industry. The Plastics Professionals produce molded plastic products and Schafer Solutions provides plastic displays, dispensers and products and solutions to meet customers' special needs.

ORI's Hudak added "Our acquisition of Blue Wave Ultrasonics, Inc. helps us achieve our goal of acquiring manufacturing businesses that have achieved dominant position in niche markets."
A Kurdish woman who was an eyewitness to Saddam Hussein's chemical attacks in 1988 and now lives in Norway has been named the 2017 winner of the Pacem in Terris Peace & Freedom Award, presented by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

Dr. Widad Akreyi, a social justice activist, joins previous recipients who include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

A special ceremony for Akreyi is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22., at Christ the King Chapel, St. Ambrose University, Davenport. Bishop Thomas Zinkula will preside, and Akreyi will be present to accept the honor.

Zinkula offered his congratulations on Akreyi's website: "You have been selected by the Pacem in Terris Coalition for your fearless documentation of torture and other human rights violations, as well as your pursuit of justice through medical research and the monitoring of peace initiatives. Your findings regarding crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing have brought horrific acts to light for all the world to see."

Born in 1969 in Aqrah, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Akreyi fled with her family to Mosul five years later to avoid the Iraqi government's offensive against the Kurds. She was an eyewitness to the chemical attacks lodged by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. She called the subsequent campaign, labeled a genocide against the Kurds, "the worst time of my life."

She started at a young age to advocate against the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons, gender-based violence, disarmament and international security. She was forced to leave her homeland in 1991, along with a mass exodus of Kurds from the area, because of an Iraqi regime offensive, following forced withdrawal from Kuwait.

Akreyi, at 48, is younger than most award recipients, said Kent Ferris, the diocese's social action director who manages the interfaith coalition that makes the award each year.

"I think that is partly based on her life experiences, and I also strongly believe that she is part of an emerging cohort group that is responding to the great injustices of our present day," Ferris said.

Loxie Hopkins, Davenport, is on the awards committee with Ferris, and said she is struck by Akreyi's experience as reflected in 13 other women who have won the honor.

Hopkins gave an address on those women at this week's Women In Justice Conference at St. Ambrose University, and said like the others, Akreyi started out with an ordinary life, had an experience and went on to do "really extraordinary things."

Like Dorothy Day and Sister Helen Prejean, the doctor's efforts in social justice "will add to the legacy of the award," Hopkins said, "and to the contributions made by other pioneering women."

These women, she said, stood up to power and authority and did not back down. "Sometimes we all need to do this," Hopkins said.

Akreyi sought political asylum in Denmark, enrolled in language studies and has earned advanced degrees in genetics, genomics, global health and cancer epidemiology.

She now works with the non-profit organization she helped to start, Defend International.

According to Ferris, Akreyi created partner agreements with others, and launched campaigns to defend the rights of writers, civil activists, children, women, and the rights of prisoners on death row and in hunger strikes.

She has won other awards for her work and activism, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Award.

This Pacem in Terris honor, she said, stands out because it carries the legacy of St. John, and is presented by a coalition of people who strive to make a difference in their communities.

The award coalition, in addition to the Davenport diocese, includes St. Ambrose University, Augustana College, The Catholic Messenger, Churches United of the Quad-City Area, Islamic Center of Quad-Cities, Quad-Cities Interfaith, Jewish Federation of the Quad-Cities, Muslim Community of the Quad-Cities, Congregation of the Humility of Mary, Sisters of St. Benedict, Sisters of St. Francis, Dubuque and Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton.
DES MOINES  With health care options for as many as 70,000 Iowans hanging in the balance, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she has requested a direct line to President Donald Trump.

Meantime, Reynolds said she continues to work with the presidents staff in order to get approval for Iowas proposed short-term health insurance plan.

According to a Washington Post report, Trump in August told one of his agency heads to reject Iowas stopgap proposal, which was designed as a short-term measure to ease the costs of insurance plans under the federal Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

During her weekly press conference Tuesday, Reynolds said she continues to have constructive conversations with Trump administration officials regarding Iowas stopgap plan.

The plan is in a mandatory public comment period.

Open enrollment for 2018 plans begins Nov. 1.

I havent spoken directly to the president. Ive asked for a conversation, Reynolds said. We were actually on the phone yesterday, my team was, with Seema Verma (administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) talking about the stopgap proposal and where were at, what we need to do. So our indication is theyve been very receptive, they continue to work with us.

Under the stopgap plan, Iowa would use federal Affordable Care Act funding to provide financial assistance to individuals based on age and income, and would establish a separate program for individuals with high health care costs.

Roughly 70,000 Iowans purchase insurance through the Affordable Car Acts marketplace, and roughly 20,000 of them could face costs so high they likely would decline to purchase insurance, the state insurance division has estimated.

State insurance commissioner Doug Ommen said he thinks the stopgap plan, which he designed in partnership with Iowa health insurer Wellmark, would ease the burden of spiking insurance costs for one year.

Even if approved, the stopgap plan could face a legal challenge by individuals or groups who feel it does not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Reynolds said her administration attempted to create a proposal that would pass legal scrutiny.

Im really, really proud of my team, the commissioner Doug Ommen and Wellmark, for sitting down and coming up with a very innovative and creative solution that really will, I think, help reduce premiums compared to where theyre going with Obamacare, Reynolds said. Its not perfect, but I think it goes a long way in making sure that we can reduce the premiums, make sure that Iowans have access to coverage and that we can step forward in making it affordable for especially farmers, small business owners and single moms.

Both Ommen and Reynolds have stressed the stopgap plan, even if approved, is just a short-term solution and have implored Congress to pass long-term health care reform.

Text to 911

State officials said Tuesday that by the end of the year every county in Iowa will have emergency call centers that accept text messages to 911.

Currently, 94 of the states 113 emergency call centers accept 911 text messages, officials said.

Officials stressed that calling 911 remains the preferred method of emergency communication, but texting can be useful in cases where a call may endanger the individual trying to communicate with emergency responders, or if the individuals speech has been impaired.

Officials said Iowa was the first state in the nation to accept 911 text messages; a pilot program in Black Hawk County debuted in 2009.
In a speech at the Department of Energy in June, President Donald Trump outlined an ambitious plan that not only called for American energy independence, but also energy dominance.

Energy exports will create countless jobs for our people, and provide energy security to our friends, partners, and allies all across the globe, said the president.

He was absolutely correct. And much like oil and liquefied natural gas, homegrown U.S. ethanol can and must continue to play a substantial role in this growing dominance.

The ethanol industry has seen a seismic level of growth over the past decade thanks to policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fuel ethanol production has grown from 6.5 billion gallons in 2007, to over 15 billion gallons in 2016. Ethanol consumption has dramatically risen as well, with domestic ethanol blending now exceeding 10 percent nationwide. Iowa farmers and ethanol producers have made tremendous strides, but we cannot stop here. The industry must continue to grow beyond our borders if it wants to survive and thrive.

Fostering the growing ethanol export market is a challenge we have to tackle if farmers and ethanol producers, like the oil and natural gas industry, intend to participate in the energy dominance agenda. This is also an issue of continued growth and survival of our industry. Indeed, while corn ethanol production and consumption have risen to all-time highs, the production side is outpacing domestic consumption and our industry leaders recognize that the key to our future survival lies in a growing global market for our products. After all, whether U.S. ethanol is consumed here in the U.S. or oversees, our farmers and our industry profit. The good news is that our industry has taken great steps to open foreign markets and opportunities. Since 2010, U.S. ethanol exports have risen from 400 million gallons to over 1 billion gallons in 2016. All this has happened while U.S. ethanol imports have dropped dramatically, as domestic production has increased. We are becoming more energy independent while simultaneously growing our markets to become more energy dominant.

We are seeing real success, but there are real challenges ahead. Just recently, Brazil announced it was levying a 20 percent tariff on imported ethanol, in response to the growing competitiveness of U.S. corn ethanol with sugar cane ethanol. The response from the national ethanol industry was swift. In a joint statement, leaders from the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, and the U.S. Grains Council condemned the decision.

The United States should not take this lying down, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a subsequent statement.

The Trump Administration must not only fight antiU.S. ethanol tariffs like in Brazil, but also promote policies here in the U.S. that encourage a steady rise in ethanol exports.

In an interview last month with Radio Iowa, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt indicated that he was exploring ways to boost exports of U.S. ethanol. This was a welcome statement from the former Oklahoma Attorney General. Now Administrator Pruitt, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, and the White House must look to the range of regulatory and legislative options available to make growing ethanol exports a key priority in all areas of the administration if the presidents energy dominance agenda is truly to be achieved.
I am writing regarding the Sept. 28 Quad-City Times front page article, Goodbye, Columbus: Holiday gets a new name in Davenport. The article states that the Davenport City Council acceded to a request of the Quad-City Native American Coalition to call Columbus Day Indigenous Peoples Day.

According to the September article, Christopher Columbus and Fake History, in Columbia, the Knights of Columbus magazine, Columbus Day is a national holiday. A poll in 2016 of U.S. citizens expressed a favorable opinion of the explorer and in favor of Columbus Day. The article about fake history goes on to point out many historical points in Columbus favor:

 He was a noted explorer

 He introduced Christianity and Western culture in the lands he discovered

 He found the native people to be very intelligent and his relations with them tended to be benign

The original city to change the Columbus Day designation was Berkeley, California. Christopher Columbus was one of the targets of the Ku Klux Klan.

There were more pro than con opinions expressed in the article. I have only picked out a few of the favorable ones. However, back in the 1840s, the above decisions might have been considered anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant propaganda, of course that would have been fake news.

Instead of putting down a famous explorer and devoted Christian by usurping his holiday, why did they not simply pick a day and ask for it to be their Indigenous Day?

Joe Rosenthal

Davenport
A guys trip to Las Vegas after the last of them turned 21 turned into a brief bit of chaos for two Chadron State College students when a gunman opened fire on a music festival just up the strip.

Students Riley Ellis and John Murphy, both from Harrison, along with friend Antonio Lopez, arrived in Las Vegas Sept. 29, planning to spend the weekend in the casinos now that Murphy  newly crowned CSC Homecoming King  had turned 21.

As fate would have it, its the same weekend Stephen Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay, broke out the windows of his room on the 32nd floor and opened fire on thousands attending a country music concert down below.

You never think its going to happen until its actually happening, Ellis said. Its just weird to think I was right down the street.

Ellis, Murphy and Lopez stayed at Harrahs  about five hotels away from Mandalay Bay  and were in the hotels casino playing electronic roulette when the shooting started Oct. 1.

I thought I heard a boom, Murphy said. I dont know if it was the shots or not. But everybody outside was hearing the shots and came sprinting inside saying there was a shooter.

Ellis and Lopez, wearing headphones, remained unaware of what was going on until Murphy clued them in.

I just thought there was a fight or something and everyone was running to watch it, Ellis said.

The trio ducked under a table while they tried to determine what, exactly, was happening. Murphy checked out chatter on Twitter, which at the time was reporting an active shooter with two reported dead.

It was confusing for awhile, Ellis said. Security guards on one end of the Harrahs casino kept saying everything was fine, but on the opposite end of the room, people were urged to stay down and rumors swept through that there was a second shooter, possibly in or near Harrahs.

After huddling under the table for about five to 10 minutes, the men decided to cash out and head up to their room.

We all stayed pretty calm, Ellis said.

Though they watched the news for awhile that evening, it wasnt until they woke up the next morning when they learned of the severity of the situation, with 58 dead and 500 injured. While they had sent messages to family members the night before that they were safe, the time difference meant many of them were already in bed, so when the trio woke up they were inundated with text messages, Snapchats and phone calls.

As they learned just how deadly Paddocks rampage had been, they realized fate had played a hand in one more element of the weekend. Their original plan included eating at Mandalay Bays buffet that Sunday night.

A week after the incident, theres no doubt in Ellis or Murphys minds that had they followed through on that, they would have remained at Mandalay Bay for the evening, gambling in the casino or wandering outside for the concert. They dont remember why they changed their plans, but are grateful they did.

Im not sure why (we changed our minds), but it was a good decision, Murphy said.

After leaving their hotel room Monday morning, the group wandered as far up the strip as they could before they ran into roadblocks.

It just kind of felt like a weird morning, Ellis said, adding that there were cops gathered at nearly every street corner. With much of the strip still shut down, the group couldnt go too far but was able to see the windows Paddock fired from at a distance.

People were just lined up taking pictures of it, Murphy said.

The group flew home the Tuesday morning after the shooting. While they reported no problems with security at the airport, as they were checking out they did witness a fellow Harrahs guest demanding a refund because he came to Vegas not knowing there was going to be a massacre.
A man accused of assaulting a state Highway Patrol trooper in 2015 has been set for a December trial, where his former co-defendants are expected to testify against him.

Donald Willingham, 35, is charged in Pennington County with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for allegedly beating up Trooper Zachary Bader following a traffic stop on Interstate 90.

According to authorities, the October 2015 incident occurred after Bader stopped a SUV carrying Willingham and three other people, and discovered drugs in the vehicle. Bader reportedly suffered serious injuries, including multiple facial fractures.

Willingham, of Renton, Wash., is charged also with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana and commission of a felony with a firearm.

On Wednesday, Willingham and his two lawyers reappeared before Judge Wally Eklund, who scheduled a jury trial Dec. 18 to 20. Willinghams last court appearance was in December 2016, when his lead attorney, Dennis Doherty, requested that he undergo a mental health evaluation.

The evaluation didnt reveal any issues that prevented Willingham from standing trial, said Deputy States Attorney Josh Hendrickson, one of the case prosecutors.

Willinghams three companions, his former co-defendants, pleaded guilty last year to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and being an accessory to a crime.

Washington residents Jonathan Melendez, Chase Sukert and Desiree Sukert made the admissions as part of a deal with prosecutors, in which they agreed to testify against Willingham.

They will be scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 20, the last day of Willinghams trial, according to court proceedings Wednesday. All are out on bond.

Willinghams most serious charges  attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and the firearm offense  are each punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The marijuana charges each carry a maximum of 15 years.

He is detained at the Pennington County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail. Bader, meanwhile, returned to work about a year ago.
The sweet aroma of smoldering sage wafted through the air at Main Street Square as the late morning sunshine chased away the persistent chill of an October day.

Native Americans' Day participants  adults and children alike  smudged themselves with the smoke, waving it toward themselves with outstretched palms and washing it over their bodies and around their heads in a ritual of spiritual cleansing dating back centuries.

A recognition of cultural similarities and cleansing of differences is what Native Americans Day is all about, said Kobi Ebert of the Oyate Okolakiciye Prevention Coalition, which was established in 2010 to prevent underage drinking.

This is a celebration of all cultures, Native American and non-Native alike, Ebert said.

Mondays activities at Main Street Square started with prayers in Lakota by Kay Allison, a signing of the Lords Prayer and a Hoop Dance by her daughter, Marina Allison. Also included were displays of cultural art, along with a mixing of old and contemporary flute and guitar music by Sequoia Crosswhite, cultural relations adviser at the Childrens Home Society.

Its a great opportunity to express the lives and the things the indigenous peoples of the Americas shared with the newcomers from Europe," Crosswhite said. "Its also an opportunity to share with the kids what happened back in those times."

Native Americans Day, formerly known as Columbus Day, is celebrated only in South Dakota. In 1989 the state Legislature approved a proposal by then-Gov. George S. Mickelson, at the urging of newspaper publisher Tim Giago, to rename the holiday.

Many places have adopted Indigenous Peoples Day in lieu of Columbus Day since then.

The first Native Americans' Day in South Dakota was celebrated in 1990, 100 years after the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Its awesome for (Mickelsons) legacy to carry on here in 2017, Crosswhite said.

Mondays celebration at Main Street Square was the third sponsored by the Oyate Okolakiciye Prevention Coalition.

Event organizers at Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer first had to clear 5 inches of snow at the memorial grounds before Mondays events, which included hands-on activities, a program, food drive, Native American performers and a buffalo stew feed.

Vaughn Vargas was recognized as Native American Educator of the Year during ceremonies at Crazy Horse. Vargas, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, was named the Rapid City Police Departments first cultural advisory coordinator by Police Chief Karl Jegeris in 2015.

Jadwiga Ziolkowski of Crazy Horse Memorial said Vargas was honored for establishing understanding between police officers and Native Americans.

The honor is based upon the fact that education comes in different ways and how you educate others," she said. "The work that he does as community advisory coordinator of the Rapid City Police Department is so very important for so many young people."

Crosswhite said Mickelsons legacy in his efforts to create Native Americans Day serve to help break down barriers between cultures as exemplified by the Lakota saying, "Mitakuye oyasin," meaning, We are all from one. (It is also commonly translated as "all my relatives.")

Ebert also made that observation as children played on the turf courtyard at Main Street Square.

You see these children out here running and playing together and learning that we are so alike in many ways, she said.
Theres a new documentary about the progenitor of Protestantism  Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World. It is quite a revelation.

With few exceptions, everyone who is Christian owes something, good or ill, to this hard-headed lawyer turned monk. Luther was so afraid he couldnt save himself that he left this world (for a monastery) to find the next (a road to Heavens Gate), only to return a wiser man and a revolutionary.

His revelation was simple: God made us; He loves us; He sent His Son to save us, and we are saved. He couldnt save himself and didnt have to. God is driving that bus.

So, we should spend our time doing good things for others, as Christ did, he said, and not worry about Heaven. And, by the way, nothing you can do, not good works on any scale, will help you. On the other hand, if your neighbor fails or goes hungry, its on your head. We are our brothers and sisters keepers.

In a world where very few people were able to read, the line of authority from the pope to the farmer was the last word. The pope then wanted to do good things for Rome like build the magnificent buildings and palaces we know today through the sale of indulgences. Buy an indulgence from clerics like Johann Tetzel and you can take years off your time or your loved ones time in purgatory. Technically, you could buy your way into heaven.

Luther was unhappy that his church would imagine that his God would care about gold. Confession and repentance were the way forward in his view. While he was at it, he had 94 other doctrinal matters he wanted to bring up for discussion, the kind of discussion that could end in a bonfire with the petitioner tied to a stake.

The printing press changed things. When Luther nailed his 95 theses on matters he considered at odds with a reading of the Bible (in Latin), copies of his work were in Spain in 10 days, all the way from East Nowhere, Germany. The speed of paper printed in Germany getting to Spain that quickly was perhaps the first phase of Luthers inadvertent revolution, the beginning of the renaissance for mass communications.

Protestantism wasnt just about religion, of course. Nation-states in Europe realized the Catholic Church owned 15 percent of the land and had great wealth besides. Luther paved the way for Henry VIII to seize Englands Church holdings on the merest of formalities, religion aside  something to do with wives.

Luther decided he was no longer willing to accept the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome. His friends figured he was walking the green mile. But politics and stardom spared him, and he was the first major best-seller in history.

Brilliant history, brilliantly told. The talking heads are authentic with the kind of expertise that leaves no doubt they were speaking with the man a short time ago. Brought to life is not quite right, but aside from a few simple distractions, the production values and the actors are first rate. I watched it on South Dakota Public Television. I watched it twice  once in amazement and once to take notes.

Its a surprising story about one mans search for truth and happiness. Luthers work is the foundation for most of our protestant religious views, with minor variations in doctrinal matters. The notion of being saved by grace alone was brand new. War, plagues, peril of all sorts followed. So did freedom of religion. Watch it and marvel.
On Oct. 15, 2010, a father who knew from painful personal sacrifice the terror and the loss of combat, wrote to his son, who was at that moment leading a Marine platoon enduring almost relentless combat: "I know you guys have taken some licks in the last few days. ... Robert you will likely lose one or more of your precious Marines if you haven't already. Do not let the men mope or dwell on the loss. ... Do not let them ever enjoy the killing or hate their enemy. ... Combat is so inhumane; you must help your men maintain their humanity as well as their sense of perspective and proportion."

Just over three weeks later, at 6 a.m., that same father would answer the doorbell at his home at the Washington Navy Yard. There, in Marine Corps dress blues, stood the father's friend Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who was there to tell Gen. John Kelly, who is currently White House chief of staff, that his 29-year-old son, Lt. Robert Kelly, had, after stepping on a land mine, been killed in southern Afghanistan. John Kelly  who, as a Marine officer, had himself written hundreds of letters of condolence to families after the deaths of their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers  now had to wake Robert's sleeping mother to tell her the awful news.

The year that John Kelly's current boss, Donald Trump, graduated from the New York Military Academy and qualified for the draft, the overwhelming majority of young American men served in the U.S. military. In fact, largely because of a sizable standing army then (twice as large as today's) and a relatively small draft-age population (because of low birthrates during the Depression and World War II), three in four high school graduates and nearly three-fourths of college graduates served in the U.S. military. Exemptions from service were given only to approximately 1 in 5 men  those with a real medical disability  which meant that service in the military became effectively a universal experience for healthy American men.

One in three college graduates who served did so not as officers but in the enlisted ranks as privates or corporals. The inevitable mixing of Americans from different social classes, regions, religions and races meant that the obligation to defend the nation included the most privileged from the most powerful families.

This generation remembered that all four of President Franklin Roosevelt's sons had served in combat and that President John F. Kennedy, who had almost died himself as a Navy officer in the Pacific, had suffered the loss of his brother Joe in Europe.

Vietnam was different. The college-educated sons, particularly those born to affluence and influence, found a friendly family physician who discovered a previously undetected bone spur (Donald Trump) or a rare skin disorder (Rush Limbaugh), or else they stayed in college or graduate school (Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton) or otherwise dodged the draft. Those who schemed to avoid service  e.g., Newt Gingrich, Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz  often became the most bellicose cheerleaders for sending other Americans into battle.

Candidate Trump defended his proposal of targeting, in violation of international law, the families of Islamic State terrorists because "we have to be much tougher (and) stronger than we have been." As president, he boasts that the U.S. military is "locked and loaded"  ready, if not eager, to unleash "fire and fury like the world has never seen." Proving that "war hath no fury like a noncombatant," Trump, brimming with 2 o'clock courage, talks tough when no man in his family has ever volunteered to be in harm's way.

Let us be grateful that President Trump is surrounded by chief of staff Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dunford, who all understand painfully and personally that war is never a spectator sport.
Victims ask court to reverse sentence of Nemtsov murder case convict

MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI, Nikolay Merkulov)  Relatives of late opposition politician Boris Nemtsov have asked Russias Supreme Court to reverse the sentence of Khamzat Bakhayev, one of the five men convicted of his murder, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, who represents the victims, made a statement in support of a complaint submitted by Bakhayevs defense. According to the lawyer, the mans involvement in the killing of the politician was not sufficiently proven.

Another lawyer representing Nemtsovs family, Olga Mikhailova, said investigators and the court have wrongly determined the nature of the crime and demanded to reconsider the case not as a murder, but as an assassination of a state or public figure, what, the victims believe, will help to bring to justice the masterminds behind the crime, who still remain unknown.

On July 13, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced murderers of Nemtsov to prison terms varying from 11 to 20 years. The court ruled in accordance with the will of the jury panel founding all defendants guilty. Zaur Dadayev, Nemtsovs first-hand killer was sentenced to 20 years. Anzor Gubashev was sentenced to 19 years, Shadid Gubashev to 16 years, Temirlan Eskerkhanov to 14 years and Khamzat Bakhayev to 11 years. All defendants will serve their time in a high-security penal colony. The court fined defendants 100,000 rubles (about $1,700). Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Eskerkhanov and Bakhayev were also subjected to additional restriction of freedom for two years.

In late June, jurors found all the defendants guilty of involvement in the politicians murder and illegal trafficking in firearms and ammunition. According to the verdict, they did not deserve leniency.

The jury panel stated that one of defendants, Dadayev, conspired with others, was stalking and collecting data on Nemtsov, prepared murder and killed the politician himself, shooting his victim at least six times from an unidentified gun.

Boris Nemtsov, 55, a prominent opposition politician, who held a number of high-ranking posts in the Russian government in the 1990s and in the 2000s joined the opposition, was shot down in the center of Moscow as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin on the night of February 28, 2015.

Investigators believe that the conspirators had thoroughly prepared to commit this crime and spied on the victim.

Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer in Chechen Interior Ministry, is believed to be a mastermind of the murder. He was placed on the international wanted list in November 2015. Beslan Shavanov, who allegedly was also implicated in the crime, reportedly killed himself when police tried to arrest him.

Criminal prosecution of Shavanov was dismissed because of his death. Investigation into Mukhudinov is underway.
MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld the sentence passed on the five men found guilty of murdering Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The court refused to grant an appeal filed by the convicts against a ruling of the Moscow District Military Court. Nevertheless, the court rescinded the fines imposed on all the convicts and the sentence came into force.

Lawyers representing the victims complained about numerous procedural violations during the court proceedings.

Thus Olga Mikhailova, a lawyer representing Nemtsovs family, said investigators and the court have wrongly determined the nature of the crime and demanded to reconsider the case not as a murder, but as an assassination of a state or public figure, what, the victims believe, will help to bring to justice the masterminds behind the crime, who still remain unknown.

On July 13, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced murderers of Nemtsov to prison terms varying from 11 to 20 years. The court ruled in accordance with the will of the jury panel founding all defendants guilty. Zaur Dadayev, Nemtsovs first-hand killer was sentenced to 20 years. Anzor Gubashev was sentenced to 19 years, Shadid Gubashev to 16 years, Temirlan Eskerkhanov to 14 years and Khamzat Bakhayev to 11 years. All defendants will serve their time in a high-security penal colony. The court fined defendants 100,000 rubles (about $1,700). Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Eskerkhanov and Bakhayev were also subjected to additional restriction of freedom for two years.

In late June, jurors found all the defendants guilty of involvement in the politicians murder and illegal trafficking in firearms and ammunition. According to the verdict, they did not deserve leniency.

The jury panel stated that one of defendants, Dadayev, conspired with others, was stalking and collecting data on Nemtsov, prepared murder and killed the politician himself, shooting his victim at least six times from an unidentified gun.

Boris Nemtsov, 55, a prominent opposition politician, who held a number of high-ranking posts in the Russian government in the 1990s and in the 2000s joined the opposition, was shot down in the center of Moscow as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin on the night of February 28, 2015.

Investigators believe that the conspirators had thoroughly prepared to commit this crime and spied on the victim.

Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer in Chechen Interior Ministry, is believed to be a mastermind of the murder. He was placed on the international wanted list in November 2015. Beslan Shavanov, who allegedly was also implicated in the crime, reportedly killed himself when police tried to arrest him.

Criminal prosecution of Shavanov was dismissed because of his death. Investigation into Mukhudinov is underway.
Russian Ombudsman to discuss humanitarian corridor in Iraq with CoE Secretary General

MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI) - High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova will discuss a problem of the return of Russian nationals from Iraq with Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Thorbjrn Jagland, RAPSI reports from the Office of Ombudsman on Tuesday.

The meeting is scheduled for October 20.

Moskalkova has earlier sent a request to the United Nations (UN) for assistance in the organization of humanitarian corridor from Iraqs Mosul for Russian women and children. Currently, military operations against terrorists of the Islamic State organization banned in Russia are conducted there. The UN answer had not been received yet, the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman also added that she is working in close cooperation with the Federation Council member Ziyad Sabsabi on the return of Russian children from countries at war.

The institute of human rights ombudsman is a government body involved in protection and promotion of rights and freedoms, and competent legal assistance. Moskalkova was appointed as Russias human rights commissioner in April 2016.
Guwahati, October 10 : More than 40 Indian army personnel suffered heavy casualties while an armed group of Naga outfit group NSCN-K attacked at a camp of Indian army in Arunachal Pradesh's Longding district on Tuesday.

According to the reports, a 70-member group of NSCN-K had attacked at a camp of Indian army near Nyausau in Longding district at around 1 am.

The Naga outfit group claimed that, the Naga militant group equipped with heavy and light weaponry consisting of mortars, rockets, 40mm, explosives, grenades, machine guns, automatic weapons had attacked the Indian army camp.

NSCN-K deputy army chief Col. Isak Sumi, MIP, NSCN/GPRN said that, in a well orchestrated offensive against Indian Army, the combined operation command of Naga Army comprising of selected fighters and specialists from various mobile units, demolition units and GHQ numbering around 70 cadres commanded by an experienced, senior Officer launched all out attack on the India Army camp located at Nyausau, Longding, Arunachal Pradesh at 1 am to 9 am lasting around 8-9 hours.

"The Indian Army were caught totally off guard and in for a surprise. The well co-ordinated attack used mortars, rockets, 40 mm, grenades, explosives, machine guns and assorted automatic weapons all well placed and accurate landings ensured causing heavy casualties of at the least 40 Indian soldiers killed and equal or more numbers injured. The counter fire from the Indian Army were haphazard, disorganised and not at all effective thus enabling the Naga Army fighters to continue the attack for 8-9 hours well after sunrise providing our shooters to pick off the targets inside the camp at ease. There was no injury sustained or casualties on our side and our Army are now back to safe area," Isak Sumi said.

While NSCN-K claimed heavy lost from the Indian army side during the gun fight, the Indian army claimed there were no casualties of Indian army.

Kohima based Defence PRO Colonel Chiranjeet Konwer said, at around 1-15 am last night Niausa COB was fired upon by Under Ground cadres.

"Just 5 to 10 rounds of ineffective small arms fire and a Lathode grenade were fired upon the post. Own alert sentries retaliated forcing the UGs to run away. The fire had to be controlled keeping in safety of the villagers in vicinity. There were no casualties and no damage to property of COB. Operations are underway against fleeing cadres. All reports being circulated on social media by these UG gps are towards creating a sensationalism and are baseless and false," the Defence PRO said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
KATHMANDU, Oct 10: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has stressed that the National Archives should be developed as a research center.

Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the establishment day of the Archives amidst a function here today, the Prime Minister pledged to sort out the issue with the Supreme regarding the land occupied by its building.

He took the time to urge all concerned to comply with the provision of submitting documents of significant values dating back to 25 years to the Archives so as to protect them in the future.

"Microfilming of handwritten manuscripts of antique value and books relating to history, religion, and philosophy is necessary for their long-term protection," the Prime Minister asserted.

Also speaking on the occasion, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Jitendra Narayan Yadav, highlighted on the importance of Archives in view of carrying out important research and study.

Efforts are underway to make sure that the Archives would not be shifted to another

location bearing in mind the risk of damage that hundreds of invaluable artefacts may face during such process, according to him.

The present building housing the National Archives was constructed with the assistance from the Government of India.

Archives Director General Bhesh Narayan Dahal said it would be better not to shift the Archives as there was high possibility of artefacts of invaluable importance of getting damaged up to 90 percent while changing its location.

Culture expert Satyamohan Joshi said the Archives' present building was constructed for its purpose and its location should not be changed and its protection should be the concerns of all.

It may be noted that a meeting of the Council of Ministers on May 8, 2014 had decided to provide the 13 ropanis land occupied by the National Archives to the Supreme Court. The government had then decided to provide land at Narayanhiti to the National Archives. However, the government through a decision on August 7, 2014 decided to provide land to the national archives at another location. But the government has not yet specified where it is going to allocate the land.

Archives Chief, Saubhagya Pradhananga, said there is the collection of invaluable documents of antique and historic importance dating back to the 7th century and other rare documents in the world in the Archives that was established from the government level on 3rd October 1967 with the objective of protecting and managing documents of national importance.

The Karanya Biyog, Skanda Purana, Satdharma Kundalika dating back to the 13th century, Nyaybikasini, Lal Mohar, Sandhipatra, Istihar, other letters of antique importance belonging to the period of Malla dynasty king Jayasthiti Malla and other rare artefacts are stored in the Archives. Here is the collection of original manuscripts written in the Sanskrit, Newari, Maithili, Hindi, Tibetan and some are in the Bengali languages. Microfilming of 200 thousand books has been done.

The Nishwastatwa Samhita, a handwritten text of the Shaiva religion dating back to the ninth century is under the protection of Archive which is the sole antique listed in the 'Memory of World Heritage'.

Karandabhyu, a text of the Buddhism written in the Sharada script and 'Saddharmapundariksutra' written in the Gilgit script are under its protection.

Likewise various handwritten manuscripts written on Bhojpatra (bark of Betaula Utilis plant) sheets, Palm-leaf manuscripts and others written on Nepali paper, Indian Paper and Neelpatra are protected here. Some 30 thousands original manuscripts/ texts related to tantra, philosophy, history, Vedas and Karmakanda and some 20 thousands archives, some eight thousands books written in the Tibetan language and 180 thousand microfilming copies are under the protection of the Archives. RSS
Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary Dr Shashank Koirala

NAWALPARASI, Oct 10: Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary Dr Shashank Koirala has been recommended as a candidate for the first-past-the-post elections of upcoming House of Representatives from eastern part of Nawalparasi district.

General Secretary Dr Koirala was recommended to contest the central parliamentary elections from Nawaparasi Constituency-1 of the Province-4.

It is the glory for the constituency to recommend NC general secretary to contest parliamentary election from Nawalparasi, commented NC central member and former Minister of State for Home Devendra Raj Kandel.

Koirala was the elected parliamentarians from the Nawalparasi Constituency-1 in 2064 and 2070 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

The Constituency is considered to be a stronghold of the NC.

Likewise, NC central member Kandel has been unanimously recommended from Nawalparasi Constituency-2 to contest the direct elections of the House of Representatives.(RSS)
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Oct-09-2017 21:37 TweetFollow @OregonNews Sanilac County Circuit Judge Ross Gives Visitation Rights to Child Rapist Justice? The victims address was revealed to her abuser and the judge ordered that the convicted rapist's name be added to the childs birth certificate.

Bizarre Michigan court decision: Christopher Mirasolo raped a 12-year old and 8 years later is given rights to the resulting child.

Photo: Michigan Department of Corrections

(SALEM, Ore.) - A Michigan judge has granted parental rights to a convicted sex offender, providing the man with access to a child who is the product of the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Sanilac County Circuit Judge Gregory Ross in Michigan has given parental rights to a man that raped a 12-year old girl over a matter of days while he held her and her young friend against their will, threatening their lives. The rape was 8 years ago, and resulted in the birth of a child, to a child. A nightmare in anyone's book. In 2009, Christopher Michael Mirasolo was convicted of the crime. Though he might have received 25 years, he was given a plea deal instead. The Sanilac County Prosecutors Office offered him "attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct" and he was sentenced to one year in the county jail. He only served six and a half months before early release. In 2010, he re-offended. Mirasolo was convicted of committing a sex assault on a victim between the ages of 13 and 15 years old. He served only four years, for a second offense. How did this all come up? The 2008 victim, now 21, applied for food stamps recently. Federal law required her to name the childs father so the state could seek child support reimbursement. Of course, the rapist's name wasn't included on the birth certificate. That's not a loophole for food stamps though, it is either fill in the blank or do not get food for your child. For $260 a month in food stamps and health insurance for her child, this onslaught of the past revisited was mandated. So, the local prosecutors office filed a case to identify him. A DNA test run last month, which confirmed that 27-year-old Christopher Mirasolo is the biological father of the boy. That test is all the fast-acting judge needed to make his decision. What was termed a "a routine process" for the prosecution is a life-changing sentence to a child and his mother, a young woman working since middle school in overcoming the trauma of violent rape. She's a survivor, yet the Judge overlooked her in lieu of her abuser. Judge Gregory Ross chose to do something completely unnecessary, and unacceptable by most standards. Judge Ross granted parental rights to Mirasolo, providing the convicted sex offender with access to an innocent child, born of rape. The mother was notified that she is not allowed to move 100 miles from where she had been living when the case was filed, without court consent. And the prosecutor told her she had to "come home immediately or she would be held in contempt of court", according to Kiessling, a lawyer and advocate who specializes in cases involving children and survivors of rape. What motivations the Judge might have are a complete unknown. If he has hidden biases against little girls is unknown. If he has personal incentives in regard to putting this victim through more trauma is unknown. If he doesn't like people that use food stamps is unknown. If he has a soft spot for rapists, so far is unknown. Maybe he's just not a very nice guy. What is known is that this is not justice. A rape victim, whatever his or her age, deserves protection, and the right to privacy. An abuser, especially a convicted child rapist, should be held to different standards than an average well-meaning father. According to NBC, Rebecca Kiessling was shocked at the speed the case moved through the court, as if this were standard practice for the prosecutor. "Ive never seen anything like this," she said. No, neither has most of "civilized society". _________________________________________

Michigan | Crime | Women | Justice | Most Commented on





Articles for October 9, 2017 | Articles for October 10, 2017
Dr. Monica Rocco is a board-certified general surgeon who has devoted her surgical practice to caring for patients with breast disease and providing diagnosis and care before, during and after surgery. She serves as a member of the Marian Regional Medical Centers specialized surgical staff and oversees the Mission Hope Breast Care Center. She is also the surgical director of Marian Cancer Care. Rocco can be reached at 346-3456.
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" " Native to Southeast Asia, durians are famous throughout the world for their distinct, love-it-or-hate-it taste and smell. simonlong/Getty Images

In Asia, the durian is called the "King of Fruits," but not everybody in the world bows down to these bulbous, spiny, custardy fruits. It's usually because of the odor. The smell of a ripe durian (Durio zibethinus) has been compared to sweaty socks, roadkill custard, rotten eggs, a gas leak and "a sewer full of rotting pineapples," but still, the fruit has its superfans.

And now some of those superfans from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and Duke-NUS Medical School (along with some financial donors who just love durians enough to privately fund a study about them) have completely mapped the durian genome to find out, among other things, why the putrid stench, durians?

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In the study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, the researchers sequenced the genome of a popular and prized durian variety called Musang King, and found its genome is made up of around 46,000 genes  just about double the number of genes that compose the human genome. They found the plant is closely related to both cotton and cacao  that's right, the chocolate plant.

" " Durians are so smelly, and thescent can linger for so long, that many hotels and public transportation in Singapore and Malaysia ban the fruit. Danita Delimont/Gallo Images/Getty Images

But the researchers were really interested in the source of the smell, so in snooping around the genome for odor-producing compounds, they found a class of genes called MGLs (methionine gamma lyases) in the leaves, roots and fruits of durian plants. The researchers found that these genes regulate the synthesis of odor-producing volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs). They also discovered that in the ripe fruit, the expression of one of these VSC-expressing genes is about 2,000 times stronger than it is in other parts of the plant.

"Our analysis revealed that VSC production is turbocharged in durian fruits, which fits with many people's opinions that durian smell has a 'sulphury' aspect," writes co-lead author professor Patrick Tan from Duke-NUS Medical School, in a press release.

In the wild, this aspect might be responsible for attracting seed-dispersing animals like elephants and bats to the durian fruit.

This isn't the first research conducted on the durian's unique scent; in 2012, a team of German researchers identified dozens of chemical compounds that create to combine the smell, publishing their analysis in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. But that research didn't investigate the genes behind those compounds.

The NCCS-Duke research team was hoping to make an important medical discovery with the sequencing of the Musang King genome  after all, anticancer drugs like Taxol, derived from the bark of the Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia), save lives every day. And as biodiversity decreases all over the world, we need to figure out what we have while it's still around. But as durian enthusiasts, these scientists also just wanted to investigate how this quirky and controversial plant might be conserved. Besides D. zibethenus, there are around 30 other species of durian (both edible and inedible) in the Asian forests, and some of them are endangered.

"Many of these other durian species are in this part of the world, and sadly some are endangered due to the increasing loss of biodiversity," said co-lead author Dr. Teh Bin Tean, deputy director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore, in the press release. "DNA sequencing is thus an important tool to protect the precious information contained in these fascinating and important plants."

Now That's Interesting A single durian can weigh up to 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms). Couple that with the fact that the spiky exterior is almost as hard as wood, and falling durians kill a handful of people every year.
 "The Idea of 'the Criminal Justice System'" | Main | Making the case against the death penalty on the 15th "World Day against the Death Penalty" 

This Reuters article, headlined "Ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf executive avoids prison time after fraud conviction," report on the alternative sentence a notable lawyer received after a conviction for his law firm's notable problems. Here are the details:

The former chief financial officer of defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, whose collapse five years ago was the largest failure of a law firm in U.S. history, has avoided prison time after being convicted of defrauding the firms investors. Joel Sanders, 59, was sentenced on Tuesday by Justice Robert Stolz in Manhattan Supreme Court to pay a $1 million fine and perform 750 hours of community service.

The sentence was handed down five months after the firms former executive director, Stephen DiCarmine, was acquitted of the same charges, and 19 months after prosecutors dropped charges against its former chairman, Steven Davis.

Im deeply sorry for anything I did or didnt do that caused anybody harm, Sanders said in court before being sentenced. His lawyer, Andrew Frisch, declined to comment on the sentence. Frisch said in May that he planned to appeal Sanders conviction.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had sought up to four years in prison for Sanders. The criminal case against Dewey & LeBoeufs executives was one of the most significant white-collar prosecutions brought by Vance since he took office in 2010. This case demonstrates the Offices commitment to prosecuting those who sacrifice professional integrity for financial gain, Vance said in a statement on Tuesday.

The law firm, which once had close to 1,400 lawyers, went bankrupt in May 2012, unable to pay for the lavish compensation packages it had promised to recruit star partners. Prosecutors said the executives used illegal accounting adjustments between 2008 and 2012 to conceal the firms financial difficulties from investors in its bonds, including Bank of America Corp and HSBC Holdings Plc.

Seven lower-level employees pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with Vances investigation.

The first trial for the three executives ended in a mistrial in October 2015 when jurors, after four months of testimony and a month of deliberations, declared themselves hopelessly deadlocked on most counts.

After that trial, Davis struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid a second trial, agreeing to a five-year ban from practicing law in New York. Justice Robert Stolz dismissed the most serious charge, grand larceny, against the other two men. The second trial for Sanders and DiCarmine began in February 2017 and lasted about three months.
 Big fine and community service, but no prison time, for law firm CFO convicted of fraud in NY state court | Main | "Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration" 

October 10, 2017

Making the case against the death penalty on the 15th "World Day against the Death Penalty"

Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico Gov and US ambassador to the United Nations, has this lengthy new Hill commentary headlined "Death penalty  a fatal, inhuman practice that discriminates against the poor." Here are excerpts:

We celebrate today the 15th World Day against the Death Penalty. As of today, 105 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In the past 25 years, 60 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and the number of states that carry out executions has fallen by nearly half. But it is still not enough: the worlds most populated countries  China, India, United States of America and Indonesia still retain capital punishment along with countries like North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia and Singapore. Around half of the worlds population, who live in these countries, is not guaranteed the right to life, as prescribed in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Hundreds of executions are carried out every year and thousands are under sentence of death. Worryingly, the death penalty has been carried out arbitrarily and in a manner that discriminates against the poor and the marginalized sections of society including minority groups and migrant workers. When I was the Governor of New Mexico, I changed my mind from being a believer of capital punishment as I saw this discriminatory aspect of the death penalty. Besides, there is always the possibility of executing an innocent and so I abolished the death penalty in New Mexico in 2009. My convictions have only strengthened as 159 persons facing capital punishment in the USA have been reportedly found to be innocent since 1973. In the USA, most persons facing the death penalty even today cannot afford their own attorney at trial and most court-appointed attorneys are overworked, underpaid or lacked the experience necessary to defend capital punishment trials. Moreover, prosecutors tended to seek the death penalty more often when the victim was white than when the victim was African-American or of another racial or ethnic origin. These factors have contributed to the arbitrariness of the death penalty. By doing so, the death penalty violates the right to equal dignity and this discrimination condemns them to further marginalization. This discrimination against the poor and minority communities occurs not just in USA but in practically every country applying the death penalty. Because of their limited economic means, because of their lack of knowledge of the legal systems and their rights, because of poor legal defense support, because of systemic bias that they face from law enforcement authorities, they are under greater risk of being sentenced to death. In India, almost 75 per cent of the persons sentenced to death, and in Malaysia, nearly 90 per cent, reportedly belonged to economically vulnerable groups. In Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan hundreds are executed every year, most of whom are poor or from minority communities; in addition, there are concerns that these three countries carry out executions of those who were juveniles when they allegedly committed the crimes for which they faced the death penalty. In China, the number of executions carried out is a state secret and reportedly, those executed, feared to be in the thousands, include those belonging marginalized communities including unskilled workers who have little means of defense. In Indonesia, 13 of the 16 persons executed in the last two years were foreign nationals and there were questions of fair trials in several of these cases.

October 10, 2017 at 02:59 PM | Permalink

Comments

I am with Bill Richardson. I have had my death penalty epiphany. I now fully support the Italian Death Penalty, at no tax payer expense.

Posted by: David Behar | Oct 10, 2017 3:44:33 PM

A recent vote on a UN resolution on the death penalty makes listings like "China, India, United States of America and Indonesia still retain capital punishment along with countries like North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia and Singapore" a bit incomplete. Japan is a capital punishment state & especially if you remove the top two or three states in the Death Belt, has execution numbers comparable to the U.S.

I wonder if there is a good analysis of the current day death penalty in Japan.

Posted by: Joe | Oct 10, 2017 5:03:52 PM

Japan does not announce the date of the death sentence. Even the terminally ill are spared the cruelty of a countdown to death. That is the sole substantive cruelty of the American death penalty. All other Eighth Amendment claims are totally frivolous, rent seeking, and fraud against the tax payer. Yet, the defense bar, including California appellate lawyers at a party, have never tried this suggestion.

Posted by: David Behar | Oct 10, 2017 5:31:10 PM

Stupid, disgusting as Always.

Posted by: Claudio Giusti | Oct 11, 2017 11:04:11 AM

In Japan you can stay in the death row for 40 years or more and every day the hangman can arrive without warning.

That is a form of torture worse than the American one.

Posted by: Claudio Giusti | Oct 11, 2017 11:07:53 AM

Everywhere around the world, you can live for 90 years, and never know when you will trip, fall, hit your head, and pass away. Death arrives without warning to all of us, including those with a terminal illness. That lack of warning is a kindness, not a cruelty.

Posted by: David Behar | Oct 14, 2017 11:17:00 AM

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Police arrested a middle school music teacher in San Jose on Friday for allegedly sexually assaulting a student at the school and blackmailing them into a three-year sexual relationship.

KRON 4 said that the teacher's name is Samuel Neipp, originally from Gilroy, California. He worked as a music teacher and at Dartmouth Middle School and as an assistant band director at Branham High School. The 13-year-old student was attending Dartmouth Middle School at the time, and police say that he "used his position of authority to exploit the victim into a sexual relationship." He then allegedly blackmailed the student, threatening to post nude photos unless they kept the "relationship" a secret. KRON 4 also lists the charges currently being placed on Neipp, which include:



Lewd and Lascivious Acts with Minor Under 14 (felony)



Oral Copulation (felony)



Possession of child pornography (felony)



Extortion (felony)



The parents of the children who still attend Dartmouth Middle School are shaken by the revelation. ABC 7 spoke with Larry Euley, a parent of one of the children in the band that Neipp oversaw. Euley said, "They're all upset and they have a competition next weekend. So this is throwing a monkey wrench into everything they are trying to rehearse for it." Euley went on to then explain that "[the students] had no clue that any of this was going on."

The school also issued a public statement to parents on their website, where they asked anybody with additional information regarding Neipp's alleged sexual assault to contact the San Jose Police Department. They also asked all parents to tell their children to contact a school administrator if they were subjected to inappropriate conduct.

The San Jose Police Department told ABC 7 on Saturday that they had been fielding calls from parents all day Saturday, with a few coming from potential victims.

Related: Former SFUSD Staffer Busted For Bayview Sexual Battery
WATCH LIVE: Officials providing updates on North Bay wildfires. KRON4 is broadcasting it live NOW at 9 AM https://t.co/uKVemPlyeP pic.twitter.com/q7KJ17ozbr  KRON4 News (@kron4news) October 10, 2017

As wildfires continue to rage across the North Bay, many Bay Area residents are seeking out ways to help with aid and recovery efforts. Here are a few ways that you can do your part.

Donations

Immediately following a disaster, the quickest, simplest way to help is to donate money to reputable, established shelters and relief funds. Cash is much more flexible and easier to be utilized by charities. One of the simplest ways to donate is to check out Facebook's Crisis Response center, which aggregates information about the various disasters and crises going on around the world. There, you'll find information about the Tubbs Fire, the Sulphur Fire, the McCourtney Fire, the Cherokee Fire, and the Atlas Fire. Many of the individual recap pages also have links to crowdfunding pages and charities that are specifically dedicated to each affected region.

There are various individual fundraisers on GoFundMe, including this catchall one, started by Jake Kloberdanz, a winery owner up in Napa. It has raised over $35,000 as of this writing which will be split between the various organizations involved with firefighting and relief efforts, including the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority, the Napa County Fire Department, and Lake County Fire and Rescue. The money will also be directed to help various relief funds set up for individual victims.

The Red Cross is also accepting donations here.

If you really want to send along items as a donation, then it's worth checking with the local shelters to see what they're in need of most. Anything extra often ends up taking up space that could be better utilized as potential shelter or for holding other, more useful donations. Space becomes a premium directly following a disaster. ABC 7 also helpfully recommends following Charity Navigator's tips for verifying your desired charity.

In SF, Love on Haight will be taking donations that they'll bring up to the fire victims. Though they said they're happy to take clothing donations, they also shared a list of currently required items on Facebook, including things like: air mattresses, pillows, phone chargers, pet supplies and food, baby diapers, personal protective equipment, toiletries, and more.

Volunteering

There are some opportunities for people living in the city to pitch in and help out. For one, you can help Dominique Crenn and her crew make food for victims. According to Grubstreet, they're working out of the kitchens at Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn to make cheese sandwiches, which will be brought up to the North Bay later today. They started at 10 a.m., and yesterday, Crenn posted on Instagram about requiring more volunteers as well as donations of bread, cheese, and paper wrap.

According to SF Gate, the Red Cross has enough volunteers to help out with relief efforts. That said, if you're still looking to get out there yourself, they suggest signing up through their website, where they'll contact you if they end up needing more people. In a statement, they wrote:



Trained Red Cross volunteers are currently staffing shelters and supporting residents. As the disaster continues to evolve, the Red Cross will assess how community volunteers can best support the operation. Those interested in volunteering to support Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino wildfire relief efforts, can sign up online.

7x7 also helpfully points out that the already overly taxed fire departments could use a hand with a few tasks around the various stations. They shared listings for the Sonoma County, Napa County, and Yuba County fire stations. You should check in with them to see what they may specifically need, whether it's help around the station or even a home-cooked meal.

Airbnb is also employing their emergency relief program, as the Mercury News reports, offering free shelter to the displaced by seeking people who can donate space in their homes through to the end of the month.

Related: Smoke From NorCal Fires Gives SF Gorgeous Sunrise, Health Hazards Galore


Things got a little heated at a Mission District restaurant Sunday night, when a patron attempted to set a fire...twice.

The alleged arson went down at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, at a restaurant near the busy intersection of 24th and Mission Streets.

Though San Francisco Police Department policy means they won't specify the name of the business at which a crime occurs, they're happy to offer other details of the incident. In this case, police say that a 38-year-old man entered the restaurant, then attempted to start a fire once inside the business.

He then fled the establishment, police say, and "set fire to items on the stairs," causing a blaze that was extinguished by an employee.

Police say that a vehicle and a cellphone were lost in the incident, but that they were able to nab the suspect and place him under arrest. As of publication time, the identity of the suspect and any information on what might have motivated the arson attempt has not been released to the public.

Related: Vandal Melts Slides, Causes $1 Million Damage To Popular Golden Gate Park Playground
A Muni patron was rushed to the hospital this weekend, when two fellow riders attacked him seemingly without provocation.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the assault occurred at 5:22 on Saturday afternoon, as a Muni bus traveled through the intersection at 11th and Market Streets, near the headquarters of Mid-Market startups Square and Uber.

Police say that two male assailants who looked to be aged 16 or 17 "began yelling at" a 17-year-old male who was also on the bus.

The verbal attack turned physical, police say, when the victim tried to get off the bus to escape the yelling men. Instead, the assailants physically "attacked [the victim], knocking him down."

The suspects then fled the bus, police say.

The victim was left injured following the scrum, police say, and was transported to an area hospital for treatment. The suspects remain at large, police say, and no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Beating On Mission Street Muni Sends Man To Hospital
While animal shelters in Sonoma and Napa counties are inundated with fleeing, lost, and abandoned animals, workers at the Safari West Animal Preserve in Santa Rosa are working to protect and save the safari animals located on their 400-acre property  which has sat dangerously close to the Tubbs Fire since Sunday night and is in the evacuation zone.

The Chronicle reports that Safari West's African animals  cheetahs, rhinoceroses, giraffes, and more  are currently being tended to by preserve workers who returned to the site to figure out a way to evacuate them if that need should arise. They issued a statement about the preserve's status, which they shared to Facebook. It read:



While the situation remains dynamic and very dangerous, we have received word that the Safari West Wildlife Preserve appears to have weathered the worst of this firestorm. The situation is still very much active and could take a turn, but for the moment, it looks like our preserve and our animals are OK.

Thank you everybody for your thoughts and prayers. The status on the ground at Safari West remains much the same as reported last evening. The preserve remains intact and the animals safe and contained. However, fires continue to burn nearby and the situation is far from stabilized. Please continue to help by keeping the roadways as clear as possible and allowing our firefighters to do their work. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and please stay safe out there.

Following the workers' return on Monday evening, all animals were found to be present and accounted for. That all said, the preserve is still concerned over possible smoke inhalation issues for the animals, given their short distance from much of the fire damage. A solution to that particular problem is still under development. This morning, they shared another statement on Facebook , thanking people for their concern, and asking that they remain safe, allowing people to do their work. They wrote:

The Chron also refuted reports from social media that the fences were cut to allow the animals to escape.

In addition to animals at Safari West, many animal shelters in the North Bay have found themselves inundated with animals and a few lost pets as just about all forms of life are doing their best to get away from the raging wildfire. According to ABC 7, the Napa County Animal Shelter has had to take on a few pets who were dropped off by their humans, as evacuation orders went out yesterday and the day before. The shelter has put out a call for volunteers, pet food, and blankets for the boarded pets.

KRON 4 shared an update from the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter, which is doing the same, and also requires donations from people who are willing to share pet supplies and equipment with the shelter. When asked how many animals they've taken in thus far, a worker told them, "Weve taken in so far about 20 cats, 12 dogs, 5 chickens. But we are currently still taking animals in and we do have space for more animals to be brought in." They also said that if you have any larger animals, you can evacuate them to the Sonoma Fairgrounds.

Update: Here's a GoFundMe to help support employees of Safari West.

Related: Mill Valley Fire Chief, Multiple Sonoma County Doctors Lose Homes To Fires
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said that the ICAO passed the decision after its meeting on October 6.

Although the ICAO has yet to give any official announcement, however, the red flag symbol on Thailand name disappeared on its official website.

The lifting of red flag status indicates that Thailand has dealt with the problems of under-standard of aviation safety. But Thailand as well as CAAT needs to carry on their missions to improve the aviation safety standards, CAAT said.

Since June 2015, the ICAO lowered aviation safety status of Thai carriers after its regulator missed a deadline to resolve significant safety concerns, which triggered restrictions on Thai carriers launching new international routes.

Therefore, the new decision of the ICAO will enable Thailand to open new international routes to China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The CAAT also expects the US Department of Transportations Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to recover aviation safety status for Thai carriers, which was also downgraded in 2015.

Shares of Thai Airways and other related companies have risen upon the information.

Aviation safety is particularly important for Thailand given that tourism accounts for around 12 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

Other countries which still have the red flags against them in the ICAO list include Djibouti, Eritrea, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan and Malawi. Source from Vietnamplus.
The visit made at the invitation of Deputy Minister of National Defense Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh.Yesterday, two leaders co- chaired a dialogue on Vietnam- Singapore defense policy.At the dialogue, both sides agreed to continue enhancing cooperation efficiency via holding the regular exchange of delegations and military training cooperation programs.In addition, the two countries agreed to support each other at multilateral forums to deepen further ASEANs central role in regional security architectures.On the same day, Minister of National Defense General Ngo Xuan Lich received Singaporean Permanent Secretary for Defense Chan Yeng Kit.

BY THAO NGA- Translated by Huyen Huong
When New Hampshire brewery owner Joanne Francis first floated her idea for a new kind of beer a few years ago, her employees reacted, she says, with disgust and horror.

Her idea: a beer for women in menopause.

Why not, the 57-year-old Francis wondered.

"The idea of simply putting herbs into a beer that would be favorable for a woman experiencing menopausal symptoms was simply just a no-brainer," she told WCSH in Portland, Maine.

So she created "Libeeration," a limited-edition craft beer that debuts on Thursday.

"It's taken years to bring this idea to market," Francis, co-owner of Portsmouth Brewery, explains on the company's Facebook page.

"After consulting with women health practitioners and herbalists, our team came up with ingredients believed to relieve symptoms like sleeplessness, hot flashes, and mood swings.

"And, we want to shift the mentality from focusing on the negative aspects of this stage in life, to celebrating the liberating aspects! Fun, crazy, wildly different: that was our goal to reach women who truly know what it means to be hot!"

Francis has been in the brew business for more than 20 years. As she got older, she told the Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H., she "began to feel more and more marginalized and more of an outcast in the business that I worked in and I knew that a lot of girlfriends had a huge passion for beer, but nothing was really particularly being devoted to this age group, the over-50 woman."

People got squeamish when she first brought up the idea. Disgust is not too strong a word to describe the reaction she got, she said. "The word 'menopause,' 'menstruation,' God forbid!" she said.

A team of women's health practitioners and herbalists worked with head brewer Matt Gallagher to create the beer, described as a golden straw-colored, gruit-style ale with fruity, spicy, earth flavors.

"We worked with the herbalist first coming up with a long list of herbs that all had beneficial qualities alleviating symptoms associated with menopause," Gallagher told the Daily Democrat.

"And we had a women's health practitioner who sort of was like, 'Oh, maybe I'd steer away from those two, combining them with alcohol and things like that.'"

He and Francis had a "tea drinking afternoon" where they tasted 1-ounce samples of the herbs hydrated in hot water. Some were great.

"And then there were certain ones that were 'Mmm, no, too bitter, it's gross. I don't care what it does for you,'" Gallagher told the newspaper.

After the tasting, Francis recalled, "Matt stood behind the bar. He looked at me and he said, 'I'm so mellow.' I went upstairs to my office and took a nap for 15 minutes. We were so blissed out."

The ingredients they chose are ones that herbalists have traditionally used to help women going through hormonal changes, including lemon balm, rose, chamomile, stinging nettle, motherwort and chickweed.

Gallagher used them instead of hops to add balance and bitter to the beer.

Because of FDA rules that frown on promises of medicinal "cures" from herbs or flowers, the brewery is careful to avoid such claims.

"This is meant as a fun product and perhaps it's an awareness awakening for women at a certain age that think 'Oh, only wine ... I get fat from drinking beer,'" Francis told the Daily Democrat.
DAKOTA CITY | A Wakefield, Nebraska, teenager whom prosecutors believe was an accomplice to the fatal shooting and dismemberment last fall of an Emerson, Nebraska, man entered a plea on Tuesday to a reduced charge that will allow him to avoid the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Brayan Galvan-Hernandez, 19, pleaded no contest in Dakota County District Court to a reduced charge of attempted second-degree murder and pleaded guilty to accessory to a felony. The prosecution and defense agreed to a sentencing range of 50-70 years in prison.

"This is a favorable plea agreement for Brayan. A term of years is a better sentence than life (in prison)," Galvan-Hernandez's attorney, Stuart Mills, of Pender, Nebraska, said after the hearing.

District Judge Paul Vaughan will determine Galvan-Hernandez's sentence at a Dec. 12 hearing.

Galvan-Hernandez had been scheduled to stand trial next Monday on charges of first-degree murder, accessory to a felony, use of a firearm to commit a felony and abandoning human skeletal remains or burial goods. Prosecutors agreed to reduce the first-degree murder charge to attempted second-degree murder in exchange for Galvan-Hernandez's plea. In addition to the charge reduction, the firearm and abandonment charges were dismissed.

"Brayan has accepted responsibility for his part in this horrific crime," Mills said. "This is a favorable plea agreement for Brayan."

Galvan-Hernandez was charged with Andres Surber, 26, also of Wakefield, for the Nov. 1 shooting death of Kraig Kubik, 42, at his rural Emerson home and the dismemberment of his body.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O'Brien, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case, said during Tuesday's hearing that Surber shot Kubik in the back of the head and Galvan-Hernandez either knew that Surber planned to shoot Kubik or helped him plan the shooting.

"The state would contend that Mr. Galvan-Hernandez was an aider and abetter in the homicide of Kraig Kubik," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said Galvan-Hernandez also removed or destroyed evidence linked to the crime.

O'Brien said Surber and Kubik apparently had a disagreement about the sale of a Dodge Charger. Video from surveillance cameras at Kubik's home showed both Surber and Galvan-Hernandez meeting with Kubik on Nov. 1. Shortly after the three were seen walking out of the house, prosecutors believe Surber shot Kubik. Galvan-Hernandez and Surber were later seen dragging what was believed to be Kubik's body across the yard.

Investigators responding to Kubik's disappearance on Nov. 2 found a pool of blood near his car and his glasses in his driveway. They were later called to an abandoned Dixon County farmhouse owned by Surber's family about 24 miles away from Kubik's home after receiving reports of music coming from the property. There, investigators found a Chevrolet Impala with blood on the trunk and rear bumper, O'Brien said. Kubik's severed right arm and right leg were found inside the trunk. Surveillance camera footage from a Wakefield convenience store showed Galvan-Hernandez driving the car the night Kubik was shot.

The rest of Kubik's remains were found three days later in a culvert about four miles from the farmhouse. Autopsy results showed that Kubik died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.

A bloody knife found at the farmhouse was tested and contained Kubik's DNA, O'Brien said. Surber's fingerprint also was found on the knife.

O'Brien said Kubik's watch and house keys were found in Surber's vehicle. A spot of blood found inside was tested, and the DNA matched Kubik's. A pair of pants believed to have been worn by Galvan-Hernandez also contained blood stains that were linked by DNA testing to Kubik.

Surber has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. In April, Vaughan found Surber mentally incompetent to stand trial, and Surber is currently receiving psychiatric treatment to determine if his competency can be restored to stand trial.

In August, Vaughan ordered Surber to cooperate with psychiatrists who were treating him after prosecutors contended that he was not complying with his treatment.
OMAHA | Releases from Gavins Point Dam have been reduced to lessen downstream flooding caused by heavy rainfall in the past week.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cut releases from the dam near Yankton, South Dakota, from 31,000 cubic feet per second to 26,000 cfs. Releases will be increased back to 31,000 cfs as downstream flows recede.

Releases will eventually be reduced to 17,000 cfs for the winter.

The six Missouri River reservoirs currently hold 59.2 million acre-feet of water, occupying 3.1 MAF of the 16.3 MAF combined flood control zones. Water will be evacuated from the reservoirs throughout the fall and winter so the reservoirs are at 56.1 MAF when the spring runoff season begins.

September runoff into the Missouri River above Sioux City was 1 MAF, 91 percent of normal. The 2017 runoff forecast is for 28.5 MAF, 112 percent of normal.
Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar.

ADA: Let's Get Practical

ADA Consultant Michele S. Ohmes and her service dog Sufra will be helping with "ADA: Let's Get Practical," an event being held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, 1111 Fourth Ave. W. in Spencer, Iowa. The event is free and the public is invited to attend to learn about ways to make your business or public space more accessible for persons with disabilities. Call 712-363-4490 for more information.

Fully Involved

In recognition of Fire Prevention Month, 51 firefighting images of Sioux City Fire Rescue by prolific local photographer George Lindblade are on display along with two historic International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 7 banners at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St. Visit www.siouxcitymuseum.org for more information.

Building Bridges to Better Lives

An exhibit focusing on the East Bottoms beginning of the almost century-old Mary J. Treglia Community House is on display at the Betty Strong Encounter Center. The Encounter Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. For more information, call 712-224-5242.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  Actor-comedian Alec Baldwin will headline the Nov. 27 Iowa Democratic Party Fall Gala, the party announced.

While Alec Baldwin captured national attention for his portrayal of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, he is just as committed to putting a stop to the irresponsible lawmaking in DC and places like Iowa, according to the partys announcement.

Heading into the 2018 midterm elections and beyond, I have decided to rededicate my efforts to helping the Democratic Party win across the country, Baldwin said in a statement, adding you can plan on seeing me out there with folks on the ground fighting this most important battle for our future.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price welcomed Baldwin lending his voice to the growing chorus of people who are ready to see change in Iowa.

Acknowledging the party has challenges in the 2018 election, Price said Democrats are not backing down, and were not taking anything for granted.

The Fall Gala, formerly called the Jefferson Jackson Dinner, will highlight the strength of our great ticket, as well as the passion and commitment Democrats have to take back our state, Price said.

In addition to his acting, Baldwin has been an advocate for progressive and philanthropic causes. He is on the board of People for the American Way and active in the animal rights movement. The Alec Baldwin Foundation has supported several causes since it was founded in 2006, including efforts to address homelessness, eliminate the death penalty and find cures for breast cancer and AIDS.

The Fall Gala will be held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
The Board of Regents seems to be struggling to figure out why enrollment continues to decline at South Dakotas six public universities.

On Oct. 4, the Rapid City Journal reported that resident headcount has declined by 5,300 students since 2010. Over that same time period, the cost to attend Black Hills State University, for example, increased by 30 percent and 33 percent at the University of South Dakota  in both cases far above the overall cost of living.

In 2010, a BHSU freshman could expect to spend $47,252 over four years if the school did not raise tuition and fees while the student was in school, which has not been the case at any state university lately. The figure is based on taking 32 credits a year and room and board.

In 2017, a freshman can expect to pay $61,684 over four years based on 30 credits a year and those other expenses. At USD, it went from $49,348 to $65,772. At the School of Mines in Rapid City, it climbed 36 percent to $66,552, the highest in the state.

So, lets use what a South Dakota lawmaker might call common-sense logic. Higher costs are at least playing a role in discouraging students from attending college.

The regents have been discussing this problem for some time now. In 2015, the board commissioned a study by the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute that showed only 38 percent of South Dakotans 25 and older had a two-year associate degree.

In 2015, the regents released a report that said South Dakota charged more for tuition and fees than North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. At the same time, the state charged the lowest costs for out-of-state students.

In addition to rising tuition costs, public college students have been subjected to numerous fee increases, many dedicated to paying off bond debt for new buildings at the universities. Right now, the regents are considering a new fee of $5.07 per credit hour to increase the salary of faculty members.

The Board of Regents president also has a new idea to address enrollment  let university presidents set tuition and fees for their colleges.

That, however, would be an inappropriate delegation of an important task from the regents who have direct access to the Legislature to university presidents who are busy managing multi-million dollar operations and working to provide college students with the best possible education.

The proposal also fails to address the main problem  the increasing cost of higher education in South Dakota, which in 2017 has the second highest proportion of students with college debt in the nation, according to WalletHub.com.

At the same meeting where the regents discussed handing off the tuition-and-fee problem to college presidents, it was reported by the Legislative Research Council that the state would need to increase funding by $15.7 million annually to reach the regional average for state higher-education funding.

If the state of South Dakota wants to stop the bleeding of enrollment, the Legislature  not college presidents  needs to find more money for higher education. Otherwise, fewer of our youth will get the chance to make their dream come true in their home state.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Christopher Goldsmith of Mechanicsville, MD went on to this eternal rest on Sunday, October 8, 2017. Friends may visit with the family on Monday, October 16 from 10:00 am until time of Life Celebration service 11:00 am at the BRISCOE-TONIC FUNERAL HOME located at 38576 Brett Way in Mechanicsville, MD. Arrangements by Briscoe-Tonic Funeral Home.
WASHINGTON (Oct. 10, 2017)The coal company David Zatezalo used to run has been cited repeatedly over the years for safety violations, leading miners' rights advocates and some senators to oppose him as President Donald Trump's choice to lead the federal mine safety agency.



"I plan to vote against Mr. Zatezalo," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland. "It's troubling that the Trump administration felt he would be a good fit to head the very agency meant to protect miners, given his poor safety record and his pattern of violations at Rhino Resources."



"What's more, I am deeply concerned that this administration will be lax in enforcing measures that have improved mine safety in Maryland and across the country over the last decade," the senator added.



Van Hollen's sentiment was echoed by other Democratic senators.



"I fear (your selection) is another example of a nominee of a fox to guard the henhouse," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, told Zatezalo at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.



Zatezalo, who would succeed Joseph Main, President Barack Obama's chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (Wayne Palmer is acting administrator), maintained a conciliatory tone at the hearing.



"The mining industry in the United States today is safer and healthier that at any time in our history," Zatezalo said. "However, further progress needs to be made."



The lone Republican to question Zatezalo was Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, who expressed concern about the state of the small mines division at MSHA and the pace of adopting new technology to improve mine safety.



"Compliance, compliance assistance and reduction of accidents is what MSHA is all about," Zatezalo responded.



The committee is expected to vote on Zetazalo's nomination later this month.



The MSHA nominee did not contribute to Trump's presidential campaign and since 2006 has given relatively small amounts mostly to Republican congressional candidates, according to an analysis of campaign finance records by the Center for Responsive Politics.



There have been 13 miner fatalities so far in 2017, according to MSHA, nearly double the number from 2016 but similar to fatalities totals in recent years before 2016.



"I do not believe the fatalities to date (in 2017) are due to lack of enforcement," Zatezalo told senators, "but I don't have the details on them."



Information on 12 of the 13 fatalities are available on the website of the agency Zatezalo would lead.



Maryland, which has not lost a miner in a work accident since 2007, has 59 active coal mines that produced more than two million tons of coal in 2016, according to the Maryland Department of Energy. About 37 percent of Maryland's energy comes from coal.



Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, one of the staunchest defenders of the coal industry in Congress, also came out against Zatezalo.



"Strong leadership at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is non-negotiable," Manchin said last week. "After reviewing his qualifications and record of safety during his time in the coal industry, I am not convinced that Mr. Zatezalo is suited to oversee the federal agency that implements and enforces mine safety laws and standards."



Before Zatezalo's hearing, Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania formally asked the Labor Department to produce communications regarding any investigations or enforcement measuresincluding those related to four miner fatalitiesat mines owned by companies where Zatezalo held senior or top positions between 2001 and 2014.



"As it stands now, Mr. Zatezalo's record is questionable at best," Casey said. "We have to hold him to the highest degree of scrutiny so that we can protect the health and safety of our miners."



MSHA's primary charge is "to prevent death, illness and injury from mining and promote safe and healthful workplaces for U.S. miners" and enforce the Mine Act. Maryland relies on MSHA for safety compliance inspections at its mines.



Zatezalo's former company, Rhino Resource Partners, operates mines in Utah, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. The company is not considered a large operator in the coal industry.



Rhino ran afoul of MSHA in 2010 and 2011, when the company received two "pattern of violation" warning letters related to mines in West Virginia and Kentucky.



Less than a year after one of Rhino's mines, Eastern Eagle No. 1 near Bolt, West Virginia, was cited by MSHA for safety violations, part of a wall collapsed, killing a miner. Rhino was fined $44,500 for the 2011 accident.



Rhino and MSHA later ended up in court over an inspection at one of the company's mines in Kentucky, where workers were suspected of smoking underground, risking ignition of coal dust and unearthed gases. MSHA claimed that underground miners at the site were alerted to the presence of inspectors before they entered the mine and filed an injunction to stop the practice.



Critics said it might not matter if Zatezalo or someone else runs MSHA in the Trump administration.



"Typically when Republicans are in office, the focus of the (MSHA) agency changes," said Tony Oppegard, a former general counsel to the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals and a former MSHA official.



Now a lawyer in Lexington, Kentucky, who has been involved in mine safety litigation, Oppegard characterized the approach of MSHA under past Republican administrations as one geared to industry-friendly "compliance assistance" rather than "safety enforcement," meaning fewer citations for dangerous practices and less emphasis on miner safety issues.



This was the practice during the George W. Bush administration, Oppegard charged, when "the (miner) death rate went up. There was a lot more disasters."



It was during this period when two Maryland miners in 2007 lost their lives in an accident at the Tri-Star Mining site in Barton after a highwall failed, burying them under 44,000 tons of rock and material.



"The fatalities occurred because the ground control plan did not adequately address highwall conditions, and obvious hazards were allowed to exist," said the MSHA report on the incident.



The National Mining Association, an industry trade group, is "really encouraged by (Zatezalo's) vast experience in both the U.S. and Australia," spokesman Luke Popovich told Bloomberg BNA last month, adding that "we look forward to working with him."



Zatezalo has yet to win support from the United Mine Workers of America.



Union President Cecil Roberts, who met with Zatezalo in September, said: "We're trying to be fair here. I don't want to say, 'well, he came out of industry and was a supervisor and we are going to be opposed to him.'"



But Roberts did not say UMWU would be backing Zatezalo's nomination. "We're still having that conversation and we're not ready to take a position on that," he added.



Despite the president's repeated campaign trail promises to revive the coal industry and his landslide win in West Virginia, Zatezalo has not garnered a single endorsement from labor groups.



"The mine workers know they're not going to get a mine safety advocate to head MSHA under Trump," Oppegard said. "Everyone knows that."
Below is an excerpt from Stonewall Strong: Gay Mens Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health and a Strong Community, by John-Manuel Andriote. The book will publish Oct. 8 by Rowman & Littlefield; www.stonewallstrong.com.

In 1961, Frank Kameny and Washington, D.C., native Jack Nichols organized the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., an affiliate of Harry Hays original group in Los Angeles in name more than in style. Nichols had been deeply affected at age 15 when he read Edward Sagarins 1951 book The Homosexual in America. Nichols recounted decades later in a letter to The Gay Metropolis author Charles Kaiser that he was most touched by Sagarins quotation from the prominent African-American activist and author W. E. B. Du Bois: The worst effect of slavery was to make the Negroes doubt themselves and share in the general contempt for black folk. Nichols well understood the harmful effects of self-stigma in gay mens lives.

Kameny and Nichols realized that one of the biggest obstacles to gay peoples progress in society was the psychiatric professions classification of homosexuality as a mental illness. In a 1964 speech to the New York Mattachine Society, Kameny said, The entire homophile movement is going to stand or fall upon the question of whether homosexuality is a sickness, and upon our taking a firm stand on it.

In March 1965, the D.C. group threw down the gauntlet to the psychiatric establishment whose scientifically dubious classification of homosexuality served, as needed, to justify discrimination against gay people. The Mattachine Society of Washington, read the groups public statement, takes the position that in the absence of valid evidence to the contrary, homosexuality is not a sickness, disturbance or other pathology in any sense, but is merely a preference, orientation or propensity, on par with, and not different in kind from, heterosexuality.

The following month, Kameny, together with other members of the Washington Mattachine Society and members of the lesbian group Daughters of Bilitis, launched the first gay and lesbian protest in front of the White House on April 17, 1965. Ten members picketed against Cuban and U.S. government repression of homosexuals in the first organized protest by gay people demanding equality. On July 4 of that year, Kameny and Nichols organized the first-annual Fourth of July pickets outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Their presence before Americas most hallowed building was intended to remind Americans that not all their fellow citizens were granted the equal justice under law promised in the Constitution, written and adopted right there.

Many of the new generation of activists who thrived on the energy of Stonewall after the 1969 riots looked at the Mattachine Societys coat-and-tie, blouse-and-skirt politeness as an anachronism, a hangover of an earlier time. Wistful longing for a place somewhere over the rainbow was giving way to a new insistence on equality here and now. We were going to smash that rainbow, says Stonewall veteran and Philadelphia Gay News founder and publisher Mark Segal. We didnt have to go over anything or travel anywhere to get what we wanted.

But it was the Mattachines, the gay men and lesbians who had been chipping away  bit by bit, year by year  at the very bedrock of legal and social homophobia. The Washington Mattachines had already made it clear in their 1965 declaration to the psychiatric profession that there would no longer be a market in the homosexual community for their pseudo-scientific views of homosexuality. In 1970, the executive committee of the National Association for Mental Health declared that homosexual relations between consenting adults should be decriminalized. The groups San Francisco chapter adopted a resolution asserting, Homosexuality can no longer be equated only with sickness, but may properly be considered a preference, orientation or propensity for certain kinds of life styles. Braced by the affirmation, gay activists began to strike with vehement regularity at the American Psychiatric Association.

Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate! shouted Kameny, seizing the micro- phone as he and other gay-rights activists effectively took over the worlds most important gathering of psychiatrists during its prestigious Convocation of Fellows. The Mattachines may have been known for their button-down style of protest, but Kameny was no ordinary Mattachine. He was a man who believed with every fiber of his being that gay is good. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us, he told the assembled doctors. You may take this as a declaration of war against you.

The APAs nomenclature and statistics committee met with a group of gay activists, including Bruce Voeller from the newly formed National Gay Task Force (NGTF), who presented the scientific evidence proving homosexuality was not a mental illness. The committee, headed by Robert Spitzer, prepared a background paper on homosexuality for the APAs board. In it they defined the simple standard by which psychiatrists to this day determine mental illness: For a psychiatric condition to be considered a mental illness, it must either cause distress or impair an individuals social functioning. Clearly, wrote Spitzer, homosexuality, per se, does not meet the requirements for a psychiatric disorder since  many homosexuals are quite satisfied with their sexual orientation and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness or functioning. For the record, he noted, the terms normal and abnormal are not really psychiatric terms.

Two years after Kameny declared war on psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Associations board of trustees voted unanimously in December 1973 to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of psychiatric disorders. The board acknowledged that the unscientific inclusion of homosexuality per se in the list of mental disorders has been the ideological mainstay for denying civil rights to homosexuals. For good measure, they called for the repeal of sodomy laws and for the passage of antidiscrimination measures to protect the rights of gay people. Ronald Bayer, co-director of Columbia Universitys Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health, pointed out that the APAs diagnostic change deprived secular society  of the ideological justification of its discriminatory practices.

At a time when physicians, including psychiatrists, were held in very high esteem, it was unheard of that the prestigious medical field could possibly include homosexuals. To prove otherwise, former New York City health-services director Howard J. Brown, M.D., came out publicly as a gay man in October 1973. His announcement made the front page of the New York Times. He told the paper he decided to come out because times were changing. You get to a point in your life where you want to leave a legacy, he said. In a sense, this can help free the generation that comes after us from the dreadful agony of secrecy, the constant need to hide.

Brown capitalized on the publicity his coming out generated by helping to found the National Gay Task Force (NGTF) on Oct. 16, 1973, which helped achieve the massive victory with the APA for gay people only two months later. He wrote in his 1976 memoir, Familiar Faces, Hidden Lives, The gay activists who converged on Washington on Dec. 15, 1973, were the first group of patients in history to insist that they were not sick and to demand that the label be removed. When the APA voted to de-pathologize homosexuality, Brown says, Never in history had so many people been cured in so little time.

Even before the APAs 1973 decision, Richard Pillard, M.D., had already become the first openly gay psychiatrist in America. Pillard had just turned 82 when I interviewed him for this book in October 2015. He recalled his own experience in psychoanalysis as a patient. He was married at the time and had three daughters. After four years of analysis, he realized he was a gay man and needed to find a male partner. He divorced his wife but remained, and remains, close to her and his three daughters. I concluded I am a gay man, he said, and this is not a mental disorder.

Besides knowing Howard Brown, another inspiration for the newly out Dr. Pillard was an invitation in the spring of 1970 from the Boston University student homophile league. Now he would know other openly gay people right there in his workplace. Less than a year after Stonewall, the idea of coming out was becoming embedded in our psyches, said Pillard. I remember telling a colleague I was going to give a talk to the student homophile league, and he said, My god, theres a league of them?

Pillard said that coming out had immediate rewards. Best of all, he said, there were no more dark secrets. He thought a moment, then added, That is gay liberation. Freedom from our own fear.

John-Manuel Andriote has written about LGBT, HIV/AIDS and other health and medical subjects since the early 1980s. He is the author of Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America; Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco/Dance Music; Tough Love: A Washington Reporter Finds Resilience, Ruin and Zombies in his Other Connecticut Hometown; and a fable for kids ages 5-105 called Wilhelmina Goes Wandering. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Huffington Post and leading LGBT publications across America. Andriote regularly speaks at conferences and universities, is interviewed by print and broadcast media and has been an adjunct communication professor at Eastern Connecticut State University. For more information on Stonewall Strong, visit www.stonewallstrong.com.

This is a part of our LGBT History Month special package. Check out sfgn.com/2017historymonth daily for new stories.
BBC America will celebrate National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 with the U.S. premiere of Queers, a day-long festival of eight dramatic monologues exploring the lives of British LGBT people, both past and present.

Mark Gatiss, creator of the hit PBS Masterpiece series Sherlock, curated the collection of short films, commissioned from both experienced and new screenwriters.

Leading British actors were recruited for the films, including Alan Cumming (The Good Wife), who will be performing in December with the Gay Mens Chorus of South Florida on their holiday concert. The cast also includes Russell Tovey (Looking, Quantico), Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones) and Ben Whishaw, who has become popular as Q in recent James Bond films.

Gareth McLean, former television critic for The Guardian newspaper, was one of the newer writers. His film, Something Borrowed, features Cumming as a nervous bridegroom on the eve of his long-anticipated wedding.

Steve (Cumming) reflects on many familiar themescoming out, dating and relationships, commitment, his motherand McLean explained in a phone interview from London that the film was somewhat autobiographical, calling it a love letter to my boyfriend and a love letter to my mother.

McLean described the experience working with both Gatiss and Cumming as incredible, watching his words come to life on the set during filming; however, he waited until the series was broadcast on television in August to view the finished product for the first time.

It was very nerve wracking, said the former critic awaiting the reviews of his work.

The entire series is theatrical in style and McLean admitted that the intimacy of a live performance the communication between actor and audiencecan be lost on a two-dimensional screen. He was thrilled when the monologues were later staged at The Old Vic theater and his play performed by acclaimed actor Mark Bonnar.

While many references in the films may be unfamiliar to U.S. audiences, including the 1957 Wolfenden Report and 1967 Sexual Offence Act, universal themes of love and acceptance are woven throughout all in poignant, funny, tragic and riotous moments.

The eight Queers monologues include:

10 a.m. EDT

A Grand Day Out

1994. As the government votes on lowering the age of male homosexual consent, 17-year-old Andrew comes to London for the first time  with unexpected results. Starring Fionn Whitehead.

3 p.m. EDT

Safest Spot in Town

As the Blitz hits London, Fredrick is grateful that he survived in a very unlikely place of refuge. Starring Kadiff Kirwan.

6:30 p.m. EDT

The Perfect Gentleman

Bobby is a swaggering man about town. But Bobby has a secret. Can it survive when it really matters? Starring Gemma Whelan.

10 p.m. EDT

Something Borrowed

Steve, a groom to be, anxiously prepares his wedding speech. But now the big day is here, what has been won and what has been lost? Starring Alan Cumming.

The Man on the Platform

Written in response to the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, a young man returning from the trenches of the First World War recollects a love that dared not speak its name. Starring Ben Whishaw.

Missing Alice

Alice and her husband share a secret but with the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957 it may not need to be a secret anymore. Starring Rebecca Front.

2:15 a.m.

More Anger

Actors can easily feel typecast. But it's 1987 and with AIDS hitting the headlines, a promising new part looks like a game-changer for Phil. Starring Russell Tovey.

I Miss the War

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act will revolutionize everything, won't it? Well, perhaps not as far as dapper gent Jackie is concerned. Starring Ian Gelder.

Queers will be broadcast throughout the day on Wednesday, Oct. 11, beginning at 10 a.m. The films will also be available on demand at BBCAmerica.com and the BBC America app.
(WB) Transgender filmmaker and researcher Reina Gossett has accused The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson director David France of stealing her idea for the documentary.

The film, which is streaming on Netflix, examines Johnsons involvement in the Stonewall riots, her transgender activism and mysterious death. Gossett, who is an activist-in-residence at the Barnard College Center for Research on Womens Social Justice Institute, worked on the short film Happy Birthday, Marsha! with Sasha Wortzel.

In an Instagram post, Gossett explains that France stole her film idea and research to make the Netflix documentary.

This week while Im borrowing money to pay rent, David France is releasing his multimillion-dollar netflix deal on Marsha P. Johnson. This kind of extraction/excavation of black life, disabled life, poor life, trans life is so old and so deeply connected to the violence Marsha had to deal with throughout her life, Gossett writes.

Gossett says that she and Wortzel sent a grant application video to the Kalamazoo/Arcus Foundation while France was visiting.

He told the people who worked there  I shit you not  that he should be the one to do this film, Gossett writes. [He] got a grant from Sundance/Arcus using my language and research about STAR, got Vimeo to remove my video of Sylvias critical yall better quiet down speech, ripped off decades of my archival research that I experienced so much violence to get, had his staff call Sasha up at work to get our contacts, then hired my and Sashas ADVISOR to our Marsha film Kimberly Reed to be his producer.

Janet Mock posted Gossetts statement on Twitter and slammed France for taking the opportunity away from a transgender woman.

Filmmaker David France released a Netflix doc Friday about Marsha P. Johnson. It is based on Reina Gossetts work (her statement below). pic.twitter.com/YtQiVMuOjm  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

Reina Gossett is a black trans woman who reintroduced our gen to ourselves by uncovering/recentering trans women of color revolutionaries.  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

Her digital archives of movement foremothers Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera are integral to current understanding of their contributions.  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

She researched/archived/digitized content inaccessible for decades. She interviewed Marsha & Sylvias peers. She did this work without pay.  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

A black trans womans work about a black trans woman was used to make a film by a credentialed white cis man aided by Netflixs millions.  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

Meanwhile Reina is borrowing money to pay rent as viewers around the world watch a film based on her unpaid & uncredited work. Not OK.  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

Support Reina Gossett  she made @hbdmarsha w/ @sashawortzel! Book her as a speaker! Let others know about her work! https://t.co/CM86S8ckYF  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

France defended himself by posting his own statement saying that he was friends with Johnson and had been considering the project for a long time.

Reina Gossett has suggested that Ive stolen both the concept and footage for The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson from her work, the experimental short narrative, Happy Birthday, Marsha!, France writes. Nothing in the films concept, research or execution came from anyone outside of this process.

Hi Janet. Please see below. pic.twitter.com/sHjz9CvU7T  David France (@ByDavidFrance) October 7, 2017

Mock took issue with Frances phrasing that he fully supports Gossett and Wortzells film. She fired back that France should have given the project to a transgender woman of color.

Fully support is an action, not an intention/thought. Support looks like stepping aside, using your access/priv to produce Reinas work. https://t.co/urZx6YkTtW  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017

 Mariah Cooper, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.

This is a part of our LGBT History Month special package. Check out sfgn.com/2017historymonth daily for new stories.
California has determined HIV is not a serious threat as it once was.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a landmark piece of legislation which reforms the Golden States laws concerning HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Supporters of the reforms praised the state for removing draconian laws that unfairly criminalized people living with HIV.

Today California took a major step toward treating HIV as a public health issue, instead of treating people living with HIV as criminals, said Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, in a news release dated Oct. 6. HIV should be treated like all other serious infectious diseases, and thats what SB 239 does. We are going to end the new HIV infections and we will do so not by threatening people with state prison time, but rather getting people to test and providing them access to care.

The Centers for Disease Control confirmed last month that HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads cannot transmit the virus to HIV-negative partners during sexual intercourse. Advances in modern medicine have made HIV a manageable condition that, if treated properly, positive people can live long lives.

LGBT organizations applauded California for leading the way to update its HIV laws. It is now no longer a felony to knowingly expose a sexual partner to HIV. The reforms also cover blood donations.

With his signature, Governor Brown has moved Californias archaic HIV laws out of the 1980s and into the 21st Century, said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, in a news release. SB 239 will do much to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV  it is not only fair, but it is good public health. When people are no longer penalized for knowing their status, it encourages them to come forward, get tested and get treatment. Thats good for all Californians.

Public health activists have long declared criminalizing people with the virus was a barrier to testing, treating and healing. HIV negative individuals now have access to a once-a-day pill, known as PrEP, which has been shown to block HIV transmission in 99 percent of cases.
Starting this week, Mississippi residents that identify as LGBT will start to see their lives change drastically.

After an appeal was denied by the 5th Circuit Court last Tuesday, House Bill 1523  also known as the The Religious Liberty Accommodations Act  is set to go effect in today. According to the law, government and private businesses can deny service to individuals based off their religious beliefs.

Opponents of the bill have pointed out how discriminatory the law is against LGBT people, blocking it from being implemented since it was originally passed last year. However, the battle to reverse the bill was ultimately lost, making it the broadest religious-objections law enacted since gay marriage was legalized in 2015.

The law, which was signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in 2016, is stated to protect three beliefs: that marriage is between a man and woman; no sex outside of such marriage; and a person's gender is determined at birth.

Bryant has been very outspoken about his support for the bill, stating:

The people of Mississippi have the right to ensure that all of our citizens are free to peacefully live and work without fear of being punished for their sincerely held religious beliefs."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also served as a strong advocate, crafting a 25-page memo this past Friday which directs all federal and executive agencies to enforce protection of religious freedom laws.

Many are fearing the danger and threat that could arise from the law written by Arizona-based Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom. As a result, several groups have delayed the process and have stood in solidarity with the gay community in Mississippi.

Two of those groups being the San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, who took the stage at the State Capitol Building in Jackson this Sunday to send a message of unity and love to state legislators.

This is one stop of the Gay Mens Choruss Lavender Pen tour, which is set to also hit Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, as a radical response to the discrimination being seen in the country.

When looking at how the group was responding to the law in Mississippi, Robert Lowry, pastor of Fondren Presbyterian Church in Jackson, said it speaks volumes.

The religious liberty law is really a law for discrimination, Lowry said in an interview with Northern California publication KQED News. Its important the choir is visiting right now, coming and celebrating and sharing their gifts and bringing this message of wholeness and peace and community into our community.

As for the community of Mississippi, many LGBT couples are preparing for the worst. Plaintiff Brandiilyne Mangum-Dear, whose attorney is planning to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, says that her and her wife will continue to fight those who stand for hate.

We walk in very defensively," she told local Mississippi publication MS News Now. "And that's unfortunate. This is the hospitality state. We should not have to be afraid to walk into an establishment and be turned away or discriminated against or humiliated. It's a sad day."
Its confirmed. Constantine is coming to Legends of Tomorrow. This time, hell be as bisexual as he was in the original DC comics.

As for the character of Constantine, we knew that an alienated, chain-smoking, bisexual, world-weary demonologist would feel right at home among our Legends, show producer Phil Klemmer said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

Constantine will be a part of several episodes in the current third season of the show. The first episode premiered on Tuesday.

Matt Ryan claims the role of Constantine, after playing him in television show Arrow and the characters namesake show Constantine which ended in 2015 after a 13-episode run.

This isnt the first time a DC television series has included an LGBT character.

In Gotham, Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin) realized he was in love with fellow villain Edward Nygma (The Riddler). The actor who plays The Penguin, Robin Lord Taylor, pushed back against fans displeased with the characters sexuality.

"I just want to address the people who say, you know, 'I have no problem with him being gay or queer or anything, I just have a problem with you guys changing or altering the canon.' And I have to say that that's a bunch of horseshit, he addressed at Rhode Island Comic Con. You cant say that to me if you also didnt have the same amount of consternation about Batman 89, where the Joker killed Batmans parents. Thats a total departure from the canon characters.

He continued: You come to me and you say to me that 'I'm OK with you being queer, but I'm upset that you're changing a canon character,' what you are saying to me is 'I am homophobic and I am afraid of gay people and queer people.'

Other LGBT characters in live-action DC shows include Sara Lance White Canary, Nyssa Al Ghul and Curtis Holt (Mister Terrific) of The Arrow and DC Legends of Tomorrow series.

The CW has even launched its own DC animated series featuring a gay main character. Freedom Fighters: The Ray features main character Raymond Ray Terrill, a gay man who takes on light-based powers  and the superhero alias The Ray.

And when it comes to comic books, DC has tried to make new additions to be LGBT-inclusive. In August they planned to introduce Doctor Endless, DCs first genderfluid character. The character was set to appear in Suicide Squad: The Black Files  that is, until the comic was postponed a week before its release.

According to DC Comics News, the company intends to re-solicit the series, but it will not be released until November at the earliest, if ever.

However, DC Comics has had some success in LGBT inclusion. Following the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando which took the lives of 49 people and injured 53 others  many of which LGBT and Latinx  DC teamed up with IDW Publishing to release a Love is Love comic anthology with proceeds benefitting the victims.

The 144-page comic book sold for only $10 a piece, with over $200,000 going to Equality Florida to help victims since its release in December of last year.

The book has taken a life of its own and every penny generated will go towards different LGBT charities over the years, he said. Andreyko told SFGN in June. I never would have imagined that this project would not only raise so much money, but touch so many lives.
(WB) Police in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Oct. 6 arrested 51 people at a gay party.

Okezone.com, an Indonesian news website, reported the arrests took place at a sauna in Central Jakarta that is popular with gay men. The website posted pictures of dozens of men who were trying to conceal their identities after their arrest.

Human Rights Watch in a press release noted authorities on Saturday had released most of those who were arrested. The press release indicates four men and a woman who work at the sauna remain in custody and face charges of violating the countrys anti-pornography law.

That law prohibits such acts as sex parties, the use of pornography, and deviant sexual acts, which is defined to include sex with corpses, sex with animals, oral sex, anal sex, lesbian sex and male homosexual sex, says Human Rights Watch.

Activist: Police engaged in an anti-LGBT witch hunt

The arrests at the Jakarta sauna took place against the backdrop of an ongoing LGBT rights crackdown in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country.

Human Rights Watch says police in West Java province on Sept. 2 forcibly evicted 12 women they suspected to be lesbians from their village after they entered their home. The NGO also notes police in the city of Medan in North Sumatra province on June 8 arrested five suspected lesbians, released a video of the raid and shared their names with local reporters.

Jakarta police on May 21 arrested 141 menwho were taking part in a gay sex party at a sauna. Two men in the city of Banda Aceh, which is the capital of the semi-autonomous Aceh province, two days later received 82 lashes in front of hundreds of people after a sharia court convicted them of having sex.

Human Rights Watch notes police in the city of Surabaya in East Java province on April 30 arrested 14 gay and bisexual men at a private party and forced them to undergo HIV tests.

President Joko Widodo in an interview with BBC Indonesia last October said he opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

A commission in the Indonesian House of Representatives in March 2016 urged the countrys Ministry of Communications and Information to consider a bill that sought to block websites promoting so-called LGBT propaganda. The Constitutional Court of Indonesia a few months later heard testimony in a lawsuit that seeks to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.

Indonesian authorities in February 2016 shut down an Islamic school for transgender people in the city of Yogyakarta.

The board of directors of Nahdlatul Ulama  which is the worlds largest Muslim organization with more than 40 million members  in the same month urged the Indonesian government to take immediate measures to stop all propaganda against LGBT normalization and deviant activities and ban parties campaigning for LGBT rights. Lembaya Kesehatan Nahdlatul Ulama, which is part of Nahdlatul Ulama, received a $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development in order to bolster its ability to detect tuberculosis cases and treat them.

The grant began in 2012 and is expected to end this year.

It is ironic that instead of Islamist vigilantes and thugs, now the police is engaged in an anti-LGBT witch hunt, Dede Oetomo, an LGBT rights advocate from Surabaya, told the Washington Blade on Monday.

The Blade has reached out to the State Department for comment.

 Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.
SpaceX Launches Iridium-3 Mission and Deploys 10 Satellites. SpaceX

SpaceX successfully launched the third mission for Iridium Communications Inc. with the deployment of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites.

According to Iridium the satellites were delivered into low-Earth orbit approximately one hour after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 5:37 a.m. PDT. With two successful launches having already been completed this year, this third batch of 10 satellites brings the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in orbit to 30, nearly half the amount required for a full Iridium NEXT operational constellation.
Earth from Space: Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctic. ESA

The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over the Antarctic Peninsula and the adjacent Larsen Ice Shelf, from which a massive iceberg broke off in July.

The image has been manipulated, so clouds appear pink while snow and ice are blue to help us differentiate between them. The only land clearly visible is the tip of the Peninsula in the upper left, while sea ice covers the Weddell Sea to the right.

Captured on 25 September, the image shows the iceberg near the centre. The A68 berg had been jostling back and forth against the ice shelf, but more recent satellite imagery revealed that the gap between the berg and the shelf is widening  possibly drifting out to sea.

An icebergs progress is difficult to predict. It may remain in the area for decades, but if it breaks up, parts may drift north into warmer waters. Since the ice shelf is already floating, this giant iceberg does not influence sea level.

A68 is about twice the size of Luxembourg and with its calving has changed the outline of the Antarctic Peninsula forever  about 10% of the area of the Larsen C Ice Shelf has been removed.

The loss of such a large piece is of interest because ice shelves along the peninsula play an important role in buttressing glaciers that feed ice seawards, effectively slowing their flow.

Previous events further north on the Larsen A and B shelves, captured by ESAs ERS and Envisat satellites, indicate the flow of glaciers behind can accelerate when a large portion of an ice shelf is lost, contributing to sea-level rise.

 Download the full high-resolution image.
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
Speaking of television, I recently saw The Pacific with my wife. If you dont know, The Pacific is an HBO mini-series about the eastern theater of World War Two. As a result, my wife and I started talking about our grandfathers, who both served at that time. Come to find out: My grandfather was at Iwo Jima. My wifes grandfather was at Okinawa.

In my wildest dreams, I have a difficult time trying to imagine what it must have been like being an 18-year-old kid, away from home for the first time, fighting a gruesome war. While I realize the same has happened recently to many fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and Vietnam, the sheer size of World War Two makes me shake my head in disbelief.

At the same time, I have been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is an immensely challenging book, and I encourage you to read it if you have not done so. With The Pacific and the massive number of deaths that were a result of World War 2 on my mind, Chapter 2 of Crazy Love leapt from the page. It is titled: You Might Not Make it Through this Chapter.

I think  Ok. This chapter is supposed to convict me about something that I am so moved to action on I need to put the book down, right? Wrong. You Might Not Make it Through this Chapter, is because you might die. All of us not there for the resurrection have a date with death, dont we?

Death does not have an age, a color, or a nationality. All of us will be there soon, and none of us know when it will happen. Some of us will die this week, others in a few years, and some of us well into our nineties or hundreds. No matter when we die it will seem like the time has been too short. Everyone has that sense of longing for more, I believe.

Death, and war, and our short time here on earth also made me think about Band of Brothers, another HBO mini-series about the European theater of World War Two. There is an amazing scene in that film with a solider by the name of Ronald Speirs. Speirs is explaining to another soldier why the solider was paralyzed with fear during earlier combat. He says:

We are all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there is still hope (of survival)the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you are already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to function as a solider is supposed to function.

Isnt that statement perfect? You are already dead. To function as you should at war, you need to give up, accept your death, and focus on the task at hand.

Is the Christian life not supposed to be the same? In Mark, Chapter 8, it says:

whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospels will save it.

Quit chasing after nothing. You are already dead! It might not happen today, or tomorrow, but you will die soon. You will die  and you will stand before your creator. Live today like you are already standing there.

Crazy Love quotes C.S. Lewis on this. Lewis said:

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

I submit that maybe: Contemplating our mortality is human while focusing on our mortality, and what is beyond, is something of God.

You see, our life can easily be the focus if life is all that there is. Conversely, our lives in the shadow of eternity, puts the blip of our earthly existence in the proper context.

As James tells us in Chapter 4:

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

How would you live your life if you knew you would die in the next 24 hours, the next week, the next month, or the next year?

Would you be more focused on loving God, and loving those around you?

Well, I will tell you this: You will meet God.
An elderly person is in serious condition after a truck collided with a mobility scooter on Firth Street in Matamata.

Police and emergency services were called to the serious crash on Firth Street between Farmers Road and College Street that occurred at 3pm.

"The elderly rider of the mobility scooter is in a serious condition and has been taken to hospital," says Inspector Neil Banks.

"The Serious Crash Unit are investigating."
When Kimanh Severson saw her husbands garage for the first time, she was shocked. Boxes filled with antiques and collectibles towered from the floor to the ceiling of the 1,000 square-foot space.

She probably thought I was crazy when she saw the house, said her husband, Alan Severson. It was just rows and rows of stuff.

Longview native Alan Severson met Kimanh Severson in Vietnam 15 years ago while he was backpacking around Asia. They hit it off and eventually were married.

She did not know the extent of his antiquing hobby until she moved home with him about a decade ago. But now she shares his passion and now opened up an antique store of her own last week: Vintage Alley at 1314 Broadway Street.

Im a big antique collector, he said. Its just rubbed off on her.

This is not her first antique shop. She operated Kimanhs Antiques and Collectibles next door for a couple years but sold it when the two-story shop became too much work for one person to operate.

After a while though, she realized that she missed running her own shop. The Seversons own the building along the north side of the 1300 block of Broadway, so when a salon moved out a few months ago, the corner spot seemed like the perfect smaller size for her to start selling antiques again.

Rather than having all this (stuff) upstairs in our apartment, we can come down here and look at it  and then sell it and put different stuff in here, Alan Severson said. Its like having your own personal collection thats for sale.

Vintage Alley joins a row of antique shops along Broadway, but the Seversons said the competition is an advantage.

Basically my whole building downstairs is an antiques and collectibles store, he said. Its like a big mall with different sections.

The pair have attended antique shows for more than a decade and recently took a 14-state road trip browsing other antique stores. Over the years, theyve become experts in the trade and that knowledge has helped them curate a sophisticated inventory, they said.

The downsized store means Kimanh Severson doesnt have to worry about filling display cases and can showcase fewer, more expensive items such as delicate glassware, old toys and Roseville pottery from Ohio.

She has a good idea of what to buy because shes been doing it for a few years, he said. Once youre working with customers for a few years, you get an idea of what people are looking for.

However, in an age when anyone can look up the value of an item with a few taps on their phone, the Seversons said it has become more difficult to find hidden prizes at shops and garage sales. Online bidding stores such as Ebay can also skew prices based on what one person is willing to pay for an item.

In spite of the boom in online antique shopping, the Seversons say plenty of shoppers still want a brick-and-mortar experience.

Its more fun for the people to come into shops like this, he said. They can pick (the item) up, they can handle it, they can look at it (and) make sure its what they want.

Business has been steady, and the couple would like to see the block become a destination for antique enthusiasts.

Treasure hunting is always fun, Alan Severson said. You never know where you will find something.
Airtel launched its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services across Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh. Airtel VoLTE, which works over 4G, will offer customers HD quality voice calls along with faster call set up time.

Airtel VoLTE will be available on popular 4G/LTE enabled mobile devices, which must have a Airtel 4G SIM. Customers can call any mobile, landline network using Airtel VoLTE. There will be no additional data charges for VoLTE and calls will be billed as per existing plan or packs benefits.

Dharmender Khajuria, Chief Executive Officer  Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Bharti Airtel said, We are delighted to announce the addition of VoLTE capabilities on our 4G network in Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh as it enables high definition voice qualities and faster call set up time. We invite mobile users across the progressive states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to experience this advanced technology.

How to get Airtel VoLTE:

Check mobile device compatibility at www.airtel.in/volte. Airtel has tested and certified popular device models for VoLTE compatibility. More models will keep getting added to this list. Upgrade the mobile devices operating software to the latest version that supports VoLTE. This update is provided by the handset manufacturer. Ensure the device has a Airtel 4G SIM. Customers can upgrade to the 4G SIM by visiting the nearest Airtel store. Enable VoLTE by following instructions on www.airtel.in/volte

Customers with Dual-SIM handsets have to ensure that the Airtel 4G SIM has been inserted in the data SIM slot/slot 1 and network mode has been set as 4G/3G/2G (Auto).
We can`t agree through appeasement to `push the refugees to hell`

Editorial Desk :

Bangladesh foreign ministry is anxious to show success by telling us that Myanmar has agreed to take back the refugees who fled Myanmar and crossed over to Bangladesh to be alive. Our foreign ministry cannot see that the Myanmar government would be very happy indeed to get back the Muslim refugees to cleanse them ethnically.

The whole world was aghast by seeing the pictures of brutalities ruthlessly persecuted against men, women and children. The world leaders, including the Secretary General of the UN and The Permanent Representative of the USA at the UN condemned the inhuman mass killing in Myanmar in the strongest of terms. They were for immediate action. But Russia and China prevented.

Our government is found hesitant and undecided about a clear policy. Indian government is supporting atrocities against the Muslim Rohingyas. Yet our government misses no opportunity to tell our people that India is with the government of Bangladesh. This can only mean that we are with India on this crisis and do nothing.

The world is surprised that when Bangladesh should have loathed to initiate bilateral talks with Myanmar for genocide Rohingyas and the act of aggression committed against Bangladesh, our foreign ministry officials gleefully welcome any representative from Myanmar, however useless he is, to say they have agreed to take the refugees back. It is a big success that Myanmar has recognised the crisis.

Of course the government of Myanmar will be happy to take them to finish them off.

Our foreign ministry has not come out publicly about the terms and conditions of security of the refugees agreed if they return to Myanmar. Can we call it diplomacy for protecting the interest of Bangladesh?

When international community is ready to help why our government is not anxious to join them and move unitedly towards an early solution remains unanswered.

When our Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali considers it suicidal for Bangladesh to get involved in a war with Myanmar so outspokenly then what he means is appeasement is the best policy in the face belligerency from the government of Myanmar.

No sane person wants war and still even we spend millions on war preparations. Myanmar is using its military power and our Foreign Minister rejects out of hand any armed confrontation. He expects his sweet words and do nothing policy will win over Myanmar military.

He is not doing anything to mobilise international pressure on Myanmar. He is keeping himself away from international diplomacy in the hope of bilateral solution.

The international community was horrified at the massacre of Rohingyas. The wife of Turkey's President Emine Erdogan was the first important foreign personality to visit the refugee camps in Bangladesh and brought help.

The Western countries threatened action against the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar long before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed the five-point demand for resolving the crisis. These five-point demand is taken from the recommendation of Annan Commission Report.

Except to those who have nothing to show for international diplomacy everybody will agree that without military preparedness jointly with others no permanent solution is possible to military aggression for Myanmar. Any diplomat worth his name will know that preparation for war is not always a war.

This truth is borne out by the fact that the previous agreements were violated without a care because our Foreign Minister will not take any suicidal step. He cannot think of organising military power through alliance. He also does not know that the military preparedness could be the best way for avoiding war and solving international problems peacefully.

The Foreign Minister must have noticed what the Amnesty International had to say about any hasty decision bilaterally. The Amnesty warned not to push Rohingyas to hell without ensuring safety of the people. This assurance by our Foreign Minister could not and will get from Myanmar.

The negotiation with Myanmar must mean negotiation with international community under the supervision of the Unified Nations.
1st batch of judicial officers off to India for training



The first batch of 40 judicial officers, comprising senior judicial magistrates, senior assistant judges and metropolitan magistrates, left for Bhopal of India on Monday to attend the 'Training and Capacity Building Programme for Bangladesh Judicial Officers'.

The training programme will be administered under the 'Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC)' plan of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

The residential 15-day training programme will be conducted from October10 to 24 at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and the State Judicial Academy of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh.

Subjects of the training programme include training modules on judicial skills, court management, case management, micro-legal jurisprudence, and various aspects of law including - civil law, criminal law, human rights law, women and child rights-related law, environmental law, property law, contract law etc.

New and emerging areas of e-judiciary and use of ICT in judicial administrations are also included in the training programme.

A bilateral MoU on 'Training and Capacity Building of Bangladesh judicial officers in India' was concluded during the state visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in April, 2017.

Under the framework of MoU, India will extend training and capacity building to 1,500 Bangladesh judicial officers at the National Judicial Academy and various state judicial academies in India.

All expenses on the training, including international and domestic air fares, will be borne by the Indian government.




Law, order situation worsens in Khulna city, nine UZs

Ahsanul Amin George, Khulna :

Law and order situation has deteriorated in Khulna city and at all nine upazila areas of Khulna district. Crimes including drug abuse are alarmingly increasing. But Law enforcers particularly policemen and members of Detective Branch (DB) of Khulna Metropolitan police (KMP) and also the members of Khulna district DB are allegedly busy for arrest business. Sudden and surprise transfer in police department of Khulna is essential, experts think.

Common people are always in two categories fears - One is terrorists and the other is repressions by the policemen and DB personnel. Terrorists are snatching valuable lives of the people and policemen are oppressing the innocent persons through arrest business, according to the allegations alleged by the victimized persons.

According to the existing law in Bangladesh, torture to any person is punishable in police custody, available in section 15 of Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013.

It is stated in the above-mentioned section that torture in police is a punishable act that inflicts physical or mental pain (of any person). The punishment of torture is 5 years imprisonment or at least Taka 50 thousand fine or both.

But it is a matter of great regret that the policemen and members of DB (From higher officials to constables) do not care straw to this law. Even it is seen that members of KMP's DB and Khulna district DB always keep different type of sharp weapons including hammers, sticks and large stones with which they beat or stab mercilessly both the criminals and also the innocent pedestrians and suspect persons in spite of the fact that the innocent persons move for their own necessities and such moving are their constitutional rights, vested by the Constitution of the Peoples republic of Bangladesh, the highest law of the country.

Recently, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Detective Branch of Khulna Metropolitan Police (ADC, DB, KMP), DB SI Shariful Islam and their associate members beat a youth mercilessly with hammers and kicked him indiscriminately suspecting him as a drug peddler near at PDB's Division-2 office on Lower Jessore road under Daulatpur police station. There after, they arrested him and took away to DB office by their Microbus, alleged the mother of the youth and also the local people. Later he was handed over him to Daulatpur police station after filing a case along with 47 bottles of Indian contraband Phensedyl.

ADC, DB AM Kamrul Islam refuted the allegations and said that the youth is a drug peddler and as such he was arrested by a special team of DB led by SI Shariful Islam and being informed the occurrence he reached the spot.

Recently DB SI Ibad released a person after allegedly taking bribe of Taka one lac from him showing threat of implicating him in a case as drug peddler.

Mean while, Assistant Commissioner (AC, DB, KMP) Bhaskor Saha made an altercation with a journalist before the ADC, DB at his office.

Sources said, most of the DB officials of KMP prepare the case reports charge sheets by the computer operator who has no lawful experience.

DB personnel do not wear their 'DB' marked Jackets and as such the common people can not identify the fake DB persons. On the other hand, Policemen particularly SIs and ASIs of 8 police stations in Khulna city under KMP and 9 police stations of 9 upazilas under Khulna district police, often roam and go to arrest persons (Both criminals and innocent persons) without wearing their uniform violating law and direction of the Honorable Supreme Court.

SI Selim, former In-charge of Daulatpur Trade School Police Phari ( Police Outpost), located near Daulatpur Launch Ghat under Daulatpur police station allegedly took bribe from an influential person of South Pabla area and in exchange of taking the hush money implicated an innocent youth (who has enmity with that influential person) in a pending case with Daulatpur police station during the period of OC Anwar Hossain. However, That youth released on bail after one year due to a false case.

On October 6, 2017, SI Mehedi of Daulatpur police station released a person from Pabla Saha Para area under Daulatpur police station allegedly after taking Taka 50 thousand.

SI Chinmoy Das, another SI of Daulatpur police station recently searched at a hired house of a day laborer while a so called police-source and locally known as thief Abdul Gaffar. During the search, SI Chinmoy prohibited the day laborer to have his meal. Later, that source demanded taka 10 thousand tempting him to manage the police harassment.
Quader visits Karnaphuli tunnel site





Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said the construction work of Karnaphuli tunnel under the government to government arrangement is progressing fast. The minister expressed this while visiting the project site of the Karnaphuli tunnel at Patenga in city according to police sources said.

He said that the cost of tunnel construction including its connecting roads will be around Taka 8,500 crore, of which the Chinese government will provide around Taka 5,000 crore. Replying to a query, the minister said the international community will have to play a significant role to implement the Myanmar government's assurance. Later the Minister attended the death anniversary meeting of former diplomat and former lawmaker late Ataur Rahman Kaiser.


HC stays much-talked cocaine case of Ctg





The High Court issued a stay order on the sensational cocaine case in Chittagong. The HC also asked the officials concerned why the case will not be cancelled.

The hearing of the most sensational cocaine case was held at court of the Chittagong Metropolitan Session Judge Mohammed Shah E Noor on Sunday. Later, at the end of hearing, the stay order of High Court reached the court of the Chittagong Metropolitan Session Judge Mohammed Shah E Noor.

Sources said, following the appeal of the prime accused of the case Nur Mohammad, the bench formed by Justice Mohammad Miftah Uddin Chowdhury and Justice A N M Bashir Ullah issued the stay order. The stay order and directives of the High Court reached Chittagong Metropolitan Session Judge Moha-mmad Shah E Noor.

Sources said, the officials of Custom Intelligence Department sealed the containers loaded with cocaine on June 6 in 2015 after getting information about cocaine. The officials opened the containers on June 8 in 2015 and saw 107 drums of liquid sunflower oil. Later, the officials of the department sent samples to the laboratory for chemical test and laboratory confirmed about presence of cocaine on June 27 in 2015 after test.

According to the sources, court rejected the charge sheet against eight persons Sources said, the court of the metropolitan magistrate Rahmat Ali rejected the given charge sheet and ordered reinvestigation of the case with an Additional SP ranked police officer by RAB. At the FIR of the case one Nur Mohammed was the prime accused. But, the then IO of the case excluded the name of prime accused from the charge sheet of the case. During the hearing of the acceptability of charge sheet, the honorable court found dispute in the investigation and rejected the charge sheet at that time.


Deterioration of law, order situation feared





The law and order situation in the port city is being deteriorated in the recent time . Five persons were killed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last respectively by the miscreants in the city. After the murder of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Chittagong city unit Sidipto Biswas and two others within two days in the port city, the citizens of Chittagong became concerned over the law and order situation in the port city. According to the sources, miscreants killed leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Chittagong city committee Sidipto Biswas on Friday morning. Victim Sidipto Biswas was the Assistant Secretary of BCL Chittagong city committee as well as he was also involved with City College committee. He appeared Masters Examination in the current year from City College. He was the son of Babul Biswas of Banshkhali and living at Nalapara under Sadarghat thana in the city.

He might have been killed for grouping in the party. Primarily we have confirmed that his political friends called him from his house and he went out with them. "After investigation, we can confirm the clue of death."

Imran Ahamed Imu and Nurul Azim Rony, president and general secretary of BCL Chittagong City Committee respectively expressed deep shock over the death of Sidipto Biswas. They demanded the arrest and punishment to the killers of BCL leader Sidipto Biswas immediately.

Meanwhile, police recovered two brothers' bodies from a closed industry at Kalurghat Industrial Area in the port city on Thursday. The victims were identified as Mohammad Rashed (27) and Khokan (25). They were cousin and hailed from Hamiderchar area at Chandgaon in the port city. They were day laborer at Kalurghat Industrial Area.

Besides, the miscreants killed another youth named Joy Das (22) at Kopibollyo Dham area in the port city on the evening of Friday. He was the son of Subok Das. The friends of the victim killed Joy Das by stabbing. On the other hand, armed miscreants killed Mohammed Imon (27), son of one Abdul Hakim of Suparipara at Agrabad under Doublemooring thana in the port city on Saturday morning.

Sources said, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) has taken special measures to control the law and order situation particularly curbing the incidents of snatching in the port city Chittagong recently. The CMP has identified 82 vulnerable spots for snatching in the city.

According to the sources in CMP, there are 82 vulnerable spots for snatching in the city.

CMP sources said, incidents of snatching were increasing particularly in the city area recently. At least 20 to 30 incidents of snatching took place in the city area. But, the victims did not go to the police station for filling cases in this regard. Total 10 percent incidents of snatching were recorded at the thanas of the city and district areas.

The CMP officials said that police is very concerned over the situation. The CMP has started block raids as a part of special measure for curbing the crimes in the port city. Police has already issued notice through media to the people to file complain against the criminals.


Britain outlines customs powers if Brexit deal fails

AFP, London :

Britain on Monday outlined proposals for new laws to set tariffs and quotas including if Britain leaves the European Union with no agreement in place, as it prepares for a post-Brexit customs system.

The government said the draft legislation to be put forward this autumn would allow for "a standalone customs regime from day one" in case there is no deal between British and EU negotiators by 2019.

The rules would allow the government to set tariffs and quotas and establish a goods classification system in line with the government's obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The proposals for a customs bill were published alongside those for new trade legislation that would allow Britain to enter into new international free trade agreements once it has left the EU.

Speaking to parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May said the proposals "pave the way for legislation to allow the UK to operate as an independent trading nation" and establish an "innovative" customs system.

"While the UK hopes and expects to achieve a negotiated settlement that is in the interests of all parties it is only prudent that the government prepares for every eventuality," the proposals said.

The government warned that businesses that currently only trade with the EU would be subject to customs declarations and customs checks for the first time after Brexit if there is no negotiated agreement.

"Imported goods would be liable to customs duty and import VAT. Certain goods may require import or export licences, and traders exporting to the EU would have to submit an export declaration," it said.

The government said it was "actively considering" ways in which to mitigate the impact in such a scenario and said its priority was ensuring that UK-EU trade would be "as frictionless as possible".

It also said the new customs rules should avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and establish an independent international trade policy.

In a foreword to the customs paper, Finance Minister Philip Hammond also underlined the importance of a transition period after Brexit to allow businesses to adjust to new rules and avoid a "cliff-edge" scenario.

May has raised the prospect of a two-year transition.

"It takes time to negotiate trade deals and even more time to build new trading relationships; and adjusting to different customs, VAT and excise systems cannot happen overnight," Hammond wrote.


Visa dispute with US must be fixed quickly, says Turkish PM

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to media in Kirsehir, Turkey.

Reuters, Ankara :

The United States has punished Turkish and U.S. citizens alike by suspending visa services, Turkey's prime minister said on Tuesday, accusing Washington of taking an emotional and inappropriate decision against an ally.

Binali Yildirim said the dispute should be resolved as soon as possible, but defended Turkey's arrest of a U.S. consulate employee last week which prompted the U.S. move, and its reciprocal visa suspension within hours of the U.S. move.

"Turkey is not a tribal state, we will retaliate against what has been done in kind," Yildirim told ruling AK Party parliamentarians. "We call on the United States to be more reasonable. The issue must of course be resolved as soon as possible," he said, describing U.S. behavior as "unbecoming" of an ally.

"Who are you punishing? You are making your citizens and ours pay the price, this is not being serious. You can't run a country with emotional decisions," Yildirim said.

The arrest of the consulate employee comes after months of tensions, and Yildirim spelt out Turkish grievances including U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, a U.S. court case against a senior Turkish banker and former minister, and Ankara's request for the extradition of a U.S.-based cleric.

Meanwhile, Turkey's justice minister on Monday said he hoped the United States would review its decision to suspend most visa services for Turkish citizens following the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul that has deepened tensions between the two NATO allies.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities announced that a second employee of the U.S. consulate in Istanbul had been "invited" to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office to testify. Authorities did not explain why. Reports say the employee is a Turkish citizen, and the prosecutor's office said his wife and child had also been detained for questioning. The U.S. on Sunday suspended the issuing of visas for Turkish citizens hoping to visit or study in the United States after Turkey arrested U.S. consulate employee Metin Topuz last week on allegations of espionage.

Turkey immediately halted visa services in the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response.

John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said in a video message Monday that Topuz was the second Turkish staff member to be arrested this year, adding that U.S. officials were "unable to determine why it occurred, or what, if any, evidence exists against the employee." He said Topuz had not been allowed "sufficient" access to his attorney.

Bass added that the arrest has "raised questions whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing cooperation between Turkey and the U.S."

Speaking during a visit to Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the U.S. decision a "saddening" development. He said that he had immediately ordered a retaliatory measure that resulted in the Turkish Embassy in Washington issuing an almost identical text to the U.S. announcement.

"Turkey is governed by the rule of law. Above all, we are not a tribe, we are not a tribal state," Erdogan said.

Earlier, Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned the embassy's second-in-charge, asking that Washington review the decision that caused "unnecessary escalation" and "victimized" both Turkish and U.S. citizens, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

"It is Turkey's right to try a Turkish citizen for acts carried out in Turkey," said Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul. "Everyone should follow (legal procedures) with respect."

Despite the seemingly friendly relations between U.S. President Donald Trump and Erdogan, ties between the two countries are tense over the arrest of Topuz, a Turkish citizen, and several Americans over alleged ties to a movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for last summer's coup attempt. Gulen denies involvement.

Topuz is accused of espionage and "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and constitution." Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported that he allegedly communicated with former police chiefs in a 2013 corruption probe and others involved in the attempted coup using an encrypted mobile messaging application.

Bass said Topuz worked in an office "devoted to strengthening law enforcement cooperation" between Turkey and the U.S.

"Speaking to and traveling with Turkish police was part of his regular duties," the ambassador said. "The Turkish government has not shared any information to indicate the employee was involved in any illegal activity.




DIU Tourism and Hospitality Management Dept celebrates 4th Anniv

Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam, Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University inaugurating the 4th Anniversary program of Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management of the university through cutting a cake as chief guest on Monday.

Campus Report :



Tourism & Hospitality Management Department of Daffodil International University (DIU) has celebrated its 4th Anniversary on Monday with gala events at Banquet Hall of the university. Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam, Vice Chancellor of DIU inaugurated the day daylong program through cutting a cake as chief guest. Keerthin Weragoda, General Manager, Royel Park Residence Hotel, Arman-Al-Huda, Director of HR, Hotel Le Meridian, Dr AR Khan, Chairperson, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Primeasia University, Pervez A Choudhury, Principal, National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, Dr Ulfat Hussain, Former Director of HR, Radission and Westin, Mohammad Zahirul Islam, Head of Sales and Marketing, Brac Service Ltd, Eng Md. Shajibul-Al-Rajib, Managing Director, Dhaka Resort Ltd, Prof Maruful Islam, CEO, The Olives, SM Shahabuddin, CEO, Pearl Bay Tourism, Abu Sufian, Editor, Bhramon Magazine, Prof Dr Farid A Sobhani, Dean, HRDI and Mahbub Pervez, Head, Dept of Tourism and Hospitality Management, DIU were also present at the program as special guest. Prof Rafiqul Islam, Dean, FBE delivered welcome speech at the program.

While addressing as the chief guest Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam said that tourism is a very potential sector in Bangladesh. Government and non-government organizations are conducting various activities to develop this sector. But, expected progress didn't come out still now due to lack of collective coordination and collaboration. Prof Islam also said that Bangladesh has all capability and resources to be the number one tourism based country in the world and we just need collaboration in this regards.

Prof Rafiqul Islam in his welcome speech said that possibility of tourism sector is increasing day by day and young students are being interested in graduating on tourism and hospitality management. They are doing well in this sector. Students of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department have already been achieved remarkable success in this sector.

Speakers emphasized on prospects and problem of tourism sector in their speech. They urged government to create a tourism law.

The speakers also termed tourism and hospitality management as thrust and rapidly growing sector in Bangladesh. A lot of skilled people are needed in this sector. But the number of skilled manpower is very limited due to necessarily. To fulfill this need, national and international organization has to come forward besides government initiatives.

The daylong program has concluded through a cultural arrangement by the students.
BACS-BUBT Nat'l Programming Camp ends

Prof Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal visits BACS-BUBT National Programming Camp 2017 ended on Sunday held on the permanent campus of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, Mirpur in the capital.

Campus Report :



A 5 daylong BACS-BUBT National Programming Camp 2017, organized by the Dept of CSE, BUBT, and IT Club of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT) in association with Bangladesh Advanced Computing Society (BACS), ended on Sunday at its Permanent Campus of BUBT, Mirpur in the capital. 250 students from 45 different public and private universities attended the camp.

Dr M Kaykobad, Professor, BUET was present as chief guest in the closing ceremony of the camp while AFM Sarwar Kamal, Chairman, BUBT Trust, And Md. Shakhwat Ahamed, Head of Marketing, PRAN Foods Ltd graced the occasion as special guests.

Prof Md Abu Saleh, Vice Chancellor of BUBT inaugurated the workshop and thanked participants for attending the Programming Camp. Prof Enayet Hossain Mian, Tresurer, BUBT; Dr Harun Or-Rashid, Registrar, BUBT; Prof Mian Lutfar Rahman, Proctor, BUBT, AHM Azmal Hossain, Joint Registrar, BUBT; Prof Ameer Ali, Chairman of CSE Department, BUBT; Md. Saifur Rahman, Asst Prof, BUBT were present among others in the sessions. Prof M Kaykobad said in his speech, Young stars of Bangladesh in ICT sector could brand the Country by participating various IT contests in national and International levels. And they can change the country positively. He also said, programming learning is a fun, university students can play with Computer if they want.

Prof AFM Sarwar Kamal said, BUBT always welcomes ICT activities, He also said, By participating in Contest and camp, students can be closer with each other.

At the end of the Program Honorable Chief Guest, Chairman of BUBT Trust, VC of BUBT handed over Certificates among participants and awards among Contest winners.

The Camp was inaugurated by the Chairman of BUBT Trust AFM Sarwar Kamal and visited by prominent writer and ICT expert Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Prof M Kaykobad on last Wednesday.


Chanchal, Khushi to perform in Canada`s theatre stage

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :

More than 10 years ago, National Film Award winner actor Chanchal Chowdhury went to Montreal, Canada to attend a musical show.

After 10 years, he is going to Canada on tonights flight to attend a musical show again. Though they are attending a musical show but Chancha and Shahnaz Khushi will act in two separate theatre plays there. These two shows are scheduled to be held in Toronto on October 14 and 15. To cooperate the disabled children and helpless women, these shows are being arranged, Chanchal said.

On the soil of Toronto, two plays Matir Taaney and Bhuter Swargo written by Brindaban Das will be staged. For the first time, Chanchal and Khushi are going to Canada together.

While talking in this regard Chanchal Chowdhury said, Earlier I went to Montreal to attend a musical show with Mosharraf Karim, Nancy, SI Tutul Bhai, among others. For the first I along with Khushi am going there. It is really a joyful matter for us. But a good thing is that we are attending to help the disabled children and helpless women to give them support from the charity funds. There are many Bangladeshis in Toronto. I hope they will enjoy our performances.

Shahnaz Khushi shared her feelings by this way, I believe the plays where we will perform will become enjoyable to all. After attending the shows we will return to Bangladesh on October 25.


Bureaucratic tangles pushing back FDI

BUSINESS leaders and top executives of multinational companies on Sunday said that bureaucratic tangles, unpredictable tax policy, poor infrastructure and shortage of power and gas were main constraints for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh, as per reports of a local daily.





At the 3rd Joint Chamber Meet-Up organised by Canada-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) at a local Hotel in capital Dhaka, businesses said that good governance and business-friendly public service were also crucial for trade and investment.





Michael Foley, Chief Executive Officer of Grameenphone, said that unpredictable tax policy was one of the major constraints for encouraging FDI in Bangladesh. The President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said that after a long debate with the private sector the National Board of Revenue (NBR) had agreed to conduct the impact assessment of new VAT law. The FBCCI President said that ease of doing business, stable regulatory policy and tax policy reform were important for investment and the FBCCI was pushing the government for that.





Bangladesh is one of the best places for investment among the developing countries and the country has the potential to increase the GDP growth to double digit through ensuring ease of doing business. But yet our infrastructure projects, costing billions of hard earned taxpaying citizens money, are done in a haphazard manner. One only has to look at the way the Moghbazar flyover was constructed to ask why weren't the design flaws noticeable before the implementation of the project?





Such a callous and casual viewpoint of our economic infrastructural development will only hurt our real growth in the long term. Meanwhile, our tax authorities seek only new ways of getting more tax without understanding that it hurts small businesses. Small businesses are the lifeblood of any economy, employing most of the people in an economy. If they aren't allowed to make profits then the entire economy is hurt. Squeezing them to increase tax revenue which is most inappropriately utilised for major projects is not anyway to look at economic development.





Bureaucratic red tape is yet another roadblock which stymies growth and FDI. Foreign companies are unlikely to invest if their investment is snarled in red tape. Such snarls occur only when the hands of those who pass the files are not greased. This should not be the case. While we have made some progress by opening a one stop solution for FDI for foreign companies much more remains to be done to ensure that the firms are not afraid that their investments will be legally entangled for years to come. All of these must be sorted out before foreign firms get the courage to invest in our country.






Tufan Sarker, 12 others charged

Police have pressed charges in court in the two cases against expelled Bogra Sramik League leader Tufan Sarker and 12 others over the rape of a girl and assault on her and her mother.

Bogra Sadar Police Station Inspector Abul Kalam Azad submitted the chargesheets to a court on Tuesday, Bogra Additional Superintendent of Police Sanatan Chakrabarty told bdnews24.com.

The others accused in the case are Tufan's wife Asha Khatun, her sister and municipality councillor Marzia Hasan Rumki, Asha's mother Rumi Khatun, father Jamilur Rahman Runu, Rumki's house help Anjuara Begum, Tufan's associates 'Atik', 'Munna', Ali Azam Dipu, 'Rupom', 'Shimul', 'Jitu' and barber Jibon Rabidas.

In one of the cases, Tufan is accused of raping the girl on Jul 17 and several times later after luring her with the promise to help her get into a good college. She said his associates helped him in the act. The alleged victim and her mother were picked up from their home in Bogra by Tufan's relatives and several miscreants on July 28 before they filed the rape case. Later, the mother started another case over the assault.

As protests erupted over the incidents, police arrested Tufan, Asha, Rumki and Rumi within days after the incidents and the others later.

ASP Chakrabarty said all 13 are named in the case over the assault under the Bangladesh Penal Code while 10 of them are named in the rape case under the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act.

Tufan's father-in-law Runu is on bail while another accused, Shimul, is absconding, the police officer said.

Tufan was transferred to Kashimpur Jail after allegations surfaced that he had met the rape victim and done drugs during his detention in Bogra jail.

The girl and her mother are in Victim Support Centre and Safe Home respectively in Rajshahi.
Bikalpadhara wants all-party govt during election

Bikalpadhara Bangladesh on Tuesday proposed the government to form an all-party government during the 11th national election with representatives from the parties that had representation in the 9th parliament.

"We want an all-party government with representatives from the parties that had representation in the 9th parliament... the previous parliament was formed through a credible election," party chief AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury told reporters after dialogue with the Election Commission (EC).

Arguing against the formation of election-time government with representatives of the parties having representation in the current parliament, he said, "There's a basic question whether the present parliament has any legitimacy. Why do we call it legitimate as half of the total constituencies saw no election and the voter turnout was actually very low?" A 14-member Bikalpadhara delegation, led by its president Badruddoza Chowdhury, placed a 13-point proposal participating in an EC dialogue held at Nirbachan Bhaban with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda in the chair.

The Bikalpadhara chief said they did not place any proposal over formation of the election-time government before the EC as it has no power in this regard.

He said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had offered Khaleda Zia before the last general election to give BNP the charge of three ministries, including Home and Public Administration, during the election.

"That was an excellent proposal. The Prime Minister's words, I think, aren't hollow ones. Once committed, you're committed."

Badruddoza Chowdhury, also former President, said his party proposed the Election Commission to deploy army for 45 days from 30 days before the election. But it didn't want the magistracy power of the army during their election duty, he added.

He said, his party proposed that all the election officers-Deputy Commissioners, Upazila Nirbahi Officers, officers-in-charge of police stations and polling officers-will have to take oath in public touching their respective religious texts to refrain from any election anomaly.

The former President said, they proposed abolishing the provision of polling agents of candidates. "If the agents are inside the polling stations, they'll influence voters and hamper their free choice."

B Chowdhury said this Commission is still trying to earn the public confidence and it has also made clear promises to this end.

Bikalpadhara's other proposals include: restoration of 'No Vote' provision, no delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies ahead of the next general election. "Some parliamentary constituencies are re-demarcated by the Election Commission ahead of every national election, which created controversies and cast adverse impacts on public mind. So, there's no need for delimitation of constituencies (before next election)," the party said in one of their written proposals.

The Election Commission on August 24 last started dialogues with 40 registered political parties to receive their opinions over the EC's preparation for the 11th national election likely to be held in December 2018.
New larger influx soon

Thousands of new Rohingya refugees arrive crossing the border near Anjuman Para village, Palong Khali in Ukhiya of Cox\'s Bazar. Photo: UNHCR

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

UN-led aid agencies and the Bangladesh authorities are preparing themselves to host a larger influx amid yesterday's sudden surge of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh driven by fear of fresh violence and starvation in Myanmar's Rakhine State, officials said.

"UN aid bodies, including the UNHCR, are working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit centre to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days," Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency, told a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) says that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land on Monday into South-Eastern Bangladesh through several points.

The new arrivals have now been moved away from the border areas into established camps and settlements in the Kutupalong and Balukhali area.

"We're coordinating with the government and partners to provide urgent services - food, water and healthcare - to these new refugees," Adrian Edwards.

To prepare for possible further new arrivals, UNHCR's government counterpart, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), has agreed to set up small first aid stations at entry points to provide water and attention for major medical emergencies among the fresh arrivals.

In addition, RRRC has allocated land to set up a transit centre in the Kutupalong extension site. It will lead preparedness activities with UNHCR in coordination with partners including WFP, UNICEF, IOM, WHO, ICRC and ACF. Basic assistance will also be provided at the entry points.

"We're back in a situation of full alert as far as influxes are concerned. It is a big increase to see 11,000," said Adrian Edwards.

Many of the new refugees came from the Buthidaung area in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State, which is 20-25 kilometers east of Maungdaw. "Some said they had fled torching and killings back home; one boy was seen with a big gash across his neck," Edwards said.

"We don't know at the moment what is driving this," he added. "Some of these people have fled their homes several days ago and in some cases two weeks ago, so they moved toward the border before coming across."

There are also indications of more recent problems.

"As you may have seen from media reports which I can't verify, but there are reports about fires being seen close to the border (and) other problems there," Edwards said.

"We're keen to provide shelter to the Rohingyas who are arriving in Bangladesh. The government allocated 3,000 acres of land to provide them shelter," Mohammad Shah Kamal, Secretary for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told The New Nation yesterday.

"People are still coming. Preparation is underway for new larger influx. We have planned to put up 150,000 tarpaulin shelters for them," he added.

About 520,000 Rohingyas have fled Bangladesh from Myanmar since 25 August when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts in Rakhine State triggered a nasty military crackdown, but the rate had slowed to about 2,000 refugees per day last week, aid agencies say.

Refugees and rights groups say the army and Buddhist vigilantes retaliated by engaging in a campaign of killing and arson aimed at driving the Rohingya out of Myanmar.

Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh said food was running out because the state government had closed village markets and restricted the transport of food, apparently to cut supplies to drive out the Rohingya.

They said the Myanmar security forces have also asked to clear 15 Rohingya villages of Rakhine State recently fuelling fears of fresh violence.

"The situation is getting worse. We have no food and no guarantee of security," said a Rohingya, who arrived a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar on Monday.

He said: "A lot of people were preparing to flee ".

The Myanmar government had claimed its "clearance operations" against the militants ended in early September and people had no reason to flee.

Meanwhile, the international humanitarian organisations are scrambling to provide food, water and medical care to the traumatised people who have arrived since August - as well as the 300,000 refugees who had fled previous bouts of violence.


Is CJ going to Australia?

Gulam Rabbani :

The Supreme Court authorities on Tuesday sent a letter to the President, stating that Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, who is now on one months leave on health grounds, would visit Australia to see his daughter and also to receive treatment.



Registrar of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court Md Zakir Hossain signed the letter stating that the chief justice may leave for Australia on October 13 or any nearest date and may stay there till November 10.



The CJ and his wife recently got Australian visa for three years.



Admitting the matter, Law Secretary Abu Saleh Md Sk Zahirul Haque told The New Nation in the evening, The letter has been sent to the Law Ministry for forwarding it to the President through the Prime Ministers office (PMO).



He said as per relevant rules SC administration sends letter to the president about the chief justices leave and going abroad so that president assigns another judge of the apex court to discharge the duties of the Chief Justice during his absence.



But rumours are running high about his leave and his foreign visit.



People of the country are getting confusion about CJs present position, as the government officials are repeatedly circulating one-sided statement about him.



Even, the office of the Registrar General of the Supreme Court is not providing information about the Chief Justice to the press and media further deepening the rumours.



People are anxious to know the real condition of the CJ who remained inaccessible to everybody except the government high officials after his leave. Even, rumour spread over his leave application.



Under this situation, many raise the question whether the CJ is going abroad or something else is happening behind the scene centering his leave and foreign trip.



On Tuesday, leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) alleged that the CJ was not ready to go abroad but the government is trying to convince him for that.



Earlier, the SCBA leaders failed to meet the CJ despite several attempts.



SK Sinha went on leave from October 3 ahead of retirement in January. The Law Minister and the Attorney General said he had taken leave because he is suffering from cancer.



But the CJs sudden leave after a long vacation of the Supreme Court create controversy across the country. The controversy boosted up when the bar leaders were barred to meet him.



Only the government people are being allowed to meet the Chief Justice while others not, raising the question what is the fact and what is going on. It was learnt that the government leaders are allowed to meet him in a bid to convince him to go abroad.




Couple found dead in Chittagong

banglanews24.com, CHITTAGONG :

Police recovered the bodies of a Hindu priest and his wife from a local temple in Satkania upazila of Chittagong on Tuesday morning (Oct 10).

The deceased was identified as Swapan Dey, 60 and his wife Chinu Dey, 47.

Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Satkania police station, told Banglanews that, on information, police recovered the bodies from a small temple in Fakirkhil Hindupara area of Purangaj union.

No injury marks were found in the bodies. It is suspected that the priest committed suicide. A pack of saline solution was found hanging beside his wifes body, which suggests that she was probably sick, he added.

In response to a query, the OC said, from the information provided by locals, the dead priest, with his wife and two children, have been living in the area for 10-12 years. Local Hindus made a small temple where they used to pray. The priest also borrowed money from locals.

We made a list of 12-14 people who lent money to the priest mounting around Tk 10-12 lakh. It is possible that he committed suicide due to frustration of being indebted.

The priest had a pet monkey locked in a cage. However, it was not found, he added.




1.

Running the river path of Nicosia some mornings ago, I stumbled across two kittens. One small, orange, scrawny; the other gray and white. Both had a single weeping eye, yet the gray kitten seemed sadder. I watched long enough, the pair struggling forth on the bare sunbaked road before the path gives way to dry dirt hills covered with cracked irrigation tubing. Long ago I learned there is no way to visit a place or be visited by a person and stay unchanged.

Only two weeks earlier on a boarded-up Sunday street, my children and I similarly came across a barely breathing bird fallen on the ground, veins and legs red, a fledgling baking on a 106-degree afternoon when nothing stirred in Nicosia, one of the worlds last divided capitals. You walk from the end of Europe into a Turkish-controlled zone just by flashing your passport. Nicosia is torn into three as if the children of divorce in which the exes just cannot get along: the southern predominantly Greek Cypriot side; the U.N. buffer zone marking the Green Line between two halves; and then the northern part southerners call the Turkish-occupied zone while Turkish-speaking northerners call it Turkish Cyprus.

I am here to research, among other questions, the poet C.P. Cavafy. The entire enterprise bears an imprint of ridiculousness the poet himself might have appreciated: rumors abound regarding whether Cavafy, that dignified dandy of a poet who wrote such strange confessions about same-sex eros with such a clear eye on posterity, ever visited the island. He had a niece; he came. Others say, strongly, no, he is confused with Giorgos Seferis, who wrote about the nightingales of Platres, but Cavafy in Cyprus? No! And yet he has odd references in his poems which at least show a comfort with the islands profound geography. A Kyrenian painter, he says in one place, or speaks of sailing seas of Cyprus and Syria. Cavafy writes less of birds and Cyprus, more of desire. While, during our bird debacle, two lines stayed with me: And if you cant shape your life the way you want/at least try as much as you can not to degrade it.

We had been degrading in all sorts of ways, baking in southern heat. As we watched the bird, a passing spry Cypriot, the kind of man who in the States would be a bike messenger, aged into wiry skinniness, took interest in our crouch. Without hesitation, he intervened, lifting the bird to place it back in the nest we had spied in the crook of a nearby tree. And then laughed at our faces. We too had migratory status: unacclimated, we stared.

I leave such things to fate, he explained. The will of the gods! Shrugging: who knows?

Such capricious gods my daughters could not accept. After our messenger passed, we asked suggestions from an ironic restaurant owner who had espied our follies from his own perch: seated before an empty birdcage in an alley with sheets stretched overhead for shade, smoking shisha from an ornate purple pipe. A pale Russian man by him proffered a ramen box, the skeptical owner handed us a slice of American white bread, and the owners friendly wife from the Philippines offered a thimble of birdseed. Inside her friends hooted at a karaoke contest playing out over a vast television screen, melodies blaring a stereophonic and unsongbirdlike wail that had its own dirgelike human drama.

Collectively endowed, the three of us, mother and daughters, ended up parading back in heat, carrying the bird in the ramen container all the way home. Yet as we entered the apartment door, someone shoved by one daughter and so the bird fell to the ground, making a double impact. In our apartment we twittered over it, creating a bed from torn bits of tissue paper. While we looked up how to feed such a defenseless creature, in the relative cool, the passerine started to look calmer, though outside, on the streets, no one moved, even after the muezzin called the faithful in for Ramadans afternoon prayers. In the southern part of Nicosia, the muezzin usually summons solo Bangladeshi, Pakistani, or Syrian boy students who aced their TOEFL in the British Councils back home, most of them here on restrictive visas and forced to find community by lingering in parks and take-out places. But on this day, because of the heat, no one walked through the street below our apartment.

Online, in our reading, two lines of thought prevailed: one was that we had kidnapped the bird, the other was that if it was a fledgling, we had done the right thing and there probably no longer existed any mother willing to adjudicate or tend.

This afternoon had started to feel the way many Turkish Cypriot folktales begin, a la: once there was and once there wasnt, when the sieve lay in the hay and yesterday was today. Perhaps we could nurse the bird back to life and then set it free near its tree.

Cavafy can be an ornery muse, self-involved and yet hortatory. At one point he says: Even this first step/is a long way above the ordinary world./To stand on this step/you must be in your own right/a member of the city of ideas. He had, in many ways, been cheering me on in Cyprus.

And still, even as the bird calmed away from the heat, how awful to see the thinness of the life impulse, red pulsing the base of the scrawny legs. Ways to mistreat such a vulnerable creature multiplied; we probably already had been guilty of most. Yet we held out some dim hope: in some parallel universe of happy endings, the mother may yet have been hovering near, awaiting the return of her babe, though from the start, even given a hunting interval, wed seen none, and fledglings ostensibly need to be fed every 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another paralleloverse, macho heads of state from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides showed masculine potency by eating, in clandestine hushed settings, this birds phylogenetic cousins, black caps and song thrushes called here ambelopoulia: eating these migratory songbirds is a newly illegal act.

Finally, we spoke to wildlife rehabilitation people, doing what we could toward resuscitation. We were to use dog kibble soaked in hot sugar water, mushed, cannibalistically, with baby formula and hard-boiled egg, but ended up only able to make a small ball of chicken yolk from our offering, poked on a toothpick toward the fledgling. At our offerings, it pecked only limply.

That weekend, endangerment was everywhere.

2.

Monday, heads of Turkish and Greek communities were to convene in Geneva with the exhausted United Nations people yet again. Some dreamers still believed shuttle diplomacy might prevail. Even if, already that month, the U.N. itself had given up hope, leading to this occurrence: daily in the buffer zone between the two checkpoints, watched over by becapped Serbian and Bosnian peacekeepers with ironic smiles, a hardy group of Cypriot optimists had been gathering to sing Joan Baez songs, blow whistles and vuvuzelas, reading bicommunal poems with the hope of mobilizing a movement to get not just the U.N. but the whole country back in the Unite Cyprus platform. To participate in that rally, to stand in that raucous buffer zone, was to breathe the air of such beautifully antique idealism, it became harder to cross 20 meters over to the Turkish side (where water comes from a pipeline all the way from Turkey) and note the crumbling infrastructure and unsupported buildings.

Or, as Cavafy would have it:

the Alexandrians thronged to the festival

full of enthusiasm, and shouted acclamations

in Greek, and Egyptian, and some in Hebrew,

charmed by the lovely spectacle

though they knew of course what all this was worth,

what empty words they really were, these kingships.

Could there be a reunited Cyprus?

It depends on who has your ear.

3.

The island saw waves of immigration and conquest from the Minoans and Phoenicians, from the Ottoman Empire, from the Assyrians, Greeks, Venetians, French, and British. In 1960, after decades of fostering division and bicommunal identificationeven Lawrence Durrell got into the meddling from his lemon house, via his work at an English newspaperthe British had foisted an idea of Cyprus and Cypriots on the people of the island, the concept of an independent country few in the country wanted, according to many, the country just riding the coattails of other independence movements: India and the other colonies. Before independence, in 1960, Greek Cypriots were linked with Greece and Turkish Cypriots with Turkey. By 1963, after a spate of violence that roared out of Greece and took over Cyprus, Turkish Cypriots lost trust in their former neighbors, which they then needed to cover over with some amnesia in order to get along until 1974, ending a period of unparalleled prosperity for the island during its sole 14 years of self-governance.

In 1974, instigated by the junta in Greece, Turkey took over the northern third of the island. To Turkish Cypriots in that moment, many women and children having had to flee north to follow their fathers and husbands who had already been rounded up, Turkey did not occupy the north, it provided a necessary peacekeeping force. So testifies the 50-foot statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk atop the mountain range near Kyrenia, or the massive Turkish flag design cut into the hills soon as you drive out past the Greek checkpoint, or the Turkish flags made of metal in order to be always visible over Nicosia.

One of many deleterious legacies of 1974 is that 40 percent of the population will identify as refugees. Turkish Cypriots fled generational homes in the south for protection to the north, paralleling the northern Greek Cypriots who fled south, all of which leaves the north a nation unrecognized by anyone but Saudi Arabia and Turkey, considered illegally occupied territory. And because many in the north are civil servants paid by Turkey, because infrastructure comes from Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains the parent in this situation: complained about (Turkey makes unconscionable profit from the water it diverts to Turkish Cypriots), yet also necessary, saber-rattling as it might be: many believe Turkey might yet bomb the oil drilling undertaken by a French company, Total, begun last July in one of the Cypriot blocks in the Mediterranean.

So that while the wounds may differ, they hurt equivalently. Turkish Cypriots tend to recall 1963 and its outbreak of bicommunal violence while some Greek Cypriots tend to stoke 1974. A Greek physicist mother will say she doesnt want Erdogan a presence in her kids school in the southern Greek side and a Turkish refugee up north will say she doesnt want to go south again to Paphos, where she once owned a restaurant, because neither Costas and Andreas remainthose friendly Greek neighbors with whom she once enjoyed her muddy coffee (called Cypriot coffee in the south, Turkish coffee up north).

While most Turkish-side locals say they do not trust Erdogan, others feel he is a man of courage, worthy of admiration, preventing the rape by other nations, as they will say. Look, thousands of Muslims were killed in the very center of Europe, in Yugoslavia, while Europe just stood by, one temperate Turkish Cypriot woman told me. We need Turkey. Negotiations with the U.N. were meant to contemplate whether 40,000 Turkish soldiers got to remain on the island or whether there might be a third-party guarantor of Turkish Cypriot safety. Would they succeed? Theories abounded. While Greek Cypriots tend to remember their childhood homes in the north, often fetishizing the particular key, the fig tree, a substantial number of Turkish Cypriots now do not wish to unify, as economically fetching as it might be to become members of the European Union.

Ghostlike dates hover over all: 1964, the moment when a British general used a chinagraph pen to mark out the Green Line as a ceasefire between the two communities; 1974 when president and former archbishop Makarios was overthrown by a Greek coup, leading Turkey to use the opening for its partitionist plans, according to some; the opening of the checkpoints in 2004; the referenda that have been rejected; Cyprus joining the European Union.

History has a way of striking families obliquely yet creating villages of communal feeling: one moment can torque an entire habitat into being, creating odd bedfellows.

Turkey, for instance, has been shipping in busloads of loyal and religious peasants from Anatolia in order to change the numbers and culture of the north. In the south, one often hears Greek Cypriots state that while they are fine and happy with Turkish Cypriots, these new Turks are unlettered and rude, crass and different, descendents of Mongolian barbarians. And yet how often I heard a genteel Anatolian or westerner speak in glowing terms of Erdogan, who began his connection to Cyprus in a far more liberal and gentlemanly fashion than he now behaves.

And while recent genetic studies prove the deep connection between the Greek Cypriots and Turk Cypriots, ethnonational discourse lives among the most virulent Greek speakers, who revere Hellenism and the cult of Enosis, union with Greece. In their ancient rhetoric, you hear that Istanbul means barbarism and Athens gentility, a story older than Byzantium.

A man born after 1974 told me that he has seen every country in his region become a plaything for superpowers: Cyprus, Libya, and Afghanistan have served as toys for the U.K., Russia, Turkey, and the U.S., with China now determinedly snatching up land. These superpowers sow communal discord, while only the Nicosia sewage system, linking the two halves of the capital, offers an homage to peaceful cooperation, gurgling bicommunally: what gets worked out underground fails to be worked out aboveground.

In Sailing to Byzantium, Yeats, mourning the loss of what a younger self knew, says: That is no country for old men. Around the same time, Cavafy from his perch in Egypt and Turkey imagined ancient Hellene leaders at the cusp of losing power. In Ithaka, read at Jackie Kennedys funeral, Cavafy tells his reader, essentially, if you sail to Ithaka and find it lacking, the journey will have mattered: your perception is the only thing that might make it lack.

4.

These many months we have been living in this sundered zone amid the din of trauma, nostalgia, and claims of worth, hearing the simultaneous clamor of muezzin and church bells. Many have given up hope for unification. The youth are a bit tired of all this talk of the katastasis. For our part we have been trying to offer up random spots of good, volunteering in a Turkish orphanage and a southern refugee camp housing Kurds, Syrians, Somalians, Lebanese, built over the site of a massacre in the 1960s. But it feels as if no effort can truly touch the central issue, which is what it has long been: who ever gets the story of identity right? Even a tiny bird fallen near us proved how very good we all are at bungling.

About that bird: finally, in the opposite of a triumphal march, we brought it back, past the restaurant where the owner no longer sat at his purple shisha in the alley but had retired inside to his wife and small boy.

At the tree near where the fledgling had fallen, we placed it back in the nest. Birds have little sense of smell; perhaps the mother had only gone out for a bit; perhaps nature or fate would reassert itself. The older daughter kindly consoled the younger: now the bird gets to rest.

Fortunately or not, a week ago showed the bird had gone to a happier perch somewhere: the nest was either empty by the birds choice or had been emptied by a greater power, a predator or disconsolate mother.

Which is why I hesitated today with the kittens.

I had dropped the kids off for their second day at a happily unheeding Cypriot summer camp lacking all American liability papers and went for a run through the municipal park where Sundays Filipina and Sri Lankan domestic workers gather for a day of picnicking and community on their single day off from government-mandated schedules as six-day maids, the states form of modern slavery. I ran through that park, once a cruising nighttime area for clandestine men, and into another where I practically stumbled over the kittens.

The pair seemed pathetically starved and ill-treated: perhaps someone had abandoned them. I waited long enough to be sure no mother lived in the picture, hunting or not. The orange one had some gregariousness, rubbing up against my leg. At first I wanted to bring them home so at least one kid would delight when coming home from camp, but then knew another in our family, allergic, would protest. Instead I picked them up in my shirt and carried them to a place along the river path which grew especially wild, where houses met a pedestrian ramp.

There Id often seen a young woman in black flowing clothes tending to stray cats, putting out food and dishes of water and milk in late afternoon when the sun bent over the ravine toward the cracked walls of her house. A few centuries ago, the Venetians had brought cats to Cyprus as rat-killers, according to some, while others claimed the French were the first. Soon as we had landed, multiple cat eyes were staring at the new arrivals, peeking out from under corrugated tin, from the branches, from under cars. Only a grown black minx, self-assured with a small black cat, came toward me, the sleekest best-looking member of the pack. Was this a friendly confederacy or an autocracy? I brought the kittens to a bowl of water and the orange showed acumen, sipping with great thirst, while the small gray one practically fell in. I left not knowing whether I had done the right thing, only that I had done something.

At night my children and I passed through a square where reggae blasted, Bob Marleys Three Little Birds set to techno, courtesy of the amazing Home for Cooperation here, a place stationed in the U.N. Buffer Zone which tries to create free events that will bring Turkish and Greek Cypriots together in an easy appreciation of culture and the environ. Other non-governmental organizations dedicated to refugee rights sold small plastic-wrapped plates of tabouli. A young Somali teen in red hijab danced ecstatically with a group of small children. The NGO administrators kept hissing at the gathered cats to leave, but drawn by the music, the cats stayed lit by the floodlights in the square beneath the church, hopeful that some scrap of understanding might be shown them.

And then this morning again came the news. Negotiations had failed this time, perhaps for good. The Greek president, Nicos Anastasiades, had bewilderingly said no to the military presence of 750 Turkish soldiers, instead choosing to keep the status quo of 40,000. The United Nations decided to leave the two Cypriot parties, Greek and Turkishgroups different only by religion and languageto duke it out themselves. An exhausted Antonio Guterres, the lead U.N. negotiator, wished Cyprus well. Everyone would be left with what the colonizers had torn asunder. Before 1974, we used to live like brothers, sisters, cousins, Turkish and Greek Cypriots often tell me.

And today when I ran the path again, to my horror, the mother catI am almost sure she is the motherturned up in the spot from which I hoisted the kittens. Orange and black, stilled after she licked her paw, she sat patient as a cenotaph and is still there waiting on the path for her kittens to come home. Wise as you will have become, says Cavafy, so full of experience/youll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. I am still waiting.
WASHINGTON -- When President Donald Trump said a few days ago that now isn't the time for a debate about gun control, presumably he meant that we should respect a decent interval of time for mourning after the Las Vegas shooting before launching into a political discussion that historically has led nowhere.

If that's how he felt, it would have been easy enough (and sane) to say. But he didn't.

More likely, Trump doesn't want any distraction from (a) his brilliant PR idea to toss paper-towel rolls to thirsty, hurricane-sogged Puerto Ricans (cake to follow); (b) his photo op Thursday evening with leaders of the armed forces and their spouses during which he teased the "fake news" media he had summoned that the dinner gathering with military brass could be "the calm before the storm."

"What storm, Mr. President?" an intrepid reporter queried.

"You'll find out."

Whoa. Mr. Mystery Man has our attention now. Oh, so clever. Are we going to war? Will it be with the Islamic State? North Korea? Iran? Just you wait, fake newsies, just you wait.

Or perhaps he wants to keep the spotlight on (c) his request that the Senate Intelligence Committee investigate the media, without which his military charade would have merely been the world's widest-angle selfie.

No, actually, his absurd (unconstitutional) request was, likely, a smokescreen itself, as was the paper-towel toss, one hopes (surely no one's mind is that inert), and the photo op. Trump has mastered the Art of Distraction, lately to keep our eyes off the firefight within the White House and the ever-obvious fact this administration is staring at an eclipse without glasses and this president couldn't lead a starving dog to a tenderloin buffet.

The revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is like Saks' at Christmastime. Latest to the lineup is Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Others have included FBI Director James Comey, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer, and national security adviser Mike Flynn, to name a few.

Next up, most likely, is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, not only because the president routinely undermines and contradicts the nation's top diplomat but because Tillerson clearly holds Trump in contempt. Most important, Tillerson recently told the truth.

Trump reportedly was furious upon returning from his "diplomatic coup" in Puerto Rico, which he seemed to have thought was a Spanish colony, only to see the face of his secretary of state on all his favorite TV channels.

According to NBC News, Tillerson had said the president is a "moron," which caused most sentient humans to shrug and roll their eyes as if to say, "No, really?" But this slight likely bothered Trump less than the fact that Tillerson's face, and not his, was on all the cable shows.

Trump's fan base, of course, was unfazed by Tillerson's reported insult, knowing that this term could not possibly apply to a president who recently had scolded Puerto Ricans for messing up the U.S. budget and implied that they were a shiftless lot who "want everything to be done for them." No siree. That person would be a genius.

As Americans gnaw their nails wondering which war this way comes -- or when Tillerson will be replaced -- Trump is focused on decertifying the nuclear deal with Iran, continuing to taunt North Korea's Kim Jong Un and trying to convince the rest of the world that he's got everything under control.

Thus, the very last thing Trump needs right now is a political shootout over guns.

Now's not the time, he says. Apparently, however, many if not most Americans -- about 90 percent of whom would support expanding background checks -- beg to differ. If not now, when?

The pessimist notes that if the murder of 20 6- and 7-year-olds at Sandy Hook Elementary School resulted in no sensible restrictions to gun ownership, then the slaughter of 58 country music fans isn't likely to, either. But wait, we have a headline: Even the National Rifle Association has called for regulating (not banning or confiscating) "bump stocks" -- the attachment used by the Las Vegas shooter to essentially convert a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon, the better to kill the most. And Republicans are expressing a willingness to consider restrictions.

You'd think by the reactions -- this is really, really HUGE, editorialists have clamored -- that the NRA decided to support banning from private ownership all semi-automatic weapons, which were created solely for the purpose of killing human beings. But, no. Like Coco Chanel, who always removed one bauble before leaving home, the NRA is offering to eliminate one accessory from a warehouse of gaudy, bloodletting fashions.

Talk about distractions. Or was this the artifice of a deal?
By Azernews





By Sara Israfilbayova

The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan held next auction on privatization of state property, following which 5 objects were sold.

One of the privatized objects is a small state enterprise and 4-non-residential areas.

One small state enterprise and 3 non-residential areas were privatized in Baku, one non-residential area-in the Aghstafa region of the country.

Some of the properties were put up for auction together with land plot.

The privatized enterprises contribute to the economic efficiency in the country, while auctions allow citizens to create their own business by privatizing small objects at affordable prices.

The privatization process creates conditions for expansion of the activities of enterprises, increasing production volumes, opening new work places.

About 300 state properties and enterprises are planned to be privatized until the end of 2017.

Earlier, Chairman of the State Committee on Property Issues Karam Hasanov said that revenues from the privatization of state property to the state budget of Azerbaijan will exceed 100 million manats ($58.82 million) until the end of 2017.

Information about the auction is posted on the official website of the Committee, on the website privatization.az and on the facebook page.

The portal for privatization, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as develop the business environment of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the State Committee on Property Issues organizes electronic auction.

The "electronic auction" service, which is available on the website privatization.az, combines the privatization procedure of vehicles and equipment. In the future, it will be possible to privatize small state enterprises and facilities, joint-stock companies through electronic auction. Now, the corresponding work in programming is being implemented.

About 40 auctions have been held this year.












By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

Defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Belarus signed a plan of bilateral cooperation for 2018, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on October 9.

The document was signed following a meeting between Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, who is on a visit to Belarus, and his Belarusian counterpart Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov.

During the meetings, the sides noted the importance of developing bilateral relations, particularly, the cooperation in military, military-technical fields and military education.

Hasanov and Ravkov also exchanged views on a wide range of international and regional security issues, organization of visits of military experts, as well as issues of mutual interest.

Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with Belarus in all fields, particularly in military one. At relevant meetings, the sides highlight huge opportunities for expanding cooperation in military-technical and military education fields.

Earlier in the day, Hasanov met with the Belarusian President, where the parties discussed the prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Belarus in the military-technical sphere.

A day earlier, Zakir Hasanov visited the defense industry enterprise and the firing range of Belarus. The Azerbaijani delegation got acquainted with military equipment and other military products manufactured by Belarusian defense industry, and inquired about armament and military equipment capable to increase the military power of the Azerbaijani Army.








By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

The progress of negotiations on the draft agreement on strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU, as well as the development of cooperation have been discussed in Baku on October 9.

The topics were discussed at the meeting of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov with a delegation headed by the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs - Political Director for the European External Action Service (EEAS) Jean-Christophe Belliard.

Mammadyarov said that the new agreement covers political, economic, trade, transport, energy, humanitarian and other spheres, and noted that Azerbaijan has created an important framework for the comprehensive development of relations. The parties also noted the successful continuation of negotiations on the agreement on open skies between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The meeting further discussed the visit to Azerbaijan of the delegation headed by the Chairman of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, including the EUs ambassadors accredited in Brussels, the delegations meeting with the Azerbaijani President and the extensive discussion held at the meeting. It was noted that this visit will make an important contribution to the development of dialogue between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Elmar Mammadyarov further informed Jean-Christophe Belliard about the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He noted that the Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions in order to achieve the soonest settlement of the conflict and change of the unacceptable status quo.

The parties also exchanged views on topical issues of the international agenda and on the upcoming summit of the Eastern Partnership.

In February 2017, the EU and Azerbaijan launched negotiations on a new strategic agreement that will replace the old one - the partnership and cooperation agreement signed in 1996. The new agreement must more take into account the common goals and challenges facing the EU and Azerbaijan today.

Currently, the EU is Azerbaijan's first trading partner representing 51 percent of Azerbaijan's total trade. The EU's exports to Azerbaijan consist primarily of machinery and transport equipment whereas EU imports from Azerbaijan cover mainly oil and gas (98 percent of total imports).

Azerbaijan's trade turnover with the EU amounted to $4.33 billion in January-August 2017, some $3.18 billion out of which accounted for the export to EU countries.
By Trend





In a move aimed at extending support for domestic producers, Iranian government over the past decades has imposed serious restrictions on importing goods and commodities.

The countrys automotive industry is an example of the efforts to boost the domestic production. Although the automotive industry is the second biggest sub-sector of the Iranian economy after oil, the figures and stats on car imports suggest that the local carmakers have failed to earn the nations trust.

On the other hand Irans leading carmakers have put a great deal of effort in exporting a part of their output to the global markets, having reached only limited success.

While Irans auto industry exports 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, the Islamic Republic imported $1.4 billion worth of vehicles and chassis from China in Jan-Aug. 2017.

This is while Iranian carmakers manufactured over 496,800 units over the first five months of the current fiscal year (starting March 20), an increase of 20 percent year on year.

"Given the stated goal of reaching a production level of 3 million cars with a million exported by 2025, the fall in export figures suggests serious underlying issues in the industry that almost certainly will fall substantially short of its export targets and the quality upgrading that is needed to achieve export expansion in the next eight years," Mehrdad Emadi, an economic expert and consultant at the UK-based Betamatrix International Consultancy, earlier told Trend.

?Some observers blame the government policies on supporting the domestic producers, suggesting that such policies have led the domestic manufacturers to produce expensive but sub-standard cars.

Over the past years, a group of Iranian consumers have joined a campaign to support domestic production through purchasing Iran-made goods but in the absence of a proper balance between quality and price the customers are very likely to walk away from the campaign.

In this situation, the countrys industrial policymakers apparently need to draw up new strategies to help the domestic producers to make high-standard goods at proper prices in order to reach the global markets.
By Rufiz Hafizoglu / Trend





The first military operation of the Turkish Armed Forces in neighboring Iraq began more than 30 years ago  on May 25, 1983. Then, under the agreements reached between Ankara and Baghdad, the Turkish Armed Forces began operations against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Kurdish paramilitary units, Peshmerga, in northern Iraq.

In 1983, the Turkish Armed Forces for the first time entered the Iraqi territory on a stretch of five kilometers. The Turkish Armed Forces conducted about 55 military operations in northern Iraq from 1983 to 2011.

The Armed Forces of Turkey killed more than 800 PKK members in northern Iraq during the operation held on October 13, 1997: this is considered the biggest figure for the entire period of military operations conducted outside of Turkey.

Following the July 15 military coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, the countrys Armed Forces, with the support of the Syrian opposition (Free Syrian Army), launched the Euphrates Shield operation against the IS militants and liberated the city of Jarabulus as well as the city of Al-Bab in northern Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in late March that the operation had been successfully completed.

Starting from September 2017, a new military campaign has been actively developing in the northern Syrian city of Idlib, with participation of the Free Syrian Army. The operation is to be conducted in the north of Syria.

However, it should be noted that unlike the Euphrates Shield, the new operation will not be easy for Turkey. The main problem stems from the fact that less than 250,000 civilians live in the region where the Euphrates Shield operation was carried out, while in Idlib the number of civilians exceeds two million people.

It should be noted that the main purpose of all these operations has been the elimination of danger on Turkeys borders. At the same time it becomes clear that the new operation is extremely important not only for Turkey but also for Iraq itself and for neighboring Iran.

The fact is that currently, Idlib is under partial control of the Free Syrian Army as well as Jabhat al-Nusra and other radical armed groups.

At the same time, this city is important for the Kurdish terrorist organizations YPG and PYD that are armed by the US and do not hide their plans to take control of the city to create a "Kurdish state" in Syria.

In case Idlib falls under control of YPG and PYD, the Turkish-Syrian border, with the exception of Azaz city, will be under full control of Kurdish armed groups.

And this, in turn, will actually create conditions for establishment of a new "Kurdish state" in northern Syria, which certainly does not meet the interests of not only Turkey but also Iraq, which, after the recent referendum in the Kurdish autonomy, is on the verge of collapse.

The Kurdish territorial claims create a problem for Iran as well, which will sooner or later face ethnic separatism, the problem that external forces have been promoting in the region.
By Trend

The limit set on sale of fuel oil from gas stations of the Kazakh energy giant KazMunaiGaz will be withdrawn at the end of the week.

Azamat Zhangulov, Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing at KazMunaiGaz said that as soon as the situation over import is fully resolved, the entire restriction will be removed.

"This will happen at the end of this week, maybe a little earlier, and we are taking all measures to provide our businessmen with fuel," Kazpravda.kz cited Zhangulov as saying.

He noted that currently the main task is to ensure a uniform supply of fuel.

In gas stations of KazMunaiGaz, gasoline is sold at 152 tenge per liter. But there is a limit on the sale of up to 20 liters.

Deputy Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Aset Magauov, in turn, said in October gasoline consumption is expected to be around 288,000 tons.

"We had an initial production forecast of 140,000 tons, and we took measures to adjust the refinery, and it is expected that the total output will amount to 160,000 tons of AI-92," he said.

Magauov previously said that Kazakhstan doubles the import of gasoline from Russia.

Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev fired on Tuesday Deputy Energy Minister Aset Magauov and deputy chief executive of state energy firm KazMunayGaz, Daniyar Berlibayev, blaming the ministry and the company for failing to ensure stable supplies.
By Trend





Since early 2017, 155 criminal cases against 215 officials in Azerbaijan were sent to courts, Deputy Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev told reporters in Baku.

He noted that the number of complaints relating to the banking sector has increased.

Criminal investigations are underway against officials in the housing and construction sector as well as in banks and non-bank credit organizations, Aliyev said.
The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has signed an agreement with Saudi Huawei to transform its industrial cities into smart industrial cities to keep abreast of developments and demands.



The move is aimed at enabling the factories to automate their operations and utilise advanced technologies in facilitating management, control, quality control and tracking its products remotely, said a statement from Modon.



Khalid Al Salem, the director general of Modon, said that the planning and designing of the project has already started in Riyadh Second Industrial City by focusing on security and safety services.



"Fibre optic networks will be built and CCTV cameras installed, to monitor the traffic movement and security, as well as the operation of electronic lighting poles within the city," observed Al Salem.



He pointed out that this step would be followed by the implementation of some smart applications for utilities, health and environment and engineering support, along with raising the level of quality of services and sustainability and rationalization of energy and water consumption operations.



Al Salem said the project would be launched soon after Modon completes the designs and prepares specifications and selects contractors.



"The implementation of the project will be carried out in a phased implementation system, to ensure cost rationalisation and provide sufficient time for testing and trial and to benefit from the experience while implementing it in other cities," he noted.



Denis Zhang, the CEO of Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia, said: "As one of the leading smart city solution providers, Huawei is proud to be a strategic partner of Modon in various fields of the kingdom's information and communication technology (ICT) needs, which play a vital role in supporting the Saudi Vision 2030."



"Huawei puts all its advanced technological innovations into the service of the kingdom, and we hope that this co-operation with Modon will be in the interest of providing more smooth, smart and digital services that delight the people of Saudi Arabia," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
UAEs Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) aims at enhancing the status of Dubai as a leading, forward thinking, smart city at the upcoming Gitex Technology Week 2017 in Dubai, UAE.



The event takes place from 8 to 12 October at Dubai World Trade Center.



The PCFCs stage at Gitex is set to offer both customers and partners a whole new experience that is far beyond expectations.



DP World and Jafza will take part with a number of initiatives including the Command and Control Centre which is a smart solution designed to enhance the productivity and ensure zero risk at operations, as well as the Eagle Eye, a real time system that captures and showcases the activities taking place at the container terminal.



Jafza One is a multi-use development that provides a business environment conducive for achieving success. A comprehensive business and leisure hub, not only for businesses within the complex, but for companies in the surrounding Free Zone as well.



Dubai Customs is taking part this year with a number of programs and products including Jawab. It is an artificial intelligence service that assists clients with accurate replies to their different enquiries through instant chatting. Visitors will also have a chance to learn about the Smart Risk Engine; the state of the art risk analysis and assessment engine developed in accordance with international standards of risk management.



Trakhees will have its share of initiatives. These include Trakhees Business Opportunity; a system that deploys a responsive web-based (HTML5) statistical dashboard for existing and potential Trakhees clients where the client can identify and analyze business opportunities within Trakhees managed zones and areas.



On its part, Dubai Maritime City Authority will have a number of systems and initiatives including Maritime Connect. It is an informative, interactive and unifying platform for the maritime sector in Dubai through the concept of Maritime Virtual Cluster.



Dubai Trade will introduce LogiGate to its audience. It is a smart logistics marketplace that provides users with two services LogiGate Transport and LogiGate Warehousing to manage land transportation and warehousing bookings, accessible both online and on smart phones iOS and Android.



Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman & CEO and chairman of PCFC said: The Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation is committed to actively participate in Gitex every year. We have made a quantum leap towards enabling Dubai to become the worlds smartest and happiest city by integrating cutting-edge smart services in all our sectors of business to create added value for our stakeholders and ensure their happiness, following the vision and directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.



The wide array of new smart services and initiatives that PCFC will be launching at the upcoming Gitex will offer our customers and the community real-life experience of Dubai as a smart city, as we continue to boost the governments strategy to transform Dubai into a preferred place to live, work and do business.  TradeArabia News Service


UK-based Sophos, a global leader in network and endpoint security, is showcasing its expanded partner programme, which will enable partners to become cloud security providers, at the ongoing Gitex Technology Week in Dubai, UAE.



Sophos said it is the first next-gen security vendor to introduce a programme specifically designed to help partners address this revenue growth opportunity and make the purchase of its products in Microsofts Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplaces channel-friendly.



The expanded programme will now offer training, certification and financial incentives, which will help channel partners support customers using or migrating to the public cloud, the company said in a statement.



According to Gartner, Inc., the worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 18 per cent in 2017 and is expected to reach $383.3 billion by 2020.



The company also revealed that Sophos Server Protection is now available for Azure. When used with Sophos XG Firewall on Azure, Sophos Synchronized Security technology will coordinate defences against cyber threats attacking multiple vectors, including virtual machines (VMs) running in Azure, it said.



Harish Chib, vice president - Middle East and Africa (MEA), Sophos, said: Partners in the MEA see a big opportunity to help customers secure their public cloud deployments and they want to continue to receive the same benefits that they get through traditional sales models set up with their vendor partner programmes.



The company is paving the way for this to happen and has created a new programme that delivers the same type of partner programme benefits to partners selling its solutions into public cloud deployments, stated Chib.



As customers in the MEA region increasingly adopt cloud computing  either all-at-once or methodically over time  partners need a strategic business model that includes innovative security technology, reliable vendor training and support, and financial incentives, he noted.



While Microsoft and Amazon manage security for their respective cloud infrastructures, businesses are expected to secure what they bring to cloud.



By working with Sophos, partners can play an important advisory role on what customers need whether they are newly migrating, are all-in or have a hybrid scenario, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) and the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on expanding cooperation, said a report.



The MoU was signed by Iran's Deputy Industry Minister Mansour Moazzami and his Czech counterpart Eduard Muricky in a ceremony in Tehran on Monday (October 9), added the Iran Daily News report, citing Fars News Agency.



Addressing the ceremony, Moazemi said the Czech Republic began investing in Iran following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in January 2016.



The Iranian deputy industry minister voiced his country's willingness to strengthen cooperation with the European party.



Muricky further underlined that the two countries had voiced readiness to bolster ties in various fields, including oil and gas, auto industry, transportation and managerial training.



IDRO's objective is to develop the industry sector and speed up the industrialization process to promote exports of Iranian products, added the report.
Bahrain-based industrial conglomerate Nass Group said its marine services unit put up a good show at the Seatrade Offshore Marine and Workboats Middle East expo held recently in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

A major event held biennially, the Seatrade Offshore Marine and Workboats Middle East was inaugurated by Sheikh Dhiyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the chairman of the Transport Authority and member of the executive council, under the patronage of Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.



The three-day expo kicked off with a large VIP tour of the exhibition, culminating in a keynote address by Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, said the statement from Nass.



Captain Al Shamisi discussed about the business outlook for Abu Dhabi and the wider region and the implications and prospects for the offshore marine sector and setting the tone for three days of in-depth, informative and productive dialogue.



During the event, Nass Marine Services team had the opportunity to connect with industry specialists and discuss the future of Marine business in the region.



The company officials also met several potential clients, who were excited to learn about the Nass Marine Facility and its on going revamp and expansion plans, said the company in its statement.



A specialised builder of vessels and barge, Nass Marine is set to open the new expanded and revamp facility in 2018. It will help increase annual building and repair capability, in addition to providing maintenance, periodic repair and upgrade services to all customers, it added.



The group's participation at the Abu Dhabi expo was aimed at creating awareness of the Nass brand in the UAE market in general and of Nass Marine capabilities in particular, said a top official.



"The event was a huge success, and we achieved all the goals we came here for. We look forward to attend similar events in the future," remarked David McKay, the general manager of Nass Maine Services Company.-TradeArabia News Service
Etisalat Misr has signed a four-year contract with Ericsson to modernize and expand its core network and business support systems, which will help the operator capitalize on the growth in 4G and pave the way for 5G and Internet of Things.



The partnership will play an important role in further developing the services offered by Etisalat Misr, one of Ericssons largest customers for business support systems.



The project will be a significant milestone for Etisalat Misr, allowing shorter time to market, commercial innovation, and improved user experience. It will also have a positive impact on the capital and operational expenditure. The subscribers will be able to enjoy highly flexible and personalized offerings, including cross-bundling and add-on services. They will also have access to shared data plans and family offerings, which will provide them with a single bill and a consolidated spending view.



Furthermore, the4G technology will enable efficient means of communication and opportunities for global collaboration and innovation. For example, the project will accelerate the introduction of IMS Voice over LTE, Voice over Wi-Fi, Service Aware Policy Control and Unified Communications.



Hazem Metwally, chief executive officer, Etisalat Misr, said: We are pleased to be working with Ericsson again on a new project that addresses the evolving requirements of our organization. It will double the capacity of our business support systems, which will allow us to provide more innovation to our customers, resulting in more traffic passing through our network. Ericsson is our trusted partner and has provided valuable support since we launched our services.



Amr Fathy, IT Vice President, Etisalat Misr, said: We have enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Ericsson and this new cooperation will further bolster our services for our customers. As we work towards a smart future, we continue to innovate in ways that will empower our valued customers to meet all of their personal and business goals. Introducing Egypt to 4G and 5G is the future of technology and we look forward to being at the forefront of this introduction.



Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Ericsson Region Middle East and Africa, said: This agreement will enable Etisalat Misr to respond very quickly and in a flexible way with new offers to the ever increasing needs of their subscribers. The current massive diversity of applications, services and bundles, that both consumers and business customers wish to use on their multiple devices, requires more flexible provisioning and real-time charging based on advanced systems and solutions, such as our state-of-the-art Business Support System.  TradeArabia News Service
Opec's steely and resolute focus remains on reducing inventories, moving the stock overhang to its five-year average and ensuring sustainable market stability in the years and decades ahead, Opec chief has said.



''The best way to achieve market rebalancing process that is vital to the sustainable market stability that both producers and consumers desire, and which is beneficial to the global economy as a whole is to do so collaboratively, in consultation with other energy stakeholders,'' Mohammad Barkindo, Opec Secretary-General,

told the Reuters Global Commodities 2017 Summit (via video) on Monday in London, a Wam news agency report said.



''The landmark Declaration of Cooperation and the production adjustments reached by Opec and participating non-Opec producers at the end of 2016 and then extended in May 2017, for a further period of nine months to the end of March 2018, has been a major commitment from 24 producing countries as we look to see the return of sustainable market stability,'' Barkindo indicated.



''We are now just over nine months into the Declaration of Cooperation. I could tell you that the process has been a straightforward one, but I think we can all appreciate that the rebalancing process was never going to happen overnight and it was never going to happen in a linear fashion,'' he noted.



To help contain, and then alleviate the current oil market cycle, has required great patience, resolve and perseverance. The cycle has been described by many as the worst they have ever seen in the history of the industry.

"All participants remain committed to fully achieving its goals and objectives. We will not waiver; we will not tire,'' he affirmed.



It is a cycle that saw the Opec Reference Basket fall by an extraordinary 80 per cent between June 2014 and January 2016, the largest percentage fall in the six episodes of sharp price declines we have observed over the past four decades; where thousands upon thousands of jobs were lost; where many projects and investments were frozen or discontinued; and where many companies saw great financial and operational stresses.



''We have every reason to be satisfied with the steady and ever-improving progress we have made in our collective efforts to overcome the challenges of the current oil market cycle. As I said in Moscow last week, it is "so far, so good". There is clear evidence that the market is rebalancing.



There are a number of factors why the rebalancing has recently gathered pace, including the unprecedented high conformity levels among the 24 participating nations in terms of the production adjustments; strong oil demand growth; and slower than anticipated growth in US tight oil supply.



Conformity levels to the production adjustments have been remarkably strong throughout the year. The 5th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee held on September 22 in Vienna confirmed the effectiveness of the Declaration of Cooperation, with the month of August hitting a remarkable overall conformity level of 116 percent!



''It has sent a clear message to the market that countries that are part of the Declaration of Cooperation have their eyes firmly on the goal of bringing back sustainable market stability.



''Global oil demand growth has also been robust, with an estimated increase of close to 2 million barrels a day from the first to the second half of this year. Moreover, the Opec Secretariat in our most recent Monthly Oil Market Report raised projections for oil demand in both 2017 and 2018. These upward demand revisions are most likely to be an ongoing trend,'' he noted.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (Adnoc) Central Control Centre on Das Island was inaugurated today by Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region.



The inauguration of the centre was undertaken during a visit of Sheikh Hamdan to Adnoc's operations on Zirku and Das islands, said a Wam news agency report.



Sheikh Hamdan reiterated that the UAE, under the wise leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will continue to develop the necessary economic infrastructure, with a focus on the oil and gas industry.



The centre will enhance the performance of Adnocs offshore operations. The centre is equipped with advanced technology that will also augment the safety of Adnocs offshore operations, while at the same time contributing to energy efficiencies.



Das Island is located 182 km away from Abu Dhabi and was the location of the first offshore oil shipment from Abu Dhabi, in 1962, to Japan. In 1973, the first LNG production company in the Middle East and North Africa region was established on Das Island. Oilfields that are linked to the island include Umm al-Shaif, and Lower Zakum. The island of Zirku is located 140 km away from Abu Dhabi. It has facilities to process and export crude oil and condensates from the oil fields to which it has been linked, including Upper Zakum, Umm al-Dalkh and Satah.



Sheikh Hamdan praised Adnoc's efforts to become a more commercially minded and performance led company to ensure that the UAE maintains its leadership in the global energy sector.



He said: "Adnoc's experiences and capabilities will support the execution of its strategy to transform the company and enable it to keep pace with changes in the global energy landscape. The transformation will ensure the future success of Adnoc, which will remain an important cornerstone of Abu Dhabi and the UAEs socio-economic growth."



Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Adnoc Group CEO, welcomed Sheikh Hamdan to Zirku Island and Das Island.



Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, director of Adnocs Upstream Directorate; Abdulaziz Abdulla Alhajri, director of Adnocs Downstream Directorate; and Saif Al Falahi, manager of Adnocs General Services and Protocol Unit, were also in attendance.



Dr Al Jaber said: "We are pleased to welcome HH Sheikh Hamdan to our facilities on Zirku and Das Island and are grateful for his, and the UAE leaderships, unwavering support as we implement our 2030 smart growth styrategy. Adnoc is an integral part of the economy and the nations prosperity, and we are transforming our business to ensure that we continue to create the greatest value from the nations natural resources.



"The inauguration of the Central Control Centre underlines our continuing commitment to create efficiencies and enhance the performance of our operations across the entire value chain, as we work to ensure that Adnoc is fit to both lead and thrive in the new energy era."



The visit began on the island of Zirku, where HH Sheikh Hamdan was briefed on Adnocs offshore strategy and expansion plans. He visited Adnoc's operations on the island, as well as its residential areas and natural reserves, and had lunch with a group of Adnoc employees.


More engineering solutions will be needed to tackle the challenges in the field of process engineering triggered by the population boom and increasing demand for energy, which requires further work to enhance the relation between process engineering and technology, remarked Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Minister of Oil.

Shaikh Mohamed was speaking at the fourth edition of Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition (Mepec) which opened on October 9 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.

It was formally inaugurated by Bahrain's Deputy Premier Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa in the presence of senior government officials and top executives of leading companies including Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), Saudi Aramco, Shell, Bapco and Tasnee.



A premier industry event, Mepec brought together more than 150 exhibiting companies, 103 speakers, 2,500 participants and thousands of visitors from all over the GCC region.

Held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, Mepec 2017 is being organised by the Saudi Arabian Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and co-organised by Middle East Energy Events.

Addressing the gathering, Shaikh Mohamed said: "We need to achieve balance against the imbalance we face increasingly in the current volatile oil prices that affected the oil producing countries in addition to the need to take advantage of the solutions available to rationalise operating expenses in this vital and important sector."

Keeping in line with global issues, this edition of Mepec, the regions premier process engineering event, focuses on Sustainable Growth through Process Innovation & Downstream Integration.



Putting the spotlight on innovation, youth and women in process engineering, the top regional conference witnessed several high-level industry discussions and thought-provoking content and industry leaders and also saw process engineers engaged in technical conversations and find solutions to current challenges.



In his keynote address, Shaikh Mohamed lauded Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Supreme Council for Women, for her unlimited support to Bahraini women and her appreciation for the role of women and their valuable contributions in all areas of the development process of the kingdom.



He also thanked her for celebrating the Bahraini Women's Day 2017 fully dedicated to Bahraini women engineers.



Shaikh Mohamed praised the efforts made by the Lewas (Leadership Excellence for Women Award and Symposium) team leader Reem Al Ghanim and the rest of the team to promote a culture of leadership excellence for women and encourage innovation, leadership, achievement and women's talents in the oil and gas industry.

In addition to Shaikh Mohamed, the official opening ceremony featured keynote speeches from Ahmad Al Saadi, senior vice president for technical services at Saudi Aramco; Yousif Abdullah Al Banayyan, the chief executive officer of Sabic and Bakheet Al Rashidi, the chairman of GDA and president, Kuwait Petroleum International.



Mepecs technical sessions covered four main topics - Process Design and Development, Process Excellence, Sustainability and Downstream Integration for Value Creation. These are key priorities for the region, which should also foster synergy and collaboration between industries.

A total of 48 technical presentations will be delivered by leading regional and international key players including Sabic, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Bapco, Tasnee, Honeywell, Sadara Chemical Company, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Rexa, AspenTech and ExxonMobil Chemical.

The event is being supported by the National Oil and Gas Authority, World Petroleum Council, Indian Chemical Council, Gulf Downstream Association and Chemtech Foundation.-TradeArabia News Service
This November, Raffles Dubai celebrates 10 years since opening its doors and welcoming its very first guests.



Over the past decade, more than one million guests have stayed at the iconic Dubai property, a significant landmark in the dynamic city skyline. Part of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand with an illustrious history, the opening of Raffles Dubai in 2007 marked the first Raffles Hotel outside of Asia.



Reflecting on the milestone anniversary, Ayman Gharib, general manager of Raffles Dubai said: We have great pride in what we have accomplished over the past 10 years and we could not have achieved this success without the dedication of our colleagues, several of whom have been with us since we first opened, as well as the support of our loyal guests for whom Raffles is their home away from home. Since Raffles Dubai opened its doors a decade ago we have strived to set new standards of luxury, excellence and service in the city.



For those seeking exquisite indulgence, Raffles Dubai has launched an exclusive 10 Years of Luxury experience to mark the milestone, including palatial accommodation in a premium suite, a private in-suite dining experience curated by Raffles expert chefs, a deluxe Egyptian Gold & Caviar Facial treatment for two and VIP airport transfers. Prices for 10 Years of Luxury start from Dh9,000 ($2,449.7).



The anniversary celebrations also extend to Signature guestrooms, available for the special rate of Dh1,000 ($272.1) for stays booked by the end of November. Among the largest guestrooms in the city, these spaces offer a comfortable and elegant residential sanctuary with an expansive private balcony affording breathtaking views over the city.



In commemoration of the 10th anniversary, mixologists at Raffles Dubai have created a signature cocktail entitled the Straub Fizz, in honour of the first guest that stayed at the hotel. A seasoned Raffles guest, Straub will return once again to the hotel for the occasion of the anniversary and sample the drink that bears his namesake. Highlights of the cocktail include premium bubbly, gold leaf and Sipsmith Raffles 1915 Gin, a bespoke spirit crafted to commemorate 100 years of the iconic Singapore Sling, first created at Raffles Singapore back in 1915.



Throughout the month of November, guests can enjoy a limited edition 10th Anniversary Collection  Fashion Afternoon Tea, served in the refined ambience of Raffles Salon. Drawing inspiration from Raffles famed 130 years of history, deliciously decadent sweet and savoury bites reflect the Asian heritage of Raffles Hotels, perfectly paired with local Arabic flavours. In a refined twist on the traditional Afternoon Tea, indulge in date and walnut scones served with rosewater and strawberry jam, five spice foie gras parfait and lemongrass choux patisserie. Afternoon Tea is priced at AED 249 for two people, or Dh449 ($122.2) including a glass of premium bubbly each.



The celebrations continue at Raffles Spa, where the famed Gold Facial returns with an ultra-luxe update - the addition of powerful, protein-rich caviar. The Egyptian Gold & Caviar Facial uses the finest ingredients for the ultimate anti-aging treatment, blending 24 carat gold together with caviar extract to refine, firm and nourish the skin. This indulgent spa experience is priced at Dh1,299 ($353.5) for 90 minutes of true luxury. - TradeArabia News Service


Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village
A Casper man pleaded no contest to a homicide charge in connection to the motorcycle crash that killed a Casper morning radio host in Montana a year ago. The plea came as part of a deal with prosecutors that would keep him out of prison.

A change of plea order filed Wednesday says William Michael Spicer, of Casper, entered a no contest plea to the felony negligent homicide charge and a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of daytime speeding in relation to the crash that killed K2 Radio host Brian Scott Gamroth.

As a condition of the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Spicer be sentenced to pay more than $5,000 in fines and receive a suspended prison sentence of three years. If he successfully completes a three-year probation stint, the prison time will not be imposed, according to court documents.

In Montana, the maximum penalty allowed by law on the negligent homicide charge is 20 years imprisonment and a $50,000 fine.

Gamroth worked at K2 Radio for more than two decades as host of its popular morning show.

Gamroth died in September 2016 in a motorcycle crash near Lewistown, Montana, as he and Spicer returned from a Shriners event in Canada. The two friends were trying to pass slower vehicles when oncoming traffic forced them to swerve back into their lane and the two motorcyclists collided. Gamroth died at the scene, and Spicer was hospitalized nearby.

The recent revelation of criminal charges in Brians accident was news to the community, as it was to the family, a news release from the family stated when charges were filed in March. The family did not ask the State of Montana to pursue these charges and was not involved in the decision to prosecute Mr. Spicer.

Spicer was released on his own recognizance and will be required to appear for his sentencing on Nov. 13.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Less than two hours after they celebrated cutting the ribbon for an addition to Bar Nunn Elementary on Monday night, the members of the Natrona County school board faced wave after wave of criticism  including from one of their own  as it weighs whether to close four schools in Casper and Mills.

More than a dozen people lined up in front of six school board members  three, including chairman Kevin Christopherson, were absent  and defended Frontier Middle and Mountain View, University Park and Willard elementaries. They spoke of the value of small and neighborhood schools, of knowing every teacher and student, of not having to put their child on a bus.

It was the first public comment since a small group of board members recommended closing the four schools in late September. Officials have cited declining enrollment  there are about 350 fewer elementary students in Natrona County than there were in 2014  and budget woes brought on by a downturn in the economy.

First came Mills Mayor Seth Coleman, whose wife, Angela Coleman, is the newest school board member. On Friday, his Town Council voted to oppose a recommendation by Natrona County School District officials to close Mountain View Elementary, the last school in the Mills community.

Coleman listed a number of areas in the budget that could be cut instead of schools, including money spent at the districts administrative offices, which has trimmed more than 40 positions in recent years. He also noted that the districts general fund budget actually grew compared with last year.

Thats true, though deceiving. The district had previously received funding for certain services, like instructional facilitators, outside of its block grant. In March, the Legislature slashed funding for those grants and then moved them into the general funds. So the general fund grew, but overall funding to the district shrank.

Coleman also advocated using some of the $10 million that the district currently has in reserves. Typically, the board puts several hundred thousand dollars into that account every year.

He told the board and the audience of more than 50 that he was in absolute opposition to closing any of these elementary schools.

Most of the speakers were from the Mills area. Buddy Hanson, the pastor at Mountain View Baptist Church, said he didnt see the empty seats of Mountain View, which is at half capacity. He said he saw the filled seats.

I realize were in a school of choice. I get that, he said, referring to the districts policy allowing students in the county to attend any school with openings. But there are many families in our community that we care very much about and that we minister to when we can that would love to go to that school. Thats their school of choice. They can walk across the street. Its a community school.

Many of the comments homed in on the districts school-of-choice policy. Could the district save money, the parents and community members asked the board, if they werent busing students all around? What if a student had to attend his or her neighborhood school? Wouldnt that boost enrollment?

The board members didnt respond; they rarely do to remarks made during public comment. But several told the Star-Tribune last week that there was little appetite among members to revoke school of choice. Christopherson said recently that the board had looked at it and found the savings would be minimal if they switched to a bounded district. On top of that, the state reimburses the district for what it spends on transportation.

Beyond the budgetary details  which Hanson said he didnt have a full grasp on  the recommendation was just bad optics, the pastor told the board. In June, Mills Elementary closed. Shuttering Mountain View would deprive Mills of a school and send a message to the community.

Youre telling them, Youre less than, he said.

Mark Hammel, another Mountain View parent, told the board to crunch the numbers again till it works. Thats your job.

I dont want my kid on a bus to Evansville or Casper, he said. I want him safe.

Concern about busing was another consistent theme. Parents extolled the closeness of their neighborhood schools, of knowing every student and every teacher. What of bus overcrowding? they asked. What of the time kids would spend on the buses in the mornings and evenings?

I chose my school, said Mountain View parent Megan Fleetwood. My kids can walk to school. I can walk my kids to school.

For weeks, the district had been preparing for the possibility of school closure, which was initially drawn up by a small group of officials studying facilities. But at least some of the nine people on the board of trustees were caught off guard by the recommendations breadth.

Members Toni Billings and Dana Howie told the Star-Tribune last week they were surprised by the number of occupied schools recommended for closure. Clark Jensen said Monday night he hadnt made up his mind, and Dave Applegate said he would decide as he heard public comment.

Chairman Kevin Christopherson said he didnt expect Mountain View to be on the list, and Howie was unsure how she would vote because of the Mills school.

At least one member is in opposition to much of the recommendation. Angela Coleman, a Mills resident who joined the board late last year, has spoken very little at meetings in the past.

She broke that silence Monday night.

I am not for closing the only school left in Mills, she said, noting she was a graduate of Mountain View. I have to say I am not in agreement with the closure of University Park or Willard.

She said the board could find other ways to cut the budget without closing the schools and said the district shouldve built the new Journey Elementary  which effectively absorbed Mills Elementary  in Mills, rather than in west Casper.

Jensen spoke after Coleman and said the district was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Weve got 970 seats in the elementary system right now that are unfilled, he said. The state is decreasing our budget by $4 million, approximately. Weve got to make some hard decisions. ... Im just telling you, theres some real challenges we face, and we have to face the reality that the budget does have limits.

The board will vote on the recommendations at its next meeting, on Oct. 23 at Kelly Walsh High School.

The response of parents at Mondays meeting signals a shift from November, when the board voted to close Grant Elementary in front of a silent audience of one parent and the principal. In that case, the community had a public meeting, where district officials stood before parents and answered questions, at Grant a few days after the school was targeted for closure.

District officials have said the schools are small and inefficient  meaning they are home to students who can be educated elsewhere, which would save on administrative costs. Christopherson has said the closures can save $500,000 apiece and will avoid layoffs. Because of the economic downturn, the district must cut millions over the coming years. The budget its board approved in July was nearly $4 million smaller than the previous year.
Snowstorm closes interstate in Wyoming

CHEYENNE  Snow has blanketed much of southeast Wyoming and closed a 150-mile stretch of Interstate 80.

The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings until noon Monday for an area of southeast Wyoming that includes Cheyenne and Laramie.

Cheyenne received about 5 inches of snow with up to 3 more possible before the storm ended later Monday.

The snow caused slick road conditions, especially along the I-80 corridor from Cheyenne to Rawlins.

Man dies from injuries suffered in highway work accident

CODY  A member of a crew working on a rock fall mitigation project on U.S. 14/16/20 west of Cody has died of injuries after being hit by a falling rock.

Shane Powell of Oregon passed away Sept. 28. He was hit by a large piece of falling rock Sept. 14 while working on a subcontractor crew from Oregon  Triptych Construction  under main contractor Wilson Brothers out of Cowley.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation project began in early September and is scheduled to go through November. WYDOT spokesman Cody Beers said the project was undertaken to mitigate some of the issues with rock slides after numerous comments from the public on the matter.

Work includes blasting as well as prying loose rocks and deploying air pillows.

Beers said Powell did have his hard hat on when hit and had actually been running away from the rock after someone alerted him to it and yelled out.

Casper man killed in crash in western Nebraska

ANGORA, NE  Authorities say a Wyoming man has been killed in a collision between his vehicle and a semitrailer in western Nebraska.

The crash was reported a little after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, just north of Angora on U.S. Highway 385. The Nebraska State Patrol says 22-year-old Braxton Fuller was headed north when his vehicle struck the southbound semi. Fuller was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Casper.

The trucker suffered minor injuries. The patrol identified him as 75-year-old Bernie Wynne, who lives in Scottsbluff.

Most arrested for drugs in Albany County not county residents

LARAMIEMany of those charged with possession of controlled substances in Albany County are not residents of the county, the Albany County Drug Court recently revealed.

Even though many people are committing these offenses in Albany County limits, the court is focusing on treating county residents, Albany County Drug Court Program Manager Amy Terrell said.

The trends Im seeing (are) there are a lot of people who live out of state  they come to Laramie to commit their crimes and leave, she said. If youre out-of-county or out-of-state, we dont even consider you for drug court, because we sink about $24,000 in each participant. Its not worth the money if theyre going to leave.

According to information provided by the Laramie Police Department, marijuana possession is the most common charge in Albany County with 1,247 charges since 2007. These numbers dont include Wyoming Highway Patrol and Department of Criminal Investigations charges.

Green River man pleads no contest in fatal crash

GREEN RIVER  A Green River man who crashed into a home, which led to the death of a great-grandmother and a 1-year-old child, changed his plea Friday.

George Eluid Maestas, 68, pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the March deaths of Debra Devries, 62, and her great-granddaughter Stella Doak, 1. He also pleaded no contest to one count of driving while under the influence of a controlled substance.

Sweetwater County Third District Court Judge Nena James accepted his plea and set Maestas sentencing for 9 a.m. Oct. 12.

The two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide each carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $10,000 fine. Driving under the influence of a controlled substance carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and $5,000 fine. In total, Maestas could face up to 50 years in prison and $25,000 in fines plus extra court and treatment fees.

Former Gillette psychologist pleads no contest to sexual assault

GILLETTE  A former psychologist in Gillette, who had initially pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges, changed his plea to no contest in District Court on Oct. 5.

As part of a plea agreement, Joshua Popkin, 33, pleaded no contest to two second-degree sexual assault charges, and Judge Thomas W. Rumpke dismissed a third charge.

County Attorney Ron Wirthwein recommends a 365-day split sentence served in county jail and 10 years of supervised probation.

Defense attorney Christina Williams can argue for a shorter sentence at Popkins sentencing, which will be at 3 p.m. Jan. 11. Williams asked that she be able to bring forward witnesses to aid her argument for a lesser sentence.

The charges against Popkin stem from two cases in which he was accused of using his position of authority as a psychologist to have sex with two women who were his patients.

Each second-degree sexual assault charge has a penalty of two to 20 years and up to $10,000 in fines.
As a school psychologist who has had the privilege of working with many of the Arizona BASIS schools over the years, I read your recent investigative article with great interest.

While I in no way discount some of the points made, or experiences noted in the article, I do wish to highlight my experiences working with caring staff who were provided with the resources and training necessary to serve special education students at BASIS.

Several issues exist within school systems across the country regarding special education. As the federal government does not fund services under the Americans with Disabilities Act for students with only a 504 plan, using the more restrictive and isolative special education services as a dumping ground for children with academic and/or behavioral difficulties has become the preferred practice.

This, together with the increased staff paperwork demands for students placed in special education, leaves less time for actual services.

During my time with BASIS, we worked tirelessly to undo the damage done to many children who were inaccurately diagnosed and often isolated from their peers.

For children at risk, an all hands on deck approach often yielded good results, with or without an Individualized Education Program in place.

For students who were accurately placed in special education services, we worked as true multidisciplinary teams, supporting children in every way possible.

All teachers and administrators participated in support meetings, something that rarely occurred in public schools.

BASIS teachers provided before-and-after school support for all children.

Students needing core support (reading/math/writing) received services outside of core instruction periods, avoiding further gaps in functioning. Instead of lowering the bar, BASIS held the bar high and provided students with the tools and services needed to achieve with their peers.

BASIS is surely not for everyone, and, when a parent made the decision to leave BASIS, we worked to support that transition and never gave up on any child. When there were disagreements, they were never at the expense of a child.

While I have not been involved across state lines, or at every school site, I can assure you that every staff member I met and worked with at BASIS renewed my hopes for what all children can achieve when they are provided with an enriching curriculum, and when teachers are experts in their area and understand and apply pedagogy, especially for those children having difficulty.

Finally, I believe it is an oversight to attack BASIS, where children are not required to pass prerequisite exams to enroll, similar to those found in the Tucson Unified School District.
Here are the news stories you should not miss today, October 10:

Politics

-- A ceremony was organized on Monday at the base of the 2nd Regional Command of the Vietnam Peoples Navy to launch two Molniya-class guided missile corvettes, which were built by Ba Son Shipbuilding Company under Vietnams General Department of Military Industry.

Society

-- Police in the south-central Vietnamese province of Binh Dinh on Monday evening arrested Le Van Thiet, chairman of the management board of Thuong Thao JSC, for allegedly masterminding the destruction of 61 hectares of forest in An Hung Commune, An Lao District.

-- A tropical depression is forecast to make landfall in north-central Vietnamese provinces today, bringing heavy rains and floods to the region, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

-- A representative from the Hanoi Peoples Procuracy has suggested that Chau Thi Thu Nga, a former member of the law-making National Assembly, serve a life sentence for conducting a real estate fraud and appropriating VND348 billion (US$15.27 million) from over 700 victims.

-- Police in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Monday captured Bui Van Dung, 40, for shooting dead Dinh Tien Sang, vice-chairman of the Peoples Council in Phi Lieng Commune, over a love conflict.

-- The Peoples Committee in the southern province of Binh Duong on Monday fined Viet Huong JSC, the developer of Viet Huong 2 Industrial Park in Ben Cat Town, VND1.96 billion ($86,054) for discharging untreated wastewater into the Saigon River.

Business

-- The Ministry of Industry and Trade has ordered the verification of the use of bumper stickers on many Vinasun taxis in Ho Chi Minh City to protest against Grab and Uber.

-- The first railway service for container delivery was operated on Monday in Ho Chi Minh City.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Managers of an industrial zone in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Duong have been fined over US$86,000 for discharging wastewater into a major river without a permit.

The provincial Peoples Committee on Monday imposed the penalty upon Viet Huong JSC, the developer of Viet Huong 2 Industrial Park in Ben Cat Town, for its violations of the law on environmental protection and water resources.

The firm was fined VND1.96 billion ($86,054) in total.

Inspectors discovered that the industrial zones wastewater treatment system had been dumping nearly 4,400 cubic meters of wastewater into the Saigon River on a daily basis, without a permit from competent authorities as per regulations.

The developer failed to carry out regular maintenance of the waste treatment system, resulting in its ineffective operation and overloading, inspectors said.

Viet Huong Company also failed to submit reports regarding the results of the industrial parks environmental protection works, which would support the approval of its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.

In addition to the fine, the firm will be forced to complete the necessary paperwork and deal with its offenses.

The Viet Huong 2 Industrial Park covers an area of 250 hectares in the upstream section of the Saigon River.

Wastewater released by the venue can potentially cause water pollution that affects residents living along the riverbanks and in downstream areas in Binh Duong Province and Ho Chi Minh City.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnamese servers suffered 9,964 attacks in the Jan-Sep period, the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) has reported.

The compromises included 4,595 malware attacks, 3,607 defacingincidents and 1,762 phishing attempts, according to the cyber security body.

Malware attacks, in which hackers use malicious software to take control of victims computers, made up more than 46 percent of the total number of attacks.

VNCERT noted that 16 government-run websites using the .gov.vn domain name had fallen victim to malware attacks but only two-thirds of the infected systems had since been fixed.

Twenty-one government websites were also defaced, or had their interfaces altered by hackers, however most of them had recovered.

VNCERT said that more than half of the victims of the phishing attacks, in which hackers attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising themselves as trustworthy entities, had also secured their systems.

The computer emergency response team said that Vietnams Internet security is increasingly under threat as the amount of malware rises, with some of it able to bypass common antivirus platforms.

VNCERT also warned against the rise of ransomware, another type of malicious software that blocks access to, and threatens to destroy, victims' computers unless they pay a ransom.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Tonight National Geographic premieres The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman.

The 6 part series which debuts globally today, addresses questions such as: Why do some people rise to power and others do not? Why do we fall in love  not just with romantic partners but with friends and strangers? How has our need to share beliefs built human culture?

Talking with three presidents and two Nobel Peace Prize winners and travelling to remote regions of Africa and Central America was a memorable experience for me. It was an incredible global journey to understand how human culture has taken on so many remarkable forms, said Freeman.

From the creators of critically acclaimed series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, this expansion of the hit franchise again finds Freeman taking viewers on a global journey to meet with people from different cultures whose lives are shaped in surprising ways by different fundamental forces, this time exploring themes that unite us all.

At a time when global events seem to be driving cultures apart, The Story of Us aims to reveal the common humanity that lives inside all of us. Each of the six hour-long episodes will explore a single fundamental force or topic: freedom, peace, love, social division, power and rebellion. Along the way, Freeman meets and speaks with powerful world leaders, ordinary people with extraordinary stories and everyone in between.

Among those Freeman speaks with along the way:

Albert Woodfox (The March of Freedom), one of three prison inmates put in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary in April 1972 after the killing of a corrections officer. He was kept in solitary confinement for over 43 years until his conviction was overturned in 2014. He was finally released in 2016.

Paul Kagame (The Fight for Peace), the president of Rwanda, whose people have been able to make peace after a horrific civil war. Freeman also meets with a Tutsi who has reconciled with the Hutu who killed her family.

Joshua Coombes (The Power of Love), a hairstylist from London who began a global social movement called #DoSomethingForNothing, which encourages people to carry out every day small acts of kindness. For Coombes, that meant offering free haircuts to the homeless to help give them back their dignity.

Megan Phelps-Roper (Us and Them), a prominent member of the Westboro Baptist Church before leaving in 2012. Since then, she has become an advocate for people and ideas she was once taught to despise  especially the value of empathising with people across ideological lines.

President Bill Clinton (The Power of Us), who discusses what it is like to bear the weight of wielding great power, both in the United States and around the world.

8.30pmWednesday October 11 on National Geographic Australia.
The fallout following sexual harassment claims against Harvey Weinstein continues.

The Weinstein Co. has now given permission to for networks remove his name erased from upcoming television productions.

His credit as executive producer on Project Runway will be first to go, to be followed by Historys Six, Paramount Networks upcoming Waco miniseries, Kevin Costner drama Yellowstone and Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.

Amazons big-budget unnamed drama starring Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore and Matt Weiners The Romanoffs will also see Harvey Weinsteins name removed along with MTVs Scream.

Hollywood Reporter notes its not immediately clear how Weinsteins credits will be handled in the upcoming films with which he is associated.

There is speculation The Weinstein Co. is also considering a name change, despite his bother Bob now heading the company after Harvey was fired.

SAG-AFTRA issued a statement, saying, We commend the courage and candor of every woman who has spoken out about the disgraceful, aggressive and inappropriate behavior they experienced with prominent industry employers. We support their right to speak out and we lift up their voices so that their truths can be fully heard. Everyone has the right to work in an environment free of discrimination and harassment.

The behavior alleged on the part of Harvey Weinstein is abhorrent and unacceptable. Unfortunately, it is more prevalent than our industry acknowledges and many times victims are afraid to tell anyone. Those who do come forward empower themselves and others to speak out.

Actress Meryl Streep has also spoken out, saying in a statement, The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported. The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.

Judi Dench also said in a statement, Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying.

I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out.

Apple has also scrapped plans for a 10-part Elvis biopic from The Wenstein Co.
NITV has renewed its short-documentary Our Stories initiative for a sixth season, calling for submissions from the Indigenous production sector.

The initiative will see more than 40 stories exploring the themes of celebration, love, respect and inspiration in 2018.

NITV also announced the winner of the inaugural Spirit Initiative at the Remote Indigenous Media Festival in Western Australias Irrunytju (Wingellina) community.

The Spirit Initiative includes a work placement with NITV for Chris Fitzpatrick from the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). Bessy-May Taylor from Goolarri Media was runner up.-

Im super excited to have been chosen for NITVs Spirit Initiative and cant wait to bring my film to life and gain experience working with the NITV team, he said.

NITV Channel Manager, Tanya Orman said: As storytelling is the core of our channel, were excited to commission another collection of Our Stories in 2018, as well as offer this wonderful opportunity to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content creators and film-makers across Australia.

We cant wait to see what beautiful stories will emerge from these submissions.

The deadline for Our Stories submissions is Monday 30 October, 2017. Visit the NITV website for full info.
This week on The Living Room, Chris Brown is in Ho Chi Minh City while Miguel visits Tamworths famed Country Music festival.

Travel with Chris Brown: Cu Chi Tunnels

Vietnam is a beautiful country renowned for its picturesque countryside, delicious food and friendly people but it is also a country that has suffered from many years of conflict. In Ho Chi Minh city, Chris visits the War Remnants Museum before heading up the Saigon River to enter the famous Cu Chi Tunnels. is a moving experience unlike anything Chris has ever experienced.

Renovation Rescue with Barry Du Bois: Laundry

With the arrival of son, Ashton ten months ago, first time Mum, Corrine is desperate for a functional laundry. The current laundry in her home in Engadine, NSW is a long cramped room, separated by three doors. While it has some open shelving there is no bench space so folding clothes and sorting bibs is happening on the laundry floor. Barry comes to the rescue and not only helps Corrine with a new laundry but also shows how simple storage and hidden hanging ideas can transform a cramped space into a spacious laundry.

Food with Miguel Maestre: Tamworth Produce

Miguel visits the home of Australian Country Music for their big 10-day Country Music festival. He soon discovers that there is a lot more to Tamworth than just the music scene. Country music star, Adam Brand, takes Miguel on a tour through his favourite town to explore the amazing fresh produce on offer before Miguel returns the favour showing Adam how to cook up a country feast of baked trout and vegetables.

Money with Jason Cunningham: Car Finance

Owning a car is a huge financial commitment, not just in terms of the upfront costs of purchasing, but to keep the car running. Registration, insurance, repairs, fuel  it all accumulates to many thousands of dollars a year. Financial expert Jason Cunningham has some advice to help.

7:30pm Friday on TEN.
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter

Support TwoCircles



RSS and its political organisation Bharatiya Janata Party are destroying the images of heroes of Bahujan movement. They are using Universities and the institutes as their tool for doing this. And the worst thing is that various power-loving Bahujans are helping these groups, said Moolchand Sonkar, a Bahujan intellectual and writer while addressing a seminar organised on the death anniversary of Kanshi Ram, on October 8, in Banaras Hindu University.

The seminar, conducted at the KN Uduppa Auditorium of the University focused on the directions and conditions of the Bahujan society and was organised by the SC-ST Students Committee of the University.

Sonkar said, The BJP is scared of the Bahujan movement. He alleged that BJP is not letting the ideas and literature of the Bahujan heroes reach the public, and instead the party is using its power to spread wrong information about the Bahujan leaders in the university and the institutes of the country.

In such a scenario, it is necessary that students should read the actual writing of Bahujan ideologues and leaders. Their ideas will help in defeating the communal and feudalist forces, said Sonkar, while appealing the listeners to read non-conventional and alternative publications more and more.

Ex-member of the legislative council of UP and special guest at the event Shivbodh Ram talked about the role of OBCs and said, Some of them oppose us because they do not know many things about us, but the really strange people are the ones who oppose us even after they know everything about us.

Prof MP Ahirwar, a faculty at BHU and the main speak at the seminar talked about how Kanshi Ram took forward the Bahujan movement started out by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. He said, Kanshi Ram took forward the Bahujan movement and ideas led by Jyotiba Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu, and Ambedkar. Kanshi Ram consolidated the Bahujans who were scattered in many parts and changed the course of the Indian politics.

It is Kanshi Rams effect that none can talk about winning elections without the votes of Dalits and Bahujans, he added.

In his presidential note, Prof Lal Chand talked about the representation of Dalits and Bahujans in institutions.

Pramod Kumar Bangade, Amar Nath Paswan, DK Ojha, Sandeep Gautam, Kumari Anita, Ravindra Prakash Bhartiya, Ajay Kumar, Naresh Ram, and several others put forward their views during the seminar. Pratima Gond, Dhiraj Verma, GP Choudhary, Pratibha Gautam, Varun Kumar Bhaskar, Bacche Lal, Manish Kumar Bhartiya, Dhananjay Bharti, Dheeraj Bharti and several others were present too from the faculty.
Help India!

What does a Rohingya feel when he is told that he is an illegal immigrant, a security threat and unwanted in India? What was their life like before they had to run away to save themselves? What does it feel to be reduced to just a statistic? What do the Rohingyas feel when they hear the news that they will be deported back to the land where their lives are in danger? In a five-part series, Raqib Hameed Naik speaks to five refugees who had to give up all they owned to attempt a start a new life. Their stories, in the first person, are an attempt to go beyond majoritarian narratives and give them a platform to express their views and opinions. In the fourth part of the series, we listen to Mohammed Noor-ul-Amin.

Read Part One Here

Support TwoCircles



Read Part Two Here

Read Part Three Here

Mohammad Noor-ul-Amin, 47 belongs to Kamacha village in Maungdaw district of Rakhine State of Myanmar. He has five children-three boys and two girls. Eldest among them is Mohammad Anas, 14, who studies in a madrassa run by Rohingya refugees in the slum. He fled his village in 2013.

My name is Noor-ul-Amin. I am from village Kamacha in Maungdaw district. I had land in my village where I used to grow rice and different vegetables like potato, brinjal, tomatoes, ladyfinger and sell them to traders in Maungdaw town. My land was taken away by the government.

The government brought in poor Buddhists to Rakhine from other parts of the statesome of these Buddhists also belonged to Bangladesh. The government gave our land to them. My land was also given to one such family. After making me give up my land, the government also forced me to construct a house for the new residents, making me spend my hard-earned money.

From a landlord, the government reduced me to a beggar. We couldnt enter in our own lands. Even animals were not spared. Many times they killed my cattle for entering in fields that I used to previously own.

I remember how four educated boys were called by the Army in their camps and beaten so badly that no one could survive. Even their dead bodies were not handed over to their families. They used to beat us for petty things but we couldnt dare to say or complain to anyone. Due to fear, our lips were sealed. To make it worse, the government had even put restrictions on our travel. We were not allowed to travel between two towns. Given that we had lost our land, we had to find some source of income. So, most of the times we used to sneak secretly out of the villages to find work in the towns.

The government had made a list of every family in our village and pasted it like on a notice board in front of every house. The army used to raid villages during the night and gather all the villagers in a ground and count the family members mentioned in the list. If someone was found missing, his name was struck off from the roll and family was told that he was unlikely to return.

If we were caught running away, death by a bullet was almost a certainty. However, if an officer was a little soft-hearted, you would land in prison for at least five to seven years. The same thing happened with media went to Maungdaw town for work and army raided our village in the night and my name was deleted from the roll, so my death was imminent. So I decided to run for my life.

Even when they snatched away our right to citizenship, we didnt leave our country, hoping that one day some leader will come and give us our civil rights but it seems we wont be able to see that day.

I left Myanmar in 2013 and I dont remember the month. The journey to Bangladesh was very difficult and dangerous mostly near the Myanmar border. The army used to shoot any Rohingya found crossing the border. Somehow I managed my way into Bangladesh and spent months waiting for rest of my family to arrive.

Finally, they reunited with me. I remember bursting into tears at the sight of my children because like every other parent, I love my children.

I stayed in Bangladesh for one and a half years and worked as a labourer earning 100- 150 taka a day. One of my cousin sisters had already escaped in 2012 and settled in Jammu. I always had dreamt of getting the education for all my children but that I couldnt realise while living in Bangladesh as wages were quite low and we could barely make ends meet.

She told me how peaceful India was, and that we will be more safe and secure in India and many NGOs were involved in teaching Rohingya children. So, without even giving it a second thought I came to India and after UNHCR registration, rented a hut in a Shram Vihar where other Rohingyas were already living.

After settling here, the reality I observed was slightly different to what I had been told. I work as a labourer. Though wages are comparatively better than Bangladesh, the work is limited. In a month I am able to find work for only 12-15 days. But there is a sigh of relief that at least we are alive, safe and in peace with no military atrocities and restrictions on our movement.

It seems that we wont be able to enjoy this security for long if the government goes ahead with its plan to deport us. Even if any animal is pushed to fire, he will make all attempts to resist. We are humans with a history of persecution.

It is not that we dont want to go back to our country; even a cattle who is freed in the morning comes to his shed at night. But the fear is strong and the continuous persecution of our community has meant that as of now, we cannot even imagine going back.

Those bad memories and restrictions will haunt me forever. We want the government to at least allow us to live here until the conditions improve in our country and normalcy is restored.

I had plans that I will also give formal education to my children but with clouds of deportation hovering over us, those dreams have been washed away. It seems that we will have to live as refugees for our whole lives, travelling from one to another country. I have now decided to train them as a tailor because it will ensure that they have steady income wherever they go, deported or not.
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein is currently swamped in allegations of sexual misconduct from actresses accusing him of sexually harassing and violating them over the years. Now, British actress Romola Garai has come forward to join the conversation, describing an encounter she had with Weinstein when she was just 18 years old. She claims that he auditioned her in just a dressing gown in his room at the Savoy Hotel. She described the experience as humiliating and an abuse of power by the Hollywood producer.

Garai starred in The Hour on BBC and the film Atonement, and claims that after the audition with a half-naked Harvey Weinstein, she felt violated. This is just the latest one in a long series of accusations against Weinstein of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

He is the producer of many popular Hollywood movies, including Pulp Fiction, Clerks, and The Crying Game. Garai explained that Weinstein monopolised on young actresses desperate desire to break into the industry to subject them to humiliating situations in order to get ahead.

Garai said that every other woman in the industry has been subjected to this kind of audition by Harvey Weinstein. She said she had already auditioned but that Weinstein requested that she needed to be personally approved by him. She said that after the audition, I felt violated by it, and that it has stayed very clearly in my memory.

Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, and more speak out

Among the many women who have come forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein are Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, with one American TV reporter claiming that Weinstein masturbated in front of her.

Liza Campbell has said that the Hollywood mogul invited her up to his hotel room to share a bath with him. His misogynistic and inappropriate behaviour towards women has been described as an open secret amongst Hollywood insiders.

After the allegations started to come out over this past weekend, Weinstein had decided to take a leave of absence from his production company, The Weinstein Company.

However, since then, the board directors have decided to fire him. In the hours before that, Weinstein emailed some of his Hollywood contacts in a desperate attempt to get them to save his job. But the men and women of Hollywood arent on his side. They have also spoken out to denounce his actions.

A-list stars Meryl Streep and Judi Dench have spoken out publicly to condemn Weinsteins actions and assure fans that they had no idea what was going on, as they themselves have appeared in various Weinstein Company productions.

Streep said she was appalled to find out what Weinstein had done, while Emma Thompson described him as predatory.

Weinsteins lawyers say he denies the allegations

The allegations against Weinstein go back decades, and he said of these accusations, I own my mistakes. This is a cryptic comment, considering how it seems like hes owning up to his crimes there, and yet his lawyers continue to deny the allegations. At least eight legal settlements have been made between Weinstein and his accusers.

The accusations typically entail Weinstein inviting women up to his hotel room for a supposed business meeting, but then taking a left turn by greeting them at the door naked or asking them to give him a massage or watch him take a shower.

Its pretty disgusting stuff. Garais explanation for why Hollywoods resident pervert was getting away with it for so long is that the film industry is very, very, very misogynistic, and said that when she started hearing the allegations come out over the last few days, she couldnt [have been] less surprised.
Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has found himself swamped in allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour recently from actresses who claim that Weinstein used his power over the film industry and their desperate desire to break into acting to his advantage and subjected them to humiliating experiences to secure roles.

In the wake of the accusations against Weinstein, British Prime Minister Theresa May has publicly expressed her belief that perhaps Weinstein should be stripped of the CBE that he was awarded by Britain in 2004 for his contributions to the world of film.

However, May has suggested that the decision of whether or not to take back a CBE is not one for Downing Street. Instead, its up to the Queen, who will likely do nothing.

Fashion designer Donna Karan has defended Weinstein

Meanwhile, fashion designer Donna Karan has controversially spoken out to defend Weinstein for his actions, which is certainly an odd turn of events. She claims that actresses who are presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality to Harvey Weinstein are asking for it. Thats not quite how it works, Donna, but everyone has a right to their own opinion, even if its the opposite of whats right.
On Sunday morning, Donald Trump went on a multi-tweet attack against Republican Sen. Bob Corker for his critical remarks about the administration. In response, the senator decided to fire back at the 45th President of the United States.

Corker on Trump

When Donald Trump announced he was running for president back in June 2015, he did so on the floor of Trump Tower as a member of the Republican Party. While Trump would end up gaining momentum and popularity, enough so to be named the party's nominee, not everyone in the GOP was thrilled at their new political leader.

Names like Paul Ryan and John McCain made it clear that they weren't happy with the former host of "The Apprentice," with many others clashing with Trump since his upset election win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last November. After Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker announced his plans to retire at the end of his term, he amped up his criticism of Trump and didn't hold back over his thoughts about the job the president has done since getting into the White House. As expected, Corker's remarks didn't go over well with Trump, which he elaborated on in a series of Sunday morning tweets. As seen on his own Twitter account on October 8, Corker decided to respond.

It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.  Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 8, 2017

Taking to his Twitter account on Sunday morning, Sen.

Bob Corker hit back on social media in response to Donald Trump's recent tweetstorm. "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center," Corker tweeted out, before adding, "Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."

Trump attacks top GOP senator: He's standing in the way of 'our great agenda' https://t.co/zmLMjgT5Gf pic.twitter.com/vGH85nzjL5  The Hill (@thehill) October 8, 2017

In Donald Trump's aforementioned tweets, he accused Bob Corker of "begging" for his endorsement, claiming that the senator decided to retire when he refused to back him in the the upcoming election.

Not stopping there, the billionaire real estate mogul went on to put blame on Corker for the controversial Iran deal, while saying he "didn't have the guts to run" for re-election. Trump's bad blood with Republicans is nothing new, which is just one of the reasons why he's been unable to fulfill many of his campaign promises, including legislation dealing with health care and tax reform.

Next up

With Sen. Bob Corker on his way out, it's likely that he won't hold back his opinions about the current state of Washington and the president for the remainder of his time in Congress. For Donald Trump, only time will tell if he decides to respond to the mocking and trolling from a member of his own Republican Party.
On Thursday night, Donald Trump once again made headlines due to a controversial remark he made in front of reporters and military leaders. In response, one host on Fox News wasn't pleased with the president's comments.

Fox News on Trump

Ever since Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president back in June 2015, it's become commonplace for the president to make controversial comments. Whether it's about rival world leaders, Hollywood liberals, Democrats, the mainstream media, or even members of his own Republican Party, the former host of "The Apprentice" has not held back his thoughts on a variety of issues.

Since his election win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last November, Trump has only increased his questionable behavior, ranging from labeling any media report he doesn't like as "fake news," to mocking North Korean leader Kim Jon-un as "Rocket Man." Following a dinner with military leaders at the White House on Thursday, the president pointed to those in attendance and said, "this could be the Calm Before The Storm." As reporters asked for clarification, Trump only replied "you'll find out." Trump doubled down on his comments once again on Friday, which led to the issue being discussed during a October 6 segment on Fox News.

While speaking with fellow Fox News host Chris Wallace, host Shepard Smith ripped into Donald Trump over his reckless remarks about the so-called "calm before the storm." Smith noted that if people are living in areas around the country where a hurricane or tornado could take place, "that means theres a tropical storm or hurricane headed and theres gonna be hell coming." Smith then noted that Trump making that comment in front of military leaders "suggests that some sort of conflict is brewing."

"Maybe it's the calm before the storm." Trump makes ambiguous statement after meeting with his military commanders https://t.co/k0Xo59Mdz0 pic.twitter.com/0KbecQPidr  CNN (@CNN) October 6, 2017

"Here's the military leaders, calm before the storm is coming.

Its not exactly a calming, comforting thing," Shepard Smith went on to say. Chris Wallace went on to agree, adding, "it's not." The two then shifted to a recently released Associated Press poll that showed 67 percent of the American people now "disapprove of the president's performance."

Shep Smith on Calm Before the Storm Remark: Its Not Exactly a Calming, Comforting Thing https://t.co/i0XDryHukf (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/oidWrX4r2p  Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 6, 2017

Moving forward

Donald Trump's comments raised red flags, especially due to the increased tension between the United States and North Korea. While the White House continues to defend the president's remarks, it remains unclear what the commander in chief meant when he said "calm before the storm."
In the nine months that Donald Trump has been in the White House, First Lady Melania Trump has mostly stayed out of the headlines. Despite this, Melania found herself back in the spotlight following controversial remarks made by her husband's first ex-wife, and then again after tweeting about the opioid crisis in the United States.

Melania on Twitter

It all started back in the summer of 2015 when Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president with his family by his side on the floor of Trump Tower. As the former host of "The Apprentice" gained steam and eventually went on to win the Republican nomination, questions were raised as to what role Melania Trump will have moving forward.

Melania didn't start off well following her speech at the Republican National Convention which was found to have been plagiarized from one given by Michelle Obama back in 2008. Since then, Melania has kept a relatively low profile, which has continued for the most part since the first couple found themselves in the White House. On Monday, Melania responded, via a statement, to comments made by the president's first ex-wife Ivana Trump who claimed she was the real "first lady" during her book tour. As the news media centered around the spat between the two women, Melania also addressed a more serious issue during a October 9 tweet.

Tmw I travel to WV on behalf of kids. Babies born addicted to opioids often end up in foster system-we must help parents overcome addiction.  Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) October 9, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Monday night, Melania Trump addressed the ongoing opioid crisis in the country, while announcing her plan to travel to West Virginia on Tuesday to elaborate further on the issue.

"Tmw I travel to WV on behalf of kids," she wrote, before adding, "Babies born addicted to opioids often end up in foster system-we must help parents overcome addiction." While Melania's tweet was innocent and non-controversial, those who oppose the president wasted no time going on the attack.

Twitter reacts

Starting within minutes of Melania Trump posting her message on Twitter, backlash quickly followed behind her.

"And you'll accomplish this through dismantling public healthcare, right? Cool!" one tweet sarcastically read.

Great idea! You'd think they'd have thought of that but #nfl, whining loudly and golf take a lot of @realDonaldTrump's mental bandwidth.  Joaquin Kleenex (@FretCannon) October 9, 2017

And you'll accomplish this through dismantling public healthcare, right? Cool!  Tony Feole (@TonyFeole) October 9, 2017

"So?

This means you support health care for all? That mental illness & addiction are epidemics that need to be covered & addressed NOW!" one Twitter user added. "Maybe start with helping people #GetCovered, not taking health care from over 30 MILLION AMERICANS..." another tweet stated.

#POTUS is making it harder for women to have access to birth control. So, more unwanted babies will be born in this predicament. #Clueless  Raymond N Hernandez (@raymondneil13) October 9, 2017

So? This means you support health care for all? That mental illness & addiction are epidemics that need to be covered & addressed NOW!  Kimmie Dee (@KimmieDee_) October 9, 2017

Why did The Donald's healthcare plan cut drug treatment programs? Why has Donald done nothing about Fentanyl from China which is #1 OD cause  Steven Dupler (@stevendupler) October 9, 2017

"#POTUS is making it harder for women to have access to birth control. So, more unwanted babies will be born in this predicament. #Clueless," yet another tweet read. As the critics sounded off in the comments, it reflected the wide political divide in the country.
An ominous email addressed to students at the University Of Hawaii on Monday probably caused most of them to do a double-take. The subject line warned students of what they should do should North Korea follow through on its threats to launch a nuclear attack on the islands.

Titled with the scary words in the event of a nuclear attack, the email recalled the Cold War era of the 1950s, as it warned the students to listen to instructions to shelter in place.

Missile tests by North Korea raise alarm

According to a report by Hawaii News Now, while the subject line of the emails was enough to terrify anyone, the content did mention that a nuclear attack was an unlikely event. However, it mentioned concerns over the current missile tests being launched by Kim Jong-Un in North Korea.

It went on to say state and federal agencies are currently providing information about potential nuclear threats and advising what to do should a nuclear attack and resulting radiation emergency occurs. Students and faculty were told to be aware of the emergency sirens and the importance of following instructions to shelter in place.

So my sister is now preparing for a potential nuclear attack in Hawaii.  lucky there's a radiation bunker nearby. No joke. pic.twitter.com/CJ3EL0GOoj  Laura Tupou (@LauraTupou) October 10, 2017

Not the first warning in Hawaii about possible nuclear attack

As reported by the New York Daily News, this isnt the first notification relating to the possibility of a nuclear attack in Hawaii, as information was disseminated to residents this summer, following North Koreas test of a missile they say could reach the Hawaiian Islands.

According to experts, the country is making progress with the miniaturization of a nuclear warhead which they believe could be fitted on an intercontinental ballistic missile which would take some 20 minutes to reach the Aloha state. There have also reportedly been missile defense tests run by the U.S. military off the coast of Hawaii and also on the West Coast in the U.S.

Ominous email: 'In the event of a nuclear attack' https://t.co/noW7fo5b7Z pic.twitter.com/CC8RzVj8bd  Hawaii News (@HInewswire) October 10, 2017

The ominous emails were sent due to rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, with President Donald Trump announcing that diplomatic efforts with little Rocket Man  his Twitter nickname for Kim  have stalled.

While international efforts have been launched to try and find a peaceful solution between the two countries, both Trump and Kim have recently been involved in insult-swapping, with Trump threatening the Asian nation with fire and fury. Kims response was to warn that North Koreas weapons of mass destruction form a strong deterrent against a strike by the U.S.

According to a report by the Yonhap News Agency, Trump is due to visit various Asian countries in early November, including North Koreas southern neighbor, South Korea. That report states that there is a possibility of the U.S. president visiting the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries during his visit.
Three-year-old Sherin Mathews of Richardson, Tx., is believed to be in grave and immediate danger after being ordered by her father to stand outside her home Saturday night as punishment for refusing to drink her milk. Sherin was last seen at 3 AM Saturday by her father, 37-year-old Wesley Mathews. Her father is now in custody for abandoning and endangering his child.

Punishment for not drinking milk

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Mathews took the three-year-old girl outside as punishment when she wouldnt drink her milk. He reportedly made the young girl stand next to a tree in the backyard of their home and when Mathews returned 15 minutes later, she had vanished.

Mathews reportedly took some five hours to report his daughter was missing. When police arrived at his home, he told them coyotes had recently been seen visiting the alley behind his home. However, the Dallas News noted that according to the Humane Society of the U.S., coyote attacks are rare and only two fatalities relating to coyotes have been reported since the 1980s.

According to Sgt. Kevin Perlich, spokesman for the Richardson Police, as the girl was missing from 3 AM and the parents only reported her missing after 8 AM, this leads to questions they want to be answered. Mathews was arrested Saturday and charged with abandoning or endangering his child and was then released on a bond of $250,000.

Amber Alert issued but canceled  search continues

Since Saturday afternoon, police officers and community volunteers have been canvassing the neighborhood in an attempt to locate Sherin, but they have no leads. An Amber alert was issued Saturday, but was canceled on Monday as no new information had been received. However, local officials and several national agencies are continuing the search, including the U.S.

Marshals office and the FBI.

UPDATE: per RPD @TxDPS discontinued Sherin Mathews #AMBERAlert due to lack of actionable leads - she has not been located. @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/aXoRLC6LEH  David Goins (@dgoins) October 9, 2017

Three-year-old adopted from an orphanage in India

As reported by CBS News, Sherin was adopted by the Mathews family from an Indian orphanage almost two years ago.

Police say the missing child has developmental issues as well as limited verbal communication skills. According to NBC News, she has a four-year-old biological sister, who has been removed from the Mathews home by Texas Child Protective Services. According to a spokesman for the agency, they have had previous contact with the Mathews family, however, they added the details of that contact are confidential.
Donald Trump made his way to Las Vegas on Wednesday, just days after the single worst mass shooting in American history. In response, critics of the president were quick to sound off.

Trump in Vegas

On Sunday night, Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old resident of nearby Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire onto a crowd attending the third and final night of Route 91 Harvest Festival outside of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Over an 11 minute spam, hundreds of rounds were fired from Paddock's hotel room that was located on the 32nd floor of a hotel near the concert area.

By the time law enforcement made their way to the scene, the shooter had already taken his own life. As of press time, 59 deaths have since been confirmed, with over 500 innocent civilians being left injured. The following morning, Donald Trump gave his thoughts on social media and then during a speech at the White House. However, the president did come under fire and was forced to clarify his remarks about the shooting being a "miracle." As seen on his Twitter account on October 4, Trump returned to Twitter to announce his arrival in Las Vegas.

I will be landing in Las Vegas shortly to pay my respects with @FLOTUS Melania. Everyone remains in our thoughts and prayers.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Donald Trump tweeted out about his stop in Las Vegas following the aforementioned mass shooting.

"I will be landing in Las Vegas shortly to pay my respects with @FLOTUS Melania," Trump tweeted, before adding, "Everyone remains in our thoughts and prayers."

Trump clarifies

On Tuesday night prior to his stop in Nevada, Donald Trump addressed his comments about the Las Vegas shooting being a "miracle." "It is a 'miracle' how fast the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were able to find the demented shooter and stop him from even more killing!" Trump tweeted out after facing massive backlash from reporters and across social media.

It is a "miracle" how fast the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were able to find the demented shooter and stop him from even more killing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017

Twitter reacts

In response to Donald Trump's trip to Las Vegas, critics wasted no time lashing out on social media. "You can respect the people who lost their lives in Las Vegas simply by respecting the fact that we need more stringent gun laws in America," one tweet read.

Since you have no empathy, I predict you're going to "joke" about how you're happy the shooter didn't use your hotel to attack the concert.  Pe Resists (@4everNeverTrump) October 4, 2017

Havent they suffered enough?  Perry Sachs (@perrysachs) October 4, 2017

There is no reason someone should be able to purchase a gun which can be modified to shoot hundreds of rounds in repetition!  Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) October 4, 2017

"You are & will continue to be a failure until you recognize that science, facts, & evidence should be paramount defending our great nation," Howard Forman posted. "Havent they suffered enough?" another Twitter user wondered.

Find another way to express your sympathies. "Warm Condolences" doesn't cut it.  Timothy Beauchamp (@cowboyneok) October 4, 2017

Your fear of facts and data and desire to exert authoritarian regime shows ineptitude and disregard for human life.  (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) October 4, 2017

"Since you have no empathy, I predict you're going to 'joke' about how you're happy the shooter didn't use your hotel to attack the concert," an additional tweet added.

"Find another way to express your sympathies. "Warm Condolences" doesn't cut it," yet another Twitter user noted. As the backlash continued to pour in, many Americans expressed their disdain for how Donald Trump has handled the shooting in Las Vegas.
Just 48 hours after the 69th annual Prime-time Emmy awards took place, President Donald Trump decided to hit back at the show on Twitter. As expected, the president continued with his trolling of Hollywood.

Trump on the Emmys

From the day Donald Trump announced he was running for president back in June 2015, his feud with the majority of the liberal-leaning celebrities in Hollywood kicked off. Once Trump referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers," Hollywood stars where quick to come to their defense, while bashing the former host of "The Apprentice" in the process.

In the months that followed, Trump become the butt of the joke on late-night TV, as well as on several comedy shows. The most memorable came in the form of Alec Baldwin playing a satirical version of Trump on "Saturday Night Live," which earned the veteran actor and Emmy Award last Sunday night. During the awards show, host Stephen Colbert kicked off the program with an opening monologue that spent a considerable amount of time poking fun at the president, which was capped off by a surprise appearance by former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Despite this, the ratings for the show were a disappointment, which Trump made sure to point out during a September 19 tweet.

I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever. Smartest people of them all are the "DEPLORABLES."  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2017

Taking to his Twitter account on Tuesday night was Donald Trump, as the president took his mockery of Hollywood to another level.

"I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever," Trump tweeted with sarcasm. "Smartest people of them all are the 'DEPLORABLES,'" he continued, quoting the controversial term used by Hillary Clinton during the election to describe supporters of the commander in chief.

Donald Trump's remarks about the low ratings for the Emmys are correct, as a 8.2 overnight rating shows a number that is down 2.4 percent from last year.

The drop makes the 2017 Emmy Awards the lowest rated in the history of the show, which many believe could be attributed to the number of conservatives avoiding the program as a political boycott in favor of the billionaire real estate mogul.

Next up

While Donald Trump took time to bash Hollywood and the ratings of the Emmy Awards, he has more important issues to worry about.

Earlier in the day, Trump came under fire for a controversial speech at the United Nations General Assembly where he threatened a possible war with North Korea, while mocking leader Kim Jong-un as "Rocket Man."
Megyn Kelly shared inspiring stories about breast cancer to raise awareness on a recent episode of her daytime show on NBC. Actress and model Elizabeth Hurley appeared on Megyn Kelly Today and talked about how she lost her grandmother to breast cancer.

Breast cancers are 90 percent curable if found early, Hurley said during the interview with Kelly. The fact that you self-examine means the fear is diminished because you know if something bad was found, it wasnt there a year ago.

She is now working with the Estee Lauder Companies for their breast cancer campaign, delivering speeches in events and sharing her insights about this medical condition.

She also shared that she once received a mammogram test from Evelyn Lauder as a gift.

Evelyn is the daughter-in-law of Estee Lauder. This Austrian-American businesswoman and socialite has been championing Breast Cancer Awareness through the so-called pink ribbon campaign.

Before the actress became active in the awareness campaigns, Hurley also said that her grandmother died from the disease in the 90s. She also shared her admiration for Julia Louis-Dreyfus for letting the public know about her breast cancer diagnosis.

Hurley is known for her performance as Queen Helena in the hit TV series, The Royals. She previously portrayed the role of Diana Payne in the popular series titled Gossip Girl.

Awareness about the disease

Megyn Kelly Today also featured NBCs Today host Hoda Kotb to talk about her personal journey through the disease.

The morning show hosts doctor, Dr. Freya Schnabel was revealed to be the same person that Kelly visits for her mammograms.

She said that there are a lot of qualified doctors around and it is important to choose someone they love. Kotb added that getting mammograms is necessary to find out about the disease early on.

The world snaps into focus, so there is a kind of a silver lining at the end of it all.

But once you emerge ... life changes in a way that you didnt expect, she said.

Helping an afflicted mother

The episode also shared the story of Heather Salazar, a mother based in Ohio, who adopted a baby whose biological mother was diagnosed with the stage IV breast cancer, Today reported. The babys mom died from the disease.

Afterwards, Salazar was also diagnosed with that specific type of cancer.

She shared how she thought her life was all figured out. Salazar added that this young lady, from whom she adopted the baby, changed her life and her familys life forever.
Some of the representatives of the 2017 Miss Grand International recently participated in a photo shoot, according to vietnam Net. Vietnam has been chosen as the host country of this years edition of the pageant.

Miss Grand International is an annual beauty competition joined by several delegates from various nations in the world. It is deeply involved in a campaign that seeks to end war and violence worldwide.

It is time for us to look inwards and use our combined ingenuity to make the world a better place for all humanity, the official website stated.

An end to the war is an ideal objective of freedom, peace, and harmony within all of us.

Possible winners

There are some pageant experts who have started to predict the winner of Miss Grand International 2017 prior to the coronation night. The final competition will be held in Phu Quoc, Vietnam on October 25.

Venezuelas representative Tulia Aleman has been predicted as the winner of the competition. The other finalists in the forecast include South Sudan, Czech Republic, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Ukraine, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, GoPageant stated.

The prediction also includes Scotland, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, China, USA, Australia, Wales, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico. The official Facebook page of the pageant has also released the results of the Miss popular vote as of October 9.

Indonesia is currently on top of the leaderboard, followed by Venezuela, Philippines, Malaysia, and Laos. The voting lines are still open as organizers update the page in the next days.

Welcome dinner

Meanwhile, some pageant activities have already kicked off.

The girls were introduced to the media at a red carpet event featuring their stunning long gowns.

The contestants also attended a welcome dinner at the Pullman Saigon Center Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Global Beauties reported. The event was attended by Lasta Multimedia and Lets Viet CEO Tran Minh Tien, Miss Grand International president Nawat Itsaragrisil and last years winner Ariska Putri Pertiwi from Indonesia.

Itsaragrisil talked about the mission and vision of the pageant, as well as the qualities that the winner should possess. Miss Philippines Elizabeth Clenci was invited to the stage to sing while wearing her white long gown.

Around 70 women from different nations in the world will compete for the coveted title. Indonesias Ariska Pertiwi will crown her successor during the final event. Two Filipino celebrities, actor Xian Lim and Miss Grand International 2016 runner-up Nicole Cordoves, are set to host the coronation night.
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer used social media in an attempt to mock Hillary Clinton's friendship with Harvey Weinstein following the film producer's recent scandal. Despite Spicer's best attempt at trolling, it backfired in a big way.

Spicer on Twitter

Earlier this week, the New York Times broke an exclusive story that claimed Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder of the film company Miramax, has been hiding sexual harassment allegations against him for decades. Names like Ashley Judd went public in the NYT article, as the actress alleged Weinstein attempted to have her watch him take a shower.

Multiple women have doubled down on the contents of the story, including Fox News reporter Lauren Sivan who has accused Weinstein of masturbating in front of her. Weinstein has denied the allegations and hired a team of lawyers to defend him, though Lisa Bloom, noted feminist attorney, has already quit the team following a negative public response. Donald Trump was asked about the scandal while speaking to reporters outside the White House, with the president replying, "Im not at all surprised to see it." Attempting to add fuel to the fire, Sean Spicer gave his thoughts with a knock on Hillary Clinton, as seen during a tweet on October 7.

Have I missed @HillaryClinton tweets & comments on #HarveyWeinstein sexual harassment allegations? Has the media even asked 4 comment?  Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) October 8, 2017

Taking to his Twitter account on Saturday night, Sean Spicer did his best to link Hillary Clinton to the sexual harassment allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein.

"Have I missed @HillaryClinton tweets & comments on #HarveyWeinstein sexual harassment allegations?" Spicer tweeted, before adding, "Has the media even asked 4 comment?" As expected, those who oppose Donald Trump and the administration didn't let Spicer off the hook over the president's controversial history with women.

In wake of explosive New York Times report, Democrats look to shed their donations from Harvey Weinstein https://t.co/lPovMWTpw4 pic.twitter.com/2mO3MMt6zs  CBS News (@CBSNews) October 7, 2017

Twitter reacts

In response to Sean Spicer's Twitter attack on Hillary Clinton over the Harvey Weinstein scandal, critics of the president wasted no time lashing out.

"Have I missed @seanspicer tweets & comments on #donaldtrump sexual harassment admission to Billy Bush? Has the media even asked 4 comment?" Walter Shaub humorously replied.

Also, have I missed @seanspicer termination financial disclosure report? Has OGE posted it on its website? I cant find it there. pic.twitter.com/vVx1Lc2R2S  Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 8, 2017

You sir, are a national treasure.  Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 8, 2017

.@seanspicer -- you broke it, you bought it. your career, that is. you lied to the American people for months with pomposity & impunity. you have 0 credibility & your fake feminism stinks. kind of typical of your kleptocratic ilk. hope you can pay your attorney fees. #resist  Margaret Wallace  (@MargaretWallace) October 8, 2017

"You sir, are a national treasure," MSNBC host Joy Reid sarcastically responded.

"Dude I know you want to be relevant but your hypocrisy on this issue is mind boggling," one tweet read.

Is she responsible for #HarveyWeinstein? No. You worked for a man that bragged about sexual assault. Comments on that? Wheres your apology?  Andrea Nourse (@AndreaNourse) October 8, 2017

Sean - funny you're so seized with this issue considering you worked/lied for a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women on tape.  Luke Johnman (@LukeMawk) October 8, 2017

Dude I know you want to be relevant but your hypocrisy on this issue is mind boggling  kevincoffee (@kcoffee9) October 8, 2017

"Sean - funny you're so seized with this issue considering you worked/lied for a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women on tape," another Twitter user added.

"Is she responsible for #HarveyWeinstein? No. You worked for a man that bragged about sexual assault. Comments on that? Wheres your apology?" yet another tweet asked. As the backlash continued, Sean Spicer's tweet didn't appear to hold up to the irony that was thrown his way.
Google initially tried to distance itself from the scrutiny Facebook is facing regarding ads that were bought by Russian agents on the social media platform to interfere with the 2016 Election. The search giant claimed that the company has always monitored for any abuse and violations of their policies by users. However, Google still conducted an investigation nonetheless.

Upon investigation, the Washington Post reported that Google discovered some evidence that Russian agents indeed use their platforms to spread false information to mess with the election, platforms such as YouTube and Gmail, among others.

The search engine giant was able to make the connection after downloading data from Twitter's historical Tweets made on the platform, which Twitter gives away for free to developers.

Google will now provide assistance to the investigation

Google started their investigation after Congress pressured tech companies to learn what tools the Russian agents likely used to spread their misinformation to the internet.

Google said in a statement, We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries, cited in the report of The Washington Post.

Google is reviewing $100,000 worth of ads bought on their platform to find out if it came from accounts related to the Internet Research Agency, which is a Russian-government affiliated troll farm.

Russian agents employed YouTubers to destroy Hillary Clintons image

As part of the Russian operatives to interfere with the 2016 election, they also recruited YouTubers to spread false information about Donald Trumps opponent  Hillary Clinton, according to a report by the Daily Beast.

The report cited that Russian agents employed the services of two African-American video bloggers named Williams and Kevin Johnson to appeal to the African-American audience.

They said that they [Clintons] are serial killers who are going to rape the whole nation, they also added that Clintons campaign was funded by the Muslims.

Most of their videos are promotions to vote for Trump. Prior to the election, one video described Clinton as a [expletive] racist. The two bloggers, in contrast, described Trump as a businessman and a businessman cannot be a racist to keep his business from bellying up.

After it was learned that they were funded by Russian operatives, their content was pulled from Facebook, in addition to the suspension of their Twitter accounts.
A series of vigilante attacks in the East African nation of Malawi has seen at least six people killed, after being accused of being bloodsucking Vampires. This has led to the United Nations pulling out staff in two districts in the south of the country. The U.S. Embassy has also temporarily withdrawn Peace Corps volunteers from the area.

According to a local police report, since mid-September, the victims were suspected of attempting to obtain and drink human blood for use in some type of magic or spiritual ritual.

UN pulls staff from vampire affected areas

According to a security report by the UN Department of Safety and Security, the Phalombe and Mulanje districts have been severely affected by an ongoing series of stories relating to bloodsucking and the existence of vampires in the area. This has led to the United Nations pulling out its staff from those two districts in the southern area of Malawi.

The UN isnt alone in withdrawing staff from the area, as the U.S. Embassy in the country has also withdrawn a team of Peace Corps volunteers temporarily and has advised U.S. citizens not to visit the area.

Vampire scare in Malawi prompts UN to move staff after mob violence, report says | Fox News https://t.co/gG0kBW9CXU  Helen Ann (@HelenAnn16) October 10, 2017

Vigilante mobs set roadblocks, kill alleged vampires

As reported by the New York Post, armed vigilante mobs have been setting roadblocks, then capturing and killing alleged vampires.

Malawian President Peter Mutharika said in a statement that the vigilante mob behavior is agonizing and distressing, adding that the situation is of grave concern to the entire government.

Malawi president condemns mob attacks on 'vampires' - https://t.co/yvNu49RlQp via https://t.co/VCNs4FJ75Y  leighton moore (@595moore) October 10, 2017

News.com.au quotes police spokesman James Kadadzera as saying the latest attack occurred over the weekend when a vigilante mob beat two people to death because they were suspected of being bloodsuckers.

Kadadzera added that the two victims were planning on praying close to the mountain when the violent crowd intercepted them as they passed through a village.He also quoted another incident, where a local chief was murdered by a vigilante mob, who accused him of colluding with suspected vampires.

Saying the victims had been targeted after being believed to be seeking blood for spiritual rituals, Kadadzera went on to say there is no evidence of vampires and that police blame the communities for taking the law into their own hands.

He also added that no one had visited the police to complain about any alleged bloodsuckers.

#Vampire scare: UN, US pulls staff out of #Malawi as superstitious mobs attack strangers, AFP https://t.co/MBCfhEI4Ro  Chika Oduah (@chikaoduah) October 10, 2017

Following the killings, more than 100 riot officers have been deployed in the region, but reportedly this hasnt prevented terrified locals from continuing to set up roadblocks. They have also continued to send armed mobs out into the streets to search for the alleged vampires.
A visitor takes a photo of the monorail train built by BYD Co in Guilin, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. [Photo by Wang Zichuang/For China Daily]

China's largest electric car maker BYD Co's decision to develop a monorail system could complement its main business and add to its existing advantages, but the market's reaction remains to be seen, analysts and scholars said.

BYD announced on Sept 28 that its two subsidiaries were setting up an investment fund worth 4.65 billion yuan ($699 million) with China Resources Shenzhen International Trust, which is also known as CRSIT.

This is the latest move in the company's development of its monorail train business.

According to the statement, BYD Investment and BYD Automobile Industrial will pour 100,000 yuan and 930 million yuan, respectively, into the BYD Yundi investment fund, while the other 3.72 billion yuan will come from CRSIT.

The fund will be used for investment in equity and debt of enterprises that construct and operate monorail projects in a number of cities across the country, including Guangdong province's Shenzhen and Zhongshan, Shandong province's Jining, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region's Guilin, and Hunan province's Hengyang.

Setting up such an investment fund with a professional institution will broaden financing channels for BYD's monorail projects in those cities and facilitate their implementation in an effective way, BYD said.

It will also promote the company's business and bring positive impact to its long-term development, it said.

Wang Liusheng, an auto analyst at China Merchants Securities, said establishment of the investment fund would provide more cash flow for BYD to develop its monorail system as it requires high investment, but whether the business can produce good economic benefits remains to be seen.

"At the present time, monorail is not a market-driven business, but is mainly supported by the government. It is also a totally new sector without precedents to follow. It takes time to see whether this business will be accepted and welcomed by the market," Wang said.

BYD is stepping up efforts to promote rail transportation, making it one of the company's strategic businesses in future development.

BYD Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu said earlier that monorail business is "gaining good momentum".

Last month, its first commercial monorail train Sky-Rail officially came into operation in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It only took four months to produce the train since the start of construction in April.

Monorail projects have also begun construction in Guang'an in Sichuan province, Shantou in Guangdong province and other cities this year, BYD said. The business will be rolled out in 15 to 20 Chinese cities next year.

Yu Lingqu, a researcher from the Finance and Modern Industry Research Center at Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute, said rail transportation, which has huge development space and profit potential, is a sector no leading enterprise in the industry would neglect.

With technological advantages in such areas as material and manufacturing, BYD's investment in this sector is a "rational strategic move", he said.

"As rail transportation and new energy cars have relatively strong relevance in technology, the move will widen the application of its existing advantages. BYD's exploration of the new sector will not exert impact on its main business, but the two businesses could complement with each other and create bigger benefits for the company," Yu said.

BYD generated 45.04 billion yuan in operating revenue in the first half of 2017, growing a slight 0.2 percent year-on-year.
A series of sad and tragic incidents involving Chinese students and tourists in the US have raised concerns about the safety of overseas Chinese in the US.

As our two nations hail the continuous growth in the number of Chinese students and tourists traveling to the US and anticipate more people-to-people exchanges, policymakers, educators and industry leaders need to consider the safety and well-being of those moving back and forth between the two countries.

There are around 330,000 Chinese students studying at American colleges and universities.

Approximately 2.97 million Chinese tourists traveled to the US in 2016 and spent a total of $33 billion, according to a US Commerce Department report from August. The US has had 13 consecutive years of growth in arrivals from China, 12 of those in double digits.

Not all those arriving though have happy returns.

International students, especially the younger ones, tend to be prone to loneliness, academic frustrations and culture shock.

Travelers also can be in danger because of self-driving tours and unfamiliarity of local traffic and a language barrier.

Early last week, a post about a missing Chinese woman in the US went viral on social media.

Tang Xiaolin, a PhD candidate in space physics at the University of Utah, hasn't been heard from since Oct 1, shortly after she left for San Francisco.

A graduate of China's Peking University in 2004, Tang went to the US the same year to continue her studies. Now at 30 and in her seventh year of doctoral training, she is said to be under tremendous pressure to complete her academic research and find a job.

On Sept 30, Tang boarded a flight to San Francisco and mentioned several times to one of her acquaintances that "she is so tired and would end her life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge".

Tang is still missing.

And in a case that has garnered international media attention, Zhang Yingying, 26, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois, has been missing since June and is presumed dead. A former Illinois graduate student, Brendt Christensen, has been charged in her disappearance and awaits trial.

On Oct 5, a Michigan judge issued an order establishing the death of Rong Xin, a 27-year-old doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, after he disappeared in March.

On March 15, Rong rented a private plane and flew somewhere between Ann Arbor and the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario, Canada. The plane later crashed into thick woods in Canada.

Authorities did not find Rong's body in the wreckage and believe he may have died after jumping from the plane but declined to elaborate.

Rong, a promising scientist and researcher in the field of human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, came to the US in 2011 to seek his PhD at Michigan after graduating from Tsinghua University.

He interned for Microsoft in 2016 and for Google in 2013 and 2014, according to his LinkedIn page, and expected to start a career as an assistant professor.

The shadow of depression and illusions seem to follow him closely. In late 2016, he recorded, "I have just recently realized that the ratio of depression among doctoral students might have been significantly underestimated. Academia does not have to be this way. Every single doctoral student should be happy.

"I think this problem has already caused tremendous negative impact on the overall productivity of academia and undermined the well-being of the students and taxpayer dollars."

The travel front also has seen its share of tragedy.

On Oct 5, search-and-rescue teams of the Fresno Country sheriff in California recovered two bodies from a wrecked car in the Kings River near Kings Canyon National Park.

Authorities confirmed the identities the following day of a San Diego couple - Wang Yinan, 31, and his wife, Song Jie, 32 - who were believed to have died in August when their vehicle plunged down a steep canyon into the rapids along highway 180. Family members reported the couple missing on Aug 11 when they failed to return from a road trip to Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.

Self-driving tours have become popular among Chinese tourists. However, driving in the US without ample knowledge of local traffic conditions and surroundings could lead to hazardous situations.

"It's never enough to emphasize how important it is that students and travelers to the US need to be vigilant," said Zha Liyou, deputy consul general at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco.

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com
Flames rise from the remains of a house that burned down in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct 9, 2017. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. [Photo/Agencies]

SONOMA, California  More than a dozen wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, destroying at least 1,500 homes and businesses and sending an estimated 20,000 people on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames.

One person was killed in a fire further north, in Mendocino County.

The state's fire chief called the damage estimates for the fire in the wine country conservative and said the fires were burning throughout an eight-county swath of Northern California, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

Numerous people had been hurt and some were missing, although no estimates were immediately available, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott. Later he said there were likely fatalities.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered after the blazes broke out late Sunday. Long lines formed at gas stations when many families heeded a middle-of-the-night call to get out. A spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric said 114,000 customers were without power.

"It was an inferno like you've never seen before," said Marian Williams, who caravanned with neighbors before dawn as one of the wildfires reached the vineyards and ridges at her small Sonoma County town of Kenwood.

Williams could feel the heat of her fire through the car as she fled. "Trees were on fire like torches," she said.

With downed trees or flames blocking routes, Sonoma County residents struggled to figure out what roads to take.

Fires also burned just to the east in the Napa County as well as in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties  all north of the state capital. Many of the fires spread suddenly overnight, whipped by furious winds.

Santa Rosa, the largest city in the fire area with a population of about 175,000, was hit hard. The city lost a Kmart and unknown numbers of other businesses and homes, as the blaze shut down its schools and forced patients at two city hospitals to evacuate. A Hilton Hotel was smoldering and in ruins.

"Imagine a wind-whipped fire burning at explosive rates. This is 50 miles per hour. Literally it's burning into the city of Santa Rosa ... burning box stores," Pimlott said. "This is traditionally California's worst time for fires, California's most damaging times for fires have occurred in October."

More than 200 people were hurriedly evacuated from Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Santa Rosa Medical Center, where the blaze could be seen raging nearby.

Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said the fires had burned more than 68 square miles (176 square kilometers). Crews had not yet been able to contain a fire heading toward downtown Napa.

"Right now, with these conditions, we can't get ahead of this fire and do anything about the forward progress," Biermann said.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

Smoke was thick in San Francisco, 60 miles (96 kilometers) south of the Sonoma County fire.
Baidu opened a new office in the Seattle area on Monday, giving the Beijing-based internet search giant an additional outpost in the US to expand its reach in artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud.

The new center is located in downtown Bellevue, Washington, with space for about 50 people. The team of Kitt.ai, the Seattle-based AI startup acquired by Baidu this year, will be the first users of the space.

Announcing second-quarter results that surpassed analysts' expectations, Baidu CEO Robin Li said in July the company would focus on two strategic pillars: mobile technologies and artificial intelligence.

"We will use AI as a fundamental driver to elevate our current core business, specifically our core products of Mobile Baidu, search and feed," Li said. "In parallel, we will continue to build out our newer AI-enabled initiatives through an open platform and ecosystem approach to capture long term economic opportunity."

The company has expanded in recent years into areas ranging from financial services to AI and the public cloud. The new office exhibits Baidu's grand vision for AI.

Baidu president Yaqin Zhang, who oversees the company's US operations, sees the office as an important part of their long term strategy. The Seattle team could grow to as many as a couple hundred people, Yaqin told China Daily on the sidelines of the Seattle Biz-Tech Summit on Sept 30.

Baidu commits 15 percent of its revenue to research and development and has grown rapidly in China. Zhang said Baidu now has more than 2,000 people in its AI group, researching concepts like computer vision, speech recognition, deep learning and natural language understanding.

Of all the potential advances in AI, Zhang thinks autonomous cars are the closest to reality. Last month, the company teamed up with Microsoft for the $1.5 billion "Apollo Fund" to invest in autonomous driving projects over the next three years.

Zhang said the Seattle area was a great place to build out a top-notch AI operation.

"Amazon and Microsoft are quality anchors and true believers in the power of AI. In addition, the area has a strong roster of AI startups," Zhang said at the Geekwire Summit 2017, which opened in Seattle on Oct 9.

With the new office, Baidu seeks to tap into the pool of engineering talent from the University of Washington and tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and many top startups.

"Baidu's presence in the Seattle area is great for us as a region," said University of Washington professor Ed Lazowska, the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair at the Paul Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. He thinks the region is not only "the world center of the cloud," but also a major center of AI, with Microsoft, the UW, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and others true believers in AI nearby.

Baidu also recently signed on as an industry consortium partner in the Global Innovation Exchange, a technology institute in Bellevue launched by the University of Washington and China's Tsinghua University.

Zhang said that for years, the US was the standard, and China primarily followed American innovations. "But as mobile technology has become the dominant building block, China has excelled in areas like mobile pay," he said.

Zhang also thinks China has structural advantages in the AI Era, including the national priority given to AI by the government.

In July, China's State Council issued guidelines on developing AI inside the country and set a goal of becoming a global AI innovation center by 2030. The total output value of AI industries is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan ($147.80 billion).

The council encouraged the creation of open-source computing platforms and training more AI professionals and scientists. The guidelines said the government would invest in qualified AI projects and encourage private capital investment.

"We are now entering a new era of AI and I think China can lead in technology and R&D together with the US," Zhang said. "I have a vision of China and the US becoming the twin engines of innovation over the next 10 years."

Prior to the new Seattle office, Baidu had just opened a second research and development lab in Silicon Valley. The 36,000-square-foot building in Sunnyvale will be home to up to 150 engineers working on Baidu's self-driving car platform, Apollo, with engineers focused on internet security, the company said in a statement.

The company opened its first Silicon Valley outpost in 2011, and its first Silicon Valley-based R&D lab in 2014. That initial lab now employs 200 people who will continue to focus on AI and data centers.

"Opening a second site is a natural progression as our teams grow and our recruiting efforts expand in the US," Zhang said.
'Can a Wodehouse, an R K Narayan, a Scott Fitzgerald and yes, a Le Carre, with the sensibilities of a bygone era still captivate a modern reader's attention?'

'Le Carre is making a brave and hitherto successful effort,' says B S Prakash.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

What makes a celebrated writer go back to his novel penned over 50 years ago and recreate its back-story in another novel, now, in a contemporary setting?

The writer is John le Carre (the name by which David Cornwall got known), 86 years old, and with 25 novels in his oeuvre.

For those who do not know him, he is acknowledged as one of the great English novelists of our times, and not just in his genre of spy-fiction.

Literary critics tend to agree that of the famed English writers of our times, three, P G Wodehouse, P D James and John le Carre, have transcended their specialised genres -- humour, crime, and espionage, respectively -- and are great masters of literature as such.

His latest book The Legacy Of Spies published recently is making waves, as his books have nearly always done for the last 40 years.

Those who have followed him after the end of the Cold War (I have been a keen and admiring reader of every one of his novels since my college days in the '60s!) are familiar with his themes once the ideology of the Cold War conflict had lost its relevance.

The new problems and evils of the world that became his material were: corporate oligarchs, arms merchants, unscrupulous pharma companies, exploitation of the Third World by the erstwhile masters, and above all, an imperious America -- a technologically sophisticated war machine that is naive and arrogant in its understanding of the world.

The characters of le Carre that his fans grew up with and who became legendary in their own right, such as George Smiley, the elderly and brainy mandarin-spy; Kalra -- his nemesis in Moscow; Connie Sachs, an Oxbridge scholar extraordinaire and a researcher of the plots weaved in the Kremlin -- and others of their tribe had disappeared.

Each new novel set in exotic or horrific locales -- Panama, Ingushetia, Kenya, Georgia -- had new complexities and fresh characters. But le Carre's old faithful readers never forgot Smiley or his acolyte Peter Guillam who were further immortalised in classic BBC television dramas or in carefully crafted movies such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

So in 2017, twenty years after Smiley had disappeared from the printed page, what made le Carre bring him back, albeit fleetingly and almost regretfully?

Too much of the plot of the latest novel cannot be revealed, since the pleasures of the unravelling of its story is akin to a chess game and should not be spoilt for the potential reader.

But this much one can say to whet the appetite of millions who know about The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, le Carre's classic from 1965.

That story involving The Wall in Berlin separating and symbolising the barrier between the erstwhile East and West Europe at the height of the Cold War, is the backdrop and the reference point in the current novel.

The characters in that novel, all long retired, and living not so peaceably in England, are being woken and hauled up for their beliefs and behaviour, all those years ago.

In the practice of their spy craft, did they only deceive or also destroy lives?

Did they sacrifice their agents as 'pawns', as means to a greater end, and if so, were they justified?

Was there torture, extraordinary rendition, 'fake news' and other forms of unethical behaviour?

In any case, what is ethical and unethical in an ideological war and how can it be understood in the current post-ideological State?

Some of these dilemmas may remind an Indian reader of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, whatever the facts are in that complex saga.

Some aspects may remind us of the ill-fated Rohingyas and the difficult choices for the Indian State in dealing with them: Are they to be treated as refuges or illegal immigrants or potential terrorists?

Another contemporary feature that le Carre had foreshadowed is the rise of the ultra-nationalistic party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an earlier novel -- A Small Town In Germany.

But why does le Carre revive the past, since he had moved successfully to the ills and the villains of the present?

The novel towards its end provides a glimpse of his motivation. But more than the novel, the series of interviews and broadcasts that he is currently engaged in provide a clue.

Le Carre today emerges as an embittered and deeply aggrieved intellectual with liberal impulses despite a deeply conservative professional background.

During the Cold War years, le Carre consistently questioned the moral certainties and the political posturing of both sides.

He was sensitive to the human tragedies on either side of the Iron Curtain and excelled in portraying the ambiguity in the decisions and actions of that era.

One of the finest examples is in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold which leaves the reader befuddled as to which side was right.

Not for him the trumpeting of the virtues of the West, or the vices of the Soviet system. Both sides were caught in a vicious and dehumanising conflict that fortuitously came to an end.

That being said, all along le Carre had admiration for open and free societies, where an individual can retreat and retire to a quiet corner, a dream that many of his protagonists aspired to.

Post the Cold War, however, in his view, the military-industrial complex in America is forever in search of new enemies and conflicts.

In the last decade, his novels have shown an underlying antipathy towards the American establishment, even while invoking the liberal values of the West.

In the recent period, the application of labels without reflection -- nationalism, anti-globalism, Communism, Islamic extremism -- and the exaggeration of threats that can result in calamities brought about by the powerful American interests, seem to alarm him.

Some of his novels are about the damage and destruction caused by American might with a simplistic understanding of the threats that it conjures up.

Another tragedy for him is Brexit and the underlying sentiment of Britain distancing itself from Europe.

In the novel Smiley in his old age seems to be lamenting both these factors: An unthinking Trumpian America without any moorings, and a Britain that is divorcing Europe. 'This is not what we fought for' is the cry of the cold warrior as he weeps about a world without credible convictions.

How does this nostalgic and melancholic mindset appeal to a contemporary audience?

Can the masters of yesteryear, a Wodehouse, an R K Narayan, a Scott Fitzgerald and yes, a Le Carre, with the sensibilities of a bygone era, still captivate a modern reader's attention?

Difficult for me to say. But le Carre is making a brave and hitherto successful effort to assess the past in terms of the present and vice versa.

B S Prakash is a former Ambassador and a long-standing Rediff columnist.
New Orleans is a vibrant city on the Mississippi River, famous for its nightlife, unique inns, music, free attractions, family activities, great seafood and other fantastic cuisine. Explore the historic French Quarter, visit the New Orleans Museum of Art, and take a cooking class. Listen to jazz at one of the local music clubs, and go on a Mardi Gras World Tour. Here are the best things to do in New Orleans.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. The French Quarter, New Orleans, LA  Courtesy of Fotoluminate LLC - Fotolia.com

The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, and it is steeped in history and heritage. Dating back to 1718, the district was established by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and grew around the central square of the Vieux Carre. Home to magnificent historic buildings, cathedrals, and famous jazz clubs, the French Quarter is one of the top New Orleans attractions. It has a history that goes back 200 years and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Resting at the heart of the French Quarter is the 18th century historic Jackson Square, formerly known as the Place dArmes. It was later renamed in honor of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. Overlooking the Mississippi River, the square is surrounded by famous old buildings, including the St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytere and Cabildo Museums, and the stunning Pontalba Apartments, as well as a plethora of restaurants, museums, cafes, and art galleries.

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2. Things to Do in New Orleans: New Orleans Garden District  Courtesy of Natalia Bratslavsky - Fotolia.com

Tucked between St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street in uptown New Orleans, the historic Garden District is a famous neighborhood that is home to a beautifully preserved collection of antebellum mansions, immaculate gardens, and tree-lined avenues. Established by Barthelemy Lafron in 1832 as an upper class settlement for new American residents in the city, the area flourished as lavish homes were built in the Italianate, Greek Revival, and Victorian styles on large plots surrounded by spectacular gardens. Today, the district is home to several movie stars and celebrities, the famous Lafayette Cemetery # 1, and quite a few boutiques and excellent restaurants, including the renowned Commanders Palace Restaurant.

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3. New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park, New Orleans, Louisiana  Courtesy of 1L26 - Fotolia.com

The New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park is the home of jazz, and it hosts live educational performances at two locations in the city - the Old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Avenue and the visitors center on North Peters Street in the heart of the French Quarter. Excellent 11-stop guided tours of both venues are offered, starting at the modern visitor center in Peters Street, where visitors can learn about the history and culture of New Orleans jazz from ranger-led demonstrations, talks, video documentaries, and live music. If you are wondering what to do in New Orleans today, this is a great place to visit. Enjoy live music performances by world-renowned jazz artists every Saturday and Wednesday night, as well as during guided tours. 916 N. Peters Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-589-4841



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4. New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana  New Orleans Museum of Art



Established as the Delgado Museum of Art in 1911, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city. Situated in City Park, the Museum is home to a renowned sculpture garden and a magnificent permanent collection of almost 40,000 art pieces. The collection, which has a distinct focus on French and American art, consists of several paintings, including works by masters of the School of Paris such as Picasso, Braque, Dufy and Miro, drawings, photography, glass, and African and Japanese works. he New Orleans Museum of Art is one of the best things to do in New Orleans. The five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features over 60 sculptures dotted around a beautifully landscaped site. Winding footpaths, ancient oak trees, and pedestrian bridges, surround the garden, which is one of the most important sculpture installations in the United States. One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-658-4100

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5. Things to Do in New Orleans: The Historic New Orleans Collection  The Historic New Orleans Collection



The Historic New Orleans Collection is an institution dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans. Founded in 1966, the museum has a collection of over one million items from more than three centuries across four exhibitions spaces  namely the Williams Gallery, the Louisiana History Galleries, the Boyd Cruise Gallery, and the Laura Simon Nelson Galleries for Louisiana Art. These galleries are home to both permanent and rotating exhibitions that showcase fine art and celebrate the history and culture of the Southern Gulf. The Williams Research Center offers scholars and students a wide variety of publications to explore the various genres of art and decorative art, history, and culture. Visitors can also enjoy two guided tours of the Williams Residence and the historic buildings that make up the complex in an Architecture and Courtyard Tour. 520 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, Phone: 504-523-4662

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6. Things to Do in New Orleans, LA: The Spotted Cat Music Club  Courtesy of Zsolt Biczo - Fotolia.com



Located in the heart of the charming Faubourg Marigny District in the French Quarter, The Spotted Cat Music Club is a famous jazz club that is a favorite amongst locals. Known simply as The Cat and world-renowned for its music and ambiance, this quintessential New Orleans jazz club offers a variety of music from blues and jazz to funk, klezmer, and more. Their stage hosts up to three bands a night. The club does not serve food, but there are several restaurants close by, including Snug Harbor, Cafe Negril, Praline Connection, and Adolfo's. 623 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, Louisiana

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7. Things to Do in New Orleans, LA: Maison Bourbon  Courtesy of GeoffGoldswain - Fotolia.com

Maison Bourbon is one of two historic jazz clubs that still exist on New Orleans famous Bourbon Street, and it is legendary for being the home of many notable jazz musicians such as Harry Connick, Jr. Dedicated to the preservation of jazz music, the club is a popular tourist attraction that showcases authentic jazz every evening in a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere. A quaint courtyard and wrought iron balcony overlooking Bourbon Street offer an ideal place to relax with a drink and enjoy the music. The club has two private event venues that can be rented for special occasions - the Jazz Parlor, which is located above Maison Bourbon and the Speakeasy. 641 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-522-8818



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8. Things to Do in New Orleans: FreeWheelin' Bike Tours  Courtesy of Hayes - Fotolia.com

FreeWheelin Bike Tours is a family-owned company that offers visitors a relaxing and healthy way to experience New Orleans. Passionate, experienced local guides lead bicycle tours that take visitors through various parts of city, including City Park, the Garden District, and the French Quarter, and the guides share interesting information and facts along the way. Guests ride through the town on reliable cruiser bikes, which boast comfortable 13-inch seats, puncture resistant tubes and tires, and eye-catching chrome. Visitors can book private tours for two or special family group trips, and FreeWheelin Bike Tours also provides services for corporate and team-building events as well as specialized VIP tours. 504-522-4368



9. Things to Do in New Orleans: New Orleans School of Cooking  Courtesy of zadorozhna - Fotolia.com

The New Orleans School of Cooking offers an introduction to the diverse cuisine and food culture of New Orleans and Louisiana through a range of cooking lessons using products from the Louisiana General Store. Located in an early 1800s molasses warehouse that has been beautifully renovated in the heart of the French Quarter, guests can take advantage of cooking lessons, tips, and tricks taught by Cajun / Creole experts who share their expertise on local Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Pralines, along with their culinary history, trivia, and interesting foodie facts. The New Orleans School of Cooking offers individual and private group classes, as well as catering for special events and off-site events. The Louisiana General Store is packed with local Louisiana delights such as cookbooks, spices, gift baskets, and cookware. 524 St. Louis Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 800-237-4841

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10. Things to Do in New Orleans, Louisiana: 21st Amendment at La Louisiane  21st Amendment at La Louisiane

21st Amendment at La Louisiane is a stylish French Quarter cocktail bar that pays tribute to the Prohibition era of the 1920s. Located in a historic 1881 building that now houses the Hotel Mazarin, the speakeasy-style bar is decorated with black and white photographs and memorabilia of some of the country's most infamous mobsters who lived during the time of Prohibition. The bar offers a unique menu of handcrafted cocktails and custom libations created with a range of infused spirits, homemade syrups, and locally grown herbs. Guests can enjoy a line-up of live jazz and blues music every night from Tuesday to Saturday, and up to three bands play on weekends. 725 Iberville Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-378-7330



11. Things to Do in New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Glassworks & Printmaking Studio  Courtesy of wip-studio - Fotolia.com

The New Orleans Glassworks & Printmaking Studio features a gallery of glass works and prints, open working studios where visitors can watch nationally and internationally renowned artists at work, and free, hands-on daily demonstrations. Located in the American Sector on celebrated Magazine Street, the studio offers mini-workshops where visitor can learn to blow their own glass and short courses on glass and printmaking. The studio also provides instruction in glass torchworking and copper enameling, and stained glass programs are available for all ages and areas of interest. 727 Magazine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana Next read: 24-hour restaurants in New Orleans

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12. Things to Do in New Orleans: Sylvain  Sylvain

Sylvain is an old-world bistro steeped in the rich history and tradition of New Orleans. Located in a three-story carriage house overlooking St. Louis Cathedral, the restaurant has been beautifully renovated into a stylish and sophisticated space with a warm ambiance. A roguish copper bar is the focal point of the elegant gastropub, and it serves an array of handcrafted cocktails, signature beers, and boutique wines. The restaurant, on the other hand, serves a simple yet sophisticated menu of appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts, along with classic sandwiches, burgers, seafood, and pasta. If you are looking for romantic date night ideas in New Orleans, this is a great place to try. Well-worn wooden floors, a tucked away side alley entrance, and ambient lighting emanating from the street lamps and candles create a sultry, yet cozy atmosphere that has visitors returning time and again. 625 Chartres St, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-265-8123



13. High Hat Cafe, New Orleans, Louisiana  High Hat Cafe

Open seven days a week from brunch until dinner, the High Hat Cafe is a casual neighborhood eatery serving food from Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta. Located in the old Longs Bakery building, the restaurant features a menu consisting of dishes made with locally sourced, sustainable ingredients such as American farm-raised catfish, which is a menu favorite, and locally caught shrimp and fish. The High Hat Cafe offers a full bar service with an impressive wine list of local and international vintages, local craft beers, and a range of signature, handcrafted cocktails and spirits. 4500 Freret Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-754-1336



14. Modernist Cuisine Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana  Modernist Cuisine Gallery

Modernist Cuisine Gallery features the artwork of photographer Nathan Myhrvold. It is the worlds first gallery completely dedicated to food photography created by a single artist. The gallery walls are covered by large-scale pieces made to order for each clients space and cannot be found anywhere else. The gallery is located in a beautifully preserved historic building that once housed furniture by the designer Prudent Mallard and was for a time the home of writer E. Hoffman Price. In the heart of French Quarter, surrounded by other art galleries and New Orleans famous restaurants, Modernist Cuisine Gallery is in the right neighborhood. 305 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, Phone: 504-571-5157



15. Things to Do in New Orleans, LA: MoPho  MoPho



Southeast Asia meets Louisiana at MOPHO on City Park Avenue. Combining a delicate fusion of Vietnamese and Louisiana cuisine, Chef and co-owner Michael Gulotta has created a menu featuring po-boys, pho, rice and noodle bowls, and the ever-popular sweet-crispy-salty chicken wings. The drinks menu is as off-beat as the food menu, and it offers cocktails that include cooking ingredients, such as tamarind-honey syrup, as well as a range of medium-bodied white wines to offset the Southeast Asian spices. Dark spaces and exposed ductwork in the dining room create a svelte, rather cool ambiance, and a shaded back patio is great for outdoor dining on warm evenings. MoPho is open for lunch and dinner, Wednesday to Monday. 514 City Park Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-482-6845

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16. Things to Do in New Orleans, LA: Pizza Delicious  Pizza Delicious



One of New Orleans best pizza restaurants, Pizza Delicious is a comfortable, family-friendly neighborhood hotspot ideal for a hot date or a family feast. Owned and managed by Michael Friedman and Greg Augarten, Pizza Delicious, also known as Pizza D, offers several daily specials, including homemade spaghetti, bucatini carbonara, and a variety of pizzas, including everyday favorites like cheese, pepperoni, and Margherita pizzas. Diners can enjoy pizza by the slice or as a whole pie and an uncomplicated menu of wines and beers are available to accompany the food. 617 Piety Street, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-676-8482



17. Kayak-iti-Yat, New Orleans, Louisiana  Courtesy of upslim - Fotolia.com



Experience New Orleans from a different perspective on a Kayak-iti-Yat tour. Kayak-iti-Yat offers a range of kayaking tours through the city on the historic bayous of Bienvenue and St. John. Glide through the historic waterways of New Orleans and take in the citys most beautiful sights and attractions, stunning natural scenery, and exciting wildlife along the way. Kayak-iti-Yat offers three tours of different levels to cater to every level of physical fitness and kayaking experience. There are two urban-based trips along Bayou St. John, which gives paddlers a feel for the city, and one in Bayou Bienvenue, a wilder and more nature-based experience for adventure-lovers. Kayak-iti-Yat offers year-round kayaking tours which need to be booked in advance. 3494 Esplanade Ave, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 985-778-5034 or 512-964-9499

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18. Things to Do in New Orleans, Louisiana: SoBou  SoBou



SoBou is a popular eatery and lounge designed as a modern Creole saloon located in the W New Orleans hotel in the French Quarters SoBou (South of Bourbon) neighborhood. The place is famous for its inventive cocktails and elevated pub grub with a Creole touch and produced by Chef Juan Carlos Gonzales. Try his sweet potato beignets or yellowfin tuna tartar with basil and avocado. While the service is excellent, if youd rather not wait for the refill of your beer of wine, choose one of the tables in the restaurants beer garden, which has built-in wine and beer on tap so you can serve yourself. There is always something going on at SoBou, so check out their list of events for the next jazz evening or Burlesque Brunch. French Quarter, Rue Chartres, New Orleans, LA 70130, Phone: 504-552-4095



19. Things to Do in New Orleans: Brown Butter Restaurant  Brown Butter Restaurant



Brown Butter Restaurant is a locally owned and operated eatery that offers a creative menu rooted in Southern culture and tradition. Located in Mid-City New Orleans, the restaurant was founded by Chef Dayne Womax and Simon Beck, who wanted to provide New Orleanians with food that is both thought-provoking and consistently delicious. They serve their dynamic cuisine in a casual and relaxed atmosphere. Dishes are made with the freshest seasonal and local ingredients to come out of the south, and the bar serves a range of delicious, signature cocktails, micro-brewed beers, and in-house sodas. Brown Butter Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, and the bar serves small plates and drinks. 231 North Carrollton Avenue Suite C, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-609-3871

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20. Things to Do in New Orleans: Mardi Gras World Tour  Courtesy of David - Fotolia.com



Mardi Gras World Tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of Mardi Gras on a fantastic one-day tour of the Blaine Kern Studios, which is world-renowned for building magnificent parade floats for Mardi Gras and other parades all over the world. Knowledgeable guides lead visitors through the vast studios, sharing the history of the unique and festive tradition of Mardi Gras. Tour goers will gain a better understanding of the planning and work that goes into the annual parade. Visitors get to see how the massive floats and props are built and can explore the art behind the costume making before enjoying a complimentary slice of King Cake. Tours are offered seven days a week and run every 30 minutes. 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-361-7821



21. Pythian Market Food Hall  Pythian Market



New Orleans is famous for its creole cuisine, but youll find much more than that at Pythian Market. A hugely popular hangout spot with New Orleans natives, this food hall and event space is filled with local food and drink vendors, curated retailers, rotating pop-ups, and more. A super location for foodies and friends, the Pythian Market is also a place to engage with New Orleans as a city, feeling the soul and spirit of Louisiana all around you in this community-focused gathering space that really celebrates and honors the people and culture that make the Big Easy such a unique location. The Pythian Market is housed in the Pythian, one of the most storied and celebrated buildings in the whole city of New Orleans. Instantly recognizable with its unique architectural style and imposing facade, this building was constructed back in the early 1900s and actually played a big role in the Civil Rights Movement for New Orleans, becoming a beacon of sorts for the local African American community. It was a place for people to come together and feel like they were in their own 'home away from home', enjoying live entertainment and good company. That same spirit is present in the Pythian to this day, thanks to the Pythian Market. 234 Loyola Ave, New Orleans, LA 70112, Phone: 504-481-9599



22. The Where Y'Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana  The Where Y'Art Gallery



Located in the historic Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, The Where Y'Art is a unique art gallery with satellite galleries across the city where visitors can discover, buy, and experience the best of New Orleans art. It is also an online gallery that represents more than 100 New Orleans artists  painters, sculptors, craftsmen, and jewelry designers. The Where Y'Art Gallery helps visitors get the curated picture of the rich art offering of New Orleans, and it offers artists the opportunity to connect with buyers and art lovers. The online gallery offers 24-hour access to New Orleans art and information about the artists behind each piece. It allows art lovers to search artworks by category, collection, color, price, or neighborhood. It directly connects potential buyers with participating artists and provides information on the latest trends in the art world of New Orleans. 1901 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70117, Phone: 504-325-5672

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23. Bevi Seafood Co., New Orleans, Louisiana  Bevi Seafood Co. Bevi Seafood Co. is a neighborhood seafood market and restaurant that serves seasonal dishes according to the traditions associated with New Orleans' crawfish, crab, shrimp, and oyster seasons. Located in Metairie and soon to be located in Mid-City, Bevi Seafood Co. works closely with local seafood suppliers to ensure their seafood is sea-smacking fresh. Menus feature made-from-scratch Po-Boys using homemade ingredients and a variety of hot plates and platters laden with fresh Louisiana seafood. The menu also features specialty-to-go items such as various soups, salads, and sauces, and it also caters special occasions and private events. 236 Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-488-7503



24. Audubon Nature Institute, New Orleans, Louisiana  Courtesy of Patrick Rolands - Fotolia.com The Audubon Nature Institute was established to celebrate the wonders of the natural world through a variety of museums and parks dedicated to nature. The aim of the institute is to preserve Louisianas natural habitats and exhibit the diversity of wildlife that live within them, as well as encourage and inspire visitors to learn more about the natural world and to work towards conserving it. There are eight museums and parks that make up the Audubon Nature Institute: the Audubon Park and Riverview, the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center, the Audubon Zoo, the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, Audubon Wilderness Park, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and the Entergy IMAX Theater. 6500 Magazine St. New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-581-4629



25. Commander's Palace, New Orleans, Louisiana  Commander's Palace Occupying the spectacular blue mansion snuggled in the middle of the historic Garden District and shaded by 100-year old trees, Commanders Palace is one of New Orleans most venerated restaurants, and it has been in operation since 1880. Grand, elegant rooms, terraces, and gardens are spread throughout the palace. Commanders Palace is the place for celebrations and festivities, and this New Orleans icon will give you one of the best culinary experiences of your life. Executive Chef Tory McPhail continues the tradition of world-renowned chefs like Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse, and Jamie Shannon to provide guests with superbly prepared and expertly presented Haute Creole cuisine. The wine list has 2,400 titles, with 240 half-bottles and 50 wines by the glass. 1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130, New Orleans, LA, Phone: 504-899-8221



25 Best Things to Do in New Orleans, Louisiana

Best New Orleans Trolley Rides

New Orleans is an incredible city with a vibrant culture, never-ending nightlife, rich cuisine, and fascinating annual festivities. It's a must-visit Louisiana location, and there are a lot of things to do in New Orleans, so any visitors will need to be familiar with one of the most popular ways to get around the city quickly and easily: the New Orleans trolleys. Also known as streetcars or trams, the New Orleans trolleys run all around the city and have been in existence since the 1800s, making them one of the oldest trolley or streetcar systems in the entire world.

New Orleans Trolley Rides

Beloved by locals and tourists alike, the New Orleans trolleys provide a fresh, fun, original way to get around and see the sights, soaking up a little of the city's Creole culture on the way and enjoying convenient transportation at great rates. If youve never visited New Orleans or ridden the citys trolleys before, you might need a little information to figure out how the system works, how much it costs, and which line you should be taking to get to where you need to go. Read on to learn all about the New Orleans trolley system.

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First of all, one important thing to note about New Orleans trolleys is that the locals will always refer to them as 'streetcars'. They are basically trolleys, looking and functioning in the same way as the trolleys you'd find in other major cities all around the United States, but they're known as streetcars in New Orleans so if you need to ask for directions from a local, remember to ask for a streetcar station if you don't want to sound too much like a tourist!

The New Orleans trolleys run on five separate lines which are color coded on maps as blue, yellow, red, light green, and dark green. Each line also has its own names. There's the Riverfront Line, which is blue on maps; the Loyola/Rampart Line, which is yellow; the Canal St Line running to Cemeteries, which is red; the Canal St Line running to the City Park Avenue and the Museum of Art, which is light green; and finally, there's the St Charles Line, which is dark green on travel maps and is typically regarded as the main and most popular line on the New Orleans trolley system.

It's important to note that the New Orleans trolleys run around the clock almost all year long. This schedule is only interrupted by special events and festivities like New Orleans' famous Mardi Gras celebrations. Train schedules will vary but the trolleys can run as often as every five minutes during peak rush hours. It's important to keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times as these trolleys can pass quite close to trees and other obstacles, and you'll need to pull a wire above your head to signal that you'd like the car to stop.

Riding the New Orleans trolleys or streetcars is very simple. The fares are really cheap, with single tickets available for only $1.25. Unlike some other trolley systems that you may have encountered around the United States, the New Orleans streetcar system involves payment on board the cars, so you don't need to worry about buying a ticket from machines in advance. Simply step on and pay your $1.25 for a one-way ticket. You can also choose to buy a 'Jazzy' pass which will give you full streetcar access for a whole day. Multi-day passes are available too and offer significant savings for people who are staying in New Orleans for several days or weeks.

New Orleans Trolley Lines

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As previously mentioned, there are currently five lines in operation on the New Orleans trolley system. Read on to learn key details about each line, including schedules and important stops along the way.

- St. Charles Line

The St. Charles Line is the longest and most historic in New Orleans. It's the oldest continuously operating street trolley anywhere in the world, so it has a lot of history behind it, and it runs through the 'American' side of the city. It's one of the most popular lines with tourists, making major stops at places like the Garden District, the Audubon Zoo, the World War 2 Museum, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

- Loyola/Rampart Line

The Loyola/Rampart Line starts at Union Passenger Terminal, so it's a good starting point for people who are getting into New Orleans by public transport like bus or train. It heads off along the side of the French Quarter and through the business district of the city. It offers easy access to some of the bars and eateries in the French side of the city.

- Riverfront

As its name suggests, the Riverfront line runs along the side of the Mississippi River. It's a good line to choose if you're looking to visit key areas in the French District like the French Market. You can also use this trolley line to check out locations like Jackson Square, the Convention Center, and the Audubon Aquarium.

- Canal Lines

The two canal lines have different end points but follow more or less the same routes. These lines are good options for people who want to enjoy the bars and restaurants of Canal Street itself. The line that heads up to Cemeteries is a good option if you'd like to explore the city's world-famous gravesites, while the Museum option is a good option for the New Orleans Museum of Art and surrounding City Park area.

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City Park

City Park is one of the nations oldest urban parks, and it is home to beautiful botanical and sculpture gardens with ancient oaks and picturesque moss canopies, walking and biking trails, tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, and several outdoor concert venues. Established in 1854, the charming 1,300-acre urban oasis has enchanted visitors to the city for decades, offering something for everyone. Stroll through the Besthoff Sculpture Garden or the beautifully maintained collections of the Botanical Garden. You can also enjoy a game of tennis on one of 26 tennis courts or ride a flying horse on the one-of-a-kind antique wooden carousel in the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park.

1 Palm Drive, New Orleans, Louisiana, Phone: 504-482-4888

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From fun beach resorts to country getaways, families planning a weekend trip or a longer vacation in North Carolina have plenty of choice. Whether you like historic country lodges, lighthouses, luxury hotels or unique retreats, our list includes ideas for all tastes and budgets. Great city destinations in North Carolina include Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington and Chapel Hill. Here are the best North Carolina vacation spots.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. The Winds Resort Beach Club - 3 hours 45 minutes from Charlotte  The Winds Resort Beach Club

Located in Ocean Isle Beach, framed by palm trees and sand dunes, The Winds Resort Beach Club is an exquisite oceanfront resort that offers a luxurious sanctuary for the whole family. A variety of accommodation is offered, ranging from spacious guest rooms that accommodate up to three people to four, five, and six bedroom cottages on the beach. Boasting beautiful beach views, all guest rooms feature modern amenities, including microwaves, mini-fridges, coffeemakers, and free wireless Internet. Three swimming pools and rental bicycles offer the perfect way to spend the day, and a fitness center will keep you fit. A complimentary hot Southern breakfast buffet is served each morning, and the Oceanfront Poolside Restaurant serves delicious food in a casual setting. This is one of the best North Carolina destinations for sun lovers. 310 E 1st St, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469, 910-579-6275

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2. Highland Lake Inn and Resort - 2 hours from Charlotte  Highland Lake Inn and Resort

Perched high above the Highland Lake on twenty-six acres of scenic countryside, Highland Lake Inn is a rural resort that provides guests with an unforgettable mountain experience. Conveniently situated a few miles from historic Hendersonville and the Flat Rock Playhouse, the Inn is ideally placed for exploring the region. Comfortable accommodations range from elegant, uniquely decorated rooms in the main hotel to cozy quarters in a rustic lodge, and they feature spacious bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and modern amenities, including flat-screen cable televisions, fireplaces, and balconies with beautiful mountain views. Seasons, the on-site restaurant, serves internationally inspired cuisine in an elegant dining atmosphere. Guests can have a hearty breakfast in the sunny dining room, and brunch is available on Sundays. The inn offers an array of activities to enjoy, from paddle boating, billiards, and hiking to pampering in-room massages and body treatments. More Things to Do in North Carolina 86 Lily Pad Lane, Flat Rock, NC 28731, 828-693-6812

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3. Sea Ranch Resort - 6 hours from Charlotte  Sea Ranch Resort

Sea Ranch Resort promises a tranquil retreat with spectacular ocean views and friendly service. Soak up the beauty of the Outer Banks at this luxurious oceanfront resort, which features an array of comfortable accommodation with modern amenities, superb fine dining, and a plethora of activities to enjoy. Guests can choose from lovely rooms in the main building or oceanfront or condo-style suites, all of which feature modern furnishings, en-suite bathrooms with showers and baths, flat screen TV with cable/HBO, climate control, mini-fridges, and coffee makers. Private balconies offer spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean, and guests can dine in style at the Beachside Bistro, which serves a creative menu of American Coastal Cuisine against a backdrop of ocean vistas. The Outer Banks is one of the best North Carolina vacation spots. 1731 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948, 252-441-7126



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4. Getaway Places Near Me: The Dunhill Hotel  The Dunhill Hotel



Steeped in history and surrounded by modern significance, Tne Dunhill Hotel is a stylish boutique hotel in the heart of Charlottes uptown. Dating back to 1929, this iconic hotel is an oasis of calm amid the hustle and bustle of the city and is one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America. The hotel features sophisticated accommodation in the form of elegant guest rooms that exude a 1920s ambiance, and they are replete with marble bathrooms, armoires, writing desks, and modern amenities, including flat-screen televisions, iPod docking stations, and Keurig coffeemakers. Other hotel amenities include The Asbury, an upscale on-site restaurant that serves delicious Southern specialties, a relaxed lounge with live music, and home baked cookies every evening. The Dunhill Hotel is within walking distance of the Time Warner Cable Arena, the Charlotte Convention Center, and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. 237 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28202, 704-332-4141

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5. Shell Island Resort - 4 hours from Charlotte  Shell Island Resort



Located on Wrightsville Beach, Shell Island Resort is a stunning seaside hotel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Offering a tranquil escape for the whole family, the hotel features 169 beautiful ocean-facing guest suites and rooms, each of which has a private balcony with gorgeous sea views. Guest suites boast large living rooms with sleeper sofas  ideal for kids  a fully equipped kitchenette with holiday essentials, two flat-screen TVs and DVD player, and high-speed Internet. The hotel has a private beach with many shells and great surf, as well as a large swimming pool with poolside cabanas for relaxing. A Tiki hut offers an array of activities for the whole family, and available equipment includes surfboards, boogie boards, skim boards, stand-up paddleboards, and kayaks. Adults can enjoy relaxing in the hot tub or staying fit in the gym while a sand volleyball court provides fun for the whole family. If you are looking for relaxing North Carolina vacation spots, this is a great destination. 2700 N. Lumina Avenue, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 800-689-6765

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6. Vacation Spots Near Me: Graylyn - 1 hour 15 minutes from Charlotte  Graylyn



Situated in Winston-Salem, Graylyn International Conference Center rests on a vast 55-acre property and offers guests a private estate of their own. Located just minutes from downtown but providing a tranquil retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city, Graylyn provides the perfect combination of an enchanting, historic residence and a modern, sophisticated conference facility. Guests can choose from an impressive range of accommodations, from Manor House rooms and suites in the Mews to cozy guest cottages and private bungalows. All accommodation options feature spacious bedrooms, en-suite marble bathrooms with baths and showers, charming sitting areas, ornate fireplaces, and beautiful views. Guests can enjoy a complimentary gourmet breakfast buffet each morning and superb dining at one of the several on-site restaurants around the estate. Alternatively, guests can enjoy delicious home-cooked fare in the comfort of their rooms. 1900 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, 800-472-9596

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7. Weekend Getaways Near Me: Ocracoke Harbor Inn  Dad's Retreat  Ocracoke Harbor Inn

Based at the Ocracoke Harbor Inn on Ocracoke Island, Dads Retreat is a three-bedroom island home that offers luxurious comfort and a home-away-from-home appeal. Located just off the harbor, the clapboard house has lovely lighthouse views and is within walking distance of the islands shops and restaurants. Dad's Retreat is a fully furnished house with three bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms with baths and showers, kitchen, living spaces, and a back and a front covered porch. Other amenities include central air-conditioning and heating, two televisions, laundry facilities, an outdoor shower, and gas grill for alfresco dining. Docking for one boat is available upon request, as well as charter fishing and bicycle rentals for exploring the island. 144 Silver Lake Road, Ocracoke Island, NC 27960, 252-928-5731



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8. NC Vacation Spots: Tapoco Lodge  Tapoco Lodge

Resting on the banks of the cascading Cheoah River on 120 acres of the lush Nantahala National Forest, Tapoco Lodge is a historic mountain lodge that has been providing guests with an idyllic mountain escape for more than 85 years. Established in 1930 and located 15 miles north of Robbinsville, the rustic yet elegant mountain lodge is the ideal spot for family reunions, wedding receptions, corporate retreats, and more. The spacious cabin-style accommodation features private bathrooms with whirlpool tubs and separate sitting areas, and it looks out on lovely views of the Cheoah River and Yellow Hammer Creek. The SlickRock Grille offer upscale and riverside patio dining. Well known for its hiking, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, and scenic back roads, the lodge provides a variety of fun activities for the whole family to enjoy. Keep reading for more North Carolina destinations. 14981 Tapoco Rd, Robbinsville, NC 28771, 828-498-2800 More vacation ideas: 31 Best Romantic Weekend Getaways in North Carolina.



9. North Carolina Vacations: Haywood Park Hotel  Haywood Park Hotel

Haywood Park Hotel is a stylish all-suite boutique hotel set in a former 1923 department store in the heart of Asheville. Located within a short walk of Ashevilles social and cultural scene, the hotel offers 30 elegant suites equipped with sitting areas featuring pull-out sofas, kitchenettes with mini fridges, en-suite bathrooms with whirlpool tubs, and modern amenities such as flat-screen televisions and iPod docking stations. Grand suites are the ultimate in luxury with over 1,200 square meters of space and breathtaking views over downtown Asheville. First-class hotel amenities include a 24-hour fitness center and a business center, free wireless Internet, and valet parking, as well as a casual cafe and bistro that serves regional cuisine for lunch and dinner seven days a week. One Battery Park Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina 28801, 828-252-2522



10. Places to Relax near Me: The Carter Lodge  The Carter Lodge

The Carter Lodge is located just around the bend from the center of Chimney Rock Village and offers comfortable accommodation, a lovely garden with picnic areas, direct river access, and a variety of activities for couples and families. Honeymoon couples can bask in the romantic Honeymoon/whirlpool room while spacious guest rooms accommodate two to four people. Rooms feature double, queen, or king-sized beds, en-suite bathrooms with showers and baths, mini-refrigerators, and free Wi-Fi. Freshly brewed coffee is served every morning. Some rooms have private balconies with beautiful river views, and all guests have access to the tranquil garden, which has barbecue grills, picnic areas, and swings for the kids. The garden also has a cornhole bag toss game and checkerboard tables for those wanting some entertainment, and the river provides excellent trout fishing and swimming. 273 Main Street, Chimney Rock, NC 28720, 828-625-8844

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11. Weekend Getaways Near Me: 200 Main  200 Main

200 Main, a modern mountain lodge in Highlands, is the perfect base for a family holiday. Offering an outdoor pool and free Wi-Fi access, the inviting hotel offers contemporary rooms that feature en-suite bathrooms with heated floors, flat screen televisions, stone fireplaces, and private balconies. The suites offer spacious living areas and patios, and free wireless Internet is available in the hotel. Rooms can adjoin for friends, families, or groups traveling together, and freshly brewed coffee and muffins are served every morning. Other hotel amenities include an outdoor heated mineral swimming pool, a lovely terrace area with a fire pit, and an elegant lounge for relaxing. The hotel is conveniently located a short drive away from Dry Falls Waterfall, Whiteside Mountain, and the Center for the Visual Arts. 200 Main Street Highlands, NC 28741, 828-526 2790



12. North Carolina Vacations: River's Edge Motel  River's Edge Motel

Located in the midst of the Great Smoky Mountains, River's Edge Motel has it all for a relaxed family getaway. Situated on Tsali Boulevard midway between the Cherokee Historic District and the Sanooke Village shopping area, the motel features twenty-one spacious riverside rooms with en-suite bathrooms, air-conditioning, cable television, and coffee machines. Rooms have private balconies overlooking the Oconaluftee River, and free wireless Internet is available throughout the hotel. Rivers Edge Motel is ideally located for exploring the area, which is home to a variety of attractions, including Great Smoky Mountains National Park, White Mountain, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. 1026 US 441 North (Tsali Blvd.), Cherokee, NC 28719, 828-497-7995



13. NC Vacation Spots: Blockade Runner Beach Resort  Blockade Runner Beach Resort



Soak up North Carolinas laid-back coastal culture at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort. Located on one of the most beautiful and serene beaches on the North Carolina coast, Blockade Runner Beach Resort is a contemporary resort hotel surrounded by landscaped gardens and stunning ocean views. The resort offers peaceful accommodation in the form of minimalist rooms with en-suite marble bathrooms, private balconies, and modern amenities, including free Wi-Fi and televisions. The easy-access beach offers an array of fun activities for the whole family, from swimming and snorkeling to volleyball and beachcombing, while adults can enjoy fishing charters and boat tours from the hotel. Other hotel perks include a beautiful outdoor swimming pool, a fitness center and gym, a seasonal pool bar, and an oceanfront restaurant serving fresh seafood and regional fare. 275 Waynick Blvd., Wrightsville Beach, NC 28408, 910-256-2251

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14. NC Vacations: Grandover Resort  Grandover Resort



Luxury meets location at this luxurious five-star Greensboro resort. Spread over more than 1500 acres, Grandover Resort & Spa offers guests deluxe accommodations, award-winning dining, a world-class golf course, and breathtaking views. Looking out over the Allegheny foothills, guest suites feature spacious sitting areas, en-suite bathrooms with marble foyers and whirlpool tubs, and modern amenities, including 42-inch flat-screen TVs, fridges, coffeemakers, wet bars, and free wireless Internet. Guests have access to a range of superior hotel facilities, including an indoor/heated outdoor pool, an outdoor sand volleyball court, croquet and bocce ball. Golf lovers will delight in the 36-hole championship golf course while couples can play a game of tennis on day/night clay courts. Special Couples Experiences are offered at the luxurious day spa with a fitness center, sauna, steam room, and hot tubs. Refined dining is available at the elegant Sicilian-style Di Valetta restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, overlooking the lush gardens. 1000 Club Road, Greensboro, NC 27407, 336-294-1800



15. Vacation Paces Near Me: Topsail Shores Inn  Topsail Shores Inn



Situated in the quiet fishing village of Sneads Ferry just a few minutes from the beautiful North Topsail Island, Topsail Shores Inn is a family-friendly hotel that offers an ideal getaway for the whole family. Less than 20 miles from Jacksonville, this modern low-rise inn features simply decorated guest rooms with kitchenettes, flat-screen TVs, MP3 docking stations, and free Wi-Fi. A complimentary snack bar provides an array of delicious breakfast items and fresh coffee while an outdoor swimming pool beckons in the hot summer months. Children will delight in the on-site playground at the Inn, which provides hours of fun, and a short walk leads to North Topsail Beach where you can enjoy swimming, boogie boarding, beachcombing, and stunning sunsets. 1325 NC Highway 210, Sneads Ferry, NC 28460, 910-685-0969

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16. Vacation Spots Near Me: Windjammer Inn  Windjammer Inn



Windjammer Inn is a family-friendly oceanfront hotel set on beautifully landscaped grounds in Atlantic Beach. Located a few miles from the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and the Fort Macon State Park, the hotel is ideally located for a family holiday with children. Simple rooms with modern decor have spacious bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. Some of the accommodations have whirlpool tubs, fridges, microwaves, and cable television. Hotel amenities include a wooden deck with Bali beds and seating, a seasonal outdoor heated pool and hot tub, and a tranquil lagoon with a waterfall. A private walkway leads to the beach where guests can relax in hammocks and soak up the views. 103 Salter Path Road, Atlantic Beach, NC 28512, 252-247-7123



17. Vacation Paces Near Me: Aloft Asheville  Aloft Asheville



Located in the heart of Asheville, Aloft Asheville is a contemporary hotel with loft-inspired Asheville accommodations, modern amenities, and an ideal location for exploring the city. The hotel is within walking distance of the Asheville Art Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and the historic Biltmore Estate, as well as a dozen local craft breweries. Modern rooms enjoy mountain or city views and feature en-suite bathrooms with walk-in showers, flat-screen televisions, mini fridges and coffeemakers. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel. Suites feature spacious living rooms and glass doors that lead to private cabanas. In-room breakfast is available for an additional fee, and guests can have a drink and a game of pool at the bar, which boasts beautiful city views. Other perks include a fully-equipped gym and an outdoor swimming pool. 51 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801, 828-232-2838

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25 Best North Carolina Vacations & Destinations

More North Carolina Vacations: The Esmeralda Inn

Set in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, the Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant is a rustic log cabin inn that offers an authentic mountain experience. Made from massive locust wood columns, old hardwood floors, and rhododendron railings, the intimate retreat rests on a forested hillside in the Western North Carolina Mountains and boasts beautiful views of the Rocky Broad River and surrounding Hickory Nut Gorge.

The Inn features comfortable accommodations, including three private cabins for larger groups and families, along with an array of amenities and facilities such as fireplaces and hot tubs to create an idyllic mountain retreat. The Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant also offers a family-friendly restaurant that serves dinner and hosts private events and has been used in various Hollywood productions such as The Last of the Mohicans, Firestarter and Dirty Dancing.

Guest Accommodations

The Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant features 14 stylishly appointed guest rooms and suites with rustic decor and furnishings, private bathrooms, and modern amenities, including comfortable pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, 32-inch flat panel LCD TVs, Bose Wave music systems, and free wireless Internet. The Inn offers several room types ranging from Traditional and Mountain View Rooms to Terrace rooms, as well as a private cabin for families and larger groups of travelers.

Traditional Rooms are 235 square feet in size and feature one king or two queen-size beds with pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, private en-suite bathrooms with showers, environmentally-friendly spa toiletries, and luxury bathrobes, and modern amenities such as 32-inch flat panel LCD TVs, Bose Wave music systems, and free wireless Internet. These deluxe rooms look out over the garden and outdoor whirlpool area.

Mountain View Queen Rooms are 188 square feet in size and feature breathtaking views Chimney Rock, the Rocky Broad River, and the Hickory Nut Gorge. These cozy rooms have queen-size beds with pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, and private en-suite bathrooms with showers, environmentally-friendly spa toiletries, and luxury bathrobes. Modern amenities include 32-inch flat panel LCD TVs, Bose Wave music systems, and free wireless Internet.

Premium Rooms are slightly larger than the Mountain View Rooms and feature open plan living spaces with one king or two queen-size beds with pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, and private en-suite bathrooms with showers, environmentally-friendly spa toiletries, and luxury bathrobes. Modern amenities include 32-inch flat panel LCD TVs, Bose Wave music systems, electronically controlled ceiling fans, and free wireless Internet.

Terrace King Rooms are the largest, most luxurious rooms at the Inn with direct access to the second-floor terrace and breathtaking views of the Rocky Broad River. The rooms have 270 square feet of space and have king-size beds with pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, and private en-suite bathrooms with showers, environmentally-friendly spa toiletries, and luxury bathrobes. Terrace King Rooms have seasonal outdoor stone whirlpools and modern amenities, including 32-inch flat panel LCD TVs, Bose Wave music systems, electronically controlled ceiling fans, and free wireless Internet.

The Esmeralda Cabin is located just next to the main inn and offers extra levels of privacy and peace. The cabin features three bedrooms and two bathrooms and large open plan living spaces with a wood-burning fireplace and television, and a fully equipped kitchen. The bedrooms feature king and queen size beds with pillow-top mattresses and luxury Anichini linens, and en-suite bathrooms have walk-in showers, environmentally-friendly spa toiletries, and luxury bathrobes. The cabin has a full porch with a swing, rockers and beautiful views of Chimney Rock.

Dining

The Esmeralda Inn Chimney Rock Restaurant is a casual, family-friendly restaurant that serves seasonal menus of delicious local cuisine and beverages. Ideal for large gatherings or intimate dinners for two, the restaurant uses locally sourced ingredients and products to produce delectable and expertly crafted dishes, with daily blackboard specials available. The restaurant also features a Chefs Table in a private dining room where guests can watch their meal being prepared by the expert chef, as well as enjoy cooking classes that are offered throughout the year.

Amenities

The Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant offers an array of amenities, facilities and guest services to enhance every stay, ranging from a complimentary hot breakfast served daily, complimentary gourmet coffee and tea throughout the day, and lunch and dinner served at the Esmeralda Inn Chimney Rock Restaurant with outdoor dining. An 1800 square foot outdoor patio has a fireplace and 18-person, in-ground whirlpool tub, swings and rockers for relaxing and soaking up the beautiful views, and there is a scenic park next to the Rocky Broad River with sitting areas, picnic tables, and hammocks where guests can relax. Business services include complimentary high-speed wireless internet access throughout the property, free local telephone calls.

Weddings & Events

The Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant is a serene location for destination wedding receptions and rehearsal dinners. The Inn boasts two large dining areas, as well as a lounge and welcoming restaurant space, a professional gourmet kitchen, and beautiful front porches and outdoor deck with spectacular views of Chimney Rock Mountain. The Esmeralda Inn & Restaurant can accommodate parties of up to 80 guests for a standing cocktail party-style reception and offer a variety of wedding, reception and rehearsal dinner packages to suit every budget and taste.

910 Main Street, Chimney Rock, NC 28720, Phone: 828-625-2999

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More Ideas: 200 Main in Highlands

200 Main is a modern mountain lodge in Highlands and offers a perfect base for a family holiday. Offering an outdoor pool and free Wi-Fi access, the comfortable hotel offers contemporary rooms that feature en-suite bathrooms with heated floors, flat screen televisions, stone fireplaces and private balconies. Suites offer spacious living areas and patios, and free wireless Internet is available in the hotel. Rooms can adjoin for friends, families or groups traveling together, and freshly brewed coffee and muffins are served every morning. Other hotel amenities include an outdoor heated mineral swimming pool, a lovely terrace area with fire pit, and an elegant lounge for relaxing. The hotel is conveniently located within a short drive from Dry Falls Waterfall, Whiteside Mountain and Center for the Visual Arts.

Guest Accommodations

200 Main features well-appointed boutique guest rooms with hardwood floors, contemporary decor in soothing hues, original artworks, and modern furnishings. Guest rooms and suites have king or queen-size beds in deluxe Frette linens, and en-suite bathroom with heated floors, shower and bath combinations, vessel vanities, and eco-friendly bath products. Spacious sitting areas have comfortable seating, stone fireplaces and private balconies or terraces with beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Luxury suites offer spacious living areas with ample seating, pullout sofa beds, gas fireplaces, and covered furnished patios. Modern conveniences in guest rooms and suites include flat screen televisions with cable channels, telephones with voicemail services, in-room safes, clock radios, coffee/tea makers, irons and ironing boards, and complimentary wireless Internet.

Guest rooms and suites are available in King Balcony, King Balcony Fireplace, Queen Suite, and Standard Rooms. King Balcony rooms have king-size beds in deluxe Frette linens, and en-suite bathroom with heated floors, shower and bath combinations, vessel vanities, and eco-friendly bath products, and private balconies with breathtaking views. King Balcony Fireplace rooms have the same amenities as the King Balcony rooms, such as king-size beds in deluxe Frette linens, and en-suite bathroom with heated floors, shower and bath combinations, vessel vanities, and eco-friendly bath products, and private balconies with breathtaking views, as well as spacious living areas with ample seating, pullout sofa beds, and gas fireplaces. Standard Rooms and Queen Suites have queen-size beds in deluxe Frette linens, and en-suite bathroom with heated floors, shower and bath combinations, vessel vanities, and eco-friendly bath products.

Dining

A complimentary continental breakfast is served on the waterfront deck every morning including fresh fruit, juices, cereals, yogurt, freshly baked bread and pastries, and hot beverages such as coffee and tea.

Amenities and Recreation

Deluxe amenities at 200 Main include an outdoor heated mineral swimming pool, a pretty terrace with a fire pit for outdoor bonfires beneath the stars, an intimate room for meetings and events with access to the outdoor terrace, and a range of concierge services. The Highlands area has something for everyone, whether you are looking for relaxation or outdoor adventure, from cultural experiences and antique shopping to white water rafting, horseback riding, and hiking.

Wedding & Events

The charming mountain hotel features an intimate meeting room with access to the outdoor terrace and fire pit for small meetings and social events such as weddings and ceremonies. A perfect destination for various functions, the hotel also modern amenities, and a host of services such as preferred vendor lists, complimentary parking, catering and professional wait staff.

200 Main Street, Highlands, North Carolina 28741, Phone: 855-271-2809

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Driving Distances from Charlotte

From Charlotte, NC To Driving Time Ocean Isle Beach, NC 3 hours 45 minutes Flat Rock, NC 2 hours Kill Devil Hills, NC 6 hours Wrightsville Beach, NC 4 hours Winston-Salem, NC 1 hour 15 minutes Ocracoke Island, NC 8 hours Robbinsville, NC 3 hours 30 minutes Asheville, NC 2 hours 15 minutes Chimney Rock, NC 2 hours Highlands, NC 3 hours Cherokee, NC 3 hours Wrightsville Beach, NC 4 hours Greensboro, NC 1 hour 30 minutes Sneads Ferry, NC 4 hours 40 minutes Atlantic Beach, NC 5 hours 45 minutes

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Charleston, South Carolina offers couples a diverse selection of romantic lunch and dinner spots, from casual cafes and pizzerias to elegant bistros and historic restaurants serving amazing seafood, soul food and more. Our list includes ideas for nearly every taste and budget, including several excellent take-out options to surprise your better half with a romantic picnic in the park and many unique downtown Charleston restaurants.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. Magnolias  Magnolias

A Charleston institution since 1990, Magnolias is a beloved favorite for many locals and one of the most romantic restaurants in Charleston, SC. The famous restaurant on East Bay Street offers a refined take on traditional Southern cooking with top-notch dishes created by Executive Chef Donald Drake served in a warm and welcoming environment. Order dishes like Shellfish over Grits and Down South Egg Roll, and dont miss the Southern Pecan Pie or Spiced Peach Cake for dessert. Grab a copy of Magnolias Authentic Southern Cuisine Cookbook and you can prepare some of these tasty dishes at home. 185 East Bay Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401, Phone: 843-577-7771

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2. 167 Raw  167 Raw

167 Raw is a New England-influenced seafood restaurant that offers fresh lobster rolls, ceviche and raw oysters. Run by partners Jesse Sandol and Kyle Norton, this small and cozy eatery is tucked away in an unassuming space on East Bay Street and offers a daily selection of fresh fish that you can take wrapped to go, or pull up a stool and feast on. The classic lobster rolls are a winner - fresh lobster with mayo, garnished with scallions and stuffed between a buttered roll, with fresh raw oysters and fish tacos coming in a close second. 193 King St, Charleston, SC 29401, Phone: 843-579-4997

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3. EVO Pizzeria  EVO Pizzeria

EVO Pizzeria on East Montague Avenue in North Charleston is a bustling, casual establishment serving artisan wood-fired pizza with sumptuous homemade toppings. Seasonal, locally sourced ingredients are the focus of the eatery, and the EVO team only uses products from local farmers and producers to help create their masterpieces. The restaurant is relaxed and friendly, with large chalkboards on the walls, listing their daily specials. While pizza is the main item on the menu, daily specials can include homemade sausages, crostini, and fresh arugula. The beer list has offerings that will keep any beer aficionado happy. 1075 East Montague, North Charleston, South Carolina 29405, Phone: 843-225-1796 Read more: Best Time to Visit Charleston, South Carolina & Other Travel Tips.



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4. Edmund's Oast  Edmund's Oast



If you are looking for unique restaurants in Charleston, SC, Edmund's Oast is a stylish gastropub that draws a hip crowd with their inventive American cuisine and unparalleled craft beer program. In addition to a diverse selection of on tap and bottled beer options, Edmund's Oast serves an array of culinary delights. Dishes like Pickled Shrimp and Braised Lamb Meatballs are indicative of the kitchens creative flair, and combined with unique cocktails, Edmund's Oast will undoubtedly have you coming back for more. 1081 Morrison Drive, Charleston, South Carolina 29403, Phone: 843-727-1145 You may also like: Best Things To Do in Charleston and Best Romantic Places to Stay in Charleston.

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5. Indaco  Indaco



Serving modern Italian fare and artisan wood-fired pizzas, Indaco is the place to go if you are craving great Italian food in a hip and inviting atmosphere. Located on Upper King Street, this rustic trattoria is decorated with wooden tables and chairs to create a bustling, vibrant ambiance, which has you thinking you could be in the heart of Naples. Perfectly-crafted bowls of pasta, fresh garden salads and creative pies are continually flowing out of the open kitchen and you can watch the action from the chefs table or a seat at the bar while you sip a drink. Places to Visit in South Carolina 526 King Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29403, Phone: 843-727-1228

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6. The Alley  The Alley



The Alley is Charlestons popular one-stop entertainment spot, located in a bright and cheery place with eight bowling lanes, three bars with flat-screen TVs, craft beers, and American comfort food. The massive 6,870-square-foot space is located in an old warehouse renovated in 2012 in the retro 1970s style of a classic bowling center. It is a popular gathering space and even attracts celebrities with its 40-foot bar and a range of vintage arcade games. The place is hopping on big game nights when the two giant 160" projection screens get all the attention. 131 Columbus St, Charleston, SC 29403, Phone: 843-818-4080

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7. The Grocery  The Grocery

Resting on Cannon Street, The Grocery is an inviting eatery with an innovative and seasonal menu that evokes memories of a small town grocery. Executive Chef and owner Kevin Johnsons kitchen is stocked with produce from local farmers, fishermen, and artisans, which he turns into an array of delicious Southern-influenced plates. Wood-roasted clams, pig skin pad Thai and bone marrow brulee are just some of the menus creative offerings, while an extensive list of signature cocktails, wines and craft beers on tap serve as excellent accompaniments. 4 Cannon Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29403, Phone: 843-302-8825



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8. Tavern and Table  Tavern and Table

Reminiscent of the neighborhood taverns of old, Tavern & Table on Shem Creek is a casual waterfront eatery that is designed to be a welcoming gathering place for friends to get together in a comfortable home-away-from-home environment. A locally sourced new American menu includes soups, salads, cheese, meat dishes, and amazing rustic flatbread prepared in the brick oven. Sit at the scenic waterfront bar and soak up the views as you feast on small plates from the kitchen and sip signature cocktails that are handcrafted to perfection. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily. 100 Church Street, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina 29464, Phone: 843-352-9510



9. Husk  Husk

Located in a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Charleston, Husk was conceived by James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Brock, who opened the restaurant to showcase Southern food created with locally sourced ingredients. The menu is updated twice daily and showcases creative dishes such as Cornmeal Dusted Catfish with sweet corn, peas, smoked tomato and charred squash. While the food is modern in style and innovation, the decor echoes the historic buildings heritage, with rustic walls and a large chalkboard listing the delectable daily specials. 76 Queen Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401, Phone: 843-577-2500



10. FIG  FIG



FIG (Food Is Good) serves Southern classics is an elegant, comfortable bistro setting, with a focus on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. James Beard award-winning Executive Chef, Jason Stanhope, and Chef/Partner Mike Lata produce creative, flavorful dishes which incorporate high quality, flavorful ingredients. The restaurant offers delicious handcrafted cocktails and an impressive wine list with choices from around the world, including 100 bottles under $100. For dessert, order the Chocolate Crepes with cinnamon ice cream and butterscotch. 232 Meeting St, Charleston, South Carolina 29401, Phone: 843-805-5900

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11. Wild Olive  Wild Olive



Wild Olive is a rustic-chic eatery on St Johns Island that serves a simple menu of Italian staples and artisanal classics, accompanied by an extensive wine list. The eatery opened in 2009 with the aim of bringing authentic Italian cuisine to Charleston, Wild Olive offers handcrafted pasta, wood-fired pizza, house-cured charcuterie and excellent desserts. A list of food-friendly wines completes the experience. Wild Olive recently became the first Certified Green Restaurant in South Carolina, whose environmentally conscious business practices add to the popularity of the always-packed restaurant. < 2867 Maybank Highway, Johns Island, South Carolina 29455, Phone: 843-737-4177



12. The Ordinary  The Ordinary



Set in a historic building in downtown Charleston that dates back to 1927, The Ordinary is an upscale seafood restaurant that pays homage to all things from the sea. Co-owners Mike Lata and Adam Nemirow set out to build an award-winning raw bar. Oysters are the star of the show here, while other delights like ceviche, chowder, and lobster rolls come in a close second. White-jacketed servers add a touch of glamor to the already stylish abode, whose high ceilings and Palladian windows create a romantic atmosphere. 544 King St., Charleston, South Carolina 29403, Phone: 843-414-7060

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Southern Ben Tre Province has targeted to open 500 new firms each year, bringing the total number of enterprises to 5,000 by 2020.  Photo enternews.vn

BEN TRE  Southern Ben Tre Province has targeted to open 500 new firms each year, bringing the total number of enterprises to 5,000 by 2020.

The number of newly-established companies in the province has increased this year, thanks to the launch of a startup programme.

In the first nine months of the year, the province had 400 newly-established businesses, posting an increase of 55 per cent year-on-year. Registered capital in the January-September period rose 2.3 times in comparison with the same period last year. Average registered capital for each business was VN6.42 billion (US$283,000), which was higher than the VN5.3 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The number of small and micro firms has gradually reduced in the province.

Le Xuan Vinh, director of Ben Tres centre for promotion and startups, said the province has 2,952 operating businesses. This number was modest in comparison with other localities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region.

Ben Tre has promulgated legal documents, policies and mechanism to facilitate businesses development, attracting investors. It has implemented a startup programme  a key solution to improve its business environment.

The provincial Peoples Committee has asked the centre to support firms in completing administrative procedures for startups. The province has established a team to provide support for free to firms in administrative procedures relating to investment and relevant sectors.

Startups and household businesses will be granted a business registration licence in one day. The province will also give VN3.5 million to each startup and household business to be used for fees of establishment and developing the brand name.

In addition, it has promulgated a regulation to shorten time to resolve administrative procedures in investment for projects that are not funded by the State budget.

Nguyen Huu Lap, vice chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, said the province adjusted the target to develop 500 new firms per year instead of 300 in the next five years.

Ben Tre has focused on developing its economy, building infrastructure and appealing for investment for its higher growth, Lap said.  VNS
Mobile World store in Ha Noi offers zero interest installment payment plans on mobile phone purchase.  VNS Photo oan Tung

HA NOI  Consumer finance is proving to be an attractive sector with the number of foreign companies rising through mergers and acquisitions, the news site cafef.vn reported.

In late September, the Viet Nam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) reportedly sold its stake in the financial arm TechcomFinance to the South Korean credit firm Lotte Card, a member of Lotte Group, for 87.5 billion won or VN1.73 trillion (US$76.9 million).

After being purchased by Techcombank in January 2015 from the Viet Nam National Chemical Group (Vinachem), TechcomFinance has VN600 billion in charter capital.

The deal will allow Lotte Card to issue credit cards, provide installment financing services and consumer finance in Viet Nam, and target the local consumer finance sector, valued at VN744 trillion as of June 30, 2017, equal to 12.4 per cent of the Vietnamese economys credit balance.

In mid-September, MCredit  the financial arm of the Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBBank)  officially changed its name to MB Shinsei Consumer Finance Co Ltd, a step that helped MBBank completed selling a 49 per cent stake in MB Shinsei Consumer Finance to the Japanese bank Shinsei. The deal between the two banks was signed in November 2016.

Local consumer finance companies have also made their way to expanding market coverage, such as FE Credit  the consumer finance arm of Viet Nam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank).

FE Credit in July 2017 raised its charter capital to VN4.49 trillion from the previous VN2.79 trillion. It has continuously increased charter capital from VN1 trillion since being acquired by VPBank from the Viet Nam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) in June 2014.

According to FE Credit, the competition in Viet Nams consumer finance industry will get fiercer as more players enter the country, reducing market shares and comparative advantages of those already present in the market.

Economic and financial specialist Can Van Luc said at an online conference on September 27 that consumer finance would help people afford their needs and manage their finances better.

It would further develop the sector of individual consumer spending - which accounted 67-68 per cent of Viet Nams gross domestic product (GDP)  having a positive impact on the countrys socio-economic development and stablising the financial market, he said.

According to analysts, the consumer finance business still has room to grow and the participation of both domestic and foreign companies will help boost the sectors influence on the Vietnamese economy.  VNS
The first-ever Viet Nam Business Summit will be held in a Nang City on November 7 within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting of 21 leaders of economies.  Photo vietnam-guide.com

HA NOI  The first-ever Viet Nam Business Summit will be held in a Nang City on November 7 within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting of 21 leaders of economies, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce (VCCI) announced yesterday.

The Vietnam Business Summit (VBS) is one of four major business events planned for the APEC Economic Leaders Week. They also include the fourth meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council from November 4 to 6, a meeting between the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the APEC Economic Leaders, and the APEC CEO Summit, expected to draw 1,200 delegates from the forums member economies.

The VBS will be held in conjunction with investment promotion exhibitions by 63 provinces and cities across the country.

Focusing on business opportunities in Viet Nam, the VBS is expected to be held annually from next year.

The activities of businesses during APEC will focus on two areas, which are the contribution to policy formulation and investment and business connection, VCCI head Vu Tien Loc said at yesterdays press conferenc.

Reporting on the outcome of the previous ABAC meeting in Toronto in July, Hoang Van Dung, ABAC Chair, said participants agreed that trade liberalisation has generated great social benefits, helping millions of people escape poverty.

Dung said business leaders expressed their support for multilateral trade while agreeing to continue the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), pursuing the new agenda on services, removing non-tariff barriers, facilitating trade and investment, and putting forth a post-2020 Vision for APEC.

They also backed the APEC connectivity programme and suggested intensifying digital and internet connectivity, facilitating the movement of skilled workers, developing a contingent of quality labourers and enhancing the participation of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in the global market via digital economy and e-commerce.

APEC Finance Minister Meeting

Also within the framework of APEC, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will organise the 24th APEC Finance Ministers Meeting (FMM) on 21 October in Hoi An City in the centre province of Quang Nam, MoF announced yesterday.

Vu Nhu Thang, Director of the International Co-operation Department under the MoF said some 300 delegates including Finance Ministers, leaders and representatives of MoF and Central Banks from APEC member economies, leaders of international organisations such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), WB, ADB, OECD will participate in the FMM.

On the agenda are the global and regional economic outlook, outcomes of the FMP on the four policy priorites of 2017, updates on implementation of the Cebu Action Plan, and other relevant issues.

The Ministers will also spend time in a dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and leaders of major enterprises and business groups in the region.  VNS
HA NOI  The TNI Holdings Viet Nam Group and Japanese Meiko Electronics Viet Nam Company agreed to construct the third electronics plant in Viet Nam.

They signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect on Monday.

Under the MoU, Meiko Electronics Viet Nam Company, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of printed circuit boards and electronic assembly, would lease land area and infrastructure in Quang Minh Industrial Park (IP) belonging to TNI Holdings Viet Nam, in Ha Nois Me Linh District, for the establishment of its plant with a total investment of some US$50 million.

The Japanese investor chose TNI Holdings Viet Nam due to its integrated and modern infrastructure, competitive policy environment and high quality services.

In 2006, Meiko Electronics Group cooperated with TNI Holdings Viet Nam (former Viet Nam Investment Development Group  VID) to build its first electronics plant in Thach That Industrial Park. The plant used to be one of 10 largest FDI projects and the largest foreign electronics production project in Viet Nam at that time.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Nguyen Phi Hung, TNI Holdings Viet Nams chairman, said over the past 10 years, the group has seen the growth of Meiko Electronics Viet Nam Company at its IP.

The choice of the company to build the third plant has shown strong confidence in TNI Holdings Viet Nam, Hung said.

The group has been one of the leading IP developers in the country by attracting more than 400 investors into its IPs, including 300 foreign ones from Japan, mainland China, the US and Germany, as well as South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Currently, it has 10 large scale IPs and residential areas, with a total area of 2,300ha. Its IPs have attracted more than $3 billion FDI capital with big brand names in the world, including Honda, Sumitomo Wirings, Marumitsu and Meiko, as well as Brother, Hitachi, Terumo and Ajinomoto, in addition to Pegasus (Japan), Cargill (the US) and CP (Thailand).

The group has created jobs for thousands of people, contributing to the State budget in provinces where it has IPs.

TNI Holdings Viet Nam plans to expand its current IPs such as Que Vo 3 (Bac Ninh), ong Van 3 (Ha Nam), Bim Son (Thanh Hoa) and Minh Quang (Hung Yen) and to build new ones in Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Vinh Phuc provinces in the future to meet the demand from the increasing number of tenants.  VNS
HCM CITY  Anova Farm Joint Stock Company, a member of the Anova Group, on October 10 received a Global G.A.P certificate for its pig for meat farm from Control Union, an international inspection and certification body.

It is the first farm raising pigs for meat in Viet Nam to get the certification.

To qualify, farms must meet 100 per cent of 143 major musts, 95 per cent of 69 minor ones and 36 recommendations through self-assessment as well as inspections and checks by the Control Union.

Pig farms with Global G.A.P certification will ensure food safety, traceability, workers and animals welfare and environmental protection and preserve bio-diversity.

The certification is valid for one year, and farms will be audited every subsequent year through regular and surprise inspections.

Ton Van Tan, general director of Anova Farm, said: We are committed to providing customers with quality and safe pork and clear traceability. At the same time, Anova Farm aims to develop sustainable livestock production, raising standards in the livestock and food industry.

ang Anh Tuan of Control Union in Viet Nam said some 200 farms in Viet Nam have Global G.A.P certification, mainly fruit, vegetable, rice, shrimp, and fish farms.  VNS
Hong Van

The northernmost province in the country is no longer a remote area in the tourism sense of the word.

Ha Giang is now known all over the world for its spectacular landscapes including golden terraced rice fields, limestone peaks and outcrops, valleys of flowers and the cultural diversity of its ethnic minority communities, who comprise almost 90 per cent of its population.

With such a multi-cultural makeup, it is not surprising that Ha Giangs cuisine reflects the diversity and many of the dishes found here are unique, and some of the have become well known, like thang co (simmered horse meat and offal), thang den (boiled glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with mung beans) and grilled algae.

But there is one dish which is very popular among locals and easy to find, but visitors, especially those making their debut in the province, find it intimidating because it is called poisonous porridge.

One of its main ingredients gives the dish a bitter taste, and people warn you that it can cause harm if not made well, but its popularity and ubiquitous presence in the city shows it is worth checking out.

The chao au tau, is a rice porridge with pork leg, stir-friend minced pork, and the au tau root.

Locals in Ha Giang are experts in using expert au tau, they know how to eliminate the poison in the root and combine it with rice, making it a dish that is actually healthy, helping ease joint pain and aiding sleep.

Though Id been to Ha Giang before, I had stayed mostly in the remote districts like ong Van, the karst plateau park and Hoang Su Phi, the land of terraced rice fields. It was only in latest trip last week that I had the chance to visit Ha Giang City and have au tau porridge for the first time.

A trip to Ha Giangy is not complete without having a bowl of au tau porridge, my local friend Le Van Uoc.

Uniquely Ha Giang: Apart from dishes like thang co (simmered horse meat and offal), thang den (boiled glutinous rice dumplings), grilled algae, no visit to Ha Giang Province can be complete without trying a bowl of chao au tau.

Strolling along the citys streets in misty, cold weather, I realised how different it was from what I had expected. The street was quite busy at night, offering a broad range of street food, with au tau porridge stalls the most populous.

Tran Hung ao Street has the highest number of au tau porridge eateries, and among them, Huongs is the best, my friend said.

Nguyen Thi Huong, a Ha Giang native, has been selling au tau porridge for years. She said the au tau tree grows mostly in the 2427m high Tay Con Linh, the highest peak in the province.

The Mong and Dao people go to the peak to get the au tau root and soak it in wine. The mixture is used as a massage lotion or balm for curing minor pains, she said.

To use au tau as food, we have to be careful in processing it. Otherwise, it can poison diners, Huong said, confirming what Id heard earlier.

Au tau, which has the scientific name of Aconitum grows typically in high mountainous areas. Its root is hard as a rock, and thorny.

Ready to serve: Locals in Ha Giang are experts in using au tau. They know how to eliminate the poison in the root and combine it with rice, making a porridge that is tasty and healthy.

To make a big pan of au tau porridge, people have to work hard for almost a whole day.

The most difficult part is making the au tau safe.

The root is first cleaned and soaked in rice water (in which rice had been washed), for at least four hours or from early morning till noon. It is then taken out, cleaned again, and simmered in boiling hot water for another four hours. At this point, the root is safe and edible, and locals grind it for adding to the porridge, which itself is simmered with pork leg.

To make good porridge, locals use rice grown in hills. This rise is soaked in water from previous night till early morning so that the dish is soft and creamy.

Stir fried minced pork, pepper, scallion, perilla and chilli are added to the au tau porridge.

While the au tau gives the porridge a bitter taste that might put off the first time diner, the creaminess of rice and the sweetness of pork bones reduce the bitterness and create a unique taste.

Au tau porridge is served only in the evening because it is said to be good for sleeping, Uoc said.

In the cold climate of a high mountainous area like Ha Giang, nothing can soothe you better than bowl of hot au tau porridge, he added.  VNS
Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, head of the Department for Labour and Population Statistics of the General Statistics Office, discusses with the Nong thon Ngay nay (Countryside Today) newspaper measures to reduce the rate of undocumented workers.

What do you think about the presence of undocumented workers in Viet Nam?

A recent report by the General Statistics Office shows that the rate of unofficial workers in Viet Nam is relatively high at 18 million. If labourers in the agricultural sector are taken into account, there are over 40 million unofficial workers, accounting for over 70 per cent of the countrys total work force of 54 million. This ratio is much higher than in Thailand and China, but is still lower than that of India and Bangladesh. A worrying fact is that up to 76 per cent of unofficial workers (in the non-agricultural sectors) have no contracts and no social security. As per our estimates, shifting unofficial workers to official status is slow, only about 1-2 per cent in the 2014-2016 period. Without any adjustments, the situation will have negative impacts on the national labour market and economy.

Can you elaborate on these impacts?

First, the high rate of unofficial workers hinders the protection of workers rights to contracts, social security and health insurance, often thrusting them into vicious cycles of poverty and backwardness. Unintentionally, they become a burden for families and society. Second, the situation also has an adverse impact on the sustainable development of enterprises, the State budget and Government activities, especially in terms of socio-political and environmental policies.

What should be done to reduce the number of unofficial workers?

Currently, the criterion to distinguish between an official worker and an unofficial one is their work position. Therefore, it is necessary to document these workers. This can be done by facilitating the establishment of new enterprises that provide jobs, attracting more foreign investment to support the development of FDI (foreign direct investment) and domestic enterprises so that they will create more jobs. Some experts also suggest promoting linkages between household businesses, regarded as unofficial, and official sectors. For example, we can help vegetable growers supply supermarkets and agro-trading companies with their products, through which their work will be officialised. The same measure can also be applied to rice growers and animal breeders. Other long-term solutions may include more State investment in vocational training, supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises and reducing taxes for those moving from unofficial positions to official ones.

However, many say that it is difficult for workers to move from unofficial positions given a shortage of jobs. What do you think?

I think the economy has already seen positive signs. The number of new jobs in the FDI sector is high. Unofficial workers are totally capable of becoming documented workers by applying for jobs in these enterprises. However, the difficulty does not only lie in how to create official work. Adding to the problem is the inverted trend where many official workers are moving to the unofficial one. For example, many taxi drivers are leaving their jobs at taxi companies to become drivers for ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab (where they are considered freelancers), or many workers from the countryside are moving to cities to seek temporary jobs. Therefore, we should gradually come up with appropriate policies for these seasonal workers.  VNS
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong last Saturday signed the Politburos first regulation on personnel rotation, aiming at reducing redundancy and ensuring administrative leadership in disadvantaged areas. VNAA/VNS Photo Tri Dung

HA NOI  Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong last Saturday signed the Politburos first regulation on personnel rotation, aiming at reducing redundancy and ensuring administrative leadership in disadvantaged areas.

Regulation 98-QD/TW aims to implement a more effective personnel strategy when the process of national industrialisation and modernisation is being enhanced. As such, it supplements earlier resolutions, including Resolution 11 on the rotation of senior, managerial personnel issued by the Politburos ninth tenure.

It specifies the purposes, requirements, principles and targeted positions for the reshuffle, rotation criteria, process and duration, benefits for transferred personnel, and supervision of rotation and handling of violations in the process.

Under the new resolution, any official within the political system can be transferred to a different job, especially to disadvantaged areas in need. The move also aims to deal with the problem of personnel redundancy and resultant inefficiency.

The rotation of officials also aims at filling key provincial and district positions with officials who are not local residents, while preventing officials from holding a position for more than two consecutive terms.

The personnel rotation must happen under the leadership of Party committees at all levels, and ensure the principle of democratic centralism, the regulation says.

Only senior and managerial cadre will be rotated under this regulation. It will not apply to those doing specialised work, except when there is a need for such staff in certain spheres or localities.

The regulation stipulates that those who are transferred must be young, promising officials with good capacity, political virtues and moral lifestyles.

The reshuffling of managerial cadre can be made between central and local levels, between localities, and among agencies of the Party, the State, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organisations, armed forces, public service units and State-owned enterprises.

A person must hold a position for at least three years before being transferred, the regulation says.

Regulation 98-QD/TW was promulgated during the sixth session of the 12th Party Central Committee that is taking place in Ha Noi.  VNS
HA NOI  Ha Nois Department of Tourism has begun offering training classes to residents living in areas that receive heavy tourist traffic, aiming to promote community-based tourism and improve the quality of tourist services.

According to the department, tourism is a key industry in Ha Nois economy. The city boasts more than 1,300 craft villages, over 600 cultural and historical sites and about 1,000 annual festivals. Last year, about 22 million visitors arrived Ha Noi, an 11 per cent increase from 2015. The city expects to get 23.6 million visitors this year, including 4.3 million foreigners. But serving visitors to help make sure they want to make a return visit to Ha Noi is an art and a skill that can be difficult to master.

Last year, to address this need for training, the tourism department opened three tourism-related classes for people in the communes of Ba Trai, Van Hoa and Ba Vi in the suburban district of Ba Vi.

In August 2017, another class was opened for people in Quang An Ward in Tay Ho District. Last month, nearly 100 people in Thuy Lam Commune of ong Anh District participated in a similar class.

During these classes, people receive information about the benefits of tourism, skills to communicate and serve tourists and instructions on the need to keep the environment clean and green.

Pham Hung Son, head of uong Lam Ancient Village Relic Management Board, said that uong Lam villagers understand the benefits of tourism. More than 120 families in the village participate in the tourism industry, including by offering homestay services or other tourism products.

Nguyen Manh Truong, vice chairman of Quang An Ward Peoples Committee in Tay Ho District, said that the ward was famous for decorative plants, lotus ponds and lotus-scented-tea as well as religious sites like Tay Ho Temple and Kim Lien Pagoda.

More than 700 families in the ward rent houses to foreigners. During peak times, he said, the ward hosts up to 3,000 foreign visitors.

With such advantages, Quang An residents are excited to join tourism activities, particularly because of the economic benefits to families and localities, Truong said.

Chu Thi Minh Tam, head of Tay Ho Districts Culture Division, said that in order to engage the local community in tourism development, it was necessary to facilitate opportunities for them to participate in tourism planning and then supervise the implementation of the plans.

This will help to produce more practical planning and help local residents properly know about changes to the land they are living in, Tam said. Improvement of public awareness of the need to preserve natural and cultural values of the locality also helps ensure stability in their lives.

Vu An Dan, head of Tourism Department under Ha Noi Open University, said that human resources should be the first area of focus in any effort to speed up tourism development.

Poor human resources, poor service quality means visitors will not return, Dan said.
HA NOI  Troubled by low fertility rates in the southern provinces, the Ministry of Health has proposed relaxing the countrys two-child policy in order to allow Vietnamese parents to decide the number of children they want.

The proposal was one of three population planning proposals presented by the ministry at the 12th Party Central Committees sixth meeting underway in Ha Noi.

The three suggestions, contained in a draft population law, include a differential policy of birth rate flexibly according to regions so that in areas with high fertility rate of three children per woman, families would be encouraged to have fewer than two children whereas in areas where the fertility rate is low, parents would be encouraged to have two children.

The second option would keep in place the two-child policy, which encouraged parents to have only one or two children. The third option would allow parents to decide.

Nguyen Van Tan, deputy chief of the ministrys General Office for Population and Family Planning, said the country has managed to maintain the ideal replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman over the past decade. Replacement levels refer to a balance between the number of births and deaths.

Figures from HCM Citys Department of Population and Family Planning show that Viet Nams largest city recorded fertility rates of 1.45 children per woman of childbearing age. A low birth rate was also observed in the Mekong Delta region  between 1.5-1.6 children per woman.

If the two-child policy is maintained, and the birth rate is lower than the replacement rate, the country would face a series of problems, including social benefits for the elderly and labour shortages in the next ten years, he said.

If the birth rate drops below a certain level, it would be difficult to increase it, a problem faced by other Asian nations. Tan cited South Korea as an example of a country that maintained a limited birth rate policy until it decided to loosen the policy when the rate dropped to less than 1.6 children per woman in 1996.

However, this rate continued to decline further, reaching 1.08 children per woman in 2005. The government made efforts to encourage childbirth, adopting incentive policies that resulted in an increase up to an average of 1.27 children per woman in 2012.

Some of the participants at the discussion raised concerns of a population boom if the third option is implemented, expressing support for the differentiated regional option.

However, Tan said that based on the experience of other countries, increasing the birth rate in areas with low fertility would be difficult.

The draft population law will be discussed further before the Central Committee plenary session ends on Wednesday.  VNS
SINGAPORE  With labour migration on the rise across ASEAN, countries like Viet Nam, which sends a large number of workers abroad and relies on remittances for 7 per cent of its GDP, should strengthen protections for workers while lowering barriers to their mobility, argues a new World Bank report released yesterday in Singapore.

The report, Migrating to Opportunity , highlights the importance of migrant workers to the region as a whole: ASEAN countries received US$62 billion in remittances in 2015. It also articulates challenges faced by ASEAN migrant workers, focusing on barriers to their mobility. The report concludes that removing barriers for skilled workers and decreasing obstacles for all workers would increase ASEAN worker welfare by 14 and 12 per cent respectively.

Labour migration rose significantly between 1995 and 2015, with Singapore , Malaysia and Thailand becoming the regional migration hubs. The significant differences in wages among ASEAN countries create opportunities for workers to earn more money when they cross the borders. Migration usually increases the salaries in receiving countries, which benefits both migrant workers and local ones.

But migrant workers are often vulnerable, and policies across the region do little to address their needs. According to UN data, 80 per cent of intra-ASEAN migrants are low-skilled and many of them are undocumented. Contruction, plantation and domestic services are the sectors that receive most of migrant workers.

Current challenges facing migrant workers include lack of protections for migrant workers, high recruitment costs at recruitment centers, costly and lengthy migration procedures, migration quotas and domestic employment policies that prevent workers from easily changing jobs.

Since migrant workers often find themselves at the mercy of recruitment agencies that promise to find them jobs abroad, Viet Nam needs to better regulate labour export companies to protect the rights of workers. The report also recommends that it consider a national migration strategy to guide reforms.

Meanwhile, receiving countries should tightly manage their migration system to quickly respond to labour market demand and guarantee that local workers wages and working conditions are not changed as a result of an influx of migrants.

Migrating to Opportunity was delivered by World Bank Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific Sudhir Shetty and Mauro Testaverde, lead author and economist for the World Banks Global Practice for Social Protection and Jobs at a press conference in Singapore .

The presentation was telecasted at regional World Bank country offices.  VNS
A tropical low-pressure system may gain strength and develop into a tropical storm when making landfall in Viet Nam today, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said yesterday.  Photo vietnamnet.vn

HA NOI  A tropical low-pressure system may gain strength and develop into a tropical storm when making landfall in Viet Nam today, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said yesterday.

Hoang uc Cuong, the centres director, said according to forecasts by the US and Japan the tropical low-pressure system, which has been affecting Viet Nam for several days, will likely be upgraded to a tropical storm level 8, the lowest level out of 18. It is predicted to make landfall early this morning and hit central provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Binh.

Provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai are forecast to experience heavy rain. In particular, four provinces from Nghe An to Quang Binh can expect very heavy rains of up to 200-400mm, Cuong said.

Southern parts of the northwest region and the northern Central Highlands are expecting average rain.

The centre said water levels of rivers in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh were rising. Flooding was forecast for rivers in Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai provinces at midnight yesterday.

Light flooding was also expected to hit the rivers of Thao, Lo and Thai Binh in the north between today and tomorrow.

Northern mountainous provinces and central provinces have been put on high alert due to the possibility of landslides and flash floods, the centre said.

The urban areas of large cities which are prone to be inundated needed to prepare carefully to prevent damage to property and lives, it said.

At an urgent meeting of the National Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Control to prepare for the tropical low-pressure system, the committee asked coastal provinces in the affected area to inform all offshore vessels about the latest developments of the system so that they could find safe anchorage.

The localities administrations were told to evacuate locals in low-lying areas and along riverbanks to higher locations and re-check reservoirs to ensure safety during heavy rains, it added.

Colonel Tran Duong Kien from the High Command of Border Guard said by yesterday morning, about 70,000 offshore vessels had been informed about the situation.  VNS
Following the launch of the Galet Regulateur in June, Laurent Ferrier has tweaked the model to create an eight-piece limited edition exclusively for Singapore. Previously available in stainless steel or white gold with a silver dial, the Singapore edition combines a red gold case with an opaline dial.

In Singapore for the launch, Vanessa Monestel, chief executive of Laurent Ferrier explained the rationale behind the new model, The Regulateur is a very special watch for Laurent Ferrier [as] he wanted to pay tribute to the watchmakers in the workshop. Thats a nod to the historical roots of the regulator dial.

Regulator clocks originated in the early 18th century as tools to aid astronomical observations. They typically had two sub-dials on the main dial, each counting the hours, minutes and seconds on separate axes for greater legibility and precision. By the 19th century, regulator clocks were used as reference clocks  the dial layout made the time easily legible from afar  in watch factories when regulating and setting the timepieces being produced.

Like conventional regulator wristwatches, the Singapore edition has central minutes with the hours in a sub-dial at 12 oclock and running seconds at six oclock (the position of the sub-dials is a matter of convenience due to the base movement; in contrast, historical regulator clocks always had the seconds at 12 oclock).

Unlike the stock Galet Regulateur, the dial has an opaline finish, while the recessed hour and seconds sub-dials are slate grey with a concentric azurage finish. The dial features a railway minute track with Arabic numerals in slate grey for the quarters. While all the hands are in white gold, each is shaped differently  leaf-shaped for the hours, the spear-like assegai hand for the minutes, and baton hand for the seconds.

The case is 18k red gold and Montre Ecole style, a design that was first introduced in January 2017. It is modelled on Laurent Ferriers school watch  the literal translation of montre ecole  and features a delicately rounded bezel and band with extended, pastille lugs meant to recall an earlier time in watchmaking when pocket watches first made the transition to the wrist. In keeping with the warm colour of the case, Regulateur on the dial is now red, instead of blue.

Powering the watch is the elaborately constructed cal. 228.01, which is based on the signature micro-rotor automatic that powers all of Laurent Ferriers watches save for the tourbillon. The movement features a micro-rotor and the proprietary double direct-impulse escapement with a silicon pallet fork. And as is usual for Laurent Ferrier, the movement is decorated with large Cotes de Geneve on the main bridges, circular graining on the main plate and black-polishing on the bridges of the balance and micro-rotor.

Price and Availability

The Galet Regulateur Singapore edition is limited to eight pieces and is priced at S$87,000, or about US$64,000.
Seventh in a series of articles from our fall Inclusion magazine, highlighting diversity in the area.

WATERLOO -- It may be one of the biggest emerging businesses along Waterloos East Fourth Street north of Walnut Street  traditionally known as the north end.

And its becoming a pathfinding north star as far as diversity in the local workforce.

Sayer Law Firm, located in a former Iowa Job Service office at 925 E. Fourth St., boasts a full parking lot and a growing workforce. Situated across from the Canadian National Railway yard, the law firm is one of Waterloos newer emerging businesses.

Sayer is an offshoot of the Waterloo law firm of Dunakey & Klatt in downtown Waterloo, later known as the Klatt law firm (Klatt, Augustine, Treinen & Rastede), of which attorney Brian Sayer was a part. The operation first located at 925 E. Fourth in 2013 and became a separate entity earlier this year.

The East Fourth Street location employs between 60 and 70 people at the Waterloo location, with satellite locations in multiple cities and states.

We began by specializing in real estate, Janelle Ewing of the firm said, including foreclosure and contract forfeiture, some collections. But we are now working on a push to broaden into all sorts of general practice sorts of law, especially estate planning and probate, family law and other litigated tasks.

Along with that, We decided pretty on when we got over here that we wanted an inclusive atmosphere, Ewing said. First of all, because its the right thing to do. And second, because our clients understand its the right thing to do and they push for it. Our clients do a lot of government contracts. They want to show their clients, their vendors, like us, have a culture of inclusiveness and development.

Already we were strong in that we had a large number of female employees here. And then, we have so many different types of work to do in the building, we realized that its good to have a variety of different types of workers.

Stacey Belk of the firm said she had discussions with representatives of The Inclusion Connection, a Waverly-based nonprofit organization supporting adults of diverse abilities desiring inclusive work opportunities

Through that contact the organization hired three autistic workers with varying degrees of ability. They all do very well in the roles that theyre in, Belk said.

We have a culture here of inclusion, Ewing said. We just have a lot of people raised to be inclusive and accepting. We just have a really good crew of people here that understands everybody gets to be themselves.

Thats because of the backgrounds they bring to the firm. I am a former high school band director, said Ewing, a 1995 West High School graduate who previously taught in Sugar Land, Texas. And we have another lawyer who is a former orchestra director  both in the public education. We have a lot of parents here who have children with special needs. We have a lot of people working with us as legal assistance who have backgrounds in the arts, theater and music  probably have a lot exposure to different world views and different types of people.

When we all realized we all felt this way, it was really easy to move forward and start acting on that  making sure the culture is one of inclusion, non-bullying and development.

I still get to teach a lot here, Ewing said. Because the people that get these jobs many have never been in a office setting before. Many, its their first job out of high school or college. They dont know anything about law or legal assistancy or real estate or the mortgage industry. They have to be taught from the ground up.

The firms management team has been working for more than a year developing uniform educational materials for new hires.

The firm is hiring, filling positions being vacated by workers returning to school.

The basic qualities the firm is looking for are attitude, openness and fitting into the culture, Ewing said, as well as responsibility, timeliness and some computer training. People say it all the time in all disciplines and it holds true here: Id rather have a low- to medium-talented person with a good work ethic than a lazy talented person.

The firms hiring and commitment to inclusion earned the firm from the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber earlier this year. In applying for that award, the firm looked in depth at the diversity of its workforce.

We discovered that we had people from all over the world, Ewing said. We counted a significant number of languages. We do have a couple of multi-linguals on staff now. We counted all the major religions; all kinds of backgrounds. We have people who worked their way up. We have millennials who are being exposed to the world for the first time. We have single parents and young people, as well as members farm families supplementing their incomes. All coming together to make this work."

The firm anticipates being at its present location well into the future, Ewing said. Well always have our base in Waterloo. We will always be hiring in Waterloo, she said. I grew up here, and I do not subscribe to the incorrect myth that Waterloo is a bad place to be. Ive been all around the country. Ive seen all kinds of cities. And Im really proud of my town.

"Im really proud of the development thats happened since I got back here in 2011," she said. "Im proud of the opportunities that are popping up here and the hard work that people like (JSA Development principal) Jim Walsh and Mayor (Quentin) Hart are doing. I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of showing the world that Waterloos a great place to live and work. And Im really passionate about that.
WAVERLY  Tristin Laue was at the send-off ceremony last month for around 100 Iowa Army National Guard members now deployed to the Middle East.

It wasnt how he planned it.

Laue was in the crowd watching the ceremony, not standing with his fellow soldiers, because he was diagnosed with a rare cancer late last year.

That was a hard day. That was a weird day, said Laues stepmother and caretaker Debbie Nichols. That send-off was very emotional for him. For me, it was mixed.

Nichols would have worried about Laue if he were deployed to a war zone. But his diagnosis of stage four fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma  a rare form of liver cancer  has caused a different kind of heartache.

Hundreds cheer departing National Guard unit CEDAR FALLS  Spc. Ryan McGranes first deployment was easier than his second.

Nichols said the Guard has been immensely helpful. Laue, 19, of Waverly, is still enlisted, though is expected to be discharged at the end of the year.

At the urging of Drill Sergeant Dan Wegner, the family decided to host a benefit to aid with Laues medical expenses. It started small, but has grown due to Laues father  Mitch Laues  connections to local bands.

The Jam for the Fam benefit will go from noon to midnight Saturday at The Centre Hall, 1211 Fourth St. S.W. in Waverly. Bands will play throughout the day. The response was so overwhelming some bands had to be turned away.

To register for the event, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1658802407494895. Those who cannot attend but wish to donate can visit https://www.youcaring.com/tristinlaue-940739.

Rachelle Hahn, an organizer and good friend of Nichols, said Laue is expected to be discharged from the Guard soon and will lose his health coverage. The family also looking into alternative treatments.

October is liver cancer awareness month. Though the timing is coincidental, Nichols said part of the idea of the benefit is to raise awareness about this rare disease.

Nichols said Laue joined the Guard because he wanted a change in circumstance and enjoyed the camaraderie of a unit. He was on leave after advanced individual training, where he learned the ins and outs of helicopter maintenance, over the Christmas holiday when he thought he had come down with pneumonia.

Instead, it was discovered he had a pulmonary embolism, or blood clots in his lungs. He was airlifted to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he has been having weekly treatments ever since. That included a surgery in July to remove tumors throughout his body, though more have been found.

Some Iowa Guard airmen headed to Puerto Rico DES MOINES  The Iowa Army National Guard is sending 24 security forces personnel today to s

The family took him to the hospital Dec. 30. In February he was diagnosed, though he earlier learned he likely had cancer, just not the type.

It was quite a blow, because their family was going through a lot, Hahn said.

Laues diagnosis came after Nichols daughter was in a snowmobile accident and Nichols had back surgery.

It was almost surreal to have all of that going on at the same time, let alone having the blow that its  cancer, Hahn said. When you have something like that in your family, you live for the moment; you live with whats going on in your life.  Its hard to think of the big picture.

After the benefit, Laue will return to Mayo on Oct. 17 to check whether his chemotherapy is working.

Everybody is always amazed at how polite and respectful he is, Nichols said. Thats what makes me mad. Hes just such a good kid. And, its like where does this come from?
CEDAR FALLS  The man who has played a key role in economic development within Cedar Falls city government for nearly three decades has resigned to take a job in the private sector.

Bob Seymour, the citys planning and community services division manager, has resigned to accept a position with Community Bank & Trust, City Administrator Ron Gaines said.

Seymour, who has been with the city 28 years, submitted his resignation Friday, Gaines said. His last day will be Nov. 3.

I think his contribution to the city has been incredible, Gaines said of Seymour. You can look back at the Industrial Park and a very large part of that is a credit to Bob Seymour.

Hes been a real asset for us, Community Development Director Stephanie Houk Sheetz said of Seymour. Hes certainly seen a lot of economic development happen over the years with the industrial parks, in the southern and now the northern part of the city.

Community Bank & Trust President & CEO Stacey Bentley said Seymour has been offered the position of business development officer, in which he would work with some of the same business leaders he did in his city job.

Were really excited to have him on board, Bentley said.

Seymour declined extended comment for now but said the new post was a tremendous opportunity for himself and his family .

Gaines said city department heads discussed the impact of Seymours resignation and how to fill the post at their regular meeting Monday but no firm plan has been determined yet. Gaines said the position absolutely will be filled but added, It will take a while to fill that spot.

He said remaining city planning staff, including David Sturch and Shane Graham, are performing similar work. Seymours position answers directly to Sheetz in the citys organization structure. No determination has yet been made on whether someone will formally be named to Seymours position in an acting capacity.

Gaines anticipates some presentation will be made to the City Council concurrent with Seymours departure.


        

                  .     .     .
WATERLOO  When Greg Freshwater followed in his fathers footsteps and joined Waterloo Fire Rescue, fellow firefighter Scott Ernst was sure he wouldnt like his young, chipper new colleague.

When I found out he was offered a position with Waterloo, I hoped he wouldnt be on my shift, and when I found it out he was on my shift, I figured it would be easy just to ignore him, said Ernst, a fire department engineer.

He recalled how he first heard Freshwaters proud mouth and cocky voice at the fire training center. But in less than a year, the upstart firefighter was starting to grow on the grumpy veteran.

Freshwater died in August when he was jogging south of town and was struck by a passing car.

UPDATE: Runner killed in crash identified as firefighter WATERLOO  Flags at Waterloo fire stations are at half staff to honor a firefighter who died

On Monday, Freshwater posthumously received Waterloo Fire Rescues Firefighter of the Year award for 2017. It was Ernst who recommended him for the honor.

Youve got to prove yourself to me, and he did it really fast, said Ernst, who spoke during the Exchange Club of Waterloos award luncheon. I guarantee that some day Greg would have won this award. Unfortunately, Greg was taken from us far too soon, and since he could not receive it in the future, I think its only right that he gets it now.

The lead paramedic who responded to the fatal accident, Ian Wass, was recognized as the departments Paramedic of the Year for 2017.

Freshwater completed a fire science degree at Hawkeye Community College in 2016, and he worked for the Marshalltown Fire Department before he was hired in Waterloo in November 2016. He and three other Waterloo firefighters were taking on additional training to become paramedics.

Waterloo Fire Rescue was lucky to hire Greg. The citizens of Waterloo were lucky to have him as one of our protectors, and every one of us that go close to him was lucky to have Greg as a brother, Ernst said.

Paramedic-Firefighter Sam Hess, who nominated Wass for the paramedic honor, also worked the fatal accident.

Let me tell you something  we were shook. That being said, everyone, and I mean everyone, on that call was at their best. Everyone was calm, efficient, professional and getting things done, Hess said. And I looked over at Ian and thought, thank God that he gave this city people like you. We had a whole ambulance full of them. I dont know if Ive ever been so proud of the people I work with.

Wass, a Denver native, graduated from Wartburg College and worked construction and other jobs before joining the Waterloo fire department.

He was hired in February 2008 and became a paramedic in 2010.

Ian is incredibly intelligent, compassionate and humble. He has a strong faith, loves his family and works hard at everything he does.  This guy is working all of the time to be better, Hess said.

Greg Freshwaters father, retired fire lieutenant Jeff Freshwater, his mother, Tina, and girlfriend, Brittany Lind, attended the ceremony.

A memorial fund is being established to help firefighters pay for paramedic training, a cost now borne by the firefighters themselves, Jeff Freshwater said.

All four of these young firefighters dug in their pockets to come up with the 10 to 12 thousand dollars to provide for their own training to better serve all of us, Jeff Freshwater said.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo teen has been arrested on gang and other charges following a Monday evening shooting.

No injuries were reported, but police said a passing vehicle with three people inside was struck by gunfire in the 200 block of Oaklawn Avenue.

The shooting erupted at about 6:30 p.m. Monday, and witnesses reported hearing about six shots. Police found several spent .45-caliber shell casings in the area, and a witness saw a vehicle driving from the scene and a person throwing a handgun from the vehicle.

Police later stopped the vehicle on West Fourth Street, and witnesses directed officers to the discarded weapon, which was a .45-caliber Hi-Point.

A passenger in the vehicle, Corey Jermaine Dunn Jr., 17, of Waterloo, was arrested for intimidation with a weapon and gang participation. Dunn is being charged as an adult, according to court records.

Police said Dunn is an associate of the OTB street gang, and the shooting stemmed from a feud with a person from another group, court records state.
Seventh in a series of articles from our fall Inclusion magazine, highlighting diversity in the area.

WATERLOO  It is one of the biggest emerging businesses along Waterloos East Fourth Street north of Walnut Street.

And its becoming a leader in diversity.

Sayer Law Firm, located in a former Iowa Job Service office at 925 E. Fourth St., boasts a growing workforce.

It is an offshoot of Klatt law firm, of which attorney Brian Sayer was a part.

The location employs between 60 and 70 people, with satellite locations in multiple cities and states.

We decided pretty early on when we got over here that we wanted an inclusive atmosphere, said Janelle Ewing. First of all, because its the right thing to do. And second, because our clients understand its the right thing to do and they push for it.

The firm had a large number of female employees and wanted to expand its inclusiveness. Stacey Belk worked with The Inclusion Connection, a Waverly-based nonprofit helping adults of diverse abilities find work opportunities. Through that contact the firm hired three autistic workers. They all do very well in the roles that theyre in, Belk said.

We have a culture here of inclusion, Ewing said. We just have a lot of people raised to be inclusive and accepting. We just have a really good crew of people here that understands everybody gets to be themselves.

Thats because of the backgrounds they bring to the firm.

I am a former high school band director, said Ewing, a 1995 West High School graduate who previously taught in Sugar Land, Texas. And we have another lawyer who is a former orchestra director  both in the public education. We have a lot of parents here who have children with special needs. We have a lot of people working with us as legal assistants who have backgrounds in the arts, theater and music  probably have a lot exposure to different world views and different types of people.

When we all realized we all felt this way, it was really easy to move forward and start acting on that  making sure the culture is one of inclusion, non-bullying and development.

I still get to teach a lot here, Ewing said, because the people that get these jobs, many have never been in a office setting before. Many, its their first job out of high school or college. They dont know anything about law or legal assistancy or real estate or the mortgage industry. They have to be taught from the ground up.

The management team has been working for more than a year developing educational materials for new hires.

The firm is hiring, filling positions being vacated by workers returning to school.

The basic qualities the firm looks for are attitude, openness and fitting into the culture, Ewing said. Responsibility, timeliness and some computer training also are important. Id rather have a low- to medium-talented person with a good work ethic than a lazy talented person.

That commitment to inclusion earned an award from the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber earlier this year. In applying for that award, the firm highlighted the diversity of its workforce.

We discovered that we had people from all over the world, Ewing said. We counted a significant number of languages. We do have a couple of multi-linguals on staff now. We counted all the major religions; all kinds of backgrounds, she said.

The firm anticipates being at its present location well into the future.

Well always have our base in Waterloo. We will always be hiring in Waterloo, Ewing said. I grew up here, and I do not subscribe to the incorrect myth that Waterloo is a bad place to be. Ive been all around the country, Ive seen all kinds of cities, and Im really proud of my town.
ALLISON  The trio of hurricanes  Harvey, Irma and Maria  wreaked havoc across Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. They also have had impacts far beyond their immediate paths.

That includes in Northeast Iowa, where residents of Butler County are still recovering from the fall floods of 2016.

I think they kind of feel forgotten. Especially with the hurricanes and everything, that weve been forgotten, said Clarksville Mayor Val Swinton. Because were a small town, we kind of feel like were not important. Thats a little frustrating.

Thats a lot frustrating, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, responded.

Ernst, a first-term senator, received an update Monday on Clarksville, Greene and Shell Rock a year after they suffered their second flood to end all floods in eight years.

Ernst assured residents funds set aside for home buyouts would not be rerouted to hurricane recovery. But she could offer little else than her shared frustration that 13 months later no homeowner had finished the buyout process. Ernst promised to follow up with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to see why the process has been so slow.

Frustration was the theme throughout the hour-long meeting.

Grassley, Ernst to meet with Pruitt on ethanol DAVENPORT -- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will meet with farm 

About 270 homes were damaged when the Shell Rock River flooded after Butler County received 12 inches of rain in a short period of time in late September 2016. Many areas in Greene, Clarksville and Shell Rock saw worse flooding than in 2008, said Mitch Nordmeyer, Butler County emergency management coordinator.

About 20 homes qualified for buyouts. More than a year later, none of those homeowners has received an offer. It could take another three to four months.

Every disaster starts and ends locally. That may be the case, but we need the federal help in the middle, Nordmeyer said.

Nordmeyer and Brian Schoon, of Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments, told Ernst its not just the wait that is frustrating. Rules changed since the last major flood eight years ago. And they have to work with new officials every few weeks.

Since the hurricanes, frustration grew. FEMA Region 7 officials were sent to work on recovery in the southeast.

Iowa crowd peppers Ernst with questions about health care, 'Dreamers' IOWA CITY  Health care was at the top of voters agendas at a town hall meeting with U.S. S

Ernst said after the meeting its important for FEMA to have uniform rules. But she heard from local officials Monday FEMA employees dont always interpret rules the same way. She said she will ask FEMA about that as well.

We saw widespread devastation throughout the Southeast, and I do understand that, but again, we have ongoing recovery efforts right here in Region 7 of FEMA, and we have to make sure these families are getting what was told to them they would get, Ernst said. Its important that they close these actions out before they are jumping into other situations.
WATERLOO  Tempers boiled over as city leaders once again debated whether to install stop signs at the site of a fatal accident.

Waterloo City Council members voted 5-2 Monday to approve the second of what could be six ordinance readings required to install four-way stops at Ansborough Avenue and Shaulis Road.

But the debate turned fractious when Mayor Quentin Hart and Councilman Tom Powers took issue with the tone Councilman Steve Schmitt took last week when grilling city traffic engineer Mohammad Elahi over his recommendation for the four-way stop.

Retired firefighter Jeff Freshwater also took Schmitt to task for his comments and criticized other council members for not stopping him. His son, Greg Freshwater, died Aug. 29 after jogging into the path of a sport utility vehicle at the intersection, which led to the traffic study.

I sat and watched as Mohammad stood at this podium  a highly educated man with advanced degrees in his field and respected expertise  and was forced to respond to cynical, condescending questions and comments, Freshwater said.

Father calls for changes to intersection where son was killed WATERLOO  The father of a firefighter fatally stuck by a vehicle is urging the city to make

He said Schmitt disrespected Elahi for saying the decision was emotional when it was based on collected data and scientific conclusion.

Elahi, who has worked for the city since 2002, has multiple degrees, including a doctorate in traffic and civil engineering; is called as an expert witness in court cases involving crashes at signalized intersections; and, according to the mayor, is recruited frequently by other communities.

At some point this council has to realize that we have experts that are our staff members, and weve got to start showing some respect to our senior leadership throughout this city, Powers said. I think its appalling that weve always got to argue about our experts. We want to humiliate them.

Schmitt contended his questions last week were not out of line.

This whole emotional thing did not have to do with Mohammad; it had to do with the City Council, Schmitt said. It was not an inference on Mohammad, and if somebody thought it was, theyre mistaken.

I also hope we do not get to the point where a city councilman cannot question a department head without it being some personal issue, he added.

Hart countered that Schmitt was very cynical in his questions.

Thats your opinion, Schmitt said.

Its absolutely my opinion, Hart replied. And Im telling you my opinion, just like you sat here and gave yours, and it was cynical and it wasnt appreciated.

Powers was joined by Tom Lind, Jerome Amos Jr., Bruce Jacobs and Pat Morrissey in voting for the second reading of an ordinance making an exception for Ansboroughs status as a through street. Schmitt and Ron Welper voted against it.

The through street exception must be approved before the council can vote to add stop signs on Ansborough Avenue to join the ones already in place on Shaulis.
WATERLOO -- Mike Luck of New Hartford was reunited with some of his friends from the service Tuesday.

The last time he saw them was in Vietnam in 1969. In an ambush. He survived. They didn't.

They're on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial  "The Wall"  in Washington, D.C. Luck visited them, as one of more than 100 veterans who traveled to the nation's capital on a Cedar Valley Honor Flight from the Waterloo Regional Airport, visiting various military memorials.

Most were Vietnam veterans. For Luck and many others, the Vietnam memorial was the most emotional.

"It's wonderful. It's a great thing they do for everybody. But at the same time, it brings back those old memories," Luck said while he was at the wall. "I've got six guys for sure that I know. I just found three of them on the Wall. They died, and I came close to it. When you see how close you came to being on that wall, after all these years, you still have those memories.

Roger Schoonover of Waterloo, like Luck an Army veteran of Vietnam, said, "I was very hesitant to walk down the pathway to the actual wall. It brings back some good memories and a lot of bad ones. I brought my son this time and let him receive some of the pride that this wall brings out in people. It's a healing wall. It was very touching."

He recognized many names. "Some were in my class and about 130 of them here served in my unit that died in a three-year span." He served in the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division in Vietnam from 1966-67.

"We just took a picture where Dave Paulsen's name was in our class," Schoonover said. Paulsen, a fellow 1965 graduate of West High School, was a Marine killed in Vietnam in November 1966.

"It brings back pictures and faces, and it's tough. It's tough," Schoonover said. "Korea and the World War II memorials are both nice, but this is the one I'm involved with, and it brings out more."

It was his second trip to The Wall, which bears the names of 58,000 Americans who died in that war. "It's not easy any time," he said. "It's just hard to imagine they all died for our country."

"I knew quite a few whose names were on the wall, a few I was in school with," said Vietnam veteran David Weinberg, formerly of Plainfield and now of Shell Rock. "It's impressive and 'depressive,' if that's a word. So many names.

"It's been a good day," Weinberg said. "Some guys I didn't know before, I got to talk to them. The Washington Monument was real impressive."

'It's a wonderful day and a wonderful trip," said Don Krull, a Korean War era veteran from Parkersburg. "Washington is quite the place. It's just amazing. Everyone is so kind and generous."

"It's very touching, very sentimental," said Vietnam veteran Jim Mohlis of Oelwein. "I recommend all vets do this that have been overseas. It's a very, very important day."

Later Tuesday, after visiting the World War II, Vietnam and Korean War memorials, they were scheduled to visit Arlington National Cemetery and watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony there.

A homecoming celebration for the veterans was scheduled at the Waterloo airport at about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

This is the third and final Cedar Valley Honor Flight of 2017. More than 1,300 veterans have made the flights from the Waterloo airport since they began in 2011. Initially the flights were limited to World War II veterans but eligibility was later expanded to now include veterans up through Vietnam, including Korea and the Cold War.

Military veterans from Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Grundy and the northern half of Tama counties who served in warm or Cold War peacetime from World War II through Vietnam are eligible.

Applications can be picked up at any of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Waverly Hy-Vee Stores or by going to the organization's website, www.cedarvalleyhonorflights.org, or the Cedar Valley Honor Flight's Facebook page. Donations are being accepted to continue the flights.

Questions may be directed to co-organizer Black Hawk County Supervisor Craig White at whitedog67@q.com or co-organizer and County Supervisor Frank Magsamen at fmagsbhc@hotmail.com.
On Sept. 3, the Iowa Public Information Board, facing criticism for ill-advised actions, if not illegal secrecy, received our statement of support.

As our headline stated, Missteps aside, information board plays key role.

Four weeks later, recent events compel us to state, while we still believe citizens are better served by having an Iowa Public Information Board than not having one, our confidence in the board is shaken.

The Iowa Public Information Board came into being in 2013 to enforce and educate on the states open-meetings and open-records laws.

It committed what we view as a procedural misstep Aug. 25 by taking a needless and cryptic vote upon emerging from a closed session to discuss strategy regarding litigation in a Burlington case.

That blunder  not everyone dismisses it as such  sparked sharp criticism among many government-transparency advocates, who complained the board itself violated open-meetings law.

At this point, we will again disclose a fellow employee of Telegraph Herald parent company Woodward Communications Inc., Mary Ungs-Sogaard, of Dyersville, chairs the Iowa Public Information Board.

Sogaard and another professional acquaintance we respect greatly, retired Jefferson publisher Rick Morain, on Sept. 21 were on the short end of a strange and disappointing 7-2 vote by the board, which decided to not cooperate with the state ombudsman looking into the Aug. 25 closed session.

The board majority argued to release the audio recording of the session would be to waive attorney-client privilege. This, despite assurances of confidentiality and the ombudsmans statutory authority to examine any and all records and documents of any agency  and that includes confidential records.

Ironically, the very agency that should be the No. 1 advocate for government transparency is reportedly No. 1 on the list of governmental bodies ever denying the ombudsman this sort of access by citing attorney-client privilege. There is no No. 2.

Not only is the Iowa Public Information Board blocking reasonable inquiries into a possible transparency violation, is it creating a blueprint for other governmental entities seeking a loophole for secrecy? Just claim attorney-client privilege and tell investigators to shove off.

The Iowa Public Information Board is, overall, needed and serving its purpose. It is helping educate citizens, governmental bodies and media outlets, and that is keeping many little issues from becoming big (and expensive) issues. Despite being understaffed and underfunded, the agency is doing good work.

Yet, in this instance, the board has put itself in a hole. Its members should recall this sage advice: When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

The Iowa Public Information Board needs to get on the right side of transparency, cooperate with the ombudsman and remove obstacles to the reasonable investigation of the Aug. 25 session.
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By Jim Waters

Oct. 08, 2017 | LEXINGTON, KY

By Jim Waters Oct. 08, 2017 | 11:57 AM | LEXINGTON, KY

At least $490 million  the figure being thrown around by bureaucrats charged with implementing Kentucky Wired, the ill-advised 3,400-mile statewide broadband network initially estimated to cost less than $350 million to build.



The project  which was supposed to be completed last year and is touted by its supporters as being one of the nation's largest publicly owned broadband networks  has, according to the Associated Press, already spent $200 million while laying only 19 miles of cable.



No one really knows what the final cost will be for Kentucky Wired.



But this much is for sure: taxpayers will get soaked if Frankfort insists on continuing down this route instead of cutting its losses and running as fast and far away as possible from this gob of greasy pork.



The project was sold to lawmakers by big-spending congressman Hal Rogers and former Gov. Steve Beshear as the "silver bullet" for giving multitudes of poor Kentuckians in Appalachia access to high-speed internet.



Spending nearly a half-billion dollars for a middle mile internet broadband network will do nothing but trespass on private providers' customer base and even their property by mooching off their poles.



Industry leaders who know vastly more than any bureaucrat and most politicians about building effective broadband networks tell me that a worse mechanism than the approach taken by Kentucky Wired could not be employed if the goal really is to provide high-speed internet to citizens lacking access.



It depends on poaching customers  primarily government entities  from their current private providers and then offering a hope and prayer that local providers will be enticed to build that final mile.



If this project really was about reaching the small percentage of Kentuckians who currently don't have access to high-speed broadband, Frankfort's policy would focus on those final miles, which usually are those remote areas that private companies find difficult to reach and break even, much less see profits.



Supporters of big-government broadband in Tennessee claim one third of rural residents in the state lack access yet the Volunteer State is not even attempting to implement anything like Kentucky Wired's costly flimflam.



Instead, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill offering grants and tax credits for service providers who assist in making broadband available to unserved homes and businesses in those hard-to-reach areas.



While no free-market believer endorses $45 million of General Fund money to serve as government handouts, it's a kilobyte compared to a megabyte of Kentucky Wired-type spending.



Plus, Tennessee's program ensures people and businesses without high-speed broadband internet access will indeed receive it.



Even if Kentucky Wired gets fully built from Paducah to Pikeville, it in and of itself will not connect a single previously unconnected individual, home or business.



Any access achieved will be because local providers serve their unconnected neighbors by doing the difficult work of laying cable in rough terrain.



Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, at a recent legislative hearing compared Kentucky Wired's rising costs and construction delays to "the big dig in Boston," the most expensive highway in U.S. history, which ballooned in cost from an original estimate of $2.6 billion to nearly $15 billion and took 16 years to build.



Actually, it's worse.



When Boston's tunnel was finished, it at least brought some relief to one of America's most congested highways.



While the project's costs and delays were legendary and became the butt of late-night jokes, at least something beneficial to citizens was accomplished.



Also, building roads  unlike constructing broadband networks  is within government's purview.



Rapid technological changes make it likely that by completion of construction, Kentucky Wired could experience similar types of cost increases yet offer little more than an empty highway.



Jim Waters is president and CEO of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Kentucky's free-market think tank. Read previous columns at www.bipps.org. He can be reached at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com and @bipps on Twitter.
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Grab a cup of coffee and or tea as in a bunch of the world

In the city as I walk Boza, Boza and I see pigeon homes everywhere. Why even Vova in the Tiny Russian Village has a home for pigeons. Pigeons are very important to Russians

It is autumn and time for the snow to fly here in Russia

* * * * *

This weekend Svetochka, Boza and I are going to the Tiny Russian Village. We have to get two tires installed (snow tire time) on the back of the Volga, buy a window for the village home from Leroy Merlin and spend two weeks in the Tiny Russian Village. I have several things to get done

Tires ran $35 equivalent in rubles each. The old snow tires were worn out

* * * * *

Boza could see pretty good this morning. He chased pigeons and had a blast. It made him slightly confused at times, when things appeared in his vision, but he still walks better and has fun seeing things. We find life is so much better when Boza is happy and chasing a pigeon and or a kitty is what life is about for our sweet doggy

* * * * *

This winter, Boza and I will stay in Moscow. Svetochka will let us go to the Tiny Russian Village, but when you see her face as she says it, you know she wants us here with her. Boza and I plan on getting there early in spring, but I also have to leave Russia again around the beginning of April. Never ends

* * * * *

As an American it bothers me tremendously to see my country destroying such wonderful countries. Sanctioning is the same as trying to destroy, as much as war is destruction of a country. Political agendas are just an excuse to kill, rape and pillage other countries. The realization that we crushed and destroyed Libya, Syria, Ukraine and others just recently in time frame, not to mention so many such a Korea, Vietnam and others in the past, makes me sad and worry about the American mentality and or intelligence about life in general

Every country is different and we must accept that every country does not want democracy shoved down their throats by bombs and lies. Fact is we Americans do not live the life that we try to shove down others throats. Enough is enough Lets live in peace around the world. Put our money in America to help ourselves, make a super defensive military and leave things alone. We will go much farther in life as rulers of the planet if we lead by example and not by hate and mayhem

* * * * *

[contentcards url=https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/10/07/russia-china-right-north-korea.html]

* * * * *

We send nuclear subs to North Korean area, we send bombers to NK area, we spend millions of drills to destroy NK with SK and we spout our share of rhetoric, constantly spout the rhetoric day in and day out. Yet all we focus on is what NK does in return and to be honest NK is still at war with America and SK and we should never blame them for worrying about if that submarine is really there to attack them

[contentcards url=http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-09/us-sends-nuclear-submarine-korea-peninsula-participate-military-drills]

Today lets stop long enough and ask, Why we do this to North Korea (enter country of your choice)? Maybe all that money spent on terrorizing North Korea (or country of your choice) should be put to free education and free healthcare within America? Hmm..

* * * * *

Chaos is: Stirring issues with Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Venezuela and about six other countries at the same time (We are bombing Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as you read this)

I ask, Who the hell is in charge in America?

Looks like whoever wants to be

* * * * *

I know who is in charge in Russia! Putin runs the country and Svetochka runs the local home front. that is good enough for me 

* * * * *

You should read this

[contentcards url=https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/07/08/us-state-war-july-2017]

It is true

* * * * *

It seems that there are many ways to discourage travelers from crossing the boarders

I felt sorry for the Russians as I traveled to Estonia. The Russian side of the boarder even warned everyone. The Estonian border would make life hell and they did

The babushka near me, who was about 70 years old, was going to see her family in Estonia. She had gifts, candy and other things such as real Russian vodka. She was made to empty her bags completely, scatter everything, open all gifts and they confiscated one bottle of vodka and a dozen candy bars made in Russia. They made her empty her purse and open anything that was a bottle, sealed or not. They did this to every Russian on the train and or at least in the car I rode in

She was almost in tears, for they had ruined her gifts to her family. They tore the gift wrapping off the toys and everything

I have thought about this for awhile

We all helped as many as we could get their stuff across the boarder. I took two packs of cigarettes, just like many who did not smoke did also. The packs had to be opened and they pulled out the cigarettes and scattered them on the beds. It seems that because cigarettes are dirt cheap in Russia, the black market is huge. Go to Russia and buy for a dollar and sell for four dollars in Estonia. No one could carry a carton of smokes across the border. This applied to candy and many other items I also took two candy bars to get across the border for another woman

They had collected one or two at a time a whole sack of these wonderful chocolate bars. Not from one person, but from a dozen people. Hope they all get fat at the border

Got across the border and we all gave everything back

They scanned the Russians with those metal detector wands and made several take off some of their clothing

Yes, I am mad about this. For they never did this to anyone else on the car. Just the Russians

I could have carried a trunk load of contraband and gotten it through the border. But then I am not Russian, am I?

The Russian side coming and going was very professional and very polite. They did not even bother the Estonians crossing into Russia. The Estonian side even brought three different doggies to sniff at us and make sure that we did not have certain things, such as bombs and stuff. Three times in half an hour

One family of Russians who lived in Estonia with elder family and they had a baby, were even made to empty the new bag of sealed diapers and show that they were just diapers

Russians took it in stride, but I realized that this is just part of a plan to degrade Russians. Yet, Russians make up (320,000 (est.) (24% of total population)) of Estonia. Basically a quarter of the whole population

I am not sure I want Svetochka traveling to Estonia again. I will be honest with you, I am hoping to make Belarus the twice year travel spot. I dont think it will work, but I am hoping to make it work. Maybe I could fly into Belarus and fly back; internationally. I just need a visa for Belarus, but it can be done. Then Svetochka could go with me

Estonia was a fine place for me (American) all the way around, but they hurt my friends from Russia and that makes me mad. Ukraine 101 is what I see happening to the Russians

* * * * *

It has soured my desire to travel to Estonia

* * * * *

There are about 6.32 million American citizens living abroad, of those about 30,000 chose Russia, according to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas. Read more: https://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/2012_12_20/US-citizens-moving-to-Russia-interview/

I am one of few living here in Russia and I am accepted with open arms, even as my country treats Russians with distaste and hatred. I would say that most of these Americans live behind walled guarded apartments in Moscow and or St. Petersburg and really are never known about in generally. I walk a life that has me being the first American that almost all Russians I meet have seen. I am met with open arms 99% of the time and my best buddy is Vova in a Tiny Russian Village

The truth is, I am treated better at the border crossings coming and going from Russia, than I am traveling anywhere else in the world. The Russians are not aggressive at all and the experience I just saw at the Estonian border shows me that issues are abound in the world, especially in the western world

I do not have to look for issues as I travel. These nasty issues rear their ugly heads and make it easy to see them first hand

* * * * *

I guess I have said enough today. I had a lot on my mind and now I will go finish cooking chicken for dinner tonight. have a nice day

WtR
Oct 10, 2017 | By Benedict

AM UK, Britains independent, government-backed collaboration for developing the countrys additive manufacturing industry, has published its Additive Manufacturing UK National Strategy 2018-25. The document outlines what the UK must do to become a global leader in 3D printing.

The AM UK National Strategy outlines how Britain can become a global 3D printing leader

Additive manufacturing is widely prevalent across Europe, with giants of industry like EOS and Concept Laser driving innovation in the one corner, and more maker-oriented companies like Ultimaker and Prusa doing their bit for the consumer 3D printing community.

The continent is even home to a number of huge 3D printing services like 3D Hubs and Shapeways.

But while we frequently talk about 3D printing companies from Germany, the Netherlands, and a handful of other countries, the United Kingdomat present, still very much a part of Europedoesnt get so much representation.

Of course, theres plenty of additive manufacturing research at major universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and the country's share of the global AM market still edges most of its European rivals (besides Germany). Its just that, given the country's resources, there doesn't seem to be enough happening on the commercial side.

And with Brexit about to send the island over a financial cliff edge, that might be a big concern for the national economy.

Thankfully, some Britons have a plan to put the UK on the additive manufacturing map, by fostering innovation and growth in the 3D printing sector. Its called the Additive Manufacturing UK National Strategy.

Aiming to bring together industry, academia, government, and finance bodies to provide a single go-to place to access independent information and latest research, the National Strategy seeks to establish the UK as a global leader in additive manufacturing, by upskilling the nations workforce and increasing the number of AM-equipped facilities around the country.

The UK is amongst the global leaders in knowledge and successful application of additive manufacturing and AM UK has been at the forefront of developing its vast capabilities, commented Dr. Paul Unwin, Chairman of AM UK. AM has the potential to transform how and where manufacturing is done across a wide range of industrial sectors and global markets.

An improved additive manufacturing industry could help soften the blow of Brexit upon the UK economy

Currently, the UK holds a 5 per cent share of the global 3D printing market, a number that Unwin and the AM UK team hopes to increase by a significant margin. The National Strategy estimates that Britain can claim up to 8 per cent ($6.5 billion), an improvement that would protect existing jobs and generate new ones.

But its not just about protecting workers. The National Strategy suggests that a focus on additive manufacturing could have significant knock-on effects for the UK economy.

The UK government sees encouraging innovation as a key priority for helping our economy to grow, Unwin said. It has already supported research into AM with over 200 million ($264 million) of funding over the last five yearsa vital investment which will help us to reshore services that have already disappeared overseas.

There are, however, particular obstacles that the country must overcome to meet both its employment-related and economic targets. The first and most important problem, the report states, is the additive manufacturing supply chain.

Although UK research and innovation in this technology is absolutely top flight, we havent had the supply chain, so many designers have found solutions abroad, Unwin said. The AM UK National Strategy aims to enable more to be done here. The strategy considers the entire supply chain, with efforts focused on producing the most effective outcome that will see a transformation in the way businesses operate.

Another important part of the National Strategy is ensuring that British workers have the skills to operate additive manufacturing equipment, whether that be in 3D design, printer maintenance and operation, or other areas.

One theme we will be focussing on is upskilling the workforce, Unwin commented, suggesting that more facilities around the UK are needed to allow workers to gain these crucial 3D printing skills.

AM UK hopes its report will convince the British government to launch a national 3D printing scheme

Luckily, the groundwork is already there. 10 High Value Manufacturing Catapults have been established in the UK in recent years in order to help bridge the gap between business and academia. The facilities help promising students and researchers learn how to turn their scientific or engineering expertise into a marketable producta strategy that can help introduce more UK 3D printing companies onto the global scene.

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and specifically the National Centre for AM (hosted by the Manufacturing Technology Centre), can help industry to exploit the competitive advantage to be gained by using this technology with the help of AM UK, Unwin said. The collaboration will develop a strong network of additive experts in the UK to support knowledge transfer and create a showcase for additive manufacturing to demonstrate how well it works in practice.

In addition to new facilities, an important part of upskilling the UK workforce will involve making the most of the countrys existing additive experts. That means encouraging students to work with the researchers who specialize in 3D printing, and putting those experts in positions of authority. Putting more AM-themed courses on school and university curricula will also be an important step.

Ultimately, Unwin and AM UK believe that the UK can use additive manufacturing as a tool to protect its economy during the potentially tumultuous process of leaving the European Union.

As we head into Brexit, additive manufacturing can make a real change in the UK and we will be devising the training and education programs needed to provide the additive manufacturing engineers of the future, Unwin said.

But if this is to happen, AM UK warns that the British government must put forward a serious strategy for pushing the national interest in 3D printing, convincing both public and private sector organizations to put their weight behind the scheme.

The Additive Manufacturing National Strategy document, published on September 26, can be read here.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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Jim Spriggs wrote at 10/30/2017 10:39:05 AM:It's a pity that Benedict decided to only name Oxford and Cambridge Universities' work, without leading with Nottingham and Warwick, two universities which are leading AM/3DP work at a global level.MarcC wrote at 10/10/2017 3:35:33 PM:But, so is everyone else!




Oct 10, 2017 | By Benedict

The ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) Federal Technical Services division, part of the ASRC Alaska Native Corporation, has test-fired a 3D printed subscale propellant injector that could be used on United Launch Alliances replacement for the Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine.

ASRC tests its new 3D printed propellant injector

(Image: ASRC)

With the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine being phased out of U.S. rockets due to political tensions between D.C. and Moscow, the development of its replacement has become one of the most riveting storylines of contemporary space engineering.

At present, Blue Originthe Washington-headquartered aerospace company owned by Amazons Jeff Bezosis set to replace the RD-180 with its BE-4, a rocket engine with 3D printed components. But with the BE-4 not expected to be operational for a couple of years, the process is still fairly up in the air.

Should the BE-4 fail to meet expected standards, aerospace companies Dynetics and Aerojet Rocketdyne will be waiting in the wings to offer their rival oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle (ORSC) engine to United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that provides spacecraft launch systems to the U.S. government.

For the ASRCs Federal Technical Services division, the identity of the eventual RD-180 successor doesnt really matter, because a new 3D printed subscale propellant injectorwhich was this year test-fired in Washingtonwould purportedly be compatible with Blue Origins BE-4, Aerojet Rocketdynes AR-1, or whatever engine ends up getting the nod.

The full-power testing on the additively manufactured part was completed back in April, with engineers concluding that the functional component could be built in a quarter of the time it would take using other fabrication techniques.

Blue Origin's BE-4 remains the frontrunner to replace the Russian-made RD-180

We reduced production time for this injector to eight days, which would have been over a month using traditional machining, said Joseph Sims, ASRC Federal Technical Services project manager, in an interview with SpaceNews. We also reduced parts count from five parts to a single part.

The 3D printed propellant injector will be used in ASRCs subscale oxygen-rich preburner (ORPB), commissioned by the U.S. Air Force in 2016 as part of a $3.69 million deal. Requirements for the preburner included the ability to continuously dilute fuel in an engines combustion chamber.

The ORPB will purportedly be able to support whichever rocket engine gets chosen to replace the RD-180.

According to Sims, the ORPB and its 3D printed propellant injector will be ready when it is needed, with the ASRC schedule structured to provide a pre-burner design that could be inserted into the ORSC engine development program in 2019.

Results from the test-firing session will be used to finalize the subscale preburner design, which will be subjected to testing later in 2017.

Learn more about how aerospace companies are using 3D printing to create an improved replacement for the RD-180:

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Infiltrate the underworld through a Victorian home.



This month, some of the Bay Area's most prized Victorian home museums transform into doorways to specters and shadows; and, historically speaking, it couldn't be a more perfect gateway. Death loomed large in the Victorian era; and the sick and dying, rather than being sent to hospitals (which, at the time, were still primitive in their treatment of disease and injury), stayed at home. This gave rise to macabre customs in response to ever-present ghosts, which included draping door handles, having the servants and the lady of the house wear black, taking family photos with the dead, and performing seances to communicate with the deceased.

Straight out of this death-obsessed era, these 19th century beauties don't have to work too hard to create a portal for the living and dead to commune. Enter a world of morbid fascination and get up close and personal with its ghosts at these three historic haunted houses.

Camron Stanford House, Oakland (Courtesy of Maureen Price)

Camron-Stanford House

The Camron-Stanford House in Oakland has a passion for recalling these 19th century glimpses of death. The Italianate Victorian mansion has borne witness to its share of personal tragedies including the death of Alice and William Walker Camron's two-year-old daughter in 1877, the death of Josiah Stanford in 1890, and the unexpected passing of his daughter-in-law in 1891. The house itself narrowly escaped tragedy when the City of Oakland destroyed all of the lakeside mansions to create Lakeside Park in 1907, leaving Camron-Stanford the only one left standing.

Since then, the Camron-Stanford House has been open to the public, first as the Oakland Public Museum and later restored to its Victorian glory with the help of historic books, period photos and antique furniture. It's in this state that you can visit the house today, perusing its 14 rooms and exhibits focusing on Victorian life and culture.

Beneath the beautifully restored facade of the Camron-Stanford House, you'll find a series of events dedicated to the era's morbid fascinations. This month's features include Mourning Becomes Her, a lecture on women's mourning fashion (Oct. 15), Seance and Sensibility (Oct. 29) and Morbid Cinema night (Oct. 21). And lastly, on October 14th, guests will have the opportunity to participate in a seance for Morbid Evening. // 1418 Lakeside Drive (Oakland); event tickets at chhouse.org.





Haas-Lilienthal House, San Francisco (Vourtesy of Elisa Rolle

Haas-Lilenthal House

The Haas-Lilienthal House, the only Queen Anne Victorian open to the public in San Francisco, was built in 1886 for William and Bertha Haas at a cost of $18,500; a small fortune at the time. Withstanding the fire and earthquakes of 1906 and 1989, the home surprisingly has never undergone a significant remodel and still holds its original period furnishings.

The Haas family and its successors the Lilienthals (William Haas' daughter Alice and her husband Samuel), were some of the earliest members of SF's Jewish community. Thus you'll be able to experience a unique exhibit centered around the history of Jewish identity and religion in the Victorian era. However, it's the special holiday events that are the Haas-Lilienthal House's main draw. Over the last two weekends in October, things will get creepy with Mayhem Mansion, a haunted house that transforms the old manse into a ghoulish horror fest for fear enthusiasts ages 8+. // 2007 Franklin St. (Pac Heights), $12-$20, tickets at haas-lilienthalhouse.org.





Rengstorff House, Mountain View (Courtesy of Yelp/Rengstorff House)

At the "R" House , 19th century sensibilities and morbid curiosities share the stage. Henry Rengstorff built the home after purchasing 164 acres of land in 1864 on what is now Shoreline Business Park, a quarter mile north of the Bayshore Freeway. After falling into disrepair, the Italianate Victorian house was moved to its present location in Mountain View in 1979 where it was restored and opened to the public in 1991.The house can be toured year-round, but it's at Halloween that it really shines. In October, the Rengstorff House metamorphoses into a haunted steampunk fantasy, complete with spooky evening tours enhanced by sound, light and special effects. During the day, visitors can see the inventions and imagination behind the nightly frights and interact with the house's co-conSPIRITors in a less eerie, family-friendly version of Halloween fun. // 3070 North Shoreline Blvd (Mountain View), $10 tickets at r-house.org
Speedcast to Provide O3b MEO Ka-band Services for Land-Based Production Platform in West Africa



Awarded Managed Services Contract for Major Oil and Gas Operator in Equatorial Guinea

Sydney, Oct 11, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Speedcast International Limited ( ASX:SDA ) ( 7SC:FRA ) , the world's most trusted provider of highly reliable, fully managed, remote communication and IT solutions, today announced that the company has been selected to provide Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) Ka-band managed communications services to a production asset owned and operated by a major U.S.-based operator in Equatorial Guinea on Bioko Island, off the coast of West Africa.



Speedcast will leverage satellite Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) connectivity to deliver communications between the production asset and the customer's corporate network. The new MEO Ka-band service will be delivered in partnership with O3b, and will replace the company's existing backup VSAT service, delivering low latency communications and improving operational efficiency. The network will be supported by Speedcast's 24/7 year-round global customer service centers, with local field engineers in the region to provide fast, reliable support at all times. Speedcast is currently supporting this site by providing manpower services for VSAT service and microwave link maintenance as well as IT desktop and LAN support, and will continue to do so for the new contract as well.



"Adding a new high-speed Ka-band solution that meets the customer's low-latency requirements in Equatorial Guinea demonstrates Speedcast's scale and value proposition to the energy market," said Keith Johnson, EVP of Energy, Speedcast. "We are proud that our customers trust our ability to develop innovative solutions using the newest available technologies and partnerships to help provide the network they need, even in remote locations with stringent regulations."



Speedcast holds a leadership position as an end-to-end communications and IT solutions provider for the energy market with more than 30 years' experience serving customers both onshore and offshore. Supporting nine of the top 10 global drilling contractors, Speedcast leverages the largest and most robust global network in the mobile satellite industry to design, install, optimize and support solutions for critical applications anywhere in the world. The company's extensive infrastructure promotes flexibility and operational efficiency, allowing customers to scale their networks to current requirements and business needs while also receiving world-class 24/7 support.





About Speedcast International Ltd





Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) is the world's most trusted communications and IT services provider, delivering critical communications solutions to the Maritime, Energy, Mining, Media, Telecom, Cruise, NGO, Government, and Enterprise sectors. With more satellite capacity than any other provider, Speedcast enables faster, seamless pole-to-pole coverage from a global hybrid satellite, fiber, cellular, microwave, MPLS, and IP transport network with direct access to public cloud platforms. The company also integrates differentiated technology offerings that provide smarter ways to communicate and distribute content, manage network and remote operations, protect and secure investments, and improve the crew and guest experience. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 3,200 customers in over 140 countries. Learn more at www.speedcast.com.


Yangibana Project Resources Now Exceed 20.5 Million Tonnes

Sydney, Oct 11, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) advises that the Yangibana JORC Resources now exceed 20.5 million tonnes. The updated resources include recent results from the Company's 2017 drilling programme, including reverse circulation (RC) drilling at two new targets, Yangibana and Simon's Find (100% owned, Figure 1 in link below). These deposits were not included in the Company's July 2017 JORC Resource estimate.



HIGHLIGHTS



- Updated JORC Resources defined for the Yangibana Project now exceed 20.5 million tonnes.



- This provides a further significant increase in tonnes of contained TREO (+12.5%) and of contained Nd2O3+Pr6O11 (+19.4%).



- New Resources at Yangibana Deposit of 2.17 million tonnes at 0.84%TREO including 0.40%Nd2O3+Pr6O11



- New Resources at Simon's Find Deposit of 1.31 million tonnes at 0.66%TREO including 0.35%Nd2O3+Pr6O11



- First JORC Measured Resource at Yangibana North Deposit



INTRODUCTION



Both Yangibana and Simon's Find host mineralisation with very high ratios of Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO, ranging from 44 to 57%. They are potentially important sources of feed to the Company's planned production of mixed rare earths carbonate concentrate, as they are enriched in neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr), for sale into the high growth rare earths magnets industry.



The first JORC Measured Resource has been estimated for the Yangibana North deposit (70% owned) following infill drilling results.



September 2017 Total JORC Resources



JORC Resource estimation was completed by independent consultant Mr. Lynn Widenbar, principal of Widenbar and Associates Pty Limited, to take account of the recent drill results reported in the ASX Release dated 9th October titled "High Neodymium (Nd) And Praseodymium (Pr) Ore Grade Content Confirmed At New Targets". The new estimation provides the first resources for the recently discovered Yangibana and Simon's Find deposits, and include the first Measured Resources at Yangibana North. The updated total JORC Resources for the Yangibana Project are shown in Table 1 (see link below).



These resources represent a further significant increase in contained tonnes of TREO from 216,000 tonnes in the July estimate to 243,000 tonnes now (+12.5%), and in contained tonnes of Nd2O3+Pr6O11 from 68,900 tonnes to 84,240 tonnes (+19.4%). The location of all deposits with JORC Resources are shown in green in Figure 1 (see link below).



Yangibana Prospect



The new resource report includes the first estimation for the Yangibana deposit as shown in Table 2 (see link below). The Yangibana deposit as drilled lies within Mining Lease M09/165 (100% owned).



Simon's Find Prospect



The first resource estimation for the Simon's Find deposit is shown in Table 3 (see link below). The Simon's Find deposit covers a discontinuously outcropping ironstone unit within Exploration Licences E09/2018, E09/2129 and E09/1943 (100% owned).



Yangibana North



Recent infill drilling has upgraded a significant portion of the Yangibana North deposit (70% owned) from Indicated to Measured Resource category as shown in Table 4 (see link below).



TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS REPORT



TREO is the sum of the oxides of the light rare earth elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and samarium (Sm) and the heavy rare earth elements europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), and yttrium (Y).



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/ZR27C2M8





About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd





Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas.

Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China.

Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project.

Brockman Project

The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition).

The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project.

Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products.


Appointment of Mesirow Financial

Sydney, Oct 11, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ( DRSHF:OTCMKTS ) (the "Company" or "DroneShield"), a leader in the emerging industry of drone security solutions, today retained the U.S. investment bank Mesirow Financial, Inc. ("Mesirow Financial"), a specialist in aerospace and defence transactions, to assist the Company with evaluating a range of potential strategic options, including the Company's relationships with larger defence companies and security integrators. (see Note below) The appointment follows an extensive review of a range of potential advisers specialising in aerospace and defence, and their proposals, by the Company.



- Mesirow Financial appointed to assist DroneShield with evaluating a range of strategic options, including relationships with larger defence companies and security integrators.



- Detection and mitigation of unmanned aerial vehicles is a hot button issue for larger defence and security companies.



- Aerospace and defence is one of Mesirow's core competences.



- Mesirow is selective in accepting engagements in the industry.



Headquartered in Chicago, Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc. ("Mesirow"), the parent of Mesirow Financial, has 17 offices worldwide, including major offices in New York, Miami, San Francisco, London and Hong Kong. Mesirow has an 80-year history, approximately 600 employees and approximately US$33 billion in assets under management. Aerospace and defence is one of Mesirow Financial's core investment banking competencies, and transactions it advised on recently included a sale of Star Aviation to Carlisle, a sale of Armstrong Aerospace to Astronics, and a sale of Enviro Systems to Zodiac Aerospace.



Oleg Vornik, DroneShield's Managing Director and CEO, said, "In selecting Mesirow Financial out of the options available to us, to assist us with our strategic discussions with a range of industry participants, we carefully considered the importance of having this strong aerospace and defence brand on our side, as well as their track record in this industry. Having a credible and experienced defence industry investment bank on our side in discussions with larger industry participants is of substantial value to us."



Andrew Carolus, a Managing Director at Mesirow Financial's Aerospace and Defense practice, said, "DroneShield's industry practically did not exist until a couple of years ago, yet today, detection and mitigation of unmanned aerial vehicles is a hot button issue for the defense and security establishment. The defense and security industries are seeking to capitalize on the need for an effective working solution, which is what DroneShield, one of the early movers in the space, offers to the larger players. Our specialised aerospace and defense practice is very selective in accepting engagements, and we are proud to be assisting DroneShield and its board and management with evaluating the wide range of potential strategic options that are presenting themselves to DroneShield."



Note: There can be no assurance that the process referred to in this announcement will result in any transaction or strategic option being implemented, or any assurance as to the outcome or timing of any of the foregoing.





About DroneShield Ltd





DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.

Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.

Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.

DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets.

.
Commsoft is delighted to announce that it has signed a contract for the use of OASES with Bulgaria-based cargo airline, Cargo Air, to support its established airline cargo and passenger operations.





Currently supporting over 130 aviation operations in more than 55 different countries, OASES is an industry-leading MRO IT system which combines a very high level of technical sophistication with an intuitive user interface. Designed by engineers for engineers, OASES is continually being developed with the active participation of its global user community.



OASES is structured in a modular format to allow for flexibility and scalability and Cargo Air has contracted for the Core, Airworthiness, Planning, Materials, Line Maintenance Control and Warranty modules. The Core module provides the essential system components that allow operation and integration of all the other functional modules and incorporates the Oracle database, the navigator functionality, the built-in help system and the security manager which controls access rights and privileges.



Between them, the other modules that Cargo Air has chosen provide the necessary tools to efficiently manage continuing airworthiness processes; to predict when all maintenance tasks, modifications and defect limitations will become due; to ensure that all material is available when required and replenished or repaired when necessary; to integrate with suitable data feeds from EFB, ETL, e-enabled aircraft and electronic operations systems; to maximise the amount of warranty that is claimed on both the aircraft and parts in the inventory.



All of the modules will be implemented on dual standalone servers with a hot/cold configuration.



Established in 1997, Cargo Air operates a freighter fleet of three Boeing 737-300Fs and six Boeing 737-400Fs which are deployed on contracts throughout Europe with integrators such as DHL, UPS, ASL Airlines, Mistral Air and other express integrators or for ad hoc charter flights worldwide. A further Boeing 737-400 provides ACMI passenger services. The current fleet will shortly be supplemented by two new Boeing 737-800 freighter conversions.



Nick Godwin, Commsofts Managing Director, commented: This is the 16th new OASES contract signed since the beginning of the year and builds on the continuing success of OASES throughout the central and eastern European market. Were delighted to welcome our first direct Bulgarian customer, Cargo Air, to the ever-growing family of OASES users and were looking forward to working closely with them to ensure an early implementation of the system.
European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today released its air traffic report for August, showing passenger traffic at Europe's airports grew by +8.7% - slightly less than in July (+9.6%) but still broadly in line with the dynamic trend of the previous months, realising the best August performance so far this century.





The easing in passenger traffic growth over the preceding month was mainly attributable to slower - but still impressive - growth at non-EU airports, with volumes increasing by +14.2% (+17.5% in July). Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian airports continued to make significant gains, along with airports in Israel, Georgia and Iceland. As a result, the performance of Keflavik and Tbilisi airports has been particularly impressive, with both airports reporting an increase in passenger numbers of over +60% in the past 2 years.



Meanwhile, EU airports maintained an almost consistent pace in passenger traffic growth at +7.2% (+7.6% in July). As in previous months, airports in the less mature aviation markets east of the bloc tended to outperform, along with Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus  with most of these airports achieving double digit growth.



Passenger traffic growth at the Majors (the Top 5 European hubs) also softened somewhat in August at +5.5% (+6.3% in July). Istanbul-Ataturk kept leading the league (+10.6%), resulting in the airport regaining the 4th position in terms of monthly volumes ahead of Frankfurt. Amsterdam-Schiphol posted the second best performance at (+6%), followed by Paris-CDG and Frankfurt (both at +5%) and capacity constrained London-Heathrow (+1.9%).



Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented August confirmed the return of sustained passenger traffic growth in both Russia and Turkey. The good news is that this is not about traffic shifting back at the expense of other markets in Western and Southern Europe. EU airports continue to report very dynamic growth  at a level that is impressive for such a mature market.



He added While the macroeconomic environment remains the best in years, we are probably going to see some further softening of passenger traffic growth in the coming months. The woes of Ryanair are already taking their toll and the impact of the bankruptcies of Alitalia, Air Berlin and Monarch has yet to unfold. It is doubtful that the full extent of the capacity offered by these airlines will remain in the market.



Freight traffic across the European airport network remained consistent with the previous month, coming in at +10.9%. Aircraft movements also remained robust at +4.1%.



During August, airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average adjustment +5.1%, +13.5%, +9.3% and +9.8%.



The airports that reported the highest increases in passenger traffic during August are as follows:



GROUP 1: Moscow SVO (+19.6%), Istanbul IST (+10.6%), Manchester (+7.9%), Oslo (+7.1%) and Dublin (+6.6%)



GROUP 2: Antalya (+55.3%), Ankara (+30.7%), Warsaw WAW (23.9%), St Petersburg (+21.2%) and Prague (+17.5%)



GROUP 3: Naples (+25.6%), Toulouse-Blagnac (+23.1%), Keflavik (+20.7%), Kiev (+16.8%) and Catania (+15.5%)



GROUP 4: Grenoble (+4,586.7%), Kaunas (+230.7%), Bucharest BBU (+218.5%), Nis (+155.3%) and Craiova (+141.1%)



The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report - August 2017 includes 254 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic. It is the only industry report that includes all types of civil aviation passenger flights: full service, low cost and charter.
Shell & MOH Aviation, a joint venture company between Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd and Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A, today announced the expansion of its refuelling network to Sofia Airport (CEB), the largest airport in Bulgaria.



Courtesy Shell



This entry is the first location outside Greece where the company will be providing aviation fuel. Shell & MOH Aviation Fuels Bulgaria, which is a 100% subsidiary of Shell & MOH Aviation, will be the supplier.



Shell Aviation continues to focus its growth strategy on select locations. Shell & MOH Aviation has been successfully growing the business in Greece in the last seven years and we are pleased to see its expansion into Bulgaria. Having the right structure at the right locations is key in serving our customers as efficiently as possible. We believe this is the case at Sofia Airport and look forward to offering the high Shell product, service and safety standards at this location Adam Harrison, General Manager Shell Aviation, Europe and South Africa, said.



"We are happy that Shell is expanding its business presence in Bulgaria by adding aviation fuel supply to our business portfolio in the country. We believe that with the launch of these activities at Sofia Airport we will contribute to the improvement of the offer for aviation fuel in Bulgaria and for the further development of the biggest airport in the country," added Kamelia Slaveykova, Country Chair of Shell Bulgaria.



For the first eight months of 2017, 4,363,140 passengers passed through Sofia Airport, an increase of 41% compared to the same period of the previous year. Airplanes that landed and departed in August 2017 increased by 14% compared to the same month of the previous year.



Sofia Airport is one of the key south-eastern centres in Europe, used by leading traditional airlines and large low-cost carriers.



Vladimir Rapondzhiev, CEO of Sofia Airport EAD: "I am delighted to welcome the arrival of another aviation fuel supplier at the metropolitan airport. I believe that our cooperation will be built on a good relationship and will contribute to enhancing the quality of aviation fuel services to our partners  the airlines."



Mr Petros Zorapas, CEO of Shell & MOH Aviation said: Starting operations at our first international location is an exciting milestone for the JV. We are in a very strong position in the Greek market and we are ready to extend our expertise beyond Greek borders. I am grateful to our partners in Bulgaria who have placed their trust in us and I am looking forward to a successful and long lasting collaboration.
Rahul Patil, General Secretary, Indian Youth Congress Thane City (Dist) had forwarded a complaint with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) about the illegal Chinese food stalls functioning at Mumbra. Even though the civic body and police had taken action against these vendors five years back but they have resurfaced again at the same place. Hawkers are hand in glove with local corporators and civic body officials and hence, they find it easier to run their business. According to him, these vendors cause nuisance for residents and many times traffic jams too occur in the vicinity. The area may witness a rise in typhoid and hepatitis cases due to unbridled food vendors working without licences.

They also have managed to avail illegal electricity connections for running the stall. According to Rahul, vendors are bribing TMC officials hence they have failed to take action against them. Due to lackadaisical attitude of civic body officials, illegal Chinese food stalls have mushroomed across Mumbra railway station, Shankar Mandir, Amrut Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Narayan Nagar and Kausa. Since last five years, Rahul had repeatedly taken up the matter of illegal food vendors with the TMC but they have turned a blind eye towards this issue. Activists have been working hard to reclaim the spaces meant for citizens to walk that have been illegally occupied by street food vendors. According to them, the civic body doesnt have any proper plan to evict hawkers permanently from footpaths. The eviction drive carried out by the civic body is an eyewash as most of the times vendors are back in business the next morning.
Indias Goods and Services Tax (GST) may have an adverse impact on the Bhutanese economy through trade and revenue channels, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its latest report.

The total trade between India and Bhutan was valued at USD 817 million in 2016-17, up from USD 750 million a year ago, as per Indian government data. Indias exports to Bhutan totalled USD 509 million while imports came in at USD 308 million.

Indias Goods and Services Tax (GST), implemented in July 2017, may have an adverse impact on the Bhutanese economy through trade and revenue channels, stated the Asian Development Outlook 2017 Update report.

According to the report, Bhutans imports will likely increase as Indian exports are zero rated under GST, making the imports cheaper.

Exports to India will be subjected to GST, removing Bhutans previous competitive edge over Indian producers, it stated.

Additionally, rebates of Indian excise duties to the Bhutanese government will end as these taxes have been subsumed within GST, implying a loss of budget revenue, it said.

The Government of Bhutan, the report said, has decided for the time being not to levy higher taxes on imports from India, but to use credit policy to restrain import demand, especially for automobiles.

Bhutan imports machines, medical equipment, processed food, iron and steel, fibre, pharma, hardware and electrical transformers, among others, from India, while exports include household articles, pepper, electric components and electricity.
The medical system is based on achieving technical mastery over every aspect of the life process, on developing medical and surgical technologies to force the body to behave in the ways we've decided that it should, to raise or lower the blood pressure, for example, more or less at will, or to repair parts that are broken, and to remove organs and tissues that are diseased or already dead. In themselves, some of these are magnificent achievements, and capable of much good or even saving life in situations of extreme or desperate need.

That was how I became open to things like acupuncture and homeopathy. So to answer your question, what changed wasn't the medical system or my views of it, but simply how I could relate to it, to the point that I've also learned to appreciate the many good things it has to offer.

What really turned my head around was a home birth that I got talked into because I had a reputation for being a little weird and none of the OB's in town would touch it with a 10-foot pole. It was a revelation for me, because I was no longer telling the woman what to do or how to live her life, but rather being a midwife, helping her to do what her body was already trying to do. So I just sat down and paid attention like everybody else, and thank God, nothing went wrong; she taught me the whole course that day, without saying a word. That was the first time I had a vision of how I could practice medicine in a way I could be proud of.

When I started practicing, I was already determined not to give pharmaceutical drugs for long-term maintenance and to avoid elective surgery as long as possible; but I had no idea how to do that. The medical system was all I knew. There was no such thing as "alternative medicine" in those days; if anybody had suggested anything as outlandish as acupuncture or homeopathy, I doubt I would have taken it seriously. I did begin dabbling in and eventually studying things like herbs, nutrition, lifestyle modification, and psychotherapy.

For me, the big change was in medical school and during internship. It's hard to boil it down to a phrase or two, but by the time I graduated from medical school I knew I couldn't bring myself to practice in the way I'd been taught, and I left medicine entirely for 3 years, doing graduate work in philosophy to try to understand what I'd just lived through, and finally interning because I needed to earn a living and support my family.

His answers are fascinating. Moskowitz is a wise and courageous doctor who has spent decades opposing the dictates of the pharma-controlled mainstream medical community. His view of what makes us healthy is a refreshing change from what officials tell us.

It was my privilege to question Dr. Moskowitz, author of Vaccines: A Reappraisal about his position on the vaccine debate, the health of children, and where this is all headed.

Note: We are running a contest to win a copy of Dr. Moskowitz's book Vaccines A Reappraisal from Skyhorse Publishing here at AofA. You can leave a comment on this post to enter. Richard Moskowitz, MD, is a family physician who received his BA from Harvard, Phi Beta Kappa, his MD from New York University, and a US Steel Fellowship in Philosophy at the University of Colorado. He has been in private practice since 1967. After studying herbs, Japanese acupuncture, and other holistic modalities, he has specialized in homeopathic medicine since 1974, and has written four previous books and over a hundred articles on homeopathy, midwifery, natural healing, and the philosophy of medicine. He resides in Boston, Massachusetts. By Anne Dachel

But using heavy artillery to force the body to behave itself, often by robbing Peter to pay Paul, is a lousy model for helping people to recover from their sicknesses; in most cases, it's very likely to stand in the way, or even substitute a worse sickness of its own. If all healing is ultimately self-healing, as I believe, and the symptoms of illness are precisely the unsuccessful attempt of the body to make that happen, it makes much better sense to try help people to heal themselves wherever possible, before forcing their bodies to behave in the absence of any natural inclination to do so.

Vaccination is a perfect example. I still fondly remember coming down with the measles as a child and enjoying a week off from school, lovingly nursed and fussed over by my mother. Mounting a vigorous, acute response to infection is a crucial function of a healthy immune system; its main purpose and end result is to expel the measles virus or any other offending organism from the blood. Real natural immunity like that is usually absolute and lifelong. It means, first of all, that I'll never get the measles again, no matter how many epidemics are raging all around me. But it also means that my entire immune system has been mobilized and thus primed to respond with equal vigor and efficiency to whatever else may come down the pike in the future. This is a huge net gain for me, for the community, and indeed for the human race as a whole.

This is shown very clearly by research that proves that kids who come down with and recover from these common febrile diseases, like measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and "the flu," for example, are much less likely to come down with various chronic diseases later in life than those who were vaccinated against them instead.

So the measles vaccine "succeeded" in the sense that we went from 400,000 cases a year to less than 10,000; yes, that's very impressive. But instead of expelling the virus from the blood, the vaccinated kids now carry it within their immune systems for life. That's a very high price to pay for those precious antibodies that we tend to lose sight of, because the so-called "immunity" that they substitute for the real thing is phony, is indeed the polar opposite of good health. When you multiply that vaccine by 75, that's what we're giving to every 18-year-old who plays by the rules; by age 65, the figure is closer to 150. And that's a good example of what is likely to happen whenever you try to force the issue, to force the body to do what it has no natural inclination to do.

What can you say about the health of unvaccinated children in your practice?

It's a little hard to say, because most of the kids I see carry a much lighter vaccine load than most; a lot of them still get the DT and the polio, and they don't get them from me. I haven't given any vaccines for at least 45 years. But the research on vaccinated vs. unvaccinated is finally beginning to be done; and I can say from my own experience that the kids I see are much less prone to chronic diseases of every kind than the national average, and perhaps also more likely to get the usual acute diseases with fever, which reassure me that their immune systems are developing normally, as they should. I worry much more about the kids who don't develop fevers, which I take to be a possible early warning sign of some chronic disease cooking on the back burner.

Why do doctors not recognize the growing population of chronically ill and disabled children that simply werent there 25 years ago? What are they telling themselves when a child suffers a reaction after vaccination?

I think the reason is a subconscious fear that that elephant in the room would require them to seriously rethink their ingrained article of quasi-religious faith that our medical system is the best in the world, that our kids are the healthiest, and that the exceptions are either from poor or immigrant families who already have too many strikes against them, or else those with some weird genetic abnormality that at present nothing can be done about.

Our present vaccination policy, for example, makes no sense from the viewpoint of science, ethics, politics, or simple common sense. We believe that vaccines are safe and effective, yet we require them of everyone with or without their consent, with no public health emergency anywhere in sight, even though the Supreme Court says they're "unavoidably unsafe," so the manufacturers can't be held liable for their deaths and disabilities, as they are for every other drug. The only way this makes sense is as a baptismal sacrament of our essentially religious faith in the medical enterprise.

So we've limited our definition of what counts as an adverse reaction to something really drastic that happens within a few hours or days after the shot; by definition that excludes the entire chronic dimension, of things happening slowly and beneath the surface for weeks, months, or years. Even when the child dies within a few hours or days, we still tend to dismiss it as a rare genetic hypersensitivity reaction, or in any case a "coincidence," with the implication that parents who link it to the vaccine or vaccines are either lying, or ignorant, or simply deluded by their misfortune.

How are your views treated by doctors in mainstream medicine?

Very few things I've written have ever been published in mainstream media or scientific journals, both of which generally tend to censor themselves from airing or taking seriously almost anything that overtly or by implication criticizes or casts doubt on the view that vaccines are safe and effective. In short, I've been preaching to the choir almost the whole time.

But slowly and still mostly under the radar, with the addition of more and more vaccines and the increasing pressure to make them compulsory, that smugness is unraveling, and the faith on which it rests is coming apart. So now, beginning with Andy Wakefield, and continuing with well-meaning pediatricians like Bob Sears, those who dissent from the increasingly rigid orthodoxy are being attacked as heretics, and the battle lines are being drawn. If my new book succeeds in blurring those boundaries, I'll probably be in for it as well.

What do you hope your book will do for parents faced with questions about vaccinating their child?

Parents have always been my main audience, just as helping them sort through their questions and doubts and make their own decisions have always been an important part of my regular pediatric practice. I'm primarily a clinician, not a research scientist; and ultimately my book is an attempt to make sense of what I've actually witnessed. What I'm offering is not final answers, but a way to ask the right questions, and hopefully to stimulate debate and encourage some of the further research that still needs to be done. So my hope is that it will help parents to make the choice that best suits them. A lot of the parents I see eventually give their kids the tetanus and polio, for example, even though I've certainly made the case that even these are unnecessary. My position is and has always been simply pro-choice, pro informed consent, that is, to reaffirm the parents' moral and legal authority to make health-care decisions for their kids, as enshrined in the Nuremberg Code and the Helsinki Declaration, adopted by almost all nations after the Nazi atrocities of World War II, including the US, universal human rights which we still profess to hold dear.

Where is all this headed? How long can we just accommodate a growing population of disabled children as normal and acceptable?

I believe that we're headed down a slippery slope towards an even greater crisis of death, brain damage, and serious autoimmune disease that in the not-distant future will precipitate a major political, scientific, legal, and moral meltdown and, just possibly, a basic rethinking of our entire medical and scientific enterprise, which will hopefully reaffirm health care as a human right rather than a commodity for sale to the few who can afford it, and a more humane, wholesome, and restrained application of technology as a result. I guess I'm still a guarded optimist in that sense, in the face of the death-throes of runaway, Robber Baron-style capitalism at this point.

More on Dr. Moskowitz

Age of Autism:

Sept 19, 2017, Debut Day For Vaccines: A Reappraisal by Dr. Richard Moskowitz from Skyhorse Publishing Oct 4, 2017, Win a Copy of Vaccines A Reappraisal By Dr. Richard Moskowitz, MD

http://www.ageofautism.com/2017/10/win-a-copy-of-vaccines-a-reappraisal-by-dr-richard-moskowitz-md.html

2015, Health Impact News: The Case Against Immunizations, By Richard Moskowitz, M. D.

YouTube interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9S9R4DrZ58
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

A steady rain this morning. Showers continuing this afternoon. High 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Chaldean Synod Issues Statement on Iraq

Rome -- In a "critical and difficult" time for Iraq, the Chaldean Church expresses "appreciation" for the role played by the armed forces in the fight against the "terrorists" of the Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis) and renews its call to "dialogue" to overcome the "crisis" between Erbil and Baghdad following the referendum on independence. This is what the Chaldean patriarchate underlines in a statement published at the end of the Synod, which was held in Rome from October 4 to 8. In the text, the leaders of the Iraqi Church also expressed the "solidarity and pride" of the Christian community, which has been able to keep the "faith" alive. Signed by Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako and the bishops present, the statement highlights the "results" of the Iraqi forces and the recent victories over the Islamic jihadists; the wish of the Iraqi Church, is that there will soon be celebrations for "the liberation of the entire territory of Iraq". In the "difficult circumstances" of the Middle East, and in particular Syria and Iraq, the bishops trace a "visionary and realistic view of all the challenges" facing "our country, our Church and the Christians of the region." Chief among them is the "emigration" and the common commitment to promoting policies and plans that ensure the survival of families - displaced and non - and encourage the return of those who in the past have chosen to emigrate. "Despite the persecution we have experienced," continues the patriarchal note, "we have kept the flame of faith and hope in the hearts firmly alive, without fanaticism but with deep respect for the other Christian communities [Assyrian, Syriac, Armenia]. It affirms our membership of our Church, our family in a spirit of solidarity, sacrifice, mutual love and responsibility. " he leaders of the Iraqi Church also ask for prayers "to nourish priestly and monastic vocations" in a clerical crisis. In these days, Chaldean Bishops and Patriarch Sako met Pope Francis, who renewed the invitation to the Iraqi Church to act as an element of peace and stability in the country and in the world. An even more urgent engagement in a period of hardship and divisions within the same Iraqi institutions that threaten national unity. The reference is to the September 25 independence referendum, promoted by Iraqi Kurdistan on. Voting was also held in the controversial territory of Kirkuk and ended with an overwhelming victory in favor (over 90% yes). "We are very concerned about the developments in the country's political situation, particularly the referendum crisis," the Patriarch notes. We invite all parties to "calm," and "not to escalate" tensions, renewing the commitment to "courageous dialogue" as the only "safe way" to "overcome the crisis". In this regard, Msgr. Shlemon Audish Warduni, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, speaks to AsiaNews of a "slight improvement" in the situation because there are "attempts at dialogue" and "steps towards an opening" between Baghdad and Erbil. Hence the pressing appeal to "dialogue and reconciliation" addressed to both parties. We must continue to be a "sign of hope," concludes Patriarch Sako, and remain "confident" so that "there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel."
The Assyrians Fighting for Freedom in Syria

An officer of the Syriac [Assyrian] Military Council shows a wound he received while fighting Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. He died in September 2017. ( Andrew Doran) Raqqa, Syria -- The soldiers of the Syriac [Assyrian] Military Council sit on a rug in an abandoned home in the urban wreckage of the caliphate's capital, perhaps 200 yards from ISIS, drinking tea and chain-smoking. The predominantly Christian unit is a small but symbolically important part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have encircled ISIS and are slowly closing in. The Syriac officers point out that those who've joined their ranks -- including Muslims, both Arabs and Kurds, foreigners, and other Christians -- are a symbol of the Syria for which they are fighting: a federated Syria, an alternative to Baathism and Islamism. "For the first time in our history, we are fighting for each other," says one Syriac commander. A few moments later, a Muslim soldier in the Syriac unit enters the room, unfurls a prayer rug, kneels toward Mecca in the south, and prays. He then rises and sits beside the interpreter, and a lengthy debate about the interpreter's unruly hair ensues. Their tension-relieving banter doesn't even pause for the small-arms fire and artillery outside; they take no notice. The Syriac officer points to the interpreter, Ibrahim, as another example of their diversity. Ibrahim, like the late caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is originally from Iraq. Ibrahim is a convert to Christianity, but he was born into one of the last Jewish families of Baghdad -- a community that numbered well over 100,000 in 1948. His ancestors arrived in Mesopotamia 26 centuries ago, when thousands of Jerusalem's citizens were taken into captivity in Babylon, modern-day Iraq. The Psalms recall the heartbreak of that exile: "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept." One of the last exiles of that captivity, Ibrahim, sits with his comrades, Muslim and Christian, in Raqqa, near the shores of the Euphrates, waiting for an order to attack that could be hours or months away. Linear time, like reason, is often elusive in the Middle East. And though there is much to lament, there are no tears. Millions of young people like these will never again see anything resembling the world into which they were born; they've instead grown accustomed to the destruction of places like Raqqa. For Ibrahim, the only constant is exile. Like his ancestors, sojourners for most of their history, he must adapt to his surroundings to survive. The presence of Jews in the Arab world is often as much a revelation to Americans as is the presence of Christians. Until recent decades, Jews and Christians were vital cultural components of the Middle East mosaic. The decline of both communities has coincided with the rise of extremism and the reduction of much of the Middle East to rubble. An Iraqi priest, tending to Christians displaced by the ISIS conquest of the Nineveh Plain, put it succinctly two years ago: "Before us, they attacked the Jews." The priest was from the same Baghdad neighborhood as Ibrahim. There, Jews and Christians lived together, as urban minorities often do. The priest's sentiment is similar to one heard from secular-minded Muslims throughout the region: "If the Christians are driven out, we will be next." The exodus of more than half a million Arab Jews began in 1948, most often the result of government coercion or mob violence, though in a few instances it was voluntary. Like their coreligionists in Europe, who had regarded themselves as Germans, Hungarians, and Poles, Arab Jews were thoroughly woven into their communities in such places as Tripoli, Sanaa, and Baghdad. Their sudden persecution was a response to the establishment of the Israeli state, and in fact the number of Arab Jews displaced after 1948 is roughly equivalent to that of Palestinians displaced by the establishment of Israel. It should be noted, however, that the past 70 years have been the aberration: Jews have traditionally been safer in the Middle East and North Africa than in Europe, even before the last century. In Yemen, Morocco, Lebanon, and other countries across the region, small Jewish communities survive. But too much of the Arab world looks like Libya, where no Jews are known to remain; the small Christian community there is of course a target. The Jews of Syria are thought to be fewer than 20; in Iraq, fewer than ten. Many Christians of the Middle East now tread the same path, toward exile and extinction. The Christians of Iraq and Syria, roughly 3 million just before 2003, are perhaps a third so numerous today. The ethno-cultural diversity that once made Aleppo, Alexandria, and Baghdad, for example, popular tourist destinations has all but disappeared. The high culture of the Eastern Mediterranean that for centuries had been a moderating influence throughout the region -- where the Arab world met Athens, Rome, and even Jerusalem -- is all but gone. That higher culture has been replaced by the primitive, violent, and regressive culture of the Gulf Arabs, whose Wahhabi ideology has set the entire Middle East back centuries, if not millennia. The conflict in the Middle East is not principally between Sunni and Shia, or between the Middle East and the West; and despite conventional thinking among many Westerners, it has little today to do with the Israeli--Palestinian conflict. The struggle is simply between civilization and savagery -- and those manning the ramparts for the former are increasingly few in the Middle East. The great powers of the past, both European and Middle Eastern, understood that the minorities of the region were essential to the stability of the polities they ruled. In their public culture, even the Ottoman Turks, who later carried out ethno-religious genocide, once valued Jews and strategically placed Christians in Muslim communities to assuage sectarian tensions. That age is long gone. America, for its part, has pursued unsuccessful policies to placate enemies while hastening the decline of regional minorities, everywhere failing to apprehend its true allies and interests. Northern Syria will be America's next test. The Christians of Syria, like millions of Christians in the region, have historically been a contingent people, throwing themselves at the mercy of the sovereign. The Syriac Christians of the SDF seem different. Though numerically small, they offer perhaps the best hope for pluralism in Syria. Unlike the Free Syrian Army -- a collection of thugs and Islamists, whom the last American administration armed in an act of consummate imprudence -- the SDF appears to be genuinely moderate, the Syriac unit especially so. The Christian commanders speak of the need for reconciliation with Sunni Arabs, amnesties for ISIS conscripts, and building federated governance structures once ISIS is defeated. Time will tell whether this coalition will survive in the months ahead. Both Assad and Turkey's Erdogan will watch northern Syria closely -- and America's commitment there. Ibrahim and the Christians fighting in Syria are at the mercy of forces beyond their control, like so many minorities and exiles before them. Civilizations and empires have risen and fallen over the centuries across the Middle East; in the short lifetimes of these men, states have disintegrated and caliphates arisen. But it may be for precisely this reason that they believe something new may be forged from the dust and ash of the caliphate.
Cargolux Airlines and Emirates SkyCargo have signed a codeshare partnership for cargo.

The carriers said the new codeshare would allow both carriers to procure cargo capacity on each others flights and then offer it to their customers under their own airway bills and flight numbers. The codeshare agreement will be applicable for cargo capacity on freighter and passenger flights.

It follows the announcement earlier this year of a strategic operational partnership between the two carriers, in which they agreed to work closely on a number of operational areas including block space and interline agreements, aircraft charter, hub connectivity between Dubai and Luxembourg and cargo handling cooperation.

Emirates SkyCargo has already started weekly freighter services to Luxembourg from June 2017 and Cargolux transferred handling of its freighter flights at Dubai World Central to Emirates SkyCargo in September 2017. Since July 2017, Emirates SkyCargo has also chartered Boeing 747 freighter aircraft from Cargoluxs fleet.

The agreement was signed in Dubai by Emirates divisional senior vice president, Cargo Nabil Sultan, and Cargolux president and chief executive Richard Forson, in the presence of Luxembourgs minister of sustainable development and infrastructure, Francois Bausch.

Sultan said: Over the last five months our operational partnership with Cargolux has gone from strength to strengthWe will now be able to deepen this partnership through our codeshare agreement and offer a more seamless and broader range of product and service offerings to our customers.

Forson added: This codeshare partnership is a natural progression in our cooperation and demonstrates the complementarity of both airlines. Our customers greatly benefit from this partnership as we can offer high-quality products and services to more destinations than ever before.

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Russian all-cargo airline AirBridgeCargo (ABC) is expected to shift some of its freighter flights from flight-slot constrained Amsterdam Schiphol airport to Liege in Belgium, Air Cargo News understands.

ABC and Liege airport management were not available for comment but the switching of selected ABC freighter services out of Schiphol appears likely after the Netherlands gateway, Europes third largest cargo hub with 1.6m tonnes 2016, was forced to axe around 35 freighter slots.

Last month, the Schiphol airport communitys worst fears were confirmed when Air Co-ordination Netherlands (ACNL) announced where slots would be allocated for the winter season.

Amsterdams airport can handle a maximum of 500,000 slots per year and growth at the airport means that limit will be reached this year, with all-cargo flights accounting for around 18,000 of those.

Schiphol cargo director Jonas van Stekelenburg, contacted late last week about the potential loss of some ABC flights, said: "We (AMS) can not comment on individual customers, but we are aware that AirBridge as a freighter operator is one of the customers affected by the situation and we are in regular contact with them, along with all customers who are affected by the slot allocation.

"We will continue to support them as the situation develops and as they make decisions on routes for the end of 2017

"There are ongoing talks over local rules with the government. We expect news on this in the coming week."

The switching of some freighter services to a Belgian rival by such a high-profile air cargo carrier may provide Schiphol airport management with some leverage as Dutch politicians weigh the potential damage to the Netherlands reputation as a logistics-friendly hub for European air cargo.
October 10, 2017

CAIRO  Public diplomacy was the political regimes weapon in 2014-2016 when Egyptians rallied abroad to assert the popularity of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he visited New York, Berlin and Paris, among other European capitals. At the time, the Muslim Brotherhood was trying to show the international community that Sisis regime acceded to power in the wake of an illegitimate military coup by spreading rumors about the current regime and rallying against Sisi. Today, Egypt is seemingly capitalizing on promoting public diplomacy through a draft law to unite organizations regulating the affairs of Egyptian expatriates. Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram proposed the draft law in September.

On Sept. 25, Makram met with Minister of Justice Hussam Abdul Rahim to discuss issuing a law that would regulate and unite Egyptian organizations abroad. Makram lauded the role of Egyptian expatriates and voiced her strong faith in public diplomacy, which she said goes hand in hand with official diplomacy. She also praised the efforts of associations and entities representing Egyptian expatriates to support the state, organize it and focus on the national objectives.

Makram said she would communicate with members of parliament representing Egyptians abroad to get their perspective on organizing the bodies representing expatriates. She underlined the need to benefit from international models regulating the affairs of expats  such as the Moroccan, Sudanese, Mexican and Lebanese models  before submitting to parliament the proposal of the Ministry of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs.

On Sept. 20, Makram said in a press statement, There are many bodies representing Egyptian expatriates such as the Egyptian clubs abroad, the General Syndicate for Egyptians Working Abroad, the diaspora and the official spokesperson for the Egyptian diaspora. The multitude of expatriate bodies prompted the ministry to call on them to unite to serve the state. The ministry is preparing a draft law to submit to the Cabinet and parliament to organize these bodies.

She added, When I went to Sudan and met with the Sudanese minister of immigration, he told me that each committee representing the Sudanese diaspora has its own records of all cultural and social activities.

For that reason, the draft law would help organize the bodies representing Egyptians abroad and would frame their activities and regulate the election of a board under one association. The association would also be registered at the Ministry of Social Solidarity in order to represent Egypt in an organized way, according to Makram.

The draft law was proposed in the wake of Sisis visit to New York to attend the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly. Hundreds of Egyptians rallied in front of the UN headquarters on Sept. 19 to welcome Sisi and voice their support for him and for Egypt.

The draft law elicited different opinions. Member of parliament Mohammad al-Arabi, the head of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Monitor, Egyptians do not like to be linked to one law or body  they might face disputes. Besides, it is difficult to implement the proposed draft law because Egyptians abroad have to comply with the laws of the country they reside in. But the organizations representing Egyptian expats can have their affairs regulated by the Ministry of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs when it comes to big projects. This was the case when investment certificates that partly funded the new Suez Canal project were purchased.

Parliamentarian Evelyn Matta, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told Al-Monitor, Uniting Egyptians under one body would give this body more power due to the number of its members and their diversified jobs. Consequently this body would have more power to pressure some companies and foreign organizations that do not honor the rights of Egyptian workers and to defend the rights of Egyptians if an Egyptian was abused or rights were violated.

Matta added, A unified Egyptian body would increase Egyptian calls to foreigners to attract their investments to Egypt and would widen partnership opportunities between Egyptians abroad and cement their investments. Such a body would also help discover Egyptian expertise that can manage investments. As a result, Egyptian investments abroad would multiply, increasing Egyptian influence and giving Egypt its first lobby.

The head of the Egyptian Community in Europe, Walaa Morsi, told Al-Monitor, As a matter of principle, the draft law makes sense. But practically, its implementation is hard. To apply it correctly, Makram should connect with the organizations representing the Egyptian diaspora, but she refuses to deal with some organizations that criticize her, and she objects to some situations of Egyptians abroad. Thus the united body would only include supporters of the minister and her policy.

The General Syndicate for Egyptians Working Abroad and the Egyptian Community in Europe criticize Makrams position on repatriating the bodies of Egyptians who died abroad, as the Ministry of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs does not cover the expenses of transporting the bodies to Egypt if the family does not have the funds. The ministry was also criticized for failing to efficiently handle the expulsion of Egyptian workers from the Gulf following the breaking of ties with Doha in June.

The head of the Saudi Arabia branch of the General Union of Egyptians Abroad, Imam Youssef, told Al-Monitor, Makrams proposal is surreal because she cannot force Egyptian associations abroad to comply with Egyptian laws. Each organization abides by the applicable laws in the country where it is based. Makram is overlooking the associations that do not want to comply with her instructions. We suggested to the ministry several times that it record the data of those joining the Union of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia, but the ministry was not interested.

A pro-Brotherhood Egyptian living in New York who refused to reveal his full name told Al-Monitor through Facebook messenger, I expect the united body will enjoy the support of the state in offering health insurance to Egyptians abroad and covering the cost of transferring the bodies of deceased Egyptians back home, among other services. This would encourage Egyptians to join the body. I, along with other Egyptians in the US who oppose the current regime, feel the body's main objective is to identify the opponents of the regime in Egypt from the Brotherhood or other organizations abroad, because most opponents do not register at the Egyptian embassies or consulates. The body could also play a role in garnering Egyptian support for Sisi in the upcoming elections.

The Egyptian lobby idea, as described by Matta, is facing several obstacles. For one, its implementation is not straightforward because some associations representing Egyptians abroad are at odds with Makram. Besides, laws change from one country to another where the associations are based, and some people are concerned that a united body might be a trap for the opponents of the regime to track them down and detect their activities. It is undeniable, however, that the draft law has diplomatic and investment privileges, in addition to its contribution to defending Egyptians rights.
October 10, 2017

Azza Abdel Hamid Ezzat is in her early 20s but has already given birth four times. Ten years ago when she reached puberty, her father decided it was time she got married; he gave her away to the first suitor who came knocking on their door. It mattered little to him that the prospective groom was in his mid-30s at the time (more than twice Azzas age) or that the bride-to-be had never actually met him.

I was only 12 at the time, and hed spotted me buying cookies from a small kiosk at the end of our street. When my father told me I had a suitor, I was excited about wearing a long, white dress and wanted to be a bride like the celebrity brides Id seen in films and drama serials on TV, Azza recalled. She did not think about what her life would be like after the wedding.

The second eldest of nine children (four of whom are girls), Azza and her sisters had never gone to school as our family was too poor to afford it  only the boys in our family got an education.

But it was not just poverty that kept Azza and her sisters out of school. The only school in our village was some distance away from home, and my father worried about us making the journey to school back and forth every day. So Azza had stayed home, looking after her younger siblings and helping her mother with the household chores.

Her brothers, perceived as the potential breadwinners in the family, completed their basic education but dropped out before reaching the last grade of primary school as they had to work to contribute to the family income. Soon after Azza was born, her father left his home village near the city of Mallawi in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya to work as a porter in a building in Cairos upscale neighborhood of Mohandessin. His wife and children were left behind and had to make do with the little money he sent home at the end of each month. His salary barely covered his familys basic necessities, and he was only too happy to give his daughters away to whoever paid the highest bride price.

My sisters and I were considered a financial burden, and my father just wanted to get us off his hands. He hoped that the families we married into would support us, relieving him of this burden, Azza told Al-Monitor.

After the wedding, Azza moved into her mother-in-laws house where she frequently suffered verbal and physical abuse at the hands of her husband, who accused her of neglecting the household chores. Girls who marry before they turn 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence, according to a 2014 UNICEF study. Nevertheless, Azza bore her husband four children before the couple divorced nine years later.

Azzas story is all too common in Egypts poor, rural communities, where girls are often deprived of an education and become child brides soon after they reach puberty, despite the legal age of marriage in Egypt being 18. Many of the girls do not have birth certificates and have to undergo medical examinations at the village health clinic to determine their age. For a small bribe, some doctors are willing to add a few years to the girls actual age to allow them to get married. Hundreds of girls as young as 10 or 11 have been wed due to the forged birth certificates that falsely informed the marriage notaries that they were 18.

Girls are often deprived of an education and become child brides soon after they reach puberty.

In some cases of child marriage, families circumvent the law by having a lawyer write the marriage contract, which is not registered with the state authorities. The couple waits until the wife turns 18 before officially registering the marriage.

According to a 2016 UNICEF study, 17% of girls in Egypt were married before they were 18 (2% of them were married below the age of 15). Poverty, sociocultural norms and girls disproportionate access to education are some of the factors contributing to the problem of child marriages in Egypt, according to Fatemah Khafagy, a gender expert and former ombudsman at the National Council for Women (NCW).

Many families in the rural south believe that a girl's role in life is to become a wife and mother. Because of this perception, parents do not feel obliged to educate their daughters. Marrying off their daughters soon after they reach puberty  sometimes to men that are much older than they are  is an accepted social norm in the poorer rural communities, Khafagy told Al-Monitor.

Theres a widespread belief that marriage at an early age helps preserve a girls purity and, hence, protect the family honor, she added.

Worse still are the so-called temporary or seasonal marriages, which Khafagy describes as a thinly veiled form of human trafficking. In some poor Egyptian villages, parents sell their young daughters to Gulf visitors for a bride price, financially benefitting from the transaction. But the seasonal marriages  often facilitated by a marriage broker or some other intermediary  only last for a limited period, often ending when the Gulf spouse returns home to his country of origin.

Rights advocates have sounded the alarm about Egypts child marriages, warning that the problem perpetuates the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. But the authorities have  until recently  largely turned a blind eye to the warnings, allowing child marriages to continue in violation of the 2008 law that raised the age of marriage for girls from 16 to 18. The current legislation prohibits but does not criminalize child marriages.

This, however, may be about to change.

In early October, a Muslim cleric in El Mehalla Al Kobra governorate was referred to trial after the mother of a minor accused him of marrying off at least two dozen underage girls, including her own daughter. The imams prosecution, a rarity in Egypt, marks a shift in societal attitudes toward the long tolerated practice of child marriage. It also sends a message that the authorities are serious about enforcing the law. The legal complaint against the imam came on the heels of an exhortation by NCW head Maya Morsi to parliament to raise the legal age of marriage to 21. In late August, Morsi also urged lawmakers to block any attempts to lower the marriage age to 16 and to draft a new law criminalizing child marriages. The move came after Egyptian parliament member Ahmed Sameh suggested amending the current law to lower the age of marriage to 16, arguing that the amendment was necessary to close the gap between the existing legislation and the reality on the ground.

Hundreds of girls are getting married young but are not registering their marriages until the wife is 18. Lowering the age of marriage would stop citizens circumventing the law, he told Ahram Online.

In a statement released in late August, the NCW slammed Sameh's proposal as backward and cautioned that lowering the legal age of marriage would disempower girls and further marginalize them from the public space.

Early marriage puts girls at greater risk of experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. That is why the Ministries of Health and Justice and the National Population Council are working together to push for new legislation criminalizing child marriages, Vivian Fouad, an official at the National Population Council, told Al-Monitor.

Indeed, a 2014 World Health Organization study warns that complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second cause of death for girls ages 15-19 globally, and babies born to adolescent mothers face a substantially higher risk of dying than those born to women ages 20-24.

Some families arent even aware that they are breaking the law by marrying off their daughters at an early age, and prosecutions are seldom brought against the violators. We are hoping that criminalizing child marriages will change that, said Fouad.

But for Azza and many of Egypts child brides, the proposed legislation is too little, too late.
October 10, 2017

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to shift the blame for escalating tensions with the United States on outgoing US Ambassador John Bass today. Speaking in Belgrade on the second leg of an Eastern European tour, Erdogan said neither he nor any members of his Cabinet would receive Bass for farewell visits. We do not consider him as legitimate envoy of the United States, Erdogan said.

The latest row between the two NATO allies erupted when the United States announced Oct. 8 that it was indefinitely suspending all non-immigrant visa applications for Turkish citizens inside Turkey. Western diplomats commenting on the measure to Al-Monitor called it drastic and unprecedented and the clearest expression yet of the rapidly unraveling strategic relationship between Turkey and the United States.

The immediate trigger for American action was last weeks arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish national employed by the US Consulate in Istanbul for over 30 years. Most of Topuz career was spent acting as a liaison and translator for the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Erdogan charged that Turkish national agents had infiltrated US missions and that the government was entitled to act against them.

Turkish authorities accuse Topuz of having links to police officers and prosecutors who are facing trial over their connections to Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Turkish imam and accused mastermind of the July 2016 coup attempt. Turkey has retaliated in kind. US citizens will no longer be issued non-immigrant Turkish visas until further notice unless they apply outside the United States.

In a further escalatory twist, Turkish authorities have issued a warrant to interrogate another long-term Turkish employee at the US Consulate in Istanbul who, contrary to reports in the Turkish media, is not sheltering at the consulate. Like Topuz, the wanted man described by fellow employees to Al-Monitor as a super nice guy also liaised with Turkish police officers as part of his regular duties. His whereabouts remain unknown. Administration sources who declined to identify the employee confirmed Turkish news reports that his wife and daughter have been detained for questioning.

Topuz is the second Foreign Service National (FSN) as local staff is called, to be arrested by Turkish authorities this year.

On March 7, Hamza Ulucay, another veteran FSN at the US Consulate in Adana, was arrested on charges of membership in a terror organization after being detained for a second time in connection with an ongoing probe against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Ulucay's duties included setting up meetings between US Consulate staff and Kurdish politicians, civil society and business leaders in the mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces. Evidence purportedly proving Ulucay's PKK connections included a widely acclaimed book by photographer Susan Meiselas called Kurdistan In the Shadow of History and a handful of single dollar notes that were seized at his home. Washington barely uttered a peep.

Administration sources speaking to Al-Monitor on strict condition of anonymity said with Topuz arrest a pattern of targeting consulate staff had been established and it was time to act. They dismissed Erdogans suggestions that Bass may have been solely responsible for the decision to suspend consular services. The embassy had 100% support from Washington, one of the sources said, including from the White House.

Erdogans comments are more wishful thinking: that all that ails Turkish-American relations is being done without consulting President Donald Trump, and that much of the trouble began under the Barack Obama administration. This mantra continues to be repeated by the pro-government press, which cites Washingtons refusal to extradite Gulen as proof of its complicity in the coup.

In fact, US diplomats who met with assorted Turkish officials soon after Topuz was detained gave ample warning of the likely fallout if he were formally arrested. Among those approached were Istanbuls chief of police, a deputy governor and presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. The US diplomats told them if Topuz were formally arrested that the United States would view it as a political move and an escalation, and that there would be grave consequences for the bilateral relationship, starting with consular services. Until Topuz is freed, chances that the US decision will be reversed are close to nil.

Some analysts agree the suspension of consular services was inevitable, if harsh. I think the US had to draw a line in the sand over continued targeting of their staff, said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey researcher at St. Lawrence University and a senior non-resident fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy. Eissenstat added that congressional pressure on the administration to sanction Turkey is getting too big to ignore. The Senate recently blocked the sale of weapons to Erdogans security detail after their violent attacks against peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassadors residence in Washington, DC.

As partisan as politics in Washington are, irritation with the directions of Turkish policy seems to be one of the few areas that Republicans and Democrats come together.  I expect more punitive measures, especially if the current crisis is unresolved, he said.

In a bid to clarify the decision, Bass issued a videotaped statement on Monday. He said the arrest of Topuz has raised questions whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing cooperation between Turkey and the United States.

Whether intentionally or not, his comments in some ways mirrored those of Erdogan by suggesting that it was certain individuals rather than the Turkish government as a whole who were targeting US mission employees.

Potential culprits may well include the so-called Eurasianists within the army and elsewhere who want to ditch relations with the United States in favor of Russia. Turkeys nebulous plans to acquire Russian S-400 missiles are believed to be the Eurasianists idea. Their spokesman, politician Dogu Perincek, is said to have Erdogans ear.

Another explanation is that the arrests of the consular staff were calculated to provoke further tensions with Washington, all part of a long-running strategy to stoke nationalist passions and win votes.

Just as plausibly, Erdogan may believe that if he collects enough US hostages he can use them as bargaining chips to force Washington to extradite Gulen. He appeared to confirm such suspicions in a Sept. 22 speech in which he said, 'Give us the pastor back, they say. You have one pastor [Gulen] as well. Return him to us. Then we will try [the American] and give him to you.

Erdogan was referring to Andrew Brunson, the Protestant pastor who has been rotting in a Turkish prison since October on thinly supported charges of links to Gulen.

But the real prize would be Reza Zarrab, the Iranian-American gold trader who was arrested in Miami last year for helping Iran dodge sanctions. Zarrab was at the center of a massive three-pronged corruption probe targeting Erdogans government and family that was launched in December 2013. Despite some pretty damning evidence, the case was hastily buried and painted by the pro-government media as yet another global conspiracy against Turkey and Erdogan.

Most of the police officers and prosecutors who led the probe have since been arrested on charges of membership of what the ruling party calls the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization. Others, including high-profile prosecutor Zekeriya Oz, managed to flee the country. The indictment against Topuz accuses him of conspiring with Oz and other "FETO" operatives to build the corruption case against the government and bases the accusation on numerous telephone calls Topuz made to them prior to December 2013.

Hanefi Avci, a former police chief who shot to national fame after writing a book documenting Gulenist infiltration of the force, told Al-Monitor in an interview that it was perfectly normal for Topuz to be in contact with Turkish police officials and other law enforcement officials as part of his work. He said, Whether they have other undisclosed proof I cannot know, but the links cited are ones that existed long before and how an espionage charge was deduced from these I really cant understand.

Besides, Topuz works for the DEA and would not have been involved in any FBI or Department of Justice investigations related to Zarrab. Ahmet Yayla, a former police chief who denies the government's accusation of Gulenist links, believes Topuz had most likely been tapped by the FBI to do some translating, and may have gotten caught in the crosshairs of the Zarrab case and by extension in the black books of the government.

The hearings of the case against Zarrab and Hakan Atilla, the former chief executive of Turkeys state-run Halkbank who is also implicated in the sanctions-busting scheme are due to resume on Nov. 27 at the Southern District Court of New York. In a hearing on April 24, Southern District Assistant US Attorney Dennis Lockard charged, Zarrab funneled tens of millions of dollars to high-level government and bank officials in Iran and in Turkey.

The government must be panicking, Yayla, now a lecturer at George Mason University, told Al-Monitor in a telephone interview.

Correction: Oct. 11, 2017. An earlier version of this article said Turkish authorities had issued an arrest warrant for a second person who works at the embassy. It was instead a warrant to interrogate.
October 10, 2017

In the wake of emerging reports that Washington is preparing to designate Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the commander of the Guard Corps have adopted a unitary position, warning the White House over the possible consequences of such a move.

In a meeting on the coordination for holding the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, IRGC commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said Oct. 9, There is a good harmony between Mr. Zarif and myself in announcing our positions against the enemies, and the enmity of our enemies against Iran and its capabilities in the defense, political and social sectors.

The IRGC commander added that he and Zarif share the same stances and only differ in the way they express themselves.

Jafari said, Diplomatic expression is different from defense forces expression, but its content and orientation are the same," adding, "[US President Donald] Trump must be sure that we [the IRGC] are united with the Foreign Ministry and our government.

Simultaneously, in a rare occurrence, a photo was released to the media showing Zarif and Jafari laughing together and hugging each other at the aforementioned meeting  an image seemingly designed to try to send a message of Iranian unity to the Trump administration.

In the same meeting, the Iranian foreign minister condemned the United States' possible plans to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group. We have repeatedly declared that the IRGC is an honor for our country and a guarantor of the defense of our homeland and the continuation of the revolution that defends the borders of our country. The role of the Revolutionary Guards in the imposed war [with Iraq in the 1980s] was also a shining moment, Zarif told a group of reporters Oct. 9.

He continued, The West is well aware of this issue, and it is quite clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not negotiate over its defense capability.  America isolates itself with such actions and becomes more hostile in the eyes of our nation.

Warning against a possible terror designation for the IRGC, Zarif added, If US officials commit this strategic mistake, the Islamic Republic of Iran will surely reciprocate. We have designed a number of actions that will be announced at the right time.

Moreover, government spokesperson Mohammad Bagher Nobakht has also spoken in defense of the IRGC, saying the Guard Corps is respected in the eyes of Iranians. The position of the government toward the IRGC is very clear: The Revolutionary Guards are a revolutionary organ and one of the components of the power and defense of the nation after the revolution, Nobakht said Oct. 10.

He added, This institution [the IRGC] is still respected, and people will never forget the courage of the Revolutionary Guards in defending the country and the people  and the world should acknowledge the reality of the IRGC's defense against the terrorist invasion of Daesh [Islamic State], which it has.

Irans government spokesman emphasized, The IRGC is a defender of the nation and an attacker of terrorists, so if the United States has such a reaction against the Revolutionary Guard Corps, it will be like the terrorists who have the same positions against the IRGC.
October 10, 2017

In the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country's educational system all but collapsed. Illiteracy rates have exploded. Universities have turned into sectarian battlegrounds. Systemic violence  including beatings, rape and death threats  has forced students and faculty out of campuses. As state provision of higher education has receded, private donors have set up alternative institutions, often with a sectarian and religious twist. Foreign actors have also stepped in to fill the void.

Before the US-led invasion, education indicators in oil-rich, Baathist-controlled Iraq improved similarly as in other middle-income countries, and in several ways even more so. The countrys first university, Baghdad University, opened its doors in 1957. In 1968, the government made education free and compulsory at all levels. In 1977, the eradication of illiteracy was made legally binding. The developmental push appeared to be working. By 1980, Iraq had already achieved near universal primary school enrollment.

Saddam Husseins devastating eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s and the sanctions imposed by the West over his invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s slowed these gains.

By 2000, the literacy rate of youth aged 15-24 years old stood at 84.8%, slightly higher than that of regional neighbor Egypt. The gender gap was also narrowing: Female literacy rates stood at 80.5% in 2000, a figure Egypt reached only in 2006. At the same time, underinvestment in education by a cash-strapped government led to an aged and creaking infrastructure.

For all its ills, the collapse of the Baathist regime in 2003 and its replacement with a US-installed government wrecked the countrys educational system. Junior, inexperienced American officers who failed to understand the complexities of maintaining peace between the sects were put in charge of higher education. The 2003 de-Baathification law led to the expulsion of thousands of teachers and university professors who had been members of the Baath Party. The murder of the president of Baghdad University only days after the approval of this law also served as an omen. Over the next years, the de-Baathification law was invoked by competing local militias and political factions to violently establish control over education.

Things got worse in 2014, with the rapid advancement of the Islamic State (IS). IS captured several major state universities, including the University of Mosul, the countrys second largest, and proceeded to burn thousands of books, cancel courses and burn buildings to the ground.

Although no conclusive figures exist, it is estimated that hundreds of Iraqi university staff and faculty were assassinated over the past decade. The local militias that controlled campuses forced female students and academics to wear the hijab. As armed gangs demanded institutions approve their degrees no matter what, the accreditation system lost much of its remaining significance.

While few reliable statistics for higher education exist, one that throws light on Iraqs unfolding educational disaster is the literacy rate. According to UNESCO data, around 3.2 million of the total population of youths aged 15-24 years old were illiterate in 2013  an increase of approximately 2.4 million individuals since 2000. Only half of Iraqs youth can read or write nowadays, down from almost 85% in 2000.

The collapse of state provision in education has led to a sprawling private university industry. Part of the new politics of education is the boom in the construction of private Shiite-oriented colleges, such as Ahl al-Bayt University in Najaf, which teaches the sort of Islamic sciences and law restricted previously by the Baathist regime. These religious universities are not funded simply by Iran, but by transnational Shiite networks that are often based in Iraq proper, as well as in Kuwait, Lebanon and Britain.

In the late 2000s, other private universities were set up that focused on the hard sciences, such as engineering and medicine. These colleges cater to a middle class eager to avoid the violence and sectarian hatred prominent elsewhere in the system.

Alongside these domestic entrepreneurs, foreign powers have also jumped on the bandwagon. The United States was the first foreign power to establish a direct role in educational provision with the opening of the American University of Iraq (AUI) in 2007.

The AUI now enrolls 1,600 students from all over Iraq in a variety of business, social and hard science subjects. As its motto Learn today, lead tomorrow suggests, AUI is designed to train the countrys future elite on the model of the American universities in Cairo and Beirut. Symbolically, the AUI was not built in Baghdad but on the outskirts of Sulaimaniyah, a safe and relatively prosperous city in the Kurdistan region. As such, AUI combines the interests of Washington with those of a segment of Western-oriented Kurdish elite.

With the United States focused on Kurdistan, Iran has long eyed its neighbor. After much delay, the first stone of Al-Mustafa al-Amin University, funded and run by Irans Islamic Azad University, was laid on Aug. 14. The university is expected to house three faculties focused on the Islamic sciences, including law, literature and theology. With a projected enrollment of 450 students in its first year, the university aims to attract 1,350 students. Separately, on July 27, the Tehran University of Medical Sciences reached an agreement to construct Iraqs first foreign medical university.

Al-Mustafa Al-Amin University is a clear victory for Islamic Azad and Irans soft power ambitions in the region. Despite being neighbors and having signed over 50 scientific and academic memoranda of understanding with the government in Baghdad, only around 3,000 Iraqi students are enrolled in Iranian universities.

Indeed, Irans ambitions for overseas academic expansion have up to now largely been held in check. Islamic Azad has several foreign branches, the first of which was established when its late founder Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also Irans president (1989-1997). In 1990, the first non-Iran Islamic Azad campus was opened in Beirut, followed by Dubai in 1995.

After Rafsanjani lost the presidency in 1997, Islamic Azad found it remarkably harder to expand overseas. In 2004, the university established a center in Oxford, and only in 2010 could Islamic Azad convince the Afghan government to certify a branch in Kabul. Islamic Azad still hopes to expand to Russia and Austria.

Except for Lebanon, where Islamic Azad is active in several cities, these foreign branches are small. More importantly, none of the overseas Islamic Azad branches have been able to garner the necessary prestige to attract the brightest students and local elites. This is what sets Islamic Azad apart from AUI in Sulaimaniyah.

While some analysts have expressed alarm at Irans projected presence in Iraq, arguing that it risks escalating sectarian tensions further, others, notably the Iranians, believe that they are part of an effort to reconstruct higher education in Iraq and provide a basis for the exchange of knowledge and ideas. Both sides to this debate are partly right.

However, it is unlikely that any private or foreign actor can take it upon themselves to repair Iraqs educational crisis. Without the states capacity to establish credible and quality institutions embedded in local labor markets, Iraqs smartest and wealthier students will continue to leave the country in the hope of a better future.
October 10, 2017

When Hamas celebrates the 30th anniversary of its founding in December, it really should invite the Israeli government to take a place of honor in the VIP gallery. No one has contributed more to the creation and growth of that organization than Israel's right-wing government, and it has been doing so from the time the first intifada erupted in December 1987, up until this very day. The motivation remains the same: to weaken Fatah and eat away at popular Palestinian support for reconciliation with Israel based on a two-state solution. Whenever Hamas finds itself in trouble, Israel is there to extricate it. Whenever it seems like the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has succeeded in resuscitating the Oslo Accord, Israel sends it scurrying back to its place of permanence  to nowhere.

Though Hamas does want to reach a reconciliation agreement with Fatah, this is not the result of some ideological shift within the religious organization. Hamas continues to reject any arrangement that includes recognition of Israeli sovereignty on any territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. The warm reception organized in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 2 for the delegation from the Palestinian Authority (PA) is no evidence of Hamas having accepted Fatah's diplomatic approach to resolving the conflict with Israel either. Israel's longstanding economic blockade on Gaza and the diplomatic blockade of Hamas' financial provider Qatar by Egypt and Saudi Arabia have coalesced to force Hamas into opening the gates of Gaza to its archnemesis. Political and economic distress were also behind Hamas decision to accept Egypts invitation for continued talks with Fatah. A high-level delegation arrived in Cairo on Oct. 10, in an attempt to resolve the issues still pending ahead of reconciliation between the two movements.

The reason that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to open the gate from the Israeli side of the border and allow the Gaza meeting to take place was a desire to indulge the patron of these reconciliation efforts, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The photo of the PA's leadership sitting together with the leaders of Hamas will serve Netanyahu well on his next visit to Capitol Hill. After all, the United States considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.

The experience of the 24 years that have passed since the signing of the Oslo Accord indicates that the Hamas leadership took a very calculated risk when it decided to take a photo with their rivals from Ramallah. They showed magnanimity and a willingness to pay a price for Palestinian unity and to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Hamas knows that Israel will do all the rest. The Netanyahu government will continue to settle Jews on lands that Fatah promised to turn into territory of a free Palestine. Israel will continue to sabotage negotiations over a permanent settlement, clearing Hamas of responsibility for the failure of any potential diplomatic solution. By removing Abbas as an impediment to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in the West Bank, Israel will be removing the risk of peace from reaching Netanyahu's threshold.

And in fact, once again, Netanyahu did not disappoint his Palestinian partners in the struggle against a two-state solution. During the reconciliation talks Oct. 3, Netanyahu showed up in the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, which divides the West Bank into north and south, impeding its territorial integrity. While there, he pledged enhanced development momentum, the construction of thousands of new housing units and the expansion of the local industrial zone. In addition, he declared his support for the "Greater Jerusalem law," under which Ma'ale Adumim would be incorporated into the Jerusalem municipality and annexed unilaterally to the State of Israel.

That same day, Kan News reported that the state is paving a new road for Palestinians in the contested E1 area between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem. The road is supposedly intended to create "continuity of transportation" in the West Bank, to allow Palestinians to travel between its northern and southern sections. However, according to Peace Now, Netanyahu's real goal was to eliminate the argument that the annexation of the E1 area and Israeli construction there would split the West Bank into two disconnected parts.

Hamas could not possibly imagine better news at a better time. What else is needed to prove to the Palestinian public that Fatah's diplomatic approach is paving the way for more settlements, and that Hamas is not the group preventing an end to the occupation?

In an interview with Army Radio on Oct. 3, Education Minister Naftali Bennett warned that the reconciliation agreement being cobbled together in Gaza will bring about the creation of a "terrorist government throughout all the territories." And what is the leader of HaBayit HaYehudi proposing to do in order to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring? Does he suggest renewing negotiations with the Palestinian government, headed by a leader who publicly declares his opposition to terrorism and maintains security cooperation with Israel? God forbid! Does he deign to allow Abbas to build a handful of houses in the small territory that Bennett is already willing to leave for the autonomous Palestinian region, made up only of West Bank Areas A and B (and not of Israeli-controlled Area C)? Of course not! All that Bennett will announce is that "the perilous Qalqilya plan is dead and buried." He was referring, of course, to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's initiative to construct thousands of housing units for Palestinians west of that West Bank city. "There is a consensus on it [the plan's demise] in the Cabinet," Bennett made a point of noting.

The situation in the Middle East changes in the blink of an eye; wars and new alliances, crises and economic interests all converge to create new opportunities. So, at the end of Operation Protective Edge, on Aug. 20, 2014, Netanyahu convened a news conference, stating, "In light of the very dramatic changes taking place in our region  I also add [to Israels list of goals] achieving a new diplomatic horizon for the State of Israel." Netanyahu asked, "Who supports Hamas?"  only to respond immediately, "Qatar, Turkey, Iran, and that's all. The Arab world opposes it." It often seems as if the Israeli government could be added to the list of supporters.

It is possible that the "diplomatic horizon" that Netanyahu spoke of really did flit about momentarily over the skies of Aqaba in early 2016, when the prime minister met for a diplomatic summit with US Secretary of State John Kerry, King Abdullah of Jordan and Sisi. At the time, Netanyahu seemed to support a regional outline based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, as it was presented at the summit. Everyone knows how that sad story ended.

At the conclusion of his first meeting Feb. 15 with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Netanyahu spoke again about changes in the region. He congratulated himself on the fact that for the first time since independence, the Arab states consider Israel an ally, rather than an enemy. He then turned to the president and said, "I believe that under your leadership, the changes underway in our region will offer an unprecedented opportunity to bolster security and advance peace." Fortunately, that opportunity is still waiting for some Israeli leader or other to take advantage of it. But it will not wait forever. Hamas is already on its way from the Gaza Strip to the outskirts of Jerusalem.
October 10, 2017

The appointment of Saleh al-Arouri as deputy head of Hamas' political bureau completes the overhaul of the movements leadership since the departure of Khaled Meshaal as bureau chief this past summer. The leadership now consists of Meshaals successor on the bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, born in Gazas al-Shati refugee camp; the movement's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, a Khan Yunis resident; and Arouri, Haniyehs deputy and a native of the West Bank village of Aroureh, near Ramallah. The triumvirate's members are all second-generation Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, grew up in poverty and hardship in teeming refugee camps, and worked their way to the top of the pyramid.

Arouri has been living outside the Israeli-occupied territories in recent years. After his release from an Israeli prison in 2010, he was banned from living in the West Bank and Gaza and ended up in Turkey. In 2015, the Turks expelled him. He moved to Qatar, only to be expelled from there in 2017. Arouri now resides in Beirut. Previous Hamas leaders  Meshaal, Moussa Abu Marzouk (from Rafah, in Gaza) and others  could have settled in the besieged Gaza enclave, but chose instead to live in more luxurious surroundings. Arouri, however, has no choice but to live abroad.

The transformation of Hamas' leadership was clearly reflected in the manner of Arouris selection for the No. 2 position. In the past, the Shura Council, the top religious and decision-making body of the Islamist movement, made decisions on all issues of significance, such as the leadership structure and ideology. In Arouris case, however, Haniyeh, Sinwar and Mohammed al-Deif, leader of Hamas' military wing, picked Arouri, leaving the Shura Council to rubber-stamp the appointment.

In fact, the Shura Council's standing had begun to erode in 2004 after Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who deferred to the council on every decision despite his indisputably strong leadership, granting it respect and ultimate authority. The council was further diminished during the tenure of Ahmed Jabaari, head of the military wing, whom Israel assassinated eight years later. It now stands devoid of any real influence.

The decision by Haniyeh, Sinwar and Deif to make Arouri second-in-command adheres to the principle that at least one member of the top leadership resides beyond Israels reach, so it cannot wipe out the entire top echelon. This guideline was adopted after the assassination of Yassin and Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi over the course of two months, April and May 2004.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Israel decided that wiping out Hamas' political leadership was the best way to stop suicide bombings by its emissaries. Following the blow to its leadership, and fueled by concern for its survival, Hamas adopted two strategic decisions. One was to appoint the head of the political bureau at the time, Meshaal, to lead the movement, mainly because he was living in Damascus and not easily reachable by the Israeli Apache helicopters used to kill some of his colleagues. Since then, the head of the political bureau has also served as the movements overall leader. The second decision was to pull the plug on the suicide bombings and turn Hamas into a political movement to compete with Fatah for leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Arouris appointment once again leaves Abu Marzouk, political bureau founder, out of the loop. He also lost out to Haniyeh in the recent competition to lead the movement. Abu Marzouk twice saved Hamas from oblivion by managing to raise funds for its survival from Islamist foundations around the world. He used the funds to arm the military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, after Israel arrested Yassin in 1989 and again during the second Palestinian intifada, 2000-2005. Unfortunately for Abu Marzouk, no one remembers his crucial contributions. He is now considered a member of the old guard and has been left behind, disappointed and powerless.

Arouris promotion reflects the new leaderships desire to preserve and improve relations with Iran, Hezbollah and Syria. It believes Arouri to be the right man for the task, whereas Abu Marzouk is considered pro-Egyptian and a welcome guest in Cairo. Thus, Arouri is expected to bolster and maintain the Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis.

The current goals of the movement and the composition of its new leadership appear to be divergent. On the one hand, the heads of the movement are maneuvering to end the 10-year siege by Israel and Egypt against Gaza and its 2 million residents. They understand that this can only be achieved through diplomatic means  that is, through Egyptian mediation. That is why Hamas leaders have embraced Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation efforts with Fatah, which controls the PA. To ensure Hamas survival, they are even willing to sever ties with their mother ship, the Muslim Brotherhood, to appease Egypt, its savior and Brotherhood nemesis.

On the other hand, the new Hamas administration is the most militant the movement has known. Sinwar and Arouri are among the founders of the military wing. The two of them, along with Deif, are creating a leadership system of a distinctly military bent. This group, however, has been forced to shift its thinking, perceptions and strategies. Although a jihadist movement dedicated to Israels destruction, it now has to put all its energies into its survival.

Haniyeh is the only member of the ruling triumvirate who did not rise through the ranks of the Qassam Brigades. Will he be able to harness his colleagues military leanings? In the past, Haniyeh always tried to appease the movements military leaders, whom he feared and apparently still does, despite his seniority. Even if he has his doubts about Arouris appointment as his deputy, he is being forced to bow to the collective will, so Deif and Sinwar can have one of their own flesh and blood in a senior leadership position.
October 9, 2017

The Sept. 25 referendum, in which voters overwhelmingly voted for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, increased the division between the Turkmen and Kurdish populations in the disputed city of Kirkuk. But Turkmens believe the Kurdish move, which raised objections from several parties, offers an opportunity to strengthen their position in Iraq.

Turkmens reported intimidation and repeated attacks on their party in Kirkuk both before and after the referendum. On Oct. 2, someone reportedly fired on the party headquarters and even lobbed a grenade at the building. Turkmen parliament member Hassan Tauran confirmed the news in a TV interview, adding, This is the fifth attack during the week that followed the referendum.

Turkmens strongly oppose the Kurdistan Regional Government's efforts to annex Kirkuk and other mixed-population areas, and they hold the Kurdish side responsible for the attacks. On Sept. 19, Turkmen parliament member Jassim Mohammed al-Bayati accused what he called the "gangs" of Kirkuk's Kurdish governor of kidnapping a young Turkmen.

But it is difficult to get to the truth behind these attacks amid the tension plaguing the city. Kurdish forces affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan gained full security and military control over the city after June 2014, when the Iraqi armys 12th division withdrew in the face of the Islamic State's overwhelming advance.

Turkmens are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq and say they have been denied their rights since Saddam Hussein was overthrown as president in 2003. Part of the problem is the deep sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shiite Turkmens that kept them from forming unified political blocs. When the new regime based on sectarian and ethnic quotas was established in Iraq, the Turkmens lacked the political experience of the Shiites and Kurds. The Turkmens have been involved in sectarian strife in many areas, particularly in Tal Afar, reaching the point of military clashes.

These differences have caused the Turkmens a great deal of damage in all political aspects and have negatively affected their unity in the eyes of the Iraqi, regional and international public opinion," Yahya Shemsettin, a Turkmen journalist from Kirkuk, told Al-Monitor recently.

Unlike other factions in Iraq, Turkmens haven't had armed wings in recent years and failed to carve out a clear role in Kirkuk's security. Ali Mahdi, a Turkmen member of Kirkuk's provincial council, said in an Oct. 3 TV interview, We have been calling since 2006 for the formation of a joint force of Turkmens, Kurds and Arabs to defend Kirkuk, but the Kurds have stood against this idea.

When it comes to foreign support, Turkey often talks about supporting Turkmens in Iraq, but in reality it doesn't do much, especially after the rapprochement between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and KRG President Massoud Barzani.

For instance, Turkey has benefited from the Kurdistan Democratic Party forces' control of the most important oil wells in Kirkuk as well as oil exports through Turkish territory. The Turks signed a 50-year agreement with the Kurds in this regard despite objections by the Iraqi Turkmens. Most recently, the Iraqi Turkmen Coordination Council asked the central government in Baghdad on Sept. 26 to impose full control over the oil wells in Kirkuk and give back the task of exporting oil [to Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization], as well as provide protection to oil wells by the federal police.

Meanwhile, Turkmens point to past political understandings between Shiite and Kurdish parties. Tauran, the Turkmen lawmaker, said Oct. 2, The Turkmens were victims of agreements between the central government and the KRG.

Various Turkmen parties have united in recent years to try to restore their status.

Shemsettin, the journalist, said, After the events of 2014, the Turkmen [parliament members] began to move together and established the Iraqi Turkmen Coordination Council, which includes Shiite and Sunni figures as well as figures from various political views, all of which became unified. He added, The Turkmen public, elites and intellectuals are generally pleased with this move.

Turkmen parties were also able to establish armed factions within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in mixed areas such as Tuz Khormato and al-Bashir. Shiite forces such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq backed the Turkmen PMU factions to pressure the Kurds in these areas.

The central Iraqi government and the Turkish government both reject the Kurdish referendum, which Turkmens see as an opportunity to strengthen their positions in Iraq and push for greater gains. The Turkmens hope the liberation of Hawija and adjacent areas as well as pressure from the federal forces will ultimately weaken the Kurds in these areas.

After long years of division, Turkmens are trying to advance in the political game and exploit events that have weakened their Kurdish rivals. However, nothing is guaranteed in light of unpredictable events and the ever-shifting alliances in crisis-ridden Iraq.
October 10, 2017

Palestinian refugees at the Husn Camp north of Amman, locally known as Martyr Azmi al-Mufti Camp, have covered the walls facing a school with Palestinian symbols and slogans after similar art painted on the school itself was erased.

The coordinator of the initiative, Azzam Abu Malouh, told Al-Monitor, The people of the camp came up with the idea. The refugees donated money to buy the paint while 10 Palestinian artists, both from the camp and outside, volunteered to paint. They believe it is important to remind the refugee children of the Palestinian cause and their homeland and to keep it alive in their hearts.

He continued, Painting on the walls of houses and shops surrounding the UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] school is only the first stage. Later on, we will work on changing the names of stores to the names of Palestinian towns and villages, adding some symbols and banners related to the Palestinian cause and the right of return.

The initiative came in response to the decision by the UNRWA to remove various drawings and symbols from the walls of the school at the end of August. In a spontaneous, unorganized activity, professional and amateur artists in the camp had decorated the walls with the names of Palestinian towns and villages whose residents were driven out and displaced in 1948 and 1967 during what is known as the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) and Naksa (Setback). They also painted flags and slogans in support of the right of return.

The unsolicited art was painted over in a few days and replaced with slogans promoting science and education.

The artists responded by organizing an event Sept. 3 to paint the walls of the houses in the camp with graffiti, flags and banners. The camp's residents, including elderly people and young girls, sang Palestinian songs as they painted the walls white for the artists to work upon. Meanwhile, women prepared and offered meals for those who gathered. Artists drew Palestinian symbols such as Handala, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Palestine map on several shops and houses facing the school.

Painter Mohammed Mreyjib told Al-Monitor, I painted Handala, a character created by Naji al-Ali, the famous Palestinian cartoonist. It is a 10-year-old boy who always has his back turned to the viewer, representing the defeat and weakness in Arab regimes. I also wrote, no peace, no negotiations, no recognition. I added the names of the refugee camps in Jordan, as well as drawings depicting our right of return. I believe I sent a clear message to the UNRWA that they should not continue to ignore our Palestinian identity.

The UNRWA, which is often criticized by both the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities for failing to maintain neutrality, maintains that the policies it has in place to ensure that both the agency and its employees remain impartial are critical to its mission. Earlier this year, spokesperson Christopher Gunness said that the organization's entire staff undergoes training in neutrality and social media. The UNRWA requires strict neutrality from its staff and facilities and forbids any action that could be interpreted as inciting or encouraging violence, conflict or racism.

According to UNRWA data, Jordan has more than 2 million registered refugees residing in 10 recognized camps and three others unrecognized by the UNRWA. The body recognizes and provides services for two types of Palestinian refugees: those who left their homes in 1948 and those displaced by the 1967 war. Nearly 22,000 refugees live in the tiny Husn Camp, established in 1968.

The Husn effort is not the first of its kind in Jordan. The refugees of Al Baqaa, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, gave their neighborhoods the names of Palestinian towns such as Jerusalem, Nablus and Hebron to keep the memory of their homeland alive.

UNRWA spokesperson Sami Mshasha did not return calls for comment. However, a source in the UNRWA press office told Al-Monitor that the UN agency had removed the Palestinian slogans and replaced them with slogans encouraging education, which is more suitable for the school.

The artists that participated in the event also criticized the educational curricula in Jordan that have been amended following the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan in 1997. They accuse the Jordanian authorities of omitting certain texts and lessons, which made the new generation of children oblivious of their Palestinian cause, according to Mreyjib. He said that they have written letters to the UNRWA and refugees in the camp, urging families to ensure their children learn about Palestinian history and the land their ancestors were expelled from.

Kazem Ayesh, head of the Jordanian Society for Return and Refugees, told Al-Monitor, The UNRWA is the biggest witness to the crimes committed against the Palestinian people. Its existence reflects the responsibility of the international community for what happened to the Palestinian people and is a reminder to the Palestinian generations of their cause.

Ayesh asserted, The UNRWA was not being neutral when it removed the Palestinian national slogans, as this is a bias against the feelings and national rights of refugees. The slogans did not represent a political position as much as an expression of national rights and a national cause." He added, "Some have bet that the new generation of Palestinians will forget about their rights and their Palestinian cause. One ought to recall the statement [attributed to] the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, who said, 'The old will die and the young will forget.'
October 10, 2017

ALEPPO, Syria  The Free Syrian Army (FSA), backed by Turkish troops and Russian air support, has launched an attack on the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in northwest Syria's Idlib province. The objective is to wrest control from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham of the large areas it now holds, to pave the way for declaring Idlib city a safe zone.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting was reported Oct. 9 between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic State (IS) in northern Hama province near the Idlib border. IS claims to have captured a dozen villages from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Both Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and IS repeatedly engage with Syrian regime troops as well.

Though the latest round of Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, calls for a halt of hostilities between the Syrian armed opposition and regime forces, it allows the guarantor states  Russia, Turkey and Iran  to fight terrorist organizations such as IS and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Oct. 7 that there will be no "terrorist corridor along the border with Syria.

The United States and others consider the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance a terrorist group, largely because its main faction, Jabhat al-Nusra, used to be the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. In July 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra said it was ending its affiliation with al-Qaeda, changed its name and embraced the Syrian revolution. In January, it formed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham by merging with several other groups. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham considers itself an important component of the Syrian opposition, despite its rejection by more moderate groups.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is a terrorist organization that used its weapons, deceit and deception to impose itself on the Syrian people," Mustafa Sejari told Al-Monitor. Sejari is head of the political bureau of al-Mu'tasim Brigade, which is part of the FSA moderate opposition alliance. The FSA had led Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield, which wrapped up earlier this year.

Sejari told Al-Monitor, "The revolutionary move against [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] is the best evidence that the Syrian people reject its presence. It will be kicked out of our territory soon, in cooperation with friends and allies. We submitted to friends in Washington a plan of action to completely eliminate and kick Jabhat al-Nusra out of our territory. We are looking forward to cooperating with all parties to eliminate terrorism."

Efforts are deployed at the military, security and ideological levels to eliminate Jabhat al-Nusra. We believe that progress was made in this regard, as those who had previously associated themselves with the group were urged to break away from it and its approach," Sejari said, adding that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's isolation should "make its elimination an easy task."

"Should the friends in Washington cooperate with us and respond to our plan," he said, "we will eliminate terrorism and extremist ideology with minimum loss.

The international communitys eyes are now focused on the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance and efforts to eliminate it, particularly since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham controls large parts of Idlib province and parts of the northeastern Hama countryside.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Sept. 19 had launched an offensive in eastern Hama province and managed to seize from regime fighters a number of strategic positions such as al-Qahirah, Shatheh, al-Tulaysiyah and Tal-Aswad villages. During that time, from Sept. 19-27, heavy shelling by Russia and the Syrian regime in the provinces of Idlib and Hama killed 118 civilians, including 38 children and 29 women, and wounded 394, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
October 8, 2017

It has not quite been eight months since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan riled Tehran by referring to Iranian expansionism as Persian nationalism. That televised statement earned the Turkish ambassador a summons to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to receive a strongly worded protest. Long-standing regional competition between Ankara and Tehran has, however, begun to show the first signs of a rapprochement during the ongoing crisis between Qatar and a Saudi-led Arab coalition, in which Turkey backs Qatar. In addition, the Sept. 25 independence referendum held by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq has resulted in the Ankara-Tehran relationship quickly assuming features of military-security cooperation. The question now is whether their converging military-security interests will be formalized.

Three meetings provide insight into the rapprochement and its future direction: the Aug. 14-15 visit of Iranian Chief of Staff Gen. Mohammad Bagheri to Ankara; the Oct. 1-4 visit to Tehran by Turkish Chief of the General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar; and the Oct. 4 visit to Tehran by Erdogan.

Bagheri's August visit was prompted by an invitation that Akar extended in July for private meetings, without Foreign Ministry involvement. Bagheris immediately favorable response suggests that Tehran shared Ankaras desire to establish senior-level military ties. The exceptional speed with which events moved demonstrated both militaries eagerness to engage.

As for concrete outcomes of Bagheris visit, the two countries decided to augment cooperation in securing borders, coordinating intelligence and conducting counterterrorism operations. The primary objective is to physically severe connections between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist group, and its Iranian affiliate, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), and then marginalize them.

Security sources in Ankara told Al-Monitor that the two countries have signed a protocol to carry out joint border security exercises at the platoon and company levels and to conduct joint border patrols targeting cross-border smuggling, from which the PKK and PJAK have been profiting. Iran has reacted favorably to Turkeys construction of a 90-mile security wall along their 310-mile common border. Military sources said they have discussed how Iran might contribute to border security, perhaps through a joint drone surveillance system or constructing surveillance towers along critical routes on Iran's side of the border.

Of more importance, the countries signed a protocol for intelligence sharing between the Turkish Gendarmerie Command and border security units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the tactical level. Iran and Turkey also agreed to friendly visits of their navy vessels to each others ports and signed three separate protocols for exchanging war academy cadets and military medical students to cooperate on education.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has been wary of warming relations with Tehran. Meanwhile, however, the top military brass, which one might expect to be even more guarded, has surprisingly emerged as an advocate of closer ties. Many observers wonder why the Turkish military, which is partial to secularism, has become the leading engine for improving relations with theocratic Iran. The likely answer could be that PKK-phobia has risen to take precedence over the militarys secularist sensibilities.

When Akar arrived in Tehran Oct. 1, he was accompanied by a large delegation of senior officers from military intelligence, training and strategic planning. In a series of intensive meetings, the two sides followed up on issues put on the table during Bagheris visit to Ankara. No doubt, however, the focal point was the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan and combating the PKK.

Ankara is clearly more enthusiastic than Tehran about undertaking military operations against the PKK and the KRG. Since the end of August, Turkey's pro-government media have been churning out reports on potential joint operations against PKK headquarters in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq, but Tehran does not appear in any way to be interested in a military operation there. Gen. Hazeh Sayyed al-Shohada, the commander of IRGC ground forces, emphasized in a September statement that Iran will not launch counterterrorism operations outside Iran's borders.

When Erdogan traveled to Tehran Oct. 4, the large delegation accompanying him included the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, energy and industry, in anticipation of signing bilateral cooperation agreements, thus upgrading the strategic relations Akar had worked on in Tehran. They concluded trade agreements and protocols on military training and exercises, border security and naval port visits. Erdogan had described the visit as crucial.

Can such cooperation evolve into an Iran-Turkey military alliance in the future? The main driver of the recent rapprochement is the converging threat perception involving the PKK and PJAK. For now, it is highly unlikely that there will be joint counterterrorism operations against the PKKs strategic bases at the operational level (corps level or above) or against the KRG. Tactical cooperation on the ground at the platoon and company levels is, however, likely, involving border security exercises, joint border patrol missions and countersmuggling operations to separate the PKK from PJAK and deter the PKKs mobility in the border zone between Turkey and Iran.

Both countries seem eager to formalize intelligence sharing on border security and surveillance of Kurdish movements by mobilizing permanent outposts with drones and aircrafts and perhaps, in the coming months, by establishing fusion centers for intelligence sharing in Tehran and Ankara. It is also possible that institutionalizing military-to-military bilateral relations will result in a trust being built that accelerates diplomatic normalization.

It seems unlikely that the recent developments will evolve into a military alliance. First, constantly changing regional power equations means that both countries must frequently revise their stances, which may not always be compatible. Second, the United States and Russia would never allow Iran and Turkey to form a military alliance based on their anti-Kurdish positions. Third, one cannot ignore that the vast differences between the military and strategic cultures of the two armies hamper true fusion.
Birmingham's Southside was once a hot bed for Middle Eastern food. Congregating around St. George Melkite Church, immigrants from the Middle East built a community in a string of Southside neighborhoods--the Middle Eastern version of the Little Italys or Chinatowns found in larger cities, but with fewer public businesses. Instead, home kitchens were filled with first and second generation Americans (first generation refers to immigrants and their children, while second generation refers to their grandchildren), cooking the dishes of their home countries. There was kofta from Lebanon and baba ghanoush from Palestine. There was fresh-baked pita, homemade yogurt, and spices and flavors spanning the diverse, but related countries of the Middle East.

On one street in particular, off Green Springs Highway Suite, two notable families kept their culture alive through the dinner table where they shared traditional Middle Eastern meals with friends, family, and neighbors. Hospitality and gratitude (often expressed through a homecooked meal) were paramount to both families, and today, their children have carried that message into the greater Birmingham community.



The Maluff brothers, David (55) and Joe (51), went on to purchase and expand the Full Moon Bar-B-Que chain, and the Bajaliehs, brothers Jeff (42), Chris (40), and Jason (37), took over their father Saleh's "Sol's" legendary sandwich shop, then added two more restaurants to the family name: Slice and Sky Castle.

Though for a time the two families lived only minutes apart and attended the same church, it wasn't until years later that they realized their many similarities.



"It was just second nature"



For all five men, the restaurant business was in their blood and in their destiny from day one, even if they didn't know it at the time.

"Our parents were in the restaurant business their whole life," David Maluff says. "When it was time for us to work, we always worked in hot dog stands, or hamburger stands, or restaurants. It was just second nature to us."

David and Joe's mother, Mary Louise, was a caterer specializing in Lebanese food. She cooked for Birmingham dignitaries, doctors, and lawyers who craved a cuisine not yet readily available in the city. Their father, George Aziz, as well as many of their aunts, uncles, and other relatives in the area, also worked in the service industry at multiple restaurants.

"Basically, we had no choice but to do it," David jokes.

In the Bajalieh family, a similar story. Their dad, Sol, owned and operated Sol's Sandwich Shop & Deli in the basement of the John Hand Building downtown for more than 25 years until the building was bought by New York investors in 1994.

Despite the restaurant's closing, the lessons all three boys learned from watching, and eventually helping, their dad run the business stuck. Their father served regulars seven days a week. He knew each of them by name--and most of them by their order, too. Doing odd jobs and chatting with customers at the original Sol's primed the three brothers to do the same thing at all three of their restaurants today.

It all got started when middle brother Jeff convinced Chris and Jason to help him reopen Sol's on Morris Avenue in 2008. Since then, a steady stream of customers, largely regulars, have continued coming through Sol's doors five days a week from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. A little after 2 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, when the lunch rush is winding down, the Bajaliehs can still point out a half-dozen regulars spread throughout the restaurant.

"Those two guys eat here every day for breakfast and lunch," the brother's mother, Nadia Bajalieh says.

"A lot of people come in on Thursday and they'll apologize for missing a meal on Wednesday," Chris adds.

At the original Full Moon restaurant in Southside, the sentiments are largely the same. The restaurant has been open since 1986, with the Maluffs at the helm since 1997, but things haven't changed much over the years. The menu items have remained mostly the same, including the barbecue turkey sandwiches that convinced the brothers to buy the chain in the first place. People continue coming back for that, as well as the friendly, neighborhood feel they get from the Maluffs.

"We're big into community," David says. "We grew up in this community, Birmingham, and I think everyone knows my brother in this town. They can eat anywhere they want, but they come downtown because of the culture inside the restaurant. That's a tradition that people enjoy--they go see my brother Joe."



"I've tried to keep it in the family"



For the Bajaliehs, it wasn't just at the restaurant where Jeff, Jason, and Chris learned to take care of others and serve a good meal. That all started at home with Nadia and Sol and the Middle Eastern--specifically Palestinian--culture they worked so hard to pass on to their children.

"I used to watch my mom and grandma cook all these amazing foods that even to this day, I don't think I can match," Nadia says. "I wanted to do that for my boys, so they grew up with it, and I've tried to keep it in the family. I wanted them to experience that because I knew one day I'd be gone and I wanted them to learn."

Another thing they learned as children: how to speak Arabic. Sol, who unexpectedly passed away in 2004, was especially keen on his boys being able to speak the language. Today, if you listen closely when the brothers happen to be working together--they're usually spread between their three-soon-to-be-four restaurants (a second Slice location is slated for Vestavia)--you might find yourself doing a double-take as they converse in Arabic.

But at the center of their household and all those lessons learned was food--cooking and eating and learning how to do it all together. And at the center of that was Nadia, who came to America from Palestine when she was 4 years old (Sol came at 17).

"My passion is cooking," Nadia says. "You would have to have that because our [Middle Eastern cooking] takes a long time. It's very time consuming."

Some of Jason, Chris, and Jeff's fondest memories from growing up were in the kitchen with Nadia.

"I can remember peeling little squash for stuffed squash," Jason says.

Chris remembers the kitchen counter being covered in dough balls with flour everywhere when Nadia made homemade pita bread. When she made labneh, a thick, Palestinian take on yogurt, you had to walk around the kitchen as to not disturb the delicate setting process. Chris also was Nadia's helper when it came to rolling grape leaves. "My mom used to say your hands have to be little to do this," he says. Years later, when the family participated in Breakin' Bread, a local food festival, the now-grown boys got another taste of their former kitchen duties when they helped roll the 1,000 stuffed grape leaves Nadia contributed to the event.

The lifelong process, according to Jason, has "seasoned" his hands, in more ways than one.

Growing up, David and Joe had equal opportunity to "season" their hands, so to speak. They shared a modest three-bedroom house in Southside with their four sisters and parents, and there was always something going on in the kitchen.

"Our parents cooked so much and in everyday life that we picked it up," David says. "Our kitchen was tiny, so you couldn't help but watch and talk to your mom and see how she was preparing everything."

Some of those dishes--meat and spinach pies, hummus, tabouli--factor greatly into the meals they prepare for their families today, especially on holidays. All four Maluff sisters still live in Birmingham, so holidays are a big affair, each one celebrated in a different sibling's home.

"Kibbeh is the number one [dish] for all of us, though," Joe says. "You can eat it raw, baked, or fried. It's unbelievable."

An old cell phone video of the Maluffs' mother preparing kibbeh for a Christmas meal offers a glimpse into their home. The brothers watch fondly as their mom hand blends ground lamb with chopped onions, whole wheat bulgur, and plenty of spices.

Their commentary, in present day and through the video, is priceless. "Wait until you see her put the salt in," Joe says. "Oh, here's the cinnamon. I love that."

In the video, Mary Louise's children badger her, asking her the precise measurements for ingredients. She smiles and ignores them.

"With all the food she made--you don't see any measuring cups, do you?" David chimes in.

The video happens to be from the last Christmas the family spent with Mary Louise before she passed away in 2010. It's clear the memory--one of many they have of cooking with the family over the years--is especially significant to them.



"It's a small community"



Mary Louise Maluff got a lot of experience cooking for a crowd with her catering business and a lot of experience cooking for family on a daily basis, but it was on Sundays when the two came together. Part of a Sunday ritual for the family was to hold a big post-church feast for family in town, meaning at least 25 people every Sunday afternoon.

"It was just custom that you'd go to church, then after church, you go to your momma's house for a feast," Joe says.

Most other families on the Maluffs' street were Lebanese and also attended St. George Melkite Church, meaning that on Sundays cars lined both sides of the street so tightly that you could hardly go past. Today, Joe, David, and their families still attend St. George and help put on the annual Middle Eastern Food Festival held at the church.

"It's a small community of just about 300 families," David says. "We see them today still. They eat with us [at Full Moon]."

Growing up in the Bajaliehs' home, there was always someone coming in and out, whether that be one of Nadia's friends from church or one of the boys' friends from school. In Middle Eastern culture, having visitors over means one thing: food.

"If someone comes over, we'll have a spread because that's just how I was raised," Nadia says.

"Our friends in high school would ask us, 'What are we eating tonight?' and then just show up," Jason says. To this day, many of the same friends eat at Sol's because they remember how much they loved Nadia's cooking as children.

Those lessons in hospitality and cooking for crowds left a lasting impression on both sets of brothers in their respective restaurants. They treat all their diners as if they were coming over for a family meal. And when they cater (which both do often), they take the term extremely literally. For example, Nadia once went into Sol's on Christmas Day to prepare a roasted rack of lamb for a customer who wanted to serve it to his family. And Joe, who runs Full Moon's catering division, hardly operates off a menu; instead, he lets customers determine exactly what it is they want.

"I'll tell you, coming up, we learned a lot from the way [Nadia] used to have the house always open to friends and family," Chris says. "She'd make sure everyone enjoyed their meal, so that really plays a part in how we do things today where want to make sure everyone is full and happy. You can't learn that in a text book."



"We kick it up a notch"



With Sol's, and now Slice and Sky Castle, Nadia took an opportunity to do what she did for her sons' friends growing up and what she still does for neighbors, just on a larger scale. Though the food at Sol's isn't exclusively Middle Eastern, staples like tabouli and hummus made their way onto the menu. Every few weeks, you might be lucky enough to catch the restaurant on a day when Nadia's prepared stuffed squash, stuffed grape leaves, or any other of her specialties are on the menu.

Nadia says customers are constantly asking her the secret to her dishes. They want her to write a cookbook or teach a class on Middle Eastern cooking. But she says there's no secret--just fresh ingredients, plus a lot of time and care.

"They say, "That takes too much time,' but I say it's worth it to really enjoy a certain dish," Nadia says.

With the upsurge of Mediterranean-inspired restaurants in Birmingham in recent years, Jason and Chris say it's easy to see the influence Middle Eastern flavors have had on people's taste, even without their realizing it. Spices like turmeric, sumac, and zaatar that the Bajalieh and Maluff brothers watched their parents use growing up are now mainstream and used in a variety of cuisines.

"I think the Middle East doesn't get the credit it deserves [in food]," Jason says. "A lot of food and mother flavors originated in the Middle East. That's what they traded for; their bartering power was all these spices. Nobody realizes that a lot of dishes originated in the Middle East and kind of evolved over time and changed into other heritages."

Even at Full Moon, where the menu is about as Southern as Southern barbecue gets, the Maluffs snuck in a few Middle Eastern influences, even if that just means using bold flavors. Full Moon coleslaw is marinated in vinegar and oil rather than a mayonnaise-based sauce, and the signature chow chow also has a Middle Eastern flair with a chutney-like spice profile.

"Everything we do is not necessarily spicy, but it has a lot of spices in it," David says. "We kick it up a notch. Nothing is bland at all."

David says the food he and his brother grew up with is everywhere today, thanks to how diverse Birmingham's food scene has become due to the cuisines of immigrants and their children from all over the world.

"Just last week, I ate Thai food, Vietnamese food, and Nepalese food all within a week," he says. "We never had that in Birmingham before. And that's good because when you have a culture of food like that, it brings in more people to enjoy it and make the base even bigger."

For the Bajaliehs, even though Birmingham's become somewhat of an international food hub recently, there's still something special about introducing someone to a new dish for the first time.

"To bring something from our heritage in front of someone who's never tried it before and then watch how much they enjoy it, that's very cool," Jason says.

After all, it's food that has remained a constant, bringing the families together over the years. Whether it be sharing meals at the dinner table, or helping out at the restaurants that shaped them into adults and eventually determined the course of their futures, food and family remained.

"Family and food at the table were so important as we were raised," Chris says. "It really breaks all boundaries. Food is what brings people together and gives new experiences, so we're just continuing that."

--Photos by Cary Norton and provided

This story appears in Birmingham magazine's October 2017 issue. Subscribe today!
Alabama is a founding member of the newly created Southern Automotive Manufacturers Alliance.

But what exactly does that mean? It could have far reaching effects as the state and its neighbors continue to court automobile makers and their complex supply chains.

Gov. Kay Ivey announced the alliance's formation at last week's Southern Automotive Conference in Birmingham. SAMA is being created by the state automotive manufacturing organizations of Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. Georgia, which will host next year's Southern Automotive Conference, will be an apprentice member.

It also includes the Southern Automotive Women's Forum, the South Carolina Automotive Council and the Kentucky Automotive Industry Association.

Ivey said the purpose of the alliance is to make the Southeast more attractive to automobile manufacturers. At a time when automobiles are already Alabama's biggest export, and when Southern states are lining up to court the proposed $1.6 billion Toyota-Mazda plant, the reason for an alliance may seem elusive.

But Bernard Swiecki, director of the Automotive Communities Partnership and a senior automotive analyst, said it's a step in the right direction.

"It's really about Mexico," Swiecki said. "We think this initiative is a fantastic idea."

As Swiecki explains, Mexico is attracting low-skill, lower paying jobs in the automotive industry. Southern states, with their growing track records of production and workforce development, are looking to attract higher paying jobs that require trained workers manipulating sophisticated technology.

Mexico has seen its auto assembly capacity double over the last decade. But that growth might also benefit U.S. suppliers, which produce up to 40 percent of the vehicle parts and components.

"Automotive has the highest economic multiplier," he said. "A car has 10-15,000 parts. Every one of them has to be there to sell the thing. So you've got so many supply chains, and those are good paying jobs as well. All the other sub-tiers feed into that. And it's capital intensive. These are very sophisticated plants with top of the line manufacturing."

But the idea of a regional alliance is a new thing, said Ron Davis, president of the Alabama Automotive Manufacturing Association.

"We've been talking about this for about two years, seriously over the last year," he said. "We think this will be a great thing for the region."

Though states will continue to compete against each other for projects like Toyota-Mazda, they know they also stand to benefit from supply jobs that are dotting the South. In Alabama, more than 40,000 people are employed in automotive tech jobs, more than half in the suppliers.

"All of the association presidents (of each state) are friends," Davis said. "We work together. We talk to each other weekly. If a project goes to Mississippi, we will support them in any way possible for that to be successful and we know it will benefit the whole region."

Lex Lemmers, executive director of the Mississippi Automotive Manufacturing Association, said the important thing is communication between the states.

"By informing each other, that secures business for the entire area," he said.

Ashley Frye, executive director of the Tennessee Automotive Manufacturing Association, said it's now up to the individual states that make up SAMA to find the right kind of synergy that benefits them individually and collectively.

"We are committed to elevating the brand image of the South for automotive manufacturing," Frye said. "I think SAMA will help us establish our region of the country as the premier place in the nation."
Hollywood superstar

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

frequently takes a minute from his busy schedule to shout out to fans all over the world, including one very special young woman in Alabama.

Stealing a moment from filming the film "Skyscraper," Johnson took to Instagram to send a shout-out to

Cheyanna Edmondson

, a 15-year-old Wicksburg native currently battling cancer.

Johnson notes in the video that he's looking forward to meeting several of his fans on the set of the movie thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but that Edmonson could not make the trip due to her cancer relapsing.

"Cheyanna, I just want to know, I was so excited to meet you," Johnson says. "But I'm so excited to send you this love and positivity through this video, and I know millions of people are now, too, now that they know of you."

Johnson says he knows Cheyanna is in Alabama, that she loves Waffle House and that his "Fast & Furious" character Hobbs is her favorite.

He also says he knows she's moving to receive treatment in Memphis, where he started his career "wrestling for 40 bucks a match."

"I want to send you all the love and all the positivity," he says. "Stay strong." Johnson then shares a photo of Edmonson for his 94.4 million followers to see.

The post now has more than 3.2 million views.

that Edmondson was diagnosed in 2016 with Ewing's Sarcoma and had been in remission for the past few months.

According to the report, Edmonson saw the video and said. "I was excited...I cried."

Read and watch Johnson's post below:
The strip of U.S. Highway 231 through Blount County offers a picturesque drive, with rolling farmland and pastures of grazing cows on either side of the road. The view is eventually broken by rows of buildings that make up the small town of Blountsville, population 1,694. Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

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Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

Blountsville, which served as the seat of Blount County until 1889 when it was moved to Oneonta, was the first settlement in the area and it was established with an intriguing name: Bear Meat Cabin.

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(Source: Bham Wiki via the 1965 publication, "Blount County: Glimpses from the Past")

In 1816, there was little in the area to attract settlers, with the exception of a tumble-down cabin named for a Cherokee Indian called Chief Bear Meat, a translation of his native name. The cabin was at a junction of popular trade routes so people began calling the crossroads "Bear Meat Cabin," according to Bham Wiki. The original cabin, shown above, no longer stands.

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Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

In 1819, when Alabama became a state and Blount County needed a seat of government, the town was renamed Blountsville. So how can people still see parts of Bear Meat Cabin today? By visiting the Blountsville Historical Park, a collection of pioneer-era buildings that have been preserved. While not all of the buildings were original to the area, many were, including a jail and a house that's now a museum. Its a fascinating look at history.

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The Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation awarded the Blountsville Historical Society with the 2016 Small Town Preservation Award, saying: This park has on display some of the finest log cabins in existence today. Most of the buildings have period furnishings and have been restored. The outdoor park can be toured any time but the museum with pioneer displays is open only on weekends. The park, located at 71406 Main Street, is also available for weddings and parties. Call 205-429-2468 for information.

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The Freeman House, built in the 1830s on this site, serves as the parks museum. The home and its pioneer displays can be viewed on weekends. According to the Historical Society, the house, shown above, was refurbished using original brick after storm damage in the 1920s. Initially, the house was a two-story home, but was made a single story following the storm.

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The Historical Society gave no date when the Old Blountsville Jail was built but the one-room building still has bars on the windows.

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The jail window with a flip-up shutter.

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The ca.-1836 Brooksville Post Office.

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The ca.-1800s Isham Chamblee Cabin.

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Another view of the Isham Cabin.

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A reconstructed well.

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This ca. 1850s cabin was moved to the park from Tennessee as an example of pioneer construction.

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The Graves Cabin, named for the local family that donated it, was constructed using logs from an 1800s barn.

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This log barn from the 1800s is considered a rare specimen, according to the Historical Society. The roof was reconstructed.

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Detail of the barn's construction.

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The little white clapboard church is called Society Chapel.

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A cozy place for a fireside gathering at the park.

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Headstones behind a cabin in the park.

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Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

A cannon in the park.

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A time capsule was buried at the park in 2002.
A Birmingham man has been indicted on charges of capital murder and assault in the July killing of his ex-wife's fiance.

A Jefferson County grand jury returned a three-count indictment against 40-year-old Verneil Wilson. The indictment was issued Sept. 22, and made public Tuesday. He is charged in the July 5 shooting death of Adrian Lockett.

Initially Wilson was charged with murder, and then that charge was upgraded to capital murder. He is also now charged with two counts of domestic violence assault for physical injury to his ex-wife.

The shooting happened shortly before 8:20 p.m. that Wednesday on 68th Street near Joppa Avenue in the Marks Village public housing community. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said then that Wilson went to the home unannounced looking for his ex-wife.

Wilson allegedly pulled his ex-wife- Sulena Coleman Lockett - out of the doorway of the apartment and forced his way inside. Wilson and Adrian Lockett then got into a physical altercation with each other. During the fight, police said Wilson pulled out a weapon and shot Lockett multiple times. Wilson then drove himself to the police headquarters on First Avenue North to surrender to police.

According to the indictment, Wilson knowingly and unlawfully entered the Locketts' apartment with the intent to commit the crime of assault and shot Lockett with a pistol. The charge is capital murder during a burglary.

On the domestic violence assault charges, the indictment says Wilson struck his ex-wife with a pistol.

Sulena Lockett previously said she is devastated by the killing, which was witnessed by her 7-year-old son. Though they already considered themselves husband and wife, the couple was planning to be officially married in February.

Adrian Lockett had six children, and was a stepfather to Sulena Lockett's two children. "He was a wonderful father,'' she said. "My kids loved him."

Wilson has remained in the Jefferson County jail without bond since July 6. A trial date has not yet been set.
The son of Roy Moore, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, turned himself in for third-degree criminal trespassing on Monday, the Etowah County Sheriff's Office said.

Caleb Elisha Moore, 27, was booked into the Etowah County Jail at 10:31 a.m. He was released on $1,000 bond a few minutes later, spokeswoman Natalie Barton said. Barton said Moore turned himself in after the County Circuit Clerk's Office issued the warrant.

The charge is related to Moore's November 2016 arrest for hunting without permission and hunting over bait, which are both misdemeanors. Barton said the land owner in that case signed for a warrant for trespassing.

This is the ninth time Moore has been placed in jail. He was arrested for drug possession in Troy in 2015. Those charges were dropped last year after he agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program with the Pike County District Attorney's Office, court records show. He has also faced charges of driving under the influence in both Alabama and Florida, and three drug-related arrests in Baldwin, Pike and St. Clair counties in Alabama.

Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate in September. He will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 contest.
A Vestavia Hills man and his partner in Georgia have been indicted in a securities fraud scheme.

A Jefferson County grand jury issued eight-count indictments against Steven Clyde Reed Brown, 65, and Edward Malcolm Portman, a 76-year-old Atlanta man. The indictments were announced Tuesday by Jefferson County District Attorney Pro Tem Danny Carr and Joseph Borg, director of the Alabama Securities Commission.

Brown was arrested Sept. 19, and Portman on Sept. 25. Both were released from the Jefferson County Jail after posting $195,000 each.

According to indictments filed in the case, both men are charged with multiple violations of the Alabama Securities Act including one count each of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, sale of unregistered securities and sale of securities by an unregistered agent. Brown and Portman also are charged with five counts of fraud in connection with the sale of securities - making false statements of material fact or omitting to state a material fact; and engaging in an act, practice or course of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person).

The conspiracy and securities registration charges are Class C felonies, punishable by possible imprisonment from one year and one day to 10 years and not more than a $15,000 fine per charge upon conviction. The remaining charges are Class B felonies, punishable by possible imprisonment of from two to 20 years and up to a $30,000 fine per charge upon conviction.

According to the indictment, Brown and Portman alleged illegal securities transactions involving investment contracts and/or certificates of interest or participation in a profit-sharing agreement with Alabama investors for the development of medical technology and products. The indictment further alleged that Brown and Portman omitted to inform investors that no one had ever received any return of principal or profit for their investments and that, in a previous instance, the men continued to illegally solicit investor funds after having been previously issued a Cease and Desist Order by the Alabama Securities Commission. ASC records revealed that neither Brown nor Portman were registered with the Commission to lawfully offer and/or sell securities within, into or from Alabama, as required by law, according to Tuesday's announcement.

The ASC cautions potential investors to thoroughly scrutinize and research any investment opportunity or offer. Contact the ASC with inquiries concerning securities broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers, investment adviser representatives, financial planners, registration status of securities or debt management programs, to report suspected fraud or to obtain consumer information.
Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, will be the keynote speaker at a GOP event Thursday in Huntsville.

Moore will be addressing the Freedom Gala: A Celebration of Freedom that is sponsored by the Madison County Republican executive committee.

Moore is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 election to fill Jeff Sessions' seat.

"This newly created biennial event is expected to be the single largest gathering of Republican officials, supporters, and patriots in North Alabama," the Madison County GOP said in the event announcement. "The Freedom Gala will showcase the influence of North Alabama within the Republican Party."

The event will be at the Jackson Center at 6001 Moquin Drive NW in Cummings Research Park. Tickets are $125 per person, which includes the reception and dinner at the gala.

The reception begins at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and gala at 7.

Sponsorships are available by contacting David Pinkleton at 256-714-1142 or davidpinkleton@hotmail.com.
The Senate Leadership Fund, which spent almost $5 million to get Luther Strange elected to the Senate, won't be doing the same thing for Roy Moore.

That is, unless Democrat Doug Jones emerges as a threat to upset Moore in the Dec. 12 election in a state with a stronghold Republican electorate.

"This is Alabama, not New York or California," SLF spokesman Chris Pack told AL.com in an email. "Democrats would first need to demonstrate this is an actual race before anything is considered."

Contacted by AL.com, the Jones campaign had "no comment" on the SLF statement, according to spokesman Sebastian Kitchen.

The SLF became synonymous with negative ads during the Republican Senate primary, spending millions to trash Strange's top challengers -- first U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, followed by Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Strongly influenced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Washington super PAC operates by law independent of any candidate campaigns but still can work to sway supporters to vote for their preferred candidates.

In the GOP Senate primary, that effort focused primarily on attack ads against Brooks and Moore.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, the SLF spent more than $4.7 million to win the seat for Strange. It's likely that tally will increase since the most recent FEC filing came three weeks before the runoff between Moore and Strange.

Those efforts, however, were largely unproductive.

Strange finished second in the Republican primary in August - six points behind Moore and 13 points ahead of Brooks. However, Brooks maintained that President Trump's endorsement of Strange one week before voters went to the polls tilted a neck-and-neck race in the appointed senator's favor.

In the GOP runoff since Moore did not receive a majority of the primary votes, he defeated Strange by 10 points despite visits to the state by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

The SLF issued a statement of support for Moore the night he defeated Strange in the runoff. But that support made no promises about money.

"While we were honored to have fought hard for Big Luther, Judge Roy Moore won this nomination fair and square and he has our support, as it is vital that we keep this seat in Republican hands," the SLF statement said, in part, on Sept. 26.

As for the SLF vowing to state out of Alabama unless Democrats "demonstrate this is an actual race," two public polls conducted since the GOP runoff have Moore leading Jones by six and eight points, respectively. That's a smaller margin for Moore than the typical double-digit leads the judge held over Strange in polling.

The SLF did not address the Moore/Jones polling numbers when asked directly by AL.com.

It's possible, of course, that Moore's campaign criticism of McConnell is a factor. Moore has called for McConnell to be replaced as leader of the Senate and the populist candidate has repeatedly vowed to shake up Washington politics if he's elected.

Trump and Pence have each tweeted support of Moore in the aftermath of his defeat of Strange.
As mental health workers deal with the immediate manifestations of trauma, they fear the longer-term implications.

Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh  Inside a colourful bamboo structure in Balukhali camp, groups of children sit on the floor, engrossed in board games, plastic animals and other activities. Two scamper about in costumes  one dressed as Nemo, the other as a lion. Tacked on the walls are vivid crayon drawings  the only explicit reminders of the violence these Rohingya children have witnessed.

One 11-year-old boy drew a number of them. In my village, they did this, he said, referring to his sketches of soldiers killing people and of families in burning houses. One drawing, he explained, shows a playground where the army came and killed the children, in another, with purple and black helicopters, he pointed at a figure of a soldier who killed a child by stepping on his chest.

We were tortured by the Myanmar army. When I draw these pictures I feel good [afterwards], he said, explaining that drawing helps him express what he experienced.

This safe space for children, run by the local NGO Community Development Centre (CODEC) in partnership with the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), as well as other similar spaces and schools in the refugee camps, allow Rohingya children to interact with each other. According to UNICEF, about 60 percent of the new refugee arrivals are children.

Initially, when teachers and outreach workers went door to door to tell parents about these spaces, many of the adults asked whether their children would be safe, explained Lutfur Rahman of CODEC. When the children first came, they didnt want to talk to each other, and they were also confused about whether this place would be safe or not. They were uneasy when given paper and drawing materials, he said.

More than half a million Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since the Myanmar army began a campaign against them that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.

Distressed population

In the squalid, overcrowded camps, where refugees struggle to access food and water, and people continue to arrive, many mental health workers say theyre in the initial stages of providing protection and psychological first aid (PFA). This entails offering basic support and comfort through, for example, listening to what someone has to say or gestures such as giving someone a glass of water.

In the first few weeks after big traumas, PFA is our main approach, explained Cynthia Scott, a clinical psychologist and mental health activities manager at Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, MSF.

Its not the time for counselling or in-depth discussion about feelings, its more about comfort, stabilising someone, so they come back to their normal thinking and functioning.

People feel like theyre going crazy, she said, and a big part of her job right now is just to say, No. Youre not going crazy.

Mental health workers say refugees are suffering from flashbacks of violent, traumatic events, anxiety, agitation, acute stress, recurring nightmares, not being able to sleep, eat or even speak, and in more severe cases, being unable to look after themselves or their families.

We are facing an overall distressed population, said Mahmuda, who goes by one name, a psychologist and mental health programme associate at UNHCR in Bangladesh.

Mahmuda visits groups of refugees to provide PFA, trauma counselling, and to help people manage stress so they can better cope with their current situation.

She disseminates basic messages, she says, to help people acknowledge that they are alive and to understand that they are safe and secure  and not alone.

Mahmuda says she is closely observing groups who may develop post-traumatic stress disorder in the coming months.

Among those she is working with are survivors of a refugee boat that capsized on September 28, including one woman who lost her child who she was breastfeeding. The pain she feels in her breasts compounds the trauma of her loss, Mahmuda explained.

But as refugees move around in search of aid and shelter, following up with them can be difficult, Mahmuda said.

Outreach work

The stories of pain are widespread.

One clinical psychologist with Action Against Hunger said one of the worst cases she has seen is that of a woman who fled her village without her child when it came under fire. She now suffers from intense feelings of guilt, exacerbated by seeing other mothers with their children.

In Kutupalong makeshift camp, Bangladeshi medical charity Gonoshasthaya Kendra, in partnership with Doctors of the World, runs a mobile clinic out of a tent.

Liza Akter, an assistant clinical psychologist at the health post, said if shes on her own she can see about 30 patients a day. One female patient who was shot in the shoulder can no longer look east  where Myanmar is. Burma is trauma, Akter explained, using the name by which the country was formerly known.

Earlier that morning, Akter saw a woman who lives in the camp with her daughter. Her husband and son were killed, and her other daughter was raped then killed. The woman was suffering from anxiety, heart palpitations and was crying, crying, crying.

Akter said she could do little but listen to her. Their condition is difficult. Its so miserable, she said.

On Saturday, September 30, Omar Faruk, an assistant clinical psychologist stationed at the post, went to conduct a group counselling session with another colleague.



He recalled how, on a previous occasion when he was conducting outreach work, a small girl had started to cry when he entered the tent. When he asked the girls mother why her daughter was scared, the woman told him that it was because of his pants. Rohingya men usually wear a lungi, a kind of sarong with a knot at the top where valuables are stored.

These pants reminded her of the pants the military wears, he said.

Faruk explained that they prefer working with larger groups as refugees are more comfortable speaking this way.

Walking through the camp, Faruk made a right turn onto a narrow dirt path. His colleague approached some women  the men had gone out, some to collect aid  and almost immediately, some 14 refugees appeared with their children and babies and headed into a large tent.

Inside, Faruk began by asking the women how they were, then, going around the circle, he asked them where they came from, what happened in their village and how it felt to leave everything behind.

It feels like theyre not burning our houses, it feels like theyre burning us, said Mariam, 23. Although no one in her immediate family died, she said some of her cousins were killed. When she goes to sleep, she said she imagines soldiers killing all my family members, my parents and theyre killing Muslim people.

They would kill us [if we returned], she said.

[It was] painful to see our homes burning, said 22-year-old Apsara Begum, who says her husband was beaten to death by Rakhine Buddhists about three years ago while she was pregnant with their son.

Chronic stress in camps

Scott says MSFs mental health programme is now scaling up  adding 10 more counsellors to the seven they already have and setting up more medical posts.

In her experience, she says, Rohingya do not seek help citing mental health problems, but their emotions or stress  present as a physical problem like headaches or backaches.

At the beginning of the crisis, Scott says they received probably the most vulnerable.

Most people, even if theyve suffered these huge traumas, witnessing horrific things, they had to keep going just to get basic shelter, food and water and so the people presenting to us were the ones that could not manage that, she said, adding that most people are able to recover from the trauma.

For the most part, people are having a normal response to an abnormal situation.

The concern is where acute trauma begins to affect peoples ability to function. She anticipates that in the next few months, as people start to settle into the camps, therell be more of the mental conditions that are lasting.

And while these refugees have escaped the violence in Myanmar, she said the dire conditions in the camps  the World Health Organization has begun distributing cholera vaccines fearing an outbreak  give rise to a different kind of chronic stress.

Over time, tensions and frustrations in the camps will grow, she believes.

If people start suffering from chronic stress, then tempers start flaring quickly, people get angry quickly, theres more family violence, women are getting beaten more  theres more sexual violence, she said.

She says she has probably seen the worst cases as they are the ones that make it to the hospital  people who are just kind of lost in their own mind and not able to think, not able to know what to do to keep their families safe or to find food.

For her, some of the most heartbreaking have involved teenage girls with intellectual disabilities who were raped repeatedly. Theyve found the families of some, she says, but theres an absence of shelters for people with disabilities where theyll be protected from being abused again. For now, shes had to keep some of these girls at the MSF hospital.

You cannot just put someone like that in a shelter, alone, she said.

For sound mental health, basic needs must be fulfilled, and then, normal everyday routines must be established, she said, stressing the need for special supported shelters and schools that will help children adjust.

The resilience of children

According to Scott, children are resilient but also vulnerable without proper support.

Theyve witnessed a lot of horrible things. Theyve seen people killed, theyve seen their mothers raped, they have missing relatives. We had children shot in the back while running away.

Back at the childrens space, as the playing winds down, Wayne Bleier, a child protection and psycho-social specialist at UNICEF, points out that the children are in a space where they can be just that.

Im always heartened by the resilience I see in children and their ability to cope and to heal themselves, he said.

With support, connection to a community, specialised programmes and security restored, most will be okay, he says. A stable family situation can also be crucial.

For now, the host community has been welcoming, he adds. That goes a long way for healing. They feel safe here.

But he points to the uncertainty of the future.

What worries me here is refugees are in limbo, and theyre not getting a clear message now as to what the future holds  and that wears on people.
Thousands gathered on Monday in a small town in southern Bolivia, where the leader of the Cuban revolution Ernesto Che Guevara was executed by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers 50 years ago.

Bolivias President Evo Morales camped in a sleeping bag and tent and welcomed dignitaries from allies Cuba and Venezuela during the commemoration ceremonies.

Fifty years later, the legend of Ernesto Che Guevara lives in the young people, in their unquestionable struggle for equality and liberation, Morales wrote on Twitter before his scheduled speech on Monday.

Over the weekend artists, activists, veterans of the Cuban revolution and Guevaras descendants gathered to commemorate the revolutionary hero in Vallegrande, where he was buried in a hidden, unmarked grave in 1967 before his remains were moved to Cuba 30 years later.
Thousands gather in the town of Vallegrande to commemorate the revolutionarys life, death and legacy.

Vallegrande, Bolivia  In the remote corner of eastern Bolivia where Ernesto Che Guevara died, thousands gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death at the hands of the CIA-trained Bolivian military.

All four of Ches children, along with Bolivian President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and delegations from Venezuela and Cuba, came to pay their respects in the small town of Vallegrande on Monday.

This is a historic moment, not just for me personally, but for all peoples who struggle for their liberation, Morales told the crowd.

To remember the 50th anniversary of Ches death is to remember the struggle for dignity and national sovereignty, and against imperialism.

Visitors from all over the world attended the main event at the airport where the remains of Che and six comrades were found in 1997 and later repatriated to Cuba.

The nearby mausoleum and new museum show how the revolutionary icon transformed from being feared and hated by the Bolivian government to being praised by it.

Mondays commemoration was part of five days of activities including film shows, theatre performances, photo exhibitions and talks.

We are showing that in Bolivia, Ches thought and his work are being kept alive and that our government follows his example, said Alfredo Rada, Bolivian vice-minister of coordination with social movements.

We wanted to fight with Che

Che saw Bolivia as a springboard to bring revolution to South America, and particularly to his homeland, Argentina.

But the ragtag band of revolutionaries he assembled misread the political moment in rural Bolivia.

Indigenous peasant farmers, released 13 years earlier from centuries of serfdom, supported a recently installed military dictatorship in exchange for guarantees that they would not lose their small parcels of land.

Nonetheless, some 20 Bolivian radicals joined his 52-member band.

Many of us wanted to fight with Che, but no one knew how to contact the guerrillas, retired mining leader Felix Muruchi told Al Jazeera.

Even though our union was outlawed by the military, we managed to assist them with a contribution from our salaries.

Fifty years on, Che has been turned into a marketable commodity  from t-shirts to fridge magnets.

This transformation meant that tourism could not be far behind.

The Che Trail

In Bolivia, the Che Trail, a multi-day route, was created in 2004 by the lowland indigenous organisation Asamblea del Pueblo Guarani, ironically with the help of the Bolivian military.

Guarani indigenous leader Nelly Romero, one of the organisers, said she believes Che would have approved of it.

As Che fought for the poor, indigenous and peasants, I doubt it would have bothered him to have his name and sacrifice used by us, Romero told Al Jazeera.

The loosely defined 300km trail traces the increasingly beleaguered bands trip across densely forested Andean foothills.

The more popular northern route begins three hours west of the city of Santa Cruz in the picturesque tourist town of Samaipata, where Che received medicine.

It continues southwest to Vallegrande where his emaciated corpse was displayed in the local hospital and Tania, the only woman in the group, is buried.

Those tourists, who travel the Ruta del Che, are people who share Ches ideals, local guide Adalid Balderrama to Al Jazeera.

The final destination is the impoverished hamlet of La Higuera, where he was captured and assassinated.

Local shopkeeper Irma Rosales met Ches group when she was 20.

We had no idea who they were, she said. We were afraid of them because they werent from around here.

Such distrust, combined with only token support from the Bolivian Communist Party, which favoured trade union and parliamentary work over armed struggle, ensured the groups downfall.

Che could never have envisaged that he would become a sort of local saint.

I come to light a candle and pray, Emiliana Gutierrez, a teacher, told Al Jazeera as she stood outside the mausoleum where his remains were found.

Che was a doctor and so his spirit has the power of healing.

Farmers in La Higuera pray to Che for help with their crops, and residents often hang his picture in their homes next to Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Bolivias current government is working hard to keep Ches legacy alive, as are the people in this region.

People die but their ideas never do, said Morales as he walked to the site in La Higuera where Che was killed.

We are in different times now, times of democratic liberation, fuelled not by the bullet but by the ballot box and the vote.
Picking the herb is illegal in Canada, where there are fears poaching is on the rise due to the high prices ginseng fetches in East Asia.

American Ginseng is thought to have a wide range of health benefits such as lowering blood sugar levels and reducing stress.

But picking the herb is illegal in Canada, where there are fears poaching is on the rise due to the high prices ginseng fetches in East Asia.

Al Jazeeras Daniel Lak reports from Ottawa.
Puigdemont accepts mandate from the people but asks regional parliament to suspend declaration so dialogue can start.

Catalonias leader has said he accepts the mandate from the people to become, an independent state, but has stopped short of declaring independence as he seeks dialogue with Spain.

The announcement came in an address by Carles Puigdemont to the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Catalans held an independence referendum on October 1 and secured a 92 percent vote in favour of separating from Spain. A unionist boycott of the vote meant turnout stood at just 43 percent.

Based on the results of October 1st, Catalonia has earned the right to be an independent country and has earned the right to be listened to and respected, Puigdemont said in his speech.

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The ballot boxes are telling us the people are in favour of independence and that is the path we follow.

By being the president, I assume my responsibility to declare that Catalonia should become an independent state in the form of a republic.

Puigdemont then asked parliament to suspend its mandate to immediately declare independence so that dialogue could begin.

Reports said Catalan leaders signed a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday but immediately put it on hold and called for talks.

Puigdemont and his allies signed the declaration outside the parliament chamber, but he then suspended it and again called for dialogue, reports said.

A Spanish government spokesman told AFP news agency that it is unacceptable to make a tacit declaration of independence to then suspend it in an explicit manner.

Mariano Rajoy, Spains prime minister, is to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss the central governments response.

Madrids warnings

On Sunday, Rajoy told the El Pais newspaper that Spain is not going to divide and national unity will be maintained. To do so, we will use all of the instruments that the legislation gives us. It falls to the government to take the decision and to do so at the right time.

For her part, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Spains deputy prime minister, said Spanish leaders were considering all possible options and described the Catalan leaders push for independence as fanaticism.

We are ready for any circumstances because we are already vaccinated against the fanaticism of Mr Puigdemont and any hope that he will return to sanity and serenity, she said.

Switching from the Catalan language to Spanish as he addressed the regional parliament, Puigdemont appeared to return a thinly veiled barb at Santamarias comments.

Our demands have always been expressed peacefully, we are not criminals, we are not crazy, we are not staging a coup, he said, adding: We cannot force the people to accept a status quo that they cant accept.

Spains government tried to block that vote by force and faced criticism when images of police officers confiscating ballot boxes and dragging voters away from polling stations were broadcast globally.

Madrid has the backing of Spains courts, which ruled last week to block Tuesdays gathering of the Catalan parliament.

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Al Jazeeras Laurence Lee, reporting from Madrid, said on Tuesday that there was little appetite among Spanish officials to engage with the Catalans and cited reports in Spanish newspapers that said the government considered Puigdemonts speech a declaration of independence.

If do they do what the Catalans say they want, which is hold negotiations, they absolutely dont want to do that in government here because if they do it accepts the core of the Catalan argument, which is this is a political issue, he said.

Here [in Madrid] theyre saying its a legal issue, they say the independence referendum was illegal.

If they accept the logic of negotiations, it becomes a political issue, and in doing so, they lose some face, and they lose some bargaining power, and on one level the Catalans win a victory even before any negotiations start.

Spanish MP Enric Bataller I Ruiz from the centre-left Compromis party told Al Jazeera that many Spaniards fear both the idea of Catalonias independence and the withdrawal of its autonomy in response to its separatist push.

I think Mariano Rajoy should try to hold the hand of [dialogue], he said, adding it is political negotiation that is needed now in Catalonia  and some kind of mediation to resolve the problem.
Spains ongoing dispute with Catalonia could come to a climax with speculation that the regions president might make a unilateral declaration of independence as early as this evening.

Carles Puigdemont is due to address the regional parliament in Barcelona on Tuesday, drawing warnings from the Spanish central government that it will not allow the country to be split.

The speech was originally scheduled for 16:00 GMT, but later delayed by about an hour, according to local media.

Spain is not going to divide and national unity will be maintained. To do so, we will use all of the instruments that the legislation gives us. It falls to the government to take the decision and to do so at the right time, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told Spanish newspaper, El Pais.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Spanish leaders were considering all possible options and described the Catalan leaders push for independence as fanaticism.

We are ready for any circumstances because we are already vaccinated against the fanaticism of Mr Puigdemont and any hope that he will return to sanity and serenity, she said.

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Rajoys centre-right Peoples Party has the backing of the opposition Socialists, who have promised to back the government should Catalonia attempt to break away.

The Catalans held an independence referendum on October 1 and secured a 92 percent vote in favour of separating from Spain.

However, a unionist boycott of the vote meant turnout stood at just 43 percent.

Spains government tried to block that vote by force and faced criticism when images of police officers confiscating ballot boxes and dragging voters away from polling stations were broadcast globally.

Madrid has the backing of Spains courts, which ruled last week to block Tuesdays gathering of the Catalan parliament.

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The Spanish monarch, King Felipe VI, has also called on the government to maintain the constitutional order.

Puigdemont has dismissed criticism from both the monarchy and central government and vowed the regional parliament will show the best face to apply the results of the referendum.

A declaration of independence might take a symbolic form to allow space for negotiations with Spain.

The pro-independence Catalan National Assembly has said it will set up large screens outside the Catalan parliament to follow Tuesdays proceedings.
At least three killed and dozens injured as strong winds and torrential rain lash Johannesburg and surrounding areas.

Severe thunderstorms have lashed South Africa, leaving at least three people dead and many more injured.

Damaging winds, destructive hail and torrential rain affected many parts of the country on Monday, with the area in and around Johannesburg seeing some of the worst damage.

Those who died were killed in traffic incidents attributed to the storms, according to South African News network News24.

Among those injured were a man and his two children, who were wounded after their house collapsed in Bapsfontein, to the east of Johannesburg.

Two other people were hurt when an external structure at the Cradlestone Mall in Krugersdorp collapsed.

There were numerous reports of hail smashing windows and damaging cars, and torrential rain flooding roads, making them impassable.

Tornadoes were also reported.

A suspected twister injured six people in the small town of Delmas, east of Johannesburg.

The severe weather brought heavy snow to Drakensberg. Residents reported that 50cm of snow had already accumulated on the ground in the northern parts of the Eastern Cape.

The severe weather has now cleared from Johannesburg, but it is still affecting other parts of South Africa.

Durban is currently experiencing very heavy downpours, many cars finding themselves trapped in floodwater.

The severe weather should come to an end on Wednesday.
Turkish president says he ordered retaliatory measures against the US move as Ankara asks Washington to review decision.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the US embassys decision to suspend all non-immigrant visa applications was very, very saddening, as he justified the tit-for-tat response by Ankara.

For the (US) ambassador in Ankara to take a decision like this, to put it into practice, is saddening, Erdogan said in a joint news conference on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Ukraines capital Kiev.

The Turkish president said that he had immediately ordered a retaliatory measure that resulted in the Turkish embassy in Washington issuing an almost identical text to the US announcement.

Turkey is governed by the rule of law. Above all, we are not a tribe, we are not a tribal state, he said.

Ankara summoned the US embassys second-in-charge, asking that Washington review the decision that caused unnecessary escalation and victimised both Turkish and US citizens, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

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It is Turkeys right to try a Turkish citizen for acts carried out in Turkey, said Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul. Everyone should follow (legal procedures) with respect.

Later on Monday, prosecutors summoned another Istanbul mission staffer in an escalating crisis. Turkish authorities say that both Topuz and the second unnamed employee have no diplomatic immunity or title.

Sinem Koseoglu, the Al Jazeera correspondent, said that Anakara believes the visa suspension measure is disproportional.

Turkey and the United States have been natural allies, Turkey has always been a point of stabilisation in the region, both in military and political terms, she said, adding that there is lack of trust now.

As far as I know, when American president Donald Trump and Turkish President Erdogan speak on the phone, they would have a way out of this crisis.

Escalating crisis

On Sunday, the US embassy in Ankara announced it had suspended non-immigrant visa services at all diplomatic facilities in Turkey. In response, Turkeys Washington embassy suspended non-immigrant visa services in the US, citing security concerns.

Turkey is governed by the rule of law. Above all, we are not a tribe, we are not a tribal state by Recep Erdogan, Turkish president

The US move is believed to be motivated both by Washingtons concern over Ankaras Syria policy, and by last weeks arrest of a US embassy employee Metin Topuz, who allegedly had information on American involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt, a senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera.

The unprecedented development marks a major fallout in bilateral relations between the two NATO allies.

Topuz, a Turkish citizen, was accused of having links to the organisation of Fethullah Gulen, an exiled religious leader and businessman based in the US and wanted in Turkey. Ankara accuses Gulen of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt that killed more than 300 people.

Several US citizens were among the thousands arrested in Turkey after the coup attempt, including American pastor Andrew Brunson. President Donald Trump unsuccessfully appealed to Turkey for his release, along with a letter signed by 78 members of Congress.

Erdogan said last month that Ankara would release the pastor once Gulen was extradited to Turkey.

Burhan Kuzu, an adviser to Erdogan and a senior MP of the ruling Justice and Development Party, earlier told Al Jazeera that the US was disturbed by the detention of Topuz, as he had information about US involvement in the coup attempt.

The US was irritated by this development as its [Washingtons] role in the coup attempt might be revealed through this individual. The visa move came in order to pressure Turkey to give up this person, he said.

On Friday, John Bass, the outgoing ambassador to Turkey, said at a press briefing that the arrest and related reports in the Turkish media did not strike him as pursuing justice but more a pursuit of vengeance.

The US and Turkey have also recently been at odds over Syria. Ankara, which backed the Syrian uprising, has negotiated multiple agreements with Russia and Iran, supporters of the Syrian government.
A military build-up continues on Turkeys border with Syria where Turkey is supporting a campaign to secure opposition control over the city of Idlib.

A military build-up continues on Turkeys border with Syria, where Turkey is supporting a campaign to secure opposition control over the city of Idlib.

But civilians still live in fear of potential clashes between Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighters and Hayet Tahrir Al-Sham, an alliance of armed groups that holds Idlib.

Al Jazeeras Hashem Ahelbarra reports.
Representatives from the two rival political parties are exploring ways to implement the 2011 Cairo Agreement.

Representatives from the Palestinian political parties of Hamas and Fatah are meeting on Tuesday for reconciliation talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The talks come a week after Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited the Gaza Strip to kick-start the process of transferring administrative responsibility for the besieged territory from Hamas to the national consensus government.

The meetings in Cairo are centred around implementing the 2011 Cairo Agreement between the two political parties, in hopes of ending a 10-year political schism.

Leading the delegations are the deputy head of Hamass political office, Saleh al-Arouri, and a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Azzam al-Ahmad.

A member of Hamas in the occupied West Bank, Hassan Yousef, said that Israel blocked a delegation from travelling to Cairo through Jordan to participate in the talks.

Khalil al-Haya, a member of the Hamas delegation, said the mission would discuss forming a national unity government with the participation of all Palestinian political parties and preparing for legislative, presidential and national council elections.

Haya said the negotiations would focus on ending Palestinian division to confront intransigence and the Israeli project.

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The 2011 agreement stipulated that legislative, presidential and national council elections should be conducted within one year of its signing. The deal would see both Hamas and Fatah form a Palestinian government to appoint the prime minister and ministerial positions.

Fatah spokesman Osama al-Qawasmeh told the official PA radio that the Egyptian-brokered talks would stretch for three days and would focus on enabling the national consensus government to exercise its political, security and economic functions in Gaza.

Other issues on the agenda include Gazas electricity crisis, the salaries of PA employees in the coastal enclave, security and the administration of border crossings.

Over the last few months, Hamas has been under heavy pressure from PA President Mahmoud Abbas measures against Gaza, aimed at pressuring Hamas to relinquish control of the territory. Punitive measures included cutting the salaries of PA employees living in Gaza and requesting Israel to reduce the electricity supply to the territory.

If the reconciliation efforts are successful, they could temporarily ease Gazas dire humanitarian situation.

Sticking points

Despite the latest Egyptian initiative to end the divide between the West Bank-based PA, led by Fatah, and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, several potential obstacles could cause a national unity government to falter.

Hamas preferred method of armed resistance in facing Israel is among the main obstacles, analysts say.

Last week, Abbas called on Hamas to surrender its weapons. Speaking to Egyptian television, Abbas called for one state, one regime, one law and one weapon.

Hamas, on several occasions, has stressed that the issue of armed resistance is not up for discussion. The resistances weapons are legal, spokesperson Hazem Qassem told the local Maan News Agency. They are here to protect Palestinians and free their lands [from Israeli occupation].

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Hamas has been Gazas de facto ruler since 2007, when the party defeated Abbas long-dominant Fatah party in parliamentary elections.

Hamas then pushed Fatah out of Gaza in a bloody conflict. Hamas and Fatah have ruled the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively ever since.

Hamas control over security and its nature as an armed resistance movement have constituted an obstacle for the PA, which cooperates with Israel on security-related matters as per the Oslo Accords.

Ibrahim Abrash, a political analyst and Gazas former culture minister, said some issues, such as Hamas recognition of Israel and the 1967 borders, will take time to iron out  but the dire situation in Gaza cannot withhold waiting any longer.

Abrash told Al Jazeera that, while he believes Fatah is serious about carrying out presidential elections, the fear is that Israel will get involved.

Abbas term expired in 2009, and presidential elections have not been held since.

The last time Hamas joined elections in 2006, Israel carried out a campaign of arrests against Hamas parliamentarians. There needs to be some Arab and international guarantees that things would go smoothly, said Abrash.

On the issue of armed resistance, Abrash said Israel would make it very difficult for the unity government to carry out its duties. This would mean that the political system would be faulty, with some factions carrying weapons and others not. I think these issues will not be opened now, but in the end, this issue will explode if the root of it is not solved.
Citing irregularities in the counting process, Raila Odinga says he is withdrawing from presidential election rerun.

Raila Odinga, Kenyas opposition leader, has announced he is withdrawing from a rerun of the presidential election, saying electoral officials have failed to make necessary reforms.

Kenyas Supreme Court last month annulled the August presidential poll, won by incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, due to widespread irregularities in the counting process.

Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had pledged not to take part in the vote re-run unless reforms were made to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday, Odinga said: After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election  we believe that all will be best served by [the party] vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October 2017.

We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel  All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one.

Al Jazeeras Catherine Soi, reporting from Nairobi, said the opposition has been saying they will not just be boycotting the elections, but that there will be no elections.

There is a lot of uncertainty, with people asking if there will be disruptions in elections in the strongholds of Odinga, she said.

These are unprecedented times for Kenya. People are asking why is it that you go to court , the court rules in your favour and you come and withdraw from the election, and this election has been set because of the petition that you have filed.

But Odinga says that the IEBC has refused to even listen to the some of the demands  demands that the NASA coalition says are reasonable  that they have been making.

Procedural irregularities

In another development on Tuesday, Kenyan opposition legislators said they would boycott parliament over proposed election law amendments in advance of the election rerun.

The poll pitting Kenyatta against Odinga must be held by the end of October, according to the Supreme Court ruling.

Judges ordered the rerun after nullifying Kenyattas win in the August 8 vote, citing procedural irregularities.

Al Jazeeras Mohammed Adow, who has covered Kenya extensively, says Odinga has taken the decision perhaps in the hope that people are going to listen to him and organise those reforms.

There was very little room for manoeuvre here  just 60 days in which an election had to be held, he said.

What Odinga wanted was at first extensive reforms at the electon commission. But later on, he said he was willing to have only the secretariat  that is the commissioners, who would be difficult to replace  to go.

What we see so far is that no one at the commission has left.

There will be an issue of legitimacy definitely, our correspondent said, referring to the scheduled rerun of the election.
Government will have to explain or try to change inequalities revealed by report on race, PM Theresa May says.

Black and ethnic minority (BME) individuals are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as white British adults, a government-backed review of racial issues in the UK has revealed.

The audit, published Tuesday by the governments Ethnicity Facts and Figures website, also shows that police are three times more likely to stop and search non-white Britons.

Black and Arab Britons are more than 40 percent less likely to own their own home, compared with white Britons, the report said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered the review.

If these disparities cannot be explained then they must be changed, May said following the report, calling on government and the UKs institutions.

People who have lived with discrimination dont need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge, she added. But this audit means that for society as a whole  for government, for our public services  there is nowhere to hide.

The audit covers areas including health, education, employment, and crime.

The Department for Work and Pensions is expected to set up some 20 hotspot areas to help ethnic minority individuals find employment.

The Ministry of Justice, meanwhile, says it will attempt to ensure prisoners of all ethnicities are treated appropriately.

Could have been done earlier

Rehman Chishti, Conservative Party MP for Gillingham and Rainham, called the review a step in the right direction, but admitted it could have been done a lot earlier in the seven years since we have been in government.

[Now] I want the government to look at finding bottom up solutions, to engage with diverse communities across the country and work with them to get the best answer in addressing the challenges they face, he told Al Jazeera from London.

Chisthi is one of 52 ethnic minority MPs who account for just eight percent of the UKs parliament.

In the UK as a whole, BME Britons make up about 13 percent of the population, according to the last official census in 2011.

The governments report on Tuesday follows research released on October 8 suggesting that higher levels of education among certain ethnic minority groups has not led to more employment or higher salaries.

The UKs Resolution Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank, said the number Britons of Chinese, Indian and Black African heritage  aged between 16 and 64 years old  with a degree has more than doubled since 1999, but employment rates and income have not reflected that change.

Kathleen Henehan, a policy analyst for the think-tank, said Tuesdays findings have again shown the extent of economic inequality affecting BME groups in the UK.

BME families are disproportionately represented in poorer households, despite experiencing relatively strong income growth over recent decades, she told Al Jazeera.

Despite astounding progress in terms of getting degrees, BME graduates still face a jobs gap and pay penalty when they enter the workforce.

Following the release of Tuesdays report, social media users shared their views.

Actress Kelechi Okafor wrote on Twitter: The extent of racism in Britain is only Shocking to those who havent been paying attention.

Seema Chandwani, supporter of the opposition Labour Party, wrote: #RaceAudit is a collection of *existing* data from public bodies. The evidence has existed for a long time & required action a long time ago.

Twitter user Funmi Adebayo said: The #raceaudit sadly only looks into the public sector. I imagine the racial disparities are much worse within the private sector.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report detailing unlawful detention and torture in Rwanda.

The 91-page report  We Will Force You to Confess: Torture and Unlawful Military Detention in Rwanda  alleges details widespread and systematic torture by the military and accuses judges of being complicit in the creation of a culture of impunity for the armed forces.

Victims were beaten until they signed confessions, often on fabricated charges, in a series of centres around the country, HRW says, claiming that Rwandan officials use torture whenever they please.

This is not the first time Rwanda has been accused of torture.

In 2012, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty Internationals acting deputy Africa director, said that though Rwandan militarys human rights record abroad is increasingly scrutinised, their unlawful detention and torture of civilians in Rwanda is shrouded in secrecy.

According to Tuesdays report, the use of unlawful incarceration and torture is continuing.

Al Jazeera spoke to HRWs researcher Lewis Mudge, who is based in Nairobi, about some of the details in the report, why torture continues to be used in Rwanda and if justice would be served for the survivors.

Al Jazeera: Your new report shows that Rwandas military uses arbitrary arrest, and in many cases torture to force confessions out of suspects. How widespread is this practice in the country?

Lewis Mudge: Human Rights Watch confirmed 104 cases of people who were illegally detained and in many cases tortured or ill-treated in military detention centres in Rwanda during a seven-year period. This information came from speaking with 61 former detainees of this illegal detention and through trial observations.

Some men spoke of having weights tied to their testicles, others of being handcuffed with their hands behind their backs for days on end. by

However, these numbers scratch the surface. Detainees told us of many other people they saw in military detention camps. It is difficult to say how widespread this practice is as these issues, torture and illegal detention, are very sensitive in Rwanda. Many of the people we spoke to were threatened with detention or death if they spoke out about what they have suffered. Many people are simply too afraid to talk.

Only an independent investigation by the government of Rwanda could shed light on how deep this problem really is.

Al Jazeera: The report documents heinous methods. Could you elaborate on the types of measures being used on suspects?

Mudge: Beatings, asphyxiations, electric shocks, mock executions  these were just some of the types of torture used to extract confessions or get detainees to accuse others. Some men spoke of having weights tied to their testicles, others of being handcuffed with their hands behind their backs for days on end.

Many former detainees told us that in the end, they agreed to whatever they were told to say  they could not take the pain. There are also the inhuman conditions in which these people were kept. Many were given rations that could barely keep them alive through months of detention.

Al Jazeera: Is there a specific group or set of individuals that the Rwandan military is targeting? Is it also being used to quell political dissent?

Mudge: People who end up in military detention in Rwanda are accused of crimes against state security and terrorism. This is not necessarily being used to quell political dissent, rather, it is being used against those suspected of association with groups hostile to Rwanda such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)  an armed group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo  and, to a lesser extent, the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition group in exile. Some of the members of the FDLR took part in the genocide.

Al Jazeera: If the majority of victims or survivors are said to be belonging to the FDLR, is this partly why the issue is shrouded in secrecy?

Mudge: No, the FDLR is openly regarded as an enemy of Rwanda. And the FDLR have carried out, and continue to carry out, killings, rapes, and other serious abuses against civilians in eastern Congo. However, the majority of former detainees were not FLDR, but were suspected of having ties to the FDLR, hence their illegal detention and forced confessions.

Al Jazeera: This is not the first time that the Rwandan government has been accused of torture. Has there been any improvement in the way the countrys deals with suspects seen as threats to the state?

Mudge: No, this is an ongoing problem. Our research is from 2010 to 2016, but we have cases suggesting this continues.

Al Jazeera: And yet, in 2015, Rwanda ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, allowing visits to detention sites by the protocols Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. But a national mechanism has yet to be set up. Surely, this is not positive.

Mudge: We are told the national mechanism will be set up soon. We are also told the mechanism will likely be in the National Commission for Human Rights, a body which has shown a reluctance to investigate sensitive cases of human rights abuses in recent years.

It is imperative that the commission demonstrate independence and courage to investigate these sensitive cases if the national preventive mechanism is to be anything more than a cover for these crimes. The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture will visit Rwanda next week.

It should visit areas of unlawful detention and torture outlined in the report. The Committee Against Torture, the body established by the Convention Against Torture to monitor compliance by state parties, will review Rwandas compliance later in 2017. It should ensure that Rwanda takes torture allegations seriously and carries out credible investigations.

Al Jazeera: How have Rwandan authorities responded to your findings and what are you expecting to happen, moving forward?

Mudge: We have shared research findings on numerous occasions over the past 10 months with the government of Rwanda and asked for meetings in order to further clarify our work. We have also asked for an official response to this report. Unfortunately, we heard nothing back.

The government of Rwanda must confront the systematic use of torture and unlawful detention. The government should immediately cease arbitrary and unlawful detention and torture in military detention centres and ensure that no one is held in unofficial detention centres.

It should then investigate all allegations of torture, enforced disappearances, unlawful and arbitrary detention and arrests and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @azadessa
The Astana process and implementation of de-escalation zones have imposed new realities on Syrias armed opposition.

Syrias conflict landscape has changed dramatically since the Russian military intervened in 2015, with most major territory controlled by armed groups falling under the control of regime-aligned forces. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has been severely depleted, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have assumed control of more territory, increasing the possibility of Kurdish autonomy.

Meanwhile, the Astana process has imposed new realities on Syrias armed opposition, as the tripartite talks between Russia, Turkey and Iran produced an agreement on de-escalation zones.

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Below is a brief profile of the three main conglomerations of armed groups in Syria today and how they fit into the ongoing conflict.

Hayet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

HTS is Jabhat al-Nusras successor and comprises some of the more powerful armed groups operating in Idlib province.

After 2015, agreements between regime and opposition forces led to the forced displacement of fighters and many civilians from conflict zones, pushing them into Idlib. The situation has created intense competition and infighting, along with a dizzying number of alliances and counter-alliances among the various armed groups.

HTS emerged out of this competition as one of the stronger groups in Idlib. In early October, a Turkish-led military campaign began against HTS in Idlib in order to establish a de-escalation zone. The campaign involved Turkish aerial bombardment to support Free Syrian Army (FSA) advances against HTS.

This has been a common pattern in recent years in Syria: A ground force relies on external intervention to support its territorial advances. American support allowed the SDF to advance on ISIL; Russian support was provided to regime-aligned forces in recapturing Homs, Hama, Aleppo and other areas; and now Turkish support is being provided to the FSA.

It is unlikely that HTS will survive in its current form in the aftermath of the campaign, but as in previous years, it will likely splinter and reappear in various forms.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA)

The Free Syrian Army is the army that never was one.





Since the outset of the conflict, the FSA has been a conglomeration of armed brigades fighting under a loose umbrella in which central coordination and military planning never existed. FSA brigades have shifted alliances to other armed opposition groups, as well as re-defecting to the Syrian army.

There is thus virtually no ideological, political or military coherence, but the FSA persists as a loose organisational mechanism for armed groups.

In 2016, the FSA was mobilised against SDF forces to prevent the contiguity of Kurdish territory along Turkeys southern border in Operation Euphrates Shield. Then, as now, the FSA was supported by the Turkish military through logistics, aerial support and intelligence.

Without this military support, the FSA is simply incapable of overtaking groups such as HTS or the SDF.

The Unified National Army (UNA)

The Unified National Army was created in mid-2017 with the aim of bringing together armed groups of various ideological and political backgrounds. Many of these groups are dispersed throughout Syrian territory in areas where there is still active fighting, such as the south, Ghouta and northern areas around Aleppo and Idlib.

The UNA is the latest in a long line of attempts to unify the Syrian armed opposition and it is unlikely that its fate will be any different from the others.

The main group within the UNA is Ahrar al-Sham, one of the few Islamist brigades to have persisted under this banner throughout the long course of the conflict. Brigades associated with the UNA have clashed regularly with the SDF, ISIL and HTS over territory, and have mostly been in military retreat since the Russian intervention.

While some of the southern factions retain control over some territory, their increasing abandonment by Jordanian authorities has limited their capacity and access to resources. Thus, despite having the appearance of a national character with brigades from all over the country pledging support for the project, the UNA has not solved the problems of coordination and material resources that have plagued previous attempts at unifying Syrias armed groups.

Looking ahead

The Russian-led designs for Syria imagined through the Astana process are slowly being realised, and these new realities are imposing restraints and possibilities on the armed groups that will determine their futures.

As long as de-escalation zones are the military goals of the tripartite powers, there will be a need and a relevance for armed groups. These groups will morph accordingly, but they will remain weak and incapable of autonomous action outside of the designs and umbrella created by the Astana process.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha announces elections after repeatedly delaying them since taking power in a coup.

Thailands military government says it will hold a general election in November 2018 after repeatedly delaying the decision, citing concerns such as changes to the constitution and security issues, since taking power in a 2014 coup.

The exact election date would be announced in June 2018, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the head of the ruling military government or National Council for Peace and Order, told reporters on Tuesday at Bangkoks Government House.

Around June, we will announce the date for the next election, he said.

The decision comes more than a year after Prayuts initial promise to hold elections this year.

Thailands last general election was in 2011.

The European Union and the United States  both key allies  had been pressuring Prayut to hold elections and lift restrictions on civil liberties imposed since his takeover.

Last year, the military pushed through a new constitution that critics said would boost military power and limit the sway of elected officials.

A divided nation

The military claimed the new charter, Thailands 20th, will purge Thailand of corrupt civilian politicians and restore stability after nearly a decade of political turmoil including two coups.

The country has been bitterly divided ever since a 2006 coup that toppled Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister.

Years of competing protests and instability followed. In 2014, the army seized power once more, toppling Thaksins sister, Yingluck.

The Shinawatra clan has won all general elections since 2001, harvesting votes by promising greater wealth and opportunity to the rural poor.

But the family is loathed by an arch-royalist Bangkok elite which is backed by the military, and by southern voters who accuse the Shinawatras of corruption and populism.

Last month, Yingluck was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail after she was found guilty of negligence in a rice subsidy case.
Blazes destroy at least 1,500 homes and businesses and send up to 20,000 people on flight to safety in US state.

More than a dozen wildfires stoked by powerful winds have swept through California, destroying at least 1,500 homes and businesses and sending an estimated 20,000 people fleeing to safety.

One person was killed in a fire in Mendocino County, further north in the US state, on Monday.

Californias fire chief called the damage estimates in the wine country conservative and said the fires were burning throughout an eight-county expanse of Northern California, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

Numerous people had been hurt, and some were missing, although no estimates were immediately available, said Ken Pimlott, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection director.

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Later he said there were probably fatalities.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered after the blazes broke out late on Sunday. Long lines formed at petrol stations when many families heeded a middle-of-the-night call to get out.

A spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric said 114,000 customers were without power.

Routes blocked

With fallen trees or flames blocking routes, Sonoma County residents struggled to figure out what roads to take.

Fires also burned just to the east in Napa County as well as in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties  all north of the state capital, Sacramento.

Many of the fires spread suddenly overnight, whipped by strong winds.

Santa Rosa, the largest city in the fire area with a population of about 175,000, was hit hard.

The city lost a big-box store and unknown numbers of other businesses and homes, as the blaze shut down its schools and forced patients at two city hospitals to evacuate.

A Hilton Hotel was smouldering and in ruins.

Imagine a wind-whipped fire burning at explosive rates. This is 50 miles per hour. Literally, its burning into the city of Santa Rosa  burning box stores, Pimlott said.

This is traditionally Californias worst time for fires, Californias most damaging times for fires have occurred in October.

More than 200 people were hurriedly evacuated from Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Santa Rosa Medical Center, where the blaze could be seen raging nearby.

State of emergency

Barry Biermann, Napa county fire chief, said the fires had burned more than 176sq km.

Crews had not yet been able to contain a fire heading towards Napas business district.

Right now, with these conditions, we cant get ahead of this fire and do anything about the forward progress, Biermann said.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

Smoke was thick in San Francisco, 96km south of the Sonoma County fire.

The National Weather Service said widespread wind gusts were observed in the north San Francisco Bay region.

The winds were expected to subside at midday.

Community centres, the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and other local centres were opened for evacuees.
The UNs Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is briefing Security Council members on the latest situation in the country where war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.

The UNs Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is briefing Security Council members on the latest situation in the country where war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.

It is the first consultation since a United Nations report blamed the Saudi-led coalition for causing the deaths of hundreds of children.

But air raids have continued, and survivors are struggling to cope.

Al Jazeeras Osama Bin Javaid reports.
Facebook says it has developed a tool to give users more context on what they read.

There is no doubt that fake news has become one of the key terms of 2017, brought into the spotlight after the US presidential election last November.

It was soon clear thousands of people were unintentionally sharing articles full of misinformation.

The resulting paranoia led people to accuse once trusted sources, including The New York Times, of carrying fake news. And social media is a core part of the problem.

Facebook is trying to do something about that. It is testing a new feature called the i button. When clicked, it gives the reader more information about the article they are reading.

The idea is to give people context about their news sources, so they can decide if articles are from publishers they trust, and if the stories themselves are credible.

But Facebook admits it is not always easy to flush out fiction from fact.

So, how do we deal with this modern-day reality? And where does it leave social media?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Alastair Reid  social media journalist

Sebastian Moss  technology reporter for Datacenter Dynamics

Tom Law  Director of Campaigns and Communications, The Ethical Journalism Network
The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers.
Austin Light, a Native American student, said he feels like a needle in a haystack.

On Monday afternoon, Light gathered on the Plaza of the Americas to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, a pushback to Columbus Day.

Brady Kelsey, a UF anthropology senior, said the goal of the event, which was hosted by The American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, was to educate students on the history of the indigenous peoples in North America and update them on current indigenous issues.

Kelsey and professors from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences set up a table to inform students about indigenous people and Christopher Columbus.

Light, a UF history junior, said even though the UF campus is inclusive, he thinks the university could do more to educate students on indigenous history. He said it was hard to find classes about Native American history, but found three professors of Native American studies at the event.

Light said he thinks racism stems from people who are uneducated about the group they are targeting, and UF should have more options for students to become educated about indigenous peoples.

If people were educated on why everything happened the way it happened, I think it would be a huge step to combat that type of viewpoint, the 23-year-old said.

Kelsey said the celebration of Columbus Day is an issue because indigenous people face continued suppression. She believes Columbus Day should be permanently replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day.

(Columbus) is a falsified historical figure, the 21-year-old said. He never actually set foot on North America, it was actually the Caribbean Islands  and in his rule he killed over 5 million.

The community should try and give back to the indigenous population because of what they have endured due to Europeans and white people, Kelsey said.

Celebrating Columbus, who was responsible for beginning the enslavement of indigenous people in the New World, as the founder of the Americas is inaccurate and morally unjust, Kelsey said.

Now is the time to recognize that we made an error, say that we made an error, own up to the mistake and move on, Kelsey said.

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Robin Wright, an associate professor in the UF Department of Religion, said history books dont highlight the true discoverers of America, which are the indigenous people. Wright said its estimated the indigenous people arrived in North America at least 40,000 years ago.

That should be recognized, and not the recognition of a person who was the beginning, the starting point, of the destruction of the indigenous peoples in the Americas, Wright said.

Wright said he does not think UF does enough to recognize indigenous people. He said indigenous people should be recognized and discussed in multiple colleges across the university for their contributions to religion, science, law and humanities.

At the event, about 150 people signed a petition to get UF to change its recognition of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

The event was a kickoff for their Diversity Week before the arrival of Richard Spencer, an avowed white supremacist, on Oct. 19, Kelsey said.

Were trying to show that we are UF, we care about other people and were not supporting of Richard Spencer and his beliefs, Kelsey said.
On the 50th anniversary of Che Guevaras execution, UFs Young Americans for Freedom hosted a tabling event to educate students on Che Guevaras crimes.

The goal would just be to spread the message of what Che Guevara actually did and let people make their own decisions, Sarah Long, the vice president for Young Americans for Freedom, said.

Club members were at a table on Turlington Plaza from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m Monday.

Long, 19, said she hopes the event caused a ripple effect on the university and warned people about communism and the dangers of a similar system in the U.S.

I think Che Guevara gets a better rep than he deserves, Long said. Our generation has an enchantment not only on socialism but communism that scares me on a personal level.

Kevin Lemos, a UF computer science sophomore, said Guevaras actions personally affected him. He said his mom had to leave Peru because of the communist political movements that Guevara influenced.

I think that the fact that a lot of young people are idolizing Che Guevara is concerning, he said. I dont want anything close to that being emulated in the United States.

Kevin Nguyen, a UF theatre freshman, was walking through Turlington before his tabling shift for Student Government Senate and decided to approach the table.

The 18-year-old said he learned about Guevara through his Argentinian high school teacher in Miami.

I learned about the importance of looking back in the past, because we need to look back at history because, you know, historys really important in foretelling future events, he said.

@Christina_M18

cmorales@alligator.org

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This will shock none of you, especially if you know me in real life, but Im something of a wimp.

Roller coasters? Terrifying. Horror movies? As if. (Though I do love Rosemarys Baby, but mostly for Ruth Gordon). And, in the culinary department, Ive been avoiding chiles for most of my adult life. Sure, I can handle a few pickled jalapenos in my nachosand, as everyone knows, theyre a key ingredient in Eggs Adam Robertsbut the idea of cooking with raw, un-pickled, fiery chiles has never appealed to me. Until recently

Im a regular, these days, at the Sunday farmers market in Atwater Village. Having just been to New York, where I sauntered through the Union Square farmers market which, in September, is really at its peak (with gorgeous tomatoes, etc.), its fun to notice the things that we get here in California that my east coast brethren have to live without. For example, citrus. Our farmers market has tablefuls of lemons, limes, blood oranges, grapefruits, all for super cheap. You wont see that in New York. (Though New York has something we dont have: seasons!) Anyway, this is all leading to something that we have here that you guys dont have there

Chiles. At least, I dont think you have that there. Ive never seen chiles at a New York farmers market. But we have tons, currently under netting because of flies, which makes these chiles seem like a colorful, naughty bride. [Note: I realize now that this is mostly a picture of peppers, but the chiles are on the left]

Maybe it was something in the air, but on this last trip to the farmers market, I decided to just go for it and buy a bunch of chiles. And, funny enough, when I got home to read the Sunday Times, there was this article (seen in the top picture) about how chiles are good for you (anti-cancerous and all that). So the universe was telling me it was time to get over my chile-phobia.

Heres what I made first: a soup kind of thing with Fresno chiles. Observe.

Thats onions, garlic, and chopped Fresno chiles all sauteeing together. To that, I added canned cannellini beans.

And, finally, a chopped heirloom tomato.

Cooked that all down together with some salt and then topped with basil.

Actually, that was less a soup kind of thing and more like the bodega beans that Rachel Wharton once taught me how to make. And they were most excellent; the heat was there, but distributed nicely through the dish, so it was warming rather than punishing. I was really into it.

Next up: a pasta with raw tomatoes, one of my favorite things to make in the summer / end of summer / great tomato period that were in right now. Generally, you just chop raw tomatoes (heirloom, preferably) and toss them with olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt, pepper, and some basil. But this time around, I added chopped Fresno chiles too.

Then I boiled orecchiette in lots of salted water and when it was just al dente, I stirred that into my raw tomato sauce.

Topped with Feta to mitigate the heat, this, again, had just the right balance of chile-heat

But was I being too wimpy with my chiles? Did I dare try a spicier one? Like the Thai bird chile that the woman who sold me these chiles warned me was very, very spicy?

Thats it on the right along with some garlic. I was about to make sausage and clams, on the suggestion of the fishmonger / butcher at McCalls, who told me to brown some sausage, add some garlic, then wine, and finally clams. What he didnt know was that I was also going to add THE SPICIEST CHILE IN THE WORLD. (OK, one of the spiciest.)

OK, so I chickened out a little. I didnt add a whole Thai bird chile. Just a little. I was scared.

Oh, I also went my own way and added cherry tomatoes

And, finally, the clams

What can I say? This dinner was pretty excellent (especially with a baguette to mop up the sauce). And, without tooting my horn too much, I think I added the perfect amount of Thai bird chile. Still just a warming heat, but nothing too punishing.

And so ends my post about cooking with chiles. Are you impressed? Do you feel like I need to take it further? Hey, Im doing my best. I once watched five minutes of The Strangers with Liv Tyler and almost had a panic attack. I can handle Thunder Mountain. But Ill get there with chiles, eventually. Or maybe Ill just embrace the fact that when it comes to chiles, scary movies, and roller coasters, just a little goes a long way.
The clock appears to be ticking on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA); more than some may think, less than others may hope. Whatever President Donald Trump decides to do with the unsigned, unratified, unagreed-upon text of the untreaty, it should be clear that the agreement did not moderate Irans ambitions -- nuclear or otherwise -- and pretending will not make it so.

The JCPOA was not designed to end Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.

One reason there is no agreed-upon text is that the sides were negotiating different ends: the U.S. wanted to constrain Irans enrichment and other nuclear weapons-related capabilities for a period of time during which President Obama and others said/hoped Iran would become a constructive regional player. Iran was negotiating the terms under which it could continue to enrich uranium with an international imprimatur. Deal supporters acknowledge as much. Paul Pillar of Georgetown University recently wrote, If there were no JCPOA, then instead of Iran being free of some restrictions on its nuclear activity 10 or 15 years from now, it would be free from those same restrictions right now.

It wasnt presented that way, of course. President Obama presented Congress and the American people with a binary choice -- the JCPOA or war. The threat of war is so powerful that JCPOA supporters still use it. Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, wrote last month, If the Trump administration kills the deal with Iran [that] the rest of the international community is highly satisfied with, it should forget about peacefully settling the nuclear standoff with North Korea."

Vaez threatens the United States with war in Asia, not for attacking Iran, but for exposing the emperors nakedness.

How naked is Iran? For a country that was supposed to moderate its international behavior in light of Western acceptance, money, and trade, Iran has behaved more like a country determined to pursue its own ends with little concern for the opinions of the West.

There is ample evidence of illicit missile trade with North Korea. The infusion of Western money has allowed Iran to field proxy Shiite militias in Iraq; Somali and Afghan mercenaries in Syria  including children, according to Human Rights Watch -- along with its Hizballah allies; pursue its ballistic missile program in defiance of UN sanctions; arm Houthi rebels in Yemen in defiance of UN arms sanctions; plan billions in military equipment purchases; hold four (or five) Americans without rights (or charges in two cases); harass American ships in the Persian Gulf; and generally deny its own people civil liberties, including freedom from arbitrary arrest or torture. Iran executed at least 567 people in 2016, making it one of the top three in the world.

Irans behaviors threaten large parts of the world and many of its most vulnerable citizens even before the question of whether Iran is actually making progress on its nuclear weapons capabilities now -- cheating on the deal it never signed.

For understandable reasons, the IAEA is loath to say it doesnt have the access it should have to Irans military sites to fully understand what the regime is doing. But remember two things: shortly after the deal was agreed (though not signed) the IAEA made a separate deal for Iran to inspect its own facilities at Parchin and other military sites. And, the IAEA does not certify Iran's compliance, as the inestimable and indefatigable Mark Dubowitz at FDD reminds us:

The IAEAs mandate with respect to the JCPOA primarily entails monitoring and reporting on Tehrans nuclear-related actions (or lack thereof) pursuant to the JCPOAs provisions. The determination of whether Iranian conduct constitutes compliance with the JCPOA remains the prerogative of the individual parties to the agreement: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Iran, with the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy.

The Trump administration has been busy setting the stage for a new American policy. In May, there were 40 new sanctions connected to Iranian missile and terrorism activities and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force -- including on Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force, and on his brother, Sohrab Soleimani, for his role in running Teherans notorious Evin prison. In July, Treasury designated 16 entities and individuals for supporting illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity. The State Department separately designated two organizations involved in Irans ballistic missile program. The White House is presently considering IRGC a terrorist organization.

Irans violations are clear. It remains to be seen how our allies and our adversaries would react to an American decertification of Iran under the JCPOA, or withdrawal from the deal in its entirety.

Vaez, having threatened the U.S. with war in Korea, is more nebulous but no less adamant in threatening disaster. "The IAEA has never had better access to Iran's military sites. If the Trump administration loses this unprecedented access... it will soon wish for it."

Our allies are a mixed bag. Generally unwilling to support President Trump, and very fond of the contracts Iran has been throwing their way, they are nervous. Longtime analyst Dennis Ross points out that Frances President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a renegotiation of the agreement -- and he is not the only one, Democrats in Congress are suggesting the same. Richard Goldberg, staff member to then-senator Mark Kirk, believes allies will get in line with American policy should more sweeping sanctions be called for.

Most important, however, is Irans response. While the IRGC threatened missile attacks on U.S. bases should the president sanction the Revolutionary Guard, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif made overtures to the countries of the P5+1 during the UN session in September, suggesting that Irans ballistic missile program -- illegal and under UN sanction -- could be discussed (modified? adhered to?). That is not the same as discussing or adhering to the JCPOA, but suggests that Iran does not want to be completely cut off from conversation with the West.

It is a dangerous moment. Iran has become more, not less, threatening to global peace and security, and has no intention of transparency in its nuclear programs. But that is as it has always been. The difference now is that the American government is willing to say so.
With the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill to repeal Obamacare flaming out, not even getting a vote, one might wonder whether it was a lousy bill or if something else were amiss. As the bill seemed like pretty decent legislation, its failure to get a vote may be due to what the U.S. Senate has become. Todays Senate is populated with careerists: professional politicians. Such politicians can be more attuned to the interests of their donors than to those of their constituents.

One of the healthiest things to have come out of Congress in decades was Newt Gingrichs Contract with America back in the 1994. The Contract promised several huge changes, like welfare reform, and the new Republican Congress, the first in forty years, actually delivered on several of those big promises.

One of the big disappointments of the Contract was the failure to get term limits in its Citizen Legislature Act; the careerists in the House defeated it 227-204. That failure to get term limits left the Senate with two members, Collins and McCain, whose declared opposition to Graham-Cassidy sank it. Collins and McCain would have been long gone if we had gotten the Contracts term limits.

If were ever to get term limits for Congress, the Constitution must be amended. Because the swampy careerists in Congress are never going to initiate such an amendment themselves, well probably need to have an Article V constitutional convention. Good luck on that, (he wrote ironically).

On Sep. 26, the Blaze reported that Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) had appeared on Fox News addressing Sen. McCains cancer and advising this: I think Arizona could help him -- and us. Recall him, let him fight successfully this terrible cancer, and lets get someone in here who will keep the word he gave last year.

It might be healthy for the state of union if wayward members of Congress could be ousted with a recall election, but unfortunately recall elections arent available for Congress. In Can U.S. Senators Be Recalled? at the Daily Signal, Benjamin Shelton treats the issue of recall elections vis-a-vis the Congress; its well worth reading, and short.

If voters would like to be able to hold recall elections and oust their U.S. senators for breaking their promises rather than waiting for the next regular election, then theyre going to need to mount an Article V constitutional convention, because Congress is unlikely to initiate such an amendment. Good luck.

If you dont like the fact that your U.S. senators are breaking their promises to you, then you might start blaming yourself, because with the 17th Amendment in 1913, we started electing U.S. senators by popular vote. You, dear voter, have been sending the same people back to Congress year after year, to the point that weve actually had a senator or two whose age was in excess of 100. Its as though the Senate were an episode of "Survivor" (not that Ive ever watched that show).

If you think that the 17th Amendment was a mistake that should be repealed, then youre probably going to need to convene the states, as provided for by Article V, because theres little chance that sitting congressmen are going to initiate an amendment to repeal the 17th. Again, good luck.

The original character of the Senate and the intent of the Founders was laid out in The Federalist in Nos. 62, 63, 64,65, 66, 75, and 76. In Federalist No. 62 we read:

In this spirit it may be remarked, that the equal vote allowed to each State is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual States, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty. [] Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of the Senate is, the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence, first, of a majority of the people, and then, of a majority of the States.

So the House of Representatives is the Peoples house, and the Senate is the house of the several States. But that was before the passage of the 17th Amendment, which changed the character of the Senate. Now, U.S. senators answer to the People, not their state legislatures. On ObamaCare repeal, Sen. McCain is at odds with his state and its residents. Arizona has experienced ObamaCare premium hikes of more than 100 percent, but Sen. McCain is more interested in process, regular order, and some ethereal bipartisanship (with the Hun, no less) than he is in getting a little relief to his constituents in Arizona.

Democrats often bemoan the money in politics. If U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures, wouldnt there much less of a need for campaign money? The 17th Amendment was a mistake and should be repealed, because it changed the character of the Senate. Senators are now freelancers, and dont need to worry about the wrath of the voters until just before the next election. The U.S. Senate has become a club, and its a club that isnt very responsive to the folks. Their job in life is first to raise money for their reelection campaigns, and second to make laws for the rest of us to live by, laws that dont apply to U.S. senators.

The repeal of the 17th might also contain the right of state legislatures to recall their senators if they arent voting in the interests of their state. With such a recall mechanism, Sens. Collins and McCain could be relieved of their duties for their opposition to Graham-Cassidy by their state legislatures. In recent years, several states have been underrepresented because their senator had suffered an aneurysm, stroke, or brain cancer. But theres no mechanism to replace them, so the state suffers. The 25th Amendment (Section 4) allows us to relieve of his duties a president who is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, but we have no such avenue for incapacitated senators. Recall by state legislatures would also be useful for senators who are just too old, like Strom Thurmond.

If youd like your state legislature to be able to ensure that youre fully represented in the Senate by being able to recall and replace ailing senators, then youll most likely need to convene the states by way of Article V because sitting senators will likely never approve of such a thing. Good Luck.

Hillary Clinton believes we should abolish the Electoral College and do for the presidency what we did for the Senate a century ago. That is, elect the president by popular vote, i.e. the People. With the Electoral College, the States elect POTUS; the People elect only Electoral College electors. But isnt POTUS more the leader of the States than the leader of the People?

If we were to abolish the Electoral College, why not go unicameral like Nebraska and abolish the Senate as well? Going unicameral, as in having only the House of Representatives, would diminish the States. But if Democrats had enough numbers in Congress, going unicameral might not require an Article V convention, as the Dems dont seem to have much respect for the States. But the States would then kill it. You see, the Senate is supposed to represent the States, and the States still have a bit of residuary sovereignty, (see Federalist No. 62).

There needs to be a great deal more turnover and churn in the Senate. For the last 104 years, since the ratification of the 17th Amendment, the low rate of turnover has been largely due to voters; they send the same people back to D.C. election after election. They do this because their senators bring home the bacon, and give them free stuff. But the Senate has become dysfunctional, swampy, and corrupt (see Bob Menendez). Because the amendment avenue for fixing the Senate is so daunting, it is left to you, dear voter, to change that body. And the way to do that is to throw the careerist bums out in the caucuses and primaries.

In 1787, the Founders gave us a stable, sound, and solid system, but the tinkering and tweaks since havent always improved that system. By not even proceeding to debate on Graham-Cassidy, it may be time to retire this description of the U.S. Senate: The worlds greatest deliberative body.

Jon N. Hall of Ultracon Opinion is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, one of the most powerful women in Congress, announced last week that she would seek the GOP nomination for the open Senate seat in Tennessee being vacated by Senator Bob Corker. Her campaign posted a link to a video of her announcement on Twitter and sought to buy an ad to promote the video.

But Twitter, citing "inflammatory language" in the video announcement, refused to sell any ad space. They deemed a statement by Blackburn on the congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood likely to provoke a "strong negative reaction."

Politico:

GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker, launched her campaign last week with a video proclaiming herself "a hard core, card-carrying Tennessee conservative." In her announcement video, she boasts: "I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts. Thank God." Twitter decided the line violated its ad policies, according to an email obtained by POLITICO. A Twitter spokeswoman didn't immediately return a request for comment. The video is still on Twitter, but the campaign is barred from paying to promote it. The line refers to her work leading a House select committee investigating Planned Parenthood following a 2015 controversy in which videos shot by undercover conservative journalists appeared to show the group profiting from the sale of fetal body tissue. Democrats have argued the panel's inquiry was a waste of taxpayer funds, intended to concoct a reason to shut down the group. Planned Parenthood consistently denied wrongdoing and never faced criminal charges. "It appears that the line in this video specific to 'stopped the sale of baby body parts' has been deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction," a Twitter employee wrote to two employees of Targeted Victory, a digital GOP consulting firm working for Blackburn's campaign. "If this is omitted from the video it will be permitted to serve." "This is urgent. I'm being censored for telling the truth," Blackburn wrote. "Twitter has shut down my announcement video advertising. Silicon Valley elites are trying to impose their values on us. When I talked about our legislative accomplishments to stop the sale of baby body parts, they responded by calling our ad 'inflammatory' and 'negative.'"

This sounds like a completely arbitrary decision. Where are the guidelines on "inflammatory" statements? One might question whether the statement is true or not  Planned Parenthood is, after all, still selling fetal body parts, even though it claims that it is only recovering "expenses" when harvesting the tissue. But even if the statement isn't entirely accurate, it's hard to see how it could be more "inflammatory" than some claims by Democrats.

Democrats, who are investigating the negative influence of a foreign government on the 2016 election, are looking at the wrong entity. It's not the Russians we should be worried about when it comes to tipping American elections; it's Silicon Valley, whose power to sway voters makes Russian hacking look small, indeed.
In 1950, Jimmy Stewart co-starred in the movie Harvey with an invisible character of that name, a 6'3.5" tall pooka, a harmless but mischievous Celtic mythic creature.

Half a century later, filmmakers from Steven Spielberg to Harvey Weinstein considered remaking the widely beloved film with stars such as Jim Carrey; Adam Sandler; John Travolta; Robert Downey, Jr.; and the modern actor who most resembles Jimmy Stewart, Tom Hanks.

Weinstein in recent days has metamorphosed from the unseen Harvey behind the scenes of Hollywood movie-making, thanks to a New York Times investigation into his decades-long casting couch exploitation of young women. Many of those women reportedly have been forced to see Weinstein's shortcomings.

Harvey Weinstein is a movie producer, but in Hollywood-on-the-Potomac, he has long been a major star funder of the Democratic Party. Since 2000, he has donated almost $900,000 in cash to its left-liberal candidates, and he has bundled more than another $1.4 million from others for what liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank calls this "socialist" party.

The Democratic National Committee and many of its comrades are profoundly embarrassed, vowing to give at least a portion of Weinstein's now tainted money to others.

Typical of these promised new recipients is EMILY's List. Emily in this case is not a woman's name, but an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast." It boosts the campaigns of leftist feminists with injections of early money.

But is the Democratic Party truly expiating its sins? It seems to be merely moving $30,000 in campaign cash from its left pocket to its farther left pocket, making a transfer of fungible funds to an ideological ally that will ultimately give it to the same Democratic candidates.

As of this writing, a host of opinionated left-liberals  from Republican-hating late-night TV "comedian" hosts to Saturday Night Live  have been remarkably silent about the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal.

Most silent of all has been Hillary Clinton, who took tens of thousands of dollars from her good friend Harvey. She as of this writing has not offered to give any of this money away to cleanse her conscience.

In fairness, Ms. Clinton has been busy elsewhere. In late September, for example, she was on MSNBC grousing that white women voted against her. Those women who voted for Trump, said Clinton, were "publicly disrespecting themselves."

Days earlier, Ms. Clinton told National Public Radio that women voted against her for president because their husbands, boyfriends, and fathers told them to support either Mr. Trump or socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) instead.

These are strangely contemptuous views of women to be coming from a self-identified feminist like Ms. Clinton, who now seems silently to condone abuse of women by her sexist male friend Harvey Weinstein. (He is a "god," declared actress Meryl Streep at the Golden Globe awards.)

Ms. Clinton is accustomed to being an enabler of such an abuser. As head of the Bimbo Eruption Unit in President Bill Clinton's White House, she was relentlessly ready to attack and destroy the reputations of women who accused her husband of rape and other forms of sexual predation. If scandal drove Bill from the presidency, then as "co-president"  "You get two for the price of one"  she would also lose her privileged place. President Bill Clinton, too, resembled Harvey, the male rabbit counterpart to a Playboy bunny.

Is Ms. Clinton a sincere feminist? As investigators Edward Timperlake and William Triplett II report in their book Year of the Rat, seeking re-election in 1996, the Clintons and Democratic Party accepted between $400,000 and $1.3 million in political cash from the head of the prostitution business in Macau. If so, then Ms. Clinton knowingly accepted big money from the abduction and enslavement of thousands of women and girls, who were chained to beds and daily raped by dozens of men.

Perhaps women voted against Ms. Clinton because they do respect themselves, are able to think for themselves, and vote by secret ballot. Perhaps they see Harvey and Hillary and the Democratic Party all too clearly.

Lowell Ponte is author or co-author of eight books, the latest being Money, Morality & the Machine. He can be reached via radioright@aol.com.
It's pretty obvious that the Monroe Doctrine was put there for a reason once Europe's ham-fisted shenanigans in Venezuela come to light.

The European Union is asking communist Cuba, Venezuela's ally and mentor, to mediate a transition in Venezuela from the collapsing Maduro dictatorship to, oh, whomever Cuba chooses to serve its interests, apparently. Cuba's going to be the good guy here and persuade Nicolas Maduro to pack his bags and head for Varadero Beach or the private islands of Cuba's Communist Party elite.

Not kidding, here's the Financial Times report, describing the logic:

"At some point the Maduro government will collapse. The questions are when and under what circumstances  a negotiated exit, an internal coup, or default and chaos," said a European diplomat close to conversations with Venezuela and Cuba. "The idea of Maduro seeking exile in Cuba has been discussed, although not yet. But the Cubans will eventually play a critical role."

As if Cuba, which is Venezuela's effective owner and colonizer, were not at the root of Venezuela's disastrous, Cuba-like conditions in the first place and could actually be an honest broker. As if Cuba didn't have a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face conflict of interest, given its dependency on subsidized Venezuelan oil and its current role running the place  the power, the electricity, the farms, the passport bureau, the military, and more.

Seriously, who thinks Cuba could honestly broker a transition to a democratic government in Venezuela, which is the only thing that will satisfy Venezuela's oppressed people? Cuba is not in the democratic transition business and has never ushered in a democratic government anywhere, starting with its own regime. Cuba is in the Antifa-style revolution business and has wrought havoc on three continents for that history of butchery and barbarism. It's the root of Antifa's violent "turba"-style tactics to enact "change." Now it's going to pick a new government for Venezuela?

More likely, it will lead Europe on a wild goose chase and use the opportunity to win concessions from Europe, perhaps making Europe, or worse yet, us, Cuba's new sugar daddy in exchange for a new Cuba-sponsored government in Venezuela. You can bet that Cuba will get something for itself out of this. It will also probably put a group of more ruthless communists than Maduro in Caracas, or else use the opportunity to colonize Venezuela even more intensely. You can bet that European bondholders and corporate interests will be protected as a priority, and American ones will be sacrificed.

The E.U. diplomats are probably looking to Cuba as an honest broker because they believe the rubbish about Cuba acting as an "honest broker" in the recent FARC "peace" talks with Colombia, which produced a sweet deal for the armed wing of the Communist Party of Colombia at the expense of Colombia's people and which won Colombia's unpopular President Juan Manuel Santos a Nobel Peace Prize over the man who really brought peace to the country, former President Alvaro Uribe. That Havana-brokered one-sided accord was rejected a year ago by Colombia's angry voters in a shock referendum result, and the result was ignored by the Santos government. Since then, the peace with terrorists deal has fast shown signs of falling apart as the terrorists keep up their terrorism and violate the terms.

This is the mentality of the European Union, which continues to view the shambles of raw socialism as a good thing and Cuba's horrid socialist regime as one not unlike their own.

This raises questions as to why these guys are here at all. They are utterly unfit for negotiating a proper solution to the Venezuelan hellhole and are going to the wolf who ate the chickens for answers, naive as can be about the realities of the New World. The U.S. needs to sound the alarm about this odious scheme. Neither Europe nor Cuba has Venezuela's or America's best interests at heart here. They are just looking to a new opportunity to feather their nests, throw their weight around and let Venezuela take the awful result. Get them out of there.
President Trump released an extensive immigration package, from DACA to the wall to employer sanctions. It's the start of negotiations that will probably take months.

This is from the Washington Times:

The plans, seen by The Washington Times, include President Trump's calls for a border wall, more deportation agents, a crackdown on sanctuary cities and stricter limits to chain migration -- all issues the White House says need to be part of any bill Congress passes to legalize illegal immigrant "Dreamers" currently protected by the Obama-era deportation amnesty known as DACA. But the plans break serious new ground on the legal front, giving federal agents more leeway to deny illegal immigrants at the border, to arrest and hold them when they're spotted in the interior, and to deport them more speedily. The goal, the White House said, is to ensure major changes to border security, interior enforcement and the legal immigration system. "Anything that is done addressing the status of DACA recipients needs to include these three reforms and solve these three problems," a senior White House official told The Times. "If you don't solve these problems then you're not going to have a secure border, you're not going to have a lawful immigration system and you're not going to be able to protect American workers."

President Trump is tying DACA to border security. Why is he doing that? This is what I think:

1) There are several Democrats seeking re-election in places like Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, and West Virginia. President Trump did very well in those states. Furthermore, it's a tough map for Democrats in 2018, and DACA does not make it easier.

2) Most of the DREAMers live in five states: California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida.

3) It's fair to say senators and congressmen in the other 45 states are likely to get more pressure to vote for the wall than DACA.

President Trump has put many of the Democrats in these red states in a tough situation. They will have to support border security if they want DACA.

This is a brilliant move by President Trump, and it should pay off with a final product that accomplishes his immigration objectives.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Richard A. Posner, a 35-year member of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, has retired from the bench earlier than he had planned because of clashes with his fellow judges over the way the 7th Circuit treats litigants who represent themselves. Posner, 78, stated to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin that he intended to stay on the Chicago-based 7th Circuit until he turned 80, but "difficulty" with his colleagues moved up that date. Posner said, "I was not getting along with the other judges because I was (and am) very concerned about how the court treats pro se litigants, who I believe deserve a better shake."

In another interview, he said he began looking more closely at pro se cases, including one that involved an inmate who died after repeatedly falling from a top bunk even though a doctor had said a brain tumor required that he sleep in a bottom bunk. His request was allegedly ignored. Posner said he noticed that pro se cases tended to get casual treatment by the staff attorneys who prepare a memo recommending disposition of the appeal. He said the recommendation goes to a panel of judges, and they usually "rubber-stamp" the staff attorney's memo, which is often to dismiss the appeal. He said he was on the panel with two other judges and they agreed with the district judge and voted to dismiss, but he dissented. He said it was ridiculous to dismiss the family's appeal, as the guard and warden were aware of a serious danger. Posner went on to say, "I think I was just going along with the culture of the court. None of the judges paid any attention to the pro ses, and I just never woke up to it until I saw this case[.] ... I gradually began to realize that this wasn't right, what we were doing."

If what Posner is saying is true, then we have a serious problem in the 7th Circuit warranting the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, as these judges are violating the civil rights of the pro se litigants, who are constitutionally entitled to their day in court. By law, 28 United States Code Section 453, every federal judge must take an oath affirming to "administer justice without respect to person, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich" and to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as judge under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." If what Posner is saying is true, the judges are engaged in an unlawful systematic dismissal of pro se appeals for the sole reason that the people are representing themselves. This is a blatant form of discrimination that violates federal law. As the Judiciary Act of 1789 states, "in all courts of the United States, the parties may plead and manage their own causes personally." Posner stated that one of the former staff attorneys that he talked to recently said the staff attorneys in recommending dismissal of the pro se cases "are doing what the judges want."

Posner was quoted in an interview as saying, "The basic thing is that most judges regard these people as kind of trash not worth the time of a federal judge."

These are very strong statements from a 35-year member of the court and are clearly indicative of systematic civil rights violations by the judges of the 7th Circuit against the people.
The Russian Defense Ministry is claiming that U.S. allied forces are only "pretending" to fight ISIS in Syria, leaving the bulk of the fighting to the Syrian army.

Fox News:

The Russian Defense Ministry said the U.S.-led coalition has reduced its air strikes in the region when Syrian forces started to make gains in Deir al-Zor Province in Syria. "Everyone sees that the U.S.-led coalition is pretending to fight Islamic State, above all in Iraq, but continuing to allegedly fight Islamic State in Syria actively for some reason," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's defense ministry, said, according to the report. "The actions of the Pentagon and the coalition demand an explanation. Is their change of tack a desire to complicate as much as they can the Syrian army's operation, backed by the Russian air force, to take back Syrian territory to the east of the Euphrates?," asked Konashenkov. "Or is it an artful move to drive Islamic State terrorists out of Iraq by forcing them into Syria and into the path of the Russian air force's pinpoint bombing?" This is not the first time Konashenkov question the U.S. motive in region. He accused the U.S. of turning a blind eye and effectively providing cover to the Islamic State group's operations in an area in Syria that is under U.S. control.

The people at the defense ministry are trying to spin events on the ground to make the Russians look good and the U.S. look bad. But are they right? Certainly, during the Obama administration, our efforts in Iraq were hindered by strict rules of engagement that led to a bombing campaign that was less than intense. But this changed under Trump, and the difference is like night and day. The Iraqi army has made excellent progress in ejecting ISIS from the country, largely thanks to a stepped up bombing campaign by the U.S.

But Syria has always been a more complicated theater of war for U.S. forces. First and foremost, Russian and Syrian air forces are dominating the skies over Syria. There have already been several near misses between Russian and U.S. jets, so for the most part, we've been steering clear of Russian ground support operations for the Syrian army.

But U.S. planes have not been idle. We've been supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga and a few Arab militias in their efforts to defeat ISIS. The problem is that there are so many factions fighting for and against President Assad that it's hard to support the fight against ISIS in Syria without also aiding the Russians, President Assad, and Hezb'allah, or worse, extremist Islamist militias.

Admittedly, this is a tightrope that the Russians have been trying to exploit for propaganda purposes. Russia's "pinpoint" bombing has killed thousands of Syrian civilians as well as rebels backed by the U.S. and the Gulf States, so the Russians' bellyaching about a lack of effort by U.S.-backed forces rings hollow.
As Europe accedes to jihad in slow motion, the success of jihadists is aiding Israel's long-term strategy for survival. Allow me to explain.

France has accepted Muslim immigrants by the millions over the years, people whose faith enjoins jihad, or warfare to ensure the spread of Islam. This was clearly understood in the early centuries of Islam, though today most Muslims live rather peaceably, even in the Dar al Harb.

However, a fraction of Muslims takes seriously the scriptural injunctions to humiliate and even inflict violence on Jews.

As a result, Jews are fleeing, mostly to Israel.

It is politically incorrect to note that people of Jewish descent are vastly overrepresented in the learned professions, including the peaks of achievement, pretty much everywhere they live in substantial numbers. Among those fields, medicine shines brightly. One analyst attributes people of Jewish ancestry with 27% of the Nobel Prizes in Medicine globally and 39% of the U.S. total.

It should surprise no one, therefore, that France, with Europe's largest post-Holocaust population of Jews, is experiencing a brain drain. Bernard Edinger of the Jerusalem Post (hat tip: Pamela Geller) explains why this is happening:

[I]t's not just the dangers of Paris life that have motivated hundreds of Jewish medical professionals to join thousands of other French Jews in moving to Israel. It's also a slew of recent rule changes by Israeli authorities that will make the transition easier for people[.] ... One problem for those wanting to settle in Israel has been that France doesn't award an MD at the end of medical school (six years), but only after a further residency, or internship period, of three to five years. Most countries accept a French doctor as long as he or she has completed medical school, but Israel makes them wait until they receive the French MD degree, meaning they cannot practice medicine in the Jewish state until they are in their 30s. The rules changed this summer when Israel finally recognized that a French diploma delivered after six years of medical school was equivalent to an MD elsewhere and that those French physicians who had completed at least one year of residency could continue that course in Israel where they would be practicing in hospitals. French medical school graduates who have not started their residency in France would spend an extra year of training in Israel and pass an examination before starting their residency there. The rule change resulted from a campaign in France and Israel led by 26-year-old Raphael Derman, currently an anesthetist in his first year of internship in France and now scheduled, following the rule change, to continue at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, beginning in October or November. This is a very shrewd move, because I think that Israel's best strategy to gain acceptance from the world community is to become essential to their lives, as a leader in innovations and practice of technology, medicine, and other fields that improve and sustain a high quality of life for the peoples of the advanced countries and the elites of all the other regimes.

The medical-pharmaceutical sector of Israel's economy already has a formidable standing, so the infusion of skilled immigrants as jihad drives them away can only strengthen it. It is already well known that various Arab eminences have received medical treatment in Israel, or by Jewish doctors overseas.

If Israel survives and present trend lines continue, it can actually make the prospect of wiping it from the map quite costly in terms of its impact on the world's economy and the lives of its most fortunate and powerful people.

Hey, it's worth a try, since the Jews are being driven out by jihad, the very force powering the efforts at Israel's destruction.
Has nobody else noted the movie project apparently being dropped with Harvey out of the picture?

When the New York Times story on Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation broke, I speculated that the reason the Times would go after a stalwart Dem donor was the irresistible nature of the scoop, and the prospect of it being lost, once the "O'Connor Memo" (an internal Weinstein Company report) was being leaked.

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, a regular AT contributor, has a different perspective and emailed me:

My opinion: He was no longer truly one of their own. At the annual Algemeiner Dinner in NYC, Weinstein openly praised the Israelis and how they are willing to fight. He said he loves Israel...and admires how the Israelis use weapons to protect themselves. He contrasted the Israelis with the misfortune of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto who did not, unfortunately, he said, have guns. Indeed, he announced, as he had a few months previously, that he was in the midst of preparing and making a movie about the Warsaw Ghetto. He loved fighting Jews, he said.

Nothing irks and riles the N.Y. Times more than someone who is a proud, vocal supporter of Israel, believes in Jews fighting in their own defense, physically and with guns...especially if that person is a liberal and Democrat. That cannot be allowed! And to boot, equating Israel's efforts against the Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians with the Warsaw Ghetto. They could never allow that. No way! So they brought him down. They have dossiers on many they don't use until they need to make an example.

According to your blog post, Weinstein said he was temporarily going to stop making movies...in other words, including the Warsaw Ghetto movie. That was the response they wanted, the quid pro quo. And his repentance for abusing women was, get this, to work against the NRA. That's his mea culpa? But you see, their problem was his position on guns. So that's the mea culpa. Sexual sins are forgiven if one agrees to work against gun ownership.

No, the Times was not being an equal tormentor to all, rather setting an example to destroy one of their own who had strayed too far from the reservation by supporting an armed and victorious Israel. The Times despises a strong Israel as much as it hates Donald Trump.

Update. Ethel C. Fenig calls our attention to a similar hypothesis from J.J. Gross in the Times of Israel.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - Italian former leftist militant Cesare Battisti said Tuesday he had not been trying to flee Brazil when he was picked up in a taxi heading for Bolivia last week, saying he had no reason to do so because he is still protected from extradition by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's 2010 decree making him a permanent resident. "Why should I have fled?" Battisti told Brazilian TV station TV Tribuna. "I'm protected, the Lula decree cannot be revoked: five years have passed"." He said "this contention that I was fleeing doesn't stand up...I'm not a political refugee I'm an immigrant with a permanent visa, I can leave this country how and when I like, without any restriction, I have all Brazilian rights". Battisti, who is wanted for four murders committed in Italy's 1970s year so lead, went on: "And what was I fleeing from? This is the only country I am protected in".

Battisti claimed that the Brazilian police had staged "an ambush" against him.

"It was all organised," he said.

Battisti, 62, stirred widespread outrage in Italy at the weekend by toasting with a beer after being provisionally released by the Brazilian authorities.

Italy is working to bring back Battisti from Brazil so he can serve two life terms for the four murders.

He was arrested Wednesday in Corumba', on the border between Brazil and Bolivia.

The alleged would-be escape was launched after reports that the Brazilian government is moving towards extraditing Battisti.

The former militant lifted a glass of beer to reporters at an airport bar as he was on his way back to his home in Sao Paulo.

It was initially reported he had been stopped on charges of taking money out of the country but a Brazilian judge instead charged him with breaching his status as political refugee.

He was later acquitted of that charge, however.

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano and Justice Minister Andrea Orlando have both said Italy is determined to get Battisti back, amid reports the Brazilian government is moving towards granting extradition.


(ANSA) - Rio de Janeiro, October 10 - The lawyers of ex-leftist militant Cesare Battisti on Tuesday appealed to the Brazilian supreme court saying it was now "common knowledge" that there was a "concrete, imminent and irreversible threat" he would be extradited to Italy to serve two life terms for four 1970s murders. They again urged the court to urgently hear their habeas corpus appeal, the site of the O Globo newspaper said.

Battisti said earlier Tuesday he had not been trying to flee Brazil when he was picked up in a taxi heading for Bolivia last week, saying he had no reason to do so because he is still protected from extradition by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's 2010 decree making him a permanent resident. "Why should I have fled?" Battisti told Brazilian TV station TV Tribuna. "I'm protected, the Lula decree cannot be revoked: five years have passed". He said "this contention that I was fleeing doesn't stand up...I'm not a political refugee I'm an immigrant with a permanent visa, I can leave this country how and when I like, without any restriction, I have all Brazilian rights". Battisti, who is wanted for the four murders committed in Italy's 1970s Years of Lead, went on: "And what was I fleeing from? This is the only country I am protected in".

He went on: "If they think they can send me to Italy they'll do so illegally. "I never meant to leave Brazil," he insisted, saying "I want to build a little house here, but I'll have to wait. Despite certain stranger manoeuvres to send me to Italy".

Battisti is living with a Brazilian woman he met about five years ago and has a small child with her.

Battisti claimed that the Brazilian police had staged "an ambush" against him.

"It was all organised," he said.

Meanwhile in Rome an Italian MP elected in Brazil, Renata Beno, said a political decision to send Battisti back to Italy "has been taken.

"The Brazilians don't want Battisti in their country. It was former president Lula who kept him there," she said.

Battisti, 62, stirred widespread outrage in Italy at the weekend by toasting with a beer after being provisionally released by the Brazilian authorities.

Italy is working to bring back Battisti from Brazil so he can serve two life terms for the four murders.

He was arrested Wednesday in Corumba', on the border between Brazil and Bolivia.

The alleged would-be escape was launched after reports that the Brazilian government is moving towards extraditing Battisti.

The former militant lifted a glass of beer to reporters at an airport bar as he was on his way back to his home in Sao Paulo.

It was initially reported he had been stopped on charges of taking money out of the country but a Brazilian judge instead charged him with breaching his status as political refugee.

He was later acquitted of that charge, however.

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano and Justice Minister Andrea Orlando have both said Italy is determined to get Battisti back, amid reports the Brazilian government is moving towards granting extradition.


(ANSA) - New York, October 10 - Italian actress and director Asia Argento has accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, fallen from grace amid a swirl of sexual molestation reports, of raping her at a Miramax party in France in 1997, when she was 21, the New Yorker reported Tuesday, detailing other accusations from more women against the once-powerful film mogul.

Contacted over the phone by ANSA, Argento said: "It's all true, everything the New Yorker wrote. Now leave me in peace".

Argento was among three women who told the New Yorker Weinstein raped them.

Lucia Evans, a former aspiring actor, and one unnamed women also accused Weinstein of forcing them to engage in sex or sex acts, in the piece authored by Ronan Farrow. The son of actress Mia Farrow, Ronan Farrow previously helped reignite his sister Dylan's accusations that their father, Woody Allen, groomed and sexually assaulted her as a child, an allegation Allen denies. Four other women told the magazine that Weinstein touched them without their consent in a way "that could be classified as an assault".

Others including actors Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette alleged sexual harassment on the part of the Hollywood mogul. Farrow also revealed audio from 2015 New York Police Department sting operation in which Weinstein allegedly admits to groping Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a model who reported his behavior, and said he was "used to" behaving that way.

Weinstein, 65, was sacked by Miramax earlier this week after the New York Times reported a history of alleged sexual harassment over the decades. Nearly a dozen women told the NYT he had molested them.

On Tuesday Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow told the NYT Weinstein molested them when they were young actresses.

George Clooney on Tuesday called his alleged behaviour "indefensible".


TUNIS - The bodies of the eight migrants who died after a Tunisian Navy ship and a boat full of migrants collided during the night between Sunday and Monday off the Kerkennah Islands, were brought to the morgue at the Habib Bourguiba University Hospital in Sfax.



Imed Maaloul, regional health director in the coastal city of Sfax, said the bodies will be returned to the families after routine legal procedures are completed.



He said two other migrants who were rescued and taken to hospital were subsequently treated and released.



According to a statement from the Tunisian Defence Ministry released Monday, 38 people were rescued and eight died in this most recent Mediterranean disaster.



About 20, "maybe nearly 30" people are still missing, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo.
ANSAmed - Tomorrow's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 10 - These are some of the main events scheduled for tomorrow in the Euro-Mediterranean area: NOVI PAZAR (SERBIA) - Visit by Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.



ROME - Foreign Ministry Headquarters, 9.45am - Conference to present the World Food Programme report, 'At the root of Exodus: food, Security, conflict and International migration' with Foreign Minister, Angelino Alfano and WFP executive director, Daivd Beasley.



BRUSSELS - EU, meeting of the College of Commissioners.



BRUSSELS - EU, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini meet with Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. (ANSAmed).




PARIS, - French nuclear power plants are at an excessively high risk for terrorist attacks, according to a report by Greenpeace published on Tuesday exclusively by French daily Le Parisien.



It said Greenpeace engaged seven international experts in nuclear safety who worked for 18 months to analyse the risk of attacks, with "worrisome conclusions".



"We are facing a historic deficit in protection of our plants, in particular, the cooling pools," said Yves Marignac, one of the report's contributors.



Yannick Rousselet, who heads the Greenpeace campaign, said "it's about informing public opinion and public authorities, certainly not to give ideas to those with bad intentions".



Meanwhile, the situation in French prisons remains on high alert for terrorism following the discovery in Fresnes, on the outskirts of Paris, of two prisoners who were planning an attack while serving their jail time.



The two men, ages 22 and 28, are considered radicalised and had proposed various potential targets, including law enforcement agents and prison guards, with options including taking hostages or a shooting.



They allegedly planned to hit the targets after their release from prison, which was scheduled on Tuesday for one and next week for the other, according to BFM-TV.



Following the discovery, the men - a French citizen and a Cameroonian citizen - were placed under questioning by an anti-terrorism judge.



One of the two was allegedly communicating with contacts in Syria through an encrypted chat application similar to Telegram.



During questioning, the Cameroonian man admitted to the plan.



Sources close to the investigation said the man is an ISIS sympathiser.



French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said the discovery of the plan shows the "urgency" of the problem of radicalisation in prison.
Kosovo President Thaci blasts special KLA tribunal 'Created to satisfy Serbia and Russia, promises not kept'

(ANSAmed) - PRISTINA, OCTOBER 10 - Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has harshly criticised the international community, accusing it of having forced the government to agree to create a special war crimes tribunal in order to satisfy Serbia and Russia.



Speaking at a roundtable discussion on Monday evening in Pristina, Thaci - who is also a former KLA leader - called the special tribunal for crimes allegedly committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, Albanian separatist guerrillas) a "historic injustice" towards Kosovo.



He said he authorised its creation to maintain strategic partnerships with the US, the EU, and NATO, but that in substance it was a fraud.



Thaci said that in exchange for the creation of the special tribunal, the international community promised to accelerate Kosovo's process of accession to the European Council, to enact visa-free travel to the EU, to back Kosovo in joining UNESCO, and to be able to form its own armed forces and facilitate new recognition of independence.



"Kosovo kept its promise by accepting the creation of the tribunal, but the international community hasn't kept even one of its promises," Thaci said, adding that Kosovo's path towards Europe has been made more difficult.



The statements were Thaci's first open attack on the new tribunal.



He said the international community called for the creation of the tribunal out of a political need rather than the desire to truly bring justice.



"As president I am working in ascertaining the truth and reaching reconciliation. But the special tribunal will only try to bring justice by going after the injustice that took place in Kosovo," Thaci said.



In a sign of protest over Thaci's statements, British Ambassador to Kosovo Ruairi O' Connell, who was present at the roundtable discussion, left the room.



The first charges to be brought by the special tribunal located in The Hague are expected by the end of this year.



Thaci is at risk of being charged, along with other current leaders who are former KLA members. (ANSAmed).




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Its been widely reported over the last year that Irans civil aviation organisation has called for private sector partnerships in aviation-related projects in the country.

A number of memorandums or understanding (MoUs) have been signed with various international organisations to attract more investors to develop the countrys network  airports in particular.

Local sources say at least 27 existing airports will be undergoing rehabilitation and refurbishment that should go a long way in reigniting Irans aviation industry following the lifting of international sanctions last year.

MoUs include those announced for interest in the construction of a new passenger terminal at Mehrabad International Airport (THR) and the renovation of the terminal building at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA)  the two major commercial airports serving Tehran and the busiest international air passenger gateways to Iran.

Tehran-Mehrabad has historically been the capitals primary gateway. However, that title now firmly rests with Imam Khomeini as the main international airport.

IKA, about 35km southwest of the Iranian capital, currently has capacity for around 6.5 million passengers per year. The airports new terminal, reportedly due to be built in five years, will increase that capacity to 20 million.

Iran Airports Company (IAC) recently announced that the airport development projects, worth $2 billion, are planned for five airports in the cities of Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Isfahan and Ahwaz.

Alexander Manakos, partner and head of market - Middle East at Lufthansa Consulting believes that, in light of the long-term plans to establish a central hub for passengers and cargo in Iran, the renovation and expansion of airport infrastructure is of great relevance, particularly taking into account the existing hubs in the region.

However, the airport infrastructure is only one aspect, he pointed out. The key to success will be to establish a framework and infrastructure at existing airports that attract business, like the airport city that is planned to be developed at Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Furthermore, Manakos indicated that future infrastructure needed to allow for a smart integration of different modes of transport for the development of the cargo business. With the specific situation of Tehran, it might be worth looking deeper into connectivity, which obviously is not ideal with the two airports. The development of a rail link between the city of Tehran and Imam Khomeini Airport is one step to improve this situation. However, in the longer term, connectivity would be enhanced if passengers could connect from one flight to another in the same airport.

Last year, several MoUs were signed for proposed expansion works. But it remains unclear how far these understandings have gone towards actual confirmed contracts.

In January 2016, the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Iran Airports Company, and VINCI Airports of Italy, signed a MoU for the concession for Mashhad and Isfahan airports, with plans to renovate, extend and operate both facilities.

The airport in Mashhad, which recorded 8.2 million passengers in 2014, is located in the northeast of the country and serves the countrys second largest city  a holy place that attracts more than 20 million pilgrims every year.

Isfahan Airport, with 2.6 million passengers in 2014, serves Irans third largest city, the capital of the Persian Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries, which is renowned for its rich cultural and historic heritage.

During the same month, another MoU was signed between the Iranian authorities and Aeroports de Paris, within its consortium, to develop IKA. The plan was for the renovation of the existing terminal and also the design, construction and operation of new terminals. The project should have brought the capacity of that airport up to 34 million passengers by 2020, a huge uplift on the current capacity of 6.5 million. However, sources in Paris have revealed that, while the French company is still prepared to assist the Iranian authorities, the MoU has since been cancelled in favour of launching a public tender for the airport concession  and the process is reportedly on-going.

Iran has a large number of airports of different sizes and in various condition states. Manakos feels that, from the perspective of growth of the civil aviation sector and the positive socio-economic impacts, the key to success will be to look at the bigger picture and make sure that development measures are effective for the country as a whole.

This means not only including the large, profitable airports but also ensuring that airport infrastructure will complement and interlink with the development of other modes of transport, he said.

Another aspect is that airports can offer great potential for private sector investments. Countries like Iran provide huge opportunities from the perspective of both the private sector and the government. Bearing in mind that access to the market was limited for quite some time, there is obviously a backlog for airport infrastructure investment, which could trigger additional growth, he said.

However, after the enthusiasm that was visible about a year ago among many foreign companies, things seem to be getting back to a more realistic level. Foreign companies and their Iranian counterparts are now looking into the long-term perspective, Manakos observed.

Of course, there are manifold challenges with the Iranian market, as with other parts of the world. A key challenge that we see in the current environment is the geopolitical stability, observed Manakos, pointing to the current period of instability in the Middle East region. When discussing terminal construction, airport expansion and development of related infrastructure, he emphasised the importance of substantial long-term investments. When private investors become involved, they will take a very close look at the levels of stability that they expect for their investment. This will certainly affect financing and risk premium as well as contractual exit and termination clauses.

The situation in the region might not directly influence the situation in a country, but it might have a strong effect on the neighbouring markets, which are also key for the development and growth of air traffic and logistics in the country.

The expectations for long-term stability and geopolitical developments in the region might be the greatest challenges presently.

Despite the difficulties, the good news is that, post sanctions, it seems there is the political will to unveil the investment potential of Iranian airports to global investors and to gain their confidence.

According to Airbus, Iran is forecast to require some 400 to 500 new aircraft to modernise as well as to grow its existing passenger fleet to catch up with years of pent up demand on domestic, as well as international, routes.

Just months after sanctions were lifted, flag-carrier Iran Air and Airbus signed a firm contract for 100 aircraft  covering the narrow and wide-body product lines. The agreement was subject to US Government Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) export licences, which were granted in September and November 2016. These licenses are required for products containing 10% or more US technology content.

Airbus coordinated closely with regulators in the EU, US and elsewhere to ensure understanding and full compliance with the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA).

In January this year, Iran Air took delivery of its first new aircraft, an A321, in a handover ceremony in Toulouse (France).

By March, the carrier welcomed its first wide-body from that order  an A330-200  to coincide with the airlines 56th anniversary.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa Consulting will be on hand to provide its portfolio of consulting services for airports in the Iranian market. Although our brand is rooted in the airline industry, we are a consultancy that serves a wide range of clients in the aviation industry. We support airport clients with our international expertise in infrastructure, commercial and operations, Manakos summed up.






We are very pleased to offer our customers a highly reliable packaging solution to transport temperature-sensitive shipments with DoKaSch Opticoolers. Especially pharmaceuticals must be kept within strict temperature tolerances throughout the entire supply chain, regardless of the ambient conditions, which are a challenge in particular in our region, said Adel Elshazly at Saudia Cargo

We are pleased that Saudia Cargo will be joining our global airline network. Saudia Cargo is a very important partner in many aspects. Not only do they have one of the worlds most modern aircraft fleets, but Jeddah is a very important trading hub for us as well. Now our containers are accessible much easier in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, said Andreas Seitz, managing director of DoKaSch Temperature Solutions.

The Opticooler is especially designed for extreme climatic conditions. It keeps the cargo very well within a temperature range of 2 to 8 Celsius or 15 to 25 Celsius even when it comes to high temperatures up to 50C, which are quite common in Saudi Arabia and the surrounding regions. The Opticooler is the most adequate and reliable packaging solution for temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals.
MiBACT is dedicating this year to promoting Italian villages. In the same year, weve also launched a national project called, Italian Villages, to share the value of these locations and their communities.



Showcasing these Italian small towns to travelers from all over the world means to focus on unique landscapes, traditions and cultures, improving local economies and encouraging trips taken off-the-beaten-track and sustainable tourism.



The project, sponsored by ANCI, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, and developed in collaboration with MiBACT, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism, will see more than 40 villages all over the country spotlighted through a range of different programs.



(Pisticci, Basilicata)



The project was launched yesterday in Palermo, Sicily, in the presence of  among others  Joe Gebbia, one of the founders of Airbnb; the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando; representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Palermos Airbnb host community.



Also, for the first time, Airbnb also presented a report highlighting the positive impacts of home sharing in small villages across the country.



The report, Sharing Rural Italy, highlights that:

Hosts based in rural areas have earned almost 80 million in the past year.

There have been over 540,000 guest arrivals choosing to stay in rural Italy over the typical tourist hot spots. While average guest group size is 3 and listings were based in villages counting only hundreds or very few thousand inhabitants, this is almost equivalent to the population of a city such as Genua.

There are around 30,000 listings, with hosts typically earning an extra 1,600 a year.



(Torella Del Sannio, Molise)



Three villages (Lavenone in Lombardy, Civitacampomarano in Molise and Sambuca di Sicilia in Sicily) will have three public spaces repurposed throughout 2018 thanks to the collaboration between Airbnb and the local community, like they did with Civita di Bagnoregio earlier this year (Greco House). As happened for Civita, Airbnb plans to gather artists and designers and transform the buildings in unique listings that will encourage guests to visit the three villages.

The curator of the project will be Federica Sala. Discover more here







From yesterday, twenty villages, one for each Italian Region, are being promoted internationally, on a dedicated platform: http://italianvillages.byairbnb.com

The website connects hosts living in these villages with travelers that are interested in discovering a less familiar part of Italy.

The villages being promoted are:

Aieta (Calabria)

Apricale (Liguria)

Asolo (Veneto)

Barolo (Piemonte)

Bevagna (Umbria),

Bitti (Sardegna)

Citta SantAngelo (Abruzzo)

Cividale del Friuli (Friuli Venezia Giulia)

Dozza (Emilia Romagna)

Etroubles (Val dAosta)

Furore (Campania)

Mezzano (Trentino Alto Adige)

Moresco (Marche)

Pisticci (Basilicata)

Poggiorsini (Puglia)

Sabbioneta (Lombardia)

San Casciano dei Bagni (Toscana)

Sperlonga (Lazio)

Savoca (Sicilia)

Torella del Sannio (Molise).





A further twenty small villages will be promoted on Airbnbs social media platforms.

Were excited to make this announcement and pledge our commitment to support small villages and hosts across some of the most beautiful landscapes in Italy. Home sharing isnt a new concept for rural hosts, in fact locals have been opening up their homes for decades. But by using technology, we can play a major part in helping to revitalise these villages, empowering locals to share their communities, their culture and their heritage, while boosting the local economy.

Joe Gebbia, Airbnb Co-Founder, speaking at the launch



To discover the villages involved and to get updates on the Italian Villages project, check out this page and map.



(Barolo, Piemonte)

Airbnb official press release
Pradhan adds globally gas constitutes 24 per of energy basket while in Gujarat it is 26 per cent.

New Delhi: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said revival of 25 GW stranded gas-based capacity can push consumption of the fuel and transform the nation into a gas-based economy.

"We taking country towards a gas-based economy. Power industry is one of the important industry. If we revive 25,000 MW stranded gas-based capacity and bring them under competitive price mechanism then our gas consumption will definitely increase," Pradhan told reporters on the sidelines of the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek here.

The minister said, "In world, the gas constitutes 24 per of energy basket. In Gujarat it is 26 per cent. We want to replicate this success story (in other states). Power industry is primary growth and driving point (for gas-based economy)."

The government had brought in a Rs 7,500-crore Power System Development Fund scheme for revival of distressed gas- based capacities of over 24 GW for two years till March 31, 2017. The scheme was not continued further.

The minister also lauded the efforts of the Goods and Services Tax Council which gave some tax relief to oil exploration and production sector.

"Constant reforms in markets is the only strategy. We have done a lot of reforms in the country which attracted many big energy players in the country after three years of continuous efforts."

About Saudi Aramaco, which opened its India office today, the minister said that there is joint venture of three companies with Saudi Aramaco and they will work more closely in future.

Pradhan also said that Saudi Aramco has "categorically specified" that their investment would increase in India.

"They has assured the (oil) procurement will increase due to oil manufacturing industry which would create more jobs and improve standards."

Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's deliberation with energy sector stakeholders, he said, "The prime minister started a practice since last year. Domestic as well as firms from outside countries which have stake in India are called for discussion to apprise them about our country and listen to their view on energy business in India."

"The prime minister has taken our relationship from a buyer seller to strategic ties. He has said that beside vertical growth, India is also doing horizontal growth. More capacity and technology is welcomed. But energy should reach commoners home."

Earlier addressing the conference, the oil minister said that India will remain one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world in the coming two decades.

"Both on account of increasing access and better life styles, there will be growth in per capita energy consumption.

We will be an influential buyer in the global energy market."

The minister said the India wants to know about what is happening to the OPEC cut agreements, trends in production from big non-OPEC producers such as Russia, shale gas output in the US etc as these situations would have impact on oil prices and subsequently on fiscal deficit and economy.

He further said, "World is at the crossroad of a major transition...move towards Electric Vehicle (EV). There is a sense of credence about this the only debate is probably the timing..This would decide if gas would act as an interim fuel or not.
After launching her fashion label few days back, it has drawn flak for being 'rip-off' of outfits on Chinese e-commerce websites.

Mumbai: After becoming one of the few actresses to become a producer, Anushka Sharma also ventured into fashion by launching her brand in Mumbai on October 3.

The actress had also posted its promos on Twitter. However, the designs are now being accused of being a rip-off from outfits on various Chinese e-commerce websites.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, a black bomber jacket with floral motifs, a pink bomber jacket, a parka, a tan trench coat and a pair of striped pants in monochrome have been particularly termed a 'direct copy.' Several people also pointed it out on social media.

This despite the fact that the actress claimed to have spent enormous amount of time brainstorming on the designs. In one of the promo videos, Anushka claims to have spent nine hours on a brainstorming meeting.

At the launch event as well, she was quoted as saying, There were meetings we would have at the sampling stage of the collection and I remember slotting two hours for them but they went on for far longer. Some of them were at my home and I remember my mum saying, 'Khaana toh kha lo.' But I enjoyed the process that I didn't realise how much time had passed.

On being contacted, Anushkas spokesperson told the daily, Several discrepancies have come to light over the last two days and we are in the process of getting to the bottom of this. We will not stop at taking the most stringent action required to resolve the situation and will share more details when we have complete clarity on the matter.

While controversies over the plagiarism of film scripts, songs etc. are common, it is perhaps the first time in recent years that an actress has made headlines over fashion designs.
The poor woman was devastated when she found out she was the victim of a cruel

Pulling a pig is where a guy tries to pull the fat, ugly girl. (Photo: Facebook/Sophie Stevenson/ Onyii Reen Onyedum)

24-year-old Sophie Stevenson spent almost $450 and travelled all the way to Amsterdam to meet 21-year-old Jesse Mateman, who she thought was her boyfriend only to find out she was the victim of a cruel "pull a pig" prank.

The English lass from Stoke met Jesse, a Dutchman while on holiday in Barcelona.

Sophie who works as a bar supervisor believed she was involved in a proper romance" after pair slept together during the summer trip.



Seen above are Mateman and Sophia from the Barcelona trip

After staying in touch she flew out to see him in his home town of Amsterdam, the Sun reported.

However when she arrived at the airport he failed to turn up, and hours later when she got to her hotel, she received a heartless text message.

Mateman wrote to her: "You were pigged" with two pig images and a laughing face emojis. He added: "It was all a joke."

Stevenson wrote: "How could you be so cruel though!"

The heartbroken young woman said in the same interview, "Pulling a pig is where a guy tries to pull the fat, ugly girl. I felt sick."

Sophie was so upset she changed her flights and headed back home the next morning.

Well it doesn't take a genius to figure who the real pig is.
The Sheriff of America's gambling hub had visited Mumbai to study the 2008 terror attack.

US authorities have received more than 1,000 tips, but are still struggling to determine what motivated Paddock, who did not have a criminal record, to carry out the carefully planned attack. (Photo: AP)

New York: A handful of quick-thinking Las Vegas Police officers may have prevented a thousand deaths after they stormed a hotel and killed the lone shooter, the Sheriff of America's gambling hub, who had visited Mumbai to study the 2008 terror attack, has said.

Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old wealthy former accountant and high-stakes gambler was identified by the police as the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history when he opened fire from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on October 1, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others, before turning the gun on himself as police closed in.

Recalling the dreadful night, Joseph Lombardo, Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Paddock was firing into a crowd of 22,000 concert-goers using powerful guns.

Lombardo said a small team of Las Vegas Police officers -- two K-9 officers, a detective and a SWAT team member -- converged on the Mandalay Bay Hotel and minutes later, they breached the gunman's hotel room door on the 32nd floor.

It was specialised training that allowed them to act so quickly, Lombardo told CBS' 60 Minutes.

"I think they prevented a thousand deaths, and I think it's important for the American public to understand that," he said.

Lombardo had travelled to Mumbai after the November 2008 terrorist attacks on hotels and other sites by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists that left 164 people dead, including some American nationals.

The sheriff said he had gleaned insight from the trip to Mumbai, and his department now reacts faster to such shootings, quickly forming a team to "cease the action'' of the assailant on their own.

"Before we were trained to form a perimeter and hope for the best," Lombardo said. "Now we're trained to gather up and go get it."

Sergeant Joshua Bitsko and Officer Dave Newton of the K-9 unit had been training dogs when they heard the message over police radio about an active shooter.

Mr Newton said he saw many guns and magazines.

"Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout. All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store," he said.

Joshua said he saw shell casings all over the floor where Paddock stayed.

"I could smell the gunpowder that had gone off in the room. We were trippin' over guns. Trippin' over long guns inside. There were so many," he said.

At least 23 guns - 12 of which were equipped with bump-stocks, or rapid fire devices - were found inside Paddock's hotel room.

US authorities have received more than 1,000 tips, but are still struggling to determine what motivated Paddock, who did not have a criminal record, to carry out the carefully planned attack.

No one knows when Paddock committed suicide, but the shooting stopped shortly after hotel security guard Jesus Campos and the first of Sheriff Lombardo's officers arrived on the 32nd floor.
The court granted Nawaz Sharif one-day exemption from appearance and set October 13 as date for his indictment.

Islamabad: A Pakistan accountability court on Monday granted former Premier Nawaz Sharif a one-day exemption from appearance and set October 13 as date for his indictment.

The court also approved bails of Mr Sharifs daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law Mohammed Safdar after their appearances in references filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over Panama leaks case.

During the hearing conducted by Justice Mohammed Bashir, lawyer Tariq Fazal Chaudhry submitted two surety bonds worth Rs 5 million each after which Maryam Nawaz and Mohammed Safdar were granted bails.

Earlier, Sharif family counsel Khawaja Harris also presented Mr Sharifs wife Kulsoom Nawazs medical report and told that Nawaz Sharif was ready to appear in the court but due to his wifes health, he would not be available for 15 days.

The court asked whether Nawaz Sharif should be given exemption for 15 days over which NAB prosecutor appealed to issue his non-bailable arrest warrant for not attending the hearing despite assurance. He further said that no accused can get exemption before indictment.

The court granted Nawaz Sharif one-day exemption from appearance and set October 13 as date for his indictment.

The accountability court declared Nawaz Sharifs children Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz as absconders after both failed to appear in the court despite non-bailable arrest warrants issued against them last week. The court has also issued final arrest warrants against the accused.

Hassan and Hussain, who are facing corruption cases in Pakistan, are residing in London. The court has also directed to hear their case in separate trials.

The court rejected NABs request to confiscate Mr Safdars passport and to issue his judicial remand, however, the accused has been directed not to leave the country without courts permission. Copies of references have also been handed over to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader.

Maryam Nawaz said she appeared before the court despite reservations, adding that 200 million people elected Nawaz Sharif as their PM and the court ousted him in a second.

She asserted that her family was being trialed despite disqualification. My brothers are living abroad and Pakistani laws do not apply on them, they will decide about their appearance by themselves, she added.

Maryam Nawaz said questions will be raised when a case filed on Panama Leaks ended on Iqama (work permit) and that the judges have to answer these questions. She maintained that questions sent to Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) are still unanswered as they were baseless allegations.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified over already decided verdict and references were prepared against him. Its our victory that one by one trials were filed against us and we survived them, she added.
The government offensive in the north of Rakhine State has sent some 520,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing to Bangladesh.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) announced the ceasefire from Sept. 10 in order, they said, to facilitate aid deliveries to Rakhine State. (Photo: AP)

Yangon: Myanmar authorities said there was no sign of attacks by Rohingya Muslim militants on Tuesday as a one-month insurgent ceasefire came to end.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) announced the ceasefire from Sept. 10 in order, they said, to facilitate aid deliveries to Rakhine State, where their attacks on the security forces on Aug. 25 triggered a ferocious government crackdown.

The government offensive in the north of Rakhine State has sent some 520,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing to Bangladesh and has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing.

The government denies ethnic cleansing. It had rebuffed the insurgents ceasefire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.

Myanmar said more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them insurgents.

Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA had only appeared capable of hit-and-run raids on security posts and unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.

Authorities had been on guard over recent days and tightened security in the state capital of Sittwe as the end of the ceasefire approached, a state government spokesman said.

We had information that the ARSA could attack but there have been no reports, the spokesman, Min Aung, said early on Tuesday.

The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though the ceasefire was ending at midnight on Monday.

They also reiterated their demand for rights for the Rohingya, who have never been regarded as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so have been denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.

Instead, Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants with freedoms restricted and rights denied, and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and much of the wider popular in Myanmar, which has seen a surge in Buddhist nationalism in recent years.

Thousands more Rohingya villagers have arrived in Bangladesh this week in a new surge of refugees, now also driven by fears of starvation and telling of bloody attacks by Buddhist mobs on people trekking towards the border.

VERY REAL THREAT

Villagers in Rakhine said food was running out because rice in the fields was not ready for harvest and the state government had closed village markets and restricted the transport of food, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.

While the Myanmar military has engaged in a campaign of violence, there is mounting evidence that Rohingya women, men and children are now also fleeing the very real threat of starvation, rights group Amnesty International said.

The government has cited worry about food as one of he reasons people have been giving for leaving, but a senior state government official on Monday dismissed any suggestion of starvation.

Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced scathing international criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although she has no power over the security forces under a military-drafted constitution.

The United States and European Union have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders, diplomats and officials have told Reuters, although they are wary of action that could destabilize the countrys transition to democracy.

EU foreign ministers will discuss Myanmar on Oct. 16, and they said in a draft joint statement the bloc will suspend invitations to the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar/Burma armed forces and other senior military officers.

Such a move would be largely symbolic, but could be followed by further action.

The military campaign against the insurgents is popular inside Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya.

Suu Kyis party, in the first attempt to improve relations between religions since the latest violence erupted, will hold inter-faith prayers on Tuesday at a stadium in the biggest city of Yangon, with the participation of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Christians.

This is for peace and stability, party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters. Peace in Rakhine and peace nationwide.

The Rohingya had pinned hopes for change on Suu Kyis party but it has been wary of upsetting Buddhist nationalists. Her party did not field a single Muslim candidate in the 2015 election that it swept.
Amos Yadlin invites the White House not to end the Jcpoa and reserve the "threat" of a retreat to a "more strategic" moment. Europe's support needed to put more pressure on Tehran. IAEA General Director: Iran respects "all commitments taken". British Prime Minister: It has "neutralized" the nuclear ambitions of the Islamic Republic.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - US President Donald Trump must not end the Iranian nuclear deal (the JCPOA), at least not now, and reserve the "threat" of a "retreat" to a "more strategic moment" when there is greater "contractual strength", writes Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, for over 40 years in the Army and now executive director of the Tel Aviv University Institute of National Security Studies.

Even in Israel, like in many western chancelleries and international NGOs, there those who call on the White House to keep faith with the historical agreement reached in July 2015, and which allows Tehran to continue to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

Any attempt by the United States to "improve" the conditions imposed on Iran, says Yadlin, requires "support from Europe, not to mention Russia and China." In essence, the former military chief and strategist does not openly blame Trump's reservations on the deal, but is convinced that at the moment "conditions and timing" to shelve it are "wrong".

He suggests to the United States and the West to use the "calculated risk" policy with Iran to further improve and extend the agreement between 2023 and 2025 just before the end of the restrictions placed on Iran. "Improving the agreement," he writes, "is a goal which should be strongly pursued in the medium and long term, but only after creating the conditions of international pressure on Iran to cause it to accept the offered restrictions."

If Washington tries to force Iran into improved conditions now, it would lack European backing, let alone backing from Russia and China. Lastly, Yadlin declares that he appreciates the strong line adopted by Trump against Iran, wanting to include "terrorism" and "support provided by Tehran" in the Middle East region in the future (re) negotiations on the nuclear issue.

The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano has also intervened on the issue, confirming that Iran is respecting all the points envisaged in the 2015 agreement. Trump's allegations, therefore, according to the top expert in the matter underlines that "the commitments [by Tehran]"have all been "implemented". Speaking at a conference dedicated to nuclear safety, Amano also recalls that Iran is subject to the most "rigorous scrutiny regime in the world".

EU foreign policy representative Federica Mogherini, has also defended the deal recalling that the Jcpoa "wrote the end of one of the worst nuclear crises of our time." "We have the interest, responsibility and duty - to continue - to preserve the nuclear agreement with Iran, to work to strengthen and not weaken non-proliferation."

In a phone call with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu British Prime Minister Theresa May underlined how the agreement "neutralized" the possibility that Tehran would endorse the use of atomic weapons. The UK government, concludes the note, "remains firmly committed to the deal, which is vital for regional security."
by Mathias Hariyadi

Thousands of Catholics at Unlimited Worship Conference and Charity Concert 2017. Participants were able to attend various musical performances and moments of prayer. The testimony of Fr. Rob Galea. At the end of the event a charity concert.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Catholics in the Indonesian capital celebrated their faith with prayers and songs at the Unlimited Worship Conference and Charity Concert 2017. During the event, musician Paschalis Gandhi Suryanata informed My Savior, the first collection of Catholic religious songs on the Indonesian market.

The event, organized by the Archdiocese of Jakarta, saw the participation of over 1,800 people gathered on October 7 at Kasablanka Hall. The event began in the morning and lasted until at midnight, justifying its being "unlimited". Participants were able to attend various musical performances and moments of prayer, as well as stories about how faith can change the lives of people who make themselves "God's instrument."

One of the most striking testimonies was that of Fr. Rob Galea (photo 2), from Melbourne (Australia). The young priest, originally from Malta, told the present how the Lord radically changed his life, eliminating his "disorder" and making him "a good messenger of His works for humanity."

As a teenager, Fr. Rob led a dissolute life marked by drugs, juvenile violence and lies. One day, he also became the protagonist of the beating of a local gangster, for "just to get his hat." Remorse and guilt dragged the boy into a deep depressive state, which also caused suicidal ideation. After spending more than six weeks in the house for fear of being seen in public, an unexpected event started a new chapter in the life of Fr. Rob: Participating with his brother at a religious event in Malta.

"This methane [radical change of thought and judgment] was possible thanks to my mother's unstinting prayer and the feeling of love that all my family surrounded me with," said the priest. Together with the deceased, Msgr. Joe Grech, in 2008 he founded the Stronger Youth Program and since 2004 has put into service the faith his musical and singing skills, releasing eight musical projects.

The culminating event was the charity concert (photo 3) during which many local artists preformed dozens of religious songs. Among the musicians whose song were performed and awarded (photo 4) there was Paschalis Gandhi Suryanata, author of Forever You're Loved (Slamanya Kau Kucinta in Indonesian), the first single of his album.
He Ting, Chief of Chongqing Police is expelled; deputy-mayor Mu Huaping and Xia Chongyuan, former director of the Ministry of Public Security's Political Department under investigation. Accused of corruption, but also of "superstitious activities," an increasingly widespread charge in the convictions against party members, who are held to uphold a strict atheism. Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign has eliminated 250 senior members and punished at least 1.4 million party officials.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies)  With just a few days to go to the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress, which will begin on October 18, members heads continue to roll with many being expelled and accused of corruption.

Today, the Party's Central Inspection Commission expelled Chingqing Police Chief He Ting (see photo) for wasting public funds and abusing his power by interfering in promotions and seeking benefits for his relatives .

The "immoral acts" attributed to him include taking part in banquets organized by private companies and "superstitious activities", such as visits to astrologers for future predictions as well as to religious temples. This accusation appears more and more often in the sentencing of Party members, who are held to uphold a strict atheism.

He Ting, 55, was dismissed from his office last June after five years. This move preceded the fall of Sun Zhengcai, secretary of the Chongqing Party, who also left over charges of corruption.

Sun, a member of the Politburo and with a promising career, was considered a candidate for the Sixth Generation Leadership (and a competitor of President Xi Jinping).

The Party's Disciplinary Commission has investigated two more personalities in Chongqing: Mu Huaping, deputy mayor of the metropolis, and Xia Chongyuan, former director of the Ministry of Public Security's political department. The accusation is of "serious violations of the political discipline and the rules of the Party," a slogan indicating corruption.

Since Xi Jinping took power five years ago, the Disciplinary Commission, led by his ally Wang Qishan, has launched a fierce anti-corruption campaign, abolishing more than 250 high party members and punishing nearly 1.4 million officials.

Xi Jinping has often warned the Party, stating that profound corruption could lead to its fall. Many analysts, however, believe that the anti-corruption campaign is used to eliminate his political enemies.
The plea of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Director at a press conference at the UN headquarters. Trump should announce his decision soon. Leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee: the risk that nuclear weapons might be used now greater than it has been for a long time.

New York (AsiaNews/Agencies)  We really call on US government to continue to certify and stay in this deal to avoid causing anymore conflict or tension, said Beatrice Fihn, Director of the Nobel prize winner for Peace, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, yesterday to a press conference at the UN headquarters. We see no evidence that Iran is not complying with it, said Finh  Instead, everyone, the IAEA and all the other partners of this deal say that Iran is complying with it.

Trump, according to whom the Islamic Republic isnt respecting the spirit of the nuclear deal, could be announcing that he doesnt certify that Iran is fulfilling the obligations agreed in 2015. Iran is required to keep a nuclear program exclusively for civil purposes in exchange for a lift on the sanctions. If Trumps denies Irans compliance with the deal, the American Congress will have 60 days to decide whether impose further sanctions.

ICAN is an anti-nuclear movement that describes itself as a coalition of grassroots non-government groups in more than 100 nations. Started in Australia, was officially launched in Vienna in 2007. They were given the Nobel prize for Peace last week. In her speech announcing the prize, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the risk that nuclear weapons might be used was now greater than it has been for a long time.
European diplomacy expresses great concern also for Kachin and Shan minorities. The 28 EU states confirm their support for an embargo on arms and equipment. Brussels recognizes the little influence of Aung San Suu Kyi on the powerful Tatmadaw.

Brussels (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The European Union (EU) proposes to reduce contacts with Burmese military hierarchies, in response to the counter-offensive in Rakhine, which has forced more than 500,000 Rohingya muslims to flee the country, reports Reuters. It cites the draft of a document that should be made public by the European Foreign Ministers on October 16, at the end of the talks about the crisis in Myanmar.

The USA and Eu have been considering targeted sanctions against Burmese military leaders, although the European bloc considers its options quite limited, due to lack of influence and direct leverage on the ground. According to Reuters, the joint declaration draft confirms the support of the 28 member states of the Union to the already-prepared Brussels embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for internal repression.

The document reiterates the call to the Burmese government to repatriate refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh, and expresses appreciation for Dhaka's role in addressing the humanitarian crisis. The situation in Rakhine is described as extremely serious and, for the first time since the beginning of the latest conflict, European diplomacy expresses great concern also for the situation of ethnic minorities Kachin and Shan, with a strong Christian presence.

Analysts say that with this declaration Brussels recognizes the little influence that Burmese Democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi can exercise on the powerful Burmese army. The move to punish military leaders would be symbolic, as the West does not intend to harm the economy of the country or destabilize the already tense relations between the Lady and the generals.
by Fady Noun

The anniversary celebrated yesterday in his native village. His canonization was a time of great commotion for a Lebanon emerging from the war. Saint Charbel is a sign of unity. Miracles attributed to his intercession have no "geographical or religious boundaries".

Beirut (AsiaNews) - Lebanon, Annaya convent and the village of Bkaa-Kafra (northern Lebanon) celebrated the 40th anniversary of the canonization on 9 October 1977 of Saint Charbel Makhlouf (May 8, 1828 - December 24, 1898 ).

It was a moving moment for Lebanon, emerging from two years of violence that broke out on 13 April 1975. A war destined to resume and lead Lebanon to the bottom of the abyss, estimated to have killed 6% of the active population, forcing 700,000 to 3 million Lebanese to (provisionally or definitively) leave for other horizons. Lebanon struck and then fell into an irreversible economic disaster, accumulating a $ 70 billion debt. During Mass for the canonization of Saint Charbel, Pope Paul VI had defined the canonization as a "great joy" for the "whole Church, from East to West".

Even today, Saint Charbel, who continues the founding experience of Saint Maron, is a sign of unity for Lebanese. According to Father Louis Matar, an economist at the convent of Annaya, the healings that happen through his intercession do not know "geographical or religious boundaries".

"Everyone who invokes him collects the fruits of his holiness, both in the form of healing and consolation from suffering ... The Lord refuses nothing, because Charbel has not rejected him, and nothing is impossible for God."

Fr. Matar points out that nearly 10% of the cases of miraculous healing recorded in Annaya since July 2017 concern non-Christians. He also claims to have received a few weeks ago the visit of Hassan Ali Fakih, a Lebanese Shiite native to Roub Talatine (Marjayoun), an inhabitant of Hay el-Sellom whom the saint had miraculously healed from crushed nerve to his left heel, due to a bone that was incorrectly set.

In this 40th anniversary of Charbel's canonization, the "deep wrinkles" etched by the war on Lebanon's face have not yet completely disappeared, but with healing and consolation, the hermit from Annaya does his best to help men to awaken to "God-with-them" who "will wipe every tear from their eyes" on the day that "there will be no more death" (Revelation 21).
By Ken Anthony, Principal Research Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science

AIMS/Neal Cantin, CC BY-ND

The Great Barrier Reef is suffering from recent unprecedented coral bleaching events. But the answer to part of its recovery could lie in the reef itself, with a little help.

In our recent article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, we argue that at least two potential interventions show promise as means to boost climate resilience and tolerance in the reefs corals: assisted gene flow

and assisted evolution.

Both techniques use existing genetic material on the reef to breed hardier corals, and do not involve genetic engineering.

But why are such interventions needed? Cant the reef simply repair itself?

Damage to the reef, so far

Coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017 took its biggest toll on the reef to date, with two-thirds of the worlds largest coral reef ecosystem impacted in these back-to-back events. The consequence was widespread damage.









Neal Cantin/AIMS, CC BY-ND





Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will dampen coral bleaching risk in the long term, but will not prevent it. Even with strong action to tackle climate change, more warming is locked in.

So while emissions reductions are essential for the future of the reef, other actions are now also needed.

Even in the most optimistic future, reef-building corals need to become more resilient. Continued improvement of water quality, controlling Crown-of-Thorns Starfish, and managing no-take areas will all help.

But continued stress from climate change  in frequency and intensity  increasingly overwhelms the natural resilience despite the best conventional management efforts. Although natural processes of adaptation and acclimation are in play, they are unlikely to be fast enough to keep up with any rate of global warming.

So to boost the reefs resilience in the face of climate change we need to consider new interventions - and urgently.

Thats why we believe assisted gene flow and assisted evolution could help the reef.

Delaying their development could mean that climate change degrades the reef beyond repair, and before we can save key species.

What is assisted gene flow?

The idea here is to move warm-adapted corals to cooler parts of the reef. Corals in the far north are naturally adapted to 1C to 2C higher summer temperatures than corals further south.

This means there is an opportunity to build resistance to future warming in corals in the south under strong climate change mitigation, or to decades of warming under weaker mitigation.

There is already natural genetic connectivity of coral populations across most of the reef. But the rate of larval flow from the warm north to the south is limited, partly because of the South Equatorial Current that flows west across the Pacific.

The South Equatorial Current splits into the north-flowing Gulf of Papua Current and south-flowing East Australian Current off the coast of north Queensland. This means coral larvae spawned in the warm north are often more likely to stay in the north.

So manually moving some of the northern corals south could help overcome that physical limitation of natural north-to-south larval flow. If enough corals could be moved it could help heat-damaged reefs recover faster with more heat-resistant coral stock.

We could start safe tests at a subset of well-chosen reefs to understand how warm-adapted populations can be spread to reefs further south.









Neal Cantin/AIMS, CC BY-ND





What is assisted evolution?

While assisted gene flow may be effective for southern or recently degraded reefs, it will not be enough or feasible for all reefs or species. Here, we argue that assisted evolution could help.

Assisted evolution is artificial selection on steroids. It combines multiple approaches that target the coral host and its essential microbial symbionts.

These are aimed at producing a hardier coral without the use of genetic engineering. Experiments at the Australian Institute of Marine Science are already making progress, with results yet to be published.

First, evolution of algal symbionts in isolation from the coral host has been fast-tracked to resist higher levels of heat stress. When symbionts are made to reengage with the coral host, benefits to bleaching resistance are still small, but with more work we expect to see a hardier symbiosis.

Secondly, experiments have created new genetic diversity of corals through hybridisation and researchers have selected these artificially for increased climate resilience.

Natural hybridisation happens only occasionally on the reef, so this result gives us new options for climate hardening corals using existing genetic stocks.

The danger of doing nothing?

The right time to start any new intervention is when the risk of inaction is greater than the risk of action.

Assisted gene flow and assisted evolution represent manageable risk because they use genetic material already present on the reef. The interventions speed up naturally occurring processes and do not involve genetic engineering.

Read more: Back-to-back bleaching has now hit two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef

These interventions would not introduce or produce new species. Assisted gene flow would simply enhance the natural flow of warm-adapted corals into areas on the reef that desperately need more heat tolerance.

Risk of increasing the spread of diseases may also be low because most parts of the Reef are already interconnected. A full understanding of risks is an area of continued research.

These are just two examples of new tools that could help build climate resilience on the reef. Other interventions are developing and should be put on the table for open discussion.

Ken Anthony receives funding from the Australian Government, the Queensland Government and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Britta Schaffelke works for the Australian Institute of Marine Science, a publicly funded research organisation that receives funding from the Australian Government, State Government Departments, foundations and private industry.

Line Bay receives funding from the Australian Government through their National Environment Science Program .

Madeleine van Oppen receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Paul G. Allen Foundation, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Originally published in The Conversation.
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The Chase Bank has reached a conclusion that some of its branches will need to be closed with an immediate effect. The bank which is under Kenya Commercial Bank will be forced to an audit State Bank of Mauritius as they want to take it from KCB.The is anxiety among Chase Bank staff ahead of an audit by the State Bank of Mauritius, which is set to take over some employees and branches.The Central Bank of Kenya said on Monday it had received the initial offer from State Bank of Mauritius (SBM), setting the stage for due diligence expected to now commence.The non-binding offer includes the acquisition of certain assets and matched liabilities from Chase Bank Ltd in receivership, the CBK notice to the public read.SBM is expected to assess the performance of Chase Banks 62 branches and Rafiki Microfinance for productivity, profitability and overhead costs. It is also expected to shut some branches and shed staff.Sources said Chase Bank employees expect that they may be required to apply afresh for jobs.Employees will also be keen on salary structures as well as terminal benefits under a new owner. A source at SBM, formerly Fidelity Bank, said the Mauritius lender did not review workers salaries and benefits when they acquired it for Sh100B in May this year.Once the audit is complete, SBM is expected to table a concrete and binding offer at the end of the month. And CBK expects the acquisition of Chase Banks prime assets to be completed by December 31.More staffs will be retrenched when the process starts this month. More troubles still looms the chase bank company as new and fresh interim board will be installed to oversee the bank undertakings before it becomes fully fledged again.
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In September, "Game of Thrones" co-stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie got engaged and over the weekend, Leslie was spotted sporting the stunning engagement ring.

While she was out at the Heathrow airport in London, photographers captured photos of the gorgeous actress and her new bling.

STUNNING: This 'Game of Thrones'-themed house is out of this world

Her ring is among the many celebrity engagement and wedding rings that have amazed over the years. To see the most beautiful engagement and wedding rings in recent years, go through the photos above.

Now Playing: Jon Snow is apparently a pro at picking out diamond engagement rings. Video: InStyleTime

Harington and Leslie's romance as Jon Snow and Ygritte on HBO's "Game of Thrones" blossomed into an off-camera relationship in 2012.

Despite a rumored split and reconciliation after a year of dating, they continued to pursue their relationship, making it official with a red-carpet debut as a couple in April 2016 at the Olivier Awards in London.

OFF SET: Actor who plays Bran Stark is going to college and the internet can't deal

Then in September, the couple went old school with an adorable engagement announcement in The Sunday Times, which read:

"The engagement is announced between Kit, younger son of David and Deborah Harington of Worcestershire and Rose, middle daughter of Sebastian and Candy Leslie of Aberdeenshire."

Getty Images

How cute is that?

Before their engagement, the pair spoke highly of each other during interviews for "Game of Thrones".

"If you're already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love," Harington, 30, said in a cover story for L'Uomo Vogue.

THEMED HOME: Check out this must-see 'Game of Thrones'-like house in Texas

In 2014, Leslie, 30, discussed Harington in an interview with People saying in part, "Kit is a lovely and funny man, and a dear friend. We had known each other before we started working together on Game of Thrones. It was always such a privilege to be working opposite him and such a blessing that we get on in real life because it made our characters more believable."
A Houston woman has been arrested and charged with stalking after she allegedly went to a Catholic priest's house repeatedly, issuing threats via notes and email, according to Harris County court documents.

Rebecca Richard, 43, had allegedly been stalking the priest for more than 8 years, Harris County Constable Ted Heap's office said in a press release.

According to court documents, Richard sent e-mails to the victim, who lives near Katy, in 2012 stating that she is a "ticking time bomb" and "I will continue to destroy you until you repent."

DEATH THREATS: Houston man accused of threatening to burn ex-girlfriend's house down

In June 2014, the suspect was seen on surveillance camera saying "if I leave this house I will kill Father."

In December 2014, the suspect allegedly left multiple documents at the priest's home, suggesting that the victim was meant to have a sexual relationship with her, court records state.

On Sept. 30, 2017, an email from the suspect to the priest stated "I will take action that will result in violence maybe even death," and another that stated "test me and watch a family member die."

The suspect was caught on camera on Oct. 1 at the victim's home, leaving documents, notes and folders, with statements saying "Did you really have to love me so much to kill me?"

Richard has also been arrested for criminal trespass and has allegedly made threats to clergy members at the victim's church in the past.

The victim told police that he fears the suspect will cause him bodily injury, court records show.

Richard was arrested on Oct. 3 and charged with 3rd degree felony stalking. She is currently in the Harris County Jail with bond set at $5,000.
Applications for the Red Cross Immediate Assistance Program, which is providing $400 to approved residents, are due tonight at 11:59 p.m.

Approved applicants who live in "the most impacted areas" in 39 affected counties, including Jefferson, Orange and Hardin, can receive $400 from the organization. Applications and appeals that have already been submitted will still be processed after Tuesday's deadline, the Red Cross said.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Commissioner John Sharp will visit with Jefferson, Hardin and Orange County officials on Wednesday to discuss ongoing Harvey recovery.

Abbott and Sharp's first stop will be at 9:45 a.m. at Port Arthur City Hall. The pair will be in Kountze at the Hardin County Courthouse at 2:30 p.m. They are expected at the Orange County Administration Building on 6th Street at 4:15 p.m.
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On the first day of a 22-year-old Beaumont man's trial in the 2015 fatal shooting of a convenience store owner, a Jefferson County jury watched a video that prosecutors said showed the defendant shoot the victim in the chest twice.

Chandler Kyle Ventress is accused of killing 52-year-old Metthananda Kuruppu, owner of the Pick-N-Shop store on South Major Drive, during a robbery on April 29, 2015.

"Today is going to be a very difficult day," assistant district attorney Ashley Molfino told the jury of six men and six women in her opening statement. "Today you will watch someone die."

Jurors were shown graphic photos of Kuruppu, found by police officers lying in a pool of his own blood with his head propped against the shelves behind his register.

Several Beaumont Police officers testified that they were dispatched to the store, at the intersection of Major Drive and Landis Drive, after the panic button was activated.

Video surveillance cameras captured footage of two men wearing masks entering the store shortly after midnight, according to the original probable cause affidavit. One man pointed a handgun at

Kuruppu, who was behind the counter counting the day's receipts.

The video showed Kuruppu trying to bat away the robber's pistol and activating the panic alarm before reaching to grab a BB gun to defend himself.

The robber, who the prosecution alleges was Ventress, shot Kuruppu twice in the chest. The two robbers then left the scene without taking anything. When police arrived, a crowbar was still propping the door open.

Defense attorney James Makin said Ventress was coerced into making a confession because he felt threatened by officials and was under the influence of drugs, including Xanax.

Another man, 22-year-old John David Johnson, is charged in connection with Kuruppu's death.

Authorities allege he attempted to rob the store with Ventress.

Ventress, who has been jailed since his arrest a week after the killing, faces life in prison without parole. Although he was charged with capital murder, prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty.

Kuruppu, a native of Colombo, Sri Lanka, came to the United States in 2006. He bought his store in 2013. He was married and had two college-age daughters.

MGstalter@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/morgGstalt
LUBBOCK - Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night.

University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels.

University spokesman Chris Cook said that campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and - upon entering the room - found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

While at the station, Cook said the suspect pulled out a gun and shot an officer in the head, killing him. The suspect then fled on foot before being apprehended a short time later.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

Additional information was not immediately available.
Northern Ireland's top chef is set to revitalise a restaurant that has been closed for two years in a sleepy Co Antrim village.

Danni Barry earned her reputation as the best at the Michelin-starred Deanes Eipic in Belfast.

Now she is behind the reopening of the once-popular Clenaghans restaurant in Aghalee.

The chef will, alongside her business partners, inject new life into Clenaghans, an eaterie three miles from Moira, when it reopens soon.

The Downing family who ran the restaurant for 20 years announced in August 2015 that Clenaghans restaurant would close 'until further notice'.

Today, it is gearing up for a November launch with Danni and Lisburn's Square Bistro owners Stevie and Cristina Higginson in charge. Twenty new jobs will also be created at the restaurant which is currently undergoing refurbishment.

Both Danni and Stevie are established chefs in Northern Ireland. As well as working as head chef at Deanes Eipic for three years, Dannii was also named Ireland's Chef of the Year 2017 at the Restaurant Association of Ireland Restaurant Awards in May.

This new enterprise will add a second restaurant to Stevie's portfolio.

The business partners said: "We are excited to bring the very popular Clenaghans Restaurant back to life with modern comfort warming the traditional stone building. The excitement and support from the local community has been wonderful."

Belfast Telegraph restaurant critic Joris Minne said: "The new hands on the tiller of Clenaghans are probably the most anticipated news in restaurant-land this year! Danni Barry is proven as an international standard chef and the Higginsons have excellent form with the consistently good Bistro on the Square in Lisburn.

"I can only guess what Michael Deane's reaction will have been but Danni did secure a Michelin star three years in a row before leaving and has left Eipic with his head held high. Personally, I can't wait to see what the offer at Cleneghans will be. Mixing country charm with culinary excellence is always a great recipe."

Councillor Allan Ewart said: "The winning combination of the chefs' passion and talent for creating flavoursome dishes with Stevie's wife Cristina's attention to detail in ensuring a positive customer experience will make the reopening of Clenaghans a success.

"Social media is already a hive of activity as people look to make a reservation and no doubt this interest will continue after the opening.

"This new business venture will give a boost to the local area, offering fine food and drink to residents and visitors alike."

Ahead of its launch, Clenaghans has posted its festive menu on its new Facebook page with a set three-course meal at 27 per head.
Caterpillar NI is selling off a three-storey building at its Springvale site for 475,000.

Cost-cutting is continuing at Caterpillar NI as the manufacturing giant sees its turnover fall by more than 80m and sales to Europe slashed in half.

The generator-maker is selling off one of its Belfast offices, after announcing 250 jobs cuts across Northern Ireland last year as part of global downsizing. It's also warned that "much uncertainty continues to exist" around Brexit.

The firm, which has a manufacturing base and offices in west Belfast, is selling off a three-storey building at its Springvale site for 475,000.

It's understood that staff at Springvale have been consolidated into a larger office building, also based at the site, following job cuts revealed late last year,

Now, accounts for Caterpillar (NI) Ltd, show sales fell from 537m to 455m in the year to December 31, 2016.

The former FG Wilson business has its base at Larne, as well as manufacturing, sales and administration at Springvale.

However, it is winding down and closing its Monkstown operation.

Caterpillar's latest accounts show the company managed to turn a 5m loss into a pre-tax profit of more than 10m due, to what it said, was a large one-off impairment charge of more than 9m.

The company said that the accounts were "favourably impacted" for a "recharge of consulting charges incurred in prior years".

However, the US-owned business said it was "adversely impacted by 858,000 of asset impairments related to the consolidation of those continuing operations".

The property being sold off includes a three-storey stand-alone office building of concrete frame construction.

A spokesman for Caterpillar said: "We continually seek ways to improve the efficiency of our business.

"As a result, a small number of employees have relocated from a peripheral building at the Springvale Business Park to the main office at the site."

The building which it is selling off is based across 10,600 sq ft.

The US company revealed that it was restructuring its business in Northern Ireland as part of global cutbacks across the business back in September last year.

The firm will have a period of consultation to determine the spread of the losses over the next year.

Speaking about the reduction in staff and cutbacks, the firm said that "2016 also saw the decision made to discontinue the manufacturing of the 'wheeled material handler' product and a process of consolidating manufacturing activity into two sites was begun".

The company, in its latest accounts, said a 'Brexit' team "continues to assess potential impacts across all aspects of our business".

"With negotiations having now started, much uncertainty continues to exist and so this work continues considering all cases, including 'worst case scenarios' to the business," it said.

That includes no "tariff-free access to the single market" and "being outside the customs union".

According to the latest accounts, overall sales to the UK fell from 104m to 74m in the last year. But it was sales to the rest of Europe which took the biggest hit - dropping by almost half, from 261,to 133m.

However, sales outside of Europe increased from 171m to 247m.
The City of London could see an "avalanche" of companies leaving unless the UK government can bring some clarity to the Brexit talks and the proposed transition, the mayor of London's financial district has warned.

Alderman Andrew Parmley, Lord Mayor of the City of London, said there has so far been little movement of staff out of London to other locations as a result of the Brexit vote, but preparations are being made.

Mr Parmley, who will also visit Belfast tomorrow, said: "In terms of people actually leaving the City, we're told night and day that the City is going to decamp to Dublin, to Frankfurt, to Paris, to New York etc. Thus far we've seen very little movement of people, although we've seen a great deal of preparation for movement."

Mr Parmley will visit Belfast's Centre for Secure IT (CSIT) at Queen's University.

CSIT is the UK's main site for research into cyber-security.

Mr Parmley added: "Northern Ireland's financial services sector has seen exponential growth in recent years, thanks to its technological innovations, skilled workforce, competitive cost of property and ability to attract inward investment. I want to ensure that this trend continues and I'm delighted to be visiting."

At a Dublin Chamber Brexit lunch, he said JP Morgan was planning on doubling its headcount in the EU outside the UK, as it plans to expand its staff in Dublin, but is still retaining 14,000 workers in the Square Mile.

"That's the current situation but this could become a complete avalanche, or deluge, if we don't get clarity about transition."

Mr Parmley holds the ceremonial post of mayor of the municipal authority that oversees London's financial district.
Taken star Liam Neeson is set to receive a prestigious award from Irish President Michael D Higgins for his outstanding contribution to the Irish diaspora.

The Ballymena-born actor is one of 10 people chosen to receive the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad.

The awards were developed as a means to recognise the contribution of members of the Irish diaspora and were first awarded in 2012.

They are split into different categories including Arts, Business and Education, Charitable Works, Irish Community Support, Peace and Reconciliation and Science.

In order to be eligible you must "have rendered distinguished service to the nation and or its reputation abroad", "have actively and demonstrably contributed to Ireland and or its international reputation" and have a track record of over 5 years of sustained support.

Citing the Ballymena-born actor as a 2017 recipient the Republic of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs described Neeson as an "extremely gifted and internationally renowned actor, Liam Neeson has helped to raise Irelands profile and awareness of Ireland and Irish artists around the world, especially in the US where he is based".

It continued: "He is a strong supporter of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, where he started his career, and the Irish Arts Centre in New York, where he currently lives.

"He has given his strong support in recent years for Irish cultural projects, including for the 2016 commemorations and his central involvement in the highly successful Notre Dame University documentary on the 1916 Rising.

"Liam has also provided the voiceover for Tourism Irelands extremely successful #GoGreen4St.PatricksDay video over the last two years and has previously supported a variety of initiatives to promote tourism to Ireland.

"He is also an advocate for highlighting the role that Ireland plays in development aid and human rights worldwide, especially through his longstanding work with UNICEF."

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney said: I am delighted to have the opportunity to formally recognise the achievements of these ten members of our diaspora. These remarkable people have provided a sustained service and commitment to Ireland and Irish communities abroad, and it is fitting that they have been selected to be honoured by the President.

This is the sixth year in which recipients have received this Award, and the ceremony remains a very important opportunity to acknowledge those who have helped to build and expand our reputation across the globe."

The diverse contributions of these individuals extends across six different categories, and the impact of their work and dedication is evident across a number of countries.

2017 recipients

Arts, Culture and Sport

Bernard Canavan (Britain)

Liam Neeson (US)

Business and Education

Patricia Harty (US)

Charitable Works

Denis Mulcahy (US)

Mary T. Murphy (Ethopia)

Irish Community Support

Hideki Mimura (Japan)

Jacqueline ODonovan (Britain)

Peace, Reconciliation and Development

John de Chastelain (Canada)

Marianne Elliot (Britain)

Science, Technology and Innovation

William Campbell (US)
Musgrave said the cyber attack targeted its Centra, SuperValu, Daybreak and Mace stores

Detectives are investigating a cyber attack on some of the island of Ireland's most popular supermarket chains.

Criminals attempted to get credit and debit card details of shoppers who use stores owned by grocery company Musgrave.

Musgrave said the attack targeted its SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace stores. It said malicious software had been used to try to steal the information of customers.

The malware also tried to take the expiry date of the cards but did not try to access cardholders' names, PINs or CCV numbers, the company said.

Musgrave said it does not store card data.

The details of customers in both the Republic and Northern Ireland were understood to have been targeted in the attack.

Musgrave operates the SuperValu and Centra brand networks on both sides of the border, while in the Republic it runs Daybreak stores and in Northern Ireland, Mace.

The incident has been reported to gardai and Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has offered assistance to the Garda-led probe.

"While there is no evidence that any data has been stolen at this point, Musgrave is advising any concerned shoppers to review activity on their statements as a precautionary measure," the company said in a statement.

Musgrave also said it has "cyber breach response experts" and they have installed advanced technical fixes to combat the attempted breach.

The company said it would continue to actively manage and monitor the situation.

"The protection of information is an absolute priority for Musgrave, with a range of security solutions including threat-monitoring, anti-virus software, firewall and penetration testing deployed," Musgrave said.

"The company aims to ensure that security standards are maintained at the highest levels and apologises to its customers for this issue."

SuperValu has more than a fifth of the supermarket share in Ireland.
Taylor had previously denied trying to kill Mr Larsen at a flat in Ross House, Mount Vernon, in north Belfast.

An east Belfast man has pleaded guilty to trying to murder his lover's son with an iron drop bar almost two years ago.

Ryan Edward Taylor (31), of Templemore Street, had been due to go on trial on Tuesday accused of attempting to murder Matthew Larsen in north Belfast.

Taylor had previously denied trying to kill Mr Larsen at a flat in Ross House, Mount Vernon, in north Belfast on December 28, 2015.

A jury of eight men and four women were sworn in and had been prepared by Belfast Recorder and trial Judge David McFarland to hear evidence in the case from a number of witnesses.

But after a short adjournment, defence counsel Greg Berry QC told the judge and jury sitting on the trial: "I have an application to have the defendant re-arraigned on the charge of attempted murder.''

Taylor, flanked by two prison officers in the dock, pleaded "guilty'' when the charge of attempting to murder Mr Larsen was put to him by the court clerk.

Judge McFarland told the jury: "Mr Taylor had previously pleaded guilty to assaulting to Mr Larsen and you have now heard his confession to attempted murder and there is no longer any need for a trial. I am going to direct that you find him guilty.

"The victim in this case had been caused serious injury. He was assaulted with an iron bar which is in that evidence box.''

The Belfast Recorder ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

"Given the nature of these offences and his previous record, the Probation Service should consider the issue of dangerousness in relation to this defendant. Take him down,'' added the judge.

Co-accused Julie Larsen (43), of Fortwilliam Crescent in north Belfast, was due to go on trial on Monday of this week but pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, namely cleaning up the scene of a crime and making a false statement to police.

Both will be sentenced on November 20.

No details were given in court today about the circumstances surrounding the murder bid and assault.

But during an unsuccessful High Court bail application in July 2016 by Taylor, a prosecution lawyer gave details of the attack in opposing his release from custody.

She said that Matthew Larsen was asleep when Ryan Taylor and his partner Julie Larsen arrived back at her flat in Ross House.

Mr Larsen's girlfriend let the couple in before Taylor took a drop bar used to barricade the front door and launched the bedroom attack.

The court heard an initial strike to the side of his head rendered the victim unconscious.

Madam Justice McBride was told that Taylor "rained around 20 heavy blows to Mr Larsen's head, using the heavy drop bar as a weapon".

The attack caused Mr Larsen's ear to explode.

His girlfriend Danielle McAllister was also beaten as she tried to shield him, fracturing her arm. She was pregnant at the time and has since given birth.

Mr Larsen spent a long period in intensive care following the assault.

It was claimed that after ambulance staff took him from the flat Taylor allegedly threatened to kill up to three witnesses if they went to police.

The court heard Julie Larsen was not accused of taking part in the attack, but Mrs McKay told the court she knew he was to get a beating and had stated: "He may be my son but he deserved it."

According to the prosecution, the drop bar had been cleaned before it was seized.

A duvet cover was also laid across heavily blood-stained pillows and bedding was found in the washing machine.

"There was clearly an attempt to make the forensic evidence disappear," the barrister submitted.

Referring to Julie Larsen's role, Mrs McKay added: "She said she has OCD, that's why she cleaned up the bed linen".
Bombardier employs more than 4,000 workers at its plant in Belfast

Labour MP Owen Smith (wearing glasses, third right) with workers from plane manufacturer Bombardier lobbying the Houses of Parliament in central London.

Workers from plane manufacturer Bombardier are pressing the Government to take urgent action to help secure their jobs in the face of mounting concerns over a trade dispute with the United States.

They unfurled a huge banner opposite Parliament and will meet MPs to warn of the impact on jobs across the UK if the dispute is not resolved.

Bombardier, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Belfast, has been hit by a proposed 80% levy on exports following c omplaints by Boeing that the Canadian-owned company had dumped its C Series jets at "absurdly low" prices.

Business Secretary Greg Clark has told MPs the complaint brought by Boeing is completely unjustified and the UK will do everything it can to see the issue resolved.

As part of those efforts, on Tuesday evening Prime Minister Theresa May stressed in a phone call with US President Donald Trump "the importance of the jobs provided by the Bombardier factory to the people and economy of Northern Ireland".

But Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of the Unite union, said phone calls were not enough.

Joining a group of workers from Belfast, he said the levy was part of Mr Trump's America First policy.

The Government has a number of levers it could use to resolve this quickly, especially as the Ministry of Defence has 4.6 billion worth of contracts with Boeing.

"This is the kind of situation we might be facing in the future, with free trade not fair trade, and the Government needs to act now."

John Clarke, who works at the Belfast plant, said: "People are worried about the future and everyone feels uncomfortable about what might happen.

"We are here to raise awareness of the situation and stress to MPs and the Government the urgency of the situation."

Unite wants Mrs May to summon Boeing to a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and workforce representatives.

Mr Turner added: "The British Government has a duty to defend UK manufacturing jobs against the bullying behaviour of Boeing.

"A failure to do so will signal that any ambition ministers have for a coherent industrial strategy is effectively in tatters and that they are happy to put Trump's America First policy ahead of UK manufacturing jobs.

"Boeing's case is without merit, a fact that Prime Minster Theresa May has herself admitted. Theresa May and her Government need to be battling for Northern Ireland's Bombardier workforce which makes some of the most technologically advanced wings in the world.

"The UK Government must heed the call of Bombardier's Northern Ireland workers and summon Boeing to an urgent summit involving Prime Minister Theresa May and the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and trade unions.

"Ministers should leave Boeing in no doubt that a failure to do so will lead to sanctions on current and future work on behalf of the UK Government."
A Cabinet Meeting in Cabin Hill from 1921, re-enacted by former pupils, (from left) Thomas Wilson (EM Archdale), Henry Edwards (R Dawson Bates), Jason Li (7th Marquess of Londonderry), Matthew Rea (Sir James Craig PM), PJ Nesbitt (HM Pollock) and JM Andrews (Future PM 1940-42) and former headmistress Hazel Rowan

Belfast composer Philip Hammond during his days as a teacher at Cabin Hill

A top Belfast school is hoping to turn one of its listed buildings into a dozen new luxury apartments.

Campbell College in east Belfast, wants permission to turn its Cabin Hill building, which dates back to 1860, into 12 private apartments.

The building was bought by Campbell, and became the College's Prep School in 1929.

It previously was granted planning permission to turn the building into apartments, but that has since lapsed.

The building, which played host to the first Cabinet meetings of the fledgling Northern Ireland Government in the early 1920s, was placed on sale at the end of 2015, with an asking price of 675,000.

A spokeswoman for Campbell College confirmed the school is working to secure the future of the historic building.

"Campbell College was previously granted planning permission for the Cabin Hill site, part of which has now lapsed," she told the Belfast Telegraph.

"This is a re-application to renew the original planning permission in preparation for sale.

"The Cabin Hill building has suffered damage due to its vacancy and through vandalism, and the college is working towards securing the future of the building as soon as possible to prevent any further deterioration."

In a planning statement on behalf of the application to turn the building into apartments, it says despite its "best efforts", Cabin Hill "became subject to repeated thefts (of lead etc) and vandalism, leading to water ingress, some of which was undetected for periods of time".

"As a result of this water ingress there were a series of outbreaks of dry rot in numerous positions in the building.

"The governors appointed Johnston Houston Association to carry out a series of necessary emergency holding repairs to protect the fabric of the building and to prevent further water ingress.

"This has been an ongoing process responding to repeated attacks."

Those behind the plans, Consarc Conservation, say the "conversion scheme has been designed to retain as much as possible the original spaces of the principal rooms in the 1860 building and to retain or reinstate the original detailing and character".

The school was placed on the market in 2015, with a view to transform it into apartments, a nursing home or even a hotel.

The original Cabin Hill was a small dwelling built on the site in 1786, but was replaced with a larger building in 1861.

It was purchased by Robert James McMordie QC, Lord Mayor of Belfast, in 1903. He added a number of extensions.

Mr McMordie died at Cabin Hill in 1914 and the property was leased to the Rt Hon Sir James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, between 1920 and 1922.

Several Cabinet meetings were accommodated there before it was sold to Campbell College in 1924, and housed its prep school from 1929.

The fresh plan for the restoration of the building says the concept will aim to "conserve and retain as much of the fabric of the listed building as possible, ensuring the continued life of this important house".

"... to design a new housing scheme that complements the historic character of the existing buildings, and is of an appropriate scale and relationship. .. and to ensure the existing buildings retain their sense of place by appraising the building settings in the landscape and retaining and enhancing existing boundaries, trees and spaces."

Speaking in 2015, former pupil and teacher at Cabin Hill, composer, Philip Hammond, said he was delighted that it was being put up for sale.

"I was worried when it was closed that we could lose a building with such historical significance," he said.
Retailers have been warned that they have just five days until old pound coins are no longer legal tender.

The old 'round pound' is being replaced by the new 12-sided coin, a move that is being taken to cut down on the number of fake coins in circulation - with the new design much harder to replicate.

Speaking ahead of the deadline, which falls at the end of this week, independent retailer representative body Retail NI's Glyn Roberts urged retailers to take the October 15 deadline seriously.

"This deadline is going to be a challenge given that multiple retailers have decided to be more flexible and continue to accept the old 1 coin from shoppers after 15th October, he said.

Retail NIs advice is clear to retailers and is in line with what the Royal Mint is advising. Retailers are under no obligation to accept the round 1 coin from customers and should not distribute the round 1 coin after October 15.

All round 1 coins should have been banked. However, the round 1 coin can continue to be deposited into a customers account at most high street banks and the Post Office.

It was also warned that continuing to accept the old 1 coins leaves businesses at risk of accepting counterfeits.

The Royal Mint has advised all businesses should have changed their machines and coin-handling equipment by the end of the week so that they are able to accept the new 1 coins.

Despite the 12-sided coins being introduced in March to facilitate the phasing out of the old coins, some retailers have said they will continue to accept the coins.

Supermarket giant Tesco has said that it will continue to accept the round pounds after they are no longer legal tender, extending this policy out by a further week.

Retailer Poundland has also said that it will continue to accept the coins up until the end of the month.
Gerry Adams has said he would "quit" Sinn Fein if there was a culture of bullying in the party.

And he has insisted that there is "zero tolerance" towards bullying in the party amid allegations by Sinn Fein members across several counties.

Mr Adams made the remarks in an interview where he was asked about Limerick councillor Lisa Marie Sheehy, who quit the party last month.

She claimed there is a "hostile and toxic" environment in Sinn Fein.

Mr Adams said he was "disappointed" with her remarks which, he added, are "a very serious allegation to make about people you're in a struggle with".

Mr Adams told the Limerick Leader: "There is no culture of bullying in Sinn Fein.

"We have a zero tolerance attitude to bullying."

He added: "Our due process reflects best international practice legally."

Mr Adams was also asked about a meeting in Waterford last month where between 30 and 40 disaffected Sinn Fein members gathered to share grievances over alleged bullying within the party.

"Let them put a case up, and if there is a case to answer, we will answer it," Mr Adams said.

Sinn Fein has seen a number of resignations by party members amid claims of bullying.

The most high profile was the case of former Cork East TD Sandra McLellan who refused to go forward to convention before the last general election.

She claimed to have been undermined by a small number of party members.

Yesterday it was reported how former Omagh Sinn Fein member Sorcha McAnespy warned that further resignations are imminent unless party bosses listen to the concerns being raised.

Ms McAnespy, who has since joined Fianna Fail, also complained of a "toxic" atmosphere in Sinn Fein which she claimed arose after she tried to strike alliances with unionists.

Separately, senior Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness didn't rule out the prospect of his party working with Sinn Fein after the next general election. Party leader Micheal Martin has rejected a future coalition between the parties on a number of occasions.

Carlow-Kilkenny TD Mr McGuinness told KCLR Radio that Sinn Fein could well be involved in government formation talks after the election.

He said that while their policies "are not directly compatible" with Fianna Fail, "you don't know what arrangement is going to come out of it. It's the people that decide".

Mr McGuinness said he'd be open to discussing policies and government formation with "everyone that's available in Leinster House".

Put to him that his comments seem at odds with Mr Martin's stance, Mr McGuinness said that the arrangement "need not necessarily be a coalition with anybody".

He pointed to the current arrangements where Fianna Fail is facilitating the Fine Gael-led minority government.
A Japanese woman was initially denied a visa to marry her Northern Ireland fiance in Belfast due to a "misunderstanding", the High Court heard on Tuesday.

Counsel for the Home Office confirmed the decision to refuse Makiko Takeoka's application has been overturned.

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She has now flown to Tokyo with her passport amid attempts to have all paperwork completed in time for her wedding to Ciaran Doole on October 21, a judge was told.

With a legal challenge put on hold, Mr Doole expressed both relief and frustration that the couple's plans were plunged into uncertainty.

Outside court the 31-year-old charity worker said: "The whole process has been pretty horrific.

"We have people coming from all over the world for this wedding, and it's all a bit last-minute.

"I'd prefer if Makiko wasn't jet-lagged on her wedding day."

Judicial review proceedings were launched after 32-year-old Ms Takeoka's visa application was turned down - allegedly because her fiance holds an Irish passport.

A failure to establish that he is settled in the UK was said to be the reason for declaring her ineligible.

Mr Doole, who was born in Northern Ireland and currently lives in south Belfast, was set to argue that the decision was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.

During preliminary courtroom discussions Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan was told he considers himself both British and Irish.

In the visa application process Irish had been selected for his nationality, while his status within the UK was described as British citizen.

Proceedings were initially adjourned for clarification around the Home Office's current position in the case.

As the hearing resumed today, Sir Declan said it looked as if there had been a misunderstanding.

Counsel for the Home Office replied: "It's precisely what it is."

Ms Takeoka was informed by email on Sunday that the original decision had been overturned, the court heard.

Once officials in Tokyo receive her passport steps will be taken to have the visa printed in Manila.

"Time is of the essence," the barrister acknowledged.

"With a fair wind, doing their best they believe they can have a turnaround within three days of receipt of the passport."

Ronan Lavery QC, for Ms Takeoka, said: "It's good news."

Adjourning the challenge, Sir Declan indicated the case can be brought back to court immediately if there are any hiccups.

As he left court Mr Doole confirmed his fiancee has travelled from Hokkaido to the Japanese capital.

Bespite securing the outcome they hoped for, he claimed the application should have been dealt with by officials familiar with the politics of Northern Ireland, rather than those "who don't have a clue about the Good Friday Agreement".

If everything goes according to plan they will now get wed at Belfast City Hall, before heading on for a reception in Co Down.

But Mr Doole added: "I'm relieved, though I wish Makiko had a bit more time to prepare, relax and acclimatise - I'd prefer if she wasn't jet-lagged on her wedding day."
Linda Ervine has revealed how she was kicked out of school aged 15 while pregnant - but it didn't stop her from becoming a teacher.

In a candid interview for BBC Radio Ulster's Vinny Hurrell show, Mrs Ervine, the sister-in-law of the late PUP leader David Ervine, also opened up about overcoming crippling anxiety in her 20s.

"I became pregnant at 15, so that meant I couldn't get into another school," the east Belfast native recalled.

She had kept the pregnancy to herself, but a reputation for being "troublesome" stopped her finishing her education.

"I didn't go very often, I don't think I did anything terrible," she said.

Mrs Ervine said her parents divorced at seven, and never feeling settled in her home life had added an extra struggle to her teenage years.

"I had a lot of anger, a lot of confusion. I think the worst thing that happened to me when I became pregnant was that I started to take anxiety attacks," she said.

During her 20s, she said anxiety seemed impossible to shake.

"I became really housebound,"she said

"By 27 I took a breakdown. You basically stop functioning. I stopped eating, I was just over six stone and I lived on sips of water."

Along with two years of psychotherapy, she said education played a huge role in her recovery.

At the age of 33 she was stunned to become a grandmother, when her eldest daughter was 17.

"It was a bit of a shock but I loved her and I still love her, I have five grandchildren now and she's just graduated from university," she said.

After first studying English literature, Mrs Ervine went on to teach the Irish language in east Belfast, where she has faced unionist opposition to her aims.

She said the polarising debate around the language has been frustrating.

"I find it frustrating when people make very strong statements and they come from a position of ignorance," she said.

"It's a foolish thing to say this language is nothing to do with me. It's in our surnames, it's in our place names, the words in our everyday speech."
A new parking scheme which will stop commuters leaving their cars in residential areas all day is to begin in south Belfast at the end of the month.

The scheme, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the city, comes into operation on October 30 in the university area.

It will have a mixture of parking spaces for residents, as well as pay and display zones.

Home-owners in the district are regularly unable to park due to office workers in the city centre leaving their cars there from early morning until late in the evening.

The College Park Avenue/Rugby Road scheme will provide 117 parking spaces for residents and a further 127 pay and display spaces.

No-one from the Department for Infrastructure, which is introducing the scheme, was available for comment on its details yesterday.

However, the Belfast Telegraph understands that only residents with a valid permit will be entitled to park for free in the streets concerned between 8am and 6pm on weekdays.

Pay and display spaces can be bought from ticket machines to allow visitors to park for up to two hours.

South Belfast independent councillor Declan Boyle said: "I fully support the introduction of this scheme in the university area.

"It is unfair that people working in the city centre use these streets as a car park and that residents are forced to drive around looking for a space to park close to their own homes for up to half an hour."

Mr Boyle said that the pay and display spaces would allow students who were attending lectures to pay to park their cars in the area, and then return within the two-hour time limit.

DUP councillor Graham Craig also welcomed the scheme, but said be would be evaluating its impact on other local areas.

"I support the scheme because residents have lobbied for it," he said.

"But it will be interesting to see if it solves the problem of commuter parking or moves it somewhere else."

Announcing the scheme last year, the then Sinn Fein Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard said: "Residents of south Belfast have long voiced their concerns about parking in their local area.

"The issue of all-day commuter parking is one faced by other communities.

"I am continuing to look at this issue to see what other schemes can be brought forward to address what is a very real concern for many people living in our towns and cities."

The Department for Infrastructure gave the green light to a similar scheme in Londonderry's Rossville Street area.

It didn't pursue one in Belfast's Lower Malone area due to objections in particular from local businesses.

Protests about commuter parking have been previously held by residents in the Market area of the city.
People carry a Spanish flag during a march in downtown Barcelona, Spain, to protest the Catalan governments push for secession from the rest of the country

Two Nobel peace prize winners from Northern Ireland have urged mediation in the political deadlock between Spain and Catalonia.

The comments come in a letter on the eve of a Catalan parliamentary meeting in which separatist leaders want to press ahead with secession for the northeastern region.

Nobel Peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams from Northern Ireland are among eight winners who have signed the letter.

The letter says "no side is free of errors" in this process but calls for "mediation and negotiations toward a peaceful resolution of the current stand-off".

Maguire and Williams co-founded Women for Peace, which later became the Community for Peace People, and was dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles. They were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, Spain's ruling Partido Popular party has issued its most severe warnings to date to Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont over the consequences of tomorrow's widely predicted declaration of independence, with a PP spokesman saying he could end up like the historic Catalan leader Lluis Companys - in jail.

"Anybody that declares it could end up like the one who tried it 83 years ago," the PP's deputy secretary for communication, Pablo Casado, said, in a reference to Lluis Companys' failed bid for independence and subsequent spell in prison in 1934.

Mr Puigdemont is widely expected to declare independence in the regional parliament on Tuesday evening, nine days after the Catalan region voted for independence in a referendum dismissed by Madrid as illegal.

Speaking with 24 hours to go, Mr Casado said the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, planned to avail himself of every means provided by Spanish law and the constitution to fight any declaration.

Although he did not say which specific charges Mr Puigdemont might face, according to El Espanol Mr Casado warned that in Spain the crimes of sedition carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and rebellion against the state 25 years. Mr Companys was himself sentenced to 30 years in jail.

"They [independence leaders] are going to run headlong into the [courtroom] dock," Mr Casado said. "It's going to cost them."

Mr Casado was later careful to point out that his comparisons with Mr Companys had referred to the Catalan's 1934 trial and incarceration after the independence bid, not to his subsequent capture, torture and execution by General Franco's police in 1940.

"I meant that history should not repeat itself," he explained, "and if you forget history, you're condemned to repeat it.

"In history, declarations of independence by Catalonia have fared very badly."

Mr Casado also insisted there was no room now for international mediation and that the Spanish government had "nothing to negotiate with the golpistas" - the Spanish word for conspirators in a coup d'etat.
Ten heroic firefighters were involved in a right 'royal' rescue when they abseiled down Cave Hill to rescue a regally named dog after she managed to wedge herself up a cliff for 24 hours.

Princess, a Jack Russell terrier cross, had been on a stroll with her family at the north Belfast beauty spot, when she ran off.

She managed to climb up the face of the cliff where she remained stuck for a terrifying and lonely 24 hours until some walkers found her and called the emergency services.

A team of 10 firefighters came to her aid, abseiling down to the sheer cliff face to find her.

However, there was no golden carriage for this princess. Instead she had to be placed into a canvas bag to be brought to safety.

Tom McQuillan (17), Princess's owner, was asleep in bed when his mum came home on Saturday morning to tell him that Princess had gone missing.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: "At first I was in complete disbelief, I had no idea how it could happen.

"My mum was walking her and there's a part of the walk where she likes to let the dogs off the leash, but Princess saw a rabbit and ran off. That was the last time she was seen.

"Princess is a very docile dog and she loves people as long as she gets to know them.

"She is one of five dogs shared between my family but is personally my dog and she loves me the most out of our family.

"When we got her back she was so happy for a while, but then she went to sleep for ages. I don't think she slept the whole time she was up there.

"We are all so happy to have her back."

Donal McDaniel (54), a driving instructor from Belfast, was out walking with some friends when they heard some noises coming from the cliffside. He said: "We weren't too sure if it was a bird or a dog, so we kept listening out to hear it again.

"Another man was passing through and said he was a much more experienced walker and wanted to see it if he could see it better. He had better gear and knew his limitations.

"He said he couldn't have left without seeing if the dog was ok and it was because of him that we found her and knew where to tell the emergency services to come to. The wee dog must have been 15ft below us on the cliff.

"They sent about 10 fire officers to come and see if they could bring her up to us, but they spoke to the owners first to make sure that she was friendly and wasn't a biter.

"The owners were very nervous in case she fell down or got scared by the fire officers and there were a lot of loose rocks on the ledge where Princess was. They managed to get a little hook around her collar so she wouldn't run off again and put her in a little canvas bag."

Despite having been stuck on a cliff edge for the night, it seemed as though Princess was made of hardy stuff.

Donal added: "Once they'd got her over the top it seemed as though the whole experience hadn't bothered her and she just walked away like she could have done it again."
A leading medical union has said it may go to the High Court to stop potentially dangerous cuts to Northern Ireland's health service.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) in Northern Ireland has said it is considering taking a judicial review over controversial plans to slash 70m from the NHS budget.

It comes just days before the five health trusts decide whether they will rubber-stamp cost-cutting proposals, including a dramatic reduction in community care packages, hospital beds and staffing levels.

The plans have been branded as unsafe by medical unions and patient groups, who have warned they will drive up hospital waiting times and put even more pressure on primary care services that are already at breaking point.

Health bosses were ordered in August to make 70m savings in order to balance the books.

A six-week public consultation on subsequent proposed cuts to services only closed last week.

Tom Sullivan, CSP public affairs and policy manager, said he is extremely concerned that it is impossible to properly consider any concerns raised during the process.

"It does make you think that this is simply a box-ticking exercise and the cuts are a fait accompli," he said.

"The consultation process itself has not been handled well, it has been taken forward with haste that makes you question the integrity of the process.

"The consultation only lasted six weeks when it would normally take 12.

"I understand there is an urgency about this, but it is equally important that the views and concerns raised during the process are considered and reviewed diligently. I don't believe this can be done given the timescales we are dealing with and I think it undermines the consultation process.

"If they have been able to turn this around in less than a week then they need to demonstrate that otherwise it leaves them open to legal challenges, particularly under the Gunning Principles (rules to ensure fairness).

"We, the CSP, cannot rule out the possibility of a judicial review in order to stop these cuts from happening."

Health bosses have also come under fire for the lack of publicity regarding the upcoming trust board meetings where the decisions will be made.

It has also emerged they are all being held on Friday and members of the public have complained they will only be able to attend one of the meetings.

Mr Sullivan's concerns have been echoed by Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan, who said the consultation process has been "fundamentally flawed".

The west Belfast politician said: "A week is simply not enough time to seriously consider the feedback from the public.

"Public meetings across the north have illustrated not only the opposition to the proposed cuts, but also the depth of anger at the way the process has been carried out.

"It seriously calls into question the integrity of the consultation process and whether it was ever intended to meaningfully engage with the public."

SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan said the trusts may be open to legal action.

"While the trusts will say they have a legal obligation to balance the books - I believe this is far outweighed by their legal, professional and moral obligation to protect patient safety and the highest standards of deliver of care," he said.

"Trusts must prove the consultation was not simply a box-ticking exercise and ensure that adequate time and consideration is afforded to reviewing the consultation responses."

It is understood a cash injection from the upcoming monitoring round or the establishment of a working Executive at Stormont are the only way the planned cuts will not go ahead.

However, it is not known whether any additional cash will be released before the cuts are implemented.
Business secretary Greg Clark pledged the government would not relent in its efforts to safeguard jobs of Bombardier workers in Belfast.

The minister was updating the House of Commons on the situation after the Canadian aerospace manufacturer was hit with tariffs amounting to 300% by the US government after a complaint from rival Boeing that state aid gave the firm an unfair advantage.

MP Clark said they would demonstrate aid given to Bombardier was "completely in line with international norms" and "consistent with the assistant Boeing has had".

"And we will demonstrate that in a convincing way," he said.

The complaint against Bombardier centres over its C Series aircraft, which has its wings made in Belfast. Mr Clark said that as Boeing did not make a similar aircraft then there was no example of "detriment" against the firm and "no stone would be left un-turned" in defending Bombardier in the case. He said he expected the matter to be "thrown out" by the US Department of Commerce.

The process in America runs to February when there will be a final ruling.

"We will look to the US to ensure the process is rigorous and not politically influenced," he said.

"This is not the behaviour we expect from a trusted partner and it will have implications on the future relationship between the UK and Boeing.

"We will continue to vigorously and robustly defend Bombardier jobs in Belfast and work with the Canadian government to do so.

"We will not give up... we will do whatever it takes ... we will not relent until these jobs are safe."

Speaking in the Commons, Ian Paisley described as "despicable" that there were those that used the peace process, the "spectre of the border" and plight of the workers as "some sort of critique" of how the government was dealing with the issue.

"Come crunch time," he said "the British Government should not be found wanting in how they defend British workers in Northern Ireland."

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson, who has called for the government to take a tough stance, welcomed the minister's comments and noted the number of senior members of government which were in the Commons for the statement, demonstrating he said, the government's support to the case.

After the statement, he said: "It is vital that our Government now does step up efforts, alongside the Canadian administration as we move towards the next stage in this process in February. Similarly it is important that the workers both in Belfast and in Canada know that there are meaningful and genuine consequences in store should there not be an adequate resolution to this case.

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Meanwhile, a group of workers from the Belfast factory are to fly to London on Wednesday to press MPs on getting the government to act and defend their jobs.

They will unveil a giant banner outside parliament and call on Prime Minister Theresa May to summon Boeing to a summit with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and workforce representatives.

Assistant general secretary of trade union Unite Steve Turner said: The British government has a duty to defend UK manufacturing jobs against the bullying behaviour of Boeing.

A failure to do so will signal that any ambition ministers have for a coherent industrial strategy is effectively in tatters and that they are happy to put Trumps America First policy ahead of UK manufacturing jobs.

Boeings case is without merit, a fact that Prime Minster Theresa May has herself admitted. Theresa May and her government need to be battling for Northern Irelands Bombardier workforce which makes some of the most technologically advanced wings in the world.

The UK government must heed the call of Bombardiers Northern Ireland workers and summon Boeing to an urgent summit involving prime minister Theresa May and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and trade unions.

Ministers should leave Boeing in no doubt that a failure to do so will lead to sanctions on current and future work on behalf of the UK government.
Ireland's hard-pressed working families and people on welfare are set to gain a fiver a week or more in a budget of modest payback.

But while the Republic lurches from one set of record homelessness figures to another, the minority Government took a hammering from opponents who accused ministers of repeating commitments on social housing.

And with farmers and food businesses reeling from the unknowns of Brexit, 300 million euro of low-cost loans are to be directed at firms suffering from cash flow crises.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar set the scene for 1.2 billion euro package of tax and spending by heralding it as a chance to give back something to the Republic's 2 million workers.

He said average families will benefit by 500-600 euro a year.

But within hours of the pronouncement the government's PR spend came under fire as it emerged a new strategic communications unit, billed earlier this year as cost neutral, is set to be financed with 5 million euro next year.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told the Dail parliament the budget aimed to guard against three main threats to Ireland - Brexit, the potential impact of US trade tariffs and various geo-political threats.

"It will help reduce the chances that future crises are home-grown and will mean that our economy and public finances are in a better position to weather crises stemming from external factors beyond our control," Mr Donohoe said.

"The list of potential external risks is lengthy."

On Brexit-proofing the initiatives were limited to business loans, funding for farmers, hiring more enterprise experts and expanding Ireland's diplomatic footprint in North and South America, India and Japan and across Europe.

Unveiling a war chest funding package, one big ticket item from Mr Donohoe was a move from midnight targeting commercial property deals with a tripling of stamp duty to bring in 400 million euro.

That will help cover the cost of five euro a week increases to most welfare payments, including the dole and state pensions, but people will have to wait until the end of next March to reap any benefits.

And some of the money coming in will pay for modest changes to income tax, including the deeply unpopular Universal Social Charge (USC) that was created at the height of the recession.

Mr Donohoe said the top marginal rate of tax on income up to 70,044 euro will come down to 48.75% as a result of the changes.

The threshold for the higher rate of income tax is being raised by 750 euro to 34,550 euro while a new 2% USC rate will kick in at 19,372 euro, up from 18,772 euro, so minimum wage workers will not pay the upper rates and a second USC rate will drop to 4.75%.

But by far the biggest challenge for the minority Government - in power with the support of the main opposition party Fianna Fail and Independents - is to solve the crisis of more than 8,000 homeless people and families in emergency accommodation and more than 90,000 people on housing waiting lists.

Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty accused Mr Donohoe of repeating commitments already made for 3,800 new homes next year.

"This is a budget that tolerates and normalises mass homelessness of young people and children," he said.

Other key measures include:

:: 50 cent on cigarettes taking the price of a standard packet to about 12 euro - one of the highest in Europe.

:: In a bid to slash skin cancer rates in Ireland - among the highest in the world - VAT on sunbed services is to soar from 13.5% to 23%.

:: A sugar tax on sweetened drinks, due next April, with 30 cents a litre put on those with more than eight grams of sugar per 100 millilitres and 20 cents a litre on drinks with between five and eight grams per 100 millilitres.

:: Alcohol was not hit by any rise.

:: A "rainy day" fund is being created to protect against future economic downturns with an initial 1 .5 billion euro deposit and 500 million euro a year from 2019.

:: A freeze on the reduced tourism and hospitality VAT rate of 9%.

:: 750 million euro is to be paid into the new Home Building Finance Ireland scheme to lend to house builders while a levy on vacant development sites will more than double from 3% to 7% if the land is held untouched for a second or subsequent years.

:: P rescription charges for all medical card holders under 70 will fall 50 cent to two euro per item, with the monthly cap falling from 25 euro to 20 euro.

:: 800 gardai and 500 civilians will be recruited into the force next year.

:: The pupil teacher ratio in primary schools will fall to 26:1.

:: Interest relief for mortgages taken out from 2004-2012 will run until 2020 but at 75% of the rate next year, 50% in 2019 and 25% in the last year.

:: Free preschool childcare is also being extended to two years for kids accessing the ECCE scheme of 15 hours a week.
The entry from Crossroads Young Farmers from Ayrshire district (Quality Meat Scotland/PA)

A clown, a wedding couple and a collie dog are among the finalists in a competition for works of art made out of hay bales.

The shortlist for the Young Farmers Bale Art Competition has been announced, with six now in the running to take the top prize.

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More than 50 entries were received with other themes including trains, tractors, Scottish brands and the Queensferry Crossing.

Suzie Dunn, Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC) chairman, said: Well done to the finalist clubs and to all those club members throughout Scotland who took part this year  a fantastic effort producing over 50 entries.

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The finalist clubs are Thornhill Young Farmers from Dumfries and Galloway district, West Renfrewshire Young Farmers from Clyde and Central district, Crossroads Young Farmers from Ayrshire district, Vale of Alford JAC from West Aberdeenshire district, Strathearn JAC from Perthshire district and Bankfoot JAC of Perthshire district.

Among the shortlisted entrants are a number of artworks ranging from a collie dog, a bear and a selection of farm animals to Bill and Ben, a clown and a bride and groom.

SAYFC members were challenged to include the Scotch Lamb PGI logo in their pieces to coincide with a push by Quality Meat Scotland to raise awareness of the brand.

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TV presenter Lorraine Kelly is now set to judge the finalists and select a winner.

She said: This is a brilliant initiative by Scotlands young farmers and Quality Meat Scotland and Im really looking forward to seeing the six finalist bale art entries.

Competition organisers have urged people to donate to STV Childrens Appeal through a JustGiving page.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is to visit India and Pakistan on a mission to drum up trade links between the capital and the two countries.

He is due to meet not only politicians and business leaders, but also figures in the Bollywood film industry as well as representatives of the sports, tech and education sectors during his six-day visit to six cities towards the end of this year.

His office said Mr Khan would be the first Mayor of London to visit India and Pakistan in a single trip, as well as the first major British politician to carry out a trade mission to both countries in recent times.

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Only two cities in the world provide more investment in Pakistan than London, and 44% of the fastest growing Indian companies now have a base in the English capital.

Mr Khan said: As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent.

But what excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners  benefits in terms of business and trade, jobs and investment, and in terms of cultural and technological exchange.

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This is a really important mission as there are so many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan, not only in business but in tackling some of the biggest challenges we all face  such as air pollution and climate change.

I am passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world, and I look forward to strengthening the bonds between London and our friends in India and Pakistan later this year.

Accompanied by his deputy mayor for business, Rajesh Agrawal, Mr Khan is due to visit Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar in India, before heading to Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.
Theresa May has directly pressured Donald Trump not to tear up the international nuclear deal with Iran, as it is vitally important for regional security.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister had spoken to the United States president, days ahead of his expected announcement that he will refuse to certify the 2015 deal.

Mr Trump repeatedly denounced the deal  under which Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons programmes in return for the lifting of economic sanctions  during his election campaign.

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A Number 10 spokesman said: Prime Minister Theresa May tonight spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the US Presidents upcoming decision on recertifying the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

The PM reaffirmed the UKs strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners, saying it was vitally important for regional security.

The PM stressed that it was important that the deal was carefully monitored and properly enforced.

Mrs May and the president also discussed the need for the UK, US and others to work together to counter destabilising Iranian activity in the region.

The PM and president agreed that their teams should remain in contact ahead of the decision on recertification.

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Last month Mr Trump called the deal an embarrassment to the United States while attending the United Nations General Assembly.

However, other signatories including the UK, France and Germany are firmly in favour of keeping the agreement intact.

Meanwhile, Mrs May again lobbied Mr Trump over US tariffs on plane manufacturer Bombardier, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Belfast, stressing the importance of the jobs provided by the Bombardier factory to the people and economy of Northern Ireland.

The firm has been hit by a proposed 80% levy on exports following complaints by Boeing that the Canadian-owned company had dumped its C Series jets at absurdly low prices.

The Downing Street spokesman added: The PM also reiterated her condolences to the president in the wake of the terrible shooting in Las Vegas.
PM Theresa May is greeted by pupils during a visit to the Dunraven School in Streatham, south London, yesterday

Theresa May has warned the British public to prepare for crashing out of the EU with no deal, setting out emergency plans to avoid border meltdown for businesses and travellers.

As hopes of an agreement appeared to fade at home and abroad, the Prime Minister - for the first time - set out detailed "steps to minimise disruption" on Brexit day in 2019.

They included plans for huge inland lorry parks to cope with the lengthy new customs checks that will be needed - to avoid ports becoming traffic-choked.

The move came as Ms May admitted she expected the deadlocked talks to drag on for another year before any breakthrough.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, Ms May's insistence that she would make no further compromises in the talks was firmly rebuffed.

"There has been, so far, no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings, so the ball is entirely in the UK's court for the rest to happen," said Margaritis Schinas, the European Commission's chief spokeswoman.

In the Commons, the Prime Minister continued to insist that "real and tangible progress" towards an agreement had been made since her high-profile speech in Florence last month.

But she also made clear that new policy papers on trade and customs were intended to show Britain could operate as an "independent trading nation" - even if no trade deal was reached.

She told MPs: "While I believe it is profoundly in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a Government to prepare for every eventuality, so that is exactly what we are doing.

"These White Papers also support that work, including setting out steps to minimise disruption for businesses and travellers."

The planned legislation for post-Brexit customs arrangements set out what would be required under a "no deal" exit.

"Traders that currently trade only with the EU will be subject to customs declarations and customs checks for the first time," it stated. "The impact is likely to be greatest where goods are travelling in vehicles (e.g. HGVs, vans, etc.)." And it added: "It would not be desirable to hold vehicles for any length of time at ports to present goods to Customs for export.

"Therefore, presentation would take place inland as much as possible, and at the port there would be a means to confirm that goods have left the UK."

A Bill would ensure "the UK can charge customs duty on goods (including on goods imported from the EU)."

In her statement, the Prime Minister suggested any Brexit agreement was a long time off and would come right down to the wire.

"We are negotiating a deal. We will not have negotiated that deal until, I suspect, close to the end of that period that's been set aside for it," she said.
Carrie Fishers dog, Gary, has been photographed watching his late owner in a trailer for one of her final acting roles.

The actress French Bulldog has his own Instagram account with over 145,000 followers, on which was posted a picture of the dog watching the latest teaser for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

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Just watched the new trailer of The Last Jedi and my mom looks more beautiful than ever, read Garys post.

The latest film in the Star Wars franchise, one of the final films Fisher made before her death, is set for release in December, a year on since she passed away aged 60.

Gary was beloved by Fisher, even joining her at the European premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.

Expand Close Carrie Fisher with Gary PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Carrie Fisher with Gary

Instagram users were touched by the post on Garys profile.

My heart is truly broken, wrote one, while another put I miss her too Gary.

According to TMZ, Gary is now in the care of Fishers assistant Corby McCoin, despite initial reports he would be taken care of by her daughter Billie Lourd.

Since his owner passed away, Garys account has not been quiet though, and Carrie is never far from his thoughts.

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Keep doing what youre doing Gary.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released on December 15 in the UK.
Spanish police officers stand guard at the entrance to the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Catalan lawmakers have signed a document they are calling a declaration of independence from Spain but are delaying its implementation.

Regional president Carles Puigdemont was the first to sign the Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia document.

Dozens of other lawmakers signed it after him in the regional parliament in Barcelona.

The signing ceremony came a few hours after Mr Puigdemont addressed the parliament, saying Catalans had earned the right to independence from Spain after a referendum on October 1.

However, he called for dialogue with Spain's government, which has condemned the referendum as illegal and unconstitutional.

AP

The central government in Spain responded by saying it did not accept the declaration of independence by the separatists and did not consider the October 1 referendum or its results to be valid.

Mr Puigdemont said the landslide victory in the referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain.

However, he proposed the regional parliament "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue, not only for reducing tension but for reaching an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people".

"We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state," Mr Puigdemont said.

Such a move would help reduce political tensions and reach "an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people", Mr Puigdemont added.

About two dozen tractors flying secessionist flags paraded near parliament and thousands of separatists gathered in the promenade next to Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, where the movement's main grassroots group has called for a rally.

The Spanish government does not accept the "implicit" declaration of independence by the Catalan separatists and the results of a banned referendum cannot be considered valid, an official said.

The official told The Associated Press that the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy cannot accept validating a Catalan referendum law that was suspended by Spain's Constitution and called the referendum "fraudulent and illegal".

Mr Rajoy's government "considers it inadmissible to make an implicit declaration of independence and then leave it in suspension in an explicit manner," according to the official.

Mr Puigdemont was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum and the violent police reaction that left hundreds injured on voting day, but said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

"We are not criminals, we are not crazy, we are not pulling off a coup, we are not out of our minds. We are normal people who want to vote," he said.

Opposition leader Ines Arrimadas of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party slammed the speech.

"This is a coup. Nobody has recognised the result of the referendum. Nobody in Europe supports what you have just done," she said.

"Stop saying the Catalan people are united. Above all after what you have done. You have forced us to turn against one another," she said, addressing Mr Puigdemont during the parliament session.

"The majority of Catalans feel they are Catalans, Spanish and Europe. We won't let you break our hearts into bits," Ms Arrimadas said.

Some 2.3 million Catalans - or 43% of the electorate in the region - voted in the referendum.

Regional authorities say 90% of those who voted were in favour of independence.

AP

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the Spanish government will hold an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Ms Saenz de Santamaria signalled that Spain's government was in no mood to talk, saying Mr Puigdemont "doesn't know where he is, where he is going and with whom he wants to go".

After the Cabinet meets on Wednesday morning, Mr Rajoy is due to address parliament in the afternoon.
Gunmen have killed two female employees of a technical university on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, police said.

The assault in Ukunda, near Mombasa, occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for the rerun of presidential elections later this month.

The gunmen, suspected to be al-Shabab rebels from neighbouring Somalia, sprayed a vehicle carrying university staff and police with bullets near the campus, said Larry Kieng, the region's police chief.

Ukunda is 19 miles south west of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city.

Two staff members of the university were killed in the attack, said Mwangi Kahiro, acting county commissioner for Kwale County.

The incident recalled the attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenyan in April 2015 in which four gunmen killed 148 people, most of them students.

Somalia's al-Shabab militia has been carrying out attacks in Kenya as retribution for Kenya's deployment of troops in Somalia to fight the rebels.

Kenya is one of six African countries that contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia to fight al-Shabab, which is waging an insurgency against the UN-backed government to establish a state based on strict Shariah law.

Al-Shabab is the most potent threat to east Africa's stability, having regained territory in parts of southern and central Somalia and carrying out frequent attacks in Somalia's capital and in Kenya, according to the US State Department.

The 22,000 troops in the African Union force pushed al-Shabab out of most of Somalia's cities and towns but the rebels continued to hold territory in southern Somalia where the extremist group "gained time and space needed to grow, regroup and recruit new fighters", said the report.

AP
The Home Office has come to its senses in the case of a Northern Ireland man and his Japanese fiancee who are due to get married soon. She was refused a visa to come to Northern Ireland to get married because her husband-to-be held an Irish passport and was therefore regarded by the government department as Irish rather than British.

That ruling flies in the face of the legitimacy under the Good Friday Agreement for people in Northern Ireland to hold either British or Irish passport or both, without necessarily denying their Britishness. It was a stressful time for the couple but now they have got the best wedding present - permission to get wed.
CHP - Golden Gate Division (SANTA ANA, Calif.) -- Wildfires have swept through California, killing at least 15 people and injuring over 100.



With thousands of acres burned and the fires still raging, here's how you can help those affected by the blazes.



Facebook has created exclusive Crisis Response Centers for three of the fires -- the Sulphur Fire, the Tubbs Fire and the Atlas Fire.



If you want to volunteer to help, you can let the community of the Crisis Response Center know that you're looking to participate in volunteer efforts.



The Crisis Response Centers also allow people to start a fundraiser or donate to ongoing fundraisers. They also serve as a resource to view information about the wildfires, including local news reports and updates, as well as photos that other Facebook users in the area are posting of the devastation.



The online centers also allow you to check in, letting your Facebook friends know you're safe if you're living in the affected areas, or allow you to make sure that your friends in those areas are safe.



You can also help by making donations.



The Center for International Disaster Information, which is part of USAID and focuses on informing people about the most effective ways to support international disaster relief and recovery, recommends monetary contributions because they let relief organizations urgently purchase the supplies they need.



"Cash donations allow relief supplies to be purchased near the disaster site, avoiding delays, and steep transportation and logistical costs that can encumber material donations," CIDI's website notes.



Additionally, the organization recommends making sure that the money donated is going to vetted relief agencies.



To ensure that you're contributing to established agencies, you can visit an organization like Charity Navigator or GiveWell, which monitor charities, making it easier to determine where to send your money securely.



The American Red Cross is among established relief organizations that are highly rated by Charity Navigator. The Red Cross is working to provide shelter, food and comfort to those that had to flee their neighborhoods in the affected wildfire areas.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Rohingya refugees carry their children and belongings after crossing the Naf River from Myanmar into Bangladesh in Whaikhyang, Cox's Bazar district, southeastern Bangladesh, Oct. 9, 2017.

The Rohingya militant group responsible for deadly attacks on police outposts in Myanmars violence-wracked northern Rakhine state ended its month-long unilateral humanitarian cease-fire on Monday, a suspension of hostilities that the Myanmar military had rejected.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), whose assaults on 30 police outposts and an army facility on Aug. 25 spawned a military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that has driven more than a half-million villagers from their homes, said on Saturday that its self-imposed cease-fire would expire at midnight on Oct. 9.

The groups humanitarian pause which began on Sept. 10 was a temporary cessation of offensives in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung townships  the epicenter of recent violence and ethnic strife  so aid groups could reach people there.

During this humanitarian pause, ARSA provided safe passage [to] and assisted thousands of victims fleeing into Bangladesh from Burma due to war crime[s], genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing committed by the Burmese military regime, ARSAs statement said.

The group blamed the Myanmar government for blocking humanitarian access to the region because of its sustained military operations and a political strategy which uses mass murder, violence, arson, intimidation, and genocidal rape as tools of depopulation.

Rights groups and the United Nations have accused the Myanmar military of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine amid numerous reports by Rohingya of soldiers murdering civilians, burning villages, torturing people, and raping girls and women.

The government has denied the allegations and blamed the killings and burning of villages on the Muslim militants.

ARSA also called on the Myanmar government to reinstate and restore the status of the Rohingya as a native indigenous ethnic group of Rakhine, grant them all human rights guaranteed in the universal Declaration of Human Rights, and let them freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has denied them citizenship and basic rights, though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Late last week ARSA announced that it was willing to discuss a further cease-fire and the end of military offensives for the purpose of humanitarian access.

Myanmar Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Sein Win, who spoke to the media on Monday in the administrative capital Naypyidaw, said the government army did not recognize ARSAs cease-fire.

No government negotiates with terrorist groups, he said. We dismiss them [ARSA].

Asked about the current security situation in Rakhine, he said the army and home affairs ministry are working together to ensure the rule of law and regional stability in northern Rakhine.

But given the nature of the area, it is very large, so there may be some destruction if they [ARSA] want to carry out attacks, Sein Win said.

Zaw Htay, director general of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis office, said on his Facebook page on Monday: We have no policy to negotiate with terrorists.

On Sunday, he wrote a post that Islamic organizations in Myanmar had condemned ARSA terrorists for their acts and urged Muslims to help stabilize the country.

Bangladeshi volunteers bury Rohingya children, who died when their boat capsized while crossing the Naf River from Myanmar into Bangladesh, at a graveyard in Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar disctict, southeastern Bangladesh, Oct. 9, 2017. AFP

Tragic loss of life

Meanwhile, thousands of Rohingya Muslims from northern Rakhine continue to flee to safety in neighboring Bangladesh where many are succumbing to drowning incidents, dehydration, starvation, exhaustion, and illnesses.

On Sunday, at least 14 refugees, including children, died when their boat capsized while crossing the Naf River that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The boat, which had up to 35 people on board, went down near Shah Porir Dwip on the southern tip of Bangladesh late on Sunday, Reuters reported, citing Bangladeshi police.

Todays drowning and tragic loss of life is yet more evidence of the desperate situation still prevailing in Rakhine state," said James Gomez, director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific for London-based Amnesty International, in a printed statement.

While the Myanmar military has engaged in a campaign of violence, there is mounting evidence that Rohingya women, men, and children are now also fleeing the very real threat of starvation, he said.

Rights groups and Rohingya who have made it to Bangladesh have indicated that violence is still occurring in northern Rakhine and that Myanmar has hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid, though the government has said that attacks and military operations ended on Sept. 5.

The Myanmar authorities are actively blocking aid groups from reaching affected areas in northern Rakhine state, where people are on the brink of survival, Gomez said. These restrictions show a callous disregard for human life and must end immediately.

Bangladeshi officials and relief agencies are struggling to provide food and basic health services to the nearly 519,000 Rohingya who have arrived in the country during the last six weeks and are living in makeshift shelters in refugee camps in the southeastern part of the country.
Philippine Sen. Leila De Lima, one of President Rodrigo Duterte's most-vocal critics, waves to her supporters after appearing at a court in a Manila suburb, Feb. 24, 2017.

The Philippines highest court on Tuesday rejected a petition by a leading critic of President Rodrigo Duterte to be released from jail, saying her arguments lacked merit.

Supporters of jailed Sen. Leila de Lima criticized the ruling, saying her prolonged detention amounted to political persecution.

By a 9-6 vote the Supreme Court turned down the senators motion to recall a warrant for her arrest issued by a regional court. It also rejected her request to dismiss what she had argued were trumped-up charges.

De Lima, former head of the countrys human rights commission, was jailed in February on charges she allegedly received bribes from drug lords to finance her senatorial campaign last year.

She denied the charges and alleged the government was going after her for questioning Dutertes internationally maligned drug war.

Since Duterte took power in June 2016, more than 12,800 people have been shot dead across the Philippines, according to official government figures.

The fatalities include about 3,000 who were killed in alleged gunfights between suspects and police officers during anti-drug operations. Suspected vigilantes were involved in more than 8,000 of those killings, officials said.

De Lima, 58, led a Senate panel that heard testimony from a former police officer and a self-confessed assassin who testified they belonged to a death squad controlled by Duterte when he was the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao.

De Lima alleged that Duterte employed the same tactics when he became president by empowering police to carry out extrajudicial killings by promising them immunity from prosecution.

She was removed as chairwoman of the Senate panel investigating the deaths and soon after became the subject of an investigation by Dutertes allies in the House of Representatives.

They presented jailed drug traffickers as witnesses who claimed that De Lima received payoffs from them in exchange for allowing them to operate from inside the countrys national penitentiary.

Those allegations, which were prepared by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, became the basis for the charges against De Lima. Aguirre, a fraternity brother of the president, accused De Lima of using drug money to fund her senatorial run.

Members of the Senates minority bloc said that while they respected the Supreme Courts decision, they disagreed with the ruling.

We are hoping the magistrates would correct the unjustified jailing of Sen. de Lima, they said in a statement. It is worrying that the one who is fighting for the rights of the poor and helpless is now the subject of the states campaign.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she was saddened by the decision on De Lima who remains in jail on trumped up charges.

I am calling on the all Filipinos who love democracy and human rights to continue giving their support to De Lima, she said.

In these times of darkness, we need to continue the fight for truth and justice, Hontiveros said.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced a potential timeframe Tuesday for general elections in 2018 that would be the first since his military government seized power in a coup three years ago.

Previously, Prayuth had discussed holding a national election before he pulled back on his comments, citing national security concerns and unfinished election laws. After meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month, Prayuth told business leaders in Washington that Thailand would hold a general election next year, but did not announce a timeframe.

On Tuesday, he added clarity to his previous announcement.

Around June 2018, we will announce an election date. And around November, we will hold the elections ... this is very clear, Prayuth told reporters at Government House in Bangkok, following his weekly cabinet session and a meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the official name of the junta he leads.

The national election would be the first since the NCPO came to power in May 2014. Prayuth, a retired general, became prime minister after leading a military coup that overthrew then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The election announcement comes weeks after Yingluck fled Thailand in August before she was to appear in court to hear the verdict in a rice subsidy scheme during her tenure. A month later, she was sentenced in absentia to five years, while government officials said they were unsure of her whereabouts.

Yinglucks older brother Thaksin, another former prime minister, suffered a similar coup in 2006 and has been living in exile since 2008. Last week, the attorney general announced that he was filing a royal defamation charge against Thaksin.

Thaksin challenges charges

In a message posted on Twitter late Monday, Thaksin denied that he had insulted the Thai monarchy, and he threatened to take legal action against whomever used his name to defame to royal family.

I was extremely concerned when I heard about the Lese-Majeste message that mentioned my name, he tweeted, adding that he never considered offending the royal institution.

Thailands strict Lese-Majeste law prohibits defaming, insulting or threatening the Thai royal family. Conviction carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.

I will ask my lawyer to sue everyone who claims I offended the royal institution, Thaksin tweeted.

Additionally, he ordered his lawyer to submit petition to the attorney general to reconsider the accusations against him.

Attorney General Khemchai Chutiwong told reporters on Friday that Thaksin would be charged under Lese-Majeste and for computer-related crimes, but without providing details.

Since Prayuth seized power in May 2014, at least 82 people have been charged under Lese-Majeste, according to iLaw, a rights advocacy group.

Prayuth: do not campaign

Announcing his plan for an election next year, Prime Minister Prayuth also admonished political parties to refrain from campaigning.

The NCPO will consider lifting a ban on political activities at an appropriate time. Until then, all politicians and political parties shall maintain peace and order because it will impact the relaxation of the political restrictions, he said.

Sunisa Lertpakawat, a former deputy spokesman from Pheu Thai party, asked Prayuth to relax political activities after the royal cremation ceremony for the late King Phumipol Adulyadej, which is coming up later in October. Pheu Thai is the opposition party linked to the Shinawatras.

There are many process that political parties have to prepare for the election. After October, Gen. Prayuth should allow people to express their political opinion to create political participation and get them ready for the coming general election, Sunisa told reporters.
Election Day has come and gone with little drama, locally. The area voted as expected, most local leaders kept their seats and will continue to serve. Read moreElection Day: No big surprises
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by Charlotte Van Werven, Apprentice in Editorial for Jesus' Economy



Where do you want to be in five years? a professor asked me in the middle of the crowded dining hall.

It was March of my freshman year at a Christian university.

Oh, I dont know, I answered. Maybe Uganda? Somewhere doing missions work, though.

While there is nothing wrong with wanting to go into full-time missions, there was a problem with my answer. The problem was that I wasnt being honest with myself. I didnt truly see myself in Uganda, or even want to go there. But I wanted to want it, because I thought that was what faithful Christians were supposed to do.

I thought full-time overseas missionary work was the best work any Christian could be called to. That was my first mistake. The second was that I didnt have a clear understanding of what being a missionary really was.

BEING A MISSIONARY IS TO RESPOND FAITHFULLY TO GODS CALL

Like many Christians, I had a misconception about the nature of missions work. I was 19 and convinced that full-time missions work in an impoverished nation was the best way to serve God. And I was worried that it meant I wasnt a good enough Christian if God wasnt calling me away to do big and scary things.

I disregarded the fact that I am an introvert who is easily exhausted by groups of people. I disregarded the fact that God hadnt given me gifts of public speaking, teaching, or leading. I knew I could learn all those things if the mission field required it of me. God would give me what I needed to succeed in his plans.

And thats true. But I was disregarding the gifts that God did give me; and I knew that going into full-time overseas missions wouldnt be the best way for me to use those gifts. I knew that I didnt really feel called to Uganda. I had for a long time felt like God was calling me to worship and serve him through writing. Of course, I couldve written in Uganda, but I knew God was asking me to not go that farhe was asking me to stay close by and work on creating art that could make people feel and remind them whats important in life. He wanted me to spread the gospel right here.

Every believer receives spiritual gifts to use as a member of the body of Christ. These gifts empower us to do Gods work. Not everyone is going to be gifted and called to lead. Nor will everyone be called to missions work in another country. Were all different, and thats a great thing about the body of Christ:

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12:2730 ESV).

It is important that believers work together as different parts of the same body. If a finger suddenly decided it didnt want to be a finger anymore, and started to act like an ear instead, everything would fall apart. As a body, we will be most successful at spreading the gospel if we each use the gifts God has given us and not attempt to be someone other than who God created us to be.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:47 ESV).

USING OUR GIFTS IS ENOUGH

The professor saw through my lie and called me out on it.

What really gets you going? What do you love?

I love writing. Ive always wanted to write.

Why do you see yourself in Uganda and not in, say, Paris, writing every day at a cafe?

I-I dont know.

Why full-time missions and not full-time writing?

It just doesnt seem like enough, I finally confessed.

There it was. Sometimes, doing the things were good at doesnt feel like enough. Even when God gives us gifts, we disregard them in favor of pursuing what we consider to be a more noble or spiritual occupation.

I believed the myth that becoming a missionary in a far-away country was the best thing anyone could do for the Kingdom of God. I know Im not the only Christian who has made this mistake, and this has led Christians to mission fields they do not belong in. When this happens, the kingdom is missing out on the work we are actuallycalled to do.

MISSIONS WORK IS FOR EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE

Being a missionary doesnt always mean traveling across the world. Being a missionary means taking on the mission of spreading the gospelwhich is something we are all called to do:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:1920 ESV).

Being a missionary isnt always about leaving. Sometimes it means staying right where you are and using the gifts God has given you. And no calling is higher or lower than another. The whole world needs the gospel, including the community you live in now.

After pursuing a writing career, God might still call me to Uganda. Im keeping my ears open. But no matter where I go or where he calls me next, Im going to listen and be honest with what Im hearing.

I encourage you to do the same. Respond to the call God has placed on your life. Be a missionary in whatever you do.

This long-form article is part of our weekly series, Living for Jesus. You can read the original article on Jesus' Economy here.

Charlotte Van Werven writes for Jesus Economy, an innovative non-profit creating jobs and churches in the developing world. At JesusEconomy.org, people can shop fair trade and give directly to a cause theyre passionate about, such as bringing the gospel to unreached people groups.
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David Chavern, Head of the US publishers

David Chavern, Head of the US publishers |

Berlin  Donald Trump (73) has called journalists enemies of the people and has insinuated that they are spreading fake news. However, David Chavern, head of the US publishers association News Media Alliance, says that Google and Facebook are even greater threats to publishing houses than the Presidents attacks.

BILD asked Chavern whether the internet giants are really that dangerous.

Chavern: When the President insults us, it is a chance for us to show what we can really do. We are the real news. Google and Facebook, by contrast, attack our capacity to produce real news. Given the declining circulation of print products, we must manage to live of income from the digital word. That is very difficult with Google and Facebook as online distribution partners, however.

BILD: Does this concern subscriptions or advertising income?

Chavern: Advertising income is moving away from those who create web content  the publishers. Instead, Google and Facebook alone make up 70 percent of the advertising business. At the same time, they block our success with online subscriptions. That has to stop.

Auch interessant

BILD: What can publishing houses do?

Chavern: Publishing houses in the US and Europe have to jointly defend themselves against the big networks. We must not shy away from demanding compensation for the values that we create. And we must be innovative, for instance concerning new payment models.

BILD: What do you expect from politics?

Chavern: The legislators have to acknowledge that our work is essential to our free society. This includes our interest in ownership over the content we create.

PS: Sind Sie bei Facebook? Werden Sie Fan von BILD.de-Politik!
For Immediate Release, October 10, 2017 Contact: Vera Pardee, (858) 717-1448, vpardee@biologicaldiversity.org Trump's EPA Will Kill Clean Power Plan, Delaying Crucial Climate Protection WASHINGTON The Trump administration today formally proposed to rip up the Clean Power Plan without any replacement. Todays decision aims to wipe away a critical Obama-era measure to cut greenhouse emissions from power plants, which would have been one of the Environmental Protection Agencys most significant tools to reduce carbon pollution. But EPA administrator Scott Pruitts repeal of the Clean Power Plan will face formidable legal obstacles. The Center for Biological Diversity is part of a coalition of organizations defending the plan in court. Repealing the plan without any replacement exposes the Trump administration to new legal peril because it flouts the Clean Air Acts mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nations power industry.



Well fight Pruitts despicable sabotage of the EPAs most important effort to fight pollution and protect us from climate change, said Vera Pardee, senior counsel with the Centers Climate Law Institute. Undoing the existing plan without any replacement will add years of doing absolutely nothing to reduce power plant emissions. Pruitts reckless disregard for the EPAs essential duties should cost him his job. The nations fleet of power plants is the second largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. The Clean Power Plan is among the most significant pieces so far in the overall puzzle of curbing carbon emissions in the United States. The repeal is the latest in a wave of anti-climate Trump actions, including efforts to walk back protections against greenhouse emission and air pollution from the nations light and heavy duty vehicles. EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has repeatedly denied fundamental scientific facts about climate change. I would not agree that [carbon dioxide is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we see, he said in a CNBC interview in March.
For Immediate Release, October 10, 2017

Contact: Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (213) 598-1466, jevans@biologicaldiversity.org

George Hague, Sierra Club, (951) 313-0395, gbhauge@gmail.com

Tom Paulek, Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley, (951) 368-4525; atpaul44@earthlink.net Appeal Challenges Southern California Freeway Threatening Wildlife, Homes $1.7 Billion Freeway Would Hurt Air Quality, Waste Taxpayer Money RIVERSIDE, Calif. Conservation groups today filed an appeal in state court challenging a new $1.7 billion freeway project in Southern California that would cut through low-income neighborhoods, threaten wildlife preserves and worsen air pollution. The six-lane Mid County Parkway would fragment the San Jacinto Valley, opening the door to sprawl and traffic in a rural area rich in agriculture, open space and wildlife preserves. The Mid County Parkway would pave the way for destructive new development projects, such as the controversial new city of 36,000 people called the Villages of Lakeview. This massive waste of taxpayer money adds more sprawl and cars on the roads while tearing apart neighborhoods and wildlife habitat, said Jonathan Evans, environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Riverside County should be looking for transit solutions that improve lives and congestion. But this boondoggle will end up hurting imperiled wildlife while forcing hundreds of people from their homes. Today's appeal comes after a Riverside County Superior Court ruling this summer in favor of the freeway project under the California Environmental Quality Act. An environmental review prepared by the Riverside County Transportation Commission found that that the chosen route would result in the highest impacts to residential relocations in areas with minority and low-income populations and be built close to schools and parks. A wealth of research demonstrates significant long-term health risks for those living close to freeways or traffic pollution, especially for children, pregnant women and senior citizens. Construction of the highway would force up to 396 residents from their homes and displace businesses that employ more than 170 people. This polluting freeway would tear up neighborhoods and worsen our struggling air quality with a permanent new source of diesel exhaust and soot, said George Hague of the San Gorgonio chapter of the Sierra Club. The county should be proposing cleaner and cheaper upgrades to the Ramona Expressway to improve traffic safety instead of this wasteful new six-lane freeway. Riverside County environmental documents admit the project will worsen air quality and greenhouse gas pollution while also harming farmlands and sensitive wildlife preserves. Environmentally sensitive wildlife areas around the freeway that would be affected by the project include the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Lake Perris State Recreation Area, and important core reserves designated for conservation under regional habitat conservation plans, including the Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. The freeway would cut through the San Jacinto Valley, which is home to numerous imperiled wildlife species, including the burrowing owl, Swainson's hawk, tricolored blackbird, willow flycatcher and Stephens' kangaroo rat. It's also one of the most important areas for migratory birds in Southern California and renowned as a haven for birds of prey, including bald and golden eagles and peregrine falcons. This unnecessary freeway project only leads to efforts by developers to pave over the beautiful San Jacinto Valley, destroy its agricultural community and degrade one of Southern California's most important wetlands  the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, said Tom Paulek of the Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley. This reckless freeway destroys the possibility for sustainable land use in the San Jacinto Valley that reduces urban-industrial sprawl, preserves local agriculture and protects wildlife. Today's appeal was filed in California state court at the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside against the Riverside County Transportation Commission by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society and Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley. In addition to this federal lawsuit, the same coalition filed an appeal to the freeway in federal court at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in July of this year.
For Immediate Release, October 10, 2017 Contact: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org Rep. Bishop Introduces Bill to Overturn Antiquities Act, Threaten Public Lands WASHINGTON Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) introduced legislation today that would invalidate the Antiquities Act and put current and future national monuments at risk. Under his legislation national monuments would be limited to 85,000 acres and all but the smallest monuments would need state approval. This legislation is an appalling, unprecedented attack on our national monuments and public lands, said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Zion and nearly every national monument created over the past hundred years wouldnt have been possible under Bishops bill. Extreme doesnt begin to describe how reprehensible his scheme is. H.R. 3990, misleadingly named the National Monument Creation and Protection Act, would require county and state approval for any national monument larger than 10,000 acres. Monuments could no longer be designated to protect natural or scientific wonders  only objects of antiquity such as relics, cultural artifacts and fossils. The bill would also require private landowners to agree to national monument designations if their land abutted proposed monument boundaries. The bill gives presidents the authority to shrink existing national monuments, an acknowledgment that President Trump lacks authority to change national monument designations or boundaries as his administration has suggested. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants Trump to shrink four national monuments  Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah, Gold Butte in Nevada and Cascade Siskiyou in California and Oregon  and slash protections for these monuments and six others. Bishops views are extreme, but at least he acknowledges that Trump has no authority to shrink a national monument, said Spivak. Theres no public support for this kind of radical legislation. Bishops only motivation is greed. Hes offering a gift to the fossil fuel, mining and timber industries and expecting something in return.
For Immediate Release, October 10, 2017 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org U.S. House Considers Public Lands Giveaway for 'Solar Chimney' Boondoggle Legislation Would Gift 8,000 Acres in Arizona to Special Interests WASHINGTON The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would give away 8,000 acres of federal land to Arizonas La Paz County for an experimental solar chimney. Sponsored by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), H.R. 2630 would exempt the land from laws requiring taxpayers to be compensated when federal lands are sold or disposed of. According to Gosars website and other reports, the land will be used for a 2,600-foot-tall experimental solar chimney intended to provide electricity to western Arizona communities. This shady land giveaway looks a lot like a gift to special interests, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Giving away public lands so a private company can build the tallest structure in North America, with no public input or environmental review, is irresponsible and reckless. A Senate companion bill, S. 1222, was introduced in May by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 grants the Bureau of Land Management the authority to exchange, sell or dispose of federal land if it serves an important public objective that private land fails to offer. Congressional approval is required for land deals of more than 2,500 acres. The BLM can then use proceeds from the sale to buy other conservation land. Gosars bill includes a provision that skirts the requirement for the land to serve an important public purpose and would allow La Paz County to sell the 8,000 acres to private developers. This bill would fleece Arizona taxpayers and set a terrible precedent, said Hartl. If La Paz County or the special-interest developer pulling the strings wants these lands for their experiment, they should pay market value as the law requires. In theory, a solar chimney  or solar updraft tower  would create a greenhouse under a canopy that covers thousands of acres around the tower. As the hot air rises, it turns the propellers in the turbines located at the base of the tower, and the heated air exits through the top of the chimney. In western Arizona summer temperatures can exceed 110 degrees, and the air under the canopy would approach 195 degrees. The environmental impacts of deploying this technology in the Arizona desert are completely unknown. The solar chimney could easily turn into a wildlife killer, said Hartl. Even if it worked and didnt hurt wildlife, you could produce just as much or more renewable energy by leasing this land for conventional solar panels. And thered be a return for taxpayers. In the first nine months of the 115th Congress, Republicans have introduced more than 75 bills that attack public lands, weaken environmental safeguards on those lands or turn over control to states and local governments. These attacks come despite the fact that the vast majority of voters across political parties support protecting and maintaining forests, national parks, monuments and other public lands and waters.
For Immediate Release, October 10, 2017 Contact: Howard Crystal, (202) 809-6926, hcrystal@biologicaldiversity.org U.S. Trade Commission Urged to Reject Solar Tariffs, Protect America's Clean-energy Future WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity submitted comments today to the U.S. International Trade Commission opposing proposed tariffs on imported solar panels. In late September the commission sided with two U.S. solar manufacturers that claimed imported solar cells are making their products uncompetitive. The commission is now considering what remedies to recommend in the case, using information from the parties and public comments. Based on those recommendations, President Trump will make the final decision on what, if any, remedies to enforce. If Trump imposes tariffs on imported solar panels, hell sabotage American businesses and threaten our clean-energy future, said Howard Crystal, a senior attorney with the Center. Tariffs would make solar power significantly more expensive, putting it out of reach for many Americans and stifling our crucial transition to clean energy. The Centers comments explain that import tariffs pose tremendous risk not only to the growth of the domestic solar industry, which employs more than twice as many Americans as the coal industry, but to national efforts to transition to a clean and just energy economy.



The climate crisis is here, ripping apart communities and threatening wildlife with devastating storms, wildfires and floods, said Crystal. As America struggles to recover from these disasters, we should be tirelessly working to reduce our reliance on polluting energy sources that fuel climate change. If Trump really wants to put America first, he should promote solar power instead of appeasing the private interests of two companies.
Business of Design speaker Q&A: Ntsako Mokwena

Business of Design (BoD) is back with a speaker lineup of note. The two-day seminar is held annually in Cape Town and Johannesburg during October and doesn't just focus on design in itself but has a much broader vision for the field in all areas of business. Delegates include everyone from business owners and creative entrepreneurs to retailers, marketing and brand executives, trend analysts, design students and other employees from various industries.

Tracy Lynn Chemaly on Business of Design and other things By Jessica Tennant 18 Jul 2016 New to the conference is 'Open Sessions', a platform for delegates to ask the BoD founders (Trevyn and Julian McGowan of The Guild Group, and Laurence Brick and Cathy OClery of 100% Design South Africa and Platform Creative Agency) as well as fellow delegates any questions they may have, and together overcome any barriers to growth and challenge new ways of doing business. Ntsako Mokwena I asked Ntsako Mokwena, CRM and marketing analytics lead, Uber sub-Saharan Africa, what she loves most about being in the business of design and to let us in on what shell be sharing during her Johannesburg session. Why are you excited for Business of Design this year? Why are you excited for Business of Design this year?

I am honoured to be a part of the Business of Design conference this year. Firstly, I must say that I admire the mission of the founders and think that its important to constantly break barriers that prevent small businesses from flourishing in the South African economy. BoD is a great platform that brings together creative business leaders and entrepreneurs to democratise information and share knowledge that will hopefully contribute to the success of businesses in our country. Im excited to be part of this conversation and to glean insights on the latest industry trends. Business of Design speaker Q&A: Yehuda Raff By Jessica Tennant 6 Oct 2017 Comment on the importance of events such as this that recognise the role design plays in (and the impact it can have on) various industries? Comment on the importance of events such as this that recognise the role design plays in (and the impact it can have on) various industries?

Over the past couple of years there has been a shift in companies that are recognising that innovation is a source of true differentiation. Not just paying lip service to the term, but being sincere in creating human-centred solutions that are intuitive and pleasurable. In the same time span, design has made its way into boardroom conversations, building a case for value propositions that are not only rooted in utility but also in empathy and love. In an increasingly complex world, simplicity is a luxury and design is our greatest mediator.

BoD facilitates this conversation beautifully and elevates the role of design by bringing together its multiple facets across different industries.

Comment on the current state of design in South Africa (and internationally). Comment on the current state of design in South Africa (and internationally).

I think that design in South Africa has reached a point of maturity and continues to grow from strength to strength. It is respected and admired by global market leaders. We can be proud as weve consistently demonstrated that the design industry in South Africa (be it fashion, furniture, graphic, product, etc.) is a force to be reckoned with, drawing upon our rich heritage and history to develop exceptional creations in all fields. African motifs continue to grace international fashion runways, mood boards, architecture and art gallery walls the world over.

What is your/your companys involvement in/contribution to the local design scene? What is your/your companys involvement in/contribution to the local design scene?

We currently work with a team of freelance graphic designers, illustrators, animators and copywriters who produce all design requests issued by our teams across sub-Saharan Africa. From out-of-home billboards to educational mailers, this team is responsible for compiling these and are predominantly young freelancers looking to break into the industry.

What do you love most about being in the business of design? What do you love most about being in the business of design?

The ever-changing nature of the industry. At Uber, were constantly adapting and growing to remain relevant in the markets in which we operate. No two markets are exactly the same, and being on the regional marketing team for sub-Saharan Africa, its important that these differences shape the campaigns, communications and innovations that our teams across the region produce.

What is the title/subject of your talk and/or what are you going to be sharing? What is the title/subject of your talk and/or what are you going to be sharing?

I will be giving a talk on forging new avenues through disruptive innovation. Ill start by demystifying the term 'disruption' and looking at the innovation ecosystem and opportunities that may emerge for players in a 'disrupted' industry. Ill go on to speak about the power of inclusive, human-centered technology coupled with collaboration to ensure that every single customer comes along on the journey, leaving no wo/man behind! Ill then close off with the Uber case study and the responsibility that comes with being a 'disruptor'.

Whats the key takeout?



No company is an island or self-sufficient. Even in the extreme case of disruptive innovation, businesses need to embrace partnerships and empathy, which brings to mind the old African proverb: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

The Cape Town version takes place 11-12 October, followed by Johannesburg on 18-19 October, and our readers qualify for a R450 discount. To take up this offer, email az.oc.ngisedfossenisub@ycart with Bizcommunity as the subject. In the meantime, follow #BODCT and/or #BODJHB for more pre-event speaker interviews over the next couple of weeks to get your creative juices flowing.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Deacons East Africa Plc has received board approval to enter into negotiations for the sale of the Mr Price franchise in Kenya. The move comes after Mr Price Group Limited approached Deacons EA with a proposal to purchase the franchise.

Jon Harald Sby via Wikimedia

The proposed transaction will be subject to various conditions that include requisite approvals from regulatory authorities and the shareholders of Deacons through a shareholders meeting to be convened once the sale agreement has been finalised.

The South African company is looking to purchase the Mr Price Home and Mr Price apparel brands following the success of the brands in Kenya. The brands have been operating in Kenya since 2007. The company says it sees Kenya as a lucrative market that it can rely on to grow its business. The deal, if approved, will see the firm purchase and operate all the 11 Mr Price Home and Mr Price apparel stores in Kenya.

In a cautionary statement, Deacons chief executive officer Muchiri Wahome said further information relating to the proposed deal will be circulated to the companys shareholders prior to a shareholders meeting to consider the proposed transaction.

In the meantime, the shareholders of Deacons and other investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the Company, he said. Wahome assured the companys shareholders, customers and the general public that Deacons, which operates the F & F, Bossini, Adidas, 4 u 2, Truworths and Lifefitness brands, is committed to expansion and is actively seeking new opportunities for growth.
Weylandts and Pichulik have collaborated on a newly launched range of jewellery exclusive to the furniture retailer.

The Pichulik Capsule Collection comprises six necklaces and five bracelets, all grounded in neutral tones, are striking and sculptural with natural elements, reflecting the raw, earthy Weylandts spirit. There are bold, larger pieces and some are more delicate. A few of the neckpieces are designed to be versatile and allow for upper neck coverage one day and a longer length pendant the next.

When approached, we looked to Weylandts design DNA and their use of metallics, contemporary African lines and textures that are evocative of the Southern African landscape, and incorporated these elements into our designs through the use of bold silhouettes and beadwork accents, says Pichulik's Katherine-Mary Pichulik.

Complementary design

The Pichulik Capsule Collection will complement the TM Collection at Weylandts, an eclectic range of attire, accessories and bags in carefully selected fabrics, luxurious textures, prints and embroideries founded by Teresa Martins and introduced into Weylandts in 2013.

We invited Pichulik to create a line of bespoke jewellery that adds a distinctly African element to our globally inspired TM Collection, and we are thrilled with the pieces, as the bold, inspiring designs with an emphasis on quality and craftsmanship, are a natural fit with the Weylandts brand, explains Kim Smith, director at Weylandts.

The Capsule Collection is now available in the Weylandts Greenpoint store, and it will be available in Gauteng later in the year.

Each piece will be exclusively made to order and can be viewed on the Weylandts website or in the Green Point store.
Starbucks and Taste Holdings have confirmed the locations for two new Starbucks stores in Durban. Florida Road will play stage to the first Starbucks in the city, followed by Gateway Theatre of Shopping.

Durban is the third location in the Starbucks store rollout, following Johannesburg and Pretoria. Our new store opening comes during a time when coffee culture in Durban is thriving, and we are excited to be part of this growth, says Carlo Gonzaga, CEO of Taste Holdings.

Both stores will offer the full Starbucks range, including its 100% Arabica coffee, as well as Teavana iced teas and a fresh food menu.

The Florida Road branch is due to open on 25 November. The historic site is currently undergoing renovations, managed by the Florida Road Urban Improvement Precinct and supported by the eThekwini Municipality. This store will feature a full Starbucks Reserve bar, which serves rare, small-lot coffees sourced from around the world and brewed through a variety of brewing methods, including Siphon, Pour-Over, Black Eagle, and the Clover machine.

The Gateway store will open soon after and this 400-sqm store seats 160 people. According to Gonzaga, the store will be an oasis for shoppers to relax and enjoy Starbucks beverages.

The design of both Durban stores has been influenced by their locations. The Florida Road store fuses local crafts with Victorian influences, featuring repurposed wooden floors and a marble bar, while the Gateway outlet draws inspiration from the sugarcane hills of KwaZulu-Natal, with its lush green landscapes that show similarities to coffee-growing regions.
Muslim travellers are becoming a significant segment in the global travel and tourism sector. By approximately 26% of the world's population will be Muslim and, given the growth of the Muslim middle class and younger population with increased disposable income, Cape Town Tourism has been seeking ways to develop awareness around Muslim travellers' needs.

In a survey published in the Muslim Travel Shopping Index (MTSI) 2015, more than 80% of the respondents mentioned that the availability of Halal food options is very important when choosing a holiday destination  this information has prompted the creation of the Chef Exchange Programme, which culminated at a function showcasing gourmet Halal cuisine.

Educating Cape Town chefs on Halal gourmet cuisine

Cape Town Tourism, in partnership with CrescentRating, brought Muhammad Kamal and Javed Ahamed, two accomplished chefs from Singapore to train 37 Cape Town chefs. Both chefs are active in training and educating chefs on Halal gourmet cuisine.

Image Supplied

The programme included the following:

A workshop with a Halal gourmet chef training introductory course that provided an introduction to Halal and Islamic principles, integration of Islamic principles with Halal food, identification and recognition of Halal ingredients, an introduction to healthy Halal eating and, finally, an online assessment to achieve certification.

In addition, there was a practical cooking demonstration based on the online assessment, with the 20 chefs who scored the highest on the online assessment, selected to participate.

Two chefs, Dion Vengatass from Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel and Tamsyn Wells from African Pride 15 on Orange Hotel, won a trip to Singapore where they will learn more about gourmet Halal cuisine. The winners were selected on the basis of their skills, presentation and ability to innovate under pressure, which was illustrated by the three-course menu they presented as part of the cooking demonstration.

Image Supplied

Laying the foundations for attracting Muslim travellers to Cape Town

Enver Duminy, CEO, Cape Town Tourism elaborates: Cape Town has great potential as a destination for the Muslim traveller, so were laying the foundations for growth in this market by driving awareness around this markets needs, with a view to seeing more travel and hospitality businesses adapting what they have on offer so that we can be truly welcoming. This will attract more visitors and boost the tourism economy.

Executive Mayor, City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille comments: Cape Town is a diverse, cosmopolitan city with a rich history embracing many cultures and religions. The city is a place with many global connections and influences with layers of history evident in the cuisine, fashion and language. We have a strong local Muslim community and it is the City of Cape Towns hope that we can continue to strengthen ties with international Muslim communities and welcome more visitors to our city. As an inclusive and opportunity city, we look forward to working with partners to grow this market to boost our tourism numbers all year round.

Halal food the most important service that a Muslim traveller looks for

Six faith-based needs  Halal food, Salaah (Prayer), ablution facilities, Ramadhan services, no non-halal activities, and separate recreational facilities for males and females  are important factors when choosing holiday destinations. Halal food is by far the most important service that a Muslim traveller is looking for when travelling. Acceptability of the different levels of Halal food assurance varies among Muslims.

An online survey was conducted by Cape Town Tourism in partnership with CrescentRating to get direct feedback from the travel and tourism stakeholders regarding their interest in and understanding of the Muslim travel market. Most of the respondents agree that attracting Muslim tourists will help Cape Town as a destination as well as their own businesses. However, it is apparent most only have a very basic understanding of Halal concepts. There is major confusion about different terminology used to define certain aspects of Halal. The most obvious is the uncertainty about the use of the term Halal friendly or Muslim friendly food.

Crescent Ratings report shows that restaurants are pivotal to and a huge development area for Cape Town as a Muslim-friendly city. The objective of this program is to engage directly with the restaurant and hotel industries and create awareness of the potential of this market segment, training chefs on Halal cuisine and the basic adjustments required to meet standards.

The purpose of the campaign is to create awareness and educate the industry on Halal concepts and the potential of the Muslim market. Participating chefs will gain the knowledge to align themselves to cater for this market as well as their current clients. The Muslim market travels predominantly over our winter season and could contribute significantly to eradicating seasonality.
Dr Justin Cohen of Australia's Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science shared insights from research into marketing with Spark Media's guests. If you've not factored mental availability into your brand messaging, read this now!

On Tuesday, 10 October 2017, Spark Media held the Cape Town version of its Mental Availability breakfast talk at the River Club, ending off the talk's road show across SA.

A fantastic morning at Bryanston CC where Dr Justin Cohen spoke about Mental Availability: what it is and how it matters. Next stop CPT on 10th. #EBI #sparkmedia #insightsthatignite #howbrandsgrow A post shared by SparkMediaSA (@sparkmediasa) on Oct 5, 2017 at 3:22am PDT

Attendees were treated to a full English breakfast while Gill Randall, joint CEO of Spark Media, explained that theyve been Ehrenberg-Bass Institute (EBI) members for the last 15 years.

She then introduced Dr Justin Cohen of Australias EBI for Marketing Science. Its the world's largest centre for research into marketing, with over 50 professors that use old-fashioned science and advanced techniques to look at what people do rather than what they say they do. It's evidence of what actually happens in the real world and provides a framework for really effective marketing. The Institute is named after two world-famous (now deceased) marketing academics, Andrew Ehrenberg  known for the Ehrenberg law of buying frequencies and Frank Bass  known for the Bass Diffusion Model.

The importance of evidence-based marketing

Cohen began by explaining that the EBI is focused on generating new insights into marketing. With clients like Airbnb and Uber, their work is aimed at establishing benchmarks through evidence-based marketing and helping brands grow through both science of research and creativity of execution. They search for predictable patterns and implications based on replications across different conditions so that marketers can make smarter decisions when allocating budget. Bruce McColl, recently retired CEO of Mars Inc and now the EBIs first industry professor explained evidence-based marketing as follows:

If you dont understand evidence-based marketing principles, then you are probably spending a lot of money on brand activities that dont work

Cohen explained that brands largely compete on both mental and physical availability, an often-unexplored aspect of marketing. Cohen says this is because marketing initially grew from economics, psychology and sociology research into relationships and that this lens or way of thinking was transferred to marketing. Thats why why we believe:

Attitudes drive buying behaviour

Attitudes are stable and enduring

Brands have personalities

People have relationships with brands

Brand loyalty is important and must be cultivated

People are highly rational as consumers

We must persuade consumers that our brand is unique

We must segment markets

Brand love is the holy grail.

Unfortunately, the actual evidence doesn't necessarily match this theory, but mental availability can explain this.

It's the propensity of the brand to be noticed in buying situations, the chance that it is thought of or noticed, which is often confused with top-of-mind awareness. Cohen explains:

You can be the fastest sprinter in the world, but if you don't qualify for the Olympics, you can't compete for the gold medal.

I say 'purple', you think...

To understand how this works, Cohen shared the basics of, first developed by Aristotle and studied for centuries since. This is the idea that we have concepts or nodes of memory or collections of information, which are linked through associations or cues that go both ways and are used to retrieve those memories. The retrieval depends on the number and freshness of those links, relative to those of competitors.

This is why people say 'purple' when told the cue 'Cadbury,' but wont necessarily say Cadbury when you give them the cue purple. Category entry points then are the associations people have that bring them into your brands category. So marketers need to understand what evokes memories of their specific brands, based on consumer needs, benefits, and purchase situations. Brands also need to realise that their actual competition is much bigger than that of their direct category competitors  for example, when in need of a quick comfort purchase some think of chocolate, others wine and others coffee, so brands need to understand the most salient things that bring people into the category.

Four top reasons to factor in mental availability

It's the first big step in the brand being chosen  consumers choice narrows from what is available to what is considered to what is bought. Most brands fail to be bought because consumers don't even consider them, whether FMCG or high involvement one-off purchases. People tend to go back to what's already in their mind. So it's about winning that race and being in as many races as possible Our memories aren't perfect and were predictably fickle. Sadly our brains dont function like computers and we don't make rational decisions each time were faced with a choice. Brand retrieval from memory means the brand must be linked to the retrieval cue through the category entry points, with strong and fresh links. The degree of competition also plays a role, as more competitors linked diminishes your brands chance of retrieval. Brand association links are also unstable, so different people seeing the same cue or the same people seeing different cues will retrieve different brands each time. This makes sense as everyone has different exposure to advertising, but when we consider that attitudes are meant to be stable and enduring, we do need to factor in context and occasion. Most buyers are infrequent or light buyers of brands. This links to Ehrenberg's Law of Buying Frequencies. It is a constant challenge for existing buyers to think about your brand, and all the more difficult for those that don't purchase your brand. We are exposed to roughly 5,000 brand messages per day and its quite literally impossible to pay attention to them all. In order to cope, consumers screen out most of the stimuli right in front of them. We also have selective perception, whether consciously or unconsciously. So your creative needs to be designed to break through the clutter and reach the consumers that don't already use your product.

Here's how to develop a strategy that gets consumers to notice and recall your brand when making a purchase decision...

Reminder: Mental availability is the chance that a brand is thought of or noticed in buying situations.

Cohen says to do so by turning mental availability knowledge into action, by focusing on the following four principles:
The government's planned changes to the tax law for South Africans working abroad - either permanently or on a long-term contracts - has brought financial emigration into sharp focus.

Financial emigration is a formal process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to change your tax status from resident to non-resident for exchange control purposes, and does not require giving up citizenship, selling property or cancelling bonds and financial products.

This is a SARB legal requirement as well as a South African Revenue Service (Sars) requirement to confirm non-residency, says Claudia Aires Apicella, financial emigration specialist at Tax Consulting.

It is based on the question whether South Africa is still a persons usual or principle residence compared to another country. The reason most people financially emigrate is to give legal certainty to their non-residency status for tax and exchange control purposes. It also holds certain financial planning benefits -such as being one of the few ways of cashing out your retirement annuity.

Tax non-compliance

South African tax residents living abroad are required to declare their worldwide income to Sars. However, many have left the country without submitting correct tax returns, or going through the formal financial emigration process.

These expatriates are at risk and the very clear message from National Treasury and Sars is that they must get their affairs in order. Apicella explains that when a citizen is working overseas they are still classified as a South African tax resident, and are subject to South African tax laws.

However, when they emigrate financially they cease to be a tax resident and will not be liable to pay any South African tax on their worldwide income. They will however be required to declare any South African sourced income which may be taxable, such as rental income. Also, there is a deemed disposal for capital gains tax purpose on certain property when you emigrate, but after that you are exempt from capital gains tax and estate duty in South Africa. This deemed disposal for capital gains tax is very often also misunderstood, as this only applies to certain assets and not to fixed property.

Increased financial emigration

The proposed change to the taxation of foreign income earned by South African tax residents has brought about a significant increase in financial emigration applications, says Aires.

South Africans will be required to pay tax on their offshore salaries and benefits should they earn more than R1m per annum. National Treasury confirmed in Parliament on 14 September 2017 that the proposed change, forcing South African expatriates to start paying tax, will proceed and take effect in March 2020. Many high earning expatriates do not only emigrate now to have personal certainty on their tax status, but they also feel the R1m exemption is not enough taken their high cost of living.

The process

Apicella says the process has two key regulatory components namely the change of the persons Reserve Bank status to non-resident for exchange control purposes and obtaining a Sars tax clearance.

She says the more complex part of the process is getting an emigration tax clearance certificate. This is where Sars formally acknowledges the individual as non-resident.

When applying for the tax clearance certificate it may show that there are tax returns outstanding when there has been non-compliance in prior years.

The outstanding returns will have to be brought up to date before SARS will issue the required certificate. Especially where you retrospectively financially emigrate, you must ensure there is alignment between your tax position and fiscal status.
MMI Holdings has appointed Nontokozo Madonsela as its new group chief marketing officer (CMO). In her new role, Madonsela will have oversight over the MMI Group as a whole, including the following brands: Momentum, Metropolitan, Multiply, and GuardRisk.



Madonsela obtained her bachelor of commerce in marketing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban and accrued over 18 years of experience in branding and marketing. Madonsela's specialities lie in marketing and brand strategy development, creative development process, delivery of brand and corporate identity and strategic execution of advertising and media campaigns.
The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels.



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Big MachineIf Florida Georgia Lines latest hit sounds a bit familiar, its because it was inspired -- at least partially -- by one of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's biggest hits.

Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley gathered at Tylers farm late in the fall several years ago to work on a new tune with co-writers Nicole Clawson and Jordan Schmidt.

I had told Jordan to make kind of a modern day Fishin in the Dark track, and he showed up with that Brian says, referencing the Dirt Bands platinum-selling #1 from 1987.

Nicole had the title for Smooth Brian continues, and I remember Tyler came in with that hook on the chorus, Good Lord Almighty. And that kind of got us going down the chorus. We just wrote real hard that day and had a lot of fun.

In the end, the foursome came up with a track that Brian says is one of his favorites from Dig Your Roots: Its something that its a little swampy its a little woodsy and its right where were at, really fun to play live.

Smooth just broke into the top 20. Its the fourth single from FGLs third studio album. The three previous releases all went to #1.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.




NEW DELHI (PTI): Top commanders of Indian Army have held deliberations on the security challenges facing the country, including the situation along the border with China and in Jammu and Kashmir.



A range of issues relating to the Army's internal functioning, including cases of complaints and grievances, were also discussed on the first day of the week-long Commanders' conference in New Delhi on Monday.



Official sources said the Eastern Command of the Army will brief the top commanders about the situation along the Sino-India border, including on the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff.



They said the Northern Command will make a presentation about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.



The issues of the situation along the border with China and in Jammu and Kashmir also figured in the discussions, the sources said.



"All possible security threats facing the country and issues of concern will be discussed at the key conclave," said an Army official.



Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to address the conference on Tuesday.



The official said each Army Command will put forward its view point and concerns on various issues having a bearing on the field formations and the Indian Army.



The Army commanders conference is taking place nearly six weeks after the end of the Dokalam face-off.



There have been reports that China has strengthened its military presence at the Dokalam Plateau and even started widening an existing road which is at a distance of around 12 km from the area of conflict.



"All the issues having a bearing on the country's security will be discussed," a senior army official said.



A three-day conference of top officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will also begin Tuesday which will assess the changing security dynamics in the region.



Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said on Sunday that the IAF is prepared to fight a war at a "short notice" and fully geared up to respond to any security challenge to the country in the most befitting manner.



The Army Commanders' conference will also deliberate extensively on issues relating to human resources management and welfare of troops.



The conclave will also have a session for Special Selection Board for promotion of senior Army officers to the rank of Lt Gen.






NEW DELHI (PTI): Domestic orders placed for the BRAHMOS missiles have been worth more than US$ 7 billion over the last 20 years, and if exports fructify the sales could double in the next five years, BrahMos Aerospace Chief Sudhir Kumar Mishra has said.



BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture formed in 1998, manufactures the BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land.



While India could use the BRAHMOS missiles for its three services  Army, Navy and the Air Force  it could not export them before June, 2016, when it became a signatory to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).



The MTCR membership enabled India to trade in high-end missile technology and also enhance its joint ventures with Russia.



"The journey of (nearly) 20 years has not been easy. We have struggled with our finances, technology, users.



Challenges have been so many," BrahMos Aerospace CEO and MD Sudhir Kumar Mishra said while speaking at the Deftech 2017, an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Defence Ministry.



The company started making profit only in its 14th year, he said.



Over a period of time, the missiles have been developed to become more effective for all the three services, he said.



"The journey has been meaningful because we invested US$ 300 million and today we have orders worth more than US$ 7 billion," Mishra said.



After India joined the MTCR, many countries, especially Vietnam, expressed interest in buying the BRAHMOS missiles.



"If exports fructify, then this (the order for BRAHMOS missiles) can almost double in another five years," he said.



Later, when asked about exports of the missiles, he declined to comment, saying he was not authorised to talk to the media and the Defence Ministry would be in a position to comment on it.



In August, there were reports of India supplying BRAHMOS anti-ship cruise missiles to Vietnam. However, the information was dubbed "incorrect" by the Ministry of External Affairs.



Speaking at the inaugural session of the programme, G Satheesh Reddy, the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, said a strong research and development (R&D) base is necessary for making the country self-reliant in defence technology.


The Irish Tax Institute has said today's Budget will allow SMEs ot innovate "at a time when they are more at risk and need to diversify".

The Institute noted that food companies are uniquely exposed to risk from Brexit.

Irish tax Institute President David Fennell also welcomed the merging of USC and PRSI.

This is positive news yet there are many issues to consider as it is a complex task that will take several years to complete, he said.

The Institute welcomed the announcement last year that a share based incentive scheme would be implemented and now it is due to be launched on 1 January 2018.

Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) is a share-based remuneration incentive to facilitate the use of share-based remuneration by unquoted SME companies to attract and retain key employees.

The Institute advocated for a share-based scheme in its recent report and awaits the release of further details with interest.

There is a global war for talent and we welcome any move to encourage skilled workers to remain and thrive in Ireland, said Mr Fennell.

Mr Fennell described the increase of the threshold for the higher income tax band as "a positive first step in lifting the tax burden on workers in Irelands squeezed middle"

USC rates were also lowered  the 5% rate is now 4.75% and the 2.5% is down to 2%.

We cant lose sight of the longer term goal  the fact remains there is an income tax rate of 52% for earners over 70,044, which is hindering us in the global race for talent.

He also welcomed the consultation recommended by the recent report on Irelands corporation tax by economist Seamus Coffey.

The report also found that Ireland has a transparent, stable and competitive corporate tax regime.
Ireland's Budget has served up some welcome news for low-paid workers, a coffee shop owner on the border has said.

Stephen Egan, owner of Panama coffee shop in Dundalk, Co Louth, praised measures he said would help his staff.

"It's a balanced budget overall, we'll be hit in some places but helped in others, so it should even out," he said.

The cafe employs seven members of staff, who Mr Egan says will benefit from reforms for low-paid workers.

These include an increase in the Christmas bonus of 85% to welfare claimants and a rise and a reduction of the Universal Social Charge (USC) from 5% to 4.75%.

He said: "Some of our staff are on minimum wage and I pay myself the minimum wage. So we'll be better off due to the USC tax cut.

"A few of our staff are young mothers who will stand to benefit from the Christmas bonus to welfare payments as well as more free childcare - so that's good, it will be helpful for them."

Mr Egan said the "sugar tax" of 30 cents per litre on drinks with more than 8g of sugar will likely force him to increase his prices in the cafe but he does not expect this to impact on sales.

He said: "We'll probably have to put costs up on sugary drinks, like (sparkling water brand) San Pellegrino because of this sugar tax.

"That won't put people off buying them, they're very popular. I think customers will continue to buy them.

"Quite a few of the fizzy drinks we stock don't have enough sugar in them to count under the new tax. Drinks like Coke Zero won't be affected, so we won't be increasing prices with those."

However, Mr Egan said the budget could have done more to address rising rent costs, saying that although 3,800 new social houses will be built, the government could have gone further.

"Prices round here are crazy, the rents just keep rising. It can really affect people living in Dundalk, including my staff," he said.
A lone parent who beat Ireland's mounting homelessness crisis and launched her university education has claimed the Government is still ignoring the problem.

Erica Fleming, 32, is three weeks into an English degree at Trinity College in Dublin after spending almost two years in emergency housing because she was unable to meet rocketing rent demands.

A total of 1.8bn was allocated for housing as part of Tuesday's budget.

Ms Fleming said: "Our own Government is ignoring how critical the situation is, so the EU should step in and say enough is enough.

"People are being subjected to intense traumas and it needs to stop."

Next year, 3,800 new social homes will be built and there will be an increase to the housing assistance scheme by 149m, Budget 2018 said.

An extra 500m for direct building programme will see 3,000 additional new-build social houses by 2021.

Leading support charity Focus Ireland said more than 3,000 children are without shelter and warned red tape surrounding services should be slashed.

It served up 80 cent hot lunches at one of its Dublin city centre properties to people from all backgrounds in need.

The young mixed with elderly men wearing open-necked shirts and blazers. Recent immigrants queued up alongside Dublin born and bred.

Other support run by voluntary groups include a soup kitchen near the famous General Post Office in the heart of Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Among its users is former master baker Darren McGrath, 42, from Smithfield, whose speciality was once doughnuts.

Now he loiters outside convenience stores with a paper cup for donations; with winter approaching he will need a second sleeping bag if he is to survive plummeting night time temperatures.

He said: "Once the cold gets into your bones you cannot get it out of you."

The Government was doing nothing and there were only a few places to go for meals, he claimed.

"If you miss it you are left ... you are literally walking around bleeding starving all day."

"You ring up late for your hostel, there is no bed, they tell you come up and get a sleeping bag."

The state helps fund a range of organisations working to tackle the problem.

Ms Fleming and her daughter Emily, from north Dublin, were homeless for 22 months, living in temporary accommodation miles from her child's school, until April, when she found a permanent home.

She said there were always going to be barriers for people coming from disadvantaged areas.

"It is just about trying to overcome the barriers.

"I know it is difficult but you can do it, at the end of the day, if I have done it anyone else in the same situation can do it too."
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has delivered his Budget 2018 speech. Here, we're bringing you the main reaction from special-interest groups and others.

HOUSING: Focus Ireland: Figures too low and too little too late

Focus Ireland is generally welcoming the Government's commitments in relation to direct building in today's budget.

But they also think the figures are too low and it's too little too late - two years too late when it comes to the housing crisis.

Head of Policy, Alison Connolly, says there was very little new information revealed by the Finance Minister.

She said: "A lot of the figures that you've heard today we've heard previously, in terms of new figures or additional social housing we are not seeing it."

Some positive Budget actions but not enough given scale of the crisis. We'll still be playing catch up in terms of cutting numbers homeless. pic.twitter.com/H5tSVPKg0n  FocusIreland (@FocusIreland) October 10, 2017

Farming: Macra Na Feirme give positive reaction to new Brexit loan scheme

Farmers are giving a positive reaction to a new Brexit loan scheme announced in today's budget.

It is to help small and medium businesses that may be vulnerable to changes in the sector.

National President of Macra Na Feirme, James Healy says they would like more details as to how it will work.

He said: "We welcome the Brexit loan scheme that is there for farmers but feel that it needs to be targeted at young farmers who are the most exposed in terms of volatility.

"We welcome the 64m that is additional for the Department of Agriculture but again we want to see where it is going to be targeted to ensure it has maximum impact.

ARTS: National Campaign for the Arts: Disappointed with a modest funding increase

The National Campaign for the Arts says it's disappointed with a modest funding increase for the Arts Council and the Film Board.

The Taoiseach previously promised to double the budget for the arts over the next seven years.

Campaign spokesperson Cian O'Brien says today's not been an encouraging start.

He said: "Increases of just 5% to the arts council, which funds the majority of the artistic activity that happens around the country and 9% of the film board, are really disappointing."

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: Budget will improve thousands of childrens lives

The Childrens Rights Alliance has said todays Budget will improve the lives of thousands of children and families, but added there were a number of areas where children had not benefited enough.

Childrens Rights Alliance boss Tanya Ward said: The main news is that Tusla (the Child and Family Agency) got an additional 40m. That makes sense since because Tusla never started with the resources it needed and this year made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This extra money will help with rebuilding our child protection and welfare system.

The other good news is that Government has stood up to big business and introduced a sugar tax on sugary drinks. Almost one in four children is overweight or obese in Ireland. Tackling sugary drinks will have an impact.

Ms Ward also welcomed the extension of eligibility for the extended free preschool year. This means that all children will receive a full two years of pre-school benefiting up to 20,000 children.

However, she added: This is not the year that childcare gets the big investment it actually needs...Were disappointed that children over the age of 12 did not get a bigger increase.

Unfortunately, theres no extra help in this budget with the cost of going to school.

HEALTH: GPs consider industrial action following Budget 2018

The National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) is considering industrial action following what they describe as news "there will be no meaningful resourcing of General Practice in Budget 2018."

The NAGP warns that if General Practice fails this winter, "the hospital system will implode".

"The Government have stuck their heads in the sand and ignored our calls for reversal of FEMPI (Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) in General Practice," according to NAGP Chairman Dr Andrew Jordan.

"The service is beyond capacity and requires urgent investment. All stakeholders agree that a cornerstone of healthcare reform in Ireland must be a move to more community-based care," he added.

ENVIRONMENT: Budget "completely fails" to deliver Taoiseach's "new ambition on climate change

Friends of the Earth have described the new Budget as a "complete failure on climate change".

"I'm not sure what planet the Government is on, but it doesn't seem to be one where Ireland has signed the Paris Agreement and committed itself to reducing climate pollution by 80%," according to Director Oisin Coghlan.

The minister announced an extra 38 million for energy savings schemes, on top of the 130m the SEAI delivered in 2016, but Friends of the Earth said "this is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed".

The Finance Minister also put aside 10m in 2018 to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles.

HOUSING: "Twisted irony" as Budget coincides with World Homeless Day

Inner City Helping Homeless has described the delivery of Budget 2018 coinciding with World Homeless Day and World Mental Health Day as "almost a twisted irony".

The organisation described the announcement of 5,900 social homes as in line with Housing Minister's Simon Coveney's previous plan for 5,869 homes.

"10,000 homes should have been the minimum target for 2018 and as we were continuously told that money wasn't an object then why isn't the budget reflecting that?" ICHH's Brian McLoughlin said.

Mixed reaction from SVP as Budget increases income supports but does little for lone parent families.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul welcome the increases in income supports, and overall increases in social welfare and housing supply measures, but is disappointed at there is very little for lone parent families and households with older children.

SVP is also "very disappointed" that education costs have not been addressed.

"Our experience is that reducing education costs is a major factor in helping to break the cycle of disadvantage." said Kieran Stafford, SVP National President.

On health, SVP welcomes the reduction of prescription charges but would like to see their abolition.

EDUCATION: Budget leaving students behind, says USI

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) welcomed an investment of 310m to address the infrastructure needs of higher education sector and an increase in National Training Fund levy to add 47.5m of additional investment next year.

However, the union is raising concerns over any investment in improving access to education through increasing SUSI grant thresholds, or improving on-campus mental health services, declaring Budget 2018 is leaving students behind.

USI President Michael Kerrigan said: "No income-contingent student loans were announced today, but neither was any meaningful new funding model on how third-level education should be funded.

"A 250 decrease in fee level would come at a relatively small cost to the state, and alleviated pressure on the payment of fees that have doubled over a period of six years."

Mr Kerrigan continued: "It hasnt been a budget for students. It hasnt really been a budget for young people. But there are some positive steps overall in funding our third-level campuses, and a shift away from implementing any form of an income-contingent loan scheme.

EDUCATION: Principals welcome lower pupil-teacher ratio

Budget 2018 includes several measures in relation to Primary Education which are welcomed by the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN).

IPPN CEO Pairic Clerkin, welcomed a provision for the reduction of the pupil teacher ratio in primary schools to 26:1.

He said: This is a step in the right direction and will have significant impact on teaching and learning outcomes for all our children.

IPPN also welcomed the introduction of the new sugar tax.

David Ruddy, IPPN President said: Our membership is acutely aware of the negative effects of sugar sweetened drinks on our children. This initiative also aligns very well with the work of primary schools throughout the country involved in healthy eating initiatives, physical education and active school programmes."

HOSPITALITY: LVA welcomes retention of 9% VAT and current rate of alcohol excise

The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), which represents Dublin publicans, has described the current rate of alcohol excise and the maintenance of the 9% VAT rate, as a reasonable outcome for the trade.

Chief Executive of the LVA Donall OKeeffe said: Its important to remember that Ireland already has one of the highest excise rates in Europe and with this and Brexit in mind we felt there was a strong case for a cut in excise rates on alcohol in this budget. We will target an excise reduction in 2019, as part of the Support Your Local campaign.

With pubs being one of the largest channels of foodservice for both domestic consumers and tourists alike, we very much welcome the continuation of the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector, which is pivotal in terms of maintaining our competitiveness and jobs.

While its modest, we welcome the increase of 200 in Earned Income Tax Credit for the self-employed and we are calling on the Minister to continue the process of equalising this tax credit with PAYE workers in future budgets.

We needed a game-changerWe didnt get it, says Congress

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said that Budget 2018 falls short on ambition and short on the measures needed to raise living standards and tackle the many deficits in our society.

Congress General Secretary Patricia Kings said: What we needed was a game-changer on housing and investment in better services, but instead we got a series of small measures that will not address our high cost of living, which is already above the EU average.

At a minimum we needed to see the government commit to an emergency programme of social housing provision with a target of 50,000 homes over five years, along with a series of measures to penalise land hoarding, in order to tackle the biggest single crisis facing our society.

Congress also said Budget 2018 was a missed opportunity to bring an end to the scandalous practice of subsidising major, profitable corporations in the hospitality and tourism sector (with a lower 9% VAT rate), at a cost to low paid workers and taxpayers.

However, Congress welcomed the increase in the minimum wage to 9.55 an hour, which will benefit some 155,000 low-paid workers, calling it a positive step.

CHILDREN: Tusla welcomes extra 40.6m

The Child and Family Agency Tusla has welcomed its extra 40.6m in Budget 2018, bringing the agencys annual funding for 2018 to over 750m.

(This) will enable Tusla to respond to increased demands on the agency, progress key service developments and expand the provision of community-based supports through Family Resource Centres (FRCs), the agency said this afternoon.

Tusla will establish 11 new Family Resource Centres (FRCs) at a cost of 1.76m in 2018; 15 million will support existing services and the recruitment of 164 staff required to meet increasing demands; 10m will be used to build up frontline service capacity and to recruit 199 staff to address critical areas.

The ISPCC also welcomes Tusla's additional allocation.

Interim CEO Caroline OSullivan said: "Investing in child protection should be a national priority, and the investment of an additional 40 million today in Tusla is a really welcome step. Child protection and welfare benefits hugely from prevention work, and so we welcome these additional monies to help protect children."

'No sense of urgency' around homelessness

The Finance Minister has introduced an additional 500m for a direct building programme to tackle the homeless crisis.

Funds to homeless services are being increased by 18m, bringing the total available for emergency accommodation to 116m, while an extra 31m is being made for social housing expenditure.

The additional funding for the Direct Building Programme will build an extra 1,000 social homes a year over the next 3 years.

Francis Doherty from housing charity the Peter McVerry Trust said it was mixed news on the housing front.

Overall, we dont get the sense of urgency from the Budget, he said, with a number of measures put out to 2019.

Minister Donohoe said they were going to accelerate social housing provision from 2019 onwards. That leaves a gap of 15 months before we really see social housing really ramping up.

DEFENCE: 800 new gardai 'not enough'

The Garda Representative Association has said the additional 800 gardai announced in todays Budget did not go far enough.

Spokesperson John O'Keeffe said: The GRA has always said the best optimum level of gardai is about 17,000. WIth an 800-member recruitment, retirement, illness and so on, its simply not going to reach those levels in the next couple of years.

(Recruitment) is always going to be welcome - we cant crib about that - but dont forget we had no recruitment between 2008 and 2013.

Health staff - recruitment difficulties

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said it wants to see more details on plans to recruit 1,800 more staff for the health sector, as announced in the Budget today.

General Secretary is Phil Ni Sheigh said: The problem we have is we already have a promise from the HSE that theyll recruit 1,224 additional staff by December of this year. Theyve only managed to get 13 at the last count.

CHILDREN: Barnardos say it's an 'odd' Budget

Fergus Finlay from children's charity Bardardos said some of the measures in the budget were odd.

I thought it could have been a lot braver, and a lot more ambitious, he said.

Some of the choices were a bit odd - theres a much bigger investment needed in childcare, for example, than the 20m announced.

MOTORING: AA - Budget is no help for motorists biggest bills

AA Ireland has warned that very little was done to help make the commute to work more affordable for motorists.

The AA welcomed the decision not to increase taxes on either diesel or petrol but said that an opportunity to remove additional fuel taxes introduced during the recession has been missed.

Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs said: "In previous years we saw the tax on both petrol and diesel increased significantly as an emergency measure in response to the financial crisis. Despite our improving economic situation as a country, these taxes have not been removed.

The motoring organisation is disappointed to note that there was nothing in the budget to address the high cost of motor insurance, where government levies add 5% to an annual cost that affects 2 million motorists.

Despite the lack of action taken to lower fuel prices, the AA has expressed its support of the introduction of additional measures to encourage people to purchase fully electric vehicles.

HEALTH: Pharmacists - Small Movement on Prescription Levy not enough

The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) welcomed the decision to reduce the prescription levy from 2.50 per item to 2.00 per item for those under 70, but expressed disappointment that, the levy was not eliminated for particularly vulnerable patient groups, such as homeless people, those in residential care settings, or patients with disabilities and described this as a lost opportunity.

The IPU also welcomed the slight fall in the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) threshold to 134 from 144, but is disappointed that a bigger reduction was not announced.

Daragh Connolly, President of the IPU, said: Even with a reduction to 2.00, the prescription charge remains four times higher than when it was when first introduced in 2010. The prescription levy remains a harsh and unfair tax and impacts mostly on those on fixed incomes and in financial hardship. It is unacceptable that, on a day of a giveaway budget, the most vulnerable in society still have to pay a levy that frequently they cannot afford. This can result in some patients not taking their medicines, leading to higher levels of illness and an increase in hospital admissions. Even at this stage we would call for common sense to prevail and that the levy, at the very least, is not applied to vulnerable patients.

Mr Connolly said: The reduction in the DPS threshold is a step in the right direction in assisting hard-pressed families in covering the cost for their medicines. Much more should be done to reduce the threshold further over the next number of budgets.

HOSPITALITY: Restaurants Association of Ireland welcome retention of 9% VAT rate

Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of The RAI commented, In our Pre-Budget Submission, we set out objectives that we wanted met. Today, in Budget 2018 our key issues have been addressed. The Retention of VAT at 9% into 2018 and beyond is crucial, not only to the sustainability of restaurants and businesses in the tourism sector but also to job creation and the continued growth of our economy.

The RAI also called on the Government to reduce the current rate of excise duty in their Pre-Budget Submission 2018. While there was no reduction, the RAI are relieved that there was no increase in excise duty in Budget 2018.

Mr Cummins said: Despite calling for a reduction of 15% in excise duty in our Pre-Budget Submission, we are happy to see no increase in excise duty for a third year in a row. It should be noted that excise increases not only impact restaurants, hotels and pubs. These increases introduced during the financial crisis as an emergency measure have created significant cash-flow issues for distributors and importers, as many have to pay excise as an up-front cost.

TOBACCO: Increase in tobacco duty "unfair" and "irresponsible" say campaigners

Campaigners say a further increase in tobacco duty is unfair and irresponsible because it discriminates against the less well off and will fuel illicit trade.

John Mallon, spokesman for the smokers group Forest Ireland, said: Ireland is already the most expensive place in Europe to buy tobacco. Raising the price of cigarettes for the sixth consecutive budget is unfair because it disproportionately hurts those on lower incomes.

Evidence shows that a hike in taxes fuels illicit trade. Its no secret that Ireland has a serious problem with black market tobacco. Increasing the tax on tobacco is irresponsible because it will only make the situation worse.

He added: Paschal Donohoe talks of building a fairer Ireland. Raising tax on tobacco does nothing to achieve that aim. It robs law-abiding consumers of their hard-earned cash and enriches criminal gangs.

The Irish Vape Vendors Association welcomes the Governments decision not to apply an excise tax on vaping in the budget

They said: keeping vape products affordable will act as a further incentive to smokers who wish to switch to a safer alternative.

HOSPITALITY: Hoteliers welcome retention of 9% VAT rate

Joe Dolan, President of the IHF said the rate has been instrumental in the recovery of the tourism industry.

He said: The 9% VAT rate has been the single most important fiscal initiative for Irish tourism in the last decade and we are pleased the Government has retained the measure.

"It demonstrates that it has been highly effective in job creation and also acknowledges that we have a pro-tourism Government who see the value the industry brings to every part of our country. The decision is a critical vote of confidence in the tourism industry at a time when it faces significant risks, most notably from Brexit.

The Irish Cancer Society has welcomed the Governments announcement that the price of cigarettes will increase by a further 50c tonight.

Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society said: The Irish Cancer Society is pleased that price continues to rise. The price hike will encourage people to stop smoking and ultimately save lives.

Increasing the price of cigarettes is the most effective way of stopping children from taking up smoking and in encouraging people to quit. This can be seen in significantly reduced rates of smoking in Ireland among children and adults in recent years. Child smoking is at an all-time low of 8%, while overall smoking prevalence is at 23%.

HEALTH: Irish Cancer Society welcomes reduction in prescription charge and drug payment scheme

The Irish Cancer Society has welcomed moves to reduce prescription charges by 50c and to lower the amount cancer patients will have to pay under the Drugs Payment Scheme, but it is challenging the Government to go further.

Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society said: Cancer patients have borne the brunt of charges introduced and increased over the course of the economic downturn and we welcome the news that from 1 January the prescription charge will be reduced to 2 per item to a maximum of 20 in a month, along with reductions from 144 per month to 134 in the amount patients have to pay under the Drugs Payment Scheme. This builds on the small decrease in prescription charges for over 70s in last years Budget.

However, Mr. Buggy said: the Government must go further to ensure the calamitous effects of statutory charges forced on patients during the recession are reversed.

HEALTH: Sugary drinks tax provides a landmark day in the fight against obesity says Irish Heart Foundation

Irish Heart head of advocacy, Chris Macey said: The introduction of a sugar sweetened drinks levy is probably the single most important action Government can take to tackle Irelands obesity crisis. As a result, this is a landmark day in the fight against what is now recognised as perhaps the biggest threat to the health of the nation.

The Ministers announcement demonstrates a significant commitment on the part of Government to meet its duty of care to protect the health of children in particular. We are also encouraged by indications that the measure is already proving effective by prompting beverage companies to reduce sugar content to ensure products fall below the threshold for the tax.

The evidence shows the tax alone will reduce obesity, but its impact could be further magnified if at least a portion of the proceeds was ringfenced to fund measures targeted at childrens future health, particularly in disadvantaged areas where obesity rates are highest.

This could support a wide range of measures, including the development of new family food initiatives, further expansion of the school meals programme and providing free drinking water in all schools.

Mr Macey also welcomed the 50-cent increase in tax on cigarettes, saying the measure will continue to drive down smoking rates, particularly among teenagers.

He said: It is estimated that the tobacco industry needs 50 young people to take up smoking every day in Ireland to replace those its products kill or who manage to quit. Every tobacco tax increase represents another nail in the coffin of this vile industry by acting as a disincentive to young people to take up the habit.
We took to streets of Cork to see what people thought of today's Budget.

One mother said not enough was done for homeless people.
Gardai are seeking the public's help in tracing a man missing from Macroom, Co Cork.

Frenc Laszlo, 42-years-old, was last seen on Sunday, October 8.
An autistic Kilkenny man has gone on trial, charged with attempting to murder his pregnant sister in a case, where the jury may find him not guilty by reason of insanity, writes Natasha Reid.

Daniel OConnell (33) with an address at Rosemount, Newpark, Co Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Olivia OConnell, who was also suffering the effects of chemotherapy at the time.

Mr OConnell admitted during Garda interviews that he had stabbed her a number of times on April 25, 2016 in her home at Scholarstown Park, Scholarstown Road, Knocklyon in Dublin. He said he had decided to do away with her so she wouldnt raise her child in Dublin.

Michael Bowman SC, prosecuting, opened the trial to the Central Criminal Court today. He explained that Ms OConnell was 26 and a half weeks pregnant when her younger brother arrived at her house unexpectedly that afternoon.

Ms OConnell, now 42, told Gardai that he was almost tearful when he arrived. She knew he had autism and enquired about how he had got to her house. She was suffering from chemotherapy symptoms as a consequence of cancer and was in her dressing gown.

She was aware of the difficulties he had for quite some time, and of an unnatural and almost pathological dislike of Dublin and Dublin people, said Mr Bowman, explaining that he had developed this feeling years earlier during a school tour to the capital.

He said the accused went upstairs to use the toilet and Ms OConnell heard a bang.

He came downstairs, wearing latex gloves, explained Mr Bowman. He had a knife. He stabbed her three to four times in the back.

He said that she understood that this was a fight for her life and she struggled to resist her assault. She tried to get out the back door through which her brother had entered, but the key was gone gone. She then tried to run out the front door.

He kicked her into the back of the calves, continued Mr Bowman.

She eventually broke free and ran to a neighbours house. He said that the accused was still in the area when the Gardai arrived and that he explained his full motivation and elaborate preparation.

Garda Niall Russell testified that he saw four puncture wounds on Ms OConnells bleeding back when he arrived on the scene. He told Mr Bowman that she gave him the knife that she had managed to wrestle from her brother.

He asked the defendant what had happened.

He said hed tried to kill his sister, explained Gda Russell. He said he wanted to kill her because she was carrying a Dublin baby.

He said the accused also told him that he was suicidal, didnt want to be alone in heaven and didnt want to leave all his family behind.

When Garda Russell asked about the contents of the bag he was carrying, he replied that he had a roll of duct tape and a hammer in it.

He was still wearing the gloves when he was taken to Rathfarnham Garda Station. He said that he was wearing them to hide fingerprints.

He identified the claw hammer, which he said was to stun his sister, and the duct tape, which was to stop her screaming as he cut her with the knife. The key to his sisters back door was found in his pocket.

A doctor was called and the accused was brought to the psychiatric unit of St Lukes Hospital in Kilkenny, where he remained until his arrest three weeks later.

He was then interviewed a number of times.

Gda Russell told James Dwyer SC, prosecuting, that the accused had described the incident as a failed murder suicide during his first interview.

He said hed had his ups and downs with his sister since he was a teenager.

He said hed planned the attack and was asked about the kitchen knives that he said hed packed.

They were to stick in Olivia as well if I didnt get her with the hammer, he explained.

He described the moment that he started going for her.

She said: Dont chicken, dont. Youll be sorry. I eventually got her in the back twice, he recalled.

He was asked what he was going to do with the body.

Leave it there, maybe bring it upstairs and put it in her bedroom, he replied.

Why?, he was asked.

So it might make it look like she died of natural causes or something, he responded. Id be very weak in jail. Id rather get a hefty fine.

He said he was planning to do away with himself during a weekend to London with his father 12 days later.

He said that he had first decided to kill his sister the previous St Stephens Day or so.

I heard she was pregnant and I didnt like the idea of her bringing up a baby in Dublin, he explained. So, I decided to do away with her.

He was asked about his issues with Dublin.

I would have had a few bad experiences with Dublin people, he said. I felt that some of them were not being overly nice to me, shall I say.

He said that he had fixed that Monday as the day he would do it on learning that his parents were going to Donegal for a long weekend to attend a wedding.

It was the ideal date for me to visit her, he said.

He was asked why he hadnt chosen the Friday, and he replied that he didnt want to ruin the brides wedding day.

He said he would be back home by the time her body would be discovered on the Monday evening. He was asked what he planned to do when news of her death broke

I might have told my Mam and Dad shortly before taking my own life, he replied. Im extremely remorseful for the stabbings

Gda Russell told Mr Bowman that he had also taken a statement from Ms OConnell. She said she felt that what he did was was premeditated and that she thought she was going to be killed.

She explained that her brother had always had a negative obsession with Dublin and was very upset when shed married a Dubliner 10 years earlier.

Shed been taken to hospital by ambulance and had her four wounds dressed and received stitches. She described muscular pain as result of the assault and restriction in movement of her arm from where he had held her. She said her wounds were painful and uncomfortable and that her body went into shock.

She also attended her maternity hospital, where she received confirmation that her child was ok. The court heard that the child was born healthy.

Mr Bowman told the jury of six men and six women that it would hear from consultant psychiatrists for both sides, and that one of the available verdicts would be not guilty by reason of insanity.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler.
Update 10.09am: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been speaking about some of the measures contained in today's Budget.

He said that today would see the "biggest education budget ever", saying that it would lead to "more teachers, more doctors, more nurses, more gardai".

He also revealed that there would be a "very significant increase in spending on infrastructure, with big increases for housing and transport in particular".

Mr Varadkar claimed that the changes in the Budget will benefit an average family by between 500-600 per year.

Measures such as a lowering of USC rates, changes to tax bands and reductions in the cost of prescription medicines are widely expected.

Hear from Taoiseach Varadkar, Paschal Donohoe, Katherine Zappone and Simon Harris ahead of #Budget18. pic.twitter.com/0ItV52PlGV  RTE News (@rtenews) October 10, 2017

Separately, Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said that 20,000 more children will be given free childcare.

Children's Minister @KZapponeTD confirms free childcare for 20,000 extra kids, supports for Tulsa, modest tax cuts #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/GkAZCqc290  Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017

Update 9.26am: Leo Varadkar has said this morning that there will be "no fireworks, no big bonanza" in the upcoming Budget.

The Taoiseach said that it aims to give a little to a lot of people.

"It should put some more money back in the pockets of taxpayers, working people, families, pensioners, people on welfare, and also some measures to reduce the cost of living, particularly in relation to childcare and prescription medications," he said.

"So it's a good Budget overall. There's no fireworks, no big bonanza, but it is another small, sustainable step in the right direction for our country.

"And everything else will be announced by Paschal at one o'clock."

Update 8.37am: Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said this morning that his Budget will lay the foundations for a fairer and more resilient Ireland.

He said that measures in his Budget, set to be announced this afternoon, will be aimed at "making sure that we have a broadly balanced budget next year, making sure that we sustainably invest in how we can reduce taxation, in how we can improve the funding of our public services.

"And then making long-term investments in our hospitals, our schools, our public transport - they are the foundations for more resilient, a fairer Ireland."

Paschal Donohoe says the budget will lay the foundations for a more resilient and fairer Ireland #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/OAtZDMHKaI  Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017

He added later: "We need to invest more in that which will make a big difference to our country responding back to the challenges of Brexit, and giving every citizen in our State the opportunity to be all they can be.

And we'll be announcing plans today in relation to capital investment that will bring that future a bit closer."

This government won't make the mistakes of the Celtic Tiger when it comes to tax cuts, says @SimonHarrisTD #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/GdXPG5jxhi  Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017

Earlier:

The Government will today unveil a Budget with additional tax and spending measures worth about a 1bn.

Following last-minute talks with the king-makers on opposition benches, the country can expect modest cuts to income tax, initiatives to ease the unprecedented housing and homelessness crisis and modest welfare rises.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe's first Budget in the Fine Gael Government is a delicate balancing act as he is reliant on the support of Fianna Fail to get it through.

It is the second year that those in power will have negotiated with their traditional political rivals, leaving few surprises to announce on the day.

And much like last year, the critics on the Opposition benches will be watching closely to see how well the Government has thought to Brexit-proof Ireland's economy.

Among the flagged reforms are an easing of the tax burden on average working families.

The so-called "squeezed middle" will be closely counting cuts to income tax and the deeply unpopular Universal Social Charge, which hits the pay packets of all but the lowest earners.

There are some suggestions that a modest payback - up to 0.5% on the two middle bands of the rate - could return about 250 to annual salaries.

Income tax bands are also being tweaked with workers set to pay the top rate of tax on wages above 34,500, compared to 33,800 as it is now.

Older people should also enjoy some improvements. Five euro is due to go on the old age pension, and a bereavement grant, which helped covered the cost of a funeral until it was abolished a few years ago, is also expected to return.

RTE political correspondent @MartinaFitzg with updates on Budget 2018 pic.twitter.com/heDlo7RuDV  RTE News (@rtenews) October 9, 2017

Prescription charges are likely to be cut and dole and other welfare benefits are likely to see a Christmas bonus this year.

There will also be a package of measures to improve the lives of carers and people with disabilities to ensure Ireland lives up to commitments under a UN rights charter.

A huge chunk of the money available to Minister Donohoe will come from hikes in stamp duty on commercial property deals.

It is currently at 2% and every percentage increase is set to yield about 100m.

Tax incentives for corporations to lodge intellectual property rights in Ireland will be reduced to bring in about 150m.

A sugar tax is also on the menu.

It will target sweetened drinks specifically and is forecast to make up to 40m, and it will be timed to coincide with the UK's levy.

A question mark remained at the 11th hour on whether a reformed betting tax was over the line and whether the funds raised could be ring-fenced.

Land owners who hoard development sites as they wait for prices to climb can also expect to be penalised under a new and long-awaited tax.

It is due to be included in a package to alleviate the housing and homelessness crisis.

More than 8,000 people have been forced to live in emergency accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs after losing their homes, while social housing waiting lists have soared to about 90,000 families.

The old reliables rarely get away untouched.

Smokers can expect to be hurt in the pocket again, with Ireland second only to Norway for the most expensive tobacco in Europe.

Alcohol went untouched last year and there is little to suggest it will be treated any differently this year.

Other duty and taxes on everyday life will also be closely watched, including changes to excise on diesel and home heating fuel.

But the green lobby will also be looking on to see if this Minister goes further than predecessors by trying to encourage micro-generation and waste reduction levies.

Mr Donohoe will deliver his Budget in the Dail at lunchtime, and in doing so he becomes the first Minister since the worst years of Ireland's recession to get the limelight all to himself.
Gardai objected to bail being granted to a man charged in relation to an allegation of masturbating behind a woman in a queue in a supermarket in full view of the public, writes Liam Heylin.

Detective Garda Edmond ODonoghue arrested Abel Etonga, 24, and brought him before Cork District Court late yesterday afternoon.

The young man is charged with sexual assault on October 3. Det Garda ODonoghue said the defendant was charged with committing an almost identical offence on April 8, again in a shop.

He said the prosecution opposed bail being granted because of the seriousness of the alleged facts and fears that similar or more serious offences would be committed in the future.

The detective said it was alleged that a woman was in a supermarket queue in Cork when the accused masturbated himself to climax onto the back of her jeans.

She was unaware of anything occurring but another woman in the queue brought it to her attention that there was semen on the back of her jeans, it was alleged.

It was obviously very upsetting. My fear is that if given bail he will commit further serious offences. It is alleged that he committed a very similar offence in April, the detective said.

Solicitor Donal Daly said while the alleged incidents would have been extremely upsetting there was no allegation of physical violence.

He said the defendants family would supervise him and get treatment for him. Inspector Daniel Coholan expressed concerns about the ability of the family to supervise him on a full-time basis.

Judge Olann Kelleher released him on bail until Thursday. His address was Brooklodge Drive, Glanmire, but he is to stay with a relative at Maple Woods, Ballinacurra, Midleton.

Bail conditions included a curfew to be at that address from 6pm each evening, sign daily at Midleton Garda Station, and stay out of Glanmire and parks and playgrounds.

This article first appeared on the Irish Examiner.
Two men arrested by detectives investigating the intimidation of four Catholic families in Belfast have been released.

The suspects, aged 37 and 40, were detained on suspicion of being members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). They were freed pending a report to prosecutors, police said.

Last week, Northern Ireland's police chief blamed the East Belfast UVF for issuing threats to the families living in a cross-community housing development in the south east of the city.

George Hamilton said the East Belfast UVF was behind the intimidation of the families in the Cantrell Close neighbourhood.

He said police were not sure whether the threats were supported by the leadership of the criminal organisation, or were made by individual members.

Cantrell Close, off Ravenhill Road, was supposed to be a flagship cross-community development as part of the Stormont Executive's Together Building United Communities programme.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector Gary Reid said: "Police are continuing to investigate the intimidation of families in Cantrell Close and the Chief Constable has recently said he believes the UVF are responsible for this."

Following the intimidation of the Catholic families, two Protestant community workers living nearby, both pensioners, were also threatened.

Last week, Mr Hamilton said it was too early in the investigation to say whether dissident republicans were to blame.
Paschal Donohoe stole most of the limelight and was on his feet in the Dail for nearly an hour but heres some other notable quotes from Budget 2018.

* RTE Drivetime presenter Mary Wilson forced the Finance Minister to defend his sugar tax while not touching the booze. He said: "Ah Mary, Im not going after little kids at all."

* Taoiseach Leo Varadkar looked to set the narrative before the Finance Minister got going by saying: "The only reason we can afford to run public services now in Ireland is because two million people in this country every day go to work - we believe they need something back."

* Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Feins deputy leader, was unmoved by the balancing act, saying: "The overriding impression is very underwhelming. Its not for me a budget with any big ideas."

* After helping negotiate the Budget to keep the minority Government in place, Fianna Fails Michael McGrath said: "I think it is fair to say that this Budget and more importantly this government will be judged - more than any other issue - by how it tackles our homeless and housing crisis."

* People Before Profits Richard Boyd Barrett said: "This is a budget of crumbs."

* Oisin Coghlan, of Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Pillar lobby group, said: "Its really disappointing. I had allowed myself foolishly to get my hopes up."

* Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: "At the centre of this budget is a lie. It is a lie that you promote that we can fix the health service and housing crisis while at the same time cutting peoples taxes."

* Siptu president Jack OConnor said: "Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, backed by a coterie of right wing independents, have chosen to take us back to the old value system that precipitated the economic and financial crash in the first place."

* Paul Murphy, Solidarity TD, said: "They are trying to give the impression they are doing something for people but in reality its a Band-Aid. Its a tiny plaster on a series of gaping wounds on our society."

* Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace said: "The budget was a damp squib and extremely disappointing."

* Congress trade union chief Patricia King said: "The budget was also a missed opportunity to bring an end to the scandalous practice of subsidising major, profitable corporations in the hospitality and tourism sector, at a cost to low-paid workers and taxpayers."
Donald Trump has challenged Rex Tillerson to "compare IQ tests" if his secretary of state called the president a "moron", as reported.

Mr Trump told Forbes magazine: "I think it's fake news. But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

The president's tense relationship with Mr Tillerson burst into public view last week as an NBC News story claimed vice president Mike Pence had to talk the secretary of state out of resigning this summer, and that Mr Tillerson had called Mr Trump a "moron".

Mr Tillerson said he never considered resigning, and his spokeswoman said he never used such language.

Mr Trump and Mr Tillerson are scheduled to have lunch later with defence secretary Jim Mattis.

Mr Trump has at times appeared to undercut Mr Tillerson's message on some of the US's most sensitive national security challenges, including Iran and North Korea.

Mr Tillerson also has publicly complained about the White House blocking him from making key appointments.

But last week the president told reporters he had "total confidence" in his secretary of state.

In the Forbes interview, Mr Trump responded to criticism that he has undermined his secretary of state through his often provocative tweets that have interfered directly with ongoing diplomatic efforts.

"I'm not undermining," he said. "I think I'm actually strengthening authority."

The latest outburst came as he launched another series of tweets on a wide range of topics on Tuesday morning.

He said that reaching out to congressional Democrats for help in getting immigration legislation passed is difficult because "the Democrats don't want secure borders". In his tweet, Mr Trump claimed Democrats "don't care about safety for USA".

His post came two days after he sent an immigration overhaul wish-list of legislative proposals to congressional leaders, including a requirement that Congress agree to a host of border security improvements and make significant changes to the green card programme.

Mr Trump said on Sunday there needed to be security enhancements - and the border wall he has demanded - before he would sign on to a bill restoring a programme that shields from deportation young people brought to the US illegally when they were children.

He also said he would be acting on health care soon: "I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST."

The White House has been finalising an executive order that would expand health plans offered by associations to allow individuals to pool together and buy insurance outside their states.

The president also suggested the US change its tax laws to punish organisations like the NFL if members are "disrespecting" the national anthem or flag.

The NFL gave up its federal tax-exempt status a couple years ago and now files tax returns as a taxable entity.

He also tweeted that ESPN ratings have "tanked" because of Jemele Hill, the anchor suspended for making political statements on social media.

While NFL viewership is down slightly, ESPN remains among the most popular cable networks, averaging 3 million viewers in prime time.
The estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader had about 1.4 times the lethal dosage of VX nerve agent on his face after he was attacked at a Malaysian airport, a government chemist has told a court.

Pure VX was found on Kim Jong Nam's face, in his eye and in his blood plasma, Raja Subramaniam, who heads the Centre of Chemical Weapons Analysis laboratory, said at the murder trial of two women accused of smearing the chemical weapon on Mr Kim in the brazen assassination in February.

VX and related products were also detected on the clothes both women wore the day of the attack.

Yesterday, the trial temporarily moved to a high-security laboratory so the judge, lawyers and defendants could examine the clothing before it was officially accepted as evidence.

Resuming his evidence today, Mr Raja described the lethal potential of VX.

He said animal studies showed the lethal dosage is 0.142 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, and that 50% of the tested population will die when exposed to this dosage on their skin.

Mr Raja estimated the concentrate on Mr Kim's facial skin was 0.2 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

Asked if this amount was enough to kill him, he said: "I can't give a direct answer on this. Based on concentrate estimate, it is about 1.4 times the lethal dosage."

He said the VX concentrate in Mr Kim's eye was estimated at only 0.03 milligrams per kilogram of his body weight, but that correlated to VX penetrating faster through the eye than through the skin.

VX was also found on the collar and sleeves of his blazer, probably because Mr Kim wiped his face on his blazer after the attack, Mr Raja said.

Asked why traces of VX was also detected on fingernail clippings of Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong but not on Indonesian Siti Aisyah, Mr Raja said it was likely that Huong did not decontaminate herself properly.

He said VX can be removed fully by washing and scrubbing the palm within 15 minutes of exposure.

Aisyah and Huong pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial last week to murder charges which carry a mandatory death sentence if they are convicted.

Mr Raja's finding of VX on the women's clothing and Huong's fingernails was the first evidence linking VX to the two suspects.

Their lawyers have said the women were duped by suspected North Korean agents into believing they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera TV show.

Under cross-examination, Mr Raja said it was not possible that the VX used to kill Mr Kim was a "binary" concoction of two non-fatal elements as a high temperature would be required to create VX.

He agreed with the defence's assertion that actual VX could have been smuggled into Malaysia or a non-fatal compound could have been smuggled into the country and mixed with sulphur, another non-toxic element, to create VX in a clandestine laboratory.

Mr Raja also said he discarded samples of clothing that were cut and tested for VX under the standard operating procedure recommended by the Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The defence lawyer had questioned why the samples were not kept for verification by the court.

Prosecutors have said they will present security videos from Kuala Lumpur airport which show the two women carrying out the attack and indicate they knew they were handling poison.

"We have an uphill battle in this case. We are the underdogs. They have the upper hand but we have our own strategy," prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said.

VX is banned by an international treaty as a weapon of mass destruction but is believed to be part of North Korea's chemical weapons arsenal.

Mr Kim was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea's dynastic rulers but lived in virtual exile as an apparent family outcast. North Korea experts say he may have been killed because he was perceived as a threat to the nation's current leader, Kim Jong Un.

An airport security video reviewed by the Associated Press yesterday shows what may be Mr Kim's final recorded moments of life after he fell perilously ill on February 13.

The film shows him apparently unconscious on a trolley and being given oxygen by medical attendants waiting for a lift to take him to an ambulance.

The scene in the video appears almost casual, in contrast to the dramatic news of his death once it was made public.

The video was first broadcast late Sunday by Japan's Fuji TV.

- AP
A 19-year-old student has been charged with capital murder after the shooting of a campus officer at a Texas university's police headquarters.

Texas Tech University officials identified the gunman as Hollis Daniels, who was booked into Lubbock County jail early today.

The gunman had fled police headquarters after mortally wounding the unidentified officer last night.

He was later spotted by university police, a foot chase ensued and he was tackled and taken into custody.

In a statement, the university said campus police had taken Daniels to the police station after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room.

It is not clear if Daniels had the gun on him at that point, or if he took the weapon from an officer.

Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said: "The suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer. The suspect fled on foot and was later apprehended by ... (campus police) near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum."

"The family of the officer is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community," said Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec.

"I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sheriff's Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response."

Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a statement about the shooting, saying: "Hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed."

He said he had mobilised state law enforcement resources to aid the investigation.

Texas Tech is a public research university in the city of Lubbock.
A delegation representing UK research in quantum technologies headed out to Capri last week for a bilateral high level research meeting with Italian counterparts.

The UK team was coordinated by Dr Anthony Laing, a senior lecturer in the School of Physics at Bristol.

Notwithstanding Brexit, a major focus for the meeting was strengthening UK research ties with Italy in quantum technologies, an area in which Bristol is a world leader.

Dr Laing, who leads a group developing photonic quantum technologies in the universitys Quantum Engineering and Technology Labs (QETLabs), said: "For a number of years my research has benefitted enormously from collaborations with Italian physicists and Im keen to do whatever I can to maintain those links.

"QETLabs has been a research home to more than a dozen Italian students and postdocs over its history and our activity would not be what it is today without their brilliant contributions."

To the UK more generally, Italy is an important partner in both research and student exchange.

Italy is the fourth most frequent collaborative partner in research, and the UK hosts several thousand students on exchange programs every year. Likewise, Italy is one of the most popular destinations in Europe for UK students.

With Italy preparing to establish an intercity quantum communications link, the Italian delegation were interested in engaging with QETLabs program for a citywide quantum communications network across Bristol and a collaborative meeting will take place later in the year.
Latest News Clawbacks, commissions discussed at FBAA conference Over 700 brokers attend successful Gold Coast event

CBA becomes an official partner of FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Bank's sponsorship boosts its strong support of female sport in Australia

The heads from six of the countrys biggest non-banks faced off yesterday in a livestream Q&A session on tough industry questions such as impending APRA regulation, changes to broker commissions, and public perceptions of the non-bank sector itself.The leaders gathered at the Non-Bank Lenders Roundtable 2017 hosted in Sydney yesterday (10 October) by Australian Brokers sister publication Mortgage Professional Australia (MPA).One highlight of the hour-long event included Firstmac founder and managing director Kim Cannon warning about APRAs increasing oversight on the non-bank sector.The spread of APRA  their grip on the industry  is quite astounding on what theyve been able to do without direct legislation. The big concern is where do they go to next? Do they try and regulate the innovators of the industry  the competition of the future  do they try and regulate us to death?Cannon also sparked a heated debate with Liberty Financial national sales manager John Mohnacheff about the future of property ownership in Australia. While Cannon sounded the death knell, saying that rising prices would see greater concentrations of life-long renters, Mohnacheff had a brighter forecast about owner occupiers thanks to the self-correcting nature of the market.I think were going to see trends coming through where people will still want to buy a house. But if you cant afford one in Melbourne or Sydney, its a very big country, a lot of cities, and a lot of opportunities.Young people will seek to make a life in Newcastle, Rockhampton, Shepparton or other smaller centres with the government hopefully encouraging that trend, he said.Fielding a question on ASICs broker remuneration review, La Trobe Financial 's chief lending officer Cory Bannister warned of potential repercussions if flat fees for brokers were introduced.Its a little bit like FOFA. If youre asking now for financial advice and you go as a consumer and you get an option to pay $5,000 or $6,000 upfront in order to get that advice, that actually detracts a lot of people from taking it up.Upfront fees for brokers will mean consumers are underserved in getting good home loan advice and may end up with a less-than-suitable loan, he said.Talking about non-resident lending, Pepper Money s director of sales and distribution Aaron Milburn, gave a glimpse of what the firm could do within this space.Given our existing infrastructure across Asia, its something that we should look at in the future.Also partaking in the forum were Homeloans general manager of third party distribution Daniel Carde and Better Mortgage Management managing director Murray Cowan. Those interested in watching the roundtable in its entirety can click this link
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NatWest Bank wasted no time in taking down the signs outside its branch in Burnham-On-Sea on Tuesday evening (October 10th) as it closed for the final time.

The controversial decision to shut the branch at the junction of Regent Street and Victoria Street has drawn criticism from the towns MP James Heappey, residents and the Chamber of Trade.

Just minutes after the branch shut, contractors arrived to remove the banks signs, as pictured here, and put up a poster advising customers that the nearest branch is now in Weston.

Plans for the controversial closure were first reported here by Burnham-On-Sea.com in the Spring.

NatWests decision to shut the branch has been attacked by the towns MP and others.

MP James Heappey told Burnham-On-Sea.com: I am angry and frustrated to hear that NatWest have decided to close their branches in Cheddar and Burnham-on-Sea. As ever they have cited the rise in online banking and undoubtedly branches are now used less than they were before.

However, NatWest are failing to recognise two important factors. Firstly, there are many areas served by the branches in Burnham and Cheddar where broadband connections are poor and online banking less attractive than it is to those with better connections elsewhere. Secondly, there is a large elderly community in both places amongst whom the remaining branch users will be disproportionately concentrated. Digital exclusion is becoming a real challenge as it affects the elderly and vulnerable the most.

NatWest had an advertising campaign not too long ago about the strength of its branch network. Im disappointed theyve abandoned that position and I hope that their customers in the Cheddar and Burnham area will now abandon them. There are other banks in Cheddar and Burnham.

It is important that residents who value the use of a branch switch their accounts to those that remain so that those banks have commercially viable branches that escape any further branch closure programmes.

I will continue my campaign over access to banking as well as seeking assurances from NatWest over the future of those whose jobs will be affected by these unfortunate branch closures.

Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade and Commerce said in a statement: The Chamber is extremely disappointed by NatWests decision so soon after HSBCs closure. The closure of this prominent and long standing bank in this prime location is a blow to the Town Centre.

Whilst accepting that banking trends are changing, face to face access to financial services for businesses and consumers remains highly important.

The Chamber calls on NatWest to review this decision and on Nationwide, Lloyds and Barclays to affirm their commitment to Burnham-On-Sea.

NatWests Media Relations Manager Sean Palmer said: The way people choose to bank with us has changed radically over the last few years. Between 2010 and 2015, mobile and online transactions have increased by over 400% and mobile transactions alone have increased by 1,350%. Since 2011 we have seen the number of transactions in the Worle branch decline by 48%, the Langport branch by 21%, in the Wellington Somerset branch by 35%, in the Burnham-on-Sea branch by 26% and in the Cheddar branch by 45%.

These customers are actively choosing to bank in different ways, with 60.6% of customers at the Worle branch choosing to use our digital banking options. In Langport 53% of customers are choosing to use our digital banking options. In Wellington Somerset 54.6% of customers are choosing to use our digital banking options. In Burnham-on-Sea 53.4% of customers are choosing to use our digital banking options. In the Cheddar branch 59.9% of customers are choosing to use our digital banking options.

We are communicating with our customers affected by the closures and proactively contacting vulnerable and regular branch customers. We have listened closely to feedback from local communities and have extended the time between announcing our decision and the branch closures to six months. This has been done in order to ensure our customers have time to consider the right banking options for them. Unfortunately our lease is expiring on the property in Worle and therefore we are not able to extend the opening of the branch beyond the date advised. We will however be proactive in our approach to ensure that we are able to engage fully with our customers before the branch closes.

We are committed to ensuring our customers and communities are able to continue accessing quality banking services. As part of this, we have created a new role  our Community Banker  who will serve the local area and provide customers with personal assistance and support accessing the right banking options for their needs, as well as help with achieving their financial plans and goals.

We know that not all of our customers are comfortable and familiar with using online or mobile banking, so we have created a new specialist taskforce of TechXperts who will be dedicated to supporting our customers with training and support with digital skills.

We are following the Access to Banking protocol and we have made the decision after careful consideration of a wide range of factors, including regular branch usage and the alternative ways our customers can bank with us. We provide a range of alternative ways to bank, tailored to the needs of our customers and reflective of the way they live their lives.

The news comes just months after HSBC shut its branch in Burnham-On-Seas College Street in January as part of a nationwide cost-cutting move. HSBC blamed a sharp 28 per cent reduction in customers at the branch for the difficult decision to shut it.
Facebook India Managing Director Umang Bedi has stepped down from the post about 16 months after he joined the social media company. Sandeep Bhushan, director, consumer and media for South Asia at Facebook, has been appointed the interim managing director, the company said on Tuesday.
French tyre manufacturer Michelin will double its manufacturing capacity in its Chennai facility to 30,000 tonnes per annum by the end of year 2018, as part of its plan to expand its presence in the truck tyre market both in India and abroad.
The top smartphone-maker in the premium segment in India is neither Apple nor Samsung. It is Chinese brand OnePlus, the latest data from IDC shows.
The Gujarat government and lenders led by State Bank of India are working on a resolution plan for the electricity generation units of the Tatas, the Adanis, and the Essar group in Gujarat that are making huge losses due to an adverse Supreme Court judgment.
Hyderabad-based payment transaction processing company Paynear Solutions today announced the acquisition of Singapore-based financial technology firm GoSwiff International Private Limited for an undisclosed sum, using mostly debt and cash.

The acquisition gives Payneat instant access to markets and clients across 16 countries on the back of GoSwiff's existing relationship with banks in Asia, Europe and Africa.
MasterCard today announced the launch of its innovation centre to focus on solving "India-specific" problems in the areas of technology and financial enablement. This would be their second innovation centre, after Singapore, in Asia and ninth globally.

"Labs are the future-proofing arm of MasterCard to generate sustainable innovation. The labs are like a sandbox within the organisation to try out new technology that is consumer-oriented and can be built and deployed to market. We are not looking at this (India) as a financial inclusion market but rather at driving enablement here," said Tobias Puehse, Vice President, Mastercard Labs, Asia Pacific. MasterCard has recently signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Government towards strategic collaboration to enable safe and secure digital solutions adoption at the state level.
In a boost to its contract manufacturing business, has invested $55 million (around Rs 360 crore ) to upgrade its active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing plants in India and the US.
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Since October 2, 2017, more than 50 farmers in Jaipur, in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, have launched an innovative protest, taking turns to sit in pits buried up to their waist in mud.
Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, that he has just one overseas bank account and an asset as he denied the CBI allegation that he holds multiple foreign bank accounts and also undisclosed assets.

is facing probe for his alleged role in FIPB clearance for INX Media Ltd when his father was the Union Finance Minister.

He also sought the court's permission to travel abroad, from October 19 to November 13, for the admission of his daughter to Cambridge University.

Contending that he has just one overseas asset, the finances for which were sent through nationalised banks under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), told the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud that his family also "has no other overseas property".

"I categorically state once again that all my assets are lawfully acquired and are disclosed in all my statutory filings," he told the top court in an affidavit filed on Monday.

"My family has only one overseas property which was acquired by transfer of funds through nationalised banks in India through Liberalised Remittance Scheme of the Reserve Bank of India by following the process and proper application made through the said nationalised banks in their capacity as authorised dealers".

Appearing for the junior Chidambaram, senior counsel Kapil Sibal said that his client had just one overseas account which was opened in 2016 in Britain's Metro Bank and that he had never held any bank account abroad prior to that, barring the time he was a student in the US and Britain between 1989 and 1995.

The affidavit by said that all remittances in his British account were only from his wife and daughter's disclosed bank accounts in India.

"The transfers were affected under the LRS of the RBI through nationalised banks and were made by scrupulously following the law and rules of the country," Sibal told the court.

Reiterating that his client's hands were clean, he asked the court to allow Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad, stressing that even on an earlier occasion he had returned after being called by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning.

Addressing the CBI's allegation that Karti Chidambaram would use his foreign visit to close his accounts and tamper with evidence, Sibal told the court that he undertakes that during his visit abroad, he will not go to any bank.

Karti Chidambaram said that the "only banking activity he conducted during his visit to the UK, post registration of FIR by the CBI related to two accounts (account and sub-account) that were maintained by me with the Metro Bank, and subsequent access to banking facilities due to unilateral decision taken by the Metro Bank to close the accounts after complying with all statutory and KYC norms".

He said that the said account was opened on June 1, 2016 and have been rendered non-operational on account of the unilateral decisions of the bank on June 7 this year.

"Therefore the aspersions made by the CBI are completely unjustified, and are evidently an attempt to tarnish my name and reputation in the public domain," he said in his affidavit.

The hearing was adjourned till Tuesday as the CBI will tell the court if it was ready to share with Karti Chidambaram the documents it submitted to the court in a sealed cover in the lookout circular case to cement its case for the continuation of the look-out circular issued against him.
Iconic statues, among other monuments and edifices, have always drawn a crowd, take the Statue of Liberty for example. The Uttar Pradesh government is hoping to draw a crowd too, of tourists, even though their project is not reported to be nearly as ambitious as the aforementioned structure, with a religious statue in the city of .
The party has already started preparing for the polls. And, it seems to be planning to make use of big data this time, suggest reports. The Opposition party is said to be in talks with big data firm Cambridge Analytica, which earlier helped United States President win elections through a targeted communication campaign.
India is still not able to do away with its as demonstrated by recent attacks on members of lower caste in south-western state of Gujarat during a festival.
The government plans to install a statue of Lord Rama on banks of the River Saryu and organise a grand Diwali this time in Ayodhya by illuminating the town and lighting 171,000 earthen diyas.

According to media reports, the statue will be 100-metres long. It will be installed only after clearance from the Green Tribunal, Principal Secretary Tourism Awanish Awasthi said.

A series of programmes have been scheduled for October 18 to celebrate Diwali in the town. A "deepotsav" will be organised on 'Ram Ki Paidi' where 171,000 earthen lamps will be lit, he said while giving a presentation to Governor Ram Naik yesterday.

Prominent building and ghats will also be illuminated to attract tourists.

The objective of the entire programme will be to promote Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, as a tourist destination.

A heritage walk, a yatra reminiscing return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, and launch of several schemes by the chief minister and other dignitaries will be part of the programme, the officer said.

A grand "aarti" of River Saryu will also be performed by the chief minister and the governor and a laser show will be held on the banks of the river.

During the programme, Ramlila will be staged by artists from Indonesia and Thailand.

The Union Tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs 133.70 crores for making Ayodhya a tourism hub.

The money sanctioned will be utilised in renovating ghats, including Guptar Ghat, where Lord Rama had taken 'Samadhi', installing CCTV cameras, making police booths, construction of guest houses for tourists and auditorium at Digamgar Akhara.

Good facilities should be provided to tourists, the governor said.

"On Diwali, a grand programme will be held in Ayodhya in which sadhu-saints will also participate. I will also invite the governor for this," Adityanath has said recently in Gorakhpur.

The budget presented by the Yogi government, which came to power in March, had special mention of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura, earmarking Rs 1,240 crore for the Ramayan, Buddhist and Krishna circuits in these cities.

Earlier in May, the state government had re-started popular Ram Leela in Ayodhya at the Ayodhya Research Centre, after a hiatus of 17 months.

The practice of holding Ram Leela in Ayodhya was started by the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in May 2004 but was stopped during Akhilesh Yadav's regime after the culture department refused to grant aid for the same.

The Yogi government has re-started the shows after sanctioning a handsome budget for the Ram Leela.

Adityanath has visited Ayodhya at least twice after assuming office and launched several projects worth crores of rupees for the city.
The Bombay High Court has refused to grant relief to two firecracker dealers seeking temporary licences to set up their shops in residential areas. The traders from Nashik had sought temporary licences to set up their shops ahead of Diwali, as their permanent licences had not been renewed by the authorities concerned.
State-owned Coal India Ltd (Ltd) on Tuesday said it had signed a wage agreement with workers' unions proposing a 20 per cent increase in salaries for five years, a move that would have an estimated impact of Rs 5,667 crore a year on the world's largest coal miner.

Calling the signing of the wage agreement a really historic day for Coal India, CIL Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Singh said the agreement was clinched at 20 per cent hike in salaries against workers' demand for a 50 per cent raise.

"Initially the demand was for 50 per hike in the wages in the basic wages of our employees... today we clinched the agreement with 20 per cent hike in the wages as on July 1, 2016, plus perks," Singh told reporters here. "Today is really a historic day for Coal India ... This is the 10th wage agreement ... We have clinched this agreement in the 10th meeting today (October 10)," he said.

Every fifth year at both Coal India (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) there is revision of the wages of the employees. Coal India has about three lakh employees and Singareni about 55,000 employees. Wage Agreement of the employees was due from July, 2016.

Singh said the wage agreement was on the negotiation table for more than one year. The main thrust area of this wage agreement is life after retirement. This is the first time that Coal India as well as workers, both sides, will be contributing seven per cent each towards the Pension funds," he said.

Singh said the decision was also taken to set up a Medical Trust adding that workers will be contributing Rs 40,000 each. Coal India will contribute Rs 18,000 per head to the corpus which will of Rs 58,000 per head.

S Q Zama, the Secretary General of Indian National Mine Workers Federation told PTI that of the five central unions in the coal industry, only three -- AITUC, CITU and BMS -- signed the wage pact. "HMS refused to sign, and INTUC was out because of High Court stay," Zama said. The three unions of AITUC, CITU and BMS represent 25-30 per cent of the over 3 lakh coal workers of both of CIL and SCCL, Zama added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A week after Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the state governments to cut the value added tax or VAT on petrol and diesel, two BJP-ruled states Gujarat and Maharashtra have today slashed the VAT on fuel.
The United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was formed last month by 29 major companies, splitting from the larger and much older US-India Business Council (USIBC) that had dominated business dialogue between the two nations. After heading the USIBC as its CEO for many years, Mukesh Aghi, has now been picked to lead USISPF. The new group includes top executives from Mastercard, PepsiCo, Cisco among others. During a visit to Delhi, he clears the confusion around what led to the split and tells Subhayan Chakraborty about the groups plan to facilitate healthcare investments in untapped destinations such as Uttar Pradesh.
Address by the Honble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind On the occasion of inauguration of The India Water Week-2017

I am happy to be here to inaugurate the Fifth India Water Week 2017. I would particularly like to welcome the international delegates, from the European Union countries and elsewhere. They are joining their Indian counterparts in discussions related to this extremely important subject.

As we all know, water is essential to human life. In fact, since 60 per cent of the human body is water, it can be said that water is life itself. Without water, no field of human activity can be complete. Today, the world is debating if the flow of information is more important than the flow of energy. That is a good question. But the flow of water is still more important. It is fundamental to the economy and to ecology and to human equity. The issue of water is becoming still more critical in view of climate change and related environmental concerns.

In India, water is central to some of our flagship programmes. I would go to the extent of saying that the modernisation of India is dependent on the modernisation of its water management. This is not surprising since our country supports 17 per cent of the global population but has only four per cent of the worlds water resources.

Better and more efficient use of water is a challenge for Indian agriculture and industry alike. It requires us to set new benchmarks in both our villages and in the cities we build.

In India, 54 per cent of people are dependent on farming for their livelihood. Yet, their share of national income is only 14 per cent. To make agriculture more remunerative and to improve the prosperity of farming communities, the government has introduced many new projects. These include:

1. Har Khet ko Paani Water for Every Farm: This requires enhancing the supply and availability of water

2. Per Drop, More Crop: This requires using drip irrigation and related methods to improve farm productivity, while using the same volume of water

3. Doubling Farm Incomes by 2022: To achieve this, the government is rapidly expanding the area under irrigation, and completing 99 long-pending irrigation projects. Sixty per cent of these projects are in drought-prone areas

I move now to Indias industrialisation and the role that water will play there. Under the Make in India mission, India is working to sharply increase the share of manufacturing in our GDP. From the current 17 per cent of GDP, we are determined to take it to 25 per cent by 2025.

Industry requires a large volume of water. This is particularly true for the manufacture of electronic hardware, computers and mobile phones. And these are all focus areas for Make in India.

Currently, 80 per cent of water in India is used by agriculture and only 15 per cent by industry. In the coming years, this ratio will change.

The total demand for water will also rise. Efficiency of water use and reuse, therefore, has to be built into the blueprint of industrial projects. Business and industry need to be a part of the solution. That is why I am glad large manufacturing companies are present at this conference.

Friends

India is urbanising at a rate not seen in its history. An effort is being made to build or upgrade 100 modern cities as part of the Smart Cities initiative. As we know, reuse of water, solid waste management and better sanitation infrastructure and practices are benchmarks to assess Smart Cities.

In urban India, 40 billion litres of waste water is produced every day. It is vital to adopt technology to reduce the toxic content of this water, and to deploy it for irrigation and other purposes. This has to be part of any urban planning programme.

I must also point to the significant regional variations in India when it comes to the experience with water. On the one hand, groundwater sources are being savagely exploited and depleted in some of our northern and western states. On the other hand, in eastern and North-eastern states, there is the challenge of overflowing rivers and of regular flooding. Year after year, this damages human habitation and is leading to tragedies in countless families.

Only a multi-stakeholder and multi-pronged approach can address such calamities. This includes achieving an interlinking of rivers where feasible. It also necessitates a basin-wide management of river systems to both keep rivers clean as well as serve the purpose of different types of users. The Namami Gange project is a good start in this regard. We need to extend such thinking to other river systems in India and the Indian subcontinent, especially in the eastern part of our country.

In conclusion, I would urge a water management approach that is localised. It should empower village and neighbourhood communities and build their capacity to manage, allocate and value their water resources. Any 21st century water policy must factor in the concept of the value of water. It must encourage all stakeholders, including communities, to expand their minds and to graduate from allocating a quantum of water to allocating a quantum of benefits.

Of course, this quantum of benefits will be dynamic. It will inevitably be linked to the mapping and forecast of livelihood patterns in human society. And these keep evolving.

Friends

Access to water is a byword for human dignity. For India, providing safe drinking water to a population spread across six hundred thousand villages and urban areas is not just a project proposal. It is a sacred commitment. The government has prepared a strategic plan for ensuring drinking water supply in all rural areas by 2022, when India complete 75 years of Independence. By that year, the goal is to cover 90 per cent of rural households with piped water supply.

We cannot fail. The deliberations of this conference have to ensure that we do not fail. And I am sure, we will not fail.

With these words, I wish India Water Week 2017 all success.

Thank you.

Jai Hind!
Conference on NPS for Central Public Sector Enterprises organised in the national capital by PFRDA to facilitate the CPSEs to implement NPS for their employees; To expand NPS across all the sectors in the country in affordable and sustainable manner; To promote financial literacy to enable the subscribers to reap the benefits of choices of investment products and digitization to deepen the reach.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) organised a conference on National Pension System (NPS) for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) at the India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi with the objective of informing CPSEs benefits and features of NPS and of addressing their queries on NPS. Based on the recommendation of the 3rd Pay Revision Committee, the Department of PSE notified dispensing with the condition of minimum 15 years of service and superannuation from CPSEs to avail the pension benefit implemented by CPSEs. Separately, the Government has also amended the Income Tax Act providing for tax free migration of superannuation funds to NPS. This provision will facilitate the CPSEs to implement NPS for their employees. The total employee strength in CPSEs stood at 12.91 lakh (excluding contract workers) in 2014-15. The Conference saw an active participation of more than 55 CPSEs with around 150 participants.

In his Inaugural Address, Dr. Badri S. Bhandari, Whole Time Member, PFRDA welcomed the participants and expressed the endeavor of PFRDA to expand NPS across all the sectors in the country in affordable and sustainable manner. He explained the benefits of NPS and communicated the returns generated by Pension Funds since inception, which has been over 10% since inception. As on 30th September, 2017, there were 1.78 crore subscribers and Rs.2.06 lakh crore of AUM under NPS.

The growth in subscribers and the asset under management jump stood at 27% and 47%, respectively.

Shri Hemant G. Contractor, Chairman, PFRDA, delivered the Keynote Address on the origin of NPS. The need for fiscal sustainability led to the shift from defined benefit model to defined contribution model of pension scheme and this shift has necessitated empowering subscribers with financial literacy as they have a better understanding of where and how their funds are invested. He advised that NPS provides choices to subscribers in the matter of choosing their fund manager, investment pattern etc. Individuals can now subscribe to NPS upto the age of 65 years and can defer the purchase of annuity to three more years post retirement and defer lump-sum withdrawal in phased manner over a period of 10 years.

Shri Sanjay Gupta, CMD, Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd emphasized on the need of starting early and avail the compounding benefit on investments to have old age income security. He appreciated the various investment options available to the subscribers under NPS.

The event was graced by the eminent panellist- Shri Anand Singh Bhal, (Adviser, Department of Public Enterprises), Shri Kumar Shardindu, (MD & CEO, SBI Pension Funds Pvt. Ltd) and Shri Rambir Dalal, (Director, BSR & Co LLP). The discussion brought to fore the imminent need of financial literacy to enable the subscribers reap the benefits of choices of investment products and digitization to deepen the reach. Factors like rising longevity, disintegrating joint families and rising aspirations necessitate investment in pension schemes for old age security.

The conference also hosted presentations on features and benefits of NPS, on system capabilities and operational processes for implementation of NPS, and on the NPS implementation in NALCO. Presently, 5 CPSEs have joined NPS- National Aluminium Company Limited, Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited, National Handloom Development Corporation Ltd, REC Ltd and ITPO.
President Shri Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated India Water Week 2017 in New Delhi today. .

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Speaking on the occasion Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari said that 27 PMKSY projects will be completed by this year. He said 285 new irrigation projects will be taken up by next year to provide irrigation for 1 crore 88 lakh hectare of land. Shri Gadkari said drip irrigation and irrigation through pipeline will be the priority areas for the Government as this will save large amount of water and also cut down the cost involved in acquiring land. The Union Water Resources Minister said water, power, transport and communication are the four most important pillars of development. He said Government is keen to provide safe drinking water to every household and irrigation water for every farm. In this connection he referred to the recent inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Project by the Prime Minister, which will provide water to over 4 crore people and help irrigate over 8 lakh hectares of land. .

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Shri Gadkari said that Inter linking of rivers is very important to save people from floods and droughts. He said 30 Projects for river linking have been approved out of which work on three projects namely Ken- Betwa, Par- Tapi Narmada and Daman Ganga Pinjal will start within three months. The Minister said Government is exploring the possibility of creating a large fund for inter liking of rivers. Shri Gadkari said new ways have to be found for use of treated waste water. He said that he has requested the Power Minister to explore the possibility of using recycled water for NTPC power plants. He emphasised the need for inventing innovative methods for using 70% of river water which goes into seas. Referring to Pancheswar Project the Minister said the Secretary of Ministry Water Resources will be visiting Nepal soon to sort out pending issues. He expressed the hope that work on the project will start soon. Shri Gadkari expressed the hope that some good suggestions will come out from the deliberations and discussion during India Water Week. .

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Union Minister for Drinking and Water Sanitation Sushri Uma Bharti in her address said that Government is sincerely working to make available safe drinking water to every household of the country and irrigation facility for every farm by 2022. She said, It is a matter of grave concern that ground water level is going down critically. We have misused and abused ground water. We will have to respect water, rivers and ground water and make our rivers Aviral and Nirmal." .

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Addressing the inaugural session of India Water Week 2017 Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal said that water and energy are two crucial resources whose conservation and optimum utilisation is essential for inclusive growth of a nation. He said 112 districts in the country have less than 20% irrigation coverage and time bound actions are needed to meet the challenges of water scarcity and flood management the Minister said. The Government has proposed National Ground Water Management improvement scheme, a world bank backed Rs. 6,000 crore scheme, for sustainable management of ground water. .

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Dr. Satyapal Singh, Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation thanked all the delegates participating in the IWW-2017 and hoped that specific focussed sessions on the basic issues of water and energy will be highly beneficial for policy maker and Nation. .

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About 1500 delegates from India and 13 other countries are attending the five day international event. The theme of India Water Week 2017 is Water and Energy for Inclusive Growth". .

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The 5th edition of India Water Week (IWW) is being held with a multi disciplinary conference and a concurrently running exhibition enriching the theme and showcasing the technologies and solutions available for the areas under deliberation of the meet. The event will have the following major components: .

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Water, Food and Energy Security Essential requirement for sustainable development. .

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Water for inclusive Growth.

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Sustainable energy development Key for all round economic growth. .

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Water and Society.

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A large group of international and national persons of eminence have been invited for sharing their experiences in the field of Water and Power Management, Technical and Sociological interventions for achieving water and energy security in their individual areas and manage the assets created on a participatory basis. In addition, there will be special sessions involving dignitaries, delegates, politicians, experts from the fields related to the event. Expert professional bodies and think tanks are invited to put up Side events addressing specific issues under the theme. .

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The Business to Business Exhibition India Water Expo 2017" co-located with the conference will also be organized from 11 to 14 October, 2017 to focus on the latest technologies providing solutions to the water management issues. .

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In order to establish an international event focused on water resources of India, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India has been organising India Water Week since 2012 as an annual international event. Four editions of India Water Week have been organised so far in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. The recommendations/action points emerged during earlier events of India Water Week have been sent to all concerned Ministries of Central Government as well as to all State Governments for their appropriate implementation. .

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NP/samir/SKP/jk
PFRDA rolls-out Aadhar Powered Digital on Boarding into APY through eNPS platform for wider reach; Benefits of APY@eNPS include paperless registration; No need to visit Bank Branch & to have Banking Id and 24*7 Online En-rollment at the customer's convenience.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has embarked upon several digital friendly steps for extension of the benefits of APY to the citizens of India. PFRDA has developed the process to offer APY enrolment through eNPS platform for wider reach. Under this channel a complete end to end digital environment for subscription is enabled without submission of physical form at the convenience of the customer without visiting bank or post office.

So far APY is available for subscription through Banks, BCs and through internet banking.

Now, APY is available on eNPS platform and any eligible Indian citizen can enroll through the APY@eNPS channel by visiting www.enps.nsdl.com. The customers of the Bank can visit eNPS portal and submit Aadhaar/ Bank Name and Savings Bank Account Number to join the scheme. The benefits of APY@eNPS are:

Paperless registration

No need for visiting Bank Branch.

Online enrollment can be made 24*7 at the customer's convenience.

No Need for having internet banking Id.

Punjab National Bank is the first Bank to operationalize APY@eNPS and quite a few other banks are expected to launch this platform shortly offering Aadhaar enabled APY enrollment.

Any person in the age group of 18 to 40 years with a savings bank account and Aadhaar can register for APY by providing the minimum information in the APY@eNPS portal as rest of the information will be auto populated from the respective bank. This new feature not only makes it easy for the subscriber to join the APY but also reduces the workload for the Banks/Postal Branch which are implementing the APY.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will attend the inauguration of the birth centenary celebration of Nanaji Deshmukh at IARI at Pusa in New Delhi tomorrow (11th October, 2017). .

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The Prime Minister will visit an exhibition on the theme "technology and rural life." The exhibition showcases over a hundred good practices and applications. He will interact with rural innovators. .

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The Prime Minister will offer floral tributes to Nanaji Deshmukh and Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan. .

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The Prime Minister will release a commemorative postage stamp on Nanaji Deshmukh. He will launch a portal for coordination and monitoring of development works at the district level. He will also launch the Gram Samvad App which will carry information on the progress of rural development works at the Gram Panchayat level. It has been designed on the theme - soochna se sashaktikaran - Empowerment through Information. He will Inaugurate a Plant Phenomics Facility of IARI. .

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The Prime Minister will address an audience of about 10,000 people, drawn from Self Help Groups, Panchayats, water conservation innovators, and beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. .

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Power Minister reviews the Power Sector Development in Jammu & Kashmir

Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri R. K. Singh reviewed power sector development in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar today. The senior functionaries from Ministry of Power, Government of India, Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and key officials of Government of Jammu & Kashmir were also present during the review meeting.During the review, Shri Singh reiterated the commitment of Government of India to provide uninterrupted reliable power supply to all the citizens of the country including Jammu & Kashmir and advised all concerned to ensure electrification of remaining 100 census villages by December 2017. These villages exist in remote areas with difficult hilly terrain in the districts of Kishtwar, Kupwara, Reasi, Bandipore, Leh, Kargil & Rajauri. Electrification of these villages would ensure electricity access to 100% census villages of the State and catalyse desired improvement in the quality of life of people of the State and also create new opportunities for economic activities and jobs for the youth.

The CPSUs of Government of India are providing requisite support to Government of J&K for implementation of these projects. During the visit, Shri Singh emphasized on expeditious implementation of projects sanctioned by Government of India under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and Pradhan Mantri Development Plan (PMDP) for strengthening of transmission, sub-transmission and distribution system of the State. Apart from transmission & distribution, the status of generation and availability of power supply was also reviewed. Effective implementation of these projects would ensure availability of a robust electricity infrastructure in the State to realise the goal of 24x7 Power for All at affordable prices, Shri Singh said. Shri Singh also emphasized upon desired improvement in operational efficiency in distribution sector including billing & collection efficiency to ensure financial sustainability. Further, the officials of Government of J&K were also advised to initiate preparatory activities for implementation of new scheme Saubhagya, recently launched by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi for providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining households in the country and assured all kind of support from Government of India. During the day, the Minister also met the Governor, Shri N. N. Vohra and Chief Minister of the State, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti and discussed about faster implementation of power projects in the State so that the people of J&K get 24x7 Quality Power at affordable prices.
Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurates the First BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the four-day first Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Disaster Management Exercise (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) here today. The Exercise is being conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency from October 10-13, 2017 in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). At the 17th BIMSTEC Senior Officials Meeting held in Kathmandu, Nepal on February 7, 2017, it was decided that India would organize the first annual Disaster Management Exercise for the region.

Addressing on the occasion, Shri Rajnath Singh extended warm greetings to all delegates from BIMSTEC nations that have come together to participate in this joint exercise. He said that their presence for this exercise represents their governments commitment to regional co-operation in the area of disaster risk management.

Expressing concern over the disasters, the Home Minister said, in the recent monsoon season, floods and landslides have affected millions of people across almost all the BIMSTEC countries. This is yet another reminder of the importance of improving our disaster preparedness, he emphasised. Shri Rajnath Singh said that over the period 1996 to 2015, the BIMSTEC countries have lost 317,000 lives to disasters. In these disasters more than 16 million people in BIMSTEC countries have lost their homes and economic losses are also high and escalating, he further added. He said, in terms of number of extreme weather events floods, droughts, heat waves and cyclones the future is not going to be any better and the frequency and intensity of such events is likely to rise in view of the climate change. However, if we make our communities, our towns and villages, and our economic activities resilient, we can reduce the losses, the Home Minister said. He said that the improved disaster preparedness is a corner stone of this effort and in this direction, all the BIMSTEC nations have made significant progress over the last two decades. Highlighting the progress of various nations, he said that the cyclone preparedness programme of Bangladesh is recognized as a global best practice and the last mile connectivity of Tsunami early warning system in Thailand has significantly improved preparedness in coastal areas.

Speaking on Indias efforts in this direction, Shri Rajnath Singh said that we are making concerted efforts to reduce preventable deaths and other losses and are also analyzing the patterns of disaster mortality and taking focused steps. He said that Indias effective handling of Phailin and Hudhud in the recent past is the direct outcome of over a decade of policy initiatives and enhancement of early warning capabilities, advance preparation, training and capacity development.

He expressed hope that over next few days besides focusing on joint exercise, delegations will have opportunity to share their countrys experience. He said that success of this joint exercise will depend on not only the work that will be done over next few days but also follow-up work after the exercise.

The Home Minister said that over a period of time we need to use exercises to develop a pool of BIMSTEC disaster responders spread across all participating nations. These building blocks will ensure that when need arises, we can mobilise an effective response and help each other in a timely manner. He expressed sincere belief that BIMSTEC nations need to join hands to mitigate disasters since they face problem of floods on a regular basis.

Shri Rajnath Singh said if the BIMSTEC member states start sharing the hydrological data of transnational rivers with downstream countries, it will certainly help the nations in risk reduction and better disaster preparedness. We need to build a consensus on regular sharing of hydrological data of transnational rivers, he emphasised.

Shri Rajnath Singh reiterated Indias commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with other BIMSTEC nations in achieving its common goals in reducing disaster losses and explore all possible avenues of collaboration. He said that India has established the Tsunami early Warning System for the Indian Ocean Rim Countries. We have deployed our National Disaster Response Force in other affected countries for response operations, he said. He informed that prior to BIMSTEC, India has hosted joint bilateral exercises with SAARC countries and also hosted a joint meeting on disaster risk management of all the BRICS nations. Last year we hosted the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, he said. Shri Rajnath Singh said that in May this year India launched South Asia Geostationary Communication Satellite that will improve communication, weather forecasting, etc. He assured that India will work with the same level of commitment under BIMSTEC and is indeed looking forward to moving hand in hand with the BIMSTEC nations.

He thanked BIMSTEC country delegations for coming to India for this joint exercise.

BIMSTEC Secretary General, M Shahidul Islam said that it is a great honour and privilege for him to be present at the first disaster management exercise. He expressed happiness at the fact that this exercise is being organised when BIMSTEC is completing 20 years of its formation this year and this is the reflection of true spirit of regional cooperation. He said that disaster management is of high priority because Bay of Bengal region is one of the most disaster prone areas of the world and has witnessed many disasters in the recent past. He expressed concern that during disasters, apart from human loss, economic loss is also huge which affects the GDP of the country. He said that we have little control over natural calamities, so we need to focus on disaster risk reduction. We need to learn from each other and our past experiences, he added. He emphasised that coordination and quick response must go hand in hand. He further said that various structural and non-structural systems have been put in place which has reduced the human loss. The Secretary General also said that people to people contact is very important along with institutional framework. He said that this exercise is just a beginning for a larger cooperation.

During his welcome address, Shri Sanjay Kumar, DG, NDRF said that the first phase comprising a Preparatory Meeting was held in Delhi NCR on August 8-9, 2017, during which the modalities for this exercise were discussed. He said that this exercise will provide a platform to member countries to share best practices and coordination for disaster management among BIMSTEC nations. This is an opportunity to review and discuss the disaster management plans, he added. He said that this exercise will facilitate the regional cooperation for effective disaster response. The disasters cannot be prevented, but certainly be managed, Shri Kumar said. He also emphasised on integration of latest technology in this regard.

The Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Ms Preeti Saran said that BIMSTEC region has over one fifth of worlds population and development of BIMSTEC countries is crucial for the development of world as a whole. She said that regional cooperation under BIMSTEC also spurs the development of North East region. She said that sharing information, joint action and capacity building are important and this exercise is a step in this direction.

Delegation and response teams of all seven BIMSTEC nations i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand were present during the session. Representatives from Embassies/High Commission of BIMSTEC nations in Delhi, MHA, MEA, NDMA, NIDM, NDRF, SDRF, senior officers of CAPFs and state representatives were also present. Over 150 delegates of BIMSTEC member nations are participating in this event.

During the four-day exercise, the delegates from the member nations will share their experiences in the varied fields of disaster, training and its mitigation. Various events during the exercise include a Table Top Exercise after the inaugural session to provide participants with an opportunity to review and discuss disaster response plans and sharing of best practices of one nation with the other. Other exercises such as Joint Field Training Exercise on earthquake disaster at Ghaziabad, Joint Field Training Exercise on Flood Rescue at Wazirabad will also be conducted.
The list of hard-line immigration demands that President Trump said he needs to back protections for young undocumented immigrants triggered a furious response on Monday from Democrats and immigration activists, who gave no indication they were willing to strike any deal.
The Catalan governments determination to break from Spain faces its moment of truth, with the regions president, Carles Puigdemont, risking immediate arrest if he goes too far down the path of independence.
summoned about 200 policy staff from around the world last month for a debate on whether the companys size has made it too attractive as a target for government regulators.
unleashed an industrial scandal that reverberated across Asias second-largest after saying its staff falsified data related to strength and durability of some aluminum and copper products used in aircraft, cars and maybe even a space rocket.
Opec's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo on Tuesday called on US shale oil producers to help curtail global oil supply, warning extraordinary measures might be needed next year to sustain the rebalanced market in the medium to long term.

"We urge our friends, in the shale basins of North America to take this shared responsibility with all seriousness it deserves, as one of the key lessons learnt from the current unique supply-driven cycle," said Barkindo.

The comments by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries official came during a speech delivered at a conference in New Delhi.

While Opec and some other producers, including Russia have cut supplies this year in order to prop up prices, US production has soared by almost 10 per cent this year, driven largely by shale drillers. Barkindo said he hoped that new producers, not just US shale drillers, would join production cuts.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia cut crude oil allocations for November by 560,000 barrels per day (bpd), in line with the kingdom's commitment to the Opec-led supply reduction pact.

Still, the top oil exporter plans to ship slightly above 7 million bpd next month, up from low levels during summer when domestic demand was at its peak.

On Sunday, Barkindo said Opec and other oil producers might need to take "some extraordinary measures" next year to rebalance the oil market.

Looking ahead, the official said by 2040, oil and other fossil fuels would account for 70 per cent of the global energy basket.

Barkindo's bullish forecast runs counter to the views of most analysts, who see the share of fossil fuel below 70 per cent by 2040, as renewable energy sources and electric vehicles spread.
Richard Thaler, awarded the Nobel Prize on Monday, may be its first winner to have had an almost immediate effect on millions of peoples paycheques. Photo: Reuters
President Trump is expected this week to refuse to recertify that Iran is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal, a milestone diplomatic agreement that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Adani Transmission hit a new high of Rs 193, up 10% on BSE, after the company said it has entered into a period of exclusivity with Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) until January 15, 2018 in relation to discussions for the proposed acquisition of the integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai City from RInfra.
Onion prices, which saw a sharp fall for two weeks after government raids on wholesale traders, have rebounded steadily to hit their highest in six weeks.
Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may get two new executive directors (EDs) soon. According to the sources, 20 candidates have been lined up for final interviews for the positions, which will be held on 20 of this month.
Faced with a minuscule cut in iron ore prices by NMDC, which did not match the global price decline for September, domestic see the potential of a further cut in the price of the primary steelmaking raw material in the near future.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Tuesday said a total of 3,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed since August 25, following the army operation in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Tension had been escalating in the Rakhine state a month before the operation, when the Myanmar government started increasing army deployment at many points of the state, the Daily Star quoted Mahmood Ali as saying in a programme here.

He alleged Myanmar of not taking Rohingya refugees back despite the mounting international pressure.

Nearly half a million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh due to violence in the Rakhine state that has claimed lives of at least more than 100 people and displaced several others.

Bangladesh is currently sheltering 507,000 Rohingya refugees in the country.

The Myanmar troops launched a crackdown in the Rakhine state, in response to attacks on three border posts last year that killed nine police officers; since then many Rohingya Muslims have tried to move into Bangladesh illegally.

The Rohingyas are not recognised by Myanmar as its citizens and are called Bengali by them.

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An absconding accused, who was arrested by the Investigative Agency (NIA), appeared before the trial court at Ernakulam on Tuesday for allegedly organising a terrorist camp in Kerala's Kannur.

The 24-year-old Azharudheen, a resident of Narath, belongs to the People's Front of India (PFI).

As per a statement by the NIA, "the accused was arrested on October 9 for entering into a criminal conspiracy to impart training to the youth by using explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities and to commit acts endangering the unity and integrity of the nation."

The arrested accused will be produced before a trial court at Ernakulam on Tuesday.

?The case was originally registered in year 2013 at the Mayyil Police Station in the Kannur district against a group of 24 people, all belonging to PFI/SDPI, organised a terrorist camp at Narath and entered into criminal conspiracy to impart training to the youth by using explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities, and to commit acts endangering the unity and integrity of the nation.

Last year, the Special Court for NIA Cases had completed trial against 22 accused persons in the case and pronounced 21 accused persons guilty of various offences including those under the UA(P) Act for committing the terrorist act.

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In a shocking revelation, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie once came really close to taking part in some real-life espionage on behalf of the International Criminal Court.

According to reports, a hoard of 40,000 ICC documents leaked to the French investigative website Mediapart revealed that Jolie once offered to act as human bait in a trap to arrest brutal Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.

The report also suggested that Jolie's now-estranged husband, Brad Pitt, was supposed to be part of the plan to lure Kony out of hiding.

She "has the idea to invite Kony to dinner and then arrest him," reads an e-mail sent by former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

An email sent by Moreno Ocampo at the time read: "Forget other celebrities, she is the one. She loves to arrest Kony. She is ready. Probably Brad [Pitt] will go also."

The report also noted that Mr Moreno Ocampo was hopeful that the couple would travel with US special forces to Central African Republic and that would draw Kony out of an armoured compound, allowing for his capture.

In an e-mail, Moreno Ocampo wrote, "Apparently you can be embedded with the special forces that are chasing Kony. Can Brad go with you?"

To which, Jolie replied, "Brad is being supportive. Let's discuss logistics. Much love Xxx."

Moreno Ocampo later added, "It will be great to spend more time with the American troops. They are eager to get Kony, but after meeting you, they will do it."

Jolie and Moreno Ocampo were not strangers before the email exchange.

She had gone to the ICC at The Hague, Netherlands to watch him prosecute Thomas Lubanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first person to ever be convicted by the court.

The documents show that communication between the two tapered off after the Kony email exchange.

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The Balochistan president of Awami National Party (ANP), Asghar Khan Achakzai, has alleged the Pakistan Government of ignoring the province under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying the development process and all resources were being diverted towards Punjab.

"Balochistan is being ignored in the development process and all resources were being diverted towards Punjab," the Dawn quoted Achakzai, as saying, in a conference here on Monday.

He further alleged that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was giving all of its attention to Punjab for the electoral benefit.

Achakzai said the promises made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of initiating development projects in Balochistan under the CPEC were not fulfilled.

"Work has not been begun so far on development projects announced by Sharif for Balochistan under the CPEC," he said.

The CPEC project comprises a network of railways, roads and pipelines that would connect Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the province of Balochistan, with the Chinese city of Kashgar in landlocked Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The human rights activists have, time and again, spoken about and highlighted the growing atrocities of Pakistan on the indigenous people of Balochistan and deteriorating human rights situation as a result of the CPEC.

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Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have vehemently attacked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for ignoring his own constituency and raising the fingers on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government in the centre.

While Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani accused the Congress Party for seizing the land of farmers, BJP President Amit Shah said, "I have never seen the winning candidate ignore his own constituency while the defeated candidate cares for it like her own child."

The BJP leaders Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were addressing a public rally in Amethi.

As the Amethi rally coincides with Rahul Gandhi's address in Gujarat's Vadodara, Shah also castigated Gandhi for questioning development in Gujarat.

"Public of Gujarat know what is development; Rahul Baba, you see what ruin you brought upon to Amethi," Shah said, and in an account of three years of work, he stated that the BJP government has launched 106 Yojanas (Schemes).

Castigating the Congress vice president for his criticism of the BJP-led government, Union Minister Irani demanded answers for the lack of development in Gandhi's own constituency Amethi.

According to Irani, a piece of land was taken over by Akhilesh Yadav led previous UP government from the farmers for the purpose of building a Cycle Factory, with a promise of providing them employment. But this factory was soon shut down, and the same land was taken over by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which is not even involved in the commercial activities.

Irani who lost Amethi's Lok Sabha constituency to Rahul Gandhi in 2014, claimed that the development in Amethi began only after BJP government came in Centre.

She also brought the issue of people in Pipri village, and said that the former government was deaf to their problem of parts of land submerging in the river, and added that Gandhi never raised the issue in the parliament.

"Those who are making speeches about development across the whole country cannot develop their own Lok Sabha constituency," Irani said.

Irani claimed that with Adityanath taking the reins of UP government, her plea for Pipri village's issue was immediately heard, and the seven-year-old problem was solved in six months.

Irani also enumerated the developmental schemes and projects that the Centre undertook in Amethi.

"If Rahul ji is listening to me, you go around the world talking about development, but at least tell the nation that if today TB units are installed in district hospitals for the first time in Amethi, it's after BJP came in the government. It was never accomplished in Congress' government," Irani said.

She further added that the District Collector's office, Chief Medical Officer's office and District School Inspector's office were built in Amethi after BJP government came in centre and state.

Irani continued her attack, and mocked the Gandhi scion over his objection on the FM station in Amethi.

"He had cut the ribbon of relay transmitter and now questions why we are making FM station in Amethi. A person who doesn't know the difference between relay transmitter and FM station, he is giving knowledge about development. How much it suits him should be a concern for Congress party," Irani said.

Bhartiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also echoed her attacks against Gandhi on this occasion.

Attacking Rahul Gandhi, who is also a Member of Parliament from Amethi, BJP President Shah said, "I have never seen the winning candidate ignore his own constituency while the defeated candidate cares for it like her own child."

He also responded to Rahul Gandhi's attack on the Central government's claims of development.

"I want to ask the prince of Congress. You ask of Modi ji's account of three years of work, Amethi asks you an account of three generations of work," Shah said.

Commenting on Irani's claim about Rajiv Gandhi Foundation taking the Cycle factory land, CM Adityanath said that illegal land acquisition was an age-old tradition of Gandhi family, and added, "Somewhere son-in-law is seizing land and somewhere their son, but this will not go on for long in UP."

He also said that the land will either be used towards enterprise, or be returned to the farmers, but would not allow a foundation or family to have it.

Adityanath termed Gandhi's visit to Amethi as an attempt to mislead the public, and claimed that his party cannot bring development as "they don't have love for the country, motivation for development, or any concern for the poor.

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The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has come out in support of the farmers, who have resorted to stubble burning in Karnal, and have opened a front against the government.

"The government made a wrong law and is sending farmers to jail. We are holding protests at different places and have called for 'Kheti choro, jail chalo'," BKU state president Ratan Maan told the media in Karnal.

The BKU also held protests in Ladwa in Haryana's Kurukshetra district on Tuesday.

Maan alleged that the government was singularly targetting the farmers even when other factories cause more pollution.

"Big industries and firecrackers are also causing a damage to the environment. Why not shut industries and ban firecrackers?" Maan said, adding that the farmers had no other option but to burn the stubble, in order to maintain the productivity.

He also said that the farmers would discontinue the practice if the chief minister announces a compensation of Rs. 40,000 per acre of land to all farmers.

Stubble burning has become a major concern for authorities as it causes air pollution as well as reduces soil fertility.

This prompted the government and the district administration to tighten strictures against stubble burning, and book charges against farmers, who are not following orders.

However, the farmers continue the practice, so that they can sow crops for the next season as soon as they can and maintain the level of crop produce.

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Danny Wimmer Presents Marilyn Manson has pulled out of the upcoming Aftershock festival. A Facebook post from the festival says the iconic shock rocker has dropped out "due to circumstances out of our control."

On September 30, Manson was injured during a show in New York City when a stage prop collapsed on him, forcing him to postpone nine tour dates. The tour is expected to pick back up on October 15 in Grand Prairie, Texas. That date actually occurs before Aftershock, which is held October 21-22 in Sacramento, so it's unclear whether the Aftershock set was canceled due to Manson's injury.

As for who will be playing Aftershock, the lineup includes Nine Inch Nails, Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, A Perfect Circle, Stone Sour, Mastodon, Halestorm, Highly Suspect and more.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that his party will outdo 22 years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's work in just six months.

Addressing the people displaced due to Sardar Sarovar Dam, in Pansoli village of Kheda, Rahul said, "What has not been done in last 22 years here, will be done within six months by the Congress after coming to power in Gujarat."

Earlier in the day, the Congress vice president also participated in 'Timli' dance in Gujarat's Chhota Udaipur with the artistes in the midst of an eventful Navsarjan Yatra.

On the last day of his two-day visit to poll bound Gujarat, Rahul also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government for making false promises.

"The BJP government had promised development funds for tribal areas, jobs for the youth and irrigation water for the farms. The Prime Minister has failed on all these fronts and betrayed the people with hollow talks," he said.

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Continuing its opposition to the Delhi metro fare hike, Delhi Assembly on Tuesday constituted a nine-member committee to be nominated by the Speaker to look into the rationale behind the hike of fare by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which came into effect today.

The new development by the Delhi government comes just a day after the DMRC confirmed the fare hike overriding Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's relentlessness to it.

As part of the two-phase revision of Metro fares, recommended by the Fare Fixation Committee, the fare would remain Rs 10 for the first five km, but will subsequently increase by Rs 10 in each slab, going up to a maximum of Rs 60.

Earlier, union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to pay up about Rs 3,000 crore annually for five years to DMRC, if it wants to continue low fares.

Responding to the suggestion, Kejriwal said that his government will pay the amount only if the Centre pays a matching amount to afford the losses.

Puri dismiised Kejriwal's suggestion of the Centre and Delhi government sharing the operational expenses, saying it would be a violation of the existing policy governing financing of metro projects.

After finalisation of the Delhi metro fare hike decision on Monday, the revised fare structure now is: up to 2 kms - Rs 10, 2-5 kms - Rs 20, 5-12 kms - Rs 30, 12-21 kms - Rs 40, 21-32 kms - Rs 50 and for journeys beyond 32 kms - Rs 60.

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At least 10 people were shot dead after gunmen opened fire in Nigeria's oil-rich southern city of Port Harcourt on Monday.

"We can confirm that 10 persons were shot dead today as gunmen opened fire in the early hours of the day," Anadolu news agency quoted a police spokesman Omoni Nnamdi as saying.

The police are investigating the shooting incident but have not arrested anyone so far.

Two people were killed in similar shooting incident last week in Mgboushimini area of Port Harcourt.

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An Indian national, who illegally crossed back to India after living for 27 years in Pakistan, was apprehended by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Jaisalmer, on Tuesday.

Hasan Khan had crossed over to Pakistan 27 years ago, and crossed back to India illegally six months ago.

Suspecting the man of acting as a spy for Pakistan, the IB has taken him into custody for interrogation.

Khan was reportedly on the run from authorities, taking cover at several places including the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

He is suspected to have reached Pakistan with the help of illegal agents in 1990, in order to meet his ailing brother-in-law in the Kharado village.

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India's participation at Anuga this year has evinced great interest from Germany and other international markets to invest in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries of India (MoFPI) and Government of India's, mission to reduce food wastage, creating a global 'food bank', and making India a global 'sourcing hub'. In a move to strengthen the Indo-German economic partnership in food processing sector, a high-level delegation, led by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, engaged industry leaders in Cologne, Germany.

Henriette Reker, Mayor of Cologne in her special welcome to India highlighted food security benefits that go well beyond the geographic limits of the two nations. The two countries have great opportunities to collaborate in multiple sectors including technology development, vocational trainings, market access, and research and development (R&D) efforts to instigate innovations in sectors such as food processing and packaging equipment. The recently launched 'Make in India - Mittelstand' initiative facilitating entry of German SMEs, and Germany's dual Vocational Education and Training (VET) system for building efficient pool of skilled human resource is being well leveraged, and Germany is looking to further strengthen its economic partnership with India.

"Germany is among India's most important partners bilaterally and in global context, and India is ready with open arms to welcome German companies. Anuga, which is the number one trading place in the world, gave us the right platform to interact with various global players in the food industry," said Badal.

India's position as the 'global sourcing hub', with its geographically and strategically aligned location for food importing nations, took precedence during the minister's visit. Key areas of investment to prevent food loss and wastage globally, both at the harvest and transit levels (estimated at 1.3 billion tonnes annually by FAO), reduction of environmental pollution (estimated at 3.3 billion metric tonnes globally) and countering malnutrition, were discussed.

A record 107 countries participated at the trade fair and the Ministerial delegation's interaction with globally acclaimed food processing companies has enthused many including BDSI; Malaysian External Trade Development Operation; Federation of German Food and Drink Industries; Viba Sweets; Cranswick Country Foods among others, confirming participation in the upcoming World Food India (WFI) Summit, a three-day mega international event, organized by MoFPI, scheduled to be held on November 3 to 5, at New Delhi, India, to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India.

"By 2050, world population is going to be over 9 billion, and demand for food is expected to increase by 50 percent. Where only 10 percent of food is being processed currently in India, we see huge potential to co-develop and optimize food processing capability, to serve the world food market! The WFI summit, is first-of-its-kind platform to foster partnerships aimed at 'transforming food economy', and we welcome food processors, machine manufacturers, technology suppliers and refrigeration companies, to come to India and expand their opportunities," said Badal.

The MoFPI is gearing up to host 2,000 companies from 30 countries at the #WorldFoodIndia 2017, with Germany as one of the partner countries. Nearly 50 global CEOs of leading food processing companies will be attending the event and many of them will be participating at the roundtable of the CEOs with Prime Minister/ Finance Minister of India. The summit has been conceptualized in line with the 'Make in India' vision of the Modi Government, aimed at driving 'ease of doing business' in 'farm to fork'.

India, is not only the fastest growing economy with GDP to reach 4.5 trillion US dollar by 2025, it has a USD 600 billion retail sector, of which 70 per cent is food retail, and is set to treble by 2020! The Indian Food Processing Industry is an attractive market for global investors to expand their presence across the food processing value chain. Factors such as, strategic geographic location and proximity to food-importing nations, proactive policy reforms, attractive fiscal incentives, large skilled workforce and single-window clearance are some of the opportunities that investors could leverage.

Economic reforms like 100 percent FDI in retail of food produced and/or manufactured in India, Goods and Service Tax (GST), construction of Mega Food parks and cold chain grids throughout the country, have made the ecosystem favorable for investment.

Germany is the seventh largest foreign direct investor in India since January 2000. German FDI in India in 2016-2017 was to the tune of USD 1.1 bn. Presently, more than 1600 Indo-German collaborations and over 600 Indo-German joint ventures are in operation. While the food processing industry in Germany is well-developed and globally acclaimed, its counterpart in India has been growing above average and has been forecasted to ambitiously speed up in the next two to three years.

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According to statistics, about six million people die of tobacco use or exposure to secondhand smoke. This accounts for six percent of female and 12% of male deaths worldwide every year.

Estimates also indicate that by the year 2030, tobacco-related deaths are likely to increase to more than eight million a year around the world. Exposure to the harmful chemicals in tobacco can also occur through second hand smoking or passive smoking, which is an equally serious hazard. Non-smokers who live with and around smokers stand a 30% higher risk of acquiring heart diseases.

Second-hand smoke is harmful to children and babies as well and can exacerbate the onset of sudden unexplained death in infants (SUDI), bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma. Breathing secondhand smoke can have immediate adverse effects on your blood and blood vessels, increasing the risk of having a heart attack.

Speaking about this, Dr TS Kler, Chairman, Pushpawati Singhania Heart Institute, New Delhi said, "Passive smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke is a 'hidden' risk factor for heart disease and needs more awareness and attention. Breathing secondhand smoke can cause the cells in your blood that are responsible for clotting (platelets) to become stickier, making your blood more likely to clot. This can cause a clot to form that may block an artery, causing a heart attack or stroke. People who already have heart disease or are at a high risk of suffering adverse effects from breathing secondhand smoke should take special precautions to avoid exposure even for a brief period."

Burning a cigarette produces carbon monoxide (CO). Red blood cells can absorb CO faster than oxygen. This CO binds to blood cells which are meant to carry oxygen and thus, the heart has to work harder to carry out its functions normally, straining itself in the process.

Adding further, Dr Kler said, "Mainstream smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals, including chemical irritants and about 70 carcinogens. Side stream is also dangerous because while it has a composition similar to mainstream smoke, the concentration of toxins and carcinogens is often higher. Homes and vehicles are the main places of exposure for children. For adults, it is their work place or social environments."

For those with severe buildup of plaque in the arteries, the doctor may recommend coronary angioplasty or CABG (coronary artery bypass grafting). CABG can improve blood flow to your heart, relieve chest pain, and possibly prevent a heart attack. Stents can help keep coronary arteries open and reduce the chance of a heart attack. A stent is inserted into the clogged artery with a balloon catheter. The balloon is inflated and the stent expands and locks in place. This holds the artery open and allows blood to flow more freely.

Here are some ways to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.

- Don't allow people to smoke in your home. Smoke can linger in the air for hours after. Ask guests politely to smoke outside.

- Don't allow smoking in the car.

- Visit hotels, restaurants, etc. that have a 100% smoke-free environment. Even with a designated "smoking" area, smoke can make its way around through the air and ventilation system.

- Make sure the places where your child spends time, such as daycare, school, or after-school, do not encourage smoking. Ask caregivers and relatives never to smoke around children.

- Lastly, if you smoke, quit right away to ensure good for you and those around you.

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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always considered profit as the prime focus of the education system instead of providing quality education to the people.

"The goal of the education system is not to make profit, but to provide education. The former chief minister of Gujarat and the current prime minister of the nation, Narendra Modi, has always considered profit as the prime focus of the education system, instead of providing good quality education to the people. Hence, now the prime focus of the Congress in Gujarat is to bring back the focus of education on imparting knowledge. The marketing of Prime Minister Modi is pretty good," Gandhi said, while interacting with students at the Sayaji Hall, here.

Commenting on the presence of women leaders in the Congress, Rahul said, "Why are there no women in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)?"

Rahul Gandhi also talked unemployment in the state and the country.

"The UPA's records on the job are significantly better than the BJP. India has to focus on competing with China and focus on jobs in country. The Congress understands that. We take the country as a whole and believe in taking the country together," he reiterated.

The Congress vice-president again targetted Amit Shah's controversy-ridden son Jay Shah and said, "Have you heard of Start up India? Have you heard about the icon of Start up India? The 'chaukidar' of India [referring to Prime Minister Modi] is quiet on this issue."

"I can give you one guarantee that if Congress comes to power in Gujarat, the government will not be a government of three or four business people. It will be a government where everybody feels included," he concluded the address.

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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is currently in Gujarat, traditionally, a Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) fortress, while, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are in Amethi, a Congress bastion, washing off the grand old party's claims of developments there.

In the run-up to the assembly elections in Gujarat later this year, or early next year and the general elections in 2019, the Congress and the BJP, thus, seemed to have changed places, perhaps the targets.

Rahul Gandhi, who alleged that he was recently denied entry into his own constituency, Amethi, chose Gujarat for a four-phase tour to cover all regions of the state prior to the assembly elections.

The Congress MLAs in Gujarat had alleged the state BJP of horse trading ahead of the assembly elections, which the saffron party outrightly denied.

Rahul has been claiming small victories in the form of jibes targetted at Amit Shah's controversy-ridden son Jay Shah, calling him 'the icon of start up India', and the 'only beneficiary of the demonetisation drive'.

When Rahul commented on the development in Gujarat, saying that 'vikas' (development in Hindi) had gone berserk due to listening to constant lies, likening development to a person, Irani, in one of her addresses in Amethi, said 'vikas' was not something that should be ridiculed; rather, it should be accepted and appreciated.

Rahul also said that the Gujarat Government had majorly failed to provide basic facilities of education and sanitation to the people of the state. He also lashed out at the Modi government for making "profit the focus of educational institutions."

Reports have said the visit of the senior BJP leaders to the Congress bastion was aimed at sending a message that the current dispensation believed in an all-round development and was not meting out "step-motherly treatment" to a Congress constituency.

During the current visit, Irani has also claimed that visits by her and senior BJP leaders had ensured that the people of the district saw more of the Congress vice-president.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Amethi had seen a high-pitched electoral battle between Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani.

She might have lost, but not before ensuring to reduce the Congress leader's victory margin 1.07 lakh (the margin was more than 3.70 lakh votes in 2009).

The war of words is expected to intensify in the aftermath of the local Congress leader of Amethi Jang Bahadur Singh announcing his decision to join the BJP, just a day ahead of Amit Shah's visit to the Lok Sabha constituency.

In 2017 UP Assembly elections, the BJP had won six of the 10 Assembly seats falling under the Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies. Four of these were in Amethi.
A Russian military jet on Tuesday crashed while taking off from Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria.

All of the crew died in the accident after they failed to eject themselves from the aircraft.

"The Su-24 plane rolled off the runway and broke up while accelerating for takeoff... The plane's crew did not have time to eject and died," the local media reported quoting a military spokesman as saying.

Technical failure could be the reason of the accident, the Ministry added.

The Sukhoi-24 attack aircraft, code-named Fencer by the NATO military alliance, is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union.

Hmeymim base has been used by Moscow to launch air strikes against opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia lost two other planes - a Sukhoi-33 and a MiG-29 - off the coast of Syria last year.

Over the past week, Russian jets have intensified their campaign, conducting up to 150 airstrikes per day, the reports said.

The toll of Russian servicemen officially reported killed in Syria is at 37 with these two deaths, the reports added.

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The Shiv Sena has called out the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its ministers' contradictory opinions on demonetisation, a day after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the poor were "hit hard" by the decision.

"The common man has suffered from demonetisation; this is an admission by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. We take Gadkari's words seriously because he is known for his straight-forwardness, but at the same time, another senior leader Arun Jaitley has put forth a different opinion," said an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, 'Saamna'.

The editorial said that only a party spokesperson could clarify as to whose statement should be taken for the truth.

It further claimed that the government has refused to admit to the failure of demonetisation, despite admissions by prominent political leaders, as well as the former governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Raghuram Rajan.

The Shiv Sena added that Rajan was compelled to step down for objecting to demonetisation, and was even labelled as a greedy and an incompetent financial expert.

"At that time, it was said that Rajan is a greedy and incompetent economic expert, but the same man was nominated for a Nobel Prize for his contribution in the field of Economics," the editorial said, condemning the "removal" of Rajan from his post

The editorial claimed that demonetisation was a conspiracy to convert black money into white money, and help the rich get richer.

Through the editorial, the Shiv Sena also congratulated Gadkari for admitting that poor have suffered, and added that the admission was a favour to the poor people of the country.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday reportedly said that the poor "faced a hard time post demonetisation, but that they were happy to see the rich having a tough time as well because of their black money getting flushed out.

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A Sonipat Court on Tuesday pronounced a life sentence for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) bomb-maker Abdul Karim Tunda, convicted in 1996 Sonipat bomb blasts case.

On Monday, Tunda was pronounced guilty by the court, and booked under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act.

The 1996 bomb blasts, near the busy bus streets of Sonipat, left at least a dozen of people injured.

Tunda was captured from Nepal in 2013. According to Tunda, he was in Pakistan when the blast took place.

A prosecution lawyer said 43 eyewitnesses, including injured, recorded their testimony in the trial.

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The United States President, Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Democrats saying that reaching out to congressional Democrats for help in getting immigration legislation passed is difficult because "the Democrats don't want secure borders."

"The problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the Democrats don't want secure borders, they don't care about safety for U.S.A.," Trump tweeted.

Trump's Tweet came after his administration had sent an immigration policy wish list to Congress that threatens to derail efforts to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from being deported.

The Trump administration wants tougher immigration and border security measures, crackdowns on sanctuary cities, green card restrictions and funding for the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall.

Obama-era DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program had provided two-year work permits to the dreamers that Trump has called "unconstitutional."

The DACA program has protected nearly 800,000 young adult unauthorized immigrants from deportation and allowed them to work legally since 2012.

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United States President Donald Trump has targeted ESPN's suspended host Jemele Hill by stating that she is the reason why the network's ratings "tanked".

Trump in a tweet stated, "With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have "tanked," in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!"

ESPN had suspended host Jemele Hill for two weeks due to "a second violation of our social media guidelines," the network announced on Monday afternoon.

"In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision," the statement added.

The "Sports Center" anchor in a tweet urged fans to boycott Dallas Cowboys advertisers. The Cowboys have been told they must stand for the national anthem.

Last month, in a series of tweets, Hill described Trump as a "white supremacist" and a "bigot."

The White House called for Hill to be fired after that incident, saying her tweets were "outrageous.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the U.S. move to suspend non-immigrant visa operations at diplomatic facilities in Turkey was 'upsetting'.

"The embassy's decision to suspend all non-immigrant visa applications is upsetting," the Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan, as saying, during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Porochenko in Kiev.

The Turkey Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the United States embassy's deputy chief of mission in Ankara over the U.S. decision.

The state-run news agency, Anadolu, quoted sources, as saying that the Turkish Ministry officials urged the Charge d'Affaires of the US mission in Ankara, Philip Kosnett, to have the embassy reverse the move as it both inconveniences people and will fuel an "unnecessary escalation" of tensions.

According to the report, the Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, Umit Yalcin, had spoken on the phone with U.S. Ambassador John Bass, who is out of Ankara, with Kosnett acting in his place.

The US and Turkey have suspended all non-immigrant visa services for travel between the two countries after last week's arrest of a U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul.

Washington said it was suspending the processing of all non-immigrant visas in Turkey following the "recent events that have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the government of Turkey to the security of U.S. mission facilities and personnel."

Ankara responded with an identical statement, imposing tit-for-tat travel restrictions, by issuing statement through its embassy in Washington, saying, "Recent events have forced Turkish Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of the United States to the security of Turkish Mission facilities and personnel."

The Turkish Embassy added that the measure, effective immediately, would "apply to visas in passports as well as e-visas and visas acquired at the border".

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Religare Enterprises, GHCL, JM Financial and Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company are among the other gainers in the BSE's 'A' group today, 10 October 2017.

Adani Transmission was locked at 10% upper circuit at Rs 193.25 at 13:20 IST after the company said it has entered into a period of exclusivity with Reliance Infrastructure for acquiring the latter's Mumbai operations. The announcement was made during market hours today, 10 October 2017. The stock topped the gainers in 'A' group. On the BSE, 4.64 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 2.02 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

Religare Enterprises spurted 9.92% at Rs 54.85. The stock was the second biggest gainer in 'A' group. On the BSE, 9.2 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 3.42 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

GHCL jumped 8.01% at Rs 236.55. The stock was the third biggest gainer in 'A' group. On the BSE, 6.07 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 82,000 shares in the past two weeks.

JM Financial climbed 5.63% at Rs 163.20. The stock was the fourth biggest gainer in 'A' group. On the BSE, 4.44 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 2.44 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company rose 5% at Rs 236.75. The stock was the fifth biggest gainer in 'A' group. On the BSE, 2.39 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 10.77 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

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Through issuance of AT-1 Capital Bonds

Bank of Baroda announced that the Finance Committee of the Bank has on 10 October 2017 approved the issuance of AT-1 Capital Bonds compliant with Basel III Capital Regulations of the Reserve Bank of India for minimum amount of Rs 500 crore with green shoe option, total issuance not exceeding Rs 1650 crore in one or multiple issuances. This is within overall Board approved limit of Rs 3000 crore for AT-1 Bonds.

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With the aim to reduce use of paper and give a boost to digital initiatives of the Government and to promote a contemporary and eco-friendly method of sending greetings, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to go forward with eGreetings instead of paper-based greetings starting this festive season. In a circular issued today, the Health Ministry has advised its staff to send festival greetings in the form of eGreetings. Further, the Ministry has also said that it will not entertain any request for printing of season's greeting card. The eGreetings can be sent through the eGreetings portal of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology developed as part of the Digital India initiative.

The eGreeting portal created by DeitY and NIC allows users to select and send greetings from multiple occasion-specific templates. Government Departments can also customize the greetings by adding tag-lines and messages related to their programmes and schemes. The portal includes greetings for various occasions, including days of national importance.

The portal also addresses eGreetingsof the specific needs of government organizations. For instance, specific templates can be created for National Science Day, Women's Day, various health days, as well as for national campaigns. Each department can create its own greetings and slogans to connect with their employees, colleagues and stakeholders. The designs and templates of the greetings are being crowd sourced. The portal is also open to use by all citizens. This would promote greater interaction and participation of citizens in the process of creative work for the government as well as dissemination of information pertaining to subjects of national importance.

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Import of Defence technology may kill innovation in Indian companies and it should be allowed only when there is no homegrown technology available, according to Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri.

Innovation should come as building competitiveness and not to become a hindrance, he said.

While acknowledging CII's efforts in deliberating the role of Defence R&D in Make in India, Dr Reddy further suggested that Make in India should not stop at Build to Print, and instead, should involve indigenous design, development and manufacturing. AAKASH missile and MRSAM programme came as his references where Indian industry has substantially contributed through build to specifications systems.

Dr S Guruprasad, Scientist & Director General (PC&SI), DRDO also addressed during the occasion and urged the Indian Industry to make the best possible use of Technology Development Fund (TDF), an initiative of MoD, executed through DRDO, to develop indigenous capability.

For making India self-reliant in Defence, Dr Guruprasad stressed on the need for industry to continue with R&D activities and also to collaborate with DRDO for technologies. He further urged Indian industry to exercise caution while partnering with foreign firms, especially in cases where there is a clause on R&D.

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Receives bids for 90.97 crore shares

MAS Financial Services' initial public offer (IPO) received bids for 90.97 core shares compared with 71.24 lakh shares on offer on the third and final day of the bidding for the IPO today, 10 October 2017, data on NSE showed as at 17:00 IST. The IPO was subscribed 127.69 times. The price band for the IPO has been fixed at Rs 456-459 per share. The issue had opened on 6 October 2017.

MAS Financial Services' IPO committee of the company at a meeting held on 5 October 2017, finalized allocation of 29.61 lakh shares to 15 anchor investors at the upper end of the IPO price band at Rs 459 per share, aggregating to Rs 135.91 crore.

MAS Financial Services is raising Rs 460.04 crore through IPO, which comprises of a fresh issue of shares by the company aggregating up to Rs 233 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of shares aggregating up to Rs 227.04 crore by the selling shareholders.

The offer for sale comprises of an offer aggregating up to Rs 112.66 crore by DEG (Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft MBH), Rs 79.34 crore by FMO (Nederlandse Financierings - Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) and Rs 35.04 crore by Sarva Capital LLC. The offer includes a reservation aggregating up to Rs 7 crore for eligible employees.

Net proceeds from the fresh issue will go to augmenting the capital base to meet future capital requirements. Further, there will be the benefits of listing of the equity shares on the stock exchanges, enhancement of the brand name and creation of a public market for equity shares in India.

On consolidated basis, MAS Financial Services reported net profit of Rs 23.70 crore on income from operations of Rs 104.02 crore in Q1 June 2017.

MAS Financial Services is a Gujarat-headquartered non-banking finance company (NBFC) providing loans to middle- and low-income borrowers as well as micro, small and medium enterprises.

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Be it decorative items like lights, gift items, lamps and wall hangings or other product, the sale of Chinese products may decline by 40-45% this Diwali as compared to last year which was about 30% as per the market report from various states, a quick survey by ASSOCHAM-Social Development Foundation (ASDF).

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India survey said, there seems to be a decline of about 40-45 per cent in consumption of Chinese products on this Diwali in comparison to last year. Chinese items that are most sought fancy lights, lampshades, Ganesha and Laxmi idols, rangolis and crackers etc. As per the findings, this Diwali, people are preferring Indian products over Chinese goods.

There has been a 40-45% impact on goods like decorative lights which records huge sales during Diwali, whereas a slight impact has also been seen on China-made electronic goods like mobile phones etc. As per the paper, the demand of electronic items like LCDs, mobile phones and others items made in China has also declined by 15-20%, said Mr D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM releasing the ASSOCHAM paper.

According to the shopkeepers, most of the customers are demanding Indian lights.

People are not interested in purchasing Chinese products while showing interest in local products including earthen diyas.

There was a huge demand for made in China fancy lights in the market but it is also decreasing. Also, the quality of Chinese products is also questionable with no shopkeeper giving any sort of guarantee on Chinese items once sold. Fire crackers made at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu are preferred in comparison to Chinese crackers, adds the paper.

ASSOCHAM interacted with wholesalers, retailers, traders in cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Mumbai to estimate the demand for Chinese products across India.

According to an estimate, the value of Chinese goods sold in 2016 during Diwali was around Rs 6,500 crore. Out of the total, over Rs 4,000 crore was Diwali-related items such as toys, fancy lights, gift items, plastic ware, decorative goods etc.

This Diwali, the sale of Chinese products may decline by 40-45 per cent on this Diwali as compared to last year which was about 30% as per the market report from various states, reveals the chamber.

India is a big market for Chinese products and over the years import of toys, furniture, building hardware, crackers, lighting and electric fittings, furnishing fabric, office stationary, electronic appliances, consumer electronics, kitchen equipment & appliances, gift items, watches etc from China has increased to a great extent in India.

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On 14 November 2017

VB Industries will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 14 November 2017, to approve the Un-Audited Financial Results (Provisional) for the 2nd quarter / six months ended on 30th September 2017 (Q-II) for the financial year ended on 31st March 2018.

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Yes Bank said that the capital raising committee of the board would consider the proposal to raise funds by issuing debt securities in the nature of non-convertible, perpetual, subordinated, unsecured BASEL III compliant additional tier I bonds on private placement basis on or after 12 October 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

Piramal Enterprises said that the meeting of the board of directors will be held on 12 October 2017 to consider various fund raising options of the company and pricing of any securities to be allotted by the company. It will also consider scheme of amalgamation of wholly owned subsidiaries of the company, Piramal Finance and Piramal Capital with Piramal Housing Finance, wholly owned subsidiary of Piramal Finance. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

Ujjivan Financial Services said that the Reserve Bank of India has communicated its approval for the conversion of the company from NBFC-MFI to NBFC-non deposit taking systematically important core investment company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

Idea Cellular has clarified after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017, with regards to news of massive data breach hits 6,000 Indian organizations including government offices, banks that the company has not identified any data breach.

Mercator said that it has sold its vessel Prem Poorva for total consideration of Rs 24.7 crore to Natalia Shipping and proceeds would be used to repay the debts. The deal was concluded on 9 October 2017. The buyer does not belong to promoter/ promoters group/group companies. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

IT major Infosys has set 1 November 2017 as the record date for its share buyback programme. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

NMDC reported iron ore production of 15.65 million tonnes in September 2017. The company reported iron ore sales of 17.61 million tonnes in September 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

PC Jeweller announced signing of bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and his wife Twinkle Khanna as brand ambassadors. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

Lupin announced that it has received final approval for its Nadolol Tablets USP, 20mg, 40 mg and 80 mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market a generic version of US WorldMeds LLC's Corgard Tablets, 20 mg, 40 mg and 80 mg. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 October 2017.

The drug is indicated for management of patients with angina pectoris and for the treatment of hypertension. Nadolol Tablets USP, 20mg, 40 mg and 80 mg Tablets had annual US sales of around $109.8 million as per IMS MAT June 2017.

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Massive wildfires raged across Northern California, killing at least 10 people, forcing up to 20,000 to evacuate and destroying over 1,500 buildings in one of the most destructive fire emergencies in the US states history.

Firefighters were battling blazes in eight counties on Monday since they started on late Sunday night fanned by wind gusts of more than 50 miles an hour, reports The New York Times.

In Santa Rosa city, the fire gutted a Hilton hotel and flattened a trailer park community.

Most of the trailers were levelled, leaving a smouldering debris field of household appliances, filing cabinets and the charred personal effects of more than 100 residents.

Janet Upton, a Deputy Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said that at least 15 separate fires across the region had burned about 94,000 acres.

The victims comprised seven from Sonoma county, two from Napa county and one from Mendocino county, she added.

The property damage, already among the worst seen in a fire in California, was expected to increase. Santa Rosa authorities imposed a curfew starting at sunset, The New York Times reported.

California Governor Jerry Brown has issued emergency proclamations for Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba Counties, saying the fires had damaged critical infrastructure and threatened thousands of homes.

He also asked President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster.

"This is really serious. It's moving fast. The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse.

"It's not under control by any means. But we're on it in the best way we know how," Brown said in a Monday evening press conference.

The worst fires in Northern California tend to hit in October, when dry conditions prime them to spread fast and far as heavy winds, known as north winds or diablo winds, buffet the region.

Late September, about 1,000 people in Southern California were evacuated due to wildfires.

--IANS

ksk/dg

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Three Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) troopers, posted at an Indian Air Force establishment here, were injured after they were struck by lightning on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

An official of Vartak Nagar Police Station here said the incident occurred around 2.45 p.m. at the IAF Firing Range on the outskirts of the city during stormy weather in the area.

The injured troopers were identified as Kamal Jyotinath, 28, Mukesh Kumar, 28, and Mohammed Iqbal, 32 who were rushed to Bethany Hospital, said the official.

The condition of Iqbal, who bore the brunt of the lightning bolt, is described as critical and he is undergoing treatment in the ICU.

The trio was posted from the CISF headquarters at Kalina in Mumbai, the official added.

--IANS

qn/him/vd

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday rejected demands for probe into the alleged extraordinary spike in the turnover of a company owned by BJP President Amit Shah's son Jay Shah after NDA came to power, describing them as "baseless".

"All these allegations are baseless and there is no truth in them. Earlier also there were a number of charges made against him (Amit Shah). No probe is required in the issue," Singh told reporters here after inaugurating the National Investigation Agency headquarters.

Singh's remarks came in the wake of Congress demanding a probe into alleged spike of 16,000 times in the turnover of a company owned by Jay Shah in 2015. The Congress has also demanded resignation of the Bharatiya Janata Party chief over the issue.

--IANS

aks/ps/ksk/vsc/dg

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Age is just a number for Amitabh Bachchan, who turns 75 on Wednesday. His work diary is already spilling into 2019, but he remains firmly "not out", continuing a glorious journey that has lasted over four decades.

In an industry where roles are seldom written for veteran actors, Bachchan is experimenting with looks, characters and themes with an enthusiasm and passion of a newcomer.

"When he comes on the set, he is always in character. I never feel like I'm directing Mr Amitabh Bachchan. I feel I am directing the character," Umesh Shukla, who is working with the "living legend" in "102 Not Out", told IANS.

"When he steps out of his vanity van, he comes out in the type of mood that is required for a scene and makes the atmosphere like that. It's fun to work with him," added Shukla, who has cast veteran actor Rishi Kapoor as a 75-year-old and Bachchan as his 102-year-old father in the movie.

Another challenging role that Bachchan has taken up is in "Thugs of Hindostan", which will see him in an armoured look with a heavy beard. His co-star Aamir Khan, who will be sharing screen space with Bachchan for the first time, has been a long-time admirer.

"His aura, action, every nuance of his acting was such a fulfilling experience in cinema," Aamir said of watching Big B's films in theatres in his younger days.

But as he rings in his milestone birthday, Bachchan wants no celebrations.

He is off to the Maldives for a vacation with wife Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter Shweta, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and granddaughter Aaradhya. And he will be back to work soon.

"A small and peaceful family time is more than enough for me," Big B had once said.

Film historian S.M.M. Ausaja, whose forthcoming book "The Bachchans" retraces the journey of what he calls the "premier family of Bollywood", said Bachchan's "extraordinary" success is a "spectacular example of talent and luck".

"If you're very talented and low on luck, you're Naseeruddin Shah. Or if you're low on talent and high on luck, you're Jeetendra. In Mr Bachchan's case, it has been the right mix. He was unconventional in looks and amidst a string of actors for whom it was the romance genre all the way, he was like a whiff of fresh air. His mannerisms and style were his own," Ausaja told IANS.

Having started with a role as one of the seven protagonists in "Saat Hindustani", Bachchan next featured in the Rajesh Khanna-starrer "Anand" and did a few more films. But it wasn't until the 1973 movie "Zanjeer" that he came into his own.

"There was no stopping him then," Ausaja said, pointing to some of his "sensitive films" like "Ek Nazar", "Mili" and "Abhimaan", as well as hits like "Deewaar", "Sholay", "Mard", Naseeb", "Namak Haraam", "Kabhie Kabhie", "Don", "Hum" and "Shahenshah".

In 1978, he was at the top of his game with movies like "Muqaddar Ka Sikandar", "Trishul", "Don", "Kasme Vaade", "Ganga Ki Saugandh" and "Besharam" doing well.

A near-fatal injury on the sets of "Coolie" in 1982 led him to take a break from films and he ventured into politics from his native Allahabad. He contested the Lok Sabha election on the Congress ticket in 1984, but didn't continue his political journey for long.

He found himself named in the infamous Bofors scandal, but was cleared of the allegations 25 years later and remains apolitical even though he associates himself with issue-related social campaigns for the government once in a while.

Until 1988, when "Shahenshah" was released, Bachchan -- son of legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan -- was in top form.

"Post-'Shahenshah', his fall began when directors started presenting him as larger-than-life characters in films like 'Toofan' and 'Jaadugar'. He endured a lot of flops and other problems until the start of the millennium when he came up with the television show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' in 2000. In fact, Mr Bachchan was named 'Star of the Millennium' at the worst phase of his career.

"But then, after 'KBC', his meteoric rise began and he started playing his age on screen and reinvented himself with every project -- be it 'Sarkar', 'Baghban', 'Bunty Aur Babli', 'Paa', 'Black'... His popularity is a binding factor for the country," Ausaja said.

For someone who was considered too thin and too tall to fit in the Hindi film industry, Bachchan's run in showbiz -- to many -- is what dreams are made of.

He failed when he launched Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd in the 1990s, but his acting acumen has taken him places.

Bachchan has earned epithets like "Angry Young Man" and "Shahenshah", and has won the love of fans who throng the gates of his house in Mumbai every Sunday to meet him.

Shukla said Bachchan must be still working 14 to 15 hours a day. "It's commendable at his age. He is always on his toes and I have never seen him tired..."

"Sometimes we have to tell him to take it easy. He says, 'No, I'll do it'. That's his spirit," Shukla said.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Movie releases have been put on hold and a big market in Beijing has been sent packing to another province because authorities want no trouble when China's most important political event -- the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party -- takes place on October 18.

And last month China blocked the world's most popular instant messaging service WhatsApp, an application which the government finds difficult to monitor. A government diktat warned the creators of online chat groups that they will be held responsible if the content of their forums is politically sensitive.

Beijing has also vowed to hunt down political rumour-mongers and stepped up security on the borders with India, North Korea and Myanmar -- all with one goal.

The world will keenly watch the once-in-five-years event when delegates of the Communist Party of China (CPC) meet behind closed doors to decide its top leadership which governs the world's most populous country.

Founded in 1921, the CPC is the world's largest political party with nearly 90 million members.

At the 19th National Congress of the party, all eyes will be on President Xi Jinping who is said to be poised to consolidate power when he is re-elected as the General Secretary. The customary practice of a second term for the party's top job will enable him to continue at the helm of the country's affairs until 2022.

Besides, the party's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), will be refreshed. Five of its seven members are set to retire as they are 68 or above -- an unofficial criteria for retirement.

Xi, 64, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, 62, are members of this body.

The powerful Central Committee will also see a reshuffle among its over 200 members.

"The Party Congress will first and foremost be about Xi's articulation of his success in consolidating his power and authority," Professor Steve Tsang, Director, SOAS China Institute in London, told IANS.

Xi, who succeeded Hu Jintao as General Secretary and China's President in 2012, has emerged as the country's most powerful leader in decades. Last year, the party gave him the title of "core", an honorific awarded only to Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

David Kelly, director of research at China Policy in Beijing, says Xi will claim to have higher levels of support than even his predecessors.

"He (Mao) was important ... he was taken seriously, but China remained a client state of the Soviet Union. Perhaps you can say he was the leader of a developing country, but you could not say he was the leader of a major power. Xi is," Kelly told IANS.

It is the composition of the Standing Committee which will decide the course of China's leadership, and especially Xi, who would want his loyalists in the supreme body of super-seven.

"The big changes will be on how he (Xi) manages succession arrangements and how he lines up the top leadership as well as what compromises he has to make to get the 'resistance' to accept his strengthened leadership position," Tsang says.

"The only question is who Xi will appoint to the PSC, not that he will enjoy a majority. If he cannot secure a majority of PSC seats for his supporters, then it will be a big surprise."

When Hu got his second term at the 17th party congress in 2007, Xi was announced to succeed him in 2012. It will be interesting to watch if Xi names his successor at this Congress.

It is, however, believed that Xi is in no mood to pick a successor. There is speculation that Xi might retain the 69-year-old Wang Qishan in the Standing Committee by breaking the unofficial retirement rule.

It is said that Xi can use this precedent in 2022 when he turns 69 to continue at the helm of affairs for a third term.

Tsang, however, says: "Xi is now sufficiently powerful that he no longer needs to pay the political price to break the retirement rule and keep Wang.

"He can also expect to be so powerful by the 20th Congress that he will not need Wang setting a precedent for not retiring at the 19th Congress. Wang will formally retire."

A trusted aide of Xi, with whom he was forcibly sent to a village in Shaanxi province during the Cultural Revolution, Wang is the chief of China's anti-graft department. After taking power in 2012, Xi had vowed to wage war against graft. So far over a million people have been punished for corruption.

In September, Sun Zhengcai, a frontrunner for the berth in the Standing Committee and deemed fit to succeed Xi in 2022, was sacked from the party for corruption.

"The anti-corruption campaign is the trading name of a party rectification campaign, one that is designed to strengthen Xi's control and the Party's capacity to exercise control over the country," Tsang says.

Xi has also tightened his grip over the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by announcing a significant troop cut in the world's largest standing military force.

"The way top generals have been sacked shows how powerful Xi has become," a Beijing-based diplomat of a South Asian country told IANS.

According to Kelly, Xi will try to project himself as someone who has made China more powerful globally. Major world events like the refugee crisis in Europe, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US President have given China opportunities to project itself as a great power.

Kelly expects the upcoming Congress to throw up a surprise or two.

"This (China) is one of the least transparent political systems in the world. So it is always possible something may surprise us."

(Gaurav Sharma is the Beijing-based correspondent of IANS. He can be reached at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Model Chrissy Teigen says she has a crush on actor Zac Efron.

Teigen, who has 17-month-old daughter Luna with her husband and musician John Legend, has admitted to having a "professional" but not "physical" crush on Efron, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"It's not really like a physical crush on him... like, I really enjoy his films. I enjoy him in a professional manner," Teigen told InStyle magazine.

Teigen says even Legend knows about this.

"John thinks I really like Zac Efron because I can never stop watching his movies," she added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday set a 15-day deadline to city civic body to fill about 15,000 potholes across Bengaluru, battered by heavy rains during the monsoon season.

Facing flak over the worsening conditions of the city roads that claimed three lives in a week, a miffed Siddaramaiah pulled up officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) at a special meeting held after he inspected the accident spots.

"As the monsoon season has ended and rains are almost over, I have directed the BBMP to fill all the potholes in 15 days and asphalt the arterial roads by this month-end," he told reporters later.

Anguished over the death of a 47-year-old woman on Sunday when she fell from a scooter that skidded while her nephew was negotiating a gaping pothole and was run over by a lorry, the Chief Minister admitted that BBMP had no expertise or machinery to fill potholes during the rainy season.

"No one should die or be injured due to potholes anywhere. It's unfortunate that three persons, including two woman have lost their life owing to potholes and bad conditions of the roads in the city," he said.

An elderly couple were crushed to death on October 3 by an inter-state bus after they fell down from their scooter on a potholed-ridden flyover in the city market.

Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad and city Mayor Sampath Raj accompanied the Chief Minister for inspecting the battered roads and the deteriorating infrastructure across the city.

"Record rains this year have damaged several roads in the city, resulting in thousands of potholes and cracks on them. I have directed the mayor to make the city pothole-free and initiate measures to clean-up the city," reiterated Siddaramaiah.

"BBMP has handed over those roads where the metro project's second phase is being built across the city to the BMRCL for asphalting and maintaining them," he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress's allegations of corruption against Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah, are baseless, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday.

Jay Shah had done nothing wrong in his business, Prasad told media persons here.

"What's happening now is that a conspiracy has been hatched and allegations of corruption against Jay Shah have been made. Already he has filed a defamation suit to the tune of Rs 100 crores."

Prasad said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has no moral right to level these allegations "because he himself is on bail in a corruption case. He also should not forget that there are cases of corruption against his brother in law (Robert Vadra)".

A news website last week reported about alleged phenomenal rise in the business owned by Jay Shah after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

Prasad arrived here to take part in the state-wide "Jana Raksha Yatra", or "March for People's Protection", which began from Kannur on October 3 and will end in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.

Meanwhile, state Congress President M.M. Hassan asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a comprehensive probe into the allegations against Jay Shah.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Accusing the BJP-led central government of increasing involvement in corruption, the CPI on Tuesday demanded a high-level probe into the allegations of abrupt growth of a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay during the Narendra Modi regime.

"We are hearing about the company of Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, whose turnover increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore in a year. Why don't they inquire into it? Why is the party and the central government supporting his claims of being clean?" CPI General Secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy said at a media meet here.

"Corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is increasing. They say no one can accuse their party of corruption but we have been saying regularly that this a corrupt government.

"There has been Vijay Mallya case, Lalit Modi case and the alleged involvement of Rajasthan Chief minister Vasundhara Raje and their leader Sushma Swaraj in corruption. There are no inquiries against these cases," he alleged.

A recent report in a website The Wire claimed that filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) have revealed that Temple Enterprises, the company owned by Jay, first made a profit in 2014-15 and in the next financial year its turnover reached Rs 80 crore, swelling by 16,000 times.

Calling it a serious allegation, CPI National Council Secretary D. Raja said his party had demanded a high-level probe into the issue under the supervision of the apex court.

"These are serious allegations and there should be a thorough inquiry. We have a simple and straightforward demand -- we want a high-level probe to be conducted by the apex court into the matter," Raja said.

He also criticised the BJP President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being silent on the issue till date.

"We also want to know why is the Prime Minister silent when there is allegation against his own party President and his son?" he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On a day the Delhi Metro fare hike came into force, the Delhi assembly on Tuesday decided to set up a nine-member committee to look into the rationale behind the increase.

Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel will nominate members to the committee, which will also look into the "financial health of DMRC and other issues".

The decision to appoint the committee was taken at the end of a discussion on the hike.

AAP leader and former Delhi Minister Somnath Bharti moved a proposal on the committee in the house, which was agreed to by other members. The ruling AAP has 66 members in the 70-member assembly, with remaining four members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) put into effect the fare hike -- second this year after an increase in May -- from Tuesday despite strong opposition from the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.

Speaking during the discussion in the house, AAP MLAs dubbed the hike as a "conspiracy to help cab aggregators like Ola and Uber".

AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha initiated the discussion and said they were ready to protest and do everything possible to force reversal of the fare hike.

His party colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj termed the hike a "conspiracy to help cab aggregator Ola".

"Compared with the current Metro fare, Ola Share is cheaper now," he said.

He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken excessive interest in Ola in the past and even praised one of their drivers on Twitter.

On Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the fares will be increased so that cab aggregators Ola and Uber are cheaper and people give up using Metro services.

On Tuesday, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and other MLAs also voiced similar views.

AAP MLA Alka Lamba dubbed Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and central government as "dictatorial" and said her party will hit the streets and force the Centre to reverse the fare hike.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the hike was a conspiracy to increase congestion on Delhi roads and create more problems rather than solving anything.

He said the AAP goverment had halved the airport Metro fares, after which fare collections from the route had doubled.

The Minister said the DMRC should focus on real estate development as many DMRC multistoreyed buildings were lying vacant.

Jain said Delhi Metro was a "social venture" to end congestion on Delhi roads and not a business venture.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sat on the Fare Fixation Committee report on fare hike for four months and acted only at the last moment, claiming he was helping Ola and Uber.

He said the Delhi government was intentionally delaying Phase IV of Delhi Metro to help these cab aggregators.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political and development issues have been overshadowed in the campaign for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-election that has been dominated by personal attacks and sleaze -- leaving voters to decide who is cleaner in an otherwise dirty mess.

Charges of rape, cheating, extortion and other immoral acts, including sex videos and photographs, are flying thick and fast among candidates and the leaders supporting them.

The fight for the seat was supposed to be a direct one between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is supported by alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and the Congress party. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is the main opposition party in the Punjab assembly, too is trying hard to sustain itself politically in this bypoll.

The BJP is seeking to retain the seat, which fell vacant in April after the demise of actor-politician Vinod Khanna due to cancer, while the Congress, which came to power in Punjab in March after a thumping victory in the assembly polls, is trying to wrest the seat.

While the BJP has fielded controversial Mumbai-based millionaire businessman Swarn Salaria, the Congress opted for state Congress president Sunil Jakhar, who is an "outsider" here. The AAP has fielded a former Army officer, Major General Suresh Khajuria (retired).

The political sleaze started when senior SAD leader and former minister Sucha Singh Langah was booked by Punjab Police on charges of rape and cheating. The allegations were levelled by a 39-year-old woman, who works with Punjab Police, who said Langah had been raping her since 2009 under the threat of death.

The BJP and SAD, despite initially defending Langah, had to quickly get into damage-control mode as he was the district president of the poll-bound constituency, where election is slated for October 11.

Langah, who is now in police custody, was forced to resign from all party posts and was expelled by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion, immediately called a meeting of five Sikh high priests and excommunicated Langah.

The Congress seized the opportunity to take the lead over the BJP-SAD combine.

But once the Langah affair was behind them, the BJP-SAD leadership went on the political offensive.

Salaria questioned the credentials of Jakhar, terming him an "outsider" who lost his assembly seat in the state elections earlier this year at a time when the Congress had swept to power, winning 77 of the 117 seats in the assembly.

He questioned Jakhar on the suicide of his brother and levelled allegations regarding a woman.

But Salaria, who has a controversial rags-to-riches story, is now himself facing heat with photographs and videos allegedly involving him doing the rounds of social media.

The Congress has even raked up the issue of Salaria not declaring in his nomination papers that he was facing a case, filed by a woman, in a Mumbai court.

Among all this mess, the voters of Gurdaspur have been left to fend for themselves -- with issues of development of this backward constituency being pushed back further.

The voters are not even clear whether to opt for the party (BJP) in power at the Centre or the party (Congress) in power in the state. The third option, AAP -- whose candidate, Major General Khajuria, is a respected local -- is only adding to the confusion.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday grilled RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav for over nine hours in connection with alleged irregularities in the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case.

Tejashwi Yadav, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, reached the agency's headquarters on Lodhi Road in south Delhi around 11.40 a.m. He was questioned till 9.10 p.m.

"Tejashwi was questioned for over nine hours by ED officials. He was asked over 100 questions," an ED official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The questioning comes four days after Tejashwi was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for seven hours in connection with the case.

The ED had, on July 27, registered a separate case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following the CBI FIR in the matter and began probing Lalu Prasad and others for alleged transfer of money through shell companies.

The ED has summoned Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi to appear before it on Wednesday.

The CBI, on July 5, filed a corruption case against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm when the RJD chief was the Railway Minister.

The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar -- both named in the CBI FIR as accused -- in lieu of bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Bihar's Patna district, the CBI said.

A preliminary CBI inquiry found that the said land was sold by the Kochhars to Delight Marketing Company and payment was arranged through Ahluwalia Contractors and its promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia, another accused person. The ED has since questioned Ahluwalia.

Delight Marketing, which bought the property from the Kochhars, was later taken over by Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, alleges the CBI.

Sarla Gupta, wife of the RJD chief's close associate and former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta and a director of Delight Marketing, is a co-accused in the case, apart from then IRCTC Managing Director P.K. Goel.

--IANS

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The Council of the European Union on Tuesday said it was restricting work permits granted to North Korean nationals as well as the sale of natural gas and petroleum to the Asian country in response to Pyongyang's controversial nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

The EU Council has agreed to go along with the latest sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Pyongyang on September 11, 2017, through UNSC Resolution 2375 which bans the sale of natural gas to North Korea and the import of North Korean textiles, Efe news reported.

"Member states will not provide new work authorisations to DPRK nationals to enter and work in their territory as they are suspected of generating revenue which is used to support the country's illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes," the Council said in a statement.

As agreed by EU Foreign Ministers at their informal meeting in Tallinn on September 7, 2017, "the Council is currently working on possible additional EU autonomous sanctions to complement and reinforce the UN Security Council sanctions", the statement said.

The legal acts of the decision taken by the Council will be published in the Official Journal on Wednesday, when they will come into effect, the Council said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Finance Ministers of the 19-country Eurozone are scheduled to elect a new chief to chair the group at their December meeting, said outgoing Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

"I would leave my job," Dijsselbloem, also Dutch Finance Minister, told a press conference in Luxembourg on Monday following a Eurogroup meeting, referring he would step down in two weeks as his party will not join a long-waited coalition nearly seven month after election in the Netherlands, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dijsselbloem's mandate as Eurogroup will last until January 13 next year.

"I have put to the colleagues in the Eurogroup today that it would be my intention to complete my mandate which runs until January 13," he told reporters.

"There was unanimous support for that, everyone was content with me staying on until mid-January," Dijsselbloem added.

The new Eurogroup chief's mandate would start in January 2018, but the election should take place at the end of the Eurogroup meeting in December while candidates can be put forward in the two weeks before the December meeting.

Position of Eurogroup president usually falls on a sitting finance minister in the single currency zone.

Earlier at the Eurogroup meeting, finance ministers as well bid farewell to Wolfgang Schauble, the German Finance Minister who is slated to become speaker of the Bundestag in Germany's new government.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Umang Bedi, who joined Facebook India as Managing Director in June 2016 and spearheaded the company's drive to new milestones in the country, has stepped down from his position, the social networking giant said on Wednesday.

"We confirm that Umang Bedi will be leaving his role and Facebook at the end of this year. He's built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best," Facebook said in a statement.

The social media platform, that has 201 million active users in India, has named Sandeep Bhushan as interim managing director, sources told IANS.

Facebook appointed Bedi as Managing Director for India to build and maintain strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country.

Bedi took over from Kirthiga Reddy, who returned to the US to take on a new role at the company's headquarters at Menlo Park, California.

An engineering graduate from University of Pune and an alumni of Harvard Business School, Bedi officially started at Facebook in July 2016.

"For me, five trends -- geographic shift in mobile user growth, Internet is mobile and mobile is Internet, connected device explosion, platform economy and moving to a network level from the mobile ecosystem -- are driving the change in the country," Bedi said recently at a Facebook event in the capital.

India holds tremendous potential for Facebook and is the most critical and strategic market for the company, Bedi said, adding that the country is also the top market for developers for building with Facebook outside the US.

Facebook is available in 12 languages in the country and over 80 per cent of top-grossing apps in India are integrated with the social networking platform.

"The biggest challenge in making Internet relevant locally in Asia including India is local content, local languages and local awareness so we have to move beyond English to make the content locally relevant to consumers," Bedi observed.

Under his leadership, Facebook revealed a three-fold business strategy for India.

The first is aligned with the mission of the company which is to help people connect. The second is to drive deep engagement which means build a process that is relevant and the third is to be absolutely valuable to its partners.

"Our vision for business in India is to be loved and become a trusted brand, to be deeply integrated into the fabric and to provide the experiences which are relevant and valuable to all people who are on our platform, including partners," Bedi noted.

There are over two million small and medium businesses (SMB) pages on Facebook in India and more than 30 per cent of active SMB pages on Facebook are owned by women entrepreneurs.

"All I could say is that we have just started and I am very clear about the fact that everything that Facebook will do in the next few years is about moving real business outcomes for our brands and advertisers - be it large or small," Bedi said.

Bedi came to Facebook with close to two decades of leadership experience covering sales and marketing.

Prior to joining Facebook, Bedi was Managing Director of South Asia region at Adobe.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Flipboard -- a personalised magazine application designed for phones, tablets and PCs -- on Tuesday announced the launch of a programme that would help publishers build new traffic.

CEO Mike McCue said Flipboard isn't going to let everyone into the app. Instead, there is going to be a review process after a publisher is submitted, to ensure that they comply with Flipboard's content rules, said a report in TechCrunch on Tuesday.

The new sign up option would allow Flipboard to automatically pull in stories from the RSS feeds of the publishers.

The company has also introduced "RED Bolt" feature which is shown underneath the article's headline that have mobile-optimised pages.

The publications that will receive "RED Bolt" at launch include The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Esquire, among hundreds of others, according to Digital Trends.

Flipboard which is also available for Android and iOS devices helps the user find popular stories and news based on a variety of genres in one app.

It allows the user to customise own magazines focused on particular topics by filling them with content from any source, publication, or person.

There is also an option to follow people with similar interests and passions, through the app, where the user can like or comment on whatever is shared.

Initially started out on Apple iPad, Flipboard has worked closely with major organisations to beautify and monetise their content within its magazine-like aggregation app.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vatican City, Oct 10 (IANS/AKI) Pope Francis will next month visit Myanmar and Bangladesh on a six-day visit when he will meet their political and religious leaders and is likely to raise the issue of Rohingya Muslims, it was announced on Tuesday.

Francis will set off on November 26, his first stop being Myanmar's former capital Yangon.

On November 28, the pontiff will travel to Myanmar's modern capital Naypyidaw, where he will be received by President Htin Kyaw and meet the country's civilian leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn international criticism for failing to stop or condemn violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where over half a million minority Rohingya Muslims have fled a deadly Army crackdown since August 25.

Francis, who has decried the persecution of the Rohingya, is expected to raise their plight during his visit to Myanmar.

On November 29, Francis will celebrate mass at the Kyaikkasan Ground stadium in Yangon before holding meetings with Buddhist monks and later with the country's bishops at St Mary's cathedral.

On November 30, Francis will fly to Bangladesh where he will meet President Abdul Hamid and give an address after visiting the National Martyr's Memorial monument honouring those killed in the country's 1971 war of independence.

On December 1, Francis will celebrate an open-air mass in Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan Park before holding meetings with Bangladeshi Premier Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi bishops and other faith leaders.

On December 2, Francis will wrap up his trip with a visit to a home run by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa and address priests, religious seminarians and novices.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Electronic producer Rajko Mueller aka Isolee, from Germany, will perform in Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

Oscillate is a new nightlife initiative that wants to reset the dance music scene in India. Set up by Nakul Mehan and Kunal Seth in partnership with online music magazine Wild City, Oscillate will start off as a monthly party across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Goa, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

"Oscillate for us is a practical and achievable translation of our own personal clubbing experiences in London, Berlin and Ibiza," Mehan and Seth said in a joint statement.

For now, Oscillate will offer attendees forward-facing artistes, custom sound systems, immersive visuals every month but plans on developing into a festival as well as launching a venue.

Oscillate will head to Bengaluru on October 26, Mumbai on October 27, Delhi on October 28 and finally reach Pune on October 29.

For its first edition, Oscillate have booked Isolee to play a four-city tour. Giving Isolee company across all four cities will be Oscillate co-founder, DJ and producer Lukan.

Also scheduled to play at the Oscillate nights will be up-and-coming DJ from Bengaluru, Stalvart John, Mumbai-based selector Abhi Meer, VridianMusic and Moon Roots Project.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress state unit on Tuesday condemned Goa's BJP-led government's decision to ban journalists at the State Secretariat on Wednesdays when weekly Cabinet meetings are held.

"I condemn the government's decision to ban journalists from the Secretariat on days the Cabinet meeting is held. You (media) all are not hiding anything, you are not stealing anything. Then what is the need to debar the It means the government is trying to con people and therefore trying to restrain the media," All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar told reporters here.

He also condemned the Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by Jay Shah, son of Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, against news website TheWire.in, which published a report on a company owned by Jay Shah.

Chodankar said the defamation suit amounted to "intimidation" of the which, he alleged, was the BJP's national policy.

"If you are claiming zero tolerance to corruption, then lift the ban on the . Open your doors to the media. Welcome the media with a red carpet, if you have nothing to hide. The BJP's national policy is to harass the media," the Congress leader said.

The informal decision to bar the media from the Secretariat on a particular day was taken several years ago during Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's earlier term, after a verbal spat between Ministers during a Cabinet meeting was reported by the media who were waiting outside the meeting venue.

After Laxmikant Parsekar took over as Chief Minister, the ban was relaxed, only to be put into effect again after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government retained power in 2017.

The media are allowed in only after the culmination of the Cabinet briefing.

--IANS

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Born in Oslo, Norway in 1861, Nansen who explored the world's unknown terrain

Google on Tuesday marked legendary Norwegian adventurer Fridtjof Nansen's birth anniversary with a Doodle.

Born in Oslo, Norway in 1861, Nansen who explored the world's unknown terrain and broke new ground as an international humanitarian, would have turned 156 on Tuesday.

Nansen was gripped by a sense of adventure from a young age and in 1888, he became the first person to lead an expedition across the snow-capped interior of Greenland.

One icy adventure was not enough though. Just a few years later, Nansen attempted to become the first person to reach the North Pole.

"Although the expedition was unsuccessful, he did go farther north in latitude than any other explorer at that time," Google said.

As World War I took hold in 1914, Nansen started focusing on research at home.

By 1920, his interests shifted from understanding the landscape of the world to influencing the international political climate.

Nansen worked to free hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war and repatriate refugees.

He created the "Nansen Passport", a travel document that allowed stateless refugees to emigrate and resettle.

Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for helping those without a voice find a home.

Nansen died on May 13, 1930.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government is committed to filling the gaps that arose due to lack of timely decision-making under the previous regime, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday told top IAF commanders in the national capital.

The minister also told the Indian Air Force (IAF) that it should not see budgetary allocations as a constraint and acquire necessary equipment, said an official statement.

The three-day IAF Commanders' Conference commenced in the national capital on Tuesday and will conclude on October 12. Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre was also present at the conference.

Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa briefed Defence Minister Sitharaman at the conference on the current status of the IAF and the efforts made in the recent past.

In her address, Sitharaman said the devolved powers given to the Service Chiefs should be fully utilised for achieving their capabilities.

The minister said the Air Force, along with the Ordnance Factory Board and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), should make an assessment about indigenisation under "Make in India" programme.

She said the budgetary allocations "should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is absolutely necessary" also adding that the government is "committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade".

While addressing the Commanders, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's cutting edge.

The IAF chief also reiterated the force's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on Make in India initiative.

The conference over the next two days will see top commanders of the IAF discussing various issues that will decide the future trajectory of the Air Force, including operations, maintenance issues and various administrative initiatives.

In consonance with the government's "Digital India" initiative, two mobile apps for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones called "MEDWATCH" and "AFCHAT" will also be released during the meet.

The new-look Air Force Central Accounts Office (AFCAO) website with enhanced features will also be launched. A book titled "Aero India-Ascent through the Ages" is also scheduled to be released at the conference.

--IANS

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Enhancing its engagement with the Baltic region, India on Monday signed an extradition treaty with Lithuania following a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her visiting Lithuanian counterpart Linus Linkevicius here.

"During the visit, the two Ministers signed the Treaty on Extradition between India and Lithuania and the protocol amending and supplementing the agreement between India and Lithuania relating to air services," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

On October 4, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the signing and ratification of the treaty, which "would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to Lithuania".

"The treaty would help in extradition of fugitive criminals including terrorists for criminal prosecutions from Lithuania who may have committed crimes against India. It will bring the criminals to justice, with a view to ensure peace and tranquility to public at large."

Among the countries with which India has such extradition treaties are Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Russia, Britain and the US.

It also has extradition arrangements with Italy, Fiji, Singapore, Sweden and Thailand.

Linkevicius's visit also marks the 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Lithuania, which was a part of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

"India's economic ties with Lithuania have strengthened with an Indian investment in plastic sector in Lithuania's Special Economic Zone and the growing awareness about the prospects in agriculture sector," said External Affairs Ministry statement on Monday.

An MoU on agriculture and allied sectors between the two countries was signed last year.

"The discussions between the two Ministers focused on building closer cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture, culture, tourism etc.," the statement said

Linkevicius also gifted Sushma Swaraj a copy of Sanskrit-Lithuanian Mala, a compilation of 108 Sanskrit words that are common in both the languages.

"He told me that there are some 10,000 Sanskrit words in Lithuanian language. The compilation work is in progress," Sushma Swaraj said in a separate tweet.

Lithuanians have great interest in Indian cultural traditions, including yoga. An estimated 70 per cent of Lithuanians visiting India have spiritual and yogic interests.

The Indian community in Lithuania is around 700-strong, including students.

--IANS

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Japan on Tuesday successfully launched the fourth and final satellite that makes up its terrestrial positioning network system, which will improve the current GPS services and help create a better communications system during a disaster.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched a Japanese H-IIA rocket with the Michibiki-4 communications satellite from the space centre on Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, at 7.01 a.m., reports Efe news.

The launch and flight of the rocket "proceeded as planned," as well as the satellite separation, which was "confirmed 28 minutes and 21 seconds after the launch time", JAXA said in a statement.

This is the second system that Japan launches as part of its Quasi-Zenith Satellite Systems, which operate at an altitude of between 33,000 and 39,000 km above the earth and whose function is to correct the global navigation satellite system signals for complementary use of the global positioning system (GPS).

The first Michibiki, meaning "guide" or "guidance" in Japanese, was launched in September 2010, allowing smartphone users and portable navigation devices in vehicles to receive more accuracy on maps.

The GPS, owned by the US, has a margin of error of about 10 metres in global positioning; the coordination between the GPS and Michibiki will reduce the margin to between 1 metre and about 6 cm.

The Japanese government plans to use these satellites to establish communications during a malfunction of traditional networks due to a natural disaster.

Japan plans to launch three satellites between 2018 and 2023 that will complement the positioning network and establish the emergency communications system.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A court on Tuesday ruled that the Japanese government and the operator of the nuclear power plant are liable for negligence in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

This is the third ruling by a court in which Tepco Electric Power Co. was declared guilty of lack of foresight and the second which holds the central government responsible, reports Efe news.

The judges ruled in favour of the 3,800 plaintiffs, the largest group among 30 similar lawsuits involving 12,000 Fukushima evacuees across the country, saying they believed the government and Tepco should have taken more measures to prevent the 2011 catastrophe.

The plaintiffs used as evidence a seismic report written up by a government body in 2002, which said there was a 20 percent chance of an earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale striking near the plant and subsequently triggering a tsunami.

The plaintiffs, including those living near the nuclear power plant who were forced to leave their homes after the accident, asked Tepco and the government to pay a monthly sum of 50,000 yen ($444) until radiation in the affected areas returns to levels existing before the catastrophe.

However, the court ordered the government and Tepco to pay a fixed amount of 500 million yen ($4,448,160), to be distributed among the plaintiffs, saying decontamination work in the area surrounding Fukushima could take several decades.

The total cost of dismantling the plant and paying compensation to those affected by the accident will exceed 20 trillion yen, according to a report by Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry made public in March.

In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, the Fukushima plant had suffered the worst nuclear disaster (since the one at Chernobyl in 1986), that had displaced thousands of people and adversely affected local businesses.

--IANS

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A Karachi man has attacked and injured more than 10 women in two weeks with a knife in Karachi -- and remains on the run.

Police officers and hospitals say almost all women suffered injuries on their right side and were attacked from behind.

"He is attacking women, young and old alike. He hasn't shown any preference for women dressed in particular attire," the Dawn quoted an unnamed officer as saying.

The knife attacks have created unease and anger among Karachi residents.

"Working women acknowledged feeling overwhelmed and scared, many opting for rickshaws and cab services and not walking to bus stops," the daily said. "Female students of Karachi University and Habib University are avoiding walking alone."

One of the latest victims was a housewife and a mother of three who told police that a lean man wearing a red and black helmet and off-white salwar kameez on a motorbike came behind her and attacked her. He sped away.

"I was wearing a big, thick shawl that night and it saved me from severe injuries," she added.

"My nine-year-old daughter is so traumatized."

Pakistan has had its share of serial attackers. The infamous Hathora group and Chhalawa gang terrorized Karachiites in the '80s and '90s, smashing the skulls of their victims.

In the late '90s, there were reports of men with blade slashing the arms of women wearing short-sleeved shirts outside a major Karachi shopping mall.

In 2007, Punjab minister Zille Huma was killed because her killer was not happy with her clothing.

In 2012, a rickshaw driver in Karachi used to pick up women passengers, disembody them and throw away their body parts. In 2016, news reports surfaced that a man was stabbing women in Rawalpindi, the Dawn said.

Similar knife attacks were reported between 2013 and 2016 in Punjab's Sahiwal district.

Police officers admit it is not easy to catch the Karachi culprit.

"In a city of 20 million, you can't stop every single person on a bike and check for a weapon. That is the challenge," the officer said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kerala Police has started a probe to identify the people behind the canards being spread about migrant labourers in Kerala, state police chief Loknath Behra told the media here on Tuesday.

Behra said the preliminary findings reveal that the canards originated from North Kerala and were meant to portray the state in a poor light.

Things took a turn on Friday, when pictures of a West Bengal youth who allegedly committed suicide, appeared in the social media. The youth was working in a hotel in Kozhikode.

Speaking to IANS, Muhammed Suhail, President of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association, Kozhikode district committee, said that the 26-year-old Bengali youth committed suicide due to some family issues.

"On Saturday, pictures of the dead youth were circulated on WhatsApp and also an audio in Hindi saying that he was beaten to death and in the interest of migrant labourers its best that they return. We immediately brought this to the attention of the media and the police," said Suhail.

Behra said the Cyber Police had already started an investigation and "the district collector and district police chief in all the districts will meet and discuss this issue and will instil confidence in the minds of the migrant labourers".

He also advised the people not to share any such rumour that appeared in the social media.

Nearly three million migrant labourers from West Bengal, Bihar and the north-east eke out a living in various sectors in Kerala, according to a study.

--IANS

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Nearly 200 medical teams in Bangladesh on Tuesday began one of the largest cholera vaccination campaigns in history, which involved the administration of some 900,000 doses to Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazaar and in the southeast of the country.

The campaign, the second largest oral vaccination ever after Haiti in 2016, was led by the Bangladesh Ministry of Health with support from the World Health Organisation and Unicef, and would be carried out in two phases, reports Efe.

"In the initial phase, 650,000 people will be reached in the next few days," Unicef spokesperson in Bangladesh, Jean-Jacques Simon, told Efe.

In the second phase, which will start on October 31, another 250,000 children will be given a booster dose for additional protection, he said.

These 900,000 people comprise more than 500,000 refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh since a fresh outbreak of violence in Myanmar on August 25, and other members of the minority Muslim community who were already in Bangladesh after earlier exoduses, estimated to be between 300,000-500,000 people.

Vaccinations will also reach residents of the district communities that have housed refugees.

"There is a risk of outbreak, the sanitation is not good, there is not enough clean water and camps are overcrowded," Cox's Bazar District's chief government health officer Abdus Salam told Efe.

On Saturday, the United Nations raised the figure to around 519,000 Rohingyas who have arrived in Bangladesh since the end of August, fleeing violence in Myanmar.

On August 25, a Rohingya insurgent group staged a series of attacks on police and army posts in Rakhine state, to which the Myanmar military responded with an offensive which is ongoing.

According to witnesses and human rights organisations, the army torched villages and killed an undetermined number of civilians, something the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Meghalaya independent legislator Saleng Sangma on Tuesday accused the Mukul Sangma-led government of registering "doubtful citizens" in a government-sponsored health insurance scheme.

The legislator met Governor Ganga Prasad and demanded action against officers who registered names of people from 28 households, whose citizenship was questionable, for the Megha Health Insurance Scheme.

The state health insurance scheme is part of the centrally-sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Biman Yojana framework.

He said the unrelenting influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh into Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hills, and the consequent change in the demographic pattern has been a matter of grave concern.

"I do not know who these people are. To me, they are doubtful citizens; and let me tell you, there are no non-indigenous people residing in my constituency. The government must delete their names from the list of beneficiaries," Saleng Sangma said.

The legislator said that he had demanded the arrest of officials who were responsible for fraudulently including "doubtful citizens" in government-sponsored schemes.

Saleng Sangma, who was a community and rural development minister in the previous Mukul Sangma cabinet, said: "If this problem is not rooted out in time, these citizens will pose a threat to the ethnic communities -- the Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos -- besides genuine non-indigenous communities in the state, and to national security."

--IANS

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Donald Trump's current wife Melania slammed the US President's first wife, Ivana who called herself "first lady" as "attention-seeking and self-serving noise", the media reported.

On Monday, in an ABC interview ahead of the release of her memoir, "Raising Trump", said she was "basically first Trump wife, I'm first lady".

The Czech-American businesswoman also boasted of having a direct line to the White House which she uses to she talk to the President about once every 14 days.

"I have the direct number to White House but I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there and I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?" she told ABC, laughing.

The current First Lady fired back via a sharply-worded statement to CNN from her communications director, Stephanie Grisham later on Monday.

"Mrs. (Melania) Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington D.C., and is honoured by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books," Grisham said in the statement

"There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise."

Ivana and Donald Trump divorced in 1992 after 15 years following his tabloid affair with TV personality Marla Maples, reports CNN.

Ivana Trump, who is the mother of the President's three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, does not refer to Maples, by name in her book, which comes out Tuesday, only calling her "showgirl".

"Donald during the divorce was brutal. He took the divorce as a business deal and he cannot lose, he has to win," said during the ABC interview, adding that they were now "friends".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister on Tuesday said that Myanmar was prepared to clear the area inhabited by the Rohingyas at least a month before a rebel attack against security posts on August 25, which led to a military campaign and humanitarian crisis in the region.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, deemed a terrorist organisation by the Myanmar government, launched a series of attacks on police and military posts in late August, which led to a military offensive in response.

"Though Myanmar security outposts were attacked on August 25, Army was strengthening its force in northern Rakhine one month before," A.H. Mahmud Ali said while speaking at a programme organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

"In response to the August 25 attack, Myanmar Army, according to their previous preparation, conducted huge raids in Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Buthidaung for area clearance," he added.

More than half a million Rohingyas have fled Rakhine since the offensive started, amid allegations of civilian killings and burning of villages by witnesses and international organisations, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called it a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Ali said that there was information about 3,000 Rohingyas being killed in Rakhine and also referred to a Human Rights Watch report which said that at least 284 villages were destroyed.

The minister's statement came a day after he reiterated the government's willingness to cooperate with Myanmar on security issues and proposed a visit by Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to Myanmar at the end of this month, aimed at finding a solution to the crisis.

Last week, Kyaw Tint Swe, Adviser to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, had met the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister in Dhaka and presented a proposal for repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar.

The two sides agreed to set up a joint working group to coordinate the repatriation process of the Rohingyas, a Muslim community which has been denied citizenship by Myanmar and has been largely ignored by Bangladesh -- where 300,000 members of the community already lived before the current crisis -- until now.

--IANS

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North Korea on Tuesday commemorated the 72nd founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party urging the expedition of a war against the US, a state-media report said.

In an editorial, the Rodong Sinmun daily said the North Korean regime calls on the dignity and independence of the state's "Juche" or self-reliance ideology and that military power would guarantee its victory, reports Efe news.

The editorial also referred to an unprecedented escalation in tension between Pyongyang and Washington and urged North Koreans to overcome the latest international sanctions imposed on the country for its nuclear and missile tests this year.

The anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party is one of the four main major annual holidays in North Korea along with the birth anniversaries of Kim Jong-un's father and grandfather Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il (April 15 and February 16, respectively) and the National Foundation Day (September 9).

In a plenary meeting on October 7, new appointments were made, including that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong, who was elected as one of the new members of the party's Politburo Standing Committee.

Experts believe the appointment of Kim Yo-jong, who is believed to be around 30 years old, strengthens the succession plan of the Kim dynasty.

Meanwhile, Fighters for a Free North Korea, a group of North Korean defectors sent a dozen balloons with around 300,000 pamphlets, strongly criticising Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programme and human rights abuses by the Kim regime.

--IANS

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A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team is likely to leave for London to collect evidence of properties belonging to ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family, the media reported on Tuesday.

An official source told Dawn news that the bureau was sending its team in pursuance of the letters it had written to the UK authorities in connection with a mutual legal agreement.

"Since the NAB has not yet received a reply from the UK authorities, it has decided to pursue the matter in person," the source said, adding that the team would make sure of its return before Friday to submit a report to the accountability court in Islamabad in connection with the indictment of Sharif, his daughter Maryam and sons Hassan and Hussain.

The "Volume-10" of the Joint Investigation Team report is said to have dealt with the mutual legal business agreements between the Sharif family and different foreign governments.

Meanwhile, the NAB has initiated the process of obtaining red warrants for Hassan and Hussain from Interpol.

"After receiving the court's order declaring Hassan and Hussain proclaimed offenders, the NAB is writing to the Interior Ministry to take up the matter with the Interpol for issuance of their red warrants," the source told Dawn news.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Chaudhry Khaliquz Zaman said that since Sharif's sons were declared proclaimed offenders, their properties in Pakistan would be attached.

He said that once the red warrants were issued, the NAB would take up the matter with the UK authorities for their extradition.

At present, there is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and Britain.

"Having no extradition treaty between the two countries will help Hassan and Hussain escape arrest there and accountability here. NAB will have one option once their red warrants are issued, but to file an extradition petition in a London's court," Zaman told Dawn news.

On Monday, the accountability court declared Hassan and Hussain proclaimed offenders for repeatedly failing to appear before it.

It also issued perpetual warrants for them and separated their trial from Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law aptain Mohammad Safdar (retd).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the NIA will "fully choke" terrorists and separatists of foreign funding to curb terrorism that he described as a "curse for the civilised society".

The Minister said being an autonomous body, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had done its job well in its crackdown on terrorists and separatists.

"Some people say the NIA has partially succeeded in stopping foreign terror funding. But I will say the NIA will fully choke the foreign funding to terrorists in the country soon."

The Minister was referring to the terror funding case the NIA has filed against Kashmiri separatist leaders as well as JeM chief Hafiz Sayeed. At least eight separatist leaders have been arrested since July.

Inaugurating the NIA headquarters at Lodhi Road here, Rajnath Singh said: "The NIA will bring down the morale of the terrorists and their funders."

He said terrorism acted as a hindrance to development. Lauding the work of the NIA for proving its credibility since its formation in 2008, Rajnath Singh said the conviction rate of the agency was over 90 per cent.

"As they carry the investigation in a professional way, there is no question mark on the investigation of the NIA."

Rajnath Singh said investigating terrorist activities was a tough job. "But with the help of scientific investigation, it has filed perfect chargesheets."

He hailed the NIA's role in curbing the menace of fake currency which he said acted as oxygen for terrorism.

He lauded the NIA's "good coordination" with central investigation agencies, anti-terror squads and police forces of state governments.

Congratulating the central forces, Rajnath Singh said: "I congratulate the central forces for neutralising terrorists day after day."

He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing the international community on board on the issue of terrorism.

Meanwhile, NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said the agency had been able to bring back normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir by choking foreign terror funding.

He said of the 166 cases the agency had taken up for investigation, 62 pertained to jihadi terrorism, 25 to terrorist acts by Northeast insurgents, 41 of terror financing and fake currency, 12 involved Maoists and 24 cases related to miscellaneous terrorist acts.

He said the NIA had filed chargesheets in 28 cases with a success rate of 85 per cent and a conviction rate of over 90 per cent.

Kumar said: "In the last two years, the agency has registered 21 cases relating to ISIS and we have remained successful in terms of investigation."

"Earlier this year we registered a case of terror funding in the Kashmir Valley due to which we have been able to choke the terror funding and bring back normalcy in the state."

--IANS

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Myanmar-based National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) rebels on Tuesday attacked an Indian Army base in Arunachal Pradesh's Niausa area.

Kohima-based Army spokesman Chiranjeet Konwer said there was no casualty or damage to the Company Operating Base of the Longding battalion in the attack.

However, the NSCN-K via social media claimed that a combined operation group "inflicted heavy casualties of more than 40 Indian soldiers killed on the spot and many more injured".

Konwer said the firing took place at around 1.15 a.m.

"They fired five to 10 rounds of ineffective small arms along with a Lathode grenade. The rebels fled after alert sentries effectively retaliated."

Konwer said that the army was forced to control its firing keeping in mind the safety of the villagers in the vicinity. He said a search operation to nab the fleeing rebels was ongoing.

The NSCN-K said that it used rockets, 40 mm, mortars, explosives and assorted automatic weapons in the attack, claiming that the rebels reached their safe place without any casualty.

In response, Konwer said the NSCN-K's statement was only to create "sensationalism" and were "baseless and false".

Last month, the Indian Army had said it inflicted "heavy casualties" on NSCN-K rebels during a firefight in Myanmar's Langkhu village opposite Longwa village in Nagaland's Mon district.

India shares a winding 1,643-km mostly porous border with Myanmar. But there is a regulated movement of people up to 16 km on either side.

The NSCN-K, which unlike the NSCN-IM has broken the ceasefire deal it earlier signed with New Delhi, is known to have bases in Myanmar.

--IANS

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The Democratic Senator for California, Dianne Feinstein, 84, the oldest member of the US Senate, announced that she will stand for re-election in 2018.

"I am running for re-election to the Senate," the 84-year-old lawmaker said on Twitter on Monday about her plans to seek a fifth term, Efe news reported.

"Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. I'm all in!" she added.

Terms of office in the US Senate are for six years, so if she keeps her seat, her next term will end when she is 91.

Feinstein, one of the most influential members of the upper house, was a pioneer along with Barbara Boxer, who retired last January, when both won seats in the Senate in 1992 to become the first women senators for the state of California.

The highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and leader in the fight against gun violence, Feinstein is one of eight octogenarians in the US upper house.

The Senator had not previously wished to answer questions about her future when faced with increasing pressure from her party to find out whether it would have to find her replacement.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Islamabad had offered Washington an in-sync operation against the Haqqani network.

"We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani network's safe havens in the country. If they find any activity (of Haqqanis) in the targeted areas, our troops along with the US would destroy them once and for all," Asif said in a talk show 'Kal Tak' on Monday evening.

US President Donald Trump, while unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August, pilloried Pakistan for harbouring "agents of chaos" and the "very enemy US forces have fighting in Afghanistan" for the past 17 years.

US and Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of sheltering the Haqqani network -- the deadliest of all the Afghan Taliban factions.

The Foreign Minister, who recently toured Washington and met top Trump administration officials, went on to say that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month.

Referring to unsavoury criticism from the US, Asif said: "If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side."

The minister added on the show, being broadcast on Express News, that "if the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense are coming to dictate to us, we will refuse to accept their dictates... and now we will do what is in the best interest of our country".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan has again tried to sneak the Kashmir issue into a General Assembly debate with no relevance to the topic, but India took the high road refusing to be drawn into a "distraction" from the agenda set for the meeting.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi devoted a significant part of her speech to Kashmir at the committee dealing with decolonisation on Monday.

The Minister in India's Permanent Mission, Srinivas Prasad, who spoke later said in his scheduled speech, "We reject the efforts of the delegation of Pakistan to bring issues which have never been on the agenda of this Committee ever in its history."

"We-consider it a diversion from the agenda and as a distraction not worthy of a response," Prasad added.

Kashmir is not considered a colony or a non-self-governing territory by the UN.

"Even as all those who have taken the floor have focused on issues of these Non Self-Governing Territories, a solitary member State, as usual, has ventured to plough a lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history," Prasad added.

Lodhi said that UN's decolonisation agenda would remain "incomplete" without resolving the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan came back again after Prasad' speech with Saima Sayed, a counsellor at Pakistan's UN Mission, harking back to the 1948 Security Council resolution on Kashmir while exercising Pakistan's right of reply.

India did not use its right to reply to Sayed.

This was Lodhi's second attempt this month to introduce Kashmir during a debate on topics without any relevance to it.

During a debate last week in the General Assembly on the UN's annual report, she said the surgical strikes carried out last year by India against terrorist hideouts in Pakistani-held territory never happened and asserted that New Delhi was trying to provoke her country by saying it took place.

The surgical strike was in response to an attack on an Indian position in the Uri sector that killed 18 soldiers.

As Prasad pointed out, Pakistan has been "ploughing a lonely furrow" at the UN in trying to raise the Kashmir issue with no other country taking note of it despite Lodhi bringing it up in forums where it has not relevance.

India is adopting a tactic of reacting to Pakistan's taunts over Kashmir by either ridiculing them or ignoring them, rather than getting entangled in a debate giving it importance.

When Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi launched one of the most heated attacks in recent times on India during his address to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly last month, a First Secretary in India's Mission Eenam Gambhir, called Pakistan "Terroristan" in her reply. "The quest for a land of pure has actually produced 'the land of pure terror'."

Again last week, Gambhir dismissed Lodhi's statement on the surgical strike by saying: "My delegation does not wish to waste the precious time of this august assembly in further engaging with such distractions."

Lodhi's response to External Affairs Minister's speech last month at the General Assembly backfired when she held up the picture of an injured Palestinian child claiming she was from Kashmir.
With illicit cigarettes capturing a fifth of the Indian cigarette market, a global tobacco major has said it will fund proposals under its $100 million global initiative to support third-party projects dedicated to the fight against illegal trade.

International (PMI), the makers of Marlboro cigarettes, established its PMI Impact initiative to support projects dedicated to fighting illegal trade and related crimes, such as corruption, organised crime and money laundering.

Private, public or non-governmental organisations have been invited to submit applications to avail funding under the second round of PMI Impact, the company said in a statement.

PMI has pledged $100 million across three funding rounds of PMI Impact.

In the first funding round of the initiative, 32 projects were selected from 200 proposals.

"PMI Impact encourages creative solutions and innovative actions that help advance global efforts against all forms of illegal trade," said R Venkatesh, Director for Corporate Affairs, India .

"In India, PMI has contributed significantly over the past decade, partnering with law enforcement and investigative agencies in the fight against trade of illegal cigarettes," Venkatesh added.

According to an estimate by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, illicit trade accounts for around 20 per cent of the total cigarette sales in India.

"We are looking forward to receiving... proposals that will help private and public organisations improve their knowledge and efficiency in the fight against this growing concern worldwide," Alain Juillet, member of the PMI Impact Expert Council, said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday trained his guns on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and accused him of being more interested in Italy than in the people of his parliamentary constituency Amethi.

He also taunted the Amethi MP for not coming to his parliamentary constituency often and rather visiting Italy more.

Addressing a public rally here in the presence of BJP President Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and other senior party leaders, he ridiculed the Gandhi scion by saying that while "all-round development" had been ushered in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi was still asking what had been done in the past three-and-a-half years of the NDA regime.

"It is not his fault but that of the Italian glasses he wears over his eyes," the monk-turned-politician, known for his acerbic and direct attacks on his opponents, said and dared the Congress leader over the Samrat cycle factory land.

"This land belongs to the people, the farmers of Amethi and cannot just be grabbed by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation or any family," he said, adding that the land was not "kisi parivar ki bapauti".

Referring to the land grabbing charges against the Congress Vice President's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, he said that times have changed, the BJP was in charge now and that under such circumstances "kahin damaad zameen hadpe, Kahin beta hadpe...ye nahin chalega ab".

Lauding the hard work put in by Union Minister Smriti Irani for the development of the constituency, he referred to her as the sister of Amethi and pointed out that the "culture of middlemen propounded and patronized by the Congress had come to an end now".

Questioning the contribution of several generations of the Gandhi family towards Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Chief Minister said that Rahul Gandhi will now have to answer how if everything was done and now nothing was being done, why did it take 70 years for a Prime Minister to work on basic issues like construction of toilets, schools, improving healthcare, houses for the rural and urban poor and timely supply of fertilizers besides other things.

He assured the people of Amethi that the state government would work relentlessly for the poor.

He also used the occasion to target the former Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath said while a target of 24 lakh houses for the rural poor had been set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Uttar Pradesh government till 2019, and that 9.70 lakh houses had to be built in the first year but the Samajwadi Party government did nothing.

"We, under the guidance of Modi and Amit Shah, have given eight lakh families homes in the rural areas and 1.60 lakh to urban poor in just six months," he stated.

--IANS

md/amit/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress Vice-President on Tuesday continued to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of remaining silent on the controversy surrounding the tremendous increase in the turnover of a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son.

There has been an amazing transition from 'beti bachao, beti padhao' to 'beta bachao', he jibed at the government on its slogan of saving and educating the girl child.

The Congress leader referred to a news portal report on the 16,000-fold increase in the turnover of the company owned by Amit Shah's son Jay Shah before the firm was shut ahead of the November 8 demonetisation last year.

"Modi ji announced 'Make in India' and 'Startup India' in 2014. I do not know what came in the mind of Shah ji and how it came. It was a big innovative idea and he did his work. In three-four months, the (turnover of) Rs 50,000 became Rs 80 crore. He got unsecured loan. And a very interesting thing happened. This highly successful company was closed by (Jay) Shah ji in 2016. How the chowkidar (gatekeeper) of India is quiet. He is not speaking a word," said.

Gandhi, who interacted with the youth here, addressed a series of meetings as part of his campaign for the coming Gujarat assembly polls, and said the central problem of the country was unemployment.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with a slogan of "Beti bachao, beti padhao (save girl child, educate her). But here, what is happening is save the son of Amit Shah," he said.

also took potshots at Modi in a tweet. "Amazing transition from Beti bachao to beta bachao," he said.

Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao



 -''  https://t.co/LjB7VJtkQB  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 10, 2017

The Congress leader continued in the same vein in many of his speeches during the day and raked up the issue of Jay Shah's business.

"There was talk of 'Make in India' and startups. Startup is not visible but there is an icon of all startups. It was about an eight-year-old small company with Rs 50,000 turnover. But after (BJP) coming to power in 2014, it became Rs 80 crore company. What happened that a profitable company was closed? The chowkidar should reply."

"Is he (Modi) a 'chowkidar' (watchman) or 'bhagidar' (participant)?" Rahul Gandhi said at a meeting in Gujarat, the home state of both Modi and Amit Shah.

Rahul Gandhi said that the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's record in generating employment was far better than that of the Modi government.

The Congress leader said there should be single-minded focus on job creation. "If our government comes to power, we will do this," he said.

"We will bring policies after understanding your needs. We will listen to you and not impose our 'mann ki baat'," Rahul Gandhi said. 'Mann ki Baat' is Modi's monthly address to the people through All India Radio.

Rahul Gandhi also said that people should be allowed to express themselves and even unpleasant criticism should be tolerated. "I do not believe in suppressing anyone," he said.

The Congress Vice President slammed the Modi government over demonetisation and the manner in which the Goods and Services Tax was rolled out on July 1, saying it had "blown the economy apart".
A human rights group on Tuesday condemned the Myanmar Army for blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya villages in the violence-ridden Rakhine state.

Many of the villages near Buthidaung municipality in Rakhine state have not received humanitarian assistance since the military crackdown in late August, the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said.

Activists said authorities had also blocked access by the UN to the north of Rakhine state, where the majority of the Rohingya Muslims currently live, reports Efe news.

According to the NGO, only local organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross were given access to the area but were mostly directed to Buddhist villages in Rakhine state instead.

On August 25, Rohingya militants carried out a coordinated attack on about 30 police posts in the state resulting in the death of 12 security personnel. It sparked a response from the Army, which has then been accused of rapes, killing civilians and burning their homes.

Since then,over 500,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh.

The BHRN also said that Bangladeshi authorities destroyed boats arriving from Myanmar with Rohingyas on board, saying that the refugees were transporting drugs into their country and arrested fishermen for helping those fleeing the violence.

Without rescue boats, thousands of Rohingyas have been stranded on the mouth of the Naf River, which marks the border between the two countries.

It is estimated that before the crisis about 1 million Rohingyas lived in Rakhine state, where they faced growing discrimination from the government, which considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh

The UN labelled the conflict in Myanmar as "ethnic cleansing".

--IANS

ksk/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A official of the Ghaziabad administration on Tuesday recommended suspension of the entire local unit of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), saying the staff is not interested in following the Supreme Court's Monday order banning sale of firecrackers in the district.

In his order, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Prem Ranjan said after the apex court order, the entire administration is involved in sealing firecracker shops but the local unit of UPPCB is not taking any interest in the drive.

The pollution-related issue is very important for the survival of the society and in such emergent situation, the pollution control board, a nodal agency, plays very important role, he said.

In the past also, this office did not initiate any action when a similar drive was launched against polythene, Ranjan said, adding that no compliance report is being submitted, no coordination is being established and no guidance is being sought.

Accusing UPPCB Regional Officer Ajay Sharma of not initiating any action, he said it seems that Sharma has no control over his subordinate staffers.

Such lax attitude damages the image of the district administration, so it is strongly recommended to suspend the entire staff with immediate effect, the SDM said.

"The recommendation had been sent to the District Magistrate. Now the DM had to decide their fate," Ranjan told IANS.

--IANS

sps/him/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Syria has accused Israel and the US of supporting terrorist groups in Syria with arms and ammunitions, state news agency SANA reported.

Syrian Defense Ministry said in a report that Syrian authorities had seized a large amount of Western-made arms and munitions in several areas, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

It added US-made weapons were found in hideouts of the Islamic State (IS) militants and other terrorist groups.

IS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front offered western countries with oil from the oil fields in terrorist-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq, in exchange for rockets, rifles, machine-guns and anti-aircraft missiles, even tanks, the ministry said.

The ministry said that the weapons reached Syria via various channels from companies in Eastern Europe with links to the US military base of Rammstein in Germany.

Israel has provided the Nusra Front with various weaponry through the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, said the report.

Other channels included the aid programs to support the so-called "moderate opposition group," the Free Syrian Army, since the administration of former US President Barack Obama, according to the ministry.

The ministry said that most soldiers of the Free Syrian Army, who had received training in Turkey and Jordan, had later joined the IS or the Nusra Front.

Between June 5 and September 15, the US had sent 1,421 trucks loaded with weaponry to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the ministry said.

Despite the claims that these weapons were for the fight against IS, they were eventually found in the possession of terrorists who used them to commit "dirty crimes", according to the ministry.

The flow of weapons into Syria was coupled with the entry of 20,000 foreign fighters into Syria, most of whom came from Turkey, the ministry said, adding that such a support made the Nusra Front the strongest rebel group in northern Syria.

"The geographic proximity and the lack of observation on export created proper circumstances for some countries to benefit from the arms trade. Such deals have taken place with the help of the United States in most cases," the ministry said.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scott Pruitt, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said he will on Tuesday formally announce a repeal of the Clean Power Plan, a signature effort by former US President Barack Obama to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"The war on coal is over," Pruitt said in a televised speech at an event in the US coal state of Kentucky on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Tomorrow in Washington DC, I'll be signing a proposed rule to withdraw the so-called of the past administration and thus begin the effort to withdraw that rule."

Pruitt claimed that the Obama administration was "using every bit of power, every bit of authority to use the EPA to pick winners and losers in how we generate electricity in this country. And that's wrong."

A copy of the leaked proposal obtained by US media showed that Pruitt will scrap the plan citing reasons that it "exceeds the EPA's statutory authority."

"The EPA welcomes comment on the legal interpretation addressed in this proposed rulemaking," wrote the leaked proposal.

Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator under Obama who released the Clean Power Plan, said in a statement that a proposal to repeal it "without any timeline or even a commitment to propose a rule to reduce carbon pollution, isn't a step forward."

"It's a wholesale retreat from EPA's legal, scientific and moral obligation to address the threats of climate change," McCarthy said.

"The (current) administration is using contrived problems with our energy system to take money out of consumers' pockets and giving it to fossil fuel companies, so they can force a shift away from clean energy and back to dirty fossil fuel," she said.

The Obama administration issued the plan in October 2015, requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. However, the US Supreme Court voted five to four later to put it on hold.

In March this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, directing the EPA to "suspend, revise, or rescind" the Obama-era rule.

Trump, who once called climate change a "hoax," also announced in June that his country will leave the Paris Agreement on curbing global warming.

His position on climate change was met with widespread criticism both at home and abroad.

A US environmental organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, tweeted that the is the most important step the US has ever taken to curb dangerous impacts from climate change and that if the plan is repealed, it will take the EPA to court.

Myron Ebell, head of the non-profit libertarian think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute, however, cheered the repeal as a step "designed to get the economy moving again."

"If it had gone into effect, the 'Clean Power' Plan rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants would have been one of the most expensive regulations ever imposed, causing electric rates for consumers to go up and threatening the reliability of the electric grid," he said in a statement.
A woman who accused expelled CPI (M) parliamentarian Ritabrata Banerjee of cohabiting with her on the pretext of marriage on Tuesday lodged a police complaint against him and he in turn hit back by filing a complaint against her.

"I have come to lodge a complaint against him and will meet the Superintendent of Police," the woman said. In a social media post, she had earlier claimed the local police had refused to record her complaint.

"He promised to marry me and gave me tickets to come to his 104 South Avenue flat (in Delhi). We had physical relationship... he is now completely denying it (promise to marry her). He gave me Rs 2.5 lakh a couple of days back as compensation for having physical relations with him," the woman said.

Banerjee claimed the woman had made the accusations against him to "malign my reputation as I did not yield to her demand for Rs 50 lakh".

In his complaint at the Garfa police station in Kolkata, he said: "... she threatened to cause harm to my life and career. I strongly apprehend such malicious acts of her are politically motivated and backed by influential political persons to cause harm to my life, property, career and malign my reputation in society."

He also uploaded on Twitter a few screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation he purportedly had with the woman, during which "she asked for Rs 50 lakh for not filing an FIR".

"Hard Facts. 'Manufactured Lies' will be combated. Will not succumb to "politically aided" threats," he said in his Twitter handle.

According to Banerjee, the woman "portrayed and represented herself" to be a hapless woman in urgent need of a loan to pursue education abroad.

Banerjee claimed he helped her secure a loan from a Balurghat branch of the State Bank of India but she continued to make repeated monetary demands.

"I was ... lured to meet her material demands till I realised her demands were boundless... she informed me she was suffering from lymphoma and again demanded money for her treatment. Due to her threat, I was compelled to make a payment of Rs 2.25 lakhs on July 20," the Rajya Sabha MP said in his complaint.

The woman, however, said his claims were false.

Banerjee was shown the door by the Communist Party of India-Marxist last month after an internal inquiry found him "outright guilty" on four charges, including "moral degeneration in relation to women" and "serious inconsistencies between his income and expenditure".

The CPI-M also charged him with grave "anti-party activities" as he "persistently continued to malign the party image by various means" and refused to change himself despite the party trying its best to help him rectify.

--IANS

bdc/ssp/tsb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan on Tuesday handed over to the Indian authorities a woman who had "inadvertently" crossed the Line of Control.

Terming it as a gesture of goodwill the Pakistan Army said in its "continuation of efforts to maintain peace and tranquility along Line of Control (LoC), Azmat Jan has been returned at Rawala -Poonch crossing Point on humanitarian grounds," the Inter Services Public Relations said.

Jan who, according to the statement, hails from Degwar Maldialan (in Jammu and Kashmir) had inadvertently crossed the LoC in Chirikot Sector.

In January, Pakistan had returned an Indian solder who had crossed the LoC as a "goodwill gesture".

--IANS

ahm/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
That defamation cases have been filed against news portal The Wire and others by Amit Shahs son Jay Shah will likely not end the political slugfest over his firm recording a turnover from a paltry Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore in just a year.
The third and final volume of the autobiography of former president Pranab Mukherjee will be released on Friday. Many Opposition leaders will be on the dais at the launch of the book, The Coalition Years: 1996 to 2012. No leader from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party would be present. It isnt known if any of them were invited and turned down the invite. According to the invite, the book will be released in the presence of (former prime minister) Manmohan Singh, (Communist Party of India-Marxist chief) Sitaram Yechury, (Congress Vice-President) Rahul Gandhi, (Communist Party of India leader) S Sudhakar Reddy, (Samajwadi Party chief) Akhilesh Yadav, (Bahujan Samaj Party leader) Satish Chandra Mishra and (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader) M K Kanimozhi. The book focuses on the Congress defeat in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls and the rise of regional parties. It also throws light on the confabulations that led the Congress to withdraw outside support to the United Front government.
For the first time in its tenure, the Narendra Modi government is facing turbulence. A couple of weeks ago, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yashwant Sinha, launched a broadside against what he thought was the Modi governments inept handling of the economy, made worse by demonetisation and many glitches in the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president on Tuesday mounted a scathing attack on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in his pocket borough of Amethi on the issue of development in his parliamentary constituency.
The registered political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, on Monday presented their demands before the Election Commission (EC), led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A K Jyoti, which is on a visit to the state to review the preparedness ahead of the Assembly election due later this year. The BJP has submitted a detailed memorandum to the Election Commission listing several suggestions of which one is to consider holding elections between December 14 and January 14, a period when no Hindu weddings take place.
Congress Vice-President on Tuesday persisted with his demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarify if he was a partner in the theft, referring to the business dealings of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shahs son Jay. The Congress vice-president was in poll-bound Gujarat on the second day of his three-day visit to the home state of the PM and BJP chief.
Congress Vice President on Tuesday persisted with demanding answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the alleged business dealings of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah's son Jay and whether the PM was a "partner" in the "theft".
In two separate operations, Rachakonda police today rescued as many as 14 child labourers, working at a meat exporting unit as well as a saw-mill here.

Based on specific inputs, a Special Operation Team raided a meat exporting unit at Ibrahimpatnam and found that eight children were working there as labourers, a police official said.

The children, who hailed from Assam, Odisha and Bihar, were rescued and the supervisor of the unit was taken into custody, he said.

During another raid at a saw mill located in Ibrahimpatnam, six children, all from Bihar who were found working as labourers were rescued, the official said.

Separate cases were registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the Juvenile Justice Act.

Further investigation is on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Firefighters battled wildfires in California's wine region as the death toll rose to 15 and thousands were left homeless in neighborhoods reduced to ashes.

"The homes are gone, they are like dust," said Jack Dixon yesterday, a personal trainer who lives in Santa Rosa, a city of 175,000 in Sonoma County. "It is just like we were nuked."



Dixon told AFP that his own neighborhood was spared when the fire "miraculously" changed direction but many others were not so fortunate.

"I am surrounded by devastation and feel lucky it didn't happen to me," Dixon said.

US President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in California, freeing up federal funding and resources to help fight the 17 large wildfires in the western state.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in eight counties -- including wine-producing Napa and Sonoma -- and said thousands of firefighters had been deployed to fight the blazes.

Nine deaths were reported in Sonoma County, three in Mendocino County, two in Napa County and one in Yuba County and the governor said "emergency responders anticipate the number of fatalities could grow."



Among the dead were a couple aged 99 and 100-years-old from Napa who had been married for 75 years, KTVU-TV said. They were unable to evacuate their home in time.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said on its Facebook page it had received reports of 200 missing people.

Forty-five had been located and the department said it was confident that many of the rest would be found safe.

About 25,000 people have been evacuated in Sonoma County alone, the department said, and 5,000 have sought refuge in shelters.

The fires have torched more than 115,000 acres (46,500 hectares) and destroyed over 2,000 homes and businesses, according to the authorities.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said 17 large fires were continuing to burn on Tuesday.

"The winds that fanned these fires Sunday night and Monday morning have decreased significantly, but local winds and dry conditions continue to pose a challenge," Cal Fire said.

"With the decrease in the winds combined with cooler weather, firefighters made good progress overnight," it added.

Governor Brown said the "devastation and disruption caused by these fires is extraordinary.

"Thousands have been made homeless."



Much of the worst damage was in Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma County, and could be seen from US Route 101, the north-south highway which runs from California through Oregon to Washington state.

The Sonoma County Hilton perched on a hill overlooking 101 was a smoldering ruin of charred wood and twisted metal, as was the nearby Fountaingrove Inn.

An enormous K-Mart store was entirely destroyed with only a couple of blackened walls still standing.

Among the wineries which reportedly suffered damage were William Hill Estate Winery in Napa, Signorello Vineyards, Stags' Leap and Chimney Rock.

Maureen Fairchild, a nurse, was working at a hospital in Marin County where some of the evacuees were brought.

"I was working in a memory-impaired unit," Fairchild told AFP. "We had all these people who were already confused and now they were in an unfamiliar place with all this frenzy going on around them."



Kris Hammar, who lives in Santa Rosa on the edge of a mandatory evacuation zone, had not yet evacuated but was monitoring maps, wind direction, and fire updates to see if she and her family should bolt.

"The fire is close, very close," Hammer said. "Everything is in the car, and we are checking constantly to see if anything has changed."



Troy Newton, 46, a Sonoma County sheriff's detective, was among those who fled Santa Rosa.

Newton told The Los Angeles Times he was returning home when he saw a "growing red snake" of fire.

"I ran into my house and told my wife to get our four- year-old boy ready to leave," Newton said, before raising the alarm for around 40 neighbors.

"It was boom, boom, boom. Ring the door bell. Boom, boom -- until someone inside got the message," he said.

Pacific Gas & Electric said more than 196,000 customers had initially lost electricity although half had had their power restored.

Governor Brown in April declared the official end of the state's drought that lasted more than five years.

But California is still dealing with the Santa Ana winds, a meteorological phenomenon which brings dry winds down from the high mountains east of the coastal areas -- a recipe for perfect wildfire conditions.

Forest fires are common in the western United States during dry, hot summer months.

Last month, a massive fire described as the biggest in the history of Los Angeles forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eighteen Yemeni rebels have been killed in fighting around the Saudi border over the past 24 hours, Yemeni army officers said today.

Clashes flared this week around the Red Sea port of Midi and the nearby Saudi border town of Huthaira, spilling over into the rebel heartland of Saada inland.

The Yemeni army officers said loyalist forces had managed to wrest control of several rebel-held towns straddling the border.

Saudi officials contacted by AFP did not respond to requests for comment.

The rebels control most of northern Yemen, including the Red Sea coast.

But the government controls several pockets near the Saudi border, including the port of Midi.

A Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government in 2015.

More than 8,500 civilians have since been killed, with both sides in the conflict being accused of not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two people have been arrested on the charge of being involved in duping e-commerce company Amazon India, by ordering expensive phones and then claiming refunds alleging that the firm had delivered an empty box, the police said today.

Shivam Chopra (21) and his accomplice Sachin Jain (38), who used to provide SIM cards to the former for placing orders on the e-commerce portal have been arrested, they said.

Shivam used to sell those mobile phones on other e- commerce websites and at Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, the police said.

A complaint was received in June from a man on behalf of Amazon Seller Services Private Limited that 166 orders for mobile phones were placed between April and May, which were paid through gift cards but refunds were claimed alleging that the boxes were empty, they said.

The amount was refunded to him in form of gift cards, the police said.

During an internal inquiry by the company, it was found that the accused used 141 phone numbers and 48 customer accounts to place these orders and a refund was sought against each of those, they said.

He would give a false addresses in the locality where he actually resided and as such the delivery associate would call him over phone for directions, the police said.

The accused would ask the delivery person to meet him at any shop or any other place in the locality and take the delivery. He would then call up the customer care of Amazon India and allege that the box was empty. Subsequently refunds were initiated, they said.

Following an inquiry into the matter, the police registered a case in August.

On the basis of the mobile numbers used to make calls, questioning of locals and with the help of Amazon delivery persons Shivam, a resident of Tri Nagar in Ganesh Pura was identified. He was arrested on October 6, the police said.

During interrogation, Shivam revealed that for placing the orders, he purchased around 150 pre-activated SIM cards from Sachin, who runs a store in the neighborhood, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Milind Dumbere said.

During investigation, police seized 19 mobile phones, Rs 12 lakh in cash, 40 bank passbooks and cheques from Shivam's house.

In a statement, an Amazon India spokesperson said, "We continue to work closely with the Delhi Police and thank them for all their efforts in the investigation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two United Nations peacekeepers from Tanzania were killed and 18 more wounded in a series of attacks in eastern Congo by suspected Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, the United Nations said today.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attacks, which happened yesterday, and urged the Congolese authorities "to swiftly investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN chief noted that the attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, the spokesperson added.

Dujarric said earlier that the injured have been evacuated to Goma. "The mission deployed attack helicopters as well as the force intervention brigade in support of operations as well as to reinforce presence," he said, adding the mission forces are also deployed to restore order and protect the population.

The suspected rebels attacked early Monday near a UN base in Mamundioma, about 35 kilometers from Beni, UN Congo mission spokesperson Florence Marchal said earlier.

The rebels also seized weapons, said Jean-Paul Ngahangondi of a local civil rights group.

A Tanzanian brigade is stationed at the UN base there, where earlier in September, ADF rebels killed a Tanzanian peacekeeper.

Ten people were killed in fighting in the region last Saturday night, said local administrator Amisi Kalonda. At least 22 people are missing, said David Muhaze, the president of a civil society organisation. The total of missing and dead could not be confirmed by officials.

Dujarric said Guterres "once again calls on all armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons.

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Three teachers of a state run medical college and hospital were booked by the police on the charge of sexual assault and harassment of a student from Jharkhand.

Police today said a case has been registered against a senior resident, an associate professor and the head of the department of the dental wing of the SCB Medical College and Hospital here.

The second year post-graduate student lodged a written complaint with the police against the three teachers yesterday.

They have been booked under various IPC Sections including 354 (assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 294 (obscene acts) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), police said.

In her complaint, the student said she had been sexually assaulted by the senior resident and the associate professor for the past several days.

When the woman brought this to the notice of the head of the department on Sunday, he misbehaved with her instead of helping her, she alleged.

The three accused were yet to be arrested.

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Around 300 students fell ill on Tuesday after inhaling toxic gas emitted by a sugar mill near their school in Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the matter by Commissioner Saharanpur.

The students of a private school in Shamli started complaining of stomach ache, nausea, and a burning sensation in their eyes after gas leakage from a neighbouring sugar mill.

"We have come to know that similar incidents had taken place in the past. A probe is on and strict action will be taken against those responsible," ADG, Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar said.

He said all the children are safe and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Principal Secretary, Information, Awanish Awasthi told PTI here that "the CM has ordered a probe into the Shamli incident by Commissioner Shaharanpur and directed the DM and all local officers to provide all possible help to the affected children".

Locals alleged that sugar mill employees used to discharge chemicals in waste dumps leading to the emission of harmful gases. Children took ill after inhaling these gases, with some of them falling unconscious.
As many as 40 WTO members, including India, met in Morocco today to discuss issues related with the forthcoming ministerial conference in Argentina.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu in a tweet said he participated in the WTO's mini-ministerial meeting.

Select 40 WTO member countries attended the meeting, which was a run up towards the 11th ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December.

"Trying hard to ensure multilateral WTO remain intact, despite huge pressures. Having several bilaterals with all important countries. Very sure, we shall benefit immensely from participation of these countries with India's economy," the minister said in his tweets.

He also held a bilateral discussion with WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo.

The ministerial conference is the highest decision-making body of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO).

India is pitching hard to complete the pending agenda, which includes finding a permanent solution to the issue of food stockpiling.

The country also wants the WTO members to deliberate on its proposal on trade facilitation in services.

However, developed countries, including the US, are pushing for inclusion of newer issues like investment facilitation and e-commerce in the agenda.

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Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today staged a protest outside the Delhi Metro headquarters on Barakhamba Road demanding immediate withdrawal of the fare hike.

The increased metro fares come into effect today.

The RSS-affiliated student outfit also demanded special concessionary passes for students of Delhi.

Asked why the ABVP was protesting the move backed by the BJP, its Delhi State Secretary Bharat Khatana said, "We feel the Centre did not assess the ground reality. It is pinching the pockets of the common man and students."



The ABVP has, for the second time in a month, taken a stand against the Centre.

It had on September 25 protested the attack on Banaras Hindu University students and urged the HRD Ministry to act against the BHU administration.

"The ABVP works for students, not for any political party and we are proud of it... We have enough guts to fight on genuine student issues," its media convener Saket Bahuguna had said.

A group of NSUI workers had yesterday stopped a metro train protesting the fare hike.

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Social activist Anjali Damania has given three-months time to the Fadnavis government to take action against NCP leaders whose names had cropped up in the irrigation scam.

Damania, a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, has warned that if no action is taken against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare the state government should be ready to face litigation.

"I am giving three-months time to Fadnavis government. Act against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare by the end of this year, otherwise, I will file a fresh PIL in January making Government of Maharashtra first respondent," Damania told reporters here.

Addressing a press conference, she said, "The political relations unfolding between Fadnavis government and tainted ministers Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare is shocking and since investigating agencies have done nothing so far in irrigation scam, therefore, I have serious doubt of the unholy nexus between these leaders."



Yesterday, Damania was prevented from holding silent protests despite having permission to hold the same. She was taken into preventive custody by Dadar police.

Damania had called for protests to expose the alleged "unholy nexus" between ministers of the BJP government with the tainted ministers of the previous Congress-NCP government.

The social activist said she will soon tour the entire state and alert people on how the state government was "betraying" them.

"I have submitted clinching documents against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare to 13 investigating agencies. No satisfactory development has taken so far. In Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation, total four FIRs and only one charge-sheet has been filed so far, but none has faced any action so far.

"While in Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation scam, only two FIRs and two charge-sheets have been filed so far, in which only officials were arrested, however, not even a single neta has been sent summons so far," she said.

Damania said, "Fadnavis, when in opposition, had claimed that Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare would be in jail in 100 days after his government takes charge. The very CM who announced an open inquiry against them in irrigation scam is seen cosying up with them today.

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The CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala today termed as a "silent revolution" the appointment of 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, as priests in temples in the state under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

"It is a silent revolution and a model for others to follow," Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran told reporters here.

Indicating that more such appointments are on the anvil, he said there are more than 3,000 vacancies in different shrines managed by five temple boards -- TDB, Cochin Devaswom, Malabar Devaswom, Guruvayur Devaswom and Koodalmanikayam Devaswom.

Due process was followed to ensure transprency in appointments, he said.

"A new history has been scripted by ensuring reservation as enshrined in the Constitution with the appointment of Dalits as priests," he said.

However, he said, reservation was not the prime consideration for selection. Those who have knowledge of rituals were appointed as priests.

Asked if the Kerala government has plans to appoint non- Brahmins as priests at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala, under the control of the TDB, Surendran said it could be considered.

However, nothing could be carried out in a hurry, he said.

The TDB manages at least 1,248 shrines, including the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.

The minister also thanked noted actor Kamal Hassan and DMK leader M K Stalin for appreciating the initiative of the LDF government.

He said the people of Kerala had also welcomed the government decision.

The Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board had recently recommended 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, for appointment as priests in temples in the state.

This is the first time six persons from the Scheduled Caste community have been recommended for appointment as priests.

Yedu Krishnan had yesterday become the first Dalit priest in Kerala to assume duties at the sanctum sanctorum of the Manappuram Lord Shiva Temple at nearby Thiruvalla.

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Despite "attempts to derail" the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST), the states are adopting the new regime at a fast pace, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

Jaitley was responding to a question on the biggest challenges for during a conversation with Dan Schulman, president and CEO of Paypal and Chandrajit Banerjee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

At the event jointly organised by CII and US India Business Council (USIBC) in New York, Jaitley said global integration of Indian economy is happening at a time when other economies are becoming more protectionist.





ALSO READ: GST: Key changes in the last 100 days

Asserting that India is now a better place to do business with because of the series of steps being taken by the government in the last three years, Jaitley said procedures have been simplified.

Now as much as 95 per cent of the investments are through automatic route, and foreign investment promotion board has been abolished, he noted.

Today, 99 per cent of tax queries are addressed online, he said.

Now States are being ranked on ease of doing business, he told the audience here.

India is now capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale, the union finance minister said.

As many as 250 highways projects are under construction. India is now having surplus power and capacity of Indian ports have been expanded, he said.





ALSO READ: 100 days of GST: FMCG cos give thumbs up, say demand picking up

Responding to a question on digital payments, he said the younger generation is taking on to modern payment methods in a big way.

Further, all government benefits are linked directly to bank accounts. The government has introduced low-cost insurance policies to incentivise the bank holders, he said.

Jaitley who arrived early in the day in New York also addressed US investors on recent economic reform initiatives.

He is slated to address the Columbia University students today. The finance minister is here in US to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

But before arriving in Washington DC for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, he would travel to Boston to address the students of the Harvard University and interact with the US business community in Boston.

During his three day stay at Washington, the finance minister will hold a bilateral meeting with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

He will also participate in an interactive seminar organised by FICCI on -- "India Opportunity Conference" and attend the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Working Dinner on October 12.
Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal invited German companies to invest in India's food processing sector, saying this segment has huge growth potential as only 10 per cent of food is being processed.

The minister, who participated in food exhibition at Anuga in Cologne, invited German companies to participate in World Food India summit to be held early next month.

"Germany is among India's most important partners bilaterally and in global context, and India is ready with open arms to welcome German companies," Badal was quoted as saying in a statement.

Anuga, which is the number one trading place in the world, gave us the right platform to interact with various global players in the food industry, she added.

The ministry is gearing to host over 30 countries and 2,000 companies at World Food India and Germany will be a partner country, the statement said.

"By 2050, world population is going to be over 9 billion, and demand for food is expected to increase by 50 per cent. Where only 10 percent of food is being processed currently in India, we see huge potential to co-develop and optimise food processing capability, to serve the world food market," Badal said.

The World Food India summit will provide a platform to foster partnerships and transform food economy, she said, and welcomed food processors, machine manufacturers, technology suppliers and refrigeration companies, to come to India and expand their business opportunities.

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Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who have been at loggerheads over a host of issues, today launched separate anti-dengue campaigns on the outskirts of Puducherry.

Launching the campaign in Mudaliarpet, Bedi walked through the streets urging people to remove garbage and keep the environment clean.

A release from Raj Nivas said the former IPS officer appealed to residents to ensure that there was no room for mosquitoes to breed.

She was accompanied by District Collector E Vallavan and other officials.

On the other hand, Narayanasamy launched the campaign in Nellithope to educate the people on the need to eradicate mosquitoes and protect themselves from the vector-borne disease.

He sprayed anti-mosquito repellent in some drains. He was accompanied by Puducherry's Special representative in New Delhi A John Kumar.

The chief minister appealed to the people to keep their homes and environment clean.

Narayanasamy was elected from the Nellithope assembly constituency in the bypoll last year.

Bedi had recently expressed concern over increase in dengue cases in the Union Territory.

Narayanasamy had, however, said the dengue menace was under control and that anti-mosquito drive had been intensified at all levels and adequate supply of drugs and equipment were available.

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CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy on Tuesday said the best package for the Indian economy would be to replace Arun Jaitley with an economist at the helm of the finance ministry.

"The situation of the country is turning from bad to worse under the (Narendra) Modi government. The economy is in a very bad shape. We feel that the best package for the Indian economy would be to pack off Arun Jaitley from the finance ministry and replace him with an economist. Jaitley has been a complete failure as a finance minister," Reddy said at a press conference here.

He also said that attempts were being made to form the "broadest possible platform" against the BJP-RSS with the secular, democratic and Left parties, including the Congress.

"Efforts are on to form the broadest possible platform to counter the march of the BJP-RSS in the country," Reddy said.

Asked if the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which also holds the status of a party, would be a part of the platform, he said, "The political situation is different in different states. So, the state units will take a call on it."



However, CPI deputy general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta ruled out the possibility of the Mamata Banerjee-led party being a part of the platform.

"Let the TMC fight the BJP on its own. We do not want to take a party like the TMC, which itself is slaughtering democracy in the state (West Bengal), along with us," he said.
The Bihar government today approved reservations for persons with disabilities in government jobs and educational institutions.

The cabinet gave its approval during a meeting presided by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat Department Upendra Nath Pandey told reporters.

He said the provision has been brought in accordance with the Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016.

The cabinet also approved establishment of a state advisory board for the empowerment of 'Divyangjan' as envisaged in the Act, he said.

Secretaries of various departments will serve as members of the board, he said, adding the board will also comprise representatives from districts.

Besides, two members from the state legislative assembly and one from the state legislative council will also be members of the board, he said.

The cabinet also decided to pay allowances to state government employees as per revised rates, Pandey said.

The decision comes just a week ahead of the Diwali festivities.

As per the revised rates, HRA would now be 24 per cent of the basic salary for employees stationed in Delhi, 16 per cent for those at Patna, eight per cent for those in district headquarters, six per cent for those in other towns and four per cent for those posted in rural areas.

Emoluments like family planning allowance and special pay for secretariat employees, except those involved in engineering and research activities, have been scrapped.

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Union minister K J Alphons suggested today that the government introduce a legislation in the parliament to make eye donation mandatory after death.

Speaking at the launch of Blind Walk - the world's largest campaign for eye donation being held in 250 locations on the same day across five countries, Alphons said he would write to the information and technology and health ministries to introduce a telephonic hotline for eye donation and make it mandatory after death.

"Like Sri Lanka, we can think about having a legislation, where on death it is mandatory and compulsory to donate eyes. I am just saying that can we think about it. I will definitely take it up with the health ministry," the tourism minister said.

Sri Lanka donates about 3,000 corneas a year and has provided tissues to 57 countries in half a century, according to the non-profit Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society.

"I had also written to the information and technology ministry when I wasn't the minister, telling them that we should have a formal number for eye donation - just like '100' for police - so that people can contact directly if they want to donate. That's not come through yet, but I will take it up," said Alphons.

Though about 85 lakh people die in India every year, only about 250,000 people come forward to donate eyes, according to data available with NGOs.

The minister said he will again write to the health and IT ministries soon.

Alphons is also scheduled to be a part of the Blind Walk in Delhi on October 12, in which 600 people were expected to participate, along with visually challenged persons.

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The bodies of two brothers who jumped into a drain to escape their unidentified assailants were found with multiple stab wounds in Noida's Baraula area, police said today.

The incident took place last evening when Umesh (22) and Yogesh (24) were standing outside their house, said Vinay Kumar Singh, Sector 49 police station in-charge.

A group of 10 people attacked them, said the official, suspecting old enmity to be the cause of the attack.

They were rushed to Prayag Hospital, where they were declared brought dead, he said.

Hospital doctors confirmed multiple stab wounds on their bodies.

"Bodies have been sent for post-mortem, and further investigations are going on," he said.

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BSE today said its subsidiary Marketplace Tech Infra Services in collaboration with Thomson Reuters has built a trading solution on latter's Omnesys NEST platform, for the exchange's members and customers.

For this purpose Marketplace Tech Infra Services has signed a memorandum of understanding with Thomson Reuters, a leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals.

BSE Electronic Smart Trader (BSE) is a robust, state-of-the-art hosted trading solution built on Thomson Reuters Omnesys NEST platform which brings greater scalability, convenience, speed and transparency to the users.

"BEST will supplement the existing order routing platform of MTISPL, BOW (Bolt+ On Web) to provide a single trading platform for all stock and commodity exchanges viz BSE, INDIA INX, NSE, NCDEX, MCX, MSEI and ICEX," BSE said in a statement.

According to BSE managing director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan "this is a beginning of a strong partnership for providing market participants a platform and would help develop overall market infrastructure and ecosystem across all segments".

"It shall be the endeavour to continue providing members world class technology to access domestic and international exchange- India INX," he added.

Thomson Reuters MD Pradeep Lankapalli said: "Thomson Reuters Omnesys NEST hosted trading platform together with BSE will help the growing financial community manage risks by executing informed trading, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness of transactions".

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China's official media today welcomed Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's greetings to the PLA soldiers at the Sikkim border, saying her "charm offensive" might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion following the Dokalam standoff.

Sitharaman had a brief conversation with People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops during her maiden visit to the Nathu La border post in Sikkim on Sunday and was even seen teaching them how to say 'Namaste'.

"China welcomes Sitharaman's greeting and hopes this friendly gesture is also welcomed by Indians. Sitharaman's charm offensive might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion," state-run daily Global Times said in a much more toned down editorial, compared to the one on the same topic yesterday.

Sitharaman's visit to the border regions as Defence Minister can be easily interpreted as New Delhi's push to intensify combat readiness against Beijing, the report said.

"But Sitharaman's traditional Namaste greeting to the Chinese soldiers sent another signal to the public that might not erase the first impression but may at least balance things out," it said.

The tabloid, which has been carrying stridently anti- India rhetoric for past several months, said in its editorial yesterday that "Some Indian nationalists over-estimate India's strength and rights, assuming New Delhi can bark orders across the border at Beijing".

"India's concerns about the Siliguri Corridor's security are understandable, but New Delhi cannot mess around", it said, adding that China is also concerned about the transport route security across the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca, but Beijing has not taken "coercive measures to achieve its aims".

In today's editorial it said, "Indians must overcome the paranoia that suggests their country is strategically thwarted and threatened by Beijing".

The report said India also needs to give up its pursuit of support from the US and Japan to deploy "as a bargaining chip against Beijing".

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Dokalam since June 16 after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The standoff ended on August 28.

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Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's reported remark about Biharis "crowding" AIIMS, Delhi even for "minor ailments" today drew criticism from rivals and ally JD(U), with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying it is the duty of MPs to take care of their constituents going there for treatment.

"People of Bihar are unnecessarily crowding AIIMS, Delhi even for minor ailments which can be treated at home," media reports quoted Choubey as having told a function here last Sunday.

The Union Minister of State for Health had also reportedly said he had instructed the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to turn away such patients.

Choubey's reported remark kicked up a controversy back home.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, without naming Choubey or referring to his statement, said it has been the duty of every MP from Bihar to take care of people from their constituency visiting the national capital for treatment at the hospital.

"This has been a basic responsibility of every MP from Bihar to attend to people coming from their constituency for treatment at AIIMS," Kumar told a health department function.

He said he used to keep an assistant who would accompany patients to AIIMS so that they were not inconvenienced. Kumar, a former Union minister, represented Barh and Nalanda Lok Sabha constituencies four times in the past.

"If a patient was serious, I would myself talk to the doctor concerned or visit AIIMS to see him. During such visits I used to see a large number of people from Bihar thronging AIIMS for treatment," Kumar said.

The chief minister said health facilities have improved in Bihar and now people are going to AIIMS, Delhi "out of choice" and not compulsion.

Choubey's remarks had prompted Tamanna Hashmi, a Muzaffarpur-based social activist, to file a complaint against Chaubey in chief judicial magistrate's court yesterday.

The RJD and Congress latched on to the minister's reported remarks to attack the BJP.

"Citizens of Bihar feel insulted by the minister's remarks," senior Congress leader and AICC member Prem Chand Mishra said.

RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari said the minister was talking "rubbish".

However, Choubey's party BJP came to his defence, with Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi saying his comments were misinterpreted.

"What he (Choubey) intended to say is that efforts are being made to improve the facilities available in Bihar to such an extent that the necessity to rush to other places for better medical treatment was minimised," he said of the Union minister, who represents Buxar seat in the Lok Sabha.

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The district's rural police has arrested seven persons for allegedly kidnapping a 32-year-old cloth trader here and starving him in captivity for around nine days.

The businessman, identified as Jitendra Joshi, had purchased clothes worth about Rs 12 lakh from the main accused -- Gajanan Harad (32), who is a textile trader in Bhiwandi township here -- but did not pay the dues, Additional Superintendent of Police, Thane Rural, Prashant Kadam told reporters here last evening.

Harad then conspired to kidnap Joshi and extort the money from his family, he said.

On September 29, Harad's five friends allegedly kidnapped Joshi in a car shortly before midnight from near the latter's house in Bhayander township here, he said.

They dumped Joshi at a dingy godown in Harad's cloth factory at Sonale village in Bhiwandi where the victim was not provided water and food, Kadam said.

After Joshi was abducted, his family complained to the police.

The local crime branch then started an investigation into the complaint and finally managed to trace the victim in the godown on Sunday night and rescued him, Kadam said.

The police found Joshi in a haggard condition. He could barely stand and appeared very weak, the official said.

The victim was rushed to a hospital and admitted for treatment, he said.

Subsequently, the police yesterday arrested Harad, his driver Avdoot Shelar (27), and his five friends who were allegedly involved in the kidnapping - Ramesh alias Anil Yadav (38), Mayuresh Mhatre (28), Yatish Desai (28), Pratamesh Walavalkar (27) and Varun Agrawal (32), he said.

They were booked under IPC sections 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person), 344 (wrongful confinement for ten or more days) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), Kadam said.

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Suspected militants attacked a CRPF vehicle in busy Sanat Nagar area of Srinagar this evening but there were no casualties.

"CRPF personnel reported that their vehicle came under fire at Sanat Nagar chowk here," a police spokesman said.

He said there were no casualties on the CRPF side.

"A police team has rushed to the spot to investigate the incident," he added.

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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today complimented the Army for its professionalism in handling the Dokalam standoff and other challenges such as containing insurgency in the northeastern region.

In an address to the top commanders of the Army, she said enhancing capacity of the Army was a major focus of the government and promised close monitoring of improving strategic infrastructure.

"She conveyed admiration of the nation for the professionalism of the Indian Army during events like Dokalam standoff, response to natural disasters and keeping the situation of insurgency in the North East states fairly under control," the Army said in a statement.

On the second day of the week-long commanders conference, the top brass of the Army deliberated on a broad range of operational issues, including security challenges along the borders with China and Pakistan.

In her around half-an-hour-long address, the defence minister also referred to her visits to the forward areas and called the meeting with the troops as "eye-opening".

Sitharaman said keeping morale of forces at the highest level was among the priorities of the government.

Welcoming Sitharaman, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat told the commanders about the extensive travel undertaken by her to forward posts including Siachen.

"He also expressed pleasure on the fact that Sitharaman had already travelled extensively in border areas of the North-East and also across the border in Tibet," the Army statement said.

When asked about Rawat's comment about her visit across the border to Tibet, an Army spokesperson later said Sitharaman has extensively travelled in Tibet before taking over as defence minister and the reference was about that.

Sitharaman had visited various forward areas along the Sino-India border, including Nathu La in Sikkim, on Saturday.

The defence minister said modernisation of the Army was a priority for the government and that all the "deficiencies" will be addressed to strengthen its combat capability.

Sitharaman also assured the Army commanders that all service related matters will be resolved. In this regard, she talked about long pending force modification requests, welfare of serving army men and their families.

Listing her top priorities, Sitharaman said integration of the armed forces was essential particularly in the domain of training, communication, logistics and cyberspace for preparation for any future conflict.

"She called upon Indian Army to continue leveraging its strength in diplomatic defence cooperation with neighbourhood and in the region," the Army said.

The Northern Command, the Central Command and the Western Command made presentations today on a range of issues having a bearing on the field formations of the Army.

In its presentation, the Northern Command highlighted the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Protesting against the Centre's move to close the Government Press here and shift it to Uttar Pradesh, nearly 50 Dravidar Kazhakama activists staged a demonstration here today.

Raising slogans against the Centre, they alleged that it was functioning against the interests of Tamil Nadu and demanded that the Government withdraw its move.

The Kazhakam treasurer Pirainudal Selvi charged the state government with remaining a mute spectator to the BJP-led government's decision, as this was a question of livelihood of over 75 workers and their families.

He said the DK would intensify the stir till the Govenrment withdrew its decision to close down the 50-year-old press, which has printing orders for the coming four years, the agitators said.

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The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will go paperless in another year as part of Digital India initiative, Union minister Santoshkumar Gangwar said today.

Once the retirement fund body, which has already launched a few online services, goes digital, the subscribers need not visit the offices to their work done, the Labour and Emolument minister told reporters on the sidelines of a function to lay foundation stone for Regional Provident Office in Salem at a cost of Rs 19.5 crore.

When asked about labour reforms, he said that the process was on to amalgamate all labour laws into four codes, for which talks were going on with various employers and trade unions.

Despite more than one crore companies and firms, only 10 lakh units were registered in EPFO, he said, adding, the ministry was taking efforts to increase it to 20 lakh by bringing the units which have more than 20 employees.

The government was also taking steps to provide PF, pension and insurance to nearly 40 crore labourers in the unorganised sector, he said.

The government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana with the objective of promoting employment generation, Gangwar said.

Under the Prime Ministers Housing scheme some 25 industries have joined and the government wanted more industries to join the scheme, he said.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today vowed that Turkish officials would boycott the US ambassador to Ankara, stepping up one of the worst rows in decades between the two NATO allies.

Erdogan said Turkey no longer regarded ambassador John Bass as the US representative to Turkey after American missions in the country stopped issuing visas.

The dispute erupted last week when Turkey arrested a Turkish employee of the American consulate on suspicion of links to the group blamed for last year's failed coup.

In response, the United States stopped issuing non- immigrant visas from its missions in Turkey, prompting Turkish missions in the United States to hit back with a tit-for-tat step of their own.

"We have not agreed and are not agreeing to this ambassador making farewell visits with ministers, the parliament speaker and myself," Erdogan said at a conference with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

"We do not see him as the representative of the United States in Turkey."



Bass is shortly to leave Turkey after being nominated the US envoy to Afghanistan and it is traditional for outgoing envoys in Turkey to make valedictory visits to top officials.

Although Bass is in Turkey for only a few more days, it is unprecedented in the history of Turkish-US relations for Ankara to say it no longer recognises Washington's ambassador.

Erdogan said the arrest of the consulate staffer, based on evidence found by the police, shows "something is going on at the Istanbul consulate."



Some Turkish officials have long alleged a US hand in the coup attempt on July 15 last year, which Ankara blames on the US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Washington has dismissed claims it was involved as a ludicrous conspiracy theory and Gulen himself denies any link to the plot.

"The US should evaluate one thing: how did those agents leak into the consulate?" Erdogan said.

The US embassy has dismissed the allegations against the arrested consulate staffer as baseless.

Yesterday, Turkish prosecutors summoned another local employee working at the American consulate in Istanbul, the Anadolu agency said.

The man is reportedly in hiding at the consulate but the Turkish authorities yesterday detained his wife and his son, and today detained his daughter.

In March, a Turkish employee at the US consulate in the southern city of Adana was arrested on charges of supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"The current crisis is unlikely to be de-escalated with ease," said Anthony Skinner of Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy.

Turkish officials had expressed hope of a new page in Ankara-Washington relations under President Donald Trump after repeated bickering in the last months of Barack Obama's term.

So far, Erdogan has been careful not to take aim at Trump during the dispute, putting the blame squarely on Bass.

He said that if the order to suspend visa issuance came directly from Bass, then the US administration "should not keep him here one more minute".

"They need to ask him, How can you break relations between the United States and Turkey, who gave you this authority?" he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim rejected American criticism over the arrest of US consulate staffers, saying Ankara did not need Washington's approval for such moves.

Pro-government media have rounded on the United States, with the Yeni Safak daily describing the US as "not an ally but an enemy".

Ties have also frayed over the refusal of the United States to extradite Gulen, and its support for Kurdish militias in Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court today asked the police to extend the additional security provided to controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma, a witness in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, till he undergoes the lie detection test later this month.

The court also directed the Delhi Police to comply with its previous order by which it was directed that two more personnel for personal security of Verma, his wife and mother, till today.

Before this, the police was providing one security personnel to Verma round-the-clock following a trial court order.

"This protection be extended till the lie detection test is conducted," Justice Ashutosh Kumar said and disposed of Verma's petition seeking enhancement of his security.

The court also told Verma: "Anybody can keep writing letters, you should not bother. Everybody who is in possession of some documents keep receiving threats including judicial officers. Does this mean anything? It should not bother you."



When Verma's counsel Maninder Singh said that despite the order he was not provided with two more security men, the court asked the police to comply with its September 27 order.

"You have to comply with the court order. Continue with it till he undergoes the lie detection test. What is the difficulty in it? When there is a court order, you have to comply with it," the court told Delhi police counsel.

Verma's counsel informed the court that his test was scheduled to be conducted between October 3 and 6 but it has been postponed and would be done after Diwali.

Claiming that Verma was receiving threatening emails and phone calls that he would be killed, the counsel had sought more security for Verma and his family members so that he can appear fearlessly for the test.

While Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been given clean chit thrice by the CBI, has refused to undergo the test, Verma had given conditional consent saying he was ready to undergo the test if he was provided round-the-clock security as he feared threat to his life.

The plea was earlier supported by senior advocate H S Phoolka, representing the riot victims, saying Tytler was a powerful person and security should be provided to Verma so that he gets confidence to appear for the polygraph test.

The CBI had earlier told the trial court the government- run forensic science laboratory in Rohini here has confirmed the dates of conducting the test on Verma which will be done from October 3 to 6, which has now been deferred.

The case pertains to the riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in North Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, was thrice given clean chit by the CBI in the case, but the agency was directed by the court to further investigate the matter. The victims had filed a protest petition challenging the CBI's closure reports in the case.

The agency had reinvestigated the case of killing of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh near the gurudwara after a court in December 2007 refused to accept its closure report.

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Umang Bedi, the India Managing Director of social networking giant Facebook, has resigned from the role, just over a year after he joined the company.

Facebook India, in a statement, confirmed the development, saying, "Umang Bedi will be leaving his role at Facebook at the end of this year".

"He has built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best," it added.

Facebook has named Sandeep Bhushan - who currently serves as Director - Consumer and Media (South Asia) as the interim managing director.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Bhushan joined Facebook in April 2015 from Samsung Electronics. He has also been associated with HT Media and Hindustan Unilever.

Bedi had joined Facebook in July last year, taking over the India business from Kirthiga Reddy who moved to the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, the US.

He was mandated to lead strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country. Prior to joining Facebook, Bedi served as the managing director of the South Asia region at Adobe.

After the US, India accounts for the second largest base of users for Facebook with well over 200 million users. Globally, it had over 2 billion monthly active users at the end of June, 2017.

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In a boost to the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), several farmer outfits today announced their support to its mega rally against the country's economic policies and imports of cheaper Chinese goods.

The October 29 rally in Delhi is part of the SJM's 'Rashtriya Swadeshi Suraksha Abhiyan', launched earlier this year to make people aware of China's "nefarious designs".

"All major farmer and trader bodies have extended their support to our campaign for promotion of swadeshi (indigenous) goods and boycott Chinese products," SJM's publicity in-charge Deepak Sharma told a press conference here.

He said that the rally is also being organised to protest against the economic policies being pursued in the country.

Leaders of farmers bodies such as Bhartiya Kisan Union, Bhartiya Krishak Samaj and Kisan Mahapanchayat, who were present in the conference, announced their support to the rally.

Traders' body Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal has also extended its support to the rally.

SJM convener Ashwani Mahajan said that the campaign has the support of several people from different walks of life including yoga guru Ramdev, governors, parliamentarians, and industrialists.

A large number of important people from different walks of life will attend the rally, Mahajan added.

Expressing concern over unhindered import of Chinese goods which are causing huge damage to the Indian economy, he said small-scale units are shutting down and job opportunities are shrinking due to cheaper imports from China.

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Actor Jordana Brewster says the delayed release of the next installment of "Fast and Furious" is a "bummer".

The 37-year-old star, who plays Mia Toretto in the action film franchise, however, says she hopes the makers will use the time lag to their advantage, reports E! .

"It is a bummer because the longer you have to wait... I mean, it's a bummer. But, on the other hand, that gives everyone a little more time to ruminate and make it better, so that's good," says Brewster.

The ninth chapter was originally scheduled to open on April 19, 2019 but the film will now arrive in cinemas on April 10, 2020.

The announcement came in after one of co-star's Tyrese Gibson accused Dwayne Johnson of "flying solo" in creating the spin-off movie from the action movie franchise, which led to the pushback of the date.

Vin Diesel defended Johnson, saying the release date of the movie being postponed is no one's fault.

The "Fast and Furious" spin-off, also featuring Jason Statham, is slated for a 2019 release.

The franchise also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Scott Eastwood, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron.

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With their losses projected to run into crores, wholesale dealers of firecrackers in New Delhi can see their Diwali going up in smoke.

The Supreme Court yesterday dealt a virtual death blow to firecracker dealers in the famed walled city of Delhi by banning sale of fireworks until October 31.

The travelled fast through Sadar and Jama Masjid, the two famous markets in the Old City, with shops piled high with crackers of all kinds, ranging from sparklers selling for about Rs 20 a stick to powerful bombs going up to Rs 1,000 and more.

The Supreme Court said its order of last November banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) would continue till October 31 - Diwali falls on October 19 -- in an effort to check pollution this festival of lights.

"All dealers across NCR have been affected. The ban was imposed in 2016 last year and was lifted temporarily around 20 days back. Now, what will be do with the old stock? Crackers worth crores will go waste," said Amit Jain, who sells firecrackers in Jama Masjid.

Harjit Singh Chhabra, head, Sadar Nishkarm Welfare Association, estimated that losses could go up to hundreds of crores.

According to him, 500 temporary licences have already been issued to sell firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. Of these, Sadar Bazar has 24. This does not include those who have a permanent licence.

"Ban nuclear weapons, not crackers," said one shopkeeper in Sadar Bazar. "The Supreme Court's job is to regulate not ban," added another who had set up shop close by. "They have banned Diwali in Delhi," said a third.

The posters came up equally rapidly.

A banner saying "Patake hi Patake" was pulled down to make way for a new one declaring, "Nashe se mar rahe hai log, Patakon se nahi (People are dying because of drugs, not of crackers".

"We are selling crackers not nuclear weapons that you impose a ban. This is India, not Taliban that you can go on banning things like this," Chhabra told PTI.

Shopkeepers in Sadar Bazar have threatened to go on strike and insist they won't follow the order.

"We can't sell in shops so we will sell on the pavement if nothing works out," Chhabra said, addressing a crowd that had gathered near his shop.

"This is not child's play. They have revoked the old ban only to bring it again. What do we do with these crackers that we bought," he added, showing his licence giving him permission to sell crackers till November 21.

His story found wide echo in the area.

Sandeep Mahajan, another shopkeeper from Sadar Bazaar, said he has over 600 kg of crackers worth about Rs 8 lakh.

"My losses will be three times more. I had bought crackers worth Rs 25 lakh," added Rajiv Saxena of RK Enterprises.

Many of them said they were just getting over the blow of "28 per cent GST on crackers".

"We are clueless about what to do next! For us Diwali is finished. The last I knew, Supreme Court was authorised to regulate, not ban. This will only create new avenues for corruption. I can already see policemen taking rounds to harass us," said Surinder Chawla.

While environmentalists and others welcomed the apex court order, Chawla is amongst those hoping that the biggies of Sivakasi - firecracker manufacturing hub - manage to get a stay.

"People running the industry in Sivakasi are big shots. They will get us out of this situation," Chawla said.

The "cracker lobby" also contests that a ban would help in reducing pollution.

"Trucks are roaming throughout Delhi and there is no check. The big industries are polluting air 365 days and you don't do anything. But come Diwali and you are all alert... do they actually think that one day can make this huge impact?" asked a permanent licence holder in Jama Masjid who did not want to be identified.

Pawan Khosla, who had come to purchase crackers for the festive season, had no clue about the apex court order yesterday afternoon.

"Thank god you told me," he said, adding some more to his bulging gunny bags of the incendiary stuff.

"Diwali is celebrated for around five days. In those five days, 10 lakh kilogrammes of firecrackers are used per day," a Supreme Court bench had said in August this year.

It was reportedly informed by a counsel that 50 lakh kg of fireworks were stocked in and around the National Capital Region.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scientists have created the 'atlas of life' - the first global review and map highlighting the whereabouts of 31,000 vertebrate species on the Earth.

Led by researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK and Tel Aviv University in Israel, 39 scientists produced a catalogue and atlas of the world's reptiles.

By linking this atlas with existing maps for birds, mammals and amphibians, the team found many new areas where conservation action is vital.

The study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, produces the new reptile atlas, which covers more than 10,000 species of snakes, lizards and turtles/tortoises.

The data completes the world map of 31,000 species of humanity's closest relatives, including around 5,000 mammals, 10,000 birds and 6,000 frogs and salamanders, researchers said.

The map has revealed unexpected trends and regions of biodiversity fragility. These include the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, inland arid southern Africa, the Asian steppes, and the high southern Andes, researchers said.

"Lizards especially tend to have weird distributions and often like hot and dry places, so many of the newly identified conservation priority areas are in dry-lands and deserts," said Uri Roll from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

"These do not tend to be priorities for birds or mammals, so we could not have guessed them in advance," Roll added.

Finding vital areas in arid regions is a good thing because the land is fairly cheap, researchers said.

However, deserts and drylands are also home to lots of other modern activities, such as major irrigation projects, huge new solar power developments, and sometimes widespread land degradation, war and conflict, they said.

This makes them very challenging environment for conservationists to work, researchers added.

The maps have also allowed conservationists to ask whether environmental efforts to date have been invested in the right way, and how they could be used most effectively.

"Mapping the distributions of all reptiles was considered too difficult to tackle," said Shai Meiri from Tel Aviv University.

"Thanks to a team of experts on the lizards and snakes of some of the most poorly known regions of the world we managed to achieve this, and hopefully contribute to the conservation of these often elusive vertebrates that suffer from persecution and prejudice," Maeri added.

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Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera finished with five wickets to help Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 68 runs in the second Test in Dubai on Tuesday and take the series 2-0.

Perera had figures of 5-98 as Pakistan, chasing a tough 317 to win, were bowled out for 248 in the second hour of fifth and final day at Dubai stadium.

Asad Shafiq fought hard during his 112-run knock -- his 11th Test hundred -- and together with his skipper Sarfraz Ahmed (68) added 173 for the sixth wicket.

But once their partnership was broken Sri Lanka, having already won the first Test by 21 runs in Abu Dhabi, quickly closed in on the victory.

This is Pakistan's first series defeat at their adopted home of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in seven years. They had won five of the previous nine, with four drawn.

Pakistan were forced to play in the neutral venues of the UAE following the deadly terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.

This is also Pakistan's first home defeat since losing to South Africa 1-0 in 2007, a series held on their grounds, and only the second whitewash in their history.

They previously suffered a 3-0 defeat against Australia, a series also played at neutral venues in Colombo and UAE in 2002.

Shafiq was the ninth man out when he edged paceman Suranga Lakmal to slip where Kusal Mendis took a low diving catch to end all Pakistan's hopes of an upset win.

Shafiq's 253-minute knock had 10 boundaries but he again failed to help Pakistan cross the line, just like his 137 in the lost cause against Australia at Brisbane last year.

Pakistan had looked to the overnight partnership of Shafiq and Ahmed to guide them to the winning target after resuming at 198-5, needing another 119 for victory.

Both Shafiq and Ahmed had lucky escapes but Perera finally broke the resistance when Ahmed was caught off a miscued sweep at deep fine leg by Nuwan Pradeep.

Ahmed hit five boundaries during his 130-ball knock.

Shafiq brought up his hundred with a paddled sweep single off Perera and was reprived on the same score when Dimuth Karunaratne dropped a low catch of the same bowler.

Perera then completed his five-wicket haul when he trapped Mohammad Amir -- unable to bowl in the second innings with a shin injury -- leg before for four, bringing Sri Lanka within three wickets of victory.

Yasir Shah was cleaned up by Rangana Herath while the victory was brought up when Herath had number 10 Wahab Riaz caught gleefully by skipper Dinesh Chandimal for one.

Sri Lanka had gained a decisive 220-run lead by scoring 482 in the first innings on the back of Karunaratne's career best 196 and then bowled Pakistan out for 262.

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Nisha Desai Biswal, former Indian-American assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia has been appointed as the new president of US India Business Council (USIBC), an official announcement says.

Biswal was the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, in which capacity she spearheaded the India and South Asia policy of the previous Obama Administration. She will join the US Chamber beginning October 23, USIBC said yesterday.

She replaces Mukesh Aghi, who quit USIBC in July because of the differences he had over the working and imposing style of US Chambers of Commerce, which tried undue interfere in the independent working of the US India Business Council.

The entire board of USIBC too moved out of it and have now created US India Strategic and Partnership Forum. The Forum is headed by Aghi.

Most recently, Biswal was a senior advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group, where she helped expand the firm's India and South Asia practice.

"She is a driven, visionary leader who has a strong record of advancing United States business across the growth markets of Asia and throughout India. Under her strong leadership, we're confident the US-India Business Council will play a critical role growing commercial partnership, investment, and innovation across the world's oldest and largest democracies," said Myron Brilliant, US Chamber executive vice president and head of International Affairs.

As Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the US Department of State from 2013 to 2017, Biswal oversaw the US-India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation, including launching the US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

In recognition of her efforts, Biswal was awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by the President in January 2017. She previously served as Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Biswal also spent over ten years on Capitol Hill, serving as staff director on the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.

"As one of the most significant and fastest growing markets, India is an important economic partner for the United States. Likewise, Indian companies are investing in ever greater numbers here in the United States," Biswal said.

"I am proud to be part of an organisation which will play such a critical role in shaping US-India relations, and I am thrilled at the chance to help our companies deliver a brighter, more prosperous future for the citizens of the United States and India," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An organisation of differently-abled people in Ganjam district today demanded fee waiver for students with 40 per cent disabilities.

"We have been demanding that students with 40 per cent disabilities be exempted from paying all types of fees, except mess charge in hostel. It will encourage them to pursue higher studies," said K Ananda, General Secretary of Ganjam District Orthopaedically Handicapped Welfare Association (GDOHWA).

According to a recent state government order, students with over 75 per cent disability will be exempted from paying tuition fees and examination and certificate fees for pursuing higher education.

Very few differently-abled students will benefit from the government order of exempting them from paying fees in government and government-aided educational institutions, he said.

Though the differently-abled students at the school level were exempted from paying fees, they were paying the fees in colleges and other higher educational institutions, he said.

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To reduce the use of paper this festive season, the Union Health Ministry today asked its staff to opt for e-greetings in Diwali.

The aim is to give a boost to the government's 'Digital India' initiative and to promote an eco-friendly method of sending e-greetings instead of paper-based cards, a senior Health Ministry official said.

According to a circular issued by the Health Ministry, "In order to give a boost to the 'Digital India' initiative, it has been decided to go forward with e-greetings in place of paper-based greetings."



The circular further states that requests for printing of season's greeting cards would be entertained by the general section.

"Your participation in this contemporary and eco-friendly initiative is inevitable to the success of 'Digital India'," it said.

The e-greetings can be sent through the e-greetings portal of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

It allows users to select and send greetings from multiple occasion-specific templates, it said.

The government departments can also customise the greetings by adding tag-lines and messages related to their programmes and schemes.

The portal includes greetings for various occasions, including days of national importance.

Each department can create its own greetings and slogans to connect with their employees, colleagues and stakeholders, the circular read.

The portal is also open for use by all citizens for sending e-greetings to their family and friends.

This would promote greater interaction and participation of citizens in the process of creative work for the government as well as dissemination of information pertaining to subjects of national importance, it said.

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The government has cleared the appointment of Leslie Thng as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Tata-SIA joint venture airline Vistara, a senior official said today.

Thng was named as the new CEO of Vistara in place of Phee Teik Yeoh, who is returning to Singapore this month to take up a senior position with the parent company, Singapore Airlines (SIA).

"Security clearance (to the appointment of Leslie Thng) has been granted," a top civil aviation ministry official told PTI.

The board of Vistara and the airlines two promoters had named Thng to succeed Yeoh as chief executive from October.

Leslie is set to take charge of the new position next week, an airline official said.

"We have secured all the regulatory approvals, including the mandatory Home Ministry's security clearance, for the appointment of Leslie Thng. He will assume charge as the CEO next week," a Vistara executive said.

The Delhi-based airline is a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.

The incumbent Yeoh has been steering Vistara since the launch of its operations in January 2015.

Thng started his career at Singapore Airlines and has held many senior positions at the airline. Prior to becoming the chief commercial officer at Budget Aviation Holdings, a Singapore Airlines-owned holding company, he was the CEO of SilkAir.

He is coming at the helm of Vistara at a time when it is preparing to fly overseas.

Thng will lead Vistara in its next phase of growth, including international operations, building on the solid foundation and momentum achieved by the airline under the leadership of Yeoh, Vistara had said on his appointment.
Lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them, said today.

In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be "fully utilised" in achieving required capabilities of the forces.

"She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade," the IAF said in a statement.

The three-day-long IAF commanders conference is taking place amid an evolving regional security scenario and growing assertiveness by China in some parts of the Sino-India border.

Last week, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said IAF is capable of effectively countering any threat from China and Pakistan simultaneously in a two-front war.

Inaugurating the conference, Sitharaman also said that the budgetary allocations "should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is absolutely necessary," the IAF statement said.

Currently, the IAF has 33 fighter squadrons against the authorised strength of 42 squadrons. The IAF has been pressing the government to expedite acquisition of combat jets to overcome the shortage.

Sitharaman said the IAF along with the DRDO and the Ordnance Factory Board, a state-run defence equipment maker, should make an assessment about the possible areas of indigenisation under the 'Make-in-India' programme.

In his address, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's air power, and called for continuing the process to enhance capability of the force.

He also reiterated the IAF's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on the 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The IAF said the conference will deliberate on a raft of issues which will decide the future trajectory of the force.

It said deliberations will take place on operations and maintenance issues.

Various administrative initiatives were also expected to be taken at the conclave to enhance the working environment of the IAF.

In sync with the government's digital India initiative, two mobile applications for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones will also be released during the conference, the IAF said.

A book titled 'Aero India- Ascent through the ages' was also scheduled to be released during the conference.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari said today that the government was exploring possibilities to create a "large fund" for projects related to inter-linking of rivers as they require massive investments.

The minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation said his ministry will move a proposal in the Union Cabinet - comprising 285 irrigation projects planned to be taken up next year - to provide irrigation to 1.88 crore hectares of land.

Addressing the fifth India Water Week-2017 in New Delhi, Gadkari said 30 projects related to inter-linking of rivers have been identified. They require huge investments, he said.

"Two-three days ago, I was going to Gujarat with the prime minister, and we discussed (the funding for the projects)... He accepted (it). Why can't we create a large fund for implementation of these projects," Gadkari said.

He said 27 irrigation projects will be completed by the end of this year.

Gadkari said drip-irrigation and irrigation through pipeline will be a priority for the government as this will save water and cut down the cost involved in acquiring land.

He said the use of pipeline - instead of constructing canals by acquiring land - has saved nearly Rs 5,000 crore.

Gadkari underlined that water, power, transport and communication were four important pillars of development.

He said inter-linking of rivers was necessary to reduce the impact of floods and droughts, and added 30 river-linking projects have been approved, out of which work on three projects - Ken-Betwa, Par-Tapi Narmada and Daman Ganga Pinjal - will begin within three months.

Stressing that new ways have to be found for the use of treated waste water, he said he has requested the Union power minister to check if recycled water can be used in NTPC power plants.

Referring to the Pancheshwar Project - a bi-national hydropower project to be developed on Mahakali River bordering Nepal and India, Gadkari said the secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources will soon visit Nepal to sort out issues. He hoped that the work on the project will start soon thereafter.

He thanked former Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati, who was present at the event, for preparing detailed reports for several projects, including key river-linking projects.

Bharti, who is now the minister for drinking water and sanitation, said the projects related to Gadkari's ministry were also linked to her ministry, like the inter-linking of rivers comprise a large component of drinking water.

Bharti said an impression was created that she has been separated from the water resources ministry when she was moved to the drinking water and sanitation, but Gadkari "ensured" she "could not be separated" as he invited her to the event.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Satyapal Singh were also present at the event.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today said grand celebrations are planned for Diwali in Ayodhya this time but was not aware of the plans of the Yogi Adiyanath government to install a statue of Lord Rama on the banks of Saryu river.

He said the celebrations on Diwali are intended to promote Ayodhya as a tourist place.

Ayodhya, despitebeing an ancient cultural and religious destination, has faced neglect and now both the state and the Central governments are trying to restore its glory and present it beautifully, Naik said while talking to reporters here.

He said the Centre has sanctioned around Rs 133 crore for making it a major tourism hub.

Noting that Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after winning a war in Lanka, Naik said the state government wants to portray the same scene.

"I believe and you can imagine that those who visit Ayodhya, whether they are domestic or foreign tourists,they all carry a wish to see Lord Rama there. We hope the government will work keeping all the aspects in mind," the governor said.

He said a presentation was made before him in Lucknow regarding the government's plan for the development of Ayodhya in order to promote tourism there.

The governor was here to attend the 39th convocation ceremony of Mahatama Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth.

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Former chief of Congress' Bihar unit Ashok Choudhary said today that he has informed party vice- president Rahul Gandhi about the incident in which members of rival factions reportedly came to blows at a meeting here.

Choudhary, who is the former Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee chief and believed to be close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, claimed that he had been assured of an appointment with Gandhi at the earliest.

Infighting within the Bihar Congress came to the fore here yesterday when the members of rival factions reportedly came to blows at the meeting convened by the Pradesh Congress Committee.

The incident prompted the party leadership to order an inquiry into the fracas.

Choudhary defended himself, alleging that the fracas at the state party headquarters was "well-planned" by those who wanted to "capture the state unit through the backdoor."



"If the incident was not planned why was the media not allowed at the meeting venue?" he said.

Choudhary, who is an MLC, has maintained that he will remain in the Congress and "work in the interest of party workers".

He reiterated his allegation that C P Joshi, the party's general secretary in-charge of Bihar, had "hatched a conspiracy" to remove him from the PCC chief's post.

"C P Joshi is behind the current crisis in the state unit as he has been constantly conspiring to remove me for the past eight months. He wanted to install Akhilesh Prasad Singh to the post who has come from outside," Choudhary said.

Choudhary also criticised leaders of the party's state unit, including its acting president Kaukab Qadri, for the fracas.

He alleged that "those who have lost elections and have been instrumental in ensuring party's defeat in the past have controlled the party".

Asked about the committee formed to probe yesterday's incident, he questioned the very formation of the panel under a party leader "against whom ethics committee of the legislative council is carrying out a probe".

Choudhary has been accused by the rival faction of trying to split the Congress. It has been alleged that Choudhary and his supporters had stormed the state headquarters during the meeting and indulged in violence when they were asked not to raise slogans that went against the party line.

Singh, who was earlier with the RJD, had been a Union minister during the UPA regime. He is prominent among those members of the Congress which are believed to be closer to Lalu Prasad's RJD.

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The Delhi High Court today dismissed the interim bail plea of one of the five men who were convicted and sentenced to spend their entire life in jail for abducting and raping a 50-year-old Danish woman.

Convict Mohd Raja had sought the relief to meet a previous employer to get money for his family needs.

However, the Delhi Police said the employer's address could not be verified as it was incorrect and subsequently, the convict's lawyer withdrew the plea to file a fresh one later.

A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Chander Shekhar thereafter 'dismissed as withdrawn' the plea by the convict.

All five have already appealed in the high court against the trial court's decision in June last year convicting and sentencing them to life imprisonment for their crime.

The trial court had termed as "inhuman" and "brutal" the abduction and gangrape of the foreigner in 2014 and said that the incident has put a stigma on the reputation of the nation.

Nine persons, including three juveniles, were arrested in the case. Proceedings against one of the adults, 56-year-old Shyam Lal, had abated after he died in February 2016.

The proceedings against the three juveniles is still going on in the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

The trial court in its June 10, 2016 order had said that the five convicts -- Mahender alias Ganja (25), Mohd Raja (23), Raju (23), Arjun (21) and Raju Chakka (30) -- should spend the rest of their lives in jail.

The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 81,000 each on Raju and Raju Chakka, Rs 91,000 each on Mahender and Mohd Raja and Rs 1,01,000 on Arjun.

According to the police, the lady had lost her way while returning to her hotel and when she had asked the men for directions, instead of helping her, they misled, abducted and gangraped her in "brutal manner to satisfy their lust and rob her belongings".

It had also argued before the trial court that the nine persons, all vagabonds, had robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist for five hours at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near the New Delhi railway station.

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The Himachal government today decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 1 per cent to provide relief to people.

The VAT on petrol and diesel would be cut by 1 per cent to give relief to people, said chief minister Virbhadra Singh who presided over the cabinet meeting today.

The state cabinet also decided to suitably amend the HP ceiling on Land Holding Act to enable such religious institutions as have obtained exemption from the ceiling limit, to dispose of their surplus land by way of sale, gift or any other means, subject to the condition that such transfer would only be in the favour of an agriculturist as defined in the HP Tenancy and Law reforms Act.

In order to provide a range of health care services for the people in remote, un-served and underserved areas of the state, the cabinet decided to operate Mobile Medical Units in 10 non-tribal districts, except Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, under National Health Mission (NHM).

A decision was also taken to start two Bike Ambulances in Shimla town under National Ambulance Service (108) on trial basis to reduce the response time during emergencies.

The Cabinet decided to make functional the State Human Rights Commission and fill up the post of Chairman and Member of the Commission. Justice (Retd) Jagdish Bhallas name was recommended for Chairperson and K S Tomar, former HP Public Service Commission chairman, as the member.

The consent has been obtained from the Governor in this regard, a release said.

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today targeted the RSS and BJP alleging that they did not give any importance to women and asked how many of them were seen attending the Sangh's 'shakhas'.

He said in contrast, women work at every level in the Congress.

"The BJP's thinking is that till women are silent they are good, when they start speaking up they try to shut them (women) up," Gandhi said at a gathering of students here on the second day of his election campaign in Gujarat.

"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in shakhas wearing shorts?" he said in a sarcastic tone.

"In the Congress you will see women at every level in the organisation," he said.

Khakhi shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over an year back.

Gandhi also said that if his party's government comes to power in Gujarat, it will give importance to women and try to resolve their issues.

The Congress leader began his second day of 'Navsarjan Yatra' in central Gujarat region from Vadodara by addressing the students.

He addressed 10 meetings yesterday and offered prayers at the famous Santram Temple in Nadiad.

In the first leg of the Navsarjan Yatra last month, Gandhi had travelled in the Saurashtra.

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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today seemed to suggest that the RSS discriminates against women but his poser whether any woman is ever seen in its 'shakas' (assembly) wearing shorts sparked condemnation by the BJP.

Addressing a gathering of students in Vadodara on the second day of his election campaign in Gujarat, Gandhi said that in contrast, women work at every level in the Congress.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani slammed Gandhi's remark as "indecent."



"The BJP's thinking is that till women are silent they are good, when they start speaking up they try to shut them (women) up."



"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in 'shakhas' wearing shorts?. I have never seen," Gandhi said in a sarcastic tone, adding, "In the Congress you will see women at every level in the organisation."



Khakhi shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over an year back.

Gandhi also said that if his party's government comes to power in Gujarat, it will give importance to women and try to resolve their issues.

The Congress leader began his second day of 'Navsarjan Yatra' in central Gujarat region from Vadodara by addressing the students.

"If Rahulji believes that wearing shorts in India is the sign of empowerment, as a woman I want to contradict it," Irani told reporters in Amethi, the home turf of the Gandhi family in Uttar Pradesh.

"Today, an indecent comment has been made on our sisters connected with the Sangh, the Rashtriya Sevika Sangh or the sisters, wives and sisters-in-law of ordinary Sangh workers," Irani added.

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The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has suspended 22 of its students for a period ranging from one year to three years on ragging charges, an official said today.

The decision was taken by the IIT senate on Monday, he added.

"Sixteen students have been suspended for three years and six others for one year," IIT, Kanpur, Deputy Director Dr Manindra Agarwal told reporters here.

He said that 16 of the students had been expelled for three years as the charges against them were "very serious". The suspended students would not have the right to go for a mercy appeal during the suspension period, he added.

They could do so after the completion of the suspension period and could even be allowed to take admission in the course.

The decision was taken by the IIT senate at its meeting on Monday after giving an opportunity to these students to present their version, he said.

These students had allegedly ragged their juniors on the night of August 19 and 20.

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IIT-Kharagpur has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung India for the setting up of a digital academy on the institute's campus.

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the institute would host the Samsung Innovation Lab and train students on the Internet of Things (IoT) through Tizen-based operating systems, commonly used by the company for its mobile phones and home appliances.

IoT is a network of computing devices embedded in objects of everyday use for storage and exchange of information.

The training would help students acquire industry-relevant skills and "become job ready", an IIT-KGP statement said today.

The academy was a part of the company's corporate social initiative that aims at bridging the digital divide in the country by imparting skills to students on cutting-edge technology, the statement said.

Through this partnership with IIT-KGP, the academy planned to train over 100 students in the next three years, it added.

After signing the MoU yesterday, the managing director of Samsung Research & Development Institute, Delhi, YoungKi Byun, said, "Samsung is happy to partner with IIT-Kharagpur to help students leverage the growing digital technology market, especially Internet of things (IoT), the future of connectivity".

The company was committed to work in the field of next-generation technology development, he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, IIT-KGP Director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti said, "The partnership will help our students in developing their skills on the emerging areas of IoT and Artificial Intelligence."



The curriculum at the Samsung Digital Academy included the basics of web application development on Tizen, app testing and debugging.

The course would be taught over 14 weeks through classroom lectures, assignments, lab room sessions, self-study and mini projects.

"This (IoT) lab will enable our students to have hands-on experience with the Tizen operating system as well as facilitate research and app development on IoT platforms," the head of the department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sudeshna Sarkar, said.

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China's first yoga college, the India-China Yoga College, today opened enrollment for its new master's programme, a college official said.

Students can now sign up for the three-year programme, the first two years of which will be completed in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and the final year in India, according to Lu Fang, deputy dean on India- China Yoga College (ICYC).

Students who complete the programme will receive degree/ diplomas from both Yunnan Minzu University and Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bengaluru, Lu was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua agency.

Post-graduate courses will include asana (poses), pranayama (breathing), yoga therapy and physiology as well as Hindi and Sanskrit to eliminate language barriers.

To help students prepare to study in India, the college will also offer courses on Indian culture.

ICYC was jointly set up by Yunnan Minzu University and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2015.

Yoga has become immensely popular in China with millions taking to it all over the country.

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India has sought UK's expertise for manufacturing helicopters, fighter aircraft and submarines as the two countries today concluded the latest round of talks here as part of the Defence Consultative Group (DCG).

India's Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra led the discussions on the Indian side over meetings with senior British defence officials as well as defence minister Sir Michael Fallon with a focus on Make in India initiative.

The latest round of talks as part of DCG, co-chaired by both the countries, was held to further defence collaboration.

"We are very keen that the UK firms participate in Make in India as part of our strategic partnership. We would like UK companies with their expertise in this matter to be fully involved in the various platforms across helicopters, fighter aircraft, submarines etc," Mitra said at the end of his UK visit for the DCG meeting.

He highlighted that Britain's participation need not be limited to just the various equipment platforms as there is also scope for them to get involved in the supply chains.

Dinesh K Patnaik, Indias deputy high commissioner to the UK, said, "The supply chains are critical. Beyond the big deals that are struck, most of the supply chains are here in the UK and many of them are keen to participate.

"That is where the Indian High Commissions Access India programme comes in, which is aimed at helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make their entry into the Indian market. The focus remains Make in India."



The latest round of talks took place within the wider Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP), agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then British Prime Minister David Cameron during Modi's UK visit in November 2015.

India's defence secretary said that the DCG meeting in London was aimed at adding some meat to the India-UK dialogue in time for a meeting between Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May expected next year at the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) summit, to be held in the UK.

"The military to military dialogue has been going very well. There is a wide range of exchange of visits between ministry officials of both countries at the level of the Chiefs of Staff and senior operatives. We have a roadmap going, Mitra explained.

Other issues covered during the latest round of talks included cyber security and sharing of best practice.

There were also some detailed presentations on obsolescence management by the Indian armed forces on UK- origin military equipment such a Jaguar fighters, Hawk trainers and Sea King helicopters.

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A three-year-old Indian girl with developmental issues has been missing in the US state of Texas after her foster father allegedly told her to stand outside alone late in the night as punishment for not finishing her milk, media reports said.

Sherin Mathews, adopted two years ago by Wesley Mathews at an orphanage in India, has not been seen since around 3 AM on Saturday morning, NBC reported.

On Saturday night, Wesley was arrested by Richardson police and charged with abandoning or endangering a child. He was released on USD 250,000 bond late Sunday night, Sgt. Kevin Perlich said.

Sherin went missing after her father allegedly told her to stand by a tree near an alley outside their home in Richardson as punishment for not finishing her milk, Perlich was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle.

When her father went to check on Sherin roughly 15 minutes later, she was gone.

The father did not notify the police that his daughter was missing until about five hours later, police said, adding that the delay in reporting the matter "is certainly concerning to us."



"That does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child," Perlich said.

The girl has "developmental issues and has limited verbal communication skills, police said.

The father at one point told the investigators that coyotes have been seen in the alley, but investigators say there's no indication one may have dragged the girl away.

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The head of Iran's nuclear agency warned the United States today against undermining the 2015 nuclear deal, saying international nonproliferation efforts as well as Washington's international standing would suffer as a result.

Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told an international conference on enhancing nuclear safety that Washington's recent "delusionary negative postures do not augur well" for keeping the deal intact.

He said Iran didn't want to see the deal unravel but that "much more is at stake for the entire international community than the national interests of Iran."



US President Donald Trump is set to deliver a speech on Iran this week in which he is expected to decline to certify Iran's compliance in the landmark 2015 agreement, referring it to Congress, and perhaps targeting the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard with new sanctions.

Salehi praised the progress that had been made since the 2015 deal, saying nonproliferation and disarmament efforts had benefited worldwide. He called it "simply too precious to be allowed to be undermined or weakened."



"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the US in this tumultuous political environment," Salhehi warned.

He concluded that he hoped "common sense shall prevail."



The US administration has faced two 90-day certification deadlines to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanctions relief under the deal and has both times backed away from a showdown.

But Trump more recently has said he does not expect to certify Iran's compliance with the October deadline looming.

Yesterday, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, praised the 2015 deal as a "win-win" solution that was working.

"We settled a milestone for nonproliferation and we prevented a dangerous devastating military escalation," she told the conference via video message, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency had certified Iran's compliance with the deal, including via inspections, eight times since it was signed.

She warned that with rising nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, "We have an interest and a responsibility and a duty to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran" and strengthening, not weakening the nonproliferation regime.

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The Jammu and Kashmir Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes Development Corporation today reached out to the people of remote Gurez Valley to make them aware about various development schemes implemented by it.

A camp was organised in Gurez, one of the remotest areas of Kashmir Valley, for creating awareness among the masses about various schemes implemented by the corporation in collaboration with the state government and national bodies for socio-economic development of weaker sections of the society.

The corporation's vice-chairperson Balbir Ram Rattan and managing director R K Pandita attended the event.

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Deputy Speaker, Nazir Ahmad Khan, who is also the local MLA, appealed to the people to avail benefits of various schemes of the corporation.

He laid emphasis on the importance of these schemes in view of growing unemployment and lack of job opportunities.

R K Pandita highlighted various schemes run by the corporation for weaker sections of the society.

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Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today invited Czech Republic Parliaments Vice President Ivo Barik to visit Jharkhand, an official release said here.

He also conveyed good wishes to the people of Czech Republic on behalf of the people of Jharkhand while meeting Ivo Barik, the release said.

Das, before leaving for Tokyo from Prague, said the history of Czech Republic, parliamentary tradition and industrial progress have influenced the whole world, the release said quoting him.

He said that Jharkhand got assistance from Czech Republic for which the state is grateful.

Czech Republic was a partner country in the Momentum Jharkhand in February this year and India was a partner country in the Brno Engineering Show.

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Stepping up its offensive on Amit Shah over allegations that a firm owned by his son saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014, the Congress today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove him as BJP chief and order a probe by Supreme Court judges.

"A commission of two sitting Supreme Court judges should probe the allegations in connection with the firm of BJP president's son Amit Shah's son Jay," newly-appointed AICC general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Babaria said in a press conference here.

"These are testing times for PM Narendra Modi now. Will he choose party politics and friend or stand for truth and morality?," he asked.

Babaria said to clear the way for an impartial probe into the case, the prime minister should ask Amit Shah to resign immediately.

"In the interest of the country, an impartial probe into the allegations is necessary to ensure that the guilty is punished and the innocent don't become a part of the sin," he added.
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh launched a week-long 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' celebration in Jammu today, organised here as part of a national campaign to make people aware about the importance of the girl child.

The programme is Jammu has been themed 'The Daughters of New India'. Singh inaugurated the programme at the Government Post-Graduate College for Women in Gandhi Nagar.

The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign was launched by the Union government in January 2015 to address the issue of decline in child sex ratio. The obejective was to celebrate the girl child and enable her education.

"Aimed at ensuring that girls are nurtured and educated without discrimination, the scheme would immensely help in empowering women and make them self-reliant," Singh said.

Singh said the campaign's objective was also to bring an attitudinal change in the society towards the girl child.

The week-long programme in Jammu will end on October 14.

During his speech, Singh delved into the role of the media in making the programme a success. "Media is effectively instrumental in transforming the conventional mindset of people towards the changing needs and trends in the society as it has direct and strongest impact on our minds."



He called on parents to understand their role in ensuring that their girl child gets proper upbringing and education.

Minister of State for Education Priya Sethi and legislator Krishan Lal were present at the inauguration.

Sethi, lauding the role of the district administration, said programmes related to women run by the central and the state governments should be publicised so that their benefits reach the real beneficiaries.

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Jaguar Land Rover India today reported 45 per cent increase in sales for the first nine months of 2017 at 2,942 units.

The sales were driven uniformly by all model lines, including XE, XF, F-PACE, Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, which witnessed high demand during the period, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India said in a statement.

"The performance is a great testimony to our focus on building highly aspirational brands and world-class sales and after-sales infrastructure," JLR India President and Managing Director Rohit Suri said.

Stating that all the product lines of the company have been accepted extremely well in India, he said, "We are confident about carrying this momentum into 2018 as well."



In 2016, JLR India sold 2,500 units.

The Jaguar product range in India includes XE, XF, F- PACE, XJ and F-TYPE. On the other hand the Land Rover portfolio includes Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has said his government is keen to have dialogue with various insurgent groups in the state with involvement of the Centre to find a political solution and bring peace.

With over 30 different armed groups operating in the state, Singh told PTI that the idea would be to have talks under one umbrella and his party is willing to give up power if a long-lasting solution could be found.

"We want dialogue with those who have taken up arms... A peaceful solution is very much needed," he said.

Elaborating his thoughts on the matter, he said: "I'd like the involvement of the Centre and the prime minister for a joint appeal to the insurgent groups for talks. The state government will do all the necessary work on the ground to take it forward."



Singh further said the state government will initiate efforts for talks with the insurgent groups through civil society bodies and senior citizens groups in order to bring them to the negotiating table for a political solution.

"We have already initiated steps towards this direction," he added.

Asked if his party legislators will be ready to give up power, just as their counterparts in Nagaland had pledged in order to enable NSCN (IM) leadership to get into the political mainstream, Singh replied in the affirmative.

"We are ready. If they (insurgents) agree, we are willing to give up. Once the talks take place under an umbrella, whatever the development is, if this is going to bring peace to the state, I am wiling to give up power," he asserted.

Manipur has a long history of insurgency with banned outfits, including People's Liberation Army (PLA), People's Revolutionary



Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) active in the valley.

On the other hand, outfits such as Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), Kuki National Army (KNA), NSCN (K) and Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front (MNRF), among others, operate in the hills of the state.

The Centre had signed a Framework Agreement with NSCN(IM) in August 2015 to find a solution to the longest running insurgency in India, although it is yet to yield a final outcome.

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Lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.

In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister Sitharaman also said that the budgetary allocations should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is "absolutely necessary," the IAF said.

Inaugurating the three-day conference, she also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be "fully utilised" in achieving required capabilities of the forces.

"She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade," the IAF said in a statement.

Currently, the IAF has 33 fighter squadrons against the authorised strength of 42 squadrons. The IAF has been pressing the government to expedite acquisition of combat jets to overcome the shortage.

The IAF is likely to start the process later month to acquire a fleet of single engine fighter jets which are expected to significantly enhance its overall strike capability. It is also looking at procuring various other platforms and weapons systems.

The IAF commanders conference is taking place amid an evolving regional security scenario and growing assertiveness by China in some parts of the Sino-India border.

Last week, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said the IAF is capable of effectively countering any threat from China and Pakistan simultaneously in a two- front war.

Sitharaman said the IAF along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Ordnance Factory Board, a state-run defence equipment maker, should make an assessment about the possible areas of indigenisation under the 'Make-in-India' programme.

In his address, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's air power, and called for continuing the process to enhance capability of the force.

He also reiterated the IAF's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on the 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The IAF said the conference will deliberate on a raft of issues which will decide the future trajectory of the force.

It said deliberations will take place on operations and maintenance issues.

Various administrative initiatives were also expected to be taken at the conclave to enhance the working environment of the IAF.

In sync with the government's digital India initiative, two mobile applications for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones will also be released during the conference, the IAF said.

A book titled 'Aero India- Ascent through the ages' was also scheduled to be released during the conference.

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Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala of being "very soft on terrorism and its patrons" and said he has evidence to show that.

He said this while criticising the Pinarayi Vijayan led LDF government for stating in the Supreme Court that a controversial Muslim marriage case in the state did not warrant a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe.

"Is it fair and right for the Kerala government to move the Supreme Court to say that you don't allow NIA, we are doing our job."



"Is the Kerala Government doing its job?," Prasad asked at a press conference here.

His comments came days after the state government informed the Supreme Court that its police had conducted a "thorough investigation" into the conversion of a Hindu woman to Islam and her subsequent marriage to a Muslim man and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the NIA.

The top court had on August 16 directed the NIA to probe whether there was a wider pattern of alleged 'love jihad' in the case in which the Hindu woman converted to Islam and later married Shafin Jahan, the Kerala Muslim man.

Prasad, who was in Kerala to attend the Janaraksha Yatra organised by the state BJP against "jihadi terror and red terror," said that whenever he comes to the state, he hears stories and there is a widely held perception that many young boys and girls have eloped, misguided by radical elements.

He also expressed concern over a protest march of Muslim Ekopana Samithi to Kerala High Court on March 30 this year in protest against a judgement cancelling the marriage conducted by a qazi between a Muslim man and Hindu woman.

"Is it right to organise a dharna against a High Court judgement? What kind of culture is happening and what action was being taken by this government? As the Law Minister of India, I am concerned," he said.

On instances of youths being radicalised after conversion, he asked "Why is it happening? Is it happening in the air or there is certain rationale and fear and apprehension for that.

"That is question the government needs to answer. My charge is that the Kerala government is very soft on terrorism and their patrons," he said.

"I have got the evidence to show that," he said and cited an instance in Kerala in which the Chief Minister and senior CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly shared the dais with Abdul Nasar Madani, who was arrested in connection with Coimbatore bomb blast, during an election rally in 2009.

"How could the topmost leader of the CPI(M) share a dais with a person who was a principal conspirator in killing of 38 people?" Prasad asked.

The Minister said there has to be some consensus between the Centre and states on the issue of terrorism and national security.

Noting that India's fight against terrorism and radicalisation is being appreciated the world over, Prasad said.

"Therefore, purely for vote bank politics, if you seek to compromise on the issue of terrorism, that is a serious matter. Only in that larger light I sought to raise this question," he said.

Prasad said there were radical movements, seeking to radicalise younger minds in Kerala for extremist purposes.

"I would expect from the government that the wide held perception of apprehension must be dispelled by fair investigation," the minister said.

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The Leftists were "selectively killing" those who harboured a nationalist ideology in Kerala, Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey alleged today.

He said this while speaking at the "Jan Raksha Yatra" march of the BJP, taken out in protest against attacks on its workers in the southern state, ruled by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).

"These communist groups with a misguided political ideology are selectively killing those who have a nationalist ideology and who are working for the betterment of the country," Choubey said and added that the BJP-RSS workers would "put an end to the communist violence" in Kerala.

The march organised by the Delhi BJP started from Ambedkar Bhawan on Arambagh Road and concluded with a demonstration at the CPI(M) office on Bhai Veer Singh Marg here.

The "Jan Raksha Yatra" against political violence in the southern state was launched by BJP chief Amit Shah in Kannur in Kerala on October 3.

From the next day, the Delhi unit of the saffron party has been holding daily protests at the CPI(M) office here. Union ministers have taken part in the protests on all the days. The fortnight-long demonstration is scheduled to come to an end on October 16.

BJP national general secretary Anil Jain said "Leftist violence" would not be able to stop the saffron workers from achieving their nationalistic goals.

"This violent leftist ideology will disappear in the wave of nationalism and communist politics will come to an end in Kerala," he added.

Kerala has been witnessing a cycle of violence involving the workers of the CPI(M) and BJP-RSS, with killings and attacks reported from both sides.

The incidents of political violence have gone up since the LDF came to power in the southern state in May, 2016 with both sides blaming each other for the developments.

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A day after a section of sanitation workers of the EDMC threatened to go on an indefinite strike from October 11, the civic body today said the mayor met the union members and assured them that all their "legitimate demands would be met".

In the meeting the sanitation workers' demands, including timely payment of salaries, bonus, arrears, cashless card system, were discussed, East Delhi Mayor Neema Bhagat said.

At a press conference held at the East Delhi Municipal Corporation's headquarters, she said the cash-strapped EDMC has "assured them that all their legitimate demands would be met.

"Two safai karamchari unions had warned of going on indefinite strike from October 11," Bhagat said.

Standing Committee Chairman Pravesh Sharma, Leader of House Santosh Pal and Municipal Commissioner Ranveer Singh were also present at the press conference.

The mayor said all demands of the sanitation workers were agreed to and "one of the workers' unions has assured about not participating in the strike".

"Safai karancharis are the backbone of the EDMC and the corporation would make all possible efforts to fulfill their demands, including the one about issuing a cashless card," she was quoted a saying in a statement by the EMDC.

The mayor said the salary for September has been disbursed and it would be ensured that bonus is also released well before Diwali.

Bhagat said the EDMC has proposed to pay all arrears of the sanitation workers despite the poor financial condition of the civic body.

Commissioner Singh said all demands of the sanitation workers are "legitimate" and they have been assured that it would be met at the earliest.

He said EDMC is striving to improve its financial condition and a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and the Delhi government was held on the issue of implementation of recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission.

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The government on Monday opposed granting recognition to "living will" in cases of passive euthanasia, telling the Supreme Court that it could be misused and may not be viable as a public policy.

The Centre told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that a draft bill based on the guidelines for passive euthanasia made by the top court in the Aruna Shanbaug's case and recommendations of the Law Commission was under its consideration.

Passive euthanasia is a condition where there is a withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten the death of a terminally ill patient.

"We have been following the guidelines laid down by this court in Aruna Shanbaug's case and a medical board is the final authority to decide on passive euthanasia, not the living will created by a person," Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, said.

He said if "living will" is created by a person and is recognised, then there are possibilities of it being misused and this would not be viable as public policy.

"If a person is not of sound mind, then he is a not a competent person to make a living will and in that case, it is a medical board which will have to look into the affairs and not the individual. Safeguards have to be there and nothing more could be done," he said.

The ASG said the court can work out modalities about the safeguards as the living will to dilute the treatment could be misused.

The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, questioned whether any medical board is permanently constituted to take a call on passive euthanasia.

"No, the medical board is not permanently constituted and is set up on case-to-case basis," Narasimha said.

The bench then asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO 'Common Cause' which is seeking recognition to living will, whether an individual has a right to refuse medical treatment or can the State interfere to safeguard life.

Bhushan said various countries recognise living will made by persons. In India, where resources are so limited, it should be legally acceptable in order to avoid creating a hopeless situation for the middle-class, he said.

"Under Article 21 of Constitution, person has the right to die peacefully without any suffering and therefore he has right to create a living will that when he can't recover from illness, his life should not be prolonged," Bhushan said.

He said it is contradictory that the court allows passive euthanasia but does not recognise execution of the living will.

Justice Chandrachud then expressed concern over elderly people being treated as a burden by some people and said that safeguards need to be created to avoid misuse, if the living will is recognised.

Bhushan said that forcing prolonged medical treatment on someone who does not want it, amounts to assault and added that passive euthanasia in the Aruna Shanbaug's case was distinct from living wills.

The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.

The bench also asked senior advocate Arvind Datar to assist in the matter as senior lawyer and former Solicitor General T R Andhyarujina who was appointed as an amicus curiae in the case in 2016, had passed away.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed in 2005 by the NGO, which said when a medical expert opines that the person afflicted with a terminal disease has reached a point of no return, he should be given the right to refuse life support system.

In 2014, the apex court had referred the petition to a five-judge constitution bench which sought to recognise the execution of a 'living will' of persons suffering from chronic terminal diseases and likely to go into a permanent vegetative state.

On January, 15, 2016, the Centre had told the court about the 241st report of the Law Commission which stated that passive euthanasia should be allowed with certain safeguards and there was also a proposed law --Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill Patient (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill, 2006.

The government had said that its stand will also be based on 6.7 regulation of 2002 under Medical Council of India Act which says that practicing euthanasia shall constitute unethical conduct.

It had said that on specific occasions, the question of withdrawing supporting devices to sustain cardio-pulmonary function even after brain death, shall be decided only by a doctors' team and not merely by the treating physician alone.

The apex court had said its verdict of 2011 allowing passive euthanasia was delivered on a "wrong premise".

It had said that its earlier Constitution Bench verdict, which was wrongly relied in Aruna Shanbaug case, had held that the right to live with dignity will be inclusive of the right to die with dignity, but the judgement did not arrive at a conclusion on validity of euthanasia.
Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today announced teaming up with Moody's Analytics for a programme under which the PSU lender's staff will get training to bring efficiency in loan appraisal.

"The State Bank of India (SBI) and Moody's Analytics announced their collaboration to provide bank-wide credit certification to SBI's employees enabling them to source, appraise and monitor loans faster," SBI said in a statement.

SBI said this will enhance its market lending credit curriculum with the globally recognised expertise of Moody's Analytics.

Besides, the bank would be able to address Reserve Bank mandated programme of certifying financial institutions' staff with regard to their proficiency in credit management through an accredited institution.

"The collaboration with Moody's Analytics will help to enhance our employees ability to source, appraise and monitor loans," said Prashant Kumar, Deputy Managing Director & Chief Development Officer, SBI.

Kumar said it will also speed up the process in more efficient manner.

"This programme is directly aligned with bank's goals, and our employees look forward to obtaining a world-class certification from Moody's Analytics," he added.

Moody's Analytics Certificate in Commercial Credit (CICC) has been adapted to the domestic banking industry with the help of former SBI officials and leading industry experts.

Ari Lehavi, Executive Director at Moody's Analytics, said "We look forward to a long-lasting partnership with an organisation that shares our commitment to excellence in all aspects of credit lending and risk management."



It will enhance SBI employees' expertise in credit assessment, Lehavi said.

To set a common standard of proficiency among professionals in financial institutions, the RBI had issued guidelines in April this year mandating certifications for specialised banking functions.

The Reserve Bank has accredited Moody's Analytics certifications in the area of Credit Management.

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LuLu Group of Companies today donated Rs two crore to the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), which is scheduled to commence next year-end.

The LuLu Group, owned by NRI businessman Yusuff Ali M A, has forged its association with the KMB with a donation of Rs 50 lakh to the second edition of the Biennale in 2014.

Yusuff Ali, who hails from Nattika in Thrissur district and is the Chairman of Abu Dhabi-headquartered LuLu Group, had also donated Rs one crore in 2016 for the third edition of the mega art event.

LuLu Group Director Nishad M A and its Manager, V Peethambaran, presented the cheque for Rs 2 crore to Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) President Bose Krishnamachari at an event held at Ernakulam Press Club.

Also present on the occasion were Lulu Group's Commercial Manager Sadik Kassim and Media Co-ordinator N B Swaraj and KBF Secretary Riyas Komu.

In his message, Yusuff Ali said, "I appeal that everyone should help, support and promote this international event that is happening in our state and bringing so many visitors and accolades for Kerala and for our country."



Lauding the contribution of the Lulu Group, Krishnamachari said it would definitely give an impetus to the sustainability of India's only Biennale that has garnered acclaim from art connoisseurs and commoners alike.

"It is also a testament to the KBF's expertise to hold a front-ranking contemporary art exhibition that has brought huge social and economic benefits for the state," he added.

Komu, who co-founded the KBF with Krishnamachari and also co-curated the first edition of the Biennale with him, said financial support from the government, industry and people is a prerequisite for holding an event of the magnitude of a Biennale.

The KBF tremendously appreciates the gesture of Yusuff Ali, who has emerged as a stellar figure for promoting and patronising art and culture, he said.

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Maharashtra Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam today said he would request Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban the sale of fire crackers in the state, on the lines of the Supreme Court's verdict for the Delhi-NCR region.

"Yesterday, the Supreme Court gave its decision that there should not be fire crackers shops in residential areas. Keeping peoples' health in mind, and there should be no pollution and for this, everybody should take care," Kadam told reporters here.

"I will request the Chief Minister and see if something similar could be done here as fire crackers cause pollution, human beings and animals get affected and even shops at times catch fire," he added.

Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, however, said the livelihood of scores of Marathi youth depends on the firecracker business and demanded the government refrain from imposing any ban.

"What great work are you doing by snatching the livelihood when you cannot give them employment. Firecrackers are burst in 199 countries around the world," he claimed.

"Then why are you dousing the kitchen fire of the poor," he went on. "Ban on firecrackers is not a solution to stop environment pollution."



"River Ganges did not get polluted because of firecrackers. This business gives thousands of people their source of employment. Scores of Marathi youth earn an livelihood by putting up firecracker stalls. Shiv Sena gave them space to put up stalls," Raut added.

Voicing his strong protest against the firecracker ban, MNS president Raj Thackeray sarcastically asked whether people should burst them on WhatsApp.

"People should celebrate Diwali festival as they have been doing so all these years. Why is there ban imposed on celebrating Hindu festivals only?"



The Supreme Court had yesterday said that its order of last November banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi- National Capital Region (NCR) would continue till October 31 -- Diwali falls on October 19 -- in an effort to check pollution during the festival of lights.

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The Supreme Court today fixed October 31 for the final hearing of a plea challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

A bench comprising Justices R K Agarwal and S Abdul Nazeer listed the matter for final hearing after counsel for Thakur submitted that she would not like to file any documents with regard to the case.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) had filed its reply in the case saying there was no evidence against Thakur.

Petitioner Nisar Ahmed Haji Sayed Bilal, father of one of the blast victims, has alleged in his plea that Thakur was a "powerful person" and could influence witnesses in the case.

He has sought a stay on the high court's April 25 order granting bail to her. The high court had granted her bail, saying there was "no prima facie evidence against her".

"The high court failed to appreciate that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is an influential person and is likely to wield her power and influence in an illegal and unlawful manner to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses," Bilal has said.

He has claimed that there was ample evidence against her and "her role, involvement and complicity in planning and executing the conspiracy for committing Malegaon blast is writ large on the case record".

It has said that she had been denied bail by a special court in Mumbai several times in the years 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 on the ground that "a prima facie case is clearly made out against her".

Thakur was granted bail by the high court, which, however, had refused similar relief to Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, a co-accused in the case. The apex court had earlier this year granted bail to Purohit with certain conditions.

Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008, at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in Nasik district of north Maharashtra.

A special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court had earlier ruled that the Anti-Terrorist Squad had wrongly applied the MCOCA against Thakur, Purohit and nine others.

The 4,000-page charge sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected as the blast target because of a sizeable Muslim population there. It had named Thakur, Purohit and co-accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey as the key conspirators.

The charge sheet had alleged it was Pandey who had instructed Purohit to arrange explosive RDX, while Thakur owned the motorcycle which was used in the blast.

Ajay Rahirkar, another accused, allegedly organised funds for the terror act, while conspiracy meetings were held at Bhonsala Military School in Nasik, it had said.

Rakesh Dhawde, Ramesh Upadhyay, Shyamlal Sahu, Shivnarain Kalsangra, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Jagdish Mhatre and Sameer Kulkarni were the other accused.

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An Indian national, who crossed over to Pakistan in 1990, has been detained here for illegally crossing back to India, the police said today.

Hasan Khan crossed over to Pakistan in 1990 from Jaisalmer and stayed in Umerkot with his sister and brother- in-law.

In April this year, he entered India and started living in his village Siyalo Ki Dhani in Jaisalmer.

Following a tip off, a team of CID of the state police caught him yesterday.

The accused, who is an Indian citizen, is under detention and being jointly interrogated by intelligence agencies, Additional SP CID (Jaisalmer) Rajeev Dutta said.

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A man from neighbouring Maharashtra was held with ganja worth Rs 11.50 lakh, police said today.

The accused Subhash Chavan, along with two others, was transporting the ganja from Andhra Pradesh to Maharashtra yesterday, a senior police official said.

Acting on a tip-off, the Hanamkonda police apprehended Chavan, while the two others managed to escape from the spot, he said.

Police said a case has been registered and a probe was on.

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Police have busted a flesh trade racket being operated from a massage parlour in Tukoganj area and rescued 21 women, including a foreign national.

Police raided the spa cum massage centre last night on a tip-off and arrested 45 people, including its owner and nine employees, a senior police official told reporters today.

"The total of 14 customers and 21 women were found engaged in unlawful acts during the raid," Crime Branch's Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Amrendra Singh said.

He said the spa owner, identified as Ganesh Rathore, has been running the prostitution racket under the guise of the massage parlour since the last two years.

Rathore used to engage girls on the contract basis for the flesh trade.

Singh said a 20-year-old woman rescued after the raid claimed that she was a citizen of Thailand. Police are verifying her claims.

The officer said two of the rescued women hail from West Bengal and Manipur, respectively.

The ASP said an amount of Rs 3.18 lakh was recovered from the accused and further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police (East Zone) Avdesh Goswami today suspended four personnel of Tukoganj Police Station, including an assistant sub inspector (ASI), for negligence of duty.

Goswami said a department inquiry would be conducted against the four police personnel.

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Global payments solution major Mastercard today said it has launched its first technology lab in the country that will help India move towards digital economy and financial inclusion.

Mastercard Labs in Pune reinforces the commitment of the company to help India move towards its digital journey, it said, adding it will bring new commerce, payment and technology "ideas to life with greater speed than ever before".

This lab will be Mastercard's ninth such establishment in the world and the second in Asia Pacific after Singapore.

Mastercard will engage with financial institutions, merchant partners and fintech companies to identify and experiment in digital payments, data solutions, financial inclusion, alternative payments as well as cyber security.

The lab will also support and work with startups developing next generation, breakthrough commerce solutions through Mastercard's Start Path programme.

"Learning, innovation, and collaboration cannot exist in isolation. The launch of the first Mastercard Labs in India is evidence of our commitment to designing solutions that drive commerce and create more inclusive societies around the world, said Ken Moore, Executive Vice President, Mastercard Labs.

This will help improve lives of common Indian and help them move towards a world beyond cash, Moore added.

The lab with incubation, proof of concept, pilot and commercialisation facilities will help deliver additional value to consumers and businesses of India, the company said.

"By establishing the new lab in Pune, we are looking to deepen our active collaborations with governments, issuers and businesses in India and revolutionise the market's digital payments ecosystem to drive greater acceptance and adoption of electronic payments, not just in India but around the world," said Tobias Puehse, Vice President, Mastercard Labs, Asia Pacific.

The launch of the technology lab in India is part of Mastercard's several broad based collaborations in India and Asia Pacific.

Earlier this year, Mastercard co-innovated with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and other payments brands to develop Bharat QR.

The QR (quick response) code is the world's first interoperable data acceptance solution that streamlines local electronic payments infrastructure.

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced today that he would visit India and Pakistan this year to promote the British capital as a destination of choice for trade and cultural ties.

Khan, whose grandparents were born in India and parents migrated from Pakistan to the UK, said he was "very excited" to become the first senior British politician in recent times to visit both the countries at the same time during the six- day, six-city tour planned before the end of this year.

"As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent," said Khan.

"What excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners. Benefits in terms of business and trade, jobs and investment, and in terms of cultural and technological exchange," he said.

While the complete itinerary of the visit is still being finalised, the mayor and his team will cover Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar as part of the India leg of the tour and Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.

The mayor described the visit as an "important mission" as there are many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan, in business as well as tackling some of the "biggest challenges" such as air pollution and climate change on a city-to-city basis.

"In London we are a beacon of tolerance, respect and diversity, which I will try my best to demonstrate," he said, when asked if he would intervene on the issue of tensions between India and Pakistan.

On Brexit, the senior Labour Party politician said that just because the UK has voted to leave the 28-member European Union (EU) does not mean that London is closed to talent from around the world.

"I am passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world. While the government cannot engage in trade talks until Brexit negotiations are ongoing, there is no reason why we can't work on closer relations with the rest of the world," he said.

Highlighting that India remains the third-largest international student market in London, Khan said that he is keen to give "confidence" to Indians that the city remains open to their talent.

"World leaders like (Mahatma) Gandhi, (Jawaharlal) Nehru, (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah and (Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto have all studied in the UK.

"My message will be that the underlying reasons have not changed and that I will continue to lobby the government on getting a good deal for London," he said, pointing out that the capital had not witnessed any lack of investment from India and Pakistan since the Brexit vote last year.

During the visit to the subcontinent, the mayor will meet senior politicians, business leaders and city chiefs and will be accompanied by his Indian-origin deputy mayor for business Rajesh Agrawal.

With his "London is Open" campaign at the heart of the visit, the delegation will also be promoting the city as a great location for Bollywood films.

"Meetings with a Bollywood star or two are planned. It pains me to see a film shot somewhere in Europe because I want them all to be shot in London. I am very competitive that way and competition is a good thing," Khan said.

According to official figures, London is strengthening its dominance as the leading destination for Indian investment in the UK as 44 per cent of the fastest-growing Indian companies are now based in London an increase from 39 per cent last year and 25 per cent in 2015.

Of these, tech is the top sector for Indian investment, accounting for 46 per cent of all Indian investment.

A delegation of business leaders taking part in the Mayor's International Business Programme will also meet up with Khan in Mumbai before the members move onto cover Hyderabad and Bangalore under Agrawal's leadership.

Besides business ties, security issues around counter- terrorism will also be touched upon but Khan stressed that he did not want the relationship between London and India and Pakistan be seen through the "prism of security" as he was keen to promote his first visit to the subcontinent as London mayor as a positive one.

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French tyre major Michelin today inaugurated a new production line that would take the company to double it's plant capacity, a top official said today.

The company which had set up it's facility at Thervoy Kandigai in Thiruvallur district near Chennai had invested about Rs 3,500 crore.

"We have inaugurated a new production line today. New tyres of Michelin will be produced that will help truck companies to save lot of fuel and energy.....", Michelin Group, Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Dominique Senard, told reporters at the factory.

The new production would serve the increase in demand for both replacement market and original equipment manufacturers in the country.

According to him, with the introduction of new production line, the total capacity of the factory will double by end of next year.

The Chennai plant is producing around 15,000 tonnes a year, it will be more than doubled by end of 2018, he said.

France Ambassador to India, Alexandre Ziegler who inaugurated the new production line, said, "I am delighted to be here with Senard, at a time when the company is expanding it's presence in the Indian market".

"This is another successful example of how our French companies actively contribute to make in India and innovate in India", he said.

The Michelin X-Guard range of trucks would come factory fitted with heavy commercial vehicle Ashok Leyland Captain 3718 PLUS long and medium distance commercial vehicles.

"We are pleased to partner Michelin for our latest range of 37tonne trucks. The radial tyres provide tremendous fuel efficiency, helping us offer a differentiated product in this segment", Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod K Dasari said.

Responding to a query, Michelin India, Executive Vice-President, Member of Board, Mohan Kumar, said the company by end of next year would produce 30,000 tonne tyres for commercial vehicle segment.

"70 per cent of produced here serves the Indian market. When we double the plant capacity by end of next year we will have a whole range of tyres", he said.

Declining to reveal additional investments made for expanding the production, he said the company had invested Rs 3,500 crore so far at the plant.

With the addition of new production line, the company would also expand the employee base by 150 from the current 850, he said.

To a query on retail outlets, Kumar said the compan has about 5,000 outlets across the country and the company would also take digital route for marketing purposes.

The company is present in over 170 countries and employs 1.11 lakh people at 70 plants across 18 countries.

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The accelerating consolidation in the telecom industry will benefit top operators but pose some "risk" to tower companies given the tenancy, according to a latest CLSA report.

Consolidation in India mobile is set to accelerate and this bodes well for top operators, presenting them with an opportunity to outpace the sector growth and improve share and profitability, it said.

Besides the ongoing Vodafone-Idea Cellular mega merger, it took note of the smaller exits in the sector.

"The scaling down/exit of business by smaller mobile operators will place in aggregate about 20 per cent of industry cell sites at risk," CLSA said in the report on telecom sector outlook.

Among the tower companies, GTL Infrastructure, ATC India and Reliance Infratel "will be most impacted as over 85 per cent of sites at risk are on their towers", the CLSA report claimed.

It further estimated that about 5 per cent of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers' tenancies "could be at risk".

Reliance Communications, which is reeling under a debt burden of about Rs 46,000 crore, recently called off merger talks with Aircel, citing "legal and regulatory" delays.

The two had signed binding agreements in September 2016 for the merger of their mobile business.

RCom's Rs 11,000 crore tower deal with Brookfield is also being reworked following termination of wireless merger talks with Aircel.

On the other hand, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran told CNBC TV18 in a recent interview that he will take a "tough call" on Tata Teleservices this fiscal.

Tata Teleservices is burdened by Rs 31,000 crore debt in addition to spectrum liability and incurring cash losses on a month-on-month basis.

On similar lines, Goldman Sachs - citing recent reports on Tata Teleservices - said any move to shut down services could mean an immediate reallocation of its current 5 per cent revenue marketshare among top operators.

Noting that both Bharti and Jio have been "fairly aggressive" in subscriber acquisition recently, Goldman Sachs said the duo will continue to benefit from consolidation at the tail end of the market.

The report further said that despite valuable spectrum held by the Tata Group company, there may be a few takers for the radiowaves. This is because all incumbent telcos have enough spectrum to take care of their data demand needs for next 3-5 years, it reasoned.

"...given high debt levels in the sector, telcos may choose not to acquire any new spectrum in near future," the report said but did not completely rule out the possibility of Bharti and Jio selectively acquiring spectrum in a few circles.

At the last auction determined prices, Tata's spectrum is worth USD 2.4 billion, estimated the Goldman Sachs report.

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Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh today invited Delhiites to come down to the state to celebrate Diwali, a day after the Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR till November 1.

"If the people of Delhi contact us over phone or through letters, we will make arrangements for them to celebrate (burst crackers) our important festival Diwali in Bhopal," he told reporters here.

"Indore is the cleanest city and Bhopal the second cleanest in the country," Singh said, while highlighting the achievements of the Madhya Pradesh on the environmental front.

Asked about the growing concern over noise pollution in the country and his invitation to Delhiites to burst crackers in the state, the BJP leader said the environment of Madhya Pradesh, under the leadership of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was very good and described the state as an island of peace, where the safety and security aspects were "superb".

Bursting crackers one day would not cause damage to the state's environment, he added.

Stating that Diwali was linked to religion and culture, the home minister said, "We talk and dream of Ram Raj. What point will it make if we are not able to celebrate Diwali, the celebrations that mark the homecoming of Lord Rama from a 14- year exile."



Asked to comment on the apex court's ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, he said it was imposed keeping in view the environmental scenario of that region.

"The Delhi government should work hard to improve the environment which has primarily been polluted by vehicles," Singh said.

Asked if the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government had failed on the environmental front, he said the pollution levels of the national capital suggested so.

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A new born baby boy was found dead with his throat slit behind a building in Pisawali village in Kalyan division of the district, police said today.

On receiving information yesterday of the body of a baby lying near the building they went to the spot and found that the throat of the new born was slit with a sharp weapon and the body was packed in a blue coloured bag, said police.

Thane police have today registered an offence of murder and destruction of evidence.

Manpada police have launched a manhunt to nab the culprits, police said.

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Four Dutch parties today officially sealed a coalition pact after a record 209 days of negotiations, unveiling their plan to govern the Netherlands for the coming years.

The accord was approved by the parties' membership late yesterday, and following last-minute tweaks early today was finally presented to the lowlands country -- seven months after the March 15 elections.

"Today is a special moment," said speaker of the House, Khadija Arib.

"The official final report of the government agreement has been handed over to the lower house of parliament," she told reporters.

The deal sees outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's business-friendly liberal VVD party once again take a leading role in running one of the EU's top economies.

Rutte hailed the new government's agenda, entitled "Trust in the Future", as an "ambitious and balanced" programme.

The VVD will govern in alliance with the progressive D66 as well as two Christian parties, the pragmatic CDA and the more conservative Christian Union.

The negotiations have beaten by one day the previous 208 -day record, set in 1977, for the longest coalition talks, exposing the wide differences between the four parties.

The new coalition will also only have a total of 76 MPs in the 150-seat lower house of parliament -- just a slim one- seat majority.

Analysts have already warned it could prove an uneasy and fragile marriage, even in a country used to governing by consensus.

"It was the longest negotiation in history," said mediator Gerrit Zalm, the third person to take up the task of steering the negotiations since the fractured outcome of the polls.

"It was necessary to negotiate between four parties who all have slightly different convictions and political colours," he added.

Rutte's party won 33 seats in the March 15 elections, but vowed not to work with the anti-Islam far-right Freedom Party of Geert Wilders which boosted its standing to come in second with 20 deputies.

Both the D66 and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) won 19 seats, but they and the VVD needed to bring on board the more conservative CU with its five seats to win a parliamentary majority.

Rutte is expected to stay on as prime minister at the helm of his third Dutch government. But the other cabinet posts are not likely to be unveiled until about October 23, the public broadcaster NOS said.

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The National Investigation Agency has arrested a man wanted in the 2013 Kannur terror module case, an official statement said today.

Azharudheen alias Azhar, a resident of Kannur district in Kerala, was arrested yesterday. The Kerala Police had booked 24 youths allegedly belonging to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) for organising a terror camp in Kannur in 2013, the NIA said in the statement.

It is alleged that the accused entered into criminal conspiracy to impart training to youths by using explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities and commit acts endangering the unity and integrity of the nation, the agency said.

On January 20 last, the Special Court for NIA cases, Ernakulam, had completed the trial against 22 accused in the case and pronounced 21 out of them guilty of various offences, including those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

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Nigeria has begun its first major trials of Boko Haram suspects, with a promise to "prosecute and not to persecute" defendants at the closed-door hearings, the justice ministry said.

A court at a military base in Kainji, in the central state of Niger, was told yesterday that 1,669 suspects were awaiting trial at the facility. Of those, 1,631 were men, 11 were women, with 26 boys and one girl.

All of the defendants have been arrested and detained since the start of Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in 2009, which has left at least 20,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million others from their homes.

The media has been barred from covering the cases on security grounds. Justice ministry spokesman Salihu Othman Isah said the cases would be heard at four courts at the Kainji facility.

The ministry has said 651 others held at the Giwa barracks in the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, Maiduguri, would then be tried.

Isah said in a statement that Judge Binta Nyako began proceedings at 1:35 pm (1235 GMT) after touring the courts with three other judges, state prosecutors and Legal Aid Council defence lawyers.

"We are here to ensure that nobody is persecuted. We are here for prosecution and so we have come with open minds," she was quoted as saying.

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Former Indian Coast Guard chief Prabhakaran Paleri today ruled out any terror threat to the shores of Goa.

He however stressed for pre-emptive measures to prevent any kind of terror activity.

Paleri is in the state for the three day conclave organised by Forum for Integrated National Security in south Goa starting from October 12.

"There is no threat to security in Goa. Generally speaking if there is a good gun control...we have to prevent and preempt terrorism," Paleri said, adding, his views about no security threat to Goa were "purely based on his personal research."



Responding to another question whether off shore casinos can be a security threat to the state, he replied in negative.

"I don't think there is anything to worry in Goa. It is not identical to Las Vegas where some suicides have taken place due to this reason. It is a different culture in Goa," he said.

The former ICG chief said casinos are localised as their culturehas not spread to other states in India.

Talking about the upcoming conclave he said several union ministers, experts and scholars will be participating in the three day long event.

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Oil cartel OPEC is courting US shale oil producers and other crude-producing nations to join the "noble" initiative of curtailing global supply to bring stability to the market, its Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said today.

"When we brought together 24 producing countries in December of last year for declaration of cooperation, we made it very clear that it was still open to other producers who might want to join in this voluntary noble initiative to restore stability to the market," he told reporters here.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, he said, are leading the initiative to bring in more producers. "It is still work in progress," he added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is trying to reinstate its dominance in the oil industry by trying to maintain crude prices at a sustainable level. Oil prices have crashed to USD 50s now, from the high of USD 147 per barrel in 2008.

Last year, the bloc and some others producers decided to reduce production by around 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1, 2017. But US production has soared by almost 10 per cent this year, driven largely by shale drillers.

"I would like to invite prospective candidates, producers to join this global effort in order not only to restore the stability that had eluded this market for three years, but how to sustain it going forward. The more, the better for the industry as well as global economy," he said.

The OPEC had earlier this year reached out to the independent shale oil producers in the US.

"We had our exploratory meetings to explore areas of common interest. We were both pleasantly surprised with the outcome and the call by independents themselves that we need to continue this interaction and we are looking forward to reconvening these meetings with them shortly," he said.

Barkindo further said the shale producers in North America have been urged to "take this shared responsibility with all seriousness it deserves, as one of the key lessons learnt from the current unique supply-driven cycle".

Declining to say what price of oil would the OPEC consider as an equilibrium price that restores market stability, he quipped that equilibrium is a function of supply and demand.

"And once we are able to restore the balance, that equilibrium price will materialise and that will be of the best interest of the global economy," he said. "We will achieve this as soon as supply and demand are restored to balance."



The OPEC is trying to address "one variable that has been out of work since 2014", he said. "To balance the equation, you need this variable to come back to normalcy. That variable remains stocks overhang."



In the last 3-4 months, very massive de-stocking is going on, he said. "The market structure has switched to backward making it uneconomic to continue to keep storage. We are satisfied with the pace and level of the rebalancing process," he added.

Barkindo had on Sunday stated that the OPEC and other oil producers might need to take "some extraordinary measures" next year to rebalance the oil market.

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Procter & Gamble claimed victory today in a closely-watched proxy battle over the future of the consumer products giant, but its activist-fund rival refused to concede defeat.

P&G chief executive David Taylor announced at the annual meeting that preliminary results showed the company's entire slate of candidates to the board of directors had been elected, meaning that shareholders rejected Nelson Peltz, head of Trian Fund Management.

The outcome is "considered preliminary until final results are tabulated and certified by the independent Inspector of Elections," P&G said.

P&G, which makes Old Spice deodorant and Pampers diapers, is the largest company by market capitalization to face a proxy battle.

Taylor, speaking at a conference after the vote, said he was "certainly happy" with the outcome and pledged to continue to work with Peltz, whose firm holds 1.5 per cent of P&G shares.

"It's a proxy contest about ideas. I told Nelson we would continue to listen to him," Taylor said. "We are open to ideas wherever they come from."



But Trian, citing the closeness of the vote, did not concede defeat.

"According to our proxy solicitors, today's vote is too close to call and it will take more time to determine the outcome," Trian said. "We await the certified election results by the independent inspector of election."



Peltz, addressing the annual meeting before the tally was announced, implored management to chart a course of "bold change" no matter the outcome. He said a "suffocating bureaucracy" was hindering results.

During the months-long contest, Peltz had argued that P&G was too insular and needed an outside voice on its board to rouse innovation and open its eyes to opportunities in a fast-changing retail environment.

Peltz pointed to sluggish sales and the declining market share of many key products.

But P&G defended its record, citing some improving sales data and describing Peltz's efforts as a threat to ongoing improvements. The company has sold secondary brands and invested heavily in marketing around social media and other types of ascendant advertising.

Taylor and others also questioned Peltz's knowledge of P&G's product categories and his long-term commitment to the company.

But Peltz' arguments clearly resonated with some shareholders, who expressed disappointment at the company's sluggish pace of introducing new products and were critical of overall performance.

Another investor expressed irritation at receiving myriad phone calls and mail solicitations about the proxy vote itself. The two sides estimated they together spent USD 65 million on the campaign.

Taylor conceded some missteps, as with the company's failure to more quickly read a shift in the Chinese market to more premium products, such as diapers. But he said the company was on the right track.

"There is clear evidence we're making progress," Taylor said. "I share the sentiment that we have to do more to move faster."



Taylor also defended the communications with shareholders, saying the intent was to "make sure you were informed, understood our point of view."



Shares in P&G fell 1.5 per cent to USD 90.74 in mid- morning trading.

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Pakistan Army today handed over an Indian woman, who had inadvertently crossed into the country through the Line of Control, to the Indian security forces.

The Army, in a statement, said the woman was handed over to the Indian security forces in Kashmir in a goodwill gesture and in continuation of its efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LoC.

The woman, Azmat Jan, who hails from Kashmir inadvertently crossed over the LoC at Chirikot Sector, the Army said.

However, it was not clear when she crossed the border.

She has been returned to Kashmir at Rawala-Poonch crossing point on humanitarian grounds, it said.

Civil and military officials of both the sides were present on the occasion, the statement said.

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Pakistan is ready for a joint operation with the US to destroy the Haqqani Network if it provides evidence about the presence of safe havens of the dreaded terror outfit in the country, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said.

His remarks came after US President Donald Trump, in August, had accused Pakistan of harbouring "agents of chaos and terror" and the "very enemy US forces have fighting in Afghanistan" for the past 17 years.

Asif, who recently visited Washington and met senior Trump administration officials, told Express News, "We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani network's safe havens in the country.

"If they find any activity [of Haqqanis] in the targeted areas, our troops, along with the US, would destroy them once and for all."



The Haqqani network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan, including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people.

The foreign minister also said that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month.

Pakistan's offer is a major concession to Washington, as so far it has resisted US boots on its soil, and it comes ahead of the expected visits of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis to Islamabad in the coming weeks.

Referring to criticism from the United States to rein in terror group, Asif said, "If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side".

He further said that if US secretary of state and secretary of defence were coming to dictate us, "we will refuse to accept their (diktats) dictates...and now, we will do what is in the best interest of our country.

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Pakistan has asked the members of the Quadrilateral Cooperation Group on Afghanistan to meet next week in Oman and resume talks to bring peace in the war- torn country.

Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan are members of the Quadrilateral Cooperation Group (QCG), which first met in January 2016.

Pakistan has asked the group members to meet in Muscat, Oman's capital, on October 16 as part of its effort to restart the quadrilateral peace process for ending the Afghan war, Dawn reported.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, who recently visited the US, told the VOA Urdu in Washington that his country would play a leading role in this quadrilateral session, aimed at bringing the Afghan Taliban to the negotiation table.

So far, five sessions of the QCG have been held, with the last being held in May 2016 in Murree, Pakistan.

The peace efforts has been plagued by problems from the beginning. First, the Taliban refused to join it demanding the same status as that of the Afghanistan government. When they were persuaded to attend the meet, relations between Kabul and Islamabad became strained.

The international community also welcomed the quadrilateral talks as the four countries are seen as crucial for ensuring the success of any peace talks on Afghanistan.

China's participation in the talks was particularly encouraging as both Pakistan and Afghanistan set aside their acrimony to welcome China.

Pakistan hoped that China's involvement would answer its main concern, India's growing influence in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan government hoped that China's clout with Pakistan could have help persuade Islamabad to improve its ties with Kabul.

But, during the fifth session, some officials in Kabul leaked to the media saying that the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died in Karachi in 2013 but Pakistan was hiding this because it feared losing its influence on the terror group.

The revelation derailed the talks as officials from each of the four governments opted to return to their capitals for consultations.

In May 2016, Mullah Omar's successor, Mullah Mansour was also killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, which further delayed the peace process.

Since then, Pakistan has made several attempts to restart the talks but none of the four parties seemed very keen on returning to negotiation table, the report said.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban increased their attacks on both the US and Afghan government targets. And in the United States, the new Trump administration concluded that the best way is to force the Taliban to talk.

At a recent briefing in Washington, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert expressed doubts about the success of these peace efforts when she questioned the efficacy of the Taliban's non-official diplomatic post in Qatar.

"We have been now in that war for 16 years" but "they have not been able to come to any kind of peace and reconciliation, so just by having folks sit around in Qatar, in probably a pretty cushy life there, has not demonstrated, has not brought to the table any kind of significant peace efforts," she said.

And during his three-day visit to Washington last week, the Pakistani foreign minister acknowledged that Pakistan too was losing its influence on the Taliban.

"At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is mistrust," Asif said, adding that he believes Russia "today has more influence on the Taliban than Pakistan does".

Despite these concerns, all four members of this group want some peace in Afghanistan and are likely to participate in the Muscat meeting, the report said.

But instead of sending their senior officials, as they did in the last five meetings, they are likely to send mid- level officials to prepare for future talks, it added.

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The Delhi Assembly today passed a resolution to form a nine-member committee to look into the "rationale" behind the metro fare hike as well as the financial health of the DMRC.

The resolution was passed by a voice vote following a discussion on a calling attention motion on metro fare hike vociferously opposed by the ruling AAP MLAs.

The motion for constitution of the committee was moved by AAP legislator Somnath Bharti. The members of the committee will be nominated by the Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

"This House agrees to constitute a nine-member committee to be nominated by the speaker to look into the rationale behind the hike in tariff by the DMRC, financial health of the DMRC and other related issues.

"The speaker shall also determine the specific terms and conditions for the committee," the resolution stated.

During the discussion, opposition BJP-SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa termed the fare hike as "sad" and charged the Delhi government of not taking any step in time to prevent it.

In his reply on the discussion, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot alleged that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Board meeting yesterday took the decision to implement the fare hike in "undemocratic manner" where the voice of the elected Delhi government was "sidelined".

His colleague and Urban Development Minister Satyender Jain said the ridership in metro will come down significantly due to fare hike.

"Based on facts, I can say that the ridership in Metro will come down due to the fare hike. There is conspiracy to increase (traffic) congestion in Delhi," Jain told the House.

The ruling AAP and Opposition BJP also accused one another for the fare hike saying that it was aimed at providing benefit to private cab aggregators.

"If the fares of Ola, Uber (cab aggregators) will be lesser, people will not use Metro," Gahlot said.

The fare hike that came into effect today increased ticket prices to Rs 10 for all travels beyond 5 km.

The hike which comes barely five months within the last one, will affect every commuter who travels beyond 5 km. The maximum fare, for journeys beyond 32 km, will now be Rs 60.

The hike opposed by the AAP government in Delhi was finalised by the DMRC Board in its meeting yesterday late evening.

The Board refused to "interfere" in the matter, saying it has no power to change the recommendations of the fare fixation committee (FCC), which had proposed the hike.
Director Patty Jenkins has praised actor Chris Pine for the skill and brilliance he brought along when he played Wonder Woman's love interest, Steve Trevor in the DC film.

The 46-year-old filmmaker retweeted a video message from the official "Wonder Woman" UK timeline, which showed snippets of the actor's performance from the blockbuster film.

Jenkins wrote back saying, "Chris' skill, talent and generosity blew me away, every day. Making that kind of performance look easy is epic bada**. He's a beast."



According to Contactmusic, the actor-director will collaborate again - this time on an upcoming drama series "One Day She'll Darken".

The show will see Pine in the lead, playing a former marine named Jay Singletary.

Jenkins has been roped in to direct the pilot episode and executive produce the entire series.

While "Wonder Woman 2" is slated to release in December 2019.

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A Kenyan police official says gunmen have killed two employees of a technical university in Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack.

The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for fresh presidential elections later this month.

Larry Kieng, the region's police chief, said Tuesday the gunmen suspected to be al-Shabab rebels from neighboring Somalia sprayed a vehicle carrying university staff and police with bullets near the campus.

The attack recalled the April 2, 2015 attack Garissa University in eastern Kenyan in which four gunmen killed 148 people, most of them students.

Somalia's al-Shabab militia has been carrying out attacks on Kenya saying they are retribution for Kenyan troops deployed in Somalia to fight the rebels.

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Police today foiled anattempt by the activists of various Hindu outfits to wave black flags at national award-winning actor Prakash Raj when he arrived at Udupi in the neighbouring district to receive an award.

Members of Hindu Jagarana Vedike, Jai Bhargava Balaga and other outfits were planning to wave black flags when Prakash Raj was proceeding to the venue, in protest against his recent critical remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence over the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Udupi district police had deployed hundreds of police personnel on the way to the venue of the function.

The protesters were detained and removed before they could reach the venue, police sources said.

The Shivarama Karanth Huttura Prashasti award was conferred on Raj by the Kotatattu grama panchayat in the district.

Earlier, talking to reporters at the airport here, Raj said he was not afraid of protests over his comments. Everybody has the right to protest, he said.

Raj said he was proud to receive an award named after Jnanpith award-winning litterateur Shivaram Karanth.

His remarks against Modi had angered Sangh Parivar outfits and BJP leaders had decided to keep away from the function. They also took a campaign asking Kotatattu Gram panchayath not to present him the award.

The gram panchayat, however, decided to go ahead with the programme as per schedule.

The panchayat had been conferring the award to personalities from various fieldsfor the last 12 years.

The award is presented on Shivarama Karanths birth anniversary on October 10 every year.

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He was one of the most "awaited" persons in several homes, until a decade ago.

Stuffing letters, greeting cards and other parcels in his tiny sack bag, he used to pedal his bicycle for kilometres braving rain and scorching heat to distribute them.

In remote villages, he was the only link to get connected to the outside world.

But, when handwritten letters and greeting cards gave way to e-mail and e-cards and mobile phones and faxes became the major tools of communication, Ferdinand Perera has become one among hundreds of postmen in Kerala who have started facing an 'existential crisis'.

As the country observes National Post Day today, Perera, who works with a post office in the state capital, said the perception of the society towards postman has changed a lot in the last decade and he has become just a "carrier" of some printed bundles now.

The 55-year-old postman said the arrival of new end communication tools has taken the sheen out of a postman's life who was once considered as an integral part of the society.

"Like in the past, me and my colleagues are delivering mail at the doorstep of people now also...But, the job has lost its soul and old charm.. A kind of existential crisis haunts me," Pereira told PTI.

"We can say technically that the number of postal mail has increased these days...But, unlike letters, cards and telegrams in the past, bank documents, telephone bills and magazines comprise the major chunk being sent via post now," he said.

Recalling the good-old days of his 34 years of career in the department, a proud Perera said there were times when he was finding it too difficult to accommodate the letters and greetings cards in his hand bag.

The overflow of greetings cards even forced him to skip his meals during many Christmas seasons years ago.

"It was a time when people exchange every minute information regarding their life, whether it happy or sad, via letters and post cards. By all means, we were the messengers of their life...In many houses, we not only delivered letters, but also used to read it out for them, he recalled.

There would be air-mail envelops to be distributed in almost all homes in coastal areas near here, where at least one family member would be working in the Middle East, the postman said.

"Though the working time would start from 9.45 am upto 1.45 pm, we used to work till evening as our bags would be full of letters and parcels.

"We were aware that each such letter would have a message of either happiness or sorrow," Perera said.

According to records, Kerala Postal & Telegraph Circle was formed on the July 1, 1961, bifurcating the then Madras Circle.

Prior to integration with Indian Post Offices on April 1, 1951, there were separate postal systems called 'Anchal Service' in the erstwhile princely states of Travancore and Kochi during the per-independence era.

The 'Anchal Service' was meant for communication within the state only.

Historian Malayinkil Gopalakrishnan said the Anchal Service was launched in Travancore to bring flowers from Thovala (located in present Tamil Nadu) for the daily rituals at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple here.

"Anchal service was started in Travancore by the then king Anizham thirunal Marthandavarma.

The early postmen were known as Anchalottakkar or Anchal Runners," he told PTI.

Clad in special dresses, these 'anchalottakkar' would run with postal bags with a two-foot staff in his hand on which bells were attached.

When they came running, ringing the bells, everybody would move away to clear his path, he said.

After Independence, all the then existing Anchal Offices were either amalgamated to the nearby Indian Post Offices or re-designated as Post Offices in the same location.

On formation of a separate Circle in 1961 for the whole state of Kerala, the development of the Post and Telegraph services in the state got accelerated.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today that allegations against BJP president Amit Shah's son have no basis and there was no need for any investigation.

Inaugurating the new headquarters of the National Investigation Agency here, the minister said such allegations are levelled "from time to time".

"Such allegations have surfaced in the past too. They are levelled from time to time. It has no basis," he told reporters on the sidelines of the function.

portal The Wire reported that a firm owned by Shah's son Jay Amit Shah saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The Congress has launched an all-out attack on the BJP chief with several party leaders holding press conferences across the country to hit out at Shah's son over his alleged business dealings while prodding the prime minister to speak on the issue.

The charge has been rejected by the BJP and Shah's son, who termed the report "false, derogatory and defamatory".

The Congress is asking Prime Minister Modi to remove Shah as the BJP chief and order a probe by Supreme Court judges.

Jay Shah yesterday filed a defamation case in an Ahmedabad court against portal 'The Wire' over the report.

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Bangladesh said today the Rohingya crisis was no longer Myanmar's internal issue and had become a "regional catastrophe" as it appealed to the international community to take "crucial decisions" to press Naypyitaw to take back about 500,000 refugees living in the country.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said about 500,000 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh out of the total 900,000 that have left Myanmar after an army crackdown on the minority community in the Rakhine State on August 25 following a terrorist attack on the country's security outposts.

He said a total of 3,000 Rohinya Muslims had been killed so far since the army crackdown was launched and Human Rights Watch has got evidence of 284 villages of having been bulldozed.

Ali said Rohingya crisis was no longer an internal issue of Myanmar's and has become a "regional catastrophe".

"It's (also) not a bilateral problem of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh didn't play any role in creating this crisis. The center of the crisis is in Myanmar and the solution lies with Myanmar as well," he said.

"Even the international pressure has so far failed to refrain Myanmar military from implementing its long term depopulation plan for Rohingyas," he said.

Ali said, for the first time in history, a majority of Rohingyas had come to Bangladesh.

"Virtually only 400,000 to 500,000 of them out of some 1,800,000 Rohingyas now remain in Myanmar," Ali said.

He said Myanmar had launched a large-scale military operation codenamed "Area Clearance" to confront "terrorists", but under the cover of anti-terrorism campaign continued to carryout ruthless atrocities on Rohingyas by mobilising the troops one month ahead of the crackdown.

Ali's comments came as fresh influx of Rohingyas hit Bangladesh, a week after Myanmar agreed to take back their forcibly displaced people and sent a senior minister to Dhaka to open talks amid mounting global outrage against the country's treatment of the minority population.

Ali, however, said the Myanmar's proposal was actually a tactic to defuse the mounting international pressure, which he said should be kept on to force the country to revise its approach towards Rohingyas.

He said Bangladesh expected European Union foreign ministers meeting to take "some crucial decisions against the Myanmar Military" as they are scheduled to meet on October 16 in Brussels to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

Bangladesh disagreed with Maynmar's proposal for Rohingya repatriation under a verification system set out in 1992 in view of changed scenario and reality and rather proposed a joint Bangladesh-Myanmar verification strategy, he said.

"We proposed Myanmar to take back all Rohingyas without considering their arrival date into Bangladesh as well as to involve UN and international agencies at every level of repatriation," Ali said.

On October 2, Bangladesh proposed a bilateral agreement to facilitate the repatriation process and handed over a draft of the proposed deal to Myanmar's visiting minister in Dhaka.

Ali also criticised Myanmar's government-sponsored media for portraying the entire issue as "Islamist terrorism" or "radical Bangali terrorism".

He said the media did it to confuse some of the neighbouring countries despite repeated requests from Bangladesh not to use the term "Bangali" to refer to the Rohingyas.

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The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it will take a decision next month on issuing a notification with regard to the ongoing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi river.

The Odisha government had moved the apex court in December last year seeking an order asking Chhattisgarh to stop its construction work in projects on the upstream of Mahanadi.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao considered the statement made by the counsel of the Centre and posted the matter for hearing in the second week of December.

The Ministry of Water Resources said it will decide on November 19 whether the notification will be issued by it.

"On instructions received from Virendra Sharma, Joint Commissioner, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India...a decision will be taken for issuing the notification by November 19, 2017. List the matter in the second week of December, 2017," the bench said.

Odisha has been opposing Chhattisgarh's plans to build 13 barrages and seven pick up weirs (small dams) across the Mahanadi, in a plan to extract more water. Odisha has said this would adversely affect the interests of its farmers.

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An Indian Navy sailor, who was discharged from service for undergoing a sex change surgery, today said she would move the Supreme Court against the decision.

Manish Kumar Giri, who has since changed her name to Sabi, told some TV channels she would fight for justice and also write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.

"I remain the same old person with same efficiency. How can they discharge me ... just because I underwent a sex change surgery?" she asked.

"I will move the Supreme Court, if required, to fight for my right," Sabi said, adding she was seeking legal counsel in this regard.

The Indian Navy had yesterday in a statement said Giri had been discharged under the clause "Service No Longer Required" under the force's regulations.

"The individual chose to undergo irreversible gender re-assignment on his own accord, whilst on leave wilfully altering his gender status from the one he was recruited for at the time of his induction," it had said.

Sabi, who was earlier serving with the marine engineering wing at the Eastern Naval Command here, moved to the administrative wing after sex reassignment surgery.

The sacked sailor had undergone the surgery in August last year at a hospital in Mumbai while on leave.

"I used to work on the ship. After the surgery, I was forced to stay away from the ship and work from the base.

"It is sad and worrying that I was found unfit to be a sailor just because of sex change," she lamented.

She alleged Navy authorities tried to prove her "mentally unfit".

"They mentally harassed me and kept me in a psychiatric ward for six months. They tried to prove I am mentally unfit but they failed," she claimed.

Sabi, who was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, said she sought help from the naval doctors but was turned away.

Eventually, Sabi added, she consulted civil doctors in Visakhapatnam.

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The Supreme Court has granted divorce to two district judges in West Bengal, who separated from each other 17 years ago, by exercising its special power under the Constitution, considering that the breakdown of their marriage was "irretrievable".

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao allowed the appeal of the husband against Calcutta High Court's 2012 order dismissing his divorce petition, while considering that his wife was not interested in living with him as she never appeared before any court during the proceedings.

"Refusal to participate in proceeding for divorce and forcing the appellant (husband) to stay in a dead marriage would itself constitute mental cruelty," the bench said.

The high court had dismissed the man's plea for divorce, while holding that the irretrievable breakdown of marriage cannot be a ground for divorce and he had also failed to prove cruelty on her part.

The apex court set aside the high court order in order to do "complete justice" and invoked its power under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant divorce.

"In the peculiar facts of this case and in order to do complete justice between the parties, we allow the appeal in exercise of our power under Article 142 of the Constitution," the bench said.

A marriage can be dissolved if the Court finds that it is "totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which the divorce could be granted."



The judges had got married in 1992 and gave birth to a daughter in 1993. However, due to differences, they got separated in 2000.

In 2005, the husband moved a divorce petition in a district court alleging that the woman behaved inappropriately and had no respect for his ailing father.

He had alleged that she had deserted him, taken away the child and threatened to file criminal cases against him if he sought divorce. The woman, however, had denied the allegations and sought dismissal of the divorce petition.

A West Bengal district court had dismissed the plea in 2009, which was upheld by the Calcutta High Court in 2012.

The apex court, while granting them divorce, said, "admittedly, the Appellant and the Respondent have been living separately for more than 17 years and it will not be possible for the parties to live together and there is no purpose in compelling the parties to live together in matrimony.

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The Supreme Court today said it would peruse tomorrow the documents provided in a sealed cover by the CBI which has tried to nail Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, about his foreign bank accounts and properties.

The CBI told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the documents contained "contemporaneous records", including the details of foreign bank accounts and properties of Karti, and the top court should look into it.

The CBI FIR, lodged on May 15, had alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Karti's father was the Union Finance Minister.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, questioned Karti's affidavit filed in the court and said "it would be a travesty of justice if this court does not look into the sealed cover and see whether my statements of facts are correct or not".

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti, opposed CBI's submissions and said these documents cannot be a part of the case diary and if the court looks into it, then these materials should also be shown to him.

When Mehta alleged that Karti's affidavit contained "false averments" about his foreign bank accounts, Sibal shot back saying, "let him show these documents. Let him show if I (Karti) have opened any other bank account abroad with my (Karti) signature".

After hearing the submissions, the bench told Mehta, "you show us the documents tomorrow".

At the outset, Mehta told the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, that the court should see the documents in sealed cover along with the affidavit filed by Karti.

Sibal, however, said that Karti had disclosed the facts in his affidavit and he had nothing to do with the transactions as alleged in the CBI's FIR.

"The alleged bribe of Rs 10 lakh has not come to me (Karti). FIPB approval has nothing to do with me. I am not a share holder in these companies. This has nothing to do with the opening of bank accounts abroad," he said.

He said Karti wanted to go abroad as he had to get his daughter admitted at the Cambridge University and the look out circular (LoC) was issued when Karti was abroad and he had thereafter returned to India.

Mehta opposed the submissions and said the question was whether the person can be "trusted" to go abroad.

"The fact that there is resistance is a good ground to look into these documents," he said, adding that during questioning, Karti had said he has one bank abroad but in his affidavit he has said that there were two foreign accounts.

Sibal rebutted the submissions and said the issue before the court was about the LoC and not about the bank accounts.

He also alleged that when Karti had gone abroad earlier, he had to close his account there as there was pressure on the bank to close it.

"I (Karti) am a politically exposed person and the bank finally closed that account, so I (Karti) went there to withdraw the money," he said, adding that CBI had never questioned him about his foreign bank account.

However, the bench observed, "the ASG is saying these documents are related to the FIR. How can we deny him the right to place it before the court?"



The bench also told the CBI that the question was whether Karti could be allowed to go abroad.

Mehta claimed that there was a "money trail" in the matter and several companies and their owners were involved. "The LoC has a direct link with tampering of evidence," he said, adding, "tampering is the most potential apprehension that we have".

The bench made it clear to the CBI that it would examine whether the documents in the sealed cover were connected to Karti or not.

The agency had earlier claimed that Karti had "tampered" with evidence relating to an alleged graft case against him during his visits abroad in the months of May, June and July this year.

The top court is hearing CBI's appeal challenging Madras High Court order staying the government's LoC against Karti in the alleged graft case.

On September 1, the CBI had told the top court that there were "good, cogent" reasons for issuing the LoC against Karti.

On August 18, the court had asked Karti to appear before the investigating officer at the CBI headquarters here for questioning in the case.

Before this, the apex court had said that Karti would not be allowed to leave India without subjecting himself to investigation in the case. The court had then stayed the high court order putting on hold the LoC against Karti.

The FIR was registered on May 15 before the special CBI judge here and the registration of the case was followed by searches at the residences and offices of Karti and his friends the very next day.
Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's two sons, currently in London, may not appear before the anti-corruption court, taking advantage of their foreign residency, leaders of the ruling PML-N have indicated.

The Accountability Court is trying Hussain and Hassan Nawaz along with their father Nawaz Sharif, sister Maryam and brother-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, in corruption cases filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the Supreme Court's instruction in the Panama Papers case.

Talking to reporters after a hearing yesterday, Maryam said that her brothers would make their own decision regarding their appearance before the court.

Since both of them reside abroad, the local laws did not apply on them, the Express Tribune quoted her as saying.

Sharif had to step down as prime minister and president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.

Marriyam Aurangzeb, the Minister of State for Information, also told reporters that Hussain and Hassan were both foreign residents and the law that applies on those doing business abroad also applied on the two.

Hussain and Hassan have not appeared before the court on any hearing since the trial began last month. On the previous hearing the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against them yet they skipped the hearing yesterday.

Hussain and Hassan left for London to be with their mother, Kulsoom, who is battling throat cancer.

While Nawaz Sharif returned from London to Pakistan on September 25, his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar arrived in Islamabad on Monday to appear before the Accountability Court. Maryam and Safdar were granted bail yesterday in the Panama Papers case.

Now, the court had declared them absconders and decided to separate their trial from the rest of their family members Sharif, Maryam and Safdar. Accountability judge Muhammad Bashir granted bail to Maryam and Safdar and also exempted Sharif from Monday's hearing.

The Accountability Court has set October 13 for indictment of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam and Safdar.

Aurangzeb said that despite one-and-half-year trial over the Panama Papers case, nothing concrete was found against the former prime minister.

"When they could not find any evidence, they disqualified him on the Iqama (work permit) issue," she contended.

Though the former prime minister had reservations over the entire process, the state minister said, they appeared before the courts to show respect for the Constitution and law.

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Union minister Smriti Irani launched a blistering attack against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today and alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation here had not returned land taken from farmers.

Irani was addressing a public meeting in this constituency, seen as a bastion of the Congress, along with BJP president Amit Shah.

"Rahul, who used to talk about relief to farmers, did not return their land taken by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation here," the Union minister for information and broadcasting and textiles said.

In a broadside against the Congress vice president and Amethi MP, Irani said she wanted to address those who saw Amethi just from the vote bank point of view.

"There is no collector's office here. If Rahul is hearing me today I want to say that you used to talk about development in the country and abroad. You make a mockery of development in Gujarat," she said.

Referring to the closure of a cycle factory called Samrat, she said, "... the country was surprised that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, headed by Rahul, which did not do any commercial activities has purchased it. The land should be freed and given back to the farmers."



Irani had created a stir in 2015 when she accused the top Congress leadership of usurping nearly 65 acres of land acquired from farmers for setting up a manufacturing unit, Samrat Cycle, a project that never materialised.

Noting that the BJP won four out of five seats during the 2017 assembly polls when Shah had come here, Irani said, "In 2019 (Lok Sabha polls) BJP will win here."



During the 2014 polls, she said she had gone to a village which had been boycotting elections.

"When I asked villagers why they were doing so, they said they could not meet their leader. Then I told them that Rahul might not have time, but I will be available for you and requested the village head to vote," she said.

Irani led a high-voltage campaign against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in 2014. Gandhi secured 4,08,651 votes against Irani's 3,00,748.

Though Irani lost to the Congress vice president in Amethi, she managed to reduce his victory margin from around 3.70 lakh in 2009 to 1.07 lakh in 2014.

She told reporters yesterday that a former Congress MLA along with 60-70 village pradhans had joined the BJP.

"They were anguished as they had devoted their time to the Congress believing that there would be development in the state under the party, especially under the leadership of Gandhi...But due to neglect and insult of the Congress workers, the party leadership in Amethi is leaving Rahulji," she alleged.

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Police today said they are looking for clues in connection with the stabbing of a techie from Odisha to death here.

Pranay Misra (28), hailing from Bhubaneshwar, was on his way to meet his girlfriend on his scooter when two motorcycle borne youths accosted and stabbed him multiple times near Chocolate factory on Tavarekere Main Road on Monday, they said.

He tried to escape but was chased and killed.

Misra had moved to Bengaluru four years ago and was working as a software engineer in Accenture, police said.

"This does not look like a murder for gain as all his belongings like his purse and mobile phone, were all intact. Our investigations are on. So far, we do not have anything to share," said a police official at Madivala policestation, under whose jurisdiction the murder took place.

Police said they have registered a complaint lodged by his sister Prachi, who is also a techie and stays in Marathahalli with her husband.

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The Spanish government warned Catalonia's separatist leader today not to do anything "irreversible", just hours before a possible declaration of independence that could send shockwaves through Europe.

Whether or not Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will follow through on his threat to announce a full breakaway -- defying the central government and Spanish courts -- is still a mystery.

But the Spanish government issued a sharp warning to Puigdemont today as it grapples with the nation's worst political crisis in a generation.

"We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration," government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters.

Speaking soon after, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull retorted that the regional executive was "completely united", without giving any hint of what Puigdemont may tell Catalan lawmakers in an extraordinary parliamentary session beginning at 1600 GMT.

At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people deeply divided over independence, one of Spain's economic powerhouses whose drive to break away has raised concern for stability in the European Union.

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have urged Puigdemont to stand down and ease the country's biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.

But the Catalan president says an independence referendum that took place on October 1 despite a court ban ruling it unconstitutional justifies splitting from Madrid.

Around 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted for independence but the poll was poorly monitored and many Catalans opposed to secession simply stayed at home. Turnout was just over 42 percent.

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos today denounced the independence call as a "rebellion against the rule of law."



Catalan police were out in full force around the region's parliament in Barcelona ahead of Puidgemont's address.

"The end of the road," said Catalan daily El Periodico on its front page.

Yesterday, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned that a unilateral declaration of independence would put "social cohesion" at risk.

The results of the referendum "cannot be an endorsement to proclaim independence but they constitute the possibility of opening a dialogue and international mediation", she said.

Pressure also came from the street itself, with hundreds of thousands of pro-unity demonstrators marching through Barcelona and Madrid at the weekend.

Their slogan, "Basta!", was simple: "Enough".

After the disputed referendum Puigdemont vowed he would declare independence in the coming days, but he has a variety of options to choose from.

Short of declaring an outright split, the Catalan leader could play for time and call for dialogue, or back down outright from his secessionist demands.

Madrid insists that any independence declaration would not change the legal reality that Catalonia is one of Spain's semi-autonomous regions with laws governed by the national constitution.

But EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that Catalan independence could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain's shock decision to leave.

After talks in Luxembourg with ministers from the European People's Party, the EU's right-of-centre political grouping, de Guindos said "everyone has supported the position of the Spanish government".

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to use everything in his legal power to prevent Catalan independence and has even refused to rule out imposing direct rule over the region from Madrid -- a move many fear could lead to unrest.

The crisis has caused deep uncertainty for businesses in one of Spain's wealthiest regions.

A string of companies have already moved their legal headquarters -- but not their employees -- from Catalonia to other parts of the country.

The head of Spain's chamber of commerce Jose Luis Bonet told Cadena SER radio that a unilateral independence declaration "would be a disaster".

"For Spain it would be extraordinarily negative and even for Europe it would mean enormous instability," Bonet said.

Demands for independence in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, date back centuries.

But a 2010 move by Spain's Constitutional Court to water down a statute that gave Catalonia additional powers, combined with an economic crisis in Spain, sparked a surge in support for independence.

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A student organisation today took out a rally here to protest against the government's decision to implement the Centre's Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy, 2014.

Slogan shouting activists of the Students' United Movement of All Arunachal (SUMAA) marched from Ganga to Mithun Gate here with banners and posters that demanded roll back of the government's decision.

The SUMAA asserted that indigenous tribal population of the state would suffer if the policy was implemented.

"We will continue to protest till the government rolls back its decision on the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy," SUMAA president Tagru Tame told reporters.

The district administration had on Monday declared the rally as "illegal".

Arunachal Pradesh has the fourth largest population of Tibetans in India.

The state cabinet, during its August 12 sitting, had decided to implement the central policy.

According to the guidelines of the policy, Tibetans would be allowed to undertake economic activities relevant permits would be issued to them. The policy would also allow them to take up jobs if they were professionally qualified.

The state government had issued a statement yesterday stating that it would look into the interest of the state and its indigenous population before implementing the policy.

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India on Tuesday said it is substantially reducing the emission intensity of GDP, tapping non-fossil fuel energy sources and creating additional carbon sink to fulfil its commitment towards global fight against .

Participating in a debate on sustainable development in the second committee of the General Assembly, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to UN, Ashish Sinha said that is a critical component of sustainable development as it impacts public health, food and water security, migration and peace and security.

"Walking the talk, India's climate action plans are a reflection of our strongest commitment to contribute with our full might to the global fight against climate change," he said.

"We are substantially reducing the emission intensity of GDP, tapping non-fossil fuel energy sources and creating additional carbon sink," he said, adding that India welcomes the initiative of the Secretary General to renew the focus on Climate Action.

India, along with partner countries, is building an International Solar Alliance that would contribute to transition towards renewable energy globally.

" is a critical component of sustainable development as it impacts public health, food and water security, migration, and, peace and security," Sinha said.

Observing that the adoption 2030 agenda with a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has enabled the world to renew its faith in multilateralism and in collective action, he said, India's development goals are mirrored in the SDGs.

Progressing towards the achievement of Agenda 2030 with a whole of the government approach with unity of purpose and unity of efforts at all levels, he said the responsibility for overseeing SDG implementation has been assigned to the institution for Transforming India (Niti Aayog).

Noting that "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas," which translates as "Collective Effort, Inclusive Growth" forms the cornerstone of India's development agenda, Sinha said to fast track this India has recently released a draft Three-Year Action Agenda covering years 2017-18 to 2019-20.

In parallel, work is in advance stages on a 15-Year Vision, which will also include a seven-year strategy, he said.

In his remarks, Miroslav Lajcak, President of UN General Assembly said climate change remain one of the biggest global challenges.

As such the Paris Agreement must be reinforced and strengthened, he asserted.

Financing for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was also critically important in ensuring that improvements were brought to peoples lives, he added.

India was joined by several other countries underscoring the importance of climate change on sustainable development.

Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community(CARICOM), Keith Marshall of Barbados said countries in his region were at a "critical junction", needing prompt support following extensive damage during recent hurricanes.

Adding that threatening climate patterns undermined poverty eradication and sustainable development, he said the expensive link between disasters and development could no longer be ignored.

Speaking on behalf of the 47 least developed countries, Shameen Ahsan of Bangladesh called for concerted efforts to implement the Paris Agreement and to operationalise the Green Climate Fund in a timely manner.

Desertification, land degradation and drought hampered development in least developed countries, with billions of hectares of land affected by desertification in Africa alone, which had led to $9billion in annual losses, he said.

"It is time to take real steps to improve the fiscal space available for small and vulnerable economies, to build resilience to external shocks and effects of climate change," said Mariyam Midhfa Naeem from Maldives on behalf of Alliance of Small Island States.
A Delhi court today granted six days to the city police to comply with its earlier order to de-seal a five-star hotel suite where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in 2014.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh granted time till October 16 to the police after an Additional Delhi Commissioner Police submitted that the reports from forensic laboratory were likely to come in a couple of days.

The court had earlier rapped the police for not complying with its order to de-seal the suite.

While the South Delhi hotel has been urging the court to direct the police to de-seal the room which was sealed for investigation soon after Pushkar was found dead on the night of January 17, 2014, the court has also been directing the police to do so on quite a few occasions.

Hours after Pushkar was found dead, the suite was sealed for investigation. An FIR was registered by Delhi police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

The police was on September 12 directed to de-seal the suite and allowed the police to take all articles from the room required for its probe, besides filing a compliance report by today. In this order, the court had noted that a huge financial loss has already been caused to the hotel.

On September 4 too, the court had taken the police to task for its "lethargic attitude" in its probe into the case and summoned the DCP to explain why more time should be granted for de-sealing the suite.

Similarly on August 19, the court had pulled up the agency for delaying the de-sealing of the room and referred to a court order passed on July 21 asking it to do so within four weeks from then.

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Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today levelled fresh charges against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad of amassing 'benami' properties, alleging that his family received a valuable piece of land in Patna from a man who apparently did not have the means to own it.

The RJD denied the charges.

Modi alleged that Prasad had left Robert Vadra, the son- in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, far behind in acquiring 'benami' properties.

He said he previously gave details of land transferred in the name of Lalu Prasad or his family by leaders of his party.

"I now wish to draw the people's attention towards a transaction wherein a little-known person from Gopalganj district gave away land to Misa Bharti - more than six thousand square feet he supposedly owned in Patna," he told reporters.

"It is puzzling how the purported owner Subhash Chandra Chaudhary, with modest means came to own the plot in the state capital which must be worth crores now.

"It is odd that though the property was said to be acquired in 1993 itself, it was not mutated until 2003 when he gifted away the land to Prasad's daughter saying he was impressed by the services she had offered," Modi said.

"The land was gifted to Misa when her mother Rabri Devi was the chief minister of Bihar. One can not understand why the purported owner gave it away to Misa instead of his own children," he said.

"All this looks like an exercise in money laundering. Land was being bought with the RJD supremo's ill-gotten money in the name of someone pliable who would oblige by transferring the property in the name of a relative of Lalu in course of time," Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Bihar government, said.

"I have evidence suggesting that his extended family owns about 150 benami properties across the country. It would not be wrong to say that he has left Robert Vadra way behind," he added.

However, the allegations made by Sushil Modi drew sharp criticism from the RJD.

"Sushil Modi has been playing the same record again and again. The senior BJP leader is doing so because the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is feeling threatened by Prasad, who is making efforts to unite all non-NDA forces before the next Lok Sabha polls," RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari told PTI.

"There is no merit in what the Bihar Deputy CM is saying. Details of assets owned by RJD leaders are in public domain and we have nothing to hide. He is wasting time by indulging in mud-slinging instead of concentrating on development of the state," Tiwari said.

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Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate inconnection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case, officials today said.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office here where it is expected that the investigating officer of the case will record his statement, they said.

It had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

The ED had earlier questioned few people in this case including the wife of former UPA Minister P C Gupta.

Tejashwi's mother and former state chief minister Rabri Devi has been summoned to appear before the ED tomorrow.

The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.

In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.

Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR.

The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.

The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as quid pro quo.

The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.

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Lawyers of a district court here today decided to abstain from judicial work tomorrow in protest against alleged "rude behaviour" of a magistrate.

The Delhi Bar Association, which represents lawyers of Tis Hazari Court here, has called for a complete strike and said advocates would not engage in any work, including bail and stay proceedings, typing or attestation.

Advocate Ikrant Sharma, vice president of the lawyers' body, said, "Action will be taken against any advocate appearing before any court during the strike."



The executive committee of the Delhi Bar Association in its meeting today decided to "boycott" the metropolitan magistrate in protest against his "rude behaviour".

The lawyers alleged that incident took place today in Tis Hazari court when the magistrate, while hearing a complaint case, was requested by a junior counsel to pass over the matter as the main advocate was busy in another case.

The magistrate allegedly did not consider the request and dismissed the complaint case, they claimed.

The lawyer concerned then filed a complaint with the district judge seeking action against the magistrate.

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Shahana Goswami may have been away from Hindi cinema but the actor is impressed with the changing landscape and hopes she gets to be a part of movies that matter.

Shahana's breakout performance was "Rock On!" as a frustrated wife of a musician, a role that she reprised recently in the sequel but the film was not successful.

The actor is in the limelight again with the positive word-of-mouth for her latest release, "Tu Hai Mera Sunday".

In an interview with PTI, Shahana says her absence from Bollywood was not out of choice.

"I have not been offered those kinds of roles that I would want to do. Having said that, there is some good work being done in India. I want to do more work here.

"But it has not come my way. Today, things are different where even stars want to do different types of projects. Maybe, I don't fit the bill as an artiste for them. But then I'm not interested in the work that I don't want to do. I'm too passionate about my work to do films that don't matter."



The 31-year-old actor, who has worked in movies such as "Ru Ba Ru", "Firaaq", "Ra.One" and "Heroine", says she carefully chooses her films because she believes people forget to experience life when they get into a race.

"When your pace gets faster, the need to do better, ambition and competition increases. You may forget to live that one important moment of your life. Sometimes we don't even have time to understand what we are feeling in the moment."



The actor says "Tu Hai Mera Sunday" explores that feeling of complacence about day-to-day life.

She plays the role of Kavya Ranganathan, a modern woman who hardly gets time to live her life between her job and caring for her father with Alzheimer's.

"But her character's life turns a new leaf when she meets Arjun (played by Barun Sobti). That's when she gets an opportunity to find time for herself. They build a friendship, which blooms into romance.

"This is something which I feel is a definition of modern love for me. It's refreshing, equal and gender neutral," she says.

With the film, Shahana hopes the people will be reminded of her as an actor.

"I'm happy this movie is coming after a long time. Time also gives people a break from the cliches. This film will revive the memory of me, since I haven't had a Hindi release in the past five years.

"I hope it also makes people take note of the fact that I have always tried to portray different roles in my career. I don't want to do only dramatic roles. There's a lighter side to me. At the end of the day, I'm an actor and I'm hungry for different roles," she says.

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A traffic police officer on duty was killed when a trailer truck hit him on Kona Expressway in Howrah district this morning, police said.

Sukhendu Sarkar, the assistant sub-inspector of the traffic department, died on spot.

The driver fled with the vehicle after knocking down the 50-year-old officer near a resort, the police said.

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The Supreme Court ban on firecrackers on Diwali prompted Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy to take a swipe at the "candle and award-waapsi gang", as he said that the fear of air pollution could well lead to a plea on the cremation of Hindus.

The governor, who is a former BJP leader, tweeted in Hindi on the ban on the bursting of crackers on Diwali and the Janmashtami ritual of dahi handi, which had also come up in court.

"Kabhi dahi handi, aaj patakha, kal ho sakta hai pradushan ka havala lekar mombatti aur award-waapsi gang Hinduon ki chita jalaney par bhi yachika dal dey (One day it is dahi handi, today it is firecrackers; tomorrow the issue of pollution may well lead to a plea by the candle {holding} and award-waapsi gang on cremating Hindus)," he tweeted.

The apex court had on Monday said there would be no further sale of crackers in Delhi and the NCR.

Earlier, the issue of putting a cap on the age of participants and the height of human pyramids formed on Janmashtami for dahi handi -- the breaking of earthenware pots -- had been discussed by the courts.

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The Tunisian man detained along with his wife by Swiss police is the brother of the assailant who fatally stabbed two young women in the French city Marseille earlier this month, police said today.

"The two individuals are a couple", Swiss federal police said in a statement on the arrests in Chiasso, near the Italian border. "The man is the brother of the presumed attacker in Marseille.

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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim today rejected American criticism over the arrest of US consulate staffers, saying Ankara did not need Washington's approval as a diplomatic spat worsened.

A row between the two NATO allies erupted last week when Turkey jailed an employee of the American consulate in Istanbul, as part of an investigation into last year's failed coup.

"Are we supposed to ask for permission from the gentlemen?" Yildirim told a cheering crowd of supporters in parliament.

The consulate employee, a Turkish citizen, was remanded in custody over accusations of links to the movement led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for masterminding the July 2016 coup bid.

The staffer has been formally charged with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish government, accusations rejected by the US embassy as "wholly without merit."



The US responded to the arrest by banning non-immigrant visas from Turkey. Ankara hit back with its own visa suspension, while urging Washington to reverse its move.

"It is very inappropriate to dare to punish citizens," Yildirim said. "It's behaviour that does not fit a country like the United States."



Yildirim accused Washington of harbouring Gulen on its territory, as he criticised the US' arrest of a senior executive of Turkey's largest state-owned bank.

"Did you ask us when you threw the deputy chief executive of our official bank behind bars?" the premier said.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy chief executive officer at Halk Bank, was arrested in March in the United States on charges of conspiring to evade sanctions on Iran.

Atilla is accused of conspiring with an Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab to launder money through the US financial system on behalf of Iran.

"Is this fitting of an alliance, of a friendship?" Yildirim asked.

He urged America to apply "common sense" and said the row must be solved as soon as possible.

Pro-government media today led on the diplomatic spat, with Yeni Safak daily describing the US as "not an ally but an enemy" in large font on its front page.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two senior police officers in Mathura have been accused of harassing a journalist who was trying to report on a seven-month-old unsolved murder case.

A sub-inspector has been suspended and a probe has been ordered against an SHO for harassing journalist Nirmal Rajput yesterday, police said today.

The action came after UP Journalist Association vice- president Kamal Kant Upamanyu and other journalists met SSP Swapnil Mamgai over the matter last evening. They demanded action against SHO Anil Verma and sub-inspector Gaurav Rana.

Upamanyu said Rajput was taken to the Highway Police Station after he tried to take the statements of two children whose parents were killed seven months ago. Rajput was made to sit in the police station for more than two hours, he said.

Dejected by the police inaction in solving the murder case of her parents, their eldest daughter committed suicide on October 7.

"While sub-inspector Gaurav Rana has been sent to police lines, a probe has been ordered against SHO of Highway Police Station Anil Verma," SSP Swapnil Mamgai said.

He said city police circle officer Rakesh Vashistha will probe the harassment allegations and would submit his report in three days.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The first Indian to ever hold an important position in the royal court of Britain has finally been restored to his rightful place in history, says the UK- based author who unearthed the story of Abdul Karim - a humble servant who went on to become Queen Victoria's "Munshi" during the Raj era.

Shrabani Basu's book titled 'Victoria and Abdul: The Extraordinary True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant' formed the basis of a new UK box-office success 'Victoria & Abdul', which has now opened in cinemas across India.

"It is great to see the picture of Abdul looming over Leicester Square and looking down from the famous red London buses. This was the man that the British establishment wanted to erase from history, but he's out there now, and they are packing the cinemas to hear his story. It is very satisfying," said Basu.

The historian-author had stumbled upon the curious friendship between the British monarch who ruled over India and an assistant clerk from Agra Jail sent to her court in the late nineteenth century while researching a previous book on the history of curries in Britain.

She discovered that Abdul had also succeeded in carving out a niche in the royal kitchens to cook halal Indian food, which was enjoyed by the ageing monarch and also served to visiting dignitaries.

"Abdul brought curry to the royal kitchens. With Queen Victoria as his patron, curries became fashionable. Today it has become an essential part of British cuisine and is a multi-million-pound industry," notes Basu.

As the author began following the trail of Abdul, who had been bestowed the rather grand title of Munshi or teacher by Queen Victoria, a visit to Windsor Castle provided her access to a rare set of Hindustani journals a collection of note- books filled with the monarch's own handwriting practising her Urdu.

These journals revealed the real voice of the Empress of India, who clearly felt more at ease to pen down her more personal thoughts in a language that was not accessible to too many people around her.

"She steeped herself in her later years in Indian culture. She learnt to read and write in Urdu, she had curries cooked in her royal palaces - all under the guidance of her Munshi," explains Basu.

However, the close bond between the ageing monarch and a mere servant from India did not go down well in the royal household, many of whom even threatened to go on strike against what they branded as "Munshi mania".

As a result, soon after Queen Victoria's death in 1901 there was a concerted effort on the part of the monarchy to erase all traces of Abdul by burning most of his personal belongings.

These included letters exchanged between the Queen and her young Munshi, who was himself driven to an early grave eight years later in his hometown of Agra in 1909.

The India release of 'Victoria & Abdul', in which Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal take on the central roles, is now set to also help restore some respect for Abdul in his country of birth, where his grave in Agra had been discovered by Basu in a dilapidated state.

"I know his family and descendants are very happy that his place in history has been restored. He was the first Indian to have an important position in the royal court as the Queen's principal Indian secretary and Munshi. He taught her Urdu and it is his influence that led to the building of the Durbar Room in Osborne House (Isle of Wight), a place visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists to the UK every year," said Basu.

The author said it is "wonderful" that someone who was so unceremoniously deported from the UK soon after his mentor's death has reclaimed his place as an important chapter in the history of the British Raj.

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Three armed miscreants shot dead a bank guard and fled with a cash box containing Rs 50 lakh here this evening, police said.

Some staff members of the Rani Bazaar branch of the Allahabad Bank in the City Kotwali police station area were taking the cash box to the main branch to deposit money there, they said.

It was near a bus stop that three armed persons opened fire and fled with the cash box, police said.

The injured guard was rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared him dead, they said. Senior police officials rushed to the spot and a hunt has been launched to nab the culprits, the police added.

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The Enforcement Directorate today opposed the bail plea of a woman director of two Dubai-based firms before a city court in a money laundering case related to the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

The probe agency told the Special Judge Arvind Kumar that the accused -- Shivani Saxena, an "active" director of Dubai- based Ms UHY Saxena and Ms Matrix Holdings -- may flee from the justice and hamper the ongoing probe, if she was granted the relief.

It told the court that other accused, including Shivani's husband Rajiv, were yet to be apprehended and it was not a fit stage to grant her bail.

The court then reserved its order on the bail application for October 16.

During the arguments, ED's advocate N K Matta also claimed in the court that Shivani was not cooperating and the probe was at an initial stage.

In her bail application, the accused has claimed that she was not required in the case because investigation was already complete since the charge sheet has already been filed.

The ED had on September 13 filed the charge sheet against her and others.

Shivani Saxena and her husband Rajiv are residents of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, an archipelago which is home to the most expensive properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the charge sheet said.

It alleged that the two Dubai-based firms were the entities "through which the proceeds of crime have been routed and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/shares, among others" in this case.

The agency claimed that its probe had found that AgustaWestland, United Kingdom, had "paid an amount of Euro 58 million as kickbacks" through two Tunisia-based firms.

"These companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to M/s Interstellar Technologies Limited, Mauritius and others which were further transferred to M/s UHY Saxena and M/s Matrix Holdings Ltd, Dubai and others," the charge sheet had alleged.

The ED had also arrested in this case Delhi-based businessman Gautam Khaitan who is currently out on bail. It had registered a PMLA case in 2014 and named 21 people in its money laundering FIR.

On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the state government has resolved to make Bihar rank among the top five states in providing healthcare services.

The Bihar government has started the second round of reforms in the healthcare sector, an official release quoted Kumar as saying.

Various medical facilities like treatment of cancer, and liver and kidney transplant are available in the state now, he said.

Stating the difficulties MPs used to face in getting people from Bihar treated at AIIMS, Delhi, Kumar said, "Now the dream (of getting treated at Patna AIIMS) is going to be fulfilled. The people of the state will not be forced to go outside the state for treatment."



The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, where only some sections were operational, is now set to provide full-fledged healthcare services.

The state government will try to make Patna Medical College and Hospital a hospital of international repute, Kumar said, adding, there is a need to remodel the hospital afresh.

Facilities at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital here will be enhanced, the release said.

The chief minister said emphasis has also been given to primary health centres (PHCs) to improve healthcare facilities, including appointment of doctors, para-medical staff and provision for free medicines.

According to a government-conducted survey, the number of patients visiting a PHC increased from 1,500-2,000 per month in October 2006 to 10,500 at present, he said.

The percentage of institutional delivery has gone up from a meagre four per cent to 52 per cent, Kumar said, adding, the percentage of regular immunisation has also increased to 84 per cent from 16 per cent.

The chief minister today inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 113 various schemes of the state health department worth Rs 866 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Louis Berger, the US-based consultancy firm which had allegedly bribed unnamed Assam government officials to secure water consultancy projects, today said it would cooperate with the Indian officials in probing the case.

The issue had come to light in 2015 after one Bhaben Handique had filed a police case in Guwahati alleging the US firm had paid Rs six crore to Assam officials and politicians to bag the Rs 1,452 crore contract of a water supply project here.

According to a statement issued by the company here, "The company self-reported Assam issues under a comprehensive company-led anti corruption campaign and will continue to cooperate with the Indian officials, just as we did in the US."



The case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department by the then Congress government but Handique went to the Hight Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe alleging that the state agency was going slow and trying to shield some influential people connected with the case.

The Gauhati High Court had passed an order last month directing the case be handed over to the CBI as the CID has not investigated the case in "right earnest and has been conducting the same in a partisan manner".

Following the Hight Court's directive, Louis Berger issued the statement claiming that it was the result of the company's own internal anti corruption investigations that the company "uncovered improper payments made in 2010 and prior by former managers who we separated from the company".

"As a US company, we voluntarily reported these issues to the US Department of Justice and supported their investigations, finally resulting in a settlement with the US government in 2015," the statement said.

As a result of the company's cooperation, the US government did not pursue prosecution, instead agreed to defer prosecution as long as the company paid a fine and continued to meet the standards of a US government appointed monitor.

"We are also committed to cooperate fully with the Indian authorities in their investigations, just as we did in the US," the statement added.

"The company has invested more than USD 25 million for over seven years to transform Louis Berger into one of the most ethical companies in India," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Congress unanimously passed resolutions supporting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the party's next president and authorised him and party president Sonia Gandhi to select the next PCC president.

The state Congress unit held its organizational election during the day to elect the next state president and passed the two resolutions.

"We have unanimously passed a resolution supporting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the next president of the party. And the second resolution is to authorize him and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to select the next president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress committee. We have sent the copies of the resolution to our party high command," state Congress president and MP Adhir Chowdhury told reporters.

Congress central election authority had last week held a review meeting with pradesh returning officials in New Delhi on organisational polls at the conclusion of which Rahul Gandhi is likely to be elevated as party president.

Several names are doing the rounds in the state Congress circles as the next president of WBPCC and former state Congress president and MP Pradip Bhattacharya is way ahead of his rivals.

"At the national level TMC and Congress have a close coordination while fighting BJP and RSS. So keeping in mind the next Lok Sabha polls, Pradipda is the best choice as the next Congress president," a senior state Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A suburban Chicago mother of seven is accused of urging Facebook followers to kill a gang member-turned-FBI mole for his role in a sting that put an associate of hers behind bars on charges he tried to sell semiautomatic rifles stolen from a freight train, court documents show.

Iesha Stanciel, 38, faces federal cyberstalking charges for the threats, as well as a gun charge after she was arrested carrying a bag containing one of the brand new AR 15 -type assault rifles stolen from the Chicago train that had stopped overnight at a Norfolk Southern yard on September 18, 2016, according to a federal complaint examined by The Associated Press this week.

Authorities have never publicly announced any arrests related to the theft of the six new Smith & Wesson-made M&P assault rifles and 27 pistols despite Stanciel's indictment in May and the arrest in October 2016 of Brian Stafford, who allegedly told the informant he had the rifles just two days after the train theft.

That 2016 theft angered residents near the South Side rail yard because it came a year after the theft of 104 Sturm, Ruger & Co. guns, which quickly fell into the hands of gangs. After the 2015 heist, aldermen sought assurances from Norfolk Southern that such thefts wouldn't happen again.

At a sentencing hearing last week in that 2015 case, Judge John Tharp said criminals prize new guns because they're hard to trace and that their theft contributed to "an epidemic of violence" in Chicago. A prosecutor told the court there's a little-known "subculture" of thieves who regularly rob trains in the nation's busiest rail hub.

It was Stafford's arrest that led Stanciel, just days later, to start posting the Facebook threats that included the informant's name, court papers said.

"Snitches get stitches and found in ditches," one posting allegedly said, followed by 11 handgun emojis. Agents say that was an invitation to kill the informant.

Another emoji-laden message included the informant's photo and asked if anyone ever sees him, then adds: "If so (shoot) his head...."



The postings were fantasies, not serious threats, Stanciel said in a July letter to a federal judge asking to be released from jail pending trial.

Facebook is "a cyber fantasy community where you can live out any fantasy with no real means or intent of carrying anything out," she wrote. She conceded that she had "a bad attitude" but wrote that she is "less dangerous than it looks." The judge denied her request, deeming her potentially dangerous.

Filings aren't clear about whether Stafford or Stanciel, both of whom have previous criminal records, played a direct role in the 2016 theft. The guns had been loaded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, two days before the train stopped in Chicago. The thieves also made off with several TVs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
AIG's shares were down about 1.7 percent at $60.75 in extended trading.

The company estimated pre-tax losses of about $1 billion each from Harvey and Irma, up to $700 million from Maria and additional catastrophe losses, including earthquakes in Mexico, of about $150 million.

Morgan Stanley analysts said the losses were slightly above their estimate of $2.5 billion, but were manageable as it equated to about 2.6 percent of book value.

The analysts, who have an "overweight" rating on the stock, also highlighted the company's more than $3.5 billion in cash and short-term investments, saying it should help tackle capital concerns from losses in the third quarter.

Insurers and reinsurers are counting the costs of the hurricanes that tore into parts of the United States, while ravaging several islands in the northern Caribbean.

Chubb Ltd , the world's largest listed property and casualty insurer, has estimated after-tax losses of up to $1.28 billion from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Germany's Munich Re warned it could miss its profit target this year, the first major reinsurer to flag a hit to earnings from damage caused by the storms.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic is still in full swing and Morgan Stanley said it expects overall insured losses from this year's catastrophes to approach $100 billion.

(Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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The reorganization, which reduces revenue by about 18 percent, will simplify Honeywell's broad portfolio, boost growth and give shareholders a tax-free benefit from the new companies, Honeywell Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk said on a conference call on Tuesday.

It also gives the diversified manufacturer scope to change its remaining portfolio along the lines sought by hedge fund Third Point Capital, which agitated for a spin-off of aerospace. Third Point said on Tuesday it was pleased with the changes and backed Adamczyk's leadership, though it wants him to keep improving the portfolio.

Adamczyk hinted at more to come, saying the two new businesses "can grow at an accelerated rate."

The remaining businesses - aerospace, commercial building products, performance materials and safety products - are candidates for more acquisitions, he added.

"I'm very excited about M&A in all four of our businesses. And I think these two spins ... give me a lot of different levers to invest our M&A dollars."

Analysts praised the moves, but said Honeywell had more changes to make, and warned that aerospace, with products ranging from jet engines to airplane WiFi systems, may need to merge to gain the size to compete with larger rivals.

A spin-off or merger with General Electric Co's aerospace unit would make Honeywell a stronger competitor to United Technologies and a "more powerful supplier to Boeing Co and Airbus SE ," Scott Davis, analyst at Melius Research, wrote in a note. "That's a deal worth thinking about."

Adamczyk played down such speculation in a later interview with . "The way we compete in aerospace is not through scale," he said. "We are going to compete through technology differentiation."

Though his comments pointed away from a big deal, Honeywell sought to gain size last year with a $90.7-billion bid for United Technologies Corp under prior CEO David Cote. Industry experts say Honeywell's poor record on aerospace parts quality and delivery could hamper its ability to win new orders.

Honeywell shares ended the day down 0.2 percent in New York trading, after falling 2.3 percent initially.

REVAMPED PORTFOLIO

Adamczyk, like his peers at other industrial conglomerates, has been under pressure to reorder a portfolio of disparate businesses that includes automotive turbo chargers, burglar alarms and Xtratuf boots popular in Alaska's fishing industry.

Third Point had argued since April that a spin-off of aerospace, which accounted for about 38 percent of revenue in 2016, could generate $20 billion in shareholder value.

But Adamczyk took a different route, splitting off the home and ADI global distribution businesses, wholesale distributors of security, fire and environmental systems for homes and commercial buildings, into a public company that will absorb some of $554 million in environmental liabilities.

Honeywell will also spin off a transportation business that makes automotive turbo chargers into a second company that will absorb some of $1.54 billion in old asbestos liabilities. The amounts will be determined later, Adamczyk said.

The auto parts move follows other companies, including auto supplier Delphi Automotive Plc , that are shedding technology tied to the internal combustion engine as regulators around the world crack down on emissions and talk of mandating a switch to battery-electric vehicles over the next two decades.

With about $16 billion in debt, or 2.5 times operating earnings, Honeywell has limited scope for additional borrowing, said Dave Berge, analyst at Moody's Investors Service.

Honeywell expects to receive about $3 billion in dividends from the spin-offs, adding to its nearly $10 billion in cash.

That "positions the company to do meaningful acquisitions," said Harsh Acharya, analyst at Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc in Ohio.

The spin-offs are not due to close until the end of 2018, giving time to work out details - and, as Adamczyk noted, to consider other offers.

"We are leaning towards the spin route," he told . "But if we get compelling offers, we would of course consider them."

(Additional reporting by Greg Romouleotis in New York and Ankit Ajmera and Arunima Banerjee in Bangalore; editing by Patrick Graham and Nick Zieminski)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Siddharth Cavale

- Trian Fund Management LP CEO Nelson Peltz's campaign to win a seat on the board of Procter & Gamble Co hung in the balance on Tuesday after a tight shareholder vote in the biggest proxy contest ever fought made the outcome too close to call.

Peltz has called for the maker of Pampers diapers, Gillette razors and Tide laundry detergent to reorganize into three business units: beauty, grooming and healthcare; fabric and home care and baby, feminine and family care.

P&G, led by Chief Executive David Taylor, has countered that management is already working on several operational changes, and that Peltz does not have the relevant experience to be helpful in the process.

"This morning, the proxy solicitors told me that this proxy contest is extremely close and it may or may not be decided today," Peltz said at P&G's shareholder meeting in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

The difference in for and against votes for Peltz's board director nomination is within one percentage point, sources said.

Peltz was widely seen as the favorite to win the contest, because he had the backing of all three top shareholder advisory firms, which recommend how mutual funds should cast their vote, and was only seeking one board seat on P&G's 11-member board.

A loss for Trian would be particularly bruising for Peltz, as P&G sought to turn the shareholder vote on his credentials as a seasoned executive in the consumer sector with board director experience at Kraft Heinz Co and Mondelez International Inc.

"Win or lose, Nelson Peltz has taken the activist campaign to the largest companies, which have previously been able to inoculate themselves from these kind of experiences by spending enough money to keep activists at bay," said Bruce Goldfarb, founder of Okapi Partners, which advises on proxy contests.

Trian, a $14 billion New York-based hedge fund, owns a $3.5 billion stake in the P&G, which also makes Crest toothpaste and Charmin toilet paper.

The two sides collectively spent more than an estimated $100 million on mailings, phone calls and advertisements to woo investors.

Vanguard Group Inc, State Street Global Advisors and BlackRock Inc are P&G's top three shareholders. Individual stock owners, such as retirees and amateur stock pickers, collectively hold about 40 percent of the company's stock, a much higher proportion than at most big companies.

P&G's large retail base is due, in part, to long-running stock-based incentive plans for employees and the attraction of its well-known brand names for "mom and pop" investors. [nL5N1LW4W1]

This is only the third time Trian has waged a proxy contest in its 12-year history. Two years ago it narrowly lost a fight with DuPont, although within a year the company's CEO was out a job and a faster cost cutting was underway.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by David Gregorio and Susan Thomas)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Have you ever actually read an apps privacy policy before clicking to accept the terms? What about reading the privacy policy for the website you visit most often? Have you ever read or even noticed the privacy policy posted in your doctors waiting room or your banks annual privacy notice when you receive it in the mail?
Reliance Infrastructure today entered into a period of exclusivity talks with Adani Transmission for proposed sale of its integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai. Adani Transmission share price zoomed 10 percent on Tuesday.

"It has entered into a period of exclusivity until January 15, 2018, in relation to discussions for the proposed sale of its integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai city to Adani Transmission," Reliance Infrastructure said in a regulatory filing today.

The proposed transaction is subject to confirmatory diligence, definitive documentation and customary approvals.

"Accordingly, there can be no certainty that a transaction will result. Further announcements will be made at an appropriate stage," Reliance Infra added.

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infra intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction entirely to reduce its debt and further strengthen its financial position to tap mega growth opportunities in defence and EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) for the infrastructure sector.

According to Adani Transmission, the proposed transaction will strengthen its footprint in the power transmission sector and also mark its foray into the distribution space.

with PTI inputs
Cody Nordstrom/Instagram (SANTA ROSA, Calif.) -- Entire neighborhoods were scorched beyond recognition in the Santa Rosa, California, area, after fast-moving wildfires tore through, killing at least 11 people in Sonoma County.



Resident Joshua Corbett posted these photos on Instagram, writing, "This used to be a where I lived. The neighborhood is gone."



"I tried digging through the debris hoping something of mine was still there. Nothing," Corbett wrote. "I thankfully have most my clothes, and whatever valuables I could throw into my car in the 20-minute period between waking up and being forced to leave despite wanting to grab more of my things. It wasn't the fire that made me decide to stop packing. The smoke was too much, I couldn't handle it. Being out there was surreal, everything is burnt and destroyed."



"Please continue to send prayers our way," he wrote. "We need it."



At least 15 people have died as a result of wildfires across the state, authorities said Tuesday.



In the Santa Rosa area, 27,000 acres have burned. All Sonoma County public schools are closed today and officials say 24 evacuation centers are open to the public.



Thousands of residents were displaced by the fires, according to Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey.

Im lucky. My house is fine, my family is fine, but my city is not, Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey said at a press conference Monday. Its going to take a long time for us to recover from what happened today.



Patients at the Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional hospitals in Santa Rosa were forced to evacuate early Monday as flames tore through surrounding neighborhoods.



St. Joseph Health said about 170 patients have been treated, many for burns and smoke inhalation, at three of its hospitals, including two in Sonoma County, while encompasses Santa Rosa. At least 90 of those patients were taken to a facility in Santa Rosa, including 12 patients who suffered from burn injuries.



Santa Rosa homeowner John Graves said he was mourning said most of his neighborhood was leveled.



Ive been here 25 years. It was a great neighborhood, Graves told ABCs San Francisco station KGO-TV on Monday. Its gonna be a lot of work getting it back.



Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker visiting from Penang, Malaysia, said he was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa, which was destroyed by flames.

City has imposed curfew in Mandatory Evacuation Areas between 6:45pm & 7:15am. Violation punishable as misdemeanor. https://t.co/hN4IJTvmxG.  City of Santa Rosa (@CityofSantaRosa) October 10, 2017

He said he and his colleagues began to pack up Monday morning when someone knocked on the hotel door and told them to run.



"We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe," Hoe told KGO-TV.



At least 17 people have died and more than 170 were injured as a result of wildfires across the state, authorities said.



Officials with the California Highway Patrol described one of the dead as an elderly woman who was blind and hard of hearing, according to KGO-TV.



The woman was found dead in the driveway of her home in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, according to the officials, who suspected that she may have been trying to escape the flames when she she died.



The fires, intensified by strong winds, charred about 90,000 acres of land and destroyed at least 1,500 homes and structures statewide.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Days after Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the state governments to cut the value added tax or VAT on petrol and diesel, two BJP-ruled states Gujarat and Maharashtra have today slashed the VAT on fuel. While the Gujarat government cut the fuel prices by 4 per cent, the Maharashtra government reduced petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 and Rs 1 respectively. In both the states, new rates will be effective from midnight. The Central government had earlier instructed the state governments to bring down the taxes to help the consumers.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today at a press meet said: "After the central governments instructions, Gujarat has decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent from today mid-night." With this rate cut, the price of petrol will come down by Rs 2.93 and that of diesel by Rs 2.72 in the state. The effective price of petrol in Gujarat from midnight will be Rs 66.53 per litre and that of diesel Rs 60.77 per litre. However, after this move, the state government will suffer a loss of Rs 2,316 crore per yeary. "But we have taken this decision in the interest of people," Rupani said.

Hours after the Gujarat government announced the tax cut, Devendra Fadnavis government also came out with tax reduction on fuel. The Maharashtra government currently levies 26 percent VAT on petrol and 24 percent on diesel in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. However, the taxes on fuel will now come down by Rs 2. After the new rates come into force, petrol will cost Rs 75.58 per litre and diesel will cost Rs 59.55 in the state. The reports also suggest that the current rate cut will cost the state exchequer nearly Rs 2,600 crore.

These decisions have come days after Dharmendra Pradhan requested the state governments to reduce VAT on fuels. "It is the responsibility of states to reduce VAT. Every state has different VAT rates on fuel and if each of them reduce by 5 per cent, consumers will benefit," Pradhan said adding many states levy VAT on auto fuel at 24-26 per cent. Pradhan had also said that Finance minister would write to the Chief Ministers of all states urging them to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel.

Earlier this month, the central government had reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 a litre. The government was under pressure from people and as well as the opposition parties for keeping fuel prices high -due to excise duty- while global prices remained low. Recently, the petrol price in the national capital touched Rs70.83 per litre, highest since 16 January. The government had in November 2015 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel five times to take away gains arising from plummeting international oil prices.

On October 4, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had nudged the states governments to cut VAT on petrol and diesel to provide relief to consumers from high fuel prices. The Finance Minister said the Rs 2 per litre cut in excise duty on fuel was done to give relief to consumers. "Now it is up to state governments if they are concerned with the issue (to cut sales tax or VAT)," Jaitley said. He further said that states governments such as Kerala and Delhi were at the forefront of demanding a cut in duties. "And therefore state governments must really look at their own VAT collections," the Finance Minister had said.



(With inputs from PTI)
Pepsico India Chairman and CEO D Shivakumar has resigned from the company after serving for nearly four years and will join Aditya Birla Group as the head of strategy and business development.

Shivakumar has been replaced by Ahmed El Sheikh, Senior Vice President and General Manager for PepsiCo Egypt and Jordan, PepsiCo India said in a statement.

"Shiv has been with PepsiCo for the past four years and has been instrumental in leading the transformation journey for the company," Pepsico CEO Asia, Middle East and North Africa (AMENA) Sector Sanjeev Chadha said.

Shivakumar, who is expected to join Aditya Birla Group in three months' time, will report to the Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla.

"He is joining as the Group head of Strategy and Business Development," Aditya Birla Group director (human resources) and chief executive officer, Carbon Black Business, Santrupt B Misra told PTI.

Shivakumar will join the company in "three months or so", Misra said.

Shivakumar's replacement at PepsiCo, Ahmed, will assume his role on November 1, while the former will stay till December 31 as part of the transition process.

Ahmed, who held leadership roles in both foods and beverages businesses, led the Egypt business in his last stint.

"I have every confidence that Ahmed, together with our winning India leadership team, will prove to be a very powerful combination for the future success of PepsiCo India," Chadha said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees scope for further reforms in the country's oil and gas sector and has received "focused suggestions" from some of the world's leading energy companies on the way forward, according to an official statement released on Monday. The Modi government's strategy is to use India's market size, as the world's thirdbiggest oil consumer, to strike better deals for oil imports and attract investment into the country's exploration and refining sectors.

Top executives from global oil and gas giants including Rosneft, BP, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell, Vedanta, Reliance Industries and leading service providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton met the Prime Minister on Monday as the industry gathered in New Delhi for the three-day India Energy Forum.

"Participants appreciated the pace and drive with which Prime Minister Modi has brought about reform in the energy sector," The Prime Minister's office said in a statement after the meeting. "Subjects such as the need for a unified energy policy, contract frameworks and arrangements, requirement of seismic data sets, encouragement for biofuels, improving gas supply, setting up of a gas hub and regulatory issues came up for discussion," the statement added.

The PM pointed out that many suggestions at the last meeting in 2016 have helped guide Indian policy-making and he appreciated the "focused suggestions" made this year and that "scope for reform in many areas still exists." Modi was quoted as saying he looked forward to "various opportunities" for cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia, the second biggest oil exporter to the country behind Iraq.

State-run Saudi Aramco, which on Sunday launched a new office near Delhi, is in talks with several Indian refiners for a possible joint venture by next year. Its Chief Executive Amin Nasser told the conference after the Modi meeting that India's oil demand would double by 2040 to about 10 million barrels per day, making it the world's largest market for the fuel and a priority for the company.

In the meeting, Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft for their support to India's energy sector. The two leaders were instrumental in helping to seal Rosneft's $12.9 billion acquisition of the debt-ridden Essar Oil, strengthening ties between the world's largest oil producer and the fastest-growing consumer. BP and Reliance have said they would jointly invest $6 billion to boost India's gas output. A BP executive said on Monday that the company was "excited about gas, upstream and digital innovation in India".

The Prime Minister said that the status of the energy sector in India is highly uneven. He welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy. He flagged the potential of biomass energy and also invited participation and joint ventures in coal gasification. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed the oil companies that liberalised India offers a USD 300 billion investment opportunity in the next 10 years in the oil and gas sector.

"We want investors, both domestic and global, who can bring in the best technology and capital,'' he said. The government is devising policies to more than double the share of gas in the energy basket to 15 per cent. "We are planning to set up a gas trading exchange and making sure there is open access to the gas grid.

Global experience in this area would be useful,'' he stated. According to Pradhan, in the last 40 months, the government has taken several policy initiatives in the energy sector in line with the prime minister's vision of energy access, efficiency, sustainability and security. The CMDs of Indian companies ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil, GAIL, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and GAIL also attended the meeting.
Chiefs of several global and Indian oil companies, including Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, want petroleum products to be included in the Goods and Services Tax, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

Briefing reporters about the today's meeting of CEOs of oil companies with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kant said global oil giants, including Saudi Aramco and Moscow- controlled oil giant Rosneft, have committed to increasing investment in India.

The prime minister, Kant said, has assured the industry that the Centre would discuss the issue with the states which suffer from 'fear of the unknown'.

Vedanta Resources Group Chairman Anil Agarwal said India is rich in mineral resources and hundreds of companies like Cairn India can function in India.

Modi also underlined the importance of development of infrastructure in eastern India and northeast India.

According to Kant, CEOs also said India has potential to become a gas-based economy.

Modi, also wanted to institutionalised the conference which is attracting CEOs from world top oil companies.

Modi today met BP Plc Chief Executive Bob Dudley, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Royal Dutch Shell's Project and Technology Director Harry Brekelmens, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H Naseer, Exxon Mobil President for Gas and Power Rob Franklin, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Vedanta Resources head Anil Agarwal to discuss the oil and gas scenario.

Government think-tank Niti Aayog made a short presentation on the status, the likely scenario of demand and supply by 2030 and current government policies.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also attended the meeting. Former oil secretaries Vivek Rae and Vijay Kelkar too were invited.
Barely a week back, Anushka Sharma joined a long line of celebrities who have their own clothing brand. A while after Sonam Kapoor and sister Rhea Kapoor launched their brand Rheson, Sharma too joined the bandwagon to offer a clothing line akin to her personal style. However, things seemed to have turned a bit sour for Sharma, who has been accused of ripping off designs from a bunch of Chinese online retailers for her clothing line, Nush.



This seems to have created a furore, as Sharma had mentioned multiple times that she spent a lot of time brainstorming on the designs and the site. In fact, in one of the promo videos she claimed that their brainstorming sessions would go upto nine hours at times. During the launch event, she reiterated that she used to spend so much time working on the designs that her mother had to remind her to eat.

Anushka Sharma even mentioned that although the clothes are not designed by her, she has been furiously involved with every minor detail of the items on offer.Particularly under intensive scanner are two bomber jackets - pink and black, a trench coat, a parka and a pair of striped monochrome pants, mentioned a report in Mumbai Mirror. The designs of these items seem to have been copied from products of Chinese online retailers.A spokesperson for Anushka Sharma said to Mumbai Mirror that several discrepancies have come to light over the last two days and that they are trying to get to the bottom of this. The spokesperson further added that they will resolve the matter and will share more details when they have complete clarity on the matter.
Forests in the western U.S. have been shaped, and often degraded by fires, invasive species, pests, climate change, livestock grazing, and logging. Forest managers have taken various approaches to restore these forests, with varying levels of success.

The Restoring the West Conference on October 17th and 18th at Utah State University will gather leading forest restoration experts to review and suggest techniques that can sustain and restore Interior West forests.

On KVNUs For the People program on Monday, Darren McAvoy, project coordinator from the USU College of Natural Resources said what the conference hopes to accomplish.

What weve tried to do, McAvoy said, is provide research based information for forest managers to come and have an exchange of information with forest management (and) scientists.

This exchange is a really important part of our conference so that scientists come away with new ideas and what studies to pursue and managers come away with what kind of actions they can take out on the ground to help restore forest lands in Utah and surrounding states.

McAvoy said change is a constant when it comes to our forests, we call that change  succession over time. Forests will start off after a fire, for example.with a pioneer species. In Utah its our Quakies, our Aspen, one of our common pioneer species and over time that will shade the forest floor and change the environment on the forest floor from a sunny one to a shady one and thats more favorable for other trees like firs or spruces, for example.

He said with the change in climate, increases in wildland fire over the last decade or so and recent bark beetle activity things are changing more quickly. To find out more about the conference and to register, visit <a href=http://www.RestoringTheWest.org target=_blank>www.RestoringTheWest.org</a>.
The soundness of an economy depends on the strength of innovation, which in turn relies on whether the entrepreneurs can rise to their full potential.

Top party and government authorities recently issued a document titled A Guideline About Nurturing a Healthy Environment for the Growth of Entrepreneurs, Promoting Entrepreneurship and Letting Entrepreneurs Play a Bigger Role. The document has drawn wide attention in business circles: It was the first time central authorities have affirmed the status of entrepreneurs and the value of entrepreneurship. The guideline has been a soothing pill for businesspeople.

Entrepreneurs are the pillars of economic activities. The core of entrepreneurship lies in the businesspersons capability to push forward economic progress through creative destruction, a term coined by Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950).

Chinas economy has witnessed decades of rapid growth since its reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, during which entrepreneurs had an important role. But recently, there has been some finger-pointing at entrepreneurs, with some casting doubts about the entrepreneurs market transactions and investment activities.

It is true that some businesspeople have to pay the price if their transactions are against the rules. But if what are actually only a few irregularities lead to excessive doubts about regular business activities, and government policies are not in place to clear any confusion, the confidence of entrepreneurs as a group may be undermined.

Businesspeople are an extremely sensitive group. Even subtle changes in their expectations may be amplified in their economic activities. That will affect employment, tax revenue and social stability. The guideline came out in time to clear the shadow hanging over entrepreneurs heads. It made clear that authorities will seek to create a transparent and just environment ruled by law.

The guideline is a fresh start in protecting entrepreneurs rights with its emphasis on the establishment of institutional systems.

For instance, it said entrepreneurs property rights, rights and interests in innovation, and the right to autonomy in business operations should be protected by law.

It also said the authorities should explore a new system to compensate enterprises that suffer losses because of changes in government policy.

The guideline stated that a standard procedure should be established that requires the government to consult entrepreneurs in terms of key economic decisions.

If these measures can be carried out, the foundation of a prosperous and peaceful society will be consolidated.

The Chinese government has been working hard to protect peoples property rights and expand market access in recent years. But in some areas, private businesses still face glass doors, which indicates that some of the promised benefits are still not accessible.

As the market applauds the latest guideline to protect entrepreneurs rights, it is also hoped that authorities can issue facilitating policy documents to establish detailed rules and systems as promised.

Currently, the most important thing is to ensure the rule of law to protect entrepreneurs legal rights. Many property disputes involving enterprises are related to regulators excessive power that crosses the line. Numerous corruption cases have shown that when officials try to personally profit through their public power, they often interfere in companies normal operations and give companies a hard time. The business owners properties, or even personal security, are often jeopardized.

The guideline made clear that entrepreneurs autonomy in business operations is protected by law, and various governments and their staff should not interfere in order to largely reduce burdens on enterprises and reduce arbitrary decisions.

The relations between business and power should be further cleared up in order to tackle corruption. If the boundary between government and the market is blurred, businesses may frequently fall prey to corrupt officials looking for illicit monetary gains. A twisted government-business alliance will not only harm the political ecosystem but will also distort economic behavior. When companies with background power become bullies, enterprises without any government connections have to pull out and take cover. There will be no economic prosperity in such a situation.

The governments power has to be pulled back in order to prevent officials from exploiting businesses, and also to prevent businesses from hunting for corrupt officials.

The Chinese economy has been shifting from manufacturing to services, and the asset-light model has also become trendy. Entrepreneurs expectations have become increasingly influential. In an era of globalization, nations have also been competing for the precious resources of entrepreneurs. Countries that are unfriendly to businesspeople and pinch them hard often have a difficult time making ends meet. Other countries that respect and protect entrepreneurs are often better off and prosperous. China should learn from these lessons from the world.

Protecting entrepreneurs rights is vital for a countrys fundamental interests. The government needs to respect entrepreneurs in its efforts to protect businesspeople and promote entrepreneurship. The protection should be based on legal systems that dont sway when the economy fluctuates. The government should neither indulge nor crack down on businesses as a measure of macroeconomic control.

The guideline is a precious document at the right time. The prospects for the Chinese economy will be closely related to how this guideline and its related policies can be carried out.

Hu Shuli is the editor-in-chief of Caixin Media.
Notes: This CoreLogic House Price Index report is for August. The recent Case-Shiller index release was for July. The CoreLogic HPI is a three month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA).



From CoreLogic: CoreLogic US Home Price Report Shows Prices Up 6.9 Percent in August 2017



August National Home Prices Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 6.9 percent in August 2017 compared with August 2016 and increased month over month by 0.9 percent in August 2017 compared with July 2017. ...The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 4.7 percent on a year-over-year basis from August 2017 to August 2018, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase by 0.1 percent from August 2017 to September 2017.

emphasis added

CR Note: The YoY increase has been in the 5% to 7% range for the last couple of years.The year-over-year comparison has been positive for over five consecutive years since turning positive year-over-year in February 2012.
Recently Ive spoken to a few Trump supporters who think Mr. Trump has extensive negotiating experience. They are wrong.



In general, there are two types of negotiations. There is the win-lose type (or Distributive negotiation) where one party receives more and the other party receives less. This is the common approach when buying a car or real estate, or haggling at a street market.



The other type of negotiation is win-win (or Integrative negotiation). This type is used when negotiating between a company and a workers union, with long term suppliers, negotiating agreements between international allies  and even with adversaries.



The tactics for the two types of negotiations are very different. In the first type (win-lose), bluffing, threats (like threatening to walk away), even lying are commonly used. (Sound familiar?)



The approach to an integrative negotiation includes building trust, understanding the other partys concerns, and knowing the details of the agreement  with the goal to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.



It is important to understand when each approach is appropriate. A used car buyer could use the Integrative negotiation approach, but they probably wouldnt get a very good deal.



A company could use the win-lose tactics with a workers union, but they would probably face an extended strike followed by a long period of ill-will.



This brings me to Mr. Trump. He has experience in win-lose negotiations (buying and selling real estate), but apparently little or no experience in Integrative negotiations.



Mr. Trump keeps using the tactics of win-lose in negotiating with Congress, allies and adversaries. Not only has this been ineffective (members of Congress have repeatedly called his bluffs), but it is damaging to long term relationships. Mr. Trumps use of win-lose techniques with North Korea have made him look weak and ineffective (a dotard), and have increased the risks of a major misunderstanding and possibly a war.



So, what can Mr. Trump do to be effective? First, he needs to realize he lacks the negotiating experience that is required for these types of negotiations. He needs to stop with the empty threats, bluffs, and lying. And he either needs to learn the integrative negotiation approach (and become a student of the details), or hire people with relevant negotiating experience (and remove himself from the process). All of this seems unlikely, and I expect Mr. Trump to continue using inappropriate tactics - that betray his lack of negotiating experience.
| BY Ricki Green |

Calcium and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness will join forces this year to support New York Festivals Global Awards Young Globals competition & internship program. Both agencies will partner as official corporate sponsors as well as mentors for the next generation of young creatives by providing internship opportunities to the 2017 competitions winning team.

Says Steven Michaelson, founder and chief executive officer, Calcium.The Global Award is one of the most relevant awards because, simply stated, we are a global industry. And the Young Globals are our future. It is where the next generation of talent gets to thrive and present itself. Of course, were committed to that.

Says Kathy Delaney, global chief creative officer, Publicis Health/Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness: What an honor to support the next generation of creative thinkers stepping up to the next level of creative excellence.

The Young Globals, now in its 4th year of championing young creatives, is the only college/portfolio school competition for healthcare advertising that offers students an opportunity to submit their creative work based on a challenge brief provided by the sponsoring agencies. The competition provides students with a chance to take on a truly topical issue in an attempt to earn a prestigious Global Award, as well as the experience to test drive their career in healthcare advertising. Launched to identify and recognize emerging creative talent from around the world, Young Globals introduces students to the rewards of working in the healthcare and wellness advertising industry.

Says Fran Pollaro, executive director of the Global Awards: The Young Globals provides a program for young creatives to discover the world of healthcare & wellness advertising via a test drive in the real world of healthcare agencies. No other competition provides an internship experience of this magnitude. Were extremely grateful for Calcium and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness for partnering with us this year and offering this wonderful opportunity.

The Young Globals competition is open to all college and university students, including portfolio centers, who are exploring advertising, marketing, art, design, creative writing, technology, or similar areas of creative focus.

To enter the Young Globals, students must create a speculative campaign based on a challenge brief provided by the sponsoring agencies. Students interested in exploring healthcare advertising as a career may enter either individually or as a two or three-person team.

This years creative challenge brief for the (fictional) National Opioid Addiction Prevention Council and invites student entrants to develop a unique and compelling multi-channel experience (print, social media, digital, etc.) for their project Push Back on Opioid Abuse. The challenge is to raise awareness about opioid addiction and target the audience that feels personally immune to the possibility of becoming addicted to opioids, and underestimates how quickly an addiction to prescribed opioid medications can happen.

The Young Globals award winners will receive a Global Award, have their work showcased at the 2018 award ceremony, and be given the opportunity to experience a paid internship in the summer of 2018 (minimum of one month based on their availability), at the sponsoring healthcare advertising agencies.

All entries submitted to the Young Globals will be judged by the sponsoring agencies international award-winning healthcare advertising chief creatives and their team.

The deadline to enter the Young Globals is January 31st, 2018. The entry fee is $40.00.
| BY Ricki Green |

Convict-based black comedy Bruce The Series has led a host of Australian web series in taking out 5 awards at the prestigious International Academy of Web Television Awards in Los Angeles and the Raindance Film Festival in London last week.

At the IAWTV Awards on Wednesday night, the ground-breaking web series won Best Comedy Series, along with the comedy category awards of Best Directing for Tony Rogers and Best Writing for Warwick Holt and Mat Blackwell.

It caps off a stellar week for the show after Bruce won awards for Best Ensemble Cast and Achievement In Production (to Steph Hooke and her team on costumes) at the Raindance Web Fest Awards, and was nominated for 9 Awards at the Rio WebFest, the final stage of the 2017 Web Series World Cup, where Bruce now sits at number 9 worldwide.

The show has now garnered 7 awards from 39 nominations and 16 selections at festivals worldwide, and shows no sign of slowing down. Rogers and Holt are off to Europe later this month to attend festivals in Marseille, London, Bilbao and Munich which Bruce has been selected for.

Starring Richard Davies (Offspring), Dave Lawson (Utopia) and Angus Sampson (Fargo, Mad Max), the 7-part series, available to watch free on YouTube, has crossed genres with its deadpan comedy, gruesome take on convict life, its incredible production values on a web series budget, and its tale of Australias dysfunctional first share house (a tent in Sydney Cove), and the difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship in 1788.

Says Holt: Its been incredible to see how warmly our little show about white Australias inglorious beginnings has been embraced worldwide. Winning awards in L.A. is such a thrill, and taking our convicts back to Britain verges on the surreal.

Rogers (Wilfred, Rats and Cats, How To Talk Australians), Holt (The Project, Good News Week) and Blackwell (Good News Week, The Glass House) developed the show over a ten year period and launched it late last year to critical acclaim. The show was produced by Jason Byrne (Sibling Rivalry, Sucker), and supported by Screen Australias Multiplatform Drama Fund and Film Victoria.

The team are now plotting a second season, as well as a half-hour television version.

Australian shows dominated the IAWTV Awards, winning 11 of the 29 categories between the series Bruce, High Life, Jade of Death and This Is Desmondo Ray.

Adds Holt: 2017s been a huge year for Aussies in this burgeoning new media space. It really feels like Australia is becoming the Hollywood of web series.
| BY Ricki Green |

Theres lots of World days throughout the year but World Teacher Day is one we can all relate too. Everyone has been inspired by a teacher at some time. So Magnum Opus Partners and its long-standing client Kilvington Grammar School have put together a social film that speaks not just about Kilvington as a school but about all teachers and the importance of the role they have in our lives.

The official World Teacher Day falls in Australia during school holidays and is celebrated across the world on a number of different days throughout October, so if theres anything worth celebrating for a whole month its Teachers. Magnum Opus Partners and Kilvington based the social film on a spoken word slam format, showcasing teachers and students from the school.

Says Pat Langton, creative director, MOP: This was a project very close to my heart, as the script was based on a teacher who had an inspirational impact on me. The fact that the client has allowed us to create this piece is a credit to them: its a very unusual thing for a school to do. And this tells a bigger story than just plugging the school: its all about celebrating the hard work and efforts all teachers do throughout Australia and the world.

Says Camilla Fiorini, director of marketing at Kilvington: When Pat presented the concept of the World Teachers Month video, we knew we had something special. The style is very contemporary and engaging, but more than that is the clever use of imagery, powerful and original lyrics and compelling music to remind us of the incredible job teachers do every day. It is an outstanding piece of filmmaking.

The film runs in conjunction with Kilvingtons Character Initiative Program which is based on teaching good character, ethics and virtues. The film is released today across social channels and posters were created to put up around the school.

The campaign will be rolled out across the month of October.

Agency: Magnum Opus Partners Melbourne

Executive Creative Director: Mike Allen

Creative Director: Pat Langton

Copywriters: Stephen Yolland & Pat Langton

Art Director: Johnathan Akiki

Account Manager: Alicia Yeoh

Production: Visual Domain/Magnum Opus Partners
| BY Martin Trevaskis |

Awarded Kiwi-born creative Todd McCracken has returned to New Zealand to take the joint executive creative director role at Contagion, Auckland.

Most recently McCracken was Regional Executive Creative Director for Commonwealth// McCanns Asia Pacific operations, based in Bangkok, joining in 2015 from the CCO role at Ogilvy & Mather Vietnam. Commonwealth// McCann is the agency that serves as the global advertising agency of record for the General Motors Chevrolet brand.

Originally from New Zealand, McCracken has worked in Asia Pacific for 15 years. Before Ogilvy Vietnam, where he had a five year stint, he spent three years as Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Singapore. Prior to joining Ogilvy in 2007, McCracken was Regional Creative Director at Grey based in Singapore.

At Contagion McCracken will share creative responsibilities with founder and joint-executive creative director Bridget Taylor.

Says Taylor: If Steve Jobs and Neil French had a love child, Todd would be the result. He is an extraordinary mix of business smarts and creative brilliance. His portfolio is like a Best of D&AD annual. Somehow he also found time to be the co-author of The Deck of Brilliance, an idea creation tool that has become renowned globally with marketers and creatives alike. Being a kiwi through and through, hes incredibly humble, preferring to shine the light on his clients and staff, rather than himself.
Justice Refshauge said on Monday he would cast aside any feelings of frustration at McMahon's failure to take the opportunities he'd been given and assured the offender there was "no element of malice or spite" in his decision to hand him more jail time.
The government staff will also be joined by the chief executive of the CBR Innovation Network, Peter Adamek, and one staffer each from ANU and the University of NSW, but it is unclear if the government is paying for those extras.
The pair warned any trade off in compensation entitlements would see more people injured in motor vehicle accidents through no fault of their own forced be to rely on savings, family support, welfare and the public health system.
Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper.
But Liz Molloy, a professor of work-based learning at the University of Melbourne, says education works to change the culture. She and her team in the medical school taught both the online module and the face-to-face workshops for the surgeons' college, and says the response has been positive. She didn't need to say that  the surgeons I spoke to on Monday were praised the sessions as practical, "not saccharine", "not useless". The roleplay workshops require participants to get "hot and itchy", which forces them be engaged.
"First, business for cybercriminals is booming across the nation and it is impacting all of us. Second, victims of cybercrime need to report. And finally, the best way to improve our cyber security is for government, business and individuals to work together," he will say.
The MPs told the committee relocation of federal agencies from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne might be welcome in Tasmania but would not effective redress the loss of hundreds of jobs from Human Services, the ATO, CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division since the Coalition's election in 2013.
THIS WEEK IN CAPE BRETON: Raising the peace flag, reviewing future plans for Centre 200 and more

SYDNEY  During a time of conflict around the world and with racial tensions on the rise in many parts, its clear there are those who want to find a bright, positive light wherever they can. Over the next several days, the YMCA of Cape Breton will ...
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
A man from Pennsylvania who owns an absolute gem of a 1972 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible recently had his story chronicled by Hot Rod.



In 1972, 22-year-old Jim Kevan made a trip to Grabiak Chevrolet to place an order for a 1972 Corvette ZR1. Despite having the money for the now-iconic muscle car, one of the owners of the dealership managed to convince him that the ZR1 wasnt the smartest move, citing its huge power.

Kevan eventually bought into the owners resistance and instead ordered a new 454 Corvette. Shortly after purchasing the car, Kevan attempted to purchase insurance but was given a quote of $1,200 a year, a huge figure considering the car itself cost $6,200.

Consequently, the car wasnt insured and rarely driven.

All my buddies were saying how could you have a new Corvette sitting in the garage and not drive it? And I said well I had no choice. I couldnt take a chance. I was in the midst of buying a home. We were getting married and planning a family, and I couldnt take a chance on driving without insurance, so as much as it killed me, thats why I ended up putting it in the garage, Kevan told Hot Rod.

Fast forward to 2017 and the car has just 967 miles under its belt and is almost certainly worth a small fortune.

PHOTO GALLERY
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to propose a tax which will affect supercars, luxury yachts, and precious metals.



Since taking office, the former banker has scrapped the countrys long-standing wealth tax and is set to replace it with a new tax on goods which fail to contribute to Frances economy, such as supercars.

No indication has been given as to how steep the taxes on supercars would be but they wouldnt be without precedent. In Australia, for example, the Luxury Car Tax imposes a 33 per cent levy on vehicles that cost more than $65,094, those which consume more than 7L/100 km and $75,526 for those more fuel-efficient exotics.

Speaking to The Independent, leader of the Republic on the Move parliamentary group Richard Ferrand said, The idea of the wealth tax reform was that there should not be a brake on contributors to economic production, that we suppress taxes that deter investors.

Taxing real estate wealth is compatible with this, but goods such as yachts, luxury cars or precious metals do not contribute to the productive economy either.

PHOTO GALLERY
While here in the West car plants usually shut down their operations for a few days due to parts shortage or union talks, in India a factory was closed after a wild leopard was spotted on CCTV.



The animal was seen last Thursday by the guards at Maruti Suzukis facility in Manesar, 24 miles (39km) from the capital, New Delhi, reports TheGuardian, and the decision was taken on the spot, to avoid human injury or death.

However, what should have been an easy capture turned into a 36-hour hunt inside the plant, during which the local police used raw meat and even live goats to lure it out. Despite the huge operation, the leopard remained hidden somewhere in the factory, but it eventually returned to the same spot where it was first seen, where it was tranquilized.

The wildlife team was successful in tranquilizing the leopard late afternoon. The animal has been removed from the factory, and after medical examination will be released in the wild, police deputy commissioner of Manesar, Ashok Bakshi, told AFP. No one was injured in the operation, and the area has been declared safe.

Because of the constantly shrinking forest habitats and urban expansion, human and wildlife interactions are very common in India. Its estimated that 1,144 people had been killed from April 2014 to May 2017 by animals, which represents an average of more than one a day.

On the other hand, a wild leopard is killed each day on average in India where their population is approximated at 12,000 to 14,000.

VIDEO
A fleet of Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles will be introduced by Uber in Dubai this week as the local Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) looks to increase the number of electric vehicles on its streets.



The Teslas will be available exclusively through UberOne, a service which will start with a base fare of Dh10 ($2.72) and charge an additional Dh1.9 ($0.52) per kilometer, making the service similarly priced to UberBlack. Users of the service will be given the option of either a Model S or Model X to chauffeur them, Gulf News reports.

In a statement, general manager for Uber UAE Chris Free said, We are tremendously excited to be the exclusive ride-hailing partner for this fleet of premium electric vehicles in Dubai, in partnership with Dubai Taxi Corporation, and for the clean vehicle technology to deliver out driver-partners and riders with more efficient, less-polluting mobility.

The introduction of this Tesla-exclusive Uber family comes shortly after Dubais international airport took delivery of 50 Tesla models as part of its taxi fleet.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Canadian Press

Letter to the constituents of Kelowna-Lake Country

A Fraser Institute study suggested 81 per cent of middle-income families in Canada are paying more in taxes now than they were before the last election.

Those who have read the Sept. 26 report will, however, note an essential absence in the calculations  the impact of transfer payments from the federal government to those same families, most notably through benefits like the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which has a positive effect on a familys bottom line.

As noted by Rhys Kesselman, Canada Research Chair in Public Finance at Simon Fraser University, in an interview with Global News:

A dollar in your pocket from benefit improvements is worth as much as a dollar lost in taxes. And in key areas, the benefit increases exceed the additional taxes for middle-income families.

Federal transfers such as the CCB, old age security, employment insurance, Veterans allowances, and student grants have long been the way Canadian governments  both Liberal and Conservative successfully narrowed the income inequality gap and supported families in middle and lower income tax brackets.

The tax-free CCB, for instance, has provided significant financial support to lower and middle income families, without discriminating between single-parent or dual-parent families as income splitting for families did.

In Kelowna-Lake Country, the CCB has provided $5.4 million in payments to more than 10,000 local families, supporting 17,750 children.

Such benefits are in addition to the government lowering the middle income tax rate and continuing to provide tax credits which include the GST tax credit and the working income tax benefit.

Failing to calculate lower tax rates, benefits, and tax credits into the equation may play well into a tax and spend narrative, but it does not accurately reflect the tax reductions afforded Canadians through the tax system.

As our new Governor General, Julie Payette, noted in her first speech to Parliament on Oct. 2:

"with our brains and our smarts, and our altruistic capability, we can indeed do a lot of good. And its our duty to some extent to help improve the lives of people in our community; to diminish the gap in the inequities here and elsewhere."

Our government has made it a priority to ensure the tax system does not unfairly advantage wealthy Canadians over middle and lower income families.

A fair tax system not only diminishes the income inequality gap, it supports much needed new investment in affordable housing, post-secondary education, healthcare and an improved CPP.

By supporting programs that benefit the majority of Canadians, we reinforce the values of equality and opportunity, and can continue to build the compassionate and peaceful society which we have all worked hard to achieve.

It is a mandate that the vast number of Canadians voted for in the last election.

With regard to the business tax proposals that are on many of your minds, I can assure you our community has been heard on this issue.

This has been clearly demonstrated by the significant shift in tone by the government and you have my assurance that I will continue to work with my colleagues to advocate for legislation that supports small business entrepreneurs.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Contributed A small grass fire that was quickly tackled in West Kelowna.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue responded to a grass fire Monday evening near the end of Rose Ridge Court.

At about 4:05 p.m. on Oct. 9, crews responded to a call of smoke in the Rose Valley Subdivision in West Kelowna.

Upon arrival fire crews noticed white smoke and proceeded to hike into the area locating a 20 by 20-foot grass fire and a large burning log.

"The fire was located in a well-used trail network where the Westbank First Nation, supported by West Kelowna Fire Rescue, has completed significant fuel management work over the past several years," said Darren Lee, assistant fire chief. "This fuel management work, the actions of residents and the cooling wildfire conditions helped prevent this fire from spreading."

Several residents hiked into the impacted area and attempted to put out the blaze with shovels and other hand tools prior to the arrival of fire crews.

Firefighters were able to build a hose lay from the cul-de-sac to the base of the fire.

The blaze was thoroughly doused and the log was broken apart to expose all the hot spots.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue will asses the area again in the morning. The fire has been determined to be human caused.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighbourhoods.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire trucks raced by smouldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

One of the homes that was reduced to ash had a Mercedes Benz in the garage. Two cars parked across the street were untouched.

The flames were unforgiving throughout the city, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid. One neighbourhood of older homes was scorched, leaving only brick chimneys and downed power lines.

Residents who gathered at makeshift emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

"All that good stuff, I'm never going to see it again," said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighbourhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smouldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

In the rush to leave, Okrepkie and his wife were able to gather important documents, photos and mementos, like letters from his wife's late father. Still, Okrepkie was tortured by the things he left behind, including a framed photo of his grandfather that his grandmother had carried with her for a decade after he died.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Winds have posed a challenge to firefighters in the state this year despite a relatively wet winter that followed years of drought. The fires that broke out Sunday burned "at explosive rates" because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires. What was unusual Sunday, however, was to have so many fires take off at the same time.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night.

University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels.

University spokesman Chris Cook said that campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and  upon entering the room  found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

While at the station, Cook said the suspect pulled out a gun and shot an officer in the head, killing him. The suspect then fled on foot before being apprehended a short time later.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

Additional information was not immediately available.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement about the shooting late Monday, saying "hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed." Abbott also said he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation.
Photo: Kate Harper

A couple out enjoying a fall hike and some nature photography was shocked to find an abandoned campfire still burning at Peachand Lake on Monday.

Kate Harper and her husband noticed the fire at a campsite across the lake on Thanksgiving.

"Are you kidding me!" said Harper in an email, along with photos from the campsite.

"I was taking pictures at Peachland Lake when my husband noticed some smoke across the lake. After I zoomed in with my camera, I saw the smoke, too."

The couple drove around the lake and put the fire out. They were left shaking their heads at the carelessness of whoever left the campfire burning at the empty campsite.

"What is wrong with people?" said Harper. "After the horrific summer of forest fires that the Okanagan just suffered, this makes you shake your head in disbelief."
Photo: The Canadian Press

Mexico City began demolishing on Monday the first of an estimated 150 to 200 buildings that were badly damaged by a Sept. 19 earthquake, the head of the city's construction safety institute said.

The 7.1 magnitude quake killed 369 people and completely collapsed at least 38 structures, mostly apartment buildings. About a half-dozen others partly collapsed.

But Mexico City's construction safety chief Renato Berron said hundreds of other buildings suffered serious structural damage. He said some will be repaired or reinforced, but the priority will be to demolish structures that are endangering neighbouring buildings or passersby.

"We will give priority to those buildings that are creating a risk for inhabitants, neighbours, pedestrians, drivers, and those structures that endanger neighbouring buildings ... Why? Because they are becoming a problem of public order. That's the truth," he said.

Berron said the city has begun demolishing the first three of 11 structures already approved for demolition, and that dozens more will follow in coming weeks.

He declined to say how much it would cost or how long it would take; many fear legal appeals by some residents. Berron said consensus had already been reached with the owners of the first 11 buildings to tear them down,

The tottering buildings, many of whose concrete columns shattered or were seriously cracked, have increased Mexico City's already bad traffic problems and forced more people from their apartments because of fears that a neighbouring building might collapse.
Photo: The Canadian Press Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa, Calif.

An onslaught of wildfires across a wide swath of Northern California broke out almost simultaneously then grew exponentially, swallowing up properties from wineries to trailer parks and tearing through both tiny rural towns and urban subdivisions.

Authorities said that at least 10 people are dead, with 100 injured, and as many as 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. All three figures were expected to surge in the coming days as more information is reported.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Residents who gathered at emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

"All that good stuff, I'm never going to see it again," said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighbourhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smouldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometres) away.

Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing-person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.

The reports have come via calls to a hotline the county set up for the missing, according to Scott Alonso, communications director for Sonoma County.

It's possible that many or most of the missing are safe but simply can't be reached because of the widespread loss of cell service and other communications.

Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a far larger and more developed city than usually finds itself at the mercy of a wildfire. The city is home to 175,000 residents, including both the wine-country wealthy and the working class.

The flames were unforgiving to both groups. Hundreds of homes of all sizes were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry, who now runs an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa, was forced to flee in minutes along with his wife, two daughters, and a son just over 2 weeks old.

"I can't shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barrelled down on us," Lowry said.

His family and another evacuating with them tried to take U.S. 101 to evacuate but found it blocked by flames, and had to take country roads to get to the family friends who took them in.

A 90-mile (145-kilometre) stretch of the highway is framed by the flames and a major concern overnight, said Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services.

Highway 12, which winds through the heart of wine country, was also rendered unusable by the flames.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.
Kal Tire has launched a campaign urging drivers to switch to winter tires at +7 C.

Tests show all-season tires don't have the winter gripping power of winter tires, according to the Vernon-based national company which refers to all-season tires as 'three seasons'.

Amber Balcaen, the first Canadian woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race, has been enlisted to help dispel dangerous winter tire myths.

As a professional driver, I know my experience can only get me so far, especially in rough and unpredictable winter conditions off the track. Its my tires that let my vehicle stick to the road and brake in time, said Balcaen in a press release. I wouldnt step into my race car without putting my helmet on  just like I wouldnt drive my personal vehicle in the winter without my winter tires.

Balcaen is fronting Kal Tire's new 7 Degree Switch campaign, which likens the dangers of driving on all-season tires in winter conditions to driving while texting or without wearing a seatbelt.

Having grown up in Winnipeg and experienced the worst of Canadian winters, I know what happens when youve got the wrong tires in winter, so were saying, dont be that guy'.

Kal Tire said it has invested in extensive independent tire testing to evaluate the performance of both new and worn all-season, all-weather and winter tires in Canadian winter conditions.

A company spokesperson said the evidence has been both surprising and significant: from 50 km/h, passenger winter tires stopped over six metres shorter on loose snow than all-season tires and nearly nine metres shorter on icy conditions at 30 km/h.

Having the right tires on your vehicle as temperatures fall below +7C is critical, said Geoff Wiebe, A tire expert with Kal Tire. All it takes is one episode of cold weather or snowfall to see a dramatic decrease in your tires braking and cornering capabilities."

The company refuted what it called winter myths, including:

All-season tires are safe for all seasons

Its not about the snow. Its about the temperature, said Wiebe, pointing out that all-season tires contain less natural rubber, so they stiffen once temperatures are consistently below +7C.

Mud and snow (M+S) tires are fine for winter driving

M+S tires, are not winter rated, said the company, so they do not bear the winter tire mountain snowflake symbol because they do not meet the snow traction requirements true winter tires must meet to earn that designation.

All-wheel drive (AWD), 4-wheel drive (4WD) and other electronic systems are all that's needed for safe grip and traction in winter

Whats important to remember here is these electronic systems wont have much grip to work with at a slippery intersection if your tires are 3-seasons that have gone stiff in the cold, said Wiebe.
Photo: The Canadian Press

More than a week after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history investigators are stumped about the key question: What led a 64-year-old high-stakes gambler to kill 58 people and wound hundreds of others at a country music concert?

It's an answer they may never find.

The FBI and Las Vegas police have sorted through more than a thousand leads and examined Stephen Paddock's politics, finances, any possible terrorist radicalization and his social behaviour. By Monday they had repeatedly searched his homes and interviewed his brother, girlfriend and others he's done business with.

But the typical investigative avenues that have helped uncover the motive in past shootings have yielded few clues about Paddock, a professional gambler who spent nearly every waking hour playing video poker at casinos. That closeted existence has covered the trail for investigators.

"This individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Monday, conceding he's frustrated.

The FBI has brought in behavioural profilers as they continue questioning Paddock's live-in girlfriend, Marilou Danley, about his gun purchases and what she may have noticed about his behaviour, Lombardo said.

Paddock had stockpiled 23 guns, a dozen of them modified to fire continuously like an automatic weapon inside his 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay hotel room, where he busted out two windows before opening fire on the crowd.

The sheriff changed the timeline of the shooting Monday, explaining that a security guard in the hotel's hallway responding to a report of drilling from Paddock's room. Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security officials.

The gunman had shot at aviation fuel tanks, stocked his car with explosives and had personal protection gear as part of an escape plan, authorities said Monday.

Experts say it is extremely unusual to have so few clues more than a week after a mass shooting. In past mass killings or terrorist attacks, killers left notes, social media postings and information on a computer, or even phoned police.

In this case, there was no suicide note, no manifesto, no evidence the gunman was motivated by any ideology and Paddock has no clear presence on social media, police said.
Photo: Castanet Staff

A man facing charges related to a stolen truck in Penticton, is set to appear in a Kelowna courtroom on Tuesday.

Penticton RCMP was contacted at 8:55 a.m. on Oct. 6th, for a report of a blue 2015 Dodge Ram being taken from a driveway on Fairway Avenue.

The owner had reportedly left the vehicle running and went back inside his home, coming back outside to an empty driveway.

The truck was, however, recovered two days later.

West Kelowna RCMP received reports of an unknown truck parked on a front lawn on Boucherie Road, on Sunday afternoon.

Officers found a man inside the truck, and arrested him.

The 35-year-old male with no fixed address was charged with possession of stolen property and breach of probation.

The man has been held in custody since his arrest.
Photo: File Photo

The worst kept secret in B.C.politics is now official  Todd Stone is seeking the BC Liberal leadership.

Stone, MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson, and former transportation minister in the Christy Clark government, made the announcement Tuesday morning in Surrey.

He is the youngest of the declared candidates.

Our party is craving a new generation of leadership with a fresh vision for British Columbia, said Stone. A new generation that works to help our families and communities prosper while at the same time recognizing that this is only possible by keeping taxes low and B.C.s economy strong."

Stone said families in the province need the government to work together to find solutions to make their lives better.

Tackling affordability, building better connected communities, including rapid transit, are all central to the dialogue Im looking forward to having with British Columbians over the coming months.

Stone's priorities for the province include a commitment to a major expansion of childcare and early childhood education, increasing supports for those caring for loved ones struggling with Alzheimers and other forms of dementia, working to better assist those facing mental health challenges, and reclaiming our place as a climate leader to grow jobs and the economy while also protecting our environment.

Stone is the eighth person to declare an intention to run for the leadership, left vacant after Clark's resignation.

Voting for a new leader will take place in February.
Photo: Flickr/Shakies Buddy

RCMP arrested a man who shot at a parked vehicle in Chilliwack and had a loaded sawed off shotgun and rifle in his vehicle.

A man fired a gun at the vehicle on Oct. 2 at about 11:45 p.m. in the 9400 block of Corbould Street.

Officers attended the scene and quickly linked the shooting to a suspect in a white sedan.

RCMP stopped the suspect in the sedan just after midnight on the Trans-Canada Highway in Abbotsford.

Fortunately no one was injured in the shooting, which we believe was targeted, said Cpl. Mike Rail spokesperson for the UFVRD.

A loaded sawed off' shotgun and rifle were seized by officers during the arrest.

Brodie Gregory Douglas, 24, of Abbotsford faces charges of careless use and storage of a fire arm, possession of a weapon for purpose dangerous to the public peace, assault and mischief.

The investigation remains open, said Rail.

Douglas remains in custody pending a court appearance.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact Chilliwack RCMP at 604-792-4611.
Photo: PIB Chief and council following election

The Penticton Indian Bands lawsuit against six former councillors has concluded, but a fissure remains within the community.

The ex-councillors signed over their shares on the PIB Development Corp. on Oct. 2, according to court documents related to the Sept. 21 lawsuit.

I was surprised that it came to a lawsuit. It didnt have to go this far, it didnt have to go this way, said defendant Dolly Kruger on Tuesday.

The Penticton Indian Bands six businesses are owned by the PIB Development Corp., which is controlled by the nine-member Chief and Council with two shares each. Typically, those shares are transferred to the new council after each election.

But in July, council passed a resolution transferring all shares to Chief Chad Eneas while a new management structure was developed.

Four of the defendants that were voted out of office, and two that were reelected, refused to transfer the shares, according to the lawsuit. That brought the band businesses to a halt, putting multiple business deals at risk.

I for one am definitely not against economic development for our people. I was definitely in support of all the developments that are happening, Kruger said. So when a statement comes out saying we are holding up development, well that's just not true.

Kruger has been acting as a spokeswoman for a group that has been publicly calling for a new election of Chief and Council since August.

If there is no whole new election for chief and council, I dont see it getting any better  sorry to say that  but I dont see it getting any better with this current group, she said. It should be put to the people.

Five PIB councillors, including former Chief Jonathan Kruger, have stepped down since the Nov. 2016 election. Nominations for the byelection to fill those seats will open Wednesday, with voting day on Nov. 22.

Dolly Kruger says she will be running.

Phone calls Tuesday to Chief Chad Eneas were sent straight to voicemail.
Photo: The Canadian Press Hollis Daniels (Lubbock County jail via AP)

A Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who had been booking him on a drug possession charge, telling detectives he had done "something illogical" and that "he was the one that shot their friend," an investigator said.

In an affidavit released Tuesday, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department said Hollis Daniels III confessed to killing Officer Floyd East Jr. after his recapture Monday night.

University officials said East went to Daniels' room to perform a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Authorities have not said what prompted the welfare check. East arrested Daniels and took him to the campus police station to book him.

According to Bonds, the 19-year-old wasn't handcuffed while East was processing the paperwork. Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East's body camera was also missing, but his service weapon was still holstered.

The campus was locked down for about an hour Monday night and the school's more than 36,000 students were ordered to shelter in place during the search. Daniels was recaptured following a foot chase near the police station. He had the body camera and a handgun, Bonds wrote.

It's not clear why Daniels wasn't placed in handcuffs or whether he had been searched when arrested. Police also haven't said whether they believe Daniels used his own gun or one belonging to the department. University officials did not respond Tuesday to messages seeking additional details. They scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday.

Daniels, who is from the San Antonio suburb of Seguin, is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is being held in the Lubbock County jail on a $5 million bond. Online jail records don't indicate whether he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

He's had prior run-ins with the law. Daniels was charged two years ago in Guadalupe County, which includes Seguin, with possession of drug paraphernalia, but the case was dismissed. Court records obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal show he was charged last year in Lubbock County with drug possession.

Daniels is the son of H. A. "Dan" Daniels, a well-known figure in Seguin. The elder Daniels was a city councilman from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2010, when term limits prevented him from running for re-election. He didn't immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment that were left at a family business and calls to the family's home got a busy signal.

The school's president, Lawrence Schovanec, said East's family is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community. East, 48, joined the department as a dispatcher in 2015 and became an officer in May. It was his first job in law enforcement, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Workers in Northern California's renowned wine country picked through charred debris and weighed what to do with pricey grapes after wildfires swept through lush vineyards and destroyed at least two wineries and damaged many others.

The wind-driven wildfires erupted as Napa and Sonoma counties were finishing highly anticipated harvests of wine grapes. Normally, workers would have been picking and processing ripe grapes to make chardonnay and other wines.

Instead, melted and blackened wine bottles littered the ruined Signorello Estate winery in Napa Valley. Workers at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Sonoma County posted photos of debris and haze and said they were "heartbroken" to announce that the facility had burned.

A maintenance worker watched and hoped for the best Monday as flames crept down a hillside near the Gundlach Bundschu Winery.

"It's right behind the main office. It's working its way down the hillside. What can I say? It's slowly working its way in," Tom Willis said.

The Napa Valley Vintners trade association said Monday that most wineries were closed because of power outages, evacuation orders and employees who couldn't get to work. The organization did not have firm numbers on wineries that burned or information on how the fires might affect the industry. But it said most grapes had already been picked.

About 12 per cent of grapes grown in California are in Sonoma, Napa and surrounding counties, said Anita Oberholster, a co-operative extension specialist in enology at the University of California, Davis. But they are the highest value grapes that yield the most expensive wines, she said.

She was optimistic that the fires will not affect the wines to come out of this year's harvest. Most of the grapes have been picked and of the ones still on the vine, smoke would have to be heavy and sustained to do much damage.

Even then, the damage would be limited to the fruit, not the vines. That means next year's crop should be unharmed, Oberholster said.
Photo: The Canadian Press Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland

Canada finds itself navigating the most uncertain moment in international relations since the end of the Second World War, says Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Freeland made the remark Tuesday in Washington during a panel discussion at a women-in-business summit organized by Fortune magazine. She was being asked about recent comments by the head of the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee.

In a blistering interview, Republican lawmaker Bob Corker suggested that people in the White House must constantly babysit Donald Trump to prevent chaos and he expressed fear the erratic U.S. president might cause "World War III."

Freeland refused to directly discuss Trump, but says there are many things that worry her in the world because old, successful institutions are starting to fracture. She credited post-Second World War trade bodies, as well as the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF with safeguarding more than 70 years of prosperity.

"There are a lot of things that are concerning in the world right now. I think this is probably the most uncertain moment in international relations since the end of the Second World War," Freeland said when asked about Corker's comments.

"(The postwar order) has really worked. With time it has embraced more and more people into a peaceful, prosperous world. It's been great. And that order is starting to fracture. As a result, we're seeing tensions in lots of different places."

She mentioned North Korea as one example.

Her comments come with official Washington on edge, on multiple fronts. Corker's comments have yanked away the curtain on a conversation that has been rampant in Washington for months. In private, and in off-the-record chats, numerous Republicans criticize the president and fret about instability.

One well-placed military officer aware of high-level discussions confirmed Corker's account.

He described in an off-the-record chat with The Canadian Press how senior brass work constantly to block the worst ideas from the White House for fear of escalating tensions and provoking war.

He cited three indispensable players and offered a dark prognosis of what should happen if chief of staff John Kelly, Defence Secretary James Mattis, or National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster left government: "Start panicking."
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Bryan College has been designated a VETS Campus by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission in recognition of the schools services and resources to student veterans. Bryan College is one of 22 institutions in Tennessee to have the distinction of being named a VETS Campus. Currently, Bryan College provides services to over 32 students who have previously served or are currently serving in the armed forces.

"It is an honor and a privilege for Bryan College to serve our veterans who have done so much to protect our liberties and maintain our nations freedom, said Dr. Stephen Livesay, president of Bryan College. I am delighted that we can participate in the VETS program and assist these men and women in furthering their studies and careers.

The VETS Campus designation is part of the Tennessee Veterans Education Transition Support Act of 2014. Campuses that meet the requirements must prioritize outreach to veterans and create an environment in which veteran students have the resources to thrive. Specific requirements include annual surveys of veteran students, targeted orientation programs, and mentoring and support services developed specifically for students who are veterans. THEC administers the VETS Campus program and provides the designation to campuses that meet the requirements specified by the VETS Act.

During the Thursday event at 11 a.m., Bryan College will receive a certificate from THEC recognizing the institutions designation as a VETS Campus. Speakers at the event will include Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Veterans Services, Many-Bears Grinder; Mayor of Dayton, Gary Louallen; THEC Assistant Executive Director, Tom Morris; and Bryan College President, Dr. Stephen Livesay.






The U.S. Forest Service and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga on Tuesday announced the protection of 160 acres of forested land and two high quality tributaries of the Ocoee River, the headwaters of Indian Creek and Hawkins Branch. The conservation acquisition was made possible with funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and with grants from both The Lyndhurst Foundation and The Riverview Foundation.

A YMCA surplus parcel surrounded by National Forest land was purchased by the Forest Service from YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. Proceeds from the land sale will directly support the YMCAs Capital Campaign for improvements to Camp Ocoee, located on Parksville Lake. The sale resulted in a direct contribution of $200,000 to the Campaign.

Over the past 94 years, YMCA Camp Ocoee has become known for its legacy of enriching lives, said Janet Dunn, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga.

The value YMCA Camp Ocoee brings to the community, along with the close relationship we have with the U.S. Forest Service, makes this sale a win-win. Thanks to the involvement of The Lyndhurst and Riverview Foundations, we were able to cross the finish line with this."

The conservation project was selected as part of a national, agency-wide competitive and merit-based process within the U.S. Forest Service, which prioritized the project for 2017 LWCF Critical Inholdings funding. U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker supported Tennessees request for LWCF funding and helped secure the Congressional appropriations for the program. LWCF is a bipartisan, federal program that has used a percentage of proceeds from offshore oil and gas royaltiesnot taxpayer dollarsto acquire critical lands and protect the countrys best natural resources for more than 50 years.

This property adds an additional 160 acres to Cherokee National Forest within the very important and popular Ocoee River watershed, said JaSal Morris, forest supervisor. By acquiring this total inholding, land management efforts will become more efficient, and cost effective. We are also pleased to support the YMCAs community-based mission. The land will be open for public use and enjoyment.

This project addresses the foundations mutual interests in conserving wildlife and forested and aquatic habitats, said Bruz Clark, president of the Lyndhurst Foundation and executive director of the Riverview Foundation. It will also benefit the public in numerous ways by enhancing two of our regions greatest assets  Camp Ocoee and the Cherokee National Forest. We are grateful to the U.S. Forest Service and the YMCA for this partnership and also want to thank Senators Alexander and Corker for their continued support of LWCF, which is so critical in leveraging foundation support for conservation here and across the country.






Commissioner David W. Purkey of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security and Colonel Tracy Trott of the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) announced the release of the departments lifesaving, predictive analytics software to all 95 county sheriffs offices in Tennessee free of charge. The predictive models have proven to be 70 percent accurate where alcohol, drug, and crash incidents may occur, it was stated.

Officials said, "The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Securitys predictive analytics program has delivered an improved suite of tools for those making resource deployment decisions.

The goal of the program is to reduce traffic crashes and improve crash outcomes. Historical data is used to predict how likely a particular kind of incident could occur in an area at a given time.

"Each week, current weather forecasts and upcoming events are passed through the model and the crash forecasts for the following week are generated.

"Forecasts are formed based on the date, time, and location of historical traffic crashes in combination with current weather forecasts and knowledge of upcoming events that are likely to affect traffic volume or traffic safety in a significant way. From there, data is sent to the departments Geographic Information System (GIS) Office where it is converted into interactive maps, one for each day of the upcoming week. In addition to the crash forecasts, the map contains information regarding past crashes, dates and locations of events likely to have an impact on traffic safety.

"Sheriffs offices can now use both forecast and the historical data to guide them to the places where they are likely to have the greatest impact on traffic safety.

"The tool can be used to determine when and where to conduct grant-funded activities, where law enforcement should be during unobligated patrol time, and to assist supervisors when developing enforcement plans for the upcoming week.

"A trooper or deputy sheriff can examine the area of their assignment, and conduct patrol and enforcement activities in the areas at the times when the model suggests the risk for a serious crash is highest.

"Likewise, supervisors can schedule their available resources other enforcement activities during times and in areas indicated by the model for the upcoming week."

In the fall of 2013, the Tennessee Highway Patrol began work on its first predictive model. Using techniques developed in the field of crime modeling and forecasting, the first crash model

predicts the likelihood of fatal and serious injury crashes. Using this information, troopers determined when and where to deploy based on the forecasted risk of serious crashes in their area."

The theory is that their presence can prevent a crash from occurring, or produce a better crash outcome by reducing the response time in the event that a serious or fatal crash does occur.

As traffic fatalities nationwide continue to increase, the fatality rate in Tennessee has decreased from 1.47 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2010 to 1.35 in 2016.

Furthermore, preliminary data indicates that 2015 had the second fewest traffic fatalities in Tennessee since 1963. When crashes occur, THP has reduced its average response time

by 33 percent since 2012.

Officials said, "As the department continues to push the predictive analytics program forward, we hope to find creative new uses for predictive modeling of traffic safety data, and continue to improve the safety and the lives of Tennessee citizens and the motoring public."
RXBAR co-founders, Peter Rahal, CEO, left, and Jared Smith, chief risk officer are photographerd after it was announced the company, which makes protein bars, was purchased by Kellogg for $600 million. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)

Some of the deals are staggering to contemplate  $600 million for a protein bar company started four years ago in a west suburban basement, $250 million for a popcorn brand launched in a Minnesota couple's garage, and $700 million for an organic broth maker acquired by the world's largest soup company.

Remember when food companies used to make their own new products?

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Times are tough in the packaged food industry as shoppers  millennials in particular  continue to reach for products they consider to be healthy, natural or better quality than some older brands. Faced with declining sales, large food companies are forking over fat cash for upstart brands in hopes of growing once more, while also reformulating outdated brands to be more modern.

Expect this trend of acquisitions to continue, analysts say.

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"These companies are playing catch-up, is what it is. They're trying to get on the right side of these trends.  A desperate time is leading to desperate measures," said Bob Goldin, partner at Pentallect, a Chicago-based strategic consulting firm for food companies.

Last week, Kellogg Co. announced its acquisition of Chicago-based RXBar, a fast-growing protein bar company only four years old, the latest such acquisition in the food industry over the past few years. In the weeks before that, Chicago-based Conagra Brands, maker of Orville Redenbacher's and other brands, said it would buy the maker of Angie's Boomchickapop ready-to-eat popcorn for $250 million and expected it to bring in about $100 million in sales this year.

And in July, Campbell Soup Co. announced it would buy Pacific Foods, known for its organic soups and broths.

Why can't companies that make soup and popcorn develop new kinds of soup and popcorn?

"(Packaged food executives) have acknowledged the pace of innovation from concept to shelf takes way too long and consumer trends are evolving at a much faster clip," said Erin Lash, a Morningstar analyst.

So far this year, there have been 1,065 mergers and acquisitions in the global food and beverage industry, valued at $78.4 billion, according to data from Dealogic. That surpasses last year's value of $59 billion, but still lags each of the preceding four years.

But the year isn't done. And though the recent deals have generally been smaller, Lash and other analysts said they wouldn't rule out the possibility of larger, more transformational consolidation in the food industry.

Kraft Heinz, with headquarters in Chicago and Pittsburgh, remains of particular intrigue in the food industry and could make a large acquisition in the not-so-distant future after Unilever spurned its earlier offer.

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In the meanwhile, it's good to be small. To beat out competitors and, in some cases, convince reluctant brands to sell, giant food companies are paying healthy premiums for their acquisitions, said Jared Koerten, lead analyst at Euromonitor International.

Companies like Siggi's Dairy and Noosa Yoghurt might make attractive targets for larger companies, Koerten said, as might Amplify Snack Brands, the Texas-based maker of Skinny Pop ready-to-eat popcorn.

"In general, this has been the knee-jerk reaction throughout the food industry  if you can't beat em', join 'em," Koerten said.

gtrotter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib

RELATED

[ Founded in a suburban basement four years ago, Chicago-based RXBar sells to Kellogg for $600 million  ]

[ Conagra to pay $250M for Boomchickapop, sees gains from Frontera brand  ]

[ Column: Look for Kraft Heinz, Mondelez to take part in next round of takeover battles  ]
Most men think gender bias in the workplace is less prevalent than a new study shows it is, and theyre also less likely than women to prioritize an even playing field. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune 2014)

Most men think gender bias in the workplace is less prevalent than a new study shows it is, and they're also less likely than women to prioritize an even playing field.

But both sexes tend to discount the level of discrimination that exists in corporations, especially for women of color, according to the 2017 Women in the Workplace study, conducted by McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org, the group founded by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

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The study shows that almost half of men think that women are well-represented among the company's top ranks, even though on average, only 1 in 10 senior leaders is female. Only a third of women agree.

Despite the challenging results of the study, which culled data from more than 200 companies and 70,000 employees, some executives and corporate leaders say they see positive change ahead.

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"We do see tremendous evidence that leadership is hungry for diversity," said Susan McLaughlin, a partner at executive search firm Pierce Consulting Partners and board chair of C200, a Chicago-based leadership group for women in business.

McLaughlin pointed to efforts like "Paradigm for Parity," a group formed with a goal of achieving gender parity across all levels of corporate leadership by 2030, as one of the reasons for her confidence. The group is sponsored by C200. And later this month, C200 through its new program C Ahead, will bring together 40 women who already have attained high leadership roles within their organizations to learn the skills critical to advancing in a corporate world that is often skewed toward men.

"What we're seeing is there really is a lot of support at the top of corporations," she said, highlighting the effort companies like Bank of America, Walmart and Coca-Cola are making toward gender diversity.

It's often small things that have the biggest impact, she said, like the importance of networking or being available for high-visibility projects, that help a woman ascend the corporate ranks.

Sixty-three percent of men and 49 percent of women say their company is doing enough to improve gender diversity in the workplace, according to the McKinsey study. A majority of men  55 percent  also say that disrespectful behavior toward women is often or always addressed quickly, compared with just 34 percent of women.

These perceptions are likely why fewer men consider gender diversity efforts less of a personal focus, the study's authors note. Fifty-eight percent of women consider gender diversity in the workplace a top personal priority compared with 47 percent of men.

Although women have received more college degrees than men over the past 30 years, female ranks dwindle at every step of the corporate ladder. Women earn 57 percent of U.S. college degrees but make up 47 percent of entry level hires. They're 18 percent less likely to be promoted to management, showing the biggest gender disparity is the first step, according to the study.

By the time they reach the senior vice president level, women hold only 21 percent of "line roles," or those that directly advance the business' core work, the study showed. Since most CEOs come from these types of jobs, women are at a distinct disadvantage, the authors said. For women of color, especially black women, climbing the rungs of the corporate ladder are especially difficult. Women of color tend to receive less support and slower promotion. At the C-suite level, which includes the ranks of chief executive officer, chief financial officer and similar roles, 1 in 5 is a woman and fewer than 1 in 30 is a woman of color.

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"People need to believe that a more diverse company is a better company: More productive, more creative, more collaborative, more innovative and ultimately more profitable," said Omer Molad, CEO and co-founder of Vervoe, an Australia-based online hiring assistant. "The evidence of this is everywhere, and it's compelling."

A 2015 McKinsey study found gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to outperform homogenous organizations, and ethically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to outperform.

Rich DiTieri, CEO of the Boston-based Startup Institute, said that hiring managers and executives can no longer afford to operate in silos when expanding a company's talent pool is so critical in the effort to diversify employees.

"As a white guy in tech, I know that I don't fully understand the challenges women face. But what I have seen is systemic, but easily avoidable if hiring managers make deliberate, smart choices to get out of their own way," he said. "Companies hire from the same channels that favor men  because they're busy and are looking for efficiency, but the long term gains come through more deliberate efforts."

sbomkamp@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SamWillTravel
New York  Walmart is all about online, anticipating digital sales next fiscal year will rise about 40 percent and that it will double the number of U.S. curbside locations for online grocery shoppers at its stores.

But the world's largest retailer continues to scale back new store growth in the U.S., with plans to open only 25 in its fiscal year 2019, which ends January 2019. That compares with opening 230 new U.S. stores during fiscal 2016.

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The retail behemoth is predicting net sales growth at or above 3 percent, driven by online sales and growth from existing stores for the next fiscal year.

The company reiterated its per-share earnings guidance for next year and launched a two-year, $20 billion share repurchase program.

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Shares rose more than 5 percent on the news

"No doubt we are in a transformational period of history," said Doug McMillon, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, in an address Tuesday to investors at an annual meeting in Bentonville, Ark. "Our future is looking more digital."

The retailer is armoring up online to take on Amazon.com and more traditional rivals, like Target. Walmart paid more than $3 billion for online retailer Jet last year to speed its evolution. It's been acquiring smaller players like ModCloth, Moosejaw and Bonobos. It's also deploying digital kiosks called Pickup Towers at a hundred of its stores which spit out products bought on Walmart.com. But it has an eye on expanding on groceries online, an underserved market. Walmart has fast expanded the number of U.S. stores that allow online grocery shoppers to pick up orders at the curb. Currently 1,000 U.S. locations are participating.

Walmart also is testing the idea of a new service in Silicon Valley that lets a delivery person walk into shoppers' homes with Internet-connected locks when they're not there to drop off packages or put groceries in the fridge.

The company went live with voice-activated shopping with Google in answer to Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo devices. Walmart said customers now can start shopping for more than 2 million Walmart items via Google Assistant as well as Google Express and its app. Walmart announced its partnership with Google in August.

And starting next month, returns may be getting easier. Customers can scan goods they no longer want with a smartphone and drop them off at a customer service desk. Walmart says that will take 35 seconds or less. Returns right now take about four times that, not including any wait in line.

Earlier this year, Walmart revamped its shipping program and now offers free, two-day shipping for online orders of its most popular items with a minimum purchase order of $35.

Walmart says it's critical to get shoppers to spend both online and in stores. Store shoppers who become online customers spend nearly twice as much overall. And those who use online grocery pickup buy more overall.

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But as Walmart moves into the digital space dominated by Amazon, Amazon is encroaching on the physical realm to win over more customers.

In August, Amazon closed on its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market and quickly lowered prices on key products. It also cut a deal with Kohl's that allows for the return of Amazon goods at stores in Los Angeles and Chicago, which are packaged and shipped out by workers there.

Moody's lead retail analyst Charlie O'Shea said Walmart is giving shoppers a "compelling online alternative to Amazon" and views its online sales forecast as an "impressive goal, especially on the heels of the 30 percent (growth) outlined at the 2016 investor meeting, which at the time seemed aspirational."

Walmart has increasingly linked its massive fleet of stores with online services, but the emphasis on expanding the number of stores it runs, at least in the near future, has ebbed. Walmart expects to open less than 15 Supercenters and fewer than 10 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S. next year. It opened 40 new Supercenters this year, down from 60 Supercenter openings the last fiscal year.

"The redeployment of significant capital expenditure dollars from new stores in the U.S. to online improvements and store remodels, especially the 1,000 store increase in in-store grocery pick-up locations, will help Walmart maintain its market-leading position in the US grocery segment," O'Shea said.

Walmart shares rose $3.60 Tuesday to close at $84.13.
Mindy Segal, a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef, announced in December 2015 that she would be venturing into cannabis-infused edible products for medical marijuana patients. The acclaimed chef and owner of Mindy's HotChocolate recently spoke at Taste Talks about her line, Mindy's Artisanal Edibles, created in partnership with Cresco Labs and available at licensed dispensaries across the state.

We caught up with Segal to talk about the cannabis industry, chocolate and what it means to be a compassionate person.

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Illinois law prevents anyone with a cultivation center agent card from going into dispensaries and talking to patients. You talked about giving up your cultivation center agent card up, which allowed you to produce and oversee your own product. Why did you do that?

I gave up my agent card because I felt that it was more important for me to go to dispensaries and talk to patients. It's just like being in the dining room for service and meeting my customers and connecting.

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Why was it important for you to connect with your customers?

In Illinois, we're a medical state, so it's really important to see what patients need, what they want and how the product is affecting them. I thought that it was much more important for me to be the face of the company and the brand and to connect with people  to go to the dispensaries to talk to the people and hear what they have to say and to let them hear what my philosophy is.

What kind of cannabis-infused products do you have?

I make chocolates, brittles, caramels, sucking candy and gummies. There are cookies that are not yet ready to be released. We make individual chocolates that are 50 mg and 25 mg pieces.

What is your philosophy as a chef and entrepreneur?

I wanted to bring the things that I make in my kitchen everyday to the shelves of the marijuana industry. I tried to intellectually and spiritually think about why it would be important for me to get into the industry and the best conclusion that I could come up with is that it's just really kind of like an extension of what I do every day as a chef  I make people happy. I provide a service for people. I create food for people.

How do you feel about being in the cannabis industry?

I felt like I'm justified in doing this because I'm doing the same thing (I did as a chef) and not only am I doing it, but I'm helping people at the same time. People feel relief. I find that when I (have) talked to patients, I've done good with that part, which is why I go speak in dispensaries.I think it's really important to connect. It's all intertwined. I feel okay about (doing this work). I spoke to my parents about it, I spoke to my husband, they gave me the green light and said, "go for it." As long as I got my inner circle's approval, I felt like, let's shake it up a bit and do it.

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What's your approach in creating these products?

There's the technical side, the lab side, and then there's the creative side, or the chef's side. The whole idea was to create a brand that was chef-focused before it was anything else, then being consistent every time in terms of dosing. The way that we do that is work(ing) closely with chefs and labs. We wanted to create a product that tasted just like my product (at HotChocolate), so we've taken the terpene profile (the aromatic oils flavoring cannabis) out and it's just as straight as THC as the law will allow us within the realm of plus or minus. I feel that we've done that. My product is pretty consistent but for me, it comes down to what the product is first, and then dosing it. We create the product and then we learn how to dose it within the realm of the recipe, not vice versa.

How has this changed you as a chef?

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

Even though I was extremely compassionate before I even started in this industry, I am so much more compassionate. I'm for (patients) and for the advocacy of legalizing this product. I just totally believe that there's nothing wrong with cannabis and it should be used medicinally for sure, and it should also be used recreationally. There's no reason why it shouldn't.

I feel like (getting into the cannabis industry) made me grow as a human being, to understand people's needs. I've dedicated my life to providing people with something, whatever it may be  a cookie, a bagel, a chocolate with 50 mg of THC in it. I feel like it's what I do. It's who I am and I'm damn proud.

What's next?

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Right now, the edibles are available in Illinois and in dispensaries. But we are working diligently to be in California by the beginning of next year and then Nevada, Washington state, Pennsylvania, everywhere. I'm looking forward to expanding my brand and creating a much more creative line in the recreational space. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to expanding my brand to other states. I'm excited. I hope my brand becomes well-known, out there in the world.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

gwong@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GraceWong630

[ Chef Mindy Segal to make marijuana-infused edibles for medical pot patients  ]

[ HotChocolate chef Mindy Segal has grown wiser, but is no less fiery  ]






It's been 15 long years in the United States without the Mars Bar, but now the sweet confection is back in the American marketplace just in time for Halloween. But how does this iconic nougat- and almond-filled milk chocolate bar stack up?



First of all, we must disclose: The American Mars Bar is different from the popular overseas confection. In Europe, the Mars bar contains nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate, like the American Milky Way. When it was in the U.S., the Mars bar consisted of nougat and toasted almonds. The Mars Bar, despite being the namesake of Mars Inc., has a spotty history stateside. It was pulled off the market in 2002 in favor of the Snickers Almond, and though it popped back up in stores for a brief period of time in 2010, it hasn't been on store shelves again since then.



But now, Ethel M. Chocolates, a Nevada-based subsidiary of Mars, Inc. has brought the Mars Bar back to store shelves. But how does it stack up to the Mars bars of yore and overseas? It turns out... pretty well!



Seven Daily Meal editors tried the confection and gave it rave reviews. The nougat was described as "light, airy, and not too sweet." The light crunch of the toasted almond was appreciated for its texture and reminded several editors of a delightful Easter basket treat. All in all, the relaunched American Mars Bar was a hit with our staff!



Want to try it for yourself? The Mars Bar is available for purchase at all Ethel M Chocolates retail stores, online at EthelM.com, Amazon.com, and select Cracker Barrel stores across the U.S. If you're feeling really nutty, check out more candy bar facts as you munch on a Mars Bar.
Three women accused Harvey Weinstein of raping them in a story published by The New Yorker Tuesday, significantly intensifying the scandal surrounding the disgraced movie mogul. A representative for the mogul vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the magazine.

The expose, published online Tuesday, detailed allegations not just of sexual harassment but of three incidents involving rape. Actress Asia Argento and a former aspiring actress named Lucia Evans went on the record to allege Weinstein forced himself on them sexually. A third woman spoke anonymously.

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Evans, then a senior at Middlebury College, said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at the Miramax offices in Tribeca. She had been brought in for a casting meeting with Weinstein. Argento, an Italian film actress and director, said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999.

"I know he has crushed a lot of people before," Argento told the magazine. "That's why this story  in my case, it's twenty years old, some of them are older  has never come out."

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Attorneys for Weinstein did not immediately return messages Tuesday. The New Yorker quoted Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister responding that "any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein."

"Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual," said Hofmeister. "Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."

The story, written by Ronan Farrow, claimed that thirteen women have said Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015. The incidents described range from unwanted groping to forced sex. Some of those incidents overlap with the eight allegations of sexual harassment previously reported by The New York Times, all of which resulted in financial settlements.

But they also go much further. In the article, Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino are among those who claim Weinstein sexually harassed them. Arquette described a 1990s incident at a Beverly Hills hotel in which Weinstein tried to make her give him a massage and then attempted to lead her hand to his penis. Afterward, the actress told the magazine, "He made things very difficult for me for years."

Representatives for the actresses did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The Italian news agency ANSA said it contacted Argento about the story, and said she responded with a text message that read: "It's all true, everything is written in the New Yorker. Now leave me in peace."

The New Yorker also reported that 16 former and current executives and assistants at The Weinstein Co. and Miramax either witnessed or knew of Weinstein's unwanted sexual advances. "All sixteen said the behavior was widely known within both Miramax and the Weinstein Company."

Representatives for The Weinstein Co. didn't immediately respond to messages.

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The New Yorker also revealed an audio recording made by the New York Police Department in 2015 in which Weinstein says he groped a model named Ambra Battilana Guitierrez. At the time, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced that an investigation didn't support criminal charges.

Weinstein was fired Sunday by the Weinstein Co., the studio he co-founded, three days after a bombshell New York Times expose alleged decades of crude sexual behavior on his part toward female employees and actresses, including Ashley Judd.

Weinstein responded to the report in a lengthy, rambling statement in which he pleaded for a second chance and apologized for the pain he had caused.

Since his firing, much of Hollywood has reacted with disgust and outraged, including Meryl Streep, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney. Congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have given charities thousands of dollars in donations they had received from Weinstein.

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Ben Affleck wrote in a statement Tuesday. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to others.

"We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters. We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behavior when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power," said Affleck, who won an Oscar for co-writing the Miramax-produced film "Good Will Hunting."

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Weinstein has not publicly commented since Thursday.

RELATED STORIES:

Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie join flood of allegations against Harvey Weinstein

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Late-night TV hosts offer jokes and disgust about Harvey Weinstein's 'monstrous behavior'

A-list floodgates open on Harvey Weinstein scandal as Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and others speak out

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Harvey Weinstein accuser Lauren Sivan: 'I could not believe what I was witnessing'

Meryl Streep, who famously referred to Harvey Weinstein as 'God,' calls harassment reports 'disgraceful'

Weinstein sexual harassment controversy exposes Hollywood's double standard

Film producer Harvey Weinstein ousted from Weinstein Co.







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Dear Amy: My parents and my wife's parents both live 20 minutes from us. Both sets of parents purposely moved to be close to us. Both sets of parents tell people how often they see their grandkids, which is simply not true.

My mom speaks as if she sees them multiple times a week, but she generally only sees them about once a month. She does watch my niece three days a week, but she speaks as if all of her grandkids fall into that category.

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My wife's parents see me, my wife and our two kids about twice a month, but they have told others it is "all the time," and when we meet, they basically ignore the kids.

The reason I am bothered by this: They're all getting credit for "helping us out" and I am sick of hearing how lucky I am to have such wonderful grandparents for the past 12 years. This has actually caused us to lose help from extended family when they visit, since they think we are given so much help from our folks.

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Is there a nice way to tell them that the story they are selling is fiction? We really do love our parents. We simply want them to help out the way they claim to already.

 Sad Dad

Dear Dad: Your problem is predicated on the notion that your parents and in-laws are supposed to help you. You claim that their exaggeration discourages other family members from helping you during their visits.

How much help do you and your wife require with your two children?

Your mother is already providing regular childcare with one of her grandchildren. If you would like for her to increase her efforts, perhaps you could ask her outright if she could double up on those days and watch your kids too. Or maybe they would be willing to host your children for an occasional overnight. Have you asked?

I'm suggesting that if you aren't getting what you want, then you should ask for it, nicely. Have you done this, or are you expecting them to intuit that this is what you want from them?

The way to correct their exaggeration of the role in your kids' lives is to have a private conversation and tell them that you love them, but this bothers you.

You could try harder to fold these grandparents into your family by inviting them to spend time with you, to attend school events and to basically be with you when you don't really want anything from them.

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but you and your children are probably lucky to have grandparents close at hand, even if their effort is disappointing. It would be unfortunate if you only realized this in retrospect, after they were gone.

Dear Amy: I am 65. I met a wonderful woman. We were planning on getting married on the beach in Hawaii at my brother's time share, and then celebrate with family later.

I have four kids who say they want to be there when we say our vows. They cannot afford to go. I told them that this is not our first marriage we are both widowed  and we just want a small thing in Hawaii, and then to celebrate with them afterward.

My one daughter is getting married next month, and she said, "How would I like it if we went off and got married and then came back to celebrate?"

I feel that this is her first wedding, and it is a big celebration. We don't want a big wedding. We just want a small celebration. Should we say our vows in Hawaii or should we save it for home?

 Concerned Father

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Dear Father: You should have the wedding you want to have (and so should your daughter).

However, while I don't usually advocate for the tail wagging the dog, given how many adult children don't welcome a parent's second spouse into their lives, perhaps you should be honored by their enthusiasm. Maybe you could plan a small ceremony and brunch in your home with children and spouses, and then catch your flight to Hawaii for your honeymoon.

Dear Amy: "Lucky Sibling" wanted to give their siblings cash gifts. Your response  "When you give, you also have to let go"  reminded me of a favorite quote from Dr. SunWolf:

Ask Amy Daily No-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning. For a limited time, sign up for the Ask Amy newsletter and get the book Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from Americas Favorite Advice Columnist for $5. >

"The paradox of gifts: I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received."

 Gifted

Dear Gifted: Very wise.

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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Amy Dickinson, c/o Tribune Content Agency, 16650 Westgrove Drive, Suite 175, Addison, Texas, 75001. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)

COPYRIGHT  2017 BY AMY DICKINSON

DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

RELATED STORIES:

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It's becoming difficult, alas, to ignore the chasm in quality between Edward St. Aubyn's quintet of autobiographical novels and the rest of his fiction. That goes for his new book "Dunbar," a flimsy, antic, disappointing adaptation of "King Lear." Like a meteorite, it contains trace elements of its fiery origins, trace elements of brilliance; but it arrives to us inert, just barely smoking.

Its protagonist, Henry Dunbar, is a Rupert Murdoch figure, a smart idea for a contemporary Lear, billionaires having become, in the age of late capitalism, our transnational monarchs. Like Murdoch, Dunbar arose from modest colonial splendor (his inheritance from his father: the Winnipeg Advertiser) and through sheer morality-neutral force of will built a global empire. As the book begins, he is angrily plotting to wrest control of it back from his cunning elder daughters. With an alcoholic comedian named Peter, he escapes the luxe retirement home where they have sequestered him and starts to totter toward his half-formed vision of simultaneously retaking his kingdom and reconciling with Florence, the book's Cordelia.

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"Dunbar" is part of a series of contemporary novels based on Shakespeare's plays and published by Hogarth Press, and it's easy to see why the editors there chose St. Aubyn for Lear. His five Patrick Melrose novels are, in the first place, a chronicle of hideous family discord, and, in the second, an astonishment, clear, clever, vivid, agonizing  one of the few indisputable literary masterpieces of our era.

They are based on St. Aubyn's own aristocratic British family. His father was a sadist, not just physically and sexually abusive but seemingly unconflicted about it. ("He had a small canvas, but he was as destructive as he could be," St. Aubyn once said. "If he'd been given Cambodia, or China, I'm sure he would have done sterling work.") His wife was one of his victims, a matter of precisely zero comfort to her son. The five novels record the ways  hard drugs, love and finally the passage of time  that St. Aubyn's proxy, Patrick Melrose, attempts to use to transcend the evil of his childhood. They're extremely funny, sadly wise and subtly beautiful, in touch with the finest shades of human pain and human hope.

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"Dunbar" has neither the same sensitivity nor the same richness. Take Dunbar's daughters, Abigail, Megan and Florence, the characters that most plainly expose the book's shortcomings. Abigail and Megan are mere psychopaths, farcically violent, both in need of "ever-escalating doses of perversion to stimulate their jaded appetites." (There's an early glimpse of lost opportunity when Abigail says, "He always told us not to be sentimental about business"  a Dunbar ground down by his own theories of the marketplace would be infinitely more interesting than one beset by two harpies in a private jet.) Florence is correspondingly one-dimensional, a noble cypher, a "passionate advocate of workers' rights, environmental concerns and high standards of journalistic integrity."

The book's best passages come when St. Aubyn is alone with his central character, particularly when he takes up the play's engagement with the crosslines of man, nature and madness. Dunbar, on his wanderings, looks up: "The leafless trees, with their black branches stretching out hysterically in every direction, looked to him like illustrations of a central nervous system racked by disease: studies of human suffering anatomised against the winter sky."

But there are too few moments like this. Our idolatry of Shakespeare can feel overblown until you encounter an adaptation like this; every competition is lost as it's begun. St. Aubyn jettisons a great deal of Lear's mercilessly efficient plot, yet "Dunbar" still feels overstuffed with secondary characters. Peter, Dunbar's fool, gushes with madcap verbiage ("Is there ever anything to get unduly worried about  when there are so many things to worry about duly?"), which only serves to prove that if you try to be as witty as Shakespeare, you're going to lose. These flaws converge in a businessman named Steve Cogniccenti, the kind of empty character that shows with devastating clarity how either unequal or indifferent St. Aubyn is to the task of this book.

It seems more and more evident that his real gift is above all for the autobiographical. The Melrose novels are so raw and private that they don't just withstand St. Aubyn's reflexive upper-class acidity, they benefit by it. His other fiction has all rejected, or been incapable of, such counterpoise, wallowing in its acidity to the exclusion of any true depth. It's the opposite of Shakespeare, our great invisible genius, slipping quicksilver into every character, animating each, however briefly, with life. St. Aubyn has had to work hard enough just to keep Patrick Melrose alive. It's enough that he did that.

Charles Finch's latest novel, "The Inheritance," will be published in paperback later this month.

'Dunbar'

By Edward St. Aubyn, Hogarth, 256 pages, $25






People cross North Avenue at Damen Avenue in Chicago in late September 2017, on a day when high temperatures reached into the 90s. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

The Midwest is safe from hurricanes and drought-driven wildfires. But that does not mean the region and its roads and bridges are free from the threat of climate change, a new study warns.

Higher temperatures and unusually heavy rain events in the Midwest spell trouble for transportation and infrastructure systems, according to a study released Tuesday by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute. The group is a division of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank whose members include representatives from the construction industry and labor unions.

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"Rising temperatures and the likelihood of more storms and flooding reduce the lifespan of roads and bridges, could cause railways to buckle, and threaten above-ground energy facilities and transmission lines," said study author Mary Craighead, transportation policy analyst with the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, in a statement. "Without critical maintenance and modernization of these systems, everything from freight and commuter routes to our region's overall economic value as a net distributor of electricity could be jeopardized."

The report noted that the region's average air temperature has risen by 4.5 degrees since 1980. The Midwest also has seen more electricity outages, a 27 percent increase in the number of "very heavy precipitation days" between 1958 and 2007, a reduction in Great Lakes ice coverage and more frequent freeze-thaw cycles  all of which can affect roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

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Metra has reported that extreme weather has taken a toll on its budget. Officials for the suburban rail service have cited weather conditions, such as this year's flooding in Lake County and very hot days that can cause track misalignment, as part of the cause of increased worker overtime. The CTA also has reported having to inspect for "sun kinks" on rail tracks during hot days.

The institute study notes that increased heat can reduce the life of asphalt and add stress to expansion joints for bridges and highways. Flooding also can weaken structural supports for bridges, promote deterioration of soil that supports roads, tunnels and bridges and increase a buildup of sediment in waterway channels. More frequent freeze-thaw cycles add stress to pavement, which can cause potholes. Droughts, such as the one that hit the Midwest in 2012, can hurt water traffic.

The study concludes that infrastructure is "grossly underfunded" to meet the maintenance and growth needs of the nation. Even without accounting for adaptations for climate change, the funding gap between needs and revenues between 2016 and 2025 is over $2 trillion for national infrastructure systems, the study said, citing the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The study recommended that local, state and federal governments take action to help minimize the effects of weather in the future on transportation and electricity systems.

The administration of President Donald Trump, who has said that he disagrees with the scientific consensus that humans play a role in changing the climate, has rescinded Obama administration requirements that federal infrastructure construction account for climate change and sea-level change.

"I think it's incredibly unfortunate that we're still having this debate over climate change to begin with," Craighead said in an interview. "We've seen it happening, scientists have told us it is happening and we need to move forward."

Some state and local governments have taken their own action on climate change. Minnesota and Michigan lead the region in adequately preparing their systems for climate change, the study said. The study also gave credit to the Illinois Department of Transportation, along with the transportation departments in Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota, in pursuing programs to manage assets and identify vulnerabilities in response to climate change.

The Chicago Department of Transportation said it looks at climate change as a factor in the planning process, spokesman Mike Claffey said. For example, in its study of improvements for North Lake Shore Drive, the city plans to address the potential effects of more severe weather by strengthening shoreline protection and upgrading stormwater management, for instance, Claffey said.

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Another step governments can take is to consider changes to design standards for infrastructure to account for worsening heat and flooding, Craighead said. She said new infrastructure must stand up to future use.

"When we do get money for infrastructure and we're investing in it, we need to make sure climate change factors are taken into account," Craighead said.

mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @marywizchicago






A Cook County sheriff's vehicle is parked at part of the scene of a shooting in the 7900 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue on Oct. 8, 2017, in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

A decision by Illinois' highest court could mean the Cook County sheriff's office will have to reimburse millions of dollars in back pay to more than 250 fired deputies or turn to the state legislature for help, officials say.

Sheriff Tom Dart's office is weighing its options after the Supreme Court declined in late September to review a "potentially disastrous" appellate court ruling that calls into question nearly four years of hiring and firing by Dart's merit board, a sheriff's official said.

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"We ... are exceptionally concerned that some of these individuals, who committed egregious misconduct, will seek reinstatement," Dart's policy chief Cara Smith told the Tribune.

An attorney for one fired correctional officer said the court ruling means Dart will not only have to re-hire the fired officers with back pay but will be legally barred from trying to fire them again for the same offenses.

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"My interpretation is that he is absolutely, 100 percent barred from re-trying any officer (before the merit board)," said attorney Christopher Cooper, whose client Joel Mireles was fired for using excessive force against a jail inmate in 2012. "The sad part is everyone has to be rehired because of Sheriff Dart's obstinance. Tom Dart knew he had an illegally constituted board years ago. He created this situationand now some bad apples are once again going to hold a badge."

At issue is whether an error in the appointment of a merit board member voids four years of the panel's hiring, firing and promotion decisions. It was at the center of fired Officer Percy Taylor's 2013 lawsuit over his ouster. In the end Taylor prevailed, with a Cook County judge reversing his dismissal and ordering the sheriff to pay back wages.

The sheriff appealed the decision to a higher court. But the state appellate court agreed with the lower court's decision, finding that the firing was invalid because the merit board was "illegally constituted" at the time of Taylor's ouster in 2012. The appellate court ordered a new hearing for Taylor before a properly appointed board.

In its decision, the appellate court laid out the problems with the board at the time of Taylor's 2012 firing: A year before, then-merit board member John Rosales was appointed to a one-year term even though Dart and the Cook County Board did not have the authority to appoint him to anything less than a six-year term. What's more, Rosales was never reappointed but remained on the tribunal, whose duties include holding disciplinary proceedings, and joined in its decisions until 2015, according to court records. He left the board that year after being appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner to a four-year term on the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Dart's office appealed the decision to the state's highest court. But on Sept. 27, the Illinois Supreme Court declined without comment to hear an appeal by Dart's office. That means the appellate court's ruling stands.

So now the sheriff's office is trying to determine what the ruling means for the rest of the board's decisions during that four-year period.

Smith said it could open the litigation floodgates that could mean the reinstatement of more than 250 sheriff's deputies and other officers who were fired for misconduct between 2011 and 2015.

If that happens, Dart's office said, it could cost taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and back pay.

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Among the former officers whose firings could be reversed is Rico Palomino, who was caught on video sucker-punching a jail detainee in the face unprovoked in 2012. A Cook County judge convicted Palomino on felony official misconduct and aggravated battery counts in 2015, the same year Palomino was fired by the merit board. Palomino could not be reached for comment.

The ruling also theoretically could call into question any officer hirings or promotions made during that period since the merit board approves them, Smith said.

"We're very disappointed because it will have significant impact on operations and on taxpayers," Smith said. "Our most significant misconduct goes to the merit board. All of those decisions are now in flux."

Concerned his legal chances are apparently dashed, Dart is consulting with the Cook County state's attorney's office, which represented the department as the case was appealed, about what to do next, including a possible legislative fix, Smith said.

The office earlier this year backed legislation that would have grandfathered in decisions made by the prior board and made the sheriff solely responsible for disciplinary action. The bill, which also would have dismantled the current seven-member board and replaced it with a five-member board, unanimously passed the state Senate but was never called in the House.

Dart's office is looking at whether it will again push the measure next session.

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The office also is considering abolishing the merit board completely. "This is uncharted territory," Smith said.

For now, there is a new round of litigation. Not long after the appellate court ruling last spring, a former jail guard filed a lawsuit challenging his firing the merit board. The lawsuit filed in Cook County circuit court by Joseph Acevedo, which his attorneys are seeking to have certified as a class action, asks a judge to order that dozens of fired officers be reinstated and given back pay. Acevedo had been a correctional officer for nearly 16 years when he was fired in 2015 for allegedly wracking up too many unapproved absences in 2012 and 2013.

Smith said the office will fight class-action certification and argue any cases should be heard individually. Acevedo's attorneys said in a release announcing the lawsuit that the case could involve damages of some $15 million.

sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
Police tape sits on a vehicle at the scene of a shooting in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

A Bridgeview man who was critically injured in a Chicago shooting early Monday has died, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Adam Furtick, 34, of the 8800 block of South Harlem Street, was found in a vehicle around 1:15 a.m. in the 4300 block of West 79th Street in the Southwest Side's Scottsdale neighborhood.

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He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, police said.

Furtick was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:15 a.m. later that morning.
The Navy Band from Naval Station Great Lakes marches in the Columbus Day Parade on State Street in downtown Chicago on Oct. 9, 2017. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)

The banner on one float read Building A Better Image, but that message did not resonate with everyone at Mondays Columbus Day Parade.

The majority of the crowd lining State Street in the Loop greeted the afternoon parade with cheers, many waving Italian flags, but a small number of protesters instead confronted marchers with signs like Genocide is nothing to celebrate.

Over the weekend, a man was arrested and charged with defacing the Christopher Columbus statue in Chicagos Little Italy neighborhood early Saturday. The statue was cleaned Saturday, and Monday morning, a Chicago Park District crew did another thorough cleaning of the statue and the area around it.



Parade floats, marching bands and at least a dozen Italian cars and motorcycles made their way down the street despite the small protest. Among those in attendance was Frank DeSimone, mayor of Northwest suburban Bensenville, who said he was there to celebrate and represent his town.

Im Italian-American myself and its my first parade as a mayor, DeSimone said. Im taking part in my heritage.

The parade in Chicago came as several cities across the nation instead recognized Indigenous Peoples Day on the same date. Cities including Los Angeles and Seattle opted to replace Columbus Day after activists argued that Columbus began a violent colonization instead of the discovery of a new continent.

Protesters tied the vandalism of the Columbus statue to controversies that have led to statues of Confederate soldiers and officials statues being removed in cities across the nation.

I didnt find out until high school that Christopher Columbus didnt discover America and that he killed people, said Kyle Johnson, 25, one of the sign-wielding protesters at the parade. Its different from the Confederates but pretty much the same. Both enslaved people.

As someone who is part Native American, Johnson said he wanted to teach children watching the parade the truth before high school.

Latanya Vaughan, 37, was neither protesting nor celebrating, but merely watching the parade on her lunch break.

Its very similar (to the Confederate statues), Vaughan said. Any symbol of Christopher Columbus should be taken down.

DeSimone hesitated to compare the opposition to Columbus to the movement against the Confederate monuments, but he did condemn the statue vandalization in Little Italy.

People have a right to express themselves, but not when they damage property, DeSimone said. I dont know if theyre the same, but theres a time and place for expression."

mkloub@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @LessIsMoh
Chicago police released video on Sept. 8, 2017, of suspect Chad Estep, who allegedly pushed a man onto CTA tracks Aug. 1 as he was waiting for a Blue Line train downtown. The man was not seriously injured. (Chicago Police Department) (Chicago Police Department)

The attack at a Loop CTA station was the stuff of public-transit nightmares: a man waiting on a train platform eyed a nearby stranger, came up behind him and shoved him onto the tracks below.

The assailant tried to block the victim from climbing back onto the platform, but seconds before a train pulled up to the station, he managed to scramble to safety with the help of others.

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On Tuesday, more than two months after the frightening attack at the CTA Blue Line's Washington Street station, the unlikeliest of defendants  a recent doctoral graduate in neuroscience from Northwestern University  stepped into a courtroom to face charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery in a public place.

Chad M. Estep, 34, a slight, bearded man wearing a purple plaid shirt, was blank-faced and silent as he stood before a judge who held that he would have to pay $20,000 to bond out. Moments earlier, Estep's lawyer had said his client couldn't post more than $5,000.

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A motive remained a mystery, but Cook County prosecutors said Estep appeared intoxicated on surveillance footage, leaning against a pillar as he watched the victim moments before the attack.

It didn't appear that any family members showed up at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for Estep, who lives with his wife in an apartment in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

Estep completed the doctoral neuroscience program at Northwestern in March, according to school spokesman Bob Rowley. His LinkedIn page said his work on his Ph.D. was "to understand the cause and progression of Parkinson's disease."

Alan Lewis, a classmate at Northwestern who co-authored papers with Estep, said he didn't spend time with Estep outside the university lab but that Estep got along well with his classmates.

"He was a bright guy and a hard worker," said Lewis, who now works at Yale University. "This certainly is unexpected."

Estep graduated with honors from Michigan State University in zoology in 2006, according to an online copy of his resume.

Estep's wife and his father both declined to comment on the arrest when reached by phone.

The attack occurred late on Aug. 1 when Ben Benedict, 46, was waiting for a Blue Line train at the Washington station after watching a Cubs game, according to police.

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Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said Estep came up behind Benedict and shoved him onto the tracks with both hands, knocking him perilously close to the electrified third rail.

Estep then tried to block Benedict from getting back onto the platform  and even tried to stop others at the station from assisting Benedict, she said.

Benedict finally climbed to safety just seconds before a train arrived, Antoinetti said, while Estep managed to escape on foot.

Police did not issue an alert after the attack. Video and a photo of a suspect were not released until the Chicago Tribune approached police about a month later. The surveillance video showed a man jumping the turnstile at the subway station but did not show the attack.

Police detectives were able to arrest Estep with the help of someone he knows who had knowledge of the incident, according to Anthony Guglielimi, the department's chief spokesman.

Guglielmi said this "associate" contacted police around the time the department released the video.

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At the bond hearing, prosecutors said police received several anonymous tips on the identity of the suspect after the surveillance photos were publicly released.

Police obtained Estep's cellphone records that corroborated he was in the area of the Blue Line station at the time of the attack, according to prosecutors.

Estep was arrested at his home shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, police said.

Benedict later identified him in a police lineup, according to prosecutors.

Estep's attorney, Vadim Glozman, tried to cast doubt on prosecutors' story Tuesday, calling the surveillance images unclear.

"The allegations put forth by the state are extremely serious, and there's as far as I can see, very minimal evidence against Mr. Estep," Glozman told reporters after the bond hearing.

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In court, Glozman identified Estep as data analyst "who's just starting off his career."

He has no history of violence, the lawyer said.

Judge Michael Clancy ordered Estep held on $200,000 bond. He would have to post $20,000 to win his release.

The victim of the attack told the Tribune on Tuesday he would have no comment on the arrest.

"Due to the ongoing investigation, I will not be making any further statements regarding the incident on the Blue Line," Benedict said. "I will not be returning any phone calls or emails, nor will I be providing any interviews."

In September, Benedict said he was standing near the edge of the platform when he felt a hard jab to the back and tumbled to the tracks 5 feet below. He said he stopped a foot short of the electrified third rail.

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He looked down the tracks but didn't see a train approaching. He then looked up and saw the man who apparently had pushed him staring at Benedict with a blank look on his face.

"It was like a lion looking at his prey, that's kinda what it looked like to me," he said.

Breaking News As it happens Stay informed. News when you need it. Get our news alerts in your inbox. >

Benedict tried to get onto the platform, he said, but the man kept blocking his way, pointing his finger at him. When Benedict yelled for help and people tried to come to his aid, the man tried to keep them away until they were able to form a circle and help Benedict off the tracks.

The police did not initially issue an alert, saying it was thought to be an isolated incident. But Benedict said he was concerned the man might do the same thing to someone else.

"And if he needs help, we need to get him off the street," Benedict said at the time.

Chicago Tribune's Rosemary Regina Sobol contributed.

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mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

kdouglas@chicagotribune.com

jgorner@chicagotribune.com
Two people were killed in a car crash in west suburban Lyons Monday evening, officials said.

The two-vehicle crash happened at 44th place and Illinois 171 around 6:20 p.m., according to Lyons police.

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One of the victims was identified by the Cook County medical examiner as Vincent J. Neri, 62, of the 10100 block of Belven Avenue in Melrose Park.

He was pronounced dead at 7:07 p.m. on Monday.

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The second victim has not been identified.

Illinois 171 was closed Monday evening from Plainfield Road to 47th Street, the release said.

Check back for updates.
In 2015, 63 percent of Chicago Public Schools high school graduates immediately enrolled in a two- or four-year college, a substantial increase from a decade ago, according to a new report from the University of Chicago's Consortium on School Research.

The 13-percentage-point increase from 2006 was driven in part by a growing number of students enrolling in four-year colleges, researchers found. But the enrollment rate gains were not shared equally by African-American and Latino graduates in 2015, according to the study. Race-based gaps in immediate college enrollment that year "were much wider in Chicago than gaps seen nationally," the report said.

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The district's overall 63 percent college enrollment rate lagged behind a national average of 69 percent, researchers said. Graduates who attended low-income high schools nationally had an immediate college enrollment rate of 54 percent, the study said.

The percentage of CPS ninth-graders the consortium estimated would earn a bachelor's degree within a decade of starting high school last year didn't change from the estimate a year earlier. Researchers again estimated, based on data from 2016, that 18 percent of CPS ninth-graders would graduate from a four-year college within 10 years of starting high school. That projection includes students who first enroll in a community college after leaving high school or delay starting higher education.

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Still, when combined with other academic factors including the number of freshmen believed to be on track to graduate from high school, researchers believe the college graduation statistics will continue to improve.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

"Increasing college enrollment, taken together with recent increases in CPS students' Freshman OnTrack rates, ACT scores, and high school (grade point averages), suggests the number of CPS graduates attaining a bachelor's degree will rise over time," consortium deputy director Jenny Nagaoka said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the consortium said its conclusions about college enrollment patterns could have big implications. Researchers noted that the "focus on students' immediate transition masks the range of college enrollment experiences," because many students enter college well after finishing high school.

For example, the consortium said close to a fifth of CPS graduates in 2009 enrolled in a college program within six years of leaving the district. And roughly a quarter of that year's graduates who immediately enrolled in a four-year colleges eventually transferred down to a two-year program.

"These findings suggest that if we only pay attention to the students who make the immediate transition to college after high school graduation, and if we assume that these students stay in their institutions, we are losing sight of, and insights about, a sizable number of students," the report's authors said.

jjperez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @perezjr

RELATED

[ CPS finalizes revised budget with more money for charters  ]

[ CPS agrees to drop civil rights lawsuit against state  ]






A body was found Tuesday afternoon in Lake Michigan near Montrose Beach, according to police.

The Chicago Police Marine Unit was called to the beach just after 3:40 p.m., where a body had been found, according to police.

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The body may be that of someone who Chicago police and fire crews began searching for near 5100 North Simonds Drive, in Lincoln Park, just before 11:30 a.m., authorities said.

The Marine Unit had responded to a call of a person in the water near Foster Beach, and because of weather and water conditions, were unable to find anyone, police said in a media notification. Fire crews turned over their aspect of the search to the U.S. Coast Guard, according to the department's media Twitter account.

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No information on the identity, sex or age of the person found dead was immediately available.
The Cook County pop tax is headed for repeal after commissioners overwhelmingly signaled their intent to do away with it, marking a big win for soda companies and store owners after both sides spent millions of dollars to sway public opinion on the issue.

A 15-1 test vote on Tuesday makes Wednesday's final consideration a mere formality. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who pushed hard to keep the pop tax, conceded defeat, even as she challenged commissioners to come up with a way to make up the estimated $200 million hole about to be blown in the 2018 budget.

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That, however, is a struggle that will play out over the next month. On Tuesday, commissioners from both political parties who voted against the pop tax nearly a year ago got to proclaim victory.

"Our history is full of examples of what can happen when our leaders engage in taxation without representation. It's a story as old as our American Revolution," said Commissioner Richard Boykin, an Oak Park Democrat. "It doesn't matter whether you tax tea or tax sugar. Eventually people get fed up. Eventually people say enough is enough. That is what happened here."

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Added Commissioner Sean Morrison, a Palos Park Republican who was the lead sponsor of the repeal: "The Cook County Board has heard you loud and clear  Opposition has been strong and consistent across all segments of our county."

The pop tax won't go away until Dec. 1 under a deal reached to avoid more spending cuts during the county's current budget year. Even so, the penny-an-ounce soda tax stands to be one of the shortest-lived in Illinois history at only four months. Delayed by a month due to an Illinois Retail Merchants Association lawsuit, the tax didn't take effect until Aug. 2.

Big Soda's win here is remarkable, both because Cook County is by far the largest jurisdiction in the country where such a tax was enacted and that it comes after a series of defeats elsewhere.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 4 A supporter of the Cook County pop tax, left, and a support of its repeal sit next to each another at the Cook County Board finance committee meeting Oct. 10, 2017. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Despite spending tens of millions of dollars to oppose soda taxes last November in three California locales  San Francisco, Oakland and Albany  each city won approval through voter referendums for penny-an-ounce taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. That was a year after voters in Boulder, Colo., approved a 2 cents-an-ounce tax on sugar beverages.

The Philadelphia City Council approved a 1.5 cent-an-ounce tax on both sugary and diet beverages earlier in 2015. It's still in place, despite a concerted effort by the American Beverage Association to highlight what it calls an unfair, regressive tax that harms local store owners.

The industry group has won some battles, getting voters in Santa Fe, N.M., to reject a soda tax in a referendum earlier this year. Just last week, the Michigan legislature sent to the governor a measure aimed at preventing local governments from enacting soda taxes.

A similar opposition effort was launched in Cook County last November after Preckwinkle broke a rare 8-8 tie to approve the tax, which she maintains is needed to prevent harmful cuts to public health and criminal justice system programs. She called the tax the only option she could get the board to approve  and one that also had the public health benefit of reducing consumption of sugar and the ailments like obesity, diabetes and heart disease that it can exacerbate.

Preckwinkle enlisted to her cause former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire public health advocate. The media empire owner spent more than $10 million on TV and radio ads promoting the public health benefits of the tax  an effort many observers felt may have backfired. That sentiment was voiced at Tuesday's committee meeting.

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"That's to me very insulting to me, every time I see those commercials," Robert Ellis told commissioners during several hours of testimony before the vote. "I get more and more angry, because I don't need some Gotham City billionaire telling me how to live my life here in Cook County."

"Repeal this tax yesterday," Ellis said. "Whoever thought of this  they need to think again."

Ellis' opinion was among 3,968 opinions expressed, through online forms, written statements or public testimony, in the lead-up to the committee vote, board Secretary Matthew DeLeon said. Of those, more than 79 percent were in favor of repeal.

Some were surely motivated by the Can the Tax campaign, which included more than $3.2 million spent on TV and radio ads urging repeal, not including what it paid to send out mailers, hire $11-an-hour neighborhood canvassers to get the message out and paid public affairs consultants to work the media.

Also playing a role, noted Commissioner John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat who has opposed the tax from the start, was "tax fatigue." In recent years, city residents have been hit with a record city property tax increase, large boosts in the Chicago Public Schools property tax levy, higher water bills and a recent major state income tax hike. "Simply put, the financial health of too many of my constituents is in critical condition, and I cannot in good conscience add to their suffering," he said.

In the end, the strong opposition to the pop tax, combined with commissioners' fear that they'd be ripe targets for defeat in next year's elections, overcame any sway held by the tax's increasingly isolated backers, including public health advocates, unions representing county workers and county officials appointed by Preckwinkle.

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"It looks like diabetes is the big winner here today," said Elissa Bassler, CEO of the Illinois Public Health Institute. "Congratulations."

Bassler called the pop tax "good public policy to ensure the health of children and families of Cook County and ensure vital health and public safety services."

Within hours of Preckwinkle's 2018 budget presentation last week, in which she warned of 11 percent across-the-board cuts to vital county services, influential Democratic Finance Committee Chairman John Daley, who voted for the tax last year, announced he would vote the will of the residents in his district and back repeal. Three other commissioners, including Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, a Chicago Democrat who is Preckwinkle's floor leader, joined him the next day.

That created a veto-proof majority of 12  it takes 11 votes to override  making it a futile and politically risky vote for anyone who voted against repeal, especially given the pledges by pop sellers to put their money where their mouths were when it came to defeating pop tax supporters in next year's elections.

Countywide elected officials, many of whom on Tuesday decried the cuts that could result from a pop tax repeal, did not support the tax. That left Commissioner Timothy Schneider, a Bartlett resident and chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, to decry a "sky-is-falling" mentality and declare, "You can't have it both ways."

Only Treasurer Maria Pappas said it was no problem to repeal the tax, adding that she was prepared to cut 12 percent from her budget without harming services. "I'm opposed to the soda pop tax," she said.

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Commissioner Larry Suffredin, an Evanston Democrat, cast the lone vote against repeal, calling the tax "essential" for the delivery of county services and saying he admired Preckwinkle for her efforts to fight for the tax and praising Bloomberg for his years of public health campaigns for gun control, tobacco taxes and soda taxes. Commissioner Jerry "Iceman" Butler, a Chicago Democrat, was absent.

Daley said the work of cutting 11 percent from Preckwinkle's proposed $5.4 billion budget was about to begin. Noting that the bureaucracy directly controlled by Preckwinkle accounts for less than 10 percent of county spending, Daley urged other countywide elected officials like the sheriff, state's attorney and circuit court clerk  who he said were "extremely silent on this tax"  to help balance the budget.

"Before we go to any tax whatsoever, we have to prove to the people of this county that our budget is in order," Daley said.

Longtime county Clerk David Orr, who pledged his cooperation, suggested that might not be so easy.

"I don't think people are trying to scare you," Orr said of his fellow elected officials, "but $200 million is a lot of money, and people will lose their jobs and some services may be cut."

Meanwhile, Democratic Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski of McCook pushed back against the contention that county government cannot do without the money the pop tax generates.

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"Our focus needs to change from the Cadillac plan to the one that we can afford," Tobolski said. "We gotta take the $200 million out of the budget. That's what we gotta do."

"This is not our money," added Tobolski, who said it was "being taken from the working families of Cook County."

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ReporterHal
Chicago hotels would be responsible for monitoring and restricting access to off-limits areas under a measure aldermen advanced Tuesday in response to the death of Kenneka Jenkins in a walk-in freezer at a Rosemont hotel.

Hotels would need to install signs warning guests to keep out of "non-guest areas," including kitchens, laundry rooms, stockrooms, loading docks, unoccupied ballrooms, closed pools and other parts of the facilities under the ordinance, which passed the Finance Committee Tuesday. Hotels also would need to install alarms or emergency release mechanisms on the exits of off-limits enclosures like freezers where someone could get locked in.

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That's in response to the death of Jenkins, 19, whose body was discovered Sept. 10 inside a freezer at the Crowne Plaza hotel in suburban Rosemont. The Cook County medical examiner's office determined Jenkins died of hypothermia from exposure to cold in the walk-in freezer.

Jenkins had attended a party in a room at the hotel and wasn't found until nearly 24 hours after her disappearance, after repeated pleas to the hotel and police by her family. Surveillance videos later released by police show Jenkins, alone, wandering through a kitchen area near the freezer not long after she disappeared.

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"It's clear that there ought to be adequate warnings and that the hotel should take responsibility for those areas of the hotel where guests may find themselves able to enter," said Ald. Edward Burke, 14th.

If any guests get hurt or killed in such off-limits areas, the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection would consider whether to suspend or revoke the hotel's license. Fines for not having the proper signs and mechanisms in place would range from $1,000 to $2,500 per day.

The full City Council will consider the ordinance Wednesday.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne

[ Medical examiner: Kenneka Jenkins died from exposure, and her death was an accident  ]

[ Autopsy and toxicology report on Kenneka Jenkins' death  ]

[ Tribune coverage of Kenneka Jenkins' death  ]






Sharon Fairley, shown at the COPA office in Chicago on Sept. 7, 2017, has formally declared her candidacy for Illinois attorney general. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

The former head of Chicago's new police oversight agency formally declared her candidacy for Illinois attorney general on Tuesday, joining a growing field seeking the Democratic nomination in March.

Sharon Fairley said her background as a former prosecutor at the state and federal levels, her work on police oversight and in Chicago's inspector general office and being an African-American mother have helped to give her a "unique" skill set apart from rival candidates.

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While she vowed to take on corruption and fight for changes in the criminal justice system, Fairley also said she views the office of the state's top legal officer as one having a national role in response to Republican President Donald Trump. She said Illinois and the county are in "unprecedented peril."

"Today, our civil rights are under siege. Our next attorney general must defend our people and our local governments against the Trump administration's regressive and unconstitutional attacks," she said in announcing her candidacy at a downtown law office.

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"We must defend the very rights that our grandparents and parents fought for  the right to vote, the right to earn a decent living, to be able to travel our streets without being stopped by police unnecessarily. We must fight for affordable health care and the right to be safe in our own homes," she said.

Fairley most recently served as chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, a new agency resulting from the furor over the release of a video showing a white police officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald.

In the wake of the video's release, Fairley was named by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in December 2015 as head of the widely distrusted Independent Police Review Authority and remade it into the new agency, which launched last month.

IPRA, she said Tuesday, "was badly broken and I immediately set out to introduce important reforms and then I went on from there to build the new Civilian Office of Police Accountability. While there's still more work to do, the new agency stands at the ready to combat police misconduct while also rebuilding public trust."

Fairley said her work in developing the new civilian police oversight authority demonstrated "that I can get things done here in Chicago in that political environment" and said she had "no concerns" about the new agency moving forward without her.

She also noted that as a parent of two young adult children, "I worry about their safety, as any black mother today, when we know that something as simple as a traffic stop can end in tragedy."

Fairley said she was "grateful" for the work of current Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who opted not to seek a fifth term, and thanked her for hiring her out of law school.

But she was less clear on whether she would be seeking the support of the attorney general's powerful father, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Fairley said that it was "possible" while seeking "support from the people who I believe can help me achieve this goal."

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Largely a political unknown in the city and statewide, Fairley said she believed she would have the financial resources to compete. Already seeking the nomination are state Sen. Kwame Raoul of Chicago, state Rep. Scott Drury of Highwood and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, while several others are considering a candidacy.

Attorney Erika Harold of Urbana, who used her winnings from the 2003 Miss America contest to finance her Harvard law school education, is seeking the Republican nomination.

rap30@aol.com

Twitter @rap30






In this Aug.13, 2017, file photo, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga addresses thousands of supporters gathered in the Mathare area of Nairobi, Kenya. (Ben Curtis / AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya  Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday shocked the country by withdrawing his candidacy for the fresh presidential election ordered by the Supreme Court, saying the election commission has not made changes to avoid the "irregularities and illegalities" cited in the nullified August vote.

It was Odinga's legal challenge that led the court to nullify the election that President Uhuru Kenyatta won. It was the first time a court had overturned the results of a presidential election in Africa. The court ordered a new election, set for Oct. 26.

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Kenyatta said the election will go ahead despite Odinga's withdrawal, telling supporters that "there is nowhere the constitution says Raila Amollo Odinga has to be on the ballot."

Odinga told supporters that "there's no intention" on the part of Kenya's election commission to undertake any changes before the new vote. He said the commission had "stonewalled meaningful deliberations" on reforms to ensure the election is credible.

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He warned that the upcoming vote could be run worse than the first one was.

In response, the election commission said on Twitter that it was meeting with its legal team and "will communicate way forward." It also tweeted a letter it sent Tuesday to Odinga's opposition coalition saying that "we have taken the necessary steps to guarantee the integrity of the fresh presidential elections."

Odinga had called for countrywide protests to urge reforms to the commission ahead of the new election.

The Supreme Court on Sept. 1 nullified Kenyatta's August re-election, citing illegalities in the vote and the election commission's refusal to allow scrutiny of its computer system. Justices said that by failing to allow the scrutiny of the computers, the commission failed to disprove Odinga's claim that hackers infiltrated the servers and manipulated the vote in favor of Kenyatta.

Kenyatta has said he does not want changes to the election commission. His Jubilee Party has instead used its parliamentary majority to push for changes in the electoral law ahead of the Oct. 26 vote.

The opposition says the changes are meant to make the transmission of election results a manual process that would have fewer safeguards against electoral fraud and would make it more difficult for the Supreme Court to annul an election.

"The only election the Jubilee administration is interested in is one that it must win, even unlawfully," Odinga said.

Kenyatta has said that even if Odinga won the fresh election, the ruling party's majority in parliament would impeach him.

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This election had been seen as the last try at the presidency for the 72-year-old Odinga, a longtime candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president. He and Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first president, also faced off in a 2013 election marred by opposition allegations of vote-rigging.
The staff of Regions Hospital, in St. Paul, Minnesota, offered to arrange for the cremation of the baby's remains in a "respectful and dignified manner," according to a lawyer for the family. The Hernandez family agreed.

But about two weeks later, the grieving family heard of a report on the news: The body of an infant, born at Regions Hospital, had been found amid dirty linens in a laundry facility in the town of Red Wing, 45 miles south of the hospital. The baby, still wearing a diaper and hospital identification bracelets, flew out of the dirty laundry and landed on a metal grate in front of the facility's employees.

According to court documents, when the family heard the news report, they wondered: Could it be Jose?

They called the hospital, and soon after learned it was their child. Wrapped in linen, the body had been placed on a shelf in the morgue, Regions Hospital representatives told reporters a day later. A hospital employee, mistaking the remains as dirty linens, discarded them in the laundry.

Now, in a lawsuit filed this month, the Hernandez family is accusing the hospital of interfering with baby Jose's body, demonstrating a "disregard" and "indifference" for the family's rights. They allege that Regions knew the infant found at the laundry facility was Jose but decided not to tell the family until they called and inquired.

"Laundry workers gawked at Baby Jose, took photos of him, and sent pictures of him into cyberspace," the lawsuit alleges.

Ten of the Hernandez family members, many of whom now live in Texas, demand a jury trial and a reward for each in excess of $50,000 for the "mental pain and suffering" they have endured and will endure, according to the lawsuit.

"We want to say again that we are truly sorry for our mistake," a Regions Hospital spokesperson said in a statement provided to the Pioneer Press on Monday afternoon. "We immediately reached out to the family in 2013 to apologize and to try and help ease their loss. We have continued to work with their lawyer - always open to a reasonable resolution."

Indeed, the day after the baby was found, Christine Boese, then the hospital's chief nursing officer, said in a news conference that Regions was "deeply saddened and troubled that this happened" and working to identify the "gap in the system" to make sure the error does not happen again.

In the day or two that followed, Regions hospital learned that another baby's remains were missing. A baby named "Chang," delivered four days after Jose, was "most probably delivered to the same laundry service," according to the lawsuit. Days later, the remains had not been located.

An internal review at the hospital found that "both sets of the remains were mistaken as empty linens and placed in the laundry at the same time by a hospital employee," Boese told reporters in mid-April, according to Minnesota Public Radio. She called both incidents a "tragic human error."

A death investigation by police later revealed to the family, and the public, the details of how baby Jose's body was found.

Red Wing police first learned about the body after an anonymous woman called them, according to their report. The woman said her daughter, an employee of Crothall Laundry Services, told her there was a dead baby in the laundry that day.

"She said she was upset because her daughter had to see this dead baby and they wouldn't let her leave work," an officer wrote in a police report.

An employee of the facility named Nick Murphy had been tearing open bags of dirty hospital linens and pulling them out when he felt something hit him on the shoulder, he later told police.

"Dude, look down at the floor," one of his co-workers told him, he later recounted to police, appearing "visibly upset" as he spoke, the police report stated.

The dead baby had landed on the floor of the facility's "catwalk," a large, narrow grate beside a conveyor belt where dirty linens were placed, according to the report.

The laundry facility's staff called Regions Hospital, which sent representatives to retrieve the body. Neither Crothall Laundry Services nor Regions Hospital called the police to notify them. When contacted by police, Regions Hospital said the mother had consented to disposal of the body without a funeral.

The office manager told police it was "not uncommon" for the laundry employees to "find medical waste in the linens from Regions which may consist of tissue, blood, and on occasion, an appendage," a police report stated.

In the weeks that followed, the discovery of Jose's body brought to light the issue of how hospitals across the state disposed of and stored the bodies of stillborn infants. Two of the state's largest hospitals placed most bodies in plastic bags or containers with clear labels, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Regions Hospital, however, did not use body bags. It wrapped stillborn remains in linens, stored on a shelf in the morgue, "an area that was accessible to some non-morgue employees," according to the MPR report.

"I think what the problem was, is it was wrapped in linen, which can easily be mistaken as soiled linen," Regions Hospital spokesperson Kristen Kaufmann told MPR. The hospital acknowledged that method could "easily" lead to devastating errors.

"I'm not sure why they were wrapped in linen. I'm honestly not," Kaufmann told the radio station. "I've seen speculations out there, but I can't attest to why it has been done that way." The hospital subsequently decided to begin storing the bodies in bags, and made efforts to provide more security and supervision in the morgue.

Hospitals at the time were required to report stillborn deaths with state regulators within five days. But the state Department of Health told the Star Tribune that Regions had not filed such a report by April 17, even though the death had occurred on April 3.

Other similar instances have taken placed nationwide over the past several years. In Miami earlier this year, a couple claimed in court that a hospital threw out the remains of their stillborn baby girl. They had hoped to give her a funeral.

In Lorain, Ohio, last year, a hospital misplaced the remains of a stillborn baby after the body was believed to be sent with the laundry.

Pearlean Bohannon, the infant girl's great grandmother, told Cleveland 19 television station that a funeral home was supposed to pick the baby up from the hospital, but the baby could not be found.

"It's unbelievable," Bohannon told Cleveland 19. "It's unforgivable. It's like no one cared! How can you just lose a baby?"

In Fort Worth, Texas, in 2008, a stillborn boy was accidentally sent to a laundry facility. The body was later found to be crushed and disfigured, the Star Tribune reported. The mother sued the hospital and settled out of court.

"I felt disgusted because it's a baby, it's not a piece of trash," the mother told the Star Tribune in 2013. "Six years later, I'm still grieving over Jacob."
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a proposed rule Tuesday that would repeal sweeping regulation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing U.S. power plants.

The move, aimed at bolstering the nation's struggling coal industry, will trigger an immediate court fight and could result in months, if not years of litigation. Yet the policy reversal is unlikely to affect the nation's overall shift from coal to natural gas and renewable power generation in the electricity sector.

"We are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate," Pruitt said in a statement. "Any replacement rule will be done carefully, properly, and with humility, by listening to all those affected by the rule."

The Obama-era climate rule, dubbed the Clean Power Plan, aimed to cut carbon emissions from the nation's electricity sector 32 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. That measure, which the Supreme Court stayed after 28 attorneys general and the utility industry challenged it in court, would have required states to meet targets by reducing emissions at individual plants as well as by deploying renewable energy and taking other energy-efficiency steps.

As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt argued that EPA exceeded its statutory authority under the Clean Air Act in requiring utilities to pursue emissions reductions beyond their actual facilities. The notice of proposed rulemaking does not indicate whether EPA will replace the Clean Power Plan with a new rule, though the agency determined in 2009 that it was obligated to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the law because it endangered public health.

"We can now assess whether further regulatory action is warranted, and, if so, what is the most appropriate path forward, consistent with the Clean Air Act and principles of cooperative federalism," Pruitt said. The previous rule, he added, "ignored states' concerns and eroded long-standing and important partnerships that are a necessary part of achieving positive environmental outcomes."

Although the 2014 climate rule never took effect, coal continues to decline as a source of the nation's electricity. Coal accounted for about 30 percent last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it accounted for about 30 percent of output last year, putting it below natural gas (nearly 34 percent) for the first time. Non-fossil-fuel generation (almost 36 percent) outranked fossil fuels for the first time since before World War II.

A new analysis by the Rhodium Group estimates that CO2 emissions from the U.S. power sector in 2025 will be 27 percent to 35 percent below 2005 levels. But the same group projects that absent new federal or state action, the nation is on track to fall short of long-term climate targets it adopted under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. As part of that global accord, which President Trump has vowed to exit, the United States pledged to cut total carbon emissions between 26 percent and 28 percent by 2025.

John Larsen, the Rhodium Group's director, said the rule's repeal would not alter broader energy trends but could affect between 12 and 21 states not already on track to meet its targets.

"If a state wasn't already acting to scale back emissions, the Clean Power Plan would nudge them to do that," he said.

Many top Republicans on Capitol Hill hailed Pruitt's announcement, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming.

"It would have hurt energy workers in Wyoming and harmed the state's economy," Barrasso said.

But several business and environmental groups decried the rollback, saying it would impede the deployment of clean energy and other measures, such as EPA's Clean Energy Incentive Program, which focuses on improving energy efficiency in low-income communities.

"Undoing this plan would be a step backward for energy efficiency and the benefits it delivers for consumers and businesses alike," Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said in a statement.

Some states and corporations say they will maintain their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, despite the policy changes underway in Washington. Mars, Inc. which has pledged to make its direct operations carbon-free by 2040, said it will continue to advance that goal.

At least four Democratic attorneys general  from California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon  have pledged to challenge EPA's proposed rule in federal court, along with environmental groups such as Earthjustice.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks about the board's delayed vote to repeal the soda tax during a recess of Wednesday's Cook County board meeting. (Lou Foglia / Chicago Tribune)

Sweetened beverage stocks bought before the penny-an-ounce Cook County beverage tax took effect are running low. But it looks like the tax will be repealed before it really makes a dent in my wallet.

Funny thing: Ever since the tax went into effect and the diabetes ads started hitting the TV screen, every time I reach for a Coke  generally one to three times a day  I think of an obvious fact. It's not good for me.

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Each time, I think of tightwad Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who has cut the Cook County payroll roster by 10 percent and the Cook County jail population by 25 percent since her election to that office with overwhelming voter support. No longer are cadavers piled up at the medical examiner's office.

Now, I think twice before downing a can of sweetened carbonated fizz. Maybe I'll have a glass of ice water instead.

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My pop consumption is down. No one ever did that for me before, certainly not a politician.

But hard as the proposed soda tax is to swallow, Cook County pensions continue to increase their bite into limited Cook County revenues. The anticipated $200 million a year in soda tax revenue was supposed to balance the county's budget, responsibly and thoughtfully.

Preckwinkle's reward? County commissioners who initially approved the tax are feeling the heat from voters. For them, choosing between re-election and saving some constituents from diabetes is a simple matter of survival.

Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey recently renewed calls for Illinois to legalize recreational marijuana."It'll generate millions of dollars in new revenue, thereby reducing the need for new taxes or for service cuts that we will not be able to afford. And lastly, it will ease significantly the burden on our criminal justice system," Fritchey said.

"Taxpayer relief" is how he describes the legalization of recreational marijuana.

I, too, believe taxing legalized recreational marijuana could help the county's budgets down the road.

In the meantime, pop, fizz 

Here's to Cook County's "Profile in Courage" award winner: Toni Preckwinkle.

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James E. Gierach is a lawyer in Palos Park.
One of the stranger aspects of the Donald Trump presidency is how many Republican voters still support him. According to the latest Gallup poll, 81 percent of party voters approve of his job performance, down just 10 points since the inauguration.

It's strange because so many Republican members of Congress, not to mention conservative journalists and intellectuals, find the president so dangerous. The latest example is Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who announced last month that he would not be seeking re-election.

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As he told The New York Times on Sunday: "Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we're dealing with here. Of course they understand the volatility that we're dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road."

Corker was responding to one of Trump's latest tweetstorms. The president said Corker begged him for an endorsement, which Corker denies. Corker responded by observing that the White House had turned into an adult day-care center.

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Now there are a few explanations why so many Republicans disagree with their representatives in Congress. For many on the left, this is evidence of a deep and racist rot within the party.

Conservative populists, meanwhile, argue that the disconnect is best explained by the failure of the Republican establishment to address illegal immigration and the downside of free trade agreements and their impact on the working class. Another explanation is the failure of the Republican Party to make good on its own promises to police the border or repeal Obamacare.

I favor a fourth explanation. I call it the media cycle of deplore and rehabilitate. Often a Republican, fresh on the national stage, will say or do something that earns not only the rebuke of liberals and Democrats, but also of another Republican who was once deplored by the same crowd.

It's an old pattern. In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater was to liberals the dangerous ideologue who quipped that he would leave it up to field commanders in Europe to determine when to launch nuclear weapons at the Soviet Union. He aligned himself with hardcore anticommunists and attacked his party's establishment. By the end of Goldwater's career, he was the conscientious conservative warning his fellow Republicans about the rise of the religious right.

Corker himself is an example of the deplore-and-rehabilitate cycle. This week he is the darling of thoughtful conservatives and liberals because he has the courage to speak plainly about the unique danger of the Trump presidency. But Corker himself was a key validator of Trump in 2016, praising the then-candidate's first major foreign policy speech and serving as an adviser to the candidate. As recently as mid-September, Corker downplayed rumors of a rift between himself and the president when he said, "For people to act as if there's daylight between us, that just is not true."

Indeed, when he first ran for the Senate in 2006, Corker was perceived as a political cynic willing to play on racial resentments against Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr., an African-American. The Republican National Committee ran an ad for Corker that featured a white woman saying, "I met Harold Ford at the Playboy party," prompting a mini-scandal. William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, took to CNN to denounce the ad as "a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment."

Of course, politicians are allowed to change their minds. But the voters are smarter than most of their representatives think. They've seen this cycle play out for decades and it almost always ends the same way. In 2008, presidential candidate John McCain was a dangerous, out-of-touch warmonger who wanted to bomb-bomb-bomb Iran. Today he is a statesman doing his best to save the republic from the leader of his party.

The sad truth is that Trump really is playing a dangerous game. His personal insults against North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Un, risk an escalation and detract from a strategy aimed at pressuring China to rein in its client. His personal and public eruptions at senior advisers and cabinet secretaries undermine their ability to do their jobs. His failure to build coalitions in Congress has scuttled his party's legislative agenda.

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More Republicans should disapprove of Trump's job performance. And perhaps they would  if his Republican critics were not so eager to collaborate with the liberals who once deplored them too.

Bloomberg View

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.
Brazil's Olympic Committee chief Carlos Arthur Nuzman, center, is escorted from his home by federal police in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 5, 2017. Brazilian police arrested Nuzman as part of a probe into alleged buying of votes to secure Rio's hosting of the 2016 Games. (Mauro Pimentel/Getty-AFP)

We admit that it stung when the International Olympic Committee bounced Chicago out of the running for the 2016 Summer Games. We backed the bid thinking it would spotlight our world-class metropolis, promote tourism and spur development.

But now it turns out that the loss to Rio de Janeiro could be a blow to civic pride in another way too.

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Chicago apparently didn't lose the bid in 2009 because it lacked big-name backers. President Barack Obama was in Chicago's corner, as was internationally beloved TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who appeared with Obama in Copenhagen, Denmark, to dazzle the selection committee.

Nor did the city lose because it lacked spectacular venues.

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Or a powerful transportation infrastructure.

Or the requisite supply of theaters, night life, restaurants, and tourist attractions.

Or  well, the list goes on.

No, it appears that Chicago lost because it wasn't corrupt.

We pause here to allow you to linger over that sentence. You may never see it in print again.

Take your time. Catch your breath. Now, follow along patiently:

The city that generally sends an alderman a year to prison for corruption  The city repeatedly named the nation's Corruption Capital (more than 1,700 federal corruption convictions in the Chicago metro region since 1976, according to former Ald. Dick Simpson, who now teaches and writes about political corruption at UIC) ... The city of Operation Greylord, a 1980s mega-scandal that netted 15 Cook County (aka Crook County) judges for taking bribes to fix cases ... The city of the Hired Truck private leasing scam, Barbara Byrd-Bennett's kickback debacle at Chicago Public Schools, and the 1919 Black Sox scandal  The city whose motto should be "Where's mine?" as columnist Mike Royko suggested  This city got out-corrupted by Brazil?

Sure looks that way.

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Brazilian authorities recently arrested Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the head of Brazil's Olympic Committee, and Leonardo Gryner, a top aide, under allegations that they paid bribes to help secure the 2016 Games for Rio. In a raid on Nuzman's home, officials found about $155,000 in cash and a key to vault in Switzerland holding 16 bars of gold. Court documents include emails about bank transfers between Gryner and Papa Massata Diack of Senegal, then a member of the International Olympic Committee.

One priceless note: The emails suggest that the Brazilians fell behind in their bribe payments and had to be squeezed to pay up, The New York Times reports. As any Chicagoan knows, falling behind on bribe payments is a health hazard.

We know what you're thinking: Why didn't it occur to us sooner that the fix could be in? Haven't we watched 4 of Illinois' last 10 governors troop off to federal prison? Haven't we urged reforming the pay-to-play governance, quashing cronyism and do-nothing jobs, ending pinstripe patronage? Did we forget that cities desperate for the Olympic spotlight apparently had offered the deciders all sorts of illegal perks? Recall the corruption scandal in allegedly squeaky-clean Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games. IOC members allegedly pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts, cash and other favors; they reportedly were cut in on jobs, land deals and scholarships.

This page's take in 1999 on the Salt Lake scandal: It hardly seems likely that a gaggle of honest members of the International Olympic Committee landed in Utah and were suddenly corrupted in that noted den of vice. No, it looks like some of the IOC folks came to Salt Lake with their hands out.

And apparently, some still had their hands out in Copenhagen in 2009.

So maybe Chicago was cheated of Olympics glory because it wasn't willing to grease palms. The city didn't live down to its reputation. Embarrassing? Just the opposite. We think that's a bigger thrill than any Olympic event can offer. Chicago earned a gold medal for integrity  which, just to remind IOC members, doesn't involve gold bars in a Swiss vault.

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Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
This week in live music includes indie sounds, a showcase of local talent and a farewell tour.

Friday, Oct. 13

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RAC

Metro

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3730 N. Clark St. 773-549-4140

Portuguese DJ Andre Allen Anjos has created music under the moniker RAC for the past ten years. He's garnered acclaim for his remixes that take original tracks and transform them into new beasts subversive of their source genres. RAC, which is an acronym for Remix Artist Collective, travels to Chicago as part of his latest tour in support of his most recent album "Ego," which dropped in July of this year. Among his remix repertoire are artists such as Linkin Park, New Order, Phoenix, Lady Gaga and Odesza, which even earned him a Grammy nomination in 2016. $20. 8 p.m. 18+. Tickets: metrochicago.com

Sunday, Oct. 15

Big Thief

Thalia Hall

1807 S. Allport St. 312-526-3851

With the release of its second album "Capacity" earlier this year, Brooklyn-based indie band Big Thief has received praise for the solemn beauty transmitted through its compositions. The group stops by Pilsen's Thalia Hall for a unique "In the Round" performance with support from fellow Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Mega Bog. $17. 8:30 p.m., 17+. Tickets: thaliahallchicago.com

Monday, Oct. 16

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Mykele Deville, Lovely Little Girls, Marcus, Longface

The Empty Bottle

1035 N. Western Ave. 773-276-3600

For the hefty price of zero dollars, The Empty Bottle is providing a Monday night showcase of numerous local superb acts, including the eclectic and poetic emcee Mykele Deville, prog rock weirdos Lovely Little Girls, DIY-experimentalist Marcus and art rockers Longface. Chicago has proven itself to be a diversified cornucopia of music makers and there's no reason to miss out on some of the sounds the city has to offer. Free. 9 p.m., 21+. More info: emptybottle.com

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Beach Fossils, Snail Mail

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Bottom Lounge

1375 W. Lake St. 312-666-6755

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

Brooklyn based Beach Fossils is the passion project of musician Dustin Payseur. What started as a solo project has evolved into a storied band that has maintained multiple lineups, sounds and themes. Beach Fossils' first album in four years, "Somersault," finds Payseur at his most nuanced and experimental with support from Rachel Goswell of shoegaze legends Slowdive and Memphis rapper Cities Aviv. Joining Beach Fossils is Snail Mail, the musical project of teenage Baltimore-based indie-rocker Lindsey Jordan. $18. 8 p.m., 17+. Tickets: bottomlounge.com

Wednesday, Oct. 18

Daniel Johnston

The Vic Theatre

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3145 N. Sheffield Ave. 773-472-0449

Starting from humble beginnings in West Virginia, Daniel Johnston has gone on to become one of the most prominent figures in DIY music. His lyrics and musicality that cover everything from mental illness to love have famously affected numerous musicians across all genres, including Kurt Cobain, Lana Del Rey and Mac Miller. Since being diagnosed with schizophrenia and manic depression, performances from Johnston have been seldom seen. Butwith the help of a few famous friends, including Jeff Tweedy of Wilcothe lo-fi legend stops by Chicago as part of his final tour. $45. 7:30 p.m. Tickets: victheatre.com

Efrain Dorado is a RedEye freelancer.

[ Looking for more to do in Chicago?  ]
Serving in the military, from basic training to combat itself, is an affecting, singular experience for veterans. Unfortunately, when vets are able to return home, the trauma and other effects of their service are not easily left behind, and they often struggle to readjust to civilian life. This difficulty is commonly known as the "after-war."

Journalist David Finkel helped popularize the term with his book, "Thank You for Your Service," which tells the story of Army sergeant Adam Schumann and his infantry-mates as they reintegrate into their home lives. Their story touches on everything from big issues to the seemingly banal; from suicide to cooking pancakes.

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Now a feature-length film starring Miles Teller and written and directed by "American Sniper" penman Jason Hall, "Thank You for Your Service" offers an intimate portrayal of these personal struggles and helps turn them into a universal tale of trials and success.

We sat down with Teller, Hall and veteran Adam Schumann himself to talk about the process of making the movie and how they hope it affects audience's understanding of modern military service.

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Q: What was it like seeing the difficult parts of your life made into a movie?

Schumann: Most people don't get a chance to look back. You have a memory, but it's just a shitty memory. I can watch this movie and go, holy crap, I was pretty messed up. But then I also look at myself in the mirror right now and I'm like, holy crap, I came through that. I'm on the other side of it; I'm off that mountain.

Q:What are the kinds of things you do now that you enjoy? Now that you've come out on the other side of it.

Schumann: Fishing? I get my kids every other week; Saski and I divorced awhile back. It's just me in my apartment, waking them up in the morning, cooking them breakfast, getting them dressed, doing homework, taking them to school, playin' catch, buyin' dresses. And, then, I fish. I hunt a lot. When I deployed, my wife at the time and my daughter were my rocks, and that's what I thought aboutfishing and hunting and the things I used to love, and that gave me a sense of hope every time I was gone. That's what I'm doing this for. It's taken some time, but I'm finally back to it. Do I have a house with a white picket fence and a wife and kids and everybody's happy? No, but my kids are happy, I'm happy, the dog's happy. Everything's OK.

Q: Still have the dog?

Schumann: Yeah; she's 12 now, so she's getting old. Just the other day we were out grouse huntin'. We walk 5 to 10 miles a day out in the country. Halfway through the day I'll just lay down on a rock somewhere in the middle of the field and look up at the clouds, take a deep breath, and take a look over at my dog, and just be thankful to have the opportunity to do this now.

Q: Miles,what Finkel calls the "after war"the issues are everyday stuff. I'm curious how you got in a head space to see things just slightly differently like that.

Teller: The movie starts out as this character, Adam, had gone through immense trauma, so the first thing I do is go through that with Adam.And I had read some of the books. There's not a transition program that our military has for these guys; they're literally going from the worst day of their liveslosing a buddy or a brotherto cooking pancakes.

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They go from a world that's completely black and white, and I've heard Adam say, "That world is easy to understand." It's when you get back, and you've gotta fill in the blanks. There is no silver bullet for these things; I think it's extremely complex. Playing Adam was a challenge, but I think it was there in the script and Adam obviously went through it, so it was my job to just connect the two.

Q: So you guys talked a fair amount before?

Schumann: Not really, we talked for about two days. You could tell Miles really wanted to get that right, and the questions he asked reallymade me comfortable. I think if you ask the right questions, you don't have to ask a hundred of themone question might cover everything.

Hall: The reality is that trauma from war is not that different from any other kind of trauma. It records itself in the same way. It has the same biological effects on people, and Miles has experienced, as he's shared often, his own version of trauma. This isn't just limited to soldiers. Trauma is something that a large degree of our population experiences, at some point.

Q: Do you think letting the audience see the complexity of how trauma affects people in their day-to-day is something that can help the conversation?

Hall: Yes, people are changed by it.

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Q: How did you balance the act of telling a true story with creating a compelling narrative?

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Hall: I always find it funny when people look at adaptations, and they're like, "Well, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true," and I'm like, that's what screenwriting is: how you take a true story and make it into a movie, and still have it have the same meaning. That is the art of it.

Teller: (Schumann's) buddy saw it last night, and he was deployed with Adam. If anybody knew what was accurate and what wasn't, it was this kid. He said, "You guys got the feel of it right on."

Q: The dialogue when people come back is so fraught sometimes. Consider the title of the movie, "Thank You For Your Service." I know some vets have a hard time knowing how to respond to that. What are your feelings on this type of dialogue after working on the movie?

Teller: A lot of my closest friends are military. I'm able to kind of ask questions, so there's not that wall that I think separates civilians from veterans. By doing this movie, I feel like it has brought me a better understanding. We went through a pretty intense boot camp with all the guys. One of my really good buddies who passed away was a Marine, and I remember finishing this experience and sitting around the bonfire talking and I just started bawlin', man. I was almost wishing that I had went through this before he passed away, 'cause I felt like I understood him more as a person just by getting this little taste.

"Thank You for Your Service" hits theaters Friday, Oct. 27.

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Q-and-As are edited for length and clarity.

@lucheezy | adlukach@redeyechicago.com

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Longtime state Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights, announced that he will not run for re-election in 2018. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune )

Joining a list of moderate legislators who say they are discouraged by increasingly partisan politics in Springfield, state Rep. David Harris, of Arlington Heights, announced that he will not run for re-election in 2018.

Harris, a Republican representing the 53rd District, which covers Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and other areas, said that while his 18 years of service in the Illinois House has been meaningful, "the tenor of discussion in politics has become more personal and partisan."

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"I'm distressed by what's happening in the Republican party and this attitude that if you don't follow the dictates on high, you're not a loyal trooper," Harris said.

Harris was among the 10 Republicans from the Illinois House who broke ranks in July and joined Democrats to approve a new budget and income tax increase that ended a two-year stalemate over state finances.

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The move prompted fierce backlash from some conservative groups, including the Taxpayers United of America.

"It's really frustrating that the right wing Republican party is just adamant that we adhere to everything they want, but I need to represent my district," Harris said. "And it isn't far right wing."

Before voting for the budget and income tax increase, Harris said, he had visited with residents in his district who have family members with disabilities who rely on social services in Illinois, and who urged him to pass a budget to avoid the elimination of state-funded programs.

"People across the state were being hurt, including a lot of people in my district," Harris said.

After serving in the Illinois House in the 1980s and early 1990s, Harris left the statehouse in 1993 to start a job as senior vice president of government relations for the Illinois Hospital Association.

In 1999, Harris, who had served for 20 years in the Illinois Army National Guard and risen to the rank of Colonel, was asked to return to state government. He was then appointed as the Adjutant General, which is also sometimes called the commanding general, of the Illinois National Guard.

Returning as a state representative in 2010, Harris will have served a total of nearly two decades in the Illinois House once his term ends in 2018, having earned the reputation as a knowledgeable lawmaker who understood complex state financial issues.

Despite Harris' popularity with his constituents, his most recent vote on the state budget and income tax increase drew criticisms from Jim Tobin, a leader of Taxpayers United of America, who called the longtime suburban lawmaker "a traitor to taxpayers."

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"It was even worse than (Michael) Madigan because you would expect that from him and his friends," said Tobin, whose group distributed "wanted" posters bearing Harris' image.

Tobin's group aimed similar criticisms at state Rep. Steve Andersson, R-Geneva, who also voted for the state budget in July. He announced in August that he would not be running for re-election in 2018.

Other prominent moderate lawmakers who have either stepped down from office or announced intentions not to seek re-election in 2018 include former Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno and Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekritz.

As Harris prepares to join that growing list of lawmakers, he still has many loyal supporters within his own district, including Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes, who described Harris as "a great public servant."

"I can't thank him enough for all of his contributions to our country when he served in the military, and to the community as a state legislator," said Hayes, a fellow veteran, who said he and Harris once served in the National Guard together. "Putting politics aside, I think it took a lot of political courage to vote the way he did. He believed it was the right thing for his constituents, and he's shown great dedication to bettering the lives of all of them."

kcullotta@tribpub.com

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Expecting more property tax revenue while containing some ancillary expenses, officials at Barrington School District 220 recently approved a balanced budget for the new year that features slight changes from last year, school officials said.

Board members approved the 2017-18 district budget last month with $143 million budgeted in revenues and $142.3 million budgeted in expenditures.

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The new budget comes after state lawmakers approved a full state budget for the first time in two years, easing concerns from local school districts about the state's ability to make education payments. District 220 officials also begin the new budget year faced with expiring contracts with the district's teachers and educational support staff.

"We were always a little nervous, but now the state has a budget and were confident we'll get our payment on time," Superintendent Brian Harris said of the state budget stalemate that ended in July. "Our district has a balanced budget, and we're happy."

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Compared to last year's plan, district revenues are increasing by roughly $4 million, largely driven by property taxes, said Tim Neubauer, assistant superintendent of business services for District 220. Officials anticipate collecting $1 million more in property taxes than they did in 2016, he said.

Officials also are receiving $400,000 more in other local revenues, including student fees, services provided to other school districts and facility rentals, Neubauer said.

With federal aid, the district received $450,000 more than what officials anticipated, covering the school lunch program and grants related to low-income families and for special education, he said.

To contain expenses this year, district officials saved $1.1 million by lowering the cost of purchased services for air conditioning, heating repairs and food services.

"We saved a little bit in a lot of categories and that adds up," Neubauer said.

District 220 officials also usually include about $2.5 million each year for capital improvement projects, which is the sum budgeted for 2017-18 financial year.

With the state budget stalemate over, the Barrington school district also is expecting to receive its annual $3.1 million in general state aid this year, Neubauer said.

"Now that the state has a budget and can allocate resources to school districts, we anticipate budgeting for all four categories of state grants," Neubauer said, adding how the state funds cover transportation and special education.

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When it comes to personnel costs, teachers salaries at District 220 increased by $500,000, which is only a .68 percent increase, Neubauer pointed out.

But going forward into the school year, officials will look to continue negotiations with members of the Barrington Education Association on a new teacher contract.

District board members and members of the district's teacher union already have started negotiations with the current contract set to expire by the end of August 2018, officials said.

District officials also recently have started negotiations with the Barrington School Employee Organization, which represents more than 400 educational support staff at the district, according to its website.

"If negotiation settlements or other significant events impact the budget, the board of education can amend the budget," Neubauer said.

tshields@pioneerlocal.com

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A lawsuit challenges the validity of tens of thousands of red-light camera citations issued by Crestwood at a busy intersection in that village, and that it should be forced to give up more than $3.1 million in ticket revenue.

Filed on behalf of three people who were ticketed for red-light violations this year, the lawsuit seeks to have a Cook County Circuit Court judge declare a class of plaintiffs that could include all drivers issued tickets for alleged improper turns at the intersection of Cicero Avenue and Cal Sag Road.

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A lawsuit claims that almost 57,000 tickets issued for red-light camera violations at the intersection of Cicero Avenue and Cal Sag Road in Crestwood should be thrown out. (Zak Koeske/Daily Southtown )

Cameras are positioned in the right-turn lanes of traffic on northbound and southbound Cicero at the intersection, but the turn lanes lack required traffic control devices, such as lights or stop signs, said Tom Zimmerman, who filed the complaint Oct. 5.

"The right-turn lanes are essentially unrestricted and not controlled by any traffic control device," he said.

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Crestwood Mayor Lou Presta said the village had not seen seen a copy of the lawsuit, but that the cameras were approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation after a thorough study, and the department "never said anything about a light" to control the turn lanes.

"We'll have to defend ourselves" against the lawsuit, he said Tuesday.

Presta said the cameras have been in place about a year. Zimmerman said he was unsure how long cameras had been operating at that intersection.

The mayor said the village asked IDOT to approve cameras at 13 intersections and that seven were approved, all along Cicero.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Zimmerman said an expert he hired "inspected the intersection and said the citations being issued at those (right-turn) lanes are in violation" of state rules governing traffic control devices, and the lawsuit asks a judge to declare the tickets void and unenforceable.

More than 56,700 citations have been issued through Sept. 20 at that particular intersection since the cameras went up, according to a document Zimmerman received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request with Crestwood and included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. Through July of this year, the most recent month available, a little more than $3.17 million in ticket revenue has been collected, according to the FOIA response.

Each citation carries a $100 fine.

Presta said Crestwood receives 60 percent of ticket revenue with the rest going to the operator of the red light cameras, SafeSpeed.

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The mayor said the village requested cameras at Cicero and Cal Sag Road in an effort to reduce traffic crashes at the intersection. Presta said he did not have current statistics available, but that the village has seen a drop in accidents at that location.

A sign informs motorists of red-light camera enforcement at the intersection of Cicero Avenue and Cal-Sag Road in Crestwood in a 2017 file photo. (Zak Koeske/Daily Southtown )

mnolan@tribpub.com

Twitter @mnolan_J
All votes in the CO-3 election won't be counted until the end of this week

Adam Frisch attending new member orientation in D.C., with the official outcome of the race between him and Boebert unclear
Wang Meiying (left) gives her most recent work "A Tale of Ancient Capital" to a delegate from Kazakhstan as a gift during the Fourth Silk Road International Art Festival, which was held in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, from Sept. 7 to 21. [Photo/China.org.cn]

"Just as a line of smooth silk, literature connects the hearts of life-loving people from different nations and makes them tender and beautiful," said Wang Meiying, a 50-year-old Chinese writer, during her keynote speech entitled "Literature Makes Our Hearts Tender" at the Fourth Silk Road International Art Festival, which was held in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, from Sept. 7 to 21. Her most recent work "A Tale of Ancient Capital" was gifted to international delegates during the festival.

Wang has committed herself to telling Chinese stories for decades. Like many great writers in history, Wang suffered a difficult childhood and resorted to expressing herself with a pen in her early years. She lost her father at six, mother at seven and grandma at 11, and lived with her little brother under care of neighbors.

She began to write works at 18 and her second novel entitled "Mud Hut" is composed of 40,000 Chinese characters and was completed in three days when she was 20. The mud hut was the only inheritance that her family left for her and her brother. "I had nothing to lose when I was sitting in the hut with tears on my face and I can only embark on the path of writing with courage," she recalled. After "Mud Hut" was published on influential literary magazines, she received attention and was funded to pursue her study at Northwest University in Xi'an.

After graduation, Wang had been a reporter and editor in Xi'an for over ten years, which provided great experience for her later literature creations. In recent years, she quit her job and became a freelancer. She visited many cities and counties in Shaanxi and lived together with peasants under conditions of road and bridge construction, water source preservation, library establishments, and registration and funding for poor students in rural areas.

In the past two years, she also went to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Guizhou Province and Jiangsu Province, and revisited the Maritime and Inland Silk Road for life observation and social investigation. "Be it in ancient capitals or rural areas, I can always experience the virtuous hearts of known or unknown people and I was approaching literature, the people, ideals and the era in a sincere and authentic way," she said.

The stories of ordinary Chinese people that she has experienced are presented in her most recent novel entitled "A Tale of Ancient Capital," which became a hit in literary circles and was listed as a best seller soon after it was published in May this year. First published on the magazine of Chinese Writer, "A Tale of Ancient Capital" describes a contemporary story of three protagonists who left their hometown village named Peach Flower Ditch in Shaanxi Province and then strived to make a living in Xi'an, the ancient capital and present modern-day city. The novel involving three generations displays the feelings of surprise, confusion, gain, loss, and growth of the new generation of urban citizens.

"Relevant to real life, 'A Tale of Ancient Capital' is intoxicated with and strives for a sharp writing style, employs brilliant, hard and harsh words, resorts to and promotes traditional narration modes, and combines with modern poetic images dotted with outbursts of passion, so as to tell a story of gain and loss either overtly or covertly in a distinctive way," recommended Wang Meng, a renowned Chinese writer and former Minister of Culture.

Li Jingze, a renowned Chinese literary critic, commentated: "'A Tale of Ancient Capital' witnesses the growth of a writer. Be it in cities or villages, it is the world with love that we should treat with awe. The figures in Meiying's novel appear like prayers before Buddha, enduring pain but with brightness lying ahead."

"'A Tale of Ancient Capital' has a grand landscape, delicate words, powerful strength and dynamic scenes. Common people, the secular world, reality, cities, stories, and unknown realms appear more mystical and unique under her writing." expressed Jia Pingwa, a renowned Chinese writer.

"Meiying's works are grand, natural and genuine," said Tao Haisu, a senior consultant of Mercuria Energy Group. "I like her works and support her."

The novel is now being translated into English and Japanese, according to Wang. She expressed her great ambition for her works to go global and enable more foreign readers to read them during the festival. "I won't write words that are pointless and poison the minds of people," Wang said. "It is the responsibility and obligation of being a writer to write heartfelt feelings, with no flattering and tricks, and strive to make the words touch and comfort readers."
Visitors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where Paradigm of Artfeaturing paintings, photos, sculptures and installations by contemporary German artistsis being hosted. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Two years ago, Germany's largest-ever contemporary Chinese art event, China 8, showed no fewer than 500 works in eight cities in the Rhine-Ruhr region and attracted about 120,000 visitors in four months, says Fan Di'an, the initiative's Chinese curator.

Now, Fan and the German curator of China 8, Walter Smerling, are collaborating again to present Deutschland 8: German Art in China.

Seven exhibitions and one academic forum held in Beijing's museums through the month are intended to present the most comprehensive introduction of contemporary German art since the 1950s in China. It features more than 300 works by 55 artists.

Deutschland 8 is one of many events this year to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany.

German art influenced many Chinese artists in the 1980s, when they were introduced to contemporary Western art, following the start of the country's reform and opening-up.

But the diversity of German art, which has produced many noted figures in the international art community, is largely unknown among the Chinese public.

Smerling, who chairs the Bonn-based Foundation for Art and Culture, says the incumbent event enables people to compare different styles of established and young, emerging artists. It reflects the roles of art and dialogues between cultures in the ever-changing world.

He says the event should expand people's understanding, rather than make them draw conclusions or form fixed impressions, of German art.

Fan, who heads the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, says such exhibitions provide an artistic perspective to understand German values that embrace artisanship, anti-commercialism and anti-mediocrity.

"For example, while digital images dominate the world, many German artists still explore the possibilities of painting with persistence."

He adds that Deutschland 8 doesn't aim to show as many works as possible because Chinese people now pay frequent visits to museums abroad.
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Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia), a Chinese-owned airline, was launched in Cambodia on Monday and will operate six-nation flights in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo were among nearly 200 guests taking part in the launching ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Li Kun, chairman and chief executive officer of Lanmei Airlines, said the company would invest in six aircrafts in the first year before increasing to 20 planes within three years.

"Quality and safety are our top priority," he said.

Li was confident that the airlines would contribute to serving Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy and China's Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation.

The airlines would operate flights from Cambodia to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and China, according to its press release, adding that the airlines would serve as a bridge to promote economic cooperation, cultural exchanges and tourism among the six countries.

Hor Namhong welcomed the presence of Lanmei Airlines in Cambodia's aviation market.

"I strongly believe that Lanmei Airlines will grow into a well-known air company and build a sky highway for Lancang-Mekong six countries to transport more Chinese and other countries' visitors to Cambodia," he said.

Mao Havanall, Cambodian Secretary of State for Civil Aviation, said Cambodia was targeting 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020 and he was confident that Lanmei Airlines could help Cambodia to achieve this ambition.

"SSCA (Cambodian State Secretariat of Civil Aviation) will support Lanmei Airlines development," he said.

According to the press release, the airlines completed its inaugural flight from Cambodia's Sihanoukville to China's Macao on Sept. 29.

To date, Cambodia has seven air carriers, including Cambodia Angkor Air, Bassaka Airlines, Sky Angkor and Bayon Airlines.
Shared bikes near a subway station in Beijing. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

China's bike-sharing craze is causing parking chaos, traffic congestion and is a safety hazard.

Bans on expanding cycle fleets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as eight other cities, have been wheeled out by local authorities.

In the capital alone, there are 2.35 million shared bikes run by 15 companies with stacked parking on pavements and at road crossings causing havoc for pedestrians.

"It is necessary that the authorities put the brakes on shared bikes," said Li Hao, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group in Beijing.

Earlier last month, the capital's transportation management authority prohibited an increase of shared bikes on its roads.

Another 12 cities followed suit, forcing the main players to consider expanding to untapped markets across the country, as well as abroad.

Still, many small bike-sharing companies will go to the wall, squeezed out by the big boys such as Mobike Technology Co, Bluegogo and Ofo Inc.

Mobike plans to improve its services and management structure in major cities.

"As competition in the bike-sharing market in first-tier cities becomes fierce, sophisticated, intelligent management and operations will be our focus," said Li Yuxian, vice-president of Mobike.

"We are aiming to improve users' experience and ease the urban traffic pressure," Li added.

Mobike has rolled out a highly-efficient and professional operational team in Beijing.

They dispatch bikes and handle parking black spots by using cloud computing and artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.

The company has spent more than 3 billion yuan (US$458 million) on big data, internet of things and AI. It is also gearing up to increase its global expansion plans.

"Establishing more cooperative relationships with municipal governments all over the world will be our next move," Li said. "We aim to operate in 200 cities by the end of the year."

Mobike's wheel tracks can be found in 170 world cities, with the company owning seven million bikes, as well as having over 100 million customers.

Apart from China, the firm's cycles can be found in London, Manchester, Florence, Milan, Singapore and Bangkok.

For now, even profit has been put on hold as the company continues its global push.

"If we want to make money, we can, but making money is not our first goal," Hu Weiwei, co-founder and president of Mobike, told the media.

"Profit is not the most important goal for us at the moment," Hu added. "We are focused on market expansion."

By July, major Chinese cities had reached saturation point. There were up to 70 bike-sharing brands with 16 million cycles on the streets for a customer base of about 130 million, figures from the Ministry of Transport revealed in the summer.

Data such as this prompted Mobike's rival Ofo to focus on operating its existing fleet of canary yellow cycles after announcing a designated maintenance officer for each operating area.

Big data analytics technology was used to enhance efficiency. Founded in 2014, the Beijing-based company is valued at more than $2 billion after raising $700 million in its latest round of financing in July.

It has more than 10 million bikes in 13 countries globally and in September officially launched in the Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands.

The company aims to roll out 20 million bikes in 200 cities across the world by the end of the year after moving into markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Austria.

"Our platform was created with the ambition of improving the environment globally by introducing low-carbon transportation to urban dwellers," Dai Wei, founder and CEO of Ofo told China Daily.

"Ofo is committed to bringing our green service to every city in need of convenient short-distance travel solutions," Dai added.

Back in China, Ofo and the rest of the bike-sharing companies need to streamline and improve their business models.

Many are unlikely to survive in a cutthroat industry. Some will be taken over or merged, while others will simply disappear from the streets.

"Bike-sharing companies should standardize the management of bikes and upgrade their operational capacities," Li at iResearch said. "Refined management will be the future direction.

"But we don't rule out the possibility that small bike-sharing companies will be shut down or acquired by other companies," Li added. "There will be a reshuffle in the market."

During the summer, Wukong Bicycle, a startup based in Chongqing, became the first bike-sharing company to go bankrupt.

It was quickly followed by 3Vbike, which was forced to shut down because of rising costs.

Now, many small brands plan to shift to third- and fourth-tier cities.

Chen Yuying, CEO of Guangzhou-based MingBikes, aims to curtail operations in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of this year and move into 50 third- and fourth-tier cities.

"It is difficult for new bike-sharing brands to enter first-tier cities where the authorities have banned any more shared bikes from being stationed," said Wang Chenxi, an analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing.

"The influence on major players Mobike or Ofo is limited, but it's a matter of life and death for small bike-sharing companies as it is evitable that some of them will be knocked out," she added.
China will carry forward public hospital reform to optimize medical care resources for public health, according to a decision at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.

The reform on medical care pricing at public hospitals will continue toward dynamic price adjustment of medical services to make the knowledge expertise and efforts of medical workers better reflected in values.

One or two cities in provincial regions where the comprehensive medical reform are piloted will be chosen for medical insurance payment reform, which covers all medical care institutions and services. The government will also designate over 100 disease categories for an insurance payment by-category reform.

"The medical care reform is not only a major project to better public wellbeing, but also a major economic measure," Li said.

He said the public hospital reform should be pushed forward across the board, and the reform on medical care partnerships should be piloted in multiple forms to better serve "Healthy China" with better and more convenient healthcare services.

China's medical care reform should adhere to the principle of guaranteeing basic health care, building up working mechanisms and strengthening community health services, he added.

China started the latest round of healthcare reform in 2009, making offering healthcare services to all people as a public good its core objective.

As of September, all public hospitals in China have joined the comprehensive reform program to end 60-year-old practice of drug price markups, which enables rationalization of medical care cost. As the reform proceeds, the share of drug sales in the total revenues for hospitals dropped from 46.3 percent in 2010 to 38.1 percent in 2016.

Public hospitals, which totaled 12,708 by the end of 2016, provided 2.85 billion diagnosis and treatments last year, accounting for 87.2 percent of cases provided by all hospitals in China, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The reform on the medication dispensing scheme will also be deepened as public hospitals will be encouraged to practice category-based pharmaceutical procurement. Hospitals across different regions and different specialized hospitals will be encouraged to conduct procurement together.

The public hospital oversight mechanism will be reformed to better supervise the quality and safety of medical care, medical services and medical expenses. The number of hospital beds, construction standard and procurement of large medical equipment will undergo greater scrutiny.

"The medical care reform is still an ongoing reform, and these are progresses yet to be consolidated. The government should provide due financial support. The reform on the remuneration mechanism of medical workers should get stronger support to provide them with more incentive," Li said.

The meeting on Monday decided to speed up efforts to establish medical treatment partnerships, which promote effective cooperation and coordination between different types of medical institutions, including major hospitals and grassroots clinics.

All major public hospitals must take part in the development of such partnerships before the end of October. The operating mechanism of medical partnerships will be further improved to ensure better coordination in technical support, staffing, staff salary arrangements, and resources sharing among different medical institutes.

Private medical care facilities, aged care and rehabilitation centers will also be encouraged to join the partnerships to provide integrated services for the public.

More efforts will be made to expand the availability of family doctors, and to enable the doctors to offer more services based on demand and improve the fee collecting and paying mechanisms.

Medical services at grassroots will be further improved, with more emphasis on improving the talent, technology and key departments at county-level hospitals.

"The medical treatment partnerships should be developed in parallel with systematic reform. Openness instead of exclusiveness to private capital is the way to go. A lot can be done to advance China's medical equipment and pharmaceutical industry, not least the traditional Chinese medicine, including with Internet plus medical care that can help better consolidate our resources," Li said.
Designers are investigating a revolutionary system that would employ magnetic levitation and hyperloops.

A scientist surveys a hyperloop used for trials of maglev vehicles at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Sichuan province.[Photo/China Daily]

A poll recently conducted by Beijing Foreign Studies University showed that the speed and convenience offered by high-speed rail, online shopping, shared bikes and mobile phone-based payment apps are the four things young expats in China view most favorably.

And of those four items, it seems likely that high-speed rail will remain on the list for a long time as the country works to retain its place as the home of the world's fastest trains. Now, Chinese designers are developing a bullet train capable of achieving a top speed of 400 kilometers per hour on conventional tracks, along with a magnetic levitation, or maglev, train that is expected to run at 600 km/h.

The country is even considering the possibility of building a system based on a transnational tube that would allow specially designed trains to travel at 4,000 km/h.

Last month, designers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, one of the country's biggest space contractors, announced that they had started research and development work on a futuristic ultrafast transportation system popularly known as a hyperloop.

The CASIC hyperloop will see maglev lines running in partially elevated tubes or tunnels along which streamlined, engineless trains will travel at speeds of 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 km/h, according to Mao Kai, chief designer of the system at CASIC. So far, there is no indication of how much such a system would cost.

By comparison, China's fastest wheeled train in commercial operation travels at about 350 km/h, while large commercial jetliners usually fly at 900 to 1,000 km/h.

The highest speed ever achieved by a railway vehicle was 603 km/h. That record was set during a test run of the Japanese L0 Series superconducting maglev in April 2015. However, the fastest operating speed of a commercial rail vehicle is 430 km/h, and was attained by the Transrapid maglev, developed in Germany, on a 30.5 km stretch of line that runs to the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai.

CASIC is the first Chinese enterprise to begin developing a hyperloop system capable of allowing trains to travel at 1,000 km/h or faster.

Depth of experience

The project will benefit from the company's experience in systems engineering and supersonic vehicles, CASIC said in a statement. The company is the third in the world to embark on such a venture, following Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One in the United States.

Mao said CASIC is working with more than 20 institutes at home and abroad on the project and its technicians are striving to develop key technologies, such as those required to construct elevated hyperloop tube systems.

He added that once the project has been developed sufficiently, CASIC plans to construct a short line for trial runs for the 1,000 km/h version.

The 1,000 km/h and 2,000 km/h versions of the system would be used for intercity travel, while the 4,000 km/h version would form part of a transnational ultrafast transportation network, according to Mao.

"The reason we are eager to develop a 4,000 km/h version is that we believe such a line is technologically feasible, and that it will have business potential in terms of long-distance transportation in the future," he said. "Of course, safety and comfort will be at the top on our agenda when we develop hyperloop lines."

The maglev train's acceleration and deceleration within the tube would have to be relatively gradual and smooth to ensure passenger comfort, he said. Moreover, landforms and engineering considerations would determine what proportion of the line would be aboveground and how much would run underground.

Research competition

Zhai Wanming, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor of traction power at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Sichuan province, previously told Xinhua News Agency that when trains travel at 400 km/h or faster more than 80 percent of its traction power is used to counter air resistance. Therefore, a train can only maintain ultrafast speeds by running within a partially elevated tube, he said.

The idea of using magnetic levitation within a partial vacuum to carry people or cargo was floated by scientists many years ago. However, it gained new traction in 2012 when tech tycoon Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, announced his ambition to build a hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One have designed and produced prototypes and have signed agreements with several countries to conduct feasibility studies, according to media reports.

In May 2014, Southwest Jiaotong University announced that it had built the world's first experimental elevated loop tube for technological demonstrations of a high-temperature superconducting maglev vehicle it has developed.

A senior Chinese maglev scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said vehicles reached constant speeds of 40 to 50 km/h during trial runs in the university's loop tube that were conducted to assess the system's overall design and resistance to vibration.

The scientist, who is close to the university's research program, said the college plans to develop vehicles capable of running at 400 km/h in a partially elevated loop tube. He added that the institute is also in talks with provincial authorities regarding research and development of a next-generation maglev/tube system with an estimated speed of about 1,200 km/h.

With regard to the feasibility of CASIC's hyperloop plans, the scientist said the company's researchers will need to address a number of technical issues, including communications and equipment-cooling techniques in an elevated environment.

"Moreover, CASIC will have to pay great attention to its project's profitability. My estimation is that the 1,000 km/h version will be economically and technically feasible," he said.

"Of course, from a technical perspective, the 4,000 km/h model could also become a reality if the engineers are able to work out solutions to issues related to propulsion, levitation and control."

Those points were echoed by Zhao Lin, an associate researcher at the National Laboratory for Superconductivity at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhao said any enterprise that is seriously considering investing in a hyperloop system will have to take a wealth of factors into consideration.

"For example, the ultrafast speed would generate a lot of demands on the track and the material from which the maglev system is made. In addition, the cost of constructing and maintaining a long-distance, elevated tube would be extremely high," he said.

'Traditional' approach

Even before CASIC announced its hyperloop program, engineers at the State-owned railcar manufacturer CRRC Corp, the world's largest train maker, had started developing a new-generation bullet train with an operating speed of 400 km/h, which will probably become the fastest train in service on the planet.

It will be deployed on a series of new lines the government is planning to connect nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, a multinational economic venture proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The initiative consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt, which will link China with Europe via Central and Western Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which will stretch from southern China across Southeast Asia, and even to Africa. The government estimates that the initiative could benefit approximately 4.4 billion people in 65 nations.

The axles and wheels of CRRC's new bullet train will be designed so they can be adjusted to fit a range of track gauges used outside China.

At present, goods can only continue their journeys after they have been transferred to rolling stock with the appropriate gauges when they cross national borders, according to professor Jia Limin of Beijing Jiaotong University, who heads China's high-speed railway innovation program, in an earlier interview with China Daily.

Experts have also been testing an ultrafast bullet train capable of traveling at about 600 km/h, but its designers have stressed that it has been built to test next-generation railway technologies rather than for commercial use.

Moreover, CRRC is designing two types of maglev - a 600 km/h high-speed version and a 200 km/h mid-speed version. The company expects to put them into service sometime around 2021, according to the designers.

At present, China operates 124,000 km of rail lines. That figure includes more than 22,000 km of high-speed track, about 60 percent of the global total.

Every day, at least 4 million people use the nation's high-speed trains, accounting for 50 percent of daily user numbers on the country's entire rail network.
New regulation to manage online food orders

Online orders for food must be backed up by real restaurants and permits, said a guideline released by the State Council Food Safety Commission and 13 other departments.

The document covered the food chain from farmland to the table and aimed to improve food safety from service to management. Restaurants in key areas such as shopping malls and top tourism destinations should make their kitchens open and visible to customers, the guideline said.

Meanwhile, stricter governance will be carried out to control the number of unpermitted restaurants and outdoor food vendors, the document added.

Unemployment insurance to be raised to boost jobs

The country will steadily raise the unemployment insurance to 90 percent of the minimum wage, said a recent guideline by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance.

The insurance should be raised to ensure its two roles of ensuring basic needs and promote employment, based on the regulation on unemployment insurance, the guideline said.

With the unemployment insurance fund running safely, steps should be taken to raise the standard of coverage, the document added.

27 agency services and certificates canceled

The State Council has canceled 27 items of agency services and certificates as evidence for administrative approvals, which were delegated by the central government to local governments.

The decision was jointly made by departments such as the Ministry of Transport, and then made public on Sept 28 when the cancellation started to take effect.

The agency services and certificates include checkup reports, capital verification certificates, loss statements, statements of obsolescence and another 23 items, the document said.

Training enhanced for college graduates

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will help train unemployed college graduates and help 90 percent of them to find a job or start their own businesses, a recent notice said.

The notice aimed to take continuous action to train these unemployed graduates and provide them with skills for jobs or business startups. The ministry will organize occupational schools, public training centers and professional training agencies to offer instruction in occupational skills, basic training, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as poverty relief.

Foreign trade service companies get boost

Five departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, released a regulation to promote healthy development of foreign trade service companies nationwide.

A recent notice said that these departments will enhance information sharing and joint management over companies. The regulation will be improved on export tax rebates and exemptions.
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Minzu (Nationalities) University in Yunnan is now offering China's first master's degree in Yoga, with applications being accepted starting Tuesday, October 10, reports The China Youth Daily.

The program is being sponsored by the China-India Yoga College at the University and Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, a renowned Indian Yoga university.

The degree program was officially approved by China's Ministry of Educational in January, 2017.

A Yoga master's degree will take three years to complete, including two years studying in China, and the final year in India. Students will receive separate master's degrees from both China and India once they obtain the required credits.

Classes will include lessons on yoga asanas, yoga physiology, yoga anatomy, yoga therapy as well as meridian theory.

The program will also offer language courses for Chinese students studying in India, including Hindi and Sanscrit, as well as courses related to Indian culture.
Newly introduced restrictions help curb market during peak sales season

Property sales in the country's major cities dropped to a three-year low during the recent National Day holiday, as the intensive launch of restrictive measures began to bite.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou all saw plummeting property sales during the weeklong holiday.

According to data from the real estate section of 163.com, an online information portal, only 134 new homes were transacted during the first eight days of October this year in Beijing, a decrease of 70 percent year-on-year.

In Shanghai, 178 properties were sold between Oct 1 and 8, down 82 percent year-on-year.

In Guangzhou, 541 properties were transacted in the first eight days of October, a decline of 89 percent year-on-year.

"It is expected that such a situation will continue for the rest of the year," said Zhang Dawei, a Beijing-based researcher at Centaline Property,

Analysts said that decline in transactions is not surprising even during the conventional peak sales season.

More than 100 cities have launched over 150 policies to curb speculative home purchases since the end of September in 2016.

Beijing is one of the cities which was most affected, with both prices and the sales volume experiencing a sharp decline.

According to data from BICIC, a property market services provider, 20,600 preowned homes were sold in the third quarter in Beijing, down 43.7 percent quarter-on-quarter and 73.7 percent year-on-year. The average price was around 55,000 yuan ($8,267) per square meter, about 10 percent lower than in the second quarter this year, according to property information provider anjuke.com.

Hainan province also launched a new policy to suspend the development of small apartments below 100 square meters in specific coastal regions, generally purchased as second homes or holiday homes.

Investors who bought properties in coastal cities in Hainan province may only live in property for a couple of months, and leave the property empty for the rest of the year, which may put great pressure on public resources, and cause a great waste of land resources.

Squeezing this unreasonable demand out of the market will spare resources for local residents, creating a more rational property market, said local housing authorities.

More cities further tightened conditions for transactions in the housing market before Oct 1 to prevent a sudden overheating in the peak season.

New rules in Chongqing and Nanchang said that in central districts, buyers of newly built properties will not be allowed to sell the properties for at least two years. In Guiyang, the limit is three years.

"More cities are taking steps to curb speculative demand in the housing market, an initial step toward a long-term solution allowing for the sustainable and steady development of the housing market," said Deng Yusong, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Ouyang Shijia contributed to this story.
A Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000 of VistaJet is on show during an expo held in Shanghai. [Photo by Yang Chun/For China Daily]

Younger customers and more executives from technology firms on the Chinese mainland are using private aviation services, according to Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman of VistaJet, the world's first full ownership private jet company.

Flohr said younger customers including millennials are joining VistaJet, many of whom already have a good knowledge and understanding of private aviation.

Traditionally, its jets have been used by executives in the oil, mining, energy and real estate industries, according to Flohr, but now more at technology, financial services and education executives are coming on board.

"The minimum net worth of our typical customers is $200 million and they are aged from their late 20s to their 50s," said Flohr.

According to Flohr, 17 percent of its customers are from China, and they fly around 100 to 200 hours a year with the company. "Private jet business on Chinese mainland is still relatively new and it is our great focus within the Asia-Pacific region," said Flohr.

Flohr said that Chinese customers prefer aircraft with a larger cabin, for example the Global 6000 and the Challenger 850, which has a capacity for 14 passengers and seven possible sleeping areas.

Flohr remained VistaJet's chairman and majority shareholder after the company recently raised $200 million from global private-equity firm Rhone Capital, which will take seats on the company's board but won't be involved in management.

Flohr is the first entrepreneur to build a business model offering a flight-hour subscription model across an entire fleet of jets flying customers anywhere and at any time.

"The fractional ownership business model in private aviation business is dead," Flohr said. "A full ownership company with $2.5 billion-in assets based, with a sharing economy concept for all big corporations to use, is the right choice."

Flohr said its infrastructure is still underutilized, as it can serve 100,000 hours per year but only 55,000 hours of usage is estimated for this year. He aims to grow 10 percent of the market share globally flying 200,000 hours a year for the company's next target.
Benedikt Sobotka, chief executive officer at Eurasian Resources Group. [Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Kazakh firm aims at largest cobalt supplier for nation's batteries in EVs

Eurasian Resources Group is making inroads into China's energy market by supplying a crucial ingredient for lithium-ion batteries.

The international metals and mining company is 40 percent owned by the Kazakh government and plans to become one of the largest cobalt suppliers to the world's second-largest economy by the end of 2018.

"At full capacity, 'Metalkol RTR', ERG's mine project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be able to supply up to 21,000 metric tons of cobalt annually to the global market," said Benedikt Sobotka, chief executive officer of ERG.

"This is enough to build 2.6 million electric vehicles (EVs)," he added.

ERG's project in Congo is crucial for the company in the next two to three years as it takes advantage of China's economic transformation to further boost its market share in the country.

A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance revealed that China became the largest market in the world last year for annual EV sales after overtaking Europe and the United States.

Li Li, an energy research director at consulting company ICIS China, pointed out that surging demand for rechargeable batteries, a core component for electric vehicles, is making cobalt one of the world's most desirable metals.

"The company's emphasis on China, as the largest energy market in the world, is a wise strategy," she said.

"Furthermore, cooperation in the energy field will lead to other related sectors, such as investment, finance and techniques," Li added.

Indeed, ERG was also involved in the first Belt and Road Initiative project when it helped to set up the Kazakhstan Aluminium Smelter JSC, a flagship company dealing in metals.

"China has evolved from an export-oriented country into a more consumer-oriented one, calling for (key) changes in related areas, including the financial sector," CEO Sobotka said.

"Given China's growing demand for commodities from Africa, we expect the country will be interested in equity purchases, which will enable it to invest in the sector," he added. "This will help develop assets in Africa."

ERG's vision for the next five to 10 years involves closer integration with a wide range of Chinese partners and launching more deals with Chinese companies across an array of sectors.

Last month, the group was part of a consortium that signed a $2.4 billion memorandum of understanding for infrastructure projects with the state of Bahia in Brazil.

Chinese companies involved included China Railway Group Ltd, China Communications Construction Co and Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry Group Co Ltd.

"The integrated iron ore (project), deep water seaport and railroad development will create one of the lowest cost iron ore producers globally," said Sobotka.

"We believe China has a bright future ahead," he added.

"The country understands the best way to develop its economy is through supporting other countries' industrial development, as well as pursuing trade agreements."
PHNOM PENH  Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia), a Chinese-owned airline, was launched in Cambodia on Monday and will operate six-nation flights in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo were among nearly 200 guests taking part in the launching ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Li Kun, chairman and chief executive officer of Lanmei Airlines, said the company would invest in six aircrafts in the first year before increasing to 20 planes within three years.

"Quality and safety are our top priority," he said.

Li was confident that the airlines would contribute to serving Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy and China's Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation.

The airlines would operate flights from Cambodia to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and China, according to its press release, adding that the airlines would serve as a bridge to promote economic cooperation, cultural exchanges and tourism among the six countries.

Hor Namhong welcomed the presence of Lanmei Airlines in Cambodia's aviation market.

"I strongly believe that Lanmei Airlines will grow into a well-known air company and build a sky highway for Lancang-Mekong six countries to transport more Chinese and other countries' visitors to Cambodia," he said.

Mao Havanall, Cambodian Secretary of State for Civil Aviation, said Cambodia was targeting 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020 and he was confident that Lanmei Airlines could help Cambodia to achieve this ambition.

"Cambodian State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) will support Lanmei Airlines development," he said.

According to the press release, the airlines completed its inaugural flight from Cambodia's Sihanoukville to China's Macao on Sept 29.

To date, Cambodia has seven air carriers, including Cambodia Angkor Air, Bassaka Airlines, Sky Angkor and Bayon Airlines.
COLOMBO  Over 200,000 Chinese tourists had arrived in Sri Lanka till September this year with over 18,000 arriving last month alone, statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry showed here Monday.

Over 1.5 million tourists have arrived in the country so far this year with the government recently announcing they were expecting to achieve a 2.5 million arrival target by the end of 2017.

India was the leading market with the largest number of tourist arrivals in September, followed by China and Britain. However with September falling under the off-peak season, total arrivals fell 2.3 percent to 145,077 compared to the same month last year, data from the tourism office showed.

Sri Lanka's Tourism Minister John Amaratunga recently announced that arrivals were expected to increase, including from China, during the month-long Colombo International Shopping Festival which began on Oct 1.

He said the festival will provide world-class and internationally renowned original brands at competitive prices. The event will be held under the theme "One Island, One Big Mall."

Sri Lanka's government recently said it aims to double the number of tourists to 5 million per year by 2020 as part of a new tourist strategy to boost revenue to the South Asian island country.

According to the Central Bank, Sri Lanka has earned over $2 billion from tourism so far this year.
PICC Health Insurance Co Ltd, a subsidiary of one of China's largest insurers, People's Insurance Company (Group) of China, has launched a unified card integrating health consulting, expert diagnosis, treatment and one-stop payment.

A total of 2,015 hospitals, more than 800 health care centers and 40,000 drug stores will all be concluded in the unified card system.

According to Song Fuxing, president of PICC Health, the company's move is to better integrate health resources. It is not only aimed to help to address the difficulties in receiving diagnosis but also improve the awareness of people's health management.

"The healthy China concept will focus on disease prevention, not just treatment," said Dong Yuxing, deputy general manager for healthcare management at PICC Health.

The company is experimenting with business models ranging from assisting local governments with healthcare administration, to managed care packages, to various insurance products, according to Dong.

China's healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP grew from about 2 percent in 2005 to 3.5 percent in 2009 when the reform started, to about 6 percent today. In a time of rapid GDP growth, this was almost a tripling of real healthcare spending. Total expenditures are now about 4 trillion yuan ($435 billion) and research by Deloitte Analysis predicts it will top 8 trillion yuan by 2020. By 2030, total Chinese spending on healthcare will reach 16 trillion yuan, 10 percent of that year's expected GDP.
A worker assembles a robotic arm at a factory in Foshan, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China's GDP accounted for 14.8 percent of the world's total in 2016, up by 3.4 percentage points from 2012, said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, on Tuesday.

The country made the largest contribution to global growth, averaging at about 30 percent annually, during the 2013-2016 period, larger than the total of the US, euro zone and Japan combined, he said at a news conference.
BEIJING  China has issued a notice advising authorities across the country to establish online platforms to expose debtors who fail to honor their credit obligations.

The notice, jointly issued by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Supreme People's Court, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), told authorities to complete provincial-level online platforms by the end of this year and to make the public aware of these websites within two years.

Municipal- and county-level authorities are also encouraged to set up their own online platforms, according to the notice.

The online platforms will be developed and maintained by local news organizations on the basis of a database provided by local courts, said the notice.

The CBRC will direct financial institutions to incorporate such information into their credit line approval systems, it said.
A visitor tries out the facial recognition technology at an internet finance expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Nov 20, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Financial players are facing another round of competition along with the daily comparisons of their figures and graphsthe application of facial recognition.

With increasing attention being paid to the utilization of technology in the financial sector, financial players tend to advance their business with new technology such as facial recognition, not only to gain more customers, but more importantly to offer more possibilities.

"Facial recognition, which has long been used in social networks, has already become a technology mature enough to be utilized in the financial sector," said Yang Tao, assistant director of the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It is a wave which all kinds of financial units are trying to catch up with at present, as the technology does enhance their ability to reach more customers."

Integrated with more technologies being applied in the financial sector, such as big data and blockchain, facial recognition will gain a greater role, Yang added.

HSBC Holdings PLC, a British multinational banking and financial services holding company, recently launched facial recognition on its mobile banking platform in China, branding itself as the first foreign bank to offer facial recognition for payments in China.

The newly added biometric authentication allows customers to transfer up to 50,000 yuan ($7,515) per day to new payees by combining facial recognition with their passwords on HSBC's China's mobile banking app, and frees them from the physical security devices required for such transactions.

HSBC regards it as a move to promote its mobile payment business in China, one of the world's most new-tech receptive countries.

"Digital technology is rapidly evolving and customers are now able to bank more simply, quickly and in the most secure way possible," said Andrew Connell, retail banking and wealth management head of Digital for Asia Pacific & Innovation and Partnerships at HSBC.

"We see a huge growth opportunity in the adoption of technology for retail banking, not just in China but across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world."

Facial recognition ensures that a real person is in front of the camera instead of a picture, which makes it much more secure than fingerprint recognition. According to the data from HSBC, the error rate for facial recognition would be around one in a million, while that for fingerprints is around one in 50,000.

HSBC is not the only bank promoting this technology in China. With the technology already mature enough to be put into practice, many banks are now using it as an assistive method to authenticate the identities of customers, such as China Merchants Bank, which has equipped its automated teller machines with a facial recognition system.
Shared bikes near a subway station in Beijing. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

Local authorities ban moves to expand cycle fleets after parking chaos, traffic congestion and public safety concerns

China's bike-sharing craze is causing parking chaos, traffic congestion and is a safety hazard.

Bans on expanding cycle fleets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as eight other cities, have been wheeled out by local authorities.

In the capital alone, there are 2.35 million shared bikes run by 15 companies with stacked parking on pavements and at road crossings causing havoc for pedestrians.

"It is necessary that the authorities put the brakes on shared bikes," said Li Hao, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group in Beijing.

Earlier last month, the capital's transportation management authority prohibited an increase of shared bikes on its roads.

Another 12 cities followed suit, forcing the main players to consider expanding to untapped markets across the country, as well as abroad.

Still, many small bike-sharing companies will go to the wall, squeezed out by the big boys such as Mobike Technology Co, Bluegogo and Ofo Inc.

Mobike plans to improve its services and management structure in major cities.

"As competition in the bike-sharing market in first-tier cities becomes fierce, sophisticated, intelligent management and operations will be our focus," said Li Yuxian, vice-president of Mobike.

"We are aiming to improve users' experience and ease the urban traffic pressure," Li added.

Mobike has rolled out a highly-efficient and professional operational team in Beijing.

They dispatch bikes and handle parking black spots by using cloud computing and artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.

The company has spent more than 3 billion yuan ($458 million) on big data, internet of things and AI. It is also gearing up to increase its global expansion plans.

"Establishing more cooperative relationships with municipal governments all over the world will be our next move," Li said. "We aim to operate in 200 cities by the end of the year."

Mobike's wheel tracks can be found in 170 world cities, with the company owning seven million bikes, as well as having over 100 million customers.

Apart from China, the firm's cycles can be found in London, Manchester, Florence, Milan, Singapore and Bangkok.

For now, even profit has been put on hold as the company continues its global push.

"If we want to make money, we can, but making money is not our first goal," Hu Weiwei, co-founder and president of Mobike, told the media.

"Profit is not the most important goal for us at the moment," Hu added. "We are focused on market expansion."

By July, major Chinese cities had reached saturation point. There were up to 70 bike-sharing brands with 16 million cycles on the streets for a customer base of about 130 million, figures from the Ministry of Transport revealed in the summer.

Data such as this prompted Mobike's rival Ofo to focus on operating its existing fleet of canary yellow cycles after announcing a designated maintenance officer for each operating area.

Big data analytics technology was used to enhance efficiency. Founded in 2014, the Beijing-based company is valued at more than $2 billion after raising $700 million in its latest round of financing in July.

It has more than 10 million bikes in 13 countries globally and in September officially launched in the Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands.

The company aims to roll out 20 million bikes in 200 cities across the world by the end of the year after moving into markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Austria.

"Our platform was created with the ambition of improving the environment globally by introducing low-carbon transportation to urban dwellers," Dai Wei, founder and CEO of Ofo told China Daily.

"Ofo is committed to bringing our green service to every city in need of convenient short-distance travel solutions," Dai added.

Back in China, Ofo and the rest of the bike-sharing companies need to streamline and improve their business models.

Many are unlikely to survive in a cutthroat industry. Some will be taken over or merged, while others will simply disappear from the streets.

"Bike-sharing companies should standardize the management of bikes and upgrade their operational capacities," Li at iResearch said. "Refined management will be the future direction.

"But we don't rule out the possibility that small bike-sharing companies will be shut down or acquired by other companies," Li added. "There will be a reshuffle in the market."

During the summer, Wukong Bicycle, a startup based in Chongqing, became the first bike-sharing company to go bankrupt.

It was quickly followed by 3Vbike, which was forced to shut down because of rising costs.

Now, many small brands plan to shift to third- and fourth-tier cities.

Chen Yuying, CEO of Guangzhou-based MingBikes, aims to curtail operations in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of this year and move into 50 third- and fourth-tier cities.

"It is difficult for new bike-sharing brands to enter first-tier cities where the authorities have banned any more shared bikes from being stationed," said Wang Chenxi, an analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing.

"The influence on major players Mobike or Ofo is limited, but it's a matter of life and death for small bike-sharing companies as it is evitable that some of them will be knocked out," she added.

Zhuang Qiange contributed to the story.
As the Party gathering nears, participants have pet topics

As one of 2,287 delegates to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xu Chuan said on Monday the issues he cares most about all are related to education in the next five years.

"I'll bring my students' opinions and suggestions on education, such as how to fulfill equal access to education and reforms in higher education, to the congress, talking with other delegates and hearing more ideas on the issues," said Xu, 35, an associate professor of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He operates a WeChat account with 200,000 followers.

Xu showed his excitement over the congress, which will open on Oct 18, during a meeting with reporters held by the State Council Information Office. "I hope I can get more ideas about the environment of employment or starting a business for youths in the congress and share them on the platform."

He added that he will review reports and vote in the congress, strictly performing his duties as a delegate.

In addition to Xu, eight other young Party members from the grassroots level, including State-owned construction enterprises and private companies, shared their stories on how they joined the Party and their expectations regarding the congress.

Xu Zewei, founder of 91jinrong.com, which provides financial services, said he pays attention to the country's plans for young people with a willingness to start up their own businesses and poverty relief.

The average age of employees in Xu's company is 30 years old, "and thanks to policies and reforms in recent years, young people have been given more opportunities to make their business dreams come true," he said.

Of the nine Party members, the youngest there was 25 and the oldest 42. "I feel that that our Party members are becoming younger," Xu Chuan said, adding that helping the youth better understand the Party's history and theories also is important.

"Many children like noting their ideas in real-time comments while watching online videos, and livestreaming is also popular among them. So I think the better way to share the Party's knowledge is to seek the way that the young people can be easily accepted," he suggested.

A total of 2,287 delegates have been elected from 89 million Party members to gather in Beijing for the 19th CPC National Congress. Among them, 424 are less than 45 years old, 25 more than the figure in the last congress.
Seven people were fined 105,000 yuan ($15,830) for chasing Tibetan antelope in a nature reserve in the Tibet autonomous region, the local forestry department said on Sunday.

At 5:20 pm on Wednesday, a group of seven tourists in two SUVs drove off a public road and into the Siling Co Nature Reserve in Nagchu prefecture, said Deng Zhonghua of Lhasa's public security bureau.

The reserve, covering 18,936 square kilometers including Serlingtso Lake, is the world's largest habitat for black-necked cranes. The reserve is also home to about 30,000 Tibetan antelope, a first-class State-protected species.

The tourists saw a herd of antelope while driving along the road in Shanza county and drove after the animals for about a minute to take pictures, Deng said.

A netizen using the screen name "Cacaliyizhi" posted images on Sina Weibo of two white vehicles pursuing a running herd. The chase led to the death of several animals, according to the netizen. The incident was reported to the police at 2 pm on Friday.

The message triggered public anger and was forwarded by netizens via social media.

The post by Cacaliyizhi had been deleted. The netizen said in a new post on Saturday that the pictures were taken by one of his Tibetan friends.

The police tracked down the group in the vehicles at 5 pm on Friday, and handed the case over to the local forestry department.

Deng declined to provide more details about the drivers and passengers, adding only that the license plates "show one vehicle is from Shanghai, and the other is from Jiangsu province".

Each person was fined 10,000 yuan for breaking the Wild Animal Conservation Law and 5,000 yuan for breaking nature reserve regulations. The person in charge of the area was disqualified for the annual excellence assessment and will not receive an allowance for three months.

Tashi Dorje, an official in the local forestry department, said frightened antelope running at top speed could suffer heart and lung failure.

"There were no animals crushed, according to our investigation. No injured or dead antelope were found during checks of the area on Friday and Saturday," Tashi Dorje said.

Zhang Yi contributed to this story.
Premier says changes will be good for public well-being and the economy

China will carry out reforms at public hospitals to optimize medical care resources, according to a decision made at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.

Reforms in the pricing of medical services will continue to move toward dynamic price adjustments to better reflect the expertise of medical workers, the panel determined.

One or two cities in provincial areas where the comprehensive medical reforms are being piloted will be chosen for medical insurance payment reform, covering all medical care institutions and services. The government will also designate more than 100 disease categories for an insurance payment-by-category reform.

"The medical care reform is not only a major project to improve public well-being but also a major economic measure," Li said.

He said the public hospital reforms should be pushed forward across the board, and the reforms of medical care partnerships should be piloted in multiple forms to better serve "healthy China" with better and more convenient healthcare services.

China's medical care reforms should adhere to the principle of guaranteeing basic healthcare, building up working mechanisms and strengthening community health services, he said.

China began its latest round of healthcare reform in 2009, with a core objective of offering healthcare services to all people.

As of September, all public hospitals in China had joined the comprehensive reform program, which ends the 60-year-old practice of drug price markups and enables rationalization of medical costs. As reforms have proceeded, drug sales as a share of total revenue for hospitals dropped from 46.3 percent in 2010 to 38.1 percent in 2016.

Public hospitals (12,708 of them as of 2016) provided 2.85 billion diagnoses and treatments last year, accounting for 87.2 percent of cases provided by all hospitals in China, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Reforming how medicines are acquired for patients will also be deepened, and public hospitals will be encouraged to practice category-based pharmaceutical procurement.

Hospitals across different regions, along with specialized hospitals, will be encouraged to team up for drug procurement.

The public hospital oversight mechanism will be reformed to better supervise the quality and safety of medical care, medical services and medical expenses. The number of hospital beds, construction standards and procurement of large medical equipment will undergo greater scrutiny.

"Medical care reform is still an ongoing reform, and the progress needs to be consolidated," Li said. "The government should provide appropriate financial support."

The executive panel on Monday decided to speed up efforts to establish medical treatment partnerships to promote effective cooperation and coordination between different types of medical institutions, including major hospitals and grassroots clinics.

All major public hospitals must join in the development of such partnerships before the end of October. The operating mechanism of medical partnerships will be further improved to ensure better coordination in technical support, staffing, staff salary arrangements and resource sharing among different medical institutes.

Private medical care facilities, eldercare facilities and rehabilitation centers will also be encouraged to join the partnerships to provide integrated services to the public.

More efforts will be made to expand the availability of family doctors, and to enable the doctors to offer more services based on demand and improve fee collection and payment mechanisms.

"A lot can be done to advance China's medical equipment and pharmaceutical industry, not least traditional Chinese medicine, and including Internet-Plus medical care that can help better consolidate our resources," Li said.
China launched Venezuela's second remote-sensing satellite, VRSS-2, into space on Monday.

A Long March 2D carrier rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China at 12:13 pm to place the satellite into orbit, according to a news release from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the major contractor for China's space programs.

It was the 252nd mission for the Long March rocket family.

Also known as Antonio Jose de Sucre, named after a Venezuelan independence leader, the satellite is the Latin American nation's third satellite. The previous two were also developed and launched by China.

Designed by China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing, a subsidiary of CASC, the VRSS-2 carries a panchromatic/multi-spectral high-resolution imager and an infrared camera, the release said. The satellite will be used for land resources inspection, environmental protection, disaster monitoring and relief, crop yield estimation and urban planning. It will help boost the nation's economy and improve the Venezuelan people's livelihood, the company said.

The project was launched in October 2014 after a contract was signed between the Venezuelan government and China Great Wall Industry Corp, a CASC branch that provides space collaboration service to foreign nations.

In October 2008, China used a Long March 3B to lift Venezuela's first satellite - the Venesat-1 communications satellite - into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China. That satellite was the first Chinese satellite used by a Latin American nation.

In September 2012, a Long March 2D rocket sent Venezuela's first remote-sensing satellite, the VRSS-1, into space from the Jiuquan center - the first time China had exported a remote-sensing satellite.

A statement from China Academy of Space Technology said VRSS-2 was designed based on its CAST2000 small satellite bus, which functions as a platform for holding other satellites, and has a life span of five years. It said compared with VRSS-1, the new one can take larger and clearer images of Earth.

The academy said about 30 Venezuelan satellite engineers took part in VRSS-2's development and production.

China has exported 14 satellites to 11 countries, including Bolivia, Nigeria and Laos.

Next year, Great Wall will launch Pakistan's first remote-sensing satellite, also developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, according to company managers.
Private and foreign capital encouraged to participate in boosting efficiency

Centrally administered SOEs have contributed greatly to the country's economic growth in the past several decades. Today, the reform and restructuring of central SOEs have also been placed on top of the government agenda, aiming to boost their efficiency along with supply-side structural reform.

The State Council's executive meeting on Sept 27, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, decided to further push forward mixed-ownership reform and the restructuring of central SOEs in five areas: manufacturing, coal mining, electricity, telecommunications, as well as chemical engineering, according to a statement released after the meeting.

It was also made clear that the reform and restructuring of central SOEs welcomes participation of both private and foreign capital. The new round of restructuring will be a key opportunity to boost reform and the institutional innovation of central SOEs, as pointed out at the meeting.

"Centrally administrated SOEs are important backbones of China's economy. Restructuring central SOEs is, in essence, to deepen reforms, and take it as an opportunity to advance SOE reform and institutional innovation, to improve central SOE quality and efficiency, and realize economic transition," Li said at the meeting.

He called for central SOEs, regardless of size, to further coordinate in developing the Internet Plus mode of growth and mass entrepreneurship platforms to free them from rigid structures and advance institutional innovation.

Li Jin, chief researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute, pointed out the current round of reform of central SOEs is an important part of the ongoing supply-side reform.

"This round of central SOE reform and restructuring, especially in the five areas, has placed a stronger focus on phasing out excess capacity and reducing costs," he said. "This will push forward the industrial chain to move toward the mid-and-high end."

He also said that making good use of the Internet Plus and innovation platforms, which was reiterated by the premier, has become an important feature of this round of central SOE reform.

He added that reform of central SOEs in the past five years kicked off when these SOEs were faced with a variety of obstacles. China's supply-side reform in recent years has adjusted the economic structure and tackled low efficiency, and has successfully helped develop new sources of growth for central SOEs through market forces.

Xiao Yaqing, chairperson of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said during a news conference on Sept 28 that China has completed a top-level redesign of SOEs in the past five years, allowing them greater coordination. And with reforms going deeper, central SOEs will take on new features and record more lasting achievements.

"We welcome companies of all ownership types, as well as foreign companies, to participate in China's SOEs mixed-ownership reform," Xiao said at the news conference.

Since 2013, a total of 34 central SOEs have been restructured, including a merger of two of China's top bullet-train manufacturers and two major steel makers. This overhaul has reduced the number of central SOEs to 98 from 117.

At the same time, calls to deleverage have been a major concern of government policy meetings in the past year. Yet Xiao stressed at the news conference that the current debt risk level of central SOEs is "reasonable, appropriate and controllable".

It was also decided at the Sept 27 State Council meeting that apart from asset restructuring, resources will also be directed toward competitive companies or industries through equity cooperation, asset swaps, strategic alliances and joint development.

Li said during the meeting that as reconstruction forges ahead, redundant departments and personnel need to be further streamlined to reduce costs and increase profit.

"The government should stand fast in protecting the legitimate rights of SOE workers, and do their best in helping with job relocation rather than just laying people off," he stressed.

The meeting is the latest move in SOE reforms since the State Council announced a reform timetable in July: China will include all central State-owned enterprises that have not been reformed in a modern corporate system by making them legal entities by the end of 2017. All central SOEs, except financial and cultural ones, will be registered as limited liability companies or joint-equity corporations in accordance with the Company Law, which will accelerate the establishment of an effective and balanced corporate governance structure, based on their legal status, as well as a flexible and efficient marketized management mechanism.

The move is expected to help clear away institutional barriers for further SOE reform.

Figures from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission shows total assets of China's central SOEs reached 50.5 trillion yuan ($7.62 trillion) by the end of 2016, an 80 percent increase from late 2011. In the first half of 2017, central SOEs have made $78.66 billion in net profit, an increase of 18.6 percent compared with the same period last year.
The concept of "major country" and "major country diplomacy" are not new, either in theory or practice. During the past five centuries, the world history has witnessed too many wars and interstate crises, especially when a newly emerged "rising power" was unhappy with the distribution of global power and the old power was casting a wary eye toward the new one. This situation is called 'Thucydides Trap', a popular concept in both China and US, where politicians and experts are worrying about the "upcoming war" between the so-called "indignant" rising giant and the intense hegemony.

However, the outdated European script was rewritten by modern Chinese wisdom. The concept of "new-type relationship between major countries" proposed by President Xi Jinping was globally welcomed as a "Chinese herb" curing the "chronic disease" of Western hegemonic war.

In this "new-type relationship", it is imperative to transcend the pattern of the traditional great power relationship and the Cold War mentality. As China said, both sides should overcome their ideological conflict and the difference in social system and respect the other side's political system, development path and socio-economic governance.

After years of "silent veto", US began to respond positively, when Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, visited China and confirmed the four key principles of the "new-type relationship": Non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win together.

After the successful China-US Mar-a-Lago Summit, the world may breathe a sigh of relief that both the two giants arenot preparing for war, but seeking common ground while reserving and acknowledging their differences.major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics focuses on peaceful development and promotes a harmonious world instead of Chauvinism or "power politics" in the Western sense.

China made contributions to the theory and practice of "major country diplomacy", not only in the interactions among "major countries" such as China-US or China-Russia relations, but also in leading the harmonious examples of major country and secondary country relations.

Xi said during his visit to Fiji in 2014 that "China believes that all countries are equal members of the international community irrespective of their size, strength and wealth, and they should respect each other, treat each other on an equal footing and help each other with sincerity."

China practices what it preaches. During the past five years, China as a responsible major country, is playing an increasingly significant role in regional and global governance, in numerous fields such as political mutual trust building, economic cooperation, peacekeeping, providing public goods, and so forth.

China always stands ready to strengthen exchanges with other underdeveloped countries on governance experience and consolidate cooperation in economytechnology, new energy, infrastructure construction, environmental protection and boosting people-to-people and cultural exchanges. What should be noted is that all these ties are running without any subsidiary political conditions; this clearly differentiates China from its Western counterparts.

As Su Ge, dean of the China Institute of International Studies, said, four key words may describe the essential characteristics of China's major country diplomacy, peace, development, cooperation, and all-win together. Therefore, it is safe to say that in a world undergoing increasingly complicated and profound changes, it is now more than ever important to make an objective and comprehensive assessment of the international affairs, reform rather than overthrow the current world order with the wisdom that derives from both the ancient oriental philosophy and modern Chinese diplomatic innovation.

Wang Peng, research associate at the Charhar Institute and China Institute of Fudan University.
BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to the Russia-China Friendship Association on the 60th anniversary of its founding.

In the message, Xi said that over the past six decades, the Russia-China Friendship Association has adhered to the principle of friendship in managing relations with China, actively carried out people-to-people exchanges, and made significant contribution to promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

Calling the association an important force in cementing and developing China-Russia ties, Xi stressed that the key to sound relations between states lies in amity between the people.

China-Russia relations have reached a new historical starting point, Xi said, expressing his hope that the association will open up a new chapter in promoting exchanges between the two peoples and make greater contribution to strengthening people-to-people bonds, fueling the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination at a high level.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent congratulations to the association, which held a gala meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding on Monday.
BEIJING -- Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has been all over the country on inspection tours.

Five years ago, Xi chose Shenzhen as his first stop of inspection, outside the capital, after being elected as the Party's top leader. Shenzhen is in Guangdong province, China's reform and opening up frontier.

Shortly after returning from Guangdong, he visited impoverished villages in Hebei province, near Beijing, to inspect poverty alleviation efforts.

These moves signalled the focus of Xi's governance, which has highlighted fulfilling the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and realizing the goals set for the centenaries of the CPC in 2020 and the People's Republic of China in 2049.

Since 2012, Xi has completed 50 inspection tours across the country, totaling 151 days.

REFORM & INNOVATION

Reform and innovation have always been in Xi's thoughts.

In 2016, Xi visited Xiaogang, Anhui province, and walked into the courtyard where in 1978, 18 farmers signed a secret agreement to divide communally owned farmland into family plots and ignited the flame for China's rural land reform. Xi chose here to say that reform is the only way out and that the word should be repeatedly injected with new meaning.

During his visits to the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Tianjin Binhai New Area, Wuhan Countryside Comprehensive Property Exchange and others, Xi put comprehensively deepened reform on top of his agenda.

In the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong and Hubei, he stressed the need for bold exploration and advancing reform, and explicitly stated balance should be properly dealt with in the process, including that between boldness and steadiness, and reform and stability.

In 2014, Xi went to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China and boarded the sample of C919, China's self-developed large passenger aircraft. He encouraged engineers to give themselves progressive goals and strive to get China's own passenger aircraft in the air. Only three years later, C919 completed its maiden flight.

While inspecting research institutes, universities, hi-tech companies and new development zones, he has always stressed the need for innovation and the importance of commercializing research results.

POVERTY RELIEF

In the past five years, Xi visited a number of impoverished places and households. From the Liupanshan Mountain region in west China to the Dabieshan Mountain region in the east, Xi went to all the poorest areas.

He visited homes of impoverished workers and villagers in Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Ningxia, amongst others, to see with his own eyes the life of people in poverty in order to work out solutions for improvement.

Xi said it was heart wrenching to see people live in such difficulties.

He also presided over a series of symposiums across the country, bringing what he had seen and heard during the inspection trips to discuss with participants.

China has set the baseline task to lift all people out of poverty by 2020 and build an "all-round well-off society," or a moderately prosperous society, in all respects.

Since China started the reform and opening-up drive more than 30 years ago, over 700 million have shaken off poverty since, accounting for over 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

MAJOR POLICY PLANNING

On February 23, 2017, Xi visited Anxin county of Hebei province to learn about local population density, geological and hydrological conditions.

Little over a month later on April 1, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China's cabinet, announced to set up a national-level new area there.

The inspection tours of Xi often come with the planning and implementation of major policies but he also listens to public opinions on these policies.

When documents were being compiled for the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee two years ago, Xi visited the east, middle, west, and northeast parts of the country to have better ideas on planning the economic and social development during the 13th five-year plan.

He also presided over symposiums in the provinces of Zhejiang, Guizhou and Jilin to hear from leaders in 18 provinces on development during the 13th five-year plan.

As the 19th CPC National Congress is to be held later this month, when Xi visited Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in April, he talked with grassroots-level delegates to the congress about their advice and expectations for the event.

He stressed that preparations for the congress must take in wisdom from people of all ethnicities in the country.
While roller skating is often seen on public squares, nobody associates it with long-distance journeys. But two young men travelled 567 kilometers by roller skating from their university in Jining, Shandong province, to Beijing in 5 days during the National Day holiday.

Carrying basic luggage, the two students from Jining University started their journey on Oct 1, and arrived in Beijing on Oct 6. It was a tough journey; they worn off 12 bearings of their roller skating shoes.

"The awful conditions like muddy roads hurt our feet. Sometimes we couldn't skate," said Wang Yang, one of the two students. "After a day of skating, we felt pain in our feet at night but felt little better in the morning."

Wang said he and his classmate met in the roller skating club in the university, and both had the dream to travel long distance by roller skating. This National Day holiday was perfect timing to fulfill the long-planned long-distance skating, he said.

First they had to persuade their parents. "Our families were concerned about our safety. But we took the opinions of professionals," he said.

On Oct 7, the two students posted their travelling photos on Sina Weibo, China's most popular social media, arousing people's attention: appraises and worries.

"Bravo!" "Where there's a will, there's a way." "Hope roller skating bring more youthful energy." Some said their skating might cause traffic accidents on road, and the behavior violated traffic rules.

Wang said that they did think about traffic rules.

According to traffic rules, roller staking is banned on roads. Beijing traffic police said that roller skating should not be done on roads and violators could face fines.
Although he has only been in Chengdu, Sichuan province, for four months, Albiko Macletiai is a household name in Jinhua town, where he makes and sells crusty pancakes.

That is because the 42-year-old Uygur made 2,000 pancakes and sent them to an earthquake zone in Jiuzhaigou county, 285 km away from Chengdu.

Four months ago, Macletiai, his wife and nephew came to Chengdu from Khotan, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to run a pancake shop.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou at 9:19 pm on Aug 8, but Macletiai was so preoccupied with making pancakes that he did not look at his cellphone until midnight.

"When I looked at my cellphone, I saw a lot of news about the earthquake and I wondered what to do for people in the quake zone," he said.

He decided to send pancakes. "Pancakes can be kept for quite a long time and quake victims can eat them whenever they are hungry," he said.

From midnight to 7 am the next day, Macletiai, his wife and nephew made 1,000 pancakes. His friend, Jiang Dongyu, a native of Bazhong in Sichuan who runs a noodle restaurant next door, offered to go with Macletiai to the quake zone.

Macletiai and Jiang drove for 26 hours to Zhangzha town, the epicenter of the quake in Jiuzhaigou, where they delivered the pancakes to victims and volunteers.

Realizing more help was needed, Macletiai returned to Chengdu and made 1,000 more pancakes.

He Xiaohong, a villager in Zhangzha, was one of the first to receive pancakes from Macletiai. "They seemed to be the most delicious food to us at a time when we were short of daily necessities," she said.

Macletiai used almost all the raw materials in his small shop to make the 2,000 pancakes. But he said that it did not matter, as it was important to help those in need.

"I would have regretted it if we had not sent the pancakes," Macletiai said.
Gathering will be of great importance heading into congress, experts say

A key meeting to be held by the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Wednesday will lay the foundation for the Party's upcoming 19th National Congress a week later.

The Seventh Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which is the CPC's most important conference ahead of the 19th National Congress, will highlight the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core and the Party's new thoughts of governance over the past five years, analysts said.

During the session, the members of the 18th CPC Central Committee  mostly senior officials from Party organizations, government agencies, State-owned enterprises and the military  will discuss the report to be delivered by Xi at the 19th National Congress, which starts on Oct 18.

The members also will discuss the amendment to the Party's Constitution and the report to be delivered at congress by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, the country's top anti-graft watchdog.

Li Chengyan, head of Peking University's Center for Anti-Corruption Studies, said that the seventh plenary session is of great importance, as it will make preparations for the Party's 19th National Congress.

"The plenary session will discuss the reports to be delivered at the Party's 19th National Congress," he said.

In the past, the CCDI report was submitted directly to the CPC National Congress after the CCDI's plenary meeting approved it.

The commission said the procedural change reflects respect for the Party's Constitution, which stipulates that the CCDI works under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee.

A total of 2,287 delegates elected from more than 89 million Party members will elect the new CPC Central Committee and new CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection during the congress.

The plenary session is going to fully affirm the work of the 18th CPC Central Committee in the past five years, which is of great significance for the success of the 19th National Congress, Li said.

The plenary session will review the decisions made by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to expel corrupt former senior officials from the Party, he added.

Yan Jirong, a professor at the Peking University School of Government, said that the purposes of the seventh plenary session include reaching consensus on major decisions.

The CPC Central Committee has made great achievements in setting up agencies and procedures, fighting graft and adjusting policy in the past five years, and the newly elected committee will focus more on constructive issues after the national congress, which is meaningful for the fulfillment of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, he said.

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.
SANTA CLARA, Cuba - More than 60,000 people turned out on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Latin American revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Cuban President Raul Castro, dressed in his general's uniform, was present at a mass rally at the Che Guevara Mausoleum in Santa Clara, a town which is 300 kilometers east of the capital Havana.

The rally capped a week of tributes to the guerrilla fighter who helped overthrow Cuba's dictatorship and bring Fidel Castro to power, before he was ambushed and killed in Bolivia on Oct 9, 1967.

More than 60,000 people participated in the rally at the Revolution Square where an imposing bronze statue of Guevara is located.

On the ground floor of the memorial, a cavern-like enclosure holds the remains of Guevara and 30 of his comrades who fell in Bolivia. An eternal flame, lit by then president Fidel Castro, paid homage to the fighters.

On Sunday, Raul Castro and other Communist Party leaders paid tribute to Guevara and his guerrilla partners inside the memorial.

Addressing those present, Cuban First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel said: "Che is not dead, as his enemies wanted. His figure grows larger as time passes and younger generations recognize his revolutionary paradigm."

Guevara is now a "universal symbol" and inspiration in the struggle for the liberation of different nations "oppressed by imperialism", said Diaz-Canel, 57, who is expected to replace Raul Castro as president next year.

"He had a very original way of facing life, and his comrades knew how to appreciate his simplicity, sincerity, naturalness, companionship, stoicism, reckless disposition to always face the most difficult situation," he said.

Elena Gonzalez, a 56-year-old textile worker, was among those who turned up at the crack of dawn to pay her respects to Guevara.

"Yes, we got up very early but it's worth it," she said. "We're keeping his example alive and his legacy of independence and sovereignty for Latin America and the world."

"For me, Che is still here - his life, his work, his example," said 79-year-old Luis Monteagudo, who fought alongside Guevara in the Congo and was wearing a white T-shirt with his picture.

In Bolivia, President Evo Morales, accompanied by his cabinet and other leading figures, completed a 2 km pilgrimage to La Higuera, where Guevara was killed by CIA-backed mercenaries.

Born in the Argentine city of Rosario in 1928 and trained as a doctor, Guevara joined Fidel Castro's insurgency in 1956 to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and played a leading role in the rebel victory.

With Cuba under new leadership, he left the country to continue his struggle against oppression, first to Congo and then to Bolivia, where he was ambushed and killed by mercenaries.

Xinhua

Cuban President Raul Castro participates in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's death at the Che Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba, on Sunday.Yamil Lage / Agence France-presse

(China Daily 10/10/2017 page11)
An exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing is showcasing over 300 objects, half of which are designated as first-class artifacts. They are on loan from about 30 museums and archaeological institutions across the country. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

An ongoing exhibition of Qin and Han artifacts reveals how these periods continue to influence China and the world. Lin Qi reports.

From the widely exhibited Terracotta Warriors at the mausoleum of the first Qin (221-206 BC) emperor to a human-shaped bronze lamp that has for decades been the iconic display at the Hebei Museum; from a large burial ensemble featuring 172 centimeters of jade and gold wire to a finger-sized bronze die inlaid with semiprecious stonesindeed, the ongoing exhibition, Civilizations of the Qin and Han Dynasties, inspires audiences to think more about the two empires' glory days.

The display of over 300 artifacts explores a transformational era of Chinese civilization, from 221 BC to AD 220.

The ceramics, textiles, sculptures, architectural models and other artworks navigate the reforms in politics, economics, culture, philosophy and international exchanges whose influence has lasted for 2,000 years.

The exhibition vividly explains how the two dynasties laid the foundation for modern China and the role it plays in the world. It underscores a spirit of openness, diversity and tolerance, National Museum of China deputy director Huang Zhenchun says.

The Beijing museum is hosting the exhibition of items drawn from about 30 museums and archaeological institutions across the country. Nearly half are designated as first-class artifacts by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Some were exhibited at Age of Empires at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from April to July. Thomas Campbell, then the Met's director, described the exhibition as a "blockbuster show".

The other artifacts are on loan from museums around the nation. Several are "icons" on permanent display, says Wang Jun, director of Art Exhibitions China, a government institution that supports overseas exhibitions of Chinese cultural relics.

Shan Ying, the show's curator at the National Museum of China, says the Met show emphasized the two empires' cultural brilliance. It made it easier for audiences in the United States to understand.
Lyu Jia takes the baton of the Global Chinese Orchestra to perform at the annual Beijing concerts that gather overseas Chinese and returned musicians, who have studied and worked abroad for years. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Every year, overseas musicians return to China to perform as the Global Chinese Orchestra with musicians based here. Chen Nan reports.

When the Global Chinese Orchestra performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Sept 27, audiences enjoyed a varied program. It included Scheherazade by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D Minor and Racing Horses, an original Chinese piece for the erhu (two-stringed fiddle) by Chinese composer Huang Haihuai.

For the musicians of the Global Chinese Orchestra, which also performed at the Wei Lai Theater of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation on Sept 28 and Tsinghua University on Sept 29, the concerts were an opportunity to play together, with many coming home from overseas to perform.

Half of the musicians of the Global Chinese Orchestra are overseas Chinese. They are members of Western symphony orchestras and live abroad. The other half have studied and worked abroad for years, but they've returned to China and are members of Chinese orchestras.

"Every September, the overseas musicians return to their home country to perform as the Global Chinese Orchestra with the musicians based here. It's more like a reunion party," says conductor Lyu Jia, who is the president and artistic director of the orchestra. "We choose repertories that combine original Chinese works with Western classical pieces."

Initiated by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Global Chinese Orchestra has performed every year in China since its founding in September 2015.

Lyu says that the annual concerts have each had different themes. For example, last year, which marked the 400th anniversary of the death of the English playwright William Shakespeare and Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) playwright Tang Xianzu, the orchestra played such works as Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and Wan Fu, an aria from the original Chinese opera, The Peony Pavilion, composed by Chinese musician Ye Xiaogang with the libretto by Tang. This year, the theme is the Silk Road.
The show Sissi and Hungary reveals the life of the legendary queen in the 19th century. The relics on display also show the connection between China and Hungary in olden times. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

An exhibition about the Austro-Hungarian queen is touring China. Wang Kaihao reports.

Many Chinese who grew up in the 1970s and '80s are familiar with the name Sissi.

That was how Queen Elisabeth (1837-98), a dual monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was commonly known, even among her subjects.

The first film of a trilogy about the queen that was made in Austria, starring Romy Schneider, was shown in China in 1988, when Western films were still rare in Chinese cinemas.

Sissi's real life is now being presented through an exhibition in Beijing, with nearly 150 cultural relics related to her or Hungary loaned from the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.

The exhibition, Sissi and Hungary: The Magnificent Life of Hungarian Aristocracy in the 17th to 19th Centuries, will run through Jan 3 at the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City.

"Her beauty, her romantic spirit and her tales are known to all," says Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum.

"She sympathized with Hungary and was welcomed and loved by people there."

Sissi played a pivotal role in calming tensions between Hungarians and the ruling Habsburg family since she took the throne in the 1860s, he says.

"Queen Elisabeth is still a popular star in Hungary," says Benedek Vagra, director general of the Hungarian National Museum.

"Due to shared emotions in both countries (Hungary and China), she is a good example to give a brief introduction of Hungarian history to Chinese visitors."

Sissi had a difficult relationship with her mother-in-law, Emperor Franz Joseph I's mother. And she was emotionally detached from royal life at the Habsburg court. So, she spent much of her time living in Budapest and traveled all over Hungary. The queen also gave birth to her last child in Budapest.

"Actually, her real life and marriage were more difficult than what was depicted in the films," Vagra says.
[Photo provided to China Daily]

The rise of new media art is attracting more people to museums these days with technology-enabled interactive works.

Arrested Time, an ongoing exhibition at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, is showing the evolution of Germany's new media art with six representative artists of different ages. The exhibition that runs through Nov 12, is part of the ongoing Deutschland 8  German Art in Beijing, an event that includes displays at seven art venues in the Chinese capital.

In Jurgen Klauke's video installation, I Go I Stand 1, the human body becomes the subject through which the artist raises questions about identity and norms of society.

Another artist on show, Marcel Odenbach's Proof of Nothing, makes people contemplate the present and its ties with the past.

Harun Farocki, among Germanys first-generation video artists, shows concerns with politics in his video installation Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades. It puts together footage that depict workplaces in different periods of time in his country.

A 30-minute film, titled My Home is a Dark and Cloud-Hung Land, produced by Julian Rosefeldt, shows in a romantic way the forests as a source of happiness for Germans.

Clemens von Wedemeyers work, The Beginning, Living Figures Dying, exemplifies his approach to art that combines documentary narration and theatrical dramatization, by which he examines issues such as low payment for extra performers that have been covered up during the development of cultural industry.

Hito Steyerl reflects on education in the world through online videos and tutorials in the work How Not to Be Seen.

In Julius Popp's installation, bit.fall, drops of water form Arabic letters. It was conceived more than a decade ago.
[Photo provided to China Daily]

To mark the 150th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright's birth, Danish toymaker Lego has produced a scale model of the American architect's final masterpiece.

New York Citys Solomon R Guggenheim Museum marked Frank Lloyd Wright's final design before his death in 1959  and who better than Lego to bring the building into homes around the world? The model captures in detail the curves and distinctive lines that made Wrights design one of New York's best known (and most polarising) landmarks. It even features a couple of yellow cabs plying their trade on the adjacent Fifth Avenue.

With more than 740 pieces, the model is quite a challenge  Lego rates its difficulty as 12+. The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum is available for $80 on the Lego.com store.
Christian Democratic Union CDU party leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts after winning the German general election (Bundestagswahl) in Berlin, Germany, September 24, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN -- Despite rising tide of populism in Europe, Black Swan shunned Germany on Sunday as German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative union defended its biggest-party title in the federal parliament after a fierce yet unsurprising campaign.The shrunken yet still commanding margin of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister Christian Socialist Union (CSU) heralds a fourth term for Merkel as Chancellor, with the support of other parties.Having served as Germany's head of government for 12 consecutive years, Merkel has long been known for her support for globalization and international cooperation. For those who care about the future development of China-Germany relations, her fourth term is a positive signal.Merkel visited China 10 times during her chancellory, a fact suggesting a lot to the development of Germany-China relations. Given the heft of bilateral ties, it is highly hoped that she will keep the wheels turning and pull her weight as before for further progress.The reasons are crystal clear.China and Germany have forged one of the world's most important bilateral relationships. In 2010, the two sides upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership, and further lifted it to a comprehensive strategic one during Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to Germany in 2014. Along with over 2 million personnel exchanges in 2016 alone, China for the first time became Germany's largest trading partner, while the latter has long been China's largest importer in Europe.Germany's robust economy, to which its close ties with China have surely contributed, is Merkel's trump card in the federal election.During her last three terms, the world's second and fourth largest economies were highly complementary. China's economic restructuring and its booming market keep on creating opportunities for German enterprises, while Germany's advanced facilities and managerial experience in turn help in China's industrial upgrading.Meanwhile, in an increasingly volatile world, a mature Germany-China relationship is essential to global prosperity and stability. Both bearing significant international influence, the two sides are actively committed to addressing conflicts and crises through political and diplomatic means, instead of military actions.Moreover, as staunch supporters of open economy instead of protectionism, China and Germany share a common stance on economic globalization and multilateralism, and on commitment to the Paris climate accord.As some analysts have given it, the two countries are in the middle of the forging of "special" ties, and any interruption would be too costly.In paricular, the two sides shall be aware of the specter of protectionism rising from some corners of Europe.For years, the Merkel-led Germany has enjoyed being one of the world's leading exporters and major beneficiaries of free trade. It would be more than disheartening to see a Germany to allow trade barriers against foreign enterprises, including Chinese companies, to not only block export and investment, but also do harm to Europeans themselves.It is highly expected that Chancellor Merkel, as a seasoned political leader, will continue to fight protectionism and keep Germany-China relations as well as the world economy free from disruption.
LI MIN/CHINA DAILY

Like most other populous emerging markets working on long-term solutions for sustainable development, China has been trying hard to adopt strategies that can achieve multiple objectives. These include shifting to an energy use pattern that relies more on renewable sources of energy rather than fossil fuels, reduces industrial and household pollution, and protects natural resources.

China has achieved phenomenal economic growth over the last four decades, and it is now the world's second-largest economy. However, this success has come at a heavy cost to the country's ecology and its environment. As China tries to address this damage, the biggest challenge it faces is transitioning to a development path that ensures economic growth with environmental sustainability.

This is a significant challenge, as can be seen from renewable energy. Coal remains the major source of electricity in China. Apart from producing thermal power, coal is also used in several parts of China, particularly northern China, for heating purposes during the winter. The result of the extensive use of coal has been accumulation of enormous stock of carbon in the atmosphere. China now plans to generate most of its electricity from renewable energy sources. It plans to have the capacity to produce 200 gigawatts of electricity from solar power and 250 GW of electricity from wind power by 2020.

The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is an extremely important and necessary move. But such a move requires the financing of new solar and wind plants, cracking down on the use of coal in the future production of electricity and encouraging consumers to shift to clean fuel. Large investments in solar and wind energy are being obtained through higher surcharges on electricity bills. The necessity of the obvious increase in household expenditures on energy must be explained to households.

Nevertheless, it will still take several years for solar and wind energy to produce as much electricity as thermal power does.

The challenge for local governments is to ensure the availability of finance for renewable energy projects so that the amount of solar and wind generated electricity increases, while at the same time ensuring household expenditures do not become exorbitant. Obtaining finance for a clean environment and green growth is a huge challenge that China and other developing countries face. The problem arises from the fact that solar and wind energy projects take a long time to become operational and earn revenues. Even after they begin earning revenues, it takes years before they recover their initial investments and start making profits. This long delay in obtaining profits means only a few private investors are willing to invest in these projects. Investments in renewable energy must come from investors who have enough funds to bear losses on their investments for several years.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will no doubt reflect on the importance of implementing policies and actions that enable China to pursue green development. As part of this, it is necessary to determine how finance can be directed to green projects. This is going to be a serious issue given that the debt held by local governments and the corporate sector in China has become very high. The government has been concerned over the rising public debt and is working hard to control its further growth. It will be very interesting to see how the national congress reflects on ways that can see more investments flowing into clean energy and environment protection projects while not increasing the debt burdens of provinces and companies.

The steps taken by China in this regard will offer lessons for several other countries that are suffering similar difficulties.

The author is senior research fellow and research lead (trade and economic policy) at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore.
Red flags on the Tian'anmen Square and atop the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

The year 2016 might go down in history as a watershed moment for the global economy. Not only did the United Kingdom decide to leave the European Union, but also a globalization skeptic was elected president of the United States. And, in stark contrast to these inwardly looking events, China stepped forward as the champion of globalization and improved global governance.

Shortly after he assumed power, Donald Trump overruled major legacies of his predecessor by pulling the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, and seeking to repeal the Paris Climate Agreement and the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. He is not alone in putting short-term personal influence before long-term national interests, which explains why a slew of economies in the West are either heavily indebted or suffer from waning competitiveness.

What makes China stand apart is its institutional efficiency, which has evolved from its political and cultural traditions, as President Xi Jinping concluded three years ago. At the macro level, the system allows China to make long-term plans and carry them through, an unlikely scenario in Western politics due to the constant reversal of policies whenever there is a change of government.

As a result of the wide solicitation of public opinions and thorough consultation with representatives from all walks of life, China's five-year plans ensure the country remains on the right track without being subject to its changes in leadership.

Western general elections, meanwhile, which are designed to enshrine the principle of "one person, one vote", have also led to notable wastes of talent. Political leaders are supposed to be chosen primarily based on their capability, yet the outcomes of general elections in Western countries are often determined by other factors including race, gender, appearance, religious belief, even eloquence.

Poor choices of political leaders aside, partisanship in many Western economies means talented members of the opposition do not have the opportunity to contribute to the ruling administration. The shortage and waste of political talent, coupled with increasing political scandals, have wrought havoc on the efficacy and consistency of Western politics.

China's success in electing eligible leaders has a lot to do with its capability-oriented recruitment system, in which all candidates have to go through decades of service in different local governments. These down-to-earth posts not only offer political talents firsthand experience of social governance but also help them promulgate targeted policies when in office.

Unlike China's democratic centralism, the Western political systems subject political power to voters and capital, which leads to inefficient governance and political shortsightedness.

Former US president Barack Obama was known as an enthusiastic advocate of high speed rail before he took up residence in the White House in 2008. His administration's 2009 stimulus bill allotted billions for high-speed rail projects, which were rejected or stalled after domestic airlines, expressway companies and citizens refusing relocation opposed them. Most of the federal funds have been used for upgrades to existing services such as Amtrak.

China, now a pioneer in high speed rail construction, has managed to press ahead with similar projects, which has actually prompted airlines and expressway companies to improve their services and lower their prices.

China also dwarfs many Western nations in its ability to mobilize and coordinate public participation in the face of emergencies and natural disasters, further evidence that China's development path should not be scorned.

The author is a researcher at the China Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai.
Tourists walk outside the King's College of Cambridge University on Aug 19, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Despite the threat of terrorist incidents, Chinese tourists continue to flock into European countries, and Chinese airlines have been responding to the demand by launching new direct flights to European destinations.

On Sept 30, Air China, China's national carrier, introduced direct flights between Beijing and Athens, Greece. Hainan Airlines will launch non-stop flights between Shanghai and Brussels on Oct 25 and China Eastern Airlines will commence flights between Xi'an and Prague on Oct 29.

The flights between Shanghai and Brussels will be Hainan Airlines' second route to the Belgian capital, as it also flies between Beijing and Brussels.

Prague is already linked by direct flights with Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and by the middle of next year, the Czech capital, according to the schedule, will be connected by direct flights with six Chinese cities. That will make it stand out among Central and Eastern European countries, and many Western European countries as well.

The Czech Republic aims to become a regional aviation center, and it is keen to grasp the opportunities presented by expanding its aviation and tourism cooperation with China.

In terms of number of direct flights linking Chinese cities, Prague could even compete with London, Paris and Frankfurt, the established airport hubs in Western Europe.

On the demand side, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Europe, according to official statistics, increased by 65 percent year-on-year during the first half of this year. It is an upward trend that is set to continue, because it is not just the residents of the large Chinese cities that are traveling overseas but even those of county-level towns.

Also the governments of both sides, especially the top leaders, have shown their determination to deepen such cooperation and boost tourism, economic and trade exchanges.

The Czech Republic is well prepared to tap the potential of the growing number of Chinese travelers. But other European countries will be able to do so as well since the number of Chinese tourists to Europe is huge and still growing.

According to official data, there are 600 flights between China and Europe every week. A number that will only increase over the coming decade, as China is set to become a medium-and high-income country in a few years in line with UN standards.

And it is not just Chinese tourists that Europe is hoping to attract. Poland, for example, has recently proposed a 10-year plan to build a hub airport between its capital Warsaw and the city of Lodz, and Chinese investors are being courted to participate in the project.

At the same time, the aviation industry itself will benefit from the predicted growth in the number of Chinese travelers. According to an official forecast, China will need to increase its fleet from the current 2,950 aircraft to more than 7,000 in 20 years.

No other country will have such a demand for aircraft and the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will be one of those tasked with meeting the demand.

In seeking beneficial opportunities from the growing number of Chinese tourists traveling overseas, the Czech Republic is setting a good example for other European countries.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
President Xi Jinping speaks at the National Financial Work Conference in Beijing July 15, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua]

The Chinese Dream, proposed by Xi Jinping when he became general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in late 2012, has been the catchword for the country since then. It will continue to frame the agenda for the nation after the 19th CPC National Congress that begins later this month.

President Xi has emphasized the purpose of government is to protect and improve the lives of the people and the Chinese Dream serves as a clarion call for bringing real benefits to the Chinese people.

The first stage of this dream, building a moderately prosperous society, is to be attained by deepening reform and governing the nation according to the law, which requires strict governance of the Party.

As the other three goals would be impossible to realize without the rectitude of Party members, an anti-corruption campaign has been rigorously implemented, effectively curbing the rampant corruption within the Party and government that had previously accompanied the country's dramatic economic growth.

And in this regard, great achievements have been made. In the past five years, 140 officials at ministerial level or above have been either investigated or indicted, which indicates the central leadership's resolve to make everyone equal before the law and its bid to consolidate the Party's governing capabilities by ensuring the probity of officials.

With such needed change has come the better-than-expected performance of the country's economy over the past five years, much higher than the world's average, despite the headwinds of economic restructuring and the difficult external environment.

Last year, China's gross domestic product reached $11.2 trillion, accounting for 15 percent of the global total, 3 percentage points higher than that of 2012. From 2013 to 2016, China's economy contributed 30 percent to the world's economic growth, more than that of the eurozone, the United States and Japan combined.

That achievement has been the hallmark of resolve demonstrated by the country's leaders over the past five years to advance necessary economic and social reforms that have entered the deep-water stage.

There is a lot more that can be said about the progress that has been made over the past five years. But there is one word that encapsulates what the country and its people have experienced in that timechange.

Some have sought to ignore or belittle that change, but it is there nonetheless. And people here are aware of it, and feel its effects.

Some who benefited from the situation before change, and sought continuation of the existing status quo may have grudges or grievances. Yet, for most people, the change has been undeniably for the better and will be even more so in the near future.
US President Donald Trump takes the oath of office with his wife Melania and son Barron at his side, during his inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

US President Donald Trump may have a personal interest in keeping the rest of the world wondering what he is actually up to. But the pervasive sense of uncertainty he has created since Day 1 in the White House is hardly conducive to his presidency or US national interests, never mind global stability.

If his frequent verbal flip-flops on major issues in his first days in the Oval Office were forgivable for a man new to politics, the messy state of affairs he continues to create now may have harmful consequences.

The US president has demonstrated an obvious belief in the applicability of his business acumen to state-to-state relations. Or he would not have been so vociferous about renegotiating key international treaties and trade pacts to which the US is a party. He is known for his preoccupation with immediate US gains, so much so that he has left the US' closest allies worrying.

If those were the inevitable side-effects of his businessman's persona that are more annoying than harmful, the suspense he is creating on key matters of international concern is different. Particularly his idea to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement and veiled threats to use force against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Although he is yet to announce that withdrawal, or clarify what he was referring to when he said "only one thing will work" with Pyongyang, those are words that would have serious consequences if put into action.

Trump may believe the US' unrivaled capabilities give him boundless room for maneuver in handling foreign policy issues. But in that he would be mistaken.

Scrapping the Iran nuclear pact, like pulling the trigger on Pyongyang unprovoked, will not advance US interests, unless Trump has a way to limit the repercussions of those actions.

But chances are he has not, and the world is already dealing with the consequences of the US acting without thinking about what comes next.
A woman leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial on the Las Vegas Strip for victims of the Route 91 music festival mass shooting next to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, US October 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

AFTER THE SHOOTING in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead and more than 500 injured, the whole world extended its sympathy to the victims. Yet a video was spread online with misleading intent. Wang Tong, assistant to editor-in-chief of Beijing Literature magazine, comments:

The video shows some US residents walking into supermarkets to demonstrate their legal right to carry guns. Those spreading it online claimed it happened after the most recent attack. But it was actually shot in 2014 after a mass shooting at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Worse, those spreading the video also told lies about overseas Chinese remaining idle after the mass shooting incident in Las Vegas, while the reality is that Chinese helped to save lives in the tragedy along with others.

Those spreading these rumors unconditionally praised the US residents for being "brave and courageous" by amplifying the deeds of some of those who helped the victims, while ignoring the deeds of their compatriots.

It seems some Chinese look down on themselves, and are ready to tell lies and mix white with black to set foreigners on a pedestal.

It should be noted that, after the mass shooting happened, the people in Las Vegas, regardless of their race, religion, and gender, showed their courage and solidarity by helping each other. But the attack reflected a serious problem deeply rooted in US society, namely the lack of gun control. Those with evil purposes can easily acquire guns and use them to kill others.

US people have been discussing strengthening gun control for decades, yet the problem remains unsolved. It is US politicians that are to blame for that. So in a sense, they are partly responsible for the mass shootings that happen in the US.

It is natural for Chinese to show sympathy for our neighbors across the Pacific. But those telling lies do a disservice to both countries.
The central authorities recently approved and published the implementation plans for national ecological civilization pilot zones in Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces.

In August last year, the central authorities approved a similar plan for a national ecological civilization pilot zone in Fujian province.

According to the plans, the three provinces will explore new practices and reforms to preserve the ecology and protect the environment, so as to form a template that can be implemented elsewhere in the country.

The three provinces will carry out 66 reforms in total, among which 38 have been assigned by the central authorities, and 28 are proposed by the provincial governments and approved by the central authorities.

For instance, Fujian will strengthen its environmental and natural resources judicial guarantee mechanism and pilot a system for assigning values to ecological systems.

Jiangxi will establish an ecological compensation mechanism, and Guizhou will make use of big data for ecological preservation, and set up an international cooperation mechanism for ecological preservation.

Encouraging local governments to submit their own reform plans, instead of only giving them a to-do list, is expected to spur them to take the initiative to blaze a trail in the direction that is most pertinent to their practical needs.

Also, the central authorities welcome social organizations, enterprises and individual citizens to take part in the projects in the three provinces.
During 2017 Greece and China have organized several events to promote cultural exchange between the two peoples along cooperation in many other areas.[Photo/Xinhua] Editor's note: Dr Clemens Treter is the director of the Goethe-Institut China in Beijing. A fluent Chinese speaker and an expert on Chinese literature, he shared his views on the importance of cultural exchanges with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang:

What is your understanding of cultural exchanges?

In our understanding, cultural exchanges are for bringing people in specific fields together. So bringing theater people together with theater people, film people with film people, artists with artists, so they can learn what others are working on.

We basically provide a platform, so that they can exchange views. They can explore not only their own culture, but also the culture of the other country.

Why is it important for a country to have cultural exchanges?

They are not just one-off affairs, but investments in a long-term relationship. When we organize cultural exchanges, we listen to what the artists say, what they want to do, we then try to provide them with what they need to realize their ideas.

We are basically a means, a platform, providing a certain space for cultures to interact and develop relations.

Your institution is named after Goethe, a renowned philosopher in German history. Does traditional culture play a major role in your cultural exchanges?

It is always important to look back at traditional culture. But we are not a museum where we conserve our traditional culture.

If we refer to our traditions, it is always because we think these traditions are useful in the contemporary context. It is never just because it is a tradition; it must refer to something that is happening now.

How do you think China can promote cultural exchanges?

China has wonderful and very rich traditional philosophers, artists, poets and all of them differ greatly. There could also be a Zhuangzi Institute, maybe of a different nature.

If looking back at our own culture, there are many aspects, the language, the old language that has been said, that is said until today. They might give us a different way to deal with contemporary problems.

The Chinese leadership has been seeking to boost the nation's cultural confidence. What are your thoughts on this?

I think it is interesting. When you look at the Chinese artists that we work with, they have different experiences, different educations, but they are quite aware of the tradition that they are part of. For example, in performing arts, German actors' education is very much based on speaking, reading, and the voice; Chinese actors are more deeply rooted in body language. Physical movement plays a significant role in Peking and Kunqu operas.

If you know these traditions, you know where you come from and so can be much more confident in being part of that tradition. On the other hand, confidence should always be critical and always be combined with self-awareness.
For China the five-year interval since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress in 2012 has been marked by remarkable changes both internationally and domestically. China was the worlds leading power for more than a millennium until aggression by foreign powers beginning with Britains First Opium War in 1839 began the period of Chinas national humiliation. Since President Xi Jinping took office the stain of that humiliation has now been removed and China has again assumed its place in the pantheon of global leadership.

Xi wasted no time in setting Chinas course when he said in his now-famous November 2012 speech that achieving the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has been the greatest dream of the Chinese people since the advent of modern times. In doing so he obviously concluded that Chinas earlier policy of the 1980s, dictated by that eras economic necessities as enunciated by Deng Xiaoping to observe calmly, secure our position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capacities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile, and never claim leadership was no longer applicable.

Several initiatives of Xi are illustrative. The Belt and Road Initiative (B&R), Chinas environmental leadership in the Paris Accords, and Chinas championing of globalization and global governance are some of them.

The B&R initiative was first announced in 2013. It has five broad goals of policy coordination; facilities connectivity; unrestricted trade; financial integration; and building networks of multilateral and bilateral people-to-people connections. The latter is clearly recognition that China sees B&R initiative providing economic as well as soft power benefits.

Together, its scale is mindboggling. The initiative already includes 68 countries and international organizations but since it is open to all participation will rise. So far 270 cooperation projects or agreements have been green-lighted. Long-term cumulative development investment is expected to be between $4 and $8 trillion. Former ambassador and President of the China Foreign Affairs University Wu Jianmin has rightly called the initiative the most significant and far-reaching initiative that China has ever put forward.

Another signal of Chinas changed policies and status is Xis leadership in the Paris Agreement on climate change, working in concert with then US President Barack Obama. Xis leadership ensured that the Agreement became international law. Now that the US has begun the process of withdrawing from the Agreement, China is filling the leadership role left by the vacuum Trump created. The week after the US withdrawal was announced Xi convened and hosted a meeting of energy ministers in Beijing during which China launched initiatives and partnerships to promote clean energy and address climate change.

Just four days before the Trump inauguration, Xi became the first Chinese president to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he gave a spirited defense of globalization and confirmed Chinas leadership. He said that we should commit ourselves to growing an open global economy to share opportunities and interests through opening up and achieve win-win outcomes.

Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, concluded that the reaction to Xis speech by the Davos cognoscenti was Success on all counts. Miles away from any official Chinese speech before.

The next day Xi spoke in Geneva and pledged Chinas active participation in global governance and international and multinational bodies to build a community of shared future for mankind. He also said we should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts and stay committed to building a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation.

Taken as a whole, China has clearly stepped in to fill the vacuum left primarily by the United States which, under Donald Trump and his policy of America first, appears to have abdicated its leadership at the helm of the world order it helped create and dominate in the aftermath of World War II. But back in 2012 or 2013 (or even in early 2016) who could have foreseen the sea change the world has undergone and for which the Chinese initiatives provide alternative solutions?

Its a delicious irony that 178 years after the British precipitated Chinas period of national humiliation its Prime Minister Theresa May borrowed many of the thoughts expressed in Xis 2012 Chinese Dream speech in her British Dream speech in Manchester on October 4. Especially given her tenuous position in her Conservative Party and in national polls, Im firmly placing my bet on Xi, China and the Chinese people. With Brexit, its not at all certain that Mays British Dream will come true but its clear that Xis Chinese Dream is well on its way to becoming reality.

Harvey Dzodin is a Research Fellow of the Center for China and Globalization.


Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London, Britain, October 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May gave her clearest indication so far on Monday that Britain would be prepared to leave the European Union with no deal.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons on the first day back after the conference season, May said achieving a special partnership after Brexit will require leadership and flexibility, not just from Britain, but from the 27 nations of the EU.

"As we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic it will receive a positive response," May told MPs in her first parliamentary statement since her big speech last month in Florence.

May added: "What we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us, but I believe that will also be the best possible deal for our European friends too. Progress will not always be smooth but by approaching these negotiations in a constructive way in a spirit of friendship and cooperation and with our sights firmly set on the future, I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong."

In her statement, May said the British government had published Monday two new policy consultation statements on trade and customs.

"These pave the way for legislation to allow the UK to operate as an independent trading nation and to create an innovative customs system that will help us achieve the greatest possible tariff and barrier-free trade as we leave the EU," said May.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, responded to May's speech by saying that 16 months on after the referendum, no significant progress has been made.

The government is no closer to deciding what it wants, said Corbyn.

May's statement came as the fifth round of negotiations between Britain and the EU started in Brussels.

Brexit Secretary David Davis sat alongside May as she delivered her statement, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson seated some distance away.

Some media observers speculated this could be significant after calls on May to fire or demote Johnson.
TRIPOLI - The Libyan Attorney General issued Monday 824 arrest warrants against Libyan terrorist suspects.

"Within the framework of investigations by the Public Prosecution on issues of terrorism and threats to state security, arrest warrants have been issued against 824 terrorist suspects. Their names have been circulated to border checkpoints for necessary actions," Attorney General's chief investigator, Al-Seddiq Al-Sour, told Xinhua.

"The Interpol issued international arrest warrants against some of those suspects," Al-Sour added.

These names came up during the investigations with arrested terrorists from different cities of the country, Al-Sour confirmed.
NEW DELHI - At least 16 children have died at a government hospital in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, health officials said Monday.

All the deaths took place at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in the state's Gorakhpur district in the past 24 hours.

"These deaths have occurred in the hospital's neonatal and intensive care units, where the children were admitted to. Some of them were suffering from encephalitis," an official said.

Local media reports said that some of these children were brought to the government hospital in a critical condition.

A probe has been ordered into the deaths at the hospital, he said.

The same hospital, the biggest in state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's constituency, hogged media limelight in the last week of August after 42 children died there within 48 hours.

And earlier that month, more than 70 infant deaths were reported from the same hospital from various causes, including oxygen shortage.

The hospital attends to hundreds of patients from neighboring Bihar state, other districts of Uttar Pradesh and even the neighboring country of Nepal daily.
A firefighter works to put out hot spots on a fast moving wind driven wildfire in Orange, California, US, October 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

SAN FRANCISCO - At least 10 people were killed and 50 others reported missing as of Monday evening in raging wildfires in the North Bay of San Francisco in the US state of California, officials said.

Jennifer Larocque, a county spokesperson, gave the update about the disaster late Monday.

Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, had said earlier in the day that the blaze, which broke out overnight in the northern wine country in San Francisco and multiplied, had burned down at least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities in eight Northern California counties.

Tens of thousands of local residents were forced to flee the area that was re

duced to a wasteland of twisted metal and ash, even as firefighters sought to contain the flames supercharged by wind gusts up to 114 km per hour.

Santa Rosa, the county seat and the largest city of Sonoma County in California, took the hardest hit. Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said seven people were confirmed killed in the wildfires there.

During a preplanned fundraising visit to Southern California, US Vice-President Mike Pence said he spoke with California Governor Jerry Brown and Orange County firefighters about the wild and urban fires ravaging the state. In a tweet, the vice president thanked the first responders to the fires.

Santa Rosa officials instated a mandatory curfew from 6:45 pm Monday (0145 GMT Tuesday) until sunrise for the area under evacuation orders.

Police warned that anyone out overnight in the evacuated swaths of the city would be subject to arrest.

Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said some looting had been reported in the county, but did not immediately provide details.

State fire officials said two people died in a blaze in Napa and one was killed in Mendocino County.

Hundreds of people received treatment for injuries, including burns and smoke inhalation, at hospitals in Napa, Sonoma and other counties, the major wine country region of San Francisco. Two patients with severe burns were in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, officials said.

The blazes have burned more than 65,000 acres (about 2,631 hectares) of land and blanketed much of the Bay Area in cough-inducing smoke.

Governor Brown earlier declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties due to the effects of the multiple fires.

California Highway Patrol said on its official website that its Golden Gate Division Air Operations rescued 42 people ranging from five to 91 years from the wildfires and the rescue operations are continuing.

Photos posted online by local residents showed numerous buildings on fire in downtown. Some residences were burned to the ground, power lines fell down, and some hospitals in the city were no longer operational.

While Northern California suffered the wildfires, another raging wildfire erupted Monday noon near Los Angeles, scorching 500 acres (about 202 hectares) in three hours, threatening more than 1,000 houses and forcing about 200 residents to evacuate.

The evacuation order was applied 50 miles (80 km) east of downtown Los Angeles, where many tourists in Disneyland posted their pictures on Facebook, showing the sky had turned to orange.

The most damaging series of blazes in modern Californian history has left thousands of evacuees in scores of emergency shelters and parts of the state wine industry potentially crippled.

Sonoma County is the largest producer of California's wine country region, which also includes Napa, Santa Rosa, Mendocino, and Lake counties. It possesses 13 approved American Viticultural Areas and over 250 wineries.

Sonoma is the northwesternmost county in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region.
HOUSTON - A Texas Tech University police officer was shot and killed Monday night, and the suspect was arrested later.

An officer was shot in the head, said Chris Cook, managing director of communications and marketing office in the university's public media, in a statement.

The police found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia during a student welfare check Monday evening.

The suspect was brought to the police station for standard debriefing. During the process, the suspect pulled a gun and shot at the police officer in the head.

Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, about 840 km northwest of Houston.

Established in 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, the university shares its campus with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, making it the only campus in Texas to house an undergraduate university, a law school, and a medical school.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont reviews his notes at the start of a plenary session at the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona, Spain,on Tuesday. [Photo/Agencies]

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Tuesday he has a mandate to declare independence for the northeastern region, but proposes waiting "a few weeks" in order to facilitate a dialogue.

Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament that a landslide victory in the region's disputed Oct 1 referendum on independence gives his government grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain. But he is suggesting holding off.

Puigdemont's speech was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum, but he said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

At the end of his speech, Puigdemont was applauded by standing lawmakers who advocate independence.

He said he will ask for mandate to declare Catalonia an independent state.

"We propose to suspend the effect of the independence declaration ... in order to work towards putting into practice the result of the referendum... Today, we are making a gesture of responsibility in favour of dialogue," he said.

AP - Reuters
One Georgia mother wants to know why her child came home with a quiz where she had to differentiate between different sexual orientations and identities. Questions included identifying the proper terms for a woman who is attracted to other women, a man who is attracted to other men, and a person who is attracted to women and men.

Octavia Parks, whose 12-year-old daughter is a 6th grader at Lithonia Middle School, wants to know why the school district includes this subject matter in a class filled with young children. Parks told Fox 5 Atlanta, were talking about a sixth grader who still watches Nickelodeon.

Parks signed a consent form for her child to opt out of this material. She also claims she had a discussion with the teacher about it, but says none the less it is happening.

A spokesman for the Dekalb County School District, located east of downtown Atlanta, issued a statement in which he addressed the concerns. DCSD has been made aware of this alleged event, and is working to verify its authenticity. We will investigate this event and take action, as appropriate, once that investigation is completed.

Parks removed her daughter from the class and says she will be going directly to the school board as soon as the districts fall break ends.

She remains perplexed why her childs curriculum includes learning the correct term for a person whose gender identity doesnt match the sex (male or female) the doctor said when they were born. She asked, Why are they teaching that in school? What does that have to do with life?

Photo courtesy: Thinkstock/RedlineVector

Publication date: October 10, 2017


I. Introduction

The clash between Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus over the issue of free will is one of the most famous exchanges in western intellectual history. On September 1, 1524, Erasmus published his treatise On the Freedom of the Will. In his treatise, Erasmus emphasized Human Free Will in cooperation with Grace: By free choice in this place we mean a power of the human will by which a man can apply himself to the things which lead to eternal salvation, or turn away from them. On the other hand, Luther responded with The Bondage of the Will published in December of 1525. For Luther, the free of the will can never do anything for salvation: that we do everything by necessity, and nothing by free choice, since the power of free choice is nothing and neither does nor can do well in the absence of grace.

Packer and Johnston call The Bondage of the Will "the greatest piece of theological writing that ever came from Luther's pen." In his work, Luther defends the heart of justification by only faith over against the salvation by free will with grace argued by Erasmus.

This controversy, which carries on into the present day, is of utmost importance. Ignoring the contemporary relevance and implications of these crucially important topics will not be possible, if we should think about our approach to the modern reformation of the church, our evangelism. In this paper, I will examine how Luther taught and defended the doctrine of salvation by grace alone in his Bondage of the Will. And then, the implications of these issues will be drawn out for a congregations practice of evangelism in the context of the Korean Church.

II. The freedom of the Christian

Apart from the free will of Human, Luther also dealt with Christian Liberty. It does not mean free choice or free will, but Coram Deos freedom Christ gave to the Christian. It points out the spiritual state, being freed from sin and not fearing the wrath of God. This liberty means only Coram Deos freedom, not political or physical freedom. It includes the final freedom that is to come, which will put a glorious, powerful body on our weak body by Christ.

Luther first asks what can make a man a justified, free, and a true Christian; that is, a spiritual, new, and inward man. Only the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ can do that, the gospel concerning His Son, incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified through the Spirit, the sanctifier.

He explained what true Christian liberty is. In general, there are two radically different interpretations of Luther's Christian liberty. One believes that for Luther, Christian liberty means only Coram Deos freedom, not political freedom. On the other hand, some people insist that it means only political freedom, not Coram Deos freedom. However, unlike the above two positions, I think that we need to synthesize both perspectives to understand the meaning of Luther's Christian liberty. For Luther's Christian liberty means political freedom from the completely depraved Roman Church as well as Coram Deos freedom from the ungodly Roman Church by faith in God's Word.

. The Free of the Will and The Bondage of the Will

For Luther, the word, Free Will, is a divine term. It cannot be applied for the Human, but only for God. God alone has free will. This means only God can will or not will the law, gospel, sin, and death. God does not act out of necessity, but freely. He alone is independent in all He decrees and does.

The great error of free-willism is that it ascribes divinity to man. If man has a free-will, this implies God is not omnipotent, controlling all of our actions; the divinity of God would be endowed to God. This would be the greatest possible sacrilege.

The reason as it found in man after the fall of Adam contributes to the understanding of an essential difference between man and other living beings, indeed everything else. It is certain that the capability of reason is the great ability for man. However, Luther insisted the total incapability of mans will, in that the capability of man to reason can do nothing for his salvation.

Like this, Luther completely denies the fact that free will exists in man. If free will exists in man, it is not the freedom man controls himself, but the will of the slave under the will of either God or Satan. If we are captives through the Holy Spirit, we can willingly do the good that God wants. However, if we are under the god of this world, we just have the captor's will which leads us to commit the sin that Satan wants, apart from the will of the God. To explain this slaved will, Luther compares this struggle to a horse having two riders: Thus the human will is placed between the two like a beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes where God wills  If Satan rides it, it wills and goes where Satan wills.

He is always under the power either of God or of Satan. The corrupted will of the human does not have the ability which can decide and perform something by will itself. Therefore the human will is standing on neutral ground.

. Freewill and Justification

According to Luther, if man has free will, it is enslaved to sin until God breaks the power of sin. The will of man without the grace of God is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bond slave of evil since it cannot turn itself to good. Free-will lost its freedom in the fall so that now the will is a slave to sin. Because man is enslaved to sin, his will cannot change itself. He only wills or chooses to sin of himself. He cannot change this willingness of his: he wills and desires evil. Man is wholly evil, thinking nothing but evil thoughts.

The salvation of a man depends upon the free work of God, who alone is sovereign and able to save men. Luther proclaims the sovereignty of God in salvation. God is sovereign over all things. He is sovereign in salvation. Is salvation a work of God and man? Luther says, No. God alone saves. Therefore salvation cannot be based on the merits of men's works. Man's obedience does not obtain salvation. Grace does not come by our own effort, but by the grace of Jesus Christ. To deny grace is to deny Jesus Christ. For Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Therefore, Justification is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ apart from all works and merit of the sinner (cf. Rom 1:183:28). In the Middle Age, the scholastics said that with this gift of grace, you begin performing 'grace assisted acts of love.'" Others said that since we merit justification by love of God by the help of grace, that sinners also earn the initial grace by doing what is in them, or doing their best to love God without the help of grace. But Luther believed that justification never happened in that way. The most important of which, for Luther, was the doctrine of justification  God's act of declaring a sinner righteous  through God's grace alone by faith alone. Luther always teaches that justification is free gift of God's grace for sinners. It is attainable only through faith in Jesus. Thats why Lutherans always emphasizes the slogan, Sola Gracia(Grace Alone). It means that all have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

In the next piece, I will discuss the implications this has for the Korean church.

Reverend and Doctor Jin O. Jeong is an assistant pastor for Korean congregation at Zion Lutheran Church, Belleville, IL. He graduated from Luther University and received a Ph.D from Yonsei University. He was also a Research Fellow at Hebrew University and Visiting Scholar at Yale Divinity School. Tel: 618-920-9311 Email: jjeong@zionbelleville.org
Forgiveness can get a bad rap. Especially when race is involved. In a nation built on the backs of enslaved Africansand on the white supremacy that justified itno interaction between a white man with power and a black man without it is ever just an isolated, inspiring story about the power of forgiveness.

Yet thats the premise of Convicted: A Crooked Cop, an Innocent Man, and an Unlikely Journey of Forgiveness and Friendship. Told through the first-person reflections of former bad cop Andrew Collins and the innocent black man, Jameel McGee, who spent four years in federal prison due to Collinss wrongful arrest of him, the book follows their unlikely friendshipforged in the furnace of forgiveness.

McGee was living in poverty-stricken Benton Harbor, Michigan, when he asked a relatives crack-carrying friend to give him a ride to the store to buy milk for his baby son. Waiting nearby was narcotics officer Andrew Collins, who routinely planted evidence and falsified his police reports to help secure convictions of poor black men like McGee. His motive? Looking good to fellow officers.

As Collins attests, I had become a monster, not out of greed or zeal or my questionable tactics or lack of integrity. No, I fell into the abyss because I was weighed down by pride.

This can be frustrating to read. True, Collins was caught and received a 37-month sentence (later reduced to 18 months.) The innocent McGee spent four years in prison. But even after his release, the phony drug conviction shackled him. Demoralized, jobless, penniless, and homeless, he would sleep in a relatives car, enduring freezing Michigan nights. He was nearly suicidal before a loving aunt pointed him to life-saving help.

Convicted (ghostwritten by best-selling author Mark Tabb) is a story about God. In America, where the poison of anti-black policing has left generations of black men in prisonand where white believers can conclude such injustice isnt real or hardly their problemonly a redeeming God can make something good of it.

That certainly happens in Convicted. God heals. Two men change. Both are transparent and thoughtful on their shortcomings and obstacles: male pride, bad choices, burning anger, and crippling shame.

The book is at its best when we see McGee and Collins probing inward, illustrating for readers why a young white police officer would break the law to boost his careerand how an equally ambitious, hard-working, young black man could get trapped in a criminal justice nightmare. Their insights give us an inside look at policing culture, judicial bias, and povertys dysfunctions, helping us see the real people in environments too often set at odds.

Such insights get compromised, however, by the books maddening failure: its reluctance to acknowledge the systemic and implicit bias enabling this emblematic American story. In America, justice isnt colorblind. Arrest and sentencing data confirm this. Poor black people, most notably, pay the appalling price. But Convicted never confronts readers with these patterns of injustice.

The book extols a healing God and the power of forgiveness. Yet it points no blame at institutionalized racism, never uttering the words black lives matter. Instead, it suggests that bad cop Collinswhose lies helped frame and convict nearly 60 black men in Benton Harborwas just one man with personal demons. Systemic bias and racism? Never mentioned.

Other books are far more honest in examining such anti-black policing dynamics, among them Paul Butlers fearless Chokehold: Policing Black Men and the anthology Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution and Imprisonment edited by Angela J. Davis. Both make for urgent reading, as do Michelle Alexanders stunner The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Bryan Stevensons Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, and Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleves Crook County: Racism and Injustice in Americas Largest Criminal Court.

Sadly, Convicted fails to address such themes. Two men are free and reconciled, and we can praise God for that. But their forgiveness appears sanitized. As McGee says, Im free. But I didnt do it. God did. Some people got it. Others didnt. That didnt matter to me. I kept telling them anyway.

More racial context from both McGee and Collins would have made their healing story more powerful, certainly for a racially torn nation. Were left instead with a heartfelt journey and an appalling realization: Their story never should have happened. But God can rewrite this national chapter. May he help us confess every part of racial pain. Then he can heal us all.

Patricia Raybon books include My First White Friend: Confessions on Race and Forgiveness (Penguin) and Undivided: A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace (Thomas Nelson), cowritten with daughter Alana.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
You could be forgiven for thinking apocalyptic thoughts, writes The New York Times in response to recent disasters.

With multiple earthquakes, successive hurricanes, fires raging in the Northwest and California, as well as escalating tensions with North Korea, the last few months have brought an onslaught of natural and man-made chaos.

The less obvious threat for Americans is the vulnerability of our electrical gridwhich, in the opinion of some experts, is imminently hackable.

Vanity Fair publishes regularly on the topic (see Michael Lewiss latest story). Even Ted Koppel, the calm, unflappable former news anchor, says its a matter of if, not when the electrical grid goes down and leaves us suspended in a strange, uneasy darkness.

This confluence of disastrous events brings out our most basic instinct: the urge to survive.

The prepping trend has grown in response, from basic emergency preparedness (extra water and bags of dried beans) to fully furnished underground bunkers packed with freeze-dried rations. (Costco offers options for both groups.) According to Google Trends, searches for prepper and survivalism have reached record highs in the last few months.

At a deeper level, these dangers and disasters bring us face to face with the fragility of human life. Lurking beneath our well-socialized exteriors is an intense, primitive need to protect ourselves and those around us from existential threats. Parents fear the possibility that one day well wake up and find ourselves unable to keep our kids safe from famine or fire. One way or another, we all have to contend with the fundamental tension between readiness and relinquishment: When do we accept our mortality, when do we fight against it, and when do we give it up to Gods providence?

Existential dread comes easily to mealthough I fear disaster more than death. By some standards, Im a doomsday prepper in waiting. If I had a more fragile, paranoid psyche, theres a good chance Id be living off the grid in an abandoned brick warehouse with a small herd of cats and a stack of canned food. Id hunker down with a ham radio while my children scuttle around like Dickensian street urchins.

As it is, I sublimate my anxieties into more socially acceptable form by skimming prepper websites and organizing canned food and water in the back of my pantry. After the recent Harvey hurricane, I sent a donation to a Houston-based nonprofit and then joined my fellow Austinites lined up at fueling stations to fill portable gas cans in case of a shortage. (The cans now sit in two neat rows on a shelf in my garage.)

My fears range from infrastructure disaster to global war: I read with macabre fascination about zero-day exploits that could collapse the internet and nuclear-tipped ICBMs that might eventually be equipped to split California off the western coast of the United States (a possibility that inspires true doomsday prepping).

Other peoples stories, too, contribute to my existential dread. A few months ago while I was standing in my front doorway, the man who reroofed our house revealed that he was orphaned as an infant when a small commercial airplane sailed out of the sky and slammed into his house. His father was killed instantly and his mother, in a fit of maternal foresight, threw her son under the crib and then died in the flames.

As I leaned on the doorframe listening, I heard his story not as a discreet, anomalous tragedy but as a compounded part of the human conditiona sample of the suffering we encounter everywhere, up close and at a distance.

Setting aside the sobering fact that I have yet to experience a major catastrophe, Im too much of a pessimist to believe it wont happen to me or to someone I love. Its simply a matter of time. In the interim, I line up cans of refried beans, fill up the water jugs, and wait.

Article continues below

Irvin Yalom, the 86-year-old existential psychotherapist recently profiled in The Atlantic, might diagnose me with existential anxietyjust another prepper coping with the unresolvable dilemmas of human existence, as writer Jordan Michael Smith puts it. In biblical terms, however, Im at risk of following the rich fool found in Luke 12: I might trust too much in my barns and storehouses.

Forget about earthly possessions, I can relinquish those. Survival is the thing I cling to; its my idol. But I have to let it go, too. Not because preparedness is problematicProverbs tell us its wisebut because in excess, it threatens to undermine my belief in Gods omnipotence. My prepper tendencies reinforce the delusion that I can control my fate and future.

Quite frankly, I dont always trust God to provide. I believe in the power of evil to overcome, and Im determined to do everything I can to fend it off on my own. However, in the face of true sufferingmine or otherstrying to survive is not sufficient. I have to balance readiness with relinquishment, and I have to do it the context of both community (the here and now) and eternity (the not yet).

First, Im called to pivot outward, toward my neighbors. Although I have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect my children, I also have a duty to care for those around me: my undocumented neighbor who fears deportation with kids underfoot and needs the legal counsel of someone I know, or the divorcee down the street who needed meals and hospital visits after she survived a life-threatening car accident. Their hardships are small on a global scale, but theyre the only disasters I can help mitigate at the momentthe only ones within my reach.

As David Taylor wrote in response to the Houston floods, the only reasonable thing for us to do as Gods people is to somehow, someway become Christs wounded healers to a hurting world.

Second, as I keep my neighbors in sight, I also have to look way beyond to the often-inscrutable plans of Providence . Although I might always be prone to indulging in self-preservation, as a Christian, Im freed, in theory, from the burden of trying to avoid death and suffering at all cost because death is not the end.

Im also commanded to trust thatdespite the cataclysms I see destroying lives near and farGods purposes are still fully in play, even if I cant discern them. Somehow or another, I have to commit to the hard-won promise that we find in Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

I grew up hearing this psalm in the form of a song. It was composed and sung by Ugandan friends who fled the genocidal dictator Idi Aminforging a river at night while their kids clung to their backs. If they can sing it, so can I.

Although I now live a continent away from them, we still share the same commonly held belief that someday, when we cast off the burdens of this fallen world, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:4).

In the meantime, Im holding on to the hope of Julian of Norwich: All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

As a hardened pessimist, thats something I need to prep for.

Andrea Palpant Dilley is a contributing editor for Christianity Today. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaPalpant.
Descendant of Christopher Columbus Weighs in On Ancestor's Legacy

In USA Today, Christopher Columbus XX refutes unfair attacks on the Italian explorer

Contact: Chris Scalia, CRC Public Relations, 703-683-5004 ex. 1103, cscalia@CRCPublicRelations.com

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 9, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- A descendant of Christopher Columbus and the Aztec emperor Montezuma wrote an opinion piece for USA Today that defends the contributions of his Italian ancestor and advocates a more nuanced understanding of American history.

"Columbus did something incredible reaching the Bahamas on board three small ships," writes Mr. Columbus. "He brought together two continents that didn't know of one another's existence. For the first time in history, the world acquired a truly global perspective."

Other key points from Mr. Columbus's commentary include:

 Anti-Columbus arguments use "Anglo-supremacist propaganda that paints all who sailed under the Spanish flag -- or were Hispanic -- as violent and untrustworthy."

 Spain's kings gave Spanish citizenship to, and restricted enslavement of, Native Americans. Spain also built schools and churches for Native Americans.

 Contrary to anti-Columbus propaganda, "the ample evidence [suggests] that he was a moderating force on his men, and . . . that he sought to keep good manners and friendly relations with Native Americans."

Christopher Columbus XX, a biographer of his namesake, is the 18th Duke of Veragua.

The National Christopher Columbus Association seeks to honor not only the memory of Columbus and his historic achievement but also the higher values that motivated and sustained him in his efforts. Read more at www.christophercolumbus.org
home World Libyan authorities find mass grave containing bodies of 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS

Libyan authorities have found a mass grave that contains the bodies of the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by Islamic State militants in 2015.

The video of the gruesome beheadings that took place on a Libyan beach was posted on the internet in February 2015, prompting the Egyptian government to launch air strikes against jihadist targets in the neighboring Arab state.

The mass grave, which is located near the one-time Islamic State bastion of Sirte, 280 miles east of Tripoli, was found on Friday following confessions from ISIS prisoners.

Libya's interior ministry noted that the bodies of 20 Egyptians and a man of unknown African nationality were unearthed from the mass grave.

"The heads are separated from the bodies clad in orange jumpsuits, hands bound behind the back with plastic wire," said the ministry's unit for fighting organized crime in the city of Misurata, as reported by Agence France Presse.

The unit, which answers to the interior ministry of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli, said that the remains had been transferred to Misurata for forensic examination, but did not give a possible date for the possible repatriation of the remains for burial.

Egypt's foreign ministry stated on Saturday that it had received information about the discovery of the mass grave.

"The Egyptian embassy has been communicating since Friday with the Libyans with co-ordination with the Egyptian ministry of defence to secure their return to Egypt," a spokesman said.

The 21 Coptic Christians were kidnapped by ISIS In separate incidents in Libya between December 2014 and January 2015. The video released by the terror group showed the Christian men in orange jumpsuits kneeling on the sand as the militants stood behind them, ready to carry out the executions at a beach near Tripoli.

Last month, seven people were sentenced to death by an Egyptian court for over their links to ISIS and the beheadings of the 21 Christians.

The seven suspects were accused of being members of an ISIS cell in Marsa Matruh, northwest Egypt, and of planning attacks after having received military training at jihadist camps in Libya and Syria. The rulings against 13 other suspects are expected to be handed down on Nov. 25.

The death sentences will be reviewed by Egypt's mufti, who is the official interpreter of Islamic law, although his verdict is not considered legally binding.

Earlier this year, the relatives of the victims took pride in the courage displayed by their loved ones by refusing to renounce their faith despite the imminent threat of death.

"I'm very happy that my brother is in Heaven with Jesus now. I loved my brother when he was alive on the Earth, but now I love him more than before. He was martyred in the name of Jesus Christ," one family member said.
Andy Warhols Sixty Last Suppers

Executed just a year before Andy Warhols death in February 1987, this powerful work touches upon the themes of mortality and religion that were so close to the artists heart

Andy Warhols Sixty Last Suppers (1986) is an outstanding example from the artists great final painting series. Executed near the end of his life, the monumental piece  the largest painting by the American Pop artist ever to come to auction  takes up the themes of religion and loss that were so key to his work. The idea for a group of works based on Leonardos Renaissance masterpiece was proposed to Warhol in 1984 by Milan-based gallerist Alexander Iolas. Warhol leapt at the idea of putting his own stamp on one of the best-known images in the world, and produced an exhaustive series of variations  some freehand, some showing outlines, some, as in this example, using a photostat of the oil painting as the source image for a silkscreen. In all, Warhol would make over 100 different renditions of the Last Supper, 22 of which were displayed in 1986 in a space opposite the Santa Maria delle Grazie church, home of Leonardos original. Viewed by an estimated 30,000 people, the works took Milan by storm.



The series touched off a complex game of visual semantics whose rules were muddied by the fact that Warhols versions were in many ways clearer than the late-15th-century painting. A controversial restoration earlier in 1986 had left only half of Leonardos picture cleaned; the public could arguably get a better view by going to Iolas gallery. At the same time, and underscoring the Pop process of manufacture, the doubled image was a reminder that Warhols works were not originals in the traditional sense. This interrogation of originality versus reproduction had come up again and again in his art. The Dollar Bills were not dollar bills. The Brillo Boxes were not Brillo boxes, exactly. But where to draw the line? By 1986, of course, Leonardos Last Supper had become not only part of the art historical canon, but part of popular culture.

It may come as a surprise to many of Warhols fans (as it did to some of his friends) to discover that he was deeply religious
Homicide investigators are searching for a Houston resident they have charged with the murder of a man shot to death at an apartment complex last month.

Calvin Mitchell, 42, was charged Friday with murder, according to court documents.

He is accused of gunning down Ronald McGuire, 30, on Sept. 30 in the parking lot of the Sago Palms complex in the 13000 block of Northborough, in northwest Houston, according to sworn statements from Houston police officers.

McGuire's body was found after 12 p.m. with multiple gunshot wounds. A black, semi-automatic pistol was in the pocket of his shorts, according to court documents.

Based on surveillance video obtained by police, investigators believe Mitchell and McGuire got into a fistfight about 12 p.m. at a nearby convenience store on Northborough, Investigators believe the fight only lasted a few minutes. After the altercation, McGuire walked back to Sago Palms and Mitchell is believed to have followed shortly after, according to court records.

Mitchell is accused of approaching McGuire at Sago Palms at about 12:15 p.m, and pointed a pistol at McGuire. Surveillance footage shows a man investigators believe was McGuire swiping at Mitchell's pistol. McGuire reached into the pocket of his shorts, according to court records.

Mitchell is then accused of firing at McGuire. After McGuire fell to the ground, he is alleged to have shot at him again, possibly hitting his neck, according to court records.

Investigators believe Mitchell grabbed something out of the pocket of McGuire's shorts, then ran with two other men toward the north side of the apartment complex.

McGuire was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to a news release from the Houston Police Department.

After the gunfire, Mitchell is believed to have stopped by the apartment of an acquaintance, whom he told, "I had to! I had to! He shot at me! It was either me or him!" according to court records.

The acquaintance told police she had not seen Mitchell since.

A different acquaintance said Mitchell and McGuire knew each other prior to the shooting. The pair used to deal drugs together, the acquaintance told police, according to court records.

Mitchell was on probation at the time of the gunfire for possession of less than one gram of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty to the felony in December 2016.

Mitchell has a criminal history in Harris County dating back to 1992. That year, he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors of unlawful carry of a weapon and criminal trespassing.

In addition to his most recent plea, Mitchell has pleaded guilty twice to possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and to the felony charges of possession of less than 28 grams of crack cocaine, possession of cocaine and delivery of a controlled substance.

Anyone with information about Mitchell's whereabouts can contact HPD's homicide division at 713-308-3600 or CrimeStoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
An attempted robbery at an apartment complex in north Harris County led to one man being shot to death and another in the hospital, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office and local television reports.

The shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 17100 block of Rolling Creek Drive, according to Deputy Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
iStock/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) -- At least 10 people have died in raging wildfires across California.



Seventeen fires are burning across California, with flames fueled by strong winds. Nearly 90,000 acres are ablaze. The fires have destroyed at least 1,500 structures and forced the evacuation of 20,000 residents.



In Anaheim, hundreds of firefighters have mobilized to fight a blaze burning over an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 acres. Thousands of residents are impacted by the flames.



Ken Pimlott, the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the fires started around 10 p.m. local time Sunday.



One person died in Mendocino County, while the second perished in Santa Rosa.



With the flames sweeping through entire communities, some area hospitals have been evacuated. Evacuations were also issued for surrounding counties that are under threat, according to the Napa Valley Sheriff's Office.



Pimlett said firefighters are concentrating on saving lives rather than battling the blazes.



The National Weather Service reported strong winds in the San Francisco Bay area, giving the inferno more life as it tears through businesses and homes.



The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the counties most at risk. The warning means conditions are critical.



Strong winds, relatively low humidity and warm temperatures can lead to extreme weather, according to the National Weather Service.



The Cal Fire service has confirmed that the Tubbs fire of Napa Valley has burned 20,000 acres of land in total, while the Nuns fire of Sonoma has destroyed 300 acres.



The Atlas fire, which is just south of Lake Berryessa in Napa Valley, has torched 5,000 acres since it started.



The cause of the fires is still under investigation.

.@napacountyfire responding to an auto salvage yard on fire at end of Green Island are. Please stay away from area. pic.twitter.com/9eOhoySeEo  County of Napa (@CountyofNapa) October 8, 2017

Meteorologist Mike Nicco of KGO-TV in San Francisco has been tweeting updates on the fires.

Document everything you own with pictures and video now. By time to evacuate it's too late. #napafires #sonomafires pic.twitter.com/44dO0EaYZ7  Mike Nicco (@MikeNiccoABC7) October 9, 2017

Unfortunately, this is not needed rain. It's is smoke and it is thick and toxic. #napafire #santarosa pic.twitter.com/0IHI8e5fXe  Mike Nicco (@MikeNiccoABC7) October 9, 2017

Neighboring Marin County said on its official Twitter page that it's been overwhelmed with calls by residents.

Calls are overwhelming our 911 center due to Napa Co.  & winds are pushing smoke into Marin. Please call 911 only if you see  near your   Marin County Sheriff (@MarinSheriff) October 9, 2017

There are churches and community centers open to those families that are seeking refuge from the fire.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Winter is coming, but you wouldn't know it flipping through Gray Malin's new book.

"Escape," Malin's latest collection of travel photographs, can transport you from the sun-drenched beaches of St. Barts to the dusty plains of Namibia, no passport required.

The 31-year-old Los Angeles-based fine arts photographer, who got his start hawking travel prints at a West Hollywood flea market, now has more than a quarter of a million followers on Instagram, a devoted celebrity fan base (including Meghan Markle, Rihanna and Reese Witherspoon) and a New York Times bestseller ("Beaches").

Malin recently discussed his new book and his favorite travel destinations with The Washington Post. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Tell me a little bit about making photography a full-time job. When did you realize you could turn your passion into a career?

A: I shot a series in West Texas, the Prada Marfa series, in my early 20s, and it did so well in the flea market that it gave me the courage to switch to online sales. It was around the time when people were just starting to be comfortable with purchasing art online. It really helped put my career on the map and get me to where I am today.

Q: The book features photographs of more than 22 destinations in 11 different countries. How did you narrow down what destinations and images to include?

A: My first book, "Beaches," was all about beaches, and while I love the beach, my work over the past five years has taken me all around the world. My team and I looked at the various projects I've done and divided them into six general categories: surf, snow, pools, sand, isles and parks.

Q: How much research goes into planning and visualizing a shoot?

A: Many people don't realize the lengths I go to to capture these images. We live in a Photoshop world, and people don't really understand what's real and what's not. I've never used a drone, and they certainly weren't around when I started all of this.

It takes months of preparation to storyboard and execute a shoot. I'll tell my team, "Guys, I have this amazing idea: llamas in balloons," and sometimes they look at me like I'm crazy. But then we'll start researching how we can actually pull it off, like how we can recruit local help and transport props there. We also consider weather, lighting and timing.

Q: Aerial photography sounds a bit frightening; dangling out of a helicopter without doors can't be easy. Have you ever had a scare while shooting that way?

A: Surprisingly, I don't really get scared. When I'm up there, I get lost in my lens. Even though it's windy and incredibly dangerous at times, my camera is my shield and I lose myself in the art of it all.

Q: You often work with animals in your shoots, including llamas, elephants and zebras. Can you tell us what it's like working with them?

A: The llamas are so interesting! When we draped the balloons over them, they suddenly became calm and held their positions for so long that I was even able to turn the camera around and take a selfie with them. They were really soaking up the moment. The sheep, on the other hand, were more skittish and just wanted to run off. They are little guys and didn't exude as much confidence.

Q: What camera(s) do you pack on your travels? What are your other travel must-haves?

A: I must admit, I'm not really a camera guy. I don't have loyalty to a specific brand and I switch around. Right now, I'm shooting with a Canon, but if Nikon comes out with a higher quality camera I'll go over to them. But I am kind of a nerd when it comes to camera bands. I own a leather camera wrist band, so my camera dangles loosely at my side rather than my neck.

Q: Taking about escapes, what are your favorite summer and winter escapes?

A: I grew up going to Lake Michigan every summer, and still do, which sort of gave birth to this whole book and my whole brand. My favorite winter escape in recent years has been the Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.

Q: What is one of the most incredible escapes you've ever experienced?

A: A great part about a book is exposing people to new places, like the "Snow Polo St. Moritz" series in Switzerland. It's a snow polo tournament played on a frozen lake in the Swiss Alps. I almost died when I saw the Matterhorn. I would tell anyone to put that on their bucket list.

Namibia was also one of the most interesting escapes I've ever had because it was so quiet. There are no cellphones or Internet. The sunsets there are so peaceful. I know why Angie [Jolie] and Brad [Pitt] had their babies there - there's no place like it.

Q: What advice do you have for amateur photographers who want to capture memorable images on their own escapes?

A: I always tell people to think about lighting. I see people taking pictures all the time and they are not aware of where the sun is. It's also fun to put your hand or some part of your body into a photo. It makes it feel a little more personal, and when somebody sees the image, they can relate to the image just a tiny bit more. It adds a human aspect to it.

Q: You are very active on social media, particularly Instagram. Can you talk about how it has helped you shape your business and how it has changed fine art and travel photography?

A: It has definitely help shaped my business. I started my career at a Sunday flea market in West Hollywood and sold black-and-white prints I shot in Europe. My mentor said, "You need to get a gallery and have someone who validates who you are." But I wanted to make work that people wanted to hang in their homes, not art they were told to like by somebody else. So, I went directly to the consumer.

I think Instagram has allowed artists to get that kind of feedback instantly, through comments and likes. I pay attention to what people's opinions are and it often can help lead me to think differently or head to new destinations that I haven't thought of before.

Q: Can you tell us about your upcoming work? Any new travel destinations on the horizon?

A: I just did a shoot last weekend in Santa Barbara that will come out next year and am planning to shoot in Thailand next year.
Sept. 25

At 1:45 a.m., Officers Proctor and Clisham were patrolling the 5000 block of Bissonnet St. E/B in their marked patrol unit when they observed a silver Infiniti traveling with its high beams on. Officers Proctor and Clisham initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle at the 5200 block of Bissonnet Street where the driver exited the vehicle and evaded the officers on foot. Officers Proctor and Clisham apprehended the driver at the 6800 block of Fifth Street. Officer Proctor placed the driver into custody for evading arrest/detention at approximately 0155 hours and transported him to the Bellaire Jail for booking.

Sept. 26

At 11:35 p.m., Sgt Hefferin was dispatched to 5101 Jessamine St. in reference to a missing person call. Upon arrival, the complainant who stated his 23-year-old son left their residence at about 2 p.m. and had not returned. The Complainant stated he feared for his son's safety and wanted to file a missing person(s) report.

At 11:44 p.m., Officer Ortega observed a Grey Mitsubishi traveling in the 4600 block of Bellaire Boulevard with an expired registration. After further investigation, the driver was found to be intoxicated. Officer Ortega placed the driver into custody for driving while intoxicated.

Sept. 27

At 9:18 a.m., Officer D.Rocha conducted a traffic stop on a red Dodge vehicle for expired motor vehicle registration in the 5000 block of Bellaire Blvd. The driver was identified by her Texas driver's license. The driver was subsequently found to be operating a motor vehicle while her Texas Driver's License was currently suspended. The driver did not have current valid insurance and was arrested for driving while license suspended / enhanced (Class B misdemeanor).

At 11:22 p.m., Officer Bellard observed a white Pontiac make an unsafe lane change by swerving into the next lane narrowly avoiding a curb in the 7500 block of IH 610 East Service Road. The suspect vehicle also failed to signal a turn. Officer Bellard initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and after further investigation the driver was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Sept. 28

At 9:16 a.m., Officer D.Rocha conducted a traffic stop on a Chevrolet vehicle for expired motor vehicle registration in the 6600 block of South Rice Avenue. The driver was subsequently found to be operating a motor vehicle while her Texas Driver's License was currently suspended. The driver was arrested and taken to the Bellaire Jail where she was booked for the charge of driving while license suspended / enhanced (Class B misdemeanor) with no insurance.

At 9:55 a.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to the 7000 block of South Third Street in reference to a family disturbance call. Upon arrival, he spoke to the witness who stated he saw a male and a female tugging on each other. After further investigation it was determined the female tried to get him in the vehicle and he refused, so she grabbed his shirt. Both parties left separately.

At 9:51 a.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to 7008 S. Rice Ave., city of Bellaire Police Department, in reference to a theft call. Upon the officer's arrival he spoke to the victims who stated they were both scammed out of money by an unknown person(s) who sent each of them a fraudulent email.

At 2:44 p.m., Officer D. Clawson responded to an assault in progress / barricaded suspect at 6800 West Loop South. The defendant unlawfully restrained the complainant in this case. The defendant was subsequently arrested and charged with the class A misdemeanor charge of unlawful restraint.

At 11:57 p.m., Police Officer D. Clawson was clearing a traffic stop when the defendant traveling in the 6700 block of Chimney Rock Road. The vehicle was rapidly approaching the traffic signal at Bellaire Boulevard and made the right hand turn at an aggressive speed which caused his tires to squeal. Clawson followed the defendant while he made additional traffic violations and then conducted a traffic stop. During the traffic investigation, it was determined the defendant was operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. The defendant was subsequently arrested and charged with the felony offense of driving while intoxicated 3rd due to two previous convictions.

At 12:51 p.m., Officer Guerra was dispatched to City of Bellaire Fire Department lobby in referenced to a theft. Between 6 p.m. Sept. 27 and 10 a.m. Sept. 28, an unknown suspect(s) stole the victim's rear Texas License Plate.

Sept. 29

At 9:13 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Department Lobby in reference to an identity theft. Officer Andrade met with the victim who stated sometime before Sept. 28, unknown suspect(s) used his personal identifying information to open two checking accounts and attempted to open one credit card account.

At 4:28 p.m., Officer Salinas was dispatched to an FSGI (Failure to Stop and Give Information) accident in the 6900 block of IH 610 Northbound. Officer Salinas arrived at approximately 1632 hours and spoke with the victim. The victim stated his Ford truck was struck from behind by another Ford truck, when he was traveling Northbound in the 6900 block of IH 610, on the exit ramp to the service road. The victim stated the driver of the other truck failed to stop and provided his information as required by State of Texas law.

Sept. 30

At 1:50 a.m., Officer Proctor was dispatched to 5200 IH 610 Northbound in reference to an accident. When Officer Proctor arrived, the vehicle involved had already left the scene, but Officer Proctor observed significant damage to the steel drum crash cushions located at the Interstate 59 exit ramp with black colored vehicle debris nearby. A black, Mercedes E350 was located by the responding officers in the parking lot of the Exxon gas station at 4910 Weslayan St. Officer Proctor made contact with the driver and after further investigation, determined the driver was driving while intoxicated. Officer Proctor also observed front end damage to the Mercedes consistent to the debris located at 5200 IH 610 N/B. At 2:05 a.m., Officer Proctor placed the driver into custody for DWI and transported him to Bellaire PD Jail for booking and processing.

At 10:43 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the 5200 block of Linden Street in reference to a welfare check. The caller called numerous times seeing various different things. Officer Andrade made contact with the subject who stated there were two unknown males inside her home and requested Bellaire Police Officers to search her home. Upon further investigation, subject was subsequently placed in custody for felony possession of a controlled substance. The subject was later transported to the City of Bellaire Jail for booking and processing.

At 10:45 a.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to 5101 Jessamine Street, Bellaire Fire Department, in reference to a missing person call. Upon arrival, he spoke to the complainant who stated his 23-year-old son left their residence about 9:40 a.m. and had not returned. The Complainant stated he feared for his son's safety and wanted to file a missing person(s) report.

At 5:46 p.m., Officer Salinas was dispatched to an FSGI (Failure to Stop and Give Information) accident in the 5800 block of Bissonnet Street. Officer Salinas arrived at 5:57 p.m. and spoke with the victim. After conducting an FSGI investigation, Officer Salinas was able to located the suspect and charge him with failure to stop and give information.

At 5:25 p.m., Officer Marcotte initiated a traffic stop at 5400 Bellaire Blvd. on a 2014 Mercedes for displaying a homemade license plate and not having a registration certificate. The driver presented a proof of insurance that was fictitious and was arrested for presenting a fictitious proof of financial responsibility.

Oct. 1

At 4:29 p.m., Officer Liccketto conducted a traffic stop at 8000 West Loop North on a white Corolla for obstructed license plate. During the investigation, the driver was found to have a suspended driver's license and no proof of financial responsibility. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid enhanced and transported to the Bellaire Police Department for booking.

At 9:07 p.m., Officer Liccketto conducted a traffic stop at 5900 West Loop North on a tan Buick for failure to signal lane change. During the investigation, the driver was found to have a suspended driver's license and no proof of financial responsibility. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid enhanced and transported to the Bellaire Police Department for booking.

At 12:05 a.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to the 5400 block of Pine Street in reference to an assault on a family member which occurred about two hours prior. Upon arrival, Officer Ortega observed a red mark underneath the victim's chin and the suspect was no longer on location. The victim stated her ex-boyfriend attacked her, causing pain, during a conversation about their past relationship. The suspect was interviewed and charged with assaul.
Nick de la Torre/Staff

Aquilon Energy Services has opened an office in downtown's Esperson building as it grows its collaborative, cloud-based energy settlement platform.

The company, based near Chicago, developed the Energy Settlement Network, which allows participants to manage, access and settle large volumes of power, oil and natural gas transactions.
Author appearances are often low-key and easy: No ticket necessary - just walk in and sit down. But that's not the case for some big-name authors who are coming to Houston in the next few weeks; you're going to need to plan in advance and buy tickets.

If you want to see these authors and personalities, buy a ticket now.

Matt Bellassai

The Web comedian will talk about his new book, "Everything is Awful and Other Observations."

Details: 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at Books-A-Million, 5000 Katy Mills Circle, Katy

Tickets: $23.82; includes a signed copy of the book

Information: eventbrite.com

Joe Biden

The former vice president will discuss his memoir, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose."

Details: 8 p.m. Dec. 7 at Smart Financial Centre, 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land

Tickets: Tickets start at $49.50; includes a copy of the book.

Information: bluewillowbookshop.com

Event has been canceled:

Roddy Doyle

The author will read and discuss his new novel, "Smile."

Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main

Tickets: $25; includes a hardcover copy of the book

Information: brazosbookstore.com

Ree Drummond

The Pioneer Woman will sign her new cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It! Simple, Scrumptious Recipes for Crazy Busy Lives."

Details: 5 p.m. Nov. 2 at Blue Willow Bookshop, 14532 Memorial

Tickets: $35; includes a copy of the book and a place in the signing line

Information: bluewillowbookshop.com

Jennifer Egan and Claire Messud

The authors will read and discuss their work as part of Inprint's Margarett Root Brown Reading Series. Both have new books. Pulitzer Prize-winning Egan's is "Manhattan Beach," and Messud's is "The Burning Girl."

Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Stude Concert Hall, Entrance 18, Rice University, 6100 Main

Tickets: $5

Information: Inprinthouston.org





Jeffrey Eugenides

The Pulitzer Prize winner will discuss and sign "Fresh Complaint," his new collection of short stories.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main

Tickets: $27; includes a hardcover copy of the book

Information: brazosbookstore.com





Walter Isaacson

Isaacson, who wrote the famous biography of Steve Jobs, will discuss and sign his newest biography, "Leonardo Da Vinci."

Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at St. Paul's Methodist Church, 5501 S. Main

Tickets: $35 for one guest, $40 for two; includes a hardcover copy of the book

Information: brazosbookstore.com





NASA

Scott Kelly

The retired astronaut, a veteran of four space flights, will discuss "Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery."

Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at The Ballroom at Bayou Place, 500 Texas

Tickets: $29.95; includes a hardcover copy of the book

Information: brazosbookstore.com





Kelly will also sign books in Katy:

Details: 2 p.m. Oct. 28 at Books-a-Million, 5000 Katy Mills Circle, Katy

Tickets: $32.42; includes a hardcover copy of the book

Information: eventbrite.com

Jeff Kinney

The author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series will discuss and sign the newest book in the series, "The Getaway."

Details: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Wilchester Elementary School, 13618 St. Mary's Lane

Tickets: $20; includes a copy of the book. A parent may accompany a child; children younger than 5 get in free.

Information: bluewillowbookshop.com

Bebe Jacobs

Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Pulitzer Prize winner will discuss "The Refugees" as part of Inprint's Margarett Root Brown Reading Series. This talk is also part of Rice University's President's Lecture Series; Nguyen will be interviewed by "Brothers in Arms" author William Broyles.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Stude Concert Hall, Entrance 18, Rice University, 6100 Main

Tickets: $5

Information: inprinthouston.org





David Sedaris

Sedaris will read and sign "Theft by Finding," a collection of writing from his diaries.

Details: 8 p.m. Nov. 6 at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana

Tickets: $29-$64

Information: spahouston.org
Los Angeles-based boba tea guru Elton Keung is fulfilling his promise to bring his boozy dessert drinks to Houston. River Oaks' Mint Thai Kitchen owner Chavin Veranunt reportedly pledged enough money to a fall Kickstarter for Keung to open a temporary shop at Veranunt's Thai restaurant.

According to Eater Houston, the two shop owners are also friends. It's not clear if Veranunt pledged the full $10,000 amount required for Keung to travel and set up shop in a different city.
While I-10 from El Paso to Houston is reportedly the most used trafficking path in the U.S. and this type of crime is a growing problem in Houston, rumors have spread online about sex trafficking reports in the city of Katy.

In August, the Katy Police Department investigated a report from a woman who said on Facebook that men attempted to abduct her from Katy Mills Mall as part of a sex trade scheme. The Katy Police Department released a statement saying they have never received any reports concerning human sex trafficking at Katy Mills Mall or in Katy.

About a month later, Assistant Chief Tim Tyler said the claim was unfounded and the case was closed.

There have been no other similar reports, but to stay safe, people need to be vigilant and children need to have adult supervision when they go out, Tyler said.

A similar story about an incident at a shopping center on South Fry Road further raised concern about sex trafficking issues in Katy.

On Aug. 2, the story was published on a business blog by a woman describing her experience the day before being watched and followed as she walked in and out of several stores in the shopping center.

The woman said she noticed a man in a gold suburban who seemed to be watching her while talking on a cellphone. As the woman walked through the parking lot to her car, the man blocked her path with his vehicle. The man then rolled down his window and spoke to the woman while still holding the cellphone up to his ear. The man eventually drove off after the woman shouted that she didn't know him, and the woman left the shopping center.

Deputy Marisol Martinez of the Precinct 5 Harris County Constable's office said the incident was reported, but not until Aug. 4. The report has been investigated by the deputy constable who took the report, according to Martinez.

"At this time we have been unable to confirm or deny the incident happened or uncover any evidence," Martinez said. "We have searched our databases to see if there were any other similar type reports made in and around our area of jurisdiction. At this time, we are monitoring all calls to dispatch."

The author of the blog entry could not be reached for comment.

The manager of the T.J. Maxx in the shopping center was unaware of the incident or any similar situations. Doreen Thompson, vice president of global communications at TJX, was unaware of the specific situation, but said calling the police is the right way to handle it.

Martinez says the department takes this issue very seriously. Martinez has seen similar social media posts, but does not know if they have validity.

"We have recently formed a new Strategic Response Division and if we do find there are reliable sources indicating that this is a problem in that area we will definitely do everything we can to correct the situation," Martinez said.
A teenager was dead and three more taken into custody after leading deputies on a high speed chase Monday from Memorial City Mall to the Piney Point Village area.

The chaos started about 6:30 p.m. when two deputies working off-duty security jobs at the mall were told the teens stole a patron's purse, said Jason Spencer, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
I have to admit; my job is pretty exciting. Talking about toilets, caulking, paint and stain may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have worked in a lumberyard since I was 25 (and I am turning 63) so it's what is on my mind when I wake up.

When you email me, before you start a project, I get as excited as you do. I received some great questions this week, and I want to share them with all the readers. If you have a project, let me help. Email me  happyhandyman2@yahoo.com

Question: I have cleaned up the dirty grout on my floor, and now I want to know how to keep it clean for a while. Do sealers work? Is there an easy way to apply it? What sealer is the best?

Answer: Stonetech is a line made by Laticrete, and they do an easy to use sealer called Advanced Grout Sealer. It's a simple spray that can be used on cement based grout to keep it looking new. It can be used on porcelain, ceramic or natural stone tiles, inside or outside.

When you are cleaning grout, don't wear yourself out by using a small toothbrush-sized brush. Make your cleaning job even easier by using a wallpaper brush to clean three feet at a time.

Question: I want to clean some bricks outside by my air conditioner. They mildewed because they are right beside a drain hose.

Answer: Clean up the brick with 30 Second Outdoor Cleaner. For this small job, use the ready to use quart size and just spray the brick. Let it work for a few minutes and then rinse off. If a stain remains after the bricks are dry, then repeat the process.

Do you have an area outside your home that constantly collects mildew? Zep Clear Shell is a clear mildew inhibitor that will keep mildew away for 18 months.

Question: I just had the worst time removing some outside light bulbs at the coast. Is there anything that I can use on the new bulbs, so that when I replace them they don't break?

Answer: What you want to use is a product called Di-electric grease. It's a non-conductive silicone-based grease that seals out moisture and prevents corrosion on electrical connectors. It will make it easy to remove old bulbs especially the outdoor ones.

Question: I saw an article recently about products to freshen up around the home. I have some leather furniture that is gently used. It looks dusty and dry with little luster. What would you recommend to refresh and clean the leather?

Answer: When my dad closed all our stores in San Antonio back in 2008, I put all of our office furniture in storage. I was going to sell all of it when it was more convenient and a cooler time of year. Well fast forward 10 months later, and I am working in a little hardware store and dragging out the office furniture that had been in storage. It shocked me how bad it looked from just being in storage for such a short time. I grabbed one leather cleaner that Dad had called Leather Only and cleaned all the leather chairs up in no time. They looked as beautiful, like brand-new. It made such a difference that I cleaned only half of one of Dad's chairs, and I would show my customers what a good cleaner it was. When cleaning your leather, work in small areas at a time using a quarter - sized amount of cleaner on a soft white rag. Turn your rag when cleaning, so you are always working with a clean side.

Question: I have been using Delete Germ from your store in our toilets. My wife is pleased with the results. But is there a way to get rid of rust that is in the tank? We enjoy your articles.

Answer: Yes there is a product called Instant Power Tank Cleaner. Just pour in the tank and let it work overnight. It will clean off all the stains. When you clean the inside of the tank, it will help with the stains that happen in the bowl.

If you cannot find the products mentioned here locally, you can find them at www.happyhandyman.com. Click on Shop Johnnie's Favorites, or call the store at 210-341-1573. Email happyhandyman2@yahoo.com. Mail can be sent to Johnnie Chuoke's Home and Hardware, 2361 NW Military, San Antonio, TX 78231.
The city of Bellaire held its first public hearing on a proposed property tax increase on Oct. 2 at City Hall, where some residents said the possible surge in the rate is a burden on already strapped homeowners after Hurricane Harvey damaged one-third of homes in the city.

Residents who spoke at the first of two public hearings were not happy with the $0.4159 rate per $100 valuation that the city introduced, an increase from the $0.3874 per $100 valuation in 2016.

Jim Avioli, a resident of Bellaire, told council that homeowners were "hit" with this increase just weeks after Harvey wreaked havoc on the neighborhood, and the proposal is "insensitive."

Bellaire Chief Financial Officer Terrence Beaman made the case for the rate approved by City Council in September and said the proposed rate would generate $20.6 million of revenue for city, $1.6 million more than fiscal year 2017.

"If there was a reduction in revenue, the city would also have to look at ways to reduce the operating budget to the tune of about $1.4 million," said Beaman.

Jim Campbell, a resident of more than 30 years, responded to Beamer's claim and added that increases in home values made the rate unfair, regardless of whether Harvey affected one's property.

"My valuation has gone up 33 percent in last four years," said Campbell. "There are $500,000 houses that are being replaced by $3 million houses. Now you're talking about taking the rate up. The chief financial officer said the city would have to find savings; I suggest you start looking for it. I suggest you start looking at a way to mirror what happened in Houston where the mayor backed away from increasing property taxes."

Campbell was referring to the proposed 8.9 percent tax increase on Houston residents called for by Mayor Sylvester Turner in early September, just weeks after Harvey decimated homes in that city, but later retracted after loud opposition and a $50 million check from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for Harvey recovery efforts.

But according to Bellaire Mayor Andrew Friedberg in a conversation with Houston Chronicle around the same time, the city of Bellaire had already planned on the increase and it had nothing to do with Harvey recovery. He said the city was just following through with its previous intentions.

"At this past Monday night's meeting," said Friedberg via email of the September vote, "council took a record vote of intention to adopt a 2017 (tax year) rate of $0.4159. That's the same rate (adjusted slightly upon receipt from HCAD of our certified tax roll) as was proposed prior to Harvey. I mention that to illustrate that Harvey hasn't changed our proposed tax rate."

At the public meeting, Friedberg defended the increase by pointing out that 67 percent of the city's general fund revenue comes from property taxes, and that 86 percent of those taxes are paid by residential taxpayers. He added that the city needs to develop more commercial property to help offset that.

Bellaire City Manager Paul Hofmann responded to the request to find savings in the budget.

"Any reduction in expenses will result in service delivery reductions," said Hofmann. "It sounds like I'm playing a game here, but I'm not. I suppose we could stop maintaining parks, picking up litter - I'm out of ideas."

Friedberg noted that the city finds itself in the position of asking for a tax rate increase at a time when most residents are absorbing costs from the disaster that Harvey wrought because of past mistakes.

"I think this can has been kicked to this point," he said. "We're having to make tough choices because of all our past spending when we didn't have adequate new money coming in."

The second public hearing was held on Oct. 9.
With recent significant weather events and flooding, the Richmond Fire Department began to enhance resources to facilitate water evacuation and rescue.

While the Richmond Fire Department has staffed a Dive Team and prepared for water emergencies for many years, last year's flooding from the Brazos River prompted the department to budget and purchase a boat specifically designed for evacuation and rescues.

Fire Chief Mike Youngblood said, "Specialized equipment and resources can be expensive and challenging to justify, especially if it is equipment that is not frequently used in emergency services responses."

He added, "Just because it may not be needed on a daily basis is no reason to not have what you need when you need it, especially when protecting the lives of citizens, which is our highest priority."

With that philosophy, fire administration researched how to offset some of the cost associated with planning and preparing for low frequency, but high impact events for the city and area which Richmond Fire Department serves. This area comprises more than 50 square miles and has the only active dive team in Fort Bend County. During the research, it was discovered that a local business offers assistance to public service entities for emergency equipment- Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation.

Richmond Fire Department Assistant Chief Derek Brown applied for a Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation grant for an additional boat to compliment the boat previously purchased from One Boat Rescue Boats. The grant was awarded which meant Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation fully funded Richmond Fire team's second, new boat. This additional boat allows the department to work with the boats in tandem during dive events, or independently in emergencies such as what Hurricane Harvey recently presented during widespread flooding.

Not enough can be said to thank the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation for recognizing and awarding the grant that offers assistance to so many during perilous events when time is critical, said Brown.

To learn more about The Richmond Fire Department visit its Facebook page or website at www.richmondtx.gov/departments/fire-department.

To learn more about the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation visit www.firehousesubs.com/public-safety-foundation.
The Dallas Morning News (TNS)

DALLASSince voting last month to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from an Oak Lawn park, Dallas City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates has been called a traitor, a disgrace and a failure.

And those are among some of the tamer comments that her office has received. Some called her explicit names. A few have threatened her harm, prompting police investigations. One caller couldn't believe a white woman could do something like this. Another said that "black people kill each other every day and blame white people for all their problems," according to Gates' call log.

Gates said the comments can be frustrating, but "this particular issue is just complicated."

"It's complicated. It's complex. It's very emotional," she said.

The ferocity of the anger took council members by surprise, especially after thousands turned out to an anti-hate rally in the days after the violent protests over the Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va. But most doubt the Confederate fervor - which will resume next month when the council votes on the fate of the Confederate War Memorial near City Hall - will affect low-turnout local Dallas politics in 2017 and beyond.

"We're almost done with this process," said council member Philip Kingston, who led the initial push to remove the Lee statue this year. "And at this point, the people who are complaining are not from inside the city."

Kingston, who called the attacks on Gates "childish" and stomach-turning, said he has heard little resistance within his district, which includes East Dallas, downtown and Uptown.

It's difficult to discern where some of the callers and emailers live. But some do live in the city. Tea party groups and others have expressed their displeasure and shown up in force to meetings of the Mayor's Task Force on Confederate Monuments.

One group conducted a survey of Dallas residents that showed most residents would prefer an alternative plan - which did not yet exist - to preserve the statues in place and put new ones up.

Political strategist Brian Mayes, who helped conduct the poll for the group, said the longer-lasting effect will be that the vote "reinforces the impression that City Hall does things in a rushed, disheveled way."

"It just reminds voters again that City Hall is not necessarily responsive to the will of the community," he said.

But Kingston said Confederate statues make it difficult to sell the city as forward-thinking to companies such as Amazon.

"It's analogous to showing up to a job interview with a face tattoo," he said.

Gates and Mayor Mike Rawlings have caught the brunt of the criticism - the correspondence overwhelmed their staffs - because of radio ads from a group called the Conservative Response Team, a national group that vows to "fight back anywhere, anytime against leftist kooks who want to attack our values."

Gates, who is far from a leftist, said she will "keep doing my job, continue to do my homework and make informed decisions." Rawlings, who will be term-limited in 2019, has said he has no plans to run for office again and believes he did the right thing after the violence in Charlottesville.

Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway said the some of the messages are from "sick people who refuse to accept every human and every American being accepted as equal." He said people who don't live in Dallas and don't pay taxes in the city "should express their opinions in their own city and let Dallas take care of Dallas."

Council member Lee Kleinman said the only time he has seen a comparable amount of outrage was after the city implemented a 5-cent fee for plastic bags, known as the "bag ban," in 2014. The council eventually repealed the ordinance in the face of a lawsuit the council's majority felt it couldn't win.

Lee statue supporter Diane Benjamin, who is part of a new group called Citizens Matter, said the vote will have an effect on Dallas politics.

"People are going to scrutinize our City Council people and how they performed in this instance," she said.

Benjamin and others are still pushing for a voter referendum on the statues and are now trying to sink the city's proposed $1 billion bond package. At first, she said the city had no propositions for police - in fact, a $32 million proposition supports police and fire facilities - and then said it was because she wants the city to use pension obligation bonds to shore up the police and fire pension fund. The high-risk debt was a nonstarter for city leaders, who instead committed to paying more general revenue dollars into the fund.

Carol Reed, who is promoting the campaign to pass the bond package, said she has seen some of the ruckus on social media. But she was unfazed by it.

"I don't even know if they're voters, but it certainly doesn't seem very serious," she said.

And Reed, a longtime political consultant in Dallas, said she doesn't foresee the anger over the monuments carrying into the 2019 City Council elections.

"I've never seen anything last that long," she said.

Kleinman said the anger over the statues "has gone on longer than a lot of times stuff like that does," but agreed that it wasn't likely to affect 2019 races.

"It may mobilize that hard right-wing base," said Kleinman, who has voted in Republican primaries. "But typically, they just like something to be mad about. I just don't know if there's enough to make a difference."

Kleinman, who was first elected in 2013, said he received an email with a photo of someone giving a Nazi salute. Kleinman is the only Jewish council member.

But Kleinman was particularly frustrated after a recent council meeting when open-mike speakers chastised the council members for their decisions and said the city should be spending the money - cost estimates for the removal came in at about $450,000 - on police or homelessness or anything else.

The speakers then left, choosing not to stick around for the council's discussion and vote on property tax rates and the annual $1.2 billion general fund budget for police, streets, homelessness services and every other aspect of the city's government.

---
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Authorities put Texas Tech University on lockdown Monday night after a university police officer was shot and killed.

Officials said a student was brought inside the Texas Tech Police Department after being found with "evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia" during a welfare check.

Once inside, the student pulled a firearm and shot an officer in the head, spokesman Chris Cook said.

Lubbock Police Department said on Twitter that the suspect, Hollis A. Daniels, 19 years old, is in custody. A Texas Tech officer tackled the suspect while Lubbock Police officers assisted, Lubbock Police said in a post to Twitter.

The university gave the all-clear just after 9:30 p.m., though administrators said to avoid the north side of campus.

In a statement, university Chancellor Robert Duncan called the event a "tragic loss."

"Words can't express how saddened I am by the tragic loss of one of our Texas Tech University police officers tonight," he said. "Our Texas Tech family is strong and will support each other as we grieve."

In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott said he spoke to Duncan, and had mobilized the Texas Department of Public Safety to assist local law enforcement.

"First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University. I have spoken to Chancellor Robert Duncan to offer my condolences, and I have mobilized the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer any assistance to the Lubbock Police Department. As the Texas Tech campus deals with this heartbreaking tragedy, Cecilia and I pray for the continued safety of the students and the entire community," Abbott said late Monday in a statement.

The Texas Tech alumni association also offered thoughts and prayers to the family of the killed officer, who has not yet been named.
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The common law wife of a Pearland police officer killed by a drunk driver must prove for a third time that she is legally entitled to receive death benefits from the City of Pearland's workers' compensation fund.

The state association that handles the city's workers' compensation filed a lawsuit that aims to block payment of death benefits on behalf of Endy Ekpanya, killed on the job by a drunk driver on June 12, 2016.

Attorneys from the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool (TMLIRP) are seeking a judge's ruling on whether Lucy Lugo is entitled to his workers' compensation benefits.

Now Playing: A Pearland Police officer en route to a non-emergency call died early Sunday in a head-on collision. Video: Houston Chronicle

TRIAL COVERAGE: Amber Willemsen convicted in wreck that killed Pearland police officer

Last March, a benefit review officer decided against TMLIRP and ruled Lucy Lugo was the common law wife and legal beneficiary of Ekpanya, who was killed by Amber Willemsen after Willemsen had left her job as a stripper at The Ritz on the Gulf Freeway.

The risk pool lost a second time when an appeals panel again sided with Lugo, saying she presented sufficient evidence to prove she was Ekpanya's common-law wife as defined by state law.

Among the evidence Lugo presented was a funeral program listing her as Ekpanya's wife and several letters testifying to the fact that the couple were living together as husband and wife and planned to have a wedding in the future. One letter was signed by fellow Pearland Police Officer Davis Vo and another was signed by Ekpanya's mother, according to the March 31 ruling issued by the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers' Compensation.

However, risk pool officials are now seeking a judicial appeal and have filed a lawsuit against Lugo in Brazoria County District Court, arguing in court documents that Lugo had "erroneously been determined to be a beneficiary of a deceased former employee of the city."

According to an emailed statement from Jennifer O'Sullivan, TMLIRP attorney and assistant manager of subrogation, "because TMLIRP uses public funds to pay workers' compensation benefits, TMLIRP owes a duty to its governmental members and to the public to responsibly administer those funds."

Texas law states that for an informal or "common law" marriage to be legally recognized, three elements must exist, which in Lugo's case a state official ruled all three to be true according to the March ruling.

"Ms. Lugo's testimony and the evidence convincingly showed that Ms. Lugo and Mr. Ekpanya agreed to be married, lived together as husband and wife, and represented to others that they were married," hearing officer Jacquelyn Coleman wrote.

Representing Lugo in the Brazoria County appeal is Pearland attorney Greg Hill, who is also a former Pearland city councilman.

In an email, Hill said the case will be reviewed and decided by Brazoria County Judge Pat Sebesta.

"It's just simply about money for (City of Pearland/TML), despite the fact that two separate judges, and multiple witnesses, and much evidence has already shown that Lucy and Endy were in fact married under common law," Hill said.

Hill is also representing Lugo and other family members in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Willemsen and the owners of a strip club where Willemsen worked as a dancer.

The night of the car crash that took Ekpanya's life, Willemsen violated club policy and drank heavily during her shift. On Aug. 5, a jury convicted Willemsen of intoxication manslaughter of a peace officer and sentenced her to 32 years in prison.

Hill now says the risk pool has essentially jumped into the middle of the wrongful death lawsuit via recently-filed court documents in hopes of claiming a portion of any benefits paid to Lugo if the case is settled in favor of the family.

"Their purpose there is to try to receive subrogation (reimbursement) if they lose in Sebesta's court," Hill wrote. "They want to have it both ways  not have to pay Lucy money in death benefits, and get paid back, if they do have to pay her."

The choice to seek judicial review was made without input from Mayor Tom Reid, the City Council or other Pearland officials, according to city attorney Darin Coker.

In her written statement, TMLIRP attorney O'Sullivan argues that seeking to block death benefit payments to Lugo and attempting to recapture any benefits paid to her from a possible settlement from the wrongful death lawsuit is part of her agency's duty to the tax payers.

"TMLIRP also works on behalf of the public to seek reimbursement of workers' compensation benefits from third parties responsible for the employee's death where appropriate," O'Sullivan wrote. "By seeking reimbursement through subrogation, TMLIRP works to shift the financial burden from the public to responsible third parties."

A date has not yet been set for the appeal trial.
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Nonprofit organizations in northwest Houston have been working tirelessly since Hurricane Harvey to help flood victims.

"Cypress Assistance Ministries is still inundated with requests for help and there is a line waiting for our Assistance Offices to open each morning," said Janet Ryan, director of development at Cypress Assistance Ministries.

The flood victims include residents who live paycheck to paycheck and lost a week's worth of work during the hurricane and now cannot afford a deposit for a new apartment, Ryan said.

Cypress Assistance Ministries is providing food, clothing, cleaning supplies, toiletries and a limited amount of financial assistance for rent, utilities, or new lodging deposits to area residents impacted by the hurricane, Ryan said.

"Anyone who was already living paycheck to paycheck who lost any days of work due to the hurricane is coming in for food, financial assistance, clothing, and more," Ryan said. "These effects will continue for months."

"The community has been very generous in their donations," Ryan said. However, "this increase in need is expected to go on for months," Ryan said.

"Our biggest need is money," Ryan said.

Volunteers are also needed, as are donations.

To help with long-term recovery efforts, Cy-Hope has established a new arm of its nonprofit - Cy-Hope Disaster Recovery Network. Through this new group, the nonprofit is organizing member congregations and businesses to help with long-term recovery.

Through the new network, Cy-Hope is working to help families who do not have insurance money for repairs or FEMA funding. They have already started registering families in need.

"Our biggest need now is awareness," said Steve Saunders, director of Cy-Hope's disaster recovery network. "We need to build our network in this area and start training volunteers for specific positions to help our neighbors recover."

"The churches in the area as well as Cy-Hope have been inundated with requests for help," Saunders said. "Among the 50 congregations we have spoken with, there have been hundreds of homes mucked out. Those congregations and Cy-Hope have collected enough donations to cover the expense of the muck outs, but nowhere near enough to put our neighbors back to wholeness."

In addition, Cy-Hope is dealing with its own recovery efforts - the nonprofit's resale store, The Hope Chest, was flooded and lost over $300,000 worth of inventory.

In the first few weeks after the flooding, Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries had focused on immediate needs, including housing and supplies.

"The community has shown a tremendous outpouring of support and solidarity for those in need and has supported our efforts to respond to those in need through Team," said Becky Loving, director of the nonprofit.

"We are now focusing on helping those with lost wages who still need bills paid but who have not yet received FEMA funds," Loving said.

TEAM is asking for volunteers to sort the donations the nonprofit has received for hurricane relief efforts.

"And we also need volunteers to help with clients coming to us in need of financial support," Loving said.

Immediately after the hurricane, Northwest Assistance Ministries provided items such as emergency food, clothing, bedding, baby formula, diapers and hygiene items to more than 6,000 residents. Now the nonprofit has begun to provide long-term relief assistance to individuals and families.

The long-term needs include shelter assistance, rapid rehousing, medical needs, transportation and employment assistance.

Northwest Assistance Ministries will also be working on a third phase of recovery efforts, which includes vocational training to help those who have permanently lost their jobs due to the hurricane.

Tomagwa Healthcare Ministries, an organization that provides care for low-income residents in the Tomball, Magnolia and Waller areas, has seen its patient load increase since the hurricane.

"We are seeing more patients than ever, on track to handle 20,000 patient visits this year as compared to about 14,000 last year," said TOMAGWA's development director and pastor, Rev. Steven G. Lightfoot.

The nonprofit has brought in an emergency response medical team from Heart to Heart to help with the overflow patients.

TOMAGWA is in need of additional fundraising to help with the overflow.

"We are working hard to find the extra funding to handle the increases in numbers of patients," he said. "However, the need far outweighs the funding available."

"We are treating respiratory problems, skin issues, eye infections and other illnesses associated with the hazardous environment left behind by the flood waters," Lightfoot said. "Also, injuries associated with tear out and construction as the clean-up of homes and businesses continues."

Want to know more?

Tomagwa Healthcare Ministries: www.tomagwa.org

Cy-Hope Disaster Recovery Network: www.cy-hope.org

Northwest Assistance Ministries: namonline.org
Simmering tensions and acrimony between Houston firefighters and Mayor Sylvester Turner have boiled over after the mayor erupted at firefighters who spurned him at two recent public events.

The most recent incident, which took place at a Houston Rockets game Thursday, prompted the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 341 to send Turner a letter warning him not to threaten the association's membership.

"Twice in the past week, you threatened firefighters that declined to engage with you in public settings," HPFFA President Marty Lancton wrote in a Friday letter sent to Turner and city councilmembers. "We believe these confrontations violate state law. If they occur again, we will take appropriate action."

When asked about the incident, Turner said the firefighters had engaged in unprofessional and inappropriate behavior.

"If I'm going down and I'm shaking everybody's hand, I'm shaking the firefighters' hands, and then I get to this firefighter and this firefighter refuses to shake my hand, number one it's not professional," he said. "Do I ignore that? I think not. ... What the president of the association is saying is that there should be no discipline taken against any firefighter that chooses not to engage with their mayor. Well, if you're in uniform, on duty, whether it's in a second job at a civic engagement, there is a code of conduct and you should adhere to it if you want to be a city employee."

"You can't tolerate that. And the association shouldn't tolerate it either," Turner said. "Because once you allow that to happen, you have lost total control of your force. And again 99% of employees are fine, but for those who choose to operate on that level, they should not be a part of the city of Houston employee base."

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena declined to discuss what actions had been taken in the two incidents, because they were personnel matters.

The tensions come amid a worsening relationship between firefighters  who campaigned extensively for Turner before his election in 2015  and the mayor, particularly over recent moves to rein in looming pension obligations and what they see as the city's failure to bargain in good faith during contract negotiations.

"Firefighters deserve a good contract and a raise," said Gaylon Davenport, president of the Houston Black Firefighters Association. "They do a good job and everyone knows that. They deserve a raise and it hasn't happened and because of that it's toxic."

Davenport added, "If a man or woman does not want to speak or shake your hand, they have the right to do that, period. I don't think in the job description it says you have to shake someone's hand. I've never seen that."

Lancton said a fire inspector had been working at the Rockets game Thursday, which Turner was attending. The firefighter  who has been with the department for 15 years  saw the mayor approaching and tried to walk away.

"You don't walk away from me," he said Turner yelled, threatening to make sure he wouldn't be able to work security at the stadium in the future, and making him give his identification details to several cops working on his security detail.

"It's absolutely inappropriate from anyone in power to intimidate and aggress someone -- a classified member of the fire department -- when they're trying to diffuse a situation," Lancton said. "There are clear guidelines and laws, if someone felt someone was behaving inappropriately. There are ways to handle that situation."

Just days before, another firefighter had gotten crosswise with Turner at a National Night Out event in Gulfton, Lancton said.

After Turner spoke, he tried to speak to some firefighters also participating in the event, one of whom declined to shake his hand.

Turner apparently told the firefighter, "I'm still your boss," and stormed off, Lancton said.

Lancton said firefighters were tired of having benefits taken away by City Hall and then used for political purposes.

"If someone lies, and then wants to use you for PR, which [scenario] is really disrespectful?" he asked.

Councilmember Brenda Stardig, who chairs the council's public safety committee, sought more details about the incidents from Lancton Tuesday morning.

"To me, I assume that we're looking for mutual respect," she said. "Since I wasn't there, it's hard to respond, but I'd expect mutual respect."

Councilmember Michael Kubosh said he understood why firefighters might feel frustrated with Turner given their previous support for the mayor when he was running for office.

"I can see how they maybe feel jilted, but it's government," he said. "The mayor has got to do what's best for the overall city and the taxpayer, not any individual group."

While Turner could be tough on council, Kubosh said he had a hard time imagining him mistreating everyday employees.

"I can't imagine him acting that way, I've never observed him [that way]," he said. "At the council table, he can be rough on us, but we're elected officials. But I've never seen him act that way with any employees. ... I would have to see it to believe it."
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco regarding a dispute over what health services the government - and religious organizations which have received government grants to provide healthcare services - are legally required to provide to undocumented immigrants.

The amicus brief is in response to a June 2016 lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Department of Health and Human Services. At the crux of that lawsuit is a claim from the ACLU that the government is legally required to provide undocumented immirgants access to contraception and abortion.

In the amicus brief, attorney general Ken Paxton cites an undocumented immigrant whom he called "Doe," a minor female, who entered the U.S. without her parents. Doe asked for an abortion while at a shelter funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Brownsville. When she was denied, Doe filed a lawsuit in Texas state court against Health and Human Services.

DATA DRIVEN: Teen birth rates spiked in Texas after Planned Parenthood was defunded

"No federal court has ever declared that unlawfully-present aliens with no substantial ties to this country have a constitutional right to abortion on demand," Paxton said in a statement. "If 'Doe' prevails in this case, the ruling will create a right to abortion for anyone on earth who enters the U.S. illegally. And with that right, countless others undoubtedly would follow. Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions."

Paxton added that the ACLU is seeking to add Doe to its lawsuit in San Francisco. A request for comment has been made with the ACLU.

The lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union claims the government, through the Office of Refugee Resettlement ("ORR"), issues grants to private entities, including a number of religiously affiliated organizations, to help provide health services, according to court documents.

ON THE CUSP: Texas closes in on new regulations for abortion providers

Yet, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act,

"Defendants authorize a few of these religiously affiliated organizationssuch as the United

States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and its subgrantees across the country,

including Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in Californiato refuse on religious grounds

to provide information about, access to, or referrals for contraception and abortion, even if the

young person in their care has been raped," the court documents state.

Joining Texas on the amicus brief were Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

A request for comment has been placed with the Texas attorney general.
A convicted child molester was arrested Saturday, one year after his release from a state prison, after he was allegedly caught sexually abusing another child.

George Meyer Jr., 43, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $150,000 bond.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
Copiii cu nevoi speciale din Stefan Voda au conditii de reabilitare mai bune, datorita UE si Fundatiei Soros Moldova
AKRON, Ohio - Investigators have identified a man who was found shot to death in Akron's Goodyear Heights neighborhood.

Deandre Andrus, 21, of Akron, was found dead about 10:15 a.m. Sunday in a vacant lot on Kline Avenue near Eastland Avenue, police said. Investigators have not determined where or when Andrus was shot.

It's unclear if his death is related to a shooting that happened late Saturday at a nearby house on Kline Avenue, police said. In that incident, an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg about 10 p.m. and taken to Summa Akron City Hospital for treatment.

The 18-year-old man did not provide a description of the person who shot him, police said.

Officers recovered several bullet casings at the shooting scene.

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting or the homicide, police said. The investigation is ongoing.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
BROOK PARK, Ohio -- Council President Jim Astorino has filed a civil action against the city of Brook Park in the Ohio Court of Claims citing a failure to provide public records he requested and did not receive over the past 18 months.

Astorino's filing (Case No. 2017-00773) includes more than 30 supporting documents. He cited Mayor Tom Coyne and Law Director Carol Horvath as those responsible for not complying with his requests.

"Most of the time, the requests are ignored and no response/rejection is provided," Astorino wrote in the filing. "As a resident and elected official, my requests for records should not be ignored in this manner."

Horvath mentioned the existence of Astorino's case during the Oct. 3 city council meeting but did not elaborate further. The court of claims complaint indicates that, by law, a mediator must review the case and "all legal proceedings are stayed pending the outcome of mediation."

Astorino has made 13 requests to the city, including follow-up memos, since January 2016. He wants city employees' sick time and vacation leave data by name, as well as all documents related to the recent outside investigation of council's office operations. Astorino also asked for certain city purchase agreements, contracts and disbursements.

In a June 21, 2017, e-mail to Coyne, Horvath and Private Investigator Rob Slattery, Astorino sought the names of people contacted during the investigation.

"In addition to the list of names of private citizens, I am also requesting an identification of what was the involvement of the private citizens," Astorino wrote. "What did they specifically contact anyone about?"

The law director later notified him that no notes, phone messages, tape recordings or list of contacted residents exist. She added "Mr. Slattery is not a public entity and is not subject to a records request."

In a Monday e-mail, Astorino chose not to answer specific questions posed by cleveland.com. He instead emphasized what he feels Brook Park residents should know.

"The information I asked for is needed for me to perform my duties and responsibilities as an elected official, and I cannot understand why the mayor and law director ignore the Ohio law on providing the public records," Astorino responded, adding that filing the case this way "is the least expensive option for both parties." "They should comply with the law and provide me with the information."
MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio - No arrests have been made in a shooting Wednesday in Maple Heights that left one man wounded.

The man was shot in the hand and the leg just after 1 a.m. on Philip Avenue near Libby Road. He was taken to MetroHealth for treatment of his injuries which are not life-threatening, police said.

Detectives have not identified any suspects in the shooting, police said.

Officers were investigating a report of shots fired when they found the man. They also found six spent bullet casings at the scene, police said.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Maple Heights Police Department's detective bureau at 216-587-9624 or detectives@mhpd-ohio.org.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland mother will spend six months in prison for pulling a gun on an Ohio City barber because he took too long to cut her 7-year-old son's hair.

Andrea Smith, 31, argued Tuesday with Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan during her sentencing hearing, claiming that the barber pulled a gun on her first.

Sheehan paused the hearing and watched surveillance footage from the incident. He scoffed while watching the video and said it never showed anyone pull a gun except for her.

"This is all on video tape," Sheehan said. "There's no evidence" that the barber pulled the gun.

Smith previously pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony charge of attempted carrying a concealed weapon and misdemeanor charges of aggravated menacing and child endangering.

Smith said on April 14 that she searched the city for barbershops that were backed up because of the upcoming Easter holiday. She found a barber willing to cut her son's hair at the Allstate Barber College on Lorain Avenue near West 26th Street in Ohio City.

She said the barber insulted her parenting because her son was unable to sit still during the haircut and pulled a gun on her.

"He came up to me four times about my son moving in the chair," Smith said. "That's what it was. I'm not that type of person. I did not just go up to him and point a gun at him and say 'you're taking too long.'"

Smith apologized for pulling the gun, but said repeatedly she did so because she feared for her child's safety.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael Lisk said no evidence existed that showed that Smith's child was ever in danger. He said that Smith got mad that the haircut took too long, pulled out a gun in the busy barbershop and threatened the barber.

"I got two clips. I'll pop you," she said, according to prosecutors.

"This was an incredibly dumb thing for the defendant to do," Lisk said. "She wasn't forthright up front, and what's worse is she made these accusations against the victim."

Defense attorney Catherine Meehan said that Smith has since lost her house, job and custody of her four children. Smith had no significant criminal history and a probation department investigation found her at a low risk to re-offend, Meehan said. Meehan argued for probation for Smith.

"I'm not a troublemaker," Smith said, before being led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

To comment on this story, please visit cleveland.com's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - There was little to stop troubled freshman Asa Coon from bringing guns and knives to SuccessTech Academy ten years ago today and shooting at teachers and fellow students.

There was just one guard at the now-closed high school downtown.

There were no metal detectors either.

And school doors were often left unlocked.

That all changed after Coon, a student with a rough family life, shot two students and two teachers at the school before shooting himself in the head. All survived but Coon, who was dead at the scene.

The 2007 shootings forced major security changes across the entire Cleveland school district. Within a year, the district had started adding guards and metal detectors to create a "bubble of safety" around schools.

The shootings also led the district to focus more on helping students deal with emotional issues and personal problems. Along with adding the security "hardware," the district increased efforts on the "humanware" of students' social and emotional needs.

"I made a pledge then that we would never stop talking about the SuccessTech shooting because if we did, we would allow it to happen again," said district CEO Eric Gordon, who had just joined the district as chief academic officer days before the shootings. "I want to insure that no child would ever feel that desperate again."'

Here's a look at what happened that day and what has changed since:

The shootings

Coon, 14, was a new student at SuccessTech, an alternative high school with small classes and a technology focus. Located at E. 14th Street and Lakeside Avenue downtown, it is most noted for the giant dome outside that was once a planetarium, but is now slated for demolition.

Coon's family, which lived on W. 43rd Street near Clark Avenue, was repeatedly in and out of the court and social services systems. Coon himself had faced previous juvenile charges. A heavier teen with a "goth" style and who often wore a trench coat, he had trouble connecting with other students and had just been suspended for a fight with another student.

He had supposedly threated to "get" or kill students, but few took it seriously.

On Oct. 10, 2007, he brought two handguns, three knives and a box of ammunition to school and shot students Michael Peek, then-15, and Darnell Rodgers, 18, and teachers David Kachadourian, 57, and Michael Grassie, 42.

The exact motive for targeting those individuals was never made clear. All survived and Kachadourian remained a teacher in the district for several years.

Cleveland school districtsecurity guard Brandon McCruel pats down Alexandra Sanchez, a 7th grader, as she enters Joseph Gallagher School in 2009, shortly after metal detectors were added to all schools in the district.

The school

SuccessTech was not a typical high school, but a small specialized school with a technology focus. It had done well, graduating 94 percent of its students at a time when district graduation rates were about 55 percent.

But attendance and test scores fell the last few years and the school was closed in June 2017. Gordon said he does not believe the shooting led to the school's closing, since enrollment remained steady for a few years after. Other schools just became more popular, Gordon said.

The building is now home to two other specialized high schools:

Cleveland High School for the Digital Arts,

Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School

"Humanware"

The district took a hard look at its counseling and support services for students after the shootings and decided to ramp up its approach to "social and emotional learning," an area that is receiving increased attention nationwide. Along with trying to prevent major incidents like the shootings, these efforts are aimed at reducing conflict in schools, improving the atmosphere and helping kids handle stresses that impede learning.

The district now has intervention teams at all schools to work with troubled students and rooms called "planning centers" where students can calm down when upset and which take the place of in-school suspensions. The district has also started lessons in earlier grades on managing emotions, relating to other students and avoiding problems like bullying and substance abuse.

The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com will take a closer look at social and emotional learning on Sunday.

Security

Metal detectors in schools had been a touchy issue in Cleveland for several years before SuccessTech.

Students returning to Success Tech Academy after the 2007 shootings go through a metal detector and have their bags searched.

Even with just hand-held detectors, the district confiscated 70 guns from students in 1994. And random bag searches and portable walk-through detectors drew loud complaints in 1997, with students howling that the district was invading their privacy or making them feel like criminals.

At the same time, many parents - including some SuccessTech parents - were pressing the district for more guards and for metal detectors even before the shootings.

The shootings decided that debate.

Then-CEO Eugene Sanders decided just days after the shootings to add security guards and metal detectors to every school in the district, including elementary schools. High schools also received airport-style x-ray machines for bags.

Ten years later, the once-controversial metal detectors are now just routine for students.

"It's kind of like second nature now," said Biagi Calicchia, a junior at the Cleveland School of the Arts. "I just walk through it."

His biggest complaint?

"It's kind of tedious because we have long lines," he said.

The district says the changes have reduced violence at schools. Last school year, it found students with guns, knives or other weapons in schools 146 times. The data does not specify how and where they were found. In 2007, The Plain Dealer reported the district had 304 incidents with weapons that school year.

That's a large decline, even as the district's enrollment has fallen from about 53,000 students in 2007 to 39,000 today.

The Cleveland Teachers Union declined to comment on whether safety has changed. Several teachers said that they think detectors can offer a false sense of security.

And students said that detectors are sometimes broken. A few students at the John Hay campus said guards wave students through even after the detector beeps, since so many students have cell phones or belts that set them off.

"I feel like it's a waste of time," one said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - To make up for losing more than $60 million over the next two years, Cuyahoga County plans to share more services with cities and shift unexpected surpluses.

County Executive Armond Budish presented the balanced 2018-19 budget to county council Tuesday afternoon.

"To make it clear, this was and is a tough budget, presenting some serious financial challenges, thanks largely to those folks in Columbus and Washington," Budish said.

The county estimates the $60 million loss as a result of a cut to sales tax, after the federal government prohibited Ohio's way of adding sales tax to Medicaid-managed sales contracts. Budish said the state offered a $25 million "bridge" but that it was nowhere near enough to cover costs.

The state is also dealing with a lack of federal support for the opioid crisis and a mandate that prevents courts from sending those convicted of low-level felony offenses to state prisons.

Budish will present the county's first strategic executive branch plan on Monday, which will set priorities and goals for county offices and officials.

Here's what the county is looking to spend over the next year.

What does the general fund look like for the next couple years?

The county's general fund, which covers day-to-day operations, will remain steady. This year, it's estimated at $375 million. It will be $372 million in 2018 and $385 in 2019.

The 2019 bump is from a 2-percent cost of living adjustment for employees each year, increases in employer-share in employee hospitalization costs and the cost of the economic development fund in 2019.

Where is the county saving money?

The budget anticipates that revenue from sales taxes will go up 2 percent.

The county received $4.5 million initial investment back from JumpStart, an organization that supports entrepreneurs and small businesses. Though the county will remain involved with JumpStart, Budish said, some of that money is going to subsidize the county's economic development fund.

The county could also save money on its jails. Budish said the county could save $400,000 on food and $1.5 million on medicine by exploring third-party companies. Medical services are currently being provided in partnership with MetroHealth.

What about regionalization of jails?

Budish also discussed regionalizing jails in Cuyahoga County. The county is already merging with the Cleveland jail, but there's a possibility of working with other city jails, which would pay the county to take care of their inmates. Cleveland is paying $99 per day per inmate.

A handful of cities across Cuyahoga County still have jails and Budish said that he's confident that "all but a few" would be on board for regionalization. This could bring in $5.5 million over the next two years.

What about the demolishment program?

Initially the county planned to spend $50 million on eliminating blighted properties. The county spent $33 million between 2015 and this year, to tackle the problem, which Budish said led to the demolishment of 2,400 homes.

New sources of funding, including from Cleveland's new Neighborhood Initiative and the federal Hardest Hit program, mean the county can keep the remaining $17 million. About $3 million will go to a housing fund, which will help with services such as lead abatement, foreclosure prevention and low-income housing projects.

Budish said that if funding shifts and more money is needed, the county will provide that $17 million.

What about the opioid epidemic?

Budish said the county continues to lobby for more state and federal assistance to tackle the growing opioid epidemic, which he said is projected to cause 850 projected deaths in Cuyahoga County this year.

"Eight hundred fifty deaths. Skyrocketing human and social service needs. This is an emergency, not unlike the emergencies that result from hurricanes and floods," he said.

The county will again give $39 million to the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board.

The budget also increases money for the medical examiners' office and Children and Family Services, to deal with an increased need for foster care because of the opioid crisis.
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Police were able to safely subdue a naked man as he threatened them with a tomahawk and a knife, reports say.

Sean Arbuckle, 52, of Colerain Township, Ohio, is being held in jail on a $110,000 bond on three counts of felonious assault, according to WXIX Channel 19.

The confrontation occurred on Oct. 1, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Police from Colerain and Springfield Township went to the home of Arbuckle's mother just before 3 p.m. after being called about a disturbance.

There, Arbuckle reportedly challenged officers while barricaded in a screened-in porch, eventually taking off his clothes.

He began swinging a tomahawk and told officers that no one was leaving alive, also asking police to shoot him, the Enquirer reports.

Arbuckle eventually came outside and began swinging the tomahawk and a bayonet at officers, reports say. Police used a Taser on Arbuckle and also fired about six pepper ball rounds at him, which is similar to pepper spray.

The Enquirer reports Arbuckle went to the ground and dropped the tomahawk, but got to his feet and again began swinging the bayonet. He was tased again and then put in handcuffs.

"You can see how fast that situation evolved and how dangerous it was for them, so to see them react the way that they did, to do that so calmly, that makes you very proud as a chief," Colerain Township Police Chief Mark Denney tells the Enquirer. "You know you hired the right people and trained them the correct way and you can trust them to do the right thing."

Arbuckle is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Monday's crime and courts comments section.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Police shot and wounded a teen holding a gun inside a home Monday after responding to reports of an argument, reports say.

The 16-year-old male was in stable condition Monday night at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Officers were first called to the home at about 12:30 p.m., 10tv.com reports, but left. They were called back to the residence at 12:50 p.m. and told there was an argument between two men, with one of them armed.

When officers returned, they could hear the argument inside the house, police tell WCMH Channel 4. When officers opened the front door, they saw the 16-year-old inside holding a firearm.

An officer opened fire and shot the teen at least once, reports say.

The Dispatch reports a firearm was recovered at the scene and criminal charges are pending.

The shooting remains under investigation.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Monday's crime and courts comments section.
WASHINGTON - Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan has recently raised his political profile by trying to replace Nancy Pelosi as House Democratic Leader and making campaign appearances around the country for other candidates.

Now, the potential presidential candidate is aiming to impress the Democratic party faithful by dissing one of their favorite targets, the National Rifle Association, in the wake of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Ryan, who once had an "A" rating from the gun owners' group, last week announced that he'd donate the roughly $20,000 its political action committee gave him over the years to gun safety organizations.

"With technology on the market that can cheaply and easily convert a semi-automatic weapon into a fully-automatic machine gun, Congress should require much stricter background checks on semi-automatic rifles and ban the bump stocks that helped make Las Vegas to be so deadly," said a statement Ryan released after the shooting.

Ryan enjoys hunting and shooting and "has no interest in taking guns from law abiding citizens," said his spokesman Michael Zetts. But he soured on the NRA when it opposed universal background checks after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, Zetts said. The group gave him its last political donation that year, campaign finance records show.

"He came to see the NRA as less of an advocate for gun owners and more of an advocate for the gun industry, refusing even the most basic, common sense gun safety reforms," said Zetts. "In light of this week's tragedy in Las Vegas, Rep. Ryan donated all the NRA donations he received over the course of his career to gun safety organizations. He split the donation evenly between Sandy Hook Promise, Americans for Responsible Solutions and Everytown for Gun Safety."

We are grateful to @TimRyan who has decided to donate contributions from the NRA to SHP & other GVP groups to help prevent gun violence  Sandy Hook Promise (@sandyhook) October 6, 2017

Spokesmen for the NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ryan's gesture. Political contribution records compiled by Political MoneyLine indicate the organization's donations have always skewed toward Republicans but recently grew more disproportional. So far, during the 2018 election cycle, 95 percent of its donations have been to Republicans, the political tracking organization says.

The gun-safety organizations thanked Ryan for his largesse on social media.

"Courage comes in many forms," tweeted former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who became a gun safety activist after she was seriously wounded by a gunman who showed up at a constituent meeting. "Tim Ryan just gave all his NRA donations from his 14-year career to fuel our fight to prevent gun violence. Today he is a proud supporter of universal background checks and other critical bills that will make our country safer from gun violence."
Applications & OS News

Tableau Readies New Release Of Its Data Visualization Software With In-Memory Data Engine, Linux Support

Rick Whiting

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Tableau Software is giving customers and partners a look at the next release of its data analysis and visualization software today, including a new in-memory data engine, a new data preparation product and a new API for building extensions to the software's dashboard.

Tableau is demonstrating the capabilities of the upcoming Tableau 10.5 at its annual customer conference in Las Vegas this week with more than 14,000 customers and partners in attendance.

The company is also demonstrating the new self-service analytics and data source certification capabilities of Tableau 10.4, which just shipped September 25.

[Related: Tableau Acquisition Aims To Bring Natural Language Capabilities To Data Analysis ]

The conference is being held in Las Vegas one week after a gunman, firing from a room in the Mandalay Bay hotel, killed 58 people attending a country music festival across Las Vegas Boulevard.

Tableau said it is dedicating this week's conference, being held at the Mandalay Bay, to the victims, their families, first responders and those who worked in the aftermath of the shootings.

The company is raising funds for the National Compassion Fund to support the victims and their family. And a vigil service is scheduled for Tuesday evening.

"We look forward to finding strength in our engaged and mission-driven community this week," said Elissa Fink, Tableau's chief marketing officer, in a statement before the conference.

At the event Tableau will announce that Tableau 10.5 is now in public beta.

"Data leads to truth. In the absence of data, that vacuum gets filled by myths," said Tableau president and CEO Adam Selipsky in a keynote Tuesday, introducing Tableau 10.5.

The Tableau Server in the upcoming release will, for the first time, run on the Linux operating system. Until now the server has only supported Windows Server. The Linux support will give businesses and organizations that already use Linux more flexibility in deploying Tableau.

Hyper, the new in-memory data engine technology in Tableau 10.5, is also in public beta. Hyper will be capable of working with half a billion rows of data in sub-seconds, according to the company, improving data extract creation and query performance. It will also provide a way to deploy Tableau to a greater number of users without impacting performance.

With the new Extensions API developers, including ISVs and solution provider partners, can develop extensions to Tableau dashboards that will allow users to integrate and work with third-party applications directly in Tableau.

Alation, which develops data catalog software for collaborative analytics, data governance and other tasks, is one Tableau ISV partner whose product will take advantage of the Extensions API. The 10.5 demonstration in Tuesday's keynote included showing how the context of the Alation Catalog can be embedded directly in a Tableau dashboard using the Extension API.

And Tableau will be demonstrating new data preparation software codenamed Project Maestro that will be available as a public beta later this quarter. The software will make it easier for users to combine, clean and transform data from disparate sources for analysis, operationalize data flows, and share their work across an organization.
Channel programs News

Best Of Both Worlds: How Tech Data Became The Channel's One-Stop Shop

Michael Novinson

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Logicalis found itself in a pickle every time inventory got thin.

The company, No. 29 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, took a customer satisfaction hit whenever customers experienced delays procuring equipment, according to Vince DeLuca, CEO of Logicalis U.S., headquartered in New York City. This happened roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of the time, he said.

The issues have been exacerbated by recent constraints on memory and solid-state drives, DeLuca said. And going down the natural OEM supply chain to procure scarce inventory meant dealing with elongated shipping schedules, he added.

[Discover the New Tech Data]

But that all changed when Logicalis' distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions, became part of Tech Data in February. As a broadline distributor, Tech Data holds more inventory in certain areas than Avnet did, DeLuca said, meaning that Logicalis can pull from Tech Data's supply should inventory get tight.

"Having the ability to draw inventory from your distributor versus going down the normal supply chain path is a positive," he said.

Traditional value distributors such as Avnet Technology Solutions ran pretty close to an inventory-less model in the U.S., while volume distributors such as Tech Data also stock entry-level and midrange products from suppliers, said Rich Hume, Tech Data's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

As a result of the $2.6 billion acquisition, Tech Data can now service the entire product line for data center vendors, Hume said, ranging from entry-level, drop-and-ship products to high-end, highly customizable offerings historically supported by Avnet Technology Solutions.

"Now, within a given vendor line, the reseller can have one relationship and get all of their needs met," Hume told CRN. "It really is a vendor expansion opportunity."

The purchase of Avnet's Technology Solutions business brought Tech Data into Asia-Pacific for the first time, returned the distributor to Latin America after a two-year absence, and took the company's top-line revenue to $35 billion.

The acquisition also stands to have a far-reaching impact on the competitive landscape. Ingram Micro  the world's No. 1 IT distributor  for the first time faces a rival with broadline and specialty capabilities spanning the entire globe. The acquisition also slashed the revenue gap between Tech Data and Ingram Micro by more than 50 percent, with the two now standing $7 billion apart in annual sales compared with the $16.5 billion revenue gap prior.

Synnex, meanwhile, bolstered its position in networking, security, and unified communications and collaboration with its $830 million purchase of Westcon Americas, which closed earlier this month. The $14 billion distributor competes against Tech Data in North America, Latin America and Japan.

Solution providers increasingly want to be able to buy a broad array of technologies in a single place, meaning that distributors with more scale will be more important going forward, said Bob Dutkowsky, Tech Data's chairman and CEO.

"It's easier to do business with one player that has those deep skills than to manage multiple relationships with multiple distributors, and then the resellers are the ones that have to cobble together the capabilities," Dutkowsky told CRN.

Click to enlarge.

Storage arrays and high-end networking products require far more engineering and support than peripherals and components, said Tom Sharp, vice president of operations for Glastonbury, Conn.-based Kelser, No. 253 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500. Sharp said he appreciates being able to leverage very different levels of engineering resources with the same distributor spend.

Prior to the acquisition, Tech Data didn't have a comprehensive services offering, while Technology Solutions lacked a portfolio of commodity or transactional products, said Jody Burton, CEO of Ottawa, Ontario-based Stoneworks Technologies, No. 361 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500. The amalgamation has resulted in a more robust offering, he said.

"We have a whole services organization that can help partners augment the delivery and design and setup of that solution, whereas in the past, the transaction would have stopped right there at the sale," said Joe Quaglia, Tech Data's president of the Americas.

Joining forces has paid dividends not only for existing partners, but also for new ones. Tech Data acquired 587 net-new customers in its first quarter after the Technology Solutions deal closed, four-fifths of which had previously worked with another distributor, according to Quaglia. That new customer acquisition rate is a little higher than what Tech Data had seen in the past, he said.

"Our ability to scale the organization from that highly complex value proposition to fulfillment positions Tech Data better than anyone else in the market," Quaglia said.

Tech Data needed to invest more deeply in data center architectures to fully capitalize on next-generation technologies such as cloud, the Internet of Things, mobility, big data and analytics, and security, Dutkowsky said. And growth in the data center focused on enhancing technical capabilities and vendor relationships will be vital to competing and winning in emerging areas, according to Dutkowsky.

"In order for us to participate in the growth part of the market, we really needed to increase our skills and capabilities," Hume said.

Two months before the acquisition was announced, Avnet Technology Solutions rolled out specialized business units focused on emerging technologies. As a result, Dutkowsky said Technology Solutions had already built some skills and go-to-market capabilities by the time it became part of Tech Data.

The returns within specialty distribution are also better, Hume said, meaning that incorporating Technology Solutions has enabled Tech Data to move into higher-margin business. Tech Data partners, meanwhile, have for the first time gained access to some data center-focused suppliers such as SimpliVity, Nutanix, Nimble and NetApp, Quaglia said.

But the data center itself is going through a transition from rotating disks to solid-state drives and  ash storage and from stand-alone server, storage and networking devices to converged and hyper-converged infrastructure, Dutkowsky said. The decline in legacy data center product sales, however, has outpaced the growth in emerging data center technologies, he said, leading to some performance challenges.

"We believe that the data center and the next-gen technologies will continue to be a very robust opportunity for the channel for decades to come," Dutkowsky said. "They're not threats; they're opportunities."

At the same time, technological advances have enabled computing capabilities to move beyond the data center and into endpoint devices themselves, Hume said. As a result, Hume said that edge devices and data center technology have become more tightly aligned than ever before.

"We believe that our client device resellers will become endpoint resellers, and by definition, their value to their end users will go up," Hume said.

Click to enlarge.

Although Tech Data and Avnet Technology Solutions specialized in different technologies, they come from similar roots. Avnet started as a small, family-owned company selling radio components and over time found its way into technology, Dutkowsky said, while Tech Data started as a family-owned company selling office supplies and found its way into technology. Both organizations have been public for several decades, Dutkowsky said, and have a reach that spans across several continents.

"The two companies are almost like brothers from [another] mother," Dutkowsky said. "They had a lot of commonality amongst them."

The Technology Solutions workforce was very excited to become part of Tech Data since both organizations focus exclusively on IT distribution, Dutkowsky said. Avnet, meanwhile, also has a semi-conductor-focused components distribution business, which was known as Electronics Marketing, or EM, and remains part of Avnet.

"The EM side was kind of steering the ship, and TS [Technology Solutions] was kind of along for the ride," Dutkowsky said. "When they came over to Tech Data, they saw that they were the ride." The personnel from Technology Solutions were skilled in everything from engineering to sales consulting to helping channel partners build new practices, Quaglia said. Tech Data didn't have a lot of expertise in these areas, he said, even though they'll be vital to growing next-generation technology sales.

In order to cross-pollinate the best of the Technology Solutions culture into Tech Data and vice versa, Quaglia said a number of Technology Solutions employees relocated to Tech Data's Clearwater, Fla., headquarters while some Tech Data folks moved to the Technology Solutions headquarters in Tempe, Ariz.

For example, Chuck Bartlettwho led Tech Data's specialty Advanced Infrastructure Solutions division prior to the acquisition  relocated to Tempe so that he could infuse the combined Enterprise Solutions business with his experience and skills from AIS, Quaglia said. Tech Data and Technology Solutions have been a much better fit together than anyone outside the two organizations predicted, said Kesler's Sharp.

Since the deal closed, Sharp said the combined organization has highlighted additional skill sets and new capabilities within its employee base as well as ways Kelser can tighten its relationship with some of its largest vendor partners. "There's a lot of enthusiasm and energy between the teams," Sharp said.

Longtime Technology Solutions partner Melillo Consulting is still dealing with the same folks even after the Tech Data acquisition. That's because the Somerset, N.J.-based company, No. 306 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, remains focused on the value side of the business, according to Vice President and General Manager Dan Sytsma.

"Except for them getting acquired, it still feels the same to us," Sytsma said. "And I don't think that's a bad thing."

In addition to acquiring new talent, Tech Data inherited a very different set of systems and processes. The old Tech Data did roughly 50,000 transactions every day and had spent tremendous amounts of money and time fine-tuning its supply chain, logistics and billing for a high-velocity motion, Dutkowsky said.

Technology Solutions, meanwhile, transacted with its customers just 1,000 times a day, and had invested a lot of time and energy into building IT systems that make big-ticket transactions better, he said. Specifically, Dutkowsky said Technology Solutions has superior configuration tools for working on complex, high-end offerings.

Tech Data's ability to stock and manage an enormous inventory while still turning transactions quickly speaks to the power of the distributor's logistics and supply chain systems, according to Sytsma. That expertise should result in the entire company being more aggressive from an inventory and systems processing standpoint, Sytsma said, which should lead to customers getting specialty products faster.

Click to enlarge.

Logicalis' DeLuca, meanwhile, is excited about potentially extending self-service capabilities to customers through Tech Data's eCommerce platform. Logicalis typically delivers custom-oriented configurations to customers rather than pre-configured SKUs or pieces of infrastructure, DeLuca said, but some larger customers need 10 or 100 of the same custom configurations.

Delivering self-service around custom configurations with preset conditions and negotiated terms and conditions will enable end users to procure seamlessly without multiple rounds of configuration activities and iterative changes, according to DeLuca.

Since the Technology Solutions acquisition closed, Tech Data has selected a global leadership team, deployed a comprehensive sales coverage model, and serviced its customers with no disruption, Hume said.

Immediately following the close, Tech Data was divided into two tracks, Quaglia said, with a small group focused on integrating the two companies and a much larger group tasked with running the day-to-day business. The integration team consisted of a couple of dozen people from both Tech Data and Technology Solutions, Hume said, with expertise in everything from IT and finance to sales coverage and project management.

The integration management office has, for instance, been responsible for navigating conflict between line-of-business leaders who want to quickly get the IT deployment done and the IT department itself, which would prefer to take a more proscriptive, make-sure-it-doesn't-break approach, according to Hume.

"This is a transaction that the industry hasn't seen in 25 years, something of this magnitude," Dutkowsky said. "We're 1.5 quarters into a couple of years' journey."

In North America, Quaglia said Tech Data has established enterprise, commercial, retail and nationals as their own sales segments with distinct go-to-market strategies. The enterprise practice is made up primarily of Technology Solutions customers and run largely by the Technology Solutions leadership team and organization, according to Quaglia.

The commercial segment is comprised largely of traditional Tech Data midmarket and small-business VARs, Quaglia said, who are already very familiar with the distributor from a service and operations standpoint. Many of the national accounts worked with both Tech Data and Technology Solutions, he said, and the distributor has sought to maximize ease and minimize disruption for those partners.

Stoneworks' Burton said Tech Data and Technology Solutions have always maintained two completely different ecosystems, with Technology Solutions providing the personnel and sales process for end-to-end enterprise solutions and Tech Data executing substantial volumes of transactional, commodity-type purchases. The relationships on both sides have been working quite well, Burton said, and Stoneworks would prefer that the broadline and enterprise ecosystems remain separate.

DeLuca is similarly pleased that Tech Data has clearly demarcated its endpoint and advanced solutions businesses, with the distributor fully understanding that end-user devices such as phones and PCs aren't part of Logicalis' go-to-market strategy.

"They're not pushing all of that volume business on us," DeLuca said.

Click to enlarge.

The biggest concerns around the deal were initially voiced by partners that had lines of credit with both Tech Data and Technology Solutions, Hume said. Tech Data moved quickly to allay those fears by indicating that the size of the post-acquisition credit line would equal the sum of what solution providers received from each separate organization, according to Hume.

Melillo Consulting leans on Tech Data as the end of the quarter approaches to get quotes done faster and expedite shipping around infrastructure vendors including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell EMC. This process has been aided by the distributor's knowledgeable employees, according to Sytsma.

"They act as the advocate for the partner, understanding the OEM's business processes and challenges," Sytsma said.

For its part, Onsite Technical Services was looking to take advantage of Lenovo's partner demo program, where solution providers selling more than $10,000 of hardware in a quarter would get 50 percent off select servers and 30 percent off some workstations, said Jim Hunton, owner of the Phoenix-based solution provider.

Onsite received a server order on the last day of the quarter, Hunton said, meaning that it would need to ship out right away to qualify for the 50 percent discount. Hunton sent a couple of emails, and despite it being after-hours, Tech Data ensured that the hardware his customer ordered would ship out that very day.

Solution providers also have heaped praise on the distributor's technical resources. Waypoint Consulting has moved into cognitive computing over the past year, and Tech Data has been instrumental in helping it make key industry connections, get up to speed on new service lines and technology, and roll out new product lines, said Jon Serafino, partner at the West Chester, Pa.-based company.

Tech Data also has been a tremendous partner for Waypoint when it comes to marketing products and services through joint events and conferences such as IBM's Mini World of Watson, Serafino said. These events allow Waypoint to meet new prospects, expose current customers to other areas within analytics where the company excels, and facilitate peer-to-peer sharing of best practices, according to Serafino.

"I view Tech Data as more of a partner versus a vendor," Serafino said. "In the past, we've had other relationships, and it's truly been more about order-taking than anything. With Tech Data, there's a genuine interest I see from them in helping us to grow."
Channel programs News

HPE CEO Whitman: I Am 'Definitely' Not Going To Run For President

Steve Burke

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, who was cited by The New York Times in 2008 as among the women most likely to become the first female president of the United States, said she would not consider running for the nation's highest office.

"We should be glad that anyone wants to run for public office," said Whitman, who made an unsuccessful run for governor of California in 2010, spending $144 million of her own fortune. "This is one brutal game. It was in 2010 when I ran, and I think it is worse today. Honestly, it is a full-on combat sport. Think about it: why are there so many more litigators than there are politicians? Because they are used to that full-on combat sport."

Whitman,who backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the last presidential contest, made the comments at the 2017 Best of Breed (BoB) Conference in Atlanta, to an audience of 300 top global technology service providers during a question and answer session with The Channel Company's CEO Bob Faletra.

[Related: Best of Breed 2017 Conference]

Whitman said her run for governor was "probably" her only "experimentation" with running for public office. When pressed by Faletra on whether she would "think about" running for president if there was a "Draft Meg Whitman" movement, Whitman replied: "No, I would not. I would definitely not think about it. Someone tweet that  I am not thinking about running for president."

Meg Whitman said "tweet this, I will not run for president."

That said, Whitman noted that her "next step" might be something in public service. "We'll see what happens," she said.

Whitman is on the board of Teach of America, an organization that recruits college graduates to commit to two years teaching in urban and rural schools, and the Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization.

Among other topics discussed in the Q&A, Whitman noted that tax reform that would allow companies like HPE to bring back cash being held overseas at a discounted rate would be a boost to the U.S. economy.

"If it is a very low [tax] rate [to bring that cash home]  like less than 3 percent  I think you would see a lot of cash come back and I think you would see investment in the United States," Whitman said, noting that HPE has about $9 billion in cash overseas.

"I think all of the big tech companies, as well as every other major American company, has been lobbying for this for 10 years," Whitman said. "So I am a little bit more jaded about this because it is very difficult to get things done in Washington. That might be an understatement. We'd be enthusiastic about it, and frankly, I think it would be good for the United States economy."

assured all at the Beat Of Breed conference she will not Run for President!!

Rick Chernick, the CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise partner in Green Bay Wis., No. 323 on the 2017 CRN SP500, said he would love to see Whitman run for president. "I think she would be a great president," said Chernick. "The problem is she is too smart to run for president. People like Meg don't want to run because they believe the way the system is made up they can't get anything done. And the people that are great want to get things done. She can make a difference at HPE."

Ray Paganini, CEO of CornerstoneIT, a Mentor, Ohio, solution provider, said he also would love to see Whitman run for president. "She is smart, a business person who knows how to work with people," he said. "She would cut right through the politics and get things done."
Channel programs News

Dell EMC Channel Chief Byrne Tells Partners To Keep Pushing Services For More Incentives

Alec Shirkey

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Dell EMC has no intentions of cutting back its support for the channel, unlike some of its competitors.

That was a loud refrain from channel chief John Byrne, who Monday night addressed partners at The Channel Company's 2017 Best of Breed conference in Atlanta. Byrne and Dell EMC's SVP of North American Channel Sales, Gregg Ambulos, thanked partners for remaining vocal and continuing to make tremendous investments in Dell EMC's product and services portfolio.

At the same time, Byrne urged partners to "never be satisfied," saying Dell EMC is playing at $80 billion in a $3 trillion market. He added that his channel program would further incentivize services sales shortly.

[Related: Dell Technologies Cuts Services Revenue Requirements In Half As Partners Struggle To Hit Targets]

"We want you to sell services 100 percent. We want you to be selling our full portfolio of services  For those partners who are not attaching services where they need to be, we'll adapt," Byrne said.

CEO Michael Dell, who conducted a Q&A session with The Channel Company CEO Bob Faletra later Monday evening, showed up at the end of the session, and echoed the positive sentiments of Byrne and Ambulos.

"Thank you to all of our partners," Dell said. "Very excited by what I'm seeing from the channel. First half of the year, double-digit growth. We have 80 percent of our partners now selling both servers and storage. A lot of growth in servers  22 percent in the first half, which is pretty amazing. We're also No. 1 in storage of all varieties. All-flash, software-defined, converged, hyper-converged.

Dell added that the company had enjoyed 97 percent growth for partners selling Dell Financial Services. Those partners are growing one-and-a-half-times faster than Dell EMC partners that don't offer DFS.

"A lot to be excited about," he said.

Byrne, citing the 22-percent first-half server growth, said he believes that market has become a "two-horse race" between Dell EMC and HP  a jab at Chinese vendor Lenovo.

Arvin Bhargava, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Asa Computers, said his company had received plenty of support from Dell EMC since it recently began reselling the vendor's "well-placed" products. Lenovo's channel sales strategy, he added, has not resonated with him.

"Three years ago, Lenovo was trying to [engage] us as a reseller. We didn't do that at the time," Bhargava told CRN. "I think they've become pretty busy. We do run into Lenovo in some clients. Its not a pretty picture; I think they are just trying to get the market share. It doesn't matter if they make money or not."
Channel programs News

Tech Data CEO: Our Footprint, Skills Depth Are On 'Completely Different Level' Than Competitors

Michael Novinson

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Tech Data executives said the breadth of their portfolio and geographic footprint is unmatched by other distributors following the $2.6 billion acquisition of Avnet Technology Solutions.

"The scale of what we've done versus what Synnex and Westcon are doing are at completely different levels," said Bob Dutkowsky, Tech Data's chairman and CEO. "So when the vendor thinks depth of skills and global footprint, they don't compare Synnex-Westcon to Tech Data-TS [Technology Solutions]. It's on a completely different level."

Dutkowsky likened Synnex's September acquisition of Westcon-Comstor's $2.18 billion North American and Latin American businesses to Tech Data's November 2012 acquisition of Specialist Distribution Group, a $1.75 billion broadline and data center distributor operating in the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. In contrast, Avnet's TS unit did business in all of the world's major geographies.

[Related: Best Of Both Worlds: How Tech Data Became The Channel's One-Stop Shop]

Tech Data is uniquely positioned today with an IT distribution market share of greater than 30 percent in both North America and Europe, according to Rich Hume, the Clearwater, Fla.-based company's executive vice president and COO.

Although Synnex holds a 10 percent stake in the $2.35 billion Westcon International business  which operates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific  the Fremont, Calif.-based distributor currently only has a direct presence in North America, Latin American and Japan. Synnex declined to comment for this story.

Tech Data's $36 billion business is evenly weighted, Hume said, with half the company's revenue coming from endpoint products like PCs, mobile phones, and printers, and half the company's sales stemming from advanced products like storage, networking and servers. Peers like Synnex and Ingram Micro do more in the broadline space, while others such as Arrow focus almost entirely in the specialty arena.

"I don't think you're going to find anywhere near that type of balance with any of our competition in the market," Hume said. "When you take a look at the comprehensiveness of our portfolio, is truly is unmatched even with the new combinations you see emerging through acquisition in the market."

Just seven months after the $9.65 billion purchase of Technology Solutions closed, Hume said that 40 percent of customers in the United States and Europe already source both endpoint and advanced products through Tech Data. This number is only expected to grow since analytics, security and hybrid cloud benefit from both broadline and specialty capabilities.

The Technology Solutions deal also gave Tech Data the largest data center distribution practice in the world, Hume said. Before the TS acquisition, the company was already Europe's largest value distributor stemming from its February 2003 purchase of European specialty distributor Azlan Group.

Although the Westcon Americas deal gave Synnex a nearly $700 million gateway into Cisco, the distributor still has holes in its line card around data center vendors such as EMC.

The breadth of Tech Data's capabilities allows the distributor to serve as a truly agnostic consultant in attempting to help partners determine which end user workloads can go off-premises and which would do better on-premises. Dutkowsky described Tech Data as the "Switzerland of technology" since the distributor does not have an agenda around whether end users select endpoint or advanced solutions.

"If you only have a narrow line card, then you lead with your line card," Dutkowsky said. "If you have a broad line card, then you lead with, 'What's the right answer?' Because you know that answer is in there someplace."

Tech Data has been selling server, storage and networking products for a quarter-century, Dutkowsky said and is therefore familiar with pretty much every vendor that could be incorporated into a hybrid cloud solution. Less expensive industry-standard architectures are going to drive the hybrid cloud world, which he said plays well into Tech Data's strengths when going up against pure-play value distributors.

"It's going to need a velocity, volume distribution engine that Tech Data has that quite a few of our competitors don't have," Dutkowsky said. "As the workloads shift to a hybrid cloud world, we know where it's at, and we have the engine to address is. And no one else does. That's a big competitive advantage."
Channel programs News

Lenovo VAR Sales Director: Partners Capitalize On Changing Needs As Workforce Evolves

Matt Brown

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Lenovo is pushing itself to the crest of a wave of change in how customers approach buying PCs and says savvy channel partners will find rich opportunity as those changes take hold.



Chun Lee, director of VAR sales for the U.S., Central America and the Caribbean at Lenovo, told solution providers at the Best of Breed conference in Atlanta Tuesday that partners must get out in front of the "smart office" trend.

"Smart Office is the next immediate evolution," Lee said. "And you can help your customers as computing evolves and users seek offerings focused on time, comfort and connection."

[Related: Best of Breed 2017 Conference Coverage]

"It's less now about the form factor, or feeds and speeds," Lee said. "It's about what's important to you. How do we connect easier? Customers are looking at the whole user experience rather than just the products themselves."

To illustrate the point, Lee shared some striking statistics. People on average have four connected devices. There are now 1.8 billion users of digital assistants. Half of millennials use live streaming. "They're sharing in real-time, and they need endpoint devices to be able to stream," Lee said. Lenovo thinks of connected devices and apps as users' "digital wardrobe."

"It's the apps, how you communicate, and with what devices and no two people are the same," Lee said. "They use different brands, there are different use cases. You have uniqueness. People want freedom, they want to bring their own device, choose their own device. Everybody wants to be free. That's the trend. Fifty percent of the workforce will be millennials by 2020, and one in three of them want the device, flexibility, mobility. Fifty-nine percent said an employer's technology is important to them. They want a personalized experience."

"That's the shifting workplace," Lee said. "Because of that, we see a big tide changing in collaboration; $11.4 billion in video communication spend by 2020."

Early next year, Lenovo will begin shipping its ThinkSmart Hub 500, a Skype video conferencing and collaboration system that is expected to sell for about $1,400, which is half the price of competing systems already on the market, Lee said.

Zac Paulson, CEO of True IT, a Fargo, N.D.-based solution provider that works with Lenovo, said the changing way customers approach IT purchases presents his firm with opportunities it hasn't necessarily had in the past.

"We're definitely seeing that millennials do not want to be strapped to traditional IT," Paulson said, "and that's cool because it means that we get to sell this type of stuff. In the past, if it wasn't driven from within, we might not have had the chance to sell it. A lot of employers in the past looked at it as extra junk. It's definitely making people think outside the box. We get a lot less 'is this possible?' and more 'this is possible, how are you going to help me work it into my business?'"

For Paulson, the primary advantage to new attitudes about IT among customers comes after the purchase, he said. "We're definitely seeing people show up after Christmas, if you will, to say I just got this, how do I make it work?"
Cloud News

AWS Marketplace Now Offers Private Pricing For Partners

Gina Narcisi

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Customers are moving applications to the cloud at an unprecedented pace, but many want the help of a trusted advisor when it comes to software procurement and fulfillment.

For partners that could translate to a huge opportunity in providing software solutions, said David McCann, vice president of Amazon Web Services Marketplace and Catalog Services during The Channel Company's Best Of Breed (BoB) conference in Atlanta on Monday.

At the BoB conference, McCann announced private pricing for the AWS Marketplace, a feature that allows partners to quote prices to customers that are only visible to those customers.

[Related: GE Taps AWS As 'Preferred' Cloud Provider To Help Reduce Its Data Center Footprint]

"In the past, Marketplace had a single price. Now you can have prices unique to customers," he said.

The channel plays a critical role in software choice. According to AWS, overall software spend will reach $569 billion by 2020. The indirect channel share of that spend will be $292.6 billion, or about 51 percent.

"Everyone is on a different journey and you are an advisor of what is going to move to the cloud, and at what velocity. Software is a major part of that decision and the software portfolio for many companies is in massive flux," McCann said to an audience of solution providers.

The AWS Marketplace, a place for AWS cloud computing customers to find, compare and deploy AWS software and other IT services, is a digital library, or a "toolkit" for channel partners. Two years ago, the Marketplace consisted of 800 vendors. Today, that number is up to 1,250, McCann said.

"We are adding three software vendors a week to the catalog, and those companies are there for your engineers to run on behalf of a customer," McCann told partners. "We want the channel to work with the marketplace as a fulfillment engine."

Private pricing will be generally available to partners in the next few weeks, McCann added.

Network Solutions Provider, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based solution provider in the audience, said it has its own cloud practice today, but is not an AWS partner. Private pricing, however, is "the missing piece" that solution providers needed from Amazon, according to Phillip Walker, customer advocate leader for Network Solutions Provider.

"Before, there was no value add, and now we can add that consulting piece," Walker said. "That's always been the issue with cloud  there's not money in reselling cloud. It's really about the expertise, architecture, and integration pieces."

McCann said that it was essential to innovate the channel program on AWS Marketplace. The cloud giant hadn't designed the program well for solution providers, or consulting partners.

"About every six months, we are rolling out new features and capabilities that will allow you to participate in both the demand and fulfillment, and demand for software as your digital library," he said. "Software is going to be an $18 billion opportunity a year, so you want to lean in."
Cloud News

HPE Channel Leader: Hybrid, IoT, World-Class Services Will Drive Partner Success

Joseph Tsidulko

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HPE's three-pronged strategy to drive partner growth involves promoting hybrid IT, building out its Internet of Things portfolio, and then offering world-class services that lean on and enable partners, Terry Richardson, vice president for HPE's North America Channels & Alliances, told partners Monday.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based tech behemoth is first off looking to facilitate both private and public infrastructure, Richardson said at a breakout session of The Channel Company's 2017 Best of Breed Conference in Atlanta.

"We're focused on hybrid IT. We believe the world will be hybrid. That's the bet we're making," Richardson told attendees. He added, "AWS has a different view of the world."

[Related: Best of Breed 2017 Conference]

The "IoT revolution" is creating new opportunities for HPE and many of its business partners "at the intelligent edge," he said. "We expect to have just at much spend outside the datacenter as there is today in the data center."

However, it is "world class" services that will make those two prior strategic goals translate to a successful business, he added.

"It's not to compete with partners," Richardson told a room of solution providers here, most of them already aligned with HPE.

Instead, the company recognizes partners cannot "invest in everything and have to make their own bets." The vendor is cultivating a "stable of experts" to help drive their success, he said.

HPE CEO Meg Whitman, who spoke at the BoB Conference just hours earlier, "has turned around the financial architecture of our company," Richardson said. That includes major investments in research and development.

Moreover, under Whitman's leadership, there's been a significant focus on expanding partnerships, he said.

The company is now simplifying its go-to-market operations through HPE NEXT, an initiative that's sharpening focus on the core strategy. A key component is to "really make sure that we become easier doing business with you from an operations standpoint," Richardson told partners.

The NEXT initiative represents one of the last hurdles "to making us become the kind of company we really strive to be," he said.

Many solution providers came into the HPE ecosystem through a number of acquisitions executed in recent years, which delivered not just leading technologies, but sales and technical talent. Those acquisitions also represent some of the largest partner opportunities with the vendor.

Hyper-converged infrastructure is one of the most significant opportunities in the market, which HPE is driving through its SimpliVity acquisition, he said.

HPE SimpliVity offers an excellent way for partners to deliver savings to customers without taking them to the public cloud, Richardson said, adding the hyper-converged appliances can achieve half the cost of comparable AWS solutions.

"Despite what you may have heard from AWS, you do not have to go to the public cloud to dramatically change the economics of the data center," he said.

While HPE's hyper-converged offerings involve a strong relationship with VMware, the company is "also looking to the future," he said. There's clearly a lot of value in the hyper-converged space around containers, and HPE is also working closely with Docker.

HPE's storage suite pulls the best from its 3PAR and Nimble acquisitions, creating another strong partner opportunity. And Aruba's wireless networking capabilities also deliver assets that can drive partner practices.

On the server side, the recently unveiled Gen 10 servers are changing the playing field.

HPE ships about five servers a minute, complementing and refreshing an installed base of 40 million units.

However, Gen 10 servers are not just about introducing the latest-and-greatest processors, he said. "It's really addressing a critical need in the industry, and it's around security," Richardson told partners, describing those servers as the world's most secure, with defense-measures implemented at the silicon level.

The extensive portfolio is complemented by Synergy, he said, "the ultimate hybrid IT platform" for defining infrastructure.

VeriStor Systems first partnered with HPE about five years ago, after the 3PAR deal, said Ashby Lincoln, the solution provider's founder and CEO.

The Duluth, Ga.-headquartered company's first 10 years saw no HP relationship, and VeriStor leaders weren't pleased when it looked like that would change due to their 3PAR relationship.

"We were very pessimistic about that. Because we had competed against HP for a long time as a bunch of ex-EMCers," Lincoln told his colleagues during the session.

But the experience as an HPE partner has changed that attitude, and much of the change of heart is due to the "integrity of the partner program," Lincoln said.

"If you are in an account with them and they say that you're good to go, then you're good to go," he said. HPE partners do not waste time thinking their vendor is trying to take their deals direct, he said.

Meg Whitman is clear, "at least to everyone who knows her, on what her position is on the channel," Lincoln said. That means partners can focus entirely on building relationships with prospects and helping them select architectures and technologies.

That is the reason that VeriStor's HPE business has gone from roughly $13 million five years ago, to $70 million today. At the same time, the Dell business has fallen to about $3 million, "and it has everything to do with partner etiquette."

The solution provider, which initially focused on storage but has since expanded to compute and networking, is going to keep investing in its HPE practice, with sights set on the $100 million mark, he said.

In today's IT landscape, these vendor relationships matter more than ever.

"It is a very complicated time. We have to all be dependent on good partnerships because that is the core of how we can all be successful," Lincoln said.
Cloud News

Docker CEO Urges Partners To Get Involved In The Rapid Adoption Of Containers, Public Cloud Growth

Joseph Tsidulko

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Docker's ability to deliver a highly portable, cloud-native, cost-cutting platform for transforming IT systems offers to the channel an opportunity unlike any other, CEO Steve Singh told attendees of the 2017 Best of Breed conference in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Almost half a year into his tenure as CEO of the groundbreaking container-tech company, Singh said Docker's platform will win in a competitive market because of its openness and portabilityenabling digital transformation without locking customers into any one provider.

And moving legacy applications to Docker, enabling them to run on any modern infrastructure, typically cuts costs in half. Those savings result from a substantial increase in application density, reducing the number of virtual machines needed by putting more workloads on fewer servers.

[Related: Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell: Partners Are Fueling Huge Growth And 'We're Winning Big']

"This opens up real opportunity for partners and customers" to drive innovation, Singh said.

To prove that to customers, Docker is cooperating closely with its growing base of channel partners to implement proof of concepts in which they move some legacy applications to container-based infrastructure.

And when deals are closed, partners typically see five to seven times multipliers on the profits, Singh said.

"This is a channel-oriented play," Singh said. "If there's an opportunity to work with you on an account, we're in."

The CEO says company is laser focused on one thing only. Helping customers move to .

/**/ /**/

While Docker as a young startup launched the container-tech boom, the company is now battling with many other vendors, including the hyper-scale cloud providers, in a highly competitive sector. Docker is looking to distinguish itself, and scale its business, by capitalizing off four trends reshaping the industry.

The most important of those, and where Docker is devoting most of its investment, is the rapid adoption of public cloud. That will "impact every single company in the world," Singh said, and is being enabled by containers

Singh predicted the first trillion-dollar software company will come out of the public cloud.

Another important technological disruption is the move to edge computing. Where some 95 percent of processing currently takes place within a core network, he predicted 50 to 60 percent of workloads will soon be executed on the Internet of Things devices that are reshaping how industries operate.

Adoption of microservicesbreaking applications into their smallest componentsis another shift that is uniquely enabled by container technology, Singh said.

Finally, enabling a shared system of record is a capability that partners can leverage containers to implement and add value, Singh said.

"The idea that containers won't be the default atomic unit, if you're betting against it, I think you're betting wrong," Singh said.

And while other container technologies and platforms are also on the rise, especially the Kubernetes cluster orchestrator first developed by Google, that's fine with Docker.

"Our job is to deliver a platform that allows you to plug-and-play any components you like. Not all of the components have to come from Docker," Singh said. "If someone else can out-innovate us, they deserve to win."

Singh added that Docker is hoping to achieve profitability by the middle of 2019.

"We're signing multi-million dollar deals with customers because we're saving them tens of millions of dollars a year with our platform," he said.

Docker currently has seven large global partners, and a growing number of regional solution providers in its channel. The company is investing in partner recruitment, to "make sure anyone who wants to be a partner, can," Singh said.

One of the company's partners in attendance for the BoB conference was Bradley Brodkin, CEO of HighVail, a solutions provider based in Toronto.

While most of what Singh spoke about wasn't new to him, Brodkin believes his colleagues less familiar with the vendor saw "somebody who's actually interested in driving business."

A lot of container platforms have come to prominence, from Kubernetes to the VMware-Google-Pivotal venture, PKS, to Mesosphere, he said.

"Docker becomes the driver of all of this," he said. "Ultimately Docker is at the core of everything."

And the edge computing use case is one that's particularly exciting, Brodkin noted.

Containers, because they are lightweight and portable, make it easy to push apps out to field devices.

"You can take anything, put it into a Docker container, it moves onto the edge," he said.
Whitman Takes Center Stage

In an interview with Channel Company CEO Bob Faletra on stage at the 2017 Best of Breed Conference in Atlanta Monday, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman tackled questions ranging from the impact of the company's HPE Next restructuring to that state of its relationship with VMware since the Dell acquisition to what her next career move might be after HPE.

"We're going to reward, from a compensation perspective, we're going to incentivize our team to be more about value and more about growth," Whitman said of the changes coming to field compensation next month.

Whitman also talked about the co-opetition HPE sees in the market now with sometimes-competitors, sometimes-partners such as Microsoft and Dell Technologies/VMware.

"As workloads move to Azure, maybe that hurts us, but as workloads move to Azure Stack, that helps us," Whitman said. "In the end, our relationship with Microsoft and VMware at the core is very strong. It has to be because we have to do what's right for the customers."

The interview, which also included questions from solution providers in the audience, also touched on whether Whitman would consider a presidential run. Edited excerpts of the conversation follow.
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While strolling down Greenwich Avenue in June, the chief executive of New Zealand menswear brand Rodd & Gunn noticed a shop with a for-lease sign in the window.

A few months later and the retailers CEO Mike Beagley has replaced the for-lease poster with Rodd & Gunns iconic English Pointer.

It was an opportunistic thing, Beagley told Hearst Connecticut Media in an interview. I saw the shop was for lease, and I loved the space. It was happenstance rather than strategy, he said of the brands expansion to Greenwich, which counts as one of soon-to-be six Rodd & Gunn shops, branded as lodges, thats opened in the U.S. inside of a year, according to Beagley.

Unlike in America, retail in New Zealand has not yet undergone the same shift to e-commerce, Beagley said, and his companys success in the past year has shown consumers here want us, he said.

Rodd & Gunns new 3,500-square-foot storefront on Greenwich Avenue opened a little more than a week ago. The menswear brand slotted among mostly female fashion shops has attracted steady foot traffic since its soft opening that includes both men and women, who are browsing on behalf of their significant others, according to shop manager Marc Marranzino.

The Greenwich Rodd & Gunn lodge features animal head trophies, aged hunting photos and a New Zealand flag mounted on its walls. All its shops are designed to make men feel comfortable, according to Beagley. We feel we can offer the men of Greenwich a really nice environment, he said.

The space is also filled out with large, rustic furniture pieces displaying the brands Italian leather accessories including belts, luggage and shoes.

Given the brands unique offering of high-end mens products, Beagley said he expects Rodd & Gunn to resonate well with the community.

We buy most of our stuff from Italy, so it has a European look and feel, the CEO said. But we interpret it from the southern hemisphere, so it has a different sensibility thats laid back and casual, which can be dressed up or down.

Rodd & Gunn customers can find outfits appropriate for every day of the week from their shoes to their tie, Beagley said, adding the retailer has specifically positioned itself as a menswear-only specialist.

The legacy brand has made a name for itself by dressing New Zealands national rugby team and 2012 Olympic team as well as producing the Jack Reacher jacket, worn by Tom Cruise in the 2012 action thriller Jack Reacher.

Later this fall, Rodd & Gunn plans to host a grand opening event at its 354 Greenwich Ave., location.
Melinda K. Elliotts prey was completely static, and easily prone to capture, which is exactly what she did for six months. Her hunt, however, may ensure her finds stick around for a while, garnering the fascination and attention of others who also share her affection for the past.

I cant say I was surprised, but, rather, very pleased, she says, of the discoveries she made time and time again as she traversed the state with her husband, Ray, and photographed old schoolhouses for her new book, Connecticut Schoolhouses Through Time (Arcadia Publishing).

A longtime docent, and the director of the historic Bullet Hill School (which was built in the 1700s in Southbury), she has helped about two decades of present-day school children and teachers learn how their counterparts managed in what were sometimes simple and spare structures, or the solid, two-story affair that is Bullet Hill. In her book, the Southbury resident tapped into her own postcard collection and pictures from historical societies around the state to show how the present-day schoolhouses looked in their day.

That the nearly 100 she captured still stand is a testament to devotion and luck, given that many were not expected to stand for more than several decades, let alone more than 300 years. By 1899, the state had 1,110 one-teacher schools, according to former state historian Christoper Colliers book, Connecticut Public Schools: A History, 1650-2000). By the early 1920s, only 647 were operational and sprinkled throughout the state. By the mid- 1930s, there were 337. Eight years later, 162 were still in business. By 1955, only 23 were serving students. The last one, in the Gaylordsville section of New Milford, closed in 1967, some 225 years since it was built. It was the last one in operation in the state.

While some of the one-room (and two-room) schoolhouses managed to extend into the modern school era, many new, modern buildings were constructed around the turn of the 20th century, when the state ordered compulsory attendance for all students from 7 to 16, including girls. It gave rise to the designated room with one teacher for each grade. When old schoolhouses could no longer be used for public educational purposes or bought by towns to be used as libraries or other needs, they might be sold at auction and carted away to start a new life as a house, or a chicken coop, a church or a garage. Some had the misfortune of rotting away, neglected at the side of the road.

Those, fortunately, are not the ones Johnna Kaplan has found, though her travels have revealed some that could use some tender loving care. Similar to Elliott, Kaplan, who grew up in Westport and now lives in New London, has developed a fascination and love for these vestiges of the past. As her freelance writing career takes her around the state, she is sure to bring along a camera to capture what she finds.

One of the first ones was in Beacon Falls, she says. I thought it was still rare to have one standing, even though I knew they existed around the country.

Soon, she started finding them everywhere, and began writing about them on her blog (http://www.thesizeofconnecticut.com), or to let others know about where to find them, as well as to encourage travelers to seek them out and check them out when they turned up unexpectedly.

In all my searching, I never found any comprehensive list, or an attempt to create one of the schools still standing, and there are quite a few left, she says. So, she created an Instagram account, @OldSchoolCT, devoted to old schoolhouses. I do love that they still exist and  I find they are adorable, especially the smaller ones, particularly when you have attended a big, modern school.

The greater Danbury area, for instance, has quite a few, including the West Lane Schoolhouse in Ridgefield, built in the 1700s, and the Plumtrees Schoolhouse in Bethel that opened in 1867. The King Street School in Danbury operated from 1888 to 1939, while the White Oak District School ran from 1840 to 1941.

All the schools were different, even if the concept of the little red schoolhouse is a prevalent image in literature and history. Michael Day, a career educator with a long interest in history, says people did not begin to consider a distinct school architecture until the 1870s. And, traditionally, when a new school was built, it was done as cheaply as possible. They could range from 15-feet-by-35-feet to 16-by-20, to Bullet Hill School, that is 28-by-32 feet.

Day also is owner and publisher of Clippership Publications, which produces reproductions of schoolbooks and materials of the one-room schoolhouse era, such as primers and personal recollections.

As with the others who have been drawn to these structures, Day, who lives in Barkhamsted, but travels around the state for presentations, says he has always wondered what it would be like to be a teacher in an earlier age. For many years, I collected early school books and I used to enjoy taking them into school to give the kids a better sense of what life was like in an earlier age.

Elliott knows getting the next generation interested in the history will help to keep these structures standing. We need to love them. We need to take care of them.

chennessy@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @xtinahennessy
Contributed Photo / Chipotle Mexican Grill / Contributed Photo

Chipotle Mexican Grill locations throughout Connecticut are giving customers a chance to give back with each meal in support of the American Cancer Society.

On Oct. 24 from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m., every franchise location in Connecticut will donate 50 percent of sales per meal to the American Cancer Society. All customers have to do is mention the fundraiser or flash the flyer to an employee to participate.
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Connecticut DACA recipients and Democratic lawmakers are dismayed  and, they said, appalled  President Donald Trump would condition continued legal status for youthful immigrants on what they consider deal-breakers like a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

But theyve seen this movie before.

Despite the political pressure on Trump to act tough on immigration, the nations 800,000 or so Deferred Action for Child Arrivals  more than 8,000 in Connecticut  are here to stay.

For the sake of the dreamers, one of our goals has to be to extract this dire situation from politics, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

He said deft maneuvering on Capitol Hill will be required to help dreamers stay in the U.S.

We have political cards to play, Blumenthal said.

The politics of immigration resurfaced Sunday when the White House released Trumps framework for immigration.

The document allows for extension of DACA on condition it be accompanied by approval of a border wall, more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, denial of grants to sanctuary cities such as New Haven, and quicker deportation for unaccompanied minors from Central America.

DACA is the Obama-era policy giving legal status to those who were brought to the U.S. as children by their undocumented-immigrant parents.

The framework was the latest twist in Trumps on-again, off-again views on dreamers. Last month he said of dreamers: I have a love for these people, and expressed confidence a deal would be worked out. But that same day, he rescinded former President Barack Obamas DACA policy, giving Congress six months to come up with a solution to their status.

Two weeks later after a dinner with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Trump appeared to agree to continued legal status for DACA youth with tough border enforcement but no wall, at least not immediately.

That deal appeared to unravel Sunday when Trump told Congress any DACA deal must be linked to building the wall, a campaign promise he insisted would be funded by Mexico. Mexico has repeatedly rejected Trumps call.

The demands that are being made here are basically meant to derail any opportunity to come to some sort of bipartisan solution, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

On Trumps expression of love for DACA recipients, DeLauro added, I dont know where it is. Its not demonstrated by what were seeing.

Since the defeat of Trump-backed Sen. Luther Strange to fire-and-brimstone conservative Roy Moore in the Alabama Republican senatorial primary last month, Trump is said to be worried about his right flank.

Because of the divide between conservative and more center-leaning Republicans on Capitol Hill, the votes of Democrats could prove pivotal to any legislation, immigration or otherwise. One opportunity for Democrats to flex their muscles might come in December, when a legislative fix is needed to keep the government funded and open.

There are rational and reasonable solutions to this, Blumenthal said. But the wall as a condition is totally a nonstarter.

Connecticut DACA recipients were philosophical when asked how they see the future unfolding, since they could be subject to deportation as early as March if Congress fails to act.

I think something will happen because, politically, neither party can afford to have 800,000 DACA recipients deported, said Carolina Bortolleto, of Danbury, a DACA recipient from Brazil who co-founded CT Students for a Dream with her twin sister, Camila.

dan@hearstdc.com
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NORWALK  The fire department responded to assist in a rollover accident on the Merritt Parkway Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said.

The department responded to the parkway between exits 40 and 41 northbound around 4 p.m., according to the Norwalk Fire Department Deputy Chief Edward Prescott. He said a woman in her 50s, the driver of the vehicle, was still in her car when fire personnel arrived.
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STRATFORD  Usually mild-mannered state Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, delivered an impassioned speech in front of Town Hall Tuesday afternoon, urging voters to call their legislators in Hartford to tell them to override Gov. Dannel P. Malloys budget veto.

The governor, in vetoing our (proposed Republican budget) and offering no alternative plan other than his executive order, creates a devastating event thats completely unacceptable, Kelly said. Under the governors executive order, Stratford alone would see a $31 million cut in total municipal aid, and a $27 million cut to education.

Kelly said that most surrounding towns would see dramatic cuts, but the damage to Stratford would be unusually harsh.

Kelly was joined by state Reps. J.P. Sredzinski, R, Monroe; Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R, Seymour; Ben McGorty, R-Shelton and Laura Hoydick, R, Stratford. Also at the foot of the Town Hall steps were Stratford Mayor John A. Harkins, John F. Anglace Jr. who sits on Sheltons Board of Aldermen, and Stratford Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson. Other political leaders were there, too.

Connecticut is more than 100 days past its deadline for a new spending and revenue plan; its the last state in the nation to have an unresolved budget.

We have to tell Malloy that his rule over our state has ended, Kelly said. Our budget restores funding to nonprofits that was cut by the governor, and it doesnt have the harmful tax increases that the Democrats budgets have. Its a budget that shows the state a path forward.

Kelly said that Monroe and Shelton would both see education cuts in excess of $7 million and Seymour would see a drop of nearly $9 million over two years. We cannot allow this to happen  without a budget, his executive order is real, he said.

State Rep. Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, who was not part of the Kelly press event, said that the two sides are getting closer and that things arent quite as grim as some are saying.

Were about $100 million apart now, so the signs look good that we we will have a budget worked out, he said.

When he vetoed the Republican plan on Sept. 28, Malloy said, In sum, this budget is unbalanced, unsustainable and unwise.

Last week, the governor said he wanted there to be an agreement by this coming Friday. But he added, Its difficult for people to move those kinds of amounts of money around in a budget, so I dont want to give a false hope. I think people are working.

In Startford on Tuesday, Robinson said the towns schools would have a tall mountain to climb if its state funds were cut by $27 million.

I cant imagine what might happen if we had a cut of that kind on money from out budget, she said. Just look at this town  were not wealthy. We cant make that up.

Anglace agreed. Im sitting on the firing line down here, he said. And Im looking at $8 million in reduced education funding. They cant do that  the state Constitution says that the responsibility of educating out children falls to the state.

Harkins the Legislature has to stand up and do the right thing and balance the budget.

Were in a death spiral right now, the mayor said. We have a beautiful state and people are anxious to leave it.

jburgeson@ctpost.com
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After years of saving up for a down payment, Mexican immigrant Maria Gonzalez, 33, and her husband finally moved out of their Chicago-area rental apartment into their own four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the city. It wasn't easyshe works in sales and he owns a mechanical shop, and money was tight. But they managed to put down about $14,000 and got a mortgage for the rest of their $230,000 single-family house. They closed in March.

And now the couple, who have been in the U.S. for 15 years, fear they could lose their home at any moment if one or both of them are deported. Gonzalez, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, overstayed her tourist visa years ago. Her husband is also living illegally in the U.S.

"These are very difficult and scary times," says Gonzalez through a translator. "We don't know what's really going to happen."

For the millions of immigrants and refugees who have made the United States their home, the country doesn't feel very welcoming lately. President Donald Trump rose to political popularity promising to build a wall along the Mexican border. One of his first major moves in office was to block people from certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the country (a revised version of the order is still being challenged in court). He recently announced plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields almost 800,000 immigrants who came illegally to the U.S. as children from deportation.

Claire V. Widman

The administration also hopes to limit legal immigration by eliminating the lottery program that provides 50,000 visas a year for foreigners and cutting the number of refugees allowed in each year. It's taken aim at alleged abuses of the H-1B visa program, which is designed to bring in only the highest skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans don't have the experience to hold.

But like it or not, immigrants are an integral part of the fabric of the United Statesits traditions, its economy, and even its real estate. The latter has mostly been ignored as high-decibel debates rage on over the impact of immigrants on local economies and job markets.

So we decided to cut through the overheated rhetoric to determine the real impact that recent waves of immigrants have had on America's residential housing markets. The data team at realtor.com focused on groups who have arrived here since 1985. How have these recent immigrants fundamentally transformedfor better or worsemetros and towns across the U.S.?

We discovered that there was no one narrative that could answer that question. It's a tale of haves and have-nots. From the border towns of the West, to the skyrocketing abodes in Silicon Valley, to the desolate cities of the Rust Belt, swaths of America have seen local housing fundamentally altered by an influx of new immigrant groupssometimes in surprising ways that fly in the face of prevailing narratives.

There are now about 42 million immigrants from just about every country in the world living in the U.S., making up about 13% of the overall population, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. They're a wildly diverse group, but they're bound by a common desire: to build a better life for themselves and their families.

"Immigrants are a big driving force for housing markets across the nation," says Kusum Mundra, an economics professor at Rutgers University, Newark. "Most want the American dream, which is to own a home."

The immigrant 'boost' to property values

Claire V. Widman

For most immigrants, the path to homeownership remains a challenging one.

Although some ultrawealthy foreign buyers immediately purchase luxury homes or investment properties upon entering the U.S., they're the exceptions, not the rule. For most immigrants, it takes about five to 10 years after arrival before they're buying homes at similar rates as native-born Americans, says Gary Painter, director of social policy at the University of Southern California's Sol Price Center for Social Innovation in Los Angeles. He specializes in real estate and immigration.

About 40.7% of immigrants were homeowners in 2016, compared with 66.1% of native-born Americans, according to a realtor.com's analysis of U.S. Census data.

"Just like those born in the U.S., [immigrants] view home-buying as putting down roots in the community," Painter says. "On average, where immigrants are settling, property values have gone up."

That's because they're often settling in struggling cities that have lost jobs and residents, such as the Rust Belt, but offer more lower-priced housing. Once they move in, many start businesses, spend money locally, and increase the demand for housingall of which lead to the stabilization or boost in property values.

Their presence has also been associated with a reduction in crime. For every 1% increase in the immigrant population, there were 4.9 fewer crimes per 100,000 people, according to a 2016 Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice study.

"There are cities that are on the way down, and immigrants have revived them," says George Masnick, senior research associate at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. "Theyre buying houses. ... Theyre going to be the ones who keep the local economy vibrant."

One of those places has been in Detroit and the suburbs surrounding it. The area's population dropped nearly 63% since it peaked at roughly 1.8 million residents in 1950, during the height of the domestic auto business. Today, the metro is home to the largest percentage of Middle Eastern immigrants that have come to the U.S. since 1985, according to the realtor.com analysis.

(The realtor.com data team used the CIA's classification of 19 Middle Eastern countries and territories in its calculations. They included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Gaza Strip, Republic of Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank, and Yemen.)

Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

"People come into neighborhoods and buy houses that maybe were not well-kept up and fix them up, and they attract other people like themselves to the areas," says Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group is based in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills.

Many are drawn to the Middle Eastern community in Hamtramck, MI, one of the largest Muslim populations in America. Hamtramck boasts a low median home closing price of just $61,000, according to realtor.com.

But the travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries has affected the community, even though many are not Muslim. After Trump was elected, one Muslim couple came into real estate broker Kabir Ahmed's Home Pride Realty office in Hamtramck, wanting to sell their investment properties. The wife was crying.

"It did put fear into a lot of people," Ahmed says. Nearly all of his clients are Muslims from Yemen or Bangladesh, where he was born. Sales haven't substantially fallen yet, but many potential clients are on the fence over whether to buy.

"Some people are still nervous about the way things are shaping up," he says.

The refugees hoping to be reunited with their families

Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

That uncertainty is also affecting war-weary refugees hoping to be reunited with their families. In 2016, there were an estimated 65.6 million refugees worldwide, more than half of whom are children, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That's one in every 113 people.

Of those refugees, nearly 97,000 were admitted to the U.S. last year, according to the U.S. Department of States Refugee Processing Center. The Trump administration capped admissions to 50,000 this year citing terrorist concerns, with battle-torn Syria as a particular threat.

"Many of the refugees we work with had to pick up and run," says Alicia Kinsman, director of legal services at the International Institute of Connecticut. The Bridgeport, CTbased group helps about 100 to 150 refugees predominantly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, and Syria find housing and settle into their new communities.

"They were about to be detained and tortured by their government, so they had to flee," Kinsman says.

Many of those who were admitted into the U.S. are sending money to their family members abroad, instead of spending it in their new communities as they wait to be reunited.

Refugees are settled all over the country and are often placed in areas where they already have family or community tiessuch as the Bridgeport metro. It has the nation's ninth-highest number of Syrian immigrants, at 0.035%, who have moved to the U.S. since 1985. They aren't all refugees.

They feel so blessed to be here and motivated to build a life and contribute to the communities theyre living in," Kinsman says.

The downsides to immigrant enclaves moving next door



An influx of residents from another part of the world isn't always good for local real estate. Home prices tend to go up faster in places where immigrants don't live, says Albert Saiz, director of the Center for Real Estate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

That's because some native-born Americans are willing to pay more to live in neighborhoods with other homegrown Americans, according to a 2011 research paper he co-wrote in the American Economic Journal.

But when it comes to rents, immigrants tend to boost them by 1% for each additional percentage of foreigners who move into an area, according to 2006 research Saiz published in the Journal of Urban Economics.

"It's good for the owners and landlords," he says. "But it might not necessarily be perceived as a good thing for renters who lived there before."

In addition, low-income immigrants might strain an area's public and health servicesparticularly schools and hospitals, says Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies. The Washington, DCbased think tank favors lower immigration rates.

Schools might need to hire bilingual teachers and other staffers to accommodate new students who don't speak English. In addition, many low-income immigrants receive government assistance, often in the form of food stamps, housing aid, or free school lunches, he says. (Legally, most immigrants cannot receive government help for their first five years in the country.)

And, true to some of the angrier rhetoric that reared its head in the oft-toxic 2016 election season, immigrants can indeed displace local blue-collar workers. The reason is sometimes newcomers will accept lower wages than their American-born counterparts.

"There are short-term negatives that basically fuel the anti-immigrant movement," says Harvard's Masnick says. But "this is temporary and there are all these benefits that are going to come along."

The 'haves': Silicon Valley's tech-savvy immigrants



There's no hard and fast rule over how immigrants will affect a local housing market. But in Silicon Valley, the impact has been vast.

The San Jose metro areathe valley's urban epicenterhas the highest percentage of immigrants in the nation, with 29% of residents born on foreign soil, according to realtor.com's analysis from 1985 to 2015. (It was followed by Miami, at 28%; Los Angeles, at nearly 23%; San Francisco, at 21.6%; and New York, at 21.5%.)

Many of these Silicon Valley settlers are the epitome of the "merit-based" English-speaking, highly skilled workers that Trump would prefer to be admitted to the U.S. Companies are bringing them over to fill high-paying tech, finance, and engineering jobs for which they can't find enough qualified U.S. citizens.

Meenakshi Mini Thangaswamy, 33, is one of these tech-savvy immigrants. She and her husband moved to the U.S. nearly a decade ago from India so she could get a master's degree and her husband-to-be could receive a Ph.D. Today, the parents of two young daughters each work at well-known tech companies.

They both received their U.S. citizenship about four-and-a-half years ago. And this past April, they bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, single-family house in Silicon Valley's San Mateo, CA.

Despite Trump's tough talk on immigration, Thangaswamy doesn't regret the purchase.

"If I watch the news, I dont feel like it's the same country. [But] the core and the fabric of the country is still the same. It's the land of opportunity," she says. "Some of the [negative] feelings that are going on in the country, I dont think are going to last a long time."

She's found the Silicon Valley community to be very welcoming. The metros of San Jose, at nearly 5.2%, and San Francisco, at almost 2.1%, have the highest percentages of Indian immigrants since 1985, according to realtor.com's analysis.

But all of those well-paid tech workers, both native- and foreign-born, have pushed home prices up to dizzying heights. The median list price of a home in the San Jose metro was $1,015,300 as of Aug. 1, according to realtor.com data.

Claire V. Widman

Brian Wu, 27, who requested his name be changed to protect his privacy, moved to the U.S. seven years ago for college and now works as a software engineer at Google. He has an H-1B visa and is going through the green card process. His wife, who is also a Chinese immigrant, has a student visa. They bought a three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home in Silicon Valley's Burlingame, CA, in May.

"It's a good investment," he says of his home. "I'm tired of spending $3,000 every month for a two-bedroom apartment."

He's doesn't think any new immigration polices will affect him or his wife. Changing the current visa system would "be a pretty big hit to the IT companies," he says. "I don't see there's anything to be worried about."

The 'have-nots': Struggling along the U.S.-Mexico border



The poorer housing markets in the towns along the U.S.-Mexico border bear little resemblance to the mind-numbingly expensive ones in the tech hubs of Northern California.

McAllen, TX, for example, is one of the most impoverished metro areas in the country, with median home prices of $189,000about 45.4% less than the national average of $275,000. It also has the highest number of Mexican immigrants arriving since 1985, at nearly 19.1%.

Wikipedia CC

Hispanics (including Mexican immigrants) have made up about 45% of all first-time home buyers nationwide over the past decade, says Gary Acosta, CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

"Buying a home and having a permanent place for the extended family is central to the Hispanic culture," he says.

But that could change as many Mexican-born and Mexican-Americans might no longer feel welcome enough in the U.S. to buy a home.

"A lot of the folks who are potentially affected by the immigration policies being implemented now are not just undocumented individuals, but people connected to those individuals through marriage or through employment," Acosta says. Because of deportations, "one of the [financial] contributors to the family potentially may not be here in the coming months and years."

The towns and cities along the U.S.-Mexico border could be hurt badly as a result.

"You're going to see a spike in foreclosures," predicts Acosta. "You're going to see fewer buyers and more sellers, and that's going to drive prices down."

That might be good in the short term for buyers hoping to score a deal. But it could hurt the economies and property values of these communities for years to come, he says.

Claire V. Widman

The fear of deportation is particularly frightening for immigrants who have no documentation who have obtained mortgages and bought homes in this country. It's estimated that about 31% of these foreigners are homeowners, according to a recent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report.

Even without papers, immigrants can obtain Individual Taxpayer Identification Number loans. ITIN loans are not easy to getapplicants must muster up 20% down payments and have excellent credit. Loan officers will look at their rent, cellphone, and insurance bills to make sure they're being paid on time. And borrowers usually pay 7% to 7.5% interest on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages unlike Americans who are being charged in the low 4% range.

John Moore/Getty Images

But they're growing in popularity, says Alterra Home Loans CEO Jason Madiedo.

Alterra, which has offices in 14 states, has done about 170 ITIN loans (fewer than 1% of the company's overall business) in the past two years or so, mostly to Hispanic buyers who go in with multiple family members together to qualify. The average mortgage is $138,000.

"They still have the dream of owning a home," says U.S.-born Madiedo, whose parents were Columbian immigrants without documents who eventually became citizens. "The desire and the dream is outweighing the risk for them."

Yuqing Pan and Vanessa Velez contributed to this report.

The post How Immigrants Are Transforming the American Dreamand Real Estate Along With It appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
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The kids are not all rightor so the click-bait headlines would lead you to believe. There are countless stories about those flighty millennials who job-hop every year, are crazy-obsessed with their iPhone phablets and shell out too much on Instagrammable avocado toast or kale smoothies to move out of their parents basements and (gasp!) pay their own rent.

There's more than a hint of truth to that last part. About 15% of 25- to 35-year-olds were still crashing with their folks in 2016, according to a Pew Research study. And that leaves 85% either cramming into apartments with friends or living solo.

The young-at-heart data team at realtor.com decided to dig into these numbers. As it turns out, where millennials are living plays a big role in whether they are most likely to live alone, as opposed to with their folks.

And there's a lot of variation across the country, we learned. For example, Bridgeport and New Haven ranked in the top 10 U.S. metros where young adults are most likely to delay moving out of their home. But most of them live alone in more affordable cities like Albany, NY, or Omaha, NE.

"We definitely see a larger percentage of millennials living at home at an older age than previous generations," says Jason Dorsey, president of the Center for Generational Kinetics, a millennial research firm based in Austin, TX. "They hit the Great Recession, so its taking them longer to financially recover. They had a tough job market from the start. And theres been quite a lot of wage stagnation."

Adding to the generational woes: Millennials have record amounts of student debt that needs to be paid off. It's yet another factor that has helped push up the median age of first-time homeowners to 32 in 2016, according to the National Association of Realtors.

"Its more socially acceptable now to delay marriage, kids, and a home," Dorsey says. "Theres not the expectation that you would have bought your own home by age 30."

So where exactly are millennials living on their own (without roommates or romantic partners)? And where have they flown back toor never leftthe nest? To figure out it out, realtor.com's data team analyzed 2015 U.S. Census Bureau data on 18- to 34-year-olds in the largest metros. We also added in rental prices for one-bedroom apartments from the rental website Apartment List and realtor.com median home list prices to give you an idea of the local housing markets.

Ready for home-cooked meals? Lets look at where millennials are most likely to shack up with Mom and Dad.

Percentage of millennials living with parents: 51.8%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $620

Median home list price: $189,300

There are two main reasons why millennials stick around their family abodes in McAllen, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border: They don't make enough money to move out, and even if they could, their families may not want them to. Unlike larger cities in the Lone Star State, the area lacks good-paying, professional jobs. That makes it hard to afford to live on one's own.

Plus, many of the city's close-knit families prefer to pool limited resources by living together under one roof, until major life events like marriage or childbirth.

Percentage of millennials living with parents: 45.8%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,210

Median home list price: $699,000

The sky-high prices in California make it hard for just about everyone, regardless of their age, to make it on just one income. What puts Oxnard on this list is that twentysomethings are simply fleeing because it doesn't have enough high-paying jobs to keep up with the increasing home prices.

However, this bucolic surf town is within reach of western Los Angelesabout an hour and a half away by car or train. That means millennials might be able to commute to the City of Angels a few days a week and then come home to dear old Mom and Dad.

Percentage of millennials living with parents: 45.6%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $681

Median home list price: $166,700

El Paso has a lot in common with McAllen. It also lies along the U.S.-Mexico border, suffers from a high unemployment rate and slow economic growth, and is seeing home costs rise. And it has a large Mexican-American population that is generally favorable toward children living with their parents well into adulthood.

So even though housing is pretty cheap, many local residents still can't afford their own digs. But many wouldn't want 'em anyway.

Percentage of millennials living with parents: 45.2%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,134*

Median home list price: $725,000

Many millennials want to live on their own in coastal Bridgeport, but there aren't enough homes to go aroundespecially in the right price range.

Because of its close proximity to New York Cityabout 70 minutes away on an express Metro North trainBridgeport is a popular commuter hub for those looking to save a few bucks and former city dwellers craving extra space for a family. The downtown is also experiencing a resurgence, especially in the Black Rock neighborhood, with bars, restaurants, and live music venues popping up.

That's led to "a big inventory of renters and a small inventory of rentals," says local Realtor Gail Robinson of William Raveis Real Estate.

Percentage of millennials living with parents: 44.8%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,062

Median home list price: $379,500

Millennials are spreading across Miami like bronzing oil on sunbathers. The beaches, all-night parties, and jobs have made it the second most desirable U.S. metro for millennial home buyers, according to realtor.com.

Even with the influx of young residents, the Magic City has one of the highest percentages of millennials who have yet to fly the coop. Thank the killer rents and rising home values. After college, many South Florida kids head home to continue with graduate studies at nearby universities or enter the job market. But theyre often met with entry-level salaries that cannot keep up with the elevated cost of living.

"I have a lot of clients who live with parents and save up little by little until they're ready to buy something," says local Realtor Giovanna Calimano, of Yes Real Estate.

The rest of the top 10 metros where millennials are most likely to live with their parents are Riverside, CA; New York City; North Port, FL; New Haven, CT; and Worcester, MA.

Now, let's look at where millennials are most likely to live solo.

Percentage of millennials living alone: 11.2%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,130

Median home list price: $391,900

Its no surprise that millennials are moving en masse to funky Austin, one of the most dynamic metros in the United States. And even if they are living on their own, don't expect them to be lonely. The city is praised for its great food (hello, breakfast taco!), the arts and tech festival/empire of South by Southwest, as well as its thriving entrepreneurial communities.

What is shocking is how many of Austin's millennials are making it on just one income. The median price of an apartment is more than $1,000and it gets higher the closer you get to the city center.

One reason that many millennials can afford Silicon Hills, as the Texas capital is known, is due to the influx of tech startups and other related firms. The alluring combo of higher incomes and a lower cost of living has led many to choose the city over other tech hubs.

"More and more young people have higher-salary jobs based out of the [San Francisco] Bay Area, Chicago, or New York, and telecommute from Austin, because of the quality of life," says local real estate broker Mark Strub of Strub Residential. "It really is that cool."

Percentage of millennials living alone: 10.4%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $759

Median home list price: $269,700

Yes, Nebraskayou got a problem with that? The city offers affordable rents for those just starting out, and even buying a home is within reach. Plus it boasts thriving arts, restaurant, and indie music scenes. It's home to Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway company, so we're not exactly talking about the middle of nowhere.

The city even has a decent coolness quotient. Local indie rock bands like Cursive have produced albums with Saddle Creek Records, a homegrown record label founded in part by Omaha-native Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. The city's craft beer industry is also gaining momentum, hailed by Thrillist as one of the 10 Untapped Beer Cities Poised to Blow Up.

Percentage of millennials living alone: 10.4%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $719

Median home list price: $234,700

Plenty of the roughly 27,000 students who attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee stick around after graduation. And why not? Milwaukee offers many of the same amenities as nearby Chicago (about an hour and a half away), and the housing is just a fraction of the price.

For example, a brand-new, 1,200 square-foot apartment in downtown Milwaukee runs $1,500 to $1,700 a month in rent, says local Realtor Betsy Wilson Head of Realty Executives. Those a bit more flush with cash can purchase a home in good shape for $150,000 to $175,000.

Plus, millennials don't need to break the bank to have a good time. Idyllic Lake Michigan supports a large sailing community. The Milwaukee Arts Museum is one of the largest in the country, with nearly 25,000 pieces of art. And there are tons of free activities going on around town.

"Every night in summer, [there's a] free concert somewhere," says Wilson Head.

Percentage of millennials living alone: 10.2%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $743

Median home list price: $175,000

Once the prime exemplar of the decline in cities in the Rust Belt, Pittsburgh has made a big comeback in recent yearsespecially among savvy twentysomethings. They've helped propel Steel Town into a new era of prosperity, driven by the growing tech industry and management services.

The city has new art spaces, parks, bike trails, restaurants, bars, and social events, while maintaining the best parts of its old, industrial vibe. Plenty of historic factories have been renovated into reasonably priced housing with the authentic urban, loft vibe that many millennials adore. House party!

Percentage of millennials living alone: 10.1%

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $870

Median home list price: $269,900

New Yorks state capital has embraced the tech industry, attracting companies like IBM and GlobalFoundries. This has helped retain local university graduates and lure millennials from other metros. That influx of young folk has laid the groundwork for a burgeoning cultural scene that has repurposed formerly abandoned industrial districts and launched a downtown renaissance.

"The reason why Albany is so attractive is because it's affordable," says local real estate broker Anthony Gucciardo of the Gucciardo Real Estate Group. Three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses rent for about $2,000 a month.

"The only people here who are likely to have roommates are those still in college," he says.

Rounding out the top 10 cities where millennials are most likely to live alone are Indianapolis; Dayton, OH; Cleveland; New Orleans; and Kansas City, MO.

* The average rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in June, according to Rent Jungle.

The post Where Millennials Live Aloneand Where They're Still Crashing With Mom and Dad appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
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A father who played a Dothraki Bloodrider in Game of Thrones has made a touching tribute to the cult show - by recreating famous scenes with his adorable baby daughter.

Actor Jay Khan, from West London, asked photographer Victoria Nixon to create a setting for a father-daughter photoshoot that took inspiration from the medieval fantasy epic.

The results are a heart-melting set of images showing baby Alara-Star snuggling up to her dad - who bears a striking resemblance to Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington) - in the fire and ice settings.

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Jay Khan, from West London, played a Dothraki Bloodrider in Game of Thrones and after his daughter Alara-Star was born, he decided to pay tribute to his favourite show with a themed photoshoot

Aaah! The father/daughter photoshoot saw baby Alara-Star 'chilling' out in her daddy's arms while snapper Victoria Nixon created the shots around her

The gorgeous duo were featured in fire and ice settings to recreate the medieval fantasy series' look

In one scene, Jay, clad in a flowing animal-skin robe with fur collar, cradles Alara-Star against the backdrop of a snow-covered forest, complete with barren trees and wolves stalking.

The actor told us he wanted something different for his first dad/daughter shoot. He told MailOnline: 'I Googled a few images and saw a Star Wars newborn baby shoot and thought that was different and cool.

'I realised there were none for Game of Thrones so I thought that would be powerful as the show represents many things but for me it could represent protection, especially with the wolves and how they grew up protecting the stark siblings, from the dangers of the winter, forest and of course the white walkers.

Protection was a key theme to the shoot, something that Jay says he felt features heavily in the show

Photographer Nixon said she focused on natural elements - including fire and candlelight - for Alara-Star's portrait images

'So I would be protecting my newborn and protecting her, I thought it would be unique and a good contrast of good and evil.'

He says Alara-Star was 'really chilled' during the shoot except for a vomiting episode. He said: 'She did accidentally puke on the chair, so I had to get a hair dryer out to dry it in order to carry on!

Khan worked in Spain and Belfast - plus in secret locations - on the show but sadly didn't make it beyond season six, when Dothrakis met a gruesome end.

Of his Jon Snow moment on the shoot, he said: 'I can't wait to show them to Alara-Star when she gets older and am so proud of her, Victoria is such a talented photographer and is amazing with babies as she is a mum too.

'Life goes by so fast so to remember, relive and enjoy the these moments with my daughter has been a beautiful blessing from god.'

With his experience on the Game of Thrones set, Jay helped to set the scene for the adorable snaps

Natural fabrics - and a natural beauty in Alara-Star - helped to make the shoot 'something special', said photographer Victoria

Photographer Victoria (victorianixonphotography.com) said that while she hadn't seen the series herself, she soaked up the themes of the show by researching episodes and chatting to Jay, who had invaluable experience.

She said: 'I absolutely love to create classic timeless newborn photography, but my art background also means that I adore getting creative with composite photography.

When I found out that Jay was keen to incorporate ideas inspired by the show in his daughters newborn shoot, I knew it was going to be something special.'
Social media users are becoming concerned for Carl's Jr. after the fast food chain began pleading for Amazon to buy it in a bizarre stream of tweets.

The strange online exchange began on Sunday evening, with the famous burger chain tweeting at the powerhouse online retailer with a proposal for why the giant online company should consider purchasing Carl's Jr.

'Hey @Amazon we know you like buying companies. You know who you should buy next...' read the tweet. '...US. @Amazon YOU. SHOULD. BUY. US.'

New idea? Carl's Jr. has attracted concern after begging Amazon on Twitter to buy it

Coming out: The story started late on Sunday when the brand tweeted out this message

Boom: The fast-food chain suggested that Amazon should make an offer

The fast-food favorite then rattled off a few hits in the 'pros' column to try and gain Amazon's attention, suggesting '2-Day shipping meets Double Cheeseburgers' and pointing out that both of their logos are already similar in that they are smiling.

Soon enough the Carl's Jr. social media team came up with an idea to sell themselves to the wildly popular online shopping site.

'HEY @Amazon! FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS WE WILL BE SHARING ONE OF OUR BIG IDEAS EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR!!!!!!!' read another tweet from the account which was posted in the early hours of Monday morning, and finished with the hashtag #AmazonBuyUs.

And - for better or worse - the brand has kept true to that promise, tweeting out a new idea every hour on Monday that combines the respective features of Carl's Jr. and Amazon.

Two of a kind: The social media managers for the brand even tried to point out similarities between the brands

One after another: It was followed by a steady stream of pleas from the brand on Twitter

Stepping up: Soon enough the brand revealed plans to share a new idea every hour

One click: One of the ideas included a button customers could press to get chicken tenders

That's a look: Many of the ideas were even accompanied by Photoshopped visuals

Mercifully, none of the plans so far have involved the brand's most famous marketing strategy: Paying beautiful women to eat massive burgers on camera.

So far, the pitched ideas include creations such as the 'Tender Button,' which lets customers order chicken tenders with just the touch of a button.

Others include the 'Eater Reader,' which consists of a food tray with a holder for Amazon's Kindle reader, and the 'Prime Thru,' a drive-thru that allows members to skip to the front of the line.

One of the stranger offerings is a self-driving Carl's Jr. restaurant, which promises 'the charbroiled goodness of our kitchen comes to you!'

Many of the proposed 'inventions' are accompanied by Photoshopped visuals of the ideas, with many turning out laughable to say the least.

Outside the box: The brand even went so far as to pitch an idea for a TV mini-series

Usual tactics: Carl's Jr. is best known for its commercials featuring beautiful models eating massive hamburgers

Speculation: The desperate barrage of tweets led to some assuming that the chain was hurting for funds

Over-the-top: Many users were baffled by the strange day-long effort to get the retailer's attention

Not impressed: Other users branded Carl's Jr. 'pathetic' and 'thirsty'

The barrage of desperate tweets has left many users concerned that the burger chain known for its provocative advertising must be 'broke' to be begging so persistently to be bought by Amazon.

'Why is Carl's Jr. violently throwing itself at Amazon?' asked one user, while others branded the company 'pathetic' and 'thirsty.'

While it isn't clear just how serious the proposal truly is, Jeff Jenkins, Chief Marketing Officer, Carls Jr. and Hardees, told USA Today that the tweets are about 'generating a conversation around a partnership.'

'The tweets are obviously a start to try and see where the dialogue goes have a lot of fun with it, and see if they find the spirit of it as fun as we do,' he said.

'Some of the ideas are closer to home (to what) we could execute, but some are obviously pushing the envelope.'
With summer on the horizon keeping cool is set to become the number one priority in households across Australia.

But rising electricity costs mean it's important to think about clever ways of cutting your quarterly bill, without sacrificing comfort.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph Queensland Consumers Association spokesperson Ian Jarratt said creeping costs over the hotter months are largely the result of running air conditioning.

'Air-conditioners have a huge impact on most peoples bills - much more than washing machines and dishwashers,' he said.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the consumer expert's top tips for running a cooling unit efficiently, plus a host of other things you can do to keep your power bill under control.

Air-conditioners have a huge impact on most peoples bills - much more than washing machines and dishwashers

YOU DON'T NEED TO FREEZE TO KEEP COOL

When it's hot outside it's natural to want to turn up the air conditioning to cool the air as quickly as possible.

But feeling cool and warm is relative to the outside temperature which means on a warmer day you can set air conditioning to a warmer temperature and still cool down.

The consumer expert's recommendation is to set air conditioning to 24 degrees during summer as every degree lower than than costs an additional 10 per cent. By his reasoning an air conditioner set at 19 degrees costs an extra 50 per cent to run.

'If the temperature is set too low, it gobbles up the juice,' he said.

The consumer expert's recommendation is to set air conditioning to 24 degrees during summer as every degree lower than than costs an additional 10 percent

CHOOSE THE ECO OPTION

Mr Jarratt's recommendation is to run your air conditioner on ECO or ECON if your unit has this option.

'Many consumers are not aware of, or do not use, this feature even though it can reduce power consumption significantly and still deliver acceptable levels of comfort.'

KEEP THE FILTER CLEAN

This tip comes via electrician Rebecca Mair who said cleaning the filter on your air conditioning unit can help save money.

According to Ms Mair, brand ambassador for Clipsal by Schneider Electric, it's a simple job that can be done in a few minutes.

She advises to keep air conditioning units running well, clean filters at least once a week.

'When filters have a build-up of dust, efficiency is impaired, leading to higher costs,' she said.

Run your unit using the ECO option if it has this feature can reduce power consumption significantly

CHANGE LIGHTING TO LED

Australian budgeting expert, Michelle Thompson-Laing recently revealed how a series of simple tweaks helped her and her family of five cut their annual energy spend by $5,400.

Writing on her blog Keep Calm Get Organised, Ms Thompson-Laing said the first thing to consider was lighting, explaining that halogen lights use 75 - 80 per cent more electricity to run than LED down lights.

Australian budgeting expert, Michelle Thompson-Laing, 32, made a few simple tweaks and was able to cut her annual energy spend by $5,400

As her home was full of them, Ms Thompson-Laing changed over all the lights initially (costing them $8 - $10) per globe but noticed a major change to their power bill.

She also advises people to check with their energy companies to see if there are 'on and off peak times' and to always remember to turn off lights, computers, TVs and heaters when they leave the room

Ms Thompson-Laing said the first thing to consider is the type of lights you use, explaining that halogen lights use 75 - 80 per cent more electricity to run than LED down lights

As her home was full of them, Ms Thompson-Laing changed over all the lights initially (costing them $8 - $10) per globe but noticed a major change to their power bill

INVEST IN INSULATION

Ms Thompson-Laing also encourages homeowners to invest in insulation to cut costs on heating and cooling and to set air conditioners and heaters using a timer. The optimal temperature is 23 degrees in summer and 18 degrees in winter.

The thrifty mother also reminded people that they can save more than 20 per cent on their electricity usage just by changing providers and that a lot of the big changes can be made in the kitchen alone.

Ms Thompson-Laing added that dishwashers should be used efficiently and suggests that it's only used with a full load on an eco wash option if it's available

When it comes to the fridge and freezer, she encourages people to make sure they're full to avoid using more energy than necessary, to avoid opening and closing them

This can be done by taking notice of the energy rating on different appliances as while an energy efficient appliance may be more expensive to purchase, the savings are worth it.

FRIDGES, FREEZERS, DISHWASHERS AND STOVES

Ms Thompson-Laing added that dishwashers should be used efficiently and suggests that it's only used with a full load on an eco wash option if it's available.

When it comes to the fridge and freezer, she encourages people to make sure they're full to avoid using more energy than necessary, to avoid opening and closing them and to teach kids to decide on what they want rather than standing in front of it.

'Get everything out of the fridge in one go, preheat the oven and pan only for as long as is needed and don't leave it heating for extended periods of time without food in it,' Ms Thompson-Laing said

When cooking, she says there are a number of things people can do to cut down on energy.

'Get everything out of the fridge in one go, preheat the oven and pan only for as long as is needed and don't leave it heating for extended periods of time without food in it,' Ms Thompson-Laing said.

'Bulk cook where possible. Once the oven is on, it uses just as much energy to cook multiple dishes at the one time as it does to cook just one. The same goes for boiling or steaming vegetables or cooking food in a pan. Bulk cooking saves energy and time.'
Impossibly long eyelashes, glossy full hair blowing in the wind, a face completely devoid of bags or lines, a smooth body with nary even a collarbone to be found.

These are the images that we still see every day in our magazines covers, fashion ads, and sky high billboards.

But as the tide starts to turn against Photoshopping advertisements, one professional retoucher is hoping to reveal just how much he is asked to change.

The anonymous retoucher, referred to as James in the Sydney Morning Herald, has worked for Vogue as well as major designers like Gucci, Zara, and Louis Vuitton.

A professional retoucher has anonymously revealed just how much he is asked to change for major fashion magazines and designers like Vogue, Gucci, and Zara (file photo)

Zendaya has been one of the most vocal celebrities when it comes to Photoshopping, calling out an LA fashion magazine for making her thighs and torso look significantly more slender

James has retouched every part of the body, from making cheekbones sharper to thinning down thighs and taking out cigarette stains on fingernails.

Speaking to journalist, Carolyn Cage he said: 'A lot of the time there will be two favoured shots and the client might say, "I like this head, but I like this body", so it ends up a Frankenstein of body parts.'

The result is not only a complete distortion of the model, but of what the advertised product can truly achieve as well, he added.

This point was made clear when James recently retouched an ad for an international hair company.

During the shoot, the model's hair was photographed stuck to a piece of cardboard. Five pieces of her hair were then separately photographed on a table.

James had to then digitally add those pieces of individually shot hair into the final image, making the model's locks look far more fuller and voluminous.

The retoucher has even been asked to make models look less skinny, a process he said is known as 'reverse retouching'.

This can include everything from taking blue out of hands suffering from poor blood circulation to adding actual flesh over protruding collarbones and rib cages.

Just last month, stunning model and actress Emily Ratajkowski accused French magazine Madame Figaro for photoshopping her lips and breasts (pictured is retouched version)

Emily posted the original version on her Instagram (pictured) and said she was 'extremely disappointed' by the magazine's decision to alter the image

'It is almost worse than making someone slimmer because the image claims you can be at an unhealthy weight but still look healthy. In reality you can't,' he said.

James said these flawless ads are giving consumers unrealistic expectations of both what a product can do, and what kind of perfection they can achieve.

'In reality they are so removed from the truth, even models can't attain their own image because they've been retouched so much,' he said.

James isn't the only photo retoucher to reveal what really goes on behind the scenes.

Another anonymous digital retoucher claimed to BuzzFeed that '100 per cent' of what we see in fashion magazines have been retouched.

'I remove veins, freckles, moles, and bags under the eyes all the time,' she said.

'We often remove body hair, subdue wrinkles, whiten teeth, pop the eyes, we also smooth kneecaps and veins in the hands.'

Like James, this retoucher said she is commonly asked to cover-up just how skinny a model is by smoothing out protruding bones.

But more and more celebrities are speaking out against Photoshopping and sharing their original photos to fight.

Recently luxury retail site Net-a-Porter accidentally revealed their own retouching requests

The luxury retail site published a photo on its website containing the photo editing instructions 'please slim' on a model's body, arms, and wrists in March 2017

Zendaya sounded the alarm against digital retouching as early as November 2015, after a shoot with Los Angeles fashion magazine Modeliste.

The manipulated images showed the actress with significantly slimmer legs and torso as well as a much more tanned appearance.

'Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19 year old hips and torso quite manipulated,' she wrote on Instagram.

'These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have.'

A year later, Scandal star Kerry Washington hit out at American magazine Adweek and said she barely recognised herself in the retouched photos.

'It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror,' she said. 'It's an unfortunate feeling.'

Just as recently as last month, model and actress Emily Ratajkowski accused French magazine Madame Figaro for photoshopping her lips and breasts.

In 2011 two American computer engineers used a program to highlight the differences between a natural and retouched picture

The engineers developed a scale to warn consumers over how much an image has been altered, with minor tweaks earning a '1' rating, and a complete body alteration earning a '5'

'I was extremely disappointed to see my lips and breasts altered in Photoshop on this cover,' Emily captioned the photo as she took to Instagram to vent her frustration.

'Everyone is uniquely beautiful in their own ways. We all have insecurities about the things that make us different from a typical ideal of beauty. I, like so many of us, try every day to work past those insecurities.'

Consumers have also begun to call out companies for their obvious Photoshop fails, and recently Net-a-Porter accidentally revealed their own retouching requests.

The luxury retail site published a photo on its website containing the photo editing instructions 'please slim' on a model's body, arms, and wrists in March 2017.

France has since taken a page from Net-a-Porter's accident, making it a law that any Photoshopped image used to sell a product must include a disclaimer that it has been retouched.

Meanwhile Getty images, a major stock photo provider, has banned retouched images completely.

But the retoucher who spoke to BuzzFeed believes that disclaimers in the fashion industry would be fruitless.

'There's just no way an image would be released without any retouching at all,' she said, 'So every single ad would have that disclaimer on it.'
A mother-of-four has revealed she bounced back to her pre-pregnancy body after involving her children in her workouts.

Taryn Anderson, 31, underwent an extraordinary body transformation - and she's now fitter than ever just two years after giving birth to triplets.

She went from struggling to walk across the room to working out five times a week in an inspiring post-partum fitness journey that saw her lose 22 kilograms.

The Perth physiotherapist said like any new mother, she needed time to recover from the birth of her three babies, despite having been previously active.

Taryn Anderson has undergone an extraordinary transformation after the birth of her triplets

'After giving birth, I was floppy everywhere and had no muscle mass left,' she said.

'All I did for the first four months was wear recovery shorts that held my tummy together as I had a four centimetre abdominal separation after giving birth to four babies in 22 months.'

Rather than throw herself into a hectic fitness schedule in order to 'bounce back', Taryn took a slower approach  one that allowed her to juggle the demands of motherhood.

In the early days, the mum-of-four (pictured working out next to her daughter Posey) slowly added in things like going for a 15 minute walk with the pram and slow built that up over time

'I have a cargo bike that I strap the kids into and I use it to take them to school, to the market and to the library,' Taryn said (pictured taking Ava, Euan, Posey and Bryn out for a bike ride)

'I slowly added in things like going for a 15 minute walk with the pram in the early days and I just built that up over time,' she said.

'I started doing regular gentle workouts three times a week when the triplets were eight months old.'

Although running around after three two-year-olds has kept Taryn on her toes, she's also found a way to incorporate them into her 30-minute workouts five times a week.

'80 per cent of my workouts are done with the kids, either at home, at the park, riding the bike or doing some pilates or yoga that I watch on YouTube,' she said.

'I have a cargo bike that I strap the kids into and I use it to take them to school, to the market and to the library.'

Taryn incorporated her triplets into her 30-minute workouts five times a week (pictured working out with one of her triplets while doing the laundry)

'I love involving the kids because they learn the importance of being active' (pictured two of her children taking part in their mother's workout)

She said that by getting the kids involved in her fitness, not only set a good example but it meant she doesn't have to use up her precious 'me time' for working out while the kids are asleep.

'I love involving the kids because they learn the importance of being active.

'It rubs off on them so much, like the other day Ava put her feet up on the couch in a push up position just to show me she could.'

'It just means I can be more active during my day.

Although Taryn and her husband Heath Anderson, a 32-year-old geologist, suspected they might be having twins, the couple got the shock of their lives when the doctor revealed it was triplets.

Taryn and her husband Heath Anderson, a 32-year-old geologist got the shock of their lives when they found out they were having triplets

'I had a big baby bump early on so I thought maybe it was twins, said Taryn.

Naturally occurring triplets are still a rare phenomenon representing just one in 9,000 pregnancies in Australia.

'My dad's a triplet and his grandmother's a twin while on my mum's side there's twins in every generation so I guess it was in the back of my mind,' she said.

Already parents to four-year-old Ava, new additions Posey, Euan and Bryn instantly doubled the size of the family.

New additions Posey, Euan and Bryn instantly doubled the size of the family

'When they first did the scan, the doctor said "Oh yes, its twins, there are two separate sacs".

'But then he said "Wait, let me double check" and after an internal scan he found the third one.'

'We went from being completely excited for twins to then being completely overwhelmed that it was triplets in the space of two minutes.

'I got quite cross with the poor sonographer because I was in such shock. I told him "No, you told us two, you can't change your mind".'

'During the pregnancy, I was three times as tired, three times and sick and three times as sore and uncomfortable,' Taryn said

For a triplets pregnancy, Taryn's and usual symptoms like morning sickness and back pain were far more intense and debilitating.

'During the pregnancy, I was three times as tired, three times and sick and three times as sore and uncomfortable.

'Usually women don't start getting Braxton Hicks contractions until their third trimester but I got them at 11 weeks with the triplets.

At her 12-week scan Taryn's boys were diagnosed with a rare and dangerous condition called twin-to-twin transfusion, which can occur when two babies share a placenta.

While Taryn's pregnancy was fairly plain sailing the mum admits she did face some complications (pictured of the triplets - Euan, Bryn and Posey)

'I was worried that I'd need to have surgery while the triplets were still inside of me.

'But I got very lucky, as the boys just progressed and thankfully it didn't get any worse or require any medical intervention.'

And at 33 weeks and 4 days, which is considered full-term for triplets, Taryn's doctor discovered that the blood flow to Posey was diminishing.

'During the birth I had 25 doctors in the room. It was very full on but I was just so relieved they all arrived healthy' (pictured while pregnant with the triplets)

Instead of wait any longer for the babies to develop, doctors decided to go ahead with Taryn's caesarean acting just in time to keep Posey and her brothers safe.

'During the birth I had 25 doctors in the room. It was very full on but I was just so relieved they all arrived healthy.'

Taryn's triplets spent three weeks in hospital after they were born because they were so tiny, a time she said was tough on her and the family.

'When the babies came home it was incredibly hard. I would get two or three hours of broken sleep a night and I was breastfeeding them as well so that was a bit of a juggling act.'

The triplets Posey, Euan and Bryn with their big sister Ava (pictured second from left)

While most people can't imagine the chaos that comes with having four kids under five, the busy mum said the most challenging aspect of it has not been anything to do with the children but with nasty remarks from complete strangers.

'It's crazy how many negative comments I get when I'm just out and about,' she said.

'To a sleep deprived new mum who has worked so hard to bring them into the world healthy, hearing those comments was the hardest thing to deal with.

'People would say things like "That's my worst nightmare" or "I'd rather be dead than have so many children" and "That's a fate worth than death".'

The busy mum said the most challenging aspect of it has not been anything to do with the children but with nasty remarks from complete strangers (pictured with Ava and Posey)

Irrespective of others reactions on seeing her brood, Taryn said her and Heath couldn't be happier, and that now their children are a bit older, life has also become easier too.

'My husband and I chuckle to ourselves when we hear them all playing and chatting in the next room,' she said.

Taryn urges other mothers who may be struggling after giving birth to adopt a kinder attitude towards themselves, and not succumb to an idea they need to look a certain way.

'I think the most important thing for new mums to realise is that no one just bounces back,' she said.

'You need to take it slow and be kind to yourself.'
While many fork out a fortune for the most on-trend beauty products, they often don't realise that some of the best selling items cost under $30.

Popular beauty hub Mecca Australia has listed their top selling beauty products and eight of them are surprisingly affordable despite their cult status.

Here, FEMAIL takes an in depth look at the eight cheapest best sellers - and some of them may surprise you.

Popular Australian beauty store Mecca has shared their best selling products, with a variety of beauty items selling for $30 and under

1. MARIO BADESCU FACIAL SPRAY WITH ALOE, HERBS AND ROSEWATER $9

Mario Badescu products have become a cult classic in the beauty world and even has celebrities like Kylie Jenner raving about the line.

This spray is designed to re hydrate and nourish tight and uncomfortable skin.

It has multiple uses as it is recommended that you 'spray your day and night creams for a boost of hydration' and you can also use it to set your make-up or spray on dry hair.

'I bought this rosewater spray just recently and even after a week of using it, my skin has never felt better. The spray is refreshing and moisturising but it doesn't feel heavy or thick on the skin,' one user commented.

'The best thing about it is how easy it is to use, the bottle is a good size and it's so easy to apply with the spray. Not to mention, the spray smells amazing!'

This being said, not all users are happy with the product.

'This made my skin break out with small pimples all over, and my skin is normally pretty clear so this is unusual for me, and also very annoying,' another woman wrote.

This spray is designed to re hydrate and nourish dehydrated, tight and uncomfortable skin

2. CLINIQUE TAKE THE DAY OFF CLEANSING BALM $15

This cleansing balm from Clinique is designed to help remove your makeup while also cleansing your skin.

The Mecca website says the formula is 'non-greasy and non-drying' designed to leave the skin feeling 'comfortably clean'.

There aren't many people who have reviewed the product but the majority of reviews have been positive with one woman saying it removes every trace of makeup.

Another reviewer said that the reason she bought the product is because it is raved about in the beauty community but she found that it glides over her make up instead of 'lifting it' from her skin.

This cleansing balm from Clinique is designed to help remove your makeup while also cleansing your skin

The formula is 'non-greasy and non-drying' designed to leave the skin feeling 'comfortably clean'

3. TOO FACED BETTER THAN SEX MASCARA $17

This celebrity favourite is an icon in the beauty world that claims to be so amazing it is 'better than sex'.

The affordable product has continuously topped beauty lists since it was first made available in Australia.

There have been thousands of reviews for the mascara with those who are fans of the product saying that with just one coat your lashes are left full, defined and voluptuous.

The downside?

'I bought this mascara when everyone was raving about it in the media and i was honestly so excited to try it!' one purchaser wrote,

'But when i tried it the mascara went clumpy and flaked off during the day and also transferred on top of my eyelid. Definitely not for me.'

This mascara is an icon in the beauty world that claims to be so amazing it is 'better than sex'

There have been thousands of reviews for the mascara with those who are fans of the product saying that with just one coat your lashes are left full, defined and voluptuous

4. URBAN DECAY ALL NIGHTER LONG LASTING MAKEUP SETTING SPRAY $23

Urban Decay's setting sprays are often talked about in the beauty community with it being a staple in many people's makeup bags.

This product is said to 'lock down complexion, eyes and lips' for the night and promises an 'invincible makeup look' for up to 16 hours.

Urban Decay have also said that in a seven day study of the product over 80% of participants said their makeup not only looked better, it stayed on better, even in the T-zone area.

One user of the product said that she has been using it for a year and would never use a different setting spray.

'It gets rid of all powdery/cakey looks, locks in makeup for all day long wear and just makes everything sit nice and matte.'

In contrast, another user didn't have as good luck with the setting spray.

'I got this product as well as the oil slick one. I find this one was horrible and makes my make up worse and doesn't last AT ALL.

'I much much prefer the other urban decay oil slick one.'

This product is said to 'lock down complexion, eyes and lips' for the night and promises an 'invincible makeup look' for up to 16 hours

5. MARIO BADESCU DRYING LOTION $24

Mario Badescu makes another appearance on the best sellers list with its drying lotion designed to target spots.

The brand claims that the product soothes whiteheadsand dries pimples overnight with only a dab of the lotion.

Mario Badescu was once a beauty secret but exploded when celebrities started revealing that they use his products.

It is designed to be used before bed after you cleanse, tone and moisturise.

'This product is a best seller for the fact it provides you with the fast relief guarantee,' one woman wrote.

'I use it as soon as I notice anything coming up and its either stopped in its tracks or gone within the next 24-48hrs,' one woman said.

The downside?

'I have tried this product continuously for a while now and it has not worked at all for me. This product definitely has not helped clear my skin, it has made it so much worse which is horrible,' another wrote.

Mario Badescu makes another appearance on the best sellers list with its drying lotion designed to help target spots

Mario Badescu products have become a cult classic in the beauty world and even has celebrities like Kylie Jenner raving about the line

6. CHOSANGUH22 DONG GONG MINN BROW MAKER $24

This product claims to be 'the ultimate brow-grooming tool' as it combines a tinted brow gel with a defining marker.

The website says that the product is infused with phyto keratin and henna to nourish and protect brow hairs' while also being a waterproof formula.

'I got this a few weeks ago and I'm really happy with it, I was looking for something similar to gimme brow and I wanted to try this and I am so happy,' one happy buyer wrote.

'It gives really fluffy, full looking brows that also just seems truly natural. I will absolutely repurchase.'

While another purchaser said they have no idea who the product would work for.

'It is a major fail. Nothing about this product makes sense. I watched a few videos online to see if I was using it wrong but found most of the beauty bloggers found the same thing. Bit of a dud product.'

This product claims to be 'the ultimate brow-grooming tool' as it combines a tinted brow gel with a defining marker

7. GLAMGLOW SUPERMUD CLEARING TREATMENT $27

This famous face mask is made using 'new technologies for deep pore extraction, to eliminate the look of pores' that promises glowing skin.

It is described as the 'World's most Scientifically Advanced SUPERMUD Clearing Treatment' and was developed to fight common skin concerns.

'I bought this mask two months ago, use it every second day on my acne, and it works visibly great,' one buyer wrote.

'In addition, since I use it just on the spots instead of the whole face, the mask can be used for a pretty long time. Worth the price and definitely will repurchase it!'

The downside?

'I was so excited to try this product and I never been so disappointed. I bought this about a month ago and used it three times.

'Now three weeks later I am still battling the worst breakouts I have ever had,' another wrote, giving the product one star.

This famous face mask is made using 'new technologies for deep pore extraction, to eliminate the look of pores' that promises glowing skin

It is described as the 'World's most Scientifically Advanced SUPERMUD Clearing Treatment' and was developed to fight common skin concerns

8. DR DENNIS GROSS HYALURONIC CLEARING TREATMENT $30

This oil-free moisturiser promises to 'firm the skin for a younger looking complexion' and seal in 'time-released hydration'.

It works by drawing in moisture, then sealing it in to keep it looking dewy and supple throughout the day which creates the appearance of younger-looking skin.

One reviewer said that since she started using the treatment her skin has remained matte all day.

Although she wrote that she usually hates the feeling of having moisturiser on her face, she didn't notice that feeling with this product.

Another woman said that the moisturiser would be good for oily skin but it didn't suit her normal skin as it dried her out.
An Australian model is speaking out after an editor at an international Vogue publication made fun of her nose.

Tiah Eckhardt, 31, was at a casting and standing behind a glass door when she heard the editor speaking about her appearance.

'Ugh, I've seen her before,' Tiah recalled the editor saying. 'I can't stand that pointy nose.'

Tiah, of Perth, has graced the pages of Harper's Bazaar and Elle, walked the runway for Armani and Bill Blass, and appeared in campaigns for Valentino and MAC.

But those six words caused Tiah to feel insecure about her face for years, so much so that she worried every time a photographer asked to take a picture of her profile.

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Australian model Tiah Eckhardt, 31, has revealed that she once overheard an international Vogue editor making fun of her nose

Tiah, of Perth, has graced the pages of Harper's Bazaar and Elle, walked the runway for Armani and Bill Blass, and appeared in campaigns for Valentino and MAC

But the mother-of-one has finally decided to stop letting the comment get her down, and to embrace what makes her stand out from the fashion crowd.

Tiah posted a defiant picture of her profile from a recent shoot, with her hair done up in an Old Hollywood bob and her nose perfectly on display.

Accompanying the picture was a lengthy caption, in which Tiah spoke out against the 'systemic homogenization of the female appearance' in contemporary society.

'The things fashion people always hated the most about me (nose, boobs, hips, eyes) have always been the things me, my friends, and boyfriends have said they like the most!' she wrote. 'These "quirks" make you unique!'

But those six words caused the successful lingerie model to feel insecure about her profile for years, so much so that she worried every time her face was photographed up close

But the mother-of-one has finally decided to stop letting the comment get her down, and to embrace what makes her stand out from the fashion crowd

Tiah said she was sad that the beauty 'standard' has now become defined by the looks of reality stars and 'instamodels'.

'Don't misinterpret - I am all for autonomy of one's self and doing what makes you feel good,' she noted.

'But when every girl is going to the same plastic surgeon and asking for the EXACT same nose job, and the EXACT same fillers, and EXACT same boob job, narrowing a standard that was already stringent even further...something is VERY wrong.'

Tiah questioned why it had become a goal for women to 'eradicate any perceived flaw' on their face and bodies.

'Do what makes you feel good, but I seriously beg you to ask yourself in depth why you feel the need to change the wonderful things that make you unique before you do, and really analyze the motives behind the desire to do so,' she wrote.

Tiah said she was sad that the beauty 'standard' has now become defined by the looks of reality stars and 'instamodels' and called on her followers to embrace their unique features

'It can sometimes be so much more liberating to learn to embrace your individuality instead.'

This isn't the first time Tiah has spoken about beauty, recently praising Allure for featuring Dame Helen Mirren on the cover and calling for the end of 'anti-aging'.

'As life extends, the window of being 18-25 and "in our peak" becomes shorter and short and more irrelevant,' Tiah wrote.

'We need to start approaching beauty from an angle of self-care, individuality, and celebrating what we DO have, rather than chasing an ideal we will never obtain.'

'I believe everyone is and has the potential to be beautiful - the most beautiful women I have met in my life are NOT the same age, race, size, or necessarily have conventional features.'

'They are the ones that embrace their uniqueness, have a healthy attitude towards themselves, and celebrate where and who they are at any particular point in time.'
Queen Maxima was given a very warm welcome by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the Portuguese Republic as she touched down in Lisbon on Tuesday.

Dressed to impress in a figure-hugging brown ensemble, the Dutch royal was treated to a tender kiss on the hand by the dignitary.

She was later photographed in a dazzling emerald gown - perhaps a nod to the Portuguese flag - believed to be from Dutch designer Jan Taminiau as she drank with her royal husband at a royal banquet.

A touch of sparkle came in the form of the Dutch Emerald Parure Tiara, a royal heirloom set with pearls and emeralds believed to to have belonged to Wilhelmina of Prussia, wife of William V of Orange.

Queen Maxima was given a very warm welcome by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the Portuguese Republic

Maxima and her husband are on a three-day state visit and the monarch looked just as chic on her arrival last night as she did today at the Praca do Imperio in Lisbon

Maxima and her husband are on a three-day state visit and the monarch looked just as chic on her arrival last night as she did today at the Praca do Imperio in Lisbon.

Earlier the Dutch royal, looking as coiffed as ever, made a stylish entrance as she stepped onto the tarmac in Lisbon n a pair of tailored purple trousers.

Later on Tuesday, kicking off the state visit with her husband King Willem-Alexander, Maxima paired her trousers with a matching magenta top and peep-toe heels.

A nod to comfort came in the shape of a deep pink shawl with gold trim draped over her shoulders - perhaps to shield herself from the air-con on the plane.

Royal bling: A touch of sparkle came in the form of the Dutch Emerald Parure Tiara, a royal heirloom set with emeralds which are thought to have belonged to Wilhelmina of Prussia

The Dutch queen was later photographed in a dazzling emerald gown believed to be from Dutch designer Jan Taminiau as she joined her husband at the state banquet

Glamorous arrival: Maxima and her husband are on a three-day state visit and the monarch looked just as chic on her arrival last night as she did today at the Praca do Imperio in Lisbon

The Dutch queen's dazzling frock featured delicate leaf detailing in the skirt and was paired with matching emerald jewellery

A subtle nod to her hosts? Maxima's green gown could be an homage to the Portugese red and green flag

The guests settle down for a sumptuous feast as they dine from golden tableware

The Dutch royal was treated to a tender kiss on the hand by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the Portuguese Republic on Tuesday

Queen Maxima was dressed to impress in a figure-hugging brown ensemble

Queen Maxima and King Willem Alexander were welcomed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the Portuguese Republic in Lisbon

Despite touching down late last night, the Queen looked fresh and radiant as she joined the men at the welcome ceremony at the Praca do Imperio in Lisbon

Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander touched down in Lisbon overnight on Monday

The Dutch royals are in Portugal for a two day state visit. Queen Maxima wore top to toe purple with a pink shawl and a giant beetle necklace

Her final - and rather dramatic - accessory was an enormous gold necklace with a pendant shaped like a beetle.

The mother-of-three wore her blonde hair loose and smiled for the cameras as she and the King shook hands with the welcome party on the red carpet.

The Dutch royals arrived in Portugal after an invitation was extended by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The King and Queen will tour Lisbon, Alverca, Sintra and Cascais during their jam-packed two-day visit.

King Willem-Alexander looked jovial as he stepped onto the tarmac in Lisbon followed by his wife Queen Maxima

The Queen accessorised her purple outfit with a pink shawl trimmed with gold and an unusual beetle necklace

On Tuesday the royal couple are expected to lay a wreath at the tomb of Luis de Camoes, a national hero in Portugal and the country's greatest poet.

Tonight the President will host a state dinner in honour of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, at which both royals are expected to make speeches.
Susanna Reid had to issue an apology when a guest swore live on air during a discussion about her Instagram account 'dearcatcallers'.

The Good Morning Britain host, 46, was speaking with Dutch student Noa Jansma, 20, about her project which shamed men who had cat-called her in the street with selfies uploaded to her social media page.

But as Noa was describing the type of abusive comments she had received since starting the account she repeated a comment with the swear word 'm************'.

Susanna had to quickly apologise for the language as co-host Piers Morgan smirked in response beside her.

Student Noa Jansma, who created her own Instagram account called 'dearcatcallers', had appeared on the show to say that sexist abuse was not acceptable

After Noa blurted out the swear word Susanna was forced to apologise, above, but pointed out that it was the type of comments the student had received

Noa said: 'I made this project about respect and how you behave with the people on the street, you just treat them in an equal way and then there are these comments that say, "yeah, you should respect everyone" and then also "this m********** should die".'

Susanna then cut the interview short as she said: 'Apologies for the use of that language on television, but it's an example of the sort of comments heard on the street.'

The student from Netherlands, to call out men who directed unwanted comments at her on the street.

She explained that she wanted to send out the message that sexist abuse is not acceptable, but presenter Piers said that not all the comments she had shared were that extreme.

'I would be careful about some of these examples, because some of these seem harmless,' he said.

Presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid both clashed over the debate - with Susanna disagreeing with Eve over her opinion

Eve Pollard, right, said she missed being cat-called and said it was a 'nice feeling' to hear, but her fellow guest Harriet Winter (left) didn't agree

It was followed by a heated debate where Susanna clashed with a guest over whether cat-calling should be banned on Good Morning Britain.

The 46-year-old presenter snapped at former magazine editor Eve Pollard, who admitted that, at 71, she 'missed being cat-called'.

'Were trying to kill all the fun,' Eve said as Susanna's co-host Piers Morgan agreed adding women should 'take the compliment', but Susanna wasn't impressed.

Susanna hit back: 'Have you thought about the women that dont find it fun?'

Eve then told her: 'A guy comes near you, thats not on. Hearing a wolf whistle - for those of you who can still hear - makes you feel great for about five minutes.'

She added: 'Were all objectified. You look at people as you see them.'

Susanna attempted to make herself heard over Piers' taunts - her co-host said that women should appreciate compliments and stop being so aggressive in response.

'Somebody says youre looking great and your first reaction is: "How dare you?"' he said.

'Isnt that an indication of some of the aggression we do receive?' Susanna hit back.

Susanna attempted to defend her stance on cat-calling but Piers taunted her over receiving compliments and that women should stop being aggressive in response

Piers insisted such behaviour was a compliment that women should appreciate, but Susanna refused to back down

'Sometimes its hard to filter out the positive harmlessness,' before adding, 'How can the aggression come from the woman?'

'Sometimes it is possible that the woman might be overly aggressive in these circumstance,' Piers countered.

Strictly's Charlotte Hawkins, who sat in on the debate, shrugged the controversy off and confessed she didn't mind being cat-called.

Piers also added that his wife Celia Walden 'loves' being cat-called by him 'first thing in the morning', before poorly attempting his own version of wolf-whistling - which Susanna ridiculed him for.

The debate heated up as the panellists disagreed over the nature and intention of cat-calling - Piers and Eve felt it was harmless, but Harriet and Susanna didn't agree

Harriet Winter said she would support a ban on cat-calling, saying she didn't appreciate unwanted compliments

Eve was joined on the panel by journalist Harriet Minter, who said she would support a ban on cat-calling.

Piers asked: 'Do you really want to stamp out an old-fashioned complimentary bit of banter?'

Harriet replied that the reason it should be stopped was precisely because it is old-fashioned - and said that women don't feel comfortable or safe receiving unwanted compliments in the middle of the street while going about their daily routines.

But Eve said that as she has become older the compliments were more than welcome.

'They make you feel better. I am the most ardent feminist and I want women to run everything and succeed, but it didn't stop me did it.

'The odd short-sighted bloke coming near me shouting derogatory things is not on, but a wolf-whistle is a very nice feeling.'

Good Morning Britain airs on ITV weekdays from 6am
A mother has shared images of an electrical burn left on her daughter's mouth after she sucked on a switched-on phone charger.

Courtney N Davis, from Kentucky, posted the alarming images on Facebook in a bid to warn other parents about the potential hazard from the everyday object.

She revealed that it took just 'a few seconds' for her daughter to grab the charger and put it in her mouth, causing a nasty electrical burn to one corner of her lip.

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Courtney N Davis, from Kentucky, shared a series of alarming images of the electrical burn on her young daughter's mouth after the tot grabbed a switched-on charger

Warning: Several days after the accident, which occurred at home, the 19-month-old is pictured with a painful-looking hole to the corner of her mouth

Davis shared the photos of her tot on a parenting group on Facebook in a bid to warn others to keep phone chargers out of reach from youngsters

In the days after the incident, Davis took photographs charting how the burn developed and shared them in a parenting group on Facebook, which has since been viewed more than 300,000 times.

HOW TO DEAL WITH AN ELECTRICAL BURN Electrical burns may not look serious, but they can be very damaging. Someone who has an electrical burn should seek immediate medical attention at an A&E department. If the person has been injured by a low-voltage source (up to 220-240 volts) such as a domestic electricity supply, safely switch off the power supply or remove the person from the electrical source using a material that doesn't conduct electricity, such as a wooden stick or a wooden chair. Don't approach a person who is connected to a high-voltage source (1,000 volts or more). SOURCE NHS DIRECT Advertisement

The concerned mother wrote in the post: 'On Sept 28th, my 19-month-old stuck my phone charger in her mouth.

'We went to the Dr, who confirmed that it was an electrical burn there was nothing they could put on it due to her being able to lick it.'

The series of photos show how several days after the incident, her daughter had been left with a sizeable hole at the side of her mouth.

The Kentucky native explained that she ordinarily keeps the charger well away from her toddler but didn't have time to move it on that day.

She added that her youngster had never previously shown any interest in it.

Pleading with other parents to keep chargers out of reach, she said: 'Parents, Grandparents, babysitters etc please put your chargers up out of reach.

'My daughter was lucky the next kid may not be as lucky as her.'

Her post has now been shared more than 300,000 times on Facebook.

Painful: The scabbing burn, which didn't cause the little girl too much discomfort, seen four days after the incident

In 2016, a baby girl in Kazakhstan died after she chewed through her parents' mobile phone charger.

The baby's mother was sleeping close to infant when she chewed on a charger that had an exposed wire.

After waking to find her child unresponsive, the mother rushed her to hospital where doctors confirmed her death had been caused by a serious electrical burn, with burn marks visible on her face and hands.
Angelina Jolie said she had to turn down Weinstein's advances as a young actress

Gwyneth Paltrow: The star told the New York Times that Weinstein touched her and suggested having joint massages in the bedroom before she started shooting Emma. She said she told her then boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident and he confronted the mogul

Angelina Jolie: Jolie told the Times she had to turn down advances from Weinstein in the late 1990s and she chose never to work with him again. She said she warned other women about him

Louisette Geiss: Actress was called to a late night meeting with Weinstein. He allegedly emerged in a bathrobe and told her he would green light her script if she watched him masterbate. She left the meeting

Judith Godreche: The French actress says Weinstein tried to massage her and pull off her sweater after asking her up to his Cannes suite to see the view in 1996

Dawn Dunning: Aspiring actress says she was called to a meeting about future film projects. When she arrived Weinstein presented her with three scripts for his next three movies which he would let her star in, only if she had three-way sex with him. She fled the hotel

Tomi-Ann Roberts: Weinstein met her when she was serving tables and told her to meet him at his home. When she arrived he was in the bath and told her she would give a better audition if she was naked. She says she refused and left

Asia Argento: The Italian actress has accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was 21. 'He terrified me, and he was big. It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare.' She said she went on to have consensual sex with him over the years that followed. She documented the alleged attack in her 2000 film Scarlet Diva

Katherine Kendall: The Swingers actress was told Weinstein had to stop off in his apartment to pick something up after a screening. He changed into a bathrobe and told her to massage her. When she resisted she said the mogul returned naked and chased her

Lucia Evans: Aspiring actress claims Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. Speaking to the New Yorker, she said that she suffered years of trauma after the incident which occurred in a 'casting meeting' in a Miramax office in Manhattan

Gwyneth Paltrow revealed that Weinstein attempted to get her into a hotel bedroom and massage her when she was 22

Mira Sorvino: The Mighty Aphrodite actress told the New Yorker that Weinstein tried to massage her in a hotel room at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. He then went to her home in the middle of the night but she called a male friend to protect her. She said turning down the mogul adversely affected her career

Rosanna Arquette: The actress also said her career suffered after she rebuffed Weinstein's advances. At a hotel meeting he tried to put her hand on his erect penis, she claims

Rose McGowan: The actress, who made her breakthrough in 1996 in the Weinstein-produced slasher revival movie Scream, reportedly sued Weinstein after he approached her during production of that movie. She signed a non-disclosure agreement at the close of the suit and has only referred to him obliquely in social media since. On Sunday she referred to being abused by a 'monster' and has previously referred to being raped by a studio head

Career suicide: Mira Sorvino revealed how her career nose-dived after she turned down Weinstein's advances

Ashley Judd: Judd's film roles include the thriller Kiss the Girls - and says that during the filming of that movie Weinstein repeatedly asked her to watch him shower. She was one of the women who spoke out to The New York Times this week, saying: 'Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it's simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.'

Emma De Caunes: French actress Emma de Caunes said that she met Weinstein in 2010, soon after he told her he had a script he was producing based on a book with a strong female character. Weinstein offered to show her the script, and asked her up to his hotel room, where he began to take a shower. He then emerged naked and with an erection, asking her to lay down with him on the bed and telling her that many had done so before. 'I was very petrified,' said de Caunes. 'But I didnt want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited.'

Zelda Perkins was 25 when, as an assistant of Weinstein's in London, she reportedly confronted the mogul for harassing her and 'several' other women; she later settled out of court

Lauren O'Connor: A former employee of The Weinstein Company, she told executives there in the fall of 2015 that there was 'a toxic environment for women at this company' after one of her colleagues told her that Weinstein had pressured her into massaging him while he was naked, the NYT said.

Ambra Battilana: An Italian actress and model, she told the NYT that in March 2015 Weinstein invited her to his New York office. There, she said, he asked if her breasts were real before grabbing them and putting his hands up her skirt. She reported the alleged incident to police, but they did not press charges. According to the NYT, Weinstein later paid her off.

Laura Madden: An ex-employee, she told the NYT that Weinstein had asked her to give him massages from 1991 onwards, while they were both in London and Dublin. 'It was so manipulative,' she told the NYT. 'You constantly question yourself - am I the one who is the problem?' Weinstein denied knowledge.

Emily Nestor: Nestor was a temporary employee of the Weinstein Company for just one day in 2014 when Weinstein approached her and offered to boost her career in exchange for sex, the NYT reported.

Zelda Perkins: An assistant of Weinstein's based in London in 1998; then 25, she reportedly confronted Weinstein after she and 'several' others were harassed and later settled out of court.

Elizabeth Karlsen, an Oscar-winning producer, said a female executive told her almost 30 years ago that she had found Weinstein naked in her bedroom in a Miramax-rented property

Elizabeth Karlsen: The Oscar-nominated producer of Carol and The Crying Game, among others, told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday that almost 30 years ago, an unnamed young female executive who had worked at Miramax with Weinstein had found him naked in her bedroom one night. The exec was in a house rented by Miramax at the time to cut its overheads.

Liza Campbell: A freelance script reader, she told the UK's Sunday Times that Weinstein had summoned her to his hotel room in London before telling her to get in the bath with him.

Lauren Sivan: The former Fox news host said that Weinstein trapped her in a closed restaurant and masturbated in front of her to completion in 2007. He took her to a closed restaurant beneath a club she had visited and attempted to kiss her, then when she refused he cornered her and made her watch him touch himself, according to The Huffington Post.

Jessica Hynes: The British actress, best known for her roles in the Bridget Jones movies and for co-creating and co-writing the sitcom Spaced, said she was invited to audition for Weinstein when she was 19 - in a bikini. Hynes, formerly known as Jessica Stevenson, said she refused to wear the skimpy item - and lost the job.

Romola Garai: British actress Romola Garai said she felt "violated" following a meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his London hotel room when she was 18 in which he was in a bathrobe. Garai, best known for her role in "Atonement", said she had already been hired for a part but was told to audition privately with the Hollywood mogul because 'you had to be personally approved by him'. "Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein," she told The Guardian. 'So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it'.
British actor David Harewood has revealed that he suffered a mental breakdown and was sectioned in his twenties.

Speaking on World Mental Health Day, the 51-year-old told his 70,000 followers on Twitter there's 'no shame' in asking for help.

The Homeland star, pictured wearing a green ribbon to the day's awareness, tweeted: 'As someone who had a breakdown and was sectioned in my 20s Im here to tell you that theres no shame in talking about it if your struggling.'

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The Homeland and Night Manager star has opened up for the first time about his battle with mental health, telling followers on Twitter that he suffered a mental breakdown while working as a young actor in his twenties and was sectioned

Birmingham-born Harewood, who has enjoyed a stellar career on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to roles in Homeland and The Night Manager, added: 'I havent done too bad since! Go easy on yourself today, and get some help if you can.'

His honesty over his own mental health ordeal was quickly applauded, with nearly 6,000 people already liking this morning's tweet.

While the star has previously discussed his battle with depression, he has rarely talked about being sectioned under the mental health act.

Praise: Many of those who read David's tweet applauded him for speaking out on mental health issues

The star fell ill in his twenties before landing his breakthrough role in Homeland

The star who has spoken out about his depression but rarely about being sectioned told the Mirror in 2002 that he ended up in an institution after friends became concerned about his welfare

UK STARS DON THE GREEN RIBBON TO RAISE AWARENESS ON MENTAL HEALTH The Mental Health Foundation hopes a green version of the pin will take off David Harewood is one of several famous faces on this side of the Pond who've started wearing the green ribbon, an international symbol of mental health awareness. Following in the huge success of the breast cancer pink ribbon, designed by American socialite Evelyn Lauder 25 years ago, it's hoped a green version will have a similar impact. Linda Liao, from the Mental Health Foundation, who designed the green pin, said: 'Were building a movement. Raising awareness is a crucial part of that. 'Its the first step towards creating a culture where stigma has no home. 'This in turn ensures that people feel able to open up about their mental health and seek help as soon as they need it, before things reach crisis point.' Advertisement

In 2002, he told The Mirror that he was sent to an institution after concerned friends tipped off authorities about his welfare.

He said: 'I was basically losing my mind. I'd lose whole parts of the day because my brain blanked out.

'I'd find myself at a London station at three in the morning and think, "How did I get here?"'.

He added: 'Mental illness is misunderstood. Some of the people in institutions are extremely clever and creative.

'I remember being strapped in and locked up in hospital one night when this guy was dragged in and he was shouting whole speeches from Richard III. I tried to sit up and he looked at me and winked. Priceless.'

Harewood, who made history as the first black actor to play Othello at The National Theatre in 1997, then interacted with those who commented on the post to thank him for his honesty.

One user, @DempseyPaul: 'Thank you David. This has happened in my family and your success is a beacon.'

Last year, in an interview with the Radio Times, Harewood revealed how depression had haunted him as a young actor struggling to get roles - and that landing Homeland had changed his life.

He said: 'Before Homeland, I had 80 in the bank and no idea what I was going to do. I seriously considered giving it all up and getting a job as a lorry driver.'
Melania Trump sat down with families at a rehab drug center for infants on West Virginia today, pledging to support addicted parents amid the country's opioid crisis.

The First Lady, 47, toured the nonprofit Lily's Place, the first of its kind in the nation, in Huntington, and met with a mother who is also a recovering addict, whose son once received treatment at the facility.

During the meeting, Melania sat with Donald Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway and spoke out about the current opioid epidemic, saying it is urgent to educate children and 'young mothers' about drugs.

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Support: Melania Trump visited a rehab drug center for infants on West Virginia today. She is pictured next to Kellyanne Conway and the facility's executive director Rebecca Crowder

Stepping out: Earlier, the First Lady went to board a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Maryland, donning a bright green dress

Official: The former model (pictured during the visit today) toured the nonprofit Lily's Place, the first of its kind in the nation, in Huntington

Lily's Place works with babies born with addiction symptoms, who are enduring the torment of drug withdrawal. It also provides services to parents and families dealing with addiction.

The facility's executive cirector, Rebecca Crowder, was part of a group of experts and people affected by drug addiction who were to the White House last month.

'I want to hear what I can do to help,' the First Lady told Crowder during her visit on Tuesday.

During the meeting with Kellyanne and the center's executive director, she added according to ABC News: 'I want to be here to support you and give a voice to Lily's Place and also for the opioid epidemic.

'We need to open the conversation to children and young mothers how it's dangerous to use drugs and get addicted to it.'

West Virginia has the nation's highest rate of babies born addicted to drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Message: During the meeting, Melania spoke out about the current opioid epidemic, saying it is urgent to educate children and 'young mothers' about drugs

Evolution: Melania has made several solo appearances in the past weeks, expanding her role as the current First Lady

At ease: The First Lady smiled as she took part in the meeting along with Kellyanne

Speaking out: 'We need to open the conversation to children and young mothers how it's dangerous to use drugs and get addicted to it,' Melania said

Rachael Kinder, a recovering addict, attended Tuesday's meeting with her young son, who was once treated at Lily's Place, and described how the facility has helped her.

'It's done a lot for me,' she said, adding that she has received the support of a social worker whom she can call whenever she needs support.

Melania also met in private with two families who are currently receiving treatment at Lily's Place.

'It is my hope that we can find ways to create more of the opportunities afforded by places like Lily's Place, so that we can continue to help infants and children grow into happy, healthy adults,' she said.

The former model was photographed earlier in the day on her way to board a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Maryland, this morning, donning a bright green dress and her signature five-inch stilettos, this time in a multicolored version.

Accessories: The First Lady, 47, paired her green dress with her signature five-inch stilettos, this time in a multicolored version

Look: Melania stepped out of her Secret Service SUV wearing the knee-length, short-sleeved green number, cinched at the waist with a belt

Look: She paired the green dress with a pair of sunglasses and her usual blowout, keeping her outfit simple in the warm fall weather

Melania stepped out of her Secret Service SUV wearing the knee-length, short-sleeved green number, cinched at the waist with a belt.

She paired it with a pair of sunglasses and her usual blowout, keeping her outfit simple in the warm fall weather.

The solo trip came the day after Melania responded via her spokeswoman to comments made by President Trump's ex-wife Ivana, claiming she was the First Lady.

Ivana, 68, said during an ABC interview promoting her book Raising trump: 'I have the direct number to White House but I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there. I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?'

Melania however didn't appear impressed by the comments. Her spokeswoman said on Monday: 'Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President.

'She loves living in Washington, DC and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.

'There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise.'

Ivana, a Czech-born former model and businesswoman, married Trump in 1979. The couple were a fixture on the New York celebrity circuit before divorcing in a blaze of scandal in 1992.

Remarks: Ivana, 68, said during an ABC interview : 'I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?'

Reply: Melania pictured above with the President and their son Barron back in June) responded to Ivana's comments via her spokeswoman, calling them 'self-serving'

History: Ivana (pictured with Trump in 1984) previously said she was able to start a friendship with her ex after their divorce was settled

Trump went on to marry Maples, with whom he had been having an affair, but they divorced six years later. Melania is Trump's third wife.

The president has three children with Ivana: Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. He had another daughter, Tiffany, with Marla. His 11-year-old son with Melania, Barron, currently lives with his parents at the White House.

Melania, who has made several solo public appearances in the past weeks, conducted her first solo trip abroad as First Lady last month when she traveled to Toronto, Canada, for the Invictus Games.

On that occasion, she met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Britain's Prince Harry.
They recently welcomed their second son Prince Gabriel into the world.

And Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and his wife Princess Sofia proved that they're settling seamlessly into life as a family of four with their first official portrait with their newborn and Prince Alexander, 18 months.

Proud father Prince Carl Philip cradled his five-week-old son for one photo, while his wife held Alexander on her hip.

Princess Sofia was the picture of elegance for the portrait in a cream skirt and jacket with ruffled details.

Alexander was perfectly co-ordinated with his dad's navy suit in a cosy jumper and jeans.

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and his wife Princess Sofia have released their first official portrait as a family of four with Princes Gabriel, five weeks, and Alexander, 18 months

The besotted new parents share a sweet moment with their son who was born on 31st August

Another photo shows the besotted new parents gazing at their younger son as the little prince looks up at his mother.

Prince Gabriel Carl Walther, Duke of Dalecarlia was born on 31st August at Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm.

The baby's middle name was chosen in honour of his parental grandfather while Walther is the name of Queen Silvia's late father.

Just hours after his son arrived fresh-faced Carl Philip - who was present throughout the birth - was ready to face the cameras, giving a press conference to reveal that the new arrival was a baby boy.

The newest addition to the Swedish royal family pictured a few days after he was born

He revealed that it was a quick birth and that he had cut the umbilical cord of his son who was born weighing 7.4 lbs and measuring 49 cm.

The little prince's name was officially announced during a meeting at the Royal Palace in Stockholm between Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Crown Princess Victoria and King Carl Gustaf.

Later that day Carl Philip was joined by his sister and parents at a Te Deum service of thanksgiving to celebrate the arrival of his baby son.

The proud parents pictured arriving home with their son shortly after he was born in August




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The Duchess of Cambridge revealed a tiny baby bump tonight as she made her first public appearance since announcing her pregnancy last month.

The 35-year-old royal, who has not been seen in public since August 30, joined Prince William, 35, and Prince Harry, 33, to host a glittering Buckingham Palace reception to mark World Mental Health Day.

She looked radiant in a 795 powder blue lace dress by Temperley London which skimmed over her bump.

Kate has taken six weeks off royal duties after being struck down with the same severe strand of morning sickness that she suffered while pregnant with Prince George, four, and Princess Charlotte, two. It forced Kensington Palace to announce her pregnancy far earlier than planned.

An aide revealed tonight that the duchess is still suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum but said her condition is improving. She added Kate was determined to attend the event because the cause is close to her heart.

Guests praised the royal for attending despite her condition with Dr Nicola Byrom, of charity Student Minds, added: 'She's amazing. What a fighter that she's here.'

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Radiant: The Duchess of Cambridge revealed a small baby bump as she made her first appearance since announcing her pregnancy last month. She has taken the last six weeks off royal duties after being struck down with severe morning sickness

Expecting: The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her third child with husband Prince William. The royal couple joined Prince Harry to host a glittering Buckingham Palace reception recognising the important work of mental health workers

Passionate: Prince William, left, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry came together to co-host the reception

Feminine: For the occasion, the duchess opted for a 795 powder blue dress by Temperley London

Tender moment: Prince William affectionately placed a hand on his wife's back as they entered the reception

Good spirits: The royal couple, who are expecting their third child together, shared a light-hearted moment

Animated: Prince Harry, who recently returned from Toronto, looked relaxed as he mingled with groups of guests

The palace is likely to confirm Kates due date soon, once she passes the 12-week date at which the risk of miscarriage is reduced. While she may appear at some events, there is no indication she is well enough to resume full royal duties.

Tonight an aide said: 'The duchess' condition is improving but she is still suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. She is delighted to be able to be here tonight.'

Indeed Kate appeared to be in excellent spirits as she greeted guests alongside her husband and brother-in-law in one of the palace's opulent reception rooms.

The elegant duchess accessorised her feminine frock with a pair of black suede heels and a small clutch bag. She wore her thick brown locks in bouncy curls that fell just below her shoulders and kept her make-up look simple.

Making a statement with her jewellery, Kate also sported 3,500 Kiki McDonough blue topaz and diamond earrings.

The 350 guests at the event included former Dame Esther Rantzen, model Adwoa Aboah and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Kate was praised by guests for making an appearance despite her sickness.

Stephen Fry, who is the president of the charity Mind, said: 'I do understand she's been having this problem more severely than many pregnant mothers and so we're very grateful [she's here].'

The Duchess, who looked relaxed at the glamorous event, mingled with guests while her husband gave a speech

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appeared to be sharing a joke with Prince Harry as the trio enjoyed the event

Teamwork: Prince William was by Kate's side as she spent time speaking to guests at the Buckingham Palace reception

Dedicated: The Duchess of Cambridge, who is still suffering from morning sickness, looked animated as she spoke to guests

Recovering: Guests praised the Duchess of Cambridge, 35, for attending the event despite still feeling unwell

Elegant: Accompanied by her husband Prince William, Kate beamed as she spoke to a guest at the reception this evening

Tireless work: Prince Harry, pictured tonight, has spoken out about his own struggles with his mental health in the past

Heading home: The Duchess of Cambridge beamed as she, Prince William and Prince Harry left the reception

Commenting on the event, he added: 'When mental health is discussed here under these chandeliers in front of these portraits it does have a meaning it does show a change in our society's ability to look at problems like mental health.'

He also praised the young royals' mental health campaign, describing it as an 'extraordinary achievement', adding: 'No one would realise if they hadn't done it, which makes it all the more remarkable that they have.'

Dr Nicola Byrom, of charity Student Minds, said of Kate: Shes amazing. What a fighter that shes here.

Dame Esther Rantzen said: 'We are seeing with Childline more and more contact both online and over the phone from young people suffering with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders. It can be a very stigmatising issue.

'Similarly with older people, this is a significant issue. And many have needed encouragement to talk.

Radiant: Kate paired the powder blue dress with heeled shoes and a small black clutch bag

Returning to royal duties: The royals hosted the reception to celebrate those who work to improve the nation's mental health

Perfect host: The pregnant royal, 35, spent time greeting guests in one of the opulent reception rooms

'In speaking about their own mental health issues, particularly relating to the loss of their mother at such a young age, [the princes] are making such a huge difference. It is a remarkable and wonderful legacy.'

Sophie Andrews, chief executive of The Silver Line, a new charity supporting older people with complex mental health challenges, said she was 'thrilled and honoured to be attending'.

The event tonight is being held to mark World Mental Health Day - will recognise the progress, hard work and dedication of those determined to raise awareness of mental health issues over many years.

William, Kate and Harry have supported the issue with their Heads Together mental health campaign that has been encouraging people to speak out about their psychological problems or be a sympathetic ear for others.

Important cause: William, Kate and Harry hosted the event to highlight the tireless work of mental health workers

Showing their support: Guests at the event included Dame Esther Rantzen, left, and former Deputy PM Nick Clegg

The young royals also said they wanted to thank those from the sector for the support they provide to so many going through difficult times in their lives.

Kensington Palace announced on September 4 that Kate was expecting her third child and, like previous pregnancies with Prince George and Princess Charlotte, was suffering from severe morning sickness.

The month Kate's third baby is due has not yet been announced by Kensington Palace suggesting she is not yet three months pregnant.

Earlier today William and Harry will hosted a reception at St James's Palace to celebrate the impact of their Heads Together campaign, and to thank all those who played a key role in its success.
Men in a rocky marriage are at greater risk of having a heart attack - but women are unaffected.

British researchers found the ups and downs of marital life were strongly linked to rises and falls in mens blood pressure, cholesterol and weight - each major drivers of heart attacks and strokes.

Their study, which tracked 620 married fathers for 16 years, found that when marital relations were improving, the mens health measurements improved.

Ups and downs of marriages were found to impact men's health more than that of their female counterparts

When the relationships were stable - either consistently bad or consistently happy - there was no impact on their health.

But when married life was deteriorating, their health measurements also got worse.

The researchers, from the universities of Bristol and Glasgow, compared their results to the Million Women Study - an ongoing study of British women - which has found no link between marital happiness and female cardiovascular health.

They believe this is because men are extremely reliant on their wives, but women have larger social networks and other ways of coping.

The scientists, writing in the BMJ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, even suggested men in turbulent relationships should end their marriage for the sake of their health.

Changes in the quality of a marital relationship appear to predict cardiovascular disease risk, though consistently good or poor relationship groups were not very different.

Assuming a causal association, then marriage counselling for couples with deteriorating relationships may have added benefits in terms of physical health over and above psychological well-being, though in some cases ending the relationship may be the best outcome.

They said a happy marriage is generally protective, but added: Men appear to gain more benefit than women, as women have larger social networks and are less dependent on their partner than men.

The scientists tracked 620 married fathers taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children which began in 1991.

The dads completed a 12-item questionnaire to assess the quality of their marital relationship when their child was nearly three and again when their child was nine.

They then assessed the dads blood pressure, resting heart rate, weight, blood fat, and blood sugar levels between 2011 and 2013 when their child was nearly 19, on the basis that it would take some time for changes in cardiovascular risk factors to occur after any corresponding changes in relationship quality.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, such as age, educational attainment, and household income, improving relationships were associated with lower levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and weight when compared with consistently good relationships.

British researchers found that as relationships improved, so did the health of married fathers

Deteriorating relationships, on the other hand, were linked to higher blood pressure.

They said men whose relationships were consistently good or bad were displaying a degree of habituation over time.

Previous research, published this summer by Aston Medical School in Birmingham, found married patients were 14 per cent more likely to survive a heart attack than those who are single.

Scientists believe being married encourages people to keep fit and take their daily medication  and those who are alone are more likely to drink, smoke and eat badly.

Experts say this is because living with a husband or wife is the most fundamental form of social support.

But the new research suggests men are far more reliant on their wives than women are on their husbands.

The findings echo those of experts at Yokohama City University in Japan, who last year found married men were less likely than single men to suffer metabolic syndrome - a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity which damages the blood vessels. They also found the same did not apply to women.
My friend, age 73, is considering retiring, but every morning when she wakes she shakes with fear and cries, anticipating the loneliness and inactivity. She tends to improve as the day progresses, only to find the next morning she is destroyed by fear of emptiness in her life. Her doctor has prescribed medication, but it has made no difference. I hope to get her some valerian herb remedy. Have you any suggestions?

From what you describe, I think your friend has depression. Although it is the most common mood disorder, experts estimate as few as 50 per cent who have it are ever diagnosed.

Better training means GPs are more skilled at spotting the symptons these days, but it can still be missed, often when the feelings of depression are masked by more obvious other symptoms, such as feeling exhausted all the time.

Another reason so few people are ever diagnosed is that they dont seek help, fearing the stigma of mental illness, possibly amplified by a feeling that depression is not a real illness. Nothing could be further from the truth: depression is a significant, real illness that can be treated and cured.

Dr Scurr advises someone on how to help their friend who may be depressed. From antidepressants to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dr Scurr gives guidance on how to support loved ones

I suspect your friend may have had depression a long while, but it was kept in the background by the daily demands of work. Based on what youve said, it seems this depression has been released by her dread about the future.

Depression is characterised by a number of symptoms, most obviously mood change, which can include feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, worthlessness or guilt. In addition they may lose interest or pleasure in aspects of life they previously enjoyed.

Other symptoms can include insomnia or the need to sleep constantly, fatigue, loss of energy, and an inability to concentrate. There are no tests to confirm diagnosis, rather we rely on taking a detailed history. Depression is largely genetic  which is why family history is so important for diagnosis.

The first step, often the hardest, is to persuade the patient that he/she has a genuine condition.

Tell her straight that you think she might be suffering from depression, or use the phrase depressive illness, and insist she sees her GP once again in order to explain that the medication has not proved effective so far.

It may be that an antidepressant has been prescribed and that the dose should be increased. It is important to note that antidepressants take about four or six weeks to show a benefit.

Another treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a form of talking therapy  studies have shown that for some it works as well as drugs. However, its availability does vary.

As for valerian, there is no evidence it works  what your friend needs is a formal diagnosis and proper treatment; the difficulty will be getting her to accept it.

For six years Ive had recurring cellulitis. During an episode last December, a nurse gave me antibiotic Fucibet cream but three days later my legs were much worse, red and itchy. This spread all over my body and after seeing four different doctors I was given an antifungal steroid cream, Timodine, and an antihistamine, loratadine.

Over three weeks I was given a different antibiotic, which cleared the cellulitis, but the itching continued. My GP thinks I have allergies and referred me to a dermatologist. I havent had this appointment yet, although I do have cellulitis again. I have half a tube of Timodine left so I am using that but I dont know what to do now. I am 88.

P. Horn, Sandy, Bedfordshire.

Cellulitis is a common infection in the deeper layers of the skin that most frequently affects the legs or face. But any site of the body can be involved: I have seen cellulitis where piercings have become infected in earlobes, eyebrows and tummy buttons.

The skin is an effective barrier against bacteria, and cellulitis is a bacterial infection; for it to take hold there must be a breach of the skin and some reduction in immunity. Cellulitis in legs does often seem to be recurrent, even when theres no obvious reason.

The organisms involved are usually staphylococci, the bugs that cause other infections such as styes or boils. About ten per cent of us are colonised all the time by staphylococci without problems.

But some staphylococci are more aggressive than others, and our susceptibility to it varies, too  cellulitis may be more likely when someone is run down, for example post-chemotherapy, or after surgery or illness.

Cellulitis is treated with oral antibiotics, but in severe cases hospitalisation may be required so drugs can be given in greater quantities by intravenous drip.

Creams such as Fucibet or Timodine are rarely, if ever, effective used alone. They do not penetrate to the depth needed to kill off all the bacteria. In my opinion, oral antibiotics are essential. However, treatment for five or seven days is often inadequate, as even in patients treated for ten to 14 days there may still be recurrences.

Contact Dr Scurr Write to Dr Scurr at Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT Or email: drmartin@dailymail.co.uk  include your contact details. Dr Scurr cannot enter into personal correspondence. Replies should be taken in a general context and always consult your own GP with any health worries. Advertisement

Flucloxacillin, a type of penicillin, is the first-line treatment, at 250mg or 500mg four times daily; clindamycin tends to be reserved for those allergic to penicillins. A major disadvantage of clindamycin is that, rarely, it can cause diarrhoea so severe that hospitalisation is needed. The usual dose is 150 to 300mg every six hours; double that for severe infections.

The itching may have caused some confusion. Itching typically accompanies cellulitis and may take some time to settle, persisting after the end of the two-week course of antibiotics.

I hope that, if you have further attacks, your doctor will agree to longer courses of oral antibiotics  Ive had patients whove needed four or six weeks of continuous treatment. Nine times out of ten long-term antibiotics will cure it.

By the way... Red tape HASN'T improved hospital safety

Strictly speaking, the quality of care across hospitals should be improving  after all, doctors are now subject to annual appraisals aimed at ensuring high standards. On top of that, since 2009 we have had the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the inspectorate that takes great care to identify poor practice and poor systems in hospitals.

But I find myself asking whether these regulatory bodies are achieving anything  or have they failed in their task? For, when it comes to maternity care, things have not improved in a quarter of a century.

Strictly speaking, the quality of care across hospitals should be improving  after all, doctors are now subject to annual appraisals aimed at ensuring high standards

There are just as many babies being injured or permanently damaged now due to failings in maternity care as there were 25 years ago, according to a recent report from NHS Resolution, the litigation arm of the NHS.

The NHS paid out more than 800 million in compensation in the year 2016 to 2017. With payouts at that level clearly something is seriously wrong in the system somewhere.

Analysis of these claims found serious examples of failings: for example, midwives failing to understand the data from heart monitors and medics trying to deliver breech babies despite having had no training in how to do it.

When there are errors in medical care, safety and better outcomes will only result when these stimulate opportunities for learning and change. And yet it seems that what actually happens when problems are identified is that even more regulation is imposed. However, we practise evidence-based medicine these days: so is there any evidence that the vast burden of regulation has brought about any improvement in obstetric care?

Quite the reverse. Which begs the question: who, if anyone, is keeping an eye on the expensive regulatory framework? Last year the cqcs budget was more than 230 million. Id like to say those regulators are worth every penny. But Im not convinced.
At least one million volunteers will be trained to give mental health first aid as part of a Government drive to improve care.

They will be taught how to help patients who are very depressed, anxious or experiencing other mental health crises.

The courses will be free of charge and are likely to consist of a series of online modules and practical advice.

The prime minister says she wants to use government's power as a force to transform the way the country deals with mental health

They will run from next autumn and the Government hopes that at least one million members of the public will sign up.

Ministers have invested 15million into the courses and they are part of a wider campaign overhaul the NHSs mental health services.

Figures show that around one in four adults experience a mental health problem in any given year, most commonly depression or anxiety.

But there has long been a social stigma attached to mental health conditions and many people are unwilling to admit they are affected.

The courses will teach volunteers to assess their own mental health and as well as coping techniques on how to reduce stress levels.

Crucially, they will also be trained on how to help family members, friends, colleagues or strangers deal with mental health crises.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says everyone needs to help the NHS expand mental health services across Europe

Public Health England  the Government agency for tackling ill health  will now consult on exactly how the courses will be run and taught.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: I want to use the power of Government as a force for good to transform the way we deal with mental health problems right across society, and at every stage of life.

Tackling the injustice and reducing the stigma associated with mental health conditions is a priority for me, which is why today I set the goal of providing one million members of the public with basic mental health awareness and first aid.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: Were currently undergoing one of the biggest expansions in mental health services in Europe, but we need everyone  not just the NHS  to play a role.

Public attitudes are changing  but would you know what to do if a work colleague had depression or you came across someone potentially about to kill themselves?

Mental health first aid gives people the skills to help others as well as protect ones own mental health, so this is a very exciting step.
Vassoo Devan Arian, a retired NHS nurse, was horrified when a friend asked if the pale patches of skin hed developed were leprosy.

Vassoo had assumed the tiny white patches  smaller than a 10p piece  on his nose, scalp and hands were the result of sun damage.

I had been swimming in the sea a lot on a recent trip to Mauritius, recalls Vassoo, 72, who lives with his wife Muriel, 70, in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire. My GP agreed that it was probably down to too much sun.

Vitiligo is one of the most common autoimmune skin diseases and is caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour: the bodys immune system attacks the pigment cells.Vassoo Devan Arian, a retired NHS nurse, tells his story

But over the next couple of months, the patches became paler and paler. People would stare. I started to dread going out, he says. My GP just kept prescribing moisturisers and didnt say what it was.

A special make-up he was also prescribed was effective as a cover-up, says Vassoo, but when I sweated or went swimming, it came off and people would stare at me. It was also messy to apply.

After two years, Vassoo was referred to a dermatologist who diagnosed vitiligo  a condition he says he has beaten, thanks to a radical new approach: a skin transplant.

Vitiligo is one of the most common autoimmune skin diseases and is caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour: the bodys immune system attacks the pigment cells, mistaking them for foreign invaders.

This causes painless white patches on exposed areas such as the face and fingers, although they can also appear on the wrists, around the eyes, groin, armpits and inside the mouth.

The disease affects around one in 200 people, and about 50 per cent develop their first symptoms before the age of 20, though its not clear why.

However, stressful events, such as childbirth, hormone changes or even cuts to the skin, may trigger it  there is also a genetic link. It affects all skin types, but is not normally as visible on fair skin, says Dr Howard Stevens, a consultant dermatologist at the Skin Care Network in London.

There are two types of vitiligo. The most common  so-called generalised symmetrical type  affects both sides of the body symmetrically, as the name suggests.

Segmental vitiligo affects only one area of the body and is less likely to progress  it is more responsive to treatment because a smaller area is affected.

Vassoo had assumed the tiny white patches  smaller than a 10p piece  on his nose, scalp and hands were the result of sun damage

There is no cure, but some treatments can reverse pigment loss if used early enough. These include topical steroids, to calm inflammation, and vitamin D cream, thought to have a protective effect on melanocytes, the cells that produce pigment in skin.

Other options include pimecrolimus and tacrolimus, creams that are usually used for eczema, which can help repigment the skin, says Dr Stevens.

Protecting your skin from the sun is also important, as the white areas have no pigment to protect them from ultraviolet light. If topical treatments dont work, narrow UVB (ultraviolet B) light phototherapy can be useful, says Dr Stevens, given either alone or with protopic cream, an immunosuppressant treatment that turns off the autoimmune reaction.

The ultraviolet light stimulates the melanocytes (in a similar way, melanocytes proliferate when exposed to sunlight, to darken and protect the skin against sun damage). The treatment is available in some NHS hospitals.

Dr Stevens also uses an Excimer laser, available privately at 100 to 150 a session, to re-pigment the white patches using a narrow band ultraviolet light.

But over the next couple of months, the patches became paler and paler. People would stare. I started to dread going out, he says. My GP just kept prescribing moisturisers and didnt say what it was.

It is a useful technique for small areas, such as the face and neck, and its advantage over phototherapy is that it can be focused on the treatment area, rather than irradiating the whole body, explains Dr Stevens. He adds that phototherapy needs more treatments and the UVB light has a higher risk of skin cancer.

Another option is PUVA (psoralen ultraviolet A) light treatment, where the patient is given a drug to make them more sensitive to light  they are then exposed to UV light twice weekly for up to two years. It is available both privately and on the NHS.

Its useful, but not for the very fair-skinned because of the higher risk of skin cancer, says Dr Stevens. Dermatologists are less keen on PUVA, because it causes quite a lot of genetic damage: 200 treatments  which some patients may need  can increase the risk of skin cancer eightfold.

Dr Stevens adds: With all treatments, the white patches can come back; theres no total cure.

A special make-up he was also prescribed was effective as a cover-up, says Vassoo, but when I sweated or went swimming, it came off and people would stare at me. It was also messy to apply

In 2013, after around five years of symptoms, Vassoos dermatologists suggested phototherapy  he had this for two months, but, he says, it didnt work for me and I was worried about the increased risk of skin cancer and didnt want to expose my whole body to the light treatment when only small areas were affected.

Vassoo heard about a type of pigment transplant surgery called ReNovaCell. Here, melanocytes are taken from unaffected areas of skin and moved onto the vitiligo patches; the Excimer laser is then used to stimulate the production of pigment cells.

It is only available privately, and can cost up to 4,000.

Vassoo had the treatment at a private clinic in Manchester run by Dr Vishal Madan, a consultant dermatologist and president of the British Medical Laser Association, who says hes been using the technique for five years with good results.

Im very careful about which patients I use this technique on  they have to have vitiligo that affects only a small area and has been stable for at least six months to be suitable, explains Dr Madan.

After two years, Vassoo was referred to a dermatologist who diagnosed vitiligo  a condition he says he has beaten, thanks to a radical new approach: a skin transplant

We prepare the skin by using either a laser or a tool to injure the vitiligo patch, making it ready for the transplanted cells.

Then I remove a 1-2cm square of skin from the thigh, taking just a thin, superficial layer, and put this into a chemical solution. This separates the pigment cells from fibrous tissue.

I then harvest the cells from the chemical solution with a syringe and apply to the area of skin affected by vitiligo.

This is followed by a series of Excimer laser treatments  anything from six to 40 sessions. Vassoo had fewer than ten, each lasting less than three minutes.

Pigment transplant treatment is regarded as experimental in the UK, says Dr Madan. There arent many options we can offer people, and some are willing to try this because they are so fed up with other ineffective treatments.

Vitiligo is one of the most common autoimmune skin diseases and is caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour: the bodys immune system attacks the pigment cells, mistaking them for foreign invaders

A study published in June in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology by the Henry Ford Hospital in the U.S. found that the majority of patients whod had the treatment still had a very good or excellent colour match five years later.

However, although pigment transplantation is a promising treatment, there is a lack of evidence on its long-term effectiveness, says Dr Viktoria Eleftheriadou, a vitiligo researcher at the University of Nottingham and spokesperson for the British Association of Dermatologists.

She adds: Its still experimental. We need more research to find out what the relapse rate is.

Two years on, Vassoo is delighted with his treatment: I know its long-term effectiveness is not guaranteed, but my vitiligo was bothering me so much, I thought it would be worth it. I dont feel self-conscious any more.
Smile  it might save your life. Thats the cheering conclusion from a new British study which has found that people who are in a happy mood on the day of their annual flu jab develop stronger antibody defences than patients who merely feel so-so.

Whats more, they only have to feel happy on the day they received the vaccination and not the moment theyre given it, say the Nottingham University researchers.

Scientists have previously fixated on the harm that negative emotions wreak on our bodies. They can significantly increase our risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

A new British study which has found that people who are in a happy mood on the day of their annual flu jab develop stronger antibody defences than patients who merely feel so-so

Positive moods have largely been ignored by comparison. But emerging evidence suggests that being positive-minded may boost our health in numerous ways.

Kavita Vedhara, a professor of health psychology who led the Nottingham University study, had previously looked at how being stressed can damage our defences, specifically people who were under significant stress from caring for loved ones.

We found that they fared worse than normal when given flu vaccines: they produced fewer flu antibodies, she says.

Vaccines contain an inactive version of a virus that trains our immune systems to recognise the live virus and attack it. The more antibodies we produce, the more powerful our defence against infection becomes.

Scientists agree that constant stress is harmful. For example, Julie Turner-Cobb, a professor of psychology at Bournemouth University who specialises in the effects of stress, says: In general, chronically stressed people have higher levels of the fight or flight hormone, cortisol. Research shows that this in turn diminishes our immune defences.

Cortisol switches down bodily functions so resources can be focused on an immediate threat. Long-term stress thus keeps the immune system stuck in low gear, leaving the body vulnerable.

In the recent study, Professor Vedhara looked at a group of 138 adults between 65 and 85, measuring their general emotional states over a six-week period.

The results came as a complete surprise. We expected to find that several factors would improve peoples antibody response to the vaccination. I was not expecting it to come down just to one single factor  having a positive mood.

Scientists have previously fixated on the harm that negative emotions wreak on our bodies. They can significantly increase our risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease

The findings, published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity last month, follows earlier research that demonstrated the beneficial effect a positive outlook can have.

A U.S. study in 2013, based on nearly 1,500 healthy people over a 12-year period found that having a positive outlook seemed to be linked with a reduction in cardiovascular problems by one third.

A happier temperament has an actual effect on disease and you may be healthier as a result, says Lisa Yanek, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, in the U.S., who led the research.

In a study of more than 200 young adults by California University, those who had felt awe, compassion, contentment or joy had much lower levels of inflammation. Our findings demonstrate that positive emotions are associated with the markers of good health, said Jennifer Stellar, an assistant professor of psychology at Toronto University who led the study published in 2015 in the journal Emotion.

Scientists have previously fixated on the harm that negative emotions wreak on our bodies. They can significantly increase our risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease

Such results have inspired Professor Vedhara to develop ways to raise patients spirits on the day they get vaccinated. So far, our trials have found what works is a combination of comedy, uplifting music and a list of funny things that people say, she explains.

This approach is backed by a study from 2003 that found watching funny cartoons increased bloodflow in several parts of the brains reward system that also regulate inflammation in the body.

Could comedy not only reduce inflammation, but also boost the immune system? Dr Neil Harrison, a UK expert in psychoneuro-immunology  the relationship between emotion and our immune responses  believes it could.

It is not fanciful to suggest that our emotions can influence our immune systems positively, says Dr Harrison, head of the Psychoneuroimmunology Lab at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Research already shows that our emotional states can alter the activity of the vagus nerve, which links brain and body and is involved with many of the internal organs, as well as with our immune systems.

This shows that our emotional brains can alter the behaviour of the immune system  and hopefully this can happen in a positive way to boost its response.
A mother has shared a powerful photo of her 'inside-out' baby who was born with her intestines on the outside.

Ava-Rose Nightingale, from Carmarthen in Wales, was born with gastroschisis, which caused her intestines to grow outside her body due to her abdominal wall not forming properly before birth.

The photo, which was taken just minutes after she was born, shows the youngster's organs spilling over her body while being wrapped in cling film to keep her warm and prevent infection.

Her mother Chloe Walters, 21, a dairy farmer, said: 'It was such a scary experience. They told me I wouldn't be able to hold her but I was so upset I got to for five seconds.'

After spending seven weeks in hospital that involved a three-hour operation, being given oxygen and even having her hair shaved so she could be fed intravenously via the head, Ava-Rose is finally home with her parents.

A mother shared a photo of her 'inside-out' baby who had her intestines on the outside

Ava-Rose Nightingale, from Carmarthen in Wales, was born with gastroschisis, which caused her intestines to grow outside her body (pictured with her mother Chloe Walters, 21)

The youngster's intestines were wrapped in cling film to prevent infection and keep her warm

WHAT IS GASTROSCHISIS? Gastroschisis is a type of abdominal wall defect. It occurs when a childs abdomen does not fully develop while they are in the womb. This causes the intestines to develop on the outside, making them exposed to the air at birth. Gastroschisis' cause is unclear, however, it is becoming more common, particularly in mothers under 20. It affects around one in 3,000 babies every year. Treatment is required immediately after birth. It involves surgery to put the intestines into the body. Before surgery, affected children are wrapped in a type of cling film to prevent further damage and keep the baby warm. If the operation is successful, most babies stay in hospital for around a month, but go on to live normal, healthy lives. Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital Advertisement

'It was huge blobs of flesh and red'

Ms Walters said: 'It was such a scary experience. They told me I wouldn't be able to hold her but I was so upset I got to for five seconds.

'Her intestines were on her and they looked bigger than her. It was like huge blobs of flesh and red.

'But I didn't even have time to rest before the doctor was in with me explaining the risks of her surgery.

'Of course they had to tell me but it was really scary having to sign her life away just after she was born.

She said: 'Handing her over was really hard. The family got to see her all wrapped up in clingfilm just before the operation and someone took a photo.

'They wrapped her all up in the cling film, just like the stuff from the kitchen, to keep them clean and moist and to keep her warm.

'I couldn't believe it that this piece of kitchen cling film was keeping her going before her operation.

'I couldn't look at the photo. At the time I didn't want it and to see it would have broken my heart.

'But after two weeks I wanted to see it. I built up the courage to have a look and while it was horrible it shows how far she has come.

'To look at her now you'd never know what she has been through.'

Ms Walters was told she could not touch Ava-Rose but was allowed a 'five-second cuddle'

Ava-Rose spent seven weeks in hospital, which involved a three-hour operation and oxygen

The youngster had her hair shaved so she could be fed intravenously via her head

Ms Walters could not bring herself to look at the newborn's image until two weeks later

Fed via the head

Ava-Rose was born via natural delivery on May 21 at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, weighing 6lb 8oz.

Ms Walters was allowed a 'five-second cuddle' before her daughter was whisked off and prepared for surgery.

After doctors successfully put Ava-Rose's organs back in place she remained on oxygen for seven days as she 'forgot how to breathe' due to the morphine and operation.

She was fed intravenously via her head, forcing doctors to shave her hair, for 14 days before she was slowly introduced to milk.

After seven weeks in hospital she was finally allowed home in June with her mother and father Scott Nightingale, 23.

Ava-Rose was born via a natural delivery and weighed a healthy 6lb 8oz at birth

She was immediately taken to surgery and given oxygen as she 'forgot how to breathe'

She recovered and is home with her parents (pictured with her father Scott Nightingale, 23)

'It was so scary'

Ms Walters had a normal 12-week scan, however, doctors noticed an abnormality at a private 16-week check-up.

She said: 'It looked like lots of loops all around her body.

'It was really upsetting. I was so excited about seeing her but when they told me their might be a problem it was so scary.'

Ms Walters immediately went to A&E where doctors diagnosed gastroschisis.

To add extra worry, Ms Walters had anterior placenta, which causes it to form on the front wall of the womb and meant she did not feel a single movement throughout her pregnancy.

Although traumatic, Ms Walters posted the photo taken shortly after Ava-Rose's birth on Facebook to raise awareness of her condition.

She wrote: 'Unfortunately the UK doesn't recognise this day yet but as this affects one in 3,000 babies with no known cause. Hopefully this will change!

'Gastroschisis normally occurs on boys and mothers under the age of 20. At my 16 week private scan I was told my baby had gastroschisis. After regular appointments and check ups I was told there was a chance I could go into labour anytime from 32 weeks as this was common with babies with this defect and also the chances of stillborn became higher at 39 weeks [and] four days.

'Ava-Rose was born. At one hour old she was sent down for operation that saved her life. Thanks to doctors at Cardiff Heath hospital. I couldn't thank them enough for saving are little girl.

'Seven weeks in recovery and she now home fit and healthy.'

Ms Walters had a normal 12-week scan, but a 16-week private check-up showed abnormalities

Ms Walters was immediately sent to A&E where doctors diagnosed gastroschisis

Ms Walters also had anterior placenta, which meant she felt no movement during pregnancy
A Colombian man's face is reportedly rotting following botched cheek plumping surgery by a fake doctor.

Jerson Trujillo, 28, went under the knife in his quest to look like a woman - but the procedure went hideously wrong.

He has been left with a heavily disfigured face, instead of the feminine look he desired. Reports suggest he has just 50 per cent of the face he began with left.

His face broke out in granulomas - groupings of immune cells that gather to try to wall off a foreign substance in the body that cannot be eliminated.

Mr Trujillo, from Neiva, has undergone four painful operations to try to repair the damage caused by the fake doctor. Two more are scheduled.

Speaking for the first time since his ordeal four years ago, he told local reporters: 'Naively, I was not aware of what they had put in my body.

'My face was destroyed, rotten, pus came out.' Mr Trujillo added that his face had became 'red' and 'hot' after being injected with a mysterious liquid.

Jerson Trujillo, 28, went under the knife in his quest to look like a woman - but the procedure went hideously wrong. He has been left with a heavily disfigured face instead of the feminine look he so longingly desired

The fake doctor, who is believed to be on the run, told Mr Trujillo that she would inject his cheekbones to make them plumper.

When the problems began

Problems didn't arise until a week later when he went for a moisturising treatment.

The moisturiser reacted badly with the substance that had been injected into his cheeks, local reports state.

Three months after the moisturising treatment, he began to suffer symptoms.

Mr Trujillo, from Neiva, has undergone four painful operations to try to repair the damage caused by the fake doctor

Speaking for the first time since his ordeal four years ago, he told local reporters: 'Naively, I was not aware of what they had put in my body'

CHEAP BOOB JOBS COULD BE DEADLY People who go abroad for plastic surgery are being left with lifelong deformities due to botched procedures, a leading surgeon warned last week. Professor Ash Mosahebi, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London, said the NHS is being left to foot the bill for treating people with sepsis. Some are left with horrific injuries usually seen in fire and road accident victims because surgeons have to cut out the damaged and dead tissue. Advertisement

His face broke out in granulomas - groupings of immune cells that gather to try to wall off a foreign substance in the body that cannot be eliminated.

Reports claim he has just 50 per cent of the face he began with left, following the corrective operations he has endured.

Mr Trujillo is scheduled in for two further procedures to rebuild his face.

Is the doctor on the run?

There has been no word on whether the fake doctor who performed the original procedure has been tracked down or prosecuted.

Health officials have since issued a warning, stating prospective patients to always look for a qualified plastic surgeon and not to become the 'body of crime'.

The Colombian Institute of Legal Medicine says 13 people died as a direct result of cosmetic surgery procedures in 2015 and 30 in 2016.
Indian surgeons have removed the world's biggest tumour from a woman's kidney - and it was 50 times the size of her organ.

Manju Devi, 28, had complained of a 'lump' on her right side for three years before a scan revealed a huge 31cm by 19 cm mass.

It took a team of surgeons eight hours to remove the 12lb (5.5kg) tumour from her kidney, which had dwarfed her other organs.

The team at the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital at Sion in Mumbai said a normal kidney weighs between 110g and 140g.

Experts at the Guinness Book of World Records have since confirmed it to be the largest renal tumour ever discovered.

It took a team of surgeons eight hours to remove the 12lb (5.5kg) tumour from her kidney, which had dwarfed her other organs

Unable to live her normal life

Urologist Dr Ajit Sawant, who led the surgical team, said: 'She was no longer able to do her day to day activities because of the huge mass in her abdomen.

'In the past three years she had been referred to multiple hospitals, however because of the enormous size, the surgery was deferred.'

The team at the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital at Sion in Mumbai said a normal kidney weighs between 110g and 140g

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST TESTICLES It comes after MailOnline reported on a man with the world's biggest testicles having undergone reconstructive surgery - thanks to a Facebook post. Forence Owiti Opiyo, 21, from Kibigori, Kenya, saw his genitals swell to ten times the average size - but doctors are baffled as to why. Said to have been triggered by a cyst when he was 10, the bizarre condition made it impossible for him to wear clothes, walk easily and forced him to live like a recluse. Surgery was made possible after a neighbour shared a picture of Forence's testicles, which appears to have engulfed his penis, on their Facebook page. The kind-hearted plea triggered an outcry of people wanting to help him, finally allowing for him to have surgery to re-shape his genitals and craft him a penis. Advertisement

The tumour had completely grown over the woman's intestines and the pancreas to the left of her abdomen, a CT scan showed.

Dr Sawant added: 'After thorough evaluation of her fitness to undergo major surgery, she was posted for radical right nephrectomy (kidney removal).

'The enormity of the surgery can be understood by comparing the weight of the kidney tumor - 5.5kg, with the weight of a normal kidney which is 110 to 140g.'

The woman, from the Darbhanga district of Bihar state in North India, was released from hospital after a week.

Other strange tumours

It comes after MailOnline reported on a case of a teenage girl who hasn't left her house in years because she is bullied over her giant facial tumours.

Rubi Dulari, from India, suffers from neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow along nerves. There is no cure.

And earlier this week a 37-year-old Brazilian professor refused a life-changing operation to remove a large tumour on her face.

Luciana Kele Dorini was born with a tiny birthmark on her right cheek that has swollen over the years. She suffers from arteriovenous malformation.
Scandal-hit vaginal mesh implants will be debated in parliament next week amid mounting pressure to ban the controversial procedure.

MPs will next week discuss the safety of the operation, which has destroyed the lives of thousands of women, and left many suicidal and unable to have sex.

The scandal, compared to thalidomide, came to light earlier this year, but its true extent is yet to be uncovered. Some 800 British women have since sued.

After previously denying their implants were causing women's discomfort, mesh manufacturer Johnson & Johnson paid out $57 million to a sufferer from Philadelphia last month after a jury found the company to be negligent and its product defective.

Ministers are concerned the procedure, used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence after childbirth, was introduced with 'little evidence' to support it.

Campaigners have welcomed the announcement, refusing for their vocal concerns to be swept under the carpet and have to 'suffer in silence'.

But experts, backed by MailOnline, are still demanding a public inquiry into the use of the procedure, which 10,000 women undergo each year, according to figures.

Tireless fights by campaigners have helped gather momentum for a public inquiry into the implants. Senior doctors have said the scandal, which has seen at least 800 women sue the NHS and manufactures in the UK, is akin to thalidomide

Julie Gilsennan was told she would need up to six weeks off work after having the mesh fitted, however, she has been unable to return to work as a paramedic and instead works from home processing complaints to the ambulance service

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, a campaign group which has doubled in size in recent months as more women join, was emotional.

She tweeted: 'Not enough words to thank you for securing a debate on behalf of so many women whose lives have been devastated by #mesh.'

Julie Gilsenan, 49, from Liverpool, also tweeted: 'Emotional is not the word! Let our voices be heard...we will NOT suffer in silence #banmesh'

Mrs Gilsenan's heartbreaking story has previously been revealed by MailOnline, as she went from running 5km before her surgery to now wetting herself.

Who secured the debate?

Emma Hardy, Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle, secured the debate on October 18 after hearing the heartbreaking stories of women affected in her constituency.

Health officials have repeatedly been accused of attempting to cover up the vaginal mesh scandal, as the NHS and MHRA state only 1 to 3 per cent of women will suffer complications.

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, a campaign group which has doubled in size in recent months as more women join, was emotional

Julie Gilsenan, 49, from Liverpool, also tweeted: 'Emotional is not the word! Let our voices be heard...we will NOT suffer in silence #banmesh'

Scores of women, including Susan Forbes, were delighted as they are 'finally being heard'

Claire Cooper tweeted, 'simply cannot thank you enough Emma', in praise of the MP who secured the debate

GROWING CALLS FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY Carl Heneghan, a professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, has previously called for a public inquiry. Shadow health minister Sharon Hodgson has backed him, and said the procedure carries 'unacceptable complication rates'. During health questions in the Commons today, Ms Hodgson said: 'It is, though, deeply worrying that this procedure was introduced with so little evidence to support it, which has led to - we all, I think, have to agree - unacceptable complication rates for certain products. 'Will the Minister heed the words of Professor Heneghan and hold a public inquiry into the numbers of women adversely affected and why the safety of so many women was disregarded.' Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price told MPs she knew many women suffer substantial side effects and complications after the procedure, but it was 'equally the case that many women also experience considerable relief from symptoms'. She said Nice strongly recommends that the implants are not offered routinely for the first surgical intervention in prolapse, and that the current guidance was being updated and would be published early next year. Responding to Ms Hodgson, Ms Doyle-Price said: 'I would say again that many women have received relief from their symptoms with this procedure but I think that it is important that we have more evidence before we can properly review this. 'And I think it's very important that the work that Nice are doing should be allowed to be undertaken so that we can actually make a very clear view of this.' Advertisement

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, tweeted: 'Not enough words to thank you for securing a debate on behalf of so many women whose lives have been devastated by #mesh'

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MESH Different types of mesh implants include: Mini-sling: This implant is embedded with a metallic inserter. It sits close to the mid-section of a woman's urethra. The use of an inserter is thought to lower the risk of cutting during the procedure.

This implant is embedded with a metallic inserter. It sits close to the mid-section of a woman's urethra. The use of an inserter is thought to lower the risk of cutting during the procedure. TVT sling : Such a sling is held in place by the patient's body. It is inserted with a plastic tape by cutting the vagina and making two incisions in the abdomen. The mesh sits beneath the urethra.

: Such a sling is held in place by the patient's body. It is inserted with a plastic tape by cutting the vagina and making two incisions in the abdomen. The mesh sits beneath the urethra. TVTO sling : Inserted through the groin and sits under the urethra. This sling was intended to prevent bladder perforation.

: Inserted through the groin and sits under the urethra. This sling was intended to prevent bladder perforation. TOT sling : Involves forming a 'hammock' of fibrous tissue in the urethra. Surgeons often claim this form of implant gives them the most control during implantation. Advertisement

Government rejects a ban

Just last month the Government released its three-year investigation and rejected calls for a widespread ban on the implants, which can shrink, twist and curl at the edges and cause nerve damage.

Vaginal mesh has been considered a high-risk device for nearly a decade in the US, with bodies accepting up to 40 per cent of women may experience injury.

Some studies, published in an array of scientific journals, have shown that pain, erosion and perforation from the surgery can strike up to 75 per cent of women.

The alarming evidence prompted officials in three US states to suspend the practice and saw them call for an urgent review into its safety.

Suspended in Scotland

Its usage has also been suspended in Scotland since 2014 pending a similar safety review, but hundreds of women are still believed to be having the surgery.

The mesh, introduced 20 years ago, was promoted as a quick, cheap alternative to complex surgery for incontinence. It was dubbed the 'gold-standard' treatment.

Because it did not require specialist training to implant, outraged women have since begged for tougher regulations to conduct such surgery.

More than 10,000 women a year have the procedure. But only 7,800 have suffered lacerations and nerve damage from the mesh breaking into tiny fragments.

Women receiving pay outs

After previously denying their implants were causing women's discomfort, mesh manufacturer Johnson & Johnson paid out $57 million to a sufferer last month after a jury found the company to be negligent and its product defective.

Ella Ebaugh, 51, from Philadelphia, was fitted with a mesh for urinary incontinence that eroded into her vagina and required three surgeries to reverse the damage.

More lawsuits remain as thousands say they too are experiencing problems with the gold-standard device.

Five years ago, Johnson & Johnson stopped selling four of its mesh inserts after people said they were faulty.
More than half of the 1,166 police killings that occurred in 2015 were not officially documented, according to a new study.

Harvard researchers compared death certificates logged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to news reports of people killed by police recorded in the Guardian newspaper's database, 'The Counted.'

The media outlet documented 93 percent of these deaths. The CDC only reported 45 percent.

The number of unreported deaths at the hands of police varied widely from state to state, but the deaths of people under 18, black people, people living in low-income areas and people killed by something other than a gun were most likely to go unreported, across the board.

The Harvard study examined what percentage of death certificates failed to disclose the involvement of police in each state in 2015. The lightest blue states failed to report between zero and 20 percent of police-related deaths. The darkest blue states missed 80-100 percent

The killing of civilians in the US - particularly people of color such as Michael Brown and Eric Garner - have been the subject of protests and headlines in recent years.

This Boston, Massachusetts study's findings suggest that the media has kept better track than US governmental bodies, like the CDC and the Department of Justice.

'There is no federal database that accurately collects data on all people killed by police in the US,' says Harvard study co-author, Justin Feldman. Both the DOJ and the CDC have databases, but this study proves that these are far from accurate.

'When a coroner or medical examiner writes up a death certificate, they will not write up that it's a police killing,' says Feldman.

Under-reporting of killings by police is a problem with a simple direct cause, but its belied by complicated legal inconsistencies.

Each state and even county has different regulations governing death certificates. Beyond that, coroners and medical examiners 'actually have a lot of professional autonomy,' says Feldman.

More than half of 2015 deaths caused by police were not officially documented in death certificates, a new Harvard study found

The study found that every state missed at least some of the deaths. But some were far worse than others.

While Oregon reported the vast majority of its 17 police-related deaths, 'Oklahoma was the worst offender,' says Feldman. There, 36 people were killed by police, and not a single one of their death certificates disclosed that information.

In most counties, coroners are elected by the public, while medical examiners are civil servants employed by the county.

In Oregon, an autopsy must be performed by a medical examiner if the cause of death is anything but natural, including homicides of any kind.

A physician there could sign a death certificate, but 'whenever you have a police shooting, they would immediately call one of the medical examiners,' says Oregon medical examiner Dr Karen Gunson.

The manner of death on such a certificate would be 'homicide' and a medical examiner would complete an injury information form, which would disclose that the fatal injury was inflicted by police.

'Somewhere on that death certificate, it's going to say 'shot by police,' says Dr Gunson.

Death certificates can be signed by either medical examiners or coroners, but these physicians are governed by their individual counties and states, which may contribute to inconsistent practices in reporting that police were involved in deaths

There are six medical examiners across three offices in Oregon. This may be part of the reason that the state's reporting practices are quite consistent.

By contrast, Oklahoma has one chief medical examiner that oversees all of the examinations in the state, says Feldman.

'The implication is that we need to do better. The CDC and other federal agencies need to do a better job counting these deaths,' he says, adding that the CDC, as an important database of vital statistics has a major interest in providing accurate data.

But it's not just any data that is inaccurate. Another study examined death certificates in civilian homicides. These reports were 'highly accurate,' Feldman says.

Beyond inconsistencies in laws and regulations governing death certificates, it's unclear exactly why medical examiners and coroners would not report that police were involved in killings.

'This study didn't look at police influence; that's something that, hopefully, more journalists will look into,' Feldman says.

In fact, he suggested that media reports even be 'incorporated' into databases tracking deaths, and that medical examiners and coroners need better training.
Declining sperm counts and doubling rates of testicular cancer could be a ticking time bomb for the human race, a leading scientist claims.

Sperm counts have halved in the western world over the past four decades, which, alongside rising testicular tumours, could be behind plummeting fertility rates and couples' increasing dependency on IVF, according to Professor Niels Skakkebaek from the University of Copenhagen.

Hormone-disrupting pesticides sprayed onto everyday food may be too blame as the changes are occurring too rapidly for genetics to be at fault, he adds.

Professor Skakkebaek said: 'Alterations in our genome cannot explain the observations as changes have occurred over just a couple of generations.

'Modern lifestyles are associated with increased exposure to various endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as pesticides that may be harmful to humans even though exposure to individual chemicals is low.'

Declining sperm counts could be a ticking time bomb for the human race, scientists claims

WOMEN WHO CONSUME SUGARY DRINKS WHILE HAVING IVF CUT THEIR CHANCES OF CONCEIVING Women who consume sugary drinks while having IVF cut their chances of conceiving, new research reveals. Drinking more than one sugary beverage a day reduces a woman's chance of having a live birth after IVF by 16 percent, a Harvard University study found. Having just one sugary drink a day lowers the chance of successful IVF by 12 percent, the research adds. Sugary drinks also reduce the number and maturity of a woman's ovarian cells, as well as lowering the amount of high-quality embryos, the study found. Previous research suggests sugar stimulates the release of stress hormones that affect the health of the reproductive system. Eggs and embryos may also fail to thrive in high blood glucose environments. Advertisement

'Pesticides may be harmful to humans'

Professor Skakkebaek said: 'What could be causing such disturbing trends? The short answer is that we do not know.

'However, data suggesting that the incidence of testicular cancer has more than doubled in recent decades leaves little doubt that we should look into environmental causes, including lifestyle effects.

'Alterations in our genome cannot explain the observations as changes have occurred over just a couple of generations.

'Environmental exposures can come through food, water, skin, and work and home environments.

He said: 'Both wildlife research and experimental studies suggest that modern lifestyles are associated with increased exposure to various endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as pesticides that together may be harmful to wildlife and humans even though exposure to individual chemicals is low.

'However, little has been done to explore their potential effects on semen quality and testicular cancer.'

'We have already waited too long'

Professor Skakkebaek said: 'In particular, studies of maternal exposures in pregnancy and the subsequent reproductive function of their sons are needed.

'Should we be worried about our future ability to reproduce ourselves, as some media coverage has claimed?

'This inconvenient question makes sense when we look at what is going on in fertility clinics all over the world - more and more children are now born after in vitro fertilisation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and insemination with partner or donor sperm.'

'Simple research questions urgently need answers.

He added: 'What is the role of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in reproductive trends? What is the role of lifestyle factors, including recreational drugs?

'Why is the incidence of testicular cancer increasing among young men of reproductive age?

'We have already waited too long. '

Professor Skakkebaek's comments appear in the British Medical Journal.
More than four million British children are too fat, according to an international study.

It found that four in ten youngsters aged five to 19 were medically obese or overweight.

Researchers at Imperial College London and the World Health Organisation said the total was up from 2.66million in 1975 to 4.53million last year.

The experts warned of an absolute crisis in child health leading to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Researchers spoke of an absolute crisis after childhood obesity has risen across the country

These worrying trends reflect the impact of food marketing and policies across the globe, with healthy nutritious foods too expensive for poor families and communities, said Majid Ezzati, the Imperial professor who led the study.

The trend predicts a generation of children and adolescents growing up obese. We need ways to make healthy, nutritious food more available at home and school, especially in poor families and communities, and regulations and taxes to protect children from unhealthy foods.

Most high-income countries have been reluctant to use taxes and industry regulations to change eating and drinking behaviours.

The study found that 1.13million five to 19-year-olds were obese, up from 360,000 in 1975. The rate for boys was 10.9 per cent and for girls 9.4 per cent.

Dr Fiona Bull of the WHO said politicians had failed to act after years of warnings. The response has been insufficient, inadequate, she added. Obesity is a global health crisis today, and threatens to worsen in coming years unless we start taking drastic action.

We are surrounded by environments which market unhealthy, high fat, high sugar, high calorie food. Thats what on the TVs, thats what is promoted at bus stops.

Dr Fiona Bull of the World Health Organisation has called on the government to impost a tax on fizzy drinks

Thats what children are seeing all day, every day. The marketing and the promotion and the price, the specials, the two for ones, the supersizing, the scaling  these are the problems which drive overweight and obesity.

She said the UK Government had started to take action by making plans for a sugar tax on fizzy drinks in 2018.

But she called for severe limits on marketing because firms were expanding their strategies beyond TV adverts.

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, warned that change would not happen overnight.

England is at the forefront of addressing childhood obesity  our sugar reduction programme and the Governments sugar levy are world-leading but this is just the beginning of a long journey. The evidence is clear that just telling people what to do wont work.

The Imperial study was reported in the Lancet journal.
Indian forces claim they shot dead a top leader of the Kashmir militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad in a clash in the disputed territory on Monday.

The Pakistani national known as 'Khalid' was trapped in a house after throwing a grenade at a police checkpoint in the northern village of Ladoora, they said.

Khalid has been accused of organising a string of suicide attacks across Indian-administered Kashmir, which Pakistan also claims as it own.

'Khalid' was a top leader of the Kashmir militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad

Smoke billows out of the building where militants were believed to be hiding during an encounter with the security forces personnel following their attack on a BSF camp

'He was one of the most wanted militants and the chief operational commander of JeM,' Kashmir inspector-general of police, Muneer Ahmed Khan, told AFP.

'He threw a grenade at the checkpoint which failed to explode. He then fired a pistol and took refuge in a nearby house where he was killed.'

Police said Khalid had planned suicide attacks in Muslim-majority Kashmir, including one on a paramilitary camp near Srinagar airport on October 3

Police said Khalid had planned suicide attacks in Muslim-majority Kashmir, including one on a paramilitary camp near Srinagar airport on October 3 in which one soldier and three attackers were killed.

In August JeM said it staged a raid on a police base in the southern town of Pulwama in which eight security force members died. A two-day gun-battle also left three of the attackers dead.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

Rebel groups including JeM have for decades fought Indian troops in the restive territory, demanding independence or a merger of the Himalayan region with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.

The estimated 500,000 Indian troops in Kashmir this year launched 'Operation Allout' to hunt rebels.

BSF personnel carrying the coffin containing the body of BK Yadav after a wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar

Police say at least 160 militants and 59 soldiers or police have been killed so far this year.

On Monday a soldier died in crossfire when suspected rebels attacked a patrol, said army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia.

India accuses Pakistan of sending militants into Kashmir to launch attacks on its forces. Islamabad says it only gives diplomatic support to Kashmiris' right to self-determination.

Scorned lover sets deathtrap for top jihadi

by Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu

A young woman in her early 20s walked into a senior Jammu and Kashmir cop's office and announced: 'I want him dead,' she told the officer. 'I will lead you to his tracks; you do the rest.'

The woman was referring to Khalid, the Valley chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group.

Security personnel gunned down the alleged terrorist on Monday in Ladoora area of North Kashmir. The woman was Khalid's lover and she claims that the two shared several midnight trysts.

Indian policeman stands guard near the site of gunfight between suspected militants and Indian government forces in Srinagar

But a year ago, she discovered she was pregnant. She revealed this with great joy to Khalid, expecting him to be equally excited. But his answer led to heartbreak. He wanted nothing to do with either her or the baby inside her.

Scorned, she left with a cousin to Punjab's Jalandhar district where the three-month-old fetus was clandestinely aborted.

The woman returned, determined to eliminate the man who she believed used her and led to her humiliation and death of her unborn child. She wanted blood. From then on, Khalid's days were numbered.

There were several close calls for the terrorist who had a long run of eight years. The face behind Jaish's deadly fidayeen attacks repeatedly sent jihadis from North to South Kashmir.

He 'kept the pot boiling' for Pakistan in the Valley and was behind a dozen attacks in North Kashmir, mostly in Sopore, Baramulla, Handwara and Kupwara.

Security personnel take positions during an operation after militants stormed a BSF camp early morning near Srinagar International Airport

Terrorists in the Valley have been under pressure from security forces because of the relentless operations against them over the past months. Troops have been sweeping even far-flung areas in the backwoods to take out hiding militants.

Khalid though retained a lover-boy image, and even at the time of death reportedly had three-four girlfriends.

Once when the woman informed the cops about the JeM jihadi, the police action and cordoning could begin only after he left.

On other occasions, he dropped by unexpectedly and she could not alert the authorities.

This time too, the Jammu & Kashmir Police had received a tip from sources close to the woman. A covert team waited for Khalid's entry in Sopore. He had come to meet an important contact.

He fired indiscriminately but the police's special operations group (SOG) retaliated quickly, injuring him.

The firing lasted only four minutes. Khalid managed to reach a residence, close to a government school in Ladoora.

Cornered and overpowered, the Jaish chief was neutralised by the SOG, three battalions of the CRPF, and the Army's 32 Rashtriya Rifles (RR).
In an exclusive video accessed by India Today TV, Rohingya rebels, with weapons in hand, are seen threatening to launch a major offensive.

Seen in the footage shouting slogans, hurling abuse and swearing to fight back in revenge, the clip shows the militants walking through the forested terrain around their hideouts in an unknown location in Myanmar.

The video which has been shot very recently in Myanmar, shows well-equipped and organised troops with modern weaponry and high-end ammunition.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) are believed to be re-arming

Over half a million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh and some have crossed over to India through a porous border in the last six weeks, an exodus that has now become the world's most urgent refugee crises.

The militants are heard speaking about the attacks the Myanmar army had conducted in the Rakhine district against the Rohingya people.

The country's government has labeled the men from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) who launched the initial attacks on security establishments as terrorists who have killed civilians and burnt villages.

Ataullah Abu Amar Jununi, centre, heads the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army

'Assalamu Alaykum. We are Arakan Muslim. We are being killed.

'We have agreed to sacrifice our lives for the people of Arakan, Insha Allah. We urge all Muslims to unite and to pray for us.

'We will be successful Alhamdulhah Arakan will be free from the oppression of Myanmar soldiersRohingya Arakan Muslim Zindabad Rohingya Arakan Muslim Zindabad,' the guerrillas say in the video.

These militants are Arakan militants, a faction of those who were involved in the attack on the Burmese army in August this year.

The Arakan militants have targeted the Myanmar army in the past, but this is the first time that the troops retaliated with such force.

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said her country will repatriate Rohingya Muslims who meet a strict criteria set in 1993

Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall meet Burma's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Clarence House

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a wave of criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although a military-drafted constitution gives her no power over the security forces.

The extremists have now started taking cover at various locations and then using the advantage of porous borders to sneak into neighbouring countries.

ARSA claims to be fighting on behalf of the million Rohingya living in virtual detention in, with few if any rights according to Myanmar's government.

A Rohingya Muslim Nur Karim carries his belongings past rice fields after crossing over from Myanmar into Bangladesh

The group is believed to have been founded by a Rohingya named Ataullah, who was born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia.

It has also been accused of killing other ethnic populations in Rakhine, such as Hindus and Buddhists.

Despite the desperate need if the fleeing Rohingya refugees, the Indian government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court last month, saying the nearly 40,000 Rohingyas already in the country should be deported and others should not be allowed to enter as they are a security threat, easy prey for radicalisation and will eat into the resources meant for citizens.

The matter will be next heard on October 13.
The European Commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, believes that the EU and India are natural partners.

Apart from the bonds of democracy and shared beliefs and values, for him this natural partnership is based also on the combat against climate change, terrorism and cooperation on cyber security and digital technologies.

The EU, he notes, is India's largest trade partner, with trade in goods and services exceeding $100 billion (Rs 65,356 crore) and India hosting around 6,000 European companies.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk (left) and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker (right) shake hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) prior to a meeting in New Delhi

Even with Brexit in 2019, the EU, he thinks, will remain India's biggest trading partner.

For the European Council president Donald Tusk, the EU's ultimate goal is to have a strong strategic partnership by enhancing geo-strategic relations and economic cooperation, with climate change, counter-terrorism and urbanisation being focal points of interest.

Partnership

In conceptual terms, the India-EU natural partnership could transcend rhetoric.

India's steady economic rise and its increasing contribution to global growth in the years ahead make it an obvious partner for the EU in its capacity as one of the world's largest trading groups and the second largest economy.

With Asia's rise and shifts in global economic power eastwards, the EU has perforce to pay more attention to Asia and, within Asia, it has to assess, looking ahead, the values, international outlook, attitude to disputes, adherence to international law, national plans and ambitions of which country are compatible with Europe's perspectives and interests.

In the changing international scenario the India-EU engagement is certainly growing and this is reflected in the 53 paragraphs (compared to 41 at the 13th summit in 2016) of the 2017 joint statement.

Some gains for India are evident, and some nuances that beg some questions. As against the 2016 separate India-EU statement on counter-terrorism, this year's separate statement lists additional terror attacks against India since March 2016 and specifically mentions 'globally proscribed terrorists and terror entities, including Hafeez Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Dawood Ibrahim, LeT, JeM, Hizb-ul- Mujahideen' and so on.

This is a plus, but unlike in the case with US, Spain and Japan, 'cross-border terrorism' is excluded.

On connectivity issues, with China's Belt and Road Initiative in mind, a plus was achieved with India and the EU underlining that connectivity issues must be based on 'universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality and must follow principles of financial responsibility, accountable debt financing practices, balanced ecological and environmental protection, preservation standards and social sustainability'.

We failed, however, to get the EU to include a reference to respect for sovereignty in connectivity initiatives.

Showing heightened EU concern about China's policies, this time the joint statement refers to the South China Sea issues  albeit indirectly  by underlining the 'importance of freedom of navigation, overflight and peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with the universally recognised principles of International Law, notably the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.'

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Threat

On Afghanistan the terrorist threat to it is more robustly worded than in 2016, and unlike then, the EU has appreciated the positive role being played by India in 'extending development assistance in Afghanistan, including for building social and economic infrastructure, governance institutions and human resource development and capacity building', which rebuffs Pakistan's position on India's zero role in Afghanistan.

The EU has 'noted' India's intensified engagement with the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG), the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group, but curiously does not use the word 'support', which is puzzling.

In the context of US threats to undo the Iranian nuclear deal, India and the EU reaffirmed their support for it as 'a crucial contribution to the non-proliferation framework and international peace, stability and security'.

On the North Korean nuclear tests, India and the EU, following the lead given by India and Japan, 'stressed the responsibility of those who support DPRK's nuclear and missile programmes', which is an allusion to China and Pakistan.

On Myanmar, those fleeing from the Rakhine state are not classified as refugees, and both sides have taken note 'that this violence was triggered off by a series of attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militants which led to loss of lives amongst the security forces as well as the civilian population'.

Given the widespread disillusionment in the West with Aung San Suu Kyi, this is remarkable.

The European Commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker (right) believes that the EU and India are natural partners

Issues

On economic issues, no tangible progress was registered on the EU-India Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations, with the two sides noting 'the ongoing efforts on both sides to re-engage actively towards timely launching negotiations for the BTIA', which does not suggest any breakthrough.

Both sides agreed to enhanced cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property rights (IPR) and public procurement, the two subjects that the EU wants included in BTIA negotiations.

Cyber security has figured prominently on the agenda. On the sensitive issue of trade in agricultural products in general, and rice in particular, the intention is to work together 'to resolve issues that have the potential of disrupting trade'.

Intensifying cooperation in skills development and finding complementarities between India's Skill India initiative and the EU's New Skills Agenda for Europe find mention. Strengthening cooperation on higher education, including through India's GIAN programme and the EU's Erasmus+ programme, has been flagged.

A Joint Statement on Clean Energy and Climate Change has been adopted. All in all, progress has been registered.

The writer is former foreign secretary
After fighting enemies often on multiple fronts, soldiers in the Indian Army are now fighting their own battles in India's court.

A soldier from the services has approached the Supreme Court, saying, 'Do not post me to operational areas to fight the enemies and terrorists if the army is classifying me as a non-operational service'.

Sipahi Prahlad Singh of the Army Service Corps is not the only one. Several serving officers are up in arms, alleging a 'caste-system' between combat arms and operational logistics services in the promotion policy.

Several serving officers have alleged a caste-system between combat arms and operational logistics services in the Army

The officers were present in the Supreme Court on Monday morning as a notice was issued to the Centre and the army headquarters to respond to the jawan's plea within four weeks.

Before Singh, Major Amod of the ASC had approached the apex court with a plea to not post him to combat terrorists in the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) unit in Jammu and Kashmir if he was deemed as a non-operational officer.

'This is an insult to me at the end of my service,' a serving officer of the army ordnance corps told Mail Today.

Their angst stems from the Ajay Vikram Singh committee report on promotions

'I trained as a regular officer and was commissioned as a regular officer of the Indian Army.

'After two decades of service I am now told services are not part of operational formations and are not required to operate in difficult combat conditions so additional promotion vacancies are given to infantry, mechanised infantry and armoured corps. This has killed my morale,' he added.

His is not an isolated case. At least four serving officers spoke to Mail Today hoping to get justice either from the Supreme Court or defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Troops feel that they are being denied the opportunity to grow professionally

'This flawed promotion policy fraudulently introduced in the army is adversely affecting the service conditions of at least 8,000 officers, and will also affect the promotion and service conditions of 5 lakh jawans,' another officer from the EME told Mail Today on camera, requesting his name be kept confidential.

Their angst stems from the Ajay Vikram Singh committee report on promotions that created an additional 1,800 vacancies at various ranks from colonel to lieutenant general.

The army insists that the Supreme Court upholds the command exit model approved by the government

However, the officers of Operational Logistics allege the fighting force cornered a majority of the promotion avenues, denying them their fair share to grow professionally.

'We have requested the Supreme Court to either restore the earlier rule of ASC, AOC and EME being declared operational like earlier or withdraw these officers and men from all operational duties,' contends advocate Neela Gokhale.

The army, on the other hand, insists that even the Supreme Court has upheld the command exit model approved by the government.

'The AV Singh committee recommended the need to reduce age of commanding officers in combat arms and combat support arms.

'The COs of Services and minor Corps can have a comparatively higher age profile. All ranks are from operational arms and service.

'They are combatants and that was never in dispute,' top sources in army headquarters told Mail Today.
As more 'victims' of India's so-called love jihad knock on the Supreme Court's door seeking an NIA probe, tempers began to fray at the hearing of the Hadiya case on Monday.

The disturbance forced an angry CJI-led bench to abruptly end the proceeding and walk away.

'We cannot hear you today, Mr Dave. We are asking you a legal question and you are bringing everyone here every politician you feel like This kind of argument can never be allowed in court,' CJI Dipak Misra told senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

CJI Dipak Misra (left) told senior advocate Dushyant Dave (right) that he could not be heard

The judges said the hearing has been deferred to October 30 and rose abruptly.

The bench was taking serious note of Dave bringing in the names of BJP president Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and the Modi government's 'agenda' in keeping the love jihad issue alive and 'vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of Kerala' when certain legal questions regarding the Kerala HC's jurisdiction in annulling the marriage between Muslim youth Shafin Jahan and Akhila who converted to Hadiya were posed to him by the Bench.

When Dave questioned how the custody of an adult girl who married as per her will can be given to her father, NIA counsel Maninder Singh replied that 'in certain circumstances, parental authority can be invoked, which also included hypnotism and mental indoctrination' and added that the NIA probe found Hadiya to be subjected to it.

This angered Dave who yelled at Singh saying, 'You are playing into the hands of your government.

Supreme Court is hearing case of a 25-year-old Hindu girl who coverted to Islam to marry Muslim youth Shafin Jahan

India's Supreme Court in New Delhi

'Your Amit Shah went to Kerala and said the same thing.'

This was when the judges intervened. Earlier, the CJI, examining the validity of the HC order, said he prima facie felt it was wrong.

He also appeared to disagree with the HC granting custody of the girl to her father saying, 'Basic principle is when a person who is mentally sound takes a decision, then it has to be respected.

'The father cannot say ''I must have her in my custody because she is my daughter''.' Two more similar cases had landed in the court  one by a Kerala woman whose daughter converted to Islam and was 'recruited' into ISIS in Afghanistan, and the other by a woman of Latur in Maharashtra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wrapped up his two-day visit to his home state of Gujarat.

He launched a number of projects and symbolically sounded the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll bugle for the state, which goes to the polls later this year.

Highlights include an intensive immunisation drive from Gujarat's Vadnagar, saying no child should suffer from any vaccine-preventable disease.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers prayers at Hatkeshwar Temple in Vadnagar, Gujarat

'Through the 'Intensified Mission Indradhanush' or IMI, the government aims to reach every child below the age of two years and pregnant women still uncovered under the routine immunisation programme,' an official statement said.

'Under IMI, a seven-day immunisation drive will be conducted each month from now till January 2018 in 173 districts and 17 cities,' the statement said.

The programme will cover low performing areas in the selected districts and cities.

'Let no child suffer from any vaccine-preventable disease,' Modi said, while launching the programme.

On his first visit to his birthplace since occupying the top post, the Prime Minister held a roadshow and visited his school and said the town had taught him to drink poison.

At the B N High School where he studied, he smeared sand from the premises on his forehead.

Modi, who once sold tea at Vadnagar railway station, recalled his journey to Delhi from Gujarat where he was chief minister for 13 years from 2001.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting in his hometown Vadnagar on Sunday

He said he has managed to serve the nation with the blessings of Lord Shiva since 2001 despite some people spewing venom at him during these years.

He was apparently referring to the attacks on him during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister after the riots of 2002 in the state.

'I started my journey from Vadnagar and now I have reached Kashi. Just like Vadnagar, Kashi is also the town of Bhole Baba (Lord Shiva).

Bhole Baba's blessings gave me the strength to drink and digest poison. Due to this ability, I was able to counter all those who spewed venom against me since 2001,' he said.

On the second day of his visit to poll-bound Gujarat, Modi held a roadshow here. A large number of people lined the road to greet him.

There were chants of 'Modi- Modi' and flowers were showered on him along the route.

Before inaugurating a newly-built medical college in the town, he visited the Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple where he performed puja along with state chief minister Vijay Rupani.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees scope for further reforms in the country's oil and gas sector and has received 'focused suggestions' from some of the world's leading energy companies on the way forward', according to an official statement released on Monday.

The Modi government's strategy is to use India's market size, as the world's third biggest oil consumer, to strike better deals for oil imports and attract investment into the country's exploration and refining sectors.

Top executives from global oil and gas giants including Rosneft, BP, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell, Vedanta, Reliance Industries and leading service providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton met the Prime Minister on Monday as the industry gathered in New Delhi for the three-day India Energy Forum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees scope for further reforms in the country's oil and gas sector, an official statement released on Monday said

'Participants appreciated the pace and drive with which Prime Minister Modi has brought about reform in the energy sector,' the Prime Minister's office said in a statement after the meeting.

'Subjects such as the need for a unified energy policy, contract frameworks and arrangements, requirement of seismic data sets, encouragement for biofuels, improving gas supply, setting up of a gas hub and regulatory issues came up for discussion,' the statement added.

The PM pointed out that many suggestions at the last meeting in 2016 have helped guide Indian policy-making and he appreciated the 'focused suggestions' made this year and that 'scope for reform in many areas still exists.'

Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) and Rosneft for their support to India's energy sector

Modi was quoted as saying he looked forward to 'various opportunities' for cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia, the second biggest oil exporter to the country behind Iraq.

State-run Saudi Aramco, which on Sunday launched a new office near Delhi, is in talks with several Indian refiners for a possible joint venture by next year.

Its Chief Executive Amin Nasser told the conference after the Modi meeting that India's oil demand would double by 2040 to about 10 million barrels per day, making it the world's largest for the fuel and a priority for the company.

Rosneft's $12.9 billion acquisition of the debt-ridden Essar Oil strengthened ties between the world's largest oil producer and the fastest-growing consume

In the meeting, Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft for their support to India's energy sector.

The two leaders were instrumental in helping to seal Rosneft's $12.9 billion acquisition of the debt-ridden Essar Oil, strengthening ties between the world's largest oil producer and the fastest-growing consumer.

BP and Reliance have said they would jointly invest $6 billion to boost India's gas output. A BP executive said on Monday that the company was 'excited about gas, upstream and digital innovation in India'.

The Prime Minister said that the status of the energy sector in India is highly uneven. He welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy. He flagged the potential of biomass energy and also invited participation and joint ventures in coal gasification.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed the oil companies that liberalised India offers a USD 300 billion investment opportunity in the next 10 years in the oil and gas sector.

'We want investors, both domestic and global, who can bring in the best technology and capital,' he said.

The government is devising policies to more than double the share of gas in the energy basket to 15 per cent.

'We are planning to set up a gas trading exchange and making sure there is open access to the gas grid. Global experience in this area would be useful,' he stated.

According to Pradhan, in the last 40 months, the government has taken several policy initiatives in the energy sector in line with the prime minister's vision of energy access, efficiency, sustainability and security.

The CMDs of Indian companies ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil, GAIL, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and GAIL also attended the meeting.
Chandrayaan-1 taking off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota

The year 2018 will be very crucial for the space sector in India; we are going to witness not one but two Indian missions to the moon.

We have all heard of Chandrayaan- 2, the second lunar mission slated to be launched in 2018 and an advance on Chandrayaan-1, a lunar orbiter launched in 2008.

Chandrayaan-2 is a lander and a rover. However, not many of us have heard about another Indian mission to the moon that is quietly getting ready for launch around the same time as Chandrayaan-2.

This one is going to be Indias first private sector space mission, and a mission to the moon, to be executed in a record time.

The mission is taking shape at Team Indus, a space startup in Bengaluru.

A private sector mission to the moon heralds a new chapter in Indias space foray. In fact, Bengaluru is home to close to three dozen startups in the space sector.

These firms are breaking the monopoly of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in many ways.

Rahul Narayan of Team Indus: There will be two Indian space missions in 2018 to the moon

Team Indus is the first one to fabricate a spacecraft in the private sector in India, though it is going to depend on ISRO for launching its probe to the moon.

Several other companies are working on different aspects of the space business. In fact, much of the success achieved by the space agency in the past two decades has a lot to with the involvement of the private sector.

Several Indian companies have been associated with the space programme as suppliers of components, sub-assemblies, rocket fuel, etc. They have developed the capability and experience of producing space-ready materials and systems.

If that is so, why cant they also make satellites and launch on their own, at least the ones for which technology has been well established? They can also tap into vast human resources developed by various agencies of ISRO over the years.

It is this thinking which is giving rise to a private space industry. However, this development is taking place in policy vacuum. The role of ISRO has been dominant until now and India did not feel the need to have a national space policy.

The space agency sets its own scientific and operational goals as well as vision, and executes them with funding from the government.

If the private sector is to play a role in the space sector along with ISRO, we need a policy framework and also set the stage for engagement of private firms.

Just as Team Indus decided to develop a lunar mission, if a private company wants to develop a spaceport, will it be allowed to do so or not?

There are many questions like this in which we need clarity. Private players have made a good beginning, but for them to grow to their full potential they need support  both capital as well as a clear national space policy framework.

ISRO itself could take a lead by creating startup incubators and providing necessary help to them.
Last year head constable Raj Kumar Shukla committed suicide in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh after being asked to clean drains on Gandhi Jayanti. The order led to an altercation between the constable and his superior officer and subsequently the tragic suicide of a promising young officer.

A day ago, SP (North) in Bhopal Hemant Chauhan and a police inspector almost came to blows while supervising a Durga idol immersion procession.

The same day, sub divisional officer (Police) of Sabalgarh in Morena district Hemant Sisodia committed suicide in his home.

Senior police officials in Bhopal say the force is 'stretched to its limits' (photo for representation only)

Senior police officials in Bhopal suggest that the force is stretched to its limits and it is beginning to show.

A senior official said: 'It began with the farmer agitation in western MP in June. Police forces from all over the state was moved to the western part where they remained till the situation turned completely normal.'

'From August onwards, the festival season started with rakshabandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Eid and Durga Puja,' he said, adding that all leave has been cancelled during the period.

Diwali is around the corner and there is no respite till then, he added. 'Imagine the stress that must be building up. This is being manifested in the forms of arguments, fights and in extreme cases, suicides,' he said.

Diwali is around the corner and there is no respite till then, senior police officials said (photo for representation only)

Furthermore, the police in MP have now also been talking about lack of cooperation from their counterparts in the revenue department, basically collectors and SDMs in law and order duties.

On Tuesday, a farmers' agitation in Tikamgarh turned violent after the DM took hours to meet a delegation of the farmers to accept their memorandum.

In the meantime, farmers waiting outside started pelting stones. Police retaliated by hurling tear gas shells and began a cane charge.

Later, pictures of the rounded-up farmers stripped to the waist at the police station went viral. The DGP had to give an explanation for the stripping.

Police feel that if the DM had not taken a nuanced approach in taking the memorandum, the matter would have not escalated to that point.

In neighbouring Chattisgarh, a BSF trooper shot himself dead on Thursday with his service weapon at a camp in Sukma - in the heart of Naxalite-affected territory.

Earlier in July, Shimpi Shashikant of the 226th battalion of CRPF committed suicide in the same manner at Sukma. In May, within a week, three jawans of the CRPF - Sukhwinder Singh, Jeewan Lal and Diwakar Rao - shot themselves at their camps in Bijapur, Dhamtari and Sukma.

Police are stressed and it's beginning to show. Welfare wings in state police departments have not effectively been able to address the problem.

The solutions offered by them are in the form of yoga camps, but larger issues such as leaves, family time and recruitment of more personnel to take the load off the existing ones has not been done as yet.

Fortunately for India, there have not been incidents of mass shooting and the disturbed person has invariably killed himself instead. God forbid if America turns into an inspiration on this count too.
Lyndon Township voters passed a millage in August to fund their own fiber-optic network. Because its not economical for private cable companies to serve sparsely populated areas, 6,000 to 8,000 households in western Washtenaw County have no broadband access, according to Connect Michigan, which helps expand use of broadband.

Though many communities are looking at taxing residents to fund local systems, Lyndon is the first in Michigan to do so through a ballot initiative. I think this moment is bigger than just Lyndon Township, says Ben Fineman, a Lyndon resident and president of the Michigan Broadband Cooperative. Lyndons success has the potential to be a transformative model for other rural townships, not just in Washtenaw County but hopefully around the state.

In a 622-321 vote with 43 percent turnout, voters approved a 2.9-mill tax for twenty years. The township will issue $7 million in bonds to build broadband connections to its 1,136 households; the tax will repay the debt. If a feasibility study is accurate, it could be done by the end of 2018.

The service is planned to provide a minimum speed of 100 megabits per second, far exceeding the FCCs minimum download rate of 25 Mbps for advanced usage. The tax will cost the owner of an average parcel roughly $22 per month. Those who sign up for Internet service will pay another $35 to $45 a month with no data caps; a one-gigabit speed is expected to be available for $60 to $70 a month. The Internet service provider has yet to be chosen. Because the system wont include TV, residents will also need to sign up for online video services.

Dan Manning, community technology advisor for Connect Michigan, says the vote margin speaks volumes. Thats a really good sign that many people are stepping up and saying how badly they need it, he says.

At a special meeting on August 21, the township board appointed supervisor Marc Keezer and trustees John Francis and Robert Mester to choose members of an implementation committee. That committee will recommend a consultant to oversee the project and conduct the bidding.

Township clerk Linda Reilly wont say how she voted, but she doubts that implementation will be easy. She owns a landlocked parcel thats difficult to access and notes that other residents own land that isnt buildable, so theyll be forced to pay taxes on a system theyll never be able to use. Theres lots of rolling hills and wooded areas. Its going to be challenging terrain, she says.

While careful to remain neutral, Keezer says he sees the need for a broadband infrastructure for the average township resident. With a median household income of $82,719 in Lyndon, many residents may be able to absorb a few hundred dollars a year, he says. But he sympathizes with people on fixed incomes who may never use the service.

Keezer says the township is exploring partnering with other local governments. Depending on where the head end of the network is located, it may be possible to run connections to residents of neighboring townships if theyre willing to pay for the system.

One potential partner is Sharon Township, which had planned to put the broadband initiative to a vote in November but postponed it to May 2018. Sharon supervisor Peter Psarouthakis says theres a plethora of other ballot proposals in November, and hed prefer to have the broadband vote when residents can focus solely on it. If voters approve, Sharon could benefit from the knowledge gained by Lyndon Township and possibly share resources. Were looking into every option that would be viable for us to do the most cost-effective and professional job we can for the taxpayers, Psarouthakis says.

Fineman says the benefit for everybody increases when townships work together. Fineman thinks a nonprofit cooperative controlled by the people it serves is the optimal model, since that gives the township control of how much to charge and what speeds to provide. A nonprofit could also provide service beyond township borders.

Both Sylvan and Manchester townships sent out a broadband survey with their summer tax bills. Now that weve passed Lyndon Township, we will see even more of that, Fineman predicts.

Private broadband service is unavailable in Lyndon. The situation is trickier in areas like Dexter Township, where some residents already have broadband. Since those residents are unlikely to vote to tax themselves, state rep Donna Lasinski proposed legislation to let residents create special assessment districts for communications infrastructure. The bill is still awaiting a hearing.

In the meantime, Dexter Township supervisor Harley Rider is exploring other options. Hes surveying residents to find out who has access, who wants it, and what theyre willing to pay for it. If enough people request it, the township might look into bringing in a provider to compete with Charter Communicationsthough since major cable companies dont like to go head-to-head, he says, the township would need to work with a small start-up.

Webster Township supervisor John Kingsley is awaiting the results of Lasinskis legislation. Some Webster homes have access, but 1,000 homes in low-density areas do not. If legislation is passed, we would decide whether we could move forward to adopt the special assessment district, he says. If broadband is eventually approved, Kingsley could envision a scenario where fiber would run from Chelsea through Lyndon to Dexter and Webster townships.

Manning is convinced that Lyndons vote for broadband will bolster the efforts of other communities. Everybody is waiting for everybody else to go first. No one was ready to take the risk, he says. A lot of people will look at them to see how it works.
Speaking at the sixth edition of India Today Education Summit, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh touched upon every stage of education a child is receiving and the pivotal role it plays in transforming a human being into a resource for the country.

'Education is fundamental to one's life, for growth of any society and for the growth of any country. In addition to compulsory education, we must provide quality education to our children,' the minister said, referring to successful implementation of the Right to Education Act.

'It remains a big challenge for the government to make education accessible and affordable,' Singh added.

Satyapal Singh said India was contributing to the world's knowledge but needed to address challenges within the education system

The government has deliberated how quality education can be improved in all sectors - public schools, private schools and government schools, he added.

'If freedom and choice is given, nobody would like to send their children to government schools. If you can afford, you would like to send your children to private schools because to the quality of education imparted is comparatively better,' Singh said, reflecting on the status quo of education standards in Indian society.

In his inaugural address, the minister said: 'While education standards have been maintained in the southern states of our country, the situation remains grim in the northern part of India. It poses a challenge to the government and the quality needs to be upgraded. But how do we improve it? This is where the government's accountability comes into the picture.'

Another challenge, he said, the government has to address is to ensure that in addition to accessible and affordable education, children are provided with equitable and quality education.

(From left) Moderator Prof Debraj Mookerjee, Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Dr W Selvamurthy, Dr C Raj Kumar, Dr SK Salwan and Prof Aditya Shastri

Remarking on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's work in the education sector over a period of three years, Singh presented the government's report card to delegates at the summit.

'The government has managed to open six IIITs, one IIT and one NIT this year. Looking forth, based on the assessment of how students are benefiting from education, learning outcomes have been derived by the government which will be implemented from this academic session,' the minister said, adding that the government has done away with no detention policy, a move taken by the Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry earlier this year - a major reform to improve deteriorating education standards.

Appreciating India's offering to the world's 'knowledge bank', Satyapal said: 'We're contributing to the world's knowledge by providing quality research. But at the same time, we also have to address the challenges our researchers are facing.'

The Minister of State for Human Resource Development said there needed to be a focus on quality in both private and government schools

Resting his concerns on statistics for making higher education accessible and affordable, the former Mumbai police commissioner said: 'We should be concerned because in our country, only 24.6 per cent of the children have access to higher education. In the United States, it is 86 per cent; in Russia, over 80 per cent; and in China, 48 per cent children have access to higher education.'

'Any good education imparted to the future workforce of our country and the children of today should have four basic ingredients.

The first and foremost is textbook knowledge, followed by inclusion of teaching students about culture and civilisation - which is an indicator of a civil society where women are educated, protected and respected.

The third ingredient is educating students about righteousness and the fourth is teaching children to exercise control on mind on their thought process,' Singh said.

The minister said that the government is looking forward to a 'New India' free of four Cs - corruption, crime, casteism and communalism - by imparting affordable and accessible education to all.

'Education needs to be decentralised'

At the panel discussion on 'Mining Ancient India', author Amish Tripathi and JNU professor Makarand Paranjape were of the view that the education system in India is in need of decentralisation.

'It worked in the economy,' Tripathi said, 'it might work in education too.'

Both also spoke highly of ancient India. While Paranjape said, 'India used to be a knowledge society, but had destroyed the system in the last seventy years', Tripathi added, 'We should learn from ancient texts. We should mine them for knowledge.'

Author Amish Tripathi (left) and JNU professor Makarand Paranjape (right) formed part of the panel discussion on 'Mining Ancient India'

He continued: 'I am not anti-West. I am of the belief that we shouldn't be shaken from our roots. We don't create graduate students who are connected to their Indian roots. For example, architecture students are usually taught Western concepts.

'I've seen quite a few buildings with glass walls. It's a concept which makes sense in the West where there is little sun.

'However, in India, there is plenty of sunlight. And what these giant glass buildings are doing is creating giant microwave ovens. It's leading to gross wastage of power (because of the ACs) and is also making people uncomfortable. Forget connecting to ancient texts, we aren't even connected to our climatic conditions.'

The author, famous for his books on mythological fiction, also spoke about politics on the campus. He was of the view that it should be banned as it 'divided people'.

Paranjape agreed in the sense that political parties should not be allowed in colleges, but that 'student governments were fine.'

One thing they both agreed unequivocally on was how 'RTE was a disaster', as Tripathi put it. Paranjape, on the other hand, called it the product of a 'terrible mechanism'.

The core issue is that we are not a top-down culture. We are a bottom-up society. And change can only happen in India once we understand that notion. Amish Tripathi

'We muddled up our priorities along the way. IITs and IIMs were projects that the government focused on but not primary education. Now, there is a need to fix it,' said Paranjape, before adding, 'Tagore spoke about how, when a community needed a dam, they built it. When they needed a pathshala, they built it. Government had no role in it. Now, things are different. We have taken the power away from people. We have weakened our enterprising spirit and creativity.'

In the end, Tripathi added, it boiled down to the kind of culture prevalent in India. He gave the example of two sporting events that took place in India and China in the recent past.

'China is governed by the idea of imposition,' he said. 'Beijing recently held the Olympics and Delhi had the Commonwealth Games (CWG). We all know how CWG was managed while the Olympics in Beijing was supremely managed.

'Apart from ensuring that the stadiums were completed on time, the Chinese government also wanted the citizens to be impressive and issued a dress code. One rule was that white socks couldn't be worn with black shoes. Naturally, they all followed the rule.'

He continued, 'Imagine if the same were to happen in Delhi. If the government were to issue a similar dress code, I'm sure people would deliberately defy it and wear white socks with black shoes.

'The core issue is that we are not a top-down culture. We are a bottom-up society. And change can only happen in India once we understand that notion.'
An onslaught of legal posturing has left the country's fireworks capital somewhat frazzled.

Manufacturers at Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi town, already struggling to come to terms with India's switch to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and an invasion by Chinese products, have now been hit by a Supreme Court ban on sale of firecrackers around Diwali in Delhi and adjoining areas.

Close to three lakh people are employed at these fireworks factories with another five lakh (500k) working in subsidiary industries.

Workers make firecrackers at a factory ahead of Diwali

The total annual turnover can be up to Rs 4,000 crore. But this Diwali, many of the manufacturers have decided to shut shop.

'Compared to last year, we have cut down the production by 50 per cent. With the introduction of GST, we have incurred huge loss and we can't do any more business as there is no guarantee with this system,' explained K Mariappan, leader of the Sivakasi fireworks association.

'On top of all such hurdles, bans like the one imposed by the Supreme Court on selling crackers in Delhi has only made sure that we will not survive for long.'

The SC on Monday disallowed sale of fireworks in Delhi and nearby towns till November 1, in a bid to curb the Capital's deadly air pollution.

Firework display to celebrate Diwali; festival of light

Other states too have indicated that they want to emulate the top court's order, leaving the manufacturers apprehensive.

Many fireworks makers find fault with GST, saying the new tax system cannot work for the sector.

'The economy in our industry is such that we depend on the money from our buyers for manufacturing of goods for Diwali, every year,' said a manufacturer.

A worker removes paper rolls after filling them with gunpowder mixture to make firecrackers at a factory on the outskirts of Ahmedabad

'After the introduction of GST, and that too at a rate of 28 per cent, we were distressed and met ministers and pleaded with them to reduce it. When we met the then finance minister D Jayakumar, he told us that his voice was not being heard in the council, which was very disappointing.'

The manufacturers said they were confident that GST would be slashed this year and the buyers, to see a profit, had not paid the advance on time.

Finally, losing hope, the factories went into production only three months ago with the aim to make half the amount of merchandise.

Delhi resident families light fireworks in the streets outside their homes to celebrate the first day of Diwali

'Previously, we only paid two per cent central tax; the remaining 12.5 per cent was paid by the buyer. But with us paying such a huge percentage, the price has also risen by 40 per cent, which falls upon the consumer,' explained a firecracker maker.

Forays by Chinese fireworks have also dented the industry considerably. Unlike Sivakasi crackers that are phosphorousbased, the Chinese ones are sulphur-based and cheaper to make but more harmful to the environment.

Manufacturers fear that a shortage of Sivakasi fireworks in the market would push customers into buying the Chinese ones despite curbs on the products from authorities.
Post-Doklam, many observers, whether in the defence services or government circles, have been asking 'what could China do next to put India in its place?'.

Of course, Luo Zhaohu, the Chinese Ambassador in India, spoke of 'turning the page to a new chapter'.

Can India believe him? In an oped in a national newspaper, Luo says that the outcome of the August BRICS Summit in Xiamen (China) went beyond his expectations: 'An important consensus has been reached to enhance mutual trust, focus on cooperation, and manage differences.'

Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) arrives with members of the Politburo Standing Committee for a reception on the eve of China's National Day

Luo even quotes the Chinese President: 'The dragon and elephant should dance together.'

Luo is lucky that the Indian media is 'Alzheimerish' and has already forgotten the nasty words used by Chinese officials against Indian leaders during the Doklam episode.

Chinese woman

Incidentally, how could Beijing have engaged in this misadventure without a sort of 'clearance' from its man on the spot (in India).

On its part, China has not forgotten the standoff on the ridge near the trijunction.

While the Ambassador speaks of 'turning a page', the People's Liberation Army (PLA) cancelled the ceremonial border personnel meetings (BPM) to mark China's National Day on October 1.

Several times every year, the PLA and the Indian Army meet at five designated Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) points along the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Local commanders meet their Chinese counterparts to sort out differences on local issues, but also get to know each other.

This is an excellent confidence-building measures during which 'gifts' such cigarettes, liquors, etc, are exchanged. The fact that it was not held on October 1 shows that the PLA is not ready to close the chapter.

But that is not all: the annual joint exercise between the Indian Army and the PLA will not be held in 2017.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman's unscripted interaction with Chinese soldiers on the border went viral in India

Called 'Hand-in-Hand', it was held in Pune last year. Again a good CBM cancelled. In March 2017, Delhi wrote to Beijing to start the initial planning process; no answer from China.

China has also not provided data for the Sutlej and the Yarlung Tsangpo, as per the agreement signed by the two countries.

Some vague excuses have been given for not doing so. In this morose context, an incident took place in Dharamsala, the hometown of the Dalai Lama in Himachal Pradesh.

On October 1 (incidentally, the Chinese National Day), a Chinese woman, a long-term guest in India, holding a US passport, physically assaulted a Tibetan woman 'hurling verbal abuses and also vandalising a part of the photo exhibition set up by our NGO near the Dalai Lama's temple, in McLeod Ganj,' according to the police complaint.

Physical assault

A Dharamsala-based Tibetan NGO called Gu-Chu-Sum, started by former Tibetan political prisoners, had organised a photo exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Tibetan unrest.

According the complaint: 'While hundreds of foreigners, tourists and local people visited the exhibition, this Chinese woman, Ms Zhu Wenqi, 44, objected to the photo exhibition saying these photos insult China.'

She attacked Namgyal Dolkar Lhagyari, a member of the Tibetan Parliament and Gu-Chu-Sum president, when the latter tried to pacify her; the correspondent of Voice of America who was filming the scene, was hit in the face by Zhu.

Though there is no proof that the Chinese lady is linked to the regime in Beijing, the attack however raises serious issues.

Troop movement

First for the Dalai Lama's security: Are all the followers of the Tibetan leader properly screened? Second, how did Zhu get a five-year visa to 'study' in India?

Even presuming that she was a genuine 'student', is there a way to keep a tab on all 'Buddhists' and other seekers gravitating around Dharamsala?

How far is the Himachali town infiltrated by the Chinese intelligence? Whatever the results of the inquiry, Delhi needs to realise that the Chinese 'answer' to Doklam may not be visible on a mountain ridge in Arunachal Pradesh or Ladakh, but may be 'asymmetric'.

Today, it is obvious that the Doklam page has not been turned; for example, as Indian foreign secretary landed in Paro to take stock of the relations with Bhutan, there are persistent rumours that the PLA has massed troops in the Chumbi valley, north of Doklam.

Delhi needs to remain fully alert and ready to tackle any situation, military or otherwise.
Four in five households are priced out of buying a bog standard newly-built home in London and the South East because house prices are so high, research suggests.

Estate agent Savills claims that to be 'affordable' even to just 40 per cent of buyers a new-build property would have to cost 250,000 or less.

But it warned that 'the average new home in the south of England is not a mass-market product' and they are largely priced at similar levels to existing homes. In London the average house price is 435,000, while further out of the capital prices average around 290,000.

Savills: There needs to be substantially more land being released for housing development in the higher-demand areas

According to Savills, it means that just 20 per cent in the least affordable areas can afford to buy a new property, with an undersupply of new homes being built exacerbating the problem.

The biggest reason for this, it claims, is not inactivity on the part of builders, but the chronic shortage of land released to build new homes on in this area.

Nationally, new homes volumes are up almost 50 per cent on three years ago, meaning that new housing supply is almost meeting demand across most of the UK.

But London and South East regions are bearing the brunt of the shortfall  accounting for 104,000 of the 2016 total  which puts immense pressure on affordability.

The Savills report said: 'Across much of the country, housing supply is almost meeting demand. In places with less stretched housing affordability, there was a shortfall of only 5,000 new homes.

'But in places where demand is high and affordability is stretched, there was a shortfall of 104,000 homes.'

In places with less stretched housing affordability, there was a shortfall of only 5,000 new homes. But where demand is high and affordability is stretched, there was a shortfall of 104,000 homes Savills

This is pushing the price of land in London and its surrounding areas up and consequently, new home prices are spiralling out of reach of the vast majority of ordinary families.

A study by Yorkshire Building Society recently found that at a national level, housing affordability has been almost flat over the past 10 years  a 0.6 per cent improvement - but while in England it has worsened by 3.3 per cent, it has improved by 18.9 per cent in Scotland and 17.2 per cent in Wales.

In London, it has declined dramatically, however, with affordability worsening by 38.8 per cent since 2007, as house prices have rocketed but wages have stagnated.

Across Britain as a whole a home costs 7.8 times average wages, the same as in 2007.

But the study, which compared local house prices against local wages, said that in some areas of London and the South East, this ratio is closer to 20 times.

The chart shows how housing affordability has changed since 2007, according to the Yorkshire BS study that compared local house prices to local wages

Writing in a report called On track to solving the housing crisis Chris Buckle, director of Savills residential research, said: 'To solve the problem of undersupply in the South East, there needs to be substantially more land being released for housing development in the higher-demand areas.

'Increased supply of land would reduce the level of competition, lower land values, and enable new homes to be sold at levels the mass market can afford.'

However, Buckle acknowledges that the South East is constrained by environmental and landscape designations.

There should be consideration of a program of green belt swaps Chris Buckle, Savills

To address the issue, he argues that the Government should force local planning authorities to free up more land for development, including in the green belt.

Buckle said: 'Balancing the protection of valued landscapes against the need for more housing is a regional problem and needs a regional, market-led strategy.

'In addition, there should be consideration of a program of green belt swaps.

'The Government must provide leadership on these issues if sufficient land is to be found to make a real impact on the housing crisis.'

The disparity in house prices is further illustrated by this map, which shows the average growth in price per square foot across the regions since 2012

May's keynote at the Conservative Party Conference last week was plagued by mishaps

What about affordable and social housing?

The Savills report came as Prime Minister Theresa May used her Conservative party conference speech to announce 2billion in fresh funding to build 25,000 new affordable social rented homes over the next five years.

This is in addition to the 10billion already committed to funding more Help to Buy by providing equity loans for deposits to buyers.

Her big reveal on 'fixing the broken housing market' was met with mixed reviews, with many pointing out that her claim to support ordinary people achieve the 'British dream' of home ownership has little to do with providing more homes for those renting in the social sector.

Others have welcomed the social housing funding on the basis that public money is likely to attract private funding to new developments, promoting the development of other types of homes too by addressing the up front infrastructure costs that can so often stall building projects.

Steve Partridge, director of Savills housing consultancy team, said: 'The Government clearly recognises that we have a housing crisis and need a broad range of measures to fix it.

'We will need to work through the detail of how the additional 2billion will be brought forward, but any contribution to building more affordable homes has to be welcomed.

'It has been assumed that this will attract 5billion in additional funding, and we would imagine an assumption that there would be no land cost if these homes are to be built out on local authority land.

'Of particular note is the reference to additional funding being directed to where need is greatest and how that is measured.

'We know from our research that there are 100,000 emerging households per year unable to access market housing, the majority in London and the South East.'

The chart shows how housebuilding has grown since the financial crisis slump

Government aid, particularly in the form of interest-free five-year Help to Buy loans to buyers of new-build homes, has helped boost the number of homes being built over the past couple of years.

Savills calculates that it will support around 20 per cent of the 190,000 new homes expected to be built in 2016/17, compared with 34,000 in 2015/16 and 28,000 in 2014/15.

The biggest increase has been in the number of homes being built without public funding, both market sale and built to rent units, up from only 62,000 in 2015 to an expected 111,000 this year  an increase of 79 per cent.

The Savills report does detail evidence of high delivery sites in high demand areas across the South East.

These include sites in Andover (Picket Twenty), Aylesbury (Berryfields) and Bedfordshire (Kings Reach in Biggleswade), where homes are priced at a discount of up to 15 per cent compared to the local market on an average price per square foot basis.

Each of these sites completed more than 600 new homes for sale in the past three years  a build-out rate significantly above average.

Even in high-demand areas, such as Cambridge and Horsham, there are large numbers of homes being sold at a discount to market averages on a per square foot basis, the firms researchers found.

'To build on this momentum, policy needs to go further, and our report contains some uncomfortable truths,' said Buckle.

'Policymakers need to recognise that high volume delivery of lower priced housing will limit the capacity of developers to fund infrastructure and affordable housing in the way they currently do, via section 106 and community infrastructure levy payments, so other sources of funding for infrastructure and affordable housing will be essential.'
Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn's Senate campaign announcement ad has been blocked by Twitter over a statement the abortion rights opponent makes about the sale of fetal tissue for medical research.

Blackburn, who is running for the seat being opened by the retirement of Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, boasts in the ad that she 'stopped the sale of baby body parts.' A Twitter representative told the candidate's vendors on Monday that the statement was 'deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.'

Twitter said the Blackburn campaign would be allowed to run the rest of the video if the flagged statement is omitted. While the decision keeps Blackburn from paying to promote the video on Twitter, it doesn't keep it from being linked from YouTube and other platforms.

Blackburn took to Twitter to urge supporters to re-post her video and join her in 'standing up to Silicon Valley.'

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO

Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn is running for an open U.S. Senate seat, and Twitter has banned her campaign from promoting her launch video

Blackburn boasts in the video that she 'stopped the sale of baby body parts' from abortion providers, and adds: 'Thank God'

Blackburn was the chair of a Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and the world of fetal tissue research that earlier this year urged Congress to halt federal payments to the women's health organization. Democrats said the GOP probe had unearthed no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers' money in an abusive investigation.

The panel was created after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made.

Fetal tissue research has strong backing among scientists for its value in studying Down syndrome, eye disease and other problems. But Blackburn's committee report said fetal tissue 'makes a vanishingly small contribution to clinical and research efforts, if it contributes at all,' and recommended curbing federal grants for such research.

Blackburn's nearly two-and-a-half minute video features footage of her shooting a gun, espousing her '100 percent pro-life' credentials and taking fellow Republicans in the Senate to task for failing to repeal the Obama health care law.

'I know the left calls me a wingnut or a knuckle-dragging conservative,' she said in the video. 'And you know what? I say that's all right. Bring it on.'

Undercover videos had found the abortion provider's officials talking about the sale of specific recovered body parts from aborted fetuses, to human tissue brokers

Blackburn is running for the Senate seat being opened by the retirement of Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn announced her campaign for U.S. Sen. Bob Corker's seat on Thursday in a video that slams the 'totally dysfunctional' Senate and Republicans in particular for their failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Blackburn also touts her support for gun rights, opposition to abortion rights and calls for more limits on government spending in the video.

'I know the left calls me a wingnut or a knuckle-dragging conservative,' she said. 'And you know what? I say that's all right. Bring it on.'

Blackburn's entry followed a decision last week by term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam to sit out the race, despite entreaties from Corker, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Tennessee's senior senator, Lamar Alexander.

'While I have loved being a mayor and a governor, I don't feel the same call to run for Senate at this point,' said Haslam. He said the hyper-partisanship that surrounds Congress was a factor in his decision.

'The result is a Washington that is broken because neither side is willing to say: "I get it, half of the country feels very differently  what can we work out to make it better?"' the governor said.

Haslam's popularity in the state and his vast personal wealth would have made him a strong candidate, despite lingering anger among some Republicans over his call to Donald Trump to abandon his presidential nomination last year following the release of a videotape in which Trump boasted about groping women.

Corker, who announced last week that he wouldn't seek a third term, also publicly criticized the Republican president, for his response to a deadly white nationalist rally in Virginia. Corker questioned whether Trump had the 'competence' or 'stability' to succeed in office.

Blackburn has made her own critical comments about 'inappropriate and pointless tweets' from the president, but was quick to embrace the Trump agenda in her campaign announcement video.

'I believe in President Trump's immigration ban, and I'll fight with him every step of the way to build that wall,' she said. 'I stand when the president walks in room, and yes, I stand when I hear the Star Spangled Banner.'

Former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher is another potential Republican Senate candidate, and is expected to make a decision in the coming days. Haslam hasn't said whether he'll endorse a Republican in the race.

Blackburn's decision opens a third Republican House seat in the Tennessee delegation next year, following Rep. John J. 'Jimmy' Duncan Jr.'s plans to retire and Rep. Diane Black's decision to run for governor.

State Sen. Mark Green, who withdrew as Trump's nominee for Army secretary earlier this year amid criticism of his comments about gay and transgender people, said he will run for Blackburn's House seat.
He's just 12 years old but has already created five apps, met the US Secretary of State and caught the attention of tech giants Apple and Facebook.

But Hamish Finlayson is no ordinary boy.

The young developer has autism, but uses his experience with the condition to teach other autistic children how to handle the disorder using one of his groundbreaking apps.

Hamish, from Townsville, has been coding for more than three years and is one of a growing number of genius youngsters who are fast becoming an asset for technology companies who utilise their natural ability and enthusiasm.

Hamish Finlayson (pictured) is a 12-year-old app developer taking the tech world by storm

Already he has been noticed by some of Facebook and Apple's top executives

Hamish's clever App ASD and Me allows autistic children to pinpoint ways to deal with the disorder while educating them at the same time, with the help of cartoon character Triple T Turtle.

'Autism affects about one per cent of the worlds population and their families,' Hamish told Daily Mail Australia.

'Its with you for life and many people dont understand what autism is. I dont want to people to be afraid of people with autism just because they dont understand it.'

The idea behind the download is that by repeating coping strategies in a game setting, people with autism are better placed to deal with real life situations.

On a daily basis Hamish struggles with understanding and handling his emotions, like many people on the spectrum.

'I also fidget a lot and use stress toys to keep calm.'

Hamish is determined to debunk myths around autism and showing others it will not stand his way.

'I want to spread awareness about autism and show people what its like to live with autism, and create some strategies for people to deal with the problems it creates.'

The tech-savvy whizz rubbed shoulders with top American entrepreneurs at the GES 2016 attended by then US Secretary of State John Kerry

His other four apps have an environmental theme with more than 7,200 people are using Hamish's apps across 54 countries.

Next month he will attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India where hell pitch his app to investors and fellow entrepreneurs.

The event will be attended by President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, who is a guest speaker at the Hyderabad conference.

The tech-savvy whizz kid has already rubbed shoulders with top American entrepreneurs and was at the GES 2016 attended by then US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The young developer has autism, but uses his experience to inform others and has created an app to help educate others and aid people with the condition

Following the summit Hamish was invited to the Facebook campus and was offered a FBStart grant to continue developing his app and more

He has had a number of mentors and advice from varying business-minded successors including Sean Langton, General Manager, Strategy & Planning Enterprise Services at Bankwest and former US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel.

Following the summit Hamish was invited to the Facebook campus and was offered a FBStart grant to continue developing his app and more.

Despite the difficulty of the skill, Hamish says it is possible for anyone to learn to code.

Hamish has rubbed shoulders with some elite entrepreneurs including Ime Archinbong, known as director of product partnerships at Facebook and a running buddy of Mark Zuckerberg's

The GES 2017 in India will be attended by guest speaker Ivanka Trump

He joins the likes of Yuma Soerianto, who first began creating his own websites at six years old.

The now-10-year-old met with Michelle Obama who was overjoyed to meet the young genius as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook as the youngest attendee at this year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose California.

He received a WWDC Scholarship to attend the five-day conference and got the opportunity to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

'She was very kind, and I couldn't believe I could meet someone who was so inspiring.

Yuma Soerianto (pictured) from Melbourne won a scholarship to attend Apple conference earlier this year

She asked me if I was the youngest person at WWDC this year, and was so amazed, she even bowed down to me,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I showed Mr. Tim Cook my apps, he was especially amazed that I could make an app on the plane on my way to the United States.

'He was proud of my achievements and my skills, and couldn't wait to see what I could do next.'

Yuma says that other kids and adults should never feel apprehensive about learning coding.

'Coding requires perseverance, and that is what anyone can do.

'You also need creativity for ideas to make apps, and kids already have that. So, truly, anyone can code.'
President Donald Trump took another shot at reaching a potential accommodation with Democrats on immigration, saying the opposition doesn't even 'want secure borders.'

Trump issued the proclamation via Twitter, adding the Democrats generally 'don't care about safety' for the nation.

'The problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the Democrats don't want secure borders,they don't care about safety for U.S.A.,' Trump wrote.

Trump's attack on his potential negotiating counterparts comes just a month after he reached a tentative agreement with Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

The Trump administration sent an immigration policy wish-list to Congress that includes overhauling the country's green-card system, hiring 10,000 more immigration officers and building a wall along the southern border

The two Democrats said last month following a dinner with Trump that they had reached the framework of an agreement to deal to extend protections to 800,000 'DREAMers' brought here illegally as children as well as a border security package.

The White House on Sunday released a list of demands  including funding a border wall  that met with immediate howls of protest from Democrats, who immediately declared it all-but deal.

'We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable,' Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement.

Trump's long list of immigration demands landed with a thud among lawmakers hopeful for a deal to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.

President Trump tweeted that Democrats 'don't care about safety' for the nation

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (C), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) hold a news conference critical of the Republican tax and budget plan at the U.S. Capitol October 4, 2017 in Washington, DC

The list of demands released late Sunday includes funding for a southern border wall and a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities - items that are cheered by the president's most loyal supporters, but are non-starters among Democrats and could divide Republicans, who will have to come together on any deal.

The demands have left pro-immigration activists alarmed. And some are scratching their heads, given that the president appeared to sign off on a more palatable deal with Democrats just weeks ago.

'To stall the progress that Democrats and Republicans have been fostering in giving permanent relief to more than 800,000 DREAMers is sabotage,' said U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and frequent Trump critic.

House and Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle have said they want to find a legislative solution to extend protections first granted under former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Trump announced last month that he was phasing out DACA, but gave Congress six months to act before recipients' work permits begin to expire.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speak at a Capitol news conference. President Donald Trump tweeted that Democrats 'don't want secure borders'

Trump suggested at the time that he was eager for a deal, telling reporters, 'I have a love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.'

Days later, he appeared to reach the broad outlines of an agreement with the House and Senate's top Democrats, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, in which the president would be open to extended DACA protections in exchange for a package of border security measures.

While Trump made clear that he still expected funding for his border wall, he said repeatedly that the funding could come later, in separate legislation.

'To stall the progress that Democrats and Republicans have been fostering in giving permanent relief to more than 800,000 DREAMers is sabotage,' said U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat

In a joint statement Sunday night, Pelosi and Schumer said Trump could not 'be serious about' the plan the White House had unveiled, which includes not only the wall, but dozens of other controversial measures, including a crackdown on unaccompanied immigrant minors and a complete overhaul of the legal immigration system.

Some of those who hope to see DACA protections extended said they remain optimistic the president will show flexibility, treating the priorities as a policy wish-list and starting point for negotiation.

U.S. President Donald Trump, center right, speaks as U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, from left, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, listen during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017

Others see the demands as part of a plot orchestrated by Trump's chief policy adviser, Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, to derail any chance of a DACA deal.

'I don't think President Trump wants to be the president who deports 700,000 young people,' said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, who described the list as a 'big torpedo' to bipartisan negotiations already under way.

'I think the president's staff have led him into a corner,' Noorani said, predicting the president would 'not be happy when he realizes it.'

But one person familiar with the president's thinking said the list was intended to make clear that Trump is no longer interested in forging a DACA deal, the same message sent by a White House official's insistence Sunday that any path to citizenship for DACA recipients was off the table.

After backing an establishment Senate candidate who lost by 10 points in an Alabama special election last month, the president is working to please his base supporters, signing a new religious liberty executive order and broadcasting his intention to decertify the Iran nuclear deal.

'The president has made clear he wants Congress to act and pass responsible immigration reform in conjunction with any legislation related to DACA, which will include legal authorities to close border security loopholes, restoring interior enforcement, and reforming the legal immigration system,' said White House spokeswoman Kelly Love.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News the president was 'open to a deal' on DACA but only 'along with all these other critical functions.'

'You know for years, this country, including Capitol Hill and the swamp, they've always asked: what more can we do for the illegal immigrant, what's fair to the illegal immigrant? This president is asking: what's fair to America? What's fair to the American worker? What's fair to the American community?' she said.

Both Democrats and Republicans have pointed to a hoped-for year-end package of spending bills as the likely vehicle to tackle immigration issues, including any potential DACA deal.

Democratic votes will be required to enact the year-end measure, but many Democrats have said they won't support any legislation that doesn't address DACA recipients, raising the possibility of a government shutdown just before Christmas.

Controversy over border wall funding already meant the year-end package would be difficult. But one potential opening is that the White House has been willing in the past to accept border fencing and other security steps that fall short of Trump's vision for a wall along the entire length of the border.
Nick Gordon is speaking out two years after ex-girlfriend Bobbi Kristina Brown tragically passed and is addressing rumors that he was responsible for her death.

It was Gordon, 28, who found the 22-year-old face down in the bathtub after a night of partying and arguing and attempted to revive her in scenes that bore a chilling resemblance to the circumstances of her own mother, Whitney Houston's passing.

Brown's autopsy revealed she had marijuana, alcohol, a cocaine-related substance, anxiety medication, and morphine in her system, but her manner of death has been labeled 'undetermined' as they can't tell if it was intentional or accidental.

Gordon was held legally accountable for Bobbi Kristina's death in 2015 after he didn't show up for a court hearing in the $36million civil suit brought against him by her family.

For Bobbi Kristina, Gordon tells DailyMailTV, it was the beginning of a descent into drug use that spiraled out of control and ended in her death. For him it was the end of a relationship that has long perplexed observers.

Nick Gordon, 28, told DailyMailTV a descent into drug use that spiraled out of control that ended in Bobbi Kristina's death

Gordon was 17 and Bobbi Kristina 14 when Whitney Houston invited him to move into their home in Georgia and told him to call her, 'mom.' He described it as 'a really, really cool relationship so I'll miss it forever'

Nick and Bobbi Kristina's relationship soon escalated thanks to Houston, who Gordon claims Houston wanted them to marry, telling them they should elope

Gordon was 17 and Bobbi Kristina 14 when Houston invited him to move into their home in Georgia.

His own mother, he said, 'wasn't very good' at the time. She had left the state to be with another man. He didn't want to go with her.

He had met Bobbi Kristina at school but both dropped out to be tutored at home after he moved in to the Houston household.

Recalling Houston he said: 'It was like two or three months after I moved in she began to ask me, "Call me mom."

'We immediately clicked. From day one it was a really, really cool relationship so I'll miss it forever.

'It was like a mother, son relationship. It really was.'

In a bizarre twist of fate Gordon was there at the Beverly Hills Hotel back in February 2012 when Houston drowned in her bathtub. She was later found to have cocaine in her system.

As for Bobbi Kristina she was like his 'little wing man' at first. Gordon described them as 'the three musketeers.'

And while Bobby Brown was 'busy creating his other family, his new family with his new wife,' Gordon claimed to have taken on the role of the man of the house - their 'protector.'

It was a role for which, in truth, he was ill equipped.

Bobbi Kristina Brown was found face down in the bathtub in her Georgia home in January 2015. An autopsy could not reveal the underlying cause of death because she spent more than seven months in a coma before she died

Bobbi Kristina's death bore a chilling resemblance to the circumstances of her own mother, Whitney Houston's passing. Gordon says after Houston died, 'everything changed' for Bobbi

Emotionally and financially he said he was treated, 'like a prince,' though today he claims that he definitely gave more than he got - a statement on which he will not elaborate.

Family members have leveled the allegation that the shift of Gordon's relationship with Bobbi Kristina from siblings to romantic partners was motivated by money.

Throughout Houston's life both he and Bobbi Kristina received a monthly allowance, which, after her mother's death, Bobbi Kristina continued to pay to her then boyfriend.

But Gordon has always vehemently denied that that had anything to do with their romance.

He claimed that Houston wanted them to marry, telling them they should elope and that it was she who planted the seed of a relationship between them.

He said: 'Screw the money. I lost two people I loved. They could have the money; it's not even about that. Don't get me wrong, money's nice but it definitely doesn't buy you happiness. Maybe temporary happiness.'

For Bobbi Kristina there was, it seems, no true happiness after her mother's death.

Gordon said: 'Everything changed. She would cry and you know throughout all those nights I felt I couldn't do the same thing.

'So it was just all this built up emotion that I didn't get out as I'm sitting here trying to be strong for this person.'

After Houston's death Bobbi Kristina and Gordon told the family that they were married - though they were not.

Family members have leveled the allegation that the shift of Gordon's relationship with Bobbi Kristina from siblings to romantic partners was motivated by money, but he has vehemently denied those claims

Today Gordon claims they did so because: 'We meant it in our heads. We were living as though we were married.'

Little did they know they were living on borrowed time. According to Gordon, Bobbi Kristina tried to commit suicide on two occasions - cutting deeply into her wrists.

She suffered two miscarriages and self-harmed and both became lost in a haze of drugs.

Asked if he regrets anything or if he believes now that the best thing for Bobbi Kristina might have been for him to leave he said: 'If I had somebody tell me this would be a good thing for y'all to separate I would have tried that.

'But I just know it was really just us two. Everybody knew [what was going on]. All these family members, all these family members that love and cared for hereverybody knew what was going on and they did nothing.

'People saw her struggling and nobody did anything.'

And when it all went so catastrophically wrong, Gordon said, he knew he would be blamed 'from the jump.'

Gordon began dating Laura Leal earlier this year

He said: 'I think in a case like ours you automatically look at the significant other. And that's in every case. But then the fact that it's Whitney Houston's daughter amplifies it.

'You know if there was something concrete I think I'd be in cuffs.'

Addressing the fact that Bobby Brown has come out and pointed the finger of blame squarely at him, naming Gordon as his daughter's killer, Gordon said: 'You know, I don't care. He's wrong and he knows he's wrong. I met the guy. His daughter told him how much she loves me, how much I love her.

'You know what I was? I was a prince and then I became a pawn, somebody just to point the finger at. Now I won't stand for it as long as I can fight it.'

He continued: 'I wasn't in it for the money. I would have married her without thinking about it. There wasn't going to be any pre-nup.'

In the months after Bobbi Kristina's death Gordon said he had barely got by - lying on the sofa, depressed and grieving.

But he has tried to become immune from the anxiety of allegations of any guilt on his part. He said: 'You know if I sat and worried about what this person thinks, or they're suspicious about this I would drive myself crazy.'

He has stopped trying to think what, if anything, he might have done differently, he said.

He said: 'The truth is, in my heart, I believe Krissy overdosed on drugs.'

And he wants both her and her mother's spirits to be at peace and to remember the 'beauty' of Whitney and Bobbi Kristina who he describes as his 'little Guardian angel.'

Today he is working as a landscaper, trying to plan for a future, he says, that contains marriage and children - maybe with Laura.

He wants his life to move on, he said, but he does not regret the day he accepted Whitney's invitation to come live with her and her daughter.

He said: 'I'm so happy I got to live with them and give them the little bit of happiness I could towards the end of their journey down here.

'I'd do it all over again knowing the outcome.'




A mother and four children were killed in a head-on crash by a drunk driver who has a previous conviction for driving while intoxicated.

The crash happened on Sunday afternoon near Salem, Oregon, when a Land Rover driven by Favian Garcia collided head-on with a Buick Century driven by Lisette Medrano-Perez.

The 25-year-old and four children, three of whom were said to be hers and a fourth who was thought to be her niece's, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The youngsters- an eight-year-old boy, a six-year-old boy, a four-year-old girl, and a two-year-old girl have not been named.

Courtesy: KATU

Medrano-Perez was remembered fondly by friends and family members on Sunday night when news of her death spread

The children - an eight-year-old boy, a six-year-old boy, a four-year-old girl (left), and a two-year-old girl (right) have not been named

A family friend described the children as sweethearts. The two boys, pictured, attended Molalla Elementary School, where there were grief counselors for the 'heartbroken' students on Monday

Garcia had minor injuries and was arrested Monday on suspicion of five counts of manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and outstanding warrants from Marrion county.

It's not yet clear if the 27-year-old has an attorney, but he is currently being held without bail and is set to appear in court on Tuesday.

Court records show Garcia pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants in 2011 and was arrested on suspicion of the same crime in July.

In that incident he allegedly struck an empty car in Woodburn, Oregon, before fleeing the scene.

Favian Garcia, who has a prior drunk driving conviction, has been arrested and charged with five counts of manslaughter and driving while intoxicated after a Sunday crash

Records show that his blood-alcohol content was more than .15 when it happened, and a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear for a July court hearing in Marion County.

He also has a June 2013 arrest for interfering with a parole officer and a third-degree escape.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Medrano-Perez was remembered fondly by friends and family members on Sunday night when news of her death spread.

'It was so surreal. It was like I was in shock,' her long-time friend Maria Segoviano told KGW.com.

'I just couldn't take it all in, especially all five of them, all in one hit, wiped out. I just couldn't believe it.'

Segoviano described the mother-of-three as a 'loving' parent who was constantly smiling. She also said the children were sweethearts.

The crash happened on Sunday afternoon near Salem, Oregon, when a Land Rover driven by Garcia collided head-on with a Buick Century driven by Lisette Medrano-Perez

'They were amazing children,' she explained. They're going to be truly missed.'

Molalla River School District Superintendent Tony Mann said he heard the news on Sunday night and was going to prepare students for the school week. the two oldest boys attended Molalla Elementary School.

He said that many children already have 'broken hearts' and said he's glad they have the resources to allocate child counselors for their additional support.

'It's amazing how much you can lose in one second,' Segoviano said.

'So try to live your life to the fullest.'
A curious one-year-old from Victoria found himself in a tricky situation on Monday, after getting his head stuck in a cardboard ring.

Firefighters and paramedics were called to a preschool in Abbotsford, near Melbourne, to help free little Jack's head.

Melbourne Fire Brigade said the 'ordinary day' ended with a 'few tears' for the one-year-old boy in a post on Facebook.

One-year-old Jack, from Victoria, found himself in a tricky situation after getting his head stuck in a cardboard ring at preschool

'MFB Crews and Ambulance Victoria were called to a preschool in Abbotsford after the curious toddler became stuck after putting his head through a cardboard ring,' they wrote.

Firefighters used tin scissors to cut the thick cardboard from around the boy's neck.

The little boy looks surprised but unhurt in the cute pictures taken by the emergency crews, unsure about the odd situation he's in.

A 'few tears' were shed but little Jack was unhurt after firefighters used tin scissors to cut the thick cardboard

Aside from a few tears, the one-year-old was unharmed.

Jack's mother, Emily Birrel Hughes, commented on the post thanking the emergency services.

'Jack has settled back at home and loves his new toy. Thanks to all who helped him today,' she said, signing off with 'From Jack's mum'.
Queenslanders could be asked to limit their use of air conditioning to prevent blackouts on the hottest summer days.

The Palaszczuk government's energy security task force has drawn up a Summer Preparedness Plan to deal with high demand for power during heatwaves.

Under the plan, residents and businesses could be asked to set their air conditioners at 26 degrees on the hottest days, only cool occupied rooms and turn off non-essential lights and pool pumps.

The opposition Liberal National Party has hit out at the plan.

Queenslanders could be asked to limit their use of air conditioning to prevent blackouts on the hottest summer days. File photo

'This just shows how out of touch the Palaszczuk Labor government is with Queenslanders by going out there telling them because of Labor policies and the incompetence of Labor government now they have to turn off their air-conditioning in the hottest months of the year,' Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson told ABC Radio.

The request to limit the use of air conditioners, which would not be compulsory, is considered to be a contingency measure, with the government assuring residents it had more than enough energy supply to meet expected demand.

It says Queensland power stations are ready to generate 11,445 megawatts of electricity, which is more than the predicted peak demand of 9790MW.

But Energy Minister Mark Bailey said despite having a secure energy supply Queenslanders should remain vigilant about their energy use.

'We can't change the fact that Queensland will continue to have heatwaves and extreme weather events, and while we cannot predict every risk scenario the task force has presented a way forward for the short and medium-term,' Mr Bailey said in a statement.

The government is also encouraging residents to buy PeakSmart air conditioners, which allows Energy Queensland to manage usage during peak demand.

Mr Bailey said customers choosing PeakSmart won't have their air-conditioners switched off, they will run at a lower level similar to economy mode.

Residents purchasing the conditioners are eligible to receive up to $400 cashback from the government.
Fears are growing for a missing 18-year-old girl who vanished from her home in Brisbane last week.

Alana Edwards was reportedly seen leaving a Ballater Street house at 8pm Friday, October 6, in Acacia Ridge, south of Brisbane.

The young woman is described as 178cm tall, Pacific Islander in appearance with black hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing a grey hoodie, shorts and black thongs.

Alana Edwards, 18, (pictured) went missing from Acacia Ridge in Brisbane on Friday at 8pm

Police are appealing for public assistance in locating the 18-year-old.

Her family hold concerns over her welfare and say her disappearance is out of character.

Anyone who has any information about Alanas whereabouts is urged to contact their local Police or Policelink on 131 444.
A man has been charged by police following a 12-hour stand off which began when his girlfriend, 34, was found dead in a laneway below his building.

June Oh Seo, 37, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the tense standoff which saw him sitting with his head in his hands on the roof of a 26th-floor balcony in Chatswood, in Sydney's north on Monday.

Police allege the man assaulted the woman between 4.30am and 4.35am on Monday morning, causing her 'actual bodily harm'.

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A man is being questioned by police following the dramatic discovery day-long stand-off in Sydney's north

The man was on the roof of the apartment beneath him for 12 hours yesterday as he negotiated with police

The woman's body was covered by a police tent, pictured, as they negotiated with her boyfriend

The young woman's body was found 'in a pool of blood' at 6.30am by a tradesman who noticed her lying in the alley way in her pyjamas.

Police say it is not know how she came to fall from the building.

A witness said there was blood all around her body and nearby walls.

'We saw blood on the wall and assumed she'd been ... clambering for life,' a witness told Daily Mail Australia.

It took 12 hours for police to convince Mr Seo to go back inside the building - they could not start an investigation or look at the body before then because he was directly above the site.

The man had been in a relationship with the woman 'for a couple of weeks' according to police

The man was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital under police guard and has since been taken to Chatswood Police Station for questioning

Shortly after woman's body was found, a Korean man (pictured) appeared distressed on a roof

Mr Seo, who appeared agitated, climbed onto a balcony roof of the 27th floor of the residential building shortly after police arrived.

He remained there, often appearing agitated, before surrendering after 7pm.

Superintendent Philip Flogel said the pair had been in a relationship for at least a couple of weeks.

Police believe the couple had been dating for a few weeks
A group of the most elite girls' private schools in the country have announced they are scrapping the 11-plus because it puts too much stress on children.

The North London Independent Girls' Schools' Consortium is dropping its notoriously tough entrance exams in a bid to halt the 'dreadful prepping' and 'over-tutoring' that many applicants endure.

Concerns have long been raised that pushy parents in the capital are putting too much pressure on their daughters to perform well in the exams.

Many have been paying through the nose for private tutoring because they are so desperate for their child to win a place.

Francis Holland School in London's Sloane Square (pictured) is one of the group of top girls' schools that are dropping the 11-plus because it puts too much pressure on pupils

Lucy Elphinstone, headmistress at Francis Holland School in Sloane Square, which is part of the group, said the 'incredibly significant' change would come in from 2019.

She said: 'The consortium to which I belong is so concerned about mental health of children arising from over-tutoring and the dreadful prepping for the tests that we are abolishing the 11-plus in our schools

'We are nailing our colours to the mast of children's wellbeing.'

The current 11-plus exams include a high-level maths test and a 'full written test', consisting of reading comprehension, creative writing and discursive writing.

Mrs Elphinstone said the 12 schools of the group will instead have a slimmed-down 'verbal reasoning' test, which would be 'tutor-proof'.

But the main focus will be on interviews with applicants, which schools hope will reveal their potential.

The new test will take 45 minutes to an hour and will be similar to tests carried out internally by primary and prep schools, she said.

Speaking at the Tatler Schools Live conference in London, she said: 'It's something the children are perfectly used to and you can't tutor for it.

'You can't sit a child down at 70-an-hour and endlessly do verbal reasoning tests.

'These things are not tutorable for.'

She said the new tests would make admissions fairer to children who 'don't have access, for financial reasons, to tutoring'.

She added: 'We want to see what a child's baseline potential and ability is, and cut through the ability of a parent to pay for tutoring  which, though it might increase by two or three marks the score they'll get in the English paper, will do so much damage to the child's emotional well-being and mental health that it's completely a waste of time.'

Notting Hill and Ealing High School (pictured) is another of the top private all girls' schools making the change in 2019

Mrs Elphinstone said the interview process would aim to select those who are 'intelligent in different ways'.

'Our interviews will become more creative, more about finding the skills we are looking for, which is problem solving, critical thinking, social interaction, collaboration, creativity,' she added.

'So I'm certainly looking for the very sporty child, the music scholar, the wonderful artist, the child who is entrepreneurial.'

Francis Holland is the name given to two London sister schools  in Sloane Square and Regent's Park.

The other consortium schools are Notting Hill and Ealing High School, Queen's College, St. Helen's School, South Hampstead High School, Channing School, More House, Northwood College for Girls, Queen's Gate School, St James Senior Girls' School and The Godolphin & Latymer School.

The announcement comes following a national debate over use of the 11-plus in the state sector to select pupils for grammar schools.

Campaigners have said it means only parents with the ability to pay for tutoring have a chance of getting their child in.

Competition for London private schools is particularly fierce because of a growing places shortage in state secondaries across the city.

Parents who are unable to get their child into a good state school are often willing to pay for a private school, but this has in turn put pressure on places in the independent sector.
Gordon Ramsay said Brexit would be good for the restaurant industry as it will be a kick up the a** to British workers.

The television chef accused Britain of becoming lazy while those from abroad work twice as hard for less money.

He made the comments during an interview with the Radio Times in which he said a reduction immigration would create more opportunities.

Gordon Ramsay said Brexit would be good for the restaurant industry as it will be a kick up the a** to British workers

He said the 'level of influx of multi-national workers in this country has sort of confirmed how lazy as a nation we are - when individuals from across the seas are prepared to come and work twice as hard for less money'.

'If anything it's a big kick up the a** for the industry and it's going to get back to the modern day apprenticeship,' he added. 'So not only do I welcome that change but I think it's going to put a lot more emphasis on homegrown talent.'

Ramsay's views will contrast those of his current rival Jamie Oliver, who is a vocal Remainer.

Ramsay's views will contrast those of his current rival Jamie Oliver, who is a vocal Remainer

Ramsay accused Oliver of being too political, adding that the only time he opens his mouth is when hes got something to promote.

He said: Its all very well to spout off now about sugar tax and supermarkets. None of that was spoken about when he was label-slapping with Sainsburys for ten years.

'And no disrespect, but were chefs, not politicians. When you breathe that stuff down the publics throat and say, Im leaving if we have Brexit, then, Im sorry, the door stands open.
Theresa May faced a backlash last night after confirming the UK will be subject to European judges rulings during a two-year transition out of the EU

Theresa May faced a backlash last night after confirming the UK will be subject to European judges rulings during a two-year transition out of the EU.

The Prime Minister was criticised by some Eurosceptic MPs after warning that Britain could even have to accept some new EU rules after leaving in March 2019.

Senior MPs were last night seeking clarification from Downing Street. But Boris Johnson and Michael Gove supported Mrs May, saying the key issue was that the UK would be free to set its own laws after the post-Brexit implementation period ended.

The row erupted after Mrs May said the desire for a smooth and orderly exit meant the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would still be governing rules during a transition for around two years from March 2019.

She also confirmed that the UK would have to accept new EU regulations during this period, although she said it was highly unlikely that any laws devised after the UK left would become law within two years.

Government sources said last night that the EU had never brought in a law from scratch in less than 29 months.

Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg said it would be unacceptable for the ECJ to have any role in British affairs after the UK left.

He added: If we are still under the jurisdiction of the ECJ then we have not left the EU. It does mean that we are not leaving the EU until the end of the transition and that is a big change in Government policy.

Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said he wanted clarification over whether EU treaties would cease to take effect after the UK left.

Fellow Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin also called on No10 to clear up the situation, saying: Most MPs represent constituencies that voted Leave, and they may find it hard to explain why we are not taking back control of our laws on day one.

Boris Johnson supported Mrs May, saying the key issue was that the UK would be free to set its own laws after the post-Brexit implementation period ended

Mr Johnson and Mr Gove issued statements last night designed to calm Brexit supporters nerves.

Mr Gove tweeted: That was a strong statement from the PM on Brexit  lets be pragmatic over implementation to secure maximum freedom to diverge from EU in the end state. Writing on Facebook, Mr Johnson said the likelihood of the UK having to accept new EU regulations during the transition was very small.

He added: Yes we will mostly have to operate under existing rules during the transition but we will be able to negotiate proper free-trade deals and business will be able to prepare properly for Brexit.

What matters is the end state and our freedom to do things differently and better  and once again the PM sets out a powerful vision: Out of customs union, out of single market, taking back full control.

She has reaffirmed the destination of a self-governing, free-trading, buccaneering and Global Britain taking back control over our laws, money, and borders.

The future is bright. Lets keep calm and carry on leaving the EU.
Stephen Paddock fired on a security guard before, not after, he committed mass murder, police said - a revision to the official police timeline that raises huge questions about the Las Vegas killings.

Previously, police said hero guard Jesus Campos had distracted Paddock from his rampage - being hit in the process - just a minute before police arrived.

Now it's been confirmed that Campos was shot six minutes before Paddock began firing on crowds.

That raises questions about what the killer had been planning before Campos disturbed him, and why police did not arrive sooner.

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Stephen Paddock (pictured) shot a security guard in the Mandalay Bay hotel 5 minutes before firing on revelers - not after he had been firing on the crowds for 10 minutes, cops said Monday

The comments made by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo (pictured Monday) contradict the previous timeline, which said Paddock had been disturbed from his massacre by the guard, whose intervention had ended the bloody killings

Guard Jesus Campos approached Paddock's room down the corridor, investigating an alarm - likely due to Paddock tampering with the doorway to the stairwell next to his suite. Paddock then fired on him at 9:59pm, and opened fire on people below at 10:05pm

Speaking on Monday, Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that Jesus Campos had approached the room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel not because of gunfire, but because of an open-door alarm that had gone off nearby.

Paddock then apparently saw him on the video cameras he'd rigged up in the hall and opened fire on him. That occurred at 9:59pm. Lombardo said last week that Paddock fired more than 200 rounds in that encounter.

Campos 'immediately, upon being injured, notified security of his situation,' Lombardo said.

Paddock then turned his gun on the 22,000 revelers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival five minutes later, per the original timeline of 10:05pm, Lombardo said.

That contradicts what had been said last Wednesday by Lombardo, who claimed that Campos had approached Paddock while he was firing at around 10:15pm.

Paddock turned his gun on Campos, before stopping firing altogether, he said.

Police arrived just minutes later to a silent hallway, Lombardo claimed - at which point they assumed Paddock was barricaded in and no longer a threat to revelers.

With the hall silent, they - and Campos, who was injured but wanted to help - were free to evacuate the rest of the rooms leading up to Paddock, he said.

That was used as an excuse by Lombardo to explain the delayed response - arguing that even if Campos had not been there, other officers would have disrupted the massacre themselves.

But in the new timeline that excuse no longer works; Campos lay wounded for six minutes before Paddock started firing, police now say.

ORIGINAL TIMELINE This is the original timeline of events given out by police on Wednesday. 10:05pm: Paddock fires his first shots on the crowd, as seen on CCTV. 10:12pm: First two officers arrive on the 31st floor and announce gunfire is coming from directly above them. 10:14pm: Guard Jesus Campos approaches Paddock's room and is shot, but only injured. 10:15pm: The last shots are fired from the suspect, per bodycam, due to Campos' intervention. 10:17pm: The first two officers arrive on the 32nd floor from the 31st. 10:18pm: Campos tells the cops he was shot and gives them the exact location of the suspect's room. 10:26-10:30pm: With Paddock quiet, eight additional cops arrive and they decide to evacuate the rooms on the floor. 10:55pm: Eight officers arrive in the stairwell next to the suspect's room and find the door tampered with and a camera on a room service cart outside; they decide to hold off. 11:20pm: Paddock's room is breached and police enter the room to find him dead. Advertisement

NEW TIMELINE This is the new timeline given out on Monday. 9:59pm: Campos approaches Paddock's room looking for an alarm going off at a door nearby - likely from the stairwell. He is shot at and injured. He immediately notifies hotel security. 10:05pm: First shots fired by the suspect. 10:12pm: First two officers arrive on the 31st floor. 10:15pm: The last shots are fired from the suspect for reasons unknown. 10:17pm: The first two officers arrive on the 32nd floor from the 31st. 10:18pm: Campos, who has been stricken for almost 20 minutes, tells police about Paddock's room. 10:26-10:30pm: With Paddock quiet, eight additional cops arrive and they decide to evacuate the rooms on the floor. 10:55pm: Eight officers arrive in the stairwell next to the suspect's room and find the door tampered with and a camera on a room service cart outside; they decide to hold off. 11:20pm: Paddock's room is breached and police enter the room to find him dead. Advertisement

Originally police said Campos arrived at the room at 10:15pm, which was the point at which Paddock stopped firing. They now have no idea why he stopped firing on the crowds

It also means that Paddock fired for ten minutes on the crowd before stopping abruptly - for reasons that now have police baffled.

Of course, that in turn leaves a 16-minute window in which Paddock was left undisturbed while hundreds were injured and dozens died, and a 19-minute window between Campos being struck and cops arriving.

Speaking on Monday, Lombardo seemed to want to shift some of the blame for the discrepancy onto Campos.

'As you might imagine, Mr Campos was not only injured when he was fired upon as he [checked on] the door alarm down the hall... he was also extremely shaken up about what had happened to him,' Lombardo said.

'He was able to confirm to us exactly what he heard and saw in the moments before he was shot.'

He later added: 'In [the press's] zest for information, in my zest to insure the public safety, in the calming their minds, some things are going to change. They are minute changes... [what was said before was] not completely inaccurate.'

It's not clear which door Campos heard the alarm at, but previously Lombardo had said that SWAT teams approaching Paddock's room from the stairwell next to it had found the stairwell's door tampered with and sealed.

Paddock had drilled holes into it and bolted it with a metal bar to stop it being opened, police said.

Lombardo also said on Monday that Campos heard Paddock drilling inside the room as he approached, possibly to install a camera or a gun.

That drill work was to the wall next to the doorway and not finished, the sheriff added.

When asked if he believed Paddock had stepped up the timeline and opened fire early because of the disruption, Lombardo declined to comment.

He also said that while he waited for police to arrive, Campos stopped a maintenance worker from entering the 32nd floor.

Also on Monday, Lombardo suggested that Paddock had planned to blow up nearby jet fuel tankers in the hopes of creating a distraction to escape.

Lombardo also said be believed Paddock had fired on jet fuel tanks close to the hotel in order to create a deadly diversion that would have allowed him to escape

The second of the windows Paddock broke open (left) was perfectly in line with the fuel thanks. Thankfully, none of the shots were able to penetrate the tanks, which had since been repaired

Lombardo had previously said he believed Paddock intended to flee the scene of the massacre. When asked again, he said that 'conversation' was ongoing.

Although it wasn't a department-wide belief, he said, he was 'comfortable' in saying that Paddock had hoped to flee.

'The suspect, we know he attempted to shoot at the fuel tanks, we know he had some personal protection equipment in the room, we know the car in the parking garage contained binary explosives,' he said.

'I would be comfortable saying, which I believe, that depending on the splash [damage caused by the exploding tanks] he made in the shooting, would it have enabled the first responders to direct their attention to other locations, to help Mr Paddock leave the hotel.'

Paddock is now confirmed to have checked into the hotel on the 25th, and police are now trying to work out what he did between then and the 28th, Lombardo said.

It's not believed he was staying in the hotel at that time.

He added that investigators had documented more than 200 instances of Paddock's movements throughout Las Vegas in the lead-up to the shooting.

At none of those points did police find any indication he was seen with anyone else, Lombardo said, reiterating that Paddock had no ties with 'any known terorrist groups or ideologies'.
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Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday killing at least 11 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and forcing 20,000 residents to be evacuated.

Fires raged unchecked down tree-lined streets and through upmarket neighborhoods, reducing a Hilton hotel to ash and turning the sky above Disneyland bright orange.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency as fourteen large fires burned over a 200-mile region north of San Francisco from Napa in the south to Redding in the north, fanned by 50mph winds.

At least 11 people are known to have died including a married couple, aged 100 and 99, who were unable to evacuate in time. A deaf-blind woman is also believed to be among the dead.

Those figures are expected to climb sharply in the coming days as emergency crews pick through the wreckage of burned communities. Taken together, the fires are already among the deadliest California has ever witnessed.

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The smoke from an Anaheim Hills brush fire turned the sky into a pumpkin orange. It is seen above Disneyland's California Adventure park

The smoke was coming from Canyon Fire 2 as it tore through 4,000 to 5,000 acres of land (Pictured, Disneyland's California Adventure park)

Officials said between 3,000 and 4,000 residents have been affected by the fire in Anaheim Hills (Pictured, a ride at Disneyland's California Adventure park)

The Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa was also reduced to ash as the wildfires swept through, fanned by 50mph winds

An aerial view shows the hotel was almost completely destroyed in the blaze, with only a few buildings to the rear surviving

Eeerie: The fires cast a dark cloud over Disneyland in Anaheim, California

One visitor described the atmosphere on the park's main street as 'ominous' and spooky'

The front of the hotel is consumed by flames after fast-moving fires tore through Santa Rosa, California

Fires burn in the hills to the east of Napa, some of the most valuable wine country anywhere in the world

An entire hillside near Napa is consumed by smoke and fire as devastating blazes broke out across California

 Slide me  The Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa was almost completely flattened by wildfires on Monday

Steps lead up to a destroyed home in Santa Rosa, California on Monday, October 9. Because of strong winds and hot, dry weather, it appears the flames will continue for some time

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fires

A chimney stands alone in a destroyed home in Santa Rosa on Monday, October 9. October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires.

Fire spews out of a gas pipe from a burnt out home in Santa Rosa, California, on Monday, October 9

A DC-10 aircraft drops flame retardant chemicals in order to try an contain the spread of the fire near the city of Orange

Seven people died in Sonoma, two more perished in Napa, one in Mendocino county and one in Yuba County.

The two who died in Napa were named as Charles and Sara Rippey, granddaughter Ruby told KTVU.

The couple had recently celebrated 75 years of marriage and Charles, known as Peach, turned 100 not long ago.

'The only thing worse would have been if one survived without the other,' Ruby told the news station.

As he fled through the ember-strewn streets of his neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Jeff Okrepkie knew it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday morning, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

'We live in the valley, where it's concrete and strip malls and hotels and supermarkets,' Okrepkie said. 'The last thing you think is a forest fire is going to come and wipe us out.'

Also forced to evacuate were former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry and his family. Lowry told The Associated Press that he; his wife Andrea; his two daughters Averlee Rose and Anniston; and his 2-week-old son had to leave their home in Santa Rosa in a matter of minutes as the flames approached.

Lowry says he 'can't shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barreled down on us.'

He said he ran into a closed US 101 freeway because the flames had jumped it. But he and his family were able to get away in time and get to a friend's house where they are staying now.

Lowry, who pitched for the Giants from 2003 to 2007, now co-owns Santa Rosa Ski & Sport - an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa.

Footage filmed by a terrified couple fleeing the deadly wildfires shows flames engulfing both sides of the road as they escaped Sunday night.

The video was shot as the couple drove along Loma Roca Road in Yuba County on Sunday night as an onslaught of wildfires broke out, leaving at least 11 dead and 100 injured.

A woman in the video can be heard sobbing uncontrollably as they navigated their way down the smoke-laden road as fire scorched the ground around their car.

Sara and Charles Rippey, aged 99 and 100, died at their home to the north of Napa after they were unable to escape before it was consumed by fire, granddaughter Ruby said

The couple had been married for 75 years, Ruby said, adding that the only thing worse 'would have been only one of them had survived the fire'

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry (back right) his wife Andrea (back left); his two daughters Averlee Rose (front right) and Anniston (front left); and his 2-week-old son had to leave their home in Santa Rosa in a matter of minutes as the flames approached

A woman in the video can be heard sobbing uncontrollably as they navigated their way down the smoke-laden road as fire scorched the ground around their car

 Slide me  An aerial shot of the Journey's End trailer park in Santa Rosa shows dozens of homes flattened by the fire, and propterties which escaped the fire by only a few feet

Cars, homes, and lives were left in tatters as searing wildfires burned through the trailer park

Tarmac cracked and trees were stripped to stumps by the flames that devastated this trailer park in Santa Rosa

Small fires could still be seen burning in Journey's End trailer park, Santa Rosa, after the wildfires had dissipated

Tina Renee dons a gas mask as she inspects what little is left of a friend's house in Santa Rosa

Kristine Pond struggles to hold back her emotions as she searches through the rubble of her family home in Santa Rosa

Michael Pond, left, looks through ashes as his wife Kristine, center, gets a hug from Zack Thurston, their daughter's boyfriend, while they search the remains of their home destroyed by fires in Santa Rosa

What was once a decking area at the back of a home in Santa Rosa is now little more than twisted metal and ash

Residents of the Coffey Park neighborhood sift through a relatives home that was torched on Monday

Residents go through their destroyed home as a burnt out car sits in the driveway. A total of 90,000 have been left without power

Burned cars are seen near a structure that has been burned to the ground in Glen Ellen, California

A fireman sweeps the Fountaingrove neighborhood of Santa Rosa for any remaining pockets of fire

The remains of a home burns in Santa Rosa as people move among the ruins in the background, searching for anything undamaged by the fire

What little is left of a home in Anaheim Hills continues to burn on Monday afternoon

Photo shows a home destroyed in the wildfires that have consumed northern California's Wine Country

Mandatory evacuations have been issued across four counties including Sonoma and Napa

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire. The fire area covered more than 100 square miles (160 square kilometers) over eight counties.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Orange County burned multiple homes and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate.

Some of the largest blazes were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away. What caused the blazes was not known.

More than 300 firefighters have been working to control the raging wildfire, which have destroyed 57,000 acres total leaving 90,000 people without power.

Because of strong winds and hot, dry weather, it appears the flames will continue for some time.

Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said, 'As of right now, with these conditions, we can't get in front of this fire and do anything about the forward progress.'

Fire continues to burn at Keysight Technologies Monday, October 9. The flames were burning 'at explosive rates' because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Napa County firefighter James George hoses down a fire line approaching a home Monday, October 9. 10 people have died as result of the fires so far

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a home as they battle a wildfire in Anaheim Hills

Anaheim Hills was among the worst affected areas on Monday, with Santa Rosa also suffering heavy damage

Vicky Walker hugs Orange County Fire Authority firefighter Jose Garcia after he tried to save her home from burning down

A firefighter walks near a home on fire in Santa Rosa after the entire area was evacuated

A resident rushes to save his home in Glen Ellen as an out-of-control wildfire moves through the area

The remains of the Signorello Estate winery as seen through a window in Napa

Napa resident Louis Reavis views his burned classic Oldsmobile at his home

The remains of a car sit near the Fountaingrove Inn Hotel as it burns in Santa Rosa

Rudy Habibe, from Puerto Rico, and his service dog Maximus walk toward a burning building at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel where he was a guest

Flames ride from the remains of a burned down commercial building in Santa Rosa, California

Images from Monday show fire still burning in Glen Ellen, California

California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for three counties

Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said firefighters are concentrated on saving lives rather than battling the blaze.

Deputies were dispatched to help firefighters and California Highway Patrol officers with evacuations, going door to door to rush people to safety.

Santa Rosa, the largest city in the fire area with a population of about 175,000, was hit hard. The city lost a Kmart and other businesses and homes as the blaze shut down its schools and put a Hilton Hotel in ruins.

Firefighters worked to evacuate Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Sutter Hospital as well as senior centers in northwestern Santa Rosa over night.

Emergency lines were consumed with callers reporting smoke in the area, prompting officials to ask that the public 'only use 911 if they see actual unattended flames, or are having another emergency.'

One woman said, 'I drew my blinds and I just saw flames all up on the hill behind my house'.

In Santa Rosa, Ron Dodds told KTVU he was helping his uncle evacuate and said people were running red lights, and 'there is chaos ensuing.'

'It's a scary time,' Dodds added. 'It looks like Armageddon.'

Map shows the ares in California that are experiencing active wildfires

A woman tweeted a photo of her on an airplane looking out the window to see the flames as she flew into San Francisco

Emergency lines were consumed with callers reporting smoke in the area, prompting officials to ask that the public 'only use 911 if they see actual unattended flames, or are having another emergency'

A woman tweeted a photo of the flames in Napa saying that the area is 'really hurting right now'

#GOES16 satellite now detecting 4 wildfires in the North Bay. 3 fires are near the Sonoma/Napa County line while the forth fire (called the "Atlas Fire") burns to the NE of the City of Napa. Red Flag Warning remains in effect for strong and dry north winds. #cawx #atlasfire pic.twitter.com/DYf8tIlY3I  NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) October 9, 2017

Photo shows flames at an auto salvage yard that destroyed two structures and 50 to 100 cars

Flames engulf a three-car garage at a home in Napa

Firefighters hose down a burning tree as powerful winds continue to spread the fire

Firefighters have been working to control 14 fires that broke out late Sunday night into early Monday morning

Two women hug as they watch houses burn in Santa Rosa, California

Image shows a hospital patient being evacuated in Santa Rosa as flames spread nearby

A number of roadways were blocked due to downed trees and fires were burning on both sides of Highways 12 and 101 as gusts reached up to 60 mph.

The Napa County Fire Department responded to flames at an auto salvage yard that destroyed two structures and reported 50 to 100 cars burning.

Businesses and structures such as the historic Fountaingrove Inn Hotel are completely burned down.

Community centers, the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and other local centers have been opened as shelters to house evacuees.

A California firefighter said: 'Our strategy right now is to get ahead of this fire and move people out of the way.'

A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for Napa and Sonoma Counties relief.

This come after a summer filled with wildfires in California. This year a total of 6,744 fires have burned 731,260 acres.

An American flag is the only thing to escape the flames as homes burn in Coffey Park on Monday

Coffey Park, an neighborhood on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, was almost completely destroyed during the fire

Windsor Fire Chief Jack Piccinini said that nearly every one of Sonoma County's fire resources is being used, but it just isn't enough

The Signorello Estate winery burns in the Napa wine region in California

This year a total of 6,744 fires have burned 731,260 acres in California

Jim Stites watches part of his neighborhood burn in Fountaingrove, California, on Monday night

The Historic Round Barn, in Santa Rosa, is destroyed by fire
Jade Hunia, 20, stabbed an off duty police officer in 2016 (pictured)

A violent thug who stabbed an off-duty police officer between the eyes while drunk and on bail has been jailed for more than seven years.

Jade Hunia, 20, was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday to seven years and six months behind bars.

He pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including recklessly causing injury and aggravated burglary.

Hunia forced his way past Senior Constable Daniel Yeoman's wife in the family's Wantirna South home and demanded Mr Yeoman hand over a set of car keys.

The 20-year-old then grabbed a knife in the kitchen and plunged it into the officer's face.

After the stabbing, Hunia fled in Mr Yeoman's $25,000 Hyundai and was clocked speeding before crashing into a wall about 15km away.

Throughout the ordeal Mr Yeoman's two children were home and sleeping in another room.

Mr Yeoman suffered a fractured eye socket and nerve damage and he and his wife say they are 'different people' since the invasion (pictured with his wife Shereen)

After the stabbing, Hunia (pictured right) fled in Mr Yeoman's Hyundai and was clocked speeding before crashing into a wall 15km away

Judge Mark Dean said Mr Yeoman's family was profoundly traumatised and labelled Hunia's actions as 'both terrifying and cowardly.'

The judge also did not believe Hunia, aged 19 at the time, was truly remorseful.

He said a proposal to sentence him to youth justice detention was 'wholly inadequate.'

'You have offered little by way of explanation for your offending,' Judge Dean said.

'Your prospects for rehabilitation must be approached with caution.'

Mr Yeoman suffered a fractured eye socket and nerve damage and he and his wife Shereen say they are 'different people' since the invasion.

Hunia was on four sets of bail at the time in relation to charges that included assaulting and resisting police, prosecutor John Livitsanos said previously.

After the stabbing, Hunia fled in Mr Yeoman's (pictured) Hyundai and was clocked speeding before crashing into a wall about 15km away

'It was not his first foray into the criminal sphere,' he told a pre-sentence hearing in the County Court.

The prosecutor said a lengthy stint in an adult prison was needed for the unexplained and unnecessarily violent crime.

'It could've been a death,' Mr Livitsanos said.

'There was no need for the violence. Mr Yeoman had ceded to his requests.

'The explanation is solely alcohol.'

She argued that a term in a youth justice facility would be appropriate for Hunia (pictured), whose sister died shortly before the incident

The prosecutor said Hunia was a 'high functioning alcoholic' from whom the community needed protection.

But defence lawyer Amelia Beech said Hunia had made progress in custody, taking anger management and alcohol abuse classes.

She argued last month that a term in a youth justice facility would be appropriate for Hunia, whose sister died shortly before the incident.

'His personal history and dysfunctional childhood is also something to take into account,' the lawyer had said.

Victoria Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt told reporters Hunia's sentence, which includes a non-parole period of four years, was reasonable.

'If you're at home, if you're with your family and your loved ones, you deserve and you're entitled to feel safe,' he said.
The title junior doctor should be banned from the NHS, the chief medical officer has claimed.

Dame Sally Davies has backed a campaign which claims current job titles are confusing and demeaning.

She wants to stop labelling doctors below consultant level  who often have a decade or more experience - as trainee and junior.

The campaign will be launched today by Oxford University academics, who claim the term junior doctor is discriminatory and belittling.

Despite having medical degrees, more than 52,000 doctors training to become consultants have been referred to as trainees and junior.

Many of the doctors who fall in the categories the campaign will aim to re-name are in their late 30s and are allowed to make life-or-death decisions.

They want to replace with titles such as senior house officer and registrar to avoid those labelled junior being mistaken for students on work experience, or less experienced.

A professor of diabetic medicine at Oxford said: Its crazy weve adopted this terminology.

[Its] unjust, progressively inaccurate and detrimental to self-esteem.
During their working meeting, First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and Finish Foreign Minister Timo Juhani Soini noted that their countries had similar approaches to the need to step up multilateral cooperation in Northern Europe and the Arctic, the Russian Foreign Ministry website reports.



The statement reads: "The officials pointed to the similarity in the Russian and Finnish approaches to the need to build up multilateral cooperation in Northern Europe and the Arctic, in particular in light of Finland's active position as part of its two-year Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, as well as to maintain the Baltic and the North as a zone of stability with a lower level of tensions than in other world regions."



The talks were held as part of the regional meeting of Russian ambassadors to Northern European and Baltic countries, with the Russian Foreign Ministry's representatives in St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad also in attendance, at the Russian Embassy in Helsinki.
Chilling pictures reveal a 14-year-old wannabe Jihadi posing with weapons and doing the ISIS salute in his Sydney home.

In the photos, the 14-year-old boy can be seen posing as a sniper with weapons taken from his uncle's gun collection.

The images were tendered to the New South Wales Supreme Court in Parramatta at the boy's sentencing submission hearing on Monday.

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The 14-year-old boy posed as a sniper with rifles he took from his uncle's gun collection

The teenager sent the photos to his co-conspirators, Sulayman Khalid, 22, and Mohamed Almaouie, 21, telling them he 'envisaged himself as a religious hero able to achieve martyrdom', The Daily Telegraph reported.

The boy cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard the teenager was recruited by the older men to become a part of their plan to target the Australian Federal Police's Sydney headquarters where they wanted to kill police officers in the name of Islam.

The aspiring terrorist showed his eagerness to carry out a terror-inspired attack in messages sent via mobile phone to his co-conspirators, the court heard.

'I'll be with the virgins of Paradise, with the permission of Allah, the Most High ASAP,' he said in a message tendered to court.

In the photos, the 14-year-old boy can be seen posing as a sniper with weapons he took from his uncle's gun collection

The teenager sent the photos (pictured) to his co-conspirators via mobile messages

The teenager exchanged hundreds of text messages and phone calls with 22-year-old Khalid, in which the pair discussed how they would become martyrs, the court heard.

The 14-year-old reportedly threatened to abandon the attack plan if he was not trained by Khalid how to properly use guns.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out a terror attack.

There was no evidence to suggest the guns the boy took from his uncle's collection were obtained or stored illegally.

The boy's lawyer said his actions were the result of his youth.

Chilling pictures reveal a 14-year-old wannabe Jihadi posing with weapons and doing the ISIS salute

The teenager exchanged hundreds of text messages and phone calls with 22-year-old Khalid, in which the pair discussed how they would become martyrs, the court heard

'His adherence to violent jihad was a creature of his youth, immaturity and other influences on him,' his lawyer told the court.

The court previously heard the teenager, Khalid and four other conspirators planned an arsenal in 2014.

Jibryl Almaouie, his brother Mohamed, Fahad Said and Ibrahim Ghazzawy all pleaded guilty in conspiring to plan terror attacks.

The 14-year-old boy, Khalid and Jibryl Almaouise will return to court for sentencing on November 3.

The charge of conspiring to do acts in preparation of a terrorist act carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The court previously heard the teenager, Khalid (pictured) and four other conspirators planned an arsenal in 2014

The teenage boy's co-conspirator Sulayman Khalid appeared on SBS' Insight program in 2014.

Khalid appeared on an episode called 'Joining The Fight' when he was 20-years-old.

'ISIS - they do not want to bring anything but justice,' Khalid said on the program.

'Justice, peace and humanitarian aid to the people.'
Three fishermen and a young boy were forced to abandon their ship off the coast of Tasmania on Monday after the vessel caught fire.

The group were travelling on the fishing vessel Japara in the Hope Channel, just south of Three Hummock Island.

Warwick Treloggen, 42, and his 11-year-old son Noah were among the four who had to quickly evacuate the boat.

The fire is believed to have started around 5pm in the wheelhouse and quickly spread to the galley.

Three fisherman and a young boy were forced to abandon their ship off the coast of Tasmania on Monday, after the vessel caught fire (pictured)

The group were travelling on the fishing vessel 'Japara' in the Hope Channel, just south of Three Hummock Island

Police received a call at 5.30pm informing them of the fire, and quickly tasked a Westpac Police Helicopter to retrieve the men from the island.

The men deployed a life-raft and were able to safely make it to shore, where they were helped ashore by the managers of Three Hummock Island Accommodation, John and Beverley O'Brien.

Mrs O'Brien spoke to Daily Mail Australia and said the men were 'heartbroken, but alive'.

'We were in the kitchen when we saw the smoke on the water and realised it was a boat fire,' she said.

The men had to abandon their boat and deploy a life-raft, before making it safely to shore

'We saw them deploy the life raft and kept an eye on them as they came ashore in a very rocky area.

'My husband went down to check on them and I took the car down, picked them up and brought them here.'

The O'Brien's gave the men hot showers, shelter and a warm drink as they waited for the police rescue helicopter to arrive and take them to North West Regional Hospital.

All three men and the 11-year-old were treated for smoke inhalation and received minor injuries from the incident.

'We could all see the boat burn from the kitchen window, it was heartbreaking for them,' Mrs O'Brien said.

'But I told them "guys, you're alive!" - they're very lucky.'

Police received a call at 5.30pm informing them of the fire, and quickly tasked a police helicopter to retrieve the men from the island

All three men and the young boy were treated for smoke inhalation and received minor injuries from the incident

Police reported no suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire and were due to review the damage on Tuesday.

Mrs O'Brien said the boat has since sunk, with buoys and markers placed around the site to warn other vessels in the area.

'I just wanted to give my compliments to the skipper who got all his men to safety and did everything he could,' she said.
A Texas Tech University freshman has been charged with murder after he shot dead an officer at a campus police station where he was being questioned in a drug-related case.

Hollis A. Daniels pulled the gun on the officer in the police headquarters in Lubbock at 7.45pm Monday night and shot him in the head, authorities say.

The 19-year-old from Seguin was taken to the station for a 'debriefing' after campus police searched his dorm room during a welfare check and found drugs and drug paraphernalia.

As they entered the headquarters, Daniels is said to have opened fire and killed the officer. It is not clear if Daniels had the gun on him when he was taken to the police station or if he took the weapon from an officer.

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Texas Tech University student Hollis A. Daniels (above in mugshot) pulled the gun on the officer in the police headquarters in Lubbock at 7.45pm Monday night and shot him in the head

A video shot by a bystander shows the moment Daniels was taken into a custody near the Texas Tech campus police headquarters

Daniels fled the station on foot, forcing the entire campus to be placed on lockdown while SWAT tried to track him down. He was arrested about an hour later after being tackled by officers in a nearby parking lot.

Daniels was charged early Tuesday with capital murder of a peace officer. The identity of the slain officer is being withheld until all his relatives have been notified.

University spokesman Chris Cook said the tragedy unfolded when police conducted the search in his room and then brought him back to the station.

Sources told KCBD Daniels had tried to rip the slain officer's body camera off him after the shooting, but other cops managed to find it at the scene.

Online records suggest Daniels had been in contact with police on campus before and had prior drug arrests on his record. He was arrested in September 2016 for drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. It is not clear how the case was resolved.

His Facebook profile, which is under a different name, says he is studying Communications Arts at Texas Tech.

His father is a former city councilman and his family, who are believed to have long roots in the small community, owns a chain of movie theaters. The teenager was believed to be a manager at one of the movie venues.

Texas Tech University freshman Hollis A. Daniels allegedly shot and killed a cop at the campus police headquarters on Monday night

The campus was placed on lockdown while SWAT tried to track down Daniels. He was arrested less than two hours later and taken into custody

University spokesman Chris Cook says campus police found drugs in Daniels' dorm. They then brought him back to police headquarters for a 'standard debriefing

Daniels' Instagram bio read: 'May the best of your today be the worst of your tomorrow, but we aint even thinkin that far ahead.'

On June 16, he wrote: 'Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?'

Last year, Texas enabled people with concealed handgun permits to carry their weapons on public university campuses. People have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit in the state.

Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the shooting saying: 'First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University.

'I have spoken to Chancellor Robert Duncan to offer my condolences, and I have mobilized the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer any assistance to the Lubbock Police Department.

Online records suggest Daniels (left and right in a younger picture) had been in contact with police on campus before and had been arrested for drug possession

Daniels is seen in a photo with his college's name written along the bottom

'As the Texas Tech campus deals with this heartbreaking tragedy, Cecilia and I pray for the continued safety of the students and the entire community.'

Chancellor Duncan also released a statement saying: 'Words can't express how saddened I am by the tragic loss of one of our Texas Tech University police officers tonight.

'Terri and I offer our thoughts and prayers to the officer's family and the Texas Tech University Police Department. I would like to thank Governor Greg Abbott, Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope and all of the law enforcement professionals from across the area who supported our campus during this time of need.

'Our Texas Tech family is strong and will support each other as we grieve.'

Cops are seen gathered on an intersection after a Texas Tech cop was shot and killed

Police officers gather at the scene to investigate after their colleague was shot and killed
Rose McGowan ripped into fashionista Donna Karan on Monday after the DKNY head defended Harvey Weinstein and suggested that women might be 'asking for trouble' by the way they dress.

Karan, a long-time friend of Weinstein, described the disgraced film producer - who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by a string of women over decades - as 'wonderful' in an exclusive DailyMail.com interview.

She added: 'You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.'

McGowan, who has been vocal about the abuse she has experienced in the industry, then shared a screenshot of the DailyMail.com story with the message: 'Donna Karan you are a DEPLORABLE.

'Aiding and abetting is a moral crime. You are scum in a fancy dress.'

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Rose McGowan ripped into fashion designer Donna Karan on Twitter on Monday, following an interview with DailyMail.com in which Karan suggested that some of the women hurt by Harvey Weinstein 'may have been asking for trouble'

McGowan (left with Weinstein in 2007) reportedly sued him after an incident in the 1990s, but was legally forced not to speak about it in the settlement. Karan (right) defended Weinstein

According to The New York Times report that initiated Weinstein's downfall this week, McGowan sued the producer in the 1990s but settled out of court for $100,000.

In doing so, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) forbidding her from talking about the case.

She hasn't named Weinstein directly in any of her Twitter comments so far, but has referred obliquely to abuse that she sustained.

Last year, she tweeted under the hashtag #WhyWomenDontReport with the message 'Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution'.

And on Sunday she posted a photo of herself taken in March 1997 at the Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles, writing: 'This is the girl that was hurt by a monster. This is who you are shaming with your silence.'

That picture was taken just two months after an incident occurred between McGowan and Weinstein inside a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival.

So it's not surprising that Karan's remarks, made while she was attending the CineFashion Film Awards on Sunday, would upset her.

'To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women?' the 69-year-old asked.

'What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?

'And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show?'

McGowan took to Twitter to share a photo of herself in her 20s on Sunday, writing: 'This is the girl that was hurt by a monster. This is the girl who you are shaming with your silence'

Karan, 69, defended Weinstein, but later claimed her comments had been 'taken out of context' and apologized to anyone who was offended and all victims of abuse

In a statement sent just after midnight on Tuesday to DailyMail.com, Karan claimed that her remarks had been 'taken out of context'.

'Last night, I was honored at the Cinemoi Fashion Film Awards in Hollywood and while answering a question on the red carpet I made a statement that unfortunately is not representative of how I feel or what I believe,' she said.

'I have spent my life championing women. My life has been dedicated to dressing and addressing the needs of women, empowering them and promoting equal rights.

'My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein.

'I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual. I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.'

Rose McGowan tweeted that the team that produced the NYT article had 'saved lives' with their 'bravery'

These are the latest salvos in an ongoing Twitter war between McGowan and those who have either openly colluded with Weinstein, or remained silent on the topic.

On Sunday, she tweeted: 'Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening. Get brave.'

And on Monday she replied to a message by German magazine Screen/Read that read: 'You need to wonder why so few men having worked with Harvey Weinstein took a public stand so far. Why, Quentin, Robert [possibly Rodriguez] and the likes?'

'Because they are weak and scared,' she said.

She also asked 'Hey @mattdamon whats it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?'

And afterward, she added: 'Ben Affleck Casey Affleck, hows your morning boys?'

Casey Affleck has also been accused of sexual harassment.

McGowan also called for the board of the Weinstein Company to resign, writing: 'Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar - you do not get to hide #RESIGN #rosearmy'

Shortly afterward, she posted: 'Bob Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar, David Glasser: you knew. you funded. you are guilty. #resign'

She also retweeted Kevin Smith's remark that he was 'ashamed' at having Weinstein fund 'the first 14 years of my career' and told him: 'Call on the board to resign or you still suck.'

The actress, 44, who is one of Weinstein's accusers, took to her Twitter page Friday evening to share some careful words to her famous counterparts

McGowan posted several other related tweets to her page Friday evening

McGowen went on the offensive, calling Matt Damon a 'spineless profiteer' for 'staying silent' while demanding that the Weinstein Co.'s board resign for 'covering up' the abuse

She also called on Ben and Casey Affleck. Casey Affleck, who won an Oscar last year, has been accused of sexual harassment

McGowan also claimed that directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - the latter of whom directed her in Planet Terror - were 'weak and scared' for not speaking out

Meryl Streep has released a lengthy statement four days after a bombshell report detailed Harvey Weinstein's decades of sexual harassment (pair above in 2012)

On Monday, as the furor continued, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Judi Dench - previously silent on the matter - spoke out against Weinstein in statements.

'The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported,' said Streep.

'The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.'

Her silence had been particularly noted, as she had referred to 'God - Harvey Weinstein'

'Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally,' Streep continued.

Glenn Close released a statement saying she had heard rumors of this behavior over the years and was 'ashamed' and 'angered' (pair above in 2013)

'I didn't know about these other offenses: I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts.

She continued: 'And If everybody knew, I don't believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it.'

Close, in a statement to the New York Times, said: 'I'm sitting here, deeply upset, acknowledging to myself that, yes, for many years, I have been aware of the vague rumors that Harvey Weinstein had a pattern of behaving inappropriately around women.

'Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad.'

Dench also spoke out on Monday in a statement to Newsweek.

'Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying, and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out,' she said.

And Winslet said to Variety: 'I have no doubt that for these women this time has been, and continues to be extremely traumatic.

'I fully embrace and salute their profound courage, and I unequivocally support this level of very necessary exposure of someone who has behaved in reprehensible and disgusting ways.

'His behavior is without question disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong. I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumors, maybe we have all been naive.

'And it makes me so angry. There must be "no tolerance" of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.'

Judi Dench (above in 2005 with Weinstein) whose film career was launched by Weinstein, said that she too was unaware of this harassment and that her thoughts were with the victims

Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company - which he founded with his brother Bob in 2005 - on Sunday.

He was kicked out at the agreement at the four remaining members of the board, including Bob Weinstein; four others had already resigned in the days previous.

WEINSTEIN'S EMAIL 'My board is thinking of firing me. All Im asking, is let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling. Whether it be in a facility or somewhere else, allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance. A lot of the allegations are false as you know but given therapy and counseling as other people have done, I think Id be able to get there. 'I could really use your support or just your honesty if you cant support me. 'But if you can, I need you to send a letter to my private gmail address. The letter would only go to the board and no one else. We believe what the board is trying to do is not only wrong but might be illegal and would destroy the company. 'If you could write this letter backing me, getting me the help and time away I need, and also stating your opposition to the board firing me, it would help me a lot. I am desperate for your help. Just give me the time to have therapy. Do not let me be fired. If the industry supports me, that is all I need.' Advertisement

Bob Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar said they were firing him 'In light of new information about misconduct... that has emerged in the past few days'; they had ordered an independent investigation on Friday.

As Weinstein realized his number was up, he wrote to several celebrity friends begging for help.

'My board is thinking of firing me. All I'm asking is, let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling,' wrote Weinstein in the email, which was read by one of the recipients to Janice Min.

'Whether is be in a facility or somewhere else, allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance.'

Min later said that Ron Meyer, David Zaslav and Jeffrey Katzenberg were among those who refused to back him.

She also tweeted: 'One big player who refused to respond positively to Weinstein's email plea tells me he replied in essence: "no f-ing chance."'

Maerov spoke to the The New York Times after Weinstein was dropped, saying that there was concern among his fellow board members after Weinstein and his attorney Lisa Bloom met with them on Thursday night.

Bloom told the board that that they could expect 'more and different reporting' that included 'photos of several of the accusers in very friendly poses with Harvey after his alleged misconduct,' Maerov said.

'This is not the time for Harvey or TWC to appear defiant or indignant,' wrote Maerov in an email to Bloom. 'It is time to repair, heal, accept responsibility and recover.'

In another email to Bloom, Bob Weinstein wrote: 'Perhaps, Harvey as he stated in the NY Times, to the world, should get professional help for a problem that really exists.'

Harvey Weinstein (seen here Friday) was fired from his own firm on Sunday after the board - including his brother - decided he had to go

Questions remain, however, about how the board was so in the dark given the number of settlements that have been paid out, with the first going back to an incident that happened in 1991, according to the Times.

Weinstein responded in a statement by saying that he was getting help, but then shortly after threatened to sue the paper for $50 million.

On Friday, one-third of the original nine-man board resigned in protest, 24-hours after the sexual harassment report threw the firm into chaos.

A fourth left over the weekend; a fifth had already left for unrelated reasons last year.

The company also stated that they were launching an internal probe into the claims against their disgraced co-founder.

And as the backlash grew, graphic revelations appeared in Huffington Post, claiming that Weinstein cornered a New York reporter and forcibly made her watch him masturbate in front of her.

Lauren Sivan, formerly a Fox News Reporter, claims that when she worked with the cable channel Long Island 12 a decade ago, Weinstein insisted she take a tour with him in Socialista, a club he part-owned.

She claims he took her downstairs to a kitchen and cleared it of staff and then tried to kiss her. When she refused his advance he said, 'Well, can you just stand there and shut up'.

The movie mogul is then alleged to have masturbated in front of her and ejaculated into a nearby flower pot.

Sivan says she was trapped and intimidated and deeply shocked.

Rose McGowan posted a series of Tweets on Sunday as news of Weinstein's firing emerged

Brave face: Rose McGowan has stepped out for the first time since Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexually harassing multiple female employees and movie stars

McGowan told Hollywood actresses to 'get brave,' while applauding those who spoke out

That same night McGowan first asked why there was so much silence from the Hollywood community, stating: 'Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening.'

Given the number of lawsuits that the company has settled over the years there is of course a chance that some of these women cannot speak because they signed a NDA or do not want to speak on account of their own personal experiences.

That would not however stop any of these women from publicly declaring that they support and believe his accusers.

The most encouraging tweet from a member of the Hollywood community came from 'Girls' producer Jenni Konner.

She said on Thursday: 'Who are the agents/managers that sent their clients to meet with him when this was a well known "secret"? Them nxt.'

Dark: McGowan shared a cryptic tweet not long after Weinstein (pictured on Thursday night) was accused of sexually harassing multiple female employees and movie stars

New allegations of improper conduct have also emerged since the expose. British actress Jessica Hynes took to Twitter on Friday and wrote: 'I was offered a film role at 19, Harvey Weinstein came on board and wanted me to screen test in a bikini. I refused & lost the job.'

She then added: 'I'm sure there are many more...'

Hynes, who earlier in her career went by Jessica Stevenson, in now 44 and has starred in the two most recent 'Bridget Jones' films as well as number of theatrical productions, being nominated for a Tony in 2009 for her role in 'The Norman Conquests' on Broadway.

Her claim is remarkably similar to a blind item that has been floating around for over a decade, and is well known to many in Hollywood.

Writer and comedian Jack Howard noted that, replying to Hynes: 'Holy s*** I knew the story but I didn't know who it was about.'

Hynes did not reveal what the film was, but it would have been around 1991 or 1992 when Weinstein was beginning his ascent up the ranks in the movie industry while working in London.

It was also in 1991 when he allegedly sexually harassed the first of his many alleged victims who came forward to speak with the Times on the record about his behavior.

Laura Madden said that she was asked by Weinstein to give him massages while he was staying at hotels in Dublin and London at that time.

'It was so manipulative,' said Madden.

'You constantly question yourself  am I the one who is the problem?'

Judd recounted her encounter with Weinstein, saying she was doing night shoots for her 1997 film 'Kiss the Girls' when she got an invite to meet with Weinsten that she could not pass up.

She said she felt uncomfortable from the start and ordered cereal from room service because it would arrive quicker than a hot meal.

Judd said she was asked to give Weinstein a massage and then a shoulder rub, both of which she declined while trying to get herself out of the room.

Victims: Ashley Judd (left in 1997) and Rose McGowan (right) were revealed to be two of Weinstein's alleged victims by the Times

That is when he allegedly asked her to help him pick out his clothes for the day and then watch him shower.

'I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask,' said Judd.

'It was all this bargaining, this coercive bargaining.'

She eventually made her escape by joking that Weinstein would have to help her win an Oscar before she would be willing to touch him, stating that the prestige of working for his studio made it too difficult to forcefully shut down his harassment.

'There's a lot on the line, the cachet that came with Miramax,' explained Judd.

Judd previously wrote about the same experience in 2015 for Variety without naming Weinstein, simply saying it was a studio mogul.

'I was with a bunch of other actors, and it was critical that it was actors: The exact same thing had happened to them by the exact same mogul,' wrote Judd.

'Only when we were sitting around talking about it did we realize our experiences were identical. There was a mutual strengthening and fortification of our resolve.'

She later wrote in that piece: 'The ultimate thing when I was weaseling out of everything else was, "Will you watch me take a shower?" And all the other women, sitting around this table with me, said, "Oh my god - that's what he said to me too."'
The parents of a seven-month-old girl face a heartbreaking wait to see how much time they have with their daughter after doctors took her off life support.

Chrissa Squire's parents, Stephanie Allan and Chris Squire, from Christchurch, New Zealand, took her to hospital when she got sick with bronchiolitis last month.

The baby girl then developed pneumonia and was connected to a machine to help her breathe.

While her mother popped out for break around 2am on September 29, Chrissa's breathing mask fell off and she vomited into her lungs.

'I came back to Chrissa and my room to find Chrissa blue, and nurses and doctors resuscitating her,' Ms Allan told Daily Mail Australia.

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Chrissa Squire's parents face a agonising wait after her doctors remove her breathing tube

The infant suffered severe brain damage after anaesthetic triggered a condition known as Malignant hyperthermia

Doctors quickly took her into the operating room to have a breathing tube inserted through her mouth  but she suffered a severe reaction to the anaesthetic she was given.

The anaesthetic triggered a condition known as Malignant hyperthermia, which only affects one in 100,000 people.

It caused her temperature to spike to 41C, she went blind and suffered severe brain damage.

The little girl was then flown to Starship Hospital in Auckland, where doctors told the family that she would probably die that day.

Doctors had told the family that the little girl only had a 50/50 chance of survival when her breathing tube is taken out.

That was done at 11.45am on Tuesday  and her mother said she was 'very relieved' that the procedure went well.

'At the moment, she is still here,' Ms Allan told Daily Mail Australia.

Her parents Chris Squire and Stephanie Allan (pictured) are speaking out to make others aware of the genetic disorder, which, to their knowledge, no-one in their family has had

Chrissa (pictured with her big sisters) was born in February with Pierre Robin Syndrome

'Now, we've just got to take it day by day and hope that it continues. We are hoping that she can come home once the hospital is satisfied that she is ready.'

She added: 'The doctors are happy with the way she is breathing. She is a bit sore in her throat.

'We are just trying to keep her comfortable and get her body to relax.'

Their daughter had already spent a lot of time in hospital since she was born with Pierre Robin Syndrome and weighing just a little more than 4lbs on February 16.

It meant she was born with a smaller lower jaw than normal and as a result, suffered from breathing difficulties and spent her first few weeks fighting to maintain a normal body temperature.

'I came back to Chrissa and my room to find Chrissa blue, and nurses and doctors resuscitating her,' Ms Allan told Daily Mail Australia

Chrissa Squire's parents took her to hospital when she got sick with bronchiolitis last month

Chrissa is seen being taken into the operating room for heart surgery earlier this month

Three weeks after her birth, doctors detected a heart murmur and confirmed that Chrissa had a large hole in her heart. She needed continuous monitoring until April.

Then, on April 12, she contracted Rhinovirus in the NICU and was put into an incubator for five days.

Doctors performed a genetic test and told Ms Allan and Mr Squire that she had chromosome 1 p1.31 deletion, but they weren't sure what it would mean.

Finally, on May 6, Chrissa was allowed to go home to her parents, two sisters and brother - but still needed to be fed through a tube in her nose.

'Chrissa thrived at home, she had the most love anyone could give,' her parents said.

'She had outings to malls, was a known and loved wee girl at her big sisters' school.

'She started smiling, loved tummy time, started picking up toys.'

Doctors have told the family that the little girl only has a 50/50 chance of survival when her breathing tube is taken out

The little girl had already spent a lot of time in hospital since she was born with Pierre Robin Syndrome which meant she has an unusually small chin and an obstructed airway

Her parents are speaking out to make other parents aware of the rare disorder, which, to their knowledge, no-one in their family has had.

Ms Allan believes there should be a test for it.

'Nobody really gets tested for it,' she said.

'We just want to raise awareness so this doesn't happen to anyone else. We don't want anyone else to go through it, it's terrible.'

Ms Allan said that Chrissa will spent the new couple of weeks at Starship Hospital.

'The hospital staff has been absolutely brilliant and done everything we've asked,' she said.

But she has no idea how much time she has left with her baby daughter.

'Chrissa is seven months old and she has spent her whole life in hospital,' Ms Allan said.

'She had a hard life before this and now it's that much harder for her.'

What is Malignant hyperthermia? Signs and symptoms of a malignant hyperthermia reaction include a dangerously high body temperature, severe muscle spasms and a fast heart rate. In most cases, the genetic defect that causes malignant hyperthermia is inherited. It is called a pharmacogenetic disorder because the reaction is caused by specific drugs. Genetic testing can reveal whether you have these mutations. If you have a parent, sibling or child with malignant hyperthermia, there is a 50 per cent chance that you have the condition as well. Other close relatives, such as aunts, uncles and grandchildren, have a 25 percent chance. Men are more likely to have an episode of malignant hyperthermia than women. Children with the condition also are susceptible to reactions during surgery. Malignant hyperthermia may not trigger a reaction during a person's first surgery. However, the risk of a crisis remains for future operations. For those at risk of having a reaction, other safe medications are available. In rare cases, people with malignant hyperthermia have shown signs of a reaction after intense physical activity. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

Chrissa was finally allowed to go home to her family in May, but needed to be fed through a tube

But in September, her parents took her to Christchurch hospital where doctors said she had bronchiolitis




Campaigners against gay marriage have taken to the skies again to push their case.

The clear blue sky above Melbourne was marked with the word 'no' spelled out in block letters by a skywriter on Tuesday.

Observers took to social media to share photos of the anti-gay marriage message.

Campaigners against gay marriage have taken to the skies again to push their case

The clear blue sky above Melbourne was marked with the word 'no' spelled out in block letters by a skywriter on Tuesday

Observers took to social media to share photos of the anti-gay marriage message

It comes after a similar stunt in Sydney where the sky stretching from Balmain near the city to Parramatta in the west was emblazoned with 'Vote No' in September.

The sky became a billboard a day after the Coalition for Marriage's campaign launch at Darling Harbour.

Voters have until November 7 to return their ballots with a result expected to be announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics by mid-November.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised a clear 'yes' vote would clear the way for a private member's bill in parliament to redefine the Marriage Act.
A Pennsylvania woman is facing assault charges after a fight in a shower left a man hospitalized with injured genitals.

Abigail Geiger, 22, was charged with aggravated and simple assault for potentially injuring the man during the altercation on September 19 at a home in Lititz, reported ABC 27.

Police were called to the house after receiving a report from a neighbor about a loud confrontation inside.

Abigail Geiger, 22 (left and right), of Lititz, Pennsylvania, was charged with aggravated and simple assault after a fight in a shower left a man hospitalized with injured genitals. Police were called to the house on September 19 after receiving a report from a neighbor about a loud confrontation inside

Officers say they interviewed Geiger at the house on the 700 block of Wickshire Circle.

She told them she had been in an altercation that took place inside the home.

The male she was fighting with had fled the residence and was being treated at a hospital for injuries suffered to his genitals during the attack.

According to written statements from both parties, police say there was a verbal exchange that escalated into a physical confrontation, all taking place inside of the bathroom shower (Pictured, Geiger, left, with her husband)

According to written statements from both parties, police say there was a verbal exchange that escalated into a physical confrontation, all taking place inside of the bathroom shower.

Geiger was booked last week at North Lancaster Regional Police Department.

On Facebook, she is listed as being married to a man named David Geiger but it is unknown if he is the injured man.
Cariann Denise Hithon was fatally shot by an officer who claims he was forced to open fire when she drove into a second officer and sent him flying through the air and onto the ground

A 22-year-old honors student was shot dead on her birthday by police in Miami after allegedly driving drunk and hitting a police officer.

Cariann Denise Hithon was fatally shot by an officer who claims he was forced to open fire when she drove into a second officer and sent him flying through the air and onto the ground, reported the Miami New Times.

A video of the shooting has now surfaced on Instagram, and in the clip Hilton's car lurches forward as Officer David Cajuso rolls over the car's hood, seemingly prompting a second officer to shoot into the window.

Miami-Dade county police are now investigating the incident, and have not yet released the name of Hilthon's police shooter.

Hilthon, who was an honors student at Temple University in Pennsylvania, was celebrating her birthday in South Beach on October 5 when the incident occurred, according to her father.

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The police officer who shot Cariann said he did so because she ran into officer David Cajuso, pictured

Police have said that Hithon was driving erratically around 6.15pm that evening when she crashed her black BMW into another car on 12th Street and Ocean Drive. Her BMW is pictured after the crash

Police have said that Hithon was driving erratically around 6.15pm that evening when she crashed her black BMW into another car on 12th Street and Ocean Drive.

She then sped through a red light and hit a car on Lincoln Road before driving off again in what police said was an 'apparent attempt to flee the scene.'

When police caught up with her, officer Cajuso went to stand in front of the car in an apparent keep Hithon from driving any further, the department has said.

'She started the car and ran away,' Miguel Garcia, a witness told CBS Local.

'She was, like, doing over the policeman in front of her, the officer.'

Garcia also said he saw her face while she was behind the wheel - and described her as having 'crazed' eyes.

'She was staring, it was very scary looking, I think she was on drugs or something,' he said.

Police said she rammed into officer Cajuso, and tossed him through the air and onto the asphalt before driving away. He was carried away on a stretcher but wasn't seriously injured.

The department have said that another cop then shot at Hithon to keep her from hitting anything or anyone else.

Her car then slammed into a parked white SUV.

An unnamed person was sitting in the front passenger seat of Hithon's car - and there has been no word on that individual's condition.

She then sped through a red light and hit a car on Lincoln Road before driving off again in what police said was an 'apparent attempt to flee the scene'

When police caught up with her, officer Cajuso went to stand in front of the car in an apparent keep Hithon from driving any further, the department has said. They said she rammed into him, though, and tossed him onto the asphalt before driving away. He was carried away on a stretcher but wasn't seriously injured

The Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police President Bobby Jenkins said in a statement that he stands behind the officer who opened fire.

'It is unfortunate that yesterday's events ended in the loss of life, yet it is an officer's duty to ensure the safety of the public under the imminent threat of harm from an individual,' the statement reads.

'That being said we cannot dismiss the fact that an officer was hit with deadly force by a vehicle that was driving recklessly and fleeing from the scene of an accident.

'We welcome the independent investigation being conducted by the Miami-Dade Police Department and are confident that our officers actions were justified, warranted, and appropriate given the circumstances at hand.'
A luxury hair product company has been mocked for using a model wearing a top knot and describing it as 'chic'.

Toni and Guy featured transgender model Gemma Cowling in their latest promotion for a new hair care line sporting the polarising hairstyle.

The advertisement was mocked on Facebook by people questioning the decision to use the tied-up hair in a fashion commercial and asking 'when does the hair get styled?'

'I thought it was the 'before' shot, kept waiting for the 'after.....' one person commented.

A luxury hair product company has been mocked for using a model wearing a top knot and describing it as 'chic'

The advertisement was mocked on Facebook by people questioning the decision to use the tied-up hair in a fashion commercial and asking 'when does the hair get styled?'

The company say the campaign is to encourage individuality and appeal to everyday women.

'Toni & Guy presents 'The Chic You' with this stylish top knot,' the post reads.

People immediately responded to the commercial, confused by the style choice and mocking its simplicity.

'God no. That's like some bad throw back from my third form year. Why is any ugly hair style now trendy??' one Facebook user said.

'Yikes? You think this is chic?' another commented.

People immediately responded to the commercial, confused by the style choice and mocking its simplicity

'Stylish top knot you're kidding - more like I got dragged through a gorse bush backwards and look like a ghostly pale witch knot,' a social media user said

The company say the campaign is to encourage individuality and appeal to everyday women

The advertisement was mocked on Facebook by people questioning the decision to use the tied-up hair in a fashion commercial

'Stylish top knot you're kidding - more like I got dragged through a gorse bush backwards and look like a ghostly pale witch knot,' a social media user said.

Toni and Guy responded to a number of comments through their official Facebook account, saying the unique styling was designed to bring a common touch to the luxury brand and empower others to be themselves.

'Our You Define You campaign was created to inspire and encourage people to be confident in expressing who they are, without limits, judgement or boundaries,' the company replied.

'We really do believe that nothing should get in the way of you defining yourself, your way and hope that everyone can feel comfortable in themselves, everyday.'
Ben Hoy is just 37, but for the best part of the last two decades he admits he's been a 'dole bludger'.

The father-of-two, who is estranged from his children, has worked occasionally since he was in his late teens, usually doing the odd 'cash job' as a labourer.

But on Tuesday morning he joins a large queue outside a Centrelink office in northern Melbourne, keen to be ensure his $501 fortnightly 'Newstart Allowance' is not cut off.

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Ben Hoy, 32, (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia he has been a 'dole bludger' for the last two decades

Inside he is greeted by police and government officials from Taskforce Integrity, leading the crackdown on welfare cheats across the country.

They're specifically targeting Broadmeadows, Craigieburn and surrounding suburbs in the city's north where area's welfare bill soared from $22.9 million in 2012 to $50.4 million this year, and the number of welfare recipients doubled.

In just the past year, 709 people in Craigieburn have started receiving Youth Allowance or Newstart Allowance.

The number of welfare recipients in Melbourne's north has doubled in five years, bringing the area's bill to $50.4 million and prompting a crack down on 'dole bludgers' (pictured is mother-of-two Joanne Maher. It is not suggested she is a welfare cheat)

Government officials from Taskforce Integrity are specifically targeting Broadmeadows and Craigieburn, where a large group of people were seen on Tuesday queuing outside a Centrelink office (pictured)

But outside, after rejecting their offer of a pamphlet instructing how to report welfare cheats, Mr Hoy tells Daily Mail Australia about 'knowing the loopholes' to keep his welfare payment  despite him not actively looking for work.

'Well put it this way, I've been on the dole since I was 17 and I know all the loopholes,' he said of his 20 years on welfare.

'Every time they want me to work for the dole I change job agencies and it all starts again.

'They don't follow it up, they don't do nothing.'

In just the past year, 709 people in Craigieburn have started receiving Youth Allowance or Newstart Allowance

After working full-time for most of her life, Bernadette Townsend (pictured) was made redundant last year

Pictured is the Craigieburn Plaza in the City of Hume

Mr Hoy's story is seemingly a common one within the area, which has always battled but in recent years has done it particularly tough.

In October last year the Broadmeadows production factory for car giant Ford shut its doors after more than 57 years. At its peak it employed thousands of locals.

But despite the tough times facing the area, most of those who are receiving some of the $50 million being handed out in welfare payments are angry at those who rort the system.

After working full-time for most of her life, Bernadette Townsend was made redundant last year.

TOP 10 WELFARE SUBURBS 1. Caboolture, north of Brisbane 2. Blacktown, western Sydney 3. Mildura, north-west Victoria 4. Frankston, south-east Melbourne 5. Deception Bay, north of Brisbane 6. Werribee, south-west Melbourne 7. St Albans, north-west Melbourne 8. Dubbo, central-west NSW 9. Auburn, western Sydney 10. Dandenong, south-east Melbourne * Department of Human Services data on welfare recipients failing to turn up for job interviews. Advertisement

Battling health issues in the wake of her sacking, the 52-year-old is now trying desperately to get back into the work force and is angry at those who ride on the taxpayer's coat tail.

'I've worked all my life and I've just come from a position where I was a supervisor at a local company doing up to 20 hour days on-call and working weekends as well,' Ms Townsend said.

'It's crazy the amount of people who are on the dole that shouldn't be - it just infuriates me, especially when I've worked all my life without any support.

'There's a lot that's been shut down around here, but I don't know if that's contributed to it.

'A friend of mine had a child to a guy who's 38 and never worked a day in his life, and here I am  someone's who has always paid their taxes - getting $1000 a month.

'I'm really struggling now, that money doesn't even cover my mortgage and that's why I've had to succumb to cashing in some of my super.'

Government officials from Taskforce Integrity are seen talking with people entering the Centrelink office

Graffiti can be seen on a decaying fence near Craigieburn Plaza

Mother-of-two Joanne Maher is also feeling the pinch and is worried the Taskforce Integrity crackdown will make it harder for her to access her welfare payment.

'I part-time work so we can get by alright, but when the bills come it does stress you out and they (Centrelink) just don't want to help you,' she said.

'I've just been cut of my family tax payment because they couldn't wait until we put in our tax and there's others out there who get paid without deserving it.

'I've got two kids who are both at school and it affects me because I can't give them what they want.'

Pensioner and father-of-eight Brian Flinn (pictured) says he has worked hard all his life to support his family and told Daily Mail Australia it was about time welfare cheats were caught

Pensioner and father-of-eight Brian Flinn says he has worked hard all his life to support his family and told Daily Mail Australia it was about time welfare cheats were caught.

'Absolutely it's a good thing that they're cracking down,' Mr Flinn said.

'There's no doubt in my mind that there's people that cheat the system and I think it's just because it's easy, it's too easy.

'I'm 68 and I'm still working, I've been working for 50 years, sometimes two and three jobs, I've brought up eight kids, I've paid my taxes and at the end of it I get a $30 pension.

'I suppose my bias is that I've always done whatever I've had to do to get by and I think most people should do the same, and I know a lot don't.

'But in saying that if you can't get a job the system's there for a reason, we're a rich country and we should be able to look after you - but I've got no time for cheats.'

Pictured is part of the Ford Factory that is closing down in the City of Hume

The taskforce, consisting of AFP officers and government agencies, aims to identify any instances of intentional fraud.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge told the Herald Sun that preserving the integrity of the welfare system was crucial to maintaining 'a strong social safety net'.

'While the vast majority of people do the right thing, the unfortunate reality is that some people deliberately defraud the system, while others inadvertently fail to update their records,' Mr Tudge said.

During the past year alone, another 709 people in Craigieburn have started receiving either the Newstart unemployment benefit of the Youth Allowance, costing more than $2 million to the taxpayer.

There is no suggestion that any of the people in this article are welfare cheats.
Meetings of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State, and of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will be convened Wednesday in Sochi, Russia.

October 10, 2017, 15:10 Armenia President to head to Russia

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 10, ARTSAKHPRESS: Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have confirmed their participation in these events, reported L!FE news agency of Russia.

Kyrgyzstan, however, will be represented in this years meetings by its prime minister, since President Almazbek Atambaev is busy preparing for Sundays presidential election.

Traditionally, the heads of several regional organizations are also invited to the CIS summit.
Director Rob Reiner slammed Harvey Weinstein at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Sunday, but assured his audience that President Donald Trump is far worse.

'Harvey Weinstein did a bad thing. He did a really bad thing,' said Reiner, during an interview with BuzzFeed film critic Alison Willmore.

'There's no defending that. It's horrible,' said Reiner, whose movie LBJ, which stars Woody Harrelson, screened over the weekend.

Director Rob Reiner slammed Harvey Weinstein at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Sunday, but assured his audience that President Donald Trump is far worse

But despite the allegations against Weinstein, the When Harry Met Sally director noted that the ex-studio head isn't as 'bad' as Trump (pictured on Friday)

Reiner took the opportunity to join Hollywood stars who have denounced the media mogul since the bombshell allegations emerged last week.

An investigation by The New York Times claimed on Thursday that Weinstein repeatedly sexually harassed a number of female employees and movie stars over the course of his three-decade career as one of Hollywood's most celebrated studio heads.

The shocking Times report alleged that Weinstein once asked Ashley Judd if she would like to watch him shower during a meeting in his room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills and paid $100,000 to Rose McGowan for an unknown incident shortly after she filmed her breakthrough role in the film 'Scream.'

But despite those allegations, the When Harry Met Sally director noted that Weinstein, who was fired by The Weinstein Company on Sunday, isn't as 'bad' as Trump.

During the interview, he said that the president is 'also an abuser', referring to the tape of the then-candidate bragging about groping and having sex with women that emerged last year.

In the recording, Trump can be heard saying: 'Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.' The incident occurred ahead of a taping of television show Access Hollywood.

Reiner said Weinstein is just a donor and 'he's not the guy in office', in a dig at Trump. 'How about the guy in office?... whose also an abuser,' Reiner said.

'Harvey Weinstein is a bad guy, but it's not equal to the president of the United States,' Reiner concluded.

Reiner also tweeted Monday evening that the GOP 'can't have incompetent fool causing WW111'

Last month, Reiner (pictured on Sunday) criticized Trump over the president's plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program

During the interview, Reiner also mentioned New York Sen Chuck Schumer whose spokesperson recently confirmed that he would be giving all of Weinstein's contributions 'to several charities supporting women', according to BuzzFeed.

The contributions Weinstein gave Schumer totaled $16,200.

Last month, Reiner criticized Trump over the president's plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

'Unfortunately there is no other way to say this: Donald J. Trump is a heartless p****,' Reiner wrote on Twitter.
Mick Fanning may have been in Germany to down jugs of beer at Oktoberfest, but that didn't stop him from making a quick pit stop at a world-famous surfing break.

The three-time world champion, joined by some of his Australian friends, strapped on a steamer wetsuit to surf a man-made river in freezing downtown Munich.

Fanning, 36, was spotted carving up the one-metre wave at the Eisbach - meaning 'ice brook' - River last week as an ambassador for Red Bull.

Mick Fanning stopped off at a man-made river wave in Munich while enjoying Oktoberfest

The three-time world champion was spotted carving up the one-metre wave, despite the freezing conditions

Fanning, 36, was in Germany with some of his Australian friends to enjoy Oktoberfest last week

'It's good fun. Not too cold. It's so different to an ocean wave,' Fanning said.

'The boards are so much smaller than sea surfing... Your weight transition is different.'

'With a normal wave, you have a wave pushing you, where here you sort of you're fighting against the wave, sort of like snowboarding.'

Surfers have been enjoying Eisbach's artificial wave since it was constructed in 1972.

Fanning is no stranger to surfing unusual destinations, in fact, he's made somewhat of a career out of it in recent times.

Last year, Fanning surfed under the Northern Lights at Norway, dodged icebergs at a secret Arctic location and caught a five-kilometre wave known only as 'The Snake'.

It followed a horror year in 2015 for Fanning - which saw a very public split from his wife of seven years, the death of his brother and a great white shark attack.

Fanning made global headlines after he survived an attack by a huge white pointer that seized his board during a competition at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on July 20, 201.

Fanning was hailed as a hero after he punched the shark on the nose during the attack, which was captured in the live broadcast of the competition.

'It's good fun. Not too cold. It's so different to an ocean wave,' Fanning said
A former footy star has been charged after secretly filming his ex-girlfriend as she slept.

Colin Sylvia, who played for Melbourne and Fremantle in the AFL, had recently broken up with the woman who he had been dating for seven years.

Police allege Sylvia had been sending her abusive messages and even climbed into a vacant apartment next door to her residence and observed her through a window.

Colin Sylvia (pictured), who played for Melbourne and Fremantle in the AFL, had recently broken up with the woman who he had been dating for seven years

Police allege Sylvia (pictured) had been sending his ex abusive messages and even climbed into a vacant apartment next door to her residence and observed her through a window

The 31-year-old's phone was seized after his arrest, where police say they found videos of the woman sleeping.

Sylvia confronted his ex-partner on Sunday by climbing onto the balcony of her home.

He fled when she called police, but returned hours later and watched her from the empty next-door apartment.

The 31-year-old's phone was seized after his arrest, where police say they found videos of the woman sleeping

Sylvia confronted her ex-partner on Sunday by climbing onto the balcony of her home. He fled when she called police, but returned and watched her from the empty next-door apartment

The former Demons and Dockers star was released on bail Monday and will reappear in a Melbourne court on November 28.

He faced court in 2006 over an alleged domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend.

Sylvia was found intoxicated nearby his distressed girlfriend near Albert Park at 3:30am in January of that year.

A witness told the court the Aussie Rules star threatened to kill him if he 'went to the police' over the alleged incident.

Sylvia consented to an order against him, however the Magistrate noted that he did not admit any of the allegations and that the Magistrate would not consider whether a threat had been made.
An Islamic preacher from western Sydney has slammed Muslim parents for playing music to their children on the way to the mosque and allowing them to dance at home.

Sunni fundamentalist morals campaigner Nassim Abdi said it was wrong for parents to have the radio on as they drove to and from the mosque.

'We have children who are drowning in the listening of music, day and night, to the extent where we have parents taking their children to learn the book of Allah, learning the Koran ... but on the way there, and on the way back, the children are in the car listening to music,' he said.

Muslim morals campaigner Nassim Abdi says parents shouldn't play music in front of children

The Islamic teacher, who has previously criticised Muslim women for showing their ears and necks in public and plucking their eyebrows, also said it was wrong for parents to allow their children to listen to music at home.

'When they get home, the parents are listening to music,' he said.

'The parents encourage them to listen to music and to dance and to make videos and to make a joke out of it and to make fun out of it and to post it online.

'What is going to be bred into the heart of this child: the love of the Koran or the love of music?'

Nassim Abdi, from the hardline Salafist Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, opposes music

Mr Abdi hails from the hardline Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, an ultra-conservative Salafist form of Sunni Islam from Saudi Arabia.

His sermon, delivered at Auburn in Sydney's west, said parents were 'lacking Islamically' because they were unwittingly teaching their children to overlook Sharia law, a Muslim legal system.

'This breeds in the child extreme confusion to the extent many a time, they look towards the Shariah with disrespect, maybe not at the young, tender age but as they get older,' he said.
A spate of baiting attacks has put pet owners on high alert, as a family dog came close to death after chowing down on meat stuffed with rat poison.

A fight between neighbours over a barking dog in Coolum on Queenslands Sunshine Coast led to the pet allegedly being poisoned with rat bait.

The dog was rushed to Beachside Veterinary Surgery, and police are now investigating the incident.

A fight between neighbours over a barking dog in Coolum on Queenslands Sunshine Coast led to the pet allegedly being poisoned with rat bait

Surgery director Dr Dan Capps told Daily Mail Australia the dog was lucky to only have minimal contact with the poison, and it managed to survive.

He said owners should watch out for tremors, vomiting and bleeding from the gums in their pets, which may mean the animal has been poisoned.

Dr Capps said he had heard of other dogs in the area allegedly being poisoned but this was the first pet to be treated for it at the surgery recently.

Get to know and communicate with your neighbourhood, and look out for your pets.

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty told the ABC the owner of the dog looked out the window and saw it licking the meat before getting it off the dog just in time.

He said there had been an increase in dog poisonings in Queensland over the last six weeks because of fights over barking pets.

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty told the ABC the owner of the dog looked out the window and saw it licking the meat before getting it off the dog just in time

It does seem to be on the increase and that is a concern.

If it is a barking issue, there are ways you can work towards stopping this while you are out.
A lolly shop has sparked outrage after an Aboriginal man found golliwogs for sale there.

Ben Wilson spotted the dolls on display at the Candy Time store in Westfield Carindale when he visited his family in Brisbane last week, news.com.au reports.

'I was absolutely appalled to see these dolls on display,' he told the website.

A lolly shop has sparked outrage after an Aboriginal man saw golliwogs on display. Stock picture

'These dolls do not only offend Aboriginal people such as myself, but a number of different races from all over the globe.'

He made a complaint to a shop assistant and then sent one to Candy Time's head office.

But Candy Time owner Tanya Jones insisted that the 'dolls originated from love' and described them as 'beautiful.'

The Gold Coast-based company has sold the dolls at all 10 of its stores for the past two years.

The Gold Coast-based company has sold the dolls at all 10 of its stores for the past two years (pictured at Pacific Fair shopping centre)

The store owner insisted that the 'dolls originated from love' and described them as 'beautiful.' File photo

Although she admitted that some customers have noted the dolls' connection to black slavery, she insisted that was not the case.

'A lot of people get misinformed about the dolls' heritage and I think it is sad that people in society have turned something that is loving to something that has this stigma ... to something hateful,' she said

'As a company, we stand by the sentiment that these dolls originated from love and people adore them for how beautiful they are.'
The brother of slain mafia enforcer Pasquale Barbaro killed himself after spiraling into depression over the brutal gangland murder.

Rossario Dom Barbaro committed suicide on June 3 while visiting his mother on the Gold Cost and his death is being investigated by the Queensland State Coroner.

The 30-year-old was devastated when his older brother was gunned down on a Western Sydney street last November.

Rossario Dom Barbaro, 30, (left) killed himself on June 3 while visiting his mother on the Gold Coast

He was the brother of slain mafia enforcer Pasquale Barbaro (pictured) who was gunned down in a Sydney gangland hit six months earlier

Their father and noted crime figure Giuseppe Barbaro claimed prescription medication Rossario was taking contributed to his death.

'It's not easy dealing with the death of two sons. I believe if Ross hadn't taken those prescription pills he would never have taken his life,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

Another source close to the family said 'something snapped' in the electrician, who was known as 'Pasquale's shadow', after his brother's murder.

'He was lost and became very depressed, he was never himself again. He was Pasquale's shadow and lived with his family in Leichhardt for about 10 years,' they said.

The order of service from Rossario's funeral on June 22 as his family buried yet another member

'The family is besieged by tragedy and drama, they could be in a movie, that's for sure.'

The Queensland Office of the State Coroner said Rossario died 'in the course of a police operation'.

'The State Coroner will need to consider the investigation report before determining whether an inquest is necessary,' it said.

Rossario was charged with possessing the drug ice but they were dropped in 2015 when a judge ruled police unlawfully searched the car he was in.

The 30-year-old was devastated when his older brother Pasquale (pictured) was gunned down on a Western Sydney street last November

He was just the latest in the Barbaro family to meet an untimely end, following Pasquale, and their grandfather also named Pasquale, who was shot dead outside his Brisbane home in 1999.

Their cousin, another Pasquale, was gunned down alongside gangster Jason Moran in Melbourne in a murder made famous by the Underbelly TV series.

Rossario's unclue, yet another Pasquale, was serving a 30-year jail term over a huge drug bust.

Four men with links to the Rebels bikies led by Abuzar Sultani, 27, were charged with Pasquale's murder in exchange for $500,000.

The other shooters and accomplices were allegedly Siar Munshizada, 28, Joshua Baines, 24, and Mirwais Danishyar, 23.

Asian computer whiz Raymond Zhu, 18, was arrested for allegedly wiping mobile phone data while evading police.

For confidential support call Lifeline on 13 11 14
The heartbroken husband of a newly-wed who died on her Fiji honeymoon has revealed grim details of the moment he identified her body in a shipping container.

Sydney woman Kelly Clarke, 24, died of severe bilateral pneumonia in Lautoka Hospital, north of Nadi on Friday night, 30 hours after she complained of stomach pains.

Recalling the heart-wrenching moment he identified his late wife's body, Chase Clarke, 28, said 'it was disgusting'.

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The heartbroken husband of a newly-wed who died on her Fiji honeymoon has revealed grim details of the moment he identified her body in a shipping container

'They put her body in a refrigerated shipping container and I pulled the sheet off her head and saw her lying there with other bodies on shelves,' he told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

'That's not something I ever envisaged doing, that image is now in my mind.'

The tearful carpenter, 28, said he was still in shock after his wife's sudden death.

'Nothing I can say will ever bring back Kelly I blame myself, the guilt is heavy, no one else, had we not gone to Fiji on our honeymoon she might still be alive today. I will always wonder.'

The body of the young nurse arrived back in Sydney at 10.30pm on Monday.

Mr Clarke flew back to Sydney on a separate private jet, landing at 1am on Tuesday.

Upon arrival, he said he needed to dress her body in clothes before it was wrapped in a body bag.

Upon arrival, Mr Clarke said he needed to dress his wife's body in clothes before it was wrapped in a body bag (pictured together)

Kelly Clarke's body has been returned to Australia just days after she died in Fiji

The young woman was on her honeymoon with husband Chase Clarke when she died

The 24-year-old who worked as a nurse at Westmead Children's Hospital - she was initially mis-diagnosed with typhoid

Mrs Clarke, a nurse at Westmead Children's Hospital, was initially thought to have typhoid, however her family has since revealed she died of severe bilateral pneumonia.

The family were initially told it would cost $61,000 to bring the young woman home - but her insurance covered the cost.

Mrs Clarke's family has remembered her as an 'amazing human being' who had a big heart and time for anyone.

Her husband described the death as a 'horrible situation' that should never have happened.

'She told me she was scared she was going to die,' he told the Seven Network on Sunday.

'I told her I loved her.'

'This horrible situation shouldn't have happened,' Mr Clarke said.

Mrs Clarke's brother, Murray Shaw, posted a loving tribute to his sister after she died.

'Kelly has passed away,' he wrote.

'She told me she was scared she was going to die,' Mr Clarke said

The young woman died after she 'went into cardiac arrest five times' her brother said

The young couple were also in Fiji to celebrate the wedding of a friend

'She went into cardiac arrest five times in the last hour and the medivac team didn't make it in time.

'You (were a) beautiful girl and amazing sister you will be deeply missed,' he wrote.

The family made a fundraising page to help bring the young woman home before she died, more than $52,000 was donated.

'All your kind donations will go a long way to support her husband and family in the difficult times to come,' the family wrote on the site.
A snake catcher has captured a red-bellied black serpent that killed a family's pet at a New South Wales home - but would you have found it?

Illawarra Snake Catcher, Glen Peacock, was called to a Kiama Downs home, south of Sydney, after a dog was bitten in the mouth by a snake.

Mr Peacock's initial concerns were for the young child living on the property, with fears the toddler could have been bitten by the predator too.

A snake catcher has captured a red-bellied serpent that killed a beloved dog

Illawarra Snake Catcher, Glen Peacock, was called to a Kiama Downs home where he found the snake

The snake catcher, who has been capturing serpents for just over a year, eventually found the snake tucked away in a wall.

He believes the snake must have been hibernating in the hole in the wall and was found by the dog.

He said it is likely the dog had sniffed the one metre long reptile out, which had been eating goldfish from the family's pond.

After it was bitten by the snake the owners took the dog to the vet and spent $3,000 on expensive anti-venom treatment.

When he arrived at the property Mr Peacock searched for the snake before locating the venomous killer in the small opening between the rocks.

There was a snake (pictured) living in the back garden eating goldfish from the pond

Now that the weather is heating up Mr Peacock said snakes are becoming active again after three to four months of hibernation through the colder weather.

He said the red-bellied black snake is one of the more common snakes found living from the beach through to the mountains.

The brave snake enthusiast said around this time of year he would probably have 7-8 snakes call-outs a week on top of site inspections for the serpents advice and hot spots.

He believes the snake must have been hibernating in the hole in the wall and was found by the dog
A 25-year-old Romanian has been jailed after raping his pregnant 'wife' who he had moved to Britain with.

The man, of Romany gypsy background, illegally married the girl in their native country before settling in Essex.

He was imprisoned for six years after admitting having sex with a child under the age of 13.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has said he wants to 'reignite' the relationship when he has served his prison sentence.

The girl is understood to have returned to Romania and is just weeks away from giving birth, the court heard.

The man's lawyer said he had got 'caught up' in what was a 'widespread practice' and 'tradition' and claimed his 'upbringing' had landed him in court.

Chelmsford Crown Court (pictured) was told Romany gypsies are 'badly marginalised' in Romania and the defendant's 'upbringing' had landed him in court

Jamie Sawyer, prosecuting, said the age of consent in Romania is 16 - the same as in the UK.

He said: '[The couple] met in Romania and in the victim's view, no one complained about the age gap between them.

'She has gone back to Romania, and the defendant says how he has a wish to reignite that relationship when he is able.'

Their illegal marriage was uncovered by police on April 7 this year when their car was stopped at a car wash in Epping while they and two other children were in it.

Detectives later searched their home and found a small room with a double bed the Romanian man and the girl shared.

Laura Kenyon, defending, told the court the marriage was an 'exceptional' case with very 'unusual circumstances'.

She said: 'There is no grooming, exploitation, force or coercion in this case. This was consent within a marriage, albeit an unlawful marriage.

'This is a widespread practice, an ancient custom that is still used today. The marriage of a young girl and older man is not an extraordinary event in their culture.

'He is following that tradition and is caught up in it.'

Chelmsford Crown Court was told Romany gypsies are 'badly marginalised' in Romania and the defendant's 'upbringing' had landed him in court.

But the man was jailed for six years after admitting having sex with a child under the age of 13.

Sentencing, Judge Patricia Lynch said: 'The issue here is the age of consent and age of lawful marriage in Romania is the same as in this country  it is 16 years of age.

'Sexual activity with children is against the law and we are dealing with a 12-year-old child, no matter what the customs are in another land. She is a child expecting a child I am told in a few short weeks and I am told she will not have an education in Romania.

'This is not a case of informed consent. Children need to be protected from others and from their selves.'

The man was given full credit for admitting statutory rape and was jailed for six years.

He will also spend 10 years on the sex offenders register.
Copper John Corporation, an Auburn-based archery accessories manufacturer, wants to expand its production and bring jobs back from China with New York state's help.

The company's plan is one of 38 priority projects endorsed by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council. The regional council awards competition, which is in its seventh year, supports economic development projects across the state.

Copper John has applied for a $280,000 grant and $100,000 in tax credits linked to job creation goals. The company would use the funding to purchase new equipment and reconfigure its 11,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on State Street.

The project would allow the company to retain six existing employees and create 12 new jobs over a five-year period.

Doug Springer, who founded Copper John in 1999 with his brother Eric, highlighted a major element of the company's plan: to shift some production from China to its Auburn facility.

Copper John manufactures release aids for competitive archers and sights for bow hunters. Release aids can be attached to the string on a bow and the archer presses a handheld trigger to release the bow. Sights can be added to the side of a bow to help archers aim arrows.

The sights sell primarily in the North American market, where hunting is more prevalent. The release aids are sold in North America, Asia, Europe and South America.

Springer acknowledged the irony of where Copper John's products are manufactured and sold. The sights, which are made in China, are primarily sold in the United States and Canada. The release aids are manufactured in Auburn and sold all over the world.

The fastest-growing market for the release aids, Springer said, is China.

With changes in the market, Copper John wants to manufacture the sights in Auburn. The company began outsourcing production of its sights in 2009.

"If we get this grant, it would be great because we would be able to bring back some jobs from China," Springer said.

The state's support is critical to the project. Springer said without the funding, Copper John wouldn't be able to bring the production back from China and create additional jobs.

The funding would help Copper John redesign its factory floor and purchase new equipment. The company has had most of its existing equipment for 17 years.

"They are still in good working order, but to bring production back and still be competitive we would need different machines as well as better machines," Springer said.

The project excites the regional council and local economic development officials. Springer credited Bruce Sherman, an economic development specialist at the Cayuga Economic Development Agency, for suggesting that the company seek funding through the regional council.

Tracy Verrier, executive director of the Cayuga Economic Development Agency and one of the county's regional council representatives, called it "one of those feel-good projects."

"This is really a project that is reversing some of the trends that we saw back when a lot of companies started outsourcing their work," she said.
The woman who died after falling from a high-rise apartment building in Sydneys north on Monday had been excitedly planning a trip to Asia with her new boyfriend.

Hee Kyung Choi, 34, known as HK or Emily to friends, was found laying a pool of blood in a laneway near her Chatswood apartment after falling from the building about 6.30am.

Shocked friends told Daily Mail Australia the bank manager was intending to travel overseas with boyfriend June Oh Seo, 37, and remembered the young woman as hardworking and successful.

Hee Kyung Choi, known as Emily and HK to her friends, died after falling from a building in Chatswood on Monday

The woman was 'found in a pool of blood' by tradesmen - a friend of hers has revealed she was excitedly planning a holiday with her 'new boyfriend

A man is being questioned by police following the dramatic discovery day-long stand-off in Sydney's north

One friend said they had not been in touch with Ms Choi since March, until reconnecting with the 34-year-old recently.

'Last time she spoke to me she said she had something exciting to tell me,' a friend said.

'She told me she met someone new and they're planning to go on a trip together to Asia.'

Her boyfriend Seo, 37, has been charged with assault after an alleged incident at 4.30am on Monday.

Friends have described the woman as a successful career person and hardworking woman. She had passion for sports and was very outgoing.

Seo sparked a 12-hour police seige at the apartment complex after police arrived to investigate reports of the woman's body in the alleyway.

Her boyfriend 37-year-old June Oh Seo, has been charged with assault after an alleged incident at 4.30am on Monday

The man was on the roof of the apartment beneath him for 12 hours yesterday as he negotiated with police

He appeared agitated and sat with his head in his hands before asking police for a cigarette and some water - using a translator to help him communicate his needs.

A witness who saw the woman' body in the alleyway and called police told Daily Mail Australia there was blood all around her body and nearby walls.

'We saw blood on the wall and assumed she'd been ... clambering for life,' a witness told Daily Mail Australia.

Police were only able to begin their investigation on the woman's body once her partner had gone inside - as his spot on the roof made the job too dangerous for police.

Superintendent Philip Flogel said the pair had been in a relationship for at least a couple of weeks.

Police are still not sure how the woman fell from the building.

The man had been in a relationship with the woman 'for a couple of weeks' according to police

The man was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital under police guard and has since been taken to Chatswood Police Station for questioning

Shortly after woman's body was found, a Korean man (pictured) appeared distressed on a roof

Police believe the couple had been dating for a few weeks
Shocking details have emerged about 'Cobalt', a CIA black site created by a pair of contracted psychologists who literally wrote the manual on torture.

In August, John 'Bruce' Jessen and James Mitchell, authors of 'Countermeasures to Al Qaeda Resistance to Interrogation Techniques,' settled out of court with two survivors of Cobalt, known to prisoners as 'the Darkness.'

But while their story will not see the inside of a court, the 274 partially redacted documents released in the case have been obtained by The Guardian, and reveal the grim reality of life - and death - in the prison.

They include prisoners becoming so broken they voluntarily climb onto waterboards, and one prisoner freezing to death in the prison because Jessen told guards that complaining of cold was a 'resistance strategy'.

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John 'Bruce' Jessen (left) and James Mitchell (right) created the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' used by the CIA, including waterboarding. They settled out of court in August after being sued by ex-detainees - resulting in the release of formerly classified documents

They both oversaw interrogations at 'Cobalt', a black site outside Kabul. One of the men they oversaw died of hypothermia after being held naked from the waist down in an unheated cell in November 2002. Pictured: Guantanamo Bay prison, where their techniques were also used

Jessen and Mitchell were contract psychologists, hired to produce the 2002 paper 'Countermeasures to Al Qaeda Resistance to Interrogation Techniques.'

To produce it, they reverse-engineered the Manchester Manual, a handbook for extremists that, in part, explained the torture that can be expected in authoritarian regimes.

Unfortunately, the pair regarded all advice in the book as 'resistance strategies' that reveal a prisoner to be putting up a front to their interrogators.

That included things like requesting a lawyer, asking for medical aid and reporting torture - that is, the kinds of things practically any prisoner might be expected to do.

As a result, Cobalt - under their guidance - responded to prisoners' requests for clemency, pain and fear of death with continued brutality.

Despite admitting at the very beginning of their paper that they 'are not experts in Arab culture or the organization of al-Qaida,' Jessen and Mitchell successfully sold their techniques to the CIA and US government in PowerPoint presentations in the spring of 2002.

They would go on to receive $80 millions from the CIA for their consultancy on torture.

By April, they were proposing that captives be placed in soundproof cells out of the reach of the Red Cross, national or international observers, or the press.

And in June they wrote a list of 'techniques' that would be used to torture prisoners.

They included 'walling' - slamming people into flexible walls - confining people in cramped boxes for hours, and waterboarding.

These are the techniques they recommended - several of which were later dropped by the CIA. The usefulness of their techniques has been questioned by many in the years since

The aim, they said, was 'to reach the stage where we have broken any will or ability of subject to resist or deny providing us information.'

Before Cobalt was opened, that theory was tested out on Abu Zubaydah, who was waterboarded at least 83 times and placed in confinement boxes, according to documents that make his brutalization sound like a science experiment.

On day six of the 'aggressive phase' of his interrogation, Mitchell and his team wrote that they watched as 'The interrogators pointed to the small box and said, "You know what to do."

'The subject sat on the floor and scooted himself into the small box at 1000 hours without protest or additional instructions,' they said.

Abu Zubaydah (pictured) had techniques tested on him. A later report concluded that he'd only 'held out' despite being broken in every other way because he knew nothing about the things interrogators asked

For eight hours he was placed in confinement boxes, walled and waterboarded, each time following their demands.

When told he could end it all by telling them what he knew, 'The subject whimpered that he had nothing.'

Mitchell recommended that the techniques used on Zubaydah at the Thailand-based facility 'should be used as a template for future interrogation of high value captives'.

Zubaydah remains in captivity, in Guantanamo Bay. It was later noted that his responses 'did not correlate well with his waterboarding sessions.'

When he did speak up, the later report said, it was because 'questioning had changed to subjects on which he had information'.

In September 2002, Cobalt opened for business outside Kabul, Afghanistan - and its 20 cells were quickly filled to capacity.

In the regular cells they were shackled to a metal ring in the wall, and given a bucket to use as a toilet. In the sleep deprivation cells they were shackled by their hands to the ceiling, and made to defecate in diapers.

When diapers were not available, they stood bare from the waist down, or defecated into makeshift diapers created using duct tape.

The cells were unheated, and subjected to blaring music every second of every day - an improvisation by the site's manager, identified as Matthew Zirbel in a report submitted to Congress, who bought the stereo himself.

The site was known as 'the Darkness' by inmates - something explained by a CIA investigator who wrote up a report on the site for James Pavitt, the agency's deputy director for operations, in January 2003.

'As to darkness,' the report said, 'that again was [Zirbel's] decision.'

All of the lights were connected to a single switch, and '[f]aced with the choice to keep them on all the time or off all the time, he chose the latter'.

Jessen told an investigator he had been impressed with the site - and these divergences from the initial directions. 'The atmosphere was very good, he said. 'Nasty, but safe.'

But he was wrong on that last count.

Jessen had been at the site to oversee the interrogation of Gul Rahman, a detainee who was interrogated for several weeks in November.

Rahman, who was wearing only sock and a diaper in the unheated cells, was subjected to 48 hours of sleep deprivation and cold showers, and despite concerns by one supervisor that he might develop hypothermia, nothing was done.

In fact, it was suggested that he be subjected to 'continued environmental deprivations with interrogations 18 out of 24 hours daily.'

Gul Rahman (pictured) froze to death in Cobalt. Under the pair's advice, his complaints of cold and confusion were treated as 'resistance strategies' to be broken, rather than simply statements of fact about his ailing health

Jessen - who took part in six interrogations - was notified that Rahman 'claimed inability to think due to conditions (cold),' 'complained about poor treatment,' and 'complained about the violation of his human rights.'

But Jessen said those were just 'resistance strategies' from Rahman, who had spent two weeks in increasingly severe cold; the average temperature at night in Kabul in November is 29.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jessen left Cobalt on November 14, 2002, but advised Rahman continue to undergo such extreme deprivation. Five days later, Rahman was dead of hypothermia. He had been left in his cell naked from the waist down.

Six months on, Mohamed Ben Soud and Suleiman Abdullah Salim were among 39 men placed in Cobalt, which now had a handful of electric heaters installed.

There was precious little comfort, however: The were beaten, walled, placed nude in plastic sheets surrounded by ice, and placed in confinement boxes for hours.

They were eventually released after officials decided that they posed no threat.

Suleiman Abdullah Salim (pictured) was one of two men who sued Jessen and Mitchell after he was held and tortured in Cobalt, and later released after being deemed not to be a threat

They - and Rahman's family - would go on to sue Mitchell and Jessen, resulting in the release of the redacted documents detailing the horror at Cobalt.

But in 2003 they could not know of that; all they knew was that they were to spend the rest of their natural lives in agony, incapable of giving up the information that could set them free - or at least end the torture.

Meanwhile, Mitchell and Jessen were proving unpopular in CIA offices as their increasing prominence in the Agency's affairs began to stick in people's craws.

'Although these guys believe that their way is the only way, there should be an effort to define roles and responsibilities before their arrogance and narcissism evolve into unproductive conflict in the field, a June 2003 memo said.

'Wholesale adoption of the Jim and Bruce show just isn't appropriate.'

They requested that they be allowed to evaluate their own methods' effects was answered with: 'no professional in the field would credit their later judgment as psychologists assessing the subjects of their enhanced measures.'

Mohamed Ben Soud also sued the pair. Mitchell and Jessen's lawyer denied that they had been directly responsible for the pain that he had undergone

And when they suggested helping to draft a new code of ethics for the CIA, it was remarked that they had 'both shown blatant disregard for the ethics shared by almost all of their colleagues.'

In May 2003, they were moved to 'mostly strategic consulting work, research, and program development projects.'

Over the next four years, increasing scrutiny on the pair's 'enhanced interrogation techniques' saw them pushed further and further from the CIA's center.

In 2006, four of the techniques were thrown out in accordance with the new Military Commissions Act.

After the settlement was obtained between Mitchell, Jessen, Ben Soud, Salim and Rahman's family, the consultants' main lawyer, James Smith, said that the treatment endured at the camp, while 'regrettable,' was not the fault of his clients.

'If this case had gone forward, the facts would have borne out that while the plaintiffs suffered mistreatment by some of their captors, none of that mistreatment was conducted, condoned or caused by Drs. Mitchell and Jessen,' Smith said.
South Korea has warned its military is 'at full readiness' with Kim Jong-Un expected to carry out another missile test today.

There has been intense speculation that the North Korean tyrant is preparing another rocket test as the secretive nation marks a key anniversary.

Tensions over North Korea's weapons programme have soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions.

South Korea has warned its military is 'at full readiness' with Kim Jong-Un (pictured) expected to carry out another missile test today

There has been intense speculation that the North Korean tyrant is preparing another rocket test as the secretive nation marks a key anniversary

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army and maintaining full readiness.

Consistent movements of personnel and equipment were being detected in certain locations in the North, Yonhap news agency reported, suggesting that preparations for another weapons test might be under way.

Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test on the anniversary of the founding day of North Korea last year.

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday

It remains unclear whether North Korea is holding official celebrations for the party anniversary or if its leader Kim Jong-Un is making any public appearances for the occasion.

The North's official media touted the party's byungjin policy - which pushes for simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy - and added that military power was 'the guarantee for victory'.

'We must complete the construction of the national nuclear force by thoroughly upholding the party's byungjin policy,' said a front-page editorial carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper to mark the party anniversary.

'We must hold high the banner of the great byungjin policy to accelerate the final victory in the anti-America Armageddon,' it said.
A glamour model has penned an emotional tribute to her boyfriend after he killed himself in the wake of his brother Pasquale Barbaro's gangland murder.

Rossario Dom Barbaro, 28, committed suicide on June 3, six months after mafia enforcer Pasquale was gunned down in a Sydney street.

His girlfriend Parnia Porsche, a former member of tobacco tycoon The Candyman's entourage, mourned her 'best friend and soulmate' alongside photos of them together.

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Glamour model Parnia Porsche (R) penned an emotional tribute to her boyfriend Rossario Dom Barbaro (L) after he killed himself on June 3

The former member of The Candyman's entourage mourned her 'best friend and soulmate'

'My heart. My soul. Everything I do from here on in will be to make you proud,' she wrote on the day of his death

'My heart. My soul. Everything I do from here on in will be to make you proud,' she wrote on the day of his death.

'I will do my best to honour all your wishes but I know you will be guiding me. Rest In Paradise. Until I see and hear that cheeky smile/laugh again, until then I will learn how to live.'

The 22-year-old shared the order of service from his funeral on June 22 with another message promising to never let anyone forget him.

'Today I had to see the only person I ever really loved be farewelled from this Earth, my heart breaks everyday for you, Rossario, ' she wrote.

'I miss you so much, I can't wait for the day I see you again... I held your hand through the pain next to you everyday for the past year then through hospital.

'Now I hold your hand in my dreams, until we're in the skies and I see you eye to eye.'

'I will do my best to honour all your wishes but I know you will be guiding me. Rest In Paradise,' she wrote alongside photos of them together

Rossario was the brother of slain mafia enforcer Pasquale Barbaro (pictured) who was gunned down in a Sydney gangland hit six months earlier

A month after his death, the Playboy and Maxim cover girl revealed how she and Rossario first met and started dating.

'He picked me up from my apartment I got in his car he drove me up the road and told me I was his girlfriend now,' she wrote.

Ms Porsche said his declaration came halfway through her explaining she couldn't be with him because she didn't want to ruin their friendship.

She recalled he told her: ''You don't say no to me, you never say no to me, now gimme a kiss' while wearing his cap 'on all funny'.

'From that day forward, I was lucky to be by his side everyday, he wouldn't let me go home,' she wrote.

'Not many people where lucky enough to see his soul and character the way I did, he had so much spirit and when you got past his bad side you couldn't find a better human if you tried.'

Ms Porche (left) was a former 'goddess' in the entourage of Travers 'Candyman' Beynon's (right) entourage of beautiful women who live in the tobacco tycoon's sprawling Gold Coast mansion

The 22-year old shared the order of service from Babarao's funeral on June 22 with another message promising never to let anyone forget him

'I miss you so much, I can't wait for the day I see you again... I held your hand through the pain next to you everyday for the past year then through hospital,' she wrote

Ms Porsche said Rossario was her soulmate and feared she would never find someone she would love as much as him.

'The saddest part is a friendship like what we had, you can't find again, you only get one like that. He gave me happiness without touching, that's something you can't replace,' she wrote.

'From a single facial expression I could give you a broken down explanation of exactly how he was feeling in that moment.'

'It's hard for me to accept he's gone. I feel our story wasn't finished, I feel robbed of a future husband, a future father to my children. I worry about growing old without him.'

Rossario's family said he was so close to his brother he was known as 'Pasquale's shadow' and was 'devastated' when he was assassinated.

A month after his death, the Playboy and Maxim cover girl told the story of how she and Rossario first met and started dating months earlier

'He picked me up from my apartment I got in his car he drove me up the road and TOLD me I was his girlfriend now,' she wrote

Ms Porsche said Possario was her soulmate and feared she would never find someone she would love as much as him

Their father and noted crime figure Giuseppe Barbaro claimed prescription medication Rossario was taking contributed to his death.

'It's not easy dealing with the death of two sons. I believe if Ross hadn't taken those prescription pills he would never have taken his life,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

Another source close to the family said 'something snapped' in the electrician, who was known as 'Pasquale's shadow', after his brother's murder.

'He was lost and became very depressed, he was never himself again. He was Pasquale's shadow and lived with his family in Leichhardt for about 10 years,' they said.

'The family is besieged by tragedy and drama, they could be in a movie, that's for sure.'

'I feel our story wasn't finished, I feel robbed of a future husband, a future father to my children. I worry about growing old without him'

His father and noted crime figure Giuseppe Barbaro claimed prescription medication Rossario (pictured) was taking contributed to his death.

The Queensland Office of the State Coroner was investigating and said Rossario died 'in the course of a police operation'.

'The State Coroner will need to consider the investigation report before determining whether an inquest is necessary,' it said.

Rossario was charged with possessing the drug ice but they were dropped in 2015 when a judge ruled police unlawfully searched the car he was in.

Ms Porsche was a former 'goddess' in Travers 'Candyman' Beynon's entourage of beautiful women who live in his sprawling Gold Coast mansion.

She was booted out in late 2015 after Mr Beynon claimed she exhibited 'increasingly aggressive behaviour', though she said she left to pursue other interests.

'I have zero tolerance for violence in the Candyshop Mansion and as her increasingly aggressive behaviour came to a head I decided she had to go,' Mr Beynon said.

She was booted out in late 2015 after Mr Beynon claimed she exhibited 'increasingly aggressive behaviour', though she said she left to pursue other interests

She has since appeared on the cover of Maxim Australia twice and is the cover girl for Maxim and Playboy Africa's October editions

He added he was 'extremely disappointed' at how things had turned out as he had spent 'a lot of time and money on her personal, music and modelling career'.

Ms Porsche denied these accusations.

Ms Porsche, also an aspiring rapper and boxer, later star in a series of controversial ads for the tyre company UltraTune that attracted numerous complaints.

She has since appeared on the cover of Maxim Australia twice and is the cover girl for Maxim and Playboy Africa's October editions.

Rossario was just the latest in the Barbaro family to meet an untimely end, following Pasquale, and their grandfather also named Pasquale, who was shot dead outside his Brisbane home in 1999.

Their cousin, another Pasquale, was gunned down alongside gangster Jason Moran in Melbourne in a murder made famous by the Underbelly TV series.

The Queensland Office of the State Coroner was investigating and said Rossario died 'in the course of a police operation'

The 30-year-old was devastated when his older brother Pasquale (pictured) was gunned down on a Western Sydney street last November

Rossario's unclue, yet another Pasquale, was serving a 30-year jail term over a huge drug bust.

Four men with links to the Rebels bikies led by Abuzar Sultani, 27, were charged with Pasquale's murder in exchange for $500,000.

The other shooters and accomplices were allegedly Siar Munshizada, 28, Joshua Baines, 24, and Mirwais Danishyar, 23.

Asian computer whiz Raymond Zhu, 18, was arrested for allegedly wiping mobile phone data while evading police.

For confidential support call Lifeline on 13 11 14
The Dutch student accused of playing a 'pull a pig' prank on a British bar manager says he cannot remember if he sent the cruel message - and said any 'pig' text he sent just referred to sex.

Jesse Mateman had insisted he broke off all contact with bar manager Sophie Stevenson after their holiday fling in Barcelona this summer.

But the 21-year-old Dutch student has now admitted he did sleep with Ms Stevenson, and claims while he cannot remember calling her a 'pig', if he did it was 'in relation to their sex' rather than her appearance.

Meanwhile 24-year-old bar worker Sophie from Stoke-on-Trent spoke out on ITV today to say 'I am so embarrassed and humiliated'.

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Miss Stevenson says she forked out 350 on a flight to see holiday romance Jesse Mateman after the couple met in Barcelona, during August

Holiday fling...? Sophie says she slept with 'heartless' Jesse, top left, during her stay in Barcelona - and claims he bombarded her with text messages to get her to fly to see him in Amsterdam, a claim he denied

Ms Stevenson claims she enjoyed a holiday fling with Jesse Mateman in Barcelona over the summer before flying to his native Amsterdam to rekindle their romance.

She said Mateman messaged her after she arrived at Schiphol saying: 'You were pigged' and added two pigs and laughing face emojis adding, 'It was all a joke.'

Heartbroken Miss Stevenson replied: 'How could you be so cruel though!'

Her furious mother told the ITV show today: He [Mateman] is trying to make out shes lying. But we know the truth and he knows the truth.

Ms Stevenson told This Morning: 'Its embarrassing its humiliating, Ive done this because I dont want it to happen to other girls.'

And her mother Julie added: 'I dropped her off [at the airport] in the morning she was so excited. Then she told me hed not turned up, I was devastated.

'Ive seen what hes done to her - she hasnt wanted to leave the house at all, go out, go to work, hes knocked her self-confidence.

'Hes trying to make out shes lying. Ive been there when shes on the phone to him. Am I lying as well then?

'At the end of the day, if he wants to live with what he's saying, we know what's the truth, and he knows what's the truth.

'And it has come and bit him on the backside in my eyes, what he's done.'

One viewer tweeted This Morning saying: The only pig in the story is him.'

Ms Stevenson claimed she spent some 350 on a flight to Amsterdam to meet Mateman after they spoke 'every day' and that he invited her to the Netherlands to meet him.

She said: 'Pulling a pig' is where a guy tries to pull the fat ugly girl. When I saw that message, I wanted to be sick.'

Student Mateman, 21, had vociferously denied the allegations and insisted he broke off all contact with Miss Stevenson after their break.

Sophie and Julie Stevenson slammed the cruel joke on This Morning, adding the 'truth' would come out

Mateman's lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz said: 'If Mateman used the word 'pig' in a text message to Stevenson - which he cannot remember - it could only have been sent during his stay in Spain'

Yesterday Mr Mateman denied having had any kind of relationship, telling MailOnline: 'I've been in a hotel room with her, but I never slept with her. We are not and never were in love, as suggested.

'We actually met in Barcelona, but I never had a romance with her.'

'There was no romance with Sophie. We did not sleep together and I did not message her everyday. That is just fantasist rubbish and it is ruining my life.'

He denied messaging Sophie at all after meeting her in Spain.

Today, however, he admitted he slept with Ms Stevenson.

Mateman's lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz said: 'Mateman had only contact with Stevenson during his stay in Barcelona. The contact was very short lived and not of an amorous nature.

'Mateman wants to emphasize that the text messages as published in the media do not come from him. If Mateman used the word 'pig' in a text message to Stevenson - which he cannot remember - it could only have been sent during his stay in Spain and can only relate to the way in which they had sex [sic].

'It has in any case not been related to her person or appearance.'

The text sent by Mateman (pictured), allegedly read: 'You were pigged' and added two pigs and a laughing face emojis before adding, 'It was all a joke'

Mr Mateman told MailOnline: 'After Barcelona, I did not have any telephone contact with her.

'The messages contained in those tabloids are either made by Sophie or by the newspapers, because I did not send them. '

The bar worker said Mateman then messaged her after she arrived at Schiphol airport

Jesse said he had no idea she would be in Schiphol [Amsterdam] after she claimed they had arranged to meet.

'In fact, I wonder if Sophie has been at Schiphol at all. I have no idea,' he went on.

Her mother Julie Stevenson said her daughter is 'in absolute bits' after falling victim to the alleged 'stunt' that sees creepy men compete to chat up women they deem to be 'the fat ugly girl'.

Julie told MailOnline: 'It is a good job this lad lives in Holland because if he was here I'd string him up.

'He would call her everyday and Sophie was so excited and would go off and take the call.'

'He said he wanted to come and visit her in Manchester and was planning a visit.

He then said he could not wait and asked if Sophie would come over to Amsterdam.

'Sophie said as she was getting on the plane he was calling her and telling her he couldn't wait to meet her at the hotel.

'It just shows you the lengths he was going to to make a fool of my daughter.'

Distraught: Sophie's mother Julie Stevenson said her daughter is 'in absolute bits' after falling victim to the alleged 'stunt'

This mock-up shows the alleged conversation between Miss Stevenson and her apparently cruel prankster lover

The alleged prankster, from the southern town of Doetinchem, Netherlands, has faced a backlash in his home country, where he was attacked as 'a male-chauvinist pig'.

Julie added: 'He has shattered her confidence and most nights she just sits there in tears. It is breaking my heart to see how this has affected her. Why would any man do that to a woman. It is just heartless.

'She let me know she had arrived and about three hours later she called from the hotel to say he wasn't there. She thought something might have happened to him and said she would wait.

'After about six hours she rang me howling down the phone in tears and told me about the pig text message he had sent her.

'I couldn't believe it and felt devastated for Sophie as she had so been looking forward to the trip. I told her to get on the first plane home.

'She has been humiliated by that man and I don't know why.

'Why would he go to such lengths to string her along for all this time.'

Meanwhile Sophie's father Andrew told the Sun: 'As soon as I heard I wanted to go over there and find him.

Miss Stevenson said she 'felt sick' when she received the messages revealing her holiday romance was all a joke

So angry: Julie Stevenson told MailOnline she wanted to 'string up' Jesse Mateman after the cruel prank that left her daughter at the airport

'She is a beautiful, confident, gorgeous girl and how dare that b*****d do anything like this.'

Julie said her daughter and Dutchman Jesse Mateman had bonded while on holiday in Barcelona and getting caught up in the terror attack.

She told MailOnline: 'They felt they had a connection because of what happened in Barcelona, but he was probably planning this all along. My daughter really thought he had some feelings for her, but instead he has been planning this all along.

'It hurts me so much to see her so dejected. It is going to take a lot to build up her confidence. Something should be done to this man to make him stop. You have to wonder if there are others he has tricked or what he will do next time.'

The humiliated bar supervisor had been excited to be reunited with Mateman and travelled some 500 miles only, it seems, to be brutally dumped.

The 24-year-old broke down in tears as she came to terms with her rejection alone in a foreign country.

Claims: Sophie says her confidence has been shattered by the alleged cruel prank

Mateman was said to be messaging her minutes before her departure - but when she arrived in Amsterdam he allegedly ignored her calls.

They had slept together after meeting when they were caught up in the Barcelona terror attack which killed 13 people and injured 130, on August 17.

Miss Stevenson said: 'All my friends and family cannot believe someone could be so cruel. It's one thing to have a joke, but this goes well beyond banter.'

Holed up with their pals in the Pension Solarium - a one minute walk from the attack in August - the group struck up a relationship and Miss Stevenson and Mateman paired off.

She said: 'I went to Barcelona with my friend Michelle and we arrived the day before the terror attack. We were staying really close to where the attack happened.

'On that day, we were so lucky, we'd just nipped out to buy some drinks and food and were sitting on the terrace when we started hearing gunshots.

'When we looked over we saw people running everywhere, it was really scary.

'The hotel was on lockdown after that and everything was shut for the day, so we stayed in and that's when we met Jesse and his three friends.

'We were there for four more days, and felt safe while we were with them, so we hung out loads.

'It was a proper holiday romance for Jesse and me. We slept together in Barcelona and when I came back to the UK, we carried on talking every day.

'We talked about having a long distance relationship.'

Back in the UK, Miss Stevenson carried on messaging and calling Mateman, and they discussed giving things a go.

The pair planned for her three-day visit and she spent 350 on a hotel and flights, travelling from Manchester to Amsterdam on September 29.

She said: 'We had talked about me coming to visit, and he knew I'd booked flights, that I'd paid for a hotel and he was going to meet me when I arrived at 5pm on Friday.

'We were talking up until I got on the plane. But when I arrived, he wasn't there to pick me up.

'I called him a bunch of times, and he didn't answer. I waited at the airport for two hours and I hadn't heard anything, I was really starting to panic about being abandoned.

'There was a free shuttle bus to the hotel, so I made my way there and six hours later he finally messaged me - on Snapchat.'

'Pranked': Sophie said she forked out 350 on the flight after being invited to the Dutch capital by her Jesse, who she met in Barcelona in August.

Mateman swiftly blocked Miss Stevenson after his alleged taunting messages.

She added: 'I was in a foreign country, on my own and the guy that I liked had just abandoned me.

'I replied and said 'how could you be so cruel' and all he did was block me.. I just couldn't believe it.

'I had no way of contacting him. I was petrified being in Amsterdam all on my own.

'I was so upset about what happened that I changed my flights so I could head home the next morning.

'I am furious that this happened and it's so dangerous. I want people to know what happened to me so that this never happens to anyone else.'

Miss Stevenson, who has been unable to contact Mateman since the incident, said her friends and family are mortified.

She said: 'Given the circumstance of how we met, you'd think that he'd be slightly more sensitive. I can't believe this has happened to me.'
A girlfriend trashed what she thought was her 'cheating' partner's car in a drunken rage - only to discover she had targeted the wrong vehicle.

Christine Ann Potten, 38, ripped off the rear windscreen wiper and a door trim and broke both wing mirrors in the 1am wrecking spree.

She was stopped when a resident woken by the commotion opened his window and shouted 'that's not your boyfriend's car'.

Potten returned home but left a trail of blood after cutting herself in the attack on the silver Peugeot 307.

When police arrived at the scene they found the trail of blood spots which led them to Potten's home.

She answered the door, with her finger dripping with blood, and told them: 'I'm a naughty girl, aren't I?'

Christine Ann Potten, 38, ripped off the rear windscreen wiper, a door trim and broke both wing mirrors during the drunken attack

The 38-year-old damaged Ms Meek's Silver Peugeot 307 during the drunken attack on September 19

She was arrested and ordered to pay 336 compensation to the owner of the car, Anita Meek, after she admitted causing damage.

Ms Meek, 47, said she was 'absolutely livid' as the attack happened just a week before she was due to drive to Torquay for a family holiday.

She said: 'We had to spend the whole holiday driving around with our wing mirror held on by duct tape.

'But if we hadn't been able to stick it back on it would have been so much worse.

'I've never met or spoken to her. She's not even from round here.

Anita Meeks (pictured) said she was 'absolutely livid' by the attack on her car as she was due to drive to Torquay the following week for a family holiday

'All I got was a note under my door from the police explaining what had happened.'

Chris Baddoo, defending, told Somerset Magistrates' Court how Potten had a new partner and had been drinking when she returned to the house in Yeovil on September 19.

He said: 'She thought her partner's car was outside another address but it was a total mistake and she damaged the vehicle.

'Someone came out and told her it wasn't her boyfriend's car and when interviewed she apologised profusely for the mistake.

'She is absolutely gutted about what happened because it was an innocent person's car she damaged.'

He said Potten, from Sturminster Newton, in Dorset, was on Employment and Support Allowance benefits and was in arrears with her rent and council tax.

'Obviously she wants to pay compensation but can only pay at a nominal rate,' he added.

Somerset magistrates in Yeovil imposed a six month conditional discharge and ordered Potten to pay 336 compensation.

Potten damaged the wing mirrors on the Peugeot 307 she thought belonged to her boyfriend
Arthur Collins, pictured with ex-girlfriend, TV personality Ferne McCann, threw acid three times in a nightclub attack, a court heard

Towie star Ferne McCann's ex-boyfriend thew acid in a nightclub, injuring 16 people, because he 'heard men talking about spiking women's drinks', a court heard.

Arthur Collins, 25, is accused of hurling acid across the dance floor of a packed 'Love Juice' event at the Mangle nightclub in Hackney, east London, over the Easter weekend.

Collins heard Makai Brown and his friends discussing spiking women's drinks before he carried out the attack, jurors were told today on the first day of his trial.

Collins' defence lawyer George Carter-Stephenson QC told Mr Brown: 'I am going to suggest that you were talking about spiking somebody's drink at the top of the stairs, one of you said "no you spike her, you do it".

Mr Carter-Stephenson asked Mr Brown: 'Did you say to him in a threatening and aggressive way "do not f****** speak to me like that, how about we spike you, you mug"?'.

Mr Brown was at the club with his friends Kwami Licorish and Ruam Mota and was called as a witness, insisting he was an innocent by-stander.

Collins claims he snatched a bottle of what he thought was a date rape drug from the men before the incident.

He allegedly told the group they were 'd*******s' and 'were not spiking anyone'.

Collins admits throwing the liquid but claims he didn't know it was acid.

Mr Brown played a soft drum roll on the witness box before stating his name at the start of giving evidence.

Arthur Collins, pictured left and right, in a court sketch from a previous hearing, is on trial over the acid attack in a London nightclub which injured 16 people

The witness denied the claim put to him.

CCTV said to show Mr Brown with their heads close together with Collins and Phoenix's arms around their necks was played in court.

Mr Brown denied having a conversation with Collins and Phoenix, saying that if they had spoken, it would have only been to talk about girls or his trainers.

Mr Carter-Stephenson then asked if Collins had taken a bottle from Mr Brown.

He continued: 'A bottle which he thought contained something to spike drinks.'

Mr Brown denied having a bottle with him, explaining that he does not drink alcohol and had been searched on entry to the venue.

The trial was told Collins had warned his sister that he had a container of acid in his car a week before the incident.

When police were searching for Collins in the days after the attack a mobile telephone was seized from his sister, jurors heard.

It contained an iMessage from Collins, which read: 'Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid', jurors were told.

Wood Green Crown Court heard today that, after a brief altercation with a group of men in the VIP area at the nightclub on April 17, Collins threw the acid into a man's face just before 1am.

As he was pulled away, Collins threw the acid twice more, hitting unsuspecting clubbers who ran to safety, prosecutors said.

He and co-defendant Andre Phoenix, 21, both deny five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and 11 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on 17 April.

The two friends went to the club near London Fields armed with the acid, prepared for an attack, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Luke Ponte told the court: 'It is the Sunday night of the Easter Weekend and people are out and about like it is a Saturday night.

'The dance floor is crowded, it's packed, people are enjoying themselves, just like any other club in the country.

'And again, just like anywhere else, a bit of trouble flares up. Nothing much at first, the beginnings of an argument.

'It doesn't amount to much, some pushing some shoving, some young men, some raised voices but it quickly escalates.

Photos from the night show police and ambulances at the scene where clubbers were burned

'It is not clear how this trouble started but it is very clear how it ended, suddenly and decisively, and not at all in keeping with what had gone before.

'One of the young men, perhaps perceiving the threat of a knife, threw acid into the face of another young man.'

The prosecutor added: 'As that man went down in pain, the aggressor threw acid at them a second time towards another young man, and then a third time.

Sophie Hall was among the 16 people treated for acid burns after the nightclub attack

'You will see, in due course, the consequences of those actions, they were just as you would expect on a crowded dance floor, on a popular night.'

The prosecutor said 16 people were injured in the incident.

He added: 'There is no dispute as to who threw the acid three times, it was Arthur Collins.

'That he does not dispute it is perhaps unsurprising, as the confrontation, the first throwing, the second throwing and the third throwing are all captured quickly but distinctly on the club's CCTV.

'He was assisted, and we'll come to how in a moment, by his good friend Andre Phoenix.

'The Crown's case is that these two friends came to the club together, armed with acid together, they stayed together, got drunk together, got in a fight together, threw it together, stayed around together and finally left together.'

Mr Ponte said it was Phoenix who was the aggressor to the men and Phoenix who passed the acid to Collins just before the first throw.

Collins and Phoenix stayed in the club for about an hour after the attack and later appeared to be panicked as he asked a woman to 'take a picture of my mate [Phoenix's] face'.

The prosecutor said: 'Mr Phoenix can be seen in that photo with markings from where the acid splashed him.

'It might be useful to Mr Collins to have a photo of his friend looking like a victim, rather than an attacker. This was before he had seen the CCTV.'

Collins' lawyer claims he stepped in during drinks spiking row Makai Brown was questioned in court over an argument he was said to have had with Collins before the acid was thrown Collins' defence team claimed the acid was thrown after a row with a group of men over claims they planned to spike a woman's drink. Collins lawyers told a witness he snatched a bottle of what he thought was a date rape drug from a group of men before the incident. Makai Brown, who at the club with his friends Kwami Licorish and friend Ruam Mota, was called as a witness and denied having any altercation with anyone at the club. Mr Brown, who played a soft drum roll on the witness box before stating his name at the start of giving evidence, insisted he was an innocent bystander. George Carter-Stephenson QC, defending Collins, said Phoenix was trying to calm the group down after Collins had called them 'd*******s' and told them they were not spiking anyone. 'I am going to suggest that you were talking about spiking somebody's drink at the top of the stairs, one of you said "no you spike her, you do it",' said Mr Carter-Stephenson to Mr Brown, who denied the claim. Mr Carter-Stephenson asked Mr Brown: 'Did you say to him in a threatening and aggressive way "do not f****** speak to me like that, how about we spike you, you mug"?'. CCTV said to show Mr Brown with their heads close together with Collins and Phoenix's arms around their necks was played in court. Mr Brown denied having a conversation with Collins and Phoenix, saying that if they had spoken, it would have only been to talk about girls or his trainers. Mr Carter-Stephenson then asked if Collins had taken a bottle from Mr Brown. He continued: 'A bottle which he thought contained something to spike drinks.' Mr Brown denied having a bottle with him, explaining that he does not drink alcohol and had been searched on entry to the venue. Advertisement

Ferne McCann, pictured last week, is no longer in a relationship with Collins, but is pregnant with his baby

The court heard forensics officers were unable to establish what type of acid it was, but clothing of the some of the victims was damaged in a way that would be consistent with an acid attack.

'A number of people were injured, both the intended victims and many people who happened to be standing close by. The injuries range from very serious, to much more minor,' Mr Ponte said.

Mr Ponte said: 'The Crown's case is that both Mr Collins and Mr Phoenix were in this together.

'The acid was spirited into the club by them for use as and when it might be needed. Who knows why they may have been ready for trouble, but they were.

Collins is standing trial with Andre Phoenix, who allegedly handed him the acid

'It was Mr Collins that threw the acid. His case is that he did not know it was acid, there was no plan, and he certainly had not come into the club with the acid.

'His case is that it had come into his possession just moments before, and he threw it in the heat of the moment, not knowing what it was.

'It is his case that he came into possession of the acid from the complainants' group, it was them who brought it into the club.'

Mr Ponte said Phoenix was 'the prime aggressor in the confrontation', while Mr Collins remaining behind. It appears that Phoenix handed Collins the acid, he added.

Mr Ponte said Phoenix was 'not surprised' when Collins threw the acid and didn't give it 'a second look, calmly backing away with no apparent concern'.

'It is entirely consistent with him knowing what was going to happen,' he said.

'He has got into the fight, the Crown say, knowing that the acid was there to be used.'

Phoenix claims there was such no plan, he did not know about the acid, he did not pass it to Collins, he did not intentionally encourage or participate in Collins throwing the acid, jurors heard.

Two people were left partially blinded and another was disfigured in the attack at Mangle

The GBH charges relate to clubbers Kwami Licorish, Makai Brown, Ruam Mota, Sophie Hall and Phoebe Georgiou.

Scarlett Marshall, Tamara-Jane Castle, Jay Lanning, Nadia Pascal, James Bloor, Lauren Trent, Laura Hester, India Rose Sykes, David Mills, Alex Enever and Megan Usher were also hurt in the alleged attack at the Love Juice event.

A jury of five men and seven women were sworn in on Monday to try Collins, and Phoenix, 21, at Wood Green Crown Court for a case expected to last at least three weeks.

Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, denies five counts of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, and 11 counts of actual bodily harm against 16 people. Phoenix, of Tottenham, north London, denies the same offences.

The trial continues.
Furious Eurocrats warned that 'Brexit is not a game' today after Theresa May gathered her Cabinet to hammer out plans for 'no deal' with Brussels.

Senior figures also effectively ruled out starting trade talks this month, amid mounting fears that the sides have reached deadlock.

The response comes after the Prime Minister summoned her top team to discuss tactics for the increasingly bitter stand-off. She told MPs last night that the government was preparing for 'every eventuality'  including the possibility that Brussels never agrees to engage on the terms of a new free trade deal.

HM Revenue and Customs has set out the first detailed proposals for policing a new post-Brexit border in the absence of an agreement.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier gave an angry response when asked whether he agreed with Mrs May that the 'ball is in your court'

European Council president Donald Tusk this afternoon dismissed the idea that a summit of the bloc's leaders next week could agree that divorce talks had made enough progress to move on to the next phase, covering trade

Ministers are also mulling over the potential for joining the North American Free Trade area to offset any damage from crashing out of the EU.

European Council president Donald Tusk this afternoon dismissed the idea that a summit of the bloc's leaders next week could agree that divorce talks had made enough progress to move on to the next phase, covering trade.

'EU27 is not working on "no deal" scenario. We negotiate in good faith and hope for "sufficient progress" by December. #Brexit,' he posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier gave an angry response when asked whether he agreed with Mrs May that the 'ball is in your court'.

'Brexit is not a game,' he told reporters after discussions with Brexit Secretary David Davis in Brussels.

In an apparent sign of the tensions, there will not even be technical talks tomorrow as the fifth week of negotiations limps towards its end.

The EU commission blamed the UK's lack of 'availability' for the gap in the schedule, saying its team was ready '24-7' to discuss the issues.

Boris Johnson, pictured arriving in Downing Street today with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, has been trying to reassure Eurosceptic Tory MPs about the government's plans

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (left), Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (right) were also among the ministers at Cabinet today

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, pictured at No10 today, has been urging restive backbenchers to be 'practical' about backing the government's plans

Mrs May, pictured chairing a discussion on race inequality after Cabinet today, is treading a delicate path between Brexiteers and securing a deal with the EU

At the Cabinet meeting this morning, ministers are said to have been briefed on preparations for the failure to reach a deal.

They are also believed to have mulled over how to appease Brexiteers on the Tory backbenches - who are increasingly uncomfortable about the slew of concessions being offered in a bid to break the deadlock. Eurosceptic MPs are being offered meetings with ministers to reassure them about the direction of travel.

A white paper published by HMRC states that a new customs regime will be ready 'from day one' after Brexit, regardless of whether the EU agrees a trade deal.

Plans include the creation of new inland lorry parks to check imports without causing queues at major ports like Dover and Harwich.

A leaked document from the Department of International Trade also lays out radical contingency plans for leaving without a deal.

BORIS IS LOCKED OUT OF DOWNING STREET Boris Johnson was stuck on the threshold of No10 after the famous door did not open Boris Johnson found himself locked out of 10 Downing Street today - as Theresa May gathered her Cabinet to hammer out plans for a 'no deal' Brexit. The Foreign Secretary, who has been accused of manoeuvring to take over as PM, was left waiting on the threshold as the famous door stubbornly refused to open. To the amusement of onlookers, he stood awkwardly for several seconds before finally being allowed in. Advertisement

Ideas contained within the so-called 'Project After' document including dropping all import tariffs and becoming a champion of free trade. A senior government source last night said contingency plans would be stepped up after Christmas if Brussels continued to drag its feet.

Preparing the physical infrastructure for a new border regime is likely to cost several billion pounds and require the recruitment of thousands of staff.

'It will be expensive, but we can do it and we will,' the source said. 'We don't believe we will leave without a deal. But the EU has to understand that we are serious about going it alone if we have to.'

In a statement to the Commons last night, Mrs May made clear the white papers on customs and trade paved the way for new laws 'to allow the UK to operate as an independent trading nation and to create an innovative customs system that will help us achieve the greatest possible tariff and barrier-free trade as we leave the EU'.

She added: 'While I believe it is profoundly in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a Government to prepare for every eventuality, so that is exactly what we are doing.

'These white papers also support that work, including setting out steps to minimise disruption for businesses and travellers.'

Mrs May also risked inflaming tensions with Brexiteers by saying the European Court of Justice would still be supreme during an 'implementation' period - and hinting that the length of the transition could be longer than the two years previously mooted.

Boris Johnson appears to have swung behind Mrs May staying in place after maonoeuvring during the conference season. Home Secretary Amber Rudd is also a staunch ally

The Prime Minister told Brussels the 'ball is in your court' and urged the EU to help forge a 'dynamic, creative and unique' relationship as she dismissed the prospect of further concessions before trade talks begin

David Davis (pictured left in Downing Street today) is in Brussels for talks with EU counterpart Michel Barnier today. Theresa May is pictured leaving No10 yesterday

Tory MP Philip Davies told Mrs May the Florence speech 'seemed like a reward for the EU's intransigence'. He asked for a guarantee that there would be 'no more rewards' for Brussels.

Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was 'concerned' at the concession on the ECJ, saying: 'Any suggestion that we are still under that jurisdiction means we haven't left the European Union.'

In an article for the ConservativeHome website today, former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith complained that civil servants were trying to make ministers go to Brussels and 'give in to many more of their demands, such as accepting ECJ rulings after we have left, in the hope of discussing a (free trade deal)'.

'That would be the worst mistake we could make. They will bank that and figure out that the UK has lost its nerve. They would be right,' Mr Duncan Smith warned.

'At the end of March 2019 we will have left and as such must be able to get on with our expansion into the wider world. All that remains to be decided is if the EU wants to remain as a strong trading partners and friends. The ball will then definitely be with the EU.'

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, two of the leading Leave supporters in the Cabinet, were deployed after the PM's statement to reassure Tory MPs and urge them to be 'practical'.

Mrs May told the Commons it was now time for the EU to show flexibility.

She said she was optimistic, saying: 'What we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us, but I believe that will also be the best possible deal for our friends, too.'

David Davis is heading to Brussels to join the latest round of talks with EU counterpart Michel Barnier today. The Eurocrat is expected to say at the end of the week that not enough progress has been made on the issues of the divorce bill, citizens' rights and the Northern Ireland border to move on to trade talks.

Ministers believe national leaders will stick to the line when they gather for a crunch summit in Brussels next week - although privately they remain optimistic that trade talks will begin by Christmas.

However, the government is determined to show the EU that the option of leaving without a deal is not an idle threat.

One source said: 'Cameron's biggest mistake was that the EU never believed he was willing to walk away, whatever they offered him, so they offered him next to nothing. We are not going to repeat that mistake.'

Mrs May's intervention came after Brussels rejected an offer to plug a 20billion black hole in the EU's budget after the UK leaves in 2019.

The PM said the olive branch  contained in her Florence speech last month  meant that the ball was now 'in their court'.

But the European Commission's chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas rejected the idea, saying: 'There has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings, so the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen.'

Prime minister Theresa May updates MPs on the progress of Brexit negotiations following talks in Florence last month

Mrs May meets sixth formers. In her Commons statement she said 'It is also our responsibility as a Government to prepare for every eventuality, so that is exactly what we are doing'

Mrs May is pictured high fiving with primary school pupils at a school in London ahead of her statement to the Commons yesterday

The Prime Minister also met with sixth form pupils at the Dunraven School

The HMRC document says efforts will be made to 'mitigate the impact on traders' who deal with the EU and whose goods would suddenly face new tariffs and customs checks. Importers would be required to give advance notice of goods arriving in the UK.

And new lorry parks would be set up inland to handle customs checks to stop ports becoming clogged up.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the documents showed 'no real progress has been made'.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator believes that speeding up talks on the 'transition' deal Mrs May has requested could break the deadlock in negotiations.

Michel Barnier has told European diplomats bringing forward discussions on the arrangement will help the Brexit talks to succeed.

Mrs May yesterday repeated her wish to start crafting an 'implementation period', which would effectively see the UK remaining part of the EU bloc for two years after Brexit in 2019.

EU leaders are expected to discuss the move in Brussels next week.
A ten-year-old Indian girl who was forced to give birth after judges stopped her having an abortion was made pregnant by one of her uncles, police say.

DNA tests on the baby matched a 38-year-old uncle, the second uncle to be held and charged with raping the girl.

The young girl, from Chandigarh, Punjab, was denied an abortion by a court in July, because her family only discovered that she was pregnant when she was in her third trimester.

It was originally believed the girl had fallen pregnant by an uncle in his 40s, but his DNA did not match the baby, and the 38-year-old relative was later arrested and police are now filing charges against him.

A DNA test carried out on the young girl's baby matched a 38-year-old uncle who was arrested in September. He was the second uncle to be held on abuse charges. Pictured above is a protest against rape and sexual violence in India

The 38-year-old uncle was arrested last month after the girl told police and counsellors his name.

Neelambari Vijay, a senior police official in Chandigarh city, told the BBC: 'It's true the Baby's DNA sample has matched that of the [second] uncle.'

A local court will hold a hearing in the case later on Tuesday.

The first uncle, the one in his 40s, will remain in custody as he is still accused of abusing the girl.

The girl initially told police and that she had been raped several times by the first uncle over the last seven months.

The girl's father said that the uncle has not denied the abuse charges against him.

Police reopened the case after a DNA test showed the first uncle was not the father and launched a further investigation to see whether the girl may have been raped by others.

The girl's baby was delivered by C-section at a hospital in Chandigarh in August and the infant is now in the care of authorities ahead of an adoption.

The young girl, from Chandigarh, Punjab, was denied an abortion by a court in July, because her family only discovered that she was pregnant when she was in her third trimester

The chairman of the team that treated the girl, Dr Dasari Harish, said: 'As far as the girl is concerned, she is stable and will be kept in a separate room.'

He added that the 'high risk pregnancy' ultimately concluded in an 'uneventful' birth.

'We hope the baby also recovers,' he said.

The girl was not aware that she was going to hospital to deliver a baby but was instead told by her parents that she needed an operation to remove a stone from her stomach.

Chief Justice J S Khehar-headed bench denied the plea of the girl by citing a 'grave threat' to her life

Her father has asked that the child be made available for adoption.

Indian law does not allow women to undergo the procedure beyond 20 weeks unless the foetus is proven to be genetically unviable or if it poses a risk to the mother's life.

The girl's parents discovered their child was pregnant after she complained to them about stomach pains.

She later told her mother that her maternal uncle had raped her six times over a period of several months when he visited the family in their home.

On July 18, the family sought legal permission to have the pregnancy terminated and the uncle was arrested, but their initial appeal to Chandigarh court was refused.

They then went to the supreme court in Delhi but - when the girl was 32-weeks pregnant - that appeal was also refused.

The Chief Justice J S Khehar-headed bench denied the plea of the girl by citing a 'grave threat' to her life.

'The medical board is satisfied that it will neither be in the interest of the child or the live foetus which is approximately 32 weeks old to order abortion,' said the bench.

The team of doctors that delivered the birth today consisted of three gynaecologists, an anaesthetist, a neonatologist and a paediatrician.
Three mothers who appeared in the first advertisement opposing same-sex marriage were slammed on social media and claimed they were 'demonised' for their views.

But it didn't stop two of the cast members from appearing in the latest Coalition For Marriage video, posted on the group's Facebook page on Tuesday.

In the 90 second clip, Cella White and Heidi McIvor reiterate their stance on gay marriage, alongside Marijke Rancie - a blogger and vocal critic of the Safe Schools program.

'Our kids are not your social experiment. They are not sexual beings,' Ms McIvor says to the roaring applause of hundreds of 'no' advocates.

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In the latest Coalition For Marriage video, Cella White (right) and Heidi McIvor (left) reiterate their stance on gay marriage, alongside Marijke Rancie (centre)

Ms Rancie (pictured left) says: 'We hear love is love. Let me tell you what I know about love. There is no greater love than the love a mother has for her child'

'We hear love is love. Let me tell you what I know about love. There is no greater love than the love a mother has for her child,' Ms Rancie says, again to the crowd's approval.

Without any further dialogue, the remainder of the video sees the three woman pump fists and wave to the audience, before embracing their supporters and taking selfies.

Cella White, who withdrew her children from a Victorian high school because of a transgender awareness program, does not speak in the video.

The advertisement was met with a mixed reaction on social media, with some labelling the women 'beyond pathetic.'

'What's going to happen when one of their children comes out to them in the future, and find out that their own parent lobbied against their equal rights,' one wrote.

'It has nothing to do with children. It has to do with the rights of consenting adults who have been discriminated against for ages,' another said.

Marijke Rancie, who appears in the latest advert, is a blogger and vocal critic of the Safe Schools program

But others praised the three woman for their courage.

'Very brave in today's one-eyed ''yes'' intimidating and hate filled policies trying to dictate to us,' one wrote.

'Wow. God bless the courageous mothers,' another said.

Two of the three women first shot fame when a television advertising campaign directed at convincing Australians to say 'no' aired for the first time in late August.
A mystery bang heard over Cairns in Queensland has the city baffled.

Resident's theories range from a meteorite to a gas bottle explosion or military plane.

A FA-18 Hornet plane was heard flying over cairns on Sunday night, but no jets were flying on Saturday night when the 'explosion' happened, the Cairns Post reported.

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Video taken by a local resident at the site shows a large area of burnt trees and a deep hole in the ground (pictured)

The most popular possible cause on social media seems to be a gas bottle explosion. There was speculation youths were running amok in the area, but emergency services had no reports of the activity.

'I live in RedlynchRise on hill near pub. And I heard it too was pretty loud sounded like a bomb going off,' wrote a local resident on Facebook.

Despite the mystery, Woree resident John Romanov found a huge smouldering hole surrounded by a broken tree in bush land near Edge Hill State School.

Woree resident John Romanov found a huge smouldering hole surrounded by a broken tree (pictured) in bush land near Edge Hill State School

Video taken by Mr Romanov at the site shows a large area of burnt trees and a deep hole in the ground.

'I'm sure this is the location of what caused that massive bang though,' he told the publication.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services confirmed it attended a small fire in bush land in Edge Hill on Sunday evening, but there were no reports of a loud bang.
The head of the British Army has told the public it is wrong if it believes war is a choice following 'unpopular' campaigns in the Middle East.

Gen Sir Nick Carter said Britain may have no alternative to taking part in future conflicts amid rising tensions between western countries and North Korea.

Speaking at a lecture hosted by the British Commission for Military History, Sir Nick added drones and special forces global robocops will not be enough to win wars.

His speech came ahead of a national security review with the armed forces expected to outline where billions of pounds of savings can be made.

Gen Sir Nick Carter, pictured right at a medal awarding ceremony, has told the public Britain may have 'no alternative' than to fight in wars in the future and that it is 'not a choice'

According to the Telegraph, Army bosses fear funding will be diverted from armoured vehicle programmes to the Navy for shipbuilding, the RAF for stealth fighters and into counter terrorism measures including drones.

The paper reported Sir Nick told the lecture there was a reluctance to deploy the Army following difficult campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said: We have not been helped by the unpopular campaigns of the last decade or so.

The General said future wars could only be won by land forces but added politicians wanted to minimise risks and avoid drawn-out campaigns.

He added the Army faces uncertainty over funding and recruitment in part due to 'unpopular' campaigns such as Afghanistan and Iraq, pictured

On those who claim war is a choice, Sir Nick said they were ignoring Trotskys observation that you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.

The Army is expected to cut around 400million annually from its budget over the next three years and Sir Nick said they face challenges in recruitment at the same time.

He said a change in public perception to see soldiers as victims, not heroes was also harming recruitment with the Army around 4,000 soldiers below its 82,000 personnel target.

The Ministry of Defence said they had no comment and the General's words 'spoke for themselves'.
This is the horrifying moment a firework explodes on the back of a young woman's head after a thug shoved the lit explosive down her jacket.

The girl, wearing a pink tracksuit with a black jacket, is leaning on a street bollard in Dublin, Ireland, when a yob on a pushbike wearing a grey tracksuit is filmed loitering behind her.

Smoke is seen rising from the back of the girl as the firework begins to burn quickly, although it takes the woman a few seconds to realise what has just happened.

The girls is seen leaning on a bollard when a hooded yob on a bike is filmed behind her, shoving a firework down her jacket

She is seen desperately trying to pull the firework out of her hood as the group of boys she is hanging around with can be seen running away from her and screaming with laughter.

The woman runs in the road and away from the pavement, but is unable to pull the firework from out of her jacket.

A huge burst of light and a massive bang then follows as the firecracker appears to light her hair on fire.

The identity of the woman is not known although the video has been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media.

The girl then runs away from the group of boys and is seen trying to reach down the back of her neck to pull the firework out

Social media users have been quick to condemn the youth who lit the firework, with some calling for strict punishment against the yob.

One user wrote: 'Yeah second degree burns on head and neck, so funny... I really hate these monkeys who think it's really funny to injure people. I hope that he will be jailed for that.'

Another wrote: 'This is funny to people? She could have serious burns and hearing loss. That s*** deserves a f****** jail sentence.'
A record number of Australians caught abusing the welfare system have been dobbed in this year, with more than 30,000 people believed to have gained access to money they're not entitled to in NSW alone.

Nearly 25,500 were tipped off for fraudulent behaviour in Queensland and more than 21,000 people were reported in Victoria for the 2016/17 period.

With concerned family, friends and community members now able to lodge their suspicions either online or via phone, tax payers have been putting their feet down over the misallocation of their hard-earned cash.

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Numbers revealed by the Department of Human Services show a record high number of people had been suspected of Centrelink fraud in the 2016-17 year

The alarmingly high amount of people caught exploiting the system for their own financial benefit has been deemed an 'epidemic' by the Department of Human Services.

'Its an epidemic and it needs to be dealt with,' Criminal Lawyer, Andrew Weisman told Nine News.

'If someone's long-term unemployed, yet they're living like they're long-term employed, that may very well raise eyebrows.'

A man who was believed to be receiving payments because of a bad back was tipped off, along with multiple people believed to be receiving the payments on behalf of deceased family members.

'If someone's long-term unemployed, yet they're living like they're long-term employed, that may very well raise eyebrows,' Criminal Lawyer, Andrew Weisman (pictured) said

Australians aren't standing by to watch as dodgy dealings take place before their eyes, with some even dobbing in their own family

Another female claiming to be a single mum was discovered to be living with her husband, all while claiming up to $80,000 in benefits.

But Australians aren't standing by to watch as dodgy dealings take place before their eyes, with some not even holding back on dobbing in their family.

'Most Australians are very happy to support people when they're down on their luck, but they want to see integrity in the system, and that's exactly what our tip-off line does,' Human Services Minister, Alan Tudge said.

Human Services Minister, Alan Tudge (pictured) encouraged Australians to utilise the Government's tip-off line to stamp out dishonest fraudsters

A 66-year-old Centrelink cheat was found to have claimed $90,000 worth of bogus payments by using two fake identities.

Meanwhile, others were busted claiming disability pensions after footage revealed they were being untruthful about the extent of their injuries.

There have been two Government taskforces established so far in Queensland, with the south Brisbane city of Logan identified to be a hot spot.

Australians can register tip-offs by going to the Government's Human Services website.
Keira Keeley, 35, was arrested at 12.15am

An actress has been arrested for allegedly trying to push a random woman on to New York City subway tracks after a boozy night out.

Keira Keeley, 35, was seized at 12.15am on Saturday accused of trying to shove Leonore Gonzalez, 57, into the path of a train at Union Square.

The victim said she was pushed from behind and managed to grab a pillar to stop herself falling on to the track, injuring her wrist, elbow and back.

A policeman who heard screaming on the track was told by a witness that the push was deliberate, according to the New York Post.

Keeley, who has starred in off-Broadway shows and played small roles in TV series such as The Path, insists she accidentally bumped into Gonzalez and even tried to help her up.

She told police that she felt 'wiggly and buzzed' after drinking four glasses of wine in a bar with her boyfriend and was heading home to the Bronx, according to the newspaper.

Keeley was charged with attempted assault and bailed on Monday for $7,500.

MailOnline has contacted Keeley for comment.

In August a mother-of-three was shoved onto the tracks of a New York City subway station by a man who said he 'wanted to die'.

A man attacked Kamala Shrestha in the East Village as she waited for an F train at the 2nd Avenue station shortly before 9pm.

According to police, the stranger told Shrestha he was going to push her - and then did it.

Medics took Shrestha to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, including a cut on her head, cops said.

Her husband, Nam Shrestha, said she required about 10 stitches.
A newborn baby girl in Thailand is set to be adopted after her mother left her to die in a rubbish bin.

The girl was wrapped in blankets and stuffed inside a rucksack before being abandoned in a plastic barrel being used for rubbish in Chaing Mai, Thailand, on Sunday.

She was just 12 hours old when residents in the northern Thai city heard her frail calls for help around 8pm.

A newborn baby girl was wrapped in blankets and stuffed inside a rucksack before being abandoned in a plastic barrel being used for rubbish in Chaing Mai, Thailand, on Sunday

Police rushed the baby girl to hospital where she was given oxygen and urgent medical attention

Police arrived and rushed the baby girl to hospital where she was given oxygen and urgent medical attention.

Well-wishers have now flooded the hospital with requests to adopt the youngster and give her a 'dream life' after being abandoned by her own family.

Jiralak Jankrajai, from the Lanna Hospital in Chiang Mai, said: 'The baby girl is healthy and she is in a good condition. She will be transferred to an orphanage where the adoption process will begin.

'A lot of people have called and visited the hospital who would like to adopt her.

'She will grow up and have a good life. People want to give her a dream life. It is important that she is taken in by the right family.'

The infant will be taken to Vieng Ping orphanage in Chaing Mai, where she will be cared for alongside other youngsters.

Well-wishers have flooded the hospital with requests to adopt the youngster and give her a 'dream life' after being abandoned by her own family

Officials at the hospital have been tending to the baby before they send her to Vieng Ping orphanage in Chaing Mai

Suitable families requesting to adopt the girl are currently being assessed by officials.

Police believe the baby girl was born on Sunday morning then later stuffed in the bin. It would make her around 12 hours old when she was found.

Officers are checking CCTV in the area to try and trace the mother.

They said that whoever dumped the girl in the bin will face prosecution.

Lt Col Sitthiporn Buasook, deputy investigative chief at the the Chang Puak police station, said: 'Villagers found the baby at 8pm on Soi Sukkasem Road in the Muang District.

'They opened the bags and found the baby still alive. She urgently needed help.

Police believe the baby girl was born on Sunday morning then later stuffed in the bin. It would make her around 12 hours old when she was found. Pictured above, nurses with the girl and other newborns

Jiralak Jankrajai, from the Lanna Hospital in Chiang Mai, said several people have contacted officials to adopt the baby. Pictured above, nurses with the abandoned newborn

'When the authorities arrived the girl was still warm and urgently needed oxygen. She was covered with blankets and was zipped inside a backpack.

'The girl was hurried to the Lanna Hospital, the nearest to the scene, and given urgent medical help.

'From preliminary investigations we expect that the girl was born in the early morning.

'She was left in a pile of rubbish and would have died if nobody had found her.

'We are checking CCTV surveillance cameras in the area to find the mother and prosecute whoever did this heartless act.'
A couple stole a terminally ill pensioner's life savings and blew it on weekends away, luxury spas and two French bulldogs.

Doreen Kelday, 80, and her daughter Paula Croft, 49, employed Aaron Ryan to help care for the horses at their farm in Warter, east Yorkshire.

They invited the 32-year-old to move into an annexe on the property with his partner Nathan Roberts, 25.

But the couple took advantage of the goodwill of Mrs Kelday, who has terminal cancer, and stole her 6,100 life savings.

Aaron Ryan (left) and Nathan Roberts (right, arriving at Hull Crown Court), stole a pensioner's life savings and spent it on luxury goods and trips

Doreen Kelday, 80, and her daughter Paula Croft, 49, employed Aaron Ryan to help care for the horses at their farm in Warter - but were betrayed by him and his partner

The callous couple boasted about days out and trips on their social media accounts

Ms Croft discovered the theft when she found bank documents stashed in a car at the farm - but was then accused of stealing from her own mother, Hull Crown Court heard.

Ms Croft had permission to use her mother's bank card for payments and withdrawals however shortly before August 2015, Ryan and Roberts got their hands on the card and PIN, and began their spending spree.

Prosecutor Lisa McCormick said Ryan asked for and received access to the mail box at the farm, which normally was locked, on the pretext he had a 'shadow on the brain' and was expecting medical correspondence.

Miss McCormick said: 'It transpired this was a guise to get access to those bank statements so that no one would pick up that money was disappearing from Mrs Kelday's account.'

The couple stole all their victim's savings, taking between 200 to 300 at a time. They attempted to cover their tracks by discarding her bank statements.

Hull Crown Court heard the pair spent Mrs Kelday's life savings on these two French bulldogs

Ryan, pictured, was jailed for a year by the judge who described his theft as 'pure greed'

The judge said to Ryan and Roberts (pictured left and right): 'It wasn't as if you needed the money - you didn't - you wanted it to fund a better lifestyle'

Ryan, and Roberts, both from east Hull,both admitted theft at an earlier hearing.

Judge Mark Bury said Ryan had played the leading role, obtaining the card and starting the withdrawals.

The judge told him: 'It wasn't as if you needed the money - you didn't - you wanted it to fund a better lifestyle.

'That was pure greed on your part.

'You realised if you could keep the bank statements away from the family the chances of you being caught were slim.

'This, in my view, did involve significant planning and a degree of sophistication, because you had first to actually obtain the card and then work to avoid detection.'

The pair stole the pensioner's bank card and pin then set about hiding their withdrawals and spending sprees

Nathan Roberts, pictured centre, enjoyed trips away and weekends at festivals. He was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for 12 months, ordered to to 150 hours of unpaid work and pay 2,000 compensation

Mrs Kelday, who has terminal cancer, said: 'We trusted them. 'How they could be so unkind after we treated them so nice?'

Ryan was jailed for one year. The court heard that while Roberts played a lesser role and made only one of the 19 transactions, he must have known the card was being held illegitimately.

Roberts was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for 12 months. He was ordered to to 150 hours of unpaid work and pay 2,000 compensation at 100 a month.

Speaking after the sentencing, Mrs Kelday said:'I feel hurt because we were kind to them and I couldn't believe they could do this. We trusted them.

'How they could be so unkind after we treated them so nice?'
The husband of Sydney nurse Kelly Clarke who died suddenly on the couple's Fiji honeymoon has revealed the horrific sight he faced while identifying his wife.

Ms Clarke, 24, died of severe bilateral pneumonia in Lautoka Hospital, north of Nadi on Friday night, 30 hours after she complained of stomach pains.

Husband Chase told Daily Mail Australia his wife's body was in a 'freezing shipping container, wrapped up in a sheet, head to toe with other bodies.'

Those other bodies had to be moved so Mr Clarke, 28, could remove the sheet from his wife's head.

The heartbroken husband of a newly-wed who died on her Fiji honeymoon has revealed grim details of the moment he identified her body in a shipping container

Mr Clarke was clearly devastated as he recounted the horrifying moment other bodies were moved in a shipping container so he could identify his wife

The 28-year-old was seen wearing his wife's engagement and wedding rings on his pinky finger

Comforted by his mother Linda, and wearing his wife's wedding ring on his little finger, the distraught man described the last words he ever spoke to his new wife.

The pair chatted over the phone, in a call made just before she was placed into an induced coma she wouldn't wake up from.

'I just told her I loved her, stay strong, we're going to get out of this,' Mr Clarke said.

'She just told me she was scared she was going to die.

'She was panting through her breath.

'And yeah, the rest is history. I never spoke to her again.'

Chase Clarke said his wife Kelly's body had been stored in a 'freezing shipping container, wrapped up in a sheet, head to toe with other bodies'

The 24-year-old Sydney woman worked as a nurse at Westmead Children's Hospital (pictured) - she was initially mis-diagnosed with typhoid

Mr Clarke was comforted by his mother Linda as he recounted the tragic circumstances of his wife's death

The young woman was on her honeymoon when she died of severe bilateral pneumonia on Friday night

Mr Clarke was joined by family and friends for a backyard wake at Willoughby, on Sydney's lower north shore, on Tuesday afternoon.

While the medical staff who treated Ms Clarke did their best, Mr Clarke said the facilities and processes were not good enough.

'It was just a f***ing shemozzle,' he said. 'It's not something I'd want anyone to experience. It's just gut-wrenching.

'It's absolutely disgraceful. Their hospital system is back in the 1990s, if not the 1980s.

'It's just unacceptable from my point of view.

'It needs a big shake-up. They just need a big upgrade.'

Mr Clarke was joined by family and friends for a backyard wake at Willoughby, on Sydney's lower north shore, on Tuesday afternoon (pictured)

Mr Clarke said he would endeavour to speak out about the Fijian hospital in honour of his wife (pictured)

Mr Clarke (pictured right, on his wedding day) said blood tests taken to diagnose his wife returned after she had died

Medicine his wife needed was not available, medivac transport was too difficult to organise and every process was too slow, Mr Clarke said.

'They're just on Fiji time.'

Ms Clarke was initially believed to have contracted typhoid but blood tests ruled that out.

'The results came back after her death,' Mr Clarke said. 'That's too long.'

He was unsure whether his wife's life could have been saved.

'There are a lot of possibilities that we don't really understand at the moment,' he said.

Mr Clarke said he was speaking out about the Fijian hospital system in hope of helping others and in honour of his wife.

'We're doing it for Kelly. We're doing it for everyone else.

'I'm just sorry it had to be her.

'If she could help improve any system she would find a way to do that.'

Mr Clarke described his wife as 'beautiful, courageous, confident and intelligent woman

He said there was still a lot he didn't understand about the 24-year-old woman's death

The distraught man said he and his wife had been planning a family and 'moving forward as a couple' before her untimely death

Mr Clarke was wearing his wife's ring on his little finger, next to his own wedding band, as he spoke of the woman he had lost.

'She was such a strong individual. She was beautiful. She was intelligent. Courageous. Confident.

'She looked up to everyone. She looked after everyone.

'She loved kids. We were planning a family and everything.

'We were moving forward as a couple.'

'It's just one step at a time now.'

Mr Clarke praised Australian consular officials who had been available '24/7' and was grateful for donations that had helped cover huge expenses.

The family made a fundraising page to help bring the young woman home before she died, more than $52,000 was donated.

'I just want to say thank you to everyone.

'Thank you for all your love and support.'
Renowned British artist Thomas Gainsborough hid three phallic images in a painting of a young newly married couple after falling out with the family, it has emerged.

The previously untitled painting which features Robert Andrews and his 16-year-old bride Frances Carter shows the couple sitting on their Ballingdon House estate in Sudbury, Suffolk.

A grim-looking Mr Andrews is seen leaning against a bench beside his wife who is underneath a tree. An area on Mrs Andrews' lap is left unfinished so the painter could subsequently include a baby should one arrive. Behind the couple, there are two donkeys in a pen.

The painting by Thomas Gainsborough of Robert Andrews and his 16-year-old wife Frances has three hidden phallic symbols according to art historian James Hamilton in a new book

The first phallic symbol according to Mr Hamilton comes in the form of a pair of donkeys

The second symbol is far more obvious, in the form of this rather suspicious-looking bag

Thomas Gainsborough completed the painting in 1748 for the Andrews Family of Sudbury

The painting had remained with the Andrews family until the 1960s when it was sold to the National Gallery.

The new interpretation of the painting, which disappeared from view for almost 200 years, has been published by art historian James Hamilton, who has written a biography of Gainsborough.

During an address to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Mr Hamilton said: 'Its called Mr and Mrs Andrews not because thats what Gainsborough called it, he didnt call it anything.

'This was because the National Gallery curators at the time observed the courtesies of their age and announced it as they might announce late arrivals at the young farmers ball.'

Describing the hidden references, Mr Hamilton said: 'He is holding a shot and powder bag, in the distinct form of male genitalia, and a very floppy leather glove.'

Mr Hamilton also suggested there was doodle of a penis on the blank section on Mrs Andrews' lap.

They final symbol is the doodle of a phallus at the end of Mrs Andrews' hand on an unfinished section of the painting on her lap which was supposed to feature the arrival of a child

According to The Telegraph, the painting was intended as a celebration of the union of two important families.

However, Mr Hamilton suggests the painter had fallen out with the couple and included the barely-hidden symbolism.

He said: 'Certain signs point to the painter's revenge.'

He continued: 'Gainsborough's father John, not a very canny businessman, overreached himself. It may be that they forced him towards bankruptcy, with the painting being the way to settle the debt.'
Eight men, some in their seventies, have been charged over alleged abuse at a West Midlands children's home in the 1980s and 1990s.

Children are said to have suffered sexual abuse at Wisteria Lodge in Coventry between 1981 and 1997. The home was demolished in 2009.

The eight men, who all worked at the former home, have been charged with a total of 29 offences concerning sexual, physical and emotional abuse involving a total of 15 children.

The charges came after police investigated the Wisteria Lodge children's home in Coventry

All eight men now charged with offences worked at the home between 1981 and 1997

Phillip Barnett, 64, Russell Garner, 58, Ivan McChleery, 76, Pat Duignan, 59, Peter Moore, 72, David Saunders, 64, David Fox, 64 and Alan Todd, 72, all face charges.

Detective Inspector Wes Martin, who is leading the investigation, said: 'These charges follow a long investigation by my officers, who have worked closely with the local authority and partners.

'Anyone who has been the victim of abuse, no matter how long ago, can contact Police on 101 and report their concerns.'

Barnett, of Coventry, is charged with three counts of child cruelty between 1981 and 1986

Garner, of Bedworth, is charged with two counts of child cruelty between 1989 and 1995

McChleery, of Coventry, is charged with two counts of child cruelty between 1993 and 1995 and two counts of indecent assault between 1996 and 1997.

The home was demolished in 2009, since when claims have been made against staff

Duignan, of Coventry, is charged with four counts of child cruelty between 1988 and 1990.

Moore, of Wood End, is charged with three counts of aiding and abetting an indecent assault on a child between 1995 and 1997.

Saunders, of Coventry, is charged with one count of child cruelty between 1993 and 1994

Fox, of Boston, Lincolnshire, faces one count of child cruelty in 1989 and Todd, of Coventry, is charged with seven offences of child cruelty, one rape of a child and three indecent assaults between 1983 and 1995.

All are due to appear at Coventry Magistrates Court on 26 October.
Following a bipartisan trip to Puerto Rico, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on Congress to develop a blueprint for rebuilding the island ravaged by two hurricanes last month.

Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Sunday that she supports a "Marshall-style plan" to help Puerto Rico recover from hurricanes Irma and Maria, which left a vast majority of the territory's 3.5 million residents without power and a significant portion of the population without access to drinking water.

The Marshall Plan was a multi-billion dollar aid package that supported the reconstruction of western Europe after World War II.

It's unknown how much Puerto Rico would need to rebuild after the hurricanes. Business and homes were destroyed in the storms. There is also significant damage to the island's infrastructure.

"It truly is an urgent crisis and I believe that Congress needs to look at Puerto Rico holistically and decide how best to fund its rebuilding," Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that traveled to Puerto Rico over the weekend. Two other Democrats  U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Tim Kaine of Virginia  and Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin joined Gillibrand on the trip.

The group met with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, who told them that it's one of the greatest disasters to ever hit the island because of the strength of the hurricanes.

Rossello, Gillibrand said, is concerned about Puerto Rico's future after the hurricanes. Many residents lost their homes, food is in short supply and without electricity, businesses can't reopen.

While a large aid package will likely take time, one area the senators agreed could be addressed is rebuilding Puerto Rico's electric grid. Restoring electricity is a high priority, but officials say it's important to make the grid more resilient to withstand major storms.

"That's something we can come together around," Gillibrand said.

The senators praised first responders and volunteers who have helped in the aftermath of the storms. Gillibrand noted that many of those providing assistance are from New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo deployed National Guard troops and engineers from the New York Power Authority to assist with restoring the power grid. Volunteers, including doctors and nurses, have offered their services. The state's medical community also donated supplies to help Puerto Rican hospitals.

"We have more than a million Puerto Ricans in New York state and so many of them care deeply about Puerto Rico's recovery," Gillibrand said. "This has become something that's very important to me."
A 'feminist vandal' has targeted an historic pub by adding a female scientist to a plaque commemorating a huge discovery.

The sign outside of The Eagle pub in Cambridge celebrates the discovery of the DNA 'double helix' in a nearby laboratory by Francis Crick and James Watson.

The pair famously left the Cavendish Laboratory and announced they had discovered 'the secret of life' at the pub in 1953.

But chemist Rosalind Franklin is also an instrumental figure in the scientific breakthrough but is not featured on the plaque.

A blue plaque honouring James Watson and Francis Crick for building the first model of a DNA double helix has been 'vandalised' with the addition of the name of Rosalind Franklin, another scientist whose work is believed to have inspired the pair

She died of ovarian cancer in 1958 and her name was not included on the blue plaque until a fan added '+Franklin'.

The history around the discovery is controversial, with much of their design based on research carried out by Franklin and her colleague Maurice Wilkins at King's College London between 1950 and 1953.

By February 1953, Crick and Watson began building their model but Franklin was opposed to this because she thought it was premature.

It has also previously been alleged that Watson had been given one of Franklin's X-ray images of DNA without her permission by Wilkins, although it has also been claimed Wilkins passed the image on with her blessing because she was leaving King's to work at Birkbeck College.

Her reaction to the model when seeing it months later is also said to have been 'unimpressed'.

Rosalind Franklin, pictured, spent three years researching DNA before the model was published by Crick and Watson

Franklin's involvement in the discovery is not completely ignored though as there is a smaller plaque inside the pub dedicated to her.

Reaction the the graffiti has also been mixed, with some welcoming the recognition for Franklin and others branding the culprit a 'feminist'.

Writing on Facebook, Alex Holland said: 'Feminists doing something thoughtful and scholarly is refreshing, at least.'

Andrew Burge added: 'This is more complicated than it first seems. Rosalind Franklin certainly did and does deserve recognition for her contribution.

'Possibly why she is not mentioned on the plaque is that she was at Kings College in London when she made her vital contribution to this work. So the Eagle was quite possibly not her local.'

Annie McIntyre added: 'Clearly never been in The Eagle and seen her plaque that was placed there years ago on the anniversary of the discovery.'

The sign on the pub reads: 'DNA Double Helix 1953. "The Secret of Life".

The pair went to The Eagle in Cambridge, pictured left and right, and announced they had 'discovered the secret of life'

'For decades the Eagle was the local pub for scientist from the nearby Cavendish Laboratory.

'It was here on February 28th 1953 that Francis Crick and James Watson first announced their discovery of how DNA carries genetic information.

'Unveiled by James Watson 25th April 2003.'

She graduated from University of Cambridge in 1941 and after completing her PhD she moved to Paris, she then worked with Crick and Watson as a research associate for King's College London.
Nicola Sturgeon today mocked Theresa May's calamitous conference speech as she used her own party address to vow to hold a second referendum.

The SNP leader brandished a pack of strepsils and told her activists 'I've come prepared' in a jibe at the PM's speech which was ruined after by a persistent cough.

The Scottish First Minister defied a hammering at the ballot box to promise SNP delegates she will press ahead with a second independence referendum over Brexit.

The SNP leader said she regretted the defeat of MPs at the general election but refused to apologise for June's heavy loss of 21 seats as she promised to press ahead with a re-run before the next Scottish elections in 2021.

Ms Sturgeon insisted her party had won a mandate to call the poll 'fairly and squarely' in May's Scottish Parliament election - but stopped short of naming a date.

She promised party activists they would still get another chance despite losing a third of their MPs in June. She had appeared to put her referendum demand on ice in the election aftermath.

Independence burst to prominence at the SNP conference today after party managers spent the three day gathering trying to force the focus onto domestic policy.

Nicola Sturgeon (pictured making her keynote address to conference today) defied a hammering at the ballot box to promise SNP delegates she will press ahead with a second independence referendum over Brexit

The SNP leader said she regretted the loss of MPs at the general election but refused to apologise for the heavy losses as she promised to press ahead with a re-run of 2014.

The SNP leader appeared at the start of her speech with a box of Strepsils as she mocked Theresa May for her own disastrous effort on the conference stage last week

But depute leader Angus Robertson today declared 'there will be a referendum on Scottish independence' and Mhairi Black, the party's poster girl in Westminster, said it would never be put on the back burner.

Ms Sturgeon appeared at the start of her speech with a box of Strepsils as she mocked Theresa May for her own disastrous effort on the conference stage last week.

Responding to activist demands for progress on independence, Ms Sturgeon said Brexit was one of three historic moments in which Scotland's interests had been cast aside by Westminster.

She said: 'As I have always said, Scotland should have the right to choose our future when the terms of Brexit are clear.

'We have a mandate to give the people that choice. That mandate was won fairly and squarely. But exercising it must be done with the interests of all of Scotland at heart.

'People want clarity about Brexit first. We respect that.

'But to all of you here in this hall and across our country who are impatient for change, let me say this: We may not yet know exactly when the choice will be made.

'But we can, we must, and we will always make the case for independence.'

Ms Sturgeon accused Theresa May of taking Britain 'down a path of self imposed decline' and claimed it meant the need for independence has 'never been greater'.

She told party members: 'So let us make our case with conviction. Let us address concerns head on.

'And above all, let us inspire confidence in our fellow citizens that the way things are now is not the way they must always be.

'There is a better future to be had for all of us, if we chose to build it, together.'

Ms Sturgeon insisted her party had won the mandate to call the poll 'fairly and squarely' in May and used her conference speech in Glasgow to reawaken her plans

The SNP leader used her speech to promise party activists they would get another chance in a speech in which she set out a 10-year plan for SNP rule over Scotland.

SNP depute leader Angus Robertson today declared: 'There will be a referendum on Scottish independence.'

The SNP leader condemened Mrs May's Government and demanded an end to austerity.

Ms Sturgeon told delegates: 'There is a bankruptcy at the heart of this Tory Government. It is a moral one.

'The rape clause. The misery being caused to so many by the shambles that is Universal Credit. Treatment of disabled people so appalling that the UN brands it a human catastrophe.

'And all the while tax cuts handed to those who earn the most. That is Tory austerity.

'Heartless, shameful, self defeating. For the sake of decency, austerity must end - and it must end now.'

A new YouGov poll for The Times today places support for the Union at 50 per cent, against 39 per cent for independence. The gap widens to 14 points if Don't Know responses are excluded from the sample.

Ms Black lashed an 'economically selfish, increasingly xenophobic, cruel and reckless Britain' the SNP should keep campaigning for a second vote on Scotland's place in the UK.

Ms Black branded the UK a 'sinking ship' and she said: 'Some people are saying we should put independence on the back burner - why would we ever?

'We should never be scared to talk about anything in society. The idea that because we had one vote on the matter we can never exercise our democratic rights on the matter ever again is utterly ridiculous.'

Mhairi Black (pictured at conference today), the high profile MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, roused the conference with a spirited defence independence hours before Ms Sturgeon's speech

Activists hailed the 23-year-old with a huge standing ovation as the question of independence finally broke into public view after three days of stage managed conference action

In a rallying cry to delegates, the party poster girl said: 'Let's get out there and let's get independence.'

She condemned Jeremy Corbyn as a bitter disappointment for the left in Scotland and accused him of offering 'more of the same London spin and nothing more than talking a good game'.

SNP MP CLAIMS MAY'S CONGRATULATIONS FOR KATE'S THIRD CHILD IS 'UNJUST' SNP activists voted in favour of clawing back the Sovereign Grant from the Queen An SNP MP today claimed it was unjust for Theresa May to congratulate William and Kate on having a third child while stripping benefits from other families with more than two kids. Alison Thewliss hit out at the Royal Family in a debate at the SNP conference about scrapping the sovereign grant. She told delegates: 'If you are the royal couple and you have a third child, Theresa May will congratulate you. 'If you are a poor person on tax credits and you have a third child, the Tories will condemn you. 'We need to think about the injustice and unfairness of this.' Party activists demanded the Queen is stripped of the funding so the money can be spent in Scotland instead. The grant is public money handed to the Royal household and is partly funded by revenues from the state-owned Crown estate. It was worth more than 71million this year. Activist Julie Hepbern told the conference: 'It is the equivalent of the royal family winning the lottery every year. 'No need for the royal family to play Euromillions. With the sovereign grant, 'Her Majesty is purring all the way to the bank.' She added: 'I dont support a constitutional role or the provision of public funding for the monarchy. 'But, until such time as we are given a choice in the matter, the UK government will continue to fund them with public money - our money.' The policy motion is powerless to change Scottish Government policy, which is to redirect some revenues from Crown Estate land in Scotland to local communities. Advertisement

Slamming the Labour leader, Ms Black said: 'If you're going to call for an end to austerity don't release a manifesto scrapping 2 billion out of a total 9 billion of planned Tory cuts.

'Don't tell the vulnerable that you're fighting for them when you choose to keep 78% of Tory cuts.

'Don't tell young people that you would scrap tuition fees and then turn a blind eye to Labour putting them up in Wales.

'Don't tell us you're different and then still sign up to spend billions of pounds on nuclear weapons.

'Don't come to Scotland and condescend us, claiming that the Scottish Government with 15% of welfare powers can somehow undo Tory austerity when your party voted against devolving the real powers that matter.

Activists hailed the 23-year-old with a huge standing ovation as the question of independence finally broke into public view after three days of stage managed conference action.

In her speech this afternoon, Ms Sturgeon will tell delegates to prepare for the next decade.

She will say: 'Over the past ten years, we have led the way. We should be proud of what we achieved.

'Our focus now is on the next ten years and beyond.

'The world we live in today is changing at a faster pace than we have ever known.

'The challenges we face are generational. Our responses must be transformational.'

The First Minister will used her speech to spell out the details of her programme for government, announcing 30 hours of free childcare for parents and more early years education.

But she also claimed Scotland faces a battering as it is dragged through the Brexit process by Westminster.

Ms Sturgeon will tell activists: 'We know that Scotland does better when decisions are taken here in Scotland.

'So as we look ahead we face a choice: We can trail in the wake of the change that is coming  or we can choose to shape our own future.

'Let's resolve this today: Let's not wait for others to decide for us

'Let's put Scotland in the driving seat.'

A new YouGov poll for The Times today places support for the Union at 50 per cent, against 39 per cent for independence.

The gap widens to 14 points if Don't Know responses are excluded from the sample - leaving independence far behind the 44.7 per cent it secured in 2014.

The poll also reveals more than half of Scots - 52 per cent - do not think there should be another referendum within five years.

Ms Sturgeon acknowledged in the summer her push for a new poll over Brexit cost the party seats on June 8.

She put plans to try and force a second referendum on the backburner - but has used this week's conference to underline her belief the SNP still has a mandate to call a new referendum before the next Scottish elections in 2021.

The demand for independence has bubbled under the surface at this week's conference, frequently being introduced to speeches and floor debates superficially on other subjects.

The demand for Scottish independence has bubbled under the surface at this week's conference.

In other developments at the conference today, a Scottish Government minister hit out at Conservatives over their support for unconventional gas - telling them to 'frack off'.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Transport Minister, said the failure to outlaw fracking south of the border would put the countryside and communities at risk.

The SNP Government announced last week the controversial practice will be banned in Scotland, with a moratorium that was already in place extended indefinitely.

The Tories are the only party in the Scottish Parliament who support hydraulic fracturing for gas, with the SNP, Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats all against.

Mr Yousaf, speaking at the SNP conference in Glasgow, said: 'For those particularly in the Tory Party who say that by being so environmental we're going to harm Scotland's economy I have two words for you - frack off.'

He added: 'Where the UK Government is prepared to put at risk their communities and countryside from fracking the Scottish Government, your Scottish Government will allow no such thing, let me make it abundantly clear - under the SNP's watch there will be no fracking in Scotland.'

Sturgeon takes to the conference stage with a box of Strepsils as she mocks Theresa May's disastrous conference speech

Nicola Sturgeon ridiculed Theresa May's disastrous conference speech today as she appeared in front of delegates with a box of Strepsils.

Mocking the PM, she passed the throat sweets to her finance minister Derek Mackay.

Mrs May suffered through her 65 minute speech in Manchester last week, coughing and spluttering throughout.

The set piece occasion was also disrupted by a stage invasion and a collapsing set.

Nicola Sturgeon ridiculed Theresa May's disastrous conference speech today as she appeared in front of delegates with a box of Strepsils

Mocking the PM, she passed the throat sweets to her finance minister Derek Mackay.

After ridiculing the PM, the SNP leader condemened Mrs May's Government and demanded an end to austerity.

Ms Sturgeon told delegates: 'There is a bankruptcy at the heart of this Tory Government. It is a moral one.

'The rape clause. The misery being caused to so many by the shambles that is Universal Credit. Treatment of disabled people so appalling that the UN brands it a human catastrophe.

'And all the while tax cuts handed to those who earn the most. That is Tory austerity.

'Heartless, shameful, self defeating. For the sake of decency, austerity must end - and it must end now.'

Mrs May coughed and spluttered through a crucial speech to the Tory conference on Wednesday (pictured)
BAE Systems' decision to cut 2,000 jobs is not down to political issues or UK defence spending, the Industry Minister claimed today.

Claire Perry vowed the Government stood ready to help staff who face the axe at BAE following today's decision.

And she said steps would be taken to retain highly skilled staff in the UK as she updated MPs on what would happen following BAE's announcement of job losses today.

The defence giant said the cuts would give the firm a 'sharper competitive edge' but the decision comes amid slumping orders for Typhoon jets.

Sales of the state-of-the-art war planes have been slow for years as Middle East countries which once bought Tornado from Britain choose cheaper French planes instead.

BAE confirmed today the biggest cutback will be in its military air business, with 1,400 jobs set to be axed across five sites over the next three years, including Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire, where the Typhoon aircraft are built.

No 10 today insisted Britain will look to support BAE after the announcement.

Industry Minister Claire Perry (pictured in the Commons today) vowed the Government stood ready to help staff who face the axe at BAE following today's decision

Defence contractor BAE Systems is to axe 2,000 British jobs amid a slowdown in orders for Typoon fighter jets, it emerged today (pictured is a Typhoon at BAE's Warton plant)

Summoned to the Commons to answer MPs' questions, Ms Perry said: 'Government stands ready to support fully those effected.

'Colleagues across the MOD, my department and others are reviewing what support we can offer to the company.

'The DWP is standing by to provide whatever support is required.'

Ms Perry continued: 'BAE has taken this decision as a result of normal business practice.

'This is not related to any ULK defence spending decisions.'

She added: 'We have a talent retention system to ensure vital skills are not lost to the UK.'

She said in the last year the Government has spent 4billion with BAE and outlined future orders of frigates and other equipment.

WHERE WILL THE AXE FALL? The biggest cutback will be in the military air business, with 1,400 jobs set to be axed across five sites over the next three years, including Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire, where the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft assembly takes place. Around 400 redundancies are being planned at Brough, where Hawk jets are built. Around 375 job losses are planned for the maritime servicing and support business, with 340 in Portsmouth. BAE's cyber intelligence business will cut 150 jobs, split between sites in London, Guildford in Surrey, and overseas. The total number of proposed redundancies is 1,915.

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The Minister told MPs that ministers would continue to 'lead the charge for Britain's world leading defence industry' around the world.

The back drop to today's decision is sluggish orders for the Typhoon. Qatar are expected to order new jets but the programme has been slower than expected.

Other Middle East allies, including the United Arab Emirates, have decided in recent years to buy cheaper French jets instead of the UK-built Typhoon.

The huge blow to the UK defence industry was confirmed today less than 24 hours after rumours spread about imminent cuts. BAE warned in the summer it was watching its order book for the fast jets closely raising fears of job losses.

But the scale of the job losses confirmed this morning is greater than expected and will be a heavy blow to the wider defence industry.

Brexit critics warned yesterday the wider climate of uncertainty was undermining the economy even if Britain's vote to leave the EU was not the specific trigger for the BAE decision.

The firm is set to slash jobs at its Warton plant in Preston, Lancashire (pictured) as well as other sites around the country

Jobs will also be cut at Brough in East Yorkshire and at RAF bases in Marham, Norfolk, and Leeming in North Yorkshire.

Around 375 proposed redundancies were announced in BAE's maritime servicing and support business, mainly affecting Portsmouth.

Some jobs will also go from the company's cyber intelligence business in London and Guildford.

Confirming the plans - which must undergo a 30-day statutory consultation before going ahead- BAE chief executive Charles Woodburn said: 'The organisational changes we are announcing today accelerate our evolution to a more streamlined, de-layered organisation, with a sharper competitive edge and a renewed focus on technology.

'These actions will further strengthen our company as we deliver our strategy in a changing environment.'

He said the company's diverse portfolio provides a strong platform for future growth.

BAE chief executive Charles Woodburn (file image) announced almost 2,000 job cuts at the major defence firm,insisting it would give BAE a 'sharper' edge

Mr Woodburn added: 'We are announcing actions at some of our UK sites to align our workforce capacity more closely with near-term demand and enhance our competitive position to secure new business.

'Those actions are necessary and the right thing to do for our company, but unfortunately include proposed redundancies at a number of operations.

'I recognise this will be difficult news for some of our employees and we are committed to do everything we can to support those affected.'

Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said the cuts were 'appalling news'

Theresa May's official spokesman said: 'It is clearly a very concerning time for their workers and government will make sure that we provide support to those who are affected

'The MoD (Ministry of Defence) has a good and long-standing relationship with BAE. Last year the MoD spent 3.7 billion and the government continually bang the drum for our defence industry.

'It's world leading and we provide support for companies like BAE to secure contracts for UK-made equipment.'

BAE is facing an order gap for the Typhoon so production is being slowed ahead of an expected order from Qatar.

Production of the Hawk jet aircraft is ending in the next few years, affecting the Brough site, although Qatar could place a new order which would keep production going until 2020.

Around 400 redundancies are being planned at Brough.

Most of the military air job cuts will go in 2018 and 2019, with some planned for 2020 and BAE said its goal is to achieve as many voluntary redundancies as possible.

Around 375 job losses are planned for the maritime servicing and support business, with 340 in Portsmouth.

BAE's cyber intelligence business will cut 150 jobs, split between sites in London, Guildford in Surrey, and overseas.

The total number of proposed redundancies is 1,915.

BAE is facing an order gap for the Typhoon (pictured) so production is being slowed ahead of an expected order from Qatar

Sources told Sky News yesterday said that Brexit was 'not a factor' in the BAE decision.

Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said today: 'This is truly appalling news for BAE's workers and for communities across the UK.

'The jobs that BAE are cutting are highly-skilled and their loss will be felt in areas that have a strong tradition of defence manufacturing.

'It is time for the Government to address the clear uncertainty that is felt by the industry and come forward with an urgent plan to save these jobs.

'This must include the possibility of bringing forward orders to provide additional work for BAE's employees, such as replacing the Red Arrows' fleet of Hawk aircraft that are approaching the end of their service life.'

Mr Woodburn warned when he took the helm of the firm in August that Typhoon orders needed careful monitoring.

He said then: 'We obviously have to review our (Typhoon) production demand very carefully.

'We are confident that we will win further Typhoon orders, what we can't be confident around is the timing.
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Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said tonight he has a mandate to declare Catalonia an independent country during a speech to the region's parliament - but stopped short of actually doing so.

The president said that millions of Catalan citizens believe the region should have its own state in his highly anticipated speech, explaining that the region had won the right to be an independent republic.

But he refused to declare unilateral independence immediately and instead called for negotiations over a period of 'a few weeks' to end the region's 'conflict' with Spain.

Spain quickly rejected the president's move, with a spokesman for the central government explaining: 'It's unacceptable to make a tacit declaration of independence and to then suspend it in an explicit manner.'

Catalan lawmakers also signed a document they called a declaration of independence, but said they would delay its implementation.

President Puigdemont said Catalans are not 'criminals' or 'crazy', but 'normal people who want to vote', adding: 'We said we are going to have an independent state as a republic. This is what we are doing today.'

He went on: 'We have nothing against Spain and the Spanish people. We can't be forced to accept the status quo that has been forced upon us.

'Lately, we are being listened to. Now we are being respected, outside of Spain.'

But the opposition leader in Catalonia's parliament said Puigdemont's statement 'is a coup' which has no support in Europe.

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Catalan lawmakers - including President Puigdemont (pictured) - signed a document they called a declaration of independence, but said they would delay its implementation, after tonight's speech

People react to the presence of Spanish National Police near the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona after the Catalan president signed a declaration of independence

President Puigdemont was applauded after his speech, during which he said: 'Lately, we are being listened to. Now we are being respected, outside of Spain'

Pro-independence supporters react as they watch on broadcast screens outside the Parliament of Catalonia as Catalan President Carles Puigdemont announces he will abide by the referendum results

But after the president's speech, the opposition leader in Catalonia's parliament said Puigdemont's statement 'is a coup' which has no support in Europe

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont signs a declaration of independence at the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona after delivering his highly anticipated speech

The president condemned the 'violent attacks' against those who voted in the outlawed independence referendum on October 1. He added: 'We will never forget it'

In his opening remarks, he said 'we are living in a historical moment'. He added: 'The consequences and the effects, they go further than just our country and we have seen that it is not just an internal conflict'

He also said: 'They made us small - Spain - but Catalonia is a European affair. I am not going to make threats - the moment is serious. We have to assume our responsibilities'

Ines Arrimadas of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party said the majority of Catalans feel they are Catalans, Spanish and European, and that they will not let regional officials 'break their hearts'.

Spain's deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, meanwhile, said an emergency cabinet meeting has been called for tomorrow over the Catalonia crisis.

She added that the Catalan leader 'doesn't know where he is, where he is going and with whom he wants to go'.

Mrs Santamaria also said: 'Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim ... to impose mediation. Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law.'

In President Puigdemont's opening remarks, he said there is a 'need to de-escalate tension and not contribute to increase it with words or actions' after stressing that 'we are living in a historical moment'.

He added: 'The consequences and the effects, they go further than just our country and we have seen that it is not just an internal conflict.

What happens next in the Catalan drama? Under Catalan law, the regional parliament is permitted to declare independence within 48 hours of referendum results being announced. But the results from the October 1 poll were released the following day, showing about 90 per cent of the 2.3 million voters who turned out backed independence. And yet regional president Carles Puigdemont has not unilaterally declared independence in his speech - he merely said he has a mandate to split from Spain while stopping short of actually doing so, suspending secession for 'a few weeks' to pursue negotiations with the Spanish government. What would have happened if Catalonia had unilaterally declared independence? A full declaration of secession - or an outright proclamation of a new Catalan Republic - would have been met with fierce opposition by central Spanish authorities, who could take the unprecedented step of suspending the self-government of Catalonia and taking over some or all powers in the region. Puigdemont himself - alongside other independence leaders - could even have ended up in prison. Last week Josep Lluis Trapero, police chief of the region, was questioned by a judge - though he was not charged. Will Spain impose direct rule on the region? Direct rule of Catalonia could be imposed upon the region by Spain under the country's constitution. Article 155 of the 1978 document permits the central government to take control in the case of a crisis. While that is considered unlikely, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's People's Party is in control of the Senate - and could effect the imposition of rule from Madrid. What about an election? There could be fresh elections in Catalonia in a bid to energise the large anti-independence bloc in the region and thus end the crisis in favour of the status quo. But it could also go the other way and result in a further endorsement of independence by the prosperous region. What has the world said? In Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded directly with the Catalan leadership before the speech to choose dialogue rather than a divisive call for independence. 'I ask you to respect in your intentions the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible,' he said. Italy's foreign minister also dismissed the declaration of independence. Angelino Alfano called the move 'unacceptable' on his Twitter account. He wrote that 'our trust is in the Spanish government, it will guarantee the rights of all citizens.' There is also the lingering question of how a unilateral declaration of independence would be received internationally. Kosovo, for example, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but has struggled to win global approval. Are there any other options? Another way the crisis could be solved is if Spain comes to an agreement with Catalonia to expand its autonomy after certain powers were revoked in 2010. Of course, it is also possible that Spain could change its constitution to permit a legal referendum on independence to take place and settle the question once and for all. Advertisement

'They made us small - Spain - but Catalonia is a European affair. I am not going to make threats - the moment is serious. We have to assume our responsibilities.'

He has also condemned the 'violent attacks' against those who voted in the outlawed independence referendum on October 1. He added: 'We will never forget it'.

The president also spoke of Spain's recent history, explaining: 'Since the death of Franco, Catalonia has contributed as much as anyone to the consolidation of Spanish democracy. Catalonia believed that the Spanish Constitution could be a good starting point.'

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have come out against an independence declaration, concerned over the country's biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.

EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that any Catalan move to break away from Madrid could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain's shock decision to leave.

The president said that millions of Catalan citizens believe the region should have its own state, explaining that the region had won the right to be an independent country. Pictured: Crowds react to his speech

An officer of the Spanish National Police stands outside the High Court of Justice of Catalonia in Barcelona after the speech by President Puigdemont

Police officers with riot gear move outside the High Court of Justice in Barcelona. It comes after large crowds of pro-independence Catalans took to the streets of the regional capital to watch the president's speech

In Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded directly with the Catalan leadership before the speech to choose dialogue rather than a divisive call for independence. Pictured: Police in Barcelona stand guard outside the High Court of Justice in Barcelona

Supporters of an independence for Catalonia listen to Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's speech broadcasted on a television screen at the Arc de Triomf (Triumphal Arch) in Barcelona

A couple with a Catalan flag embrace during a rally in Barcelona after President Puigdemont stopped short of declaring the region an independent republic

Another couple listens intently as they watch a big screen after President Puigdemont postponed the declaration of independence during a speech in parliament

But the president refused to declare unilateral independence immediately and instead called for negotiations over a period of 'a few weeks' to end the region's 'conflict' with Spain

Spain rejected Catalonia's 'tacit' independence declaration, according to a spokesman for the central government. Pictured: A woman watches the speech in Barcelona

A hopeful Catalan looks up at the big screen in Barcelona while wearing a hat and cape featuring the Catalan flag

Tense: The president said Catalans are not 'criminals' or 'crazy', but 'normal people who want to vote', adding: 'We said we are going to have an independent state as a republic. This is what we are doing today'

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Spanish flag-waving demonstrators packed central Barcelona to protest against the independence plan. Pictured: The reaction to tonight's speech

The crisis has caused uncertainty in business circles. Following the lead of the region's two major banks, CaixaBank and Sabadell, a string of companies have moved their legal headquarters - but not their employees - from Catalonia to other parts of Spain. Pictured: The crowd reacts to the Catalan president's speech tonight

Supporters of Catalonia independence wearing an Estelada flag leave Passeig de Lluis Company after following the Catalonian Parliament plenary session on a giant screen

A woman wrapped in the Catalan flag kisses a man in Barcelona before President Puigdemont made his highly anticipated speech

A man wearing a separatist Catalan flag stands in front of Spanish National Police vehicles near the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona

Recent opinion polls indicate that Catalans are split on independence, though regional leaders said police violence during the referendum had turned many against Madrid. Pictured: Catalans eagerly listening to the president's speech

Pro-independence supporters during a rally as they watch Catalan President Carles Puigdemont speaking in parliament on a giant screen in Barcelona

Catalan lawmakers also signed a document they called a declaration of independence, but said they would delay its implementation. Pictured: Crowds react to the speech in Barcelona

There could also be fresh elections in Catalonia in a bid to energise the large anti-independence bloc in the region and thus end the crisis in favour of the status quo. But the Spanish government could also choose to take direct control of the region in a bid to end the drama. Pictured: Young people reacting to the speech tonight

It was initially thought Puigdemont had delayed his key speech because he was locked in talks with international mediators who are desperately trying to avert a huge constitutional crisis

The president also spoke of Spain's recent history, explaining: 'Since the death of Franco, Catalonia has contributed as much as anyone to the consolidation of Spanish democracy. Catalonia believed that the Spanish Constitution could be a good starting point'

The Spanish government issued a sharp warning to Puigdemont earlier today as it grapples with the nation's worst political crisis in a generation. Pictured: Pro-independence Catalans cheer as they watch tonight's speech on a big screen in Barcelona

Reaction was mixed among those who had hoped to witness a historic moment for a region that remains deeply divided over independence.

'In essence we're happy but I was expecting more,' said 66-year-old Pere Valldeneu.

Merce Hernandez, a 35-year-old architect, said: 'I am very emotional, this is a historic day. I'm satisfied.'

Italy's foreign minister dismissed the delayed declaration of independence.

Angelino Alfano called the move 'unacceptable' on his Twitter account. He wrote that 'our trust is in the Spanish government, it will guarantee the rights of all citizens.'

CUP lawmaker Anna Gabriel said that her party didn't agree with the decision not push directly for secession. Pictured: Crowds look on as the president makes his speech

People gather to follow the speech of the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in the regional Parliament, in downtown Barcelona

it is theoretically possible that Spain could change its constitution to permit a legal referendum on independence to take place and settle the question once and for all. Pictured: Supporters of independence embrace in Barcelona after the speech

Spain's deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, meanwhile, said an emergency cabinet meeting has been called for tomorrow over the Catalonia crisis. Pictured: Dejected independence supporters after the speech

President Puigdemont hugs Catalan Parliament President Carme Forcadell after the session at the Palau del Parlament de Catalunya tonight

Angelino Alfano, Italy's foreign minister, called the Catalonian president's move 'unacceptable' on his Twitter account. He wrote that 'our trust is in the Spanish government, it will guarantee the rights of all citizens.' Pictured: Pro-independence Catalans watch tonight's speech in Barcelona

Police deployed en masse around the regional parliament ahead of Puigdemont's address, blocking public access to a park that houses the building as crowds watched the session on giant screens

Many were waving Catalan flags and some brandishing signs reading 'democracy'. Pictured: A man shouts while carrying a Catalan flag attached to a stick

Pro-independence supporters react as they watch a big screen and wait for the address of Catalan President Carles Puigdemont

The far-left separatist Catalan party CUP, meanwhile, is demanding that the regional government set a time limit on its quest to negotiate with Spain's central government before putting into effect a declaration of independence.

CUP spokesman Quim Arrufat suggested a month as a time the Catalan government should give for a last-ditch dialogue with Spain.

Anna Gabriel, from the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), the pro-Catalan independence political party, reads the document which proclaims the Catalonian Republic

CUP and other separatist members of the regional parliament signed a document they called a declaration of independence of Catalonia from the rest of Spain on Tuesday.

But regional president Carles Puigdemont said that its effects would be delayed to give a chance to start talks with Spain on breaking away.

CUP lawmaker Anna Gabriel said that her party didn't agree with the decision not push directly for secession.

She told Parliament: 'The declaration of independence hasn't arrived like we wanted. We can't remain silent after it suspension. We have lost an opportunity.'

Police deployed en masse around the regional parliament ahead of Puigdemont's address, blocking public access to a park that houses the building as crowds watched the session on giant screens, waving Catalan flags and some brandishing signs reading 'democracy.'

Madrid has repeatedly said it would not negotiate on Catalonia's independence.

Puigdemont had earlier delayed his crunch speech by one hour.

In extraordinary scenes, neither the Catalan leader nor his MPs appeared in the debating chamber, leaving the opposition politicians sitting in confusion for several minutes before they filed out, looking exasperated.

It was initially thought Puigdemont had delayed his key speech because he was locked in talks with international mediators who were desperately trying to avert a huge constitutional crisis.

But AFP reported that the Spanish government rejected mediation with Puigdemont. 'It's not on the cards,' a central government spokesman told the agency.

Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will reveal imminently whether he is following through on his threat to declare independence - defying the central government and Spanish courts

Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont arrived at the parliament in Barcelona earlier today and greeted a policeman

The parliamentary session was set to start at 6pm local time and was expected to last between two and three hours while expectant crowds anxiously await the outcome outside

People waiting in the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona as President Puigdemont prepares to make a major speech during which he could declare independence

Smiling and relaxed, he was driven to the door in a grey car and shook a policeman's hand before walking the 20feet to the entrance, passing through a revolving door and disappearing up a spiral staircase, ignoring questions from reporters

President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, arrives at the Catalan Parliament ahead of his address at the Palau del Parlament de Catalunya on October 10, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain

But AFP reported that the Spanish government rejected mediation with Puigdemont. 'It's not on the cards,' a central government spokesman told the agency

Spanish government officials have warned Catalonia not to do anything 'irreversible' ahead of an expected breakaway announcement tonight. Pictured: A pro-independence supporter wraps a Catalan flag around her shoulders

People with Catalan flags gather during a rally in Barcelona after the arrival of regional president Carles Puigdemont, who is believed to be planning on declaring independence in parliament

It is also understood that MPs from CUP, a radical pro-independence party, objected to the text of the president's speech because it did not go far enough. The draft text did not even mention independence explicitly, Spanish media said, and this contributed to the delay.

The Catalan president arrived at the region's parliament earlier today smiling and looking relaxed.

He was driven to the door in a grey car and shook a policeman's hand before walking the 20 feet to the entrance, passing through a revolving door and disappearing up a spiral staircase, ignoring questions from reporters.

The parliamentary session was set to start at 6pm local time but was delayed by an hour.

Spanish government officials warned Catalonia not to do anything 'irreversible' ahead of the speech.

In extraordinary scenes, neither the Catalan leader nor his MPs appeared in the debating chamber, leaving the opposition politicians sitting in confusion for several minutes before they filed out, looking exasperated. Pictured: A man waves a Catalonian flag on top of a tractor ahead of the speech of the Catalan president

Crowds gather to watch the President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont's address to the Catalan Parliament at Arc de Triomf

A man shouts slogans during a rally in Barcelona. The delaying of the speech is extremely unusual. The theatrical development raises the tensions even further after a fraught 10 days since the Catalan referendum

Delaying a major speech is highly unusual in the regional parliament and adds to the sense that today's events are wholly unprecedented. It is understood that the decision to delay the speech was taken by the president himself. Pictured: Crowds gathered in Barcelona to watch the president's speech

But the Spanish government issued a sharp warning to Puigdemont earlier today as it grapples with the nation's worst political crisis in a generation.

'We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration,' government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters before the speech.

The warning came as shocking footage emerged showing Nazi-saluting thugs attacking campaigners during an independence march in Valencia amid fears the Spanish region will be next to leave if Catalonia does announce a breakaway tonight.

Far right-wing extremists used sticks and batons to assault their victims, who included campaigners on a traditional nationalist march to mark the region's national day.

Footage captures the moment a Nazi-saluting thug kicked a woman to the ground during an independence march in Valencia

Far right-wing extremists used sticks and batons to assault their victims, who included campaigners on a traditional nationalist march to mark the region's national day

A male friend went after the attacker but was quickly outnumbered by rivals who landed several punches on him before police intervened

ME ACABA DE AGREDIR UNA ULTRADERECHISTA. Me ha tirado un te caliente en la cara. Esta todo en este video. Otros me han amenazado de muerte. pic.twitter.com/7e7erLmx49  Miquel Ramos (@Miquel_R) October 9, 2017

A man carrying a Spanish flag was filmed upending a woman with a kick from behind. A male friend went after the attacker but was quickly outnumbered by rivals who landed several punches on him before police intervened.

Valencia, the autonomous community south of Catalonia, also has its own language which closely resembles Catalan but has a different name. Madrid fears a knock-on effect in other areas of Spain including the Basque Country if Catalonia succeeds in its fight to break away from the rest of the country.

The violence occurred just 24 hours before an expected unilateral Declaration of Independence by Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, although it is thought he will announce independence is to be brought in progressively.

During ugly scenes of violence yesterday, several people were reported injured -including a journalist covering the event said to have had boiling tea thrown at her face.

The ultras, who could be seen shouting insults including 'Sons of B*****s' and making Nazi salutes, eventually forced the march to divert from its traditional route, despite the presence of police reinforcements including riot police.

Spain's separatism crisis faced a decisive moment today with Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont addressing regional lawmakers in a speech his supporters hoped was to be a unilateral declaration of independence.

Police were guarding public buildings and closed off a park surrounding the regional Catalan parliament in Barcelona ahead of the speech.

Violent scenes broke out during brawls between right-wing extremists and independence activists in Valencia

The violence occurred just 24 hours before an expected unilateral Declaration of Independence by Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, although it is thought he will announce independence is to be brought in progressively

At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people, one of Spain's economic powerhouses whose independence drive has raised concern for stability in the European Union.

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have urged Catalan separatists to back down and ease the country's biggest upheaval since it returned to democracy in the 1970s.

But Puigdemont says an independence referendum that took place on October 1 despite a ban by Madrid justifies secession.

About 90 per cent of the 2.29 million who cast ballots voted to split from Spain, as Catalans who reject independence largely boycotted an illegal poll that was severely repressed by police.

Puigdemont hinted in a weekend interview that the region would go ahead with the declaration if Madrid continued to refuse dialogue.

'We have said yes to so many mediation options that have been proposed,' he told Catalan broadcaster TV3.

Footage captured police trying to keep the peace during ugly scenes in Valencia on Monday

During ugly scenes of violence yesterday, several people were reported injured -including a journalist covering the event said to have had boiling tea thrown at her face

'The days are going by and if the Spanish state does not give a positive response, we will do what we set out to do.'

Such a move 'will not go unanswered by the government', Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria retorted on Monday.

'If this gentleman unilaterally declares independence, measures will have to be taken,' she told the COPE radio station.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at the weekend refused to rule out an unprecedented constitutional manoeuvre to impose direct rule on the semi-autonomous region - a move likely to heighten tensions still further.

Catalan separatists have come under intense pressure both at home and abroad to halt plans to break away from Spain.

On Monday evening, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned a unilateral declaration of independence would put 'social cohesion' at risk.

The results of the referendum 'cannot be an endorsement to proclaim independence but they constitute the possibility of opening a dialogue and international mediation', she said.

Spain's separatism crisis is facing a decisive moment today with Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont (pictured) to address regional lawmakers in a speech his supporters hope will be a unilateral declaration of independence

A pro-Unity rally marches through Barcelona on Sunday in response to the disputed referendum on Catalan independence

In France, Nathalie Loiseau, minister for European affairs, said that 'if there were a declaration of independence it would be unilateral and it wouldn't be recognised'.

Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Spanish unity in a telephone call with Rajoy over the weekend.

The pressure also came from the street itself.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Spanish flag-waving demonstrators packed central Barcelona to protest against the independence plan.

Over in the other camp, the ANC, an influential Catalan pro-independence association, called on supporters to come watch Tuesday's parliamentary session live on screens in front of the regional parliament in Barcelona.

Q&A: Catalonia referendum explained What was the vote about? The referendum asked if voters wanted independence for Catalonia. The wealthy region of north-east Spain has its own language and culture and has some autonomous powers but its separatist government wants full independence from Madrid. Is there majority support for independence? A public survey in July found 49 per cent were opposed to independence, with 41 per cent in favour. But loyalist parties boycotted yesterday's referendum, so the result was expected to back independence. Why are some Catalans pushing for independence? The regional government argues that it contributes more to the Spanish government than it receives in support and state investment, and that it would benefit from independence. There has been a rift between Catalonia and Madrid for centuries. In 1931, when Spain became a republic, Catalonia was given greater political autonomy. But following the Spanish Civil War, this was revoked by the military dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, and during his rule from 1939-1975, Catalan culture was heavily suppressed. What does the Spanish government think? Spain's constitution states that the country is indivisible and the government in Madrid is strongly opposed to independence for Catalonia. Unionists say the region already has broad autonomy, with other regions such as Galicia and the Basque Country. Was the vote illegal? The Spanish government ruled that the result would not be recognised. Its decision was backed by the country's constitutional court. Ten million ballot papers have been impounded and chief public prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza has suggested Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont could be charged with civil disobedience, abuse of office and misuse of public funds. Advertisement

The crisis has caused uncertainty in business circles.

Following the lead of the region's two major banks, CaixaBank and Sabadell, a string of companies have moved their legal headquarters - but not their employees - from Catalonia to other parts of Spain.

On Monday, highway operator Abertis, telecoms company Cellnex and real estate firm Colonial became the latest to announce their move from Barcelona to Madrid.

Recent opinion polls indicate that Catalans are split on independence, though regional leaders said police violence during the referendum had turned many against Madrid.

Demands for independence in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, date back centuries.

But a 2010 move by Spain's Constitutional Court to water down a statute that gave Catalonia additional powers, combined with an economic crisis in Spain, sparked a surge in support for independence.
Britain's largest supplier of free-range eggs has been criticised after it emerged it keeps more than four million caged hens - despite claiming animal welfare is 'the cornerstone of everything we do'.

While it owns the the Happy Egg Co, the country's most popular free-range brand, Noble Foods also uses the Big & Fresh brand to flog eggs from birds that spend their lives indoors with just an A4 sheet of paper of space, according to an animal welfare group.

The company's website claims research has proven hens are more intelligent than previously thought and actually possess mental skills superior to human toddlers.

Britain's largest supplier of free-range eggs, Noble Foods, has been criticised after it emerged it keeps more than four million caged hens. The firm owns the Happy Egg Co (file photo)

While it owns the the Happy Egg Co, the UK's most popular free-range brand, Noble Foods also keeps around 4.3 million hens in cramped cages

And the Happy Egg marketing director acknowledged the importance of 'playtime' for hens, according to The Times.

But Noble keeps around 4.3 million hens in cramped cages they are forced to share with up to 80 other birds. Animal welfare group the Humane League claims the hens have little more than an A4 sheet of paper of space each.

Yet visitors to the animal welfare section of Noble's website are greeted by pictures of birds in vast open fields of green grass and there are no images of caged hens.

Pru Elliott, the Humane League's head of campaigns, told The Times: 'Customers of the Happy Egg Co would be shocked to discover how intertwined the business is with cruel cage farming practices.

'Noble Foods shout about their research into hen welfare, and the whole brand image behind the Happy Egg Co is all about better welfare.

'It seems hypocritical to claim that 'animal welfare is at the cornerstone of everything we do' and that 'concern for bird welfare runs throughout Noble's activities' when they profit from keeping over four million hens in cruel cages.'

Noble Foods owns Big & Fresh and uses the brand to sell eggs from caged hens that spend their entire lives indoors

Noble Foods' website contains images of hens in vast green fields, but not one image of caged birds (file photo)

She also claimed Noble shelled out 100million on new cage systems by 2012 and Happy egg customers who thought they were supporting a humane lifestyle for the hens were actually indirectly supporting the cage investment.

The Humane League claims Noble has no policy in place to do away with cage systems, in stark contrast to many of the supermarket giants it supplies.

Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Co-op and Marks & Spencer all refuse to sell eggs from caged hens while Tesco, Morrisons and Asda have pledged to follow suit by 2025.

The European Union banned battery cages in 2012 and farms are only allowed to use 'enriched cages'.

These contain a nesting area, a perch and a place to scratch but animal welfare campaigners claims this is not enough.

MailOnline has approached Noble Foods for comment.
A mother has blasted a school after it threatened to 'segregate' her 15-year-old daughter from her classmates after she dyed her hair purple.

Straight A pupil Elizabeth McMasters, 15, was told off at Nunnery Wood High School, in Worcester, in what her mother believes is a campaign against her.

Hazel Browning described her daughter's school as acting like 'Nazis' for threatening to segregate her over her hair colour.

But the school insists it is following its own clear guidelines on the matter.

Elizabeth McMasters (left, with a bandana on her head to hide her purple hair), 15, was segregated from her classmates at Nunnery Wood High School, in Worcester, in what her mother believes is a campaign against her

Ms Browning claims the campaign against her daughter escalated after she was put into isolation for piercing her ears last month.

The mother-of-seven told the Worcester News: 'I did her hair. She's gone purple. It's a permanent colour which means it has to grow out or be recoloured.

'The school rang me up (on Thursday). They said they are going to segregate Elizabeth because that's not part of the uniform.

'They are trying to pick up on their policies and their uniforms. But they can't be Nazis about this.'

To hide her purple her, Elizabeth turned up to school on Monday wearing a bandana.

Ms Browning said: 'She was in isolation on Thursday and I didn't send her in on Friday because I had to skin test to dye it back to brown which takes 48 hours.

'I sent her in on Monday with a headscarf and she had to go into isolation for that.

'She had an allergic reaction the hair dye which meant we couldn't do it.

'I had to buy another version and I didn't do a skin test for that one because she had to go to school. I dyed her hair last night and it's still not brown, it's a little bit more blacky-purple.

Hazel Browning described her daughter's school as acting like 'Nazis' for putting her in isolation over he hair colour

'It wasn't an aubergine colour to be fair. I've done training with hairdressing.

'Because of intensity of colour you need to go another colour that does eat it up.

'I've gone for another make which is supposed to be less active which is a dark brown and its gone over the top but it's still purple, just a darker purple.

'It's not blue, it's not green, it's not a Mohican or shaved or rainbow colour or anything like that, it's just a hint of purple.

'They want me to dye it again, she's just over 15, she's waited this long, I said wait until you're older.

'She waited this long to have her ears pierced - I had to take her to have retainers put in.

'I just feel they can't control or be in control of my daughter, she's my daughter - it's me that's mum.

'She wanted to have her hair dyed because she didn't want to look like a boy. She wanted to be a little bit feminine.

'This is affecting her school work - she's a model student, she goes to school every day, learns, no problem, she's no problem for me as a daughter.

Elizabeth McMasters has been banned from the classroom because she dyed her hair purple

'They seem to be picking on Elizabeth - what's more important, her education or a hint of purple?'

Ms Browning said her daughter had been wearing the same shoes since year seven because she suffers from blisters.

She said it is difficult to find footwear for Elizabeth because her feet are easily damaged due to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

The school's uniform police states: 'Hair should be worn in a style which is smart, safe and suitable for life at school (extremes of fashion or colour are NOT acceptable.)

'No jewellery of any description is to be worn.'

Stephen Powell, head teacher of Nunnery Wood High School, said: 'The uniform policy is there to allow all students from all backgrounds to look and feel the same and all students are treated absolutely equally within that policy. It's the point of the policy.'
French civil servants angered by Emmanuel Macron's plans to freeze their pay and eliminate 120,000 public jobs go on strike Tuesday, amplifying a revolt over the president's cost-cutting, pro-business agenda.

Nine unions representing 5.4million public workers have called for a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations to show their 'profound disagreement' with Macron's bid to transform the gargantuan public service.

The strikes come weeks after Macron accused disgruntled workers of 'stirring up s***' and called critics of his labour reforms 'slackers'.

Nine public sector unions called for nationwide industrial action to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, which they say would result in deteriorating work conditions

People demonstrate as part of a nation-wide action day of French civil servants against government's plans to freeze their pay

Students, surrounded by CGT labour union workers, attend a demonstration with public sector workers as part of a nationwide strike against French government reforms in Nantes, France. The slogan reads 'Study to fight, fight to study. We are young and committed'

Riot police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest in Paris. Police are using tear gas and batons to push back protesters throwing projectiles at a demonstration in Paris over public sector job cuts and salary freezes

People wear helmets and masks to protect themselves from tear gas, on the sidelines of a demonstration in Paris

Activists attack the front window of a Bred bank branch on the sidelines of a demonstration as part of nationwide strikes and demonstrations

The demonstrations called by nine unions representing 5,4 million public sector workers to show their "profound disagreement" with French president's bid to transform the gargantuan public service and government's plans to freeze their pay and eliminate 120000 public jobs

The protests are the fourth in a series of demonstrations aimed at forcing the 39-year-old president to row back on his reforms

The strikes come weeks after Macron accused disgruntled workers of 'stirring up s***' and called critics of his labour reforms 'slackers'

The protests are the fourth in a series of demonstrations aimed at forcing the 39-year-old president to row back on his reforms.

'The government does not seem to have taken the full measure of the deep malaise among civil servants,' Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, France's second-biggest union, told Les Echos business daily.

'They are suffering from being seen merely as a budgetary constraint and not as beneficial,' he said.

For the first time since 2009, hospital unions have called on medical staff to walk off the job.

Schools are also set to be affected and trains and flights are expected to be delayed.

In some cities, including Paris, demonstrations turned violent. Pictured above, a demonstration attacks the front window of an HSBC bank branch in Paris during the strike

Activists attack the front window of a Swiss bank HSBC branch on the sidelines of a demonstration on Tuesday in Paris

Demonstrators smash windows of an HSBC bank in Paris during nationwide labour strikes in France

A demonstrator kicks at a bank window during a protest in Paris while others stand behind a banner in Paris

Protesters are contained by members of trade union's security during a demonstration as part of a nation-wide action day of French civil servants against government's plans to freeze their pay and eliminate 120,000 public jobs in Reenes

People wear masks as they take part in nationwide demonstrations against labour law reforms in France

People demonstrate as part of a nation-wide action day of French civil servants against labour law reforms

Partakers in the demonstrations carried signs reading 'The bloody mess destroys the public sector'

The education ministry said about 17% of teachers across the country were on strike. Some school canteens and nurseries were closed, and several high schools in Paris shut because students were blocking the entrances in solidarity with the unions.

Thirty percent of flights in and out of Paris and other major cities have been cancelled.

Air France said about 25 per cent of domestic flights would be cancelled due to a walkout by traffic controllers. The airline expects to run all long-haul flights to and from Paris airports.

Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of the FO union, called on Mr Macron to stop 'austerity' policies towards public servants during a protest in the city of Lyon.

This is the first time in a decade that all nine public-sector unions have issued a joint strike call.

It comes as Macron - who has been painted as a 'president of the rich' by leftist critics - continues to take heat for a string of derogatory comments about disgruntled workers.

A man holds a sign reading 'He's the mess' (referring to the French president's use of the word 'bordel')

People hold Force Ouvriere (FO) union flags and a banner reading 'no Republic without public utility' during a nation-wide action day in Bordeaux

People in Paris take part in a nationwide strikes and demonstrations day called by nine unions representing 5,4 million public sector workers

Demonstrators of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) attend a demonstration with public sector workers as part of a nationwide strike against French government reforms in Lyon, France. Placard (right) reads, 'Hit, hit, Macron's head', wile the left placard reads 'Sick? Too bad for you! Strike day'

Tuesday's strikes (one in Nantes pictured above) amplify a revolt over the president's cost-cutting, pro-business agenda

French Force Ouvriere (FO) labour union leader Jean-Claude Mailly attends a demonstration in Lyon

Last week, pro-business Macron claimed disgruntled workers were 'stirring up s***' in the central town of Egletons after around 150 workers and former colleagues who had been laid off clashed with police during a protest at the GM&S auto parts plant in the same region.

'Some, instead of stirring up s***, would be better off looking for work' at a foundry that is hiring in Ussel, Macron said to a regional official, Alain Rousset, referring to a town about 140 kilometres (85 miles) away.

In early September, just days before a union-led protest against Macron's labour reforms, he said he would not back down 'to slackers, cynics and extremists'.

The remark became a rallying cry, with protesters coining slogans such as 'Slackers of the world, unite!'

But head of the CFDT Berger and other labour leaders have been divided over how to respond to Macron's far-reaching shake-up of France's labour code.

This is the first time in a decade that all nine public-sector unions have issued a joint strike call. Pictured above, people demonstrate as part of a nation-wide action day of French civil servants in Nantes

Protests and strikes took place across France on Tuesday in cities including Nantes (left) and Lyon (right), where signs featured slogans such as 'The bloody mess destroys the public sector' and 'The bloody mess is Macron = Medef'

Policemen from the Alliance police labour union attend a demonstration in Lyon. The slogan reads 'Degraded working conditions, dilapidated police stations, abandoned police'

People demonstrate as part of a nation-wide action day in Strasbourg, eastern France. The banner reads 'For the rise of purchasing power, for the defence of public service and public employment'

The hardline CGT union and the hard-left France Unbowed party organised three demonstrations last month over the changes, which make it easier for employers to lay off staff and do deals with workers at the company level, instead of across an industry or sector.

But the protests failed to mobilise the kind of numbers triggered by workplace reforms in 2016, with the CFDT and another large union showing a willingness to compromise.

The CGT and veteran leftist France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon are hoping Tuesday's strikes will inject new momentum into their revolt and spur other disgruntled groups to join the fray.

Pensioners and truck drivers are among those who have also demonstrated in the past month, and regional governments are also up in arms at having their funding from Paris cut by 450million euros ($529million).

Frederic Dabi of the Ifop polling agency said civil servants saw themselves as sacrificial lambs.

The hardline CGT union and the hard-left France Unbowed party organised three demonstrations last month over the changes

The changes make it easier for employers to lay off staff and do deals with workers at the company level, instead of across an industry or sector

Public sector workers hold flags of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour union (CFDT) during a demonstration as part of a nationwide strike against French government reforms in Nantes

After giving Macron their backing in the presidential election 'they feel they are being made to pay for the government's policies', Dabi told AFP.

Topping their grievances are his plans to freeze their pay, increase their taxes and cut nearly 1,600 civil service jobs in 2018 - the first swing of the axe in his plan to cut 120,000 public posts by 2022.

But unless other workers down tools, or young people angered by cuts to student housing subsidies take to the streets, Macron will continue to have free rein to implement his agenda, Dabi said.

In a sign that he has the upper hand for now, his poll numbers have recovered slightly after a dramatic slide this summer to around 30 percent.

'What is positive for Emmanuel Macron is that he is seen as facing down the street and implementing his programme,' Dabi said.
A popular zoo in China has been under fire after a skinny panda was said to be spotted there.

The male panda, believed to be 20-year-old Ding Ding, appeared so thin that people worried that the zoo had been starving it.

The zoo, Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park, explained that the bear had recently suffered from toothache and had not been able to eat properly.

Chinese web users claimed that the skinny panda is Ding Ding, a 20-year-old male bear in Xi'an

Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park has confirmed the authenticity of the pictures, but they said Ding Ding had suffered from toothache and had not been able to eat properly for a few days

Pictures of the panda were first posted onto Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, by a social media user known as 'watermelon-flavoured crazy hat'.

The post claimed that the pictures had been taken by a visitor to the zoo.

It claimed that the tourist had been shocked by the 'extremely' skinny panda and said 'you could even count its ribs'.

The original post appeared to have been removed.

The pictures was re-posted on Weibo by a number of influential users, including panda blogger, 'the zither that plays a panda'.

The blogger told MailOnline that she had re-posted the pictures in the hope of raising awareness of animal protection.

She wrote on her Weibo: 'Until now the zoo has not given any response, how can our national treasure be treated like this?'

Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park (pictured) is a popular zoo in Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi

According to Pandapia, Ding Ding was born in 1997 at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Protection Centre. He moved to the Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park last year.

Occupying 428 acres, the Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park is a popular zoo in the city and a 4A-level scenic spot certified by the China National Tourism Administration. It costs 100 yuan (11) to enter the zoo.

In response to the controversy, Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park confirmed the authenticity of the pictures to MailOnline.

A spokesperson said that the panda got pulpitis at the end of September.

This mean the pulp inside one of Ding Ding's teeth became inflamed, leading to acute and intense pain.

The same spokesperson added that Ding Ding had not been able to eat properly for a few days, and that was why he appeared to be so skinny.

He added that the zoo had treated the panda and is regaining its weight.

Ding Ding is expected to meet the public again after it full recovers, according to the spokesperson.
This is the adorable moment a puppy helps a baby get rid of spilt food by licking him clean.

After Deuntae Jr spills food down himself, puppy Bailey made sure he was there to lick up all the mess.

As soon as the food drops onto the four-month-old baby, Bailey made sure he was right there to make sure all the mess was cleaned up.

Deuntae Jr (right) and Golden Retriever puppy Bailey have been best friends since birth

Deuntae Jr's mother Jaucinda filmed the heartwarming moment during a meal time.

In the video, she can be heard telling Bailey to calm down as he furiously tries to salvage any morsel of food for the baby's cheek and bib.

Jaucinda, from Watertown, Wisconsin, said: 'This was actually the first time I had given my son baby food in front of Bailey.

'I was feeding Tae on the floor in the living room, and when he finished Bailey took it upon himself to get all of the food Tae had dropped.

'Tae loves Bailey - my son is four-months-old and Bailey is only 10 days younger than him.'

After making a right dog's dinner of his meal, Deuntae Jr receives gets a helping lick on the cheek from puppy Bailey
A 20-year-old whose death sparked a viral video from her family and was seen by millions died after she overdosed on ecstasy, an inquest has heard.

The family of Amy Vigus posted the anti-drug film on Facebook days after she was rushed to hospital in August, having attended a music festival in London.

Her devastated relatives said she would 'never know the pain she has caused' by taking MDMA in the heart-breaking tribute.

Today an inquest into the death of Ms Vigus, from Colchester in Essex, was opened ahead of a full hearing.

Scroll down for video

The family of Amy Vigus (pictured) posted an anti-drug film on Facebook days after she was rushed to hospital in August, having attended a music festival in London

Amy's family said she would be remembered for her 'big heart and caring nature which led her doing multiple things for charity'

Today an inquest into the death of Ms Vigus, from Colchester in Essex, was opened ahead of a full hearing

Senior coroner for Essex Caroline Beasley-Murray revealed the body had been released and an investigation had been carried out.

Coroner's officer Riah Hill said: 'The lady attended a music festival in East London where she ingested controlled drugs, namely some MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy.

'On August 20 she collapsed at home following respiratory arrest and was taken to hospital where her death was confirmed.

'On August 23 a post mortem was carried out at Colchester Hospital and toxicology was taken, with the presence of MDMA at a level associated with the fatal risk due to toxicity.'

Ms Vigus went to the Elrow Town music festival at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, where she took the drugs

This family photo shows a young Amy as a toddler playing on a beach. Her family have posted a moving tribute video

Her cause of death was listed as hypoxic brain injury and the toxic effect of MDMA ingestion.

Her grieving family did not attend the hearing at Essex Coroner's Court, in Chelmsford.

Ms Vigus went to the Elrow Town music festival at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, where she took the drugs.

The clip claims she began fainting and throwing up before eventually making her way home.

In the morning she was found by her parents who were forced to carry out CPR and rushed her to Colchester General Hospital.

The clip's narrator said: 'In a moment of madness she took an unknown substance she as led to believe was the party drug MDMA.

Amy was taken to Colchester General Hospital and immediately escorted to resuscitation

Ms Vigus' grieving family did not attend the hearing at Essex Coroner's Court, in Chelmsford

'She continued to socialise and smile. Then she began to pay for her mistake.

'Amy's body rejected whatever unknown substance she had taken. Our Amy managed to make it home, where she collapsed one more time.'

The video adds: 'Our Amy made a mistake. Our Amy will never smile again. Our Amy is dead.

'In that moment of madness she took an unknown substance. Our Amy had no idea it would have led to this. She will not be celebrating Christmas anymore.

'She will not be celebrating her 21st birthday. She will not be buying her parents Mother's or Father's day cards. She will never know the pain she has caused.'
The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented a recent explosive rise in the number of hate groups, driven  in part  by a presidential campaign that adopted extremist ideas. They report 917 hate groups in the United States. (New York state has 47 of them ... seven exist within a 100-mile radius of Auburn!)

Bias is a human condition, and American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Although weve made a lot of progress, stereotyping and unequal treatment persist!

According to the FBI, blacks are by far the most frequent victims of hate crimes, numbering 37.5 percent of all victims. Since 2015, Latinos, Jews, Muslims and transgender women are among the groups that have shown an increase in being victimized.

The U.S. Department of Justice warns that hate crimes, more than any other crime, can trigger community conflict, civil disturbances, and even riots. For all their 'patriotic' rhetoric, hate groups and their imitators are really trying to divide us; their views are fundamentally anti-democratic.

A hate crime must meet two criteria: A crime must happen, such as physical assault, intimidation, arson, or vandalism; and the crime must be motivated, in whole or in part, by bias.

"Members of hate groups typically share these extremist views: (1) They want to limit the rights of certain groups they view as inferior; (2) They want to divide society along racial, ethnic or religious lines; and (3) They demonize the groups they hate with false propaganda and often outlandish conspiracy theories.

A website worth checking out for ways to push back against hate and bigotry: https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/ten-ways-fight-hate-community-response-guide.

Pushing back means speaking up when we hear racial slurs and giving support to those who are victimized by hate crime.

As a member (myself) of the clergy, I have found that most clergy are sometimes reluctant to preach on the topic of "bias and prejudice" ... fearing the loss of members of their own congregation who have a bias toward those who practice another religion. (Too many people have forgotten the fact that the Bill of Rights guarantees all of us freedom of religion.)

It might be worth the reader's time to look inside themselves for any hidden biases. You can test yourself on this by going to tolerance.org/hiddenbias.

The Rev. Joyce Hackett Smith-Moore

Auburn
Furious passengers have said they endured long waits to get through passport control at Manchester Airport yesterday.

Holidaymakers returning to the UK said immigration desks were woefully understaffed, leading to huge queues of incoming passengers.

It is understood the long waits were caused when seven flights landed at the airport in quick succession, but the airport denies the wait was ever longer than 42 minutes.

This was the scene at Manchester airport yesterday after long queues formed at immigration

There were long queues at Manchester Airport's terminal 3 yesterday as border guards struggled to cope with a number of incoming flights

The airport's Terminal 3 was said to be one of the worst hit yesterday afternoon and evening.

Steve Bridge, 51, from Chorley, said: 'I have never seen anything like it. We were left queuing up the stairs, we weren't even allowed to go in the terminal there were people still on the tarmac.

'It just spoils your holiday. We came back from Palma, it was an absolute breeze. Then, when we landed in Manchester it was absolute chaos.'

Another passenger said: 'The manager for the airport said 'It's Ryanair's' when I asked what was going on.

'It was mayhem, people pushing in from all directions. Looks like it's the airport not coping as there were seven flights that pulled in, in a short succession.

'These flights are booked in advance - how can they not manage this?'

Others took to Twitter to vent their fury, with one tweeting: 'Spending four hours in Manchester, is there any better way to start your birthday.'

Another added: 'What a joke Manchester Airport is. Two hours from landing to get through passport control to my car. Time to start flying from elsewhere!'

Passengers went online to complain about the long queues getting through immigration

The airport, which has recently introduced a new 4 'fast track' lane at immigration, transfered complaints to the Home Office.

A Manchester Airport spokesman, said: 'Monday afternoon was particularly busy in Terminal 3 which meant queues built up in the immigration hall, with the longest wait for passport control being 42 minutes.

'We want all passengers arriving into Manchester to have a pleasant journey through the airport and we will continue to work with UK Border Force to ensure the arrivals process is as smooth as possible.'

A spokesman for the government department said: 'The security of our border is paramount - which is why 100 per cent of scheduled passengers are checked when arriving in the UK.

'While every effort is made to keep delays for passengers to a minimum, when very large numbers of passengers arrive in a short space of time, it can mean a longer wait while these essential border security checks are conducted.'

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'Manchester Airport is responsible for allocating landing slots to airlines and for passport control and any issues with it.'
Black widow: Chisako Kakehi, 70, allegedly murdered three of her partners by giving them drinks laced with cyanide

A Japanese woman accused of murdering three of her partners in order to make millions off their life insurances is facing the death penalty.

Chisako Kakehi, 70, is charged with murdering her husband-of-one-month and two partners - all elderly wealthy men - by giving them drinks laced with cyanide between 2007 and 2013.

Kakehi, from Kyoto, has been dubbed 'Japan's Black Widow' after reportedly amassing one billion yen (6.85million) in life insurance and testament payouts over ten years.

Kakehi was arrested in November 2014 following the death of her husband Isao Kakehi, 75, in December the previous year, one month after their wedding.

She has since also been charged with murdering her common-law partners Masanori Honda, 71, and Minoru Hioki, 75, and attempting to kill her friend Toshiaki Suehiro, 79.

Her lawyers have argued she is not guilty of murdering Mr Kakehi on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Kyoto District Court said last year that medical examinations found that Kakehi had early-stage dementia but was fit to stand trial.

Kakehi had relationships with many men, mostly elderly or ill, meeting some through dating agencies, where she reportedly stipulated that prospective partners should be wealthy and childless.

Prosecutors say the men perished at her hands after making her the beneficiary of life assurance policies that ran into millions of dollars.

Reports say she subsequently lost much of the fortune through financial trading.

Accused: Kakehi, pictured during a police transport in January, allegedly killed her husband Isao Kakehi, 75, one month after their wedding

Japan's criminal justice system has come under scrutiny in the wake of Kakehi's arrest, with questions being asked as to why a number of her lovers' deaths were not investigated as suspicious.

In several cases, autopsies were not carried out on their bodies - something that could have found traces of the cyanide detectives now believe she used to kill them.

Kakehi, who is also known as 'The Poison Lady', is said to have stashed some of the substance in a plant pot that she later threw out.

Cyanide was found in the body of at least one of the men she was involved with before her marriage to Mr Kakehi.

Police who earlier raided her home in Kyoto found traces of cyanide in the rubbish, media said.

They also found paraphernalia for administering drugs and medical books at an apartment she kept south of Kyoto.

Closing statements will be heard tomorrow, with a ruling expected in November.
North Korea possesses a nuclear missile that would be capable of reaching U.S. territory 'after modernisation', a Russian MP has claimed.

Pyongyang has told Moscow lawmakers that its current ballistic missile, with a range of 1,865miles (3,000kilometres), will be able to reach the US West Coast following some updates, a Russian news agency reports.

Anton Morozov, who just returned from a visit to Pyongyang, has said North Korea is preparing to launch another missile 'in the nearest future', and that it aims to increase the range of its rockets to 5,593miles (9,000kilometres).

Bold claims: Pyongyang has told visiting Russian politicians that its current ballistic missile, with a range of 1,865miles, will be able to reach the US West Coast 'after modernisation'

Wide reach: North Korea is currently working on increasing the range of its rockets to 5,592miles which could see it reach several cities on the US coast and Canada - the red line appears uneven due to the map being flattened out

Seattle is located some 5,134miles from Pyongyang, and London 5,379miles. If North Korea achieved this target, both the US and the UK is well within range.

However, 'There was no talk about the deadline (for solving this task),' Morozov said.

Morozov, of Russia's nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party, added that he has seen calculations showing the missile can hit the US West Coast.

Mr Morozov also said the North Koreans told him they have technology that would allow them to bring a warhead back down to earth intact.

The Party Foundation Anniversary, in which North Koreans celebrate the founding of their ruling communist party, is due to take place today.

Anton Morozov claimed to have seen calculations showing the missile can range the US West Coast and that North Korea can bring a nuclear warhead back to earth intact (pictured, Kim Jong Un inspects what purports to be a hydrogen bomb)

This follows allegations by South Korea that North Korean computer hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents from Seoul, including detailed wartime operational plans involving its US ally.

Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, said the hackers had broken into the South's military network last September and gained access to 235 gigabytes of sensitive data, the Chosun Ilbo daily reported.

Among the leaked documents was Operational Plans 5015 for use in case of war with the North and including procedures for 'decapitation' attacks on leader Kim Jong-Un, the paper quoted Rhee as saying.

Rhee, a member of parliament's defence committee, could not be reached for comment but his office said he had been quoted correctly.

The report comes amid heightened fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula, fuelled by US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang to tame its weapons ambitions.

In his latest tweet over the weekend, Trump reiterated that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed, adding that 'only one thing will work'.

Citing Seoul's defence ministry, Rhee said that 80 percent of the leaked documents had yet to be identified.

But the contingency plan for the South's special forces was stolen, he said, as well as details about annual joint military drills with the US and information on key military facilities and power plants.

A ministry spokesman declined to confirm the report, citing intelligence matters.

In May the ministry said North Korea had hacked into Seoul's military intranet but did not say what had been leaked.

Pyongyang has a 6,800-strong unit of trained cyber-warfare specialists, according to the South Korean government. It has been accused of launching high-profile cyber-attacks including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures.

Fuel to the fire: Donald Trump discussed North Korea with his generals on Thursday before tweeting over the weekend that diplomatic efforts have failed, and 'only one thing will work'

Dangerous man: Russian MP Anton Morozov, who just returned from a visit to Pyongyang, has said North Korea is preparing to launch another missile 'in the nearest future'

Few international observers believe the North would actually attack the US or an allied country because there is no possibility it could win a war with America.

But Ri Yong Ho, North Korea's Foreign Minister, raised another prospect - that the hermit nation could land a warhead in the Pacific Ocean.

Such a demonstration would prove that they have a viable nuclear weapon, without necessarily prompting American military action.

Kim believes securing such a weapon, and proving to the international community that it works, is the key to ensuring his regime's survival.

Most experts agree that the North already has a missile capable of ranging most of the US, the Hwasong-14, which they have successfully tested multiple times.

Kim has also claimed to have a powerful hydrogen bomb that is small enough to fit on top of the missile, after the state carried out a sixth successful nuclear test earlier this year.

The final hurdle is in perfecting re-entry technology that would bring the warhead back to earth intact and on target.

It is not believed the North currently possesses this technology, as re-entry vehicles from previous Hwasong-14 tests were shown falling back into the ocean in flames.
A 38-year-old Florida man called his wife at work to tell her that he had killed their 17-month-old daughter, police say.

Jeremy Main was charged with first-degree murder in Lake County on Monday in relation to his daughter, McKenzie Main's death, WFTV reported.

Ocala police said his wife called 911 around 9.30am to say that her husband had called her at work to say he drowned their daughter.

'For someone to be able to do something like that is just mind-boggling,' Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Fred Jones told WFTV.

Jeremy Main (left in arrest photo and right) was charged with first-degree murder in Lake County on Monday in relation to his daughter, McKenzie Main's (right) death

Police say Main called his wife at work to tell her that he had killed their 17-month-old daughter (pictured together). She then called 911 to report the crime

'Twenty years in this job, and it's hard to believe a person can lose their humanity and do something like this.'

Officers who went to the family home found the toddler dead in the bathtub from an apparent drowning.

'(The toddler's death) does not appear to be an accident based on language he used with the mother,' said Jones.

Officers who went to the family home found the toddler dead in the bathtub from an apparent drowning. A police spokesman said: '(The toddler's death) does not appear to be an accident based on language he used with the mother'

Main eventually turned himself into police, who said 'he was covered in blood because he apparently tried to hurt himself'

Authorities haven't released details about the possible motive. But they suspect it might stem from a problem between the mother and Main. He is currently being held in jail with no bond

Main eventually turned himself into police, who said 'he was covered in blood because he apparently tried to hurt himself,' WFTV reported.

Authorities haven't released details about the possible motive. But they suspect it might stem from a problem between the mother and Main.

Main does not have a criminal history, police say.

Officials say two teenagers also live at the home, but they were at school when the girl died.

Main was being held without bail set and jail records didn't list an attorney.
The family of the nurse who died in a fatal hit and run collision in Melbourne on Monday night has described the 53-year-old as a compassionate, yoga loving, family orientated woman.

Lynda Hansen, who worked as a cardiac nurse, was travelling in her Silver Toyota in Oakleigh around 11pm, when she was crashed into by a stolen Lexus.

The other driver fled the scene on foot, while bystanders rushed to assist Ms Hansen, who initially survived the impact.

Ms Hansen's family said in a statement on Tuesday, her death had left them 'shocked' and 'devastated'.

There has been an outpouring of grief for fatal hit-and-run victim, Lynda Hansen (pictured), with the family describing her as a compassionate woman who loved to help others

'Lynda was a very caring and family orientated person. She was a compassionate cardiac nurse at a large private hospital and was excited to be commencing a new position within the hospital in the next week,' the statement said.

'Lynda was dedicated to her spiritual life, enjoyed Yoga and sang in a gospel choir.

'She enjoyed overseas travel and loved to help people, especially her elderly mother.

'Lynda leaves behind many shocked and devastated friends and family members.

'We wish to thank the caring people who tried to help Lynda and Victoria Police Force for all of their support.

'Whilst we understand the interest in this tragic matter, we would appreciate that the privacy of our family is respected at this time.'

Ms Hansen was killed after her silver Toyota (pictured) collided with a stolen white Lexus in Oakfield on Monday night

It's understood Ms Hansen was driving south down Warrigal Road and had starting her right turn into Barkly Street.

The stolen white car was travelling north before it collided with the turning vehicle.

Victoria Police have appealed to witnesses for information on the identity of the Lexus driver, which was stolen from Elwood on September 28.

He was also described to be around 181cm tall, in his 20s or 30s, with a solid build and short, dark and thick hair.

Witnesses described him to have been wearing long shorts, runners and a dark t-shirt, and was last seen fleeing east of Warrigal Road.

It's understood Ms Hansen was driving south down Warrigal Road and had starting her right turn into Barkly Street

Police investigators were told the vehicle was seen earlier in the night in the Chadstone area.

The man was also described to have an afro-like hairstyle and to be an obese character, according to Detective Senior Sergeant Brad McArthur of Victoria Police.

Detective Senior Sergeant McArthur said it was likely the survivor had sustained injuries.

'While nobody said they noticed him limping from the scene, I'd say that he'd be fairly sore and sorry for himself now,' he told ABC News.

'(It's) absolutely reckless behaviour and this is the tragic result of it.'
Britain sold 42.8bn to the bloc over the same period - nearly 24bn less

The EU sold 66.6bn worth of goods to the UK in three months ending in August

The trade deficit between Britain and the EU has been laid bare today as new figures show the UK buys nearly 24billion more from the bloc than we sell in.

The UK bought 66.6bn worth of goods from member states in the three months ending in August this year - up 2bn from the three months before.

While the Office for National Statistics found that Britain sold 42.8bn to the EU - up 1.7bn on the three months before.

The figures show that overall the UK buys a staggering 23.8bn more from the bloc in goods than they buy from us.

The EU sold 66.6bn worth of goods to the UK in the three months ending in August this year, according to new figures released by the ONS. This is nearly 24bn more than the 42.8bn worth of goods Britain sold to the bloc's member states over the same period

The numbers will fuel calls for the EU to crack on and start talks on a post Brexit trade talks with Britain.

British MPs have pointed out that EU companies sell far more to Britain than we sell to them, and they will desperately need out lucrative market after we lave.

So far Brussels has refused to start trade talks - insisting that not enough progress has been made on settling the Brexit divorce bill.

Theresa May used her speech in Florence last month to reassure the bloc that no member state will be poorer because of Brexit and call for a free trade deal to be struck.

Theresa May, pictured outside No10 yesterday, has urged the EU to move on to talks about a post-Brexit trade deal

And yesterday she tried to turn the screw on the bloc by telling EU leaders she has set out her bold offer and that now the 'ball is in their court'.

But even before she had delivered her address to Parliament, an EU spokesman hit back in Brussels, saying 'the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen'.

Brexit Secretary David Davis is travelling to Brussels today to oversee the fifth round of negotiations with the bloc.

He will appear with his EU counterpart, chief negotiator Michel Barnier, at a press conference on Friday where he is expected to give an update on the talks.
A BT customer was horrified when he came home from a ten-day holiday abroad to discover his phone had unwittingly racked up a 2,682 bill.

Arron Coles, 32, thought his work phone was connected to the hotel wifi in Egypt but failed to notice it had switched over to data roaming.

The software worker's account was not frozen - and he simply received a text asking him to phone BT if he wanted to ensure he could keep using his phone, he claims.

Arron Coles, ,left, pictured with his partner Jana, ran up a massive phone bill after his phone continued to use data while in Egypt which is not part of the EU's free mobile roaming deal

The couple visited the Marsa Alam El Malikia Resort in Abu Dabbab, Egypt, pictured

But he was horrified when he got home to two bills - for 2,085 and 597 - after no cap was applied to his account.

Mr Coles, from Taunton, Somerset, reckons BT should have limited his usage.

He claims when he threatened to involve the Financial Ombudsmen the company said they could revoke an offer to reduce the bill to 1,042.

Mr Coles, who enlisted the help of consumer website A Spokesman Said to fight the bill, said: 'I had a really, really nice holiday with my partner and her family, but it has soured it to be honest.

'I'm willing to be honest and admit it was a mistake to just put my phone to one side - and not check the mobile data was on - but I feel like they have seen it as an opportunity to make money.

'I put the phone to one side and it must have disconnected from wifi. There must have been apps running in the background.'

'They did not any attempt to contact me or my work to tell them of the severity of the bill.

'I got one text - which I have since found out was sent when the bill was at 600 - asking me to get in touch to ensure my phone could still be used.

'There was no suggestion or hint that the bill had become so large.

'Why didn't they block it? Surely there is nobody who would want to come back to that kind of bill.'

Mr Coles went on holiday with his partner Jana, 29, for a family wedding in her native Slovenia, before they travelled to Egypt, in August.

He connected to the hotel wifi, but when his internet session apparently expired, his phone disconnected and reverted to using mobile data.

It used data when his phone automatically updated applications - and he checked emails and news sites.

When he got home HR staff questioned him about 'extra charges' on this account after a bill for 2,085 arrived - and insisted he must reimburse the company in full.

Mr Coles says charge will force him to take out a loan or borrow money from friends and family for help.

'I can't afford that,' he said. 'It's a fairly new job as well and it's a work phone, which makes it even worse.'

BT said the best they could do was wipe some of the charge, to a total cost of 1042, Mr Coles claims.

Data roaming means connecting to the internet through a 3G or 4G mobile service that isn't yours and outside the EU, there are no data roaming caps.

A spokesman for BT said: 'The roaming charges that Mr Coles has been charged are from his time in Egypt between the 14th and 23rd of August.

'When Mr Coles arrived in Egypt we sent him a text message to make him aware of the 4 per MB charge.

'We sent this directly to his mobile and not to his company. On the same date however we also tried to call the company. As a goodwill gesture we've offered to reduce Mr Coles' bill by 50 per cent.

'We're always disappointed when we cannot come to an agreement with a customer, but we follow the Ofcom process carefully to ensure the customer can refer the matter to the Telecommunication Ombudsman and we always abide by their conclusions.'
A woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo was publicly raped, whipped and decapitated in front of a cheering crowd after serving 'forbidden fish' to a group of anti-government rebels, who later drank her blood.

Video footage of the execution in Luebo, in the province of Kasai-Occidental, shows the naked woman being shamed in the town's main square by a group claiming allegiance to the Kamuina Nsapu rebel movement.

While the video was filmed on April 8, 2017, the footage recently emerged after circulating on Whatsapp.

The woman being punished was accused of serving forbidden fish to rebels who visited her restaurant.

Video footage of the execution in Luebo, in the province of Kasai-Occidental, shows the naked woman being shamed in the town's main square by a group claiming allegiance to the Kamuina Nsapu rebel movement

In video of the woman's execution, the leader of the rebel group, Kalamba Kambangoma, is seen grabbing the woman by the hair before she is taken to the stage to be publicly raped while a crowd of people (pictured above) watched

'They said she gave them beans that contained pieces of a small, local fish,' a Luebo resident told France 24.

The resident added: 'Convinced that she had broken their protection charms, the council of rebels led by a man named Kabata sentenced both the woman and the son of her husband's second wife [the young man was also working there that day] to commit incest in public.'

The Kamuina Nsapu refrain from having sex, washing themselves and eating meat, fish and other items while fighting, according to Congolese researcher and consultant Anaclet Tshimbalanga.

In video of the woman's execution, the leader of the rebel group, Kalamba Kambangoma, is seen grabbing the woman by the hair before she is taken to the stage to be publicly raped.

Rebel leaders force the woman to have sex with the son of her husband's second wife, and another woman is seen whipping the pair with branches.

Rebel leaders force the woman to have sex with the son of her husband's second wife, and another woman is seen whipping the pair with branches

The woman being punished was accused of serving forbidden fish to rebels who visited her restaurant

Following the public rape, rebels executed the woman and the young man, believed to be in his 20s, by beheading them with machetes.

Several rebels drank their blood after the execution, and some even posed with the young man's severed head, witnesses told France 24.

Onlookers can be heard applauding and screaming throughout the video. Luebo residents stayed far from the stage, witnesses said.

The bodies remained on display for two days before they were moved to a local cemetery.

Tshimbalanga, a specialist in Congolese customs, said the woman's death 'goes completely contrary to local customs, which forbid both the death sentence and incest'.

She told France 24: 'These cases of extreme violence are a result of drugs or, sometimes, of people getting caught up in the frenzy and excitement of bloodshed and war.'

The group of Kamuina Nsapu rebels seized Luebo, a town of 40,000, on March 31 and held it for 20 days until being ousted by the Congolese army on April 19.

While the video was filmed on April 8, 2017, the footage recently emerged after circulating on Whatsapp

During their reign, they killed about ten people, including two police officers and the wife of Luebo's administrator.

They also burned buildings, took over the local church and banned people from working and going to school.

The rebel movement emerged after the death of local tribal chief Kamuina Nsapu was killed by the Congolese army in August 2016.

Nsapu had rebelled against the authority of President Joseph Kabila's regime in Kinshasa and its local representatives.

The killing sparked violence that has escalated, including gross alleged violations such as rapes, torture and the use of child soldiers.

Groups bearing Nsapu's name have attacked government organizations, police and soldiers following his death.

Refugees have given harrowing accounts of the violence in the central region, which the UN warned had taken on 'an increasing and disturbing ethnic dimension'.

The executions took place in Luebo, in the the province of Kasai-Occidental in the Democratic Republic of Congo

A crowd looked on as the pair were beheaded in Luebo's town square, which is also known as the 'parking lot' (right circle). Circled left is the town's cathedral, which rebels took over during their reign

Victims recounted mutilations, including of a seven-year-old boy whose fingers were cut off, and an attack on a hospital in the village of Cinq where 90 people were killed, some because they were too injured to escape a raging fire.

Aside from government troops, the UN has blamed a reportedly state-backed militia called the Bana Mura as well as the anti-government Kamuina Nsapu militia for a range of atrocities.

In less than a year, the violence has claimed more than 3,300 lives, according to a tally by the influential Roman Catholic Church, and displaced 1.4 million people.

Around 80 mass graves have been uncovered in the region.

The president's mandate expired last December but under a transition deal, he was allowed to remain in office until elections that are supposed to be held in late 2017.

Kabila has so far failed to set a date for the polls, heightening tensions across the country.

The Kamuina Nsapu, which has been fighting Congo's government for a year, and has summarily executed dozens of people.

Typically its members would execute a government official and decapitate them, removing the head to put it in 'sacred fire'.

Refugees were convinced that the Kamuina Nsapu had magical powers, and militia members believed their magic - including young girls drinking the blood of decapitated victims - would make them invincible, the report said.
A Pittsburgh man has been arrested after police say he called in a false bomb threat to try to get out of paying his restaurant bill.

Barry Clapperton, 40, faces charges that include threats to use weapons of mass destruction, public drunkenness and false identification to police.

Witness Kenneth Gray says Clapperton tried to leave multiple times without paying for his meal at the South Side Primanti Brothers on East Carson Street. He had ordered a sandwich with double meat.

Barry Clapperton, 40, is accused of calling in a fake bomb threat to a Pittsburgh restaurant to try to get out of paying for his sandwich with double meat

'My friend Chris gets up and he chases him out the door and we go out that way, catch him and walk him back in,' Gray told WPXI.

He added that he and his friend even offered to pay for Clapperton's bill but police were called to the scene.

They were about to let the man go after another person eventually paid for the bill.

That's when Clapperton called in a fake bomb threat to Nakama, a restaurant a few blocks away, according to authorities.

'His tab is paid. They get ready to let him go and the bomb threat comes in and he takes off!' Gray said to WPXI.

Police were called to Primanti Brothers restaurant (pictured) and were about to let Clapperton go after someone paid for his bill

Clapperton admitted he called in a fake bomb threat to Nakama, a restaurant a few blocks away (pictured), to 'create a distraction,' police said

Police say they used a stun gun to subdue and arrest Clapperton after he ran from the restaurant.

Clapperton acknowledged he called in the false threat to create a distraction, saying that a friend advised him to do so, police said.

According to the menu the most expensive sandwich is $8.99 and to add double meat it's an extra $1.99.

Clapperton remains in jail, unable to post bond, according to the local news outlet.
Farhia Ahmed Ali, 37, ignited tissues and cardboard to start the blaze in her south London home while her four children were present

A Somali mother-of-five who set fire to her home after she was served with an eviction notice is facing jail.

Farhia Ahmed Ali, 37, ignited tissues and cardboard to start the blaze in her south London home while her four children were present.

Ali was trying secure a new home with Wandsworth Council after she was handed an eviction notice by her landlord, Kingston Crown Court heard.

She denied starting the fire, but jurors convicted of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered after deliberating for nearly five hours.

The mum appeared shocked on hearing the verdict while members of her family in the public gallery held their heads in their hands.

Ali, who recently gave birth to a fifth child, will be sentenced on 20 November after psychiatric reports are prepared but Judge Peter Lodder warned: Its common for someone convicted of arson to go to prison.

A suspended sentence is a bit unlikely.

Meyrick Williams, prosecuting, said the fire was lit on the top of a kitchen cabinet, which was covered in bits of tissue, cardboard and paper.

On that day when London Fire Brigade came down and put the fire out, she [Ali] was outside with her children and her landlord.

It was in the kitchen and they put it out relatively quickly.

An investigator looked inside the kitchen and came to the conclusion the fire had been started deliberately.

The fire had started on the top of the cabinet, setting fire to tissues, paper and other items there, said Mr Williams.

The pink-coloured house in Streatham where an investigator looked inside the kitchen and came to the conclusion the fire had been started deliberately

There was a melted tool box there and two lighters used to light hobs with.

There was a plug which they tested - the fuse and the cable both appeared to work. There was only external damage and nothing that could have started the fire.

The officer from the Fire Brigade and another expert have both concluded this was a deliberate fire.

Her landlord told police officers she had been served an eviction notice, said Mr Williams.

Ms Ali said in her police interview she was on a waiting list.

Ali, of Streatham, was convicted of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
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Footage has emerged appearing to show Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan falling asleep during a live news conference.

The 63-year-old could be seen yawning as his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko spoke to reporters in Kiev.

Video appears to show him repeatedly nodding off while Poroshenko addressed questions from the media.

At one point the Ukrainian even taps the table to Erdogan's left as the Turkish leader's head drops down.

Footage has emerged appearing to show Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) falling asleep during a live news conference

The footage was spotted by a journalist working for the Kurdistan 24 channel before it was widely shared on social media.

During talks between the two leaders, Erdogan said Turkey will not recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Erdogan said during Monday's visit to Kiev that Turkey will continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia and Ukraine have been in a tug-of-war following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The 63-year-old could be seen yawning as his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko (right) spoke to reporters in Kiev

Video appears to show him repeatedly nodding off while Poroshenko (right) addressed questions from the media

Erdogan said that Ankara will continue to follow the situation of Crimean Tatars, and thanked Ukraine for defending their rights.

Some Crimean Tatar activists have complained of infringements on the rights of the Turkic ethnic group after Russia's annexation of the Black Sea region.

Erdogan's statement comes even though he has sought to maintain warm ties with Russia and cooperated with it on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria.
Videos and pictures of a herd of terrified antelope running away from two cars have sparked an outcry on Chinese social media sites in the past week.

It's reported that a group of seven tourists drove off a public road to chase after the wild animals in Tibet Autonomous Region to take souvenir pictures.

They were caught by local forestry bureau and received a fine of 15,000 yuan (1,726) each.

Video shows two white 4x4s driving along a heard of Tibetan antelope on October 4

The seven tourists on board were trying to take close-up pictures of the protected species

On October 6, Pear Video posted the footage which shows two white 4x4s chasing after a herd of antelope on Siling Co Nature Reserve.

The incident is said to take place on October 4.

The terrified Tibetan antelope can be seen running at top speeds to dodge the vehicles.

It's reported that the seven tourists on the two cars were trying to take photos and videos of the animals.

Web user 'Cacaliyizhi' posted pictures of the moment of pursuit and the number plates of the two 4x4s on his Weibo account, a social media site on October 6.

The pictures are now being deleted but screenshots of the post were widely shared.

'A few antelope were hit by the cars and appeared to be injured or dead,' he wrote.

Another camera angle shows the frightened antelope running for their lives at top speed

The pictures and videos circulated on Chinese social media had alerted local forestry bureau

Tibet Autonomous Region Forestry Bureau started an investigation upon receiving reports of the incident.

The authority posted a statement on October 8 stating that seven tourists had been caught driving off course from Xiong Mei town into Siling Co nature Reserve.

The tour group also admitted they chased after the antelope over a minute in a bid to take pictures and videos of the protected species.

They were fined 15,000 yuan (1,726) each. The total fine was 105,000 yuan (12,085).

The seven people accepted the fine and wrote the forestry bureau an apology letter.

Management team of Siling Co Nature Reserve were called for a tougher control.

Upon investigation, officers found the two white 4x4s, suggested to be Nissan Patrol

Seven people (two pictured above) were given a 15,000 yuan (1,726) fine each

However, there were no dead or injured antelope found after a search in the nearby area on the two following days after the incident.

According to Central China Television, Tashi Dorje, minister of the Forestry Bureau, said the antelope highly sensitive animals and could run away at top speeds once they detect potential danger.

This could cause lung failure or even death in the animals - due to pulmonary hypertension.

Tibetan antelope is listed as China's first graded protected species and also marked as 'Near Threatened' on the red list of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Web users have commented online condemning the tourists' unruly behaviour.

'They don't deserve to put up a Chinese flag in the car, shame on you,' said 'gezhi'.

Another web user 'gloriajyliang' questioned what the tourists were thinking as they disturbed the protected species.
A distraught couple have lashed out at gas giant AGL for sending them a $5000+ gas bill for an all but empty apartment.

Wally and Jenny Jacobs, who spend a total of three weeks per year in their Melbourne flat, explained that the property is vacant with the gas mains switched off the remainder of the time.

Despite this, they received three gas bills this year totaling more than $5000 when it 'should be less than $10'.

AGL sent a couple three bills totaling $5440 for a flat that they spend three weeks per year in

The Jacobs told The Age that they received two 'totally bloody ridiculous' gas bills of $2863 and $1900, leaving them with a total bill of $4762.

When they disputed the amount, they were left with a 'staggering' bill 5440 for a totally of 179 days.

Mr Jacobs said that all they do in the apartment is use the heater and boil some water.

'What can I say, I thought I had to go and get my eyes checked. From previous bills it's never been like that.'

When contacted, AGL said that they had had trouble reading the meter at the property, and had based the bills off an estimate.

But the Jacobs said that the gate that lead to the meter remains unlocked, and were mystified as to why the company couldn't access the reading.

An AGL spokeswoman said they would investigate why the distributor had not been able to read the Jacobs' meter.

AGL said that they had had trouble reading the gas meter at the Jacobs property in Melbourne

'In this case, it appears the customer has received estimated bills for an extended period of time, and further investigation is required to understand and validate the readings provided,' an AGL spokesperson told the Victorian publication.

The Jacobs are not the only ones to have had this issue; the Victorian Energy and Water Ombudsman has received 406 complaints so far this year in relation to estimated gas bills.

'It's fair to say that it is really confusing for customers when they get an estimation because in this day and age they assume their meters will be read and based on actual data,' Cynthia Gebert, Victoria's Energy and Water Ombudsman, said.

Mr Jacobs is angry that customers are able to be billed based on an estimate and not the meter

Ms Gerbert said gas companies needed to communicate better with their customers when bills were estimated.

Mr Jacobs said he believed it may be a wider problem than just their bill and that the problem is 'systematic'.

'As a consumer you sign a contract with AGL. The gas usage is determined by reading a meter but where in the contract does it say the consumer is billed by estimate only?' he asked.
Melania Trump may have issued judgement too soon when it comes to her husband's first wife.

The first lady issued a statement through her spokesman Monday afternoon, calling Ivana Trump an 'attention seeker' after the president's ex called herself the real 'first lady' in an interview on Good Morning America to publicize her new memoir, Raising Trump.

On Tuesday, Fox & Friends aired an interview which they taped with Ivana before Monday's drama, and in it she speaks kindly of her husband's new wife.

In the interview, Ainsley Earhardt points out a passage in the book, in which Ivana describes how the the topic of Melania came up at a lunch with some lady friends during the campaign.

Scroll down for video

Ivana Trump (left) spoke kindly of her ex-husband the President's new wife Melania (right) in an interview on Fox & Friends that aired Tuesday

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a>

Ivana says that the media reported on the lunch and misconstrued what she had said.

'I said that she's a very nice girl and it's very tough to be on a campaign. I think the media reported that, "You know, she can not speak, she cannot this,"' Ivana recalled.

Ivana said she couldn't possibly have said that because she also learned English as a second language.

'I have an accent and she has an accent. We both immigrants, so that really didn't come from me,' Ivana said.

After the story came out, Ivana said she reached out to Melania to set the record straight.

'I sent Melania the text [saying], "The last thing I would like to do is say something bad about you. Because you are family. And I don't say anything bad or do anything bad to a family member,"' Ivana recalled.

Further more, in the Fox interview, Ivana says she has no interest in being first lady.

'Do you ever look at [the president's] position and Melania being the first lady and think, "That's where I should be?' Earhardt asked.

'Not at all,' Ivana replied. 'Washington is tough town. I was asked to be American ambassador to Czech Republic. I told [the President], I said if you would have asked me 10 or 15 yeas ago I would do it.

'But now, I don't want to be in Prague for four years. Could I do well? Yes. But I would lose my freedom. So, you know, I'm glad that Melania is there and I'm here,' she said.

The interview was taped a week before the first lady and the president's first wife got into a public fued, after Ivana called herself the real 'first lady' in an interview on GMA (above)

WATCH: One-on-one with Ivana Trump; shares details of her life in new tell-all book: https://t.co/jGJ0mfxdGD - @arobach pic.twitter.com/PJG1cKxkxk  Good Morning America (@GMA) October 9, 2017

Ivana was a little more vague about her feelings in her Good Morning America interview, which aired Monday.

In that interview, she said that she and the President remain close, talking about once every two weeks.

She said she even has a direct line to the White House, but doesn't use it because she doesn't want to come between Trump and Melania.

'Melania is there and I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or anything like that because I'm the first Trump wife. I'm the first lady, OK?' she said.

It was that comment that seemed to send the first lady into a fury. Within a few hours of the interview airing, Melania issued an official statement through her spokesman, calling Ivana an 'attention seeker'.

'Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and The President. She loves living in Washington, DC and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.

'There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise,' the statement from spokesman Stephanie Grisham reads.

'There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise,' the first lady's spokesman said in a statement. Melania pictured above with the President and their son Barron back in June

Above, the full statement issued through the first lady's office on Monday

Melania's statement sent the internet into a frenzy, with many entertained by the idea of reality TV-style feud within the Trump family.

Andy Cohen, who produces the Real Housewives shows for Bravo, tweeted that 'even I AM SPEECHLESS'.

'This is actually happening. All the wives are fighting,' he said.

He later offered to mediate a 'Real Housewives of the White House' reunion between the two, to clear the air.

Andy Cohen, producer of the Real Housewives franchises, was one of the many reacting to the fued online

Cohen later offered to mediate a conversation between the two, to clear the air

watching melania feud w ivana pic.twitter.com/yjaVJh0O0p  Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 9, 2017

Now, Ivana should say something about Melania's bad English... oh, wait, never mind... pic.twitter.com/WDN90QFXPQ   Sauerkraut  (@bratty_wurst) October 9, 2017

And it's not just Melania and Ivana who are fighting. In all three of the interviews she's given so far to promote her new book, Ivana has slammed Trump's second wife Marla Maples - calling her a 'showgirl' and blaming her for the failure of her marriage.

It was Trump's affair with Maples that led to his divorce with Ivana in 1992. Trump and Maples married the following year, but divorced in 1997, after having one child together - daughter Tiffany.

In all three of her interviews, Ivana refused to call Maples anything other than 'showgirl'.

She told Fox that she Maples tried to apologize to her for the affair, but that she still hasn't forgiven her.

'She asked for apology and I said her apology is not accepted. And I never accept her apology. I just think she's showgirl, I think she ruined my marriage, and she doesn't deserve apology,' Ivana said.

She told GMA that Trump and Maples' affair was the last straw for her marriage, since the trust in the relationship was broken.

But since their divorce was finalized, she says she and her ex have been able to start a friendship that continues to this day.

Ivana (pictured with Trump in 1984) said she was able to start a friendship with her ex after their divorce was settled

The 68-year-old Czech Republic native (left) blamed the end of her marriage on 'showgirl' Marla Maples, who Trump cheated on her with and eventually married as his second wife (Maples and Trump pictured on the right)

'Donald during the divorce was brutal. He took the divorce as a business deal and he cannot lose. He has to win. So it took about two years and after the final situation was straightened up, he was just talk and we are friends,' Ivana said.

Ivana also talked about Maples in a Sunday interview with CBS.

'I don't talk about her. She's a showgirl. Never achieve anything in her life,' Trump said of Maples, who stared in The Will Rogers Follies on Broadway in 1991.

Trump was married to Maples (pictured in February) for six years. They have one daughter, Tiffany

She then implied that Maples gets the blame for her marriage ending.

'Well, she was flirting... and I think she was flirting and and she got away with it,' Trump said.

When asked if she blames Donald now for their marriage ending, Trump replied: 'I'm not sure, because Donald would get 1,000 business cards in the pocket every night. He could choose any girl he wanted to have.

'So I'm not sure if she was. There could be another one, could be another one. I really don't know.'

In her CBS interview, Ivana was actually complimentary toward Melania, at least in relation to Maples.

When asked the difference between the two, Ivana said: 'One is nobody. And the other one is first lady.'

Ivana also revealed that her ex-husband offered her the ambassadorship to the Czech Republic but she turned it down so she could keep up her jet-set lifestyle and summers in Saint-Tropez.

Ivana gave a sit-down interview with Good Morning America to detail her new book, Raising Trump

The Czech native had long been rumored for the post  and floated the idea herself in a 2016 interview with the New York Post.

'I was just offered to be the American ambassador to Czech Republic  and Donald told me. He said, 'Ivana, if you want it, I give it to you,' she told the network.

'But I like my freedom. I like to do what I want to do, go wherever I want to go with whomever I want to go. And I can afford my lifestyle,' she explained.

'Okay, why would I go and say bye-bye to Miami in the winter, bye-bye to Saint-Tropez in the summer, and bye-by to spring and fall in New York? I have a perfect life,' she said.

Trump had put out the idea herself during the campaign  when she notably backed her ex and said nice things about him during his run.

Instead, Trump nominated Stephen B. King, a Wisconsin political operative, to the post in July.

Ivana and Marla's issues go back to the 90s, and even appeared to have had an impact on Ivana's plans to attend Trump's inauguration in January.

At the time, Page Six reported that Ivana skipped the Inaugural Ball so she wouldn't have to run into Marla.

'[Ivana] had planned to go out and celebrate after the swearing-in, but when she found out that Marla was going, she canceled,' an insider told Page Six.

She was also nowhere to be seen at the actual inauguration, unable to sit in her reserved front row seat because she brought her wheelchair-bound mother Marie Zelnickova with her.

Just a few hours later, she was on a flight making her way back to New York City.

Marla meanwhile attended the inaugural ball alongside daughter Tiffany and her daughter's boyfriend Ross Mechanic.

She also spent the night before the big event hanging out with former Real Housewives of New York star Jill Zarin.

At the inauguration, she was photographed alongside her friends, and later that day slipped into a $2,200 John Paul Attaker gown from the label's Spring/Summer 2017 collection for the big night.

Ivana reportedly skipped the Inaugural balls in January, so as to avoid running into Maples (Ivana pictured leaving her New York City apartment, en route to the Inauguration)

Marla Maples attended the Inauguration and the balls that followed with her daughter Tiffany in January

Trump's current wife, Melania had the honor of holding the Bible which he was sworn in with

Ivana was not spotted by anyone, even on social media, at the ceremony, so there is a chance she may have elected to watch some of her grandchildren while her children were out for their father's big day.

Ivana was a 28-year-old model from Czechoslovakia in 1977 when she married Donald.

The couple went on to have three children - Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric - before divorcing in 1992.

She was rumored to have gotten approximately $20million, their $15million estate and 49% ownership in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in their divorce.

She also reportedly receives $350,000 a year in alimony and was able to keep all her jewelry.

At the time there was also much talk about Donald's relationship with Marla, and rumors that Ivana had it out with the other woman on the ski slopes of Aspen.

Donald said around that time in an interview with Vanity Fair: 'To tell you the truth, Ive made Ivana a very popular woman. Ive made a lot of satellites. Hey, whether its Marla or Ivana. Marla can do any movie she wants to now. Ivana can do whatever she wants.'

Ivana told a much different story however to Liz Smith about the horrible impact the divorce was allegedly having on the couple's children.

'The children are all wrecks. I dont know how Donald can say they are great and fine,' said Ivana.

'Ivanka now comes home from school crying, "Mommy, does it mean Im not going to be Ivanka Trump anymore?" Little Eric asks me, "Is it true you are going away and not coming back?"'

Marla also spoke about her relationship with Ivana in People last year, responding to Ivana's comments to DailyMail.com that she did not accept Marla's apology for her role in the breakup of her marriage to Trump.

'That makes me sad because I wish her nothing but love,' said Marla.

'I love her kids, and if she's holding any kind of resentment toward me, I really hope, for her sake, that she can forgive me.'

Maples also said of her time with Trump; 'If I had to do it over again, I would just live my life and not worry so much about what other people thought.

'I wish I had had more fun. Even during the crazy times, I wish Id laughed more.'

Ivana went on to get married two more times, first to Riccardo Mazzucchelli in 1995, a union that was dissolved after two years.

She was married for the second time to Rossano Rubicond in 2008, but that union lasted less than a year with the two divorcing in 2009, though they have been seen together many times since.

Marla never remarried after divorcing Trump.

The negativity for Ivana and Donald's divorce appears to have transferred to their children as well.

In an interview with Vanity Fair last year, Ivanka Trump said she adores her little sister Tiffany, but said she's not close with Maples.

'Shes my little sister! Ive been close to Tiffany her whole life, and I really love her,' Ivanka said.
Two retired police dogs have been banned from an animal charity event in Catalonia because they worked for the Spanish police force.

The pets and their new owners were due to appear at the event to encourage adoption of such dogs, but their invitation was rescinded once it emerged that they had been part of the national police's canine units.

The adoption agency has now slammed the organisers, voicing their dismay at the dogs being banned because they worked for the Spanish - not the Catalan - police.

Condemned: Heroes de 4 Patas posted a picture of one of the dogs on its Facebook page, left, slamming the decision to ban them, pictured right is a dog up for adoption through the agency

Catalan aversion towards the national police is at an all-time high, following the extreme violence carried out by Spanish forces during the independence referendum last Sunday.

Catalonia has it's own police force - Mossos d'Esquadra - but as the Spanish government had ruled the referendum illegal, dozens of national police officers were drafted in.

Some 900 people were injured on polling day when police fired rubber bullets and charged at crowds with truncheons to disrupt the vote.

The incident involving the re-homed police dogs took place over the weekend, at an undisclosed location in Catalonia.

The two ex-police dogs had been invited to appear at the event to raise awareness of the work of a charity which finds new homes for retired police canines.

Banned: The pets and their new owners were due to appear at the event at an unknown location in Catalonia to encourage adoption of retired police dogs

Separate forces: Catalan's regional mossos d'esquadra police officers stand between protesters and the national police headquarters in Barcelona during a protest against violence by the national police during last Sunday's independence referendum

Heroes de 4 Patas - meaning 'Heroes on four legs' - later took to Facebook to condemn the organisers of the event.

'Something very sad happened yesterday. One of our four-legged heroes was invited to an event in Catalonia, along with his new owner, accompanied by another adopter and another four-legged heroine to make our work known.

'They have now been banned by the organization for being former canine agents of the national police.'

Added to the Facebook post was a message 'from the dog', stating: 'I do not understand why some people dont like my presence, it may be because I am a former retired policeman, because I am Galician [Spanish] and Catalan, or because of the uniform of my former colleague who taught me everything I know?

'I do not understand what's happening in Catalonia, I'm just a dog.'
Hasan Alkhabbaz, 22, admitted six counts of sexual assault

A Syrian refugee who launched a series of sex attacks a month after he was granted asylum claims he was suffering PTSD because of the conflict in his homeland, a court heard.

Hasan Alkhabbaz, 22, targeted six victims as they made their way through the Joe Strummer Subway in Paddington, central London, between November 14 last year and March 3.

He lurked in the underpass and two others close by, and grabbed lone women by the bottom and slipped his hand up their skirts.

Alkhabbaz was handed a suspended sentence in May for a similar offence committed on March 5, while investigations into the earlier spree were ongoing.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on September 8 trying to board a flight to Egypt and on to Sudan.

In his possession was a Syrian passport issued just six days after his travel ban.

Alkhabbaz admitted six counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court last month but psychiatric reports have been ordered following claims he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

His barrister Kenneth Newman told the court: 'Mr Alkhabbaz and his family arrived in the UK in October last year fleeing the conflict in Syria. They were fast-tracked into the UK.

'Mr Alkhabbaz lost a sister in Syria due to bombing and I am told by Mr Alkhabbaz's father they were under siege for a number of months.'

The ordeal led to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in both father and son, said Mr Newman.

Alkhabbaz, from Islington in north London, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on November 8 at Southwark Crown Court

The judge, Mr Recorder Edward Connell told Alkhabbaz: 'As you know, your solicitors have been trying to arrange for you to be seen by a psychiatrist in prison and until now they have been unable to secure your appointment.

'But I understand that there is now an appointment arranged and that will allow for a report to be prepared.

'So, what I am going to do is adjourn sentence until November 8.

'By adjourning for the obtaining of this report, that is no promise as to what is going to happen to you.

'You have pleaded guilty to a series of offences, each of which crosses the custody threshold and the most likely sentence you are going to receive is a custodial sentence.

'Bu that will be for the judge on that occasion to decide once they know a bit more about you from the report.'

The where Joe Strummer Subway is famous for being the spot where The Clash's frontman used to busk.

Alkhabbaz, from Islington in north London, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on November 8.
This is the chilling moment a bloodthirsty murderer walked the streets half-naked shortly after telling his fiancee to drink his blood and stabbing her to death.

Ivan Griffin, 24, seemed to be 'possessed by evil' when he knifed Sabrina Mullings at her flat in Upper Norwood, South London.

The killer cut his own chest open before he stabbed the 38-year-old victim to death and placed her naked corpse on a pink dressing gown in her kitchen.

Ivan Griffin (left) was seen walking along a road half-naked after the murder in South London

Ms Mullings's daughter Hayleigh and her boyfriend Chaise Gore were woken up by the savage attack, where they found Griffin yelling how he was 'releasing demons' during the incident at 5.30am on March 13.

Griffin had got engaged to Ms Mullings hours before the attack.

He was convicted of murder and today sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 16-and-a-half years after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Ivan Griffin, 24, plunged a kitchen knife through Sabrina Mullings' heart and liver while her daughter Hayleigh slept in their flat in Upper Norwood, south London

Griffin claimed he had been possessed when he stabbed his fiancee and told jurors he had been a 'spectator in my own body' during the brutal attack.

Griffin, who had been dating Ms Mullings since September last year, told Ms Mullings to 'drink his blood because it would cleanse her soul' and cut himself so he could 'join their blood together'.

Hayleigh told jurors Griffin sounded 'possessed by evil', describing the incident as 'something you would get from a horror film'.

Giving evidence she said: 'He told her to drink his blood because it would cleanse her soul.

'I heard my mum trying to talk and she was saying that he was hurting her.

'She said "Hayleigh, if you love me you will get an ambulance because he's stabbed himself."

'I could make out what she was saying but it was very, very strained, you could hear she was in pain.'

Griffin fled 'in a panic' and asked Hayleigh 'you know I loved her, right?', before fleeing the house when he saw Mr Gore pick up a screwdriver.

After murdering Sabrina Mullings (pictured), Griffin fled the scene in Upper Norwood, south London and was arrested in Camberwell later that day

'He pulled up his shirt and told me he had stabbed himself and showed me his wound,' said Hayleigh.

After Griffin fled the scene, Hayleigh rushed to help her naked mother, whose body was 'very neatly placed' on a dressing gown.

She was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering from stab wounds inflicted with 'severe force' - one which fractured her ribcage and delved into her heart, with the other tearing through her abdomen and liver.

Griffin had got engaged to Ms Mullings (pictured) hours before the attack

Griffin was found wandering the streets by officers, where he claimed he had been involved in a scuffle with friends.

After noticing blood beneath his jacket, they tried to apprehend him where he began ranting that he was the son of God.

He aggressively tried to pull the handcuffs out of the officer's grip.

He was then detained under the Mental Health Act.

Griffin was deemed to have been trying to pass off his crimes and convince jurors he was not fully in control of his actions, but it was ruled by psychiatrists that there was no evidence of mental illness.

The court also heard he had previously been convicted of attacking his then pregnant girlfriend, Micah Coggins, in May 2014 after she told police he had an 'aggressive and controlling side to his personality.'

Ms Mullings had been feeling 'really well' and 'positive about her life' in the weeks before she was brutally murdered, according to her mother Marian.

She told the court: 'We cannot understand how someone could claim to love Sabrina, get engaged to her and then only a few hours later stab her twice with a knife and then leave her alone, naked and to die in pain and leave her own daughter to deal with the situation.'

She said she had bought her daughter the green-handled kitchen knife that killed her as a gift.

She said she has nightmares about her daughter 'lying on the floor wounded and naked surrounded by blood with the green knife beside her'.

'This is something I don't feel I will ever get over,' she said. 'I don't think I will ever get these images out of my mind.'
A kind-hearted clubber has gone viral after she saved the night of a fellow reveller - by giving him her pyjama top.

Claire Anderson spotted a shirtless man being refused entry to a Glasgow nightspot by bouncers.

The 32-year-old just happened to have a silky pyjamas from Primark in her bag and donated the top to the man, who has since been named online as Connor McGarrigle.

Claire Anderson spotted shirtless Connor McGarrigle being turned away from a Glasgow night club. She gave him a pyjama top so he could get in. The pair later snapped a picture together

Ms Anderson (left and right) has seen her act of kindness go viral online. The male clubber happily donned the feminine garment and was given immediate entry to the club

He happily donned the feminine garment and was given immediate entry to the club.

The pair were later pictured together enjoying the InfeXious gig at the Classic Grand.

Ms Anderson's generosity has earned her praise and admiration from clubbers online as well as more than 4,500 likes.

Ms Anderson, from Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, said Friday night had been a bit of a blur but 'one of the few clear memories I have is of... a boy... getting papped out for not having a T-shirt on'.

She added: 'So, I went into my bag, gave him my jammy top, and saved him from being papped out. Seen him hours later and he was still cutting about wearing it... amazing!'

Ms Anderson said today: 'I think he had taken it off being drunk, it gets very hot during a rave, and lost it.

The pair were later pictured enjoying the InfeXious gig at the Classic Grand in Glasgow (pictured)

Ms Anderson (left and right) had her pyjamas in her bag because when she goes to raves she often stays out for days at house parties

'I didn't get it back, I don't think I'd have wanted it back anyway.'

Ms Anderson added that she usually comes prepared for a weekend of partying.

She said: 'I had them with me because I never go home after a rave.. always an after party which tends to last for a few days.

'I was just being prepared and they were only Primark jammies.'

Connor McGarrigle commented under the viral post, identifying himself as the man in the picture.

He said: ' I am punting this top on ebay.'

Ms Anderson jokingly replied: 'I might want it back.'

Stephen Walls commented on social media: 'She is the biggest legend going that's what the raves are all about.'

Thomas Murphy said: 'Ravers always watch each other's back. On yourself.'

Ian Murphy commented: 'Scotland produces again.'

Jill Shillinglaw added: 'Aww lovely lass.'

Fiona Craig said simply: 'Too funny.'
A watchdog probe launched after the death of a man following contact with police is investigating five officers for potential misconduct.

Edir Frederico Da Costa, 25, died six days after he was detained when a car was stopped in Newham, east London, in June.

Investigators are set to formally notify the Metropolitan Police officers that 'the level of care they provided Mr Da Costa during restraint and after he became unwell may have constituted misconduct'.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) added that it is now 'investigating this potential misconduct'.

Edir Frederico Da Costa, 25, died six days after he was detained when a car was stopped in Newham

His death sparked riots on the streets in east London and police had to attend the scene (pictured)

However, it made it clear that the serving of misconduct notices on officers does not indicate guilt, or mean that misconduct proceedings will necessarily follow.

At a post-mortem examination on June 22 a number of packages were removed from Mr Da Costa's throat.

The pathologist has not yet determined the cause of death, which sparked riots protests in east London.

The preliminary examination found there was no fracture of the neck or spinal injury, no broken collarbone, and no bleeding on the brain.

Investigators are set to formally notify the Metropolitan Police officers that the level of care they provided Mr Da Costa (pictured) 'may have constituted misconduct'

There was rioting in the area following the incident amid claims he had been 'beaten to death'

The IPCC said since the opening of its investigation, witness statements from police officers, medical staff and members of the public have been collected, as has body worn video footage of the first aid administered to Mr Da Costa.

Tom Milsom, IPCC associate commissioner, said: 'We are very aware of the community concerns following the death of Mr Da Costa.

'So as well as providing regular updates to the family and communicating with the officers involved, we will, when appropriate, also inform the wider community about the progress of our independent investigation.'
A convicted Michigan rapist who has been granted joint custody of his eight-year-old son conceived when he attacked the boy's mother claims he did not seek visitation rights.

Christopher Mirasolo, 27, was granted joint legal custody and parenting time last month after positive paternity results confirmed he was the father of the boy.

Under a plea deal, Mirasolo was sentenced to one year in prison for attacking the boy's mother in 2008 when she was just 12 years old.

It emerged earlier this week that the Sanilac County Prosecutor's Office had signed an order awarding joint custody of the boy to Mirasolo last month.

But Mirasolo's lawyer, Barbara Yockey, has now said he never sought access to the child, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Christopher Mirasolo, from Michigan, was granted joint legal custody and parenting time after a positive paternity result confirmed he is the father of a boy conceived through rape

'He's not going to attempt to see the child,' Yockey said.

She added that they were hoping to settle the matter in private before a scheduled hearing on October 25.

'Chris was notified of the paternity matter and an order of filiation was issued last month by the court saying he had joint legal custody and reasonable visitation privileges,' she said.

The revelation that Mirasolo had been granted custody of a child conceived through rape caused outrage when it was first reported by a local radio show The Steve Gruber Show.

The victim's attorney is seeking protection for the victim and her son under the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act.

The woman, who is not named but is now 21, claims the ordeal started when she sought a paternity test after she was surveyed about the yearly child support she receives.

The victim claims that Mirasolo forcibly raped and threatened to kill her nine years ago. Mirasolo, now 27, was 18 when the attack allegedly happened in September 2008.

Kiesling said that the victim was with her 13-year-old sister and another friend when they snuck out of their home one night to meet up with a boy and his older friend.

That older friend was Mirasolo, and he asked them if they wanted to go for a ride.

It emerged earlier this week that the Sanilac County Prosecutor's Office (above) had signed an order awarding joint custody of the boy to Mirasolo last month

Thinking they would go to a McDonald's or somewhere similar they got in, but Mirasolo allegedly took their phones and threw them out before driving them to Detroit to steal gas and then back to Sanilac County.

There he allegedly kept them captive for two days in an empty house before finally releasing the 13-year-old in a park. She said he threatened to kill them if they told anyone what had happened.

A month later the 12-year-old realized she was pregnant and Mirasolo was arrested.

'She (the victim) and her family was told first-time sex offenders weren't sent to prison because people come out worse after they go there,' Kiessling told the News.

Judge Gregory S Ross made the decision to grant Mirasolo custody, and then disclosed the victim's address to him and ordered her to add his name to the child's birth certificate

'Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated. He was never properly charged and should be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimizing my client, who was a child herself when this all happened.'

Though the assault could have carried a life sentence or one of no less than 25 years, Mirasolo was given a plea for attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced to a year in prison.

He didn't serve the full year, though, and was let out after six months to care for his sick mother.

Judge Gregory S Ross made the decision to grant Mirasolo custody, and then disclosed the victim's address to him and ordered her to add his name to the child's birth certificate.

All of that was done without the victim's consent or a hearing, Kiessling claims.

'An assistant prosecutor on this, Eric Scott, told me she granted her consent, which is a lie,' Kiessling said.

'She has never been asked to do this and certainly never signed anything.'

The rape victim's family suggested she abort the child or give it up for adoption, but she did neither and said 'she didn't want the baby to be a victim, too.'

'She dropped out of school, went to live with relatives out of state and worked jobs to try and support herself.'

'I think this is all crazy,' the victim told the News on Friday.

'They (police and other officials) never explained anything to me. I was receiving about $260 a month in food stamps for me and my son and health insurance for him. I guess they were trying to see how to get some of the money back.'

Kiessling said that the victim was told she is not allowed to move 100 miles from her current address 'without court consent'.

She was also allegedly told she had to 'come home immediately' or risk being found in contempt of court.

Those matters and others will be addressed at the hearing later this month.

This wasn't Mirasolo's only sex assault charge.

In March 2010, Mirasolo raped a girl between the ages of 13 and 15 but was only jailed for four years, Kiessling said.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)-The dual-credit policy was finally issued on September 28th. Dong Yang, Vice President of CAAM, pointed out that, All major auto companies and governments across the world are paying attention to the policy. The implementation of dual-credit policy should break local protection. He also said that electric vehicles will come into popularization after the implementation of above policy. Local protection should be broken to form a unified market. The most important way to break local protection is to phase out local governments subsidies on purchasing vehicles and increase supports on construction of charging infrastructure and charging stations.

Dong also emphasized that the policy was implemented to promote the development of electric vehicles not to prevent the development of foreign brands while to encourage the development of Chinese brands. Besides, the implementation of the policy will face great difficulties with limited preparation time. He also pointed out that the fast implementation of proportion credits in domestic market will force all companies to produce and sell electric vehicles proportionally. It takes at least one year for companies to implement the policy after the policy is promulgated. Currently, only some domestic auto companies could reach the policy requirements and most domestic brands could not reach the requirements.

Besides, Dong Yang also pointed out that companies should pay attention to the changes of market conditions including the decreasing subsidies, competition from foreign brands, popularization of applications and improving requirements from customers. Auto companies should reconsider products market position and competition strengths. For example, performance, energy efficiency and fast charging capabilities should also be reconsidered.
A mother has been left furious after her 12-year-old daughter was given a sexual identity quiz at school.

The test was given to sixth-graders at Lithonia Middle School in the DeKalb County School District in Georgia.

It asked the children to identify various sexual orientations and identities including 'gay', 'lesbian' and 'transgender'.

The test was given to sixth-graders at Lithonia Middle School in Georgia and asked children to identify various sexual orientations and identities including 'gay', 'lesbian' and 'transgender'

Octavia Parks, whose daughter was given the quiz as homework, questioned why teachers were dishing out these questions in class, claiming they were not appropriate.

She told Fox 5 Atlanta: 'Why are they teaching that in school?' Parks said. 'What does that have to do with life?'

'We're talking about a sixth grader who still watches Nickelodeon,' Parks said.

'I'm not ready to explain what these words are nor what they mean.'

The angry mother said she had been assured by the headteacher the material would not be taught to her daughter.

As a result of it being discussed in the classroom, she has now signed a consent form to pull her child from the school's health class.

Parks has also threatened to take the issue to the board of education.

The test was given to sixth-graders at Lithonia Middle School (pictured) in the DeKalb County School District in Georgia

She is not the first parent at the school to complain about the quiz.

Previously, Eva McClain had the same gripe, and told Fox: 'If a kid wants to know about the gender or know about the sex preference, it should come from the parents, not from the school.'

The stance of DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is still unclear.

It is not known whether it approved the quiz, but a spokesman acknowledged the complaint and said: 'DCSD has been made aware of this alleged event, and is working to verify its authenticity.

'We will investigate this event and take action, as appropriate, once that investigation is completed.'
The son of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has been arrested in Alabama on a third-degree criminal trespass charge.

Caleb Moore, 27, turned himself into police on Monday after the County Circuit Clerk's Office issued the warrant for his arrest, Etowah County Sheriff's spokeswoman Natalie Barton said.

The criminal trespass charge is related to an arrest from last year where he was accused of hunting without permission and hunting over bait, Barton said.

The land owner in this case signed for a warrant for trespassing against Caleb. He was released from custody after a few minutes in jail on $1,000 bond.

This is not his first run-in with the law. In fact, the 27-year-old has previously been arrested at least nine times.

The son of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (above) has been arrested in Alabama on a third-degree criminal trespass charge

Caleb Moore (above in arrest photo), 27, turned himself into police on Monday after the County Circuit Clerk's Office issued the warrant for his arrest, Etowah County Sheriff's spokeswoman Natalie Barton said

He was last arrested on drug charges in 2015 that were ultimately dropped after he agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program.

Caleb has also faced charges for driving under the influence in both Florida and Alabama.

He also has had three drug-related arrests in Baldwin, Pike and St. Clair counties in Alabama.

In 2015, he admitted to struggling with drugs and alcohol while dealing with the pressure of having a controversial politician as a father, Alabama.com reported.

This is not his first run-in with the law. In fact, the 27-year-old has previously been arrested at least nine times. He was last arrested on drug charges in 2015 that were ultimately dropped after he agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program

Caleb lashed out at 'crooked police officers' and claimed that he was not using drugs in a Facebook post at the time.

'This is nothing more than a prime example of how media and crooked police officers and critics of my dad try to not only destroy his career for what he stands for but will go as far as trying to destroy his family,' he wrote on the social media site, Alabama.com reported.

'I am not a drug user as the drug test taken today will show. As for the malicious possession charges, justice will be served.'

His attorney issued a statement not long after his post and claimed that his 'unfortunate comment about the police was said out of deep frustration, and he regrets it very much.'

His father, who has been married to his wife Kayla for 31 years (above), has yet to issue a statement about his son's arrest. The former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat on December 12

His father, who has been married to his wife Kayla for 31 years, has yet to issue a statement about his son's arrest.

The former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat on December 12.

Last month, President Donald Trump was reportedly upset that Roy beat out his favored candidate, Luther Strange, for the Republican nomination.

But Trump praised Roy to reporters and said 'he was very happy with him.'

Last month, President Donald Trump was reportedly upset that Roy (above) beat out his favored candidate, Luther Strange, for the Republican nomination. But Trump praised Roy to reporters and said 'he was very happy with him.'

Trump tweeted: 'Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. He will help to #MAGA'

'I'm very happy with him, and I have to say Luther came a long way from the time I endorsed him and he ran a good race, but Roy ran a really great race,' the President told reporters on the White House South Lawn.

He also tweeted: 'Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. He will help to #MAGA'.

Trump has not commented about Roy's son being arrested.

Moore first became a judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama and served until his election as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000.

But in 2003 he was removed from his position as Chief Justice for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument that he installed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building to acknowledge the sovereignty of God.

He was re-elected as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in November 2012 and took office in January of 2013.

Moore was suspended again in 2016 for upholding the sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman. He retired to seek the office of U.S. Senate in 2017.
Anouphong Inphachack, 31, faces charges including arson and criminal damage

A 31-year-old man from Wisconsin is facing a number of charges after telling officers that aliens made him vandalize his home, including trying to set the place on fire.

The house in Sheboygan has been vandalized several times over the past few weeks.

Anouphong Inphachack was arrested October 5 and charged with two counts felony arson of a building, two misdemeanor counts of graffiti, two counts criminal damage to property, and one misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Inphachack has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic and said aliens made him vandalize the house.

The house in Sheboyganm has been vandalized several times over the past few weeks

According to the Fond du Lac Reporter police were called to the home on five occasions over reports of damage and vandalism.

The first incident was reported on September 11 by the new owners of the property, who were in the process of renovating the home to live in

Then, over the next several weeks owners found the front window of the home was smashed in, their van was kicked in and dented and there were two attempts to set the home ablaze.

Inphachack, who said he is diagnosed schizophrenic, said aliens made him vandalize the home

Officers identified Inphachack at the scene who was spotted sitting in a maroon van with a hood pulled up over his head. He drove off when officers approached.

When police finally caught up with the vehicle it was stopped and Inphachack was taken into custody.

During an interview with cops, Inphachack admitted to trying to set fire to the home, causing damage to a van and smashing out a kitchen window using his skateboard.

He then told officers that he had voices in his head telling him to do certain things.

He went on to say that an alien virus from outer space and that the aliens were making him upset and were making him vandalize the home.

He claimed the aliens were using black magic on him and altered his DNA to make him shorter.

'They are switching dimensions all the time. Setting people up for a bad time,' Inphachack explained to officers in an interview. 'I'm telling you the truth. Alien virus to evolve mankind.'

Inphachack told cops that he was also a schizophrenic and was on prescription medication. He said that voices in his head tell him to do things.

Inphachack's parents told officers that he had been refusing to take his medication and had not been eating or sleeping. They 'repeatedly thanked' officers for taking Inphachack into custody and said they were afraid of what he might do.
The president slapped down Sen. Bob Corker's claim that he's putting the nation on the path toward 'World War III,' suggesting instead today that his administration is the antidote.

'We were on the wrong path before,' Trump told reporters Tuesday, as he took a meeting with ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office. 'If you look over the last 25 years, through numerous administrations, we were on the path to a very big problem, a problem like this world has never seen.'

'We're on the right path now, believe me,' the president said.

Later, at the White House press briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn't take a position on calls from Trump allies for Corker, who Trump demeaned this morning as 'Liddle,' to resign.

'I think that's a decision for Sen. Corker and the people of Tennessee,' Huckabee Sanders said. 'Not for us to decide.'

She also claimed that Corker 'rolled out the red carpet' for the Iran nuclear deal by pushing for legislation that gave Congress the right to review the pact, echoing Trump's claim from last weekend that the Republican lawmaker is 'largely responsible' for the pact.

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President Trump (left) alleged on Tuesday that dishonest reporting by the New York Times was at work for comments made by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. (right), which, according to Trump, made him sound like a fool. Trump also bestowed him the nickname 'Liddle' Bob Corker

President Trump (right) then dismissed Sen. Bob Corker's 'World War III' claims, as he hosted ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (left) in the Oval Office, saying the country was on the 'wrong path' before he came into office. 'We're on the right path now, believe me,' Trump said

President Trump suggested Tuesday that dishonest reporting by the New York Times was at work after the paper published a brutal takedown of Trump by Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the president's party

Trump is furious with Corker for claiming that the secretaries of defense and state and the White House chief of staff are what's separating the country from chaos. The Tennessee senator has also questioned Trump's fitness for office.

As Corker came assault from Trump for the remarks on Sunday evening, he unloaded on the commander in chief in a New York Times interview, remarking that Trump was was risking 'World War III' and many senators in the Republican Party agree with his assessment.

Trump suggested this morning that Senate Republican's searing statements about him were the product of a dishonest reporter.

'The Failing @NYTimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!' Trump tweeted.

Corker had once been one of the few Senate Republican to embrace Trump, as the real estate mogul ran his unconventional presidential campaign last year, flattening 16 other Republican candidates, before moving on to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But on Sunday, President Trump unleashed on Corker in a handful of tweets that showcased what had previously been a simmering dispute.

'Senator Bob Corker "begged" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said "NO" and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement),' Trump wrote. 'He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said "NO THANKS." He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!'

'Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn't have the guts to run!' the president said.

CNN quickly found sources to refute the story, saying that Trump had talked to Corker the week before and again pledged to support him if he'd reconsider and run. The senator also told the Times that Trump's tweets were untrue.

Corker, at that point, had already announced his intentions to retire from the Senate.

After President Trump made his accusation, New York Times journalist Jonathan Martin tweeted details on how the interview was set up, including that both Sen. Bob Corker's staffers were recording it for accuracy, as well as Martin himself

Before speaking to the Times, Corker shot back with a sassy tweet mocking Trump's social media behavior.

'It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center,' the senator wrote. 'Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.'

Corker characterized Trump as reckless in a call that evening with New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin that Martin says Corker wanted him to record.

'He concerns me,' Corker told The Times. 'He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.'

Through the course of the interview, Corker, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he thought Trump was treating his office like a 'reality show' and could set the nation 'on the path to World War III.'

In his article, Martin said the senator spoke 'carefully and purposefully' during their 25-minute conversation.

After Trump's accusation the New York Times scribe explained the interview's set-up to his followers on Twitter.

'Corker had 2 aides on line, also recording, and they made sure after it ended that I was taping, too,' Martin said.

Before Sunday's blow up, Corker made two public comments that upset Trump.

'I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos,' Corker told reporters Wednesday, on the heels of NBC's report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had threatened to quit in July and referred to the president as a 'moron' in a Pentagon meeting.

Corker was also critical of Trump's response in the aftermath of the racial violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in August.

'The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,' Corker said.

Trump's tiff with Corker could had some in Washington worrying there would be serious repercussions. Corker can keep Trump's legislative agenda from being passed.

'His presidency could be doomed,' one Trump insider told the Washington Post, pointing out how many more friends Corker has in the Senate than Trump.

While that dynamic may be at play, old hats in Washington also point out that Corker is a professional.

Corker is a 'grown up' who 'always has worked to be in the room making the sausage,' Grover Norquist, head of the right-leaning Americans for Tax Reform, told DailyMail.com on Monday.

Trump told reporters today that he does not believe tax reform is will be affected.

'I don't think so, no,' Trump said. 'I don't think so at all,' he continued. 'I think we're well on our way. It's very  the people of this country want tax cuts. They want lower taxes.'

Several former Trump aides who remain close to the president have called for Corker's head.

'If Bob Corker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately,' suggested former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, during an appearance on Hannity Monday night. 'He should not let those words stands on what he said about the president of the United States.'

Former Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller had led the charge Monday morning on CNN.

'Look, if Sen. Corker is retiring and he doesnt want to be in the U.S. Senate, and he doesnt want to support President Trump, and he doesnt want to support such basic conservative principles, he should just resign,' Miller said.

The White House sidestepped the question on Tuesday when DailyMail.com asked if Trump agrees that Corker should quit the Senate early.

Trump's spokeswoman had no problem of faulting Corker for the Iran deal, though.

'Sen. Corker worked with Nancy Pelosi and the Obama administration to pave the way for that legislation and basically rolled out the red carpet for the Iran deal. Those are pretty factual,' Huckabee Sanders said.

Another White House press officer emailed later to explain that Sanders was referring to Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 in her response.

The INARA bill was pushed through the Senate with a veto-proof majority, 98-1, over former President Barack Obama's objections. The bill gave Congress authority to approve or reject a pact with Iran.

This White House believes the Iran deal should have been submitted as a treaty, which would have subjected it to a requirement that two-thirds of the Senate approve the agreement before it can be implemented.

Sen. Tom Cotton was the sole no vote on the INARA bill. The White House contended Tuesday that he 'and others have been critical of Corker's role in that.'
North Korean computer hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents from South Korea including detailed wartime operational plans involving its US ally, a report said Tuesday.

Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, said the hackers had broken into the South's military network last September and gained access to 235 gigabytes of sensitive data, the Chosun Ilbo daily reported.

Among the leaked documents was Operational Plans 5015 for use in case of war with the North and including procedures for 'decapitation' attacks on leader Kim Jong-Un, Rhee said.

Officials said that North Korean hackers had broken into the South's military network last September and gained access to 235 gigabytes of sensitive data, including war plans

Among the leaked documents was Operational Plans 5015 for use in case of war with the North and including procedures for 'decapitation' attacks on leader Kim Jong-Un. Pictured above, South Korean President Moon Jae-in

Rhee, a member of parliament's defence committee, could not be reached for comment but his office said he had been quoted correctly.

The report comes amid heightened fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula, as the North's weapons program soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions.

Tension is fueled by US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang to tame its weapons ambitions.

In a over the weekend, Trump reiterated that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed, adding that 'only one thing will work'.

On Monday he again tweeted about the country, saying that the United States 'has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing', adding that 'policy did't work'.

Citing Seoul's defence ministry, Rhee said that 80 percent of the leaked documents had yet to be identified.

But the contingency plan for the South's special forces was stolen, he said, as well as details about annual joint military drills with the US and information on key military facilities and power plants.

Tension on the Korean peninsula is fueled by US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang to tame its weapons ambitions

A ministry spokesman declined to confirm the report, citing intelligence matters.

In May the ministry said North Korea had hacked into Seoul's military intranet but did not say what had been leaked.

Pyongyang has a 6,800-strong unit of trained cyber-warfare specialists, according to the South Korean government.

It has been accused of launching high-profile cyber-attacks including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures.

The Chosun Ilbo story was the second report Tuesday of military-related cyber-attacks in the Asia-Pacific.

Australia's government said separately an unidentified defence contractor had been hacked and a 'significant amount of data' stolen.

A spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army. Pictured above, artillery fires during North Korea's 'largest-ever' artillery drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army earlier this year

There were 47,000 cyber-incidents in the last 12 months, a 15 per cent increase from the previous year, Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan said in Canberra as he launched a report by the Cyber Security Centre

The defense contractor was exploited via an internet-facing server, with the cyber-criminals using remote administrative access to remain in its network, the report said.

The Australian newspaper reported that the hacker was based in China but Tehan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that 'we don't know and we cannot confirm exactly who the actor was'.

A spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army and maintaining full readiness in case of further conflict.

Consistent movements of personnel and equipment were being detected in certain locations in the North, Yonhap news agency reported, suggesting that preparations for another weapons test might be under way.

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday.
Matthew Scully-Hicks is accused of killing 18-month old Elsie after 'assaulting and abusing' her over several months. He is pictured arriving at Cardiff Crown Court today

A tearful father told a murder trial today how his adopted daughter was rushed to hospital after allegedly being battered by his gay husband.

Craig Scully-Hicks, 36, said he saw 18-month-old Elsie lying on the operating table after she was 'violently shaken' by his husband just two weeks after the pair formally adopted her, a court heard.

She died four days later.

Fitness instructor Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, is alleged to have called Elsie 'Satan dressed up in a baby grow' to husband Craig before her death.

Company manager Craig told a jury via videolink how his husband rang him to say Elsie was injured - and he dashed 100 miles to the hospital.

He said: 'She was on the operating table. There were just people everywhere and she was just lying on the table

'I remember speaking to the doctor and asking if it was something to do with her eye and he dismissed it.

'He said: "No it's her heart." Matt had already told me what happened.

'He said that she was fine. He had changed her for bed. She was on the floor in the lounge.

'He took the nappy out to the kitchen and was pottering about.

'When he went back into the room Elsie was lying on the floor. She looked like she was asleep but she wasn't.'

Cardiff Crown Court heard Matthew Scully-Hicks attempted CPR before the ambulance arrived.

Elsie spent four days in hospital until her life support was turned off at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Matthew Scully-Hicks is accused of 'assaulting and abusing' 18-month-old Elsie over seven months before murdering her at home.

The court heard he struggled to look after Elsie after giving up work to be a house-husband. He is alleged to have called the baby a 'psycho' and a 'proper diva'.

A court artist sketch of Matthew Scully-Hicks: He allegedly carried out the attacks on Elsie while his partner Craig kept working full time as a company director

Craig said he would often work away for days at a time while Matthew Scully-Hicks would look after Elsie and her sibling at home.

Craig, an account manager, said that just a month after Elsie was placed with the couple she began picking up injuries.

Robert O'Sullivan QC, defending Matthew Scully-Hicks, asked: 'Had you ever expected him of deliberately using violence against your children, you would've acted wouldn't you?'

A tearful Craig replied: 'My house was full of love and happiness all the time.

'If I'd suspected anything I would not have tolerated it.'

He described his husband as a 'great parent' and said Scully-Hicks was known as 'safety boy' by friends and family because he was so safety conscious.

Craig said he had never witnessed his husband shout or swear at his children or physically punish them.

Asked whether the couple had a preference for adopting a boy or a girl during their 'thorough adoption process', Craig said: 'Matthew was easy.

'I just wanted a daddy's little princess.'

Matthew Scully-Hicks, formerly of Llandaff, Cardiff, and now of Delabole, Cornwall, denies murder. The trial at Cardiff Crown Court (pictured), which is expected to last two weeks, continues

He said his partner had never shown any resentment about having to look after both children while Craig worked away for sometimes three days at a time.

He said: 'Not at all. I don't think he would've had it any other way.'

Craig earlier told the court that Elsie suffered a fractured leg and a bruised forehead while she was being cared for by his husband.

He said: 'I noticed she wouldn't put her foot down on the floor.

'Matthew said she had fallen from her activity table. He said she'd cried when she fell. He picked her up and comforted her.

'I didn't notice until the Saturday. It was ever so slight and wasn't obvious.

In court: Matthew Scully-Hicks (pictured), formerly of Llandaff, Cardiff, and now of Delabole, Cornwall, denies murder

'She had one foot flat on the floor and had the other on tip toes.'

Craig said he asked family members for advice and husband Matthew took Elsie to see the doctors the following Monday.

An X-ray showed Elsie had suffered a small fracture to her ankle and she was fitted with a cast.

Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC asked Craig whether Elsie was in pain and whether social services had been told of her injury.

Craig Scully-Hicks said: 'She didn't appear to be in any distress or pain.

'We were still getting visits from social services. Matthew must have told them about it, I don't think it was me.'

Craig said that a month later he was away again when Elsie suffered a bruise to her head.

The jury at Cardiff Crown Court was shown a text sent to him by Matthew telling him Elsie had fallen a day before a scheduled visit by social workers.

The text said: 'Honestly I want to cry. It's ridiculous.

'She went to pull herself on a toy kitchen and she whacked the corner of the worktop, right before our review too.'

Craig told the court: 'When I got home I could see the bruise. It was on the left side of her forehead.'

He described 'tiny' Elsie as 'delicate, but loud and bouncy' after she first moved in with him and his husband in September 2015, just under two years after they adopted their first child.

He said: 'She settled in fine. She was great. The house became louder. She was good apart from her sleeping. She liked to nap but then get up a few hours later.'

He said her adopted sibling had 'got used to her in the end' after initially throwing a tantrum when first seeing Elsie in bed with her new parents.

Health visitor Jodie Golten described Elsie as a 'happy, smiley child' during her first visit in October 2015.

In December that year, she noticed a bruise on Elsie's forehead - for which Scully-Hicks gave a 'plausible' explanation.

'I asked if she had seen any medical professional and I was told that she had been seen,' Mrs Golten said.

The court has previously been told that Elsie was not taken for medical treatment for the bruise.

Mrs Golten did not see Elsie during the last five months of her life, but phoned the family after she fell down the stairs.

During the call Scully-Hicks did not suggest any continuing problems with Elsie, or that she had been unwell, she added.

Matthew Scully-Hicks, formerly of Llandaff, Cardiff, and now of Delabole, Cornwall, denies murder.

The trial continues.
Colton Clark, 9, disappeared in 2006 and his body has never been found. Eleven years later, his foster parents, who are his aunt and uncle, have been convicted of killing him

An Oklahoma couple has been convicted of killing their foster son, even though the boy's body has never been found.

James Rex Clark, 67, and 61-year-old Rebecca Clark, of Seminole, were found guilty of first-degree murder by a Pontotoc County jury.

The couple was convicted in the killing of Colton Clark, 9, and also of abusing him and his older brother, Homer.

They face life in prison when sentenced. The jury recommended a life sentence for each of them, Koco News 5 reports.

At the trial attended by Koco News, Rebecca Clark maintained her and her husband's innocence.

Homer, who served as a witness against the elder Clarks, exclaimed 'Yes' in the courtroom after the judge announced the guilty verdict, Koco News reports.

Colton was first reported missing on April 20, 2006 from his home in Seminole County, Oklahoma.

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Rebecca Clark, 61, and James Rex Clark, 67, are pictured with two police officers as their guilty verdicts are read out. They were convicted of killing and abusing Colton, and also abusing his brother. The Clarks maintained their innocence after the verdict was announced

The Clarks said that Colton ran away from home. A report also found a pattern of abuse. Colton had been handcuffed to his bed and allegedly was beaten in the genitals with a cattle prod

The Clarks have said 9-year-old Colton, who was also their nephew, ran away from home. Police initially agreed.

But the case was reopened in 2016 and the Clarks were charged after prosecutors said Colton's brother told police the couple had abused them both.

And a report from the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth released in October 2016 detailed years of horrific abuse.

The boy's adoptive father, James Rex Clark, once handcuffed the boy to the bed when he was caught prowling around the house at night with a knife.

The Clarks were also accused of beating Colton and his older brother, and using a cattle prod on the boys' genitals.

Homer also claimed he was threatened by the Clarks to stick to their timeline of when Colton went missing, even though he says his younger brother was missing from the house much earlier than reported.

Video courtesy of Oklahoma News 4

Pictured is the Clark home in Seminole, Oklahoma. The couple will be sentenced in December. The jury recommended a life sentence

The Clarks are Colton and his brother's aunt and uncle, and they were placed in the home in October 2003. In November 2004, the couple officially adopted them.

In June 2005, the Department of Human Services received allegations that 'the children were suffering from issues because of their past abuse'.

Pictured is Colton's older brother, who testified against the Clarks in court

It took the department two months to send a worker out to interview Rebecca Clark, who claimed that 'Colt was involved in self-mutilation and other inappropriate behaviors, such as killing the family's pet bird, starting fires in occupied beds, and prowling around at night with a knife while the other family members slept'.

'It was reported to the OKDHS that the adoptive dad handcuffed him (Colt) to the bed and as a result, everyone got a good night sleep,' the report reads.

The DHS worker recommended that the family 'continue to access all mental health services' for the children, who had had five counselors in the past five years.

The older brother, who was removed from the Clark home in September 2006, said he last saw Colton lying face down and motionless on a couch. Colton's body has never been found.

Sentencing for the couple will occur in December.
The terrifying moment a car lost control and ploughed into a luxury Mercedes dealership has been caught on CCTV.

The video shows a blue car veering across Unley Road in Adelaide at about 1.30am on Tuesday.

The sedan mounts the curb before smashing into a glass roller door of a Mercedes-Benz dealership, narrowly missing three cars parked on display worth over $500,000, 9 News reported.

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The terrifying moment a car lost control and ploughed into a luxury Mercedes dealership has been caught on CCTV

The video shows a blue car veering across Unley Road in Adelaide at about 1.30am on Tuesday

Dealership manager Drew Ford said: 'A foot either side would've been a significantly different story.'

The 36-year-old driver ca be seen stumbling out of the car after the crash.

He was taken to hospital with only minor injuries.

Emergency crews pulled the car free and removed debris from the dealership.

'We're the ones that suffer financially, it's a big impact on our business which is disappointing,' Mr Ford said.

Police are investigation the crash and are awaiting blood and alcohol test results from the driver.

Currently no charges have been laid.

Police are investigation the crash and are awaiting blood and alcohol test results from the driver
A hero pensioner has been caught on camera taking on a moped gang armed with axes as they tried to smash their way in to a Mayfair jewellers with a sledgehammer.

The unknown man charged after the six-strong group with his umbrella as he was joined by a group of builders in fending off the raiders at Watchfinder Co off upmarket New Bond Street in London.

The would-be thieves were all wearing bike helmets and struck just hours after a similar gang raided Mappin and Webb jewellers in a near identical robbery less than half a mile away.

After jabbing at the brazen crooks, the pensioner is joined by other members of the public who are seen chasing after two mopeds carrying four offenders, while the other two fled the scene on foot.

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Masked raiders tried to smash their way into Watchfinder Co in Mayfair today, pictured, using a sledgehammer to smash against a window

The crooks, armed with axes, pictured, were then spooked by members of the public and ran off, without gaining entry

A have-a-go hero pensioner, left and right, was caught on camera trying to fend off the would-be robbers with an umbrella, jabbing at them as they fled

The workmen poured out of a nearby builder's yard and shouted at the gang to leave during the broad daylight attack at around 11.15am this morning, even managing to capture one of the gang with cable ties.

Builder Naz Prince, 29, said: 'They are cheeky little b******s. They razzed up on three bikes and started whacking the shop window with sledgehammers and axes.

'We shouted for them to stop and they said 'stay away we will cut you'. One of my mates said 'sod this' and ran into the yard and got a load of shovels.

'When they saw us all coming towards them they obviously bottled it and tried to drive off.

'One of the bikes fell over and one managed to run off, the other fella got tripped up by someone and we all just dived on him.

'We tied him up with cable ties and waited for the police to arrive. It does my head in, they razz around threatening people. We're not having it.'

They eventually sped off on mopeds, with four leaving via the bikes and two more running on foot

The pensioner was joined by a group of builders who also chased off the offenders, pictured

James Strouts, who is head of security at the New Bond Street watch shop, said: 'We have only been open two weeks, we can't believe it.

'Fortunately we operate a closed door policy, people have to be buzzed in. As you can see they had not had a chance getting through.

'Everyone is okay, shocked obviously. But we are encouraged by the great community spirit round here, we are grateful that everyone came out to stop them.

'It shows we will not be terrorised by these people.'

A man who helped execute a citizens' arrest on the robber said: 'I was in the coffee shop just opposite and heard this commotion.

'I went to the door and saw what was going on, there were three guys with sledgehammers and they trying to smash through and the others had axes to scare people away.

One of the crooks was eventually captured by the citizens and restrained with cable ties until police arrived, pictured

'I walked out of the coffee shop and one of them saw me and started walking towards me yelling with an axe in his hand.

'At that point I thought I was probably time to go back and stay in the coffee shop. Moments late they fled and I joined a few people to chase'

A restaurant worker and his colleagues also joined the group chase off the robbers.

He said: 'We looked out they were trying to smash the glass so not getting anywhere.

'Then the builders ran out, we were scared but we piled in as well and chased one of them down. We stick together around here.'

A notice was placed in the window of the store at around 9.45am this morning which simply read 'we will remain closed today due to unforeseen circumstances. Thank you'.

The audacious robbery came just hours after the gang struck a branch of the upmarket jewellers Mappin and Webb, in Regent Street, just after 7pm on Monday.

The crew smashed their way into the shop using hammers, axes and bats before swiping expensive watches from display cabinets.

The gang of six robbers raided Mappin and Webb on Regent Street shortly before 7.15pm last night

The gang, wielding a machete and a hammer, escaped on one bike after raiding Mappin & Webb in Regent Street, according to police

Staff at the store in discussion after the raid. The thieves made off with a high-value haul after smashing cabinets at the store in the West End at around 7.20pm on Monday.

Three members of the gang are thought to have raided the store, while three accomplices waited outside on the scooters.

The group - two up on each moped - then fled in three separate directions.

One pair sped off in the direction of Oxford Street before their scooter was involved in a collision with a pedestrian, but she did not suffer serious injuries.

A shop assistant at Mappin and Webb, who did not wish to be identified, said: 'They came in with helmets on and waving weapons around. We have procedures in place so all staff managed to get off the shop floor.

'They were in the store for one minute 58 seconds. Everyone is shocked but no one was hurt.'

He added: 'They took watches but we don't know exactly what yet, there is still glass everywhere.'

A shop worker on Oxford Street saw one of the bikes crash as it made its getaway.

He said: 'The bike careered along the road, they were carrying bags. I though they were mugging people.

'One guy was chasing them and pulling at the bags and they came off. It was a chaotic scene.'

A smashed pane of glass. Six robbers have fled on a single moped after a smash-and-grab raid at a high-end jewellers in central London

No arrests have been made and police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward

Mappin & Webb was founded in 1775 and customers have included Queen of France Marie Antoinette, Grace Kelly and Winston Churchill

DC Matt Hollands from the Met's Flying Squad said: 'We are following up a number of active leads on this live investigation.

'This raid was targeted and lasted only a few minutes. My team are busy collecting witness accounts and recovering vital CCTV footage of the burglary at the store and of the suspects leaving the scene.

'We know that the group panicked and rode recklessly in different directions to escape. Thankfully no members of the public were injured.

'I'd like to appeal for those who saw the individuals involved, either at the scene or fleeing, to get in touch with police and send us any images and footage that they have.

'All the suspects wore dark motorcycle clothing and black motorcycle helmets and a weapon has also been recovered at the scene.'

Witnesses tweeted pictures of the jewellers filled with smoke after the incident.

Steve Ralfe posted: 'Smash and grab at Regent Street jewellers. All three emergency services on scene, smoke deployed in the store.'

Siobhain Butterworth wrote: 'Seems to have been an attempted robbery at Mappin & Web on Regent Street. Getaway vehicle appears to have been scooter.'

Crimes involving mopeds have exploded in London, and threaten to spread to other cities. In the 12 months to June, the Metropolitan Police recorded 16,158 thefts by people using mopeds  more than three times as many as the 5,145 reported between July 2015 and June 2016.

Thefts of scooters and mopeds by gangs to carry out street muggings have also doubled in the capital since 2013.
An 'acid attack' victim was heard 'screaming in pain' after he was sprayed during a blazing road rage row outside a nursery in east London.

Two men were left injured as a result of the terrifying incident, by Abbey's Children Centre in Barking, today.

Police confirmed a 'corrosive substance' had been hurled at the pair and a man - believed aged in his 30s - suffered minor injuries.

The suspected road rage attack happened outside the Abbey Children's Centre, pictured, on North Street in Barking, east London at around midday according to the Metropolitan Police

Police confirmed the lunchtime attack involved a corrosive substance

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said he had heard 'commotion' coming from men in three parked cars at the scene.

He told the Sun: 'They we're having an argument in the middle of the road.

'Then I just saw one of the men leap back and start holding his legs.He was screaming out in pain and then sat on the nursery steps. It's awful.'

Scotland Yard confirmed the incident was the result of a 'road rage' dispute.

Police stressed Abbey's Children Centre was not involved in the incident. No arrests have been made.

Last week, Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced plans to ban the sale of acid and other corrosive liquids to children under the age of 18.

Recent figures have shown that Barking and Dagenham are among the current hotspots for acid attacks in London.

Previously, Barking and Dagenham Council admitted they were considering evicting anyone convicted of an acid attack from council property.




Shanghai (Gasgoo)-On Sept. 28, Youxia's first Global Partner Summit was held in Shanghai International Convention Center. More than 300 supply-chain companies and financial institutions relevant to the program of Youxia X's mass-production, and the governors from Huzhou and Shanghai also attended the summit. Youxia Motors signed the Youxia X1 strategic cooperation agreement with 20 domestic and international class-leading parts suppliers like Bosch, Fukuta, Wanxiang Group. At the same time, Youxia also signed overall strategic cooperation agreement with Bank of Shanghai, SPD Bank and Ping An Bank. They will deepen their cooperation in Youxia Motors' various needs, such as in the area of auto parts, system of battery, electric motor, and electric control, production and sales of the future models.

During the meeting, Wei Jun, Chairman of Youxia Motors made a detailed introduction of Youxia Motors' history, the position of mass-produced model, the process of development, future planning and international cooperation. Youxia's foresight for auto industry continuously influenced the design of its mass-produced models and its overall industrial deployment and plan. Wei Jun expressed that the mass-produced model, the Youxia X1 will extend the design of concept car and strengthen Youxia's family design style to meet the mainstream customers' demand and expectation for electric vehicle products, being competitive in the future market with excellent driving and using experience.

Statistics from China's authorities shows that 2019 will see the explosive growth of the next-generation electric vehicle products, and the era of mature electric vehicle market will come. Facing the mature electric vehicle market, the Youxia X1 will feature a good-looking appearance, high performance, and intelligent functions. The X1 will be the representative product for Youxia's product lineup in the future. Wei Jun said on the summit.

The Youxia X1 will boast a cruise capability of more than 500km, multiple charging modes, premium accelerating performance, a promotion of autonomous driving technology, etc., maximally meeting customers' expectation. The X1 is expected to be launched in 2018. After its releasing, Youxia will gradually pave the way for manufacturing and selling its vehicle products, and fulfill the goal of manufacturing annual total volume of 200,000 units.

During the summit, Bosch, the world-leading auto parts company represented all of Youxia's suppliers, expressed its strong determination to cooperate with Youxia Motors.

Youxia Motors is dedicated to realizing the dream of global sustainable energy. By cooperating with industry-leading companies in other sectors and planning its own strategies, Youxia Motors will shape a complete industry chain for itself.
A Filipino doctor accused of wiring money for a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square rejects the allegations and has vowed to fight US extradition, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016.

On Tuesday, his lawyer said Salic, a 37-year-old Muslim orthopedic surgeon who trained at a government hospital in the southern Philippines, had no connection with terrorist activities and groups.

Salic told the undercover agent his ultimate goal was to join the Islamic State group in Syria but that 'it would be a great pleasure if we can slaughter' people in New York, the papers said.

Russell Salic has been charged with involvement in a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016

El Bahnasawy sent this image of the NYC subway, modified with circles and arrows. 'The 2 subways we will blow up will be the purple one, and the green one,' he wrote in one message, likely referring to the 7 train and the 4-5-6 line, which intersect at Grand Central Station

'He even said that he is mad at terrorist activities. He said that in Islam, terrorism is prohibited. He is a devout Muslim. He is praying five times a day,' lawyer Dalomilang Parahiman said.

Salic is accused of transferring $423 in May 2016 to the other suspects to help fund a thwarted operation that was planned through internet messaging applications, according to the US justice department.

New York's subway, Times Square and some concert venues were identified as targets in the plot that was monitored by an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow jihadist, US authorities said.

His lawyer said Salic voluntarily surrendered to Filipino authorities in April, contradicting the US government's statement that he was arrested.

Salic faces legal proceedings seeking his extradition to the United States.

'Yes, of course he would (contest it). He is innocent,' Parahiman said. 'They weaved stories to link the person' to the plot, he added.

The undercover agent said in a sworn statement that the FBI had monitored several social media accounts which he believed to be Salic's, in which the doctor posted content 'supportive of' religious war and terrorist activities.

But Parahiman said Salic was not in control of his social media presence at the time.

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, the Department of Justice Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras shows an extradition request by the U.S. government for Filipino doctor Russell Salic accused by U.S. authorities of plotting terrorist attacks in New York city during an Associated Press interview in Manila, Philippines. On Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, a lawyer for Salic, the orthopedic doctor who is now detained in Manila, said he donated money to charity but not to terrorists and is a 37-year-old Muslim who renounces terrorism and has never held a gun in his life. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Members of NYPD Counterterrorism force stand guard in Times Square where the alleged plot would focus

'According to the doctor, his (social media) account was hacked. It took him several weeks before he recovered the account.'

On Monday, the Philippine military accused Salic of having ties with pro-ISIS militants that attacked the southern city of Marawi, and funding terrorists in the United States, the Middle East and Malaysia.

Salic's lawyer said his client only gave money to unspecified individuals and a charitable group for 'humanitarian considerations'.

'He just took pity at these people because he was a bachelor and did not have many expenses. He just wanted to help them,' Parahiman said.

The chief of the government hospital in Cagayan de Oro city where Salic worked as a resident physician and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon expressed surprise at the allegations.

'I can't believe it because I can't imagine doctors would be involved in those kinds of activities,' Northern Mindanao Medical Centre chief Jose Chan told AFP, adding that co-workers shared his sentiment.

'He is a silent guy. He gets along well with other doctors in the department or other doctors in the other departments, just like any other resident in the hospital,' Chan said.

The hospital chief also said he knew nothing of the personal life or religious beliefs of Salic, who completed his residency last April.

'Russell, we are here to support you. We hope it is not true and I hope you can defend yourself,' Chan said.

Prosecutors on Thursday unsealed charges against two others in the plot Canadian citizen Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 19 and Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old US citizen residing in Pakistan.

All three were arrested months ago, but the charges had been sealed as investigators with the FBI and NYPD Counterterrorism Unit searched for possible co-conspirators.

El Bahnasawy is in US custody and has pleaded guilty to federal terror charges, while the other two men await extradition from foreign custody to face charges in the US.

Prosecutors say the three men plotted to bomb and shoot up heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan in 2016.

El Bahnasawy took the lead on the ground, entering the US from Canada to secure a cabin near New York City to use as an operating base and bomb-making facility, according to investigators.

Meanwhile, Haroon met with explosives experts in Pakistan and planned to join El Bahnasawy in the US to carry out the attacks, and Salic sent support funds from the Philippines, according to prosecutors.

The three men communicated with each other using a messaging app, but were tricked into revealing their plan to an undercover agent on the app posing as an ISIS member.

'[W]e seriously need a car bomb at times square... Look at these crowds of people!' El Bahnasawy messaged the undercover agent along with a picture of the New York City landmark last May, according to prosecutors.

El Bahnasawy also spoke glowingly of a plan to 'shoot up concerts cuz they kill a lot of people,' the indictment said.

'[W]e just walk in with guns in our hands. That's how the Paris guys did it,' the message said in apparent reference to the November 2015 attacks on the Bataclan theater, which left 130 dead in Paris.

Meanwhile, Haroon allegedly felt that the New York subway was a 'perfect' target, telling the undercover there would be plenty of 'women and kids' to target and adding: 'when we run out of bullets we let the vests go off.'

Harron also mused about an attack on Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, allegedly sending the message: 'We surround the whole street and trap them and kill as many as possible.'

'I wanna kill... them in thousands' he allegedly wrote, 'we have to make a ocean out of their blood... Leave no one standing.'

'NY Needs to fall. It's a must,' Haroon allegedly texted the undercover federal agent.

In the Phillipines, Salic, aka 'The Doctor', allegedly played the money man, sending funds to support the plot against New York City.

Prosecutors said that Salic gloated about the benefits of operating out of the Philippines in a message to the undercover: 'Terrorists from all over the world usually come here as a breeding ground... hahahaha... But no worry here in Philippines. They dont care bout IS[IS]... loll Only in west.'

Investigators monitored the plot to see how serious the men were, and sprang into action after El Bahnasawy purchased bomb-making materials and secured the cabin in the US.

On May 21, 2016, El Bahnasawy entered the US from Canada and made his way toward the New York metro area. The FBI arrested him that night in Cranford, New Jersey.

Haroon was arrested in Pakistan in September 2016 and Salic was arrested in the Philippines in April 2017.

El Bahnasawy has pleaded guilty to his role and awaits sentencing, as the two other men await extradition to the US to face charges.

All three men face sentences of life in prison.
The Canary holiday island of La Palma has recorded dozens of mini-earthquakes over the weekend, scientists report.

More than 40 tremors were recorded in just 48 hours, all between 1.5 and 2.7 on the Richter scale.

However, the earthquakes took place at such depth under the sea that residents on the island did not feel them.

Shaken: More than 40 tremors were recorded in just 48 hours, all between 1.5 and 2.7 on the Richter scale, by seismologists on La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands

The largest of the tremors, which took place at 1pm on Saturday hit 2.7 on the Richter scale and was located at a depth of 17.4miles.

In the following hours, another ten tremors were recorded, taking the total of mini-earthquakes until Tuesday to 50, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN).

La Palma is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, and is home to some 86,000 people - a population which increases significantly during tourist season.

Like the other Canary Islands, La Palma is volcanic and is considered the most 'active' in the archipelago.

Rare: Such seismic activity is not usual on Palma but, experts say, not abnormal

The most recent eruption on the island, which saw the Cumbre Vieja - 'Old Summit' - volcano erupt, took place in 1971.

The current event has been dubbed a 'seismic swarm', and while unusual, large numbers of these smaller tremors are not abnormal, the director of the IGN in the Canary Islands, Maria Jose Blanco, told Canarias7.

However, she added that they had "never recorded a similar swarm' since monitoring began on La Palma.

The IGN and the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan) have increased surveillance on the island to monitor the increase in seismic activity.

A spokesperson for Involcan told Canarias7 that 'seismic swarms' are 'absolutely normal' for an active volcano. such as Cumbre Vieja.
President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order allowing consumers to purchase health plans sold in other states.

'They'll be able to cross state lines. And they will get great competitive healthcare, and it will cost the United States nothing,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday morning. 'Take care of a big percentage of the people that we're talking about, too,' he said.

Trump is taking the executive action to assist consumers who live in states where Obamacare has either gone belly up or premiums skyrocketed.

'With Congress the way it is, I decided to take it upon myself,' he announced. 'So we'll be announcing that soon, as far as the singing is concerned, but it's largely worked out.'

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President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order allowing consumers to purchase health plans sold in other states

Republican lawmakers like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have long plugged the plan as a way to increase consumer choice and lower costs. They wanted to include it in repeal and replace legislation, but that would have run afoul of the Senate rule they were relying on as a vehicle for their proposed reforms.

Trump said he last month that he may loosen a restriction on where insurance plans can be sold through fiat. He previewed the move again in a Tuesday morning tweet that said, 'Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST'.

Paul said weeks ago, on the heels of the Senate's last Obamacare repeal failure, that Trump would be taking action in the near term.

'I think there's going to be big news from the White House in the next week or two, something they can do on their own,' he told MSNBC in a Sept. 27 interview.

The Kentucky Republican added, 'I believe that President Trump can legalize on his own the ability of individuals to join a group or a health association across state lines and buy insurance.'

That same day Trump affirmed his interest in an executive action that encompasses Paul's proposal.

The president told reporters, 'I am considering an executive order on associations and that will take care of a tremendous number of people with regard to healthcare, and I'll probably be signing a very major executive order where people can go out, cross state lines, do lots of things and buy their own healthcare.'

Trump has long said that he would sign an order freeing up consumers to purchase health care from providers outside the state they reside in. It was billed as part two of his administration's three-step Obamacare repeal plan.

Trump confirmed his intention to sign the measure easing health insurance regulations at the top of a meeting with Henry Kissinger, a secretary of state to two previous presidents

The administration argued earlier this year that it could not ease regulations like this one until the House and Senate passed Obamacare repeal.

Procedural rules in the Senate prevented the measure from being inserted directly into a healthcare bill because lawmakers were relying on a process called reconciliation that applies only to budgetary items.

Through reconciliation, the GOP could use its simple majority to pass a repeal bill. The party was ultimately unable to swing enough senators its way before an end-of-September deadline.

As lawmakers like Paul argued that the measure should be in the GOP's legislation, regardless of the rules, Trump said in a tweet, 'Dont worry, getting rid of state lines  will be in phase 2 & 3 of healthcare rollout.'

The executive order Trump says he will soon sign may help him win over lawmakers like Paul who will make or break a future health reform vote.

'I think Rand will be there for us,' Trump recently told reporters.

Trump envisions a new vote to repeal and replace Obamacare at the beginning of next year. Vice President Mike Pence has promised reforms by the end of next year.

The president has said that he's talking to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer about a short-term fix to Obamacare, also.

'We're going to have to do something with Obamacare because it's failing,' Trump said Tuesday. 'And it's actually getting worse; it's getting worse by the minute. So we're going to have to do something with Obamacare and that will work out.'
A groom in Saudi Arabia walked out of his own wedding ceremony after the bride's father insisted that his daughter be allowed to drive after their marriage.

The bride's father had demanded that his daughter get a driving license and a car when Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving in June 2018.

The groom, who had agreed to a dowry of 40,000 riyals ($10,666) as well as letting his soon-to-be wife continue working after getting married, was so surprised by the additional demand that he left the ceremony.

The bride's father had demanded that his daughter get a driving license and a car when Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving in June 2018 (file photo of a woman in the driver's seat of a car in a showroom in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

The father's request was made just minutes before the religious wedding ceremony was set to begin, according to Al-Marsd.

The groom quickly rejected the request and walked out of the building, leaving his family behind.

He then asked his cousins to bring dinner to his fiancee's family, but did not participate in the feast.

Last month, Saudi Arabia lifted its long-criticized ban on women driving. The lift will go into effect in June 2018.

The historic decision to allow women to drive won plaudits internationally and inside the conservative kingdom last month.

King Salman's decree, which takes effect next June, is part of an ambitious reform push that runs the risk of a backlash from religious hardliners.

Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women driving, and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression in the Gulf kingdom.

US President Donald Trump welcomed the decision as 'a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia'.

King Salman's (pictured) lift of the driving ban, which takes effect next June, is part of an ambitious reform push that runs the risk of a backlash from religious hardliners

British Prime Minister Theresa May hailed it as an 'important step towards gender equality'.

Saudi Arabia will use the 'preparatory period' until June to expand licensing facilities and develop the infrastructure to accommodate millions of new motorists, state media said.

Conservative clerics in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy ruled according to Islamic sharia law, have long opposed lifting the ban, arguing it would lead to promiscuity.

One of them even claimed that driving harmed women's ovaries.

The announcement last month follows decades of resistance from female activists, many of whom were jailed for flouting the ban.

Under the country's guardianship system, a male family member - normally the father, husband or brother - must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities.

It was unclear whether women would require their guardian's permission to apply for driving licences.

With more than half the country aged under 25, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king's son and the architect of the reforms, is seen as catering to the aspirations of youths.

Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government, Prince Mohammed, 32, is seen as stamping out internal dissent before any formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father.
A university has just started a new degree in growing marijuana.

Medicinal Plant Chemistry at Northern Michigan University is a four-year course involving chemistry, biology, botany, horticulture, marketing and finance.

Only in its first semester, the class already has 12 students and the number is increasing every week, according to Dr Mark Paulsen, director of the university's chemistry department.

Higher education: A university has just started a new degree in growing marijuana (stock image)

But far from being an easy ride, students say the course is rigorous and challenging.

Nineteen year old sophomore Alex Roach told the Detroit Free Press: 'When they hear what my major is, there are a lot of people who say, 'Wow, cool dude. You're going to get a degree growing marijuana.' But it's not an easy degree at all.'

The legal marijuana business employs between 165,000 and 230,000 Americans - so it's no wonder universities are spotting a chance to become a major pipeline for the industry.

Courses relating to the marijuana business already exist at Harvard, University of Denver, Vanderbilt University and Ohio State University among others - but NMU claims this is 'the only degree program of its kind.'

Its website reads: 'Increasing legitimacy and legality of medicinal plants nationwide has created great demand for qualified technical personnel and great opportunity for the skilled entrepreneur in the cannabis, herbal extract, and natural product industries.

'Medicinal Plant Chemistry at Northern Michigan University is the only 4-year undergraduate degree program of its kind designed to prepare students for success in the emerging industries relating to medicinal plant production, analysis, and distribution.'

Brandon Cangield, an associate chemistry professor at NMU, told CBS Detroit: 'The need for this is so great.' (stock image)

At the moment there's no hands-on experience as the university doesn't grow marijuana on campus - but this could change if cultivation rules relax.

Brandon Cangield, an associate chemistry professor at NMU, told CBS Detroit: 'The need for this is so great.

'You go to some of these cannabis industry conferences and everyone is talking about how they need labs, they need labs.

'Or the bigger operations are trying to set up their own labs in house and they need trained analysts. And the skill set required to perform these analysis is perfectly matched with an undergraduate level education.'

Michigan voted to legalize medical marijuana use in 2008. One in five Americans now lives in a state where marijuana is legal, including California which takes $1billion a year in cannabis taxes.
University graduates need to look at moving out of the city if they want to find a job, with up to 46 grads competing for one job.

Raife Watson, the CEO of Adzuna - a job search engine - told Lifestyle Overnight there were 'a lot of jobs out there, but not a lot of jobs for graduates'.

Mr Watson said Sydney was a great place for a graduate to find a job, as a lot of companies started up in the capital city, and a lot of infrastructure projects underway.

But for the best chances of finding a graduate job, Mr Watson said the Northern Territory was the place to go.

Graduates are facing stiff competition for jobs, with one graduate position advertised for every 46 university graduates in South Australia

South Australia was the worst place to find a graduate position according to the company's research, with 46 graduates competing for each job on average.

NSW has odds of 20 to one, but the Northern Territory has only an average of ten people applying for each job.

Mr Watson said that unsurprisingly, the top end often struggled to attract graduates, meaning the jobs were more plentiful.

'Go somewhere where your skills are really needed for a couple of years and develop those skills,' he advised new graduates.

Nationally, the average was 22 new graduates for each relevant position.

Mr Watson said universities had 'a lot to answer for' in terms of course admission far outweighing job availability.

'Universities are now profit making machines, and a lot of them are offering huge amounts of students these courses that there are no jobs for,' he said.

'You come out of uni with a $40,000 debt and no hope of finding a job in your chosen profession.'

Raife Watson (pictured), the CEO of job search engine Adzuna, says the Northern Territory is the best place for new grads to look for a position, with only 10 people competing for each graduate position

Mr Watson told the Sydney Morning Herald new graduates were now often taking up jobs completely unrelated to their expensive qualifications in order to pay the bills.

'You end up behind a bar, or in some other job that's unrelated to what you studied. You see a lot of law graduates going into sales or call centres,' he said.

And while Adzuna's research showed there were about 90 law graduates for every graduate law position, there were only nine graduates with engineering degrees for each related position.

Mr Watson said there needed to be a bigger push from the government to ensure fields that need skilled workers have enough people, and students aren't left out of pocket and out of a job.

'We need to think about what's really needed in education, the courses that we really need in the country,' he said.

'Why aren't we pushing more people into STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] degrees?'
Shards of smashed glass litter the floors and counter tops of the Carey Hotel Bar in Wichita, Kansas, now severely damaged. It had been one of the most elaborate bars in the city, decorated with intricate accents and elaborate wall paper.

Before it was 'smashed' by Carry Nation 117 years ago in December 1900, the bar was one of the prime spots where the well-to-do frequented for a drink during Kansas prohibition.

Though Carry went to smash up the bar with her hatchet, she also had another target: the portrait of a naked woman hanging above the bar.

'This is what these places do, they strip a woman of her clothes and degrade her,' Carry said, according to Kansas historian Blair Tarr. Carry was arrested after smashing up the bar and even spent a few weeks in jail, but eventually had to be let out because she couldn't be held for destroying something that legally wasn't supposed to exist.

Carry A. Nation was the stuff of legends. With a hatchet in one hand and her Bible in the other, Carry became famous  or infamous  for using her signature axe to smash up illegal bars and saloons in Kansas during the Prohibition era.

Rumor was that the formidable, deeply religious woman stood six feet tall, despite the fact that she was only about 5'5" and though she rarely smiled, Carry had a much softer heart than her violent protests would suggest.

Carry Amelia Nation became the face of the temperance movement when she started smashing up illegal bars and saloons in Kansas in the early 1900s. Kansas had enacted state prohibition in 1881, but alcoholism continued to be a problem. Carry is pictured with her famous hatchet in one hand and her Bible in the other between 1900 and 1911

In December 1900, just a few months after Carry smashed up her first bar in Kiowa, Kansas, Carry went to Wichita and smashed up one of the fanciest bars in town, the Carey Hotel Bar (pictured). At the time, Carry threw rocks during that protest and specifically went after the picture of a naked woman that hung over the bar (left)

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the idea of prohibition was actually considered to be 'progressive', according to Tarr, a curator at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka.

'The idea behind that was by removing the drink you would have a healthier public, you wouldn't have the alcoholics,' he says. 'You might take care of some issues like spousal and child abuse that took place, which is one of the things that Carry was interested in taking care of.'

Though national prohibition wouldn't be enacted until 1920, prohibition in Kansas began in 1881. Despite the law, liquor and alcoholism were still prevalent in the state.

After Carry moved to Kansas with her second husband and their family, she claimed she was told by God to do something about the bars and alcoholism.

She gathered groups of women to sing and pray loudly outside bars to close them, but when that didnt work she went to the county attorney, the state attorney and the Kansas governor himself. Each of the officials rejected and ignored her requests, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Carry Amelia Moore was born in Kentucky on November 25, 1846. When she was 21, she married Charles Gloyd who she found out was an alcoholic after they were married. He didn't provide for her because he was always drunk, so Carry left him before she gave birth to their daughter, Charlien. Six months after she moved back in with her parents, Charles Gloyd died. Carry is pictured between 1865 and 1875

Carry remarried David Nation, a man 19 years older than her, in 1874, though according to Blair Tarr, a curator at the Kansas State Historical Society, David wasn't very good at providing for Carry either. Carry is pictured between 1900 and 1911

Carry Amelia Moore was born in Kentucky on November 25, 1846. Her family moved to Missouri where her father owned a farm and when Carry was 19 years old, a Civil War doctor named Charles Gloyd rented a room in her family's home. She soon fell in love with him and despite her parents' disapproval, they were married on November 21, 1867.

Charles arrived at the ceremony already drunk.

Married life was miserable for Carry. Charles was rarely home and couldn't provide for her. Carry left Charles before giving birth to their daughter Charlien because their living conditions were so bad. Six months after she left, Charles died from alcoholism.

Carry went on to get her teaching certificate in 1872 and taught for four years in Holden, Missouri, before she met David Nation, a lawyer, preacher and journalist who was 19 years older than she.

He needed someone to help care for his children and household and Carry needed to be supported, so the two were married on December 27, 1874.

However, David was only 'sort of an improvement' from Charles Gloyd, according to Tarr.

'I don't think he was actually an alcoholic,' Tarr says. 'He was not a very good breadwinner, however David Nation wasnt really the person who did much work.

Her luck with marriage was not very good.

Carry smashed her first bar after she moved to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, with David Nation. She claimed God had told her to do something about alcoholism in the state and when talking with officials, even the governor, didn't work, she decided to take matters into her own hands in June 1900, when she smashed a bar in Kiowa, Kansas. Pictured is a saloon she wrecked in Enterprise, Kansas in 1901

Carry was 54 when she started smashing bars in Kansas. She rarely caused damage outside the state, according to Tarr, who points out that it was difficult for officials to keep Carry in jail for long periods of time when she was destroying bars that weren't supposed to exist in the first place. Carry is pictured in 1908 at the age of 62

In 1888, the Nations moved to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, where David was a preacher. Carry joined the local chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and went into jails to evangelize and speak with the inmates, where she realized that a lot of the problems they had could be traced back to alcoholism, Tarr says.

She decided she had to go after it some way.

In June 1900, at the age of 54, Carry decided to try to get rid of the bars in Kiowa, a town 25 miles south of Medicine Lodge. When she got there, she took bricks and started smashing up a bar.

'Carry is not the first woman to smash a saloon,' Tarr says. 'They were doing that in the country in various places going back to 1820. And she wasn't the last person to smash a saloon. She is, however, the person who put the face on prohibition by her actions.'

Though she smashed her first bar alone, Carry was eventually joined by other women and was even asked to come to specific places, including Enterprise, Kansas.

There she smashed a saloon with a group of women, but the saloon keepers wife also gathered women to oppose the prohibitionists and it turned into a fight. Carry left with a black eye and some bruises.

'[The WCTU] had mixed feelings about her, too,' Tarr adds. 'When she had started smashing, they didn't really like her efforts When it seemed like she was actually making some progress, though, they kind of changed their minds and thought she was worthwhile and even gave her an award at some point.'

Though Carry smashed her first bar alone, she was soon asked to come to specific places by other prohibition supporters to lead a bar smashing. A group of women asked her to come to Enterprise, Kansas, in January 1901. A crowd is pictured outside an Enterprise saloon that Carry was destroying

The wife of the saloon owner in Enterprise actually gathered her own group of women to fight against Carry and during the altercation, Carry got a black eye and several other bruises. Pictured: The saloon that was wrecked by Carry in January 1901 in Enterprise

Pictured is the saloon Carry wrecked in Enterprise in 1901. The saloon was owned by a man named Bill Shook

Carry was arrested an estimated 30 times during her smashings. She is pictured being arrested by the city marshal in Enterprise in 1901 after she smashed a saloon in town

Early on, Carry used a variety of weapons including a club, bricks, stones and even an iron rod, but when she went to Wichita, someone handed her a hatchet and suggested she use it instead.

'That's how she got the term "hatchetations" that she used for her smashing,' Tarr chuckles. 'It really did get to be a symbol for her.'

With all the damage she caused, Carry was arrested an estimated number of 30 times, but she didn't spend much time in jail and instead paid an occasional fine.

'She might [be arrested] for something like disturbing the peace but you do have the question that rises up: how can you be arrested for destroying something that isn't supposed to exist in the first place? And this is important because she doesn't really do a lot of the smashing outside of Kansas.'

Carry is pictured kneeling and reading her Bible in a jail cell between 1904 and 1905. Though she was arrested a number of times, officials couldn't hold her for long, since she was destroying property that was itself illegal

Early on, Carry used a variety of weapons including a club, bricks, stones and even an iron rod to destroy bars, but when she went to Wichita, someone handed her a hatchet and suggested she use it instead. The hatchet soon became a symbol for her, that she used to market herself. She is pictured holding a hatchet and Bible in 1901

Carry still made quite a name for herself across the country and was invited to give speeches and lectures on prohibition all over the United States and abroad.

Carry even used her hatchet as a marketing tool, selling pins shaped like hatchets that she sold out of her purse. Pictured is a gold-plated and mother-of-pearl souvenir hatchet pin with a rhinestone mounted at the center, pinned to its original paper card, from the Kansas State Historical Society

Around 1902 as she was becoming popular, she changed her name to be spelled with a 'y'. Though her family Bible spelled her name the same way, she had used the spelling 'Carrie' for most of her life. After changing the spelling, she even trademarked her name in Kansas.

'She's a good public relations person,' Tarr says. 'Concluding her talk, or at some point during her talks she might say something to the effect of: "And if you follow my efforts and join us, we can Carry A. Nation to prohibition."

'It's a great way of selling herself,' he adds.

She also used her hatchet as a marketing tool, selling signed pictures of herself holding a hatchet in one hand and a Bible in the other, and pins shaped like tiny hatchets that someone had given to her in Topeka. She started selling the pins out of a purse she always kept with her and she did that for the rest of her life, which helped pay for transportation, meals, lodging and even the occasional fine.

Carry also sold signed photographs of herself, which she often showed her holding her hatchet in one hand and her Bible in the other

Though she really only smashed bars in Kansas, Carry became well-known far outside the state. She was invited to give lectures and speeches across the country. She is pictured with a group in Rochester, New York in 1901

But prohibition wasn't the only topic Carry was passionate about. She fought for women's right to vote and for women's health issues, particularly against corsets, which she believed were unhealthy for women to wear.

'She didn't always have the science behind her, but she seemed to understand things that were a problem,' Tarr says, adding that she was also adamantly against smoking, particularly when she had to inhale second second-hand smoke.

'It was not unusual for her, if somebody was smoking in her presence, to take the cigar or cigarette from their mouth and throw it on the ground and step on it and lecture just walking down the street.'

Prohibition wasn't the only cause Carry was passionate about. Though she didn't necessarily have the science behind it, Carry thought tobacco was unhealthy and she particularly hated second hand smoke. She is pictured talking to two men on a city street

Carry also fought for women's right to vote and for women's health issues. One of those issues was that she thought corsets were unhealthy for women to wear. Carry is pictured reading her Bible to three women around 1900

In fact, once when she was in Britain to give lectures there, she was arrested for breaking the glass on an bus advertisement for cigarettes, but the judge quickly dismissed the case and let her go if she paid for the glass.

Pictured is a poster for one of Carry's lecture series around the country between 1901 and 1902

'This is someone with very strong opinions, obviously, and you can sort of see how we get to the stereotypes [that she] is just a crazy old loon who is being a busybody and doesn't want anybody to drink. And there is sort of that in there, but it's not completely true. There are reasons behind why she did it,' Tarr says.

'She was also very interested in trying to help women who came from families of alcoholics where they might be abused or their children were abused. She actually set up homes a few places for these women she they had a place to get away. That's something you don't usually hear when talking about Carry Nation.'

He adds: 'She really did have, I think, more of a softer personality until she really got riled.'

Once, when Carry was on a lecture tour, she arrived at her hotel to get some rest before her busy schedule the next day only to find out that a reporter had come to the hotel hoping for an interview.

Because Carry was so tired she initially said she wasn't interested, but when she found out the reporter was a woman at risk of losing her job without a good story, Carry agreed to a full interview.

'I think that says a lot about Carry,' Tarr says. 'That she understood people, she understood their difficulties. She had been through so much herself. And if there was some way she could help, she would And I think she knew she didn't necessarily have to win, she just had to do what she could to make things happen. And I think she was pretty successful of that in the long run.'

Throughout her life, she also wrote and revised an autobiography titled: The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation. She is pictured holding her hatchet up in a street in 1909

Wherever Carry went, she drew a crowd of supporters and people there just to see the spectacle. Carry is pictured in Wheeling, West Virginia, around 1900, addressing a crowd on an elevated platform

Carry even visited New York City to speak. She is pictured outside the Dewey Theatre in 1901

Carrys mother and daughter were both committed to asylums during her lifetime. Her mother, Mary Moore, was committed by her son, most likely because he owed his mother money, according to Tarr. Carry's daughter Charlien was also put into an asylum by her husband, who Tarr says was abusive.

'Both commitments to asylums are really questionable by our standards today,' he says. 'It didn't take much to put someone into an asylum. And for women this was particularly a danger because if they were thought not to act in a way that a proper woman was in Victorian America, they were probably a candidate for the asylum.'

Though Carry tried desperately to get both her mother and daughter out, Tarr says only Charlien was rescued, though she then suffered from a series of health problems.

On top of that, David Nation filed for divorce against Carry in 1901 because of 'alienation of affections or abandonment', Tarr says.

'She never remarried. I think twice was enough for her, probably. And actually, she didn't argue with the divorce from David Nation. In fact, I think she said something at the point: "David's a nice man, but he's too slow for me". That puts it rather nicely,' Tarr chuckles.

Soon after they split, David died. But Carry continued on with her work, traveling across the country giving lectures and speeches. She tried to start several newspapers and newsletters to promote her work. She also wrote and revised an autobiography titled: The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation, over the course of her life.

'She was a major figure. People may not have agreed with her always, but she drew a crowd. Both her supporters and those who just wanted to see the spectacle, really. And that continued to the end of her life.'

Carry was even invited to speak in England and Scotland. At one lecture, she spoke about prohibition and at the other she spoke out against smoking. She is pictured outside the Temperance Hotel in London around 1900

David Nation divorced Carry in 1901 and she didn't argue the divorce. She simply said something like: 'David's a nice man, but he's too slow for me'. Carry is pictured with a man and woman on a ship's deck

By 1911 Carry had moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and had several properties, including a house for abused and abandoned women and children.

As she was giving a speech on stage in January that year, she was suddenly overtaken by a heart attack or stroke and she collapsed, saying: 'I hath done what I could,' a Biblical admonition from the book of Mark, where Jesus says Mary 'has done what she could' by anointing him by washing his feet.

Six months after she collapsed, on June 9, 1911, Carry Nation died in Leavenworth, Kansas. She is buried in Belton, Missouri with her tombstone reading: 'Faithful to the cause of prohibition/"She hath done what she could".'

In death and in life, Carry was often misrepresented in the press. Though doctors said her official cause of death was heart failure, some newspapers printed that she had died from paresis, caused by venereal disease. During her lifetime, Carry was often credited with damaging more saloons than she actually smashed and newspapers would publish outlandish stories about Carry whether they were true or not.

'You really have to evaluate [the newspapers] hard to figure out what's true and what's not It shows some of the problems of trying to evaluate Carry as a character.'

One of the biggest misconceptions about Carry that people still believe today is that Carry was six-feet tall. However, the historical society acquired many of Carry's belongings, including some of her dresses. When they were put on mannequins it was clear she wasn't taller than 5'5", Tarr says.

'That actually matches the early descriptions of her that one of the reporters here in Kansas wrote that she was a short rotund woman who looked like anybody's grandmother. And you know, depending on how you were brought up, that's probably true,' he chuckles.

'She might not have the friendliest look on her face, but, you know, my grandmother was a nice person but she didn't always look pleasant either.'

Tarr says: 'She understood people, she understood their difficulties. She had been through so much herself. And if there was some way she could help, she would'. Carry is pictured with a woman named Susan Sorgatz around 1900

Though the man in this picture has not been identified, Tarr says he believes it is Carry's nephew. Tarr says: 'Thats one of my favorite pictures of her because I think its one of the few examples we have where shes actually - the expression isnt really there on her face - but I think shes being a little playful'

Prohibition became national law in 1920 with the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment the year before. However, the law was repealed in 1933 when the 21st Amendment was ratified and alcohol could be purchased and sold again. In Kansas, state-wide prohibition lasted from 1881 until 1948.

In 1999, Carry Nation's great grand-niece donated many of her personal effects to the Kansas State Historical Society, who opened an exhibit of the prohibition activist in 2000. Tarr was the principle researcher for the committee of the exhibit, which is how he came to be a kind of expert on Carry Nation.

Even though she had a controversial reputation, Tarr says she was still well known around 2000, while he was researching her for the exhibit. He says he found her name on a list of slang terms for cocaine, he's seen bars named after her and the Kansas chapter of the Beer Can Collectors of America is the Carry Nation Chapter ('I don't think she'd be terribly pleased,' he laughs).

There have also been several bands named after her and in 1966, an opera about her life by composer Douglas Moore premiered for the 100th anniversary of the University of Kansas.

Two potential candidates for US Senate in New York State in 2000 were also described as Carry Nations for their diligence on different issues.

'The woman that was running was Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tarr says. And who they thought was going to run, but had to drop out because of health issues, I believe at that time, was Rudy Giuliani.

'It's amazing,' he adds. 'She does keep coming up.'

'I think that's the thing about Carry. She may have had extreme methods. I'm not going to argue that point. But she did believe in things. And if she was interested in something, you could count on her support.'

Tarr says: 'She may have had extreme methods. I'm not going to argue that point. But she did believe in things. And if she was interested in something, you could count on her support'. Carry is pictured with a book on her lap for a portrait taken between 1900 and 1911

Carry Nation is pictured praying in a Topeka, Kansas, jail cell in 1901

Carry died on June 9, 1911 in Leavenworth, Kansas, from heart failure. She was buried in Belton, Missouri with her tombstone reading: 'Faithful to the cause of prohibition/"She hath done what she could"'

All pictures courtesy of kansasmemory.org, the online branch of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Harvey Weinstein was just moments away from possibly being cuffed and thrown in jail back in 2015 when the NYPD set up a sting operation with the Italian model who accused him of groping her during a business meeting.

Ambra Battilana had agreed to record her conversation with Weinstein on March 28, 2015 when the two met at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, one day after she accused the movie mogul of groping her breasts and sticking his hand under her skirt.

The audio recording of the sting, which was obtained and published by the New Yorker on Tuesday, captured Weinstein apologizing to Battilana and telling the model: 'Listen, come up to my room.'

An NYPD commander with knowledge of the case had also revealed to The Daily Beast that detectives were on the scene and hoping to catch Weinstein in the act so that they might be able to arrest him on the spot.

At the last second, however, Battilana could not go through with it out of safety fears and the pair returned downstairs, where Weinstein was soon picked up by the detectives and taken in for questioning.

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Speaking out?: Ambra Battilana (above), the Italian model who accused Harvey Weinstein of groping her in 2015 posted a series of cryptic tweets on Tuesday

Thoughts: 'No need to run and hide It's a wonderful, wonderful life/No need to hide and cry / It's a wonderful, wonderful life,' she wrote, lyrics from the song 'Wonderful Life' (above)

Battilana is one of the eight women who allegedly received a settlement from Weinstein according to the explosive New York Times investigation that was released on Thursday.

Weinstein first met Battilana at a show he was producing in New York on March 2015. The film mogul introduced himself to her and repeatedly stated that she looked like Mila Kunis, according to an expose by the New Yorker.

He scheduled a meeting at his Tribeca office with her the following day through her agency. She was sitting on the couch when he started staring at her breasts and then asked if they were real.

Battilana told NYPD officers that soon after, Weinstein lunged at her and groped her breasts and tried to put his hand under her skirt. She said he eventually backed off and then invited her to the Broadway play Finding Neverland with him the following night.

The Italian model never showed up at the play because she went to file a police report at an NYPD precinct regarding the alleged abuse. With the help of undercover officers, Battilana arranged to meet Weinstein again at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.

She wore a wire to record her conversation with Weinstein during which he spoke of the actresses he had helped with their careers and offered to get her a dialect coach.

Weinstein was caught on the recording asking Battilana to come up to his hotel room and watch him shower. After initially repeatedly protesting, Battilana agreed to go upstairs. However, at the last minute in the hallway, Battilana changed her mind and begged him to let her leave.

'I don't want to,' 'I want to leave,' and 'I want to go downstairs,' she says in the audio.

When she asked him why he groped her breasts, Weinstein responds: 'Oh, please, I'm sorry, just come on in. I'm used to that. Come on. Please... I won't do it again.'

Earlier in the recording he could be heard telling her: 'I'm telling you right now, get in here. I'm going to take a shower, you sit there and have a drink.

'I'm not doing anything with you, I promise,' he said before adding 'Now you are embarrassing me' as she protested in the hall.

Battilana said: 'No yesterday was kind of aggressive for me.'

Weinstein responded: 'Don't embarrass me in the hotel, I'm here all the time.

'I'm not going to do anything and you'll never see me again after this. If you embarrass me in this hotel where I'm staying at...

'Honey don't have a fight with me in the hallway. Please, I'm not going to do anything, I swear on my children. Please come in. On everything, I'm a famous guy.

'I will never do another thing to you. Don't ruin your friendship with me for five minutes. Please you're making a big scene.'

After going back and forth for two minutes, Weinstein agreed to let her go.

Charges were ultimately never filed against Weinstein after details about Battilana's past began to appear in the tabloid media, including that she had once attended one of the infamous Bunga Bunga parties thrown by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Revelations also emerged that she had made allegations of sex assault against an Italian businessman but later declined to assist prosecutors.

Pay day: Despite having taped audio of Weinstein admitting to the incident, no charges were ever filed, and months later the DA got $10K from Weinstein's lawyer (above)

Closing in: It is now being revealed that the day after she was groped by Weinstein (above on Friday), NYPD detectives were ready to arrest the disgraced mogul

Soon after the decision to drop the case was made, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance received a $10,000 donation from Weinstein's longtime litigator.

David Boies cut the five-figure check to the Cyrus Vance for Manhattan District Attorney Campaign on August 24, 2015, making it one of the large donations that Vance received that cycle.

That financial gift to Vance's campaign came on the heels of an April 10 announcement that district attorney's office would not file charges against Weinstein.

Three days after meeting with Battilana at their office, a spokesperson for Vance announced that the probe into the incident did not find enough evidence to pursue a case.

'This case was taken seriously from the outset, with a thorough investigation conducted by our sex crimes unit,' said Joan Vollero at the time.

'After analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported.'

Vollero denied that there was an correlation between the donation and the decision to not file charges in a statement to International Business News, the first outlet to report on the donation.

A spokesperson for Boies' law firm also commented, stating: 'David Boies has been a supporter of the District Attorney since long before 2015, including before he was first elected, and has never spoken to him about Harvey Weinstein.'

That revelation came just days after it was revealed that Vance had also received a $25,000 donation from Trump Organization lawyer Marc Kasowitz after the district attorney's office declined to file charges against Ivanka and Donald Jr.

Battilana has not spoken about the incident in the past two years, which is likely due to the fact that she was asked to sign an NDA after receiving her settlement.

Battilana did however post a meme on Twitter early Monday that contained lyrics from the song 'Wonderful Life' by Black.

'Look at me standing / Here on my own again / Up straight in the sunshine,' read the post.

'No need to run and hide / It's a wonderful, wonderful life / No need to hide and cry / It's a wonderful, wonderful life.'

She then shared a photo late that evening which showed her blowing a kiss, writing: 'Good Morning to all the good people out there'.
Saboteurs dubbing themselves 'pixies' have attacked metal towers which were installed in a forest for marksmen to carry out a boar cull.

The annual cull has started in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where wild animals have been attacking locals and knocking bins over.

But an official cull has prompted reports of acts of vandalism by animal rights activists.

For the first time, the Forestry Commission has installed metal towers after the chairs usually used by trained marksmen were damaged, allegedly by saboteurs.

The annual wild boar cull has started in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and animal rights activists have allegedly started attacking watchtowers set up to help kill the wild animals

For the first time, the Forestry Commission have installed metal towers in Gloucestershire (pictured)

But critics claim the new towers need planning permission because they are over three metres high and have complained to the Forest of Dean District Council.

The saboteurs have been accused of putting faeces in locks and vandalising the shooting chairs.

On a Facebook page, Forest of Dean Wild Boar Cull Saboteurs, activists referred to themselves as 'pixies' and wrote: 'The same day we will start efforts to limit the cull.

'We know we can't stop it completely. But despite limited manpower, year on year we stop the FC hitting its cull target.

'This year will be no different. Well done pixie friends.'

However, a top police officer accused the activists of wasting public money and putting poo in locks in a bid to disrupt the cull.

Police chief inspector Andy Hodgetts said: 'There are certain Facebook accounts suggesting the pixies have done it, but pixies don't go around damaging signage and putting poo into locks.

'It is unacceptable because apart from being inconsiderate, it is wasting public money.

'We will be working with the Forestry Commission to try and identify those responsible and to find a proportionate policing response.'

The saboteur group denied it had been responsible for all the acts of vandalism and suggested other people could be taking matters into their own hands.

A spokesman for the saboteurs said: 'We do not go around wrecking signage and benches or putting poo in locks, but we are not the only people against the cull.

'It would be counterproductive. Some of the signs warn the public not to feed to the boar and we support that approach.

One of the saboteurs (pictured) took a selfie after arriving at the site in the Forest of Dean

An official wild boar cull has prompted reports of acts of vandalism by animal rights activists

'Maybe a few of the chairs have blown over in the wind, but you can't blame us for that. I know there have been complaints because the towers they use now are in clear breach of planning protocols.'

The group referred to the tall seats used by marksmen as 'killing chairs' and posted images of broken locks on the Facebook group.

One message said: 'FC (Forestry Commission) scum have now built a steel shooting tower. Do we care? No as it makes it much easier as we can keep a close eye on it.'

The saboteur group formed three years ago and claim the wild boar population could be controlled through contraceptives and relocation rather than 'inhumane' methods.

There are believed to be more than 1,500 wild boar roaming the Forest of Dean, which is higher than last year's estimate despite the cull.

In 2016 the Forestry Commission needed to cull 712 boar to stabilise the population.

A report said: 'The population estimate of 1,562 this year is substantially higher than last year's estimate of 1,018 which is disappointing given that the culling effort was intended to contain the increase.'
M4s are part of a wider restructure of the force by the NSW Police Commissioner

Less than 50 officers have so far received machine gun training & accreditation

The move is modeled on UK 'armed response' model that targets active shooters

Selected members of the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad will soon carry M4s

As a part of Sydney's plan to 'harden' its response to terrorist violence, elite police officers will soon be carrying machine guns.

Selected members of the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) are currently undergoing training and accreditation in the use of the M4 assault rifle.

The weapons have been purchased and all that remains is the 'final sign-off' from NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, according to The Australian.

Selected members of the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad will soon carry M4 assault rifles

The M4 rifle is currently used by the Australian Federal Police that guard Parliament House

The M4, manufactured by weapons giant Colt, is reportedly the 'weapon of choice' of the US military.

They are lightweight with adjustable stock and a smaller design that has made them preferable to the M16.

The move is a possible precursor to rolling out assault rifles across the police force, which is deemed by some as 'essential' given the spate of terror attacks in Europe and America.

The same machine guns are currently used by the Australian Federal Police tasked with defending Parliament House.

By 2018, NSW PORS officers will patrol in groups of four in police vehicles as part of an 'armed rapid response' team.

There are currently 100 officers in the elite squad, but less than 50 have been trained in the use of the Colt M4 so far.

However, more training sessions are scheduled throughout the rest of the year.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller took inspiration from the UK's 'armed repose' model

The inspiration for the program was Britain's 'armed response' model, which trains beat police officers to respond to an active shooter-style attack.

A spokesperson for the NSW police told The Australian that an official announcement on the roll out of long-arms to PORS will be made shortly.

The commencement date was slightly delayed while logistical problems, one of which was difficulties storing an M4 inside a police car.

The move is part of a wider restructure of the police force by Commissioner Fuller, who would like to see the PORS moved into a role that is more focused on counter-terrorism.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)-On Sept. 27th, BAIC BJEV, the electric vehicle unit of BAIC, signed strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company. The two companies will work together in such fields as cloud computing, vehicle internet and energy internet.

In February, it is reported that Huawei has been conducting research on self-driving vehicle projects and has had in-depth technical cooperation with Tsinghua University. According to Wikipedia, in July 2017, the company surpassed Apple and become the second largest smartphone manufactures in the world.

And apart from Huawei, BAIC also signed cooperation agreement with another smartphone giant in China. On July 28, the carmaker reached strategic cooperation agreement with Xiaomi to work on intelligent driving.

Whats more, BAICs another step on intelligent driving was to raise ten billion yuan to build Chinas Silicon Valley. On August 14, Zheng Gang, General Manager of BAIC BJEV, announced that the company had managed to get 11.118 billion yuan, which was far more than expected.

It is said that this sum of money will be invested in its new energy vehicle technology innovation center. When completed, there will be nine core R&D centers on vehicle development, battery project, electric drive project, intelligent and connected project, light-weight project etc.
The family of a stillborn baby who was discarded in a Minnesota hospital's dirty laundry in 2013 is now suing the medical center.

Esmeralda Hernandez, the mother of the child, filed a lawsuit against Regions Hospital in St Paul last week, along with some of her other family members.

The lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages 'far in excess of $50,000' for the family's ongoing pain, accuses Regions of reckless interference with a dead body.

Hernandez gave birth to a premature, stillborn son named Jose back in April 2013.

Esmeralda Hernandez, the mother of the child, filed a lawsuit against Regions Hospital (above) in St Paul last week, along with some of her other family members

While she declined an autopsy, the grieving mother accepted the hospital's offer of a dignified cremation.

However, the baby's body turned up at a commercial laundry two weeks later.

The baby's body fell out of a bed sheet that was inside a laundry bag. He still had his identification tag on and was also still wearing a diaper.

The lawsuit states that laundry workers 'gawked at Baby Jose, took photos of him, and sent pictures into cyberspace'.

Chris Boese, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, apologized at a 2013 press conference (above)

The Hernandez family said that once news of the body being found reached the media, they prayed it was not Jose, according to the suit.

The hospital issued a statement to the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Monday reaffirming its apology.

'We want to say again that we are truly sorry for our mistake,' a spokesperson said.

'We immediately reached out to the family in 2013 to apologize and to try and help ease their loss. We have continued to work with their lawyer - always open to a reasonable resolution.
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Meet the creative couple who spent six months building the tiny home of their dreams from scratch - proving there's more to life than having a nine-to-five job.

Pictures show artists Stevie and Margarita, both 24, from Virginia, USA and Odessa,Ukraine respectively, raising the wooden frame walls on their tiny home trailer, varnishing the interior's wooden surfaces and fixing the seating area in place.

Other images showcase the finished product and display the couple's expert workmanship with a homely kitchen with custom built copper sink, cosy bedroom-cum-dining area and galvanised shower room.

It took Stevie and Margarita six-months to complete the build but they spent a whole year drawing up plans to throw them away before they even started.

The couple's homemade home is parked up on some gravel and attached to their Nissan Frontier pick-up which has two bicycles in the back and the back driver's side window is decorated with graffiti depicting the sun and the word 'smile'

Stevie and Margarita - the creative couple who spent six-months building the tiny home of their dreams from scratch

Stevie takes a wheel saw to a slab of plywood as a friend helps keep the wood in place to make sure it is cut perfectly to size

Margarita, pictured before cutting off her hair, uses a power tool to construct the inner walls of the living area of their tiny, mobile home. On the bench in front of her is a spirit level to make sure the slats are straight

The happy couple, pictured with their dog who is wearing a pink bandana, drink cans as they relax on the bed which doubles up as the dining area

'We had just graduated from university and knew we wanted something more than day jobs and rent.

'We stumbled upon tiny houses on the internet and it seemed like the right thing at the right time - to create our own shelter and have it be portable since we were eventually headed west,' said Stevie.

'We needed independence, mobility, integrity, and creativity, building our own tiny house just fit the bill.

'Before we had really committed to taking on this huge project, we spent about a year drawing up and scrapping floor plans, looking for ideas and inspiration online, emailing and calling people who have done it before, anything to try to get an idea of what we were in for and how to get started.

'We taped out to scale floor plans of the tiny house inside of our living room to get a feel of just how small it was going to be.

'We started stockpiling materials from craigslist, traveling all over to get the quality stuff we desired for as cheap as we could. We drove seven hours north to Pennsylvania from Virginia to get our sheep's wool insulation.

'We drove all around North Carolina to find windows. I must've called twenty-trailer dealers and manufacturers before choosing a person to make a custom one for us.

'Once we picked it up, everything seemed more tangible, the commitment and all. We just started tackling one little project after another, researching different aspects of the build as they came, believing in ourselves and that all of our hard work would add up to something beautiful in the end.'

The pair shared their build on Instagram and having never taken on a build of this scale before, they learnt from any mistakes made early on.

Margarita stands on top of her home, which resembles a wooden caravan sitting on a bright red trailer, as she stretches towards the sky

The kitchen, which is fitted with a four-hob gas oven, is seen with shelves for storing utensils, ingredients and crockery as well as a large window giving it plenty of natural light

Margarita dices an onion on the kitchen top as she prepares dinner to be served on the bedroom-cum-dining area

The kitchen area is seen from ground level with the oven on the right and the sink on the left which is in front of a big window

The bathroom (left), which is located behind the kitchen, consists of a shower head, two taps and corrugated metal sheets above a floor of wooden slats. On the other side of the kitchen, Stevie and Margarita read a book together at the dining table

The dining area transforms into a bedroom to make the most of the limited space. A fold-down shelf is where the couple attach a heater which has a pipe leading outdoors

Stevie said: 'When you are doing everything for the first time, problems always arise. From not having the right parts or tools and having to go to the hardware store five times in a day to just doing something wrong a bunch of times until you get it right.

'We decided to do everything we could ourselves. It helped us to get creative and really have to learn about what we were doing so we could create what we envisioned. With every new project we took on came more obstacles.

'We had to learn how to build windows, a door, the furniture, siding, roofing, etc, but we wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

'An early mistake we made was picking up the trailer unpainted. When the guy who built it asked me what colour we wanted it I didn't realise saying none meant it wouldn't be sealed.

'We ended up having to remove some surface rust and paint the trailer ourselves but you live and you learn. I must admit, it was a pretty good introduction to the project.'

The measurements of the home are 7x16x11-foot, friends and family are shocked when they see what the couple have achieved and Stevie wants to encourage others to follow their dreams.

He said: 'The thing I love most about our home is the experience and creative process it took to make it happen and how you can really feel that energy when you around it. It was more than just building a house, it was lifelong lessons, community and relationship building, we were manifesting our dreams into reality.'

The kitchen and dining room during the day with knives placed on a magnetic strip attached to the wall and utensils hanging from a rack above the oven

Hard at work: Stevie applies varnish to the interior wood panels of the house before later fitting them in his homely kitchen

Interior design: Stevie and Margarita's kitchen includes a copper sink, a wooden surface for preparing food and a cooker

'Every detail has a story, it's our art,' Stevie added.

'If you really want something you have to go for it, you don't have a say in the matter after you commit yourself, you only have more reason to figure things out.

'It'll feel long and be exhausting, it may never even end, but it'll be a wholeheartedly satisfying journey.

'Our friends and family are usually shocked and in awe. The huge cedar rafters almost knock the wind out of you when you enter.

'New friends and people who check it out can feel the hard work and long hours that went into it.

'You can tell the walls around you were milled just down the road from the house's conception.'
A driver at the delivery firm Hermes had their contract cancelled as they were unable to work as they had to dash to hospital because their baby was born prematurely, MPs today heard.

The courier was told that 'parcels come first' as they were booted out of the company because of the emergency, a Parliamentary select committee was told.

Hugo Martin, director of legal affairs at Hermes, apologised after he was challenged by MPs over the behaviour.

Labour MP Anna Turley revealed the incident as she grilled bosses of the gig economy in a hearing of the business select committee.

Turning to the Hermes boss, she said: 'You say that in a family emergency, such as a bereavement or a sick child or extreme weather, the field team should make every effort to assist the courier to ensure their cover for the round is arranged.

Hugo Martin, the legal chief at Hermes (pictured in Parliament today) today apologised to MPs after they confronted him about claims a courier was axed because they had to leave work to dash to hospital for the premature birth of their child

'But we heard this morning from someone whose colleague had a baby who was born prematurely, so they were rushed to hospital.

'And the boss essentially said that's it, your contract is cancelled. We're not using you anymore. The words were 'parcels come first'.

Mr Martin said the company had been 'shocked' by evidence of the way its self-employed couriers were treated and apologised.

He told the committee: 'That conduct is unacceptable.

UBER SAYS IT HOPES TO RESOLVE ITS DISPUTE WITH TFL Uber believes there is a 'path forward' towards resolving its dispute with Transport for London that will keep its drivers on the road. The future of the car-hailing service in the capital was plunged into doubt after TfL last month refused to renews its licence on safety grounds. Head of public policy Andrew Byrne told MPs the company accepted it had shown 'the wrong attitude' on a number of issues and was ready to change some practices. Uber was criticised by London transport bosses regarding issues like the reporting of serious criminal offences. After an initially confrontational response from the company, its chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi offered an apology for 'mistakes' in an open letter. Mr Byrne told the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee: 'The company accepts that in lots of places it has had the wrong attitude and needs to change.' Asked about the aggressive stance Uber initially took, he told MPs: 'There was a high strength of feeling from people in the business, but I think we have got to the place where we accept we need to do more to address TfL's concerns. 'I think we are very conscious of the fact that 40,000 people do earn money through Uber in London. That fact weighs very heavily on our response. 'But hopefully we can see a path forward now with TfL where we can address their concerns and continue to operate.' Advertisement

'And as per the new code of conduct - that would be a breach of the code of conduct by the field manager or whoever it was who said that and that would be a disciplinary mater.

'The standard operating procedures that have been rolled to all the field managers would stop that from ever happening today.'

He added: 'If it happened in the past, all we can do is apologise and say the pressure of a vastly expanding business puts pressure on people.

'We had assumed couriers were being treated fairly throughout the network. It turns out in some cases they weren't.

'We accept that and we have taken real meaningful steps to address it and make sure it never happens again.'

The working conditions in the gig economy has been thrust under the microscope amid complaints of Dickensian practices.

Some working in the gig economy have complained that they are essentially employees without the legal rights, sick pay or security of a contract.

Speaking to the Mail Online after today's hearing, Ms Turley said it fell to one of the Hermes courier's friends and colleagues to deliver the bad news

She said: 'His baby had been born prematurely and he had gone to hospital. He couldn't do his deliveries or find anybody else to cover them.

'The Hermes manager told this guy's colleague to tell him he wouldn't be working for Hermes any more. He said 'I know you are all sick, I know you are all tired but parcels come first'.

'I thought that was shocking.'

But bosses insist workers want the flexibility that the sector offers and that their staff are paid properly.

Mr Martin said Hermes now maintains a network of back-up drivers to provide cover in cases like the birth of a premature baby or a sickness, if couriers were unable to find someone else to do their round.

Those wanting a break during busy periods were free to find 'substitutes' to do their work for them.

Mr Martin said the case of a courier going 10 years without a holiday was 'news to me'.

But he acknowledged that the company was 'shocked' by the findings of Frank Field MP's 2016 inquiry into the treatment of self-employed workers in the gig economy, which prompted the introduction of its code of conduct.

He insisted that couriers were treated 'with dignity and respect' and were not 'unduly pressured' into going without holiday or days off sick.

Labour MP, pictured in today's hearing at Parliament of the business select committee, challenged the Hermes boss over the incident. She said the driver was told 'the parcel comes first' as they were axed from the firm

Couriers earn a minimum of 8.50 an hour and an average of 12.20 - or 10.60 after expenses like petrol are taken into account - he said.

But Labour MP Peter Kyle told him: 'The evidence we have seen is that (for couriers) life has to fit around the work.

'There is a chasm between what you are saying and the life you are describing of the couriers and the one we are hearing about.'

Hermes and other gig economy firms told the committee that they do not believe many of their self-employed drivers and riders would take up employee status if they were forced to offer it as a result of tribunal decisions.

Mr Martin said that offering employed status to up to 15,000 couriers would cost the company 58.8 million a year in national insurance, holiday pay and sick pay.

While cab-hire firm Uber's head of public policy Andrew Byrne said the bill for its 50,000 self-employed drivers would run into 'tens of millions'.

Theresa May, pictured in No10 today, ordered a review into the gig economy - the Taylor Review looked into how to give workers in the gig economy more protection

Both Hermes and Uber are currently facing employment tribunal cases brought by workers who want to be classed as employees rather than self-employed.

But Mr Martin told the committee: 'In our case we think the couriers don't want to be workers in the vast majority of cases. They are very happy being self-employed.

'The self-employment model creates a flexible framework which allows us to provide these opportunities in the first place.'

Mr Byrne told the committee that the company could 'cope with' switching its drivers on to employee status.

But he said it would mean 'exerting more control over the driver' in terms of set shifts and paying a fixed salary which many drivers would not welcome.

The UK managing director of Deliveroo, Dan Warne, told the committee that the flexibility of self-employment was 'very, very popular' with the company's 15,000 riders.

Speaking after the hearing, Mick Rix, national officer for the GMB union, said: 'MPs have once again heard first-hand from those employed in the so called gig economy about the horrors of insecure work and how companies like Uber, Amazon and Hermes flout the law to maximise their profits at the expense of their workers' pay and conditions.

'Is cancelling a drivers' contract because they ask for time off to attend the premature birth of their child an example of the benefits of flexible working?'

He said Uber is shedding 'crocodile tears' to MPs about how much it would cost them to reclassify their drivers as the workers.


Video from nearby Walmart showed Admas buying the supplies there three days before Dilley's death

A search of camp site yielded a hatchet, rope, burlap sacks, handcuffs, dumbbells, bottled water, a book about human anatomy and $577 in cash

When officers approached his tent, Adams shot himself in the head

Jasper County Sheriff deputies were able to track Adams' location to a secluded stretch of FM 1135 in Orange County on October 2

Paul Audrey Adams, 19, was identified as the last person who spoke with 14-year-old Tristan Dilley before her shooting death on October 1

Texas officials investigating the slaying of a 14-year-old cheerleader have discovered survival equipment, multiple pairs of handcuffs and an anatomy book at a campsite set up by her suspected killer.

Tristan Dilley was discovered fatally shot in the head on October 1 at her home in Buna.

The following day, 19-year-old Paul Adams took his own life, possibly with the same gun used in the girls killing, as Jasper County sheriff's deputies closed in on him.

Adams, who was the prime suspect in Dilley's killing, committed suicide at the camp that he had set up along a secluded stretch of FM 1135 in Orange County.

Murder investigation: Paul Audrey Adams (right), 19, was identified as the last person who spoke with 14-year-old Tristan Dilley (left), a high school cheerleader

Sinister tools: Texas deputies discovered a collection of tools inside Adams' tent after his suicide, including this hatchet

The 19-year-old suspect in Dilley's shooting death had purchased eight pairs of handcuffs

A box of rope was recovered from Adams' makeshift camp in the woods on the Texas-Louisiana border after Dilley's death and his own suicide

The evidence also included these dumbbells commonly used in weightlifting

A search of Adams tent turned up a hatchet, rope, burlap sacks, eight pairs of handcuffs, dumbbells, bottled water, a water purification kit, food supplies, a book about human anatomy and $577 in cash, according to Jasper County Sheriff Mitchell Neman.

'We have no idea what he was planning on doing with them,' the sheriff told the Beaumont-Enterprise.

Mitchell speculated that Adams was possibly planning to dismember the Silsbee High School student and dispose of her body parts in a canal.

An investigation has uncovered that Adams had purchased the tools and supplies at a nearby Walmart on September 28, three days before Tristan Dilley's shooting death.

Well-prepared: Police say Adams had stocked up on Army-style ready-to-eat meals (pictured)

Deputies recovered more than $500 in cash after Adams killed himself as they closed in on

Cases of bottled water and a water purification kit were also found at the camp

Surveillance footage obtained from the Vidor store captured Adams shopping there.

A review of the contents of Dilley's phone revealed numerous text messages that the teenage girl had exchanged with Adams in the days leading up to her death, suggesting that the 14-year-old had a secret relationship with the older man.

On the day of her slaying, Dilley stayed behind at home, saying she was too tired to go shopping with her family and wanted to rest from a dance at her school the night before.

When the family returned, 'her mother hollered at her and when she didn't answer, she told her brother to go upstairs and wake her up,' Newman said.

That's when the 13-year-old boy made a grisly discovery.

Newman said the girl was found in a second-floor room with two gunshot wounds to the head.

The family of a Silsbee teen thought she was still asleep when they first checked on her but later made a horrible discovery when she was found fatally shot in bed Sunday evening

When investigators searched phone records they discovered Adams was 19-years-old and not 16 as Dilley's family believed

Adams purchased all of the supplies, including this tent, at a Walmart, three days before Dilley was found shot to death at her home

Surveillance footage obtained from the Vidor store captured Adams shopping there

Authorities noted that there was no forced entry into the home nor, signs of a struggle anywhere in the house, leading investigators to conclude that Dilley was most likely acquainted with the killer.

When detectives searched her phone, they found that a person named 'Adam' was the last person to be in contact with Dilley.

The family confirmed that Dilley spoke of a 16-year-old boy with whom she began to communicate.

Investigators later searched phone records and discovered that Dilley was actually speaking with Paul Adams.

'From what we could gather, they were trying to see each other when her mother was gone,' Newman said.

Shortly thereafter, authorities set out to track Adams' cellphone in order to locate his whereabouts.

He was later pinged to a wooded area in Orange County located on the Texas-Louisiana border.

Jasper County Sheriff deputies were able to track Adams' location to a secluded stretch of FM 1135 in Orange County on Monday (Pictured: Memorial held for Tristan Dilley)

An all-night search failed to track Adams down, but authorities caught a break when he called his mother Monday morning while police had come to question her at her home.

Although Adams admitted to being at Dilley's house the night of the murder, he maintained that he was not the one who shot her, Newman said.

Instead, Adams claimed that an intruder was responsible for Dilley's death, and that he ran from the residence because he was scared.

Jasper County Sheriff deputies were able to track Adams' location to a secluded stretch of FM 1135 in Orange County around 11.30am last Monday, according to the Enterprise.

Newman said that Adams had tried to set up camp at the site and that 'It didn't look like he had been there long.'

When the officers attempted to approach him, Adams took his own life.

'You say you get used to it, but you just don't,' Newman said. 'They were both seasoned officers. But no matter how long you are on the force, you don't ever want to see that.'

A preliminary test on Adams' weapon showed the same revolver to shoot himself that was used to kill Dilley, The Enterprise reported.

'He ruined two families,' Newman said. 'Not just her's, but he ruined his too.'

Police said that Adams had written a suicide note, which will be made public in the coming days.

Tristan Hope Dilley was born October 3, 2002 in Beaumont, Texas. She was a cheerleader and student-athlete whom friends described as kind, sweet and compassionate.
Dalina Pop, 34, leaving Southwark Crown Court, where she admitted criminal damage

A woman spray painted a string of racist and offensive insults on her landlord's BMW causing 17,000 worth of damage when he tried to evict her.

Dalina Pop, 34, had been renting a flat from Ovace Miller on Westbourne Terrace in Paddington, London, when she was asked to leave the property on August 5, 2015.

Mr Miller left his white BMW parked outside on the street and discovered the following morning it had been daubed in red and black paint with the words 'f**k you', 'liar', 'rapist' and 'no means no'.

A court heard Mr Miller had to pay 17,000 to get the BMW 6 series cleaned over three days.

Pop voluntarily presented herself at Charing Cross Police Station four days later before eventually admitting a single charge of criminal damage.

She was cleared of the more serious charge of racially aggravated criminal damage after a short trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Jurors were shown photos of Mr Miller's BMW showing the word 'Arab' daubed on the roof above the driver's seat.

Neil King, prosecuting, claimed Pop 'displayed hostility towards him' because of his Persian origin which was 'part of the reason for the insult'.

'It is because he is from the Middle-East that this insult is sprayed on the roof of this car,' he added.

'It is written in the same ink, on the same car, at the same time.'

But giving evidence Pop denied she knew the difference 'between Persian and Arab'.

The theatre student broke down as she accused her victim of being 'very set on destroying my career'.

She told jurors she painted the words 'rapist' and 'liar' because Mr Miller 'invaded my privacy, my private space and my body'.

Jurors were shown photos of Mr Miller's BMW showing the word 'Arab' among other insults daubed on the roof above the driver's seat

No further action was taken against Mr Miller after he was interviewed by police in relation to Pop's claims.

She said: 'If I wanted to hurt him I would have talked to his girlfriend and told her he brings about ten different women to his apartment each month.

'That probably would have hurt him, but writing 'Arab' on his car?'

She claimed to have received an email 'three months ago' in which 'he made clear that he was going to destroy my future'.

Jurors heard her alleged victim threatened to write a letter to the United States government asking that Pop be banned from entering the country after her conviction.

Pop claimed she would not have been tall enough to etch the racial insult herself in such neat writing, compared to her other slurs, and suggested Mr Miller may have added it himself later.

'He was very set on destroying my future and just criminal damage probably wouldn't be enough,' she added.

Pop, from West Hampstead in northwest London, admitted criminal damage. She denied and was cleared of the more serious charge of racially aggravated criminal damage

Mr Miller left his white BMW parked outside on the street and discovered it had been daubed in red and black paint with the words 'f**k you', 'liar', 'rapist' and 'no means no'

Pop, from West Hampstead in northwest London, admitted criminal damage.

She denied and was cleared of the more serious charge of racially aggravated criminal damage.

Judge Stephen Robbins agreed to adjourn sentencing for five weeks until 20 November to allow her to return to her studies at a university in New York.

Pop confirmed she would be on Thanksgiving holidays from her studies and could return for that date.

Judge Robbins told her: 'Come back for sentence on 20 November at 10am.

'If there is going to be any difficulty about getting back in time, you must make sure everyone knows.'

The prosecution will provide the court with a compensation schedule detailing the 17,000 worth of damage to the BMW.
A straight-A student worked in an Amazon warehouse to save up to become an ISIS fighter willing to carry out a suicide attack in the UK, a court heard today.

Mubashir Jamil, 22, spent most of his time at home playing computer games, but became fixated with becoming an extreme jihadist, it is claimed.

The once gifted pupil, who went to an all boys school, allegedly had a fascination for violence including the murder of Western hostages by ISIS.

Jamil wanted to bring the taste of immense pain to the enemies of the so-called Islamic State and trawled the web for information about ISIS, the Old Bailey heard.

Straight-A student Mubashir Jamil, 22, is alleged to have worked in an Amazon warehouse to save up to become an ISIS fighter willing to carry out a suicide attack in the UK

Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson said Jamil was drawn into a world poles apart from the A* schooling life he led.

He said: Through the World Wide Web, the defendant became an extreme Jihadist radical and follower of the Islamic State,.

He became a would-be IS recruit willing to sacrifice his life for IS and indeed the lives of others.

He turned from a player of video games into someone willing to carry out suicide attacks in this country on behalf of IS.

His preference, however, was to go to Syria and join IS as a jihadist fighter.

You will see during the course of the evidence the steps to join IS and bring the taste of "immense pain", in his own words, to the enemies of the so-called Islamic State.

Jamil achieved a distinction in business studies and had done work experience at an accountants firm as a teenager.

His interests were described as reading fiction, surfing the internet and physical training on his CV, which he used to get a job at an Amazon warehouse.

Jamil spent his time playing video games at his house in Luton but developed a fascination for violence including the murder of Western hostages by ISIS, the Old Bailey heard

He was educated at the Challney High School for boys in Luton and lived with his mother.

Jurors heard he showed early intellectual promise from a young age, obtaining GCSEs which were straight As and A*s.

The court heard he spent most of his free time at the home he shared with his mother, younger brother and younger sister, playing computer games or online.

Jurors heard his interest in Isis began in April 2014 as he searched for Isis chants online.

His research deepened from November 2015 as he trawled the web for information about Isis, jurors were told.

But the prosecutor said his activities turned from passive to active in around March 2016.

Jamil was educated at the Challney High School for boys in Luton (pictured) and lived with his mother. It alleged he wanted to become an ISIS fighter

Using the encrypted messaging app Telegram he was allegedly sent an Isis application form by someone called Abdul using the handle abdullah9996.

Jurors saw alleged exchanges between Jamil, who went by the moniker ablight123 and Abdul.

The court heard Jamil told Abdul he wanted to become a mujahid [fighter] and make hijrah [travel to Muslim lands].

In due course, members of the jury, you will have a glossary explaining the terms, Mr Jameson said.

He added: The defendant said he worked three months at an Amazon warehouse to get money to make hijrah.

Jamil allegedly wrote: Also I am not afraid of violent fighting, getting hurt and tortured and hurting others.

He also said he had shaved off his beard and cut his hair short to avoid suspicion as well as asking about tickets, money and what to take, the court heard.

Jamil, of Luton, Bedfordshire, denies preparation of terrorist acts, involving buying items for travel to join Isis, including a plane ticket to Antalya in Turkey.

The trial continues.
The government has lost a High Court battle over victims of torture which could lead to some asylum seekers being freed from custody and given compensation.

Seven former detainees and a charity brought a case against the Home Office over how victims of torture are treated after arriving in Britain.

The government currently accepts that asylum seekers who can show evidence of torture should only be detained in exceptional circumstances because of the risk of causing further trauma.

But the charity and the seven claimants in today's court case insisted that the definition of torture was too narrow and didn't take into account people trafficked into the country.

Detainees at the immigration removal centre near Heathrow could be freed after a ruling on victims of torture today

They also claimed the definition meant only those tortured by a foreign governments or states were spared detention in the UK, rather than those tortured by individuals or groups.

A High Court judge, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled in favour of the asylum seekers in a case which could lead to hundreds being able to claim compensation or being freed.

The judge said the issue of whether those affected should received 'substantial or nominal' damages would be dealt with at another hearing.

The Home Office has yet to comment on how many asylum seekers will be affected by the ruling or whether any will be freed from detention centres.

Mr Justice Ouseley said the issue of compensation would be dealt with separately

The seven claimants who brought the case came from very different walks of life.

A 39-year-old bisexual Nigerian asylum seeker, a 44-year-old Tanzanian woman who was abused by her Polish partner and a Vietnamese 20-year-old who was forced into child prostitution to pay off her dead parents' debts were among those used in the group action.

But the charity behind the case, Medical Justice, said the decision could affect hundreds of others.

A spokesman for the group called for the release of 'at risk' adults and the closure of immigration removal centres.

The spokesman said: 'There is ample justification for immediately releasing all detained adults at risk so they can access the care and support they need in the community.

'We believe that the Home Office's denials of systemic healthcare failings for over a decade has enabled mistreatment of detainees and that its inability to stop abuse means that the only solution is to close immigration removal centres.'

The Home Office said its policy as a whole was not the subject of the case, merely the definition of victims of torture.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd's department will look at whether changes should be made. Labour's Diane Abbott said victims of torture should not be detained in Britain

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The intention of the adults at risk policy is that fewer people with a confirmed vulnerability will be detained and that, where detention becomes necessary, it will be for the shortest period necessary.

'The court acknowledged that the aim of the policy is to recognise a much greater range of circumstances which may make an individual particularly vulnerable to harm in detention.

'The Government is now considering how it can best address the court's findings in relation to the statutory guidance.'

Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said it was 'truly shocking' that victims of torture were detained in this country.

She said: 'The court's verdict must be accepted by Government and they need to act. There must be no attempt to work around or simply ignore the ruling, as happened in previous cases. No victims of torture should be held in detention.'
A teenage showjumping champion was killed in a horror head-on crash when she braked too sharply on a bend as she drove to college, an inquest heard.

Ella Popely, 18, was behind the wheel when her Fiat collided with an Audi on her way to Burgess Hill Girls' School in West Sussex in December.

The teenager competed in the Team GB junior riding squad and took part in competitions around the world.

She had been travelling at around 37mph when she braked too forcefully before a bend, causing her to clip the Audi travelling in the opposite direction - which in turn resulted in her car hurtling into the verge and overturning. A police officer arrived and carried out CPR on her, but she could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ella Popely, 18, was behind the wheel when her Fiat collided with an Audi on her way to Burgess Hill Girls' School in West Sussex in December

As she had a telematic device - a black box installed in the car which records data to help young motorists prove they are good drivers for cheaper insurance - when the crash happened her mother, Lea Popely, was contacted by Hastings Direct to inform her that there had been an incident.

The inquest was told that the driver of the Audi, Terry Collins, got out and went to see if she was okay.

On realising how bad the accident was he phoned the emergency services and, with the help of some nearby walkers, he managed to get Ella out of the car and put her in recovery position.

The coroner, sitting in Woking, Surrey, heard that Mrs Popley rang Chris Matthews, Ella's boyfriend, to tell him and he immediately went out to see if he could find her.

He had noticed ambulances driving down a nearby road and so went in that direction and eventually came to the scene of the crash where Ella lay dead.

Ella Popely's mother Lea Popely (pictured) was informed of her daughter's crash via a telematic black box device

Mr Matthews' statement was read out as evidence at the hearing and he explained how Ella had stayed with him the night before the tragedy and she had decided to go home instead of to college, the morning after.

Mr Matthews, who lives on a farm near Dorking, Surrey, said: 'Ella enjoyed visiting the farm and seeing what I did on the farm. She came over to our house on December 5 2016 and she stayed the night. We had a Chinese meal and we watched a movie.

'Ella woke up at 6.30am to get ready for college but decided not to go. We went back to sleep and then had leftover Chinese for breakfast.'

He explained that she was very happy that morning and they had not had any arguments. She left to go home at around 10am.

At the beginning of the inquest Ella's mother started to give evidence but found it too difficult and broke down in tears.

The coroners officer read out her statement to the inquest, which explained that Ella had a younger brother, Jack, who was four years younger.

She said: 'When Ella was 12, her father left us. Over the past six years we carried each other along.

BLACK BOX SCHEME Hastings Direct offer drivers a telematics black box under their SmartMiles scheme. It allows young driver to prove they are good behind the wheel to earn cheaper insurance and discounts on their renewals.

Drivers can monitor their driving at any time through a mobile app or on their online dashboard. It can also notify emergency contacts if you have been involved in an accident. Advertisement

'Ella had the amazing ability to bounce back, she was always smiling and made friends with everyone.

'She started riding when she was two and at the age of 12 she was on the children's GB team. Her riding career took us all over the world.'

She said the last time she saw Ella was in the morning of December 5, when she told her she was going to stay at a friend's house because she did not think her mum would let her stay round Chris' house on a weekday.

'I knew she would be going to Chris' house and was just happy that she was happy. She went off in Freddy as she had affectionately called her car.'

The coroner said that there was no evidence that either drivers were on their mobile phones or had alcohol or drugs in their blood. Both cars were found to have no defects or faults.

After her death, friends and loved ones paid tributes to Miss Popely, whose father John has also represented Great Britain in equestrian events.

After her death, friends and loved ones (pictured at the inquest today) paid tributes to Miss Popely, whose father John has also represented Great Britain in equestrian events

Boyfriend Chris Matthews wrote on Facebook: 'You will forever be in my heart - I love you.'

Jack Dalton wrote on Facebook: 'You could light up the dullest of rooms with just a smile, and will forever be the brightest star in the darkest of nights.

'Save a place for me up there Ella Popely I'm so grateful to have known you, I will never forget you.'

The teenager competed in the Team GB junior riding squad and took part in competitions around the world

Mark Williams posted: 'RIP Ella Popely. No words will ever be enough to make life easier for those so close to you.

'On the occasions I met you you were a joy to be around, so bouncy smiley and full of life. My thoughts love and prayers go out to all of Ella's friends, family and those close to her at this difficult time.

'Try to remember all the good times of which there were so many.'
Two men, including controversial Sydney businessman Savas Guven, have faced court over an alleged money laundering racket following an early-morning police operation in the city's north on Tuesday

NSW Police confirmed a planned police operation was carried out on Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation by the organised crime squad to do with money laundering.

The alleged racket was uncovered in 2014 when a police strike force began investigating the large-scale supply of prohibited drugs in NSW.

Pictured: Savas Guven was arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in laundering $3.5million on Tuesday morning

Guven, 38, was pulled over in his car at Mosman at 6.30am and arrested.

He was later charged with 20 counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.

Police allege he was involved in the laundering of $3.5 million.

Guven, formerly known as Savas Yucel, has built a multi-million dollar property portfolio since leaving jail a little more than a decade ago for a violent armed robbery, Fairfax Media reported.

Guven was sentenced to jail more than a decade ago for a violent armed robbery but has since built a multi-million dollar property portfolio

He is faced Manly Local Court on Tuesday afternoon and was refused bail, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man arrested at a Northmead home has been charged with 12 counts of the same offence.

Erhan Kurtulmus faced Parramatta Local Court where police alleged he was involved in the laundering of $2.3 million.

He was also refused bail on Tuesday.

Search warrants were also executed at homes at Mosman and Bayview and also at businesses at North Sydney and Lane Cove on Tuesday.
Michael Christopher Estes, 46, allegedly planted an explosives-filled Mason jar at Asheville Regional Airport in North Carolina

A man planted a Mason jar filled with explosive chemicals and nails at a western North Carolina airport last week and vowed to 'fight a war on U.S. soil,' according to court documents released Tuesday.

Investigators found the improvised explosive device on Friday at the Asheville airport near a terminal entrance, the criminal complaint written by an FBI agent reads. Asheville police bomb technicians then rendered it safe.

The complaint accuses Michael Christopher Estes of attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosives at an airport.

Estes was arrested Saturday, and the complaint says he admitted leaving the explosive device at the airport.

The complaint states that Estes 'claimed he was getting ready to "fight a war on U.S. soil,"' but did not elaborate on this alleged motive.

He was being held at the Buncombe County jail without bond after a brief court hearing Tuesday.

Jail records list him as a 46-year-old Native American.

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Police arrived on the scene on Friday after the improvised explosive device was found. Estes, a criminal report reads, 'claimed he was getting ready to "fight a war on U.S. soil,"'

A federal public defender assigned to the case, Fredilyn Sison, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Court documents say authorities found the improvised explosive device around 6.30am Friday at Asheville Regional Airport, WLOS reported.

The investigation revealed it contained ammonium nitrate, Sterno fuel, nails and a .410 gauge Winchester shotgun cartridge.

An alarm clock was taped to the outside of the jar with matches attached to the arm that strikes the bells, according to court documents. The alarm had been set for Friday.

Estes was caught on surveillance cameras purchasing explosives. Some were purchased at Walmart and Lowe's

Surveillance video showed Estes dressed in black pants, a jacket and black hat approaching the terminal entrance shortly after 12.30am Friday and appearing to leave behind a bag, the FBI agent wrote.

In nearby woods, investigators later found a backpack and tool kit containing similar items to what was used in the explosive device: tape, Sterno fuel and more shotgun shells.

Investigators determined such items had been purchased at nearby stores, including a Walmart and a Lowe's, earlier in the week, providing more surveillance video, The Citizen-Times reports.

Authorities released a photograph made from the video, and tips from the public led them to Estes, who was arrested Saturday near one of the stores.

The complaint said Estes waived his Miranda rights, answering questions and admitting to building and planting the device.

'Estes described how he created the device...and then rigged the alarm clock to strike the matches and cause the flame necessary to trigger the device,' the complaint states.

'More specifically, the alarm clock would go off, the matches would strike, the Sterno would heat up, and then the Ammonium Nitrate would explode.'

However, Estes also claimed that he had not actually set the device to go off, the complaint says.

He told investigators that he had staged himself in the woods near the airport in the days before planting the device.

A man who answered the phone at a listing for Estes in Tazewell, Tennessee, said he did not know the suspect.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Today, DRB-Hicom and Zhejiang Geely Holding held a joint media conference to announce new executive team for Proton. 98 days after the two companies signed agreement, Geely completed the deal to buy a 49.9 percent stake of Proton.

After weeks of speculation, Li Chunrong, who recently joined Geely from Dongfeng Honda, replaces Ahmad Fuaad Kenali as Protons new chief executive officer. Li will officially join Proton in October and will be responsible for Protons manufacturing, production, quality control, sales and marketing. Dato' Sri Syed Faisal Albar will continue to be President of Proton Holdings while Mohd Radzaif Mohamed will be vice CEO.

Li Donghui, Executive Vice President and CFO of Geely Holding, said that after searching for candidates in Malaysia and other countries, Li Chunrong is the most suitable one for this post. Li Chunrong, a 30-year veteran in auto industry, has worked as executives in many global auto brands, such as Honda, Kia, and Dongfeng.

The newly appointed CEO said, Geely and Proton will build in Malaysia top-grade products with Protons special DNA. The first product is expected to be a midsize SUV and will enter into the market at the end of 2018.

After the completion of the deal, Geely will have 49.9 percent stake of Proton and have management right while DRB-Hicom remains its controlling shareholder. Since Protons engines are only certified for Euro 4 emissions, Geely will provide conventional petrol engines and also electrified powertrains.

Geelys CFO said, We are committed to making Proton No.1 auto brand in Malaysia and among top 3 in the ASEAN market." According to the plan, Proton targets to be profitable by 2020.
A black man who was beaten at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been charged with an alleged assault during that confrontation, police said Monday.

DeAndre Harris, 20, was seen bloodied in viral photos and a video after being attacked during the rally in August.

He is now charged with unlawful wounding in relation to the brawl.

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Deandre Harris (center) was left bloodied after being attacked by a group of white nationalists in Charlottesville on August 12

An arrest warrant has now been put out for Harris' arrest, after an unnamed person complained that they had been beaten by Harris in the attack which was caught on camera. Harris is seen in the navy hoodie on the ground in the footage

An unnamed 'victim' went to the magistrate and complained about being beaten by Harris in the brawl. The magistrate called the police department to get the facts of the case, and then the warrant was released

The Charlottesville Police Department issued a statement on Monday, saying that the unnamed victim went to the magistrate's office and complained of being beaten by Harris in the brawl.

The magistrate's office called the police department to confirm the facts, and they then issued the warrant.

Harris attorney, S. Lee Merritt, told the Washington Post that the warrant is 'clearly retaliatory'.

He described the victim as a member of a white supremacist group and maintained that his client did not instigate the fight.

Two men - 33-year-old Alex Michael Ramos (left) and 18-year-old Daniel Borden (right) - were charged with malicious wounding in September in the attack against Harris

Merritt said it was 'highly unusual' for a victim to go to the magistrate instead of the police, suggesting he tried and failed to convince cops to arrest Harris first. The police dont have sufficient probable cause to charge Harris, his lawyer said.

'We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but whats more jarring is that hes been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him,' Merritt said.

Harris was left with a concussion, abrasions and contusions across his body, as well as a head laceration that required 10 staples, a knee injury and a fractured wrist after the clash, Merritt said.

Merritt said he is making arrangements with police for Harris to surrender.

Two men - 33-year-old Alex Michael Ramos and 18-year-old Daniel Borden - were charged with malicious wounding in September in the attack against Harris. Both are being held without bond.

Harris' attorney called the warrant 'clearly retaliatory' and the fact the victim went to the magistrate shows that they likely tried and failed to complain to police first. His head wound is pictured left.

Former classmates at Mason High School in Ohio said he expressed anti-Semitic views.

Ramos was identified after posting about the attack on Facebook.

In a television interview, he said that he was only acting in self defense and denied being a white supremacist.

'I was there because, pretty much, Im a conservative,' he said. 'There were some non-racist members who were going to a free speech rally.'

At a September court hearing, Ramo's lawyer alleged that Harris may have been the one to throw the first punch.

Upman refused to identify the alleged victim or provide any other details about the alleged assault.

At the rally, 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a car struck a crowd of counter protesters. James Fields Jr. has been charged with murder in Heyers death.
A wealthy Iranian businessman is embroiled in a divorce court fight with his estranged Irish wife.

Diplomat's son Mehrdad Radseresht, 72, says Barbara Spain-Radseresht, who is 49 and used to work in the travel industry, agreed to a divorce when they lived in the Middle East more than seven years ago.

Mrs Spain-Radseresht, who comes from Dublin and now lives in London, disputes his claim and says she is entitled to a fair share of a marital fortune running into tens of millions of pounds.

Mehrdad Radseresht (left) says Barbara Spain -Radseresht (right) agreed to a divorce when they lived in the Middle East more than seven years ago

A High Court judge has been asked to make decisions about the validity of the marriage.

Mr Justice Cohen is analysing evidence at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

He said the couple could be named.

Mr Justice Cohen is analysing evidence at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court (pictured) in London

Mr Radseresht told Mr Justice Cohen they reached a settlement agreement in Dubai in 2009 after Mrs Spain-Radseresht was unfaithful.

Mrs Spain-Radseresht said she was tricked into signing paperwork.

She said she found out about the 'alleged Dubai divorce' a year ago when she made a separate divorce application.
An Indiana dentist has been arrested on suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old girl who he and his wife allegedly kept locked up in a cage at their home.

Alan Friz, 57, is accused of repeatedly rubbing the disabled girl's breasts over the past year.

His pregnant wife Aimee, 36, has also been arrested on criminal confinement and child neglect charges.

Police in Huntingburg, Indiana, say the couple kept the teenager in a 4ft x 8ft cage which they fashioned out of an old closet.

She was locked in at night and anytime Aimee was not in the home with nothing but a pan to urinate into, according to disturbing court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.

Alan Friz, 57, is accused of sexually molesting the girl, 14, who he and his wife Aimee (right) are alleged to have kept in a cage for a year

Detectives were called to the family's home in September after receiving reports that the girl was out of control.

When they arrived, they learned she had had another fight with someone else inside the home and that that man struck her with a cane.

Upon questioning, Aimee told detectives that the child was mentally disabled and that they had diagnosed her online without ever seeking the advice of a doctor, the affidavit claims.

Aimee claimed the child had threatened to murder her and her unborn baby and that the family was investigating how to treat her unspecified mental health problems.

Later, when police questioned the teenager, she described the cage she was confined to a nightly basis.

It was boarded up with wooden planks and was locked at night with a chain and a combination lock, according to detectives who searched the home.

'The cage appeared to be an old closet. It appeared that they converted the old closet into a cage. The opening of the cell was enclosed with 2x4s and wood sheets.

'They gave [her] a pan so she could use it to go to the bathroom. It was 4x8 in size with a mattress.'

'She is locked in at night and let back out in the morning,' Dubois County Sheriff's Deputy Jesus Monarrez wrote in his probably cause arrest affidavit.

The closet door even had a sign on the front which stated it was the girl's 'cage', he wrote.

Friz, who ran his own dental office in the town, is accused of breaking in to the bathroom as the girl was showering to rub her breasts. He is pictured with a different child

The 14-year-old was allowed to 'roam' the property when Friz's wife Aimee was there but she was forced to stay in her cage when she was not, according to police records. The couple is seen with another child in the home

AIMEE FRIZ 11 counts of felony Neglect of a Dependant 11 counts of felony Criminal Confinement Advertisement

ALAN FRIZ 4 counts of felony Sexual Misconduct with a Minor 11 counts of felony Neglect of a Dependant 11 counts of felony Criminal Confinement Advertisement

During interviews, the teenager told how she was allowed to 'roam the property' when Aimee was at home but that she had to go 'back to her cage' if she was not.

She also described in heartbreaking naivety how Alan Friz 'rubbed' her breasts and groped them every time he hugged her.

One one occasion, she said he joined her in the shower to touch them and 'rub her back' while asking her how her day was.

The dentist faces 26 counts including sexual misconduct, criminal confinement and negligence of a dependent

The girl said the abuse began when she was 13 and started her period which she said was when she began developing breasts.

'Everytime Alan hugs her, he touches her breasts. [She] motioned with her hands that Alan goes in from her neck line, down into underneath her shirt, and touches her breast skin to skin,' Deputy Monarrez wrote.

None of the the man's children were subject to the same abuse, police said, and he did not carry it out in front of them.

Both Aimee and Alan were arrested after the child's interviews.

Both have since posted bail and have been released.

Alan is facing 26 charges including sexual misconduct with a minor, criminal confinement and neglect of a dependent.

Aimee is facing 22 charges of neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement.

During their search of the home, Aimee's father told police the girl was locked up for her own safety because she had threatened to run away in the past.

The alleged abuse took place at the couple's home in Huntingburg, Indiana (above)

Alan Friz was held in jail on a $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court.

Aimee initially fled with her children before she could be arrested but she was taken into custody when she showed up to her husband's court appearance last week.

She is being held on a $10,000 bond.

The other children who were living at the couple's home have been taken into the care of Child Protection Services.

Another man who was living at the home was also arrested after arriving back at it during the police investigation.

He is Kenneth Le Fevre. He was taken into custody for resisting arrest.
Two Kentucky police officers fatally shot an armed suspect during a robbery in an industrial area, video shows.

Two pieces of shaky body camera footage have been uploaded to LiveLeak that show the Sunday night confrontation that resulted in the death of Corey Antonio Boykin Jr, 24.

The videos show officers John Dillion and Nick Ulery, whose names have been released by police as the shooters, and a third officer approach a door at the Industrial Park plaza in Okolona, Louisville, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Louisville Metro Police have released body camera footage from an incident on Sunday night during which two officers fatally shot an armed suspect

Officers John Dillion and Nick Ulery were identified by police as the ones who shot Corey Antonio Boykin Jr, 24, who is pictured on the ground

'Hold on, I want to get a better spot,' an officer is heard saying.

The door swings open and shots are immediately fired. Boykin, wearing a black hoodie and a black mask, goes down and is heard wailing.

'Don't move,' the officers yell. 'Cover the door,' one tells another. They yell through the door demanding anyone inside to identify themselves.

An officer is later shown performing CPR on Boykin.

One officer asks: 'You got a pulse, anything?' At this point, at least five officers are present.

Medical supplies are asked for to help with the attempted resuscitation.

The officers tell a group of individuals to remain where they are, the videos from LiveLeak show.

Boykin was a suspect in a robbery in an industrial area of Louisville on Sunday night

John Dillion (left) and Nick Ulery (right) have been placed on administrative leave following the incident

Boykin was transported to a hospital, where he later died.

Louisville Metro Police declined to answer too many question on Monday at a conference attended by the Courier-Journal.

The police told reporters that an individual had been pistol-whipped, bound and gagged by the suspect. They did not comment on whether or not the gun was loaded.

Police also did not release all bodycam footage, but said that they released 'the best angles and the best footage that we have'.

At first, police said that Boykin had been ordered to drop his weapon and did not. Later, police could not confirm whether or not Boykin was ordered to do so.

Louisville police received a call about an assault around 9pm on Sunday in Okolona. They found no evidence of an assault, but later were called about a robbery in the same area.

The shooting occurred while officers were investigating the robbery.

Dillion and Ulery have been placed on administrative leave amid the investigation into the shooting.
Hillary Clinton broke six days of silence on the Harvey Weinstein scandal hours after he was alleged to have committed three rapes, saying she was 'shocked and appalled' - but saying nothing about returning his tainted donations.

The 2016 presidential loser issued a statement through her spokesman saying his behavior 'cannot be tolerated' - shortly after Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Joloie said they too were victims.

'I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein,' Clintoin said.

'The behavior described by the women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behaviour.'

Her statement ended silence but left open the crucial issue of the vast amount of cash Weinstein donated directly to her and her family, and brought in frm his celebrity friends.

And it came after two public appearances in which she said nothing about her mega-donor friend's sexual harassment scandal, even as she spoke atone, at UC Davis on Monday, about the 'double standards' faced by women running for president.

The Clinton Foundation has also continued to duck requests for comment from DailyMail.com about its up to $250,000 donor.

The final pressure to speak came from Tim Kaine, her running mate.

Finally: Hillary Clinton's statement, issued after three rape allegations were leveled at Weinstein and Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie said he harassed them

Victim, perpetrator and Clinton: Gwyneth Paltrow said she was a victim of Harvey Weinstein shortly before the 2016 presidential loser finally broke her silence. The three had been seen together at the New York premiere of Shakespeare in Love

It's like nothing happened: Hillary Clinton charged $125-a-seat to Californians to not hear her condemn Harvey Weinstein

Shamed: CNN anchor Erin Burnett accused Weinstein of getting a 'pass' from Hillary Clinton

Bundler: Harvey Weinstein was a huge Hillary Clinton backer, hosting New York fundraisers and maxing out his own donations to her campaign

Happy birthday from Harvey: Hillary Clinton was given a birthday celebration in New York and Weinstein was part of the party in 2000, as she campaigned for the senate

WHAT HARVEY GAVE THE CLINTONS... $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation $30,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund $5,400 to Hillary Clinton's campaign Unknown millions in donations from friends Advertisement

...WHAT THE CLINTONS ARE GIVING BACK

STILL NOTHING Advertisement

Under pressure: Tim Kaine, who was Clinton's running mate when she lost, said 'any leader' should speak out against Weinstein - and when asked about her silence said: 'I'm nobody's press secretary'

Speaking on CNN's New Day, he said: 'Any leader should condemn this. These allegations are low-life behavior.

'Whether it's in government, business or media, it's unacceptable and you've got to call it out.'

He also distanced himself form the 2016 loser, saying: 'I'm nobody's press secretary.'

One of Clinton's former senior staffers, Patti Solis Doyle, who was her 2008 campaign manager, told CNN it was 'disappointing' that her ex-boss 'hasn't come out and condemned Harvey Weinstein'. That was before she spoke.

Since the scandal was revealed last Thursday, Clinton has found time to discuss birth control funding and her re-released children's book It Takes a Village and the problems she says women face in politics.

She has also continued her lucrative speaking tour with engagements at Stanford University and University of California, Davis.

Clinton told the UC Davis audience on Monday about the struggle of running for president as a woman. Ticket prices started at $250, and included a copy of her memoir What Happened.

'You have to have a high pain threshold, because the double standard is alive and well,' said Clinton.

'This is endemic to our political system, to business, to the media, to every part of society. So don't be afraid to talk about it and take it on.'

The former presidential candidate also weighed in on the recent fire fires in northern California and hurricanes across the U.S.

She said people must start 'acknowledging climate change and the role that it plays in exacerbating such events.'

Media figures expressed shock that Clinton never once mentioned the sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein during her 90 minute speech.

'HRC spoke for 90 mins last nite, didn't mention Harvey Weinstein. She won't give women a 'pass' for not voting for her, but she gave him one,' wrote CNN's Erin Burnett on Twitter.

Weinstein was fired from Miramax on Sunday, just a few days after it was revealed he had reached financial settlements with at least eight women regarding sexual harassment allegations over the past two decades.

He is now facing allegations of rape, with Italian star Asia Argento describing to the New Yorker how she was attacked by him in a French hotel room.

Ashley Judd told the New York Times that when she was a young actress Weinstein asked her to watch him shower and tried to give her a massage during a purported business meeting he arranged in his hotel room.

Other women who worked for Miramax reported that Weinstein made similar sexual advances toward them.

Weinstein, a major Democratic political donor, has faced condemnation from Washington politicians and Hollywood celebrities since the scandal was exposed by the New York Times last Thursday.

At least seven Democrats and the Democratic National Committee stepped forward to say they are returning Weinstein's campaigns donations or re-gifting them to charity.

Happy to be here: Hillary Clinton was the guest of honor as Harvey Weinstein held a fundraiser at his $15 million Manhattan home in June 2016, attended by Huma Abedin, her closest aide, whose pervert husband Anthony Weiner will go to prison next month for sexting a minor

Look who Harvery brought to donate: Weinstein's dinner at his West Village townhouse saw Jennifer Lopez among the stars who paid $32,500-a-plate to meet Clinton as she campaigned for the White House

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, both considered likely contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said they will donate Weinstein's contributions to charity.

Senators Al Franken, Kristen Gillibrand, Richard Blumenthal, and Martin Heinrich also vowed to return the money.

The Democratic National Committee, which received over $250,000 from Weinstein since 2003, also said it would donate $30,000 to women's groups.

HARVEY THE DEMS' CASH MACHINE Here are just some of the donations and fundraising Weinstein was behind according to public records - and what has happened to them since his sex harassment shame was revealed: $679,275 raised as a 'bundler' for Obama's 2012 campaign - one of the top 40 in the country NOT RETURNED $250,000 donations to the Democratic National Committee since 2003 SMALL PERCENTAGE BEING GIVEN TO WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN GROUPS Up to $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation since 2003 NOT RETURNED $30,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund in 2016 NOT RETURNED $16,200 to Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 - the legal maximum - to Clinton's campaign in 2016 NOT RETURNED $5,400 to Richard Blumenthal in 2016 GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 to Martin Heinrich in 2017 GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 to Al Franken in 2014 GOING TO CHARITY $5,000 to Elizabeth Warren in 2012 GOING TO CHARITY $10,000 to Corey Booker in 2013 GOING TO CHARITY Advertisement

Weinstein maxed out his political contributions to Clinton with a $5,400 check to her 2016 campaign and $30,000 to her Hillary Victory Fund. He was also a prolific bundler for Clinton and hosted fundraising events where celebrity guests paid thousands to meet with the presidential candidate.

Weinstein also gave between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation  joining other controversial donors, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex-MF Global CEO Jon Corzine.

A growing chorus of Hollywood celebrities continued to speak out against the movie producer on Monday and Tuesday.

'I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein's behavior,' said Jennifer Lawrence in a statement on Tuesday.

'I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.'

George Clooney said he heard gossip going back decades that 'certain actresses had slept with Harvey to get a role,' but said he ignored these rumors because he found them demeaning to women.

'The part we're hearing now about eight women being paid off, I didn't hear anything about that and I don't know anyone that did,' said Clooney. 'That's a whole other level and there's no way you can reconcile that. There's nothing to say except that it's indefensible.'

Lena Dunham, who campaigned for Clinton in 2016, wrote a column for the New York Times denouncing those who have stayed silent on Weinstein's behaviour.

'[H]ere we are, days later, waiting for Mr. Weinstein's most powerful collaborators to say something. Anything,' wrote Dunham. 'It wouldn't be just a gift to the women he has victimized, but a message to the women who are watching our industry closely.'
Theresa May today refused to say if she would vote leave or remain if the Brexit referendum was re-run.

The Prime Minister also warned that EU nationals living in Britain could lose some of their rights if the UK ends up leaving the bloc without a deal, and vice versa.

Mrs May backed Remain in last year's vote but has hung her premiership off the promise to deliver on the historic referendum.

But appearing on a live radio phone in this afternoon, the PM dried up when she was repeatedly asked if she would change her vote if the referendum was re-run.

Asked by LBC presenter Iain Dale if she has changed her mind the PM said: 'Well I don't answer hypothetical questions...'

Theresa May, on a phone in on LBC this afternoon, refused to say if she would vote Leave or Remain if the Brexit referendum was re-run

The PM also appeared to warn that EU nationals could lose some of their rights of no Brexit deal is hammered out with the EU before we quit the bloc

Pressed on the point she continued: 'I voted Remain and I did for good reasons at time but circumstances move on and I think the important thing is that I think we should all be focused on delivering Brexit and delivering the best deal.'

Mrs May was told Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had switched from Remain to Leave because former Chancellor George Osborne's gloomy economic predictions had failed to materialise.

Presenter Iain Dale said: 'If he says he can change his mind I don't quite understand why you can't seeing as you are Prime Minister leading us into Brexit.'

But she again dodged the issue, saying: 'Yes and I'm Prime Minister ensuring I'm going to deliver Brexit for the British people.'

She added: 'But we are not having another referendum and that's absolutely crucial.'

On Brexit, the PM refused to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in Britain if no deal is reached.

She said: 'There are certain rights that pertain to somebody who is here in the UK by virtue of being an EU citizen.

'Things like the benefits they are able to access in relation to their home country and in relation to here in the UK.

'Some of those issues of course would fall away if there was a no deal because there wouldn't be an agreement between us and the European Union about how those things would be looked at.

'So we would have to look at those issues separately in a no deal scenario. That is why we are working on what we would look at in a no deal.

Theresa May's speech was hit by a trio of disasters - kicked off when a serial prankster handed he a P45 while she was on stage

'But my overall message is, I want EU citizens to stay here in the UK and I want to be able to guarantee people those rights and enable them to stay.'

'We are not going to be throwing EU citizens who are currently here in the UK out in the future.'

Tory Eurosceptics played down the significance of Mrs Mays remarks.

Peter Bone said: I never regarded the PM as being either strongly in favour of EU membership or strongly against.

'She has taken the position that the people have spoken and she will do her duty to deliver what they voted for.

'What would be a problem is, is she going to implement it?

'At the moment the answer is a big yes, and as long as that remains the case everything is fine.

But political opponents seized on the PMs remarks. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: It matters hugely. You cannot lead the country through the most important fundamental change of modern times unless you believe in it. It is impossible.

This explains all the dither and delay and lack of decisiveness we have seen.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson said it was staggering that even the Prime Minister isnt convinced by the Governments approach to Brexit.

While on Mr Dale's show, Mrs May also revealed that she thought she needed a 'stiff drink' when she finally finished her disastrous conference speech.

The Prime Minister's moment in the spotlight turned into a nightmare when her speech was disrupted by a prankster who handed her a fake P45.

Things went from bad to worse after Mrs May was hit by a coughing fit and then letters which has been pinned up to the board behind her began dropping off.

THERESA MAY SAYS SHE WANTED A 'STIFF DRINK' AFTER DISASTROUS SPEECH Theresa May revealed that she thought she needed a 'stiff drink' when she finally finished her disastrous conference speech. The Prime Minister's moment in the spotlight turned into a nightmare when her speech was disrupted by a prankster who handed her a fake P45. Things went from bad to worse after Mrs May was hit by a coughing fit and then letters which has been pinned up to the board behind her began dropping off. Appearing on a live phone in show on LBC this afternoon, Mrs May revealed her husband Philip had been worried abut her as the prankster edged nearer to her on stage. She said: 'He was obviously feeling for me as anybody would in those circumstances. 'He had been a bit worried about the individual approaching me, probably more so than I was up on the podium. 'He gave me a really big hug and said well done. 'I think I needed a stiff drink afterwards.' Advertisement

Appearing on a live phone in show on LBC this afternoon, Mrs May revealed her husband Philip had been worried abut her as the prankster edged nearer to her on stage.

And she also took a swipe at plotters in her party - including the former Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps - who tried to force her from office earlier this week, saying she values loyalty.

She repeated her pledge to lead her party into the next election saying: 'I am not a quitter.'

But she refused to say if she will sack Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle after his recent leadership maneuverings.

She told Iain Dale's show: 'I was giving that speech and I saw this person out of the corner of my eye - I had no idea what it was all about.

'I had no idea who they were or what they were doing .'

The PM said that when she saw the shaky hand passing her a sheet of paper she briefly wondered if she was meant to stop.

'But then I realised it was someone not official and I just carried on' she said.

'I know some people have questioned how it was possible for somebody to get so close to the Prime Minister but that didn't go through my mind.'

And she recalled the moment her husband Philip rushed up on stage and enveloped her in a big hug after she finished her 65 minute speech

She said: 'He was obviously feeling for me as anybody would in those circumstances.

'He had been a bit worried about the individual approaching me, probably more so than I was up on the podium.

'He gave me a really big hug and said well done.

'I think I needed a stiff drink afterwards.'

The PM joked that she wished she had put 'more cough sweets in her pocket' before the speech.

Her comments came in the a live phone in on the radio show in which the PM was also quizzed about her government's track record on increasing chances for ethnic minority communities.

It comes after the government released a groundbreaking racial disparity audit which collects data which assesses how ethnic minorities and white people are treated.

She was quizzed about Brexit, her plans for a Cabinet reshuffle and her one-time Cabinet colleague turned biggest critic George Osborne in the phone-in.

She said she cannot remember the last time she spoke to the former Chancellor George Osborne - who has launched a series of personal attacks on her and her premiership from the pages of the Evening Standard which he now edits.

Launching the race audit project in Downing Street today, the PM said Britain has a 'way to go' to create an equal society.

Theresa May was then hit by a nasty coughing fit during the speech which led her to have a frog in her throat for much of the speech

Parts of the conference set also started falling off behind the PM as her speech went from bad to worse

And in today's phone in she revealed firms could be encouraged to remove candidates names from job applications to prevent discrimination.

Asked if the Government could make name blind applications compulsory, the PM suggested she would prefer companies to voluntarily consider adopting the measure.

She said: I suppose I just have not looked at the possibility of that sort of blanket legislation in this area.

'We have seen employers actually taking it up, and naturally prefer employers to actively want to do something themselves.

Sometimes you can appear to solve an issue with legislation, but what you really you need to get at is the attitude behind that.

But she said that tackling ethnic injustice is a 'personal priority' for her while she is in Downing Street.

Data on how people of different races are treated in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system have been laid bare on the newly-launched new Ethnicity Facts and Figures website.

Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today for the launch of the race audit website. She said she is determined to crack down on disparities in how different communities are treated

Mrs May said much of the information 'has existed for years' but it had not been 'looked at through this particular prism'.

The PM hailed the audit as a 'world first' but admitted the 'findings will be uncomfortable'.

She told the meeting: 'I think what this audit shows is there isn't anywhere to hide. That's not just for Government, it's for society as a whole.'

'Britain has come along way in promoting equality and opportunity but what the data we've published today shows is that we still have a way to go if we are going to truly have a country that works for everyone.'
As Steve Bannon leads an assault against Republican Senate incumbents, Democrats are also threatening to eat their own, starting with the oldest member of the upper chamber, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

'I am running for reelection to the Senate. Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. Im all in!' the 84-year-old Feinstein stated on Twitter Monday.

Her announcement prompted Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a first-time U.S. lawmaker from Silicon Valley, saying it's actually time for the party 'to move on' and pick someone more progressive for the race, that would represent the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. (left), announced this week that she planned to run for re-election in 2018, though Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. (right), suggested she would not, saying he would rather see a progressive Medicare-for-all supporter who understood tech policy

Khanna told Politico that he's contacted Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., one of the most liberal House members, along with President Clinton's former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, as potential Democratic challengers for Feinstein's seat.

He wasn't sure if either of them would bite, but told Politico that 'there are other voices in our state who are far more in touch with the values.'

Khanna told the publication that he's a fan of Sanders' Medicare-for-all policy, something Feinstein hasn't backed.

He also didn't feel the 84-year-old fully understood tech policy.

'She was totally out of touch when the whole debate happened on encryption,' Khanna told Politico, speaking of the debate between Apple and the feds in the aftermath of the San Bernardino terror attack in December 2016.

'She didnt even understand some of those issues,' he griped.

On the other hand, California's other senator, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a supporter of Medicare-for-all, has said she's fully behind her elder peer.

Harris told Politico that she was behind Feinstein '100 percent,' and even sent out a message to Democrats directly after the senior senator's tweet encouraging them to donate money to Feinstein's campaign.

'Dianne is someone who sticks to her ideals and achieves results regardless of what makes for good politics or what her powerful opponents may say,' Harris said, making the fundraising pitch.

'We are better off because of her leadership in the Senate, and Im proud to endorse her campaign,' it continued. 'Can you join me today in helping Dianne Feinstein?'

While Democrats may have to look out on their left, Senate incumbent Republicans up for re-election next year are expecting challengers to the right, though specifically from the Bannon nationalist-populist part of the party.

In recent days, Bannon has said he plans to field candidates to challenge six incumbent Republicans, a startling percentage as voters will only cast ballots for eight Republican-held seats.

Bannon said he won't try to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and won't bother with Tennessee, as Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has already announced his retirement, with Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a Bannon-worthy replacement ready to take Corker's place.

Democrats, on the other hand, have 23 Senate seats up for grabs, though luckily for Feinstein, California is considered safe.
An Oregon woman has been sentenced to life in prison after she orchestrated the murder of her estranged husband.

Mariah Molina, 23, was sentenced by a judge on Friday for her role in the December 2015 killing of 26-year-old Luis Alberto Aguilar-Estrada in his apartment in Tigard, which is located just outside of Portland, KOIN reported.

She has been ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years before she will become eligible for parole.

Days before Aguilar-Estrada's murder, Molina lost custody of her two sons to her estranged husband.

He was seeking to gain full sole custody of their sons at the time of his death.

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Mariah Molina (left), a 23-year-old Oregon woman, has been sentenced to life in prison after she orchestrated the 2015 murder of her estranged husband, Luis Alberto Aguilar-Estrada (right)

She has been ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years before she will become eligible for parole. Days before Aguilar-Estrada's murder, Molina lost custody of her two sons to her estranged husband

Molina solicited her then-boyfriend, Brennan Surface, to kill Aguilar-Estrada.

Surface, who is now 23 years old, drove to Aguilar-Estrada's apartment unit with Molina and his friend, Charl'z Warbonnet, according to investigators.

Police say Surface and Warbonnet were inside Aguilar-Estrada's apartment before he was killed and that Surface was the shooter.

Aguilar-Estrada was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head at close-range, police say.

The trio were indicted in his death in April 2016. Warbonnet pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and first-degree burglary on Monday after he was initially accused of murder.

Molina solicited her then-boyfriend, Brennan Surface (left), to kill Aguilar-Estrada. He asked his friend, Charl'z Warbonnet (right) to help in the murder, police say

The trio then drove to Aguilar-Estrada's apartment unit (above) where Surface and Warbonnet entered inside. Police say Surface shot Aguilar-Estrada dead in the head

He is set to be sentenced on Friday for the crime.

Surface pleaded guilty to Aguilar-Estrada's murder in May and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 25 years served in prison.

The couple's two children are now in foster care.

Aguilar-Estrada's brother-in-law Mike Keymolen told KOIN at Molina's sentencing that the victim was 'a loving person.'

'He was a hardworking dad, responsible, a loving person who would help out anybody he could, take his shirt off and give it to anyone that needed it,' Keymolen said.

Aguilar-Estrada's brother-in-law Mike Keymolen (above) told KOIN at Molina's sentencing that the victim was 'a loving person.' He added that he wished that Oregon had the death penalty

'He was a good guy, a good father and now he's no longer with us.'

He added that Molina 'doesn't deserve to be out' and wished that the death penalty was in the state.

KOIN reported that the victim's mother, Rosalba, wrote a statement that read: 'I have suffered a very big loss, he didn't deserve that. I don't understand why I opened the doors of my house to a murderer. I regret that with all my soul.'

The victim's family plans to fight for custody of the two boys.
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran (pictured) admitted taking drugs at a protest to get cannabis legalised for medicinal purposes today

An MP has admitted taking drugs at a 'cannabis tea party' protest outside Parliament today with the aim of legalising medicinal marijuana.

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran joined two Labour MPs and dozens of patients as they launched their formal bid to legalise the Class B drug for medicinal purposes.

The protesters, backed by the Multiple Sclerosis Society, ate cannabis-infused scones with their tea on the lawns of Parliament Square.

When asked if she had dabbled in drugs the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said: 'Yes I went to university! I did inhale, yes I did.'

She added: 'I don't any more, I'm a grown up now, but for god's sake.'

The Lib Dem continued by mocking Theresa May and her comment about 'the naughtiest thing she had ever done', saying: 'I've never run in a wheat field, that I can say.'

The 35-year-old politician came to give her support to Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and Paul Flynn who are trying to get cannabis made legal for sufferers of conditions like Parkinson's and MS.

They and other members of the United Patients Alliance, who have campaigned for years on the issue, were surrounded by hemp plants and the smell of weed just yards from the armed police protecting the Houses of Parliament.

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The protest outside Parliament in central London today marked the start of Labour MP Paul Flynn (pictured left)'s bid to change the law on cannabis use for sufferers of conditions like MS and Parkinson's disease

Ms Moran, 35, said one of her best friends died of MS and went through 'extraordinary pain'.

She added: 'If there was anything that we can do to help them then I think this is a good thing.'

Although the three MPs declined eating any cannabis themselves, Ms Moran said: 'Most people my age would not blink an eye at me trying to back a campaign like this.

'They'd be like 'duh, in fact, isn't it legal already?' because they hear about it in Colorado and things like that.

'I think it's a bit of a no-brainer, I'm fairly certain I'm on the right side of history here and in 20 years we'll be 'what was that all about, why did we have to campaign so hard to get it?.'

Mr Flynn branded government policy - which threatens people possessing cannabis with five years' jail - 'idiotic', saying 'It's political cowardice.

The veteran lawmaker said: 'They're afraid of being accused to going to pot. I'm afraid governments get brownie points for appearing to act tough.'

Ms Antoniazzi told protesters: 'It is criminal to be honest with you and we have to move forward.

'If you are in pain you deserve to have something that will make your life better.'

Protest organiser Clark French, who has MS, said he had 'no choice but to break the law' and branding government policy on the drug an 'absolute disgrace'.

Parkinson's sufferer Ian Frizell, 56, filmed himself vaping cannabis to reduce his tremors in a video that has gone viral on YouTube with millions of views.

The former IT worker from Norfolk told protesters at the demonstration he had taken the drug every day for over two years.

Demonstrators ate cannabis-infused scones and drank tea just yards from police as Ms Moran (pictured right), 35, said: 'I did inhale yes' when asked if she had taken drugs

He branded it a 'wonder drug', saying: 'They're looking at the wrong evidence and skewed evidence.'

Mr Flynn will be putting forward a motion to change the UK's policy on cannabis use for medical patients.

Although it has a slim chance of success, the changes would allow the production, supply, possession and use of cannabis and resin for medicinal purposes.

Earlier in the year, Flynn called on people who could face imprisonment for taking cannabis for medical reasons to break the law.

Flynn himself declined offers at the party to try some cannabis. 'I've got to make a speech at 2pm,' he said, adding that otherwise he'd be happy to take it and wouldn't be worried about breaking the law.
A big question in the wake of the two-week suspension ESPN handed down Monday for SC6 co-host Jemele Hill was what would happen to the show without her. After White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticized Hill in September, ESPN reportedly wanted to pull Hill off the air that day, but co-host Michael Smith refused to do the show without her, and other black hosts declined to fill in, leading to Hill and Smith doing their show as normal.

This time around, it came out Monday that Smith and ESPN reached a mutual decision that hed sit out that day and return Tuesday, but the plans for the show in Hills absence werent clear at that point. Awful Announcing has now learned from a ESPN source that the current plan is for Smith to host SC6 solo Tuesday and for the rest of Hills suspension.

This is a fluid situation, and things could still change. But the plan for the time being is for Smith to fly solo in Hills absence, and that probably makes sense for all involved. Any replacement under these circumstances would take a lot of flak for sitting in Hills spot, especially with her suspension proving so controversial (and shes already received plenty of supportive comments from ESPN personalities and others), and its quite possible that ESPN talent might again decline to fill in for her.

Having Smith do the show solo means theres no direct replacement for Hill, and also means that SC6 doesnt just go away for those two weeks or get converted into a more-standard version of SportsCenter, rather than the unique interview- and pop-culture heavy show its become. Its also notable that Hill tweeted her support for Smith Tuesday:

I love you @michaelsmith for being my biggest supporter, a great friend, terrific husband & father. I truly don't deserve you. See you soon.  Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 10, 2017

Well see how this goes for Smith. Its not going to be possible to replicate the banter-heavy, back-and-forth elements of the show without a cohost, but any cohost other than Hill probably would have made things very awkward. And they may be able to keep the interview-heavy aspects of SC6, and perhaps bump those up even more to fill time that normally would have been occupied by discussion between the cohosts. SC6 has had plenty of notable player guests, and ESPN also has plenty of analysts who presumably can stop by.

But it is going to be a very different show with just Smith hosting rather than Smith and Hill, and it will be worth watching to see how that plays out. In any case, though, this is at least worth a try, and seems like possibly a better outcome for Smith, Hill and ESPN than directly replacing Hill during this suspension or pulling SC6 altogether.
Emma Watson has broken her silence on the Harvey Weinstein affair as the disgraced Hollywood mogul was today accused of rape.

The Miramax co-founder was sacked from his position on Sunday after numerous women - including actresses Ashley Judd and Ambra Battilana - went public about his alleged behaviour.

The producer who has ties to almost every big name in Hollywood worked with Emma Watson in 2011 when she starred in his film My Week With Marilyn.

The 27-year-old actress and campaigner for equal rights tweeted this afternoon in support of the women who had come forward.

Posting to Twitter, she wrote: 'I stand with all the women who have been sexually harassed, and am awestruck by their bravery. This mistreatment of women has to stop. '

'It has got to stop': Today Emma Watson has condemned sexual violence against women as more allegations about Harvey Weinstein come forward. Pictured above, the movie mogul grabbing the then-nineteen-year-old actress as they left Mahiki nightclub in 2011

Former friends: Emma Watson, pictured above with Weinstein at a pre-BAFTA dinner in 2011, has broken her silence on the allegations after he was today accused of rape

Speaking out: The 27-year-old Goodwill Ambassador for the UN said she was awestruck by the bravery of sexual harassment victims

Watson worked with Weinstein when she was 19 on a film his company was producing.

They were pictured together shortly after partying in Central London after a night at the BAFTAs.

In images taken at the time, a young Watson can be seen leaving Mahiki nighclub in London as the then 58-year-old producer grabbed her from behind.

In recent years Watson has become a leading figure in the fight for gender equality after taking up her position as Women Goodwill Ambassador for the UN in 2014.

She joins one of few high-profile actors to speak out about the allegations as Weinstein's former contemporaries Gwenyth Paltrow and Julia Roberts remain quiet.

Watson's comments today came just hours after the latest allegation against Weinstein emerged.

Italian actress Asia Argento has come forward accusing Weinstein of raping her.

He was at a party hosted by Miramax at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc when Weinstein led to her an empty room and asked her to give him a massage.

She reluctantly agreed, and halfway through he began to perform oral sex on her despite her repeated request for him to stop.

Afterwards Argento said her career suffered which she believed was linked to the fact she asked him to stop.

In images taken at the time, a 19-year-old Watson can be seen being grabbed by the 58-year-old producer as they left London nightclub Mahiki

More victims emerge: Asia Argento (above in 2004) says that Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc back in 1997

Recording: Model Ambra Battilana (above) can be heard repeatedly rejecting Weinstein's requests to have her join him in his bedroom

In total, 13 women said that they were sexually harassed or assaulted by Weinstein and three said that they were raped.

An investigation by The New York Times claimed on Thursday that Weinstein repeatedly sexually harassed a number of female employees and movie stars over the course of his three-decade career as one of Hollywood's most celebrated studio heads.

In one case he reportedly asked Ashley Judd if she would like to watch him shower during a meeting in his room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills and paid $100,000 to Rose McGowan for an unknown incident shortly after she filmed her breakthrough role in the film 'Scream.'

That settlement is one of eight that Weinstein has reportedly paid out over the past 30 years, with Italian model Ambra Battilana also getting an undisclosed sum in 2015 after accusing the Hollywood executive of groping her and putting his hand under her skirt.

Weinstein was fired on Sunday by The Weinstein Company just days after the Times published their findings.

The movie mogul was ousted by his own company's board of directors. Weinstein founded the firm with his brother Bob in 2005 when he left Miramax.

But since the allegations made national headlines, many A-listers have kept quiet.

George Clooney and Jennifer Lawrence are among the few to publicly condemn their former boss.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has called the allegations against Weinstein 'disturbing and upsetting'. The pair are pictured together at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2013

George Clooney and Harvey Weinstein at the Confessions of a Dangerous Mind premiere in New York in November 2002

The producer helped Jennifer Lawrence win an Oscar with Silver Linings Playbook and gave Clooney his first break on the big screen in From Dusk Till Dawn and as a director in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

But the A-listers turned on Weinstein - a man once revered as a god by some of the world's best actors - after he was fired from his own production company over dozens of sexual harassment allegations.

In an interview last night, Clooney broke his silence and called Weinstein's behavior 'indefensible', adding that 'the problem is deeply ingrained in our society' and that anybody who is aware of sexual harassment and does not speak out is 'complicit'.

Clooney told the Daily Beast: Its indefensible. Thats the only word you can start with.

'Harveys admitted to it, and its indefensible. Ive known Harvey for 20 years.

'Weve had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behaviorever.'

Jennifer Lawrence echoed Clooney's sentiments, stating although she had not witnessed Weinstein's inappropriate acts herself, she still condemned the producer.

She told Variety: 'I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein's behavior. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.'
Emad Tabaza, the managing director of Neuman & Esser, accused Jamie Harron of public indecency

The Jordanian man who had a British tourist arrested in Dubai for touching him on the hip has been identified as the Managing Director of a global technology giant.

Emad Tabaza accused Jamie Harron of public indecency after the 27-year-old tried to squeeze past him in a popular night spot - meaning he could face up to three years in a UAE jail.

Today Mr Harron, from Stirling, Scotland, gave an emotional plea to come home, saying: 'I just want to be back with my family'.

Mr Tabaza heads up Neuman & Esser, a corporation which produces machinery for other companies within the oil and gas industry, as well for renewable energy and and food firms.

The Brit's lawyers yesterday accused him of 'trying to show off his power in front of his friends' by getting Mr Harron arrested.

And today Mr Harron released a statement through Radha Stirling, who runs Detained in Dubai and is overseeing his case.

He said: 'I am overwhelmed with the international support. I haven't even brought myself to look at everything in the press.

'Friends keep phoning me and telling me and I am just amazed that so many people are behind me. I am just stunned.

'I am trying my best, on advice, not to stress about the possibility of being jailed but it is hard for me to put that very real likelihood out of my mind. I just want this to be over and to be back with my family.'

Jamie Harron, 27, is facing three years behind bars in Dubai for public indecency. His parents Graham and Patricia (pictured) have told how they cannot sleep with worry and have ruined themselves financially trying to get him justice

Jamie said the experience has left him 'broken financially and emotionally' and he fears the ordeal will never be over

He said the experience has left him 'broken emotionally' and facing a 32,000 legal bill, while his father Graham has urged tourists to avoid the city.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday, Ms Stirling said: 'He [the accuser] was saying things like "do you know who I am?"

'His friends told him to drop the case, saying that it had gone too far, but he didn't.'

Mr Harron was arrested three months ago and released, but has been trapped in Dubai ever since because his passport was confiscated.

He appeared in court yesterday where he narrowly avoided going back to jail after missing an earlier hearing when the timing was changed at the last minute and his legal team were not informed.

Ms Stirling said more developments are expected in two weeks when Mr Harron goes back before a judge.

Speaking about his ordeal on Sunday, Jamie, an electrician, said it has 'broken me financially and emotionally'.

Mother Patricia and father Graham, a caterer, say they have been left unable to sleep while worrying about their son.

Speaking to NGO Detained in Dubai, Graham said: 'Patricia and I have not been able to relax for a moment. We never dreamed we would have to face something like this.

'We can't believe that this nightmare has gone on for three months. Jamie is a good boy. He has never been a problem and never in trouble.

'We are a very close family and it is killing us to think of him spending even three nights in jail, let alone three years.'

The family say their finances have been left in tatters by the ordeal, which has cost them around 32,000 so far.

The problem was made worse when Jamie was sacked from his job amidst the proceedings, forcing him to rack up large credit card debts.

Jamie was expected to be jailed on Sunday after he missed a previous court hearing because it was rescheduled at the last minute, but was allowed to remain free

Graham also blasted the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for promoting Dubai as a holiday spot to British tourists, and failing to mention the risks faced by visitors.

'People have to stop visiting that country,' he said. 'Since Jamie was arrested, I have researched and found that this is more common than any of us think.

'It is unacceptable the FCO actually promotes the UAE to British tourists.'

Jamie added: 'The whole thing is like a horrible dream and I just dont know when it is going to end. I thought it would be over by now but it feels like it will never be.

'I am lucky I have friends to stay with but this has broken me, financially and emotionally. I am in debt because of the legal fees and wont even be able to afford to appeal the case if it doesnt go in my favour.'

Jamie, an electrician, had been having a drink at the with friends at a popular venue for young people in the Tecom area of Dubai when the incident took place.

Mr Harron and friend had just bought their first drink when they noticed a Jordanian man who was looking over at them from the edge of the dance floor in a 'confrontational' manner.

They decided to move to avoid any aggravation, but Mr Harron had to walk past the man, and as he passed, he placed his hand on the right hand side of the top of the man's hip to ensure that when passing they didn't bump and spill drinks 'in a move familiar to most UK patrons of crowded pubs'.

While the man showed no sign of agitation as Jamie and his friend passed, he later became very animated before the police appeared outside.

When the man went out to meet them, he began animatedly talking with them, pointing at Mr Harron, who got up and went to see what the problem was.

The man, his friends and the police were all speaking in Arabic, the accuser occasionally shouting in English, 'He's been drinking, and he touched me improperly, I will get you deported, do you know who I am?.'

The electrician said he lightly touched an Arab man on the hip in a packed bar as he squeeze past, and was subsequently charged with public indecency

The police asked Mr Harron to apologise which he 'gladly did'. But his accused was 'not mollified' and demanded police arrest him.

After days in Al Barsha prison, where he was not allowed to wash himself or brush his teeth, prosecutors told Mr Harron he was charged with drinking alcohol and 'public indecency.'

When he was released to stay with friends his passport was seized by police.

Detained in Dubai said Mr Harron had been to Dubai many times on holiday and 'knows and respects' the country's laws.

A spokesman for the group said: 'Jamie denies this latter charge vehemently, restating that his only intention was to avoid spilling a drink.

'Tourists who consume alcohol at licensed venues can still be arrested for having alcohol in their system. Most tourists are not aware of this fact. A number of British nationals have been caught out by this contradictory application of the law.

'When Jamie was in his prison cell the night of the arrest, his friend accompanied him to the police station. The accuser and his friends were also there.

The accuser's friends were telling him to just drop the matter, and that he had taken it too far. Jamie's friend was sitting next to them all and heard the whole discussion.

Jamie said the experience has left him 'broken, financially and emotionally' and said he is in so much debt he will not be able to afford to appeal the case if the verdict goes against him

Rock Bottom Bar (pictured) is popular with British ex-pats even though it is illegal to have alcohol in your system in Dubai

'Jamie's friend is acting as his witness, as is the sympathetic security worker of the pub where the incident happened. The bouncer saw the whole incident and confirms Jamie's version of events.'

Jamie's lawyer said: 'This is another example of how vulnerable tourists are to arrest and detention in Dubai and at how drawn out and legal proceedings are.

'We have received a wave of new cases of British nationals detained in Dubai and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office need to increase travel warnings to citizens intending to visit or live in the country.

'If Jamie is sentenced to prison, he faces human rights violations and torture. The English High Court has ruled against extradition to the UAE based on the 'very real risk of unfair trials and torture' but the UK government has refused to increase warnings, largely due to their financial and diplomatic ties with the UAE.

'Both Jamie and his family are anxious for him to be back home in Stirling as soon as possible.'

His case follows that of Edinburgh plasterer Billy Barclay, 31, who was released this week after being held for trying to swap a 20 note, which he did not know was forged, at a bureau de change in Dubai.
Students at the University of Hawaii received an ominous email on Monday, titled 'In the event of a nuclear attack'.

The email gave students at the school, which has its main campus in Manoa on the big island, details about what to do if there was a nuclear strike on the island.

'In light of concerns about North Korea missile tests, state and federal agencies are providing information about nuclear threats and what to do in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack and radiation emergency,' the UH email said.

Students at the University of Hawaii received an ominous email on Monday, titled 'In the event of a nuclear attack'. Above, a building on the school's main campus in Manoa

The email came as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. and North Korea over North Korea's nuclear missile program. Above, video of a North Korean missile test on August 29

The email warned students and staff to listen for the emergency sirens and to follow instructions to shelter in place if an attack were to happen.

Above, a copy of the email that students received on Monday

The email was sent out as tensions between North Korea and the U.S. continue to escalate.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been ambitiously developing a nuclear-capable intercontinental missile, and experts believe they will have one sometime next year.

That puts Hawaii well within the reach of Kim's nuclear arsenal.

Last month, a group of Hawaii lawmakers met behind closed doors with the state's Emergency Management Agency to discuss preparedness for a strike.

The state is currently working to educate residents on basic preparedness - such as having enough food on hand for 14 days.

'When you hear us speak to the public, it's going to start off with the majority talking about how to prepare your family for major emergencies  getting your act together,' Toby Clairmont, the executive director of Hawaii EMA, said, according to the Civil Beat. 'And then it's going to include this (preparation for a nuclear attack) as one hazard in addition to hurricanes and tsunamis and other things.'
64-year-old Mark Andrew Nichols explicitly described sex acts he planned to perform with the child, according to emails and texts he sent to an internet crimes detective posing as the girl and her parents

A man from Texas has been arrested on charges he traveled to Orlando, Florida, to have sex a girl whom he thought was nine-years-old.

Mark Andrew Nichols, 64, traveled more than 1,000 miles from his home in Austin, Texas to make contact with the girl, but when he arrived police were already waiting for him and he was arrested on Saturday.

Undercover sex crime detectives created a fake advert on a website to which Nichols responded.

An internet crimes detective then posed as a father and mother as well at the youngster online according to WFTV.

The ad referenced meeting 'experienced parents to learn new things from raising little ones,' according to the arrest report. The ad was deliberately vague to encourage potential predators to take the bait.

Nichols allegedly sent a number of emails and texts to the detective who was posing as the girl and her parents.

Orlando police say Nichols, who is married and has two young children of his own, then went on to explicitly describe sex acts that he planned to perform with the child.

Orlando police arrest Mark Andrew Nichols of Austin after arriving in Florida on Saturday

Nichols has been charged in Florida with attempted sexual battery of a child younger than 12, attempted lewd or lascivious conduct, solicitation of a minor via computer, obscene communication and unlawful use of a two-way communication device

The fake dad explained to Nichols that he and his wife were trying to get their nine-year-old daughter into modeling and asked him what types of 'interests' he had about the girl.

'When you say interests, are you asking generally? Or sexually?' Nichols responded to the father.

Nichols said that he was 'fascinated' with incest and it was an 'extreme turn on' for him.

Nichols told the detective that he wanted to have sex with the nine-year-old but wanted to make sure the girl's parents were 'comfortable' with it first.

He told the detective posing as the father that he would love to 'watch' or participate.

Nichols added, 'I am extremely respectful about all of this,' and said he was planning a trip to the Orlando area soon and would like to meet the family, according to the report.

Nichols, pictured here with his wife, flew to Orlando. When he arrived to meet with the girl and her parents he was arrested. He had brought Skittles and Sour Patch Kids to the meeting

The detective, posing as the father then asked what Nichols would like to do with the girl.

According to the arrest report, Nichols responded: 'I would like to visit you all. I am interested in having sex with the child and the child's mother. I am bi so I am open to some bi play with you if you are interested. If you are not, that is fine. I would maybe like to watch you have sex with the child. Be there. Touch and re-assure her. Then have sex with her myself. Would the child want to watch me with mom?' He further texted, 'I want to be respectful and just provide you all with a fun, safe experience.'

After further graphic text messages between the fake parents and Nichols, the detective posing as the mom asked if if he had a daughter or had ever done any of the things he described to his own children.

Nichols, 64, sent lewd texts, emails to who he believed was a little girl but was really a detective seeking to arrest him

Nichols said he 'enjoyed bath time' with his own daughter, but 'back then, I would just never do anything,' according to the report.

Police said in an arrest affidavit that their investigation of Nichols began when he responded to the online ad.

Nichols finally set up a meeting with the girl's parents in Orlando.

At the time of his arrest, Nichols was found to have had Sour Patch Kids candy, a bag of Skittles and a bottle of lubricant.

Nichols has been charged in Florida with attempted sexual battery of a child younger than 12, attempted lewd or lascivious conduct, solicitation of a minor via computer, obscene communication and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

He is currently in jail with bail set at $1,500.
Donald Trump has lost support in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia since his January inauguration, according to a robust nationwide survey.

The Morning Consult poll found that in some states his net approval rating has dipped by as many as 30 percentage points  in New York and Illinois.

Trump's best poor performance came in Louisiana, where he has seen an 11 percentage point dip in his popularity.

As his coattails become shorter, Republicans will find a new reason to worry about the outcome of next year's congressional midterm elections.

President Trump has lost ground in his approval ratings in every state and the District of Columbia since January

In January a large majority of U.S. states had far more Trump supporters than detractors; Green states represent net positive ratings while red states show net negatives

By last month a large number of states had swung against the president, who lost ground literally everywhere

Even in states like Kansas, Kentucky and Mississippi, where Trump ran the table and won electoral votes easily, his support is flagging.

In Indiana, where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 19 per cent last year, his net approval rating has dipped by 17 points.

In Tennessee, where Trump won by 26 per cent, his approval is down 23 points since January.

A 'net' approval rating is calculated based on the difference between those who approve and those who don't.

In Virginia, for instance, Trump's net number was a positive 8 per cent. In September it dropped to negative 11.

Democrats and independents have soured on Trump, and even Republicans have begun to temper their enthusiasm for the president

Overall, the number of Americans who 'strongly disapprove' of Trump has grown by 11 percentage points since he took office

The Morning Consult poll found that overall, 52 per cent of voters have a negative opinion of Trump's job performance.

In January that number was just 39 per cent.

Morning Consult asked University of Virginia Center for Politics managing editor Kyle Kondik to analyze Trump's drop in popularity.

'It's always hard, though not impossible, for the president's party to maintain or even gain ground in an election,' Kondik said.

But, Kondik said, those types of gains are made when the president has favorable numbers.

Trump's 'weakened standing could threaten Republican chances to defeat Democratic Senate incumbents in dark red states.'
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has tweeted support for his girlfriend Asia Argento after she accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in a new interview.

Bourdain tweeted at his girlfriend 'I am proud and honored to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world,' after she gave a terrifying account of an incident with Weinstein in a hotel room at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in 1997 to the New Yorker.

Bourdain has been vocal about the growing scandal involving the film executive, and attacked Matt Damon for the second time this week.

It's been alleged the Bourne Identity star was complicit in helping to cover up the now decades long scandal in 2004.

Standing by her side: Anthony Bourdain stands with his Italian actress girlfriend Asia Argento after she says she was raped by Harvey Weinstein in a new interview

Bourdain has attacked Harvey Weinstein and the Hollywood crowd who have been alleged to have been complicit in helping Weinstein in covering it up

In the New Yorker piece, Argento details a terrifying ordeal with the once powerful Miramax executive. Weinstein was fired from his company last week

Bourdain was in full attack mode on Tuesday. In this tweet he lashes out against Matt Damon who- it's been claimed- aided Weinstein in stopping an expose from emerging

Former New York Times correspondent Sharon Waxman revealed in a post on The Wrap that she had been working on an expose while with the New York Times about Weinstein.

Waxman, who had been working at the Times in 2004, said in her piece that Damon and Russell Crowe called her after she managed to get multiple sources stating on the record that Fabrizio Lombardo, who ran Miramax's Italian office, helped Weinstein ensnare women.

She added that the executive was being paid $400,000 by the company but knew little about films and was better known for the 'evenings he organized with Russian escorts.'

The story was ultimately killed despite Waxman's findings at the time.

Bourdain tweeted 'Looking forward to "THE BOURNE APOLOGY" in which Jason fights off attempts to expose a pimp'.

On Tuesday, Damon responded to the allegations.

Damon said he thought the piece was about Lombardo, and that Weinstein had asked him to speak to his character. He also said he only knew of Lombardo in an above-board professional setting, so he had no problem speaking on his behalf from that stand point.

Damon also said in his interview with Deadline that he's sure he mentioned to Waxman 'that I didnt know anything about the rest of her piece, because I didnt.'

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Gwyneth Paltrow added herself to the growing list of women who are alleging they too were victim to Weinstein's sexual misconduct.

Matt Damon pictured with Weinstein, is alleged to have been complicit in helping to squash a New York Times expose about Weinstein in 2004

Paltrow's account of sexual harassment to the New York Times on Tuesday happened while she was dating Brad Pitt. She dated Ben Affleck next- all three pictured at a Miramax party in 1997

In her interview with the New York Times released Tuesday, Paltrow recounted her own experience and how Weinstein invited her to his room at the Peninsula Hotel to talk after giving her the title role in Emma, a 1996 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.

Once inside, he placed his hands on her 'suggestively' and said they should go into the bedroom for massages, she said.

'I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,' Paltrow recalled.

She rebuffed him and left promptly, later telling then boyfriend Brad Pitt about the encounter. Pitt confronted Weinstein at a theater premiere and told him never to proposition Paltrow again. Instead, Weinstein called Paltrow and told her to never mention it to anyone else.

Rapist. Anthony Bourdain, who has been attacking Weinstein asks in the wake of his girlfriend Argento's claims, if it's ok to use the word 'rapist' and added a '#Weinstein'

Anthony Bourdain (left) blasted the Hollywood set who remained silent about Harvey Weinstein's (right) alleged serial sexual harassment as 'nauseating chicken-hearted enablers'

Paltrow would go on to date Ben Affleck after her relationship with Pitt ended.

Affleck and Damon's break out film 1997's Good Will Hunting was put out by Weinstein's Miramax. Weinstein championed for the film to be not only a box office smash but to also hit big during the Academy Awards.

Affleck also made a statement denouncing Weinstein's behavior through the years on Tuesday.

The Italian actress, Argento's claims stemmed from an incident in 1997. She was at a party hosted by Miramax at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc when Weinstein led to her an empty room and asked her to give him a massage.

Bourdain, the host of Parts Unknown on CNN, made this statment in a Friday tweet about enablers around Weinstein who either knew about his behavior or helped to cover it up

She reluctantly agreed, and halfway through he began to perform oral sex on her despite her repeated request for him to stop.

In the same article, both Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino state that the powerful Hollywood executive forced himself upon them, but that they were able to fight off his sexual advances.

Soon after, the two women say their careers began to suffer.

Bourdain has been putting those involved in potentially covering up Weinstein's behavior on blast since last week, calling them 'nauseating chicken-hearted enablers.'

He quickly clarified that he was not talking about the alleged victims of harassment

Although assorted Hollywood types made vague statements condemning sexual harassment on Friday, Lena Dunham was among the few to specifically name Weinstein

Bourdain, the host of Parts Unknown on CNN, quickly clarified his Friday tweet about the explosive allegations about the producer stretching back decades, adding, 'Im not talking about his victims.'

'Im talking about everyone else who knew and said nothing. Who are still staying silent,' Bourdain wrote.

Bourdain also linked to a Daily Beast article that claimed: 'One of the only members of liberal Hollywood to speak out about the disturbing Weinstein allegations was Lena Dunham, who did so through Twitter'.

Although assorted Hollywood types made vague statements condemning sexual harassment on Friday, Dunham was among the few to specifically name Weinstein.

'The woman who chose to speak out about their experience of harassment by Harvey Weinstein deserve our awe. It's not fun or easy. It's brave,' she wrote.

The shocking allegations against Weinstein emerged in a Thursday report revealing that Weinstein had settled with at least eight women in sexual harassment claims over the past three decades.

Actress Ashley Judd went on the record for the New York Times report, saying Weinstein had greeted her in a bathrobe in his hotel room in 1996, inviting her to give him a massage or watch him shower.

Hands where my eyes can see: Ashley Judd posed for a photo with Harvey Weinstein and Vince Vaughn at a 1997 Oscars party (above), just months after he sexually harassed her at his hotel

'How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?' Judd told the newspaper she recalled thinking.

Weinstein was seen out and about in New York City on Friday morning, carrying some papers under his arm and smiling for the cameras as he made his way to the waiting SUV outside his home.

As allegations against him mounted his position at his company became untenable and he was fired on Sunday.
Angelina Jolie said she had to turn down Weinstein's advances as a young actress

Gwyneth Paltrow: The star told the New York Times that Weinstein touched her and suggested having joint massages in the bedroom before she started shooting the 1996 film Emma. She said she told her then boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident and he confronted the mogul.

Angelina Jolie: Jolie told the Times she had to turn down advances from Weinstein in 1998 and chose never to work with him again. She said she warned other women about him.

Louisette Geiss: Actress was called to a late night meeting with Weinstein in 2008. He allegedly emerged in a bathrobe and told her he would green light her script if she watched him masterbate. She left the meeting.

Judith Godreche: The French actress says Weinstein tried to massage her and pull off her sweater after asking her up to his Cannes suite to see the view in 1996.

Dawn Dunning: Aspiring actress says she was called to a meeting about future film projects in 2003. When she arrived Weinstein presented her with three scripts for his next three movies which he would let her star in, only if she had three-way sex with him. She fled the hotel.

Tomi-Ann Roberts: Weinstein met her when she was serving tables as a college junior in 1984 and told her to meet him at his home. When she arrived, she says, he was naked in the bath and told her she would give a better audition if she was nude. She says she refused and left.

Asia Argento: The Italian actress has accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was 21. 'He terrified me, and he was big. It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare.' She said she went on to have consensual sex with him over the years that followed. She documented the alleged attack in her 2000 film Scarlet Diva.

Katherine Kendall: The Swingers actress was told Weinstein had to stop off in his apartment to pick something up after a screening in 1993. He changed into a bathrobe and told her to massage her. When she resisted she said the mogul returned naked and chased her.

Lucia Evans: The actress, formerly known as Lucia Stoller, claims Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004. Speaking to the New Yorker, she said that she suffered years of trauma after the incident which occurred in a 'casting meeting' in a Miramax office in Manhattan. He reportedly called her late at night after the incident.

Gwyneth Paltrow revealed that Weinstein attempted to get her into a hotel bedroom and massage her when she was 22

Mira Sorvino: The Mighty Aphrodite actress told the New Yorker that Weinstein tried to massage her in a hotel room at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. He then went to her home in the middle of the night but she called a male friend to protect her, she claimed. She said turning down the mogul adversely affected her career.

Rosanna Arquette: The actress also said her career suffered after she rebuffed Weinstein's advances in the early 1990s. At a hotel meeting he tried to put her hand on his erect penis, she claims.

Rose McGowan: The actress, who made her breakthrough in 1996 in the Weinstein-produced slasher revival movie Scream, reportedly sued Weinstein after he assaulted her in 1997 at the Sundance Film Festival. She signed a non-disclosure agreement at the close of the suit and has only referred to him obliquely in social media since. On Sunday she referred to being abused by a 'monster' and has previously referred to being raped by a studio head.

Career suicide: Mira Sorvino revealed how her career nose-dived after she turned down Weinstein's advances

Ashley Judd: Judd's film roles include the 1997 thriller Kiss the Girls - and says that during the filming of that movie Weinstein repeatedly asked her to watch him shower. She was one of the women who spoke out to The New York Times this week, saying: 'Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it's simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.'

Emma De Caunes: French actress Emma de Caunes said that she met Weinstein in 2010, soon after he told her he had a script he was producing based on a book with a strong female character. Weinstein offered to show her the script, and asked her up to his hotel room, where he began to take a shower. He then emerged naked and with an erection, asking her to lay down with him on the bed and telling her that many had done so before. 'I was very petrified,' said de Caunes. 'But I didnt want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited.'

Zelda Perkins was 25 when, as an assistant of Weinstein's in London, she reportedly confronted the mogul for harassing her and 'several' other women; she later settled out of court

Lauren O'Connor: A former employee of The Weinstein Company, she told executives there in the fall of 2015 that there was 'a toxic environment for women at this company' after one of her colleagues told her that Weinstein had pressured her into massaging him while he was naked, the NYT said.

Ambra Battilana: An Italian actress and model, she told the NYT that in March 2015 Weinstein invited her to his New York office. There, she said, he asked if her breasts were real before grabbing them and putting his hands up her skirt. She reported the alleged incident to police, but they did not press charges. According to the NYT, Weinstein later paid her off.

Jessica Barth: Weintein reportedly pressured Barth, an actress, to give him a naked massage in the Peninsula Hotel from 2011 onwards.

Laura Madden: An ex-employee, she told the NYT that Weinstein had asked her to give him massages from 1991 onwards, while they were both in London and Dublin. 'It was so manipulative,' she told the NYT. 'You constantly question yourself - am I the one who is the problem?' Weinstein denied knowledge.

Emily Nestor: Nestor was a temporary employee of the Weinstein Company for just one day in 2014 when Weinstein approached her and offered to boost her career in exchange for sex, the NYT reported.

Zelda Perkins: An assistant of Weinstein's based in London in 1998; then 25, she reportedly confronted Weinstein after she and 'several' others were harassed and later settled out of court.

Elizabeth Karlsen, an Oscar-winning producer, said a female executive told her almost 30 years ago that she had found Weinstein naked in her bedroom in a Miramax-rented property

Elizabeth Karlsen: The Oscar-nominated producer of Carol and The Crying Game, among others, told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday that almost 30 years ago, an unnamed young female executive who had worked at Miramax with Weinstein had found him naked in her bedroom one night. The exec was in a house rented by Miramax at the time to cut its overheads.

Liza Campbell: A freelance script reader, she told the UK's Sunday Times that Weinstein had summoned her to his hotel room in London before telling her to get in the bath with him.

Lauren Sivan: The former Fox news host said that Weinstein trapped her in a closed restaurant and masturbated in front of her to completion in 2007. He took her to a closed restaurant beneath a club she had visited and attempted to kiss her, then when she refused he cornered her and made her watch him touch himself, according to The Huffington Post.

Jessica Hynes: The British actress, best known for her roles in the Bridget Jones movies and for co-creating and co-writing the sitcom Spaced, said she was invited to audition for Weinstein when she was 19 - in a bikini. Hynes, formerly known as Jessica Stevenson, said she refused to wear the skimpy item - and lost the job.

Romola Garai: British actress Romola Garai said she felt "violated" following a meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his London hotel room when she was 18 in which he was in a bathrobe. Garai, best known for her role in "Atonement", said she had already been hired for a part but was told to audition privately with the Hollywood mogul because 'you had to be personally approved by him'. "Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein," she told The Guardian. 'So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it'.

Unnamed assistant: Weinstein allegedly behaved inappropriately toward a woman employed as his assistant in 1990. The case was settled out of court.

Another unnamed assistant: In 2015, Weinstein reportedly pressured another assistant into giving him a naked massage in the Peninsula Hotel, where he is also said to have pressured Barth.

Unnamed Miramax employee: At one point in the early 1990s, a young woman is alleged to have suddenly left the company after an encounter with Weinstein. She also settled out of court.

Unnamed woman: A woman who did not wish to be named because she feared Weinstein's connections told The New York Times that the producer had summoned her to his hotel at an unknown date and raped her.
Sean Hannity (above on his Fox News show) was once fired over controversial remarks he made about AIDS

Shocking remarks made by Sean Hannity in 1989 about AIDS have surfaced.

The Fox News host was the voice of The Pursuit of Happiness, a show run by the University of California's radio station KCSB, when he made the comments which briefly cost him his job.

In a tape that was uncovered by The Washington Post, he is heard saying: 'Contrary to what we hear in the general media, you can get AIDS from saliva, from tears...They wont let you say its a gay disease.'

He was later heard saying: 'Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is just a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. These disgusting people.'

Hannity had Gene Antonio, an anti-gay activist and author, as a guest on the show at the time.

In other tapes, Hannity is heard during the same interview saying: 'There's sort of a brain washing going on if you want my opinion.

'They're afraid of the backlash that homosexuals might receive.'

On Tuesday, he described the remarks as 'ignorant and embarrassing', telling DailyMail.com that he was 'young and stupid' when he made them.

'Almost 30 years ago when I was starting out in radio in my 20s, I interviewed a controversial guest who made several incendiary comments.

'I was young and stupid with no clue how to do a show. Im actually very libertarian on social issues and peoples personal lives.

He denies saying specifically that the AIDS is a 'gay disease' that could be transmitted by saliva or tears, insisting instead that it was his guest who made the remarks.

'Im now 55 years old and yes I freely admit the comments in my 20s were ignorant and embarrassing,' Hannity said.

Scroll down for audio

Hannity was fired from KCSB, the University of California's radio station, after the controversial segment in 1989

Hannity was interviewing Gene Antonio, an anti-gay activist and author of the book The AIDS Cover Up, during the 1989 show.

He enthusiastically agreed with Antonio's views, telling him: 'There's sort of a brainwashing, if you want my opinion, going on, where they don't want the general public to get the true information about this disease.

'It seems like they're trying to hide the facts to keep the public from getting alarmed about it, because they're afraid, perhaps, of the backlash that they might receive, the homosexuals might receive.'

Jody-May Chang, the left-wing host of Gay and Lesbian Perspectives, another university show, called in to argue with their rhetoric.

'I have a son, okay? I just gave birth to him about eight weeks ago and I certainly hope he doesnt grow up to be like you,' she said.

Hannity shot back: 'Artificial insemination. Arent you married to a woman, by the way?'

When she said that she was, he said: 'I feel sorry for your son' while Antonio chimed in: 'Turkey baster babies'.

Hannity never graduated from The University of California Santa Barbara (above), one of three colleges which he attended but dropped out of

He later said gay sex was 'tantamount' to playing in a sewer.

The segment attracted complaints to the station and Hannity was fired at the request of Chang.

He then sought help from the American Civil Liberties Union which was instrumental in overturning Trump's travel ban and which Hannity has criticized on his Fox News show.

SEAN HANNITY ON 'IGNORANT' REMARKS 'Almost 30 years ago when I was starting out in radio in my 20s, I interviewed a controversial guest who made several incendiary comments. 'I was young and stupid with no clue how to do a show. Im actually very libertarian on social issues and peoples personal lives. 'Im now 55 years old and yes I freely admit the comments in my 20s were ignorant and embarrassing.' Advertisement

One of its lawyers told The Post they remembered his case and that Hannity said he'd been discriminated against because he was a conservative.

They took his case and threatened to sue the university for breaching the First Amendment.

In a transcript of one hearing, Hannity complained: 'The station did not like my opinions. I stood for conservative, traditional, loving family values.'

He was eventually hired back by the radio station.

AIDS was first reported in the public domain in 1981 and, for years afterwards, information about the disease and how it spreads was scarce.

In 1987, the World Health Organization announced there was no evidence that it could be transmitted by tears or saliva.

Hannity has softened his stance on homosexuality since the incident.

In 2013, he had Ben Carson on his Fox News show to discuss gay marriage laws.

Hannity (above on his Fox News show this week) was hired by the network in 1996, seven years after he made the remarks

Carson drew criticism for his shocking comments which appeared to compare gay marriage to bestiality.

Carson apologized afterwards and Hannity stayed away from offering his opinion on the subject but said he believed Carson had been 'vilified and demonized' because he was an African American Conservative.

Hannity's 1989 remarks were reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday but they were previously published by Media Matters in 2014.

The group is one of Hannity's most vociferous opponents.

On his Fox News show, he regularly complains about them without mentioning their name, claiming they are on a malicious mission to find dirt about him and use it to persuade viewers and voters to the left.
A family dog helped rescuers locate a two-year-old boy who went missing for three hours when he wandered off into a cornfield on a chilly Minnesota night.

The dog never left the toddler's side and authorities said the pup's movements helped the helicopter spot them using a heat-seeking device.

The toddler was playing with siblings outside his home in Richmond last week when he wandered away.

After a 30-minute search, his family called authorities as it began to grow dark.

Footage from the heat-seeking device shot from the hovering helicopter shows the dog walking near the boy who appeared to be in 'preservation and protection mode'.

Sheriffs deputies were joined in the search by fire and rescue crew members, two law enforcement bloodhounds and the patrol helicopter.

Helicopter patrol picked up a heat signature below in a nearby cornfield, which was the missing boy and dog.

They helped direct the ground rescuers to their location in the dark, finally making the rescue around 9:20pm.

Footage from a helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking device shows the family dog near the toddler

Two rescuers were guided by the men in the helicopter to locate the two-year-old

The boy was 'in good condition, although a bit cold and hungry,' the Stearns County Sheriff's Office report read.

Law enforcement brought the boy back home where he was reunited with his mom, Kaitlyn Bottem, and evaluated by ambulance.

Sheriff's Lieutenant Vic Weiss told the Star Tribune the searchers could hear the dog barking.

He added that the dog's presence 'absolutely, for sure' played a major role in leading rescuers to the boy.

It's unclear what type of dog is to thank for its heroism.

Officials say the dog was in 'protection mode' and a huge help in locating the boy




White people are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a late stage, despite eating more fruit and vegetables and being at less risk of living in poverty.

The findings emerged in a 'race audit' unveiled by Theresa May today as she vowed to 'hold up a mirror' to British society.

According to a mass of information released by the Cabinet Office, some 52.5 per cent of new cancer diagnoses for whites came at stage 1 or 2, compared to 54 per cent for blacks and 55.6 per cent for Asians.

The disparity comes despite white British adults being the most likely to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and less likely to be on a low income.

However, they are also among the most likely to be overweight and to drink alcohol at harmful levels.

The details issued by the government covers all aspects of modern life.

White people were less likely than ethnic minorities to be diagnosed with cancer at an early stage, according to the data

Blacks and white people were both more likely than the wider population to be overweight

Mrs May, pictured chairing a discussion on race inequality after Cabinet today, is treading a delicate path between Brexiteers and securing a deal with the EU

It shows that ethnic minorities are more likely to be low paid, on benefits and victims of crime.

But poor white children perform worse at school.

Among the key revelations in the data, which has been compiled from across government, were:

Asian, black and other ethnic groups are disproportionately likely to be on a low income, with almost half of households in bottom 40 per cent nationally before housing costs were taken into account.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers received the lowest average hourly pay of 11.42. But Indian workers received the highest on 15.81.

Households of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, black, mixed and other backgrounds were more likely to receive income-related benefits and tax credits than those in other ethnic groups.

White pupils from state schools had the lowest university entry rate of any ethnic group in 2016. Chinese pupils had the highest attainment throughout school, made the most progress and were the most likely to stay in education and go to university.

White children start to fall behind other ethnicities from age seven. Some 71 per cent met the expected standard for grammar and spelling at Key Stage 2, compared to 75 per cent of black pupils, 79 per cent of Asian, and 87 per cent of Chinese.

At GCSE, the average score for white children receiving free school meals was 37. For black children the equivalent figure was 44, and Asian 47.

White people were among the least likely to become a victim of crime or to fear becoming a victim.

White British adults were the most likely to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day but were also among the most likely to be overweight and to drink alcohol at harmful levels.

White people were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a later stage. Some 52.5 per cent of new diagnoses came at stage 1 or 2, compared to 54 per cent for blacks and 55.6 per cent for Asians.

Around two out of three white British householders owned their home compared with just two out five householders from all other ethnic groups combined.

Black defendants in Crown Court cases were the most likely to be remanded in custody. Black offenders also had the highest rate of reoffending compared with other ethnic groups from 2006 to 2014.

Ethnic minorities are more likely to live in areas of deprivation, especially black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people.

Police officers from non-white groups were more concentrated in lower ranks, with just 1 per cent in the most senior roles.

Of all applicants shortlisted for NHS jobs in England, white candidates were more likely to be appointed - some 18 per cent of whites shortlisted got the job compared with 11 per cent of ethnic minorities.

Around one in 10 Army personnel are from an ethnic minority background but the figure falls to just one in 50 for the RAF.

Mrs May warned that Britain had a 'way to go' to create an equal society but she was making tackling ethnic injustice a 'personal priority'.

The PM said much of the information 'has existed for years' but it had never been gathered together in such a comprehensive form. She admitted the 'findings will be uncomfortable'.

She told a round table meeting in No10 today: 'I think what this audit shows is there isn't anywhere to hide. That's not just for Government, it's for society as a whole.'

Among the revelations in the data dump were:

Stop and search rates have been falling in recent years, but black people are still significantly more likely to be tackled by police

White children receiving free school meals have the lowest attainment levels at Key Stage 4, according to the details released by the government

The government 'race audit' shows that ethnic minorities are more likely to be low paid

The grim picture emerged in a mass of information released by the Cabinet Office covering all aspects of modern life (file picture)

The discussion in No10 was attended by a number of campaigners, including Jabeer Butt from the Race Equality Foundation, Omar Khan from the Runnymede Trust, Kunle Olulode from Voice4Change and Matilda MacAttram from Black Mental Health.

Mrs May told the group the findings will mean organisations will be challenged to 'explain or change'.

In a phone-in on LBC radio this evening, Mrs May insisted she had not personally suffered discrimination. But she said 'some of my colleagues experience is different'.
Papis Cante, 36, appeared at Wood Green Crown Court where he admitted his part in the two horrifying assaults

A rapist attacked two women in separate attacks a month apart after they tried to get home from London's Leicester Square

Papis Cante, 36, appeared at Wood Green Crown Court where he admitted his part in the two horrifying assaults.

He first attacked a 22-year-old in the early hours of July 22 after the victim agreed to share a taxi home with him.

But when the cab dropped them both close to Seven Sisters Road, Cante, from Hackney, east London, dragged the victim into a side road before raping her.

An investigation was launched but officers were unable to identify the suspect, and just over a month later, on August 29, he struck again.

A 21-year-old woman was travelling on the Underground from Leicester Square when she encountered Cante.

He made unwanted advances towards her before forcing her onto a train to Finsbury Park, where he then dragged her into an alleyway and raped her.

As a result of enquiries and descriptions given by the two women, as well as the, detectives investigated the incidents as a linked series.

On September 6 police released an image of Cante taken from CCTV at Finsbury Park, which led to a tip-off from the public.

Cante was arrested at his home address later that day. He initially denied the offences, but his DNA was linked to both victims and he was charged on 9 September with two counts of rape.

On September 6 police released this image of Cante taken from CCTV at Finsbury Park, which led to a tip-off from the public

Cante has been remanded in custody since arrest and will appear at Wood Green Crown Court on 3 November for sentencing.

Detective Constable Daniel Brown, from the Met's Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command, said: 'I am pleased that Cante has entered a guilty plea as this will prevent the victims from having to give evidence in court in addition to the distress of the attacks.

'Cante was very brazen in the way he approached the women whilst other members of the public were around.

'He was prepared to take the risk and when members of the public approached him he was able to talk his way out of it by pretending to be helping the women when he was in fact taking them to a place where he felt he would be able to commit the offences. He is a very dangerous offender.'
Ice cream sold under the Ben & Jerrys brand contains traces of the weedkiller glyphosate, tests have revealed.

The chemical which is best known under the brand name Roundup is widely used on food crops, particularly in GM farming, around the world.

Twelve out of 14 samples of the ice cream bought across Europe were positive for glyphosate.

Traces of the weedkiller glyphosate were found in Ben & Jerry's ice creams sold in the UK

Three of these were bought in the UK - Half Baked cookie dough and chocolate ice cream, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

Contamination is thought to have come from the ingredients, such as wheat in cookie dough, used to flavour the ice cream.

The levels were very low and well below the levels set by food safety authorities in the US and Europe.

However glyphosate is at the centre of controversy around the world with some studies suggesting it is a cancer risk.

In 2015, the World Health Organisation(WHO) identified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. However, the chemical was subsequently given the all clear by EU food watchdogs.

British academics from Kings College London have also linked the chemical to the development of liver disease in feeding trials with rats.

Earlier this year glyphosate traces were found in Ben & Jerrys products sold in the USA. As a result, the Anglo-Dutch manufacturer, Unilever, plans to launch an organic  glyphosate free  range in the USA although not, as yet, in Europe.

Most of the cows producing milk for the ice cream in the USA and Europe comes from animals fed on GM soya, which is normally sprayed with glyphosate.

The chemical was given the all clear by European Union food watchdogs after the World Health Organisation raised concerns in 2015

GM plants are generally modified to give them resistance to spraying with chemicals like glyphosate or Roundup, which is made by the US chemical giant, Monsanto.

This means they can survive being doused with chemicals that kill off any weeds in the field.

The UK samples of the ice cream were collected by the campaigning group Beyond GM, which is critical of GM farming.

Its director, Pat Thomas, said: We became involved with this investigation because we are concerned by the increasing levels of glyphosate being used on food crops in the UK and the EU.

In addition, conventionally reared livestock are also fed on GM crops, mainly soya, which will is also sprayed heavily with glyphosate. That means there are multiple pathways for this known hormone-disrupter and carcinogen to get into our food.

The industrial food system is failing us all and people are frankly sick of having the word food associated with words like risk, scare, poison, fraud and contamination.

Big companies like Ben & Jerrys have a big responsibility that extends beyond marketing jargon. Wed like to see Ben & Jerrys switch to an organic supply chain which would ensure the safety and integrity of the products they produce.

Unilever said: The bottom line is that our products are safe to eat and the trace levels of glyphosate detected were significantly below all allowable US and European standards.

It said that, currently, the glyphosate is sprayed on crops, such as wheat and corn, before harvest as a drying agent.

However, the firm said it plans to phase out the use of any crops produced with glyphosate as a drying agent by 2020. It also promised to lobby for other firms to do the same.

The company said it plans to measure public demand for an organic version of the ice cream in America before deciding whether to offer it in other parts of the world.

The Crop Protection Association, which speaks for Monsanto and other chemical companies, insist glyphosate is safe.

It said: Glyphosate is amongst the most thoroughly tested herbicides on the market, and those studies by expert regulators have consistently concluded that glyphosate does not pose a risk to public health.

Glyphosate is a crucial tool in a farmers armoury. To put things in perspective, glyphosate is less toxic than baking soda, table salt, the caffeine in our coffee and many other products we all use or consume regularly.
This is the shocking moment a driver used his 4x4 truck to shove a burning car away from a flame engulfed petrol court in Saudi Arabia.

Dozens of bystanders watched as the burning car rested precariously on the lot potentially moments from exploding.

The white pickup truck can be seen screeching into view and then ramming the car, now a ball of flames, away from the combustible petrol pumps nearby.

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This is the shocking moment a driver used his 4x4 truck to shove a burning car away from a flame engulfed petrol court in Saudi Arabia

In explosive scenes, the truck then reverses at high speed and goes in for a second push, making sure the car is completely away from the pumps.

Onlookers, speaking Arabic, shout 'mashallah' - an Islamic term thanking or praising God.

After ensuring the burning car is safely off the lot, the 4x4 driver then speeds off while the bystanders praise their brave actions.

While it is not known when the video was recorded, it emerges just days after a petrol station in Ghana's capital Accra exploded killing at least seven.

Footage shows a gigantic fireball lighting up the night sky after the fueling station at Atomic Junction exploded forcing hundreds to flee.

The blaze started at 7.30pm local time (8.30pm GMT) but was under control by the next day.

Dozens of bystanders watched as the burning car rested precariously on the lot potentially ready to explode

A government official said it has left a number of fatalities but it was not known the exact number at this stage, according to local sources.

It is also reported that a number of cars had been burned out as fires spread.

The Accra city authorities warned people to avoid the area, which is also home to the University of Ghana campus.
A shocking scene from a movie written and directed by Italian star Asia Argento shows her re-enacting the moment she was allegedly raped by Harvey Weinstein in 1997.

The actress told The New Yorker on Tuesday that she was raped at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc by Weinstein in who led her to an empty room during a Miramax party.

She claims that the movie mogul asked her to give him a massage, but he performed unwanted oral sex on her and that she repeatedly asked him to stop.

'It was a nightmare,' Argento told The New Yorker.

A few years after the incident, Argento then wrote and directed Scarlet Diva, as the movie includes a scene that's similar to what she allegedly went through with Weinstein.

In her film, she plays a character named Anna who is cornered in a hotel room by a heavyset producer who asks her to give him a massage.

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More victims emerge: Asia Argento (above in 2004) says that Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc back in 1997

Site: Argento said that her assault occurred in 1997 at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in France (above)

Three years after the incident, Argento then wrote and directed Scarlet Diva, and the movie includes a scene that's similar to what she allegedly went through with Weinstein. She tweeted the scene from the movie hours after The New Yorker published a story about her alleged rape

She sits down on the bed and begins to follow his instructions to rub his shoulders and chest while he lays down on his back.

The producer then tells Anna to kiss his chest, to which she is shocked and then moments later he begins to assault her.

She released a clip of the movie on Twitter hours after The New Yorker story was published.

'I wrote and directed this scene in 1999. #Weinstein', she wrote in the tweet.

Argento told The New Yorker that other women told her that they recognized the producer character as a portrayal of Weinstein.

In her film, she plays a character named Anna who is cornered in a hotel room by a heavyset producer who asks her to give him a massage

She sits down on the bed and begins to follow his instructions to rub his shoulders and chest while he lays down on his back

'People would ask me about him because of the scene in the movie,' Argento said. Women also told her about similar encounters with Weinstein.

Argento claims that the movie mogul saw Scarlet Diva when it was released in the U.S. and recognized himself as the producer.

'Ha, ha, very funny,' Argento recounted him saying to her.

She said that he also said that he was 'sorry for whatever happened.'

Argento explained the difference between the movie and what allegedly happened to her.

'In the movie I wrote, I ran away,' she said.

Argento is just one of several woman who have come forward accusing Weinstein of rape or sexual harassment.

The producer then tells Anna to kiss his chest, to which she is shocked and then moments later he begins to assault her

In discussing the alleged incident that happened to her, she said she became suspicious when the party she arrived at in 1997 was just an empty hotel room, but was assured that people would soon be arriving by Weinstein.

Then, he emerged from the bathroom in a robe and holding a bottle of lotion says the actress, who was just 21 at the time.

'He asks me to give a massage. I was, like, 'Look man, I am no f***ing fool,'' said Argento.

'But, looking back, I am a f***ing fool. And I am still trying to come to grips with what happened.'

The actress, who is the daughter of famed Italian director Dario Argento, said that once Weinstein began performing oral sex on her there was no way for her to stop him because he was so much bigger than her.

'It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare,' said Argento, who eventually decided to pretend she was enjoying the act in hopes that it would end.

When it was over, Argento said she said on the bed and told her attacked: 'I am not a whore.'

Angelina Jolie (above in September) said that she never worked with Weinstein again after her made unwanted sexual advances on her while filming 'Playing by Heart'

Victim: Gwyneth Paltrow was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein (pair above in 2002) at the start of her career claims the actress, and had boyfriend Brad Pitt confront the producer

He laughed at her and said he would put that on a shirt according to Argento, who said that Weinstein contacted her for months after the attack and even began offering her expensive gifts.

Argento eventually relented and over time became close to her attacker, and even engaged in consensual relations with him she admits.

She explained the sudden shift by saying that it was a few months before the release of her 1999 film 'B. Monkey' and she was afraid that if she did not agree to Weinstein's advances he might destroy her career.

Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow are the latest women to accuse Weinstein of trying to force himself on them - as three other women today said the Hollywood executive raped them.

Aspiring actress Lucia Evans and another unnamed woman accused him of rape as well according to the article.

Jolie was filming 'Playing By Heart for Weinstein when he made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room.

Leading lady: Paltrow arrived at Weinstein's hotel and he began to massage her and then asked her to join him in the bedroom (above with Weinstein, Edward Zwick and her Best Actress Oscar in 1999)

'I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,' Jolie told the New York Times.

'This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.'

Paltrow meanwhile said that the man who launched her career sexually harassed her at his Beverly Hills hotel when she was just 22, and that it almost lost her a big role.

Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino also state that the powerful Hollywood executive forced himself upon them, but that they were able to fight off his sexual advances.

Soon after, the two women say their careers began to suffer.
Congressional Republicans stand an 'even money' chance of losing their House majority in 2018, according to a leading prognosticator  largely due to a widening split between President Trump and members of his own party.

And in the Senate, where favorable terrain would normally insulate the GOP's 52-seat majority, Republicans also find themselves at risk. There, a driving factor is Trump's attacks on GOP senators  including some running in states that give Democrats a chance to knock out an incumbent.

'The stakes are even higher in the House where their majority status is in real danger,' wrote elections guru Charlie Cook of the non-partisan Cook Political Report in National Journal.

'The party needs to sublimate its divisions, get mainstream Republicans to the polls, and persuade the Trump base to cast ballot for non-Trump Republicans. Thats a tall order. And its why last weeks news reduced the odds of the GOP retaining its majority from a good bet to even money,' he added.

President Donald Trump's clashes with lawmakers have endangered the GOP's majority, according to a leading elections observer

In the Senate, in a more ordinary time Republicans might be in the clear as they look to preserve their narrow majority.

With just a third of the Senate up for reelection, Democrats find them defending an inordinate number of seats  25 of them, giving Republicans a build in advantage.

But President Trump has upended the usual math, exposing a deep schism within the party.

'Under different circumstances, the GOP could hope to boost their Senate numbers by four to seven seats, perhaps even reaching the magic 60-seat Senate super-majority level that could break filibusters on party line votes,' wrote Cook.

'But given their current disarray, Republicans will need to fight hard to gain any new seats, and losing one or two of their own seats would put their majority in jeopardy.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), holds the Speakers gavel during a session in the House Chamber, January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Today the House of Representatives reconvened with the start of the 115th Congress

The latest episode flared up when he went after retiring Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who had compared his White House to 'adult day care' and fretted Trump might cause 'World War III.'

The list of senators Trump has attacked as President includes Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Dean Heller of Nevada. Both will be forced to defend the president's past comments on an array of subjects in competitive states where immigration issues are paramount.

Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon wants to run primaries against Republican incumbents who back McConnell or who refuse to say they'll vote to end the legislative filibuster.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is working to oust Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from his leadership post

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. is on the list of senators Trump has gone after

At a White House health care luncheon in July, Trump said of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, 'This was the one we were worried about. You weren't there, but you're going to be ... Look, he wants to remain a senator doesn't he?"

Bannon prevailed in Alabama when Judge Roy Moore knocked off appointed Sen. Luther Strange in a primary.

'Mitch McConnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country,' Bannon said at a recent rally for Moore.

Bannon said McConnell and the elites 'think you're a pack of morons, they think you're nothing but rubes, they have no interest at all in what you have to say, what you have to think or what you want to do.'

Bannon won't touch Cruz, NBC News said, though plans to help field candidates for the other seven seats, including finding a suitable replacement for Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn, who already announced his retirement  before publicly feuding with the president in recent days.

SENATE REPUBLICANS RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN 2018 ARIZONA Sen. Jeff Flake MISSISSIPPI Sen. Roger Wicker NEBRASKA Sen. Deb Fischer NEVADA Sen. Dean Heller TEXAS Sen. Ted Cruz* UTAH Sen. Orrin Hatch WYOMING Sen. John Barrasso *Steve Bannon won't find a challenger for Cruz in Texas. Tennessee will also vote to replace Sen. Bob Corker, who is retiring, which is a long-held GOP seat Advertisement

Bannon already plans to back Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a Tear partier vying to take Corker's place.

Blooomberg reported that Bannon-backed candidates must support removing McConnell and voting to end the legislative filibuster, in which 60 votes are needed to get legislation to a vote.

Trump has lost support in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia since his January inauguration, according to a robust nationwide survey.

The Morning Consult poll found that in some states his net approval rating has dipped by as many as 30 percentage points  in New York and Illinois.

Trump's best poor performance came in Louisiana, where he has seen an 11 percentage point dip in his popularity.

Even in states like Kansas, Kentucky and Mississippi, where Trump ran the table and won electoral votes easily, his support is flagging.

In Indiana, where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 19 per cent last year, his net approval rating has dipped by 17 points.

In Tennessee, where Trump won by 26 per cent, his approval is down 23 points since January.
A 32-year-old Australian man is being held by police in Bali after he was caught trying to bring and antidepressants into the country - before escaping police and going on the run for 10 hours.

Joshua James Baker, from Mt Isa, Queensland, is in police custody but has not yet been officially declared a suspect.

Mr Baker was stopped by customs in Bali after arriving in Indonesia from Thailand on Sunday for a holiday.

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Joshua James Baker, a 32-year-old Australian, is reportedly being held by police in Bali after marijuana and antidepressant pills were allegedly found in his luggage

Police claim the 36 grams of marijuana was found in Mr Baker's bag when he arrived from Thailand on Sunday

Ngurah Rai Customs and Excise chief Budi Harjanto told the publication his officers became suspicious of Mr Baker after his luggage was scanned.

Inside his bag officers allegedly discovered 36grams of marijuana mixed with loose tobacco and 37 Diazepam anti-depressant pills, Mr Harjanto said.

Mr Harjanto said the marijuana tested positive in a narcotic test.

'He said he brought it only for individual use, for himself. He said the drugs were planned to be used by himself. But we don't know the truth,' Mr Harjanto said.

Customs officers handed Mr Baker over to police on Monday to be interviewed but the 32-year-old allegedly escaped after asking to visit the toilet.

Mr Baker, from Mt Isa in north Queensland, has not yet been officially declared a suspect

Police claim they also discovered 37 Diazepam anti-depressant pills in Mr Baker's luggage

He was arrested 10 hours later at a hotel in Kuta, a two-and-a-half hour drive from Bali.

Police are still conducting tests on the Diazepam, Deputy Director of the Narcotic Directorate of Bali Police, Suwardjoko, told News.com.au.

'He said that it is an antidepressant. He said he is sick, that he got depression, so he needs the medicine,' he said.

'We haven't conducted intensive interrogation of him. We will check it in the lab first, after that, we will conduct intensive interrogation.'
Theresa May's speech was hit by a trio of disasters - kicked off when a serial prankster handed he a P45 while she was on stage

Theresa May today revealed that she thought she needed a 'stiff drink' when she finally finished her disastrous conference speech.

The Prime Minister's moment in the spotlight turned into a nightmare when her speech was disrupted by a prankster who handed her a fake P45.

Things went from bad to worse after Mrs May was hit by a coughing fit and then letters which has been pinned up to the board behind her began dropping off.

Appearing on a live phone in show on LBC this afternoon, Mrs May revealed her husband Philip had been worried abut her as the prankster edged nearer to her on stage.

And she also took a swipe at plotters in her party - including the former Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps - who tried to force her from office earlier this week, saying she values loyalty.

She repeated her pledge to lead her party into the next election saying: 'I am not a quitter.'

But she refused to say if she will sack Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle after his recent leadership maneuverings.

And she hinted that EU nationals living in Britain may not have the same rights they enjoy now if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal.

She told Iain Dale's show: 'I was giving that speech and I saw this person out of the corner of my eye - I had no idea what it was all about.

'I had no idea who they were or what they were doing .'

The PM said that when she saw the shaky hand passing her a sheet of paper she briefly wondered if she was meant to stop.

'But then I realised it was someone not official and I just carried on' she said.

'I know some people have questioned how it was possible for somebody to get so close to the Prime Minister but that didn't go through my mind.'

And she recalled the moment her husband Philip rushed up on stage and enveloped her in a big hug after she finished her 65 minute speech

She said: 'He was obviously feeling for me as anybody would in those circumstances.

EU CITIZENS COULD LOSE RIGHTS IF NO BREXIT DEAL IS DONE, MAY WARNS Theresa May today warned that EU citizens living in Britain could lose some of their rights if no Brexit deal is done. Under current rules EU nationals are entitled to rights and benefits such as healthcare here, and Brits get the same when they are in a member state. The Prime Minister insisted that the 3.2million EU nationals living in the UK will not be chucked out of the country if no deal is reached. Buts she refused to guarantee their rights - warning some may drop away if a deal is not struck. Appearing on an LBC live phone-in show today, the PM said: 'There are certain rights that pertain to somebody who is here in the UK by virtue of being an EU citizen. 'Things like the benefits they are able to access in relation to their home country and in relation to here in the UK. 'Some of those issues of course would fall away if there was a no deal because there wouldn't be an agreement between us and the European Union about how those things would be looked at. 'So we would have to look at those issues separately in a no deal scenario. That is why we are working on what we would look at in a no deal. 'But my overall message is, I want EU citizens to stay here in the UK and I want to be able to guarantee people those rights and enable them to stay.' 'We are not going to be throwing EU citizens who are currently here in the UK out in the future Advertisement

'He had been a bit worried about the individual approaching me, probably more so than I was up on the podium.

'He gave me a really big hug and said well done.

'I think I needed a stiff drink afterwards.'

The PM joked that she wished she had put 'more cough sweets in her pocket' before the speech.

Her comments came in the a live phone in on the radio show in which the PM was also quizzed about her government's track record on increasing chances for ethnic minority communities.

It comes after the government released a groundbreaking racial disparity audit which collects data which assesses how ethnic minorities and white people are treated.

She was quizzed about Brexit, her plans for a Cabinet reshuffle and her one-time Cabinet colleague turned biggest critic George Osborne in the phone-in.

On Brexit, the PM refused to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in Britain if no deal is reached.

She said: 'There are certain rights that pertain to somebody who is here in the UK by virtue of being an EU citizen.

'Things like the benefits they are able to access in relation to their home country and in relation to here in the UK.

'Some of those issues of course would fall away if there was a no deal because there wouldn't be an agreement between us and the European Union about how those things would be looked at.

'So we would have to look at those issues separately in a no deal scenario. That is why we are working on what we would look at in a no deal.

'But my overall message is, I want EU citizens to stay here in the UK and I want to be able to guarantee people those rights and enable them to stay.'

'We are not going to be throwing EU citizens who are currently here in the UK out in the future

And Mrs May - who backed Remain in last year's referendum - remained tight-lipped about how she would vote if another Brexit vote was held today.

She said she cannot remember the last time she spoke to the former Chancellor George Osborne - who has launched a series of personal attacks on her and her premiership from the pages of the Evening Standard which he now edits.

Launching the race audit project in Downing Street today, the PM said Britain has a 'way to go' to create an equal society.

Theresa May was then hit by a nasty coughing fit during the speech which led her to have a frog in her throat for much of the speech

Parts of the conference set also started falling off behind the PM as her speech went from bad to worse

But she said that tackling ethnic injustice is a 'personal priority' for her while she is in Downing Street.

Data on how people of different races are treated in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system have been laid bare on the newly-launched new Ethnicity Facts and Figures website.

Mrs May said much of the information 'has existed for years' but it had not been 'looked at through this particular prism'.

The PM hailed the audit as a 'world first' but admitted the 'findings will be uncomfortable'.

She told the meeting: 'I think what this audit shows is there isn't anywhere to hide. That's not just for Government, it's for society as a whole.'

Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today for the launch of the race audit website. She said she is determined to crack down on disparities in how different communities are treated

'Britain has come along way in promoting equality and opportunity but what the data we've published today shows is that we still have a way to go if we are going to truly have a country that works for everyone.'

The event was attended by a number of campaigners, including Jabeer Butt from the Race Equality Foundation, Omar Khan from the Runnymede Trust, Kunle Olulode from Voice4Change and Matilda MacAttram from Black Mental Health.

Mrs May told the group the findings will mean organisations will be challenged to 'explain or change'.

'It's personal priority for me because I absolutely passionately believe that how far you go in life should be about your talents and your hard work and nothing else,' she said.
Uber does not know how much its drivers earn as estimates suggest some take home less than the minimum wage, MPs were told yesterday.

An executive admitted that although the taxi firm pays drivers an average of 15 an hour after its fees are deducted, this does not take costs into account.

Andrew Byrne, head of public policy, conceded that the payment does not cover petrol, licensing, insurance, buying a vehicle or wear and tear.

Unions later warned that the companys 50,000 self-employed drivers could be earning less than the national minimum wage of 7.50 an hour once these costs were taken into account.

The American-owned firm faced questions from a select committee today, with politicians hearing from a driver who earned just 6 an hour

MPs on the Commons business select committee, who are looking into the so-called gig economy, heard from one who took home just 6 an hour.

During the hearing, Mr Byrne warned that fares would rise if their drivers were reclassified as employees as it would add tens of millions to Ubers costs.

The US-based taxi firm is appealing against a landmark ruling last year which granted employee status to two drivers.

It also has until Friday to lodge an appeal after being stripped of its licence in the capital last month by Transport for London.

Uber was accused of being belligerent and aggressive in response to this. Mr Byrne responded: The business absolutely accepts it had the wrong attitude and needs to change.

Hopefully we can see a path forward now with Transport for London where we can address their concerns and continue to operate.

Uber was also branded hypocritical for claiming TfL could put 40,000 drivers out of business while it was preparing to replace drivers with robots in the future.

After MPs expressed concern that some Uber drivers were working excessively long hours, Mr Byrne conceded that a quarter did more than 40 hours a week. But he said the average was 30 hours.

GMB National Officer Mick Rix called on Uber to 'play by the rules' by paying people what they are legally obliged to

The Uber chief admitted there was no way to check if someone had completed a ten-hour shift elsewhere before working for the firm.

Mr Byrne said he recognised there is more we can do and said any driver concerned about earnings can come and talk to us.

Mick Rix, GMB National Officer, said: Uber needs to play by the rules. This includes paying people their lawful entitlement such as the national minimum wage, holiday pay, rest breaks and other basic entitlements.

James Farrar, of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britains (IWGB) United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD) branch, was one of the drivers who won the landmark case against Uber.

He said the firm takes 25 per cent of takings while it costs on average 270 a week to rent a licensed car, 100 a week in fuel and 15 in phone costs, leaving drivers with just 5 an hour.
An Indiana couple figured out that they were being videotaped in the bedroom of their Florida Airbnb.

Derek Starnes and his wife planned a holiday on Longboat Key, about 40 miles south of Tampa.

They checked into a listing rented out by Wayne Natt, 56, and noticed a black hole in the smoke detector in the master bedroom, ABC Action News reported.

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Derek Starnes and his wife found that they were being videotaped in the master bedroom of the Airbnb they were staying at on Longboat Key in Florida

The couple was being filmed by a camera disguised as a smoke detector

They realized that the hole was actually a disguised camera recording onto an SD card. The couple found another similar device elsewhere in the house.

They promptly called the police, and Natt has been arrested and charged with video voyeurism.

Natt, who lives in the home when no guests are present, said he uses the cameras to record sex parties and that all individuals attending such parties gave their consent to be videotaped.

He said that the cameras are turned off when Airbnb guests are present. The cameras that were found can be controlled remotely, police said.

The host, 56-year-old Wayne Natt, was arrested and charged with video voyeurism. He has since be released on bond

Considering his claim, police asked why the cameras were hidden. He told them that it provided a 'better angle,' police said.

Police seized the cameras and computer equipment found at the property. Police said they found multiple videos of different individuals in the bedroom.

Starnes said he was captured on camera naked.

'My wife and I are distressed by this situation,' Starnes told ABC.

Natt's account on Airbnb had been active for two years, investigators told ABC. He had more than 40 reviews on the site, Starnes said.

The specific listing that Starnes stayed at was at 623 Cedars Court.

Police believe there may be other victims of the alleged video voyeurism. Videos found by police date back as early as 2008, WFLA reports.

An Airbnb representative said in a statement that the company was 'outraged' and had 'permanently banned' Natt.

It further reads: 'Our team has reached out to local law enforcement to aid them with their investigation of this egregious offense and we hope justice is served.

'We take privacy issues extremely seriously and have a zero-tolerance policy against this behavior.'

The listing was at 623 Cedars Court. Police say the found videos of people dating back from 2008 and believe there may be more victims of the alleged video voyeurism. Natt lives in the home when he is not renting it out and said that he uses cameras to record sex parties that he hosts

Airbnb's policy on surveillance devices states: 'We require hosts to disclose all surveillance devices in their listings, and we prohibit any surveillance devices in certain private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms) regardless of whether theyve been disclosed.'

Natt has been released on bond.
A council worker who was sacked after a conviction for aiding a terrorist came to light did make the authority aware of her past - but HR errors meant her past slipped through the net.

Mulumebet Girma was jailed for helping failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman flee after his plot to kill tube passengers on July 21 2005.

She helped him escape to Brighton before he took a Eurostar to Paris and ended up in Rome, where he was arrested.

Ms Girma, also known as Mulu, was 24 in 2008 when she was jailed for 10 years, which was reduced to five after an appeal.

Mulumebet Girma (left, in 2008), 33, rose through ranks of Southwark Council's housing department, following her release from prison, and featured on its magazine (right)

Former model Mulumebet Girma, pictured here taking part in Miss Brighton 2005. Three years later she would be jailed for assisting her terrorist brother-in-law Hussein Osman

After being released, she was employed by Southwark Borough Council, in south London, but was sacked when her history was made public.

But her former employers have now said Girma did tick a box confirming that she had been convicted of a crime  but regrettably further background checks were not done.

Southwark Council blamed its former HR chief Bernard Nawrat, 61, for failing to follow procedure.

A council spokeswoman told MailOnline: She disclosed she had a criminal conviction on her initial application, but not in subsequent internal applications [for other positions].

If a criminal record is declared by an applicant, details should be established, and the final decision about recruitment should be taken by the strategic director. Regrettably in this case, procedure was not followed.

Southwark Council blamed its former HR chief Bernard Nawrat, 61, for failing to follow procedure

We are investigating what happened and why the proper procedures were not followed.

The onus was on the HR [Human Resources] officer to escalate the conviction, but that didnt happen  it wasnt raised.

She added: The Director responsible for HR at the time left the council in 2015. His name is Bernard Nawrat.

Mr Nawrat, who now runs his own HR consultancy, laughed when he was told the council blamed him for her recruitment.

Oh, ok, it is amusing they have named me. I have not worked for the council for two years, said Mr Nawrat. I dont know what happened in 2013, I have no knowledge of it.

I was in charge of HR but there were other people above me and below me who were also responsible, he added.

Her solicitors, Birnberg Peirce, said the council took her on despite having full knowledge of her part in helping Osman escape.

The firm said in a statement: 'Mulu Girma has been the subject of sensationalist journalism based on an unlawful and misleading dissemination of personal information.

'Now that this personal information has wrongly been placed into the public domain she has no choice but to respond to correct the wholly inaccurate portrayal of her.

'In 2008 she was convicted of two offences which stemmed entirely from a familial relationship whereby she assisted her brother-in-law after his failed involvement in a terrorist incident.

'Her conviction was not for offences which required proof of terrorist motive or intent, neither of which she had - indeed she condemns all forms of terrorism.

'In halving her sentence the Court of Appeal recognised the personal dilemma faced by individuals placed in her situation and since her release she has done everything in her power to lead a law abiding existence.

'She disclosed her convictions in her application to Southwark Council, both in writing and orally and subsequently had a successful career which has now been destroyed for no purpose.'

Girma buys a newspaper in a newsagents in Brighton, as she helped Osman hide from police shortly after the failed bomb plot in 2005

After the 21/7 plot failed, Girma (left, in 2008) and her brother Esayas, picked up bomber Hussein Osman (right, in 2004) and drove him to their sister's student flat in Brighton

The Ethiopian former model rose through the ranks at the council and was even put on the cover of a council magazine to promote its apprenticeship scheme.

The council said she failed to tell them about her convictions but Ms Girma's lawyers say she did disclose her record.

Her employment raises questions about what measures are taken to vet staff, some of whom have access to databases of vulnerable people.

Details of her convictions can be found in seconds with a simple Google search, aided by her unusual name.

Ms Girma was found guilty of assisting an offender and failing to disclose information about Osman's involvement in the attempted attacks.

She was sentenced alongside Osman's wife - and her sister - Yeshi Girma, then 32, who is serving 11 years and nine months in prison.

Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark Council, said: 'As soon as her background came to light we took immediate action and terminated her employment.

'She did not disclose her full offence to the council.'

Senior staff said she was not given any access to police 'watch list' information and a review of her computer usage uncovered nothing suspicious.

Hussein Osman (left) , along with Muktar Said Ibrahim (right), Yassin Omar and Ramzi Mohammed, were all jailed for life for conspiracy to murder in July 2007

Mohammed (left) and Ismail Abdurahman who was jailed for 10 years for helping the plotters

Girma was recruited by the south London local authority as a trainee customer services assistant in 2013, shortly after she was released early from a 10-year jail term.

Osman, along with Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, and Ramzi Mohammed, tried to detonate rucksacks laden with explosives on three Underground trains at Shepherd's Bush station, Oval station and Warren Street station, together with a bus in Hackney Road, killing themselves and passengers, but the bombs failed to go off.

The attempted attacks came two weeks after four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.

They were jailed for life in July 2007 after being convicted at London's Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder.

A fifth man, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, was later jailed for 33 years after admitting conspiracy to cause explosions.

At their trial the four had maintained that the events of July 21 were an elaborate hoax designed to protest against and draw attention to Britain's role in the attack upon and occupation of Iraq.

Southwark Tory councillor Michael Mitchell said: 'This is a truly shocking blunder. Allowing someone with that background to work with potentially vulnerable clients is an entirely avoidable risk. It's a huge error.'
Police in Texas are on the hunt for a nurse who is accused of beating and repeatedly stabbing a former patients 85-year-old wife during an hour-long ordeal last week.

According to a press release from the Irving Police Department, the incident began unfolding just after 9pm on Friday when the victim and her husband returned home from dinner to find Lesia Ann Coco sitting on their porch in the 3200 block of Oceanview Street.

Coco, 49, a licensed nurse, used to be one of the caretakers of the victims husband after he suffered a stroke.

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Wanted: Police in Texas are searching for licensed nurse Lesia Ann Coco, 49, (left), who is accused of beating and stabbing a former patient's 85-year-old wife (right)

The victim was found bleeding at this Quik Trip gas station in Arlington, Texas, Saturday night

Coco got into the couples car after offering to show the wife the whereabouts of her jewelry, which had recently gone missing from their house.

As the octogenarian began driving, police say Coco pulled a knife on her, declaring that it was a robbery.

Gail Simmons, the victim's daughter-in-law, told the station Fox 4 that Coco also said she was going to kill her mother-in-law.

The elderly woman honked the horn to draw passersby' attention, which prompted Coco to strike and stab her with the knife, according to police.

The victim put up a fight and managed to wrest the knife away from her attacker, according to Simmons, but suffered multiple stab wounds to her mouth, arm and abdomen.

In a desperate bid to distract the assailant, the wounded woman broke into a spiritual song and began talking to Coco about God, according to her daughter-in-law.

Horrific injuries: During an hour-long ordeal, the octogenarian sustained stab wounds to her mouth, but survived after wresting the knife away from her attacker's hands

The woman was also repeatedly stabbed in the arm (pictured) by the kidnapper, who ran away after allegedly threatening her husband

Coco instructed the woman to drive to the Quik Trip gas station in the 4200 block of South Collins Street in Arlington, where she jumped out of the car and fled on foot after threatening to have her husband killed, according to the press release.

Customers at the gas station spotted the 85-year-old woman bleeding and called police. She was transported to a hospital to be treated for her injuries.

There is now a warrant out for Coco's arrest on a charge of aggravated kidnapping. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is being asked to call the Irving Police Department at 972-273-1010.

Coco has a criminal record that includes charges of theft and fraud dating back to 2011. She still has a valid nursing license in Texas.

Gail Simmons revealed the Coco had shown up at the elderly couple's home unannounced twice prior to the knife attack, and the family are concerned she might come back.

They are planning to move the 85-year-old victim to another location after she is released from the hospital.
Two teenage girls have been charged over the serious assault of a 15-year-old girl, who is fighting for her life in hospital.

The victim was bashed by a group of people on a main road in Warwick, southwest of Brisbane, while walking home from a party in the early hours of Tuesday.

She was airlifted from Warwick Base Hospital to Brisbane after the assault on Percy Street at around 2am.

The victim was bashed by a group of people on a main road (above, file photo) in Warwick, southwest of Brisbane

Police said she was in a serious condition with life-threatening head injuries.

She underwent emergency brain surgery on Tuesday, and is in a critical but stable condition.

Queensland police have now charged two people over the incident, an 18-year-old woman from Wilsonton and a 16-year-old girl from Warwick.

She was airlifted from Warwick Base Hospital to Brisbane after the assault on Percy Street at around 2am. Above, the PA Hospital in Brisbane

The 16-year-old has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

The 18-year-old has been charged with grievous bodily harm. She is due to appear in Warwick Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Investigations continue and police are asking for witnesses to come forward.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au.
Outraged politicians pledged to clamp down on a holiday firm promoting a 'sex island experience' in a brazen video offering drug-fuelled orgies with prostitutes.

Authorities have vowed to act after the video offered unlimited sex with Colombian prostitutes in Cartegena.

The erotic video from the Good Girls Company explicitly advertises the trip from 24th to 27th November as a 'sex island experience'.

Raunchy: The eyebrow-raising video shows a man surrounded by near-naked women

But tourists drawn to the country by the advert could be kicked out, according to the Mirror.

It starts by advertising the holidays more prosaic benefits such as airport transfers being included.

Highly suggestive: A masked woman flaunts her assets as she invites viewers to watch more

That'll make waves: A collection of scantily-clad women party together on a private yacht

Substance over style? The advert also claims the adult holiday is very 'drug friendly'

Metaphor: The handsome hunk pours a bottle of champagne into a woman's mouth

Keeping abreast of the action: A buxom woman leaves little to the imagination on board

Then, its young male star boards a luxury yacht, on the deck of which dozens of young beauties are gyrating in bikinis.

A screen caption states boldly: 'Unlimited sex included.'

The holiday is also labelled as 'drug friendly' over images of the young man being caressed in a bedroom by several girls amid a cloud of smoke.

'Sexual surprises' are also advertised, over a scene showing the man coming into his bedroom to find four naked women posing coquettishly face-down on his bed.

Racy: A woman dressed as a French maid serves some chocolate sauce on a tray

Indulgent: The actor is fed chocolate sauce from the bottle, before removing his shirt

Messy: The action then cranks-up a notch when his fellow party-goers get hands-on

Ratio: The video clip is keen to stress that there are two women for every man on the island

Eyebrow-raising: A trio of women barely conceal their modesty as they writhe around

Selling point: The company also stresses that complimentary alcohol is part of the package

Tourists with other appetites may like to know that all meals are included, a fact mentioned over a scene of the man eating his pudding off the naked body of one of the videos female stars, served by another in a fetish version of a French maids outfit.

Free booze is also thrown in.

The Good Girls Company explained more via social media, writing: 'We will have 60 hot women serving 30 clients; there will be two women for each of them (available) 24 hours a day. The price includes all meals these days.'

Getting the party started: The women indulge in the festivities with their male companion

Not shy: A naked woman reclines on a table where she has food strategically placed on her

Secluded for privacy: The location of the island is off the coast of Cartagena on Colombia's north coast

Bold: In case the ad's purpose wasn't clear, a woman reasserts the sell on a T-shirt

The location of the 'sex island' is off the coast of Cartagena on the north coast of Colombia.

An itinerary for the holiday tells prospective guests that there will be a sex session on the first day in which any customer can participate.

Day Two offers each client half an hour with 16 girls at once.

The third and fourth days feature parties on a luxury yacht for 100 people, complete with DJ.

Although prostitution is not illegal in Colombia, pimping is a crime, a law services advertised in the video could be falling foul of.

MailOnline has contacted the Good Girls Company to clarify this, but are yet to receive a response.


An attacker is on the run after stabbing a 16-year-old boy on Chelsea's King's Road in west London.

Police were called to the busy shopping street outside a Paddy Power betting shop just before 7.30pm today.

When they got there they found the victim suffering from stab wounds and rushed him to a hospital in central London, where they are awaiting an update on his condition.

A 16-year-old is in hospital after being stabbed on the upmarket west London shopping street King's Road, Chelsea (pictured)

The King's Road in Chelsea, west London, has been cordoned off after a 16-year-old boy was found stabbed there this evening

Police were called to the busy shopping street at 7.30pm, the condition of the boy is unknown

Emergency services have cordoned off the road between Beaufort Street and Edith Grove.

A Met spokesman told the Mirror Online: 'Police were called on Tuesday, 10 October at 7.34pm to a report of a stabbing in Kings Road, Chelsea.

'Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and found a 16-year-old boy with stab injuries.

'He has been taken to a central London hospital. We await an update on his condition.'

No arrests have yet been made.

A London Ambulance spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We were called today at 7.34pm to reports of a stabbing on Kings Road, Chelsea.

'We sent multiple resources to the scene, including medics from London's Air Ambulance by car, an ambulance crew and a paramedic in a fast response car.

'We treated a patient for stab wounds and took them as a priority to a major trauma centre.'

Images on social media show police cars at the scene, with people calling it 'horrific'.

One Twitter post from the scene reads: 'Omg. There has been a massive, horrible incident in Chelsea down the kings rd Violence related. Outside flat.'

In a separate incident in the capital today, a man in his 20s was stabbed in Wandsworth, south west London.

Police were called to Wandsworth Road at around 2pm where they found the victim with stab wounds.

He was rushed to hospital, but not considered to have life-threatening injuries.

No arrests have been made in connection his attack, but the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wandsworth CID via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the attack, but emergency services are still on scene
Britain's biggest car-makers last night launched an urgent probe into the safety of their vehicles over fears that crucial body parts may be faulty.

Nissan and Toyota said they were investigating concerns that metal imported from one of Japans largest companies may be too weak.

There are fears new high-speed trains could also be affected.

The probes come after a scandal engulfing Japans Kobe Steel. The firm admitted that staff had been caught falsifying data on certificates about aluminium and copper standards. It is feared thousands of tonnes of the metals may have been classed as stronger than they really were.

Nissan and Toyota are investigating that metal imported by Japanese firm Kobe Steel is too weak

Kobe is one of the worlds biggest metals exporters and its products are sold to car, plane and rail makers including Nissan, Toyota and Hitachi.

The firm admitted that products used by about 200 companies  including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mazda  were certified with false data. About 4 per cent of the aluminium and copper products it shipped from September 2016 to August 2017 were falsely labelled as meeting customers requested specifications.

The misconduct involved dozens of staff and possibly stretched back ten years, the firm said.

AA and Japans transport ministry called for carmakers to carry out safety checks on Kobe products.

Yesterday a spokesman for Nissan, which makes thousands of cars at its Sunderland plant, said it used aluminium from Kobe Steel in some vehicles hoods and doors. They would not confirm how many or which cars were affected. The spokesman said: As hoods are related to pedestrian safety, we are working to quickly assess any potential impact on vehicle functionality.

Toyota, based in Burnaston in Derbyshire, said it was considering long-term measures to tackle the grave issue, adding: Our priority ... is the safety of our customers and we are rapidly working to identify if any of our vehicle models may potentially be affected, and via which components.

Hitachi, which won a contract to supply high speed trains on the east and west coast mainlines, has been building trains in County Durham using Kobes products.

The trains are about to start running on the Great Western Railway, connecting London to cities including Bath and Reading. It is not known which parts are affected.

Hitachi insisted the metal used on the 20 or so trains due to start running is the required strength and has passed all tests.

Hitachi won a contract to supply high speed trains and insists the metal used on 20 or so trains to start running 'is the required strength'

But it would not comment on the future testing of materials for the rest of the 120 or so trains eventually due to run on the line.

A spokesman said: Passengers...will be receiving reliable trains which meet the high standards long associated with Hitachi.

Ford also said it was looking to see if its products were affected. Kobe bosses said the falsification came to light following self-inspections and emergency quality audits over the past year.

They said that, to date, inspections had not found specific problems casting doubts on the safety of the non-conforming products.

But they added: In the event that doubts arise on the safety of ... products, the company will quickly take appropriate action.

The company deeply regrets this incident and sincerely apologizes for the enormous worry and trouble this incident has caused ... [We] will report again as further progress of the investigation is made. The Department for Transport did not comment.
The mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein focus on sexual harassment and rape claims against him, yet screenwriter Paul Schrader's complaint diverged when he said the biggest issue was how he drastically re-cut movies.

In a tone deaf Facebook post the writer of 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull' wrote 'Of course I knew Harvey Weinstein was a sexual gangster. So did most people who crossed his path. It was an odor that preceded him,' the post says.

'That's not what offended me most about the man. It was the fact that he purchased films by both Bernardo Bertolucci and Wong Kar Wai and then recut them. TWC offered to purchase Bret Ellis and my The Canyons on the proviso that Harvey could recut it  Why would Bret and I, I screamed into the phone, undergo the sacrifice of self financing a movie only to let an as**hole like Harvey recut it?'

The mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein (left) over the past week have been almost entirely about sexual harassment, but Paul Schrader (right) took the opportunity during the scandal to call out the producer for how he would re-cut movies

Tone deaf. In light of the enourmous scandal surrounding Weinstein, the screenwriter thought it was an appropriate time to complain about how the Miramax exec would re-cut movies

Dozens of women from Hollywood elite to budding actresses have spoken out against Weinstein's treatment of them behind closed doors.

The comments from Schrader were quickly deleted, but not before people were able to screen grab it and share it online.

The post caused a hailstorm of outrage- as people were quick say that the writer is saying sexual assault is less repugnant than having a film re-cut.

'Ladies and gentlemen - recutting films is worse than sexually assault - according to Paul Schrader,' one Twitter user vented.

Paul Schrader's public dismissal & 'so what' attitude is part of the reason women don't report

People also took aim at how Schrader used the term 'sexual gangster' as opposed to some more appropriate ways to define Weinstein's behavior

Barbra Crampton, whose profile says she is an actress and producer took to Twitter to lash out at Shrader for downplaying the severity of the allegations against Weinstein.

'Paul Schrader's public dismissal & 'so what' attitude is part of the reason women don't report. Thanks to the 'gentleman' who support us,' Compton tweeted.

Last week a New York Times piece with an interview which included actress Ashley Judd recounting how Weinstein asked her to watch him shower, began the unraveling of decades of allegations against the Miramax executive.

The shocking allegations against Weinstein emerged in a Thursday report revealing that Weinstein had settled with at least eight women in sexual harassment claims over the past three decades.

Actress Ashley Judd went on the record for the New York Times report, saying Weinstein had greeted her in a bathrobe in his hotel room in 1996, inviting her to give him a massage or watch him shower.

Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow accused film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. They spoke out on Tuesday

Ashley Judd went on the record for a New York Times bombshell piece that was published last week. In it she detailed how Harvey invited her to watch him shower

'How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?' Judd told the newspaper she recalled thinking.

Weinstein was seen out and about in New York City on Friday morning, carrying some papers under his arm and smiling for the cameras as he made his way to the waiting SUV outside his home.

Stars including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judd, Rose McGowan, Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino are just some of the names that have spoken out about their own encounters with Weinstein as the scandal continues to grow.

As allegations against him mounted his position at his company became untenable and he was fired on Sunday.
Barack Obama's conspicuous six-day silence on mega-donor Harvey Weinstein's sex assault scandal is the subject of a new attack ad by Republicans, as political pressure mounts for the ex-president to condemn the top Democratic fundraiser.

The video ad, seen exclusively by DailyMail.com, uses Obama's own words on sexual assault to highlight his silence about a serial visitor to his White House who also employed his teenage daughter as an intern.

Weinstein  who raised $680,000 for Obama in 2012 and hired the president's 19-year-old daughter as an intern earlier this year  has been widely denounced by Democratic leaders and Hollywood celebrities after a number of sexual assault allegations surfaced against him last week.

But Obama has yet to speak out about the controversy.

A spokesperson for Obama's foundation did not return requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

Bundled up: Harvey Weinstein raised more than $600,000 for Obama after switching from the Hillary camp when she lost in 2008. Now the ex-president has been totally silent - and is a target of Republican calls to hand back the money

Words come back: The Republicans are releasing an attack ad focusing on Obama's failure to speak out despite a White House address on the issue of sexual assault

'Barack and Michelle Obama found time to take money from him and even host him at the White House, but somehow they can't find time to condemn him now,' the Republican National Committee is telling DailyMail.com

Entrusted: Malia Obama was 18 when her parents allowed her to be an intern at the Weinstein company

As of Tuesday afternoon, Obama had not posted on his Twitter account in over a week.

'While it took five days for Hillary Clinton's press secretary to tweet out a half-hearted statement from her, it's even more stunning that Barack Obama hasn't said a word about Harvey Weinstein,' the Republican National Committee's Michael Ahrens told DailyMail.com.

'Barack and Michelle Obama found time to take money from him and even host him at the White House, but somehow they can't find time to condemn him now.'

At least eight Democratic senators have said they will return Weinstein's campaign contributions since it was revealed last week that the Miramax founder faced numerous sexual harassment and assault allegations from actresses and female employees over the past two decades.

Hillary Clinton, who was also criticized for her five days of silence on Weinstein, released a comment on Tuesday saying she was 'shocked and appalled' by the revelations.

Obama's silence is already being used for political fodder by the RNC, which released a video on Tuesday with clips of Obama and Clinton speaking out against sexual assault. The video ends with a recording of Michelle Obama calling Harvey Weinstein a 'wonderful human being' and a 'good friend,' along with photos of President Obama and Clinton posing with Weinstein at fundraisers.

Although Weinstein backed Hillary Clinton over Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary, the movie producer and Obama buried the hatchet after his 2008 election.

During Obama's presidency, Weinstein appears to have visited the White House 12 times, according to visitors' logs. Ten of these visits were with Obama or First Lady Michelle, according to records.

These included a 2010 ceremony for the Library of Congress Gershwin Award, two holiday receptions in 2010, and a State Dinner for David Cameron - then the UK's prime minister - in 2012.

Invitations: Harvey Weinstein was in the White House 13 separate times, and in November 2013 was praised by Michelle Obama as a 'wonderful human being' at an event for film industry careers

Regular guest: Weinstein made 12 visits to the White House under obama. Ten of these visits were with President Obama or First Lady Michelle, according to records.

In 2011, Weinstein met with Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, bringing along Vogue's Anna Wintour and French fashion billionaire Bernard Arnault for the meeting. He also visited with his children on Valentine's Day 2013.

Weinstein was one of Obama's top 40 'bundlers' during his 2012 re-election, bringing in $679,275 for the candidate.

As a campaign bundler, Weinstein was a key link between the Obama campaign and Hollywood money.

In 2012, the movie producer hosted a $32,400-per-person fundraiser for Obama at his home in Westport, Connecticut with his fashion designer wife Georgina Chapman.

The intimate 60-guest dinner was estimated to bring in around $2 million for the Obama Victory Fund.

Among the celebrities that Weinstein brought to the fundraiser were Anne Hathaway, who gave Obama $50,000; Aaron Sorkin, who donated $35,800; Paul Newman's widow Joanne Woodward, who gave $5,000; and Jerry Springer who gave $60,800.

Shortly after Obama's second election, Weinstein threw another fundraiser for the president at his home in the West Village  with tickets again running as high as $32,400 a plate.

Guests included Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Tommy Hilfiger  who gave Obama's PAC a total of $64,800 that cycle. Obama White House staffers Dan Pfeiffer and Jay Carney. Patrick Gaspard also mingled with the guests.

In a speech at the dinner, Obama praised Weinstein's 'incredible hospitality' and 'friendship.'

'We are so grateful for [the Weinsteins'] friendship and support, and for the amazing movies that they've made,' said Obama.

Bringing in the Benjamins: Harvery Weinstein got Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake to donate to Obama's campaign at a dinner at his West Village home

Another donor: In 2012, the movie producer hosted a $32,400-per-person fundraiser for Obama at his home in Westport, Connecticut with his fashion designer wife Georgina Chapman. Anne Hathaway, gave Obama $50,000.

Last Thursday, the New York Times reported that at least eight women had reached financial settlements with Weinstein related to sexual harassment allegations. Multiple actresses and female employees of Weinstein told the paper he had made inappropriate sexual advances on them dating back to the 1990s.

Actress Ashley Judd told the paper that Weinstein once asked her to watch him shower and tried to give her a massage during a purported 'business meeting' in his hotel room.

On Tuesday, the New Yorker followed up with a report that included accusations from actresses that Weinstein had forced them to engage in non-consensual sex acts in hotel rooms.

HARVEY THE DEMS' CASH MACHINE Here are just some of the donations and fundraising Weinstein was behind according to public records - and what has happened to them since his sex harassment shame was revealed: $679,275 raised as a 'bundler' for Obama's 2012 campaign - one of the top 40 in the country NOT RETURNED $250,000 donations to the Democratic National Committee since 2003 SMALL PERCENTAGE BEING GIVEN TO WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN GROUPS Up to $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation since 2003 NOT RETURNED $30,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund in 2016 NOT RETURNED $16,200 to Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 - the legal maximum - to Clinton's campaign in 2016 NOT RETURNED $5,400 to Richard Blumenthal in 2016 GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 to Martin Heinrich in 2017 GOING TO CHARITY $5,400 to Al Franken in 2014 GOING TO CHARITY $5,000 to Elizabeth Warren in 2012 GOING TO CHARITY $10,000 to Corey Booker in 2013 GOING TO CHARITY Advertisement

The New Yorker story also included 2015 audio of Weinstein seeming to admit to groping a model's breasts and trying to pressure her into going into his hotel room despite her repeatedly telling him no.

Media figures criticized Obama for not speaking out against Weinstein since the allegations of sexual misconduct went public.

'This is just unconscionable to me that people with huge megaphones, even more important because they did receive his donations and had been patronized by him, do not come out and speak against this,' said CNN political director David Chalian on Tuesday.

The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead also blasted Obama on CNN on Monday.

'If you took money from this person [Weinstein] because this person had really good progressive goals that were in line with the politics, great,' said Winstead. 'When you find out that this person is a monster, especially a monster towards women, why wouldn't you denounce it? Why would you have shame? Come out and denounce it.'

At least seven Democrats and the Democratic National Committee stepped forward to say they are returning Weinstein's campaigns donations or re-gifting them to charity.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, both considered likely contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said they will donate Weinstein's contributions to charity.

Senators Al Franken, Kristen Gillibrand, Richard Blumenthal, and Martin Heinrich also vowed to return the money.

The Democratic National Committee, which received over $250,000 from Weinstein since 2003, also said it would donate $30,000 to women's groups.

Weinstein maxed out his political contributions to Clinton with a $5,400 check to her 2016 campaign and $30,000 to her Hillary Victory Fund. He was also a prolific bundler for Clinton and hosted fundraising events where celebrity guests paid thousands to meet with the presidential candidate.

Weinstein also gave between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation  joining other controversial donors, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex-MF Global CEO Jon Corzine.

Clinton finally broke her silence on Tuesday afternoon, after the New Yorker published an article that included rape accusations against Weinstein.

'I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein,' said Clinton, in a statement released by a spokesperson. 'The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.'

Clinton did not say whether she would return Weinstein's contributions to her campaign or foundation.
A teenager pleaded guilty on Tuesday to shooting a 14-year-old girl in the head 'because he got annoyed that she messaged him on Snapchat'.

Colter Danny Peterson, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony aggravated attempted murder for the February shooting of Deserae Turner.

Turner nearly died after being shot in the head and left in a ditch in the small northern Utah town of Smithfield.

Peterson also pleaded guilty to a reduced second-degree felony count of robbery.

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Colter Danny Peterson (pictured, in court on Tuesday), 17, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to shooting 14-year-old Deserae Turner in the head 'because he became annoyed with Turner for messaging him on Snapchat'

Deserae Turner (pictured in April with her parents) nearly died after being shot in the head and left in a ditch in the small northern Utah town of Smithfield

Turner sat between her parents while the judge read the plea and listed the girl's extensive injuries suffered from the shooting.

After the February 16 shooting, a judge ordered Peterson and his co-defendant, Jayzen Decker, 16, to be tried as adults.

Turner's mother revealed that the bullet and several fragments are still lodged in her brain and she suffers from partial blindness and paralysis on the left side of her body.

First District Juvenile Court Judge Angela Fonnesbeck said at the time that Decker wasn't suspected of shooting Turner, but there is reason to believe that he is the one who created the plan to kill her and called upon his friend to carry it out.

'He may not have pulled the trigger himself, but he did take a deliberate and specific action to ensure the crime would be committed,' Fonnesbeck said.

'There was plenty of time for the defendant to step away from the crime and he did not do so.'

Decker is also charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and other crimes.

After the February 16 shooting, a judge ordered Peterson (pictured in court Tuesday) and his co-defendant, Jayzen Decker, 16, to be tried as adults

Peterson (right) will be sentenced after a February trial for Decker. He is also expected to testify at Decker's trial. The attempted aggravated murder charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison

Turner (above in April after being released from the hospital) nearly died after being shot in the head and left in a ditch in the small northern Utah town of Smithfield in February

Peterson will be sentenced after a February trial for Decker. He is also expected to testify at Decker's trial.

The attempted aggravated murder charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

However, the judge can reduce the sentence to 10 years to life or six years to life.

Turner has declined to talk about her injuries, but said she's happy to be alive and that she's 'tougher than a bullet'.

Her mother said, before the shooting, that her summer goals would have been to 'ride horses, practice karate. Now it's just to move her fingers'.

The crime shocked residents in the small town of Smithfield, a bedroom community near Logan, Utah.

Authorities said after the shooting that the two teenage boys concocted the plan while playing video games and discussing their desire to 'get rid' of the girl who was texting one of them.

Cache County Sheriff Deputy Brian Groves said during a court hearing that Peterson complained to the other defendant about Turner texting and Snapchatting him too frequently.

Decker responded: 'It would be pretty easy to get rid of her.'

Turner has declined to talk about her injuries, but said she's happy to be alive and that she's 'tougher than a bullet'

Turner (pictured in April) considered the boys her friends, and was left in utter disbelief when she woke up in the hospital to learn they had shot her in the head and left her to die in a canal

Turner considered the boys her friends, and was left in utter disbelief when she woke up in the hospital to learn they had shot her in the head and left her to die in a canal, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

After the premeditated shooting, the boys stole her backpack with her cellphone and iPod.

Turner told her friends over text message that she was getting 'picked on' by the two boys, who then invited Turner to meet her at the canal to sell her a knife.

The shooter originally intended to slit Turner's throat and let her bleed out in the rural area. However, the boys decided it would be quieter to just shoot her.

Turner was hospitalized for nine weeks before returning to her home in the town of Amalga to recover.

One of the boys took a bullet casing from the scene as a memento of the crime.

When the shooter was speaking about the murder plot to the other defendant, he callously said over text: 'Let's get this done, bro.'

Turner was found by two women on February 16 who were searching for her body after reports that she was missing started spreading on social media.

When she was found, her injuries were so severe that she had to be put in a medically induced coma at a Salt Lake City hospital.

The two defendants lived in Smithfield and attended Sky View High School while Turner lives in Amalga and attended North Cache Middle School in Richmond.

After the hearing, the girl's father, Matt Turner, called the plea 'a step toward justice for Deserae,' according to the Tribune.

'Our daughter continues to struggle,' he said on Tuesday as he held back tears. 'She works every day to gain as much quality of life as she can. But her life will never be the same.'

Defense attorney Mike McGinnis told local reporters that Peterson 'wants to take responsibility for what he did'.

Turner (above left in April, and before the shooting on the right) was hospitalized for nine weeks before returning to her home in the town of Amalga to recover
A pair of 13-year-old boys from Colorado are in police custody Tuesday after they allegedly constructed a 'kill list' targeting individuals at their school.

Authorities in Colorado Springs said they detained the two minors following an investigation opened last Wednesday at Sabin Middle School, ABC 13 reported.

Law enforcement officials say that the investigation was prompted by 'suspicious circumstances' at the educational facility, without revealing more details.

Pair of 13-year-old boys were arrested Tuesday after plot to target people at their school was revealed, according to Lt. Howard Black (Pictured: October 10, 2017)

Lt. Howard Black said that the boys constructed a 'kill list' targeting individuals such as school faculty and classmates, and later discovered text messages on their phones discussing ways to carry out the threats.

Suspicious circumstances' prompted an investigation into the matter last week

'That was their terminology that they used in identifying some individuals that they wanted to punish,' Black said during a press conference, according to CBS Denver.

Guns were discovered as part of searches conducted during the investigation but the owners of weapons or where they were found remains unclear.

Both boys are being held at at a juvenile detention center in Colorado Springs.
Heather Graham is the latest to accuse movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of trying to force himself on her in exchange for a part in a movie - as five other women have accused the Hollywood executive of sexually assaulting them.

Following Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow's accusations of sexual assault and harassment on Tuesday, Graham told Variety of a time she was propositioned by the mogul - and said he even bragged about how his wife would be okay with it.

She said that in the early 2000's she met Weinstein at his office and was told that he wanted to cast her in one of his movies - offering her a pile of scripts on his desk to pick from.

Heather Graham is the latest to accuse movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of trying to force himself on her in exchange for a part in a movie - as five other women have accused the Hollywood executive of sexually assaulting them. She is pictured with him in 2004

Graham said that in a meeting with Weinstein in the early 2000s, the movie mogul bragged that he and his wife had an 'agreement' that he could sleep with whoever he wanted to while he was out of town. He was speaking of his first wife Eve Chilton, who he is pictured with in 1997. The two divorced in 2004

'He offered to let me pick which one I liked best,' the 47-year-old Portlandia actress explained.

'Later in the conversation, he mentioned he had an agreement with his wife,' Graham said, detailing how the meeting grew increasingly uncomfortable.

'[He said] He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy.

'There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there.'

The wife Weinstein would have been referring to was Eve Chilton who he married in 1987 and divorced in 2004.

And as to why she is just now telling her story - Graham said she knew he never explicitly offered a trade of sex or work, and she didn't want to be attacked for reading into something that 'may or may not have been there'. The 47-year-old is pictured at the San Diego International Film Festival on October 5

Graham went on to explain that she was asked for a follow-up meeting to discuss their work together in more depth - and said she was invited to his hotel.

She said she felt uncomfortable at the invitation - and asked one of her other actress friends to come with her.

When that friend cancelled, she called Weinstein to tell him she couldn't make it.

'Not wanting to be at the hotel along with him, I made up an excuse - I had an early morning and would have to postpone,' she told Variety.

'Harvey told me that my actress friend was already at his hotel and that both of them would be very disappointed if I didn't show. I knew he was lying, so I politely and apologetically reiterated that I could no longer come by.'

After that, Graham said the encounter was over and she was never hired.

And as to why she is just now telling her story - she said she knew he never explicitly offered a trade of sex or work, and she didn't want to be attacked for reading into something that 'may or may not have been there.'

Angelina Jolie (above in September) said that she never worked with Weinstein again after her made unwanted sexual advances on her while filming 'Playing by Heart'

Victim: Gwyneth Paltrow was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein (pair above in 2002) at the start of her career claims the actress, and had boyfriend Brad Pitt confront the producer

Leading lady: Paltrow arrived at Weinstein's hotel and he began to massage her and then asked her to join him in the bedroom (above with Weinstein, Edward Zwick and her Best Actress Oscar in 1999)

More victims emerge: Asia Argento (above in 2004) says that Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc back in 1997

Mighty Harvey: Mira Sorvino says that Weinstein made sexual advances towards her back in 1995 in a hotel room and later by showing up to her apartment unannounced (Sorvino and her husband Chris Backus with Weinstein in 2006)

Support: Patricia Arquette tweeted her support for sister Rosanna on Tuesday (above)

Dam story: Rosanna Arquette says she met Weinstein in a hotel room and he asked her to give him a massage then tried to have her touch his erect penis (Arquette and Weinstein above in 2001)

On Tuesday more than five women came forward to detail sexual assault they say took place at the hands of Harvey Weinstein.

Italian star Asia Argento told the New Yorker that Weinstein raped her in 1997 at a party hosted by Miramax at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc. She claims the mogul led her to an empty room and asked her to give him a massage.

She reluctantly agreed, and halfway through he began to perform oral sex on her after forcibly lifting up her skirt despite her repeated requests for him to stop. Aspiring actress Lucia Evans and another unnamed woman accused him of rape as well, according to the article.

Jolie was promoting her film 'Playing By Heart' in 1998 when Weinstein made unwanted advances on the then 23-year-old in a hotel room.

'I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,' Jolie told the New York Times.

'This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.'

Paltrow meanwhile said that the man who launched her career sexually harassed her at his Beverly Hills hotel when she was just 22, and that it almost lost her a big role.

Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino also state that the powerful Hollywood executive forced himself upon them, but that they were able to fight off his sexual advances.

Soon after, the two women say their careers began to suffer.
A Texas Tech University freshman has admitted to killing a campus police officer who was booking him on a drug possession charge.

Hollis A. Daniels pulled the gun on officer Floyd East Jr., 48, in the police headquarters in Lubbock at 7.45pm Monday night and shot him in the head, authorities say.

The 19-year-old from Seguin was taken to the station for a 'debriefing' after campus police searched his dorm room during a welfare check and found drugs and drug paraphernalia.

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Identity of police officer Floyd East Jr.(pictured), 48, was revealed after he was shot and killed by a Texas Tech University student

Texas Tech University student Hollis A. Daniels (above in mugshot) pulled the gun on the officer in the police headquarters in Lubbock at 7.45pm Monday night and shot him in the head

A video shot by a bystander shows the moment Daniels was taken into a custody near the Texas Tech campus police headquarters

Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department says in an affidavit released Tuesday that 19-year-old Hollis Daniels III wasn't handcuffed while campus police officer East was processing him Monday.

East leaves behind a wife and two children.

Bonds says another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East's body camera was taken.

The affidavit says Daniels told officers he had 'f****d up' and had done 'something illogical' following the shooting.

Daniels fled the station on foot, forcing the entire campus to be placed on lockdown while SWAT tried to track him down. He was arrested about an hour later after being tackled by officers in a nearby parking lot.

Colby Volkmann, from Irving, stands in silence to honor Floyd East Jr., a Tech police officer, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Lubbock, Texas

Randy Baker, a Texas Tech police corporal, prays for Floyd East Jr., a Tech police officer, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech students gather at Memorial Circle to honor Floyd East Jr., a Tech police officer, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Lubbock, Texas

University spokesman Chris Cook said the tragedy unfolded when police conducted the search in his room following a request by University officials for a welfare check.

They brought Daniels to the police station after finding drugs and drug paraphernalia in his room.

Sources told KCBD Daniels had tried to rip the slain officer's body camera off him after the shooting, but other cops managed to find it at the scene.

Online records suggest Daniels had been in contact with police on campus before and had prior drug arrests on his record. He was arrested in September 2016 for drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. It is not clear how the case was resolved.

His Facebook profile, which is under a different name, says he is studying Communications Arts at Texas Tech.

His father is a former city councilman and his family, who are believed to have long roots in the small community, owns a chain of movie theaters. The teenager was believed to be a manager at one of the movie venues.

Texas Tech University freshman Hollis A. Daniels allegedly shot and killed a cop at the campus police headquarters on Monday night

The campus was placed on lockdown while SWAT tried to track down Daniels. He was arrested less than two hours later and taken into custody

University spokesman Chris Cook says campus police found drugs in Daniels' dorm. They then brought him back to police headquarters for a 'standard debriefing

Daniels' Instagram bio read: 'May the best of your today be the worst of your tomorrow, but we aint even thinkin that far ahead.'

On June 16, he wrote: 'Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?'

Last year, Texas enabled people with concealed handgun permits to carry their weapons on public university campuses. People have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit in the state.

Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the shooting saying: 'First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University.

'I have spoken to Chancellor Robert Duncan to offer my condolences, and I have mobilized the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer any assistance to the Lubbock Police Department.

Online records suggest Daniels (left and right in a younger picture) had been in contact with police on campus before and had been arrested for drug possession

Daniels is seen in a photo with his college's name written along the bottom

'As the Texas Tech campus deals with this heartbreaking tragedy, Cecilia and I pray for the continued safety of the students and the entire community.'

Chancellor Duncan also released a statement saying: 'Words can't express how saddened I am by the tragic loss of one of our Texas Tech University police officers tonight.

'Terri and I offer our thoughts and prayers to the officer's family and the Texas Tech University Police Department. I would like to thank Governor Greg Abbott, Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope and all of the law enforcement professionals from across the area who supported our campus during this time of need.

'Our Texas Tech family is strong and will support each other as we grieve.'

Following the shooting, the Texas Democratic Party released an apology for a tweet that linked the state's 'campus carry' law.

As news of the shooting was breaking late Monday, the Texas Democrats' Twitter account posted: 'Allowing concealed guns on college campuses was a dumb and dangerous idea.'

Critics noted that you have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit and the suspected Texas Tech shooter is 19.

Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia said in a statement Tuesday that "our words were inadequate, hurried and we apologize," adding that the tweet has been removed.

Cops are seen gathered on an intersection after a Texas Tech cop was shot and killed

Police officers gather at the scene to investigate after their colleague was shot and killed
Authorities in south China have recently fined a budget hotel for breaking a rule on rejecting ethnic minority Uyghur guests.

Chinese police have reportedly ordered hotels across the country to ban bookings of visitors from the north-western region of Xinjiang, who are predominantly Muslim.

The harsh rule is part of new security regulations linked to the 19th Party Congress which is set to begin on October 18.

Uyghurs banned: 7 Days Inn is a Chinese chain with hotels across the country (file photo)

According to Radio Free Asia, a member of staff at the Shenzhen hotel confirmed that the 7Days inn had to pay a fine for accepting a guest from Xinjiang.

The hotel was fined a hefty 15,000 yuan (1,700) for breaking the stringent laws.

A hotel employee reportedly said: 'The details would be immediately available to police via a shared database. Police could veto any guests they believed to be a threat.'

It's unknown if the ban has been extended to upmarket hotels, or to budget hotels that belong to international or domestic chains.

China's Xinjiang province is far west and Kashgar is the biggest city west of China

Discrimination: Chinese Uyghur Muslim's protest as they face discrimination from Beijing

Morning prayers: Uyghur Muslims gather at a mosque in Xinjiang province, north-west China

According to Chinese media, officials are extremely concerned about terrorism, and may fear an attack by Islamic extremists.

Beijing blames some Uyghurs for a string of violent attacks and clashes in China in recent years.

The move, which the government says is aimed at combating 'terrorism', has been criticised by human rights groups, as critics say the government has exaggerated the threat from the ethnic group.

Many Muslims in Xinjiang say they face widespread discrimination, with a recent clampdown on Uyghurs having religious items such as the Koran.
A 3,200-year-old Anatolian stone slab that describes a warring Trojan prince has finally been deciphered more than 135 years after it was first discovered.

The inscription tells of the rise of a powerful kingdom called Mira, which started a military campaign spearheaded by a prince called Muksus from Troy.

The story details a time when a confederation that modern-day scholars call the Sea People laid waste to cities and civilisations across the Middle East.

The kingdom of Mira, which joined this military conquest, seems to have been part of the seafaring group.

According to the cryptic symbols, the kingdom had a decisive hand in the Sea Peoples' invasions, and so helped end the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean.

However, several scholars have raised concerns that the inscriptions might be fake.

Because the slab itself was destroyed in the 19th Century, the modern deciphering is based off of copies supposedly drawn by scholars at the time.

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A 3,200-year-old stone slab (pictured) that describes a warring Trojan prince and refers to the mysterious 'Sea People' of the Mediterranean has been deciphered. The stone inscription, which was once 95 feet (29 meters) long, is written in an ancient language called Luwian

THE INSCRIPTION The inscription tells of how Mira, which was located in what is now western Turkey and controlled Troy itself, was ruled by a King Kupantakuruntas. Prince Muksus, a Trojan prince, led a naval expedition for Mira that conquered Ashkelon, now in modern-day Israel, and built a fortress there, the inscription claims. The text tells of King Kupantakuruntas' rise to the throne of Mira. After a Trojan king named Walmus was overthrown, Kupantakuruntas' father King Mashuittas seized control of Troy. Mashuittas quickly reinstated Walmus to the throne of the Bronze Age city in exchange for his loyalty to Mira, according to the inscription. Once his father died, Kupantakuruntas became king of Mira, though he was never the official king of Troy. The ancient leader instead describes himself as a guardian of Troy in the text, asking future rulers to 'guard Wilusa [an ancient name for Troy] (like) the great king (of) Mira (did).' Advertisement

The stone inscription, which was once 95 feet (29 meters) long, is written in an ancient language called Luwian that only a handful of people can read today.

Some estimates list that just 20 scholars today can read the ancient Anatolian writing system, which uses complex hieroglyphs to depict stories.

Independent Dutch linguist Dr Fred Woudhuizen, based near Amsterdam, has now worked with other researchers to decipher the text 139 years after it was first discovered.

Live Science spoke to several scholars not affiliated with the research, and some expressed concern that the inscription is a modern-day forgery.

But Dr Woudhuizen and his associates claimed it would be it 'extremely difficult, if not impossible' for someone to create such a long and complex fake because so few people can read the ancient language.

The inscription tells of how Mira, which was located in what is now western Turkey and controlled Troy itself, was ruled by a King Kupantakuruntas.

Prince Muksus, a Trojan prince, led a naval expedition for Mira that conquered Ashkelon, now in modern-day Israel, and built a fortress there, the inscription claims.

The text tells of King Kupantakuruntas' rise to the throne of Mira.

After a Trojan king named Walmus was overthrown, Kupantakuruntas' father King Mashuittas seized control of Troy.

Mashuittas quickly reinstated Walmus to the throne of the Bronze Age city in exchange for his loyalty to Mira, according to the inscription.

Once his father died, Kupantakuruntas became king of Mira, though he was never the official king of Troy.

The ancient leader instead describes himself as a guardian of Troy in the text, asking future rulers to 'guard Wilusa [an ancient name for Troy] (like) the great king (of) Mira (did).'

The inscription tells of how Mira, which was located in what is now western Turkey and controlled Troy itself (ruins pictured), was ruled by a King Kupantakuruntas. Prince Muksus, a Trojan prince, led an expedition for Mira that conquered Ashkelon, now in modern-day Israel

The 35-cm (13.5') tall limestone frieze was found back in 1878 in the village of Beykoy, roughly 21 miles (34km) north of Afyonkarahisar in modern Turkey.

It bears the longest known hieroglyphic inscription from the Bronze Age.

Soon after local peasants retrieved the stones from the ground, French archaeologist Georges Perrot was able to carefully copy the inscription.

However, the villagers subsequently used the stones as building material for the foundation of their mosque.

Since 1950, Luwian hieroglyphs could be read thanks to the formation of a Turkish/American team of experts.

HISTORY OF THE ANATOLIAN SLAB The 35-cm (13.5') tall limestone frieze was found back in 1878 in the village of Beykoy, roughly 21 miles (34km) north of Afyonkarahisar in modern Turkey. It bears the longest known hieroglyphic inscription from the Bronze Age. Soon after local peasants retrieved the stones from the ground, French archaeologist Georges Perrot was able to carefully copy the inscription. However, the villagers subsequently used the stones as building material for the foundation of their mosque. Since 1950, Luwian hieroglyphs could be read thanks to the formation of a Turkish/American team of experts. The group worked to to translate this and other inscriptions that during the 19th century had made their way into the collections of the Ottoman Empire. However, the publication of the slab's translation was delayed several times until all the researchers involved in the project had died around 1985. Copies of these inscriptions resurfaced recently in the estate of the English prehistorian James Mellaart, who died in 2012. In June 2017, Mellaart's son Alan handed over this part of the legacy to the Swiss geoarcheologist Dr Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies foundation, to edit and publish the material in due course. Advertisement

The inscription was commissioned by Kupanta-Kurunta, the Great King of Mira, a Late Bronze Age state in western Anatolia. Just before 1190 BC, Kupanta-Kurunta ordered his armies to storm toward the east against the vassal states of the Hittites, including Troy (ruins pictured)

The group worked to to translate this and other inscriptions that during the 19th century had made their way into the collections of the Ottoman Empire.

However, the publication of the slab's translation was delayed several times until all researchers involved in the project had died around 1985.

Copies of these inscriptions resurfaced recently in the estate of the English prehistorian James Mellaart, who died in 2012.

In June 2017, Mellaart's son Alan handed over this part of the legacy to the Swiss geoarcheologist Dr Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies foundation, to edit and publish the material in due course.

WHO WERE THE SEA PEOPLE? The Sea Peoples are a mysterious seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age between 1200 and 900 BC. The concept was created in the 19th Century and quickly became one of the most famous chapters in Egyptian history. The origin of the group is uncertain, with scholars suggesting they originated from places including western Anatolia, the Mediterranean islands and southern Europe. Although archaeological inscriptions do not describe a migration, the Sea People are believed to have sailed the eastern Mediterranean. On their journey they invaded Anatolia, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, and several other places before the end of the Bronze Age. The Sea Peoples are a mysterious seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age between 1200 and 900 BC. Pictured is an Egyptian wall frieze depicting the Sea People Advertisement

The full academic publication of the inscription will appear in December 2017 in the Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society.

Alongside Dr Zangger, Dr Woudhuizen will present a transcription, a translation, a detailed commentary, and the history of the find.

The inscription and a summary of its contents also appear in a book by Dr Zangger that was published in Germany this week: Die Luwier und der Trojanische Krieg  Eine Forschungsgeschichte.

According to Zangger, the inscription was commissioned by Kupanta-Kurunta, the Great King of Mira, a Late Bronze Age state in western Anatolia.

The 35-cm (13.5') tall limestone frieze was found back in 1878 in the village of Beykoy, roughly 21 miles (34km) north of Afyonkarahisar in modern Turkey

WHO COMMISSIONED THE SLAB? Experts claim the inscription was commissioned by Kupanta-Kurunta, the Great King of Mira, a Late Bronze Age state in western Anatolia. When Kupanta-Kurunta had reinforced his realm, just before 1190 BC, he ordered his armies to storm toward the east against the vassal states of the Hittites. After successful conquests on land, the united forces of western Anatolia also formed a fleet and invaded a number of coastal cities in the south and southeast of Anatolia, as well as in Syria and Palestine. Four great princes commanded the naval forces, among them Muksus from the Troad, the region of ancient Troy. Luwians - a now extinct Anatolian culture - from western Anatolia advanced all the way to the borders of Egypt, and even built a fortress at Ashkelon in southern Palestine. Advertisement

When Kupanta-Kurunta had reinforced his realm, just before 1190 BC, he ordered his armies to storm toward the east against the vassal states of the Hittites.

After successful conquests on land, the united forces of western Anatolia also formed a fleet and invaded a number of coastal cities in the south and southeast of Anatolia, as well as in Syria and Palestine.

Four great princes commanded the naval forces, among them Muksus from the Troad, the region of ancient Troy.

Luwians - Luwians - a now extinct Anatolian culture - from western Anatolia advanced all the way to the borders of Egypt, and even built a fortress at Ashkelon in southern Palestine.
If you want to know how someone is feeling, it might be better to close your eyes and use your ears.

People tend to read others' emotions more accurately when they listen and don't look, according a new study.

The researchers hope their findings will lead to improved understanding of others at work or in personal relationships.

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If you want to know how someone is feeling, it might be better to close your eyes and use your ears. People tend to read others' emotions more accurately when they listen and don't look, according a new study (stock image)

WHY VOICE IS MORE IMPORTANT There are two possible reasons why voice-only is superior to combined communication. One is that we have more practice using facial expressions to mask emotions. The other is that more information isn't always better for accuracy. In the world of cognitive psychology, engaging in two complex tasks simultaneously hurts a person's performance on both tasks. Advertisement

Researchers from Yale University in Connecticut looked at how different vocal and facial cues affect the ability to recognise emotion.

Dr Micahel Kraus, lead author of the study, said: 'On the presence of both will and skill, people often inaccurately perceive others' emotions.

'Our research suggests that relying on a combination of vocal and facial cues, or solely facial cues, may not be the best strategy for accurately recognizing the emotions or intentions of others.'

In the study, the researchers carried out five experiments involving more than 1,800 participants.

In each experiment, individuals were asked either to interact with another person or were presented with an interaction between two others.

In some cases, participants were only able to listen and not look; in others, they were able to look but not listen; and some participants were allowed to both look and listen.

In one case, participants listened to a computerized voice reading a transcript of an interaction - a condition without the usual emotional inflection of human communication.

Across all five experiments, individuals who only listened without observing were able, on average, to identify more accurately the emotions being experienced by others.

The findings of the study showed that individuals who only listen without observing are able, on average, to identify more accurately the emotions being experienced by others (stock image)

THE STUDY In the study, the researchers carried out five experiments involving more than 1,800 participants. In each experiment, individuals were asked either to interact with another person or were presented with an interaction between two others. In some cases, participants were only able to listen and not look; in others, they were able to look but not listen; and some participants were allowed to both look and listen. In one case, participants listened to a computerized voice reading a transcript of an interaction - a condition without the usual emotional inflection of human communication. Across all five experiments, individuals who only listened without observing were able, on average, to identify more accurately the emotions being experienced by others. The one exception was when subjects listened to the computerized voices, which resulted in the worst accuracy of all. Advertisement

The one exception was when subjects listened to the computerized voices, which resulted in the worst accuracy of all.

Since much of the research on emotional recognition has focused on the role of facial cues, these findings open a new area for research, according to Dr Kraus.

'I think when examining these findings relative to how psychologists have studied emotion, these results might be surprising.

'Many tests of emotional intelligence rely on accurate perceptions of faces,' he said.

'What we find here is that perhaps people are paying too much attention to the face - the voice might have much of the content necessary to perceive others' internal states accurately.

'The findings suggest that we should be focusing more on studying vocalizations of emotion.'

Dr Kraus believes that there are two possible reasons why voice-only is superior to combined communication.

One is that we have more practice using facial expressions to mask emotions.

The other is that more information isn't always better for accuracy.

In the world of cognitive psychology, engaging in two complex tasks simultaneously (i.e., watching and listening) hurts a person's performance on both tasks.

One implication of this research is simple, according to Dr Kraus.

He added: 'Listening matters. Actually considering what people are saying and the ways in which they say it can, I believe, lead to improved understanding of others at work or in your personal relationships.'
About 58,000 years ago, Stone Age humans began to settle down, staying in one area for longer periods, a new study has found.

Evidence from a cave called Sibudu in South Africa, including grindstones and grass bedding, suggest that people moved from a more mobile living strategy to one of reduced mobility.

The ancient Stone Age cave also contains many finely-worked, crescent-shaped stone tools fashioned from long, thin blades, as well as bone tools such as bone arrowhead, from the era that preceded the reduced mobility period.

Grindstones from the post-Howiesons Poort era from Sibudu Cave, near Tongaat in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The cave contains tools from the Howiesons Poort era, such as finely-worked stone tools, as well as tools from the post-Howiesons Poort era

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Witwatersrand, also gives a potential answer to why the Howiesons Poort, a specific technological cultural period in the Middle Stone Age in Africa, appears to have suddenly disappeared at that time.

Dr Paloma de la Pena and Dr Lyn Wadley, both researchers at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and the authors of the study, explored the changes observed between the Howiesons Poort period (dated about 65,000 to 62,000 years ago at Sibudu) and the one that followed it about 58,000 years ago.

Sibudu, a rock shelter near Tongaat in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, contains tools from the Howiesons Poort era, such as finely-worked stone tools made on dolerite (a subvolcanic rock), hornfels (a metamorphic rock), and, to a lesser extent, quartz.

These 'segments,' as they are called, were attached to handles using compound adhesives that sometimes included red ochre (an iron oxide).

The Howiesons Poort era also includes a diverse bone tool kit, and what may be the world's oldest bone arrowhead.

A range of hunting techniques was used at the time, including perhaps the first use of snares for capturing small animals.

THE SIBUDU CAVE: REVELATIONS OF LIFE IN THE STONE AGE Sibudu, a rock shelter near Tongaat in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, contains evidence of the changes that occurred between the Howiesons Poort period (dated about 65,000 to 62,000 years ago at Sibudu) and the one that followed it about 58,000 years ago. Researchers uncovered tools from the Howiesons Poort era,such as finely-worked finely-worked, crescent-shaped stone tools fashioned from long, thin blades made on dolerite (a subvolcanic rock), hornfels (a metamorphic rock), and, to a lesser extent, quartz. The Howiesons Poort era also includes a diverse bone tool kit, and what may be the world's oldest bone arrowhead. A range of hunting techniques was used at the time, including perhaps the first use of snares for capturing small animals. The animal remains brought to Sibudu reflect this diversity, as there are bones from large plains game like zebra, tiny blue duiker, and even pigeons and small carnivores. Sibudu, a rock shelter near Tongaat in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, contains tools from the Howiesons Poort era, such as finely-worked stone tools made on dolerite (a subvolcanic rock), hornfels (a metamorphic rock), and, to a lesser extent, quartz At 58,000 years ago, the long, thing blades of the Howiesons Poort era was replaced by a simple technology that could be rapidly produced. A switch to coarse rocks like quartzite and sandstone took place, and these could be collected close to Sibudu. Post-Howiesons Poort tools were part of were part of an unstandardized toolkit with triangular or irregularly-shaped flakes. Many grindstones, dating from 58,000 years ago and were used to grind ochre and/or bone, were found in Sibudu. Other evidence suggests that by 58,000 years ago people stayed in Sibudu longer than before. For example, there was a considerable, rapid accumulation of sediments built up in millimeter-thicl lenses from stacked layers of burnt sedge and grass bedding. Grass bedding gets infested with pests, so people can either burn bedding to clean the camp or move out. View over an excavation area inside the Sibudu cave. The cave contains evidence of the changes that occurred between the Howiesons Poort period (dated about 65,000 to 62,000 years ago at Sibudu) and the one that followed it about 58,000 years ago Advertisement

The animal remains brought to Sibudu reflect this diversity, as there are bones from large plains game like zebra, tiny blue duiker, and even pigeons and small carnivores.

And during the Howiesons Poort, soft clayey ochre pieces, which are useful for applying as paint, were collected at a considerable distance from Sibudu.

At 58,000 years ago, the long, thing blades of the Howiesons Poort era was replaced by a simple technology that could be rapidly produced.

A switch to coarse rocks like quartzite and sandstone took place, and these could be collected close to Sibudu.

Post-Howiesons Poort tools were part of were part of an unstandardized toolkit with triangular or irregularly-shaped flakes.

Tiny, scaled pieces were also produced using a technique that involves smashing a small piece of rock with a hammerstone.

Many grindstones, dating from 58,000 years ago and were used to grind ochre and/or bone, were found in Sibudu.

Different tools found in the post-Howiesons Poort layers of Sibudu Cave. Most of the pieces demonstrate an unstandardized toolkit. Nonetheless, typical Howiesons Poort segments (B, D and F) still were produced.

Ochre use also changed - silty ochre found close to Sibudu was popular 58,000 years ago, as people may have wanted to collect raw materials close to their camp.

Other evidence suggests that by 58,000 years ago people stayed in Sibudu longer than before.

For example, there was a considerable, rapid accumulation of sediments built up in millimeter-thick lenses from stacked layers of burnt sedge and grass bedding.

Grass bedding gets infested with pests, so people can either burn bedding to clean the camp or move out.

The researchers say that environmental factors do not seem to have caused the time-related changes that were observed.

The researchers say that 'social transformation' may have been the reason.

It's possible that changes in band size and/or membership to the group influences decisions about whether to stay in Sibudu. but researchers don't know whether group size was larger 58,000 years ago than before, or whether small groups occupied the site for a long time.

What the researchers can say is that the people using the simple post-Howiesons Poort tools were 'homebodies' who preferred to collect the raw materials they needed from close to their camp.
Smarthomes and internet connected devices could be used by law enforcement to monitor our homes without a warrant, a legal expert has warned.

Gadgets ranging from fitness trackers to baby monitors are leading to what he has been dubbed the era of 'sensorveillance'.

If nothing is done, we may have to get used to the idea of our privacy being invaded without warning - and nearly constant surveillance of our behaviour.

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Smarthomes and internet connected devices could be used by law enforcement to monitor our homes, a legal expert has warned. Gadgets ranging from fitness trackers to baby monitors are leading to what he has been dubbed the era of 'sensorveillance'

FITBIT EVIDENCE In a case currently before courts in the US, Richard Dabate's timeframe of the killing of his wife was called into question after her Fitbit revealed she was still moving after he claimed she was dead. Connecticut State Police allege Mr Dabate killed 39-year-old Connie Dabate at their home two days before Christmas in 2015, while their two young sons were in school. Mr Dabate claimed a man who sounded like Vin Diesel had broke into his house, tied him up and shot dead his wife Connie, before he burned the intruder with a torch. The records on Mrs Dabate's FitBit showed she had been moving more than an hour after Mr Dabate claimed she had been murdered. Advertisement

Andrew Ferguson, a University of the District of Columbia law professor, says a case currently before the US Supreme Court could be key in determining how exposed smart-device data is to searches by law enforcement there.

Timothy Carpenter was convicted of a robbery in Detroit on the basis of location data sent out automatically by his smartphone, without police applying for a warrant to obtain these records.

Professor Ferguson is concerned that a ruling on the Carpenter case could authorise authorities to pressure firm's into supplying data stored on their servers from smart devices without oversight from a judge.

With the rapid spread of the Internet of Things - devices or sensors that connect, communicate or transmit information over the web - this is sure to become a privacy issue across the globe.

Business research company Gartner estimates 8.4 billion devices were connected to the internet in 2017, according to reports in the Washington Post.

That is a 31 per cent increase over the previous year and, by 2020, the company believes there will be around three smart devices for every person on the planet.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Professor Ferguson said: 'Americans are just waking up to the fact that their smart devices are going to snitch on them.

'And that they are going to reveal intimate details about their lives they did not intend law enforcement to have.

Andrew Ferguson, a University of the District of Columbia law professor, is concerned about police having access to our personal devices without needing a warrant. In one murder trail currently before US courts, data from a Fitbit has been used to establish a timeline of events

'In a world of truly ubiquitous connectivity where we are recording our heartbeat, our steps, our location, if all of that data is now available to law enforcement without a warrant, that is a big change.

'And thats a big invasion of what most of us think our privacy should include.'

In another case currently before courts in the US, Richard Dabate's timeframe of the killing of his wife was called into question after her Fitbit revealed she was still moving after he claimed she was dead.

Connecticut State Police allege Mr Dabate killed 39-year-old Connie Dabate at their home two days before Christmas in 2015, while their two young sons were in school.

Mr Dabate claimed a man who sounded like Vin Diesel had broke into his house, tied him up and shot dead his wife Connie, before he burned the intruder with a torch.

The records on Mrs Dabate's FitBit showed she had been moving more than an hour after Mr Dabate claimed she had been murdered.
Finding Nemo is getting harder as climate change makes the fish infertile, according to new research.

The homes of the clownfish that inspired the hit movie are being destroyed by warming seas in the South Pacific.

It's stressing the colourful creatures out and reducing their sex drive, decimating numbers of offspring by three quarters, warn scientists.

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The homes of the clownfish that inspired the hit movie are being destroyed by warming seas in the South Pacific. It's stressing the colourful creatures out and reducing their sex drive, decimating numbers of offspring by three quarters, warn scientists

THE STUDY Every other day for 14 months, from October 2015 to December 2016, researchers visited 13 pairs of clownfish and their host anemones off the coast of Moorea Island in French Polynesia. This happened before, during, and after the El Nino event that in 2016 warmed Moorea Island by 2C. Half of the anemones bleached as they lost their microalgae. Among the clownfish living there the number of viable eggs fell by a drastic 73 per cent. These fish were laying eggs less frequently and they were also laying fewer and less viable eggs - unlike those housed by unbleached anemones where there was no change. Blood samples taken from 52 pairs of clownfish, including the 13 original individuals showed a sharp increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol and a significant drop in male and female sex hormones - the equivalents of testosterone and oestrogen. Advertisement

A study off the coast of Moorea Island in French Polynesia found they laid far fewer eggs after its host anemones became bleached last year.

Clownfish, also known as anemonefish, use the soft bodied animals that attach themselves to coral reefs to shelter in for protection against predators.

Bleaching is a well-known problem in corals, but it can also happen to sea anemones during heat waves.

Professor Suzanne Mills, of EPHE PSL Research University, Moorea, said: 'While no effects on adult anemone survival were observed, the effects of bleaching on reproduction and population demography were likely even greater than demonstrated here.'

She said the finding is alarming with manmade stressors and the rate of change in environmental conditions expected to multiply in the coming decades, 'with bleaching and habitat degradation becoming more frequent.'

Professor Mills added: 'Understanding whether individuals and populations can adjust their physiology and behaviour fast enough, either plastically or through evolutionary change, is a priority in conservation physiology.'

The golden colour of the anemones is due to the microalgae present in their tentacles.

But warming causes the microalgae living in harmony with the corals to be ejected, which causes them to bleach.

Clownfish protect themselves from predators by sheltering among the anemones' tentacles, and each month lay eggs at their base.

Thankfully, clownfish - such as Nemo from the Pixar blockbuster, Finding Nemo, have a fairly long life, meaning researchers can monitor individuals over long periods of time

Clownfish protect themselves from predators by sheltering among the anemones' tentacles, and each month lay eggs at their base. Equally, the anemones are also protected by the clownfish that they host

OTHER SPECIES AFFECTED The clownfish are not an isolated case with 12 per cent of the coastal fish in French Polynesia dependent on anemones or corals to feed or to find protection from predators. In cases of prolonged bleaching, like that of the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, the renewal of all of these populations could be affected, and with them the stability of the ecosystems. Professor Mills said at least 51 species of fish rely on sea anemones worldwide. She said: 'We predict other species and taxa associated with sea anemones and corals will respond similarly to bleaching events, translating into significant losses in reproductive output.' Advertisement

Equally, the anemones are also protected by the clownfish that they host.

Every other day for 14 months, from October 2015 to December 2016, researchers and students visited 13 pairs of clownfish and their host anemones in the coral reefs of the volcanic island famed for its sandy beaches.

This happened before, during, and after the El Nino event that in 2016 warmed Moorea Island by 2C.

Half of the anemones bleached as they lost their microalgae.

Among the clownfish living there the number of viable eggs fell by a drastic 73 per cent.

These fish were laying eggs less frequently and they were also laying fewer and less viable eggs - unlike those housed by unbleached anemones where there was no change.

Blood samples taken from 52 pairs of clownfish, including the 13 original individuals showed a sharp increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol and a significant drop in male and female sex hormones - the equivalents of testosterone and oestrogen.

Blood samples taken from 52 pairs of clownfish, including the 13 original individuals showed a sharp increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol and a significant drop in male and female sex hormones - the equivalents of testosterone and oestrogen

The researchers said: 'The bleaching of the anemones due to increased sea surface temperatures is thus a stressor that reduces the levels of sex hormones and thus the fertility of the fish.

'These links have been found for the first time in the natural environment in which the fish live.'

The health of the anemones and the fish improved between three and four months after the end of the warming event, long after the temperatures had returned to normal.

This map shows the distribution of the seven unbleached (blue points) and six bleached (red points) anemone locations with breeding in the study

But the team fear this would not have been the case had the warming episode been more intense, or longer.

And, faced with a new warming episode, they also wonder if the clownfish that have already suffered this initial stress will be better acclimatised, or on the contrary more fragile.

The study published in Nature Communications is one of the first to attribute hormonal stress responses to climate change in the wild.

Prof Mills said: 'Here, we report hormonal responses of individual wild fish to a recent large-scale sea warming event that caused widespread bleaching on coral reefs.

'This 14 month monitoring study shows a strong correlation between anemone bleaching, stress response, and reproductive hormones that decreased fecundity by 73 per cent.

'These findings suggest hormone stress responses play a crucial role in changes to population demography following climate change and plasticity in hormonal responsiveness may be a key mechanism enabling individual acclimation to climate change.'

CLOWNFISH FATHERS HAVE STRONG NURTURING INSTINCTS BECAUSE OF A 'LOVE HORMONE' One area where Finding Nemo had things right is the great lengths clownfish dads go to to support their offspring, just like Marlin. Their parenting instincts are so strong that even if you place clownfish eggs from an unrelated nest near a bachelor anemonefish, he will take care of them. Researchers previously found the love hormone behind this fathering behaviour. And it's very similar to oxytocin, the hormone that facilitates bonding between human mothers and their babies after childbirth. Scientists, based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, decided to study the brain chemistry behind this parental care. So they took individual anemonefish that were fathering and gave them an injection of antagonists. They then analysed how these drugs might either promote or inhibit male parental care. They found that anemonefish rely on isotocin, a signalling molecule that is almost identical to oxytocin. When the researchers blocked this hormone, they found that the anemonefish fathers stopped tending to their eggs. Advertisement

The researchers have decided to continue to monitor each individual during the next El Nino episode - made possible due to the fact clownfish have a fairly long life expectancy and are sedentary, moving very little from their host anemone.

The complex and natural weather event is marked by an upwelling of warm water in the Pacific.

The 'Super El Nino' of 2016 is said to have had a role in driving global temperatures to record highs.

A study off the coast of Moorea Island in French Polynesia found they laid far fewer eggs after its host anemones became bleached last year

The clownfish are not an isolated case with 12 per cent of the coastal fish in French Polynesia dependent on anemones or corals to feed or to find protection from predators.

In cases of prolonged bleaching, like that of the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, the renewal of all of these populations could be affected, and with them the stability of the ecosystems.

Professor Mills said at least 51 species of fish rely on sea anemones worldwide.

She said: 'We predict other species and taxa associated with sea anemones and corals will respond similarly to bleaching events, translating into significant losses in reproductive output.'
With an estimated 42 per cent of marriages ending in divorce, rates of separation around the world are higher than ever.

And a new study suggests that divorce risks increase with children's ages, with parents of teenage daughters at greatest risk.

In an article for The Conversation, Dr Jan Kabatek and Dr David Ribar, Research Fellows at the University of Melbourne, explain why this is the case.

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A new study suggests that divorce risks increase with children's ages, with parents of teenage daughters at greatest risk (stock image)

DAUGHTERS AND DIVORCE The researchers examined registry data from The Netherlands which showed dates of weddings, births, and divorces. They found that up until the age of 12, there are no differences between the divorce risks faced by parents of boys and girls. However, between the ages 13 and 18, parents of first-born girls divorce more than parents of first-born boys. The odds of divorce within this period are 10.7 per cent for parents of boys, and 11.3 per cent for parents of girls. In relative terms, this means that parents with teenage daughters face five per cent higher risks of divorce than parents with teenage sons. The effect peaks at age 15, when the risk faced by parents with daughters is almost 10 per cent higher than the risk faced by parents with sons. In the following years, the differences narrow again, and they disappear once the child turns 19. A similar pattern is also found among second-born and subsequent children. Advertisement

Sullen exchanges and broken curfews are part of life for parents of teenagers, but could this period also be a stress-test for parents' marriages?

Our new data analysis finds parents with daughters are slightly more likely to separate than those with sons, but only during the teenage years.

And it's the strained relationship between parents and their daughters that might bring a couple to the breaking point.

Our working paper studied more than two million marriages in the Netherlands over ten years and shows that divorce risks increase with children's ages until they reach adulthood  with parents of teenage daughters at greater risk.

However, this risk disappears in cases where the fathers themselves grew up with a sister.

Evidence on daughters and divorce

Previous research examined the link between marital strains and children's gender, but it's always been a challenging area.

Several studies in the US have found that parents with first-born girls are slightly more likely to divorce than parents with first-born boys.

However, other US studies have challenged this finding, and until now, there was no evidence from other developed countries showing that daughters strained marriages.

Our research examined registry data from The Netherlands. Compared with datasets used in most previous studies, Dutch records are very comprehensive.

They allow us to look at exact dates of weddings, births, and divorces, and delve deeper than previous studies, which relied on self-reports and people's recollections.

More importantly, the data allow us to examine the gender of couples' children, and just how long after their birth the couples separated.

We found that up until the age of 12, there are no differences between the divorce risks faced by parents of boys and girls.

The researchers found that up until the age of 12, there are no differences between the divorce risks faced by parents of boys and girls. However, between the ages 13 and 18, parents of first-born girls divorce more than parents of first-born boys (stock image)

However, between the ages 13 and 18, parents of first-born girls divorce more than parents of first-born boys.

The odds of divorce within this period are 10.7 per cent for parents of boys, and 11.3 per cent for parents of girls.

In relative terms, this means that parents with teenage daughters face five per cent higher risks of divorce than parents with teenage sons.

ATTITUDES TO GENDER Social scientists suggest there are several reasons why daughters might raise divorce risks. One well-established theory says that some parents have cultural or social preferences for sons. Another theory assumes that boys are more vulnerable and their need of a male role model makes fathers more committed to the marriage. There is also a sex-selection theory which postulates that mothers whose marriages are more stressful may be more likely to give birth to a baby girl. However, the researchers did not find empirical evidence in support of any of these theories. Instead, their findings suggest the higher divorce rates are explained by strains in the relationships between some parents and their teenage daughters, possibly stemming from differences in attitudes toward gender roles. Advertisement

The effect peaks at age 15, when the risk faced by parents with daughters is almost 10 per cent higher than the risk faced by parents with sons.

In the following years, the differences narrow again, and they disappear once the child turns 19.

A similar pattern is also found among second-born and subsequent children.

Although no causal link could be established from the Dutch data, the higher divorce rates might be explained by strained relationships between young women and their parents.

The increased odds of divorce from teenage daughters aren't unique to Dutch married couples  we find the same association for Dutch couples in de facto relationships, and for married couples in the US.

In fact, we find that both of these groups face considerably higher increases of divorce odds from teenage daughters, compared to Dutch married couples.

Attitudes to gender

Social scientists suggest there are several reasons why daughters might raise divorce risks.

One well-established theory says that some parents have cultural or social preferences for sons.

Another theory assumes that boys are more vulnerable and their need of a male role model makes fathers more committed to the marriage.

There is also a sex-selection theory which postulates that mothers whose marriages are more stressful may be more likely to give birth to a baby girl.

However, we do not find empirical evidence in support of any of these theories.

Instead, our findings suggest the higher divorce rates are explained by strains in the relationships between some parents and their teenage daughters, possibly stemming from differences in attitudes toward gender roles.

This explanation is backed by the separate analysis of a large survey of Dutch households, which asked families about their relationships and opinions regarding marriage, gender and parenting.

The researchers found that the fathers who grew up with sisters did not face any increase in divorce risks from teenage daughters  the pattern only appeared among fathers who grew up without sisters (stock image)

Parents of teenage daughters disagreed more about the way they should raise their children, and expressed more positive attitudes towards divorce.

They were also less satisfied with the quality of their family relationships.

Teenage daughters, in turn, reported worse relationships with their fathers, though not with their mothers.

Growing up with a sister

FATHERS WITH SISTERS The researchers also looked at the father's family history to investigate the link between fathers and their daughters. Specifically, they compared the divorce risks faced by fathers who grew up with sisters, and fathers who did not. Their hypothesis was that the fathers who had more experience relating to teenage girls (via their sisters) would experience fewer relationship strains with their teenage daughters. This could occur because fathers with sisters may hold more egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles, or because they have a better understanding of teenage girls and their family interactions. And in line with this reasoning, the researchers found that the fathers who grew up with sisters did not face any increase in divorce risks from teenage daughters  the pattern only appeared among fathers who grew up without sisters. Advertisement

We took our research a step further  we looked at the father's family history to investigate the link between fathers and their daughters.

Specifically, we compared the divorce risks faced by fathers who grew up with sisters, and fathers who did not.

Our hypothesis is that the fathers who had more experience relating to teenage girls (via their sisters) would experience fewer relationship strains with their teenage daughters.

This could occur because fathers with sisters may hold more egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles, or because they have a better understanding of teenage girls and their family interactions.

And in line with this reasoning, we found that the fathers who grew up with sisters did not face any increase in divorce risks from teenage daughters  the pattern only appeared among fathers who grew up without sisters.

We also looked at other family characteristics that could indicate differences between the gender-role attitudes held by parents and their daughters, such as the ages or immigration background of the couple.

Here, we found that the parents who are likely to hold more traditional attitudes toward gender roles experienced higher increases of divorce odds from teenage daughters.

Destined for divorce?

Despite their relative significance during the teenage years, the difference in the divorce risks faced by families with boys and girls remains modest over the child's lifetime.

By the time their first-born children reached age 25, 311 out of every 1,000 Dutch couples with daughters had divorced compared to 307 of every 1,000 with sons  a difference of only four divorces per 1,000 couples.

And our finding of a null effect among fathers who grew up with sisters also shows that the association between a child's gender and divorce risk is not universal.

However, our results do point to serious strains between some parents and their teenage daughters, and help us understand the factors contributing to family breakdown.

The results also suggest these risks can be reduced if the parents of teenage daughters adopt more egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles and a greater understanding of how conflicts could come up.

Struggles with teenagers will still happen, but better preparation and knowledge of the wants and needs of their teenage daughters could reduce the strain between partners.
The elusive 'missing' half of the universe's observable matter has been found by two teams of astronomers in a world first.

Scientists think the universe is made up of regular matter, dark matter and dark energy - though experts are yet to detect the latter two.

Models of space claim there should be twice as much regular matter - made up of protons, electrons and neutrons - in space as previous observations have found.

This missing matter has now finally been found, and experts say it's made of particles called baryons linking galaxies together through filaments of hot gas.

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The universe's 'missing matter' has been found, and it's made up of particles linking galaxies through filaments of gas. Pictured is a 2015 digital simulation showing the large-scale distribution of this matter, showing a network of filaments and knots called the 'cosmic web'

HOT GAS FILAMENTS Large-scale galaxy surveys have shown that the distribution of ordinary matter in the universe is not homogeneous. Instead, under the action of gravity, matter is concentrated into so-called filamentary structures, forming a network of knots and links called the 'cosmic web'. The regions experiencing the highest gravitational force collapse and form knots in the network. Research has now shown that gas filaments between some galaxies contain subatomic particles called baryons. These baryons make up half of the universe's 'missing matter', which has eluded scientists for decades. Advertisement

These filaments are made up of gas at temperatures between 100,000C (180,032 F) and 10 millionC (50 millionF).

The particles were found by two teams - one led by experts at the University of Edinburgh, and one from the Institute of Space Astrophysics in Orsay, France.

While the baryon filament theory has been suggested by scientists before, it has never been confirmed because the gas is exceptionally fine and is not hot enough for X-ray telescopes to observe.

'There's no sweet spot  no sweet instrument that we've invented yet that can directly observe this gas,' Professor Richard Ellis, an astrophysicist at University College London who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist.

'It's been purely speculation until now.'

While scientists had previously speculated the baryon gas existed, the two groups set out to definitely observe the threads of evasive particles.

Both teams took advantage of a phenomenon that occurs when light left over from the Big Bang passes through hot gas, known as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.

Some of the light scatters as it collides with the gases particles, leaving a dull patch in the cosmic microwave background.

In 2015, the European Space Agency's Planck satellite mapped much of this effect throughout the observable universe.

Because the gas filaments between galaxies are so tenuous, the dim patches they produce don't show on Planck's map directly.

When light left over from the big bang passes through hot gas, it scatters, leaving a dull patch (blue) in the cosmic microwave background. Scientists used images (pictured) of this microwave background taken by the Planck satellite in 2015 to reach their conclusion

WHAT IS A BARYON? Baryons are subatomic particles made up of three even smaller particles call quarks. As quark-based particles, baryons take part in the strong interaction between particles, whereas leptons, which are not quark based, do not. The most familiar baryons are the proton and the neutron, which make up the central body of atoms. Baryons therefore comprise most of the mass of the visible universe. Electrons - the final major component of the atom - are leptons. Advertisement

Using 3-D maps of the universe created by the Sloane Sky Digital Survey, the two teams picked out galaxies that would likely be linked by filaments.

They then combined the Planck images for the areas around each galaxy to make their baryon strands observable.

Baryons are subatomic particles made up of three even smaller particles called quarks, which are the fundamental building blocks of much of the universe's matter.

The researchers put forward that the filamentous baryon strands they observed fill in the gaps in our predictions about the universe's regular matter.

'Missing baryons' - subatomic particles made up of three quarks - were detected by the team by layering Plack readings of clusters of galaxies, such as this cluster known as Abell 2744

The Edinburgh team put together images of over a million pairs of galaxies for their study, while the French team stacked data on 260,000 pairs.

The latter, led by astrophysicist Dr Hideki Tanimura, found the gas links to be three times denser than the average for normal matter in the universe.

The Scottish team found the strands to be six times denser - confirmation they are dense enough to form filaments between galaxies.

'We expect some differences because we are looking at filaments at different distances,' Dr Tanimura told New Scientist.

'If this factor is included, our findings are very consistent with the other group.

'The missing baryon problem is solved.'
Mark Zuckerberg has live streamed a virtual reality tour of hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico.

The Facebook founder explored a number of locations using an Occulus Rift headset and Facebook's Spaces app, broadcasting the experience to his followers.

But some have questioned whether the sight of one of the world's wealthiest men in cartoon form against the backdrop of a disaster zone was entirely appropriate.

Many have branded the footage 'disaster porn', claiming he is 'exploiting disaster' by broadcasting a tone-deaf promo.

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Mark Zuckerberg has live streamed a virtual reality tour of hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico. The social networking mogul explored a number of locations using an Occulus Rift headset and Facebook's Spaces app, broadcasting the experience to his followers

SPACES LIVE Facebook users can have a taste of virtual reality without shelling out for equipment, thanks to an app launched by the firm back in July. The social media site's Spaces app lets Oculus owners live stream, opening a window into their digital world. Facebook Live's new feature, aimed at users of the company's Oculus Rift, allows your friends on the site to comment on your broadcast and ask you questions. You can even see their reactions in the VR world. Users see a stream of comments, which they and anyone else in the same Spaces session can interact with as physical objects. Facebook also decided to drop the price of the Oculus Rift and Touch to 399 ($399) over the summer, to encourage consumers to try them out. Advertisement

Zuckerberg appeared in the stream alongside Facebook's head of social virtual reality, Rachel Franklin.

The pairs' avatars transported between various locations during the broadcast, including the moon and Zuckerberg's living room.

Scenes of destruction in the US island territory were taken from a 360-degree video from NPR, which documents the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Speaking in the footage, a smiling Zuckerberg said: 'One of the things that's really magical about VR is you can get the feeling you're really in a place.

'Rachel and I aren't even in the same building in the physical world, but it feels like we're in the same place and can make eye contact.

'It feels like we're really here in Puerto Rico.'

The pair shared a 'high five', before discussing Facebook's efforts to help with disaster relief.

This includes a 1.1 million ($1.5 million) donation and sharing data with the Red Cross to build 'population maps'.

It is hoped this will aid relief organisations in targeting their efforts where they are needed most.

A number of users took to social media to speak out about the broadcast, branding Zuckerberg a 'heartless billionaire' and labelling the footage 'disaster porn'.

Some have questioned whether the sight of one of the world's wealthiest men in cartoon form against the backdrop of a disaster zone was entirely appropriate. Zuckerberg (L) appeared in the stream alongside Facebook's head of social virtual reality, Rachel Franklin (R)

The pair shared a 'high five', before discussing Facebook's efforts to help with disaster relief. This includes a 1.1 million ($1.5 million) donation and sharing data with the Red Cross to build 'population maps'

Rosaida Castr commented below the video on Zuckerberg's Facebook page and said: 'Is this a joke? The Puerto Ricans are suffering and you are using our tragedy for this?? Heartless billionaire.'

The reception on Twitter was equally frosty.

User Carl Franzen said: 'Zuck showing off seriously weird VR hurricane disaster tourism on FB right now.'

Alex Jenkins tweeted: 'Oof. The Facebook promotional event exploiting Puerto Rico as VR disaster porn is...not a good look. Adult leadership needed stat'

Rafael Balbi added: 'Just watched the Zuckerberg video in Puerto Rico. This type of dude-bro passer by touristic voyeurism is disgusting'

Rafael Balbi added: 'Just watched the Zuckerberg video in Puerto Rico. This type of dude-bro passer by touristic voyeurism is disgusting.'

And Alex Jenkins tweeted: 'Oof. The Facebook promotional event exploiting Puerto Rico as VR disaster porn is...not a good look. Adult leadership needed stat.'

Facebook released Spaces in April after launching the platform at last year's Oculus Connect conference.

Today's broadcast comes just days before the fourth Oculus Connect, which starts on Wednesday in San Jose, California

Today's broadcast comes just days before the fourth Oculus Connect, which starts on Wednesday in San Jose, California.

It suggests Facebook may be unveiling new plans for Spaces during a keynote speech by Zuckerberg, scheduled for 10am PT (1pm ET / 6pm BST) that day.
WASHINGTON  More than one in four of the estimated 154,200 immigrants who stand to lose their DACA protection in the next five months did not meet last Thursdays deadline to apply for a renewal, according to numbers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Oct. 5 deadline was set last month when the Trump administration announced plans for an orderly wind down of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which defers deportation for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Despite weekly DACA drives and other outreach efforts to try to get eligible recipients to apply for renewal, it still may not have been enough, said one Arizona organizer.

I honestly dont believe that we were able to reach as many as we would have liked to reach, said Ayensa Millan, attorney and founder of CIMA Law Group in Phoenix, which participated in the DACA drives. That was despite drives around the Valley that helped at least a couple thousand people with forms and information, she said.

An estimated 25,500 Arizona residents were eligible for DACA, according to a report by CIS, but the number who available for renewal by Thursdays deadline was not immediately available.

The roughly 42,200 who did not meet the renewal deadline join more than 600,000 other DACA recipients who will see their coverage expire beginning March 5, unless Congress intervenes.

The DACA program was enacted through executive order by President Barack Obama in 2012, after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Since then, the program has grown to protect roughly 800,000 immigrants from deportation for two-year, renewable periods, during which time they also receive work authorizations.

The Trump administration said on Sept. 5 that it was revoking the program, calling it an example of executive overreach. But it said it would not begin revoking individual coverage until March 5, to give Congress time to come up with an alternative.

Under the administration plan, no new DACA applications are being accepted. But anyone whose coverage was set to expire before March 5 was given until Oct. 5 to apply for renewal, which would be good for another two years.

When asked at a Senate hearing Tuesday why the deadline to reapply had been set just one month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of DACA, a Homeland Security official said the department considered a month adequate to get the job done of taking in applications which we did not already have.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Michael Dougherty said that not doing anything ran the risk of a lawsuit by DACA opponents that could have led a court to order an immediate end to the program, and thats why we stepped it down the way that we did.

He told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that DHS will not make exceptions for people who miss the deadline, but that it will make exceptions for those in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Maria on a case-by-case basis.

DHS said that CIS had about 58,000 renewal applications pending on Sept. 5 and had received another 54,000 by Wednesday.

Thursdays deadline was also met with a lawsuit from CASA, an immigration rights group, that claimed the decision to end DACA was motivated by unconstitutional racial animus and that it violated the privacy of recipients who provided personal information to the government.

Despite repeated assurances that their information would not be shared with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the administration is now backing away from those assurances, creating widespread fear in the DREAMer community, CASA said in a statement Thursday.

Since the administrations Sept. 5 announcement, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have proposed legislation to protect the 800,000 immigrants protected by DACA. While most seem to agree with the idea of giving some type of temporary legal status to DACA recipients, they differ on the details and on whether a DACA-replacement bill should include other elements, like tougher border security.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, is a co-sponsor of the Dream Act, which would extend most DACA protections with the added benefit of giving some recipients a path toward citizenship. But he also introduced his own bill Thursday, the Border Security and Deferred Action Recipient Relief Act, that would give current DACA recipients conditional residence for up to 10 years with the chance to apply for a green card if they met certain criteria during that time.

But he also included provisions to appeal to conservatives, adding funding for increased border security and interior enforcement, and subjecting members of gangs or cartels to deportation.

He called his bill the best chance of actually protecting the DREAMers and providing additional border security,

This is a legislative body where you compromise, Flake said in a Thursday conference call, where he called border spending something that Democrats could live with.

They may not lead with that  but Ive had discussions already with some of my Democratic colleagues who Ive worked with on immigration before and I do think that they can go for that, he said.
An asteroid estimated to be up to 100 feet wide is set for a close shave with Earth this week, when it will soar past at a distance of just 27,000 miles above the surface  or, as some scientists have put it, 'damn close.'

The space rock, dubbed asteroid 2012 TC4, is about 30-100 feet (10-30 metres) in size, and will fly by at just one-eighth of the distance between Earth and the moon on October 12.

It first flitted past our planet in October 2012 at about double the distance of its next expected pass, before disappearing.

But, after tracking it down last month, scientists now assure it will make a safe pass.

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An asteroid estimated to be up to 100 feet wide is set for a close shave with Earth this week, when it will soar past at a distance of just 27,000 miles above the surface  or, as some scientists have put it, 'damn close'

NASA'S PLANETARY DEFENSE SYSTEM Nasa hopes to use its international network of observatories to recover, track and characterise asteroid 2012 TC4. As it starts to approach Earth in the coming months, large telescopes will be used to detect it and establish the asteroid's precise trajectory. The new observations are expected to help refine knowledge about its orbit, narrowing the uncertainty about how far it will be from Earth at its closest approach in October. Advertisement

2012 TC4 will come closest to Earth around 6:42am BST (1:42am ET) on October.

With this close approach, Nasa will have the opportunity to test its network of observatories for its planetary defense system, in the event an asteroid did actually hit Earth.

'Scientists have always appreciated knowing when an asteroid will make a close approach to and safely pass the Earth because they can make preparations to collect data to characterise and learn as much as possible about it,' said Dr Michael Kelley, a scientist working on the Nasa TC4 observation campaign.

'This time we are adding in another layer of effort, using this asteroid flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid threat.'

ESA scientists tracked the house-sized space rock using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile this summer.

They expected the asteroid to return for a near-Earth rendezvous this year, but did not know just how close it would come.

The latest observations, made on July 27, 31, and then again on August 5, revealed 2012 TC4 will pass within one eighth of the moon's distance from the planet.

The asteroid, dubbed 2012 TC4, first flitted past our planet in October 2012 at about double the distance of its next expected pass, before disappearing. In this tweet, the ESA announced they calculate it passing at a distance of around 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles)

ASTEROID 2012 TC4 The asteroid was first discovered in 2012, when it sped past Earth, but it has been too distant and faint to see over the last five years. It is is estimated to be between 10 and 30 meters in size, or nearly the size of a Boeing-737. On October 12, the asteroid is set to make a 'close' flyby of Earth. It could pass just 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) from Earth for the first time since it went out of range in 2012, Nasa says. Based on predictions made at the agency's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies in Pasadena, California, it could also - and more likely will - pass much farther away, as far as 170,000 miles (270,000 kilometers). According to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the asteroid's next 'close-approach' to Earth will take place on December 29, 2019 - although at a much further distance of more than 21 million miles (34 million kilometers). Advertisement

They believe it will shave past Earth at a distance of around 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles).

That is far enough out to just miss our geostationary satellites, according to their calculations.

'It's damn close,' said Rolf Densing, who heads the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

'The farthest satellites are 36,000 kilometres (22,400 miles) out, so this is indeed a close miss,' he said.

'As close as it is right now, I think this prediction is pretty safe, meaning that it will miss.'

The asteroid was still very far from Earth, about 35 million miles (56 million km) at the time of the observations.

It is travelling at speeds of around 30,000 mph (14 km per second).

Although still certain that it will not hit the planet, Nasa scientists previously calculated that 2012 TC4 could pass as close as 4,200 miles (6,800 km).

If the asteroid did hit Earth, it could lead to a much more devastating level of impact than the 18 metre (59 foot) asteroid that hit the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013.

This animation depicts the flyby of asteroid 2012 TC4 as it passes under Earth on Oct. 12, 2017. While scientists can't yet predict exactly how close it will approach, they know for certain it will come no closer than 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) from Earth. Credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech

The asteroid the size of a house set to narrowly skim the Earth in October was spotted by scientists this summer for the first time in five years. ESA has tracked down the giant hunk of rock (circled) which is about 15 to 30 metres (49 to 98 feet) long

That particular blast injured about 1,500 people, and damaged over 7,000 buildings, and experts now say 2012 TC4 is 'something to keep an eye on.'

But Detleft Koschny, of the European Space Agency, said: 'We know for sure there is no possibility for this object to hit the earth.'

According to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the asteroid's next 'close-approach' to Earth will take place on December 29, 2019 - although at a much further distance of more than 21 million miles (34 million km).

According to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , the asteroid's next 'close-approach' to Earth will take place on December 29, 2019 - although at a much further distance of more than 21 million miles (34 million km)

If it were to make impact with Earth's atmosphere, scientists predict the space rock would burn up before hitting the surface.

'It is something to keep an eye on,' Dr Judit Gyorgyey-Ries, an astronomer at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory, told Astrowatch. 'We could see an airburst maybe broken windows, depending on where it hits.'

Researchers however, are still uncertain of the asteroid's composition, which makes it difficult to predict what the effects of an impact on Earth would be.

A spokesperson for Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory told the DailyMail.com: '2012 TC4 was observed only briefly when it was discovered before it was too faint to see.

THE CHELYABINSK IMPACT A meteor that blazed across southern Urals in February 2013 was the largest recorded meteor strike in more than a century. More than 1,500 people were injured by the shock wave from the explosion, estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs, as it landed near the city of Chelyabinsk. The Chelyabinsk space rock smashed windows and damaged buildings for 58 miles around in 2013 when it exploded over Russia Officials can be seen standing next to a 20-foot (six-meter) hole in the ice of a frozen lake, thought to be the site of a meteor fall resulting from the space rock The fireball measuring 18 meters across, screamed into Earth's atmosphere at 41,600 mph. Much of the meteor landed in a local lake called Chebarkul. Scientists have uncovered more than 12 pieces from Lake Chebarkul since the incident. However, only five of them turned out being real meteorites. Advertisement

'The ongoing observation campaign and the data we collect during this flyby will provide more direct information on mineralogical composition, structure, size.

'Physical properties of an asteroid (composition, structure, size) and its velocity relative to the Earth will influence the effects on an impact.

'That is one of the reasons we perform follow-up observations  to determine those physical properties.'

Nasa hopes to use its international network of observatories to recover, track and characterize 2012 TC4.

'This is the perfect target for such an exercise because while we know the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be absolutely certain it will not impact Earth, we haven't established its exact path just yet,' said Paul Chodas, a manager working on the project.

'It will be incumbent upon the observatories to get a fix on the asteroid as it approaches, and work together to obtain follow-up observations than make more refined asteroid orbit determinations possible.'




PornHub users may be looking over their shoulders for another reason, after news emerged that cybercriminals have been targeting the website.

Millions of visitors to the site may have been exposed to the Kotver malware, which generates revenue by clicking on ads in the background, with users left oblivious.

Know as a 'malvertising' attack, it could have easily delivered more malicious ransomware or information gathering software instead.

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Millions of visitors to the adult site PornHub may have been exposed to the Kotver malware, which generates revenue by clicking on ads in the background with users left oblivious (stock image)

THE KOTVER VIRUS Kovter is a Trojan horse that is used to perform click-fraud operations on the computers it infects. This is in order to generate revenue for its creators. The threat is also memory resident, which means the original file it infected can be deleted and it can still reinfect a system, once run. It uses a device's registry, a database that stores low-level settings, as a persistence mechanism to ensure it is loaded into memory each time the infected computer starts up. Advertisement

Computer security experts from Sunnyvale-based Proofpoint first raised the alarm about the hack attack.

Countries most heavily hit over the more than year-long campaign include the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

Users install what they believe is an update to popular browser related software like Chrome, Firefox and Adobe's Flash player.

Instead, their systems are infected by the virus.

Following notification from Proofpoint, PornHub and the Traffic Junky advertising network worked to remove the infected content and keep visitors safe.

Kevin Epstein, vice president of threat operations at Proofpoint: 'This campaign uses clever social engineering to trick users into installing fake updates that appear as soon as they visited a page containing a malicious ad.

'Once users clicked on what they thought was an update file, they may not have even noticed a change in their systems as the malware opened an invisible web browser process, clicked on ads, and generated potential revenue for cybercriminals.

'We encourage consumers to run anti-malware security solutions to ensure systems are clear and organisations to update web gateways to detect related traffic.'

In a written statement to MailOnline Corey Price, Pornhub vice president, added: 'Pornhubs commitment to providing their viewers with an optimal online experience has made security a top priority, allowing us to respond quickly to cybercrime and safeguard our customers.

'Over the course of the past year, weve taken several measures to further ensure the safety of our users.

'We announced a bug bounty program through HackerOne to reward researchers that find security bugs on our platform with bounties as high as $25,000 (19.000).

Users install what they believe is an update to popular browser related software like Chrome, Firefox and Adobe's Flash player. Instead, their systems are infected by the Kovter virus

'This program has been extremely successful thus far, providing some of our savvy fans with a chance to earn some extra cash.

'More importantly, it ensures the safety of our 80 million daily visitors.

'Additionally, we went all-in on encryption and switched to HTTPS by default across the entirety of our site to help ensure our users privacy and offer heightened security against hackers and malware.'

This is not the first time that visitors to porn sites have been warned about the potential dangers of their online activities.

In September, researchers discovered that watching mobile porn on your smartphone puts you at much higher risk of having your data leaked than watching it on your PC.

Experts from Wandera, a London-based mobile phone consultancy, looked at the websites that are most likely to contain malware, and found that the adult apps were also the most likely to have malicious bugs.

The Kovter virus is memory resident, which means the original file it infected (pictured) can be deleted and it can still reinfect a system once it has been run

They examined content viewed on 10,000 mobile devices across the US and UK.

They discovered that 34 out of every 10,000 devices are accessing inappropriate content on a daily basis.

A further analysis of the results showed that inappropriate mobile activity was highest on Fridays, followed by Thursdays, while Monday was the least popular day for inappropriate mobile activity.

In terms of time of day, inappropriate usage was found to increase from 8pm, peaking at around 2-3am, and remaining low throughout the working day.

Gambling, cam, adult and ad networks were found to be by far the biggest risks for mobile users.
It made it all the way to Mars before cutting out just before Christmas Day in 2003.

Now, 14 years after its demise, scientists believe they have finally pinpointed the final resting place of the Beagle 2 Mars lander.

Not only did the lander make it, but it successfully deployed at least three of its solar panels before communication cut out - getting 'excruciatingly close' to succeeding.

It landed in the predicted spot in the Isidis region of Mars and the main part of the entry, descent and landing sequence all went as planned.

Experts believe it may have been slightly damaged during landing which led to its downfall.

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Pictured are high-resolution images of the Beagle 2 landing site at 90.43E, 11.53 N, within about 12 miles (20km) of the original target. Not only did the lander make it, but it successfully deployed at least three of its solar panels before communication cut out

BEAGLE 2 LANDER Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. It was conceived by a group of British academics headed by Professor Colin Pillinger at the Open University, in collaboration with the University of Leicester. The probe's purpose was to search for signs of life on Mars, past or present. A landing site on the red planet in Isidis Panitia - a basin - was chosen. The Beagle 2 craft successfully deployed from its Mars Express 'mother ship'. Confirmation should have come on Christmas Day 2003 but in the following days the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank failed to pick up a signal. Attempts were made throughout January and February 2004 to contact the probe via Mars Express, but failed. Advertisement

Beagle 2 was launched in 2003 as part of Esa's Mars Express mission.

While the Mars Express orbiter made it into orbit around the red planet, the little lander was presumed lost after failing to relay a signal  just like the recent ExoMars mission in which the Schiaparelli lander was lost.

In 2014, satellite pictures found signs of the European Space Agency's Beagle 2 lander on the planet's surface, reviving hopes that it was not destroyed during the mission.

They identified the lander using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery which allows imagery of 30cm (12 inches) per pixel across the target region.

Following the initial identification, a total of 15 HiRISE images, including IR and red and blue-green colours have now been obtained over the area of interest.

The 1.5 metre-wide (5-feet), multilobed shape was identified close to the centre of the planned landing spot.

'The results of our 10 year imaging campaign using the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera to identify the Beagle 2 lander are being published this week', lead researcher Professor John Bridges from the University of Leicester wrote for The Conversation.

'Even with the pixel size of 0.3 m [one foot] on the Martian surface that HiRISE gives us, finding a small lander was always going to be difficult', he said.

Researchers had to find the lander on 1400km2 (870 miles2) of Mars.

Location of the proposed Beagle 2 lander. (a) Map showing the Beagle 2 landing site and identified location (b) within Isidis Planitia, (c) HiRISE 0.25 m per pixel image. A total of 15 HiRISE images, including IR and red and blue-green colours have now been obtained

Beagle 2 model showing solar panels 14. It landed in the predicted spot in the Isidis region of Mars and the main part of the entry, descent and landing sequence all went as planned

'We ultimately found Beagle 2 20km from the predicted target in Isidis Planitia, which is a vast, 4 billion year old basin with signs of an ancient habitable environment', Dr Bridges wrote.

'The red, oxidised Martian surface at Isidis reflects light in a diffuse way but here was a strikingly bright object showing specular reflections  just the way light would be expected to reflect off the metallic and solar panel surfaces of a man-made object like Beagle 2', he said.

Careful examination of the images showed a flat-lying, multi-lobed structure.

Researchers believe it may have been damaged during landing which would have meant communication between the lander and MEX was not possible.

Beagle 2 entry, descent and landing sequence. Spin and up and eject (from Mars Express) to entry took 6 days. It took eight minutes to get from atmospheric entry to impact and airbag separation. Local time at landing was approximately midday

Beagle 2 lander in the Airbus, Stevenage, UK construction facility prior to integration with Mars Express

'This implies that the main part of the entry, descent and landing sequence, the ejection from MEX, atmospheric entry and parachute deployment, and landing worked as planned with perhaps only the final full panel deployment failing', researchers wrote in the paper published in Royal Society Open Science.

The researchers believe that one of the panels failing to open properly could have been enough to interfere with the radio antenna being able to send back a signal.

'We are delighted to say that we have gone way beyond the original plan to reach this exciting conclusion that Beagle 2 did not crash, but landed and probably deployed most of its panels,' said Nick Higgett of De Montfort University back in November 2016.

'Hopefully these results help to solve a long held mystery and will benefit any future missions to Mars.'

Experts believe it may have been slightly damaged during landing which led to its downfall. One of the panels failing to open properly could have been enough to interfere with the radio antenna being able to send back a signal

Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. Pictured is a replica of the lander at the National Space Centre in Leicester

It landed in the Isidis region of Mars (pictured) and experts believe it may have been slightly damaged during landing which led to its downfall

Professor Mark Sims from the University of Leicester, said: 'This unique University collaboration between space scientists and digital designers allowed the reflection analysis concept to be put into practice and tested and ultimately produce these exciting results.'

Dr Bridges believes the Beagle 2 shows the fine and indistinct line between success and failure in Mars exploration.

'It introduced a new generation to the possibilities of space exploration and successfully achieved the initial stage of Entry, Descent and Landing before unsuccessful final deployment of all the solar panels', he said.

'It will remain a significant part of the UKs space science heritage for many years to come'.
Horned larks are small songbirds with white bellies and yellow chins.

But one hundred years ago, at the peak of urban smoke pollution in the US, their pale feathers were stained dark gray by the soot in the atmosphere.

A new study has shown that the discolored feathers of these old bird specimens can be used to trace the amount of black carbon in the air over time, along with the effects policy has had on pollution.

Researchers found that the air in the early 1900s was even more polluted than thought, and old birds were dirtier, while new birds were cleaner.

Ten Horned Larks at The Field Museum. The five specimens on the left were collected in Illinois, inside the US Rust Belt. The five specimens on the right were collected along the western coast of North America. All 10 specimens were collected between 1903 and 1922

HOW THEY DID IT A new study has shown that the discolored feathers of old bird specimens can be used to trace the amount of black carbon in the air over time and what effects policy has had on pollution. Researchers based at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and The University of Chicago analyzed over a thousand birds collected over the last 135 years to determine and quantify the effects of soot in the air over cities in the Rust Belt, a regions from the Great Lakes to the upper Midwestern States, including states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. To measure the changes in the sootiness over the years, the researchers used a new method: they photographed the birds and measured the light reflected off of them. The birds photographed were all from five species that breed in the Rust Belt and have many white feathers, easily showing soot. They plotted the amount of light bouncing off the bird's feathers according to the year the birds were collected. Then, to understand their findings, the researchers studied the social history of urban air pollution. They found that during the Great Depression, there was a sharp drop in black carbon on the birds because coal consumption dropped. Then, the amount of soot on the birds rebounded around World War II, when wartime manufacturing drove up coal use, and dropped quickly after the war, when people in the Rust Belt began heating their homes with natural gas piped in from the West rather than with coal. Advertisement

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved analyzing the feathers of bird specimens at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

'The soot on these birds' feathers allowed us to trace the amount of black carbon in the air over time, and we found that the air at the turn of the century was even more polluted than scientists previously thought,' says Shane DuBay, a graduate student at The Field Museum and the University of Chicago and one of the authors of the study.

He and co-author Carl Fuldner, also a graduate student at UChicago, analyzed over a thousand birds collected over the last 135 years to determine and quantify the effects of soot in the air over cities in the Rust Belt, a regions from the Great Lakes to the upper Midwestern States, including states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana.

'If you look at Chicago today, the skies are blue,' says DuBay.

'But when you look at pictures of Beijing and Delhi, you get a sense for what US cities like Chicago and Pittsburgh were once like.

'Using museum collections, we were able to reconstruct that history.'

Ornithologists at The Field Museum have long known that bird specimens in the collection from the early 1900s were visibly darker than expected, and soot in the atmosphere was the suspect.

'When you touch these birds, you get traces of soot on your hands,' says DuBay.

'We'd wear white gloves while handling them, and the gloves would come away stained, like when you get ink on your fingertips reading a newspaper.

'That's because the soot in the air clung to the birds' feathers like dust to a feather duster.

'These birds were acting as air filters moving through the environment.'

According to the researchers, birds were ideal candidates for the study because they molt and grow a new set of feathers every year - meaning that the soot on them had only been accumulating for the past year when they were collected.

To measure the changes in the sootiness over the years, the researchers used a new method: they photographed the birds and measured the light reflected off of them.

The birds photographed, numbering over a thousand, were all from five species that breed in the Rust Belt and have many white feathers, easily showing soot.

The photos the researchers took show the striking contrast between the gray, soot-covered birds and the clean white ones.

Carl Fuldner, a photo historian who focuses on images of the environment, worked with DuBay to develop a method for analyzing the photos.

They plotted the amount of light bouncing off the bird's feathers according to the year the birds were collected.

Old and young specimens. (A) Grasshopper Sparrows from 1907 (Upper) and 1996 (Lower) (B) Horned Larks from 1904 (Upper) and 1966 (Lower). (C) Eastern Towhees from 1906 (Upper) and 2012 (Lower). (D) Red-headed Woodpeckers from 1901 (Upper) and 1982 (Lower)

Then, to understand their findings, the researchers studied the social history of urban air pollution.

'The changes in the birds reflect efforts, first at the city level but eventually growing into a national movement, to address the smoke problem,' says Fuldner.

'We are actually able to go back and see how effective certain policy approaches were.'

'We were surprised by the precision we were able to achieve,' says DuBay.

'The soot on the birds closely tracks the use of coal over time.

Soot in the air clung to the birds' feathers like dust to a feather duster - Shane DuBay, graduate student at UChicago

'During the Great Depression, there's a sharp drop in black carbon on the birds because coal consumption droppedonce we saw that, it clicked.'

Then, the pair found that the amount of soot on the birds rebounded around World War II, when wartime manufacturing drove up coal use, and dropped quickly after the war, when people in the Rust Belt began heating their homes with natural gas piped in from the West rather than with coal.

'The fact that the more recent birds are cleaner doesn't mean we're in the clear.' DuBay said.

'While the US releases far less black carbon into the atmosphere than we used to, we continue to pump less-conspicuous pollutants into our atmosphere - those pollutants just aren't as visible as soot.

'Plus, many people around the world still experience soot-choked air in their cities.'

Horned larks are small songbirds with white bellies and yellow chins. But one hundred years ago, at the peak of urban smoke pollution in the US, their pale feathers were stained dark gray by the soot in the atmosphere. Pictured is a clean horned lark

Analyzing atmospheric black carbon may assist scientists studying climate change.

'We know black carbon is a powerful agent of climate change, and at the turn of the century, black carbon levels were worse than previously thought,' says DuBay.

'I hope that these results will help climate and atmospheric scientists better understand the effects of black carbon on climate.'

Both DuBay and Fuldner said that being able to apply their research beyond their respective fields of evolutionary biology and photographic history was unexpected and rewarding.

Scanning Electron Microscope micrographs, taken at different magnifications, from Field Sparrows. AD are from a soiled 1906 specimen, EH are from a clean 1996 bird

'As a historian, one of the questions I always ask is, "What is the point of this research to the way we live now?" In this case the answer quickly became clear,' says Fuldner.

'Filling in a blank space in the historical record of something as large as air pollution in American cities, and being able to share that with atmospheric scientists who study the effects of black carbon on the climate, is extraordinary.'

'This study shows a tipping point when we moved away from burning dirty coal, and today, we're at a similar pivotal moment with fossil fuels,' says DuBay.

'In the middle of the 20th century, we made an investment in infrastructure and regulated fuel sourceshopefully, we can take that lesson and make a similar transition now to more sustainable, renewable energy sources that are more efficient and less harmful to our environment.'

DuBay said that in addition to the environmental implications of the project, their work also shows the importance of museum collections like those they used from The Field Museum in Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology in Ann Arbor.

'I hope this study exposes collections as a valuable resource to address present day environmental concerns,' says DuBay.

'This paper shows the ways that natural history collections can be used, underlining the value in collections and in continuing to build collections, to help us improve our understanding of human impacts on the natural world.'
Two of Earth's five mass extinction events - times when more than half of the world's species died - resulted in the survival of a low number of 'weedy species', new research has found.

These so-called weedy species spread around the world as Earth recovered from these dramatic mass extinctions, which involved suspected volcanic eruptions.

Researchers say their findings are significant because they could shed light on modern high extinction rates and how biological communities may change in the future.

The mass extinction at the end of the Permian (252 million years ago) was the largest in Earth's history. Following this, one of the most common animals at the time was Lystrosaurus, an early relative of mammals whose fossils are known from Russia, China, India, Africa and Antarctica

The study, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, involved examining fossil records of almost 900 vertebrate species dating back between 260 and 175 million years ago - from the late Permian through the Triassic and early Jurassic periods.

During this time, two mass extinctions events occurred, and Dr David Button, the lead author of the study, said that similar patterns arising after two mass extinctions implies that other extinction events may have the same results - including the current biodiversity loss that is being seen today.

'Mass extinctions not only reduced animal diversity, but also affected the distribution of animals and ecosystems, or biogeography,' Dr Button said.

'As species are removed by extinction, their ecological niches are left vacant. Following the extinction event, these niches are occupied by surviving and newly evolving "weedy" species.

'These few generalists spread out and dominated for a time, leading to a low-diversity global "disaster fauna."'

The late-Permian extinction event caused about 90% of sea life and 70% of land-living vertebrates to become extinct, probably as a result of climate change from hyperactive volcanism - when volcanoes spewed basalt lava and released gases into the atmosphere

According to the researchers, one of these generalist species was the Lystrosaurus, a plant-eating, early mammal relative that had tusks to help it dig up plants, and ranged from dog- to pig-sized.

The late-Permian extinction event, which took place about 252 million years ago, allowed new groups of animals to evolve, including the earliest dinosaurs, crocodiles and relatives of mammals and lizards.

The late-Triassic extinction event, which occurred around 201 million years ago, wiped out many major groups, setting the stage for dinosaurs to take over.

'The late-Permian event caused about 90 per cent of sea life and 70 percent of land-living vertebrates to become extinct, probably as a result of climate change from hyperactive volcanism - when volcanoes spewed basalt lava and released gases into the atmosphere causing large increases in carbon dioxide and severe warming resulting in desertification,' Dr Button said.

THE BIG FIVE MASS EXTINCTIONS Ordovician-Silurian extinction

The first of the big five extinction events took place around 540 million years ago was the second biggest extinction event of marine life. There was only life in the seas at this time and more than one hundred families of marine invertebrates died. Late Devonian extinction About 375 million years ago, major environmental changes caused a drawn-out extinction event that wiped out 70% of marine species Permian-Triassic extinction (the Great Dying)

The largest extinction event and the one that affected the Earths ecology most profoundly took place 251 million years ago. As much as 90-95% went extinct, and it took about 50 million years for life on land to fully recover its biodiversity - with the rise of many species of dinosaurs. Triassic-Jurassic extinction

Dinosaurs first appeared in the Early Triassic, but large amphibians and mammal-like reptiles were the dominant land animals. The rapid mass extinction that occurred 205 million wiped out about 20% of all marine families, many reptiles and the last of the large amphibians - opening up niches for the dinosaurs of the Jurassic. The Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction Many researchers believe that an asteroid slammed down on Earth 65-66 million years ago at Chicxulub, Mexico. The impact is often blamed for ending the reign of the dinosaurs. It took 10 million years for biodiversity to recover from this mass extinction. Many researchers believe that an asteroid slammed down on Earth 65-66 million years ago at Chicxulub, Mexico. The impact is often blamed for ending the reign of the dinosaurs. It took 10 million years for biodiversity to recover from this mass extinction Source: University of California, Riverside Advertisement

'The late-Triassic event is also associated with volcanism.'

'Mass extinctions were global disasters that fundamentally reshaped ecosystems,' said Dr Richard Butler, professor of palaeobiology at the University of Birmingham and a co-author of the study.

'Our new analyses provide crucial data that show just how profoundly these cataclysmic events changed and influenced animal distribution.'

'The fossil record has the potential to test evolutionary hypotheses in long time spans, which is not possible if evolutionary research is limited to living plant and animals,' said Dr Martin Ezcurra, a researcher at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales who co-authored the paper.

Identifying patterns across mass extinction events in the fossil record can help researchers make predictions about the consequences of current biodiversity loss, Dr Button says.

'Further understanding of these ancient crises will help to inform conservation efforts to prevent modern animals from suffering a similar fate,' he says.
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For most, a health spa is a haven for rest and relaxation and nothing more.

But in the USSR they were designed to further the needs of the country, to restore the health of the workers so they could be even more productive.

Sanatorium visits were distributed through the workplace and a fascinating new book  Holidays in Soviet Sanatoriums by Maryam Omidi - offers an insight into these architectural gems, about which very little is known in the West, with a comprehensive collection of photographs and text on their history.

Kyrgyzstan: Two women use ultraviolet light-emitting sterilisation lamps in their noses to kill bacteria, viruses and fungi

High-rise: The White Nights sanatorium in Sochi, which was erected in 1978 and remains active today

Foros sanatorium in the Crimea: Millions have attended the retreat, which borders on the shore of the Black Sea

Kolkhida: While some sanatoriums offered mud baths, Kolkhidas main attraction has always been its magnetic sand - the glittery black powder that coats the beach is believed to alleviate various ailments related to the heart, blood, joints, circulation and bones

When pampering gets political: 'Sanatoriums were more than just rest homes  they were social condensers, designed to foster individual growth within a communal environment,' writes Omidi

Millions would visit them for two-week breaks using vouchers - either for free or for a subsidised rate - and undergo treatments such as crude-oil baths, radon-water douches and being immersed in magnetic sands.

Omidi explains in her book that visiting a Soviet-era sanatorium is like stepping back in time.

The buildings themselves are often quite ornamental, she explains, but now they lie in varying states of decay, with few very few still open for business.

She says: Vestiges of another age linger all around  in fragments of decades-old wallpaper stubbornly clinging to walls, or colourful mosaics glorifying the Soviet worker.

Tailor-made treatments: For patients unable to endure the heat of a full mineral-water bath, this topical treatment allowed the submersion of just arms and legs

Healthy? The purifying layers of sylvanite and rock salt can be seen in the walls of this underground salt mine, where guests can be seen exercising and inhaling as much as the oxygen as possible

Rodnik Sanatorium: A guest takes an oxygen steam bath. The treatment is reported to aid slimming by burning calories, as well as reducing the appearance of cellulite and other skin conditions

'Plants of all shapes and sizes inhabit every corner, while spartan guest rooms with single beds evoke a bygone era when guests travelled to sanatoriums alone. Mealtimes too are unforgettable, with food in more shades of beige than you ever thought possible.

She goes on to explain that free time greatly engaged Soviet leaders as they set out to define and shape the New Soviet man.

Soviets regarded western holidays as vulgar and idle. In contrast, their vacations were designed to improve diligence.

Good, clean fun: A guest bathes in crude oil for up to ten minutes at the Naftalan sanatorium in Azerbaijan

Under the 1922 Soviet Labour code a two-week vacation was mandatory and under Stalins rule every citizen had the right to rest.

Omidi adds: It was against this backdrop that the sanatorium holiday was born.

She insists that her book is not ruin porn but an exploration of the Utopian ideals that these sanatoriums were built upon, the unconventional treatments that they offer and the individual stories of those who visit them.

Holidays in Soviet Sanatoriums by Maryam Omidi, published by Fuel, is out now.

Making a splash in Tskaltubo! Patients exercise in mineral water at Bathhouse 6, which once included a private room for Stalin

Naftalan sanatorium: A male guest relaxes during a luminotherapy session, which sees him covered in floral bedsheets

Druzhba: When it was built in 1985 by architect Igor Vasilevsky and engineer Nodar Kancheli, its neo-futuristic style caught the eye of the Pentagon and Turkish intelligence, who mistook it for a missile-launch facility, while others thought it was a UFO

Cupping: A brave man in the Naftalan sanatorium tries the quirky therapy, which is said to relieve back and neck pains

Force for good: A female guest undergoes a form of bizarre-looking magnetic therapy at a sanatorium in Belarus
It is, of course, an aviation icon.

But Concorde almost never got off the ground following an Anglo-French row about its spelling, a new documentary reveals.

The supersonic jet was jointly manufactured by Sud Aviation, in Toulouse, and the British Aircraft Corporation, London and Bristol, under a 1962 Anglo-French treaty.

Legendary: Concorde had a take off speed of 220 knots (250mph) and a cruising speed of 1,350mph - more than twice the speed of sound

Iconic: Concorde was created under a 1962 Anglo-French treaty, but that almost collapsed after a spat between Charles de Gaulle and Harold Wilson

But the upcoming BBC documentary Concorde: A Supersonic Story reveals that the treaty was almost torn up in 1967 - in a row over how they would spell its name.

The two countries initially agreed on Concord to show their harmony - before French President Charles de Gaulle added an e, to make the word French.

Furious PM Harold Wilson ordered the e be removed, to revert it to the English translation and the fallout threatened to derail the entire project.

It was only in 1967 when Minister for Technology Tony Benn agreed to add the e that the planes were finally finished in Bristol and Toulouse.

Benn smoothed over Wilsons anger by explaining his 'e' actually represented 'Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)'.

Branding: France and the UK initially agreed on Concord to show their harmony - before de Gaulle added an e, to make the word French. Pictured are sausages being served on Concorde for the first time

Tuesday nights BBC Four documentary also uncovers how spiralling costs yet again almost prompted the UK to pull out of the deal altogether.

Concorde-expert Jonathan Glancey tells the BBC: 'The very first discussion about Concorde took place in the late 1940s among British engineers.

'They were dreaming of a future far from the world they actually lived in, which was a world of a bankrupt Britain and ration books.

THE HISTORY OF THE ICONIC CONCORDE Concorde was jointly developed and produced by British and French engineers as part of an Anglo-French treaty. It had a take off speed of 220 knots (250mph) and a cruising speed of 1,350mph - more than twice the speed of sound. A typical London to New York crossing would take a little less than three-and-a-half hours, as opposed to the normal eight hours. A total of 20 aircraft were built in France and the United Kingdom. Six of these were prototypes and development aircraft. The remaining 14 were split between Air France and British Airways. Concorde was the most tested aircraft, having undergone 5,000 hours before it was allowed to carry passengers. It was first flown in 1969, and first entered service in 1976. It carried commercial passengers for 27 years. The aircraft's four Rolls Royce engines used 'reheat' technology, which gave it the extra power for take-off and supersonic flight. According to British Airways, Concorde's fastest transatlantic crossing took place on February 7, 1996, when it travelled from New York to London in just two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. Both Air France and British Airways grounded their fleets for more than a year after 113 people were killed when one of the jets crashed minutes after take off from Paris in July 2000. It was completely retired from service in 2003. Advertisement

'And yet here were these men dreaming up this Dan Dare world! Teams of engineers from Britain and France got on very well together. They liked pushing each other.

'That competition between the engineers and the national pride involved led to a very successful machine.'

As the two countries engineers were working together, both sides of workers took language lessons to help them communicate.

The governments formed a treaty over the supersonic project and agreed on the name Concorde from the French word concorde and the English concord.

In his memoirs Tony Benn recounts how the debate over the 'e' created nationalist uproar.

He told how an irate Scotsman wrote to him fuming: 'You talk about E for England, but part of it is made in Scotland!'

Given Scotlands contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied: 'It was also E for Ecosse!' (The French name for Scotland).

Concordes flight engineer Philip Cairns told the documentary: 'I thought the E did the aircraft a favour. It was a nice little touch. People were working together for the betterment of the aircraft industry.'

Concorde had a maximum speed of 1,354mph, which is over twice the speed of sound.

It first took to the skies in 1969 but travellers had to wait until 1976 until they could fly in it.

There has only ever been one other supersonic commercial plane - the doomed Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, aka Concordski.

Concorde was retired in 2003, three years after the crash of Air France Flight 4590, in which all passengers and crew were killed.

Twenty aircraft were built, including prototypes. Air France and British Airways were the only airlines to purchase and fly them.

They were used mainly by wealthy passengers who could afford to pay a high price in exchange for Concordes speed and luxury service.

Luxury: HRH The Queen pictured on-board the supersonic Concorde after her Silver Jubilee tour of Canada and the West Indies

No more: Sadly, Concorde was completely retired from service in 2003 after 27 years' service

The original program cost estimate was 70million - but huge overruns and delays meant that the program eventually cost 1.3billion.

A BBC spokeswoman said: 'The documentary reveals the life of the most glamorous aeroplane ever built, told by the people whose lives she touched.

'We uncover rare footage telling the forgotten row between the governments over the spelling of Concorde.

'A cast of engineers, flight technicians and frequent fliers tell the supersonic story aided by passenger Dame Joan Collins.'
A globe-trotting couple who quit their jobs and swapped their suburban life for a round-the-world trip are now 'dodging hurricanes' and helping devastated victims.

Mark and Tracey Duckett, 54 and 51, took the plunge three years ago when they swapped their hectic life in Britain for the tropical paradise of the Caribbean islands.

Since they set off on their trip of a lifetime the pair have toured Europe and sailed to America, where they missed hurricane Maria by just 50 miles. Other dramas include being struck by lightning and saving a stray dog.

New life: Mark and Tracey Duckett, 54 and 51, pictured on board their boat in the Caribbean

Sail away: The couple previously lived an unremarkable life in Hull, where they raised a family

Mark, a former restaurant owner, said: 'We waited until our youngest daughter turned 18 before setting sail.

'Tracey and I have planned the trip for many years and bought the boat around eight years ago in anticipation that one day we would travel the world on it.

'We modified the boat to make sure that it was ready and were so excited to set off. I had sailed before but it was many years ago. I have had the idea since I was much younger but we finally decided to just go for it.

'In the six years after we bought the boat we only took it out on the Humber for about 12 hours so it was a huge change of lifestyle. We sold everything, our businesses, cars, our house and the rest.

'It has been the best three years of our lives.'

Helping hand: Tracy pictured handling emergency supplies for victims of Hurricane Maria

Although the couple, from Hull, East Yorkshire, traded their busy lives for the relaxing trip of a lifetime, in the last few months they have had to dodge a huge hurricane that they feared may ruin their dreams.

Mark said: 'We have been dodging hurricanes for the last two months. Maria only missed us by 40 to 50 miles north which is very close.

'We would have lost the catamaran and we wouldnt have been insured, it was a scary time. The boat was hit by lightning late last year and we spent months repairing it, which set us back but have met some amazing people in Antigua, which is like a home away from home.'

The couple first sailed towards Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands in 2015 before moving across the Atlantic to the Caribbean islands, which they have now made their home.

They make sure that they come home to the UK to visit at least once a year but have no plans to return just yet.

Assistance: Bags full of goods sit awaiting dispatch in the couples's private catamaran

Good life|: The couple first sailed towards Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands in 2015 before crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean islands, which they have now made their home

Cheers to that! Tracy raises a glass to the camera as she enjoys a new view from the deck

Mark added: 'We were working 24/7 back at home and decided this is what we should do. We both absolutely love it over here, we have a brilliant life.

'My wife would tell you she loves it even more than I do, we couldnt be happier.'

The charitable couple have also been obtaining vital non-perishable food for families in islands such as Guadeloupe and Dominica.

Theyve even brought in sweets at the request of the youngsters, with many left homeless after their houses were swept away by powerful winds.

Fresh start: Mark, a former restaurant owner, said: 'We waited until our youngest daughter turned 18 before setting sail'

A fundraising page has been set up to encourage more donations and the couple want as many people as possible to donate what they can to help those in need.

They added: 'Most of their homes have just gone. Some are under mud slides and even the ones that are still standing have had to have tarpaulin put over their roofs because theyve blown off.'

The couple, who live permanently on the boat during their travels and run a blog at comelivethedream.com, plan to move on to Panama and the Dominican Republic next year but Mark is very relaxed about what the future holds.

He added: 'The plan is there is no plan.'

To donate to the fundraising page visit: www.gofundme.com/aid-for-people-of-the-caribbean.
She is one of Australia's funniest women who hosts, acts and sings.

And on Monday, the comedienne shared an unrecognisable snap of herself as a child.

Taking to Instagram, the 49-year-old's childhood post shows her reclining back on the sand wearing a red bikini and towel tied up like a turban.

Guess who! An Australian comedienne shared an unrecognisable snap of herself as a child. Taking to Instagram, the 49-year-old's post childhood post shows her at reclining back on the sand wearing a red bikini and towel tied up like a turban

She captioned the post: 'Recline Monday... wait, is that not a thing? Jx'

The star was revealed as Julia Morris who uploaded the throwback photo of herself as a kid on a family beach getaway to Merimbula Beach on the New South Wales south coast.

As the young star lies back in her photo, her smile reveals her missing front tooth.

Fans of the House Husbands star loved her youthful snap, including one who complimented her swimsuit, saying: 'Red has always been your colour.'

Looking good: The star was revealed as Julia Morris who uploaded the throwback photo of herself as a kid on a family beach getaway to Merimbula Beach on the New South Wales south coast.

Dolled up! In the caption she wrote, 'Recline Monday... wait, is that not a thing? Jx'

Former Home And Away actress Debra Lawrence simply wrote: 'Divine.... just.... divine.'

While psychic and Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies commented: 'love it! You look beautiful.'

Julia, who is a mother of two and married to British comedian Dan Thomas, has not been shy about sharing photos from her childhood on social media.

Lady is red: Fans of the House Husbands star, who is married to British comedian Dan Thomas (pictured) loved her youthful snap, including one who complimented her swimsuit, saying: 'Red has always been your colour'

Throwback! She took to Instagram to share a photo of herself posing on the beach and another in a bunny costume for Easter

She took to Instagram to share a photo of herself posing on the beach and another in a bunny costume for Easter.

Earlier in the year she opened up about her 20kg weightloss on Sunday Life.

'I work hard on how I look, I don't mind if someone notices!' the actress said.

'No sugar, low carbs, vodka and soda... that's pretty much it... but every day,' she wrote.

The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here host added, 'It's all day, every day. The moment you stop doing that you won't have the same results'.
They share a child and recently split after nearly a decade together.

And Rachel Bilson, 36, and Hayden Christensen, 36, were pictured for the first time together since news of the break-up as the exes met up to drop off their daughter Briar Rose to the other.

The former couple were spotted outside a hotel in Los Angeles on Sunday, as it's been reported that Hayden's Little Italy co-star Emma Roberts may have been a contributing factor in the split, as Rachel allegedly found text messages between the 26-year-old and the actor before their break-up, according to The Blast.

Amicable exes: Rachel Bilson and her ex Hayden Christensen up to drop off their daughter Briar Rose Christensen to one another in Los Angeles on Sunday

The outing comes just two days after burglars reportedly ransacked Rachel's home and stole upwards of $50,000 worth of belongings from her home, according to TMZ.

Doting dad Hayden watched as his little girl walked towards her mother while clad in a summery blue dress, pink hat, and sipping on a cool drink.

Rachel crouched down as she approached her daughter, no doubt to chat with her at eye-level.

The actress kept it casual in jeans, an embroidered blouse, and her hair slicked back into a bun.

Doting dad: Hayden watched as his little girl walk towards her mother while clad in a summery blue dress, pink hat, and sipping on a cool drink

Stepping out: The actress kept it casual in jeans, an embroidered blouse, and her hair slicked back into a bun

Recently, the pair have been living in separate lives, sources close to Rachel revealed.

The duo were constantly fighting 'about every day stuff' according to People.

'It became exhausting and almost depressing for Rachel,' a source explained. 'It got really bad over the summer and they decided to separate.

Crime victim: Bilson has had '$50,000 worth of jewelery, shoes and handbags' stolen from her Pasadena home by burglars (pictured in New York in September)

'She is living with the baby in LA now. She is a great mom and loves it.'

In April the actors sold their sprawling Sherman Oaks home in a private off-market deal for $3.8 million.

Meanwhile, it's been reported that Emma Roberts may have played a role in the surprise split between long-time couple Hayden and Rachel, according to a shocking new report.

The Hollywood pair, who have been together since 2007, called off their relationship last month, but little was known what caused their sudden breakup.

Insult to injury: The devastating turn of events comes just weeks after Rachel's split from partner of 10 years, actor Hayden Christensen, 36 (pictured together in May 2010)

But now Hayden's co-star Emma may have been a contributing factor, as Rachel allegedly found text messages between the 26-year-old and the actor, according to The Blast.

Emma and Hayden recently filmed the upcoming movie 'Little Italy' together, which could have sparked an inappropriate relationship.

Meanwhile, Rachel's appearance with Hayden comes after the actress had '$50,000 worth of jewelery, shoes and handbags' stolen from her home.

The actress, 36, returned to her property in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles on Friday afternoon to discover the house had been 'ransacked' by burglars during the four hours she was out, TMZ reports.

While the former The OC star and police are working together to determine the exact value of the stolen goods, it's believed the total is in the region of $40,000 to $50,000.

The site also claims the thieves entered the property - which Rachel shares with her daughter Briar Rose, two - through 'a sliding glass door, which may have been left unlocked'.

Rowdy teens: In 2009 the star's home was targeted by a group of teenage thieves, which inspired the plot of 2013 movie The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson (second left)

This isn't the first time Bilson's home has been broken into.

In 2009, the actress was targeted by a group of teenage thieves who came to be known as the 'Bling Ring', and who targeted stars like Mischa Barton, Paris Hilton, Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom - and Bilson.

She lost up to $350,000 worth of valuables in the heist, the events of which were depicted in the 2013 Sofia Coppola film The Bling Ring.

Just last week, it was revealed Rachel had splashed out $3.25 million on a stylish new home in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles.

Located in the upscale and scenic Linda Vista neighborhood the property has six bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to Trulia.
The Fast And The Furious series is all about brotherhood... and Vin Diesel, 50, has mediated a dispute within his onscreen 'family'.

The Fast & Furious star took to Instagram on Saturday to address the heated feud between Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, 45, and Tyrese Gibson, 38.

Posting a screenshot of Diesel supporting Johnson during a scene, the action tough guy asserts: 'I know there has been a lot of speculation as to why the Fast 9 release date was pushed... but it would be unfair to say it is anyone's fault.'

Lean on me: Vin Diesel, 50, took to Instagram on Saturday to address the heated feud between Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, 45, and Tyrese Gibson, 38

'Brotherhood... and all it's complexities. This scene was filmed in Puerto Rico, I can remember it like it was yesterday. Such a beautiful island, the people were so warm and welcoming. I turned 43 that summer... and my son Vincent was born,' began the Pitch Black star's post.

Diesel then appeared to take credit for casting the WWE star, writing:

'A woman named Jan Kelly responded to a question I had asked on Facebook, 'who they would like to see me work with?' She said would love to see me work with Dwayne... I listened to her request and he became Hobbs.'

Family feud: The Fast And The Furious series is all about brotherhood... and Vin Diesel has mediated a dispute within his onscreen 'family'

'I know there has been a lot of speculation as to why the Fast 9 release date was pushed... but it would be unfair to say it is anyone's fault,' he continued.

'As we plot the course to expand the Fast & Furious universe, one must be mindful to take stock of the roads we took to get here. The pillars of authenticity, family and most importantly, our loyal fans perspective has been instrumental in procuring success.'

'However, like any vehicle that has run around the globe 8 times, the franchise is in need of maintenance. My good friend and the godfather of Universal, Ron Meyer has granted me the time to do just that.'

'We have some very exciting news to share soon... stay tuned. Yours truly, Dom'

'#FamilyAlways'

Brother from another mother: 'I know there has been a lot of speculation as to why the release date was pushed... but it would be unfair to say it is anyone's fault' wrote Diesel, here in 2011

The trouble all began when Tyrese Gibson too offense at the fact that the highly-anticipated Fast 9 was pushed back.

The actor lashed on Instagram at his co-star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson whom he blames the delay on.

Universal Pictures confirmed on Wednesday that the film's release will move back to April 10, 2020, but did not give a reason.

'Congratulations for making the franchise about YOU': Tyrese Gibson has slammed Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson after the Fast 9 release date was pushed back a year

But Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce in the mega-successful franchise, claimed it was because of a spin-off The Rock's character had been granted.

'#PSA Congratulations to @TheRock and your brother in law aka 7 bucks producing partner @hhgarcia41 for making the fast and the furious franchise about YOU,' he spat in a post depicting the new release date.

'And like you, DJ even if they call I will not be deleting this post - Gn folks see you in 2020 April #FastFamily right? Nah..... it's about #TeamDewayne

'#3yrs will it be worth the wait? #NoShaw just Hobbs will this be another #BayWatch?' he added. 'Guys guys just relax I'm just a passionate film critic.'

Boo hoo: Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce in the mega-successful franchise, claimed it was because of a spin-off The Rock's character had been granted

Gibson has taken shots at Johnson a number of times on social media, a medium he claims he uses because he can't get The Rock to return his calls.

Last month he warned Johnson, via the comments section of one of Johnson's Instagram posts, not to go ahead with the spin-off, which would center on his bounty hunter Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw.

'If you move forward with that #Hobbs Movie you will have purposely ignored the heart to heart moment we had in my sprinter -- I don't wanna hear from you until you remember what we talked about,' he wrote.

'I'm on your timeline cause you're not responding to my text messages -- #FastFamily is just that a family....... We don't fly solo,' he added.

After failing to get a reply, he went back to his own Instagram page, and posted a lengthier statement - again asking him to delay the spin-off - with picture of the two men together.

Call me maybe? Gibson has taken shots at Johnson a number of times on social media, a medium he claims he uses because he can't get The Rock to return his calls

'I have never and will never have a problem with this major movie star he's my brother.... I repeat ever....... bro just being honest I didn't like Bay Watch lol - but I did rent out 2 full theaters and take a bunch of kids with my daughter from her #PrivateSchool to support Moana!!!! ( I was surprised you could sing so well ).... oh sh*t!!" he wrote.

"I'm simply trying to reach him cause he won't call me back about this solo #HobbsMovie I want you to shoot it just not right now cause the #Fast9 release date has already been announced and we can't let our loyal fans #FastFamily or our loyal fast and furious FANS down on any level from pushing the date.'

'I'm doing this only on behalf of our families so we keep them all in private school...... God bless you good brother!!!! I never ever go public with private family issues.... Once you hit me back I will delete every post,' he concluded  which he eventually did.

Gibson even got involved in Johnson's reported been with Vin Diesel, after Fast eight had wrapped.

The Rock infamously slammed one of his 'male co-stars' without naming him, although it was widely believed to have been Diesel.

Not fair: Last month he warned Johnson not to go ahead with the spin off (pictured with co-stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Vin Diesel)

The former WWE star said working on the franchise made his 'blood boil'  not because of his amazing crew, studio or female co-stars, but one of the males.

'Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken s**t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses,' he wrote.

Gibson later attacked him for not naming the person in another to-be-deleted post

'Does any of us know why bro decided to jump out there with his post? No...... Would one assume that IF he's going to jump out there and generalize and say 'Male Co-Stars' he would be more clear and call out names??? Of course he should of.

The actor then went on to praise his co-star and friend.

'DJ happens to be one of the most humble, down to earth and professional people I've ever worked with and more importantly he's my brother we have NEVER had a problem and will never have a problem (sic)'

'Let me calm you guys all the way down........ I don't know WHO he has a problem [WITH]and I don't have any details of WHAT those problems are - as a matter of fact if I DID know I would tell you s--t!!!

Previous beef: The former WWE star said working on the franchise made his 'blood boil'  not because of his amazing crew, studio or female co-stars, but one of the males

'Why are you guys so impressionable? A man wouldn't be singing from his heart and soul to another mans little angel if he had a problem with her dad (sic)' he wrote alongside a video of Johnson singing to Tyrese's ten-year-old daughter Shayla.

Meanwhile, Tyrese is embroiled in another social media battle, this time with his ex-wife Norma Gibson, who has accused him of beating their child.

TMZ reported the LA County Department of Children and Family Services are investigating after she said he 'viciously beat' Shayla so hard that she 'couldn't sit down'.

Norma is seeking a permanent restraining order and full physical and legal custody of the girl.

Tyrese took to Instagram to post a lengthy statement while accusing his ex of being jealous of his new marriage while insisting he's a good father.

More trouble: Tyrese is embroiled in another social media battle, this time with his ex-wife Norma Gibson, who has accused him of beating their child (pictured February 2008)

He shared a collection of family photos and a long caption which read: 'I'm sorry I got re-married, I'm sorry we didn't work out I'm sorry you haven't been able to find another man since we separated,'

The Transformers star continued : 'Sometimes you get married and have kids and things just don't work out, but I have NEVER wished harm on you.......

'I was hoping by now you got over what we used to be... But I see the attacks just won't stop so I believe this too will pass and God and the courts will reveal the truth.....

'I want you to know I still love you and wish you the best in all that you're looking to do... I just simply wanna co-parent and raise Shayla to be a respectful, decent, smart angel that I know she is...'

On Wednesday he shared another pic of his daughter asleep on his chest, writing: One day we're going to sit down over tea and laugh about how they tried to turn us on each-other and what they didn't know is that it only solidified our lifetime #DaddyDaughterBond that will never ever ever be broken.'

The Hollywood Reporter in an article Thursday said the Fast And Furious spin-off will be released on July 26, 2019.
Her role in 50 Shades Darker earned her praise for her role as the deranged ex-lover of Christian Grey.

And on Monday, Bella Heathcote stepped out in New York for a meet-and-greet for her upcoming film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

The 30-year-old cut a sophisticated figure arriving at the Build Studio in New York City for the event.

Lady in red! Bella Heathcote stepped out in New York for a meet and greet for her upcoming film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

She looked stunning in her silk burgundy, patterned dress by Victoria Beckham, which was cinched in the waist by a thick belt that accentuated her slender figure.

Her evening ensemble was matched with a pair of red suede pumps and a black clutch.

She kept her accessories minimal with a pair of sparkly drop earrings.

Leggy display: She looked stunning in her silk burgundy, patterned dress by Victoria Beckham, which was cinched in the waist by a thick belt that accentuated her slender figure

Simply stunning: The 30-year-old's makeup was kept simple to highlight her flawless skin with feathered out brows, bronze eye shadow, nude toned lips, and a light dusting of blush on her cheeks

Bella's makeup was kept simple to highlight her flawless skin with feathered out brows, bronze eye shadow, nude toned lips, and a light dusting of blush on her cheeks.

The blonde beauty was all smiles as she was sat down for an interview with AOL Build studio and later signing comic book covers of the film.

She was at the event with co-stars Luke Evans (who plays Professor William Marston), Rebecca Hall (who plays Elizabeth Marston) and director Angela Robinson.

Elegant: The blonde beauty was all smiles as she was sat down for an interview with AOL Build studio

Signing away: Later in the day she signed copies of the film's comic book covers of Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

The films tells the true story of the creator of the DC superhero Professor William Marston and the polyamorous relationship between himself and his wife Elizabeth and his former student Olivia Byrne, according to Deadline.

The feminist women served as inspirations for the Princess of the Amazons.

Director Angela told The Los Angeles Times: 'Part of me just wanted to tell a love story. Wonder Woman became politicized after the fact, but I really wanted to try in the most straightforward way to tell the simplest of love stories between these three people.'

'They have issues with the world over what they're feeling, but their love for each other was very pure and honest.'
Despite a busy schedule jam-packed with Hollywood films, big budget ad campaigns and family commitments, Chris Hemsworth has always ensured he makes time to lend a hand to charity organisations.

Among a number of causes he's involved with, the Australian heartthrob is deeply proud of his role as a patron of the Australian Childhood Foundation.

In an interview with GQ Australia's November issue, the 34-year-old said he was shocked by former prime minister Tony Abbott's insensitive remarks about child abuse while working one of the charity's campaigns.

'I'm sat there, like, "Is he kidding?"': In an interview with GQ Australia's Novemeber issue, Chris Hemsworth (right) recalled he was shocked by an inappropriate joke from former prime minister Tony Abbott (left)

'Tony Abbott said to me, "You know, I went to a Catholic school as a kid but no one did anything to me. Maybe I wasn't good-looking enough."' the Thor actor told the magazine.

The former Home And Away star explained that he was taken aback by the politician's less than empathetic comments.

'I'm sat there, like, "Is he kidding? Is he making light of this issue?'" Chris recalled.

Offensive joke: 'Tony Abbott said to me, "You know, I went to a Catholic school as a kid but no one did anything to me. Maybe I wasn't good-looking enough." the Thor actor told the magazine (Pictured in 2014: Australian Childhood Foundation's CEO Joe Tucci, Chris Hemsworth, Tony Abbott)

Chris, who along with his brother Liam is an ambassador for ACF, met with the then-prime minister Tony Abbott at Parliament House in 2014.

The father-of-three was in Canberra to work alongside Julie Bishop on the charity's Not Another Child campaign, which aimed to fight against child abuse.

The CEO of the charity, Joe Tucci, told news.com.au at the time that the star was invited to parliament by Ms Bishop herself, who he ran into at the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne.

In stark contrast to Tony's inappropriate joke about the problematic issue, Chris spoke seriously to Sunrise about the worthy campaign.

'Unfortunately there's more reports of abuse in Australia than ever before, there's 750 per day last year, which was roughly one every two minutes,' Chris said in 2014.

'So we want to put a spotlight on the issue, and make child protection the number one focus for all Australians and the welfare of children our main priority.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Tony Abbott's representatives for comment but they did not immediately respond.
Mariah Carey has sent fans into meltdown by revealing a set of dates for her hotly-anticipated The #1s tour in 2018.

Promising to deliver knock-out performances of her greatest hits, Mariah is set to play at Queensland's Sandstone Point Hotel on February 3 before taking the stage at Perth Arena, Perth at on February 6.

The 47-year-old will then wow audiences at Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne on February 9 and finish her tour at Sydney's The Crescent, Parramatta Park on February 10.

The original diva is back! Mariah Carey has sent fans into meltdown by revealing a set of dates for her hotly-anticipated The #1s tour in 2018

The tour also includes a stop in New Zealand with an Auckland show on February 1.

Eagle-eyed fans may notice that Mariah chose not to return to the Crown Casino for her Melbourne show, despite having played at the venue during her last Australian trip.

Her decision not to perform there may have been inspired by her recent split from Crown Casino owner James Packer.

The tour of the year! Promising to deliver knock-out performances of her greatest hits, Mariah is set to play four shows around the country in February 2018

Coincidence? Eagle-eyed fans may notice that Mariah chose not to return to the Crown Casino- which is owned by her ex James Packer

The unlikely couple first set tongues wagging in June 2015 when images emerged of them holding hands strolling around the romantic island of Capri in Italy.

After dating for less than a year, the pair became engaged in January 2016 during a romantic holiday to New York.

The high-profile couple finally called it quits in October, with a spokesperson for the pop star confirming at the time that they had a fight while holidaying in Greece.

Former flames: The seemingly unlikely couple first set tongues wagging in June 2015 when images emerged of them holding hands strolling around the romantic island of Capri in Italy

'Mariah and James had a fight in Greece, and have not seen each other since,' her spokesperson told ET at the time.

'The fight was not because of any cheating allegations or excessive spending by Mariah', they explained.

Following her split from James, Mariah has found love with her back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka, who is 14 years her junior.
His love of the good life was highlighted by his roly-poly physique.

But Real Housewives Of New Jersey's Teresa Giudice has boasted her husband Joe has become 'chiselled' since being locked up in federal prison.

It seems the portly fraudster has been eating more healthily and getting pumped in the gym since being banged up in the state's Fort Dix Federal Prison, at least if his wife's effusive praise of his physique is any guide.

Prison food agrees with him: Real Housewives Of New Jersey's Teresa Giudice has revealed her fraudster husband Joe has become 'chiselled' since being locked up

The excited reality television personality told Life And Style: 'He looks really, really good! Hes lost maybe 40 pounds.

'(He's) Really cut up, really chiselled. Hes not puffy anymore. Hes thin!'

The previously plump criminal may be especially keen to get fit as he is hoping to win the affection of his 42-year-old wife, who she previously revealed has been sending her jealous letters.

She said: 'I think thats going to still keep happening until he comes home. Its only normal, like, "What are you doing?" But you know, hes fine with it.'

Excited: Terese boasted he 'looks really, really good! Hes lost maybe 40 pounds!'

Change of lifestyle: His love of the good life was highlighted by his roly-poly physique

While she has been accused of cheating in the past, she has insisted 45-year-old Joe 'doesnt have anything to worry about.'

The crook was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in October 2014 and could face the possibility of deportation back to Italy when he is released from prison.

Teresa was convicted on a similar charge and began serving her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut in January 2015, but was released two days before Christmas.

The judge ruled that the couple did not have to report at the same time for the well being of their four daughters - Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana.
For sheer stupidity, inviting grimy Steph and Dom Parker to spruce up a tatty bed-and-breakfast for a reality show is hard to beat.

The couple have built their TV image on the back of their Gogglebox stint, glugging red wine and swearing at the television in the shag-piled sitting-room of the Kentish guest house they used to run, The Salutation.

But their reputation as hoteliers took a fatal blow last year when Dover council slapped a one-star hygiene rating on their restaurant.

Photographs of their sinks and ovens swimming in congealed grease would turn the stomach of a sewer rat.

Lumps of grey meat rotted in fridges, while slime and mould grew inside an ice machine.

Gogglebox's Steph and Dom Parker (pictured) have been sprucing up an old Yorkshire bed and breakfast for the Channel 4 show One Star To Five Star

The couple have since sold The Salutation. Now, in a spirit of quite monumental delusion, they are setting themselves up as hotel inspectors on their nightly show One Star To Five Star (C4).

If you're the owner of a struggling B&B, you'd be better off asking for tips from Basil Fawlty and hiring a waiter from Barcelona.

Steph and Dom began this week in Bridlington, on the Yorkshire coast, with a 16-bed hotel called the Ransdale.

Its breakfast room looked like a school dining hall, and its bar belonged on a Seventies Irish Sea ferry.

But at least you could walk across the kitchen without leaving your shoes stuck to the floor tiles.

Dom pottered round making inane comments, such as: 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'

He knows from long experience that it doesn't really matter what comes out of his mouth, because his wife isn't listening.

Meanwhile, Steph was studying the breakfast menu. Apparently two guests had once asked for omelette, so she set about making that an extra option.

Then she replaced the Full English with kedgeree, a curried fish-and-rice dish ideal for getting rid of stale left-overs.

Well, it's better than leaving them to rot in the fridge.

Dom was upstairs, giving one suite a seaside theme by framing a few pebbles, and cramming some frayed rope into a water glass.

Admiring his handiwork, he announced it was worth an extra 30 quid on the price of a room  and he seemed to mean it.

Here's a bright idea: if you ever foolishly find yourself at the Ransdale, return the pebbles and rope to reception, and ask for a 30 discount.

In Liar last night Laura (Joanna Froggatt, pictured) framed her rapist by planting his GHB drug in his locker

Laura (Joanne Froggatt) was full of bright ideas in Liar (ITV).

First, she planned to frame her rapist in the thriller, handsome surgeon Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd), by planting the paralysing drug GHB in his hospital locker.

Then she kidnapped him and tied him up in a deserted boathouse on the marshes, before threatening to emasculate him with a vegetable knife.

Millions of male viewers watched through scrunched-up eyes, with their knees up to their chins.

Her plan for revenge might have worked, if only she'd known how to knot a rope.

The 'gaping hole' in Laura's revenge plot meant Andrew (Ioan Gruffud) managed to escape

Instead, Andrew escaped, by diving through a gaping hole in the plot.

Not since the days of radio sleuth Dick Barton have villains evaded justice with such unlikely ease in the penultimate episode.

It didn't matter. The pleasure of Liar is tracing the web of deceit as each lie becomes a lethal trap for the character who wove it.

Laura's sister destroyed her marriage with the tiniest mistake, by mislaying her umbrella. Next week, surely, Andrew's mesh of lies will unravel  and hang him.

That'll be too good to miss.
She's a busy mom to three growing children.

But Kourtney Kardashian took some time off from her maternal responsibilities for a shopping trip with boyfriend Younes Bendjima in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.

The 38-year-old reality television starlet also took to social media on Sunday to share a sexy video of herself frolicking by the beach in a skimpy two-piece bathing suit.

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Afternoon delight! Kourtney Kardashian took some time off from her maternal responsibilities for a shopping trip with boyfriend Younes Bendjima in Los Angeles on Monday

Surf's up! The 38-year-old reality television starlet also took to social media on Sunday to share a sexy video of herself frolicking by the beach in a skimpy two-piece bathing suit

Kourtney showed off her toned and tanned legs in a pair of light blue distressed denim shorts as she walked to the Gucci store in Beverly Hills with her 24-year-old boyfriend and friends.

Her bronzed skin peeked through the off-the-shoulder black top which featured pieces of fabric dangling by her legs.

The eldest Kardashian daughter added a pair of bespoke clear plastic heels from Marskinryyppy to her petite frame which had her nickname 'Kourt' scribbled across the tops of her feet in large black cursive writing.

A post shared by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on Oct 8, 2017 at 7:17pm PDT

Kourtney showed off her toned and tanned legs in a pair of light blue distressed denim shorts as she walked to the Gucci store in Beverly Hills with her 24-year-old boyfriend and friends

Kourtney added a pair of bespoke clear plastic Marskinryyppy heels to her petite frame which had her nickname 'Kourt' scribbled across the tops of her feet in large black cursive writing

Glowing: Her bronzed skin peeked through the off-the-shoulder black top which featured pieces of fabric dangling by her legs

Boyfriend Younes wore a casual white T-shirt with a black and white image emblazoned across the front and jeans.

He carried a large white bag to his side filled with goodies from shopping and his iPhone in his hand.

Kourtney showed off her killer figure in a sexy video posted on Instagram Sunday.

The brunette beauty can be seen sprinting through the sand and to the sea in a black thong bikini and matching black top.

Beach bum! Kourtney showed off her killer figure in a sexy video posted on Instagram Sunday

She was spotted shopping at a baby store with her sister Kim in Calabasas, California earlier in the day.

The two perused the aisle of Buy Buy Baby while filming for Keeping Up With The Kardashians ahead of the news that 20-year-old sister Kylie Jenner is pregnant with her first child in addition to 33-year-old sister Khloe's rumored first pregnancy with boyfriend Tristan Thompson.

Kim is also anticipating her third child with husband Kanye West via surrogacy in January.

Kourtney's former flame and dad to her three children- Penelope, five, Mason, seven, and Reign, two - Scott Disick, 36, was nowhere to been seen but has been canoodling around town with his new girlfriend Sofia Richie, 19.
Having battled it out with her villainous ex-husband in the hit BBC drama Doctor Foster, Suranne Jones is keen to prove her real life is far from miserable.

The 39-year-old brunette, whose performance captivated millions of viewers, enjoyed a far jollier time at an Alice In Wonderland-themed tea party in London.

Suranne Jones posted this picture of herself looking refreshingly chipper on social media

The 39-year-old actress fought villainous ex-husband in the hit BBC drama Doctor Foster

Posting this picture of herself on social media, she looks refreshingly chipper in a strappy black dress while playfully holding up a mask in the style of Lewis Carrolls white rabbit.

Suranne, who off-screen has been married to TV producer Laurence Akers for two years, was at a fundraiser for the Penny Brohn UK cancer charity, of which she is patron alongside the Prince of Wales and Dame Joan Collins daughter, producer Tara Arkle.

Keep your shirt on! Naomi ruffles feathers in the U.S.

Never afraid to speak her mind, Naomi Campbell has now ruffled feathers after getting political in a state of undress.

The 47-year-old supermodel shared this snap with her 4.4 million followers online in which she appears to be wearing nothing but a large black top, reading: We Are All Dreamers.

The model got political by sporting a slogan referring to the proposed Dream Act, which would give a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants

It refers to the proposed Dream Act in America, which would provide a pathway to legal status for thousands of undocumented immigrants who graduate from secondary school.

Congress must pass the Dream Act to protect undocumented youth in the U.S., wrote Naomi, whose other political work includes supporting the African National Congress in South Africa.

However, her intervention failed to impress at least one of her fans.

Why half naked? they asked. This is a serious issue in America, not a fashion shoot. Surely every little helps.

Luckily Ella did not get grandpa Keith's looks...

Despite a life devoted to sex, drugs and rock n roll, raddled Rolling Stone Keith Richards has produced some very photogenic offspring.

Ella shared this picture of herself online after the granddaughter of Keith Richards appeared in a Michael Kors advert

His 21-year-old granddaughter Ella, whose parents are Marlon Richards,  photographer son of Keith, 73, and late actress Anita Pallenberg  and Lucie de la Falaise, niece of Yves Saint Laurent muse Loulou de la Falaise, shared this picture online of herself starring in the new Michael Kors campaign.

She has said of her famous lineage: I guess its more that my name is kind of already known in a way, so thats how its helped, but other than that, I dont really know what its done.
He's been deemed a 'stage five clinger' by fans of The Bachelorette as they watch him give it his all to win Sophie Monk's love.

And on Sunday, Jarrod Woodgate added fuel to the fire to rumours that he won't be her pick in the show's finale.

The 31-year-old was snapped arriving home to his house in Melbourne at around 11.30am on Sunday.

Proof he doesn't win? On Sunday, Jarrod Woodgate (pictured) was spotted doing what appeared to be the walk of shame as he returned to his home in Melbourne barefoot and shoes while Sophie Monk holidays in Thailand

Seemingly recovering from a big night, the vineyard manager was snapped barefoot as he carried a pair of boots as well as a blue and white plaid shirt in his hands.

Dressed in a simple white T-shirt and black pants, Jarrod was looking somewhat worse for wear, sporting dishevelled hair.

The reality TV contestant had been dropped off at the property by a friend driving a silver Porsche before later joining a male companion for lunch at a local cafe.

Big night? In a sign that he may not have won Sophie's heart, Jarrod arrived home looking somewhat worse for wear

Carrying the essentials! Dressed in a simple white T-shirt and black pants, Jarrod was seen clutching to his boots and a blue and white plaid shirt

It could be evidence that Jarrod doesn't eventually capture the affections of Sophie Monk, as the former Bardot singer is currently holidaying in Thailand.

The 37-year-old has been staying at a luxurious resort with best friend Oliver Gordon after placing herself in 'lockdown' so as not to accidentally be spotted with the winner.

Also pointing to Jarrod being back on the market are reports that he is active on dating app Bumble.

Not the one! Jarrod is one of the suitors trying to win the heart of Sophie Monk (left) on this year's season of The Bachelorette

Sophie is heavily rumoured to choose millionaire publican Stu Laundy, 44, who was introduced into the competition as an intruder.

Jarrod has been a controversial character this season on the Network Ten show, with fans mocking his 'intense' pursuit of Sophie.

The Victorian-based suitor was quick to fall for the star and even gifted her a his-and-her love plant as he tried to win her over.

Smitten! Jarrod was quick to fall for Sophie Monk as he vied for her love on The Bachelorette
They're The Block fan favourites who welcomed son Ziya Christopher into the world in October last year.

But the new bundle of joy hasn't stopped former reality TV stars Kyal and Kara Demmrich from taking on a new renovation project.

Speaking to Today Extra on Tuesday, the couple admitted the work was 'ten times harder' with their son, who turns one next week, in the picture.

'With him in the mix everything seems to take longer': In an interview with Today Extra on Tuesday, The Block fan favourites Kyal (left) and Kara (right) admitted renovating has become a lot harder since they welcomed son Ziya Christopher into the world in October last year

In an interview with hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kruger, Kyal said their latest project is a house close to their home in Long Jetty, New South Wales and they're tackling it a little differently than usual.

'That is the first renovation that we have done without living in [the property] which is a luxury,' Kyal said.

'We have a baby but it is ten times harder.'

He added the location is convenient for the family, explaining: 'It is great for Kara because she can walk to the site and bring him along.

'We have a baby but it is ten times harder': Kyal opened about the difficulties of renovating with a child in the picture

Too cute! Kara gave birth to Ziya in October last year and shared an adorable snap announcing his safe arrival

Kyal, who competed with Kara in The Block's 2014 season, also divulged he had underestimated how much work their child would be - especially while taking on such a huge renovation task.



'It is a big project, probably the biggest that we have done so far. It is really exciting,' he said.

'Especially with him in the mix everything seems to take longer. I didn't realise how full-time parenting could be.'

'I didn't realise how full-time parenting could be': Kyal also divulged he had underestimated how much work their child would be

Since Kara gave birth to their firstborn in October, the proud parents have taken to social media to share adorable images of the youngster, including the announcement of his arrival.

The couple revealed Ziya Christopher was born weighing 3.85 kg alongside a photo of the newborn rugged up in a baby blanket at a hospital.

'Here he is! Ziya Christopher Demmrich. Weighing 8.5 lbs. 51cm long. Best miracle I've ever seen.' Kara captioned the snap.
PHOENIX  Jazmin Nunez spends her days at Living United for Change In Arizona (LUCHA) helping DACA recipients navigate the murky waters of their future.

When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced President Donald Trumps plan to end DACA, the Department of Homeland Security instituted a deadline. DACA recipients whose protections would expire between Sept. 5 and March 5, 2018 are eligible to apply for renewal before Oct. 5. If their application is accepted, their DACA protections will continue for two more years.

But what happens to those DACA recipients who didnt fall within that renewal window? People flocked to LUCHAs Phoenix offices looking for help with the application process. Sometimes, the staff at LUCHA was able to help.

Sometimes, they had to deliver the bad news.

I think I even cried at one point, Nunez said. It was even worse for me because I had to tell one of my cousins personally that she couldnt renew anymore and we were just about to send in her paperwork.

Nunez was born in the United States and is a United States citizen, as are her two younger brothers. Her older sister, Aracely, is not.

Aracely Nunez is a 22-year-old DACA recipient. She was born in Mexico and brought to the U.S. when she was 2 years old. She hasnt been back to Mexico since. Her DACA protections expire after March 5, 2018, meaning she isnt eligible to renew.

Now shes been talking about maybe going back to Mexico, Nunez said. But I dont think its the best choice for her because shes been here her whole life. She doesnt know anything over there.

Nunez said her sisters situation is the motivation for her work at LUCHA.

Everything that Ive been doing is to show her that shes not alone in this, she said.

Jose Patino is in the same predicament as Aracely Nunez. Patino is the Director of Campaigns at Aliento, a youth-led organization which specializes on activism for undocumented people.

Patino is 28 years old. He was brought to the United States when he was 6. As he worked to help other DACA recipients with the renewal process through Aliento, he realized he wouldnt be eligible to renew his own protections. His DACA expires on Feb. 25, 2019.

He knows the date by heart.

He said he was happy that other recipients would be eligible for renewal, but upset and still saddened that he and others like him wouldnt be able to.

I think about the effect thats going to have on us, Patino said. One is losing our jobs. One is not having a drivers license.

When Patino was a child, he broke his left arm. His parents were undocumented, so they didnt have drivers licenses. The family waited three hours for a documented neighbor to return home to drive him to the hospital.

When he thought about his DACA protections expiring, Patino said he worried about moments like that happening to other families across the country.

Patino has three siblings. They are all DACA recipients. None of them are eligible to renew.

Joshua De La Ossa, an immigration lawyer in Phoenix, said he has had many painful conversations with clients who were ineligible for renewal. His advice was the same for each of them: Stay out of trouble, De La Ossa said. Do not come into contact with any state, local, or municipal law enforcement.

De La Ossa has attended several DACA renewal events across the Valley and advised the community to reach out to an immigration attorney to assess their particular situation. He said many people are eligible for other protections they might not be aware of.

It isnt clear what will happen to DACA recipients once their protections expire. Trump has given conflicting statements on the issue, including a tweet last month which told DACA recipients you have nothing to worry about.

But Nunez is worried about her sisters DACA protection expiring. Shes worried if her sister goes back to Mexico, she may not be able to come back to the United States in the future.

The countdown of her DACA expiring is coming to an end, Nunez said.

Nunezs parents have given their eldest daughter clear instructions.

They tell her, Youre not leaving until they kick you out, Nunez said. Thats kind of the mentality that we have.

Patino isnt planning on giving up either. Hes in Washington D.C. with other Aliento members lobbying Arizona senators and representatives in support of the DREAM Act.

We want to make sure were having dialogue and moving forward, Patino said. Its a human issue.

PHOENIX  Jazmin Nunez spends her days at Living United for Change In Arizona (LUCHA) helping DACA recipients navigate the murky waters of their future.

When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced President Donald Trumps plan to end DACA, the Department of Homeland Security instituted a deadline. DACA recipients whose protections would expire between Sept. 5 and March 5, 2018 are eligible to apply for renewal before Oct. 5. If their application is accepted, their DACA protections will continue for two more years.

But what happens to those DACA recipients who didnt fall within that renewal window? People flocked to LUCHAs Phoenix offices looking for help with the application process. Sometimes, the staff at LUCHA was able to help.

Sometimes, they had to deliver the bad news.

I think I even cried at one point, Nunez said. It was even worse for me because I had to tell one of my cousins personally that she couldnt renew anymore and we were just about to send in her paperwork.

Nunez was born in the United States and is a United States citizen, as are her two younger brothers. Her older sister, Aracely, is not.

Aracely Nunez is a 22-year-old DACA recipient. She was born in Mexico and brought to the U.S. when she was 2 years old. She hasnt been back to Mexico since. Her DACA protections expire after March 5, 2018, meaning she isnt eligible to renew.

Now shes been talking about maybe going back to Mexico, Nunez said. But I dont think its the best choice for her because shes been here her whole l Nunez said her sisters situation is the motivation for her work at LUCHA.

Everything that Ive been doing is to show her that shes not alone in this, she said.

Jose Patino is in the same predicament as Aracely Nunez. Patino is the Director of Campaigns at Aliento, a youth-led organization which specializes on activism for undocumented people.

Patino is 28 years old. He was brought to the United States when he was 6. As he worked to help other DACA recipients with the renewal process through Aliento, he realized he wouldnt be eligible to renew his own protections. His DACA expires on Feb. 25, 2019.

He knows the date by heart.

He said he was happy that other recipients would be eligible for renewal, but upset and still saddened that he and others like him wouldnt be able to.

I think about the effect thats going to have on us, Patino said. One is losing our jobs. One is not having a drivers license.

When Patino was a child, he broke his left arm. His parents were undocumented, so they didnt have drivers licenses. The family waited three hours for a documented neighbor to return home to drive him to the hospital.

When he thought about his DACA protections expiring, Patino said he worried about moments like that happening to other families across the country.

Patino has three siblings. They are all DACA recipients. None of them are eligible to renew.

Joshua De La Ossa, an immigration lawyer in Phoenix, said he has had many painful conversations with clients who were ineligible for renewal. His advice was the same for each of them: Stay out of trouble, De La Ossa said. Do not come into contact with any state, local, or municipal law enforcement.

De La Ossa has attended several DACA renewal events across the Valley and advised the community to reach out to an immigration attorney to assess their particular situation. He said many people are eligible for other protections they might not be aware of.

It isnt clear what will happen to DACA recipients once their protections expire. Trump has given conflicting statements on the issue, including a tweet last month which told DACA recipients you have nothing to worry about.

But Nunez is worried about her sisters DACA protection expiring. Shes worried if her sister goes back to Mexico, she may not be able to come back to the United States in the future.

The countdown of her DACA expiring is coming to an end, Nunez said.

Nunezs parents have given their eldest daughter clear instructions.

They tell her, Youre not leaving until they kick you out, Nunez said. Thats kind of the mentality that we have.

Patino isnt planning on giving up either. Hes in Washington D.C. with other Aliento members lobbying Arizona senators and representatives in support of the DREAM Act.

We want to make sure were having dialogue and moving forward, Patino said. Its a human issue.

ife. She doesnt know anything over there.
She was all glamour and high fashion during fall fashion week season.

But back at home in Malibu, California, Kaia Gerber is enjoying some down time.

The 16-year-old was spotted on Monday grabbing a smoothie and a frozen yogurt at shopping mall by herself.

Me day! She was all glamour and high fashion during fall fashion week season but back at home in Malibu, California, Kaia Gerber is enjoying some down time

The brunette sported some camouflage pants, a floppy hat, and trendy shoes as she wore minimal makeup.

Meanwhile it was revealed, she was shocked to hear she would be sharing the catwalk with her famous supermodel mother Cindy Crawford, 51, during Milan Fashion Week, according to People magazine.

To the 16-year-old stunner's surprise, she was booked to share her first runway with Cindy during the famed Donatella Versace spring show in September at La Triennale di Milano.

Sweet tooth! The 16-year-old was spotted on Monday grabbing a smoothie and a frozen yogurt at shopping mall by herself

Going incognito: The brunette sported some camouflage pants, a floppy hat, and trendy shoes as she wore minimal makeup

Crawford shared that she had been booked for the Versace runway before her daughter knew where she would be walking.

'Finally Kaia got booked for it, and I said, You know Im doing that show, right?'' Cindy said of her conversation with her youngest child.

'Shes like, Wait, do we have to walk down together? Cindy said of her daughter's bewilderment at the duo sharing a runway.

Driving Miss Gerber: The teen recently got her license to drive in California

Model mayhem: Kaia was shocked to hear she would be sharing the catwalk with her famous supermodel mother Cindy Crawford, 51, during Milan Fashion Week, according to People magazine; seen at the Versace show in September

Golden girls: Cindy walked alongside a powerhouse of famous models during the gilded tribute to Donatella's late brother Gianni, including Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Cambell and Helena Christensen

'I said, No. I dont even want to walk down with you. Im going to walk down with the ladies that are my age.

'You can go with the girls that are your age.'

Cindy walked alongside a powerhouse of famous models during the gilded tribute to Donatella's late brother Gianni, including Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Cambell and Helena Christensen.

The mother-of-two also admitted that she was unaware that walking the specific runway would turn into a family affair.

Family affair! Kaia was surprised she was booked to share her first runway with Cindy during the famed Donatella Versace spring show in September at La Triennale di Milano; the Crawford-Gerber family seen during Paris Fashion Week in September

Model behavior: Kaia's star is on the rise as she opened Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show in October (left) and Alexander Wang's New York Fashion Week show in September (right)

'I didnt know my daughter was doing that show, Crawford said about the Versace runway. 'The models themselves dont really get booked until the day before or two days before. '

Kaia's star is on the rise as she opened Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show in October and Alexander Wang's New York Fashion Week show in September.

Between raising her family with tequila-tycoon and former model husband Rande Gerber and also playing the role of mother to their 18-year-old model son Presley, Crawford shared that she hesitated to let Kaia jump into the world of fashion at such a young age.

'In some ways, I wish I could have pushed it off a year or two,' Crawford said. 'But shes 16. Thats how old I was when I started, which is young, but in fashion thats kind of the normal age when people start.'

Rande and Cindy will soon celebrate their 20-year wedding anniversary after marrying in a small ceremony on the beach in 1998.

'The great thing for my kids is that I know a lot about that world,' Crawford said. 'I feel like: Who better to help guide them than me?'
The late Carrie Fisher returns to her role of Princess Leia for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as seen in a brand new trailer for the saga which debuted on Monday.

In the trailer, the actress, who died at age 60 last year, looks fearful and deep in contemplation as it's suggested her on-screen son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), is considering blowing up her ship.

'Let the past die,' Kylo's voice can be heard as he hurtles through an outer space war zone. 'Kill it, if you have to.'

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Icon: The late Carrie Fisher returns to her role as Princess Leia for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as a brand new trailer for the saga debuted on Monday

'That's the only way you'll become what you're meant to be,' he adds.

Kylo appears apprehensive as he weighs his options before placing his thumb on the trigger.

The scene cuts back to Leia, as she stands in anticipation.

Kylo had already killed his father, Han Solo, in the last installment of the sci-fi saga, The Force Awakens.

Fearful: The iconic actress can be seen looking completely in awe as she stands inside a ship

'Kill it': In the trailer, Fisher stands inside the ship, looking contemplative as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), hurtles through an outer space war zone

Suspense: The scene cuts back to Leia, as she stands in anticipation

Hesitation: Kylo appears apprehensive as he weighs his options before placing his thumb on the trigger

Going to the dark side? 'I need someone to show me my place in all this,' she tells Kylo

The trailer's ending, however, ends on a truly suspenseful note that will leave fans on the edge of their seats.

In a major twist of events, it's implied Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) considers going to the dark side.

'I need someone to show me my place in all this,' she tells Kylo.

Moment of truth: The scene ends with him offering her his hand - though her decision remains uncertain, as the trailer ends then

Heroine: The trailer starts off with Rey inspecting her light saber

Action-packed: John Boyega makes his war through a fiery action scene

Fan favorite: Chewbacca made an appearance in the film as he made his iconic cry

There he is! Oscar Isaac returns as Poe Dameron

The scene ends with him offering her his hand - though her decision remains uncertain, as the trailer ends then.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017.

It comes less than a year after the death of Carrie, who died at age 60 from cardiac arrest.

A new poster for the sci-fi film prominently features Carrie, as she's surrounded by her cast mates.

Mysterious: An eeire creature reaches out to Ridley in the trailer

He's back: Mark Hamill appeared with Ridley in the start of the trailer

Coming soon: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017
Jennifer Garner was all smiles Monday as she enjoyed a stroll in her Los Angeles neighborhood.

The actress, 45, looked fit and fabulous as she showed off her gym-honed figure in skintight black leggings paired with a pretty patterned sweater.

She wore her long hair tied back into a ponytail and sported her favorite pair of tortoiseshell-framed sunglasses.

In a good mood: Jennifer Garner was all smiles Monday as she enjoyed a stroll in her Los Angeles neighborhood

Jen seemed upbeat even while it's reported her ex-husband and father of her three children Ben Affleck is back getting treatment for his alcohol addiction.

The Oscar winner was seen at a LA rehab center on Friday before heading to New York where he spent the weekend with his girlfriend, TV producer Lindsay Shookus.

Ben and Jen finalized their divorce earlier this year after announcing in the summer of 2015 that they were separating after ten years of marriage.

They continue to co-parent Violet, 11, Seraphina, eight, and Samuel, five, who reside with the Alias star in LA.

Getting some air: The fresh-faced actress, 45, wore her long hair tied back into a ponytail and sported her favorite pair of tortoiseshell-framed sunglasses

The mother of three, who's divorced from Ben Affleck, looked fit and fabulous as she showed off her gym-honed figure in skintight black leggings paired with a pretty patterned sweater

While in the Big Apple, Affleck attended the Saturday Night Live taping where Shookus works.

The actor and director and Shookus, 37, have become inseparable since going public with their relationship over the summer even though they are based on opposite sides of the U.S.

Lindsay - who resides in New York - has a daughter whom she shares with ex-husband and SNL alum Kevin Miller.

Back in March, the Batman star announced he had completed a residential treatment program for his addictions.

He wrote in a Facebook post: 'I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I've dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be.'

Meeting up: Affleck, 45, spent the weekend in New York with his girlfriend, TV producer Lindsay Shookus, 37. They're pictured separately on Saturday in the Big Apple

In need of help: It emerged last week that the Oscar winner is once again seeking treatment for his alcohol addiction. He announced back in March he'd completed residential rehab
Kodak Black has been indicted by a grand jury in South Carolina for alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in February 2016.

The 20-year-old Florida rapper, real name Dieuson Octave, was indicted by a grand jury in Florence County of first-degree criminal sexual assault, according to an article Monday by ABC-15 in South Carolina.

A Florence County sheriff's deputy in a report said the assault occurred in February 2016 after Octave performed at the Treasure City nightclub in Florence, South Carolina.

Criminal indictment: Kodak Black, shown in Los Angeles in August, has been indicted by a grand jury in South Carolina for alleged first-degree sexual assault

The teenage victim reported the assault to her school nurse and the nurse alerted the Florence County Sheriff's Department.

A sheriff's report said Octave allegedly assaulted the girl at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Florence.

The victim told authorities she accompanied Octave after the show back to his hotel room and he allegedly said he 'couldn't help himself' before he assaulted her.

Octave allegedly pushed the girl into a wall and onto a bed and then repeatedly bit her on the neck and breast before raping her, according to a report by TMZ.

Florida rapper: The rapper, real name Dieuson Octave, is shown performing in August in Miami

The rapper was extradited in November 2016 to Florence from Florida to face the sexual assault charges.

He was released from the Florence County Detenttion Center on December 1 after posting a $100,000 bond.

The rapper within hours of his release recorded and released the single There He Go that referenced his release from jail.

In court: Octave is shown in May during a court hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida related with his violation of house arrest in a different criminal case

Octave, if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Bond conditions prohibit Octave from commenting on the allegations in print, electronic, digital or social media, according to Twelfth Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements.

He also was ordered not to have any contact with the victim or her family.

A trial date has not yet been set.
He placed his ritzy Perth home on the market with an asking price of over $500K in August.

And former Bachelor star Richie Strahan has finally sold his Cloverdale pad for a reported $560K, according to 9Honey.

According to the publication, the newly-built home had been rented out for the past year while Richie prepared moving to Melbourne to live with then-girlfriend Alex.

Moving on! The Bachelor's Richie Strahan has sold his Perth home d for a reported $560K

While the fly-in-fly-out rope access technician has remained tight-lipped about his living arrangements going forward, 9Honey have claimed Richie will still relocate to Melbourne- despite his recent break-up.

It seems unlikely that he will enjoy a romantic reunion once he does move to Alex's neighbourhood, however, as the blonde Instagram model has been spotted putting on steamy displays with her new lover ' Maegan Luxa in recent months.

Richie had purchased his Perth property (with a detached two-bedroom house) in mid-2008 for $420,000 before knocking down the existing home and building the current structure in 2015.

Change of plan? The newly-built home had been rented out for the past year while Richie prepared moving to Melbourne to live with then-girlfriend Alex Nation

Avoiding the neighbours? It seems unlikely that he will enjoy a romantic reunion once he does move to Alex Nation's neighbourhood, however, as the blonde Instagram model has been spotted putting on steamy displays with her new lover ' Maegan Luxa (right) in recent months

Luxury living: The spacious abode, which was sold by agent Robin Welsh of Welsh Real Estate, boasts four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with two of the bedrooms hosting ensuites

The spacious abode, which was sold by agent Robin Welsh of Welsh Real Estate, boasts four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with two of the bedrooms hosting ensuites.

The master bedroom has his-and-hers walk-in robes and private access to a paved courtyard.

Its listing also included a double garage, ducted reverse cycle air-conditioning and a stylish kitchen with stone benchtops and dishwasher.

Glamorous abode: Agent Robin Welsh, of Welsh Real Estate, said the modern 'near-new' house was 'finished off beautifully'

Spick and span: The stylish kitchen comes with stone benchtops and a dishwasher

'The new owners will certainly appreciate that': Richie claimed he didn't compromise on quality or design and maximised on the living quarters

Room to grow! The spacious abode has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with two of the bedrooms having ensuites

'It is a modern near-new house which has been finished off beautifully... It has an upmarket feel to it and its been styled very well. Richies got a good eye for design,' Robin Welsh told Domain in August.

Richie also told the publication: 'My favourite features have to be how spacious it is and the layout of the master bedroom. I designed the home to really maximise the living quarters and have a holiday home feel to it.'

'I didnt compromise on quality or design  the new owners will certainly appreciate that.'

Adding to its holiday feel, the property features a home theatre, a tiled open-plan living zone and an alfresco area.

The alfresco area extends from the kitchen and is covered with a roof.

Lush! The main bathroom has a bath

Over: Fans predicted their relationship to be doomed from the start, as Richie lived and worked in Western Australia, while Alex was located in Melbourne with her son Elijah
He's been going steady with model Imogen Anthony since 2012.

And Kyle Sandilands has revealed on The Kyle And Jackie O show that he had to improve his sexual prowess with his model girlfriend.

Talking with Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko, the 46-year-old said he was being lazy in bed with the 26-year-old.

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'I was a bit lazy for a while': Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands has revealed on he had to improve his sexual prowess with his model girlfriend Imogen Anthony, 26 (pictured)

'I was a bit lazy for a while and then she (Imogen) goes 'oh now everyone thinks you're a dead r**t.'

'I thought, "Aw, I better make some improvements in that area." So now I'm unreeling it,' he continued the radio shock jock boasted about his skills adding that they both 'pass out at the end'.

Their conversation about his abilities in the bedroom come after Kyle told Jackie and Roxy that he 'did not mind being 'a hottie's toy.'

Upping his game: The 46-year-old said 'I thought, "Aw I better make some improvements in that area." So now I'm unreeling it,' he continued the radio shock jock boasted about his skills adding that they both 'pass out at the end'

He admitted: 'I'll just lay down nude and say "do what you want with me, babe".

Co-host Jackie O joked, 'so she puts make-up on you?'

While Roxy also chime in, saying: 'Kyle the starfish,' to the laughs of the studio.

Seemingly concerned with gossip about his dull performance in the bedroom, he asked Roxy if Imogen had told her about him, to which she said no.

'Kyle the starfish?': The radio shock jock admitted: 'I'll just lay down nude and say "do what you want with me, babe" (pictured with Imogen)

This chat comes after Imogen Anthony shared racy photos of herself over the weekend posing naked in a bath.

In the raunchy photo, the model has stripped off and perched herself on the edge of a filled bathtub with a towel wrapped around her head.

'Pour some sugar on me...' she wrote in the caption.
Her husband was tragically killed in a car accident in December of 2015.

But on Saturday, actress Tiffany Thornton found forever again, as she happily married church worship leader Josiah Capaci.

While their union should have been a joyous occasion for the couple, the former Disney Channel star found herself defending her new marriage come Monday.

Wedded bliss: On Saturday, former Disney Channel actress Tiffany Thornton, 31, happily wed church worship leader Josiah Capaci

'This. This is love. That all encompassing, enduring, accepting, near perfect love,' began the 31-year-old, alongside a wedding day photo of the couple.

Tiffany then addressed a few trolls who felt that the star had moved on too soon.

'The kind that trumps my need to snap back at people who have the audacity to comment on my Instagram about whether I loved my first husband or not. But let me take a moment to explain something to you. There is no timeline for grief or for when God moves in your life in undeniable ways. '

Lost love: Tiffany was previously wed to late husband Christopher Carney for three years, before he tragically passed away in a car crash in December of 2015

'This. This is love': While their union should have been a joyous occasion for the couple, the former Disney Channel star found herself defending her new marriage come Monday

'There is no timeline for grief': Tiffany addressed a few trolls who felt that the star had moved on too soon

'Couldn't be happier for you T': The star received a little encouragement from her former Sonny With a Chance co-star, Demi Lovato

'He would have loved the choice I made': Tiffany believed her former husband, Chris Carney, would have 'loved' Josiah (pictured above), as he would become a second father two their sons

Tiffany recalled the many emotions she felt during her special day, including her thoughts on how her former husband, Chris Carney, would have 'loved' Josiah.

'I thought of Chris watching us and knowing he would have loved the choice I made, for me and for the boys. I thought of Chris's amazing parents sitting front row and how much of a blessing they have been and will forever be in our lives. How happy they are for the boys and I and how much they already love Josiah.

'I am so completely humbled by the love I receive from this man. Jo came along EXACTLY when God knew I needed him.'

'All smiles. All joy. All grace. All God. So thankful for MY WIFE!': Husband Josiah shared this photo of their wedding day on his Instagram

'I'm getting married': Josiah was overjoyed when the couple became engaged in April

Cute little guests: Tiffany's sons, Kenneth James, five, and Bentley Cash, three, are seen above at the couple's wedding

The mother-of-two wanted to make it clear that she loved both of the men who were, and are, part of her life.

'...When I say "Jo is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me" that in no way indicates that I didn't love my first husband with all that I had. How dare any one of you judge me and say that on a social platform,' she noted.

'It doesn't make you any better of a person to cast judgment on others and sit in the seat of mockers. I will always love chris and jo knows that. And I will always love Jo. The beautiful thing about love is that it multiplies as new blessings come into your life.'

'Pray for me to be a good husband and father': Josiah shared this photo of his then soon-to-be wife and her two sons. He noted that her boys 'say they say they have 3 dads: "Jesus daddy, daddy daddy, and Jo-Daddy"'

Gone too soon: On December, 4, 2015, Tiffany's first husband Chris was tragically killed in a car crash. He is seen with their two sons

On December, 4, 2015, Tiffany's first husband Chris was tragically killed in a car crash.

The couple were married for just three years at the time, having wed in November 2011.

Following their union, Tiffany gave birth to their first child, Kenneth James, five, in August 2012. Second son Bentley Cash, three, was born just over a year-and-a-half later in March 2014.
She released her latest single with a complete overhaul of her own Instagram.

But on Monday, Taylor Swift gave fans the surprise of a lifetime on the social media platform.

The Look What You Made Me Do songstress took to Instagram to 'lurk' on Swift super-stans, sending comments, likes and even a few direct messages directly from the starlet herself.

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Love you too! Taylor Swift (above in February) gave fans the surprise of a lifetime Monday on when she swooped into livecasts, direct messages and more to send love to fans on Instagram

The superstar got super personal with her supporters, asking them about their projects, pets and health during the social media spree.

Taylor tuned into several fan's livestreams to surprise them with shout outs and compliments, while explaining that she found several of the fans from her old Tumblr or various fan groups.

The noted cat lover even asked fans about their own felines, asking 'IS YOUR CAT THERE TOO?' during one supporter's live feed.

Heart eyes! The superstar got super personal with her supporters, asking them about their projects, pets and health during the social media spree

Feel the love! Taylor tuned into fan's livestreams and slide into their direct messages to surprise them with shout outs and compliments

Charting a course: Though Taylor was sending fans over the moon, it didn't look like that was helping her song Look What You Made Me Do from slipping down to number five on the charts

Though Taylor was sending some fans over the moon, it didn't look like the social media stunt was helping her new singles from slowly slipping down the charts.

Though Look what You Made me Do, the lead single from her upcoming release Reputation, lead the Billboard 100 since its music video release late August until the end of September.

But on October 7, rapper Cardi B's Bodack Yellow dethroned Swift's single, which has since sunk to number five on the list.

The cat's meow! The noted cat lover even asked fans about their own felines, asking 'IS YOUR CAT THERE TOO?' during one supporter's live feed

Everyone lurks! The Reputation artist explained that she found several of the fans from her old Tumblr or various fan groups

(Swift's dark electro pop track Ready For it is currently charting at 39, down five spots from the week prior.)

Taylor will head out on tour for the first time since late 2015 this December.

She'll kick off tour in San Jose, California for radio station 99.7 Now!s Poptopia on December 2 and will be in Chicago for B96's Jingle Bash on December 7.

The country-pop crossover's forthcoming album, Reputation, is set for release on November 10 2017.
Eighteen years after they fell in lust for the first time on the big screen, Tara Reid and Thomas Ian Nicholas were back together Monday night in Hollywood.

Reid, 41, showed up to support Nicholas, 37, at the premiere of his new film The Lost Tree at the Chinese Theatre.

The pair found fame as Vicky and Kevin in the raunchy comedy American Pie in 1999.

Reunited: Eighteen years after they fell in lust for the first time on the big screen, American Pie co-stars Tara Reid and Thomas Ian Nicholas were back together Monday night in Hollywood

They both reprised their roles in the sequel American Pie 2 in 2001 and 2012's American Reunion.

In an Instagram post, Reid shared a snap of herself with her former co-star and called him 'my first.'

The actress wore a black ankle-length dress with a semi sheer panel at the bust.

She added a sequinned jacket and wore her bright blonde hair up in a ponytail.

Still friends: Reid, 41, showed up to support Nicholas, 37, at the premiere of his new film The Lost Tree at the Chinese Theatre

Nicholas wore a navy blue suit with a white shirt and black tie.

The R-rated American Pie was an instant blockbuster catapulting its cast including Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott and Chris Klein to international fame.

The movie revolved around high school students who pledged to each lose their virginity before graduation.

It got its title from a now infamous scene in which Biggs is caught having sex with an apple pie.

In lust: The pair found fame as Vicky and Kevin in the raunchy comedy American Pie in 1999 and reprised their roles twice more in the 2001 sequel and 2012's American Reunion

R-rated: American Pie, which also starred Jason Biggs, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Chris Klein, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Natasha Lyonne and Mena Suvari was about high school students trying to lose their virginity before graduation

Nicholas, now a father of two, has combined his acting with a career as a musician.

He as released five albums since his first in 2008.

Reid, meanwhile, had a recurring role on the TV series Scrubs and is a fan favorite in the Sharknado series of made-for-TV movies.
She's been promoting her latest film with her co-stars, stopping off in Zurich over the weekend.

But despite the busy schedule Claire Foy looked fresh as a daisy as she attended the Breathe premiere with Andrew Garfield in New York on Monday.

The English actress, 33, and British-American Andrew, 34, put on a chic display for the event.

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What jet lag? Claire Foy looked fresh as a daisy as she attended the Breathe premiere with Andrew Garfield in New York on Monday

Showing off her long lithe figure, Claire slipped into an ankle-skimming white gown featuring a semi transparent decolletage adorned with delicate dots.

Her corset style neckline shone through underneath the lace layover, offering a glimpse of her freckled complexion.

Accentuating her figure in black strappy sandals, the talented star wore her hair in a sleek centre parting, leaving her flawless complexion make-up free as she posed alongside Andrew.

And Andrew looked equally smart in a well cut navy suit, teaming it with a crisp dark shirt and black tie as he smiled for cameras.

Turning heads: The English actress, 33, and British-American Andrew, put on a chic display for the event

Standing out: Showing off her long lithe figure, Claire slipped into an ankle-skimming white gown featuring a semi transparent decolletage adorned with delicate dots (pictured with director Andrew Serkis)

Claire and Andew star in Breathe, which tells the true story of Robin and Diana Cavendish who refuse to give up hope when Robin falls ill with polio and is paralysed from the neck down.

Set in the 1950's, the couple are tasked with the challenges of the devastating disease and against all odds fight for disability rights.

Claire slips into the shoes of the devoted lover, while Andrew takes on the part of her poorly other half.

Statuseque: Showing off her long lithe figure, Claire slipped into an ankle-skimming white gown featuring a semi transparent decolletage adorned with delicate dots

Detail: Her corset style neckline shone through underneath the lace layover, offering a glimpse of her freckled complexion

It is the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, famed for his roles in Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes, and will hit cinemas in 2017.

On Wednesday's episode of Lorraine, the 53-year-old actor had been quick to gush about working with the pair on his first film.

He told Lorraine Kelly: 'Andrew and Claire are just extraordinary together. The chemistry they had was phenomenal.'

Before adding of the film itself: 'We're living in times where tragedies occur on a daily basis, and thats where the film really relates.'

Well turned out: Andrew looked equally smart in a well cut navy suit, teaming it with a crisp dark shirt and black tie as he smiled for cameras
Harrison Ford has made no secret of the fact that he accidentally punched his co-star Ryan Gosling on set of Blade Runner 2049.

And Good Morning Britain's Richard Arnold was keen on Piers Morgan getting the same treatment from the Hollywood silver fox, 75, as he asked him if he could punch the British TV host, 52, on Tuesday's episode.

Looking back at the interview on-screen, Piers seemed to be all guns blazing for the showdown as he noted that Harrison was keen on the idea.

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Hilarious: Good Morning Britain's cheekily Richard Arnold asked Harrison Ford, 75, if he could punch Piers Morgan, 52, on Tuesday's episode

Hitting back: Looking back at the interview on-screen, Piers seemed to be all guns blazing for the showdown as he noted that Harrison was keen on the idea

'The suggestion will not go un-ignored,' Harrison cheekily told Richard as he sat alongside hunky Ryan.

'The suggestion will not go un-ignored!' an outraged Piers copied the iconic Star Wars actor.

Poking fun of the situation, Piers continued: 'Well that's a direct threat, isn't it? Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones, has just made a direct clear threat to cause me physical harm!'

His annoyance wasn't shared by co-host Susanna Reid, who admitted: 'Right. And he's welcome anytime according to Richard Arnold.'

Hollywood star: Harrison seemed keen on engaging Piers in an Indiana Jones inspired showdown - Pictured in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom', 1984

'The suggestion will not go un-ignored': Harrison seemed to like the idea of the showdown with Piers

'Well that's a direct threat, isn't it?' An outraged Piers admitted 'bring it on!'

Piers then fearlessly admitted: 'Well, you know what? Bring it on Indiana, I'm ready for you buddy!'

The hilarious potential showdown came after Harrison and Ryan, 36, were clearly taken aback by Alison Hammond's interview technique as they chatted with the presenter during an episode of This Morning last week.

Kicking off proceedings, Alison, 42, quipped: 'Bleak, dystopian, an absolute nightmare to be honest... and that's just my interviewing technique. But let's talk about the movie Blade Runner 2049...'

'He's welcome to punch him anytime!' Piers' annoyance wasn't shared by co-host Susanna Reid

Ready to go! Harrison has perfected his ability to pack a punch thanks to his role in the action-packed Indiana Jones franchise - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Amused: The hilarious potential showdown came after Harrison and Ryan, 36, were clearly taken aback by Alison Hammond's interview technique as they chatted with the presenter during an episode of This Morning last week

Clearly amused by the antics, Harrison joked: 'Cheer up, it's a lovely day in London lets keep it that way! Not the intro we were promised...'

As the trio collapsed in fits of giggles, Ryan held up a tumbler which appeared to be filled with whiskey, before Harrison also took a glug.

Asked whether the pair had started drinking, Ryan quipped: 'I feel this is where it's headed,' before the trio once again began laughing.

Laughs: Kicking off proceedings, Alison, 42, quipped: 'Bleak, dystopian, an absolute nightmare to be honest... and that's just my interviewing technique'

Attempting to steer the interview back on track, Alison approached Harrison, asking: 'When you got the call to say, "we're making another Blade Runner and we want you to be in it", what was your reaction?'

But the events had taken a wry turn as he shot back 'So what?'

Taking matters into his own hands, Ryan then tried to take control asking: 'Is this an interview?... Do you guys need help with the cameras?' before jumping up and taking control of one of the machines.

Time for a drink! As the trio collapsed in fits of giggles, Ryan held up a tumbler which appeared to be filled with whiskey, before Harrison also took a glug

Blade Runner 2049 is the highly-anticipated sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic.

Harrison reprises his role as Rick Deckard while Ryan Gosling plays LAPD Officer K, a new Blade Runner who discovers a dark secret that could end humanity.

The discovery leads him to Deckard who disappeared 30 years ago with replicant Rachael, played by Sean Young in the original.
She's known for her love of animals, and has even set up an Instagram account for her hoard of pets.

And Paris Hilton, 36, showed just how much she spoils her pooches, as she took her little Chihuahua out with her shopping in Los Angeles on Monday evening.

The socialite looked incredibly glamorous in a thigh-flashing burgundy skirt, as she took her adorable pet to hit the stores.

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Cute: Paris Hilton, 36, showed just how much she spoils her pooches, as she took her little Chihuahua out with her shopping in Los Angeles on Monday evening

The glamazon wore a sultry black leotard under her skirt, which featured sheer sleeves to give a glimpse of her toned arms.

She donned a pair of knee high boots, and carried a trendy leather jacket, at one point putting it on to pose up a storm.

Paris wore her honey blonde tresses in a loose, tousled 'do, and sported glowing make up to make the most of her radiant complexion.

Glamorous: The socialite looked incredibly glamorous in a thigh-flashing burgundy skirt, as she took her adorable pet to hit the stores

Despite it being dark outside, she wore a pair of large sunglasses, living up to her A-list status.

The Simple Life star wrapped a racy choker around her neck, and grinned as she strolled along the promenade while clutching her beloved pet.

Paris has been dating actor Chris Zylka, 32, since 2016 - and he has fully committed to their relationship by getting her name tattooed on his forearm.

Hell for leather: She donned a pair of knee high boots, and carried a trendy leather jacket, at one point putting it on to pose up a storm

Beach babe: Paris wore her honey blonde tresses in a loose, tousled 'do, and sported glowing make up to make the most of her radiant complexion

Paris is a mother to over 10 animals, where the four legged friends live in their own mini mansion at her Bel Air estate.

She exclusively told DailyMail.com: 'Chris loves kids just like I do... I can't wait to have my own child one day and how special that feeling would be.'

In March, she also described her The Leftovers beau as 'the one'.

Speaking to a TMZ cameramen at the airport on the way to Miami for Ultra Music festival, Paris was asked if he was 'the one,' to which she nodded in response, adding for people to 'stay tuned' about their budding romance.
Made In Chelsea was back and showing disturbing signs of not being identical to all the other series it has churned out during the last six years  thirteen of them (plus four summer spin-offs).

Yes, the Wind of Change had swept down the Kings Road. MiC 14 was going to be more complicated and contemporary  a radical concept that bordered on the revolutionary.

The girls were not presented as the dumb blondes we have come to know and love/loath.

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Fierce: They were strong women Olivia Bentley insisted  going into libraries (albeit to prove just how intelligent they really were) or having coffees discussing topical issues like is Veganism a fad? as well as where did you get that lipstick?

They were strong women Olivia Bentley insisted  going into libraries (albeit to prove just how intelligent they really were) or having coffees discussing topical issues like is Veganism a fad? as well as where did you get that lipstick?

More than that, the familiar formula of the show had been ripped up.

I dont want to dwell on the past! Jamie Laing declared, vowing viewers would not be suffering himself, Mad Frankie Gaff, and the others interminably re-hashing the old arguments and affairs for yet another season.

All this back and forth stuff is really childish, Victoria reiterated later.

Really childish, Lucy Watsons Sister agreed.

Julius Cowdrey went even further.

I just want to put an end to this negative energy! he wailed.

I am so over it! Olivia echoed.

It certainly all promised to be incredible.

If only it had lasted, or even really happened.

There were highs as well as lows from Episode One...

The good and the bad: There were highs as well as lows from Episode One...

HIGHS

1. Proudlock: the true, cool spirit of Made In Chelsea

Jamie: Were doing a singles party!

Proudlock: A singles pardy...

A vital correction.

2. Victorias drip and chill

The summer really drained me. Im exhausted! MiCs most stylish, sexless diva sighed, explaining why she was hooked up to an intravenous drip. She claimed it contained B12, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin C but given her resemblance to one of The Walking Dead or vampiress Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger it looked suspiciously red.

What a drip: MiCs most stylish, sexless diva sighed, explaining why she was hooked up to an intravenous drip

3. Victorias vegan rant

Oh my God I hate vegans! Victoria sneered glamorously. I hate the ones that write it on their Instagram bio. I dont like vegans. I dont like feminists and I dont like people are gluten free!

4. Toffs vegan joke

How do you know if someones vegan? Theyll tell you!

5. Olivia Bentleys quest to introduce feminism into Made In Chelsea

I want to do an exhibition on strong women of Chelsea. I want to show that women can be strong, photographer Olivia Bentley said. Good luck with that. I want to show your intelligence, she told Toff. Admittedly her idea was to shoot Toff in a library wearing a short skirt but you have to start somewhere.

New meat: Hopefully the shows latest addition will be paired up with its resident photographer so we can relish the sight of Olivia in a club, frantically looking for Charlie

6. The name of MICs new guy Charlie Mills

Hopefully the shows latest addition will be paired up with its resident photographer so we can relish the sight of Olivia in a club, frantically looking for Charlie.

7. Dream couple Mytton and Melanie the new yoga teacher

Think how beautiful their children would be!

Deamy: Dream couple Mytton and Melanie the new yoga teacher look to get steamy in future episodes

8. Mimi the Easy Canadians chat-up line

So Charlie whats your type? What do you do for fun?

Mimis masterly opening gambit predictably ensured Charlie was powerless to resist.

What kind of fun are you talking about? he wondered.

Dont ask.

Setting her sights: Mimis masterly opening gambit predictably ensured Charlie was powerless to resist

9. The effortless way Mimi crushed Daisy

Daisy, trying to shame Mimi and divert her rival away from seducing Charlie, brought up her dalliance with Sam.

Mimi, fixing her eyes on Charlie: I think Im going to go for a taller guy this time

The work of a master.

10. Jamie Laing being free of Mad Frankie Gaff

Ive been with a girl who sucked the life out of me! he reiterated. In a bad way, presumably

LOWS

1.Lucy Watsons Sister and her new business venture

Im opening a Vegan restaurant!

Really, you hardly mentioned it.

V is for Vegan: Im opening a Vegan restaurant! Really, you hardly mentioned it

2. Charlie Mills making his entrance in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce

So cliched he looked like a Harry Enfield parody.

3. Louise breaking up with Ryan the human sex doll

Jamie announced that he and Louise were both single.

Any men in the SW1/SW3 area have been warned.

4. The thought of Jamie Laing and Louise Thompson hooking up

I thought there would be loads of people hair! Louise complained when she and Jamie met for a drink. Youve tricked mair to be on a night hout.

Thats what sex pests do.

Slip of the tongue? Jamie announced that he and Louise were both single'

5. Louise Thompson: MICs Homer Simpson

Jamie: I decided to go to this singles work out in the park!

Louise: What is that?

Its literally what is says. Its a singles work out. In the park.

You dont say.

6. Jamie Laings utter lack of self-awareness

If I do invite Frankie to the party and see her chatting to someone then Ill become a d**k!

So no change there then

7. Julius Cowdreys tantrum

You and I were so close! he wailed to Olivia. I would have counted on you for anything. The Liv that I knew was a friend

Biggest drama queen on the show.

Drama queen: You and I were so close! Julius wailed to Olivia. I would have counted on you for anything. The Liv that I knew was a friend

8. Daisy Robins face

When she saw Mimi the Easy Canadian introduce herself to Charlie she looked like a pug that had stubbed its toe

9. Daisy Robins lack of game compared to Mimi

Youve never had a boyfriend! Daisy pointed out when Mimi made her play for Charlie. You just like to dabble

Mimi: Are you saying that I get around?

Well, youre not called The Easy Canadian for nothing

Daisy, unwisely, back-tracked: No. Im just saying that youve dabbled with more men than um

No game: Daisy, unwisely, back-tracked - No. Im just saying that youve dabbled with more men than um

Blackadder himself would have struggled with an analogy that difficult.

Daisy hadnt thought it through and by humiliating herself only ensured Mimi crushed her.

10. Jamie ringing Frankie Gaff

Im kind of missing you he simpered.

Well you shouldnt have thrown that lame singles party! his ex- sniped.

Well she said it.
Cyclists Dani King and Matthew Rowe tied the knot in an idyllic ceremony in Wales at the end of September.

And the athletes have now dished all on their big day, which saw them say their vows at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, before enjoying their glorious reception at St Tewdrics House in Chepstow.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, the newly-weds admitted that their wedding was 'emotional' and like a 'fairy tale' - and also confessed that numerous shots were downed after the formal ceremony.

'It was amazing': Cyclists Dani King, 26, and Matthew Rowe, 29, have dished all on their big day after they tied the knot in an idyllic ceremony in Wales at the end of September

Dani and Matthew had been engaged for two years after he popped the question to 2015.

And the pair couldn't help but spill all on the most romantic day of their lives with Dani confessing: 'We were engaged for two years so it felt like the wedding was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. It was a fairytale day in every way.'

The London 2012 Olympic gold medallist continued: 'We knew it was going to be amazing but we werent prepared for just how amazing it was going to be.'

Matthew also offered the same testament to their wedding day: I felt so much joy seeing her walk down the aisle, I burst into tears!

Bliss: The newly-weds admitted that their wedding was 'emotional' and like a 'fairy tale' - and also confessed that numerous shots were downed after the formal ceremony

Loved-up: Dani, who is the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, had been engaged to Matthew for two years after he popped the question in 2015

'Im not normally a very emotional person but it came flooding over me when I saw her. It was quite overwhelming. I know it sounds like a cliche but she looked beautiful, theres no better word to describe her,' he continued.

And while the whole process proved to be 'formal', Matthew cheekily admitted that after the wedding breakfast the day after 'all the guys undid their ties and we all let loose. There were a lot of shots consumed!

Fellow cyclist Laura Kenny also served as Dani's bridesmaid on the day and she revealed why she was perfect choice.

'It was a fairytale': Dani couldn't help but spill all on the most romantic day of their lives

'I burst into tears when she walked down the aisle': Matthew also offered the same testament to their wedding day

New chapter: Dani and Matthew are currently honeymooning in Cape Town, South Africa

Out now: Read their full interview in OK! Magazine

'I first met Laura when I was 15 and we would race against each other in competitions. We formed a real bond in 2010 when we started trying to be selected for Team GB for the London 2012 Olympics.

'Weve always shared rooms together when were away competing so shes a very good friend of mine,' Dani admitted.

And the love went both ways as Dani served as Laura's bridesmaid the year before during her wedding to Jason Kenny.

Dani and Matthew are currently honeymooning in South Africa.

It's been a difficult few years for Dani as she recovered from a horror crash three years ago which left her fearing for her life.

She suffered five broken ribs and a collapsed lung after a fellow cyclist hit a pothole and collided with her.

Road to recovery: It's been a difficult few years for Dani as she recovered from a horror crash three years ago which left her fearing for her life




She's the fan favourite who had her heart broken by Richie Strahan on last year's season of The Bachelor.

But Nikki Gogan won't be getting a second chance at love via reality TV anytime soon as she has quashed rumours she will appear on Bachelor In Paradise.

On Tuesday she wrote in an Instagram post: 'I wish anyone that chooses to go on Bach in Paradise all the very very best, but I won't be joining them.'

Will she or won't she? Nikki Gogan FINALLY confirms whether she will be appearing in Bachelor in Paradise... after a report claimed the real estate agent had 'signed on' to the show

In the Instagram post, Nikki explained that she had been in Sydney last month filming an ad for contact lenses, not a promo for Bachelor In Paradise.

The bubbly real estate agent said she was already living her ideal life and wouldn't be looking to go on reality TV.

'My idea of paradise is relaxing with my family & friends - laughing, joking and just having a lovely time together,' Nikki wrote.

'I'm doing my best to live my paradise right here. Right now. I wish anyone that chooses to go on Bach in Paradise all the very very best, but I won't be joining them.'

Popular: Nikki became a fan favourite after appearing on The Bachelor in 2016

Nikki became a fan favourite after appearing on The Bachelor in 2016.

And viewers were outraged when she was dumped by Richie Strahan in favour of Alex Nation at the end of the season.

Nikki's announcement on Instagram comes days after NW Magazine claimed she had signed on to Bachelor In Paradise.

'The Bachelorette wasnt the right fit for Nikki  after having her heart broken in such a long, gruelling process on The Bachelor, she knew she didnt want to do that to someone else,' a source allegedly told the magazine.

Devstated: She caused fan outrage when she was dumped by Richie in favour of Alex Nation

'But Paradise is different  its a chance for her to have fun and potentially meet someone great in the process!'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Network Ten for comment.

Earlier this month Nikki fuelled speculation she would be appearing on the spin-off series, which sees former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants put on a tropical island together.

Keeping busy?Earlier this month Nikki fuelled speculation she would be appearing on the spin-off series, which sees former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants live on an island together

When approached for comment by News Corp, the West Australian real estate agent refused to confirm or deny the rumour.

'I am not going to comment,' she said.

Also tipped to appear in the series are Keira Maguire, Elora Murger, Cam Cranley and Jake Ellis.
He's starred in the graphic Showtime series since 2013 as ex-convict Mickey Donovan who arrived in Los Angeles to get what he feels is rightfully his.

And now Jon Voight's role is about to grab attention once again in the latest episode of US drama Ray Donovan when his violent character takes part in a drug-fuelled orgy.

The 78-year-old Hollywood actor stars alongside Liev Schreiber, 50, and follows former South Boston thug Ray, a 'fixer' who the Hollywood's elite call to make their problems disappear.

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Jaw-dropping: Jon Voight's role is about to grab attention once again in the latest episode of US drama Ray Donovan when his violent character takes part in a drug-fuelled orgy

But now Jon's character continues to defy his son's wishes as he arrives back to Ray's home with his friend Daryll to celebrate a lucrative movie deal.

However this is no ordinary celebration as Mickey brings back 12 prostitutes and copious amounts of cocaine into his son's family home without his permission.

Clad in a white T-shirt, Mickey enjoys the female company around him before it takes an even more flesh-flashing turn as he begins to use the buxom babes' bottoms as bongos.

Truly throwing caution to the wind, Mickey's impromptu party suddenly takes a turn for the worse when his horrified granddaughter Bridget - played by actress Kerris Dorsey - arrives home to catch him with smoking marijuana and his genitalia in his hand.

Wild: The 78-year-old Hollywood actor stars alongside Liev Schreiber, 50, and follows former South Boston thug Ray, a 'fixer' who the Hollywood's elite call to make their problems disappear

Scenes: The 78-year-old Hollywood actor stars alongside Liev Schreiber, 50, and follows former South Boston thug Ray, a 'fixer' who the Hollywood's elite call to make their problems disappear

Party time: But now Jon's character continues to defy his son's wishes as he arrives back to Ray's home with his friend Daryll to celebrate a lucrative movie deal

The graphic scene isn't out of the ordinary on the jaw-dropping show which is on its fifth series. While Jon's character has become a fan favourite and even earned him a Golden Globe in 2014 for his portrayal.

Elsewhere, in recent years Jon has mended his six-and-a-half year estrangement from daughter Angelina.

The star still best known for his appearance in the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy split from wife Marcheline Bertrand when their daughter was only an infant, with the two divorcing by the time Angelina turned four.

Uh oh: However this is no ordinary celebration as Mickey brings back 12 prostitutes and copious amounts of drugs into his son's family home without his permission

Musical: Clad in a white T-shirt, Mickey enjoys the female company around him before it takes an even more flesh-flashing turn as he begins to use the buxom babes' bottoms as bongos

Awkward: Truly throwing caution to the wind, Mickey's impromptu party suddenly takes a turn for the worse when his horrified granddaughter Bridget - played by actress Kerris Dorsey - arrives home to catch him with smoking marijuana and his genitalia in his hand

Jon and Angelina had only sporadic contact during her childhood, yet in her early TV and film work she still used her full name of Angelina Jolie Voight.

But, perhaps because she did not want to be seen as trading on her father's fame, she had dropped the Voight in favour of her middle name by the time she appeared as Lara Croft, a female version of Indiana Jones.

It is not known what caused her to fall out with Voight, who played her father Lord Croft in the movie.

By July 2002, however, she was applying to have her non-acting name legally changed to Angelina Jolie, losing the Voight.

Award-winning: The graphic scene isn't out of the ordinary on the jaw-dropping show which is on its fifth series. While Jon's character has become a fan favourite and even earned him a Golden Globe in 2014 for his portrayal (Pictured with Liev Schreiber)

Back on track: Elsewhere, in recent years Jon has mended his six-and-a-half year estrangement from daughter Angelina (Pictured in 2010)

The following month, Voight gave an interview on U.S. television in which he claimed his daughter, who had just adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox, had 'serious mental problems'.

'I'm broken-hearted... because I've been trying to reach my daughter and get her help, and I have failed and I'm sorry,' he said.

'Really I haven't come forward and addressed the serious mental problems she has spoken about so candidly to the press over the years, but I've tried behind the scenes in every way.'

Angelina responded by cutting off her father completely, saying that, as a new mother, she did not think it was healthy to associate with him.

In contact: Jon and Angelina had only sporadic contact during her childhood, yet in her early TV and film work she still used her full name of Angelina Jolie Voight (Pictured in 2011)

In an interview a year later, she said Voight's comments were damaging because they could have affected her relationship with Maddox.

'They could have decided he's right, she's crazy, let's remove that child from her custody, and that's unforgivable.

'My father and I don't speak. I don't believe that somebody's family becomes their blood. Because my son's adopted, and families are earned.'

Voight repeatedly tried to regain contact with his daughter, particularly after her mother's death from cancer in 2007.

In the past: By July 2002, however, she was applying to have her non-acting name legally changed to Angelina Jolie, losing the Voight (Pictured in 2001)

Damage: The following month, Voight gave an interview on U.S. television in which he claimed his daughter, who had just adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox, had 'serious mental problems'

And finally, with Pitt's blessing, she is said to have finally responded in 2009. To the surprise of many, Jon and Angelina were first pictured together in 2010, when he visited her on the Venice, Italy, set of The Tourist.

A friend of the actress told the Daily Mail at the time: 'Angie made the initial contact. Brad has been supportive - a key factor in her reaching out.'

Following news that Angelina had filed for divorce from Brad late last year, Jon spoke out in her support.

'Angelina's OK. She's holding on,' he said, adding that he planned to spend the festive season with his grandchildren.

Now, as Angelina begins her new life as a single mother, it seems she has forged a closer bond with the father she once despised.

Contact: Voight repeatedly tried to regain contact with his daughter, particularly after her mother's death from cancer in 2007
She shot to fame after playing alien Eleven on the Netflix science fiction drama Stranger Things in 2016.

And Millie Bobby Brown, 13, wore a stylish ensemble as she left the ITV studios in London on Tuesday.

The actress appeared to be in high spirits as she blew kisses to her fans and showed off her chic look.

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Stylish: Millie Bobby Brown, 13, wore a stylish ensemble as she left the ITV studios in London on Tuesday

Millie's navy dress consisted of an A-line skirt and featured structured, billowing sleeves adorned with bows.

She wore a pair of glittering heels, which matched her frock, and shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of round frame sunglasses.

The star tied her brunette tresses into a messy high bun, and smiled as she left the studios.

Chic: Millie's navy dress consisted of an A-line skirt and featured structured, billowing sleeves adorned with bows

Talented Millie has been acting since she was 10; she played young Alice for two episodes of Once Upon A Time In Wonderland in 2013.

But despite being catapulted to fame just three years later, the star has remained humble, gushing that she 'freaked out' when she heard she would be interviewed by seasoned actress Drew Barrymore for Teen Vogue.

'When I was told I was like, OMG! I was freaking out,' she dished to Barrymore, 42, during a phone interview for the magazine.

Glamorous: She wore a pair of glittering heels, which matched her frock, and shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of round frame sunglasses

'I dont know if you heard, but Ive been trembling on the phone this whole time!'

The British starlet gushed: 'This is probably one of the most exciting conversations Ive ever had. It means so much.'

Millie revealed that she was in Atlanta, Georgia, getting hair extensions for her new movie, the next installment of Godzilla.

'Dude, I feel you!' Drew replied. 'Ive been in so many chairs with so many extensions on so many movie sets.'

Talented: Talented Millie has been acting since she was 10; she played young Alice for two episodes of Once Upon A Time In Wonderland in 2013

Drew famously played Gertie in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982 when she was seven, so she has a lot in common with Millie Bobby, who gave a shout out to the movie saying: 'It was a huge reference point for (Stranger Things).

'They wanted me to feel like an alien but also have genuine relationships, like the one with Mike,' played by Finn Wolfhard.

For Teen Vogue's cover shot, the tween looked cute in a color block Unif sweater, Marni pants and Calvin Klein boots.

Humble: But despite being catapulted to fame just three years later, the star has remained humble, gushing that she 'freaked out' when she heard she would be interviewed by seasoned actress Drew Barrymore for Teen Vogue

And in answer to Drew's question about young girls prematurely aging themselves by how they dress, Millie replied: 'Ive never been one of those girls who dresses provocatively. Its just not me.

'I keep it as appropriate as possible. I wear tons of shorts and sneakers.

'My mum helps me look my age. Like, I can play with make-up, but I cant go crazy. Shes also like, You cant wear that crop top. '

Millie is also modeling for Raf Simons at Calvin Klein, revealing: 'Im not a model in the sense that I pose and just suck it up, Im like, Uh, no if something is itchy or not comfortable.'
Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey have been seen for the first time since calling off their divorce in September.

The two were side-by-side as they shopped for groceries in Los Angeles on Monday, but not display any affection. This comes just days after the Glee star said she was doing 'great' at home as she spent time with Dorsey, who she wed in 2014, and their son Josey.

During her 10 month split from Ryan, the actress romanced David Spade, 53.

Back on: Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey have been seen for the first time since calling off their divorce in September. The two were side-by-side as they shopped for groceries in Los Angeles on Monday

Naya wore an oversized Guess T-shirt with leggings and sneakers with a cap on and sun glasses. A wedding ring could not be seen.

Ryan was dressed down in a grey top and shorts with black Nike sneakers. He had on his wedding band.

They were in a parking lot with a cart. Their son was not seen.

Her look: Naya wore an oversized Guess T-shirt with leggings and sneakers with a cap on and sun glasses. A wedding ring could not be seen

On Friday she was seen hitting a convenience store in Los Angeles alone. She did not have her wedding ring on. And the Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, And Growing Up author did not seem to be in the best spirits.

But on Saturday Naya gave her fans a positive update.

'I'm doing great!' the beauty told UsWeekly at the Point Foundation Gala at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Their story: They wed in 2014 then split in 2016 and last week it was revealed they are back on; here they are seen in July 2016

'I really like being at home with my family and taking care of my kid. Cooking and decorating. I'm like a weird little Martha Stewart homebody,' said the brunette.

She and Ryan have son Josey, aged two.

She told People at the same event: 'It is what it is, but Im glad that my family is together.' The star also commented it was 'a personal decision' to stop divorce.

In April, Dorsey told Momtastic that she and Dorsey are 'very good at co-parenting.'

'Its always going to have its challenges logistically, but Josey is our priority,' she said. 'Were his parents. If everybody looks at it that way, it alleviates some of the drama. Doing whats best for Josey is really what it all boils down to.'

In pink: UsWeekly talked to Naya at the Point Foundation Gala at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Saturday. 'I really like being at home with my family and taking care of my kid. Cooking and decorating. I'm like a weird little Martha Stewart homebody,' said the brunette

The star dismissed her divorce paperwork from the actor in late September, according to E! News. They wed in 2014.

'She is back together with Ryan,' said a source close to the couple. 'They want to make it work for the sake of their son.'

In November 2016 she filed for divorce stating irreconcilable differences. She wanted legal and physical custody of their son with visitation rights for Dorsey.

Cute one: Together they have a son named Josey, who they welcomed in September 2015

'After much consideration, we have made the decision to end our marriage,' the two stars said in a joint statement at the time.

He's so yesterday: This comes after the 30-year-old beauty had a short lived romance with David Spade. Seen in April

'Our priority is and always will be our beautiful son that we share together. We will continue to be great co-parenting partners for him.

'We ask for respect and privacy for our family during this difficult time.'

In late March Naya had a new beau.

She was seen with actor David Spade at the pool at the Halekulani hotel on Waikiki beach in Hawaii.

They hugged and laughed as they got close.

Also there was Adam Sandler.

Naya made fun of the claims on social media, making it seem as if she was still single, but she was seen with David again later that spring.

In June she reportedly split from the funnyman.

Parents: 'She is back together with Ryan,' said a source close to the couple. 'They want to make it work for the sake of their son.' Seen in 2016

Before Ryan, Naya was engaged to Big Sean in 2013 but they split within months.

She also dated Glee co-star Mark Salling in 2010. He was sentenced on Monday for up to seven years in prison for child pornography charges.

He said he pleaded guilty 'because I am guilty of the charges.' He accepted '48-84 months of imprisonment.'

The star could have spent 20 years in jail and a lifetime of supervised release over the charges that stemmed from his December 29, 2015 arrest.

In 2016, the actor was indicted on two counts for receiving and possessing child pornography on his laptop computer and a flash memory drive.
When Jericho Malabonga arrived in Australia three years ago he was unemployed and took a job cleaning toilets at Jetstar.

But, despite being the winner of Australian Survivor and being $500,000 richer thanks to the prize money, the 25-year-old has revealed he won't quit his job at Qantas.

In an interview with Confidential on Wednesday, the Filpino-Australian protested that he enjoys his role as an international flight attendant too much to give it up.

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'I love my job!' Australian Survivor winner Jericho Malabonga says he won't quit as a Qantas flight attendant despite $500,000 prize money

'I love my job,' he told the publication.

The added: 'I don't think I would let this prize money change something I worked really hard for.'

Jericho went on to say that he hasn't even processed winning the show yet.

'I'm still pinching myself, I'm still in shock...in a week or two I might be like, holy crap, what just happened?' he said.

'I love my job': Despite the 25-year-old winning $500,000 in cash prize money, Jericho claims he will not be quitting his job as an international flight attendant at Qantas

'I'm still pinching myself, I'm still in shock': Jericho is still finding it hard to come to terms with outlasting 23 other contestants to win the show's second season

Jericho, who beat 32-year-old Tara Pitt to win the show, also said he hadn't figured out what he would spend his winnings on yet either.

He said that so far, the most expensive thing he has bought is a Go-Pro worth $400.

The young man from the Philippines outlasted 23 other contestants to win the title of Australian Survivor 2017 on Tuesday night, after spending 55 days in the Samoan jungle on the island of Upolu.

Nailbiting finale! Jericho beat out Queensland native Tara with four votes to three following a tense final tribal council

The final tribal council, which took place in Australia rather than Samoa, was extremely tense, and had Jericho and opponent Tara frequently tied for votes.

But with three votes for Tara and four votes for Jericho, the 25-year-old flight attendant claimed the final $500,000 cash prize.

Host Jonathon LaPaglia revealed on Tuesday that the show is yet to be picked up for another season on Channel Ten following dismal ratings.

However, he did suggest that the fact CBS has bought the network may change that.
She enjoyed a picture perfect trip to New York City in September, documenting it all in a series of carefully posed snaps shared to Instagram.

But Skye Wheatley has since revealed that not all of her American holiday was idyllic and has ranted about at a restaurant who the Big Brother star claimed were 'talking under their breath' about her and her friends.

'I'm the customer, I'm paying your wage so treat me nicely,' Skye exclaimed in her Youtube vlog.

'I'm the customer, I'm paying your wage!' Skye Wheatley accuses restaurant staff of 'talking under their breath' about the Big Brother star and her friends during NYC holiday

In the video, Skye explained that she and her friends had gone out for a meal, but there was a problem.

Skye claimed her friend Shani Grimmond had been berated by restaurant hostesses because she was wearing a crop top which showed the 'tiniest' bit of midriff, which was against the establishment's dress code.

'They were so rude, like the girls at the counter were talking underneath their breath and whatnot' Skye said.

Hit a snag: In the video, Skye explained that she and her friends had gone out and enjoyed a meal, which was delicious except for one problem

'So we were like ''whatever, we are going to give it back to you it's not like we live here!'

'Dinner was really good and the waiters were really nice and it was just the two females at the front desk.'

Visibly frustrated, Skye ended her rant by claiming the two women had thought they were better than her because they worked at an upscale eatery.

Broke the dress code: Skye claimed her friend Shani Grimmond (pictured right) had seen them berated by restaurant hostesses because she was wearing a crop top which showed the 'tiniest' but of midriff

'I hate when you go into fancy places and they think they're all that because they are working at a fancy restaurant,' she said.

'It's like I'm the customer, I'm paying your wage so treat me nicely!'

Rising to fame as a contestant on the last season of Big Brother in 2014, Skye has continued to make headlines thanks to her many surgical enhancements.

Got a boob job: The social media fanatic traveled to Bangkok in 2015 for a $3,800 breast augmentation

The social media fanatic traveled to Bangkok in 2015 for a $3,800 breast augmentation.

However, Skye later claimed the surgery was botched, leaving her with a 'double bubble' in one breast.

Since her boob job Skye has plumped her pout with lip fillers and had a nose job late last year.
The following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday, Oct. 5:

President Donald Trump has a penchant for speaking to international audiences as if hes addressing a campaign rally. He has boasted in phone calls to world leaders about the size of his adoring crowds and how big his Electoral College victory margin was.

No surprise, then, that his speech before the U.N. General Assembly last month included language about the Iran nuclear accord reminiscent of his 2016 rhetoric. A key sign that hes in campaign mode is when he diverges from his text and inserts phrases like believe me.

The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into, he told gathered leaders. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I dont think youve heard the last of it  believe me.

Even though his own secretary of defense, James Mattis, openly disagrees, Trump is threatening to scrap the Iran nuclear accord. All Americans should care because a nuclear-armed Iran, on top of a nuclear-armed North Korea, would constitute an international nightmare. And the only thing currently stopping Iran is the very accord that Trump wants to cancel.

In spite of his tough rhetoric, Trump has abided by the 2015 accord. In April, he certified that Iran is in compliance. He did it again in July. Another certification deadline looms next week, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly is urging Trumps approval.

Trump has sharply criticized the relaxation of harsh international sanctions and freeing up of frozen Iranian bank assets negotiated in exchange for Irans 25-year freeze on production of bomb-capable enriched uranium.

If Trump cancels the deal, the sanctions regime could collapse. Iran would become even freer to engage in international commerce and finance. Trump speaks as if it were solely a U.S.-Iranian accord. In fact, the United States is one of five principal partners  Britain, France, Russia and China  plus Germany and the European Union.

A U.S. pullout would free the others to go their own way. Several would likely jump at the chance to resume full commercial ties with Tehran.

It required years of deft and constant diplomacy to persuade Russia and China to go along with the sanctions regime, which created such harsh conditions inside Iran that the government felt compelled to make nuclear concessions.

As Trump has learned to his embarrassment with North Korea, the deterrence options are limited and consequences are huge should the United States abort the accord and decide to seek military retaliation. Experts say U.S. airstrikes would not significantly cripple Irans nuclear capabilities. And Iran has multiple ways to destabilize the region and interrupt Persian Gulf oil shipments in return.

The current formula isnt perfect, but its working. The Trump touch has no place where nuclear holocaust could result.

Elon Musks exciting quest for Mars

The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, Oct. 3:

Elon Musk didnt become a billionaire by thinking small. For nearly a decade, the Silicon Valley pioneer and futurist has put much of his considerable resources behind SpaceX, a reusable rocket program that has already played a key role in resupplying the International Space Station.

But Musks ambitions go far beyond picking up the slack NASA left behind when it ceded the commercial end of rocketry to the private sector.

During a recent speech before the International Astronautical Congress meeting in Australia, Musk reiterated his plan to get life support, construction and mining equipment to Mars within five years.

Astronauts sent to the Red Planet via SpaceX in 2024 will then begin laying the foundation for the first Martian outpost.

Musk also unveiled plans for an updated version of his SpaceX fleet called the Interplanetary Transport System, or BFR for Big Falcon Rocket, a major redesign of the original booster and cabin.

The enormous but sleek BFR will be able to accommodate as many as 100 people per rocket. It will be used to establish a base on the moon, where many of the skills and technologies needed to plant a successful Martian colony will be tested.

For those who believe the Martian and moonbase phases of Musks dream will never make it out of drydock, the entrepreneur announced that the same rockets will be used for making jaunts between New York and Shanghai in less than 45 minutes.

If SpaceX succeeds, then it will be possible to fly to and from the most remote cities on the planet in less than an hour. It is expected to become a very lucrative funding source.

All of this is very exciting, but there is reason to be skeptical that Musks timeline, especially as it pertains to Mars, is even possible.

Still, the world needs dreamers like Elon Musk. The most audacious explorers always come across as unrealistic until they succeed in doing what was previously thought impossible. If interplanetary travel is part of the next stage in human evolution, Musk will likely have some role in it.

Congress should ban bump stocks

The following editorial appeared in the Star Tribune on Friday, Oct. 6:

Yielding to intense and growing public pressure in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, some congressional Republicans and the White House are cautiously signaling support for a ban on bump stocks, the add-ons that can transform a semi-automatic weapon into a virtual machine gun.

Banning the devices would be a small  but important  development that could break years of gridlock and perhaps create a path forward for this nation to come together on ways to deal with growing gun violence.

A week ago, most Americans didnt know bump stocks existed. That changed when law enforcement officials found that Stephen Paddock had outfitted a dozen semi-automatic weapons with the devices, allowing him to unleash a cascade of gunfire that took 58 lives and injured nearly 500 concertgoers in a matter of minutes. Typically, only automatic weapons  still tightly regulated in the U.S.  would be capable of such high-speed destruction.

But about a decade ago, a cheap workaround to those federal restrictions hit the market. Bump stocks are unregulated, aftermarket devices that harness a semi-automatics natural recoil to bump the trigger repeatedly, allowing a near-continuous stream of gunfire. What the weapon loses in accuracy, it gains in sheer volume, firing, according to some claims, 100 rounds of ammunition in as little as seven seconds.

Incredibly, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under President Barack Obama signed off on the devices in 2010, declaring them to be firearms parts not subject to regulation. The cheapest bump stocks now sell for as little as $100. Sellers knew the right button to push, with lures like this: Want a machine gun but cant afford the $20k buy-in? A bumpfire stock is just the ticket to getting the fun out of your AR-15 without breaking the law! In a horrifying development, the Las Vegas attack set off a wave of demand, leaving manufacturers temporarily out of stock.

Sensing vulnerability on this issue, the National Rifle Associations CEO, Wayne La Pierre, on Thursday finally allowed that bump stocks should be subject to additional regulations. But hes wrong. They should be banned, period. They serve no purpose for hunters and are banned as unsafe on many ranges  including the NRAs own.

Americans who want the killing to stop should also keep the pressure on Congress. Theres finally evidence that, despite all the naysayers, some progress on gun laws may be in sight.

Trump crows as Puerto Rico struggles

The following editorial appeared in Newsday on Wednesday, Oct. 4:

Sadly, its not surprising that President Donald Trump made Tuesdays trip to the devastated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico all about himself.

As reports emerged that some Puerto Rico residents were forced to eat dog food in a medical clinic, while others were rationing water, Trump sat in an airplane hangar, heaped praise on himself and his team, and sought affirmation from federal and local leaders.

As people in towns across the island of almost 3.5 million American citizens sat in the dark without electronic communication, fuel, cash, safe drinking water or medical treatment, Trump talked of how very proud Puerto Rico should be that its death toll was just 16, compared with thousands (actually, 1,833) from the real catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005. Sadly, later in the day, Puerto Ricos governor had to update the number of dead so far to 34.

As those in the mountains remained without help, trapped by landslides and destroyed roads, Trump spoke not of the humanitarian crisis at hand, but of the fantastic job those around him have done.

And as tens of thousands of Puerto Rico families are left homeless, he added, I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but youve thrown our budget a little out of whack.

The picture painted by Trumps visit to Puerto Rico, where he toured some of the islands least damaged neighborhoods and tossed paper towels into a crowd, is far different from the reality elsewhere on the island. In rural areas, stores havent reopened, residents dont have cash to buy scarce goods and tens of thousands are out of work.

While the administration got a slow start, federal officials have since ramped up relief work, and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanans leadership should help. Ultimately, Trump wont be judged on the hours he spent in Puerto Rico, but on the federal effort that is likely to last years. In the short term, the relief work must concentrate on getting supplies faster to rural areas. In the long term, it must focus on rebuilding to stabilize and strengthen Puerto Ricos crippled, debt-ridden economy, modernize its infrastructure, and encourage young people to stay and tourists to return.

When that is accomplished, Trump will deserve the praise he seeks. But if in the coming weeks and months the people of Puerto Rico are eating dog food, begging for clean water and scrounging for medication, this very real catastrophe will become far worse.

The death toll will likely rise, and Trump will bear the blame.

No-bid Equifax contract an embarrassment

The following editorial appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Thursday, Oct. 5:

A new phrase associated with news stories that seem fake is, Not The Onion. The Onion is one of the longest-running satirical news websites. However, it was not satire when we learned the IRS awarded a multimillion-dollar no-bid fraud prevention contract to Equifax.

Yes, Equifax.

The same company still dealing with the fallout of a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 146 million Americans will soon make $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud.

Why not just allow the foxes to guard the henhouse?

According to news reports, the contract award for Equifaxs data services posted to the Federal Business Opportunities database on Sept. 30. The notice describes the contract award as sole source order, which means Equifax was deemed the only company capable of providing the service.

Really?

We find that hard to believe when there are two other credit reporting agencies, Transunion and Experian, that perform services similar to Equifax. The long-running list of data breaches in the U.S. created a market for data verification firms, many of which have not had their systems breached, exposing the private information of millions of people.

The IRS isnt an agency the public sees in a positive light, and some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed outrage at the decision. In a statement, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, In the wake of one of the most massive data breaches in a decade, its irresponsible for the IRS to turn over millions in taxpayer dollars to a company that has yet to offer a succinct answer on how at least 145 million Americans had personally identifiable information exposed.

The committees ranking Democrat, Ron Wyden, was not impressed: The Finance Committee will be looking into why Equifax was the only company to apply for and be rewarded with this. I will continue to take every measure possible to prevent taxpayer data from being compromised as this arrangement moves forward.

The IRS defended the decision with a ridiculous excuse: At this time, we have seen no indications of tax fraud related to the Equifax breach, but we will continue to closely monitor the situation.

Does that make anybody feel better? Its like awarding the job for a bank guard to an armed robber because his previous crimes involved holding up liquor stores.

Trust the government is often treated as the punch line to a joke. But while it may seem funny on the surface, were usually forced to trust the government at times because it has information of ours that nobody else possesses.

Therefore, the IRS has a responsibility to be diligent in whom it chooses to allow access to that information. Awarding a no-bid contract to Equifax in the wake of the companys failure to protect sensitive data is a breach of that forced trust.

The IRS should do better because taxpayers deserve better.
Most actresses never admit they have flaws.

But in the November issue of Marie Claire US, Mila Kunis was very candid about her shortcomings. The A Bad Moms Christmas actress said that she often makes a situation worse. 'I overthink. I'm super-dramatic. Something not that bad, in my mind, becomes a catastrophe. I go from zero to a hundred. Its a problem,' said the siren.

The former That 70s Show star also touched on her home life with husband Ashton Kutcher, saying she was 'tired' but 'happy.' Together they have daughter Wyatt, aged three, and son Dimitri, aged 11 months.

Red-y to go: Mila Kunis shows off her legs while posing for the November issue of Marie Claire magazine

A self-proclaimed mess: The beauty said, 'I overthink. I'm super-dramatic. Something not that bad, in my mind, becomes a catastrophe. I go from zero to a hundred. Its a problem'

The star looked stunning in her photo shoot with a large red dress and black boots as well as a black hat and choker.

And in another image she made the most of a white and black cocktail dress with her hair down. On the cover the sizzler looks youthful in a metallic dress with her legs up and black cowgirl boots.

Kunis is promoting her new comedy A Bad Moms Christmas, the sequel to 2016s Bad Moms with Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn.

Deep gaze: On the cover the sizzler looks youthful in a metallic dress with her legs up and black cowgirl boots

The mother of two said that at times she gets frustrated with making movies, but did not say why.

'I do sometimes come back from work like, "What the f***?" But anger is good. It motivates us to strive to be better,' she said.

At least working so hard on all her films is setting a good example for her kids, she believes.

Sick jokes for Christmas: A Bad Moms Christmas with Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell is full of dark humor about alcoholism and bad parenting

'What I want my daughter to learn from me is the value of hard work,' said the Ukrainian-born star.

And she is no spoiled Hollywood diva, she insists: 'What motherhood shows you is how selfless you can get. Im ragged tired. Who cares? My kids are healthy, Im happy.'

Kunis has been wed to Kutcher, who she shared her first kiss with on That 70s Show as a teen, in 2015.

Then Mila took a jab at President Trump.

Such a lovely couple: Ashton and Mila wed in 2015 and have two children; here they are seen in 2016 in Las Vegas

'The real question is: Does power equal success? I mean, look at Trump. Trump is powerful. It doesnt mean hes successful, right?'

But she thinks the world will survive his term.

'I have hope for the future. None of this is permanent, this is a phaseand we will come out of it as a country.'

A Bad Mom's Christmas opens November 1.

Meanwhile, her spouse Ashton - who used to be married to stunner Demi Moore - is starring on the TV series The Ranch.
She is fast approaching her due date, having confirmed she was expecting her first child in May.

And Cara de la Hoyde was certainly every inch the glowing mother-to-be on Tuesday, as she celebrated her pregnancy with a baby shower in Essex.

The reality star, 26, displayed her blossoming bump in a chic grey midi dress as she arrived at swanky eatery La Sala in Chigwell with her on/off boyfriend Nathan Massey - who sweetly cradled her stomach as they posed for cameras.

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Not long now! Cara de la Hoyde was certainly every inch the glowing mother-to-be on Tuesday, as she celebrated her pregnancy with Nathan Massey (above) with a baby shower in Essex

Cara proved her glamorous sense of style has not faltered in pregnancy, as she arrived at the exciting event in a stunning grey midi dress.

The frock cut into a chic bardot neckline, which dipped slightly at the chest to tease at her assets, before extending into feminine cold shoulder straps.

Cinching in just below her bust, the dress then hugged her frame all the way to its stylish dropped hem - accentuating her ever-growing bump for all to see.

Glamorous: Cara proved her glamorous sense of style has not faltered in pregnancy, as she arrived at the exciting event in a stunning grey midi dress

Bumping along nicely! Cinching in just below her bust, the dress then hugged her frame all the way to its stylish dropped hem - accentuating her ever-growing bump for all to see

Boys will be boys: The brunette was joined at the bash by on/off boyfriend Nathan, who kept things casual in a navy polo shirt and camel chinos

Keeping comfortable but chic for the big day, the beauty tied her look together with blue velvet mid heels, while Nathan proved to be a gentleman by carrying her bags.

She styled her hair into loose, tousled waves and opted for a sweeping of bronzer and a nude pink lip, to draw attention to her glowing complexion as a mother-to-be as she beamed for cameras.

The brunette was joined at the bash by on/off boyfriend Nathan, who is the father of the baby.

Sweet: Nathan was then seen sweetly cradling and kissing her stomach as they headed inside - proving their bond to be stronger than ever as they approach their due date

Staying strong: Cara confirmed her pregnancy in May, just weeks after her romance with Nathan ended - but the pair have since revealed they are giving their relationship another go

Round two: Cara told Reveal last month: 'It's proper dating - if we'd have met like this a year ago, it's how we would have been'

Champions: Cara and Nathan won Love Island in the summer of 2016, and are now expecting a baby boy

The Essex native kept things casual in a navy polo shirt and camel chinos, to ensure all eyes were kept on his stunning love interest.

First carrying most of the snacks and drinks for Cara, Nathan was then seen sweetly cradling her stomach as they headed inside - proving their bond to be stronger than ever as they approach their due date.

The pair were joined by a number of friends for the occasion, including TOWIE stars Georgia Kousoulou and Chloe Meadows.

Georgia, 26, slipped into a casually chic jumper dress, which she made even sexier by adding thigh-high suede boots, as she ventured inside with boyfriend Tommy Mallett, and a number of presents in hand.

Following suit: The pair were joined by a number of friends for the occasion, including TOWIE stars Georgia Kousoulou (L) and Chloe Meadows (R)

All eyes on her: Georgia, 26, slipped into a casually chic jumper dress, which she made even sexier by adding thigh-high suede boots

Dream team: She ventured inside with boyfriend Tommy Mallett, and a number of presents in hand

Meanwhile Chloe gave a flash of her toned midriff in a nude crop top, which tied at her bust in a bow, and trendy high-waisted trousers of mustard pin stripe.

Having formed a bond with Cara in recent months, the glamorous blonde was seen cooing over her pal as she stroked her bump on her way into the bash.

Bringing up the rear was Amber Dowding, who showed off her sensationally slender figure in a thigh-skimming mini skirt and cable knit cropped jumper, which gave a glimpse of her abs for all to see.

Showing her stripes: Meanwhile Chloe gave a flash of her toned midriff in a nude crop top, which tied at her bust in a bow, and trendy high-waisted trousers of mustard pin stripe

Adding height to her frame with towering lace-up heels and draping a silk scarf around her neck for a splash of colour, the 24-year-old exuded natural glamour as she enjoyed the celebrations with her friends.

Cara confirmed her pregnancy in May, just weeks after it came to light her romance with Nathan had first come to an end.

At the time she had told OK! magazine: 'Its a shame and a sad situation. I know a lot of people will think, well youre going to have a baby together so just stay together  but were not going to do that just to look like the perfect couple.'

However, she and Nathan have since revealed that they are giving romance another try, but are planning to take things much slower than before for the sake of their baby boy.

I can't wait to meet you! Having formed a bond with Cara in recent months, the glamorous blonde was seen cooing over her pal as she stroked her bump on her way into the bash

Sweet: She sweetly held an ear to Cara's blossoming stomach to listen to the baby and feel it kick ahead of the celebrations

Cara told Reveal last month: 'It's proper dating - if we'd have met like this a year ago, it's how we would have been.

'He comes round and helps me sort out stuff with the nursery. He'll stay for a takeaway and a film, but it's not at the sleepover stage.'

Cara and Nathan met on Love Island in the summer of 2016, where viewers had watched their romance blossom onscreen.

They went on to the win series, beating the likes of Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen, as well as Kady McDermott and Scott Thomas, and have subsequently appeared on multiple episodes of The Only Way Is Essex.
Russell Crowe was looking much fuller on the Atlanta, Georgia set of his new movie Boy Erased on Tuesday.

The Australian actor, 53, had a noticeable paunch as he prepared for a scene with co-star Nicole Kidman, who looked very different in her blonde wig and leopard print top.

This is the first time Crowe has been seen since Sharon Waxman claimed in a post shared on The Wrap that the star, along with Matt Damon, called her in 2004 to get a sex scandal story killed that she was writing about movie executive Harvey Weinstein.

At work: Russell Crowe was seen preparing for a scene for his film Boy Erased in Atlanta, Georgia with a crew person on Tuesday

More of Russell: The Australian actor looked fuller than usual as he wore a blue shirt and khakis while holding what looked to be part of a script

Friends: Crowe was accused of calling Sharon Waxman in 2004 when she was at The New York Times and asking her to kill a story that had to do with Harvey Weinstein and a sex scandal; Harvey worked on Master And Commander for Weinstein - here they are pictured in 2005

Russell has yet to react to Waxman's accusation, though on Tuesday Damon said he never saw any bad behavior on Harvey's part.

'My experience with him was all above board and thats what I told her,' said Damon.

Russel is seen here for the poster for Master And Commander

'I just remember it being a negative piece, a hit job on Fabrizio. Harvey said, you worked with him. Can you tell her that he was a professional and you had a good experience, and that was it. I didnt mind doing it, because that was all true.'

Damon told Deadline the events of the past week had come as a complete shock.

'I did five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this. I think a lot of actors have come out and said, everybodys saying we all knew. Thats not true', he said.

'If there was ever an event that I was at and Harvey was doing this kind of thing and I didnt see it, then I am so deeply sorry, because I would have stopped it. And I will peel my eyes back now, father than I ever have, to look for this type of behavior.'E

His best friend Ben Affleck has condemned the producer and said the allegations made him 'sick.'

As of Tuesday, Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Mira Sorvino, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, among others, have said they were harassed by Weinstein.

Taking his time: Russell has yet to react to Waxman's accusation, though Damon told Deadline on Tuesday he didn't see any wrongdoing on Harvey's part

Heavy subject: Boy Erased is based on Garrard Conley's book about a son of a baptist preacher who is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program

On Monday Kidman released a statement to People about Weinstein. She had worked with Harvey on Lion, Nine, Cold Mountain and The Others.

'As I've stated before publicly, I support and applaud all women and these women who speak out against any abuse and misuse of power  be it domestic violence or sexual harassment in the workforce. We need to eradicate this behavior,' she wrote.

Kidman played an abused wife in this year's Big Little Lies, which earned her an Emmy award.

Boy Erased is based on Garrard Conley's book about a son of a baptist preacher who is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program.

His old pal: Meanwhile, Kidman wore a bright blonde wig that cut off at her shoulders. She was almost unrecognizable in her non designer clothing

Gay conversion therapy has grown increasingly controversial in the late 20th century as mainstream health and medical groups have rejected the underlying assumptions that LGBTQ people need to or can change their sexuality.

On the set of his new film in Atlanta, Crowe wore a pale blue button down shirt that pulled at the sides and a colorful tie with khaki slacks and a belt. He also wore his hair longer and had on prescription glasses.

Crowe held what looked like a script in his hand and was spotted on a lawn outside a brick building as he focused on preparing for his next scene.

So VIP: . The wife of Keith Urban had an umbrella handler shield her from sprinkles

Meanwhile, Kidman wore a blonde wig that cut off at her shoulders. She was almost unrecognizable in her non designer clothing. The wife of Keith Urban had an umbrella handler shield her from sprinkles.

The beauty smiled away as if she was having a good time on set.

The film also stars Joel Edgerton (who also directs), Flea, Cherry Jones, Jason Davis and Emily Hinkler.

Harvey gave her this role: On Monday Kidman released a statement to People about Weinstein. She had worked with Harvey on Lion, Nine (pictured), Cold Mountain and The Others. 'As I've stated before publicly, I support and applaud all women and these women who speak out against any abuse and misuse of power'

It looks as if Crowe will at some point have to address Waxman's claims that he were instrumental in killing her story.

Weinstein victim Rose McGowan lashed out at Damon on Monday,and Crowe could be next.

'Hey @Mattdamon whats it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?' wrote McGowan hours after calling on the entire board at Weinstein Company to step down for being complicit in covering up the executive's actions.

McGowan also acknowledged a few of Damon's similarly tongue-tied pals, tweeting: 'Ben Affleck Casey Affleck, hows your morning boys?'

Ben has since released a statement slamming Weinstein's behavior.

Best of buds: Waxman said Damon also called her in 2004 about Weinstein (Damon and Weinstein above in 2005); he said he was only defending another executive

Lashing out: Weinsten victim Rose McGowan responded to this by tweeting: 'Hey @Mattdamon whats it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?' (above)

Waxman said in her piece that Damon and Crowe called her after she managed to get multiple sources stating on the record that an Italian man being paid $400,000 by the company knew little about film and was better known for the 'evenings he organized with Russian escorts.'

The Wrap founder Waxman (pictured on October 3)

She was working for The New York Times at the time.

The story was ultimately killed despite Waxman's findings at the time.

Reps for both Crowe and Damon did not respond to requests for comment.

At the center of the story was a man who worked as the head of Miramax Italy, but who had no film experience.

Miramax, which was founded by Weinstein and his brother Bob in 1979, was still being run by the brothers at that team even though in 1993 they had sold to Disney.

Multiple sources told Waxman that Fabrizio Lombardo, who headed up Miramax Italy, was actually put on the payroll to help procure women for Weinstein, and that was the reason for his $400,000 in the one-year span between 2003 and 2004 when he worked for the company.

Waxman also tracked down a woman in London who said she had been paid off after an unwanted sexual encounter with Weinstein.

She revealed however that while the reporting was going well, she began to hit a different road block once Weinstein learned that the Times was working on a negative story.

That is when the executive got to work trying to kill the story, using Damon and Crowe to help him by vouching for Lombardo.

The story centered on Fabrizio Lombardo, who was head of Miramax Italy for less than a year between 2003 and 2004. Multiple sources told Waxman that Lombardo was put on the payroll to procure women for Weinstein (the two pictured above in 2007)

The two men both appeared in Miramax films produced by Weinstein around that time - Damon in The Brothers Grimm (2005) and Crowe in Master And Commander (2003).

Damon and his lifelong pals Ben and Casey Affleck all owe their careers to Weinstein in many ways thanks to his championing of Good Will Hunting.

Waxman wrote the she was ultimately told that Weinstein made a visit to the Times newsroom, where he met with people 'above my head' to 'make his displeasure known.'

Miramax was a big advertiser in the paper at the time as well, and used that to help get the story killed according to Waxman.

In the end, her editors decided against publishing the accusations.

'The story was stripped of any reference to sexual favors or coercion and buried on the inside of the Culture section, an obscure story about Miramax firing an Italian executive. Who cared?' Waxman recalled.
Her fiance Oliver Cheshire bravely helped pin down the driver responsible for mowing down 11 people in London on Saturday.

And Pixie Lott left her long-term love to recover at home on Tuesday, as she stepped out of TV studios in London after promoting her new single.

The 26-year-old songstress hailed back to the Nineties in a Clueless-inspired red gingham jacket, which she teamed with chic neon heels.

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Taking centre-stage: Pixie Lott left TV studios in London after promoting her new single on Tuesday - just days after her fiance Oliver Cheshire helped pin down the driver responsible for mowing down 11 people in London earlier this week

Letting her statement jacket do all the talking, she kept the rest of her outfit simple in a pair of skinny blue jeans.

Styling her blonde hair in tousled waves, the Mama Do hitmaker offset her features with simple dewy make-up.

Pixie, who has been dating fiance Oliver for almost six years, left the Dolce & Gabbana model at home as she promoted her single with Stylo G.

Looking good: The 26-year-old songstress hailed back to the Nineties in a Clueless-inspired red gingham jacket, which she teamed with chic neon heels

Chic: Letting her statement jacket do all the talking, she kept the rest of her outfit simple in a pair of skinny blue jeans

Just days earlier Oliver pinned down a taxi driver who had injured 11 people after mounting a pavement and running over pedestrians outside London's Natural History Museum.

He was sat in his Jaguar in Kensington when the man, said to be an Uber driver, ploughed into his vehicle.

He immediately leapt into action and helped apprehend the man, who he said was screaming on the ground.

Glowing: Styling her blonde hair in tousled waves, the Mama Do hitmaker offset her features with simple dewy make-up

Flying solo: Pixie, who has been dating fiance Oliver for almost six years, left the Dolce & Gabbana model at home as she promoted her single with Stylo G

Police have tonight ruled out terrorism and described the crash as a 'road traffic incident'.

A man aged in his 40s was arrested at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving and was taken to hospital for treatment before being taken to a north London police station for questioning.

It comes as the country's current terror threat level stands at severe following a string of attacks this year and many witnesses feared the worst as panic ensued following the crash.
Ben Affleck is pictured out in Los Angeles on Tuesday visiting a recovery center in his ongoing treatment for alcohol addiction.

The actor - who just jetted back from New York after spending the weekend with girlfriend Lindsay Shookus - appeared in great spirits and flashed a big smile for onlookers.

The same day Affleck finally broke his silence to condemn Harvey Weinstein saying the sexual harassment claims involving the film mogul made him sick.

Feeling good! Ben Affleck visited an LA recovery center on Tuesday amid his ongoing treatment for alcohol addiction

Taking to Facebook the Argo actor wrote: 'I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades,

'The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesnt happen to others.

On the go: The 45-year-old actor was photographed out after he posted a statement denouncing Harvey Weinstein's behavior

Superhero movie: Ben will reprise his role as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie

Reading material: The actor carried books under his leather jacket

'We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters. We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behavior when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power.'

Affleck and co-star Matt Damon owe their careers to Weinstein after winning an Oscar back in 1998 for best original screenplay for Good Will Hunting. The film, which they both starred in, was produced by The Weinstein Company.

His comments came shortly before the New York Times published a story revealing both Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie were subjected to unwanted advances by the Hollywood bigwig.

On good form: Affleck leaves the center on Tuesday

Leather jacket: The Good Will Hunting star kept it casual in a T-shirt and leather jacket

Sad and angry: Ben earlier posted a statement about Harvey Weinstein saying he was 'saddened and angry' at him

'Made me sick': Affleck posted this message on Facebook on Tuesday morning after bombshell allegations of sexual harassment were made against Hollywood bigwig Weinstein

She got to the point: Rose McGowan, who said she was attacked by Weinstein, told the actor to 'f*** off' after his note

Thirteen women have said Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015, according to the New Yorker.

Before his trip to a treatment center on Tuesday Affleck was spotted browsing an art gallery with girlfriend Lindsay in New York where the mother-of-one is based.

On Saturday night, Affleck was seen leaving the SNL studios where his girlfriend works as a producer.

The ex: Ben's estranged wife Jennifer Garner was seen in Los Angeles on Tuesday

Affleck and co-star Matt Damon owe their careers to Weinstein after winning an Oscar back in 1998 for best original screenplay for Good Will Hunting. The trio are pictured last year

The couple went public with their relationship over the summer following the finalization of Affleck's divorce from Jennifer Garner, the mother of his three children.

Affleck is focusing on his sobriety following a rehab stint in February following which he released a public statement.

He wrote: 'I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I've dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be.'
They secretly tied the knot in July, after four years of dating.

And Kate Mara and Jamie Bell looked more besotted than ever on Tuesday night, as they attended the London premiere of his new film Six Days.

The actress, 34, was effortlessly stylish in a sheer mesh illusion dress and classically chic blazer, as she cosied up to her suited-and-booted husband, 31, on the red carpet.

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Newlyweds: Kate Mara and Jamie Bell looked more besotted than ever on Tuesday night, as they attended the London premiere of his new film Six Days

Kate certainly turned heads in the saucy nude mesh frock - which gave the illusion of her bare frame underneath.

Keeping the look demure however, the dress was then adorned with playful black polka dots all over, and a frilly ruffled hem.

Maintaining her chic sense of style throughout, the 127 Hours star tied her look together with classic black court shoes and a slick black blazer, complete with striking satin lapels.

Striking: Kate certainly turned heads in the saucy nude mesh frock - which gave the illusion of her bare frame underneath - and a classic black blazer

Sweeping her hair into a slick up-do, Kate displayed her enviably glowing complexion and naturally striking features for all to see as she posed with husband Jamie at the bash.

The actor meanwhile opted for a traditional black suit, which he jazzed up with a navy blue tie.

Posing side-by-side on the carpet, the pair looked more loved-up than ever - having secretly tied the knot in July.

Main man: The actor meanwhile opted for a traditional black suit, which he jazzed up with a navy blue tie, as he promoted his new film Six Days

'Me and Mrs B': The pair looked more loved-up than ever - having confirmed they had married with a sweet Twitter post in July (above)

Jamie confirmed their marriage by sharing a hazy picture of the couple kissing to Twitter, which he simply captioned: 'Me & Mrs B.'

The acting talent and Kate had initially met on the set of movie Fantastic Four back in 2014 and went public with their romance in May the following year.

Jamie had previously wed Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood in 2012, but the couple split two years later. They share a four-year-old son together.

Co-stars: Jamie posed with Mark Strong on the carpet - who stars alongside him in the flick, based upon the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege

Trendy: Mark cut a typically cool figure in a navy corduroy suit, and a clashing green shirt and tie combo

Giving back: The cast later posed alongside former soldier Pete Winner (L) and Rusty Firmin (far right), who Jamie portrays in the movie

Speaking to the Evening Standard earlier this year, Jamie admitted he knew Kate was 'The One' very soon after their first meeting.

'There was an instant connection,' he said. 'Like we'd known one another forever. It was obvious very quickly that we were going to get married.'

As his wife, it is no wonder Kate was happy to support Jamie as he promoted his new film Six Days.

The flick, directed by Toa Fraser, is based on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, and sees Jamie take the lead as Rusty Firmin, alongside co-stars Mark Strong and Abbie Cornish.
Jane Goodall was a 26-year-old secretary with just a high school education when she was sent to Africa to study chimpanzees in their native habitat.

Nearly sixty years later, newly uncovered original footage of the English scientist's years in the African bush has been turned into a fascinating new documentary by Brett Morgen.

And Angelina Jolie and her children were there to support her longtime friend, as the film about the famed primatologist premiered at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday night.

Kids, meet Jane Goodall: Angelina Jolie introduces Knox, Vivien, Shiloh and Zahara to the famed primatologist at the premiere of a new documentary at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday

Never one to miss an educational opportunity, the well connected actress turned director brought along her four youngest children to meet Dame Goodall.

Shiloh, Zahara, Knox and Vivien looked delighted to meet the 83-year-old, who remains a committed activist and spends her life travelling the world to educate people about the importance of conservation.

Longterm friends: The two met eight years ago when Angelina was cast as the primatologist in the film Jane's Journey, about her life

Icons unite: Speaking at the event, Angelina said Jane was an inspiration to her six children

Speaking at the event, Angelina said Jane was an inspiration to her six children.

'I am so happy to be here to support my friend, and the cause that she has given her whole adult life to  helping us understand nature and our place in it,' Angelina told People magazine.

'And now calling on us all to really grasp that we dont have unlimited time to save wildlife and the environment. When someone with all Janes wealth of experience and knowledge and wisdom tells us that, we really have to take notice.'

Saving the world: Speaking to the sell-out audience at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, Jane shared the message she has spent her life promoting

Close: Both UN Ambassadors, they bonded and became firm friends; the two are pictured with Courteney Monroe, CEO National Geographic Global Networks

The two met eight years ago when Angelina was cast as the primatologist in the film Jane's Journey, about her life. Both UN Ambassadors, they bonded and became firm friends.

The new documentary, narrated by Jane herself, was created from 100 hours of newly discovered 16MM film footage, filmed back in 1962 by Hugo van Lawick.

Van Lawick was employed by National Geographic to create the film record. He went on to marry Jane, and the two had one son before divorcing, but stayed close until his death in 2002.

Flawless: Kate Bosworth looked stunning in a pale yellow asymmetrical dress as she attended a special screening of the documentary Jane on Monday night at the Hollywood Bowl

Style queen: The actress, 34, was a delight as she posed for photos in the floaty number that featured an uneven bodice, sheer skirt and spaghetti straps

Happily wed: Kate was accompanied to the event by her husband of four years, director Michael Polish who looked suave in a gray suit with white shirt and matching tie

Speaking to the sell-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, Jane shared the message she has spent her life promoting.

'I have a very important message to take around the world. Which is that we are destroying this planet. And we need to get together to try and make change,' she told the audience, who gave her a standing ovation.

'The National Geographic has been helping me to spread this message around the world ever since 1962 when they sent Hugo van Lawick to Gombe [National Park in Tanzania] and he was the one whose films and still photographs took the story of Jane and the chimps into homes around America and then around the world.'

Lovely: Alicia Silverstone, 41, looked stylish as she arrived at the event in a navy blazer and skinny black pants with black pumps

Pretty: Victoria Justice, 24, who paired cropped skinny blue jeans with a colorful patterned blouse and military-style black jacket

Fashion statement: Ali Larter, 41, paired a black sweater and black ankle boots with a contrasting floaty white skirt with green and black detailing and a flounce asymmetrical hem

She said she initially rolled her eyes at the idea of another movie about her life.

'I was persuaded. "Well Jane never mind, it's going to be another film but it will help spread the message." So I agreed.'

She said she was told her involvement would require just three hours of interviews.

'We met for the first time out in Tanzania and it didn't work out quite like that. I met him [director Brett] and he started this interview. It lasted for two, two and a half days.'

Brett, known for films such as Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, interjected: 'The first thing I asked Jane was "Do you get tired of telling your story."

'And she looked at me and said "It depends who's asking the questions."'

To laughter, the pair introduced the film.

Casual look: Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Jennie Garth, 45, opted for flared blue jeans with a white blouse and a two tone duster

Veteran actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, 58, showed up for the screening in a tailored black suit with black top. The Halloween star sported spiky gray hair and large black-framed spectacles

Actress Camryn Manheim, 56, wore a black jacket with black slacks and flip flops while reality star Whitney Port, 32, opted for a funky ensemble complete with stripy slippers

Looking good: Garcelle Beauvais, 50, paired ripped denims with burgundy hi tops, a white shirt and a leopard print jacket slung over her shoulders

Sporty: Laurence Fishburne's estranged wife Gina Torres showed up wearing dark blue sweats with a patterned short-sleeved top. She wore a dark gray knitted beanie over her long locks

Other celebrity guests included actor Rainn Wilson, left, dance pro Derek Hough, center, and comedian and AGT judge Howie Mandel, right
The first ever Italian week of Great British Bake-Off was brimming with fresh margherita pizzas, Sicilian cannolis and shell-shaped pastries.

But viewers were left distracted by a much more unusual aspect of the Channel 4 show on Tuesday night - the alarming shade of judge Paul Hollywood's tan.

Amused fans compared the bold mahogany look to Ross Geller's spray tan fail in Friends, while others asked if he had been 'swimming in gravy' - and even Noel Fielding couldn't resist mocking his co-judge's dark hue.

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Pasta la vista: Viewers were left distracted by a much more unusual aspect of the Channel 4 show on Tuesday night - the alarming shade of judge Paul Hollywood's tan

Noel landed his killer comedic blow while tasting the contestant's cannolis on the seventh week.

Picking up one of the treats, the comedian quipped that they could tell it was done if it matched the mahogany shade of Paul's fingers.

And Hollywood may have got away with one cheeky rib on the show - but on social media viewers erupted into hysterics over his considerably deeper tan.

Many likened his skin-tone to Ross Geller's infamous spray-tanning scene in the tenth season of Friends.

Hmm: Amused fans compared the bold mahogany look to Ross Geller's spray tan fail in series ten of Friends

Moced: Others asked if he had been 'swimming in gravy' - and even Noel Fielding couldn't resist mocking his co-judge's dark hue

Oh dear: Others said it looked like Hollywood had been 'glazing himself with a pastry brush' and 'sleeping in the oven'

In the comical scene, he counts wrong and in an extraordinary mishap, ends up being spray-tanned several times too many - much to the mirth of his pals.

'Paul is Ross Geller after his spray tan,' one fan wrote, joining a sea of viewers in sharing gifs of Ross' ill-fated tan.

'Looks like Paul Hollywood has been counting Mississipilessly in the tanning salon,' another quipped.

Others said it looked like Hollywood had been 'glazing himself with a pastry brush' and 'sleeping in the oven'.

The One With The Tan: Many likened his skin-tone to Ross Geller's infamous spray-tanning scene in the tenth season of Friends

Oops: In the comical scene, he counts wrong and in an extraordinary mishap, ends up being spray-tanned several times too many - much to the mirth of his pals

Amused: 'Paul is Ross Geller after his spray tan,' one fan wrote, joining a sea of viewers in sharing gifs of Ross' ill-fated tan

'Does Paul Hollywood sleep in an oven in between episodes of GBBO? He gets progressively darker each week?!' a viewer wrote.

'You too can achieve the Hollywood tan. All you need to do is bake at 180 degrees for 30 mins and turn halfway through,' another added.

Elsewhere in the episode, fans said 'ciao' to Yan as she became the seventh baker to be eliminated from the show.

Cheeky: Noel landed his killer comedic blow while tasting the contestant's cannolis on the seventh week

Quip: Picking up one of the treats, the comedian quipped that they could tell it was done if it matched the mahogany shade of Paul's fingers

Been at the tan, Paul? Fans claimed the 'most overbaked thing' this week was Paul's face

Transformation: He appeared to sport a much deeper tan to a promo shot taken months before the show

Amused: GBBO fans flocked to Twitter to express their confusion at the 51-year-old's complexion

The 46-year-old scientist from north London praised her wife of 17 years for her support during the competition, and for keeping her grounded when it became 'overwhelming'.

Yan, who described the Italian theme as a 'bootcamp for bakers', struggled while making classic Sicilian cannoli in the signature challenge, her pastry offerings pretty much falling apart in judge Prue Leith's hands.

In the technical challenge, which saw the six remaining bakers tasked with having to create the perfect margherita pizza, Yan came in fifth place due to underbaked dough.

And in the tricky signature challenge - dubbed 'pure murder' by Leith - Yan's batch of 24 sfogliatella, shell-shaped filled pastries from Campania, failed to impress.

Judge Paul critiqued them as 'quite raw', and Leith said she was 'a bit disappointed' in them, and that they were a 'mess'.

Yan said of her experience in the series: 'From the very moment I stepped into the tent, and started competing against so many great bakers, it really lifted my game.

'It's about making yourself better, and we all wanted to nurture our talent collectively.

'I had such great support from friends and family. Marian is my wife of 17 years. She keeps me grounded, and has been my marshmallow throughout the whole experience.

'At times it's been a bit overwhelming for me, but she has constantly kept me grounded.

'I bake every other day using my Muvver sourbread starter - I called it that because she is the mother of all my sourdoughs.'

Yan, who moved to the UK from Hong Kong when she was two years old, said that of all the things she produced in the Bake Off tent, the mango steamed pudding was 'the closest to my culture'.

At the end of the episode, Steven - who had impressed the judges with his 'proper showstopper' sfogliatella and who came top in the technical challenge - was named Star Baker for the third time.

The Great British Bake Off continues on Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.

Tragic: Elsewhere in the episode, fans said 'ciao' to Yan as she became the seventh baker to be eliminated from the show
He won $500,000 in prize money after winning Australian Survivor.

But on Wednesday's Kyle and Jackie O Show, Qantas international flight attendant Jericho Malabonga revealed he was forced to move back in with his parents after going 55 days without pay.

Returning from the Samoan island, he said he headed straight back home to his family.

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'I had to move back in with my parents': Australian Survivor's Jericho Malabonga (left), 25, revealed on Wednesday's Kyle and Jackie O Show, the downside of 55 days without pay...despite winning $500,000 prize money

'I went to (Australian) Survivor, I got back. I was without pay, so I was (still) paying rent,' Jericho explained to co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson.

'I came back and I was like, "You guys I gotta go back to my parents,"' the reality star continued with a laugh.

'I got to a point where I was like, I've actually got no money left.

'I wasn't broke. It was more like I'll just go back to Dad. We got back (from Survivor) and I was without 55 days of rent while on the island,' Jericho went on to explain.

Life goes on: Jericho, who was crowned Australian Survivor 2017 winner on Tuesday night, explained to radio co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson that he was without pay for 55 days, while on the Samoan island, and still had to pay rent

The comments come shortly after Jericho told The Daily Telegraph's Confidential that he won't quit his job at Qantas because he loves it too much.

'I love my job. I don't think I would let this prize money change something I worked really hard for,' he told the publication.

Jericho beat 32-year-old Tara Pitt to win the show on Tuesday's grand finale episode.

The young man from the Philippines outlasted 23 other contestants to win the title of Australian Survivor 2017, after spending 55 days in the Samoan jungle on the island of Upolu.

Highly emotional: Jericho beat 32-year-old Tara Pitt to win the show on Tuesday's grand finale episode. The young man from the Philippines outlasted 23 other contestants

'I love my job': Despite Jericho winning $500,000 in cash prize money, he previously told The Daily Telegraph's Confidential that he won't be quitting his job as a Qantas international flight attendant

The final tribal council, which took place in Australia rather than Samoa, was extremely tense, and had Jericho and opponent Tara frequently tied for votes.

But with three votes for Tara and four votes for Jericho, the Qantas employee claimed the final $500,000 cash prize.

Host Jonathan LaPaglia revealed on Tuesday that the show is yet to be picked up for another season on Channel Ten following dismal ratings.

However, he did suggest that the fact CBS has bought the network may change that.
Things are still going strong between Suki Waterhouse and her boyfriend Diego Luna, who took a hand-in-hand stroll when they weren't filming Woody Allen's untitled drama in Manhattan on Tuesday.

At 37, the Mexican heartthrob is 12 years older than the British blonde, who previously romanced Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper and English rocker Miles Kane.

The Rogue One actor and the Laura Mercier muse have been linked as far back as March 2015 after meeting on the set of Ana Lily Amirpour's romance horror The Bad Batch.

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Still going strong! Suki Waterhouse and her boyfriend Diego Luna took a hand-in-hand stroll when they weren't filming Woody Allen's untitled drama in Manhattan on Tuesday

Diego has two children - son Jeronimo, 9; and daughter Fiona, 7 - with his ex-wife Camila Sodi, whom he divorced in 2013 after a five-year marriage.

Both Waterhouse and Luna play mysterious roles in the 2018 flick helmed by the 81-year-old filmmaker, whose Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes starring Miley Cyrus bombed last year.

Suki (born Alice) - who relies on stylist Jeanann Williams - was wearing a red ruffled skirt with black boots, a matching top, a comfy grey sweater, and a matching beanie.

Dating: At 37, the Mexican heartthrob is 12 years older than the British blonde, who previously romanced Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper and English rocker Miles Kane

Met on set: The Rogue One actor and the Laura Mercier muse have been linked as far back as March 2015

'I love being a mom!' Diego has two children - son Jeronimo, 9; and daughter Fiona, 7 - with his ex-wife Camila Sodi, whom he divorced in 2013 after a five-year marriage

The White Princess star was earlier seen clutching her coconut milk near their hotel while clad in a bizarre T-shirt mash-up with black leggings and sneakers.

That same day, the Ambulante fundraiser was spotted strolling with The Beguiled's Elle Fanning, who also has a role in the four-time Oscar winner's 50th feature film.

Diego - who scored a SAG Award nomination for Milk in 2008 - suited up in a black blazer, coordinating pants, and a grey dress shirt for the scene.

Styish: Suki was wearing a red ruffled skirt with a grey top, with leopard print slip-ons

Fashionista: She accessorized with a pair of shades and a thin black choker

Co-stars: She and Luna first met on the set of Ana Lily Amirpour's romance horror The Bad Batch

To be confirmed: Both Waterhouse and Luna play mysterious roles in the 2018 flick helmed by the 81-year-old filmmaker

Next: Woody's Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes starring Miley Cyrus bombed last year

Squat: Suki (born Alice) - who relies on stylist Jeanann Williams - later donned black boots, a matching top, a comfy grey sweater, and a matching beanie

The former telenovela star certainly worked his charm on the 19-year-old ingenue, who couldn't stop flashing her effervescent smile.

Holding script pages and a blue sweater, the nepotistically-privileged younger sister of Dakota dressed her 5ft9in figure in a white blouse, green pleated mini-skirt, beige flats.

Many celebrities choose to look the other way when it comes to controversial Woody, who married ex-partner Mia Farrow's daughter Soon-Yi and allegedly molested her daughter Dylan.

Big Apple moment: The White Princess star was earlier seen clutching her coconut milk near their hotel while clad in a bizarre T-shirt mash-up with black leggings and sneakers

Busy: That same day, the Ambulante fundraiser was spotted strolling with The Beguiled's Elle Fanning, who also has a role in the four-time Oscar winner's 50th feature film

Sharp: Diego - who scored a SAG Award nomination for Milk in 2008 - suited up in a black blazer, coordinating pants, and a grey dress shirt for the scene

Have you seen Y tu mama tambien? The former telenovela star certainly worked his charm on the 19-year- old ingenue, who couldn't stop flashing her effervescent smile

Costume: Holding script pages and a blue sweater, the nepotistically-privileged younger sister of Dakota dressed her 5ft9in figure in a white blouse, green pleated mini-skirt, beige flats

Yikes! Many celebrities choose to look the other way when it comes to controversial Woody, who married ex-partner Mia Farrow's daughter Soon-Yi and allegedly molested her daughter Dylan (pictured September 21)

4 percent on Rotten Tomatoes: Luna currently plays a medical student called Ray in Columbia Pictures' dismally-reviewed remake of Joel Schumacher's 1990 psychological thriller Flatliners

Allen (born Allan Konigsberg) has also enlisted Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Liev Schreiber, Rebecca Hall, Kelly Rohrbach, and Timothee Chalamet.

Luna currently plays a medical student called Ray in Columbia Pictures' dismally-reviewed remake of Joel Schumacher's 1990 psychological thriller Flatliners.

Niels Arden Oplev's near-death experience flick holds a 4 percent critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 27 percent approval rating on MetaCritic, and a 4.9/10 on IMDb.

Done: The couple were later spotted leaving dinner and heading back to their hotel

Subbed: Diego had changed into jeans and brown boots, a red tee and a grey caerdigan

Follow me: The duo put on an amorous display
Fans were left stunned when former Bachelor couple Tiffany Scanlon and Megan Marx began sharing separate photos from the same Philippines location earlier this month.

And the pair's tropical getaway became even more awkward this week when Tiffany posed for a happy snap with Megan's friends while excluding her former flame.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Tiffany uploaded a photo of herself taking a dip in the ocean with models Tegan Martin, Renae Ayris, Brookee Nash, Nia Sanchez and Natalie Roser.

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Treading on eggshells? Tiffany Scanlon excluded ex-girlfriend Megan Marx from ANOTHER holiday snap despite being on the same Philippines travel tour this Tuesday, posing instead with Megan's pals Tegan Martin, Renae Ayris, Brookee Nash, Nia Sanchez and Natalie Roser

Posing in star formation with her bikini-clad buddies, Tiffany wrote in part: 'I can truly say that the best part of travel is the people you meet along the way.'

Perhaps taking a sly dig at her former flame, Tiffany continued: 'This trip would not have been the same without @tegan.martin @renaeayris@brookenashhh @realniasanchez@natalie_roser You girls are inspiring and beautiful inside and out.'

The former Bachelor couple, who boarded the celebrity One Life Adventures cruise on Sunday, have been tip-toeing around each other on social media as they document their sponsored trips, despite clearly being at the same place at the same time.

Awkward! Tiffany and Megan decided to deal with the painful awkwardness of travelling together after embarking upon the SAME tour in the Philippines this month

While Megan has been taking in the tropical sights and sounds with her model pals Tegan Martin, Brooke Nash, Renae Ayris and Natalie Roser, Tiffany has been keeping to herself.

In one video shared by Tiffany to her Instagram story, ex-girlfriend Megan can even be seen standing in the background.

The trip serves as the first time Megan and Tiffany have crossed paths since their very public split.

Gal pals: While Megan has been taking in the tropical sights and sounds with her model pals Tegan Martin, Brooke Nash, Renae Ayris and Natalie Roser, Tiffany has been keeping to herself

There she is! In one video shared by Tiffany to her Instagram story, ex-girlfriend Megan can even be seen standing in the background

Late last year, the couple confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that they were a couple after debuting their romance at the 2016 Maxim Hot 100 party in Sydney

'While we were in the show, it was just a friendship. It probably wasn't until we were in Bali together that it was like 'Oh, this is more',' said Tiffany.

'We had very different experiences when we were on the show. Obviously I found Tiffany very attractive but I was there to get to know Richie,' added Megan.

Former flames: Late last year, the couple confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that they were a couple after debuting their romance at the 2016 Maxim Hot 100 party in Sydney

Their high-profile romance was short-lived, with the pair parting ways in March this year.

Just a few months later, Megan was forced to strongly denying Tiffany's allegations that she 'hooked up with one of her male ex-boyfriends'.

Meanwhile, rumours have been circulating that the pair may return to screens on the debut season of Bachelor In Paradise.
He's been married to Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, 41, since 2010.

And during a chat with ET Online, Chris Hemsworth described working with his stunning wife on upcoming war drama Horse Soldiers as 'fantastic'.

'It felt like a little holiday,' the 34-year-old gushed.

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'It felt like a holiday': Chris Hemsworth, 34, told ET Online that working with wife Elsa Pataky, 41, on upcoming war drama Horse Soldiers was 'fantastic'

Chris, who shares three children with Elsa, told ET Online: 'It felt like a little holiday, you know? Because the kids stayed in LA and Elsa and I got to go to Albuquerque (New Mexico) for a week and kind of work together and hang out.

'That period for us was a great opportunity to just kind of hang out.

'We didn't have to do much rehearsing as far as playing husband and wife,' the Thor star went on to say.

Quality time together: Chris, who shares three children with Elsa, told ET Online: 'It felt like a little holiday, you know?'

He continued: 'That period for us was a great opportunity to just kind of hang out. 'We didn't have to do much rehearsing as far as playing husband and wife'

Starring role: Horse Soldiers, slated for release in 2018, tells the story of the first Special Forces team that's deployed to Afghanistan after the events of 9/11

Horse Soldiers, slated for release in 2018, tells the story of the first Special Forces team that's deployed to Afghanistan after the events of 9/11.

The team work under the guidance of a new captain Mitch Nelson, played by Chris, in order to take down the Taliban.

Chris and Elsa began dating in 2010, tying the knot later that same year.

High-profile romance: Chris and Elsa began dating in 2010, tying the knot later that same year

Brood: The couple welcomed daughter India Rose in May 2010, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha in March 2014

The high-profile couple welcomed daughter India Rose in May 2010, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha in March 2014.

In an interview with GQ Australia earlier this month, Chris admitted that when he's off filming movies solo, it's hard going on his marriage.

'My wife and I fell in love, had kids, didn't really see each other for a few years, then fell back in love,' the former Home And Away star told the publication.

Chris added: 'In terms of work, [Elsa has] certainly given up more than I have.'
They rocketed into the spotlight after being crowned the champions of Love Island in July.

And Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies continued to ride the wave of fame on Tuesday as they attended the star-studded Specsaver's Spectacle Wearer Of The Year bash in London.

The Essex-based barber, 21, certainly stood out from the crowd with his tartan suit and curly new hairdo as he played up to the cameras - before drawing girlfriend Amber Davies in for a somewhat awkward smooch.

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Making a spectacle of themselves! Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies continued to ride the wave of fame on Tuesday as they attended the Specsaver's Spectacle Wearer Of The Year

Kem looked worlds away from his usual preppy self in the three-piece suit, which caught attention with its bold navy and green hue.

Layering a classic tight white shirt underneath the double-breasted waistcoat, the TV personality then tied the look together with sleek leather loafers.

Capturing more attention however was his new 'do - with his trademark sleek brown hair styled into a messy perm.

Sealed with a kiss: The barber, 21, certainly stood out from the crowd with his tartan suit and new curled hairdo as he drew girlfriend Amber Davies in for a somewhat awkward smooch

Getting into the spirit of the event with retro glasses, Kem displayed his cheeky personality as he playfully posed for cameras.

The star was joined by his stunning dancer girlfriend Amber, 21 - who slipped her slender frame into a show-stopping fitted frock of mustard yellow.

Styling her own hair into loose, tousled waves and sporting a perfectly contoured make-up look, the brunette exuded glamour as she joined her man on the carpet.

Can't be missed: Kem captured attention with his tartan suit and new 'do - which saw his trademark sleek brown hair styled into a messy perm

Who's that guy? Capturing more attention however was his new 'do - with his trademark sleek brown hair styled into a messy perm (pictured right, last week)

Cutting the mustard: The star was joined by his stunning dancer girlfriend Amber, 21 - who slipped her slender frame into a show-stopping fitted frock of bright yellow

Wanting to prove their romance to all, the pair were seen cosying up together for cameras, before Kem drew his beauty in for a somewhat awkward kiss.

Kem and Amber met on Love Island in June, and won fans over with their romance in the villa, leading them to be crowned the show's champions.

The pair have since found huge success - with Kem even recently releasing a grime single with best friend and co-star Chris Hughes.

While their romance has only gone from strength to strength since leaving the villa, the brunette beauty admitted she wanted to take things slow, and blasted rumours she and Kem were already planning a wedding.

Still going strong: Kem and Amber met on Love Island in June, and won fans over with their romance in the villa, leading them to be crowned the show's champions

Hitting the town: The couple appeared worse for wear as they hit the town hand-in-hand

Hold me close: The duo could not resist one another as they proved things are stronger than ever

Having a giggle: They hit the town alongside TOWIE's Georgia Kousoulou atop a bevy of other of other stars

New job: The duo's outing with the TOWIE cast could possibly hint at a new job role

Larking around: Playing with newly-single Pete Wicks, the boys seemed ready to take the party into the wee hours

She told MailOnline last month: 'When I'm in a relationship it's because I want to be with that person forever.

'We have so much to look forward to like moving in together, getting your first animal, getting engaged, having children. It doesn't all have to be done at once.

'I'm only 20 and Kem is only 21 and we have years to concentrate on things like that. Right now we're still getting used to the fact we're in the public eye so definitely an engagement will not be on the cards anytime soon.'

Putting her view into practice, she went on to reveal the pair were not yet cohabiting, adding: 'I only live 30 minutes away from his family home so it's easy to get from one house to the other, and I spend a lot of time at his house.

Little bit leave it: The pair have found huge success since the show - with Kem even recently releasing a grime single with best friend and co-star Chris Hughes (above)

'His parents are amazing with me. I don't think we'll be moving in with each other any time soon  it's a big commitment. Who would clean, who would cook, when do you do the food shop? You'd need a rota! We don't need that just yet!'

Kem appeared in good spirits at the bash however, after revealing his battle with anxiety and depression in his youth.

Speaking to The Sun, the TV star admitted he suffered severe panic attacks in his youth, which worsened after he was left with kidney failure, following a botched operation on his tonsils.

He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was put on anti-depressants - but the pills were strong, and affected his every day life.

Taking it slow: However the beauty recently blasted rumours she and Kem were engaged, telling MailOnline: 'We have so much to look forward to, it doesn't all have to be done at once'

Opening up: Kem appeared in good spirits at the bash , after revealing his battle with anxiety and depression in his youth - admitting Amber 'can't believe how different he is' to his younger self, who struggled with panic attacks and was diagnosed with PTSD

Revealing his lowest moments, he told the paper: 'There was a point in the three-year spell I wasn't really living, I wasn't doing anything. I was completely depressed.

'I had thoughts that I didn't want to live my life any more.'

Admitting that his issues also hindered his relationships with girls in the past, Kem affirmed he is now more confident than ever, and is living life to the full in his 20s.

He added proudly: 'When I told Amber she was really shocked and emotional. She cant believe how different I am now.'

New video: On Wednesday Kem and Chris' A Little Bit Leave It video debuted

Steamy: It featured rather racy scenes of girls kissing during a house party

Rapper Chris: The Love Island star could be seen waving wads of fake cash around
He left fans stunned when he debuted his newly-svelte figure last year.

And Timothy Spall looked slimmer than ever as he stepped out at the star-studded premiere of his latest film The Party during the London BFI Film Festival on Tuesday.

The 60-year-old actor ensured his trim physique was on full display as he confidently posed for photographers on the red carpet clad in a grey pinstripe suit, paired with a smart navy blue waistcoat.

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Looking good: Timothy Spall looked slimmer than ever as he stepped out at the star-studded premiere of his latest film The Party during the London BFI Film Festival on Tuesday

Dapper: The 60-year-old actor ensured his trim physique was on full display as he confidently posed for photographers on the red carpet clad in a grey pinstripe suit, paired with a smart navy blue waistcoat (pictured right in Cannes in 2011)

The Harry Potter star also wore a silver shirt and a multicoloured tie.

Timothy finished his look with a pair of dove-grey shoes.

Flashing a confident smile as he cut a suave figure on the red carpet, the Quadrophenia actor, looked over the moon to be celebrating his latest film project.

According to The Sun, the actor's trimline physique is down to a two-year healthy regime with the star saying 'I don't eat rubbish now.'

Handsome: Cillian Murphy, 41, who plays Tom in the film, looked classically handsome as he stepped out on the red carpet clad in a navy blue pinstripe suit by Stella McCartney

Pals: Cillian later joined director Sally Potter for a chat and a photo

His son, Black Mirror Rafe Spall, 34, also lost weight after going up to 18.5 stone.

He said the Spall family had 'chubby genes saying: 'I was a glutton. I loved food. I still do. But I didnt have a thing in my mind that told me when to stop eating

'There's something of a chunky gene in the Spall side of the family. I was always chubby, then I got fatIt took a lot of hard work but I did it and I'm proud I did it. I completely revolutionised the way I went about my health. I'm all the better for it. It changed my life.'

Piercing: The Peaky Blinders star showed off his piercing blue eyes on the red carpet

In demand: Cillian faced a wall of photographers as he posed like a pro

Vibrant; Kristin Scott Thomas, 57, wowed in an orange coat and a diamond print gold and black skirt

Youthful: Kristin looked stunning for her turn on the red carpet

Beauty: Kristin dazzled with her pixie crop and fluttery lashes

Chic: Cherry Jones, who plays Martha in the film, looked smart in a tailored sui6t

Glowing: Cherry added a pop of colour with a red clutch and a slick of coral lipstick

For the fans: Kristin looked as if she was having the time of her life as she chatted with fans and signed autographs

Stylish: Sally cracked a warm smile as she posed in a chain print dress

Distinguished: Bruno Ganz, 76, who plays Gottfried in the film, rocked a smart suit and trainers

Pals: Lily Cole joined artist Charlotte Colbert at the after-party for The Party

Redheads: Lily rocked an unusual cream coloured hoodie dress

Timothy beat leukaemia in 1996 after he was given just weeks to live.

Rafe said he believed this may have contributed to his weight gain, saying: 'Perhaps eating was something to make me feel better. Who knows? I'm sure that my father becoming seriously ill when I was 14 had a lot to do with my going from chubby to fat.'

Cillian Murphy, 41, who plays Tom in the film, looked classically handsome as he stepped out on the red carpet clad in a navy blue pinstripe suit and fresh white shirt.

His co-star Kristin Scott Thomas looked lovely in a white roll-neck, paired with a black and gold diamond print skirt and a tangy orange coat,

The Party, which also stars Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson, tells the tale of a gathering of old friends whose night is rocked by series of explosive revelations

Animated: Kristin looked focused as she chatted about her latest movie project

Acclaimed: Cillian was the epitome of cool as he chatted with the press

Smile: Kristin and Sally shared a quick joke on the red carpet

In demand: Timothy took some time for his fans as he signed autographs

Cast: The Party, which also stars Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson, tells the tale of a gathering of old friends whose night is rocked by series of explosive revelations

After the show it's the after-party: Cillian joined Timothy for a friendly shot

Dapper: Actor Joe Cole and author Billy Moore mingled at the event

Suave: Both Cillian and Timothy scrubbed up in their fitted suits

Trendy: Jonathan Ross attended the American Airlines Gala & UK Premiere of "The Shape Of Water" during the 61st BFI London Film Festival the same night
Our Girl viewers have lashed out at the long-awaited first episode of series three due to 'embarrassing' camerawork and Michelle Keegan's 'unrealistic' appearance.

Tuesday evening saw the return of the hit BBC drama, yet one scene in particular riled eagle-eyed viewers, who insisted the Nepalese earthquake was hugely unconvincing due to the fact the camera merely 'wobbled' while the rest stayed still.

Frontwoman Michelle, who has reprised her role as army medic Corporal Georgie Lane, came under fire for her famously stunning appearance as she was accused of 'wearing foundation, mascara & painted eyebrow' despite being on the field.

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Not great: Our Girl viewers have lashed out at the first episode of series three due to 'embarrassing' camerawork and Michelle Keegan's 'unrealistic' appearance

As the much-anticipated return of the show came to a cliffhanger close, fans were widely disappointed by the lacklustre scenes despite Michelle announcing during a radio appearance earlier in the day that the stunts on the show 'cost thousands'.

In the scenes, Georgie and pal Milan are exploring a derelict building during their deployment in Nepal shortly before a dramatic earthquake hits - in scenes undoubtedly intended to rattle shocked viewers.

Yet the result was far less effective, as Twitter was soon swarmed with criticisms with fans writing: 'the earthquake effects were embarrassing and the story unrealistic. Poor script. Not good. #OurGirl... "What is that?"

'The earthquake aid troops say during an aftershock in Nepal, an area just hit by an earthquake. Hmm dumbass #OurGirl... S**t first episode of #OurGirl at least make the things fall off the tables when theres a aftershock or earthquake, not just wobble the camera... #OurGirl Shocking..

Not very realistic? Tuesday evening saw the return of the hit BBC drama, yet one scene in particular riled eagle-eyed viewers, who insisted the Nepalese earthquake was hugely unrealistic due to the fact the camera merely 'wobbled' while the rest stayed still

'Perfect look': Frontwoman Michelle, who has reprised her role as army medic Corporal Georgie Lane, also came under fire for her famously stunning appearance as she was accused of 'wearing foundation, mascara & painted eyebrow'

'Poor Acting, S**t Story Line And No one Looks That Perfect In An Earthquake Zone... #OurGirl Wobbling the camera to simulate an earthquake when the trees are not even moving is camera work circa 1960... #OurGirl evidently they spent 90% of that episodes budget on the crappy little earthquake at the end. wat a lot of s**te'.

Atop the woes with the earthquake, fans slammed Michelle's glamorous styling as 'unrealistic', as viewers complained that she looked too perfect.

She was boasting 'flawless' hair and make-up despite the gritty surroundings - and some were also left baffled by her 'oddly plastic face'.

Shaky: Fans were lashing out at the camerawork which saw the backdrop remain relatively still with just the camera shaking

'Poor acting': Fans penned: Poor Acting, S**t Story Line And No one Looks That Perfect In An Earthquake Zone... #OurGirl Wobbling the camera to simulate an earthquake when the trees are not even moving is camera work circa 1960'

Unimpressed: Fans slammed Michelle's glamorous styling as 'unrealistic'

Fans penned: 'How does Michelle's make up stay flawless when on a relief mission in Nepal and mine can't even survive my commute to work... Michelle's hair is too done up not realistic to think shes in a deprived are with little to nothing there...

'Only Michelle Keegan could still look good, covered in dust and under a load of earthquake rubble! A house collapses on Michelle Keegan yet she still manages to look flawless... Nice to see how quickly they set up the emergency hospital and eyebrow bar in earthquake shattered Nepal. Priorities girls! #OurGirl...

'Feel I must point out that character like Georgie would not be wearing foundation, mascara & painted eyebrows in earthquake zone #OurGirl'.

Gritty role: Fans penned: 'How does Michelle's make up stay flawless when on a relief mission in Nepal and mine can't even survive my commute to work... Michelle's hair is too done up not realistic to think shes in a deprived are with little to nothing there'

Hmm: But viewers complained that the actress looked too perfect, boasting 'flawless' hair and make-up despite the gritty surroundings - and some were also left baffled by her 'oddly plastic face'

Backlash: Viewers felt Keegan's look was too preened considering the deprived area she was working in

Viewers also slammed Michelle's apparently made-up appearance, with one writing: 'Michelle Keegan on a Nepalese Humanitarian Mission complete with Mascara, lip gloss and eyebrow pencil.'

'Our Girl. 1. Michelle Keegan's eyebrow styling is a continuity nightmare. 2. They've made it grittier by saying 'f**k' a lot,' another wrote.

The episode follows the aftermath of an earthquake rocking the country, with Michelle left to train unruly new recruit Richards (Shalom Brune-Franklin) and deal the sudden reappearance of ex-boyfriend Elvis (Luke Pasqualino).

Long-anticipated: Michelle won huge praise last year when she scooped the role of Lance Corporal Georgie Lane in the BBC drama

Big shoes to fill: She took over from Lacey Turner, who played Private Molly Dawes in 2013's series one

Oh dear: Despite her humanitarian mission, viewers were instead distracted by Keegan's preened eyebrows

Despite her humanitarian mission, viewers were instead distracted by Keegan's preened eyebrows.

'Bit distracted by michelle keegans eyebrows in #OurGirl,' one wrote, while another added: '3 aftershocks later and Michelle Keegans eyebrows are still intact.' Another viewer claimed: 'Michelle Keegans face looks oddly plastic #OurGirl'

But many were bowled over by the former Coronation Street star's natural beauty, with one writing: 'Michelle Keegan is literally [heart emoji] even with no make-up! What an unreal programme.'

Another wrote: 'Michelle Keegan doesnt look too bad for a girl working in war torn countries.'

He's back: The episode sees Georgie deal with the sudden reappearance of ex-boyfriend Elvis (Luke Pasqualino)

Tough task: It also follows the aftermath of an earthquake rocking the country, with Michelle left to train unruly new recruit Richards (Shalom Brune-Franklin)

Support: But many were bowled over by the former Coronation Street star's natural beauty, with one writing: 'Michelle Keegan is literally [heart emoji] even with no make-up! What an unreal programme'

Michelle's return to Our Girl comes after she admitted to having no choice but to star in season three as she had signed a contract before any confirmation of another installment.

Speaking on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 Show, she discussed the difficulty of seven months away from husband Mark Wright, while admitting she was forced to carry her seven and a half stone weight and suffering horrific bruising during stunts.

Michelle won huge praise last year when she scooped the role of Lance Corporal Georgie Lane in the BBC drama, having taken over from Lacey Turner, who played Private Molly Dawes in 2013's series one.

Tough times: Michelle admitted to having no choice but to star in season three as she had signed a contract before any confirmation of another installment

For any actress, the chance to star in such a successful drama is a dream, yet after signing the contract without knowledge of a new series or plans for a 12 episodes as opposed to series two's five, she was left with no choice but to reprise the role.

She said: 'I wasn't 100% there would be another series but I signed the option for there to be another. Obviously the first time it was for five episodes but this time it was for 12 so it's overly doubled.

'I didn't know that at the time either. It's been a long, long filming schedule. I was away for three months last time and this time I was in South Africa for three months and then I had three weeks off then I was in Malaysia for three months.

'So over all I was away for seven months. It was a long time being away from home. I had to do it, the contract was signed. Book me a flight!'
US Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee has become the most outspoken critic of President Donald Trump among elected Republicans

Donald Trump has often lambasted potential allies from his own party but now a Republican has punched back, alleging that the president's reckless behavior poses a danger to America.

Senator Bob Corker's extraordinary weekend rebuke, in which he tweeted his dismay that "the White House has become an adult day care center," was a shot heard round the Washington world.

Was Corker patriotically sounding the alarm about a president who could put the country "on the path to World War III," as he told Sunday's edition of The New York Times?

Or, having announced that he will not seek re-election next year, is he merely a lame duck lawmaker relishing the opportunity to throw off the shackles of party unity?

Either way, one of the most respected establishment senators -- one from Trump country in Tennessee, no less -- has gone public with grievances many are sharing in private.

Like Trump, Corker is a businessman turned elected official. He is also the chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a powerful voice on foreign policy.

Corker fired the first shots last week when he said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "are those people that help separate our country from chaos."

A furious Trump took to Twitter to demean Corker, alleging the senator had "begged" him for a 2018 endorsement and that he "didn't have the guts" to run for re-election.

Corker hit back, telling the Times that he felt Trump posed a sharp risk to US national security, particularly over his comments about North Korea.

"I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it's a situation of trying to contain him," the 65-year-old said.

"He concerns me," the senator added. "He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation."

- Wrong fight? -

In his nine months in office, Trump has openly criticized several in his party, including senators like John McCain who refused to back his Obamacare repeal effort.

He has also feuded with congressional leaders such as top Republican Senator Mitch McConnell for failing to get the health bill over the line.

The president branded Senator Lindsey Graham "publicity seeking" for criticizing him over his response to racially-charged violence this summer in Charlottesville.

He attacked Senator Jeff Flake as "weak on crime" and border protection.

And Trump chided House Speaker Paul Ryan for failing to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling, forcing the president negotiate with Democrats.

But few have spoken out so bluntly against the president as has Corker -- and the president's response has confounded some experts.

With Trump poised to decertify the Iran nuclear pact and leave it up to Congress whether to reimpose punitive sanctions, Corker will play a crucial role in what happens next.

"Corker may be the most important partner in that dance. This is so dumb," tweeted Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior State Department official.

Trump also needs Corker, who has served as an ally behind the scenes, if he does not want his legislative agenda derailed in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.

The party has a tax reform plan that provides substantial tax breaks for the wealthy, but Corker has signalled he will oppose the legislation if it adds to the US deficit.

Corker has 15 months left in his term, and his remarks imply he is prepared to assume the role of Trump's chief critic within the Republican Party during that period.

He also made it clear Sunday that most Senate Republicans share his view about the volatility of the president.

"Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we're dealing with here," Corker told the Times.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "called for resolution of differences exclusively through diplomatic methods"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned his US counterpart Rex Tillerson that Washington risks sparking an unacceptable escalation in tensions with North Korea.

In a phone call with US Secretary of State Tillerson, Lavrov "stressed the unacceptability of an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula, which the American military preparations in the region are leading to," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia's top diplomat "called for resolution of differences exclusively through diplomatic methods."

US President Donald Trump said Saturday that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed.

He also tweeted last week that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate" and added that: "only one thing will work!"

The US has not ruled out the use of force to compel Pyongyang to halt missile and nuclear tests, and Trump has threatened to destroy the country.

The US and its ally South Korea staged drills in September near the heavily-fortified border with North Korea.

China has proposed a plan, which Russia has backed, in which North Korea would suspend its nuclear weapons programme in return for the United States halting its military drills in the region.
First Lady Melania Trump criticized the president's ex-wife Ivana after she apparently jokingly referred to herself as first lady

US First Lady Melania Trump accused her husband's first wife Ivana of making "attention-seeking and self-serving noise" Monday, after the former Mrs Trump jokingly referred to herself as the first lady while trying to sell her memoirs.

In an interview with ABC News to promote her new book -- "Raising Trump" -- the 68-year-old Ivana Trump attempted a little joke when describing her longstanding relationship with the 45th US president.

"I have the direct number to White House but I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there, and I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?" she told ABC, with a laugh.

Melania Trump, 47 and normally very reserved, was not amused.

"Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the president," said a tersely worded statement from her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, published by CNN. Barron is the Trumps' young son.

"She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States."

"She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books," Grisham said.

She added: "There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. This is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise."

Ivana Trump is the mother of Trump's three eldest children: Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.

The former real estate magnate has two other children: Tiffany, with his second wife, Marla Maples, and 11-year-old Barron -- who lives with his parents at the White House.

Ivana, a Czech-born former model, skier and businesswoman, married Trump in 1979. The couple were a fixture on the New York celebrity circuit before divorcing in a blaze of scandal in 1992.

Trump went on to marry Maples, with whom he had been having an affair, but they divorced six years later. Melania is Trump's third wife.

Ivana is perhaps best known for coining Trump's nickname "The Donald."
Ardern (C) and her conservative rival Prime Minister Bill English (L) are both in coalition talks with Peters (R), who holds the balance of power after the country's September 23 election ended in a deadlock

New Zealand opposition leader Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday ruled out giving Winston Peters a stint as prime minister if she forms a government with the populist "kingmaker".

Ardern and her conservative rival Prime Minister Bill English are both in coalition talks with Peters, who holds the balance of power after the country's September 23 election ended in a deadlock.

There has been speculation Peters could demand a year in the prime minister's role as the price of his support, with some seeing it as the 72-year-old's last chance for a shot at the top job.

ACT MP David Seymour, a long-time critic of Peters, said this week that the New Zealand First leader "(wants) to be immortalised, and that requires being PM".

Ardern, who revived the fortunes of the centre-left Labour Party during the campaign, described the suggestion as "ludicrous" and said it would not happen on her watch.

The 37-year-old said her discussions with Peters had been focused on policy issues and the possibility of forming a stable coalition government, not sharing the prime ministership.

"I've said all along that it's not something that's on offer, so why would someone seek it," she told TVNZ.

"It's been policy focused, that's what we've been talking about... Labour will not walk out of a negotiation with that being a role that is being transferred."

During the campaign, English also ruled out sharing the prime minister's job with Peters, who is due to reveal his preferred coalition partner on Thursday.

It is the third time Peters, best known as an anti-immigration campaigner, has found himself in the role of kingmaker under New Zealand's proportional voting system.

He opted for National in 1996 in return for being made deputy prime minister and backed Labour in 2005 after it agreed to make him foreign minister.

The New Zealand Herald reported earlier this year that Peters floated the idea of becoming prime minister during the 1996 coalition talks but neither National nor Labour seriously considered it.
A devotee in a trance performs at an annual Voodoo festival in Ouidah, Benin

Three senators from Haiti pause in reflection in front of a statue of their country's independence hero Toussaint Louverture in Allada, southern Benin, where he had his roots.

The West African and Caribbean countries, separated by thousands of kilometres (miles) and ocean, share the same history but also the same religion -- voodoo.

Jean Renel Senatus, Jean-Marie Junior Salomon and Ronald Lareche came to Benin late last month on a research trip as part of Haiti's reforms of its 19th-century penal code.

Part of the process is taking advice from countries where their ancestors lived before they were shipped abroad as slaves.

Historically and culturally, "Haiti and Benin are two sides of the same coin," Senatus, a lawyer and president of Haiti's Senate justice commission, told AFP.

"We want to adapt these texts to modern-day life and we're here to see how Benin handles irrational phenomena in law," he said after placing flowers on Louverture's statue.

Benin -- giant Nigeria's tiny western neighbour -- is one of the cradles of voodoo, where it is an official religion and has millions of followers.

The cult of the invisible and natural spirits travelled across the Atlantic Ocean from the 18th century, as millions of West Africans were transported to the New World as slaves.

- 'Zombification' -

The very word "voodoo" typically conjures up a raft of cliches, not least dolls covered in pins.

But certain phenomena are a concern for politicians and has prompted them to wonder: how should a country legislate for crimes linked to the religion?

A voodoo devotee in a trance takes a body from a grave in a cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

With zombification, for example, Haitian voodoo priests are said to administer a powder to the victim giving the appearance of clinical death.

The supposed deceased -- exhumed with the help of an undertaker -- can then be exploited in its weakened, semi-conscious state.

Salomon, the vice-president of Haiti's Senate, said zombification "is the fact of being declared dead and openly buried and then 'brought back to life'.

"What's different is that the person 'brought back' then works like a slave."

In working class areas and remote communities in Haiti where there is no confidence in local justice, zombification is a way of settling scores with enemies.

In Benin, the same method exists but for a very different purpose.

"It is used by those initiated in the secret ways of the temples to strengthen their power but they keep an antidote to hand," said Honorat Aguessy, a Beninese sociologist.

In Benin, "voodoo is for good"," he added.

A man wears a charm and cowry shells around his arm at the annual Voodoo Festival in Ouidah, Benin, which declared voodoo an official religion in 1996

Some people in Benin still use charms to get rid of a rival -- but the weapon stays largely hidden and for lack of evidence, the country has not legislated against occult practices.

Traditional justice, however, still plays a big role in society through the use of traditional rulers.

- Voodoo chief -

In Allada, the three senators met the traditional monarch, Kpodegbe Djigla. "He told us that he is asked to judge certain cases," said Senatus.

Traditional rulers resolve many land disputes because they know local history. Villages have a council of sages comprising elders, community leaders and a voodoo chief.

"It often deals with complaints linked to custom, for example if a widow who is not supposed to leave her house at a certain time does it anyway," said lawyer Sandrine Aholou.

In her work, Aholou sees a mix of the two legal systems: "On the one hand, the civilian justice system accepts traditional justice on the other.

"Tradition influences modern law."

Most of the time, decisions taken by the elders are respected, to the astonishment of the Haitian senators.

For Salomon, it's a question of culture. "Here, people respect tradition," he said.

"In our country, because of the influence of modern life and proximity to the United States, we've abandoned it."
On Monday, crowds filled New York streets to recognize the so-called "man who discovered America," even as he is increasingly denounced as embodying the genocide of indigenous Americans

Should Christopher Columbus still be honored?

Coming on the heels of a growing movement to take down statues commemorating the pro-slavery Confederate Army from the civil war, it's a question many US cities are now asking themselves.

On Monday, crowds filled New York streets to recognize the so-called "man who discovered America," even as he is increasingly denounced as embodying the genocide of indigenous Americans.

Ruth Edelstein-Friedman watched from a folding camping chair while the traditional Columbus Day parade wound along a damp Fifth Avenue.

"We brought our children. We wanted them to see the parade and the statues and everything before they get rid of them," the retiree said.

A government holiday in the United States, Columbus Day is named for the explorer, from what is now Italy, who landed in the present-day Bahamas in 1492.

For Edelstein-Friedman and her husband Eduardo, who travelled specially from Miami, homages to Columbus could soon be a thing of the past.

And the controversy has only escalated following the August clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia where a liberal protester was killed at a white supremacist rally seeking to prevent the removal of statue of General Robert E. Lee, who led the southern Confederacy during the 19th century American Civil War.

However, no one has yet announced the end of the New York parade which, in good weather, draws more than a million spectators.

It is as much a celebration of New York's powerful Italian-American community, which is represented at its highest levels by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Both men proudly marched in Monday's parade.

President Donald Trump brushed aside criticism on Monday by describing the arrival of Columbus as "a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great nation."

Unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, Trump cited no possible failings in the "discovery" of America.

Dozens of US cities have already replaced Columbus Day with one honoring indigenous people, after a 1992 initiative from the leftist bastion of Berkeley, California.

Over the past two years more than 50 cities across the country have followed. These include Los Angeles, the country's second-biggest city which voted in August to honor indigenous people and not the explorer.

New York's parade continues but, even there, the fate of its Columbus statues is uncertain.

One was erected in 1892 at the top of a 75-foot (23 meter) column above Columbus Circle at the foot of Central Park.

- 'Genocide' or 'revisionism' -

Last month somebody vandalized another Columbus monument, smaller and in the center of the park.

One of its hands was covered in red paint to protest the blood that the explorer had on his own hands, while graffiti on the plinth read: "Hate will not be tolerated."

On Monday a handful of protesters, who have arrived several times, gathered in front of the Columbus Circle statue to denounce "genocide" and "slavery."

Police now guard the statue daily.

Petitions and counter-petitions circulate, while the debate continues on Twitter where some denounce Columbus and seek the removal of statues but others condemn "the revisionism of history."

An electric nationwide debate over symbols of racism followed the Charlottesville violence.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 others were injured when 20-year-old James Fields allegedly drove into a crowd of protestors.

New York Mayor de Blasio in August named a commission to decide on the fate of controversial monuments.

It will announce its decisions in early December, a month after the municipal election in which de Blasio hopes for a second mandate.

Given this, some people like Laura Scheyer and her husband Steve Cohn see the New York parade as something to be preserved.

The couple were spending several days in New York after arriving from Seattle, where Columbus Day is no longer celebrated.

"Every country has had problems with its history, where they suppressed people," Cohn said.

The parade "is people having fun, and we all deserve a little fun when you look at the world today, don't you think?"
Iraqi photographer Ali Arkady receives the Photo Prize award at the Bayeux-Calvados Awards for war correspondents.

They are like the infamous images from Abu Ghraib prison, only worse. Iraqi civilians in Mosul facing rape, torture and murder from members of their own army who had retaken the city from the Islamic State.

"They are the most sinister, upsetting pictures I have seen in my entire life," the veteran BBC war correspondent Jeremy Bowen said of the images taken by Kurdish photographer Ali Arkady.

This weekend the brutal series of pictures called "Kissing Death" Arkady took last year while embedded with members of an Iraqi special forces unit, won France's top prize for war correspondents.

The photographs were not just "really strong" said Bowen, who chaired the Bayeux-Calvados jury, "they were evil".

But it wasn't only their content that disturbed the jury. Arkady, 34, admitted to being pressured into hitting two suspects during a torture session to save his own skin, actions of which he said he was "not proud".

But other war photographers asked whether a line had been crossed?

While Bowen insisted that "the service he did by taking those pictures is more powerful that the fact he made some mistakes", others were not so sure.

Another member of the jury, who asked not be named, told AFP that he was disturbed by the ethical issues the "shocking" pictures raised.

"The story is not clear. A lot of people think he has been very brave in telling this story... but I think we are not sending the right message in rewarding this type of work," he added.

- 'He admitted his mistakes' -

Arkady was forced to flee Iraq with his family earlier this year, bringing with him images and films which he said proved war crimes were committed by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) which he had followed for two months.

Arkady said he kept working with the unit after the torture began partly from guilt because he had painted the soldiers as heroes in an earlier report for the US television network, ABC.

"What began for Ali as a positive story about Shia and Sunni Iraqi soldiers fighting on the same side against a mutual enemy, turned into a horrific journey that included torture, rape, killing and thieving of innocent Iraqi civilians by the ERD," said the US-based photo agency, VII, who helped get him out of Iraq.

"I'd seen two heroes (the unit's commanders) do something bad," Arkady told AFP. "They started torturing people, raping women. Everything changed in my mind. I was confused. I decided to investigate more."

One of Arkady's poweful images. This one, taken last November, shows a woman talking to an ERD intelligence officer, after her house was bombed by Iraqi air strikes and her brother kidnapped by ISIS, in Qabr al-Abd village, near Mosul.

Bowen, who has spent decades reporting from the Middle East, said the fact that Arkady had exposed abuses that would otherwise have gone unreported was the overriding factor.

"I think it is very important he admitted the mistakes he made. In moral terms, he is not a torturer," he told AFP.

Award-winning British war photographer Sean Smith of The Guardian, who was not on the jury, said he "would not condemn" Arkady either.

For him, however, "the system which put him in that position -- where often inexperienced locally hired freelance 'stringers' provide the coverage" from dangerous war zones, is the real problem.

- 'Whole system compromised' -

"The whole thing has got so compromised because major news organisations are sending fewer and fewer experienced people," he said.

"There is no one there. Virtually all the coverage is coming from stringers and social media," he said.

Stringers often go "from not covering anything to covering extreme stuff. They just feed the machine" of photo agencies that want to show "they are still in the business even if they don't cover most things anymore.

"And then when something goes wrong, the guy becomes a scapegoat and everyone becomes very self-righteous."

VII co-founder Gary Knight told AFP that the agency did not know what Arkady had uncovered while he was working on the story.

"We did not pressure Ali to publish the images, the opposite is true," said Knight.

"We suggested that he think long and hard... because we knew that he would have to leave the country for his own security -- possibly forever -- if he did," he added.

Knight said he and the agency's other acclaimed war photographers Christopher Morris and Ron Haviv had mentored "Ali for years to offer him support and advice".

Smith said although Arkady should not have taken part in torture, photographers were sometimes put in desperate positions.

"If you go with people like that you can't say, 'I don't agree with what you are doing.' You blend in and disappear, you may even end up getting drunk with them."

For there is always "a very real danger you can end up dumped by the side of a road with a bullet in your head", he said.
First there was beer and paddleboard yoga. Then someone added goats to the mix. Now fitness buffs in Myanmar are taking the latest body-bending trend to whole new heights -- pulling off yoga poses on a climbing wall

First there was beer and paddleboard yoga. Then someone added goats to the mix. Now fitness buffs in Myanmar are taking the latest body-bending trend to whole new heights -- pulling off yoga poses on a climbing wall.

Khin Myat Thu Zar zips up to the top of a wall at a newly opened climbing centre in Yangon with ease. But her climb isn't finished yet.

With the support of a rope partner she flips upside down, her feet gripping two climbing wall holds in an inverted split that would make the couch potatoes of the world wince at just the thought.

Most of the students for 'climbing yoga' hail from Myanmar's rapidly growing middle classes, who have been devouring global trends since the once isolated country abandoned outright military rule six years ago

"Much more strength is needed to do this kind of yoga and the mind has to be entirely stable," she told AFP after a climb intermixed with an array of elaborate poses.

"You need to be courageous," she added.

The 32-year-old former lawyer has been teaching yoga in Myanmar professionally for the last five years. She started climbing six months ago as a way to strengthen her muscles and decided to marry the two hobbies together.

"The feeling on the wall is very different from (yoga) on the ground," she beamed, while admitting climbing yoga was not for the faint hearted and carried some risks. "If we do something wrong, it can hurt and it is dangerous."

Khin Myat Thu Zar (C), a 32-year-old former lawyer has been teaching yoga in Myanmar professionally for the last five years and now uses a climbing wall for some of her classes

Most of her students hail from Myanmar's rapidly growing middle classes, who have been devouring global trends since the once isolated country abandoned outright military rule six years ago.

Lifestyle options that many in the west might have taken for granted -- from fast fast food joints and hipster cafes to nightclubs -- are still seen as novel in Myanmar. Now yoga studios, climbing walls and tight-fitting gym clothes, trends almost unheard of under cloistered military rule, are breaking through.

"Things are changing," Khin Myat Thu Zar said, when asked whether the skin-tight gear turned heads in a country that remains deeply conservative and where women are not encouraged to show flesh.

At $12 for an hour long session, climbing yoga classes are inevitably only affordable for the wealthy in Myanmar where the average annual salary is just $1,250

"Sportswear fashion is a new trend now in Myanmar," she explained.

At $12 for an hour long session, her climbing yoga classes are inevitably only affordable for the wealthy in a country where the average annual salary is just $1,250.

But there is no shortage of willing participants. At a recent session, some half a dozen women and two men warmed up before trying their hand at various yoga position on the wall.

Myint Myat Sandy, a 25-year-old student, said she wanted to use climbing to boost her fitness and improve her yoga skills on the ground.

"The way we do climbing yoga, it builds up strength in your hands," she said.

Sandar Win, a bodybuilder in her 40s, says it is inner peace she is after.

She explained: "I love the feeling I get at the end of a yoga session. My mind is totally at peace."
Police say that more than half of the victims in the latest disaster were children

The bodies of another nine refugees have washed up in Bangladesh after an overloaded boat carrying scores of desperate Rohingya sank in rough seas, police said Tuesday, taking the confirmed death toll to 23.

Eight bodies were found on the banks of the Naf river, which separates Bangladesh from Myanmar, and another was found miles away on the island of St Martin.

More than half of the victims in the latest disaster were children, said Mian Uddin, police chief for the border town of Teknaf.

He could not say how many people were missing, but survivors and officials have said the boat was carrying between 60 and 100 people. So far 15 have been rescued by Bangladesh coast guards and border guards, though authorities say some may have swum to Myanmar.

Nearly 160 refugees have drowned, many after boarding often rickety fishing trawlers that are wholly inadequate for the rough waters in the Bay of Bengal

More than half a million refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25, fleeing a military crackdown that followed attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts.

The exodus had slowed, but in recent days government officials say there have been thousands of fresh arrivals, most coming from parts of Myanmar's Rakhine state that are far from the border with Bangladesh.

Many cross the Naf river at its narrowest point, but others are attempting to make the journey by sea, boarding often rickety fishing trawlers that are wholly inadequate for the rough waters in the Bay of Bengal. Nearly 160 have drowned.

Among the latest influx were two young boys aged two and three, who died due to hunger and exhaustion as they entered Bangladesh.

"Their parents told us that they died due to starvation. They walked seven days and did not have anything to eat," Sultan Ahmed, a local councillor at Anjumanpara border village, told AFP.
A US-made Apache helicopter owned by Taiwan releases flares during a military drill earlier this year

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen pledged on Tuesday to bolster the island's military but added it will not "seek war" amid tensions with its biggest rival China.

Cross-strait relations have rapidly deteriorated since Tsai took office last May, with Beijing cutting all official communications with Taipei as it does not trust her traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

The two sides split after a civil war in 1949 but China still sees self-governing Taiwan as a wayward province to be brought back into its fold, by force if necessary.

Tsai made the remarks Tuesday in a national address at a National Day celebration, her second since taking office last year.

Taiwan is committed to build its own military jets and submarines, and should be prepared for increasing cybersecurity and espionage risks, she said.

Troop morale and soldier benefits must also be improved, Tsai added.

"Although we are strengthening our military capabilities, we do not seek war," she said.

"We remain committed to maintaining peace and stability both in the Taiwan Strait and across the region."

Tsai also called on Beijing to find "new modes" for cross-strait interactions.

No caption

China has repeatedly said Tsai must acknowledge both sides are part of "one China" for dialogue to resume, but the Taiwan leader has refused to do so.

Beijing has ramped up pressure on Tsai by sailing its sole aircraft carrier and flying jets near the island during military exercises, as well as blocking Taipei from participating in key international events.

"Although political differences between the two sides have led to some complications, we have nevertheless worked to maintain the basic stability of cross-strait relations," Tsai said Tuesday, adding Taipei will not "bow to pressure."

Tsai's remarks come as China's Communist Party is set to hold its 19th congress next week -- expected to cement President Xi Jinping as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation.

Beijing sees any calls for Taiwan independence as a challenge to its power, even though the island today is a thriving democracy.
North Koreans watch footage of a missile launch on September 16, 2017

South Korea said Tuesday it was maintaining full military readiness following intense speculation of a possible ballistic missile test by the North as it marks a key anniversary.

Tensions over North Korea's weapons programme have soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions.

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army and maintaining full readiness.

Consistent movements of personnel and equipment were being detected in certain locations in the North, Yonhap news agency reported, suggesting that preparations for another weapons test might be under way.

Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test on the anniversary of the founding day of North Korea last year.

It remains unclear whether North Korea is holding official celebrations for the party anniversary or if its leader Kim Jong-Un is making any public appearances for the occasion.

The North's official media touted the party's byungjin policy -- which pushes for simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy -- and added that military power was "the guarantee for victory".

"We must complete the construction of the national nuclear force by thoroughly upholding the party's byungjin policy," said a front-page editorial carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper to mark the party anniversary.

"We must hold high the banner of the great byungjin policy to accelerate the final victory in the anti-America Armageddon," it said.
The vote announcement comes after junta chief Prayut travelled to the US to meet with Donald Trump

Thailand will hold elections in November 2018, junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said Tuesday, a date that will fall more than four years after he seized power in a coup.

Immediately after his 2014 putsch Prayut promised to return power to civilians within 18 months. But that date has repeatedly slipped, and even after the vote critics say there will be limits on democracy.

"In November 2018 there will be an election. Is it clear?" the often gruff leader told reporters, adding that he would announce the exact date next June.

The election will not restore the full-scale democracy that existed before the latest military takeover in Thailand -- a country that has seen more than a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.

After seizing power the generals drafted a new charter that curbs the power of elected politicians and calls for a fully appointed upper house Senate with several spots reserved for military leaders.

The junta has also said that any future government must adhere to a "legally binding 20-year-plan" for the country that is still in the works.

The election announcement comes after Prayut travelled to the US earlier this month to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House -- an embrace the junta chief was denied under Barack Obama's administration.

A joint statement after the meeting said Trump welcomed Thailand's commitment to "lead to free and fair elections in 2018."

That unexpected announcement caused a commotion back in the kingdom, where Prayut initially rowed back and said only that a specific date would be announced in 2018.
A Seoul lawmaker says North Korean hackers stole details of South Korean-US exercises

North Korean computer hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents from South Korea including detailed wartime operational plans involving its US ally, a report said Tuesday.

Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, said the hackers broke into the South's military network in September last year and gained access to 235 gigabytes of sensitive data, the Chosun Ilbo daily reported.

Among the leaked documents was Operational Plans 5015 for use in case of war with the North and including procedures for "decapitation" attacks on leader Kim Jong-Un, the paper quoted Rhee as saying.

Rhee, a member of parliament's defence committee, could not be reached for comment, but his office said he had been quoted correctly.

The report comes amid heightened fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula, fuelled by US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang to tame its weapons ambitions.

In his latest tweet over the weekend, Trump reiterated that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed, adding that "only one thing will work."

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said he was aware of the report, but declined to confirm or deny any aspect of it.

"I can assure you that we are confident in the security of our operations plans and our ability to deal with any threat from North Korea," Manning told Pentagon reporters.

"I am not going to address whether or not that (hack) has occurred. What I am going to tell you is that the (South Korea)-US alliance, that bilateral entity, is there to deal with those types of situation and safeguard against them."

- 80 percent unidentified -

Citing Seoul's defence ministry, Rhee said that 80 percent of the leaked documents had yet to be identified.

But the contingency plan for the South's special forces was stolen, he said, as well as details about annual joint military drills with the US and information on key military facilities and power plants.

A ministry spokesman declined to confirm the report, citing intelligence matters.

In May, the ministry said North Korea had hacked into Seoul's military intranet but did not say what had been leaked.

Pyongyang has a 6,800-strong unit of trained cyberwarfare specialists, according to the South Korean government. It has been accused of launching high-profile cyberattacks, including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures.

The Chosun Ilbo story was the second report Tuesday of military-related cyber-attacks in the Asia-Pacific.

Australia's government said separately an unidentified defence contractor had been hacked and a "significant amount of data" stolen.

There were 47,000 cyber-incidents in the last 12 months, a 15 percent increase from the previous year, Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan said in Canberra as he unveiled a report by the Cyber Security Centre.

The defence contractor was exploited via an internet-facing server, with the cyber-criminals using remote administrative access to remain in its network, the report said.

The hacker was reportedly based in China, but Tehan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that "we don't know and we cannot confirm exactly who the actor was."
Soldiers march during Kagame's swearing-in ceremony in August

Rwanda's military has used asphyxiation, electric shock and mock executions to torture confessions out of detainees, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Tuesday.

The rights watchdog confirmed 104 cases of people being illegally detained and tortured in Rwandan military detention centres between 2010 and 2016, according to the 91-page report, which estimates the true figure is much higher.

It said that systematic torture by the military was often ignored by judges and prosecutors whenever complaints were made.

"Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please," said Ida Sawyer of HRW, a US-based global watchdog.

The group's research found that most victims were detained on suspicion of being members of the FDLR -- a predominantly Hutu rebel group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo -- with some of its members suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide.

Others were suspected of having ties to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition group in exile composed mainly of former members of Rwanda's ruling party, or to the jailed Victoire Ingabire, president of a banned opposition party.

- 'I was going to die' -

One former detainee told HRW how soldiers placed a plastic bag over his head so he could not breathe.

"I accepted (everything they told me to accept) because I was going to die. Then they stopped. I signed a document they put in front of me," he said.

The report comes just two months after a HRW investigation showed security forces, including soldiers, executed at least 37 petty offenders instead of prosecuting them.

A government press conference to address the previous report was due to be held Tuesday, however was cancelled at the last minute.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been in power since 2000 and won a third term in August with nearly 99 percent of the vote, after amending the constitution to remove term limits.

Prominent Kagame critic Diane Rwigara has been charged with inciting insurrection

He is hailed for economically transforming Rwanda after a genocide in 1994 that ravaged the country, but is criticised for clamping down on media freedom and the opposition while rights groups accuse his government of ruling through fear.

Earlier this month Diane Rwigara, a prominent critic of Kagame who was blocked from running in the election, was detained and charged with inciting insurrection against the state. She is due back in court on Wednesday.
Romola Garai says Harvey Weintein insisted on a 'private' audition

British actress Romola Garai said she felt "violated" following a meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his London hotel room when she was 18 in which he was in a bathrobe, the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Garai, best known for her role in "Atonement", said she had already been hired for a part but was told to audition privately with the Hollywood mogul because "you had to be personally approved by him."

"Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein," she told the paper.

"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it," the 35-year-old actress added.

Garai said that once she was in the room the two had a brief discussion about film but she felt "belittled" by his "abuse of power."

"The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power."

She said she had not previously raised the incident because film business insiders would be "shocked I even thought it was an issue."

Weinstein was fired on Sunday from his own film studio, three days after a bombshell New York Times report alleged that the Oscar-winning executive producer behind such hits as "The King's Speech" and "The Artist" had preyed on young women hoping to break into the industry.

Weinstein's accusers -- who reportedly include celebrities such as Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd -- say the 65-year-old tycoon had promised to help advance their careers in exchange for sexual favours, pressuring them to massage him and watch him naked.

Weinstein has expressed regret for his behaviour towards women, saying: "I own my mistakes."

Movie legends Meryl Streep and Judi Dench led a chorus of outrage including from actors Seth Rogan, Lena Dunham and Patricia Arquette, director James Gunn and fellow producer Judd Apatow.
Moscow accused the United States of reducing its air strikes on the Islamic State group in Iraq to allow jihadists to enter Syria and fight the Russian-backed Syrian army

Moscow accused the US on Tuesday of reducing air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq to let jihadists into Syria and fight the Russian-backed Syrian army, claims the Pentagon denied.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the Syrian regime was attempting to push the jihadists out of eastern Deir Ezzor province, but that arrivals from Iraq were boosting their numbers.

"The US-led coalition, pretending to fight IS, largely in Iraq, sees all this but continues allegedly active measures against IS in Syria for some reason," he said.

"The continuing arrival of terrorists from Iraq raises serious questions about the anti-terrorist objectives of the US air force and the so-called 'international coalition.'"

The US-led coalition sharply reduced its strikes on Iraq in September, as Syrian forces were beginning to retake Deir Ezzor, Konashenkov said in a statement.

"Is this change in approach from the US and the coalition a bid to cause maximum disruption to the Syrian army, backed by the Russian air force, as it seeks to free Syrian territory to the east of the river Euphrates?" he asked.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning flatly denied the Russian claims and pointed to online tallies that show no let up in the bombardment of IS targets in Iraq or Syria.

"That's absolutely false," Manning said.

"We remain committed to killing ISIS and denying them safe havens and the ability to carry out strikes in the region or globally."

On Monday, the US-led coalition conducted seven strikes against IS targets in Iraq, a military website showed.

Manning also urged "all forces" to focus their efforts on beating IS.

Over the past month, Moscow has repeatedly accused the US of hindering the Russian-backed Syrian army offensive in the east of the country.

Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria since 2015, when it stepped in to support President Bashar al-Assad's rule and tipped the conflict in his favour.
Iraqi forces and allied paramilitary retook control of Hawija from the Islamic State group last week

Iraqi forces have found the bodies of two of the crew of a plane shot down by the Islamic State group last year, the air force said on Tuesday.

The Cessna 208 Caravan was downed over the northern town of Hawija, a former jihadist bastion which was retaken by government forces last week.

"The bodies of two of the crew killed in the crash of their Cessna Caravan in Hawija in March 2016 have been found," the air force said.

"The jihadists had hidden the bodies of Brigadier General Ali al-Ubudi and Major Mohammed al-Shikhli," it said, adding that a search was under way for the body of the third crew member, Colonel Mohammed Abdel Kassar.

IS said it used anti-aircraft artillery to down the plane which had been on a bombing run against Hawija on March 16, 2016.

It released footage showing its fighters celebrating around the downed aircraft and the remains of its crew.

In its combat version, the Cessna 208 can be used to launch laser-guided Hellfire missiles.

Troops and militia overran Hawija on Thursday, recapturing the last major population centre held by IS in Iraq apart from a stretch of the Euphrates Valley next to the Syrian border.

Fighting is still going on in the countryside around the town, however, as troops attempt to retake some 60 villages still held by the jihadists and reach Kurdish lines to the north and east.

Kurdish forces came under attack on Tuesday near the town of Dibis, northwest of the provincial capital Kirkuk, an officer told AFP.

"Some jihadists walked up waving a white flag then attacked our fighters, killing one of them," the Kurdish officer said.

He said the Kurdish peshmerga fighters responded, killing eight jihadists and capturing three.
Media reports have suggested US President Donald Trump may call for the Revolutionary Guards to be designated a terrorist group as part of a tougher strategy against Iran

Iran said Tuesday that the United States would be siding with the Islamic State group if it designated the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.

"The Guards are the defender of the nation," government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht told reporters.

"If the US wants to put the Guards on the terrorist list, it puts itself in the camp of terrorists.

"Any country that wants to have such a position about the Guards will share this view with the Daesh terrorists," he said, referring to IS by an Arabic name.

Reports in the Financial Times and other media have suggested US President Donald Trump may call for the Guards to be designated a terrorist group as part of a tougher strategy against Iran to be announced in the coming days.

Analysts say such a move would have a very limited impact on the Guards, who are already subject to a wide range of sanctions.

But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi threatened a "firm, decisive and crushing" response if it went ahead.

The threat also appears to have unified Iran's establishment, which have often been bitterly divided over the current government's efforts to improve ties with the West.

On Monday night, there was the rare sight of Iran's urbane, globe-trotting foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, alongside Guards commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari appearing together for reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran.

"Diplomatic language is different to the language of defence forces but the content and the objective is the same," Jafari said.

"Americans would isolate themselves" if they designated the Guards as a terrorist group, Zarif chimed in.

"If American officials make such a strategic mistake, the Islamic republic of Iran will definitely take a reciprocal action. Of course some measures have been planned which we will announce in due time," he added.

Trump must decide by October 15 whether to recertify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal it signed with world powers in 2015.

It is widely expected that Trump will not recertify Iran, saying it is no longer in the US national interest, giving Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.

All the other signatories to the agreement -- Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia -- have urged the US to stick with the deal, saying Iran has so far stuck to its commitments to restrict its nuclear programme.

"America's behaviour has frustrated the world," said Iran's army spokesman Masoud Jazayeri, according to the semi-official ISNA agency.

"It's time America be taught new lessons. Apparently, the Trump government does not understand anything but insults and needs shocks to realise the new concept of power in today's world."
Russell Salic has been charged with involvement in a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016

A Filipino doctor accused of wiring money for a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square rejects the allegations and has vowed to fight US extradition, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016.

On Tuesday, his lawyer said Salic, a 37-year-old Muslim orthopaedic surgeon who trained at a government hospital in the southern Philippines, had no connection with terrorist activities and groups.

"He even said that he is mad at terrorist activities. He said that in Islam, terrorism is prohibited. He is a devout Muslim. He is praying five times a day," lawyer Dalomilang Parahiman told AFP.

Salic is accused of transferring $423 in May 2016 to the other suspects to help fund a thwarted operation that was planned through internet messaging applications, according to the US Justice Department.

New York's subway, Times Square and some concert venues were identified as targets in the plot that was monitored by an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow jihadist, US authorities said.

His lawyer said Salic voluntarily surrendered to Filipino authorities in April, contradicting the US government's statement that he was arrested.

A Manila court will next week hear the US extradition request for Salic that was filed by the Philippine government, state prosecutors told AFP.

They expect the legal proceedings to last less than a year.

"Yes, of course he would (contest it). He is innocent," Parahiman said. "They (wove) stories to link the person" to the plot, he added.

The undercover agent said in a sworn statement that the FBI had monitored several social media accounts which he believed to be Salic's, in which the doctor posted content "supportive of" IS, religious war and terrorist activities.

- A 'silent guy' -

But Parahiman said Salic was not in control of his social media account at the time.

"According to the doctor, his (social media) account was hacked. It took him several weeks before he recovered the account."

On Monday the Philippine military accused Salic of having ties to pro-IS militants who attacked the southern city of Marawi, and of funding terrorists in the United States, the Middle East and Malaysia.

Salic's lawyer said his client only gave money to unspecified individuals and a charitable group for "humanitarian considerations".

"He just took pity at these people because he was a bachelor and did not have many expenses. He just wanted to help them," Parahiman said.

The chief of the government hospital in Cagayan de Oro city where Salic worked as a resident physician and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon expressed surprise at the allegations.

"I can't believe it because I can't imagine doctors would be involved in those kinds of activities," Northern Mindanao Medical Centre chief Jose Chan told AFP, adding that co-workers shared his sentiment.

"He is a silent guy. He gets along well with other doctors in the department or other doctors in the other departments, just like any other resident in the hospital," Chan said.

The hospital chief also said he knew nothing of the personal life or religious beliefs of Salic, who completed his residency in April last year.
Prefabricated metal homes stretch into the distance at the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan

Authorities in Jordan on Tuesday estimated at more than $10 billion the cost of hosting thousands of refugees displaced from neighbouring Syria since the civil war broke out there in 2011.

The UN says that some 650,000 Syrian refugees are currently being housed in Jordan, but the government puts the figure far higher at around 1.3 million people.

In a statement released on social media, the foreign ministry said "more than $10.3 billion" (8.7 billion euros) had been spent on putting up the refugees.

That figure covered additional expenses in sectors including health, education and employment, and also extra money spent on public services and subsidised food, it said.

Jordan, which shares a 370 kilometre (230 mile) border with Syria, estimates that almost $1.7 billion will be needed to cover the refugees this year.

The kingdom -- which has called for the international community to do more on the crisis -- has recently come under fire from Human Rights Watch for allegedly "summarily deporting" Syrian refugees.

The group said that on average some 400 refugees were being removed each month at the start of 2017 in a move that could be aimed at preventing the violence in Syria spilling over onto Jordanian territory after several armed attacks.

Authorities insisted that any return of refugees to Syria was voluntary and that they only headed to areas in the country that are considered safe.

The UN refugee agency says 93 percent of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live below the poverty line. Around 180,000 of them are housed in two sprawling camps in the desert.

Fighting in Syria has claimed more than 330,000 lives since a brutal crackdown by the army on protesters in 2011 spiralled into all-out conflict.

The UN estimates that more than five million Syrians have been driven from the country by fighting, with the majority settling in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has already been named by ZANU-PF as its presidential candidate for the 2018 poll

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's cabinet reshuffle quashed opposition within his government, state media said Tuesday, as the 93-year-old leader prepares to stand again in elections next year.

Mugabe stripped Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa of his role as justice minister, reassigned the finance minister and created a new cyber-security ministry in a major reshuffle late Monday.

Mnangagwa is one of the top candidates likely to succeed Mugabe, but has recently been accused by undermining the president over claims that Mnangagwa was poisoned at a party rally.

The state-run Herald -- seen as the government's official voice -- on Tuesday hailed the reshuffle as "a welcome move that would send a reverberating message that the president is fully in control".

"Ministers to the new cabinet should also ensure that their loyalty is solely to their appointing authority, who is none other than President Mugabe. They should subordinate themselves to him," it said.

The paper castigated ministers for "squabbling" as in-fighting intensifies between rivals competing to succeed Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980 and is in increasingly frail health.

Mnangagwa's main opposition for the presidency comes from the "G-40" group led by Mugabe's wife Grace.

"This is a Grace Mugabe reshuffle. It's part of the succession plan and aimed at discrediting and emasculating Mnangagwa," Takavafira Zhou, a political analyst from Masvingo State University, told AFP.

"The reshuffle deflates Mnangagwa's plans. Mugabe has demoted those associated with him."

Mnangagwa -- widely known as "the crocodile" -- was hospitalised in Johannesburg in August saying he had been poisoned.

His supporters allege he was struck down by ice cream made on a farm owned by Grace Mugabe, who last week publicly denied poisoning him.

"It's the president's pleasure to introduce new blood into cabinet," Mnangagwa told reporters on Tuesday in Harare when the new ministers were sworn in.

Grace Mugabe, who is 41 years younger than her husband, is increasingly active in public life and speaks at rallies across the country, railing against anyone alleged to be disloyal to the president.

"The reshuffle is to deal with the factional and succession politics within the ruling ZANU-PF party," Bulawayo-based analyst Dumisani Mpofu told AFP.

"Mugabe has also created the cyber-security ministry as an attempt to clamp down on social media movements that pose a big threat to his regime ahead of the election."

Mugabe has already been named by ZANU-PF as its presidential candidate for the 2018 poll.
A Gazan flashes a victory sign behind a large Palestinian flag as he and others await the arrival of prime minister Rami Hamdallah on a visit that has raised hopes of an end to a decade-long split

Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas began detailed negotiations behind closed doors in Cairo on Tuesday on ending their crippling decade-long split, a delegate told AFP.

The talks follow a key breakthrough last week when Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah visited Hamas-run Gaza for the first time since 2015 and his ministers officially took control of government departments there.

"The dialogue committee for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas started work under Egyptian sponsorship," the Hamas delegate told AFP.

The talks "began in the headquarters of the Egyptian intelligence to examine the files to enable a Palestinian national unity government to work in the Gaza Strip," he added.

Azzam al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation, told AFP earlier that the main point of discussion would be "empowering the government in Gaza".

The Islamists of Hamas and the West Bank-based Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas have been at odds since they fought a near civil war in 2007.

The split has complicated any potential peace negotiations with Israel.

Multiple previous attempts at reconciliation have failed but the latest Egyptian-led push received a major boost last month when Hamas agreed to cede civil power in Gaza.

The two sides remain sharply at odds, however, over the future of Hamas's 25,000-strong armed wing, which the Islamists say is non-negotiable.

Senior figures in the Fatah delegation include intelligence chief Majed Faraj and Fayez Abu Eita, a party leader in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian official news agency Wafa said.

Newly appointed Hamas deputy leader Salah al-Aruri and the movement's Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar will lead the Hamas delegation, a spokesman said.
President Donald Trump and his top diplomat Rex Tillerson, seen here in September, were due to lunch at the White House on Tuesday

Donald Trump's feud with top diplomat Rex Tillerson burst back into the open Tuesday, with the US president suggesting he and his Secretary of State compare IQ scores.

Having loudly dismissed reports that Tillerson once called him a "moron," Trump showed no sign of letting the controversy go, renewing questions about Tillerson's future as America's top diplomat.

Just to make it clear that he's smarter than his secretary of state, Trump suggested taking a test to prove it.

"I think it's fake news," Trump told Forbes magazine of Tillerson's reported insult. "But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

The explosive interview was published hours before the two men were scheduled to meet at the White House for lunch with Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Ahead of that sit-down Trump insisted he still had confidence in the secretary of state, saying "I did not undercut anybody. I don't believe in undercutting people."

But White House insiders said that Tillerson's refusal to directly deny an NBC News report that he labelled Trump a "moron" after a July meeting at the Pentagon, only fueled differences between the men.

Since then White House chief of staff John Kelly has been struggling to keep a lid on the crisis -- an effort that has been consistently thwarted by Trump's tweets and barbed remarks.

After the reports Trump took to Twitter to publicly upbraid the former ExxonMobil CEO for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea.

The Twitter rebuke revived rumors that Tillerson is unhappy at his post, but he insists he has no intention of resigning.

- Diplomatically crucial time -

In Washington, Tillerson, along with Mattis, Kelly and chairman of the joint chiefs Joseph Dunford are increasingly seen as buffer around Trump that contains an impulsive president.

Kelly has worked to control the flow of information that crosses Trump's desk and imposed a decision-making structure that was absent in the early days of the administration.

"The White House has become an adult day care center," Senator Bob Corker declared at the weekend, in an astonishing public rebuke from a Republican who campaigned for Trump and chairs the Senate foreign relations committee.

Tillerson's departure would be a major blow to those hoping to temper Trump and stop what Corker described as "the path to World War III."

And it could not come at a more sensitive time diplomatically. Trump is poised to confront Iran by questioning a major nuclear deal later this week and appears set on upping tensions with North Korea.

Tillerson is also set to play a major role in preparing Trump's monster trip to Asia next month, that will take in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Still, it remains far from clear how long a secretary of state who has lost the ear of the president can remain in the post.

"When Cabinet officials continue to work for a president with whom they have fundamental disagreements, nothing good ever really comes of it," Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University wrote this week.
Israeli soldiers take part in a military exercise simulating conflict with Lebanese movement Hezbollah, in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, near the Syrian border on September 5, 2017

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that Lebanon and Syria would constitute "one front" against his country if a new war were to break out.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating conflict in 2006, and the Lebanese Shiite group is currently backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the Syrian civil war.

Both countries border Israel to its north.

"In the next war in the north of the country, Lebanon will not be the only front," Lieberman said in a speech to soldiers.

"There is now only one front in the north composed of Lebanon, Syria, Hezbollah, the Bashar al-Assad regime and all those who help his regime."

Lieberman added that the Lebanese army had lost "its independence by becoming an integral part of Hezbollah, which gives it its orders."

Israeli leaders frequently warn Lebanon that the country's army and civilian infrastructure would be overwhelmingly targeted if Hezbollah attacks from civilian areas.

Hezbollah is also supported by Iran, Israel's arch-enemy which backs Assad in Syria as well.

Israel's military believes Hezbollah has between 100,000 and 120,000 short- and medium-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred long-range missiles, with the medium-range missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.

Lieberman evoked the possibility of a simultaneous conflict in the north and in the south with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"The battle will take place on the northern and southern fronts," he said.

"There is no longer war on one front. It's our basic assumption and it is what our military is preparing for."

Since 2008, Israel has fought three wars with Hamas, which also receives support from Iran.

Israel has sought to avoid becoming involved in the Syrian civil war, but acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes there to stop what it says are advanced weapons deliveries to Hezbollah.
Vietnam Airlines has signed a joint venture with Air France

Vietnam Airlines and Air France signed a joint venture Tuesday to increase routes between Europe and Vietnam, as they try to capitalise on a fast-growing appetite for travel to and from Southeast Asia.

The deal, to take effect from November 1, could see destinations in Vietnam increase to 20 from three today, and destinations in France and the rest of Europe soar to around 70 from the current 14, according to Patrick Roux, senior vice president of Air France-KLM.

The stronger cooperation, which will include coordinated flight schedules, will give the French carrier a foothold in a region already well-served by other large airlines.

Air travel has boomed in Southeast Asia in recent years, with Vietnam -- and its rapidly-rising middle class -- emerging as a bright spot.

Domestic passenger numbers surged to 28 million last year from 12 million in 2012, according to the Centre for Aviation.

Vietnamese travellers are also increasingly flying abroad, both within the Asia-Pacific and to destinations in Europe.

Vietnam Airlines said the joint venture would allow airports in both France and Vietnam to become key transit hubs.

Vietnam has become a popular destination for international visitors, as well as a jumping-off point for regional travel.

More than 10 million foreigners travelled to Vietnam last year, a 26 percent increase from the year before. That included more than one million from western European countries, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

But some warned that the country could struggle to establish itself as a key transit hub for the region.

"Vietnam Airlines doesn't quite have the penetration into the market that other regional carriers do," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at Flightglobal.

Air France was the first western airline to serve Vietnam in 1930, when it was known as Air Orient. The inaugural trip took three days and made 18 stops.

The first direct flight between Vietnam and Paris was launched in 2003. Vietnam Airlines and Air France now between them carry an average of 400,000 passengers annually between the countries.

Japan's ANA Holdings has an 8.8 percent stake in Vietnam Airlines while the government owns the majority.

Air France CEO Franck Terner said his airline has no plans to buy a stake in the Vietnamese carrier.
A general view shows Solomon's Pools in the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem, on October 10, 2017, on the day of the launch of a US-funded conservation project to preserve the site

Ancient pools that provided water to Jerusalem around the time of Jesus are to be restored under a $750,000 renovation funded by the United States, officials said Tuesday.

The three Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank were built around the time of Jesus's birth and were key sources of water for the city, according to research from the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS).

The first aqueduct which fed the pools from the south was probably built by Herod the Great between 37 and 4 BC, the study showed.

In the 2,000 years since, they have fallen into disrepair and only two of the three are full with water, with the oldest one in poor condition.

At least six people have drowned in the unmonitored pools since 1993, according to the IPS.

The US Consulate in Jerusalem has provided $750,000 for renovations and hopes to see the pools become part of a major tourism site in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

"This project is about more than just protecting history. It is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of the people living here today," US Consul General Donald Blome said.

The grant comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is trying to convince Palestinian and Israeli leaders to restart stalled peace negotiations and economic support to the Palestinians has been a key pillar of such attempts.

"(Trump) has made it clear that a necessary element for the achievement of peace would be unlocking the full potential of the Palestinian economy," Blome added.

High in the hills and with dry conditions much of the year, Jerusalem has suffered from water shortages throughout its history.

George Bassous, general manager of the Solomon's Pools, said the site had been neglected.

"The importance of this site stems from the fact that it has for centuries provided Jerusalem with water, so it is our duty to protect and restore it."
Fire damage in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California

Body recovery teams with cadaver dogs were searching Thursday for victims of California's wildfires as reinforcements arrived to help exhausted firefighters battle some of the worst infernos the state has ever seen.

The death toll rose to 24 meanwhile from the wildfires, which began on Sunday and have left thousands of people homeless. Authorities said they expect it to rise further.

Gusty winds on Thursday were hampering the efforts of the 8,000 firefighters battling 21 blazes which have burned 191,437 acres (77,500 hectares), and weather conditions were not forecast to improve.

Sheriff Rob Giordano of hard-hit Sonoma County said his department has received 900 reports of missing persons, but about half of them have been found safe so far.

The authorities have said they were hopeful that most of the missing would eventually be located -- having been unable so far to contact relatives or friends because of poor communications.

A helicopter drops water on flames in Calistoga, California

But Giordano told reporters that efforts were being stepped up to recover the bodies of victims. "We're moving into a recovery phase," he said. "We have cadaver dogs up here that can basically scent bodies and help us find people."

Giordano warned that it was "going to be a slow process" as fires continue to burn, and that identifying victims would be difficult.

"We have found bodies that were completely intact and we have found bodies that were nothing more than ash and bones," he said.

Fourteen deaths have been reported in Sonoma County, six in Mendocino County, two in Yuba County and two in Napa County.

Asked if he expected the death toll to rise, Giordano replied: "I'd be unrealistic if I didn't."

Ben Pederson looks at a burnt school yearbook after his family's home was destroyed by wildfire in Santa Rosa, California

As recovery teams fanned out searching for fire victims, evacuation orders were issued for towns in wine-producing Napa and Sonoma counties, where hundreds of people have already lost their homes to the fast-moving infernos.

Residents of Calistoga, a resort town of some 5,000 people in Napa, and Geyserville, a town of around 800 people in Sonoma, were told to leave and seek shelter elsewhere.

Entire neighborhoods in Santa Rosa have been reduced to ashes, and evacuation orders were issued for additional parts of the devastated city of 175,000 people in Sonoma County.

- Risk of new fires -

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said meanwhile that strong winds could spark new fires.

Firefighters protect a vineyard in Santa Rosa, California

"These winds will continue to challenge firefighters in their efforts towards containment and will increase the risk for new fires," Cal Fire said.

The National Weather Service said wind gusts of up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour were forecast in some areas and the "critical fire weather conditions" would continue into the weekend.

Cal Fire said hundreds of fire engines and firefighters were being brought in "not only to help relieve crews on the frontlines, but to be ready for the possibility of new wildfires."

David Shew, a veteran firefighter with Cal Fire, said the wildfires were like nothing he's seen before.

"I've been with Cal Fire for 30 years and I've seen big fires," he told AFP. "But this is extraordinary, having that many and that large and going so fast."

A note from a homeowner to firefighters on Bennett Valley Rd in Santa Rosa, California

California fire chief Ken Pimlott described the fires on Wednesday as a "serious, critical, catastrophic event" and Governor Jerry Brown said they were among the worst ever experienced in the state.

Pimlott said the lingering effects of five years of drought were fueling the fires. "We are literally looking at explosive vegetation," he said.

Thousands of people have been left homeless and 25,000 people have evacuated their homes in Sonoma County alone, according to officials.

More than 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed, including several wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties, the heart of the state's extensive wine production.

President Donald Trump has declared a major disaster in California, freeing up federal funding and resources to help fight the fires, and Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency in eight counties.

Phil Rush looks at the remains of his home destroyed by fire in Santa Rosa, California

Michael Desmond, 63, was among the hundreds of residents of Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood who lost their homes.

"I feel violated, like a thief came in," said Desmond, who sobbed as he surveyed the rubble of the house where he grew up.

Forest fires are common in the western United States during the summer but this year's blazes in California are among the deadliest ever.

The Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles County in 1933 killed at least 29 people, and 25 people died in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.
King Salman held talks last week with Putin, in the first visit to Moscow by a Saudi monarch

Saudi King Salman swept into Moscow with a vast entourage for a first ever visit that underscored Russia's growing power in the Middle East, despite deep differences between the two oil giants over Syria.

The Saudi king brought 1,500 people to Moscow and had a plane fly in fresh food supplies from Riyadh every day during his four-day visit last week, the first by a Saudi monarch.

President Vladimir Putin welcomed the king in a lavish Kremlin ceremony and Moscow was covered in billboards greeting the monarch in both Arabic and Russian.

The world's largest energy exporters did not let the fact they have for decades been at loggerheads over conflicts in the Muslim world, from Afghanistan to Chechnya, prevent them from striking a slew of arms and energy deals worth billions of dollars.

Saudi Arabia, a longstanding US ally, signed preliminary agreements to buy Russia's S-400 air defence systems and anti-tank guided missile systems and receive "cutting edge technologies," as well as draw up investment and energy deals, the Sunni state's military firm, Saudi Arabian Military Industries, said.

Yet the two oil producers find themselves backing opposite sides of the Syrian civil war.

Saudi Arabia supports the Syrian rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad, while Moscow has teamed up with Riyadh's nemesis Iran to save the Damascus regime.

While the Saudis blame Assad for a conflict that has left over 330,000 dead since 2011, the visit was a sign that Riyadh has come to terms with the major role Russia now plays in the Middle East.

"For Putin, the king's visit showed that he acknowledges this role," Alexander Shumilin of the Middle East Conflicts Centre in Moscow told AFP.

Moscow's air campaign in Syria, launched in 2015, was widely seen as a game changer in the conflict that -- at least for now -- appears to have secured Assad's grip over his war-torn country.

Now, the Kremlin is seeking support for a political settlement in Syria that guarantees Assad's role.

At the same time, Moscow wants the Saudis to help fund reconstruction projects in Syria, giving Russian companies beneficial deals, says Vladimir Frolov, an independent foreign policy analyst based in Moscow.

- US less involved -

Saudi Arabia has sought to diversify its global relationships since Washington has reduced its role in the region.

"America has become less interested in the Middle East and Russia is taking advantage of that," says Fyodor Lukyanov, of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy in Moscow.

Saudi Arabia's grievances with Washington date back to the Barack Obama era.

Russian and Saudi officials met in Moscow last week

Like other US allies in the region, Riyadh wanted regime change in Damascus and became disillusioned when Obama refused to take decisive action against Assad.

"America discredited itself, and Russia is coming out of a long period of stagnation," says pro-Kremlin analyst Alexander Filonik of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Moscow could also act as a convenient partner in supporting change inside the Saudi regime.

While Russia will not replace Washington as the region's primary security provider, Frolov says, the Saudis could look to Moscow as a more reliable ally in case of an Arab Spring-inspired popular uprising.

"They saw the US betray their ally Hosni Mubarak in Egypt in the name of promoting democracy," says Frolov.

- Dispute over Iran -

For the Saudis, the visit to Moscow was also an attempt to sway Putin to use his position to diminish Iranian influence in the Middle East.

"For Saudi Arabia, not letting Iran get stronger in the region is a priority," says Shumilin.

"Nobody knows how Putin will act on this, he is in the middle of major players heading in different directions," he adds.

Frolov suggests Russia is too dependent on Iranian boots on the ground in Syria to afford a serious rupture with Tehran.

"The Saudis will be disappointed with Putin on this and it might affect their economic deals with Russia," he says.

Despite their clear differences, Salman's visit confirmed the Kremlin's military campaign in Syria has secured its long-term role as a serious player in the Middle East.
Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the West Bank city of Hebron on September 15, 2017

Israel is to advance plans for nearly 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank as part of a push to greatly boost settlement growth, an Israeli official said Tuesday.

The approvals are to include units in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron for the first time in years.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "3,736 housing units will be approved at different stages of planning and construction".

He did not give a timeframe or a precise breakdown, but said the homes would be located throughout the West Bank, including in Hebron and at the Migron and Beit El settlements near Ramallah.

"In total, about 12,000 housing units will be approved in 2017, at various stages of planning and construction, four times the number in 2016," the official said.

Israel faced heavy criticism of settlement construction from US president Barack Obama's administration, but that has not been the case with his successor Donald Trump.

A US official said "while we are not going to respond to every announcement or report, our policy toward settlements remains unchanged".

"The administration has made clear that unrestrained settlement activity does not advance the prospect for peace. At the same time the administration recognises that past demands for a settlement freeze have not helped advance peace talks."

Israeli media say that a planning council is expected to meet next week to approve at least some of the plans.

The Peace Now NGO, which closely monitors settlement construction, said the meeting is likely to be Tuesday or Wednesday, with at least 2,156 units on the agenda.

It said that if the Hebron housing is approved it would be the first time for the southern West Bank city since 2002.

- Netanyahu under pressure -

Hebron is home to around 200,000 Palestinians, with about 800 settlers living under Israeli army protection in several heavily fortified compounds in the heart of the city.

It is holy to both religions, with Old Testament figures including Abraham believed to be buried there.

The 1994 massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron by Israeli-American Baruch Goldstein led to an agreement three years later giving the Palestinian Authority control over 80 percent of the city.

The settlers and about 30,000 Palestinians living adjacent to them fall under Israeli military rule.

Last month, Israel gave the settlers there the authority to manage their own municipal affairs in what critics denounced as reminiscent of "apartheid".

About 430,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.6 million Palestinians in the West Bank, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Settlement building in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem is considered illegal under international law.

It is also seen as a major obstacle to peace as the settlements are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government leans heavily on settlers and their supporters to maintain its thin parliamentary majority.

Netanyahu is also facing a graft probe that could potentially force him from office and has sought to rally his right-wing base behind him.

"We are afraid that, as Netanyahu gets more and more under pressure from the investigations and from his coalition, he is going to approve more and more plans," said Peace Now's Hagit Ofran.

However, settler leaders view the new plans with scepticism, saying they want to see construction move ahead.

"Announcements are nice, but bricks and mortar are what is needed," Oded Revivi of the Yesha Council settlers' organisation said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump, right, and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017

US President Donald Trump will host Singapore's prime minister in Washington later this month, the White House said Tuesday, with North Korea likely topping the agenda.

In a statement announcing Lee Hsien Loong's October 23 White House visit, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the meeting would reaffirming ties with "one of America's closest partners in Asia for more than 50 years."

Singapore has long positioned itself as something of a cultural and political translator, helping bridge differences between the United States and China.

But Trump's head-on approach with Beijing and his moves to jettison a trans-Pacific trade deal, which included Singapore, has cast the relationship into doubt.

Trump has also taken a harder line on partners' dealings with the regime in North Korea, which could have an outsized impact on Singapore -- a major banking hub for the Asia-Pacific region.

"The president and prime minister will discuss ways to further strengthen our economic, political, security and people-to-people ties, and work to advance United States engagement and mutual interests throughout the Indo-Pacific region," Sanders said.

Earlier this year, the US Treasury designated two Singapore based firms for ties with Pyongyang's weapons programs.
Ghassan Salame, UN envoy for Libya, speaks on September 26, 2017

The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged Libyans, divided with rival governments and beset by violence, to work together ahead of hoped-for elections.

The 15-member council gave its full support to a plan by the new UN envoy Ghassan Salame for legislative and presidential ballots by July next year.

It "strongly urges all Libyans to work together in a spirit of compromise and to engage constructively in the inclusive political process," a declaration said.

Years of political turmoil in Libya have followed the 2011 overthrow of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

A mass of migrants have made the lawless country their launchpad into Europe, and the United States has carried out air strikes against Islamic State group jihadists in the North African state.

Salame, appointed UN envoy in July, last month outlined his plan under which a new constitution must be put before a referendum, paving the way for elections.

He also announced that a national conference would be held to reintegrate all the country's "ostracized or marginalized" actors.

After a 2015 UN-backed agreement, a unity Government of National Accord (GNA) with Fayez al-Sarraj as prime minister took office in Tripoli last year.

But it has struggled to impose its authority elsewhere, particularly in the far east, where military strongman Khalifa Haftar controls much of the territory and supports a rival parliament.

The Security Council expressed concern "at the deteriorating security, economic and humanitarian situation in Libya," and said it welcomes the UN's commitment to intensify its work on the ground "to help improve the living conditions of all people in Libya, including migrants."

Currently led by France, the Council expressed concern over the threat of terrorism, and trafficking in humans and illicit goods.

"In this regard, the Council reiterates the need for unified and strengthened national security forces, under a unified, civilian government."
A banner with a picture of Dalal Mughrabi, who led a deadly attack on an Israeli bus in 1978

Belgium said Tuesday it has suspended education aid projects with the Palestinian Authority after discovering a school it paid for had been named after a woman who led a deadly attack on a bus in 1978.

The Belgian foreign ministry said they had recently learned that a school in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron whose construction they financed in 2012 and 2013 had subsequently been renamed the Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School.

The name was changed without Belgian knowledge, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the government considered the new name to be "unacceptable".

"Dalal Mughrabi was a Palestinian terrorist who lead a terrorist attack against Israel in 1978. This attack caused the death of 38 civilians, including 13 children," the statement said.

"The Belgian government unequivocally condemns the glorification of terrorist attacks. Belgium will not allow itself to be associated with the names of terrorists in any way."

While waiting for an explanation from the Palestinian Authority, the statement said, Belgium has put two school-building projects worth a total of 3.3 million euros ($3.8 million) on hold.

The Palestinian mission in Brussels declined to comment on the matter when contacted by AFP.
Iraq Energy Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi asked three state-owned firms "to come up urgently with a mechanism to repair and renovate" the pipeline from the Kirkuk region claimed by both Baghdad and Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, officials said

Iraq said Tuesday it was looking to revive a defunct oil pipeline to Turkey as it looks to restore key exports amid a dispute with the Kurds over their independence vote.

Energy Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi asked three state-owned firms "to come up urgently with a mechanism to repair and renovate" the pipeline from the Kirkuk region claimed by both Baghdad and Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, officials said in a statement.

The move could help restore a strategic alternative route for the central authorities to rival a parallel Kurdish pipeline that also runs from the region's oilfields to Ceyhan.

The Iraqi pipeline was cut off after the Islamic State group seized swathes of the country in 2014, halting a flow of oil to Turkey of up to 400,000 barrels a day.

Both Baghdad and Iraq's Kurdistan region lay claim to Kirkuk province, with each side controlling three of the area's lucrative oilfields.

The Kurdish pipeline -- opened in 2013 -- has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day and accounts for some half of the autonomous region's overall oil exports.

Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP the plan to revive the pipeline was made possible after government forces recaptured areas it crosses from IS.

Iraqi energy expert Ruba Husari said the move showed Iraq's "determination" to "reverse the situation created by the Kurds over the past few years".

Baghdad and Arbil have been locked in a stand-off since voters in Kurdistan overwhelmingly opted two weeks ago for independence in a referendum that the central government slammed as illegal.

Iraq has cut Kurdistan off from the outside world by severing air links to the region, while neighbouring Turkey and Iran have threatened to close their borders and block oil exports.
Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" was unveiled at Christie's in New York on Tuesday, and will be offered at auction on November 15

The last Leonardo Da Vinci painting still in the hands of a private collector will go under the hammer next month in New York, the Christie's auction house said Tuesday, estimating its worth at $100 million.

Dating from around 1500, "Salvator Mundi" -- which depicts Jesus Christ as the world's savior -- was long believed to be a copy of an original by the Italian master, until it was eventually certified as authentic.

Fewer than 20 works by Da Vinci, whose art was already highly sought after during his lifetime, have survived to this day -- all of them held in museum or institutional collections, with the exception of "Salvator Mundi."

As a general rule, very few pre-19th-century artworks remain in private ownership, and it is extremely rare for one of them to be offered at auction.

"For auction specialists, this is pretty much the Holy Grail, no pun intended, but it doesn't really get better than that," said Loic Gouzer, co-chairman of Christies Americas post-war and contemporary art department.

A third party guarantee has been arranged for the painting, which ensures it will sell for around the estimate of $100 million on November 15, said Francois de Poortere, head of the Christie's old masters department in New York.

The work will travel to Hong Kong, San Francisco and London, before spending three days on display in New York leading up to the sale.

According to Poortere, "Salvator Mundi" -- which measures 45x65 cm (26x18 inches) -- was last sold to an unnamed European collector following a historic Da Vinci exhibition at London's National Gallery in 2011-12.

Mining a common theme, next month's auction will begin with the sale of the massive "Sixty Last Suppers" by pop artist Andy Warhol -- which depicts Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" 60 times over, and is offered with a $50 million estimate. tu/ec/ch
"Anti-balaka" (anti-machete) groups, made up of mainly Christian and animist militias, are at war with a coalition of Muslim-majority militias known as the Seleka

The head of a notorious rebel group in Central African Republic (CAR) has brushed off allegations of atrocities, portraying himself instead as the defender of a neglected and persecuted minority.

In an interview with AFP in the town of Alindao, Ali Darassa hit back at accusations of abuse by rights watchdogs and said his group had acted to defend the Fula people, a largely nomadic group also called the Fulani.

In September, Amnesty International blamed a wave of brutal attacks in Basse-Kotto province on Darassa's Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC).

It accused the group of systematically using "rape as a weapon of war, and as a means of violently humiliating and degrading its victims".

"Where is the proof?" the 41-year-old commander asked, denouncing Amnesty for what he termed its "political" reports.

Darassa, who has commanded the UPC since 2014, said his group was a "necessity" in the strife-torn country.

"The state isn't doing its job, it does not guarantee the safety of local populations," he said.

"Farmers have always been victims of looting and violence, and the Fulani have been forever forgotten... marginalised," he said.

Darassa maintained the UPC fights "for their security and their freedom of movement".

"I offer a sanctuary of protection and support," he said.

The UPC is an offshoot of the so-called Seleka rebel alliance -- a coalition of Muslim-majority militias who overthrew president Francois Bozize in 2013.

The Seleka in turn were ousted by a military intervention led by former colonial ruler France.

Those events sparked some of the bloodiest sectarian violence in the country's history as mainly Christian and animist militias sought revenge, organising vigilante units called "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), in reference to the machetes used by Seleka rebels.

Thousands of people have died. According to the UN, more than a million people have fled their homes and 2.4 million people -- more than half of the Central African population -- are in need of emergency food aid.

- Move to Alindao -

In February this year, Darassa was forced out of CAR's third largest town, Bambari, in a region rich in gold, diamonds and timber, by the UN's peacekeeping force, MINUSCA.

He moved with his forces 120 kilometres (70 miles) to Alindao, a town in south-central CAR, about 300 km (185 miles) from the capital Bangui.

To reach the town to interview him required an 11-hour trip on a devastated highway, punctuated by 10 roadblocks held by his men.

His force now control about half of the town, which is now-defacto divided.

Thousands of people have died and more than a million people have fled their homes in the Central African Republic since sectarian violence erupted in the country in 2013

More than 15,000 displaced people -- the majority of them Christian -- have taken refuge around the town's Christian church.

Physically huge, Darassa sat on a wooden chair outside at his makeshift military base, a former public building downtown. He was surrounded by a dozen armed bodyguards and a select few "advisors" in civilian garb.

Darassa said that in CAR's provinces, "we are fully at war."

"Those who are attacking us are the anti-balaka ... who act on behalf of the government and attack farmers, villagers, merchants," Darassa said, describing himself as a "farmer from father to son" and a "Central African Fulani and general of the UPC".

He accused Bangui of feeding the anti-balaka ranks with "state representatives" in villages and towns, including neighbourhood leaders, deputies and prefects.

"The government encourages citizens to defend themselves and that's what will make a genocide."

In Alindao, Darassa seems to enjoy the support of some community leaders, former lawmakers and part of the population.

The group reportedly raises money by imposing taxes and other levies, although Darassa refused to give any details on funding, describing the issue as "confidential".

- Divided country -

The conflict in the Central African Republic

Darassa's self-confidence highlights the clout of powerful militia leaders in a country that remains weak and divided among many lines since the election of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who took office in March 2016.

In August, the UN's then-aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council he saw "the early warning signs of genocide" in the deeply poor, divided nation.

Touadera disputes this, saying the violence is not sectarian but linked to battle for control over the country's resources.

Last month, he appealed for the UN to beef up its 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in CAR and for a 2013 Security Council arms embargo to be eased, to let his government purchase modern military equipment.
The US military says a diplomatic spat with Turkey has not affected its military operations out of Incirlik Air Base

The escalating diplomatic row between Washington and Ankara has so far not impacted NATO or US military ties with Turkey, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The United States relies heavily on an air base at Incirlik in southern Turkey to launch air strikes against the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

"The Turkish air force base in Incirlik continues to fulfill an important role supporting NATO and coalition efforts," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said.

"Coalition counter-IS operations out of Incirlik and other Turkish facilities are closely coordinated with and have the full support of our Turkish partners. Our joint and separate activities will remain closely coordinated."

The diplomatic spat erupted last week when Turkey arrested a Turkish employee of the American consulate on suspicion of links to the group blamed for last year's failed coup.

In response, the United States stopped issuing non-immigrant visas from its missions in Turkey, prompting Turkish missions in the United States to hit back with a tit-for-tat step of their own.

"Turkey is a strong coalition partner and close NATO ally," Manning stressed.

"I can confirm that these developments have not impacted our operations or personnel."
Sri Lankan lawmaker Namal Rajapakse, the son of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, has been arrested for leading anti-India demonstrations over alleged government plans to sell an airport named after his father

Sri Lankan police Tuesday arrested the legislator son of a former president for leading violent anti-India demonstrations over alleged plans to sell an airport built and named after his father.

A police spokesman said MP Namal Rajapakse was arrested for being a member of an unlawful assembly outside the Indian consulate in the southern town of Hambantota on Friday.

Police Superintendent Ruwan Gunasekera said Rajapakse, the eldest son of former leader Mahinda Rajapakse, had violated a court order banning street protests and damaged public property.

"He was arrested along with two other members of parliament and three others," Gunasekera said.

Police arrested 28 people after the protest.

Video footage of the demonstration released on social media showed Rajapakse chanting anti-India slogans at Hambantota, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, and leading a march towards the consulate.

Rajapakse accused the government of trying to sell the airport named after his father to an Indian company at a rock bottom price.

Hundreds of protesters tried to break through barricades but police fired teargas and water cannon to stop them reaching the diplomatic compound. At least four policemen were injured when the demonstrators pelted stones.

The government has denied it was planning to sell off the $210 million international airport, but Colombo has said Indian companies had shown interest in a joint venture to make the facility commercially viable.

The airport in Rajapakse's home constituency of Hambantota is one of several state-owned white elephants that were built under the former president and have never turned a profit.

It is one of the world's least used airports, servicing just one flight a day.

The new government offered to sell the airport after sealing a billion-dollar deal in July with a Chinese state-owned company to take over a majority stake in a deep sea port in Hambantota.

The administration of Rajapakse who was toppled in January 2015 elections had raised some $8 billion in loans from China to build infrastructure, including the ports, which do not generate enough revenue even to pay staff.
Researchers found there is "no system that reliably tracks all law enforcement-related deaths in the United States," said a report in the journal PLOS Medicine

More than 1,100 people were killed by police in the United States in 2015, but less than half of these deaths were correctly documented by government officials, researchers said Tuesday.

The study in the journal PLOS Medicine is the first to measure undercounting of police-related deaths in nationwide death certificate data.

"To effectively address the problem of law enforcement-related deaths, the public needs better data about who is being killed, where, and under what circumstances," said lead author Justin Feldman, doctoral student at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"But we also found that a different approach -- compiling data from media reports -- can help solve this problem."

Researchers found there is "no system that reliably tracks all law enforcement-related deaths in the United States," said the report.

The only official database, from the US Centers for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), is based on state death certificate data and counted just 44.9 percent police-related killings in 2015.

The study found the total number of people killed by police in 2015 totaled 1,166.

A tally maintained by the Guardian newspaper in London was far more accurate, counting more than 93.1 percent of the deaths.

Researchers found 44 deaths that appeared to have been missed by both sources.

"Law enforcement-related deaths were vastly undercounted in a key national database in 2015 because they were misreported on death certificates," said the report.

The failures were most apparent in lower-income areas, among blacks and people under age 18, and when deaths involved not guns but Tasers -- which killed 46 people that year -- said the report.

Accuracy also varied widely by location.

"For instance, nearly all of the 17 police-related deaths in Oregon were counted, but none of the 36 such deaths in Oklahoma were," it said.

Most of the time, police-related deaths were not counted because the coroner or medical examiner failed to mention police involvement on the death certificate.

The Guardian's more accurate dataset, called "The Counted," is based on news reports and crowdsourced information.

"As with any public health outcome or exposure, the only way to understand the magnitude of the problem, and whether it is getting better or worse, requires that data be uniformly, validly and reliably obtained throughout the US," said senior author Nancy Krieger, professor of social epidemiology at Harvard.

"Our results show our country is falling short of accurately monitoring deaths due to law enforcement, and work is needed to remedy this problem."
The family house of 29-year-old Tunisian Ahmed Hanachi, who stabbed two young women to death in the southern French city of Marseille before he was killed by anti-terror troops, in the locality of Zarzouna near Bizerte north of Tunis

All four siblings of Ahmed Hanachi, who stabbed two young women to death in the French city of Marseille, have been arrested in recent days, authorities in three countries said.

Hanachi, 29, attacked two women at Marseille's Saint-Charles train station on October 1 before being shot dead by troops.

On Tuesday, Tunisia said it had released two of his siblings who had been questioned by anti-terror investigators.

Moez and Amina Hanachi, who both live in Tunisia's northeastern region of Bizerte, had been detained on Friday, but had "nothing to do" with their brother's attack in France, prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti said.

Sliti said two of the attacker's other brothers, Anouar and Anis, had been targeted in a 2014 "terrorism" investigation.

Anouar was released, while Anis remained on the run.

But Swiss police on Tuesday announced the arrest of a Tunisian couple in connection with the Marseille knife attack, and a French security source close to the investigation confirmed that the man was Anouar Hanachi.

Swiss police would not confirm the identities of either the man or woman, but said the man was "known to foreign police services for his links to jihadist terrorist movements".

"His role in the Marseille attack, if he had one, is not yet clear," it said.

Federal police spokeswoman Cathy Maret separately told AFP that, in accordance with Swiss law, the detained husband and wife are due to be repatriated to Tunisia.

But that process will take several weeks at minimum and could be altered if another jurisdiction requests their extradition.

Anis Hanachi was also arrested on Saturday night in Italy after French authorities issued an international arrest warrant.

French investigators suspect him of complicity in the Marseilles attack, and he is expected to be extradited to France.

Italian authorities said their French counterparts had indicated that Anis had fought for jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Attacker Ahmed Hanachi, the second-youngest of five siblings, was not known to attend any mosque, but was known to the police for drug and alcohol problems.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for his actions, but French investigators have not found any evidence linking the attack to the jihadists.

Relatives have said the Marseille attacker had issues with drug addiction but was not particularly religious.

Sliti, the Tunisian prosecution spokesman, said Tunisian authorities had opened a new investigation into Anouar on Monday over suspicions of supporting "terrorism", following comments posted on Facebook.

But Tunisian authorities said they have not so far established anything to link Anouar or Anis Hanachi to the Marseille killings.

Childhood friends have said that Ahmed spent several months in Tunisia in summer 2016 as he tried, with Anouar's help, to beat his addictions.

Their father Noureddine told AFP he struggled to believe Ahmed had been radicalised but that his son "may have been under the influence of drugs" when he carried out the attack.

He said he had heard no news from his sons in Europe for two months.
Researchers say their latest analysis of electronic voting machines highlights vulnerabilities which couldleave systems open to hackers

Hackers could have easily infiltrated US voting machines in 2016 and are likely to try again in light of vulnerabilities in electronic polling systems, a group of researchers said Tuesday.

A report with detailed findings from a July hacker conference which demonstrated how voting machines could be manipulated concluded that numerous vulnerabilities exist, posing a national security threat.

The researchers analyzed the results of the "voting village" hacking contest at the DefCon gathering of hackers in Las Vegas this year, which showed how ballot machines could be compromised within minutes.

"These machines were pretty easy to hack," said Jeff Moss, the DefCon founder who presented the report at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

"The problem is not going away. It's only going to accelerate."

The report said the DefCon hack was just the tip of the iceberg -- with potential weaknesses in voter databases, tabulating software and other parts of the system.

The researchers said most voting machines examined included at least some foreign-manufactured parts, raising the possibility that malware could be introduced even before the devices are delivered.

"This discovery means that a hacker's point-of-entry into an entire make or model of voting machine could happen well before that voting machine rolls off the production line," the report said.

"With an ability to infiltrate voting infrastructure at any point in the supply chain process, then the ability to synchronize and inflict large-scale damage becomes a real possibility."

- No certainty on 2016 -

A report says there is no way to know if votes have been manipulated with paperless machines which have no paper ballots to be recounted

Harri Hursti, a researcher with Nordic Innovation Labs and a co-author of the report, said it's impossible to say with certainty if votes were tampered with in 2016 because many systems "don't have the capacity" to be audited.

The report said five US states operate entirely on paperless systems which have no paper trail to be reviewed and another nine states are partially paperless.

"The only way to know is if the hacker tells you," he said, adding that "it can be done without leaving tracks."

Douglas Lute, former US ambassador to NATO who presented the report, said in a forward to the report that the findings highlight "a serious national security issue that strikes at the core of our democracy."

Although some researchers in the past have shown individual machines could be breached, this report suggests a range of vulnerabilities across a range of hardware, software and databases.

"What the report shows is that if relative rookies can hack a voting system so quickly, it is difficult to deny that a nefarious actor -- like Russia -- with unlimited time and resources, could not do much greater damage," said University of Chicago cybersecurity instructor Jake Braun, another co-author.

The threat becomes all the more grave "when you consider they could hack an entire line of voting machines, remotely and all at once via the supply chain," he added.

In presenting the findings, the researchers said members of the DefCon hacker community would work with academics and security researchers in a new coalition aimed at improving election security.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt shown on June 27, 2017

The head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency signed on Tuesday a draft decision to roll back Obama-era measures to counter climate change.

Repealing the Clean Power Plan (CPP) was a campaign promise by President Donald Trump and follows his decision in June to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement by nearly 200 countries to cap global warming.

"After reviewing the CPP, EPA has proposed to determine that the Obama-era regulation exceeds the Agency's statutory authority," an EPA statement said.

"Repealing the CPP will also facilitate the development of US energy resources and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens associated with the development of those resources."

To the anger of environmentalists, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced to Kentucky coal miners on Monday that the US would pull out of president Barack Obama's plan, which had sought for the first time to reduce carbon emissions in the United States from power plants.

It aimed to reduce national electricity sector emissions an estimated 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, leading to the closure of the oldest and most polluting coal-fired power stations.

The goal was in line with commitments made by Obama's administration under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Obama's EPA said his climate plan would provide billions of dollars' worth of health benefits and reduce consumers' long-term power bills.

President Trump issued an executive order in March to block the Clean Power Plan. It called on the EPA to review whether it overstepped the authority of government when it called for stricter emissions limits.

Several Republican-dominated states launched judicial challenges to the legislation and the US Supreme Court in February last year halted its implementation until courts could rule on its legality.

"We are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate," Pruitt said in the EPA statement.

Pruitt, 49, is a Republican and known fossil-fuel ally who repeatedly sued the EPA when he was Oklahoma's state attorney general.

He is also a skeptic of climate change.

His department says repealing the CPP will save $33 billion by 2030.

The public has 60 days to submit comments before the adoption of a final text.

Coal-fired energy accounted for no more than 21 percent of US power generation in 2015, behind 32 percent for natural gas and 28 percent for petroleum products, the Energy Information Administration says.

The US is the world's second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China.
Former Equifax CEO Richard Smith testified before a congressional hearing into a data breach affecting more than 145 million consumers including nearly 700,000 Britons

Nearly 700,000 British consumers may have had personal data compromised in the massive breach at Equifax, the US credit reporting agency said Tuesday.

"Although our UK business was not breached, the attack regrettably compromised the personal information of a range of UK consumers," the company said in an emailed statement.

The company, which last month announced one of the most potentially damaging data breaches affecting some 145 million Americans, said the attackers also accessed a file containing 15.2 million records on 693,665 British nationals.

"Equifax takes this illegal and unprecedented breach of consumers' data extremely seriously and has begun writing to the groups of consumers outlined below to notify them of the nature of the breach and offer them appropriate advice," the statement said.

The company said it waited for a forensic analysis of the cyber attack before determining its course of action for Britons.

"Once again, I would like to extend my most sincere apologies to anyone who has been concerned about or impacted by this criminal act," said Patricio Remon, president for Europe at Equifax Ltd.

"It has been regrettable that we have not been able to contact consumers who may have been impacted until now, but it would not have been appropriate for us to do so until the full facts of this complex attack were known, and the full forensics investigation was completed."

Last week, former Equifax chief Richard Smith blamed a combination of human and technical error for the breach, which is not the largest on record but which could have leaked sensitive financial information on consumers.

An internal investigation determined the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017, according to the company.

Equifax collects information about people and businesses around the world and provides credit ratings used for decisions regarding loans and other financial matters.
Nearly a year after Facebook and Google launched offensives against fake news, they're still inadvertently promoting it - often at the worst possible times.

Online services designed to engross users aren't so easily retooled to promote greater accuracy, it turns out. Especially with online trolls, pranksters and more malicious types scheming to evade new controls as they're rolled out.

FEAR AND FALSITY IN LAS VEGAS

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, file photo, a woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip. Months after Facebook and Google announced major efforts to curb the spread of false stories masquerading as news, it's still cropping up, most recently in the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting. Turns out it's not so easy to re-engineer social media systems geared to maximize engagement over accuracy, especially when trolls and pranksters are scheming to evade those controls. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

In the immediate aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, Facebook's "Crisis Response" page for the attack featured a false article misidentifying the gunman and claiming he was a "far left loon." Google promoted a similarly erroneous item from the anonymous prankster site 4chan in its "Top Stories" results.

A day after the attack, a YouTube search on "Las Vegas shooting" yielded a conspiracy-theory video that claimed multiple shooters were involved in the attack as the fifth result. YouTube is owned by Google.

None of these stories were true. Police identified the sole shooter as Stephen Paddock, a Nevada man whose motive remains a mystery . The attack last Monday on a music festival left 58 dead and hundreds wounded.

The companies quickly purged offending links and tweaked their algorithms to favor more authoritative sources. But their work is clearly incomplete - a different Las Vegas conspiracy video was the eighth result displayed by YouTube in a search Monday.

ENGAGEMENT FIRST

Why do these highly automated services keep failing to separate truth from fiction? One big factor: most online services systems tend to emphasis posts that engage an audience - exactly what a lot of fake news is specifically designed to do.

Facebook and Google get caught off guard "because their algorithms just look for signs of popularity and recency at first," without first checking to ensure relevance, says David Carroll, a professor of media design at the Parsons School of Design in New York.

That problem is much bigger in the wake of disaster, when facts are still unclear and demand for information runs high.

Malicious actors have learned to take advantage of this, says Mandy Jenkins, head of news at social media and news research agency Storyful. "They know how the sites work, they know how algorithms work, they know how the media works," she says.

Participants on 4chan's "Politically Incorrect" channel regularly chat about "how to deploy fake news strategies" around major stories, says Dan Leibson, vice president of search at the digital marketing consultancy Local SEO Guide.

One such chat just hours after the Las Vegas urged readers to "push the fact this terrorist was a commie" on social media. "There were people discussing how to create engagement all night," Leibson says.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Thanks to political polarization, the very notion of what constitutes a "credible" source of news is now a point of contention.

Mainstream journalists routinely make judgments about the credibility of various publications based on their history of accuracy. That's a much more complicated issue for mass-market services like Facebook and Google, given the popularity of many inaccurate sources among political partisans.

The pro-Trump Gateway Pundit site, for example, published the false Las Vegas story promoted by Facebook. But it has also been invited to White House press briefings and counts more than 620,000 fans on its Facebook page.

Facebook said last week it is "working to fix the issue" that led it to promote false reports about the Las Vegas shooting, although it didn't say what it had in mind.

The company has already taken a number of steps since December; it now features fact-checks by outside organizations, puts warning labels on disputed stories and has de-emphasized false stories in people's news feeds.

GETTING ALGORITHMS RIGHT

Breaking news is also inherently challenging for automated filter systems. Google says the 4chan post that misidentified the Las Vegas shooter should not have appeared in its "Top Stories" feature, and was replaced by its algorithm after a few hours.

Outside experts say Google was flummoxed by two different issues. First, its "Top Stories" is designed to return results from the broader web alongside items from news outlets. Second, signals that help Google's system evaluate the credibility of a web page - for instance, links from known authoritative sources - aren't available in breaking news situations, says independent search optimization consultant Matthew Brown.

"If you have enough citations or references to something, algorithmically that's going to look very important to Google," Brown said. "The problem is an easy one to define but a tough one to resolve."

MORE PEOPLE, FEWER ROBOTS

Federal law currently exempts Facebook, Google and similar companies from liability for material published by their users. But circumstances are forcing the tech companies to accept more responsibility for the information they spread.

Facebook said last week that it would hire an extra 1,000 people to help vet ads after it found a Russian agency bought ads meant to influence last year's election. It's also subjecting potentially sensitive ads , including political messages, to "human review."

In July, Google revamped guidelines for human workers who help rate search results in order to limit misleading and offensive material. Earlier this year, Google also allowed users to flag so-called "featured snippets" and "autocomplete" suggestions if they found the content harmful.

The Google-sponsored Trust Project at Santa Clara University is also working to create tags that could serve as markers of credibility for individual authors. These would include items such as their location and journalism awards, information that could be fed into future algorithms, according to project director Sally Lehrman.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - Nancy Cook's dogs sounded the alarm in the middle of the night and she looked out the window to see the flames about a mile away. She never thought they'd reach the Journey's End trailer park she called home.

But like many who made a pre-dawn dash for their lives in California's wine country Monday, Cook discovered how fast a wind-driven inferno could arrive at the door.

"My husband and I both thought it wouldn't get here," Cook. "It was way, way back there. A big gust of wind just sent it flying. ... Just literally in the blink of an eye."

Jim Cook, manager of the Journey's End mobile home park, walks through what remains of his home on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By daybreak nearly all of the roughly 160 units in the park for residents over age 55 were reduced to ash and charred, melted metal as flames continued to sprout from gas lines. The homes next to U.S. Highway 101 at the northern end of this city of 175,000 were among more than 1,000 that were consumed by flames as more than a dozen fires burned statewide.

The wildfire stampeded into the city while people were sleeping, torching fast-food businesses, a Hilton hotel and catching residents off guard and, in many cases, little time to escape with more than the clothes - or pajamas - on their backs.

They left behind beloved pet cats, wallets and a vintage collector's car.

It was smoky when Linda Johnson went to bed around 11 p.m. When she woke up a few hours later, it was glowing red outside.

A landmark round red barn on the hill nearby was burning "like a torch, like a candle," she said.

Embers from the barn were carried by the wind and rained down on the park's evergreen and palm trees.

"One of the trees just went 'poof,'" Johnson said. "Two or three trees after that just went 'poof.' So fast. It was so fast. I couldn't believe it."

Flames leapt from the trees to one of the trailers and then the residents were in a race for their lives.

Johnson struggled to get her partner, Frank Bautista, a heavy sleeper, up and moving.

"I just said, 'Come on, we gotta go, we gotta go,'" she recounted. "He just kept taking his time, taking his time. Every time I looked out the window it was closer."

They were able to get out, but in their haste left behind a cat named River.

Charlie Brown said he woke up several neighbors after seeing the bright glow and helped a woman who used a walker get out of her home. He got in his van and drove around honking his horn before leaving.

He planned to return to retrieve his hotrod 1964 Ford Galaxie. But by the time he got back, fire had claimed the classic car.

"There's nothing," Brown said. "These things burn hot. It melted my car, blew the gas tank up."

Cook also had scrambled to alert others. She and her husband, Jim, pounded on neighbors' doors.

She struggled to get a 94-year-old man to abandon his pickup truck as flames from his burning house threatened to ignite the vehicle. She gave up as he insisted on taking the truck.

"I just figured all the time I'm wasting trying to stop him," she said, and told herself: "'Just let him go and hopefully he gets it out of there.'"

The man managed to escape. Firefighters and police officers who forced Cook to leave told her they had checked every unit and were confident everyone got out.

She managed to gather the couple's dogs and medications, but couldn't find two pet cats.

The Cooks then joined other residents at the parking garage of the Kaiser Permanente medical center next door, where they watched the Journey's End park - and their homes - go up in smoke.

___

Melley reported from Los Angeles.

Fire burns from an open gas valve near the pool area at the Journey's End trailer park on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif., after a wildfire destroyed nearly all of the roughly 160 units in the park for residents over age 55. The homes next to U.S. Highway 101 at the northern end of this city of 175,000 were among those that were consumed by flames as more than a dozen fires burned statewide. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Firemen look for hot spots in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California early Monday, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

A man retrieves belongings from a safe where his house once stood in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California early Monday, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

A fire burns at a Hilton hotel on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Fire burns from an open gas valve near the pool area at the Journey's End mobile home park on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California early Monday, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Flame from an open gas valve burns at the Journey's End mobile home park on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Jim Cook, manager of the Journey's End mobile home park, points to damage on the property Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through Northern California, sending residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council has banned all nations from allowing four ships that transported prohibited goods to and from North Korea to enter any port in their country.

Hugh Griffiths, head of the panel of experts investigating the implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, announced the port bans at a briefing to U.N. member states on Monday. A North Korean diplomat attended the hour-long session.

Griffiths later told several reporters that "this is the first time in U.N. history" that the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang has prohibited ships from entering all ports.

He identified the four cargo ships as the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun.

According to MarineTraffic, a maritime database that monitors vessels and their moments, Petrel 8 is registered in Comoros, Hao Fan 6 in St. Kitts and Nevis, and Tong San 2 in North Korea. It does not list the flag of Tong San 2 but said that on Oct. 3 it was in the Bohai Sea off north China.

Griffiths said the four ships were officially listed on Oct. 5 "for transporting prohibited goods," stressing that this was "swift action" by the sanctions committee following the Aug. 6 Security Council resolution that authorized port bans.

That resolution, which followed North Korea's first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, also banned the country from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood products. Those goods are estimated to be worth over $1 billion - about one-third of the country's estimated $3 billion in exports in 2016.

The Security Council unanimously approved more sanctions on Sept. 11, responding to North Korea's sixth and strongest nuclear test explosion on Sept. 3.

These latest sanctions ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates, and cap its crude oil imports. They also prohibit all textile exports, ban all joint ventures and cooperative operations, and bars any country from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers - key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation.

Both resolutions are aimed at increasing economic pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - the country's official name - to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs.

Griffiths told U.N. diplomats that the panel of experts is getting reports that the DPRK "is continuing its attempts to export coal" in violation of U.N. sanctions.

"We have as yet no evidence whatsoever of state complicity, but given the large quantities of money involved and the excess capacity of coal in the DPRK it probably comes as no surprise to you all that they're seeking to make some money here," he said.

Griffiths said the panel is "doing our very best to monitor the situation and to follow up with member states who maybe have been taken advantage of by the tactics deployed by DPRK coal export entities."

As for joint ventures and cooperative arrangements, Griffiths said the resolution gives them 120 days from Sept. 11 to close down.

But "in a number of cases, the indications are that these joint ventures aren't shutting down at all but are on the contrary expanding - and therefore joint ventures is a major feature of the panel's current investigations," he said.

Griffiths also asked all countries to pay "special attention" to North Korea's Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, also known as the Mansudae Art Studio, which is on the sanctions blacklist and subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

According to the sanctions listing, Mansudae exports North Korean workers to other countries "for construction-related activities including for statues and monuments to generate revenue for the government of the DPRK or the (ruling) Workers' Party of Korea."

Griffiths said Mansudae "has representatives, branches and affiliates in the Asia-Pacific region, all over Africa and all over Europe. Without elaborating, he added that "they're doing an awful lot more than producing statues in Africa."
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - The United Nations denounced Colombia's anti-narcotics police on Monday for firing on a humanitarian mission it led to investigate the murder of several coca growers during clashes with security forces.

The mission, comprised of observers from the U.N. as well as the Organization of American States and church groups, were attempting Sunday to reach a remote outpost where the killings took place when they were stopped in their tracks by four exploding stun grenades as well as teargas and the sound of gunfire, according to the U.N.'s human rights office in Colombia.

The confusing incident is the latest embarrassment for President Juan Manuel Santos' government as it struggles to implement a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while trying to get a grip on booming coca production dominated by criminal gangs filling the void left by retreating rebels.

The problems in the turbulent municipality of Tumaco began on Thursday when several hundred farmers clashed with police as they attempted to eradicate illegal coca crops. At least six farmers were killed.

Initially the government blamed the murders on a dissident faction of the now demobilized FARC, saying they had fired homemade mortars on the very same farmers the guerrillas had ordered to confront police in order to protect their coca crops.

But eyewitness accounts verified by Colombia's ombudsman's office point to the police as the ones behind the slayings. As a result the government has since backtracked and on Monday the police suspended four officers accused of opening gunfire as a fuller investigation is carried out.

The U.N. human rights office in a statement expressed alarm that police with whom it had been in constant communication and authorized their movements had impeded their probe.

Vice President Oscar Naranjo met with representatives of the U.N. and apologized for the police officers' behavior, saying they had acted "irregularly."

Despite the in tragedy in Tumaco, Santos said security forces won't ease their campaign to root out drug trafficking in long-neglected rural areas.

"We won't permit lawless organizations to intimidate or pressure communities," Santos said at an event in a former FARC stronghold to roll out benefits for hundreds of towns hard hit by the country's half-century conflict. "We won't lower our guard against drug-trafficking, which was the fuel of so many years of violence."
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A transgender Maine teen who was crowned homecoming king at his new school says love and tolerance motivated his schoolmates to support him, and he wants to use his time in the spotlight to spread that message.

Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine, named Stiles Zuschlag homecoming king last week. The 17-year-old, who was formerly known as Alija and came out as a transgender male in 2015, said he was selected by peers after joking on Snapchat that it would be hilarious if he won.

Zuschlag said he transferred to Noble this year after he was asked to leave Tri-City Christian Academy in Somersworth, New Hampshire, because of his gender identity. His story has been widely circulated on social media since he was crowned homecoming king.

FILE - In this undated file photo, Stiles Zuschlag, a transgender teen, stands outside Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine. The Maine teen who was crowned homecoming king at his new school says he wants to use the attention to spread love and tolerance. (Deb Cram/Portsmouth Herald via AP, File)

He said he has received both support and blowback since his story went public, but he has "done nothing but spread awareness and love," and he plans to keep it that way.

"The fact that I can be a face for transgender kids struggling, or people who are going through a trial - they'll see in the end that they can get through," Zuschlag told The Associated Press. "No matter what, it has to get better."

Zuschlag said he felt the fact that his friend Aliyah Schindler won homecoming queen was "a sign from God that it doesn't matter what gender you are, you're still royalty in my eyes." He's looking forward to pursuing college and an acting career after high school.

His mother, Mara Stupelis, said she is supporting her son during his transition and admires his message of positivity. She described him as a dedicated student and athlete who loves contemporary Christian music, soccer and snowboarding. They live in Lebanon, Maine, about an hour southwest of Portland.

Stupelis also said her son and family are still recovering from their experience at Tri-City Christian Academy. Representatives for the school did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"He's got much more value. He's got a soul. We all do. When you cut us all, we bleed the same," Stupelis said.

School officials at Noble said they've rallied around Zuschlag. Guidance director Nancy Simard said "he has a contagious positivity about him."

Zuschlag said he also has received support on social media networks, where some members of the transgender community have shared his story as a tale of perseverance and acceptance. Zuschlag said he appreciates the support, and wants to keep setting an example.

"I'm a transgender boy ready to change the world for the better. I'm gonna spread love where there's hate," he tweeted on Oct. 7.

___

This story has been corrected to remove an incorrect sentence that said Zuschlag's name was listed as Alija on homecoming ballots.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia's government told the High Court on Tuesday that it should not take a constitutional ban on dual citizens being elected to Parliament literally as it decides on the fates of seven lawmakers, including the deputy prime minister, whose administration's slender majority is threatened by the crisis.

The remarks came at the start of what is expected to be a three-day hearing that will decide whether the seven should be disqualified from Parliament.

If the court rules that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was illegally elected in July last year due to New Zealand citizenship he unknowingly inherited from his father, the ruling conservative coalition could lose its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where governments are formed.

Joyce could stand in a by-election, having renounced his Kiwi citizenship. But with the government unpopular in opinion polls, voters in his rural electoral division could take the opportunity to throw both the deputy prime minister and his administration out of office.

Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue told the High Court judges that five of the lawmakers caught up in the crisis, including Joyce and two other government ministers, should not be disqualified from Parliament for breaching the constitution because they did not voluntarily acquire or retain citizenship of another country.

A clause in the 116-year-old constitution says "a subject or citizen of a foreign power" is not eligible to be elected to Parliament.

Donaghue, however, argued that the clause "cannot be read literally."

"If a person is not aware either that they are a dual citizen or of a significant prospect that they are, in our submission by definition that person cannot have a split allegiance," he told the court.

Bret Walker, a lawyer for Joyce and fellow Nationals party minister Fiona Nash, told the court that neither knew until recently that they were dual citizens of New Zealand and Britain, respectively.

As soon as they found out, they took all reasonable steps required to sever their foreign ties, Walker said.

"There's no split allegiance where you're not aware of one," Walker told the court. "You cannot heed a call you cannot hear."

Apart from Joyce, the lawmakers under a cloud are senators who could be replaced by members of the same party without elections that could alter the balance of political power.

Donaghue argues that only New Zealand-born Scott Ludlam and India-born Malcolm Roberts should be disqualified for failing to take reasonable steps to renounce their dual nationalities.

Ludlam accepts that view and has resigned. A fellow member of the minor Greens party, Larissa Waters, has also resigned and argues that she deserves to be disqualified over her citizenship of Canada, where she was born.

Roberts argues that he shouldn't be disqualified because he had emailed the British government to renounce the citizenship he inherited from his Welsh father, but did not pay the required renunciation fee. Roberts is a member of the minor One Nation party.

Tony Windsor, a political rival of the deputy prime minister who contested the same electoral division in the last election, told the court that Joyce should be disqualified because he had known his father was born in New Zealand and should have checked his own citizenship status.

Donaghue told the seven judges hearing the case that when the Australian constitution took effect in 1901, no other country in the British Empire banned dual nationals from becoming lawmakers.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) - A New York ice creamery is dedicating a new ice cream flavor to Syrian refugees and donating part of the profits to efforts to help them.

The Adirondack Creamery in Saratoga Springs says its new flavor is inspired by a popular Syrian pastry called ma'amoul. The New York Times reports (http://nyti.ms/2fW7zpG ) the ice cream combines dates and walnuts into a sweetened confection.

A pint of the new flavor has calls for unity plastered all over, including the word "peace" in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

The newspaper reports 50 percent of the profit made from each pint will be donated to the International Rescue Committee's efforts to assist Syrian refugees.

Pints of the new flavor are available at multiple stores and online.

___

Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ivanka Trump successfully pushed to get a family-focused tax credit included in the Republican tax overhaul proposal. She's got no time for a victory lap, though: Now comes the biggest political challenge of her time in Washington.

The White House adviser and first daughter is lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure an expansion of the current $1,000 child tax credit stays in the tax plan and that it's big enough to matter. Then there's the added hurdle of getting the overall tax plan over the finish line - anything but a sure bet.

Trump has been wooing lawmakers and conservative advocacy groups behind closed doors and is expected to make her case in public as well, as part of a coordinated White House push for the tax overhaul. All this as she tries to steer clear of the West Wing histrionics involving her father that have threatened to engulf her at times. She's studiously sticking to her policy agenda, promoting issues such as STEM education and workforce development, while trying to tune out the noise.

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2017, file photo, Ivanka Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Trump successfully pushed to get a family-focused tax credit included in the Republican tax overhaul proposal. She's got no time for a victory lap, though: Now comes the biggest political challenge of her time in Washington. The first daughter is lobbying to make sure an expansion of the current $1,000 child tax credit stays in the tax plan and that it's big enough to matter. Then there's the added hurdle of making sure the overall tax plan makes it over the finish line. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

"A significant expansion of the child tax credit will help parents have more money at a time in their lives when they need it the most and give them the flexibility to make the best choices regarding their families' care," Trump said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Trump stepped away from her executive roles at The Trump Organization and running her own fashion brand to join the administration, alongside husband Jared Kushner. She has won some praise for advocating for issues not often high on the Republican agenda, but has also faced criticism from liberals who expected her to do more to temper her father's conservative agenda.

A White House official who was not authorized to publicly discuss internal thinking said that Ivanka Trump has welcomed the more disciplined West Wing structure put in place by chief of staff John Kelly, believing a more orderly decision-making process allows her to focus on her priorities. Still, some negative headlines have continued, including reports that Kushner used his personal email account on dozens of occasions to communicate with colleagues in the White House.

Protective of his children, President Donald Trump has expressed concern over criticism of his family, according to the White House official. In public, though, he's bragged about his daughter's accomplishments, calling her up on stage during a tax speech in North Dakota recently, asking her to address the crowd and calling her "baby" and "honey."

Ivanka Trump told US Weekly in a recent interview that she tries to ignore the critics.

"If I engaged too deeply, I wouldn't be able to prioritize the things I came here to do," she said.

As the tax negotiations get underway, Trump is stepping up her activity on Capitol Hill.

She met last week with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., and spoke with Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has worked with her on the proposal, said the White House official. Her past meetings have included Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, as well as Republicans and Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

She also spoke last month with conservative activists gathered at the headquarters of the group Americans for Tax Reform. The group's president, Grover Norquist, said she was "very well received. Spoke without notes. She understood what was going on."

Trump and Kushner have also been quietly hosting dinners for lawmakers at their home in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood in coordination with White House legislative officials. A person familiar with the events, but not authorized to speak publicly about them, confirmed the bipartisan dinners, which have focused on a variety of topics and were first reported by Axios.

Some key details of the tax overhaul remain unsettled. The tax blueprint does not specify what the child tax credit should increase to, nor has Trump offered a number. But she's made clear she wants the credit to be refundable, so people can still get money back even if they don't owe taxes. Rubio and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, want to increase the tax credit to $2,000, but Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, wouldn't commit to doubling it.

Just as the administration has been publicly vague on some of the fine print around taxes, Trump herself has not publicly offered a bottom line, deferring to Congress to work out the details.

While Republicans in Congress see the tax overhaul as a must-do item, the proposal promises to be a heavy lift for the GOP, which has struggled to enact major legislation. Democrats and liberal family advocacy groups say the overall plan would provide limited benefits to low-income families while offering major cuts to the wealthy - and they say that any boost to the child tax credit must be viewed in that context.

"If you want to support families you would not support this tax plan," said Helen Blank of the National Women's Law Center. She noted it does not include direct help for child-care expenses.

The White House counters that the plan would help middle-class families with substantial tax cuts and says the tax-writing committees are considering adding more middle-income tax relief.

Earlier in the year, the White House considered a plan to enhance a tax credit geared specifically at child care expenses. But the White House argues that boosting the child tax credit provides flexibility, compared with other options. It goes to families led both by working parents and stay-at-home parents.

___

Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.
LONDON (AP) - British defense company BAE Systems says it is cutting almost 2,000 jobs in its military, maritime and intelligence services in an effort to boost competitiveness.

CEO Charles Woodburn says in a statement Tuesday that the actions are necessary to "align our workforce capacity more closely with near-term demand and enhance our competitive position to secure new business."

The jobs lost are largely at five sites over three years, including Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire that make the Eurofighter Typhoon jet. The company says that while it expects Typhoon orders from Qatar, the order's timing is uncertain. Production is being slowed.

FILE - This is a Sept. 7, 2012 file photo of a Eurofighter Typhoon at BAE Systems, Warton Aerodrome, near Warton northwest England. British defense company BAE Systems is cutting almost 2,000 jobs in its military, maritime and intelligence services in an effort to boost competitiveness. CEO Charles Woodburn said in a statement Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, that the actions are necessary to "align our workforce capacity more closely with near-term demand and enhance our competitive position to secure new business." (Peter Byrne/PA, File via AP)

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner says the cuts will "not only undermine Britain's sovereign defense capability, but devastate communities across the U.K. who rely on these skilled jobs."
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Gunmen killed two female employees of a technical university in Ukunda, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday.

The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for the rerun of presidential elections later this month.

The gunmen suspected to be al-Shabab rebels from neighboring Somalia sprayed a vehicle carrying university staff and police with bullets near the campus, Larry Kieng, the region's police chief said. Ukunda is 31 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city.

Armed security officers at the scene of shooting where two women were shot dead in Ukunda town, south coast of Mombasa, Kenya Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Gunmen killed two employees of a technical university in Kwale, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday. The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for fresh presidential elections later this month. (AP Photo)

Two women staff members of the university were killed in the attack, said Mwangi Kahiro, acting county commissioner for Kwale County said in a statement.

The attack recalled the April 2, 2015 attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenyan in which four gunmen killed 148 people, most of them students.

Somalia's al-Shabab militia has been carrying out attacks on Kenya as retribution for Kenya's deployment of troops in Somalia to fight the rebels. Kenya is one of six African countries that contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia to fight al-Shabab which is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government to establish a state based on strict Shariah law.

Al-Shabab is the most potent threat to East Africa's stability, having regained territory in parts of southern and central Somalia and carrying out frequent attacks in Somalia's capital and in Kenya, according to the U.S. State Department's country reports for 2016.

The 22,000 troops in the African Union force pushed al-Shabab out of most of Somalia's cities and towns but the rebels continued to hold territory in southern Somalia where the extremist group "gained time and space needed to grow regroup and recruit new fighters," said the report.

Joy Catherine Wanjala, centre, is assisted by her friends after seeing the body of her mother who was among the two people who were shot in Ukunda town, south coast of Mombasa, Kenya Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Gunmen killed two employees of a technical university in Kwale, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday. The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for fresh presidential elections later this month. (AP Photo)

Armed security officers at the scene of shooting where two women were shot dead in Ukunda town, south coast of Mombasa, Kenya Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Gunmen killed two employees of a technical university in Kwale, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday. The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for fresh presidential elections later this month. (AP Photo)

Security officers carry bodies to a police vehicle at the scene of shooting in Ukunda town, south coast of Mombasa, Kenya Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Gunmen killed two employees of a technical university in Kwale, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday. The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for fresh presidential elections later this month. (AP Photo)
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - A few hundred people held the first ever pride parade in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, on Tuesday, to promote the rights of the gay community.

The parade, called "In the name of love," was organized by nine non-governmental organizations to raise awareness and end prejudice in Kosovo society.

With banners and rainbow flags in hand and music playing, participants shouted "There is no gender in love" as they walked peacefully between two main squares in Pristina.

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

There was only one minor incident when a group of young people protested against the march. Police kept watch.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci also took part at the start to express the support of the country's institutions to the community and to insist that everyone was equal.

"We shall not let anyone in Kosovo exert fear and threats on any individual or any grouping," he said.

Some western diplomats were also present.

Kosovo passed an anti-discrimination law in 2004. This is the first Pride Parade, although the gay community has held small marches over the past three years supported by important political leaders and diplomats.

"We believe in a diverse society and that would add value to Kosovo society," organizer Lendi Mustafa told participants at the end of the march.

There is still widespread anti-gay sentiment in the predominantly Muslim country of 1.9 million that declared independence in 2008.

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo president Hashim Thaci joins LGBT rights groups marching during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo president Hashim Thaci, left, meets with members of LGBT rights groups during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

LGBT rights groups and supporter of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Groups opposing the LGBT community hold rainbow flag with anti-LGBT stickers during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. Banner in Albanian reads "Stand up for Love". (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

LGBT rights groups and supporters of the community hold banners during the country's first Gay Pride parade on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in Kosovo's capital Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Rwanda's military routinely tortures detainees with beatings, asphyxiations, mock executions and electric shocks, Human Rights Watch alleged Tuesday, ramping up accusations of serious abuses that have dogged the government over the years.

A new report by the rights group describes unlawful detentions in military camps and widespread torture, including tying objects to inmates' genitals.

There is "an environment of total impunity" in the small East African nation, with judges and prosecutors ignoring complaints from current and former detainees about ill treatment, the report says.

"Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please," Human Rights Watch's Ida Sawyer said in a statement. Many victims have given up "all hope for justice."

Rwandan officials routinely deny such allegations. The country's justice minister and military spokesman did not respond to calls for comment Tuesday.

Last month Human Rights Watch said that authorities have arrested, forcibly disappeared and threatened political opponents since the August presidential election. President Paul Kagame, who has been de facto leader or president since the end of the country's 1994 genocide, won the election with over 98 percent of votes.

Diane Rwigara, an independent candidate and women's rights activist who was disqualified from running against Kagame, has since been charged with inciting insurrection and forgery. She has said the charges come after her criticism of Kagame's rights record. Rwigara's sister and mother also face criminal charges.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this year, the 35-year-old Rwigara acknowledged the risks of running against one of Africa's longest-serving leaders. "People disappear, others get killed in unexplained circumstances and nobody speaks about this because of fear," she said.

The new Human Rights Watch report says it confirmed 104 cases of people who were illegally detained, and in many cases tortured or ill-treated, in Rwandan military detention centers between 2010 and 2016. The total number is likely much higher because of the secret nature of the abuses and because many victims are afraid to speak out, it says.

Most victims appear to have been detained on suspicion of being members of, or working with, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an armed opposition group based in eastern Congo whose members participated in the 1994 genocide.

Other victims were accused of collaborating with the Rwanda National Congress, an opposition group in exile, or with Victoire Ingabire, the jailed leader of an outlawed opposition party, the new report says.

Rwanda has won praise for its advances in economic development and women's rights over the past 20 years, but critics call Kagame a dictator who tolerates little criticism.
WASHINGTON -- When President Trump said a few days ago that now isn't the time for a debate about gun control, presumably he meant that we should respect a decent interval of time for mourning after the Las Vegas shooting before launching into a political discussion that historically has led nowhere.

If that's how he felt, it would have been easy enough (and sane) to say. But he didn't.

More likely, Trump doesn't want any distraction from (a) his brilliant PR idea to toss paper-towel rolls to thirsty, hurricane-sogged Puerto Ricans (cake to follow); (b) his photo op Thursday evening with leaders of the armed forces and their spouses during which he teased the "fake news" media he had summoned that the dinner gathering with military brass could be "the calm before the storm."

"What storm, Mr. President?" an intrepid reporter queried.

"You'll find out."

Whoa. Mr. Mystery Man has our attention now. Oh, so clever. Are we going to war? Will it be with the Islamic State? North Korea? Iran? Just you wait, fake newsies, just you wait.

Or perhaps he wants to keep the spotlight on (c) his request that the Senate Intelligence Committee investigate the media, without which his military charade would have merely been the world's widest-angle selfie.

No, actually, his absurd (unconstitutional) request was, likely, a smokescreen itself, as was the paper-towel toss, one hopes (surely no one's mind is that inert), and the photo op. Trump has mastered the Art of Distraction, lately to keep our eyes off the firefight within the White House and the ever-obvious fact this administration is staring at an eclipse without glasses and this president couldn't lead a starving dog to a tenderloin buffet.

The revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is like Saks' at Christmastime. Latest to the lineup is Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Others have included FBI Director James Comey, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer, and national security adviser Mike Flynn, to name a few.

Next up, most likely, is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, not only because the president routinely undermines and contradicts the nation's top diplomat but because Tillerson clearly holds Trump in contempt. Most important, Tillerson recently told the truth.

Trump reportedly was furious upon returning from his "diplomatic coup" in Puerto Rico, which he seemed to have thought was a Spanish colony, only to see the face of his secretary of state on all his favorite TV channels.

According to NBC News, Tillerson had said the president is a "moron," which caused most sentient humans to shrug and roll their eyes as if to say, "No, really?" But this slight likely bothered Trump less than the fact that Tillerson's face, and not his, was on all the cable shows.

Trump's fan base, of course, was unfazed by Tillerson's reported insult, knowing that this term could not possibly apply to a president who recently had scolded Puerto Ricans for messing up the U.S. budget and implied that they were a shiftless lot who "want everything to be done for them." No siree. That person would be a genius.

As Americans gnaw their nails wondering which war this way comes -- or when Tillerson will be replaced -- Trump is focused on decertifying the nuclear deal with Iran, continuing to taunt North Korea's Kim Jong Un and trying to convince the rest of the world that he's got everything under control.

Thus, the very last thing Trump needs right now is a political shootout over guns.

Now's not the time, he says. Apparently, however, many if not most Americans -- about 90 percent of whom would support expanding background checks -- beg to differ. If not now, when?

The pessimist notes that if the murder of 20 6- and 7-year-olds at Sandy Hook Elementary School resulted in no sensible restrictions to gun ownership, then the slaughter of 58 country music fans isn't likely to, either. But wait, we have a headline: Even the National Rifle Association has called for regulating (not banning or confiscating) "bump stocks" -- the attachment used by the Las Vegas shooter to essentially convert a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon, the better to kill the most. And Republicans are expressing a willingness to consider restrictions.

You'd think by the reactions -- this is really, really huge, editorialists have clamored -- that the NRA decided to support banning from private ownership all semi-automatic weapons, which were created solely for the purpose of killing human beings. But, no. Like Coco Chanel, who always removed one bauble before leaving home, the NRA is offering to eliminate one accessory from a warehouse of gaudy, bloodletting fashions.

Talk about distractions. Or was this the artifice of a deal?
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Disney's Lucasfilm has released a new trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," the second installment in the sequel trilogy to the original films that hits theaters in December.

Parts of the trailer pick up where 2015's "The Force Awakens" leaves off with protagonist Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, learning from Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker on a remote island. The two-and-a-half minute clip also features Carrie Fisher in her role as Princess Leia. Fisher completed her work on the film before her death last December.

A new movie poster was also released Monday, featuring a cloaked Skywalker above a group of characters centered by Leia.

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2015, file photo, Mark Hamill arrives at the world premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Hamill is featured in the trailer released Oct. 9, 2017, for the follow-up to "The Force Awakens." (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Director Rian Johnson thanked fans on Twitter for their patience for the highly-anticipated follow up, adding that he's "so proud" of the film.
ROME (AP) - The head of Iran's nuclear agency warned the United States on Tuesday against undermining the 2015 nuclear deal, saying international nonproliferation efforts as well as Washington's international standing would suffer as a result.

Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told an international conference on enhancing nuclear safety that Washington's recent "delusionary negative postures do not augur well" for keeping the deal intact.

He said Iran didn't want to see the deal unravel but that "much more is at stake for the entire international community than the national interests of Iran."

Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi talks at a conference on international cooperation for enhancing nuclear safety, security, safeguards and non-profileration, at the Lincei Academy, in Rome, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to deliver a speech on Iran this week in which he is expected to decline to certify Iran's compliance in the landmark 2015 agreement, referring it to Congress, and perhaps targeting the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard with new sanctions.

Salehi praised the progress that had been made since the 2015 deal, saying nonproliferation and disarmament efforts had benefited worldwide. He called it "simply too precious to be allowed to be undermined or weakened."

"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment," Salhehi warned.

He concluded that he hoped "common sense shall prevail."

The U.S. administration has faced two 90-day certification deadlines to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanctions relief under the deal and has both times backed away from a showdown. But Trump more recently has said he does not expect to certify Iran's compliance with the October deadline looming.

On Monday, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, praised the 2015 deal as a "win-win" solution that was working.

"We settled a milestone for nonproliferation and we prevented a dangerous devastating military escalation," she told the conference via video message, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency had certified Iran's compliance with the deal, including via inspections, eight times since it was signed.

She warned that with rising nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, "We have an interest and a responsibility and a duty to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran" and strengthening, not weakening the nonproliferation regime.

___

This story has been corrected to give the word in Salehi's quote as "delusionary" instead of "illusory
NEW YORK (AP) - Pfizer may be done selling ChapStick, Advil, Robitussin and other brands that people can buy without a prescription.

The pharmaceutical giant is weighing options for its consumer healthcare business. It may spin off or sell the unit, which also produces Advil, Preparation H and the Centrum brand of vitamins. Pfizer may also leave the business as is, with no sale.

The New York drugmaker expects any decisions on the business to be made next year.

FILE - This April 6, 2016, file photo shows the Pfizer logo appearing on a screen above its trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Pfizer said Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, it may sell its consumer health care business, which includes the Advil brand, as part of a strategic review. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Chairman and CEO Ian Read said Tuesday that consumer health products are distinct enough from the company's main biopharmaceutical business that its value might be "more fully realized" outside the company.

The consumer health care unit had revenue of about $3.4 billion last year.

Centerview Partners, Guggenheim Securities and Morgan Stanly are working as financial advisers for the review.

Pfizer's larger prescription drug business includes the erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra, the breast cancer drug Ibrance and the cholesterol fighter Lipitor. The company booked a $3.07 billion profit in the in the second quarter on $12.9 billion in revenue. The company will report third-quarter results later this month.

Pfizer shares edged up 36 cents to $36.50 in early morning trading, after the drugmaker announced its review.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state lawmakers are looking at the causes of recent flooding along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

The state Senate will hold a hearing Tuesday in the Oswego County town of Mexico on the spring and summer floods. Shoreline flooding damaged homes and businesses from the Niagara River to the St. Lawrence River, eroded shorelines and hurt the region's tourism economy.

Many upstate officials and lakefront property owners blame the flooding on the International Joint Commission, the U.S.-Canadian panel that controls the outflow of water from Lake Ontario. The commission says heavy rain was to blame.

Republican state Sen. Tom O'Mara, of Chemung County, says the hearing is intended to help residents and officials understand the factors that caused the flood, and ways officials can prevent future problems.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EDT):

3:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the federal government will be there for the people of California as devastating wildfires sweep across the state's famed wine country.

President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremony to honor the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trump says he spoke Monday night with California Gov. Jerry Brown to "let him know that the federal government will stand with the people of California. And we will be there for you in this time of terrible tragedy and need."

At least 17 people have died and at least 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed in the wildfires in Northern California.

Trump says he is also continuing to pray for those grieving and wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting and is also thinking of the people affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

He says, "We have to never forget."

___

3 p.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump was joking when he appeared to question his secretary of state's intelligence.

Trump said in an interview published Tuesday in Forbes magazine that if Rex Tillerson did call him a moron, as has been reported, the two should "compare IQ tests."

"And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump added.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that the president "never implied that the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent."

She says: "He made a joke, no more than that."

She also says the president has "100 percent confidence" in Tillerson. She said reporters "should get a sense of humor."

__

12:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he never undercut his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Henry Kissinger on Tuesday that he "didn't undercut anybody."

Trump also says that he still has confidence in Tillerson.

Earlier this month, Trump tweeted that Tillerson was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea. In an interview with Forbes Magazine published Tuesday, Trump challenged Tillerson to an IQ test.

Kissinger has been a frequent source of advice for the president.

Trump says he and Kissinger have been friends since long before Trump entered politics. He says he has great respect for the former secretary of state, calling him a man of immense talent and knowledge.

__

7:10 a.m.

President Donald Trump is challenging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to "compare IQ tests" if Tillerson did indeed ever call Trump a "moron" as reported.

Trump tells Forbes magazine: "I think it's fake news. But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

The president spoke with the magazine Friday. A story was published online Tuesday.

Trump's tense relationship with Tillerson burst into public view last week. An NBC News story claimed Vice President Mike Pence had to talk Tillerson out of resigning this summer, and that Tillerson had called Trump a "moron."

Tillerson said he never considered resigning. His spokeswoman said he never used such language. Trump and Tillerson are scheduled to have lunch Tuesday with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

___

6:54 a.m.

President Donald Trump says that reaching out to congressional Democrats for help in getting immigration legislation passed is difficult because "the Democrats don't want secure borders."

Trump sent out a tweet early Tuesday charging that Democrats "don't care about safety for U.S.A."

His Twitter post came only two days after Trump sent an immigration overhaul wish-list of legislative proposals to congressional leaders, including a requirement that Congress agree to a host of border security improvements and make significant changes to the green card program.

Trump had said on Sunday there needs to be security enhancements - and the border wall that he's demanded - before he'd sign onto a bill restoring a program that shields from deportation young people brought to the United States illegally when they were children.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis will wade into the religious and political minefield of Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims and the effects of their exodus to Bangladesh when he visits both countries next month.

The Vatican on Tuesday released the itinerary for the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip, which has taken on greater visibility since Myanmar security forces responded to Rohingya militant attacks with a broad crackdown in August. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in what the United Nations has called "textbook ethnic cleansing."

The itinerary makes no mention of a papal meeting with Rohingya in either country. Francis, however, is likely to at least refer to their plight since he has already denounced the "persecution of our Rohingya brothers" on several occasions from the Vatican.

The trip motto is peace, harmony and love among people of different faiths.

Francis' first speech in Myanmar is likely to refer to the issue when he addresses Myanmar's top civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, government officials and Myanmar's diplomatic corps in the political capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on Nov. 28, his first full day of activities in the country.

The following day he meets with the Sangha supreme council of Myanmar's Buddhist monks, one of the most socially and politically influential institutions in the majority Buddhist country. The group has been silent over the population's criticism of the Rohingya.

Myanmar's Catholic cardinal, Cardinal Maung Bo, has defended Suu Kyi against international criticism over the Rohingya crackdown, stressing that her role is limited by the constitution and that the army is the main power-broker in the country.

After a Mass for Myanmar's tiny Catholic community, Francis travels to Bangladesh, where he is expected to address delicate interfaith relations during an interreligious meeting on Dec. 1 in the garden of the archbishops' residence.

The mostly Muslim nation of 160 million has faced a series of attacks by Islamic militants since 2013 that have targeted atheist bloggers, religious minorities, gay rights activists and foreign aid workers.

Bangladesh has had a grim record of political violence since the country won independence from Pakistan in a bloody war in 1971. It has witnessed the assassination of two presidents, the jailing and execution of political leaders, and 19 failed coup attempts.

___

AP writer Esther Htu San contributed from Bangkok, Thailand.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is set to advance plans for nearly 2,000 housing units in West Bank settlements next week, including 30 homes in the flashpoint Palestinian-majority city of Hebron.

The Civil Administration's planning committee announced Tuesday that it will review plans for 1,844 units in Jewish settlements across the West Bank during next week's meetings.

Most of the plans are in the preliminary stages, including the first expansion of the Jewish settlement enclave in Hebron since 2002. Nearly 900 units are set for final approval, including 459 houses in Maale Adumim, a major settlement east of Jerusalem.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider Israel's West Bank settlement construction illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disputes this, saying the fate of settlements should be decided in negotiations.
DALLAS (AP) - A Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who had been booking him on a drug possession charge, telling detectives he had done "something illogical" and that "he was the one that shot their friend," an investigator said.

In an affidavit released Tuesday, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department said Hollis Daniels III confessed to killing Officer Floyd East Jr. after his recapture Monday night.

University officials said East went to Daniels' room to perform a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Authorities have not said what prompted the welfare check. East arrested Daniels and took him to the campus police station to book him.

This Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 photo provided by the Lubbock County jail shows Hollis Daniels, who was charged with capital murder of a peace officer in the shooting of a campus officer at the school's police headquarters on Monday. Campus police took Daniels to the police station late Monday after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room. (Lubbock County jail via AP)

According to Bonds, the 19-year-old wasn't handcuffed while East was processing the paperwork. Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East's body camera was also missing, but his service weapon was still holstered.

The campus was locked down for about an hour Monday night and the school's more than 36,000 students were ordered to shelter in place during the search. Daniels was recaptured following a foot chase near the police station. He had the body camera and a handgun, Bonds wrote.

It's not clear why Daniels wasn't placed in handcuffs or whether he had been searched when arrested. Police also haven't said whether they believe Daniels used his own gun or one belonging to the department. University officials did not respond Tuesday to messages seeking additional details. They scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday.

Daniels, who is from the San Antonio suburb of Seguin, is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is being held in the Lubbock County jail on a $5 million bond. Online jail records don't indicate whether he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

He's had prior run-ins with the law. Daniels was charged two years ago in Guadalupe County, which includes Seguin, with possession of drug paraphernalia, but the case was dismissed. Court records obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal show he was charged last year in Lubbock County with drug possession.

Daniels is the son of H. A. "Dan" Daniels, a well-known figure in Seguin. The elder Daniels was a city councilman from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2010, when term limits prevented him from running for re-election. He didn't immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment that were left at a family business and calls to the family's home got a busy signal.

The school's president, Lawrence Schovanec, said East's family is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community. East, 48, joined the department as a dispatcher in 2015 and became an officer in May. It was his first job in law enforcement, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

"I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sherriff's Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response," Schovanec said.

Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement expressing his condolences and saying he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation. State Attorney General Ken Paxton went to the school Tuesday to show support.

Texas passed a law last year allowing students with concealed carry permits to bring guns into university classrooms and buildings. But a person must be at least 21 years old to get a concealed carry permit in Texas, so Daniels wouldn't qualify.

The state Democratic Party apologized Tuesday for a tweet it sent linking the campus carry law to Monday's shooting. The party had tweeted that allowing guns on college campuses "was a dumb and dangerous idea" but later backtracked and deleted the tweet.

___

Associated Press writers Claudia Lauer and Diana Heidgerd contributed to this report.

___

Follow David Warren on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/WarrenJourno

___

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This undated photo provided by Texas Tech University shows Hollis Daniels, who was charged with capital murder of a peace officer in the shooting of a campus officer at the school's police headquarters on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Campus police took Daniels to the police station late Monday after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room. (Texas Tech University via AP)

Emergency personnel stage at an intersection across from Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)

Emergency personnel stage at an intersection across from Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)
BRUSSELS (AP) - Hail, frost and droughts have hit Europe's grape harvest hard, making it the smallest in 36 years. The quality of the wines, though, is expected to be excellent.

The European Union's Copa-Cogeca farm union said Tuesday that the extreme weather means the harvest is expected to be down 14 percent, with some areas seeing a drop of as much as one third. That will cut wine production to a level not seen since 1981 at 145 million hectoliters.

The two biggest producers, "France and Italy were particularly badly affected," said Thierry Coste, the chairman of Copa-Cogeca wine division.

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2017 file photo, a worker carries red grapes in a burgundy vineyard during the grape harvest season, in Volnay, central France. The EU's Copa-Cogeca farm union announced Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 that spring hail and frost, combined with sustained drought during the summer, will force wine production down to 145 million hectoliters, a level not seen since 1981. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

In France, production will be down 18 percent, and in Italy, the biggest wine producer in Europe, it will have sunk by 26 percent compared with last year. Sicily was hit by a decline of 35 percent.

"The quality of the grape is nevertheless expected to be very good across Europe, which should make for an excellent wine," he said.

The combination of good wine and lower quantities means that "prices are also likely to rise," he said.

During the 1980s, record wine production often hovered around the 210 million hectoliter mark. An industry preference to make less but better wine and a need to cut subsidies based on bulk has led to lower yields since then. Extreme weather and climate change have further affected output in certain years.

Nowadays, wine production almost never surpasses 170 million hectares a year anymore, although this year's estimate is particularly low, and was last worse only in 1981.

The European wine grape harvest has an automatic impact on the global wine market since EU production accounts for some 60 percent of worldwide output.

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2017 file photo, workers collect red grapes in a burgundy vineyard during the grape harvest season, in Volnay, central France. The EU's Copa-Cogeca farm union announced Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 that spring hail and frost, combined with sustained drought during the summer, will force wine production down to 145 million hectoliters, a level not seen since 1981. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's Oil Ministry has ordered the restoration of an oil pipeline from the city of Kirkuk to Turkey that would bypass the country's northern Kurdish region in the wake of the area's pro-independence referendum.

Tuesday's development is the second measure that Baghdad has taken over the past two days to isolate the Iraqi Kurdish region

The pipeline was taken out of service after Islamic State militants swept across much of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014. A statement from the Iraqi Oil Ministry says it wants to return the pipeline to service as soon as possible.

On Monday, Iraq's central government ordered the Kurdish-based cellular network operators to relocate their headquarters Baghdad.

Iraq's Kurdish region has been exporting some of its oil directly to Turkey.
The national disgrace of beer sales in Whiteclay, Neb. appears to be over, at least for now.

The four stores -- which sold millions of cans of beer every year to residents of the alcohol-free Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, located just a couple miles across the South Dakota border  were shut down in April when the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission denied their licenses. The Nebraska Supreme Court recently denied the storeowners bid to reopen, based on a technical flaw in their appeal.

That decision ensured the stores, the only businesses in the village of 14 people, will remain closed for now. The storeowners could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or file suit against the state in federal court. It remains unclear whats next.

But for now: business and retail people are debating the merits of free enterprise; Native American activists are celebrating an end to the 20-year struggle to get the stores closed; and lawmakers and social activists are looking for ways to help people lead healthy and productive lives again.

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson framed it best. He said the Supreme Court decision affords an opportunity to write a hopeful chapter in the story of Whiteclay."

Winnebago activist Frank LaMere said the court decision ranks with the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn as one of the most significant wins ever for the Lakota people. He said it marks a red-letter day in Oglala Lakota history.

The court's 17-page opinion did not weigh in on the issues of rampant alcoholism on Pine Ridge or lawlessness in Whiteclay. Instead, the justices determined that a fatal legal flaw (jurisdictional grounds) had doomed the beer store owners' appeal of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission's decision to deny their liquor licenses earlier this year.

David Domina, attorney for Sheridan County residents opposing the stores, argued the storeowners hadn't correctly appealed to the court because they didn't include his clients in the case. The high court agreed and said a Lincoln judge's order reversing the Liquor Commission's decision was void.

He said the decision means that the shame of Whiteclay is over and obstacles have been removed from the road to recovery for the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation and the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Now its up to a legislative task force led by state Senators Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and Tom Brewer of Gordon to draw up plans for new business development and human services in Whiteclay. The group has already completed one visit to the area and more are planned. Brewer, a Native American, said the healing of a town once called The Skid Row of the Plains has begun.

LaMere called for a day of healing and reconciliation on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to allow people to give thanks and seek forgiveness for allowing Whiteclay to devastate people for so long. He encouraged Native Americans to pray for themselves.

The Whiteclay Task Force recently heard testimony about the challenges facing the village. And they heard about the problems dealing with some of the worst victims  children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Nora Boesem said she and her husband have adopted 12 children with FASD after learning that assistance for such children is very limited.

When the family had some of them as foster children, Boesem said she was told they were lucky they hadnt adopted them and could send them back. She told the committee a lot of her adopted children are products of Whiteclay, and their parents are products of Whiteclay.

Let the work on the hopeful chapter begin.
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Two brothers who formerly owned a Pennsylvania defense contractor face sentencing for pleading guilty in a $6 million scheme to overcharge the U.S. Defense Department for Humvee window kits.

The Butler-based contractor, Ibis Tek LLC, removed the former co-owners, Thomas and John Buckner in January along with former CFO Harry Kramer.

The three pleaded guilty in May to charges of major fraud against the government and income tax evasion for filing returns that didn't include the illegal income, and other irregularities.

The Buckners will be sentenced Tuesday, while Kramer will be sentenced Oct. 18.

Prosecutors say all three face likely prison terms under federal sentencing guidelines.

Ibis Tek was sold in February to investors who say the new company had nothing to do with the scam.
NEW YORK (AP) - Walmart is all about online, anticipating digital sales next fiscal year will rise about 40 percent and that it will double the number of U.S. curbside locations for online grocery shoppers at its stores.

But the world's largest retailer continues to scale back new store growth in the U.S., with plans to open only 25 in its fiscal year 2019, which ends January 2019. That compares with opening 230 new U.S. stores during fiscal 2016.

The retail behemoth is predicting net sales growth at or above 3 percent, driven by online sales and growth from existing stores for the next fiscal year.

In this Thursday, June 1, 2017, photo, customers walk out of a Walmart store in Hialeah Gardens, Fla. Walmart is expected to provide an update about its expansion plans and issue an outlook for revenue and earnings at its annual shareholder meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

The company reiterated its per-share earnings guidance for next year and launched a two-year, $20 billion share repurchase program.

Shares rose more than 4 percent on the news

"No doubt we are in a transformational period of history," said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart Stores Inc., in an address Tuesday to investors at an annual meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas. "Our future is looking more digital."

The retailer is armoring up online to take on Amazon.com and more traditional rivals, like Target. Walmart paid more than $3 billion for online retailer Jet last year to speed its evolution. It's been acquiring smaller players like ModCloth, Moosejaw and Bonobos. It's also deploying digital kiosks called Pickup Towers at a hundred of its stores which spit out products bought on Walmart.com. But it has an eye on expanding on groceries online, an underserved market. Walmart has fast expanded the number of U.S. stores that allow online grocery shoppers to pick up orders at the curb. Currently 1,000 U.S. locations are participating.

Walmart is also testing the idea of a new service in Silicon Valley that lets a delivery person walk into shoppers' homes with internet-connected locks when they're not there to drop off packages or put groceries in the fridge.

The company went live with voice-activated shopping with Google in answer to Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo devices. Walmart said customers can now start shopping for more than 2 million Walmart items via Google Assistant as well as Google Express and its app. Walmart announced its partnership with Google in August.

And starting next month, returns may be getting easier. Customers can scan goods they no longer want with a smartphone and drop them off at a customer service desk. Walmart says that will take 35 seconds or less. Returns right now take about four times that, not including any wait in line.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart revamped its shipping program and now offers free, two-day shipping for online orders of its most popular items with a minimum purchase order of $35.

Walmart says it's critical to get shoppers to spend both online and in stores. Store shoppers who become online customers spend nearly twice as much overall. And those who use online grocery pickup buy more overall.

But as Walmart moves into the digital space dominated by Amazon, Amazon is encroaching on the physical realm to win over more customers.

In August, Amazon closed on its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market and quickly lowered prices on key products. It also cut a deal with Kohl's that allows for the return of Amazon goods at stores in Los Angeles and Chicago, which are packaged and shipped out by workers there.

Moody's lead retail analyst Charlie O'Shea said Walmart is giving shoppers a "compelling online alternative to Amazon" and views its online sales forecast as an "impressive goal, especially on the heels of the 30 percent (growth) outlined at the 2016 investor meeting, which at the time seemed aspirational."

Walmart has increasingly linked its massive fleet of stores with online services, but the emphasis on expanding the number of stores it runs, at least in the near future, has ebbed. Walmart expects to open less than 15 SuperCenters and fewer than 10 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S. next year. It opened 40 new supercenters this year, down from 60 supercenter openings the last fiscal year.

"The redeployment of significant capital expenditure dollars from new stores in the U.S. to online improvements and store remodels, especially the 1,000 store increase in in-store grocery pick-up locations, will help Walmart maintain its market-leading position in the US grocery segment," O'Shea said.

Shares rose $3.60 to $84.13 Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) - America Ferrera, Roxane Gay and Jill Soloway are among those contributing essays to a book marking the one-year anniversary of January's Women's March.

Dey Street, an imprint of William Morrow, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that "Together We Rise" will come out Jan. 16. Billed as "the definitive oral and visual chronicle" of the nationwide demonstrations held the weekend after President Donald Trump's inauguration, the illustrated book is a collaboration between the Women's March organizers and Conde Nast. Writings by New Yorker editor David Remnick, Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth and others also will be included.

March organizers plan to share revenue from the book with three grassroots, women-led organizations: The Gathering for Justice, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and Indigenous Women Rise.
SHANGHAI (AP) - A year after being fined for "tanking" a match at the Shanghai Masters, Nick Kyrgios quit another one altogether.

The temperamental Australian argued several times with the chair umpire during his first-round match against Steve Johnson on Tuesday. After losing the tiebreaker 7-6 (5), Kyrgios shook hands with Johnson at the net and then with the chair umpire before packing his bags and walking off court.

Serving at 30-30 in the 12th game of the first set, a forehand by Kyrgios was called out. The Australian challenged the call and it was overruled. Kyrgios then hit two balls in anger and was assessed a code violation warning.

Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina eyes on the ball as he plays against Andrey Rublev of Russia during their men's singles match against Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

At the change of ends in the tiebreaker, Kyrgios was leading 4-2 but was annoyed that fans were being allowed to come into the court. Kyrgios lost the next point and then started to complain and curse, which earned him an audible obscenity code violation. He was docked a point, which made the score 4-4.

When the set was done, so was Kyrgios. He left the court without explanation, avoided a news conference, and took to Twitter to firstly apologize for his actions then give his reasons.

"I've been battling a stomach bug for the past 24 hours and I tried to be ready but I was really struggling on the court today which I think was pretty evident from the first point," he wrote.

"My shoulder started to hurt in the practice today which didn't help either and once I lost the first set I was just not strong enough to continue because I've not eaten much the past 24 hours."

The ATP said it was investigating. Kyrgios added he would decide on Wednesday whether to play his scheduled doubles.

Last year, Kyrgios was suspended by the men's tour for tanking a match and insulting fans following a second-round loss to German qualifier Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters. Kyrgios gave little effort during the 6-3, 6-1 loss, even patting easy serves over the net and turning away before his opponent's serve crossed the net.

Kyrgios arrived in Shanghai this time after losing the China Open final to Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday.

Also, John Isner beat Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) on a day with temperatures soaring past 32 degrees C (90 degrees F).

"The conditions were brutal," Isner said. "It felt like Atlanta in August. That could've been the hottest match I played all year."

American Jack Sock, the 14th seed, retired in his match because of dehydration with Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov leading 4-6, 6-1, 2-1.

Also, Marin Cilic, a Wimbledon finalist this year, defeated Kyle Edmund of Britain 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the second round. Juan Martin del Potro also made the third round.

U.S. Open finalist Kevin Anderson began by defeating Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-1, and Ryan Harrison of the U.S. beat local wild card Zhang Ze 6-2, 6-3.

Marin Cilic of Croatia hits a forehand shot against Kyle Edmund of Britain during their men's singles match against Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is leaving in place the conspiracy conviction of Osama bin Laden's former personal assistant by a military tribunal.

The justices' order Tuesday was issued without comment and could be the final legal appeal by Guantanamo detainee Ali Hamza al-Bahlul.

A military commission convicted Bahlul of conspiracy and other crimes in 2008.

An appellate panel at one point ruled the military tribunal lacked the authority to convict defendants of conspiracy and other crimes that are not international war crimes.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit later upheld the conviction.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Serbia's president on Tuesday as Ankara stepped up efforts to increase its clout in the Balkans.

Erdogan's talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic focused on trade and investment, but also covered political relations in the region, where many countries have historic and religious links with Turkey from centuries of Ottoman rule.

Erdogan said that the current trade exchange between the two countries of $800 million (682 million euros) "is not enough" and that it should rapidly grow in the near future.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, speaks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Erdogan is on a two-day official visit to Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

He promised more Turkish investments, including into a highway linking the Serbian and Bosnian capitals.

Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Vucic that more investments and road links would "solve the problems in the Balkans."

Relations between Serbia and Turkey have improved recent years, after decades of mistrust between the two nations. Serbia was ruled for almost 500 years by the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey backed Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s war that pitted them against the Christian Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.

"This is not 1389, but 2017," Vucic said, referring to the year when the Ottoman occupation of Serbia started. "Today, Serbia considers Turkey as its friend."

Serbian and Turkish officials signed several agreements on Tuesday, including an amended free trade accord that will open the Turkish market to several Serb products.

Erdogan will travel with Vucic to the predominantly Muslim-populated southern Sandzak region of Serbia on Wednesday.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center left, and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic stand before a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Erdogan is on a two-day official visit to Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam's flag carrier and Air France signed an agreement Tuesday to deepen their cooperation to tap the growing travel market between Vietnam and Europe.

Vietnam Airlines and Air France have been cooperating for 20 years on aircraft maintenance and crew training and began code sharing in 2010, but they said the partnership agreement signed by their leaders in Hanoi will further their cooperation.

Under the agreement, which begins in November, Vietnam Airlines passengers will be able to connect to 70 European destinations, up from 14, and Air France passengers will be able to reach 20 Vietnamese destinations, up from three.

"We are the only ones who directly connect Europe to Vietnam, and as you know with this world of speed, time is obviously the essence," Franck Terner, CEO of Air France, told reporters after signing the agreement with Duong Tri Thanh, president and CEO of Vietnam Airlines. "I truly think that what we build today is the utmost service, a seamless travel experience and frequent connections."

Thanh said the agreement would help the airlines strengthen their positions in a fiercely competitive environment.

"The two airlines will cooperate comprehensively, and our ultimate goal is to offer seamless and perfect service that would bring about a competitive edge to our airlines in the aviation market, which is increasingly expanding with a lot of potential, but is also very competitive," Thanh said.

Terner noted that Air France began flying to Vietnam nearly 90 years ago with Air Orient, Air France's predecessor, offering flights in 1930 departing from Marseille to Saigon in three days, making 18 stops. Since then technology has made enormous progress and new markets have opened, he added.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines offers daily flights between Hanoi and Paris and three flights a week between the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City and Paris, while Air France operates three flights a week between Ho Chi Minh City and Paris.

Vietnam received 10 million foreign tourists in 2016, up 26 percent from the previous year, with China, South Korea, Japan and the United States the top sources of visitors.
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's military has bulldozed at least 140 homes and more than 200 acres along the Gaza Strip border, expanding a buffer zone in an effort to cut off the flow of weapons and militants.

The governor of Northern Sinai province, Maj. Gen. Abdel-Fatah Harhour, told The Associated Press late Monday that the military began a new phase in clearing the zone, which is 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) wide and 10 kilometers (6 miles) long.

Egypt has struggled to combat an Islamic State-led insurgency in the northern Sinai since 2014, and has built the buffer zone to prevent the militants from using a vast tunnel network under the border that was created to evade a decade-old Israeli and Egyptian blockade on the territory.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, has also worked to secure the border in recent months as it tries to improve ties with Cairo. Hamas has cracked down on more extreme rivals, including supporters of the Islamic State group.

Harhour said the government has promised to compensate those who lost their homes and farms. "We have created committees to list those who should receive such compensation," he said.

He said the residents at first received checks worth 3,000 Egyptian pounds (nearly $170) each to pay for "alternative accommodation."

However, a tribal leader, Sheikh Issa Karafin, said some evacuees haven't received the money yet.

"The checks were uncovered," said Kharafin who left Rafah last year to relocate to the Suez Canal city of Ismailia over threats from Islamic State militants.

He said the military came in August and asked people to collect their belongings to leave the area as soon as possible. Kharafin said he has helped over two dozen of the evicted families find places to live in Ismailia over the past two weeks.

One resident said he and his family live in a desert area, "in huts with no electricity or water." He spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from authorities.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court says it will hear a decades-long dispute between Florida and Georgia over water rights.

The justices on Tuesday issued a brief order in a lawsuit that Florida filed at the high court challenging water use by its neighbor.

The court set not set a date for arguments in the case.

A lawyer appointed by the court to oversee the suit recommended that the justices side with Georgia. Florida has objected to the lawyer's recommendation.

The states' battle over water use dates back to 1990 and involves the river basin that includes western Georgia, eastern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

The justices also say they will hear argument in Texas' lawsuit against Colorado and New Mexico over the flow of the Rio Grande. No date has been set.
PARIS (AP) - Back in 1995, when they spent $800,000 on a work by impressionist painter Camille Pissarro in New York, Bruce Toll claims he had no idea the canvas had been looted by the Vichy regime during World War II.

The New York art collector says he and his wife, Robbi, bought the painting in good faith.

"I just know that I bought the painting from Christie's and that it had been sold by Sotheby's 30 years earlier," Bruce Toll told The Associated Press after a court hearing in Paris on Tuesday. "If it had been stolen during the war, it would not have been sold by Sotheby's, then Christie's. At least I would assume that. There was no way I should know that."

People wait outside the Marmottan museum in Paris, Tuesday, Oct.10, 2017. A painting exhibited in the museum called Called "La Cueillette des Bois," or "Picking Peas", by impressionist master Camille Pissarro that was looted by the Vichy regime during World War II is at the center of a legal battle in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

"La Cueillette des Bois," or "Picking Peas," was painted by Pissarro in 1887. French authorities confiscated the painting earlier this year, and it will remain in their custody until the case pitting the Tolls against the family of a Jewish collector is resolved.

French authorities seized the painting at the Marmottan museum after Simon Bauer's relatives found out it was on display in Paris as part of a Pissarro exhibition, on loan from the Tolls, and filed a lawsuit to have the work returned.

A verdict will be issued next month, but the Tolls' lawyer, Ron Soffer, said he will appeal if his client does not win.

Bauer's collection of more than 90 paintings was confiscated in 1943 by the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis, and sold by a vendor designated by the General Commissariat for Jewish Questions.

"This painting has been illegally confiscated by Vichy, and the French state should pay. This is a fair solution," said Soffer, referring to the financial compensation the Bauers have received from the state. Financial details of that deal have not been disclosed, but the family's lawyer said the money covered all of their stolen art.

"The Bauers will give back to the French state the fraction of the money corresponding to the painting's value they received when they will have it returned," lawyer Cedric Fischer said.

After Simon Bauer's death in 1947, his grandson Jean-Jacques began the search for the stolen art. He has recovered only a few pieces. "Picking Peas," which was part of the collection, was sold at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1966.

According to Fischer, the painting is now worth about $1.75 million, the price paid by the Tolls for its insurance. He told the AP it was first bought by Theo van Gogh, the brother of Vincent van Gogh, who purchased it from Pissarro.

Fischer is adamant that given the painting's notoriety "the Tolls could not have ignored its origins."

Bruce Toll disagreed.

"Their lawyer seems to think I should go into research on every painting that is sold at Sotheby's and Christie's," he said. "I don't even speak French, how can I do the research in the first place if it's all here in France? I've seen paintings over the years withdrawn from sales but there was no claim on this painting, so there was no reason for me to think it was not legitimately owned."
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Wilmington Trust Corp., the first financial institution to be criminally charged in connection with the federal bank bailout program, reached a $60 million settlement with prosecutors Tuesday just as the corporation and four former top executives were set to go to trial on bank fraud charges.

The agreement includes a civil forfeiture of $44 million and $16 million previously paid by Wilmington Trust to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a related lawsuit.

"In return, this office has agreed to dismiss criminal charges against the bank," said acting U.S. Attorney David Weiss.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Andrews postponed the trial for the former executives until March.

"The bank being removed from the case has really upset the strategy and planning and preparation for the other defendants," Andrews said. "It's my judgment that they're not prepared to try the case without the bank as a co-defendant."

Parent company M&T Bank said in a statement that resolving the matter was in the best interest of the company.

While the bank did not admit liability, Weiss said Wilmington Trust had accepted responsibility for its actions, and that the $44 million forfeiture represents proceeds that can be traced to "unlawful activity."

"If possible, we wanted to avoid the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction for the bank, which could have resulted in a loss of further jobs and revenue to the state of Delaware" Weiss added, noting that Wilmington Trust still operates a wealth advisory business, whose clients include high-net worth individuals.

"A criminal conviction could have an impact on Wilmington Trust's ability to continue to function in that wealth advisory business," he said.

Wilmington Trust, a century-old institution founded by members of the DuPont family, was hastily sold in 2011 to M&T Bank at a steep discount as it teetered on the edge of collapse. The bank imploded despite receiving $330 million from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Prosecutors accused Wilmington Trust, through its senior executives, of concealing the truth about the bank's deteriorating commercial real estate loan portfolio from bank regulators, investors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Former Wilmington Trust president Robert V.A. Harra Jr., former chief financial officer David Gibson, former chief credit officer William North, and former controller Kevyn Rakowski are charged with fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to federal regulators.

Three other former Wilmington Trust officers, vice president Joseph Terranova, Delaware Market Officer Brian Bailey, and loan officer Pete Hayes have pleaded guilty in the case and are awaiting sentencing.

Two other coconspirators already have been sentenced. James Ladio, former CEO of MidCoast Community Bank, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $700,000 restitution. Businessman Salvatore Leone was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $784,000.

Michael Zimmerman, a Dover developer, died in 2015 while awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements to a financial institution. Prosecutors said Leone conspired with Zimmerman to submit fraudulent requests to Wilmington Trust to draw on construction loans, and that they then used the money for unrelated purposes. Prosecutors also said Leone and Zimmerman kept project-related funds for personal use.

"Send $1,000,000 ASAP I have to pay my bar tab," Zimmerman demanded in a 2008 fax to Wilmington Trust that was referenced in a government affidavit.

Prosecutors have alleged that Wilmington Trust concealed the total quantity of past due loans on its books from October 2009 through November 2010. They say Wilmington Trust failed to disclose to regulators its practice of "waiving" matured loans designated as current for interest and in the process of being extended from the reporting requirements for past due loans. An indictment cites several emails, dating as far back 2007, in which North expressed concerns about the amount of loans being waived from the reporting requirements.

According to the indictment, Wilmington Trust officials reported only $10.8 million in commercial loans 90 days or more past due at the end of 2009, concealing more than $333 million in past due loans subject to the waiver practice.

During the course of the alleged conspiracy, in February 2010, Wilmington Trust raised about $274 million through a public stock offering. The bank is the defendant in a separate class-action lawsuit by investors.

Weiss said plaintiffs in the lawsuit also will be the beneficiaries of the funds forfeited in settling the criminal case.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's National Human Rights Commission says the government failed to protect 2,038 people who have been displaced from the mountains of Sinaloa state by drug gang violence starting about five years ago.

The commission called on state and local authorities Tuesday to provide aid to victims forced out of the townships of Sinaloa de Leyva and Choix in 2012.

Sinaloa is home to what was once Mexico's most powerful drug cartel. But internal disputes and turf wars presumably led the Sinaloa Cartel to use violence and threats to intimidate residents who did not support its efforts to transport drugs.

The commission has the power to make non-binding recommendations.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Police say a Des Moines mother has been arrested after officers found her three young children alone outside their home, including one covered in feces and another with a full diaper.

TV station KCCI reports that a 4-year-old boy was left in charge Monday of his 2-year-old and 1-year-old siblings. He'd taken them outside after their stove made a frightening sound when he tried to make breakfast.

County records say Destinee Miller remains jailed Tuesday on child endangerment charges. The records don't list the name of an attorney who can comment for her.

Officers say the house was littered with hundreds of mounds of dog feces. Miller later told officers she had left to take one of her dogs to a vet.

State authorities have taken custody of the children.
GENEVA (AP) - The Latest on the detaining of what Swiss police called terrorism suspects (all times local):

5 p.m.

Swiss police say they have detained a brother of the Tunisian man who allegedly stabbed to death two women in southeast France last week.

Fedpol national police said the man was a brother of terror suspect Ahmed Hanachi, who French officials say killed two women in Marseille on Oct. 1. The man was detained with a female companion.

A Fedpol statement said the brother was "known to foreign police services for his links to the jihadist terrorist movement." However, it added: "For now, his role, if any, in the Marseille attack is not clear."

Police have ordered the expulsion of the brother and the woman to Tunisia for security and administrative reasons. No international arrest warrant was outstanding for either of them. They were being held in custody pending possible appeals.

The two, who were not identified, were arrested Sunday at a center for asylum-seekers in the southern town of Chiasso.

___

1 p.m.

Police in southern Switzerland have detained two Tunisian asylum-seekers on suspected links to foreign extremism.

The Swiss Federal Police say in a statement Tuesday that they ordered the arrests two days earlier in the southern town of Chiasso, near the Italian border.

The statement said the two were detained because they posed a potential risk to Swiss domestic security "in connection with terrorist activities abroad." It did not elaborate.

Word of the arrests comes a day after Italian authorities said Anis Hanachi, a 25-year-old Tunisian terror suspect who was arrested in northern Italy, had fought in Syria.

The Italian authorities said Hanachi was believed to have radicalized his older brother Ahmed, who on Oct. 1 stabbed two women to death in the French city of Marseille.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - The Latest on the fatal shooting of a Texas Tech University police officer (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

The Texas Democratic Party is apologizing for a tweet that linked the state's "campus carry" law to the arrest of a Texas Tech University student in the fatal shooting of a campus police officer.

This undated photo provided by Texas Tech University shows Hollis Daniels, who was charged with capital murder of a peace officer in the shooting of a campus officer at the school's police headquarters on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Campus police took Daniels to the police station late Monday after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room. (Texas Tech University via AP)

As news of the shooting was breaking late Monday, the Texas Democrats' Twitter account posted, "Allowing concealed guns on college campuses was a dumb and dangerous idea."

That referred to a law that took effect last year allowing Texans with concealed carry permits to bring guns into university classrooms and buildings.

Critics noted that you have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit and the suspected Texas Tech shooter is 19.

Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia said in a statement Tuesday that "our words were inadequate, hurried and we apologize," adding that the tweet has been removed.

Authorities say Hollis Daniels III fatally shot officer Floyd East Jr. while being booked on a drug possession charge.

___

10:50 a.m.

Authorities say a Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who was booking him on a drug possession charge.

Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department says in an affidavit released Tuesday that 19-year-old Hollis Daniels III wasn't handcuffed while campus police officer Floyd East Jr. was processing him Monday.

Bonds says another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East's body camera was taken.

Daniels was recaptured Monday evening following a foot chase near the police station. Bonds says he had the body camera and a handgun.

The affidavit says Daniels told officers he had done "something illogical" and that "he was the one that shot their friend."

University officials say East had gone to Daniels' room for a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

___

9:30 a.m.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he'll travel to Texas Tech University to meet with administrators and law enforcement officials following the fatal shooting of a campus police officer.

Paxton said in a statement that he'll be in Lubbock on Tuesday "to offer the entire support" of his office.

School officials say campus police took a 19-year-old student into custody after conducting a welfare check Monday and finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in the student's room.

Authorities say the student, identified by the university as Hollis Daniels, was taken to the campus police station, where he pulled a gun and killed an officer.

Daniels fled but was recaptured and charged with capital murder of a peace officer.

Authorities say Daniels is from Seguin (sih-GEEN'), just east of San Antonio.

___

6:30 a.m.

A 19-year-old student at a West Texas university has been charged with capital murder of a peace officer in the shooting of a campus officer at the school's police headquarters.

Texas Tech University officials identified the gunman as Hollis Daniels, who was booked into the Lubbock County jail early Tuesday. Online jail records don't indicate if he has an attorney to comment on his behalf.

The gunman fled police headquarters after mortally wounding the unidentified officer Monday night. He was later spotted by university police. A foot chase ensued and he was tackled then taken into custody.

In a statement, the university says campus police took Daniels to the police station after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room.

It is not clear if Daniels had the gun on him at that point, or if he took the weapon from an officer.

___

12:30 a.m.

Authorities have arrested a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station.

University officials identified the suspect Monday night as Hollis Daniels.

In a statement, the university says campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and - upon entering the room - found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station.

While at the station, Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath says the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the officer. The suspect was later apprehended near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.

Additional information was not immediately available.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

Emergency personnel stage at an intersection across from Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)

Emergency personnel stage at an intersection across from Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Matt Flynn said Tuesday he's running for governor because the state's progressive traditions are being "obliterated" by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Flynn, a 70-year-old retired attorney, said in a campaign launch video and at stops in Milwaukee and Madison that President Donald Trump has corrupted the government and is dividing the country.

Flynn also promised to roll back some of Walker's most significant accomplishments, including the law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public workers.

Retired attorney and former Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Matt Flynn launches his candidacy for governor on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

Flynn is one of eight Democrats who have launched campaigns to challenge Walker, and several others are still considering getting in. The Democratic nominee will be picked at an August primary to face Walker, who's expected to formally launch his campaign for a third term next month.

Undoing Walker's legacy would require a willing Legislature, but Republicans currently have large majorities. Flynn stressed that a Democrat must win election in 2018 to be in control when political boundaries are redrawn following the 2020 census.

Flynn accused Walker of being controlled by corporate donors and said he had been "taken to the cleaners" on the $3 billion incentive package for electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, which plans to open a factory in southeast Wisconsin.

If the Taiwan company invests $10 billion and hires 13,000 people, it will receive $2.85 billion in cash payments from the state. But the deal signed by Walker, and approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, also waives environmental regulations to speed construction of the facility in Racine County.

Flynn faulted Walker for not having any guarantees for minimum job creation or wages and for exempting Foxconn from water regulations. The state jobs agency is still negotiating a final contract with Foxconn.

Walker's campaign manager, Joe Fadness, did not immediately respond to Flynn's comments. Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the Wisconsin Republican Party, called Flynn a "flawed" candidate, noting his legal work more than a decade ago for the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in cases alleging sexual abuse.

"Matt Flynn is a dirty defense attorney who has built a career on defending special interests and those who prey on Wisconsin families," Zimmerman said.

Flynn, after a campaign launch event at a Madison labor hall, said he was proud to have represented the archdiocese and that since he started representing the church it had not transferred any priests accused of wrongdoing.

Flynn is a retired partner with the Quarles and Brady law firm. He previously ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1986 and 1988 and for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 and 2004. Flynn said his age and experience would be an asset in prosecuting the case against Walker.

"I have plenty of gas left in the tank, I really do," Flynn said.

Flynn called for adequately funding the University of Wisconsin System and public K-12 schools, accepting the federal Medicaid money, paying for needed road repairs and ensuring there are "fair wages" paid all across the state.

___

Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP
BERLIN (AP) - A 32-year-old Turkish man has been convicted of spying in Germany for Turkish intelligence on a Kurdish politician and activists.

The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that Mehmet Fatih S., whose last name wasn't given in line with privacy laws, was sentenced in Hamburg state court to two years' probation for spying for the Turkish intelligence service MIT.

His activities included spying on a German-based politician who headed a Kurdish group in Germany and now is part of the leadership of a Brussels-based Kurdish umbrella group.

The suspect, who was arrested in December in Hamburg, will have to pay court costs and a fine of 20,950 euros ($24,720) - the amount he received for his spying.

German immigration authorities will determine whether he'll have to leave the country.
A Pennsylvania college has barred the public from seeing a provocative art exhibition on slavery, white supremacy and racist violence against blacks, deeming it 'potentially disturbing to some''

The touring 'Rewind' exhibition opened at York College in August, a few weeks after the deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The show features textile, video, sculpture and written words. It includes a display of mannequins dressed in colorful KKK-style robes, images of lynchings and artwork that deals with recent police shootings of unarmed blacks.

A Pennsylvania college has barred the public from seeing a provocative art exhibition on slavery, white supremacy and racist violence against blacks, deeming it 'potentially disturbing to some'

York College officials say they decided to limit attendance to people with college IDs and invited guests because they were concerned the public would not understand the 'intended educational context of the exhibit'.

The artist, Paul Rucker of Baltimore, says the private college missed an opportunity to start a dialogue about race relations.

'I think the most important role of an artist is to make the unseen seen and at least more understood,' Rucker told PennLive.com.

'There is nothing more provocative than real life. Our American history is what I'm addressing. There are things that weren't talked about in school and that is part of the show is facing the narrative and systems that were in place,' he said.

Pamela Gunter-Smith, the president of York, said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed Monday that she learned about the race-focused exhibit only a week before it was to open.

The exhibit features images of lynchings and artifacts, such as a branding iron used on runaway slaves who were captured.

The exhibit as a whole is intended to remind people about racism condemn it.

York organized a series of lectures and events to provide 'context' for the art.

York resident Andrea Linebaugh posted about the exhibit on Facebook, writing: 'You walk alone through this room with a narrow passage between you and them. It is powerful.

'I was sad, afraid, overwhelmed, intimidated. This is why they wear the robes and hoods. It is intimidating. I was angry, I wanted to tear their hoods off and punch them.'

'This is about education,' Rucker said. 'There is a disparity in wealth and power in this country. You wonder, how did that come about? A lot of my work is about power.'

'My biggest concern right now is not guys in pointy hats,' he told The Baltimore Sun July. 'It's white liberals who don't understand that they're benefiting from racism as much as -- if not more than -- rural conservatives.'

The touring 'Rewind' exhibition opened at York College, pictured above, in August, a few weeks after the deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia

Executive director of the College Art Association, Hunter O'Hanian, said by email to Inside Higher Ed: 'It's curious why an educational institution would mount an exhibition that can only be seen by those with valid IDs and their guests.

'It seems they do not believe that the general public is capable of seeing the work and understanding the context in which it is presented. I'm not sure what information they have that leads them to believe their student body has more ability in handling the work than the general public.'

The exhibit arrived at York College on August 31 and will run through October 21.

The show was previously exhibited in Ellensburg, Washington, and Ferguson, Missouri, without restrictions.

'I brought it to York for a reason,' he told PennLive.com. 'I wanted to bring it to areas like York and Ferguson and Ellensburg, Washington, where the KKK is actively recruiting.

'I could have easily taken the show to Seattle or Philadelphia, but I felt it was really important to take it to York, Pennsylvania, instead. It's more important to go to these areas that were blue that turned red. . . . People need to understand that the Klan is not about hate as much as preserving the way of life where they maintain and keep power.'
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana officials are refusing to release an indeterminate number of emails from private AOL.com accounts Mike Pence used as governor, and they're not saying whether the vice president's lawyers influenced which messages should be withheld.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's office has released more than 1,300 pages of his predecessor's emails, although most of the documents - released in multiple batches over recent months - contain little substance. They largely consist of correspondence from staffers sharing press releases or news articles, laudatory notes from Pence's fans and documents so heavily redacted they're barely readable.

"It's hard to justify withholding information after a governor leaves office," said Nate Jones, of The National Security Archive at George Washington University, which advocates for government transparency. "It makes it look like they aren't subscribing to good open government practices."

FILE - In this April 17, 2017, file photo, Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington. The state of Indiana is holding back an indeterminate number of Vice President Pence's emails from his time as governor. Pence used private AOL.com accounts to conduct state business when he led the state. His successor, Gov. Eric Holcomb, has released more than 1,300 pages of those emails. But most contain little more than staffers sharing news releases or news articles. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

A Pence spokeswoman declined to comment on Monday.

The Associated Press has sought emails from Pence's private AOL accounts, which he regularly used for state business, since shortly after he was tapped to be Donald Trump's running mate in July 2016.

The emails released to date reveal little about some of the divisive topics that defined Pence's term as governor, including a religious objections law he signed in 2015 that critics decried as discriminatory against gays. Amid the national backlash, Pence held a press conference to push back, hired a crisis management firm and ultimately signed a "fix" into law.

But 293 pages of recently released emails about the controversy predominantly consist of news story summaries and links. A few show Pence staffers providing an opinion article to the Wall Street Journal. And one exchange alerts him that the publication of a critical story was postponed. Left out, however, was any meaningful discussion about one of the most difficult situations he faced as governor.

Indiana has a weaker public records law than many states, and Holcomb's office says it can withhold records deemed "advisory" or "deliberative." Those classifications are open-ended, giving state officials wide latitude to shield from disclosure documents containing internal debates, advice or speculation. Holcomb's office also declined to provide an accounting of the number of emails it withheld because state law doesn't require it.

"Not knowing what they are withholding is a big disadvantage to the public," said Gerry Lanosga, an Indiana University journalism professor and former investigative reporter. "Without at least an index or some detail about what those records are, it's hard not to be skeptical."

During the presidential campaign, Pence suggested that Hillary Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of state disqualified her from becoming president because it threatened state security. His aides have said charges of hypocrisy regarding his own private email use are unfair because there is a big difference between the secretary of state's correspondence about sensitive national matters and business conducted by a governor.

Pence aides have said he that he had an Indiana government email account, but it is unclear if he regularly used it. Most records released before and after he was governor either obscured his email account domain name or show they were routed to an AOL.com account.

Still, one of Pence's AOL.com accounts was subject to a phishing scheme in spring 2016, when his contacts were sent an email falsely claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed money.

At Holcomb's request, Pence's attorneys provided guidance about what could be withheld, state records show. Holcomb's spokeswoman, Stephanie Wilson, declined to comment specifically on how much weight was given to that advice but said the governor's office is "independently evaluating" disclosure decisions.

Pence long presented himself as a champion of the free press, but his office regularly delayed or withheld documents when he was governor.

It was only after Pence's use of the private AOL accounts was widely reported in March that he handed over 13 boxes of paper copies. A searchable electronic database wasn't provided to state officials until July, as they faced a backlog of more than 50 records requests for Pence's emails from news organization, activists and political parties, among others.

As governor, Pence stuck to a tight script, often offering vague talking points instead of concrete detail. The records could offer a window into weighty public policy decisions Pence made.

Besides the religious objections law, he also drew negative attention over new abortion restrictions he signed into law, and a standoff he had with the Catholic Church over attempts to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Indianapolis.

Indiana also faced two high-profile public health crises during his time in office. Public health officials have said Pence's initial reluctance to allow needle exchanges exacerbated a southern Indiana HIV outbreak tied to intravenous drug use. In 2016, lead contamination from a superfund site in northwest Indiana eventually led to the evacuation of a housing complex.
DETROIT (AP) - Stung by falling U.S. sales, Hyundai is pushing its dealers to modernize the new-car shopping experience by posting fair market prices and even delivering vehicles to customers for test drives.

The move is designed to turn around U.S. sales, which have dropped 13 percent through September. Hyundai says dealers will be encouraged to post prices on their websites that include all company discounts for consumers, as well as any incentives offered by dealers. They'll also let people do paperwork online.

Hyundai U.S. marketing chief Dean Evans says customers would rather spend more time driving and getting details about vehicles and less time haggling and filling out forms.

In this Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, photo, a 2017 Santa Fe sports utility vehicle sits outside a Hyundai dealership in the south Denver suburb of Littleton, Colo. Battered by dramatically falling sales for the past five years, Hyundai is training its dealers to make the car-buying experience easier for consumers. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Evans says most buyers already know what others are paying for vehicles from third-party websites. Dealers will be encouraged to match those prices.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Spacewalking astronauts hustled through a lube job and camera swaps outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, their second trip outside in less than a week.

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei made fast work of greasing the big robot arm's new hand.

Vande Hei and station commander Randy Bresnik replaced the latching mechanism on one end of the 58-foot robot arm last Thursday. The mechanism malfunctioned in August.

In this frame from NASA TV, Astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Randy Bresnik, right, emerge from the International Space Station on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. The astronauts went out on a spacewalk to grease the robot arm's new hand. (NASA TV via AP)

Tuesday's work involved using a grease gun, which resembles a caulking gun, to keep the latching mechanism working smoothly. Vande Hei got a jump ahead in some greasing chores, but the two-part job still will spill into next week, in a third and final spacewalk.

"Why don't we wash, rinse, repeat. Do it again in a week," Bresnik said as the 6 -hour spacewalk came to a close.

These latches, or hands, are located on each end of the Canadian-built robot arm. They're used to grab arriving U.S. cargo ships and also allow the robot arm to move around the orbiting lab.

Launched in 2001 with the rest of the robot arm, the original latches were showing their age. NASA plans to replace the latching mechanism on the opposite end of the arm early next year.

Vande Hei and Bresnik also replaced several camera assemblies at the 250-mile-high outpost.

"What do you do for an encore?" Bresnik asked Vande Hei, after two successful spacewalks.

"I finish six months on the space station," Vande Hei replied. He arrived a month ago.

Vande Hei will sit out the next spacewalk on Oct. 18. Instead, Bresnik will be accompanied by Joe Acaba, a teacher-turned-astronaut.

Six men live at the orbiting lab: three Americans, two Russians and one Italian. As the space station approached Italy early in the spacewalk, Mission Control urged Bresnik and Vande Hei to take some photos for their crewmate, Paolo Nespoli.
WNBA players Emma Cannon and Brionna Jones have been denied visas for entry into Turkey with their Russian team this week, fallout from a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Turkey.

The two players told The Associated Press in texts Tuesday that they were at the Moscow airport when the team president told them they wouldn't be allowed to enter Turkey. Cannon and Jones are members of the Russian team Nadezhda in the winter to supplement their income.

The U.S. on Sunday suspended the issuing of visas for Turkish citizens hoping to visit or study in the United States after Turkey arrested U.S. consulate employee Metin Topuz last week on allegations of espionage.

Turkey immediately halted visa services in the U.S. in response.

"I think this situation will hurt a lot of teams in the long run," texted Cannon, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA season. "I'm not happy about missing my first Euroleague game, and not be there for my teammates. But this is something way bigger than basketball, so I will cheer on my team and get ready for the next game."

Jones plays for the Connecticut Sun.

There are several American WNBA players already in Turkey playing for Turkish clubs. Those players had valid visas and entered the country before the dispute occurred, including the New York Liberty's Kia Vaughn, Kiah Stokes and Bria Hartley.

Los Angeles Sparks' Chelsea Gray and Jantel Lavender are still in the U.S. and unable to travel to Turkey. The Sparks lost in the WNBA Finals to the Minnesota Lynx last week so the pair couldn't leave as early as other players.

___

Associated Press Writer Suzan Frazer contributed to this report.
GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) - The son of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has been arrested in Alabama on a misdemeanor charge linked to allegations of illegal hunting.

Etowah County Sheriff's spokeswoman Natalie Barton tells news outlets 27-year-old Caleb Moore surrendered Monday on a charge of third-degree criminal trespass. He was accused of hunting without permission and hunting over bait last year.

Barton says Caleb Moore was released on $1,000 bond.

Moore's campaign issued a statement calling the arrest a "cheap political trick."

Caleb Moore was arrested on drug charges in 2015, but those were dropped after he entered a pre-trial diversion program.

Roy Moore is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the special election for the U.S. Senate on Dec. 12. Moore is a former Alabama chief justice who's been removed from office twice.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - First lady Melania Trump has toured a West Virginia drug addiction recovery center for infants in the heart of the nation's opioid epidemic.

Mrs. Trump visited Lily's Place in Huntington on Tuesday. The nonprofit facility, the first of its kind in the nation, works with addicted mothers' newborns who are enduring the torment of drug withdrawal. It also offers treatment to parents.

Lily's Place Executive Director Rebecca Crowder was part of a group of experts and people affected by drug addiction who were to the White House last month.

First lady Melania Trump, left, participates in a roundtable discussion of Lily's Place in Huntington, W.Va., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. To Trump's right are Kellyanne Conway, special advisor to the president, and Lily's Place Executive Director Rebecca Crowder. Lily's Place is the nations first nonprofit infant recovery center that also provides services to parents and families dealing with addiction. (Chris Dorst /Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

During her trip Tuesday, the first lady told Crowder, "I want to hear what I can do to help."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia has the nation's highest rate of babies born addicted to drugs.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs.

In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha.

The press office of the police said there was one confrontation during Tuesday's operation, but it did not have additional details.

Women cradle their babies as they walk past a soldier during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Rio, which has long struggled with crime, is experiencing its worst wave of violence in a decade amid a national economic crisis.

About 8,500 troops were deployed in August to curb violence a year after Rio hosted the Summer Olympics.

Soldiers take part in an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha.(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

An army soldier takes position during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Army soldiers take position during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military to help patrol the perimeter of Rocinha for a week. Since then, the troops have supported the police in operations to combat rising violence. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A girl runs past soldiers during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Soldiers take part in an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha.(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A soldier stands guard next to a wall tagged with the acronym "CV" identifying the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" or Red Command, during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A woman moves her baby inside while a soldier patrols during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A soldier stands guard during an operation against drug gangs, in the Rocinha slum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A soldier takes part in an operation against drug gangs, in the Rocinha slum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. In the background is Corcovado peak where Christ the Redeemer statue stands. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

An army soldier stands guard during an operation at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. More than 1,000 Brazilian police and soldiers are searching Rio de Janeiro's largest slum for weapons and ammunition amid a crackdown on drug gangs. In recent weeks, a series of intense shootouts led Brazilian authorities to ask the military for help patrolling the perimeter of Rocinha. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than a dozen people from Mexico and two Central American countries, including a 4-year-old child and a pregnant woman, after some illegally entered the United States from Canada, officials said Tuesday.

Sixteen people were taken into custody Sunday at a motel in Vermont, just south of the Quebec border, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Burlington. Authorities said they crossed into the country from Canada and came from Mexico and Guatemala.

Officials say Hector Ramon Perez Alvarado, of Honduras, made at least two trips from the motel to an area in Vermont near the Quebec border. He faces human smuggling charges. Two others in the group, Mexican citizens Noe Perez-Ramirez and Alberto Alvarado-Castro, were charged with being in the United States illegally after previously being deported.

Efforts to reach attorneys for the three were unsuccessful. No one else in the group had been charged.

Border Patrol agents received a tip late Saturday afternoon that led agents to focus on a spot just south of the Beebe Plain port of entry, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Stephanie Malin.

Early Saturday evening, agents followed a van from the Four Seasons Motel to an area in Derby about 1,500 feet (460 meters) south of the Canadian border, according to an affidavit by Border Patrol agent Matthew Palma. The van turned onto a side road and then quickly returned to the motel, Palma said.

Agents began to watch the van while another agent hid in the woods. When the van, later determined to be driven by Perez-Alvarado, approached the area a second time, the agent in the woods "heard multiple subjects running through the wooded area near the border he was watching," Palma said.

Agents using night-vision equipment watched several people run south, some of them using cellphones.

The agents stopped the van when it got back to the hotel. Perez-Alvarado and six other people got out. Agents found nine more people in Perez-Alvarado's room.

Malin called it the largest single apprehension of people in memory by Border Patrol agents in the agency's Swanton Sector, which runs almost 300 miles, from the Maine-New Hampshire border to upstate New York.
HONOLULU (AP) - Lawyers representing Hawaii asked a judge Tuesday to stop the Trump administration from enforcing the latest version of its travel ban.

The updated ban - set to take effect next week - is a continuation of President Donald Trump's "promise to exclude Muslims from the United States," Hawaii said in court documents filed Tuesday in federal court.

Hawaii is seeking a nationwide order against the ban that removes Sudan from the list of affected countries and adds Chad and North Korea, along with several officials from the government of Venezuela.

The addition of non-Muslim countries is "almost entirely symbolic," the court documents state, noting that North Korea is already subject to extensive restrictions.

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin has been battling President Donald Trump on travel bans since February, after the president sought to bar new visas for people from seven mostly Muslim countries.

In March, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu agreed with Hawaii that the ban amounted to discrimination based on nationality and religion.

A subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed the administration to partially reinstate a 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day ban on refugees from anywhere in the world.

On Tuesday, Hawaii also filed a proposed amended lawsuit targeting the newest policy and adding plaintiffs who lawyers say will be harmed if it goes into effect.

That motion came after Watson decided last week that he would give Hawaii an opportunity to make its case to challenge the latest ban.

The government will have until Saturday to respond before Watson issues a ruling.

The proposed amended suit adds two new plaintiffs - an American citizen of Yemeni descent who has lived in Hawaii for nearly 30 years and a University of Hawaii professor whose mother is an Iranian national who wants to visit her son.

They were not named in the filing because they "reasonably fear severe retaliation in the event their names are publicly disclosed," Hawaii said in a motion asking to include plaintiffs under pseudonyms.

Another new plaintiff is the Muslim Association of Hawaii, which the state says will be harmed financially because the mosque relies on contributions from members and visitors.

The policy will "hamper the mosque's ability to welcome new members and visitors from the affected countries, and will cause current members to leave the country," lawyers for Hawaii said.

A challenge to the latest ban is also proceeding in Maryland, where the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups had previously sued over earlier versions of the ban.

The ACLU announced last month it would challenge the latest ban and is seeking a preliminary injunction suspending the visa and entry restrictions. A judge has scheduled a hearing in that case and two similar challenges for Monday.

___

Associated Press Writer Jessica Gresko contributed to this report from Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A political research firm behind a dossier of allegations about President Donald Trump's connections to Russia has been subpoenaed by the House intelligence committee.

Joshua Levy, a lawyer for Fusion GPS, said in a statement Tuesday that the subpoenas were signed by Rep. Devin Nunes even though the Republican committee chairman stepped aside months ago from leading the panel's Russia probe.

He said the subpoenas to the firm reflected a "blatant attempt to undermine the reporting" of the dossier and came even as the firm was in the process of cooperating with congressional committees in their investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

FILE - In this July 28, 2017, file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington. A political research firm behind a dossier of allegations about President Donald Trump's connections to Russia has been subpoenaed by the House intelligence committee. Joshua Levy, a lawyer for Fusion GPS, said in a statement Ton Oct. 10 that the subpoenas were signed by Nunes even though the Republican committee chairman stepped aside months ago from leading the panel's Russia probe. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The co-founder of Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, spoke privately over the summer for about 10 hours to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The intelligence committee, Levy said, was given the "opportunity to agree to the same terms that other committees have allowed in a good faith effort to strike a balance between Congress' right to information with our clients' privileges and legal obligations."

"As we evaluate these subpoenas," Levy wrote, "we have serious concerns about their legitimacy."

The dossier contends that Russia amassed compromising information about Trump and engaged in an effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election on his behalf. The document circulated in Washington last year and was provided to the FBI. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators - who are probing whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election - have spoken with a former British spy who helped compile it, The Associated Press reported last week.

According to a person familiar with the subpoenas, they were originally requested by Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican who has led the Russia probe since Nunes stepped aside in April. The person declined to be named because committee negotiations are private. As chairman, Nunes still retains the power to subpoena and thus signs off on all subpoenas that are issued from the committee.

A Democratic committee official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee's negotiations are private, said subpoenas were issued unilaterally by the committee's Republican majority, without the input of the Democrats, and despite good faith engagement about its plans to cooperate.

Nunes stepped aside amid a House ethics committee investigation into whether he improperly disclosed classified information, and amid Democratic concerns that he was too close to Trump. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
HOUSTON (AP) - Advocates for a pregnant 17-year-old girl held in a Texas facility for immigrant children who have crossed the border alone are asking a federal judge to allow her to get an abortion, over the opposition of U.S. and state officials.

A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on a request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of refusing to let the girl be taken for the procedure.

Rochelle Garza, a lawyer appointed to represent the girl's legal interests, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she may be up to 14 weeks' pregnant. Texas state law prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks.

Garza says the teen is from Central America, like most people caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without legal permission. She declined to give the girl's name or identify the specific country where she was from, citing the girl's privacy as a minor, but said that the girl wanted an abortion in part because she had seen her parents abuse another sibling who was pregnant.

With Garza's help, the girl obtained a judicial waiver under a Texas law requiring a minor seeking an abortion to get consent from a parent. But staff at the facility where she's being held refused to take her to her appointments with a doctor to seek an abortion, or let the attorney take her, even though private groups that support abortion rights have raised money for the procedure, Garza said.

Instead, she was taken to a crisis pregnancy center. Such centers encourage pregnant women not to have an abortion.

"I feel like they are trying to coerce me to carry my pregnancy to term," the girl said in a declaration filed in federal court last week.

The ACLU of Northern California sued HHS last year over what it said was the denial of abortion and contraception to girls in its custody.

Unaccompanied Central American children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border are generally turned over to facilities run by private operators on behalf of HHS. Many facilities are affiliated with religious organizations that oppose abortion like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Nearly 3,000 unaccompanied children were caught by Border Patrol agents at the border in August, the most recent month for which data is available.

U.S. lawyers representing HHS argued that the ACLU's request for a temporary restraining order allowing an abortion to go forward was wrong on technical grounds, since the original lawsuit argued HHS was violating the First Amendment by allowing religious groups to allegedly refuse access to abortion. In this case, the 17-year-old is not being held in a facility with a religious affiliation, government lawyers said.

It was not immediately known how long the girl would be held at the facility, or whether she would be eventually be transferred.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton went further in a separate filing Tuesday. Paxton, who is a strident opponent of abortion rights like most leaders in the nation's largest conservative state, argued that people in the United States illegally without some type of established ties to the country did not have a "constitutional right to an abortion on demand."

If the court rules in the girl's favor, "the ruling will create a right to abortion for anyone on earth who enters the U.S. illegally," Paxton said in a statement. "And with that right, countless others undoubtedly would follow. Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions."

Paxton was joined in filing the brief by the attorneys general of Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Garza argued the girl's case "really has nothing to do with her immigration status," and that she had complied with the state's abortion laws.

"As far as I'm aware, abortion is legal in this country," Garza said. "Nobody has the right to force her to have a child against her will."

___

Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nomaanmerchant.
Theresa May continues to dominate the front pages as EU negotiations reach a stalemate.

After telling EU leaders the ball is in your court, the prime minister set out her plans for how Britain would quit the EU with no deal.

It was a move designed to heap pressure on the EU to begin trade talks, the Telegraph reports.

Papers on October 10

The paper says Mrs May wants to focus minds and show that Britain is serious about walking away from the negotiating table if the EU isnt more flexible.

Tomorrow's Daily Telegraph front page: May draws up plans for no deal on Brexit #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YY0SamsbFJ  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 9, 2017

It is a theme that is also picked up by the Express, which describes Mrs Mays plans as a stark warning which shows Brussels she means business.

Her plans also involve measures to avoid a border meltdown, reports the Independent.

In a shift away from the prime minister and Brexit, other papers focus on what they deem the struggling NHS.

The Mirror says experts are warning the health service is in danger of collapse by the time it reaches its 70th anniversary next year.

And the Mail reports that unhealthy lifestyles are crippling the NHS, according to the Care Quality Commission.

The Guardian follows a similar health theme, saying that experts estimate the cost of treating obesity-related problems could exceed 1.2 trillion US dollars (920bn) by 2025.

The Guardian front page, Tuesday 10.10.17: Global cost of obesity to hit $1.2tn by 2025 pic.twitter.com/xufcgUujVt  The Guardian (@guardian) October 9, 2017

While the Times reports on a campaign backed by the chief medical officer to put an end to confusing and demeaning job titles such as junior doctor.

Tomorrow's front page: Top medic demands end to junior doctor job title #tomorrowspapertoday pic.twitter.com/sgpyicn9sz  The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) October 9, 2017

Elsewhere, the Sun carries a story about a woman being sacked from her job at a London council after failing to reveal her terrorism conviction. She had been jailed for helping a would-be Tube bomber escape.
Nick Kyrgios caused controversy at the Shanghai Masters for the second year in a row when he retired after the first set of his match against Steve Johnson in an apparent protest at the officiating.

The Australian served a ban from the ATP Tour last year after showing a lack of effort in a second-round match against Mischa Zverev and arguing with the umpire and fans.

Kyrgios could find himself in hot water again if he does not have a legitimate explanation for his decision to retire after losing the first set of his opening-round match 7-5 on a tie-break.

Nick Kyrgios retired after losing the first set to American Stevie Johnson

The 22-year-old, who lost in the final of the China Open to Rafael Nadal on Sunday, looked distracted and grumpy from the start of the match.

He received a warning for smashing two balls angrily out of court in frustration at a line call but held his serve to force a tie-break.

Kyrgios won the first three points but Johnson pulled back to level and umpire Fergus Murphy then gave Kyrgios a point penalty for an audible obscenity.

The 13th seed was heard to say he would quit if he lost the tie-break and, after Johnson served an ace on his first set point, Kyrgios walked over to shake hands.

Murphy asked Kyrgios if he needed medical help but, with boos ringing out, the Australian put his rackets in his bag and walked off court.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is to visit India and Pakistan on a mission to drum up trade links between the capital and the two countries.

He is due to meet not only politicians and business leaders, but also figures in the Bollywood film industry as well as representatives of the sports, tech and education sectors during his six-day visit to six cities towards the end of this year.

His office said Mr Khan would be the first Mayor of London to visit India and Pakistan in a single trip, as well as the first major British politician to carry out a trade mission to both countries in recent times.

Sadiq Khan will visit India and Pakistan

Later this year Ill visit India & Pakistan to strengthen our bonds & share the message that #LondonIsOpen https://t.co/akHhUFWA40  Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) October 10, 2017

Only two cities in the world provide more investment in Pakistan than London, and 44% of the fastest growing Indian companies now have a base in the English capital.

Mr Khan said: As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent.

But what excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners  benefits in terms of business and trade, jobs and investment, and in terms of cultural and technological exchange.

This trade mission will benefit Londoners in terms of jobs, investment, and cultural and technological exchange https://t.co/GW4D9wu892  Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) October 10, 2017

This is a really important mission as there are so many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan, not only in business but in tackling some of the biggest challenges we all face  such as air pollution and climate change.

I am passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world, and I look forward to strengthening the bonds between London and our friends in India and Pakistan later this year.

Accompanied by his deputy mayor for business, Rajesh Agrawal, Mr Khan is due to visit Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar in India, before heading to Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.
Former detainees and a charity have won a challenge against a Government policy change on torture said to have led to asylum seekers fleeing persecution being wrongly detained in UK immigration centres.

Mr Justice Ouseley ruled in their favour on Tuesday after hearing accusations that individuals were locked up during the processing of their asylum claims despite doctors submitting evidence of torture and ill-treatment to the Home Office.

The charity Medical Justice accused the Government of adopting an unreasonably narrow definition of torture in policy changes made last September related to Article 1 of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Uncat).

The ruling was made by a judge at the High Court

"Home Office also needs to drop its proposals on the definition of torture  which further erode safeguards" https://t.co/KkmDJzc7ev  Medical Justice UK (@Medical_Justice) March 3, 2017

Their QC argued at a hearing earlier this year that there was no lawful authorisation for replacing the broader meaning of torture under the Detention Centre Rules 2001 and the change did not comply with the Governments public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010.

They launched the action arguing that the new definition  which has been on hold pending the judges ruling  had led to many detainees, including victims of trafficking, no longer being recognised as victims of torture.

The Home Office had contested the action brought by the charity and seven former detainees.

In his decision given in London, Mr Justice Ouseley said that aspects of the statutory guidance at the centre of the case  Adults At Risk In Immigration Detention (AARSG)  in relation to the definition of torture are unlawful.

Home Office policy accepts that asylum seekers who can show evidence of torture should only be detained in exceptional circumstances because of the risk of them being harmed by detention.

During a hearing in March, Stephanie Harrison QC, appearing for Medical Justice and the individuals, said torture had previously been defined as covering acts committed by any individual or group.

The new definition referred to torture carried out by official state agents only or terrorist groups holding territory.

Two of the individual claimants are women who say they suffered severe ill-treatment at the hands of persons who were not state agents and were subjected to sexual violence, rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Ms Harrison said both had fallen outside the new Uncat definition of torture and were not protected from detention. The new definition also failed to protect others, she said, including individuals who had been seriously ill-treated at the hands of drug traffickers or because of their race, religion, or because they were homosexual or members of an ethnic minority.

She argued that torture did not only occur in police stations or at the hands of state security forces, but also in your own home or in hotels.

Home Office lawyers told the judge in written submissions that it was fundamentally wrong to suggest its adults-at-risk policy excludes victims of torture who fall outside the Uncat definition.

They contended that the statutory guidance showed it includes those who have experienced a traumatic event  of which torture is one example  likely to make them particularly vulnerable to harm if placed in detention.

The judge heard that the Home Office admitted decisions to detain the seven individual claimants were unlawful because of failures to apply the adults-at-risk policies correctly in their cases and the question of compensation was under consideration.

In his ruling, he said the Home Secretarys response to the case put forward by the claimants in the judicial review action was essentially that the statutory guidance and policies have been misunderstood.

At the heart of the case was the claimants contention that the Home Secretary has issued unlawful statutory guidance, and policies, albeit for the lawful purpose of preventing those who are more vulnerable to harm in immigration detention from entering immigration detention, or removing them from it, unless there are sufficiently strong countervailing reasons.

The judge found that the AARSG falls short of meeting the statutory purpose which it is required to meet on the basis that there are some, excluded from the scope of Uncat torture, who do not fall within another indicator but yet are particularly vulnerable to detention.

He said the chief problem with the Uncat definition, with or without the variant inclusion of torture by terrorist groups holding territory, is that it excludes certain individuals whose experiences of the infliction of severe pain and suffering may indeed make them particularly vulnerable to harm in detention.
A clown, a wedding couple and a collie dog are among the finalists in a competition for works of art made out of hay bales.

The shortlist for the Young Farmers Bale Art Competition has been announced, with six now in the running to take the top prize.

More than 50 entries were received with other themes including trains, tractors, Scottish brands and the Queensferry Crossing.

Suzie Dunn, Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC) chairman, said: Well done to the finalist clubs and to all those club members throughout Scotland who took part this year - a fantastic effort producing over 50 entries.

The entry from Thornhill Young Farmers from Dumfries and Galloway district

The finalist clubs are Thornhill Young Farmers from Dumfries and Galloway district, West Renfrewshire Young Farmers from Clyde and Central district, Crossroads Young Farmers from Ayrshire district, Vale of Alford JAC from West Aberdeenshire district, Strathearn JAC from Perthshire district and Bankfoot JAC of Perthshire district.

Among the shortlisted entrants are a number of artworks ranging from a collie dog, a bear and a selection of farm animals to Bill and Ben, a clown and a bride and groom.

SAYFC members were challenged to include the Scotch Lamb PGI logo in their pieces to coincide with a push by Quality Meat Scotland to raise awareness of the brand.

The entry from Bankfoot JAC of Perthshire district (Quality Meat Scotland/PA)

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly is now set to judge the finalists and select a winner.

She said: This is a brilliant initiative by Scotlands young farmers and Quality Meat Scotland and Im really looking forward to seeing the six finalist bale art entries.

Competition organisers have urged people to donate to STV Childrens Appeal through a JustGiving page.
MI5 intelligence on allegations of paedophilia by the late politician Cyril Smith raises a spectre of collusion which could explain why he escaped justice, an inquiry has heard.

A dossier of information on the Liberal MP was held by the security services and has been disclosed to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse for examination.

Laura Hoyano, representing seven alleged victims of Smith, asked in her opening statement to the inquiry: Why was MI5 involved at all?

Cyril Smith

Counsel for eight Core Participants Laura Hoyano gives opening statement on their behalf. #RochdaleCSA pic.twitter.com/mPHJWDFlDZ  InquiryCSA (@InquiryCSA) October 10, 2017

It came as the Crown Prosecution Service criticised some elements of a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to press sexual abuse charges against Smith in 1970.

Despite allegations and police investigations dogging the career of the 29-stone politician, he was never prosecuted.

The inquiry heard during the first day of evidence regarding child abuse in Rochdale, where Smith was a prominent councillor and later an MP, that journalists had been lied to regarding the collapsed 1970 investigation into Smith.

MI5 was told by Sir Thomas Hetherington, then the DPP, in 1979 that his office falsely told the press that they had no record of a police file of evidence against the politician.

Edward Brown QC now delivering opening statement on behalf of the CPS. #RochdaleCSA. pic.twitter.com/8QXMJ94lPN  InquiryCSA (@InquiryCSA) October 10, 2017

In reality, prosecutors had been given a file in 1970 saying the allegations against Smith, made by eight boys associated with the Cambridge House hostel in Rochdale, stand up, but chose not to take him to trial.

Ms Hoyano asked the second day of hearings: Was political pressure brought to bear upon the DPP from politicians and members of the Liberal Party from 1969 to 1970?

She added: Why would Sir Thomas Hetherington decide he should lie to journalists, stating that he had not submitted a prosecution file?

Why would the DPP contact MI5 about this at all? Why was an apparent South African connection suspected?

There is also a reference in the covering letter to another child sexual abuse investigation into Cyril Smith by the Metropolitan Police Service in the mid-1970s. Again, why would MI5 hold that information? Why was MI5 involved at all?

We say this dossier from MI5 raises a spectre of collusion.

In the MI5 documents shown to the hearing on Monday, the security services legal adviser wrote that he suspected Smith was embroiled in a plot orchestrated by South Africa.

He said: There had been a scandal involving a South African diplomat some years ago in one of the newspapers ... in which it had been suggested that the South Africans were trying to obtain compromising information about political figures.

I thought there was an innuendo at the time that Cyril Smith was involved.

The Metropolitan Police had investigated this incident.

The inquiry is holding evidence hearings to examine how Smith was able to carry out his alleged offences at institutions across Rochdale, including Cambridge House hostel and the Knowl View residential school.

We're now hearing from Ann Studd QC, Counsel for Greater Manchester Police. https://t.co/EqbbyRVrJ2 pic.twitter.com/BSesgc6m2D  InquiryCSA (@InquiryCSA) October 10, 2017

The Crown Prosecution Service said it had reviewed three decisions not to prosecute Smith while he was still alive, made in 1970, 1998 and 1999.

An examination of the 1970 decision, made by DPP Sir Norman Skelhorn, took into account the legal landscape of the time, which required any accusation made by a child to be corroborated.

It was alleged by eight boys that during the 1960s Smith had spanked their bare bottoms and carried out intrusive medical examinations despite not being qualified to do so.

Edward Brown, representing the CPS, told the hearing: The CPS can only comment on the position as it was in law, many years before the CPS came into existence.

However, we criticise some elements  some elements  of the legal ratio that lay behind the DPPs decision, although recognising that the true state of the law as it was applied in the criminal courts, even then, was perhaps not straightforward and not closed to debate and legal argument.

He added: Had the DPP in 1970 considered the overall evidential picture carefully, including Smiths arguably unsatisfactory claims of innocent association, and in light of the precise reasoning, as set down by the Court of Appeal, it is perhaps difficult to see how he would have come to any other conclusion but that there was, indeed, corroboration of the complainants account, that is, one supporting the other.

Addressing allegations that the 1970 decision was influenced by political pressures, he said the CPS could not reach any conclusions about what informed the DPP at the time.

Of the later decisions, he said the conclusions of the lawyers cannot, even in hindsight, be described as unreasonable.

The evidence reveals no suggestion that any CPS lawyer considering any allegation of abuse arising out of Cambridge House and/or Knowl View was improperly influenced at all in coming to the judgment he did.
Ride-hailing company Uber believes there is a path forward towards resolving its dispute with Transport for London and receiving permission to continue operating in the capital, an executive has told MPs.

Head of public policy Andrew Byrne said the company accepted it had shown the wrong attitude on a number of issues and was ready to change some practices.

TfL refused to renew the firms licence last month on the grounds of public safety and security implications relating to issues like the reporting of serious criminal offences.

A man uses an Uber App on his mobile phone

Thank you so much to the 700,000 people who signed the petition. Very humbling. #SaveYourUber https://t.co/czAFe9fAd5 pic.twitter.com/AhHuvjCF2P  Uber UK (@UberUK) September 24, 2017

After an initially confrontational response from the company, its chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi offered an apology for mistakes in an open letter.

Mr Khosrowshahi later met TfL for what both sides described as constructive talks and further discussions are expected as an appeal process goes ahead.

Some 3.5 million passengers use the Uber smartphone app to hail rides in London, according to company figures, and more than 850,000 people have signed a petition calling for its licence to be renewed.

Great meetings in London, including w some of the drivers who rely on our app. Determined to make things right in this great city! pic.twitter.com/QLgqon30yT  dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) October 3, 2017

Mr Byrne told the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee: The company accepts that in lots of places it has had the wrong attitude and needs to change.

Asked about the aggressive stance which Uber initially took towards the decision, he told MPs: There was a high strength of feeling from people in the business, but I think we have got to the place where we accept we need to do more to address TfLs concerns.

I think we are very conscious of the fact that 40,000 people do earn money through Uber in London. That fact weighs very heavily on our response.

But hopefully we can see a path forward now with TfL where we can address their concerns and continue to operate.

TfL has informed Uber that it will not be issued with a private hire operator licence pic.twitter.com/sk8d41rjuD  Transport for London (@TfL) September 24, 2017

Mr Byrne said Uber was taking part in a working party with the Metropolitan Police to develop a new policy for dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.

We previously said it is the choice for anyone who wants to make the allegation whether they report it or not, he explained.

The police have said to us that is not good enough, and we are making it a policy to change that.

He said Ubers technology, which allows it to identify drivers and track cars at all times during journeys, enabled the company to be far more helpful in holding people to account with police investigations than a traditional private hire operator or taxi company.

And he said Uber was considering a policy which would block drivers from taking fares for more than 10-12 hours during a 24-hour period, in order to reduce the risk of them operating when too tired to drive safely.

Mr Byrne played down suggestions that self-employed drivers might lose their jobs to driverless cars in the near future, telling the committee: A fleet with lots of human drivers will be the norm for 10 to 20 years, and that will continue to be the case in the UK.
The president of the European Council has all but ruled out a green light for the opening of talks on Britains future trade relationship with the EU at a crunch Brussels summit next week.

Despite Theresa Mays call for the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states to show flexibility at the October 19-20 gathering, Donald Tusk made clear that he does not expect the council to agree until December at the earliest that sufficient progress has been made on the divorce deal to allow trade negotiations to begin.

And he even held out the prospect that agreement may not be reached by the end of the year, something which is likely to concern the Prime Minister following warnings that City companies want clarity by that point if they are not to start moving staff and functions out of the UK.

Mr Tusk also said that Brussels was doing no work to prepare for the possibility of Britain crashing out of the EU without a trade deal.

On Monday, the UK government released policy papers on trade and customs which included an outline of how the issues would be handled if talks in Brussels break down without a deal.

These white papers, which set out plans for the UK to operate a stand-alone customs system from day one if May 29 2019 arrives without agreement, were seen as an effort to put pressure on the remaining EU states to speed up progress.

Our Customs Bill White Paper outlines how we will implement a new customs regime after Brexit https://t.co/nM79i7PTrv pic.twitter.com/nSVED4CRXH  HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) October 9, 2017

But in a speech to the European Committee of the Regions, Mr Tusk said: We hear from London that the UK government is preparing for a no deal scenario.

I would like to say very clearly that the EU is not working on such a scenario. We are negotiating in good faith, and we still hope that the so-called sufficient progress will be possible by December.

However, if it turns out that the talks continue at a slow pace, and that `sufficient progress hasnt been reached, then  together with our UK friends  we will have to think about where we are heading.

London and Brussels remained at loggerheads over which side needs to offer further concessions to break the current deadlock.

The Prime Ministers declaration that the ball was in the EUs court was firmly returned on Monday by European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas, who told reporters: The ball is entirely in the UK court.

David Davis and Michel Barnier during the fifth round of negotiations for our new partnership with the EU pic.twitter.com/iQpNgLHN1J  Department for Exiting the EU (@DExEUgov) October 10, 2017

Asked after a lunch in Brussels with Brexit Secretary David Davis whether the ball was in his court, European chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier replied: Brexit is not a game. Dont forget it.

Mr Davis was in the Belgian capital for the second day of the fifth round of formal talks on Britains EU withdrawal, having missed the opening day on Monday.

Mr Barnier characterised their discussions over lunch as constructive.
Theresa May has directly pressured Donald Trump not to tear up the international nuclear deal with Iran, as it is vitally important for regional security.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister had spoken to the United States president, days ahead of his expected announcement that he will refuse to certify the 2015 deal.

Mr Trump repeatedly denounced the deal  under which Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons programmes in return for the lifting of economic sanctions  during his election campaign.

A Number 10 spokesman said: Prime Minister Theresa May tonight spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the US Presidents upcoming decision on recertifying the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

The PM reaffirmed the UKs strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners, saying it was vitally important for regional security.

The PM stressed that it was important that the deal was carefully monitored and properly enforced.

Mrs May and the president also discussed the need for the UK, US and others to work together to counter destabilising Iranian activity in the region.

The PM and president agreed that their teams should remain in contact ahead of the decision on recertification.

Donald Trump has held talks with Theresa May (Evan Vucci/AP)

Last month Mr Trump called the deal an embarrassment to the United States while attending the United Nations General Assembly.

However, other signatories including the UK, France and Germany are firmly in favour of keeping the agreement intact.

Meanwhile, Mrs May again lobbied Mr Trump over US tariffs on plane manufacturer Bombardier, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Belfast, stressing the importance of the jobs provided by the Bombardier factory to the people and economy of Northern Ireland.

The firm has been hit by a proposed 80% levy on exports following complaints by Boeing that the Canadian-owned company had dumped its C Series jets at absurdly low prices.

The Downing Street spokesman added: The PM also reiterated her condolences to the president in the wake of the terrible shooting in Las Vegas.
By Sophie Hares

TEPIC, Mexico, Oct 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Roughly one in three people in Latin America paid a bribe last year to a public employee, from corrupt police to teachers and hospital workers, said a report released on Monday.

Most people in the region say corruption is on the rise, and those most likely to have paid off officials were residents of Mexico and the Dominican Republic, said the study by Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption group.

Using results of a survey conducted in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, Transparency International estimates more than 90 million people paid a bribe last year in the region.

But due to the threat of violent retaliation, only one in 10 reported it to authorities, it said.

"Bribery represents a means for enrichment of the few, and a significant barrier to accessing key public services, particularly for the most vulnerable in society," said Jose Ugaz, chairman of Transparency International, in a statement.

"Governments must do more to root out corruption at all levels, especially in law enforcement agencies, which should play a key role in fighting impunity," he said.

While people across the board paid bribes, poorer people were hit hardest because graft took a larger share of their incomes, the report said.

In Mexico, 51 percent of people said they had to pay a bribe over the last year, followed by 46 percent in the Dominican Republic and 39 percent in Peru, it found.

About 60 percent of people surveyed said they thought corruption had risen over the last year.

In Brazil, rocked by the "Car Wash" scandal that uncovered billions of dollars in bribes paid to politicians and state-run enterprises for lucrative contracts, more than three-quarters of people thought corruption was increasing.

Majorities in Venezuela, Chile and Peru also said corruption is on the rise, it found.

Police and politicians ranked as the most corrupt officials by nearly half of those surveyed. Three-quarters of Venezuelans said their police are highly corrupt, as did nearly 70 percent of Paraguayans surveyed.

One in five people said they paid bribes to workers in hospitals and schools, the sectors seen as the biggest bribe risks, while payoffs to court officials were highest in Venezuela and Honduras, said the report.

More than half of those surveyed said their governments were doing poorly in the fight against corruption.

To address the issue, developing more government systems online would help by reducing the amount of direct contact people have with officials, the report said.

Also, clearly displaying fees and streamlining processes to keep officials from making discretionary decisions may stop them from demanding bribes, it said.

Protecting whistleblowers and eliminating immunity from prosecution for politicians would help as well, it said. (Reporting by Sophie Hares, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst )
By Charlotte Greenfield and Ana Nicolaci da Costa

WELLINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Some New Zealand forest owners are suspending replanting of trees and re-thinking investments as the country's third-largest export earner finds itself in the sights of maverick politician Winston Peters' protectionist agenda.

The election king-maker last week said he would prioritize a restructure of the forest industry in closely-watched coalition talks with major parties after last month's inconclusive election result.

The plan includes a possible quota system which would force growers to favour local mills over a higher-paying export market. Exports of forest products totalled around NZ$4.75 billion ($3.36 billion) in 2015, with China the top destination.

That has put the Pacific nation's lucrative forestry sector at the heart of concerns that New Zealand First in power will spell greater government intervention in New Zealand's small, outward facing economy.

"Every time the government has done something like that we get what you call a hole in the supply of timber and we're going into a hole now, an undersupply," said Joe Carr, the owner of a privately-held logging business managing 500 hectares of forest in the far north of the country.

Carr is holding off replanting 60 hectares of his land due to the possible restrictions and said on average growers were paid a third less to sell logs locally than to export them. He said his son was re-thinking whether his family should stick to forestry after 44 years in the business.

FREE-MARKETEER

New Zealand's plantation forests, like much of the country's industry, were opened up to private investment in the early 1990s after sweeping economic reforms the previous decade. Peters' comments signal a stark change from New Zealand's role as a global test-bed for free market reforms since the 1980s.

The New Zealand First Party is also pushing for significant curbs on migration, restrictions on foreign ownership of land and favours more central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market.

Peters, a consummate pragmatist, is considered unlikely to insist on his more radical ideas. He has served in governments with both the Labour and National parties in the past without major economic overhaul.

But the 72-year old is also looking to cement his legacy in what is likely to be his last major hold on power after 40 years in politics.

"Definitely, if he negotiates hard on some of these things, we could see a more interventionist approach than we have in the past," said Catherine Beard, head of industry association Business NZ.

MILLION-DOLLAR HIT

The idea is a quota-system would force more logs to be sold and processed locally, adding value to the NZ$270 billion economy.

The industry could process around 20 percent more than the current 8 million cubic metres each year with more reliable supply, said Kevin Hing, deputy director of the New Zealand Timber Industry Federation, which represents sawmillers.

"We recognize that log export is an option for many forest owners, but we don't want that to be at the expense of domestic processing," Hing said.

Forestry owners say big companies already favour local processors and the proposals would have a disproportionate impact on small forest growers.

They worry the prospect of curbed earnings would lead growers to hold off planting, reducing the supply of logs.

"The unintended consequence of that, which I don't think Winston Peters has thought through, is that you actually devalue that asset and you chase investors away," said Peter Clark, CEO of forestry service firm PF Olsen Limited.

He said such quotas would knock hundreds of millions of New Zealand dollars off timber assets. New Zealand's privately-owned forests, mostly pinus radiata that grow much faster than in their native California, are worth NZ$25-NZ$30 billion.

"OPEN FOR BUSINESS"

Peters has also said foreign ownership restrictions would be a large part of this week's negotiations talks.

He called the high concentration of foreign ownership "crazy" in an August speech on his plans for the forestry sector. Just over half of the country's forests are owned by offshore companies, according to the New Zealand Institute of Forestry.

"NZ First, in government, will seriously tighten up the ability of foreigners to buy our land," Peters said August.

All of this is making some overseas investors nervous.

"They're saying if it gets much harder they think that their head office offshore will start looking at New Zealand ... and say: 'Do we, long term, want to continue investing in here or do we slowly start withdrawing?'," said Warwick Searle, the head of agribusiness at investment consultant CBRE.

An official for state-owned China Forestry Group, which owns about 22,000 hectares of New Zealand forest, said overseas ownership was already carefully regulated by the country's authorities and quotas would also make it harder to operate.

"We hope that New Zealand remains open for business," Steve Walker, the firm's local chief operating officer, in an email. ($1 = 1.4146 New Zealand dollars) (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
By Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The oil market is rebalancing but OPEC cannot "afford to letup" on its production cuts in the face of rising non-OPEC supplies next year, trading house Gunvor's CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist told Reuters.

"OPEC in our view cannot afford to let up, because more oil is coming and the question is, 'is the demand increase big enough to absorb that?'" Tornqvist told the Reuters Global Commodities Summit taking place this week.

He said that 2017 is different compared to 2016 in terms of market rebalancing with oil product stocks falling and crude in floating storage clearing up with the current market structure.

"We don't see this market being out of balance one way or another," he said.

But he said that overall crude oil stocks "are still high".

OPEC's secretary general Mohammad Barkindo, who also addressed the Summit this week, said that while oil product stocks have fallen to only around 25 million barrels above the five-year average, crude remained around 145 million barrels in surplus.

Gunvor sees non-OPEC producers the United States, Brazil, Canada and Kazakhstan adding around 1.5 million barrels per day to global production in 2018.

"These four together are quite sizeable and most likely at least at the level of what we could expect demand growth to be," Tornqvist said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other countries led by Russia agreed last year to curb oil production by around 1.8 million barrels per day to eliminate a global surplus in crude and oil products.

The production cut is set to expire at the end of March 2018.

Tornqvist said he expected "OPEC probably will restrain (production) and not over-flood the market again" given their track-record with the cuts so far.

OPEC meets next in Vienna on Nov. 30 to set its policy.

Asked about his Brent oil price projections for the next 12-18 months, Tornqvist said prices could remain "more or less in the upper end of the $50s" if "OPEC keeps some discipline" and demand grows by 1.5 mln bpd.

Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_Summits

(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper, editing by David Evans)
By Amanda Cooper and Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - One of the world's largest oil traders, Gunvor Group, plans to grow via ventures and could acquire stakes in businesses such as shipping or refining with partners, its founder Torbjorn Tornqvist told Reuters.

Such ventures would be an alternative way of accessing capital as opposed to a sale of stakes in the company, in which Tornqvist still owns around 64 percent with the rest belonging to some 200 employees.

"I don't know where I should put my money where it would give a better return, quite frankly. As long as I have that feeling that I know what I'm doing, then I think it's a good investment," Tornqvist told the Reuters Global Commodities Summit.

Tornqvist said Gunvor, which trades 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, has hired Jan Andersen, formerly the head of Glencore's shipping arm ST Shipping, to revamp its Clearlake Shipping arm.

In July, Gunvor joined forces with U.S.-listed shipper TOP Ships for a 50/50 venture for two newly built refined products tankers.

Gunvor has since entered into similar agreements on 10 vessels and is planning to expand further - mainly in refined products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

"There are many ways to skin a cat. There is plenty of cash out there looking for yield and investment of any kind. It doesn't necessarily mean we are offering an investment in our company ... there are many ways I can think about some aspects of our business where you can find partnerships and sometimes we look at investments and we team up with somebody."

TANKED UP

The Baltic Dry Index, a key sea freight index that tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, hit its highest in nearly four years in September, while benchmark supertanker rates have recovered from multi-month lows, along with the oil price, which neared $60 a barrel last month.

"We are in partnership with a few shipowners and managers and we have ordered ships and we are looking at this segment," Tornqvist said. "However it's an investment class full of pitfalls and if we feel this market becomes oversized, we will be very cautious."

Tornqvist also said Gunvor could consider partnerships in oil refining. The trading house has three refineries in Europe but Tornqvist said the partnerships could include other assets.

Gunvor's rivals such as Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura have been exploring the partnership model for a number of years and have sold stakes to strategic partners in their oil storage and refining businesses.

Tornqvist said Gunvor was expected to boost traded volumes in 2017 and further in 2018 as it ramps up operations in the United States after opening the first office in Houston in 2016.

Today, Gunvor has more than 60 employees in North America, including Houston, and an office in Stamford, which is opening this week. It is also opening an office in Calgary, Canada.

U.S. operations would focus on domestic trading, as well as the import and export of crude oil and oil products, including LPG, and natural gas, Tornqvist said. Last year, Gunvor traded 187 million tonnes of commodities on a turnover of $47 billion.

Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_Summits (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Evans and Dale Hudson)
By Joseph Akwiri

MOMBASA, Kenya, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Two staff members of a Kenyan university were killed south of Mombasa on Tuesday when gunmen fired on vehicles carrying them and students to their campus, the area police chief said.

The identity of the gunmen was unclear. Police in the coastal county of Kwale, where the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) has a campus, said they could be robbers or militants.

Security is poor in the area and the convoy had a police escort. Somali Islamist militants al Shabaab frequently carry out attacks along the Kenyan coast and have been recruiting new members there.

In 2015, al Shabaab gunmen killed 148 students at a university in Kenya's Garissa town near the Kenya-Somali border, an attack that provoked shock and outrage in Kenya and abroad.

Two staff members of the university were killed Tuesday's attack, and a driver and two policemen were wounded, area police chief Joseph Chebusit told Reuters.

"A bus carrying students of TUM was ferrying them from their hostels to the campus in Ukunda for classes and was being escorted by a van that had some staff of the college and two escort police officers," the policeman said.

"Armed men numbering about 10 emerged from the bushes and started firing at the van in front. As a result two ladies who are staff of TUM were killed in the van. The driver of the van and two police officers were injured," he said.

"We have information that the attackers had other accomplices along the road who were monitoring the movement of the two vehicles and communicating with them to enable the attack," he added.

"For now we are treating it as a crime like any other as we continue with investigations but that does not mean we are ruling out al Shabaab."

A witness who did not want to be named told Reuters she and several other students had fled their vehicle when gunmen opened fire on them and had seen several students covered in blood.

But Chebusit said no students were injured. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Oct 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** After facing widespread criticism from key players in Canada's cultural industries, Netflix Inc has started a public relations campaign to "set the record straight" about its pledge to spend C$500 million ($400 million) on Canadian productions over the next five years. https://tgam.ca/2y6X3XC

** Ottawa has chosen nine industry consortiums that will qualify to receive C$950 million under the Liberal government's flagship innovation initiative known as its "superclusters" program, The Globe and Mail has learned. https://tgam.ca/2y6tZzn

** Canadian special forces have played a central role in hunting down, detecting and dismantling stockpiles of chemical weapons used by Islamic State militants in Iraq, according to sources with knowledge of the top-secret operations. https://tgam.ca/2y75DWh

** The federal government is warning it will impose tougher rules for companies involved in oil and gas, mining and forestry that are working in the boreal forest unless provinces act to protect endangered caribou. https://tgam.ca/2y70q0I

NATIONAL POST

** The secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, says the military alliance will be there to protect Canada, if called upon, in the event of a nuclear threat from North Korea. http://bit.ly/2y7ke4c

($1 = 1.2507 Canadian dollars) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
By Manuel Mogato

MANILA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Filipino accused by the United States of being an Islamic State supporter involved in a foiled plot to mount gun and bomb attacks in the heart of New York City is a hospital doctor described by colleagues as a "kind and generous guy".

U.S. prosecutors said on Friday they had charged 37-year-old Russell Salic with terrorism offences, alleging he helped fund a plot that included attacks on Manhattan's Times Square and the city's subway. Salic, who is in custody in the Philippines, denies involvement in the plot or links to Islamist extremists.

Philippine authorities say they had been tracking Salic for some time, but gave conflicting accounts of his suspected ties to a local group loyal to Islamic State.

Armed forces chief, General Eduardo Ano, said on Sunday that contacts between the doctor and extremists in the Middle East and Malaysia, mostly via social media, had been monitored, but no links had been found between Salic and the radical Maute group that has been engaged in nearly five months of battles with the military on the southern island of Mindanao.

Military spokesman Restituto Padilla, however, said Salic had treated wounded Maute rebels in clandestine mountain training camps, and was known to them as "doc".

Medical staff at the hospital where Salic worked in Cagayan de Oro City, in Mindanao, were shocked to learn about the U.S. charges against him.

"I knew him when he was here, he was kind, generous, and a regular guy," said one doctor reached by telephone, who declined to be named. "I would never suspect him to be a supporter of a terrorist organisation. He is not that kind of person."

Another colleague said he had no idea that Salic had been in detention, noting that he had disappeared without explanation in April.

"I thought he moved to another hospital after completing his residency," he said.

Salic had, in fact, surrendered to the Philippine authorities in April, when he learned that he was wanted by the United States. He is in the custody of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation.

U.S. authorities have charged him with seven offences, including conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and to support a terrorist organization. The most serious of the charges he faces carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

LINKED TO BEHEADINGS

Since giving himself up, Salic has also been charged by the Philippines with involvement in the kidnapping of six sawmill workers by the Maute group in Mindanao in April 2016.

Two of those captives were beheaded a few days after the abduction. Salic was implicated by one of the freed hostages, according to the Philippine authorities.

Salic's lawyer, Dalonilang Parahiman, on Monday dismissed links between his client and the Maute group and said it was impossible the doctor had been involved in the kidnappings.

"He has proofs, including his daily time record, to show he was at the hospital in Cagayan de Oro, which is about 200 kilometres away," Parahiman said.

The Philippines' Justice Department said the process to extradite Salic to the United States was under way. It did not say whether it would complete the kidnap and murder case against him first.

According to documents unsealed in federal court in Manhattan on Friday, Salic had repeatedly expressed his support for a major attack on New York to an undercover agent, and said he was "desperate" to join Islamic State in Syria.

Salic was in regular contact via text messages with that agent and Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, one of the two men who planned to carry out the attacks, the documents said.

Salic had transferred the equivalent of $423 to fund bomb-making materials for the attack, and indicated his intention to send more later, according to the charges.

Canadian El Bahnasawy, 19, had described Salic, who he knew as "Abu Khalid" and "the doctor", as a trusted supporter of Islamic State, who had provided funding to the group on previous occasions, according to the U.S. charges.

El Bahnasawy was arrested in New Jersey in May 2016 and pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Another alleged conspirator, American Talha Haroon, also 19, was arrested in Pakistan around September 2016.

Salic told the undercover agent he would pray for the success of the attack, describing New York as the capital of non-believers.

"It would be a great pleasure if we can slaughter" people in New York, he was quoted telling the agent. (Additional reporting by Enrico dela Cruz and Martin Petty; Editing by Alex Richardson)
By Andreas Rinke and Paul Carrel

BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Germany may need to wait until next year for a new government as the three blocs trying to form an alliance are so far apart they need a detailed coalition deal, a senior Bavarian ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Reuters.

Alexander Dobrindt, parliamentary floor leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), said a coalition agreement would have to be more detailed than the one that accompanied the Grand Coalition in the last parliament.

Merkel, humbled in last month's national election by a surging far-right, is trying to broker a three-way coalition of her conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens - a combination previously untested at federal level.

The task is further complicated by the fact that Merkel's conservative bloc compromises her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and CSU, whose alliance has been strained by her open-door migrants policy.

The conservative allies removed one obstacle to forming a new coalition on Sunday by agreeing a limit on the number of migrants arriving in Germany. But Dobrindt of the CSU said in an interview with Reuters television that securing a three-way alliance would be hard.

"As we know that the points that separate us outweigh those we have in common, one can have doubts about whether a coalition agreement is possible this year," Dobrindt said.

"It is conceivable that we can't complete in December and that final talks - if there even are any - will only possible next year," he added.

The three-way tie-up - dubbed a "Jamaica" coalition after the black, green and yellow colours of the three party blocs, which match the Caribbean island's flag - is Merkel's only realistic option of forming a government.

The centre-left Social Democrats, her previous partners in a the Grand Coalition, insist they want to go into opposition.

A Jamaica coalition was formed in the tiny western state of Saarland in October 2009, but collapsed in January 2012. The same formation took power in the far northern region of Schleswig-Holstein after elections there in May this year.

BIG DIFFERENCES

At a national level, the three party groups have deep differences on issues ranging from migration to European Union reform, tax and the environment. Dobrindt said this meant they would have to nail down a detailed agreement.

"We need, in a possible Jamaica coalition agreement, a significantly higher level of detail than was the case with the grand coalition," he said. "The differences between the parties are big, so the agreements need to go deeper."

In their compromise struck on Sunday, the CDU and CSU agreed to limit to 200,000 the number of people Germany would accept per year on humanitarian grounds.

The FDP and Greens insist the conservatives' agreement cannot simply be copied into a coalition deal.

But Dobrindt, whose CSU is worried about losing its regional dominance in a Bavarian state election next year, said the allies' accord must be reflected in a coalition deal.

"The regulations we have made in our joint paper - 'Rules on Migration' - are of course an essential part of the negotiations and must also be found in a coalition agreement," he said.

The intransigence of the CSU, the Greens and the FDP on the migrants issue points to difficult coalition talks that risk clouding the political outlook in Germany, which has been a source of stability in Europe during Merkel's 12 years in power.

"We want Europe to concentrate more on the big tasks and less on the small tasks," Dobrindt said. "That means we must talk about bringing back responsibilities from Brussels to Germany - and the details of that will no doubt be difficult."

(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Andreas Rinke)
BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The European Union must make a better offer on opening its markets to beef and ethanol imports to seal a free-trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, a Uruguayan official said on Tuesday.

The Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and the EU are entering the decisive phase of negotiations as they aim to agree the main points of a deal by year-end.

Europe has offered to allow 70,000 tonnes of beef and 600,000 tonnes of ethanol to enter the EU with reduced import duties, which Brazilian and Argentinian negotiators described as "disappointing".

Mercosur has proposed ways of pushing forward negotiations on opening markets, but the EU has rejected them, according to a Uruguayan official who said a deal was still possible by December if the EU position shifted.

"It is a very frustrating situation but the ball is now clearly on the EU side," the official said. "We cannot leave certain things for the end."

The language echoed that of British Prime Minister Theresa May who said on Monday it was up to the EU to make new proposals to move Brexit talks forward to address future trade relations with Europe once Britain has left the bloc.

The European Commission, which negotiates on behalf of all EU countries, has to balance the interests of members pushing for a trade deal and those such as France and Ireland which are concerned about a glut of agricultural imports from Mercosur.

The next negotiating round is planned for Nov. 6-10, with another possibly at the start of December.

Commission officials acknowledged that Mercosur counterparts had not been "thrilled" by the EU offer.

"It's understandable that your counterpart is not always enthusiastic. We always want more," one said.

Both sides recognise the end of the year as more than just a symbolic deadline, with elections due in Brazil in October 2018 that would probably stall any negotiations. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Former Massey Energy Co Chief Executive Officer Donald Blankenship's bid to overturn his conviction stemming from a 2010 West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 coal miners ended on Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

Blankenship was released from prison in May after serving a one-year sentence for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards. Last January, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia upheld his conviction.

Blankenship then asked the Supreme Court to review his case, saying the trial judge improperly instructed jurors about the meaning of "willfully" violating mine safety regulations.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The cost of building homes in Germany hit a nine-year high in August, data showed on Tuesday, with industry associations blaming capacity bottlenecks and new regulations.

Housing construction costs in Europe's largest economy rose by 3.1 percent in August compared with the same period a year earlier, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. That was their sharpest rise since August 2008.

Germany's economy is expected to grow by around 2 percent this year, helped by construction as the government raises spending on infrastructure and refugees.

Heiko Stiepelmann, deputy head of Germany's HDB construction industry group, said the higher costs were the result of supply and demand.

"The prices reflect shortages given the strength of the construction sector," he added.

The construction industry is expanding again after years of sluggish growth and the number of construction workers is expected to exceed 800,000 next year for the first time since 2003.

Axel Gedaschko, president of the GdW housing and real estate association, said the number of building regulations had more than quadrupled to 20,000 since 1990.

Stiepelmann said: "Whether it's noise, fire protection or energy saving and accessibility regulation, it's all driving the costs."

The construction industry is therefore urging the government not to step up regulations such as on energy-saving while the housing industry is calling upon the new government to support the construction of buildings made with prefabricated parts.

The cost of constructing commercial buildings also increased by 3.3 percent. The construction sector saw revenues rise by 8 percent in July compared with the same period a year earlier. (Reporting By Rene Wagner; writing By Riham Alkousaa; editing by Michelle Martin and Peter Graff)
By Aleksandar Vasovic

BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged gas, investment and support for the Balkans on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to expand influence in a region frustrated by the slow pace of EU accession.

His two-day trip to Serbia - a mainly Orthodox Christian country at fierce odds with Turkey during Yugoslavia's bloody collapse - could help grow Turkey's role in a region that spent centuries under Ottoman rule and remains susceptible to big-power rivalries.

Turkish influence is already strong among fellow Muslims in Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo. Serbia is Russia's closest ally in the Balkans.

"Together with Serbia and with the entire Balkans, we want to make steps to resolve all the problems," Erdogan told reporters in Belgrade, saying Ankara planned to build a road between Serbia and Bosnia.

Erdogan and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, signed a political declaration to create a cooperation body that would meet annually to coordinate joint projects.

Erdogan expressed confidence that Russia would not object to a Turkish plan to transfer natural gas from its TurkStream project to Serbia.

"We do not want any division of the Balkans or that someone might see those countries as their sphere of influence. We oppose all those who want that," Erdogan told a business forum.

The visit, and Erdogan's thanks to Vucic for his support during a failed coup in 2016, will not go unnoticed in the European Union, where some diplomats are concerned about deepening authoritarianism among some Balkan leaders in the absence of tangible progress towards EU accession.

Serbia has to balance its ambition of joining the EU with an affinity felt by many Serbs for fellow Orthodox Russia. It also badly needs investment to grow an economy still in transition from communism and recovering from the demise of Yugoslavia.

"(Turkish) relations with the EU are not that great at the moment; the Balkans is the closest they (Turks) can get to Europe," Mahmud Busatlija, a foreign investment consultant in Belgrade, told Reuters of Erdogan's first to Serbia since 2010 when he was prime minister.

"This visit is meant to build up political ties between the two countries. Whether that political cooperation will result in investment depends to a great extent on Serbia and what it can offer to Turkish companies."

Some 70 Turkish companies do business in Serbia and trade exchanges are expected to reach $1 billion this year. Erdogan said they should target $5 billion and signed deals with Vucic to expand a free trade agreement to include sunflower oil and beef.

Erdogan was due to visit an Ottoman-era fortress in Belgrade later on Tuesday before travelling south on Wednesday to Novi Pazar, centre of the Muslim-majority region of Sandzak that has witnessed large-scale emigration to Turkey since the wars of the 1990s. (Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Matt Robinson and Robin Pomeroy)
CAIRO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - An Egyptian activist who is under criminal investigation for his human rights work and is banned from travelling abroad has won an international rights award, organisers said on Tuesday.

Mohamed Zaree, 37, the Egypt office director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, won the Martin Ennals Award, a prize given each year by a jury of 10 global rights groups.

He was unable to travel to Geneva to pick up the award at a ceremony on Tuesday as he has been banned from travel since May 2016 and faces charges that could carry a life in prison sentence for "receiving funds from foreign entities to harm national security".

"Mohamed Zaree is a devoted human rights activist and legal scholar whose work focuses on human rights advocacy around freedom of expression and association," the awards jury said.

"Within the context of the renewed crackdown on Egyptian human rights organisations, he has become a leading figure in Egypts human rights movement."

Egyptian rights activists accuse President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of erasing freedoms won in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended Hosni Mubaraks 30-year rule.

Last year authorities reopened an investigation into non-governmental organisations that document abuses, which the government accuses of receiving foreign funding to spread chaos.

Government pressure forced the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies to relocate its headquarters to Tunisia in 2014.

The runners-up for the Martin Ennals Award were Karla Avelar, who founded El Salvador's first organisation of transgender women, and FreeThe5KH, five Cambodian human rights activists who were recently released. The award's first recipient in 1994 was Chinese dissident Harry Wu. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
RIYADH, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to award a construction contract for its first nuclear reactors by the end of 2018, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

"With sponsorship from the highest levels in the state, the contract will be signed by the end of 2018," Maher al Odan, the chief atomic energy officer of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, told a news conference in the capital Riyadh. (Reporting By Reem Shamseddine; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Jo Griffin

LONDON, Oct 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A London council voted on Tuesday to seek an order creating a buffer zone around an abortion clinic to prevent pro-life campaigners from harassing and intimidating patient in the first case of its kind in Britain.

Ealing council voted to pursue a public spaces protection order (PSPO), which bars pre-defined activities in a geographical area and is usually used to stop anti-social behaviour like drug taking.

Of the 69 counsellors who were present at the council meeting, all voted in favour of the motion bar two who abstained. The motion will now be put to a public consultation.

Binda Rai, an opposition Labour counsellor who had proposed the motion, said it was time to tackle this head-on before a debate in which counsellor after counsellor highlighted the negative impact of anti-abortion protests on the community.

"This issue is a blight on our borough and has been around for far too long," said Rai.

Developments in Ealing will be watched closely by other councils amid an increase in the volume and ferocity of anti-abortion protests around Britain, campaigners said.

"The increase (in protests) smacks of desperation as many more people in the UK now support the right to abortion," said Clare Murphy, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

The vote in Ealing follows a petition from pro-choice group Sister Supporter, which regularly clashes with protesters outside a Marie Stopes clinic in the leafy west London suburb.

Clad in hi-vis pink jackets, Sister Supporter forms a picket line to stop campaigners from the anti-abortion Good Counsel Network approaching women on their way into the clinic and brandishing graphic images of aborted foetuses.

PUSH FOR NATIONAL LAWS

Sister Supporter say that video of women entering the clinic are streamed on Facebook Live. Residents have also complained about the disruption.

John Hansen-Brevetti, director of clinical services at the Ealing centre, said the harassment of patients had intensified in recent years.

"Our priority is the safety of our patients and something had to be done as the harassment had crossed a line into endangering women who use the clinic," he said.

Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1968 for pregnancies up to 24 weeks. The British law does not apply to Northern Ireland, which retains many restrictions on abortion.

Rupa Huq, the local member of parliament for the opposition Labour party, is pushing for national laws to establish buffer zones around abortion clinics to prevent protests.

"This motion ... is a groundbreaking, pioneering move to bring family planning clinics and the protests outside under the remit of a PSPO to stamp this nuisance out and keep the pavement as a safe space," Huq told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Good Counsel Network, a Christian organisation, hold vigils at the Ealing clinic six days a week to offer advice to women patients who may be seeking an abortion, said Claire McCullough, the group's London spokeswoman.

The network holds vigils at two other Marie Stopes clinics.

The Canadian province of Ontario is preparing legislation that will ban protests outside abortion clinics, the UK's Independent online newspaper reported last week.

The law would create "safe access zones" around clinics, pharmacies that sell termination pills and the homes of people who work there. (Reporting by Jo Griffin, Editing by Ros Russell and Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Oct 11 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping of China will oversee the country's most significant political meeting in five years when he opens the 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing on Oct. 18 and attempts to tighten his grip on power.

Shrouded in secrecy, the five-yearly gatherings have marked key events in the party's tumultuous 68-year reign over China and remain a source of intrigue today.

Here are some congresses that have shaped modern China:

- The party held its first Congress in 1921 at secret meetings in and around Shanghai. The conclave formally established the aims and charter of the fledgling Communist Party, which included a young Mao Zedong.

- The seventh Congress convened at the tail end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1945, at the Communists' stronghold in Yanan, a dusty village in the northern province of Shaanxi. Mao emerged as supreme leader and his "thought" was enshrined as the cornerstone of Party ideology.

- In 1969, the ninth Congress met at the peak of the Cultural Revolution, a decade of chaos and near-civil war unleashed by Mao in 1966 to shore up his power base. Mao named army Marshal Lin Biao as his successor and more than 80 percent of the party's Central Committee were fired. Two years later, Lin died in a mysterious plane crash in Mongolia after being suspected of plotting Mao's assassination.

- At the 12th Congress in 1982, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping proposed "socialism with Chinese characteristics", hastening China's economic reform path away from stodgy centralised planning to freewheeling capitalism.

- At the 16th Congress in 2002, the party formally allowed private entrepreneurs to become party members, capitalism having previously been officially frowned upon despite the market reforms begun in the late 1970s.

- Despite not being members of the wider 25-person Politburo at the time, Xi and Li Keqiang were promoted straight into the then nine-man elite Politburo Standing Committee at the 17th Congress in 2007, marking them out as rising political stars among the so-called fifth generation of leaders.

- Xi's two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, had their theories inserted into the party constitution at the congresses of 2007 and 2002, respectively, but without having their names directly mentioned, unlike Mao and Deng.

Sources: Chinese state media, Reuters (Writing by Ben Blanchard and Philip Wen)
Dr. Nalinda Munasinghe  Lecturer in Surgery University of Kelaniya, Professor Kemal I Deen - Consultant Surgeon, Professor Ranil Fernando  Head Department of Surgery University of Kelaniya, Professor Nilanthi De Silva - Dean/Faculty of Medicine - University of Kelaniya, Mr. P G Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Chairman Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel, Dr. Sunil De Alwis  Deputy Director General of Health Services, Eng. Sanath Panawennage  Director General ACCIMT, Member - Board of Governors and Jean Fernandez  Senior General Manager Customer Care Mobitel at the launch of the two interactive mobile apps for stoma care and breast cancer care.

The National Mobile Service Provider Mobitel, in collaboration with the University of Kelaniya and Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, is launching two interactive mobile apps for stoma care and breast cancer care. As the first phase, it will be these two cancer types with plans to expand further into different cancers according to the need. The necessary medical input, including the content and its accuracy, validity and terminology will be provided and supervised by the Department of Surgery, University of Kelaniya and the Information Technology Centre (ITC), University of Kelaniya. The content of the apps will be available in Sinhala, English and Tamil languages for the convenience of patients. These apps enhance knowledge and peace of mind for patients who will be able to reach out to medical practitioners and nurses through this app while taking advantage of the medical information contained in it.

These apps have been developed as a platform for communication between consultants, respective care nurses and their patients, both on an individual and country-wide basis. Also, this will serve as a platform for patient education and training in stoma care and breast cancer care, serve as a billboard for notification of meetings and events and educate the public about prevention of such cancers by screening. Furthermore, data obtained from such an app would provide opportunities for research in medicine and healthcare.

Nalin Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel commented, We are proud to partner with the University of Kelaniya and Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies in designing and developing these timely and much-needed apps for cancer care. We believe these apps will raise awareness while simultaneously helping patients to access the right information from medically qualified sources. It gives us immense satisfaction to innovate on mobile technology to empower the countrys healthcare industry.

Professor Kemal Deen, Consultant Surgeon, commented, Large bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer as per the National Cancer Registry in Sri Lanka while breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women in Sri Lanka. Screening by colonoscopy for large bowel cancer by age 45 years allows for identification and removal of the pre-cancerous polyp, thus totally preventing its occurrence in men and women. Likewise, breast cancer may be detected at an early stage allowing for curative care by timely screening using a combination of self-examination and radiological screening. Through these apps it will be possible to educate patients and the general public about cancer, facilitate communication between patients and care-givers and pioneer a new trend in the countrys healthcare system. This service will fill a much needed void and we are pleased to respond to the need for heightening knowledge and awareness of symptoms, and care for stomas in patients with large bowel cancer and breast cancer amongst the general public.

Professor of Surgery Faculty of Medicine University of Kelaniya Ranil Fernando stated, These applications, available through the common communication devices, will help patients to communicate with medical teams (Consultants/Surgeons), Stoma Care Nurses, Breast Cancer Nurses, both at an individual level and a country-wide basis. This is a long felt need in the country and wish to congratulate the teams from Kelaniya University, Mobitel and Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies for their innovative thinking enterprise and commitment. I am confident that this project will be a success and it would be invaluable both to patients and the medical fraternity.

Both applications will soon be available in Google Playstore for download without any restrictions. General users will have access to all pages, including all medical information, treatment locations and blogs. Access to both apps will be available to users irrespective of their mobile network.

Mobitel, as a committed member in GSMA Connected women initiative is carrying out various projects to support and drive the acceleration of digital and financial inclusion for women in Sri Lanka. As the way forward to the Connected Women product portfolio, Mobitel introduces this interactive mobile application platform for Cancer Care in Sri Lanka, in particular for Breast Cancer and Large Bowel Cancer.
Parliamentarians Namal Rajapaksa, D.V. Chanaka, Prassanna Ranaweera and three others who were arrested this evening were remanded till October 16, police said.

They were arrested this evening by the Hambantota Police in connection with the recent protest in Hambantota, Police said.

They were summoned by the Hambantota Police to record a statement in connection with the incident this afternoon.

Western Provincial Councillor Upali Kodikara, Southern Provincial Councillors Sampath Athukorala and Major (Rtd.) Ajith Prasanna were among those arrested.

The protest was held last Friday against the leasing out of Mattala International Airport to India.
NCE which is the only private sector Chamber which exclusively serves Sri Lankan exporters, and represents them with relevant state authorities has formulated and presented budget proposals related to export sector well in advanced to enable the Ministry of Finance to consider and include them in the national budget.



The Chamber has conducted a brainstorming session with sectoral heads of the relevant products and services sectors to discuss their considered views and suggestions to formulate meaningful proposals to facilitate the affects of the government to accelerate exports and achieved national economic development targets. Technical officers from the finance ministry as well as the head of director research of the well known Verite research had participate on invitation in the professional panel related to the brainstorming session assisted by NCE President Ramal Jasinghe, Immediate Past President Sarada M. De Silva and Secretary General Mr.Shiham Marikar. Following the brainstorming session chamber has also collected additional information from member exporters and collated the information to justify the benefits of the proposals. The Chamber is planning to conduct a budget proposal analysis forum after the budget read in parliament on November 2018.



The Chamber notes that some of the proposals submitted by the Chamber during the preceding years including the proposals to establish an EXIM bank, strengthening of the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation, Venture Capital Financing, Assistance for Innovation, and the creation of a Cinnamon Training Academy encompassing the whole value chain of Cinnamon, had been accepted, although such proposals are yet to see light of day. Therefore the Chamber trusts that its proposals will be included in the National Budget and the more importantly implemented to derive the beneficial results.

Among the important new proposals made by the Chamber are the following in outlines: The importance of Branding Sri Lanka in the International Market Place; Reduction of cost of working capital for the industrial sector by providing a suitable rebate to banks in respect of interest charged; Tax relief provided to companies to encourage listing in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE); Measures to encourage and facilitate to set up solar power units wherever possible to support power generation, without depending on fossil fuels especially during drought periods; Streamlining implementation of compliances and regulatory clauses by segregating Exports from Imports; Measures to overcome Constraints for the development and expansion of the Sri Lankan Spice Industry specially Ceylon Cinnamon in which Sri Lanka has a Monopoly; Necessity to provide a package of assistance to develop and promote Value Added High-Tech Products; Measure to overcome complications arising due to requiring custom clearance entries prior to each and every sale related to local sales in the Garment Sector, and others, in addition to exports; To make available a proper international cheap payment gateway system. Preferably with PayPal; Lack of technically qualified and nationally recognized cinnamon industry work force, and use of machinery to improve process technology for value addition; Encourage more local industries to use local raw materials and especially local waste; Reduction of cost of working capital for the industrial sector by providing a suitable rebate to banks in respect of interest charged; Request to establish a Skills Development Fund to support specific in house activities implemented by export enterprises and; Constraints for the Development and expansion of the Sri Lankan Spice Industry specially Ceylon Cinnamon in which Sri Lanka has a Monopoly.
The National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the World Bank will convene a two-day workshop from 11 -12 October at the Galle Face Hotel.



The workshop will help to prioritise the reforms required to implement the World Trade Organisations Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). It will also focus on coordinating implementation of the TFA.



Operationalising the TFA will have a positive impact on the private sector. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are likely to benefit the most as the TFA would ease access to international markets and increase ease of cross border trade. Economic growth and more job opportunities are expected as a direct result of the increase in international trade.



This workshop follows a mandate by the NTFC Secretariat to develop a detailed action plan for the implementation of Sri Lankas Category B and C commitments under the TFA. Technical assistance is provided by the ITC and the World Bank.



Technical assistance for this project by ITC is carried out under the EU  Sri Lanka trade-related assistance: Increasing SMEs trade competitiveness in regional and EU markets, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Trade Centre.



The workshop will be inaugurated by the EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Tung-Lai Margue, the ITC, the World Bank, members of the NTFC and other Trade Facilitation Stakeholders.



Commenting on the EUs commitment to increasing Sri Lankas trade competitiveness, Tung-Lai Margue stated: Operationalisation of the TFA will simplify international import and export procedures. It will increase possibilities for SMEs to participate in global value chains and optimise Sri Lankas chances of increasing rapidly export revenue through international trade.



The World Bank stated: By improving access to enabling infrastructure and cutting costly and cumbersome procedures, Sri Lankan enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises, will be able to reach the international markets faster and at a lower cost. The workshop will help identify specific procedures and systems and areas of infrastructure support which will make this possible.



The TFA implementation plan requires that members of the NTFC and other Trade Facilitation stakeholders in Sri Lanka agree on the reforms to be prioritised. It is also important that operational mechanisms are adopted to ensure effective coordination between border agencies working simultaneously on the common aspects of the TFA.
From left - Avi De Silva, Head of Tea Division, Unilever Sri Lanka; Carl Cruz, Chairman, Unilever Sri Lanka; Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive, Dialog Axiata PLC and Charitha Ratwatte, Head - Group Sustainability, Dialog Axiata PLC

Govi Mithuru Service to Support Information Outreach Efforts

Unilever Sri Lanka initiated a partnership with the Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholders and Dialog Axiata PLC to support the over 400,000 smallholder tea farmers in Sri Lanka. This comes at a time when the nation is celebrating 150 years of Ceylon Tea.

Often following a multi crop model on average land holdings of less than an acre, smallholder farmers account for over 70% of the tea leaves grown in the country. Unilever, the Federation and Dialog will be working together with the Government and other stakeholders on collating and sharing learnings and best practices as well as expert advice with these farmers.

Unilever and the Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholders also aim to set up model farms in the different tea growing regions of the island later this year. They will be developed in partnership with farmers who have embraced the best practices outlined in the programme. Run under the guidance of a prominent local university for an initial period of 2 years, farmers from neighboring areas will be invited to study and learn from these farms.

The collaborative programme aims to leverage Dialogs Govi Mithuru (Ulavar Thozhan in Tamil) service, which currently offers highly contextualised agricultural advice at each stage of the farming cycle for 16 economically significant crops including tea, to disseminate this information.

The average monthly tea yield in Sri Lanka is 350kg. However, we have identified cases where farmers have been able to get a yields of up to 800kg through an organised, scientific approach. But these methods are not widely adopted because most farmers opt to use localized, traditional practices due to a lack of access to information. This is holding back individual farmers and the progress of an entire industry. We are excited to partner with Unilever Sri Lanka and Dialog Axiata PLC on taking this information to all tea growers around the island. We look forward to helping our members successfully increase their yields in a sustainable manner through this initiative, said Neville Ratnayake, Chairman- Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholders.

The collaborative initiative aims help farmers reduce their input costs and increasing their monthly yields through better planning and effective adoption of crop diversification, thereby raising their disposable income. There are plans to expand the service to Dialogs Nenasa TV platform and online platforms as well, going forward.

Commenting on the partnership Carl Cruz, Chairman - Unilever Sri Lanka said, At Unilever, we share a special bond with Ceylon Tea and take great pride in the Sri Lankan roots of our iconic tea brand Lipton which continues to celebrate Sir Thomas Liptons legacy. Hence, we are delighted to partner with the Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholders and Dialog Axiata on this knowledge sharing initiative in support of smallholder farmers who are the backbone of the nations tea industry. Working together with the Federation we intend to help them adopt sustainable practices to increase their yields and secure their livelihood. Going beyond uplifting the standard of living of individual farmers, we firmly believe that this initiative will have a significant impact on the nation's tea industry as a whole.

Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive Dialog Axiata PLC, said, As Sri Lankas premier connectivity provider we seek to leverage technology to empower our fellow Sri Lankans. We are delighted to partner with the Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholders and Unilever Sri Lanka on this initiative that seeks to transform the lives of smallholder tea farmers around the island. We look forward to seeing the learnings and best practices being transferred through our Govi Mithuru platform developed in close partnership with the Department of Agriculture of Sri Lanka. The service is currently being used by over 330,000 farmers involved in paddy, maize, papaya, eggplant, carrot, and mukunuwenna to name just a few of the 16 crops on offer today, with more on the way.
RIS Director General Professor Sachin Chathurvedi says trade and investment should be linked

Delhi: A visiting delegation of senior Sri Lankan journalists on an extensive familiarisation tour recently took part in a stimulating discussion focusing on the rationale behind Indias development cooperation with South Asian countries, with officials of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

The New Delhibased autonomous policy research institute specialises in issues related to international economic development, trade, investment and technology.

Conceived in 1979 as a think tank for Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries, today RIS is envisioned as a forum for fostering effective policy dialogue and capacity-building among developing countries on global and regional economic issues.

Our economies are crucially dependent on development of ports

Afghanistan should be connected with Ho Chi Min city in Vietnam. Afghanistan connects with Central Asia.

Statistics clearly indicate the fact that both countries have benefited from the Indo-SL FTA

The discussion with the group of seventeen journalists from print and broadcast media focused on Indias approach to South-South cooperation, which is distinct from traditional North-South cooperation, where emphasis is placed on mutual gain and commitment by the countries involved, freedom from imposed conditions, and policy coherence.

RIS is engaged across inter-governmental processes of several regional economic cooperation initiatives. RIS Director General Professor Sachin Chathurvedi said through its intensive network of think tanks, RIS sought to strengthen policy coherence on international economic issues and the development partnership canvas.

Economists from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh came together in defining what the economic contour of South Asias rationale approach would be for creation of this entity, Prof. Chathurvedi said, elaborating on the history of RIS, especially noting the contributions of the late Dr. Saman Kelegama in this regard.

According to Prof. Chathurvedi RIS is studying present challenges in the region along with the optimal focal areas of cooperation.

These include analysing how oceans were being utilised as development cooperation was transcending borders.

Many of our economies are crucially dependent on development of ports and development of the ideas around them, Prof. Chathurvedi noted.

When RIS was established we realised trade and investment cannot be studied separately because it was also the time that the world economy saw a surge in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). We found that trade and investment would have to be linked together in the process. By early eighties we found that technology plays a far greater and more important role in driving the way trade and investment should go.

Trade, investment and technology alone are not sufficient to explain comparative advantage of countries and their international engagement. It is also very important for us to engage in finance as financial market drives trade, investment, technology to a great extent, he explained.

RIS officials divulged that during a World Trade Organisation meeting in Nairobi last year, the biggest challenge that the Director General of WTO identified was in the area of financing: countries are not able to finance imports.

Prof. Chathurvedi believes that these are particularly countries which were crucially dependent on commodities. Surprisingly 38 countries in the world are crucially dependent on one commodity while another 52 countries are crucially dependent on 3 to 4 commodities for their exports.

If this huge spectrum of countries is dependent on commodity exports and commodity prices are crumbling down, you can imagine how difficult it is for such countries to see that their imports are taken care of and financed. Globally instead of trade financing going up, trade financing has come down by more than 38% in just 10 years rendering countries vulnerable to imports, he said.

He elaborated on the conditionalities imposed when imports are negotiated among countries.

Suppliers of the products are themselves determining what sort of conditionality and what sort of price you will have to pay for imports that countries end up with.

There are several countries which are ready to supply goods and are also ready to finance those imports. We are researching into such import-linked vulnerabilities which have multiplied over the years.

According to experts at RIS, the vulnerabilities dont stop at imports alone, it is linked to technology.

There are entities which must decide on what kind of technology countries should import, along with the goods. The kind of financial autonomy or market you enter in, when you import is also a point of concern, the experts clarified.

The pillars of study at RIS are also dedicated to bilateral free trade agreements, connectivity and trade facilitation.

During a World Trade Organization meeting in Nairobi last year, the biggest challenge that the Director General of WTO identified was in the area of financing: countries are not able to finance imports.

Our idea is that Afghanistan should be connected with Ho Chi Min city in Vietnam. Afghanistan connects with Central Asia. Connecting these regions will be in terms of motor vehicle agreements, customs coherence, fast clearance of goods and services, compatibility of trade linkages between countries, easy tracking facilities, he said.

Speaking of future engagements, Professor Chathurvedi underscored the need for promoting and adopting regulations among countries.

We are in an era, where technology is appearing as a real opportunity and also as a real threat to our existing products. There are countries which do not believe in regulation of technology. If you do not regulate technology it may end with a number of challenges.

The RIS initiated the policy stating that South Asian countries must adopt a regulatory approach amongst themselves. Sri Lanka was the first country which in 2007 issued a circular to ban the import of genetically modified products. However Sri Lanka was pressurised and in 2007 itself Sri Lanka had to withdraw the order. Yet it is absolutely important to have regulatory structures in place and have a wider consensus on technology regulation in a country. It is not being opposed to technology but more about being in favour of responsible research and innovation. This is one area where South Asian Countries can easily cooperate, he stressed.

Noting of development where Sri Lanka is concerned Prof. Chathurvedi briefed on their recent collaborations with the island nation.

We had taken our views to Sri Lanka and we had a very stimulating conference in Colombo and then with your agriculture experts in Kandy. The former president had given a sizable grant to establish a nano-technology centre close to Colombo. We are aware that Sri Lanka too is trying to cope up with new technological changes and challenges that are coming in. For smaller countries its a considerable challenge, he added.

Under the Indian Governments Technical Economic Cooperation Programme, Prof. Chathurvedi said India now was laying much emphasis on port development.

There are 12 ports being developed under the Sagar Mala Project, which is a strategic and customer-oriented initiative of the Government of India to modernise Indias Ports. Its aim is to augment port-led development and coastlines.

It would be giving a major initiative on how port development would affect our partnership with Sri Lanka as most of our imports first land in Sri Lanka before reaching India. Ports are also coming up in Sri Lanka and therefore what would happen to our relationship with Singapore is also a question in the line, he said.

Prof. Chathurvedi also believes that Sri Lanka can play an extremely important role in terms of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. Negating several reports he said, Media was quick to jump to conclusions that this was Indias response to One Belt, One Road, and then India, China comparisons were drawn. But during our discussions we identified that Sri Lanka can play an extremely important role in the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. As of now India is committed to spending around USD 10 billion within the next five years with Africa under the lines of credit programmes by the Indian government. Japan has committed USD 30 billion for the next three years.

Capacity building, education and skill development continue to be extremely important in development cooperation. Sri Lankas specialisation in apparel export was complimented in the discussion whilst the need to identify additional skills required by Sri Lanka for enhancing product quality, was also noted.

Sri Lanka is involved in research and development and also involved in branding, the two ends which are completely missing from the Value chain of developing countries, he said.

Responding to a question from journalists on the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), Prof. Chathurvedi said according to statistics from the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka and the IMF, before any trade agreements took place, Indias exports were 13 times higher than Sri Lankas exports to India.

This has gone down drastically and now it has come down five times the value, in 2016. In 2013 total trade was USD seven billion which started with USD 653 million in 2000. In recent times however it had come down. Over the last three years the imports and exports of Sri Lanka have constantly declined.

All statistics clearly indicated the fact that both countries have benefited from the Indo-SL Free Trade Agreement, Prof. Chathurvedi said.

It is important for us to see that the countries which are getting into trade of goods and services also leverage development potential through grants, development cooperation and through lines of credit. So, all encompassing, we should see a development compact, and that is across the modalities of engagement.

Therefore ETCA signifies a great advancement over FTA. It is a role model for countries to engage in, especially when small and larger economies are exchanging among themselves or are getting engaged, he added

On a final note, Prof. Chathurvedi said an important aspect of development cooperation is to ensure that countries are not indebted.

They should not be borrowing and then losing out control of their own assets. Cooperation should evolve in such a way that they are ensuring their sustenance while also ensuring the ability to have technology, to meet their development goals through concerted efforts Prof. Chathurvedi said.
The joint opposition said today it would inform the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) next week about funds amounting to Rs.792 billion remaining unused from the 2016 Budgetary allocations.

JO MP Bandula Gunawardena said Rs.3,898 billion was allocated through the 2016 Appropriation Bill, but only Rs.3106 billion had been spent during that year.

A staggering Rs.792 billion has been left untouched. This is 20 per cent of the total amount allocated for 2016. When such a huge amount is left untouched, it means the amount of funds available for circulation will be drastically reduced. This leads to a striking disparity in the income of the people with little or no money to spend on essentials, he told a news briefing.

The MP said the government could have built 30 more airports like Mattala or 80 more towers like the Lotus Tower with the unused funds if put to proper use.

The MP who is a member of the Committee on Public Finance, said the unused funds were revealed in a report he had requested from the Auditor Generals Department on the 2016 Budget expenditure.

None of the previous governments had used the entire amount allocated through a budget. But it is unusual to have as much as Rs.792 billion unused. If the IMF and the WB know about this, they would launch a separate investigation, he said.

The MP said former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake was responsible for the economic crisis in the country and said he had manipulated numbers to mislead Parliament in 2015, 2016 and 2017. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
In his speeches at the U.S. Congress he defended restrictions on abortion. He voted repeatedly in favor of limiting this practice. Last time was this week, when he endorsed passing a law prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But his lover, Tim Murphy, asked him to stop his pregnancy last January, as indicated by some text messages obtained by the local newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This Friday, after viralizarse the scandal, the Republican presented his resignation. "You have no problem posting your antiabortion messages on social networks although you asked me to abort just last week," yelled Congressman Shannon Edwards, a psychologist SW 32 years with whom he had an extramarital relationship. The message was sent last January 25th. "I understand what you're saying." But I've never written those messages. My employees write them, I just read them and I approve. "I told them not to write them again," answered Murphy, 65 years old. In the end, contrary to what they both believed, it turned out that Edwards was not pregnant. For years, Murphy had received large checks from the antiabortion lobbies. Religious activist organizations and family advocates had praised him for his commitment to the cause. In a speech in 2010, the Republican said that "every baby deserves a chance to live." Hunted in his hypocrisy, Murphy stated on Wednesday, following the publication of the Gazette, that he would not be presented to the post of Congressman again. This Friday he sent a letter to Paul Ryan, the head of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, announcing his resignation. "We thank Murphy for his many years of tireless work in Congress and his service to our country as a Naval Reserve officer," he said in a statement Ryan. After 14 years in the House of Representatives, Murphy will leave the post in the middle of the month.
The fires are back in the north of California. After a much quieter summer than the 2016, when Governor Jerry Brown called it a powder keg, the Napa area is on fire. After several spotlights began the weekend, this Monday has recorded at least 10 deaths, according to AFP, and several are injured in the counties of Napa and Sonoma, the wine area north of San Francisco Bay. The Flames have already been carried in front of more than 1,500 houses and more than 30,000 people have been evacuated according to official data of Marin, a zone of California. There are more than 100 injured people who have received medical assistance, either from burns or smoke inhalation. Firefighters fight the heat, usually at this time of year, the so-called Indian summer, and the wind. Governor Brown has declared the state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba County to accelerate aid and get more assists to move to the area. According to his official office statement, "It's a serious fire we're working on." He has also officially called on President Donald Tum to declare the event "great disaster," which would allow the mobilization of federal resources. On the night of Sunday San Francisco began to smell the ashes. This Monday it has been recommended not to open the windows of the home, avoid taking children and pets to walk, as well as stepping on the street if you suffer asthma. The recommendation affects the entire Bay of San Francisco. There are officially 14 active foci. Ken Pimlott, fire Chief, does not hide his despair: "We are overwhelmed." In the town of Santa Rosa have burned more of 35,000 acres, in a spotlight that began in Calistoga and has already crossed the canyons of the West area. The wine aficionados and the winemakers of the area are already among the most affected. Several hotels have been burned, such as the Fountaingrove Inn and the Sonoma Hilton, as well as Willi, a well-known bar. If the flames are not smothered before night, it is expected to continue evacuating a total of 175,000 inhabitants this Tuesday so as not to put their lives at risk. Most of the area is without electric light and classes have been suspended.
Donald Trump has again threatened the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un, asserting that dialogue with Pyongyang is futile and leaving again his preference for force. "Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements have been reached and huge sums of money have been spent," he has written on Twitter from Washington before leaving for North Carolina, continuing in another message: "He has not" Operated, the agreements have been violated before the ink dries, teasing US negotiators. "I'm sorry, only one thing will work!" Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid ... ...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017 .. hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, King's fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017 North Korea has multiplied its ballistic essays and tested a so-called new hydrogen bomb since Trump assumed the White House headquarters in January. For his part, the U.S. president has placed Pyongyang as the number one enemy from the outset, and has come to warn him that if he continues to provoke Washington, he could find himself "with a fury and a fire never seen in the world." Trump flirts with his Twitter statements and messages with the possibility of an attack on North Korea  an unpredictable nation with nuclear weapons  and has revived the global fear of using atomic bombs in the early stages. Last Thursday, in the Prolegomena of a dinner with military leaders and after the press was summoned to the event in a sudden way, the president suddenly launched a few puzzling words. As he posed with the army's high commanders and his wives between smiles and classical background music, he told reporters: "Do you know what this represents?" And he added, "Maybe it's the calm before the storm." "It could be the calm, the calm that precedes the storm." "What storm, Mr. President?" "asked a reporter." The Islamic State? North Korea? Iran?. "You'll find out," he said, cultivating the suspense, Donald Trump.
Many '90s middle class kids would fondly recall going to the market with their parents to choose their favourite tikli guns, loading them with tiny gunpowder-covered rolls that they fired to glory. Remember how you put an "atom bomb" under an old upturned tin can and watched it fly, bit by bit, as the bomb exploded? Or the time you dropped a 100-cracker lari in a matka and heard the sound reverberate through the neighbourhood? Or, when that rocket you lit ricocheted into the neighbour's balcony, setting the clothes put out to dry on fire?

Hilarious.

On October 9, the Supreme Court swooped in and took away our firecrackers for the second year in a row  banning their sale in the Delhi-NCR region this Diwali. This was done with good reason  as youll know if you live in Delhi. Every Diwali, the whole city turns into a smoky acrid bowl of particulate matter that goes around, threatening to give everyone lung cancer. Delhi is polluted even on usual days, but during Diwali, the crisis reaches another level.

Is banning crackers the right way to reduce pollution? I disagree. But exercising logic during religious events has become a tricky affair in our times. Even if the Supreme Court banned firecrackers keeping in mind the health concerns of the citizens of Delhi-NCR, there are some fascinating people who believe this is an affront to Hindus. Whataboutery is flowing in glorious quantities and Diwali hasn't escaped its wrath.

Perhaps Mr Dixit needs to come to Delhi during Diwali, sit on a terrace and take in a deep Deepawali breath to understand the "effect of smoke not known" to him.

There is a host of people saying the firecracker ban on Diwali is against Hindu culture. Allow me to sum up the argument in brief: Why wouldnt you let us celebrate this festival the way we want to celebrate? You take away water during Holi saying its unnecessary wastage and now youre taking away crackers also!? What about Bakri Eid when they kill animals? What about Christmas when they cut trees? Y U NO BAN ALL THAT?!

Note that apart from Hindus, even Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains celebrate this festival for distinct reasons. Photo: Reuters

I hear you. But let's do a fact check. Turning a concern about air pollution and health hazards into a communal issue is just bizarre. So dear people-upset-about-the-firecracker-ban, allow me to bring in logic to the discussion, which is not related to air pollution.

In India, Chinese fireworks were imported in massive quantities until 2014. These fireworks were inexpensive and contained copious quantities of Potassium Chlorate. Its a volatile chemical that can ignite and explode spontaneously. So, in September 2014, the ministry of commerce made sale and possession of foreign-made firecrackers a punishable offence.

Despite this ban, Chinese fireworks are being smuggled into India and sold with false labels, because the firecracker industry is largely unregulated.

In Sivakasi, which produces about 80 per cent of all fireworks in India, this year, the story is one of misery. Demonetisation and GST have forced factory owners to reduce production by up to 30 per cent. The central government implemented a GST of 28 per cent on firecrackers, compared to the earlier tax of 14.5 per cent, so their products are set to get expensive.

The bottom line: fireworks are going to be exorbitant this year. There is also a chance they might be fake Chinese labels that will explode without warning and ruin your Diwali.

Throwing in another fun fact: fireworks are in no way an Indian concept. They were invented in China in the 7th century and became popular across the world between 1200 AD and 1700 AD (several books have been written on the invention of gunpowder). For all intents and purposes, fireworks became a part of Diwali celebrations only recently.

For some, the occasion marks Ram, Sita and Lakshma's return to Ayodhya. Photo: Independent blog

Now allow me to remind you why Diwali is celebrated. Deepawali literally means a row of "deep" aka small ghee/oil lamps. It does not mean a row of gunpowder and chemical-filled pieces of tightly wound paper that explode when set on fire. It is supposed to be the festival of light, not the festival of light, sound and smoke.

The popular  primarily North Indian  narrative is that King Ram returned to Ayodhya after slaying Ravan in battle and completing his 14-year-exile. It is said that in order to mark the return of Ram, Sita and Laxman  and welcome them  a path was illuminated by a row of lights (Deepawali) to signify the victory of light over darkness.

Thats the Ramayan version of Diwali, but there are many versions and stories surrounding the festival and why its celebrated in different parts of India.

Let's list out a bunch of them:

Diwali marks the return of the Pandavas from a 12-year-exile and one year of being anonymous pretenders. Thats the Mahabharata version, in short. Diwali signifies the birth of Goddess Laxmi after the gods and demons churned the ocean (Samudra manthan). Five days later, her marriage with Vishnu is celebrated. That falls on Diwali night. Along with Laxmi, offerings are made to Ganesh, Saraswati and Kuber as well who represent wealth, removal of obstacles, knowledge and business sense, respectively. In eastern parts of India, primarily West Bengal, Odisha and Assam, Diwali is celebrated as Kali Pujo. Goddess Kali is worshipped at night chanting hymns and with tantric rituals. Animal sacrifice is commonplace during this night of frolic, some even offer animal blood in a skull to the clay idol of Kali. In Uttar Pradesh, in Mathura and its surrounding areas, Diwali is celebrated keeping Krishna in mind. His many legends are recounted and celebrated, especially the one involving the Govardhan mountain. In parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Diwali marks Krishna killing the demon Narkasur.

Also, do note that apart from Hindus, even Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains celebrate this festival for distinct reasons:

Sikhs celebrate this day as Bandi Chhor Diwas. On this day, Guru Har Gobind freed himself from the prison of Jahangir and arrived at the Golden Temple. The grand Golden Temple is lit up that night to mark the occasion, to welcome the Guru back. Jains celebrate Diwali by remembering Mahavira. It is said he attained enlightenment on the night of Amavasya in the presence of many gods. Again, it signifies entering the light from darkness. Newar Buddhists of Nepal celebrate Tihar (which coincides with Diwali) by worshipping Laxmi. They make offerings to cows, dogs, oxen and worship Goddess Laxmi. They even have their own version of bhai-duj called Tika. Sikkim also marks Diwali this way.

Notice how the common theme in all these celebrations is the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, hope over despair  and knowledge over ignorance (*hint hint*).

Whatever happened to the time Diwali used to be about a night of jolly good fun with the whole society gathering around and exchanging pleasantries?

In parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Diwali marks Krishna killing the demon Narkasur. Photo: Outfrontcover

If you go by the social media narrative being created, it would appear that Diwali is being celebrated by a lot of people this year just to prove a point.

This is OUR festival and WE will burst crackers whether you like it or not. Oh you hate firecrackers libtards & environment lubbers? Shame on you. Im going to spend MORE to buy crackers even on your behalf and burst them. Take that!!

There is an incredible amount of contortionist arguments doing the rounds to justify why banning firecrackers on Diwali is bad.

Allow me to list a few:

Oh but why dont you stop Christians from cutting trees during Christmas? Why dont Muslims stop animal sacrifice? Delhi is polluted on most days so what difference will it make on Diwali, eh? What about the loudspeakers used by Muslims for Azaan? The sound pollution caused by them is OK or what? Its strange how nearly every issue has become about one community one-upping the other, even a firecracker ban. The Supreme Court issued the diktat on those blasted firecrackers (literally) because of pollution and health hazards.

I have to say, bans are not a good idea. They might have the opposite effect and a lot of upset people might burst even more crackers than usual this Diwali, just to prove a point.

Dosto,Many years ago I had given up bursting crackers. Then I joined Twitter. at CAGR of 40% my cracker budget grows yoy. Thanks libtards https://t.co/Exfl9aE5gD  Ashu???? (@muglikar_) October 6, 2017

Traders have already issued a warning over the possibility of firecrackers being smuggled due to this ban. Since it applies only to the NCR region, we may see people trying to sell crackers bought from neighbouring states at a higher price. There would be no quality check and the harmful crackers might make it to Delhi as a result. As with all smuggled goods, traders will find a way to sell crackers, especially when the demand is high during the festival season.

A lot of folks in Delhi I know voluntarily avoid bursting crackers on Diwali. But they do it of their own volition, because they believe they are right in doing so. Now, a few think the SC order interferes with their religious rights.

I haven't burst single cracker on Diwali for past 18 years, but after seeing libtards n left hypocrisy, this Diwali is going to be noisy  vnay (@Nardole85) October 6, 2017
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Keeping Billings Clinics more than 3,000 downtown employees safe is no small task, and its getting bigger each year.

Calls to the clinic's security service are up year over year, in keeping with a trend of growing demand on the public safety resources of the largest employer in Yellowstone County.

Joe Marcotte, safety and emergency management director, thinks the rise in calls is due in part to increased reporting. The clinic works to spread the word about public safety resources on campus, and people are taking note.

But the increase also is due to the fact that Billings Clinic is one of the largest mental health care providers in the area and regularly treats people who are mentally unstable. Sometimes patients who are treated one day will return the next and cause problems.

When this happens, security staff escort the person off of Billings Clinic property. If the disturbance is more serious than clinic security is equipped to handle, theyll call the Billings Police Department.

And the citys growing transient population factors in, Marcotte said.

Downtown has changed in the last 20 years, he said. We see a migration, if you will, this direction.

People are reporting more to the clinics security staff than in the past, even for things that might not pose a safety risk, like panhandling.

Safety resources

Clinic staff have taken out shrubbery and added more outside lighting to make areas more visible at night. They add security cameras to the campus regularly. And employees can call for a security officer to walk them to their car at night.

The clinic is in talks with the Billings Police Department, hoping to expand nighttime hours when a BPD officer is on site. Currently one officer is on site at the clinic from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., but the clinic is pushing to expand those hours.

The clinic also maintains eight call posts in parking lots around the campus that can be used for emergency calls or non-emergencies  like if an employee needs their car jumped in the winter. While the posts dont see much use  no emergency calls have gone through them in the past six months  they are tested each month to make sure theyre working.

If someone makes a call using the emergency button, the call gets routed to the clinics internal security service, and patrolling officers can be on site in 30-60 seconds.

Safety of our staff, our patients, is paramount, Marcotte said.
For Montana, the Obama-era Clean Power Plan was all smoke and no fire by the time the Trump administration announced Monday that it would kill clean air rules targeting power plants like Colstrip.

The second-largest coal-fired power plant in the West, Colstrip is facing opposition on various levels that will likely close the southeast Montana power plant before the Clean Power Plans prescribed cuts to carbon dioxide emissions would have been realized anyway.

Under the plan, Obamas Environmental Protection Agency called on states to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Montanas prescribed cut was 47 percent, the largest cut expected of any state. Elected Democrats and Republicans balked at the requirement, saying it would kill the 2,300-resident town of Colstrip, which is built around the power plant and the jobs it provides.

State officials quit working to comply with the rule as soon as an early 2016 lawsuit stopped the Clean Power Plan from being carried out.

However, in the past year, social and political pressure from environmentally conscious voters in Oregon and Washington have pressured utilities with Colstrip ownership to make exit plans. Departure around 2030 is a common objective for four of Colstrip's six owners, with a fifth exiting in the 2020s.

Monday, the states federal Montana delegation backed Trumps repeal.

The dark cloud that the Clean Power Plan was kind of tipped the scales away from coal, said Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont. I would like to see a level playing field for energy, where all forms compete to the benefit of the consumer.

It was clear months ago to Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines that the Clean Power Plan wouldnt last long. Daines toured the Absaloka Mine with Vice President Mike Pence and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in May. Pence told Westmoreland Coal Co. executives and Crow Indian tribal leaders that the war on coal was over, including the Clean Power Plan.

Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, called for a long-term energy plan.

"From fluctuating prices to ongoing litigation, there has been uncertainty in Montanas energy economy, Tester said in an email. We must bring folks together from all energy sectors and map out a long-term strategy that protects and creates jobs, invests in new technology, and defends our way of life for generations to come.

Colstrip is on a path for closure around the time it would have been expected to fully comply with the Clean Power Plan. The four-unit power plants two oldest units are slated for closure no later than 2022 under the settlement terms of a clean air lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club and Montana Environmental Information Center. Talen Energy, of Pennsylvania, and Puget Sound Energy, of Washington State, agreed in mid-2016 to close the units, which the two companies own equally.

Multiple utilities share ownership of Colstrip Units 3 and 4. The majority of those owners are estimating the useful life of those units will be somewhere around 2030. Puget Sound Energy has put December 2027 as the end of useful life for Units 3 and 4. The company with one million Washington consumers has said it will be financially ready to shutter Colstrip by 2027, though the power plant may run longer.

Owners PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric are legally obligated to stop delivering coal power to Oregon customers. Both indicate they will meet the law by 2030. Avista Corp., of Spokane, Washington, expects to be out of Colstrip by 2036. As recently as last year, all four utilities planned for Units 3 and 4 to operate into the 2040s. Only co-owner NorthWestern Energy still plans for Units 3 and 4 to close in 2045.

When the Clean Power Plan expectations for Montana were unveiled in fall 2015, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, accused the EPA of moving the goalposts on the state. The 47 percent cut to carbon dioxide emissions was higher than what state officials had expected based on early work with the EPA.

In January 2016, Bullock formed a 27-member Clean Power Plan advisory council to figure out a way to comply with the federal rule. The governor canceled the groups future meetings Feb. 17, 2016, eight days after the U.S. Supreme Court put the CPP on hold so a lawsuit challenging its legality could proceed. Montana and 17 other states joined coal groups and a few cities in filing the lawsuit.
There are 33 fewer freshman students attending both MSUB and City College this fall than last year. That's a decrease of just under 5 percent.

Some of those students contributed to the drop of 133 students at the MSUB main campus, though those figures weren't mentioned in the university's press release on Sept. 28 that proclaimed "MSU Billings' enrollment up for fall 2017."

Last week, Montana State University President Waded Cruzado echoed the release during a forum to community members and university backers.

"Now with the start of the new academic year, and the wonderful headline yesterday about student enrollment at MSUB and City College  let's hear it," she said.

The crowd responded with applause, but in truth MSUB's enrollment picture is a mixed bag. All of the gains in enrollment are at City College, which has worked to diversify its course offerings in certificate, one-year and two-year programs.

Fewer students are at the more traditional atmosphere of MSUB's main campus compared to last year, but more students are sticking around than before. Overall retention at MSUB grew 1.3 percent since last year, according to the university.

Retention at City College fell 3.1 percent, though the university noted that both retention figures include part-time students, who may have varying schedules.

The number of full-time equivalent students fell by 2.6 percent, from 3,283 last fall to 3,196 this fall for MSUB and City College combined.

FTE is a metric used for budgeting that equalizes part-time and full-time students. In general, the figures show that the equivalent of 87 fewer full-time students are at MSUB and City College compared to last year.

The university had budgeted for a decrease of less than 1 percent.

In an email statement to The Gazette, University Relations Director Shannon Wilcox said that the lower numbers won't affect the current budget, even as state budget cuts loom over all government agencies.

MSUB and City College will use reserves to cover enrollment losses, and some open positions may not be filled to save money, Wilcox said.

State budget cuts have not yet been enacted, but preliminary figures are being floated in Helena. In a statement, Interim MSUB Chancellor Ron Larsen said that the university's budget committee will be meeting to determine the school's moves going forward.

"For FY19 (fiscal year 2019) we will need to adjust our budget and realign resources and expenditures," he said. "This is quite a challenge when we do not yet know the extent of the proposed cuts, but we have to start planning."

Larsen noted that if a special session of the Montana Legislature convenes, it may take longer than expected to get a final directive.

As for why MSUB didn't initially release details about the declining number of students on the main campus or the reduced FTE count overall, Wilcox said that it wasn't the intent of the enrollment notice. She said that FTE was a budgeting metric and not "widely understood by the general public."

"Our press release was intended for the public," she said. "They want to know whether more people are going to MSUB. For fall 2017 semester, the answer is yes."
Montana water quality researchers praised a $1.4 million fine levied against Canadian mining firm Teck Resources Ltd. for polluting rivers that cross the international border.

A British Columbia provincial court ordered Teck to pay the money to the provinces Environmental Damages Fund for fish conservation and protection in the East Kootenay River drainage. The Kootenay River becomes Lake Koocanusa where it backs up behind Libby Dam in Montana.

The case stems from a 2014 incident at Tecks Line Creek coal mine about 80 miles north of Eureka in the Elk River drainage. The mines water treatment facility was cited for three releases of contaminated water that killed bull and cutthroat trout in Line Creek.

The fish kill was of enormous interest for all of us who track the river system, said Erin Sexton, a research scientist at the University of Montanas Flathead Lake Biological Station. Its taken quite some time for there to be any action on the regulatory side of things.

The pollution releases included dangerous amounts of nitrates and selenium, a mining byproduct that in large doses can cause deformities, reproductive damage or death to fish. Sexton said Montana studies in Lake Koocanusa have found elevated levels of selenium, from the Canadian mines, south of the border.

Robin Sheremeta, Teck senior vice president for coal, said in a statement released Thursday that the company had improved its monitoring systems and built an effluent buffer pond to prevent future releases.

From the outset we took full responsibility for this incident and recognize that we need to do better, Sheremeta wrote in the statement. Following this occurrence in 2014, we undertook a full investigation and implemented a number of steps to ensure this does not happen again.

Elk River coal mostly goes to Asian markets, where it is used for smelting steel rather than energy production. In May, the British Columbia Auditor General reported that mining companies and the provinces regulatory agencies were doing a poor job of complying with mining and pollution regulations and laws.

The Canadian environmental group Wildsight has been monitoring the case since it was brought to court three years ago. Wildsight Executive Director Robyn Duncan said cleaning up the mine pollution involved more than a specific fish kill.

While much effort has gone into tackling the issue of dangerous selenium contamination running off from waste rock dumps at the Elk Valley coal mines, the problem is still far from solved, Duncan wrote in an email. This 2014 failure and other ongoing issues at the Line Creek water treatment plant show that the selenium problem needs much more attention.

Flathead Lake Biological station bull trout research aquatic ecologist Clint Muhlfeld said the Elk River has already shown changes in its chemistry related to mine waste. The addition of nitrates act like fertilizer, which has resulted in algae blooms, and suppressed native stonefly insect populations. And while small amounts of selenium are needed for health, large amounts accumulate in top predators like bull trout, which are already suffering from other threats to their habitat.

Thats been something that both our countries have been looking at throughout the entire connected ecosystems, Muhlfeld said. Its like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Theres a critical tipping point where you see a lot of effects up the food chain.
 AARP Tax-Aide seeks volunteers to serve as tax counselors and greeters for low- and middle-income taxpayers from February through April in the Charlottesville, Fluvanna and Lovingston areas. (434) 244-0451.

 Albemarle County hosts a public information session regarding the multi-use path connecting Hydraulic Road to Greer Elementary School and Jack Jouett Middle School along Lambs Road at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Media Center of Greer Elementary. Details are available at albemarle.org. (434) 296-5832.

 Albemarle County seeks feedback from the community on the Master Plan for Western Park at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at Crozet Elementary School. Details are available at albemarle.org/department.asp?department=parks&relpage=2207. (434) 296-5844.

 Albemarle Solar Project holds a community information meeting on the proposed Rivanna Solar Project in Scottsville from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the East Rivanna Volunteer Fire Station at 3501 Steamer Drive in Keswick. (703) 672-5097.

 Bulky Waste Amnesty Days for Albemarle County, Charlottesville and Scottsville residents will accept appliances, including refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, stoves, furnaces and water heaters, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Tires are accepted from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Ivy Materials Utilization Center on Dick Woods Road. A complete list of acceptable items is available at rivanna.org/hhw. (434) 977-2970.

 Charlottesville Metropolitan Area Chapter-National Coalition of 100 Black Women has its chartering ceremony from 4:15 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Rockbrook Manor at 7 Rockbrook Drive. (434) 806-3142.

 The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 7 election is Monday. (804) 864-8901.

 Goodwill Industries holds a retail job fair from 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Charlottesville Workforce Center at 2211 Hydraulic Road. goodwillvalleys.com. (434) 963-2960.

 Imagine a Day Without Water Student Art Contest accepts entries through Monday from all first- through eighth-grade students in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Details are available at charlottesville.org/artcontest. Sponsored by City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County Service Authority and Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority. (434) 970-3819.

 League of Women Voters holds a candidate forum for Charlottesville City Council candidates at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Council Chambers at City Hall. A forum for House of Delegates for the 58th and 65th districts will be from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church at 4309 Thomas Jefferson Parkway in Palmyra. lwv.avenue.org. (434) 970-1707.

 Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle holds tutor training sessions from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Oct. 18 at Jefferson School City Center at 233 Fourth St. NW. Details and required registration are available at literacyforall.org/tutors and (434) 977-3838.

 Narconon offers help to individuals and their families in overcoming addiction. Details: narcononnewliferetreat.org and (800) 431-1754.

 Orange County E-911 has activated the Rave Alert mass notification system. Individuals can register for the notifications, which provide real-time critical communications and accurate information needed to stay safe or take precautions during hazardous or emergency situations. Alerts can be received via email, text or voice message. Register online at orangecountyva.gov/e911. (540) 661-5433.

 Quit Smoking Charlottesville support group provides free peer support, acupuncture and hypnosis to help quit the smoking habit from 5 to 6 p.m. each Thursday through Nov. 2 at the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department at 1138 Rose Hill Drive. (434) 969-7475.

 Senior Statesmen of Virginia holds a Candidates Forum with candidates for Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and Albemarle County School Board from 1 to 2:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Senior Center at 1180 Pepsi Place. (434) 970-3053.

 Shelter for Help in Emergency hosts a support group for Latina women at 1 p.m. each Monday. For details, meeting place and time, call (434) 202-0805.
For many of us, the day does not start until we have had a glass of orange juice. For me, it is a waker-upper. However, for centuries, oranges and their juice have been an integral part of the worlds cuisine. The flavor of oranges is prevalent in many desserts, as well as salads and main dishes. I frequently roast a chicken in orange juice.

Oranges, both the sweet varieties and bitter Sevilles, originated in China. They seem to have been used first for the fragrance of their peel. Several early Chinese documents say that oranges were held in the hand so that the warmth of the hands released their scent. Mandarin oranges were the fruits most commonly eaten.

During the first centuries A.D., oranges spread beyond China to Japan, India and the Near East. In the first century A.D., the Romans became interested in the fruit, and the Arabs later spread oranges to Spain. With the fall of the Roman Empire, orange cultivation in the warmer parts of the European continent ceased.

It was not until the Crusades that soldiers returning from Palestine brought the bitter orange, along with lemons and limes, back to southern Italy. At the time, orange juice was used as a flavoring, and the whole fruit was made into preserves, later known as orange marmalade.

By the 12th century, the Moors, who had conquered Spain in the eighth century, converted the region from Granada to Seville into one vast citrus orchard. About the same time, Sicily and southern Italy started cultivating oranges. The Mediterranean region of France also was orange-growing country.

In central France, the royal families and the nobility had orangeries (greenhouses), in which they grew orange trees. King Henry IV of France had one of these built at the Tuileries Palace in Paris for his mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici. Greenhouses were necessary to grow oranges in more northern climates of Europe because of the colder weather.

The most famous orangerie in France is the one at Versailles built by King Louis XIV. Architecturally, it is considered to be more splendid than the palace itself. It held 1,200 orange trees growing in silver tubs. Surprisingly, Louis XIV did not eat his own oranges, but had them imported from Portugal, considering the latter to be sweeter and more exotic.

The first oranges were brought to America by Christopher Columbus, who had picked up seeds and saplings in the Canary Islands on his second voyage west. He planted the orange trees on the island of Hispaniola in 1493. The climate of the West Indies made the oranges flourish, and within 25 years, many of the Caribbean islands were covered with orange groves.

History shows that Hernando de Soto planted the first orange seeds in the territorial United States; he planted them in Florida in 1539. Orange trees were growing profusely around St. Augustine when Sir Francis Drake sacked the city in 1586 and ordered the trees cut down. However, orange trees are hard to destroy, and shoots soon sprouted from the severed trunks. A few years later, the inhabitants of St. Augustine were enjoying home-grown oranges again.

The first orange trees in the western part of the United States came from Mexico. They were planted in the missions established by the Spanish in Arizona and California. However, the California orange industry did not get started until a pair of navel orange trees was imported from Brazil. All of the navel oranges in California are supposedly descendants of these trees. Today, California grows primarily eating, not juice, oranges.

In the 1600s and 1700s, orange cultivation spread to southern Africa and Australia. Years later, oranges became a major industry in Israel.

There are four main types of oranges in cultivation. Bitter oranges have declined greatly since the adoption of the sweet orange. Now they grow mainly in Spain, hence the modern name Seville oranges. The bulk of the bitter orange crop is exported to Britain, where it is made into marmalade. That is mainly the reason for the cultivation of these oranges.

Sweet oranges exist in many varieties, most of them of American origin. These have replaced older, less reliable European varieties. For example, the Florida Midseason Pineapple and the Late Valencia, named for the Spanish variety, are popular oranges today. The well-known Jaffa orange of Israel is a mutation from earlier Palestine oranges, which date back to about 1850.

Blood oranges are grown primarily in Mediterranean countries, especially Italy. The original mutation, which produced the color, probably happened in the 17th century in Sicily. The color is due to a pigment not usually present in citrus fruit, but common in other red fruits and flowers. Blood oranges tend to be slightly less acidic than normal oranges.

Navel oranges are an old variety. The Brazilian type, properly called Bahia, was introduced to the United States in 1870 to fill the need for a good early variety. This introduction was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., so the fruits were called Washington Navel.

Mandarin was originally a nickname given to a small, loose-skinned orange-like fruit. It was brought to England from China in 1805. The word also denotes a Chinese official or the form of Chinese spoken by such officials. (However, it is not a Chinese word, but came to English through a Portuguese form of a Malay word for counselor.)

Despite its strange origin, the mandarin nickname stuck. It became a useful general name for a wide range of similar fruits. Tangerine is less useful because it has different meanings here and in England.

Mandarins are always smaller than oranges and of a flatter shape. They are fairly loosely skinned and easily separated into segments. They are less acidic than oranges, and they spread around the world in similar circumstances to oranges.

Whats new in the world of oranges? Scientists are working hard to get rid of an Asian citrus psyllid from Asia, which has invaded many of the Florida orange groves. They are working with a spinach mutation to aid in the nutrients needed by orange trees for the production of fruit. In the meantime, we are importing concentrated orange juice from Brazil to boost our orange juice requirements, since Florida produces the bulk of oranges used for juice.

Oranges and orange juice are prime ingredients in many desserts. But have you used orange juice in cooking? Years ago, I found a recipe for chicken baked in orange sauce and have used it frequently. We enjoyed the Asian taste of this dish.

CHICKEN BAKED IN ORANGE SAUCE

 1 frying chicken (about 3 pounds) cut into pieces

  cup olive oil

 1 cup fresh orange juice

 1 cup dry white wine

  cup seedless raisins

  cup blanched almonds, ground fine

 1 tablespoon sugar

  teaspoon ground ginger

 1 teaspoon salt

  teaspoon pepper

Brown the chicken in hot oil. Place in shallow baking pan. Combine the other ingredients and pour over the chicken. Bake the chicken in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until chicken is done. Baste frequently with the pan juices. Serves 4.
RICHMOND  The health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is planning to change its guidelines for reimbursing imaging services like MRIs and CT scans, favoring free-standing outpatient clinics or imaging centers over hospitals.

In a statement, the company said a subsidiary, AIM Specialty Health, will help identify when hospital outpatient services for certain imaging tests, such as MRIs and CT scans, are medically unnecessary, in which cases members can receive those services  frequently used to help in the diagnosis process  at free-standing centers instead.

Anthems new guidelines already have launched in some states, and will roll out in Virginia, California, Connecticut and Maine on March 1.

Anthem is Virginias largest health insurer, covering nearly 3 million residents. As of the end of 2016, it held about 34 percent of the states accident and sickness insurance market, according to the State Corporation Commission.

According to the insurers statement, the rationale for making the guideline changes, first reported by The Virginian-Pilot, centers on cost  both for the insurer and the member in out-of-pocket expenses.

The clinical guideline gives members an opportunity to save up to hundreds of dollars for each imaging test, the statement reads. It also helps health plans keep premiums more affordable.

Typically, imaging services are more expensive at hospitals versus physician offices, according to Virginia Health Information. In central Virginia, an MRI of a knee cost $597 at a physician office in 2015, compared with $1,678 at a hospital. A CT scan of an abdomen cost $385 at a physician office and $1,233 at a hospital.

But not everyone thinks the cost is a strong enough reason to make these changes.

Julian Walker, spokesman for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, said in a statement that limiting where patients can receive care can lead to care fragmentation, and a more convoluted and confusing process for patients.

Decisions about advanced imaging tests that patients need to diagnose and treat an illness or injury should be made with patient interests in mind, Walker said. Decisions by insurers to restrict where patients are permitted to receive a necessary medical procedure fail to meet that standard.

In a statement, a VCU Health spokeswoman echoed Walkers sentiments about the risk of fragmented care, saying, Evidence-based medicine supports the practice of coordinated care, which could be threatened by requiring patients to only receive services from select unrelated providers.

A Bon Secours Richmond Health System spokeswoman said in a statement that the health system is in discussions with Anthem to understand how the policy will be implemented, adding, Bon Secours firmly believes the selection of the proper setting for imaging services should be a medical decision, rather than a business decision.

When asked for comment, HCA Virginia directed inquiries to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

The American College of Radiology, a professional medical society headquartered in Reston, issued a statement about Anthems guideline changes, calling them arbitrary and unwise.

Denying patients covered access to care at such a vast number of facilities will delay care, increase wait times and force many patients to travel outside of their communities to get advanced imaging, the group said. The policy may particularly impact patients in inner city and rural areas. In many areas, the local hospital outpatient setting may be the only immediate access point for advanced imaging outside of the main hospital.

Anthem said in its statement that the guideline changes will apply only where there are at least two alternative free-standing imaging centers available to members, and acknowledges that some rural areas may not have those options available to them, in which case the imaging would be approved at the original location.
Dennis Mothersbaugh, facing an assault charge from the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, had his first appearance in court on Tuesday.

Mothersbaugh, 37, of North Vernon, Indiana, is charged with misdemeanor assault and battery stemming from violence that erupted at the Unite the Right rally.

In Charlottesville General District Court, Mothersbaugh told a judge that he does not have a job and cannot afford to hire his own attorney. The judge told him he would be appointed a public defender.

The judge did not grant Mothersbaugh bond due to his extradition from Indiana but said his attorney could request a future bond hearing.

Mothersbaugh was arrested in his hometown in Indiana on Sept. 28 and extradited to Virginia on Friday. He is currently being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

He is next scheduled to be in court on Nov. 3.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  Wyoming's congressional delegation and Gov. Matt Mead are applauding Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's decision to scrap limits on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Liz Cheney say the Clean Power Plan initiated by the Obama administration is burdensome and illegal.

The Republicans say the plan would essentially stop new coal power plants from being constructed as well as force most existing plants to close in the coming years.

Enzi says the federal government shouldn't pick winners and losers in the marketplace, and Barrasso says the plan would have harmed the state's economy.

Cheney says Pruitt's decision is a necessary step toward reversing the harmful Obama-era policies that strangled the economy.

Mead says the Obama plan usurped state regulatory authority.
This story was updated on Oct. 10.

In an effort to preserve area drinking water, the Albemarle County Service Authority Board of Directors on Monday approved a drought watch and several mandatory water restrictions.

An emergency request will now go in front of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. If approved, the ACSA will implement several water restrictions that will ban customers from conducting outdoor watering.

On Aug. 3, the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir was completely full, but in the last couple of weeks, it has declined rapidly, according to Gary OConnell, executive director of ACSA. It is currently at 41 percent of its capacity, he said.

I think its an emergency, said OConnell, following Mondays board meeting.

To conserve water, the ACSA on Thursday plans to implement mandatory outdoor water restrictions, which include prohibitions against washing cars, except in licensed facilities that recycle the water; limiting restaurants from serving water except upon request; and limiting the daily changing of washable linens and towels for hotels.

OConnell said letters will be sent to 19,000 customers that explain the new restrictions and the need for water conservation. Another 2,000 letters will be sent to businesses, restaurants and landscaping companies that will be most affected by the new restrictions.

Its not a lot of time for the public to adjust, but it is what it is, OConnell said.

The drought watch put in place on Oct. 3 turned into a drought warning after just two days as the amount of water in the reservoir continued to rapidly disappear. Early last week, customers were asked to voluntarily conserve more water, but the efforts were not enough, OConnell said.

Even with these new mandatory outdoor restrictions, OConnell urged people to conserve water in other ways, such as limiting dishwasher cycles unless it is completely full, limiting washer loads unless its completely full of clothing, taking shorter showers and not leaving the water running when washing dishes in the sink.

Were going to try to educate as many people as possible, OConnell said. Were going to talk to as many customers as we can in advance. Weve already had conversations with several.

If people do not follow the mandatory restrictions, customers will face a warning, $500 to $1,000 fines and/or a shut-off of their water service, OConnell said.

Its getting to be at a critical point where we need to start asking our customers to look at ways to conserve, and the action the board has taken today will lead to mandatory restrictions with fines if people dont follow them, he said. Honestly, I think theyre quite straightforward and simple.

If the water in the reservoir continues to drop at a rapid pace, OConnell said it will start to affect peoples day-to-day lives, and tougher conservation restrictions will be necessary. The Charlottesville area is forecasted to have just a 30 to 50 percent chance of showers from Tuesday through Friday.

The South Fork Rivanna Reservoir provides the majority of water to the countys urban population. Of the 10 million gallons of water used in the area every day, about 8 million of it comes from the South Rivanna Water Treatment Plant, OConnell said. The other 2 million comes from the Observatory Hill Water Treatment Plant, from water released from the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.

Picking up where the Rivanna Reservoir failed, the Observatory plant moved about 6 million gallons this past weekend, OConnell said. The maximum amount it can move is close to 7 million gallons.

If supervisors approve the water emergency and the mandatory restrictions are in place, the ACSA can ask the Department of Environmental Quality to allow the amount of water released from the Rivanna Reservoir into the Rivanna River to be reduced. That cannot be done, OConnell said, until the DEQ can see that the restrictions are in place.

What Im trying to encourage is people thinking about their water use and any way that can reduce it, OConnell said. Any way people can reduce their water consumption, the better.

The Charlottesville City Council will hold a special meeting at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday to discuss implementing its own mandatory water restrictions.

The citys restrictions for a drought warning stage are similar to ACSAs restrictions, according to Lauren Hildebrand, director of utilities for the city. The utilities department is currently developing materials to send out information to city residents and businesses, she said.

For more information, visit serviceauthority.org.
The University of Florida is bracing for a speech by the white nationalist Richard Spencer on campus later this month, coming after he led another torchlight rally in Charlottesville on Saturday night with supporters chanting, "You will not replace us."

The Florida school had canceled a planned speech by Spencer in September after clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters turned violent at the University of Virginia in August, with tensions worsening the next day in Charlottesville. A man drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman and injuring many others.

That violence led several public universities to deny Spencer a platform in the days that followed, saying the First Amendment does not require them to risk imminent violence. But as time passed, Spencer's supporters increased pressure on the schools, filing and threatening lawsuits.

Now, the University of Florida is in the position of spending an anticipated $500,000 to try to ensure security on campus for a speaker it did not invite and does not want to host.

Concerns about security during Spencer's visit are forcing the university to close one of its biggest outpatient clinics and surgery centers, postponing medical services, one of the school's top doctors said.

Spencer's actions from this past weekend - when he led another protest in Charlottesville - do not change plans for the Oct. 19 speech in Gainesville, Florida, university spokeswoman Janine Sikes said Monday, "but we are paying attention."

So are many others. And not just schools such as the University of North Carolina and Penn State, which denied Spencer a platform post-Charlottesville. Others view it as an incendiary test of a constitutional issue that touches on many of the political and racial tensions simmering across the country.

"People are concerned for their well-being and safety," said Dwayne Fletcher, a senior who is president of the University of Florida's Black Student Union. "I personally don't want him on campus either, especially since the incidents in Charlottesville. . . .

"Gainesville will definitely have a different atmosphere in the days to come, and afterward, because of his presence," Fletcher said. He said some students are having a hard time accepting the university's decision to allow Spencer, and his message, to come to their school.

Even though they reject "Spencer's white supremacist rhetoric, the university, as a state entity, must allow the free expression of all viewpoints, " Sikes said.

In the spring, a federal judge overturned Auburn University's decision to cancel a speech by Spencer, ruling there was no evidence Spencer advocated violence and that it was unconstitutional to ban the speech because of its content.

In September, Cameron Padgett, who is helping to organize Spencer's college tour, sued Michigan State University in an effort to force the school to let Spencer speak on campus.

Padgett is described in the suit as supporting "Identitarian philosophy . . . a Eurocentric political ideology which advocates the preservation of national identity and a return to traditional Western values." The case argues that people on the political left find the views of the National Policy Institute, which Spencer leads, objectionable and seek to shut down his events despite it being constitutionally protected speech.

Spencer presented it as an important issue. "When one just says things that are anodyne or conventional, free speech is not in question," he said last week. "But when someone says something controversial and radical, then the rubber hits the road."

He said the anticipated security costs stem directly from people trying to keep him from bringing his ideas to campus. At other venues, protesters have rallied to drown out his message or to try to shut down his event, saying they can't allow hate speech in their community.

The University of California at Berkeley has spent $2.8 million on security for divisive speakers this year after violent clashes erupted between far-left and far-right extremists. In February, some anti-fascist and other left-wing protesters were so swiftly destructive - throwing rocks, setting fires - that university police canceled a speech to restore order.

"It's going to be exciting," Spencer said. "I expect good intellectual pushback from the students. That's part of the fun of it all."

David Quillen, the head of the University of Florida faculty senate, a trustee and an associate professor in the College of Medicine, rejected the idea that there would be some kind of intellectual exchange.

"We're not going to have a debate, because these aren't issues people need to debate," he said Monday. "Bigotry and racism don't need debate - they are what they are."

He said most faculty understand the university is obligated to allow Spencer to speak, but that there are real costs. Not just the money for security, which takes funding away from their educational mission, but, "Mr. Spencer's visit causes real fear and anxiety in some of our faculty, staff and students. . . . This fear will cause some to miss classes, postpone exams and interferes with our educational, research and service missions."

Fletcher expects protesters.

He doesn't plan to be one of them.

He weighed the different outcomes. "If there's something to gain, some kind of change that would be enacted, I'd be willing to go out and protest," he said. "If it's ideology versus ideology. . . .

"But that's not a forum where people can go out and speak to each other, have a heart-to-heart conversation. I don't see the worth outweighing the risk, especially in light of what happened in Charlottesville."
A spokeswoman for Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that he will join a growing list of Democrats giving back donations from embattled Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein by giving an equivalent amount to a Virginia organization that fights sexual assault.

McAuliffe received a total of $57,535 from Weinstein and his company during his successful 2013 campaign for governor, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The sum is made up of a $25,000 cash donation and a $32,535 in-kind contribution to cover travel expenses.

McAuliffes career as a prolific Democratic fundraiser and ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton put him in close contact with Weinstein, who has been accused by multiple women of using his power over aspiring actresses to make unwanted sexual advances. The movie producer and his family have given more than $1.4 million to Democratic causes since 1992, according to The Associated Press.

Crystal Carson, a spokeswoman for McAuliffes Common Good VA political action committee, said Tuesday that the governor will counteract Weinsteins money with an equivalent contribution to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, a Richmond-based advocacy group that runs a statewide hotline for victims of sexual violence and partner abuse.

In a statement, Carson said McAuliffe, who has presented himself as a champion of womens rights and a bulwark against anti-woman bills passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, is deeply troubled and sickened to hear the reports about Harvey Weinsteins horrendous behavior toward women.

His actions are indefensible and cannot be tolerated, Carson said. Governor McAuliffe offers his support to all who have suffered as a result of this abuse and misuse of power, and is grateful to everyone who has come forward. He will continue to fight against sexual assault, harassment and violence against women. No woman should have to tolerate these types of disgraceful offenses.

Republicans have called on Democrats to return Weinsteins money or donate it to charity. Several Democratic U.S. senators have already said they plan to do just that.

On Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia called on McAuliffe to follow suit and return Weinsteins dirty money.

Hillary Clinton addressed the Weinstein situation for the first time Tuesday in a statement.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Clinton said. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.

Writing in his memoir about his rapport with Weinstein, McAuliffe described being berated by Weinstein in a 2001 telephone call to sort out a disagreement over how Bill Clinton should be deployed in the race for New York mayor that year.

Ill rip your b---- off! Weinstein yelled through a phone speaker, according to McAuliffes recollection in his 2007 book, What A Party!

I told him what I thought of his idea in very colorful language, told him to do something with his anatomy, and hung up, McAuliffe wrote.

At the book release party in 2007, McAuliffe referred to Weinstein as a friend and joked about Weinstein turning the book into a movie, according to video archived on C-SPAN.

McAuliffes book also describes the governor attending a Weinstein-organized weekend at Camp David in 1998 for a screening of Good Will Hunting attended by the Clintons and Hollywood figures like Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paltrow is one of several A-list stars who have come forward with stories of experiencing unwanted sexual advances by Weinstein, documented in a series of investigative reports by The New York Times and the magazine The New Yorker.
A fallen tree limb damaged a house's electrical system, which then ignited a fire Monday morning in the 1700 block of South Birch Street, according to a Casper Fire Department news release.

The fire department was on the scene by 6:25 a.m. and quickly put out the fire, which burned inside a family home. Department investigators found the fire was caused by damaged electrical lines, according to the department.

The house's electrical service was disconnected, making the house uninhabitable, according to the news release.

Firefighter Dane Andersen said he was not certain the tree limb was felled by an overnight winter storm, but the department was "assuming so."

The department reminded people to ensure electrical work is done by licensed and insured electricians. When buying, selling or renovating a home, it is important to have the electrical system inspected by a qualified professional, according to the department.

The department did not, however, have reason to believe Monday's fire was caused by shoddy electrical work, Andersen said.
RICHMOND  A month before the election, legislative Republicans have requested a broad evaluation of the office of Democratic Attorney General Mark R. Herring.

The GOP-controlled Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission approved a resolution Tuesday requesting commission staff conduct a broad study of the office.

That will include how the office spends proceeds from asset forfeiture, an examination of salary increases and whether Herring's office has properly contracted with outside counsel.

"It's going to be a fairly broad study of the AG's office," JLARC Director Hal Greer said.

Legislators first suggested a study of the Attorney General's Office in July, he said. After staff at the legislature's watchdog agency created an issue paper in September, commission members asked staff to draft the resolution that they passed Tuesday, Greer said.

The commission's chairman is Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr., R-Caroline, and its vice chairman is Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. Work on the study is to be completed by December 2019.

The study resolution also said JLARC staff would examine the Attorney General's Medicaid fraud control unit, which "has grown over time with relatively little supervision, and has devoted a substantial portion of its resources to national pharmaceutical cases, potentially at the expense of local fraud cases."

Herring spokesman Michael Kelly said by email: "The General Assembly ignored this office for 20 years under Republican AGs, and now four weeks before a Democratic attorney general is up for re-election theyre suddenly concerned. What a coincidence!

"Instead of using JLARC to study affordable health care access or ways to protect insurance coverage for birth control, Republicans in the legislature are trying to turn it into a partisan political weapon with this obvious political stunt."

Kelly said Herring welcomed the chance to share the good work of his office with the legislature. He also noted that a new review of Herring's office by the State Auditor of Public Accounts found no problems.

Herring, finishing a first term as attorney general, faces Republican John Adams in the November election. He has led Adams in every poll conducted in the race and was ahead 51 percent to 40 percent in a survey of likely voters released Monday by the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

The Adams campaign issued a statement from him that said he was pleased JLARC would review the office.

"While he has picked and chosen which of our laws to defend, his office was successfully sued in a pay discrimination case, sanctioned by a judge for discovery violations, and took money from human trafficking programs to give pay raises to his political allies in the office. And the commonwealth pays the price. Virginia desperately needs a new lawyer," Adams said in the statement.

Adams was particularly upset that Herring did not defend the state's ban on gay marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court later deemed unconstitutional.

While Adams has attacked Herring throughout the race over his handling the job, Herring has criticized Adams for his work as a white-collar defense attorney at powerhouse law firm McGuireWoods. Adams is on leave during the campaign from his position as chair of the government investigations and white-collar litigation department.

"He has been part of a powerful Richmond law firm for the last seven years, and he and his team brag about how they specialize in shielding people who are involved in kickbacks, pyramid schemes, embezzlement, money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice. Its astounding," Herring said in their first debate, held in June in Virginia Beach. "Its like hes trying to be the anti-attorney general."

The two are scheduled to debate a second time Oct. 20 before the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce.
Hyderabad: Dismissing the argument that Artificial Intelligence would lead to job losses, a technology expert on Tuesday said it would in fact create different ones.

"Many people argue that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, our people will lose jobs. No. I do not believe we will lose jobs, we will create different kind of jobs," Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, said here.

Artificial Intelligence does jobs which are repetitive in nature, where humans tend to make mistakes, and also where a lot of memory is required, she said, speaking at an event jointly organised by FICCI and the Telangana government.

"Who will identify where can AI be leveraged? It's us. But, that technology is absolutely critical, because everything that we do, use, wear is going to become smarter tomorrow and impact the lives, including our health," she

said.

Predicting that as many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020, she said 5G would be essential technology to make it a reality.

"It is important because the amount of data that will be floating in the air tomorrow is going to be so much that your 4G LTE technology will fail," she said.

It is important to re-skill oneself to rise above Artificial Intelligence rather than worrying about what AI will do, Rai said.

Noting that India is at the cusp of digital transformation, she wondered which other country can boast of the digital identity of more than one billion people stored with Aadhaar.

"We have all kinds of digital information...What we together collectively have to do, is to leverage this generation of digitisation and see how can we empower our citizens," she said.
New Delhi: The government is considering iphone maker Apple's proposal for setting up manufacturing unit in India, Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam said on Tuesday. Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad manufacturer Apple has sought certain concessions for setting up manufacturing unit in the country.

"We would like Apple to come in India (for setting up manufacturing unit) and we are examining Apple's proposal," said the Minister of State for Electronics and IT on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body CII.

The company had sought concessions, including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years.

The technology major had also asked for relaxation in the mandated 30 per cent local sourcing of components besides reduction in custom duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down units of devices that are to be assembled in the country. Apple is eyeing India as it is the fastest growing smartphone market in the world.

The company is looking to set up a local manufacturing unit in India to cut costs. Apple, however, does not manufacture devices on its own but gets the job done through contract manufacturers. It sells its products through company-owned retail stores in countries like China, Germany, the US, the UK and France, among others.

It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro. About 90 phone companies are currently manufacturing handsets in the country.

In March, the then Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had informed Rajya Sabha that the government has not accepted 'most of the demands' of Apple which wants to set up manufacturing unit in India.
Jaguar Land Rover, JLR, says all product lines have been accepted extremely well in India.

New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover India on Tuesday reported 45 per cent increase in sales for the first nine months of 2017 at 2,942 units.

The sales were driven uniformly by all model lines, including XE, XF, F-PACE, Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, which witnessed high demand during the period, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India said in a statement.

"The performance is a great testimony to our focus on building highly aspirational brands and world-class sales and after-sales infrastructure," JLR India President and Managing Director Rohit Suri said.

Stating that all the product lines of the company have been accepted extremely well in India, he said, "We are confident about carrying this momentum into 2018 as well." In 2016, JLR India sold 2,500 units.

The Jaguar product range in India includes XE, XF, F- PACE, XJ and F-TYPE. On the other hand the Land Rover portfolio includes Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.
Petrol variants of the refreshed version have been launched at an introductory price range starting at Rs 4.39 lakh going up to Rs 6.04 lakh.

Mumbai: Utility vehicle major Mahindra and Mahindra on Tuesday said it is working on a slew of measures, including readying a family of petrol engines catering to its entire product range by April 2020, when BS VI emission norms kick in the country.

The Mumbai-based company, which on Tuesday launched an updated version of its compact SUV KUV100 priced at Rs 4.39-7.33 lakh, also plans to roll out electric versions of its crossover models.

"We are working on a very strong petrol engine line-up and by the time BS VI emission norms roll out, our petrol engine offering will be as strong as diesel," M&M Managing Director Pawan Goenka told reporters here.

The company will have petrol engines that can cover all its models, he added.

"Whether all of those get launched in India or not depends on the customer pull. Most likely, all our exports will definitely have petrol-powered vehicles. We would be happy to launch in the domestic market even if we have 5 per cent demand," Goenka said.

On introducing electric vehicles, he added that even with less clarity as to how the electric vehicle segment will perform in coming days, Mahindra would roll out its existing products with electric powertrains.

"Whether we have 20 per cent electric vehicles by 2030 or 100 per cent is perhaps a multi billion dollar question. Mahindra is hedging its bet... and decided that for all crossover SUVs, we will be working on electric version in future," Goenka said.

As part of the plan, the company will introduce an electric KUV100 in over a year from now, he added. On various other disruptions unfolding in the automotive segment, Goenka said the company is learning about driverless technology from its tractor business.

"We hope the learning we have from there someday would allow us to replicate in the automotive business," he noted.

The company is going to perfect the driverless technology in tractor first and sometime in future, it could be applied in automotive. We will be launching first phase of driverless technology before the end of this financial year," Goenka said.

On challenges from shared mobility, he added that the winners among the manufacturers will be those "which will have objects of desire".

"And that is what we have been trying to do in all our products," Goenka said.

Terming the current phase as one of the toughest for the Indian automotive sector, Goenka made the point that lack of clarity on various issues is forcing manufacturers to work on multiple directions.

"We are planning for multiple scenarios and not sure on where major thrust of investment should go. So, if you look at hybrid technology -- if it's dead or will it come back that is also not clear," he noted. There is also no clarity on how would the electric segment would pan out in future, he pointed out.

"So, I am saying you need to plan for everything," Goenka remarked.

On the new KUV100 launch, Goenka said it is the first time that the company has launched a refreshed version of a model in just 21 months after it was introduced in the country.

The petrol variants of the refreshed version have been launched at an introductory price range starting at Rs 4.39 lakh going up to Rs 6.04 lakh. The diesel trims are tagged between Rs 5.39 lakh and Rs 7.33 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). The updated version comes with 40 new features and enhancements.

"Given that the growth in the UV segment has been primarily driven by the compact SUVs, I am confident that the KUV100 NXT will resonate well with its buyers," M&M President Automotive Sector Rajan Wadhera said.
When members of Congress and leaders within the Trump administration talk about loosening burdensome government regulations, it's hard not to sympathize.

Few people haven't encountered red tape, paperwork or gotten the runaround when dealing with government. And, it's really easy to despise "bureaucrats" those nameless, faceless employees on the government payroll who seem to slow progress.

There may indeed be areas where Congress can cut red tape and policies, but when it comes to oversight of financial institutions, we believe more regulation is needed. We've called for more oversight on predatory lending practices. We've praised Montana Sen. Jon Tester who has continued to make banking giant Wells Fargo answer for its shady practices.

To that list, we'd add credit agency Equifax. Our Montana delegation needs to hold it accountable for the data breach that may have compromised the security of nearly one-in-every-two Americans.

We live in a credit-based society, where nearly every transaction from buying a house to buying a cup of coffee is tied to credit scores. Equifax's data breach compromised Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and credit card numbers.

Those aren't luxury items and they're not optional in today's world. So far, Equifax has done little to ensure citizens whose data is compromised will be made whole. In fact, it seems like Equifax may not only be held virtually harmless from the breach, it may actually profit from it.

We call upon Tester, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte to make sure Equifax doesn't profit from its own lousy practices, and that it takes care of consumers in the long-term.

So far, Equifax has offered a one-year credit monitoring plan for every person affected.

That's a nice first start. But anyone who has been the victim of identity theft knows that the long-term effects can last years, sometimes decades. Cleaning up the mess of identity theft, which can include credit cards taken out in someone else's name and Social Security numbers being fraudulently used, can take a lot of time and may even involve attorneys.

Equifax has only pledged a one-year service, after that it's $17 per month. We believe Equifax should be forced to continue that service for those affected for a much longer period.

Moreover, if those people who sign up for the service actually opt to pay $17 per month, Equifax would begin to profit from its own breach. The companies that monitor credit data actually pay Equifax for information on consumer transactions. In other words, in the next year, Equifax stands to make plenty of money on its own breach as customers will pay it to monitor credit Equifax made vulnerable in the first place.

This isn't only wrong, it offers an incentive for other companies to adopt lax standards so that they can profit in the future.

The problem is that Congress has not adopted laws with sharp enough teeth to provide financial institutions an incentive to secure data.

Moreover, citizens cannot choose where their credit data is stored. And when their data is breached, companies like Equifax fall back on a mandatory arbitration clause that most people don't know about it until it's too late.

Mandatory arbitration means that when citizens do have a complaint against a financial institution, for example Equifax, that it must go through an arbitration process. This means two things. First, most complaints  no matter how legitimate  are settled for less through arbitration. That arbitration is usually done beyond the scrutiny of the public. Finally, mandatory arbitration means that citizens cannot simply sue or join other lawsuits.

Those who support the mandatory arbitration argue it's a way for corporations to protect themselves from needing an army of lawyers to battle small or frivolous lawsuits. More lawyers mean more pass-through costs to consumers, they reason.

However, we believe it's time to look at reforming the arbitration clause. Citizens should have every legal remedy to hold a company responsible for its actions and oversights. Moreover, we believe if more people could use the power of the courts, financial institutions may have a powerful incentive to protect consumer data better.

There's that phrase about giving credit where credit's due. What about protecting credit where protection is due?
Company along with some of the individuals have been directed to refund the money raised through issuance of the debentures.

New Delhi: As many as 28 entities have been banned for at least four years from the securities market for raising funds illegally from the public, according to Sebi orders.

The cases pertain to two different companies -- Roofers Infra-Projects Ltd and Rahul Inn Hospitality Ltd -- mopping up more than Rs 74 crore by way of issuing secured redeemable non-convertible debentures in violation of regulations. In separate orders, the watchdog has barred many entities apart from directing some of them to refund the money along with a specified interest to the investors.

Sebi has barred Roofers Infra-Projects Ltd and 20 other entities, including individuals. Similar quantum of punishment has been ordered in the case of Rahul Inn Hospitality Ltd and six others for at least four years.

An enquiry had found that Roofers Infra-Projects raised at least Rs 74.40 crore through issuance of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures during the period from 2009-10 to 2013-14.

The company along with some of the individuals have been directed to refund the money raised through issuance of the debentures, including the application amount, along with an annual interest of 15 per cent till the date of actual payment, Sebi said in an order dated October 6.

With respect to Rahul Inn Hospitality, a similar order directing refund of the money collected, about Rs 24 lakh, from investors was passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India on October 9.
Markets regulator Sebi has moved a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Sahara for alleged obstruction in the auction of Amby Valley project. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has moved a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Subrata Roy's Sahara Group for alleged obstruction in the auction of Aamby Valley project.

This move comes despite the apex courts direction in September to go ahead with the scheduled auction of Aamby Valley property in Maharashtra, as it rejected Sahara Group Chief Subrata Roy's plea for some more time.

In its petition on Tuesday, Sebi told the Supreme Court that Sahara had not paid money to all the investors while the latter claimed that it had almost paid more than 75 per cent of the due.

In August, the Supreme Court had asked the embattled group to deposit Rs 1,500 crore in a dedicated Sebi account by September 7. It had also said that the Aamby Valley auction process would be stopped if the company furnished the payment in time.

The Aamby Valley auction process kicked off on August 14, with the official liquidator inviting bids at a reserve price of Rs 37,392 crore.

Sebi had moved the Supreme Court in August 2014 to recover Rs 36,000 crore from Subrata Roy's group to refund investors who had purchased securities from two group firms.
Washington: The government has succeeded in changing the public opinion in favour of FDI in sensitive areas like defence manufacturing which were earlier considered sacrosanct, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

Jaitley, who is in the US to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said this during an investors roundtable New York jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the US-India Business Council.

"We have been able to invest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in almost every sector of the economy," Jaitley said as he highlighted investment opportunities in India.

"Areas that were earlier considered sacrosanct, like defence manufacturing, we have been able to convince public opinion that it is better to invite foreign expertise to set up manufacturing in India," he said.

Jaitley, who was the defence minister till recently, said suddenly a lot of joint ventures are coming up for investment in the defence sector. He also said that the body which Foreign Investment Promotion Board which sanctioned FDI proposals had outlived its purpose because of liberalisation in FDI rules.

"Ninety-five per cent of FDI anyway comes in through the automatic route...I had spoken about doing away with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board," he said.
New Delhi: The government will focus on setting up of mini food parks to raise the processing level, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said on Tuesday and asked the industry to buy agri items directly from farmers to boost their income.

Jyoti, who is Minister of State for Food Processing, said all 42 sanctioned mega food parks will be operational by 2019. She assured the industry that the ministry will consider and take up any of their concern related to GST.

Addressing an Assocham conference on FMCG, the minister said the government will facilitate setting up of 'mini food park' across the country on smaller land parcel to boost food processing level.

This will be done under the new Rs 6,000 crore SAMPADA scheme approved by the government recently, she added. The ministry provides subsidy of up to Rs 50 crore to set up a mega food park.

There is a need, Jyoti said, to increase the food processing level to reduce wastage of farm produce. The minister felt that farmers' income will not be

doubled unless their produce is procured directly. The processing sector will also get their raw material at cheaper rates and better quality if they buy agri produce

directly from farmers, she suggested.

Apart from food security, the minister said there is a need to focus on food safety.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said the regulator came out with standards of various products in the last few years which are globally benchmarked and some are in the pipeline.

The FSSAI, he added, is open to making changes in standards based on the feedback of stakeholders. "As we move forward, we will focus on compliance of food safety law in letter and spirit," he said, citing examples of some provisions not being followed by the industry.

To improve compliance of food safety law, Agarwal said the FSSAI is modernising food labs across the country and is also ensuring inspection is being done in objective and transparent manner.

"We depend on states' enforcement machineries for compliance of food standards. We are making efforts on capacity building of regulatory staff," he said.

Agarwal said further that the regulator plans to make it mandatory for every food business to have at least one food supervisor and informed that as many as 16 courses have been launched to provide training as well as certificates.

The FSSAI CEO stressed on the need to chalk out a strategy to enhance food safety and hygiene in the unorganised sector. The FSSAI is also preparing a corporate management index to nudge the food businesses to engage with the government and work towards the overall objective of providing safe and wholesome food to people, Agarwal added.
Maharashtra and Gujarat both have announced a cut in VAT on petrol and diesel on tuesday. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Tuesday cut petrol and diesel prices by up to Rs 3 per litre. The state that levies highest rate of value added tax, VAT, on petrol and diesel has taken a cue from neighbouring Gujarat that on Tuesday announced a 4 per cent reduction in VAT on these two essential fuels.

The VAT rate on petrol and diesel is highest in Maharashtra with the state levying 46.52 per cent VAT which is 47.64 per cent in Mumbai.

The state decided to lower the fuel rates effective midnight on Tuesday, news agency Asian News International reported. Earlier in the day Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani told the mediaperson the cut in VAT on petrol and diesel was in line with the central government's instructions to all state governments.

The central government had last week announced a cut in basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by 2 per cent making these two essential fuels cheaper by Rs 2 across the country.

"After the central government's instructions, Gujarat has decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent from today midnight," Rupani told the media early in the day.

Last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a series of tweets had said cut in basic excise duty was brought in with an aim to give relief to the common man and that the move was pro-people and pro-common man. It also wanted to leave people with more money in their hands. "Now it is up to state governments if they are concerned with the issue (to cut sales tax or VAT)," Jaitley had said.
Government is ready to bear the additional financial burden despite Maharashtra's economy not being in a good shape.

Mumbai: Petrol will be cheaper by Rs 2 and diesel by Re 1 per liter across Maharashtra from midnight on Tuesday after the state government reduced the value-added tax (VAT) on the fuels.

Making the announcement about VAT reduction on petrol and diesel on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar termed it as a "Diwali gift" to people of the state.

The revised rates will be applicable from midnight today, he said.

"The chief minister has approved a proposal to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 and Re 1 a litre, respectively. This is our Diwali gift to the masses," Mungantiwar told PTI.

He said the decision will cause an annual revenue loss of Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer.

"The government is ready to bear the additional financial burden despite Maharashtra's economy not being in a good shape," he said.
New Delhi: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said revival of 25 GW stranded gas-based capacity can push consumption of the fuel and transform the nation into a gas-based economy.

"We taking country towards a gas-based economy. Power industry is one of the important industry. If we revive 25,000 MW stranded gas-based capacity and bring them under competitive price mechanism then our gas consumption will definitely increase," Pradhan told reporters on the sidelines of the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek here.

The minister said, "In world, the gas constitutes 24 per of energy basket. In Gujarat it is 26 per cent. We want to replicate this success story (in other states). Power industry is primary growth and driving point (for gas-based economy)."

The government had brought in a Rs 7,500-crore Power System Development Fund scheme for revival of distressed gas- based capacities of over 24 GW for two years till March 31, 2017. The scheme was not continued further.

The minister also lauded the efforts of the Goods and Services Tax Council which gave some tax relief to oil exploration and production sector.

"Constant reforms in markets is the only strategy. We have done a lot of reforms in the country which attracted many big energy players in the country after three years of continuous efforts."

About Saudi Aramaco, which opened its India office today, the minister said that there is joint venture of three companies with Saudi Aramaco and they will work more closely in future.

Pradhan also said that Saudi Aramco has "categorically specified" that their investment would increase in India.

"They has assured the (oil) procurement will increase due to oil manufacturing industry which would create more jobs and improve standards."

Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's deliberation with energy sector stakeholders, he said, "The prime minister started a practice since last year. Domestic as well as firms from outside countries which have stake in India are called for discussion to apprise them about our country and listen to their view on energy business in India."

"The prime minister has taken our relationship from a buyer seller to strategic ties. He has said that beside vertical growth, India is also doing horizontal growth. More capacity and technology is welcomed. But energy should reach commoners home."

Earlier addressing the conference, the oil minister said that India will remain one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world in the coming two decades.

"Both on account of increasing access and better life styles, there will be growth in per capita energy consumption.

We will be an influential buyer in the global energy market."

The minister said the India wants to know about what is happening to the OPEC cut agreements, trends in production from big non-OPEC producers such as Russia, shale gas output in the US etc as these situations would have impact on oil prices and subsequently on fiscal deficit and economy.

He further said, "World is at the crossroad of a major transition...move towards Electric Vehicle (EV). There is a sense of credence about this the only debate is probably the timing..This would decide if gas would act as an interim fuel or not.
'Sadma' was first made in Tamil, and being a Tamilian, Vidya Balan could've taken references from the original if she had agreed.

Mumbai: The trend of remakes in Bollywood may be on the rise, but actor Vidya Balan believes one should not tamper with an old classic.

There were reports that Vidya was offered to play Sridevi's role in a remake of Sadma.

"I would not do it (remake a film). I can't dare to make or do something again. I was offered 'Sadma' remake and I said no to it.

"As I feel one should not touch a film like 'Sadma', why tamper with it? These are timeless films. One can reinterpret it, but I am not one of those who would go for it," the actor told PTI on the sidelines of Jio MAMI Movie Mela event here.

Vidya said Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand, Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, Mahesh Bhatt's Arth and Shekhar Kapur's Mr India were her favourite films during a conversation with film critics Anupama Chopra and Rajeev Masand.

The National Award-winning actor, meanwhile, is looking forward to her next film, Tumhari Sulu.

She plays a carefree housewife who turns into a late-night radio jockey.

The film was earlier slated to release on December 1, but the makers shifted the date to avoid a clash with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus, Padmavati. Tumhari Sulu will now release on November 24.

"I think everyone's dates have changed now, I have not kept a track. All I know is 'Padmavati' is coming on December 1. We got a clear date so we jumped at it.

"I am never stressed about the release of the film. If similar kinds of films were releasing, then I would be worried, not otherwise."
Actor Brahmaji is one of the most soft-spoken actors in Tollywood. He is known to maintain a cordial rapport with all the actors in the industry. The actor will be seen doing the same in reel life too. It is reported that Brahmaji will be seen playing a friend to young actor Aadi in Next Nuvve. I am attempting a horror-comedy for the first time in my career, says Brahmaji, adding that after doing Venkatadri Express, he is getting more comic roles.

In this film I will be appearing in a lengthy role. The story revolves around a hotel, and the film is a complete entertainer, he reveals. The actor, who recently returned to Hyderabad after finishing an international shoot, adds, We shot in Prague for the film Krishnarjuna Yudham and again, I am playing Nanis friend, In fact, in Nikhils upcoming film too, Brahmajis role is a friendly one!

Interestingly, the actor has worked with Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Chiranjeevi; and then Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Allu Arjun; and is now acting alongside the youngsters. Its always a great feeling to act with actors of all these generations, he exclaims. In the upcoming film Rangasthalam 1985, starring Ram Charan, Brahmaji will play a village development officer and in Mahesh Babus next, Bharat Ane Nenu too, he will play an important role After Businessman, I am doing a film with Mahesh Babu and I have a full-length character, Brahmaji reveals.
Udupi: Actor Prakash Raj who had triggered a huge controversy with his remarks on PM Modi, was honoured with Shivarama Karanth Huttura Prashasti on Tuesday amidst opposition from the BJP and saffron outfits.

Mr Raj had questioned the PMs silence on the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh at a recent programme in Bengaluru which made saffron outfits stage the protest against conferring the award on him. Despite the stiff opposition, Kotatattu panchayat which is ruled by members backing the BJP, decided to go ahead and present the award to the well known actor who has excelled in villain roles. Raj was given a grand welcome and confered the award on Tuesday evening.

Expressing his happiness over receiving the award, Raj said, It is like coming to my grandfathers place. I am like a grandson of Karanth. If I am straight forward, I am not to be blamed, Karanth, Lankesh and Tejaswi are responsible, he said.

He said that despite the opposition, he received the award respecting the sentiments of fans of Shivarama Karanth. There is a planned plot to create fear which is dangerous. Isn't there freedom of speech? Words should be countered with words, not with murder and violence. Isnt an effort to stop somebody from speaking equal to violence? What is the mistake in speaking out? I speak for myself, Raj said.

He declined to react to the BJP's protest saying, To protest is their right. Karanth too had said this. It is not important who had won or lost. The award had to be conferred and it has been done. This is a moment of defeat for those trying to curb freedom of expression. Targeting me on personal issues will not work. Like Karanth, I will not withdraw from my decisions, he said.
The claim forms a part of a study which says that there is no obvious evolutionary need to live beyond the age of 50. (Photo: Pixabay)

A new study finds that humanity, at large, would fare just as well without its elders as it does with them.

The claim forms a part of a study which says that there is no obvious evolutionary need to live beyond the age of 50.

The discovery disputes the grandmother hypothesis which suggests humans live long beyond their reproductive age because of their grandchildren and suggests that elders in a community pass down vital cultural knowledge that helps us survive.

However, the latest study, once again shrouds the reasons for human longevity.

According to Dr Jacob Moorad, of Edinburgh Universitys School of Biological Sciences, who spoke to The Daily Mail, the reason why people live beyond 50 has for long puzzled scientists. He said that there are no obvious evolutionary benefits to genes that promote living in infertile individuals.

For the study, the researchers analysed detailed family records of people born in Utah from 1860-1899 and used the records to investigate three possible explanations for longevity in men and women.

The study saw them examining whether genes that aid survival or reproduction in early life might also bring benefits in later life as well as whether genes linked to elderly fertility in men might increase lifespan in women.

The study also looked at whether having grandparents on hand to care for children might validate living into old age, developing the world's first mathematical genetic model to describe this idea.

However, the scientists were surprised to find that there were no genetic evidence men evolve to live longer by virtue of being able to father children late in life.

Instead, they found that genes which are beneficial to both early and late life are most likely the reason why men live past reproductive age.

The team found no indication that genes that promote women's survival past the age of 50 are favoured by evolution.
Irish entrepreneur John Collison is the world's self-made billionaire, according to Forbes.

He is one of four self-made billionaires in their 20s.

The 27-year-old co-founded with his brother Patrick San Francisco-based Stripe, a software platform that enables online payments.

John is just two months younger than Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, The Irish Times reported.

At just 17-years-old, John founded an online auction-management system called Shuppa in 2007. He later sold it in 2008 for $5 million reportedly.

Collison also studied physics at Harvard University before launching Shuppa .
BENGALURU: For new mothers who are unable to breastfeed their children due to various reasons, here is good news. The citys first human milk bank Amaara was opened here on Tuesday.

It is being run by Fortis La Femme (hospital for women and children), Richmond Road, in association with the Breast Milk Foundation (BMF), a non-profit organisation.

If a mothers own milk is unavailable or insufficient, the next best option is to use pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM), which will be stored and supplied by this bank.

Though the country is battling the issue of low birth weight infants, human milk banks are a rarity. So far only Delhi has such a bank in the country.

As for the Delhi bank, Dr Raghuram Malliah, Director Neonatology of La Femme Delhi and Co-Founder Breast Milk Foundation said, "In 18 months we have had about 100 donor mother and 750 litres of milk processed and including government hospitals, we have touched some 500 babies."

The team felt the response in Bengaluru will be much higher due to better awareness. Anika Parashar COO Fortis La Femme, said, "The IT city has more potential and once we start collecting proper data, the numbers might exceed the Delhi figures. We have already started getting an overwhelming response from recipients and donors and also lactation experts and gynaecologists have already started referring the bank to the new mothers."

The bank would adhere to strict guidelines with regard to donors and recipients. They would not be selling milk to anyone who calls.

"We would only process calls coming to us from hospitals and not mothers. Also, the donors after registering with the bank have to undergo various tests before we collect the milk. The milk, which is expressed at the donor's doorstep would be then analysed and the nutrient content would be labelled on each bottle," Dr Raghuram said.

Currently, each bottle is priced at Rs 200. "There are no tie-ups with the government hospitals, but if we are reached out to by them we would be sending milk there as well just like in Delhi, where we donate milk to some 25 government hospitals," he added.
The man, 60-year-old Robert James Kuefler, was charged by police in White Bear, Minnesota, with interference with a dead body or scene of death (Representational Image)

In a shocking incident a man was found to be living with the decaying bodies of his dead mum and twin brother for more than a year.

He said he did not report their deaths because he was traumatised.

The man, 60-year-old Robert James Kuefler, was charged by police in White Bear, Minnesota, with interference with a dead body or scene of death, according to Inside Edition.

The macabre living first came into view in September 2016, when the neighbours asked police to check on Kueflers residence.

Responding officers found the house to have the stench of decay and discovered the skeletal remains of Kueflers mum Evelyn in an upstairs bedroom. The mummified remains of his twin brother Richard was found in the basement. The report was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Autopsies on the body revealed that both had died of natural causes, Richard in July 2015 and his mum a month later.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Kuefler said, I was traumatized. What would you do? He went on to add, I am not some nut ball. People think I am, but Im not. I loved them.

Kuefler told the police that he fpound his brother dead in a chair and eventually moved him to the bathroom as he was getting in the way, according to a court document.

He further added that he knew his mother was on deathbed but didnt want to be around when she died, so he left the house to drive around a couple of hours.

She was already dead, when he returned, according to the Star Tribune.

Notably, Kuefler hid the deaths from family members, CBS News reported. He even sent out Christmas cards saying his brother and mom were in bad health and did not want visitors or phone calls.

While police initially accused him of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, they later dropped the claims for lack of evidence.

It turns out that while disability and Social Security checks for Kueflers mother and brother were directly deposited to their bank accounts, no money was withdrawn. Kuefler told AP he did not tap the accounts.

Authorities have decided d to file a misdemeanor charge against Kuefler last week so hell have access psychological help through the court system.

However, Kuefler told AP he doesnt think he needs counseling.
In this Friday, July 21, 2017 file photo Britain's Prince William, second left, and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, second right, and their children, Prince George, left, and Princess Charlotte, right are on their way to board a plane in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo: AP)

There are only two ways to become a princess in the British royal family - marry a prince, or be the daughter of one.

Kate Middleton became a princess when she married Prince William and their daughter Princess Charlotte inherited the title as his child.

However, while the child of prince receives the title automatically, a princess' does not, according to a report by The Sun.

That means Kate and William's son Prince George's children will receive the title, but Charlottes will not receive it.

"Royal titles are inherited through sons, so if Princess Charlotte has children they would not automatically inherit the titles HRH, Prince, or Princess," Lucy Hume, associate director of etiquette experts Debrett's, told Town & Country.

However, there are exceptions to the rule. "The monarch may offer to bestow a royal title upon his or her daughters children," Lucy added. "For Peter and Zara Phillips, the Queen offered to give them a royal title when they were born, but Princess Anne and Captain Phillips opted to decline this offer."

So Charlottes children may still have a chance at gaining the title.
To gauge the fluctuations in air quality during Diwali, the Supreme Court has banned the sale of crackers in the capital till November 1.

This ban, however, has left quite a few people unhappy; one of who is Chetan Bhagat. In a tweet that has since received a lot of flak, the author not only said that Diwali is incomplete without firecrackers, but also went on to lash out at other religions, saying festivals with blood and gore needed to be stopped instead. In no time, the best-selling author was royally trolled by Twitterati.

However, his tweet highlights a much larger issue whether it is Dahi Handi, Moharram or Diwali, factions are unable to look beyond their religion, acknowledging instead the fact that regulations help to keep them safer.

Sumaira Abdulali, environmentalist and founder of the NGO Awaaz Foundation, says it is difficult to change social attitudes and the mindset of people. Changing a social attitude and the way people think about the subject is always going to take time. An order or a law is just one part of it, but changing peoples perspective is always going to be a longer journey, she muses.

While Diwali is one time when celebrities get together and urge their followers to indulge in pollution-free festivities, Chetan seemed to not just do that, but also make it a religious matter.

Stalin Dayanand, director of projects at Vanashakti, an environmental NGO, believes that religious factions need to understand the context of rules and regulations and behave responsibly. No one is banning firecrackers in villages since there is no dearth of open spaces, where the wind can blow the smoke away. It is only in the cities that these laws are being implemented, he explains, adding that it is time people change with the times and keep the betterment of all in mind.

Stalin also goes on to blame the lack of planning in the region pinning the fault on the government. There are no open spaces or passages for wind to pass through the city. So, in a way, it is the governments fault, he shrugs.

The outrage has been equal with groups of people calling out Chetan for his misinformed tweet and the Supreme Court for the ban. Anil Dharker, columnist and director of the Lit Live festival in Mumbai, belongs to the latter group. The ban on sale of firecrackers is a classic case of judicial overreach, he says, adding, The judiciary should stop taking up cases that have nothing to do with the judiciary. If a ban needed to be in place, the executive body should have done it the local government or corporation in this case.

Instead of a ban so close to Diwali, which causes harm to several industries, measures could have been taken from last year to ensure that there were less emissions from firecrackers, Anil concludes.
A Kerala priest was arrested on Monday for allegedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old school girl inside a church. (Representational Image)

Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala priest was arrested on Monday for allegedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old school girl inside a church, police said.

The crime took place on Sunday when the victim had gone to the church for taking Bible lessons, they said.

The accused, Fr Devaraj, 65, of Kandanthitta CSI church was produced before a magistrate on Monday evening.

A case under POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and section 376 of IPC (rape) has been registered against the priest, police said.

The girl's father alleged that he saw his daughter being abused by the accused when he came to pick her up, and immediately informed the police.

The accused has been functioning as the priest in the church since the past one year, police added.
The accused took the victims to a sheep farm, which one of the accused had sub-leased in a village in Gauribidanur and beat up the victims. While Noor succumbed to injuries on Monday night, Mubashir and Khaliq sustained serious injuries

Bengaluru: A gang of goons who had kidnapped three men from J.C. Nagar in the city over a financial dispute killed one of them, leaving other two seriously injured. In a joint operation, R.T. Nagar and Gauribidanur police arrested 21 members of the gang from a village in Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district.

On Monday, Junaid Ahmad, the prime accused, called up the deceased, Noor Ahmad (27), over phone and asked him to come to a place to supposedly give the money that was owed to Noor. Noor along with his two friends Mubashir (35) Khaliq (32) went to the place. But Junaid, who had planned the entire operation and had hired cars and men, pushed Noor and his two friends into the cars and sped away, the police said.

The accused took the victims to a sheep farm, which Junaid had sub leased in a village in Gauribidanur and beat up the victims. While Noor succumbed to injuries on Monday night, Mubashir and Khaliq sustained serious injuries, the police said.

Meanwhile, Noors father filed a missing complaint at the RT Nagar police station late Monday evening after his son did not return home and neither answered calls. R.T. Nagar police, who registered the complaint, traced one of Junaid's vehicles to a village near Gauribidanur through GPS and immediately alerted the local police and left for Gauribidanur.

When the police reached the farm early Tuesday morning, they found the accused inside the farm. While Noor was already dead, Mubashir and Khaliq lay gasping for breath as they had sustained serious injuries. They were immediately rushed to Victoria Hospital for treatment, while all the 21 accused were arrested from the spot, an officer of Gauribidanur town police told Deccan Chronicle.

The police have arrested Junaid, Faizan, Ahmad, Pasha, Faisal Sultan, Mohsin, Zaheer, Mohan, Afsar, Bilal, Usman, Vikram, Bilal, Zain, Umar, Jawad, Arshad, Sonu, Mohammad Saif and Sohail Khan.

It is learnt that Junaid and Noor fought over a financial dispute involving a deal over sheep. Junaid who also works as a travel agent had recently bought sheep from Noor but was refusing to pay. The duo frequently fought over the issue.

One day, Noor along with Mubashir and Khaliq went to Junaids house and took over his two bikes and asked him to give them the money before taking back his two-wheelers. Junaid got furious, decided to settle scores and hatched a plan to kidnap Noor, but unfortunately, Mubashir and Khaliq too accompanied him that day.
The arrested was identified as Maddiboyina Sunitha alias Durga, 40, a housewife from Chandrayangutta and a native of Guntur. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: The Panjagutta police arrested a notorious woman offender for stealing gold ornaments from bus travellers and recovered Rs 7 lakh worth gold from her on Tuesday.

The arrested was identified as Maddiboyina Sunitha alias Durga, 40, a housewife from Chandrayangutta and a native of Guntur.

The lady is a habitual offender. She commits thefts on ladies purses by cutting off handbags and travel bags in crowded buses. She strikes while women board the bus, said A. Venkateshwar Rao, DCP, west zone.

The police has warned the public to be alert when they carry huge cash or gold jewellery in handbags while travelling.

Passengers should keep their valuables safely with them, the police said. The police has also requested the RTC management to install CCTVs in RTC buses.
Rachakonda police on Tuesday arrested a TRS party Sarpanch of Nandi, Wanaparthy Raju Naik, for cheating 14 victims under the pretext of helping them to purchase lands owned by the state government. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Rachakonda police on Tuesday arrested a TRS party Sarpanch of Nandi, Wanaparthy Raju Naik, for cheating 14 victims under the pretext of helping them to purchase lands owned by the state government.

Police said that Raju Naik, along with his associates, collected Rs 17 lakh from the victims saying that their names were enlisted in the allocations by the government for the newly constructed houses in Yacharam.

The victims realised that they were cheated when the original house owners raised objections over their stay. He along with another realtor Sadullah cheated the victims by forging the house registration documents. They collected Rs 1.5 lakh from each victim . Raju Naik was sent on remand, while a hunt is on for Sadullah.
The students of a private school in Shamli started complaining of stomach ache, nausea and burning sensation in their eyes after gas leakage from a neighbouring sugar mill. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Lucknow: Around 300 students were taken ill on Tuesday after inhaling toxic gas emitted by a sugar mill near their school in Shamli district, the police said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the matter by Commissioner Saharanpur.

The students of a private school in Shamli started complaining of stomach ache, nausea and burning sensation in their eyes after gas leakage from a neighbouring sugar mill.

"We have come to know that similar incidents had taken place in the past. A probe is on and strict action will be taken against those responsible," ADG, Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar said.

He said all the children are safe and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Principal Secretary, Information, Awanish Awasthi said, "The CM has ordered a probe into the Shamli incident by Commissioner Shaharanpur and directed the DM and all local officers to provide all possible help to the affected children."

Locals alleged that sugar mill employees used to discharge chemicals in waste dumps leading to emission of harmful gas inhaling which children took ill, with some of them falling unconscious.
Hundreds of lorries parked at Madhavaram lorry shed due to the two-day strike against Goods and Services Tax (GST). Prices of essential commodities may go up ahead of Deepavali. (Photo: DC)

Chennai: As many as 4.5 lakh lorries across Tamil Nadu went off roads on Monday demanding revision of GST rates and soaring fuel prices.

The nationwide two-day strike announced by All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) caused the state a loss of nearly Rs 100 crore on the first day.

Sources said while 75 per cent of the lorries from Chennai Goods Transport Association and AIMTC are currently involved in the strike, 25 per cent of them in transit would join on Tuesday.

Koyambedu truckers and lorry owners carrying perishable goods, trucks transporting goods from Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala, and Ottanchattiram, Dindugal and Theni that have a transit point for sending the goods are participating in the strike.

Mainly, about 45,000 sand lorries plying in the roads are stopped causing a loss of about 25 lakh to the government. R. Panneerselvam, general secretary, Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners' Association, said, "We would initially earn of profit of Rs 5,000 for each lorry and after the introduction of GST, we are finding it difficult to even reach break-even-point."

He further rued that there is multiple taxation while buying the vehicle and purchasing spare parts, fuel and other necessary goods. Truck operators also demanded reduce fuel prices as diesel and toll charges account for nearly 70 per cent of operating costs.

No movement of lorries could affect the prices of English vegetables like carrot, beetroot, cauliflower, beans and drumstick. The impact is likely to be felt on Tuesday.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu presents the winners award of Fintech Valley Towers Summer Product Entrepreneurship Workshop to the students of KITS, Guntur, Vamsi Krishna and his team at the inaugural session of Blockchain Business Conference organised by Fintech Valley at Novotel Hotel in Visakhapatnam on Monday. (Photo: DC)

Visakhapatnam: Blockchain technology that once echoed mostly for crypto-currency like Bitcoin used for secret financial transactions, is now sweeping the government for providing public services. Andhra Pradesh is the first state to try it in order to make public services secure, fast and trustworthy.

Unlike the Cloud technology, Blockchain, is a de-centralised system that has gained significance, due to its hack-proof and transparent feature to ensure cyber security.

Blockchain offers a way to securely and efficiently create a tamper-proof log of sensitive activity. The stakeholders will be made aware, if any changes are made by anyone in the system.

As many as 26 countries participate in Blockchain Business Conference to promote business opportunity and investment.

Fintech Valley Vizag which completed one year, conducted the Blockchain Business Conference in Vizag.

Representatives from government bodies and industry working on Blockchain technologies, gathered together to create business and investment opportunities for start-ups.

The event received an overwhelming response with more than 500 delegates on the first day.

Speaking on the occasion, AP Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu said, Today, as part of the Fintech Valley Vizag initiative, there are nine companies set up and 16 are yet to establish their bases in Vizag.

In the last one year, we have been able to attract `600 crore investment. Progress is only possible through the adoption of technology. Our aim is for Vizag to be the technology and education hub, not only for Andhra Pradesh, but for the entire country.

We are very excited to be the first state to use Blockchain pilots and the first to create a repository.

The government of AP has set aside `100 crore incentives to corporates who set up bases in Vizag. We are also speaking to several private equity firms to help raise more funds to promote Vizag as the Fintech hub, he added.

The IT Advisor to the AP Chief Minister J.A. Chowdary said, The AP government has taken the lead by incorporating Fintech and including Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Automatic Intelligence, Machine Learning and Analytics, as its key strategy in FY17.

Today, we are clear that Blockchain is the technology of the future. We want Visakhapatnam to be the next Fintech capital of the world.

NASSCOM president Rentala Chandrasekhar said that as part of its plan, NASSCOM would set up a 70-seater facility in Vizag, to help incubate start-ups, provide mentorship and give world-class products.
Visakhapatnam: The southern region of Andhra Pradesh along the coast, is infested with rampant illegal shrimp farming causing severe damage to crops and harm to environment.

Aquaculture is being taken up in over 1,200 hectares in north Andhra, namely Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.

This activity is being carried out illegally on another 1,050 hectares in the region with no action being taken by officials who ignore it.

Despite there being several rules governing aquaculture, some influential persons have been flouting these norms by taking up illegal shrimp farming. The increase in salinity levels have created panic in the north as a result of illegal aquaculture, says Dr B. Gangaram of the CPM in Vizag.

Sources say that aquaculture is being taken up over 1.29 lakh hectares in the state. Illegal shrimp farming continues on over 54,000 hectares in nine districts of the state. Krishna, West Godavari, Guntur and East Godavari districts are involved in the illegal trade. Those behind this trade manage to acquire free power supply.

They even resort to theft of electricity, for provide oxygen for shrimp. The authorities of SPDCL and EPDCL (discoms) have expressed outrage over the power pilferage that came to light during the surprise raids on illegal shrimp tanks and ponds. There is a nexus that exists between the revenue department and illegal operators in the state,

The identification of agricultural and non-agricultural land is the main problem. Illegal activities of this nature cannot be undertaken without the connivance of revenue officials and discoms staff, said V. Laxman, a farmer.

The district collectors have asked all revenue officials in the state, to submit a comprehensive report on illegal aquaculture. But the revenue department has not yet started the exercise.

Also, the vigilance wing of the electricity department has been collecting monthly mamools.

Vannamei prawns demand hits a high

Demand for Vannamei shrimp has doubled in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh with more people preferring Vannamei (ie. white-legged) shrimps over marine ones, citing freshness, taste and better quality.

President of Visakha Dolphin Boat Owners' Welfare Association Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy said that exotic Vannamei shrimps produced in large quantities by aquaculture firms in coastal Andhra, has hit fishermen who capture the brown fish variant in the Bay of Bengal.

Due to the heavy demand for Vannamei, in the overseas market because of its low cost and high culinary value, over 70 per cent of seafood exporters at the

Vizag Fishing Harbour are only buying prawns which are captured from the sea.

This is forcing fishermen to sell high-quality prawns, in the domestic market at lower prices, he added.

The Vannamei variety of prawn cultivation is attracting more traders from East Godavari and Krishna districts to Vizag and the Srikakulam coast.

With the demand for Vannamei growing in the region, illegal aquaculture is also mushrooming in several places, observed the fishermen in the region.

The Fisheries Department and Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) will be conducting a joint survey on the extent of prawn and shrimp ponds, along the North Andhra coast through the global positioning system (GPS), it is learnt.
Chennai: The daughter of Sridhar Dhanapalan, who died in Cambodia last week, has approached the Madras high court to direct the state government to help her to bring his body from Cambodia to India to give a decent cremation.

After an urgent hearing was sought, Justice M.S.Ramesh directed the government advocate to get instructions from the authorities concerned and posted to October 10, further hearing of the case.

In her petition, she sought a direction to the Kancheepuram Superintendent of Police and District Collector to issue a positive communication to the Indian high commission in Cambodia, so that they could take steps to bring the body of her father to India.

She submitted that her father was an Indian citizen and several cases were pending against him. A magistrate court in Kancheepuram had also declared him as an absconding accused. On October 4, her brother Santhosh, studying in UK called and informed her that our father's cook informed him that their father was admitted to a hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in a critical condition. When they rushed to Cambodia, they found their father dead. The hospital authorities issued a death certificate stating that he had died due to cardiac arrest. As he was not in possession of a valid passport, which has been impounded by the Enforcement Directorate, they approached the Indian high commission in Cambodia to help them to bring his body to India. But the officials said they could process their request only if the Kancheepuram police and collector gives a positive communication for the transfer since most of the cases pending against him originates from the district. When they rushed back to India and gave a written request to the two officials, they did not respond. Therefore, she filed the present petition, she added.
'No civilised country can accept the rise of terrorism on its soil,' Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency's (NIA) crackdown on flow of funds from the "neighbouring country" to finance unrest in Kashmir has dealt a blow to the morale of terror and separatist groups, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Delhi on Tuesday.

Inaugurating the headquarters of the NIA, an agency set up in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai attacks to probe terror cases in the country, Singh also said that high quality fake currency notes act as "oxygen for terrorism".

"No civilised country can accept the rise of terrorism on its soil," he said.

Without naming Pakistan as the country responsible for funding terror activities in the Kashmir Valley, Singh said, "The crackdown by the NIA on flow of funds from our neighbouring country for financing terror activities in the state has dealt a blow to the morale of these people (terrorists and separatists)."

NIA began a probe into terror activities and flow of funds from Pakistan in June this year and conducted raids at various places. The agency has so far arrested 10 people, including Altaf Shah, alias Fantoosh, son-in-law of pro-Pakistani separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and influential businessman Zahoor Watali.

Singh said five to six terrorists are killed in Jammu and Kashmir every day because of sustained efforts of the Army, paramilitary forces and other security agencies.

Complimenting the NIA for its role in curbing terror acts in the country, the home minister said it was a challenging job to gather evidence in terror cases. In 95 per cent of its cases, the accused get conviction, he said.

Referring to the menace of counterfeit notes, he said "fake currency contributes to the rise of terrorism and high quality fake currency notes act as oxygen for terrorism".

Describing terrorism as a hurdle to development, he said the NDA government had taken several steps to tackle the problem, including highlighting the issue in international forums.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had succeeded in bringing the international community on board on the issue, he said.

Lauding the role of the NIA, he said the agency had established its credibility and impartiality in the last eight years through professional and scientific investigation.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said 166 cases had been assigned to the NIA for investigation since the inception of the organisation in 2009.

These cases cover the entire spectrum of terrorism- related challenges relevant to India and have involved investigative efforts in 26 states and union territories.

Of the 166 cases, 63 cases pertain to 'jihadi' terrorism, 25 to terrorist acts by North East insurgents, 41 to cases of terror financing and fake currency, 13 to cases involving Left-wing extremism while the remaining 24 cases relate to other miscellaneous terrorist acts or gangs, he said.

Kumar said the investigations conducted by the NIA have helped unearth an entire range of illegal activities involving terror funding to specific incidents of terror, including the killing of innocent persons.
Nalas from Nacharam tank to Uppal were shrunken with encroachments and during rains, residents at Uppal are facing inundated situation

Hyderabad: For the first time, colonies in the eastern part of the city  Boduppal, Medipally, Narapally, and Peerzadiguda etc  were inundated as the Pedda Cheruvu in Ramantapur and Nalla Cheruvu in Uppal overflowed owing to the recent heavy rains.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had to use 14 motors to lift water from the Pedda Cheruvu in order to protect colonies from further inundation. The situation is still not under control as the water keeps flowing into the tank from elevated localities.

Residents from localities surrounding Pedda Cheruvu held a protest on Saturday, demanding a permanent solution to this problem. The GHMC began lifting the water from the tank on Sunday.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohan visited the affected colonies on Monday and promised that the civic body would take all measures to control the situation in future.

The Mayor also visited Ramantapur TV Studio area and observed work being done by L&T to lift water from waterlogged points.

He directed L&T to take up cross drain work. The Mayor also interacted with residents of Ravindra Nagar colony, which is completely inundated with water from the overflowing Pedda Cheruvu.

Colonies near Nalla Cheruvu in Uppal have also been inundated after the rains on Sunday afternoon.

The GHMC and Revenue department had begun surveys to identify illegal structures along the Musi river, Pedda Cheruvu, and Nalla Cheruvu and its nalas after the heavy rains last September, but no action was taken with the result that Sundays rains caused colonies to be submerged.

A majority of the nalas connecting Nacharam tank have shrunk because they have been encroached upon and whenever Nacharam Cheruvu crosses High Fill Tank Level, some colonies in Uppal like Chiluka Nagar, Uppal and Boduppal get water logged.

While the GHMC is pumping out water from the Pedda Cheruvu, the irrigation department has objected explain why.

For the first time, residents from Pedda Cheruvu in Ramantapur held protest against government seeking protection to their houses from rain water.

Pedda Cheruvu and Nalla Cheruvu were encroached and some builders constructed buildings in FTL area which is leading to inundated situation to surrounding areas of these tanks.

Nalas from Nacharam tank to Uppal were shrunken with encroachments and during rains, residents at Uppal are facing inundated situation.

Colonies between Pedda Cheruvu, Nalla Cheruvu and Musi are having more threat in future.
BENGALURU: Alleging foul play in the death of their 22-year-old son Narendra R., an army man deployed at Pahalgam in Anantnag district of South Jammu and Kashmir, parents of the young soldier have demanded an inquiry into their sons death.

Narendra, who joined the Army two years ago, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a service rifle issued to him at the Pahalgam camp on Sunday morning. But his parents Raju and Pushpa, who live in Rajagopalnagar in the city, suspect foul play and have refused to buy the Army's version.

Raju told Deccan Chronicle that his son spoke to everyone at home via a video call on Saturday night and he was happy as usual. But the familys world turned upside down when they received a call around 8 am on Sunday from an army officer, who informed them about their sons suicide.

The person on the other side sought to know if I was Narendras father. When I said yes, he told me that Narendra had shot himself dead. I went blank for a few moments and then asked him to show Narendras picture as evidence as I did not believe our son could commit suicide, but the man refused to comply, a sobbing Raju said.

The army officer told Raju that Narendra committed suicide three minutes before his shift was to end at 6 am on Sunday. Narendra was found dead inside the camp when army officials rushed to the camp after hearing a gunshot. There should be an inquiry into our sons death. Army officials should prove that my son committed suicide. If they dont, we will fight it legally, Raju said.

Narendras mother Pushpa too could not believe that her son committed suicide, and said that Narendra was a brave soldier, who had no reason to end his own life.

Narendras mortal remains are expected to arrive on Tuesday and the final rites wil be conducted the same day.

Narendra reported back to duty on Sept 27 after holiday

Narendra who was on leave from August 30 to September 26 reported to duty on September 27. Narendra, according to his father, spent most of the time with the family in Rajagopalnagar and cleared all the small debts his family had. During his visit, Narendra also bought a new house through home loan and his family had shifted to the house before he left Bengaluru on September 24. A son who was so concerned about the well-being of his family would not commit suicide. Nothing was bothering him and, in fact, he was very happy after buying the new house, one of his friends said.
Vijayawada: The World Bank Panel Inspection reports have revealed very interesting facts about the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS).

The World Bank (WB) panel on the one hand lauded the effectiveness in land pooling, but on the other hand it highlighted the lapses and failures in implementation. According the report, several farmers who own land, explained that they have had substantial income from agriculture that covered their living expenses, paid for their childrens education and gave them financial safety and stability.

But, according to them, the annuity and pension amounts paid under the LPS are too small and insufficient to sustain their livelihoods. Even the landless labourers are struggling to meet their day-to-day expenses.

WB Inspection panel chairman Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, panel member Jan Mattsson, executive secretary Dilek Barlas and operations officer Birgit Kuba, visited India from September 12 to 15, 2017.

The panel team held meetings in Delhi, Vijayawada and several villages in Amaravati. The team met with the requesters and other potentially affected community members, farmers in support of the LPS and their representatives, representatives of the WB country office, officials from the ministry of finance and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), as well as civil society representatives.

According to the report submitted by the panel, the proposed project is currently under preparation and is at the pre-appraisal stage.

According to World Bank, the appraisal of the proposed project is planned for early November 2017 and will include the strategic environmental and social assessment environmental and social management framework, Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the initial 10 roads. These 10 roads constitute the first phase of the proposed project and make up roughly 30 per cent of the planned bank financing.

According to the manage-ment, the planned flood protection works and upgrading village infrastructure will follow in later phases of the proposed project and will be appraised separately.

During its visit, the panel also met with community members who claimed that they were misled into participating in the LPS, as they did not have information about it, or they were under pressure to join. One of the alleged reasons for this pressure was the issuance of short deadlines by which individuals were required to decide to join the LPS; otherwise, they were told that their land would be acquired through land acquisition. The panel team was told that these deadlines were later extended several times, but by then many people had already joined the LPS.

They have also mentioned that other farmers explained that they were allotted a specific plot of land, which they could identify on a map, but claimed that the actual plot had not been adequately measured and demarcated on the ground.

Others claimed that the lands they owned before the LPS implementation started were registered as smaller plots when compared with what they had.

The panel team also met with several people who expressed concern about physical cultural resources, particularly losing their burial and cremation grounds as well as temples and churches. The panel further heard allegations of discrimination from vulnerable groups, including individuals claiming to belong to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes.

Some farmers also claimed that their agricultural plots were disconnected from electricity even though they had not joined the LPS and their land had not been acquired, and thus they could not irrigate. In one case, a farmer claimed to have been without electricity for over a year.

The panel team also met with landless agricultural wage laborers, among them women who were the heads of their households who had lost or feared they would lose employment opportunities due to the LPS.

According to the project documents, the average monthly family income of landless laborers is `8,476, an estimation based on a survey of 193 individuals.

Documentation that the APCRDA provided to the panel during its visit, as of August 2017, 20,529 landless pensioners lived in the affected villages.

The panel was told by several people in different villages that a couple would earn about Rs 800 per day and would work at least six days per week, resulting in a monthly family income of Rs 19,000 per month. Under the LPS, each family now receives a pension of Rs 2,500 per month, which they claim will not cover their living expenses. They explained to the Panel that since they are no longer able to farm in the Amaravati area, they have to travel far to find agricultural work, and often cannot find jobs. They also emphasized that they had farmed for their entire lives and were not trained to perform other work.

Many individuals claimed that they had farmed highly fertile lands, with ground water available close to the surface, where they could farm year-round and harvest crops three times per year. Some people alleged that their lands were recorded in Project documents as dry lands and thus were less fertile, even though they had irrigated lands, and therefore received less compensation for their agricultural income than their production merited.

Affected families

The average monthly family income of landless laborers is Rs 8,476 as per project document.

20,529 landless pensioners lived in the affected villages as per information provided by APCRDA.

The Panel team also met with landless agricultural wage laborers, among them women who were the heads of their households.
Bengaluru: A fast developing city, Bengaluru is in no way helping the country, which is a signatory to the ambitious Paris agreement of 2015 , achieve its goal of de-carbonisation. Going by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), the citys many high- rise buildings with glass facades consume 10 times more electricity than normal buildings.

Greater Bengaluru with its many Information Technology industries is ranked fifth in emission of greenhouse gases ( 2437.03 Gg) in the country by a study done by the institute's Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) between 1991 and 2016 aimed at gauging carbon footprints and level of greenhouse gas emissions in the country .

Its findings reveal that 24 wards of South East Bengaluru consume the highest amount of electricity of over 4000 kWh per person per year mainly due to their many IT and BT industries and high- rise apartments with glass facades.

Mr TV Ramachandra of the CES explains that high -rise buildings with glass facades consume 14,000 to15,000 units of power per person a year when eco-friendly zones consume only 1,300 to 1,500 units per person per year.

Glass generates a high level of radiation leading to a rise temperature in surrounding areas, he says, pointing out that the concept of high- rise buildings with glass facades is European and aimed at trapping heat in buildings and help the people inside escape the cold. This, however, does not apply to countries like India, he notes.

Unless the government bans high -rise buildings with glass facades, the country will not be able to realize the PMs promise of de-carbonisation. The greater consumption of electricity by these buildings in turn leads to higher emission of greenhouse gases, he warns.

Environmentalists, who have similar concerns, regret that the high- rises with glass facades are harmful to birds as well, causing them to lose direction owing to their reflection in the glass.

Mr Mahesh Kashyap, a consultant with the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD), is afraid that if there is a rise in temperature in areas around high- rise buildings it could eventually impact climate change.
Bengaluru: After the ban on firecrackers in New Delhi and Mumbai, environmentalists want a similar ban in Bengaluru too, saying the Diwali is a festival of lights and not crackers.

Mr Mahesh Kashyap, a consultant with the Centre for Sustainable Development, said, The government must ban the use of crackers and raise awareness among citizens on the ill-effects of bursting of crackers.

Environmentalist Yellapa Reddy, quoting a World Health Organisation report, which claimed that India has the highest rate of deaths due to respiratory diseases, said, Young children need good quality of air three times more than adults. Bengaluru is already suffering because of air pollution and bursting of crackers will only add to pollution.

He said citizens too should be aware, and asked, Do we want to contribute to pollution by bursting crackers.

Every year, during Diwali, hospitals see a surge in complaints of burns and respiratory problems, and most vulnerable are infants. The smoke-filled air and noise emanating from high-decibel crackers not only affect senior citizens but also those suffering from asthma and respiratory diseases.

On the impact of crackers on ones health, Dr Sumant, an assistant professor at a medical college, said, High-decibel sound leads to partial deafness and fumes from crackers cause respiratory ailments.

No sale at retail shops: High Court

Expressing concern over the safety while selling firecrackers in retail shops, the High Court refused to renew the licenses of several such retail shop owners, who had sought permissions to sell firecrackers in their shops.

The government advocate argued that as per Explosives Act, selling of firecrackers cannot be permitted in such shops and told the court that the state police have also issued a circular restricting the sale of firecrackers in such shops.

KSPCB to designate areas for fireworks

After monitoring the Air Quality Index (AQI), which indicates increased pollution in several parts of the city, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has formed squads to conduct surprise check at shops selling crackers above 125 dB, the permissible limit set by the regulatory agency.

A highly-placed source at KSPCB said that the raids will be conducted in a short span. We have noise meters which will be used to check the noise level of crackers, he said.

The KSPCB will conduct awareness campaigns across schools and colleges in the city against the use of firecrackers.

Board chairman Lakhsman said, We want an eco-friendly Diwali. We are vigilant about bursting of loud crackers.

The board maintained that the ambient air quality will be constantly monitored on the day of the festival. Mr Laxman also revealed that in the next couple of days, a list of designated areas will be released where bursting of crackers will be allowed. The police department too will join hands with the KSPCB to prepare the list. Despite repeated attempts, BBMP could not be contacted.

We are for eco-friendly Diwali. We are vigilant about bursting of loud crackers Laxman, chairman, KSPCB

Fumes from crackers affect asthmatic patients. Hospitals receive a lot of complaints of eye injuries too during the festival Dr Priya, pulmonologist

The government must ban crackers and raise awareness on their side-effects Mahesh Kahyap Centre for Sustainable Development
He said Temple Enterprise was incorporated in 2004 with Jay Shah and Jitendra Shah listed as its directors. (Photo: PTI/File)

Hyderabad: TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday demanded a judicial probe into the alleged multi crore scam involving BJP president Amit Shahs son Jay Amit Shah.

Speaking to the media after leading a protest at Ambedkar statue, Mr Reddy said that the growth in revenue by 16,000 times and loans by 4,000 per cent in Jay Shahs company Temple Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. after the NDA came to power clearly indicated large-scale corruption and a major scam.

He said Temple Enterprise was incorporated in 2004 with Jay Shah and Jitendra Shah listed as its directors. BJP president Amit Shahs wife, Sonal Shah, also had a stake in the company.

Therefore, all the suspicious financial transactions involve the family of the BJPs national president, Mr Reddy said, demanding the Centre constitute a Special Investigating Team, headed by two sitting judges of the Supreme Court, to conduct the probe.

The TPCC chief also demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi direct the BJP president to resign from all posts to facilitate a free and fair inquiry into the scam.
Hyderabad: K.T. Rama Rao, minister for information technology, municipal administration and urban development, did not gloss over the poor condition of the roads in the state capital, but in fact went out of his way to acknowledge that roads are bad, and admitted that he had been hauled up by his own son for just this.

At a programme attended by industry bigwigs on Tuesday, Intel chief Nivruti Rai, waxed eloquent about the transformation of Hyderabad since her last visit 10 years ago. She said that Hyderabads roads are beautiful, as she herself experienced during her drive from the airport to the venue.

He responded with candour unusual in a politician when he said humorously that some sections of the audience were looking at each other in disbelief after Ms Rais lavish praise of Hyderabads roads. He said there are bumpy roads in Hyderabad and he could take her on them if she wanted to see them. He said the rains over the last seven to 10 days had made life miserable for people travelling on Hyderabad's roads.

KTR assures better roads

He said he knew about the damaged roads only too well because his convoy travels on the same bumpy stretches every day and not on any elevated corridor.

I know that I am not the most popular person in Hyderabad at the moment. I am not going to beat around the bush, but admit that we have to improve our infrastructure. We have a long way to go. But please bear with me. We are trying and we are trying our best. We will work to get the roads better, he said.

He said his son was among those stuck in traffic on Monday night and had given him an earfull!
Lucknow: More than 300 students of Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Shamli district were rushed to the district hospital following complaints of uneasiness in breathing, stomach ache followed by a bitter taste in the mouth after chemical fumes were released from a neighbouring sugar mill.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the Saharanpur commissioner to probe the incident. He has asked the district magistrate to ensure proper treatment of the children.

According to Shamlis chief medical officer, Dr Raj Kumar, most of the children were discharged after they were given basic treatment.

The school has been closed for the day. He said so far three students were still admitted at the hospital and were under observation.

Thirty six students were referred to private hospitals for advanced treatment. Younger children seem to have been more affected by the fumes.

Shamli district magistrate Indra Vikram Singh downplayed the incident and said that odour released as part of a routine cleaning exercise at nearby sugar mills made the students nauseous.
Ms Giri said that she had approached the Navy doctors discussing the complexities she was facing, but no one helped her.

Visakhapatnam: Stating that she was neither a terrorist nor had committed any crime, sailor Sabi Giri, earlier known as Manish Giri, said that the Navy was wrong to have sacked her for undergoing a sex change surgery and she was ready to even move the Supreme Court for justice.

I will even move the Supreme Court to get justice. There are also rumours spreading that I was married and have a son, which is totally false and baseless. The decision of the Navy is very insensitive, Ms Giri said.

On Monday, the Indian Navy issued a media release stating that it has discharged Manish Giri, a naval sailor, evoking the clause of service no longer required under Navy Regulations.

According to World Health Organisation and Indian Psychiatric Association, its all fine, perfect and scientific if the gender identity and sexual orientation of an individual do not match, Ms Giri said.

She said that she derives the strength to take on the odds from her mother.

Changing sex is perfectly normal as per science and other norms and I am as fit to serve in the Navy as ever, Ms Giri said.

My feelings used to be like a girl from my childhood, more female-oriented than male. So there was the difference in my gender identity and sexual orientation. I had been suppressing that feeling but it became more intense after one year of joining the Navy. I started feeling very uneasy with it and the complexities grew, Ms Giri said.

Her Facebook profile status reads: I am a trans-girl. Always try to understand and respect the feeling of each & every human being.

Ms Giri said that she had approached the Navy doctors discussing the complexities she was facing, but no one helped her. Finding no other option, she mustered courage and went for the sex alignment surgery at a hospital in Mumbai in 2016.

In its statement, the Navy said; The serving sailor who underwent sex reassignment surgery at a private facility whilst on leave was administratively discharged from service. The individual chose to undergo irreversible gender re-assignment on his own accord, whilst on leave wilfully altering his gender status from the one he was recruited for at the time of his induction. He has therefore breached the Recruitment Regulations and eligibility criteria for his employment as a Sailor in the Indian Navy. The existing service rules and regulations do not permit the sailors continued employment owing to his altered gender status, medical condition and resultant employability restrictions.
Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh proposes to build a massive statue of Lord Rama the banks of the Sarayu river in Ayodhya, not far from the disputed Ram JanmabhoomiBabri Masjid site.

According to reports, the proposed statue will be around 100-metres-tall and other modalities will be finalised after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visits Ayodhya next week to celebrate Diwali. Principal secretary tourism, Avanish Awasthi, said on Tuesday, Yes there is a proposal for a Ram statue in Ayodhya. It is at a conceptual stage right now and similarly there are many other proposals for different tourist destinations across the state. The proposal, said officials, is part of a plan to boost religious tourism in Uttar Pradesh. This has been a key area for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ever since he took charge seven months ago after the BJP swept the UP Assembly elections.
ALAPPUZHA: While Kerala gets lauded for appointing 39 non-Brahmin priests including six Dalits at Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) temples, the non-Brahmin priests are still waiting to enter the sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of Sabarimala, the richest of them. Though a non-Brahmin priest, Vishnu Narayanan, applied for the post of Melsanthi (chief priest) at Sabarimala for the upcoming season, the TDB kept it in abeyance. The verdict on his appeal is now pending before the High court. The TDB shortlisted 14 Brahmin candidates for Sabarimala and 12 for Malikappuram on October 5 for the October 17 draw.

Mr Narayan, now the Melsanthi of Pallam Subrahmanya Swamy Temple, also known Dakshina Kashi, feels discriminated against for being non-Brahmin. "The vigilance officials came to my home and the temple where I work. They were so happy with my prospects," he said. "I am little apprehensive at the delay in court verdict after the hearing on October 3. If it comes after the draw, it will be a denial of justice." He has almost 19 years of experience as Melsanthi. The ad, inviting applications from Malayala Brahmins, was in violation of the 2014 government order against caste as criteria.

"My guru Mathanam Vijayan Thantri had been proscribed from the list in 1983 because of his caste. He died not fulfilling his dream in 2008. I want to take it forward," he says. However, TDB, caught in the recent non-Brahmin priest controversy at Chettikulangara, is against non-Brahmins at major temples like Sabarimala before they prove their dedication. TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan says they have a "special decorum" to be followed.

Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran in a statement said there was a practice of appointing low-quality priests from upper class receiving kickbacks. "With the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board (KDRB) coming into being, it has stopped," he said. He thanked media for the silent revolution. It was Deccan Chronicle which broke the story in a report titled First Dalit priest gets posting in TDB temple on October 1. He said the selection was strictly on merit.
Chennai: Actor Kamal Hassan, who is set to launch himself into politics by the end of this year,on Monday saw Kerala government's decision to appoint 36 non-Brahmins as temple priests as realization of late Periyar's dream.

In a tweet, Kamal Hassan congratulated Kerala Chief Minister Pinnarayi Vijayan for the "bravo" act. The actor calls Vijayan as his "good friend" and had met him in Thiruvananthapuram on September 1 for Onam lunch as part of his "learning curve" before his formal launch into politics.

"Bravo Travancore Devaswom Board. Salute to Kerala Chief Minister Pinnarayi Vijayan for appointing 36 non-Brahmin priests. Periyar's dream realised," Kamal wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The actor has been quite active on Twitter for the past few months and has been commenting on almost all issues concerning Tamil Nadu and other southern states. He had also declared a war on corruption a few months back when he asked people to send complaints of corruption in every department to the minister concerned.

In his tweet on Monday, Kamal hailed the Kerala Government's move as "realization of late Periyar's dream" since the legendary Dravidian rationalist had fought many a battle to get equal rights for all sections of the society in temples in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Periyar had led the agitation in 1924 at Vaikom, a small town in the then Travancore state and current Kerala, to secure freedom of movement for all sections of society through the public roads leading to the Sri Mahadevar Temple in the town. Ezhava community members were not allowed to use the road leading to the temple before the agitation.
India is a land of rich textiles. Each state of India has its own hand-woven, hand-embroidered, traditional handloom textiles and sarees that have won the admiration of millions across the globe. In post-Independent India, successive governments have taken special measures to protect and promote Indias rich handloom textile industry through legislative and institutional mechanisms, tax incentives and other financial measures; by setting up cooperatives and linkages for marketing the products, by reserving products within handloom categories to eliminate competition with mass-produced textiles and through various other methods. However, in the past one year, the double jolt of demonetisation and a hastily-implemented and complicated Goods and Services Tax that did not give a tax exemption to handloom, at least in the first round, has dealt a severe blow to the handloom industry.

According to the data from the ministry of textiles, there are 43.31 lakh weavers in India, out of which 77 per cent are women. Out of these 43.31 lakhs, as many as 36.33 lakh are in rural areas. Large sections of the weaver community belong to the minorities, and other socially and economically marginalised sections of society. Many of them live below the poverty line. By a rough estimate, 61 per cent of weavers work independently, 34 per cent work under master weavers, and only five per cent work through cooperatives and clusters. The handloom industry is totally decentralised, and is spread across India. It operates within the informal sector, and creates around 14 per cent of total textile production in India.

The Indian textile industry is one of the worlds oldest. There is evidence of cotton production in the Indus Valley Civilisation. Indian cotton and silk were prized items for export in ancient India to other ancient civilisations. Super-fine cotton fabric called muslin, known in ancient Rome as ventus textilis (the woven wind), was a highly-coveted item. Its said that it was so fine that Roman emperor Augustus banned its use as a dress material by the women of his court through an imperial decree stating its bad for the morals of his people. Ibn Batuta, the 14th century traveller, noted that among the presents sent by Delhis Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq to the Yuan emperor in China were 100 pieces each of five varieties of cloth, each category named differently.

When the East India Company ventured into India, one of its main items of export was Indian textiles. This changed only after the Industrial Revolution in England. Along with new technologies, England adopted a protectionist policy towards its own nascent textile industry by banning the import and sale of finished pure cotton products from India. In India, the colonial administration not only discouraged the indigenous textile industry, but flooded the Indian market with cheap mill-produced Lancashire textiles. At one stroke, a millennia-old tradition was reversed. From being the worlds largest textile exporter, India began to import British textiles. During the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi began the practice of spinning and weaving homegrown textiles  khadi. The symbolism of khadi in Indias Independence movement is immense. Khadi symbolised Indias pride, entrepreneurship, a move towards self-sufficiency, and a spirit of resistance to the mighty colonial power. Khadi remains one of the most potent symbols of Indias independence from political slavery, economic bondage and cultural stagnation. Its an intrinsically embedded imagery of the freedom struggle with Mahatma Gandhi. Its shameful to see the Mahatmas image replaced by the current Prime Ministers photograph in khadi calendars, with a minister of the ruling party from a state saying that Mr Modi is a bigger brand than Mahatma Gandhi.

For the first time in Independent India, khadi has been taxed under GST. Though the khadi yarn, Gandhi cap and the national flag remain exempt, other items made of khadi, including apparels, are being taxed. The handloom textile industry operates within a framework of cash and credit flow. The weavers are given credit by middlemen and/or traders for the purchase of raw materials like yarn, threads or zari. With demonetisation, the cash disappeared and credit stopped. Demonetisation hit all small and medium-scale industries in the informal sector, but the handloom sector suffered an even bigger blow. It already had to compete with large-scale mass production of textiles. With the withdrawal of cash from the market, not just production suffered due to lack of availability of credit and cash in hand to purchase raw materials, but also demand dipped due to the reduced purchasing power, leading to a vicious circle of low-demand, low-production and stagnation in the market.

The governments refusal to grant a tax exemption to handlooms while introducing GST has led to even more miseries for weavers. Thanks to the lack of technical knowhow and the absence of an efficient machinery to help implement GST, the utter confusion in the informal sector, including the handloom sector, continues. The weavers are not given credit as they cant raise invoices due to the lack of digital as well as financial literacy. The tax on sarees and apparels above `1,000 has made competition far tougher for the handloom sector. According to a media report, in Varanasi, the Prime Ministers constituency, which is one of the earliest textile centres in India, traditional weavers have been rendered jobless and are being forced to look for other jobs. Over 70 weavers are said to have committed suicide in Varanasi due to the vicious cycle of debt and poverty.

Handloom is not merely an economic activity. Its an art that its practitioners dedicate their lives to learn. The master weavers produce masterpieces that not only exemplify an individuals superb skills but contain centuries-old traditions in a single piece of cloth. In many weaving communities, skills are imparted by home training and continue through generations. Its the States responsibility to create a conducive environment for such craft to survive and thrive. Mr Modis government talks about skilling India, but seems to be doing its best to destroy one of the most ancient and precious talent-pool of skills the country has.
Sitaram Yechury succeeded Prakash Karat as the chief of Indias largest Communist party in April 2015. The CPI(M) currently rules the states of Tripura and Kerala and was ousted from power in West Bengal after a record run of three decades. Mamata Banerjees Trinamul Congress has governed the state since but it has offered to join hands with the left to defeat Hindutva in West Bengal and in the country. The CPI(M) has dithered over the idea. Yechury from Andhra Prade-sh and Karat from Kerala are both former students of JNU, and both have been presidents of the students union of the leftist campus. Both were excellent debaters and both were prone to be defeated by their rivals on a lean day in a debate or in a vote count. Debate was the hallmark of the leftist campus they had helped create, and their successors are holding aloft the tradition despite the daily assaults by a handpicked Hindutva administration. Now, it seems, Karat and Yechury are at loggerheads over the party line on Hindutva. Should the CPI(M) align with the Congress against the threat the Narendra Modi regime poses to democracy? Or shou-ld the party work to unite leftists to retrieve the depleted progressive space? Yechury apparently believes that the CPI(M) and other leftist groups should join hands with the Congress. Karats unpublicised argument seems to be that supporting the Congress would weaken the party in Kerala where the Congress is its principal opponent.

There are clear reasons, therefore, to open the debate on this make-or-break moment for the party and for the country, to involve as many opinions as can contribute to a clearer understanding of each theoretical idea and their related strategy. However, leftists of the Communist stripe seem to come with a personality disorder. On the one hand, the partisans make excellent debaters and analysts, as Karat and Yechury no doubt are. On the other hand, the comrades can be utterly intolerant of a rival view, more so if it comes from within their ranks. This has led to nasty purges and splits in the movement across the world. These days they face a third problem. It is difficult to miss this marked contempt bordering on celebration among Indian leftists and liberals alike about the right wings lack of intellectual finesse. However, even as Yechury and Karat remain locked in their secretive battle for a better future, Hindutva has deftly occupied the centrestage of the raging political debate by flau-nting its intellectual sinews.

Who would have thought that the most trenchant criticism of Narendra Modis premiership, for example, would come from the right, from men who have not hesitated to genuflect before the Hindutva pulpit in Nagpur but who have also shown intellectual mettle by questioning an autocrat in power? The style and substance of their critique was once the preserve of the left. One of the critics, Arun Shourie, has been a combative editor of an English daily. His recent formulation that the Modi government is UPA plus cow was reminiscent of how Communist stalwarts like Bhupesh Gupta and Hiren Mukherjee would underscore their substantive points with biting humour. But Shourie is also the original author of the Hindutva strategy to conflate the Indian left with Islamist extremism. Another BJP intellectual who has been poking Modi in the eye to the general mirth of his liberal and leftist opponents is former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. While the right has been debating and berating Modi, the Congress has just increased the number of Hindu temples Rahul Gandhi will visit in Gujarat. And the CPI(M) has published the following statement: The Polit Bureau discussed the outline of the draft political resolution for the 22nd Party Congress. This will now be taken to the Central Committee at its meeting from October 14-16, 2017. We have till the party congress in April to figure out our chances.

By arrangement with Dawn
The heart of the Supreme Court is evidently in the right place  it does want to prevent Delhi and the National Capital Region turning into a gas chamber around Diwali time. But it has tied itself up into knots, and should also perhaps explain why it should rule only for Delhi, and not the entire country. On Monday, a three-judge bench reinstated the Delhi-NCR ban on the sale of firecrackers that was imposed in November 2016. This was necessary as a two-judge Supreme Court bench, responding to the manufacturers plea, had modified that order on September 12 to permit sales upto a limit and on a temporary basis. Naturally, sellers began to stock supplies for Diwali which lay just ahead, not knowing theyd run into a fresh ban.

The sequence of events shows how little thought judges of the highest court accorded the issue of dangerously poor air quality in Delhi and its surrounding areas around the year, but specially near Diwali, when the government has to resort to desperate measures. The incidence of respiratory illnesses shoots up and hospitals are under stress. Schools are closed to protect children from the noxious air. If the thinking was not muddled, last years suspension of sales wouldnt have come after Diwali  after the horse had bolted, as it were, even if bans were to work. Later, the 2016 order wouldnt have been relaxed, more so partially just weeks before this Diwali, to be followed days afterward by a reversal.

The three stages of the judicial thinking in respect of curbing pollution around Diwali speaks of an ad hoc response to a very serious problem, although it is hard to disagree with the courts observation on Monday that there was direct evidence of deterioration of air quality at alarming levels due to bursting of firecrackers. According to ancient tradition Deepawali, the proper name of the famous Hindu festival, is a festival of lights, as the name so amply suggests, not noxious smoke and deafening sound. This aspect is a distortion of the past century. A writer of pulp fiction sought to communalise the muddled judicial thinking by suggesting that the judges could only dare fiddle with Hindu sentiments, not of those of other faiths (implying Muslims, through the analogy he drew). Sorry, but this is not about religion. Hindu sentiment doesnt choose bad quality air. Actually, banning sales is a pointless exercise when manufacturing is also not halted. It is impossible to police. Besides, it is easy enough to procure firecrackers just outside NCR limits in neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and bring them across to Delhi. Last years orders came after Diwali. We may wonder what the point of that ban was.
As Saudi monarch King Salman bin Abdulaziz landed in Moscow last week with a 1,500-strong entourage on a four-day state visit, he became the first Saudi ruler to visit the Kremlin, signalling a new phase in bilateral ties after a chequered engagement over several decades. The Cold War had kept the two countries divided over the civil war in Yemen, and later the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, with diplomatic ties being established only in 1990. There was a shortlived thaw when Crown Prince Abdullah visited Russia in 2003 and President Vladimir Putin came to Riyadh in 2007, when several wide-ranging agreements were signed, particularly in the oil and gas sector. But, after 2011, Russia and Saudi Arabia were again divided over Syria, where the kingdom pushed for regime change in Damascus. Russia directly entered the Syrian war theatre in 2015, ensuring that President Bashar al-Assad would not be removed by the opposition militia, most of them sponsored by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The Syrian civil conflict coincided with the steady withdrawal of the United States from West Asias conflict zones. This made Russia the principal military and political force in West Asia, the driver of the Syrian peace process, in alliance with Iran and recently Turkey, that would also ensure a robust assault on the Islamic State and other rebel militia, the enforcement of de-escalation zones, and dialogue between the government and Opposition groups.

King Salman has thus joined a long line of leaders from Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt and Israel who have visited Russia in recent times to seek the understanding and support of the czar in Moscow of their regional interests. Commentators have struggled to describe the significance of this encounter: President Putin called it a landmark event, while Saudi foreign minister Adel Jubeir saw it as a historic moment; other Saudis have referred to it as an exceptional event, a new phase or decisive turning point in bilateral ties, and of new horizons being opened. The reasons for this uncharacteristic enthusiasm are several. The kingdom is embroiled in two unwinnable wars, in Syria and Yemen, where it has spent billions of dollars but with no prospect of military victory. There are clear indications from Riyadh that Saudi Arabia has accepted that Bashar al-Assad will remain in office at least during a transition period, the length of which is not known.

But the Kings agenda in Moscow went beyond Syria. It included the fight against the Islamic State, maintaining the integrity of Iraq amid sectarian divisions and Kurdish aspirations for independence, and, above all, stabilising the oil markets so that producers can once again generate the revenues required to sustain national interests. In all these matters, Russia and Saudi Arabia are on the same side. Where Russia and the kingdom part company is on Iran. King Salman reiterated in Moscow the Saudi position that, to achieve regional security and stability, Iran should stop its interference in the affairs of the neighbouring countries. This refers to Irans burgeoning role in regional affairs, particularly through Shia proxies, in Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Mr Putin did not respond positively to the monarchs overtures. In fact, the Russian media reminded the Saudis that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been to Moscow four times in the last 18 months, seeking greater distance between Russia and Iran. In August this year, Mr Putin had rebuffed his proposal for a 60-km buffer zone between the Hezbollah/Iranian forces in Syria and the Israeli border; the maximum Mr Putin offered was a five-km exclusion zone, though he has allowed Israeli bombings on Hezbollah positions in Syria.

During the visit, the two countries signed a series of multi-billion-dollar investment deals, including one to create a $1 billion fund to pursue energy projects. The Kings visit has also taken bilateral ties into the new area of defence cooperation: Saudi Arabia plans to buy the Russian S-400 air defence systems, anti-tank guided missile systems and multiple rocket launchers. These contracts will include transfer of technology arrangements and manufacture within the kingdom itself. There are also reports that Saudi Arabia might be interested in acquiring Russian aircraft in use in Syria, the Su-30SM and Su-35S fighters and the Su-34 fighter-bombers. In response to some American reports that this outreach to Russia has left the United States out in the cold, Saudi writers have been at pains to clarify that the strengthening of Saudi-Russia ties does not imply a dilution of the kingdoms relations with the US: the editor of Jeddah-based Arab News, Faisal Abbas has said these new ties are due to the reduced US role in West Asia in the Barack Obama era and will facilitate a solution to the Syrian conflict. But the kingdoms ties with the US are a time-tested strategic partnership, a status that links with Russia do not have as yet.

Similarly, Salman al-Dossary, writing in Al-Sharq al Awsat, has said that Saudi ties with the US were much deeper and more important strategically. However, at a time of important changes in the world order, it made sense for Saudi Arabia to expand its options. In fact, Mr al-Dossary speculated that the Saudi overture to Russia could over time even reduce the efficacy of Iran-Russia relations. While Saudi Arabia has every reason to be grateful to President Donald Trump for the fulsome support he has given to the kingdoms anti-Iran Islamic Military Alliance during his visit to Riyadh in May and the visceral animosity he has displayed for the Islamic Republic, there is considerable uncertainty about the future US role in West Asia and whether this will include a larger US military footprint. The kingdom has reached out to Moscow as the only active major power in West Asia that has built up a solid network of regional partners and is able to make a difference on the ground.
Researchers said the discovery could benefit millions of people in the developing world who depend on corn as a staple, and could reduce animal feed costs, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

Miami: US scientists have found a way to genetically engineer corn to produce an amino acid contained in meat, boosting the nutritional value of one of the world's most important crops. The process involved inserting a bacterial gene that causes corn to make methionine, a crucial nutrient for the health of skin, nail and hair.

Researchers said the discovery could benefit millions of people in the developing world who depend on corn as a staple, and could reduce animal feed costs, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

"We improved the nutritional value of corn, the largest commodity crop grown on Earth," said co-author Thomas Leustek, professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers University. "Most corn is used for animal feed, but it lacks methionine -- a key amino acid -- and we found an effective way to add it."

The sulfur in methionine "protects cells from pollutants, slows cell aging and is essential for absorbing selenium and zinc," the PNAS report said. Already, industries spend billions adding synthetic methionine to field corn seed, which does not naturally contain this amino acid, in order to help livestock grow. Co-author Joachim Messing, a professor who directs the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, said this is a "costly, energy-consuming process."

The new method involved inserting an E. coli bacterial gene into the corn plant's genome. The E. coli enzyme caused methionine production in the plant's leaves, and methionine in corn kernels increased by 57 percent, the study said.

The process did not affect plant growth. Scientists fed the genetically engineered corn to chickens at Rutgers University and found it was nutritious for them, Messing said.

Leustek told AFP that "in principle, the technology could be quickly deployed, within a couple of years." "The transgene that we developed can easily be inserted into commercial corn varieties," he said in an email.

"The major obstacle would be regulatory hurdles because it is a transgenic technology." Food and animal feeds containing genetically modified organisms are highly controversial in the European Union, amid public suspicions that they carry a health risk.

A sweeping review in 2016 of the available scientific literature by the US National Academies of Science found no evidence that genetically modified crops are unsafe to eat. Leustek said researchers also found that it might be possible to grow corn that contains this amino acid without using genetic engineering.

"For example, by feeding plants with different sources of sulfur nutrients as fertilizer," he said. "Of course, this will require additional work and the outcome is not guaranteed. But our results strongly suggest that changes in use of fertilizers could also achieve the desired result."

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On October 1, 2017 police officers stand at the scene of a mass shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas. (Photo: AP/File)

New York: A handful of quick-thinking Las Vegas police officers may have prevented a thousand deaths after they stormed a hotel and killed the lone shooter, the Sheriff of America's gambling hub, who had visited Mumbai to study the 2008 terror attack, has said.

Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old wealthy former accountant and high-stakes gambler was identified by the police as the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history when he opened fire from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on October 1, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others, before turning the gun on himself as police closed in.

Recalling the dreadful night, Joseph Lombardo, Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Paddock was firing into a crowd of 22,000 concert-goers using powerful guns.

Lombardo said a small team of Las Vegas police officers - two K-9 officers, a detective and a SWAT team member - converged on the Mandalay Bay Hotel and minutes later, they breached the gunman's hotel room door on the 32nd floor.

It was specialised training that allowed them to act so quickly, Lombardo told CBS' 60 Minutes.

"I think they prevented a thousand deaths, and I think it's important for the American public to understand that," he said.

Lombardo had travelled to Mumbai after the November 2008 terrorist attacks on hotels and other sites by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists that left 164 people dead, including some American nationals.

The sheriff said he had gleaned insight from the trip to Mumbai, and his department now reacts faster to such shootings, quickly forming a team to "cease the action'' of the assailant on their own.

"Before we were trained to form a perimeter and hope for the best," Lombardo said. "Now we're trained to gather up and go get it."

Sergeant Joshua Bitsko and Officer Dave Newton of the K-9 unit had been training dogs when they heard the message over police radio about an active shooter.

Newton said he saw many guns and magazines.

"Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout. All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store," he said.

Joshua said he saw shell casings all over the floor where Paddock stayed.

"I could smell the gunpowder that had went off in the room. We were trippin' over guns. Trippin' over long guns inside. There were so many," he said.

At least 23 guns - 12 of which were equipped with bump-stocks, or rapid fire devices - were found inside Paddock's hotel room.

US authorities have received more than 1,000 tips, but are still struggling to determine what motivated Paddock, who did not have a criminal record, to carry out the carefully planned attack.

No one knows when Paddock committed suicide, but the shooting stopped shortly after hotel security guard Jesus Campos and the first of Sheriff Lombardo's officers arrived on the 32nd floor.
Seoul: North Korean computer hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents from South Korea including detailed wartime operational plans involving its US ally, a report said Tuesday.

Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, said the hackers had broken into the South's military network last September and gained access to 235 gigabytes of sensitive data, the Chosun Ilbo daily reported.

Among the leaked documents was Operational Plans 5015 for use in case of war with the North and including procedures for "decapitation" attacks on leader Kim Jong-Un, the paper quoted Rhee as saying.

Rhee, a member of parliament's defence committee, could not be reached for comment but his office said he had been quoted correctly.

The report comes amid heightened fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula, fuelled by US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang to tame its weapons ambitions.

In his latest tweet over the weekend, Trump reiterated that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed, adding that "only one thing will work".

Citing Seoul's defence ministry, Rhee said that 80 percent of the leaked documents had yet to be identified.

But the contingency plan for the South's special forces was stolen, he said, as well as details about annual joint military drills with the US and information on key military facilities and power plants.

A ministry spokesman declined to confirm the report, citing intelligence matters.

In May the ministry said North Korea had hacked into Seoul's military intranet but did not say what had been leaked.

Pyongyang has a 6,800-strong unit of trained cyber-warfare specialists, according to the South Korean government. It has been accused of launching high-profile cyber-attacks including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures.

The Chosun Ilbo story was the second report Tuesday of military-related cyber-attacks in the Asia-Pacific.

Australia's government said separately an unidentified defence contractor had been hacked and a "significant amount of data" stolen.

There were 47,000 cyber-incidents in the last 12 months, a 15 percent increase from the previous year, Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan said in Canberra as he launched a report by the Cyber Security Centre

The defence contractor was exploited via an internet-facing server, with the cyber-criminals using remote administrative access to remain in its network, the report said.

The Australian newspaper reported that the hacker was based in China but Tehan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that "we don't know and we cannot confirm exactly who the actor was".
North Korea announced that it has successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that is meant to be loaded into an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Photo: AFP)

United Nations: The UN has slapped a global port ban on four vessels found violating sanctions against North Korea, the head of an expert panel said Monday in what he described as an unprecedented move.

The United States led a drive at the Security Council to impose two recent sets of sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests.

"There are four vessels that have been designated by the committee. The designation doesn't mean an assets freeze or travel ban. But it's a port ban," said Hugh Griffiths, coordinator of a UN Security Council panel on North Korea sanctions, adding the ships were found "transporting prohibited goods."

"It's a pretty swift and decisive action by the committee," he said, adding that the ban went into effect on October 5.

Griffiths was speaking at the conclusion of the second UN meeting on enforcing North Korea sanctions.

A source close to the matter said the four ships were found carrying coal, seafood and iron ore, exports banned by a UN resolution imposed in August.

The ban was expanded last month to include textiles and North Korean guest workers and also capped oil exports.

North Korean diplomats were present at the meeting but did not speak, according to diplomats.

According to a source, the listed ships were the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun. According to the MarineTraffic website, the first three fly the flags of Comoros, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and North Korea. The Jie Shun is not listed on the site.

- 'Enforcement crucial' -

"It is crucial that resolutions are fully enforced," Inigo Lambertini, Italy's deputy representative to the UN said.

"Sanctions are not the final objective. Just a means. But of course, to be effective, sanctions must be applied by everybody," he added.

North Korea's UN envoy last week accused the US of working to block economic development and denounced sanctions imposed on poor countries as a bid to "destroy modern civilization."

Ambassador Ja Song Nam said North Korea will withstand the blow of sanctions and continue "along the road of building the socialist power by dint of the spirit of self-reliance and self-development."

The latest set of sanctions were in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test -- the largest yet -- and the firing of two missiles over Japan.

North Korea's main economic partner China has signed up to the measures, as has Russia.

But the US has not ruled out the use of force to compel Pyongyang to halt its missile and nuclear tests, and President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy the country.

On Saturday, he said that diplomatic efforts have consistently failed and "only one thing will work," in what appeared to be a repetition of previous threats of force.
Islamabad: Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif has said that Islamabad will work with Washington to destroy the Haqqani network if US can provide evidence about the presence of safe havens of the dreaded terror outfit in the country. The statement comes as the US continues to suspect Pakistans fight against terrorists.

US President Donald Trump, while unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August, pilloried Pakistan for harbouring agents of chaos and the very enemy US forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for the past 17 years. US and Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of sheltering the Haqqani network  the deadliest of all the Afghan Taliban factions.

In an interview with a Pakistani TV channel, Mr Asif said: We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani networks safe havens in the country. If they find any activity (of Haqqanis) in the targeted areas, our troops along with the US would destroy them once and for all.

The foreign minister, who recently toured Washington and met top Trump administration officials, went on to say that army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month.

Referring to unsavoury criticism from the US, Mr Asif said: If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side, adding: If the US secretary of state and secretary of defence are coming to dictate to us, we will refuse to accept their dictates.

President Trump is set to dispatch Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis to Pakistan in the coming weeks.
About 40 per cent of the total Rohingya population living in the Rakhine State of Myanmar have now fled to Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

Yangon: Myanmar authorities said there was no sign of attacks by Rohingya Muslim militants on Tuesday as a one-month insurgent ceasefire came to end.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) announced the ceasefire from Sept. 10 in order, they said, to facilitate aid deliveries to Rakhine State, where their attacks on the security forces on Aug. 25 triggered a ferocious government crackdown.

The government offensive in the north of Rakhine State has sent some 520,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing to Bangladesh and has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing.

The government denies ethnic cleansing. It had rebuffed the insurgents ceasefire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.

Myanmar said more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them insurgents.

Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA had only appeared capable of hit-and-run raids on security posts and unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.

Authorities had been on guard over recent days and tightened security in the state capital of Sittwe as the end of the ceasefire approached, a state government spokesman said.

We had information that the ARSA could attack but there have been no reports, the spokesman, Min Aung, said early on Tuesday.

The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though the ceasefire was ending at midnight on Monday.

They also reiterated their demand for rights for the Rohingya, who have never been regarded as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so have been denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.

Instead, Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants with freedoms restricted and rights denied, and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and much of the wider popular in Myanmar, which has seen a surge in Buddhist nationalism in recent years.

Thousands more Rohingya villagers have arrived in Bangladesh this week in a new surge of refugees, now also driven by fears of starvation and telling of bloody attacks by Buddhist mobs on people trekking towards the border.

VERY REAL THREAT

Villagers in Rakhine said food was running out because rice in the fields was not ready for harvest and the state government had closed village markets and restricted the transport of food, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.

While the Myanmar military has engaged in a campaign of violence, there is mounting evidence that Rohingya women, men and children are now also fleeing the very real threat of starvation, rights group Amnesty International said.

The government has cited worry about food as one of he reasons people have been giving for leaving, but a senior state government official on Monday dismissed any suggestion of starvation.

Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced scathing international criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although she has no power over the security forces under a military-drafted constitution.

The United States and European Union have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders, diplomats and officials have told Reuters, although they are wary of action that could destabilize the countrys transition to democracy.

EU foreign ministers will discuss Myanmar on Oct. 16, and they said in a draft joint statement the bloc will suspend invitations to the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar/Burma armed forces and other senior military officers.

Such a move would be largely symbolic, but could be followed by further action.

The military campaign against the insurgents is popular inside Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya.

Suu Kyis party, in the first attempt to improve relations between religions since the latest violence erupted, will hold inter-faith prayers on Tuesday at a stadium in the biggest city of Yangon, with the participation of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Christians.

This is for peace and stability, party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters. Peace in Rakhine and peace nationwide.

The Rohingya had pinned hopes for change on Suu Kyis party but it has been wary of upsetting Buddhist nationalists. Her party did not field a single Muslim candidate in the 2015 election that it swept.
With China likely to appoint a new interlocutor for boundary negotiations with India, uncertainty looms large over the dates for the next round of talks.



New Delhi and Beijing could not yet fix the dates for the 20th round of negotiations for settling the boundary dispute, although both sides had earlier agreed to hold it in India this year, sources told the DH.



Apart from the strains in the ties between the two neighbours due to the recent military face-off at Doklam in western Bhutan, what has added to the uncertainty over the dates for the next round of boundary talks is the possibility of Beijing changing its lead negotiator after the19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.



New Delhi, according to the sources, has of late learnt that China's State Councillor and Special Representative for boundary talks with India, Yang Jiechi, might retire after the CPC National Congress.



The CPC's twice-a-decade conclave, which will commence in Beijing on October 18, is set to endorse a second five-year-term for Chinese President Xi Jinping.



China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is among the frontrunners to succeed Yang and take over as the communist country's new State Councillor and Special Representative for boundary negotiations with India.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been India's Special Representative for boundary negotiations with China since November 2014. He and Yang held two rounds of negotiations so far  the 18th round in New Delhi in March 2015 and the 19th round in Beijing in April 2016.



Doval and Yang had agreed last year to hold the next round of negotiations in India this year. Sources in New Delhi, however, said that it might be delayed further if Chinese Government appointed a new interlocutor after the CPC national congress in Beijing.



A few weeks after the soldiers of Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army got engagement in a face-off at Doklam near India-China-Bhutan tri-junction boundary point, Doval had met Yang informally on the sideline of a BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China) meeting in Beijing on July 28.



Beijing, however, had conveyed to New Delhi that the face-off at Doklam Plateau had been out of the purview of the Special Representatives appointed by China and India to negotiate a settlement of the disputed boundary. It had argued that since the boundary between the two neighbours at Sikkim Sector had already been delimited by the 1890 convention between UK and China, the bilateral mechanism led by the Special Representatives had no scope to discuss it.



New Delhi had disagreed and pointed it out that while the status of Sikkim as an integral part of India had been settled, India-China boundary in Sikkim Sector had still remained unsettled and a matter of negotiation between the Special Representatives of the two nations.



Though the 72-day-long face-off ended on August 28, it is likely to cast a shadow on the boundary negotiations being carried out by the Special Representatives of the two nations since 2003.



Brajesh Mishra, the National Security Advisor to the then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, was the first Special Representative of India for boundary negotiations with China. He was succeeded by J N Dixit, M K Narayanan and Shivshankar Menon between 2004 and 2014. Their counterpart was Dai Bingguo, who was Yang's predecessor in the office of the State Councillor of China.



The Special Representatives of the two Governments reached an agreement in 2005 on the political parameters and guiding principles for settlement of the boundary dispute. They have since been engaged in talks on a framework for boundary settlement, which will be followed by actual demarcation of the border. Dai had in 15 rounds of negotiations with successive Special Representatives of India before retiring in 2013.



Yang was China's Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2013. He was appointed as State Councillor and China's Special Representative for boundary talks with India in 2013, succeeding Dai. He held the 16th and 17th rounds of negotiations with Doval's predecessor Menon in June 2013 and February 2014.
Pakistan is ready for a joint operation with the US to destroy the Haqqani Network if it provides evidence about the presence of safe havens of the dreaded terror outfit in the country, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said.



His remarks came after US President Donald Trump, in August, had accused Pakistan of harbouring "agents of chaos and terror" and the "very enemy US forces have fighting in Afghanistan" for the past 17 years.



Asif, who recently visited Washington and met senior Trump administration officials, told Express News, "We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani network's safe havens in the country.



"If they find any activity [of Haqqanis] in the targeted areas, our troops, along with the US, would destroy them once and for all."



The Haqqani network has carried out a number of kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan, including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people.

The foreign minister also said that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month.



Pakistan's offer is a major concession to Washington, as so far it has resisted US boots on its soil, and it comes ahead of the expected visits of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis to Islamabad in the coming weeks.



Referring to criticism from the United States to rein in terror group, Asif said, "If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side".



He further said that if US secretary of state and secretary of defence were coming to dictate us, "we will refuse to accept their (diktats) dictates...and now, we will do what is in the best interest of our country."
The President is likely to approve in a "day or two" the Karnataka land reform bill which provides for giving farm labourers rights over houses build on the land not belonging to them prior January 1, 1979, the state's Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad said today.



The Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed unanimously in both the Houses of the state legislature. It was then referred to the President for his assent. "In a meeting with President Ram Nath Kovind, we also discussed about our land reform amendment bill 2016.



The President has assured that it will be signed in a day or two," Koliwad told reporters. As per the bill, the government has proposed to give a certificate of ownership to those agricultural labourers who are 'ordinarily' residing in houses build on a land not belonging to him prior to January 1, 1979.



The eligible labourers will have to register as owners of the house within a year from the date of commencement of the proposed bill.



They will be compensated in cash and the state will not incur extra expenditure for this. Koliwad had met the President yesterday to invite him for addressing a special joint session of state legislature to mark 60 years of the majestic legislature building Vidhana Soudha. The state has planned two-day event from October 25.
President Ram Nath Kovind will commemorate the diamond jubilee of the Vidhana Soudha by addressing a special joint session of the Karnataka legislature on October 25.



Vidhana Soudha is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka.



A series of events have been organised on October 25 and 26 to celebrate the occasion, an official release said.



The celebrations include a special discussion on the state's history, its land, water, resources and nature along with cultural programmes. Families of the first three chief ministers of Mysore state (before reorganisation) -- the late K C Reddy, Kengal Hanumanthaiya and Kadidal Manjappa -- will be honoured.



Giving details of what has been planned, the release said several people will be bestowed the prestigious 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for their contribution towards the development of the state. A documentary by Girish Kasaravalli on the Vidhana Soudha and another by T N Seetharam on the Karnataka legislature will be screened. Besides, a 3D virtual reality movie about the building will also be shown.



A special musical performance by Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej has been organised for the momentous occasion. The foundation for the Vidhana Soudha, considered one of the most imposing buildings in the country, was laid by India's first prime minister Jawaharalal Nehru on July 13, 1951.



The gigantic building was completed in 1956 at a cost of about Rs 1.84 crore in those days.



Built in a 'Neo-Dravidian' style of architecture, the Vidhana Soudha is spread over 60 acres and houses the Legislative Assembly and Council chambers, in addition to offices of the chief minister, prominent ministers and senior government officers. The majestic structure has been built largely with Bangalore granite.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday promised to focus on the development of capacity and capability of the armed forces and to speed up the acquisition of military hardware.



Taking a subtle dig at the erstwhile Congress-led UPA regime, Nirmala told Indian Air Force (IAF)commanders that the BJP-led government was committed to filling the gaps which had been caused due to lack of timely decision-making in the last decade.



Addressing the commanders of the army, she also promised a close monitoring of the projects for the improvement of strategic infrastructure, as well as speedy action on the long-pending request for force modification.



Nirmala, who took over as defence minister early last month, on Tuesday separately addressed the conferences of the commanders of the

army and the IAF at Manekshaw Centre and Vayu Bhavan in New Delhi, respectively.



The conference of the army commanders had started on Monday, while that of the air force commanders began on Tuesday.



The simultaneous conferences of the army and the IAF assume significance as they are being held amid escalating tension between India and China.



Though the 72-day-long military face-off between the two neighbours at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan ended on August 28, reports indicate a fresh build-up by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army near the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction boundary point.



The defence minister herself had traveled to the India-China border at Nathu La in Sikkim, as well as to the the army and the IAF bases at Tezpur in Assam, last week to review the operational preparedness of the armed forces in the eastern theatre.



She admired the professionalism of the army during scenarios such as the standoff with the Chinese army at Doklam Plateau, as well as in responding to natural disasters and combating insurgency in the north-eastern states.



IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and Indian Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat briefed the defence minister about the operational preparedness of the forces.



She said the integration of the armed forces was essential, particularly in the domain of training, communication, logistics and cybernetics, in order to prepare for any future conflict.



The defence minister called upon the army in continuing leveraging its strength in diplomatic defence cooperation in the neighbourhood.



She told the IAF commanders that budgetary allocations should not be seen as a constraint.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to file an affidavit within 10 days, explaining why they did not release the jail inmates despite recommendations.



A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta termed as shocking state of afffairs after the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) filed an affidavit to the court.



We find it necessary to give only ten days since the affidavit filed by NALSA indicates that a very large number of persons are still in prison in complete violation of their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. This situation simply cannot be accepted, the bench said.



The court was hearing a suo motu matter, concerning to prison conditions.



The bench warned that no extension of time will not be granted and the court may summon the Chief Secretary of these three states if there is no satisfactory answer about why persons are not being released in spite of the recommendations made.



The court asked why its judgement to comply with the recommendations of the Member Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and the Under Trial Review Committee, comprising the District Judge, the Superintendent of Police as well as the District Magistrate, were not being accepted and why persons are not released.



The court also sought explanation why in certain instances more people than those recommended were released from prisons and put the matter for consideration on October 31.
The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has prepared a draft bill on passive euthanasia that allowed the terminally-ill patients to withdraw the medical treatment.



The government, however, opposed before a five-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice the concept of 'Living Will' that allowed a person of sound mind to leave a will to stop medical treatment if there is no hope of a cure, saying it could be misused.



In his brief submission, Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha submitted the draft legislation entitled as 'The Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill Patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill' was prepared by the Union Health Ministry in June, last year.



In passive euthanasia, the medical board is free to decide if the life support system can be withdrawn but it cannot be understood as inducing the fact of death, he said. The draft bill was prepared to take the Law Commission of India's recommendation in its reports.



The bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said that there has to be a balance between inherent individual and state interests as the right to live does not include the right to die.



It is a duty of the State to protect its citizens. The right to live does not include right to die. Euthanasia is different from the right to die and it can be allowed in law. If we recognise right to dignity in death why not in dying process, the bench said.



The bench also sought to know what could be the duty and responsibility of the doctors and what stage the treatment of terminally-ill patients could be withdrawn and if it should be only on the advice of a medical board.



There is a morality issue also. If everybody is to make a living will, will it be morally and socially safe, the court asked.



Initiating the arguments, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause, said if an individual should have a right to make a declaration, when he or she is of sound mind, refusing a treatment in case he or she fell terminally ill. He said the living will is documents which allowed an individual to express the view that he would not like to prolong his treatment through an artificial process if health has deteriorated beyond retrieval.



The bench, however, asked how this living will be regulated and how its genuineness will be tested.



The court would continue to hearing argument on Wednesday.
Suspected militants attacked a CRPF vehicle in busy Sanat Nagar area of Srinagar this evening but there were no casualties.



"CRPF personnel reported that their vehicle came under fire at Sanat Nagar chowk here," a police spokesman said.



He said there were no casualties on the CRPF side.



"A police team has rushed to the spot to investigate the incident," he added.
A woman riding pillion on a two-wheeler was killed today when a truck rammed the vehicle as the rider was trying to avoid a pothole near Devanahalli, police said.



With this, four persons have died in accidents this month because of the battered condition of some of the citys roads.



Police said G Veena (21), a resident of Kundana in Devanahalli, was heading home riding pillion with elder sister G Lakshmi (24).



At the Shettarahalli gate, while trying to negotiate a pothole, Lakshmi slowed down the two-wheeler when a truck hit them from behind. As the women fell off their vehicle, the truck ran over Veena, killing her instantaneously. Lakshmi too sustained serious injuries. She has been admitted to a nearby hospital, the police said.



Angry residents blocked the road protesting the pathetic condition of the road.



Police have registered a case against the truck driver who fled the spot leaving his vehicle.



Two days ago, a woman was run over by a truck when the motorcycle she was riding pillion with her nephew skidded near Nayandahalli while negotiating a pothole.



About a week ago, an elderly couple lost their lives when a bus ran over them on Mysuru road flyover as they were trying to avoid a pothole.



The government has come under sharp criticism for the condition of the roads in the city.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has blamed torrential rains for the potholes in the city and has promised to rid the city of potholes in a fortnight.
Belden Inc, a$2.5 billion revenue US-based manufacturer of networking, connectivity, and cable products and solutions, on Tuesday opened a customer experience centre in Bengaluru and committed an investment of $20 million at a new plant at Pune.



The experience centre will showcase complete range of Beldens solutions for data centres, digital buildings, enterprise infrastructure and wireless communications.



We are looking at more customer engagement as India is going through massive infrastructure projects. We have developed partner ecosystem to expand our footprint in India,said Belden Managing Director, Industrial & Enterprise Solutions for Asia Pacific Ashish Chand.



He said innovations from Belden helps customers in the industrial and enterprise markets. The centre will help our clients improve efficiency, reduce costs and keep up with more complex and demanding requirements from customers,he said.



Commenting on the development, Belden India & SAARC Sales & Marketing Director Murugesan Ram said the centre enables our engineers to understand customers challenges and requirements and help them to build and offer tailored solutions and systems on-demand.



We invite enterprise IT Managers to interact with our experts and experience Belden solutions and products demonstrations at our collaboration centre, said Ram.



On the manufacturing facility, Chand said it will be located at Chakan in Pune and will produce entire products in its verticals like enterprise, broadcast, industrial and network.



It swill be the 5th plant of Belden globally and the second plant to produce entire range of product portfolio. We have acquired seven acres of land in Pune taking into account the growing demand in the Asia Pacific region,he said.



Founded in 1902, the company is headquartered in St. Louis and has manufacturing capabilities in North and South America, Europe and Asia.



Belden brands include GarretCom and Hirschmann for industrial solution and Lumberg Automation for cable products. Its cyber security product company include Tofino Security and Tripwire.
The last rites of Narendra R (22), who allegedly shot himself with his service rifle at Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday, took place in Hegganahalli burial ground on Tuesday afternoon.



Narendra was found dead with gunshot wounds at his army camp. While the army claimed that Narendra killed himself, his parents are not ready to accept it.



Defence spokesperson in Srinagar Rajesh Kalia told DH, Sepoy Narendra R was on sentry duty and committed suicide on October 8 at 6 am with his service weapon. His mortal remains were flown to his native place for the last rites.



We immediately informed the police who carried out the investigation by registering an FIR and conducting a post-mortem. An independent enquiry by the army has been ordered, he added.



Meanwhile, Narendras family and friends are not ready to accept the armys version. The army officials didnt share proper details of his death. We dont need any compensation. We want to know the truth behind his death and we are asking for justice for Narendra who served the country for two years. He used to call us and his family every day. He was enjoying his work and he was proud of serving the nation, said Harish, a childhood friend.



Narendras family said the army didnt even provide an ambulance to carry the body home from Kempegowda International Airport. The body reached the airport at 10 pm on Tuesday. We arranged for a private ambulance. Only one army official was present to hand over the body, he added.



Mayor pays last respects



Mayor R Sampath Raj and his deputy Padmavathi N visited Narendras house to pay their respects.



The mayor said, A young soldiers demise is a huge loss to the nation. I have spoken to the chief minister for providing financial aid to the family. I request the Central government to order a further probe into the death.
A gang of 21 was arrested in Gauribidanur, Chikkaballapur district, on Tuesday for kidnapping three men from North Bengalurus JC Nagar and brutally killing one of them, police said.



The gang had kidnapped Noor Ahmad, 28, and his two friends  Saddam alias Mubasshir and Saleem Khan, of Chamarajpet  on Monday evening. Noor had lent Rs 5 lakh to Junaid Ahmad, a sheep merchant from Shivajinagar, just before Bakrid which fell on September 2. But Junaid failed to repay the loan for long. When Noor asked him to pay up, Junaid refused point-blank. Noor got angry and took away Junaids car and humiliated him before his family.



Junaid vowed revenge. On Monday evening, he called Noor to JC Nagar, saying he wanted to repay the loan. An unsuspecting Noor went there along with his friends, Saddam and Saleem. Junaid was waiting for him along with 20 of his associates in three Mahindra Scorpio SUVs.



Gang locked trio



The gang abducted Noor and his friends, and drove off to a farmhouse near Sigatehalli close to Gauribidanur, about 80 km from Bengaluru. The farmhouse is owned by Junaids friend, Ashraf. The gang locked up the trio and tortured them the whole night.



Meanwhile, when Noor did not return home for long and his phone was switched off, his family got worried and filed a missing person complaint at the RT Nagar police station. Police traced his phone number to Gauribidanur and its surroundings. The Gauribidanur police joined the investigation.



At Gauribidanur, police sub-inspector Avinash and three of his men noticed an SUV moving suspiciously on the outskirts of the town on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. Police stopped the vehicle and questioned the men who apparently gave inconsistent answers.



Cops raid farmhouse



Police soon learnt that the men had come out to get food for others. They raided the farmhouse where they found Noor lying in a pool of blood and two others grievously injured.



The sub-inspector called for reinforcements and rushed the trio to hospital. Noor succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The RT Nagar police were informed. In the morning, police arrested all the 21 men from the farmhouse after seizing the SUVs and weapons. Saddam and Saleem are being treated at the Victoria Hospital.



Police identified some of the other suspects as Faizan, Ahmad, Pasha, Faisal, Sultan, Mohsin, Zaheer, Mohan, Apsa, Bilal, Zain, Umar, Jawar, Arshad, Sonu, Saif and Suhail Khan. They are all aged between 25 and 35 and some of them are habitual offenders, police said.
A 34-year-old pedestrian was killed after he was knocked down by a speeding private bus near Mysore Bank Circle on Monday night. The victim, Siddesh, was a native of Madhugiri in Tumakuru district and a resident of 8th Mile on Tumakuru Road. He was a house-keeping staff on contract with BMRCL, the police said.



According to the police, Siddesh was walking towards his workplace when an over-speeding bus coming from KG Road knocked him down. Siddesh was rushed to a nearby hospital by a few passers-by and the police. He died on the way to the hospital.
Police have arrested a history-sheeter for the murder of a 25-year-old software engineer.



Police arrested Karthik for killing Pranay Mishra on Tavarekere Main Road in Madiwala early on Monday morning. Police shot Karthik in the leg when he got violent and tried to attack them.



Mishra, from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, was a resident of Suddaguntepalya near BTM Layout. He came to Bengaluru in 2014 and was working as a software engineer with an IT firm.



Police said Mishra accidentally hit a bike used by Karthik and another person named Arun on Tavarekere Main Road which led to an argument. Karthik and Arun demanded Rs 500 from Mishra who refused to pay up and rode off.



Karthik followed Mishra, waylaid him and stabbed him.



Police traced the suspect through the footage of a CCTV camera on a cellular phone tower. The police caught him when he was waiting near Huskur Gate.



When police tried to nab him, Karthik started throwing stones, injuring a policeman. At this point, police fired at him and managed to nab him, but Arun escaped.



DCP(Southeast) M B Boralingaiah said preliminary probe showed it was a road rage that led to the attack. There are cases of murder, robbery and break-in against Karthik. Police are looking out for Arun.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday asked government contractors to complete the projects on time and ensure quality.



The government will hold engineers accountable for the delay in public projects, he said at the two-day convention of contractors at the Palace Grounds here.



In the past, contractors would meet the finance minister seeking the release of their dues. Siddaramaiah said he held the finance portfolio and didnt want the contractors to meet him for the release of dues. The Congress government has released around Rs 3,000 crore to contractors and will release about Rs 650 crore more shortly, he added.



The chief minister said the government would see if there were legal provisions to mandate that only contractors from Karnataka get projects.



Since August, Bengaluru has received rainfall for 42 days, damaging the roads. The government will white-top 2,000-km roads in Bengaluru. The work has just begun on about 100 km. Roads should last for at least five years and contractors should maintain them for no less than three years, he added.



Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said the government was repairing roads on a war footing and the work would get over in three months.



On the occasion, contractors submitted a memorandum to the chief minister on their long-pending demands.
Even as the government is having its campaign Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to promote educating the girl child, there is discrimination in the kind of schools girls are sent to. Parents often prefer to send their sons to private English medium schools and daughters to government schools.



According to data from the District Information System for Education (DISE), the number of girls in Karnataka who are enrolled in private schools from Class I to X in 2016-17 is nearly 5 lakh less than the number of boys. On the other hand, there are 1,38,513 more girls in government schools than boys.



PC Jaffer, Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI), said, There is not much of a gender gap in the overall enrolment of children in schools. But the data does appear to point towards some sort of parental preference.



In 2004, Prof Niranjanaradhya V P, fellow at Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), was part of a campaign by the state government called Ba Baale Shalege to increase enrolment of girl children in schools. Workshops and awareness drives were held and women teachers were encouraged to adopt blocks and ensure enrolment of girls there. At the time, dropout, child marriage and child labour were rampant problems and gender gap in enrolment was large. The campaign was successful in bringing more girls into the school system, he said. However, as enrolment of girls improved, a new problem emerged.



We have been observing for a while now that there is a new form of gender discrimination with boys being given English medium education and girls Kannada medium. If the government is really interested in educating the girl child, they need to give good quality education in their schools and create a level playing field, Prof Niranajanaradhya said.



Of late, a lot of private schools have been mushrooming in villages. Low-end private schools in rural pockets offer English medium education, that everyone looks up to,  said Shivakumar D, executive director of Kalike Trusts, which works with government schools in Yadgir district.



When parents can afford private education for only one child, they pick the son. Parents have aspirations to send their child to a private school. They look at it from an investment point of view. They think the son will be with them and support them whereas the girl will get married. This mindset needs to be changed, he said.
The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the licensing of Indira Canteens in the city after the joint commissioner of Food Safety Commissionerate informed the court that all the functioning Indira Canteens are licensed and the licences have been displayed at the canteens.



A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar disposed of the PIL filed by a law student.



The petitioner had conducted a local investigation and videographed the poor conditions of some Indira Canteens that had commenced without obtaining the necessary approvals as mandated in the statute.



The petitioners counsel argued that the Indira Canteens were not licensed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.



The counsel also informed the court that the canteens lacked basic infrastructure such as hand wash basin and drinking water.



After hearing the PIL, the bench asked to summon the BBMP representative and food and safety commissioner to verify the allegation.



Harshavardhan B , joint commissioner of food and safety, informed the court that all the valid licences had been obtained to run the canteens and the same have been displayed at the outlets.
Rahul Gandhis remarks that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had no women in shorts to suggest a glass sealing in the organization backfired as BJP hit back strongly.



Gandhi, on a three-day visit to the poll-bound Gujarat from Monday, questioned the male dominance in the Sangh organizations and had unwittingly handed the beleaguered saffron party an issue to get back at him.



As long as women keep quiet, it is ok for them, Gandhi said during an interaction with youngsters in Vadodara. But as soon as a woman opens her mouth, they shut her down.



Let me ask you one question. Their main organisation is RSS. How many women are there in leadership roles? Have you seen women in their Shakha in shorts? Have you ever seen any women? I have not seen it. You see women in Congress but none in RSS, Gandhi said.



The BJP, beleaguered after a media report raised questions about the business dealings of their boss son, promptly seized on the issue with former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel asking Gandhi to take back his statement.



This is Gandhis Gujarat. Gujarat of Sardar. It is a cultured Gujarat, Anandiben said, demanding Gandhis apology for the statement. You cannot tell any women what they should wear and where they should go. He has insulted women of Gujarat.



A national leader like Rahul Gandhi holds such views on women. I dont know where has he got his sanskaar from? she asked.



IN 2007, Sonia Gandhis words Maut ke Saudagar (messengers of death), an apparent barb against the BJP and the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, backfired on the Congress as the saffron party called it an insult of the state and won the elections.



Anandiben warned that the women in Gujarat would hand Congress one more defeat in the forthcoming polls if Rahul Gandhi refused to take back his statement. The BJPs womens wing in Vadodara also staged a protest against Gandhis statement.



But Congress wanting not to let the controversy engulf its campaign- sought to end the spiraling war of words by pointing out that Rahul Gandhi was merely referring to the lack of women at the RSS top echelons.



What he has said is that there are no women in the high position in saffron brigade such as RSS, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil told the media, accusing the BJP of spreading lies.
Controversies seem to be not letting off Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee, who was recently expelled from the CPM for violation of party norms and principles.



A woman from Balurghat in north Bengal, identified as Namrata Dutta, has accused the former CPM leader of sexual assault and intimidation. She has also alleged that the Rajya Sabha MP is trying to pay her in return of her silence.



Banerjee, however, accused the woman of alluring him and even threatening him and taking Rs 5 lakh from him on two occasions. When he found out about the trap and denied further payment, the woman came up with the accusations, Banerjee said. In a tweet, the MP said he has filed an FIR against the woman for maligning him.



Dutta, a software engineer, had been based in the Netherlands for some time, and in her complaint with the police, said that Banerjee had travelled with her abroad and they were in a physical relationship since 2016.But, when I approached him with a marriage proposal, he backed off. Now he has transferred Rs 2.5 lakh into my account to keep quiet. I have also received threat calls, Dutta said on Tuesday.
The Forest department personnel were successful in capturing another tiger that was spotted at Antharasanthe range, HD Kote taluk, on Tuesday.



The tiger, which was spotted on Monday morning, had created panic among the residents of Antharasanthe village. More than 50 personnel swung into action and caught the two-year-old female tiger on Tuesday afternoon.



The department personnel had captured a male tiger that was injured in a territorial fight at Doddabaragi village near Saragur on Monday. The department had enlisted the services of Dasara elephants Arjuna, Abhimanyu and Krishna for the operation. The search for the big cat went on some time, but in vain. Finally, with the help of a drone camera, the tiger was found feeding on a calf at a field nearby.



The personnel found that the field belonged to one Uday and reached the spot with the help of elephants. The veterinarians, riding one of the elephants, shot a dart to tranquilise the animal. Even after the dart hit it, the tiger started walked for half a kilometre more and lost consciousness later. The personnel then caught the animal using nets.



Speaking to DH, Manikantan, director, Project Tiger, Nagarahole National Park, said, the tiger was healthy. It will be monitored for a couple of days and a decision on the future course of action will be taken later, he said.



ACF Poovaiah, RFO Vinay, Special Tiger Protection Force range forest officer Rudresh and veterinarian Dr Santrupt took part in the operation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the CBI to show documents to justify its lookout circular against Karti Chidambaram to prevent him from going abroad.



A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Dipak Misra told Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to present the documents, in sealed envelopes, on Wednesday.



After initial protests, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti, relented before the court to allow the CBI to present the materials to support its innuendos (charges).



Let him show the documents that I have opened bank accounts under my signature - other than the one I opened in 2016 and the one relating to my student days abroad, he said.



Sibal said Karti was not a fugitive but he was being treated worse than an undertrial. Mehta, for his part, maintained that the CBI was adopting the least invasive method with him.



Sibal, however, insisted that he should also be shown those documents to enable him to respond. At the same time, Sibal maintained that the FIR lodged by the CBI in May was pertaining to the FIPB clearance granted to INX Media in 2007 and allegation of payment of Rs 10 lakh to Karti. It has got nothing to do with the opening of bank accounts abroad, he said.



The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, asked Sibal, Do you think your past conduct would not have any bearing on this case?



How do you deny him (CBI) an opportunity for placing the documents? This is for the purpose of deciding if you can be allowed to go abroad. You have made a candid disclosure that you have one bank account and one property in England. We will see if documents are relatable or connectable to you, the bench told Sibal.



The court also sought to know from the CBI why permission should not be granted to Karti to go abroad for 10 days as he wanted to admit his daughter in Cambridge. Unless you see the documents, please don't make up your mind, Mehta said.
Corporates hankering for quality and human resource development certifications dished out by global and Indian certifying organizations so far, are now making a beeline for 'eco-friendly' ones.



While 'bag-a-green certificate' trend is gaining momentum among corporates, the hottest one presently, seems to be 'Sustainable Management of Forests Certificate (SMFC)' issued by the Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF).



Though this certification is mandated for export companies dealing in forest produce, many domestic trade companies are also applying for it too.



So far, 12 Indian export and domestic trade firms have applied, Avani Kumar Verma, NCCF member and retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, told DH.



Companies seeking certificates are keen on brand building and growing their markets. We have received applications from Channapatna Handicrafts and Toys Manufacturing Companies & Associations and Himalayan Drug Company are among them," Verma said.



"Infosys Foundation has sought that the Dandeli paper mills and other paper manufacturing industries submit the SMFC certificate copy before selling paper to them. Many other herbal and ayurvedic companies are also applying for the certificate, he added.



According to Verma, the need for this certification arose when central government realised that a lot of forest produce like wood, medicinal plants, bamboo and other minor forest produce were being exploited from peripheries of forest areas.



Considering the clamour for herbal and ayurvedic products in the market, the central government is working on making SMFC mandatory for even domestic manufacturers and sellers.



The government decided to adopt the international model of certification and with Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, a German organisation under the programme for endorsement of forest certificates.



USA, Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and all European countries demand this certificate from Indian firms before making purchases.



A lot of wood is used in making Chennapatna toys, lacquare and handicrafts. Bamboo is required for making incense sticks, wood pulp for the paper industry and natural ingredients for beauty and medicinal products. Now with this certification, all extraction and usage will be regulated, Verma explained.



Though NCCF was conceptualised 20 years back, it was officially launched in 2015. It was formed by retired forest department and MoEF officials from across India. Forest departments of Karnataka, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are part of NCCF. 'Enhanced Proliferation Control Initiative (EPCI), commerce ministry, agriculture ministry, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and sister organisations also are partners.



Forest Rating



As next step NCCF members are rating and certifying forest areas based on conservation, eco- tourism, agro- forestry, protected area management, afforestation, timber felling and sales, boundary demarcation and management plans. On pilot basis, we studied Dandeli tiger reserve and its rating is not more than 60%. It lacks in bamboo revival, over crowding of area in guise of eco- tourism, afforestation and handling timber merchants association, Verma added.
The BJP on Tuesday made fresh charges against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stating that he mislead courts to get 6 acre and 26 guntas of land in Bhoopsandra (RMV II Stage) in Bengaluru denotified.



Addressing a press conference here, BJP MLC and former minister B J Puttaswamy charged that a certain Keerthi Raj Shetty, a close associate of Siddaramaiah since his days in the JD(S) was the direct beneficiary of the denotification. The denotification had resulted in a loss of Rs 300 crore to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Puttaswamy claimed.



Narrating the background, Puttaswamy said the BDA acquired the said land in 1978. The land owner Syed Bashid approached the High Court of Karnataka and the Supreme Court against acquisition but failed to get orders in his favour. The BDA even allotted sites carved out of the said land to 42 people.



He charged that the government made one Jayalaskmi, another original land owner, file a writ petition in the high court in 2016 against acquisition of land. This time, a single bench ordered for denotification of six acres and 26 guntas. The government deliberately did not produce documents and tell the truth before the high court. This is nothing but misguiding the judiciary. Siddaramaiah even misused his position as chief minister and even directed the BDA to withdraw its appeal filed before a division bench challenging the single bench order, Puttaswamy said releasing documents to substantiate his charges.



Puttaswamy said Siddaramaiah managed to get the land in the name of the original owners (Bashid and Jayalakshmi) and later got it transferred to his associate Shetty. Charging that Siddaramaiah had made huge financial gains from denotification of the land, Puttaswamy demanded chief ministers resignation.



We will file a complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau against Siddaramaiah. Besides, the BJP is also exploring the possibility of filing a contempt petition in the court, Puttaswamy said.



DH News Service




WAHPETON  The North Dakota State College of Science here has completed a $13.3 million infrastructure upgrade of its campus that includes new water and sewer lines, roads and walkways.

The upgrade, completed after two years of construction, resulted in a campus beautification project that included planting 380 trees as well as reseeding and restoration of 17 acres that involved planting native grasses, shrubs and other plants.

The overhaul, from appropriations granted by lawmakers in 2015, enabled the campus to wipe 20 percent of its deferred maintenance projects off its books.

It is the largest and most disruptive capital project in the history of the college, NDSCSs president, John Richman, said Monday, Oct. 9. But we did not cancel one event through the two years of the project.

Other improvements include new campus lighting and security cameras to improve safety. One aesthetic touch: a new gate at the main entrance to campus.

Many of the construction materials were recycled.

We have one of the safest, cleanest, healthiest campuses, Richman said.

During construction, crews had to excavate many roads winding through campus, as well as many parking lots, in order to replace more than five miles of underground pipe.

When we designed it, we changed the traffic flows to slow it down, enhancing safety with traffic design, Richman said.

All of the contractors were local, helping to boost the areas economy, both directly and indirectly, through purchases including gas, meals and workers motel rooms, Richman said.

Separately, the college also has opened a new $1 million classroom and laboratory for instruction of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

The project was a collaboration between Trane, which manufactures heating and cooling systems, a state grant and the college. Trane donated equipment that students will use in their training.

Enrollment in the program has grown from single-digits to nearly filling the available 24 slots. Some of the students have financial support from companies planning to hire them, Richman said. On average, he added, there are from four to 12 job listings for every graduate of NDSCS.

I think the upgrade of the facility is helping to attract students, to the heating, air-conditioning and ventilation program, he said.

NDSCS has received permission to launch a fundraising drive to build a new career academy workforce training center, with an estimated cost of $30 million, in Fargo or West Fargo. The college has maintained a site in Fargo for 20 years, but is outgrowing the space.
The state government has decided to provide sites for Kannadigas who were recently evicted from Baina beach by the Goa authorities.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who chaired a meeting at his official residence Krishna in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said the government was committed to rehabilitating the families and that sites would be provided in the first phase.



Siddaramaiah asked the Karnataka Border Area Development Authority officials to submit a report on the number of people displaced and the land required to rehabilitate them and its location in the next

three days.



DH News Service
Bigg Boss 11: After Leaving The House, Zubair Khan Reveals All; Calls Show A Fake
Rangoli Responds To Farhan Akhtar's Letter In Support Of Hrithik Roshan


Retro reflections by Brad L.

With Final Fantasy IX recently being released to a new generation on the PlayStation 4. We thought that rather than reviewing a 17-year-old game that has had minimal improvements in this port, we would instead reflect upon something that really ended with the final PlayStation One Final Fantasy game, and that is the Active Time Battle system, or ATB system, which powered the franchise from Final Fantasy IV on the SNES right through to this game. Yes, more recent Final Fantasy games have played around with the basic idea of an ATB in order to modernise it, but Final Fantasy IX was the last classical ATB game we got.

Related reading: On Final Fantasy VIII and discovering my first waifu

In honour of a battling mechanic that helped catapult the Final Fantasy series into mainstream appeal and through two generations of gaming systems, we have prepared a belated eulogy for this classic battle mechanic.

There is always a special bond between a young child and their games. That bond builds over time, and quite often we overlook the fact that we are privileged, honoured, and lucky enough to be born at the time we were, and get to share our time on this planet with such innovations including the Emotion Engine, Blast Processing, and Mode 7, but today we are gathered to reflect upon the ATB mechanic, which was a stand out in RPGs of the 90s.

The ATB mechanic always lead the RPG industry by example, and it taught developers many lessons in what makes an incredible battling mechanic, such as providing a gauge to show the player when their party members can make their next move, and showing greater transparency when showcasing what difference the speed stat actually makes on characters. It was a way to get action into a turn based system and challenge players to work fast, but also strategically, and give them the time to think about what they were doing, while still creating time time-based adreneline and stress. ATB always provided us with many unique combinations of battles, with pre-emptive strikes and Back Attacks always making us alter our strategies and keeping us on our toes.

For players that really didnt want the stress of having time constantly tick against them, there was the wait option, which would pause all characters when one of them had an attack available to them. Having the two different ways to play was the ultimate in player friendliness, and something many modern games, ever at a reach for faster, snappier action, have often forgotten.

The ATB was so well designed, we didnt even know it was teaching us lessons along the way. For those of us who remember the Guard Scorpion fight in Final Fantasy VII, we were never in any real danger, the thing hardly dealt any damage, so instead we were encouraged discover different commands within ATB, figuring out that some enemies had weaknesses and strengths, and how limit breaks work. The battle with Baku in Final Fantasy IX encouraged us to discover the real benefits of using the steal command from enemies. Stealing from Baku resulted in receiving Zidanes signature weapons, the Mage Mashers. The ATB mechanic will be remembered for guiding us from the side, never telling us what to do, but allowing us to discover for ourselves.

There were things that ATB would allow us to manipulate in order for us to get our own way. It didnt matter if Vivi had Doom cast on him if Wait Mode was looking out for us, we could leave our menu open while an enemy was performing an overstated move complete with lens-flare, and the Doom meter would not count down until we made our choice. It is ATB that teaches us the art of being patient, and the art of being strong-minded.

The ATB mechanic was created by Hiroyuki Ito, who can also be credited in Final Fantasy IX as the guy that created the ultimate time waster, Tetra Master. His influence on Final Fantasy is evident from the very beginning, as he had worked on the original, all the way up to Final Fantasy IX, before returning years later to Final Fantasy XII, which itself was one of the better efforts in finding a mix between the classical ATB system and more modern combat systems.

Other Final Fantasy games have tried to include engaging battle systems, but nothing like ATBs. Final Fantasy X went with Conditional Turn-Based Battles, which was a flashy way of saying traditional turn-based combat. Final Fantasy XII tried something similar to ATB, but you only had direct control over one character in that one. The same goes for Final Fantasy XIII, which has a vague ATB system buried under its relentless pace. The traditional ATB system itself has largely departed the world, aside from spin-offs and mobile titles. But its influence has had a lasting impact. Many developers now have their own spins on the humble ATB, and it is now as standard for the genre as the really traditional turn based combat is.

I remember fondly cracking open a beer after turning on Final Fantasy IX for the first time, and being met with the safety and warmth of the ATB system. I cherish the moments I spent grinding enemies in order to gain AP so that all my party members would learn their special moves permanently. Im sure many of you here today have fond memories of such a wonderful battling system, these are great times I am sure that we will never forget.

Related reading: Final Fantasy Legend, the first handheld Final Fantasy

Thank you, ATB, for all that you have done for us. You will be dearly missed in our mainstream Final Fantasy games, but your legacy will continue in excellent titles such from I Am Setsuna and Blue Reflection, to Dark Rose Valkyrie and whatever spin on the system Square Enix does for the next Final Fantasy.

Much love always,

The DDNet Team

 Brad L.

Contributor


North Dakota officials welcomed news Monday that the Trump administration would repeal a rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said he will sign a proposed rule today to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation that sought to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. The rule was met with resistance in North Dakota, a major coal producer.

The regulation aims to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The final rule gave North Dakota a nearly 45 percent emissions reduction target, the third-biggest cut in the nation. The head of Grand Forks-based Minnkota Power Cooperative previously predicted some of North Dakotas power plants would have to shut down or operate at drastically reduced levels in order to meet the target.

Dale Niezwaag, vice president of government relations for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, expects there to be some type of rule, given that the U.S. Supreme Court has said the EPA is responsible for regulating emissions. But he hopes it will be achievable both financially and technologically.

We felt the Clean Power Plan was an overreach in the ability of the EPA to regulate, Niezwaag said.

Stacey Dahl, Minnkotas manager of external affairs, said Monday they were still digesting what the news means for a new rule.

Weve been very active in providing suggestions for a replacement rule, she said.

Pruitt announced his intentions Monday in Kentucky, where he declared that the war against coal is over, according to the Washington Post. Kentucky is the third-largest coal producer in the U.S., while North Dakota is the ninth-largest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last year, about 71 percent of North Dakotas net electricity generation came from coal, according to the EIA.

The North Dakota Department of Health suspended work on a state plan to comply with the EPA regulation after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked its implementation in early 2016.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the rule was unworkable and pointed to the development of clean coal technology.

We welcome this action from the EPA and look forward to continuing to advance the technologies that will create a true path forward for our energy industry, empowering greater energy production and good environmental stewardship without burdening consumers and businesses with unnecessary costs, he said in a statement.

Environmental groups blasted the announcement Monday.

With this news, Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt will go down in infamy for launching one of the most egregious attacks ever on public health, our climate, and the safety of every community in the United States, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement.
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SEATTLE  As planned, Lake Union Partners has sold the south end of the MidTown Center block, at 2314 E. Spring St., to Africatown for $4.5 million.

Both parties used LLCs in the transaction, which was recorded last week by King County. Lake Union Partners acquired the full block at 2301 E. Union St. for $23 million in May.





. . .
The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction has received a $28.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve student reading, writing and comprehension skills.

DPI was recently notified it has been awarded the Striving Readers grant from the Department of Education, which will be distributed to local schools and agencies over the next three years, DPI said in a news release Monday.

State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said the grant will benefit students in classrooms across North Dakota, including birth through age 5 and grades K-12.

Schools or agencies serving a greater number of disadvantaged students will be given preference to receive the grants, including students with disabilities, students who are not fluent in English and homeless students and students in foster care.

Baesler said the grant will be used to help improve literacy among Native American students, as well as low-income students.

The grants funds cannot be distributed until DPI has received permission from the state Emergency Commission and Budget Section. DPI will provide notice once funds are available and instructions on how to apply.
Microsoft in wind project pact with GE

On Monday, Microsoft said it had signed a new wind energy agreement to buy wind energy from General electric in Ireland. With the agreement, Microsoft will become one of the first multinational technology companies to support a new wind project in Ireland.

Microsoft is entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with GE to purchase 100 per cent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland.

The agreement will help meet the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute, which will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.

Majority owned by Mitsubishi Corporation, ElectroRoute is an innovative energy trading and services company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. ElectroRoute trades energy on a 24/7 basis across nine European countries. It also provides managed trading services to energy assets, giving them ready access to pan-European markets and currently has over 700 megawatts of assets under management.

In addition to producing energy, the project will produce useful data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it back to the grid as needed.

This provides more predictable power to an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and valleys in wind production. This will better enable intermittent clean power sources like wind energy to be added to the Irish grid. This will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.

"Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement," said Christian Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy at Microsoft. "This will make it easier to incorporate new clean power sources like wind energy, and that is good for the environment, for Ireland and for our company."

This PPA expands Microsoft's strategic partnership with GE, announced last year. The wind farm will integrate GE's Digital Wind Farm technology, which makes renewable energy outputs even more reliable. Digital models, built on the Predix platform, ensure energy generation supplied can meet demand forecasted and reduce intermittency concerns.

According to Andres Isaza, chief commercial officer of GE Renewable Energy, "This partnership with Microsoft expands GE's considerable presence and investment in Ireland, where we already employ over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector. Wind is now one of the most competitive sources of electricity on the market today, and we're excited about the capability to use data generated from these wind turbines, using the Predix platform, to maximize the output and value of this project."

Microsoft is also acquiring an Irish energy supply license from GE. The supply license will benefit both Microsoft and the Irish power grid, as it allows the company the flexibility to easily grow and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. ElectroRoute will act as trading service provider for the supply company.

"ElectroRoute is delighted to work with Microsoft and GE to structure and manage the energy trading activities for the supply company," said Ronan Doherty, chief executive at ElectroRoute. "The wind energy sector is particularly vibrant in Ireland at the moment, and we are seeing the emergence of an array of new structures and procurement approaches, which I feel will persist and grow into the future."

Once operational, the new wind project will bring Microsoft's total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to almost 600 megawatts. In 2016, Microsoft set clean energy commitments to power its datacenters and bring new renewable energy sources online in the communities in which it operates.
Officials of the Enterprise State Community College and Enterprise High School met with representatives from Alabama Vocational Rehabilitation Services and the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss a new certification program on Thursday.

The program, called the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC), is an industry-led training, assessment and certification system designed to impart the core skills and knowledge needed for many technology-intensive jobs prevalent in the 21st century. The state of Alabama has designated certain funding for the MSCC program, and both ESCC and EHS want to implement it for the betterment of their students.

Currently, ESCC has received $23,000 to go towards tuition for the program, said Chellye Stump, ESCCs Software Systems and Grants Manager. We will get an additional $2,000 that we will use to set up testing centers in our area for the MSSC.

The effort to bring the MSSC Certification Program to Enterprise is a joint one, split between ESCC and EHS. Its great that weve partnered up with the junior college, EHS Principal Brent Harrison said. Basically they are allowing us to have the curriculum, theyll oversee the curriculum, but were going to provide it to our students and try to get them a better paying job once they graduate.

Both ESCC and EHS will be implementing the Ready to Work program, which is the precursor to the MSSC program, though Ready to Work will be more focused on high school students than adults. Participants will receive certificates from Ready to Work and from MSSC upon completion, and these certificates will not cost any money to achieveonly time.

This is not something that is going to require coming back to get a degree, ESCC President Matt Rodgers said. It is a certification, a national certification that will allow them to do many things on the manufacturing and logistics sides, so because its tuition free, we want to get the word out about it now.

Though the implementation of the MSSC program is still a work in progress, those laboring to bring it to students are excited about the possibilities it will provide for the future.

Really and truly it is a very beneficial program, said Harrison. The students from schools that have used this program have almost 100% employability rate after completing the program.

Stump added that the schools arent the only ones excited about MSSC. Weve spoken with industry, different manufacturers out there, and theyre all on board with this. They are excited about the opportunities to employ these kids once they get these certificates, she said.

Both ESCC and EHS have planned to get the MSSC program up, running, and ready for students in January.
Sentencing for a local man convicted of felony murder who recently spent 10 years in the Houston County Jail awaiting trial will be held in a week.

Circuit Judge Kevin Moulton will sentence Kharon Davis Tuesday, Oct. 17. Davis faces serving 20 years to life for the shooting death of Pete Reaves in 2007 at Rolling Hills apartments. Davis was originally charged with capital murder, but state prosecutors announced last year they no longer intended to pursue the death penalty.

We hope Kharon receives the minimum sentence, said Defense Attorney Dustin Fowler. Our next step is to appeal this case.

Davis will receive credit for the time he has served. Fowler also said defense attorney Thomas Goggans will have the opportunity to argue for the minimum sentence. Prosecutors will also be able to argue for a greater sentence.

Fowler did not indicate what grounds will be argued on appeal, but he said during the trial that the case should have been moved due to pre-trial publicity and that Davis' chance of receiving a fair trial with an all-white jury (one black juror was an alternate) was diminished.

The defense attorneys have 42 days from the time of sentencing to file an appeal.

Fowler said will request a proceedings transcript, review all of the information related to the case and begin the appeal process.
Jackson County investigators believe a 25-year-old mother shot and killed her two young children before turning the gun on herself over the weekend.

Deputies with the Jackson County Sheriffs office responded to a reported shooting on Robinson Road in northeast Jackson County Friday around 5 p.m. When they arrived, they found three people had sustained guinshot wounds. One young boy died at the scene. Another was transported by helicopter to a local hospital where he later died. Also dead at the scene was an adult woman.

A preliminary investigation was conducted by the Jackson County Sheriffs Office and was aided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Medical Examiners Office and the State Attorneys Office.

Investigators believe 25-year-old Esbeibi Sanchez shot 5-year-old Gustavo-Angel Ramirez-Sanchez and 7-year-old Ronaldinio Ramirez-Sanchez before shooting herself.

Police offered no motive for the shooting.

Robinson Road is located less than a mile from the Alabama state line below Gordon.
Wicksburg native Cheyanna Edmondson has been a Dwayne The Rock Johnson fan as long as she can remember.

I love all the movies hes in, hes always nice to his fans and hes so handsome, she said.

Edmondson was thrilled that she received an invite to visit The Rock on the set of his latest film, Skyscraper. Edmondson, who had been diagnosed in 2016 with Ewings Sarcoma, and had been in remission for the past few months, was invited along with 10 other teens living with serious illnesses to visit the action star.

Thats why tests last week showing the cancer had returned were especially disappointing. The need for quick treatment and the physical exertion a journey to Vancouver would entail made that trip impossible.

The Rocks not one to let his fans down, and he sent an encouraging message to Edmondson via Instagram and also sent a video where he talked about her home and her love for Waffle House.

The Rock wrote the following on his Instagram account:

Just wanted to shine some light on this incredibly strong and beautiful 15yr old girl, Cheyanna. She was supposed to be my special guest on the set of #skyscrapermovie for our big MAKE A WISH DAY in a few weeks with 10 other kids/teens and their families. Cheyannas cancer has relapsed and instead shell be going to St Judes Hospital in Memphis for treatment. Sending so much love, light, support, positive energy and strength her way. Im moved and humbled her wish was to meet me. She says if she had one super power, she would be Bat Girl. The irony is, Cheyannas already blessed with super powers.. and way more stronger than Ill ever be. Stay strong Cheyanna and keep smiling. Were all pulling for you! Love, DJ.

The post and accompanying video has received more than 3 million views.

Edmondson said she was thrilled the Rock sent a message to her.

I was excited, she said. I cried.

Edmondsons family moved from Wicksburg to Pennsylvania and later to Tennessee three years ago when her fathers employer transferred him.

Luanna Edmondson, her grandmother, who lives in Wicksburg, said she was thankful The Rock took time from his schedule to wish her granddaughter well.

Im impressed, she said. Theres not a lot of them that would have done that Its really been tough for her, but shes been a champ.
Members of the Irish-speaking community from Dundalk met with their local representatives last week to voice their concerns around Irish language and Gaeltacht funding as Clinic Na Gaeilge came to Kildare Street in Dublin.

The ten-hour mobile clinic at Buswells Hotel saw Pol O Finn and others sit down with local representative Declan Breathnach TD to ask for their support for an Irish Language and Gaeltacht Investment Plan which could create over 1,150 new jobs.

Local representatives from 27 constituencies across Ireland travelled to the capital to meet 83 TDs, Senators and representatives in a bid to secure funding of 5.3 million for the plan in Budget 2018.

Clinic na Gaeilge brings the voice of the Irish-speaking community to the seat of power, where they can air the local issues that matter to them most, said Pol.

It was good to sit down as Gaeilge with Declan and encourage him to make investment in the Irish language and in the Gaeltacht a priority for the Government in Budget 2018."

Dr Niall Comer, President of Conradh na Gaeilge said that the Irish Language and Gaeltacht Investment Plan has been agreed by 87 Irish language and Gaeltacht groups, and would create over 1,150 new jobs.

It will also provide essential resources towards the language planning process, and afford the public many opportunities across the country to use Irish, said Dr Comer.

Irish language and Gaeltacht employment authorities have seen their resources slashed by up to 70% since 2007.

It is time to honour the Programme for Government and invest in our Gaeltachts and in our language.

The event was held as part of Conradh na Gaeilges #SEAS17 (seisiuin eolais agus spreagtha) pre-budget campaign, which involves information and progress sessions on Irish language and Gaeltacht affairs.

As well as the representatives of many constituencies who are joining us today, other Irish speakers have been phoning their local politicians, calling into their local drop-in clinics, and sending personal emails or tweets, said Peadar Mac Fhlannchadha, Advocacy Manager with Conradh na Gaeilge.

Like Clinic na Gaeilge, this is all tremendously enormously important work before the Budget is decided.

We are stronger as a community when we work together on these core issues - ni neart go cur le cheile.

Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, Joe McHugh TD, also launched a report by Comhlachas na gComharchumann Gaeltachta and Comhlachtai Pobalbhunaithe in Buswells Hotel.

Conradh na Gaeilge and their local representatives are calling on the Government and on the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, to allocate 5.3 million in funding to the Irish Language and Gaeltacht Investment Plan, as agreed by 87 Irish language and Gaeltacht groups, in Budget 2018.
The Louth business community are celebrating as local business woman, Georgina Mc Kenna, took home the honours at the Network Ireland Business Woman of the Year Awards.

The founder of the online and offline social community for women, Count Her In won the, Emerging New Business category at the prestigious national awards, at Druids Glen, Co Wicklow. It is the second year in a row Network Ireland Louth has won in this category and as per last year it was the most hotly contested category containing the most nominees.

Through Count Her In, Georgina is encouraging women to make time to live and get the most out of life by trying more, doing more, and being more.

Through the various Facebook groups Count Her In allows its community to meet new people in their area, organise meetups or events and to share information and knowledge.

"I moved to Ireland from Liverpool at the age of 19, built a career and along the way had 3 beautiful children but I also experienced social isolation", recalls Georgina. "My personal experiences spurred me on to develop and launch Count Her In and since then our 13,100 members have confirmed my beliefs. Social isolation can hit at any stage of your life regardless of your age, circumstances, locations and this is why Count Her In is going to make a huge difference to lives."

The company is growing rapidly and now includes groups across Ireland, UK, US, Australia and Canada, works with local businesses and big name brands to get affiliate offers for the Count Her In community.

Attending the event were members for Network Louth who were quick to congratulate their fellow member.

"This is an amazing achievement, we are so thrilled for Georgina", said Network Ireland Louth President, Regina Behan. "This is the second year in a row that the Network Ireland Louth Branch has had a winners at the national awards. Last year Alma Jordan from AgriKids and Yvonne Brady from EVB Sport brought home accolades.

"It is safe to say that Louth is fast gaining a reputation as a hub for entrepreneurism and innovation", continued Regina.

No doubt come 2018, Network Ireland Louth will be looking to complete the hat trick!
Australias largest online jobs marketplace, Airtasker, has completed a $33 million funding round to bankroll the companys first overseas foray, with an expansion into the UK.

Airtasker had already been enjoying a milestone year, with the formation of strategic partnerships with IKEA and eBay plus the introduction of income protection insurance for its workers.

The companys latest funding round was participated in by all of its current major shareholders including Seven West Media, Exto Partners, Morning Crest Capital and Black Sheep Capital. Skyfield Capital also made an investment, with its managing director Tyler Tan joining Airtasker as a director.

Airtaskers UK operations will be headed up by startup advisor and mentor Lucas London, who will be joined by members of the companys Australian team.

CEO Tim Fung, who co-founded Airtasker with former COO Jonathan Lui in 2012, spoke to Dynamic Business about taking the business abroad.

DB: What made the UK a logical choice for your first overseas move?

Fung: Firstly, there isnt anything thing equivalent to Airtasker in the UK at the moment, which we actually found pretty surprising. Secondly, when we conducted consumer research, we found that UK residents share similar attitudes to Australians when it comes to the services they purchase and the value they place on trusted service providers. Thirdly, we looked at other countries to get a sense of the competition and we saw that in some of the big economies, like in the US and China, there were a lot of companies being built around vertical service niches. Although we dont feel those businesses are sustainable, they definitely create difficulties when it comes to building and operating a services marketplace. The UK has a big economy, a great tech startup industry and most importantly consumer attitudes comparable to Australia.

DB: In the press release, you said you must learn how to fly again. How so?

Fung: From one perspective, you could argue Its just a website, just turn it on in another country and go and do some marketing. Thats one extreme, the other is were building a brand new business and we need to start from scratch. The truth, as usual, sits between those two perspectives. We absolutely have to learn to fly again in terms of building up the infrastructure over there as well as the trust between people in the marketplace. Fortunately, we come now with six years of IP and experience that we can apply to that exercise.

DB: Will the $33m capital raise be put primarily towards the UK expansion?

Fung: We were pretty well capitalised for our Australian business, so the main purpose for the round was to launch into the UK. We exceeded expectations in terms of this raise  we hadnt originally set out to raise so muchbut we ended up taking a bit more than we originally set out to build out the team with good people.

DB: Is UK a test case to determine further appetite for Airtasker overseas?

Fung: For sure. In the long run, our vision it to build a global local marketplace but you have to take one step at a time. For now, however, we are totally committed to launching in the UK and well be focusing on that market for the foreseeable future.

DB: Where will Airtaskers operations be in the UK, and when will they launch?

Fung: Well be starting in London, and that will be our focus for all of next year. In terms of when, were launching in T1, 2018.

See also: Up for the task and on the job: Airtaskers Tim Fung on shaking up the local labour market and Solo with Soho: Jonathan Lui on following up Airtasker with a LinkedIn for property app.
Its the web where most travellers are booking hotel rooms these days and, if youre looking to seize a slice of the online market, thats exactly where you should be. However, you should note that youre going up against lots of competition. Not just individual hotels, but chains and booking agencies all looking to get potential customers clicking on their websites. Yes, you need to be thinking about search engine optimization, or SEO as its known. However, you should also consider search marketing in your quest for online hotel success.

What is search marketing?

Search marketing can also be called SEM, search engine marketing. Its about placing an advert on the results page of a search engine, which has been formulated in response to a search. Basically, an advertiser makes a bid on a keyword, hoping to match it up to someone whos hunting for a specific product or service. The higher the bid, generally the higher the advertisement will appear on the results page of a search.

Search marketing is a booming industry, emerging as a key channel of digital advertising. Companies are putting a lot of their budgets into it, and its a sector thats not standing still. Most people are accessing the internet from mobile devices these days and this, along with social media playing its part in search results, means search marketing is constantly evolving. If your hotel takes it up, you need to keep up with the developments  to keep ahead of the competition.

So, its different from SEO?

SEO is all about the content on your site  the material that search engine robots trawl through to decide whether your webpages should appear on a results page. These results are the organic ones, those you dont pay for  and so are not guaranteed.

Search marketing is about pay per click  paying for your website to appear prominently in search results pages.

Monitoring your investment

With online search marketing and the pay per click approach, its easy to measure your return on investment (ROI). In fact, theres no other advertising platform which allows you to assess it so precisely.

Drawing up a campaign

Before your hotel goes with online search marketing, it should develop a focused campaign. It should look for a specialist search marketing agency for expert help and guidance.

An agency will focus on these key areas:

Keyword research. Generating highly qualified leads is about targeting the correct keywords for your services or products. Keyword groups need to be established, identifying the complete buying cycle of a customer.

Generating highly qualified leads is about targeting the correct keywords for your services or products. Keyword groups need to be established, identifying the complete buying cycle of a customer. Campaign targeting. Once keyword groups have been identified, the details of a campaign should be drawn up  encompassing target locations, languages, desktop and mobile devices, and search engine.

Once keyword groups have been identified, the details of a campaign should be drawn up  encompassing target locations, languages, desktop and mobile devices, and search engine. Continued development. Its not just about uploading campaign keywords on a one-off basis. There needs to be continued optimisation of target words, ensuring their relevance in the marketplace and user behaviour.

In the competitive hotel industry, search marketing can help you stand out  and ultimately bring in more reservations for your business.
Forecasters disagree over whether the coming wave of robotic automation will usher in a utopia or a wasteland, but none questions a future where automotons increasingly put human beings out of work. What Jobs Will Still be Around in 20 Years? asks the Guardian. The Future Has Lots of Robots, Few Jobs for Humans, Wired forecast. Robots and artificial intelligence will take up to 38 percent of all jobs in the United States and 30 to 35 percent of jobs in the EU, according to figures released earlier this year by PwC.

Prognosticators agree that machines will meet an ever-growing share of mans needs and desires, while homo sapiens retreat into forced idleness. The optimists believe this will free humans to devote hone their higher, God-given faculties. Pessimists worry that a significant portion of the human race will lose its economic wherewithal, as fewer jobs are open to people.

Fortunately, this brave new world of idleness and leisure is a chimera. It will never come to pass, writes Peter Smith in a new essay for Religion & Liberty Transatlantic. The world will never see a future in which shiftless people relax while robots create more products than they can ever afford, he writes, in Robots will not create a workless world. Scarcity and human nature will assure economic activity continues:

Superabundance is unachievable in this earthly realm. Poverty to one degree or another will always be around. For you have the poor with you always, Jesus said (Matthew 26:11). This truth is borne out by the existence of ingrained poverty within all wealthy nations. But, poverty aside, people will never be satisfied with what they have, even those living well in the West. Witness ever-growing credit card debt. The automation of existing production will do what it has always done. It will create the conditions for the development of new products, for new demands, and for new, different and well-paying jobs to emerge.

The twenty-first century differs from the three previous business revolutions (which he describes in his article). The heavy hand of government will press on the scales, Smith warns:

Artificial intelligence, robotics, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and the like, are disruptive technological changes.  Such changes always result in unemployment in some areas, for some time. An exacerbating factor this time around is that we have more onerous regulatory regimes in place across labour and product markets than in past eras. These reduce market flexibility, which allows wages to fall; some businesses to downsize, and others to develop and expand, free of costly and time-consuming obstacles. Such flexibility mitigates the effect of technological change in generating transitory unemployment.

Smith describes the process of automation, how the free market brings balance to the economy, and why an automated world will only change human work patterns in detail.

You can read his full essay here.

(Photo credit: Land Rover MENA. This photo has been cropped. CC BY 2.0.)


 The Washington Post Belatedly Covers Hamas-Fatah Talks | Main | Imaginary BDS Demon Gets Haaretz Photo Editor 

October 10, 2017

Where's the Coverage of Torture in Gaza Prisons?

Earlier this month, the online news site Al-Monitor wrote about two Palestinian human rights organizations reporting on complaints of torture in Gaza prisons. (Gaza activists decry rise in torture within prisons,? October 1, 2017.) Al-Monitor wrote:

Human rights organizations operating in the Gaza Strip have monitored many cases of torture in Gaza prisons in 2016-17, which were described as recurring.? After he was severely tortured, detainee Khalil Abu Harb, from Gaza City, committed suicide on Sept. 19. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) demanded in a Sept. 20 statement that the attorney general and decision-makers in the Gaza Strip stop what the PCHR described as a state of decay in detention centers. The PCHR demanded that they put an end to torture in prisons and abide by Palestinian law. The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) issued its monthly report for July on Sept. 20. The ICHR noted that during July, it received 38 complaints of torture and ill-treatment in the Palestinian territories, 26 of which were in Gaza, and they included 22 complaints against the police and four against the Internal Security Service. In its annual report for 2016, the ICHR revealed that it documented hundreds of complaints submitted by victims of torture in detention centers and prisons in the Gaza Strip that year. PCHR's legal researcher Mohammed Abu Hashim told Al-Monitor that there is a lack of comprehensive and accurate statistics on cases of torture in prisons and detention centers, because the victims of torture are reluctant to confront the authorities. They do not trust in their ability to protect them or provide some form of compensation either by the judiciary or human rights centers.



With the help of Google Translate, CAMERA reviewed the IHCR report for July as well as the PCHR September 20 statement that Al-Monitor cited, which support the article.

The IHCR was founded in 1993 by Yasser Arafat. The PHCR has been noted for its bias against Israel and its reliance on lawfare against Israel. Yet, it has taken the step of criticizing the Hamas government of Gaza.

No mainstream American news media, however, has prominently featured this story. Palestinian suffering is only newsworthy, it seems, when Israel can be blamed.



Posted by kabe at October 10, 2017 04:22 PM

Can we share this info on Facebook?

Posted by: Nancy Hart at October 12, 2017 12:22 PM

Does anyone expect a propaganda sheet like Al-Monitor to expose the failings of Hamas? And the treatment of prisoners tortured in their prisons and other cruel punishments, lashings for blogging blasphemy in Saudi Arabia, a student beaten to death by his peers in a Pakistani high school because he would not convert to Islam. And these are daily daily occurrences.

Al-Monitor is unlikely to criticize Muslims. It would be like criticizing Islam and we shouldn't allow that. Islam and its Jihadis are above reproach. Al-Monitor is a chameleon.

What is never properly put in perspective in the west is the effect demographics plays on the nature of Islam and its practitioners. Wherever there are Islamic majorities we find intolerance of other beliefs and any politics offensive to its followers.

Wherever there are Muslim minorities, compromise is an accepted practice but only with the intent of implementing a long term goal; the subjugation of the world.

Christian missionaries have been excoriated for the same sort of evangelical zeal.

I have met "moderate" Muslims but in truth they are simply constrained by demographics.

The problem is inherent in the religion and cultures themselves.

Why is anyone surprised that Al-Monitor despite its attempts to appear to be an inclusive publication has retained an Islamist evangelist edge?

Posted by: Anonymous at October 14, 2017 10:45 AM

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PASCAOGULA, Miss. -- A Pascagoula family's home was in danger until Georgia Power crews intervened after a unique smell caught their attention.

Georgia Power's Coastal Region A team was working along McArthur Street off Telephone Road when one of the crew members smelled smoke.

Engineer supervisor Gloribel Perez, the crew's team leader, said they had just made repairs on a power line in the area when apprentice lineman Derrick Bradshaw mentioned to his distribution supervisor Mitch Chorba of Brunswick that he smelled smoke.

They began patrolling the area and noticed smoke coming out of the eaves of the small, wood-framed house. They called 911 and confirmed with neighbors that no one was in the home.

While waiting for first responders to arrive, they pulled the meter and spoke to the landlord of the rental property who lived across the street. The crew advised her to not open the front door until emergency crews arrived.

"If Georgia Power had not been on the scene, it's very likely that home would've burned down in about 15 minutes," Capt. Doug Adams with the Pascagoula Police Department said.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, leaving only minimal damage to the home. First responders also rescued two dogs that were inside the house.

Adams said the reason for the fire stemmed from the fact that the family left their stove on because the power was out.

The family was eventually notified by their landlord about what happened.

"We have an excellent team," Perez said. "I am very proud, but not surprised. The guys demonstrated qualities and values that they show every day. It has always been our practice to do final sweeps after restoring power and this time it proved that we are a 'Citizen Where We Serve.'"

When natural disasters happen, situations such as these can occur. Per Adams, you always want to make sure you double-check hazards inside of your home will not place your property in danger.

"We tell people all the time, when power is out, you should always double-check your stove -- if you have candles, you should put them out, just double back to make sure things like these won't happen," Adams said. "No generators inside the home or propane gas tanks because you do not want the fumes inside of your home. We just encourage our residents to be mindful of these things."
A Dream has Become Reality For Aviation Student

His adrenaline was pumping as he took the controls of Viking II, one of Elizabeth City State Universitys training aircraft. At that moment, dreams had become reality for Kemarie Jeffers, a junior aviation program student.

It was pretty crazy because I was flying an airplane my first lesson, said Jeffers, recalling the moment he was told to take the controls.

Jeffers, a Henderson, North Carolina native, recently received his private pilot license thanks to the ECSU aviation program. It is, he says, a dream hes held on to since elementary school.

Jeffers says it was in high school that he first began looking into options to become a pilot. There was an expensive private institution where he could train to become a commercial pilot, but he was concerned that he would not receive a bachelors degree.

Then he attended a college fair at a local high school. Thats where he learned of ECSU for the first time, and the aviation program.

They told me that were the only university in the state to offer a degree and flight training, he recalled.

It didnt take much for Jeffers to chart his course. He had already decided he would spend his first two years at Vance-Granville Community College where he received an associate of arts degree, and from there he would transfer to ECSU.

ECSUs flight training program is designed to give students the opportunity to soar above the clouds, obtain both a private and commercial pilot license, and earn their bachelors degree in aviation science. For students like Jeffers, the plan is to go on to work in the aviation industry as a commercial pilot.

And he has recent graduates to look to for inspiration. According to aviation professor, Orestes Gooden, two recent ECSU graduates, Corey Kellum and Andrew Register, will soon be wearing the wings of different commercial airlines, flying passengers from airport to airport.

But first, as with Jeffers now, those Viking pilots had to go through a series of trials to have the privilege to traverse the skies.

Jeffers describes the experience of learning to fly as surreal in some ways. In the air, alone, its peaceful, he says. Jeffers describes the experience as amazing, something that never gets old.

He says his first time at the controls he was nervous, but then his excitement and adrenaline kicked in and he was in charge.

There was a lot of emotion, he said. I felt accomplished. I was living my dream. I wasnt just talking about it anymore.

Jeffers spent many hours learning to handle the controls in the sky. Eventually, he would learn to take off, something that can excite perhaps more than the serene sensation of gliding through the air, he said.

That was a big adrenalin rush, said Jeffers. You go faster and faster and youre feeling yourself rise. It was very intense.

But as the saying goes, whatever goes up must come down. Jeffers also had to learn to land his plane.

That was the hardest thing in my training, he said. There is a lot to consider.

Jeffers had to line up his plane with the runway, check his airspeed and eventually bring the plane down so that the rear wheels touch and the front wheels ease down. It wasnt, he said, a perfect first landing, but it was successful.

Eventually student pilots must also learn to fly solo.

Jeffers first went up with his instructor, learning the exercise he would complete alone, in the cockpit. When it was time to go it alone, he could feel his nerves as the plane went into full power and rose from the ground.

Since his solo test, Jeffers has flown alone many times. Hes made cross country trips as a part of his training, and now that he has his private license, hes going to work on his instrument rating, learning to fly solely on the guidance of his flight instruments in the event of cloud cover and the like.

After that, while still a student at ECSU, Jeffers will earn his commercial pilot license.

That allows you to fly for hire so at that point I could get a job, he said.

Jeffers will graduate in December 2018. He says that in order to be hired as a commercial airline pilot, he will need 1,500 flight hours. The best way to get those hours, he says, is to teach flying.

He says he hopes to be a flight instructor at ECSU. Jeffers says being in the aviation program at ECSU is like being a part of a family. Everyone, he says, is looking out for one another.

I love the program, he said.

For more information about the aviation science program, visit the page here.
(Photo:  Anli Serfontein)German Bishop's Conference chairperson, Cardinal Rheinhold Marx, speaking in Berlin on Oct. 10, 2017

BERLIN - There should be no cap on refugees entering Germany, the chairperson of the German Bishop's Conference, Cardinal Rheinhold Marx has said in Berlin.

He addressed the annual St. Michael's reception on Oct.10. In the audience was the German State President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, top German politicians, diplomats, clergy and interfaith bodies.

"Off course in our asylum legislation there is no upper cap for refugees. That is taken for granted, and we will stick to that," said Marx to applause.

Marx words came a day after the two Christian Union sister parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, which only operates in the southern German state of Bavaria, agreed to an upper cut of 200,000 refugees a year.

The cardinal's words were seen as a veiled rebuke of Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party, which in recent days gave in to pressure from its more conservative sister party under Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer.

They agreed to the cap on refugees after nearly half a million entered Germany in 2015 at the height of the refugee crisis. The agreement comes ahead of the start of coalition talks with other parties to form a new government, following last month's national election.

In the September general elections refugees and the integration of refugees were a key issue and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) with Neo-Nazi tendencies snatched 13 percent of the vote.

It was the first time since World War Two that such a far right party got elected to the German Parliament.

Marx also entered the political fray when he said to applause that for the Catholic Church the reunification of refugee families is a pre-requisite for successful integration. This has been a touchy topic in German national politics.

Earlier in his address Cardinal Marx said "For us as a church, it is important that we recognize the other as other and not try to make him into an image of ourselves. That is a basic prerequisite to live together and to cooperate."

He said, "For us as Christians, it means that every man - believing or disbelieving, is the image of God.

"This is a strong motivation to see everyone, regardless of gender, color, national origin or religion as an image of God. Only then can we live together in a good way," his word drawing applause.

Marx also berated the German political parties for concentrating on national politics and not pushing the European project which is about the future and a guarantee for peace in Europe.

He pointed out that in contrast Pope Francis, who is from South America is about to give his fifth keynote address on Europe.
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APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED - OCTOBER 1-- DECEMBER 1, 2017

(Hillsboro, Oregon) - The Walters Cultural Arts Center at 527 East Main Street in Hillsboro is currently seeking exhibit proposals from solo artists and groups for the 2018-2019 gallery season. The Walters gallery seeks to display original fine art that is engaging to a broad public audience of all ages (including young children) and suitable for display in a multi-function space that also hosts workshops, readings, weddings, meetings, and other private and public events.

The Walters is looking to receive proposals for gallery exhibits from a diverse range of artists working in 2D and 3D media. The Walters gallery strives to represent a diverse selection of both emerging and established voices and perspectives in the arts community.

The Walters' gallery provides a public showplace for the arts and is a vibrant representation of the City of Hillsboro's commitment to arts and culture. As part of the Cultural Arts division of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation, the Walters and its programs share in the City's goal of providing diverse, innovative and exceptional recreational and cultural opportunities that enrich the lives of its citizens.

The Walters gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the facility, with additional gallery hallways on the lower level. Both spaces are open to the public : Mon--Thu: 9am--9pm; Friday: 9am--5pm; Closed Saturday & Sunday.

Interested artists may apply online at: www.waltersgallery.submittable.com. Applications are due by 11:59 PST on December 1, 2017.

WALTERS GALLERY HIGHLIGHTS

RECEPTIONS: On the first Tuesday of each month, we host an evening reception for the current gallery exhibit(s). Receptions are open to the public and include live music and complimentary, tea, coffee, and light sweets or snacks. This event is also part of the Downtown Hillsboro Art Walk.

AUDIENCE: The gallery is open during concerts, classes, private rentals and other cultural events, bringing a broad public audience to exhibits throughout the year.

PUBLICITY: Gallery exhibits are advertised in the citywide Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Activities Guide each term, in the HillsboroARTS Magazine, as well as on the Walters website.

CONVENIENCE: All exhibits are arranged and installed by Walters gallery staff.

ELIGIBILITY

Emerging and experienced local artists from Oregon & Washington are eligible to submit proposals for exhibits

Applicants may be solo artists or the designated representative of a group/guild of artists with an organized exhibit. There are separate applications for Group and Solo applicants.

We are looking for applicants with a cohesive body of work to fit one or both gallery spaces

Most 2D and some 3D mediums are eligible for exhibition with the following considerations: all artwork considered for the gallery must be original work of the artist and framed or otherwise prepared for display in a professional manner. 3D art must be free-standing, easy to move, and not overly fragile.

For full eligibility and guidelines for submitting artwork, please visit the gallery's Submittable page at www.waltersgallery.submittable.com. More information about the Walters and their gallery can be found at www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/Walters.

The Walters is a ground-breaking home for creativity and culture providing expanded opportunities for the entire metro area community, including increased access to exceptional performing and fine arts experiences located just two blocks off the MAX Blue line in historic downtown Hillsboro. Many thanks go to Walters Concert series Sponsor, The Orenco Hotel and First Tuesday sponsor, Decadent Creations Bakery -- whose generosity and support have made it possible to enhance the Arts Center's offerings and services.

# # #

The Walters Cultural Arts Center is a premier west side visual arts and performance facility. Part of the City of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation department, the Walters is home to a 200 seat state-of-the-art performance and event space, art galleries and studio space dedicated to workshops and classes representing a wide variety of art forms. Each season the Walters' eclectic concert series grows, featuring local, national and international artists. The Walters also hosts free events including First Tuesday Gallery Openings, Open Mic Poetry Night and the Spoken Word Series.

Gayle Ritt, Walters Cultural Arts Center
After one of the biggest sex scandals of all-time surrounding movie mogul Harvey Weinstein surfaced, women of the industry have come out hitting out on those who kept mum during the whole episode and now actress Rose McGowan has slammed her co-stars for not speaking up.

McGowan took to Twitter with a picture of her younger self, captioning it "This is the girl that was hurt by a monster. This is the girl who you are shaming with your silence." There are reports suggesting that McGowan was paid $100,000 in settlement by Weinstein which she is yet to confirm reported the Daily Mail.

This is the girl that was hurt by a monster. This is who you are shaming with your silence. pic.twitter.com/TrtRNiYfIT  rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 8, 2017



Embeded Code:

A longtime friend of Weinstein Meryl Streep also spoke up and said in a lengthy statement that she was disgraced and appalled by the news and those who have raised their voices against him are heroes.She also said that not everybody knew what he was up to. She mentioned that she was unaware of the activities of the man and what he did to other women or for that matter about his settlement of issues with them.

It has been observed that of actresses whom Weinstein had offended were apprehensive of coming out in the open and talk about their experiences but eventually actresses like Judd, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Brie Larson, Brooklyn Decker, Patricia Arquette, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Barkin, and Heather Matarazzo opened up and shared their gory experiences. Now the 44-year-old Italian actress, Rose McGowan, has come out and tweeted, "Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening." She also appealed to the male stars to speak up.

Few hours after the tweets were posted by McGowan, the board of the Weinstein Company ousted him and issued a statement accordingly. A New York Times report has added that eight such sexual harassment claims have been settled by him in the past.
Ben Affleck, who's fought addiction, is currently on his road to recovery with present girlfriend Lindsay Shookus and ex-wife Jennifer Garner being highly supportive of the actor.

TheJustice League actor is still seeking help for his ongoing addiction to alcohol and is garnering full support from both say sources. The father of three has a history of alcoholism added that Ben is going strong and currently "focused on his sobriety"

Garner and Affleck, announced separation in June 2015, despite the fact, the Saturday Night live producer has been supporting him throughout. They have been a couple since then and still going strong according to E! Magazine as it published a video of the star on his road to recovery.



The two have been in love since 2004 and long after they went public with their relationship and hailed as one among the Hollywood's topmost power couple.

They got married in 2005 after which they had three children. Earlier the 45-year-old had revealed that he had completed a treatment for alcohol addiction.

He said that this was something he dealt with in the past as well and will continue to confront it. He further said that he wanted to live his life to the fullest and be the best father to his kids and it wasn't a shame to ask for help when needed.

In the year 2001, the actor completed a treatment for alcohol addiction The actor has remained considerably selective in terms of speaking about this battle with sobriety. However, on certain occasions, he did link his family's cycle of addiction to his 2001 rehabilitation stint and now to his recent recovery.

Affleck and Lindsay Shookus romance came to light in the public domain in July 2017 and ever since they have been spotted together on several occasions. Affleck accompanied Shookus for a work trip to London in early July 2017. He was then filming re-shoots for his film Justice League,

Shookus was spotted trotting alone in New York as her boyfriend was seen checking in for treatment at a facility in California.
Telecoms are seeing content is king, said Dan Geiger, Sr. Dir  Solutions Marketing at Procera Networks as we discussed in an in-person interview how his company is helping global carriers. You might recall a year ago we told you the company helps shape even encrypted traffic. Dan reinforced that the companys solutions see the device layer, cell phones, cell towers and the core network while being able to differentiate various types of traffic.

This is why carriers are able to see content as king  because they have more control over it than ever before. In countries where VoIP is restricted, Procera allows carriers to charge a monthly fee to allow customers access to an IP communications provider. US carrier T-Mobile offers an unlimited streaming service using similar technology.

Procera has gone from a leader in application awareness to network awareness which means they can take network traffic, subscriber knowledge, analytics and application knowledge and use it to intelligently manage the network. This allows better quality to be provided to consumers since the carriers are better able to understand what is happening on the network.

Dan believes networks will see more automation as time goes on  their systems work in a network intelligence ecosystem with probes and analytics vendors in order to make intelligent and rapid decisions related to traffic shaping.

The big news of late is the companys acquisition of competitor Sandvine, the combined company will serve 1.7 billions subs and provide solutions to 12 of the top 20 mobile providers. The $562 million-dollar acquisition is backed by Francisco Partners who is doubling down on its investment in network intelligence, creating a global leader in the space.

These are the direct benefits of this acquisition according to the company:

Significantly increased scale to support customers and partners  The new Sandvine has deep relationships with many of the worlds largest operators and enterprises. The combined organization has significantly increased scale and resources to expand new product initiatives, offer greater depth of service offerings and provide enhanced support for both our partners and customers.

Increased investment in product innovation  The combined business will be accelerating innovation investments in behavioral analysis, automation, and cloud solutions. Sandvine will have the only closed loop capabilities powered by network intelligence, positioning it to enable its customers to drive OPEX savings with network and workflow transformation.

Expanded breadth of use case capabilities  The combined company offers best-in-class solutions in the network intelligence market for analytics, policy and charging control, security, regulatory compliance, traffic management, and cloud managed services. The powerful combination of the two companies adds significant technology synergies that result in over 100 use cases across Sandvines solution verticals.

Enhanced offerings to enable cloud managed services  The combined company will provide channel partners and service provider customers the broadest and most differentiated portfolio of virtual and cloud delivered Network Intelligence solutions. Sandvines cloud services solution is a cloud-based offering that integrates analytics, policy charging and control, traffic management, and security use cases as a single managed service for enterprise networks.

Proceras goal is to help carriers by allowing them to better manage their networks so as to provide superior user experience and new and flexible models to generate revenue through bundling and flexible marketing.
10 October 2017

EPO President Benoit Battistelli attended the annual World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Assemblies in Geneva last week to hold talks with counterparts from national patent offices (NPOs) and European industry in a series of bilateral and multilateral events. The annual WIPO Assemblies are viewed as a valuable opportunity for NPOs to meet with other patent offices from around the world. The EPO delegation's intense agenda included over 35 official engagements with NPOs, including meetings with user associations and NPOs from Africa, Asia, North America and South America.

A central focus of the meetings was the measures that the EPO is undertaking to deliver legally robust patents by working with patent offices in other regions. During the talks the EPO discussed how initiatives such as validation agreements, the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) scheme can support greater quality and efficiency in the patent granting process. Together with its international partners, the EPO also assessed how enhanced cooperation could help achieve reductions in backlogs and improve timeliness.

The annual WIPO Assemblies are a great opportunity for us to meet with colleagues from across the globe,' said President Battistelli. This week has underlined that there's a strong desire among other patent offices to work more closely with us. By enhancing this international cooperation, the EPO and NPOs can improve their services and ultimately that will bring more benefits to our users and innovation.'

President Battistelli with representatives from Morocco, Moldova and Tunisia, as well as with validation candidate regions Brunei, Jordan, Malaysia and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI).

Among the agreed measures was the announcement of the entry into force of a validation agreement with Tunisia as of 1 December 2017. Tunisia will be the third county to join the system, extending the possible coverage of a European patent to 43 countries. Validation has proved an attractive way for countries to reduce their backlog, while benefiting from the EPO's high quality search and examination.

With the conclusion of a PPH pilot agreement with Brazil, the EPO also took an important step in improving access to the Brazilian market for users of the European patent system.

During the PCT Union Assembly, the EPO was re-appointed International Search Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority for a further 10 years. The EPO also signed a three-year comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral co-operation with WIPO, further strengthening the attractiveness of the PCT, the main entry route for patent applications at the EPO.

The President also met individually with the heads of the IP5 offices to take stock of developments and plan next year's Trilateral and IP5 meetings.
The European Union has approved the disbursement of a 200 million loan to Tunisia, marking the launch of the second Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) to the North African country. The new tranche will be distributed in three installments in 2017 and 2018. Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, commented that the financial aid to Tunisia was proof of the EUs strong commitment to support the economic recovery of one of Europes closest neighbors. With a renewed sense of urgency, Tunisia has reaffirmed its dedication to an effective partnership. The EU stands firmly with Tunisia in achieving prosperity for all of its people.

The new financial package was proposed after the 2015 attacks, which stopped Tunisias economic recovery. This had a significant impact on the countrys balance of payments position and financing needs, so the second and third installment of the MFA-II (totaling 150 million each) will be tied to the implementation of a number of policy conditions, targeting fiscal consolidation as well as the improvement of the countrys social assistance schemes and business climate.

MFA is an exceptional EU crisis response instrument available to the blocs partner countries. It is complementary to the assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund. MFA loans are financed through EU borrowing on capital markets. The EUs support to Tunisia also includes substantial loans from the European Investment Bank and budget programs under the European Neighborhood Instrument of which Tunisia is a major recipient. Since the revolution of 2011, the EU has been continuously supporting Tunisia in its transition to democracy. The EUs assistance to Tunisia since the 2011 revolution has so far amounted to over  1 billion.
Written by ACM





*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Just after the "Bumpy" Controversy which pushed at the Out-going CoE Parliamentary Assembly's (PACE) President, Pedro Agramunt's last-minute, Unprecedented Resignation, back on Friday, (See, among others, also, f.ex:...), another UnExpected development was the emergence of not 1, but 2 Candidates for his Immediate Succession, Both being well-known Mainstream ChristianDemocrat/EPP Group's important Members, (See Infra).



The Winner is due to Chair this Week's PACE's Autumn 2017 Plenary Sesion, (10-13/2017), a subsequent Standing Committee meeting in Denmark, (Incoming, New CoE's Chair from the 15th of November 2017 up to May 2018), as well as Many other Simple Committees Meetings, f.ex. in Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, until and including the Beginning of an Important January 2018 Next Plenary Session in Strasbourg, at the End of that Month, (where, among others, Russian MEPs might, eventually, negotiate their Return, after almost 4 Years of Exceptional Absence. (Comp.:...). Meanwhile, some Reports and Votes on Key Issues are scheduled, starting immediately, right from this week, (See Infra).



Afterwards, if things go as initially scheduled, then, according to a Traditional Agreement between the various Political Groups, it's a Socialist MEP, (the current Head of the Group, Italian MEP Nicoletti), who is due to take over. But, after what happened recently, (Comp. Supra +See Infra), certain sources warned that, in fact, it's no more sure at all that everything will run so smoothly then. So, this might Not be the End of Surprizes...



Indeed, the Battle for the Prestigious and Influential Top Job of CoE's PanEuropean Parliamentary Assembly's Presidency seems to really go on in Strasbourg, to the point that it even Inspired ...the Strategic "Cafe" Facing the Hemicycle, where a bunch of Good Wine Bottles were Today exhibited with, at their Center, a Symbolic ..."Chateau la Bataille" ("Castle of the Battles" ! ), which attracted immediately the Attention, (See Photo)...



Experienced, mainstream MEP Emanuelis Zingeris, from Lithuania, an eminent PACE Member as early as, already since the 1990ies, Repporteur on several "Hot" Issues, (Comp., f.ex. statements to "Eurofora", among others, also, at: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coeonbrusselsattacksandghettos.html ), seems to have got the main Endorsment of the Biggest Political Group, that of "ChristianDemocrats"/EPP, including of his President, German MEP of the Governing CDU Party of Chancellor Angie Merkel, Axel Fischer. He is also supported by some "Liberal" MEPs.



But Cyprus' most Popular MP in the latest Elections of 2016, Stella Kyriakides, (See, f.ex., among others, also relevant "Eurofora"s NewsReport at: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/cypruselectionboostsconservativesnewpartiesandcitizens.html ), President of CoE Assembly's Committee on Social, Health and Sustainable Development (comp. f.ex.: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/conseildeleuropeetmariageshomosexuels.html ) also ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP since 2012, (after a Previous, Long Experience as CoE's Officer on the PanEuropean Social Charter, and former EU Expert), extended the Endorsment of several Important EPP's MEPs, (f.ex. Ria Oomen-Ruijten, former EU Parliament's Rapporteur, and Pieter Omtzigt : both from the Netherlands, Dora Bakoyannis, former Foreign Minister and f. President of PACE's Political affairs Committee, from Greece, etc.), also to 2 Leaders of Other Political Groups, (Anne Brasseur, former PACE President - Comp. Statements to "Eurofora", f.ex., at: ..., etc- and f. Chairwoman of the "Liberals", as well as Tiny Cox, President of the "Left", a Dutch Senator - ibid : ..., etc), 7 "Socialist" MEPs, 4 "Conservatives" MEPs, etc.



=> Thus, right from the 1st Round of Votes, Earlier Today, she led with 126 Votes, against 84 for Zingeris, i.e., a Clear (even if No Absolute) Majority.



+ And this was Confirmed, even Further Augmenting her Advance, at the 2nd Round, with 121 Votes, against 69.



However, since for an Absolute Majority were Needed 152 Votes, at the 1st Round, and something almost similar at the 2nd, the Final Outcome was Postponed for Tomorrow Morning, Tuesday, October 10, (according to what had been, in fact, Expected from the Start, as well informed Sources had Warned "Eurofora" earlier).



But, a simple, Relative Majority being Sufficient on Tmorrow's 3rd Round, Unless a Surprize might occur, Stella Kyriakides' crystal-clear Advance in Votes Appears to rather guarantee a safe Final Win.



At First Sight, it looks quite Diffiicult to find, with certainty, which were the Real Causes of the above-mentioned (still partial, but rather conclusive) results.



Some MEPs claimed that it might have, perhaps, something to do with the respective positions of the Candidates vis a vis the recent, UnPrecedented Controversy on the Out-going PACE President Pedro Agramunt from Spain, which had been just pushed to Resign, (Comp., f.ex. : ...), But it's Not so sure, since Both Zingeris and Kyriakides have been Endorsed by various MEPs also Critical versus Agramunt, (f.ex. several Pro-Kiev Ukranians, on Both Sides, particularly with Zingeris, but also Armenian MEPs and Omtzigt, also Critical vis a vis Agramunt, supporting Kyriakides, etc).



Russia being, notoriously, a main pretext for the harsh Criticism that Agramunt had suddenly faced, (Comp.: ...), one might, naturally, search there, at least a part of Most MEPs' Motivation. Some's inaccurate rumours that Zingeris might be too "Soft" vis a vis Moscow, look obviously MisInformed, since he's usually quite Critical, currently Drafts a Report on Nemtsov's killing, and is endorsed by many pro-Kiev Ukranians, Georgians, Polish, Lithuanians, etc. Kyriakides too, (perhaps at a slightly lesser degree), is endorsed also by Various usual Critics of Russia, including, f.ex. pro-Kiev Ukranians, Georgians, Brittish, Anne Brasseur, Liliane Maury Pasquier and/or Petra de Sutter, etc. But also by some more open to Russia's arguments, such as Tiny Cox, etc. However, that does Not seem enough to mark a big Difference there, (considering also the Fact that Most MEPs' preferences still remain Unknown, given the Secret character of these Votes)...



Could, then, it be, simply because a PACE's Majority might, eventually, wish to have Now a Woman as New President ? It's Fact that, in general, Most Past CoE Women Leaders were quite Succesfull : F.ex., inter alia, "Eurora"'s co-Founder Started Press Work with former COE's Secretary General, Professor Catherine Lalumiere, from France, whith whom we still kept until recently a very Good and positive relation, from times to times ; and went on to Develop Excellent relations also with German former PACE President Hellen Fischer. But, in Addition to the 2 Biggest EU Countries, its' also Anne Brasseur, a Long-Time MEP and recently PACE's President, with whom we Worked Well and correctly, (Comp., f.ex., among others, also : ..., etc), who comes from Nearby Luxembourg, located at EU's Core, but as "Small" in Population as almost Cyprus' strategic Island, located among 3 Continents and Facing Suez Channel, etc. And it's rue that, Stella Kyriakides, Played a bit that kind of Musical Note, this Afternoon, when she Animated (as PACE Health Committee's Chair) a Side-Event at CoE Palace's ForeCourt with a "Pink-Lighting" of its Building, for an Awareness-Raising brief meeting on the Fight against Breast Cancer, where Calls for "Solidarity" and/or to "Save" or "Change the Life" of many Women, Otherwise threatened to fall Victims to a quite avoidable and/or treatable hasard.



However, even if it might be a Sympathetic point, this is, obviously, unable to seriously explain what happened...



Could, then, it be (at least Also), simply Because of Cyprus ?



Various MEPs might, indeed, have Found there a Symbolic Way to Tell Turkey that it wasN't Right to provoke a Breakdown of the UN-Sponsored Talks for a Peaceful ReUnification of the Island, recently, at nearby Switzerland, mainly by Ankara's Insistence to Keep its illegal Invasion/Occupation Military Troops even After the Entry into force of an eventual Agreement, Neither to push a kind of Permanent Claim for Unilateral Military Invasion of the Island also in the Future, (See, f.ex.: ...).



While such Considerations might, perhaps, have played a role, at least for some MEPs' choice, nevertheless, ...it's simply Too Good to be True !



So, a "Mystery" still remains, as far as that - still Evolving - Vote is concerned, (Comp. Supra)...



After having arrived at this point, one is, a priori, Surprized to find the UneExpected Fact that, among those MEPs who had Endorsed Kyriakides from the outset, was also the Rapporteur on one among the Most Controversial BioEthical Issues nowadays : that of Genetic Manipulations on Human Beings :



Indeed, such a Report, is Scheduled for Debate and Vote on Tursday Afternoon, 12 October 2017, and drafted by Petra De Sutter, from Belgium : A "Socialist" who has, Already, notoriously provoked a lot of Fuss and made Upset Many among Various BioEthical NGOs, Natural Family, Natural Births' and Human Rights Defenders, in such "Hot" Areas, as, f.ex., "Gender" Issues, Same Sex Marriage, Children submitted to the Power of Homosexuals under Pretext of so-called "Adoption", etc. And, at least the EPP, would be Now in the process of preparing "a Series of Amendments", as its BioEthical issues' Representative, MEP Giletschi from Moldova, and Head of a Worldwide Baptism movement, told "Eurofora".



As for the Hypothesis, for some to have provoked, recentlty, an UnPrecedented Row about the Out-Going PACE President, Agramunt's visit to meet Suria's President Assad, together with several Other PACE's Top MEPs, through the intermediation of Russia, but withOut asking previously, for an Authorisation from the Assembly, until they pushed him to Resign, also in order to, perhaps, Destabilize the the ChristianDemocrat/EPP Group, Divide and Weaken it, so that it couldn't really oppose anymore, with efficient means, such Controversial Moves on "Hot" BioEthical Issues for All Humankind, (Comp., f.ex., at : .....), it doesn't seem to be excluded a priori...



So, at any case, considering also the Famous moto about "Cesar's Wife", who should Not Only Be, even Look like a Honest Lady, Observers will certainly Watch Carefully, in case that Stella Kyriakides really succeeds to be Elected as New President of CoE's Assembly, Tomorrow Morning (Comp. Supra), how her Presidency would Deal, in Real Practice, with all those Critical Amendments to that Report on one of the "Hottest" BioEthical Issues of Nowadays, (which had also Rocked even the USA, between former US Presidents' GWBush and Barack Obama's eras, as well as other Countries accross the World), until the current Draft might be adequately Rectified.

(../..)





-----------------------


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Hi All,



I purchased an apartment at the beginning of the year and have been renting it out unfurnished, It complies with the Loi Pinel as does the rental amount.



My question to the forum is



Has anyone had any experience on with completing a tax return to benefit from the law Pinel?



Is so any pointers would be appreciated. I understand I will have to submit the correct forms next May with the standard tax return.

From my understanding I would need the following;

Cerfa 2044-EB : Lengagement de location

This is the document that reflects the rental commitment of the housing for 6 years, 9 years or 12 years. It is to be written once: at the time of the 1st Pinel declaration.



Cerfa 2044 or 2044-SPE: Declaration of property income

For reporting the income from the property.



Cerfa 2042-C: Declaration of additional income

To calculate the amount of tax deduction.



Documents required;

 Attestation de propriete du lodgement (Certificate of ownership)

 Lacte authentique (deed)

 Le justificatif du reglement des frais dacte(proof of payment of the deed)





Anything I have missed?



Thanks
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The Food Network hasnt gotten enough of San Antonio chef Jason Dady. Dady is set to battle against Food Network personality Bobby Flay in an upcoming episode of Beat Bobby Flay.

This morning, Dady posted a photo of an awake Flay lying in bed and with the caption: @bobbyflay cant sleep. And I know why. Watch me on #beatbobbyflay Thursday November 2nd at @9pm cst.

Were not allowed to say what well be cooking or the style, Dady said. But I will say that its a surprising dish.

The range of the local Dady restaurant empire, where barbecue, steaks, lobster rolls, tapas, Nutella desserts and a wide range of Italian fare is featured, makes the focus of the potential Flay showdown difficult to pair down.

The premise of the show, which has been in production for 14 seasons, revolves around cooks from all over the country, regional authorities on dishes that range from Korean crab cakes to fish and chips and beyond, challenging Flay to outcook them on their signature dishes. First, two challengers go head-to-head, and the winner of the first round gets to challenge Flay.

In the upcoming episode, Dady said that he will battle Minneapolis-based chef Mike DeCamp, who, like Dady, oversees the menus at multiple properties.

Dady competed in the Food Networks Iron Chef Gauntlet challenge last spring and made it to the final episode before finishing third in the competition.

In those May-June-July months, it was absolute insanity rocking back and forth around the country, Dady said. I look it as a chance to promote San Antonio and the fact that we are a great food city.

Dady made headlines last week with a social media feud with TV star Mario Lopez. Dady suggested that Lopez, or a publicist working on his behalf, solicited a free meal at the Dadys newest restaurant Range, which opened a couple weeks ago at the Embassy Suites on the River Walk, in exchange for a social media promotion. Lopez denied it took place on radio, but Dady doubled-down after the former Saved by the Bell actor took aim at his publicist.

I was a little taken aback by his response on the radio show, Dady told the Express-News. It again basically accepted zero responsibility that he has people that are making these phone calls on his behalf ... vs. just owning it and saying Hey, maybe it was a miscommunication. Maybe he didnt represent it to the restaurant the way I would have done it, and Im sorry.

Getting back Beating Bobby Flay, Dady said there will be a viewing party Nov. 2 at his seafood resturaunt Shuck Shack at 520 E. Grayson St.

Ill be in attendance, and it will be similar to what we did before with the outdoor picnic tables, and well probably run an oyster special, Dady said. Its all about watching the show and having fun, and maybe well do a Q&A afterwards.

cblount@express-news.net | @chuck_blount
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Every Thursday, a new beer is offered up at the Weathered Souls Brewing Co. that has curious, thirsty customers eager to belly up to the bar as soon as the doors open.

Last week, it was a stout made with toasted pecans, barrel-aged cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, blueberries, strawberries and a raspberry puree that was named Sundaez Best, and patrons within the taproom at 606 Embassy Oaks said it was among the best beers to hit the tap line.

Ive never tasted another stout like this, said customer Mitch Wilson. A lot of fruity texture going on, but it sure works.

Another hot seller was the Breakfast Stout, a potent beer that had maple syrup and Galapagos Island coffee beans mixed into it. It could have paired well with a stack of pancakes.

Weathered Souls has been in business for less than a year, but its ability to turn out new beers on a weekly basis in a spacious and welcoming tap room, combined with a growing presence on more than 75 area bar menus, has transformed the upstart brewery into a serious local craft beer player.

Head brewer Marcus Baskerville, 32, considers himself a bit of a mad scientist, so much so that the title Mad Scientist is printed on his business cards. His beers are unpredictable and eye-opening with rich colors and hearty textures.

Now Playing: Chuck talks with two of the Weathered Souls founders, head brewer Marcus Baskerville and brewery production manager Seth Parker. Video: San Antonio Express-News

The Thursday releases are my window to experiment, and its all about keeping things fresh, said Baskerville, one of a small number of African-American brewers in the United States. I got the idea for this one on Tuesday. Our track record has been pretty good. I dont think weve had a negative release yet. Other breweries are starting to follow suit, but this is something that weve sort of set the standard for.

As the calender inches to Nov. 18, when Weathered Souls will celebrate its one-year anniversary, Baskerville hopes to have 20 special beers available for the party.

Theres very little to the makeup of the Weathered Souls operation thats conventional, including an owner who lives with his wife in an RV on a cement pad. Mike Holt, 54, sold his home to help come up with the startup funding.

Holt calls himself the chief envisioning officer, and has been involved in several businesses throughout the years, from the auto and home remodeling industry, to a small ownership stake in the local Busted Sandal Brewing Co.

At Busted Sandal, he was introduced to Baskerville and fellow brewer Seth Parker, and the three teamed up as Weathered Souls founders in a large space that has plenty of room for expansion should the need arise.

Theres nothing like owning a brewery to make you cool, Holt said. Ive never been labeled cool at any point in my life. I clean the toilets and pay the bills.

Parker, 25, started brewing his first batch of beer while he was still in high school. Hes the self-dubbed master plate spinner at Weathered Souls, because he does a little bit of everything as the production manager from monitoring the books to stepping around manure at friends ranches in Hill Country who have signed up their cattle to help out with waste disposal.

Ill load the mash up into 55-gallon drums and truck it out to Boerne and feed it to the cattle, Parker said. They will take care of 3,000 pounds of spent grains in about 20 minutes. Cant beat it.

Weathered Souls keeps about a dozen varieties of beer on tap at any given moment, but there are six core beers that it tries to always have available: a robust porter called Round About Midnight, Seths Pale Ale, MALTerial Girl (blonde ale), Rule 4080 (pale ale), West Coast IPA and a best-selling Mexican-style lager called Dale Shine.

Baskerville said hes not a fan of most lagers, but it had to be on the menu from a business perspective.

San Antonio is one of the top markets in the world for Dos Equis, Parker said. So if you dont have a Mexican-style lager, you are sort of shooting yourself in the foot.

He was right. Dale Shine outsells all its other brews.

The brewery is outfitted with a three-vessel, 20-barrel system that can store about 2,500 gallons of beer at any given time. Want a quick tour? Just look for Parker and his signature beard, and hell tell you all about it.

Were shooting for 1,000 barrels a year, and I think were going to exceed it, Parker said optimistically. So far this year, Weathered Souls has brewed 850 barrels, about 26,350 gallons.

The tap room is open daily and is the primary source of income for Weathered Souls. But beer enthusiasts may notice that the companys black handles have a presence in bars all over San Antonio, including at several Santikos movie theaters. Parker has also been tasked with branching into the Austin market.

Andrew Samia only has room for four beers on his tap line at Dignowity Meats at 1701 E. Houston St., and Weathered Souls traditionally occupies at least one of them.

I joined a Facebook group, and I kept seeing Marcus post these delicious-looking beers that just seemed a little more unique than the others, Samia said. The first one we put in was called Whos Got the Juice Now, and everybody loved it. Rule 4080 is probably my favorite beer from them.

Sean Wen recently opened his Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar at 124 N. Main Ave. in September. Hes still waiting on all the proper alcohol permits, but Weathered Souls MALTerial Girl is already queued up.

I got to meet their people, and it was something that spoke to us, Wen said. We share that entrepreneurial spirit and their beer paired really well with our food. We needed something that worked with spicy and classic Asian flavors.

Kimberly Machado is the sales representative and finding new clients at such a feverish pace that the companys distribution system is the employees own trunks and backseats. .

We loaded up Kims four-door sedan with kegs, and we could barely close the trunk, Holt said. As she drove off, the bumper was about 5 inches from dragging on the pavement.

Weathered Souls also will start offering food at its tap room. An executive chef was hired last month, and the kitchen currently turns out charcuterie, flatbreads and other pub grub offerings, but there are plans to branch out into a lunch menu later this month and a Sunday brunch in November that will incorporate the beers on site.

For the Sundaez Best release, Weathered Souls sold a special parfait using the beer as an ingredient.

Its pretty interesting how this all came together, Holt said. We are a group of people of different ages and different backgrounds, but everybody is going above and beyond to make Weathered Souls work.

Weathered Souls Brewing Co. is located at 606 Embassy Oaks, 210-313-8796. Facebook: Weatheredsoulsbrewing.

cblount@express-news.net | @chuck_blount
With LP-WAN becoming such an important part of the IoT space, there are numerous players hoping to dominate the market for the technology which will allow billions of sensors and other M2M devices to communicate. One company, Semtech, wants to continue its dominance in the space by providing LoRa technology which is the culmination of their ten-year investment.

Vivek Mohan, Director Wireless & Sensing Products Group at the company told me they recently did a test from the Cisco headquarters in Silicon Valley to San Francisco  50 miles away and they maintained the link for up to 30 miles.

This is important because IoT sensors are quite often located in basements, behind metal pipes or in elevator shafts where WiFi, Zigbee or bluetooth will not reach.

This is why he explains the LoRa Alliance is growing so quickly  500 members and counting over the last two years.

He says they want to make LoRa and LoRaWAN the standard for LP-WAN. Their focus will be on low-bandwidth solution  sensors which need to last a decade in the field and which transmit a few times each day.

Some of the natural markets he explained are utilities, smart buildings, parking sensors, street lights, environmental sensors, agriculture (LoRa tags on cattle), health and safety and supply chain and logistics where he said tags can eventually be placed on packages to allow them to be tracked more precisely.

This would require a thin, disposable tag and global network with roaming.

He said we will see billions of nodes with processing in the cloud and end-nodes and gateways which are simple and dumb. Currently he explained a stack, microcontroller, memory and radio costs around five dollars but they have a roadmap to get it under three.

We asked if he is seeing Moores Law applying to his business and he said it used to but not today. He said as volumes ramp, improvements will come more quickly.

Finally he touted the low cost of gateways  around $50 for indoor and $1,500 for outdoor explaining this could save thousands of dollars versus cellular solutions.

The biggest impediment to growth is operators trying to sell end-to-end solutions. To this point the industry has been too disjointed to do this easily in our opinion. The Alliance is working with systems integrators like HPE, Schneider Electric, Capgemini and Accenture to speed up turnkey deployments.

Semtech is one of the few old timer companies in the Valley  60 years is quite an accomplishment and with the growth of IoT expected to be meteoric, it looks like it has found its time to shine brighter than ever.

To learn more, be sure to attend the Enterprise IoT Event, IoT Evolution Jan 22-25, 2018 and see IBM, Ingenu, Cradlepoint, TellientARM, McAfee & other major companies. Special focus on Smart Cities, Security, IIoT and case studies.
NEW BRAUNFELS  A Canyon Lake woman whose former live-in boyfriend was convicted of domestic violence against her at a trial here in April has filed a lawsuit against the health agency that employed him to care for her.

The petition filed for Carol Jewel, 52, on Wednesday against The Medical Team Inc. accuses the defendant of negligence in hiring Jason McBride, failing to properly supervise him and breaching the terms of its contract with her.

Ms. Jewel, a disabled person, suffered countless injuries at the hands of Mr. McBride while he was in her home and employed by The Med Team, says the suit filed here by attorney Marilee Brown.

These injuries include a broken nose, shattered teeth, damage to her throat from strangulation, black eyes, broken hand, battered and bruising from being beaten with a hammer or ax handle, suffocation, hip damage and back damage, and multiple various other injuries, says the state court suit that seeks unspecified damages.

Court records indicate McBride, 39, had at least 14 prior convictions since 1996, ranging from misdemeanors to federal felonies.

A spokesman for the Medical Team declined to comment Thursday, but its attorney, Ron Sprague, shed some light on the situation in limited remarks.

McBride was hired to care for Jewel at her insistence and recommendation, said Sprague, who had not seen Jewels suit.

She basically asked us to hire him as her custodian so he could be paid by the state, Sprague said. As far as we can tell, The Medical Team has either no liability or very limited liability.

At McBrides trial, Jewel testified about her medical problems, including having had a stroke, and on cross-examination admitted to using methamphetamine and pot.

Brown said McBride was hired by The Medical Team in October 2014, the contract was renewed in May 2015 and he was employed until his arrest. It called for him to provide assistance such as bathing, grooming, dressing, cleaning, laundry, shopping and assisting with medications.

Testifying at McBrides trial last spring, Jewel said she hired him in 2012 to do work at her home, and within two months they were romantically involved and living together.

Brown cast McBrides romance with her client as a method he used to control her.

He posed as a security systems installer at one point to get into her home and befriend her, Brown said. This is a disabled, fragile woman with short-term memory loss whom he brought into a cycle of abuse.

At McBrides trial, Jewel testified that he moved his young girlfriend and brother into her house without permission.

Hes a criminal, heroin addict and abusive person, Jewel said on the witness stand. He was stealing and manipulating me for money for years.

However, she said she didnt throw him out, and also signed affidavits of non-prosecution over past assaults, due to fears of additional abuse from him or his friends.

A trial transcript shows Eric Rosen, McBrides criminal lawyer, told jurors in his opening statement, Mr. McBrides job, from Carols view, was to score drugs for her  It was Carol Jewel who was the violent aggressor in this relationship.

Court records show McBride was acquitted of one count of assault family violence over a 2015 incident. A jury convicted him on five other counts, including three charges of assaulting Jewel.

State District Judge Bruce Boyer sentenced McBride to 40 years for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, 20 years for two counts of assault on a family member/impeding breath, 20 years for violating a protective order and 10 years for evading arrest. All sentences will run concurrently.

Before he was employed by The Medical Team, the suit says, McBride had been convicted of theft, assault, unlawfully carrying a weapon, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, promoting prostitution and evading arrest.

zeke@express-news.net
WASHINGTON  The lines hardened Monday against President Donald Trumps new list of demands for a deal that would extend protections for young immigrants brought into the country illegally as minors.

Democrats and advocates for young Dreamers, some 800,000 people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, promised all-out resistance to Trumps conditions.

More than 120,000 have enrolled in the DACA program in Texas, more than any other state besides California.

With the Trump administration struggling to pass GOP bills on health care, border security and taxes, some Hispanic lawmakers vowed to tie up the rest of his legislative agenda and envelop the administration in further chaos and controversy.

Meanwhile, Republicans and immigration hardliners cheered the presidents latest move, a reversal from a tentative agreement with Democratic leaders last month that left open whether Trump would insist on new funding for a wall on the southwest border.

The outline Trump sent to Congress on Sunday includes everything from border wall funding to more aggressive immigration enforcement and cuts to legal immigration, particularly for extended family members of DACA beneficiaries. It would also cover federal grants to so-called sanctuary cities, local jurisdictions that the administration says dont cooperate fully with federal immigration agents.

The differences have come into their sharpest focus yet a month after Trump said he would wind down the Obama-era DACA program, giving Congress six months  until March  to hash out a plan to make the program permanent.

This proposal is a Breitbart Christmas list of anti-immigrant policies. Its a non-starter in Congress, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, referring to the far-right online news outlet that embraces hard line immigration policy. Its a perfect example of why this administration and this president have failed to pass any significant legislation - because they dont seem to be able to work with anyone, Castro told reporters.

With the two sides pulling apart, the fate of Dreamers has become increasingly uncertain.

Trumps requests mirror much of the GOP agenda on immigration, including proposals to emphasize skills and training in favor of family-oriented chain migration, which has emerged as a major flash-point in the national debate on immigration reform.

Among those speaking out in favor of Trumps new reform outline was San Antonio Republican Lamar Smith, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee where many of the GOP measures have been brought forward.

We need to know whos coming into the country, Smith said. We need to save jobs for American workers. We need to protect American taxpayers. We need to have immigrants respect our laws and we need to keep our communities safe from criminal immigrants.

Supporters of the new Trump requirements see them as a fulfillment of the America First theme that propelled his 2016 campaign, which centered on a border wall and protections for American-born workers.

Most politicians who have been commenting lately on immigration policy have failed to show the compassion and support that the Trump Administration is offering the women and men of America who want a decent shot at a decent job without having to compete with millions of new foreign workers being added to compete with them, said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which advocates for lower immigration levels across the board.

Immigrant rights activists portrayed Trumps demands as an attack on young immigrants and their families, many of them made up of workers who have long become an integral part of the U.S. economy. Some also termed it a poison pill killing off any hope of permanent protections for Dreamers, a class of immigrants that enjoys broad public sympathy both among Democrats and Republicans.

House Democrats pointed to a series of recent polls finding that a majority of Americans want young immigrants brought to America protected from deportation. Two weeks ago, a Quinnipiac University national survey reported 82 percent of American voters, including 69 percent of Republicans, believe that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the administrations immigration proposals could spark a deeper backlash against the rest of Trumps agenda for the rest of the year.

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said her members will seek to enlist all House Democrats in blocking critical bills unless an agreement for a DACA fix is reached with reasonable border security provisions.

The reality is that there are a lot of must-pass pieces of legislation that require Democratic support to get over the finish line, she said. And Democrats have made it clear that if the Dream Act is not addressed, if DACA extension through legislation is not in effect, that they are not going to have Democrats to get them over the finish line on anything that they may need.

The Hispanic Caucus has been instrumental in gathering 195 signatures to support a so-called discharge petition for the Dream Act, which would force a floor vote if 218 House members sign on. But the likelihood that an insufficient number of Republicans will sign makes it unlikely that the tactic will succeed.

Castro said he believes that Trump is being influenced by others on immigration, particularly White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, the architect of Trumps embattled refugee restrictions.

I would suggest that the president look over the proposal himself, get more personally involved rather than assigning that to a 30-something year-old hardline zealot on immigration, Castro said, referring to Miller.

An increase in the numbers of unaccompanied and children from Central America seeking asylum in the U.S. in 2014 brought national attention to illegal immigration, although total apprehensions by Border Patrol that year were about one-third of what theyd been a decade ago, when agents routinely arrested more than 1 million people a year.

At the time, large groups of children and families from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were crossing the border in Texass Rio Grande Valley and immediately surrendering to law enforcement and requesting asylum. In response, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement opened two large family detention centers with a combined capacity of more than 3,000 beds in South Texas. The union representing Border Patrol agents and groups advocating for restricted immigration, both supporters of Trump in his presidential campaign, complained that the Obama administration was being too accommodating of the children and families, taking up resources and encouraging more to come here.

Trumps legislation request also asks Congress to remove standards for the treatment of immigrant children put into place by a 1997 court settlement and a 2008 law. It comes during historically low illegal immigration. After falling precipitously at the beginning of the year Border Patrol apprehensions climbed in recent months, but in August agents detained 2,994 unaccompanied children, the lowest for that month since 2012.

Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Womens Refugee Commission, said Central American children and families afraid of Trumps immigration policies are turning to smugglers rather than surrendering to Border Patrol agents or are seeking asylum in other countries in the region. The legislative proposals would open the door for the U.S. government to keep children in detention, prolong the detention of families and deny asylum requests, Brane said.

Its slamming the door, she said. Its undermining long-standing American traditions of protection.

Staff writer Jason Buch contributed to this story.
AUSTIN  Longtime House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, did not face censure from his home county GOP on Monday, despite continued attempts by a handful of members to force a vote during a meeting marked by angry outbursts.

Tensions erupted at the start, when Bexar County Republican Chairman Robert Stovall rejected attempts to put the censure resolution on the agenda. Several precinct chairs, who had for weeks pushed to censure Straus at Mondays executive council meeting, jumped out of their chairs in protest, demanding a vote and waving signs saying drain the swamp.

He wont recognize any of us; he wont let us speak, said precinct Chair Patricia Gibbons, who was asked by Stovall to leave at one point after she continued to stand and request a vote. We will bring it up again.

Stovall, who opposed efforts to censure the five-term speaker, said the meeting went fine overall and chalked up disruptions to a small group.

We had some ups and downs, he said. This is to be expected sometimes. We are here to elect more Republicans, not infighting.

The faction leading the anti-Straus effort failed to fix technical issues with the censure resolution by a deadline last Friday, making it ineligible for consideration, Stovall said. A pro-Straus resolution submitted by other Bexar County GOP members also did not meet criteria by the deadline, Stovall said. Under a new rule, proposals must be submitted in advance and vetted by a special committee before a full vote. The three-page censure resolution was too long and missing information about those who sponsored it, Stovall said.

It didnt meet the criteria to be submitted. It was not about content; it was just about the format, Stovall said.

Proponents of the resolution that accuses Straus of abusing the power of his office and undermining the party platform labeled the new committee illegitimate.

Straus did not attend the meeting. He said recently: When I place my hand on the Bible and I raise my right hand on the first day of the session, I pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of this state, and not any party conventions platform.

Efforts to publicly rebuke Straus ramped up after a contentious session this year that pitted the five-term speaker against tea-party aligned Republicans advocating policies to restrict abortion, transgender bathroom access and other social issues.

More than 50 Republican Party organizations across Texas have taken votes of no confidence or passed other rebuffs of Straus leadership, according to news reports.

Bexar County was no different. In July, a symbolic resolution passed calling for a change in leadership in the Texas House speakership.

The censure, if passed by two-thirds of Bexar County Republican precinct chairs at an executive committee meeting and then approved by the state party, would let the state party withhold financial support for Straus or endorse a challenger in the primary, party officials have said.

The latest resolution accuses Straus of abusing the power of his office by taking actions that conflict with the party platform.

Specifically, it claims Straus obstructed Gov. Greg Abbotts agenda and through his choice of committee chairs, dealt fatal blows to controversial policies, including the so-called bathroom bill. Championed by Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the policy sought to require people use public restrooms that match the gender on their birth certificate. Straus opposed the bill, which was decried by business leaders and advocates as discriminatory against transgender people.

There was no debate of the resolutions contents or Straus credentials at the meeting, which was attended by roughly 130 Bexar County GOP members and dozens more guests who crammed into the back of the room. Chaos reigned from the start, with members standing and shouting for a point of order as Stovall kept reading opening announcements. At one point he seemed to lose control, as precinct Chair Mark Dorazio stood at the back of the packed room and called a vote. Several ayes rang out as someone else shouted, You cant do that! At some points, Stovall threatened to remove members. If you are going to act unruly, I do have people who will escort you out of here, he said. When he later called for Gibbons to leave, several precinct chairs jumped to their feet and left the room.

Stovall wont let us change the agenda, he wont let us vote, said Barbara Miller, one of those who walked out. He is friends with these people, the establishment.

Others were frustrated by the meetings contentious tone. It seems like its always the same people who stand up and object. I would just like to go on to the meeting, said Michael Hostetter, who planned to oppose censuring Straus if it came to a vote. I just see the same people rebelling all the time.

amorris@express-news.net
If San Antonio leaders and voters dont begin solving the citys mass transit problems, they will strangle the goals of the next generation, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and other panelists told a forum audience of about 150 on Monday night.

About 150 new cars are coming to our city every day, Nirenberg told the gathering at the downtown public library, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Thats about a half-million vehicles by the year 2040. Our traffic commute times will increase by 75 percent. The status quo is simply not a viable choice.

And when the mayor, who campaigned this year on a platform of bringing light rail to San Antonio, asked the audience, Will you join me? in seeking long-term transportation solutions, he got back a yelled Yes!

Nirenberg said he was encouraged by the recent VIA announcement that a $4.3 million contribution from the city will dramatically cut waiting times on several bus routes and that San Antonio International Airport continues to seek more non-stop routes.

He lamented that while cars are getting smarter, our infrastructure is remaining dumb, and that the 22-year effort behind the Austin-to-San Antonio Lone Star Rail project yielded nothing after Union Pacific pulled out of the talks last year.

Questions from the audience included how the city might limit growth  Nirenberg called this not something we can fight  and how the city might help attract national high-tech firms and encourage more businesses to allow employees to telecommute.

Bill Barker, a professor of urban planning at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said that while the citys rate of miles driven per resident each day had increased some 6 percent in the past 20 years, three cities  Portland, Oregon and Sacramento and San Jose, California  had been able to cut theirs by making a heavy investment in light rail.

Theyre spending four or five times what San Antonio does, said Barker, who added that if San Antonio doesnt reduce its dependence on automobiles it will affect everything from obesity rates to water quality. I think we have a moral obligation to reduce our carbon emissions.

Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff reminded everyone that all the good solutions he was hearing would likely fail without dedicated funding. Jeff Arndt, the CEO of VIA, reminded the crowd that VIA was the only mass transit system in the state that only receives a half-cent-per-dollar in sales taxes, while other major Texas cities get a full cent. Dallas gets six times the per-mile funding that we do, he said.

Many in the crowd nodded when City Councilwoman Ana Sandoval said she was tired of watching hundreds of millions of dollars spent every year on highway projects that only incrementally benefit residents, instead of spending it on much larger mass transit solutions that would be transformational.

bselcraig@express-news.net
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The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District is holding a daylong forum Wednesday with community leaders and people living with HIV to discuss strategies to stop the spread of HIV infection in Bexar County.

The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV has increased by more than 50 percent in the last decade, from 234 in 2006 to 360 last year. As of 2015, almost 5,800 people in Bexar County had HIV.

The rate of infection in the county, 19.1 cases per 100,000 people, is well above the U.S. average of 12.3 cases.

Health officials want to reverse that and are ramping up prevention, testing and education efforts.

The forum this week, which is open to the public, will begin at 8:30 a.m. at UT Healths Academic Learning and Teaching Center on the Long Campus, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive. (Enter at the main gate near Floyd Curl and Medical Drive.)On the agenda are remarks by Mayor Ron Nirenberg and County Judge Nelson Wolff and a panel with Councilwoman Ana Sandoval and people living with HIV.

The purpose is to launch the Fast Track Cities initiative, a program to use global and local data to reach a 90-90-90 target.

Those numbers stand for: 90 percent of people with HIV are aware they have it, 90 percent of people with HIV are receiving treatment, and 90 percent of people undergoing treatment have suppressed viral loads.

There are antiretroviral therapies that people who are HIV positive can take and, when done correctly, can lower the amount of HIV in their bloodstream to virtually undetectable. Thats super important, said Metro Health Director Colleen Bridger.

In the afternoon, attendees will divide into working groups to discuss different methods of achieving the 90-90-90 target.

Fast Track Cities was launched on World AIDS Day in Paris in 2014 and is a partnership with organizations including the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The initiative also thrives on collaboration with local, statewide and national entities.

In 2014, mayors from 27 cities in over 50 countries signed the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities to ensure their commitment to accelerate local efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Ultimately, what we want is everybody who is HIV positive to be on the right medications at the right time to get that viral load to zero and thats going to significantly decrease the transmission of HIV, which is how we will eventually get to the point of decreasing the new infections, Bridger said.

sravani@express-news.net | Twitter: @SarRavani
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Kennedie Bailey celebrated her 11th birthday in May with a sleepover, but she cant remember much about the details because, shortly after, she was shocked to learn that she had a rare cancer.

Aggressive rhabdomyosarcoma develops from connective tissues in the body, including muscles, bones, joints and fat. Its not uncommon for it to recur after treatment.

As Kennedie undergoes chemotherapy at University Hospital, not far away, a researcher in his lab is studying hundreds of zebra fish to ultimately be able to help children like her.

Myron Ignatius, an assistant professor of molecular medicine at UT Health San Antonio and its Greehey Childrens Cancer Research Institute, uses the zebra fish as a model to detect how cancers, like rhabdomyosarcoma, reappear.

Recurring diagnoses of cancer often require treatment plans different from what was used before, Ignatius said, making it difficult for doctors to develop future treatments early on. In Kennedies case, if rhabdomyosarcoma occurs again, it would also take a different form and require a new care plan.

Ignatius tracks how stem cells progress into immature and mature cancer cells. Additionally, Ignatius is able to test different treatments and drugs on the fish, which are known for their regenerative abilities, to see what works and what does not. His research allows him to examine how recurrences happen and develop treatment plans for potential diagnoses  a feat thats not easily attainable in cancer research today.

He is able to clone genes in the fish  genes that are found in humans  making them invaluable for cancer research, Ignatius said.

In his room-temperature lab, some fish were normal and some had tumors, and all swam in the dozens of tanks, packed together on shelves. The fish barely grow larger than 4 centimeters and require Ignatius and his lab assistants to use micro tools that enable them to inject the tiny fish with tumors.

That has an eye tumor, Ignatius said, holding up a tank of about five zebra fish, pointing to one that had an enlarged eye.

His lab is home to fish of all ages  from a mere 4 days to 5 years. Some will get tumors within 10 days of Ignatius injecting them.

Because the fish are translucent, Ignatius can watch when he injects them with tumors and note how the cancer develops. Ignatius uses different colored dyes to illuminate the tumors.

The fish offer a larger testing sample and are less costly than other testing subjects like mice, Ignatius said.

He came to UT Health San Antonio in 2016 from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School with a $2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

Ignatius is part of a small network of doctors nationwide using zebra fish to study cancer.

Kennedies diagnosis is locally aggressive head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma, said Dr. Aaron Sugalski, Kennedies doctor and a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at UT Health San Antonio.

With a rigorous treatment plan of chemotherapy and radiation, Kennedies doctors and family remain hopeful.

Recently, Kennedie came to University Hospital for an 11th week of chemotherapy with her stepfather, Chris Bendele. Wrapped around Bendeles wrist was a yellow wristband that said, Kennedie, FIGHT LIKE A GIRL, and a black one that said, RHABDOMYOSARCOMA, WE FIGHT WITH KENNEDIE. Kennedie wears the same wristbands.

Her head was wrapped in a colorful bandanna. A bag of goodies, given to her when she checked in, sat on the table attached to her hospital bed.

According to the American Cancer Society, childhood cancers make up less than 1 percent of all cancers diagnosed each year.

Rhabdomyosarcoma, the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma found in children, makes up about 3 percent of childhood cancers. There are 350 new cases of rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed nationwide every year and more than half of them occur in children under the age of 10.

Kennedies parents first took her to the doctor when she complained of earaches. When a mass started to swell on the side of her face, doctors suggested that she visit with an ear, nose and throat doctor.

Kennedie remembers the day well when her parents found out about the cancer several months ago.

Bendele, 32, was working in the front yard when his wife, Lindsey, 29, drove up with daughters Kennedie and her 4-year-old sister, Presley.

Lindsey just collapsed to her knees and told me (Kennedie) had cancer, Bendele said.

They decided to wait until a doctor was present to break the news to Kennedie, but she already had a sense of what it was, Bendele said.

Since the diagnosis, the support from family, friends and strangers has been overwhelming, Bendele said. Kennedies father, who lives in Virginia, communicates regularly with Dr. Sugalski.

Bendele and his wife work at a local car dealership that has been understanding, giving them time off as needed to accompany Kennedie to her treatments, Bendele said.

Childhood cancer  its going to be as you would think it would be. I was at a loss, he said. Theres only so much you can do before you have to put your foot forward.

The family has organized a Go Fund Me account to help alleviate some of the medical costs.

For now, Kennedie waits  to finish the remainder of her treatment, start seventh grade next year and return to the swim team.

We are over the shock over what just happened. Lets just start looking forward, Bendele said. You cant sit here and dwell. Lets take care of this and knock it out.

sravani@express-news.net | Twitter: @SarRavani
Last month, a few days before Tom Price resigned as secretary of health and human services, Metro Health Director Colleen Bridger traveled to Washington to meet with HHS officials about teen pregnancy prevention programs.

The trip was as bewildering as youd think.

At one point, Bridger met with Valerie Huber, an abstinence-only advocate whom Trump recently appointed as chief of staff to the assistant secretary of health. At the meeting, which lasted only about 15 minutes, Huber reiterated what a letter already had informed grantees: The Trump administration was slashing funding for evidence-based programs working to prevent teen pregnancy nationwide.

Locally, the cuts will affect a study of sex-ed curriculum in three school districts along the Texas border and the delivery of sex education to 17,000 students in Bexar County.

These programs teach abstinence as well as contraception, and they have proved effective. In 2010, Bexar Countys birth rate for teens was an astounding 50.9 per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19, according to Metro Health. By 2014, it had dropped to 37.4. (Nationally, the rate in 2014 was 24.2.)

The letter to grantees offered no explanation for the cuts. In Washington, Huber told Bridger the programs were being slashed nationwide because the Department of Health and Human Services had found too many that werent working, Bridger recalled.

Bridger asked: What about the programs that are effective?

The response I got was unsatisfactory in my opinion, Bridger told me. It was something to the effect of well, we dont know if theyre implementing them with fidelity to the model. We arent comfortable funding even the ones that appear to be successful, because we cant be sure people are doing them the right way.

When Bridger asked Huber what would replace the programs, her answer was even more confounding.

What she said to us was that they were going to follow the science, Bridger said. For me, I dont know how shes going to stay true to her abstinence-only roots and follow the science, because the science is diametrically opposed to abstinence-only.

In fact, Huber has stayed true to her abstinence-only roots precisely by ignoring science.

Last year, a study published by the Journal of Adolescent Health found that improvement in contraceptive use accounted for the entire reduced risk of pregnancy over a five-year period in which births to teens dropped by 36 percent.

When PBS asked Huber, who is president of Ascend, a group that promotes abstinence education, about this evidence, she claimed that the study was biased toward birth control.

Hubers views, then, are guided not by science, but rather a distrust of science.

In Washington, Bridger asked Huber why she distrusted the implementation of programs overseen by universities. (The program delivering sex education in Bexar County, UT Teen Health, is administered by UT Health San Antonio; it lost $4 million in funding.)

Thats when the meeting ended, Bridger said.

Later, Bridger met with other HHS officials, who had some surprising news.

They said there is an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program at the HHS, and they are doing many of the same programs, research and services as the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program is, Bridger said. And so it was very confusing that the teen pregnancy prevention programming was being unfunded by the administration, but adolescent pregnancy prevention activities were continuing on as normal.

Confusing, perhaps, but not surprising, as chaos is a hallmark of the Trump administration. This was underscored the day after Bridger returned to San Antonio, when Price resigned as secretary of HHS following a controversy over his spending more than $1 million in taxpayer money for travel on private and military jets.

A silver lining to the chaos is opportunity. Bridger said Metro Health plans to pursue the newly discovered funding when it becomes available next year.

Were going to try, she said. I have no idea what the federal government is going to do.  We didnt know until two weeks ago that that was even an option. Now that we know that thats an option, were going to pursue it.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
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Almost since the founding of San Antonio, when the Spanish crown granted residents of Bejar a plaza where they could gather, trade and entertain themselves, musicians have found listeners, paying customers and a place in the citys history.

Nowhere has their musical presence resonated more than at El Mercado, now Market Square; la Plaza del Zacate, now Milam Park; and Mi Tierra Cafe, in an area where the Cortez family has run restaurants for more than 75 years.

Since the early 1950s, the 24/7 cafe, bar and bakery has served as a base of operations for freelance musicians, the most successful of which may be mariachi, a vibrant Mexican genre fueled in the Southwestern United States by academic music programs and competitions.

For the Mexican trio, assembled by strolling troubadours, Mi Tierra has served as a refuge for those who sing three-part harmonies, play several different kinds of guitars and deliver romantic boleros  one song at a time.

Even in San Antonio, there are fewer and fewer of them. Mi Tierra hosts about seven of them now.

Trinity University musicologist Carl Leafstedt credits the Cortez family for the survival of the trio tradition in San Antonio. As it has for mariachi, Mi Tierra has played a critical role in South Texas music traditions, he said.

It has maintained a thriving music scene, provided musicians with audiences year-round and a way for independent musicians to work full time.

Leafstedt singled out David Cortez, a member of the second generation of Cortezes to help run the restaurant empire, for his love of the genre and his drive to preserve it.

While the restaurant doesnt pay freelance trios, it allows them in their restaurants anytime, day or night.

They have allowed the trio tradition to survive here in San Antonio as strongly as it has anywhere in the world, Leafstedt said.

Of the traditions decline, observers and enthusiasts say its simple demographics. As practitioners age, fewer young musicians are replacing them. They see a slide in Spanish as the main language used among Latino musicians, too.

These guys are dying out, Cortez said of the 70- and 80-year-old trio players. Classes are needed in schools.

Seferino Chepe Solis, 80, one of Mi Tierras longtime regulars, also points to the popularity of other musical styles among young Latinos.

Hes philosophical about it, though. Se tiene que acabar, he said in Spanish, evoking the adage that all good things must end.

As a stopgap, about a decade ago, Mi Tierra started hiring trios to perform on Thursday nights in its Mariachi Bar, where a retablo of St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, hangs.

Mi Tierra also hires trios to perform on Sunday mornings.

We started that to expose more people to the music, Cortez said.

Around the same time, Mi Tierra also created a menu of more than 200 songs trios perform there. It contains tunes tourists are more likely to request, such as La Bamba, Cielito Lindo and Alla en el Rancho Grande, as well as the emotional ballads favored by connoisseurs.

Theyre more likely to request Amor Eterno by Juan Gabriel, Pepe Guizars Sin Ti, Agustin Laras Solamento Una Vez, Armando Manzaneros Somos Novios and anything by Jose Alfredo Jimenez.

Trios charge about $6 a song, while mariachi groups can demand as much as $25 per tune.

Cortez recalled when he and the late Ralph Hernandez of the Little Red Barn Steakhouse splurged and kept trios singing into the night, spending more than $1,600 on music, he said.

Hernandez then hired a trio to follow him home at 3 or 4 in the morning to deliver a serenata to his wife, Cortez said.

Trios began performing outside Mi Tierra on Produce Row, the street that once ran through Market Square. Troubadours would hang out and play for people before they entered the restaurant, or as they sat in parked cars.

People differ slightly on trio provenance.

Cortez said his father wanted to replicate the music traditions found in plazas in his native Mexico. His policy was that they could come in as long as they behaved themselves, he said.

Juan Pelon Aguilar, 81, whos retired from trio work, remembers the story a little differently.

There were some white people at a party inside, and they were waving to musicians to come inside, Aguilar said.

The restaurants founder then allowed them in. After that, everybody started coming in and playing inside, Aguilar said.

Trio Los Panchos, who recorded landmark albums with Eydie Gorme, were the standard-bearers for the genre worldwide. But Leafstedt said San Antonios Los Tres Reyes  Gilberto and Raul Puente and Bebo Cardenas  were world-renowned.

Gilberto is a legend in the guitar world, he said, and Trinity University honored Los Tres Reyes in 2008 in its Legends of Texas Border Music series.

Beto and Solis, longtime performers at Mi Tierra, are proud custodians of the trio tradition and were honored by Trinity in 2009, Leafstedt said.

Solis, 80, and Aguilar, 81, were preteens when they first picked up guitars and began to harmonize. They werent yet playing when they started to hang around Mi Tierra just to see and hear trios perform.

Solis said they were called Los Gallitos, Spanish for little chicks.

Today, hes among the most senior of the trio players, and even celebrities who come to Mi Tierra ask for him. He used to play until 2 a.m. but Im too old to do that now, he said. He leaves at 9 p.m.

Like so many others, he loves the ballad.

The songs are sentimental, emotional, even tragic, Aguilar said, and people still want to hear them.
DMU student models Premier League star's fashion range

A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student has been picked to model for Leicester City star Christian Fuchs after impressing at a fashion show held on campus.

Cressentia Masuku, a 23-year-old Fashion Design student, wowed the Austrian defender while showcasing clothes in his #NoFuchsGiven brand as part of a special graduation ceremony held at DMU in January.

Her performance led to an offer from the Foxes star for more work, becoming the face of a new range of outfits in the #NoFuchsGiven range.

The photos from the new shoot will be used on the #NoFuchsGiven website and social media to showcase new womens t-shirts and jumpers that will match previously released mens items to produce a his and hers type collection.

Cressentia was approached by the former Austria captain to model his fashion range after first taking part in a fashion show at the graduation ceremony last January and she believes that the experience will be a great help as she studies for her degree at DMU.

She said: It was amazing. It was a great insight into the fashion industry and really helped for what I will be looking to do in the future. There were a lot of things that I can take forward and incorporate into my work.

It was great to see what happens behind the scenes and now I will know what to do in a shoot in the future, such as how to treat the models.

The second year student caught Christians eye at the launch of his fashion range at the graduation ceremony last January, an experience that she says was extremely valuable.

At the graduation ceremony it was a massive crowd, she said. Ive done a bit of modelling but that was beyond anything Ive done before. There was music, a lot of clapping and it was right in front of the Vice-Chancellor, I wasnt nervous until the music started but I was first to walk out so that was when it hit me.

RELATED NEWS

Foxes star Fuchs helps open new Campus Centre

Students make catwalk debut with Leicester City star

Premier League champion gets two standing ovations when visiting DMU

Premier League winner Fuchs has signed a unique partnership with DMU which provides a wealth of opportunities for students and increases their employability. A number of students also volunteered to model #NoFuchsGiven t-shirts at the graduation ceremony.

Cressentia added: The partnership is super exciting. Im from Scotland and this sort of thing doesnt happen every day. I called my family and friends to tell them because I couldnt believe Id been asked to model by Christian Fuchs.

I met Christian at the graduation ceremony and also spent time with him yesterday; it was great to be able to chat about fashion.

Read more at:bridesmaid dresses purple | baby pink bridesmaid dresses
Donna Karan has defended Harvey Weinstein by suggesting women who dress sensually could be "asking for it".

Donna Karan

The Hollywood producer has been accused of sexually harassing a number of women for nearly three decades, but the fashion designer questioned how women are "presenting themselves" and their "sexuality", insisting some are "asking for trouble".

Speaking at the CineFashion Film Awards on Sunday, the DKNY creator told DailyMail.com: "I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified. Certainly, in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, it's been a hard time for women.

"To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?

"And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show?

"You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble."

Donna - whose business makes many a female garment - insisted Harvey and his wife Georgina Chapman are "wonderful people" and hinted there are other people who could also be in the firing line.

When asked if the 'Shakespeare in Love' co-producer had been "busted", she smiled and said: "I don't think it's only Harvey Weinstein.

"I don't think we're only looking at him. I think we're looking at a world much deeper than that.

"Yes, I think he's being looked at right now as a symbol, not necessarily as him. I know his wife, I think they're wonderful people, Harvey has done some amazing things. I think we have to look at our world and what we want to say and how we want to say it as well."

But actress Rose McGowan, one of Harvey's alleged victims, has hit out at the fashion designer, calling her "deplorable" and "scum" following her comments.

She wrote: "Donna Karan you are a DEPLORABLE Aiding and abetting is a moral crime. You are scum in a fancy dress (sic)"

However, Donna has since insisted her comments were "taken out of context" and said sorry to anyone she had "offended".

In a statement to the publication, she said: "My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein.

"I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual. I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim. (sic)"

Harvey has been sacked from his own company following last week's accusations, and he has admitted to behaving inappropriately with some of his female colleagues in the past and said sorry for his actions.

However, he has denied claims published by the New York Times newspaper earlier this month that he had harassed at least eight female employees over a 30-year time span and has vowed to take legal action.
World Animal Day began in 1931 as a way to highlight the plight of endangered species. This day has since evolved into a day to honor all the animals of the world, regardless of the celebrators nationality, religion, faith, or political beliefs

The mission of World Animal Day is to:

Celebrate animal life in all its forms

Celebrate humankinds relationship with the animal kingdom

Acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives  from being our companions supporting and helping us, to bringing a sense of wonder into our lives

Acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives.

This day is not linked to any person, organization, or campaign! It belongs to all of the citizens of the world and all of their animal neighbors! Its a day for advocacy, education, unity, involvement, and the raising of awareness for all of the animal issues that exist throughout the world.

World Animal day is celebrated on 4th October every year.

How was it celebrated in Fethiye?

Raising awareness of animal issues is a vitally important part of World Animal Day and McIntosh Sam (Sam Tucker) of One Man Many Paths, decided to promote animal welfare by climbing Akdag in Mugla. Akdag, at 3020 meters, is the highest mountain in the Mugla province.

The climb took three days and on reaching the summit at Uyluk Tepe, Sam placed the FETAV Fethiye Hayvan Dostlar flag as a reminder to all.

Whilst Sam was doing his bit to raise awareness, FETAV Fethiye Hayvan Dostlar were carrying out their own activities in Fethiye

Fethiye Hayvan Dostlar (Fethiye Animal Friends  FHD)

FETAV Fethiye Animal Friends (FHD) held an event at Fethiye Culture Centre to celebrate World Animal Day. There were stalls with information about the work they do, along with craft and food items for sale to raise money to support their projects.

Private Fethiye Elementary /Secondary School students participated in the day and performed Bremen Mzkaclar (The Town Musicians of Bremen), a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

In the exhibition, students emphasised the importance of loving and protecting animals. At the end of the program, the students collected the donations they received and the money collected with the help of the piggy-bank made in the school and presented it to FETAV Fethiye Animal Friends Association.

More about Fethiye Animal Friends

Fethiye Animal Friends carries out activities to protect the life, rights and habitats of all species of animals in and around Fethiye.

Their short-term aim is to protect the street animals and they have a longer-term goal to develop a community where members of all professions such as employers, teachers and veterinarians, are members of a totally voluntary group dedicated to the welfare of animals.

The School which Teaches People to Love the Animals

Fethiye Municipality has allocated a 1400 m2 piece of green land to FETAV Fethiye Hayvan Dostlar (FHD) at street no 968 in Cals area to be used as an Education Park and an Information Center About Animals in Fethiye will be built on this land.

Its aim is to become the go to place for information on or with any problems or questions about animals.

All the information will be available both in Turkish and in English.

The Education Park of Wild Life and Nature Protection will be known as The School which Teaches People to Love the Animals

Animal Information Centre

The Information Center will provide verbal and written information about stray animals, wildlife and extinct (or under the threat of becoming extinct) species in the area.

It will be the Central Management Office for the YHKG (Local Animal Protection Volunteer) program.

Education facilities for children and pet owners

FHD will use games and events to teach children about animal care and welfare, animal rights and animal love.

The centre will provide animal care training programs given by veterinarians to pet owners. The programs will also cover the responsibilities of being a pet owner. (i.e. poop scooping, dealing with unnecessary barking, animal health and safety).

There will be public awareness and information projects regarding the neutering, vaccinating and adoption in coordination with the animal shelter.

FHD will be supporting the Municipality by dealing with animal-related phone calls. They will try to find solutions to complaints and feedback about stray animals and wildlife.

FHD will carry out feeding and protection projects to protect wildlife.

There will be a billboard for lost/found animals and adoptions

Workshops will take place (i.e. making cat boxes/ houses)

Regular events will take place to raise funds to support the centre

If you would like to know more about FETAV Fethiye Animal Friends (FHD) please visit:

fethiye-hayvan-dostlari.org

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Cambodia recently raised the monthly minimum wage of workers in the garment and footwear sector from $153 to $170, the highest hike in the past two years. The decision came after Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the wage by $5 after a committee, comprising representatives from the government, unions and employers, met on October 5 and agreed on a $165 value.The hike, to be effective starting January 1 next year, is an year-on-year increase of 11 per cent, with the minimum wage increasing by less than 10 per cent in the two preceding years. Only in 2014, the first year of the tripartite negotiations, did wages increase more, rising 28 percent following the nationwide wage protests of 2013.

Cambodia recently raised the monthly minimum wage of workers in the garment and footwear sector from $153 to $170, the highest hike in the past two years. The decision came after Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the wage by $5 after a committee, comprising representatives from the government, unions and employers, met on October 5 and agreed on a $165 value.#

Workers would also receive additional bonuses, including payments for accommodation and travel, as well as seniority payments if they continue in the same job for more than two years, labour minister Ith Sam Heng said.The government would also try to pass, at the earliest possible, a contentious universal minimum wage law under which other sectors would start receiving a base wage in an incremental fashion, Cambodian media reports quoted the labour minister as saying. The draft law has come under criticism for provisions to restrict independent research on wages and enact penalties for wage protests.Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said that the significant wage hike was likely made with an eye on next years election. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Visiting Russian minister of industry and trade Denis Manturov recently proposed Uzbek foreign trade Minister Eler Ganiev creating a green corridor for the supply of textile products from Uzbekistan. Both nations aim to expand cooperation in textiles as Uzbekistan is the worlds sixth-largest cotton-growing country producing 1.1 million tonnes annually.The green corridor concept was launched by the European Union in 2007 wherein goods do not have to undergo customs inspection while crossing borders. In 2017, the supply of textiles from Uzbekistan to Russia increased by 22 per cent.

Visiting Russian minister of industry and trade Denis Manturov recently proposed Uzbek foreign trade Minister Eler Ganiev creating a 'green corridor' for the supply of textile products from Uzbekistan. Both nations aim to expand cooperation in textiles as Uzbekistan is the world's sixth-largest cotton-growing country producing 1.1 million tonnes annually.#

Ganiev feels the potential is vast as the proposal covers production cooperation, the use of Uzbek yarn for production at Russian enterprises, the supply of finished textile products, knitted fabrics and cotton fabrics. We expect that by the next year, the volume of trade in textile products could reach about $700 million," he was quoted as saying by Uzbek media reports.By 2017 end, the republic intends to reach the $5-billion trade turnover level with Russia. Moreover, this year Russia has come out on top among Uzbekistans foreign trade partners. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos school choice agenda has run into roadblocks on Capitol Hill. But, from her perch at the department, she has other levers to get states and districts to offer kids more schooling options, without help from anyone in Congress.

What are they? Heres a quick breakdown:

Make it a priority for federal grants.

Okay, so far, Congress hasnt seemed to wild about DeVos idea of a new grant program just for vouchers, or allowing Title I money to follow kids to the school of their choice . In fact, lawmakers have told her those things are a no-go for now. But the Education Department doles out more than $1 billion in federal grants every year. And if they want to, federal officials can give applicants a leg-up if they pitch something choice related, or maybe even if they are a charter school, or part of a district thats home to a voucher program. That wouldnt mean all of the money would go to choice-related activities, but it might steer a good chunk more in that direction.

DeVos and her team will have to be careful here, of course. They cant change the requirements of a grant program that Congress has designed. But they can add to them. DeVos might have the best luck setting choice or personalized learning as her priorities, as opposed to, say, vouchers or even charters.

DeVos is definitely considering this.

We do have some competitive-grant processes, she told me in a recent interview. We are clearly looking at ways to continue to help encourage empowering parents with more choices. UPDATE: DeVos unveiled her federal grant priorities Wednesday and choice is indeed on the list. More here .

Use her secretarial megaphone.

DeVos can give speeches on the virtues of choice, and travel to schools and districts where she thinks choice is making a positive difference. She commands more media attention than any other secretary in history, so why not use some of that to shine a spotlight on approaches that she thinks other schools should emulate?

She did this most significantly in her Rethink Education Tour , in which she visited schools she thinks are doing innovative things in six states. And she thinks it helped showcase their work.

Tours like this really highlight and expose to more people the beauty of options and choices and to continue to make the case that all parents, not only ones that have the economic means, should be able to have a decisionmaking power to make some of those choices, DeVos told me in an interview conducted at the tail end of her tour.

Of course, DeVos public appearances are a double-edged sword for the secretary. Almost everywhere DeVos goes, protestors follow. And sometimes, as in her recent speech at Harvard University, they become the story. Her school choice cheerleading often plays second fiddle.

Open up the Every Student Succeeds Acts weighted student-funding pilot.

DeVos is probably going to get moving on this one soonshe gave the pilot a shout-out in a recent speech to high-flying principals . The weighted student-funding pilot , which was written into ESSA, would allow districts to combine federal, state, and local dollars into a single funding stream tied to individual students. English-language learners, kids in poverty, students in special educationwho cost more to educatewould carry with them more money than other students. Some districts, including Denver, are already using this type of formula with state and local dollars.

Adopting a weighted student-funding formula could make it easier for districts to operate school choice programs, since money would be tied to individual students and could therefore follow them to charter or virtual public schools. The pilot doesnt have to be used for school choice, if districts dont want to do that, but it could help lay the groundwork for districts that are interested.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
The Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers Association (ZCMA) has appealed to the government to timely disburse foreign currency to its members to ensure they meet their obligations and remain in business in times of liquidity crisis. ZCMA secretary-general Raymond Huni recently said the textile industry needed urgent intervention to avoid a total collapse.As the current liquidity crisis continues, the government assisted a few struggling companies to easily access foreign currency. People have resorted to buying foreign currency in the black market at exorbitant rates, thereby distorting market prices. Some are hoarding cash, according to a report in a newspaper in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers' Association (ZCMA) has appealed to the government to timely disburse foreign currency to its members to ensure they meet their obligations and remain in business in times of liquidity crisis. ZCMA secretary-general Raymond Huni recently said the textile industry needed urgent intervention to avoid a total collapse.#

ZCMA appealed to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and the ministries of finance and industry to consider allocating forex to genuine manufacturers for raw materials that are not available locally.Zimbabwes biggest blanket and linen manufacturer that supplies to the army, hospitals, hotels and schools, and hosiery manufacturers are struggling to get foreign currency to continue in business. This will lead to thousands losing jobs, said Huni.The government should also consider raising the export incentive from 5 per cent to 25 per cent, according to ZCMA. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Lalamove, a Hong Kong-based courier and delivery service, has completed a $100 million round of fundraising, a senior executive at the company told FinanceAsia on Tuesday.

Leading the Series C round was Shunwei Capital, a venture capital firm set-up by Lei Jun, who also founded Xiaomi, the Chinese technology company. Existing backers Xiang He Capital, a Chinese investor, and MindWorks Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture capital investor, also participated in the round.

This round moved very quickly by normal financing standards in venture capital. We had a lot of inbound interest for this specific round because we are growing very quickly, said Blake Larson, head of international at the same-day delivery and logistics provider.

Lalamove in January raised $30 million in a Series B round from investors including Xiang He  which has also put money into Chinas largest streaming site iQiyi, online traveling agent Qunar, online video platform PPS and app store 91 Wireless  and MindWorks Ventures.

At the time, it announced it would use the money raised to expand into 100 cities and, in July, Lalamove achieved this milestone. Lalamove is now in more than 100 cities in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

We actually didnt need to raise more money because our cash flow position was very strong, said Larson. However, accelerating the pace of expansion to more cities is the main driver for the fundraising, according to Larson.

We are starting to see a lot of our cities that are mature, i.e. roughly two years old, are turning profitable, so we know our model is very sustainable. We are not raising money to fund ongoing business operations to offer hefty subsidies [in order to] keep the market share.

There are 200 to 250 "addressable cities" in China, said Larson.

In terms of revenue, weve been growing at 20% month-on-month for almost the last two years, said Larson.

That rapid rate of growth has a lot to do with Chinas booming e-commerce industry, which drives up the demand to move goods more efficiently, and an inefficient logistics sector.

He Liming, chairman of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, told a logistics summit in June that total social logistics costs for China in 2016 exceeded Rmb11.1 trillion ($1.69 trillion), which is larger than that of the US, making China the worlds largest logistics market.

According to National Development and Reform Commission, the cost of logistics in China took up about 14.9% of the national GDP in 2016, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

Founded in Hong Kong in 2013 as EasyVan, Lalamove uses mobile platforms and real-time GPS vehicle tracking to connect customers with professional van, motorcycle, lorry and truck drivers. It now has more than 15 million users and more than 2 million drivers on its network.

For the Chinese market, Lalamove charges a subscription fee to its truck drivers, which varies depending on the different levels of access to orders. For non-China markets, the business model works similarly to ride-hailing companies such as Uber, with Lalamove taking a 15%-20% commission from every order.

Getting crowded

As the growth story develops, so is the number of competitors.

In China, 58Suyun merged in August with intra-city logistics platform GoGoVan, based in Hong Kong. The combined group is planning to expand to more cities, including in Southeast Asia, as well as a potential IPO, the executives told FinanceAsia in a recent interview.

Huochebang, a Guizhou-based truck delivery firm also known as Truck Alliance, has so far raised $327 million, according to Crunchbase data, from institutions including Baidu Capital, Tencent Holdings, IFC Venture Capital Group, Hillhouse Capital and DCM Ventures.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia's ride-hailing giant Go-Jek is also offering logistics services. Thailand-based Deliveree on Monday closed its Series A funding round, grabbing $14.5 million to expand in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Singapore's Ninja Van is now aiming to raise as much as $60 million in venture funding.
OAKVILLE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Giyani Metals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: WDG)(FRANKFURT: KT9) ("Giyani" or the "Company") announced that it has entered into an agreement with Sector Capital Management Corporation (the "Agent") pursuant to which the Company will issue on a private placement basis convertible debenture units (the "Convertible Debenture Units") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000.

Each Convertible Debenture Unit will consist of 5.0% senior unsecured convertible debentures (the "Convertible Debentures") and 1,500 common share purchase warrants (the "Warrants") of the Company (the "Offering"). The Convertible Debentures will have a term of three years and will be convertible at the option of the holder into common shares of the Company at a conversion price of $0.43 per share. Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.65 per share for a period of 30 months following the closing date of the Offering.

The Company has also granted the Agent an option to purchase additional Convertible Debenture Units under the Offering for gross proceeds of up to $400,000.

The Convertible Debentures and the Warrants comprising the Convertible Debenture Units and any common shares of the Company issuable upon conversion or exercise thereof, as applicable, will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day. Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about October 17, 2017. The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and stock exchange approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Giyani intends to use the funds received from the financing to advance the Kanye Manganese Project in Botswana including resource drilling, process engineering studies, additional metallurgical studies and for general corporate purposes.

Additional information and corporate documents may be found on www.sedar.com and on the Giyani website: http://giyanimetals.com/.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani Metals Corporation.

Duane Parnham, Executive Chairman & CEO

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, the financial picture of the Company etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Contacts:

Giyani Metals Corporation

Wajd Boubou

President

1.289.837.0066

wboubou@giyanimetals.com

www.giyanimetals.com




Regulatory News:

ERYTECH Pharma (Paris:ERYP) (ADR:EYRYY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies by encapsulating therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, today announced that it has resubmitted to the European Medicine Agency (EMA) its Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The MAA resubmission includes the data from ERYTECH's GRASPALL 2009-06 Phase 2/3 clinical trial in children and adults with R/R ALL as well as additional data to address the outstanding questions of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the EMA.

The GRASPALL Phase 2/3 trial, showed positive efficacy and safety results with GRASPA in combination with chemotherapy as compared to native L-asparaginase in patients with R/R ALL. The patients treated with GRASPA experienced a mean duration of L-asparaginase activity that was almost twice as long as for patients receiving native L-asparaginase. GRASPA also had a favorable safety profile in the trial and no patients who received GRASPA experienced an allergic reaction, as compared to 46% of the patients who received native L-asparaginase. Patients in the GRASPA treatment arm also had overall higher complete remission rates during induction, and GRASPA was associated with fewer drug-related adverse events.

In November 2016, ERYTECH withdrew its original MAA to allow sufficient time to provide the additional data requested in the CHMP's Day 180 List of Outstanding Issues. ERYTECH has now resubmitted its MAA with additional data from studies on comparability, immunogenicity, and pharmacodynamic effects.

Gil Beyen, CEO and Chairman of ERYTECH, said: "Our teams have worked hard over the past weeks and months to address and compile additional data for the resubmission of the MAA for potential approval of GRASPA as a treatment for ALL. We believe these data have further strengthened our dossier for European marketing authorization. We strongly believe in the potential of our drug candidate and are looking forward to working with the EMA during the review process."

Dr. Iman El-Hariry, Chief Medical Officer of ERYTECH, added: "We are delighted to complete the resubmission of the MAA for GRASPA in R/R ALL. Asparaginase continues to play an important role in treatment of newly diagnosed patients with R/R ALL. ERYTECH is committed to developing an effective therapy to patients with ALL and improving patient outcomes."

About Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a blood cancer affecting mainly the white blood cells. ALL is most prevalent in children between the ages of two and five, although adults are also affected. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 5,970 new cases of ALL will be diagnosed in the United States in 2017, resulting in approximately 1,440 deaths. Based on incidence data published in scientific literature, ERYTECH estimates that there are at least as many new cases of ALL diagnosed each year in Europe as in the United States. The risk for developing ALL declines slowly after the age of five until the mid-20s and then begins to rise again slowly after the age of 50. Although most cases of ALL occur in children, approximately 80% of deaths from ALL occur in adults. Pediatric ALL patients have a five-year survival rate of approximately 90%, while the five-year survival rate for adults drops to approximately 30% and for seniors to approximately 15%.

About ERYTECH and eryaspase (GRASPA): www.erytech.com

Founded in Lyon, France in 2004, ERYTECH is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for rare forms of cancer and orphan diseases. Leveraging its proprietary ERYCAPS platform, which uses a novel technology to encapsulate therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, ERYTECH has developed a pipeline of product candidates targeting markets with high unmet medical needs. ERYTECH's initial focus is on the development of products that target the amino acid metabolism of cancer, depriving them of nutrients necessary for their survival.

The company's lead product, eryaspase, also known under the trade name GRASPA, consists of an enzyme, L-asparaginase, encapsulated inside donor-derived red blood cells. L-asparaginase depletes asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid essential for the survival and proliferation of cancer cells. L-asparaginase has been a standard component of multi-agent chemotherapy for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but side effects limit treatment, especially in adults and patients with weak performance status. With its improved safety profile, eryaspase aims to provide L-asparaginase to patients who cannot tolerate current non-encapsulated asparaginases.

Eryaspase demonstrated positive efficacy and safety results in various studies in ALL, including in a Phase 2 study in elderly patients with ALL and a Phase 2/3 study in children and adults with relapsed or refractory ALL, as well as in pancreatic cancer, where it achieved positive results in a Phase 2b study of second-line treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. ERYTECH believes that the positive results of its Phase 2b clinical study in second-line metastatic pancreatic cancer are significant indicators of eryaspase as a potential treatment approach in solid tumors. ERYTECH also has an ongoing Phase 1 clinical study of eryaspase in the United States in adults with newly diagnosed ALL and a Phase 2b clinical study in Europe in elderly patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), each in combination with chemotherapy.

ERYTECH produces eryaspase at its own GMP-approved and operational manufacturing site in Lyon (France), and at a site for clinical production in Philadelphia (USA). ERYTECH has entered into licensing and distribution partnership agreements for eryaspase for ALL and AML in Europe with Orphan Europe (Recordati Group), and for ALL in Israel with TEVA, which will market the product under the GRASPA brand name. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have granted orphan drug designations for eryaspase for the treatment of ALL, AML and pancreatic cancer.

In addition to eryaspase, ERYTECH is developing two other product candidates, erymethionase and eryminase, that focus on using encapsulated enzymes to target cancer metabolism and induce tumor starvation. ERYTECH is also exploring the use of its ERYCAPS platform for developing cancer immunotherapies (ERYMMUNE) and enzyme replacement therapies (ERYZYME).

ERYTECH is listed on Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0011471135, ticker: ERYP) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma Bio, CAC Mid Small, CAC All Tradable, EnterNext PEA-PME 150 and Next Biotech indexes.

Forward-looking information

This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to the clinical development plans, business and regulatory strategy, and anticipated future performance of ERYTECH and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. They include all matters that are not historical facts. Such statements, forecasts and estimates are based on various assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable when made but may or may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond ERYTECH's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to ERYTECH's resubmission of the MAA or that its product candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to ultimately be commercially successful. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Documents filed by ERYTECH Pharma with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (www.amf-france.org), also available on ERYTECH's website (www.erytech.com) describe such risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. ERYTECH disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statement, forecast or estimates to reflect any change in ERYTECH's expectations with regard thereto, or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement, forecast or estimate is based, except to the extent required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009006124/en/

Contacts:

ERYTECH

Naomi Eichenbaum

Director of Investor Relations

+33 4 78 74 44 38

+1 917 312 5151

naomi.eichenbaum@erytech.com

or

The Ruth Group

Lee Roth

Investor relations

+1 646 536 7012

lroth@theruthgroup.com

or

Kirsten Thomas

Media relations

+1 508 280 6592

kthomas@theruthgroup.com

or

NewCap

Julien Perez

Investor relations

Nicolas Merigeau

Media relations

+33 1 44 71 98 52

erytech@newcap.eu
NoviFlow's NoviWare NOS Combined with Lumina's SDN Controller deliver carrier-grade MPLS core router capabilities at a fraction of the cost of proprietary vendor solutions

NoviFlow Inc., a leading vendor of high-performance OpenFlow-based switching and routing solutions, and Lumina Networks, Inc. a market leading provider of vendor-independent SDN controller and applications powered by OpenDaylight, today announced a partnership to deliver a Software Defined Core SD-Core, using the world's highest performance MPLS and Segment Routing based forwarding plane.

SD-Core redefines a carrier-grade architecture and technology-set for deploying scalable MPLS and Segment Routing based networks using SDN and white box technologies, enabling network providers to evolve their core networks to SDN, while retaining the protocols, products and reliability of their existing networks.

The solution builds on the needs of large MPLS networks to scale beyond the capabilities of typical core routers, while reducing costs, and enabling modern SDN and VNF-based architectures. Distributing the forwarding and data planes into separate elements, allows large network providers to adopt SDN, scale their control plane, adopt white box switches but keep their existing core router vendor, through a cap-and-switch strategy.

Unlike competing white box solutions, NoviWare, Noviflow's high-performance OpenFlow forwarding plane software has been designed to address the complex MPLS requirements of carrier-grade networks and delivers over a million simultaneous flows using a programmable match-action pipeline, supporting all OpenFlow 1.3 and 1.4 actions, instructions and match fields, along with key OpenFlow 1.5 features.

Providing control and applications for NoviWare's dataplane, Lumina's SDN Controller provides OpenFlow control to the data plane, while working with the network's legacy routing software to integrate seamlessly with existing network nodes. Interfaces for provisioning, service assurance and operational tasks are made available via REST APIs and can be integrated with orchestrators to support TOSCA NFV service definitions.

The solution is built to allow the gradual migration of MPLS services point-to-point E-line, L3VPN, E-tree, etc. to the new infrastructure, allowing the capping of investment of legacy core routers, while the network evolves to deliver new SDN-based services.

Dominique Jodoin, President and CEO of NoviFlow explained, "The alliance between Lumina and NoviFlow provides a compelling new end-to-end solution for MPLS and Segment Routing, extending the radical CAPEX and OPEX benefits of SDN/OpenFlow beyond the network's edge and into the spine and core. NoviWare provides a single uniform open standard-based forwarding plane interface for OpenFlow, gRPC, and soon gNMI and P4-runtime, finally delivering the programmable network that Tier 1 carriers, network infrastructure providers, and enterprises have been waiting for. NoviFlow is honored to join forces with a key player such as Lumina Networks to offer unprecedented feature/ performance in commercial SDN solutions."

"Taking specific SDN use cases out of the lab and deploying them in real customers, with real problems is the cornerstone of our value," said Andrew Coward, CEO of Lumina Networks. "It's rare that a new solution is simultaneously lower cost, higher-performance and ready for production, so working with NoviFlow to evolve the core of our MPLS customers' networks is a real demonstration of the power of SDN used with white box technology. However, we don't expect customers to rip and replace their existing network, but rather cap their investments in traditional core routers and start migrating non-mission-critical traffic, build confidence and then move to a considered migration of traffic, blending old and new networks together a 'journey to the SD-Core,' so to speak."

NoviFlow's NoviWare running on NPU's and Barefoot's Tofino will be demonstrated live in NoviFlow's booth (A10) at the SDN and NFV World Congress on October 10-13, 2017 in The Hague, Netherlands. Lumina will also be demonstrating the SD-Core solution live in their booth (A09). We invite all interested parties to come by and see the best in SDN/OpenFlow solutions!

ABOUT NOVIFLOW

NoviFlow Inc. provides open standard-based high-performance SDN networking solutions to network operators, data center operators and enterprises seeking greater performance, flexibility, cost-efficiency, and security over their networks. NoviFlow has offices in Montreal, Sunnyvale and Seattle, and representatives in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, please visit https://noviflow.com/. Follow NoviFlow on Twitter @NoviFlowInc.

ABOUT LUMINA NETWORKS

Lumina Networks, Inc. believes the future is open software networks where service providers are in control of their development. Lumina is the catalyst that brings open software networking out of the lab and into the live network. We develop open source platforms and provide NetDev Services to jointly deliver production systems and to transfer know-how in Agile Software Development methods.

For more information, visit https://www.luminanetworks.com/. Follow us on Twitter @luminanetworks.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009006058/en/

Contacts:

For NoviFlow Inc.

Liza Colburn, +1 781-562-0111

liza@crescendocc.com

or

Lumina Contact

Kevin Woods, +1-408-906-8514

kevin@luminanetworks.com
Disaggregated 10G OLT Enables Service Providers to Deploy 10G PON Services and CORD Infrastructure with Open Technology

SDN and NFV World Congress Edgecore Networks, the leader in open networking, today announced its contribution of the hardware design for a disaggregated 10G PON OLT to the Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation. The industry's first whitebox OLT will enable service providers to deploy 10G PON services from Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter (CORD) infrastructures, which utilize whitebox hardware and open source SDN and NFV software to lower equipment costs, increase service delivery agility, and leverage open technology innovation.

"Edgecore is working closely with service providers and partners worldwide who are testing our whitebox OLT hardware as they plan 10G PON services, and with partners who are developing software to integrate and manage the OLT in CORD deployments," said Jeff Catlin, VP Technology, Edgecore Networks. "Our contribution to OCP of the hardware design package for the 10G OLT will enable service providers to deploy completely open hardware and software CORD infrastructures including our OCP-ACCEPTEDTM leaf/spine switches, Ethernet edge switches and now the whitebox OLT for residential and business service delivery."

The Edgecore Networks ASXvOLT16 design offers 16 XFP ports supporting 10G XGS-PON or NG-PON2 plus four 100 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 uplinks. The ASXvOLT16 design conforms to the AT&T Open XGS-PON 1RU OLT specification contributed to the OCP Telco Project, and is based on Broadcom StrataDNX switch and PON MAC SOC merchant silicon. The ASXvOLT16 disaggregated OLT supports the Virtual OLT Hardware Abstraction (VOLTHA) interface to centralized PON management software in CORD infrastructures.

Edgecore Networks will be exhibiting the whitebox ASXvOLT16 at the SDN NFV World Congress in The Hague on October 9-13, at Broadband World Forum in Berlin on October 24-26, and at DCD>Zettastructure in London on November 8-9. The Edgecore ASXvOLT16 product is available now for proof-of-concept testing and trials, with general availability in Q4 2017.

Supporting Quotes

"From the beginning of Telefonica's OnLife Networks Innovation Project, Edgecore has actively collaborated with us in the design of the CLOS fabric for our GPON CORD-like POD, which should go into commercial trial shortly. We are pleased that Edgecore is contributing the design of their XGS-PON OLT to the open community, and we plan to incorporate it in our POD." -

Alfonso Carrillo Aspiazu, Chief Architect OnLife Project, Telefonica

"As a leading provider and system integrator of open telecom solutions, Radisys strongly believes that future GPON networks will be built using open white-box OLT designs coupled with community led software. Radisys has successfully integrated Edgecore's ASXvOLT16 platform with ONT and VOLTHA software with Tier-1 service providers for residential CORD trials. We expect that VOLTHA based XGS-PON networks using Edgecore's OLTs will gain significant traction for field deployments and provide a compelling costs advantage." -

Neeraj Patel, Vice President and General Manager, Software and Services, Radisys Corporation

"As the ONF leads the development of open software solutions to enable CORD deployments, we see increasing interest from service providers worldwide in disaggregated hardware for PON service delivery from Residential CORD environments. The ONF welcomes Edgecore's contribution of its ASXvOLT16 OLT design to the open community, which not only provides a disaggregated 10G PON OLT in conformance to the CORD architecture but also assures service providers of a completely open hardware design." -

Guru Parulkar, Executive Director, Open Networking Foundation

"Edgecore has made important contributions to OCP, including 15 hardware design contributions to the OCP Networking Project of data center switches, modular network platforms, Wi-Fi access points, PoE access switches and service provider edge switches. We welcome Edgecore's new contribution of the 10G PON OLT design to the Telco Project, especially as its conformance to the spec previously contributed by AT&T demonstrates the collaboration among OCP members that accelerates the availability of open infrastructures for new use cases." -

Bill Carter, Chief Technology Officer, Open Compute Project Foundation

"Broadcom devices form the heart of OCP switch designs for data center and service provider applications, including many leading platforms from Edgecore. We are pleased to see the option of open hardware now extended to PON service delivery, with Edgecore's contribution of the industry's first open disaggregated PON OLT design featuring Broadcom's leading StrataDNX switch and BCM68620 'Maple' PON MAC silicon." -

Jim McKeon, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Broadband Carrier Access Division, Broadcom Limited

About Edgecore Networks

Edgecore Networks Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accton Technology Corporation, the leading network ODM. Edgecore Networks delivers wired and wireless networking products and solutions through channel partners and system integrators worldwide for the Data Center, Service Provider, Enterprise and SMB customers. Edgecore Networks is the leader in open networking providing a full line of open Wi-Fi access points and 1GbE, 10GbE, 25GbE, 40GbE, 50GbE and 100GbE OCP-ACCEPTED switches that offer choice of NOS and SDN software for data center, telecommunications and enterprise networks. For more information, visit www.Edge-Core.com.

All trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

2017 Edgecore Networks. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Edgecore Networks shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009006070/en/

Contacts:

Edgecore Networks

North America:

Bill Burger, 1-508-485-5193

bill_burger@edge-core.com

or

Europe:

Mark Basham, 44-(0)7595 849142

mark_basham@edge-core.com

or

Asia:

Lucille Lu, 886-3-505-3674

lucille_lu@edge-core.com
10 October 2017



CRYSTAL AMBER FUND LIMITED

("Crystal Amber Fund" or the "Fund")

Monthly Net Asset Value



Crystal Amber Fund announces that its unaudited net asset value ("NAV") per share at 30 September 2017 was 203.15 pence (31 August 2017: 191.79 pence per share).

The proportion of the Fund's NAV at 30 September 2017 represented by the ten largest holdings, other investments and cash (including accruals), was as follows:

Top ten holdings Pence per share Percentage of investee equity held Hurricane Energy plc 52.2 8.0% Northgate plc 30.6 5.2% STV Group plc 20.7 14.4% FairFX Group plc 18.9 16.5% Leaf Clean Energy Co. 13.2 29.9% NCC Group plc 12.9 2.1% Ocado Group plc 9.7 0.5% Sutton Harbour Holdings plc 7.3 29.3% GI Dynamics Inc 7.1 46.6% Johnston Press plc 3.0 21.2% Total of ten largest holdings 175.6 Other investments 21.1 Cash and accruals 6.4 Total NAV 203.1

Investment Adviser's commentary on the portfolio

Over the quarter to 30 September 2017, NAV per share decreased by 0.6 per cent. Taking into account the 2.5p dividend paid over the period, the Fund's NAV returned a positive 0.6 per cent. The top contributors to NAV growth over the quarter to 30 September 2017 were FairFX Group plc (1.8 per cent) and NCC Group plc (1.8 per cent). Top detractors were GI Dynamics Inc (-1.2 per cent) and STV Group plc (-0.4 per cent).

Hurricane Energy plc ("Hurricane")

During the quarter, Hurricane finalised a $530 million fundraising for its Early Production System ("EPS") at Lancaster.The company is now fully funded and on track to achieve 'first oil' at Lancaster in the first half of 2019.

In September 2017, Hurricane announced that it had taken the final investment decision on its EPS.The floating production, storage and offloading vessel, which will form the basis of the development, arrived in Dubai to be upgraded and Hurricane received approval from the regulatory authorities for its field development plan.

Despite operational progress, Hurricane's share price was weak over the period, which the Fund believes was due to the poor handling of the fundraising. The Fund maintains the view that the way the company has gone about the recent fundraisings has created a significant disconnect between the share price and the asset value. The Fund is engaging with the Hurricane Board to improve the company's governance and to release value.

Drilling results over the last 12 months indicate that Hurricane holds a very large, quality asset, with a resource that the Fund believes could be in excess of 1.6 billion barrels of oil.

FairFX Group plc ("FairFX")

During the quarter, FairFX announced the acquisition of CardOne, a digital business banking and current account group, for 15 million.The company completed a 25 million fundraising at 58p per share to fund the acquisition.CardOne's functionality will enable FairFX to improve its offering for small and mid-cap businesses.

Following investment demand and a strong share price, the Fund has trimmed its shareholding but remains excited by FairFX's prospects.

Over the quarter, FairFX's share price increased by 22.2 per cent.

NCC Group plc ("NCC")

During the quarter, NCC presented the results of its strategic review confirming its intention to continue ownership of the Escrow and Assurance divisions and outlining plans to improve the organisation's effectiveness in serving its clients and delivering for shareholders.

With legacy investments written-down, the Fund believes that the company is well positioned to return to profitability. The Fund believes NCC's markets are high growth, reinforced by the fact that in July 2017, the company reported 17 per cent growth in group revenues over the year to 31 May 2017, to 244.5 million (2016: 209.1 million).

In September 2017, NCC announced that it had hired three of the Bank of England's cyber specialists to lead a newly established threat assurance unit. These appointments prove NCC's confidence in the outlook for its consulting services.

The Fund believes NCC's new management team has 'steadied the ship' following a string of profit warnings and we remain engaged with the management team to support it through the next phase of restructuring.

NCC's share price increased by 32.2 per cent over the quarter.

Leaf Clean Energy Co. ("Leaf")

During the quarter, the Fund completed an unsecured loan note investment in Leaf of $1 million. This facility will support the company's ongoing litigation with Invenergy. The Delaware Court has scheduled a trial for 25-27 October 2017 to determine the amount of Leaf's damages. The company is seeking net $122.2m in damages from Invenergy, which compares to Leaf's market capitalisation at 30 September 2017 of 44.8m (c.$59.0m) and its latest available NAV at 30 June 2017, of $88.3m.

STV Group plc ("STV")

During the quarter, STV commenced its buyback programme, which was requested by the Fund. As the market continues to undervalue STV's shares, we are satisfied that by repurchasing its own stock, STV is creating long term value for shareholders.

GI Dynamics Inc ("GID")

During the quarter, the company continued to work with its notified body, SGS, to address the issues that resulted in the suspension of its CE Mark.

Additional clinical evidence was presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Lisbon, which reported 12 months post explant data from the NHS demonstrating the ongoing benefits of Endobarrier post removal of the device.

The Fund continues to work closely with GI Dynamics' management and board to fully capitalise on what the Fund believes is a world-class technology, addressing an unmet clinical need.

For further enquiries please contact:

Crystal Amber Fund Limited

William Collins (Chairman)

Tel: 01481 716 000

www.crystalamber.com

Allenby Capital Limited - Nominated Adviser

David Worlidge/James Thomas

Tel: 020 3328 5656

Winterflood Investment Trusts - Broker

Joe Winkley/Neil Langford

Tel: 020 3100 0160

Crystal Amber Advisers (UK) LLP - Investment Adviser

Richard Bernstein

Tel: 020 7478 9080
Focused On Exploring Atlantic Canada

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 10, 2017 / GREAT ATLANTIC RESOURCES CORP. (TSXV:GR) (the "Company" or "Great Atlantic") is pleased to announce that it entered into an option agreement (the "Agreement") with Fort St. James Nickel Corp. ("FTJ"") pursuant to which FTJ may acquire 100% of the Company's Porcupine property (the "Property") located in New Brunswick (the "Transaction").

Under the Agreement, FTJ may earn-in a 100% interest in the Property by making certain staged cash payments and share payments of common shares in the capital of FTJ to Great Atlantic over a four year period as follows: (i) $15,000 in cash and 500,000 common shares within five (5) days of the TSX Venture Exchange approval of the Transaction (the "Approval Date"); (ii) $20,000 in cash and $75,000 in common shares on or before the first anniversary of the Approval Date; (iii) $20,000 in cash and $75,000 in common shares on or before the second anniversary of the Approval Date; (iv) $20,000 in cash and $75,000 in common shares on or before the third anniversary of the Approval Date; and (v) $75,000 in cash and $200,000 in common shares on or before the fourth anniversary of the Approval Date. FTJ will also be required to spend $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the Property over a four (4) year period with a minimum of $150,000 each year.

Great Atlantic will retain a 2.0% new smelter return royalty (the "NSR Royalty") which FTJ may buy down one-half (50%) of the NSR Royalty by paying $1,000,000, leaving Great Atlantic with 1.0%.

On Behalf of the board of directors

"Chris Anderson"

Christopher R Anderson,

CEO, President,

Director

604-488-3900

Investor Relations:

Kaye Wynn Consulting Inc.

604-558-2630

Info@KayeWynn.com

About Great Atlantic Resources Corp.:

Great Atlantic Resources Corp. is a Canadian exploration company focused on the discovery and development of mineral assets in the resource-rich and sovereign risk-free realm of Atlantic Canada. Great Atlantic is currently surging forward building the company, with a special focus on the most critical elements on the planet, Antimony, Tungsten and Gold.

This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the acquisition of certain mineral claims by FTJ. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that the transaction with FTJ will be successful.

Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the industry and markets in which the Company operates, including that: the current price of and demand for minerals being targeted by the Company will be sustained or will improve; the Company will be able to obtain required exploration licences and other permits; general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner; financing will be available if and when needed on reasonable terms; the Company will not experience any material accident; and the Company will be able to identify and acquire additional mineral interests on reasonable terms or at all. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including: that resource exploration and development is a speculative business; that environmental laws and regulations may become more onerous; that the Company may not be able to raise additional funds when necessary; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; fluctuating prices of commodities; operating hazards and risks; competition; potential inability to find suitable acquisition opportunities and/or complete the same; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the Company's public filings. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward looking information, will prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations,exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. The Company does not undertake any obligations to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Great Atlantic Resources Corp.
Corporate Communications Division Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan +81-3-3508-5056 [Tokyo] +81-82-282-5253 [Hiroshima] mailto: media@mazda.co.jp

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Oct 10, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation will exhibit two concept models at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, one that heralds the company's next-generation products and another that embodies the direction of the company's next-generation design. Mazda will also display the SKYACTIV-X next-generation gasoline engine as a technology exhibit at the show, which runs from Oct. 28 through Nov. 5.(1)Mazda's theme for this year's show - Mazda is committed to enriching people's lives through "Celebrate Driving." - indicates the company's determination to continue offering cars that celebrate the driving experience, enrich lives and build a strong bond with customers.The product concept model, a compact hatchback that fuses next-generation technology and design, will make its world premiere at the show. It adopts SKYACTIV-Vehicle Architecture, next-generation technologies that apply a human-centered design philosophy for optimal functionality, and is powered by the SKYACTIV-X, set to become the world's first commercial gasoline engine to use compression ignition.(2) Dynamic performance has been dramatically refined and next-generation design condensed to create Mazda's ideal compact hatchback.The design vision model embodies the concepts that will define the next generation of Mazda design, resulting in a more profound expression of the globally-acclaimed KODO design language Mazda debuted on the Mazda CX-5 in 2012.The Mazda CX-8, a new three-row crossover SUV that goes on sale in Japan in December, will also be on display at the show. The company's flagship SUV in Japan, it features sophisticated styling and comfortable seating in all three rows. Major upgrades to the SKYACTIV-D 2.2 clean diesel engine increase torque and power for composed performance.A special edition Mazda Roadster (MX-5) Red Top featuring a dark cherry red canopy and auburn Nappa leather upholstery will be exhibited."In August, we announced our Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 long-term vision for technology development, setting out how Mazda hopes to use driving pleasure, the fundamental appeal of the automobile, to help solve issues facing people, the earth and society. The vision commits Mazda to make substantive cuts in CO2 emissions, and we believe the best way to achieve this is to reduce emissions under real-world conditions while offering a mix of combustion engines and electrification technologies in consideration of each region's energy situation and energy mix," said Masamichi Kogai, Mazda's Representative Director, President and CEO. "Our stand this year marks the beginning of a new era for Mazda. We will showcase a concept model with the design and technologies that will define a whole new generation of Mazda cars. Among them is SKYACTIV-X, a gasoline engine that realizes a long-held dream of the global automotive industry."About MazdaMazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.comSource: MazdaContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON and NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance and cyber defense services firm founded by Jules B. Kroll and Jeremy M. Kroll, announced today that Simon A. Scales has joined the firm as Senior Managing Director based in London. Mr. Scales will lead the London and Geneva-based business investigations and intelligence teams, reporting to Darren Matthews Executive Managing Director and head of the London office and the Investigations and Disputes practice for EMEA.

Mr. Scales is a highly experienced international investigative and security specialist who has managed corporate investigations involving fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering, employee misconduct, reputational risk and compliance. He specializes in cross-border matters, and has worked extensively in emerging markets including China, India, South America and the CIS (former Soviet Republics). Mr. Scales joins from BP (London, UK) where as their Head of Investigations (EMEA) within Business Integrity, he led investigationsinto violations of BP's Code of Conduct, and laws and regulation, including the UK Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Proceeds of Crime Act.

"Simon is a recognized leader in global investigations and compliance matters. He brings an exceptional depth of experience having successfully managed investigations and assignments around the world, from the UK and Europe to a number of emerging markets. His expertise, negotiating and collaborating across geographies, is extremely important as we continue to grow our global footprint," said Darren Matthews, London office head and head of the Investigations and Disputes practice for EMEA.

"K2 Intelligence's presence in London, and throughout EMEA, continues to grow as our clients are facing a time of significant global disruption. Simon's expertise as a world-class investigator, enhances our ability to meet our client's needs wherever they arise," said Robert Brenner, Chief Operating Officer for K2 Intelligence.

Prior to his position at BP, Mr. Scales served as Director of Global Investigations for TNT NV (Amsterdam, NL) where he was responsible for the management of global investigations into bribery, corruption, money laundering and TNT group risk, directing teams in over 120 countries. He also had global responsibility for the oversight and direction of investigations into anti-bribery and corruption (ABC), Anti-money laundering (AML), fraud, compliance, reputational risk and governance matters.

Earlier in his career he served as a Detective for the Metropolitan Police / Surrey Police where he led investigations of major, complex crimes, including the planning and execution of sensitive overt and covert operations.

Mr. Scales has vast public speaking credentials, is a visiting lecturer to the University of Portsmouth (Institute of Criminal Justice Studies), and has had numerous articles published in leading journals and international media.

He is a graduate of the University of Nottingham Trent Business School, and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. He is also an alumnus of the Institute of Professional Investigators, a member of the Society of Forensic Interviewers and a founding member of the Corporate Investigation Council.

About K2 Intelligence

K2 Intelligence is an industry-leading investigative, compliance and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, who is credited with originating the modern corporate investigations industry. Redefining 21st-century corporate intelligence, the firm combines subject-matter expertise with cutting-edge technology, bringing to bear the industry's best multidisciplinary teams to solve our clients' most difficult problems.

With offices in New York, London, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Geneva and Los Angeles, K2 Intelligence advises governments, companies, boards and individuals in business areas including: Investigations & Disputes; Regulatory Compliance; Cyber Defense; Construction and Real Estate; Strategic Risk and Security; Private Client Services.

In 2015, American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a leading international insurance organization and the market leader in the underwriting of cyber insurance, endorsed the work of K2 Intelligence by acquiring a minority stake in the firm.

For more information, visit www.k2intelligence.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570439/K2_Intelligence__Logo.jpg
UPDATED

The superintendent of schools in Ferguson, Mo., Joseph Davis, is no longer facing fraud charges stemming from allegations that he misused the credit card belonging to his former district in North Carolina, St. Louis media reported.

St. Louis Public Radio said Monday that a North Carolina prosecutor had dropped the charges against Davis.

Davis, who has led Ferguson-Florissant schools since 2015, had been accused of using a credit card belonging to the Washington County, N.C., school system to book a hotel room and car outside of Philadelphia in January of this year , according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Davis was arrested in August and charged with two counts of obtaining false property, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported at the time. He voluntarily stepped down from his duties as superintendent in the Ferguson-Florissant school district. The district is expected to hold a press conference Tuesday to address Davis employment.

UPDATE:

.@FergFlorSchools admins, parents, elected officials, community members welcome back Supt. Joseph Davis with applause. pic.twitter.com/CsjZEiuM1I -- Kristen Taketa (@Kristen_Taketa) October 10, 2017

Regarding charges against him over a matter of less than $140, Davis says a simple phone call wouldve resolved the matter. pic.twitter.com/WavVb6JH4g -- Kristen Taketa (@Kristen_Taketa) October 10, 2017

Davis was welcomed back to the district on Tuesday.

The school board said in a joint statement that it was pleased that the matter had been resolved.

We are confident in Dr. Davis leadership and his focus on providing a great education for our students, the statement read in part. We look forward to putting this incident behind us, and hope our community will join us in focusing on the future for the sake of our students.

Davis thanked his supporters.

I aim to build and rebuild any trust that may have been lost during this time, and I can assure you that I will be hyper-focused on moving our district forward and providing a high-quality education for ALL children, he said in the statement.

Watsi Sutton, an attorney who represented Davis, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the use of the card was the result of an inadvertent error with no criminal intent.

Davis returned his credit card to Washington County after he left the district in 2015, she said. But when making reservations online in this year, Davis innocently selected the Washington County credit card information, which had been stored in his profile on Priceline.com, she told the paper. Davis had meant to use his own credit card, Sutton told the paper.

Sutton told the paper that her client was not aware that the room and car had been charged to the Washington County card until he was arrested in August. Davis plans to repay the Washington County district the $139.58, she said.

A January 2016 audit by the North Carolina state auditor accused Davis of misspending thousands of dollars and failing to keep records for some expenses. Davis defended his spending while in Washington County.

Joseph Davis, superintendent of the Ferguson-Florissant School District, visits a classroom in the district in 2015, shortly after assuming duties in the district.

--Sid Hastings for Education Week-File


MALVERN, Pennsylvania, Oct.10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --As part of its strategic plan and ongoing evolution, DentalEZ Integrated Solutions today announces changes that will continue the transformation of the company. Effective November 1, 2017, DentalEZ is partnering with Dental Hygienics and Decontamination (DHD), on sales of its StarDental, RAMVAC and DentalEZ Equipment brands to all current dental distributors in the UK.

For More Information and Product Details, Click Here: www.dentalez.co.uk.

Heather Trombley, President and COO of DentalEZ said, "We have a real opportunity to build our business in the UK and believe Dental Hygienics is the best partner to fulfill that goal." Trombley continued, "Given its sales support capabilities and broad service network, we believe they can best help us reach our goal of becoming a vibrant, integral and trusted partner in oral and overall health in the UK." Ms. Trombley added, "DHD is in place to support our expansion in the UK, not to increase competition, and to bring additional resources to bear in helping us focus on key segments of the market."

Adrian Buckingham, Managing Director of DHD, commented, "We look forward to supporting DentalEZ in the UK. There is a significant opportunity to expand the DentalEZ family of brands," Buckingham said. "DentalEZ products and innovation, coupled with our focus on meeting market needs gives us an advantage. Together we will exceed market expectations." Buckingham added, "We are committed to servicing all current UK customers with the same level of discounts and support they receive today."

DentalEZ will continue to have an operation in the UK and will warehouse parts in country to support all current needs. DentalEZ will be relocating their distribution center to Braintree, Essex.

Ms. Trombley added, "The evolution of DentalEZ continues. Like any good company, we evaluate our business and market opportunities with an eye on growth. We are committed to our customers and work hard every day to create a more customer focused company, a company that customers seek out and trust. We are focused on our vision and this announcement brings us another step closer to realizing it."

About DentalEZ

DentalEZ Integrated Solutions is committed to providing real solutions to everyday challenges in oral healthcare by uniquely combining innovation focused on simplification and efficiency in value based products and outstanding customer service and support. DentalEZ manufactures a full line of products and well-known brands including StarDental Instruments, DentalEZ Equipment, RAMVAC Utility, NevinLabs' Workstations and Columbia Dentoform Teaching Solutions.

About Dental Hygienics

Dental Hygienics and Decontamination (DHD) is more than another service company, they hold multiple agencies for all of the equipment required to run a Dental Practice, & hold in excess of 1 million stock in their 7,000 sq foot logistic & distribution hub in Braintree Essex. Their sales are backed by close technical and commercial support, and their focused team have over 60 years' experience between them to ensure your every requirement is met in a timely and professional manner.

They endeavor to offer their customers a Next working day delivery service subject to stock availability & Emergency breakdown visits they aim to be with you on the same day or the next working day.

They pride themselves on providing a fast, reliable and friendly service. For more information, please visit www.dentalhygienics.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569525/DentalEZ_Integrated.jpg


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The euro strengthened against other major currencies in the pre-European session on Tuesday, after data showed that Germany's foreign trade surplus increased in August, as exports grew faster than imports.



Data from Destatis showed that Germany's exports climbed a calendar and seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent month-over-month in August, well above the 0.2 percent rise in July.



Imports rose at a slower pace of 1.2 percent after a 2.4 percent gain in the preceding month.



As a result, the trade surplus increased to EUR 21.6 billion in August from EUR 19.3 billion in the prior month. Economists had expected the surplus to rise to EUR 19.5 billion.



On a yearly basis, export growth eased to 7.2 percent from 8.0 percent. Similarly, imports grew 8.5 percent after expanding 9.6 percent.



The unadjusted trade surplus rose to EUR 20.0 billion from EUR 19.6 billion.



In the pre-European session, the euro rose to more than a 2-week high of 1.1525 against the Swiss franc, an 8-day high of 1.1789 against the U.S. dollar and a 4-day high of 132.71 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1502, 1.1739 and 132.27, respectively. If the euro extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.17 against the franc, 1.19 against the greenback and 135.00 against the yen.



Against the pound, the euro advanced to 0.8949 from yesterday's closing value of 0.8933. The euro is likely to find resistance around the 0.91 region.



Against the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the euro climbed to nearly a 5-week high of 1.6671 and nearly a 2-week high of 1.4751 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.6616 and 1.4731, respectively. On the upside, 1.67 against the kiwi and 1.49 against the loonie are seen as the next resistance level for the euro.



Looking ahead, U.K. industrial production, construction output and trade balance, for August, are due to be released later in the day.



In the New York session, U.S. NFIB small business index for September, U.K. NIESR gross domestic product estimate for September, Canada housing starts for September and building permits for August are slated for release.



At 10:00 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to deliver opening remarks at the Regional Economic Conditions Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.



At 2:00 pm ET, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins is expected to participate in a panel discussion titled 'Systemic Risk and Macro-prudential Stress Testing' at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings, in Washington DC.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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REYKJAVIK, Iceland, October 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Inspired by Icelandhas released a sing-a-long film named 'The Hardest Karaoke Song in the World'

Highlighting the uniquely difficult pronunciation of the Icelandic language the country is encouraging people from around the world to watch the humorous video and have a go at singing along

The theme and lyrics of the catchy tune is The 'A to O' of Iceland , the Icelandic equivalent of 'A to Z', and satirizes some of the common perceptions of Iceland

, the Icelandic equivalent of 'A to Z', and satirizes some of the common perceptions of The video is designed to encourage visitors to attempt Icelandic when visiting, despite how tricky it can be to pronounce

The hilarious first few attempts by tourists in Iceland can be viewed here:https://youtu.be/XR9bTjB10zU

Inspired by Iceland, known for its quirky campaigns and warm humour, has today launched a unique challenge via the 'Inspired By Iceland' website for tourists around the world.



(Photo:http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569260/The_Hardest_Karaoke_Song_in_the_World.jpg)





(Photo:http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569261/Icelandic_comedian_Steindi_Jr.jpg)





(Photo:http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569262/Tourists_in_Iceland.jpg)



Harnessing the island's language, which is notoriously difficult to learn, Inspired by Iceland has released what it claims to be 'The Hardest Karaoke Song in the World' and are encouraging people to watch it and have a go themselves.

The song, performed by Icelandic comedian Steindi Jr shows him in a variety of beautiful spots in Iceland including on top of mountains and next to glacial waterfalls. The lyrics and performance of the comical film pokes fun at common Icelandic stereotypes including the Icelandic love for wool and their iconic ring road.

The humorous song makes use of everyday Icelandic words along with some more obscure words and phrases. Since Iceland was first settled in 874, only about one million people have ever spoken the Icelandic language.

The video has been released as part of Iceland's new marketing initiative the A-O of Iceland, the Icelandic equivalent of an A-Z guide, which uses the 32 letters of the Icelandic alphabet, ending in 'O'. The aim of the initiative is to harness the uniqueness of the Icelandic language to highlight the diversity and breadth of Iceland and to encourage visitors to go further and learn more.

Inga Hlin Palsdottir, Director,Visit Icelandsaid:

"We are always looking for ingenious ways to inspire visitors to engage with more aspects of our country and our seven regions. We have launched our new A-O campaign to explore our island using our unique language and alphabet. We know Icelandic is difficult to pronounce but through our karaoke film we wanted to encourage visitors to have a go and also show the world we are not afraid to laugh along."

The first few tourists to give the video a go have been filmed in Iceland to hilarious results:https://youtu.be/XR9bTjB10zUand anyone up for the challenge to try out the song can find it on the Inspired by Icelandwebsiteand the Inspired by Icelandyoutube channelwith the country encouraging viewers to send in their attempts.

Visitors to the website can also take part in the 'regional quiz' to win an adventure trip to Iceland and learn more about the country's seven special regions.

Notes to Editors:

For more information please visit:

Inspired by Iceland

Inspired by Iceland is the destination brand for Iceland and is managed by Visit Iceland (part of Promote Iceland) in a close cooperation with the government, tourism industry and other stakeholders in Iceland.

Inspired by Icelandhttp://www.inspiredbyiceland.com

Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/user/inspiredbyiceland

Twitter -@icelandinspired

Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/inspiredbyiceland

Instagram -Inspiredbyiceland

YouTube embed link:https://youtu.be/f88UJyCA__M
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, 2017-10-10 11:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. ("Standard Lithium" or the "Company") (TSX-V:SLL) (FRA:S5L) (OTCQX:STLHF) is pleased to provide an update on the exploration and process testing program at the Company's Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project located in the Mojave Desert, California.



Building on the promising results of its recently completed large-scale geophysical surveys, the Company has commenced a resource definition drill program on its approximately 25,000 acre Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project. The objectives of the intrusive exploration program are to establish the lithium grade of the subsurface brine across Standard's extensive landholdings within the large salar; to determine depth and lateral extent of the brine; and also to define key geological and hydrogeological data that will be required in order to develop a maiden resource estimate. The Company has received all required permits and approvals from Federal and County regulators to conduct the exploration drilling program. Two drill rigs have commenced work on site and the Company's team of senior geologists and hydrogeologists are supervising all work.



In addition to the geophysical and intrusive exploration programs, the Company has collected and shipped bulk raw brine samples from Bristol Dry Lake to several leading lithium brine assessment and process technology firms across North America. These firms have begun a series of lab-scale process testing studies of the Bristol Dry Lake brine and will begin determining the most efficient and effective process technologies to optimize lithium recovery from this important U.S. mineral brine bearing resource. The Company has also completed preliminary evaporation pond process testing work at the Bristol Dry Lake project site. The initial test work consisted of taking raw brines gathered from near-surface test pits (depth to lithium brine at the project is typically 5-20 ft (1.5-6 m)) and pumping the brine into three shallow plastic-lined ponds that were partially buried to avoid heating effects on the walls of the ponds. Brine samples and field parameters were taken on a weekly schedule, and samples were sent for chemical analysis to a qualified laboratory in Sparks, NV. The data from this first round of evaporation pond testing showed that the raw brine pumped from the near-surface test-pit contained an average concentration of 146 mg/L lithium, and that within a period of 4 weeks, the brine was concentrated by passive solar evaporation to an average lithium concentration of 556 mg/L (max. 717 mg/L). These short-duration evaporation tests will be repeated several times throughout the year, so that seasonal effects can be quantified. Data developed from this short-duration evaporation pond work will be incorporated into the ongoing process-testing work being conducted by leading North American process technology firms.



Standard Lithium's President and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson commented, "Standard's exploration and process-testing programs are now fully underway and being completed in parallel by our highly experienced resource assessment and chemical engineering teams. The amount of work that we've been able to complete in such a short period of time is evidence of our fast-track development philosophy, and speaks volumes to the constructive relationships that we have in place with the existing fully-permitted brine producers in operation at Bristol Dry Lake. All of the work being completed right now will be used to support the maiden 43-101 resource estimate for the Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project, estimated for the first half of 2018".



Quality Assurance



Raymond Spanjers, Certified Professional Geologist (SME No. 3041730), is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, and has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Spanjers is not independent of the Company as he is an officer in his role as Vice President, Exploration and Development.



About Standard Lithium



Standard's value creation strategy encompasses acquiring a diverse and highly prospective portfolio of large-scale domestic brine resources, led by an innovative and results-oriented management team with a strong focus on technical skills. The Company is currently focused on the immediate exploration and development of the Bristol Dry Lake Lithium Project located in the Mojave region of San Bernardino County, California; the location has significant infrastructure in-place, with easy road and rail access, abundant electricity and water sources, and is already permitted for extensive brine extraction and processing activities. The Company is also commencing due diligence and resource evaluation on 33,000 acres of lithium brine leases located in the Smackover Formation.



Standard Lithium is listed on the TSX Venture under the trading symbol "SLL"; quoted on the OTCQX under the symbol "STLHF"; and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "S5L". Please visit the Company's website at www.standardlithium.com.



For further information, contact Anthony Alvaro at 604.240.4793.



On behalf of the Board,



Standard Lithium Ltd.



Robert Mintak, CEO & Director



Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.



Neither the Company, nor National Chloride makes any representations as to the value of lease rights associated with National Chloride's Bristol Lake mineral claims (the "Property"), the availability of any particular resource or minerals on the Property, or the merits of any proposed exploration work to be completed on the Property. National Chloride expressly disclaims any responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of disclosure made by the Company in respect of the Property. Readers are cautioned that a "Qualified Person"(as that term is defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) has not done sufficient work to specify any mineral resource or reserve on the Property.

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SPRING HOPE, NC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) today outlined and clarified its core infrastructures that it has built and has been using to capture the rapidly growing industrial hemp industry. The company continues to position itself on the frontlines of America's hemp revolution. Led by Hemp, Inc. CEO, Bruce Perlowin, executives have taken a number of bold, methodical steps to position Hemp, Inc. for profitable and sustainable growth across the industrial hemp landscape. The four key infrastructure divisions, through which steps have been taken, thus far, are: (1) Industrial Hemp Manufacturing and Processing; (2) Hemp Oil Extraction; (3) Hemp Farming; and (4) Hemp Education.

"We want to drive home to our shareholders that we have very lucid infrastructure divisions in action that have created a strong platform for growth, now and into the future. While always adhering to our discipline on transparency with our shareholders and the public, we are resolutely committed to these infrastructure divisions," said Perlowin. "We believe our core infrastructure divisions outline Hemp, Inc.'s operations, and, allow us to allocate time and capital strategically to drive long-term shareholder value, as you will see below."

1. Industrial Hemp Manufacturing and Processing Infrastructure - Division One

The Industrial Manufacturing and Processing infrastructure division consists of the largest multi-purpose industrial hemp processing facility and milling operation in the western hemisphere that has grown to become the pre-eminent center of the industrial hemp industry. The now 85,000 square foot facility sits on a 9-acre campus in Spring Hope, North Carolina. With the patent pending manufacturing process, it is operating full time to process approximately 18,000,000 pounds of kenaf, on-hand, into all green, natural loss circulation materials (LCMs) that are to be sold to the oil and gas drilling industry. According to Perlowin, Hemp, Inc. has been negotiating sales to oil companies on 5 continents with one company in America wanting to purchase the entire productive capacity of the plant. These sales will be announced in future press releases as soon as they occur. (To see a one-minute video of the millions of pounds of kenaf on hand, go to Bruce Perlowin's personal Facebook page, September 7th, 11th, 13th, 20th and 22nd.)

David Schmitt, COO of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC, said, "I've built 6 processing facilities from the ground up. However, this is not only the most exciting but world-changing. Our facility is environmentally sustainable and was built from the ground up during a time when we are striving to make America great again."

2. Hemp Oil Extraction Infrastructure - Division Two

The Hemp Oil Extraction infrastructure consists of its NuAxon Tech Industrial CO2 Supercritical Extractor from NuAxon BioScience, manufacturer and the producer of the world class, large capacity CO2 Supercritical Extraction equipment. Hemp, Inc. is currently in negotiations with several other extraction companies to house other extractors. (To see Hemp, Inc.'s NuAxon Tech CO2 Supercritical Extractor in operation, visit Perlowin's Facebook page, Sept. 27th and Aug. 16th. As one of the most transparent public companies in the sector, Bruce Perlowin posts 1-minute video updates daily of Hemp, Inc.'s progress in all 5 of these divisions.)

3. Hemp Farming Infrastructure - Division Three

The Farming infrastructure division consists of hundreds of acres of hemp and kenaf growing in multiple locations, farm equipment, cloning rooms, clones and seeds, grow rooms, greenhouses, hemp drying facilities and a huge amount of peripheral farming tools and equipment. (Some of this farming infrastructure can be seen on Bruce Perlowin's Facebook page, Sept. 8th, Aug. 30th, 19th, 15th - 11th, 9th and 4th, July 31st, 29th, 21st - 16th.) Hemp, Inc. also has a model family farm situated on 5 acres that consists of a cloning room, a greenhouse, and 5,000 hemp plants. (This model farm can be seen on Bruce Perlowin's Facebook page, Aug. 22nd - 26th.) By showing farmers how to grow high CBD hemp plants, operate a greenhouse and turn a barn into a cloning room to earn $500,000 a year, the small family farm can reappear on the American landscape. After all, the original small family farms in America were able to survive economically by growing hemp as their main cash crop and the first 5 presidents of the United States were all hemp farmers.

"For most of the last 20 years, I have been the largest kenaf grower in the United States, as several of my previous factories used kenaf fibers in the manufacturing process. Now that we are transitioning from kenaf to hemp, my agricultural background is greatly serving our current farming endeavors," said Schmitt.

4. Hemp Education Infrastructure - Division Four

The Hemp Education infrastructure division includes Hemp, Inc.'s Hemp University; attending various events (see Bruce Perlowin's personal Facebook page, Oct. 7th and 8th); and, attending, speaking and displaying at industry expos (see Bruce Perlowin's personal Facebook page, Sept. 14th through 16th) to, in turn, educate the public on hemp in our industry. The educational seminars, through the Hemp University, are held approximately every 6 weeks and teach farmers and landowners how to create a profitable income stream by maximizing their per-acre crop revenue. The Hemp University is also one way the company is contributing to making America great again by making America hemp again. (To see the Hemp University, visit Bruce Perlowin's personal Facebook page, Oct. 30th, 24th - 29th and Jul. 1st - 10th.)

"Since our launch with the first educational symposium, the number of attendees has grown tremendously and it has been an overwhelmingly success, each time. Our interactive, hands-on learning approach is invaluable. By learning in an interactive cohort format, students gain the necessary skills they need to immediately implement them on their farm or in their organization. We've achieved the perfect mix of quality instruction, relevant educational content and a high level of commitment, to ensure the educational success of each attendee," said Rick Rainbolt, President of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Hemp University, LLC.

5. Hemp Education Infrastructure - Division Five

The company is reaching the point soon where it will implement its 5th infrastructure division... Marketing Infrastructure - Division Five. "Once we have enough inventory, in 30 days or less, we will begin to market aggressively," said Perlowin. "Our focus on operational expansion and education-focused outreach allow us to grow sustainably while helping shape America's newest industry as it continues to evolve."

"So as you can see, Hemp, Inc. has a very robust framework consisting of a total of 5 core infrastructure divisions thus far. We are very excited for the possibilities and opportunities having these infrastructure divisions will afford us. Those who read this press release in detail will now have a very clear idea as to exactly what Hemp, Inc. is all about and what we have accomplished thus far," concluded Perlowin.

Hemp, Inc. shareholders are continually kept up to date on the company's progress in each infrastructure division. In case you missed it, Hemp, Inc. was recently featured (Sept. 25, 2017) in High Times in an article entitled "North Carolina is Harvesting Its First Legal Hemp Crop in Decades" in High Times; Hemp, Inc.'s Sensational Breaking News (August 2, 2017) - press release - where Hemp, Inc. announced that its processing facility is operational and processing its first product; and, Hemp, Inc. Announces Official Launch of its CO2 Supercritical Extractor (August 17, 2017) - press release - where its industrial hemp manufacturing and processing infrastructure, via the largest hemp processing facility and milling operation in the western hemisphere, officially launched its NuAxon Tech CO2 Supercritical Extractor and is in its first phase of operation; and Hemp, Inc.'s first harvest of North Carolina-grown hemp on Oct. 4, 2017.

Also, Hemp, Inc.'s Hemp University 4th Educational Symposium "The Art & Science of CBD Oil" was sold out and was an overwhelming success. The next event is planned for December 2, location to be announced.

About Hemp, Inc.

With a deep-rooted social and environmental mission at its core, Hemp, Inc. seeks to build a business constituency for the American small farmer, the American veteran, and other groups experiencing the ever-increasing disparity between tapering income and soaring expenses. As a leader in the industrial hemp industry with ownership of the largest commercial multi-purpose industrial hemp processing facility in North America, Hemp, Inc. believes there can be tangible benefits reaped from adhering to a corporate social responsibility plan.

Social networks:

http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter)

http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook)

http://investorshangout.com/Hemp-Inc-HEMP-87248/ (Investors Hangout)

Subscribe to Hemp, Inc.'s video updates:

"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Watch as Hemp, Inc., the No. 1 leader in the industrial hemp industry, engages its shareholders and the public through each step in bringing back the hemp decorticator as described in the "Freedom Leaf Magazine" article "The Return of the Hemp Decorticator" by Steve Bloom.

"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempincpresents.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURES

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties.

The statements in this press release have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. The Company does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act. The Company does sell and distribute hemp-based products.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Hemp, Inc.

(855) HEMP-OUT

info@hempinc.com

http://www.hempinc.com



For Investor Relations, please send correspondence to:

ir@hempinc.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Torex") (TSX: TXG) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Minera Media Luna S.A. de C.V., ("MML") has signed a long term, common land, lease agreement with the Puente Sur Balsas Ejido for the use of the land required for the exploration, construction, and mining of minerals at its Media Luna Gold Project in Southwest Mexico. The agreement can be revoked at the company's discretion, with one year's notice. The agreement satisfies the land access requirement that is a pre-condition to entering the regulatory process to obtain permits for the potential development and operation of a future Media Luna mine.

Fred Stanford, President & CEO of Torex stated: "The signing of this 25-year land lease agreement achieves another important milestone along the path to the development of the Media Luna project. I commend the Ejido members and our community relations team for conducting productive negotiations that quickly delivered a mutually beneficial outcome. Now we can all look forward to the next stages of project development, and the tremendous potential this project offers to create value."

Torex is an emerging intermediate gold producer based in Canada, engaged in the exploration, development and operation of its 100% owned Morelos Gold Property, an area of 29,000 hectares in the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt located 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. Within this property, Torex has the El Limon Guajes Mine, which announced commercial production in March of 2016, the Sub-Sill Project, currently under development, and the Media Luna Project, an early stage development project for which the Company issued a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2015. The property remains 75% unexplored.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Notwithstanding the Company's efforts, there can be no guarantee that the Company will not face unforeseen delays or disruptions. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information with respect to the potential to advance the development of the Media Luna project through to production and becoming a mine. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "indicates", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "upcoming", or "subsequent" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the risk that actual results of current exploration and development activities will not achieve expectations and other risk factors identified in the Company's annual information form and management's discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Torex Gold Resources Inc.

Fred Stanford

President and CEO

(647) 260-1502

fred.stanford@torexgold.com



Torex Gold Resources Inc.

Gabriela Sanchez

Vice President Investor Relations

(647) 260-1503

gabriela.sanchez@torexgold.com




The "Vehicle Leasing Market in Europe 2017-2021" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

The vehicle leasing market in Europe is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.03% during the period 2017-2021.

The report, Vehicle Leasing Market in Europe 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the Key vendors operating in this market.

The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is that electric cars are expected to dominate passenger car leasing segment in Europe. The rising environmental concerns among the European consumers, stringent regulations by the government regarding carbon emission, shortage of fossil fuel, and government subsidies for electric car use are shifting the end-user preferences from fuel engine vehicles to electric car vehicles. Not only in Europe, but all regions across the world are expected to show higher demand for electric cars in the future.

According to the report, one of the major drivers for this market is the rising motor vehicle production in Europe. The European motor vehicle production is growing at a fast rate. In 2016, Europe contributed around 24%-26% to the global passenger car production and around 18%-20% to the global commercial vehicle production. Germany and France are the major growth contributors. In 2015, Germany contributed around 33%-35% and France around 11%-12% to the growth of the overall motor vehicle production market in Europe. Despite the stringent regulations by the European government on carbon emission and fuel consumption, motor vehicle manufacturers are investing more in the European region because of the demand for motor vehicles in the region.

Market Trends:

Electric cars are expected to dominate passenger car leasing segment in Europe.

Need for vehicle connectivity.

Influencing factors for vehicle leasing market.

Key vendors

ALD Automotive

Arval

Deutsche Leasing

LeasePlan

Natixis Lease

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope Of The Report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market Landscape

Part 06: Market Segmentation By Types Of Vehicle

Part 07: Country Wise Landscape

Part 08: Decision Framework

Part 09: Drivers And Challenges

Part 10: Market Trends

Part 11: Vendor Landscape

Part 12: Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/x47f5b/vehicle_leasing

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010005905/en/

Contacts:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

Related Topics: Automotive Leasing and Rental
DUBAI, UAE, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The collaboration will extend and diversify satellite communication services across the MENA region

Thuraya Telecommunications Company announced today the signing of a partnership with satellite communications company, Gulfsat at the ongoing OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessels) event in Kuwait. This strategic alliance will enable Gulfsat to launch data services in Kuwait. The partnership allows the companies to combine interests and increase both their distribution channels among government, maritime, media and enterprise sectors in the surrounding region.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570567/Fahad_Kahoor_Mohammad_Al_Haj.jpg )



Established in 1995, Gulfsat, a subsidiary of United Networks, a member of Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO Group), has risen to be a prominent provider of satellite communications, satellite broadcasting and managed telecommunications solutions. The new agreement gives Thuraya - for the first time - a data service presence in Kuwait, and enhanced broadcasting capabilities, backed by Gulfsat's media broadcasting influence and forte. Meanwhile, Gulfsat can look forward to furthering their service capabilities over land and sea in the Middle East and North Africa region via Thuraya's range of data products.

Danny COTE, Chief Commercial Officer at Thuraya says, "We are delighted to work with Gulfsat, through whom we are able to gain a foothold in Kuwait and extend services into some of the country's key sectors, including its prominent maritime market. Together, our joint offerings will also facilitate the remote operational capabilities of the Middle East and North African utilities and oil and gas sectors. We are confident this venture will garner a positive reception and as new opportunities unfold, we look forward to more collaborations with our new partner."

From the month of November, the product range accessible to Gulfsat customers will include the full range of Thuraya's land and maritime broadband terminals such as the IP+, IP Voyager, Orion IP and Atlas IP.

Mohammed Al-Haj, Chairman and CEO at Gulfsat says, "This alliance empowers us to meet the increasing demand for mobile data in Kuwait - we can now offer unified solutions across terrestrial and satellite networks to our customers and keep them connected, no matter where they are. As a well-reputed MSS operator and our neighbor in the Gulf, Thuraya's partnership with us is mutually beneficial as it strengthens our shared goals for service provisions in the region."
LONDON, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

CFTE is pleased to announce the worldwide release of Around Fintech in 8 Hours. The Fintech foundation course has been designed to give professionals working in the finance industry a solid understanding of how technology is redefining the provision of financial services.

Brief Fintech background

Technologies such as Blockchain and Big Data are giving birth to new opportunities for innovation and growth in finance, but also creating challenges for professionals to adapt. Given a large part of break-through innovation is happening outside of traditional finance, there is a growing knowledge gap among finance professionals about the opportunities of digital finance.

To help professionals in finance and technologists understand the new world of digital finance, Around Fintech in 8 Hours has been designed as a structured programme that goes through the most important concepts of Fintech. In 8 hours, participants will have a firm grasp of the impact of technology in finance and the major opportunities it represents.

Tram Anh Nguyen, Co-founder of CFTE said "Just like what happened in advertising 10 years ago, it will soon be inconceivable to work in finance without understanding digital technologies. We designed Around Fintech in 8 hours to guide finance professionals and to help them build the right foundations so they can thrive in a new world of digital finance."

Designed in collaboration with industry experts

4 senior lecturers and 16 industry experts who are Fintech CEOs, investors and heads of innovation will provide participants with a 360 perspective on Fintech disruption.

Between them, the fours senior lecturers have initiated Fintech lectures at Imperial College, Hong Kong University, Singapore Management University and Oxford Said Business School.

16 guest experts such as Rob Frohwein, CEO of Kabbage and Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank, will support the lecturers by providing first hand insights into how the structure of the FS industry is being transformed by technology and what this means for professionals. On the opportunities Fintech represents, Rob Frohwein added, "For those who were not around for the Internet, Fintech is a period of opportunity that we might never see again".

Pricing and availability

The course is available online and takes 8 hours to complete. 4 chapters spread over 16 modules will equip professionals with a thorough understanding of the Fintech landscape. Participants can learn at their own pace on their smartphone or computer and will receive a Certificate of Completion if they pass all the tests. The course is priced at 299 and begins on October 30th with limited seats available. It is available at http://aroundfintech.cfte.education

About CFTE

CFTE is an education platform supported by senior leaders from the largest institutions, startups and universities. It addresses the needs of professionals in finance and technologists to up-skill in a rapidly changing industry being transformed by emerging technologies. For more information, see http://www.cfte.education

Previous press releases

October 4th, 2017: CFTE Working with Bo Le Associates to Address Growing Opportunities for Fintech Jobs

September 27th, 2017:CFTE Partners with SuperCharger to Develop Human Capital in Fintech

September 17th, 2017:CFTE and LATTICE80 Partner to Make Fintech More Accessible to Finance Professionals

September 6th, 2017:CFTE Co-founder Huy Nguyen Trieu Takes on the Future of Finance at Oxford

August 8th, 2017:CFTE working with MAS to help ASEAN Finance Professionals Acquire the skills of Finance 2.0

June 27th, 2017:CFTE announces board members from Citi, HSBC, Ping An, Teach On Mars

June 6th, 2017:CFTE announces board members from Harvard, Holberton, Hong Kong University, Imperial College and London Business School

May 23rd, 2017:Launch of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship

Media Contact:

Aliasgar Makda

Tel: +44-7516-114-733
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (the "Company" or "Osisko") (TSX: OR)(NYSE: OR) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Dalradian Resources Inc. ("Dalradian") pursuant to which the Company has agreed to purchase 19,217,687 common shares of Dalradian at $1.47 per common share for a total investment of C$28.3 million (the "Private Placement"). In addition, the Company plans to exercise 6.25 million warrants at $1.04 per warrant, bringing the total investment to approximately C$34.8 million.

Sean Roosen, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Osisko said, "We are very pleased to participate in the advancement of one of the world's top undeveloped gold projects in a new emerging gold camp. We look forward to working with Dalradian management, Orion and Dalradian's stakeholders to provide the necessary funding for the realization and development of the Curraghinalt Gold Project."

Upon closing of the Private Placement and subsequent warrant exercise, Osisko will own approximately 9.1% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares.

The agreement entered into with Dalradian contains various covenants and rights, including among other things, a standstill, participation rights in favour of Osisko to maintain its pro rata interest in Dalradian and rights to match other offers for project financing.

Accelerator Model Update

The Company also reports that it has divested its investment in Arizona Mining Inc. ("Arizona") for gross proceeds of $32.5 million, generating a gain for Osisko of $22.8 million on the disposal of the investment, based on the cash cost of the shares.

Following the divestiture, Osisko holds a 1% net smelter return royalty on all sulfide ores of lead and zinc (and any copper, silver or gold recovered from the concentrate from such ores) mined from Arizona's world-class Hermosa Project located in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, purchased for $10 million in April 2016. Osisko continues to hold 4.5 million warrants, each convertible into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.75 and expiring on October 25, 2017.

The Company maintains an investment portfolio in publicly held resource companies as part of its accelerator model. Principal holdings include:

-- 15.7% interest in Osisko Mining Inc.; -- 32.8% interest in Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.; -- 13.3% interest in Falco Resources Ltd.; and -- 12.8% interest in Osisko Metals Ltd.

About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd is an intermediate precious metal royalty company focused on the Americas that commenced activities in June 2014. Osisko holds a North American focused portfolio of over 130 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes. Osisko's portfolio is anchored by five cornerstone assets, including a 5% NSR royalty on the Canadian Malartic mine, which is the largest gold mine in Canada. Osisko also owns a portfolio of publicly held resource companies, including a 15.7% interest in Osisko Mining Inc., a 12.8% interest in Osisko Metals Incorporated, a 13.3% interest in Falco Resources Ltd. and a 32.8% interest in Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.

Osisko's head office is located at 1100 Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2S2.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, require Osisko to make certain assumptions and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. These forward-looking statements, may involve, but are not limited to, comments with respect to the directors and officers of Osisko and the exercise of warrants of Dalradian. Words such as "may", "will", "would", "could", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "continue", or the negative or comparable terminology, as well as terms usually used in the future and the conditional, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Information contained in forward-looking statements is based upon certain material assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including management's perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. Osisko considers its assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, but cautions the reader that their assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond the control of Osisko, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect Osisko and its business.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this press release, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the most recent Annual Information Form of Osisko which is filed with the Canadian securities commissions and available electronically under Osisko's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available electronically under Osisko's issuer profile on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects Osisko's expectations as at the date of this press release and is subject to change after such date. Osisko disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Contacts:

Vincent Metcalfe

Vice President, Investor Relations

(514) 940-0670

vmetcalfe@osiskogr.com



Joseph de la Plante

Vice President, Corporate Development

(514) 940-0670

jdelaplante@osiskogr.com




Updated

An Education Week reporter and photojournalist went to Puerto Rico this month to see firsthand the devastation on the island after Hurricane Maria. They learned that the islands education secretary hasnt even heard from 20 percent of Puerto Ricos nearly 1,200 schools , and many people are still struggling to access basic supplies, including food and water.

When Education Week shared these stories on social media, readers wanted to know: How can we help? People asked about sending supplies. Teachers even asked if they could travel to the island to teach while schools and communities rebuilt.

See also: Puerto Rican Schools Offer Lifeline in Devastated Communities

Here are some ways educators can help:

Donate cash. Most organizations are asking for cash in the wake of a disaster, since thats easier to route than supplies. Here are a few options:

Donate supplies. Perhaps you want to organize a supply drive at your school. Some organizations are accepting donated supplies, including United for Puerto Rico. That group is accepting both construction supplies and emergency supplies, including canned foods, baby formula, bottled water, canned and dry pet food, and medicines. Donate through this page . (Select Puerto Rico as the recipient.)

A Florida teacher whose mother and two sons live in Puerto Rico asked his students and community to donate emergency supplies . They collected more than 25 pallets of supplies.

Adopt a school. Dorina Sackman, the 2014 Florida Teacher of the Year, has launched an initiative where schools on the U.S. mainland can adopt a school on the island. The effort, called Materials for Maestros, is starting with the Thomas Alva Edison School, a preK-12 private school. Sackmans friend, Vivian Rivera Maysonet, teaches there. Teachers and students there are asking for supplies like water, paper, books, coloring books, markers, and hand sanitizer. They are also asking for encouraging letters to students from students, and letters to teachers from teachers.

The school will also share these supplies and letters with other schools in the area, Sackman wrote in a letter to her National Network of State Teachers of the Year colleagues.

Volunteer. Puerto Rico still has to stabilize before accepting volunteers, so dont book your flight just yet. Instead, sign up to volunteer via Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) , which will vet requests. You can note if you have a special skill set (wanted: language skills, medical skills, and experience with mental health), and the organizers will contact you once the island is ready for volunteers.

(More than two dozen AFT nurses and health professionals went to Puerto Rico for two weeks to help. AFT President Randi Weingarten will be traveling to the island later this month.)

Need some inspiration? Read about Isabel Rodriguez Santos, Puerto Ricos 2007 Teacher of the Year. She spoke to Education Week about how shes trying to help her students as their school works to reopen. The challenges are daunting, but shes determined to stay.

I have relatives in the U.S. who call and say, Come on, you got a profession, you speak English, youve got to move here. I say no, Rodriguez Santos said. This is my island. My students need me.

Isabel Rodriguez Santos, right, stands with her 14-year-old daughter.

(Update: This story was updated with an additional way teachers from the mainland can help.)

See also: How Teachers Can Help With Hurricane Harvey Relief
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Freedom Leaf, Inc. (OTCQB: FRLF), The Marijuana Legalization Company , introduces Leafceuticals, Inc, a wholly owned division dedicated to providing distribution, standardized formulations, and consistent quality assurance for the natural whole-hemp full-spectrum ingredients in the Hempology brand product line and possibly third party clients for private label. Leafceuticals will also promote and manage sales of the NuAxon Tech line of CO2 Supercritical Extractors and our Las Vegas based extraction showroom facility.

Our lab-tested CBD oil in the Hempology line contains >60% pure full-spectrum CBD extract, which also includes cannabinoids like CBG, CBN, and CBC for comprehensive health benefits. To maximize effectiveness, additional therapeutic compounds like terpenes, phenols, and flavonoids are added to provide the full entourage effect. We utilize only the most beneficial supplements of 99% pure CBD isolate to our top-of-the-line nutraceutical formulations. Our natural CBD oil is produced from American-grown hemp crops and extracted in modern processing facilities.

CEO and President Clifford J Perry stated, "With LeafceuticalsInc.com and MyHempology.com we are committed to enhancing human health and well-being by manufacturing and marketing superior nutraceutical ingredients that are positioned to excel in today's demanding marketplace. We provide our customers with laboratory tested, non-gmo, full-spectrum CBD products for the rapidly expanding legal hemp industry. Our manufacturing facilities are FDA, GMP and PETA registered. We are committed to producing the finest in breathable vapors and topical blends from natural herbal and hemp extracts."

Currently, we are in negotiations with multiple successful marketers that service the niche hemp industry: smoke shops, dispensaries, and natural health stores. We are also in serious discussions with a national distributor that works with convenience stores and big box chains, where we plan to open up new markets for hemp products.

Additionally, the MyHempology.com website has an affiliate marketing program to allow social media and other market influencers to join in on spreading the news and sales globally. Our Spanish affiliates, Freedom Leaf Iberia and Green Market Europe, are also developing in-house sources of rare cannabinoids for use in future Hempology products.

To help promote the Hempology and Leafceuticals brand opportunities, Freedom Leaf, Inc. along with our Joint Venture Investor Relations partner WallStreet Research, LLC will be making presentations at two major financial conferences in October, at New West Summit Cannabis Tech Conference in Oakland (Oct. 13, 14, 15) and at The Alternative Asset ReLeaf Summit (Oct. 23) at the Wynn/Encore Hotel in Las Vegas, Freedom Leaf's hometown.

See Freedom Leaf, Inc. and WallStreet Research LLC Joint Venture To Become the Go-To Resource in the Marijuana/Hemp Sector

About WallStreetResearch

Alan Stone & Company, LLC with its affiliate WallStreetResearch provides a strategic approach to enhancing shareholder value and liquidity. WSR publishes and distributes corporate profiles, newsletters and in-depth research reports on emerging small-cap companies. WallStreetResearch is ranked #1 on Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines.

(WSR) has also issued a research report on Freedom Leaf Read the WSR Freedom Leaf Research Report

About NuAxon Tech

NuAxon Tech is the manufacturer of large capacity CO2 Supercritical Extraction unit, and has 17 years of experience in extraction process technology and manufacture of large capacity extraction units over other comparable units, which will serve as a huge plus for Freedom Leaf Inc.

According to NuAxon Tech, CO2 extraction is "the best method of extracting therapeutic compounds from a plant. When CO2 is captured and compressed it becomes a lipophilic solvent. It is exceptional and efficient at retrieving the oils and fats from plants, some herbal extractions are as concentrated as 250 to 1." With proprietary "high flow rate pump" reducing processing time to "as low as 90 minutes per batch," NuAxon's CO2 Supercritical Extraction unit can deliver a much higher output than competitive brands. Freedom Leaf, Inc. has the worldwide exclusive sales and marketing agreement to represent the NuAxon Bioscience line of CO2 Extractors for the cannabis and hemp industry, which include a 100 liter up to 1,000 liter capacity unit, the sizes that will be needed to convert the thousands of acres of Hemp that are being planted in the U.S. and around the world.

About Freedom Leaf

Freedom Leaf, Inc., The Marijuana Legalization Company, is a fully reporting and audited, publicly traded company trading under the symbol (OTCQB: FRLF). Freedom Leaf, Inc. is a leading go-to resource in the cannabis, medical marijuana, and industrial hemp industry. It is involved in mergers and acquisitions and business consulting in the marijuana industry, including incubation/acceleration and spin offs of new marijuana/hemp related companies.

Freedom Leaf, Inc.'s flagship publication is Freedom Leaf Magazine, "The Good News in Marijuana Reform". The company produces a portfolio of news, print and digital multi-media verticals, websites, blogs and web advertising, for the ever-changing emerging cannabis, medical marijuana and industrial hemp industry.

Freedom Leaf, Inc. does not handle, grow, sell, or dispense marijuana.

All of our European activities are in full compliance with relevant EU laws.

Investor relations information can be found on the FreedomLeafInc.com company website.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as Freedom Leaf, Inc. or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates" or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements herein that describe the Company's business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include the uncertainty regarding viability and market acceptance of the Company's products and services, changes in relationships with third parties, and other factors described in the Company's most recent periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K dated June 30, 2016 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

CONTACT INFORMATION



Raymond Medeiros

PR and Business Development Director

Phone: 415-601-1974

Ray@FreedomLeaf.com

Freedom Leaf, Inc.

3571 East Sunset Road

Las Vegas, Nevada 89120




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Attn: Assignment Editor

The Ontario Health Coalition wants to collect stories from patients, families, and hospital staff, and organize them to generate a democratic public debate about the changes we need to protect and improve our local public hospital services. The Coalition has spent the last decade fighting hospital cuts and privatization of services, and working with local groups to save local hospitals from closure. These changes to our hospitals have been foisted upon Ontarians without any democratic input. They do not reflect the values and priorities of our communities.

Every day, health coalitions across Ontario are contacted by people who have stories and ideas to share about their hospitals. The stories run the gamut from life-affirming to heart-breaking. People have received excellent and life-saving care. Patients have been stuck on stretchers in hallways, sunrooms, patient lounges for days waiting for a bed. Frail elderly patients have been pushed out of hospital too quickly, ending up back in Emergency Departments. Paramedics have been frustrated waiting for hours to offload their patients into overcrowded hospitals. People have tried to access health records and been refused key information, or, conversely, hospitals have communicated well and are responsive to their communities. Public hospitals have innovated to reduce waits, or instituted programs that integrate care so it is seamless and well-organized. Nurses and care staff are working with crushing workloads. Doctors are seeing their services taking second place to bean-counting, or are concerned about vital care being moved out of town.

The Ontario Health Coalition wants to hear it all: Ontarians' stories and ideas, health professionals and care workers' perspectives, experiences good and bad, and improvements that could be spread across the province. The goal is to come up with a platform of 'progressive reform' that the Health Coalition will use leading into the provincial election planned for next spring to address the urgent issues of undercapacity, cuts, privatization and overcrowding. Ontario has had the worst hospital cuts in the country: we have the lowest hospital funding levels, the fewest hospital beds per population, the least nursing care per patient, and we have seen massive cuts to clinics and outpatient services as well. The Coalition's goal to call for improved funding, but also the changes needed to make sure that funding actually goes to improving care levels and access for patients. In addition, we want to celebrate the positives: to recognize the tremendous job that our hospital system does with so few resources in providing high-quality care for Ontarians and to highlight positive innovations within the public health care system.

Coalition spokespeople are available to do pre-hearing interviews to invite the public to the hearings and talk about what is happening in our local public hospitals, what we are trying to do, and the key issues leading into the election. The media is invited to attend the hearings also.

Hearing Dates and Locations:

Thunder Bay Thursday, October 12, 3 - 7 pm. Italian Cultural Centre 132 Algoma St. S. Welland Saturday, October 14, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Welland Community Wellness Complex, 145 Lincoln St. St. Catharines Saturday, October 14, 1 - 2:30 p.m. Public Library, Mills Room, 54 Church St. Ottawa Monday, October 16, 3 - 7 p.m. PSAC Building, 233 Gilmour St. Trenton Tuesday, October 17, 3 - 7 p.m. Public Library, 7 Creswell Dr. Toronto Wednesday, October 18, 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. OSSCO 333 Wilson Ave., Ste 406. Scarborough Wednesday, October 18, 3 - 6:30 p.m. Bendale Public Library, 1515 Danforth Rd. Chatham Thursday, October 19, 3 - 5 p.m. St. Clair College, Thames Campus Arena Blue Line Rm, 1001 Grand Ave. W. Wallaceburg Thursday, October 19, 6 - 8 p.m. Legion, 52 Margaret Ave. North Bay Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Royal Canadian Legion, 150 First Avenue W. Woodstock Saturday, October 21, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Southside Aquatic Centre, 315 Finkle St. Hamilton Monday, October 23, 5 - 8 p.m. YWCA Auditorium, 75 McNab St. S. London Tuesday, October 24, 3 - 7 p.m. Central Public Library, Hunt Rm, 251 Dundas St. Windsor Wednesday, October 25, 3 - 7 p.m. Central Public Library, Fred- Israel Room, 850 Ouellette Ave. Durham/Ajax Thursday, October 26, 3 - 7 p.m. Ajax Community Centre, North Hall, 75 Centennial Rd.

Contacts:

Natalie Mehra, Executive Director

(mobile) 416-230-6402 or (office) 416-441-2502



Edgar Godoy, Campaign Director

(mobile) 647-710-2561 or (office) 416-441-2502




Diego Biasi, CEO of British investment firm Quercus, talks to pv magazine about the company's plans to develop a 600 MW solar farm in Iran, which will not only be one of the biggest PV plants in the world but a seismic solar development for both the MENA region and Iran.Announced amid great fanfare in late September, the news that British firm Quercus Investment Partners had secured the rights and the backing to build a 600 MW solar farm in Iran made global headlines. The scale and scope of the project alone is noteworthy; the fact that it was a British company doing business in Iran ensured worldwide attention - attention that went beyond the energy industry. Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump has reignited fears that the current nuclear deal with Iran could be in jeopardy following his UN speech, but Diego Biasi, Quercus CEO, told pv magazine that he is unconcerned about such rhetoric, and sees vast development potential in Iran's energy sector. The 600 MW solar plant in Iran is an exciting project. Can you explain how Quercus first identified such an opportunity in Iran? Diego Biasi: We started back in 2015 looking at Iran, when we were asked by some investors to look at Iranian renewable energy through a contractor who arranged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an Iranian partner. Today, there is a joint venture (JV) between the two companies: Sunir, and Bester Generacion (a Spanish EPC contractor), which will build the solar plant. Quercus has studied the country since then, looking at the renewable energy market there to see if there was a real opportunity for investors. Specifically, we looked at the regulatory framework in Iran, and soon acknowledged that there is opportunity there. For us, we felt that the right strategy initially was to aim big in order to have support from the various institutions. We proposed to the Ministry of Energy to support a big project such as this 600 MW plant - one large enough to be in the national interest. Why in this particular case do you feel that bigger is better? Quercus initially had plans to start with a smaller, test project. But we realized that by doing this we would have been exposed to any type of issues that one could face along the way. With a big project of this scale, you have to have the backing of enough investors. And if so, like we do, you can go big and ask for the backing of the Iranian government as well, which is a very valuable additional support. pv magazine understands that the project will be built in 100 MW phases. Could you reveal more about ...

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Reno, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2017) - Scandium International Mining Corp. (TSX: SCY) ("Scandium International" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the share exchange transaction with Scandium Investments LLC ("SIL"), as approved by the SCY shareholders at a Special Meeting on September 11, 2017, and as a result, has acquired the 20% interest in EMC Metals Australia Pty Ltd ("EMC-A") previously held by SIL.

The Company now holds 100% ownership of EMC-A, which is the Company's Australian subsidiary that holds a 100% interest in both the Nyngan and Honeybugle Scandium Projects, located in New South Wales, Australia. Pursuant to the share exchange transaction, the Company issued SIL 57,371,565 common shares of the Company in return for acquiring SIL's share interest in EMC-A. These newly issued common shares represent 20% of the total issued common shares of the Company, on a post-transaction basis.

HIGHLIGHTS:

SCY exc hanged 57,371,565 common shares to secure a 100% interest in the Nyngan and Honeybugle scandium projects in NSW, Australia,

SIL exchanged their 20% direct project stake for a 20% SCY common share interest,

Transaction considered non-dilutive to existing SCY shareholders,

SIL becomes the largest single Company shareholder, and

Two members of SIL, Peter Evensen and R. Christian Evensen, join the SCY Board as board members immediately.

Ownership of 100% of the Company's scandium projects provides significant advantages for the development of the Nyngan Scandium Project. In particular, SIL and the Company agreed that consolidating 100% ownership of Nyngan and Honeybugle would potentially allow for a wider array of project financing structures at either EMC-A or individual project level, and would optimize the cost of capital for the Nyngan Scandium Project.

In connection with the transaction, SIL nominees Mr. Peter Evensen and Mr. R. Christian Evensen have been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. As Board members, Peter and Chris Evensen can contribute their funding expertise more directly and effectively to the entire project, fully aligning the interests of SIL and the Company, benefiting the development program, and in turn benefiting all Company shareholders.

Pursuant to the transaction, the Company also issued 1,459,080 common shares to SIL, as an adjustment payment for the 20% portion of a revenue-based royalty on Nyngan/Honeybugle that was excluded from SIL's share in the project interests.

George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. commented:

"On behalf of the entire SCY Board, we welcome Peter and Chris to the team, and look forward to their contributions towards our goal of building the first-ever primary scandium mine at Nyngan. We firmly believe in the value of this project and the exciting possibilities we have to deliver significant volumes of scandium product to waiting global markets."

SIL's Report on Ownership of Shares of the Company

On October 10, 2017, pursuant to the transaction, in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements, SIL reports that it acquired an aggregate of 58,830,645 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 20.4% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company. Of those shares, a total of 57,371,565 shares were issued at a price of $0. 34 per share, for a total deemed value of C$19,506,332.10 and 1,459,080 common shares were issued at a price of $0.35 per share, for a total deemed value of C$510,678.

Immediately prior to the foregoing acquisition, SIL owned and/or had control over 3,549,160 common shares of the Company. As a result of the foregoing acquisition, SIL owns and/or has control over 62,379,805 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 21.4% of the total issued and outstanding common shares of the Company. This represents a 1657% change in SIL's ownership of common shares.

SIL does not own or have any control over any warrants of the Company.

SIL acquired the securities in connection with a transaction between the Company, SIL and EMC Australia Pty Ltd., as disclosed in the information circular of the Company dated August 4, 2017, and has no present intention to dispose of or acquire further securities of the Company. SIL may, in the future, participate in financings and/or acquire or dispose of securities of the Company in the market, privately or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant.

ABOUT SCANDIUM INTERNATIONAL MINING CORP.

The Company is focused on developing its Nyngan Scandium Project, located in NSW, Australia, into the world's first scandium-only producing mine. The project has received all key approvals, including a mining lease, necessary to proceed with project construction.

The Company filed a NI 43-101 technical report in May 2016, titled "Feasibility Study - Nyngan Scandium Project". That feasibility study delivered an expanded scandium resource, a first reserve figure, and an estimated 33.1% IRR on the project, supported by extensive metallurgical test work and an independent, 10-year global marketing outlook for scandium demand.

For inquiries to Scandium International Mining Corp, please contact:

Edward Dickinson

Tel: (775) 233-7328

Email: info@scandiummining.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company and its business. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and include, but are not limited to statements regarding any future development of the project. The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by forward looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, without limitation risks related to the availability of financing project development, demand for scandium, the contributions of new directors; uncertainties associated with the results of production as described in the feasibility study; and other factors identified in the Company's SEC filings and its filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the Company's management at the time they are made, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions or expectations, or other circumstances, should change.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2017) - Advantagewon Oil Corp. (CSE: AOC), (OTC Pink: ANTGF) (the "Corporation", "Advantagewon") provides an operational update on operations on its properties in the LaVernia Oil field, Texas as announced via press release on August 30th, 2017.

The Corporation has successfully completed drilling one new well and has frac'd five others. Two of these were wells drilled by the corporation in Q2. Three were re-completions of existing wells.

The Corporation perf'ed the new well October 2, 2107 in preparation for a frac later this month. The Corporation expects that it will be in a position to announce production results from the well by November 30, 2017.

The Corporation plans to put the five wells frac'd on pump during the week of October 9th. Once injected frac fluid has been recovered, and oil production rates have stabilized, the Corporation will provide information on flow rates, production and internal reserve estimates.

About Advantagewon Oil Corp.

Advantagewon is focused on building consistent cash flow from low cost, low risk oil wells in the State of Texas. AOC applies specialized expertise to increase oil recovery from 10-15% to up to 75% for each well. Once the enhanced recovery strategy is successfully applied, AOC will repeat the process throughout the oil pool to maximize output and minimize cost and risk. For more information please visit www.aoc-oil.com.

For further information please contact:

Mr. Paul Haber

CEO & Director

Advantagewon Oil Corp.

T: (416) 318-6501

E: paul.haber@aoc-oil.com

W: www.aoc-oil.com

Mr. Frank Kordy

Secretary & Director

Advantagewon Oil Corp.

T: (647) 466-4037

E: frank.kordy@aoc-oil.com

W: www.aoc-oil.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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ESCONDIDO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 --MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA INC. ("MCOA" or the "Company") (OTC: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, and Global Hemp Group (CSE: GHG) (FF: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF), (collectively the "Companies"), are pleased to announce that they have jointly entered into a letter of intent with Space Cowboys, Inc. ("Space Cowboys") for the purposes of forming a joint venture (the "Joint Venture"). Space Cowboys is an existing fully licensed and compliant hemp-derived cannabinoid producer in Colorado.

Pursuant to the terms of the letter of intent and subject to the Companies obtaining sufficient financing, the Companies will invest US$2.5 Million in exchange for a 25% equity interest in Space Cowboys. The investment funds will be used to expand Space Cowboys' cultivation operation.

Space Cowboys is in its fourth year of operation and is in full compliance with Colorado state law and the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The business consists of both indoor and outdoor cultivation of highly concentrated CBD hemp on properties located in Longmont and Loveland, Colorado. Space Cowboys' current hemp crops will be harvested in the latter part of October and prepared for extraction of the high-value cannabinoids.

In addition to the potential revenue streams generated from Space Cowboys' ongoing high cannabinoid hemp production, this Joint Venture will provide the opportunity to be a part of a legal operation with the extensive knowledge and experience required to cultivate and process industrial hemp into raw cannabinoids. For MCOA, it will also provide a consistent cannabinoid supply from a known source and trusted partner for its hempSMART product line. This will also enable Global Hemp Group to develop its Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone concept.

"MCOA has always been interested in developing hemp farms and processing here in the United States. By initiating this Joint Venture, the Company will accomplish this objective along with securing its supply chain of raw cannabinoids. It is an important step in the continued development of the hempSMART brand, which distributes a hemp-based Cannabinoid product line," said CEO, Donald Steinberg.

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, completion of satisfactory due diligence, entry into a definitive agreement and receipt of any necessary regulatory approvals. There is no assurance such conditions will be met or that the Companies will be able to secure the financing necessary to complete the transaction on acceptable terms or at all.

About Space Cowboys

Space Cowboys operates hemp farms in the state of Colorado for the primary purpose of Cannabinoid production. Space Cowboys' operations are in full compliance with Colorado state law and the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

About Global Hemp Group Inc.

Global Hemp Group ("GHG") is a publicly traded company founded in 2012, headquartered in British Columbia, Canada with base operations in Montreal and Southern California. The Company is focused on the production and processing of hemp and cannabis, and collaboration with companies that will enable GHG to develop and implement the Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone concept. Through partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions, the Company will capture cash flow, revenues, and establish a greater collective valuation.

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

MCOA is a corporation which participates in: (1) product research and development of legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD under the brand name "hempSMART", that targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated for medicinal and recreations use; and, (4) the expansion of its business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment mature and develop.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate", "seek", intend", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "project", "plan", or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov.

For more information, please visit the Company's websites at:

MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com

hempSMART.com

agoracom.com/ir/MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica

Communications Contact:

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Email Contact




FARMINGTON, CT -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Azitra, Inc. today announced the appointment of Richard Andrews (Rick) as President and CEO. Azitra is focused on treating skin disease by combining the potential of the microbiome with state of the art molecular genetics. Mr. Andrews will work closely with Azitra's founding scientist, Travis Whitfill, who will now serve as Chief Scientific Officer.

Rick Andrews brings more than 35 years of experience working with biotechnology companies from inception through successful clinical development, and most recently served as CEO of Thrasos Therapeutics. While at Thrasos, RenaMed and EcoScience, Mr. Andrews built strong operating teams and secured significant levels of research and development investment. Mr. Andrews was trained as a physical biochemist and chemical engineer at MIT, Purdue University and Hobart College. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of ProThera Biologics and Lucidicor Bio.

"It is a true delight to have the opportunity to work with the Azitra team and its investors, Bios Partners and Breakout Labs, as we transition the Company into a leading developer of advanced therapies for treating critical unmet needs in skin disease," said Mr. Andrews. "Azitra is at the forefront of microbiome research and is combining this expertise with leading edge genetic engineering. This approach will offer patients new therapies to address the underlying disease processes in skin disease, and correct the natural microbial balance necessary for long term health."

"We are thrilled that Rick will be leading Azitra through our next stage of growth. His operational and strategic expertise will be critical to our success as we move our core technology into the development stage for the treatment of inflammatory skin disease," said Travis Whitfill, Founder and CSO.

Lindy Fishburne, Managing Partner, Breakout Ventures; Executive Director, Breakout Labs, commented, "Azitra has achieved many milestones in recent months and is now poised to move into the next stage of development. We are excited to have Rick on board and are confident the company will thrive under his leadership."

About Azitra

Azitra, Inc. is a preclinical stage biotechnology company harnessing the power of the microbiome to treat skin disease. The Company was founded in 2014 by scientists from Yale University and works with world-leading scientists in dermatology, microbiology, and genetic engineering to advance its programs in atopic dermatitis and targeted orphan indications. For more information visit www.azitrainc.com.

About Breakout Labs

Breakout Labs is a seed-stage revolving fund operating out of Thiel Foundation. It supports early stage companies as they transition radical scientific discoveries out of the lab and into the market. The fund invests in cutting-edge scientific companies to achieve specific milestones during the two year program. It backs bold scientist entrepreneurs working at the intersections of technology, biology, materials, and energy. More than capital, Breakout Labs provides access to an elite ecosystem of follow-on funders, corporate partners and resources to drive commercialization.

About Bios Partners

Bios Partners is a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Founded in 2014 and based in Fort Worth, TX, the firm utilizes an experienced team of industry professionals to actively collaborate with its investment portfolio companies and enhance stakeholder value. The investment in Azitra, Inc. is one of seven new investments made through the firm's recently closed Bios Fund I.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3173668



Contact:



Azitra, Inc.

Michelle Linn

774-696-3803

michelle@linndencom.com




NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Accelerize (OTCQB: ACLZ) (OTCBB: ACLZ) and its digital marketing software division, CAKE, today announced that New Media Co, a London-based online advertising agency, is continuing to use CAKE's Cloud-based Marketing Intelligence platform to manage, monitor, measure and optimize multiple digital marketing campaigns on behalf of its clients at a greater scale.

Founded in 2013, New Media Co designs and places digital campaigns that deliver return on advertising spend (ROAS) for brands through pre-qualified leads and sales conversions. Using the latest media and technology available, the agency matches advertisers with publishers and affiliates capable of generating high-quality traffic that gets results.

CAKE's Marketing Intelligence platform has continued to serve as the foundation for empowering New Media Co to manage relationships with advertisers and affiliates, plus keep tabs on performance across multiple campaigns and digital marketing channels. Using CAKE, the New Media Co team can monitor and assess traffic quality at a very granular level, looking at results by publisher, channel, device, time frame, revenue generated and more. CAKE is also integrated with New Media Co's internal analytics platform, Slice, which also assesses lead outcomes.

"CAKE allows us to overcome the challenge of managing relationships with multiple lead generation publishers, affiliates and sub-affiliates," said Simon Page, Founder Director of New Media Co. "We use the platform to identify which publishers are performing best, automate administrative tasks like payouts, and capture insights that help us ensure the best possible return for our clients. Everyone within our organization relies on CAKE in some capacity -- from the analytics team to traffic, management and even UX design."

"CAKE really is the heart of our operation," says Ross Butterfill, Founder Director of New Media Co along with Page. "We use it to gain insights into every campaign we are running. Using CAKE allows New Media Co to run online advertising campaigns on behalf of our advertisers providing us with actionable insights and data regarding their campaign that an advertiser would normally not have the ability to see. These insights allow us to offer our clients performance-based campaigns such as Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Acquisition."

According to eMarketer, digital media ad spending in the U.K. is expected to increase by 11 percent this year, driven by mobile, and with search remaining the most popular ad type.

"The U.K. is one of the largest digital ad markets in Europe, and in such a competitive environment, brands need real-time insight on how their campaigns are performing to realize the maximum return on their ad spend," said Santi Pierini, CAKE President and Chief Operating Officer of Accelerize. "We work closely with New Media Co to infuse analytics into every aspect of its business. The company's commitment to quality and transparency has earned it a strong reputation for delivering ROI for clients across multiple marketing channels."

About CAKE by Accelerize

CAKE, a division of Accelerize Inc., provides proprietary cloud-based solutions to collect, attribute and optimize the performance of digital marketing return on investment, in real-time. Bringing clarity to cross-channel marketing campaigns, we empower advertisers, agencies, publishers and networks from more than 40 countries worldwide with the insight to make intelligent marketing decisions. CAKE by Accelerize is headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif. with operations in London and New Delhi. For more information, visit www.getCAKE.com.

About Accelerize

Accelerize Inc. (OTCQB: ACLZ) (OTCBB: ACLZ) offers marketing technology solutions that revolutionize the way advertisers leverage their digital advertising data. For more information, visit www.accelerize.com.

Use of Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements from Accelerize Inc. within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and federal securities laws. For example, when Accelerize describes the expected growth of digital media ad spend in the U.K. and uses other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, Accelerize is using forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Accelerize only, and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in technology and market requirements; our technology may not be validated as we progress further; we may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of our products and services; unforeseen market and technological difficulties may develop with our products and services; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; or, loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of Accelerize to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, Accelerize undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. For a more detailed description of the risk and uncertainties affecting Accelerize, reference is made to Accelerize's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Media Contact

Brittany Christopher

PR@getCAKE.com

(949) 548-2253 x 257



Investor Contact

Ascendant Partners, LLC

Richard Galterio

Rich@ascendantpartnersllc.com

(732) 410-9810




TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) Canada, a division of Jaymie Scotto and Associates, the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries, announces today that PR expert Howard Oliver has joined the agency to further develop its growing portfolio of Canadian technology and telecom accounts. Focused on helping Canadian tech companies expand rapidly into the US, Howard brings a wealth of experience in business development and public relations industry, having spent over 17 years running his own successful firm, What If What Next. The addition of Howard to the JSA team comes as JSA Canada celebrates the one-year anniversary of its expansion into the Canadian market.

As JSA's Director of Business Development for Canada, Howard will support the company's ongoing success in providing best-in-class marketing, public relations and event planning services for firms serving the technology and telecommunications industries. "I am excited to bring JSA's industry expertise and award-winning public relations approach to companies all across Canada," says Howard. "I look forward to representing the company at key industry events and leveraging my market knowledge and connections to build new relationships within Canada's vibrant technology and telecom sector."

"We launched JSA Canada a year ago to enhance our services for our Canadian clients by leveraging local talent with expertise in Canadian government processes, media relations and business development," continues Jaymie Scotto Cutaia, Founder and CEO of JSA. "Now, with a seasoned staff in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, we are well-positioned to continue amplifying the marketing efforts of enterprises within the Canadian technology and telecom ecosystems."

Over the past year, JSA Canada has proven its ability to raise the profiles of its Canadian clients, building their brand equity and earning them industry recognition headlines and awards. JSA's service offerings provide extensive value, with a selection of packages available to meet the marketing needs of organizations of any size.

For more information on JSA Canada, please visit http://www.jsa.net/canada/ or email sales@jsa.net. Follow us on Twitter @JSACanada for Canadian tech and telecom news.

About JSA

Celebrating more than 12 years of success, Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) is the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries. Awarded 'Most Outstanding Telecoms PR Agency' by LiveWire for 2015 & 2016, our success is attributed to our skilled JSA team, innovative tools, and established media and industry relationships, allowing us to deliver the finest outreach and brand awareness services available -- with measurable return on investment. Our clients enjoy 'insider access' to the top journalists, bloggers, analysts and thought leaders shaping tech and telecom -- as well as critical networking opportunities, including JSA's own industry networking event, Telecom Exchange (TEX).

We also feature client and marketplace news via JSA WalkOuts (new, 3D-like interactive video for lead generation), JSA TV (our video newsroom on YouTube), JSA Radio (our podcast channel on iHeartRadio), Virtual CEO Roundtables (our monthly panel discussions with top industry thought leaders), Tech & Telecom News & Trends (our newsletter) and Tech and Telecom News Now (our industry blog).

To learn more about how JSA can elevate your brand, visit http://www.jsa.net.

Join the conversation: Follow JSA on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Embedded Video Available

Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3173649



For media inquiries, please contact:

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA)

+1 866.695.3629

Email Contact




LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Agritek Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: AGTK) www.AgritekHoldings.com, a fully integrated, active real estate investor for the cannabis sector and branding consultant today announced that the Company is in the final stages of licensing and construction planning for its 80 acres located in Pueblo, Colorado. The Company's new industrial Hemp and research facility and pod farm is expected to produce medical grade CBD oil for research and the launch of multiple product lines. The first grow pod has been delivered to the facility while awaiting for final approvals for multiple licensees.

The new cultivation and grow pod farm located on 80 acres in Pueblo, Colorado owned by Agritek Holdings will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary named "American Hemp Trading Company" and "77 Acres Inc". The new pod farm will seek to help cannabis business owners planning to operate under the Colorado regulatory environment by eliminating the difficult process of identifying suitably zoned property including the necessary infrastructure for their operations. Infrastructure costs have become extremely high in Denver, with minimal indoor space available, combined with declining prices of cannabis products within recreational marketplace which have decreased margins considerably over the last year.

Agritek has already identified several sites in strategically located cities that can accommodate multiple cannabis licensees in a shared environment and organized manner through the development of our Colorado based pod farm, Puerto Rico cultivation and manufacturing facility as well as partnerships in Washington State and new location in California within the Bay area.

Once final licensing requirements are met, licensed businesses will be allowed to produce and sell Hemp and manufacture CBD products. Colorado as one of the first recreational markets, has set the landscape as the California cannabis market is expected to reach $6.5 billion by 2020, according to ArcView Market Research.

The Agritek facility at 77 Acres pod farm will offer individual cannabis licensees the ability to purchase or lease either existing empty lots and grow pods while sharing newly constructed manufacturing facilities that are properly zoned, and ready-to-grow, with all necessary infrastructure in place, including state-of-the-art perimeter security. Permits will seek to include local city zoning and authorization for indoor cultivation, greenhouses, nurseries, volatile and non-volatile manufacturing, tissue culture and breeding pods, distribution, and transport. Agritek will strive to create a cannabis-friendly environment that enables licensees to move quickly through the construction phase to become operational, to help to promote the future success through a "WeWork" or shared environment model.

"Our principal model of purchasing or leasing Real estate is one of Agritek's greatest advantages and biggest opportunities for cannabis licensees and investors ready to participate in our sector. Agritek is presently a cultivation land owner and operations consultant in five jurisdictions and has overseen cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and security in Colorado, Puerto Rico, Washington State for a tier 3 facility as well as its new cannabis friendly bed and breakfast facility in Canada. Finding property for the purpose of selling, growing, or manufacturing cannabis or cannabis goods is not like finding a space for your average commercial location. In my opinion, from an investor's perspective, Agritek offers the stability and security that any other commercial real estate venture can provide added with the booming recreational cannabis sector. We also have strategically spread our investment risk across multiple jurisdictions and will work with numerous licensees of different types rather than relying upon any single grower or manufacturer for our success," stated B. Michael Friedman, CEO of Agritek Holdings, Inc.

About Agritek Holdings, Inc.

Agritek Holdings, Inc., (www.AgritekHoldings.com) a pioneer within the medicinal marijuana space, provides innovative technology and agricultural solutions for both the medicinal and recreational cannabis industry. Agritek Holdings, Inc. presently owns or manages property in Colorado, Washington State, Puerto Rico and Canada and has licenses with permitted facilities in California approved for cultivation as well as manufacturing capabilities. The company owns several Hemp and cannabis brands for distribution including "Hemp Pops", Hemp oil wellness products and "California Premiums". Agritek Holdings, Inc. does not directly grow, harvest, or distribute or sell cannabis or any substances that violate or contravene United States law or the Controlled Substances Act, nor does it intend to do so in the future.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER:

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Agritek Holdings, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

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Contact:

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www.AgritekHoldings.com

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info@agritekholdings.com




SANTA ANA, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Greenkraft, Inc. (OTCQB: GKIT), a nationally recognized player in the alternative fuel engines and trucks, today announces that it is expanding its dealer network to meet increased demand for its line of alternative fuel, cab-forward trucks. Greenkraft has signed up with two additional dealers to promote and sell its commercial trucks, adding to its list of dealers.

"This is an exciting time for Greenkraft as we accelerate our growth plan to meet the increased interest in alternative fuel automotive products for commercial use. The new dealers we have added to our network will distribute our Greenkraft trucks to businesses looking to add environmentally friendly, cost-efficient vehicles to their fleets. We have trucks in numerous different classes, which gives us considerable market potential. At this pace, we believe Greenkraft is going to be one of the leading truck manufacturers in the trucking industry," says Greenkraft CEO George Gemayel.

Greenkraft is diligently working to provide long-term value for the company and its shareholders by increasing revenues and executing its clearly defined expansion plan to become the No. 1 source for alternative fuel trucks in North America. Greenkraft will constantly update the public and its shareholders on all Company progress by way of regular press releases and timely SEC filings.

About Greenkraft, Inc. (OTCQB: GKIT):

Greenkraft, Inc., a profitable, revenue-generating company, is a major manufacturer of alternative fuel automotive products. Greenkraft was created to introduce clean, green, efficient, automotive products that run on alternative fuels. The Company offers alternative commercial forward cabin trucks and alternative fuel systems for various vehicles. Greenkraft commercial trucks are powered by alternative fuels such CNG and LPG in Classes 4,5,6, and 7. Greenkraft, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures compressed American natural gas and propane gas forward cabin trucks, alternative fuel systems and alternative fuel engines. For more information, please visit our website at www.GreenkraftInc.com

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "ongoing," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainty and other factors that may cause our results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release should be considered in light of all filings of the Company that are contained in the Edgar Archives of the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

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714.545.7777

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BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Germany's export growth accelerated sharply in August, suggesting that activity in the biggest euro area economy revved up after a brief summer lull, despite a strong euro.



Exports grew a calendar-and-seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent from July, when they rose 0.2 percent.



Shipments increased for a second straight month and at the fastest pace in a year.



'While financial markets and the ECB have been discussing the risks of a stronger euro, the country which often claims to be export world champion is still enjoying a strong export recovery,' ING Bank economist Carsten Brzeski said.



'Despite the summer lull, the year 2017 should be the best year for German exports since 2010.'



Imports also rose for a second month running, up 1.2 percent in August after 2.4 percent growth in July.



The trade deficit widened to EUR 21.6 billion from EUR 19.3 billion in July. Economists had expected EUR 19.5 billion shortfall.



On a year-on-year basis, German exports grew 7.2 percent and imports rose 8.5 percent.



Exports to the EU climbed 8.5 percent and imports from the group grew 10.8 percent. Shipments to the euro area rose 10.6 percent and imports from the region increased 10.4 percent.



ING Bank's Brzeski said that the biggest risks for the German economy and the export sector come from the outside.



'Geopolitical risks, a slowdown of the US or UK economy and a deflating eu(ro)phoria could dent the strong growth momentum,' the economist said.



'However, for the time being, the German economy is enjoying the best of all worlds: strong domestic demand and surging exports.'



The Destatis also reported that the German current account surplus in August grew to EUR 17.8 billion from EUR 16.9 billion a year ago.



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NEW YORK, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Legal marijuana sales in North America hit $6.7 billion in 2016 - a 34 percent jump from the previous year, making it the fastest-growing industry on the planet, according to Arcview Market Research's 2017 report on the marijuana market. The research firm expects those figures to soar to nearly $23 billion by 2021. Companies that provide products and services related to the broader cannabis economy enjoy huge growth potential as the industry continues its inevitable march toward full legalization, and few of them require touching a single leaf of the highly regulated plant. Companies such as SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) (SING Profile), United Cannabis Corp. (OTC: CNAB), Sugarmade, Inc. (OTC: SGMD), GreenGro Technologies, Inc. (OTC: GRHN) and Kush Bottles, Inc. (OTC: KSHB) are banking on pursuing those ancillary revenue streams as they look to the future.



Predictably, the cannabis market is scaling up at profound rates as changing public perceptions and shifts in attitudes toward the use of medical and recreational marijuana begin to shape legislative policies. The Canadian government, which announced the full legalization of recreational marijuana by July 2018, is poised to consider amending the law by including edibles and other consumables. While marijuana is still illegal on the federal level in the United States, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized using marijuana in some form (http://cnw.fm/612wM) with each individual state passing its own, distinct set of regulations.



For companies offering secondary services to the cannabis industry - and this list includes nearly any service a successful business requires such as packaging, security, testing, distribution, software, marketing, insurance, and so on - the future looks bright indeed. Interestingly, as the legal recreational marijuana market ramps up, one of the more surprising upticks in this emerging industry involves scores of new government jobs coming on line in various state agencies. From running background checks on storefront sellers seeking government licenses to testing the environmental impacts, there are plenty of jobs to be had (http://cnw.fm/mTG5b).



As the cannabis industry evolves, opportunities to provide the necessary ancillary services are expanding, too. Cannabis cultivators are seeking new ways to increase production and lower costs. Indeed, one of the more critical needs facing the cannabis industry is finding a way to move past its current 'cash-only' status to develop safer, more secure and reliable payment option. Most banking institutions operate in multiple states and are subject to strict federal regulations, which mean the majority have steered clear of getting involved in businesses that touch the marijuana plant. While that attitude is changing somewhat, the cannabis industry continues to need a way to transact daily business in a rapidly growing market.



SinglePoint (OTC: SING), which has evolved from a full-service provider of mobile technology to a publicly traded holding company, is now focused on diversifying into horizontal markets within the cannabis sector. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, SingleSeed Payments, is tapping into the consulting and consumer ancillary markets by being one of the first merchant service providers targeting the marijuana industry. SingleSeed, which aims to make cashless transactions and high-risk credit card processing available to cannabis and other high-risk companies, offers innovative payment solutions. Regardless of the current federal banking guidelines and oversight of the FDIC, SingleSeed is positioned to solve a singular problem facing this rapidly growing industry. Along with its ability to provide tools that help cannabis businesses take point-of-sale payments through cashless ATMs and mobile marketing apps, SingleSeed's reliable solutions make secure transactions and communications easy.



As the leading payment solution provider to the cannabis industry, SingleSeed provides a service that makes life easier and businesses more effective while keeping customers happy. The company's focus on education and providing information for customers and shopkeepers alike on the key issues facing the retail and medical cannabis market leads to another important goal - legitimizing the cannabis industry.



SinglePoint's rapidly growing recognition in the cannabis industry, in part, stems from the consistency of its acquisition-based growth strategy (http://cnw.fm/Jxs62). Each of the company's acquisitions was thoroughly evaluated and identified as an undervalued business with huge potential to bring additional value to investors before its addition to SinglePoint's diverse portfolio.



This portfolio includes an interest in Jacksam Corp., dba Convectium, a profitable California-based provider of equipment, branding and packaging solutions for the cannabis industry. Convectium has developed the world's first cartridge and vape pen oil filling machine for wholesale distribution to dispensaries. The 710Shark and 710Seal systems can fill and package over 100 cartridges or disposable vape pens in 30 seconds and are sold to dispensaries through its EquipCanna.com brand. The company also operates a consumer brand that includes BlackoutX and HazeSticks and reaches customers in over 52 countries.



Year-to-date, SinglePoint has acquired or invested in three companies, driving revenue growth and solidifying the company's revenue-by-acquisition model. Most recently, the company signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire a 51-percent stake in a Denver-based company paced to record $1 million in annual revenue.

"We are committed to identifying and making investments in companies that strengthen SinglePoint's value," SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht stated in the press release announcing the deal (http://cnw.fm/vs0M8). "Our goal is to find and acquire companies we believe will add instant value as well as the opportunity for major growth."



Another company lining up to benefit from servicing cannabis-related businesses is United Cannabis (OTCQB: CNAB), a biotechnology company with patented technologies for the pharmaceutical, medical and industrial markets. The company provides consulting services, proprietary products, and licenses to its intellectual property that relate to the legalized growth, production, manufacture, marketing, management, utilization and distribution of medical and recreational marijuana and cannabis-infused products. United Cannabis Corp.'s products include supplements, medical cannabis therapeutics and pharmaceutical drugs. Its current focus is on commercializing its patented Prana Bio-Nutrient Medicinal products.



Sugarmade (OTCQB: SGMD) and Plantation Corp. have teamed together to solve another cannabis-industry problem - long term storage. The companies together report success in developing a proprietary packaging product that stores cannabis in a container that provides the optimum storage atmosphere for cannabis flowers. This product - BudLife containers - preserves the important properties of cannabis, namely the THC levels, terpene quality, and tricome structure, along with aroma and feel, and solves another point of concern for cultivators.



Cannabis growers know their plants need to be high yielding and of a consistent, high quality in order to satisfy consumer and regulatory demands. GreenGro Technologies (OTC: GRHN) is a national leader in both indoor and outdoor aquaponic and hydroponic systems and grow rooms utilized by the cannabis industry. The company's expertise in agricultural science systems serves customers in both the consumer and commercial farming markets. GreenGro's most recent news announces the debut of its consumer-oriented food cloning and breeding website that highlights the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Genobreeding. This corporate initiative introduces cutting-edge plant varieties to the cannabis market through the application of modern plant breeding techniques.



Not to be outdone, Kush Bottles (OTCQB: KSHB) has launched a custom design and branding solutions division that brings a one-of-a-kind look and feel for marijuana product companies, dispensaries and more. The demand for custom packages continues to climb as cannabis firms realize brand awareness is of paramount importance. Kush Bottles utilizes computer-aided design, drawings and 3-D printings to create unique designs and prototypes that are cost effective and provide a rapid turnaround time to the final product. Founded in 2010, the company regularly serves more than 4,000 legally operated medical and adult-use dispensaries, growers and producers across North America, South America and Europe.



SinglePoint's strategic expansion plans demonstrate the diversity of investment options in today's cannabis industry, which requires companies to be innovative, flexible and responsive to a changing marketplace, growing consumer base and the businesses that serve them.



For more information on SinglePoint please visit: SinglePoint (OTC: SING) or http://www.SinglePoint.com



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MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- KP Tissue Inc. ("KPT") (TSX: KPT), which holds a limited partnership interest in Kruger Products L.P. ("KPLP"), will release the financial results for KPT and KPLP for the third quarter of 2017 on Wednesday November 8, 2017 before the market opens. KPT will hold its conference call the same day at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HELSINKI, Finland, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Abacus Diagnostica Oy announces that it has received the CE mark for the GenomEra Norovirus. The IVD test is the world's fastest molecular test for the detection and differentiation of norovirus genogroups I and II. The new test runs on the fast, cost-effective and automated GenomEra CDX platform.

The proper diagnostics plays a key role in preventing norovirus infections, as there are no vaccines or preventive medicine available. The low infectious dose, short incubation period and environmental persistence makes noroviruses extremely contagious. Norovirus outbreaks lead easily to ward, school or restaurant closure. Globally, annual societal costs of norovirus infections are estimated to be $60.3 bn1.

"Until recent years Norovirus diagnostics has been challenging and most of the cases are still diagnosed by clinical symptoms. Molecular tests are the only in vitro diagnostic tests, which can detect virtually all norovirus variants and are sensitive enough to detect all infections despite the severity. GenomEra enables adaptation of quick and reliable norovirus diagnostics also in places with limited resources, and is so easy, that it can be used without any experience of molecular methods" Says Erno Sundberg, CEO of Abacus Diagnostica.

"Our team has once again done great work and as a result we are now proud to launch the first commercial molecular norovirus test directly from stool without RNA extraction. We have now successfully applied our proprietary chemistry for the detection of RNA viruses with one the most challenging tests to make. The product portfolio extension for other RNA viruses such as influenza is now a straightforward process."

New distributors

Abacus Diagnostica has improved the availability of GenomEra products by signing new distribution agreements. The most important one has been signed with UK based Launch Diagnostics, a leading supplier of diagnostic solutions and innovations.

"Launch Diagnostics Ltd is pleased to be partnering with Abacus Diagnostica to supply the GenomEra CDX instrument and Norovirus kits in the UK, Ireland, France and Benelux. Norovirus outbreaks are major concern - by the 8th of September, Public Health England has recorded 215 norovirus outbreaks during 2017, and which 93% of those has led to ward/bay closure. Such outbreaks can be crippling to hospitals so rapid, reliable diagnosis with a test like the GenomEra Norovirus kit can dramatically improve patient care and save hospitals money." Says Launch Diagnostics' Marketing Director & Directrice France et Benelux, Veronique Petit.

About Abacus Diagnostica

Abacus Diagnostica Oy is a Finnish molecular diagnostic company, which has commercialized its proprietary GenomEra platform. GenomEra CDX system has proven to be one of the fastest, easiest-to-use and the most cost-effective automated solution for molecular diagnostics (MDx) of infectious diseases. GenomEra is suitable also for small to mid-size customers without any prior experience in MDx. Abacus' vision is to provide cost-effective and easy-to-use products to enable MDx also in resource and capability limited settings.

For more information, visit www.abacusdiagnostica.com

1: Bartsch SM, et al. (2016). Global Economic Burden of Norovirus Gastroenteritis PLoS ONE 11(4):e0151219.

Contact:

Abacus Diagnostica Oy

Erno Sundberg

erno.sundberg@abacusdiagnostica.com

CEO

+358-0207188388

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/abacus-diagnostica/r/abacus-diagnostica-receives-ce-mark-for-the-world-s-fastest-molecular-tests-for-norovirus-gi-and-gii,c2362201
Considering their common interest in the exploration, use and application of space for peaceful purposes, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) jointly agreed on the opportunity to cooperate on space activities. The Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, represented by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, and the UAE, represented by the Minister of State for Higher Education and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency, Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, signed today in Abu Dhabi a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to start bilateral cooperation on space activities with particular focus on the exploration and utilization of space resources.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006049/en/

The Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, represented by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, and the UAE, represented by the Minister of State for Higher Education and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency, Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, signed in Abu Dhabi a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to start bilateral cooperation on space activities with particular focus on the exploration and utilization of space resources. (Photo: Business Wire)

Within its economic development SpaceResources.lu initiative, Luxembourg offers commercial companies an attractive overall framework for space resource exploration and utilization related activities, including but not limited to a legal regime. The Grand Duchy is the first European country to offer a legal and regulatory framework addressing the capability of ownership of space resources and laying down the regulations for the authorization and the supervision of such missions in space.

With particular focus on the exploration and utilization of space resources, the five-year cooperation agreement covers the exchange of information and expertise between Luxembourg and UAE space sectors in the areas of space science and technology, human capital development and space policy, law and regulation. Both nations intend to regularly consult on questions of international governance of space to reach common positions in relevant international fora.

Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Etienne Schneider declared: "Luxembourg is promoting actively the peaceful exploration and the sustainable utilization of space resources for the benefit of humankind. In line with those goals, the Grand Duchy encourages discussions on space resources exploration and utilization in all relevant international fora. By signing this MoU with the UAE Space Agency, we continue to endorse cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels in order to progress together with other nations on a future governance scheme and a global regulatory framework for space resources utilization."

"Our collaboration with Luxembourg is aligned with the strategic visions of both the Space Agency and the UAE. This includes working towards closer international cooperation, establishing mutually beneficial international partnerships and exchanging scientific knowledge with the rest of the world", said Dr. Ahmad bin Abdulla Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency. "The UAE Space Agency recognizes the importance of international collaboration in the field of peaceful exploration of outer space, as this field is considered to be part of humankind's common heritage. It is extremely important in our view for all competent entities in this field to work together towards the common goal of enhancing the welfare of humanity."

Released by the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006049/en/

Contacts:

Ministry of the Economy, Luxembourg

Paul Zenners

E-Mail: paul.zenners@eco.etat.lu

Phone: (+352) 247-74126

Mobile: (+352) 621 409 141
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AQS) (OTCQB: AQSZF) ("Aequus" or the "Company"), a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on developing, advancing and promoting differentiated products, announced today that the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) has granted a Chinese patent for Aequus' once-weekly transdermal patch containing aripiprazole, in development for the treatment of certain psychiatric disorders. The patent, granted under No. 201180052667.0, is titled "Aripiprazole compositions and methods for its transdermal delivery". This patent has been granted in six other major countries or regions, including the US, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Canada and Australia, and is pending in multiple additional territories.

"We continue to globally expand and strengthen our patent portfolio for our once-weekly transdermal aripiprazole program," said Anne Stevens, COO and Director of Aequus Pharmaceuticals. "This Chinese patent not only secures key elements of our formulation in a significant market, it also expands regional out-licensing and partnering opportunities. This comes at an important time as we accelerate our business development efforts for this program, a key initiative for increasing shareholder value."

Aequus owns worldwide rights to the formulation described in the issued patent.

About AQS1301

Aripiprazole is an atypical anti-psychotic sold as a once daily, oral tablet under the brand name Abilify  . Originally approved and marketed in 2002 for schizophrenia, Abilify  is currently sold in over 65 countries and regions. Since its initial approval, aripiprazole has seen a label expansion in the United States to include acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I, adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder, irritability associated with autistic disorder, and treatment of Tourette's disorder. Although Abilify  is a market leader in the US, Aequus believes it has limitations due to its daily dosing regimen which is associated with a high rate of non-adherence and relapse. Aequus' proposed transdermal, once-weekly aripiprazole patch is designed to consistently deliver aripiprazole over a seven-day period at levels comparable to currently marketed once-daily formulations. By delivering aripiprazole over seven days in a comfortable, convenient and easy-to-use weekly patch, AQS-1301 is intended to promote enhanced patient compliance.

About Aequus Pharmaceuticals

Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AQS) (OTCQB: AQSZF) is a growing specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing high quality, differentiated products. Aequus' development stage pipeline includes several products in neurology and psychiatry with a goal of addressing the need for improved medication adherence through enhanced delivery systems. With a focus in neurology and other specialty areas, our most recent addition to the development pipeline was a long-acting form of medical cannabis, where there is a high need for a consistent, predictable and pharmaceutical-grade delivery of products for patients. Aequus intends to commercialize its internal programs in Canada alongside its current portfolio of marketed established medicines and will look to form strategic partnerships that would maximize the reach of its product candidates worldwide. Aequus plans to build on its Canadian commercial platform through the launch of additional products that are either created internally or brought in through an acquisition or license; remaining focused on highly specialized therapeutic areas. For further information, please visit www.aequuspharma.ca

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believe", "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "potential" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as the factors we believe are appropriate. Forward-looking statements in this release include but are not limited to statements relating to the expected benefits of AQS1301 and transdermal delivery, the ability of the Company to add significant shareholder value in the near term, the Company's intention to commercialize its internal programs in Canada, and ability to form strategic partnerships in other markets, and the advancement of its technologies, products and product candidates. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Aequus, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements included in this release, the Company has made various material assumptions, including, but not limited to the market for Aequus' common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, subscription receipts, units and warrants; obtaining positive results of clinical trials; obtaining regulatory approvals; general business and economic conditions; the Company's ability to successfully out-license or sell its current products and in-license and develop new products; the assumption that the Company's current good relationships with its manufacturer and other third parties will be maintained; the availability of financing on reasonable terms; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff; market competition; the products and technology offered by the Company's competitors; and the Company's ability to protect patents and proprietary rights. In evaluating forward-looking statements, current and prospective shareholders should specifically consider various factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated May 3, 2017, a copy of which is available on Aequus' profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, and as otherwise disclosed from time to time on Aequus' SEDAR profile. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties, or a risk that is not currently known to us materialize, or should assumptions underlying those forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and we do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently uncertain. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Abilify  is a registered trademark of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Contact Information:

Aequus Investor Relations

Email: investors@aequuspharma.ca

Phone: 604-336-7906
JDA's annual EMEA customer conference features more than 30 customers speaking about the power of their digital transformations and leveraging edge technologies to help exceed customer expectations

JDA Software Group, Inc.today announced its keynote speakers and customer presenters for JDA FocusConnect 2017, scheduled for November 13-15 at the London Intercontinental Hotel at The O2 Arena in London, England. More than 500 supply chain professionals across retail, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and logistics industries will gather at JDA's annual customer conference for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

JDA FocusConnect 2017 highlights how some of the world's most admired companies are reimagining their current business processes to create real competitive advantage by shortening their supply chains and delivering more efficiently to their end-customers. JDA FocusConnect will also highlight how JDA clients can elevate their customer experience by embracing digital transformation. Now more than ever, JDA's solutions portfolio is harnessing the power of advanced data, analytics, and machine learning capabilities to enable companies to streamline their supply chains, increase speed to market, and create superior customer experiences and competitive advantage.

"We are on the precipice of unprecedented disruption in the supply chain. Never have supply chain leaders been confronted with such a massive technological transformation simultaneously from the Internet of Things to big data, to predictive analytics and cognitive learning companies have an array of innovation at hand to increase their competitive advantage while shortening their supply chains and increasing the speed to execution," said Franck Lheureux, regional vice president, sales, EMEA, JDA. "Today's shoppers and customers have expectations of immediacy and JDA is uniquely capable of helping our clients meet and exceed those real-time expectations. JDA FocusConnect will highlight customer and industry thought leaders discussing their digital strategies as a differentiator and value-add to the end-consumer. We look forward to hosting a lively dialogue with our global customers and partners."

Over the course of three days, representatives from more than 30 JDA customers will discuss their supply chain strategies and how it creates competitive advantages for their businesses. JDA FocusConnect is sponsored by more than two dozen companies, including Athena Retail and Cognizant (Platinum), Accenture, Agora Europe, Centiro Solutions, REPL, SATO and TCS (Gold) and more (see entire list of sponsors here).

Attendees will benefit from the success stories of supply chain leaders, including Avon Cosmetics, CEVA, Co-op, Delphi, DHL, dunnhumby, Google, Kingfisher, Michelin, Safilo, Waitrose and more. In addition, JDA FocusConnect 2017 will feature the following keynote speakers:

Johan Smits, Director Global Planning, HEINEKEN: Johan Smits started his career working with a Strategy and Change Management consultancy, focused on Supply Chain transformations in FMGC. In 2000, he started to support the HEINEKEN Global Executive Team to run their Global Programme Portfolio Management organization and Financial Management putting Strategy into Action. After that he held various Senior Operational Supply Chain roles in the Dutch and International Export organization, also managing the E2E Supply chain and Planning/S&OP. Since 2011 he has been responsible for HEINEKEN's Global S&OP expansion and became the Senior Manager for Global Planning, part of the Global Customer Service Logistics leadership team. Under his leadership HEINEKEN has moved up to global expansion of Integrated Business Planning, and high maturity across the globe.

Johan Smits started his career working with a Strategy and Change Management consultancy, focused on Supply Chain transformations in FMGC. In 2000, he started to support the HEINEKEN Global Executive Team to run their Global Programme Portfolio Management organization and Financial Management putting Strategy into Action. After that he held various Senior Operational Supply Chain roles in the Dutch and International Export organization, also managing the E2E Supply chain and Planning/S&OP. Since 2011 he has been responsible for HEINEKEN's Global S&OP expansion and became the Senior Manager for Global Planning, part of the Global Customer Service Logistics leadership team. Under his leadership HEINEKEN has moved up to global expansion of Integrated Business Planning, and high maturity across the globe. Scott Penberthy, Director, Applied AI, Google : In his role at Google, Scott Penberthy leads a team of AI engineers and Ph.D.s who help VIPs reimagine the production of goods and services, and how value is exchanged in free markets. His team applies current and upcoming AI technologies to materialize proofs of concept and drive long-term transformations. Prior to this role, Penberthy was a Technical Director in the Office of the CTO, a group at Google dedicated to helping customers thrive in the world of cloud computing. Penberthy kept one foot in the AI labs of Silicon Valley, the other in Wall Street and board rooms.

: In his role at Google, Scott Penberthy leads a team of AI engineers and Ph.D.s who help VIPs reimagine the production of goods and services, and how value is exchanged in free markets. His team applies current and upcoming AI technologies to materialize proofs of concept and drive long-term transformations. Prior to this role, Penberthy was a Technical Director in the Office of the CTO, a group at Google dedicated to helping customers thrive in the world of cloud computing. Penberthy kept one foot in the AI labs of Silicon Valley, the other in Wall Street and board rooms. Cameron Webb, General Manager Information Technology Product and Value Chain, Woolworths Limited: Cameron Webb is responsible for all technology activities associated within the Group, which includes iconic Australian brands such as Woolworths Supermarkets, Countdown Supermarkets (NZ), Big W, BWS and Dan Murphy's. Based on revenue, Woolworths is one of the world's largest retailers with over 3,000 stores and almost 190,000+ employees across Australia and New Zealand. Webb is an experienced retail technology executive with a proven background in Business transformation, delivering sustainable business improvement through structured change programs both inside and outside of Woolworths. Webb has a strong retail operations background, and this coupled with his technical experience, positions him well to deliver value through technology at Woolworths.

Cameron Webb is responsible for all technology activities associated within the Group, which includes iconic Australian brands such as Woolworths Supermarkets, Countdown Supermarkets (NZ), Big W, BWS and Dan Murphy's. Based on revenue, Woolworths is one of the world's largest retailers with over 3,000 stores and almost 190,000+ employees across Australia and New Zealand. Webb is an experienced retail technology executive with a proven background in Business transformation, delivering sustainable business improvement through structured change programs both inside and outside of Woolworths. Webb has a strong retail operations background, and this coupled with his technical experience, positions him well to deliver value through technology at Woolworths. Girish Rishi, Chief Executive Officer, JDA: Girish Rishi joined JDA in January 2017 from Tyco International, where he was responsible for the firm's global retail solutions business and North America building automation business, which had more than $4 billion in annual revenue. Prior to his role at Tyco, Rishi was senior vice president for the Enterprise division of Motorola Solutions, where he transitioned the portfolio to new application frameworks that delivered a compelling user experience.

Girish Rishi joined JDA in January 2017 from Tyco International, where he was responsible for the firm's global retail solutions business and North America building automation business, which had more than $4 billion in annual revenue. Prior to his role at Tyco, Rishi was senior vice president for the Enterprise division of Motorola Solutions, where he transitioned the portfolio to new application frameworks that delivered a compelling user experience. Desikan Madhavanur, Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer, JDA: Desikan Madhavanur is responsible for the company's product solution strategy, with a charter to invest in and develop JDA's current market-leading solutions in the areas of planning, execution and retail, while harnessing the collective power of cloud, IoT, analytics and big data to bring new solutions to market that deliver real-time, actionable insights and customer value. Madhavanur joined JDA from CA Technologies, where he served as Senior Vice President and Business Center head for Data Center Orchestration.

In addition to leading-edge presentations, JDA will host a bevy of interactive workshops, educational sessions and Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings. With more than 40 sessions in eight content tracks, JDA FocusConnect offers topics that are relevant to every supply chain professional. In addition, networking events and SIG sessions will provide ample opportunities for knowledge sharing and peer networking.

Additional Resources:

Learn more about JDA FocusConnect 2017, including: 2017 speakers Registration Agenda Sponsors

Check out the SIG meetings being held at JDA FocusConnect on November 14 at 3:00 p.m., including: Advanced Replenishment Category Management Demand and Fulfillment Dispatcher WMS and Warehouse Management Enterprise Supply Planning and Sales Operations Planning Pricing and Revenue Management Transportation Management Workforce Management for Retail



Tweet this: Heineken, Google, Woolworths to Discuss How to Exceed Customer Expectations at JDAFC17: http://bit.ly/2xobhyS

About JDA Software Group, Inc.

JDA Software is the leading supply chain provider powering today's digital transformation. We enable companies to improve their ability to plan, execute and deliver by better predicting and shaping demand, fulfilling more intelligently and quickly, and improving customer experiences and loyalty. More than 4,000 global customers use our unmatched end-to-end solutions portfolio to shorten their supply chains, increase speed of execution and profitably deliver to their customers. Our world-class client roster includes 72 of the top 100 retailers, 71 of the top 100 consumer goods companies, and 13 of the top 16 3PLs. Running JDA, you can plan to deliver. www.jda.com

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"JDA" is a trademark or registered trademark of JDA Software Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name "JDA" is a trademark and/or property of JDA Software Group, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010005588/en/

Contacts:

JDA Software Group, Inc.

Jolene Peixoto, +1 978-475-0524

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

jolene.peixoto@jda.com
TOKYO, JAPAN and AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - NAGASE & CO., LTD., a developer of a unique search engine, and Accelize, an enabler of FPGA Acceleration-as-a-Service, today announced that NAGASE will make its Axonerve' search IP core available through the QuickAlliance' network. By becoming a QuickAlliance ecosystem partner, NAGASE joins a growing number of world-class IP providers that offer their IP cores via the Accelize platform for plug-and-play creation and configuration of FPGA accelerators. Through this partnership, NAGASE's advanced content-oriented search technology will be available to the fast-growing community of Cloud FPGA users. Accelize will feature a demonstration of the combined benefit of the Axonerve high-performance search IP and the Accelize framework at OVH summit in Paris on October 17, 2017.

"Accelize is enabling a paradigm shift in how the Cloud industry leverages the benefits of FPGAs with its FPGA Acceleration-as-a-service solution," said Kiyoshi Sato, General manager of NAGASE. "By being part of the QuickAlliance ecosystem, a growing number of accelerator developers will be able to select, test and integrate our IP into FPGA accelerators without needing FPGA design expertise or costly, complex licensing arrangements. As a QuickAlliance partner, our IP can be easily integrated into a wide range of designs for multiple Cloud Service Provider instances. We can't see a better way to tap into the huge opportunity that FPGAs in the cloud represents."

The QuickAlliance program brings together leading providers of FPGA accelerators, IP cores and libraries, FPGA boards and platforms, and design services into one unified ecosystem. FPGA accelerator developers use QuickPlay to create and customize accelerators. QuickPlay enables software developers to combine highly optimized IP cores provided by the QuickAlliance members (such as the Axonerve search IP being announced today) with their own custom functions. These accelerators can then be deployed on premise or as a service on Cloud Service Providers' instances. By delivering products within QuickStore, QuickAlliance members gain access to a wider community of developers with no up-front costs.

"As we continue to work to empower FPGA Acceleration-as-a-Service, we welcome NAGASE to our QuickAlliance ecosystem," says Stephane Monboisset Director of Marketing and Business Development at Accelize. "Data Analytics will be a major pillar of FPGA acceleration in the Cloud, and it is essential for our customers to be able to have access to a wide range of high-value IP cores such as the Axonerve IP."

IP providers interested in joining the QuickAlliance program should contact Accelize to understand how they can take part in this FPGA-as-a-service revolution.

About Axonerve

Axonerve is an IP core using pure, domestic proprietary algorithms and includes a wild card search function. It is suitable for applications such as networking, data mining, high-performance computing, and can perform search processing with high speed and low latency. For more information, visit us www.axonerve.com.

About Accelize

Accelize, a spinoff of PLDA Group, is focused on accelerating the adoption of FPGAs in the Cloud. With its QuickPlay software-defined FPGA development environment, QuickStore pay-per-use marketplace and QuickAlliance network of 3 rd party accelerators and IP cores, Accelize is enabling FPGA Acceleration-as-a-service for Cloud Service Providers and developers looking to create, deploy, and monetize FPGA accelerators in IT infrastructures. For more information, visit www.accelize.com.

Accelize, QuickPlay, QuickStore, and QuickAlliance are trademarks of PLDA Group.

Press Contacts:

Accelize:

Toni Sottak

toni@wiredislandpr.com

USA: (408) 876-4418
-- The Landor M&A Brand Study is a first in providing an objective benchmark for the relationship between acquisitions and brand evolution. -- Shows specific acquirer trends by industry; consumer companies are less likely to change acquired brand, while energy and utilities sectors are fastest to rebrand. -- Mergers of equals result in rebrands nearly 40 percent of the time. -- More than half of all acquisitions are rebranded in the first three years of purchase. -- Highly acquisitive companies transition acquired brands more quickly than those who complete fewer transactions. -- Deal size matters: With deals under $1 billion, brands are changed 78 percent of the time, compared to 46 percent with transactions greater than $5 billion.



An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3f5ace4b-13c5-461b-afff-24202 c7e0ebc



NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In 2015 and 2016, mergers and acquisitions accounted for more than $8 trillion of business value. But while extensive due diligence and planning is given to financials and other factors during the deal-making process, brand strategy considerations are often overlooked or only evaluated post-M&A. This is due, in part, to a lack of relevant data for analysis. Nevertheless, the success of the transaction-and the amount of value that it generates, both in the short and long term-is a result of deciding if, when, or how to transition an acquired brand.



To better equip CEOs, boards of directors, and legal and financial advisors with strategies for making acquisitions, Landor, a leading global brand strategy and design firm, conducted the first in-depth quantitative analysis of M&A activity. Leveraging machine learning, Landor analyzed the behavior of S&P Global 100 companies over the past 10 years. While 74 percent of all companies rebranded the acquired asset within the first seven years, the data reveals more nuanced approaches to rebranding and specific trends by sector.



Acquirers within an industry behave similarly



The Landor M&A Brand Study uncovered distinct patterns by industry. More than any other sector, consumer companies (defined as consumer discretionary and consumer retail) are more likely to retain their acquired brands. Just under 60 percent of consumer companies rebrand, indicating that they want to retain the equity of their acquired brands and a portfolio of brands is a model this vertical finds successful. Coca-Cola's acquisition of the organic tea company Honest Tea is an example. The deal was completed in 2011, and the parent company has not made any significant branding changes.



The IT, financial services, health care, and energy sectors display the highest likelihood of changing an acquired brand, transitioning between 75 percent and 80 percent of acquisitions. These industries place more value on the acquirer than the acquired brand; the numbers demonstrate a propensity to start transitioning a brand as soon as the deal closes. Capital One completed its acquisition of ING Direct in February 2012 and soon after rebranded it Capital One 360. IBM has been on an acquisition spree over the past year, buying companies such as Clearleap, now known as IBM Cloud Video.



The energy and utilities sector is quickest to rebrand acquired companies, with 60 percent of brands changed within 12 months, according to the study. IT companies exhibit less urgency, transitioning half of acquired brands within the first year and 76 percent by year seven. Health care and financial services companies show similar behavior. Interestingly, telecommunications and industrial companies are slowest to change acquired brands, with a respective 8 percent and 24 percent of acquisitions transitioned within the first 12 months.



"In 2016, business leaders made thousands of decisions about what to do with acquired brands-but how do they really know which decisions are best? Our study clearly shows that different industries do different things. Being able to share quantitative trend data by sector over the last decade will finally enable CEOs, boards, and advisors to make more informed decisions about brand strategy when considering M&A," notes Lois Jacobs, CEO of Landor. "Whether a company is deciding if it should keep or divest a brand, how quickly to transition an acquired brand, or how to preserve brand equity, overlooking strategic brand decisions during the M&A process can negatively impact brand value and leave money on the table."



"There is no single, cookie-cutter approach to brand strategy during a merger or acquisition," says Louis Sciullo, executive director of financial services at Landor. "The ideal approach to brand acquisition strategy comes from a thorough understanding of the unique combination of factors specific to the acquiring and target companies. Now that real data is available, we can benchmark how individual companies and sectors treat M&A brand decisions-and layer that data into custom analyses bespoke to specific companies and deals."



Deal size, type, and volume correlate with likelihood of rebranding



Generally, the larger the transaction, the longer the transition time. Mergers of equals result in brand transitions a surprising 38 percent of the time. In theory, a merger of equals should be a simple conflation of the two existing brand names; for example, Alcatel-Lucent, DaimlerChrysler, and MillerCoors. But the fact that nearly 40 percent of mergers opt to rebrand reflects a desire to create a new, future-focused source of value-from the brand as well as the business.



A smaller deal is highly indicative of the likelihood of changing the acquired brand: 78 percent of transactions under $99 million were rebranded compared to only 46 percent of transactions over $5 billion. Highly acquisitive companies such as Alphabet and Microsoft display a greater propensity to rebrand, at a rate of more than 80 percent. Alphabet's brand architecture strategy is particularly interesting, with Google rebranding its corporate identity to facilitate M&A activity.



Landor's M&A database offers a range of insights



The study's database holds information on sector and company-specific brand transition factors during acquisitions, including target geography, strategic rationale, size of deal, type of deal, number of acquisitions made by company, and timeline for brand transition if implemented.



"Our study gives CEOs, corporate strategists, and M&A advisors a quantitative benchmark for comparison," says Sciullo. "It can help them see how competitors in their sector-and companies in other industries-have handled M&A, and which strategies have resulted in successful acquisitions. To maximize value for companies during an M&A, it's important that brand strategy be an ingredient throughout the deal process-not an afterthought."



For the study, Landor's methodology leveraged machine learning and big data to analyze 10 years of M&A activity from the S&P Global 100. The index was chosen because it measures the performance of multinational, blue-chip companies of major importance in the global equity markets. More than 2,300 acquisitions were taken into account, with brand strategy insights derived from more than 120,000 sources of unstructured data, including press releases, 3,000 web documents, 5,000 financial statements, and 2,000 investor presentations. The result is a definitive benchmark of M&A activity and its impact on brands and brand integrations of the leading companies across different industries, including Alphabet, Apple, Chevron, Dow Chemical, GE, JPMorgan Chase, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Texas Instruments, Visa, and Vodafone.



For more information, contact: Trevor Wade Global Marketing Director Trevor.Wade@Landor.com



About Landor A global leader in brand consulting and design, Landor helps clients create agile brands that thrive in today's dynamic, disruptive marketplace.



Brand can accelerate the success of an M&A, so Landor partners closely with clients early on to ensure that brand is at the heart of integration strategies. Landor has helped companies such as Alcatel+Lucent, Alcoa+Arconic, Amoco+BP, Bayer+Covestro, DNV+GL, and Siemens+Primetals through mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs.



Landor offers a range of M&A-specific services that include brand due diligence, brand valuation, portfolio optimization, future market modeling, and brand engagement. Our expertise also encompasses insights and analytics; strategy and positioning; brand architecture; innovation; identity; prototyping; naming and verbal identity; packaging; adaptation and implementation; environments and experiences; and new and interactive media.



Founded by Walter Landor in 1941, Landor pioneered many of the research, design, and consulting methods that are now standard in the branding industry. Today, Landor has 26 offices in 19 countries, working with a broad spectrum of world-famous brands, including Barclays, Bayer, BBC, BMW, BP, FedEx, GE, Kraft Heinz, Huawei Technologies, Marriott International, Nike, Pernod Ricard, Procter & Gamble, S&P Global, Samsung, Sony, and Taj Group.



Landor is a member of WPP, the world's largest marketing and communications firm. For more information, please visit Landor.com and follow Landor on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2017) - Golden Share Resources Corporation (TSXV: GSH) ("Golden Share" or the "Company") is pleased to welcome Mr. William S. (Steve) Vaughan to join Golden Share as its Principle Advisor. Mr. Vaughan was the recipient of PDAC's Distinguished Service Award in 2002 and was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy for 2002/2003. Mr. Vaughan is an inductee of Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2017.

"It is truly our honor to have this opportunity to work together with Mr. Steve Vaughan. Steve's expertise and experience will be a significant asset to Golden Share for its future ambitious development," stated Nick Zeng, President and CEO of Golden Share.

Golden Share has finished the phase two review of the 13 medium to high priority IP zones identified from historical IP data covering much of the Shebandowan Project area (Please refer to the press release of January 31, 2017). The most interesting IP targets are interpreted to lie in the central and eastern parts of the Project area, i.e. outside the Pistol Lake property. The company owns 100% of the Pistol Lake property subject to a 3% NSR. Given that IP targets within the Pistol Lake property have been assigned a lower exploration priority, apparently less interesting exploration potential, the company has decided not to continue the Advanced Royalty Payment.

Since the successful trial production of the licensed vanadium electrolyte (Please refer to the press release of February 28, 2017), samples from the trial production have been under independent testing for composition, chargeability, dischargeability and stability. Meanwhile, Golden Share has started discussions with several vanadium redox flow battery manufacturers regarding the possibility of experimenting with their existing battery systems in order to match Golden Share's licensed vanadium electrolyte for an overall better battery performance.

The Company, subject to regulatory approval, has granted 60,000 incentive stock options to certain advisor. The stock options will be exercisable at 35 cents per share for a period of three years.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed by Wes Roberts, P.Eng, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.

About Golden Share

Golden Share Resources Corporation is a junior natural resource company focusing on mineral exploration in the province of Ontario, Canada, a mineral rich and politically stable jurisdiction. More than just exploration. Golden Share's participation of potential rail road to the Ring of Fire region located in northwestern Ontario provides tremendous potential for the Company. Golden Share also continues to advance an exciting opportunity related to vanadium based energy storage solutions.

WARNING: This News Release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of up-coming work programs, geological interpretations etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The Company relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information, please visit www.goldenshare.ca or contact:

Golden Share Resources Corporation

Nick Zeng, President & CEO

Tel: (905) 968-1199

E-mail: info@goldenshare.ca
STOCKHOLM, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The surgeon has been notified of the suspicions against him for three cases of causing another's death, gross crime, as well as causing bodily harm, gross crime, and one case of causing bodily harm, gross crime. The surgeries were performed between 2011 and 2013.

At the press conference, the prosecutors will comment on the comprehensive investigation and share new information.

Place, time and registration

Place: Stockholm County Police, Kungsholmsgatan 45

Time: 11 am Thursday 12 October, doors open at 10.30

Registration: please contact info@aklagare.se no later than 2pm Tuesday 10 October. Include press ID or certificate from editorial staff. Please note only accredited journalists can attend.

Public Prosecutor Jennie Nordin, Public Prosecutor Anders Tordai and Detective Chief Inspector Jonna Aasma Prokop will attend the press conference.

The prosecutors' presentation will be interpreted from Swedish into English. There will be opportunities for interviews after the presentation. Questions will also be interpreted from Swedish into English, and vice versa, if needed. The prosecutors will not give interviews at any other time than at the press conference.

CONTACT:

Press service

+46-10-562-50-20

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- ORHub, Inc. (OTC: ORHB), an advanced medical software provider focused on real-time digital delivery of case-based data analytics, today announces that Dr. Vikram Udani has joined the Company's advisory board to help lead its aggressive deployment strategy.

Dr. Udani currently serves as the medical director of neurosurgery for the Laurel Amtower Cancer Institute and Neuro-Oncology Center in San Diego, California. He is also currently practicing with the Neurosurgical Medical Clinic of San Diego. He operates at the Sharp-affiliated hospitals, and covers neurotrauma for Scripps Mercy. Dr. Udani strengthens ORHub's advisory board with well-rounded perspectives based on his operating room and executive experience.

"Dr. Udani is highly distinguished and well-known in neurological surgery and orthopedics, and we are pleased to welcome him to our advisory board," states ORHub Chief Technology Officer Wesley Mitchell. "We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Udani to deliver the ORHub Surgical Management Platform to health care providers nationwide."

Dr. Udani has been widely interviewed and featured on local networks, and was recently featured on FOX to discuss Senator John McCain's cancer diagnosis. To view the interview, visit: https://www.sentaclinic.com/dr-vik-udani-fox-5-discuss-senator-john-mccains-cancer-diagnosis/

Dr. Udani received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical degree from the prestigious Stanford University School of Medicine. He served his neurosurgery residency at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he acquired expertise in cranial, spinal and peripheral nerve surgery.

"I look forward with great anticipation to extensive collaboration with the ORHub management team. It is a distinctly advantageous time to enable this sector of the industry with such streamlined capabilities. To work with a team so diligent and focused on being an industry leader is a truly worthy endeavor," states Dr. Udani.

With the recent announcement of ORHub's new orthopedic service line launch, geared for total joint replacement, coupled with the adoption of the modules by the Company's existing clients, ORHub is sharply focused on the delivery of its advanced real-time data analytics platform into the relatively untapped surgical sector, one of the medical industry's most highly demanding, interdependent, and vital divisions. The Company has successfully established a fully functioning flagship institution, its first major hospital which now exclusively utilizes the ORHub Surgical Management Platform for all surgeries performed at its facility.

"We believe that the greatest potential for a high level of success is when timing and opportunity meet. At this early stage in an industry that cannot afford to be technologically delayed, it's evident that our growth potential here can be exponential," concludes ORHub Chief Executive Officer Colt Melby. "We welcome Dr. Udani to the team and look forward to what this means for our growth strategy."

About ORHub, Inc.

ORHub is a medical software company focused on delivering case-based data analytics at the speed of surgery. The Company's suite of products serves the needs of the health care industry, hospital, patient, government and the medical device vendor. ORHub provides a cloud-based software solution that captures information before, during and after surgery, filling a void in the current surgical information infrastructure and providing the first process to capture and measure the surgical process -- evolving Big Data into Intelligent Digital Data.

ORHub's software applications allow hospitals and medical device vendors to utilize any web-enabled device to create an anatomical graphic depiction of exactly what occurs during surgery. The application automatically translates the resulting schematic into an intelligent, electronic operative report that links every detail of surgery, including implant location, surgical techniques, product usage, and all clinical parameters to create a dynamically new source of comparative information.

As a result, hospitals and surgeons can make real-time, data driven decisions to improve business profitability and the quality of patient care. This innovative technology results in hospitals understanding costs and identifying areas of cost reductions, as well as results in increased accountability, automatic creation of comprehensive anatomic implant registries, real-time analytics, improved efficiencies, and compliance with existing government regulations. ORHub has offices in Phoenix, Arizona; Newport Beach, California; and Bellevue, Washington.

For more information, visit www.ORHub.com

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurances that its expectations will be attained. Such statements are inherently uncertain, and actual results and activities may differ materially from those estimated or projected. Certain factors that can affect the Company's ability to achieve its anticipated results include, among others, uncertainties inherent in the development of a new software product business.

ORHub Contact:

Lanny Lang

CFO

Email Contact

9830 S. 51st St., Suite A-128

Phoenix, AZ 85044

844.545.4508 x 403



Communications Contact:

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Email Contact




Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE: MCRN), a leading industrial technology company serving the plastics processing industry is pleased to announce their upcoming participation at Fakuma 2017. Fakuma will take place October 17th -21st in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Milacron will be in hall B3 Booth 3203, where Milacron's impressive stable of product brands including Milacron, Ferromatik, Mold-Masters, DME and TIRAD will be showcasing industry leading technology solutions and highlighting Milacron's commitment to class leading European sales, service and support teams.

"At Milacron our commitment to quality doesn't end after a sale. We offer complete lifecycle solutions for all customers, across all of our product brands," said Tom Goeke, CEO of Milacron. "Milacron is committed to the robust European market and we continue to invest in technology, people and equipment to service our European customers well beyond the initial sale."

Milacron's commitment to technology, service and customer support will be on display at Fakuma 2017. Here are just some of the highlights:

European Injection Molding Machine Sales, Service and Aftermarket Parts Enhancements

The Launch of Servtek Europe

Milacron is re-introducing its reliable Servtek aftermarket brand in Europe. In the Americas the Servtek brand has become synonymous with quality parts, support, on-time delivery and rapid service and it has already made great inroads in the German, Italian and Dutch markets where it was relaunched earlier this year. The Servtek aftermarket division will be headquartered in Malterdingen, Germany. Malterdingen remains the hub and center of excellence for all things Milacron Injection Machine related.

Increased European Parts Inventory and Enhanced Distribution Network

With the Servtek aftermarket product brand's reintroduction to the European market, customers can expect vastly increased stock libraries and rapid delivery times. Denis Poelman, Managing Director Milacron Injection, Europe stated, "In stock availability was something Milacron recognized as an area for improvement in Europe. We've listened to our customers and investments in 2017 alone have led to increased in stock parts availability by 15%. We will continue to invest in this key initiative throughout 2018 with a goal of zero stock outages for key parts." Poelman added, "We've also optimized our logistics network and can now guarantee Aftermarket delivery on most injection machine parts when orders are placed by 4 pm the day before." Milacron's next day delivery service started in Germany earlier this year and is now available across all of Europe.

Milacron's new European distribution structure includes five main distribution centers: Malterdingen, Germany, manages the German focused markets, while Magenta, Italy the Italian market, Lyon, France French markets, Barcelona, Spain Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets and Vsetin, Czech Republic the Eastern European, Nordic and English-speaking markets. The new structure enables support in 16 languages, ensuring that customers can be cared for with direct geographical proximity.

The Addition of New Regional Sales Staff

Milacron has spent considerable time and effort to strengthen their customer-oriented German injection molding machine sales force. The changes are intended to optimize customer support in the sales and service area and make day to day customer interactions a seamless and rewarding experience for customers. The European market has been and continues to be immensely important to Milacron's growth and success. Milacron continues to strengthen their German presence and optimize their sales, service and support teams to meet the markets needs. In Q3 of this year Milacron has added 4 Regional Business Development Managers to offer increased support for machines sales and aftermarket. Germany is now split into four newly defined regions to allow for a single point of contact. These enhancements will now ensure Milacron service and support in the region is world-class.

The Introduction of In Stock Machines for Europe

Milacron recently launched their Quick Delivery Program (QDP) for in stock machines in the European market in July, and has seen solid success with customers taking advantage of the quick delivery machines. The Milacron QDP program helps customers get what they need, when they need it. Machines available are the all-electric Milacron Elektra from 110 to 180 metric tonnes, the all-electric Milacron Elektron EVO from 50 to 200 metric tonnes and the servo hydraulic Magna T Servo, a true workhorse from 50 to 350 metric tonnes. Machines in these configurations are delivered in as little as 4 weeks from order. All available models can be found online here: https://www.milacron.com/stock-machines/stock-machines-injection-europe/

Mold-Masters Hot Runners and Control Systems

Mold-Masters Aftermarket Support Programs through MasterCARE

The plastic industry is very familiar with Milacron's Mold-Masters hot runner and temperature controller product brand. Mold-Masters has been producing the industry's leading solutions for over 50 years. What a lot of industry insiders might not be aware of is that Mold-Masters offers a comprehensive lifecycle management program to ensure their Mold-Masters systems continue to run at peak performance and continue to produce the best plastic parts. Programs offer preventative maintenance, emergency maintenance, spare parts programs and repairs and complete system restorations.

MasterCARE Preventative maintenance services are available in 3 tiers to suit customers' needs, MasterCARE Basic, MasterCARE Standard and the premium offering, MasterCARE Plus. All of the packages offer a number of vital cleanings, inspections, and tests and up to 20% discounts on genuine Mold-Masters parts. In addition, all packages offer extended warranties that help extend the life of your hot runner and get the most out of your production cell.

Hans Hagelstein, Mold-Masters President, EMEA+I stated, "Only genuine Mold-Masters parts and certified service technicians can ensure Mold-Masters hot runners and temperature controllers are operating at optimal performance levels." Hagelstein added, "Mold-Masters has implemented a thorough revitalization of our spare parts program, we realize that when a customer needs a part for their Mold-Masters hot runners they need it immediately! That's why we now stock 95% of all standard parts for immediate shipping and offer 24 hour turnaround for custom parts."

Mold-Masters also offers extensive product and service training for their hot runner systems. These courses are available at Milacron's German locations in Malterdingen and Baden-Baden or on-site at customer locations. Topics include Hot Runner Basics, E-Multi User Training and Controller Basics.

Everything Milacron at the Click of your Mouse

Milacron eSTORE

Milacron launched the eSTORE a year ago and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback while processing thousands of customer orders in North America and Europe. The Milacron eSTORE is offered in 15 languages. The e-commerce site is seamlessly integrated with the newly re-designed Milacron.com, offering a one-stop-shop for all Milacron products, including individual parts and assemblies for Milacron injection molding machines and Mold-Masters hot runners and controllers. Customers will also have access to DME's vast catalog, connecting them to an unrivaled selection of mold components and industrial supplies 24/7/365. Customers will benefit from simple, cost-efficient ordering and deliveries within 24 hours.

Milacron continues to push the boundaries of possibilities in plastics with breakthrough products from leading brands including Milacron, Mold-Masters, Ferromatik, Uniloy, DME, TIRAD, and CIMCOOL.

LINK TO HI RES IMAGES: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c9mtryqh3fzz3b8/AACh6RvOdfXEagReYeAyGqVPa?dl=0

About Milacron

Milacron is a global leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of highly engineered and customized systems within the plastic technology and processing industry. Milacron is the only global company with a full-line product portfolio that includes hot runner systems, injection molding, blow molding and extrusion equipment, mold components, industrial supplies plus a wide market range of advanced fluid technologies. Visit Milacron at www.milacron.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006190/en/

Contacts:

Milacron

Media Contact:

Michael Ellis, 905-877-0185 ext. 354

Director of Marketing and Communications

Michael_Ellis@milacron.com

or

Investor Relations:

Mac Jones, 513-487-5057

VP Finance and Investor Relations

Michael_Jones@milacron.com
-Oldest TCM brand in China, with a history of nearly 500 years

- GuoJiaxue, Chairman of GuangYuYuan: "Our Paris Fashion Week campaign is all about connecting with younger consumers. We are the oldest of the 'Big 4' Traditional Chinese Medicine brands, so it's easy to mistake us for being old fashioned. Today, we are reinterpreting our legacy with innovation and flair."

PARIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Like other companies honored with the "Time-Honored Brand" appellation, GuangYuYuanis tasked with balancing its heritage and the demands of modern consumers. "Only about 10% of [China Time-Honored Brands] are fit for the demands of the modern economy," according to the website of the State Council of China.

On October 1, GuangYuYuan made its global debut at Paris Fashion Week, sponsoring rising fashion designer Liu Qing, also known as Big-King, in his first Paris runway show, at the MuseeJacquemart-Andre. The highly unusual collaboration between a TCM brand and fashion design is the brainchild of new hire Wang Xinyu, General Manager of GuangYuYuan's Brand Center. Under Mr. Wang, the company has embarked ona marketing modernization strategy that is truly revolutionary for one of oldest companies in China, if not the world. The runway show is being co-organized with tech giant Tencent, during the finale of Paris Fashion Week, and celebrates embracing both innovation and tradition.

GuoJiaxue, Chairman of the Board of GuangYuYuan Chinese Herbal Medicine Co., Ltd. explained the strategy behind the sponsorship: "Our Paris Fashion Week campaign is all about connecting with younger consumers. We are the oldest of the 'Big 4' Traditional Chinese Medicine brands, so it's easy to mistake us for being old fashioned. Today, we are reinterpreting our legacy with innovation and flair."

Big-King typifies the young customer that GuangYuYuan is seeking out. At the show, he revealed 10 modern looks using elements inspired by traditional Chinese motifs and themes, as well as GuangYuYuan's nearly 500 year history. The star-studded event was attended by celebrities such Celina Jade, representatives from top fashion houses including Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and politicians including former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

"To resonate with today's consumers, we're changing how we engage, while underscoring that GuangYuYuan will never compromise when it comes to product quality or preserving our intangible cultural heritage," Mr. Guo added.

About GuangYuYuan

GuangYuYuan (600771 | CHN) was founded in 1541. In 2003, it was acquired by leading Chinese pharmaceutical conglomerate, Xi'an Dongsheng Group, and is listed on the Shanghai StockExchange. In 2006, GuangYuYuan was honored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, receiving its "Time-Honored Brand" appellation. Two of GuangYuYuan's oldest products, GuilingJi and Dingkun Dan, have been declared to be part of China's intangible cultural heritage and their formulas have been named national secrets.

Website: www.guangyuyuan.cn

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/568936/951043743.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/568935/111862265.jpg
Breakthrough Treatment of Moderate to Severe Central Sleep Apnea in Adult Patients Now Available

MINNETONKA, Minnesota, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Respicardia, Inc., a private medical technology company, announced today that it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its remedA" System, a transvenous implantable neurostimulation system that stimulates the phrenic nerve, and engages the diaphragm to restore natural breathing during sleep in patients with central sleep apnea (CSA). The regulatory approval was based on findings from the remedA" System pivotal trial, which demonstrated that transvenous neurostimulation with the remedA" System can significantly reduce the severity of CSA, improve sleep, quality of life and patient satisfaction. The data from the pivotal trial were published in The Lancet in September 2016.

The remedA" System is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe CSA in adult patients. CSA is a serious breathing disorder that disrupts the normal breathing pattern during sleep and negatively affects quality of life and overall cardiovascular health. CSA results from the brain's inability to send appropriate signals to the respiratory muscles to stimulate breathing.

"We are thrilled the remedA" System received FDA approval and are excited to provide this safe and effective therapy that is proven to improve the quality of life for CSA patients," said Bonnie Labosky, President and CEO of Respicardia. "This is a significant step forward in our efforts to offer clinicians a breakthrough and effective treatment option for their patients with CSA."

Current treatment options are limited and there is a large unmet need. The remedA" System's novel approach to treating CSA is a physiologic treatment that creates negative pressure to move air into the lungs, similar to normal breathing. The system initiates therapy automatically and continues throughout the night without the need for a patient to apply any external equipment.

"The patients at our center treated with the remedA" System experienced outstanding results and significant reduction in their CSA symptoms," said Maria Rosa Costanzo, MD, Principal Investigator of the remedA" System Pivotal Trial. "Having a therapeutic option for patients with CSA that automatically provides therapy and works throughout the night is a breakthrough treatment for this serious breathing disorder."

In the remedA" System pivotal trial, 96% of patients were highly satisfied with their therapy. The company plans on an initial limited release that will progress to broader market commercialization.

About the remedA" System Pivotal Trial

The remedA" System Pivotal Trial, a prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial, evaluated the safety and effectiveness of transvenous phrenic nerve stimulation using the remedA" System in patients with moderate to severe CSA. The primary effectiveness outcome was a comparison of the proportion of patients in the treatment versus control groups achieving a reduction in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 50 percent or greater from baseline to 6 months. Clinical investigators at 31 sites in the United States and Europe implanted the remedA" System in 151 patients and randomized them 1:1 to the treatment or control group. The trial met its primary endpoint for efficacy. In the modified intention-to-treat population, significantly more patients in the treatment group achieved 50 percent or greater reduction in AHI from baseline to 6 months than those in the control group with a clinically meaningful difference of 41% (p<0.0001). Additionally, the 12-month freedom from serious adverse events related to the implant procedure, remedA" System or delivered therapy was 91 percent.

About Respicardia

Respicardia is a private medical technology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by developing implantable therapies designed to improve respiratory and cardiovascular health. The company's initial product, the remedA" System, is an implantable neurostimulation system designed to restore a more normal breathing pattern during sleep for moderate to severe central sleep apnea adult patients.
MUMBAI, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

IOA's Africa Country Benchmark Report (ACBR) assesses country performance from a holistic, statistics and insight-driven perspective. This is a latest report Bharat Book Bureau has added to its offering. It's primary objective is to be the definitive resource for any business, government, organisation or institution with interests in Africa.

The report scores, ranks and analyses each of Africa's 54 countries holistically, as well as across numerous business, economic, political and societal factors. The report includes detailed country-specific assessments, as well as in-depth regional, continental and comparative assessments, and sections dedicated to each of the four overarching areas of investigation.

These assessments have all drawn on more than 19,000 data points and 34 reputable indexes and ranking systems, and is outlined in an illuminating 800-page Infographic-packed report. The ACBR is an indispensable tool when analysing, exploring and advancing into the enormous opportunities that Africa can offer those willing to help build its grand, optimistic future.

To view pages of the Report:

https://www.bharatbook.com/request-sample/946183

ACBR is the definitive resource for any business, government, organisation or institution with interests in Africa. The report scores, ranks and analyses each African country holistically, as well as across numerous business, economic, political and societal factors. The report includes detailed country-specific assessments, as well as in-depth regional, continental and comparative assessments, and sections dedicated to each of the four overarching areas of investigation.

This analysis has drawn on more than 19,000 data points and 34 reputable indexes and ranking systems, and is outlined in an 800-page Infographic-packed report.

To download the report:

https://www.bharatbook.com/business-market-research-reports-946183/africa-country-benchmark-acbr.html

About Bharat Book Bureau:

Bharat Book Bureauis the leading market research information provider for market research reports, company profiles, industry analysis, country reports, business reports, newsletters and online databases Bharat Book Bureau provides over a million reports from more than 400 publishers around the globe. We cover sectors starting from Aeronautics to Zoology.In case the reports don't match your requirement then we can do a specialized Custom Research for you.

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ST. LOUIS, MO--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - Five new financial advisors joined St. Louis-based Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. as the firm opens new offices in Watkinsville, Ga., and Jonesboro and El Dorado, Ark., company officials announced today. Along with the advisors hired at the new offices, nine other advisors joined existing locations in Hattiesburg, Miss.; Springfield, Ill., Morristown, NJ, Naperville, Ill., and Baltimore, Md.

Together, the 14 advisor additions at the new and existing locations bring with them a combined total of nearly $1.32 billion in assets under management (AUM). Today, total firm AUM exceeds $21 billion.

"At Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., our focus is on our clients -- not quotas -- and that is extremely appealing to advisors," said Marty Altenberger, executive vice president and director of branches. "Advisors are drawn to our client-centric approach and appreciate the assortment of sophisticated investment products and services we have at their disposal to meet their clients' needs."

Joining the firm are the following individuals (by location):

Watkinsville, Ga.

Chung Lieu, Vice President - Investments: With nearly 20 years of investment management experience, Lieu concentrates on wealth management solutions that incorporate portfolio advisory accounts and offering income-generating investment opportunities.

Coming aboard with Lieu to assist with his office responsibilities is Naomi Lupton, who joins as a senior registered financial associate. Both are transferring from Hilliard Lyons.

Jonesboro, Ark.

Tim Fitzgerald, Managing Director - Investments: Fitzgerald brings with him over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry, and concentrates on estate planning strategies, portfolio management and retirement planning strategies.

Jeff Green, Senior Vice President - Investments: Green entered the securities industry in 1987, and concentrates on estate and retirement planning strategies, and wealth management.

Both advisors are transferring from Stephens, Inc.

In addition, the firm announced the hiring of Stacy Jennings as a senior registered financial client associate. She will assist the advisors with their office management and client service responsibilities.

These individuals will work from a second Jonesboro location located at 708B Windover Road. The company's existing Jonesboro location opened in 2016 at 317 Southwest Drive. The firm plans to consolidate both offices into a new location in the near future.

El Dorado, Ark.

Laney Mitcham, MBA and CFP  , Associate Vice President - Investments: With 20 years in the financial services industry, Mitcham earned her CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER  designation in 2001 and her MBA from Southern Arkansas University in 2010.

Robert Waggoner, Associate Vice President - Investments: Waggoner is a 15-year veteran of the industry and worked as an advisor in Joplin, Mo. before moving to El Dorado in 2005.

Both concentrate on retirement, estate and wealth planning.

Also joining the El Dorado office to assist with client service is Chelsea Owens, who is a financial client associate. She has worked with Mitcham and Waggoner for two-and-a-half years.

This group transfers from Wells Fargo Advisors.

Hattiesburg, Miss.

Charles (Charlie) A. Banks, Senior Vice President - Investments: Banks has worked in the financial services industry for more than 30 years, and is well versed in all aspects of wealth management and financial planning.

Joseph (Joey) Hurston, Senior Vice President - Investments: Also, in the industry for three decades, Hurston specializes in developing portfolio strategies to meet specific goals, such as putting children through college and preparing for a secure retirement.

Ryan Pollacci, Financial Advisor: Pollacci will join Hurston as a team member, and is a 2006 graduate of the University of Mississippi. Previously, he worked in operations management for a large healthy food manufacturer in the Orlando, Fla. area before joining Wells Fargo Advisors in 2017.

Richard P. Moore, Senior Vice President - Investments: With nearly three decades in financial services, Moore assists his clients with their financial plans and wealth transition planning.

Assisting the group with client management responsibilities are Hannah Helton, who will hold the title of senior registered financial client associate, and Jessica Lightfoot, who joins as a financial client associate. All are transferring from Wells Fargo Advisors.

Springfield, Ill.

Eric S. Loy, Branch Manager and Senior Vice President - Investments: Loy entered the securities industry in 1998, and concentrates on financial planning strategies and wealth management. He transfers from Wells Fargo Advisors.

With the latest addition, total employment in the Springfield office is nine, including seven financial advisors. The Springfield office opened in 2010.

Morristown, N.J.

Jason E. Hall, Vice President - Investments: Hall began his financial services career in 1997 and focuses on fixed income securities, and insurance and annuities investments. He transfers from Wells Fargo Advisors.

The Morristown office, which opened in 2013, now employs a total of 12, including eight financial advisors.

Naperville, Ill.

Timothy J. Platt, Senior Vice President - Investments: With 23-years of industry experience, Platt pursues a comprehensive investment approach with his clients, which takes into account both near- and long-term goals. Also transferring with him is James Worth, who will serve as a senior registered financial client associate. Both join Benjamin F. Edwards from Morgan Stanley.

Linda L. Dial, AAMS  , Financial Advisor: Dial brings with her more than 17 years of experience in the financial services industry, and focuses on business owner services and financial planning strategies. She earned her ACCREDITED ASSET MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST(SM), or AAMS, certification from the College for Financial Planning in 2008. She transfers from Raymond James.

The Naperville office, which opened in 2016, now employs a total of eight, including seven financial advisors.

Baltimore, Md.

Robert F. Zimmer, Financial Advisor: Zimmer entered the securities industry in 2007, and concentrates on estate and financial planning strategies. He transfers from NYLIFE Securities.

The Baltimore office, which opened in 2013, now employs a total of seven, including five financial advisors.

About Benjamin F. Edwards & Co.

With a tagline of "Investments for Generations", Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. The firm was founded in 2008 by Benjamin F. (Tad) Edwards IV and currently has 65 branch offices in 26 states and more than 500 employees.

A subsidiary of Benjamin Edwards, Inc., Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. is a full-service brokerage and a Registered Investment Adviser, which offers a wide array of financial products, advisory and investment banking services to its clients and financial advisors. For more information about Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., please visit the firm's corporate website, benjaminfedwards.com, GetInAtBenEdwards.com for advisors, or follow the company on Twitter.com/GrowWithBFEC.

For more information, contact:

Margaret Welch

314-703-1215

Email contact


PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - Livegenic, a global provider of cloud-based, real-time video and adjustment automation solutions to property and casualty (P&C) insurance organizations, is pleased to announce the company has developed a new program which helps insurance companies and independent adjusting (IA) firms combat the adjuster shortage problem caused by multiple recent and significant CAT events.

"Multiple, simultaneous CAT events, have caused a critical adjuster shortage," said Jim Porcari, CEO of Livegenic. "Top tier insurers have largely been able to rely on in-house adjusters, but even they are stretched given the multiple significant CATs recently. Many small to mid-size insurance companies are significantly challenged by a shortage of available adjusters. This market demand challenge has seen many seeking higher, and occasionally exorbitant prices in order to take on additional claims. Livegenic provides a valuable addition to the toolbox of any insurer or IA firm dealing with CAT event-related claims, and we are offering a one-time special program to help onboard new customers to better resolve claims for the victims of the recent hurricanes."

Available as a hosted or white-labeled solution, Livegenic's award-winning, cloud-based platform delivers immediate ROI with a simple sign-up process and a rapid implementation timeframe. Facilitated by APIs that connect to any claim administration system for field assignment handling and documentation through video, audio and pictures, Livegenic helps field claim professionals receive claim assignments and document claims in any environment. The platform also streamlines communications between in-house and external adjusters, appraisers, contractors, and policyholders; as well as delivers customer self-service solutions via a suite of state-of-the-art mobile apps.

"Livegenic essentially helps all parties document the nature and extent of damage in a user-friendly, web hosted process," said Porcari. "Livegenic allows users to take a damage documentation video, snap still photos during the video process, make notes, and upload it all to the web for easy review. This unique program will help insurers and IA firms support the adjusters' need to quickly and effectively document damages to insured property, be it home, auto, or business. Through this offer, Livegenic is providing 50 claims free to new customers. Subsequent transactions, regardless of volume, will be charged at a flat discounted fee through October 31st."

For a demonstration of the features and capabilities of Livegenic's two flagship apps see the short (~4 min) videos below:

Customer Self-Service with Livegenic MyClaim

On-Site Inspections with Livegenic Enterprise

For more information about Livegenic or the company's products and services, please visit www.livegenic.com, or send an email to contact@livegenic.com.

About Livegenic

Livegenic is a global provider of cloud-based, real-time video solutions to property and casualty (P&C) insurance organizations which connect every part of the claims ecosystem. The award-winning, Livegenic platform streamlines communication between in-house and external adjusters, appraisers, contractors, and policyholders, provides field video loss documentation capabilities, and delivers customer self-service solutions. Available hosted or white-labeled, Livegenic's mobile apps help field claim professionals receive claim assignments and document claims even in unconnected environments. Livegenic's patented, video technology engages claims professionals with customers to improve the customer experience, lower handling costs, mitigate business-related risks, and reduce complexity in the claims process. For more information, please visit www.livegenic.com.

Livegenic is supported by the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority. For more information, visit www.sep.benfranklin.org and follow @bftp_sep.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/10/6/11G146331/Images/Jim_Porcari_Headshot_2017-a8a1d154808f9ae2bcb30f1b1310147a.jpg

Media Contact:

Jennifer Overhulse

St. Nick Media Services

(859) 803-6597

jen@stnickmedia.com
Business / Companies

by Staff Reporter

Zaka Central Zanu PF MP Paradzai Chakona has donated a bale of used underwear to his constituency.Chakona has declined to state where he sourced the donation, saying it was his "secret."A ward chairperson who declined to named said the constituents were flabbergasted by the donation, which comprised mainly second-hand underwear including brassieres, underpants and socks.This comes after a Mutare-based journalist was arrested a fortnight ago over a report claiming that First Lady Grace Mugabe had handed used underwear to Zanu PF's Dangamvura-Chikanga MP Esau Mupfumi for onward donation to Zanu PF supporters in his constituency in the eastern border city.Kenneth Nyangani, a Newsday reporter, was held in police cells for 18 hours after his arrest and was later freed after the intervention of his lawyer, Passmore Nyakureba.Cousin Zilala, executive director of international human rights organisation, Amnesty International Zimbabwe, said: "The arrest ... is a deliberate tactic to harass and intimidate him and other journalists in order to deter them from doing their work."
Technavio market research analysts forecast the global instrumentation cables marketto grow at a CAGR of more than 4% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006065/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global instrumentation cables market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The market study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global instrumentation cables marketfor 2017-2021. The report also lists APAC, the Americas, and EMEA as the three major geographical segments, of which APAC had the largest market share of over 35% in 2016.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free

Technavio analysts highlight the following three market drivers that are contributing to the growth of the global instrumentation cables market:

Expansion of railways

Increasing power generation from wind energy sources

Rapid industrialization in APAC

Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Expansion of railways

Rolling stock in railways is the suspension system that connects the transportation equipment to the wheels. Instrumentation cables are used in the rolling stock to pass signals between the rail bogies and wheels. The increased demand for comfortable travel and the introduction of technology-driven rail compartments and smart rail have led to the growth in demand for railway services across the globe.

"The highest demand for railways comes from urban areas, due to the growing population and expanding metropolitan areas. Moreover, incorporating digital models into railways has led to considerable growth in demand. The number of passengers as well as the demand for rail freight is also expected to increase during the forecast period, which augurs well for the growth of the instrumentation cables market," says Anju Ajaykumar, a lead analyst at Technavio for engineering tools research.

Increasing power generation from wind energy sources

Since the amendment of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 and the implementation of stringent EU emission standards, governments in many countries are working to develop renewable energy sources, such as wind and nuclear energy. The amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources is growing by more than 2.5% per year. The Clean Power Plan by the US government is expected to increase renewable power generation in the country to more than 350 billion kWh. Solar power and wind power are the fastest-growing forms of renewable electricity in the Americas.

"The growth in renewable energy sources has created high demand for instrumentation cables at power generation sites. These cables send electronic signals to carry out the various processes in power generation. Instrumentation cables are used for measurement, supervision, and control in power stations," says Anju.

Rapid industrialization in APAC

Instrumentation cables are used for transmitting electronic signals within industrial setups. The use of these cables improves process automation. Industrial production is the prime growth driver for the global economy. The average manufacturing value added by countries such as India, China, and Indonesia has expanded during the forecast period.

Domestic demand in APAC will increase due to the rise in disposable incomes, low unemployment, lower commodity prices, and macroeconomic stimulus. Indonesia has also managed to witness growth in the industrial sector. Vietnam is among the fastest-growing economies due to the increase in exports. The country is growing at a fast pace, which would provide good avenues for vendors to diversify their operations. These developments are likely to increase the demand for instrumentation cables.

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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The majority of the European markets ended Tuesday's session in the red, but were little changed overall. After a weak open, the markets remained stuck in a sideways pattern throughout the session.



The Euro advanced against the U.S. dollar on speculation that the European Central Bank may begin scaling back its asset purchase program. The strengthening Euro had a negative impact on European equities, but the weakening dollar provided a boost to mining stocks.



Traders were also in a cautious mood ahead of a key address from Catalan President Puigdemont to regional Parliament on independence.



The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.01 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.32 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.03 percent.



The DAX of Germany dropped 0.21 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.04 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.40 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.08 percent.



In Frankfurt, K+S rose 1.52 percent. The company plans to merge its salt and potash businesses in a company-wide strategic overhaul.



In Paris, Dassault Aviation tumbled 2.18 percent on news that its Falcon 5X is facing new delays.



LVMH rose 2.24 percent after the luxury goods firm reported a 14 percent increase in revenues for the first nine months of 2017.



In London, Capita jumped 1.60 percent. The outsourcing firm has named former Amec boss Jonathan Lewis as its chief executive officer with effect from December 1.



Vedanta Resources fell 3.31 percent after unveiling its second-quarter and half-year production results.



BAE Systems decreased 0.32 percent after it announced over 1900 job cuts.



Fragrance and flavours maker Givaudan rallied 3.11 percent in Zurich after reaffirming its 2020 targets.



CaixaBank fell 2.22 percent and Banco Santander declined 2.92 percent in Madrid ahead of the key speech by Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont.



Germany's export growth accelerated sharply in August, suggesting that activity in the biggest euro area economy revved up after a brief summer lull, despite a strong euro.



Exports grew a calendar-and-seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent from July, when they rose 0.2 percent.



Imports also rose for a second month running, up 1.2 percent in August after 2.4 percent growth in July.



The trade deficit widened to EUR 21.6 billion from EUR 19.3 billion in July. Economists had expected EUR 19.5 billion shortfall.



France's industrial production declined unexpectedly in August, after rebounding in the previous month, the statistical office Insee showed Tuesday. Industrial production dropped 0.3 percent month-over-month in August, reversing a 0.8 percent rise in July. Meanwhile, economist had expected a 0.4 percent increase for the month.



British industrial production growth eased for the second straight month in August, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday. Industrial production climbed 0.2 percent month-on-month in August, slower than the 0.3 percent increase seen in July, which was revised up from 0.2 percent. It was the fifth successive monthly rise.



The UK visible trade deficit widened notably in August, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday. The visible trade deficit rose to GBP 14.24 billion in August from GBP 12.82 billion in July. The expected level of shortfall was GBP 11.15 billion.



Like-for-like sales in the United Kingdom climbed 1.9 percent on year in September, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday. That followed the upwardly revised 1.6 percent increase in August (originally 1.3 percent).



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
SAN JOSE, CA and NORCROSS, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- CloudGenix, a leader in Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) and Creative Technology Partners, a leading Managed Service and Solution Provider announced they have joined forces to deliver highly available wide-area networks backed by around the clock management and an industry leading Zero Downtime Guarantee.

SimplicIT(SM) fuses CloudGenix Application-Defined SD-WAN with CTP Network Solutions and End-to-End Management to deliver highly resilient wide area networks that eliminate branch office network outages and the associated critical business downtime. SimplicIT(SM) frees IT staffs from day to day triage and troubleshooting and enables them to focus on executing strategic business initiatives. CloudGenix AppFabric continually monitors granular transactional performance for each application and WAN link, and enforces policies for those applications based on user-defined requirements for performance, security, and compliance, in addition to WAN conditions. These same metrics are also surfaced to provide actionable insights into performance and health for both WAN links and applications.

CloudGenix CEO Kumar Ramachandran said, of partnering with CTP, "Partnering with a trusted network solutions and managed services leader in CTP allows us to help businesses maintain the highest levels of business availability and performance and future-proof their SD-WAN architecture using AppFabric."

Of the partnership with CloudGenix, CTP President RJ Chapple said, "CTP is well known for managed service excellence and multi-carrier private and Internet transport solutions. We are excited to leverage the CloudGenix AppFabric to improve our customers' experience while eliminating the revenue and productivity loss and customer dissatisfaction caused by poor performing applications and networks."

About CloudGenix

CloudGenix (www.cloudgenix.com) is the software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) leader, revolutionizing networking by transforming legacy WANs into a radically simplified, secure, application-defined fabric and virtualizing heterogeneous underlying transports into a unified hybrid WAN. Enabling application-specific, service-level agreements (SLAs), CloudGenix controls network application performance based upon application-performance SLAs and business priority. CloudGenix ION (Instant-On Network) radically simplifies how WANs are designed and managed -- enabling customers to build "networks without networking." It also achieves more than twice the performance at less than half the cost -- leading to a much faster time-to-value once deployed -- and extending data center-class security to the network edge. Founded in 2013, by a team that has previously delivered industry-leading products in networking, SDN, cloud, security, and web-scale applications, CloudGenix serves world-class financial services, legal, retail and technology organizations. The company is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures and the Mayfield Fund and has headquarters in San Jose, California.

About Creative Technology Partners

Creative Technology Partners (www.ctp.network), a division of Atlanta Datacom, Inc. has designed, implemented and managed complex IT environments for some of the nation's largest enterprises since 1985. Backed by a team of seasoned professionals and an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, Creative Technology Partners delivers cost-effective and high-performance network solutions and managed services designed to deliver maximum value while aligning with your business objectives. Creative Technology Partners launched SimplicIT(SM) in 2017 -- an industry leading networking solution providing Uptime SLAs and transport Bill Guarantees. Creative Technology Partners is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

Contact

CloudGenix

pr@cloudgenix.com



Creative Technology Partners

pr@ctp.network




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The government of Vanuatu, a small Pacific island nation, has become the first country in the world to accept crypto currency Bitcoin as payment for its citizenship program. Vanuatu's citizenship program costs $200,000 USD, which translates to more than 43 Bitcoins as the virtual currency is currently trading at $4,581. The citizenship program is being managed by the Vanuatu Information Centre's (VIC) Development Support Program (DSP). Vanuatu's citizenship program grants visa-free travel to over 100 countries, including most of Europe. Vanuatu's citizens also are not required to pay capital gain or income taxes. The chairman of the Vanuatu Information Centre (VIC) Geoffrey Bond said, 'While attempts have been made in the past to effect payments for citizenship by investment programs via Bitcoin, these efforts never had the political stamp of approval and were shut down as a consequence. In this case, the government of Vanuatu has explicitly expressed a desire to be at the forefront of adopting new technologies, officially encouraging the VIC to receive payments in Bitcoin.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 10, 2017 / Miranda Gold Corp. ("Miranda") (TSX-V: MAD) (FSE: MRG) is pleased to announce it has completed the acquisition of the Mallama project and will provide an update of work conducted by Miranda.

The Mallama project comprises two titles totaling 9,036 hectares in the Narino Department, 56 kilometers west of the city of Pasto. The Mallama project is part of a large district that contains more than thirty mapped intermediate sulfidation epithermal veins with strike lengths of over 4km. In 1984, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) mapped, sampled, and drilled a portion of the larger vein system - of which the Mallama project covers approximately half. The private El Diamante Mine is just north of Miranda's Mallama project, and has been active for 30 years or more. All of the areas of Miranda exploration interest are below the high elevation, environmentally protected Paramo.

Miranda's and historic work suggest the Mallama District has exploration potential for numerous sub-parallel high-angle veins on both the mine and district scale, with a prevalence of high-grade gold and silver values that show good continuity in continuous veins and related competent shear zones. The JICA data shows that the known veins can be traced well with soil sampling, and JICA soil anomalies indicate that numerous veins may be unexposed near existing workings. Vein packages occur over or within an area of at least 30 square kilometers on the Miranda titles, indicating a large IS (intermediate sulfidation) epithermal gold system.

In order to progress to drilling at a faster pace and proactively address the concerns of community stakeholders, Miranda is initially focusing on a 1,200-hectare portion of the two titles. By focusing on a smaller area initially, Miranda intends to accelerate subtracting the titles from a Second Law 1959 forestry reserve, completing a Consulta Previa, and providing a framework of legalization and accommodation for informal miners.

Exploration work has concentrated in the Bombona Zone, where fourteen known sub-parallel and or anastomosing veins and mineralized shear zones extend northwest to southeast over a distance of over four kilometers.

In the Olmedo Pastas Mine, within the Bombona Zone, a northwest-southeast, sub-vertical vein and related mineralized shear extends with notable consistency for the entire 400 meters of the main level of the mine. The vein and shear appear nearly coeval and it is believed this relationship reflects a ductile shear zone progressing to open-space dilational deformation hosting veins over time. The vein, the shear, and granitic wall rock lack significant post mineral deformation and are competent. The shear zone is consistently mineralized and can carry grades (0.35 meters at 50.2g Au/t as a high) similar to the vein - but it commonly shows lower values. The vein and shear share a common margin and together are typically from 0.6 meters to 1.7 meters wide.

In the mine, eight close-spaced sub-levels developed from raises and winzes, but without stoping, occur in a small area above and below the midpoint of the main level. These levels are currently in small scale production, and extend 40 meters horizontally and 30 meters vertically.

In order to confirm historic reconnaissance samples provided by the owner - and make a gross estimate of insitu gold and silver grades in this production area - fifteen channel samples of vein and shear on levels below the main level were taken. These samples show a weighted average grade of 23.2g Au/t over an average width of 0.69 meters - with a range from 2.44 to 76.9g Au/t - and a mean value for the fifteen samples of 22.0g Au/t. The gold to silver ratio is seven-to-one, and the weighted average for silver values is 182.3g Ag/t.

Sampling shows 0.78 meters at 29.34g Au/t, and 0.95 meters at 36.77g Au/t where the vein continues beyond the limit of level development to the southwest and northwest, respectively. High-grade mineralization extends beyond the limit of workings in all directions in the Olmedo Pastas Mine. The vein and adjacent shear in the Olmedo Pastas Mine are continuous, with very little structural disruption - and high gold and silver assay values show a consistent distribution.

Miranda's recent sampling of the Olmedo Pastas Mine shows preliminary confirmation of historic sampling from Miranda's titles. Historic sampling from the previous titles owner indicates six other open artisanal mines providing reconnaissance channel samples ranging from 11.8g Au/t to 73g Au/t and 47g Au/t to 1114g Ag/t. These samples are reported to reflect artisanal mine production faces at the time of visit and sample widths were not recorded, but probably do not exceed, the average 0.69 meter width seen in the Olmedo Pastas Mine. Further systematic sampling by Miranda will be needed to verify the accuracy of, and determine if these reconnaissance samples have significant geologic context - however - the historic samples are similar to the Miranda confirmation sampling done in the Olmedo Pastas Mine. Ingeominas ("Colombia Geologic Survey") also reports two reconnaissance samples taken of 75g Au/t (1,400g Ag/t) and 130g Au/t (120g Ag/t), east and west respectively of the Olmedo Pastas Mine, but within the Bombona zone. The Ingeominas sample widths are also not recorded.

Overall, Miranda has taken forty-seven channel samples in the course of its work in the Olmedo Pastas Mine and two other Bombona Zone workings - one-third of all samples taken exceed 15g Au/t. These samples include those taken for characterization of the weakly mineralized wall rock.

The veins contain sphalerite and galena, commonly in banded habit, in quartz and minor carbonate gangue. Arsenopyrite is locally abundant, but there is no correlation between gold and arsenic - while there is a correlation between silver and arsenic. The adjacent and parallel mineralized shear shows competent sigmoidal shear fabric of quartz lenses and multi-stage healed breccia. The wall rock is competent granite with sericite alteration halos to the vein.

Commonly, subsidiary narrower low angle veins dip away from the hanging wall of the sub-vertical main vein, extending into the wall rock - and are interpreted as possible "ladder" tension veins linked to parallel high angle veins northeast of the Olmedo Pastas main adit. This interpretation is supported by reports of multiple close spaced veins occurring in cross cuts in other workings in the district. For example, mapping in the Carlos Eli Mine, also in the Bombona Zone, shows a "package" of ten narrow veins and shears over an interval of eight meters and mapping in the William Cuastumal Mine shows anastomosing shear zones combined with internal segments of vein.

Twenty active or sporadically active artisanal mines are recorded in the Bombona Zone. Similar parallel vein packages occur 1.5 kilometers to the northeast, and 3 kilometers to the southwest; they are informally named La Cruz and La Fortuna respectively. La Cruz has more mining activity and has more veins of greater strike length recorded than the Bombona. Little is known about La Fortuna because it is remote and it is the most recent vein discovered in the Mallama District.

Miranda is conducting meetings with indigenous and civil community leaders and other stakeholders including informal miners. Miranda is optimistic that drill permits can be received in 6 to 8 months. Miranda may, at that time, perform its own scout drilling as part of an exploration program to attract a joint venture partner.

Agreement Details :

On August 31, 2017, Miranda signed the final agreement completing the acquisition of the Mallama project - by purchasing a Colombian simplified share company, Minera Mallama SAS. The formal transfer of the share certificates will occur upon review by the Chamber of Commerce in Colombia. Miranda has paid $298,216 in outstanding license fees (2014 to 2017) on the two titles - and upon receipt of suitable drill permits - Miranda will be required to make an additional payment of US$200,000 to the former shareholders of Minera Mallama SAS. A residual net proceeds royalty of 4% (as defined in the Rocky Mountain Form 5) will be payable to the former shareholders, with a minimum of US$1.0m payable within three years of the commencement of commercial production, capped at US$4.0m over the life of the mine. Otherwise, there are no additional annual payments or minimum work commitments on Mallama, and no acquisition restrictions imposed on Miranda for any adjacent property.

Data disclosed in this press release has been reviewed and verified by Miranda's Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Hebert, C.P.G., and B.Sc. Geology, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Miranda

Miranda is a gold Prospect Generator active in Colombia with a production joint venture in Alaska. Our emphasis is on acquiring gold exploration projects with world-class discovery potential. Miranda performs its own grass roots exploration and then employs a joint venture business model on its projects to maximize investor exposure to discovery and minimize financial risk. Miranda has ongoing relationships with Gold Torrent, Inc. and IAMGold Corporation.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Joseph (Joe) Hebert, Chief Executive Officer

+1-775-340-0450

Email: joseph.hebert75@gmail.com

www.mirandagold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly, undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE: Miranda Gold Corp.
SCHAUMBURG, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- According to dermatologists from the American Academy of Dermatology, first-degree burns are very common and frequently occur after one accidentally touches a hot stove, curling iron or hair straightener. Sunburn can also be a first-degree burn. Unlike second- or third-degree burns, which are more severe, first-degree burns only involve the top layer of the skin. If you have a first-degree burn, your skin may be red and painful, and you may experience mild swelling.

"Most first-degree burns can be treated at home; however, it's important to know what to do," said board-certified dermatologist Darrell S. Rigel, MD, FAAD, a clinical professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at New York University. "Although first-degree burns aren't as serious as higher-degree burns, they can hurt quite a bit and can leave a scar if not properly treated."

To treat a first-degree burn, Dr. Rigel recommends the following tips:

1. Cool the burn. Immediately immerse the burn in cool tap water or apply cold, wet compresses. Do this for about 10 minutes or until the pain subsides.

2. Apply petroleum jelly two to three times daily. Do not apply ointments, toothpaste or butter to the burn, as these may cause an infection. Do not apply topical antibiotics.

3. Cover the burn with a nonstick, sterile bandage. If blisters form, let them heal on their own while keeping the area covered. Do not pop the blisters.

4. Consider taking over-the-counter pain medication. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help relieve the pain and reduce inflammation.

5. Protect the area from the sun. Once the burn heals, protect it from the sun by seeking shade, wearing protective clothing and applying a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher. This will help minimize scarring, as the redness from a burn sometimes persists for weeks, especially in those with darker skin tones.

"First-degree burns usually heal on their own without treatment from a doctor," said Dr. Rigel. "However, if your first-degree burn is very large, if the victim is an infant or elderly person, or if you think your burn is more severe, go to an emergency room immediately."

These tips are demonstrated in "How to Treat a First-Degree, Minor Burn," a video posted to the AAD website and YouTube channel. This video is part of the AAD's "Video of the Month" series, which offers tips people can use to properly care for their skin, hair and nails. A new video in the series posts to the AAD website and YouTube channel each month.

Headquartered in Schaumburg, Ill., the American Academy of Dermatology, founded in 1938, is the largest, most influential, and most representative of all dermatologic associations. With a membership of more than 19,000 physicians worldwide, the AAD is committed to: advancing the diagnosis and medical, surgical and cosmetic treatment of the skin, hair and nails; advocating high standards in clinical practice, education, and research in dermatology; and supporting and enhancing patient care for a lifetime of healthier skin, hair and nails. For more information, contact the AAD at 1-888-462-DERM (3376) or aad.org. Follow the AAD on Facebook (American Academy of Dermatology), Twitter (@AADskin), or YouTube (AcademyofDermatology).

To view this release in a media-rich format, go to: http://aad.new-media-release.com/2017/minor_burns/

Nicole DiVito

(847) 240-1746

Email Contact



Amanda Jacobs

(847) 240-1714

Email Contact




IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 10, 2017 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces the filing of a securities class action lawsuit against SCANA Corporation ("SCANA" or the "Company") (NYSE: SCG). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between January 19, 2016 and September 22, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm in advance of the November 27, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased SCANA shares during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esq., of Khang & Khang LLP, 4000 Barranca Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92604, by telephone at (949) 419-3834 , or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member as well.

According to the Complaint, throughout the Class Period, SCANA made false and/or misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding the construction of its project to build nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina, assuring investors that costs spending was prudent and substantial progress was being made, even when cost overruns and other delays began to materialize. On July 31, 2017, the Company announced that it would abandon construction of the nuclear project because of cost overruns and delays. On August 4, 2017, the South Carolina Attorney General announced the opening of an investigation into the Company's abandonment of the nuclear project. On the same day, South Carolina state senators called for a special legislative session to investigate SCANA. On September 22, 2017, the South Carolina Attorney General publicly requested that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division launch a criminal investigation into the project. When this news was announced to the public, shares of SCANA dropped in value materially, which caused investors harm according to the Complaint.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esq., a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone at (949) 419-3834 , or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

Contact

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2017) - East Asia Minerals Corporation (TSXV: EAS) (the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on current exploration activities relating to the ongoing Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS), AMDAL Environmental report status, geotechnical and metallurgical work being conducted at its Sangihe gold property in Indonesia.

The company's focus is on completing Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS) and AMDAL Environmental reports as once they are submitted and accepted by the Indonesian Mining Department (MEMR), construction of the mining facilities and infrastructure can begin at the Sangihe project. The company anticipates gold processing and production to begin by mid 2018. The Indonesian Feasibility Study is not a Feasibility Study as defined by CIM as required by NI 43-101. The Company cautions readers that the any production decision made by the Company will probably not be based on a NI 43-101 feasibility study of mineral reserves that demonstrates economic and technical viability and as such, there may be involved increased uncertainty and various technological and economic risks outlined in the "forward looking statement" below.

The IFS, which is being conducted by Resindo Resources and Energy, an Indonesian consulting firm, is well underway and comprised of several elements:

Drilling of new geotechnical core samples commenced on September 25, 2017 as part of the required components for Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS) in order to provide the most up to date and accurate core sample for pit wall design.

Hydro-geological surveying is underway and is designed to help locate and identify the water table level in the pit design and best water sources needed for upcoming drilling, heap-leaching and ultimately gold production. The Company anticipates completion of surveying by the end of October, 2017.

Metallurgical surveying has been undertaken to identity the most suitable heap-leaching locations Drilling of the Metallurgy holes to provide the samples required for all of the Metallurgical test work required for the IFS commenced on October 5th and is anticipated to be completed by mid October 2017.

The entire Sangihe exploration camp and crew quarters have been completely renovated and are now fully operational.

Town-hall meetings are being conducted with the environmentalist team and local villagers in conjunction with the AMDAL environmental report. The baseline study is expected to be completed by November, 2017 and the AMDAL environmental report by December, 2017.

The Company has expanded local administration, accounting staff and logistical systems in anticipation of developing the Sangihe project from the feasibility stage into full production, slated for mid-2018.

Sangihe Project

The Sangihe gold-copper project is located on the island of Sangihe off the northern coast of Sulawesi and has an existing National Instrument 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 266,000 ounces of Gold. The Company's 70-percent interest in the Sangihe-mineral-tenement contract of work ("CoW") is held through PT Tambang Mas Sangihe (PTTMS). The remaining 30-percent interest in PTTMS is held by three unaffiliated Indonesian corporations. The term of the Sangihe CoW agreement is for 30 years upon commencement of the production phase of the project.

East Asia Minerals Corporation

Terry Filbert, Chairman & CEO

For further information, contact Mark Sommer at 1-604-684-2183, info@eastasiaminerals.com or visit the Company's website at www.eastasiaminerals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements in this News Release, which are not historical in nature, constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning future work programs, results and timing of any work programs, the Company's performance or events as of the date hereof. These statements reflect management's current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Those risks include the interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; commodity and currency price fluctuation; failure to obtain adequate financing; regulatory, recovery rates, refinery costs, and other relevant conversion factors, permitting and licensing risks; general market and mining exploration risks and production and economic risks related to design and engineering, manufacturing, technological processes and test procedures and the risk that the project's output will not be salable at a price that will cover the project's operating and maintenance costs. Forward-looking statements should not be construed as investment advice. Readers should perform a detailed, independent investigation and analysis of the Company and are encouraged to seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events or changes in circumstances that occur after the date hereof.

# # #
FELTON, California, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The global MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) market was valued at USD 3.2 billion in 2015. The systems are used mainly for the detection of central nervous system (CNS) related diseases such as tumors, spine lesions, stroke influenced area in brain and blood vessels. The main driving factor for this market is increasing elderly population and high incidences of CNS diseases. The high rates of chronic diseases due to the increased geriatric population and demand for the minimally invasive or non-invasive diagnostic procedures fuel the market growth.

The technology advancement in various screening techniques namely open systems, software up gradation and superconducting magnets supports the market growth. The combination of MRI and pacemaker is a new technology development open the new door for MRI market due to its duel advantage and application. The higher adoption in the technology is due to the its sharp and precise images in short period of 20 minutes time because of its paramagnetic contrast agent and gadolinium-DTPA use as an intravenous injection.

The product is categorized as closed and open type based on its design. The closed type of instrument captures the largest market in 2015. On the other hand, the product acceptance of closed instrument is very law for the claustrophobic patients due to the fear of suffocation so the market opportunities for the open instrument is very high in projected forecast period.

Browse 90 page research report with TOC on "Global Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Market" at: https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/magnetic-resonance-imaging-market

The MRI technique dominates the medical diagnosis market due to its various biomedical applications. The MRI is used for the scanning of various body parts such as abdomen, pelvis, brain, spine, heart, breast and musculoskeletal structure due to its anatomical and physiological scanning competence.

North America dominated the market with the largest revenue share in 2015. The North America is the dominate market for the MRI techniques due to technology advancement as well as easy availability of instrument in this region. The government policies on healthcare, the reimbursement by the private and government insurances, awareness for the diseases and early detection heighten the market growth in North America.

Major players competing in the industry include but are not limited to Siemens AG; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; GE Healthcare; Hitachi Medical Systems. These companies hold a strong position in the global market mainly due to their strong geographic reach. Some other players operating in the market include Toshiba Corporation; Aurora Imaging Technologies, Inc.; Esaote SpA; Sanrad Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd Inc.

Browse reports of similar category available with Million Insights:

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Cosmetic Dentistry Market - https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/cosmetic-dentistry-market

Microscope Market - https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/microscope-market

Ophthalmoscope Market - https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/ophthalmoscope-market

Market Segment ation :

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Architecture Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

 Closed Systems

 Open Systems

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Field Strength Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

 Low Field Strength

 Mid Field Strength

 High Field Strength

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

 Brain and neurological

 Spine and Musculoskeletal

 Vascular

 Abdomen

 Cardiac

 Breast

 Others

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

 North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Europe

 Germany

 UK

 Asia Pacific

 China

 Japan

 Latin America

 Mexico

 Brazil

 MEA

 South Africa

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CALGARY, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Solium Capital Inc. ("Solium") (TSX: SUM), the leading provider of software-as-a-service for global equity-based incentive plans, administration, financial reporting and compliance, today announced the acquisition of Capshare, a high-growth cloud platform for cap table management, electronic-share tracking, modeling and waterfall analysis, and compliance for private companies.

Capshare will continue to operate as an independent entity, focused on early-stage private companies, but now with the power of Solium's broader capabilities and technology support.

"Capshare has built an incredible product for early-stage companies that enables them to service their target audience better than any other company in the market," said Marcos Lopez, Chief Executive Officer of Solium. "Together with Solium's Shareworks platform, we are now able to bring the best technology and service to companies from inception through IPO."

Through this acquisition, Solium will be able to serve early-stage startups, to bring them into an ecosystem that is trusted by thousands of high-growth private companies as well as later-stage private and public companies, worldwide.

"The private company market for equity management and valuations is going through an evolution," said Jeron Paul, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Capshare. "Companies are abandoning spreadsheets and looking toward a single provider for services like 409A, stock option expensing, shareholder relations and board management. Solium is the perfect partner to help Capshare's customers succeed in this changing market. We couldn't be more thrilled to be the newest member of the Solium family."

Capshare will remain independently run with no changes to the management team and will continue to focus exclusively on early-stage private companies. As a part of the growth plan, Solium will invest to allow Capshare to triple its development team. In addition, as Capshare customers advance from early-stage to later-stage companies, they will gain access to Solium's resources. Solium counts six of the 10 highest-valued pre-IPO companies as customers and continues to grow its public and private business aggressively.

"The acquisition of Capshare moves us closer to our goal to provide private companies the best equity management and valuation solutions in a way that can support them from startup through to maturity," stated Mr. Lopez.

About Solium Capital Inc.

Solium Capital Inc. (TSX: SUM) provides cloud-enabled services for global equity administration, financial reporting and compliance. From offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, our innovative software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology powers share plan administration and equity transactions for more than 3,000 corporate clients with employee participants in more than 100 countries. Follow us @Solium and visit us at solium.com.

About Capshare, Inc.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Capshare is a web-based equity management platform where private companies can issue stock and manage all of their equity in one place without getting bogged down in spreadsheets and paperwork. Over 10,000 companies, investors, and lawyers currently use the Capshare platform. For more information, visit http://www.capshare.com.

Investor Relations Contact: NATIONAL Equicom, Heidi Christensen Brown, hchristensenbrown@national.ca, +1-416-848-1389; Media Contact: Kelsey Cullen, Kelsey@kcpr.com, +1-650-438-1063
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe officials are meeting their South African counterparts at the Industrial Development Corporation next month to have a discussion around the $20 million loan facility which the state entity had applied for.The loan facility is aimed at kick-starting the corporation's development financing role in the local industry.This comes after IDC Zim finished the repayment of a six year $15 million loan facility availed by the South African finance institution that went towards its recapitalisation programme.A well-placed source at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce confirmed the trip and highlighted that Government was in support of the effort being taken."The IDC officials will be meeting IDC South Africa over the $20 million loan facility which had been applied for. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is highly supportive of these initiatives."The Ministry has pledged support that will include guarantees to the loan," said the source.The source said IDC will also take the opportunity to introduce its new management to IDC South Africa.IDC recently announced the departure of long serving Mike Ndudzo after 26 years of service. Former Motec Holdings (Pvt) Limited group chief executive Benjamin Khumalo is now the new chief executive."The visit to South Africa is set to provide an opportunity to introduce the new management to IDC SA. Remember the Corporation has had only one chief executive for the past 26 years," said the source.The current initiatives to raise finance follows a Cabinet resolution which stated that IDC should start playing its role as a development finance provider.IDC Zim is mandated to establish and conduct any industrial undertaking, to facilitate, promote, guide and assist the financing of new industrial undertaking (including small and medium-scale), schemes for the expansion, better organisation and modernisation of and more efficient carrying out of operations in existing industries and industrial undertakings.
TORONTO, 2017-10-10 22:30 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX:MND) announced today its production and sales results for the third quarter of 2017.



Mandalay produced a consolidated 25,819 saleable ounces of gold equivalent and sold 27,310 ounces of gold equivalent in the third quarter of 2017. For the nine months ended September 2017, Mandalay produced 96,791 saleable ounces of gold equivalent and sold 97,820 ounces of gold equivalent.



Mark Sander, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mandalay, commented, "Bjorkdal and Costerfield both delivered strong production and sales in the third quarter of 2017, and we remain on track to deliver our revised guidance based on full-year production from these two assets."



Dr. Sander continued, "Bjorkdal produced 13,233 ounces of gold in the third quarter of 2017, which was a record third quarter performance at the mine under Mandalay ownership. The mine has produced at an annualized rate of almost 60,000 ounces of gold through the second and third quarters as a result of the combined impacts of our grade control and mine debottlenecking programs. Strong mining performance was augmented by the successful commissioning of the flotation expansion project, completed on budget and ahead of schedule, which increased gold recoveries in the latter part of the quarter. Bjorkdal has clearly moved beyond the step changes envisioned by Mandalay at the time of acquisition and has now embarked on a program of self-generated, continuous improvement."



Dr. Sander added, "Costerfield continued its solid performance with production of 12,586 gold equivalent ounces in the third quarter of 2017. While slightly lower than the third quarter production of the previous year, production remains consistent with the previous three quarters and the current grade profile of the mine.



"Operations at Cerro Bayo remained suspended for the third quarter of 2017 as previously disclosed in our prior news releases. Cerro Bayo will remain on care and maintenance for the rest of 2017 while safety investigations are completed and Life of Mine permitting is advanced."



Dr. Sander concluded, "Our producing assets continue to perform well, and we are confident that this strong performance will continue. With this solid operational underpinning, Mandalay looks forward to growing Mineral Resources and Reserves at our current operations, establishing a safe and sound basis for resumption of mining at Cerro Bayo, and capturing accretive acquisition opportunities to which we can add significant value."



Saleable Production for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2017:



-- The Company produced a total of 20,603 ounces gold and 804 tonnes antimony, representing a total of 25,819 ounces of gold equivalent, versus 24,309 ounces gold, 844 tonnes of antimony and 388,139 ounces silver, representing a total of 34,586 ounces of gold equivalent in the third quarter of 2016. -- Production at Costerfield (Australia) was 7,370 ounces gold and 804 tonnes antimony, versus 9,102 ounces gold and 844 tonnes antimony in the third quarter of 2016. -- Production at Bjorkdal (Sweden) was 13,233 ounces gold as compared to 12,376 ounces gold in the third quarter of 2016. -- Production at Cerro Bayo (Chile) has been suspended for the completion of the safety investigation while permitting activities continue, permitting since June 9, 2017, due to the inundation of the Delia NW mine. Therefore, no production occurred this quarter.



Saleable Production for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017:



-- The Company produced a total of 70,192 ounces gold, 2,310 tonnes antimony and 794,533 ounces silver, representing a total of 96,791 ounces of gold equivalent production, versus 81,981 ounces gold, 2,806 tonnes antimony and 1,365,817 ounces silver, representing a total of 114,204 ounces gold equivalent in the corresponding nine months of 2016. -- Production at Costerfield was 24,290 ounces gold and 2,310 tonnes antimony. -- Production at Bjorkdal was 39,993 ounces gold. -- Production at Cerro Bayo was 5,909 ounces gold and 794,533 ounces silver.



Table 1 - Third Quarter and Nine Month Saleable Production for 2017 and 2016



Metal Source Three months Three months Nine months Nine months ended ended ended ended 30 September 30 September 30 30 2017 2016 September September 2017 2016 Gold (oz) Costerfi 7,370 9,102 24,290 33,787 eld Bjorkdal 13,233 12,376 39,993 37,209 Cerro - 2,831 5,909 10,985 Bayo Total 20,603 24,309 70,192 81,981 Antimony (t) Costerfi 804 844 2,310 2,806 eld Silver (oz) Cerro - 388,139 794,533 1,365,817 Bayo Average quarterly prices: Gold US$/oz 1,278 1,334 Antimony US$/t 8,293 7,244 Silver US$/oz 16.85 19.58 Au Eq. (oz)1 Costerfi 12,586 13,684 39,777 47,673 eld Bjorkdal 13,233 12,376 39,993 37,209 Cerro - 8,526 17,021 29,322 Bayo Total 25,819 34,586 96,791 114,204



1 Quarterly gold equivalent ounces ("Au Eq. oz") produced is calculated by multiplying the saleable quantities of gold ("Au"), silver ("Ag"), and antimony ("Sb") in the period by the respective average market prices of the commodities in the period, adding the three amounts to get a "total contained value based on market price", and then dividing that total contained value by the average market price of Au in the period. Average Au price in the period is calculated as the average of the daily LME PM fixes in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken of the last business day; average Sb price in the period is calculated as the average of the daily average of the high and low Rotterdam warehouse prices for all days in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken from the last business day; average Ag price in the period is calculated as the average of the daily London Broker's silver spot price for all days in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken from the last business day. The source for all prices is www.metalbulletin.com.



Sales for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2017:



-- The Company sold 21,749 ounces gold, 697 tonnes antimony, and 78,805 ounces silver, representing a total of 27,310 ounces of gold equivalent, versus 24,888 ounces gold, 804 tonnes antimony, and 433,904 ounces silver, representing a total of 35,617 ounces of gold equivalent in the third quarter of 2016. -- Costerfield sold 7,500 ounces gold and 697 tonnes antimony, versus 8,865 ounces gold and 804 tonnes antimony in the third quarter of 2016. -- Bjorkdal sold 13,620 ounces gold, versus 12,758 ounces gold in the third quarter of 2016. -- Cerro Bayo sold 629 ounces gold and 78,805 ounces silver, versus 3,265 ounces gold and 433,904 ounces silver in the third quarter of 2016.



Sales for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017:



-- The Company sold 70,313 ounces gold, 2,211 tonnes antimony, and 908,498 ounces silver, representing a total of 97,820 ounces of gold equivalent, versus 84,022 ounces gold, 2,690 tonnes antimony, and 1,476,518 ounces silver, representing a total of 117,165 ounces of gold equivalent in the nine months ended September 30, 2016. -- Costerfield sold 23,959 ounces gold and 2,211 tonnes antimony. -- Bjorkdal sold 39,493 ounces gold. -- Cerro Bayo sold 6,861 ounces gold and 908,498 ounces silver.



Table 2 - Third Quarter and Nine Month Sales for 2017 and 2016



Metal Source Three months Three months Nine months Nine months ended ended ended ended 30 September 30 September 30 30 2017 2016 September September 2017 2016 Gold (oz) Costerfi 7,500 8,865 23,959 32,121 eld Bjorkdal 13,620 12,758 39,493 38,908 Cerro 629 3,265 6,861 12,993 Bayo Total 21,749 24,888 70,313 84,022 Antimony (t) Costerfi 697 804 2,211 2,690 eld Silver (oz) Cerro 78,805 433,904 908,498 1,476,518 Bayo Average quarterly prices: Gold US$/oz 1,278 1,334 Antimony US$/t 8,293 7,244 Silver US$/oz 16.85 19.58 Au Eq. (oz)1 Costerfi 12,023 13,228 38,826 45,457 eld Bjorkdal 13,620 12,758 39,493 38,908 Cerro 1,667 9,631 19,501 32,800 Bayo Total 27,310 35,617 97,820 117,165



1Quarterly Au Eq. oz sold is calculated by multiplying the saleable quantities of Au, Ag, and Sb in the period by the respective average market prices of the commodities in the period, adding the three amounts to get a "total contained value based on market price", and then dividing that total contained value by the average market price of Au for the period. The source for all prices is www.metalbulletin.com with price on weekend days and holidays taken of the last business day.



For Further Information:



Mark Sander President and Chief Executive Officer



Greg DiTomaso Director of Investor Relations



Contact: 647.260.1566



About Mandalay Resources Corporation:



Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia and Sweden and producing and exploration projects in Chile. The Company is focused on executing a roll-up strategy, creating critical mass by aggregating advanced or in-production gold, copper, silver and antimony projects in Australia, the Americas and Europe to generate near-term cash flow and shareholder value.



Forward-Looking Statements:



This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the Company's production of gold, silver and antimony for the 2017 fiscal year. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, changes in commodity prices and general market and economic conditions. The factors identified above are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Mandalay. A description of additional risks that could result in actual results and developments differing from those contemplated by forward-looking statements in this news release can be found under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mandalay's annual information form dated March 31, 2017, a copy of which is available under Mandalay's profile at www.sedar.com. In addition, there can be no assurance that any inferred resources that are discovered as a result of additional drilling will ever be upgraded to proven or probable reserves. Although Mandalay has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

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MONTERREY, MEXICO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/10/17 -- Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA") (NYSE: FMX) (BMV: FEMSAUBD) (BMV: FEMSAUB) today announced that it has modified the start time for its Third Quarter 2017 Conference Call on Friday, October 27, 2017. The call will now begin at 9:00 AM Eastern Time (8:00 AM Mexico City Time).

Eduardo Padilla, Chief Corporate Officer of FEMSA, will host the call and discuss FEMSA's Third Quarter 2017 financial results, followed by a question and answer session. The quarterly results will be released on October 26 after the market's close.

To participate in the conference call please dial

Toll Free US: (888) 602 6363

International: (719) 457 2735

Conference ID: 9150893

The conference call will be webcast live through streaming audio. For details please visit www.femsa.com/investor

If you are unable to participate live, the conference call replay will be available on http://ir.femsa.com/results.cfm

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Retail Division operating various small-format store chains including OXXO, a Health Division, which includes all drugstores and related operations, and a Fuel Division, operating the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.

Media Contact:

(52) 55-5249-6843

Email Contact

www.femsa.com



Investor Contact:

(52) 81-8328-6167

Email Contact

www.femsa.com/investor




New Delhi: One thing is clear from the statement of Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran about the groups willingness to look at buying stake in Air India - a decision either way will depend on a whole range of factors, not merely on emotional connect the Tatas have always had with the aviation business. Air India was originally a Tata airline, launched by J R D Tata in 1923 and was helmed by him for years before the governments abrupt nationalisation in 1953. When the government first tried to privatise the airline in 2001, the Tatas were frontrunners in association with Singapore Airlines. But dirty politicking stalled this process and the airline has remained wholly owned by the government.

Current group patriarch Ratan Tata has continued to be passionate about the aviation business, earlier again expressing interest in buying Air India whenever it was up for sale. He also lead efforts to launch two separate airlines with foreign partners in India after FDI caps were lifted and Tatas were the first potential buyer the government approached when it decided to offload a strategic stake in the airline earlier this year.

But despite the emotional baggage, what Chandra has said in interviews makes sense. A decision will depend on the governments stance on lifting FDI caps in the sector, whether such an acquisition will provide scale to the Tatas in aviation and the future growth potential in the sector after this buy.

Remember, the group already has two separate airline ventures in India, one in partnership with Singapore Airlines (Vistara where SIA holds 49 percent stake) and Air Asia India where the Malaysian partner again holds 49 percent stake. But the share of the two airlines together is nowhere near market leadership. While it is correct that the Tatas emotional attachment to Air India can neither be denied nor belittled, that alone should not push the group into yet another acquisition. The first attempt at privatising Air India was a botched up one, when dirty politicking stalled the entire process. Singapore Airlines had teamed up with the Tatas even then to buy 40 percent stake in Air India in 2001, but the sale never happened.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Chandrasekaran said We will definitely look at it. We still dont have all the details. Every business proposal will be very seriously looked at and we will look at that (Air India). Definitely. But currently we dont have the data... there are so many different groups within Air India and then there is real estate, there is debt, there are liabilities and we got to look at all of that it but we will definitely look at it.

Remember, there is little forward movement on the sale specifics, with the government still not specifying how much stake would be on the table, whether foreign airlines will at all be allowed to participate in the sale process and if all of the airlines nearly Rs 50,000 crore debt will have to be borne by the buyer. Though senior officials in the ministry of civil aviation have been indicating it needs just push of the pen to change or ease FDI caps, some Central ministers have publicly indicated they would like the airline to remain in Indian hands.

In the latest consolidated FDI circular published in August, the government maintained that 49 percent cap for foreign airlines wanting to invest in the capital of Indian carriers but clarified that this part of the policy is not applicable to Air India. Unless the exemption to Air India is removed, the bidders can only be Indian entities. This means the Tatas cannot partner with Singapore Airlines for a potential bid, though the same can be made via Vistara.

Separately, sources tell us that there is considerable confusion within the government on whether to offload certain businesses of Air India outside of the stake sale process and which these businesses or services should be. There is no decision yet on whether to sell off some real estate, some services like ground handling and some bilateral flying rights before initiating disinvestment. If any of this is done however, the airline may become less attractive for a potential buyer, said a person close to developments.

The issue of debt is also an important one and perhaps the toughest for the government to settle before it puts Air India on the block.

How much to write off? There have been reports of a substantial write off or hive off by forming a separate entity to house this portion of the debt.

Meanwhile, in the same interview, Chandra also spoke of the importance of each business having scale. We have a team which can definitely spend the time as soon as the details are out. We need to look at aviation as a whole. We are subscale. We got two airlines both are subscale. Any decision that we takeAir India or otherwisewe have to have a story because we cant be operating with 15 aircraft or 20 aircraft. I feel scale is important, in every industry in every group we operate in scale is important. Without scale you get to a situation where you are all over the place and it is very, very difficult to pay management attention."

Well, till Air India buy makes sense, the Tatas should not come forward. Apart from the Tatas, the promoters of IndiGo have also evinced interest in the airlines international business while two separate entities have spoken up for the airlines ground handling business.
Firecracker industry like most of the industries in India has had a clustered existence. Most of them are small scale manufacturers clustered in and around Sivakasi Tamil Nadu. The industry size is estimated to be Rs 4,000 crore. But Chinese fire crackers have made a serious inroad into what was earlier a cocooned market by cornering almost 40 percent of the market thanks to its undercutting tactics on the back of starvation wages.

Last years demonetization hit all the small scale industries in India secularly. Sivakasi was no exception and it too was singed. Even as it was limping back to normalcy came the Supreme Court (SC) order banning sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR region.

The industry is now singed twice over in quick succession.

Hindu organizations are fuming at the discrimination with some of them drawing a comparison between crackers and slaughterhouses. If crackers pollute the air, the slaughterhouses pollute water especially on festival eve, they thunder. Why single out a raucous and boisterous Hindu festival alone? Having said that it must be pointed out that there is already an awakening among children about the deleterious effects of fire crackers and they pontificate to their parents in a manner of child being the father of man. The SC ought to have waited for this trend to percolate deep down.

Traders in Delhi-NCR who have stocked up firecrackers in the run up to Diwali are worst affected because while for buyers the news is killjoy, for traders it affects their livelihood and hence a more serious issue with the potential ripple effect looming large. Small scale manufacturers always encounter payment difficulties. The distributors take their own sweet time and pay up only when they get paid by the retailers down the supply chain.

The SC order has triggered a possible contagion effect. Unsold stocks are a traders nightmare. Cash gets locked up and there is a heightened storage cost with safety implications. Besides their margins could get badly hit in finding buyers in other places at a short notice involving yet another round of unnecessary transportation in a last minute rush.

In the USA, Hindus have community celebrations at a safe distance with prior police permission often at sprawling Hindu temples on the outskirts. There their worry is noise pollution. We in India dont mind the noise as much as we have belatedly started minding and whining about the air pollution. The SC could have ordered community celebrations at designated places even though that might necessitate huge transportation arrangements and police mobilization.

In India that would trigger a massive logistical problem on the scale of kumbhmelas. In any case Indians enjoy bursting crackers themselves. Not for them is the passive role of watching from a safe distance others bursting them.

Airlines are going to do a brisk business on the Diwali eve from Delhi as the diehard revelers would fly to other places like Chennai and Mumbai unaffected by the SC diktat.

The moot question is why the Apex Court is more concerned about Delhi. Granted that it is more polluted than other places besides being the capital city and home to foreign diplomats. But these are by themselves not enough to justify a differential treatment. Mumbai and Chennai also feel the heat of pollution caused by firecrackers.

Condemning the firecracker industry is like throwing the baby with bathwater. Granted it is reviled for employing child labor. Granted it is more reviled for causing noise and air pollution but the solution is not a ban. Regulation and awareness are the key.

There are less harmful fire crackers in terms of pollution and noise. Only the harmful ones should be banned if at all.
Stockholm: US academic Richard Thaler, who helped popularise the idea of nudging people towards doing what was best for them, won the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for his work on how human nature affects supposedly rational markets.

Influential in the field of behavioural economics, his research showed how traits such as lack of self-control and fear of losing what you already have prompt decisions that may not have the best outcome in the longer term.

I think the most important impact (of my research) is the recognition that economic agents are human and economic models have to incorporate that, Thaler, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said in call broadcast at the Nobel news conference.

Awarding the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: Richard Thalers contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making.

His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioural economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy.

Thaler brought to prominence the idea of nudge economics, where individuals are subtly guided towards beneficial behaviours without heavy-handed compulsion, the theme of a 2008 book he co-wrote which caught the eye of policymakers around the world.

In researching how self-control - or the lack of it - Thaler touched on an age-old problem: Why New Years resolutions to change aspects of your life are notoriously hard to keep.

The issue has relevance for economics as individuals tendency to fall prey to temptation often negatively affects plans to, for instance, save for retirement.

Together with Professor Cass Sunstein, he argued that society - while maintaining freedom of choice - should actively try to guide individuals in the right direction.

Their book, titled Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness became popular with some western politicians seeking ways to encourage their citizens to save and live healthily, without incurring voters wrath for raising taxes or banning behaviour outright.

This has also been used in public pension systems in the United States and the general idea of nudging ... has made a breakthrough in public policy making, Torsten Persson, economics prize committee member, told Reuters.

Theres also a nudging unit for the UK government, theres one for the Australian government, it even affects the Swedish government when they think about these things.

David Laibson, chair of Harvard Universitys economics department, said many of Thalers theories have been widely applied by business and government, aiming to get individuals to do a range of actions such as paying parking tickets and getting flu shots.

If you live in a developed country, theres some firm or entity that has read these ideas and started to affect your life, Laibson said.

Influential in academic circles, the movie-going public may have noticed Thaler make a brief cameo in the 2015 film The Big Short, explaining the so-called hot-hand fallacy where past success is expected to also warrant success in the future, with pop star Selena Gomez.

Asked how he would spend his prize money, Thaler said: I will spend it as irrationally as possible.

Many Americans, No Women

The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobels 1895 will.

Economy is the last of this years Nobels, with prizes for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace awarded last week.

The United States has dominated the economics prize, with American economists accounting for roughly half of laureates since the inception of the award. Indeed, between 2000 and 2013, US academics won or shared the prize every year.

While Americans have dominated the Nobel science and economics prizes, another category of researchers - women - have been few and far between. Indeed only one women - Elinor Ostrom in 2009 - has won the economics prize to date, and not a single individual women won any Nobel award in 2017.

We are disappointed looking in a larger perspective that there arent more women who have been rewarded, the Academys secretary general Goran Hansson said.

He said the Academy would hold a conference to discuss the issue and nominators will be asked to identify women scientists for recognition and also consider ethnic and geographic diversity.

We are concerned, we are taking measures. I hope that in five years, ten years, we will see a very different distribution, Hansson said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

AN EcoCash agent based in Hwange has been arrested after he allegedly stole more than $12 000 in four days from 25 clients by duplicating their sim cards and PIN codes before transferring their money into his account.Tafadzwa Taziveyi (23), whose address was not given but worked at Shanduka Econet shop in Hwange, allegedly committed the crime in connivance with an unnamed Information Technology (IT) specialist from the mobile operator's head office in Harare.The two allegedly shared the loot.It is alleged that after identifying his target, Taziveyi would fraudulently replace the client's sim card with a new one and PIN code before transferring money to his agent's account without the knowledge of the owner.Taziveyi was arrested last week following investigations after numerous complaints by people who had lost their money through the scam.Taziveyi was not formally charged with theft when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Mrs Portia Mhlanga-Moyo.He was remanded in custody to tomorrow for routine remand.Allegations as presented by Mr Onias Nyathi are that Taziveyi committed the crimes between September 29 and October 4."Between 29 September and 4 October, the accused connived with an accomplice who is still at large, to steal money from clients. The accused would identify possible targets when they (clients) would obtain sim cards and later replace their lines with new ones and reset the pin code," said the prosecutor.Armed with a new sim card and pin code for a client, Taziveyi would then allegedly transfer some money from the customer's account into his account.He would transfer part of the money to an accomplice in Harare who is still at large, the court heard.An investigation was launched following numerous complaints to Econet Hwange branch resulting in Taziveyi's arrest.The total amount stolen is $12 681 and $4 935 was recovered.
Mumbai: Petrol will be cheaper by Rs 2 and diesel by Re 1 per litre across Maharashtra from midnight on Tuesday after the state government reduced the value-added tax (VAT) on the fuels.

Making the announcement about VAT reduction on petrol and diesel on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar termed it as a "Diwali gift" to people of the state.

The revised rates will be applicable from midnight today, he said.

"The chief minister has approved a proposal to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 and Re 1 a litre, respectively. This is our Diwali gift to the masses,"

Mungantiwar told PTI.

He said the decision will cause an annual revenue loss of Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer.

"The government is ready to bear the additional financial burden despite Maharashtra's economy not being in a good shape," he said.

Reacting to the government's decision, the Shiv Sena said there is a scope for further reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel, while other opposition parties termed the move as an "eyewash".

"This (fuel price cut) was very essential. However, the prices can be further reduced. Instead of making an one-time announcement and later increasing (the rates) again, the government should be more transparent.

"The government should come out with a roadmap, detailing the quantum of fuel price cut it was planning in the next one year," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is part of the BJP-led ruling coalition in the state.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said the reduction is just an "eyewash" and reflects "poor" financial management of the Devendra Fadnavis government.

"The price of crude oil (in global market) is around $50 a barrel. Going by this, the petrol price should not be more than Rs 40 a litre," Chavan said.

"This reduction hardly means anything. Fuel prices should be drastically slashed," the former chief minister added.

The NCP termed the VAT reduction as "minor" and said it was like giving "alms" to people.

Party leader Nawab Malik said, "We have been demanding that the government (must) stop the loot of people. Instead of doing that, the government is giving alms to people which they don't need".
New Delhi: Indias Tata conglomerate is interested in bidding for state-owned Air India as the group needs to increase the sizes of its aviation business, its boss told television channel CNBC TV18 in an interview on Monday.

Tata would definitely look at Air India once the government finalised the privatisation process, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata groups holding company Tata Sons, told the channel.

He said Tata, which already has two small airline joint ventures in India, one with Singapore Airlines and the other with Malaysias AirAsia Bhd, was still not clear about what a sale would look like.

The government has not said whether it will sell all or parts of Air India and what it might do about the loss-making airlines debt burden of $8.5 billion.

We still dont have all the details, Chandrasekaran said. We have two airlines, both are subscale. I feel scale is important.

When asked whether Tata had spoken to Singapore Airlines about its interest in bidding for Air India, Chandrasekaran said: Do you think I would have not?

Tatas interest in Air India has been reported but Chandrasekaran had not spoken publicly about a possible bid.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet in June gave the go-ahead to sell Air India, which has received $3.6 billion since 2012 in state aid.

Last month the government invited bids to appoint financial and legal advisors for the sale process.

Some companies including low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, ground handling company Bird Group and Turkeys Celebi Aviation Holdings have expressed an interest in buying some of Air Indias various businesses.

Air India, founded in 1930s by the Tata Group, is saddled with debts and a bloated cost structure.

Once the nations largest carrier, its market share in the booming domestic market has slumped to 13 percent as private carriers expanded.



Tata Teleservices, Tata Motors

In Mondays interview, Chandrasekaran also said all options are on the table when asked about the future of its struggling telecoms unit Tata Teleservices.

The Economic Times said earlier this month that Tata had told the government it intended to shut down Tata Teleservices.

I will have to take a tough call and I will, Chandrasekaran said, adding that a solution would be found this financial year because Tata could not continue to pump in cash to fund the company.

Chandrasekaran also said the group was focusing on improving returns at Tata Motors and ending production of its loss-making Nano car would make little difference to the firms profitability.

British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has long been the main source of revenues and profits at Tata Motors.

The company has said it will invest more than 40 billion rupees ($612 million) to boost sales of its passenger and commercial vehicles and return to profit in its domestic business.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said there is scope for further reforms in the country's energy sector as he met CEOs of top global and Indian firms to explore ways to raise domestic output and cut imports.

Chief executives of firms ranging from BP Plc of the UK to Russia's Rosneft, Exxon Mobil, Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell flew in specially for a three-hour meeting, in a rare display of their faith in India and its policy reforms, top sources said.

In the three-hour long meeting, the honchos appreciated the reforms initiated in the last 40 months which has created an environment for companies like BP to revive $6 billion in investment plan in gas production and Saudi Aramco to consider investing in refining and petrochemical projects, they added.

"The absolute coordination between policy, strategy and implementation came in for special praise with some CEOs saying they have not seen any parallel world over on the speed with which reforms have been implemented," a source said.

Modi, they said, at the meeting stressed that India in the energy sector is growing vertically - from exportation to midstream refining and fuel distribution and technological innovation, as also horizontally in taking energy to last man in the queue by giving over 3 crore free LPG connections in last 15 months and promising 4 crore electricity connections to 4 crore households in the next 15 months.

"India is priority for investment for them," another source said, adding speakers praised reforms like deregulation of auto fuel prices, gas pricing and marketing freedom, production augmentation strategy and new policy for exploration and production.

India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, is using its market size to strike better deals with oil exporters and attract investment into upstream exploration, refining and petrochemical industries.

"Participants appreciated the pace and drive with which Prime Minister Modi has brought about reforms in the energy sector," a statement issued by Prime Minister's Office said.

Subjects such as the need for a unified energy policy, contract frameworks and arrangements, requirement of seismic data sets, encouragement for biofuels, improving gas supply, setting up of a gas hub and regulatory issues came up for discussions, it said.

The CEOs also suggested including natural gas and electricity in the GST regime to make these competitive.

Modi, who had previously met a smaller group of oil and gas CEO in January 2016, said the status of the energy sector in India was highly uneven and there exists a scope for reform in many areas, according to sources.

More than a year after the January 2016 meeting, the government had allowed higher natural gas price for yet-to- be-produced fields in difficult areas like deep sea.

The main theme of today's meeting, sources said, was to seek investment in exploration and production, processing, transportation and distribution network in oil and gas.

Some of the officials suggested that the government should allow private and foreign firms to take a stake in producing oil and gas fields of ONGC with a condition that they would get a fixed US dollar per barrel fee for producing more than the pre-determined baseline output.

The government is looking at private investments to raise domestic oil and gas production, which has stagnated for the last few years while fuel demand has been rising by 5-6 percent annually.

Modi in 2015 had set a target of reducing India's oil dependence by 10 percent to 67 percent, based on import dependence of 77 percent in 2014-15, by 2022. The dependence has since risen to over 80 percent.

Sources said the participants at the meeting felt that investing in new unproven areas is not just risky with no guarantee of results but would also take a long time.

Involving companies with proven technology and having capital in existing producing fields for improving output is the way forward, they said.

Modi welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy, the statement said.

He also welcomed all possibilities for innovation and research in the oil and gas sector, the release said, adding that he flagged the potential of biomass energy and invited participation and joint ventures in the coal gasification.

According to the release, Modi also said that "scope for reform in many areas still exists".

He thanked all participants for sharing holistic suggestions, keeping in mind India's unique potential and requirements in the oil and gas sector, instead of merely confining themselves to the concerns of their respective organisations.

He observed that the suggestions made today covered policy, administrative as well as regulatory issues, while stressing upon the need to develop energy infrastructure and access to energy in eastern India.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the gathering that the liberalised India offers around $300 billion investment opportunity in the next 10 years in the oil and gas sector.

"We want investors, both domestic and global, who can bring in the best technology and capital," he said.

The government is devising policies to more than double the share of gas in the energy basket to 15 percent.

"We are planning a gas trading exchange and making sure there is open access to the gas grid. Global experience in this area would be useful," he stated.

According to Pradhan, in the last 40 months, the government has taken several policy initiatives in the energy sector in line with the prime minister's vision of energy access, efficiency, sustainability and security.
When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the economics Nobel for Richard Thaler, there was much commotion in the social media in India. Some of the twitter users circulated a 8 November, 2016 tweet by the well-known economist supporting the decision of the Narendra Modi-government to demonetise Rs 500, Rs 1,000 currency notes mainly to curb the cash component of black money in the system.

Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the high value currency notes in circulation are being banned and will become worthless pieces of papers in a matter of a few hours, Thaler had tweeted in support of the move.

"This is a policy I have long supported. First step toward cashless and good start on reducing corruption," he said in a tweet.

This is a policy I have long supported. First step toward cashless and good start on reducing corruption.  Richard H Thaler (@R_Thaler) November 8, 2016

But, that was only one part of the story. After he was informed that Modi has introduced Rs 2,000 notes as part of the move, his immediate reaction on Twitter was "really? Damn." In short, Thaler was in agreement with the idea of removing cash from the system but not in favour of replacing a set of currency with another. This disappointed the economist.

really? Damn.  Richard H Thaler (@R_Thaler) November 8, 2016

However, what some of the twitter users, notably head of the BJP's IT cell Amit Malviya, did was to tweet the first part of his reaction and conveniently conceal the second part, in effect misleading the public. The tweets by these handles were widely retweeted on the microblogging site. According to media reports, central ministers too retweeted Malviya's tweet.

Remember, Modi's demonetisation has, of late, come under heavy attack from various quarters including senior leaders from within BJP, who alleged that the move further worsened an already existing slowdown in the economy, with small-scale sector suffering the most.

As is evident from Thaler's second tweet, the most relevant question still is this: If indeed, as the government claims, note ban was intended to push the Indian economy towards cashless, why was Rs 2,000 introduced at all?

It is a widely acknowledged fact that high value currencies are a boost to illegal or parallel economy. That is why Firstpost's Dinesh Unnikrishnan argued in an earlier article that if the government wants to kill illegal cash transactions, it should make Rs 200 the top denomination and scrap all high value currency notes such as Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.

"...The Rs 2,000 pink notes never really helped the common man for daily transactions as there wasnt enough change available (even after seven months of demonetisation, there are still reports of cash shortages in ATMs)," he argued in the article published on 16 July, 2017.

"Most economists would agree that the evil of cash-based illegal transactions happen mostly using high value currency denominations. The only way to address this problem is to bring down the value of units in circulation and focus on circulating lower denomination notes for public use," he said.

A case in point is children rights activist Kailash Satyarthi's comments on demonetisation. Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, had supported the move soon after the announcement. He had said that it would reduce trafficking of children.

However, two months later, he found out that the move had not had the desired impact. "I'd expected black money-driven human trafficking would be crippled completely following demonetisation. But no significant effort is being seen on ground," he told The Times of India, adding that traffickers were using Rs 2,000 notes.

Clearly, the issuance of Rs 2,000 has defeated one of the stated objectives of demonetisation to gradually eliminate the use of cash in the system.

Thaler's tweet is still relevant.
New Delhi: Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday conceded that the groups mobile business Tata Teleservices is in a "really bad shape" weighed down by a huge debt and monthly cash losses, and emphasised that he would take a "call" about the business in this financial year.

In a candid admission, Chandrasekaran told CNBC TV18 in an interview that a turnaround of Tata Teleservices was an extremely difficult task and that he is committed to finding a solution "one way or the other" very quickly.

The Tata Sons honcho did not directly answer whether the group would close down the business but said that a "tough call" will have to be taken on Tata Teleservices, an issue that tops his priority at present.

"Tata Teleservices...is in a really bad shape. They have a huge debt. The footprint we have and the spectrum we have is very difficult...close to impossible for us to recover. So that is a company we are going to find a solution very quickly," he said.

Asked how much time will he take to decide on the future of Tata Teleservices, Chandrasekaran said, "I am looking at all options and I will figure out a way this fiscal year". When pressed if it would mean closing down the business, he said: "It could mean anything. Basically, I don't want to put good money after bad money."

Chandrasekarans comments come at a time when the market is buzzing with reports about the company preparing an exit plan for majority of its 5,000 employees.

He said Tata Teleservices was burdened by Rs 31,000 crore debt in addition to spectrum liability and was incurring cash losses on a month-on-month basis. "It is not a business that I can easily turnaround," he said, adding, that a turnaround would involve substantial investments to be infused which was "not prudent".

Chandrasekaran further said: "I have a financial issue and I am committed to finding a solution one way or the other. I will have to take a tough call and I will."

His plans for Tata Teleservices are part of a bigger strategy of the Tata group to simplify its structure and streamline companies, many of which are not performing. "Every single company is being looked at, if there is an opportunity to fix that, we fix that...if we cant fix it, then we have to take a call," he said.

The salt-to-software conglomerate has over 100 companies with 29 publicly-listed entities, some of which include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels.
Anushka Sharma recently launched her own clothing brand called Nush with an autumn/winter collection consisting of 160 pieces, which will be available in both online stores and retail outlets. Within a week of this launch, she has been accused of plagiarising designs from Chinese brands, reports Pune Mirror.

Several reports emerged claiming that her brand had directly lifted designs of products from Chinese e-commerce websites. Of these products in question are a parka, a tan coloured trench coat, a pair of striped monochrome pants, a pink bomber jacket, and a black bomber jacket with floral motifs.

These claims emerged days after promos of the event were shared on social media, where Sharma can be seen talking about how she spent hours on end sampling the designs for the collection. She also mentioned that the clothes are in tune with her own fashion style, and that she actively provided inputs in terms of what would and what would not work.

Responding to these claims, the actor's spokesperson said, "Several discrepancies have come to light over the last two days and we are in the process of getting to the bottom of this. We will not stop at taking the most stringent action required to resolve the situation and will share more details when we have complete clarity on the matter."
Raise your hands if you've had an intense conversation with your friends/family about the ongoing Kangana Rananut and Hrithik Roshan spat. Have you taken sides? Who do you think is telling the truth? Is there even one version of the truth? Is there any smoke with fire? So many questions, no coherent answers.

The explosive Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut legal case has reached such a level of interest, it's hard to turn one corner without a conspiracy theory.

However, one thing is a constant. When all else fails, everyone turns to the media, alleging biased coverage, turning a case like this into a gender debate, or covering the news as per convenience and being one-sided.

And so, in order to break the scapegoating process, here are five questions for Kangana Rananut, based on the recent claims Hrithik Roshan has made in his various interviews. This is an attempt to reduce the (raising) levels of confusion any news-consuming person would have about this bemusing case.

Question 1: Has Kangana submitted all her personal communication devices to the police for investigation?

Hrithik has claimed that Kangana did not cooperate with the investigation by refusing to submit her personal communication devices to the authorities initially. But Kangana's lawyer has argued she cooperated fully, but holds the right to reveal her devices selectively after proper questioning of the processes. Hrithik has also claimed that he has made all his communication devices available to the police.

Question 2: How would Hrithik have access to minor details of her daily life?
Among the reactions to the sexual misconduct allegations against film producer Harvey Weinsteins  that have in lightning speed brought the mogul to his knees  the silence from some of the biggest male actors in the world is glaring indeed. An article published in The Guardian said that it tried to get a reaction from 20 high profile actors and directors who have worked with the producer, but none of them responded.

While some, such as filmmaker Kevin Smith who said that he feels ashamed did respond, many who have worked with/are working with Weinstein are yet to publicly speak on the issue. This list is a virtual whos who of the movie business in the US and includes Quentin Tarantino, David O Russell, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Colin Firth, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Russell Crowe, George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. The list also includes the otherwise ready to comment Michael Moore, who is currently working with Harvey Weinstein on a documentary on Donald Trump. Weinstein has since been fired from The Weinstein Company, the independent outfit that he formed after selling Miramax to Disney and some companies such as Apple have scrapped projects that were in the making in the wake of the revelations. The deafening silence on the part of many top male stars, however, continues.

American writer James Baldwin had once said that ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. The fashion in which things have unravelled in this expose are similar to the allegations surrounding Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, RK Pachauri and the likes. The manner in which Hollywoods A-List men are silent seems to suggest a kind of a boys' club and this is perhaps the very thing that fuels men in powerful position. What is worse is that no one in Hollywood, or for that matter general public, is surprised at the allegations surrounding Weinstein because this has been called an open secret.

In 2004, Sharon Waxman, then a new reporter at The New York Times began to look into the oft-repeated allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein and according to her what she came up with was gutted due to intense pressure from the man himself. Waxmans article came after The New York Times ran a story on 5 October on how Harvey Weinstein paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades. When Waxman wrote that the same outfit never paid heed to her original investigation 13 years ago, the newspapers executive editor Dean Baquet responded that he wasnt here in 2004 and added that Waxmans direct editor, Jonathan Landman, suggested: she didnt have it nailed. Baquet also went on to add that all Waxman had, was an off-the-record account from one woman. In her piece, Waxman goes on to write how The New York Times was, in a way, Harvey Weinsteins Media Enabler and said that big names such as Matt Damon and Russell Crowe besides others called her directly to vouch for people whom Waxman had investigated to report on Weinstein.

In an interview that went online a little while ago, George Clooney also opened up about Weinsteins sexual misconduct and called it disturbing on a whole lot of levels. But would it be too wrong to believe that the silence on the part of many including Clooney, who despite hearing rumours way back in the 1990s about Weinstein, took it with a grain of salt, somewhere further fueled Weinstein?

The clout that Harvey Weinstein wielded in the 1990s was something few would have the guts to go against; after all, he was the man who produced Pulp Fiction, practically fueled the entire independent film movement of the decade, and could even guarantee an Oscar (he was the one behind Shakespeare in Love becoming an instant classic). At times, people may not have the option to call such conduct out or walk away like in the case of Jessica Chastain, who tweeted I was warned from the beginning. The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again. When asked why she worked with Weinstein on a film, Chastain replied to the tweet that the director wanted him.

What is not understandable is the manner in which actors  primarily men  continued to collaborate with Weinstein just because it was perhaps convenient or like Clooney, because they never saw this behaviour across dinners, locations, and junkets. Even now, political heavyweights such as former US President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have not commented on Weinstein, who was a long-time donor to their campaigns, despite many Democrats denouncing the former movie mogul.
Fashion mogul Donna Karan has apologised after praising producer Harvey Weinstein following his firing from his film company amid allegations of sexual harassment lasting decades, an AP report stated.

The Daily Mail reported that Karan told reporters at a red carpet event in Los Angeles Sunday night that Weinstein "has done some amazing things" and he and his wife (Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman) are "wonderful people." The 69-year-old Karan added that some women are asking for "trouble" by the way they dress and "presenting themselves the way they do."

Read on Firstpost  Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations: Why haven't male stars responded to the row?

In a statement Monday, Karan said her remarks were taken out of context and don't represent her feelings. She says she believes "sexual harassment is not acceptable and this is an issue that must be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual."

Karan says she's "truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim."

Meanwhile, Hollywood actresses like Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Winslet, among others, have condemned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein amid a growing number of sexual harassment allegations against him. However, besides George Clooney, other actors have not opened up on the case yet.

"I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein's behaviour. I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting," Lawrence said.

Streep said that "the disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled" all the people who have worked with him.

 Inputs from AP and IANS
The spectacular audio launch of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar-starrer 2.0 will be held at Dubai's Burj Park  a sprawling 11,300 sq mtr lawn just a stone's throw away from the 160-storeyed Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world  Firstpost has exclusively learned.

The audio launch will take place on 27 October at Burj Park, and the team has also organised a press conference on 26 October at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, the world's third tallest hotel. 2.0's makers, Lyca Productions decided to leave no stone unturned to make this the best audio launch event ever for an Indian film.

The makers have earmarked Rs 12 crores to establish the audio launch as the first-of-its-kind movie-related ceremony. AR Rahman will perform live at the event, apart from a host other exciting performances and stage shows.

The teaser of the movie, which is being helmed by maverick director Shankar, will be unveiled at another massive event in Hyderabad, on 22 November, at the Shilpakala Vedika auditorium. The trailer launch of the film, which also marks Bollywood star Akshay Kumar's Tamil debut in the role of a villain, will be held in Rajinikanth's home city of Chennai in a third, huge event. Though the trailer launch date is not finalised yet, the makers are reportedly trying to plan it for 12 December, to coincide with Rajinikanth's birthday.

While the talkie portion of 2.0 was completed a while ago, director Shankar is gearing up for the final song shoot which begins tomorrow. Amy Jackson, who plays an important role in the film and is collaborating with Shankar for the second consecutive time after Vikram-starrer I, has been rehearsing for the song over the past few days. The track will be filmed on Rajinikanth and Amy Jackson.

"The team has already initiated talks with Twitter, Facebook and Google for possible collaborations. An official announcement of each partnership will be revealed at regular intervals over the next few weeks. Apart from launching a dedicated emoji on Twitter, audiences can also expect certain new things on the micro-blogging platform for the film," informs a source in the know.

Made at a whopping budget of Rs 400 crores, 2.0 has music composed by Rahman. Cinematographer Nirav Shah, who has joined forces with Shankar for the first time, has shot the film in stereoscopic 3D.

"With stereoscopic 3D, which comprises two camera pods and multiple cameras attached to each pod, it's easy to obtain pristine, native 3D images instead of the conventional 2D to 3D conversion process which takes place in the post-production," the source adds.

CJ Sarachene, best known for working in popular Hollywood films such as Chronicles of Narnia and Night at the Museum, is managing the animation effects in the movie. While national award-winning VFX expert Srinivas Mohan, who earned rave reviews for his work in the first installment of the Baahubali series, is taking care of the visual effects, academy-award winning technician Resul Pookutty is working on the sound design.

The makers recently released a 3D featurette to bring audiences up to speed with the technology. "I was mesmerised when I saw the first shot in 3D on the screen. I watched it repeatedly, said Rajinikanth in the making-of video. While Akshay Kumar noted working in 3D was much harder than he imagined, director Shankar reiterated that they have made the film in 3D, not as a gimmick but because the script demanded it.

Rajinikanth will return as Dr Vaseegaran, and the evil robot Chitti in this sequel and Akshay Kumar is said to be playing the role of a scientist named Dr Richard. The satellite rights of the film, which is Asia's costliest natively acquired 3D project ever, have been bought by Zee Network for Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages at Rs 110 crores. Amazon Prime has reportedly secured the digital rights to the film for a pricey sum.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A ROMAN Catholic priest has been found dead at the church's offices in Bulawayo's Queens Park suburb.Father Peter Nkomazana was found dead in his office by St Andrew's parish members in Queens Park after he failed to turn up for supper as expected on Sunday evening.Sources within the church said although it is not clear what killed Father Nkomazana, he had been in and out of hospital because of diabetes.In an interview, Father Fikile Dlamini, who is also based at the Parish in Queens Park suburb, expressed shock at Father Nkomazana's death."We are shocked. It was a sudden death. We are not sure what happened and we are working with doctors to establish what caused his death," he said.Father Dlamini said he could not immediately shed more light on Father Nkomazana's time at the church as he was out of office."At the moment I'm not in the office. I'm still trying to organise the necessary arrangements but we have assigned someone to look into the files and check his profile details."That's where we will get details about his age and others. Get back to me tomorrow," he said.When a Chronicle news crew visited the parish, several people had come to pay their condolences to their priest."This was really unexpected. We never thought that he would be gone by today. We were supposed to hold a meeting with him today and he had already set the agenda."He is one of the people who contributed to the development of the church in Bulawayo," said one of the church members.Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said police were treating the matter as sudden death and no foul play was suspected.
Editor's note: The people of Assam have been affected to varying degrees by the floods. Some have no homes to return while leading their lives in inadequately-equipped relief camps, while others try to restart their lives all over again with whatever little is left behind by floods at their homes. This is the first in a three-part series on how various people in the state are coping with the floods.

Sitting in the verandah of Odalguri Middle English School (Udalguri is a different district, Odalguri is a village in Chirang district), 23-year-old Nurul Islam recalls how three years ago he lost everything he owned.

"There was a massive flood in the Aie river. I swam across an overflowing river and found shelter in Odalguri," he said with a faraway look in his eye.

Islam and 157 families of Chaurabari village took shelter in the relief camp at the Madulipara Lower Primary School in No. 1 Chaurabari village for the next eight months.

When floodwater receded and these people went back to their homeland to rebuild their lives they were left shell-shocked.

"There was no sign of any village. The flood had erased the whole of Chaurabari village," said Nurul. Along with Chaurabari, the villages of Choto Amguri and Sanyashibari, which fall under Bijni and Sidli revenue circles of Chirang district, had also been washed away. About 300 families were left homeless and, more importantly, without an identity proof.

"My ration card, PAN card, voter identity card, land documents etc. were all gone. In one sweep, I had nothing to prove that I am Nurul Islam, a resident of Assam. That I am an Indian," he said.

The villagers had left Chaurabari soon after the riots in 2012 and stayed in relief camps in Odalguri. Soon after the riots, there were also floods in the region during the same time, which had apparently submerged their lands. When the situation calmed down after eight months and villagers returned to Chaurabari, they found nothing. They have no clue whether the documents were burnt down by miscreants during the riots or floodwaters swept them away.

The fear of being left without an identity card is strong in the state, particularly among the minority class. With a heavy presence of security forces and routine reports of illegal immigrants sneaking in from Bangladesh, the villagers hold their government-issued identity card close.

Before the raging floods swallowed whole villages, these areas also witnessed massive bloodbath during the 2012 riots between the Bodos and alleged illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The violence also resulted in large-scale displacement of people from these areas for security reasons.

"Since 2012, more than 300 families have been living in the relief camp of Odalguri village set up by the district administration of Chirang. Now that the flood has taken way the riot-affected villages, a total of 1,160 people have been living on the government land without any place to go. These people have made some makeshift huts in these lands," said Abul Halim, the village head of Odalguri.

According to the findings of an interim report by Committee for Protection of Land Rights of Indigenous People headed by former chief election commissioner of India Harishankar Brahma, there are hundreds and thousands of indigenous landholders who even after 53 years of completion of the last survey and settlement operations in 1964 are yet to get their land record.

Assam has been facing the issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh since Independence. Telling a Bangladeshi immigrant from the state's Bengali-speaking minority community is a tough job because of linguistic and cultural similarities.

In the floods that ravaged the state in 2013, the No. 1 Chaurabari village was wiped out by river Aie. Thousands of people took shelter in the government land of Odalguri, next to the village in Bijni revenue circle. By 2016, four more villages  Chaurabari, Sanyashibari, Choto Amguri and Madulipara  all located in the Bijni revenue circle in Chirang district in western Assam, were washed away in the floods.

According to the report of Asian Centre for Human Rights, Assam has the highest number of internally displaced people in the year 2014. With the process of National Registration of Citizenship (NRC) under process, many people belonging to the minority community in Assam spends days with fear of losing citizenship.

Rulie Phukan, a social scientist and a research fellow at Tata Institute of Social Science, said, "The internally displaced communities have settled in recognised and unrecognised forest villages and some settled near the river areas, for instance, river Aie in Chirang and Bongaigaon. The government agents had denied protection to the internally displaced, for which they have not returned to their old settlements."

A hapless lot

Most of these people living on sandbars of western Assam have been victims of not just floods but also violence. Settling in relief camps and thereafter nearby government land, these people do not have any documents to prove they owned land earlier.

Ibrahim, Ali, a victim of ethnic violence and floods, who currently teaches science in the Odalguri Middle English School, said, "At first, violence displaced my house and now the flood has taken our land. Our biggest fear is being branded as illegal immigrants. Many of us do not have any document [anymore] to prove our citizenship and we do not have land pattas [title deed to a property] as well."

The villages that were wiped out by Aie in Sidli and Bijni revenue circles are yet to be enlisted by the respective revenue circles. The setters in the month of July approached the local MLA Kamal Shing Narzary of Bijni constituency to enlist the affected villages in those areas.

"In July we had approached Kamal Shing Narzary with an application, requesting him to enlist the villages that were wiped out from the map of Assam during the floods. Though he said he had taken up the matter with the deputy commissioner's office, no team has come for surveying the damage," Ali said.

At the same time, Gokul Brahma, sub-divisional officer of Bijni, said the process of enlisting of villages has been initiated. Though there is no digitised data on how many people are displaced, he said they would look into doing so. According to him, 135 villages in Bijni sub-division have been fully or partially affected by the flood.

He said a flagship measure to provide relief to the displaced people has been initiated in 13 districts of the state. Further, he said 505 households have been damaged in Chirang and the government would enlist the people and provide them relief soon.

Watch this space for the second part of the series on Wednesday.

(The author is a Guwahati based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
Bengaluru: A techie working for global software major Accenture was found murdered in the city's south-east suburb under mysterious circumstances, said the police on Monday.

"The victim, Pranoy Mishra, 28, was found stabbed earlier in the day at Madiwala. Someone who saw him bleeding took him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead," Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) MB Borolingaiah told IANS.

Mishra, who hails from Odisha, had been working in the Indian arm of the American IT major and living single in the city's upscale area.

"A murder case has been registered and investigation is on to find the motive behind the attack, as Mishra's cell phone and other belongings were found in shirt and pant pockets," said Borolingaiah.

Although the probe team also visited Mishra's office for more information on him from its management and his colleagues, the company did not issue any statement on the loss of its employee. "As the murder took place in the wee hours after the weekend and away from Mishra's office, the company is not being investigated," said the DCP.

The probe team is scrutinising Mishra's mobile call record and retracing his movements to know who was with him during the weekend, as the spot where his body was found is one km away from the rented house he was staying in.
Nidhi Jamwal

West Champaran: Charon aur nadi, beech main Marjadi [rivers on all four sides and Marjadi in the middle] is how a local saying describes Marjadi village. Situated in Gaunaha block in north Bihars West Champaran district, the village has Harbora River to its east and Ganguli River to its west; Kathaha cuts right across through it.

There are over 350 families living in Marjadi. They are quite used to the rise and fall in the waters of these pahadi [hill] rivers that come from Nepal.

However, the ferocity of the floods that nearly drowned the village in the intervening night of 12 and 13 August this year left even disaster-prone Marjadi stunned.

Around 6 pm on 12 August, it started to rain heavily. The downpour continued till next morning. By 11 pm, there was chest-high water gushing through the village, said Narendra Ram, a Marjadi resident. People panicked and ran to the roofs of pucca houses and spent the night there.

The water level in the village crossed six feet.

All our stored grains, cattle, clothes, everything had been washed away, said Chanda Devi, who had to be rescued by her fellow villagers as the waters rose outside her home.

Devi was caught in the rising floods along with two young children. They were rescued by fellow villagers as water level crossed 6 feet.

I am over 80-years-old and have seen many floods, but the night of 12 August was nothing but pralay [apocalyptic deluge]. Had the downstream Triveni canal not breached, our entire village would have washed away, said Jagan Ram, an old resident. Pran ke ilawa gaon main kuch nahi bacha hai [Only human beings are left in the village].

Last month, Bihar faced massive floods, as all the major rivers of north Biharincluding the Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, and Kosirose due to heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The floods affected 17.1 million people in 19 districts of north Bihar, killing 514.

More than 73 percent of Bihars 94,163 square kilometres is flood-prone. The problem is particularly acute in north Bihar, where almost 76 percent of the populationabout 50 million peoplelive under the constant threat of floods. Of these, those who live along the India-Nepal border face an additional dangerunpredictable flash floods originating from the rivers that flow down from the Himalayas across the border.

These flash floods that routinely affect the districts of West and East Champaran, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Araria and Kishanganj are ancient affairs. But, local villagers and the state government officials claim that these floods are becoming more frequent because of climate change.

Bihar is facing the impact of climate change, rainfall patterns here are getting disturbed. Bouts of rain are followed by long dry spells. We not only face more floods, but also have rising incidence of drought, said Vyas Ji, vice-chairperson of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA).

Flash floods in Bihar escape national attention because the focus of flood control and management is limited to big rivers such as Kosi, Gandak, Bagmati, and so on. But they need immediate attention because those affected by these flash floods are among Indias poorest.

The per capita income (2011-12) in north Bihars six flash-flood affected districts is less than Rs 10,000, as per the Economic Survey 2015-16 of the government of Bihar. In contrast, the per capita income of Patna district is Rs 63,063.

The infant mortality rate (number of deaths of children under one year age per 1,000 live births) of these six districts ranges between 48 and 60, as per the Annual Health Survey 2012-13; Factsheet Bihar. The under-five mortality rate (probability of children dying between birth and five years age per 1,000 live births) in Sitamarhi is as high as 97 followed by 84 in Kishanganj, 76 in Araia and 72 in Pashchim Champaran. Indias average under five mortality rate is 50 per 1,000 live births.

These frequent disasters trap people in a seemingly endless cycle of floods, poverty, indebtedness, low living standards and more floods, IndiaSpend investigations showed.

Why flash floods need a different plan of action

Flash floods and their aftermath need to be dealt with differently from riverine floods. Their character, behaviour, impact, occurrence and frequency are distinct from the big, riverine floods for which the government has an established protocol for rescue, relief and compensation.

For one, flash floods are not driven only by the monsoon; a heavy and steady downpour can unleash a torrent from the mountain rivers. Five Terai villages in Bihar visited by this reporter endure from 15 to 60 flash floods every year.

The waters tear in at high velocity with little warning, causing widespread destruction, wrecking houses, sweeping away cattle, damaging both standing and stored crops, eroding the soil and destroying farm bunds.

Triveni Canal breached due to the high velocity floodwater of Harbora River, providing respite to Marjadi village which would have otherwise washed away due to the rising waters.

The waters recede fairly quicklywithin four to eight hoursunlike riverine deluges, but the destruction is as much.

Since they occur frequently, the damage caused needs to be assessed quickly and compensation packages disbursed fast, so people can resume their lives.

However, IndiaSpends extensive conversations with villagers across the Terai showed that this is rarely the case.

Small rivers, big havoc

The only thing separating Bhiknathori, a village on the border of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve, from Nepal is Pandai, a hill river that comes from across the international border. It flows along Bhiknathori to meet the Sikrana River, also known as the Burhi Gandak. The night of 12 August also brought unprecedented floods to Bhiknathori, a village of 165 households.

The Pandai, a hilly river, comes from Nepal and flows along the India-Nepal border to later join the Burhi Gandak River. The Pandai brought massive flash flood to Bhikhnathori village and eroded 31 households.

Minutes before the flood, we heard gargarahat [loud thunderous noise] of large stones coming along with the flood waters, said Kalan Khan, 82. The river water had turned yellowish brown and we could see the Pandai coming towards our village. We ran for our lives.

Pandais waters eroded over 50-70 square feet of land, including 31 houses, an ancient temple and two government guest houses. A substantive part of Bhiknathoris market was also washed away, said Dayanand Sahni, 60, a former mukhiya (head) of Dhamaura panchayat.

Nilesh Deore, the district magistrate of Pashchim Champaran, admitted that the floods caused unexpected devastation this year. Our district is flood-prone and we had stationed rescue boats along the main Gandak River. But, this year the pahadi rivers, the tributaries of Gandak and Burhi Gandak, brought massive flash floods in areas we had never imagined would be affected.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the recent disaster was akin to flash floods.

No one notices unseasonal floods, allege villagers

Whereas the government believes that the recent flash floods are a one-off event, the villagers living along the India-Nepal border told IndiaSpend that they have been dealing with them for years, and multiple times in a year.

We face floods some 15-20 times in a year, but these are localised flash floods and never make it to the official records, said Vinita Kumari, a resident of Poorvi Tola Rupwaliya village in Gaunaha block.

Flash floods are directly proportional to the rainfall in the upper catchment area, said Eklavya Prasad, managing trustee of Megh Pyne Abhiyan (MPA), a non-profit working on water and sanitation issues in the north Bihar. Mostly flash floods go unreported because they do not always occur during the flood season.

Last December, MPA carried out a study titled Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of Needs in Moderate Flood Conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Khagaria and Saharsa districts of north Bihar. It found that the small, pahadi rivers report flash floods up to 50-60 times in a year, causing extensive damage to property and crops destruction.

Take the case of Chegraha River, which regularly brings floods Harkatwa village in Rupwaliya panchayat of Gaunaha between January and October. The normal width of the river is approximately 60 meters but this increases to 500-700m during monsoon and on days of heavy precipitation.

Harkatwas grief: 60 floods a year

Last year, Harkatwa faced 60 instances of flash floods. In the last 10 years, it has had 450 flash floods. Annually, the villagers lose over 50 acres of standing paddy crop, which amounts to a loss of Rs 7.2 lakh per year. Sugarcane worth Rs 2.6 lakh is lost to flash floods every year.

Standing sugarcane crop destroyed due to floodwaters in Pashchim Champaran.

Floods annually wash away stored food grains in Harkatwa  it has lost paddy worth Rs 5.4 lakh, wheat worth Rs 2.25 lakh and pulses worth Rs 56,000 every year in this manner, according to the MPA study.

To deal with recurring crop losses, villagers regularly take private loans. The annual collective indebtedness caused by flash floods in Pashchimi Tola Rupwaliya village in Gaunaha block is estimated at Rs 10 lakh. For Naya Tola Manguraha, Poorvi Tola Rupwaliya and Manguraha villages, this figure is Rs 2.4 lakh, Rs 5.6 lakh and Rs 7.2 lakh respectively.

The total annual average financial loss due to recurring flash floods in Pashchimi Tola Rupwaliya village is estimated at Rs 12 lakh. For Naya Tola Manguraha village, Poorvi Tola Rupwaliya and Manguraha village, the total annual losses are pegged at Rs 4.79 lakh, Rs 6.16 lakh and Rs 13.89 lakh respectively.

These losses are neither officially recorded nor compensated, said Prasad.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

Source: Based on data in Post Disaster Recovery: Assessment of needs in moderate flood conditions in Pashchim Champaran, Megh Pyne Abhiyan, December 2016.

600 kg of paddy, 1 quintal of wheat  what Sushila Devi lost to the last flood

Villagers along the India-Nepal border alleged that they do not receive any compensation for their recurring losses. In the 1986 flood, five houses were washed away in our village, and then in 2010, another seven. But, no one has received any compensation, said Puna Singh, secretary of the village forest rights committee, Bhiknathori.

Ramsheela Devi, ward member of Bhiknathori, claimed she lost her kuccha house in the 2010 flood. How long can we wait for government assistance? We rebuild and move on, said Madhu Devi, who too lost her house in the 2010 flood.

Residents of Poorvi Tola Rupwaliya claimed that they have suffered huge losses in the recent floods. So far this year, we have had 11 flash floods, but havent received a paisa, said Sushila Devi who lost about 600 kilograms of paddy, 60-70 kilograms of rice and 1 quintal of wheat.

Bihar government officials claim the state has an elaborate compensation package that goes beyond the Centres assistance. The Centre does not provide gratuitous relief if flood-affected people are moved to shelter homes. But, we give Rs 9,800 gratuitous relief per family if the house is lost and even if the family is in shelter home, said Vyas Ji.

If a pucca house is fully damaged there is compensation of Rs 95,100 and if 15 percent of it is damaged we pay Rs 5,200. For a kucha jhonpdi (shack) we pay a compensation of Rs 41,000, said Deore.

The compensation requires photographic evidence  of how a damaged house looked before the flood or of dead cattle  that villagers said is hard to procure. How do we photograph washed away, dead cattle? asked Kishore Paswan of Marjadi.

Residents of Marjadi claim that the flooded rivers brought huge amounts of silt (sand) and have deposited two feet sand on their paddy and sugarcane fields.

We have recently received a compensation of Rs 6,000 per household in our tola for house damage during the recent floods. This is the first time we have received any money from the government, said Vinita Kumari of Poorvi Tola Rupwaliya. Her tola [hamlet] has faced 394 flash floods in the last 10 years, excluding the 11 this year.

Compensation for crop damage for maximum two hectares ranges between Rs 6,800 per hectare and Rs 18,000 per hectare. On paper, the government has a nice compensation package, but we never benefit from it. We have lost 200 cattle and over 150 goats in the recent floods, said Kishore Paswan of Marjadi.

Why Bihar needs to act fast

What can be done? First, it is important to recognise flash floods as a distinct phenomenon requiring different relief and compensation strategy.

Second, there is need for effective weather warning. For instance, between 12 and 13 August, Gaunaha block received 367 mm of rain within 24 hours. But villages along the India-Nepal border were not aware of the forecast.

And finally, given how often the waters swamp the villages, the habitat needs to be made flash-flood resilient. Such a habitat should have various life-supporting systems for an early recovery from recurring phenomena that include health securities, safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation, flash-flood resilient housing, crop insurance schemes, skill development for flash-flood preparedness, and so on, said Prasad.

Dealing with terrains like north Bihar requires alternative thinking on issues that connect ecology to lifestyle. A good example of this is the flood-resilient ecological sanitation toilet, phaydemand shauchalayas, built by MPA in the villages of Pashchim Champaran.

Excreta and urine are separated in this system for use in fields as fertilisers and the water required is minimal. Unlike the soak-pit toilets with underground septic tanks being promoted by the government, these eco-toilets are built on a raised platform so these can be used even during the floods.

Climate change is leading to erratic rains and floods to Bihar, deputy chief minister of the state, Sushil Modi said recently and the cycle of frequent disasters is likely to worsen in coming years.

Several districts, including flood-affected districts, are at present facing rainfall deficit.

The Bihar government cannot afford not to act.

Nidhi Jamwal is an independent journalist based in Mumbai

Indiaspend.org is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit/FactChecker.in is fact-checking initiative, scrutinising for veracity and context statements made by individuals and organisations in public life
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's spontaneous 'namaste' greeting to Chinese soldiers on her maiden visit to the Nathu La border post in Sikkim has struck a chord with China's experts and internet users, who largely welcomed the move.

During her visit, Sitharaman taught the Chinese soldiers the meaning of namaste and also the procedure to do it. The moment was captured and shared by the defence minister on Twitter. She interacted with the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police officials.

Chinese social media

Even as the Chinese foreign ministry tried to avoid giving Sitharaman's interaction much acknowledgment, her moment with the People's Liberation Army troops sparked positive response among the Chinese netizens.

According to The Times of India, China-based blogger Zhui Zhui posted, I am happy to see this peaceful scene."

On Sina Weibo, the Chinese microblogging site, a user called Tu Yueyue wrote, "The Indian woman defence minister directly faced the tough border problem. Such a brave woman."

A source was quoted in the report saying that the praises were of significance because there is no woman in the senior ranks of the Communist Party and government in China.

On Monday, China had said the Nathu La post was the "best witness" to the UK-China treaty of 1890.

"The Sikkim sector of the China-India boundary has been delimited by the historical treaty of 1890, and the Nathu La has been the best witness testifying to this fact", Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing while reacting to a question on Sitharaman's visit.

"The Chinese side is willing to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas with the Indian side on the basis of observing historical treaties and the relevant agreements and accords between the two sides", Hua said.

Beijing often referred to the 1890 Britain-China treaty during the Doka La standoff stating that it has defined the Sikkim section of the boundary with Tibet, therefore the border in that area has been settled.

Chinese media

While State-run English news channel CGTN carried snippets of her video, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post carried the story saying: "India's defence minister builds bridges with Chinese troops".

Sharing another snippet from Smt @nsitharaman 's interaction with Chinese soldiers at the international border at Nathu-la, Sikkim pic.twitter.com/TIRdnhixeL  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) October 8, 2017

"The minister experienced an unexpected wave of goodwill from Chinese soldiers when she visited troops stationed on the frontier between the countries", South China Morning Post reported.

Sitharaman's interaction also impressed Chinese commentators.

"The greeting sent a goodwill signal towards mending bilateral ties and putting relations back on track toward normality", Qian Feng, an expert at the Chinese Association for South Asian Studies, told the State-run Global Times which carried a separate story on Sitharaman's Sikkim visit with a caption "Indian Minister waves at PLA".

The Indian government should show more determination for improving ties as Prime Minister Narendra Modi "enjoys advantages towards achieving that goal", Qian was quoted as saying in the report.

Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim. The two sides so far held 19 rounds of talks at the level of Special Representatives to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, Global Times  which has a reputation for criticising India  also carried an editorial.

In the piece called "India must overcome security paranoia", it said that Sitharaman inspected a newly-constructed airport during the visit, the nearest to China's border, which will be put into use in November. "But her aggressive gesture seems to have been diluted by her friendly interactions with Chinese soldiers in Nathula," it said, in a direct reference to the 'namaste' gesture.

It added: "China is not willing to see that ties with India consume too much energy and India is not a major focus for China's strategic ambition. Maintaining Sino-Indian friendship is a strategic instinct and a rational choice for China."

With inputs from PTI
Beijing: China welcomes Indian defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman's greeting to Chinese soldiers on the border as a "friendly gesture", a Chinese daily has said.

"China welcomes Sitharaman's greeting and hopes this friendly gesture is also welcomed by Indians," the state-run Global Times said in an editorial. "Sitharaman's charm offensive might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion."

Sitharaman visited Nathu La Pass on the Sino-Indian border and greeted Chinese soldiers on the other side.

"Sitharaman held friendly exchanges with Chinese soldiers... An Indian soldier standing beside (her) is seen holding a gift in the video released by the Indian defence ministry, probably the most warm-hearted scene at the Sino-Indian border area since the Doka La standoff," it said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in a dragging face-off at Doka La, claimed by both China and Bhutan, from June to August, seriously straining relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

"Sitharaman's greeting to the Chinese soldiers conveys her hope for peace on the Sino-Indian border and unwillingness to see a new standoff. This is commonly regarded as the attitude of the Narendra Modi government," the daily said.

The daily said that friendly cooperation with China was the best option for India, "strategic exhaustion the worst. Both countries should control the risks".
New Delhi: Opposition BJP on Monday demanded the Delhi government give a Rs 3,000 crore annual grant if it wanted the withdrawal of the proposed metro fare hike, and abstained from the session that passed a resolution against the increase in the assembly.

The House passed the government resolution to oppose the proposed metro fare hike, moved by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, with a voice vote.

Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta claimed that rules stipulate that the state government must bear the full operational loses of the Metro Rail.

"The Delhi government must provide an annual grant-in-aid of about Rs 3,000 crore if it wants the fare hike in Delhi Metro to be put on hold," he said.

He alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was "misleading" the people when he says that the Centre and the Delhi government are equal partners in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), implying that both must bear equal operational loses.

The demand of Rs 3,000 crore from the Delhi government, in case of withdrawing the fare hike, scheduled to come into effect from tomorrow, was raised by the Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri.

Gupta also alleged that the Delhi government was creating "hurdles" in the smooth journey of the Delhi Metro.

"The Phase-III of the Delhi Metro was planned to be completed by 16 December, 2016. But due to inaction of the Delhi government the work was delayed by over 15 months," he said.

The BJP legislators also demanded that the Delhi government to reduce the 5 percent VAT on petrol and diesel.

The discussion on the proposed hike in metro fare got off to a rocky start in the Assembly with two BJP MLAs, who sought an apology from Kejriwal for allegedly using "foul language" in a recent debate on guest teachers, were marshalled out of the House.
New Delhi: Travelling on Delhi Metro will pinch your pockets from Tuesday with the decks cleared for another fare hike, which will lead to an increase of Rs 10 for all travels beyond 5 kilometres.

The fare hike, which comes barely five months within the last one, will affect every commuter who travels beyond 5 kilometres. The maximum fare, for journeys beyond 32 kilometres, will now be Rs 60.

The revised fare structure will be:

Up to 2 km : Rs 10

: Rs 10 2 to 5 km : Rs 20

: Rs 20 5 to 12 km : Rs 30

: Rs 30 12 to 21 km : Rs 40

: Rs 40 21 to 32 km : Rs 50

: Rs 50 For journeys beyond 32 km: Rs 60

Smart card users, who, according to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) estimates, happen to be 70 percent of the metro's total ridership, will continue to get 10 percent discount on each ride.

They will get an additional discount of 10 percent while travelling during off-peak hours, that is from beginning of services till 8 am, between 12 pm and 5 pm and from 9 pm to end of services.

DMRC made the announcement after its highest decision making body, the DMRC board, refused to "interfere" in the matter, saying it has no power to change the recommendations of the fare fixation committee (FCC), which had proposed the steep hike.

The board met around 8 pm following Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's insistence that the decision be withheld.

The DMRC had been batting for a hike citing "losses" in view of loans and rise in input costs such as power tariff among others.

Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia criticised the move on Twitter:

Out of 16, Del Govt has 5 Directors, who opposed but Centre adament. Hike too steep. Centre shud hv been more considerate for common man https://t.co/luxySDb2Sf  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 9, 2017

BJP Gov adamant to increase Metro fares. 5 Delhi gov members opposed but 11 Central gov members rejected Delhi's proposal to defer hike.  Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) October 9, 2017

Sources said nominee directors of the Delhi government on the DMRC board conveyed the desire of the chief minister that the hike be withheld or postponed and a new fare fixation panel be set up.

"The board was informed that under Section 37 of the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, recommendations of the FFC are binding on metro rail authorities.

"Subsequently, the board noted that it does not have the competence to consider and defer implementation of the recommendations of the FFC," sources said.

Earlier, Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in a letter to Kejriwal, said the meeting was called in the spirit of "cooperative federalism".

The new fares would be applicable across five corridors  Blue, Yellow, Red, Green and Violet  of the metro that crisscrosses the national capital, with the total network length currently standing at around 213 kilometres.

There shall be no change in the fares of Airport Express Line (Orange Line).

When the Delhi Metro had started operations on 25 December, 2002, the minimum fare was Rs 4 and maximum was Rs 8.

With inputs from PTI
The controversy over Delhi Metro fare hike escalated further on Tuesday after ABVP volunteers held a protest outside the Metro Bhawan in New Delhi, according to media reports. The Delhi government has been staunchly against the fare hike, terming the move anti-people, however, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday went ahead with the hike, eliciting mostly negative responses from commuters.

Delhi: ABVP workers hold protest outside Metro Bhawan over Delhi Metro fare hike pic.twitter.com/MmPr84OJAf  ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2017

Reacting to this, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked that if people stopped using the metro, then whom was it meant for.

I really feel sad. If the people stop using Metro, then for whom is Metro meant for https://t.co/BsyYER3xk9  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 10, 2017

The protest comes a day after NSUI activists stopped a Delhi Metro train in its tracks on the Yellow Line, protesting against the fare hike. The incident took place at the Vishwavidyalaya station of the busy corridor, connecting north Delhi to Gurgaon. Amid other demands, ABVP is demanding a roll back of fare hike and a provision for student passes in the popular public transport service.

NSUI Delhi president Akshay along with two other activists stopped the metro due to the unjustified fare hike. We demand that the proposed hike be rolled back and students be provided subsidised passes," an NSUI spokesperson said.

The Delhi government has been opposing the fare hike with Kejriwal even offering to take over the operations of DMRC. The Centre, however, told the Delhi government it would need to pay Rs 3,000 crore annually for five years if it wanted to stop the metro fare hike. Commuters too, were mostly disappointed.

"The hike is not fair at all. Who will be happy with such a steep rise, that too twice in a year," Ajay, a 40-year-old finance sector employee who commutes from Paschim Vihar to Rajiv Chowk, told IANS.

"It has almost doubled. Till yesterday I was charged Rs 27, today I had to shell out Rs 40 for the same distance," he said.

Arvind Tripathi, 28, who works for a Japanese firm, said: "I paid Rs 60 today from Bata Chowk to Rajiv Chowk. This is not a good thing. Metro may be incurring losses but who isn't?"

A salesman working in Rajiv Chowk said he would not mind the fare increase so much if only his income had risen correspondingly. "Let the government increase our income too."

If the hike is effected, the fares will go up by a maximum of Rs 10. The existing fare structure is: up to 2 kilometres- Rs 10, 2-5 kilometres- Rs 15, 5-12 kilometres- Rs 20, 12-21 kilometres- Rs 30, 21-32 kilometres- Rs 40 and for journeys beyond 32 kilometres- Rs 50.

Barring the minimum fare of Rs 10 for a distance of 0-2 km, which will remain the same, fares have risen from Tuesday for long distance travel. For a distance between two and five kilometres, it will go up from Rs 15 to Rs 20. For the subsequent slabs, it will go up by Rs 10 each, which means the maximum fare will be Rs 60. This is the second fare hike by Delhi Metro this year.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday opposed granting recognition to "living will" in cases of passive euthanasia, telling the Supreme Court that it could be misused and may not be viable as a public policy.

The Centre told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that a draft bill based on the guidelines for passive euthanasia made by the top court in the Aruna Shanbaug's case and recommendations of the Law Commission was under its consideration.

Passive euthanasia is a condition where there is a withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten the death of a terminally ill patient.

"We have been following the guidelines laid down by this court in Aruna Shanbaug's case and a medical board is a final authority to decide on passive euthanasia, not the living will be created by a person," Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, said.

He said if "living will" is created by a person and is recognised, then there are possibilities of it being misused and this would not be viable as public policy.

"If a person is not of sound mind, then he is a not a competent person to make a living will and in that case, it is a medical board which will have to look into the affairs and not the individual. Safeguards have to be there and nothing more could be done," he said.

The ASG said the court can work out modalities about the safeguards as the living will to dilute the treatment could be misused.

The bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, questioned whether any medical board is permanently constituted to take a call on passive euthanasia.

"No, the medical board is not permanently constituted and is set up on the case-to-case basis," Narasimha said.

The bench then asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO 'Common Cause' which is seeking recognition to the living will, whether an individual has a right to refuse medical treatment or can the State interfere to safeguard life.

Bhushan said various countries recognise living will be made by persons. In India, where resources are so limited, it should be legally acceptable in order to avoid creating a hopeless situation for the middle-class, he said.

"Under Article 21 of Constitution, a person has the right to die peacefully without any suffering and therefore he has right to create a living will that when he can't recover from illness, his life should not be prolonged," Bhushan said.

He said it is contradictory that the court allows passive euthanasia but does not recognise execution of a living will.

Justice Chandrachud then expressed concern over elderly people being treated as a burden by some people and said that safeguards need to be created to avoid misuse if the living will is recognised.

Bhushan said that forcing prolonged medical treatment on someone who does not want it, amounts to assault and added that passive euthanasia in the Aruna Shanbaug's case was distinct from living wills.

The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue on Wednesday.

The bench also asked senior advocate Arvind Datar to assist in the matter as the senior lawyer and former Solicitor General TR Andhyarujina who was appointed as an amicus curiae in the case in 2016, had passed away.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed in 2005 by the NGO, which said when a medical expert opines that the person afflicted with a terminal disease has reached a point of no return, he should be given the right to refuse life support system.

In 2014, the apex court had referred the petition to a five-judge constitution bench which sought to recognise the execution of a 'living will' of persons suffering from chronic terminal diseases and likely to go into a permanent vegetative state.

On 15 January, 2016, the Centre had told the court about the 241st report of the Law Commission which stated that passive euthanasia should be allowed with certain safeguards and there was also a proposed law, Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill Patient (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill, 2006.

The government had said that its stand will also be based on 6.7 regulation of 2002 under Medical Council of India Act which says that practicing euthanasia shall constitute unethical conduct.

It had said that on specific occasions, the question of withdrawing supporting devices to sustain cardio-pulmonary function even after brain death, shall be decided only by a doctors' team and not merely by the treating physician alone.

The apex court had said its verdict of 2011 allowing passive euthanasia was delivered on a "wrong premise".

It had said that its earlier Constitution Bench verdict, which was wrongly relied upon in Aruna Shanbaug case, had held that the right to live with dignity will be inclusive of the right to die with dignity, but the judgment did not arrive at a conclusion on the validity of euthanasia.
Ahmedabad: The Election Commission on Monday indicated that Gujarat may go to polls in December as the term of the current legislative assembly is coming to end in the third week of January.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AK Joti also said that voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system will be used in over 50,000 booths in Gujarat. VVPAT was first used in Goa polls earlier this year.

He said that paper slips will be counted at a single booth in each 182 constituencies to tally the number of slips and the votes cast.

For the first time, the poll panel will also introduce all-women polling stations in Gujarat in all assembly segments.

A team of EC officials headed by the CEC was on a visit of Gujarat to assess the poll preparedness.

"Elections will have to be held in December as the term of the current Gujarat Assembly is coming to end in the third week of January next," Joti said in response to a query on media reports and some politicians claiming that polls are going to be held in December.

He refused to divulge whether the polls will be held in a single phase or otherwise, saying the EC will think over the inputs it had gathered during the Gujarat visit.

The team, also comprising election commissioners OP Rawat and Sunil Arora along with 12 other senior officials, had interacted with government and police officials besides the representative of political parties during their two-day visit, which concluded today.

"After Goa, this will be for the first time that we will be conducting entire elections using VVPAT. This is a challenge for us too," Joti said in reply to a question regarding a demand raised by some political parties that at least 10 percent of total VVPAT slips should be counted.

He said according to procedure, the candidates who have some grievances can ask for counting of slips of a particular booth and the poll officials will take a decision on it.

"In Goa, out of total 40 constituencies, only one candidate had asked for counting of slips of seven booths, out of which returning officer had allowed counting of slips of four booths," he said.

The CEC said the poll panel has decided to set up all-women polling stations across all 182 assembly segments.

"I am happy to inform that for the first time the Election Commission has decided to set up at least one all-women polling station in each of 182 assembly constituencies," he said.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Vendors association leader Stan Zvorwadza has been picked by police for making critical statements against President Robert Mugabe's declaration that vendors were a menace in the city hence they have to be moved."Zvorwadza taken to Harare Central Police for "undermining the authority of the President". A truck load of police was dispatched to his residence this morning and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights dispatched a team of lawyers to assist Zvorwadza and have accompanied him to Harare Central Police Station," activists have said."More details will follow but l think the charge arises from his comments or article where he said "Mugabe is daydreaming...vendors are not going anywhere..."Stan Zvorwadza was taken to Harare Central Police for "undermining the authority of the President".A truck load of police was dispatched to his residence this morning and Zlhr dispatched a team of lawyers to assist Zvorwadza and have accompanied him to Hre Central Police Station.More details will follow but l think the charge arises from his comments or article where he said "Mugabe is daydreaming...vendors are not going anywhere..."
The Supreme Court verdict banning the sale of firecrackers in the Delhi/National Capital Region (NCR) is strange, to say the least, especially since it has not prohibited the bursting of firecrackers. Apart from making the order difficult to implement, the learned judges have also failed to gauge the emergency facing the country.

Last year, post Diwali, Delhiites woke up to streams of toxic air streaming into their homes. The young, the old and infirm, all were very literally gasping for breath with the more serious cases being rushed to the hospital.

The nuanced stance of the highest court of India banning the sale of firecrackers till 1 November 2017, but allowing the public to explode their existing stock has raised several question marks. The Delhi Polices chief spokesperson and Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Dependra Pathak, is a perplexed man.

Pathak, along with other police officials pointed out that such an order is difficult to implement especially since retailers who have bought firecrackers will continue to do business from their homes.

Police officials also questioned how they were expected to monitor online purchases of crackers. There are several websites who are not functioning from Delhi but who is to stop them from supplying firecrackers to Delhiites.

Several leading doctors who have been actively promoting the "Right to Breathe" campaign in the national capital believe the ban  spread over Delhi and 23 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan along with environmental activists  should have been imposed across the country.

Dr Randeep Guleria, head of AIIMS, and a pulmonary specialist attributes the sharp rise in respiratory problems to the increased particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels in the Delhi/NCR region.

As part of a WhatsApp campaign, Dr Arvind Kumar  who is also part of the "Right to Breathe" campaign  of Ganga Ram Hospital has been showing pink healthy lungs of people living in an unpolluted environment and the black, diseased lungs of people living in the national capital. The concern being voiced by doctors is understandable because, already, pollution levels have worsened in the last fortnight with PM 2.5 levels having risen 11 times between 22 September and 8 October.

Dr Guleria says that after Diwali, doctors in NCR report a 30 percent rise in the number of patients complaining of respiratory disorders.

Of course, part of the blame for the rising pollution levels must be put on the shoulders of farmers of Punjab and Haryana who continue to burn the stubble in their fields. Wind directions in the last fortnight have been from the north to the southeast bringing in high levels of toxins and a haze hanging low over the horizon which for Delhites means the beginning of winter.

Last year, the air quality was unprecedented in its toxicity levels during Diwali. In 2016, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) had recorded PM 2.5 levels touching 624 micrograms per cubic metres on Diwali day while the PM 10 levels had crossed 1,000 at 10 pm in the NCR region and 1,600 at 2.30 am.

The problem is not just in Delhi/NCR region though. All the cities in north India including Gwalior, Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, and Patna are suffering from acute pollution caused by firecrackers, vehicular pollution and stubble burning by farmers.

No wonder these cities are reporting a spike in both respiratory diseases and heart problems.

"All our major cities (whose number has presently crossed 135) have crossed the critically polluted levels. This is something very serious," says Dr Anumita Roychowdhary, deputy director general at the Centre for Science and Environment.

"It's time the government declares a national emergency on air pollution and treat this problem on a war footing," she added.

Some pollution experts including Dipankar Saha who heads the Central Pollution Control Boards air laboratory services are quietly optimistic about the Supreme Court order. He believes that the order is the first step and if it is properly implemented, it will help to ensure better quality air this year.

But octogenarian Bhure Lal, who heads the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority believes that while the Supreme Court order might help ensure better air quality this Diwali, the need of the hour is to come up with a sustained and long-term plan to tackle this problem which must be strictly implemented and monitored on a regular basis throughout the country.

All these experts, however, dismiss the claims that there are no thorough studies to show the extent to which bursting of firecrackers affects air pollution levels. A study undertaken by the Chest Research Foundation in Pune has conclusively shown that firecrackers are highly polluting as they produce high levels of PM 2.5 over a brief period of time. Firecrackers also result in a huge increase in potassium and sulphur levels.

Of course, the trading community is upset with the Supreme Court order as this comes across as re-imposition of a ban that was lifted just a month ago.

As one lawyer pointed out, "The SC has been doing flip-flops since 11 November 2016. They had suspended licenses of both wholesale and retail traders selling firecrackers and then ten months later, in September 2017, they actually lifted this ban which in hindsight was a mistake since the traders went ahead on the basis of this order to invest in purchasing fresh firecrackers."

It is ironic how three determined children namely Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin along with their committed parents have spearheaded this significant piece of legislation. The 11 November 2016 order was issued on the basis of these childrens petition which had ordered the suspension of all licenses that permit wholesale as well as the retail of fireworks within the territory of Delhi/NCR.

The September 2017 order was again challenged by these children who pointed out how firecrackers posed a serious health risk to them and thousands of other children especially since air quality deteriorated abysmally in Delhi/NCR. In fact, this had forced authorities to shut down schools post Diwali in 2016.

It was this plea by the three children that led the Supreme Court to point out that Diwali could indeed be celebrated with an equal fervour via various other means. The country, however, needs much more progressive legislation and its sustained implementation to improve the air quality and the health of its citizens.
New Delhi: Tejashwi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case, officials said.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office in Delhi where it is expected that the investigating officer of the case will record his statement, they said.

It had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

The ED had earlier questioned few people in this case including the wife of former UPA minister PC Gupta.

Tejashwi's mother and former state chief minister Rabri Devi has been summoned to appear before the ED on Wednesday.

The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.

In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.

Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR.

The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director PK Goel.

The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as quid pro quo.

The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.
Thiruvanathapuram: Migrants from eastern states working in Kerala have started flocking back to their states following rumours that they were being attacked and brutally killed in the state.

While various reports suggest about 400 workers have fled the northern districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram in the last three days leaving their employers in a quandary, a mini-exodus has started from the state's commercial capital of Kochi from Monday.

Rumours that migrants are not safe in the state were spread through audio clips and text messages in WhatsApp and Facebook. One such audio clip posted in a WhatsApp group said that a hotel owner in Kozhikode had beaten a Bengali worker to death.

This was followed by a series of messages in WhatsApp and Facebook that several migrant workers had been murdered in the state. One of the messages said that five Bengalis working in a hotel and other industries in the state were killed in the past two days. Gory pictures of dead bodies accompanied some of the messages.

"We do not know the reason for the sudden attack. We should be vigilant to protect our lives," a message shared by a hotel owner to The Times of India said. Another message said that the murders were ordered by the Marxist-led government to pave way for the jobless Keralites.

According to a Times of India report the messages started circulating after the suicide of a 30-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal at Vellayil in Kozhikode. The youth, who was working as a cleaning staff at a hotel, was found hanging in his room. Police have confirmed it as a suicide and termed love failure as the cause of death.

The messages started appearing in the social media after the body was taken to his hometown of Midnapur. One of the messages said that Hindi-speaking people in Kerala were being targeted and urged them to leave the state. The messages were widely circulated among the migrants in the state and their family members in their home states.

Most of the migrant workers have left following pressure from their family members.

"My family called me many times in panic. They feared that the situation was dangerous here and not to take any risk. My brother has already gone back. My family is compelling me to return," said Ayya, a migrant worker at Kozhikode.

He told the media that he was aware that the messages were mischievous and he may not leave the state. TV Mohammed Zuhail, Kozhikode district president of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that majority of the migrants who have fled the state were from the hotel industry.

"There is no reason for migrants working in hotels and restaurants to panic. The hotel workers are most safe since we are providing them accommodation and food. However, the migrant workers are not convinced. Many more are preparing to go. This will put the hotel industry in serious crisis since we are dependent on migrant workers for their functioning," said Zuhail.

He said that several hotels in the northern city were closed following the exodus. The association has lodged complaints with the district collector and the city police chief against the false campaign doing the rounds in the social media.

Police have not yet been able to identify the source of the chain of the messages and pictures. State police chief Lokanath Behera has ordered a technology-based probe into the false campaign. He told newsmen on Tuesday that it was not easy to identify the sources of messages appearing in the social media.

Behera has appealed to the migrant workers not to be panicked by the false propaganda. The appeal was made in Hindi and Bengali languages.

"Kerala is a peaceful state. There has been no incident of an attack on migrant workers in the state so far. Kerala needs you. The people will not cause any harm to you," he said adding that the migrants were free to approach him anytime if they faced any problem in the state.

Meanwhile, the state government has launched a massive campaign to build confidence among the migrants. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the police to convene meetings of the migrants in all districts and remove their misgivings about their safety.

The government has also reached out to the governments in the eastern states to dispel the apprehensions in the minds of the family members of the migrants. The state police chief has written to his counterparts in Odisha, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu seeking their cooperation.

The chief minister alleged the "lies" were being spread from "the north of the country" to discredit the state and "destroy peace and harmony". He said that those who are behind the propaganda are forces who are trying to torpedo the peace and the cordial atmosphere prevailing in the state. He also sought to boost the confidence of the migrant workers by posting a message in Hindi on his Facebook page.

"There is no incident of violence or any unpleasant incident in Kerala against migrant workers in the recent past. My government assures all those affected by these rumours that their fear is unfounded and urge not to pay attention to such fake news. All the district administration and the police have been directed to take action against the spread of such lies and rumours through the social media," his message in Hindi said.

The chief minister pointed out that the Kerala government had taken several measures for the welfare of the migrant workers. Kerala is the first state to introduce a health insurance scheme for the migrant workers, he said. Vijayan assured the migrants on behalf of the government that they will not only be safe but also welcome in Kerala.

Ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the false campaign among the migrant workers and their family members may be an offshoot of the propaganda being unleashed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh combine that Kerala is a land of terror.

He said that the RSS was trying to create fear in the minds of the families of the migrant workers with the objective of paralyse the life in the state. Migrants, who came to fill the void left by about 2.75 million Keralites who have migrated abroad in search of greener pastures, play an important role in the state economy. The number of migrants in the state is estimated to be around four million.

The state police chief refused to comment on the political angle to the false propaganda. He said that he will not be able to say anything unless the source of the messages is identified. Behera said that the police were trying their best to identify the source with the help of cyber experts.
Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala on Tuesday termed the appointment of 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, as priests in temples in the state under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) as a "silent revolution".

"It is a silent revolution and a model for others to follow," Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran told reporters in Kerala's capital.

Indicating that more such appointments are on the anvil, he said there are more than 3,000 vacancies in different shrines managed by five temple boards  TDB, Cochin Devaswom, Malabar Devaswom, Guruvayur Devaswom and Koodalmanikayam Devaswom.

Due process was followed to ensure transprency in appointments, he said.

"A new history has been scripted by ensuring reservation as enshrined in the Constitution with the appointment of Dalits as priests," he said.

However, he said, reservation was not the prime consideration for selection. Those who have knowledge of rituals were appointed as priests.

Asked if the Kerala government has plans to appoint non-Brahmins as priests at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala, under the control of the TDB, Surendran said it could be considered.

However, nothing could be carried out in a hurry, he said.

The TDB manages at least 1,248 shrines, including the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.

The minister also thanked noted actor Kamal Hassan and DMK leader MK Stalin for appreciating the initiative of the LDF government.

He said the people of Kerala had also welcomed the government decision.

The Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board had recently recommended 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, for appointment as priests in temples in the state.

This is the first time six persons from the Scheduled Caste community have been recommended for appointment as priests.

Yedu Krishnan had on Monday become the first Dalit priest in Kerala to assume duties at the sanctum sanctorum of the Manappuram Lord Shiva Temple at nearby Thiruvalla.
New Delhi: A high-pitched war of words between two lawyers on Monday led the Supreme Court to adjourn the hearing in the sensitive Kerala marriage case to 30 October, saying it would not accept submissions unrelated to the matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra got irked when senior lawyer Dushayant Dave, appearing for a Kerala Muslim man whose marriage was annulled, referred to the names of BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and imputed political motive.

"Yogi Adityanath spoke of 'love jihad' in Kerala... this court should know the ground realities," Dave said, adding that Shah had also visited Kerala.

"Unless a political personality's conduct directly affects this case, let us keep it out of here.. We do not have to bring the extra-legal authority here who is unrelated," the bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for NIA, vehemently opposed Dave's submission and said this was "politics" and the senior lawyer was "browbeating" the court which was "obnoxious and unpardonable".

The bench then took on Dave and said "this kind of arguments cannot be tolerated" in the court and made clear that it would not hear the case on Monday.

At the outset, Dave said the first petition filed in the high court was disposed off. Later, the second plea was entertained, which had led to the annulment of marriage between Shafin Jahan and the Hindu woman who had converted before the marriage, he said.

He also termed Kerala as a multi-cultural society where inter-faith marriages have been taking place and being accepted by the society and, in this regard, he also referred to a recent speech of President Ram Nath Kovind.

Dave then started dealing with the so-called political angle to the case, which was objected to by the bench and the counsel for the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The bench was of the prima facie view that the question was whether the High Court can exercise its power under writ jurisdiction to annul the marriage of a Muslim man with a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam before tying the nuptial knot.

However, the war of words irked the bench which told Dave that his way of arguments has "bulldozed" the case and made clear that it would not hear it on Monday.

The bench asked when a person has consented for marriage, can the high court annul it unless the person is not in a position to consent.

"Yes, your Lordships, and the people behind this have indoctrinated the girl" the ASG said indicating that the consent may be vitiated.

The ASG said the NIA was asked by this court to probe and the High Court considered various aspects in annulling the marriage.

Dave replied saying the NIA abused the court's order as it was said that the probe agency would investigate the case under the supervision of former judge Justice Raveendran.

However, Raveendran declined and yet it proceeded with probe, he added.

The NIA was playing into the hands of the government, he alleged.

"I am disturbed that you are trying to browbeat the other side by such obnoxious statements. They have been using intimidation (tactics) continuously," the ASG responded.

"At least, we only do it in court. Not outside court like your government," Dave replied.

The bench said "we do not want to hear submissions unrelated to the case. Please restrict your arguments to the lis in question."

Jahan had on 20 September approached the apex court seeking recall of its order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him.

The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that it was pertinent to regulate the operations of app-based cab operators such as Ola and Uber in order to foil their "predatory", "monopolistic" and "exploitative" business tactics.

In an affidavit filed in the court to defend its City Taxi Rules 2017 that have been challenged by some drivers of Ola and Uber, the state government alleged that the only reason the app-based cab operators were opposing the new rules was that they wished for a free reign.

The government said the implementation of its new rules was crucial to bring about a level playing field for all cab operators in Mumbai, and to ensure better services to the commuters.

In June, some drivers from Ola and Uber had approached the high court challenging the new rules on the ground that the imposed terms made it unnecessarily difficult for them to get licences.

The petitioners' main complaint is that the new rules do not allow app-based cabs to ply on national tourist permits. Instead, it makes it mandatory for them to apply for new local permits if they wish to continue operations within the city limits.

The existing permits restrict such cabs within the city of their registration, the petitioner said.

Also, to obtain the local permits, the petitioners claimed, they will have to shell out more than 10 times of what the drivers of black and yellow taxis have to pay.

However, the government maintained that Ola and Uber have been flouting the regional transport authority's rules on licensing until now by plying intra-city as hail taxis on tourist vehicle permits.

According to the state, it is mandatory for all contract carriage vehicles or hail taxis with valid permits to run on CNG, LPG, or petrol since these are clean fuels.

In this case, since Ola and Uber cabs operate on tourist permits, some vehicles run on diesel too. All hail cabs must also have a metered fare structure and hence, the petitioners' surge price fare structure is not only exploitative, but also illegal, the state informed a bench led by Justice Shantanu Kemkar.

"The petitioners are opposing the new rules because they do not wish to be regulated. They want an unfettered playing field to further their monetary benefits and exploit commuters. It is pertinent to note that during peak hours, their fares are almost two or three times the normal fare," the affidavit reads.

"The petitioners (Ola, Uber) have predatory tactics, they aspire for a monopoly in the market and want to wipe out competition including the common men who drive the yellow and black taxis. Such tactics cannot be permitted by a welfare state like Maharashtra," the affidavit reads.

The state has also said that merely because Ola, and Uber are registered as mobile app based technology companies, they can't be beyond the purview of the state's transport rules.

"Their app that fixes routes, decided fares, is neither regulated, nor subject to any scrutiny," the affidavit reads.

The government's counsel advocate GW Mattos also told bench that the committee appointed earlier this year to specifically look into fare fixation for such cabs submitted its report before the state yesterday and sought time till November 21 to place the state's response on the same before the high court.

While granting the state time, the bench ordered that the state refrain from taking any coercive action against Ola and Uber until then.
A day after the Supreme Court judgment banning sale of fire crackers till 1 November in Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra environment minister and Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam has come out in support of a pollution-free Diwali and said he will take up the matter with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"The Supreme Court gave its decision that there should not be fire crackers shops in residential areas.

Keeping peoples' health in mind, and there should be no pollution and for this, everybody should take care," Kadam told reporters in Mumbai.

He said that the Maharashtra chief minister had promised students that there should be no pollution. "Celebrations should be cracker-free," Kadam said.

"I will talk to Fadnavis and request if we can also ban crackers in Maharashtra on lines of the Supreme Court order for Delhi," ANI quoted Kadam as saying.

The apex court had, however, not called for a ban on bursting crackers on Monday, which means those who have purchased firecrackers can still burst them during Diwali.

CNN-News18 reported that Kadam earlier said that they had no intention of banning firecrackers but would discuss with the chief minister if pollution-free Diwali could be celebrated in Maharashtra.

He compared Maharashtras condition to Delhi, saying that it wasn't as bad. "We have no plan to ban firecrackers in the state. We will make attempts to create awareness to celebrate an environment-friendly Diwali, Kadam was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The Supreme Court had on Monday said that its order of last November banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-

National Capital Region (NCR) would continue till 31 October in an effort to check pollution during Diwali.

In September, the Supreme Court temporarily lifted its earlier order suspending licences for sale of crackers, saying a complete ban would be an "extreme step".

Meanwhile, Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, however, said the livelihood of scores of Marathi youth depends on the firecracker business and demanded the government refrain from imposing any ban.

"What great work are you doing by snatching the livelihood when you cannot give them employment. Firecrackers

are burst in 199 countries around the world," he claimed.

"Then why are you dousing the kitchen fire of the poor? Ban on firecrackers is not a solution to stop

environment pollution, " he added.

Raut brought in River Ganges, saying that it did not get polluted because of firecrackers. "This business gives thousands of people their source of employment. Scores of Marathi youth earn an livelihood by putting up firecracker stalls. Shiv Sena gave them space to put up stalls," Raut said.

Voicing his strong protest against the firecracker ban, MNS president Raj Thackeray sarcastically asked whether people should burst them on WhatsApp. He said: "People should celebrate Diwali festival as they have been doing so all these years. Why is there ban imposed on celebrating Hindu festivals only?"

The judgment prohibiting the sale of crackers did not go down well with the traders.

Strongly opposing the ban, traders said, "It's unfair and is infringement of our fundamental rights." Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has urged the government to file a review with the Supreme Court.

"Crackers are not the only source of air pollution in the country. Before putting a blanket ban, there is a need for a comprehensive policy. If a ban is at all needed on burning of crackers, it should be done from next year, so as to avoid a huge financial loss" CAIT's secretary general Pravin Khandelwal told Firstpost.

With inputs from PTI
Bhopal: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is going to organise a three-day meeting of its national executive in the city starting 12 October and Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has already arrived in the city.

The meet would deliberate on the Sangh's future programmes and discuss the state of affairs in the country, an RSS official said on Monday.

According to information provided by the Sangh, the national executive meeting, to be held in the Kerwa Dam area-located Sharda Vihar Residential School of Bhopal, will continue till 14 October.

Deepak Sharma, the RSS Publicity Secretary for central India, said: "Final touches are being given to the preparations. Around 300 representatives from across the country are likely to take part in the programme.

"The meet will evaluate its performance, discuss the present situation in the country and decide the programmes for the coming days."

Bhagwat reached the Madhya Pradesh state capital on Saturday  five days ahead of the meet  and has already met and held initial discussions with senior RSS leaders. He also met Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday.

Terming the meet a routine affair, Sangh officials said that executive committee meetings are held twice a year  in March and October.
Sajjad Mughal, the security guard who had confessed killing Pallavi Purkayastha, a young advocate, in her Mumbai apartment in Wadala in 2012 has been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir, according to several media reports.

Mughal was untraceable for the last two years and was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir by the crime branch of Mumbai Police on the Leh-Srinagar Highway on Tuesday, CNN-News 18 reported.

#BREAKING | Pallavi Purkayastha murder convict Sajjad Mughal, who had jumped parole and fled, nabbed by police in J&K pic.twitter.com/YR21YcFU7Y  News18 (@CNNnews18) October 10, 2017

Mughal was sentenced to life in jail in 2014 two years after he confessed his crime to the police officials, NDTV reported. He had left a jail in Maharashtra's Nasik in 2016 March on parole to visit his unwell mother, however, he never returned.

Talking to CNN-News18, Pallavi Purkayastha's father Atanu lauded the Mumbai Police who initiated the investigation of finding Mughal after his sudden disappearance. He, however, questioned the court's decision to approve Mughal's parole and said that the court shouldn't have approved his application as he had already confessed his crime and was sentenced to life.

Pallavi was found in a pool of blood at her rented flat in 'Himalayan Heights' building at Wadala in central Mumbai by her live-in partner Avik Sengupta (26), also a lawyer. Her parents are both IAS officials and reside in Delhi.

Pallavi's body had multiple stab injuries, which indicated that she hadstruggled to save herself. When Sengupta returned home on the day of the murder at around 5:30 am, he found that the door was slightly opened. He went inside and found the blood-soaked body of Pallavi with her throat slit, following which he informed the police.

The victim had reportedly called her boyfriend late on Wednesday night saying that there was no electricity in the house.

According to the police, the security guard at the building had reportedly gone to the house with an electrician and he murdered her after she resisted his advances.

Pallavi had reportedly made an attempt to escape and bloodstains were found at multiple locations in the house. She had even rung her neighbour's doorbell multiple times but no one answered.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: Lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister also said that the budgetary allocations should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is "absolutely necessary," the IAF said.

Inaugurating the three-day conference, she also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be "fully utilised" in achieving required capabilities of the forces.

"She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade," the IAF said in a statement.

Currently, the IAF has 33 fighter squadrons against the authorised strength of 42 squadrons. The IAF has been pressing the government to expedite acquisition of combat jets to overcome the shortage.

The IAF is likely to start the process later month to acquire a fleet of single engine fighter jets which are expected to significantly enhance its overall strike capability. It is also looking at procuring various other platforms and weapons systems.

The IAF commanders conference is taking place amid an evolving regional security scenario and growing assertiveness by China in some parts of the China-India border.

Last week, chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had said the IAF is capable of effectively countering any threat from China and Pakistan simultaneously in a two-front war.

Sitharaman said the IAF along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Ordnance Factory Board, a state-run defence equipment maker, should make an assessment about the possible areas of indigenisation under the 'Make-in-India' programme.

In his address, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's air power, and called for continuing the process to enhance capability of the force.

He also reiterated the IAF's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on the 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The IAF said the conference will deliberate on a raft of issues which will decide the future trajectory of the force.

It said deliberations will take place on operations and maintenance issues.

Various administrative initiatives were also expected to be taken at the conclave to enhance the working environment of

the IAF.

In sync with the government's digital India initiative, two mobile applications for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones will also be released during the conference, the IAF said.

A book titled 'Aero India- Ascent through the ages' was also scheduled to be released during the conference.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

Troops wounded in Zimbabwe's 70s liberation war have received the short end of the stick in follow-up welfare provided or organised by the former War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube, opposition legislators have complained in the National Assembly.But Dube has refused to shoulder the blame for serious moral shortfalls arising from the crude manner in which the issue of the welfare of war veterans and their dependants has been handled to date.MDC MP for Musikavanhu Prosper Mutseyami asked what the government was doing to improve the welfare of liberation war fighters."Many times, you have pointed out that you are crafting a policy and that you are working on it. It is almost time now; your term is coming to an end, we have hardly seen anything but the war veterans out there are suffering," Mutseyami said."What is it that you are pushing so hard, just one thing, in the Executive, to spruce the minds of the Executive to understand the level of suffering that war veterans are going through out there, so that if you speak on this forum today, they will appreciate that one of our ministers, a war veteran, is doing this, which will last maybe in December. What is it, just one?"Dube said he was appointed the minister only three years ago."I have only been a minister for War Veterans for less than two years, but I think the member appreciates that we have been through this war for 37 years."If you are blaming me for the two years, I accept the blame, but if you are blaming me for the 37 years since the war ended, when these issues should have been handled, then I think you are addressing them to the wrong person," Dube said.Duibe said he will soon bring to Parliament a bill which will see the appointment of a board to deal with war veterans welfare."It is a process which follows all the law-making processes. We went to the Cabinet and from the Cabinet as we know, it has to come here."In 1997, government, under unrelenting pressure from marauding war veteran led by the late Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, was forced to award gratuities of Z$50 000 (then about $4 000) to each of the surviving 50 000 war veterans as well as monthly pensions of Z$2 000 in addition to extending education and health benefits to them and their family members.The unbudgeted hefty payouts to the war veterans had grave consequences on the economy, with the country's currency losing 72 percent of its value in a single day, on November 14, a day that is remembered in the country economic history as the Black Friday.The economy never recovered from this severe knock.In 2013, the leaders of the war veterans insisted that their members were still owed $18 000 each, arguing that the Z$50 000 they were paid was only a down payment of the Z$500 000 government had agreed to pay them.Analysts this week pointed out that the proposed additional payments would further wreck the economy that is already tottering on the edge.
United Nations: Pakistan has again tried to sneak the Kashmir issue into a General Assembly debate with no relevance to the topic, but India took the high road refusing to be drawn into a "distraction" from the agenda set for the meeting.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi devoted a significant part of her speech to Kashmir at the committee dealing with decolonisation on Monday.

The Minister in India's Permanent Mission, Srinivas Prasad, who spoke later said in his scheduled speech, "We reject the efforts of the delegation of Pakistan to bring issues which have never been on the agenda of this Committee ever in its history."

"We consider it a diversion from the agenda and as a distraction not worthy of a response," Prasad added.

Kashmir is not considered a colony or a non-self-governing territory by the UN. "Even as all those who have taken the floor have focused on issues of these Non Self-Governing Territories, a solitary member State, as usual, has ventured to plough a lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history," Prasad added.

Lodhi said that UN's decolonisation agenda would remain "incomplete" without resolving the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan came back again after Prasad' speech with Saima Sayed, a counsellor at Pakistan's UN Mission, harking back to the 1948 Security Council resolution on Kashmir while exercising Pakistan's right of reply. India did not use its right to reply to Sayed.

This was Lodhi's second attempt in a month to introduce Kashmir during a debate on topics without any relevance to it. During a debate last week in the General Assembly on the UN's annual report, she said the surgical strikes carried out in 2016 by India against terrorist hideouts in Pakistani-held territory never happened and asserted that New Delhi was trying to provoke her country by saying it took place.

The surgical strike was in response to an attack on an Indian position in the Uri sector that killed 18 soldiers.

As Prasad pointed out, Pakistan has been "ploughing a lonely furrow" at the UN in trying to raise the Kashmir issue with no other country taking note of it despite Lodhi bringing it up in forums where it has not relevance. India is adopting a tactic of reacting to Pakistan's taunts over Kashmir by either ridiculing them or ignoring them, rather than getting entangled in a debate giving it importance.

When Pakistan's prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi launched one of the most heated attacks in recent times on India during his address to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly in September, a First Secretary in India's Mission Eenam Gambhir, called Pakistan "Terroristan" in her reply. "The quest for a land of pure has actually produced 'the land of pure terror'."

Again last week, Gambhir dismissed Lodhi's statement on the surgical strike by saying: "My delegation does not wish to waste the precious time of this august assembly in further engaging with such distractions."

Lodhi's response to external affairs minister's speech in September at the General Assembly backfired when she held up the picture of an injured Palestinian child claiming she was from Kashmir.
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called terrorism a "curse for the civilised society", and said the NIA will soon choke the foreign fund trail to the terrorists operating in the country.

"Some people say that the National Investigation Agency has partially succeeded in stopping foreign terror funding. But I will say that the NIA will fully choke the foreign funding to terrorists in the country soon", Singh said.

Inaugurating the counter-terror agency's headquarters in Lodi Road in Delhi, Singh also said: "The NIA will bring down the morale of the terrorists."

He said terrorism acts as a hindrance to development. Lauding the work of the probe agency for proving its credibility in the last eight-and-half years since its formation in 2008, Singh said the conviction rate of the agency was over 90 per cent.

Singh said investigating terror activities is a tough job. "But with the help of scientific investigation, it has filed perfect chargesheets", the home minister said.

The home minister also hailed the NIA's role in curbing the menace of fake currency which acted as an oxygen for terrorism.
New Delhi: Five to six terrorists are killed by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir everyday, home minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.

Singh said the NDA government has been taking strong action on terrorism and results were showing on the ground.

"Everyday, 5-6 terrorists are neutralised in Jammu and Kashmir due to the sustained efforts of the Army, paramilitary forces and other security agencies. I compliment them," he said while inaugurating the new headquarters of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

In his address at the function, director general of the NIA Sharad Kumar said since the inception of the organisation in 2009, a total 166 cases have been assigned to the NIA for investigation.

Kumar said these cases cover the entire spectrum of terrorism-related challenges relevant to India and have involved investigative efforts in 26 states and union territories.

Out of the 166 cases, 63 cases pertain to 'jihadi' terrorism, 25 to terrorist acts by North East insurgents, 41 to cases of terror financing and fake currency, 13 to cases involving Left-wing extremism while the remaining 24 cases relate to other miscellaneous terrorist acts or gangs, he said.

Kumar said the investigations conducted by the NIA have helped unearth an entire range of illegal activities involving terror funding to specific incidents of terror, including the killing of innocent persons.
New Delhi: With their losses projected to run into crores, wholesale dealers of firecrackers in New Delhi can see their Diwali going up in smoke.

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a virtual death blow to firecracker dealers in the famed walled city of Delhi by banning sale of fireworks until 31 October.

The news travelled fast through Sadar and Jama Masjid, the two famous markets in the Old City, with shops piled high with crackers of all kinds, ranging from sparklers selling for about Rs 20 a stick to powerful bombs going up to Rs 1,000 and more.

The Supreme Court said its order of last November banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) would continue till 31 October  Diwali falls on 19 October  in an effort to check pollution this festival of lights.

"All dealers across NCR have been affected. The ban was imposed in 2016 last year and was lifted temporarily around 20 days back. Now, what will be do with the old stock? Crackers worth crores will go waste," said Amit Jain, who sells firecrackers in Jama Masjid.

Harjit Singh Chhabra, head, Sadar Nishkarm Welfare Association, estimated that losses could go up to hundreds of crores.

According to him, 500 temporary licences have already been issued to sell firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. Of these, Sadar Bazar has 24. This does not include those who have a permanent licence.

"Ban nuclear weapons, not crackers," said one shopkeeper in Sadar Bazar. "The Supreme Court's job is to regulate not ban," added another who had set up shop close by. "They have banned Diwali in Delhi," said a third.

The posters came up equally rapidly.

A banner saying "Patake hi Patake" was pulled down to make way for a new one declaring, "Nashe se mar rahe hai log, Patakon se nahi (People are dying because of drugs, not of crackers".

"We are selling crackers not nuclear weapons that you impose a ban. This is India, not Taliban that you can go on banning things like this," Chhabra told PTI.

Shopkeepers in Sadar Bazar have threatened to go on strike and insist they won't follow the order.

"We can't sell in shops so we will sell on the pavement if nothing works out," Chhabra said, addressing a crowd that had gathered near his shop.

"This is not child's play. They have revoked the old ban only to bring it again. What do we do with these crackers that we bought," he added, showing his licence giving him permission to sell crackers till 21 November.

His story found wide echo in the area.

Sandeep Mahajan, another shopkeeper from Sadar Bazaar, said he has over 600 kg of crackers worth about Rs 8 lakh.

"My losses will be three times more. I had bought crackers worth Rs 25 lakh," added Rajiv Saxena of RK Enterprises.

Many of them said they were just getting over the blow of "28 percent GST on crackers".

"We are clueless about what to do next! For us Diwali is finished. The last I knew, Supreme Court was authorised to regulate, not ban. This will only create new avenues for corruption. I can already see policemen taking rounds to harass us," said Surinder Chawla.

While environmentalists and others welcomed the apex court order, Chawla is amongst those hoping that the biggies of Sivakasi  firecracker manufacturing hub  manage to get a stay.

"People running the industry in Sivakasi are big shots. They will get us out of this situation," Chawla said.

The "cracker lobby" also contests that a ban would help in reducing pollution.

"Trucks are roaming throughout Delhi and there is no check. The big industries are polluting air 365 days and you don't do anything. But come Diwali and you are all alert... do they actually think that one day can make this huge impact?" asked a permanent licence holder in Jama Masjid who did not want to be identified.

Pawan Khosla, who had come to purchase crackers for the festive season, had no clue about the apex court order Monday afternoon.

"Thank god you told me," he said, adding some more to his bulging gunny bags of the incendiary stuff.

"Diwali is celebrated for around five days. In those five days, 10 lakh kilogrammes of firecrackers are used per day," a Supreme Court bench had said in August this year.

It was reportedly informed by a counsel that 50 lakh kg of fireworks were stocked in and around the National Capital Region.
Perpetrating an injustice on humanity in the name of tradition is the ideal of a selfish society. Those upset with the Supreme Court's decision to ban sale of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) are arguing in favour of a temporary pleasure that is causing irreversible long-term damage to their own future and posing a threat to the life of thousands of people.

The argument that people be allowed to burst crackers on Diwali even if the fumes pollute the Delhi air is, in essence, a specious demand for the right to slow poison people to illness and death. Though the intent could be noble, the effect could be nothing short of turning Delhi into a gas chamber and asphyxiating its people to a slow, painful life of torture.

Calling crackers an essential ingredient of Diwali culture is flawed. Firecrackers were first invented in China, sometime in the 7th century. After years of use in Chinese festivals, they spread to other cultures and societies.

Deepavali, on the other hand, dates back to several centuries before the invention of firecrackers. It is mentioned in some of the ancient Hindu scriptures and is narrated in great detail as a festival of lights in literature from the 7th century. In its original form, it was considered a festival of lights -- a Sanskrit play from King Harsha's era (590-647) refers to it as Deepapratipadutsav. In many other places, it is talked about as a festival on which lamps are lit, houses are whitewashed and gifts are exchanged.

Arguing that bursting of crackers is part of the Deepavali culture is just hokum. Crackers became part of festivities several centuries later, inspired by some Chinese traditions. Naturally, if a custom can be added to a festival, it can be proscribed too depending on the prevailing socio-cultural environment.

In fact, bursting crackers to the detriment of the environment is against the Indian philosophy that considers air as one of the five essential elements of Nature. Polluting it, turning it toxic with poisonous fumes is, thus, an act of impiety, an act of violence against Nature.

It is interesting to note how cavalier people are towards air when they take millions of precautions while dealing with water. In every household that can afford it, there are water purifiers and filters. Those who do not have access to clean water, try to buy packaged water. And nobody in their right mind drink from a source that is polluted with chemicals and waste. Yet, when it comes to air, there is serious lack of concern about the quality we inhale. It is difficult to understand how humans who worry about their gastrointestinal health could be so blase about their respiratory health.

It has been clearly established that fumes from crackers turn the Delhi air toxic the day after Diwali celebrations. In 2016, according to a report in Hindustan Times, the air quality index had peaked  touching the maximum limit of 500  in almost all monitoring spots in the city. Air pollution level is classified as severe if it is between 401 and 500.

The newspaper reported that Delhi Pollution Control Committees real-time ambient air quality data said the PM10 and PM 2.5 readings went up alarmingly. PM10 was recorded at 4,273 g/m. PM2.5 touched an alarming high at 748g/m at 2.30am. The permissible level of PM 2.5 is 60g/m while PM10 is 100 g/m.

Health experts have warned that the respiratory health of Delhi's residents is failing because of the ambient air quality. Half of its children have impaired lung functions. During winters, its air becomes the most polluted in the world by a huge distance, beating other cities by a huge margin. Such is the suffocating environment in the city that many now call the Indian capital New Deadly.

It is, thus, the collective responsibility of every citizen to save the city, its residents, its environment from deterioration. This can be done only by avoiding activities that add to the respiratory burden -- controlling industrial fumes, vehicular pollution and abstaining from recreational activities that lead to further deterioration of air.

The problem with cribbers and cynics in Delhi is that they believe controlling pollution is the responsibility of everyone except their own. So, they will blame it on stubble burning, industrial units, vehicles that do not follow emission norms and inefficiency of governments. But, they will resist almost every effort to clean Delhi's air if it causes them any discomfort, imagined or real.

Seeking the right to pollute air, make people ill and push children towards long-term respiratory distress in the name of culture and tradition is the basest of all arguments. Those who are proffering it should know that if Delhi continues to mimic a Nazi gas chamber  Inhale, Hitler being its collective death cry  there may be nobody left to preserve the culture they seek to protect through their irrational arguments.
Sonepat: A court in Sonepat in Haryana on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to 75-year-old Abdul Karim Tunda in the 1996 Sonepat bomb blasts case.

The court of Additional District and Sessions judge Sushil Kumar Garg pronounced life sentence to Tunda, a day after it found him guilty, Tunda's counsel Ashish Vats said.

Tunda will now be lodged in the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad as many cases are pending against him in other parts of the country as well, Vats said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him, he said.

"Abdul Karim Tunda was yesterday held guilty under section 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act (punishment for causing explosion likely to endanger life or property)," he said.

While recording his statement in court in September this year, Tunda had maintained that he was in Pakistan at the time of the bomb blasts.

At least 15 persons were injured in twin blasts in Sonepat in December 1996. One of the blasts took place near a cinema hall and the other near a sweets shop.

The lawyer said 43 witnesses, including those who were injured in the blasts, had recorded their testimony during the trial.

Tunda, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert, was arrested from the India-Nepal border at Banbasa on 16 August, 2013. He is also suspected of involvement in some other blast cases across the country, some of which are still pending.

Tunda was one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
A joint team consisting of Jammu and Kashmir Police's Special Operation Group, local police, the CRPF and the Indian Army killed top Jaish-e-Mohammed chief commander Umer Khalid in Ladoora area of North Kashmir, according to a police statement.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police SP Vaid said it was a major breakthrough for the security forces as the militant was involved in many attacks on security camps in north Kashmir, and was regularly targeting policemen in particular.

Khalid, alias Shah Showkat, was the mastermind of the recent fidayeen (suicide) attack on the BSF camp near the Srinagar airport, according to The Hindu.

"He was also involved in a fidayeen attack on the 46 Rashtriya Rifles camp in 2016 at Khajabagh, Baramulla. He was the mastermind of the attack on District Police Line Pulwama and the BSF camp near the Humhama airport this year," the report quoted the police as saying.

Khalid had also recently carried out an attack on a Special Police Officer and his seven-year-old son at Handwara, police said, and added that he was an 'A++ category' terrorist who carried a bounty of nearly Rs 7 lakh, PTI reported.

On Monday, Livemint had quoted a senior home ministry official as saying, "Khalid has been on the most wanted list of terrorists for a long time now. He had been groomed by the top brass of the JeM and his presence in the Valley was wreaking havoc because the JeM specialises in fidayeen attacks and Khalid was masterminding such attacks.

Khalid, who was a Pakistani national, had been operational in the Valley for several years, and was also instrumental in arranging recruits for the terror outfit. He is also said to have been the mastermind behind mobilising the youth for militancy in the region.

"He was motivating youth and poor boys to join Jaish for execution of grenade attacks against monetary benefits," The New Indian Express quoted a police officer as saying.

Giving details of the encounter, the police said security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Ladoora area following information about the presence of militants in the area.

The search operation turned into a gunbattle when the militants opened fire on the search party, the police said, adding that more troops were rushed to the area to prevent the militants from escaping.

NDTV reported that security forces launched the operation on Monday while Khalid was visiting his girlfriend, who reportedly had tipped the police of the JeM commander's movements.

"He had about 17 girlfriends  some new, some old. A few who he had ditched became vengeful and even started giving information about his whereabouts to us," the report quoted a senior police officer who was involved in Monday's encounter.

But intelligence officials are skeptical of the change the encounter will bring to militancy in the Valley.

"What happened in Kashmir after Burhan Wani will not be repeated. Militant groups always find the next person to take over from where the previous leader left. It does not hamper their operations. None of these killings will have any radical impact on militancy. It is only the top leaders in Pakistan such as Masood Azhar who really matter," Livemint quoted a senior intelligence official as saying.

With inputs from PTI
Several cities in south India bore the brunt of unusually heavy rainfall in the last week even as the monsoon prepares to leave the country. Among other cities, life in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mysuru came to a standstill after the sudden high-intensity downpours.

On 5 October, Bengaluru witnessed 65 mm rainfall, which was the highest rainfall in a day in the city since 2007. Bengaluru had been at the receiving end of nature's fury earlier this year as well: in September, four people were killed after a thunderstorm lashed the city.

On the same day, six people were killed and four injured when lightning struck a temple in a Mysuru village, the police said.

Speaking to Firstpost, Sundar M Metri, director of Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru, said that although the overall monsoon rainfall in Karnataka this year is "within the range we call normal", rainfall in October  which is the first of the three months of the 'post-monsoon period'  has been excessive.

"In the three months from October to December 2017, Bengaluru was expected to receive 248 mm of rainfall. The expected rainfall for the month of October is 170 mm. But from 1 to 6 October alone, we have recorded a total precipitation of 140 mm already," Metri said.

This means that by Friday, Bengaluru had already received over half the rainfall expected in the city between October and December. Further, it has received over 80 percent of the rainfall that is normally expected in October.

"The rains from June to July were quite deficient in Karnataka, but the downpour from 15 August compensated for it. Now this may exceed the average monsoon rainfall if the recent trends continue to last," he said.

In Hyderabad, three people were killed after rains pounded the city on 3 October. Of these, two people died in a wall collapse, while one person died of electrocution, News18 reported. As some parts of Hyderabad received rainfall of 7 cm to 12 cm, officials have termed it as a cloudburst, according to the report.

It is not as much about the unpredictability of these rainfall patterns, as it is about their shifting patterns, Y Karunakar Reddy, head scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD) Hyderabad, told Firstpost.

"We had predicted these spells of rain fairly accurately, but weather patterns are now becoming more and more difficult to analyse and hence predict. This year, we've seen several spells of 'short duration high intensity' rainfall, unlike we have seen in previous years.

"These spells are extremely localised and are very heavy, resulting in wet areas getting more rain and dry ones remaining dry," Reddy said, "This trend, which is clearly becoming more predominant year after year, are drastically changing rainfall distribution in the country."

Uneven rains this year have already affected the production of summer crops in the country. As Livemint reported, such rains could lead to lower foodgrain output in spite of bigger planting areas, forcing India to raise imports of edible oils, sugar and pulses, and possibly limiting exports of cotton, rice and feed ingredients, according to traders.

While Metri blames unusual depressions and cyclone circulation on both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal of late, Reddy insists the cause may be far bigger.

"This is a direct effect of global climate change. Weather patterns are changing much faster than they have been known to change in the past, and global warming and climate change are to blame," Reddy said.

This was echoed by Manju Mohan, head of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences in IIT Delhi. Although such changing weather patterns have been noticed for the past five years or so, climate change is ultimately to blame for these erratic flooding of cities, she said.

"Another reason of such events is rapid urbanisation. The water soaking capacity of our cities is continuously coming down because of the expansion of the city's infrastructure, which puts the city at a much bigger risk of flooding. It takes much less rainfall to flood a city now than it used to.

"With emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols only rising in our cities, such unpredictability of violent weather is only likely to continue," Mohan said. However, she added that sometimes such change in the monsoon's behaviour is random, and does not necessarily have to do with anything particular.

Sunil Kamble, director-in-charge, IMD Mumbai, said that Maharashtra continues to receive ordinary rainfall in October. "Monsoon is receding currently, and we expect some irregularities. But overall rainfall during this year's monsoon has been sufficient, except in a couple of districts like Vidarbha," he said.

All experts agree that given the movement of cyclones of the Bay of Bengal, current weather patterns are likely to continue for a while.
The Uttar Pradesh government has provided yet another piece of evidence to suggest its sidelining of the Taj Mahal is no accident. A state minister said that the monument had "rightly been kept out and should instead be replaced with the Guru Gorakhnath peeth".

The minister in charge of religious affairs and culture, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, said on Monday that keeping out the Taj Mahal was necessary because the current government in Uttar Pradesh is "rashtravadi (nationalist)" and runs on "dharm niti (religious policy)", according to a report in The Times of India.

Speaking at an event in Hathras which was organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Chaudhary said, "Taj Mahal is not the symbol of any religion and (it is) nobody's. It does not represent any religion.... On the other hand, Gorakhnath peeth represents people's faith."

This statement comes only days after media outlets reported that the Uttar Pradesh government had omitted the iconic Mughal monument from its list of key attractions.

The Times of India describes the booklet titled 'Uttar Pradesh Paryatan - Apaar Sambhavanaayein' (UP Tourism - Unlimited Possibilities) as a 32-page glossy booklet with the Ganga Aarti of Varanasi on its cover. It has ostensibly been printed to promote tourist spots in Uttar Pradesh, but misses out on the most famous one. It does however find place for Gorakhnath temple, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the presiding priest.

The booklet was released by the state's tourism minister Rita Bahuguna to mark six months of the Adityanath government, according to a report in NDTV.

But the government seemed to backtrack: Health minister Sidharth Nath Singh insisted that there was 'some miscommunication which has undermined the monument' while Joshi insisted that the Taj Mahal was a part of the state's cultural heritage and a key priority for the state government, according to the report.

In June, Adityanath  while speaking about souvenirs given to foreign dignitaries  had said that Taj Mahal and other minarets do not reflect Indian culture, according to a report in The Telegraph.

The monument also failed to find mention in the government's first budget in the special section 'Hamari Sanskritik Virasat' (Our Cultural Heritage) incorporated in the finance ministers 63-page budget speech. The exclusion had led to criticism of the government as academics and historians asked for promotion of the state's composite multi-faith culture.

Opposition criticises move

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attacked Adityanath over the reported omission by invoking famous Hindi writer Bhartendu Harishchandra to describe the Uttar Pradesh government and Adityanath as "andher nagari, chaupat raja". The proverb roughly translates to "unjust regime of a mindless king".

Rahul tweeted in Hindi: "Sooraj ko deepak na dikhane se uski chamak nahi ghatti. Aise hi raj ke liye Bhartendu ne likha tha andher nagari, chaupat raja.(The brightness of the sun would not reduce if it is not shown a lamp. It is for such a government Bhartendu had written 'andher nagari, chaupat raja)."

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav called the Taj Mahal an architectural marvel, a wonder of the world and a much visited monument that generates employment for a large number of people. While visiting the Taj Mahal with his wife and children to see the white marble mausoleum on the full moon night of Sharad Poornima, he said, "As far as we Samajwadis are concerned, all I can say is that Taj Mahal gives jobs and employment to a large number of people. Business also thrives," he said. Yadav was eloquent in his praise of the 17th century monument built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan to honour the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Adityanath was also criticised in this Firstpost article which said that the Adityanath government's latest directive would achieve nothing except exposing its own biases. The Taj does not require any introduction to the world. It, unlike the Gorakhnath Mutt, does not require a hardsell from the government. For years it has drawn people who believe in love to India and to Agra. Those who think India's syncretic culture is synonymous with love will continue to visit the Taj.
Kerala takes pride when it comes to the global appeal of their celebrated nurses and the remittances these women and men send back home. However, the recent unfolding of events across the state in the private healthcare sector does not present a similar optimistic image.

The nurses in the private healthcare sector in Kerala went on an indefinite strike; demanding better pay and working conditions. The appalling remuneration these professionals receive in their own state has shocked many. While the salaries of doctors went up exponentially through the years, that of the nurses took the reverse direction. This has gradually decreased the status of their profession in Kerala.

Shaimol Reji, a nurse with 16 years of professional experience pointed that her salary was Rs 2,500 in 2006 in Kerala while other cities in India offered about Rs 10,000 during that period and her starting salary in a private hospital in a Gulf country was above Rs 30,000. Rising up for the first time in huge numbers, the nurses succeeded in leading a series of strikes in 2012 under the leadership of United Nurses Association (UNA), resulting in a hike in their minimum basic salary to Rs 9500. But that's still a much lower pay considering their professional qualifications and in comparison to other trained professions or even manual labourers.

The situation of the nursing profession is just a microcosm of the larger society and to a certain extent of women and their everyday experiences of gender inequality and how their position in society interacts with their profession. Hence, it is impossible to approach the issues within the nursing profession by isolating them from the larger issues faced by women in the society.

Though the literacy rate figures and gender ratio of Kerala garner applause in the country, the reality is that even when a Malayali woman is educated, a professional worker and an earner, she still lives under the subordination of men.

An attempt to understand the issues by analysing the salary scale alone of the nurses will only give one part of the picture. What is happening to the nursing profession today is a result of not just those times when nurses decided to accept a lower wage for the sake of experience; it has deep roots in how nursing was predominantly viewed as a womens work, its unskilled beginnings and the way the society has always and still looks at womens labour.

Historically these nursing women have been coming from the lower strata of the society too, adding to the strong power relations of gender and class in the medical field. Even though the nurses in Kerala are trained heavily to perform even on par with the doctors themselves, they are still seen as less empowered in the largely masculine hierarchy. It is because of this subordinated idea of lower class women nurses also that men in nursing are seen as a threat to the smooth running of a hospital in Kerala these days.

It is also important to note that, until recently the nurses could not come together as an influencing workforce in the form of a trade union, particularly in the context of Kerala where trade unions have a very strong political hold. Part of the explanation lies in the education of the nurses. As women in a private nursing college, they are conditioned in such a way that they remain subdued, for that is how polite women are supposed to behave. This subdued and polite nature is fostered in them by college management with the aid of teaching staff and more notably through their compulsory hostel life.

"Nursing students are parroted that they study a syllabus almost similar to MBBS, they are not allowed to use mobile phone or even call parents from hostels; they cant have holidays for more than 4-5 days in a year and notably even within the institute they cant participate in students' union activities because there aren't any students' union bodies," says Reji.

The few colleges which have some kind of students bodies are heavily supervised by the teachers. On the other hand, MBBS or BDS students in the state do not have even half the restrictions of a nursing student residing in hostels. After all, how much can the management control the elite kids who take admissions by paying lakhs of rupees as compared to the nursing students. As per a report in 2012, more than nine lakh out of the 11 lakh nursing students have taken bank loans to complete their studies.

Parents send their children to nursing colleges with the hope of an assured job at the end of the course. After the course, with few years of work experience in India, they hope to fly abroad to earn enough so that they can repay their bank loan. But with the Gulf crisis, the number of nurses going abroad has fallen considerably, and with their low pay in Kerala, it is almost impossible to repay the educational loan. Raji who started working as a nurse in the year 2010, has been repaying her educational loan for the last eight years and she says not even half of it is covered so far.

Girija, a senior nurse with 27 years of experience said, "It was difficult for us to protest, most of us are women. Because of our household responsibilities we were forced to work even for a petty salary."

Caught in family responsibilities and lack of recognition as a workforce because of their predominant women population, nurses remained vulnerable to fight against the managements. But with due credit to their resilience, the United Nurses Association (UNA) was formed in November 2011 which organised and led the struggle for an increase in pay and other benefits. For the first time, nurses in the state had a union to stand for them. After their successful set of strikes in 2012, hospital management in the following years failed to maintain the minimum basic salary setup by the state government.

The two-month-long strike started by UNA in June 2017 demanded that the recommendations of the Supreme Court appointed Jagdish Prasad committee should be implemented. When the strike began, the private hospital management representatives gave an emotional statement saying that the nurses were striking not against them but the patients. This selective paramount compassion and empathy that the pseudo-do-gooders wear, was a clear manifestation of their outright denial towards paying any attention to the demands of the nurses.

Many hospitals run by godmen/godwomen and other religious organisations also failed to live up to what they preach. The management of these hospitals tried all means including threats, abuses, and religious sentiments to suppress the strike. Even the other staffs (including those in their affiliate educational institutions) were unable to overtly show their support to these striking nurses.

Withstanding all the odds, the United Nurses Association and the Indian Nurses Association succeeded in pressurising the state government to implement the Jagdish Prasad Committee recommendations which will result in an increase of more than 100 percent hike in salary, an amount at par with government hospitals.

The increase in salary of the Nurses can truly be acknowledged as a success of their struggle for years. But until the women are freed from the subordinate position within the profession and from the society, their professional life will remain a debacle.
News / Regional

by Staff Reporter

BULAWAYO - State Security minister Kembo Mohadi's wife, senator Tambudzani, has filed a notice of intention to defend summons issued by her husband, seeking a decree of divorce against her.Mohadi, who is also Beitbridge East legislator, and Tambudzani (nee Muleya) have been married for 36 years in which they got blessed with four children who are now adults.Tambudzani, who is the defendant in the matter, through her lawyers, Phillips Law Legal Practitioners, filed her notice of appearance to defend the claims being made by her husband at the High Court here last week.Mohadi, through his lawyers, Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers, last month approached the court seeking the nullification of his marriage with his wife, claiming their marriage had irretrievably broken down."Be pleased to take notice that the defendant has on September 29, 2017 at 3.10pm entered an appearance to defend the above action. The summons were served on the defendant on September 27, 2017," reads part of the papers.In his founding affidavit, Mohadi, who is the plaintiff, said there were no prospects of a reunion since they stopped staying together as husband and wife more than 18 years ago."The plaintiff (Mohadi) submits that the marriage between the parties has broken down irretrievably to such an extent that the parties no longer live as husband and wife," he said.Mohadi said they have not been intimate with each other for more than 18 years."The plaintiff and the defendant (Tambudzani) have not been staying as husband and wife for over 18 years now, which is the cornerstone of any normal marriage. The parties have lost love and affection for each other and no longer share common interests," he said.In papers before the court, Mohadi said while he was still staying with his wife, they acquired movable and immovable property even after their separation, but wanted the court to distribute the assets equally.He said during the subsistence of their marriage, they acquired several household goods, which he was proposing to share equally with his wife.
The Yogi Adityanath government has proposed to build a 'grand statue' of Lord Ram on the banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya, according to reports. It is being planned as part of the Navya Ayodhya project which is seen as an initiative by the Uttar Pradesh government to promote religious tourism.

The proposal was presented by Principal Secretary of Tourism, Awinash Awasthi, to Governor Ram Naik, according to the press communique released by Raj Bhavan. The Indian Express reported that the presentation also included information on programmes scheduled for Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya on 18 October.

The statue is proposed at a height of 100 metres but Awasthi said that this was a concept proposal and the letter to NGT for clearance is yet to be sent.

A "deepotsav" will be organised on 'Ram Ki Paidi' where 1.71 lakh earthen lamps will be lit, Awasthi said.

Prominent building and ghats will also be illuminated to attract tourists. The objective of the entire programme will be to promote Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram, as a tourist destination.

A heritage walk, a yatra reminiscing return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya, and launch of several schemes by chief minister and other dignitaries will be part of the programme, the officer said.

A grand "aarti" of river Saryu will also be performed by the chief minister and the governor and a laser show will be held on the banks of the river.

During the programme, Ramlila will be staged by artists from Indonesia and Thailand.

The Union tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs 133.70 crore for making Ayodhya a tourism hub.

The money sanctioned will be utilised in renovating ghats, including Guptar ghat, where Lord Ram had taken 'Samadhi', installing CCTV cameras, making police booths, construction of guest houses for tourists and auditorium at Digamgar Akhara.

The budget presented by the Yogi government, which came to power in March, had special mention of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura, earmarking Rs 1,240 crore for the Ramayan, Buddhist and Krishna circuits in these cities.

This move comes after the state government was widely criticised for omitting Taj Mahal in its recent tourism booklet namely 'Uttar Pradesh Paryatan-Apaar Sambhavnayen'. The booklet, published to mark six months of the Yogi Adityanath government, was released on World Tourism Day on 27 September. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi invoked famous Hindi writer Bhartendu Harishchandra to describe the Uttar Pradesh government and Adityanath as "andher nagari, chaupat raja".

Yogi's decision to build a Lord Ram statue is keeping in line with BJP's obsession with statues. Prior to this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a memorial to Maharashtra icon Chhatrapati Shivaji in the Arabian sea. Slated to be 190 metres tall, the statue along with a pedestal and foundation would be taller than New York's Statue of Liberty.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a torchbearer of courage, bravery & good governance. #ShivSmarak is a fitting tribute to him & his greatness.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 24, 2016

Meanwhile, in Gujarat, the state government is constructing a colossal statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. The statue will be 182 metres tall and was announced in 2013 by then chief minister Narendra Modi.

With inputs from PTI
After 23 innocent people lost their lives in a horrific stampede at Elphinstone Station bridge on 29 September, MNS chief Raj Thackeray took out a Santap Morcha (anger march) to protest the state of the city's railway stations on 5 October. He led the protest march from Metro Cinema to the Western Railway headquarters.

Raj demanded that the Western and Central Railway administration clear hawkers from stations and foot-over bridges on both lines within 15 days, and warned that on the 16th day, the MNS would take it upon itself to do so.

Raj's warning appears to have been taken seriously enough by the concerned Railway Police or Railway Protection Force (RPF) for them to take action very next day  6 October. Now the bridges and walkways near railway stations like Dadar, Elphinstone, Kurla, Parel, Bandra and Andheri are free of hawkers, who used to cause obstructions to the movement of commuters up and down the bridge.

Below are a set of images from some of Mumbai's railway stations that are now hawker-free:
In a bid to impart BJP's stand on providing an all-round development for Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party fielded three of its top leaders in Amethi, the political bastion of the Gandhi family, on Tuesday.

At a mega rally organised by BJP, the party's national president Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Union minister Smriti Irani took turns to criticise Congress and praise BJP governance. Here's all the important things that were said at the rally:

Modi, Gandhi, and Amethi

Addressing the rally, Shah said that he was in Amethi because he wanted the people to embrace development. "Narendra Modiji, even after not getting the desired results, never abandoned Amethi," Shah said.

Taking a dig at the Congress vice-president and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, "Three generations of Congress were voted to power in Amethi. And you, Rahul baba, ask us what we did in mere three years?"

"I want to ask Rahul: You have been an MP for so long. Why hasn't Amethi got a collector's office or Akashvani FM radio till now?" he asked.

Championing the Modi model of development, Shah said, "There are two models of growth in Amethi: Gandhi-Nehru model and the Modi model. Three generations of the Gandhis abandoned Amethi. Modi model means 24x7 electricity for all households."

Shah also drew parallels between Adityanath and Modi. "The jodi of Yogiji and Modiji means development for Uttar Pradesh," Shah said.

'Uttar Pradesh will be developed by Gujarat'

Lashing out at the Congress vice-president over constantly criticising Modi, Shah said, "By 2022, Uttar Pradesh will be developed by Gujarat."

He added, "In the three years that we have been in power, Modi government has brought about 106 schemes. Maybe Rahul Gandhi does not even know how to count."

In a direct attack on former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Shah said, "We at least gave a prime minister to the nation who speaks. Earlier, India had a prime minister whom people were desperate to hear."

The BJP chief also alleged that the Amethi MP was incapable of understanding India because of his Italian roots. "Rahul baba, you are wearing Italian glasses. You cannot see things from the Indian perspective," he said.

'Irani is sister of Amethi'

Speaking at the BJP rally, Adityanath alleged that the Congress never thought about Amethi and Uttar Pradesh. "Even if we did not get the desired results for Amethi in 2014, Irani has proven that she is the sister of Amethi," he said.

He added that Congress used to think about Italy, but not about Amethi. "Congress got several opportunities to be a part of Amethi. But you got only one opportunity to see them," said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

'Congress doesn't love India'

Adityanath said that the foundation stones that were being laid by BJP for development schemes were a sign of the growth Amethi is witnessing.

"Congress doesn't love India. They cannot bring about development," he said.

The Hindutva leader claimed that there was no development in the area when he had first become the chief minister. "In rural areas, we have provided homes to over 8 lakh people. Programmes to provide toilets to the families which did not have toilets have begun now," he said.

'Amethi has embraced me and BJP'

Irani, who had arrived at the Gandhi bastion on Monday evening openly criticised the Congress. "People had earlier told me that they are boycotting the 2014 polls because authorities from their own constituency were not willing to meet them," she said.

Recalling an interaction with a village head, Irani said that upon her assurance to work for development, he responded saying that "he was done trying to trust politicians".

"Perhaps those people, who roam around the nation ranting about development, get scared when they hear the name of Amethi," said Irani.

"I am proud of the fact that our leadership did not turn their backs on us," she added.

'Congress saw Amethi as vote bank'

Irani said that her address was for "those who have looked at Amethi just as a vote bank". She said that promises of a rail line in the constituency had been made from Nehru's time to Rahul's, "but only Modi did work for development".

"I want to tell Rahul: You go abroad and to Gujarat and talk about development. But tell the nation that the first TV unit is being installed in a hospital only when BJP came to power," Irani said.

Irani also took a dig at Samajwadi Party. "The people had been promised employment. But the cycle had been punctured a lot earlier," she said.
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The BJP chief will be in Amethi at 11 am to address various initiatives.

"The Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to the economist who was the first one to welcome demonetisation," said Adityanath.

"We are fortunate to have a prime minister whose name in the world builds respect for India," said the chief minister.

"Uttar Pradesh government will leave no stone unturned when it comes to the development of Amethi and Uttar Pradesh," Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said.

Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to the economist who was the first one to welcome demonetisation: Yogi Adityanath

"Rahul baba, you are wearing Italian glasses. You cannot see things from the Indian perspective," he said.

"We at least gave a prime minister to the nation who speaks. Earlier, India had a prime minister whom people were desperate to hear," he added.

"In the three years that we have been in power, Modi government has brought about 106 schemes. Maybe Rahul Gandhi does not even know how to count," he said.

"Rahul baba always asks us what Modiji has done for the nation," Amit Shah said in Amethi. "By 2022, UP will be developed by Gujarat," he added.

By 2022, UP will be developed like Gujarat: Amit Shah

"The jodi of Yogiji and Modiji means development for Uttar Pradesh," Shah said.

"Three generations of Gandhis abandoned Amethi," Shah said. "Modi model means 24/7 electricity for all households," said the BJP president.

"BJP won four out of five seats in Amethi," he said. "There are two models of growth in Amethi: Gandhi-Nehru model and the Modi model," he added.

"I want to ask Rahul Gandhi: You have been an MP for so long. Why hasn't Amethi got a collector's office or Akashvani FM radio till now?" Amit Shah said.

#ShahInAmethi -- What has Rahul Gandhi and Congress done for the development of Amethi?: Amit Shah takes on Rahul #BattleForAmethi pic.twitter.com/e5HXwn0TDH

"Rahul baba, you are wearing Italian glasses. You cannot see things from the Indian perspective," he said.

"We at least gave a prime minister to the nation who speaks. Earlier, India had a prime minister whom people were desperate to hear," he added.

"In the three years that we have been in power, Modi government has brought about 106 schemes. Maybe Rahul Gandhi does not even know how to count," he said.

"Rahul baba always asks us what Modiji has done for the nation," Amit Shah said in Amethi. "By 2022, UP will be developed by Gujarat," he added.

By 2022, UP will be developed like Gujarat: Amit Shah

#ShahInAmethi -- Trust in BJP and PM Modi, and you will never be let down: Amit Shah #BattleForAmethi pic.twitter.com/KTyqcKxWm6

'Trust in BJP and Modi, and you will never be let down'

"This state was once ruled by the Congress and the Gandhi clan has been representing Amethi for long. Now is the time for them to answer the people on why there has been no development," she added. - IANS

Smriti Irani accused Rahul Gandhi of paying a lip service to development. She said the Congress leader was making fun of development in Gujarat but has no answer for the lack of it in his own backyard in Amethi.

Addressing a rally in Porbandar earlier this month, Shah had said, Rahul can't see development because he is wearing Italian glasses. "To be able to see the development, he needs to remove those spectacles and wear Gujarati glasses."

On Tuesday, Shah said that Rahul cannot see the development because he is wearing "Italian spectacles".

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and Congress, Amit Shah said that "you have reposed faith in one family for 60 years. You won't regret if you give the BJP and Narendra Modi a chance."

Grateful thanks to @dpradhanbjp ji for coming forward & mitigating the problem of access to clean water for the people of Amethi. pic.twitter.com/gxtiVJuyq2

Unchahar-Amethi railway line is finally taking shape. Catch a glimpse of facilities provided by @RailMinIndia for the people of Amethi. pic.twitter.com/5cTLMx59Gk

BJP president Amit Shah will address a rally in Amethi, the political bastion of the Gandhis, along with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Union minister Smriti Irani.

The aim of the visit would be to send out a message that the current regime believed in the all-round development of the state and not meting out a step-motherly treatment to the seats the BJP failed to win.

Seeking to take the wind out of the sails of Shah and Irani, besides Adityanath, ahead of their proposed visit to Amethi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh of re-inaugurating the projects launched by the UPA regime in his Lok Sabha constituency.

Irani arrived in the Gandhi bastion on Monday evening.

PTI earlier reported that in a bid to improve its tally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP devised "different strategies" for the seven seats it could not win the last time in Uttar Pradesh, where the saffron party and its ally put up their best show ever, bagging 73 of the 80 seats.

Of the seven seats the BJP had failed to win, five went to the Samajwadi Party (SP), while the Congress managed to win only from its pocket boroughs  Amethi (Rahul Gandhi) and Rae Bareli (Sonia Gandhi).

Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told PTI the party devised different strategies to win these seven Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

"A number of activities have been planned for the party workers at the booth level and an exercise is going on to appoint leaders who will be in charge of these constituencies, so that they can send a strong message to the voters and the party cadre that the BJP stands for development," he had said.

Of the 73 seats won by the NDA in 2014, the BJP alone pocketed 71 with a 42.63 percent vote share. The other two seats were won by its ally, the Apna Dal.

In 2014, Irani lifted the morale of the party workers by leading a high-voltage campaign against Rahul in Amethi.

Still, Rahul managed to secure 4,08,651 votes, as opposed to Irani's 3,00,748.

Though Irani lost to Rahul in Amethi, she managed to reduce his victory margin from 3.70 lakh in 2009 to 1.07 lakh in 2014.

In Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi secured 5,26,434 votes as opposed to the BJP candidate's 1,73,721.

With inputs from PTI
BJP president Amit Shah along with Union minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a rally in the Gandhi-bastion Amethi, even as Congress vice-president was firing fresh salvos on the saffron party from Shah's home turf.

Shah, Adityanath and Irani flayed the Congress vice-president over development in Amethi, while Rahul Gandhi mocked BJP's much-touted Gujarat model of development and slammed Shah over the controversy about his son's business dealings.

Addressing a public meeting, Shah spoke for around half hour but made no mention of the charges levelled against his son Jay Shah, whose company reportedly recorded a turnover of Rs 80 crore in 2015 after showing just Rs 50,000 the previous year. Here is how the leaders took turns to train their guns on Gandhi.

Shah asks Amethi to defeat Congress' shehzada (prince)

"You have trusted the Gandhi-Nehru family for 60 years. You put your trust for once in the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you will not regret," he told the people of Amethi, where the BJP won four of the five assembly constituencies in the last Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Adityanath and Irani, who lost to Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, also attacked the Congress vice-president, questioning his commitment to the development of Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion for decades. "Rahul Gandhi is a non-serious leader swinging from Berkeley to Amethi," Irani told CNN-News 18.

Describing Gandhi as "Shehzada (prince) of Congress", Shah said the Congress leader can't see the development work done by the Modi government as he wears Italian glasses.

"He (Rahul) is seeking answers from the Modi government for its performance of last three years but the people of Amethi are seeking answers from the three generations of Gandhi family which has ruled from panchayat to Parliament in the last 70 years."

Shah said while Amethi had been a VIP constituency for decades, why there was no Collectorate office, TB hospital, FM centre of All India Radio and houses for the poor.

Referring to Gandhi's presence in Gujarat, Shah said: "There are two development models in the country. One is Gandhi-Nehru model while another is Modi model. In Gujarat there is 24-hour power supply, drinking water in every house, a good public health centre in every tehsil."

Similarly, he said, after the BJP took power in Uttar Pradesh, development had picked up pace. The government had written off farmers' loans and given away nine lakh houses for the poor.

"I can assure you that Uttar Pradesh will become a developed state like Gujarat. There is Yogi in UP and Modi in Delhi. This jodi (pair) will together develop the state fully."

He said the people of Gujarat know what development is. "You just look at Amethi. You have destroyed it."

Shah said the Centre had initiated a number of schemes for the poor, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, youth and farmers. "There are 106 schemes initiated by this government. Rahul Gandhi will not be able to even count them."

Referring to the surgical strikes on terrorist hubs in Pakistan-administered Kashmir last year, Shah rhetorically told Gandhi: "You cannot even see it because you wear Italian glasses. Changes are taking place in the country. There will be a change in Amethi too in 2019."

Yogi Adityanath accuses Gandhi of being more interested in Italy than in Amethi

Yogi said the Congress can never do development work for the country as it had no vision. Adityanath said, "We will leave no stones unturned in developing Amethi or for that matter the entire state."

Adityanath also accused Gandhi of being more interested in Italy than in the people of his parliamentary constituency. He also taunted the Amethi MP for not coming to his parliamentary constituency often and rather visiting Italy more.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also ridiculed the Gandhi scion by saying that while "all-round development" had been ushered in by Modi, Congress was still asking what had been done in the past three-and-a-half years of the NDA regime.

"It is not his fault but that of the Italian glasses he wears over his eyes," the priest-turned-politician, known for his acerbic and direct attacks on his opponents, said and dared the Congress leader over the Samrat cycle factory land.

"This land belongs to the people, the farmers of Amethi and cannot just be grabbed by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation or any family," he said, adding that the land was not "kisi parivar ki bapauti (heirloom of any one political family)".

Referring to the land grabbing charges against the Congress vice-president's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, he said that times have changed, the BJP was in charge now and that under such circumstances "kahin damaad zameen hadpe, Kahin beta hadpe...ye nahin chalega ab (Their (Gandhi family's) sons and son-in-laws can no longer pocket properties".

Lauding the hard work put in by Irani for the development of the constituency, he referred to her as the sister of Amethi and pointed out that the "culture of middlemen propounded and patronized by the Congress had come to an end now".

Questioning the contribution of several generations of the Gandhi family towards Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Adityanath said that Gandhi will now have to answer how if everything was done and now nothing was being done, why did it take 70 years for a Prime Minister to work on basic issues like construction of toilets, schools, improving healthcare, houses for the rural and urban poor and timely supply of fertilizers besides other things.

He assured the people of Amethi that the state government would work relentlessly for the poor.

He also used the occasion to target the former Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath said while a target of 24 lakh houses for the rural poor had been set by the prime minister for the Uttar Pradesh government till 2019, and that 9.70 lakh houses had to be built in the first year but the Samajwadi Party government did nothing.

"We, under the guidance of Modi and Amit Shah, have given eight lakh families homes in the rural areas and 1.60 lakh to urban poor in just six months," he stated.

Irani accuses Gandhi of lip service

Irani accused Gandhi of paying lip service to development. She said the Congress leader was making fun of development in Gujarat but had no answer for the lack of it in his own backyard in Amethi.

"This state was once ruled by the Congress and the Gandhi clan has been representing Amethi for long. Now is the time for them to answer the people why there has been no development," she said.

Irani accused Gandhi of failing the people of Amethi and cheating the farmers by grabbing their land through the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

"A vast stretch of land was given by farmers long back for construction of the Samrat cycle factory. When nothing much happened, there is an effort to occupy the land illegally and despite eviction notice they are not letting the land go."

Irani also criticised Congress vice-president's remarks that women were not seen in RSS shakhas wearing shorts as 'indecent'.

"If Rahulji believes that wearing shorts in India is the sign of empowerment, as a woman I want to contradict it," she said in Amethi.

"Today, an indecent comment has been made on our sisters connected with the Sangh, the Rashtriya Sevika Sangh or the sisters, wives and sisters-in-law of ordinary Sangh workers," she said.

Her remarks came hours after Gandhi targeted the RSS and the BJP alleging that they did not give any importance to women and asked how many of them were seen attending the Sangh's shakhas.

"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in shakhas wearing shorts?" he said in a sarcastic tone in Vadodara.

The Congress leader said this in course of his Gujarat election campaign that in contrast, women work at every level in his party.

Khaki shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over a year ago.

With inputs from agencies
Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram told the Supreme Court that the BJP-led government has been carrying on a "politically-motivated vendetta" against him and his son.

The apex court was hearing CBI's appeal challenging a Madras High Court order staying the Centre's look out circular (LOCs) against Karti and others in an alleged graft case over irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007.

Chidambaram and his son Karti, facing the criminal probe, have filed separate affidavits in the apex court alleging vendetta. "Since the NDA government came to power, the central government has been carrying on a politically motivated vendetta against my family and especially my son. The agencies of the Central government have not spared the friends of the first respondent (Karti) or even persons remotely connected with him," Chidambaram said.

He also said the FIPB that dealt with the proposal of INX Media Ltd was chaired by D Subba Rao, who later became RBI Governor, and was succeeded by Ashok Chawla who later became Chairman of Competition Commission of India.

"The other members of FIPB, at the relevant time, were equally distinguished civil servants," he said. "The FIR in the INX Media case is a politically motivated FIR intended to embarrass and humiliate me and the members of my family," Chidambaram added.

Karti Chidambaram also sought permission to travel to the United Kingdom to admit his daughter for higher studies in Cambridge. Karti, in his affidavit, responded to CBI's allegation that he has multiple accounts and assets abroad, saying his family owns only one asset abroad which was acquired by transfer of funds through nationalised banks under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme.

'Have one overseas property'

According to a report in The Times of India, Karti said: "My family has only one overseas property, which was acquired by transfer of funds through nationalised banks in India under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank of India by following due procedure. This asset is recorded in our books of account and is reflected in our statutory filings (including those before the income tax authorities of India). I categorically state that my family has no other overseas property."

Karti added that he stood by his father's statement that if there was any other property, the government was free to take over it, The Times of India reported.

Karti also refuted the CBI's claim that he had 25 undisclosed bank accounts, adding that he only had one account in the UK's Metro Bank, which was opened in 2016 and has not received any remittance from anyone except him, his wife and daughter. He also stated that the banks in the UK have strict laws for opening bank accounts for 'Politically Exposed Persons' and because of his father's political clout, they were subjected to rigorous scrutiny by the international banks.

'CBI claims unjustified'

The Financial Express reported that Karti said that the only banking activity he conducted during his visit to the UK, post registration of FIR by the CBI related to two accounts that were maintained by him with Metro Bank, and subsequent access to banking facilities due to unilateral decision taken by the Metro Bank to close the accounts after complying with all statutory and KYC norms.

Therefore the aspersions made by the CBI are completely unjustified, and are evidently an attempt to tarnish my name and reputation in the public domain, apart from the Lookout Circular (LOC) issued to curtail fundamental right to travel aboard, Karti said, adding that the oral statements made by the CBI counsel ostensibly linking these accounts in the UK to alleged transactions that occurred by certain entities named in the FIR is preposterous and defies logic, The Financial Express reported.

The CBI FIR, lodged on 15 May, had alleged irregularities in FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Karti's father was the finance minister.

On 4 October, the CBI had alleged in the apex court that Karti had "tampered" with evidence relating to an alleged graft case against him during his visits abroad in the months of May, June and July this year.

The agency had said that there was a need to issue a LoC against Karti as he had the "potential" to tamper with the evidence and he had done this during his visits abroad. CBI had last month told the apex court that Karti was prevented from travelling abroad as he was allegedly closing several of his foreign bank accounts. The CBI's contention was strongly refuted by Karti's counsel.

The top court is hearing the CBI's appeal challenging the Madras High Court order staying the government's LOC against Karti in the alleged graft case.

With inputs from PTI
The controversy around BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah and the report published by The Wire claiming his firm's turnover grew manifold after the BJP came to power, has gained considerable Opposition voice against it. From Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, several leading Opposition members have launched scathing attack on the prime minister and the BJP chief.

Were you the watchman, or were you complicit, Rahul Gandhi asks Narendra Modi

Spearheading the Congress' assault, Rahul took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pressed him to "say something" on claims made in the report. He used the word "shahzada" to describe Shah's son. At election meetings in 2014, Modi had often targeted the Congress vice-president calling him "shahzada" (prince). "Did you act as a watchman (chowkidar) or were you complicit? Please say something," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

,  - ''  |

    ?     Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 9, 2017

On Tuesday, Rahul quoted a report and took a jibe at one of BJP government's key schemes: Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao

Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao  -''  https://t.co/LjB7VJtkQB  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 10, 2017

While tagging a copy of the report, published by news website The Wire, Gandhi on Monday had taken a jibe at the BJP chief,"We finally found the only beneficiary of demonetisation. It's not the RBI, the poor or the farmers. It's the Shah-in-Shah of Demo. Jai Amit."

The Congress on Sunday night held a press conference, which was headed by senior leader Kapil Sibal who lashed out the BJP and alleged that a firm  Kusum Finserve LLP  in which Jay had a 60 percent stake, had got a contract in Madhya Pradesh in the wind power sector, despite the company being engaged in stock trading.

Sibal also alleged that a company owned by Jay received a loan of Rs 25 crore from a cooperative bank without sufficient collateral security, besides a loan of Rs 10.35 crore from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), a public sector firm under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, which was headed by Piyush Goyal.

To a query on whether there was any wrongdoing, Sibal said, "I am talking about crony capitalism. Offence will come to light when we get to know why the loan was sanctioned. We know who the CBI and ED will investigate and who the agencies will not investigate. The issue is whether the prime minister is honest enough to say that investigate the son of Amit Shah."

Later on Sunday evening, Sibal wondered why Goyal, a Union minister, had to defend Jay. "From an official platform, he (Goyal) defended Jay. He should be defending the government," the former law minister told reporters. He also questioned Goyal's defence of the cooperative bank which had extended the loan to Jay Shah. He said the bank, and not a Union minister, should defend the loan.

Goyal, in his defence, told The Indian Express, "Insinuations have been made that sought to create the wrong perception... We are defending because the party president and the prime minister have been dragged in, and I have an obligation towards the party and the government."

The Congress fielded its senior spokesman Anand Sharma in New Delhi where he demanded constitution of a Commission of Inquiry with two Supreme Court judges to probe the matter. "We demand the prime minister... he speaks a lot everyday and on each issue. He should break his silence on this issue and declare a Commission of Inquiry comprising two Supreme Court judges. There should be a neutral probe," he told reporters.

The Congress leader also said that just as LK Advani and Nitin Gadkari, who stepped down from their posts pending inquiries, Amit Shah should also resign. "It is a tough call for Modi. The country is looking at him whether he will choose friendship and party politics or truth and morality," Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said in Jaipur.

Calling for transparency and accountability, he said, "Why shy away from probe if there is nothing wrong? There is no smoke without fire. The country was waiting for development... but 'Jay ka Vikas ho gaya'."

In Kolkata, party spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi said Modi should prove that he is above party politics and demanded a probe into the claims made in the report.

Jay, who filed a defamation suit against The Wire for reporting that his firm's turnover grew manifold after the party came to power in 2014, in his application prayed for "criminal action against the respondents for defaming and tarnishing the reputation of the complainant through an article, which is scandalous, frivolous, misleading, derogatory, libelous and consisting of several defamatory statements".

The seven respondents in the case are the author of the article Rohini Singh, founding editors of the news portal Siddarth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and MK Venu, managing editor Monobina Gupta, public editor Pamela Philipose and the Foundation for Independent Journalism, the non-profit company that publishes The Wire.

In its article, The Wire had claimed Jay's firm Temple Enterprise's turnover zoomed by around 16,000 times from Rs 50,000 to around Rs 80 crore in 2015-16 after the BJP came to power in 2014.

Trinamool Congress

While majority of the Opposition parties demanded a fair and judicial probe into the ongoing controversy, ruling party in West Bengal Trinamool Congress on Sunday said the BJP in the Centre was "so quick to use" Central agencies against other political parties, "why not now when it comes to one of their own". "BJP ever so quick to use CBI/ED against other pol parties.Why not now when it comes to one of their own ;son of their party president," said the party's offical Twitter handle quoting its Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien.

BJP ever so quick to use CBI/ED against other pol parties.Why not now when it comes to one of their own ;son of their party president ? 1/2  AITC (@AITCofficial) October 8, 2017

... Media now needs to be fearless 2/2 Derek : AITC leader in Rajya Sabha  AITC (@AITCofficial) October 8, 2017

Prithviraj Chavan demands Amit Shah's resignation

Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan sought to know if Jay was aware of the demonetisation decision of the Centre beforehand. The former Maharashtra chief minister also demanded the resignation of Amit Shah over the controversy surrounding his businessman son. The BJP, however, came out in strong defence of Jay and rejected the allegations against him.

"This is nothing but crony capitalism by the BJP. Why did Jay Shah close down his company a day before demonetisation was announced? Was he aware of what was going to happen in advance?" Chavan sought to know while speaking to reporters here.

"BJP chief Amit Shah should immediately resign," the former Union minister added.

He said either Amit Shah or Arun Jaitley should clarify how Jay's company increased its turnover manifold after the BJP came to power at the Centre in May 2014. Chavan claimed that a company owned by Jay got a loan of Rs 10.36 crore from a public sector firm under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, headed by Piyush Goyal, against a collateral security of just Rs six crore.

"Jay's company did not have any previous experience in windmills or in the renewable energy sector. Yet, Goyal approved the huge loan against a collateral security of just Rs six crore," he said. Chavan said Kusum Finserve, a company in which Jay Shah had a 60 percent stake, bought wind farms in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, despite it being engaged in stock trading. "Kusum Finserve was involved in trading of shares. Then, suddenly it bought wind farms in Ratlam. This again is an example of crony capitalism," he alleged.

"This raises many questions which cannot be shrugged off by filing a defamation suit. Amit Shah himself should answer whether he misused his position. These dealings should be probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI," Chavan said.

'Caesar's wife should be above suspicion,' says MK Stalin

DMK leader MK Stalin also raised questions over the alleged windfall returns for Jay's firm after BJP came to power. He was quick to comment on the recent crackdown on Opposition party leaders facing corruption allegations. He commented that the saffron party was quick to unleash the law enforcement agencies on its opponents but will it follow its own precedence when the credibility of the party's national president was at stake?

"When there are allegations against opposition leaders, the central government is taking action immediately in the form of raids by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the income tax department. Now there are accusations against the BJP chief's son. Modi must come out clean on the issue. Will he do?" Stalin asked.

"Ceasar's wife should be above suspicion. Modi being the Prime Minister, will he take necessary actions to find the truth?" asked Stalin.

Why aren't we hearing a single word from Narendra Modi, asks D Raja

Senior CPM leader D Raja on Tuesday demanded a response from Modi over the Shah controversy. He said a probe should be initiated to reveal the truth.

"Why we are not hearing a single word from Modi regarding allegations against Amit Shah's son? We want that he should respond to the matter and should constitute a probe to bring out the truth. Let the allegations be probed," Raja told PTI.

He said the time has come for the prime minister to act instead of pointing fingers at others.

Raja, speaking on the issue of holding Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls simultaneously, said, "India is not a two-party democracy, it is a multi-party democracy where you have to create a national consensus before taking a decision. You cannot impose your whims on other political parties."

The CPM leader stressed on the need for creating a broader platform with the Left, secular and democratic forces, including the Congress to counter the BJP and RSS.

"We are in favour of creating a broader platform with the Left, secular and democratic forces, including Congress to counter the BJP, RSS in India. Congress is a pan-India political party. But yes, the Congress needs to rework its economic policies," he said.

With inputs from PTI
Mumbai: Launching an attack on BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah over his business dealings, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday sought to know if he was aware of the demonetisation decision of the Centre beforehand.

The former Maharashtra chief minister also demanded the resignation of Amit Shah over the controversy surrounding his businessman son.

The BJP, however, came out in strong defence of Jay Shah and rejected the allegations against him.

"This is nothing but crony capitalism by the BJP. Why did Jay Shah close down his company a day before demonetisation was announced? Was he aware of what was going to happen in advance?" Chavan sought to know while speaking to reporters in Mumbai.

"BJP chief Amit Shah should immediately resign," the former Union minister added.

He said either Amit Shah or Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should clarify how Jay Shah's company increased its business manifold after the BJP came to power at the Centre in May, 2014.

Chavan claimed that a company owned by Jay Shah got a loan of Rs 10.36 crore from a public sector firm under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, headed by Piyush Goyal, against a collateral security of just Rs six crore.

"Jay's company did not have any previous experience in windmills or in the renewable energy sector. Yet, Goyal approved the huge loan against a collateral security of just Rs six crore," he said.

Chavan said Kusum Finserve, a company in which Jay Shah had a 60-percent stake, bought wind farms in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, despite it being engaged in stock trading.

"Kusum Finserve was involved in trading of shares. Then, suddenly it bought wind farms in Ratlam. This again is an example of crony capitalism," he alleged.

"This raises many questions which cannot be shrugged off by filing a defamation suit. Amit Shah himself should answer whether he misused his position. These dealings should be probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI," Chavan said.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders and Maharashtra ministers came out in Jay Shah's defence and accused the Congress party of defaming him.

Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Vinod Tawde and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar addressed a press meet at the party's state headquarters here and defended Jay Shah. Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari was also present.

They rejected the allegations levelled against Jay Shah by Chavan and another Congress leader, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

"The Congress has become frustrated because the BJP is winning elections after elections. They do not know what to do with defeat after defeat. Hence, false allegations are being levelled against Jay Shah," Patil said.

Tawde said, "This is an unethical practice by the Congress. When we criticised the Congress government (over graft), we showed proof. Here, there is no proof (of wrongdoing), just some jugglery of figures."
Kolkata: CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy on Tuesday said the best package for the Indian economy would be to replace Arun Jaitley with an economist at the helm of the finance ministry.

"The situation of the country is turning from bad to worse under the (Narendra) Modi government. The economy is in a very bad shape. We feel that the best package for the Indian economy would be to pack off Arun Jaitley from the finance ministry and replace him with an economist. Jaitley has been a complete failure as a finance minister," Reddy said at a press conference here.

He also said that attempts were being made to form the "broadest possible platform" against the BJP-RSS with the secular, democratic and Left parties, including the Congress.

"Efforts are on to form the broadest possible platform to counter the march of the BJP-RSS in the country," Reddy said.

Asked if the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which also holds the status of a national party, would be a part of the platform, he said, "The political situation is different in different states. So, the state units will take a call on it."

However, CPI deputy general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta ruled out the possibility of the Mamata Banerjee-led party being a part of the platform.

"Let the TMC fight the BJP on its own. We do not want to take a party like the TMC, which itself is slaughtering democracy in the state (West Bengal), along with us," he said.
Kolkata: Senior CPI leader D Raja on Tuesday backed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's remark that the government had transitioned from "Beti Bachao" to "Beta Bachao" and called for a high-level probe into allegations that a firm owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son saw a huge rise in turnover after the saffron party came to power.

The Left leader demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah come out with a statement on this issue and that the probe into the allegations against Jay Amit Shah be conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

"We support what Rahul Gandhi has said today. He has made a sarcastic comment and sarcasm is very much a part of politics," Raja said.

Urging Modi and Amit Shah to issue a statement on the matter, he added, "Both claim to be champions of the anti-corruption campaign."

This was the time for them to practice what they preached, the CPI national secretary told reporters.

Gandhi took a swipe at the Centre on Twitter, saying the government had moved from "Beti Bachao" to "Beta Bachao".

Raja said if the BJP claimed that the allegations against Jay Amit Shah's company were baseless, it should order a high-level probe into the matter under the supervision of the apex court.

The Opposition parties have demanded an inquiry into the claims in a media report that Jay Amit Shah's company saw a massive rise in its turnover after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.

The charge was rejected by the BJP and Jay Amit Shah, who had termed the report published by a website "false, derogatory and defamatory".
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwe lost two prominent women in September alone, their deaths occurring hard on the heels of that of Mrs Maud Muzenda, another eminent Zimbabwean revolutionary mother.Mrs Angeline Kamba's death was just about two weeks before that of Maria Msika, the widow of the late Vice President Joseph Msika.Mrs Msika was born Maria Dzingilani Mathumo Tjuma (Tshuma) at Tsetsebe in the then Bechuanaland Protectorate (BP), now Botswana.Her father, Dzingilani Mathumo Tjuma, had been born on the Tegwane Mission farm, some 16km north of Plumtree, but his entire family, the Mathumos, were forced by cultural, economic and social circumstances to move to the then Natal Reserve across the Tekwane River.Dzingilani went to the BP where he joined that territory's police force. He was for several years based at Tsetsebe, a couple of hours' trip by bicycle from Gwambe, Tegwane and or Dombodema.He married a very light complexioned Tswana woman, and later resigned from the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police (BP) to join the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (Wenela) Francistown offices as a senior clerk.He and his beloved wife were blessed with six children; Maria, Grace, Zachariah, Julia, Meshack and Dudu. The couple settled in Francistown where they operated a restaurant and a sole trader's shop.Their daughter, Maria, was sent to Usher Salvation Army Institute where she met Joseph Msika, a teacher originally from Howard Salvation Army Mission in Mashonaland Central Province's Chiweshe Communal Land.VP Msika, however, quit teaching sooner than later to join Bulawayo's turbulent political and trade union organisations. The city was at that time, that is throughout the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1960s, the hub of the textile manufacturing industry, and VP Msika had become a Bulawayo Consolidated Textile Mills employee.The Msikas bought a stand and built a house in the city's Pelandaba medium density suburb. As Joseph Msika got involved more and more in the country's African nationalist politics, he got arrested by the Southern Rhodesian white settler regime more often than he was free.His wife, Maria, quietly and determinedly stood the heat, acting as the anchor that kept the Msika family properly focused. A few blocks from their house was the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo's family where Mama Joanna Mafuyana, resolutely encouraged black families whose sons or fathers were detained to remember that a revolution may appear impossible to mount until it has occurred.Mrs Msika's Kalanga totem was Tjuma whose Ndebele equivalent is Nkomo, so she regarded Dr Nkomo as her clan brother. That cemented her relations with Mama Mafuyana.Mrs Msika's maiden family morally supported Zimbabwe's armed liberation struggle throughout its duration. Initially, some of them thought that the former Tati Concession territory would return to a free and independent Zimbabwe that land that was given to the BaMangwato Tribal Authority by the British government as a token of thanks for the military help the Ngwatos gave to Cecil John Rhodes BSAC against Lobhengula in 1893.In fact, one of the Mathumo sons, Meshack, joined a 90-plus Zapu contingent that received military training in Algeria in the 1960s. He had been employed by a Chingola mining company on the Copperbelt in Zambia.On his return from Algeria, Zapu helped him return to Botswana where he assumed normal life but actively worked with that party's underground personnel in and around Francistown. He was later duly honoured by the Algerian Government as were some former Zapu revolutionaries who underwent similar or the same Algerian military training.Mrs Msika and all the other Zimbabwean women who went through the terribly trying pre-independence period were made of sterling, virtuous moral fibre. One can only describe them by quoting an old Hebrew saying: "A good woman is more precious than a basket full of rubies."Mrs Kamba's husband was the deceased Professor Walter Kamba, the first black vice-chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe, popularly referred to as UZ.Mrs Kamba was one of the few black women who contributed much to Zimbabwe's social history. She was one of three African women who attained university degrees in the then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.The others were Theodora Malaba (Ncube) and Iwani Mathobi (Ndebele), Bhuzwani Mothobi's elder sister. Incidentally (one could rather say coincidentally), the three's original home region was at that time what was administratively known as the Bulilimamangwe District whose seat of power was Plumtree.Angeline's father, Daniel Hilton Makhulela Dube, was a qualified teacher, having completed what was then known as the "Native Primary Teachers' Higher Course, NHP" in short, at Adam's College in Natal, South Africa, where Dr Nkomo later studied for three years.Her mother, Tjikana Olibile Khele Malikongwa Dube was also a teacher, having done a primary teacher's lower course at the London Missionary Society's (LMS's) Hope Fountain Institution, and later supplemented that with a domestic science course at Tiger Kloof, another LMS college, but situated near Vryburg in the Northern Cape Province in South Africa.Mr. and Mrs Dube taught initially at Inyathi Bantu Boys' School (as it was then called) and later at Tegwane Teachers' Training Institute from where they moved to Dombodema Primary School where they remained first from 1940 to 1942, and then later from 1945 to 1946 (inclusive)By 1946, Angeline was in Standard Three, in the same class as the author of this article.Unfortunately, her parents' marriage hit very difficult times and they divorced that year. Angeline, her younger brother Francis (Kumbudzi), her two younger sisters, Ruth (Thandie) and Patience went with their mother to her maiden home at Tokwana.She continued her schooling and completed her upper primary education at Empandeni Mission, a Roman Catholic School located some 30km South of Plumtree.It was from Empandeni that she went to Saint Mary's College in the then Basutholand in 1950. Among those who were in the same class with her was Bunny Tsamayang Ncube, a very close neigbhour back home at Tokwana.Miss Ncube, who now lives in Bulawayo later became a teacher and married Moses Mguni of Kezi.Angeline graduated at Roma University College in 1957, the very year that the then University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was opened in Salisbury, now Harare.She was employed as a librarian at that institution whose first black female student, Sarah Chavunduka, graduated in 1960.Angeline married the soft spoken Advocate Walter Kamba in 1960 and the couple lived in a medium density part of Harare's Old Highfield formerly reserved for the African township's European administrators.As director of Zimbabwe's archives, Mrs. Kamba compiled a very readable pictorial documentation covering various aspects of the country's history. It is titled The Zimbabwe Epic. Her political beliefs were based on reality and not on impracticable wishful thinking, and was based on the well known sociological principle: "Preventive, social docility."
Amethi: Union minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday termed as "indecent" Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's remarks that women were not seen in RSS shakhas wearing shorts.

"If Rahulji believes that wearing shorts in India is the sign of empowerment, as a woman I want to contradict it," she said in Amethi.

"Today, an indecent comment has been made on our sisters connected with the Sangh, the Rashtriya Sevika Sangh or the sisters, wives and sisters-in-law of ordinary Sangh workers," she said.

Her remarks came hours after Rahul Gandhi targeted the RSS and the BJP alleging that they did not give any importance to women and asked how many of them were seen attending the Sangh's 'shakhas'.

"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in shakhas wearing shorts?" he said in a sarcastic tone in Vadodara.

The Congress leader said this in course of his Gujarat election campaign, and added that in contrast, women work at every level in his party.

Khaki shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over a year ago.
Gurdaspur: The poll campaign for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, which has witnessed sharp attacks and quick ripostes by leaders of the three major parties  the Congress, BJP and AAP, came to an end on Monday evening.

The Congress, which is ruling Punjab, has fielded its state chief Sunil Jakhar while the BJP has placed its hopes on businessman Swaran Salaria. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded retired Major General Suresh Khajuria from this seat.

Polling will be held on 11 October.

During the poll campaign, the Congress targeted the BJP government at the Centre alleging "all-round failure" and claiming that the Modi government had ignored farmers' interests while promoting those of corporates.

Congress leaders had also attacked the government over the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

A rape case registered against former minister Sucha Singh Langah also provided the Congress ammunition to attack rival Shiromani Akali Dal. SAD is campaigning for ally BJP's candidate.

The Akali-BJP combine sought votes on the basis of development and welfare schemes started by the Modi government in the last three years while attacking the six-month tenure of the Captain Amarinder Singh led Congress government claiming it had failed to honour polls promises like farm debt waiver.

The BJP targeted Congress candidate Jakhar calling him an "outsider" and sought to know why Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa was "missing" from the poll campaign.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attacked both Congress and BJP alleging they were "hand-in glove" and projected party nominee retired Major General Suresh Khajuria as a local face to seek votes.

Significantly, the campaigning for Gurdaspur bypoll did not see much active canvassing by top national level leaders from any of the three parties.

The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna in April this year.
Images of Narendra Modi getting out of his bullet-proof Range Rover SUV, walking to the gates of the school in Vadnagar where he studied during his childhood days, bending to the ground to pick the soil and salute his alma mater, will last long in the memory of the people in his hometown.

Modi couldnt have gone to his home in Vadnagar, the place where he was born and brought up for half of his house is in a dilapidated state and in the other half of the plot stands a three-storied building that is occupied by the family which had bought that portion of land. That was the situation when this writer had visited Vadnagar. One has to pass through narrow lanes to reach Modis parental home. It wouldnt have been easy for Modi to go there.

Him landing at his school, albeit only for a few moments, was perhaps the next best thing that Modi could have done to go down the memory lane. But this is election time in Gujarat and Modi's visit to his hometown couldnt be simply taken as the prime minister's desire to re-live his past. This was for the first time when Modi had gone there as the Prime Minister of India.

The symbolism of it is, thus, hard to miss. That could have been Modis way of conveying to the world that no matter where he goes, no matter what he becomes and achieves, he cant be disconnected from his roots. His heart lays there and he would do everything in his command to ensure development and prosperity of the state. His recent visits to the state including that of Saturday and Sunday were filled with official programmes, announcements of new schemes and inaugurations of all kinds of projects.

On Sunday, during his visit to Vadnagar, Modi had tweeted:

Coming back to one's home town and receiving such a warm welcome is special. Whatever I am today is due to the values I have learnt on this soil, among you all in Vadnagar: PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/Ko9nR5I1ir  PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 8, 2017

I go back with your blessings and assure you that I will work even harder for the nation: PM @narendramodi to the people of Vadnagar pic.twitter.com/9hWUprRcT3  PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 8, 2017

This is the first time in the last 16 years that a state election in Gujarat would be held without him being directly at the helm in the state. There can't be two opinions on the importance of the upcoming election on Modis aura as a leader.

6 October 2017 marked the completion of 16 years since Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat. He had been chief minister for 13 years and then achieved the unparalleled distinction of being the first politician to be declared as a prime ministerial nominee of his party then and go on to win the parliamentary election with a thumping majority. More so, he won the 2014 parliamentary election on the strength of development work that he pursued in Gujarat while being its chief minister and building a narrative around development-based politics. That way, Modi stands out from the rest of Indian politicians.

It has been a matter of pride for Gujarat and its people. Even in the 2012 Assembly election which he was contesting as the chief minister of Gujarat, there was an unmistakable buzz in the state that a vote for him was not just a vote to make his return to power in the state but also as a step forward to see him being the prime minister. In the upcoming elections, Modi may not be there as the chief minister of Gujarat but these are about his pride and BJP would like to turn these elections into an election of Gujarati pride.

No wonder Modi made the visits of Chinese and Japanese heads of state and governments as a mega event for Gujarat, showcasing the development of his home state. For the rest of the nation, he argued it well why should in a nation as diverse as India all official functions of visiting dignitaries be restricted only to the national capital.

A Gujarat BJP leader said, "Modi is our pride, he is the pride of the state. Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Modi are three icons of Gujarat. He is our biggest strength and we would naturally make that as a talking point. He is a pioneer of development-based politics and his political journey has well and truly been remarkable. In politics, three things are important  neta kaun (who is the leader), niti kaisi (what are his policies) and niyat kaisi (how are his intentions). Modis name positively connotes all the three things."

The BJP campaign theme in Gujarat is going to be based on stability and strength  Adikham Gujarat. In response to Rahul Gandhis borrowed punch line "vikas pagal ho gaya hai (development has gone crazy)", the BJP during its Gujarat Gaurav Yatra came out with slogan mujho Gujarat, mujho vikas (we are Gujarat, we are development). The BJP leaders are not losing their sleep over Rahuls frequent visits to the state to kick off Congress electoral campaign. A party leader said, in fact, that makes elections more interesting for us and give us more talking points in the run-up to the elections."

Modi along with BJP chief Amit Shah would be back in Ahmedabad on 17 October to mark the conclusion of Gujarat campaign and address a mega rally of panna pramukh (in-charge of each page of electoral roll). As per estimates of BJP leaders, it is going to be a huge gathering of party workers, a record of sorts with an expected attendance of seven lakh persons. The scale, the size, and the narrative emanating from Modi-Shah speeches would set the tone for 2017 Gujarat elections.
New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday poked fun at Rahul Gandhi, saying it has won everywhere the Congress leader has campaigned and claimed that his presence was only on Twitter.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar also cited his party's performance in the local body polls in Maharashtra and Gujarat to assert that it remained the people's choice for development across the country.

Javadekar made light of the Congress vice president's campaign in Gujarat, saying the BJP won wherever he went.

"Rahul Gandhi is only on Twitter. His politics is confined to tweets. If you have mass support, then tweets are a symbol of strength, but doing politics through tweets is political bankruptcy," he told reporters here.

He said that in Maharashtra, 'sarpanches' (village heads) were for the first time elected in a direct election and the BJP won more than 50 percent of the seats. The party bagged 1,457 seats, followed by the Congress with 301 seats, Shiv Sena 222 and the NCP 194.

Though elections were not held on the basis of party symbols, political parties, including the BJP, had announced their choice of candidates in advance to highlight the affiliation of winners.

In Gujarat, six of the eight local body seats were won by the BJP in by-elections compared to two it had bagged earlier, while the Congress' tally of fell to two from six, Javadekar said.

The HRD minister, who hails from Maharashtra, noted that the BJP had won most seats in urban body polls earlier too and asserted that it had become the first choice of the farmers, labourers, youths and the poor, besides people living in the the urban areas.

"The BJP is winning everywhere. People across the country are supporting us for development as they have faith in the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership," he said.

Asked about Gandhi's reported comments that the RSS discriminated against women as the Hindutva organisation did not have them in its shakhas, he said the Congress leader did not believe in acquiring knowledge or otherwise he would have found out that the RSS has a women's wing.

To a question about the Uttar Pradesh government's plans to install a statue of Lord Rama on the banks of the river Saryu when funds were required in several critical fields, he said the state government has money for waiving loans of farmers as well as for education and taking care of the people's welfare.

Javadekar, who is the BJP's in-charge for Karnataka Assembly polls, also accused the Congress of working to divide various communities to win, a reference to the demand by a section of Lingayats that their caste be recognised as a separate religion.
Kamla/Petlad: On a tour of Gujarat, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a media report which had claimed that a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay had recorded huge increase in turnover after the saffron party came to power in 2014.

"Where has the chowkidar (watchman) gone," Gandhi asked, apparently referring to Modi's earlier statement that he does not want to behave like a prime minister but a 'chowkidar' (watchman) of the country's wealth.

The Congress vice-president, who began the second leg of his campaign tour in poll-bound state, raked up the issue to target the prime minister as also Shah at about 10 small and big public meetings that he addressed throughout the day.

He also cajoled the media to ask questions without fearing Modi and Shah.

Gandhi, who landed at Ahmedabad airport on Monday morning, travelled to the Hatijan area of the city from where he started his tour in a specially designed bus. He travelled from Ahmedabad to Vadodara, addressing small and big public gatherings at around 10 places in the day.

Referring to newspaper reports which quoted a news website 'The Wire', Gandhi said the company owned by Shah's son grew 16,000 times in a short span. "This is a strange world. In 2014, the company was nothing. Modi ji came (to power in 2014) and launched 'Start up India', 'Make in India', then introduced demonetisation and GST. This destroyed small businessmen and farmers," Gandhi told a gathering at Kamla village in Kheda district.

"But from this fire, one company comes up. It was nothing in 2014 but in a few months it became so big that this company's worth of Rs 50,000 rose to Rs 80 crore," he said.

Mentioning the entrepreneurial skills of Gujaratis for which they are well known, Gandhi asked whether they can do such thing. Recalling Modi's assertion that he would neither engage in corruption nor allow it to happen, the Congress leader said, "Now when Amit Shah's son's company has grown 16,000 times, Modi ji has gone silent."

"Modi ji had also said another thing (before the elections) that he does not want to become prime minister and be the 'chowkidar' (watchman) of the country's wealth. Now, where has the chowkidar gone?" Gandhi asked.

In his brief interaction with the media, he was asked about his Gujarat campaign tour. "Why don't you media ask question to Narendra Modi? Why don't you ask this thing to Amit Shah? Are you afraid of them? Have some courage to ask them such questions," he said.

The Congress vice-president also hit out at the NDA government over the state of economy, and demanded that the rates under the Goods and Services Tax not exceed 18 per cent.

"In spite of our request to the Centre, they are charging rates of over 18 per cent under the GST... They should revert to the 18 per cent tax slab," Gandhi said, adding high taxes have ruined many businesses.

Demonetisation resulted in loss of business of many small traders, he said. The famed Gujarat model of development had failed, the Congress leader said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of Gujarat know that the so-called Gujarat model has failed. If we come to power, we will propagate the old Gujarat model under which cooperative societies like Amul developed," he said.

Gandhi also attacked the government over its failure to create jobs.

India, he said, is competing with China these days. China creates 50,000 jobs every day, but India under the Modi government is able to generate just 450 jobs per day, he said.

"This is because their focus is on development of 100 big industries. When the Congress comes to power, it will develop small and medium scale industries which can create many more jobs," Gandhi said.
On Tuesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will continue on day two of his Gujarat Navsarjan Yatra.

Rahul, who began the second leg of his campaign tour in poll-bound state on Monday, is scheduled to visit Vadodara, Dabhoi and Chhota Udaipur.

His schedule for the day:

His day starts at 9 am when he departs from the Circuit House in Vadodara. He will then pay obeisance to BR Ambedkar at Sankalp Bhumi.

He is also scheduled to meet with people who have been displaced by the Narmada Dam.

Day 1: Rahul attacked Modi over Amit Shah's son's business dealings

On Monday, Gandhi targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a media report which had claimed that a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay had recorded huge increase in turnover after the saffron party came to power in 2014.

"Where has the chowkidar (watchman) gone," Rahul asked, apparently referring to Modi's earlier statement that he does not want to behave like a prime minister but a 'chowkidar' (watchman) of the country's wealth.

Rahul raked up the issue to target the prime minister as well as Amit Shah at about 10 small and big public meetings that he addressed throughout the day. He also cajoled the media to ask questions without fear of Modi and Shah.

He also hit out at the NDA government over the economy and demanded that the rates under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) not exceed 18 percent. "In spite of our request to the Centre, they are charging rates of over 18 percent under the GST... They should revert to the 18 percent tax slab," Gandhi said, adding high taxes have ruined many businesses. Demonetisation resulted in loss of business of many small traders, he said. The famed Gujarat model of development had failed, the Congress leader added.

BJP keeps up attack on Rahul

Union minister Smriti Irani on Monday accused Rahul Gandhi of "insulting" the people of Gujarat and claimed that the Congress will suffer what she called a "historic defeat" in the upcoming Assembly polls. Gandhi's remarks confirm that he is not only anti-progress but also mocks the idea of a developed and empowered India, she alleged in a statement, adding that he and his party prefer vote bank politics to 'vikas' (development).

"The manner in which Rahul Gandhi has made fun of the dreams and aspirations of the people of Gujarat will lead to a historic defeat for the Congress party in the state election," said the Union minister for textiles and information and broadcasting in a statement.

Senior BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh said that Gandhi has exposed his ignorance, reported NDTV. "Rahul Gandhi should step out of his diapers," said the BJP leader and minister.

However, Gandhi appeared prepared for the brickbats, according to a report in The Times of India. On Monday, he said, "Meri pitai kar-kar ke unhone meri aankhen khol di (Their constant verbal bashing of me has opened my eyes and taught me)." About the 2014 Lok Sabha polls he said, "BJP ne meri bahut madad ki, 2014 polls jo hum haare usse faaydemand cheez nahi ho sakti (The BJP helped me a lot, losing the 2014 elections proved to be very useful for us)."

Narendra Modi's organisational skills vs Rahul Gandhi's nicely-formulated narrative

As the state barrels towards the Assembly elections, both the Congress and the BJP have stepped up preparations.

Modi has already made two trips during weekends in the past one month, setting the stage for the fight. From the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi has also made two visits. Gujarat has been a two-party state for long, and unlike the last three occasions when Modi won hands down, this time, the Opposition is going to be led by Rahul and not his mother, Sonia Gandhi.

Modi and Gandhi have adopted differing styles on the campaign trail for this election. Livemint quoted a senior BJP leader from Gujarat as saying "The election campaign will revolve around Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he is the one who gets the votes for the party. Since the PM doesnt have the time to get involved in door-to-door campaigns and there can also be security concerns, there is a view to hold roadshows so that people get to see and meet the PM. It is the closest PM can go to the public."

According to this Firstpost article, if this state Assembly election turns out to be Modi versus Rahul, the results would be in favour of the BJP. Rahul will do well to understand that rhetoric and nicely formulated narrative are no substitute to a powerful political organisation, which the Congress is singularly lacking, the article contends.
New Delhi: The government had transitioned from "Beti Bachao" to "Beta Bachao", Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said in another swipe following a report alleging that a firm owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son saw a huge rise in turnover after the party came to power.

Rahul's remark came after several Union ministers came out in support of Shah's son Jay Amit Shah.

"Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao," Rahul said on Twitter, using the term "Shehzada" to describe Shah's son.

He also tagged a report headlined "Piyush Goyal defends Jay Shahs business dealings for second day" along with his tweet.

On Monday, Rahul had pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "say something" on claims in the report in the news portal The Wire.

"Modiji, ...Did you act as a watchman or were you a partner? Please say something," he had said.

The Congress has launched an all-out attack on the BJP chief with several party leaders holding press conferences across the country to hit out at Shah's son over his alleged business dealings while prodding the prime minister to speak on the issue.

The charge has been rejected by the BJP and Shah's son, who termed the report "false, derogatory and defamatory".

The Congress is asking Modi to remove him as BJP chief and order a probe by Supreme Court judges.

Follow the updates on Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat on our liveblog here
Kochi: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala of being "very soft on terrorism and its patrons" and said he has evidence to show that.

He said this while criticising the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government for stating in the Supreme Court that a controversial Muslim marriage case in the state did not warrant a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe.

"Is it fair and right for the Kerala government to move the Supreme Court to say that you don't allow NIA, we are doing our job."

"Is the Kerala Government doing its job?," Prasad asked at a press conference in Kochi.

His comments came days after the state government informed the Supreme Court that its police had conducted a "thorough investigation" into the conversion of a Hindu woman to Islam and her subsequent marriage to a Muslim man and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the NIA.

The top court had on 16 August directed the NIA to probe whether there was a wider pattern of alleged 'love jihad' in the case in which the Hindu woman converted to Islam and later married Shafin Jahan, the Kerala Muslim man.

Prasad, who was in Kerala to attend the Janaraksha Yatra organised by the state BJP against "jihadi terror and red terror," said that whenever he comes to the state, he hears stories and there is a widely held perception that many young boys and girls have eloped, misguided by radical elements.

He also expressed concern over a protest march of Muslim Ekopana Samithi to Kerala High Court on 30 March this year in protest against a judgment cancelling the marriage conducted by a qazi between a Muslim man and Hindu woman.

"Is it right to organise a dharna against a High Court judgement? What kind of culture is happening and what action was being taken by this government? As the Law Minister of India, I am concerned," he said.

On instances of youth being radicalised after conversion, he asked, "Why is it happening? Is it happening in the air or there is certain rationale and fear and apprehension for that.

"That is a question the government needs to answer. My charge is that the Kerala government is very soft on terrorism and their patrons," he said.

"I have got the evidence to show that," he said and cited an instance in Kerala in which the Chief Minister and senior CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly shared the dais with Abdul Nasar Madani, who was arrested in connection with Coimbatore bomb blast, during an election rally in 2009.

"How could the topmost leader of the CPI(M) share a dais with a person who was a principal conspirator in killing of 38 people?" Prasad asked.

The minister said there has to be some consensus between the Centre and states on the issue of terrorism and national security.

Prasad said that India's fight against terrorism and radicalisation is being appreciated the world over.

"Therefore, purely for vote bank politics, if you seek to compromise on the issue of terrorism, that is a serious matter. Only in that larger light I sought to raise this question," he said.

Prasad said there were radical movements, seeking to radicalise younger minds in Kerala for extremist purposes.

"I would expect from the government that the wide held perception of apprehension must be dispelled by fair investigation," the minister said.
PTI

Communications Minister Manoj Sinha today said the government is working on establishing 650 branches for India Post Payments Bank to facilitate financial inclusion, and unveiled two new offerings by the postal department.

"For India Post Payments Bank...we will be opening nearly 650 branches across India. Two, namely in Raipur and Ranchi, have already started. The aim is that through 650 post payments bank, we can push financial inclusion in 1.55 lakh villages," Sinha said.

Sinha exhorted the postal employees to continue reorienting themselves with technological changes and disruptions in order to bring innovative offerings to consumers, all the while upholding the societal values.

"With the way technology is changing and given the disruptions, it is good to link yourself with technology but department's values too have to be maintained, and that is the biggest challenge," he said highlighting the long history of Indian postal services, particularly the significance of the postman in rural India.

The minister who was speaking at an event to commemorate National Postal Week (October 9-15) also announced two new offerings  International Tracked Packet Service and e-IPO (Indian Postal Order).

On #WorldPostDay Indian Postal Services launched by Sh. @manojsinhabjp International Tracked Packet for Asia Pacific Region & e-IPO . pic.twitter.com/3KsfQYH6gQ  Dr. Udit Raj, MP (@Dr_Uditraj) October 9, 2017

The e-IPO was launched in denominations of Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100 and now can be used for fee payment for educational institutions and other purposes. Earlier, e-IPO of Rs 10 could be used for RTI purposes only.

The e-IPO has been rolled out as a pilot project in Bihar, Delhi and Karnataka and is expected to be launched in the entire country in the next two months.

"Customer can purchase e-IPO online from one's home or workplace, as per one's convenience. This launch is a part of Digital India initiative as the payment will be made through debit card, credit card, net banking," Department of Post said in a statement.

The minister said the Indian postal department has undergone a major transformation over the years, be it inter-operability of ATMs, core banking or providing of Passport Seva and Aadhaar enrolment.

He said so far 57 post offices are providing Passport Seva and in the coming days 93 more will be added to the list.

On the other hand, the International Tracked Packet service aims at meeting the cross-border requirements of e-commerce sector in Asia-Pacific Region. The service will be available in 12 countries initially.

"This new service has many features like affordable price, track and trace, volume discounts, pick-up facility, compensation for loss or damage...," the statement said adding India Post website too has been revamped making it more user- friendly and informative.
Sheldon Pinto

The last time we saw a flagship from Xiaomi enter the Indian market, it was the Mi 5. While the Mi 5 did not bring anything stellar or spectacular with it, it did offer the latest chipset at a lower than usual price tag, with a few shortcomings.

With the launch of the Mi Mix 2 today in India, Xiaomi seems to have quietened its critics. It offers a smartphone with an almost bezel-less, edge-to-edge display, a feat that few other manufacturer other than Samsung and Apple have attempted to offer. With just the display, Xiaomi appears to have taken down the OnePlus 5 and the Nokia 8. But theres more.

Build and Design

Take just one look at the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 and it is clear to tell that the emphasis here is more on the design than anything else. Xiaomi worked with renowned industrial designer Philippe Starck, a move that seems worth the investment and effort, because the device is brilliantly designed.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is the second iteration of the earlier Mi Mix Concept smartphone that was announced less than a year ago. The new model is smaller, comes with a metal frame (there is also a unibody ceramic one) and a ceramic back, that looks stunning. I received the black unit with a metal frame and a ceramic back. It has a unique black colour which would well define the colour 'piano black'; as it is unique in comparison to any other smartphone out there, save for the original Mix.

The gold ring around the camera lens adds a touch of class and so does the MIX DESIGNED BY XIAOMI gold lettering on the back panel. The design is very unlike Xiaomi, and it would be the same element that sets it apart from the current crop of wannabe flagship smartphones like the OnePlus 5.

The phone looks like a rounded slab of black glass from afar until you press down on that power button and bring that beautifully made, edge-to-edge display to life.

The fingerprint reader sits at the back, below the camera, and the dual tone LED flash sits to the right of the camera.

There is no headphone jack with this one, but Xiaomi has bundled a dongle in the box (that plugs into the USB Type C port) so you can still listen to music the old corded way. The move is understandable given the design of the device, but it is still user hostile and it's not like Xiaomi's released any Bluetooth headsets either.

Display

Having used the Galaxy S8, the S8+, the Galaxy Note 8 and the LG G6, I was excited for the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2. To tell you the truth, I was not left disappointed despite my worry that the FHD+ (1080x2160 pixels) resolution, that is stretched out on a 5.99-inch display. At 403 PPI it is sharp to look at, but more impressive is the body-to-screen ratio that takes up about 80 percent of the front face of the smartphone.

I kind of like the idea of rounded corners and its easy to say that the Xiaomi has done a better job than LG with the Mix 2, especially when you look at how the rounded corners gracefully follow the frame of the smartphone.

I also liked the idea of a flat display instead of the curved units we have seen from Samsung as there are less reflections to worry about and you also get more usable screen real estate.

Chipset, RAM and storage

Despite the focus on design, the Mi Mix 2 packs in enough grunt to put a premium flagship to shame.

First, theres the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform, available on every other flagship smartphone launched this year, including the Google Pixel 2. The octa-core chip is manufactured using the 10 nm process and is accompanied by 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage that cannot be expanded.

The Qualcomm 835 is clocked at 2.4 GHz and packs in eight Kryo cores, four of which are clocked at 1.9 GHz. The platform includes the Adreno 540 GPU to handle the graphics.

Operating system

We received the Chinese unit for review with the global version of the MIUI software installed.

You wont be missing out on much since both ROMs have Android 7.1.1 Nougat underneath. And as with every Xiaomi release apart from the Mi A1 (Android One-powered) there will be a few bits missing for lovers of the stock Android experience.

The good bit here is that theres plenty to fiddle around with as the customisation options are one too many. More of this in my full review.

Camera

Since the focus is on design, I did not expect the Mi Mix 2 to go big on the camera, and this was exactly the case.

Xiaomi has packed in a capable 12 MP sensor with 1.25 m pixel size on the rear that is accompanied by a dual tone LED flash. On the front, the camera sits at the bottom, on the chin below the display and it is a standard 5 MP unit. There's no dual camera setup here like on the OnePlus 5 or the Nokia 8.

The rear camera can shoot 4K videos and offers phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and optical image stabilisation (OIS).

Battery and connectivity

The Mi Mix 2 offers nothing more than what others have on offer on this front. There is a 3,400 mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 and you get the usual connectivity options like on every other flagship. This would include support for 4G, 3G and 2G bands. Theres Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (dual-band), GPS/AGPS, GLONASS, a USB Type-C port, dual SIM slots and USB OTG support.

Conclusion

After the Mi 5 launch, Xiaomi went on a sort of a sabbatical when it came to flagships, and focused more on the budget and entry-level smartphones for about a year. While Xiaomi did announce the Mi 6 in China, it did not make its way to India.

But with the announcement of the Mi Mix 2, it was clear that Xiaomi wanted to bring a smartphone with something special, and so it has! The device comes at a time where other smartphone brands like OnePlus have struggled to build something special despite the rise in price. Xiaomi has taken a bold step with the Mix 2 in India, just like it had done with the Mi Max last year. It offers a product that not only focusses on the weak points of others in its segment, but also cuts down on the usual dual camera trend as well. Will it be an all-rounder, or will it turn out to be a case of all show and no go? Find out in my full review soon.

The Mi Mix 2 will be available in a 6 GB RAM, 128 GB storage configuration for Rs 35,999 on Flipkart, Xiaomi's Mi Home store and at the company's offline retail partners around the country.
Opinion / Columnist

As I write this piece, I stop mid-sentence to ponder if our icons and martyrs namely Mzilikazi, Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, Lobengula and Chaminuka were still alive, what their take would be about the role currently being played by the youth of Zimbabwe.Better yet, are they smiling down on us as the youth or they would be of the opinion that the revolution has been betrayed?It is my strongest conviction that the gallant team mentioned above and even those that followed in the revolutionary trenches such as the Chinhoyi 7 and the thousands who perished in Mukushi, Nampundwe, Chimoio, Nyadzonia and Freedom Camp would be proud of the role the Zanu-PF Youth League is taking in safe guarding the gains of the liberation struggle.Indeed, the revolution still lives in each and every young person and as such the Youth League pursues the agenda of entrenching self-determination in its vibrant structures and also in those whom the Youth League is keen on attracting.You see dear reader, the revolution as expounded by Chairman Mao is an on-going process, in which new participants must be keen on partaking. This is the sole reason why I feel inclined to write mainly about the role of the Youth League in the forthcoming 2018 elections.Statistics that we have come to believe so much state that the youth are the majority in this country summing us up to exactly over 60 percent of the population.I don't want to dwell much on the figures but fact remains we are the majority. And as such, the burden of shouldering the revolution lays squarely on us.What is our role as the youth? Are we the true vanguard of the revolution or the vanity guards of those who betray the revolution? Our leader Robert Mugabe always impresses upon us to safeguard the gains of the revolution, to hold our heads high up and be proud of our sovereignty and self-determination. Mugabe has significantly placed our little tea pot shaped country on the world map by bravely standing for peace, unity and development at a world scale and notably being our party motto.As such, are we as the youth also echoing the same voice of unity, peace and development? Before I go any further, I would like to take this opportunity to hail our leader Mugabe for rightfully standing up to American President Donald Trump whom he rightfully referred to as the 21st Goliath.Such a biblical analogy gives hope to every small nation and let alone every youth knowing fully well of how the story of David and Goliath turns out.History surely has its way of repeating itself and as such, President Trump must take heed of the advice freely dished out by David in the light of President Mugabe. Let me not digress into adding my voice towards the Trampoline Trump and remain on my lane.The ultimate political party of choice is one that makes an effort to woo, lure or convince a would be voter. Such luring must be done over the longest period of time thus exhibiting temerity of the potential political suitor and also seeming truthful to the would be voter.Such is the way with Zanu-PF since inception. Indeed the party has been in high pursuit of the youth vote more than any other political party in the land.Indeed Zanu-PF's catchment area is the youthful voter and the party will do anything to win the hearts of the youth, not just as leaders of tomorrow, but also as current leaders.This has been witnessed by the Million Men March in which the party together with its leader Mugabe made a deliberate effort to address the grievances of the youth at a national scale. This subsequently gave birth to the Youth Interface Rallies which have seen the party listen to and strategically address the problems of the youths province by province. Not sounding boastful, Zanu-PF prides itself in having more empowered youth members than any political party in the land; empowered in terms of education, knowledge, fixed and current assets.Zanu-PF doesn't just go all out on its courtship process with the electorate. It sends its best suitor and most eligible candidate to pursue the votes of the people and particularly the youth. That is the reason why the Youth Interface Rallies have been on a drive. Zanu-PF is in hot pursuit of the youth vote.As such, the Zanu-PF Youth League has taken it upon itself to drum up support for the revolutionary party. Zanu-PF is the only political party in Zimbabwe with an eligible candidate who delivers upon his manifesto and promises to the people of Zimbabwe. This particular suitor is none other than Mugabe.Against all odds of the hard hitting sanctions imposed on him and the country at large, he has remained resolute, steadfast and unwavering. It is of importance that I share with you the importance of the three C's. Not cash, car, cellphone or rather company which by the way many young people who toe the path of not only supporting but also voting for Zanu-PF have. Cash, car, company are integral and important to Zanu-PF to ensure that the youth have in their possession, but the most important three C's that I think are valuable and that I value as a youth leader who has learnt from Mugabe are competence, charisma, and character.He has remained competent, charismatic and with a lot of character.What is competence?It is the quality of being skillful, knowledgeable and experimental. When one is skillful in politics they are tactful (when talking to people). When one is knowledgeable, they are great with their strategy, their history and present political atmosphere. When one is experimental in politics they can even give a speech without preparing. Such competence adds up to charisma.What is charisma?It is a divine gift of power that pulls a large number of people and is indisputable of Mugabe. Since 1980, President Mugabe has oozed charisma. He mastered the skill of competence and this makes his leadership charismatic. In order get to the top, I believe one needs character, ubuntu.Character is in the way you walk, the way you talk, and it is often said, "Worry more about your character than your reputation, because character is who you are and reputation is merely what others think you are".The Zanu-PF Youth League implores on all its members to have a character similar to that of President Mugabe because that may be the only manifesto that people may know about Zanu-PF, the only manifesto pre  , during and post elections. It is possible that you may be all that people look at in-order to judge Zanu-PF; in-order for them to say I want to join Zanu-PF.As such, Zanu-PF aims to attain five million voters. Register to vote and be part of the winning five million voters. Be counted together with the winning team. Be bold, be courageous and go register to vote and vote Zanu-PF. Have the desire to contribute to the leadership, to Zimbabwe. Play your part. Vote Zanu-PF. Your will as a youth to always be free, to define your own freedom and to commit to your freedom is the sole reason why the youth must remain in unshakable support of the revolutionary party. Your vote is your sacrifice. Your vote is your emancipation. Zanu-PF is the party for today, tomorrow and the future.Zanu-PF is the only political party that walks the walk and talks the talk. It is currently represented by over ten young members of parliament. Cadres such as K Chipanga, M Gava, M Wadyajena, A Ndlovu, M Dziva, Y Simbanegavi, T Zhou, W Mashange, T Kanengoni Malinga, B Kaseke, S Mashayamombe and P Maziwisa are some of the young people that currently represent Zanu-PF and come 2018, many young people will stand boldly to represent the party led by Mugabe and Amai Grace Mugabe. Indeed the number of youth representatives forwarded by Zanu-PF to Parliament will only increase adding to the competent team already there. It is this writer's strongest conviction that even you the reader stand a greater chance to fulfill your political ambition when you are riding on the same train as Mugabe.Zanu-PF is the only political party tolerant and cognisant of the importance of the youth. Zanu-PF yiso isitimela esiqotho sabantu, yiso esikufikisayo- ndicho chega chitima chevanhu, uye chitima chinosvika.According to Canaan Banana in his book "The Gospel According To the Ghetto", "Blessed are the young men and women of vision, for their dreams shall be realised. Blessed is the patriotic man who walks not with informers; who sits not in the council of the oppressors; nor enlists in the regiments of mercenaries; but delights in the welfare of the underdog."If only the youth from opposition political parties could take a leaf from the good reverend and dissipate from being mercenaries disguised in the hashtags of today.Indeed, all activists of the #Tajamuka #ThisFlag shall be awarded free copies of the good reverend's book courtesy of this writer.Fundisani Dewa is the Zanu-PF Youth League Deputy Provincial Secretary for Transport and Welfare. He can be contacted on fundisanid@gmail.com
IANS

Expanding its Cyber-shot RX10 series, Sony on 10 October launched a new RX10 IV camera in India, starting at Rs 1,29,990.

Available from 14 October at Alpha flagship stores and major electronic outlets, the camera claims to have the world's fastest, 0.03 second high-speed autofocus (AF) with 315 focal-plane phase-detection AF points.

The device is capable of 4K movie recording with tiltable LCD screen, housing "Touch Focus" and "Touch Pad" features.

Building on the success of last year's RX10 III, the new camera features up to 24 frames per second (fps) continuous shooting with full AF/AE tracking.

It has 315 phase-detection AF points that rivals the fastest professional interchangeable lens cameras, the company said in a statement.

The RX10 IV model delivers an unmatched combination of mobility and speed for imaging enthusiasts and professionals looking for the ultimate 'all-in-one' solution.

For the first time in a Cyber-shot camera, the RX10 IV model employs "High-density Tracking AF" technology.

This advanced technology concentrates AF points around a subject to improve tracking and focus accuracy, allowing even the most unpredictable subjects including fast-moving athletes and birds in-flight to be captured with ease.

For convenience during image playback, continuously shot images can be displayed in groups instead of individual shots.

The RX10 IV also has a high-speed "Anti-Distortion Shutter" (maximum shutter speed of up to 1/32000 second) that reduces the "rolling shutter" effect commonly experienced with fast moving subjects.

It helps shoot silently in all modes  including continuous high-speed shooting  when the electronic shutter is engaged.

A mechanical shutter mode is also available as well if required by the user, the company said.
tech2 News Staff

Soon Twitteratis can bookmark their favourite tweets, instead of retweeting or liking them to save them or messaging it to themselves or maybe taking screenshots.

According to the product head of Twitter, Keith Coleman, the option to bookmark a tweet is in the works. Trending as #SaveForLater, a dedicated option to save tweets and return to them would be coming soon.

At the Hack Week, Twitter has begun working on a prototype of this new feature. Here the user would be able to bookmark a tweet. A three dot menu would be present below every tweet alongside a retweet and the heart option. On opening this, a menu opens where the bookmark option appears. On clicking the option, the tweet gets bookmarked and saved to the bookmark channel.

For Hack Week @Twitter we started developing #SaveForLater. Heres the early prototype that we put together in a week, which is likely to change. pic.twitter.com/c5LekvVF3l  jesar  (@jesarshah) October 9, 2017

In the main menu channel, a bookmark section also appears, which has all the tweets saved. This idea is still in the works. Twitter's product manager Jesar Shah has also said that they are awaiting feedback from the users in designing the new feature. Jaser Shah, had also said that many of their users had wanted to this feature. She had rolled out a list of tweets in the Moments section, where the users have urged for a bookmark section.

Fresh out of HackWeek and coming soon  a new way to save tweets to read later. Been a top request (!) The team would love your feedback as they dial in the design! #SaveForLater  https://t.co/6oo2lhqFbW  Keith Coleman  (@kcoleman) October 10, 2017

Meanwhile, in other news, Twitter has come under the scanner alongwith Facebook with regards to spreading racially charged fake news. Two US lawmakers had alleged that the microblogging site is serving as "an avenue to spread racism and bigotry".

In a report by the Recode, US Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Emanuel Cleaver had expressed concerns with regards to the tech industry. They said that the industry must identify and suspend the accounts behind such messages on their platforms in order to avoid regulation.

Social media giants, Facebook and Twitter, are supposed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on 1 November to testify into Russian interference during the 2016 US presidential election.
tech2 News Staff

Xiaomi is ready to launch its current flagship, the bezel-less Mi Mix 2, in India today. The event is supposed to begin at 12.00 pm (IST) from New Delhi and can be followed live here. The event will also be streamed on YouTube here.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 was launched in China last month at an event which also saw the launch of the Mi Note 3 as well as the Mi Notebook Pro. Xiaomi India has been teasing the launch of the Mi Mix 2 on the company's Twitter handle, and is yet to mention whether the Mi Note 3 would be launched in India.

The launch of the Mi Mix 2 in India should delight Xiaomi fans in the country as the launch will be the company's first premium smartphone launch in the country since the launch of the Mi 5 back in March 2016.

The highlight of the Mi Mix 2, just like its predecessor, is the display. The smartphone features a bezel-less design, with the display taking up close to 90 percent of the front face.

The Mi Mix 2 is the successor to the original Mi Mix concept smartphone. While the earlier model was produced in limited numbers, Xiaomi seems to have sorted the myriad issues with the device and launched its successor. The Mi Mix 2 packs a 5.99-inch display with 18:9 aspect ratio.

Coming to the hardware, Xiaomi has included the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset inside. The device is available in China in 6 GB and 8 GB RAM models. While the 6 GB RAM models are available with 64, 128, and 256 GB internal storage, the 8 GB ceramic model only comes with 128 GB internal storage. Do note that neither variant supports expandable storage.

The device packs in a 12 MP sensor with PDAF, OIS and a dual LED flash at the rear and a 5 MP sensor on the front. The front-facing camera is located at the bottom chin of the device.

The Mi Mix 2 is powered by a 3,400 mAh battery. Xiaomi had priced the Mi Mix 2 in China at CNY 3,299 (around Rs 33,000) for the 64 GB internal storage and 6 GB RAM variant. The 128 GB internal storage variant with 6 GB RAM was priced at CNY 3,599 (around Rs 36,000) and the 256 GB internal storage variant with 6 GB RAM was priced at CNY 3,999 (around Rs 40,000).

Flipkart has confirmed that the device will be exclusively launched on its ecommerce platform.
Dhaka: Bangladesh said on Tuesday the Rohingya crisis was no longer Myanmar's internal issue and had become a "regional catastrophe" as it appealed to the international community to take "crucial decisions" to press Naypyitaw to take back about 5,00,000 refugees living in the country.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said about 5,00,000 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh out of the total 9,00,000 that have left Myanmar after an army crackdown on the minority community in the Rakhine State on 25 August following a terrorist attack on the country's security outposts.

He said a total of 3,000 Rohingya Muslims had been killed so far since the army crackdown was launched and Human Rights Watch has got evidence of 284 villages of having been bulldozed.

Ali said Rohingya crisis was no longer an internal issue of Myanmar's and has become a "regional catastrophe".

"It's (also) not a bilateral problem of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh didn't play any role in creating this crisis. The centre of the crisis is in Myanmar and the solution lies with Myanmar as well," he said.

"Even the international pressure has so far failed to refrain Myanmar military from implementing its long-term depopulation plan for Rohingyas," he said.

Ali said, for the first time in history, a majority of Rohingyas had come to Bangladesh.

"Virtually only 400,000 to 500,000 of them out of some 1,800,000 Rohingyas now remain in Myanmar," Ali said.

He said Myanmar had launched a large-scale military operation codenamed "Area Clearance" to confront "terrorists", but under the cover of anti-terrorism campaign continued to carry out ruthless atrocities on Rohingyas by mobilising the troops one month ahead of the crackdown.

Ali's comments came as fresh influx of Rohingyas hit Bangladesh, a week after Myanmar agreed to take back their forcibly displaced people and sent a senior minister to Dhaka to open talks amid mounting global outrage against the country's treatment of the minority population.

Ali, however, said the Myanmar's proposal was actually a tactic to defuse the mounting international pressure, which he said should be kept on to force the country to revise its approach towards Rohingyas.

He said Bangladesh expected European Union foreign ministers meeting to take "some crucial decisions against the Myanmar Military" as they are scheduled to meet on 16 October in Brussels to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

Bangladesh disagreed with Myanmar's proposal for Rohingya repatriation under a verification system set out in 1992 in view of changed scenario and reality and rather proposed a joint Bangladesh-Myanmar verification strategy, he said.

"We proposed Myanmar to take back all Rohingyas without considering their arrival date into Bangladesh as well as to involve UN and international agencies at every level of repatriation," Ali said.

On 2 October, Bangladesh proposed a bilateral agreement to facilitate the repatriation process and handed over a draft of the proposed deal to Myanmar's visiting minister in Dhaka.

Ali also criticised Myanmar's government-sponsored media for portraying the entire issue as "Islamist terrorism" or "radical Bangali terrorism".

He said the media did it to confuse some of the neighbouring countries despite repeated requests from Bangladesh not to use the term "Bangali" to refer to the Rohingyas.
If Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont declares the region independent as promised, possibly by Tuesday, Spain will face its greatest political upheaval since its return to democracy in the 1970s.

Any independence declaration will be rejected by the Spanish government and courts, and by many people even in Catalonia, which polls shows to be almost evenly divided on secession.

So what happens if Catalonia's government declares independence anyway, possibly as early as Tuesday -- or what if it doesn't?

Here are six possible scenarios and tactics to watch out for:

Takeover

Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy could suspend the existing autonomous status that Catalonia enjoys under the country's system of regional governments.

Article 155 of Spain's constitution says that if a region's government breaches its constitutional obligations or "acts in a way that seriously threatens the general interest of Spain," Madrid can "take necessary measures to oblige it forcibly to comply or to protect said general interest."

The government side holds a majority in the Senate, the institution charged with enforcing the article.

Separatist leaders have warned that such a move would fuel support for independence.

Negotiations

Instead of immediately declaring independence after an outlawed referendum on 1 October, Puigdemont has played for time by saying he is open to negotiations or mediation.

Separatists' roadmap for independence consists of a declaration of independence followed by a series of legislative steps and votes to set up a new state, which could take months.

Rajoy said he would only hold talks with Puigdemont's side if the Catalan separatists abandoned their independence bid in line with the Spanish constitution.

"The ideal thing would be not to seek drastic solutions," he said in an interview published this weekend in El Pais newspaper.

"But in that case rectifications will have to be made."

Arrests

Spain's government insists the independence drive is illegal and the courts ruled that the referendum breached the constitution.

That raises the prospect of Spanish police arresting Puigdemont and other separatist leaders if they declare independence.

In September, several Catalan officials were arrested and charged over their part in organising the referendum.

The regional police chief and civil leaders are under investigation for alleged sedition and risk jail sentences.

Puigdemont, a former journalist and not a career politician, said he is not afraid of going to jail over independence.

Unrest

Moves by Madrid to impose its authority on Catalonia risk sparking further protests or even unrest in the region.

In a sign of the potential for violence, police beat unarmed voters while trying to close down polling stations during the referendum vote.

That shocked even many Catalans who were opposed to independence and sparked angry demonstrations against the police.

Hundreds of thousands of people also demonstrated during a general strike on 3 October.

"Any attempt by the state to entirely disempower the regional government and regional parliament will probably be met by mass mobilizations and more unrest," wrote Federico Santi, an analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group.

EU role

Puigdemont has called for EU mediation, which Rajoy has rejected.

Careful not to undermine Rajoy, the European Union has merely called for dialogue between the sides.

Catalan leaders say they want to remain part of the European Union, but Brussels says that an independent Catalonia would automatically be out and have to reapply to join.

"Other EU governments have little interest in getting involved," analysts at investment group VS Lombard wrote in a note.

"They do not want to get embroiled in a messy confrontation or encourage separatist movements."

Backtrack?

If the Catalans bow to pressure at the last minute and do not declare independence, Puigdemont's political survival would be in doubt. The crisis would drag on but Rajoy's hand would be strengthened.

Without a declaration of independence, Puigdemont risks seeing "the momentum behind Catalan independence fizzle out anticlimactically as he ignores his own referendum," the TS Lombard analysts wrote.

"Ultimately, he will probably be forced to continue with the existing pattern of confrontation and escalation."
Catalonia's drive to secede from Spain is rekindling dreams of independence in ethnic pockets across the Balkans, a potentially dangerous ambition in a region where nationalist violence claimed tens of thousands of lives in the 1990s.

From ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia to the Serbs of Republika Srpska, separatist leaders are asking the same question in the wake of the banned Catalan referendum: Why don't we do the same?

On election day, graffiti of Catalan flags appeared in Novi Sad and several other towns in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, along with the claim that "Vojvodina = Catalonia".

Meanwhile in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, a giant banner appeared near the cathedral showing the flags of Catalonia and Herceg-Bosna, the self-styled Croat entity, reading "Good luck. We are the next," according to local media.

The fact that one region  Kosovo  managed to secure its independence has emboldened many like-minded leaders in the region, while infuriating many others.

Brussels's argument that it considers Catalonia's referendum illegal, while backing Kosovo's independence as a "special case", infuriated Serbia, which denounced the EU's "double standard".

'How did you legalise?'

Belgrade has fiercely rejected Kosovo's unilateral declaration of secession in 2008, which carved off the southern Serbian province into a country in which 90 percent are ethnic Albanians

The move came a decade after the bloody 1998-1999 war which claimed 13,000 lives, ending only after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign which kicked Serbian armed forces, controlled by Slobodan Milosevic, out of the breakaway territory.

"How did you legalise the secession of Kosovo even without a referendum?" asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

"How did 22 EU member states legalise the secession that violated European law which is a foundation of EU politics?"

Vucic, who at the time advocated a "Greater Serbia" as Milosevic's information minister, has firmly backed Madrid as he now faces the possibility of resurgent nationalist fever at home.

Among the potential hot spots are the southern Presevo Valley, another home of ethnic Albanians; the Muslim-populated Sandzak area; and the autonomous province of Vojvodina, with more than two-dozen minorities.

Nenad Canak, the leader of the regional LSV party and a staunch advocate of Vojovodina's self-rule, went to Barcelona for its 1 October referendum.

But for Florian Bieber, a professor of southeast European studies at the University of Graz in Austria, Vojvodina is not a cause for worry.

It is a region "with some sense of identity, but no strong movements for independence and no cultural distinction of the intensity in Catalonia," Bieber told AFP.

But that is not the case with the Presevo Valley bordering Kosovo and its 75,000 inhabitants, most ethnic Albanians who fought against Serbian forces in 2001, hoping to throw off Belgrade's rule and join Kosovo.

The conflict ended with an internationally brokered peace agreement.

Jonuz Musliu, the hardline leader of a region's ethnic Albanian party, seized the Catalan referendum as a chance to urge global leaders to recognise the 1992 ethnic Albanian referendum in southern Serbia, which has largely been ignored.

"A referendum about ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley is also legitimate," Musliu said.

'Real potential case'

Bosnia also has a delicate line to walk with the Republika Srpska, home to Serbs who make up nearly a third of the country's 3.5 million people.

More than 20 years after the war that claimed 100,000 lives, Bosnian Serbs are more turned toward Belgrade than to Sarajevo, and the Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik, has repeatedly threatened to organise an independence referendum.

"It may be the time to start talking rationally about a possible peaceful separation in Bosnia," he said after the Catalan vote.

For Bieber, "in the case Catalonia were successful, it would encourage... Dodik to pursue his goal."

Bieber also said he believes there is another "real potential case" that could be inspired by the Catalan vote: Serb-populated northern Kosovo.

In the Serb-run part of Mitrovica, a northern Kosovo town divided along ethnic lines, Serbian flags are everywhere and Vucic's portraits are omnipresent.

This summer Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic openly advocated "a separation, or whatever it is being called" of the northern Kosovo that borders Serbia.

But regardless of the outcome in Catalonia, Bieber said, international leaders will show little appetite for a new and potentially painful redrawing of Balkan maps along separatist lines.

The international community recognises new states "in extraordinary circumstances" such as a "massive repression... a strong, violent independence movement, as in Kosovo... (or) when the state had already disintegrated... as it was in Yugoslavia," he said.

"Catalonia does not fit any of these categories, and neither Republika Srpska nor the north of Kosovo would qualify."
Tokyo: Election campaigning began in earnest in Japan on Tuesday with conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aiming to shake off suspected cronyism scandals and repulse the challenge from an upstart new party to extend his near-five year hold on power.

The 22 October election pits Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition against the less than one-month-old Party of Hope headed by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, a former LDP lawmaker often floated as a possible first female Japanese premier.

Calling for a snap election, Abe had said he needed to renew his mandate to cope with a "national crisis" stemming from rising regional tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes and the demographic time-bomb of Japan's fast-ageing, shrinking population.

Opposition disarray and an uptick in his own ratings, which had rebounded after sinking due to a series of scandals, had encouraged the 63-year-old Abe to take the plunge.

But, the sudden emergence of Koike's party, which also appeals to conservative voters, could upset Abe's calculation. The main opposition Democratic Party imploded last month and a big chunk of its candidates are running on the Party of Hope ticket. Others created a small, liberal party.

In his first official campaign speech, Abe attacked the opposition for creating new parties and wooing voters with populist slogans.

"What creates our future is not a boom or slogan. It is policy that creates our future," Abe said in Fukushima, northeast Japan. "We just cannot afford to lose."

The LDP-led coalition had a two-thirds "super majority" of seats in parliament's lower house before dissolution, so losing its simple majority would be a major upset.

Recent opinion polls show the LDP in the lead and some analysts think Abe could even repeat his past landslide victories, since Koike appears to be losing momentum.

A soggy performance for the LDP, however, could prompt calls from inside the party to replace Abe or deny him a third term as LDP leader when his tenure ends in September 2018.

If he did secure that third term, Abe would be in a strong position to become Japan's longest-serving premier.

Shortage of Hope?

Koike, who defied the LDP last year to run successfully for governor, calls her fledgling party a "reformist, conservative" group and is pledging to break free from the fetters of vested interests  an often popular campaign slogan in Japan.

"We have a surplus of things in this country, but what we don't have is hope for the future", said Koike, 65, kicking off her campaign in Tokyo.

Koike has repeatedly said she won't run for a seat this time so would not be eligible for the premiership. She has until 5.00 pm on Tuesday to change her mind and register as a candidate.

She has also declined to say whom her party would support for premier when parliament convenes after the election, leaving the door open to a variety of possible tie-ups including with Abe's LDP.

The Party of Hope echoes Abe's LDP on security and diplomacy  it backs tough sanctions on North Korea and controversial security legislation enacted in 2015 to expand the military's role overseas.

Koike also agrees with Abe that the post-war, US drafted, pacifist constitution should be amended, though they are not necessarily agreed on what changes are needed.

On economic policies, Koike's party has sought to differentiate itself by calling for an end to nuclear power by 2030 and a freeze on a sales tax hike planned for 2019.

Abe's government wants to keep nuclear power as a key part of Japan's energy mix and raise the sales tax but spend more of the revenues on education and child care.

A centre-left Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, formed from the rump of the failed Democratic Party, aims to get support from voters satisfied with neither conservative option.

Abe's LDP had 288 seats in the lower house before it was dissolved for the election, while its junior partner the Komeito had 35. The total number of seats has been cut to 465 from 475.
Islamabad: Pakistan has asked the members of the Quadrilateral Cooperation Group on Afghanistan to meet next week in Oman and resume talks to bring peace in the war-torn country.

Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan are members of the Quadrilateral Cooperation Group (QCG), which first met in January 2016.

Pakistan has asked the group members to meet in Muscat, Oman's capital, on 16 October as part of its effort to restart the quadrilateral peace process for ending the Afghan war, Dawn reported.

Pakistan's foreign minister Khawaja Asif, who recently visited the US, told the VOA Urdu in Washington that his country would play a leading role in this quadrilateral session, aimed at bringing the Afghan Taliban to the negotiation table.

So far, five sessions of the QCG have been held, with the last being held in May 2016 in Murree, Pakistan.

The peace efforts has been plagued by problems from the beginning. First, the Taliban refused to join it demanding the same status as that of the Afghanistan government. When they were persuaded to attend the meet, relations between Kabul and Islamabad became strained.

The international community also welcomed the quadrilateral talks as the four countries are seen as crucial for ensuring the success of any peace talks on Afghanistan.

China's participation in the talks was particularly encouraging as both Pakistan and Afghanistan set aside their acrimony to welcome China.

Pakistan hoped that China's involvement would answer its main concern, India's growing influence in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan government hoped that China's clout with Pakistan could have help persuade Islamabad to improve its ties with Kabul.

But, during the fifth session, some officials in Kabul leaked news to the media saying that the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died in Karachi in 2013 but Pakistan was hiding this news because it feared losing its influence on the terror group.

The revelation derailed the talks as officials from each of the four governments opted to return to their capitals for consultations.

In May 2016, Mullah Omar's successor, Mullah Mansour was also killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, which further delayed the peace process.

Since then, Pakistan has made several attempts to restart the talks but none of the four parties seemed very keen on returning to negotiation table, the report said.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban increased their attacks on both the US and Afghan government targets. And in the United States, the new Trump administration concluded that the best way is to force the Taliban to talk.

At a recent news briefing in Washington, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert expressed doubts about the success of these peace efforts when she questioned the efficacy of the Taliban's non-official diplomatic post in Qatar.

"We have been now in that war for 16 years" but "they have not been able to come to any kind of peace and reconciliation, so just by having folks sit around in Qatar, in probably a pretty cushy life there, has not demonstrated, has not brought to the table any kind of significant peace efforts," she said.

And during his three-day visit to Washington last week, the Pakistani foreign minister acknowledged that Pakistan too was losing its influence on the Taliban.

"At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is mistrust," Asif said, adding that he believes Russia "today has more influence on the Taliban than Pakistan does".

Despite these concerns, all four members of this group want some peace in Afghanistan and are likely to participate in the Muscat meeting, the report said.

But instead of sending their senior officials, as they did in the last five meetings, they are likely to send mid-level officials to prepare for future talks, it added.
Islamabad: Pakistan's ousted prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, failed to appear on Monday before an anti-graft court which set 13 October as the date of his indictment even as the daughter and son-in-law of the embattled premier were granted bail in the Panama Papers case.

Maryam Nawaz, 43, along with her spouse, former army captain Muhammad Safdar, returned to Islamabad late last night from London to appear in the Accountability Court.

Safdar was arrested on his arrival as the the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrant against the former Pakistan Army Captain.

Both appeared separately in the accountability court of Judge Muhammad Bashir.

Sharif and his two sons were absent during the hearing as they are in London to attend to his wife Kulsoom, who is battling throat cancer.

Sharif had attended the previous two hearings but flew to London last week to see his ailing wife, who underwent a third surgery.

The court accepted the bail applications of Maryam and Safdar and postponed the hearing till 13 October, according to court officials.

Sharifs lawyer Khawaja Harris asked the court to adjourn hearing for 15 days with commitment that Sharif would also appear. The court rejected the plea announced that it will indict the accused during the next hearing.

The court also ordered to start the process of declaring Sharif's sons  Husain and Hassan  proclaimed offenders as they have failed to appear before it so far.

The court also decided to conduct separate trials of Husain and Hasan from Sharif and his daughter and son-in-law.

Amid tight security, Maryam, 43, who is being groomed as Sharif's political successor, appeared in the court for the first time on Monday.

She was ordered to submit a surety bond of Rs 50,000 against a non-bailable arrest warrant against her.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials informed the court that Nawaz's sons Hassan and Hussain had left the country and were deliberately avoiding court appearances.

The NAB lawyers asked the court to send Safdar to jail on judicial remand but the court granted him bail and ordered him to pay Rs 50,000 for surety bonds.

The court also asked him to seek its permission before going abroad and rejected the NAB request to confiscate his passport.

Both Maryam and Safdar have been charged by the NAB in one of three corruption cases filed on 8 September against Sharif.

Maryam criticised the arrest of her husband and said he was taken into custody despite the fact that he had come back to face the case.

"Those who want to appear by free will are arrested from airport, but we are not afraid of it?" she said.

Referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan who has refused to appear in several cases, Maryam said that the "absconders are free and hold public meetings".

She also criticised the judges for disqualifying her father in the Panama Papers case.

"Questions will be asked if the cases which started with Panama ended with Iqama (job contract). The judges would have to answer it?" she said referring to dismissal of Sharif for non-declaration of his salary from his son's company in the UAE.

"Those who sent home representative of 20 crore people should also be brought to justice," she said.

During the hearing, Sharif's lawyer also presented an application to exempt him from appearing before the court on Monday. The court accepted the plea.

The court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Husain, Hasan and Safdar last Monday after they failed to appear before it.

The cases were filed after the 28 July verdict by the Supreme Court, which disqualified Sharif.

Sharif was re-elected as the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on 3 October and immediately demanded that those who disqualified him should respect the people's mandate and democracy.
Cox's Bazar: The bodies of another nine refugees have washed up in Bangladesh after an overloaded boat carrying scores of desperate Rohingya sank in rough seas, police said, taking the confirmed death toll to 23.

Eight bodies were found on the banks of the Naf River, which separates Bangladesh from Myanmar, and another was found miles away on the island of St Martin.

More than half of the victims in the latest disaster were children, said Mian Uddin, police chief for the border town of Teknaf.

He could not say how many people were missing, but survivors and officials have said the boat was carrying between 60 and 100 people. So far 15 have been rescued by Bangladesh coast guards and border guards, though authorities say some may have swum to Myanmar.

More than half a million refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since 25 August, fleeing a military crackdown that followed attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts. The exodus had slowed, but in recent days government officials say there have been thousands of fresh arrivals, most coming from parts of Myanmar's Rakhine State that are far from the border with Bangladesh.

Many cross the Naf river at its narrowest point, but others are attempting to make the journey by sea, boarding often rickety fishing trawlers that are wholly inadequate for the rough waters in the Bay of Bengal. Nearly 160 have drowned.

Among the latest influx were two young boys aged two and three, who died due to hunger and exhaustion as they entered Bangladesh. "Their parents told us that they died due to starvation.

They walked seven days and did not have anything to eat," Sultan Ahmed, a local councillor at Anjumanpara border village, told AFP.
Moscow: Moscow on Tuesday accused the United States of reducing its air strikes on the Islamic State group in Iraq to allow jihadists to enter Syria and fight the Russian-backed Syrian army.

Military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the Syrian regime was attempting to push the jihadists out of eastern Deir Ezzor province, but that arrivals from Iraq were boosting their numbers.

"The US-led coalition, pretending to fight Islamic State, largely in Iraq, sees all this but continues allegedly active measures against Islamic State in Syria for some reason," he said.

"The continuing arrival of terrorists from Iraq raises serious questions about the anti-terrorist objectives of the US air force and the so-called 'international coalition'."

The US-led coalition sharply reduced its strikes on Iraq in September, as Syrian forces were beginning to retake Deir Ezzor, Konashenkov said in a statement.

"Is this change in approach from the US and the coalition a bid to cause maximum disruption to the Syrian army, backed by the Russian air force, as it seeks to free Syrian territory to the east of the river Euphrates?"

Over the past month Moscow has repeatedly accused the US of hindering the Russian-backed Syrian army offensive in the east of the country.

Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria since 2015, when it stepped in to support President Bashar al-Assad's rule and tipped the conflict in his favour.
Riyadh: Saudi police have penalised a woman filmed driving a car, a spokesman said, warning against violations of a ban on female drivers set to be lifted next June.

Authorities summoned the woman and booked her for flouting traffic regulations after she appeared in a video driving out of a luxury hotel in the capital Riyadh.

"We call on all Saudi citizens to respect the law and wait until the ban on women driving formally ends," the police spokesman said. He did not specify the nature of the penalty, but added that the woman filmed leaving the Ritz Carlton hotel had not been arrested.

He said the owner of the car was separately booked for violating traffic regulations.

Saudi Arabia last month said it would allow women to obtain driving permits under a royal decree to take effect in June, sparking euphoria and disbelief among activists who long fought the ban.

The Gulf Kingdom was the only country in the world to bar women from taking the wheel, a ban seen globally as a symbol of repression.

Many women fear they are still easy prey for conservatives in a nation where male "guardians"  typically their fathers, husbands or brothers  have arbitrary authority to take decisions on their behalf.
Donna Karan Says Weinstein's Victims Were "Asking For It"

In the wake of revelations in the New York Times about Harvey Weinsteins decades-long sexual harassment of women (from actresses to assistants) famous voices have been raised in support of the allegations. Additional reports are being published, adding more victims and detailing the increasingly disturbing frequency and intensity of sexual assaults that Weinstein has allegedly committed consistently throughout his career.

On the other hand, some prominent figures continue to defend Weinstein. Powerhouse fashion designer Donna Karan, a longtime friend of Weinstein, was asked by a reporter what she thought about these allegations as she attended the CineFashion Film Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday evening. The exchange was captured in a video released by the the Daily Mail on Monday morning:

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I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified. Certainly in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, its been a hard time for women, Karan said in the video. To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?

These comments are as disturbingly degrading towards the female victims involved as they are diminishing of the seriousness of Harvey Weinsteins acts of sexual harassment.

Furthermore, Donna Karan has built an entire fashion empire on empowering women, by dressing them in feminine cuts and silhouettes for almost 30 years. She has dressed several of the famous women who have been sexually harassed and abused by Harvey Weinstein  including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, who came forward on Tuesday  and has specifically made herself known for dressing the modern woman, providing her with, as she states on her own website, a dynamic system of modern dressing.

This modern dressing seems to be synonymous with sexism and the longstanding misogynist school of blaming the female victim, instead of holding the man in question accountable for his wrongful and illegal actions. Similar rhetoric has been used in police offices and courtrooms, as well as in mainstream media. All too often, women are asked how we display ourselves, instead of men being asked why they use and abuse their power to harass and attack us.

"What they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble, she continued.

Karans comments are not new or unique, but they are coming from a woman who has built a brand on empowering women through providing us with ways to present ourselves to the world. That is the role of fashion, at its best. When the woman who was once credited in Vogue as having "always been a tireless champion of stylish working women" and has "created clothes to help navigate the world of Wall Street  or the White House," now asks women, "What are they asking for?" with the implication being sexual harrassment, the culture of misogyny we live in is glaringly obvious. Karan is suggesting that what we wear is to blame for whatever "trouble" might happen to us, no matter if that "trouble" is caused by a fully grown, and in this case very powerful, man.

In these comments, Donna Karan not only trivializes Weinsteins actions and the victims experiences, she also trivializes her own legacy and reveals the hypocrisy of her role in the fashion industry.

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Top photo of Donna Kkaran by David StackboneDavid Stackbone / Wikipedia Commons

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Amanda Brohman is a 23-year old editorial intern at BUST, a freelance writer, blogger and fashion journalism student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She loves everything that glitters, taking long walks in and around her SoHo neighborhood, and drinking Chardonnay on her fire escape at midnight whilst listening to Halsey.
More than a dozen wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, destroying at least 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighborhoods.

As he fled through the ember-stewn streets of his neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Jeff Okrepkie knew it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday morning, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

We live in the valley, where its concrete and strip malls and hotels and supermarkets, Okrepkie said. The last thing you think is a forest fire is going to come and wipe us out.

At least one person died and two were seriously injured, state fire officials said, but they warned that those estimates were bound to climb.

The flames were burning at explosive rates because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Californias fire chief says at least 1,500 homes and commercial buildings have been destroyed in wildfires ripping through Northern California. (Oct. 9)

Fourteen large fires were burning north of San Francisco, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties. It was unusual to have so many fires take off at the same time, fire officials said, though October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire. The fire area covered more than 100 square miles (160 square kilometers) over eight counties.

Some of the largest blazes were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. Those fires sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away.

Fires also burned in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties  all north of the state capital.

The inferno blackened miles along one of the main gateways into wine country, State Highway 12 into Sonoma County. Wooden fence posts and guard rails burned fiercely. Thick smoke roiled from one winery, JR Cohn.

The fires also damaged the Silverado Resort in Napa and a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the fire area, with a population of about 175,000.

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1 a.m., and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe. It was dangerous, Hoe said.

They returned in the morning to find the hotel had been destroyed along with most of their possessions. Hoe was relieved he had taken his passport and a few essential items.

Santa Rosa lost a Kmart, restaurants and an unknown number of businesses and homes. The blaze shut down schools and forced more than 200 patients at two city hospitals to evacuate.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the centers sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen. Emergency workers leapt from their cars to aid in the evacuation. Crews got the more than 200 patients from the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Residents throughout the area described a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames.

Mike Turpen, 38, was at a bar in Glen Ellen early Monday when a stranger wearing a smoke mask ran in and yelled that there was a fire. Turpen raced home through flames in his Ford F-250.

It was like Armageddon was on, Turpen said. Every branch of every tree was on fire.

He woke later to find all his neighbors homes on fire, but stayed behind to try to defend his own rental home.

By late morning, Turpen, wearing shorts, a kerchief mask and goggles, was the last man standing for miles along one abandoned road. His yard and all those around him were burned, smoking and still flaming in a few spots. But his home was still standing.
Anthony Pratt, one of the richest people in Australia, is investing $2 billion over the next 10 years to create 5,000 new manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Pratt, who is the executive chairman of Visy Industries and Pratt Industries  the worlds largest privately owned packaging and paper company  said President Trumps vow to restore American manufacturing is one of the reasons he decided to make that pledge.

I think President Trump is doing a fantastic job, hes created an atmosphere of that America is open for business, he told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria on Tuesday.

In May, Pratt made a commitment to double Americas food production industry to $1.8 trillion and in the process create millions of new jobs. Since then, he has opened a multimillion-dollar factory in Texas and currently has another under construction in Stockton, California. Overall he has 68 factories in America and employs 7,000 people in manufacturing.

I think there is actually a lot of on shoring going on, from China back to places like Ohio, of people actually moving their business back from China to America, he said.

In Pratts opinion, America has the best balance of sovereign risk and growth.

Americas got the lowest energy costs in the world the productivity of Americans is the best of anyone in the world and all of those things are the reason we are in America and President Trumps leadership has caused us to double down on American, he said.
Following multiple sexual assault allegations, Harvey Weinstein has been ousted as co-chair of The Weinstein Company and now there are questions over his net worth and potential liabilities to The Weinstein Company.

According to Forbes, Weinstein had a net worth of $150 million in 2015. Harvey and his brother Bob Weinstein formed The Weinstein Company in 2006 with a $1 billion outside investment. The company had some significant missteps along the way, including the purchase of Genius Products, which went bankrupt due to its massive debt.

In 2010 the company underwent massive debt restructuring. According to The Inquisitr, Weinstein transferred ownership of around 200 films to Goldman Sachs and Assured Guaranty to cover $450 million in unpaid debt. Then, in 2013 Union Bank extended $370 million in credit to the company. But, in 2016, Harvey Weinstein told the Hollywood Reporter that There is no debt. He estimated the companys worth at $700 to $800 million.

To determine Weinsteins worth, The Weinstein Companys value is needed. Fox Business reached out to The Weinstein Company about Harveys ownership, and they hadnt responded when this article went to publish.
While both Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE: TGH) and Frontline (NYSE: FRO) operate in the shipping industry, these companies couldn't be more different. Textainer, for example, is one of the largest lessors of shipping containers. Frontline, on the other hand, operates one of the world's largest fleets of oil tankers. The differences in market focus tilt the scale toward Textainer at the moment given that market conditions in the container shipping industry are on the upswing.

How they make money

One of the core differences between these two companies is how they make money. Textainer makes most of its money leasing containers to shipping companies under long-term contracts. As a result, the company generates relatively predictable lease rental income each quarter. So far this year, it has collected $216.4 million in revenue from these leases, which while down about 10% from last year has held up reasonably well considering the abysmal conditions in the shipping sector. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the market deteriorated to such a degree last year that one of the world's biggest shippers -- and a large customer of Textainer -- sank into bankruptcy. If it weren't for the impact of that bankruptcy, Textainer's revenue would have held up even better.

Frontline, on the other hand, primarily makes money by leasing oil tankers on the spot market, which can be quite volatile. While that volatility can work in the company's favor when spot rates rise, as they did in 2015 when they were above the five-year average, it can work against it when they sink, which has been the case this year since spot prices are near the bottom of the five-year range. If rates decline too far, Frontline can lose money, which happened last quarter when revenue slumped more than 25% versus the year-ago period and probability dipped into the red.

Comparing the market outlooks

Unfortunately for Frontline, those rates do not appear likely to head higher anytime soon due to weakness in the oil tanker market. While oil demand accelerated last quarter, there's an abundance of oil tankers in the market because shippers have taken delivery of several newbuilds this year. That increased supply of ships is causing spot market rates to remain toward the bottom of their five-year average range. In fact, spot rates for Very Large Crude Carriers are so low that Frontline expects them to be below the company's cash cost breakeven level in the third quarter. Meanwhile, with cash breakeven levels for its other ships just marginally below the spot rate, Frontline could lose even more money in the third quarter.

Contrast this with the outlook for the container leasing industry. As Textainer CEO Phillip Brewer noted last quarter, "[W]e continue to see strong improvement in container leasing market conditions." Consequently, vessel utilization is increasing, which is pushing up rental rates for containers that just went off-lease as well as those it recently acquired. Furthermore, Brewer said:

He's not alone in exuding optimism. Victor Garcia, CEO of rival CAI International (NYSE: CAI), said last quarter that he's "very pleased with the momentum in our business and the rapid improvement in our results." Garcia also said that "though demand was strong in the second quarter, we believe that shipping lines have seen stronger demand so far in the current quarter." Therefore, new equipment is quickly getting leased, which is why CAI "believe[s] demand will continue to be strong through the remainder of the year." That should enable container leasing companies to lock in lucrative long-term contracts for their available containers, which will drive profitability in the coming years.

Just starting to recover

The notable improvement in the container leasing sector has driven Textainer's stock up more than 135% over the past year. However, even with that rebound, shares are still down 41% since the start of 2015, which suggests it could have much more upside. That's certainly the view of the company's CEO, who is quoted in last quarter's earnings release as saying that "we believe that these positive changes and trends, especially the future impact of lease repricing, may not be recognized by the market." That near-term upside potential, in my opinion, makes Textainer the better buy over Frontline right now -- especially since there could be more downside for the oil tanker company due to the wave of new ships that recently entered the market, which could keep the pressure on spot rates.

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Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Textainer Group. The Motley Fool recommends Textainer Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Global beverage titan Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) recently announced the $220 million purchase of Monterrey, Mexico-based Topo Chico, the leading sparkling water label in Northern Mexico, which has also taken much of Texas by storm.

In this segment from The Motley Fool's Industry Focus: Consumer Goods podcast, the cast analyzes the deal and what it means for Coca-Cola's shift toward marketing, rather than manufacturing beverages. To learn what a $42 billion outfit like Coca-Cola sees in the small, premium drink label, check out the video.

A full transcript follows the video.

10 stocks we like better than Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.

This video was recorded on Oct. 3, 2017.

Vincent Shen: For our next update here, we have two stories. The first is with Coca-Cola. They opened the week with the news that the company would be acquiring Topo Chico for over $200 million. I've never had a chance to try its products myself, but Topo Chico is an imported sparkling-water brand from Mexico that's very popular in select regions of the country, especially Texas, which makes up about 70% of Topo Chico's sales. The brand has a long history dating back over 100 years to 1895, and it seems to be a big part of its allure and popularity with consumers. Asit, this deal is made as part of Coca-Cola's venturing and emerging brands unit. We've talked about this unit before. It's a really interesting part of the company. Can you tell us about this unit within the Coca-Cola umbrella?

Asit Sharma: Sure. VEB, venturing and emerging brands group, functions as a venture- capital arm within Coca-Cola. Their mission is to go out into very far reaches of the soft-drink or beverage world and find companies that are developing brands which Coca-Cola can buy. Now, for Coca-Cola to buy a brand, it really has to have $10 [million] to $20 million in sales. Then it can scale those sales up to $200 million and beyond. But VEB doesn't necessarily have to find companies that are selling that much from the outset. They really take an ear-to-the-ground approach and try to meet with small companies when they're just forming up in start-up phase, and keep in touch with them, as many venture capitalists do with technology companies, in the hopes that they find a brand or label just starting to gain traction, and they have the advantage of the first mover, they have a relationship with the entrepreneurs and can write a big check, acquire the rights, and then scale.

I think this group has been effective. Some of you drink Honest Tea. That was a transaction that the VEB Group consummated. And this week's transaction, also consummated by the VEB Group, they did it with the Mexican bottler ARCA Continental for $220 million.

And this is interesting for those who are wondering how Coke will parlay the strategy of small, tuck-in acquisitions. Previously, Coca-Cola was buying up some small labels and manufacturing product. But the company has sold its bottling operations over the past year to bottling partners in North America and throughout the world. And by next year, Coca-Cola is going to exist more as a marketing company than an actual manufacturer. And this is one of the first transactions we see how great that business model is, because Coca-Cola actually acquired the rights to Topo Chico, rather than buying all of the manufacturing and trying to go bottle this product itself.

Shen: Yeah. I want to mention a few other aspects of how the venturing and emerging brands unit approaches its investments and kind of apply that to this latest purchase that they've made for about $220 million. So the unit was established in 2007, and they're looking for these potential billion-dollar brands. But the thing is, they're focused on products that are outside of Coca-Cola's traditional carbonated soda and sugary beverages, because the business unit claims to think five to 10 years ahead about where the beverage industry is going, and the signs of the leaves seem to point away from some of those traditional Coca-Cola sodas. And you mentioned Honest Tea, for example. This was a pretty early success for the company. They made an initial investment of over $40 million in 2008, when the company had less than 100 employees and just $30 million in revenue. Almost a decade later, Coca-Cola has totally taken over the Honest Tea brand, and the latest number from 2015 puts Honest Tea sales at almost $180 million. So the formula here is, they have phase one, they identify the opportunities. Phase two, they take a venture-capital role and make that initial investment. And that seems to be where we are here with Topo Chico.

The next phase, then, is when they start taking a greater role and usually a bigger investment as the brand grows its reach. This seems to be a pretty standard formula for the company, in terms of what options they have for Topo Chico. It has 70% of its sales in Texas, it has really strong market share there, and management has actually spoken to this idea about re-creating this success and building more Texases, basically growing Coca-Cola's share of the still-growing sparkling water industry, which at this point is still dominated by private-label store brands that you might see at the grocery store, for example. Estimates I found pinned Topo Chico revenue at less than $70 million for 2016. So we know this is not exactly moving the needle for a company this size. Coca-Cola, keep in mind, despite the fact that their revenue is going down because of this restructuring they've done, you mentioned in terms of the bottling operations, they still had almost $40 billion in sales in the last 12 months.

I think, basically, you have to think about what the company is going to be able to leverage, and I think Coca-Cola is legendary in terms of its ability to leverage its marketing machine, and allow Topo Chico to ride that and scale. Even though it's only available in 35 states and regions of Northern Mexico already, the brand is not that familiar outside Texas. And I'm sure Coca-Cola will be working a lot to remedy that. But if you are a Coca-Cola shareholder or you're considering a position in the company and you're trying to adopt a Foolish long-term perspective, I guess the question becomes, do these satellite brands and venture capital-like investments have the ability to eventually offset some of the major declines that are expected with traditional soda consumption? What do you think, Asit?

Sharma: In this case, it certainly does. Very interestingly, as you mentioned, revenues for Topo Chico are 70% in Texas. You can visualize a small band on the map of the U.S. border -- this drink is actually manufactured in northern Mexico, and it's sold in northern Mexico. South of northern Mexico and north of Texas, there's tremendous potential. Some of our listeners may know, Mexico is the second largest market for Coca-Cola outside of the United States, and Coca-Cola has been hit hard by Mexican government tariffs on sugary soft drinks. So this is an excellent way for Coca-Cola not just to take an exciting brand and scale it but to make up for lost revenue. It's exactly what you want to see as a long-term shareholder. What's the strategy to replace the declining revenue? And that is such an opportunity that falls into Coke's hands.

I don't how many of our listeners, maybe you can tweet to us if you've tried it, those of you who are down deep in the South -- I've tried it. I've got my hands on some several months ago from my local Latin American store. It's an interesting drink. It has a very colorful label. Effervescence is a little bit higher than sparkling waters you might buy here, at least to me. It's got a little bit of a salt taste to it. So it's something that offers a different segment opportunity for Coca-Cola, a new brand that they can push out there, and it's beloved by hipsters in Texas. So there's that cachet that we talked about with Tiffany. They may have some hipster cachet that they can expand on. I think it absolutely does fulfill that problem that you mentioned, Vince. We'll watch this one to see how far they can scale it in the next few years, for sure.

Shen: I think it's interesting, that popularity that it has in Texas, has a lot to do, I think, with the heritage of the brand itself, again, dating back over 100 years. The company, in the release, there's a Q&A with some executives from the venturing and emerging brands unit talking about how important it is for them to maintain that heritage and tradition for this brand, despite the fact that they're going to be putting it into the machine and expanding its presence across the country. We'll be watching to see what kind of success they have, whether this can be a next Honest Tea for them. But ultimately, this unit within Coca-Cola has invested in over something like 40 different brands at this point. Not every single one is going to be a major success, but if we know anything about this company, they certainly have the resources and the experience in beverages to experiment and test and find these small labels and help turn them into enormous successes.

Asit Sharma has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Vincent Shen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
After two years of lackluster sales, Tiffany (NYSE: TIF) installed new CEO Alessandro Bogliolo in early October to revitalize its top line.The Industry Focus: Consumer Goods cast continues its discussion of the company's hurdles and opportunities by diving into the specific initiatives the company is employing to attract new business in the high-end luxury market.

A full transcript follows the video.

10 stocks we like better than Tiffany & Co.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017

This video was recorded on Oct. 3, 2017.

Vincent Shen: Another long-term headwind that I want to focus on is something you mentioned, and it's kind of a topic on people's minds right now, and that seems to be decreasing interest in diamonds, especially among younger consumers. With some of the controversies surrounding sourcing for precious stones, for example, with conflict diamonds, and in general, we've talked in other industries, whether it's with restaurants, consumer packaged goods, snacks, beverages, whatever it may be, people are worried about environmental concerns, sourcing, sustainability. And that seems to be flowing into this business as well. What is the company really facing here?

Asit Sharma: The company is facing a similar problem that we've seen in many industries that we talk about here where consumer goods stands. We'll talk about Coca-Cola a little bit later in this show, but that's a great analog. Coca-Cola has been impacted by changing consumer tastes, the fact that if you have small children and you've grown up in this society and have a more sustainable bent about you and are more health conscious, you're not necessarily going to give your kids as much of that beverage, Coca-Cola, as you drank when you were small.

The same with Tiffany. We have these mini-cycles -- larger ways where consumers' perceptions of the brand and what's behind the brand evolve. And for Tiffany, it has to be careful about the sourcing of its diamonds, and it has to show the consumer that they can enjoy the products -- that is, the aesthetic quality of the product, the brand cachet -- but also feel good about the provenance of that. Where did the diamond come from? Is it responsibly sourced? Is it a blood diamond? So that's a drag that Tiffany is going to have to meet and continue to have a brand perception that customers can feel good about. I think they can beat that challenge.

What's interesting to me is, it's going all the way to the other extreme to deal with a little bit less high-margin revenue from the retail diamonds, in that it's in the wholesale diamond business. This is something that I really wasn't as much aware of until I was doing prep for this segment. The company has a fast-growing business, particularly in Asia, in the wholesale diamond trade. Now, that's got a much smaller margin than the luxury jewelry, the pendant necklace that you buy at their flagship stores. However, in these last two quarters, the company has booked $61 million of revenue from the wholesale diamond trade. Now, that's only 3% of Tiffany & Company's total revenue over the last two quarters, of that $1.8 billion I mentioned. But it's growing at a 50% clip year over year. So you can see how, within a few quarters, if it can maintain that focus, this low-margin part of the diamond trade will be a bigger portion of the company's bottom line, a little bit of a drag on earnings, but it's a smart way, just as Coca-Cola has moved away from only selling those sugary sodas, and as we'll talk about a little bit later, and is moving into some other types of products that customers can feel better about.

Shen: Why don't we just jump right into that, Asit? I think this is going to be a focus for the new CEO as he heads up the operations for the company. Can you tell us a little bit about what the company is expanding into, but also trying to help, in terms of appealing to the young consumers that it wants to bring on board?

Sharma: Sure. It's two big-picture avenues that Tiffany & Company is taking. One, like other companies of its ilk in many industries, it's firming up its approach to e-commerce. And this is one industry which, you can see Amazon.com is not as much of a threat as it is with so many companies we talk about on this show. It almost seems that, whatever segment we have, Vince, Amazon looms large.

Shen: Yeah, absolutely.

Sharma: Tiffany & Company has a really nice e-commerce portal that tries to recreate the experience of being in the stores. It's difficult, let's be honest, to match the experience. If you've had the opportunity to walk into one of their larger stores, it's impossible to actually re-create that. But you can recreate some of the ambiance, some of the desire around the product. And what I love about this is, Tiffany & Company has done a smart job of breaking its products into different pricing. Very quickly, when you visit the home page, after a click or two, it just flat-out gives you the choice -- here are products under $250, then it gradates up to $1,000, $2,500, and beyond, sort of like when you sort on Amazon, which, I'm somewhat cheap on some things, so I will often sort by price.

You don't feel like you've lost luxury of experience, but you can quickly go to the price point that interests you, and I think that's a really good approach on their part and will increase the flow of millennial traffic. Millennials as a whole, I don't think they're cheap like me. I'm a bit older, but I think they're thrifty. They know what they want, and they know how much they're willing to pay for certain products, especially luxury items of the type that Tiffany sells. So that flow going through their portal to completing that, converting that customer, is pretty well done.

The other thing that the company is also pragmatically undertaking is its product line. They're moving more into products like watches. This year, they will improve and expand their women's line of watches, which is a huge market. The current CEO has experience with that. For those of you who are into the fashion house of Diesel, you know that they have very attractive watch offerings. So not simply price points, but looking at what millennials buy, what's important to them. They may not be in the market for a beautiful diamond or heart-shaped brooch like your grandmother was, but they could use a watch, because they're tired of staring into their phone for hours a day.

Shen: Sure. I think that's a piece of the strategy the company will have going forward. At the same time, I'm a little bit skeptical, when we were doing research for this, I found a lot of headlines talking about how high-end jewelry, diamonds are on this strong downward trend in terms of popularity, like we mentioned, with millennials and younger consumers in general. But I feel like, with a company like Tiffany, with a very aspirational brand, they talk about how they will invest in their inventory to have lots of very pricey and extravagant diamonds and precious gemstones, because they want customers to go into the store and feel like there are things that they cannot afford. It's aspirational.

And I feel like that's something for young consumers that they will grow into over time as their tastes change and mature, as they grow older. I think the long-term picture for this company, there are always going to be people who appreciate what Tiffany represents in terms of the luxury world. So it will always have that moat.

Any final thoughts from you, Asit, in terms of this challenge the company faces, and thoughts on what the outlook might be?

Sharma: I think the company will be able to meet the challenges we talked about earlier. And also, these declining trends of interest in diamonds. That's somewhat geographically based. In the United States, we have a very advanced society on the curve of industrial development. But again, in China, if you look at India, which has a burgeoning middle class, and they love to buy gold objects, diamonds are the next step up. There is a market out there. It depends on where their focus is, and the company avidly seeks locations in Southeast Asia to expand. So they know where their future customers, who will still be interested in diamonds, exist. And I think that's simply numbers for them. That's one way they'll be able to counteract the trends that we see in places like Europe and the United States, where that interest is somewhat declining.

And a last point on Tiffany: I really do buy management's approach in saying that their name is their most important asset. It's one of the few brands that you can think about that's had staying power for decades and decades and decades. Listeners, many of you have seen Breakfast at Tiffany's, or read Truman Capote's book. Both of those are excellent. If you haven't, I recommend it. It's great for this weekend. Watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. But Truman Capote wrote that book in 1958. And to me, the name is just as bankable as it was some 60 years ago. So I think they can parlay that asset and really overcome any near-term challenges, and that's what you want to see as a long-term investor.

Asit Sharma has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Vincent Shen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Investors had waited anxiously to hear what Ford Motor Company's (NYSE: F) newly appointed CEO, Jim Hackett, would lay out in his strategic plan after 100 days on the job. Unfortunately, the plan, which Hackett delivered in a presentation on Tuesday, was initially met with some skepticism due to the lack of specific details and a vague grand-scheme strategy for a rapidly evolving automotive industry.

Let's take a look at one of the near-term core takeaways from the presentation, and at why investors should cut the strategic plan a little bit of slack -- at least for now.

The grand scheme

In an attempt to sum up Ford's grand strategy moving forward, the presentation outlined five basic principles. In the company's words:

Ford will prepare for disruption by becoming fit. We will be in the vehicle business -- moving both people and goods. Our vehicles will be smart and connected. These smart vehicles will thrive in a new transportation operating system. We will evolve to capitalize on new business opportunities within this transportation operating system.

Much of the plan is focused on the future of autonomous vehicles, technology acquisitions, and mobility projects such as Ford Chariot, a shuttle service that allows passengers to crowdsource routes and reserve rides.

What about specific details for investors to chew on in the near term? There was a little bit of that, too.

Getting fit

The core takeaway, at least in the near term, of Ford's strategic presentation is this: It plans to "redesign business operations" and "attack costs" to become a more "fit" company. Between 2010 and 2016, Ford grew its automotive revenue 30%, which hardly outpaced its 29% growth in total costs. With automotive sales peaking in Ford's profit engine -- North America -- the automaker recognizes it has to do more to cut costs.

Driving automotive cost growth 50% lower is obviously not as simple as snapping your fingers. The bulk of that will come from driving down material cost by $10 billion over that five-year time frame. During that time, Ford also plans to drive down product engineering costs by a hefty $4 billion, for a total cost reduction of $14 billion between 2017 and 2022.

Trust the process

One way Ford plans to redesign its business operations is to reduce the number of orderable combinations of its vehicles. That's not a novel concept from the automaker, but there's much room for improvement. For instance, the current Escape and Fusion have 2,302 and 35,000 orderable combinations, respectively, while forthcoming models will have as few as 228 and 96, respectively.

Furthermore, Ford hopes to reduce new-vehicle development time by 20% and product changeover time by 25%. Internal combustion-engine architectures are expected to decline 29%, from 17 in 2016 to 12 in 2022. Over that same time frame, powertrain capital spending is expected to drop 32%, from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $1.2 billion in 2022 -- though that largely will be reinvested into electrified powertrains to adapt to an electric-vehicle future.

Although the major takeaway is that Ford plans to get "fit" by cutting costs and redesigning its production processes and operations, much of the presentation delved into an uncertain future with vague direction and few hard facts. That made investors cautious to buy into the strategic plan, for now.

We have to take a step back and remember that the road ahead is much different than the last strategic plan that helped turn Ford around a decade ago: "One Ford." The simple truth is that back then, there was a plethora of low-hanging fruit -- fairly simple steps the automaker could take to address its issues. Ford's decisions to consolidate platforms globally, improve its vehicles' fuel economy, and produce higher-quality vehicles in booming segments solved many of its problems.

That low-hanging fruit is gone now, and it's going to take Jim Hackett longer than 100 days on the job to find ways to solve Ford's long-term strategy problems. Let's give him a little time.

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One of the secrets to Square Inc's (NYSE: SQ) success has been its remarkable ability to develop an ecosystem for small and medium-sized businesses that extends far beyond mere payment-processing capabilities. That ecosystem hinges in part on industry-specific solutions, like Square for Retail, an app that retailers can download and start using within minutes for a monthly fee. Another platform tailored for a specific industry is Caviar, a food-delivery and mobile order-ahead platform to which restaurants can subscribe. However, the most successful of Square's additional services is probably Square Capital, the platform through which Square offers its clients small-business loans.

The latest attempt by Square to expand its ecosystem builds upon the earlier success of Square Capital. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported (link requires subscription) that Square would soon apply for a bank charter in Utah for a new unit, Square Financial Services, that would offer loans to small and medium-sized businesses. As fellow Fool John Maxfield explains, if Square's request is approved, the new unit will not be a bank but, rather, an industrial loan company.

The importance of this distinction to investors is twofold:

It will allow Square Financial Services to act as the functional equivalent of a bank, allowing the division to receive deposits and make loans all while being FDIC insured. It does not subject the rest of Square Inc to the strict banking regulations that its newly formed banking division will face.

Since the financial crisis, the market has not acted kindly toward companies that have taken on credit risks. Normally, I would not want a high-flying financial technology company that I had an investment in, with heady growth numbers and a nosebleed valuation, to take on this type of risk. Even if the loan default risks never materialize, the move runs the very real risk of the market assigning the company a much-lower valuation multiple. Yet, in this particular case, I find the action to be the next logical step in Square's progression from a payment-processing company to a unique one-stop shop for meeting nearly all of a small business's needs.

Here are three reasons, in particular, why I believe Square is not taking on excessive credit risk and that its expansions into business banking if approved, will be another wildly successful move for the company and its investors.

1. The past success of Square Capital

Square Capital has seen a huge amount of success since being introduced, proving it is fulfilling an unmet need in today's marketplace. In its most recently reported quarter, Square loaned $318 million through Square Capital, a 68% increase year over year. That money was spread out over more than 49,000 business loans for an average loan size of about $6,500.

2. Square's reliance on data and algorithms to mitigate credit risks

In the recent Deutsche Bank 2017 Technology Conference, CFO Sarah Friar reiterated that Square's loan loss rates were "approximately 4%," a rate that Square has historically maintained through Square Capital. What makes this remarkable is that it is far below the national average loan loss rate for business loans. In fact, according to WAIN Street's Business Default Index, typical business loans default at about twice that rate.

In the latest conference call, Friar credited this remarkable success to the company's reliance on software algorithms and the transaction data that Square has on its merchants. She stated:

3. A better pay-back model

Finally, Square's pay-back system ensures that borrowers cannot ignore the loans for months at a time if business lags, and avoids a situation in which a debt would battle priority with other pressing bills. That's because borrowers pay back during the normal routine of operation: As a company uses Square's payment-processing services, an extra, pre-determined percentage is taken out of each transaction made through the hardware until the loan is paid off.

Take it to the bank

The success of Square Capital proves that Square is meeting an unfulfilled need in today's marketplace through these small, but necessary, loans to fledgling businesses. Square's heavy use of data to determine who qualifies for these loans and how much to lend reduces the risk of permanent loss of capital via dicey loans. The fact that these loans are automatically paid back to Square through the normal operations of a business further enhances the likelihood that these loans will be repaid and not lost in an avalanche of bills and debts of a struggling business.

I believe these signs all point to Square's banking adventures seeing a fair amount of success. In the company's second-quarter shareholder letter, management stated that businesses accepting loans through Square Capital's platform "often" pay for other services offered by Square. In other words, a business-loan division would have the potential to make Square's ecosystem that much stickier for its clients. With all these positives, it's hard to see how this move might fail. While I would never be so bold as to predict a stock's short-term movements, I believe long-term investors will be richly rewarded for seeing Square's bank endeavors through.

10 stocks we like better than SquareWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

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American International Group said on Monday it expected to book pre-tax catastrophe losses of about $3 billion in the third quarter mainly related to hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

AIG's shares were down about 1.7 percent at $60.75 in extended trading.

The company estimated pre-tax losses of about $1 billion each from Harvey and Irma, up to $700 million from Maria and additional catastrophe losses, including earthquakes in Mexico, of about $150 million.

Morgan Stanley analysts said the losses were slightly above their estimate of $2.5 billion, but were manageable as it equated to about 2.6 percent of book value.

The analysts, who have an "overweight" rating on the stock, also highlighted the company's more than $3.5 billion in cash and short-term investments, saying it should help tackle capital concerns from losses in the third quarter.

Insurers and reinsurers are counting the costs of the hurricanes that tore into parts of the United States, while ravaging several islands in the northern Caribbean.

Chubb, the world's largest listed property and casualty insurer, has estimated after-tax losses of up to $1.28 billion from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Germany's Munich Re warned it could miss its profit target this year, the first major reinsurer to flag a hit to earnings from damage caused by the storms.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic is still in full swing and Morgan Stanley said it expects overall insured losses from this year's catastrophes to approach $100 billion.

(Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Supreme Court of Florida. FLORIDA BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS RE: G.R.F. CASE NO.: SC17-1770 Decided: October 06, 2017

Upon consideration of the Report and Recommendation filed by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, it is ordered that the Board's recommendation is approved by the Court and G.R.F. shall be admitted to The Florida Bar subject to the following conditions:

1. The applicant's license to practice law shall be placed on probation for a period of one year.

2. During the period of probation, the applicant shall:

(a) continue to consult with Richard Senesac, Ph.D., or other licensed mental health provider, at least, quarterly or more frequently as his mental health provider deems necessary;

(b) follow promptly, diligently and completely all instructions by his mental health provider including the taking of any medication in the recommended manner as may be prescribed by his mental health provider;

(c) have his mental health provider submit quarterly reports to The Florida Bar during the entire probationary period. These reports shall confirm the applicant's consultations for the preceding quarter and shall advise The Florida Bar of the applicant's continuing ability to engage in the active practice of law;

(d) obtain an agreement from his mental health provider stating that the mental health provider will immediately notify The Florida Bar if the applicant misses a schedule appointment without prior rescheduling; and

(e) submit quarterly sworn statements to The Florida Bar by March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31 during the entire probationary period attesting to his compliance with the conditions set forth in 2(a), (b), (c), and (d) above.

3. The Florida Bar shall monitor the conditions set forth in the Consent Agreement pursuant to Rule 1-3.2(b) of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, and the costs thereof shall be paid by the applicant to The Florida Bar or its designated monitoring agency.

4. To monitor effectively the provisions in this agreement, the applicant shall reside within the State of Florida during the entire period of probation. Any business or pleasure trips outside Florida that exceed ten days shall occur only with the advance approval of The Florida Bar. If the applicant relocates outside the State of Florida during the probationary period for any reason, the applicant shall surrender his license to practice law in Florida and if the applicant fails to do so, the Supreme Court of Florida shall terminate his license.

5. If the applicant's license is surrendered or terminated during the probationary period, the applicant shall resume the practice of law in the State of Florida only upon full compliance with the rules and regulations governing admission to The Florida Bar.

6. A failure to observe the conditions of the probation or a finding of probable cause as to conduct of the applicant committed during the period of probation may terminate the probation and subject the applicant to all available grievance procedures and disciplinary sanctions including disbarment under the Rules of Discipline. Upon receiving notice of a violation of the Court's order of conditional admission, The Florida Bar may immediately petition the Court for an order of suspension. The applicant shall have ten days to file a response. If no response is timely filed by the applicant, then the Court shall issue an order suspending the applicant. If a response is filed, the matter shall be disposed of as the Court directs. Unless terminated by the Court, an order of suspension shall remain in effect until final disposition of the grievance procedures commenced by The Florida Bar against the applicant.

7. The applicant shall immediately inform The Florida Bar of any criminal arrest or prosecution or the filing of any grievance or complaint related to the applicant's practice of law.

8. If circumstances so warrant it, the applicant and The Florida Bar may stipulate to an extension of the period of probation or The Florida Bar may petition the Court for such an extension with a final decision to be made by the Court.

9. The applicant specifically consents to and authorizes the release of any and all materials in the applicant's file to The Florida Bar that the Bar may request from the Board to enable the Bar to fulfill its responsibilities under the Consent Agreement.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND IF FILED, DETERMINED.

A True Copy

Test:

John A. Tomasino Clerk, Supreme Court

two

Served:

JAMES T. ALMON

G.R.F.

ADRIA E. QUINTELA

MICHELE A. GAVAGNI
American Airlines and United Airlines reported better than expected September results on Tuesday, despite the impact of three hurricanes, sending their shares and stocks in other U.S. airlines up sharply.

Of the largest U.S. carriers, United shares saw the biggest gains in afternoon trading, rising 5.35 percent to $68.15. Shares of rival American trailed only slightly behind, spiking 5.03 percent to $53.15.

Wall Street had expected the impact of powerful hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria to savage airlines' bottom lines well into the third quarter and beyond, putting a dent in the usually profitable third quarter.

Chicago-based United Airlines, the No. 3 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, said its September consolidated traffic was down 1.6 percent, while its capacity increased 1.7 percent as compared to the year prior.

United said it now expected third-quarter passenger revenue per available seat mile, or unit revenue, to be down 3.5 percent and 4 percent. Previously, United had told investors that unit revenue would be down between 3 and 5 percent for the third quarter.

United was among the hardest hit carriers by the storms.

Hurricane Harvey swept through Texas, crippling much of the Houston area and forcing the temporary closure of three airports in one of United's biggest hubs. The storm is estimated to have cost the carrier $265 million, according to an early projection by analyst Helane Becker of Cowen & Co. United's statement on Tuesday did not address the total cost of Harvey in its statement.

American, the No. 1 carrier by passenger traffic, said the storms resulted in nearly 8,000 canceled flights and cost about $75 million in pre-tax earnings.

Still, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier raised its guidance on third-quarter total revenue per available seat mile, now projecting the metric to be up 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent on "stronger than anticipated yield performance."

Last week, Delta Air Lines, the No. 2 U.S. carrier, issued updated guidance on its third quarter, heartening investors and boosting shares across the sector.

On the Tuesday September reports, Delta shares rose 2.09 percent to $52.83. Shares of smaller rival JetBlue got a similar lift, springing 3.95 percent to $20.26.

Delta will kick off the third-quarter reporting season on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Just 1 in 5 Americans want to deport young immigrants brought to the United States as children and now here illegally, the focus of a politically fraught debate between the White House and Congress.

Americans also have largely negative opinions about President Donald Trump's signature immigration pledge to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just under half  49 percent  oppose construction, while 32 percent support it.

On Sunday, Trump told lawmakers his hardline immigration priorities, including the wall, must be approved if he is to go along with protecting the young immigrants from deportation.

About 800,000 young immigrants had been given a deportation reprieve under President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, until Trump ended the program last month. He's given Congress six months to act.

About 60 percent of Americans favor allowing those young immigrants, commonly referred as "Dreamers," to stay in the U.S. legally, compared to 22 percent who are opposed. Just 19 percent of respondents say all these childhood arrivals should be deported.

Sixty-eight percent of Hispanics, 61 percent of blacks and 57 percent of whites favor extending protections. Eight in 10 Democrats favor allowing the young immigrants to stay legally. So do more than 4 in 10 Republicans.

"For the ones who are already here, there should be a way for them to stay because it wasn't their fault," said Nik Catello, a 57-year-old independent film producer from Orange County, California. "But you have to give them a path to citizenship."

Showing sympathy for the young immigrants does not always translate into softer views on immigration. Catello, for example, favors the construction of a wall along the Mexican border.

Among those who favor a border wall, 38 percent also favor allowing "Dreamers" to stay.

"What you see is growing support within the voters overall in giving Dreamers a path to citizenship," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "Giving Dreamers the ability to earn citizenship is the most popular bipartisan, not just immigration, issue, the single most united issue in the country."

When Trump ordered the phase-out of the DACA program last month, he gave 150,000 young immigrants the chance to quickly renew permits that are to expire before March 5. Officials say that more than 35,000 didn't make his Oct. 5 deadline. And many others will see their status begin expiring after March 5, unless Congress acts before then.

Trump suggested at the time that he was eager for a deal to settle the matter, telling reporters, "I have a love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly." He also tweeted that if Congress was unwilling to find a fix, he would "revisit this issue!" in six months.

Trump had previously said he wanted a DACA deal to include significant money for border security and eventual funding for the wall. But the priorities released by the White House this week went far beyond that.

The White House's demands include limiting green cards to spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, hiring 10,000 more immigration enforcement officers and making it easier to deport unaccompanied children. The White House says the measures are to soften the impact on the U.S. caused by granting benefits to DACA recipients.

Carolyn Kurtz, a 62-year-old retired engineer from Monument City, Colorado, who wants protections for young immigrants, said Trump hasn't done "the research necessary" on immigration.

"Do I believe that immigration should be more carefully monitored and maybe limited? Yes. But the way he wants to go about it is not the way to do it," Kurtz said. She called the president's stance "very close-minded."

Two-thirds of Americans  64 percent  say they disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration, and a similar percentage  65 percent  say the same of his handling of foreign policy. Both of those are similar to Trump's overall approval rating.

The poll also revealed more Americans favor than oppose another aspect of Trump's immigration policy  his latest travel ban. Forty-four percent favor it compared to 37 percent who say they are against the new rules.

In September, the administration announced the most recent restrictions which affect citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen  and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. They are to go into effect Oct. 18. It was the administration's third try at limiting travel after a broader ban sparked chaos in January and was challenged in courts across the country.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,150 adults was conducted Sept. 28-Oct. 2 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.

___

Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Follow Gomez Licon and Swanson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/agomezlicon and http://www.twitter.com/EL_Swan

___

Online:

AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/
Britain could join a formal trade alliance with the United States, Canada and Mexico if the European Union refuses to clinch a post-Brexit trade deal, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Tuesday without citing sources.

The newspaper said British ministers were looking at the idea of joining the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as part of planning for possibility of Britain leaving the EU in March 2019 without a trade deal.

Britains international trade ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Britain is currently negotiating the terms of its divorce from the EU though Prime Minister Theresa May is pushing to move onto discussions about a major free trade deal with the worlds biggest trading bloc.

With the clock ticking down toward Brexit day in 2019, British ministers are exploring what they will do if the worlds fifth largest economy drops out of the EU without a clear trade deal.

Besides aiming to clinch a U.S. trade deal or forming some new trade grouping, some British supporters of Brexit have pondered joining an existing trade deal such as NAFTA.

But U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he may terminate the 1994 NAFTA deal because he says it does not serve U.S. economic interests.

If Britain did join NAFTA, manufacturers wanting to export to the EU and North America would have to produce goods in accordance with the two separate sets of rules, according to trade analysts.

Britain, whose regulation has been within the EUs orbit for over 40 years, would also have to shift toward the North American model for services, goods, competition policy and data protection.

The EU is Britains biggest single export market, accounting for about 50 percent of goods exports in August. The United States was the single biggest destination for British exports, accounting for 14 percent in August.
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The Trump administration on Tuesday started the clock on a repeal of the Clean Power Plan, a move cheered by a beleaguered coal industry.

The Clean Power Plan, which has been put on hold by the Supreme Court, was the centerpiece of President Barack Obamas policies to limit carbon emissions. However, critics of the plan argued that it would effectively force many coal-fired power plants to close, thus spelling more trouble for miners. Coal groups and more than two dozen states challenged the regulation, arguing that the Obama administration overstepped its authority.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is expected to formally file a new rule Tuesday that would override the Clean Power Plan.

The war on coal is over, Pruitt declared Monday at an event in Kentucky.

Murray Energy, whose CEO Robert Murray was a vocal opponent of President Obamas coal-related regulations, said scrapping the Clean Power Plan has saved over 25,000 jobs.

We fully support President Trump and Administrator Pruitts decision to fully repeal the so-called Clean Power Plan, Murray Energy said in a statement. We will continue to work with the President Trumps Administration to preserve low-cost, reliable electricity in America, and to protect the thousands of jobs and family livelihoods that rely on the United States coal industry.

Peabody Energy, one of several coal producers to declare bankruptcy in recent years, said new technologies are the best path forward for cutting emissions.

We encourage continued steps to protect affordable, reliable and resilient coal-fueled generation for American families and businesses, and support repeal of regulations that would have raised power costs and damaged reliability with no significant benefit, the company said.

The Clean Power Plan assumed that states could cut pollution by replacing coal plants with cleaner power-generating facilities, such as wind farms. The plans challengers in court argued that federal rules can only address technologies available to individual power plants.

This administration continues to live up to the promises it made to the people in our coalfields, said West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney. We have been saying for years that the Clean Power Plan was a totally unworkable concept that would cause nothing but devastation for West Virginias economy while it forcibly reshaped the countrys electrical grid.

The American Coal Council called the Clean Power Plan unprecedented in scope and reach, adding that the rule would have sparked a double-digit increase in electricity costs for families.

The EPAs repeal of the Clean Power Plan comes six months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to roll back Obama-era regulations. President Trump also announced during the summer that the U.S. would remove itself from the Paris climate pact.

U.S. coal production last year reached its lowest level since 1978, but miners have bounced back in 2017. The nations output of coal fell about 10% in 2015 and 17% in 2016, according to the Energy Information Administration. Production in the first eight months of 2017 was sharply higher, rising 14% to 528 million short tons. The EIA projects an 8% increase for the full year.

The EIA also estimates that coal will match natural gas for an equal share of utilities electricity generation this year.

The National Mining Association believes the Trump administrations decision will save 240 million tons of annual coal production and protect more than 27,000 mining jobs, in addition to almost 100,000 indirect jobs that rely on coal.
U.S.-based credit reporting agency Equifax Inc said on Tuesday that the massive cyber attack it disclosed in September compromised the sensitive personal details of nearly 700,000 consumers in the United Kingdom.

Equifax said that 15.2 million UK records dating from 2011 to 2016 were exposed in the incident, which affected 145.5 million people overall, but that 14.5 million of the exposed UK records did not contain information that put consumers at risk.

(Reporting by John McCrank in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Serbia's president on Tuesday as Ankara stepped up efforts to increase its clout in the Balkans.

Erdogan's talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic focused on trade and investment, but also covered political relations in the region, where many countries have historic and religious links with Turkey from centuries of Ottoman rule.

Erdogan said that the current trade exchange between the two countries of $800 million (682 million euros) "is not enough" and that it should rapidly grow in the near future.

He promised more Turkish investments, including into a highway linking the Serbian and Bosnian capitals.

Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Vucic that more investments and road links would "solve the problems in the Balkans."

Relations between Serbia and Turkey have improved recent years, after decades of mistrust between the two nations. Serbia was ruled for almost 500 years by the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey backed Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s war that pitted them against the Christian Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.

"This is not 1389, but 2017," Vucic said, referring to the year when the Ottoman occupation of Serbia started. "Today, Serbia considers Turkey as its friend."

Serbian and Turkish officials signed several agreements on Tuesday, including an amended free trade accord that will open the Turkish market to several Serb products.

Erdogan will travel with Vucic to the predominantly Muslim-populated southern Sandzak region of Serbia on Wednesday.
Hail, frost and droughts have hit Europe's grape harvest hard, making it the smallest in 36 years. The quality of the wines, though, is expected to be excellent.

The European Union's Copa-Cogeca farm union said Tuesday that the extreme weather means the harvest is expected to be down 14 percent, with some areas seeing a drop of as much as one third. That will cut wine production to a level not seen since 1981 at 145 million hectoliters.

The two biggest producers, "France and Italy were particularly badly affected," said Thierry Coste, the chairman of Copa-Cogeca wine division.

In France, production will be down 18 percent, and in Italy, the biggest wine producer in Europe, it will have sunk by 26 percent compared with last year. Sicily was hit by a decline of 35 percent.

"The quality of the grape is nevertheless expected to be very good across Europe, which should make for an excellent wine," he said.

The combination of good wine and lower quantities means that "prices are also likely to rise," he said.

During the 1980s, record wine production often hovered around the 210 million hectoliter mark. An industry preference to make less but better wine and a need to cut subsidies based on bulk has led to lower yields since then. Extreme weather and climate change have further affected output in certain years.

Nowadays, wine production almost never surpasses 170 million hectares a year anymore, although this year's estimate is particularly low, and was last worse only in 1981.

The European wine grape harvest has an automatic impact on the global wine market since EU production accounts for some 60 percent of worldwide output.
JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> and Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] have led a $100 million investment in Bill.com, a Palo Alto, California-based company that helps business digitize their payments.

The round, which included participation from existing investors, will be used by the company to expand its distribution, Bill.com said on Tuesday.

The investment comes after the company revealed last month that it had partnered with JPMorgan to help its business clients make and receive payments electronically.

Bill.com, which runs a large business payment network in the United States, is among the cohort of young technology companies that are seeking to help modernize financial services by making better use of technology.

Business-to-business payments in the United States have been particularly slow to adapt to new digital technologies.

Over 50 percent of business-to-business payments by organizations in the United States were made by check in 2016, according to the Association for Financial Professionals.

Bill.com's technology can be integrated into the websites of banks and accounting software providers to make it easier for businesses to send and receive payments digitally.

The company has 100,000 customers, which represent more than 1 percent of U.S. businesses, and is looking to expand its reach, RenA Lacerte, chief executive officer and founder of Bill.com said in an interview. It also plans to use the funding to enhance its product, he said. "Examples would be international payments," Lacerte said.

He noted businesses should have access to the same digital payments experience as consumers who are now accustomed to popular applications such as PayPal Holdings Inc's <PYPL.O> Venmo.

Bill.com currently process $50 billion in payments a year and also has partnerships with accounting software providers Intuit Inc <INTU.O> and Xero.

JPMorgan's investment underscores a growing interest by large financial institutions in backing and partnering with young financial technology companies.

Many have set up venture capital arms over the past few years to make strategic investments in startups in areas ranging from payments, to wealth management.

"They want to leverage the capabilities of fintech companies," Lacerte said.

American Express Co <AXP.N> and Silicon Valley Bank are also backers of Bill.com.

(In 6th paragraph, company corrects percentage of payments by check)

(Reporting by Anna Irrera; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. GLORIA A. WIGGINS, Plaintiff  Appellant, v. LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY- HEALTH CARE SERVICES DIVISION, And its Board of Supervisors in their Capacity as Supervisors to the University Medical Center in Lafayette (Formerly Known as Lafayette Charity Hospital), Defendant  Appellee. No. 17-30033 Decided: October 06, 2017

Before REAVLEY, PRADO, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.

PlaintiffAppellant Gloria Wiggins appeals pro se the district court's grant of DefendantAppellee Louisiana State University, Healthcare Services Division's (LSU-HCSD) Motion to Dismiss. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a 42 U.S.C.  1983 civil rights action filed by Wiggins against LSU-HCSD. In her complaint, she alleges that at some point between 1960 and 2002, her mother received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) administered at Lafayette Charity Hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana without her consent and without an order from a Louisiana state court. She also appears to allege that her mother died as a result of the unwarranted ECT. Wiggins filed suit on August 1, 2016, and the district court granted her Motion to Proceed in forma pauperis. Wiggins seeks damages against LSU-HCSD in the amount of $3,000,000.00.

After Wiggins filed suit, DefendantAppellee LSU-HCSD filed a Motion to Dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), arguing that the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear Wiggins's claims because (1) LSU-HCSD does not have capacity to be sued and thus is not the proper party defendant in the lawsuit, and (2) LSU-HCSD is entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. Wiggins filed a response arguing that her claim against LSU-HCSD was valid. On December 14, 2016, the district court entered judgment in favor of LSU-HCSD and dismissed Wiggins's claims. The district court held that while the court would normally allow plaintiff to amend to attempt to state a claim against the proper party defendantthe Louisiana Board of Supervisorsthe plaintiff's claims are frivolous and any attempts at amendment would be futile. Wiggins requested that the dismissal be without prejudice, but the district court denied her motion. On January 13, 2017, Wiggins timely appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal, Wiggins's sole argument is that the district court abused its discretion by dismissing her complaint without affording her an opportunity to amend. We review the district court's denial of leave to amend the complaint for abuse of discretion. United States ex rel. Willard v. Humana Health Plan of Tex. Inc., 336 F.3d 375, 379 (5th Cir. 2003) (citing Hypes v. First Commerce Corp., 134 F.3d 721, 72728 (5th Cir. 1996)). A district court acts within its discretion when dismissing a motion to amend that is frivolous or futile. Martin's Herend Imports, Inc. v. Diamond & Gem Trading United States of Am. Co., 195 F.3d 765, 771 (5th Cir. 1999) (footnote omitted). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1915(e)(2), the district court shall dismiss the case at any time if it determines that the in forma pauperis complaint if frivolous or fails to state a claim. A claim may be dismissed as frivolous if it does not have an arguable basis in fact or law. Brewster v. Dretke, 587 F.3d 764, 767 (5th Cir. 2009) (citation omitted).

Ordinarily, a pro se litigant should be offered an opportunity to amend his complaint before it is dismissed. Brewster, 587 F.3d at 76768 (citation omitted). Rule 15(a) provides that leave to amend shall be freely given when justice so requires. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a). [T]he language of this rule evinces a bias in favor of granting leave to amend.  Legate v. Livingston, 822 F.3d 207, 211 (5th Cir. 2016) (quoting LynLea Travel Corp. v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 283 F.3d 282, 286 (5th Cir. 2002)). Granting leave to amend, however, is not required if the plaintiff has already pleaded her best case. Brewster, 587 F.3d at 768 (citing Bazrowx v. Scott, 136 F.3d 1053, 1054 (5th Cir. 1998)). A plaintiff has pleaded her best case after she is apprised of the insufficiency of her complaint. Dark v. Potter, 293 F. App'x 254, 257 (5th Cir. 2008) (unpublished) (citing Morrison v. City of Baton Rouge, 761 F.2d 242, 246 (5th Cir. 1985) ([T]he plaintiffs in this case have been apprised of the insufficiency of their conclusory allegations  and have been afforded an opportunity to plead facts that would overcome the bar of Imbler immunity. We can assume, therefore, that the specific allegations of the amended complaint constitute the plaintiffs' best case )). A plaintiff may indicate she has not pleaded her best case by stating material facts that she would include in an amended complaint to overcome the deficiencies identified by the court. See Brewster, 587 F.3d at 76768. Similarly, a district court need not grant a futile motion to amend. Legate, 822 F.3d at 211 (citing Stripling v. Jordan Prod. Co., 234 F.3d 863, 87273 (5th Cir. 2000)). Futility is determined under Rule 12(b)(6) standards, meaning an amendment is considered futile if it would fail to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Id.

Wiggins never filed a formal Motion to Amend, but she argues on appeal that the district court erred by dismissing her complaint without granting her the opportunity to amend her claim. The district court denied Wiggins the opportunity to amend after determining that any attempts at amendment would be futile. The district court granted LSU-HCSD's Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1), finding that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear her claims because LSU-HCSD was not an entity subject to suit and because LSU-HCSD was entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment.

Wiggins fails to substantively address or otherwise contest these issues. She does not dispute that LSU-HCSD was not the proper party or that it was not entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. Indeed, Wiggins appears to concede the merits of LSU-HCSD's Motion to Dismiss. While this Court liberally construes pro se briefs, pro se litigants must still brief the arguments in order to preserve them. Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 225 (5th Cir. 1993). Issues not raised or argued in the brief are considered waived and thus will not be noticed or entertained by this Court on appeal. Melton v. Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass'n of Am., 114 F.3d 557, 561 (5th Cir. 1997). Because Wiggins failed to identify an error in the district court's dismissal of her claims, she has waived these issues on appeal, and we need not address them.

Instead, Wiggins asserts that she was not given a chance to present her best case. However, she has not identified any material facts she would include in an amended complaint if given the opportunity to overcome the deficiencies identified by the district court. She does not provide any additional facts indicating she could state a claim against LSU-HCSD, nor does she argue that she could amend her complaint to name a proper plaintiff. [P]ro se briefs are afforded liberal construction by this Court. Mapes v. Bishop, 541 F.3d 582, 584 (5th Cir. 2008). But Wiggins does not present a viable  1983 claim. See Raj v. La. State Univ., 714 F.3d 322, 32829 (5th Cir. 2013) ([W]e agree with the district court's findingwhich [plaintiff] fails to challenge on appealthat the LSU Board is an arm of the state and is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment.). Thus, the district court did not err by finding that any attempt at amendment would be futile.

III. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the district court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing Wiggins's complaint without granting her leave to amend. Accordingly, the district court's ruling is AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. According to the documentation accompanying her complaint, Wiggins identifies [d]uring the 1960 through 2000 era. Wiggins's mother died in June 2002.

PER CURIAM:*
The Latest on France's public sector strike and demonstration (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

Nurse Beatrice Vieval says her Paris hospital has seen three recent suicides among staff, and she fears that plans by President Emmanuel Macron's government to cut public servant jobs and to freeze wages "will make the situation worse."

She's among thousands of people on strike or marching through Paris and other cities Tuesday against Macron's economic policies.

Hospital workers made up many of the protesters. Vieval, who works at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, told The Associated Press she already feels squeezed by increasing cutbacks  "wages are frozen, hospital conditions are deteriorated, staff are depleted by reorganizing services."

Philosophy student Amado Lebaube said degraded working conditions are already hurting consumers of public services, and could threaten his ability to stay in school.

He expressed thanks for state-paid teachers, student housing aid and government scholarships, adding, "I can study today because there are public services in this country."

___

4:30 p.m.

Police are using tear gas and batons to push back protesters throwing projectiles at a demonstration in Paris over public sector job cuts and salary freezes.

While Tuesday's demonstration was largely peaceful, a small group of protesters skirmished with police at the end of a march to the Place de la Nation in eastern Paris. Several people could be seen with injuries.

A Paris police spokesman said protesters were throwing projectiles at police and businesses, including a bank. The spokesman, who was not authorized to be publicly named, said three people were detained at the beginning of the march for carrying weapons.

Demonstrations were held in cities around France after all the country's leading unions called for public sector strikes and protests against President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, which they say would result in deteriorating work conditions.

___

10:35 a.m.

A strike by French public sector workers is affecting schools, hospitals and public services and causing disruptions in domestic air traffic.

Nine public sector unions have called for nationwide industrial action Tuesday to protest against what they say is a deterioration in work conditions.

The unions are angry at a plan to tighten rules for sick leave, freeze salaries and decrease the number of public sector employees in the next five years.

Carrier Air France says it expects to run all long-haul flights to and from Paris airports, but to cancel about 25 percent of domestic flights due to a walkout by some traffic controllers.

Railway traffic was expected to be close to normal.

French President Emmanuel Macron's proposed changes to labor laws have prompted street protests in recent weeks.
A Pennsylvania man who worked for a company that made parts for the U.S. Navy has pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving $150,000 in kickbacks for providing work to a New Jersey firm.

Christopher Sanchirico pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the federal kickback act in Newark on Tuesday.

He lived in King of Prussia and was the assistant purchasing manager for a Philadelphia company that made shock-hardened circuit breakers and switchgears for Navy ships, submarines and aircraft carriers.

Prosecutors say he received between 5 percent and 10 percent of the revenue from work he provided to a Cherry Hill machine shop that gave him kickbacks.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced in January.
Vietnam's flag carrier and Air France signed an agreement Tuesday to deepen their cooperation to tap the growing travel market between Vietnam and Europe.

Vietnam Airlines and Air France have been cooperating for 20 years on aircraft maintenance and crew training and began code sharing in 2010, but they said the partnership agreement signed by their leaders in Hanoi will further their cooperation.

Under the agreement, which begins in November, Vietnam Airlines passengers will be able to connect to 70 European destinations, up from 14, and Air France passengers will be able to reach 20 Vietnamese destinations, up from three.

"We are the only ones who directly connect Europe to Vietnam, and as you know with this world of speed, time is obviously the essence," Franck Terner, CEO of Air France, told reporters after signing the agreement with Duong Tri Thanh, president and CEO of Vietnam Airlines. "I truly think that what we build today is the utmost service, a seamless travel experience and frequent connections."

Thanh said the agreement would help the airlines strengthen their positions in a fiercely competitive environment.

"The two airlines will cooperate comprehensively, and our ultimate goal is to offer seamless and perfect service that would bring about a competitive edge to our airlines in the aviation market, which is increasingly expanding with a lot of potential, but is also very competitive," Thanh said.

Terner noted that Air France began flying to Vietnam nearly 90 years ago with Air Orient, Air France's predecessor, offering flights in 1930 departing from Marseille to Saigon in three days, making 18 stops. Since then technology has made enormous progress and new markets have opened, he added.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines offers daily flights between Hanoi and Paris and three flights a week between the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City and Paris, while Air France operates three flights a week between Ho Chi Minh City and Paris.

Vietnam received 10 million foreign tourists in 2016, up 26 percent from the previous year, with China, South Korea, Japan and the United States the top sources of visitors.
Volkswagen (OTC:VLKAY) plans to reduce the size of its European dealer network and introduce online sales as it adjusts to changing buying habits, the German carmaker said on Tuesday.

VW is pushing to cut costs across all of its 12 brands in the wake of the emissions scandal as it faces having to invest heavily in the shift toward electric cars.

In the latest move it aims to increase profitability and efficiency at its 3,000-dealer European distribution network by an average of 10 percent and wants to trim the costs of the network to help double the average return per distributor to 2 percent from 1 percent.

We have for years been in consolidation mode in all world markets, VW brand sales chief Juergen Stackmann told reporters. This will surely accelerate somewhat in the next one, two years, also in Germany.

But the executive gave no detail on the size of planned cost reductions and the number of dealerships due to be axed under VWs future sales model.

Customers of mass-market car brands like VWs are already making greater use of online shopping, allowing them to better compare rival offerings.

VW and dealers are now developing a joint online portal, Stackmann said, without giving details.

Reduced costs will also come from greater use of new IT, enabling dealerships to cut the time needed for servicing cars by as much as 70 percent, according to VW.

A VW distributor in Europe on average employs 35 staff and that workforce can be cut by about four over time or the staff affected can be assigned elsewhere, Stackmann said.

Under the terms of the carmakers new contracts with dealers, to be concluded early next year, VW wants to forego its right to dictate workforce sizes, he said, allowing dealers to trim staff.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) lays claim to one of the most bankable global luxury brands on the planet. While the company's stock has posted impressive gains over the past 12 months, shareholders still harbor concerns over long-term headwinds, including the company's ability to adapt to shifting consumer preferences.

In this segment of Industry Focus, the team presents an overview of the company's biggest strengths and what lies ahead.

A full transcript follows the video.

10 stocks we like better than Tiffany & Co.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now and Tiffany & Co. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017

This video was recorded on Oct. 3, 2017.

Vincent Shen: For high-end retail, this is not something we cover very often on Industry Focus. We want to look at Tiffany & Company, ticker TIF. This is a luxury brand with a lot of history and cachet. Charles Lewis Tiffany founded the business 180 years ago, and I'm sure many Fools are familiar with the reputation of the company has when you think about the legendary blue box, and how regularly the company is featured in popular culture decade after decade.

The company states outright in its 10-K that the brand is its single most important asset, and it'll invest heavily to maintain its brand perception. That means premium customer service, paying for spots for its stores in high-end malls and luxury areas, selling lots of expensive diamonds and precious stones. Jewelry makes up 90% of the company's business. Specifically, products with diamonds make up almost 60% of annual revenue. Asit, the stock is up about 30% in the last year, handily outperforming the broad market. Can you tell us about some of the latest developments at the company?

Asit Sharma: Sure. The most important development begins with the top line. Sales have dropped about 6% over the last two years. In 2015, Tiffany & Company booked $4.25 billion in sales, and that's dropped over the last two years to about $4 billion in 2016. So as a result, Tiffany replaced its CEO Frederic Cumenal, who was only there for 22 months, with Alessandro Bogliolo in July.

Shen: Good timing there.

Sharma: Tiffany & Company, the next CEO you hire, can you please give us a name that's easier to pronounce? But having said that, Bogliolo is the former CEO of Italian jeans and fashion house Diesel Clothing Company, and he also had a long stint in Bulgari & Company, which, for those of you who love high-end fashion and maybe live in a big city, New York, Chicago, you've certainly seen these beautiful stores and their beautiful products, a worthy competitor to Tiffany & Company.

So Bogliolo's mission is to expand Tiffany's cachet, as Vince mentioned, to a younger demographic, to millennials, to revitalize the brand without impacting that strong resonance it has as an aspirational brand, and a brand that, at the end of the day, stands the test of time. So those are the most recent developments for Tiffany & Company.

Shen: I would say, the timing there, by the way, you mentioned, of the CEO was perfect, because his official start date happened to be yesterday. As we watch the progress the company makes, it's really starting day one right now. Some big opportunities that you see management mention and see them play out in the numbers a bit, there's this new leadership change, they talk about new product categories that are intended to appeal to some of those younger consumers that you mentioned, they talk about the growth of their online sales, which are still a small portion of the company's business at this point, I believe 6% as of the end of their physical 2016. Then, they also have their international footprint to lean on.

You'll see that going back to some of the quarterly reports, you'll notice a trend in that the Asian markets, which the company breaks down into Japan and Asia-Pacific. And for that Asia-Pacific region, China makes up over half of that, those regions have tended to deliver strong results, either flat or positive growth compared to some of the declines in the company's biggest market, the Americas and the U.S. specifically, which makes up almost half of all revenue.

I feel like a company like this will face some cyclical challenges in that economic downturns will often hurt luxury sales. The company struggled a bit during the financial crisis.

Asit Sharma has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Vincent Shen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Yum China (NYSE: YUMC), spun off from Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) late last year, has been faring just fine on its own. The controller of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in the world's most populous country reported another good quarter last week, along with a few other important news items. Here's what investors need to know.

Q3 2017 by the numbers

For the quarter that ended Aug. 31, Yum China reported an 8% revenue increase. Year to date, revenue is up 3% over 2016. Earnings per share are up 12% through the last quarter to $1.28.

The top and bottom lines increased on better-than-expected traffic at existing restaurants, new restaurant openings, and positive traction with online loyalty programs and delivery services. Total company same-store sales are up 6% and 4% for the last quarter and year to date, respectively.

Restaurant Metric Q3 2017 YTD 2017 Kentucky Fried Chicken Same-store sales 7% 4% New stores opened 81 215 Total store count* 5,347 5,347 Pizza Hut Same-store sales 0% 1% New stores opened 38 102 Total store count* 2,143 2,143 Other restaurants (Little Sheep, East Dawning, Taco Bell) Same-store sales N/A N/A New stores opened 10 35 Total store count* 257 257

When Yum! Brands spun off its China division, part of the rationale was that the unique Chinese market would do better if left to its own devices. After one year as an independent entity, Yum China is proving that rationale to be true.

New leadership, new investor payday

Though the transition away from Yum! Brands has gone well, Yum China's board of directors apparently felt a change in the executive team was in order. Going along with Q3 results was a press release announcing that current CEO Micky Pant will be replaced on March 1. His successor will be the company's current COO and president, Joey Wat. Pant will remain at the company as vice chairman of the board and as senior advisor.

The board thank Pant for his efforts in a news release in which Pant was quoted as saying Wat is "the best person to take the company to the next level." Yum China is trying to expand along with the country's fast-growing middle class, all while maintaining its lead as China's largest restaurant chain against a number of local brands and American bellwethers, such as McDonald's (NYSE: MCD).

The transition sounds as if it will be a non-issue, which left investors to focus on other news. The company's previous share-repurchase program, which had authorized up to $300 million in total purchase value, was increased to $550 million. In addition, a quarterly dividend was initiated at $0.10 a share. As of this writing, that's an annualized yield of 0.98% -- not the biggest payout, but respectable for a first-ever dividend.

Pay attention to Yum China

It has been a good year for Yum China. Total sales are getting a boost from menu and operational changes, new stores are getting opened, and the bottom line is benefiting as a result. Management said it believes it can hit its one-year target of 550 to 600 new restaurant openings and that operating profit will finish 2017 up double digits.

Now that it has the freedom to operate on its own, Yum China looks like a good bet on the growing Chinese middle class. Look for more details on the company's plans on Oct. 17, the date of the next investor day.

10 stocks we like better than Yum China Holdings, Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Yum China Holdings, Inc. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017

Nicholas Rossolillo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan on Tuesday said the agency will be left with no option but to enforce the laws Congress enacted in the sanctuary state of California.

We are going to enforce the laws. We are not going to be bullied [into] not enforcing the laws. We are doing our jobs. We [are] doing our sworn duties to enforce the laws of this country and help protect this country, Homan told FOX Business Stuart Varney.

On Thursday, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation making the Golden State a sanctuary for immigrants, limiting state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The so-called sanctuary state bill counters President Trumps hard line approach on immigration enforcement. Democrat Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois criticized Trumps wish list on immigration calling the administrations policy an extension of the white supremacist agenda.

Its an extension of the white supremacist agenda  what they want to do is criminalize and delegitimize Latinos, Gutierrez said in an interview on Sunday.

Homan called Rep. Gutierrez statement irresponsible and said ICE officers are enforcing the laws that Congress enacted.

I got 20,000 American patriots that serve their country every day, strap a gun to their hip, [and] leave the safety and well-being of their homes and their families to protect this nation. Shame on him, he said.

The ICE Acting Director said his officers will be forced to go into illegal immigrant communities to arrest criminal offenders which will force additional arrests of illegal immigrants and further hurt the community.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he has prepared an "economic-development" measure that would punish companies that globally outsource jobs.

The bill would provide economic incentives for companies, Trump said in an interview with Forbes magazine published on Tuesday, and reward firms that maintain jobs in the United States, and deliver punitive measures against those that move operations offshore.

"It's both a carrot and a stick," Trump said. "It is an incentive to stay. But it is perhaps even more so - if you leave, it's going to be very tough for you to think that you're going to be able to sell your product back into our country."

He did not specify what the rewards or punishments would be. The White House was not immediately available to comment.

Trump, a New York real estate developer reality television host, has struggled to translate his business experience into government success, failing to push through any major legislative victories.

The Trump administration has repealed a number of regulations. The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday he planned to rescind the Clean Power Plan, which was former President Barack Obama's cornerstone regulation to fight climate change.

(Reporting by Makini Brice in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
The United Nations Security Council has banned four ships from ports globally for carrying cargo from North Korea, including one vessel that had ammunition, but the United States postponed a bid to blacklist four others pending further investigation.

The vessels are the first to be designated under stepped-up sanctions imposed on North Korea by the 15-member council in August and September over Pyongyang's sixth and largest nuclear test and two long-range ballistic missile launches.

The Security Council North Korea sanctions committee, which operates by consensus, agreed at the request of the United States, to blacklist the ships on Oct. 3 for "transporting prohibited items from the DPRK" (North Korea), according to documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The 193 U.N. member states are now required to prohibit port entry to the Comoros-flagged Petrel 8, St Kitts and Nevis-flagged Hao Fan 6, North Korean-flagged Tong San 2 and Cambodia-flagged Jie Shun. Entry is only allowed in case of emergency or if the vessel is returning to its home port.

The Jie Shun was intercepted by Egypt on Aug. 11, 2016, carrying 30,000 rocket propelled grenades in wooden crates concealed under about 2,300 tonnes of iron ore, according to U.N. sanctions monitors.

It was "the largest interdicted ammunition consignment in the history of sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the independent sanctions monitors told the Security Council in their annual report in February.

The ship had left the North Korean port of Haeju on July 23, 2016, and was interdicted in Egyptian territorial waters south of the Suez Canal, the experts said.

It was not immediately clear what banned cargo the remaining three ships were transporting.

North Korea is under a U.N. arms embargo and the Security Council has banned trade in exports such as coal, textiles, seafood, iron and other minerals to choke funding for Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.

In an Oct. 3 note to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee, seen by Reuters, the United States said it was withdrawing four ships it had proposed for listing - the South Korean-flagged Xin Shen Hai, the Palau-flagged East Glory 7, the Panama-flagged Kai Xiang and Cheng Hong.

"These four ships require further study with key parties and we will revert to the committee once that process is completed," the U.S. mission to the United Nations wrote.

A ninth ship, the Fiji-flagged Toyo Maru, had been proposed for listing in an annex to the initial U.S. draft of a resolution adopted by the Security Council on Sept. 11. It was not clear if the United States planned to still put the ship forward for designation.

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously adopted nine sanctions resolutions on North Korea since 2006.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)
Virginia residents are getting a sneak peek at the mail truck of the future. One of them, at least.

A prototype for the U.S. Postal Services next-generation delivery vehicle has been spotted making the rounds in the city of Leesburg.

A Trucks.com reader snapped a photo of the van, which is one of five proposals contending for the multi-billion dollar contract to replace the iconic Grumman LLVs that have been in service since 1987.

Commercial truck builder Workhorse confirmed on Twitter that it is the vehicle the company jointly-developed with truck body specialist V.T. Hackney. Workhorse didnt reveal any details about the truck, but has previously said that it would be a hybrid. The company sells several hybrid commercial trucks and recently unveiled a plug-in hybrid pickup thats scheduled to go on sale next year.

Requirements for the mail truck call for a 1,500-pound payload rating, 155 cubic-feet of cargo space, right-hand-drive, a sliding curbside door or doors, a maximum length of 230 inches and a six-foot four-inch cabin height. Workhorses snub-nosed creation appears to check all of those boxes.

The U.S.P.S. bidding process called for test vehicles to be delivered by September, but the Workhorse truck is the first one thats been seen in the wild.

AM General, Oshkosh and Turkeys Karsan are also vying for the contract, while Utilimaster pulled out of the competition earlier this year. Meanwhile, documents uncovered by TTAC.com reveal Mahindra has submitted a truck based on one of its pickups that uses the either four-cylinder engine from a Chevrolet Colorado or General Motors mild-hybrid eAssist powertrain. The Indian automaker has a technical center Michigan and would build the production version of its vehicle in the United States.

The winning bid will be announced early in 2018, with deliveries (of the trucks!) scheduled to begin at the end of the year.
Morning Pointe Senior Living invites the public to salute our veterans with special guest Lt. Col. Allen West at Morning Pointe of Chattanooga at Shallowford, 7719 Shallowford Road, with Q&A, photo opportunities and a reception on Monday, at 10:30 a.m.

Lt. Col. Allen West was born and raised in Atlanta, in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. He is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family.

During his 22-year career in the United States Army, Lt. Col. West served in several combat zones and received many honors including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, one with Valor device, and a Valorous Unit Award. In 1993, he was named the US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year.

In November 2010, Lt. Col. West was elected to the United States Congress, representing Florida's 22nd District. As a member of the 112th Congress, he sat on the Small Business and Armed Services Committees and was instrumental in passage of the 2011 and 2012 National Defense Authorization Acts.

He is a Fox News contributor, contributing columnist for Townhall.com, and author of Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin's Journey to Family, Faith and Freedom. He is the former executive director of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas.

An avid supporter of veterans, Lt. Col. West is a legacy life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, life member of the Association of the United States Army and the Society of the First Infantry Division, life member and is a Board of Directors member of the National Rifle Association. Lieutenant Colonel West is an inductee into the University of Tennessee Army ROTC Hall of Fame.

Lt. Col. West believes it will be principled constitutional conservative policies, not politics, which secures a sound economic future for Americans - with growth, opportunity and returning the promise of the American dream for this generation and those to come.
With The Big Bang Theory Season 11 hanging a lantern on the upcoming wedding between Sheldon and Amy, it seems the stress of planning the big event is already starting to get to them. In episode 3, The Relaxation Integration, Sheldon had to confront a brand new version of himself.

The episode opens with the gang having dinner, and Sheldon is more high strung than usual as he attempts to pick the perfect date for their wedding. He insists that he is smart enough to solve the problem of a perfect wedding date, but his friends balk when they hear that hes issued save-the-dates for 80 dates. Later that night, the stress takes its toll as he has a dream featuring a more laid-back version of himself. This Sheldon goes with the flow, doesnt have a care in the world and says things like whatevs. Amy hears him talking in his sleep and gets worried that wedding planning is too much for him.

Meanwhile, Bernadette tells Howard that shes going out for drinks with a new co-worker. He immediately suggests setting her up with either Raj or Stewart. However, she insists that she just wants to make a work friend. If she grows not to like her, then shell ruin her life with Stewart or Raj.

Unfortunately, Howard wants his friends fixed up more than he wants his wife not to be mad at him. Raj and Stewart crash the meet up to fight for the single friends affection.

Meanwhile, Amy has recorded another session of laid-back Sheldon, which he isnt happy to learn. Hes clearly upset at her for recording him in his sleep and capturing this new personality that his brain seems to be keeping from him without his consent. She explains that shes just worried about him and tries to break down the psychology of what his dreams could mean.

Dont try to put science lipstick on your new-age pig! he retorts.

Later, he confesses to Penny that he wants to try and adopt this laid-back Sheldon if his subconscious is clearly trying to bring it to the forefront.

Elsewhere, Raj and Stewart go out again with Bernadettes friend, but come on just a bit too strong. She reveals that shes not looking to date either of them and really just wants to make friends in a new city. Raj presses her for which one she would have chosen, while Stewart seizes the high-road and agrees to see her again just as friends. When she agrees, he immediately rubs victory in Rajs face.

The episode ends with a disheveled and filthy Sheldon returning home to Amy. He shares a story that begins with him buying flip-flops only to lose one in a sewer grate. Being the new laid-back Sheldon, he attempted to retrieve it when he touched something furry, and things devolved from there. The ordeal helped him draw a conclusion - he needs her to plan the whole wedding. With that, an overjoyed Amy admits that shes always wanted a June wedding, on a cliff, overlooking the sunset. Sheldon agrees, but privately mocks her decision.

In the post-credits scene, a gathering of Sheldons different personalities meet in, presumably, his imagination. Fanboy Sheldon, Humorous Sheldon, Texas Sheldon, Science Sheldon and Germaphobe Sheldon all vote on whether or not to admit Laid-back Sheldon into the group, which they shoot down unanimously.
Asia Argento's boyfriend Anthony Bourdain is proud of the actress after she spoke out and openly accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her.

Argento was one of three women who told the New Yorker the disgraced Hollywood producer raped her. Her interview was part of a scathing expose by Ronan Farrow.

"I am proud and honored to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world," Bourdain tweeted at Argento.

The celebrity chef also tweeted, "Can we use the word 'rapist' now? #Weinstein."

HARVEY WEINSTEIN ACCUSED OF RAPE

Argento told the New Yorker Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her and that she did not come forward earlier out of fear Weinstein would "crush" her.

Argento said she later had a consensual sexual relationship with Weinstein because she felt "obliged."

The 42-year-old said her film "Scarlet Diva" was about her encounter with Weinstein.

Argento took to social media to share a scene from her film and react to the publication of the New Yorker article.

She wrote, "You will know the truth. And the truth will set you free."
George Clooney slammed Harvey Weinstein on Monday for his alleged sexual assaults on multiple women, saying the famed Hollywood producers behavior was indefensible and disturbing on a whole lot of levels.

Clooney said in an interview with the Daily Beast that though he never saw any of the alleged sexual acts in the 20 years he has known Weinstein, he heard rumors about it for years.

Its indefensible. Thats the only word you can start with, Clooney told the Daily Beast. Harveys admitted to it, and its indefensible. Ive known Harvey for 20 years. He gave me my first big break as an actor in films on From Dusk Till Dawn, he gave me my first big break as a director with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Weve had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behaviorever.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN SEX SCANDAL: DETAILING THE ALLEGATIONS

The actor added: Ive heard rumors, and the rumors in general started back in the 90s, and they were that certain actresses had slept with Harvey to get a role. It seemed like a way to smear the actresses and demean them by saying that they didnt get the jobs based on their talent, so I took those rumors with a grain of salt.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN ACCUSED OF RAPING 3 WOMEN IN SHOCKING EXPOSE: 'HE OVERPOWERED ME'

Clooney admitted he didnt know about the new allegations revealed by the New York Times that Weinstein paid off eight women. He called Weinsteins behavior harassment on a very high level, and said he had no idea Weinsteins alleged sexual misconduct had gone to the level where women were threatened and victimized.

Thats a whole other level and theres no way you can reconcile that. Theres nothing to say except that its indefensible, Clooney said. Thats not just some rumor about Harvey hitting on a woman; its disturbing on a whole lot of levels, because there had to be a lot of people involved in covering that up."

DONNA KARAN SORRY AFTER COMMENTS PRAISING HARVEY WEINSTEIN

The 56-year-old actor is one of the first prominent male Hollywood stars to speak out against Weinstein since the allegations came out. Weinstein was fired from the Weinstein Company, his own company he started with his brother, on Sunday.

Many A-listers who have worked with the producer, including Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, have stayed silent throughout the scandal. Affleck released a statement on Facebook Tuesday saying the new allegations made him "sick."

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades. The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesnt happen to others," Affleck said.

He added: "We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters. We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behavior when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power."

TheWrap CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman claimed Damon and Russell Crowe had called her to vouch for Fabrizio Lombardo, who she said had no film experience and his real job was to take care of Weinsteins women needs.

The Guardian also released a report on Monday stating it reached out to more than 20 actors and male directors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Bradley Cooper, who have worked with Weinstein. They all declined to comment or did not respond.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN SCANDAL: EX-TIMES REPORTER SAYS OSCAR WINNERS CALLED IN TO HELP WEINSTEIN OUT OF 2004 JAM

Lin-Manual Miranda tweeted on Tuesday he was appalled and repulsed by the Weinstein news as anyone with a beating heart when a Twitter user asked him to explain himself on why he didnt respond to the Guardians request for a statement.

Forgive me. Just woke up to this -- I'd asked my reps to keep any press non-(Puerto Rico) relief-related off my desk. That's my fault, Miranda said.

I'm as appalled and repulsed by the Weinstein news as anyone with a beating heart. And forever in awe of the bravery of those who spoke out, he added.

Hollywood actresses have been more vocal about condemning Weinstein. Meryl Streep, who once called Weinstein a God during her Golden Globe acceptance speech, called his alleged conduct inexcusable. She said Weinsteins behavior wasnt universally known in Hollywood.

Judi Dench also said she was completely unaware of the horrifying offenses.
Lurid allegations against Harvey Weinstein spread like wildfire on Tuesday as A-list actresses Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow accused the studio head of harassment, and the New Yorker published an expose with claims he raped three women and forced himself on four more.

Paltrow told the New York Times Weinstein invited her to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel after casting her in the lead role for "Emma" and suggested they go to the bedroom for massages.

"I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified," Paltrow told the Times. Then 22, she confided in her boyfriend Brad Pitt what had happened, and Pitt later confronted Weinstein.

According to Paltrow, Weinstein threatened her to keep her quiet.

"I thought he was going to fire me," she said of the producer who helped jump-start her career.

WEINSTEIN'S WIFE CONCERNED ABOUT HER FASHION EMPIRE

Jolie also told the paper she "had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth."

"As a result, [I] chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did... This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."

Several other women shared similar expieriences in a shocking expose by Ronan Farrow for the New Yorker. Farrow detailed Weinstein's alleged decades-long history of threatening aspiring actresses and employees if they refused his sexual advances.

Three of the women who spoke with Farrow said Weinstein raped them, one of which later refused to speak on the record. Four more women said they experienced unwanted touching and four others said Weinstein masturbated in front of them or exposed himself.

Current and former Weinstein Company employees admitted to the New Yorker many at the company knew of Weinstein's behavior towards women and said some employees acted as "honeypot[s]" to attract women to meetings with Weinstein only to leave the women alone with the producer.

One of the more serious allegations comes from Italian actress and director Asia Argento who alleged that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her.

She said she did not come forward earlier out of fear Weinstein would "crush" her.

ASIA ARGENTO'S BOYFRIEND ANTHONY BOURDAIN SPEAKS OUT AFTER NEW YORKER STORY

"I know he has crushed a lot of people before," Argento told the New Yorker. "Thats why this storyin my case, its twenty years old, some of them are olderhas never come out."

Argento said she later had a consensual sexual relationship with Weinstein because she felt "obliged."

"He forced me to perform oral sex on him...I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont.'"  Lucia Evans, actress

"I felt I had to," she said. "Because I had the movie coming out and I didnt want to anger him."

Another woman, Lucia Evans, alleged Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004. Evans was an aspiring actress at the time and had heard rumors about Weinstein's behavior but agreed to meet him at Miramax's New York office after she was told a female casting agent would be present.

However, she said she was left alone with Weinstein despite the building "being full of people."

"He forced me to perform oral sex on him...I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont.'"

She added, Hes a big guy. He overpowered me.

GEORGE CLOONEY: I HEARD WEINSTEIN RUMORS FOR YEARS

Actress Rosanna Arquette revealed she met Weinstein at a hotel in Beverly Hills to pick up a movie script. When she arrived Weinstein's room, she said he was wearing a white bathrobe and soon asked her to give him a massage.

She said she offered to recommend a good masseuse for him, but she claims he then grabbed her hand and placed it on his erect penis.

Arquette said rejecting Weinstein's advances hurt her career.

"He made things very difficult for me for years," she said. "Hes going to be working very hard to track people down and silence people...To hurt people. Thats what he does."

Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez didn't talk to the New Yorker, but the magazine recounted her 2015 accusations of sexual assault that led to a controlled phone call with Weinstein set up by the NYPD.

Battilanas attorney David Godosky told Fox News then that it was "pretty clear" his client had been assaulted by Weinstein.

Weinstein's rep Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement to the New Yorker saying, "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously cant speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."

Meanwhile, a statement from the Weinstein Company, issued after his firing, reitorates that the board of representitives had no clue about his misconduct.

"The Weinstein Companys Board of Representatives - Bob Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar - are shocked and dismayed by the recently emerged allegations of extreme sexual misconduct and sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein. These alleged actions are antithetical to human decency. These allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board. Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false."
Politicians and celebrities have spoken out in the wake of numerous reports detailing Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's alleged mistreatment of women.

A bombshell New York Times story was published last week describing Weinsteins alleged sexual misconduct toward women spanning decades. It also said that he has made eight settlements related to the accusations.

In the fallout from the Oct. 5 story, Weinstein was fired by The Weinstein Company - the studio he co-founded with his brother, Bob - during the weekend.

Weinstein, the Times report said, settled for $100,000 with Scream actress Rose McGowan in 1997 following a hotel room incident. The settlement, however, didnt admit guilt, the paper described a legal document as saying.

The Times report also described how Weinstein, while in a bathrobe in his hotel room, allegedly asked if he could give actress Ashley Judd a massage or the star could watch him take a shower.

How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein? Judd told the newspaper she recalled thinking.

Subsequent reports detailing Weinstein's alleged misconduct were published Tuesday in The New Yorker and in the Times, the latter reporting that actresses Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow were allegedly harassed by the Hollywood titan.

Heres how Hollywood - and Washington - has been reacting to the allegations.

Rose McGowan

Anyone who does business with __ is complicit, McGowan tweeted Thursday. And deep down you know you are even dirtier. Cleanse yourselves.

McGowan has been active on Twitter in the days since.

This is about a power structure that needs to be brought down. I cannot thank the women who came forward & the boss writers at #NYT enough, she said in a Saturday tweet.

She also posted a photo of herself on Twitter Sunday, writing, This is the girl that was hurt by a monster. This is who you are shaming with your silence.

Both McGowan and Judd have been thanking celebrities on Twitter who have spoken out in the wake of the articles publication.

America Ferrera

"This abuse of power must be called out, however powerful the abuser, and we must publicly stand with those brave enough to come forward," Ferrera tweeted Thursday.

Brie Larson

"As always, I stand with the brave survivors of sexual assault and harassment," Larson tweeted Thursday. "It's not your fault. I believe you."

Amber Tamblyn

"Stand with @AshleyJudd or give your legs to someone else," the actress tweeted Thursday. "What she and others have just done is painful and difficult and triumphant."

"So now we must say the next thing that needs to be said," she tweeted Tuesday. "Its times to press charges against Harvey Weinstein."

Hillary Clinton

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill on Tuesday tweeted a statement attributed to Clinton.

"I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein," she said. "The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Barack and Michelle Obama

"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein," the couple said in a statement. "Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status."

Lena Dunham

"The woman who chose to speak about their experience of harassment by Harvey Weinstein deserve our awe," Dunham tweeted Thursday. "It's not fun or easy. It's brave."

"Grateful for remarkable reporting of @jodikantor & @mega2e," Dunham tweeted Sunday, referring to the Times reporters who worked on the Oct. 5 report. "Because of them the facts could no longer be denied. Now, about the president..."

Seth Rogen

I believe all the women coming forward about Harvey Weinsteins sexual harassment, Rogen tweeted Saturday. It takes bravery to do so.

Josh Gad

As a father of 2 girls, I thank women like @lenadunham @AshleyJudd & @rosemcgowan 4 their candor, bravery & vocalness, the Beauty and the Beast actor tweeted Saturday.

Susan Sarandon

Huge respect for @AshleyJudd and all the women who broke their silence for the article on Harvey Weinstein. Brave, Sarandon tweeted Saturday.

Mark Ruffalo

To be clear what Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power and horrible, the actor tweeted on Sunday. I hope we are now seeing the beginning of the end of these abuses.

Actress Jessica Chastain retweeted Ruffalos message Sunday, calling him a wonderful human.

Heather Graham

You're brave @AshleyJudd. I believe you, the Boogie Nights  actress tweeted Sunday.

"In the early 2000s Harvey Weinstein called me into his office. There was a pile of scripts sitting on his desk. 'I want to put you in one of my movies,' he said and offered to let me choose which one I liked best," Graham later wrote in a post to Variety. "Later in the conversation, he mentioned that he had an agreement with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy. There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there."

Judd Apatow

"What Harvey Weinstein did was abhorrent. He admits he did it," the director tweeted Sunday. "Why should anyone be silent in their disgust and support for his victims?"

Kevin Smith

He financed the first 14 years of my career - and now I know while I was profiting, others were in terrible pain, the Clerks director tweeted Monday. It makes me feel ashamed.

Emmy Rossum

The 'old dinosaur' explanation doesnt cut it, Rossum tweeted Monday. DECADES of using power to intimidate women for sexual gain is reprehensible and inexcusable.

She followed that up with another tweet, which said, I applaud all women for speaking up. Its scary to be the first one to speak out against something or someone. But youre not solo for long.

Paul Feig

There is no excuse for monsters like Harvey Weinstein, the Bridesmaids director tweeted Monday. Its up to all of us, men and women, to speak up against sexual harassment and abuse.

Julianne Moore

1. Coming forward about sexual abuse and coercion is scary and women have nothing to be gained personally by doing so, the Oscar winner tweeted Monday. 2. But through their bravery we move forward as a culture, and I thank them, she said in a follow-up message. Stand with @AshleyJudd @rosemcgowan and others.

Michael Keaton

H Weinstein -yikes! Disgusting and creepy. So is 'leader of the free world' btw, the Birdman star tweeted Monday.

Judi Dench

Dench denied knowing about the allegations against Weinstein.

Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out, she told Newsweek Monday.

Dench won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love. Weinstein was a producer on the film.

Patricia Arquette

If there is a way to cure yourself of being a predator than I hope harvey learns what it is & shares it with the world. It's an epidemic, Arquette tweeted Monday.

Meryl Streep

In a statement to HuffPost, she called reports of sexual harassment against Weinstein disgraceful and said she was unaware of the alleged incidents.

The behavior is inexcusable but the abuse of power familiar, she said. Streep praised the intrepid women who raised their voices.

Streep also sought to counter the suggestion that everyone in Hollywood knew of Weinsteins conduct. She said he was respectful with me in our working relationship. Weinstein has produced multiple movies starring Streep.

Kate Winslet

The fact that these women are starting to speak out about the gross misconduct of one of our most important and well regarded film producers, is incredibly brave and has been deeply shocking to hear, Winslet said in a statement issued to Variety. The way Harvey Weinstein has treated these vulnerable, talented young women is NOT the way women should ever EVER deem to be acceptable or commonplace in ANY workplace.

Glenn Close

"Im sitting here, deeply upset, acknowledging to myself that, yes, for many years, I have been aware of the vague rumors that Harvey Weinstein had a pattern of behaving inappropriately around women, the actress said in a statement to the New York Times on Monday. Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad.

"I applaud the monumental courage of the women who have spoken up," she said later in the statement. "I hope that their stories and the reportage that gave them their voices represents a tipping point, that more stories will be told and that change will follow."

Jessica Chastain

"I was warned from the beginning," Chastain tweeted Monday. "The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an enviornment for it to happen again."

George Clooney

"Harveys admitted to it, and its indefensible. Ive known Harvey for 20 years," Clooney told The Daily Beast in an interview Monday. He and Weinstein, he recalled, have "had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behaviorever."

"Ive heard rumors, and the rumors in general started back in the 90s, and they were that certain actresses had slept with Harvey to get a role," Clooney said in the interview. "It seemed like a way to smear the actresses and demean them by saying that they didnt get the jobs based on their talent, so I took those rumors with a grain of salt. But the other part of this, the part were hearing now about eight women being paid off, I didnt hear anything about that and I dont know anyone that did. Thats a whole other level and theres no way you can reconcile that. Theres nothing to say except that its indefensible."

Mindy Kaling

"There is no incentive for women in Hollywood to come forward to tell lies of a powerful producer sexually harassing them," Kaling tweeted. "I believe them."

"Why is it helpful men speak up?" she later asked. "Bc that's what this personality fears most: the disintegration of the tacit male support for this behavior."

Christian Slater

"The brave actions of the women who went on the record and the journalists that shared their truth have powerfully challenged that paradigm. No woman should fear for her safety in the workplace," the "Mr. Robot" actor said as part of a statement posted to Twitter on Monday. "No man should feel immune from the consequences of his actions. Accountability is essential to destroy the dangerous and persistent idea that some people are above the law."

Beau Willimon

"We must believe women who, often at great risk, expose harassment," the "House of Cards" creator tweeted Monday. "Those who spoke out about Harvey Weinstein have shown real courage."

Olivia Wilde

"1. Let's be clear. What Harvey Weinstein did to those women was nothing short of abuse. I am disturbed, and disgusted. It's appalling," the actress tweeted.

"2. Though I never witnessed it, I stand in solidarity with his victims, and hope their bravery sends a loud message to all abusers of power," she wrote.

"3. The victim blaming needs to stop," Wilde added. "As does the shaming of women who didn't come forward earlier. They spoke, and we are here to listen. "

Lin-Manuel Miranda

A Twitter user asked Miranda to "explain yourself" on Monday regarding why he didn't comment to The Guardian.

"Forgive me," Miranda tweeted Tuesday. "Just woke up to this -- I'd asked my reps to keep any press non-(Puerto Rico) relief-related off my desk. That's my fault.

"I'm as appalled and repulsed by the Weinstein news as anyone with a beating heart," he said in another tweet. "And forever in awe of the bravery of those who spoke out."

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

"My heart breaks for everyone who was hurt by this man. As a actor, a human & a feminist I am standing in support. Always have. Always will," the "Modern Family" actor tweeted Monday.

Ben Affleck

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Affleck tweeted Tuesday. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick."

Affleck got his big break in Hollywood as a writer and actor in "Good Will Hunting," which was produced by Weinstein's former company Miramax Films.

Affleck called Weinstein's behavior "completely unacceptable" and said he's trying to figure out what he can do to prevent this from happening to others. He also says Hollywood needs to do a better job of protecting women.

Jennifer Lawrence

I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinsteins behavior, Lawrence said in a statement to People on Tuesday. I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.

Nicole Kidman

"As Ive stated before publicly, I support and applaud all women and these women who speak out against any abuse and misuse of power  be it domestic violence or sexual harassment in the workforce, Kidman said in a statement to Variety on Tuesday. We need to eradicate this behavior.

Anthony Bourdain

".@rosemcgowan has been way out in front of this thing . Took a lot of courage," Bourdain tweeted on Friday.

Bourdain is in a relationship with the Italian actress Asia Argento. Weinstein allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on Argento, according to a report from The New Yorker.

".@AsiaArgento I am proud and honored to know you," Bourdain tweeted Tuesday. "You just did the hardest thing in the world."

"Can we use the word rapist now? #Weinstein," he said in another tweet.

Charlize Theron

"The women who have spoken about their abuse are brave and heroic and although I didnt have a personal experience like this with Harvey Weinstein, I unfortunately cannot say Im surprised," the Oscar winner said in a Tuesday Instagram post. This culture has always existed, not just in Hollywood but across the world."

"A lot of these women are young, just starting out in their respective fields, and have absolutely no way to stand up to a man with so much influence much greater than theirs," she wrote. "If they speak up, they are shut down and that could be the end of their career."

Emma Watson

"I stand with all the women who have been sexually harassed, and am awestruck by their bravery," Watson tweeted Tuesday. "This mistreatment of women has to stop."

Chloe Grace Moretz

"The women who have spoken up against one of the most powerful men in our industry are heroes for all women going forward," the actress wrote on Instagram Tuesday. "I stand with them and am sickened by the crimes he committed, I push for a safer workplace for all women."

Benedict Cumberbatch

"I am utterly disgusted by the continuing revelations of Harvey Weinsteins horrifying and unforgivable actions," the "Doctor Strange" star said in a statement to the Associated Press. "We need to collectively stand up and support victims of abuse such as the brave and inspiring women who have spoken out against him and say we hear you and believe you."

Viola Davis

"The predator wants your silence. It feeds their power, entitlement AND they want it to feed your shame. Our bodies are not the 'spoils of war'... a trophy to be collected to fuel your ego," Davis said in a lengthy statement to Variety. "It's OURS!!! It doesn't belong to you!! And when you take it without permission, it DESTROYS like a virus!!!"

Mandy Moore

Its horrible that it took so long for this to come to light, but I feel like theres going to be a time where theres just zero tolerance, Moore told EW Radio. I really love that now in the day and age of social media and everyone having a voice in this conversation, its only going to further change things and not allow this behavior to continue. And women will feel safe and feel heard and understood and empowered.

Leonardo DiCaprio

"There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or sexual assault - no matter who you are and no matter what profession," DiCaprio said in a tweet. "I applaud the strength and courage of the women who came forward and made their voices heard."

Cate Blanchett

"Any man in a position of power or authority who thinks it's his prerogative to threaten, intimidate or sexually assault any woman he encounters or works alongside needs to be called to account," Blanchett said in an interview to Variety. "It is never easy for a woman to come forward in such situations and I wholeheartedly support those who have."

Ewan McGregor

"Weinstein. It's about time this came to light and he is getting is just deserts. Heard rumours over the years but this is awful. Bye Bully!" the "Trainspotting" actor tweeted Wednesday.

J.K. Rowling

"If the only thing preventing a man committing sexual assault is the presence of witnesses, he's too dangerous to be at liberty," the author tweeted on Wednesday.

Jeff Bridges

"I wish him the best struggling with his demons, but his behavior was terrible. And I wish him - just as being a fellow human being - we are all struggling with different things. And he can struggle with his and come out the other side," Bridges told The Associated Press.

Seth MacFarlane

"Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein," McFarlane quipped in 2013 after announcing the women nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

"In 2011, my friend and colleague Jessica Barth, with whom I worked on the Ted films, confided in me regarding her encounter with Harvey Weinstein and his attempted advances," he tweeted on Wednesday. "She has since courageously come forward to speak out. It was with this account in mind that, when I hosted the Oscars in 2013, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a hard swing in his direction. Make no mistake, this came from a place of loathing and anger."

"There is nothing more abhorrent and indefensible than abuse of power such as this," he went on. "I respect and applaud Jessica and those sharing their stories for their decision to come forward, and for being champions of the truth."

Harvey Weinstein

I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it, Weinstein told the Times in a Thursday statement. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.

Weinstein later said that he planned to sue the newspaper for $50 million.

We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting," a New York Times spokesperson said. "Mr. Weinstein was aware and able to respond to specific allegations in our story before publication. In fact, we published his response in full."

The Weinstein Company

Before his firing, Weinstein had taken an indefinite leave of absence following the Oct. 5 Times expose.

On Friday, the Weinstein Company board endorsed that decision and announced an investigation into the allegations, saying it would determine the co-chairmans future with the company.

The allegations have triggered movement at the Weinstein Company, and a third of the all-male board has stepped down since Thursday.

Weinstein was fired by his brother Bob and three other directors on the film companys board.

In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company ... have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately, the company board said in a statement Sunday night.

It issued a separate statement on Tuesday saying:

"The Weinstein Companys Board of Representatives - Bob Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar - are shocked and dismayed by the recently emerged allegations of extreme sexual misconduct and sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein. These alleged actions are antithetical to human decency. These allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board. Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false.

We are committed to assisting with our full energies in all criminal or other investigations of these alleged acts, while pursuing justice for the victims and a full and independent investigation of our own."

The company may also change its name, according to a report from The Wrap.

Weinsteins lawyers

The prominent attorney Lisa Bloom, daughter of well-known Los Angeles womens rights attorney Gloria Allred, on Saturday withdrew her representation of Weinstein, as did another adviser, Lanny Davis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Manhattan DAs Office doubled down Tuesday on its decision to not prosecute Harvey Weinstein for allegedly groping a model in his office in 2015  and blamed the NYPD, in part, for not being able to make a case.

If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have, Chief Assistant DA Karen Friedman-Agnifilo said in a statement.

Friedman-Agnifilos explanation came in response to a bombshell New Yorker expose published Tuesday that said Weinstein admitted on a secret NYPD recording that he fondled Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.

On the two-minute recording, Gutierrez, then 22, accuses the disgraced movie mogul of groping her, saying, Why yesterday you touched my breast? as he tried to get her into a downtown Manhattan hotel room.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN ACCUSED OF RAPING 3 WOMAN, SEXUALLY HARASSING GWYNETH PALTROW, ANGELINA JOLIE

The alleged assault occurred March 27, 2015, at his nearby office.

Weinstein answers, Oh, please. Im sorry. Just come on in. Im used to that.

Youre used to that? Gutierrez asks, sounding shocked.

Yes, come in, Weinstein replies.

Weinstein is also heard promising that I wont do it again and that I will never do another thing to you.

Friedman-Agnifilo said the recorded meeting between Gutierrez and Weinstein, as well as a controlled call between the two the night before, were made without our knowledge or input.

Read more from the New York Post.
A surveillance camera caught three hungry bears breaking into a Colorado pizza shop on Sunday.

A mother bear and her two cubs entered Antonios Real New York Pizza in Estes Park, CO, after hours and went on a pizza eating spree, gobbling up the dough in the fridge before moving on to the salami.

ACTIVISTS AT NEW JERSEY BEAR HUNT ARRESTED DURING PROTEST

The carbo-loading mammals can be seen pulling shelves out of a small refrigerator on the ground. At one point the mother bear leaves her cubs with the dough and ventures off to higher pursuits  the salami.

The pizza restaurant posted the video footage on its Facebook page with the note that, this could have been so much worse.

The business says the bears caused some damaged, including rip[ing] a window out of the wall at the drive-thru they own, as well as food loss and interior destruction.

Though the bears appear to be a nuisance to the store, the owners are asking police in the future to please dont shoot [the bears].

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Every dumpster in town is now bear proof which leaves only our homes, cars and businesses, the Facebook post says.

While I dont advocate feeding wildlife in any way, the post continued, I believe it would have been much better to have left the old dumpster tops in place because they wouldnt become desperate enough to break into houses or businesses and the damage in dollars would be much lower. Weve now forced the bears paws to break into homes and businesses.
With the inaugural issue of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow and crew have found yet another way to get wellness addicts to shell out money for things they dont need  in this case $14.99 for a 96-page glossy quarterly.

Perhaps its appropriate that the first cover would feature a nearly naked Paltrow, covered in, you guessed it, gray goop  styled, no doubt, by a Sandro Botticelli fan.

But lets be clear, this isnt just any muddy goop. We are later led to believe that it is a special French clay hailed for its detoxifying powers.

Remember, nothing can be simple in Goop-land  this is the lifestyle brand that touted a $15,000 gold-plated vibrator on its website last year, after all.

So why would Paltrow, accomplished as she is, want to expand her website of inane ideas into the print world?

Well, the 45-year-old actress said she got the idea when she was 14 and an extended hospital stay left her little alternative but to thumb through stacks of Seventeen, Mademoiselle and Vogue.

What, was there no TV in the room?

The issue includes a story, Frenemies with Benefits, that may have high intentions in pitch meetings, but it ends up delving no deeper than slumber party chatter.

Beyond that, we get the usual mix of recipes and questionable health advice for which Goop is famous.

Bee-venom therapy can treat rheumatoid arthritis and soften scar tissue, we are told. Paltrow used it to treat her c-section scar but doesnt offer compelling evidence that her therapy worked.

Did it help? I think it did, she says.

Goop dutifully points out that bee-venom therapys effectiveness has not been proven and that doctors warn that it can cause anaphylactic shock and strokes in patients who are allergic to bee venom.

For the less invasive practice, Paltrow turns to earthing, the increasingly popular practice of having more direct contact with the earth. Put simply, walking barefoot in grass. Paltrow swears its healing.

Paltrow also warns readers of things to stay away from. Like perfumes.

Fragrance can represent any number of undisclosed ingredients, making that word on the label a Trojan horse for chemical compounds like phthalates, which, in some studies, have been shown to be harmful to humans, the mag cautions.

With the magazine costing $14.99 and plenty of trees, it is harmful to both your wallet  and the planet.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.
A New York City restaurant has denied reports that it was serving a Vladimir Putin-themed hamburger in honor of the Russian presidents birthday on Oct. 7.

The story originally broke last week on Ruptly, a video-focused news agency operated by Russia's state-owned RT media outlet, which cited a waitress from Lucys Cantina Royale in Manhattan as its source. In the video, the outlet reported that Lucys was honoring Putin with a five-patty burger weighing exactly 1,952 grams, a number which celebrated the year of his birth, reports The Independent.

BURGER KING RUSSIA WANTS TO BAN 'IT,' CLAIMS IT ADVERTISES FOR MCDONALD'S

The segment also featured actual footage of a waitress delivering a large burger to a patron at Lucys, filmed inside the restaurant itself. According to The Independent, the waitress even provided details of the Putin burger during the clip, although the video has since been pulled by Ruptly.

The manager for Lucys Cantina Royale says he has no idea why this video was made, but insists that Lucys disavows the statements made in the video, which are false, according to a statement obtained by The Independent.

Lucys Cantina Royale was subject of a hoax involving Vladimir Putins birthday. Our restaurant has never celebrated Vladimir Putins birthday in any way, shape, or form, and has never offered a Putin Burger, manager Tim Ryan said.

HAMBURGER HELPER CLAPS BACK AT TWITTER USER OVER 'WIFE MATERIAL' COMMENT

Ryan was also asked if he believed the video was produced as part of a staff members' school project and somehow found its way to the Russian media outlet, but he declined to answer. He did, however, confirm that the employees who took part in the hoax have been suspended pending investigation.

Its not clear how many of Lucys employees were suspended, but the Independent reports that the video also contained testimony from two barmaids, one of whom praised Putin as an outstanding politician and political leader.

Ruptly, too, has since questioned the validity of the report, and issued a statement to that effect after a reporter for the Moscow Times uncovered the hoax.

The report was carried out by individual employees and not the restaurant itself, which, regrettably, compromised the accuracy of this video, Ruptly wrote.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

A spokesperson for the Kremlin, meanwhile, has only said that the government has more pressing matters to attend to, and hasnt gotten around to burgers yet, per the Moscow Times.
Building on a path toward greater unity in the city, Chattanooga House of Prayer has partnered with dozens of churches to host a citywide prayer service to commemorate the 500 th Anniversary of the Reformation.



The service will be held on Friday, Oct.

www.chatthop.org. To learn more about Chattanooga House of Prayer, visitTo view partnering organizations, visit www.praychattanooga.com

About the Reformation
New Jerseys annual bear hunt only kicked off on Monday morning, and already two protesters have been arrested, officials say.

Catherine McCartney, 49, and Jerome Mandel, 72, were taken into custody by the officials in Sussex County, N.J., after protesters gathered to denounce the states annual bear hunt, NJ.com reports.

McCartney was arrested after refusing to move out of the way of a hunters vehicle. Mandel, too, had reportedly moved from an area where protesting was permitted, and he and McCartney were charged for three identical offenses, including obstructing the administration of law.

EVA SHOCKEY ON WHAT TO EXPECT ON A HUNT

A reporter for News 12 New Jersey also captured footage of a woman, presumably Catherine McCartney, being arrested by state police.

According to the NJ.com, New Jerseys Department of Environmental Protection gave permission for the annual six-day bear hunt throughout eight different counties, as a means to help control the areas bear populations. A separate six-day hunt will take place in December, as well.

Last years hunt pulled in a record 636 bears after both six-day hunts were completed, according to reports. The Department of Environmental Protection estimates that there are currently 2,800 more in northern New Jersey.

MOM DEFENDS HUNTING AS A WAY TO KEEP KIDS OFF PHONES

Hunters taking part in the six-day hunt are currently only allowed to use arrows to take down the bears, but muzzle-loaders will be allowed starting on day four. The December hunt will also allow for shotguns, the New Jersey Herald reports.

Animal rights activists and critics, meanwhile, argue that the bi-yearly hunts are unnecessary to control the states bear population.

The Herald reports that protesters have been gathering near a check-in station for hunters every year since the bear-hunting program began in 2010.

Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, is also a vocal opponent of the state's annual hunt, and once said he would place a "moritorium" on the practice if he were to be elected, SNJToday reported.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Local resident Robert Boselli, Jr., meanwhile, told the New Jersey Herald that the hunts are good, clean fun, and became the first to harvest a bear  weighing 87.5 pounds  during the first day of this years rainy hunt.

It will be delicious eating, said Boselli.
A new way to collect and organize data could be the answer to tackling the years-long opioid overdose epidemic.

The University of Pittsburghs Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) is working with Pennsylvania officials to standardize death data from overdose victims.

"Its represented by age, by gender, by ethnicity, by location, Dr. Janice Pringle, PERU director, told Fox News.

The purpose of the project, Overdose Free PA, is to provide more detailed reporting in real-time that could help show where the problem areas are, Pringle said. Previously, each coroner's office had a unique way of recording data on overdose victims, but the project provides them with a template for a standardized option of data reporting.

HOW A GENERATION OF YOUNG ATHLETES BECAME ADDICTED TO HEROIN

"That helps you understand that in certain parts of the state there may be patterns, she told Fox News.

The data is also divided by the type of overdose death, including drugs that are not opioids, like cocaine and LSD, according to the website.

In 2016, there were 4,652 drug overdose deaths in the state, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report. That equates to roughly 13 drug-related deaths per day.

Specifically, the study found the presence of an opioid, either illicit or prescribed by a doctor, in 85 percent of drug-related overdose deaths in the Keystone State.

Pringle said they've already seen the program's impact in some areas.

"We do have a couple of counties in Pennsylvania that are stabilizing with their overdose rates, she said.

HERE'S HOW TO TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT OPIOIDS

Unlike the standard overdose reporting up to this point, Overdose Free PA looks to attack the issue through various options, Pringle said.

"Theyre coming at this relentlessly from multiple directions and I think thats the key, she said.

Pennsylvanias initiative echoes a framework announced in April by the Department Health and Human Services. The federal agency said they are pushing to strengthen public health data reporting and collection to improve the timeliness and specificity of data and to inform a real-time public health response as the epidemic evolves.

Pringle adds that she hopes the program is used as a template across the country to help put an end to the epidemic.
A second Michigan mother appeared before a judge on Monday over her refusal to vaccinate her child despite the fathers wishes. Lori Matheson, whose child was not identified, claimed that she read some vaccines use aborted fetal cells, which violates her religious beliefs, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

I started reading literature on vaccinations, Matheson told Oakland County Judge Karen McDonald. When I started reading them thats when I found out there are some vaccinations that are cultured in aborted fetal cells.

MOM JAILED OVER REFUSAL TO VACCINATE SON REPORTEDLY RELEASED

However, a local pediatrician told Fox 2 Detroit that vaccines are not made from aborted fetuses.

Matheson also argued that her child has a family history of autoimmune disorders that may be accelerated by the vaccines, the news outlet reported.

Theres always been a concern if theres a family history or if a child has an auto immune disorder like rheumatoid arthritis if getting vaccines could somehow make that worse, Beaumont pediatrician, Dr. Daniel Schnaar, who is not involved in the case, told Fox 2 Detroit. The present evidence would be that it does not.

Last week, McDonald sentenced another mother to five days in jail over her refusal to vaccinate her 9-year-old son. On Monday, she told Matheson to present a medical professional that could testify in court before making a decision. The case was adjourned until Thursday, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
Last week, a mom and CrossFit trainer posted a video of her work out on Instagram. Since putting it up, her video has been reposted and viewed over 500,000 times.

Janzen Hall was finishing up her workout at her sisters gym, CrossFit Chanute, and started to stretch, Cosmopolitan reports. The video shows Hall laying on her stomach with her 6-month-old baby, Dreiling next to her.

TANNING MISHAP LEAVES ADIDAS LOGO ON WOMAN'S LEG

As she stretched, her son started lifting himself off of the floor coming into a baby version of a plank.

The 25-year-old decided to join her son and did a push-up every time he muscled his way up.

Halls sister recorded the video of the two of them working on their abs  Dreiling holds his plank for quite some time before lowering himself back to the ground.

By the time the pair quit, Dreiling had done four push-ups in a row.

When the video was reposted, comments swarmed in  mostly positive about Dreilings tiny feats of strength. However, some questioned whether the mom was pushing her baby to do a little more than he should be.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

That was a little hurtful, she said. I would never force my baby to do that. It was all in fun.

According to Dr. Claire McCarthy, MD, a physician at Boston Children's Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Dreilings behavior is normal for babies learning how to crawl.

Hall, who says Dreiling has always been a very active baby, is just happy to have him join her in the gym  she captioned her photo with the hashtag #crossfitbaby.
A teenage supporter of President Trump is facing violent threats after he showed his father a copy of a classroom quiz that referenced shooting the president.

The quiz was administered during an English class at Wyomings Jackson Hole High School.

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The full question read:

"Napoleon has the gun fired for a new occasion. What is the new occasion?"

He was shooting at Trump

His birthday

For completion of the windmill

To scare off the attackers of Animal Farm.

The online quiz was based on George Orwell's novel, "Animal Farm," according to parent Jim McCollum. He was a guest Monday on my nationally-syndicated radio program.

Mr. McCollum said he received a screenshot of the quiz from his son  a student in the class.

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"This is not right. You don't do that to a sitting president -- you respect the office," McCollum told me in a telephone interview. "They used Trump's name -- insinuating gun violence and shooting the president."

Here's a thought for teachers across the fruited plain - instead of indoctrinating the kids with your far-left political ideology, how about teach them how to parse participles and do long division?

"As torn apart as the country is right now, I could not tolerate that and let that go without saying something," he said.

McCollum said it was his decision, not his sons decision to make the classroom quiz public. However, his son is facing the backlash.

I received a telephone call from the school telling me they were putting extra security measures in place to protect my son, he said.

People are threatening violence against my son  simply for being a Trump supporter, he told me.

The Teton County School District posted a statement on its website announcing they were investigating the incident.

They admitted the quiz contained an inappropriate answer.

"TCSD #1 takes seriously threats of any kind, regardless of intent," the district wrote. "We apologize to the students, families and community for this incident and will be addressing the issue with personnel."

McCollum told me his 16-year-old son is a big Trump supporter.

"He admires the man," he said. "He thinks the president is a cross between John Wayne and Clint Eastwood -- swagger and grit."

His son is considering enlisting in the Marines after high school -- and Trump's position on the military was a key factor.

"He loves the president's position - to have the biggest, baddest military on the planet," McCollum told me. "That inspired him. He wants to be a part of that."

Here's a thought for teachers across the fruited plain -- instead of indoctrinating the kids with your far-left political ideology, how about teach them how to parse participles and do long division?

And you educators who share your Trump assassination dreams with your students, might want put on a pot of coffee and open a package of your favorite cookies. You're about to get a visit from the Secret Service.

Correction: Due to an editing error a previous headline mischaracterized the nature of the threats directed at Jim McCollum's son. They are violent threats, not death threats.
Perhaps youve lost track of the Democrats slowly exploding IT scandal, as much of the media is doing all it can to simply ignore it away.

Im referring to the strange case of Imran Awan, the IT aide Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., kept on her congressional payroll even after it became known he and his wife, Hina Alvi Awan, were being investigated by the Capitol Police for possible theft, fraud, moving terabytes of data off Congresss system and more.

Imran Awan was back in court last week. When pushed, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Mirando revealed some telling things about this case.

First, I should note that it was standing room only in the packed courtroom at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday morning ... okay, just kidding, actually, only a few reporters sat in the mostly empty wooden benches in the back of the courtroom. Anyone who didnt know this was the latest scene in a slowly exploding political scandal would have thought this was only a forgettable bank fraud case.

The deeper you dig the more it becomes clear this case is about much more than bank fraud.

Awans attorney, Chris Gowen, even told me: This case is hardly newsworthy.

But before the show started, Imrans wife, Hina Alvi Awan, entered the courtroom. She had flown away to Pakistan with their children soon after the investigation became known.

Was she back as part of a plea deal?

While Hina Alvi was gone, on August 17, 2017, a federal grand jury indicted her and Awan on four counts, including conspiracy and conspiring to obtain home equity loans for $165,000 and $120,000 from the Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union and then transferring the money to Pakistan. (Read the FBIs criminal affidavit on the bank fraud here and youll see why the government thinks it has a strong case.)

Imran Awan is considered such a flight risk that his passport was taken, he was given a curfew and was fitted with a tracking device.

Meanwhile, Hina Alvis passport was also publicly taken during the court hearing, but she was officially listed as a walk in, a tracking device wasnt attached to her ankle and the government had asked the court to quash an outstanding warrant for her arrest.

Now came the revelations. Gowen, Imrans attorney, asked that Imrans travel restrictions be removed.

This prompted Assistant U.S. Attorney Mirando to say that when Imran was arrested at Dulles International Airport a cellphone found on him had been wiped clean just a few hours before.

Gowen tried to counter this by saying, Awan had recently bought the phone, so of course it didnt have any data on it.

But Mirando was ready. He said the FBI found that the phone had been wiped as clean as Hillarys server. A time stamp on the iPhone indicated it had been wiped at 6:30 p.m. that evening. Also, Imran did have a laptop on him, but one of the few things on it was a resume. Mirando used this and other detailssuch as the Awans quickly selling many of their Virginia propertiesto explain that Imran had no intention of returning.

In another twist, Gowen brought up a computer that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants back so badly she actually threatened the chief of the Capitol Police in a public hearing with consequences if she didnt get it back.

Gowen argued that the computer and documents seized in a bag left in a public area of a congressional building around midnight on April 6, 2017, are protected by attorney-client privilege. Gowen hopes to remove this evidence from future court proceedings.

Gowen, however, didnt answer what Imran was doing in the Longworth congressional building late at night and long after hed been fired by every Democrat aside from Rep. Wasserman Schultz (Wasserman Schultzs office isnt in Longworth).

The deeper you dig the more it becomes clear this case is about much more than bank fraud. Capitol Police are investigating possible theft of congressional computer equipment, massive amounts of data moved off the congressional system, alleged fake computer data created to throw investigators off the trail, and data mined by the Awans that could include emails from many members of Congress and more.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz, who lost her post at the DNC when WikiLeaks published emails showing that under her leadership the DNC worked to sabotage Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, might be exposed to even more revelations.

Meanwhile, Congress has been asked to open an ethics investigation to answer why Rep. Wasserman Schultz kept Imran on her payroll even after the Capitol Police investigation became known.

So does this sound like a small bank fraud story to you or is it more likely that a lot more is going on here?
Will Senator Bob Corker torch tax reform? That is the speculation of the New York Times, the Washington Post and other liberal outlets. Pundits suggest that Trumps recent Twitter battle with Corker might drive the offended Tennessee senator to vote against the White Houses proposed tax package.

That says a lot more about Bob Corker than it does about Donald Trump.

Just as many think that personal animus against Trump drove John McCain to crush Republicans efforts to undo ObamaCare, notwithstanding the dire health care situation in the senators home state of Arizona, now many believe that Corker, out of pique, could topple efforts to cut taxes. That would be a staggering defection from earlier campaign promises, and a serious blow to the GOPs pro-worker tax plan.

On the campaign trail in 2006, Corker promised to ensure that government works with entrepreneurs and businesses, rather than against them. By reducing the burden of taxation, litigation, and regulation, American entrepreneurs will be better able to create exciting new businesses and good-paying jobs.

That was when Corker was first running for office, and still viewed the world from his perspective as a wealthy self-made real estate developer, or, in fact, much like Donald Trump. Indeed, perhaps because of their similar backgrounds, Corker is one of the few legislators reputed to have developed a good relationship with the president. Until now, when his disdain for Trumps muscular and unpredictable foreign policy has driven Corker to much-hyped break with The Donald.

Trump is not the first to fall short of Corkers expectations. He spent the past decade blasting President Obamas lack of leadership, eventually writing an op-ed for the Washington Post entitled Obama is an Unreliable Ally. In that 2014 piece Corker wrote about Obamas wavering on Syria, Libya, our tepid response to Russian aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere, concluding, This U.S. president, despite his bold pronouncements and moral posturing, cannot be counted on. He took Obama to task for issuing plenty of tough statements about Russia, but failing to follow up.

In short, he echoed Trumps disdain for Obamas weak-kneed overseas engagements. But now he has shifted gears, alarmed by Trumps bellicose warnings to North Korea and threats to topple the Iran nuclear accord. Those positions are surprising in light of his 2006 campaign statements that Iran and North Korea pose exceptional dangers because of their possession of nuclear materials and our relations with these nations should be a top foreign policy priority. We must be firm in our insistence that Iran and North Korea renounce any nuclear weapons programs and we should stay focused on solving this problem in the near term.

Corker notably has not volunteered how exactly we are supposed to do that. He helped pass the fictional agreement with Iran that presumes to put off their nuclear development, but that has gaping holes in verification, and few imagine that the mullahs will not steadily advance towards nuclear capability.

Meanwhile, the only progress made in hemming in North Korea has taken place recently, under President Trump. Helped by his assertion that all options are on the table, including military, the White House has bullied the world into jointly enacting, for the first time, serious sanctions. His missile strike on Syria, carried out while entertaining Chinese President Xi Jinping, unsettled the Chinese and drove them to take his bluster seriously. Key to any success, the Chinese finally appear to be pressuring their rogue neighbor.

But Corker says Trumps threats of military action against North Korea could put the U.S. on the path to World War III.

We shall see. In the meantime, Corkers dim view of Trumps aggression towards our enemies and erratic management style should not deter him from voting in favor of much-needed tax reform. Proposals to lighten the tax burden on corporations and small businesses are an important step towards accelerating our growth and creating more jobs.

Corker has threatened to block the tax cuts, saying at a Budget Committee hearing, Unless it reduces deficits  let me say that one more time  unless it reduces deficits and does not add to deficits with reasonable and responsible growth models, and unless we can make it permanent, I don't have any interest in it."

Given that there will be widely divergent estimates of how lower taxes will impact the economy and the budget deficit, Corker will have cover for however he votes. Democrats can be counted on to discount any additional growth to come from reduced taxes, which will drive up estimated revenue shortfalls. Others will forecast a more positive impact from simplifying and reducing taxes, and from encouraging corporations to invest more in the U.S.

In the past, the senator has supported measures to boost economic growth, such as those underpinning the Trump agenda  like lower taxes and lighter regulations -- which is perhaps why he was reelected in 2012. Now that he is wavering in those commitments, his popularity in his home state has plunged  to 34 percent in one recent poll, even as Trump maintains much higher approval in Tennessee. Perhaps that is why Corker will not run for reelection, and why he is so peeved at the president.

Maybe that is why another poll showed 77 percent of Tennessee Republicans trust Trump, but only 40 percent have confidence in their senator.

Let us hope that Corker earns back that trust by putting his personal feelings aside, and doing whats right for the country and for Tennessee.
Angry at the options he was presented with last July when he reluctantly agreed to certify to Congress that Iran was in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal (the JCPOA), President Trump demanded another option for his next certification decision due by October 15.

He didnt get it. Instead, the presidents national security advisers  led by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- have presented him with two absurd options to decertify the JCPOA but to keep the United States in this deeply flawed agreement. These options are so bad that they are best described as dumb and dumber.

Mr. Trumps advisers also refused to present him with a thoughtful Iran deal exit strategy drafted by Ambassador John Bolton or to let Bolton meet with the president to brief this option. After he was blocked from meeting with the president, Bolton published this option in National Review.

Under the dumb option, Mr. Trump would decertify the JCPOA, remain in the agreement to fix it later and Congress would reimpose sanctions lifted under the nuclear agreement. Congress would act under provisions of the Coker-Cardin Act which allow expedited consideration of taking such action over a 60-day period.

The middle ground that these options supposedly represent is an illusion  their sole purpose is to ensure that President Trump never withdraws from an agreement he has correctly called an embarrassment to the United States.

This dumb option has two huge problems. First, there is zero chance Iran will agree to any changes to the nuclear deal or give back the huge concessions it extracted from Secretary of State John Kerry. Second, it appears that moderate Senate Republicans will side with Democrats to block passage of any sanctions that could endanger the Iran deal.

The dumber option  unfortunately, the top option of Trumps advisers  calls for President Trump to decertify, remain in the agreement, and to not impose any additional sanctions. The purpose of this option is to end the requirement that the president certify the agreement to Congress every 90 days and postpone imposing new sanctions to give U.S. diplomats a chance to fix the JCPOA and convince Iran to agree to changes.

This is a dumber option because it is exactly what the Obama administration wanted and what Hillary Clinton would have pressed for if she had won the election: protecting the JCPOA by dropping the prospect of new sanctions, doing away with the certification requirement and answering criticism of the deal by engaging in endless talks with Iran and European diplomats to fix the agreement.

Iran deal supporters mostly want the U.S. to remain in the agreement because they claim Iran is in compliance and a U.S. withdrawal would alienate Americas European allies.

The we must avoid alienating European leaders argument is unlikely to sway Mr. Trump since he proved by his decision to withdraw from the equally flawed Paris Climate Accord that he rightly believes Europe does not have a veto over U.S. foreign policy or his decisions as president.

Many disagree Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA, including Senators Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, David Perdue, R-Ga., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who spelled out major instances of Iranian noncompliance and cheating in a July 11, 2017 letter to Secretary of State Tillerson. The senators noted in their letter that Iran refuses to allow inspections of military sites and reports by German intelligence of Iranian cheating.

Making this worse, IAEA Director Amano made a stunning revelation in a late September Reuters interview that the IAEA is unable to verify Iran is implementing the JCPOA because it does not have the means to ensure that Tehran has not engaged in activities that could contribute to the development of a nuclear explosive device.

Under the dumb and dumber options being promoted by McMaster, Tillerson and other Trump advisers, this farcical situation will continue as the United States remains in the nuclear deal while engaging in pointless talks begging the Iranians for a better one. The middle ground that these options supposedly represent is an illusion  their sole purpose is to ensure that President Trump never withdraws from an agreement he has correctly called an embarrassment to the United States.

President Trumps upcoming decision on how he will deal with the dangerous and flawed nuclear agreement is a moment for moral clarity and may be a defining moment of his presidency. There is only one reasonable and moral option: a clean withdrawal using the Bolton plan.

Finally, President Trump also must send a message to his national security advisers by soundly rejecting the dumb and dumber Iran deal options they presented.
Lets suppose it is October 1, 1962 in Oxford, Mississippi. With enormous controversy and world-wide news coverage, one James Meredith, the first black student ever to have been admitted to the University of Mississippi, has just enrolled. The campus of Ole Miss, as it is known, and the town of Oxford are in uproar, and nearly 30,000 U.S. troops, federal marshals and national guardsmen, called out by President John F. Kennedy, are on campus to try to keep the peace and to escort Meredith to class. Two people are dead as a result of the violence, and over 300 injured.

A few students and professors supported Merediths enrollment, but most believed that segregation was the status quo and the politically correct position, at least in Mississippi, and that talk about integration was distasteful and upsetting to their sensibilities.

So let us further suppose that Ole Miss has a speech code  the sort of speech code that many colleges and universities across the country have adopted  something like the one in place at Clemson University in South Carolina, which bans any verbal or physical act that creates an offensive educational, work or living environment. Because standards as to just what is offensive dont exist, Ole Miss officials use the speech code to ban any talk or act that supports integration, racial equality or civil rights protections.

Predictably, and not unlike Ole Miss professors who participated in the demonstrations against James Merediths enrollment at their university, several Georgetown Law School professors protested Sessions speech, even taking a knee in front of the building where he spoke.

Of course in 1962 Ole Miss did not need to hide behind a speech code, as university administrations do today. Ole Miss officials, backed up by the State of Mississippi, banned offensive verbal and physical acts that supported James Meredith because, as far as they were concerned, it was the right thing to do. And besides, there wasnt much question that Merediths enrollment was creating an offensive educational, work or living environment.

Luckily for Mr. Meredith and for the civil rights movement, JFKs Attorney General, his brother Robert Kennedy, did not stand idly by but instead brought the full force of the Justice Department, including its newly-minted Civil Rights Division, to Mississippi to enforce the U.S. Constitution. The rest, as they say, is history.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former Senator from Alabama, went to Georgetown University two weeks ago to deliver a thoughtful speech about the importance of protecting free speech on college and university campuses  no matter how unpopular it may be  and against the too-often prevailing view that banning what some deem unpleasant is justified in todays politically correct world.

Sessions was particularly critical of college administrators who silence speech they disagree with by permitting what he called the hecklers veto. Here, said Sessions, the school favors the hecklers disruptive tactics over the speakers First Amendment rights, allowing protestors to silence those with whom they disagree. He reminded the audience of the wise words of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, who said of the First Amendment, If there is a fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.

Although free speech is a necessary element of any free society, Sessions stressed that it is particularly important in the academic community, where the university is supposed to be the place where we train virtuous citizens. It is where the next generation of Americans is equipped to contribute to and live in a diverse and free society filled with many, often contrary, voices.

Predictably, and not unlike Ole Miss professors who participated in the demonstrations against James Merediths enrollment at their university, several Georgetown Law School professors protested Sessions speech, even taking a knee in front of the building where he spoke. Although they insisted Sessions had the right to speak, it is a little hard to believe that they would not have been pleased had Sessions been subjected to the hecklers veto.

And not unlike Bobby Kennedy in Mississippi in 1962, Attorney General Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would not stand idly by while college and university officials practice such abuses to the Constitution, but would do its part in this struggle. We will enforce federal law, Sessions said, and defend free speech, and protect students free expression from whatever end of the political spectrum it may come. It should be no surprise that Department of Justice officials believe that Constitutional rights should be enforced. Perhaps we should be surprised that until now, at least in academia, they have not been.

My guess is that were Bobby Kennedy alive today, he would have wholeheartedly supported Jeff Sessions.
Barcelona -- Imagine being in Philadelphia on that day in 1776 when a bunch of bewigged troublemakers declared independence from any foreign power. Something similar happened here Tuesday. The leader of Catalonia's regional government said that, as things stand, being part of Spain is no longer an option  though a formal declaration of independence is on hold as talks with Madrid continue.

Were living in an exceptional moment, of historic dimensions, said a restrained but determined Carles Puigdemont, whose mop-top haircut has been the target of endless mirth across Spain. But Puigdeonts words held no humor.

Like Jefferson, Adams and Franklin, Puigdemont is facing some pretty long odds in his quest. The long-simmering independence movement he leads came a boil on October 1, when Catalonians voted  or tried to vote  in a referendum to split from Spain. Police broke into polling places, confiscated ballots, and bashed hundreds of would-be voters with truncheons.

Sentiment for independence is far from unanimous. Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, calling for Catalonia to remain part of Spain.

The Spanish government immediately declared the vote illegitimate, and said if Puigdemont carried on with his antics, it would enact a law known as Article 155, which allows it to suspend the regional government and impose direct control from Madrid.

Hours before Puigdemonts speech to his regional parliament, crowds  overwhelmingly in favor of independence  jammed the plaza named for Catalonias beloved ex-President Lluis Companys, who opposed Francisco Francos dictatorship during World War II. Many draped the provinces flag over their shoulders.

Though the crowds were in a jubilant, non-violent mood, police were dispatched to guard the mansion on Carrer Mallorca, where the Spanish federal government is represented in Barcelona.

Sentiment for independence is far from unanimous. Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, calling for Catalonia to remain part of Spain. Most Spanish newspapers are firmly against secession and a flurry of editorials scolding Puigdemont for his temerity filled their pages. Someone is reading them. Opinion polls before the Oct. 1 vote suggested nearly even numbers of pro and anti-independence citizens.

Catalonias fate notwithstanding, the last thing Europe needs right now is more political stress. Its 28 members states  therell be 27 once the United Kingdom leaves as a result of Brexit  are at odds over a variety of crises: bailing out weak economies like Greece, inviting millions of refugees from the Middle East and Africa onto the continent, and combatting persistent unemployment. The E.U. will refuse to recognize an independent Catalonia, because doing otherwise would bring about more calls for national sovereignty. And nationalism is what the E.U. wants to erase across Europe.

Were not delinquents, were not crazy, and were not coup-makers, Puigdemont told his parliament. And, with half of Catalonias lawmakers breaking into applause and nearly half sitting stony silent, he added, I assume the mandate of the people of Catalonia, to become an independent state. I ask the government of Spain to accept dialogue.

Thats about as likely as Spain giving up bullfighting. Catalonia, sometimes unwillingly, has been part of Spain since the days when Ferdinand and Isabella commissioned a wild-eyed explorer named Columbus  whose achievements we just celebrated  to set sail to find out what existed on the other side of the world.

A few hundred years later, that trip resulted in the Declaration of Independence. On Tuesday, another one was declared.
11/8/2022



Drs. Chris Young and Jon Cohen, as well as Lynda Minks Hood and Pat Eller Lee will be honored at Erlanger Health System Foundations 19th Annual Dinner of Distinction on Feb. 10, 2023, at 5:30 ... more
Steve Tennes, who owns Country Mill Farms in Charlotte, Michigan, has prevailed so far in his lawsuit against the city of East Lansing after it tossed him and his family out of its farmers market. A federal district court ordered the city to allow him back in for now, and theres a good reason for that: The city is unconstitutionally discriminating against Steve and his orchard, and thats why I joined the lawsuit to fight for his freedom.

A second-generation family business, Country Mill grows apples, blueberries, peaches, cherries, sweet corn, and pumpkins. It hosts numerous community and charitable events. And it has sold its produce at the East Lansing Farmers Market for many years. In fact, from 2011 to 2016, the city expressly invited Country Mill to participate in the market as an invitational vendor because of its exceptional service.

Everything changed in 2016 when the city learned that Steve had posted on Facebook that he still adhered to the teachings of the Catholic Church that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman. Steve also adheres to the Churchs teaching that every individual, as a child of God, has immense dignity and worth and should be treated as such. Accordingly, that is how he treats all his customers and employees. No matter, because Steves beliefs about marriage were different than the citys, and because he had the gall to state them publicly, Steve and Country Mill had to be banished.

It used to be a common American value that everyone had the freedom to live and speak without government coercion. But that value apparently does not extend to a person who respectfully expresses one particular viewpoint on marriage in the public square.

At first, the city instructed Country Mill not to come to the farmers market because of possible protests. Having broken no law, Country Mill attended the market anyway. No protest materialized, either that week or the rest of the 2016 season. So the city created a policy to exclude Country Mill by incorporating the citys ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Of course, Country Mill does not discriminate based on sexual orientation; customers and employees are welcomed regardless of that. Steve simply expressed his belief in marriages meaning as taught by the Church.

Nonetheless, the city barred the Market Planning Committee from sending an invitation to Country Mill, as it had done for the past six years, and the city also directed the committee to send Country Mills application to the city if Country Mill submitted one. No other vendor had the same restriction. And when Country Mill did apply through the normal, non-invitational process, the city rejected the application and told Country Mill that it would reconsider only if Steve changed his religious beliefs and expression.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to free speech and to freely exercise his or her religion. Yet East Lansing has denied Steve and Country Mill the ability to participate in the public square solely because the city dislikes Steves beliefs and his willingness to make public statements about them. That is why Steve reluctantly chose to sue and ask a federal court for an injunction ordering the city to allow Country Mill to participate once again in the farmers market. Reasoning that Steve is likely to prevail in his claims, the court granted the injunction on Sept. 15, meaning he can participate in the market for the remainder of the year while his lawsuit proceeds.

The city says it isnt targeting Steve for his beliefs, but that argument fell flat with the court and fails in general. Steve isnt breaking any law except for the one the city officials intentionally created to exclude him from the farmers market. They did this because he doesnt live his life and operate his farm22 miles outside of their jurisdictionaccording to their beliefs about marriage rather than his own beliefs, which the First Amendment protects.

When I heard about Steves dilemma after his attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom filed suit, I felt compelled to get involved. It used to be a common American value that everyone had the freedom to live and speak without government coercion. But that value apparently does not extend to a person who respectfully expresses one particular viewpoint on marriage in the public square. The city has forced Steve to change his beliefs and be silent or lose a substantial portion of his business. That is a stunning result not only for Steve and Country Mill, but for the millions of business owners and workers who believe that they have the responsibility to publicly express their faith and to practice it in their business vocation.

Whether religious, agnostic, or atheist, no individual should be forced to choose between the governments orthodoxy and withdrawing from the public square. That is one of our countrys founding principles. And that is why Steves case is so important, not only to Michigan citizens, but to people everywhere. I look forward to the federal courts continuing to uphold the right of everyone to speak and act in accord with their conscience without being punished by the government for doing so.


An art contest in Michigan drew criticism over one unmistakable display -- a massive pin cushion bearing an unflattering likeness to Donald Trump, with pins that guests could use to jab the "president."

Entitled Presidential Pin Cushion, the work created by local artist Molly Alicki Corriveau was on display recently at the annual ArtPrize showing and competition held out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Visitors, including children from schools throughout the region, were encouraged to take a push pin and stick it anywhere on the Trump caricature. More than 10,000 pins were jabbed into the large cushion which was on display for nearly three weeks.

Donald Trump LIES, RANTS, and SPEWS HATE, read a sign displayed next to the exhibit at Art Prize. His bumbles endanger us all. CHOSE [sp] a PIN. Then GIVE the POTUS A POKE!

Alicki Corriveau told Fox 17 West Michigan that nearly 60 percent of the pins were taken out by someone and left in piles on the floor when she went to the piece two weeks ago. She says shes used to by now since the piece went up Sept. 10 and that she is open to the criticism.

"I don't think he's a respectful person," said Alicki Corriveau. "I don't think that whether somebody is the president or a pope or whoever, if they don't act with respect they don't deserve respect."

Some who viewed the exhibit said it went too far.

"Although I respect the art and the intention behind it, I find it extremely disrespectful for our country, for our President, and I think this is just one more thing that's causing a greater divide," Rena Laliberte told the local news station adding that she thinks it would be a different story if it were any other president.

"He is the president of the United States," said Laliberte. "The country should stick together and band together. I didn't vote for Donald Trump, but I would never have done this to President Obama, President Bush or any other president that we've ever had. They would've never done anything like this."

The exhibit was part of a competition that began on September 20. Visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite work of art with a total of $500,000 in prizes given to the winners.

The open, experimental mission remains firm for the show that draws hundreds of thousands of attendees annually. It comes directly from founder Rick DeVos, grandson of multibillionaire Rich DeVos, a co-founder of direct-sales giant Amway Corp., an ArtPrize sponsor, and son of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The show also has other works critical of Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration, including "For-profit Education" by Sarah Ellis, a Grand Rapids high school teacher. She says in a statement that her installation reflects her concern over policies that harm "free and quality education for all." It includes a video showing a hammer striking plaster casts of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who is quoted in the work saying, "Education is teaching our children to desire the right things."

ArtPrize Exhibitions Director Kevin Buist said political statements  including those against the DeVos family  have been part of the competition since the beginning. In 2009, Anna Campbell exhibited "The Seeding Trilogy," which featured drink coasters with messages calling out efforts by members of the DeVos family to fight same-sex marriage.

Buist said an increase in political pieces  and an increasing spotlight on them  is no surprise, given the current climate.

"Some (artists) are angry and they have a right to be angry," he said. "They're using ArtPrize as a vehicle to express that and to work through really complicated and tricky issues.

"Of course, some of that is going to be directed toward the current administration, and some of our funders," he added. "That's fine. I'd be worried if that weren't happening."

Prizes for the competition were awarded Sunday evening and Presidential Pin Cushion was not one of the recipients. The top prize went to a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln made with more than 24,000 pennies. "A. Lincoln" by Richard Schlatter was awarded one of two $200,000 prizes following a public vote in Grand Rapids.

Click for more from Fox 17.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton has remained silent about Harvey Weinstein, her friend and a wealthy campaign donor, days after the Hollywood mogul was accused of sexually harassing actresses and women who worked for him -- and the pressure is building on the former presidential candidate to speak up.

Wheres Hillary Clinton? Wheres she standing on this issue? Shes been silent. Her silence is deafening, Republican Party Chair Ronna McDaniel said Monday, according to The Hill.

Weinstein contributed $46,350 to Clinton during her presidential candidacy, as well as to HILLPAC, a committee Clinton used to support other Democrats while she was a senator, according to The Associated Press.

Weinstein also has made massive donations to the Clinton Foundation. The foundation says on its official website that Weinstein gave in the range of $100,001 to $250,000 through June 2017.

Days after the accusations against Weinstein surfaced, Clinton's Twitter page has made no mention of the story -- but she did have time to plug her children's book and a talk at Stanford University.

Weinstein and his family have given more than $1.4 million in political contributions since the 1992 election cycle, virtually all of it to Democratic lawmakers, candidates and their allies, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Harvey Weinstein is a major bundler for the DNC. They have embraced him, McDaniel added.

The Democratic partys efforts to distance itself from the 65-year-old film executive came after The New York Times reported that he settled sexual harassment lawsuits with at least eight women.

Weinstein was a fixture among Democratic supporters and close to party luminaries for decades, making the revelations especially embarrassing for a party that touts itself as pushing progressive policies for women.

Actress and dedicated liberal womens rights activist Ashley Judd went on record Thursday for The New York Times story, which states: Two decades ago, the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein invited Ashley Judd to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for what the young actress expected to be a business breakfast meeting. Instead, he had her sent up to his room, where he appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage or she could watch him shower, she recalled in an interview.

How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein? Ms. Judd said she remembers thinking.

During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars. If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer, McDaniel told Townhall.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As lawmakers continue to investigate Russias role in the 2016 presidential election, major tech companies have sent representatives to Capitol Hill to reveal just how much Russian activity was found on their platforms.

General counsels for Facebook, Google and Twitter testified in multiple hearings in 2017 as congressional probes into alleged Russian influence in the election continued. Delegates from the tech giants have also met privately with lawmakers on the Hill.

Heres what you need to know about the tech companies involvement.

How is Facebook involved in the investigation?

Last year, Facebook revealed that it uncovered about $100,000 in ad purchases connected to inauthentic accounts that violated its policies. Another $50,000 was found to have been spent on potentially politically related ad spending that were in Russian.

Facebooks Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos said the accounts were likely operated out of Russia.

As lawmakers called for more information about the advertisements, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has promised to make its political advertising more transparent.

Facebook also revealed that content from a Russian group called the Internet Research Agency (IRA) could have reached as many as 126 million users.

President Trump accused Facebook of being always anti-Trump.

But Zuckerberg hit back and said both sides of the political aisle were upset by content on Facebook  proving what running a platform for all ideas looks like.

What about Twitter?

Twitter representatives told lawmakers that it suspended approximately two dozen accounts that were potentially linked to Russia and corresponded to Facebooks troublesome accounts. Additionally, it said it found 179 related accounts that violated their rules.

Twitter also revealed in a blog post that Russia Today (RT), which it said has strong links to the Russian government, spent $274,000 in ads in 2016.

The social media giant said it would use the money already spent on advertisements by RT for research around civic engagement and electoral misinformation.

A Twitter representative told congressional committees that it shuttered nearly 3,000 accounts linked to Russias IRA  which is known for spreading pro-Russian government propaganda. That number is nearly 14 times larger than the number of accounts Twitter said it handed over to congressional committees previously.

Twitter was criticized by Rep. Mark Warner, D-Va., after representatives met with lawmakers in Sept. 2017. Warner said the information shared was frankly inadequate on almost every level.

Warner, again, criticized the social media company in January 2018 after he said it neglected to meet a deadline to provide lawmakers with additional information regarding the Russia investigation, The Hill reported.

Im disappointed. Ive been disappointed throughout this, Warner reportedly said. Twitter has been often times the slowest to respond  The other companies met the deadline which was way over a month from when they testified.

And Google?

Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads on YouTube, Google Search products and Gmail regarding the 2016 election, Fox Business reported. However, the ads do not appear to be from the same source as those purchased on Facebook.

Accounts connected with the Russian government spent $4,700 on search and display ads and $53,000 was spent on ads with political material that were purchased from either a Russian territory, Russian Internet address or with Russian currency, according to the Associated Press.

"We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries," Google said in a statement.

Why does it matter?

The issue over social medias involvement in the investigation largely stems from advertisements bought from the companies, not necessarily the content shared by users, Dr. Karen North, a clinical professor of communication at the University of Southern California, told Fox News.

But the issue further boils down to what is wrong versus what is illegal. Spreading so-called fake news is wrong, but it might not be illegal, the social media expert explained.

We as users of social media platforms do not want the platforms to be telling us what we can or cant say  or even that we cant say falsehoods  because people spin the story of their lives to present a public face to our friends and colleagues, North said. We dont want Facebook or Twitter to tell us we cant do that.

North predicted that social media companies will begin to strengthen their regulations  or dress codes  for future advertisers.

There are laws [to protect speech] and then there are rules of conduct, including dress codes at offices or schools, North said. Whether or not whats being done by the Russians or fake news or people lying about adventures in their life, are those illegal or in violation of dress codes?

Shareholders in the major tech companies have also demanded more transparency regarding foreign involvement that could have interfered in the election.

Like Congress and the American public, shareholders in these companies have serious questions and concerns about how these platforms were used and abused during the 2016 election, Michael Connor, executive director of the nonprofit Open MIC, said in a statement.

Open MIC said shareholders with assets worth more than $25 billion have filed proposals asking Facebook, Google and Twitter to divulge more information about foreign involvement as well as disinformation and hate speech.

The investors, through these filings, intend to play a critically important role in holding Facebook, Google and Twitter accountable for what happens on their platforms, Connor said.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday described the massive data transfers on government servers by a former IT aide to Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as a substantial security threat.

These facts, standing alone, indicate a substantial security threat, Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said of the Imran Awan case during an informal hearing of Republican House members on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

These facts, standing alone, indicate a substantial security threat."  Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.

Awan pleaded not guilty in September to multiple federal charges including bank fraud and conspiracy. A grand jury had returned an indictment in August in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, with a total of four charges.

Perry, a member of the Homeland Security subcommittee on cyber security, said Tuesday that the House Office of Inspector General tracked the network usage of Awan and his associates on House servers and found that a massive amount of data was flowing from the networks.

Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats had been on investigators radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.

THE DEMOCRATS IT SCANDAL JUST GOT EVEN MORE BIZARRE

According to Perry, more than 5,700 logins by the five Awan associates were discovered on a single server within the House and 5,400 of those logins appeared unauthorized. That server, Perry said, belonged to then-Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra, who is now attorney general in California.

Perry said a criminal investigation by Capitol Police begun after the House Office of Inspector General reported its findings into Awan and his associates last year.

The congressman said Capitol Police determined that an image they asked Imran to provide was falsified, believing it to be a deliberate attempt to conceal the activities that they knew were against House policy and the law.

Perry also discussed how Capitol Police recovered a bag with a laptop featuring Wasserman Shultzs initials from a phone booth after midnight in the Rayburn building about two months after House investigators barred Awan and his coterie from access to House computer networks.

The indictment itself addresses separate allegations that Awan and his wife engaged in a conspiracy to obtain home equity lines of credit from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by giving false information about two properties  and then sending the proceeds to individuals in Pakistan.

The case has put renewed scrutiny on Wasserman Schultz for keeping Awan on the payroll for months, even after a criminal investigation was revealed and he was barred from the House IT network.

In a recent interview published in the Sun Sentinel, Wasserman Schultz blamed the right-wing media circus fringe for the attention on Awan. The former head of the Democratic National Committee has suggested it's all part of an effort to distract from the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible ties to President Trump's team.

After Awan was arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia trying to board a plane to Pakistan, attorney Christopher Gowen told Fox News that federal authorities have no evidence of misconduct by Awan relating to his IT duties.

Fox News James Rosen and Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
Tehran is firing rhetorical warning shots at the United States as President Trump prepares to announce what is expected to be a tougher policy toward Iran, including possibly declining to 're-certify' the 2015 nuclear deal and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

In the runup to the decision, Iranian officials have threatened consequences if Trump targets the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

I hope that the U.S. ruling body would not make the strategic mistake ... but if it does so, then Irans response will be firm, decisive, and crushing and the U.S. should accept its consequences, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted saying Monday by the Tasnim News Agency.

If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said Sunday, according to Reuters.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said if the U.S. labeled the IRGC a terrorist organization, then all options were on the table, Iranian news agency ISNA reported Monday.

The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards, Velayati said. We have all options on the table. Whatever they do, we will take reciprocal measures."

IRANIAN ARMED FORCES SPOKESPERSON: 'IT'S TIME TO TEACH AMERICANS NEW LESSONS'

The president is expected to reveal his Iran policy plans this week, though no date has been set.

Two sources tell Fox News that the plan at the moment is for the president to announce he will not re-certify the Iran nuclear deal -- a decision he is expected to make every 90 days. This would trigger a congressional process to determine whether the United States should stay in the deal or seek changes, the sources said.

The president also is expected to call for a broader-approach strategy to confront Iran, including tougher measures against the regime.

On Tuesday, the head of Iran's nuclear agency argued Washington's international standing would suffer if the United States undermined the deal.

"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said.

He expressed hope that "common sense shall prevail."

The U.S. administration has faced two 90-day certification deadlines so far to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanctions relief under the deal. Each time, the U.S. has certified the deal.

But Trump more recently has said he does not expect to certify Iran's compliance with an Oct. 15 deadline looming.

Fox News John Roberts and Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Lawmakers are stepping up efforts to crack down on anti-Israel boycotts and protests, with Wisconsin becoming the latest state to consider legislation aiming to freeze out companies joining the so-called BDS movement.

BDS  which stands for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions  calls for boycotting Israeli companies involved in the violation of Palestinian human rights as well as complicit organizations, in addition to encouraging divestment and sanctions against similar groups.

The bill introduced in Wisconsin last week would prevent state organizations from doing business with companies that participate in the boycotts.

Boycotts of Israel must be fought because they do not just attack the Jewish state. This propaganda campaign is also the basis for newly emboldened and destructive anti-Semitic attitudes, state Sen. Leah Vukmir, a Republican who recently announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate, said in a statement. We must support our ally Israel.

ANTI-ISRAEL TIES CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR DEM CANDIDATES

Vukmir introduced the bill along with state Rep. Dale Kooyenga. It would specifically prohibit companies that contract with the state from engaging in Israel boycotts; it also would prohibit state agencies and local governments from joining in any such boycotts.

'We must support our ally Israel.'  Wisconsin state Sen. Leah Vukmir

The sponsors hope Wisconsin will join 21 states with their own laws and resolutions against the BDS push.

Most recently, North Carolina passed legislation banning state agencies from working with companies who participate in BDS boycotts.

The BDS movement was founded in 2005, claiming inspiration from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Organizers say the goal is to end international support for Israeli violations of international law by forcing companies, institutions and governments to change their policies.

Critics of the BDS movement allege that it is anti-Semitic and discriminates against Israel.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which rejects Israels right to exist as a Jewish state, is the most prominent effort to undermine Israels existence, the Anti-Defamation League says on its website.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan effort to enact federal anti-BDS legislation is underway in both the U.S. House and the Senate. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act was introduced by Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in March of this year, with an identical bill introduced in the House by Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Juan Vargas, D-Calif.

The legislation would amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to prohibit such boycotts by international government groups and direct the Export-Import Bank to take a similar stance.

The effort has widespread bipartisan support including from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

In July, the ACLU penned a letter opposing the bill, arguing it would impose civil and criminal punishment on individuals solely because of their political beliefs about Israel and its policies in violation of their First Amendment rights.

BDS has become increasingly popular on college and university campuses, which have been the focal point of the nations free speech debate. Several student senates have passed BDS resolutions in support of Israel boycotts.

The Tufts University student senate signed a BDS resolution in April, just days before Passover began, causing members of the schools Jewish community to feel deeply disturbed.

The movement also has its share of critics on campus. As reported at the time by The Jerusalem Post, after the American Studies Association voted in 2013 to support a proposed boycott of Israeli academic intuitions as part of BDS, the heads of 92 universities rejected the decision.
Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn called on Twitter to apologize Tuesday for blocking her pro-life Senate campaign ad from the platform.

Blackburn, who announced her campaign last week for retiring Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker's seat, had posted an ad in which she said she had stopped the sale of baby parts. Twitter blocked the video, saying the statement in question would have to be nixed for the ad to be allowed.

I am appalled by Twitters attempt to censor my pro-life record, and I believe that the entire pro-life community deserves an apology and explanation for their actions, Blackburn said in a statement on Tuesday. I have spent my entire career fighting to protect and honor life, and I refuse to allow an organization whose stated mission is to provide information instantly, without barriers the ability to silence our efforts to protect the unborn.

In the video, Blackburn had said: Im 100% pro-life. I fought Planned Parenthood, and we stopped the sale of baby body parts thank God.

Twitter told Blackburns campaign in an email obtained by Fox News that the line was deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.

Blackburn was the chair of a Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue research. The panel urged Congress to stop federal payments to the womens health organization.

Democrats alleged that the GOP investigation had found no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers money in an abusive investigation.

The panel was created after anti-abortion activists secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made.

Fetal tissue research has strong backing among scientists for its value in studying Down syndrome, eye disease and other problems. But Blackburns committee report said fetal tissue makes a vanishingly small contribution to clinical and research efforts, if it contributes at all, and recommended curbing federal grants for such research.

Blackburns nearly two-and-a-half minute video also features footage of her shooting a gun and taking fellow Republicans in the Senate to task for failing to repeal ObamaCare.

Fox News Brooke Singman, Mike Emanuel, Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Barack and Michelle Obama responded to the allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against their friend and major Democratic donor Harvey Weinstein -- five days after the accusations surfaced. But just four years ago, the then-first lady praised the Hollywood titan as a good guy.

I want to start by thanking Harvey Weinstein for organizing this amazing day, Michelle Obama said during a November 2013 White House event for high school students. Harvey. This is possible because of Harvey. He is a wonderful human being, a good friend and just a powerhouse.

The Obamas have had a long relationship with Weinstein: he donated thousands to the former presidents campaigns and visited the White House more than a dozen times, according to visitor records. The Obamas daughter, Malia, interned for Weinstein at the Weinstein Company this year.

Late Tuesday, the Obamas released a statement saying: Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accoubtable, regardless of wealth or status.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Weinstein had settled sexual harassment lawsuits with at least eight women. More allegations emerged Tuesday in The New Yorker.

WEINSTEIN TIES TO CLINTON, OBAMA RUN DEEP

Like the Obamas, the Clintons have long had a relationship with Weinstein. After facing pressure to speak out against Weinstein, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton broke her silence on the allegations on Tuesday.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Clinton said in a statement posted on Twitter. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.
Publix Super Markets Charities presented a $100,000 check to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgias largest hunger relief organization serving 20 counties. The presentation took place on Sept. 26.

The donation came from a $5 million total pledge from Publix Super Markets Charities to Feeding America member food banks, schools and other nonprofit organizations all focused on alleviating hunger across Publixs operating area. The specific goal of the donation is to provide funding to assist in the transportation and childhood program needs of the food banks and nonprofit agencies. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank will use this generous donation to support School Mobile Pantries in Hamilton County, which serve 740 families with children each month.

For more than 50 years, we have been nourishing the communities in which Publix operates, said Carol Jenkins Barnett, president of Publix Super Markets Charities. Through these efforts, weve supported early education programs and the plight of the hungry and homeless, recognizing the importance of education and proper nutrition. We believe every child deserves to have hope, love and joy. Our Foundation is dedicated to giving these gifts of nourishment and hope to our communities.

According to the USDA, more than 42 million Americans live in food insecure households, including 13 million children. In the 20 counties served by the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, one in four children do not know where their next meal is coming from, and getting the energy they need to learn and grow can be a daily challenge. Although food insecurity is harmful to any individual, it can be particularly devastating for children due to their increased vulnerability and the potential for long-term consequences.

Proper nutrition is critical to a childs growth and development, yet 13 million children face hunger, said Matt Knott, president of Feeding America. For years, Publix has been a strong partner to the Feeding America network of food banks, supporting our efforts to help children in need. We are thankful for this generous gift from Publix Charities, which will allow our network to provide even more nutrient-rich meals to children in Publixs communities.

We are very grateful for our partnership with Publix Super Markets Charities, and appreciate all of the support we receive from them throughout the year, said Gina Crumbliss, president and CEO for the Food Bank. With their support, we are better equipped to fight hunger in our area.
The son of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore was arrested Monday over allegations of illegal hunting.

Caleb Moore, 27, turned himself in to the Etowah County Sheriff's Office on a misdemeanor charge of third-degree criminal trespass. Spokeswoman Natalie Barton said Moore was released on $1,000 bond.

In November 2016, Caleb Moore was accused of hunting without permission and hunting over bait. Both of those offenses are misdemeanors. Barton told AL.com that the landowner in that case signed a warrant accusing Moore of trespassing.

Roy Moore's campaign issued a statement calling the arrest a "cheap political trick."

Caleb Moore was arrested on drug charges in 2015, but those were dropped after he entered a pre-trial diversion program. AL.com reported that he has also faced DUI charges in Alabama and Florida, as well as three other drug-related arrests in Alabama.

Roy Moore is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the special election for the U.S. Senate on Dec. 12. Moore, a former Alabama chief justice, defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in last month's Republican runoff.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of Usama bin Laden's one-time assistant and propagandist, leaving intact his conspiracy conviction before a military tribunal.

The court issued its brief order on Monday, without giving a reason for its decision.

A military commission had convicted Ali Hamza al-Bahlul in 2008.

At issue was the government's power to use those special military courts to try war crimes, both before and after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Bahlul's lawyers had argued supposedly "domestic crimes" like conspiracy cannot be tried in the military commission system.

The defendant was charged with providing material support to terrorism and conspiracy for the Al Qaeda terror network, offenses that were not included as crimes before the Military Commissions Act went into effect several years later. That law established the tribunal system used to try terror suspects held at Guantanamo, outside the civilian federal trial courts.

Bahlul also claimed the charges against him were not recognized as "war crimes" under international law and could not be applied retroactively.

The "ex post facto" provision of the Constitution says the government may not retroactively criminalize conduct that was either legal or not on the record when committed.

A previous appeals panel had initially concluded only pre-existing federal offenses and violations of the international law of war could be used to prosecute the men.

But a federal appeals court in Washington later upheld Bahlul's conviction.

Bahlul is one of the few Guantanamo inmates convicted at the military tribunals. At least five other men had separately pleaded guilty to offenses.

Other cases, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other so-called "high-value detainees," are still awaiting trial.

Yemeni native Bahlul was convicted in November 2008 of conspiring with Al Qaeda, soliciting murder and providing material support for terrorism. He was accused of making videos for the terror organization.

The high court is still considering the pending appeal of another military detainee making similar legal claims, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Dusting off an old nickname, President Trump blasted Liddle Bob Corker on Tuesday and said the Republican senator sounded like a fool in his latest New York Times interview -- escalating one of the nastiest feuds the president has had with a sitting GOP lawmaker.

The Failing @nytimes set Liddle Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool and thats what I am dealing with! Trump tweeted Tuesday.

The tweet on Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., was the latest jab in a war of words that's been building since the weekend.

In his interview with the New York Times on Sunday, Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the president has treated his office like a reality show, and is leading the U.S. down the path to World War III.

He concerns me, Corker said. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.

Trump and his allies have not backed down, with the president now giving Corker the same nickname treatment he gave 2016 GOP presidential primary rival Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. -- whom he tagged "Liddle Marco."

Trump spelled out Rubios nickname to The New York Times last year, in the same way.

L-I-D-D-L-E. Liddle, Liddle, Liddle Marco, he said.

As for Trump's claim that the Times set up Corker by recording him, New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin said both sides were actually recording.

Corker has 2 aides on line, also recording, and they made sure after it ended that I was taping, too, Martin tweeted Tuesday.

Corker announced last month that he would not seek reelection in 2018 when his term ends.

The president over the weekend then claimed Corker had begged him for an endorsement, suggesting that's why he announced his retirement.

Senator Bob Corker begged me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said NO and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement.) Trump tweeted Sunday morning. He also wanted to be Secretary of States, I said NO THANKS. He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!

Corker, who isnt as vocal on the social media platform as the president, fired back Sunday morning.

Its a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning, Corker tweeted.
President Trump, after seemingly patching things up with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson following a report that he once called the president a moron and considered quitting, has challenged the top diplomat to compare IQ tests if he indeed said that.

The president made the comments in an interview with Forbes, for a story published Tuesday.

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said.

Tillerson scrambled last week to counter an NBC News report claiming that Vice President Pence had to intervene over the summer to help convince him not to resign  and that Tillerson called the commander-in-chief a moron.

Tillerson adamantly denied he considered resigning, while a spokeswoman later pushed back on the moron anecdote, though reporters stood by the account.

Trump has at times appeared to undercut Tillerson's message on some of America's most sensitive national security challenges, including Iran and North Korea. Tillerson also has publicly complained about the White House blocking him from making key appointments.

Still, last week Trump told reporters he has "total confidence" in his secretary of state.

In the Forbes interview, done Friday, Trump responded to criticism that he's undermined his secretary of state through his often provocative tweets that have challenged ongoing diplomatic efforts.

"I'm not undermining," Trump told Forbes. "I think I'm actually strengthening authority."

Tillersons public pushback last week also seemed to calm the waters.

Trump on Saturday denied a frayed relationship with Tillerson but said he sometimes wishes Tillerson would be tougher.

Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are scheduled to have lunch with Trump Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump may visit the demilitarized zone on the Korean Peninsula next month in a bid to send a significant message to North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

Speculation that Trump could travel to the contentious area was first raised by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency that spoke with an unnamed military official.

The official said the president is expected to send a significant message either verbally or kinetically to the North Korean regime during the visit.

The move to visit the demilitarized zone is not unprecedented  other U.S. presidents have done so in the past  but Trumps visit would come at the time tensions between North Korea and the U.S. are at all-time high.

On Sunday, Trump taunted North Korea, saying only one thing would work against the regime leader Kim Jong-uns plans to develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasnt worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators, he added in a series of tweets.

Many experts have speculated whether the White House is considering a military option to stop North Korea. Last week, Trump told reporters it was the calm before the storm following the meeting with senior military leaders.

He did not elaborate the meaning of the ominous phrase, only adding that Youll find out.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From the Russia investigation to health care, President Trump has not shied away from fighting those in his own party  especially on social media.

Heres a look at some of the Republican lawmakers Trump has feuded with since hes taken office.

Bob Corker

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker announced in 2017 that he would retire at the end of his term  and Trump credited himself with the decision.

Senator Bob Corker begged me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said NO and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement), Trump said on Twitter, adding that he also denied Corker a position as secretary of state.

Trump blamed Corker, who he nicknamed Liddle Bob Corker for the Iran nuclear deal and said he couldnt get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.

But Corker wasnt without his own jabs at the administration. He said the White House has become an adult day care center and accused Trump of having not demonstrated he understands the character of this nation following the Charlottesville attack. He also credited White House chief of staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with help[ing] to separate our country from chaos.

Jeff Flake

When Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake announced he would not seek re-election, he took the opportunity to call the president reckless, outrageous and undignified from the Senate floor.

Prior to Flakes speech, Trump called the lawmaker weak, particularly on the issue of illegal immigration. He also encouraged Kelli Ward, a controversial Republican, to run against Flake.

Flake, who didnt vote for Trump in the presidential election, again escalated the fracas between the two men when he publicly shared a check he wrote to then-Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones with the subject line saying, Country over Party. Jones beat Roy Moore, the beleaguered Republican accused of sexual misconduct in the special election in December 2017.

Additionally, Trump has nicknamed the senator Flake(y). And Flake accused Trump of having inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own rhetoric.

Lindsey Graham

Ever since Trump gave out former GOP candidate Lindsey Grahams cell phone number during the presidential campaign, the twos on-again-off-again relationship has continued.

Graham, a senator from South Carolina, clashed with Trump following his response to the attack in Charlottesville in 2017.

President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer, Graham said, referencing the woman who died when a man drove his car into a crowd of people protesting white supremacists. I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency.

Trump, in turn, accused Graham of publicity seeking.

While the pair seemingly came together during efforts to repeal ObamaCare, Graham and Trump again clashed over immigration.

After Graham partnered with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on an immigration bill, the White House accused them of being completely dishonest in negotiations.

Graham admonished the administration, saying, If you continue this attack on everything and everybody and make it a political exercise, were doomed to fail, and it is President Trumps presidency that will be the biggest loser.

John McCain

The fight between Arizona Sen. John McCain and Trump started during the campaign  and escalated when the then-presidential candidate said McCain was a war hero because he was captured.

I like people who werent captured, Trump said at a 2015 Iowa event.

Since that comment, the two have feuded over a variety of issues, especially when it came to health care reform.

McCain, who is suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer, voted against a so-called skinny repeal of ObamaCare in July 2017. And Trump seemingly hasnt forgotten it.

In a radio interview in 2017, Trump called McCains vote a tremendous slap in the face to the Republican Party. And during a speech to those gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2018, Trump criticized McCains vote, shaking his head.

Daughter Meghan, a host on The View, said she recently spoke to the president and first lady Melania Trump. During the conversation, she said she was under the impression that this sort of fight between our families, and between him and my father especially at this particular moment, would end.

Mitch McConnell

Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell havent had the steadiest of relationships since Trump won the White House. The pair have fought over a variety of issues, including health care, the debt ceiling and the investigation into Russias involvement in the 2016 election.

McConnell has also reportedly questioned Trumps governing style in both public and private comments.

Trump, in turn, blamed McConnell for having failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Jeff Sessions

Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions has often found himself the target of Trumps wrath  especially online.

More recently, Trump blasted Sessions for instructing an Obama guy to investigation allegations of government surveillance abuse that came to light after memos were released about FBI and DOJ efforts to obtain FISA warrants to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser.

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isnt the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL! Trump said on social media.

In a statement, Sessions said, As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.

Sessions also drew much consternation from the president when he recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Trump later lashed out at Sessions online.

If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration  why arent they the subject of the investigation? Trump tweeted.
Twitter has decided to change course on a controversial Senate campaign advertisement by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and will allow the ad to run, even though the social network initially claimed it violated ad guidelines.

Blackburn confirmed on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Tuesday night that Twitter will allow her ad to be promoted on the social media platform.

Twitter said that they made the decision after reconsidering the "context of the entire message," according to a report by Recode.

Blackburn said she believes Twitter reversed its decision because "the American people rose up."

"I think what has happened, the American people rose up. They are sick and tired of the liberal elites and the liberal media telling them what they're going to listen to, and what is going to be pushed forward and broadcast and what is not, and in this example it was Twitter," Blackburn said.

"And now they have reversed their decision after the American people have joined me in standing up to them, and they are going to allow the video to stand and us to push it forward."

Twitter blocked an ad by Blackburn's campaign Monday, claiming it included "an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction." The line in question stated: "I'm 100% pro-life. I found Planned Parenthood, and we stopped the sale of baby body parts  thank God."

The social media platform initially said it would air the Senate candidate's ad, but only if the line about "the sale of baby body parts" was removed.

MARSHA BLACKBURN DEMANDS TWITTER APOLOGIZE FOR TRYING TO 'CENSOR' PRO-LIFE AD

Earlier Tuesday, Blackburn called on Twitter to apologize for blocking the advertisement, saying in a statement that she was "appalled" by Twitter's censorship.

I am appalled by Twitters attempt to censor my pro-life record, and I believe that the entire pro-life community deserves an apology and explanation for their actions, Blackburn said in a statement. I have spent my entire career fighting to protect and honor life, and I refuse to allow an organization whose stated mission is to provide information instantly, without barriers the ability to silence our efforts to protect the unborn.

Twitter didn't prohibit Blackburn from promoting the ad on her own Twitter accounts, but the company wouldn't promote it as a sponsored ad on the site.

Blackburn was the chair of a Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue research. The panel urged Congress to stop federal payments to the womens health organization.

Democrats alleged that the GOP investigation had found no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers money in an abusive investigation.

TWITTER DROPS GOP REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN'S AD FOR 'INFLAMMATORY' LINE ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The panel was created after anti-abortion activists secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made.

Fetal tissue research has strong backing among scientists for its value in studying Down syndrome, eye disease and other problems. But Blackburns committee report said fetal tissue makes a vanishingly small contribution to clinical and research efforts, if it contributes at all, and recommended curbing federal grants for such research.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As Democratic lawmakers begin to distance themselves from disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the break-up might be a bit tougher for the Clintons and Obamas  whose ties to the mega-producer and Democratic donor run deep.

Hillary Clinton, after facing mounting pressure to speak out, broke her silence on the allegations Tuesday. Five days after the Weinstein accusations emerged, Clinton released a statement saying she was shocked and appalled. Late Tuesday, the Obamas released a statement of their own, saying: Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accoubtable, regardless of wealth or status.

A deep and tangled history with Weinstein could help explain the delay.

The producer -- using his connections to the wealthy Hollywood and New York elite -- gave or helped raise more than $100,000 for Barack Obama and the Clintons since at least 1995, according to OpenSecrets.org. Roughly half of that went to Hillary Clinton's presidential and Senate campaigns, including a political committee she used to support other Democrats and a joint fund with the DNC in 2016.

In total, Weinstein gave or helped raise -- or bundle -- $1.5 million for Democratic candidates over that time, according to OpenSecrets, the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics website that tracks campaign finance.

Weinstein, who was fired from his own company Sunday following sexual misconduct allegations dating back decades, hosted two Hillary Clinton fundraisers just in the last election.

CLINTON: 'SHOCKED AND APPALLED' BY WEINSTEIN ALLEGATIONS

On Tuesday, Clinton denounced Weinsteins actions and said such behavior "cannot be tolerated." But neither she nor Obama has revealed plans to return his money or donate it to charity, like New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and other congressional Democrats have done.

As with Clinton, Weinstein has been a significant donor and fundraiser for the 44th president -- having raised or helped raise roughly $56,000 for the former Democratic presidents Obama Victory Fund.

One memorable event was held in 2012 at Weinsteins oceanfront estate in Connecticut, where he teamed up with Vogue editor Anna Wintour for a $35,800-a-plate fundraiser.

Fighting for Planned Parenthood and protecting women's rights, this president has fought the good fight," Weinstein said in introducing Obama, according to a pool report at the time. "You can make the case that he's the Paul Newman of American presidents."

Obamas daughter, Malia, also did an internship for the Weinstein Company in New York between high school and attending college this fall.

'You can make the case that he's the Paul Newman of American presidents.'  Harvey Weinstein, speaking of Barack Obama at a 2012 fundraiser

When it came time for Democratic heavyweights to rally around Clinton for the 2016 cycle, Weinstein was there in a big way.

The producer co-hosted one Clinton fundraiser in October 2015 -- again with Wintour -- that purportedly included a photo-op with Clinton attendees who paid at least $2,700.

He then hosted another about eight months later with wife Georgina Chapman in their New York City home. The event was reportedly co-hosted by such stars as Jennifer Lopez and Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio.

Weinstein also attended a Wintour runway style event in fall 2016 that showcased designer Clinton campaign T-shirts and was attended by Clinton daughter Chelsea Clinton and fashion designer Michael Kors.

The 65-year-old Weinstein -- who broke into the film business in 1979 with his and brother Bobs independent film company Miramax -- is also a major Clinton Foundation contributor, having given $100,000 to $250,000, according the groups website.

Weinstein was ousted by the Weinstein Companys board of directors following a New York Times expose that detailed years of sexual harassment allegations against him.

The Times story states Weinstein reached settlements with at least eight women since 1990 over harassment allegations, including from actress Ashley Judd and several former employees. New accusations, some of them even including allegations of rape, emerged in a New Yorker story published Tuesday.

Weinstein has publicly apologized, though he and his lawyers have criticized some of the reporting. In response to The New Yorker report, a representative told the magazine: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein."

Beyond Schumer, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Al Franken of Minnesota and others have donated some or all of their Weinstein money to womens groups.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Trump administration announced last year its plan to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA)  which provides a level of amnesty to certain undocumented immigrants, many of whom came to the U.S. as children  with a six-month delay for recipients. But a federal appeals court ruled against the proposal in early November, declaring the government couldn't immediately end the program.

The Executive wields awesome power in the enforcement of our nations immigration laws, the ruling said. Our decision today does not curb that power, but rather enables its exercise in a manner that is free from legal misconceptions and is democratically accountable to the public.

Trump had initially set a March 5 deadline for the program and called on Congress to pass legislation pertaining to the young immigrants. But the deadline came and went, with no congressional action but several lawsuits challenging the administration's decision to end the program.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES AGAINST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ON DACA

Federal judges in New York and Washington also have ruled against President Trump on DACA.

President Trump has repeatedly blamed Democrats for inaction.

Heres a look at the DACA program and why the Trump administration wants to dismantle it.

What is the DACA program?

The DACA program was formed through executive action by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and allowed certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation. Recipients, called Dreamers, were able to request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, which was subject to renewal.

Deferred action is a use of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stated. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

Individuals were able to request DACA status if they were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012, came to the U.S. before turning 16 and continuously lived in the country since June 15, 2007.

Individuals also had to have a high school diploma, GED certification, been honorably discharged from the military or still be in school. Recipients could not have a criminal record.

It did not provide legal status.

How many people are affected by DACA?

Nearly 800,000 youth, called Dreamers, are under the program's umbrella.

Daniel Garza, president of the conservative immigration nonprofit Libre Initiative, told Fox News that DACA offers a reprieve from a life of uncertainty for innocent kids who didnt break the law.

Its rather disappointing to think they could return to a state of anxiety and fear, he said.

What did the Trump administration do?

The Trump administration announced in September 2017 that it planned to phase out DACA for current recipients, and no new requests would be granted. But a lower court order required the administration to continue accepting renewal applications for those under the DACA program, and the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's request to intervene.

Since the announcement, Trump had offered to work with lawmakers on a solution for the hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. who fell under DACAs umbrella of protections. But at the same time, he has repeatedly blamed Democrats on social media for lack of a solution.

Earlier this year, Trump released his four pillars of immigration reform, which included a provision for legal status for DACA recipients and others who would be eligible for DACA status. The White House estimated that total to be 1.8 million people. The Senate rejected the plan.

Republicans  and some Democrats  opposed Obamas directive establishing DACA from the start as a perceived overreach of executive power.

Obama spoke out on social media after the Trump administration announced a plan to dismantle the program, stating that it's "self-defeating ... and it is cruel" to end DACA and questioned the motive behind the decision.

Do any DACA recipients serve in the military?

Despite some rumors circulating online to the contrary, Dreamers were eligible to serve in the U.S. military since 2014 when the Pentagon adopted a policy to allow a certain amount of illegal immigrants to join.

In fiscal year 2016, 359 DACA recipients had enlisted in the Army  which is the only branch to accept immigrants of this category.

Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Nevada Attorney Generals office is investigating reports of fake online charities collecting donations on behalf of victims that were killed or wounded at a shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas Oct. 1. Officials are partnering with GoFundMe and other social media sites to take down these fraudulent pages.

There has been at least one Facebook page that has been shut down in light of the recent tragedy that was soliciting fraudulent donations. The Attorney Generals office is also aware of other complaints and pursuing those as well.

There continue to be sham charities and websites seeking to profit from this horrific tragedy, said Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. Complaints from local consumers continue to be the best source of information for our Bureau of Consumer Protection in investigating claims of misrepresentation.

Crowdfunding websites do have liability protections for themselves in incidents like this and large insurance packages that can cover costs if they were made to pay out civil litigation settlements. The problem is these guys are pretty slick, they dont make it easy to find them, the money will go to a fake bank account, the money will disappear, and youre unable to trace where it actually went, says Marie Napoli, a personal injury attorney who is not affiliated with any such cases in relation the shooting.

LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: TECH EXECS, INCLUDING TIM COOK, EXPRESS CONDOLENCES

The burden of researching such websites falls on those people who want to donate. If theyre feeling charitable, they need to be vigilant in how and where theyre directing their money.

The Attorney Generals office put out guidance for people on how not to be scammed when donating. These include avoiding charities that ask for donations in cash or via wire transfer, refraining from making payments through credit card over the phone, taking the time to investigate people behind social media campaigns to make sure theyre legitimate.

Scammers tend to prey on two things: either greed or sympathy scams are often perpetrated on sympathetic causes, so step back and look at it and think it through. Oftentimes, people will have signs [on the website] - theyll have bad grammar or limited descriptions, said Alex Hamerstone, a tech expert and cyber analyst.

GoFundMe has policies in place for these types of fraudulent pages and works to counteract their effect in light of the shooting. It has set up a landing page with vetted charity efforts.

LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: PHOTOS SHOW KILLER'S GUNS

Our Trust & Safety Team is providing around-the-clock support and will continue to monitor the platform to ensure all of the money raised goes directly to the victims. We are reviewing all campaigns created in the aftermath of this terrible shooting and will stay in close touch with all organizers and beneficiaries to ensure the resources get to the right place, said Bobby Whithorne, a spokesperson for the company.

Scams like these remain the exception to the rule, says Hamerstone. Due to the cruel nature of exploiting a tragedy for financial gain, they get most of the attention even though there are only a few cases.

A GoFundMe page set up by Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak has raised over $10 million dollars for victims of the Las Vegas shooting

Weve got kids that lost parents, they dont have parents anymore. Weve got individuals whove lost their spouses, husbands and wives and sons and daughters, theres a tremendous amount of need  theyll be needing surgeries for months and years to come and well be there to help them as much as we possibly can," said Sisolak.
In partnership with ConcertHopper.com, Make Music Chattanooga is hosting a music merchandise mall during the annual MAINx24 celebrations on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 1-6 p.m.

Bands and solo artists can sell their merchandise (CDs, T-shirts, posters, etc.) at this pop-up music merch mall. The event is free and open to the public. Merchants will keep 100 percent of income from their sales.

More than 10,000 people attend various MAINx24 events, making this a location for music fans to meet and support their favorite local artists.

The Music Merch Mall is open to all genres, with local artists Sam Killed the Bear, Danimal Planet, Ashley and the Xs, C-Grimey, Somebody Loves Somebody, and Paul Porceddu confirmed as participants.

Participating merchants need to: return the registration form before Nov. 11; provide their own merchandise; supervise their table; handle their purchase transactions; have cash to make change and be able to accept credit/debit card payments (preferred, not required).

Chattanooga area musicians can register now at concerthopper.com/musicmerchmall. The registration deadline is Nov. 11.
Do aliens exist? This question has baffled humans for centuries.

From Roswell to Suffolk's Rendlesham Forest, these are the sightings which UFO hunters have hailed as proof of extra-terrestrial life.

How many alien and UFO sightings have there been?

The number of UFO sightings is currently flying at an all-time high, according to data cruncher and blogger Sam Monfort.

The alien expert reckons there have been nearly 105,000 recorded UFO sightings in the past 100-plus years.

And Sam is far from the only believer on our planet.

From an "alien autopsy" video dating back to 1995 to a video of fighter jets apparently chasing a UFO over the M5, there are hundreds of videos which people have claimed to be proof of alien life.

There's even a clip of a UFO supposedly attacking a Taliban compound, as well as 'sightings' in Peckham and Warminster.

Most of the videos have been debunked by experts. In the M5 clip, for example, the motorway lorries look like models.

While the Peckham UFOs were "almost certainly Chinese lanterns", former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope told the Sun Online.

This story originally appeared in The Sun.
The US Army and General Motors have teamed up to explore a new method of power for Army vehicles that could deliver near silent operation and hard-to-detect heat signatures.

The new vehicle, known as the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2, was displayed at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) exhibition yesterday. The truck, which uses hydrogen fuel-cells, immediately drew a crowd filled with active duty military personnel.

Based on the existing Chevrolet Colorado truck, the ZH2 has a lot of modifications for military purposes. For starters, it is reinforced inside and out. To tackle the extreme terrain the military faces, it also has a specially modified suspension.

AUSA 2017 IN PICTURES

The fuel-cell-powered electric vehicle is more than six and a half feet tall and more than seven feet wide. It has 37-inch tires and based on a stretched midsize pickup chassis. If chosen to go downrange, then it would be the very first combat vehicle powered with a hydrogen fuel-cell.

GM has worked closely with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) on the vehicle. Testing this fuel-cell vehicle for potential military uses began in January of this year and is expected to last a year.

PODCAST: LEARN TO DRIVE YOUR CAR LIKE JAMES BOND WITH THIS SPECIAL FORCES EXPERT

Beating the heat and the noise

With wide potential, hydrogen fuel-cells could mean significantly reduced heat signatures and near silent power-train systems.

Heat signatures are a big challenge for combat. Normally, a vehicle with an internal combustion engine is going to give off a lot of heat. This heat can be detected to reveal location and compromise a teams location.

But if the enemy is hunting for Army vehicles with infrared cameras and they scan the ZH2 while it is running, the heat this new vehicle gives off is so low that it makes the vehicle almost invisible.

Humvees give off approximately 750 degrees of heat, so they can be detected from more than three miles away. The ZH2s fuel-cell electric drivetrain, on the other hand, only gives off approximately 140 degrees making it harder to detect and allowing the vehicle to get closer to a target before detection. Some estimates place detection at about one mile away.

Why does that matter? For starters, it means that an enemy has far less warning American forces are about to arrive and far less time to react.

PODCAST: DISCOVER THE SECRETS TO WORKING OUT LIKE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

Army testing

Hydrogen fuel cell tech is advancing rapidly  but is it stable enough and safe enough for Army use?

Performance and safety are two key issues that must be proven for the military to even consider adopting a new vehicle.

Chevrolets view is that hydrogen fuel stored at pressure is no more dangerous than conventional fuel. The ZH2 tanks store hydrogen at 10,000 psi. So far in the military testing, it seems to be safe enough for use in ground vehicles.

To evaluate the safety of the hydrogen fuel storage, the ZH2 tank has reportedly been shot with 7.62 mm standard, incendiary and armor piercing rounds. It has also been shot with .50 caliber rounds. Buzz at AUSA suggests that a rocket-propelled grenade round penetrated, but failed to explode.

Based on testing so far, the tanks seem almost bulletproof. But if the tank does become breached, then the ZH2 is designed to vent the volatile hydrogen.

WOMEN, ARE YOU READY FOR DANGER? 7 MUST HAVE THINGS TO CARRY EVERYDAY

More power

In the bed of the ZH2, there is also a portable generator (known as a Exportable Power Take Off unit) that can provide power. If a military team arrives in an area without electricity, then they just have to pull the generator out of the vehicle and theyre good to go.

It could be particularly handy for teams working in remote forward operating base to power essentials like communications and surveillance tech. Or a reconnaissance team could use the generator to enable staying in place for longer, for example.

This fuel-cell-powered military vehicle also produces water as a byproduct. Eventually, the water could be captured and used by teams as well.

Providing a generator is handy, but hydrogen to power that vehicle and generator in the battlespace is currently not exactly easy to come by.

Jet Propellant 8 (otherwise known as JP8) is, however, easy to come by and is used for common things like tanks and trucks. TARDEC has a reformer that converts JP8 to hydrogen.

So if military vehicles use this sort of revolutionary fuel cell power in the future, then the H2 tanks could be filled using this reformer device.

This story has been updated to reflect the ZH2 was displayed at AUSA 2017 and not revealed.
An Indiana couple visiting Longboat Key, Florida, found an unnerving surprise in the master bedroom of their Airbnb: a hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector, Fox 13 reported.

Derek Starnes told WFTS that he noticed a small, black hole on the side of a smoke detector in the room. When he took it down to get a better look, Starnes, who works in tech, realized the hole was a camera. The camera was pointing right at the couples bed.

Starnes then called the police, who later arrested homeowner Wayne Natt, 56. Natt has since been charged with one count of video voyeurism, Fox 13 reported.

"I would've never noticed," Lt. Bob Bourque of the Longboat Key Police Department told Fox 13. "The smoke detector had a small black dot where the camera was mounted on the side of it. There was one in the master bedroom which was pointed at a bed and then one in the living room."

Starnes, who said both he and his wife are distressed by this situation, hopes that those who have previously rented from Natt will come forward.

Natt told police that the camera was used to record sexual activity, according to Bourque, who added that Natt said he hid the camera in the smoke detector to get a better angle. Natt also claimed renters knew they were being filmed, according to Bourque.

In a statement to Fox 13, Airbnb said it was outraged at the reports of what happened.

As soon as we were made aware, we permanently banned this individual from our community and fully supported the affected guests. Our team has reached out to local law enforcement to aid them with their investigation of the egregious offense and we hope justice is served. We take privacy issues extremely seriously and have a zero-tolerance policy against this behavior.

Prior to his arrest, Natt had more than 40 reviews on Airbnb and had been on the home-sharing site for two years, Fox 13 reported. Investigators told the news outlet they believe there are more victims.
It was the coroner in "The Wizard of Oz" who once said that "she's not only merely dead, she's really, most sincerely dead!" I know he was speaking of the Wicked Witch of the East, but today he could also be speaking of Windows 10 Mobile.

Microsoft operating system group vice president Joe Belfiore revealed on Twitter today (Oct. 9) that Microsoft is no longer focusing on its mobile platform.

"Of course we'll continue to support the platform," Belfiore wrote on Twitter. "[B]ug fixes, security updates, etc. But building new features/h[ardware] aren't the focus."

Belfiore wrote on Twitter that the volume of users on the platform was too low to incentivize app developers. Last week, Microsoft announced that its Edge browser is in beta for iOS and Android, and it released a new app launcher for Android. At Microsoft Build in May, the company revealed a number of ways it was integrating Windows 10 into other mobile platforms, including a universal "Pick Up Where You Left Off" feature, One Drive for iMessage and access to OneDrive files while offline.

Of course, this kills our hope for the long-rumored Surface Phone, which would have paired Microsoft's hardware with its software. Now, Microsoft has turned its mobile attention to iOS and Android entirely. Belfiore, for his part, revealed he switched to Android, and Bill Gates revealed that he did so, too, in a recent interview with Fox News Sunday.

HP, which tried to fuse the Windows PC with the phone with its Elite x3, also recently announced that it canceled its slate of Windows Phone devices.

Last year, Microsoft cut over 1,800 jobs as it phased out the Nokia brand, which is had acquired previously to bolster Windows Phone. Now, it seems, that beyond some security patches, the final death knell has truly sounded.
A dog checked as cargo escaped his cage and caused multiple delays at an airport in Japan Monday.

The large poodle was in a special basket being loaded onto a Japan Airlines flight at Tokyos Haneda Airport when it escaped and ran toward the runway around 8:50 a.m., South China Morning Post reports.

AMERICAN AIRLINES CANCELS FLIGHT AFTER CARGO CATCHES FIRE ON TARMAC

Officials had to close one of four runways for about six minutes, prompting delays on 14 flights, a police spokesman told Strait Times.

After 40 minutes, the poodles owner had to come catch the pet.

The airline said it plans to question staff about the incident and see if there are any issues with the loading procedure, according to the Morning Post.



FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

This isnt the first time a flight has been delayed for an unusual reason. Earlier this year a China Southern Airlines flight was stuck in Shanghai for five hours after an elderly woman threw coins into the engine for good luck, prompting an evacuation of all passengers and an inspection of the plane.
A mother in California died Friday in an apparent DUI crash as she was returning home from visiting her premature twin baby girls in an intensive care unit.

Katie Evans, 37, a mother of six, was hit head-on by a reckless driver that hit a curb and sideswiped another vehicle before crashing into her, the Santa Clarita Valley Signal reported. Evans was pronounced dead at the scene.

She was less than a mile away from her home.

Police said alcohol was found in the car that hit Evans and believe it played a role in the crash.

The 22-year-old woman driver that killed the mother of twins was detained on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI, but later released pending further charges, The Signal reported.

The mother was on her way back home following the visit of her premature twin baby girls, Sarah and Hannah. They both are less than eight weeks old.

She was traveling home late at night after visiting her baby girls at the hospital  and she was hit, Evans sister-in-law, Caralee, told PEOPLE. They said her body was thrown from the vehicle. It was pretty mangled.

A YouCaring fundraising page aimed at raising $500,000 was set up after the tragedy. It so far raised more than $190,000.

Evans husband, Jacob, will now have to take care of the other four children aged from 2 to 12 in addition to the twin baby girls who are expected to survive despite the premature birth.

We have a rough road ahead of us, trying to figure out how to handle everything, Jacobs brother, Michael, told PEOPLE. The outpouring of support from the community, from the internet, from our local church, from neighbors  it has been absolutely overwhelming.
Several raging wind-whipped fires killed at least 10 people and forced massive evacuations Monday in the area around California's world-famous wine country, as Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency and officials estimated at least 1,500 homes and commercial buildings were destroyed.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said an estimated 20,000 people have been evacuated as 14 large fires are zero percent contained. The fires are burning throughout an eight-county swath of Northern California, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

At least 10 people have died as a result of the burning wildfires, officials said Monday night. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office tweeted that seven deaths were reported in Sonoma County.

The California Fire Public Information Officer tweeted that two people are confirmed dead in Napa County, in addition to one death in Mendocino County.

Other fatalities are expected, according to Pimlott, but damaged areas are difficult to assess as the fires continue to burn.

More than 100 people were treated for burns and smoke inhalation from the raging fires, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The city of Santa Rosa has enacted a curfew from sunset until sunrise in mandatory evacuation zones. People in those evacuation zones will be subject to stop, and potential arrest if they refuse to leave those areas, officials said.

During the curfew period, authorities will be looking for looters, the Acting Police Chief Craig Schwartz said.

"Right now with these conditions we can't get ahead of this fire and do anything about the forward progress," Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said at a news conference.

A spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric told The Associated Press that 114,000 customers were without power.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said there were multiple fires reported around the county, including a "very large fire" that jumped a freeway and spread into the east side of Santa Rosa.

Multiple fires broke out Sunday night as strong winds buffeted the area. Emergency lines were inundated with callers reporting smoke in the area, prompting officials to ask that the public "only use 911 if they see actual unattended flames, or are having another emergency."

The Tubbs Fire between Santa Rosa and Calistoga alone grew from 200 acres to 20,000 acres by Monday morning, CalFire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox told KTVU.

"This fire is explosive," he said, adding that hundreds, if not thousands of structures were impacted.

Cox said he heard of some people injured while trying to evacuate, but could not be specific.

"We're still saving lives at the moment," he said. "This fire has gotten explosive due to the wind."

In Santa Rosa, Ron Dodds, who told KTVU he was helping his uncle evacuate said people were running red lights, and "there is chaos ensuing."

"It's a scary time," Dodds said. "It looks like Armageddon."

Patients from Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health hospitals were evacuated early Monday from Santa Rosa and taken to other nearby hospitals or make-shift hospitals, according to KTVU.

Chris Coursey, the mayor of Santa Rosa, said Monday evening in a press conference that his "heart goes out to everyone who has suffered loss in the last day or so."

"I'm lucky, my house is fine, my family is fine, my city is not. And it's gonna take a long time for us to recover from what's happened today," Coursey said. "Santa Rosa is a strong city. We're a resilient city, we're an indivisible city. And we're going to need to hang together as we get through this."

In neighboring Napa County, officials were battling a 200 acre fire south of Lake Berryessa, located about 65 miles west of Sacramento.

Fire officials said the Atlas Fire broke out at 9:50 p.m. local time and was zero percent contained.

Cal Fire Deputy Chief Scott McLean called the conditions "very volatile."

"People need to be careful," McLean said.

Belia Ramos, chairwoman of the Napa County Board of Supervisors, said officials did not yet have a count on how many properties were affected, either by the fire directly or by evacuations.

"We're focusing on making evacuations and trying to keep people safe. We are not prepared to start counting. Certainly with day just breaking now, we are starting to see the structures that are affected," she said shortly after sunrise.

"The gusts are very, very  they're tremendous and it's what makes this fire unpredictable. It's something that we're having to be very cautious about," she said.

Downed trees were blocking parts of one rural road and fires were burning on both sides of Highway 12 as gusts reached up to 60 mph.

The winds picked up to 40-plus miles per hour probably, very windy, and it changed direction and it headed straight down the valley floor, Napa resident and Ranch Markets owner Arik Housley told FOX & Friends.

The fires were also near some wineries in the famed Napa Valley. It was not immediately clear if the Francis Ford Coppola Winery was affected by the ferocious blaze, but some wineries on Silverado Trail had some damage.

Windsor Fire Chief Jack Piccinini told the Associated Press that nearly every one of Sonoma County's fire resources is being used, but it is not enough.

"Everyone in Sonoma County is spread out fighting these fires, but they don't have enough resources to handle something like this. The only thing we can do is hope the wind will come down," he said.

Community centers, the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and other local centers have been opened for evacuees.

"It was an inferno like you've never seen before," said Marian Williams, who caravanned with neighbors through flames before dawn as one of the wildfires reached the vineyards and ridges at her small Sonoma County town of Kenwood.

Williams told the AP she could feel the heat of fire through the car as she fled.

"Trees were on fire like torches," she said.

Fires also burned in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties  all north of the state capital. Cal Fire tweeted that as many as 8,000 homes were threatened in Nevada County, which lies on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

The National Weather Service issued a warning of dangerous conditions that could lead to rapidly spreading wildfires, which goes until early Tuesday. The fires created thick smoke in San Francisco, 60 miles south of the Sonoma County fire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Serial killer John Wayne Gacy's paintings are going up for auction.

Bidding for the auction will start on Oct. 17 at Mullocks Auctions in Shropshire, U.K. and includes a number of Gacys paintings such as two original versions of Im Pogo the Clown and an original of They Call Him Mr. Gacy, according to the auction houses website.

Gacy, otherwise known as the Killer Clown, was responsible for the rape and murder of at least 33 young men and children between 1972 and 1978. Pogo the Clown was known as Gacys alter ego during his killing rampage. 29 bodies were found buried in the crawlspace beneath his home in Chicago, which led to his eventual arrest in 1978. Other bodies were dumped in a river.

Gacy was a contractor and amateur clown who would lure his victims to his home by impersonating a police officer or promising construction work. He stabbed one of his victims and strangled the others. Gacy was convicted in 1980 and executed in 1994.

Others items up for auction include a Christ painting, a copy of the book, "They Call Him Mr. Gacy" and the Hi Ho Around the Campfire painting, which is a depiction of Disneys seven dwarfs, and includes a signed note on the back reading, Enjoy the painting as much as I enjoyed doing it.

'IT' BECOMES TOP-GROSSING R-RATED HORROR FLICK OF ALL TIME

The Mullocks website also has crime scene pictures from Gacys trial up for auction. They wrote that the pictures were attained from legal counsel and show the human remains that investigators found beneath his house, Mullock's said. The photos also reportedly include an embossed seal of the Cook County Sheriffs department.

Prices for the paintings and photos vary but his Im Pogo the Clown Goodbye oil painting could go for more than $9,000 U.S. dollars, according to the site.

The auction will also include artwork from serial killer Anthony Sowell, according to Mullocks. Sowell is currently awaiting the death penalty after he was convicted for the rape and murder of 11 women.
A Mandalay Bay hotel security guard who ran into Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock ahead of the Oct. 1 massacre is being hailed a hero after he took the shooters first bullet, potentially saving lives ahead of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Jesus Campos, a security guard at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, was shot by Paddock six minutes before he began shooting into a crowd of 22,000 people enjoying the country music festival down below, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a news conference Monday evening.

Campos was responding to an alarm going off in the hotel and ventured off to find the source when he came across the sound of drilling.

The security guard told investigators that Paddock was drilling to an adjacent wall in the hallway  most likely to install a camera or to point a rifle  but never finished the job.

Lombardo said the alarm that went off was not connected to Paddocks room.

At 9:59 p.m., Campos was shot in the leg after Paddock reportedly fired 200 shots into the hallway. Paddock began shooting into the crowd six minutes later, contradicting original reports that Campos arrival is what stopped Paddocks mass shooting.

Between the time that Campos was shot and Paddock began shooting, Campos notified authorities of what happened, which Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said Friday was absolutely critical as it gave police Paddocks exact location.

Lombardo said Monday that a maintenance worker was also on the 32nd floor at the time Campos was shot, and Campos prevented that man from also being shot or otherwise injured.

STEPHEN PADDOCK'S HOME SEARCHED AGAIN BY FBI, LAS VEGAS SHOOTER'S BACKGROUND EMERGES

Lombardo confirmed that Paddock had also shot at two aviation fuel tanks roughly 2,000 feet away from his hotel room, apparently in an effort to divert attention away from his shooting at the large crowd of people.

While authorities have yet to find a motive for Paddock, Lombardo said that they are continuing to investigate, noting every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle.

Paddock's brother, Eric, and girlfriend, Marilou Danley, are still being interviewed in the wake of the shooting in an effort to gain insight.

"I'm trying to help them move forward with their investigation," Eric Paddock told the Las Vegas Journal-Review about cooperating with authorities. "I'm trying to get them to understand Steve's mindset. I don't want them to chase bad leads."

Officials have yet to find a possible connection between Paddock and ideology, and Lombardo said there is no evidence there was a second shooter.

JASON ALDEAN VISITS LAS VEGAS SHOOTING VICTIMS

Lombardo said that while investigators have found 200 incidents of Paddock moving through the city, there was no evidence he was with anyone else.

Many had speculated in the days following the shooting that a note found in Paddocks hotel room was possibly a suicide note, but Lombardo said the piece of paper seen in leaked pictures was only a note with numbers on it.

Las Vegas police officers who entered Paddocks room told CBS News 60 Minutes on Sunday night that the note contained hand-written calculations, which included the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was gonna be for the crowd.
The Signal Mountain Genealogical Society will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. at the Walden Town Hall, 1836 Taft Highway.

Organizers are pleased to have as the speaker for the day, Linda Mines, the Hamilton County Historian. Ms. Mines will present a program on World War I, 1916  1918.



As always guests are welcome.


A devastating fire coursing through southern California created dramatic views over Disneyland, prompting a flood of pictures on social media.

The smoke was coming from Canyon Fire 2 as it tore through 4,000 to 5,000 acres of land near Orange County, Calif., Anaheim Fire & Rescue tweeted on Monday.

The fire began late Monday morning in Anaheim, Calif., and moved quickly due to strong Santa Ana winds, which blow from the northeast towards the coast. It was pushed toward heavily populated areas of Orange County which forced authorities to expand evacuation zones, according to Anaheim Sgt. Daron Wyatt.

A number of neighborhoods and schools in the area were evacuated and some heavily traveled freeways were shut down. Officials said between 3,000 and 4,000 residents have been affected.

CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY WILDFIRES KILL AT LEAST 10, FORCE TENS OF THOUSANDS TO EVACUATE

The fire burning in parts of Orange, Anaheim, and Tustin Counties has created poor air quality conditions, KTLA reported. As of Monday evening, the fire was zero percent contained, officials said.

Residents reported ash falling miles away in areas near the Pacific Coast.

At least six homes have been destroyed due to the flames and 5,000 structures are currently threatened, Anaheim Fire & Rescue reported.

At least 500 firefighters are reportedly battling the flames and are going from house to house evacuating people, officials said. An additional 500 firefighters are expected in the area by Tuesday. They said that the priority remains life safety.

One firefighter was hurt and sustained minor injuries, Wyatt said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Texas Tech student accused of shooting and killing an officer at the police station on campus was caught late Monday and is now in custody, police tell local media.

The suspect, identified as Hollis Daniels, had been brought to the police station after a welfare check when he suddenly shot and killed the officer earlier in the evening before bolting from the scene, officials said.

The university lifted its campus-wide lockdown after the suspect was caught.

Police had found "evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia" in the suspect's room, Fox 34 reported.

Texas Tech did not immediately identify the officer who was killed.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox 34.
A Michigan judge granted joint legal custody of an 8-year-old boy to a convicted sex offender who allegedly raped the childs mother when she was 12 years old.

Christopher Mirasolo, 27, of Brown City, was granted joint custody of the boy after a DNA test showed he was the childs biological father, Rebecca Kiessling, the victims attorney said, FOX59 reported.

Under a 2008 plea deal, Mirasolo served less than a year in jail after pleading guilty to attempted criminal sexual conduct in the then-12-year-old girl's case. Mirasolo also spent time in prison for a 2010 criminal sexual conduct conviction, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.

Despite the plea deal and conviction, Sanilac County Circuit Judge Gregory S. Ross granted him joint custody and prosecutors ordered the victim to move to Michigan from Florida so that Mirasolo could be close to their son, FOX59 reported.

This is insane, Kiessling told Detroit News. Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated. He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimizing my client, who was a child herself when this all happened.

The Detroit News reported the case could be the first of its kind in the state and maybe the nation.

The judge also restricted the childs domicile and residence, disclosed the rape victims home address to her rapist, and ordered his name on the birth certificate  all without the mothers consent or any opportunity to be heard, Kiessling continued.

In September 2008, when Mirasolo was 18 years old, he reportedly raped the then-12-year-old and threatened to kill her. The woman, now 21, has not been named.

The alleged incident happened when the girl, her 13-year-old sister and a friend all slipped out of their house one night to meet a boy and the boys older friend. Mirasolo showed up and asked if they wanted a ride.

They thought they were going to McDonalds or somewhere. Instead, he tossed their cellphones away, drove to Detroit where he stole gas from a station and then drove back to Sanilac County, where he kept them captive for two days in a vacant house near a relative, finally releasing the older sister in a park Kiessling said. He threatened to kill them if they told anyone what happened.

Mirasolo was arrested a month later after the girl realized she was pregnant. He pled guilty to attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to a year in jail  but he only served half the time so he could help take care of his ailing mother.

MOM JAILED OVER REFUSAL TO VACCINATE SON REPORTEDLY RELEASED

Kiessling said the victims family urged her to have an abortion or give him up for adoption, but she insisted on keeping the baby.

To her credit, she said she didnt want the baby to be a victim, too, said Kiessling. She dropped out of school, went to live with relatives out of state and worked jobs to try and support herself.

MICHIGAN WOMAN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS HELD IN SHED AND SOLD FOR SEX BY COUPLE, POLICE SAY

Barbara Yockey, Mirasolos attorney, said it is still unclear what kind of relationship Mirasolo will have with his son.

I dont know what his plans or intentions might be regarding any future relationship with the child, his attorney told The Detroit News. This might be something we will have a conversation about, but he has not been served with any other court papers and is not scheduled to be in court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version of the article stated that Mirasolo plead guilty to sexual assault. In fact, he plead guilty to attempted criminal sexual conduct, court records stated.
A Pennsylvania college has barred the public from seeing a provocative art exhibition on slavery, white supremacy and racist violence against blacks, deeming it potentially disturbing.

The touring Rewind exhibition opened at York College on Aug. 31, a few weeks after the deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The show includes a display of mannequins dressed in colorful KKK-style robes, images of lynchings and artwork that deals with recent police shootings of unarmed blacks.

York officials say they decided to limit attendance to people with college IDs and invited guests.

The images, while powerful, are very provocative and potentially disturbing to some. This is especially the case without the benefit of an understanding of the intended educational context of the exhibit, said a statement released by college spokeswoman Mary Dolheimer.

The artist, Paul Rucker, of Baltimore, said the private college has missed an opportunity to start a dialogue about race relations. He said the show was previously mounted in Ellensburg, Washington, and Ferguson, Missouri, without any restrictions.

There is so much more to art than pretty pictures and naked guy sculptures, Rucker told the York Daily Record. But there is a learning curve in showing art like this.
The 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., has spawned a violent domestic threat from black identity extremists who have stepped up attacks on police, according to an explosive new report by the FBIs counterterrorism division.

The warning, first reported by Foreign Policy magazine, says that it is very likely BIEs proactively target police and openly identify and justify their actions with social-political agendas commensurate with their perceived injustices against African Americans ...

Brown, an African-American 18-year-old, was shot in August 2014 after struggling with white police officer Darren Wilson. Although Brown's supporters claimed it was a deadly case of police brutality, Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing and resigned in November 2014.

Police officials said that Wilson stopped Brown after getting a call about a robbery at a convenience store in which the clerk was strong-armed after the suspect  with whom Brown was a match -- attempted to leave.

Wilson and Brown got into a scuffle as Brown reportedly reached for the police officers gun, and Wilson then gave chase, shooting him. Brown's family said he had his hands up when he was shot, police said it was untrue.

The shooting led to protests in Ferguson that then spread to other parts of the country. It gained added momentum after subsequent racially charged police shootings, spurred on via social media and the group Black Lives Matter.

The FBI report said that the agency previously had analyzed the potential for violence of black identity extremism, a term that was unfamiliar before it appeared in the document. What has changed, according to the report, is that violence has now actually occurred and is 'likely" to continue.



It is very likely that BIEs perceptions of unjust treatment of African-Americans and the perceived unchallenged illegitimate actions of law enforcement will inspire premeditated attacks against law enforcement over the next year, the report said. It is very likely additional controversial police shootings of African-Americans and the associated legal proceedings will continue to serve as drivers for violence against law enforcement.

Attacks in which police officers are targeted have been on the rise in recent years. The most high-profile such incident occurred last year in Dallas, when a gunman named Micah Johnson hid in a parking garage and fired on 11 police officers, killing five of them, during a protest against officer-involved shootings. The FBI report noted that Johnson referred to anger over police shootings and toward whites as what drove him to kill the five police officers.

The FBI report drew accusations of racial profiling.

DeRay Mckesson of Black Lives Matter told The Guardian the terrorism report echoes the days when the FBI tracked activist groups including the NAACP and those that opposed wars.

We knew that we were likely being watched, said Mckesson, a longtime critic of government monitoriing of protest groups. This is confirmation that the work of social justice continues to threaten those in power.

The Guardian also quoted an unnamed source it described only as a former senior official from the Department of Homeland Security saying that the category "black identity extremist" was troubling.

"This is a new umbrella designation that has no basis," the source is quoted as saying. "There are civil rights and privacy issues all over this."

But others say that the FBI is correctly sounding an alarm about a serious trend.

"It's not racial profiling, it's violence profiling," Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank, told Fox News. "Identity politics can kill, whether it's white identity politics, which killed in Charlottesville, or black identity politics, which kills cops."

"We have to be able to distinguish between free speech and violence," Walter said. "[Many] longtime [black] activist groups were not obsessed with violence."



Randy Sutton, a former Las Vegas law enforcement official who now is the national spokesman for Blue Lives Matter, told Fox News that the FBI report makes official what he and others in police work have been observing in recent years.

"Nobody is saying anything negative about protests," Sutton said, "Protesting is everyone's right. This is about commiting acts of violence. Many Black Lives Matter protests call for violence against police, with chants like 'What do we want?' and 'Dead cops!' It's terrorism, and it's no different than Islamic terrorism."

Sutton said the rising number of ambush attacks on police has had a chilling effect on how they do their jobs.

"Police are not being as aggressive because of the political climate," he said. "There's been a dramatic decrease in proactive policing."
A robber Googled how to rob a bank, before committing the crime, deputies said.

Pinellas County deputies arrested William Johnson, 26, of Pinellas Park. According to detectives, he robbed the Achieva Credit Union at 10125 Ulmerton Road in Largo on the morning of October 5.

When inside the bank, they said he approached the bank teller, implied he had a gun and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was found at the Express Inn located at 11333 U.S. Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park, where he was staying as a guest.

Detectives said he admitted to the bank robbery. Johnson told them he needed money and, as a result, he Googled how to rob a bank. He also said he originally planned to rob the Wells Fargo Bank at 10500 Ulmerton Road but when he entered, he changed his mind after seeing the teller was a large male.

Read more from Fox 13 Tampa Bay.
A Florida couple has been arrested after they allegedly prostituted a young girl for 13 years in exchange for drugs.

The child was allegedly subject to sexual abuse starting when she was 3 years old and it reportedly lasted until March 2016.

Celeste Chambers of Tallahassee, Fla. and her boyfriend, Kevin Wyatt, were both arrested last week as Gasden County fugitives, according to the Miami Herald.

Wyatt was arrested on Sunday afternoon after he was found hiding in a boathouse along the East River in Florida, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. Prior to his arrest, he was wanted on five warrants, including sex trafficking.

Chambers, who was initially arrested in June 2017 but was later released, was arrested again last Wednesday after the Gasden County Sheriffs Office issued multiple warrants for her arrest. The warrants included two counts of sexual abuse, a count of lewd and lascivious behavior, and one count for child cruelty, WTXL-Channel 27 reported.

Chambers arrest comes after the Gadsden County Sheriffs Office led a multi-jurisdictional investigation into Chambers in March of last year, according to WTXL-Channel 27.

Since her arrest, she has pleaded not guilty to all the charges made against her, including sexual battery on a child under 12 by an adult, child abuse, and human trafficking by a parent, legal guardian or custodian, among others, according to the Miami Herald. Wyatt is now facing similar charges.

Chambers is slated to face trial in early January.
A Florida man was arrested Friday after allegedly sexually assaulting a two-year-old in the restroom of a Chick-fil-a, police said.

David Gray, who was in a motorized wheelchair, was arrested after witnesses told police that he was seen in the restroom of the fast-food chain with a small child on his lap, Fox 35 Orlando reported.

One witness told police that the 35-year-old daycare worker entered the building with the 2-year-old and headed straight for the bathroom. The police report stated that after being there for an extended period of time, one customer yelled call the police, a child is being abused in the bathroom!

Customers tried to stop the man from leaving but he pulled a stun gun and threated violence, police said.

Gray is facing multiple charges including sexual battery, lewd and lascivious battery, lewd and lascivious molestation, lewd and lascivious conduct, lewd and lascivious exposure, and child abuse, Fox Orlando reported.

Investigators revealed Monday that Gray was operating an illegal daycare center less than a mile away from the Chick-fil-A he frequented, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

He appeared before a judge this weekend and was denied bail.
A Florida man called his wife at work Monday to tell her he killed the couple's 17-month-old daughter because the woman planned on divorcing him, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday.

Lake County deputies went to Jeremy Mains residence in Lady Lake, Fla., and found the toddler, Mackenzie Main, dead in the bathtub, the affidavit stated. Main's wife, Holly Main, 37, called police after her husband allegedly told her he killed their daughter.

How could you destroy something that loves you 100 percent?  Barbara Northcutt

They had to bust the door in, Sgt. Fred Jones, a Lake County Sheriffs spokesman, told the Orlando Sentinel. Jones said the death appeared to be an apparent drowning.

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A TODDLER IN CHICK-FIL-A RESTROOM

Main, 38, had turned himself in at a Sumter County Sheriffs Office substation, and Lake County detectives went there to question him. He was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bail.

Main told deputies he attempted suicide but failed to kill himself and he has ruined his life, according to the arrest affidavit viewed by WESH.

Barbara Northcutt, Holly Mains mother, told the Orlando Sentinel that Main had some issues but didn't specify what they may have been.

FLORIDA MOMS OVERDOSED ON HEROIN WHILE THEIR NEWBORNS WERE IN THE BACKSEAT, POLICE SAY

He had some issues  there were family issues, Northcutt said.

She told the Orlando Sentinel she wanted to ask her son-in-law: How could you destroy something that loves you 100 percent?

Holly Main, who has two teen children from a previous marriage, wed Jeremy in July 2015. The teens, who live at home with the couple, were reportedly at school at the time of the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man accused of breaking into an Atlanta-area Target store in the middle of the night explained his actions by saying he was just practicing his ninja skills, police said.

Christopher Adkins was arrested after the alarm company spotted a man forcing his way into the store's rear delivery door, FOX5 Atlanta reported.

Police later found Adkins near the store on Perimeter Center Place in Dunwoody. Adkins allegedly admitted breaking into Target -- but only because he was learning how to enter secured areas as a ninja.

Police said the man told officers he got the idea after reading Japanese comics where a main character must learn to enter a secured area, FOX5 reported.

He was charged with first-degree burglary.
The Salvation Army will be providing Christmas Assistance through its Angel Tree Program.

Applications will be taken Oct. 23-Nov. 3, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at 5001 Covington St.

For information on ringing Salvation Army bells, volunteering at an Angel Tree table or serving a holiday meal, visit csarmy.org or call 756-1023.
Two Indiana parents were arrested last week after being accused of locking their daughter in a cage and leaving her without food or water.

Aimee Friz, 36, and Alan Friz, 57, of Huntingburg, were arrested last Wednesday at their home after police responded to reports of a disorderly child, the Dubois County Herald reported.

When speaking to police, the child reportedly claimed she had been locked in a cage since at least early September. Authorities allegedly found the cage  a closet area of a bedroom that was found to have been converted into a lockable cage, according to the Herald.

COUPLE FINDS HIDDEN CAMERA DISGUISED AS SMOKE DETECTOR IN FLORIDA AIRBNB

Alan, employed as a dentist in town, was arrested on charges of preliminary confinement and neglect charges.

Aimee was spotted outside a courthouse where Alan appeared Thursday, and was arrested on the same charges.

In an affidavit the couples daughter said that Alan touched her inappropriately a number of times between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30. Her father allegedly touched her breasts while showering, while in her bedroom and while locked in the apparent cage. The girls age was not released.

Aimee, apparently 8 1/2 months pregnant, reportedly said her daughter said she would kill her, and also kill her unborn child.

Aimee and Alan are out on bail  in the amounts of $10,000 and $25,000, respectively  the Herald reported.

CHICAGO WOMAN ACCUSED OF THREATENING TO OUT FBI MOLE IN TRAIN-GUNS CASE

The couple was reportedly ordered to not have contact with their daughter, and other children residing in the home were removed last Wednesday.

Alan faces 25 criminal charges including four felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, 11 felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, 11 felony counts of neglect and 11 felony counts of criminal confinement. Aimee faces 11 felony counts of neglect and 11 felony counts of criminal confinement.


Following devastation in the southern United States and the Caribbean, a number of musicians have come together to promote relief efforts for areas affected by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria this year.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda released a new song on Friday featuring some of Latin musics biggest stars. The song, Almost Like Praying, includes vocals by Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Camilla Cabello, Gloria Estefan and more.





The song lists all 78 Puerto Rican towns. Miranda told the Associated Press that he didnt want the smaller towns and communities to be ignored as larger cities regained power and essentials.

This song is designed so that those towns never feel forgotten again, Miranda told the AP. I cannot wait for Puerto Ricans to hear Luis Fonsi sing the name of their town or J.Lo to sing the name of their town.

All the proceeds of the song will go to the Hispanic Federations disaster relief fund as Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricane Maria.





Later this month, another group of musicians will come together at Texas A&M University to hold a hurricane relief concert.

The lineup has yet to be released, but there are some famous faces locked in to attend.

Each of the five living former U.S. presidents will attend the concert that will benefit recoveries in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean.

A statement from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation stated that Bush would be joined by former presidents Barrack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

The event, titled Deep from the Heart: The One America Appeal, was launched by the presidents last month and will be hosted on Oct. 21.


Las Vegas police on Tuesday defended changes in the timeline of the deadliest shooting in modern United States history, even as a flood of questions emerged following a sheriffs announcement a security guard was struck by a bullet six minutes before the gunman fired on a packed concert crowd.

Jesus Campos, a guard at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, was shot by Stephen Paddock at 9:59 p.m. local time, six minutes before Paddock opened fire on a country music festival below, killing 58 and injuring hundreds more, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a news conference Monday evening.

Lombardo previously said Campos was injured after the attack started, and, according to a police timeline, the first officers arrived on Paddocks floor at 10:17 p.m.

We cant put band-aids on everything, Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesperson for the department, told Fox News on Tuesday when asked about the change in the timeline. He said the information police release is what they know at the time and everything is subject to change as the investigation develops.

He added: We want to make sure we are putting out the best information we have for everybody."

But what Lombardos statement makes unclear -- assuming everything else previously said by authorities remained true -- is what was going on behind the scenes with hotel security and police during the 18 minutes between Campos' shooting and the arrival of police on the shooters floor?

At the news conference Monday, Lombardo said Campos, after he was shot on Oct. 1, immediately told security what happened. Campos had been on the floor investigating an alarm when he was shot, though the alarm reportedly had nothing to do Paddock.

In close proximity of Mr. Campos being shot there was also a maintenance worker on the 32nd floor. Mr. Campos prevented him from receiving any injuries, Lombardo added.

But Lombardo also said police didnt know Campos was hit until responding officers arrived on-scene later.

They werent aware of him being shot until they met him in the hallway after exiting the elevator, Lombardo said.

It was not immediately clear why  or even if  Mandalay Bay security told police about Campos condition and what was happening on the 32nd floor of their resort. Reports on Tuesday said about 200 bullets were fired into the Mandalay Bay hotel hallway in the volley that hit Campos. MGM Resorts, which owns Mandalay Bay, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News on Tuesday.

Requests for comment from the International Union, Security Police and Fire Professionals of America, a union that represents the Mandalay Bay Casino Security Professionals, also went unanswered.

The timeline associated with the original shot with Mr. Campos has changed through investigation, Lombardo said Monday. As I have conveyed to you from the very beginning, in your zest for information and my zest to ensure the publics safety and the calming of their minds, some things are going to change. They are minute changes.

Lombardos announcement also raises the question about why Paddock stopped firing during his rampage. Authorities previously said Campos presence may have distracted Paddock; however, it's now known Campos entered the scene prior to the shooting, not after it already started.

Assistant Clark County Sheriff Todd Fasulo told The Associated Press that police got to Paddocks room as fast as they could and that not all clocks are in sync with each other, perhaps accounting for some of the conflicting reports.

Police have not yet revealed a motive for the attack.
In the final chapter of what prosecutors have described as one of the worst human trafficking cases they'd ever seen, a convicted murderer who kidnapped women, forced them into prostitution and raped them as punishment was sentenced to nearly 300 years in a California prison.

Derrick Harper, 39, of Pittsburgh was sentenced to 287 years to life in prison after he was convicted of conspiracy and human trafficking, the East Bay Times reported. He faced several other related offenses. He will not be eligible for parole.

Harpers sentence comes after he was convicted in August of murdering 35-year-old Jesse Saucedo.

SLAIN COED'S BOYFRIEND EYED IN CONNECTION WITH MURDER, COPS SAY

Harper, who was sent to San Quentin prison last month, was first charged in 2013. Eric Beman and Roy Gordon, residents of East Contra Costa, Calif., and Harpers co-defendants, have accepted plea deals but have yet to be sentenced, the East Bay Times reported.

These women were determined not to continue to be victimized and deserve to be commended for their strength and bravery in coming forward, senior deputy district attorney Mary Knox told the East Bay Times.

Knox added Harpers reign of terror in Contra Costa, Calif., has finally come to an end.

During his trial in March, Harper testified in his own defense, denying many of the charges against him.
Vice President Mike Pence pledged federal assistance to California on Monday as the state battles deadly wire fires that have already claimed at least 10 lives.

Pence traveled to California to raise money for Republican congressional candidates and bolster support for the Trump administrations recent tax proposal.

Speaking outside a small manufacturing company near Sacramento, Pence deviated from his talking points to offer his guarantee that the government will jump in to help deal with the devastating fires.

I can assure you, as I did the governor, the federal government stands ready to provide any and all assistance to the state of California as your courageous firefighters and first responders confront this widening challenge, Pence said.

Although it was unclear if he was promising to answer Gov. Jerry Brown's request for a federal disaster declaration, Pence did say that he would speak with the governor.

"We'll be working very closely with Gov. Brown and California to see you through these challenging times," Pence said.

Pence arrived Sunday in Los Angeles for a three-day swing through the state, and he'll head back to Southern California on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Florida man who works as a hospital pharmacist was arrested Saturday and charged with sexual battery after he reportedly drugged his Tinder date.

According to a police affidavit, Robert Woods, 27, met the woman on the dating app Tinder and the pair agreed to meet at a bar in downtown Tampa, Fox 35 reported.

The woman reportedly had one beer at the restaurant before Woods suggested they leave and go to his apartment, where he claimed his friends were having a party.

When they arrived, there was reportedly no party. But the pair stayed at the apartment and started to play a drinking game, which led to the victim taking a shot of what she allegedly thought was Absinth liquor.

The woman told police that she later went out to the balcony to have a cigarette before waking up in Woods bed the following morning, Fox 35 reported.

COUPLE FINDS HIDDEN CAMERA DISGUISED AS SMOKE DETECTOR IN FLORIDA AIRBNB

Woods reportedly told the woman that they had had sex and when she said she couldnt remember it, he told her thats okay. The pair reportedly then had sex a second time but the affidavit said the victim was still not sober from whatever she had drank the night before.

The woman went to the hospital the following morning, Fox 35 reported.

She said shed found two spots on the left side of her neck where it looked like shed been injected with something, the Tampa Bay Times reported. She also allegedly found scrapes and bruises on her body that had not previously been there.

She reportedly messaged Woods later asking him what he had given her, to which he replied, Are you alive? She responded saying, barely alive.

After that, Woods reportedly didnt answer and allegedly deleted the woman from his Tinder account.

Woods is being held at the Hillsborough County Jail on a $250,000 bail, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The ex-boyfriend of a slain 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh coed is being eyed in connection with the woman's murder, authorities said Tuesday, revealing the college student had recently filed a protection from abuse order against the man.

Pittsburgh Police are searching for 21-year-old Matthew Darby, who has not been charged in Alina Sheykhet's death, but faces rape charges in an unrelated case. He is potentially armed and dangerous, police said.

Darby was arrested Sept. 26 and charged with felony criminal trespass for allegedly breaking into Sheykhet's apartment.

Sheykhet filed a protection from abuse order after the incident, writing that Darby climbed up the gutter of her home and broke in through the second-floor window.

"He did this because I left him and stopped answering his phone calls," she wrote, describing the 21-year-old as abusive, controlling and jealous. The protection order was later granted.

Court records obtained by the Associated Press show Darby was charged in March with rape and sexual assault in another county and later posted $10,000 bail in the case.

We are conducting a thorough investigation of all the facts, but until Im in possession of all the facts, I could not adequately advise my client," Darby's attorney, David J. Schrager, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Im hoping to be able to have more information [Tuesday].

Sheykhet's body was found by her father Sunday morning at her off-campus home. Sheykhet's dad broke down the door to her room after she failed to answer calls. He was picking her up to attend a breast cancer awareness walk.

The Allegheny County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, but didn't specify how she died.

Pittsburgh Police said they did not believe the killing was "a random act of violence."

"There is no continued threat to Oakland residents and the university communities," Chief Scott Schubert said in a news release. "However, releasing additional details at this time could be detrimental to the investigation."

Sheykhet's father, Yan Sheykhet, told the Post-Gazette he dropped off his daughter at her apartment around 11 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday, he, his wife and daughter were to do the cancer walk together. Her housemates thought she still was sleeping when he arrived.

"She didn't answer the phone. She didn't text us," he said. "So we tried to open the door. It was locked. I pushed the door and I found her laying on the floor."

He called her "the best person in the world," and said she excelled at dancing, singing and gymnastics.

Her Facebook page indicates she attended high school in a Pittsburgh suburb after moving to the U.S. from Ivanovo, Russia.

A former classmate of Sheykhet said she was "always a sweet person."

Every time we were in school she always had a bright attitude, never had problems with anyone," Sheridan McHenry told WTAE-TV. "The fact that we hear about this sweet girl, this happening to her, is pretty sad to hear."

The university issued a statement expressing sadness and extending "its deepest sympathies to the student's family and those who knew her."

A friend of Sheykhet has started a GoFundMe campaign to help her family out during this time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Sudanese diplomat was detained in New York City for allegedly groping a woman at a bar and was reportedly released shortly after police became aware of his status.

The 23-year-old woman told police that Hassan Salih, 36, grabbed at her breasts and buttocks early Sunday morning at Bar None, The Daily News reported.

Police were alerted after the woman informed security at the bar about the alleged incident.

When officers arrived, Salih attempted to flee the scene, authorities said. Police reportedly gave chase and he was cuffed and taken to a nearby precicnt.

During questioning, Salih proved his diplomatic status which-- because of immunity laws-- reportedly led to his release.

Salih is second officer for the Sudanese mission to the United Nations, The New York Post reported.
A Temple University student was shot and killed by police in Miami Beach on Sunday after she charged her car toward the officers, striking and injuring one  an incident a witness said played out like a movie set.

Cariann Denise Hithon, 22, was driving her black BMW when she crashed into several cars in South Beach, a popular tourist district, police said. Hithon ran the red light and was traveling at some rate of speed, police said. Michael Davis, who witnessed the chaotic scene, told WSVN Hithon repeatedly rear-ended cars.

She rear-ended it, and after she rear-ended it, she drove off, Davis told WSVN. She actually drove off again and ran over a police officer, and after that, shots were fired.

Another witnessed captured Hithon hitting Officer David Cajuso.

Miguel Garcia, another witness, recalled: So everyone is like, Oh my God! Oh my God! And people started running after her car. Like she wanted to escape no matter what.

Other bystanders said they heard several shots fired before a crash. Hithon was rushed to the hospital where she later died of her gunshot wounds.

Cajuso was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries. He was released Monday morning.

TEXAS TECH STUDENT ACCUSED OF KILLING OFFICER IS CAUGHT, POLICE SAY

John Butchko, a retired Miami-Dade homicide detective whose car was struck by Hithon, told the Miami Herald the deadly ordeal played out like a movie set with people running, screaming, car crashes, gunshots, an injured officer lying on his back on the ground  all within a minute.

Butchko's passenger, Miami Beach lawyer Sean Ellsworth, said he was alarmed by her behavior.

I was literally shocked she would drive into four or five officers. She just floored it." Ellsworth said. They both suffered minor injuries.

Its unclear why Hithon attempted to flee, but investigators said she and her friend, who casually got out of the car before Hithon accelerated, were drinking heavily earlier Sunday. Investigators questioned the unidentified man, who was later released.

Hithon, who was from Bowie, Maryland, was in Miami to celebrate her birthday. She attended Temple University after transferring to the school from Hampton University. Temple University released a statement on Hithons death, saying their thoughts are with the Carianns friends and family during this tremendously difficult time.

Hithon, who was part of mentorship programs for community children, was enrolled in the universitys College of Liberal Arts program and expected to graduate with a degree political science in the spring. Hithons father, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Cary Hithon, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the police account of the shooting didnt sound like his daughter.

"The only logical explanation in this situation is she panicked, and things just escalated out of control," he said.

Her father added: "Being an attorney to help the underserved is something she wanted to do. She would have been a good one."

The Miami-Dade Police Department is investigating the shooting, which is routine in the case of a Miami Beach police shooting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Last Saturday I was tinkering around in the garage when I got a text form a great old friend, Ben Allison. Ben is one of those giant personalities that attract attention from all directions. When youre at a party and you detect action in another room or out on the deck that pulls you like the center of planet Earth to where all of the molten lava is, thats where youll find Benny. Seriously, the boy has never met a stranger and people he meets for the first time become friends with him for life.



The text said You goin to Three Sisters tonight? Id planned on a solitary plate of buffalo chicken wings and a sip or two of a cold chilly whilst splayed on the couch watching Nick Saban flip out on the sideline.

Oh yeah. I actually had heard of that but in all 11 years of its existence, Id never been to one. My mind drifted to 1980 or so when Ben and I worked on a ranch in Wyoming and it was July 4th. They were having a fiddlers convention and rodeo in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and we jumped at the chance for some wild fun like that. The action that followed was legendary and Sesame Street would never have approved. I still laugh dang near 40 or so years later!

So yes. Bama would have to roll without me because Bens in town and he wants to go jump up and down at a bluegrass concert. I am in.

I drove right up to the place and got a parking spot in the garage right away. Piece of cake. Ben was a fuzz later and we hooked up and did pushing 60-year-old equivalents of high fives and grabbed a beer. Never happy to be normal, Ben said Follow me! Theres gotta be a VIP section and maybe well know somebody. Oh God. Im back at the Fairyland Club swimming pool all over again having just snuck in and pudgy Ms. Snooddles walks up and says Oh hi Savage! When did you guys become MEMBERS? I squirmed then and Im squirming now but sure enough, when we approached the VIPs I saw Frank Bright. I hadnt seen the man in at least 30 years.

Thats all Ben needed. He hollered Hey Frank! and Frank looked up from his semi-tunnel visioned duties as host and he grinned. He and Ben took up where they left off about 25 years ago like it had been mere minutes. We chit chatted for a while and Frank said Yall are going in there, right? and he pointed to a big beer/wine/supper tent for all the legit vips. Ben started to say, Well, uh, we dont have. You need pins? Frank cut him off and then rammed his hand into his pocket and produced a fist full of fiddle pins. What a guy! We put em on and walked right past that big dude at the front gate.

And thats Ben. You just hang on for the ride and hope you dont get thrown off and you might just wind up with a shiny new fiddle pin!

We went in and grabbed a chilly and I realized I actually knew a lot of the folks in there. They were the same dudes I snuck into the Club with all those years ago. I became totally relaxed and was riding on greased skids. Then I went back outside and everything changed. Ill try and explain.

I know enough about motors to be pretty dangerous in a garage and Ive had to pay two or three times the cost of a fix so that the real mechanic could fix what I fixed. However, the concept of internal combustion fits here.

You know that tut tut tut sound you hear when your single cylinder yard tool, go-cart or motorcycle is at idle? For every tut, if its a four stroke, the piston within the cylinder slides four times. First there is the intake stroke (down). A valve opens and gas and air get sucked into the combustion chamber. Then the valve shuts and the piston goes back up for the compression stroke. At the peak, when the gas and air are squeezed into a teeny tiny space between the top of the piston and the cylinder head, the spark plug goes pop and you get a tut as the cylinder is pushed back down from the controlled explosion. The last slide in the cycle is the exhaust stroke as another valve is opened and the piston pushes the spent gas and air into the atmosphere for all of us to breathe.

So at idle (generally in the range of 800 rpm), the piston makes 3200 movements a minute. It takes a full up and down for one crankshaft revolution so you hear 400 tuts a minute at idle. Ok now lets throw in the Ducati Desmo. Its valve actuation is all mechanical and extremely tightly controlled - no springs or hydraulics to allow valve float at ridiculous engine revs. They red line at 14,000 so you get 56,000 piston movements and 7,000 tuts in one single minute, right? But wait, Desmos are twin cylinder motors. Two pistons. What about a V8? And then there are two strokes and diesels and boxers and wankels and turbo chargers and super chargers and fuel injection and then that jackass Ralph Nader came along and made us all control our emotions.

Regardless, my ability to go visual got off this bus way back at idle and thats exactly where my head was last Saturday night. I stood 12 or 15 feet away from The Kruger Brothers from Switzerland and watched their human brains tell their 12 left hand fingers and their 15 right hand fingers to press different strings on a fret board and to individually pick the pressed string with exact precision and to hold it/them for an entire 100ths of a second before the digits were instructed to press other strings on other parts of the fret board where they were plucked again and held for a nanosecond and on and on it went. And we arent talking Twinkle Twinkle Little Star here. It was an incredibly technical cover of some kind of Bach Piano Concerto number 885.

They were smokin hot and they smiled at each other and had fun while creating breath taking sound with crisp clarity. I dont know anything about music but if your legs dont go a jiggity jag when you see and hear something like that you died five years ago and didnt get the memo. I was dumbfounded so I had to go get another of the Brights beers. In 11 years, I only just now saw the last two acts of the Three Sisters and I should be spanked.

The final act was Sam Bush. He had several band members and they were all incredibly talented. I asked Ben how many decades he thought these guys spent collectively on the back porch or in dark rooms practicing over and over and over to get this good? He had no answer. They played and played and went what looked to me way beyond their time allotment. Somewhere in the mix was a cover of a Led Zeppelin song played with an everything unplugged supersonic banjo, acoustic guitar, bass and, lordy lordy, Sam Bush on his mandolin with his entirely legit rock and roll voice. I was jumping again and I turned around and caught the eye of an also jumping twenty something who was all tatted up and equally into it. I hollered Hey buddy? He said Yeah? That music? Yeah? MY GENERATION! and I pounded my chest with a fist. Simultaneously, we threw our arms to the sky and hollered uncontrollably as did his girlfriend and everybody else. It was flat out fun that I havent allowed myself to have in many years and I have no idea why.

On the way out, we said words like Incredible! Exact and fast! Great fun! and Oh my God!

Then I realized Id walked into the place with $100 and was walking out with $95. Dang! It was all free. Literally, world class talent in Chattanooga for two nights provided for us at no charge. Why does Fletcher do this? Ben said, I think its pretty simple. Fletcher and all of the Brights love the music and they want to share it with us. I think George has taken more of the reins so itll probably be around for a while.

I mean, what can you say? Im past idle again and have lost visuals and all I can think of is a loud and sincere thank you, awesome Bright family, for letting me crash your party and then giving me a wonderful, unforgettable night on the river! Really, what a gift! Ill never miss a Three Sisters again.

Savage Glascock

savageglascock@gmail.com
Texas Tech police confirmed Tuesday that the officer who was shot and killed by a student Monday night was Officer Floyd East Jr.

The announcement was made at a news conference by Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath.

It is with a heavy heart we identify the officer fatally shot last night as Texas Tech police officer Floyd East, Jr., Bonath said. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

East, 48, had worked at the university for nearly three years, first as a security guard in the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas, Bonath said. He was later hired as a Texas Tech police officer on May 1 in Lubbock, Texas.

TEXAS TECH SHOOTER WAS TOO YOUNG TO HAVE GUN UNDER CAMPUS CARRY LAW, POLICE SAY

Police said he was married with two children.

A crowd filled Texas Tech's Memorial Circle Tuesday evening to remember the officer. Some carried "thin blue line" flags supporting police.

East was killed Monday after police received information about a student who was acting erratically and reportedly had a weapon.

Police went to the dorm room to do a welfare check, where they said they found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the students room.

Hollis Daniels, 19, was arrested and brought to the campus police station for questioning.

During this time, the suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer, Bonath said in an online statement Monday night. The suspect fled on foot and later apprehended by TTPD near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.

Daniels was reportedly not handcuffed at the time of the shooting and stole the officers body camera before fleeing the scene, according to Officer Easts memorial page.

The university was then placed on lockdown.

University President Lawrence Schovanec spoke at the Tuesday news conference and expressed his condolences to East's family.

The sadness and tragedy of a moment like this is made more bearable by the love and care that our students, our staff and our faculty have shown to the family of Officer East, to our police and to one another, he said.

Before he was located by police, police said Daniels family called the campus counseling center expressing concern that the suspect was making comments about suicide and possibly had a weapon.

Daniels was charged with capital murder of a peace officer.
A Texas law letting students carry firearms on college campuses did not contribute to the fatal shooting Monday of a Texas Tech police officer.

Hollis Daniels, a 19-year-old Texas Tech student, has been charged in the killing of the police officer.

Campus police brought Daniels to the campus police station after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in his dorm room. At the station, the freshman pulled out a gun and allegedly shot an officer in the head before fleeing on foot. Daniels was later apprehended by campus police near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and has been charged with capital murder of a peace officer.

Under Texas recently implemented campus carry law, Daniels was too young to even possess a handgun in the state  let alone on a college campus. Signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015 and going into effect in August 2016, the campus carry law mirrors state policy that stipulates that applicants for a concealed carry permit must be at least 21 years old and have no felony convictions, among other conditions.

A spokesperson for Texas Tech told Fox News that information regarding how Daniels obtained the handgun or if he was searched before being taken into custody is not available. It is also unclear if Daniels had the gun on him when he was taken to the police station or if he took the weapon from an officer.

Texas is one of 10 states in the country that permits the carrying of concealed weapons on college campuses. When the state law went into effect in 2016, it immediately raised concerns among some students, faculty and activists in the Lone Star State over the safety of having firearms on campus.

Shortly after Abbott signed the bill into law, more than 500 members of Texas Techs faculty and staff launched a petition against campus carry.

"I typically don't do that kind of thing -- fill out online petitions or what have you -- but I feel strongly about it," Lisa Low, professor of public relations at Texas Tech, told Everything Lubbock. "It's not that I'm anti-gun, it's just that having weapons on campus is not something I agree with.

In July 2016, three professors at the University of Texas sued to overturn the law, claiming it is unconstitutional and is forcing colleges to impose "dangerously-experimental gun policies." The 50,000-student Austin campus has been a flashpoint of opposition to the law among faculty and students.

Despite the outcry, campus police officers across Texas say the law has not impacted schools in any significant way. In the few cases that did involve weapons on campus, officials say the individuals in question -- like Daniels -- were not licensed to carry.

"We have had no incidents since the law passed or since the law went into effect of criminal acts by license-to-carry holders," Ed Reynolds, chief of the University of North Texas Police Department, told Fox News.

In 2000, no states allowed guns on college campuses. But in 2017, along with the 10 states currently permitting campus carry, 16 states introduced bills to expand these laws.

Six professors at University of Georgia colleges sued the state earlier this month, claiming "the presence of guns in classrooms and laboratories will create an increased risk of physical harm" to the university community.

At Capital University in Bexley, Ohio, meanwhile, a group of students are pushing for the school to allow students to carry guns on campus. University officials, however, said the school is a weapons-free institution and intends to stay that way.
On the nights when the winds are light and the skies are dark, hundreds of helium-filled balloons are sent up and away from multiple points in South Korea, destined a few miles away and into North Korea. Only these are no ordinary balloons  they are considered Bible Balloons, adorned with the Words of God printed in Korean or flash drives featuring the entire texts of the Testament.

It is one of the few creative  and inherently dangerous  ways bibles are smuggled into the oppressive dictatorship in the hopes that impoverished North Koreans will know that they arent forgotten. Other activists, such as American pastor Eric Foley, have opted for a much larger hydrogen-fueled 40-foot balloon brimming with bibles and testimonials. These are then dropped into rural areas with the help of GPS technology, in the hopes that even just one will be picked up.

Growth in Christianity does not happen in waves but always one at a time, Foley  CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Korea  told Fox News.

Nonetheless, the regime is well aware of the biblical balloons  which have been at the center point of bible smuggling since the 90s  and if the endeavor to shoot them down fails, anyone spotted collecting the contents is immediately arrested. These days, flash drives, SD cards, leaflets and photos featuring the strictly outlawed religious texts are also disseminated not only from balloons but also through the use of large drones  and more and more, bibles are being disseminated in electronic rather than print form.

Such smuggling programs generate little funding or support from outside governments, and are generally left up to missionaries, nongovernmental organizations and activists.

It is becoming too dangerous and bulky to bring in hard copy bibles, one Korean source familiar with the operations said. Over the past 10 years, there has been a growing demand for outside information  whether religious or secular.

But still, there are on the on-foot actors.

The bibles are printed in another country, and then secretly taken and distributed in North Korea, usually a few at a time, Vernon Brewer, founder and president of Christian humanitarian organization World Help, told Fox News. The people who smuggle bibles have to be extremely careful, changing their route and taking other precautions to avoid getting caught.

According to Brewer, once those bibles are inside, they are passed along through trusted believers, and he and his organization send a couple of different sizes  but the most popular versions are the small New Testaments.

This is because they fit in the palm of your hand and can easily be exchanged during a handshake or left in strategic locations for people to find, he continued.

AS NORTH KOREA THREATENS ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK, QUESTIONS OVER LAPSES IN US GRID SECURITY RISE

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY SUE ISIS, HEZBOLLAH OR THE REGIMES OF IRAN, SYRIA AND NORTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA: HOW CHRISTIANS SURVIVE IN THE WORLD'S MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN NATION

Another smuggling method in is via the occasional  and lawbreaking  tourist. Although any visitors to the hermit kingdom are rigorously warned by external tour companies to take in absolutely no religious texts or symbols and refrain from any type of discussion on it that could be interpreted as proselytizing, some still take the risk. And pay the price.

Just ask Ohio native, Jeffrey Fowle. A devout Christian and father of three, the perpetually curious 58-year-old journeyed to North Korea on an organized tour in 2014, and was detained after deliberately concealing a Bible under a trash can in the mens room of a Pyongyang nightclub. He had hoped the bootlegged bible  which contained his name and family photographs  would make its way to someone in the underground Christian community.

Three years later, in May of this year, his release was finally secured by U.S officials.

Fowle is one of the lucky ones. Religious freedom is written into the countrys constitution, but the reality on the ground paints a much different picture. For the vast majority of trapped Christians inside the brutal dictatorship, the consequence is life in a labor camp or a public execution by firing squad. Their relatives too are often subject to callous retribution.

The North Korean regimes legitimacy and claim to power flow out of the idea that Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un are divine beings. North Korean children are taught to pray before a meal, Thank you Father Kim Il Sung for our food, Todd Nettleton of Voice of Martyrs Radio pointed out. They sing praise choruses to the Kims. It is very much a religion. So what makes the regime and the government so upset about a North Korean being a Christian is not just that they are following a different religion, or even that they are following a Western religion. What those Christians are doing literally undermines the very veracity of the North Korean regime. If Jesus is Lord, then Kim Jong Un cant be.

Furthermore, Christian North Korean defectors in the border areas of South Korea broadcast gospels on an almost daily basis. Roughly 20 percent of the 25 million North Korean population own a radio  an illicit item  and many will risk their own lives to tune in.

Radio, just as in the days of the Cold War, remains an incredibly useful tool to inject truth and the Gospel into North Korea, said Jeff King, president of advocacy group International Christian Concern. And we remain an ardent supporter of pushing Christian content into North Korea through radio and other means.

But despite the harsh penalties that come with praising anyone of any belief system outside the Kims, there is a sense that an ascending number of North Koreans are turning to Christianity.

The church is growing at a faster rate in North Korea than in South Korea, where the church has declined in membership every year since 1991, Foley observed.

According to the prominent pastor, the uptick in the North is mainly due to the covert network of North Korean Christians, rather than religious advocates from the outside.

The reason why is that the work of missionaries on the North Korea/China border is easily infiltrated and neutralized by North Korean state security agents, but the work of underground North Korean Christians has continued faithfully for more than three generations, he explained. They dont smuggle large numbers of bibles into North Korea, but instead, certain members of the underground church carry Bibles across the border one at a time, often in the form of MP3 players.

These Christians are native North Koreans who are given permission to travel to China on relative visas or work visas. Some have established relationships with border guards who accept bribe money  and are under close and careful surveillance themselves  who turn a blind-eye to the illegal material being brought back in, while others have it carefully concealed from all.

Ben Gabriel, Initiative Director for the missionary Alpha Relief, noted that the regime likely knows exactly when and how the bible smuggling is happening, but also knows there is only so much that can be done to stop it.

North Korea no longer has an iron grip on the spread of information in the country, he added. The Christian message has a strong appeal to people trapped in that kind of system. If youve given your life over to Christ, no one can take it from you. That is true freedom. It is freedom from fear.
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Two Australian navy vessels, including a helicopter dock that's the country's biggest ship, have arrived in the Philippines for a five-day goodwill visit as Australia seeks an increased security presence and greater influence in the region.

Her Majesty's Australian Ship Adelaide, a landing helicopter dock, and HMAS Darwin, a guided missile frigate, docked Tuesday in Manila. Philippine navy officials and Australia's ambassador to the Philippines, Amanda Gorley, welcomed crew members from the ships.

Gorley said the visit's primary focus is maritime security and stability as well as disaster response.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Friday that a policy paper to be released later this year would spell out guidelines on how Australia can maximize and exercise power and influence to defend a rules-based international order that is under stress.
Officials say four rebels and an army soldier were killed in three gunbattles in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police said Tuesday that three rebels were killed overnight as fighting broke out after government forces cordoned off the forested village of Kellar in southern Kashmir.

Thousands on Tuesday participated in funerals for the three militants, chanting slogans including "We want freedom" and "Go India, go back."

Earlier Monday, police said troops killed a top militant commander in the northwestern Handwara area.

The Indian army said a soldier was killed after militants fired at a patrol party in the Budgam area on Monday.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both countries claim it in its entirety. Rebel groups demand that Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
Catalonias president said Tuesday he has a mandate to declare independence -- but he proposed waiting a few weeks to encourage dialogue with Spain.

Carles Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament a landslide victory in the region's disputed Oct. 1 referendum on independence gives his government grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain. But he is suggesting holding off.

Puigdemont's speech was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum, but he said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

At the end of his speech, Puigdemont was applauded by standing separatist lawmakers. Pro-independence demonstrators gathered in front of large TV screens in Barcelona to watch the address. Just days earlier, hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied in the Catalonia capital against secession.

The most recent polls taken before the referendum, according to The Associated Press, showed that Catalonia's 7.5 million residents were roughly split over secession, while a majority would support an official referendum on independence if it were condoned by Spanish authorities.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS RALLY IN BARCELONA AGAINST CATALONIA SECESSION

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has repeatedly refused to grant Catalonia permission to hold a referendum on grounds that it is unconstitutional since it would only poll a portion of Spain's 46 million residents.

Catalonia's separatists camp has grown in recent years, strengthened by Spain's recent economic crisis and by Madrid's rejection of attempts to increase self-rule in the region.

Spanish police, ordered to prevent the Oct. 1 referendum, clashed with voters and supporters, and Catalan officials said over 900 people were injured. Videos of police pulling voters out by their hair and kicking them on stairs flashed around the world. An Interior Ministry official later apologized for the injuries but laid the blame on the Catalan government for having encouraged people to vote.

The influential business community has indicated its unhappiness with the prospect of independence under current circumstances. Catalonia's two major banks, CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell, energy giant Gas Natural and the company that provides Barcelona's water have all decided in recent days to move their headquarters to other parts of Spain because of a desire to stay within the European Union. Some believe this will lead Catalan political leaders to be more cautious about declaring independence.

EXPLAINED: STATUS OF HIGH-STAKES CATALONIA STANDOFF

Many Catalans have long highlighted the region's differences from the rest of Spain but the latest surge for independence began in 2010, when Spain's top court struck down key parts of a charter that would have granted Catalonia greater autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of residents have thronged onto the streets every Sept. 11, a Catalan holiday, to demand independence. Spain's recent financial crisis and the harsh austerity measures that followed generated more support for secession. Catalans frequently complain they contribute more in taxes to the Spanish treasury than they get back.

The European Union has already said Catalonia would be expelled from the bloc and its shared currency, the euro, if it declares independence. To get back in, it would have to re-apply  a lengthy and uncertain process.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


The iconic image of Ernesto Che Guevara that has graced t-shirts, posters and coffee mugs is now an Irish government stamp, outraging Cuban-Americans who call the revolutionary pal of Fidel Castro a terrorist.

Radio host Ninoska Perez Castellon, a prominent member of the Cuban exile community in Miami, described the Irish Post Office's decision to feature Guevara on a new stamp as "objectionable, according to reports.

She told the RTEs "Morning Ireland" show Monday that the stamp celebrates a man who slaughtered so many people and who went to Cuba to kill and failed in everything he did, according to Irish Central.

I dont know what people find to celebrate about Che Guevara, she told the show, the news outlet reported.

An Post, the official name of the Irish Post Office, issued the special 1 euro stamp Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of Guevaras death.

Argentine-born Guevara went to Cuba and helped Castro overthrow the regime of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and then spent the rest of his life attempting to spark revolutionary uprisings elsewhere in Latin America and Africa.

Bolivian forces executed him in 1967, but his image has been idolized by some as a symbol of rebellion and the counter-culture.

The new stamp in Ireland features the famous image of 'Che' by Dublin artist Jim Fitzpatrick which has been rated among the worlds top 10 most iconic images, RTE.ie reported.

The Post Office also issued a 2 euro postcard that includes the stamp and a quote from Guevaras father, a man of Irish descent: in my sons veins flowed the blood of Irish rebels.

A spokesperson for the Irish government told RTE the decision to issue the stamp had been approved by the government in 2015.

Ahead of the stamps release, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R), a Havana-born Cuban who represents the Miami area, said on Twitter that the Irish stamp was a grotesque insult to the many lives he slaughtered.

Some lawmakers in Ireland shared that sentiment.

A member of Irelands Legislature, Neale Richmond, asked if Pol Pot, the communist Khmer Rouge leader in Cambodia, and Romanias Nicolae Ceausescu, would be acceptable subjects for special Irish stamps, Irish Central reported.

Although Che Guevara seems now to be classed as a romantic revolutionary figure and that some of his political ideals might be shared by some in this country, it is my belief that he is most definitely not a suitable candidate for such an honor, Richmond said.

But Fitzpatrick told the Irish Sun he was proud to have his image on a stamp in Ireland, while comparing Guevara to the Irish patriot Michael Collins, who fought for Irelands independence in the early 20th Century.

No, I didnt expect any of this fuss but the alt-right are so powerful now both in Europe and America, he said.
The European Union and rights groups say the Cambodian government's move to dissolve the main opposition party would be a serious blow to democracy that undermines the credibility of elections next year.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the government of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen is making a "naked grab for total power."

Cambodia's government took initial legal steps last week to dissolve the popular Cambodia National Rescue Party, the latest move to kneecap the opposition ahead of next year's general election.

It is asking the Supreme Court to disband the party on the grounds that it was involved in a plot to topple the government.

Human Rights Watch along with other rights groups and the European Union are calling on the government to drop the court case.
An Iranian armed forces spokesperson warned it may be time to "teach Americans new lessons" if the Trump administration labeled Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

Masoud Jazayeri, an IRGC commander and spokesperson, issued the threat, Reuters reported.

It seems the Trump administration understands only swear words, and needs some shocks to understand the new meaning of power in the world, Jazayeri said, according to ISNA. The Americans have driven the world crazy by their behavior. It is time to teach them a new lesson.

IRANIAN NUCLEAR CHIEF WARNS US: DONT UNDERMINE NUCLEAR DEAL

Jasayeri never specified what that "new lesson" might be.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said if the U.S. labeled the IRGC a terrorist organization than all options were on the table, ISNA reported.

The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards, Velayati said. We have all options on the table. Whatever they do, we will take reciprocal measures."

Trump has also threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal by not re-certifying the Islamic Republic's compliance with the Obama administration-era agreement.

IRAN ATTEMPTED TO BUY NUCLEAR ENERGY ILLEGALLY 32 TIMES, GERMAN AGENCY SAYS

On Tuesday, it was reported the Iranian government told its citizens it would not let the decisions of the mentally unstable Trump affect the market, Reuters reported.

Trump might say some things by the end of the week, but this should not create chaos in the market. Iran is a stable country, and nothing will happen, said Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, a government spokesperson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
South Korean media are quoting a lawmaker as saying that North Korean hackers may have stolen highly classified military documents, including U.S.-South Korean wartime "decapitation strike" plans against the North.

Democratic Party Rep. Lee Cheol-hee cited unidentified defense officials as saying the hackers stole the plans last year. Neither Lee nor Defense Ministry officials responded to attempts late Tuesday to seek comment.

If confirmed, such a hack would be a major blow for South Korea at a time when its relations with North Korea are at a low point. The South has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward the North's belligerence amid back-and-forth threats of war between North Korea and Washington.

Lee was quoted as saying the plans included blueprints for attacks to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The British model accused by a lawyer of faking her own kidnapping continues to post scantily-clad and revealing photos on her social media accounts -- just months after she was allegedly lured to Milan for a fake photo shoot and held against her will by "Black Death."

Chloe Ayling, who called the ordeal a terrifying experience during a British television interview in August, recently uploaded a fully nude image to her Instagram account. Ayling, however, is turned from the camera, and not all of her body is visible in the black and white snap.

WARNING -- EXPLICIT PHOTO: CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Ayling says she was drugged and held hostage by a group that called itself Black Death after being lured to Milan for a fake photo shoot in July. She said the kidnappers planned to auction her on the dark web to the highest bidder -- unless she paid $355,000 for her freedom.

George Hepburne Scott, the lawyer for 36-year-old suspect Michal Herba, has argued in court that the case might have been made up as part of an elaborate publicity stunt to boost Ayling's career.

The 20-year-old model has maintained her kidnapping was real, saying on Britains This Morning in August she feared she would be killed and prayed for a non-painful death.

Ayling described being drugged, stuffed into a suitcase, transported to an isolated farmhouse and held for almost a week by her captors. The kidnappers allegedly threatened to advertise her as a sex slave or hold her for ransom.

Ayling has also announced she will be writing a book to "expose every little detail for the first time." The book, titled "Six Days," is expected to be released in Spring 2018.

A British judge ruled in late September that Herba should be sent to Italy to face trial. Scott said he would appeal the ruling and that Herba "continues to protest his innocence in the strongest possible terms."

AYLINGS CLAIM OF BEING KIDNAPPED COULD BE A SHAM, LAWYER SAYS



The suspect's brother, Lukasz Herba, is being held in custody in Italy. He also denies any role in the kidnapping.

Italian police say the Polish-born brothers belong to the Black Death group.

Michal Herba was arrested in England on a European Arrest Warrant last month after Italian authorities sought his detention.

Judge Paul Goldspring said there was no reason to think the kidnapping story had been made up.

"I make clear there is no evidence to support it being a sham," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A plan to assassinate Kim Jong Un and preparations for a potential nuclear showdown with North Korea were among the trove of South Korean military documents reportedly stolen by Hermit Kingdom hackers.

South Koreas Defense Ministry did not comment on the alleged hack, which reportedly occurred in September 2016 but was only revealed Tuesday. Rhee Cheol-hee, a lawmaker in South Korea, confirmed the data breach to the BBC. The hack consisted of 235 gigabytes of military documents and about 80 percent of what was stolen hasnt been identified.

NORTH KOREA: WHAT WOULD A NUCLEAR ATTACK LOOK LIKE?

South Korea announced in May a large amount of data was stolen during a cyberattack that was possibly orchestrated by Kim Jong Uns rogue regime. That same month, Yapizon, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, announced 3,816 bitcoins  online currency that amounts to about $5.3 million  was taken on April 22. The company did not disclose who it believed to be the culprit, but security firm FireEye noted North Korean hackers were also suspected of targeting online currency providers.

North Korea denied stealing the documents, the BBC reported. The country celebrated the anniversary of the establishment of the Workers Party Tuesday and Pyongyangs first nuclear bomb test on Monday.

Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Rob Manning told reporters on Tuesday: "I can assure you that we are confident in the security of our operations plans and our ability to deal with any threat from North Korea."

Manning would not confirm the hack.

Pyongyang is suspected of having expert hackers attack South Korean government websites and facilities for years. North Korea has accused its neighbor of fabricating the claims, the BBC reported.

News of the hack comes amid increasing tensions in the region.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday said the U.S. has military options that [President Trump] can employ if needed.

"There's one thing the U.S. Army can do, and that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ if needed," Mattis said during an Army conference in Washington, D.C. "We currently are in a diplomatically led effort.

KIM JONG UNS NORTH KOREA: BRINGING THE WORLD TO THE BRINK

Trump, meanwhile, has continued his attacks against little rocket man Kim Jong Un and his regime, with the president taking to Twitter early Monday to say more than two decades of U.S. policy toward North Korea didnt work.

Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didnt work! Trump wrote.

TRUMP ON NORTH KOREA, FROM 'ROCKET MAN' TO 'FIRE AND FURY'

The weekend tweets came after the presidents Thursday meeting with senior military leaders and their spouses, where he cryptically told reporters this might be the calm before the storm. When asked to elaborate on Friday, Trump said, Youll find out.

North Korean state media announced on Sunday Kim Jong Un promoted his sister, Kim Yo Jong, to become an alternate member of the countrys top decision-making body, the politburo. The decision came the same weekend Kim declared his countrys nuclear weapons a powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia against protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russia on Tuesday accused the U.S. of only pretending to fight ISIS in Iraq to purposely allow the groups militants stream across the border into Syria, Reuters reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the U.S.-led coalition reduced its airstrikes in the region when Bashar-al-Assad forces backed by Russia started to make gains in the Deir al-Zor province, in eastern Syria.

Everyone sees that the U.S.-led coalition is pretending to fight Islamic State, above all in Iraq, but continuing to allegedly fight Islamic State in Syria actively for some reason, said Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russias defense ministry, according to the report.

The actions of the Pentagon and the coalition demand an explanation. Is their change of tack a desire to complicate as much as they can the Syrian Armys operation, backed by the Russian Air Force, to take back Syrian territory to the east of the Euphrates?, asked Konashenkov.

Or is it an artful move to drive Islamic State terrorists out of Iraq by forcing them into Syria and into the path of the Russian Air Forces pinpoint bombing?

This is not the first time Konashenkov questioned the U.S. motive in the region. Last week he accused the U.S. of turning a blind eye and effectively providing cover to the Islamic State group's operations in an area in Syria that is under U.S. control.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russia's Ministry of Defense says an SU24 fighter jet has crashed while taking off from a base in Syria, killing the two crewmembers.

The ministry says in a short statement the jet skidded of the runway during takeoff on Tuesday at the Hemeimeem air base near Syria's coast.

Russian news agencies quoted the ministry as saying the cause could have been technical malfunction.

Russia joined the war in Syria in September 2015, backing President Bashar Assad's forces and tipping the balance of power in his favor.

Russian warplanes have been carrying out intense airstrikes in recent weeks against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, where government forces are advancing against IS along the western bank of the Euphrates.

Russian warplanes have also been attacking insurgent positions in northern Syria.
Two Tunisian asylum seekers have been arrested on suspected links to foreign extremism near Switzerlands border with Italy, Swiss police said.

The Swiss Federal Police said in a statement Tuesday that it ordered the arrests two days earlier in the southern town of Chiasso.

ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR MARSEILLE TRAIN STATION ATTACK; 2 WOMEN KILLED

The two men were detained because they posed a potential risk to Swiss domestic security in connection with terrorist activities abroad, the statement said. The statement did not elaborate further.

A source told Reuters the two Tunisians were believed to be linked to the Oct. 1 knife attack at the Marseille train station in southern France. Two women were killed in the attack that was claimed by the Islamic State. The attacker, Ahmed Hannachi, was shot and killed by a French soldier.

4 AMERICAN TOURISTS ATTACKED WITH ACID IN MARSEILLES TRAIN STATION IDD AS BOSTON COLLEGE STUDENTS

The source also told Reuters one of the Tunisians was the subject of an international arrest warrant.

The arrests come a day after Italian authorities said Anis Hanachi, a 25-year-old Tunisian terror suspect who was arrested in northern Italy, had fought in Syria. Italian authorities believed Hanachi radicalized his older brother, Ahmed, the Marseille train station attacker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
University of Hawaii students reportedly opened their inbox Monday to find an email headlined: In the event of a nuclear attack -- an ominous message sent as North Korea continues to threaten a missile attack on the United States.

The email to students and faculty members gave instructions to shelter in place if a nuclear or ballistic missile attack by Kim Jong Uns regime did occur, Hawaii News Now reported, citing a copy of the message.

In light of concerns about North Korea missile tests, state and federal agencies are providing information about nuclear threats and what to do in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack and radiation emergency, the email stated.

NORTH KOREA: WHAT WOULD A NUCLEAR ATTACK LOOK LIKE?

Legislators on the island met in September to discuss how to prepare residents for a potential nuclear attack, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Some in attendance noted the meeting wasnt called because of a specific, immediate threat to Hawaii; however, recent regional military threats prompted plans for a proper response when needed.

North Korea is about 4,660 miles away from Hawaii.

North Korea has repeatedly threatened to strike the U.S. mainland, even vowing to strike the U.S. territory of Guam with four medium-range ballistic missiles in August, though Pyongyang later backed away from the brink. The threat came closer to reality, however, when Kim Jong Un and his rocket scientists launched a missile over Japan in September. That missile reached a height of 480 miles and flew 2,300 miles out -- putting it in range of Guam.

North Korea also recently threatened to bring nuclear clouds to Japan and sink the island into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche.

In September, the Hermit Kingdom successfully conducted its sixth nuclear test, with the regime claiming it detonated its first hydrogen bomb. Just hours before the test, photos emerged in a North Korean newspaper showing Kim Jong Un allegedly inspecting a new thermonuclear warhead in a lab. A diagram on the wall showed a bomb mounting inside a cone, appearing to indicate scientists were working to mount the device on a missile.

NORTH KOREA COULD USE HOLIDAY AS EXCUSE TO PROVOKE US, EXPERTS SAY

Officials feared another missile or nuclear test was possible on Monday or Tuesday, as North Korea celebrated the anniversaries of its first nuclear test and the foundation of the ruling Workers Party of Korea.

NORTH KOREA HACKERS REPORTEDLY STOLE US, SOUTH KOREA WAR PLANS

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke at an Army conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday and said military options are available for President Trump to employ if needed.

"There's one thing the U.S. Army can do, and that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our President can employ if needed, Mattis said, adding that diplomacy is still the priority.
A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed close to islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News Tuesday.

The official emphasized that the USS Chafee, a guided missile destroyer, did not come within the internationally recognized 12-nautical-mile territorial limits of the Paracel Islands.

Tuesday's operation was first reported by Reuters.

The U.S. defense official told Fox that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis approved plans by the U.S. Navy to perform frequent patrols of the South China Sea. The official also described Tuesday's sailing as "not much of an operation" and "not very threatening."

The Paracel Islands are among a number of islets, reefs and shoals over which China and its neighbors have competing claims. In August, the USS John S. McCain sailed within 12 nautical miles of a man-made Chinese island, signalling the U.S. did not recognize Beijing's territorial claims there.

The latest sailing comes as the Trump administration is pressing China to help Washington deal with North Korea's weapons program.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.
A vampire scare in Malawi is reportedly responsible for mob violence that's resulted in the deaths of at least five people -- and prompted the United Nations to pull its staff in the area.

The eruption of vampire-driven vigilante violence in the African nation came after rumors surfaced in September that real-life bloodsuckers were creating havoc. Those reports prompted the formation of lynch mobs who've accused people of vampirism, according to a U.N. Department on Safety and Security report obtained by Reuters.

These districts have severely been affected by the ongoing stories of blood sucking and possible existence of vampires, the agency said regarding districts in the southern part of the country.

The report said roving mobs searching for vampires have been mounting road blocks, raising security concerns for U.N. workers.

The Acting U.N. Resident Coordinator, Florence Rolle, told Reuters in an email some U.N. staff have relocated while others are still in the districts depending on locations of their operations, but Rolle did not provide specific numbers of relocated workers.

The rumors of vampires may have originated in neighboring Mozambique, according to the U.N. report, which recommended the temporary suspension of U.N. activities in the area until the situation is normalized.

The president of Malawi said the reports of mob violence over vampire fears were distressing and agonizing."

This development has been of grave concern to the President and the entire Government, President Peter Mutharika's office said in a statement.

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in rural Malawi where many aid agencies and NGOs work, and a spate of violence linked to vampire rumors also broke out in 2002, Reuters reported.

Malawi is one of the worlds poorest countries, and the country's economy "depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations," according to the CIA World Factbook.

"Population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, corruption, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS pose major problems for Malawi," according to the CIA.
Reconstruction after the Civil War was a complex period that officially lasted 12 years. (I always tell my students it takes three times as long to put something together as it does to blow it apart.)

However, in many places, the programs of Reconstruction ended earlier, while the issues continued for another 100 years.

For this months column, we will drop in on Fredericksburg in October 1867 to see how it was recovering.

Judging by the ads in the local Virginia Herald, commerce was rebounding. Merchants peddled a variety of products, including clothing from the north, livery stables, lumber, tinware and books. Often the merchant offered goods cheap for cash and mentioned the location as places like Haydons old stand. Mourning goods were still advertised, but so were ice cream stores and newly invented washing machines.

Its possible that trade was helped along by the presence of nonlocals, such as the Federal troops who occupied the Southern states for years after the war. The Herald, a conservative newspaper, complained about the expense of the troops, since the local people were without means of sedition and that since they were not accepting of the situation, bayonets were powerless to change the hearts of the people.

There were no photographs published then, but we can get an idea of the landscape from a real estate notice that mentioned several vacant lots with chimneys standing. Another firm urged landowners who wished to sell to send in descriptions of their land quickly so that pamphlets could be distributed in the north. There were also several ads from bankruptcy lawyers. However, some people must have had money, because the Fredericksburg Female Institute advertised its third year for $260. Room and board were included, and discounts were given to daughters of Southern soldiers killed in the war.

There was no specific editorial page, and when it came to politics, every article read like an editorial. October was a critical month, because after two years of fairly hands-off treatment of Southern states by the government, the Radical Republicans were about to step in and institute reforms.

Elections that month would choose delegates from all over Virginia to participate in a convention that would rewrite the state constitution. The Herald spoke at great length against the Radical Republicans and their agenda, which would grant many equalities to former slaves.

James Hunnicutt, a Fredericksburg minister and former slave owner, had a change of heart some years prior and was now an outspoken Radical. The Herald writers appeared to despise Hunnicutt.

Though the paper did not report on the local Freedmens Bureau, it did record the status of Freedmens schools. There were 198 schools in the state with an average attendance of 14,203 students, which averaged out to just over 71 students per school. Some freedmen built schools without help from the Bureau and with no immediate prospect of a teacher.

To learn more about Reconstruction, attend a free talk on A Troubled Place: Reconstructing Fredericksburg at England Run Library in Stafford on Oct. 19 from 78 p.m. The talk is presented by the National Parks Service and is part of the Years of Tumult: A Sesquicentennial Speakers Series on Reconstruction.
Two local elementary schools were among those awarded funds to make security infrastructure improvements, a press release issued by Del. Margaret Ransones office announced today.

Bowling Green Elementary in Caroline will receive $4,180 and Potomac Elementary in King George will receive $94,420 from the School Security Infrastructure Improvement Fund.

The fund allows the Virginia Department of Criminal Services to award grants of up to $100,000 per locality and requires a 25 percent local match. The money must be used for school security upgrades such as installing hallway cameras, buzz-in systems and automatic locks.

The General Assembly established the fund in 2013 on the recommendation of former Gov. Bob McDonnells School and Campus Safety Taskforce.

The safety of our students, educators, administrators and support staff in our schools across the Commonwealth is an important part of keeping our communities safe and securing successful futures for our children, said Ransone, an original member of the taskforce. I continue to support the School Security Infrastructure Improvement Fund and believe it provides necessary funds to localities in order to make essential improvements to school security.
King George County residents regularly address the Board of Supervisors with the same complaints shared recently by homeowners from a subdivision near Dahlgren.

We are in great need of internet service in our community and in our neighborhood, said Michele Robinson of The Meadows at Dahlgren.

Dave Fedorchak, another resident of The Meadows, added: If the county wants to see reasonable growth, I think high-speed internet is an absolute must, and its going to be a limiting factor until the county does something.

County officials agree, and thats why they applied for a state grant to do something about it. King George recently received $30,000 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to work on solving its broadband shortages.

As part of the Community Development Block Grant, the county has to conduct a survey of residents and businesses. Participants are asked to provide basic information about themselves such as address, employment and internet access. Then, theyre asked to describe how they currently use the internet and what they would like to do online that they cant do with their current connection.

Participants also are asked if children use the internet for school work or if anyone in the household takes college courses or job training online or has a home-based business.

King George residents can take the survey through Oct. 31, but early submissions are appreciated, Supervisors Chairwoman Ruby Brabo said in her newsletter. The address is: wired.virginia.gov/broadband/broadband-survey/.

A link to the survey also is on the home page of the countys website, king-george.va.us/.

Just as residents regularly complain about the lack of broadband connectivity through the rural countyFedorchak said he could work from home three days a week if he had a good internet connectionmembers of the King George Board of Supervisors regularly remind citizens what the locality can and cant do in terms of providing broadband coverage.

You gotta understand county government, we cant run a utility like this, Supervisor Jim Howard said Oct. 3. Its gonna have to be some provider, and [that provider] is going to have to see some way to make money. Its the only thing that drives it.

Brabo told the residents the county had applied for another grant to look at bringing high-speed internet coverage to The Meadows subdivision.

We had to start somewhere, and because the [homeowners association] had worked so diligently, we chose you, she said.

The application was denied because King George doesnt have a feasibility study of the entire county and its internet needs. Thats why the office of Economic Development recently applied for the Community Block Development Grant.
A month before the election, legislative Republicans have requested a broad evaluation of the office of Democratic Attorney General Mark R. Herring.

The GOP-controlled Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission approved a resolution Tuesday requesting commission staff conduct a broad study of the office.

That will include how the office spends proceeds from asset forfeiture, an examination of salary increases and whether Herrings office has properly contracted with outside counsel and reviewed

Its going to be a fairly broad study of the AGs office, JLARC Director Hal Greer said.

Legislators first suggested a study of the Attorney Generals Office in July, he said. After staff at the legislatures watchdog agency created an issue paper in September, commission members asked staff to draft the resolution that they passed Tuesday, Greer said.

The commissions chairman is Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr., R-Caroline, and its vice chairman is Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. Work on the study is to be completed by December 2019.

The study resolution also said JLARC staff would examine the Attorney Generals Medicaid fraud control unit, which has grown over time with relatively little supervision, and has devoted a substantial portion of its resources to national pharmaceutical cases, potentially at the expense of local fraud cases.

Herring, finishing his first-term as attorney general, faces Republican John Adams in the November election.

He has led Adams in every poll conducted in the race and was ahead 51 percent to 40 percent in a survey of likely voters released Monday by the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

The Adams campaign issued a statement from him that said he was pleased JLARC would review the office.

While he has picked and chosen which of our laws to defend, his office was successfully sued in a pay discrimination case, sanctioned by a judge for discovery violations, and took money from human trafficking programs to give pay raises to his political allies in the office. And the commonwealth pays the price. Virginia desperately needs a new lawyer, Adams said in the statement.

Adams was particularly upset that Herring did not defend the states ban on gay marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court later deemed unconstitutional.

While Adams has attacked Herring throughout the race over his handling the job, Herring has criticized Adams for his work as a white-collar defense attorney at powerhouse law firm McGuireWoods. Adams is on leave during the campaign from his position as chair of the government investigations and white-collar litigation department.

He has been part of a powerful Richmond law firm for the last seven years, and he and his team brag about how they specialize in shielding people who are involved in kickbacks, pyramid schemes, embezzlement, money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice. Its astounding, Herring said in their first debate, held in June in Virginia Beach. Its like hes trying to be the anti-attorney general.

The two are scheduled to debate a second time Oct. 20 before the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce.

(804) 649-6061

Twitter: @patrickmwilson
"(T)he size of the data sets this generates could be on the order of a terabyte per person."

But some of the strategies being pioneered at the Hutch take personalized medicine even further.

One is chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, also known as CAR T. It involves genetically engineering T-cells  the immune cells that fight maladies such as the common cold  to target specific mutations on cancer cells, Gilliland told GeekWire in a recent interview.

The beauty of doing that is because theyre mutant proteins, they wont exist in any cell except the tumor cell, he said. That means CAR T treatments can be personalized based on a patients unique cancer mutations. It also means they wont harm healthy cells.

CAR T therapies are one of the hottest frontiers in cancer research, and the Hutch is in on it. Just this month, New York-based Mustang Bio announced that it's licensing one of the Hutchs CAR-T technologies to fight lymphoma, with clinical trials due to start soon in Seattle.

Fred Hutch spin-out Juno Therapeutics is working to commercialize similar treatments and just opened a giant new office and research space to fuel that work.

Techniques like CAR T therapy and advanced gene sequencing hold the promise of personalizing cancer treatment on a patient-by-patient basis. But identifying a cancer cells fingerprint will require data analysis on a scale that Microsofts Nadella and Amazons Clayville know all too well.

This is going to have to get into the cloud-based computational space, Gilliland said. Thats where we can get in-kind support, because the size of the data sets this generates could be on the order of a terabyte per person.
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Fujitsu today announced that it has received an order from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) for AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure (ABCI), which is set to become the fastest supercomputer system in Japan.

Included in the ABCI configuration will be Fujitsu's latest x86 servers, the Fujitsu Server PRIMERGY. The system will offer a theoretical peak performance in half-precision floating point operations (a critical measure in the AI field) of 550 petaflops(1), and 37 petaflops of double-precision floating point operation performance, a conventional measure in simulation and other fields. If this system had competed in the latest TOP500(2) ranking of supercomputers that took place in June 2017, it would have taken the top position in Japan and third place globally.

ABCI will be deployed to the new ABCI datacenter on the Kashiwa II campus of the University of Tokyo, and is scheduled to begin operations in fiscal 2018 (fiscal years start April 1).

Background

In order to accelerate cutting-edge research and development in AI technology, as well as practical applications in society in such fields as industry, AIST has been planning to deploy ABCI as a global open innovation platform that will enable high speed AI processing by combining algorithms, big data and computational power. As a cloud platform for AI applications offering the world's top class machine learning processing capability, high performance computational capability, and energy efficiency, ABCI is expected to create new applications in a variety of fields. Furthermore, the system is foreseen to promote the utilization of cutting-edge AI technology by industry, including transfer of the latest cloud platform technology to the public through an open design.

Fujitsu has now received the order for this system due to the company's proposal for a large-scale computational system using the technology acquired through HPC development, as well as AI focused software acceleration technology from Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.

Overall System Summary

ABCI will feature hardware including a high-performance computational system, a high-capacity storage system, and a variety of networking technology, as well as a group of software that makes the best use of the system.

As the core of ABCI, the high-performance computational system will consist of 1,088 PRIMERGY CX2570 M4 servers, mounted in Fujitsus PRIMERGY CX400 M4 multi-node servers. Each server will feature the latest components, including two Intel Xeon Gold processor CPUs (a total of 2,176 CPUs) and four NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPU computing cards (a total of 4,352 GPUs), as well as Intel SSD DC P4600 series based on an NVMe standard, as local storage.

Moreover, the 2U size chassis PRIMERGY CX400 M4 can each mount two PRIMERGY CX2570 M4 server nodes with GPU computing cards, offering high installation density. In addition, by utilizing "hot water cooling" for its servers, this system can also realize significant power savings.

Future Plans

Applying its AI and HPC technology to AISTs high system requirement standards for both hardware and software, Fujitsu will construct the system with the goal of commencing operations in fiscal 2018. After the launch, Fujitsu will support with the operation of ABCI, and with researchers both inside and outside AIST, through R&D and practical applications in society will contribute to the acceleration of AI utilization.

Fujitsu will also adapt the various techniques, insight, and experience gained from building and support in the operation of ABCI to Fujitsu Human Centric AI Zinrai, its approach to AI technology, as well as to its HPC technology, improving the companys products, services and solutions while promoting its business.
City council holding special called meeting for final vote on returning to committees For some reason, Gaffney City Council is in a hurry to make the citys 10 standing committees in good standing again. After approving first reading of an ordinance at its...

POLICE REPORTS Its my birthday and I need a haircut

Just because its your birthday, doesnt mean you get a free pass to take merchandise from stores. According to a report on file at the City of Gaffney Police Department,...

Challenges facing healthcare in rural areas discussed at summit Community access to mental health services and health care providers loom as two of the major rural health challenges facing Cherokee County. The Cherokee County School District has seen an...
A Pinch of Salt: The election is over, I think, so what now?
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, which established the first anti-capitalist nation, based on Marxist principles, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Our national mythology portrays the USSR as a bad experiment that came to a fortunate end after 80 years of endangering civilization. However, there is more to Soviet history than suffering and oppression, maybe even accomplishments worth celebrating. Here are some of the positives I see resulting from the Bolshevik Revolution.

First, it ended the Great War. The Bolsheviks came to power because they were the only political party willing to defy the Franco-Anglo-American alliance and pull Russian soldiers out of the pointless war with Germany. Secondly, even under conditions of united worldwide capitalist opposition, the USSR succeeded in modernizing a nearly feudal economy. Thirdly, living standards improved and Soviet citizens had the expectation of secure access to education, health care, housing and pensions. Fourth, the Soviet Union defeated the Nazi regime. Half of all deaths of WW II were Soviet citizens.

Lastly, the USSR was an essential ally to emerging nationalist anti-colonial movements in Africa, and Asia and Latin America. China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea still nominally identify as communist nations, recognizing the legacy of the Bolshevik Revolution.

I wont try to defend Joseph Stalin, the gulag system, or Lysenkos science. However, if you consider slavery and genocide, which were key elements of U.S. history, the Bolsheviks have a lot less to be ashamed of.

Mike Beilstein

Corvallis (Oct. 3)
Northwest Indiana Apple Orchard Accused Of Discrimination After Clash Over Service Dog

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 9, 2017 11:06PM



County Line Orchard / Facebook

A woman said she was made to feel like she "wasn't even a human being" after she and a group of queer and trans friends were ejected from an apple orchard in Northwest Indiana after a dispute on Saturday over the woman's service animal. The company says the group was uncooperative when employees inquired about the dog.

LaSaia Wade, a Chicago-based transgender activist, said that during an ultimately short visit over the weekend to the County Line Orchard, in Hobart, Indiana, she was asked by an employee to place some kind of marker on the dog that distinguished it as a service animal, although federal law does not require special leashes or vests. After being asked about her dog by multiple employees, Wade and her group were made to leave the venue after staff summoned a police officer to direct them off the grounds even though, according to Wade, she showed proof of certification. Wade said she felt intimidated by the officer and believes that the dog's breed (a pit bull) and the fact that Wade is a "big-bodied black person" were factors in what she thought was unfair treatment.

A portion of the encounter with the police officer was posted on Facebook and went viral, with some social-media commenters blasting the company for harassment and discrimination.



Wade said she returned to the front area shortly after arriving to show a photograph on her phone of the dog's service certification after she was stopped by an employee and asked about the animal. The same employee had questioned her previously about the animal near the entrance, Wade said. Wade said she suffers from occasional seizures and the dog assists her during those episodes, but she prefers not to outwardly distinguish the animal as a service dog because she prefers to not broadcast herself as disabled.

Wade considered the matter resolved at that point, but there was apparently another confrontation when the group tried to take a hayride at the orchard. She was pulled aside there by two more employees, she said, and the officer arrived shortly thereafter.

Wade told Chicagoist she tried to show the officer the photo of her certification but he demanded they go. "If you refuse to leave again, you're going to be arrested for criminal trespassing," the officer says at the top of the clip above.

County Line Orchard said in a release sent to Chicagoist that the group was "uncooperative in regards to information about their pet being a service dog."

"Due to their unwillingness to cooperate with our staff and security team the decision was made by ownership to ask this group to leave the Orchard," the statement reads.

The statement highlighted that the orchard has had "multiple incidents where dogs or pets have become agitated due to interaction with crowds, petting zoo animals and or farm equipment at the Orchard." Wade said she and her group had hardly made it inside the venue and never approached other animals and said the issue was never framed in that manner to her at the time.

County Line Orchard added:



"Despite being harassed and blamed for discrimination, the officer was professional and diligent in their actions. We want to acknowledge that we appreciate the officers ability to keep the situation from escalating, despite the continued taunting from this group. Shortly after the incident this group made the decision to portray via social media that County Line Orchard, its staff and the Hobart Police Department were discriminating against the group based on race, gender and or sexual orientation. We find this claim to be offensive and disturbing based on the fact that none of the staff, the owners and or the police were aware of any description or characteristics of the guests other than their unwillingness to answer questions in regards to the pit bull... We find it incredibly sad that this group chooses to use our attention to a pet policy to label us as something opposite of our beliefs and integrity."

Wade said that she is considering legal recourse and has also been the target of violent threats on social media.
Crime statistics for Bonn : Bonn police expect fewer crimes by immigrants

Bonn More sexual crimes, apparently committed by immigrants, have caused a stir this year in Bonn. Overall, the proportion of immigrants involved in total criminal activity has remained constant at around ten per cent, with a slightly downward trend.

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They are the cases that give additional urgency to an already heated debate: two weeks ago Eric D. appeared in the dock at the Bonn regional court for the first time. The public prosecutors office is convinced that on 2 April he threatened a couple camping in the Siegaue with a branch saw and raped the 23-year-old woman.

On 17 May, a 14-year-old girl was raped at the Allner See in Hennef. The proceedings against the 27-year-old man will begin soon in the youth protection chamber of the regional court. On the evening of 10 June, a man tried to rape a 25-year-old woman on the Kennedy Bridge. While fleeing from police, he jumped into the Rhine and was caught. It transpired the 27-year-old had already attracted attention after an attack against a student several weeks earlier in the late evening outside Cafe Blau at the university.

Three individual but dramatic criminal incidents from the region that all have something in common: all three suspects arrived in Germany either as asylum seekers or illegally during the large influx of refugees. Sexual crimes are a particularly sensitive area after the numerous attacks on New Years Eve 2015/2016.

Dramatic words

Even before this, violent incidents in refugee accommodation had shocked the Bonn public. Law enforcement agencies seldom use dramatic words, but it happens. The internal police shorthand Nafris for North African repeat offenders triggered political debates at the start of this year. And at the end of 2015, high-ranking security officials warned in a letter to the Federal Government that German authorities, are not and will not be in a position to solve these imported security problems and the consequent reactions of the German population in the face of uncontrolled mass immigration via the Balkans.

Two years later, by comparison, the current assessment of the situation by Bonn police seems matter-of-fact. Spokesman Frank Piontek says for 2017, data available up to August shows, a general decline in the number of cases of total crime. Bonn police are predicting a slight decrease in the proportion of non-German suspects. In relation to the entire criminal spectrum, police say this was 34.4 per cent in 2016 and 32.8 per cent in 2015.

In absolute figures, Bonn police dealt with 5239 suspects who did not have a German passport in 2016. The proportion of crimes is 29.3 per cent (2015) and 32.7 per cent (2016) when all those crimes, which can only be committed by foreigners, such as breaches of residency rules, are excluded. At the same time, by no means every person without German citizenship is one of the around 5000 immigrants currently living in Bonn. This is how the statistics refer to all those connected with the wave of refugees.

Proportion less than ten per cent

In 2016, immigrants accounted for less than ten per cent of registered criminal activity nationally, which still seems high given their low single digit share of the total population. At the same time, the news over the last two years has supported the impression that immigrants are especially prevalent in certain types of crime.

The retail association HDE campaigned for tougher handling of shoplifters in a pointed letter to the German government and parliament. With regard to criminal migrants from the Maghreb and Eastern Europe, the association wrote: It is clear that the security situation in Germany has worsened in the last few years and politicians must react to this. In several randomly selected shops and department stores in Bonn city centre, no one wanted to comment and no reason was given.

Fewer problems in migrant homes

Meanwhile it is evident that there are some problem clientele among the asylum seekers, resulting in calls for help by the Bonn Foreign Nationals Office during the summer. Due to repeated aggression against employees, the administration was given a nine-man security service by the council for another year.

On the other hand, there seem to be fewer problems in refugee homes and another area of crime has remained low up to now: Politically motivated crimes towards immigrants and attacks on asylum seekers homes are the exception, said police spokesman Frank Piontek.
National security investigates : Swastika graffiti and death threats in Rheinbach

Rheinbach Swastikas, SS insignia and death threats have been spray painted on the walls of the newly built refugee home in Keramikerstrae in Rheinbach. National security began investigating on Monday.

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Only a few days before the first refugees are due to move into two new residences on Keramikerstrae, the white exterior walls of the empty building were spray painted with swastikas, and SS and Adolf Hitler. Up to 50 asylum seekers are to move into the 24 apartments in the building in the next few days.

The police consider the number combination 187, which was daubed multiple times on the walls, as a type of death threat. Police in the US state of California use this number code to report on the radio when there has been a murder. The code has entered teenage slang, especially through hip hop music. The code came to prominence in 1997 though the US film 187  A Deadly Number with Samuel L. Jackson.

In summer 2015, when the wave of refugees was at its peak, the non-profit housing association for the Rhein-Sieg district (GWG), headquartered in Sankt Augustin, signalled its willingness to construct the two buildings on city-owned land as a social housing project. The city of Rheinbach is the tenant of both buildings.

I am appalled by these radical right-wing slogans and emblems and xenophobic graffiti, Rheinbachs mayor, Stefan Raetz, told the General Anzeiger. Police spokesman Frank Piontek explained that the national security had started its enquiries. Anyone who saw anything is asked to contact Bonn police on 0228/150.
Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, spoke at a symposium held on September 26 in Beijing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. The full text of his speech is as follows:

Experts, comrades,

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, which is a landmark event in the world's history. As Vladimir Lenin said, "the farther that great day recedes from us, the more clearly we see the significance of the proletarian revolution in Russia, and the more deeply we reflect upon the practical experience of our work as a whole." Today, we hold the symposium to further explore the revolution's significance and influence. By absorbing power and wisdoms from the past, we can better uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Just now, a launch ceremony was held for the revised and expanded version of the second edition of the Collected Works of Lenin. We chose to launch the books before the revolution's anniversary day in order to pay our utmost respect to the revolution. Containing extensive and definitive notes on Marxism and Leninism, the books are the most reliable documents we can refer to when studying the October Revolution. The speeches by the comrades before me at the symposium were very thought-provoking, with insightful views and supported by historical details. Taking this precious chance, I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts.

From hypothesis to science, and from scientific theory to established systems, socialism has evolved for centuries. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels created the materialist conception of history and the theory of surplus value, based on which they developed socialism thoughts. Thanks to their efforts, socialism managed to transform from hypothesis to science, thus was able to offer us scientific theoretical guidance and guide to action for building a communist society that is free of exploitation and oppression. Scientific socialism tells us that capitalism will inevitably give way to socialism, as this is an objective law of social development. Under the guidance of Marxism, worldwide proletarians and working people have done their utmost to build a socialist society. While the Paris Commune made the world's first major attempt at overthrowing capitalist rule and establishing a proletarian power to allow the people to master their own affairs, the first victory in establishing a socialist state was achieved by the October Revolution. When celebrating the October Revolution's fourth anniversary, Lenin said, "This first victory is not yet the final victory [But] we have made the start. When, at what date and time, and the proletarians of which nation will complete this process is not important. The important thing is that the ice has been broken, the road is open, and the way has been shown." The October Revolution has given profound influence on the development of the human race. Acting as a lighthouse, it has guided the following generations of proletarians towards a new era of glorious revolutions.

The October Revolution turned socialism from an ideal into reality, from theory to practice. Understanding clearly the new characteristics in the development of capitalism in the imperialist age, Vladimir Lenin integrated the basic principles of Marxism with the specific situation facing the Russian Revolution to create Leninism. He creatively put forward a series of theories on the socialist revolution and socialist construction, including the theory that socialism could be first achieved in one country or several countries, offering a powerful ideological weapon for proletarian revolution in the imperialist age. Led by Lenin and the Bolshevik Party, the Russian people were able to convert the bourgeois democratic revolution into a true socialist revolution. Through armed struggle and breaking up the old bourgeois state apparatus, they achieved the earthshaking victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution and established the Soviet system dominated by the dictatorship of the proletariat. As Lenin said, "the Soviet system is a proof or a demonstration of how one revolution could develop into another." Soviet Russia promulgated an instrument of a constitutionalist nature, and established, at the preliminary level, a system of economy, politics, culture and education suffused with a socialistic nature. A socialist state was established for the first time in human history whereby socialism was translated from a theory into an actual social system. Thereafter, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union led the people to give full play to the advantages inherent in the socialist economic, political and cultural system, and launched an unprecedented modern mode of governance previously unknown in world history. Soviet modernization involved many fields, including industry, agriculture, education, science, the social system and daily life, which changed within several decades Russia's century-old poverty, famine and backwardness and developed the country from a small peasant economy into a powerful industrial country through industrialization and agricultural collectivization. During the World War II, the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics relied on its strong national strength to defeat the fascist threat posed by Germany, Italy and Japan, together with its allies, contributing greatly to the victory in the worldwide struggle against Fascism and peace and progress of humankind. The epoch-making historical feat of the October Revolution and the major achievements of the Soviet socialism system cannot be negated by dissolution of the Soviet Union. The reasons behind the Soviet breakup are many, including rigidity and conservatism; yet, the root cause was its turning away from Marxism-Leninism and from the socialist path created by the October Revolution.

The October Revolution ushered in a new epoch in human history. Since primitive society, the evolution of social morphology and change of social system involved the replacement of one exploiting society by another with a new ruling exploiting class. The October Revolution put an end to the system of human exploitation and oppression and overthrew the rule by the exploiting class. A society without exploitation and oppression, and a social system with the people as the masters of the country, were established. People's democracy became a reality. From then on, socialism entered an historical stage as a brand new social morphology and social system, greatly influencing the developmental direction of human society. Under the influence of the October Revolution, socialism became an important choice for many countries to gain national independence, liberation and development. Countries embarked on the socialist road one by one; one-third of world's population once lived under the socialist system, which reinforced the socialist cause and broke the monopoly of capitalism. Socialism became the backbone for safeguarding world peace and development. The victory of the October Revolution, especially Lenin's ideology regarding national liberation of colonial and semi-colonial countries, greatly pushed the awakening of people oppressed by imperialism and colonialism, and the rise of national liberation forces in colonial and semi-colonial countries. It accelerated the worldwide disintegration of the colonial system created by imperialism, and altered the composition of international power and the world structure. Because of the increasingly manifested superiority of the world socialist movement and the socialist system, many capitalist countries had to make constant adjustments in their ruling strategy and seek improvement through the introduction of some measures from the socialist system so as to mitigate the increasingly sharp basic contradictions in the capitalist system.

The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China. After the First Opium War, China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and the Chinese nation was plunged into deep suffering. Countless patriots and righteous people in China tested various doctrines and thoughts in order to find the right way to save the country and its people, but all their efforts ended in vain. The success of the October Revolution tremendously shocked and inspired the progressives in China, who were wandering at their wits' end in the dark. The October Revolution ignited a new hope for realizing national independence and people's liberation. Since then, by using the ideals, viewpoints and methods of Marxism-Leninism, they gradually recognized the development trend of the human society, saw clearly the reality that the imperialists were carving up the world and oppressing China, and therefore got a clear understanding of the nature of the Chinese society and the goal of the Chinese revolution. In the end, they finally sought out the fundamental solution to saving the nation in peril  the path of socialism which was opened up by the October Revolution. Comrade Mao Zedong deeply pointed out: "The salvoes of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism. The October Revolution helped progressives in China, as throughout the world, to adopt the proletarian world outlook as the instrument for studying a nation's destiny and considering anew their own problems. Follow the path of the Russians -- that was their conclusion." Those Chinese progressives, during the process of combining Marxism-Leninism with Chinese workers' movement, established the Communist Party of China (CPC). As a result, the Chinese revolution has since then taken on an entirely new look. Under the strong leadership of the CPC, the Chinese nation indestructibly gathered and united from the state of loose sand, holding steadfastly its own future and destiny. Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people fought heroically for 28 years and secured the victory in the new-democratic revolution, gaining national independence and liberation of the people. Comrade Mao Zedong said: "The people's revolution led by the Communist Party of China has always been a part of the world socialist revolution of the proletariat initiated by the October Revolution." After the founding of the New China, the CPC led the Chinese people to complete the socialist revolution, establish the system of socialism, advance socialist construction, conduct reform and opening up, establish and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and obtain an achievement that attracts worldwide attention.

Experts, comrades,

A century ago, China was poor and weak, and it was bullied by big powers. Since then, our country has gone through many setbacks and hardships before rising up and achieving glory. The Chinese nation has undergone unprecedented changes  from standing up to prospering and becoming powerful and having established its position amongst nations of the world. Never in history have we been closer to the goal of the great renewal of the Chinese nation, and never in history have we had greater confidence and capability to realize this goal. This tremendous change is attributed to the fact that we have chosen the path of socialism which was opened up by the October Revolution, that the CPC has been leading the people to closely integrating the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete and real situation of the Chinese revolution, construction and reform, paving a broad road for the great renewal of the Chinese nation that suits China's actual conditions. History and reality have incontrovertibly proved that only socialism can save China, only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China and realize the great renewal of the Chinese nation.

Today, we commemorate the October Revolution and continue to progress on the path of socialism. The most important task is to keep to and develop the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, strive for the realization of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of the great national renewal, and in turn making more brilliant achievements and brighter prospects for socialism, and making even greater contribution to exploring better development path for humankind.

First, we must unswervingly uphold and develop Marxism. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that on the fundamental issue of upholding the guiding role of Marxism, we must maintain unswerving resolve, never wavering at any time or under any circumstances, and that if we deviate from or abandon Marxism, our Party would lose its soul and direction. Meanwhile, for Marxism to play a guiding role in practice and be enriched and developed in the process, it must be combined with the conditions of each country. The victory of the October Revolution was a brilliant example of Lenin's ingenious use of the basic tenets of Marxism in the Russian revolution. The extraordinary achievements made in China's revolution, development and reform and the solid steps taken on the country's great journey to realize its lofty ideal are also the results of the CPC always adhering to Marxism as a guide to action and continuously localizing Marxism in practice.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forth a series of new visions, thinkings, and strategies for the governance of China in the country's great endeavors to advance reform and opening up and develop socialist modernization. These visions, thinkings and strategies have upheld and developed Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, and they have also deepened the CPC's understanding of the laws of governance by the Communist Party, the laws of building socialism, and the laws of the development of the human society. In China's historical endeavors to realize its Two Centenary Goals and fulfill national renewal, the most practical and important way of adhering to Marxism is to follow the principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping's major addresses and his new visions, thinkings, and strategies for the governance of China.

There will never be an end to practice and neither will there be an end to practice-based theoretical innovation. In order to engage in the great struggle, pursue the great undertaking, push forward the great cause, and realize the great dream in the new era, we still need to preserve the theoretical character of Marxism to move forward with the times, combine it with the reform and development realities of contemporary China in a deeper way, push for theoretical innovation on the basis of new practices, strive for positive interactions between innovation in theory and innovation in practice, and open new horizons in the localization of Marxism.

Second, we must be firm in strengthening socialist and communist ideals and convictions. General Secretary Xi Jinping said that Chinese communists' faith in Marxism, socialism and communism is their political soul and sustains them through all tests. Over the past 90-plus years, one generation of CPC members after another have shed their blood, laid down their lives, and continued the hard work of those preceding them with unswerving resolve, in order to achieve national independence and prosperity and bring happiness to the people. They have done this because they have faith in Marxism and are determined to fulfill the socialist and communist ideals. Only by standing firm in strengthening the ideals and principles can we refrain from being arrogant and impatient in time of victories and successes, and restrain ourselves from feeling depressed and uncertain in time of setbacks and adversities. Instead, we can remain firm in our pursuit and harden ourselves into steel. When the socialist movement suffered serious setbacks worldwide, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, citing the restorations of monarchies in the historical process of capitalism superseding feudalism, said with full confidence: "Some countries have suffered major setbacks, and socialism appears to have been weakened. But the people have been tempered by the setbacks and have drawn lessons from them, and that will make socialism develop in a healthier direction." Facts have proven that China's huge success is precisely because of its unswerving adherence to socialist and communist ideals and principles and to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, upholding the ideological and intellectual banner, has stressed that the firm ideals and convictions should always be the fundamentals of communists, and should be placed well above all else. Wavering from ideals or lacking in convictions is the most dangerous. Communists should take enough "spiritual calcium" to strengthen their minds so that they can consciously resist corruption by decadent ideas. The CPC Central Committee has also stressed that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism and not any other doctrine. The basic principles of scientific socialism cannot be discarded, or it would not be socialism. Our current efforts and the sustained efforts of the future generations are aimed towards the ultimate goal of the realization of communism. The whole Party should have strong political staunchness in ideals and convictions, consciously become firm believers and faithful practitioners of the exalted ideal of communism and the shared ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The socialist system has existed for 100 years since the October Revolution, and socialism has been practiced in China for more than 60 years, though the consolidation and development of the system still has a long way to go. General Secretary Xi Jinping repeatedly stressed that the consolidation and development of the socialist system, and ultimately the realization of communism needs the effort of generations. Building socialism with Chinese characteristics is the historical mission of the CPC. Strong ideals and convictions will serve as the beacon for generations of Chinese people to strive in the course of accomplishing this great mission.

Third, we must unswervingly uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics does not just fall from the sky, and it was achieved through the toil and sacrifice of the Party and the people. Socialism with Chinese characteristics  which comes from practice, from the people and from the truth  is rooted in the land of China, reflecting the will of the Chinese people and meeting the demand of China's social development and the progress of the times. It is both a great cause we must continue to promote and a fundamental guarantee for a better future. The glorious achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics unarguably show that destiny is determined by the choice of the path. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is more than just achievable, and it has proven to be a smart choice towards a better future.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the people-first approach, has acted in accordance with the overall plan for promoting all-round socialist economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological development and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy. Through the implementation of the new development concept and the great struggle with many new historical features, China has carved out a new ambit of governance and entered a new era in the development of the Party and the country. New successes in building socialism with Chinese characteristics have been achieved and both the Party and the people are more confident in our path, theory, system and culture.

As Lenin pointed out after the victory of the October Revolution, socialism was an unprecedented great cause and the communists had to learn to accomplish their own tasks in a new way that conformed to the reality of Russia. We must always be based on the reality of the primary stage of Chinese socialism, taking economic development as the central task, and upholding the Four Cardinal Principles and the reform and opening-up policy in the great practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must further improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, promote the modernization of the state governance system and capacity in governance, all of which are aimed at continuously accomplishing, safeguarding and developing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. We must unswervingly hold high the banner of reform and opening up, and strive to promote innovations in theories, practices, systems and in other aspects of innovation, continue to liberate and develop social productive forces, emancipate and enhance social vitality, make socialism with Chinese characteristics more efficient than capitalism, make it more able to stimulate enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of all the people, more able to achieve social justice and common prosperity, and more able to gain competitive advantages on the international stage.

Socialism is not an illusory system that deviates from the general path of world civilizations, but a crystallization of the outstanding achievements made by human civilizations. To maintain and further develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, we need to learn from all the remarkable achievements of civilizations created by the human society. But to learn does not mean to copy by rote the paths and models of development followed by other countries. Instead, we need to stick to the right directions, steadfastly stay level-headed and stick to our own path.

Fourth, we must adhere to the Party's strong leadership in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, Party leadership is the most essential feature and greatest advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics; it is also the fundamental guarantee of the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Upholding the leadership by the Party is the foundation and lifeblood of both the Party and the state and affects the interests and well-being of all the people of China. Since the October Revolution, history has proved that without the leadership of the Communist Party, there would be no socialism; only the Communist Party can lead people to carry out socialist revolution, building and reform.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have improved the Party's methods of leadership and governance, enhanced its capacity to govern in a scientific, democratic and law-based way, strengthened its cohesiveness, capability and leadership, as well as consolidated its core leadership status. Upholding Party leadership requires comprehensively strengthening Party discipline. The Central Committee of the CPC, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has focused on strengthening the Party's governance capacity, advanced nature and purity. The CPC Central Committee has made all-around efforts in strengthening the Party theoretically and organizationally, improving its conduct, more vigorously fighting against corruption and improving Party rules and regulations. The Party has also closely integrated its theoretical, organizational and systematic building, carried out strict and concrete Party discipline and management, and took a clear-cut stand to exercise political awareness. The Party has paid serious attention to intra-Party political life, Party rules and regulations  especially political rules and regulations  rectifying the Party working style, fighting against corruption and ensuring the implementation of the main body's responsibility and supervisory responsibility in the work of Party discipline. The Party has hence markedly improved its capacity for self-purity, self-improvement, self-innovation and self-development.

To advance the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, we should more resolutely and consciously uphold the core status of General Secretary Xi Jinping in the CPC Central Committee and the entire CPC, safeguard the authority and the central, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, become more aware of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, uphold the leadership core and keep in alignment. We should more consciously uphold the Party's ideals, direction and will, and ensure the Party to be the core that oversees the big picture and coordinates all quarters.

Fifth, we must unswervingly advance the noble cause of peace and development of humankind. A country's path of development is essentially determined by its nature. Peace and development are the internal requirements and ineluctable choice of socialism. World history in the wake of the October Revolution has demonstrated that socialist countries are an important force in containing world wars and maintaining world peace.

China's commitment to peaceful development has been gradually shaped by arduous exploration and constant practice since the founding of the state, especially since the reform and opening-up. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, China's choice for peaceful development is by no means expediency or diplomatic rhetoric. It is a determined choice that China has made on the basis of its history, reality and future, as well as a strategic option informed by its national conditions, social systems and cultural traditions. It has been proved that China's choice of peaceful development represents a timely response to today's imperatives and serves the fundamental interests of China, and those of its neighbors and the rest of the world.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China has upheld the banner of peace, development and win-win cooperation. Firmly committed to peaceful development, it has promoted the construction of a new type of international relations with mutual cooperation at the core, actively participated in global governance, and sought to forge a community of a shared future. It has also committed to upholding world peace and promoting common development to bring lasting peace, extensive safety and common prosperity to a world that is open, inclusive, clean and beautiful.

China has been a force for world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. By playing an increasingly important role in global affairs, it has won extensive praise internationally. With the continued progress of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it will definitely contribute more wisdoms and solutions to peace and the development of mankind, and will work together with people in various countries to build a better world for all.

Experts, comrades,

As the world's largest socialist state, China has made remarkable achievements, and socialism in China has hence been full of vigor and vitality and continues to open new horizons of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping said firmly, "In today's world, if we want to point out which political party, which country and which nation can be confident, the answer must be: the CPC, the People's Republic of China and the Chinese nation have the best reason to stay confident." We will continue to grasp the scientific nature and truth of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on that, we should keep confident in the path, theory, system, and culture of Chinese socialism and remain committed to ushering in a new dimension of development for socialism with Chinese characteristics.

History is the best textbook. The past 100 years have witnessed a magnificent journey of the world socialist movement since the victory of the October Revolution, giving us deep insights into upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should conduct research on the history of socialist development, the history of international communist movements as well as contemporary world socialism. We should, from the view of world history, have a profound understanding of the historical status of the October Revolution, and fully realize that socialism with Chinese characteristics has inherited, enriched and developed scientific socialism, and that the Chinese path is consistent with the trend of world progress. We should insist on using dialectical materialism and historical materialism to further research 500 years of history of world socialism, its past 100 years of development since Russia's October Revolution, as well as the history of Chinese socialist revolution, construction and reform. We should more consciously understand the ruling law of the Communist Party, the law of socialist construction and the law of the development of human society, give a scientific interpretation of relevant important problems and major issues, and reveal the directional and fundamental trends and laws during the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should pay attention to following the correct political direction and research orientation, firmly resist historical nihilism and oppose all kinds of erroneous tendencies. We should keep up with the times and constantly make innovations in research content, forms and methods according to the development of the times. We need to promote the Party's ideological and theoretical building with more fruitful research, and make new and even greater contributions to upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Experts, comrades,

Looking back on the past 100 years since the October Revolution, we feel very proud of the outstanding achievements of overcoming obstacles during the building of socialism; looking forward to the great journey in the future, we have full confidence in the good prospects that socialism will enjoy. Let's more closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, stay true to the mission taken up by the CPC from its very beginning and forge ahead, make unremitting efforts to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and gain the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and embrace the upcoming 19th National Congress of the CPC with outstanding achievements.
kacylee at 10-10-2017 06:56 AM (5 years ago) (f)

Nollywood actress, Juliet Okeke, has shared a collage of his brother who survived the explosion at a gas station in Ghana, recuperating in the hospital.

Nollywood actress, Juliet Okeke, has shared a collage of his brother who survived the explosion at a gas station in Ghana, recuperating in the hospital.

The tanker explosion at a gas station reportedly killed 6 people leaving 35 others injured in explosions at Atomic Junction, near Legon, Accra, Ghana on Saturday night.



National Fire Service spokesman Billy Anaglatey, who confirmed the incident on Sunday, said:



As we speak, six people are dead due to this fire, he said, adding that 35 were injured by the Saturday night explosions. Four of the 35 are in critical condition at the intensive care unit of the 37 Military Hospital.

The cause of the explosions is being investigated, said Anaglatey. On Sunday morning, burned steel frames show where the two gas stations were razed by the explosions.



Some people said there were flames in the skies, l looked and saw the flames and was convinced something terrible had happened, said James Appiah, a resident of North Legon



Juliet wrote;



The tanker explosion at a gas station reportedly killed 6 people leaving 35 others injured in explosions at Atomic Junction, near Legon, Accra, Ghana on Saturday night.National Fire Service spokesman Billy Anaglatey, who confirmed the incident on Sunday, said:The cause of the explosions is being investigated, said Anaglatey. On Sunday morning, burned steel frames show where the two gas stations were razed by the explosions.Juliet wrote; Quote Where and how do I start from, I read about the Ghana gas station explosion online and aljazeera not knowing that my younger brother (expensive) Uchenna Godwin was battling his life in it. Lord its with tears of Joy that I say thank you my Brother is a Survivor



How can I thank God enough for my younger brothers life while I read the news online I didnt know He was battling his life in the Accra Ghana gas explosion



Only when you wear the shoe then alone will you know how it feels for a loved one to be in pain Saw a lot of news about the gas explosion in Ghana yesterday,went on to aljazeera news and am like thank God Only to be called this evening from Accra military hospital that my younger brother battled his life in the outbreak My heart fell straight into my stomach With tears of Joy am grateful to God Almighty.. Expensive Uchenna Godwin you are a covenant Child











Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 10-10-2017 06:56 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero
bayonel3 at 10-10-2017 12:48 PM (5 years ago) (m)

Dr. Edem Eniang, the Director of Biodiversity Preservation Center, BPC, in Akwa Ibom State, has expressed concern over the widespread hunt for tortoises in Akwa Ibom State by women for the preparation of love potions, popularly known as 'Kop nno mi' for their lovers and other charms. Dr. Eniang, a University of Uyo, UNIUYO, lecturer, who spoke at a campaign, Conserve Nigerian Endangered Tortoises, Dont Hunt Them, Dont Use Them For Love Potions, in Mbiakong community, Uruan local government area, said that the survival of the animal is greatly endangered in the state, as it was daily hunted for meals and preparation of love concoctions, popularly known in the area as Kop nno mi and charms for fortune seekers.

Dr. Edem Eniang, the Director of Biodiversity Preservation Center, BPC, in Akwa Ibom State, has expressed concern over the widespread hunt for tortoises in Akwa Ibom State by women for the preparation of love potions, popularly known as 'Kop nno mi' for their lovers and other charms. Dr. Eniang, a University of Uyo, UNIUYO, lecturer, who spoke at a campaign,in Mbiakong community, Uruan local government area, said that the survival of the animal is greatly endangered in the state, as it was daily hunted for meals and preparation of love concoctions, popularly known in the area as Kop nno mi and charms for fortune seekers. The programme was sponsored by Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, CEPF, and its global partners, Birdlife International and the Guinea Forest of West Africa, GFWA. The BPC director stated that the rate at which the animal is hunted for fetish reasons is worrisome and may likely force the animal to go into extinction, calling on the people, especially hunters, to stop hunting the creature. He said that expert evaluation had shown that there are approximately 350 species of tortoises in the world out of which three of the species in Nigeria, including black hinged, forest, home hinged tortoises and marine sea turtles have been identified as critically endangered. To save the situation, he urged that all hands should be on deck to ensure the survival of the animals in the state and indeed Nigeria. Eniang recalled that the Oba of Benin, His Royal Mayesty, Omo NOba NEdo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, recently received a 145-year- old tortoise as a gift from his friend, the Emir of Borgu.

He said,The Queen of England also used a live tortoise to inaugurate the University of Ibadan in the late 1940s and the tortoise was a graduate of the University of London at the age of 50 and has remained alive till date. The Village Head of Mbiakong Chief Hyacenth Nyong Okon, said: I am not a woman, it is the women, who like to use it to force their husbands to love them, my own is to kill and eat. We do not use tortoise for rituals, we only use the hard shell to play the Nabo traditional dance. The programme was sponsored by Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, CEPF, and its global partners, Birdlife International and the Guinea Forest of West Africa, GFWA. The BPC director stated thatcalling on the people, especially hunters, to stop hunting the creature. He said that expert evaluation had shown that there are approximately 350 species of tortoises in the world out of which three of the species in Nigeria, including black hinged, forest, home hinged tortoises and marine sea turtles have been identified as critically endangered. To save the situation, he urged that all hands should be on deck to ensure the survival of the animals in the state and indeed Nigeria. Eniang recalled that the Oba of Benin, His Royal Mayesty, Omo NOba NEdo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, recently received a 145-year- old tortoise as a gift from his friend, the Emir of Borgu.He said,The Village Head of Mbiakong Chief Hyacenth Nyong Okon, said:

Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. [email protected] Posted: at 10-10-2017 12:48 PM (5 years ago) | Hero
clarajancita at 10-10-2017 03:00 PM (5 years ago) (f)

There are many ways unemployed Nigerians are being made to part with their hard earned money by scammers posing as employers of labour. These are some of those ways. Unemployment in Nigeria as far as many can remember has always been a problem. It is a challenge that is as old as the concept of job creation. A lot of people believe that hunger is the worst part of unemployment, but research has shown that it is not. The worst part of unemployment is the idleness; the minute you wake up in the morning without a defined purpose, unemployment slams you right in the face. Idle minds are therefore known as the devils playground, because out of it springs trouble. For Nigeria, one of the recent troubles brought about by the unemployed idle is job scam.

There are many ways unemployed Nigerians are being made to part with their hard earned money by scammers posing as employers of labour. These are some of those ways. Unemployment in Nigeria as far as many can remember has always been a problem. It is a challenge that is as old as the concept of job creation. A lot of people believe that hunger is the worst part of unemployment, but research has shown that it is not. The worst part of unemployment is the idleness; the minute you wake up in the morning without a defined purpose, unemployment slams you right in the face. Idle minds are therefore known as the devils playground, because out of it springs trouble. For Nigeria, one of the recent troubles brought about by the unemployed idle is job scam. Fake recruiters and employers cause a lot of pain to job seekers, because they prey on their psychological and emotional intelligence. These intending job seekers invariably fall victim because of their desperation. The promise of a job lets them forget to question the integrity of the supposed employment agency or company offering employment.



According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the rate of employment in Nigeria skyrocketed in the year 2016, leaving qualified persons hopeless, demoralised and desperate. While economic recession was a contributing factor, unemployment in the opinion of Mr Clement Ekah, a Human Resource officer, is a problem that Nigeria has never truly tackled. This has given rise to job scams in Nigeria.

Though job scams have been around for some time, recently, their tactics have included more exotic and elaborate details that draw the unwitting victim in.

Whatever their technique is and how they go about it, their goal is always the same; to separate their victims from their money. These fraudsters are becoming more and more crafty in the way they operate, and its becoming more difficult to differentiate between a scam and a legitimate job vacancy.



All around Lagos, you see posters, banners and people sharing flyers of dream jobs, saying salary starts from a very attractive amount. In other cases, these job adverts come in via text message like this that a respondent showed to one of our respondents:

F/C Limited invites you for a career chat/interview by 9:00am on Friday, 10/2/17 at 92 Ikorodu Road beside First Bank, PalmGroove, Lagos. 0816*****27 REF No:FC/35/CN



According to the intended victim, Fake recruiters and employers cause a lot of pain to job seekers, because they prey on their psychological and emotional intelligence. These intending job seekers invariably fall victim because of their desperation. The promise of a job lets them forget to question the integrity of the supposed employment agency or company offering employment.According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the rate of employment in Nigeria skyrocketed in the year 2016, leaving qualified persons hopeless, demoralised and desperate. While economic recession was a contributing factor, unemployment in the opinion of Mr Clement Ekah, a Human Resource officer, is a problem that Nigeria has never truly tackled. This has given rise to job scams in Nigeria.Though job scams have been around for some time, recently, their tactics have included more exotic and elaborate details that draw the unwitting victim in.Whatever their technique is and how they go about it, their goal is always the same; to separate their victims from their money. These fraudsters are becoming more and more crafty in the way they operate, and its becoming more difficult to differentiate between a scam and a legitimate job vacancy.All around Lagos, you see posters, banners and people sharing flyers of dream jobs, saying salary starts from a very attractive amount. In other cases, these job adverts come in via text message like this that a respondent showed to one of our respondents:F/C Limited invites you for a career chat/interview by 9:00am on Friday, 10/2/17 at 92 Ikorodu Road beside First Bank, PalmGroove, Lagos. 0816*****27 REF No:FC/35/CNAccording to the intended victim, Quote I knew it was fake because I had never applied for a job. Immediately I finished NYSC, I got married and went into business. I served in the East, so it could not have been from my NYSC days. Where did they get my number? I think Nigeria as a whole is just a very insecure country. Im sure they bought numbers in bulk.

While some are after extorting money from their preys, others simply claim to be what they are not. The worst of them all however are kidnappers who masquerade as employers. These ones hold their victims captive till their families pay some sort of ransom or are caught.

Another popular scam involves the fraudsters posing as an agency where they demand outrageous sums of money to help job seekers secure good employment. An example is the impersonation of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) in January 2017. This started with unconfirmed reports of how the PCN allegedly compelled job seekers to pay a fee of N48, 000 to be enlisted into the Corps instead of the usual fee of N1, 500 for its official recruitment form. Though the scam was later exposed, many had fallen victim.



Sadly, there are many others. Kayode, a former employee of United Bank of Africa, UBA, shared a story of how he fell victim of one such job scams.

While some are after extorting money from their preys, others simply claim to be what they are not. The worst of them all however are kidnappers who masquerade as employers. These ones hold their victims captive till their families pay some sort of ransom or are caught.Another popular scam involves the fraudsters posing as an agency where they demand outrageous sums of money to help job seekers secure good employment. An example is the impersonation of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) in January 2017. This started with unconfirmed reports of how the PCN allegedly compelled job seekers to pay a fee of N48, 000 to be enlisted into the Corps instead of the usual fee of N1, 500 for its official recruitment form. Though the scam was later exposed, many had fallen victim.Sadly, there are many others. Kayode, a former employee of United Bank of Africa, UBA, shared a story of how he fell victim of one such job scams. Quote I was a teller at UBA, and I resigned to pursue further education. When I finished my HND, I didnt have a job, so I began to apply any and everywhere. I called all my old customers at the bank. This was last year (2016). One day, I saw a very nice message saying I should come for registration and processing in Opebi. Me, I didnt even check the name of the company, but the address was there. I was so happy, because they said I should come the following day. I just thought it was one of the companies I had applied to, or someone that sent my details to them. I got there the following day and I discovered it was all these multilevel marketing nonsense. The stupid people even wanted me to pay five thousand to start again.

I was so angry, I just told them to give me my CV that they collected when I got there. I cannot waste my CV on them. I wasted transport fare and time. The next time I got that type of text message, I replied it with a curse. Stupid people. I had told my whole family that I had gotten a job.



Kayode is not alone in his frustrated debacle. Taiwo Ajayi, a horticulture graduate of University of Abeokuta explained that she was working at an agricultural produce firm at Ogba where she was earning N46,000. She went further to share that she got a message to come for an interview somewhere in Agege.

Kayode is not alone in his frustrated debacle. Taiwo Ajayi, a horticulture graduate of University of Abeokuta explained that she was working at an agricultural produce firm at Ogba where she was earning N46,000. She went further to share that she got a message to come for an interview somewhere in Agege. Quote When I got to the place, everything looked nice. They even served us some drinks, which they said was also one of the products they sold. At the end of the entire interview, I realised that it was just like network marketing, but they told us that it was not like that. They even said I did not have to come to work everyday that I would simply market the products, and that there was a market for it. Since I was desperate for a better job, I quit my job in the agric firm and joined them. The products I was to sell are still in my wardrobe at home. I did not get a dime. They kept asking me to get numbers of people so that they can come and join the company. It is just a scam.



Some other scams include recruitment in obscure, out of the way places. A lady who refused to give her name explained that the last interview of that sort that she went for put the fear of God in her heart.

Some other scams include recruitment in obscure, out of the way places. A lady who refused to give her name explained that the last interview of that sort that she went for put the fear of God in her heart. Quote When I got to the address sent by a Mr. John at Anthony where the interview was supposed to take place, I kept looking for it but I couldnt find it. So I called the Mr. John again, and he directed me to one bush path that looked like a goat trail. Thats how I started walking till I got to one shop. The woman that was there said she didnt know any office in the area, that there was no office around. Immediately she said it, I wisened up and ran back. The Mr. John kept calling till I got home.



Not all multi-level marketing are scams Stephen, a multilevel marketer explains. Not all multi-level marketing are scams Stephen, a multilevel marketer explains. Quote The only reason we communicate through text messages is so that they believe it is real. If we tell them it is marketing, they wont come. But when they come and we explain to them, those that are interested are allowed to join and others are free to go. That is not a scam. We start with a seminar to prepare them. It is after that we inform them of the amount they need to pay to register. It is not as if we force them. Those that are hard working eventually get results.

We always need people to join the downline, so we can never stop recruiting. I have seen people buy cars, build houses with multilevel marketing, so you people should stop saying it is a scam.



In a proactive manner, some resourceful Nigerian graduates have also taken to the streets in desperation to search for jobs. It has become commonplace to find a lone youngman or lady standing at a strategic, visible location with an inscribed board begging for a job. While some laugh, the evidence is said to be in the results they generate.



But is this what the future of Nigeria holds? A generation of graduates desperate enough to peddle their resumes on the streets in search of a job?



An online jobs website that gives employers access to the most relevant pool of qualified job-seekers recently released a list of things to watch out for in job related scams.

The golden rule is never part with your money. Any job offer that requires that you pay a fee in advance is probably not real. Most reputable companies will absorb these costs themselves. If the recruiter offers to train you for the job, in return for money, walk away.

A recruiter or company that corresponds from a free e-mail account such, as Yahoo, Live, Hotmail or Gmail is likely not authentic. Legitimate jobrelated e-mails would come from corporate e-mail accounts. Though there are exceptions.

Do a Google search on the company name and see what information you can find. Compare it to the information that you have been sent. Take a look at their website, if they have any. When you Google them, and you find nothing, only job postings, or warnings, theyre most probably not real.

Always remember that reputable companies are not going to offer you a role without interviewing you first. Flattering as it may seem that they were so impressed with your resume, that they have offered you a position without meeting you first, the reality is, that you are probably being duped if this happens. Never, ever accept a job offer that has come through via e-mail, when you have never had a telephonic or face-to-face interview.

If you receive an offer in your inbox for a job that you never applied for, and it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.

Salaries that are way over what you would normally earn is another pointer. Getting paid a really high salary is not the norm for all job seekers. Any legitimate employer will evaluate your skill set and experience, before deciding on what you are worth. If the company offers you a salary that is completely out of your range, and experience, you are probably in the process of being scammed.

Be cautious of e-mails with grammatical and spelling mistakes. They often use fake URLs to mask themselves as large well-known organisations. Double check the URL, or the web address of the company. You may think that you are on a well-known companys website, when you are actually on a malicious website. So always check the website URL first.

Vague sketchy job descriptions are also key signs. If you read the job description and at the end of it, you are not really sure what the job actually entails, or when you analyse it and the role states that there is no specific skill necessary for the job and anyone/everyone would qualify, you are probably about to be scammed. The majority of jobs will require at least some experience or qualification. Most of them will need you to start immediately. Their requests are very urgent, so you dont have time to wait. That means they dont want you to take the time to think about what they are asking or to do any research before you respond.

It would be foolhardy to believe that just because these scammers and fraudulent people are in the wrong, they are stupid. They are actually quite smart and develop new techniques everyday. They adapt and evolve unlike the job seeker. So it takes constant vigilance without desperation not to fall victim like many others have.



Job scams can be very devastating for already cash strapped job seekers. Before falling prey to unscrupulous scammers, do your homework and checks very carefully. If the opportunity seems too good to be true, it is probably a scam! In a proactive manner, some resourceful Nigerian graduates have also taken to the streets in desperation to search for jobs. It has become commonplace to find a lone youngman or lady standing at a strategic, visible location with an inscribed board begging for a job. While some laugh, the evidence is said to be in the results they generate.But is this what the future of Nigeria holds? A generation of graduates desperate enough to peddle their resumes on the streets in search of a job?An online jobs website that gives employers access to the most relevant pool of qualified job-seekers recently released a list of things to watch out for in job related scams.The golden rule is never part with your money. Any job offer that requires that you pay a fee in advance is probably not real. Most reputable companies will absorb these costs themselves. If the recruiter offers to train you for the job, in return for money, walk away.A recruiter or company that corresponds from a free e-mail account such, as Yahoo, Live, Hotmail or Gmail is likely not authentic. Legitimate jobrelated e-mails would come from corporate e-mail accounts. Though there are exceptions.Do a Google search on the company name and see what information you can find. Compare it to the information that you have been sent. Take a look at their website, if they have any. When you Google them, and you find nothing, only job postings, or warnings, theyre most probably not real.Always remember that reputable companies are not going to offer you a role without interviewing you first. Flattering as it may seem that they were so impressed with your resume, that they have offered you a position without meeting you first, the reality is, that you are probably being duped if this happens. Never, ever accept a job offer that has come through via e-mail, when you have never had a telephonic or face-to-face interview.If you receive an offer in your inbox for a job that you never applied for, and it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.Salaries that are way over what you would normally earn is another pointer. Getting paid a really high salary is not the norm for all job seekers. Any legitimate employer will evaluate your skill set and experience, before deciding on what you are worth. If the company offers you a salary that is completely out of your range, and experience, you are probably in the process of being scammed.Be cautious of e-mails with grammatical and spelling mistakes. They often use fake URLs to mask themselves as large well-known organisations. Double check the URL, or the web address of the company. You may think that you are on a well-known companys website, when you are actually on a malicious website. So always check the website URL first.Vague sketchy job descriptions are also key signs. If you read the job description and at the end of it, you are not really sure what the job actually entails, or when you analyse it and the role states that there is no specific skill necessary for the job and anyone/everyone would qualify, you are probably about to be scammed. The majority of jobs will require at least some experience or qualification. Most of them will need you to start immediately. Their requests are very urgent, so you dont have time to wait. That means they dont want you to take the time to think about what they are asking or to do any research before you respond.It would be foolhardy to believe that just because these scammers and fraudulent people are in the wrong, they are stupid. They are actually quite smart and develop new techniques everyday. They adapt and evolve unlike the job seeker. So it takes constant vigilance without desperation not to fall victim like many others have.Job scams can be very devastating for already cash strapped job seekers. Before falling prey to unscrupulous scammers, do your homework and checks very carefully. If the opportunity seemsit is probably a scam!

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 10-10-2017 03:00 PM (5 years ago) | Hero
Overall, dont let the bhoot mislead you, nothing bhootiya about this story. Had the makers tried to push the envelope, the idea could have been outstanding for a bhootiya comedy.
Experts from various institutions spoke at a symposium held on September 26 in Beijing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. Excerpts of the remarks of eight speakers are as follows:

The most fundamental thing is to firmly pursue the ideal of communists

By He Yiting, Executive Vice President of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC

Through commemorating the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution and summarizing experiences and lessons from socialism across the world, we reached the conclusion that in order to realize the historical mission of the Marxist Party, the most fundamental thing is to firmly pursue the ideal of communists since it is the spiritual pillar and the political soul of communists. It is also the ideological foundation for communists to maintain unity and forge ahead on the right path.

The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power through armed struggle and made the October Revolution the first successful proletarian revolution in human history. It turned socialism from a scientific theory into reality and opened up a new era in human history. A considerable time after the victory of the October Revolution, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had carried out socialist practices with an open and pragmatic mind and had reached an unprecedented level of magnificence. There were many reasons that the CPSU lost power afterwards, but one of the most fundamental reasons is that they failed to hold fast to the lofty ideal of communism. The leaders of the CPSU did not reflect on their rigid patterns; instead, they tried to change the fundamental system. The achievements of the October Revolution which had lasted for 74 years were destroyed as the result of losing beliefs and weakening faith.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) has taken the continuation of the October Revolution as its cause. Since it was established on July 1, 1921, the CPC has taken communism as their highest goal and unswervingly led the Chinese people to move toward this great ideal. Under the guidance of Marxism with Chinese characteristics which keeps abreast of the times, the CPC has led Chinese people to catch up with the times in large strides. The Party has realized an amazing leap, from standing up to prospering and strengthening and to establishing its position in the world after experiencing various historical periods of revolution, construction and reform. It is an excellent answer given by the CPC as the successor to the October Revolution and also the best promotion and development of the October Revolutionary spirit.

The future is bright and the road is full of twist and turns. The most important aspect of the CPC is not only to uphold the banner of socialism during good times, but also to stick to their beliefs when encountering difficulties and setbacks and to stay true to the Party's founding mission in tough times while always holding firmly to their lofty ideals. Since the 18th National Party Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core repeatedly stressed that the revolutionary ideal is higher than the sky. It emphasized that the Party School should assume the tasks of "supplementing calcium to strengthen the bones" for cadres and officials, which is to further solidify the ideological foundation of the ideal and beliefs since it is the foundation of the CPC.

Enhancing the theoretical education of the Party, including the education on ideals and beliefs as well as the Party spirit of cadres and officials, is the duty of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. In the next stage, we will conscientiously implement the spirit of the 19th National Party Congress in accordance with the deployment of the CPC Central Committee, and draw wisdom and strength from historical development. We should press ahead our ideals and beliefs in practice and continue to carry on the theoretical education and education on Party spirit.
English Finnish

Press Release

Increased focus on digital health and brand and technology licensing balanced with optimized investments in virtual reality

Planned changes expected to impact Nokia Technologies employees mainly in Finland, the US and the UK

Nokia's successful patent licensing business is not in scope of planned changes



October 10, 2017

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced plans to sharpen the focus of Nokia Technologies on digital health, and accelerate growth in that market, while optimizing investments in virtual reality (VR). Nokia Technologies will also focus on growing brand and technology licensing while leaving its successful patent licensing business untouched.

The shift deepens Nokia's commitment to fully leverage its digital health portfolio acquired through the purchase of Withings in 2016. Through a more focused, more agile digital health business, Nokia aims to have larger impact with consumers and the medical community.

In digital media, the slower-than-expected development of the VR market means that Nokia Technologies plans to reduce investments and focus more on technology licensing opportunities. The unit aims to halt development of further versions of the OZO VR camera and hardware, while maintaining commitments to existing customers.

The potential reductions are expected to affect up to 310 of the roughly 1090 employees in Nokia Technologies, mainly in Finland, the US and the UK. To start the process, Nokia today has invited employee representatives of Nokia Technologies in Finland to cooperation negotiations.

"Nokia Technologies is at a point where, with the right focus and investments, we can meaningfully grow our footprint in the digital health market, and we must seize that opportunity," said Gregory Lee, president of Nokia Technologies. "While necessary, the changes will also affect our employees, and as a responsible company we are committed to providing the needed support to those affected."

About Nokia

We create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com

Media Inquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Phone: +358 (0) 10 448 4900

E-mail: press.services@nokia.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

It should be noted that Nokia and its businesses are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) our ability to integrate Alcatel-Lucent into our operations and achieve the targeted business plans and benefits, including targeted synergies in relation to the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to our strategies and growth management; C) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of our businesses; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in organizational and operational structure; E) expectations regarding market developments, general economic conditions and structural changes; F) expectations and targets regarding financial performance, results, operating expenses, taxes, currency exchange rates, hedging, cost savings and competitiveness, as well as results of operations including targeted synergies and those related to market share, prices, net sales, income and margins; G) expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or to business collaboration agreements or patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration or partnership, agreement or award; H) timing of the deliveries of our products and services; I) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements, joint ventures or the creation of joint ventures, and the related administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions, as well as our expected customer reach; J) outcome of pending and threatened litigation, arbitration, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; K) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, divestments and acquisitions; and L) statements preceded by or including "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "sees," "target," "estimate," "designed," "aim," "plans," "intends," "focus," "continue," "project," "should," "is to," "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our ability to execute our strategy, sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our business and correctly identify and successfully pursue business opportunities or growth; 2) our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies of the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, and our ability to implement our organizational and operational structure efficiently; 3) general economic and market conditions and other developments in the economies where we operate; 4) competition and our ability to effectively and profitably compete and invest in new competitive high-quality products, services, upgrades and technologies and bring them to market in a timely manner; 5) our dependence on the development of the industries in which we operate, including the cyclicality and variability of the information technology and telecommunications industries; 6) our global business and exposure to regulatory, political or other developments in various countries or regions, including emerging markets and the associated risks in relation to tax matters and exchange controls, among others; 7) our ability to manage and improve our financial and operating performance, cost savings, competitiveness and synergies generally or after the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent; 8) our dependence on a limited number of customers and large multi-year agreements; 9) exchange rate fluctuations, as well as hedging activities; 10) Nokia Technologies' ability to protect its IPR and to maintain and establish new sources of patent licensing income and IPR-related revenues, particularly in the smartphone market; 11) our ability to successfully realize the expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or business collaboration agreements and patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration, partnership, agreement or arbitration award; 12) our dependence on IPR technologies, including those that we have developed and those that are licensed to us, and the risk of associated IPR-related legal claims, licensing costs and restrictions on use; 13) our exposure to direct and indirect regulation, including economic or trade policies, and the reliability of our governance, internal controls and compliance processes to prevent regulatory penalties in our business or in our joint ventures; 14) our ability to identify and remediate material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting; 15) our reliance on third-party solutions for data storage and service distribution, which expose us to risks relating to security, regulation and cybersecurity breaches; 16) inefficiencies, breaches, malfunctions or disruptions of information technology systems; 17) Nokia Technologies' ability to generate net sales and profitability through licensing of the Nokia brand, particularly in digital media and digital health, and the development and sales of products and services, as well as other business ventures which may not materialize as planned; 18) our exposure to various legislative frameworks and jurisdictions that regulate fraud and enforce economic trade sanctions and policies, and the possibility of proceedings or investigations that result in fines, penalties or sanctions; 19) adverse developments with respect to customer financing or extended payment terms we provide to customers; 20) the potential complex tax issues, tax disputes and tax obligations we may face in various jurisdictions, including the risk of obligations to pay additional taxes; 21) our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, which could reduce our ability to utilize deferred tax assets; 22) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 23) disruptions to our manufacturing, service creation, delivery, logistics and supply chain processes, and the risks related to our geographically-concentrated production sites; 24) the impact of litigation, arbitration, agreement-related disputes or product liability allegations associated with our business; 25) our ability to optimize our capital structure as planned and re-establish our investment grade credit rating or otherwise improve our credit ratings; 26) our ability to achieve targeted benefits from or successfully achieve the required administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions and implement planned transactions, as well as the liabilities related thereto; 27) our involvement in joint ventures and jointly-managed companies; 28) the carrying amount of our goodwill may not be recoverable; 29) uncertainty related to the amount of dividends and equity return we are able to distribute to shareholders for each financial period; 30) pension costs, employee fund-related costs, and healthcare costs; and 31) risks related to undersea infrastructure, as well as the risk factors specified on pages 67 to 85 of our 2016 annual report on Form 20-F under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
HARRISONBURG  Surrounded by boxes of supplies and volunteers packing blue and gray buckets to create relief kits, Eastern Mennonite University senior Ryan Faraci still wanted to do more. His efforts, and those of others who were working to aid hurricane victims in Florida and the Caribbean lit a fire inside of me, he said.

You really can't do enough, he added. I feel good today, but I want to do more. Look at Puerto Rico. We are all in pretty much a blessed and privileged position and I want us to pass it off to people who need it. I'd like to see us consider a long-term sustained effort because the problems associated with these events aren't going away any time soon. People are going to need help for a long time.

A succession of recent natural disasters  from Hurricane Harvey, hitting the Texas coast Aug. 25, to Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean in early September and most recently Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico  left many EMU students, including Rebekah Hoskins of Danville, wanting to help those in need. The result was a relief effort sponsored and supported by a coalition of groups, from Y-Serve to Campus Ministries to the women's volleyball team and individuals such as Faraci, who comes from a suburb of Tampa, Florida, and has experienced firsthand the devastation of several hurricanes.

Sophomore volleyball players Meredith Stinnette and Beck Hoskins also wanted to help. Hoskins, a graduate of Westover Christian Academy in Danville, had packed relief kits before with a Danville organization called Gods Pit Crew, while Stinnette learned of a water bottle collection for Texas residents in her hometown of Altavista. The roommates visited EMU Campus Ministries and asked What are we doing to help?

From there, the effort spread.

More than $700 was raised in a few short days by the volleyball team.




An investigator is seen from one of the broken windows of Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, the United States, Oct. 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)





It's a question that Americans often get while traveling abroad: Usually it's phrased more or less along the lines of, "What's the deal with your country's gun obsession?" And in the wake of one of the U.S.'s all-too-frequent mass shootings, like the one that occurred in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 and left 58 people dead and more than 500 injured, the question only becomes more common.

Unfortunately, it has no easy answer. Of all the many convoluted and polarizing issues that exist in the U.S. right now, gun ownership is arguably one of the most difficult to wade your way through. Unlike, say, abortion or gay marriage, a change in policy isn't as simple as deciding that something - e.g., abortion past a certain term - is now legal or not legal. Because even if a national law is passed banning the sale, or even ownership, of a specific group of firearms, there remains the fact that there are thousands, possibly millions, of that very group of arms already in circulation throughout the country.

Take the AR-15. The gun has been used in a number of notorious mass shootings in the U.S., and many Democrats have repeatedly called for it to be outlawed - the logic being, of course, that fewer people would have the guns and, consequently, fewer people would be killed by them. The counter-argument to this line of reasoning is that it would easy enough for someone determined to commit a mass shooting to find an AR-15 on the black market, since so many people have already legally bought them. The one obvious way around this problem (i.e., a nation-wide confiscation of AR-15s) would be met with so much resistance that's essentially pointless to even offer it as a solution.

This isn't to suggest that bans on certain weapons that are now legal shouldn't be pursued. It's certainly possible that they would deter certain people from committing horrendous crimes. But - and this is a point the American right often makes - behind the issue of gun availability still lies the deeper question of "why?"

So: Why has America experienced so many mass shootings in recent decades? Is it due exclusively to the ease with which American citizens can acquire semi-automatic weapons? Would other countries have the same problem if their gun laws were as lax as America's? Many conservatives would say no and then point to some perceived societal flaw that lies behind the mystery.

A commonly cited culprit is America's high rate of prescription drug usage, most specifically anti-depressants and opioid-based drugs, from which stems two explanations: One is that these drugs may alter a person's behavior and thus make them more likely to commit a mass shooting; the other is the argument that so many people being described (in the case of anti-depressants) or abusing (in the case of opioids) these drugs indicate some serious problems in the American psyche. It should be said, however, that the people making these arguments are often pundits with little or no psychological training whose opinions regarding prescription drugs should be taken very lightly. And another thing to take into account is the fact that if the issue really is something off-kilter in the deeper recesses of the American mind, then the solution, should it ever be reliably identified, would take years or decades to take effect, leaving plenty of time for who knows how many more mass shootings to take place.

Can Americans really expect anything to change vis-a-vis this issue? The country's gone through an embarrassing amount of mass shootings in the last ten years, and not only are there no signs of them going away, they seem to be getting worse every year (the shooting in Las Vegas is the worst in American history; the second worst is last year's shooting in Orlando). And every time one occurs, the country goes through the same routine - a late night talk show host breaks down giving a speech about the shooting, Democrats push for tighter gun control, and Republicans try to blame the tragedy on something unrelated to firearms. Then a month or a year goes by and the same thing happens all over again.

It's a complicated topic. And what has made the Las Vegas shooting even more complicated than most mass shootings is that no convincing motive has been attributed to the perpetrator. Steven Paddock, a 64 year old millionaire - his background is the opposite of your typical mass shooter. If we can't find reasons, then solutions will only be that much harder to come by.

Kyle Burnaby is a journalist from Cheyenne, Wyoming. He now lives in Bangkok.





Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
After three hours of deliberation, a federal jury on Monday found a former defense contractor and his company guilty of multiple fraud charges against the United States government.

William Whyte, the former CEO of now-defunct Armet Armored Vehicles, was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was read in U.S. District Court in Danville.

He will face a bond hearing Oct. 19 to determine whether he will remain in detention until the sentencing, which has not been scheduled by the court clerk.

Its our hope that todays verdict will be a testament to fraud cases, Acting U.S. Attorney Rick Mountcastle said by phone Monday. The defendant put his personal financial interest above the safety of our soldiers.

For two weeks, federal prosecutors argued that Whyte and his company failed to deliver armored SUVs to Iraq as promised 10 years ago.

All the while, the defense countered that criminal charges could be pursed only by the multi-national task force intended to receive those vehicles, and not the U.S. government.

This case is about greed and reckless disregard for the men who would ride in these trucks, federal prosecutor Caitlin Cottingham repeated often during closing arguments Monday morning. The buck stops with William Whyte.

The trial began on Sept. 25, more than a decade after Armet signed a contract with the U.S. government to deliver 24 armored gun trucks. Armet had a manufacturing plant in Danville for several years, but is headquartered in Ontario, Canada, where Whyte lives. Of the trucks promised, only six were delivered.

The defense rested Friday afternoon, and court was recessed until Monday morning, when the jury received the case for deliberation.

The charges on the table against both Whyte and the company are three counts of major fraud against the government, four counts of wire fraud and three counts of false or fraudulent claims.

Whats not important is what the government told you, Roanoke-based defense attorney Thomas Bondurant argued Monday. What is important is what they didnt tell you.

Bondurant claimed the government had not presented all of the relevant evidence or witnesses, including former FBI informant and former Armet company president Frank Skinner.

That creates reasonable doubt, Bondurant said.

He also said if there was any case here, it would be a civil case for breach of contract, not a fraud trial.

In addition, Bondurant mentioned the motions for acquittal that the defense had made in previous days, and the judge denied.

In those motions for acquittal, the defense team argued that the contracts for the vehicles were truly with the Iraq-based Multinational Security Transition Command, which included all the coalition forces working to rebuild the country, not the U.S. government.

Bondurant also seized on the fact that a handful of trucks  six in all  were eventually delivered.

Failure is not fraud, he said. Miscommunication is not a crime. A mistake is not malice.

Cottingham, in her final rebuttal, noted the people who Whyte and his attorneys had cast blame on throughout the trial, including the government.

What you just heard is more finger pointing, she said. [Whyte is] the one constant throughout all of this.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 10, 2017) -

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX:DNA)(AIM:DALR) ("Dalradian" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into subscription agreements with each of Orion Mine Finance II LP ("Orion") and Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. ("Osisko") pursuant to which Orion will make an investment of C$50 million and Osisko will make an investment of C$28.25 million into the Company by way of a non-brokered private placement, for gross proceeds of C$78.25 million (the "Private Placement"). In addition, Osisko plans to exercise 6.25 million warrants at $1.04 later today, bringing the total funding to approximately C$84.75 million (approximately 51 million).

Pursuant to the Private Placement, Orion will acquire 34,013,605 common shares of Dalradian (the "Common Shares") and Osisko will acquire 19,217,687 Common Shares, each at a price of C$1.47 per Common Share (the "Issue Price"). The Issue Price represents a 7% premium to the closing price of the Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on October 6, 2017. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for general working capital purposes.

Upon closing of the Private Placement, Orion will own approximately 9.75% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares and Osisko will own approximately 9.1% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares, in each case after giving effect to the warrant exercise by Osisko.

Patrick F.N. Anderson, Dalradian's CEO, commented, "This is a strong vote of confidence in both the Curraghinalt Gold Project and in Northern Ireland as an investment destination by two highly respected mining finance groups. Today's placement, together with all recent warrant exercises, will provide the company with additional equity funding in excess of C$110 million. This means that the company is now well-funded to move Curraghinalt through permitting, while continuing to expand and improve the value of the project through further investment in exploration and engineering."

Michael Barton, Portfolio Manager at Orion Resource Partners said, "Orion is delighted to become a meaningful investor in one of the most exciting undeveloped gold deposits globally. We look forward to working with Dalradian as Curraghinalt moves through permitting and into construction."

Sean Roosen, Chairman and CEO of Osisko said, "We are very pleased to participate in the advancement of one of the world's top undeveloped gold projects in a new emerging gold district. We look forward to working with Dalradian management, Orion and Dalradian's stakeholders to provide the necessary funding for the realization and development of the Curraghinalt Gold Project."

The subscription agreements entered into with Orion and Osisko contain various covenants and rights, including among other things, a standstill, participation rights in favour of the investors to maintain their pro rata interest in Dalradian and rights to match other offers for project financing. In addition, Dalradian has granted Orion the right to designate one nominee to the board of directors of Dalradian and a period of exclusivity with respect to the negotiation of future project financing.

Closing of the Private Placement is anticipated to occur on or prior to November 30, 2017 and the subscription by each of Orion and Osisko are cross conditional. Closing of the Private Placement is also subject to certain other conditions, including the submission by the Company of its application to obtain planning permission from the Department of Infrastructure (Northern Ireland) to build a mine at the Curraghinalt Gold Project and the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the conditional approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Company intends to apply for the admission of the Common Shares issuable in connection with the Private Placement on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange as soon as practicable. All securities issued in the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory hold period in Canada of four months and one day from closing.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

About Dalradian Resources Inc.

Dalradian Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its high-grade Curraghinalt Gold Project located in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to completion of the Private Placement, receipt of all regulatory and stock exchange approvals, the use of proceeds, future financial or operating performance of the Company and its subsidiary and its mineral project, the future price of metals, test work and confirming results from work performed to date, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital, operating and exploration expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, costs and timing of future exploration, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, limitations of insurance coverage, the timing and possible outcome of pending regulatory matters and the realization of the expected production, economics and mine life of the Curraghinalt gold deposit.

Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans," "expects," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "anticipates," or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are based on various assumptions, such as completion of the Private Placement, receipt of all regulatory and stock exchange approvals, the use of proceeds being applied as intended, continued political stability in Northern Ireland, that permits required for Dalradian's operations will be obtained in a timely basis in order to permit Dalradian to proceed on schedule with its planned exploration and mine development, construction and production programs, that skilled personnel and contractors will be available as Dalradian's operations commence and continue to grow towards production and mining operations, that the price of gold will be at levels that render the Dalradian's mineral project economic, that the Company will be able to continue raising the necessary capital to finance its operations and realize on mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates and current mine plans, that the assumptions contained in the Company's Technical Report dated January 25, 2017 are accurate and complete, that the results of the ESIA will be positive and that a permitting application for mine construction will be approved.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Dalradian to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current and future exploration activities; the actual results of reclamation activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; meeting various expected cost estimates; changes in project parameters and/or economic assessments as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations of mineral grade or recovery rates; the risk that actual costs may exceed estimated costs; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016 dated March 23, 2017.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
VANCOUVER, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (the "Company" or "Rock Tech") (TSX-V: RCK; Frankfurt: RJIB) is pleased to announce additional assay results from the field sampling program recently completed at its 100%-owned Georgia Lake lithium property in the Thunder Bay Mining District of Northwest Ontario, Canada.

This phase of the field program targeted the area adjacent to the main resource zone, an area of the Georgia Lake lithium property that hosts indicated and inferred resources. A total of nine (9) grab samples were collected from the areas sampled in 2016 and from previously mapped, un-tested pegmatites. The assay results from these grab samples are presented in the following table:

Area Description Lithium Oxide (Li2O) % Nama Creek Area of 2016 samples 1.21 Nama Creek Area of 2016 samples 2.02 Nama Creek Area of 2016 samples 2.05 Nama Creek Area of 2016 samples 2.35 Nama Creek Area of 2016 samples 2.47 Nama Creek Previously mapped, un-tested 0.21 Nama Creek Previously mapped, un-tested 0.97 Nama Creek Previously mapped, un-tested 1.11 Nama Creek Previously mapped, un-tested 1.88

Martin Stephan, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Tech, commented, "The high grades encountered adjacent to the main resource zone of the Georgia Lake lithium property are encouraging and help prioritize areas for follow up testing. This portion of the sampling program targeted pegmatites that were mapped in the 1950's but never tested in addition to follow up sampling of areas targeted in 2016. The assay results from the previously mapped, un-tested pegmatites confirm, for the first time, the presence of lithium and are supportive of further exploration."

The Nama Creek area hosts an NI 43-101 indicated resource of 2.47 million tonnes grading 1.11% lithium oxide ("Li2O") and an inferred resource of 2.50 million tonnes grading 0.98% Li2O.

All samples were analyzed by Actlabs, an ISO 9001:2008 certified analytical laboratory located in Geraldton, Ontario.

The field program was carried out by Pleson Geoscience, an exploration consulting company dedicated to providing its clients with experienced personnel and efficient services. The company's focus is on low-impact, high resolution data collection from grass-roots prospecting to preliminary economic evaluations.

All scientific and technical information in this news release concerning the Georgia Lake lithium property was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Locke B. Goldsmith, P.Eng., P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person to Rock Tech.

About Rock Tech Lithium:

Rock Tech Lithium is an exploration company focused on acquiring and exploring properties in the field of lithium and other selected battery metals.

Rock Tech is the only exploration company in the Georgia Lake region with an NI 43-101 resource estimate. The resource estimate shows an indicated resource estimate of 3.19 million tonnes grading 1.10% lithium oxide in addition to an inferred resource estimate of 6.31 million tonnes grading 1.00% lithium oxide. Further, the Company has completed metallurgical testing on a bulk sample demonstrating the ability to produce both a high-grade spodumene concentrate and battery-grade lithium carbonate ("Li2CO3"). The spodumene-bearing pegmatites of the Georgia Lake area were originally discovered in 1955.

To view photos, videos and maps from the ongoing exploration program, please use the following link: http://rocktechlithium.com/ongoing-exploration-program/

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

"Martin Stephan"

Martin Stephan

Director, Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward?looking statements". Forward?looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward?looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward?looking statements.

SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
Listed (ASX:LAM; TSX:LAM)

TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Laramide Resources Ltd. ("Laramide" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of its maiden independent Mineral Resource Estimate (the "Resource Estimate") for the Company's 100% owned Church Rock Uranium Project (the "Project" or "Church Rock"), located in New Mexico, United States. The Resource Estimate was prepared to CIM Definition Standards (2014) as incorporated in NI 43-101 and completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. ("RPA") in Denver, USA with the assistance of Laramide's technical team. The Technical Report pertaining to the Resource Estimate will be filed on Sedar (www.sedar.com) within 45 days.

The current Resource Estimate supersedes various "historical estimates" for purposes of NI 43-101 reporting (see press release dated March 29, 2017) and considers planned In Situ Recovery ("ISR") of uranium consolidating the significant work completed by previous operators on the Project.

Highlights include:

An Inferred Resource Estimate of 33.9 million tons at an average grade of 0.075% eU 3 O 8 for a contained resource of 50.8 million pounds using a 0.5 ft-% Grade Thickness (GT) cutoff.

O for a contained resource of 50.8 million pounds using a 0.5 ft-% Grade Thickness (GT) cutoff. Data from previous operators was consolidated and digitized resulting in a database of 1,667 drill holes totaling approximately 1,841,545 feet of drilling.

The report highlighted areas for immediate follow up exploration to both improve confidence in the Resource Estimate and potentially discover additional mineral resources.

A Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") is planned to be commenced in Q4-2017 including:

Core drilling with ISR process and restoration testing of mineralized materials.

Exploration drilling in areas of potential mineralization.

Marc Henderson, Laramide Resources' President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The Church Rock Project is a compilation of significant historical work completed by tier one mining and energy companies. This is the first time since discovery that the Project has been combined under one banner without significant royalty burden and this impressive initial resource at Church Rock clearly demonstrates the District scale potential of the asset. Combined with the NRC licence and other permitting work already completed by previous operators, Laramide is well positioned to benefit from a likely renewal of US domestic uranium production when market conditions warrant".

The Resource Estimate did not include the Company's 100% owned Crownpoint project, located 25 miles east of Church Rock. The Laramide team plans to begin the process of digitizing the significant data for Crownpoint in the coming months which will allow for a resource estimate on the Crownpoint property planned for Q1-2018 (The Crownpoint property has a historical resource estimate; see press release dated March 29, 2017 and the company's website at www.laramide.com).

Mineral Resource Estimate

The Church Rock Resource Estimate was completed utilizing the Grade x Thickness (GT) Contour Method, an industry standard for estimating uranium roll-front type deposits hosted within groundwater-saturated sandstones. The mineralization at Church Rock has been previously shown to be amenable to In-situ Recovery (ISR) techniques.

The following table summarizes the Mineral Resource Estimate. Due to the historical nature of the data the resource estimate is classified as Inferred, until additional new confirmatory drilling data can be obtained:

Table -1 Mineral Resource Estimate  September 30, 2017

Laramide Resources Ltd.  Church Rock Deposit

Classification Sand Unit Tonnage Grade Contained Metal (Tons) (% eU 3 O 8 ) (U 3 O 8 lbs) Inferred Dakota Sandstone 632,000 0.115 1,452,000

Morrison Formation - Brushy Basin 64,000 0.147 189,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (A Sand) 1,714,000 0.075 2,556,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (B Sand) 7,890,000 0.077 12,145,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (C Sand) 4,498,000 0.092 8,290,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (D Sand) 6,588,000 0.067 8,894,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (E Sand) 6,110,000 0.068 8,310,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (F Sand) 5,557,000 0.068 7,583,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (G Sand) 595,000 0.084 1,005,000

Morrison Formation - Westwater Canyon (H Sand) 231,000 0.086 396,000 Inferred Total

33,879,000 0.075 50,820,000





Notes

1. CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. 2. Mineral Resources are reported at a grade x thickness (GT) cut-off of 0.5 ft-%. 3. A minimum thickness of 2.0 feet was used. 4. A minimum cut-off grade of 0.02% eU 3 O 8 (based on historic mining costs and parameters from the district) was used to define the mineralization envelope. 5. Internal maximum dilution of 5.0 feet was used. 6. Grade values have not been adjusted for disequilibrium (equilibrium factor = 1.0). 7. Tonnage factor of 15ft3/ton (based on historical density used by the mining operators) was applied. 8. Totals may not add due to rounding.

Next Steps

With the completion of the Resource Estimate, the Project will be advanced to a PEA. This will be the first economic study on the consolidated Project, and would include the elimination of certain royalties owned by Laramide (including the sliding scale 5%- 25% gross revenue royalty) on portions of the Project. The PEA will also have the benefit of the Feasibility Study on Section 8 of the Project completed by a previous operator.

To complete New Mexico Environmental Department Groundwater Discharge Plan requirements, the Company must demonstrate in a laboratory environment the ability, post leaching, to restore groundwater in the mining aquifer to an acceptable level. In order to complete this leach study fresh core is required from the Project. The Company plans to complete this core drilling and begin the leach-restoration testing in early 2018.

Exploration is also planned for areas noted in the Technical Report where wide-spaced drilling previously defined potential mineralization. This drilling, in conjunction with the core studies, may allow areas of the present Inferred Mineral Resource to be elevated to Measured and Indicated Resources, as well as lead to the potential discovery of additional mineral resources.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101. The information has been reviewed and approved by Bryn Jones, MMinEng, FAusIMM, a Qualified Person under the definition established by National Instrument 43 101 and JORC. Mr. Jones is the Chief Operating Officer of the Company and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

To learn more about Laramide, please visit the Company's website at www.laramide.com.

About Laramide Resources:

Laramide Resources Ltd., headquartered in Toronto and listed on the TSX: LAM and ASX: LAM, is engaged in the exploration and development of high-quality uranium assets. Laramide's portfolio of advanced uranium projects have been chosen for their production potential. Major U.S. assets include the Church Rock and Crownpoint In-Situ Recovery (ISR) projects and La Jara Mesa in Grants, New Mexico, as well as La Sal in the Lisbon Valley district of Utah. The recently acquired Church Rock and Crownpoint properties, with near-term development potential and significant mineral resources, form a leading ISR division operating in a tier one jurisdiction with enhanced overall project economics. The Company's Australian advanced stage Westmoreland is one of the largest projects currently held by a junior mining company.

Forward-looking Statements and Cautionary Language

This News Release contains forward looking statements which are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward looking statements. The Company does not intend to update this information and disclaims any legal liability to the contrary.

SOURCE Laramide Resources Ltd.
Expander* composition reformulation; Electrode/battery fabrication; Short-term cycling at varying Depth of Discharge (DOD); and Long-term cycling at varying DOD.

TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 - Alabama Graphite Corp. (Alabama Graphite or the Company) (TSX-V:CSPG) (OTCQB:CSPGF) is pleased to announce that the Company has executed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an established United States-based lead-acid battery manufacturer (the Buyer) to supply high-purity, natural flake premium Purified Micronized Graphite (PMG) product  marketed under the tradename ULTRA-PMG  and Delaminated Expanded Graphite (DEXDG) conductivity enhancement materials for applications in the negative electrodes of advanced lead-acid battery systems. The identity of the Buyer, who has been in business for more than 50 years, is being withheld for reasons of commercial confidentiality. The Buyer became interested in engaging with AGC after reviewing the Companys September 21, 2017 announcement, entitled, Alabama Graphite Receives Positive Evaluation Results for ULTRA-PMG product from RSR Technologies; Improved Dynamic Charge Acceptance (DCA) by 194%. For more information on AGCs DEXDG, please refer to the March 28, 2017 announcement, entitled, Independent Test Results: Alabama Graphite Corp. Succeeds in Producing High-Performance Conductivity-Enhancement Graphite for Lithium-ion Batteries. A material evaluation/qualification program utilizing AGCs battery-ready graphite products in the Buyers lead-acid batteries is currently underway. The testing involves:* Note: Expanders are an essential component of the negative plates of lead-acid batteries, and increase the surface area and stabilize the structure of the negative active material.The LOI calls for AGC to supply an estimated 10 tonnes per year of both ULTRA-PMG and premium, proprietary DEXDG conductivity enhancement materials to the Buyer, commencing in 2018 for the Buyers forthcoming proprietary pilot line of fast-charge automotive and stationary batteries. The Buyer will be ramping up to full-scale production of this particular battery line in 2020 and expects to require larger quantities of AGCs graphite products. The specific terms of the LOI, including pricing and renewal rights, are confidential for competitive reasons. The Company intends to advance the LOI into a formalized offtake/supply agreement in the coming months.Chief Executive Officer Donald Baxter commented, As evidenced by todays announcement, battery companies are taking notice of AGC and its battery-ready technical developments, in addition to our potential sourced-in-USA benefits to potential customers. To date, AGC has entered into 30 non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with potential end users, several with household names  14 with U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) battery manufacturers/contractors  of which, to date, evaluation samples have been sent to 23 potential end users. Lead-acid batteries represent a mature, reliable and cost-effective battery technology, which is still the dominant battery technology in the world. Lead-acid batteries are currently the dominant technology for stationary-storage applications. They have been in use for more than 150 years, and are ubiquitous and well understood. Every vehicle outfitted with an internal combustion engine, nearly every train, aircraft, back-up power-supply plant, and many other market segments use, and will continue using, lead-acid batteries. The dynamics and the philosophy of this battery market segment is appealing to AGCs long-term market strategy. It is a great component in our battery-product mix.I want to underscore that although quite small in amount, this current LOI is for just one of the Buyers valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) battery products. Discussions are underway regarding the Buyers Starting, Lighting, and Ignition (SLI) batteries, which could hold considerable potential opportunities for AGC with battery manufacturers, in addition to Start/Stop (SS) batteries, and both Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) and Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB) for vehicles with Idle Start-Stop (ISS) functionality, stated Mr. Baxter. We are currently in advanced-stage discussions for offtake/supply agreements with two other U.S.-based end users and are diligently working towards LOIs for significant quantities of our premium, American-sourced-and-manufactured graphite products.Natural crystalline flake graphite of high purity and conductivity is a new and improved additive to the composition of an ingredient of negative plates (the Expander) in lead-acid batteries. Traditionally, the Expander is represented by a homogenized co-processed composite of barium sulfate, carbon black and ligna sulfonate. The latter is a byproduct of the paper-making industry, an inconsistent and impure additive. In the recent years, the lead-acid battery industry has been actively investigating the replacement of ligna sulfonate for purified forms of natural crystalline flake graphite, a much purer and electrically conductive component. The Expander makes up approximately 2 total percentage by weight (wt%) of the negative plate in a lead acid battery. Its functions include: the enhancement of cold cranking performance of lead-acid batteries; an additive, which helps with elimination of assembly mistakes during production of lead acid batteries, among others. Major improvements in battery-pulsed cycle life have been reported by lead-acid battery producers, who altered the formulation of Expander in terms of substituting ligna sulfonate for graphite. Initial independent test results for AGCs ULTRA-PMG and DEXDG battery-ready graphite products indicate outstanding performance for this substantial market.Readers are cautioned that AGC is not yet in production and there is no guarantee that the Company will advance to full-scale production. If, following the completion of a Feasibility Study, which has not yet been commenced, AGC is able to advance the Coosa Graphite Project into production, the resulting graphite would be sourced from within the contiguous United States of America.This LOI was completed in the absence of a Feasibility Study and there is no certainty the above objectives will be met.On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alabama Graphite Corp.Donald K. D. Baxter, P.Eng.President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive DirectorDonald K. D. Baxter, P.Eng., President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Alabama Graphite Corp., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (N.I. 43-101) guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release. Alabama Graphite Corp. is a Canadian-based flake graphite exploration and development company as well as an aspiring battery materials production and technology company. The Company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Alabama Graphite Company, Inc. (a company registered in the state of Alabama). With an advancing flake graphite project in the United States of America, labama Graphite Corp. intends to become a reliable, long-term U.S. supplier of specialty high-purity graphite products. A highly experienced team leads the Company with more than 100 years of combined graphite mining, graphite processing, specialty graphite products and applications, and graphite sales experience. Alabama Graphite Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of its flagship Coosa Graphite Project in Coosa County, Alabama, and its Bama Mine Project in Chilton County, Alabama as well the research and development of its proprietary manufacturing and technological processing process of battery materials.Alabama Graphite Corp. holds a 100% interest in the mineral rights for these two U.S.-based graphite projects, which are both located on private land. The two projects encompass more than 43,000 acres and are located in a geopolitically stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction with significant historical production of crystalline flake graphite in the flake graphite belt of central Alabama, also known as the Alabama Graphite Belt (source: U.S. Bureau of Mines). A significant portion of the Alabama deposits are characterized by graphite-bearing material that is oxidized and has been weathered into extremely soft rock. Both projects have infrastructure in place, are within close proximity to major highways, rail, power and water, and are approximately three hours (by truck or train) to the Port of Mobile, the Alabama Port Authority's deep-seawater port and the ninth largest port by tonnage in the United States (source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/USACE). The state of Alabama's hospitable climate allows for year-round mining operations and the world's largest marble quarry (which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in Sylacauga, Alabama), is located within a 30-minute drive of the Coosa Graphite Project.On November 30, 2015, Alabama Graphite Corp. announced the results of PEA for the Coosa Graphite Project, indicating a potentially low-cost project with potential positive economics. Please refer to the Companys technical report titled  Alabama Graphite Corp. Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Coosa graphite Project, Alabama, USA dated November 27, 2015, prepared by independent engineering firms AGP Mining Consultants Inc. and Metal Mining Consultants Inc., and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.Note: a Preliminary Economic Assessment or PEA is preliminary in nature, it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized.* Inferred Mineral Resources represent material that is considered too speculative to be included in economic evaluations. Additional trenching and/or drilling will be required to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that all or any part of the Mineral Resource will be converted into a Mineral Reserve.Alabama Graphite Corp. is a proud member of the National Association of Advanced Technology Batteries International (NAATBatt International), a U.S.-based, not-for-profit trade association commercializing advanced electrochemical energy-storage technology for emerging, high-tech applications.For further information and updates on the Company or to sign up for Alabama Graphite Corp. News, please visit www.alabamagraphite.com or follow, like and subscribe to us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.AGCs graphite is purified via the Companys propriety, low-temperature thermal purification process. AGCs environmentally responsible and sustainable graphite purification process does not utilize caustic chemicals or harsh acids that are commonly regarded as dangerous and environmentally harmful (e.g. hydrofluoric acid, as is commonly used in Chinese graphite production hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acids, or alkali roasting, caustic-soda roasting, etc.), nor does the process require copious amounts of clean water or costly, energy-intensive high-temperature thermal upgrading. Please refer to the Companys February 17, 2017 announcement, Alabama Graphite Corp. Achieves 99.99997% Graphite Purity via Proprietary, Environmentally Responsible and Sustainable Purification Process; Exceeds Nuclear Graphite Purity Requirements.For more information about AGCs specialty, secondary processing to produce its CSPG please refer to the June 2016 comprehensive independent report, Alabama Graphite's Coated Spherical Purified Graphite for the Lithium-ion Battery Industry, written, researched and prepared by Dr. Gareth P. Hatch, CEng, FIMMM, FIET, prior to his joining the AGC Board of Directors. Dr. Hatch is also President of Innovation Metals Corp., Founding Principal of Technology Metals Research, LLC, and Independent Director of the Company.This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws (forward-looking statements), which may include, without limitation, statements with respect to potential relationships between the Company, its shareholders and possible third-party investors or joint actors. The forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management and reflect Alabama Graphite Corp.s current expectations. When used in this press release, the words estimate, project, belief, anticipate, intend, expect, plan, predict, may, will or should and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current view of Alabama Graphite Corp. with respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements.By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things, the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of graphite; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. Forward-looking statements are also based on a number of assumptions, including that contracted parties provide goods and/or services on the agreed timeframes, that equipment necessary for exploration is available as scheduled and does not incur unforeseen breakdowns, that no labor shortages or delays are incurred, that plant and equipment function as specified, that no unusual geological or technical problems occur, and that laboratory and other related services are available and perform as contracted. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and Alabama Graphite Corp. undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements (unless required by law) if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. Alabama Graphite Corp. cautions that the foregoing list of material factors and assumptions are not exhaustive. When relying on Alabama Graphite Corp. forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and assumptions and other uncertainties and potential events.Alabama Graphite Corp. has also assumed that the material factors and assumptions will not cause any forward-looking statements to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors and assumptions is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors.NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICE PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.Ann-Marie M. Pamplin, Vice President, Investor Relations+1 (416) 309-8641apamplin@alabamagraphite.comWebsite | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday made changes to his cabinet and removed his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa from the Justice Ministry while reassigning Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa to the newly created Ministry of Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation.

Mnangagwa was doubling up as Mugabe's deputy in the ruling ZANU-PF party and government as well as Justice Minister.

Former Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo takes up the finance portfolio while Central Intelligence Organization chief Happyton Bonyongwe was appointed Justice Minister.

Former Macro-economic Planning Minister Obert Mpofu becomes the new Home Affairs Minister while Mugabe's nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, previously Youth and Indigenization Minister, becomes the new Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Minister.

Former Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi was reassigned to Foreign Affairs Ministry while Simbarashe Mumbengegwi who occupied the ministry, was moved to Macro-economic Planning and Investment Promotion Ministry.

Mugabe appointed ZANU-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo the new Information Minister and retained Saviour Kasukuwere in the expanded Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and National Housing.

Mugabe upgraded former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgar Mbwembwe to Tourism Minister and replaced War Veterans Minister Tshinga Dube with Matabeleland North Governor Cain Mathema.

Mugabe also made new appointments for the governors of Matabeleland North, Masvingo and Mashonaland West provinces.

The cabinet reshuffle comes ahead of polls in 2018 in which Mugabe will seek re-election. Mugabe last made a cabinet reshuffle in 2015.
Every month, there are kids in Kansas forced to sleep on cots or couches in a foster care contractors office because they dont have anywhere else to stay that night.One contractor in the state said it had 31 children spend the night in offices in April, though the typical month had fewer than five. Another reported that in the last year, an average of three children per month slept in offices, though it was as high as 15 in June. The numbers represent a small fraction of the children processed by the states child welfare system, but they highlight issues that are the result of growing caseloads and diminishing treatment options for kids with behavioral health problems.I think there is widespread understanding that our child welfare system in Kansas has a lot of problem areas, says Kansas state Rep. Linda Gallagher, who helped set up a legislative task force on child welfare this year. The number of children in foster care has been increasing dramatically over the last three years or more, and theyre not leaving as fast as theyre coming in. Its putting pressure on the system at every point.Nearly 6,900 children are in the custody of Kansas foster care system, up 33 percent from five years ago. But the problems in Kansas are not unique.Nationally, the number of children in foster care increased every year from 2012 to 2015 -- the last year for which national data are available. In that three-year window, 35 states, including Kansas, saw an uptick in their foster care numbers.Its not clear why more children are entering foster care, Gallagher says, but parental substance abuse is thought to be one of the reasons. In some states, officials have recently drawn a link between opioids and rising child welfare caseloads.In the past few years, Arizona Texas and Washington, D.C., have all used office space as an emergency option to park children when they have nowhere else to sleep. In most cases, the office stays are for a single night, and caseworkers supervise the children.Kids aren't always sleeping in offices because there's no foster families available, though. It's often because there are no families equipped to handle a child's behavioral health needs. Sometimes these kids need psychiatric treatment, which is even harder to get.In 2011, Kansas had 17 psychiatric residential treatment facilities with 780 beds for foster youth. Today, it has eight facilities with 272 beds, says Christie Appelhanz, the executive director of Childrens Alliance of Kansas, a nonprofit representing foster care providers.A recent change to juvenile justice policies in Kansas may have also exacerbated an already strained child welfare system. Last year, Kansas passed a law that keeps low-level offenders out of juvenile detention.Juvenile detention "wasnt the right place for them anyway, Gallagher says. They need psychiatric help, and there just arent enough community mental health resources to deal with these troubled kids.For youth waiting to be moved to a home or treatment facility, "you have to find a placement as secure and safe as possible, and sometimes those end up being [child protection] offices," says Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which has struggled to place older youths with special needs, such as autism, diabetes, drug addiction and a history of violence against themselves or others.In some parts of the state, he notes, regional child protection directors use motels instead of caseworker offices.In January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called attention to the states child protection agency in his State of the State address, asking lawmakers to approve structural reforms and increase funding. The state has raised its reimbursement rates for foster care providers, andAbbott found nearly $550,000 to increase the availability of emergency shelters and residential facilities so that children would not need to sleep in offices and motels.The changes will take time, says Katie Olse, executive director for the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, a nonprofit representing foster care providers throughout the state. But Im really optimistic.Some positive changes are already happening. In Texas, the monthly number of foster youth waiting at least two consecutive nights for a placement peaked at 84 in May and declined to only nine in September, according to Crimmins.When the legislative task force in Kansas makes its child welfare recommendations next year, Appelhanz of the Childrens Alliance hopes it includes proposals for in-home family support services so the state doesnt have to remove children in the first place.Were not investing enough in prevention, she says. I think we need to start asking the question of how we keep children safetheir families and nottheir families.Susan Dreyfus, president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities nonprofit who oversaw child welfare agencies in Washington state and Wisconsin, echoes that sentiment.We dont have a supply problem in child welfare, where we just need more homes. We have a demand problem, she says. I hope we put our attention also on whats bringing them through the front door and what can we do to prevent that or intervene earlier before it requires a removal from the home.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is done exploring.In a campaign video Tuesday, the top Republican recruit for the race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate officially announced his intention to challenge Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill in 2018."This isn't something we were planning to do. But we believe we have to do all we can to win a better future for our country," Hawley says in the video as he's joined by his wife, Erin, and two sons.Hawley's announcement, however, was hardly spontaneous. It comes after a more than two-month exploratory campaign and an even longer period of encouragement by prominent Republicans, including former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth and Vice President Mike Pence.The official announcement also comes shortly after The Star reported that Hawley had been reaching out to former White House strategist Steve Bannon amid speculation that Bannon, executive chairman of the conservative website Breitbart, may back another candidate.Bannon's site praised Hawley in a Sunday article, calling him a "hardcore conservative who will not go along to get along like (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell wants in Washington."Hawley has faced criticism from some prominent Missouri conservatives, including former state Republican chair Ed Martin, for his connection to Danforth, who called on Republicans to cut ties with President Donald Trump in a nationally published opinion piece in August. Hawley skipped the president's visit to Missouri later that month for a previously scheduled family vacation.Democrats have questioned the idea that Hawley was exploring a bid rather than campaigning when he formed his campaign committee in August. Hawley formed a joint fundraising committee with the National Republican Senatorial Committee last month."As Josh Hawley continues to lie to Missourians about his campaign for United States Senate, he has teamed up with the NRSC to let other candidates know that they will not have the support of the DC establishment -- regardless of what Missouri voters think," Meira Bernstein, the spokeswoman of the Missouri Democratic Party, said last week.Hawley, 37, is a former professor at the University of Missouri School of Law. He was elected last year to his first term as attorney general by a 17-point margin.During his short time in office, Hawley has filed a lawsuit against three of the country's largest opioid manufacturers and launched an initiative meant to combat human trafficking.Both of those are pet issues for McCaskill, who is heading up an opioid investigation in the Senate and has been an outspoken proponent for federal legislation to curb human trafficking.Timmy Teepell, Hawley's senior adviser, said in a statement that Hawley's focus would remain on his duties as attorney general rather than the race, which promises to be one of the most competitive and most expensive in the country."He will begin making campaign stops and a more formal campaign kickoff next year -- when there's actually an election," Teepell said.Teepell said that internal polling indicates it's "going to be a competitive race" and added that he's "sure Claire has the same numbers."Before his election as attorney general, Hawley was part of the legal team for Hobby Lobby in its successful lawsuit against a contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in 2014 that closely held corporations, such as Hobby Lobby, had a religious right to be exempted from the mandate.Hawley's campaign video attacks McCaskill on the issue of Supreme Court justices. McCaskill voted against Trump's nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, after calling some of his past rulings disturbing."She's been wrong on every Supreme Court nominee for the last 11 years. She doesn't represent us," Hawley, a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts, states in the ad.The Republican field also includes Austin Petersen, a Kansas City man who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian nomination for president last year, and military veterans Courtland Sykes and Tony Monetti.Hawley, who has the backing of Republican mega donors David Humphreys and former Ambassador Sam Fox, is expected to hold a cash advantage over other Republicans when candidates file their campaign finance reports this month.
Description

GIS - 10 October, 2017: A two-day capacity building programme focused on political empowerment of women village councillors kicked off this morning at the Rose-Belle Multipurpose Hall in Rose-Belle. The training aims at inculcating the required skills to village councillors to articulate gender issues and ensure that womens strategic needs are taken into consideration while devising gender sensitive policies and programmes. Some 37 village councillors of various District Councils participated in the training. A two-day capacity building programme focused on political empowerment of women village councillors kicked off this morning at the Rose-Belle Multipurpose Hall in Rose-Belle.Some 37

In her keynote address on the occasion, the Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, pointed out that Government recognises the potential and capacity of women in upholding important tasks, hence their presence in the political sphere. It is important to consolidate the p olitical empowerment of women as they should equally contribute in decision making at par with their male counterparts, she added.

Minister Jeewa- Daureeawoo underpinned that women village councillors should be trained on the gender concept so that as gender advocates they understand the cause for which they are fighting. On that score, she outlined that the main focus of the gender parity battle, which involves ensuring that men and women have the same and equal opportunities in all spheres of life.

The Minister also urged the women village councillors participating in the training to garner and display the required confidence to advance their opinions and ideas.

Also present at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands, Mr Purmanund Jhugroo, underlined that Mauritius is on the right path to achieve gender equality in the political sphere, with the post of the Speaker of the Parliament, the President of the Republic and two ministries being occupied by women. He underlined that village councillors who are adhering to their duties and acting as role models should strive to achieve the same status as these powerful political figures.

Minister Jhugroo underscored the important duties and roles that are attached to the honorary title conferred to them by the community. As village councillors, you should serve the community and citizens with integrity, honesty and respect and help the Government in its actions, he said.
The California Secretary of States Office has been recognized by the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development ( GO-Biz ) for reducing barriers to doing business in the state through its use of technology.The Secretary of States Office digitized how businesses file and search for important documents, allowing 75,000 limited liability companies to file Statements of Information online since the program, the Digital Business Initiative, went online in June.Our new LLC Statement of Information e-file tool is a major step in modernizing Californias business filing process, Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement. Rather than spend time in line at our office or waiting for the mail, tens of thousands of businesses are now saving time with streamlined online filing. We are confident that these numbers will continue to grow as the public moves from paper-based filing to the convenience and speed of online filing.Companies can file LLC Statements of Information online at bizfile California , and the program also includes an enhanced California Business Search tool. Because the state now has more than 10.6 million images of documents related to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships, requests for copies of business records have decreased 62 percent over the past three months compared with the same period last year.The Secretary of States office is also using a ThinkSmart tool, provided through the Department of Technology in June, to further streamline business operations around the Articles of Organization for limited-liability companies.The Secretary of State, via the ThinkSmart tool, is developing a solution to improve customer service for those doing business in California by moving away from a paper-based system (where documents are mailed or filed in person) to one that allows online submission of LLC formation documents, such as Articles of Organization, Press Secretary Sam Mahood wrote toThe states Breaking Barriers to Doing Business program recognizes state efforts to make it easier to do business in California.
Berkshire states that the list does not include every company the firm has ever invested in.

We removed seven companies from the list of past Berkshire investments because they contained multiple investment dates or multiple exit dates.

For the management recapitalization and business service averages, we counted all companies where those phrases appeared in Berkshires description of the company. Berkshires descriptions sometimes included subcategories, so those were included in the measurements.

Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results.But since we cant peek into the future of Accela, which was just acquired by Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners, lets take a look at the past anyway.The main strategy of private equity is to acquire a majority stake in a company, increase the companys value, and then sell it to somebody else  in the form of an initial public offering, or perhaps to another private group. The way a private equity investor like Berkshire increases the value of its portfolio companies, however, is not always obvious. They could acquire other companies and merge them with Accela, or they could expand the business into new markets in order to gain new customers, or they could find ways to cut staff without sacrificing quality, or they could oversee the deployment of new products.Ed Daihl, Accelas chief executive officer, has given some clear indicators that his company will do some of those things and not others while under the Berkshire umbrella.But how long will Accela be under the Berkshire umbrella, anyway?Absent a crystal ball, all we have is the past. From the Berkshire Partners website, we pulled data on 51 companies* the firm has invested in that are no longer in its portfolio. We measured out the number of years Berkshire maintained its investment in each company and then calculated an overall average.Berkshire holds onto a company an average of about five years before selling it to somebody else.We also calculated averages based on how Berkshire described the company: a business service corporation, in which it made a management recapitalization investment. Among business service companies, the average length of investment was four years and 10 months. Among the companies that Berkshire made a management recapitalization investment, the average length of investment was five years and six months.The data is available in chart form below.
Problems persist

Bigger trouble ahead?

(TNS) -- Nearly 12 weeks into the rollout of a new computer system for Minnesotas vehicle licensing operations, the multimillion-dollar effort continues to cause a daily barrage of problems for some of the people who operate -- or depend on -- the states 174 licensing offices.People report being over- or undercharged for their plates and tabs, and repeated systemwide shutdowns and monthslong processing delays are beginning to strain cities, counties and individuals who run the license centers as private enterprises.State officials, including Gov. Mark Dayton and leaders of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), maintain that early glitches prompted by the transition from a 30-year-old system have largely been addressed, and they say most people wont encounter problems at licensing offices.But license center operators like Vinton Lewis, who owns the Quick-Serv License Center in South St. Paul, fear that some of the offices, known as deputy registrars, could be forced to shut down if the problems arent resolved quickly. Lewis, who runs the licensing center with his wife, Janet, has been pulling money out of his retirement account to cover for a weekslong drop in business and surge in overtime costs.Its affecting every aspect of our citizens out there, and our businesses, Lewis said. Its disaster, total disaster.The $97 million Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS) has been in the works for nearly a decade. (To date, the state has spent $79 million.) Officials promoted the mid-July rollout as a relatively quick and painless transition, providing licensing offices and Minnesotans with a quicker, more efficient way to do business.The state has since acknowledged that it didnt go as planned; system slowdowns and confusion prompted some licensing offices to close or cut hours and left customers waiting weeks for their tabs and titles.Cassandra OHern, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said officials have been in close communication with deputy registrars and have fixed most of those issues.The situation as it stands right now is that most people are able to complete their transactions, whether its in a deputy registrars office or online or by mail, OHern said. There are some very specific transactions where individuals have had trouble doing that, and deputy registrars know how to contact DPS for help.Deputy registrars around the state paint a different picture. Several told the Star Tribune or testified at two recent legislative hearings that it can be tough to get someone from the state on the phone.Sometimes you will get lucky, and someone will pick up within a few minutes, said Stephen Neiswanger, the deputy registrar in Mower County. Sometimes its a half-hour.At the South St. Paul office, managers said slowdowns are so significant during busy times that they send workers on lengthy lunch breaks because they cant complete transactions. In Kandiyohi County, licensing supervisor Deb Mickle said the new system repeatedly miscalculates what customers owe for new tabs or a license plate.In one case, the system calculated that a man registering a late-model pickup truck owed just $51, far less than the fee for a vehicle of that value. Mickle told lawmakers that the states response amounted to a shrug: They told her to tell the customer it was his lucky day.We are now doing transactions we know are wrong, and were collecting the wrong amount of fees, Mickle said.Meanwhile, deputy registrars say the state has been slow to collect some of the millions of dollars in revenue they generate every week -- money used to fund transportation projects statewide. The discrepancies caught the eye of Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles, whos planning a formal audit in early 2018.A spokesman for the Minnesota Management and Budget office said the Department of Public Safetys Driver and Vehicle Services Division is behind in updating records in the new system, which means its also behind in sweeping state money out of deputy registrars bank accounts.Cities and counties, which operate about 100 of the licensing offices, could also see an impact. Jim Hirst, lobbyist for the Minnesota Deputy Registrars Association, said high overtime costs or reduced revenue could force local governments to take money from other operations to subsidize licensing offices expected to be self-sufficient.They would be dipping into property tax rolls, and those funds should be used for other purposes, he said.Deputy registrars say other issues the state considers relatively minor, like the slowdown in processing transfers of specialty plates, are having a major impact on many residents.Mandy Oestreich, title administrator at Rollx Vans, a Savage manufacturer of vans for people with disabilities, said many customers have been unable to transfer handicapped plates for new vans. She said the states solution has been to issue a series of temporary 21-day permits -- the yellow papers that go in the back window -- and to tell customers that Minnesota law enforcement officers will give them a pass.One customer is now on a fifth 21-day permit, she said.Auto dealers are struggling to get vehicles off their lots because of the system switch. Amber Backhaus, vice president of public affairs for the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association, said many dealers are being charged late fees for paperwork they turn in on time because the deputy registrars offices cant get to it fast enough.Its really gone backward in terms of efficiency, she said.Some lawmakers say they are paying close attention to the rollout, particularly because its only one step in a longer process. The next one, when the state changes the way it handles drivers licenses, is expected to be an even bigger task. It will coincide with next years transition to new licenses that comply with the federal Real ID law, a time when most Minnesotans will have to visit licensing offices to get their new IDs.Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, the chairman of the House Transportation Finance Committee, said he understands the registrars complaints (hes still stuck with a 21-day permit on a new truck he registered more than 21 days ago). He said hes beginning to wonder if the state should seek an outside company to complete the system upgrade.Things are not going well, Torkelson said. Frankly, were 11 weeks into this and having many of the same issues we had when we first started.Dayton said hes convinced the states in-house work on the new system is the most economical and practical way to complete a much-needed overhaul. He said DPS officials have been responsive and that the state will be better off with the new system even if the change is sometimes painful.The governor said the scale of the problems is far less significant than those faced by the state when it rolled out an online system for MNsure, the state-run individual health insurance marketplace, a few years ago.Some legislators are trying to make this look like another MNsure, and I totally dispute that, he said.erin.golden@startribune.com 612-673-4790
(TNS) -- ROME  During Gov. Andrew Cuomo's last visit to the Mohawk Valley, he announced that NASA is pairing with the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.While the announcement was well-received by the crowd gathered at Griffiss International Airport on Sept. 28, it may have been a tad late: NASA already has been working with NUAIR for about two years.That partnership is supporting the launch of the 50-mile Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Corridor from Rome to Syracuse and creation of National Unmanned Aerial System Standardized Testing and Recording (NUSTAR).Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said the continued partnership is going to bring further drone development to the area."I think it goes back to what we're developing there," Picente said. "I think what we're going to see more of in 2018 is more companies, more development and some larger announcements that will have more significance in terms of job creation, but also in terms of the technology."The first phase of the Unmanned Traffic Management Corridor opened up at the end of September. That corridor is lined with sensors placed in the ground that then speak to a computer system in the control room at the UAS facility at Griffiss  basically air traffic control for drones.The information transmitted to the control room allows the person flying the drone to "see" what is around it and not have to have eyes on the actual aircraft in order to fly safely.The goal is to eventually be able to integrate commercial drone traffic into the U.S. airspace.But for now, Oneida County Aviation Commissioner Russell Stark said the corridor has to be tested and NASA and NUAIR have to prove to the Federal Aviation Administration that the drones can truly be flown beyond visual line of sight.The whole corridor does not need to be done for tests to start on it, he added."We have to build a safety case with the FAA," Stark said. "The way that works is, we'll have to fly a certain number of times that show yes, we've flown this course, say hypothetically, 100 times, our radar systems that we have installed for this UTM project was able to spot them, track them, and we knew where they were 100 percent of the time. The next step of that is we take the visual observer away and fly truly beyond a visual line of sight from the test site."Lawrence Brinker, interim president and CEO of NUAIR, said now that part of the corridor is open, they have to issue a request for qualifications, then the buildout on phase two and finishing the corridor can begin.He said the partnership with NASA helps them move in the right direction."NASA has been the leading idea agency in unmanned air systems for a long time  unmanned traffic management was NASA's idea to begin with," he said. "The space act agreements allow us to exchange information with NASA and that's all information they have based on historical work on the subject matter. So they serve as collaborators with us and also consultants on the steps that we're going to take to make sure that what we're going to do is consistent with what their ideas are and what will ultimately have to be approved by NASA and the FAA."NUAIR is an alliance of more than 40 private and public entities and academic institutions from across New York and Massachusetts that partnered to promote Griffiss as an ideal location to conduct testing and research to allow for the safe integration of unmanned vehicles and systems into the national airspace. The Griffiss location was named one of several FAA test sites in the nation in 2013 along with locations in New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Alaska, Virginia and North Dakota.Picente and Stark both said the possibilities the drone industry opens up locally are endless."We could have a significant type of distribution center for drones here," Picente said. "That can be a reality. And I wouldn't have thought that a couple years ago, but more and more when you see the demonstrations of what's being developed ... I think people are going to see what this investment is all about."
(TNS) - As the number of people confirmed dead in Northern California fires rose to 15, officials warned Tuesday that the toll could rise as multiple fires scorched upward of 100,000 acres.Sonoma County alone has received about 200 reports of missing people since Sunday night, and sherriffs officials have located 45 of those people, said Sonoma County spokeswoman Maggie Fleming.The majority of the fatalities are from Sonoma County, where huge swaths of the city of Santa Rosa were leveled in flames from the Tubbs fire. Nine people have died in Sonoma County as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Fleming said. Two people have died in Napa County, three in Mendocino County and one in Yuba County, Cal Fire officials said.As firefighters continued to battle one of the worst firestorms in California history, federal officials vowed to help.Vice President Mike Pence said in a visit to California's emergency management headquarters that President Trump has approved a "major disaster declaration" for California."Let me first say our hearts and the hearts of every American go out to the families of the 13 who've lost their lives. It's heartbreaking to think that many of the fallen represent our most vulnerable; in some cases senior citizens who simply were not able to escape the flames that overcame their homes," he said. "They are in our prayers."As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, the two biggest blazes  the Tubbs fire and Napa Countys Atlas Peak fire  had burned 27,000 and 25,000 acres, respectively, Berlant said. Both fires were uncontained, he said. Firefighters are hoping that winds will lessen enough Tuesday to allow crews to get a handle on the fires.Though our containment numbers havent gone up just yet, weve at least been able to hold these fires and keep them at their current acreage, Berlant said. The Tubbs fire grew about 2,000 acres since Monday night.Some of the smaller fires had some containment as of Monday night, he said: The 2,500-acre Sulphur fire in Lake County was 10% contained, and the 2,000-acre 37 fire in Sonoma County was 15% contained.About 20,000 people evacuated their homes Sunday night and Monday, and there were additional evacuations in the Tubbs fire area and in Yuba County overnight, Berlant said.Red flag warnings in effect throughout much of Northern California had expired as of Tuesday morning, Berlant said. Winds of up to 50 mph Sunday night helped spread the flames.Overnight, the wind that had fanned these fires had really decreased, and that gave us an opportunity to really take a stand against these fires, Berlant said early Tuesday. We are again today hoping to see very little wind compared to Sunday.But the cool and quiet of night did not stymie the progress of the Atlas fire, which stretched across the hills east of Napa and sparked a chain of more fires to the west.They continue to move. They were moving all night, burning more structures in their wake, Cal Fire incident commander Kevin Lawson said Tuesday morning.The Atlas fire is now moving down the east side of the ridge into Solano County and threatening those living in Green Valley. The Patrick fire southwest of Napa was pushing toward heavily populated areas, and emergency planners warned that fire threatened to grow.A few miles north, the community of Glen Ellen continued to be threatened by the Nuns fire burning in the Mayacamas Mountains.Fire behavior specialist Jon Heggie told crews heading out to the fire line at dawn Tuesday to be prepared for the fires to turn north and east into dry brush with 80 to 90% probability of ignition.As of about 7:30 p.m. Monday, the 16 fires in Northern California had burned upward of 100,000 acres and destroyed at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures.Several thousand firefighters from across the state are battling the blazes, and some strike teams from Southern California have been sent north, Berlant said. The California National Guard has deployed six additional helicopters to aid in firefighting efforts.And evacuees will not be able to return to their homes for some time, he said.Many of these fires, its going to take several more days, even potentially more weeks, before we have full containment, Berlant said.Leaping from ridge top to ridge top in grass and oak woodlands, flames raced across the heart of the California wine country, claiming houses, at least one winery and a dairy.In Santa Rosa, the Tubbs fire leveled an entire neighborhood, burned a Hilton hotel, turned big-box stores into smoking ruins and prompted the evacuation of two hospitals, Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Kaiser's Santa Rosa Medical Center.Though the conditions that fed the blazes  high winds from the interior, dried-up vegetation and low humidity  are more typical of Southern Californias fall fire season, the north has seen its share of horrific autumn wildfires.The states second-deadliest blaze is the October 1991 Tunnel fire in the Oakland and Berkeley hills, which erupted on a quiet Sunday and killed 25 people.The Tunnel fire also ranks as the most destructive wildfire in California history, consuming 2,900 structures.Two years ago the Valley fire roared across Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, killing four people and destroying 1,995 buildings.The scene Sunday night when Brenda Burke, 55, fled her cottage north of Napa was awful, she said.The fire would move with the wind. You knew when a house went up because there would be a whole slew of smoke and you could hear the propane tanks exploding.Eager to find out if her home survived, she went back Monday morning, past fire-gutted houses and smoking lawns. When she got to her drive, she saw flames from what appeared to be the front of my house.Later in the day she threw herself into volunteer work at an animal rescue organization.Sitting outside a Napa emergency shelter with a dog and a cat pulled from a parked van, she managed a tight smile.I have what Im wearing right now and my dog and my phone, she said. And I have friends and family. I will be fine.Meanwhile, in Anaheim Hills, a blaze had reached 7,500 acres by Tuesday morning and was 25% contained. It has damaged or destroyed at least 24 homes, Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Larry Kurtz said.Santa Ana winds Monday, gusting 30 to 40 mph, helped spread the fire, as did the kind of brush that burned. Much of it was light, flashy fuels, including mustard grass and scrub oak, Kurtz said.Winds are looking a little bit better this morning, Kurtz said. Were hoping the winds treat us a little better today than they did yesterday.Portions of the 241 and 91 freeways remain closed, and more than 5,000 Orange County evacuations were still in place Tuesday morning. Kurtz confirmed that 1,100 firefighters, 14 helicopters and six planes were battling the fire as of Tuesday morning.Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.2017 the Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - The flood maps that help determine where homes are built in Texas, how much insurance costs and which areas would benefit from flood control projects are based on rainfall data that hasn't been updated for as long as a half-century, meaning that development has expanded here for decades without a complete understanding of the flood risks.Those risks have come into sharp focus following the record-setting rainfall of Hurricane Harvey, which inundated areas never touched by floodwaters before, and growing expectations among climate scientists that powerful storms will not only happen more frequently, but also pack more rain as global and ocean temperatures rise. Of the 39 Texas counties that experienced flooding during Hurricane Harvey, fewer than 10, including Harris County, have flood maps based on precipitation data from this century.And even that data, from 2001, is more than 15 years old and doesn't capture severe storms that included Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Memorial Day floods in 2015 and the Tax Day floods of 2016."It's important that we do the research into how much rainfall could we get, how the watersheds are going to respond to that rainfall event, how deep, who will it impact," said Jerry Cotter, chief of water resources at Army Corps of Engineers. "We've got to do the preparedness work."Rainfall data is one of the key components used in generating flood maps, a complex, multi-agency process that considers topography, past flooding, development and other factors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency drafts preliminary maps, which are reviewed by local governments, subjected to public comment and often disputed in contentious proceedings that can drag on for years before the final maps are adopted.The stakes are high. Where the maps designate flood prone areas can determine the pattern of development, the value of homes, the locations of roads and highways and the designs of levees that hold back swollen rivers. In Fort Bend County, where hundreds of residents were evacuated during Hurricane Harvey over concerns that the rising Brazos River would breach levees, flood maps are still based on rainfall data from 1961.Texas is just one of six states that has yet to update rainfall data under a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which encompasses the National Weather Service. NOAA, which launched the program in 2004, requires state and local governments to pay the costs of data collection and analysis, which identifies weather patterns and determines the probabilities of heavy rains and catastrophic storms that cause flooding.It would cost Texas about $1.5 million to build the comprehensive, up-to-date database of rainfall statistics and probabilities. So, far about $1.4 million has been raised to fund the program, including $400,000 from the Army Corps of Engineers, which launched the effort to fund the project four years ago, and $200,000 from the Harris County Flood Control District.NOAA is expected to release preliminary rainfall data for Texas later this fall. There is no question the updated data would change Texas' and Houston's understanding of flooding, scientists and local officials say. It's just a question of by how much and where.New data, for instance, might shrink floodplains in some areas, but expand them in others, placing residents into zones with higher flood risks that trigger federal requirements to buy flood insurance."It's one of the more consequential aspects of reanalyzing the data," said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state's climatologist, "because it can mean a sudden decline in property values for people who had no risk of flooding before."Nielsen-Gammon recently warned that the state should expect the frequency of extreme rains to increase in coming years as a result of climate change, a trend that could test the safety of many Texas dams. Nearly all scientists agree that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere  much of it from burning fossil fuels  is raising global temperatures and warming the oceans, causing more water to evaporate and creating a buildup of moisture.Hurricane Harvey, for example, carried as much as 7 percent more rain than it would have a century ago, Nielsen-Gammon estimated.Scientists, however, disagree on whether so-called outlier events, whether record-shattering rains or extended droughts, should play into the analysis of precipitation records. Regardless, rainfall data should be refreshed for every 10 to 20 years, but often goes decades without an update, said Cotter of the Army Corps of Engineers.Even in the Texas counties that updated rainfall data in 2001 -- including Harris, Galveston, Brazoria and Liberty  flood maps were drawn and development proceeded through the 1980s, 1990s and into the new century based on rainfall data primarily from the 1960s.It took Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 to push Harris and the other 9 counties to update rainfall data. Allison dumped as much as 30 inches of rain over five days, flooded 73,000 homes and caused $5 billion in damage.Harvey, which flooded more than 100,000 homes and caused, by some estimates, more than $100 billion in damage, could have the same result. But once the state gets the new rainfall data, updated flood maps could still be years away as they go through the lengthy approval process and face pressure from developers and residents who want to keep the costs of building and living in the floodplain low.In addition, there is no requirement that local governments use the updated data to redraw flood maps, which in turn could affect property values and future development. Ataul Hannan, director of planning for the Harris County Flood Control District, said the district will weigh the impact of the updated rainfall data against these factors as it considers whether to update flood maps.More than 90,000 residential structures in Harris, Galveston and Fort Bend counties could have been damaged by floods from the storm as of Aug. 27, according to flood models released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The map below features waterways, in dark blue; 100-year floodplains, in light blue; 500-year floodplains, in blue-green; destroyed structures, in dark red; structures with major damage, in orange; affected structures, in yellow; and structures with minimal damage, in gray.Note: FEMA's methodology does not account for flooding caused by storm water backups, irrigation ditch failures, flooding from dam or levee breaks or wind damage. FEMA data obtained by Ryan Maye Handy | Map created by data journalist Rachael GleasonHe noted that the five years of drought that followed Hurricane Allison could have the effect of shrinking floodplains. On the other hand, he said, the extreme storms of the past three years might expand them and put some Harris County residents into a floodplain, requiring them to buy flood insurance."We have to make a call, should we do the change now, or should we wait?" Hannan said. "How do you think every five years I'm going to change the map and tell people, 'Hey, because of my new information you are now in the flood plain?'"2017 the Houston ChronicleVisit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - Long before Florida entered the deadliest hurricane season in a decade, auditors at the states Division of Emergency Management warned what the state was ill-prepared for a major disaster.An annual audit completed in December 2016 by the agencys inspector general detailed a lengthy list of deficiencies needed to prepare and respond to a hurricane. Among them: Food and water supplies at the distribution center in Orlando were inadequate. Contracts with companies that would supply cots to shelters had expired. The agreements many trucking companies had signed with the states emergency management agency to distribute supplies had lapsed. The agency was using a spreadsheet created in the 1980s to help predict the amount of supplies and equipment that may be needed after a storm makes landfall, as the states giant storage facility remained half empty.Worse, auditors said, the states emergency managers didnt know what they didnt know.Action is needed to determine the requirements of the state for supplies and equipment in the event of a disaster in order to ensure that adequate types and quantities of disaster supplies and equipment are available, inspectors said.The report concluded: The divisions ability to respond to disasters may be impaired.The audit findings were delivered to Bryan Koon, at the time secretary of the Division of Emergency Management, his chief of staff and their deputies. They agreed with the criticisms and promised to improve.They said they would contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency for advice on how to improve the states stockpile of provisions. They said they would renew contracts and renegotiate others. They also gave themselves a deadline: March 2018  18 months after the audit report and four months after the end of the 2017 hurricane season.But when Hurricane Irma looked like it was going to strike the length Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, state emergency officials went into full scramble mode to make up for lost time.Shelter supplies that were not stockpiled were obtained through emergency order or provided by FEMA, said Alberto Moscoso, communications director for the Division of Emergency Management.Before Irma made landfall, the division oversaw the largest evacuation in Floridas history, said Wesley Maul, interim secretary of the department, who replaced Koon last month.He said the state opened more than 600 shelters and delivered fuel and supplies and personnel to critical areas. No county requests or needs went unmet during the preparation or response, he said.The Division of Emergency Management reports directly to the governors office and has since 2011, when Gov. Rick Scott dismantled the Department of Community Affairs, which had previously housed the states emergency operations. Unlike Koon, who had a career in emergency management, Maul, a former travel aide in Scotts 2014 campaign, has one year of experience.No one can say if the shortages of supplies and the expired contracts hampered the ability of emergency managers to prepare Florida for Irma or delayed the recovery.However, in the days leading up to the storm, there were accounts of supply shortages and transportation lapses.The opening of emergency shelters in Miami-Dade County was delayed because staff and supplies didnt show up. In many of them, there were no cots for the elderly and disabled and others awaited delivery of food from the National Guard. At South Dade Middle School there were only 600 meals for the 2,500 people staying at the shelter a day before the storm hit.Koon said at the time that it was countys job to open shelters and that they didnt need to be stocked with all the supplies to open.It is not vital that all of those things be in place, he said Sept. 8, as Miamis shelters were filling to capacity. The vital thing is they are in a hardened storm shelter.At Cross City in Dixie County, 90 miles southeast of Tallahassee, June Richardson, an elementary school cafeteria worker, took refuge in a middle-school shelter in one of the poorest communities in the state after power had been out in her home for more than four days. But the shelter had no food.They gave you a bottle of water and a bag of potato chips, Richardson said.Collier County opened 28 shelters before the storm made landfall in Florida, but at Gulf Coast High School in Naples on Sept. 10 there were no cots or beds for evacuees, just seats, BuzzFeed reported.After the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, the Florida Legislature found that improved logistical staging and warehouse capacity for supplies and equipment would help ensure adequate supplies and equipment would be available and accessible for responding to disasters, the December 2016 audit report said.So the state built the State Logistics Response Center, the SLRC, in Orlando and used it to stockpile supplies and equipment needed in a disaster. But in audit after audit in recent years, inspectors warned that haphazard management of supplies, poor record keeping and inadequate preparation threatened the states ability to respond to a natural disaster.Although FEMA provides assistance to Florida in response to a hurricane, FEMA expects Florida to be self-sufficient for the first 72 hours, the report said.Auditors discovered that the warehouse was not only short of supplies, it was also wasting money. More than half  58 percent  of the warehouse space remained empty, while only 14 of the 27 office spaces were regularly used, the audit said. Auditors estimated the unused space was costing taxpayers $1.6 million a year.Moscoso said by fast-tracking purchases, the state was able to gather enough stockpile before Irma hit Florida.We could not fit any more supplies, he said. Many counties returned large quantities of these items to both FEMA and the State of Florida.The auditors, however, spelled out other problems: Shelters: Auditors found an inadequate stockpile of food, water and cots needed for emergency shelters. While the state relies on the American Red Cross and Salvation Army to manage and provide supplies to shelters, auditors found these entities may not have enough resources to support a large disaster.While it is unclear whether the Division is expected to provide shelter supplies, the Division has a stockpile of shelter supplies, the audit said.There was no sign that emergency managers considered the stockpile sufficient, it said. The Division recently had a contract in place to obtain additional cots if needed in a disaster, but that contract has expired. Equipment: The contract with forklift operators to unload supplies from trucks at the distribution centers had expired and has not been renewed. Water: The state has a contract with vendors to supply water and ice to the logistics center in Orlando, but it lacks specific terms requiring delivery within 24 hours. A backup contract from a vendor to deliver water and ice was not renewed. As of May 2016, the logistics center had stored only enough water for 215,633 people for three days, but auditors said FEMA recommends each survivor of a disaster must have one gallon of water every day. Meals: The state has a contract with a vendor to supply 333,334 meal kits, containing three meals per kit. But an inspection in May 2016 found there were no kits on hand. After inspectors conducted a surprise review, one truckload of food kits was delivered. Transportation: Counties rely on the state to transport supplies to points of distribution within 24 hours after the storm, but auditors found the Division does not currently have trucks on hand and the states contract for delivery of supplies and equipment stored at the logistics center has not been renewed.The Division of Emergency Management was unable to say how much more the last-minute supplies cost the state through emergency contracts and FEMA purchases than it would have had the state stockpiled more supplies before the storm. Auditors said the agency lacked an analysis that showed which approach was the most cost-efficient.Auditors also noted the lack of clear direction and oversight, saying they were unable to identify clear expectations of the division to provide supplies and equipment to shelters. They also questioned the wisdom of the state relying on vendors to supply water after a disaster, instead of ordering it and stockpiling it in advance.This was not the first time auditors warned of deficiencies and sloppy record keeping.In a January 2014 audit, the agencys inspector general found the Division had not established written policies and procedures specifically governing the management of the disaster supplies and equipment warehoused at the SLRC.It said supplies could disappear and there would be no accounting.Without a completed accountable property form, it may not be possible to enforce accountability for damaged, lost or stolen property, auditors wrote.The Division of Emergency Management responded by blaming staff shortages. Division management stated that, because of limited staff, policies and procedures governing the management of disaster supplies and equipment had not been established, the 2014 audit said.Auditors made a similar complaint a year later when a February 2015 audit of inventory found no documentation of some supplies and, when items went missing, the division did not consistently report it or file reports with the appropriate law enforcement agency.Without a completed accountable property form, it may not be possible to enforce accountability for damaged, lost or stolen property, auditors wrote.Another audit, completed June 28, 2017, found inadequate oversight of a program that allows DEM to hire temporary employees to aid in recovery efforts. The reservists are paid $16 to $18 an hour, with overtime paid at a rate of 1 1/2 times the regular rate. They are required to complete a five-part online training source provided by FEMA and learn how to use a special credit card given to employees while traveling during the emergency.Auditors found that some reservists trained but never showed up when called to duty. Others lost equipment and had equipment destroyed and were never held accountable. A better arrangement, auditors said, would be to better coordinate with volunteer organizations.Moscoso said the Division of Emergency Management is working to utilize resources appropriately to improve the quality of reservists sent out into the field. It is also collaborating with FEMA to create an analysis to determine if new requirements for the stockpile are needed. The agency says it will now have the analysis completed by December.(Miami Herald reporter Kyra Gurney and Tampa Bay Times reporter Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.)2017 Miami HeraldVisit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - As the number of people confirmed dead in Northern California fires rose to 11, officials are hoping that lesser winds Tuesday will allow firefighters to get a handle on the blazes that have ravaged upwards of 100,000 acres.The Yuba County Sheriffs Department confirmed late Monday night that one person in the county had died, according to Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. The majority of the fatalities are from Sonoma County, where huge swaths of the city of Santa Rosa were leveled in flames from the Tubbs fire  seven people died in Sonoma County, two in Napa, and one in Mendocino County, Berlant said.Red flag warnings in effect throughout much of Northern California have expired as of Tuesday morning, Berlant said. Winds of up to 50 miles per hour Sunday night had helped spread flames.Overnight the wind that had fanned these fires had really decreased, and that gave us an opportunity to really take a stand against these fires, Berlant said early Tuesday. We are again today hoping to see very little wind compared to Sunday.As of about 7:30 p.m. Monday, the 16 fires in Northern California had burned upwards of 100,000 acres and destroyed at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures.Several thousand firefighters from across the state are battling the blazes, and some strike teams from Southern California have been sent up north, Berlant said. The California National Guard has deployed six additional helicopters to aid in firefighting efforts.Still, evacuees may not be able to return to their homes just yet.Many of these fires, its going to take several more days, even potentially more weeks, before we have full containment, he said.Meanwhile in Anaheim Hills, a blaze had reached between 5,000 and 6,000 acres by 11 p.m. Monday, damaging or destroying at least 24 homes, said Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Larry Kurtz.2017 Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - One person has died and at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed as more than 14 fires ravaged eight counties throughout Northern California on Monday, authorities said.The death was related to the Redwood Valley fire in Mendocino County, according to the Mendocino County coroners office.The vast devastation over just a few hours made this firestorm one of the worst in California history, with Gov. Jerry Brown declaring a state of emergency.There have been injuries and people are unaccounted for, said Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. She could not estimate the number of injuries. Officials said additional fatalities were possible as search efforts continued.One of the raging fires had Santa Rosa under siege Monday morning, with a large swath of the city north of downtown under evacuation order.The fast-moving fire jumped the 101 Freeway, forcing hospitals to be evacuated and, witnesses said, burning homes and businesses.The area of Fountaingrove appeared to be particularly hard hit, with photos showing numerous homes on fire. The Fountaingrove Inn and a Hilton hotel also burned. Officials said homes were also lost in the community of Kenwood and at a mobile home park off the 101 Freeway.While many evacuation centers were set up, some were filled to capacity due to the large number of people fleeing.The Tubbs fire near Santa Rosa has burned more than 35,000 acres as of 6:40 a.m., Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon said during a televised press conference Monday morning. Officials said the other large fire in Napa County  Atlas Peak  has reached between 8,000 and 12,000 acres.Schools throughout the Napa and Sonoma valleys are closed for the day, and cellphone service has been affected in Napa County, where residents and businesses are experiencing power outages and trees have been knocked down by the wind, officials said.More than 50 structures, including homes and barns, have burned in the Atlas Peak fire alone, Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said during the press conference.Residents described running from the approaching flames early in the morning.Late Sunday night, Ken Moholt-Siebert noticed the smell of the smoke from his Santa Rosa vineyard just off Highway 101.It was not until midnight that he spotted the flames: a small red glow growing a couple of ridges to the east, off Fountaingrove Parkway.He ran up the hill on his property to turn on a water pump to protect the ranch his family has been raising sheep and growing grapes on for four generations.Before the pump could get the water fully flowing, a small ember from the Tubbs fire landed nearby. With the wind picking up, the ember sparked a spot fire about 50 feet in diameter. Then it was 100 feet in diameter."There was no wind, then there would be a rush of wind and it would stop. Then there would be another gust from a different direction," Moholt-Siebert, 51, said. "The flames wrapped around us."He ran for cover."I was just being pelted with all this smoke and embers," he said. "It was just really fast."Moholt-Siebert retreated through a 150-year-old redwood barn on his property -- where his son's wedding reception had been held in June. He jumped a fence back toward his house and fell to the ground to catch gulps of less smoke-contaminated air before reaching his home.As he fled with his wife Melissa in their Ford sedans, the flames reached their vineyard full of Pinot Noir grapes and crept toward a 200-year-old oak tree on the property -- the namesake for the family winery, Ancient Oak Cellars.As he drove through falling embers and smoke he thought about what he left behind. The sheep on his ranch, he thought, would be safe since they were on shortly cut wet grass. He left behind family mementos and furniture from his grandparents.The property was dotted with old valley and black oak as well as some California ash trees."That is probably all gone," Moholt-Siebert said. "I have a feeling there is not going to be much left."Smoke from the fires drifted into the Bay Area, into San Francisco and as far south as San Jose.The smell of smoke is everywhere throughout the county, Napa County spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan said.In Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Sutter Hospital were evacuated.We have safely evacuated the Santa Rosa medical center due to fires burning in the area. Many patients were transported to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael and other local hospitals, Kaiser spokeswoman Jenny Mack said in an email. All scheduled appointments and surgeries have been canceled for the day in Santa Rosa and the Napa medical offices.The Santa Rosa fire began around 10 p.m.The cause of the fires is still under investigation.Upward of 300 firefighters are battling the blazes in Napa County, she said. There are three evacuation centers for Napa County residents, though one  the Crosswalk Community Church  is full, she said. The other two are the Calistoga Fairgrounds and at Napa Valley College.Weve had hospitals that have required evacuation...all of those take significant amount of coordination and assets to ensure... that special needs populations and others that require special assistance are taken care of. That will remain our priority," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governors Office of Emergency Services.There have been a number of injuries and "possibly some fatalities," Ghilarducci said.About 45,000 are without power and/or cell service in Napa and Sonoma counties, he said.Weather conditions  strong winds and high temperatures  made conditions ripe for a major inferno.We also had really gusty winds and really warm temperatures, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle. This time of year it does happen quite a bit. For the San Francisco Bay Area, our summer is late September to early October; thats when we have our warmest and driest conditions.The destructiveness of the fires shocked officials. The worst fire in recent California history was the Cedar blaze in San Diego County in 2003, which destroyed more than 2,800 homes. The 2007 Witch fire, also in San Diego County, destroyed more than 1,600. Both of those fires occurred in October.This time of year is when historically the states largest, most damaging and most deadly fires have occurred," Upton said. Critical fire conditions fanned by high wind" act as "a fuse for sparks," she said.A key reason why the fires burning through Napa and Sonoma counties became so devastating was that the ignitions happened at the worst possible moment: extremely dry conditions combined with so-called Diablo winds that fanned flames on the ridgetops with gusts as high as 70 mph.Its similar to the conditions that caused one of the most destructive fires in Northern California history, the October 1991 firestorm that struck the Oakland and Berkeley hills that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,300 single-family homes.The wine country fires so far havent approached that level of catastrophe, with officials reporting at least 1,500 structures lost, in part because the area burned isnt as densely populated as the area that was hit hard in 1991.The status of Safari West, a small zoo in Santa Rosa, was unknown Monday morning. The zoo is known for its rhinos, giraffes, zebras and other animals.Guests also can stay in tents on the 400-acre property.Marie Martinez, conservation and outreach manager at Safari West, said that staff and guests fled the facility Sunday night. Staff were able to take some birds and a tortoise with them, she said.Martinez said she doesnt know if any structures burned. We dont know whats happened yet, Martinez said.The area around the zoo is closed off because of the fire, said Erin Harrison, director of marketing and communications at Oakland Zoo.That zoo is trying to coordinate evacuation of the animals at Safari West, but the fire is making access difficult.Were trying to find out if we can get up there, Harrison said.Los Angeles Times staff writers Makeda Easter, Rong-Gong Lin II, Joy Resmovits amd Phil Willon contributed to this report.sonali.kohli@latimes.comTwitter: @Sonali_Kohli2017 the Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - About 40 high school seniors will become the first in Toledo Public Schools (TPS) to attend Owens Community College as full-time EMT students while finishing required courses at TPS.Its part of a new partnership, announced Tuesday, between TPS, Owens, the city of Toledo, Toledos police and fire divisions, and ProMedica that allows students to graduate high school with an opportunity to obtain an EMT basic certification.Superintendent Romules Durant told the 40 seniors gathered at Owens that the EMT certification will allow them to pursue careers or higher education in the medical field or in fire and rescue, right out of high school.Once you complete, you will be certified and you can truly say, I am career-ready. Because I have a certification that allows me to be employed within the sector of EMT, he said.Students will learn how to save lives, transport patients, and assess emergency situations through the Owens program, Mr. Durant said. Theyll take non-EMT classes twice a week to ensure they can fulfill their TPS graduation requirements. Tuition and fees will be covered through TPS College Credit Plus program.Students also will get hands-on experience through the program by spending time in some of ProMedicas clinical sites. Interested students also will have the opportunity to interview with ProMedica Toledo Hospital for possible employment once they complete their certification.Mark King, Owens chair of criminal justice and emergency services, told students the program is tough but lauded its results.Its going to challenge you mentally, physically, and emotionally. Its a lot of work, but its very rewarding, he said. You will be job-ready when you graduate.Rogers High School senior Jaiden Koleman, 18, wants to work as a delivery nurse. She said being able to complete her EMT basic certification while still in high school will give her a leg-up come graduation.Its a good opportunity, and its going to look good for future jobs, she said.Another Rogers student, Kennedy Smith, 17, also wants to work in the medical field. She said she hopes attending classes at Owens will give her experiences outside the traditional classroom setting that shell need to pursue that career. She admitted finishing high school at the same time will be difficult, but she said it can be done.It will be a challenge to manage everything, she said. But I feel like if you really work hard, you can do it.At-large city councilman and current council candidate Cecelia Adams said the program has been two years in the making. She said she has been working with Toledos fire and rescue and police departments to create a partnership that both allows them to hire qualified, local candidates and benefits area students.Now we have a pipeline for young people who can come and work in our city and be firemen and policemen, she said.Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said she has two goals for young Toledoans: build a career and stay in Toledo.We need you, she told the programs first cohort. We want you to be successful.Contact Sarah Elms at selms@theblade.com, 419-724-6103, or on Twitter @BySarahElms.Guidelines: Please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Comments that violate these standards, or our privacy statement or visitor's agreement, are subject to being removed and commenters are subject to being banned. To post comments, you must be a registered user on toledoblade.com. To find out more, please visit the FAQ.2017 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Communities across the Denver metro region are joining forces to promote smart city technology.Leaders from academia, industry and other sectors are coming together to not only grow entrepreneurial activity, but shape public policy in a direction that embraces 21st-century urban growth.The recently formed Colorado Smart Cities Alliance brings together public and private leaders from 12 cities to grow and develop regional technological innovations. The alliance, organized by the 20,000-member Denver South Economic Development Partnership, is working with Arrow Electronics as lead technology adviser and the University of Colorado as lead academic partner and formative Innovation District, said Traci Hiltonberry, Denver South's director of innovation.Our mission is to work collaboratively to develop and share best practices to co-create many of the technological innovations that will come to define quality of urban life in the future, said Hiltonberry. To achieve this goal, Denver South will contribute to the alliances efforts to create a series of virtual living laboratories across the state for collaborative design, development and testing of technologies aimed at providing tangible solutions to city, state and regional challenges.The Denver area has been a hotbed for innovative technologies and the living lab concept  the most notable of which is the Pena Station NEXT project , a smart city collaboration with ambitions of expanding past existing smart lighting and sensor technologies and into things like driverless shuttles.Denver South began forming its innovation team  made up of Hiltonberry and Denver South Vice President of Innovation Jake Rishavy  in May 2016 because it wanted a dedicated effort to encourage an open and collaborative exchange of ideas to use technology in areas such as transportation, housing, public safety and the environment.We believe we are creating a first-of-its-kind statewide collaborative effort around smart city implementation and the creation of testbeds for proof of concept amongst multiple typographies, Hiltonberry wrote in an email.Denver South expects the population of Colorado to grow by more than 3 million residents by 2050, which is why they think it's important to find improved, cost-effective ways to use infrastructure and deploy public services. Smart city innovations and technology, say Denver South officials, are the way to do this.The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance is advancing policies and technologies that will better equip Colorado residents to live, work and play in a future that is increasingly being shaped by the complex challenges of urban growth, said Rishavy in a statement. Were working to create a 21st-century technology infrastructure right here in Colorado that will help to enhance everyones quality of life, particularly as our communities continue to grow. With our citizen-centered approach to design and public policy, this alliance is going to put Colorado on the map as a smart cities leader.
(TNS) -- David Martin wants to bring better internet service to Ames.It's not really a surprise the software forensics consultant and former computer science professor has made that one of his campaign's central issues. Martin is vying to replace Ward 3 representative Peter Orazem on the Ames City Council. Ward 3 contains most of southwest Ames, bordering Lincoln Way. To win the seat, he'd have to beat Rob Bowers, an Iowa State University Police veteran, in the Nov. 7 election.In an interview last week, Martin said poor internet service has come up often when he's spoken with voters. He's also been keeping track of the council's ongoing discussion on rental occupancy and wants to bring some more "inclusivity" to the six-member panel.As far as he knows, Martin would be the first openly gay man elected to the Ames City Council."I'm not saying that's an accomplishment, but the more ways that the council and the government can model approachability and accessibility to many types of people, I think the better off we are," he said.Martin was born in Ames and graduated from Ames High School in the 1980s before moving to California to work at some startups before returning to Ames to attend ISU. He's also lived in Massachusetts, Maine, Germany and Colorado before he and his husband, Steve, moved to Ames in 2013.The work with computers started much before California, though."He started working as a programmer when he was 13," said Dana Schumacher, a friend of Martin's who's worked with him and is helping him campaign.He founded David Martin Consulting, where he analyzes software systems, acting as what he calls a "technology translator." He'll sometimes testify in trials involving software as an expert witness.When he asks voters about their Internet service, which is usually provided by either Centurylink or Mediacom, Martin said they often roll their eyes as an immediate response."It's been pretty clear the service is unreliable a lot of times," he said.At a City Council workshop in March, representatives from Mediacom and CenturyLink told the panel about their plans to increase fiber connections in town. The meeting was preceded by years of concern about internet speed and inconsistent service.Martin said two options to perhaps improve the speed and service: attract a new provider to the city or inspire the companies already here to embrace new technologies to improve service.Another option would be to something similar to what Cedar Falls has done: running its own internet and phone service through the city. Martin, who met with Cedar Falls Utilities two weeks ago, said that it runs its fiber-optic cables to each individual home and business in the city. Mediacom, on the other hand, needs transducing equipment and transformers to deliver a connection, a system that can be thrown off by one bad piece of equipment, Martin said, adding that service in Cedar Falls is more reliable. Martin said he will press the issue if elected."That would be a big effort, don't get me wrong, and I'm not saying we're ready to do that, but it's an option that's available under Iowa law. Some other states don't even have that option," he said.Along with flighty internet service, Martin's ward also includes several near-campus neighborhoods, the ones who've been overrun by students renting homes, according to the residents who live there. The City Council is in the midst of reworking its rental occupancy code after a new state law was scheduled to render their current rule void on Jan. 1.The City Council decided the first step would be to place a six-month moratorium on the approval of new rental permits in the six near-campus neighborhoods (the South Campus Area, Westside, old Edwards, Oak-Wood-Forest, College Creek/old Ames Middle School and Oak-Riverside neighborhoods) as it decides whether to institute a new rental occupancy rule.Martin said the smaller homes in those neighborhoods have become affordable housing for students, and he'll be interesting to see what city staff will recommend to the City Council."I think that the moratorium was wise, and I think they're also wise to explore multiple avenues of coming up with a workable occupancy limit policy, rather than just leaving it to classifying entire properties as student properties," he said.One of the reasons he decided to run for the council was out of a sense of gratitude, but he also thinks he can be an asset and a voice for marginalized people in Ames. He said he thinks all of the council members are approachable, but he could be another resource."But it could help people make a decision about who to talk to when the alternative might actually be that the end up not talking to anyone because they can't decide," Martin said. "It's like a decision paralysis. And so providing that kind of invitation and accessibility can really help."I have a more native interest in outreach to the gay community and to the marginalized community in town, I think, and other people on the council also have interest in that, but it's their own spin on it and this is one of the things that comes naturally to me."Schumacher, a former member of the ISU faculty, said Martin has the ability to distill large issues and describe them in layman's terms. He's also an "amazing" listener who's devoted to his city. Plus, he's pretty bright."He has one of the best minds I have ever encountered, plain and simple," she said.The Ames Tribune will publish a story about Martin's opponent in the race for the City Council's Ward 3 seat, Rob Bowers, next Sunday.
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A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which the individual desires to register and vote for at least 30 days before the election.

At least 18 years of age on or before the date of the election.

(TNS) -- WILKES-BARRE -- In the wake of high-profile cyberattacks targeting businesses, governments and other organizations, the Wolf administration this week reminded Pennsylvanians to take appropriate steps to protect their personal and financial data."We depend on technology and the Internet in so many ways, which is why all of us must do our part to keep them secure," said Gov. Tom Wolf in a press release. "No one is immune to cyberattacks. However, there are many simple things we can do that reduce the chances of being a victim."Leaders of several state agencies also spoke about their efforts to protect the public from cyber threats.Secretary of Banking and Securities Robin L. Wiessmann said the frequency and complexity of cyberattacks, especially following the Equifax data breach, reinforce the need for everyone and every organization to have conversations about cybersecurity and to make plans to protect themselves.In response to this challenge, Wiessmann said the state has launched a cybersecurity guide for consumers, produced by a collaboration of 10 state agencies and offices. The online guide will help consumers protect themselves and their families as they navigate the Internet in their daily lives.The guide includes tips to prevent identity theft, protect passwords, keep children safe online and secure mobile devices.The Office of Administration (OA) oversees cybersecurity for agencies under the governor's jurisdiction and is a leader among states in security, the release says. Pennsylvania recently earned top honors for cybersecurity from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers for cloud security using risk-based, multi-factor authentication.Currently in use for cloud email and storage, the service reduces the risk of unauthorized access by requiring users to provide information, in addition to a user name and password, to verify their identities. The state intends to implement the safeguard on additional systems in the future.The Department of State takes full advantage of OA's expertise as part of its strategy to safeguard the commonwealth's electoral system, including the statewide voter registration database.State agencies are also focused on planning and preparedness. In 2016, Pennsylvania was one of the first states in the nation to hold an exercise focused on the response to a prolonged, widespread power outage, such as from a cyber attack. In August, the Public Utility Commission, Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency took part in a first-ever transnational exercise to test responses to a large-scale power outage event.Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes this week reminded Pennsylvanians they have until Tuesday, Oct. 10, to register to vote in the November election. He encouraged citizens to take advantage of the online voter registration (OVR) site.Eligible citizens have until Tuesday to apply for a new voter registration or make changes to their existing registration.The state's OVR application can be found at register.votesPA.com. In addition to applying for a new registration, the OVR system can also be used to make updates to an existing voter record, such as a change of name, address or party affiliation. Since the OVR launch in August 2015, more than 962,000 eligible Pennsylvanians have used the site.Voters are also encouraged to use the online system to confirm their registration status prior to the deadline.Registered voters planning to cast an absentee ballot are advised to pay close attention to important deadlines. Although the deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 31, the voted ballots must be received in the county election office by 5 p.m. Nov. 3.Individuals wishing to register to vote in the November election must be:
From Wisconsin State Journal editorial board, Oct. 8, 2017:

More voices are joining the fight for fair voting districts, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week on Wisconsins gerrymandered maps.

The Wisconsin Counties Association, representing every corner of the state, overwhelmingly passed a resolution at its annual conference in Wisconsin Dells recently, urging the Legislature to adopt a nonpartisan process for drawing legislative and congressional districts, similar to Iowas proven model.

Iowa assigns a nonpartisan state agency to redraw its voting districts after each major census. In sharp contrast, Wisconsin and other states let top politicians shape districts to their partisan advantage, using voter data and computer formulas to calculate the most advantageous district lines.

A panel of federal judges ruled Wisconsins state Assembly maps unconstitutional in a case now before the nations highest court. Regardless of the U.S. Supreme Courts decision, expected by next summer, Wisconsin should adopt a neutral process that doesnt favor either political party.

Wisconsins current system puts the desires of politicians ahead of the electoral prerogative of the people, the Counties Association resolution states.

Redistricting to achieve partisan gains is improper, whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats.

A federal panel of judges last year ruled Wisconsins maps unconstitutional because they so heavily favored majority Republicans. In continuing to defend the rigged maps, top GOP lawmakers have wasted more than $2.1 million of taxpayer money on lawyers fees.

The state and congressional districts belong to the citizens of Wisconsin and not to any legislator, interest group or political party, the Counties Association resolution states.

The resolution is impressive and helpful. Moreover, its solution for fair maps following the 2020 census should be embraced by all citizens who favor good government. After all, the rigged maps protect many of the incumbents of both political parties, making them less accountable to voters of all stripes.

The counties endorsed a nonpartisan process that would prohibit the consideration of voting patterns, party information and incumbents residence information when maps are drawn.

Its not just Democratic strongholds such as Dane County that want reform. Lots of counties that have supported President Donald Trump and Gov. Scott Walker in recent elections voted for the resolution, too.

And in Washington, prominent Republicans such as former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, current Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona are speaking out against gerrymandering.

Closer to home, Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has pushed for a nonpartisan process. In his state, its Democratic lawmakers who have unfairly drawn the maps to help keep Democrats in power.

This vote by the Wisconsin Counties Association sends a powerful message, loud and clear, to the lawmakers in Madison that local officials and our constituents are sick and tired of the partisan hanky-panky, said Hans Breitenmoser, a Lincoln County Board member who promoted the resolution. We want fair maps and a transparent process.

Yes, we absolutely do.
Groupe Renault is acquiring a 25% share in Jedlix, a Dutch start-up launched by Eneco Group and specialized in the smart and sustainable charging of electric vehicles.

Partners since 2015, Groupe Renault and Jedlix are strengthening their collaborative efforts. Together, the two companies will develop new offers for the electric vehicle users, based on Jedlix's expertise in smart charging and its in-depth knowledge of the energy sector, along with the electric vehicle experience and skills of Renault.

As a first outcome of the partnership with Jedlix, Renault is launching Z.E. Smart Charge, a new smartphone app. The app optimizes the management of vehicle charges to benefit as much as possible from renewable energy and the lowest prices. Users indicate the charge level they need and the departure time of their car. After supplying the minimum charge requested by the user, the app manages the rest of the charge in smart charging mode.

In addition, Z.E. Smart Charge rewards users financially for being flexible about their charges. Every month, the user receives an amount, which could be equivalent of up to a complete charge.

Z.E. Smart Charge will be available in the Netherlands before the end of the year and will be rolled-out in other European countries in 2018. It can be used on iOS or Android devices.
The 500th Anniversary (Oct. 31st)--'96 New Theses' Exposes Martin Luther's Major Deficiency

Contact: John Noe, Ph.D. (pronounced "No-E"), President, Prophecy Reformation Institute, 317-842-3411

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- "About every 500 years, a pivotal event and revolutionary upheaval has transpired in Christian history. Each set in motion a major turning point and transformation. . . . As we approach the 500th anniversary, wouldn't it be just like God to choose this time in history for moving us into the Next Great Reformation?"

Thus proclaims and posts theologian John Noe in "96 New Theses."

The historical fact is, Luther's posting of his "95 Theses" on October 31, 1517 and subsequent Great or Protestant Reformation only addressed one of the two great works of the Messiah--that of salvation--which had been majorly messed up by the Church of his day.

The Messiah's other great work--that of the kingdom of God, the central teaching of Jesus Christ--wasn't addressed. Regrettably today, Jesus' kingdom is entangled in a maze and mess of conflict and confusion within his Church.

Consequently, as Noe further exposes and documents, "Christ's kingdom is rarely mentioned. It's even been expelled from the gospel. And we modern-day Christians are paying a huge price for this self-inflicted reductionism. For example, Christianity is now accused of having been 'tamed' and non-Christians told that they have nothing to fear from Christians."

After 500 years, Noe claims, "It's time we finish the job of reformation."

Doing so first requires posting "96 New Theses." They are posted and available for FREE in a 50-page booklet appropriately titled -- "The Next Great Reformation: 96 New Theses for reclaiming Jesus' everlasting kingdom." This booklet is downloadable in ebook edition (Amazon.com) and in PDF on the PRI's website. It is also available for a minimal amount in paperback (Amazon.com).

"Indeed," Noe writes, "we 'have come to the kingdom for such a time as this' (Esther 4:14b)."

Additional information about John Noe and PRI is available at the website.

For interviews, reviews, etc.,

Contact John Noe, Ph.D.

Phone: 317-842-3411

Email: jnoe@prophecyrefi.org

Website: prophecyrefi.org
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With a banjo as his starship, Bela Fleck is boldly going where no man has gone before. The 15-time Grammy winner has taken the African-based instrument to the outer reaches of the musical galaxy, first with New Grass Revival, then his avant-garde ensemble The Flecktones.

Hes composed three symphonies for banjo, and played and toured with Chick Corea. Teaming up with wife Abigail Washburn, the couples self-titled 2016 debut earned a Grammy for Best Folk Album. Their latest, Echo in the Valley, is set for an Oct. 20 release.

But in spite of his innovative approach to banjo, Fleck says he was a reluctant rebel. When New Grass Revival and Breakfast Special first came to Camp Springs in the 70s, some of the older fans werent too happy about the long-haired hippies foolin with their music.

New Grasser mandolinist Sam Bush and Breakfast Special banjoist Tony Trishka took considerable heat from traditional bluegrass fans over their roles in blending in other styles of music into grass. But Fleck didnt join New Grass until 1981, after theyd been together nearly seven years.

I came into it not wanting to do battle, Fleck said by phone from his Nashville home last week. I wanted to be good at everything. I wanted to be good at bluegrass, and do the modern stuff, and get along with everybody.

He understands not wanting to let go of something you love, but points out that the elements of bluegrass that the traditionalists thought were going to be destroyed are still there.

People who love the new music tend to go back and learn about the old music and they like that even better, he said.

Fans eventually discovered that the up-and-coming musicians revered the traditional music as much as they did, the new guys being inspired by the older statesmen. Earl Scruggs was Flecks epiphany.

Most of the bluegrass banjo players of modern or traditional had that come-to-Jesus moment with Earl Scruggs, where the earth shifted, everything was different after they heard him play, Fleck says. I was inspired by his sound, that sound is closest to what I do now. I was inspired by his sense of time, that forward lean and that exciting rippling sound, and even as I do things like jazz or classical or world music, I still try to embody those musical points.

Washburns touchstone was Doc Watson. By the time she heard Watson, Washburn had been studying Chinese in college, preparing to be a lawyer in China.

When I heard Doc, I felt a deep connection to something American, Washburn says. It drew me into wanting to know more about that music  where it came from, what it could teach me about America. I felt like I had a window into the immigrant nature of our country, the beautiful culture that formed it, and what it became after everyone arrived here and mixed all together over all these years.

The two met at a square dance in Nashville, where Fleck was playing and Washburn was dancing.

It wasnt like it was love at first sight or anything, Washburn says.

Maybe not for you, Fleck murmurs softly.

Maybe not, Washburn chuckles. But we became friends eventually. You know what happened, she says, referring to their marriage and the couples 4-year-old son, Juno.

Their relationship is reflected in the new album. We wanted to speak our truth, so there are songs that connect to being a parent, Fleck says of If I Could Talk to a Younger Me and Let It Go. When you have a child, youre going through a constant letting go, very hard to do.

A deeper theme about the process of writing the record concerned collaborating more than the couple had previously done.

Bela hasnt done a whole lot of lyric writing, Washburn says. We decided we wanted to do every piece of the songwriting together. Not like our last album where some of the songs were either his or mine; on this one, everything comes from our collaboration.

We had to learn to let go, listen to the other persons ideas sometimes when we had a really strong idea of what we wanted, find a place where we were both satisfied with the final version, Fleck says. It was tough, but it was good for our music and for our relationship.

Washburns ultimate goal is being effective in helping more people from America and from China connect through culture and beauty between our two countries.

Flecks vision is for more respect for his instrument. I really care about the banjo. Id like to bring back the banjo into different kinds of music and look for ways for it to be current in todays world thats respectful of where its been.

This concert is a part of the 17 Days Arts & Culture Festival.
GREENSBORO  Finding 12 people who can be impartial on a highly publicized death penalty case that involves homosexual activity and mental health issues is not the easiest thing to do.

Since Oct. 2, a prosecutor and two defense attorneys have been trying to whittle down more than 80 people to serve on a jury in the first-degree murder case against 29-year-old Garry Gupton.

Greensboro police said that in November 2014, Gupton met 46-year-old Stephen White at the Chemistry Nightclub, a gay bar and lounge, before the pair traveled to the Battleground Inn where they had sexual contact. After that, Gupton allegedly set White on fire, killing him.

Guptons attorneys, Wayne Baucino and Ames Chamberlin of Greensboro, said their client will admit to some of the accusations and plans to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

One potential juror questioned on Monday why he should believe what Gupton says on the stand.

If hes insane, how can I trust his testimony? he asked.

That juror was dismissed after telling Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Robert Enochs that if he believes Gupton is guilty he would not consider a life sentence, but death.

He wasnt alone.

I believe the justice I would want is the death penalty, another potential juror added. Im just being honest with you.

Others in the jury pool disagreed.

Ill probably have a hard time with the death penalty, one said. Im not a proponent of the death penalty and that would be a sticking point for me. I could not vote for the death penalty and sleep at night.

He, too, was dismissed.

Then there was the issue of homosexual relationships  which seemed to be less problematic for jurors.

The majority of those questioned on Monday said they didnt agree with homosexuality, but it wouldnt affect their views of the victim or defendant.

Baucino told those in the jury pool that White was openly gay and Gupton was struggling with his sexuality. Baucino said that although their contact in the hotel began as consensual, Gupton will accuse White of sexually assaulting him prior to White being set on fire.

Baucino also warned prospective jurors that they will have to view photographs depicting burns so severe that Whites bones can almost be seen.

For a lot of people those photographs will be very disturbing, Baucino said.

The attorneys got a reprieve as they tried to pick their 12th juror. One woman was so impartial she seemed perfect.

All that remained was the search for three alternates to serve in case something happened to one of the jury members.

One potential alternate juror added some humor to a long day when he told Enochs he could serve  even if it meant hed be late to help set up for his rehearsal dinner Friday.

They can be without one man for the morning, the juror explained.

Youre kind of an important man, Enochs quipped.

Because the state and the defense are flying in witnesses to testify, they agreed not to begin opening statements until Wednesday morning.
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EDEN  Police responded to a report of shots fired on Willow Street on Monday night leading to a police chase in southwestern Eden and the seizure of an AK-47.

Shortly after, police responded to a second report of shots fired on the opposite side of the city on Maryland Street.

At about 11:52 p.m. on Monday, Rockingham County Communications received the first shots fired report in the 900 block of Willow Street, according to a news release.

Police located a black Ford Fusion with broken windows parked on the edge of a roadway in front of 905 Willow St.

The first responding officer observed a suspicious vehicle, a tan Ford Taurus, leaving the area, and responding officers attempted to conduct a stop at the intersection of Irving Avenue and Center Church Road.

The vehicle then traveled west on Center Church before turning left onto Black Bottom Road and driving to the dead end.

There, four black males fled the vehicle on foot into a wooded area. Detectives are still working to identify suspects.

Police seized a Zastava Serbia AK-47 left by the suspects in the back seat.

Shortly after, officers and detectives learned there was a gunshot victim at Morehead Hospital, according to the release.

Detectives spoke with the victim who was released a short time later.

As police worked on the crime scenes on Willow Street and Black Bottom Road, officers were dispatched to 1424 Maryland Ave. regarding a second shots fired report at about 1:20 a.m.

Police found several rounds shot into the residence. No injuries were reported at this location.

Detectives are working both active, ongoing investigations.

Police request that anyone with information concerning the Willow Street incident call Detective Daniel Abbruscato or Detective Bill Wade at 336-623-9755 anytime or 336-623-9240 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Police also request that anyone having information concerning the Maryland Ave. incident call Detective Brian Disher at 336-623-9755 anytime or 336-623-9240 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

To provide information anonymously, call Rockingham County Crimestoppers at 336-349-9683.
Contributed photo

GREENWICH  Retired police detective John Fox will be memorialized Tuesday following his death last week at the age of 86.

Fox earned praise in 1971 when he pursued two armed robbers who held up an A&P supermarket. The pursuit was carried out on I-95 and ended in a foot chase that resulted in arrests. Fox won the John Clarke Award for exemplary police work that year.
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HARTFORD  Statewide highway tolls could pump as much as $900 million a year into state coffers, and legalizing weed more than $100 million.

Building a new casino in Bridgeport could net $316 million year.

Thats over $1.3 billion annually  money that could plug deficits, fix roads and bridges and help school districts and municipalities.

But as lawmakers struggle to cobble together a new state budget, close billion dollar deficits and end Connecticuts cycle of boom to bust budgeting, none of those future money-generating options are on the table.

State Rep. Chris Rosario, D-Bridgeport, said colleagues who serve in legislatures in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are scratching their heads over Connecticuts choices.

They ask me why are you leaving that money on the table?  tolls, marijuana and casinos, Rosario said. They say thats crazy. Im in favor of all three.

The General Assemblys Democratic majoritys leaders acknowledged all three revenue options could provide stable sources of money over the long term  if the votes can be found for passage. But they also said the revenue would not begin flowing for several years so it cant help solve the immediate budget stalemate.

Im open minded on this stuff, said House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, adding that at the moment we dont have the votes in the General Assembly.

Kelly Donnelly, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said the potential revenue sources will probably be on the table next year.

I think it would stand to reason that many of these deliberative discussions will be taken up again during the next regular session, Donnelly said. In addition, there is a set of larger policy challenges and questions unique to each of these three issues which would need to be worked out first.

Traditional economic development could provide revenue to help eliminate future deficits and offset stagnant tax revenue, but the state has been losing corporate anchors and is not luring replacements.

And when it comes to taxes, Kiplinger released a report Friday that ranked Connecticut as the 9th least tax-friendly state in the U.S. Based in Washington, D.C., the publishing company releases annual reports on income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and so-called sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco. It publishes business forecasts and personal finance advice.

With 169 towns and cities now clamoring for state dollars, pensions and rising employee costs draining state coffers and little regional cost sharing, Connecticut is at a crossroads.

And as the budget stalemate has shown, there are no easy answers.

High returns

Weed is now a big business across the country and Colorado and other states are raking in billions in annual revenue from taxes levied on legal recreational marijuana.

Massachusetts and Maine voters last year legalized pot, and sales are expected to begin next year. Rhode Island lawmakers recently voted to study legalizing weed. In all, eight states allow the sale of recreational pot and 21 allow medical marijuana.

Revenue estimates from taxing recreational pot in Connecticut run as high as $180 million a year. Other projections place the take at between $45.4 million and $104.6 million a year.

But numerous attempts to authorize recreational marijuana have failed in the General Assembly. Ritter said tolls currently have a better chance of passing than legal marijuana.

With weed, there is a lot of pushback, Ritter said.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said legal weed is not something that can be slammed into a budget at the last minute.

It has to be done carefully with a look at the pitfalls and proper protections for children, Duff said. Before you legalize it you need a plan in place that makes sense.

Rosario said the resistance to legal weed, despite polls that show a solid majority of residents are in favor, is rooted in fear of losing the next years election. If you do your job and maximize revenue, you will be fine next year, he said.

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, said legal marijuana is the last thing the state needs.

Massachusetts is pushing for job development, Boucher said. The rest is ancillary. We need to cut regulations and licensing costs and do something about collective bargaining. There are many things that can be done.

Highway tolls

Revenue projections for statewide electronic tolling in Connecticut vary, with estimates as high as $900 million a year. A study commissioned by the state ranged from $62 billion over 25 years to $5 billion if only $2 border tolls were established.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey brought in $1.9 billion in toll revenue last year; Pennsylvania $1 billion; New Jersey $1.5 billion; and Rhode Island $20 million, a recent report shows.

Tolls on Connecticuts highways have been discussed for years but legislation consistently stalled in the General Assembly. Tolls came the closest to a full vote last month when the Legislatures Democratic majority included a new Connecticut Transit Authority with authority to implement tolling in its proposed state budget.

But that budget went down in flames after eight Democrats in the House and Senate defected and voted for a Republican budget, which was later vetoed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

State Sen. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, said he suspects Democrat will propose tolls, setting up another battle.

[Democrats] endorsed the transit authority, Frantz said. But Im against tolls.

Boucher added making Connecticut a gaming and drug state, I think thats a net negative.

High roller

MGM Grands proposal to build a $600 million waterfront casino in Bridgeport  and the over 7,000 permanent and construction jobs that come with it  represents another long term revenue source for the state.

The company is promising to pay the state $316 million annually, $8 million a year to Bridgeport and build a new employment training center in New Haven. A one-time $50 million gambling license fee would be paid to the state.

But the proposal comes with a serious problem: it would violate the existing gambling compact with the states two Indian tribes.

If a Bridgeport casino is authorized, the $260 million in annual payments from the Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun casino resorts would end, tribal leaders warn. MGM claims the new Bridgeport casino would more than make up for the lost tribal money.

Im not opposed, its an option, Ritter said of a Bridgeport casino. But you have to figure out the compact. Is MGM subsidizing the entire compact? I have not seen that.

Duff said lawmakers must first pass a new two-year budget before considering complicated casino legislation with long term financial and legal implications.

Once you make a deal with MGM, you trade off the money with the tribes, Duff said, adding its unclear how much the company is offering to pay.

Frantz said he opposes expanding gambling regardless of where its placed.

Its a regressive tax, Frantz said. Id rather see an amusement park or something else there.
So Im sitting at my desk in the Capitol Press Room.

Its up on the fifth floor of the State Capitol, a mysterious, 1878 building that has a life of its own. Behind me are panels of stained glass that date all the way back. Morning light shines through the panes with blues and oranges and yellows echoing the 19th Century.

Above is a dropped ceiling thats very 1970s. Lets just say the room, filled with reporters desks, phones, three TVs and relics including generations of computer technology stashed under tables, is a contemporary museum.

On a nearby column is a photo of Elvis Presley, obviously blasted on pills, shaking hands with President Richard Nixon, before the fall. Over my right shoulder is a time-lightened front page of a November 1995 Connecticut Post with the headline No Dice, after the state Senate that year voted 24-10 against a Bridgeport casino.

Yes, the Capitol is a place where ideas  and creatures  go to die. A couple times a year, a poor bat or sparrow somehow gets in and the custodial crew gets out their big net, with hopes that they might catch the poor scared beasts before they expire.

In this fiscal year from hell, while lawmakers cannot cobble enough support for a budget that the socially liberal, fiscally conservative Gov. Dan Malloy will sign, I expected maybe a plague of locusts, or at least a thunderstorm of toads.

What I have is yellow jackets. One just fell on my head. Theyve been dropping on my desk for a few days now, falling, dazed through a ceiling fan, then either flying off without stinging, or finding the sole of my shoe. The body count is 20 or so up in the fluorescent light, for those that cant drop through the fan. Its getting dark on Friday afternoon now and the Capitols long-suffering custodial crew has been on a search and destroy mission in the rather large, open-air attic above the press room.

Its a metaphor for this never-ending budget battle.

Getting stung by a yellow jacket is a more pleasant option, at this point, than one more hour-long stakeout of Malloys office, as the battling budgeteers go through another days charade. The House vote in the predawn of Saturday, Sept. 16, for a two-year, $40-billion budget that Malloy was never going to sign, could have just as easily been voted on in June, before the new fiscal year kicked in.

Instead, were pushing mid-October and the General Assembly still hasnt done its job. In fact, House Republicans, who really, really want to override Malloys veto, never even opened their mouths last week when Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz gave them the chance. The mostly GOP budget passed 77-73, with five House Democrats. No way, at this point, could the Republicans muster the 101 votes needed, at least now.

So in a smart, if cynical, political move, House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, kept her options open for another day, maybe when the loss of state aid that usually flows in October starts hurting more towns shut out by Malloys bare-bones executive order to keep minimal governmental operations from grinding to a halt.

If the Republicans had the votes to override my veto they would have done it, because there was no reason not to have done it, Malloy said. So they didnt have the votes. and the Democrats made a suggestion, and then a discussion took place in the governors office and people have specific assignments on work that needs to be gotten done.

When the Republicans, or the Democrats who voted for the GOP budget for that matter, failed to put in a motion the override, House Majority Leader Matt Ritter took a big chance and offered Republicans a chance to do a partial budget around the 13th. Both sides, despite Republicans saying theirs was a no tax-increase budget, would raise about $850 million in revenue. If they agreed to a partial, short-term fix, at least towns would get some additional state aid, presumably.

Malloys quick to point out that of the $20-billion annual budget, about $5.2 billion is municipal aid, school aid; as well as payments for teacher pensions that up to now, the state has paid for towns and cities. There are also competing ideas about a cap on annual spending, a cap on bonding and other major budget implications.

I think theres a recognition that we have to get to the point where were going line item by line item after we tackle some big controlling issues like pension changes, whether theyre legal or illegal, Malloy said. Like can you take the teachers 2 percent and not put it in a special fund? Is it legal for the state to offset its contribution to post-employment benefits, while paying for that, while raising the employee contribution. Those are definite legal questions that need to be resolved.

Malloy has been mostly diplomatic while trying to get Democratic and Republican lawmakers on some road toward compromise. He has his own metaphor. Without putting lipstick on it, Im trying to admire the pig, he quipped.

Ken Dixon can be reached in the Capitol at 860-549-4670 or at kdixon@ctpost.com. See twitter.com/KenDixonCT. His Facebook address is kendixonct.hearst.
NEW CANAAN  Five New Canaan teens were charged after they allegedly broke into a home under construction to drink inside the property.

Police were able to track down the teenagers after the homeowner saw the teens leaving the property on Sept. 20 around 10:15 p.m. and got the license plate number of the vehicle. The homeowner was alerted to the teens presence after they found 53 cans of Bud Light inside the master bedroom of the Proprietors Crossing property.
Entrepreneurship is rarely easy, especially as a female in a typically male-dominated business world. I recently had an opportunity to interview two highly successful business masterminds: Rachel Braun Scherl of SPARK Solutions for Growth, who has nabbed the title of "Vagipreneur" for her success in the female sexual health market, and Sarah Beane Ricca, VP and financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Both women have sage advice about the practices and philosophies they live by to overcome female-related obstacles and obtain true success. Here is what they had to say:

Earlier generations advised thriving and respectable businesswomen to think and act "like a man." Despite the seemingly demeaning advice, there's some truth to it: You should have a keen sense of BS, be able to spot the business-apt liars and snakes at a glance, and make quick, well-informed decisions.

Related: 10 Inspirational Quotes From Women Business Leaders

Scherl regularly asks herself these dynamic questions to address her business's ability to continue to earn revenue: How do I find new customers? How do I find new partnerships? How do I expand my business to new venues? How do I reposition my product? These questions directly address her business's ability to continue to earn revenue.

She admits her business of female sexual health is different from other entrepreneurial ventures. "While each business has its own challenges, there is enormous societal discomfort about the subject of female sexual health," she said. "One of our biggest challenges has been to create a conversation among both customers and investors that discusses what it [the product] is, and is it okay to talk about it?" Scherl adds, "[A woman] has to work twice as hard to get the 'yes' for advertising, fundraising, retail placement and more."

Even her product's presence on one popular social media platform required changing her page's copywriting. Citing a specific product geared toward male sexual health, she said, "There are so many other products out there that don't require a 'filter.'"

Scherl also said that while interviewing prospective partnerships "I am recognizing that the people who are attracted to this business truly have a passion for finding new solutions for women."

Related: How to Succeed as a Female Leader Anywhere In the World

Women must support each other.

When you develop a support system with other women, particularly through mentoring and partnering, you are contributing to your own growth. The past few decades have seen significant successes in the business landscape, but many barriers continue to exist. This isn't a philosophy nixing highly competent, prospective male hires. It requires you to think about yourself and the other women in your professional circle. Don't forget: It is still very much a "boy's club" when it comes to climbing the ladder. Therefore, any collective input with like-minded acquaintances is very valuable.

Ricca explained that financially successful women "have learned that it's okay to not know everything. But, they should know how to reach out, ask questions and collaborate on projects and plans." Morgan Stanley's offices in New York City hold a monthly executive women's breakfast. "These 90-minute events are focused on the professional development of women and are intended to provide a motivational boost, sharing quality information in a great networking environment," Ricca said. "Friendships are made and deals get done at these events."

Related: These Female Entrepreneurs Created a Fake Male Co-Founder to Work Around Sexism. How Well It Worked Is Incredibly Eye Opening.

Build market position.

Nurture a distinct position in your market with fervent personal involvement. As Ricca maintains, "The drive of high achievers is recognized by others and definitely contributes to success." As a female, you encounter more professional obstacles. Your passion and beliefs can become quite deep, so it's important to communicate them easily. You must breathe it. It's not as much a matter of knowledge as it is about pinpointing your appropriate market niche and figuring out the best way to get there.

Delegation is key.

Successful female entrepreneurs are aware of how much they can do on their own. They also recognize time is precious and are not afraid to get assistance. The bottom line: If you are a hungry entrepreneur then you cannot settle for just anyone. Ricca notes, "As a woman, you simply encounter more professional obstacles, so you must thoroughly vet the person to whom you are delegating." You must find a high-achiever who is anxious to learn and who gains confidence from your encouragement.

Related: 15 Things Men Say That Get on Women's Nerves

Overcome the obstacles.

The most common issue women entrepreneurs face is the simple reaction to a female voice. During Scherl's early years, she said 99 percent of the media outlets she tried to get advertising from would not take her money. Scherl had no luck with online, offline, network or cable outlets. "It remains a sad but true fact that as a woman, it can be quite arduous to attract peers to your level, who take you seriously," Scherl said. Establishing assertiveness is your strongest asset when working with new clients.

Stay persistent and positive.

You must be twice as compelling in both your demeanor and dealings in the male-dominated business world. However, it is possible to overcome with poise and triumph. Stay disciplined and try to instill discipline in your contacts, associates and friends. Your peers are your support system and act as your backbone in times of need. Keep your goals in mind. With dedication, you are one step closer to success, profits and the respect you have so diligently worked to earn.

Related Video: 'A VC Massaged My Shoulders in a Meeting': The Unique Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs

Related:

Women Entrepreneurs May Have More Obstacles to Endure, but There Are a Few Ways to Ensure Success

Sofia Vergara, the Highest Paid TV Actress, Shares How She Makes Business Decisions

Powerful Women Never Let Other People's Expectations Define Them



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Coffee shop crawl, anyone? Photo: Guido Mieth/Getty Images

Nobody needs an incentive to drink coffee, but today is giving you one anyway. Its marketers beloved annual National Coffee Day, one of the few made-up food holidays you can exploit because the thing being celebrated is cheap enough to give away for free. (Note to organizers: Thats your big hang-up with National Filet Mignon Day.) Most of the big chains have caffeinated freebies today, or at least discounts on coffee.

Dunkin Donuts: Purchase a medium or large hot coffee, and receive a free medium-size one. Or, if youre in North Carolina, congrats  you have a better option than brewed coffee: The chain collaborated with Catawba Brewing Company on a brown ale made with pumpkin-flavored cold brew. So-called Dunkin Punkin is at Catawbas taprooms starting today, until barrels run dry.

Peets: All coffee beans are 25 percent off today, plus youll get a free coffee with any bean purchase.

Tim Hortons: Download our app, get a FREE coffee*, the chain says. This promotion runs through October 8, but gets cut off after the millionth free coffee. Also, that asterisk? It refers to the fact that you have to activate the app, either by loading $10 into the account or making a purchase.

Krispy Kreme: Get a free hot drip coffee in any size, or a small iced coffee. Their deal runs through October 1, and is good for one per day.

McDonalds: Help yourself to a small McCafe beverage today for $2. Thats only a 40-cent discount in most markets, but its better than nothing.

Cinnabon: Just show up and youll get a free 12-ounce coffee, no purchase necessary.

7-Eleven: Get a free coffee, any size, by presenting a code that appears in the companys 7Rewards app.

Wawa: Get a free any-size cup of the convenience store chains coffee all day long today.

Pilot Flying J: Get a free cup of the alleged best coffee on the interstate, or any small hot tea or cappuccino. Youll need to show them this online coupon.

Keurig: All weekend long, most boxes of K-Cups are 15 percent off. But you should go for the Green Mountain Coffee recyclable kind  its a clear win for the environment, plus Keurig is discounting those by 20 percent.

Lyft: Not even the ride-hailing industry can resist National Coffee Days siren call anymore. Take a Lyft ride today in eight cities, and your driver will present you with a free can of High Brew cold brew. The participating cities are Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Austin, Dallas, and Philly.

Per usual, Starbucks is creatively boycotting the holiday. No free coffee, and definitely not even tiny discounts to subsidize that $5 PSL. Instead, participating cafes have removed their menu boards entirely today, and will use that space to lecture customers on the role of coffee farmers and humble-brag about the companys commitment to ethical and sustainably sourced coffee.
The Aviarys Bloody Mary is really a meal. Photo: Miachel Breton

There is no other bar in the world quite like the Aviary in Chicago, where chef Grant Achatz and his Alinea cohorts serve drinks that resemble (very delicious) science experiments. Theyve attracted cocktail nerds to Chicago like moths to an experimental lamp, and it didnt take long for Achatz and business partner Nick Kokonas to talk possible expansion. This week, after years of rumors, theyve at last opened the Aviary NYC at Mandarin Oriental, following its upscale speakeasy-esque sister bar the Office.

Dont expect a total replica of the Chicago original. There are signatures, like the Not Ramen (mushroom dashi broth with poached egg and nori), and the soup-dumpling-inspired Black Truffle Explosion, which is ravioli filled with truffle gel that melts when cooked. (Check out the full menu here). But Achatz and his team wanted to evolve the idea to fit New York, and beverage director Micah Melton says they also took their hotel location and eventual all-day service into account.

Not everyone here will be coming specifically for the Aviary, some will just happen upon it. So we wanted to do more recognizable classic cocktails, like, oh, the Aviary version of a margarita or gin-and-tonic, he says. But its still done with the same intent we use in Chicago.

To that end, the Bloody Mary is as much meal as drink (befitting its $38 price tag); theres also the New York Sour Eh?, with rye, egg white, red wine, and spiced pear; and the Espresso Martini is made with cold brew, their own coffee liqueur, and muscovado. The New Yorkiest drink might be the Wake and Bake, a mix of rye, coffee- and orange-infused vermouth, as well as coffee liqueur, thats served in a clear plastic pillow filled with everything-bagel aroma.

But one of the most exciting new cocktails is a variation on a technique called In the Rocks, wherein the cocktail is served inside an actual ice sphere thats broken open at the table. Here, its a three-part drink inspired by New Years in New York. Melton took Grub through the process of making the cocktail and its inspirations. Check out how its done, as well as some of the bars other drinks and food:

This is simple. We start by filling water balloons up.

Photo: Miachel Breton

We have a machine from PolyScience that we call the Super Chiller. Its like an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking, but instead of being hot it works cold. The bath is half water and half high-proof grain alcohol, so that way it has a lower freezing temperature. We drop the balloons in when the bath is about negative-18 degrees Celsius. We give those a stir and let them sit for six minutes.

Photo: Miachel Breton

Photo: Miachel Breton

Once thats been in for six minutes, theres a quarter-inch of ice, just inside the balloon. Only the outside has frozen, so inside theres still water.

Photo: Miachel Breton

Photo: Miachel Breton

We drill a small hole, and use a syringe to pull out all the water. We put it in the freezer, so we have a hollow shell of ice, and then we do the reverse of that process.

Photo: Miachel Breton

Photo: Miachel Breton

We put the actual cocktail in bottles and then into the Super Chiller as well, so it gets super, super cold. Then we take a syringe and inject it into the ice cube.

Photo: Miachel Breton

Photo: Miachel Breton

For the actual drink, theres a creme-de-cassis granita at the bottom of the glass. We make it the same way you would traditionally make it, pour it into hotel pan, and freeze. Put it in the bottom of glass. We fill the ice cube with an Old Fashionedesque mix of bourbon, Scotch, Champagne syrup, and a green Sichuan peppercorn tincture. Then we put it right on top of that granita and smash it open.

Photo: Miachel Breton

The thought process was playing off this idea of the ball dropping on New Years. Its a three-part drink with a side car of Champagne. Before New Years you drink a glass of Champagne, and after you get buzzing from peppercorn and smokiness from Scotch. Its meant to be like fireworks in the air. Its a little cheesy, but thats where the flavors came from.

Photo: Miachel Breton

Photo: Miachel Breton

Then the next morning, you need to cure your hangover, so thats the Kir Royale, the Champagne syrup and cassis granita. You need to put enough Sichuan peppercorn in there so theres enough to get your mouth tingling but its not overpowering. Thats why we do a tincture.

Photo: Miachel Breton

The Black Truffle Explosion: ravioli filled with a truffle gel that melts as it cooks. Photo: Miachel Breton

One of the more interesting dishes is this plate of pineapple with mole, mint, and black mint. Photo: Miachel Breton

The giant crispy pork skin is spiced with salt and vinegar and served with spiced corn. Photo: Miachel Breton

Swanky! Photo: Miachel Breton

The Aviary NYC at the Mandarin Oriental, 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street, nr. Broadway; 212-805-8800
Whole fish for two and meze to share. Photo: Melissa Hom

Despite its location, New York isnt famous for waterfront dining. But activity on the eastern fringe of Brooklyn Bridge Park signals a change, with Dumbo becoming a new hotbed of food with a view. While the adaptive reuse of Empire Stores has clustered several places to eat inside the Civil Warera structure, the nearby Celestine, slated to open Thursday, inhabits the ground floor of a brand-new luxury condo. Its a collaboration from most of the team behind Boerum Hills Grand Army bar, plus wine maven Joe Campanale and chef Garett McMahan, a veteran of Perilla. McMahan looks to the Mediterranean rim for inspiration: Theres haloumi in his green salad, kataif in his grilled squash, and grains of paradise in his baba ghannouj. He bakes his hummus to winterize it and carves braised-rabbit kugel, a take on the Jewish noodle pudding, into long rectangular slices that he pan-sears before serving. Im from the rural Midwest, he says. Im super-familiar with pasta casserole. Heres a look at some of the food and the space.

Baba ghannouj with poppy seeds and grains of paradise. Photo: Melissa Hom

Yogurt with smoked almonds, dates, and tamarind gastrique. Photo: Melissa Hom

Grilled delicata squash, Concord-grape-braised cabbage, orange, ricotta, and kataif. Photo: Melissa Hom

Short-rib manti with turnip, fenugreek, garlic yogurt, and mustard greens. Photo: Melissa Hom

Deviled-egg sabich with crispy pita, eggplant, potato, and Aleppo pepper. Photo: Melissa Hom

Sesame creme brulee with date rice pudding, grapefruit, and arak sorbet. Photo: Melissa Hom

Petits fours will include coffee-cardamom-chocolate cookies. Photo: Melissa Hom

This tequila cocktail has scotch-bonnet tincture and Merlot salt. Photo: Melissa Hom

And this mezcal one has cold-brew coffee and a torched cinnamon stick. Photo: Melissa Hom

Room with a view. Photo: Melissa Hom

1 John St., nr. Adams St., Dumbo; 718-522-5356
A typical spread at Nishi 2.0. Photo: Miachel Breton

Now that David Changs Momofuku is an international restaurant empire, theres a question of what, exactly, a Momofuku restaurant really is. What does the name mean to diners, and how does that translate to the food and the space? Its an issue thats plagued Chelseas Momofuku Nishi since it opened at the beginning of 2016. The space has seen a series of identity shifts in the 20 or so months that its been open, but at the end of September, Chang and chef Joshua Pinsky closed to overhaul the restaurant and start over. Now, theyre reopening Nishi this month as Momofukus first Italian restaurant. There are even  get ready for it  cushioned seats and comfortable banquettes.

I mean, its crazy to say that we didnt have a definitive plan, Chang says of the opening. Originally, hed built it as an outpost of his growing Fuku chain. Then he thought about turning it into another Noodle Bar. But three weeks before it opened, Chang explains, There was a crisis of, We dont actually want to do that. Eventually, it turned into a sort of Italian-meets-Korean hybrid. The real goal was to see if we could run a no-tipping restaurant, and then reverse engineer the concept from there. In short: that didnt work. Tips returned just six months after opening, and the whole idea behind the place never quite seemed to come into focus. It sucks, Chang says. Im mad because I feel like I ruined that cause with my decisions  Obviously, there was a discrepancy between the food we were serving and the decor.

The week of October 16, Nishi will officially welcome guests back with a menu of dishes like orecchiette with octopus and broccoli rabe, chitarra spaghetti with duck-leg agrodolce, and fried lobster fra diavolo with chili spaghettoni. (Note: Itll soft-open and close intermittently until the 16th, while the team irons out the kinks.) Im just trying to make it more familiar, Pinsky says of the new menu. Less of what a cook wants to cook for a cook, or to impress Dave. (He doesnt realize hes echoing a sentiment in New York Times critic Pete Wellss one-star review.)

Whether this approach will work  and appeal to the neighborhoods diners  is still an open question. The team still isnt quite sure of the role they want Nishi to play both in Chelsea and in the context of Momofuku, the brand. Pinsky says, Were hyperfocused on our neighborhood; Chang refutes, I think the neighborhood is just the feel, but I dont think its their ambition. But for Chang, the revamp is as much about saving a restaurant before its too late as it is about empowering his team. Theres a massive talent exodus, he says. Id be damned if these guys would open up a restaurant outside of New York City.

Even with Momofukus massive following, its tricky to pull off a restaurant redo and shift the public narrative. Were only going to change those perceptions one plate, one customer at a time, Chang says. Who gives a shit about anyone else? In terms of the larger empire: I dont think things have changed in terms of how we want someone to perceive us, he says. Chang wants Momofuku to signify great value, delicious food, cooked in the best way possible, with all the proper techniques. Its a broad mission statement, but at least with Nishi, their aim is now more precise.

This is more logical and sensible because, quite frankly, its their vision, and my vision is convoluted and stupid, Chang admits. Less of me and more of them.

Pork Milanese with potato salad. Photo: Miachel Breton

Bucatini: ceci e pepe e uovo. Photo: Miachel Breton

Making it rain. Photo: Miachel Breton

Agnolotti with pork, tomato, and grana padano. Photo: Miachel Breton

Lobster fra diavolo: fried 1.5-pound lobster seasoned with salt and pepper, on a bed of garlic and chili spaghettoni. Photo: Miachel Breton

Apple tart with vanilla ice cream. Photo: Miachel Breton

Padded chairs! Photo: Miachel Breton

Banquettes! Photo: Miachel Breton

Momofuku Nishi, 232 8th Ave., (646) 518-1919
Over 20,000 people have been forced to evacuate. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Fourteen wildfires have spread across eight Northern California counties, causing Governor Jerry Brown to issue an emergency proclamation and ask the federal government to declare a major disaster. The fires have caused more than 20,000 people to evacuate and destroyed upwards of 1,500 buildings, including many peoples homes. One resident in a Santa Rosa retirement community who spoke with the New York Times pointed to his jeans and shirt and said, This is all I have. And one pair of glasses.

Responding to the losses endured by many residents, San Francisco chef Dominique Crenn has put out a call on Instagram for anyone who wants to help her crews at Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn make sandwiches for victims. Theyll be making the sandwiches today at 10 a.m. PT, and Crenn says theyre welcoming all paper wrap, bread, and cheese donations. Like many chefs in San Francisco, Crenn has a personal relationship with farmers in neighboring counties. Yesterday, she shared that the Sonoma County farm, Blue Belle Farm, that will supply all of her restaurants produce and more in 2018 is in the red zone and the tenants had been evacuated.
House of Yes is part Burning Man, part burlesque, and totally glitter-queer. Photo: Liz Clayman

Blame it on Hannah Horvath: She came, she partied, and she left in her wake an explosive Bushwick bar scene. Now, the neighborhood of warehouses, bodegas, and Spanish soul-food restaurants is crawling with crowds. Weekend nights can sometimes look as busy as the scene in Williamsburg or the East Village, but amid all the din, there are some great spots for a memorable night out.

The Absolute Best 1. House of Yes

2 Wyckoff Ave., at Jefferson St., Brooklyn; no phone As the streets around the Jefferson stop on the L continue to gentrify, HOY is keeping things as weird and spiky as a sequined stiletto in a sea of New Balance sneakers. Part Burning Man, part burlesque, and totally glitter-queer, this gorgeous, roomy performance venue offers a dazzling array of events, from Tasha Blanks Thursdays sweaty dance party the Get Down (come early for the pre-party yoga) to Wednesdays Bingo Fabulous (free) with Madame Vivien V and DJ Matty Glitterati. Also, a Bottomless Brunch, amateur burlesque night, and Eric Schmalenbergers mad monthly variety show, Blunderland.

2. Featherweight

135 Graham Ave., nr. Johnson Ave., Brooklyn; 646-257-0946

This hidden gem has an unmarked entrance and an impressive array of cocktails  like the grapefruit-and-rum Anchor Bend, and the bright, bordering-on-healthy Norse Buck, with ginger, carrot juice, and Aquavit. How can I make your day a little smoother? said the bartender, Leonardo, to a recent patron.

3. Duckduck

161 Montrose Ave., nr. Humboldt St., Brooklyn; 347-799-1449

With its duck-themed decor and wood-paneled interior, this bar has a sense of humor and a warm, friendly neighborhood vibe. Its roomy, high-ceilinged, and welcoming to all, plus theres karaoke every third Thursday. It just feels good to be there.

Related Stories The Best Bar in Bushwick Serves Up Great Cocktails, Burlesque

4. The Cobra Club

6 Wyckoff Ave., nr. Jefferson St., Brooklyn; 917-719-1138

This performance space, yoga studio, and cafe is like Manhattans Rockwood, Yoga Shala, and Cafe Grumpy all rolled into one. But dont be fooled, at night, like an illusionist, it becomes a bar. Not just any bar  one with grit, hard drinks, and a sexy atmosphere. Its a great place for local comedy and to bob your tipsy head to bands. Recent nights hosted women-of-color punk bands and a pure-metal night.

5. Heavy Woods

50 Wyckoff Ave., at Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn; 929-234-3500

Its hard to stay smiley when your neighborhood starts thronging with tourists, but Heavy Woods maintains a friendly demeanor. Maybe its the tasty food: The Louisiana-style restaurant offers gumbo, poboys, and Hoppin John. Be nice or leave, says the menu.

6. Happyfun Hideaway

1211 Myrtle Ave., nr. Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn; 917-999-8282

This divey, queerish bar somehow keeps pretentious people away. With its drink specials, $5-to-$7 beer and shot deals, and $6 PBR, its also inexpensive. Its the kind of place where you can drink a bottle of mini-Champagne out of a straw and no one will judge you.
Emilios Ballato, where the chicken parm has beautifully fried crust. Photo: Liz Clayman

Chicken parm is in the canon of all-time great New York City dishes for a reason. At its best, it shuns delicacy and sophistication in favor of saucy, gooey, deep-fried excess. When its done right  with bright sauce, creamy mozzarella, and a crisp plank of delicate meat  its truly a thing of beauty. These five spots all treat this dish with the respect it deserves.

1. Emilios Ballato

55 E. Houston St., nr. Mott St.; 212-274-8881

Whatever else there is to say about this downtown mainstay  that its a campy red-sauce joint full of tourists and celebrities  the chicken parm is truly peerless. It manages to be as ostentatious as youd hope, without being too over-the-top or hefty. Coming in at around half-an-inch thick, the beautifully fried crust is crunchy and craggly, without overpowering the chicken. The meat is moist and tender; the tomato sauce is vivid, but not so robust that it bogs down the chicken; and the blanket of melted buffalo mozzarella is surprisingly light and slightly tangy. Theres more sauce on the side, and you should very much use it for dipping.

2. Pietros

232 E. 43rd St., nr. Second. Ave.; 212-682-9760

Given Pietros proximity to the strip once called Steak Row, its fitting that the chicken parm here is the size of a porterhouse. Its served swimming in a low tide of tomato sauce, and unless youre a competition weight lifter, you wont be able to eat it alone. The chicken is pounded thin and fried in a large skillet, before being broiled in the oven under a blanket of sauce and an even layer of Parmesan that creates a fricolike crust at the edges. As the tomato sauce mingles with the browned and blistered mozzarella, the entire surface takes on the orange hue of a classic New York slice.

3. Rubirosa

235 Mulberry St., nr. Prince St.; 212-965-0500



Little Italys best days are behind it, but there are still standouts to be found, even among the tourist traps. At this nouveau, populist paean to all things red sauce, the chicken parm can be had as a sandwich (during lunch) or served simply on a plate, alongside a tangle of spaghetti marinara. The chicken is sheathed in the restaurants housemade mozzarella and finished with Parmesan, which is bubbly and ostentatiously applied, and the sauce is sweet and properly acidic, making it a nice foil to the creamy cheese and tender meat.

4. Emmy Squared

364 Grand St., nr. Marcy St., Williamsburg; 718-360-4535

One could argue that culinary innovation has no place as far as chicken parm is concerned  sometimes, people need to learn to leave well enough alone  but the chicken-parm sandwich makes a strong case for a reasoned rethinking of the red-sauce classic. For one, its served on a pretzel roll. The chicken is brined in buttermilk and gochujang, before being coated in panko. The slightly spicy marinara, melted mozzarella, and fresh basil are all applied sparingly, too, but somehow it all works  never straying too far from the chicken-parm ideal, while simultaneously adding something new to the mix.

5. Ortobellos

6401 Bay Pkwy, nr. 64th St., Mapleton; 718-236-9810

With its fading painted sign, Frank Sinatra soundtrack, and intricate, lit-up diorama, Ortobellos hasnt aged entirely gracefully, but this place, nevertheless, continues to turn out masterful chicken parms. The meat is juicy and tender, served with a steak knife for a bit of ceremony. Its blasted by the oven, lending some hefty char in spots, and the cheese drapes over the sides of the cutlet. Moderation has never been a concern here, it seems, and this parm is the beautiful result of that approach.
French fries might just be the best burrito filling youve never had. Photo: Paul Wagtouicz

In 1988, a scrappy kid from the Upper East Side named Bobby Flay introduced delicious shrimp-and-black-bean burritos at Miracle Grill. Things may have looked up for Cal-Mex in Manhattan at that moment, but after that, New Yorks burrito scene never quite took off, and Californians have still been able to claim superior burritos. Some contenders have popped up over the years  Mission Cantinas tortilla-wrapped beauties flew too close to the sun; Best Buds, a strong contender, folded when its owners got too blazed  but now, there are a handful of spots with a renewed focus on making great burritos. The best offerings in New York, it turns out, have technical specs imported directly from the Golden State.

The Absolute Best 1. Lucha Lucha

283 Nostrand Ave., nr. Clifton Pl., Bedford-Stuyvesant; 718-399-3696 Burrito scholars make compelling cases that stoners and San Diegos carbo-loading surfers have made the idea of stuffing French fries inside a burrito a distinct point of local pride, and its honestly pretty easy to see why: The fries may not stay incredibly crisp, but their golden exterior works like an up-to-11 flavor amplifier throughout the entire burrito. The team behind Bed-Stuys Lucha Lucha knows this, and the other ingredients round out the whole experience. Chicken thighs add a bit of char, as does a luminous habanero-carrot salsa. Medium-thick slices of carne asada, recommended by purists, are loaded with flavor. Lucha Lucha keeps rice and beans on hand for its Tex-Mex burrito, and the Giant involves a bonanza of chorizo, carne asada, and chicken, plus two 14-inch tortillas pulled tight around an exhaustive deployment of fillings.

2. Bklyn Burro

922 Fulton St., nr. Washington Ave., Clinton Hill; 718-622-8776

The citys best iteration of genuine San Francisco Mission Districtstyle burritos is more about flavor than size. The versions here  stuffed with chipotle chicken, garlic shrimp, or carnitas  are punching well above their weight. Each burrito deftly carries a payload of well-seasoned components, with citrusy pico de gallo and large planks of avocado in each. Fresh salsas, crucial but often overlooked elsewhere, span the full spectrum of brash earthiness and creeping heat. Rojo pork is an off-menu option, and while the pinto beans are nicely plump and organic, Bklyn Burro also makes refried beans simmered down with chorizo, which are probably what you want.

3. Frijolitos

3446 Broadway, nr. 140 St.; 646-682-9033

This miniscule Hamilton Heights storefront, which debuted last summer, is an intensely personal project from a husband-wife duo who paid their dues in kitchens around town. There are maybe ten seats in the house, and the menu at first scans as resolutely inauthentic (the house al pastor, for example, involves flaky, white tilapia, instead of a marbled hunk of pork). Thing is, no frills and authenticity do not matter when the fried hard-shell tacos puff up like pommes soufflees, and the incredibly endearing proprietor deals in behemoth burritos. Carnitas have the sour zing of citrus, and the radiating sting of Mexican chiles. Epazote and sweet oregano come through in the mixiote, which goes nicely with a side of zippy serrano aguacate and an additional side of soothing tomato-arbol salsa.

4. Varrio 408

412 Fifth Ave., nr. 7th St., Park Slope; 718-398-4300

With its flashy spinning trompo and uniformed workers pressing tortillas to order up front, what at first appears to be a trendy clone of Los Tacos No. 1 is instead something a bit wonderful. Grab a seat beneath the cluster of Dora the Explorer pinatas, and it becomes clear that this place is the antidote to the lackluster beans and under-seasoned meat available elsewhere in the neighborhood. Ultraporky carnitas, slow-simmered in a cauldron, and al pastor basted in adobada come in generous portions, while the nopalito-and-corn-burrito option handily rivals its meaty counterparts.

5. Taqueria Diana

129 Second Ave., nr. St. Marks Pl.; 646-422-7871

The compact East Village operation opened four years ago, and has since spawned a bustling and roomy Hells Kitchen outpost. While owner Matthew La Rue took inspirational cues from the countless taco trucks and burrito outposts of California, its the impressively towering trompo straight out of a Mexican-heartland fever dream that commands repeated late-night visits. Ample-portioned al-pastor burritos are excellent when cooks mix in the fatty, aromatic juices that render during roasting with the shaved bits of browned pork, and even better when they are fully loaded with add-on crema, guacamole, and cheese.

Honorable Mentions

Amaranto

887 Hart St., at Irving Ave., Bushwick; 718-576-6001

A few blocks away from Lucha Lucha, youll find a looser-wrapped specimen with plenty of charm. Amarantos father-and-son owners specialize in a vibrant, forward-looking take on Pueblan cuisine thats maybe at odds with less high-concept burritos. Filled with refried beans, corn, and deeply flavored braised pork, though, theres still every reason to order it.

Dos Toros

Multiple locations

The celebratory opening-day blowout of $1 burritos offered by owners Leo and Oliver Kremer at each new Dos Toros outpost has become something of a rite of passage for cheap-eats thrill-seekers. The chains general speediness and commendable declarations of sustainability have made it a bona fide challenger to Chipotles mantle, and its 13-strong locations in formerly pollo asadostarved retail footprints are a case of expansion done right. Burritos are descendants of foil-wrapped Mission specimens, and what they lack in finesse, they make up for in mass and all-around sturdiness.

Downtown Bakery

69 First Ave., nr. 4th St.; 212-254-1757

One of the East Villages longest-running burrito havens specializes in fantastically lumpy and misshapen beauties that are slicked with tomatillo puree, lacquered with faintly smoky guajillo salsa, or doused with sour cream. Its a special place that doesnt try to tip the scales of record-setting enormity, but its still possible to take a messy burrito filled with inky refried black beans and a hefty spoonful of crisp shredded steak, and make it into two meals. (Downtown Bakerys breakfast-burrito lineup, it should be noted, does wonders with a humble mix of fried potatoes, eggs, and Jack cheese.)

El Atoradero

708 Washington Ave., nr. Prospect Pl., Prospect Heights; 718-399-8226

Denisse Lina Chavezs wonderfully spicy and crumbly chorizo-topped nachos are a paragon of the form, and her mole poblano has been known to reverse the ill effects of a very bad week. El Atoraderos burritos come in ten varieties, including achiote-rubbed cochinita pibil, and a very good (vegan) mushroom variety, but theyre also an ideal vehicle for Chavezs famed Michoacan carnitas, a deftly spiced mix of crisp pork shoulder brimming with tiny, half-rendered cubes of fatty pork belly.

El Cortez

17 Ingraham St., nr. Bogart St., Bushwick; 347-599-2976

Drink a few of this spots kitschy cocktails  slushy drinks made with Benedictine and Falernum, weighed down with plump cherries and wedged pineapple  and youre going to need some ballast. Luckily, the burritos served at Stephen Tanners Sonoran Gothic bar are crammed with nourishing beans, crema, and a base coat of mashed avocado, plus your choice of meat.

El Vez Burrito

259 Vesey St., nr. North End Ave.; 212-233-2500

A Tex-Mex renaissance may be in full swing, but its still all a bit self-serious, and there arent a lot of burritos swaddled up in kitsch. But Stephen Starrs festive El Vez offshoot happily transposes Frito pies into tortillas, and offers add-ons like kimchee and fried quinoa that even make the endeavor seem remotely healthful.
The Grills prime rib is as much a production as it is a meal. Photo: Melissa Hom

For years, this most elemental and grandiose of all beef-eater pleasures was out of fashion in the citys haute carnivore circles, but lately, its been making a comeback. It comes in all sorts of different varieties, but the elemental pleasures of blood, bone, and the lustrous top layers of deckle fat remain timeless and the same. Weve excluded special-order prime-rib roasts, which are available at several reputable chop houses and restaurants around town, in favor of more accessible cuts. Here is our newly updated list of the absolute best, ordered medium-rare, without ketchup, of course.

The Absolute Best 1. The Grill

99 E. 52nd St., nr. Park Ave.; 212-375-9003 What makes this painstakingly prepared, theatrically presented dish our choice for the absolute best prime rib in this fabled beef-eating town? Lets begin with the preparation, which involves dry rubbing the exterior not once, but twice, with a peppery Montreal-style rub, slow roasting the beef on a spit for several hours, then finishing it at high heat to seal in that fatty, crunchy crust. Instead of languishing in a steam tray, the way your grandfathers country-club prime rib used to do, this version is then perambulated directly to the table, where you can have it thin-cut, in the English style, or carved in a single tender New Yorksize slab. The drippings-laced jus is prepared separately, from the simmered remains of fatty brisket beef, and so is the rib bone, which is muffled in its own dry Kansas Citystyle barbecue spice rub, and presented with proper ceremony on a gold-rimmed plate. Add the impressive selection of possible trimmings  cottage fries or marrow-laced grits, perhaps, along with pots of horseradish cream and Dijon mustard on the side  and the storied, cathedral-size venue, and you have a prime rib thats fit (and at $72, priced) for a king.

2. The Beatrice Inn

285 W. 12th St., at W. 4th St.; 212-675-2808

Photo: Melissa Hom

Angie Mars impressive homage to the ye olde English rib roast is available on Sundays only, which is a good thing, since if you (or you and your family of four) actually manage to consume the entire beautifully aged, two-pound chop in one sitting, you may not need an infusion of red-blooded beef for several months. This elegant roast is cut to order, smothered in a rich cherry Bordelaise sauce, and set atop a buttery mash of potatoes and black kale. For maximum enjoyment, consume it in the brightly lit back room, by the gently guttering fire, where theres enough space, late on a Sunday afternoon, to stretch out for a short, digestive nap.

3. 4 Charles Prime Rib

4 Charles St., nr. Greenwich Ave.; 212-561-5992

There are all sorts of pleasures to enjoy at this tiny, hyperstylized West Village import from the Hogsalt restaurant group in beef-loving Chicago, but if youre a prime-rib devotee, its worth the hassle of obtaining a table to get a taste of the house specialty. The prime Angus beef is crusted with a simple layer of salt on its exterior, and slow roasted for many hours to a kind of soft, happy tenderness. Its offered in three different styles, ranging from the smaller ten-ounce English Cut to the mammoth 24-ounce bone-in 4 Charles Cut. For the best of both worlds, try the middle-of-the-road Chicago Cut.

4. Smith & Wollensky

797 Third Ave., at 49th St.; 212-753-1530

The kitchen at the flagship branch of this increasingly sprawling New York Citybased chain turns out over a hundred of these beauties a day, each one laid out on the plate the simple, old-fashioned way: in a pool of its own cooking juices. Its the most reliable of the old New Yorksteakhouse prime ribs, and for the best results, we suggest you enjoy it with a side of the house hash browns, a bite or two of spinach (un-creamed, please), and  if the depleted expense account, or your rich uncle from the hinterlands, can bear the prohibitive markup  a bottle of the inky red stuff from the house cellars.

5. Keens Steakhouse

72 W. 36th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-947-3636

Photo: Melissa Hom

Some people swear by the mutton chop here, and others by the porterhouse, but if you want to be transported directly back to the long-ago era of the classic New York beefsteak, this is the cut to get. Like lots of the product at what is arguably the most authentic and beloved of the citys venerable beef palaces, the aging can be spotty, and who really knows whether the meat is prime, or choice? But when all the stars align (we recommend ordering it on a properly chilly winters day, in the taproom, at a table by the fire), theres no more regal beef-eater meal in the city.

6. Gallaghers

228 W. 52nd St., nr. Broadway; 212-245-5336

Photo: Melissa Hom

This time-honored midtown restaurant was given an elaborate face-lift a few years back  the wood-paneled walls and ancient horseshoe-shaped bar were polished and repaired, and the famous aging room in the front of the house was updated and expanded. Like at the other storied beef houses, the cut is generous, if slightly under trimmed; you can enjoy it for lunch, dinner, or any hour in between; and if youre partial to just a little touch of funk on your fix of prime rib, its the cut for you.

7. Augustine

5 Beekman St., at Nassau St.; 212-375-0010

Photo: Melissa Hom

Keith McNallys late Bowery bistro, Cherche Midi, used to serve up our favorite version of this dish every day of the week. But you can still get a decent facsimile at this popular McNally brasserie down in the Financial District, although its only available on Saturday evenings. A decorative helping of pommes soufflees is not included in the fairly modest $55 sticker price, the way it was back at the old joint, but the deckle cut is well-proportioned and perfectly pink at its center, and for an extra ten bucks, you can enjoy it with a little pot of mayonnaise and a tangle of those trademark McNally frites.

This post has been updated throughout.
Shaken, not blended, and just the right amount of trashy. Photo: Melissa Hom

A pina colada is not the first cocktail you think of in New York, but when made right its one of the worlds great drinks. Here are the seven spots that make the best in New York:

The Absolute Best 1. Fort Defiance

365 Van Brunt St., at Dikeman St., Red Hook; 347-453-6672

A bartenders bartender and one of the citys grand bon vivants, Fort Defiance owner St. John Frizell is also a pina colada savant. The version he serves at his Red Hook bar is based on the original recipe: El Dorado five-year rum; Coco Lopez, which is just the right degree of trashy; a significant amount of pineapple; some heavy cream, often excluded these days; and a hit of lime, a welcome addition that helps cut through the drinks richness. Thats all then shaken, not blended, creating a surprising texture thats almost fluffy.

2. Suffolk Arms

269 E. Houston St., at Suffolk St.; 212-475-0400



One way to upgrade almost any pina colada: Add a floater, maybe some overproof rum or a nice liqueur. Or, in the case of the so-named Improved Pina Colada at this Lower East Side bar, the bitter Italian aperitivo Campari. Its weird, but it works. The Campari amplifies the sweetness of the other ingredients  including passion fruit and spiced Sailor Jerry rum  while also cutting through the drinks richness.

3. Donna

27 Broadway, at Dunham Pl., Williamsburg; 646-568-6622



Head bartender Jeremy Oertel once admitted that it would be his head if he dared take the Brancolada off the menu. The Branc in the name refers to Branca Menta, the decidedly un-Caribbean, bracingly minty amaro that tastes not unlike fancy mouthwash. But in Donnas slushie machine, it melds with the Appleton V/X rum and coconut cream to create a delicious drink thats eerily reminiscent of a tropical riff on mint-chocolate-chip ice cream. Have another.

4. Old Stanleys

226 Wyckoff Ave, nr. Menahan St., Bushwick; no phone



Its custardy thick, packs a wallop of rum, is just a little sweet, and sets you back a mere $8. The pina colada at this Bushwick faux dive is also dispensed from somewhere under the bar  a point of origin that becomes even less clear as you get a few more drinks into the night. No matter. The most important thing to know is that its also far better  and more consistent  than versions that sell for twice as much in fancier establishments.

5. The Rum House

228 W. 47th St., nr. Broadway; 646-490-6942



Despite this midtown bars name, theres no pina colada on the menu. And if you order one, the bartender will tell you that the drink they serve isnt really a pina colada at all. Do not be deterred. All it means is that theres lime in this recipe, and that its served in a goblet, poured over four oversize ice cubes. So its not a proper pina colada. Yet the drink, with smooth El Dorado rum serving as the base, is excellent  no matter what you want to call it.




Haiti - Justice : About forty demonstrators incarcerated in the National Penitentiary





On Friday, members of the Democratic opposition coalition, including several senators, paid a supportive visit to about forty demonstrators arrested and held in pre-trial detention in the National Penitentiary following anti-budget and anti-government demonstrations in the metropolitan area and in several provincial towns the past week.



These demonstrators, whose files are in the hands of the investigating judge, are accused of interferences with public order, violence and destruction of property of others...



On Saturday the demonstration again degenerated into violence and was once again dispersed firmly before its term by the police.



However, Me Michel Andre, one of the Spokespersons of the opposition coalition, says that the mobilization against the regime in place will not be stopped, despite the difficulties encountered during the last demonstrations. He confirmed that the four-day event is scheduled for: Tuesday 10, Thursday 12, Saturday 14 and Tuesday 17 October 2017, to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise from the presidency in Haiti.



He also called for the immediate and unconditional release of the demonstrators imprisoned in the National Penitentiary, calling them political prisoners.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politics : Towards a cooperation with Cuba in the construction of dams





Monday at the National Palace, President Jovenel Moise, met with a Cuban delegation around several cooperation projects.



The Head of State and the members of the delegation analyzed together the outlines of possible cooperation in the fields of industry, electric power, agriculture and fish farming.



The discussions focused on the Cuban experience in the construction and operation of hydraulic dams, while Haitian-Cuban cooperation is oriented towards concrete actions for the construction of various dams on Haitian territory... Several sites have been identified as part of this visit, notably Caracol (Grande Riviere du Nord) and Marion (Trou du Nord).



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Economy : Agreement on the management of the Public Treasury between the Ministry of the Economy and the BRH





A Memorandum of Understanding on treasury management was signed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), represented by Minister Jude Alix Patrick Salomon and the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), represented by its Governor, Jean Baden Dubois. The purpose of this memorandum of understanding is to determine the conditions under which the Ministry and the Central Bank undertake to manage the availability of the State Treasury.



Excerpts from the Protocol :

"[...]



Article 2.- Under the terms of this protocol, the MEF undertakes to ensure that adequate resources are maintained between the resources available and the expenses of the Central Administration of the State.



Article 3.- When the available resources are insufficient, the MEF will request from the BRH an advance up to the necessary funds. At the end of each quarter, the total of these advances must be consistent with the level of monetary financing provided for in the financial program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)



Article 4.- The BRH will also provide to the MEF on a weekly basis the estimated amount of funding from the Central State Administration according to the methodology agreed by the parties in the table entitled "Approximate calculation of BRH financing of the central government".



Article 5.- In order to facilitate the operations mentioned in this Memorandum of Understanding, the MEF will transmit on a weekly basis at the BRH, a summary program of expenditure to be carried out.



Article 6.- This Memorandum of Understanding binds the parties immediately after their signature. It is concluded for a period of twelve (12) months [...]



Article 7.- The BRH undertakes to publish daily on its Web portal all transactions affecting the Central Treasury Account.



Article 8.- The revenues collected in the provincial towns by the National Bank of Credit (BNC) and transferred to the BRH will also be published on the BRH web portal on a day-to-day basis.



[...]



Article 10. The parties undertake to meet on a monthly basis in order to adapt the terms of this Memorandum of Understanding to possible amendments to the Finance Act, to the evolution of the economic situation, and the commitments made to international donors [...]"



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politics : President Moise met with the Core Group





Monday at the National Palace, President Jovenel Moise met with the Core Group composed of members of the Countries and Friendly Organizations of Haiti (the Ambassadors of Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, The United States of America, the European Union, and the Special Representative of the Organization of American States).



During this meeting, the Head of State presented the plan of action of its five-year plan and the strategy to implement it with the aim of making the State more efficient and providing more services to the population.



Core Group members welcomed President Moise' vision for reforming the state, fighting corruption, providing electricity to the population, controlling surface water, reforesting the country, assisting the most vulnerable groups through 7 social programs and improve the business environment in order to attract more investment, to create the maximum number of jobs.



They also welcomed the Head of State's desire to establish a political dialogue before the next-round organization of the Nation's sectoral general states, as well as the institutional strengthening of political parties which constitute stability factors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, from which the six priorities of the Government are based.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





400 municipal employees unemployed

The mayor of the Croix des Bouquets, Rony Collin, confirmed the lay-off of 400 municipal employees for budgetary constraint See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22329-haiti-notice-the-town-hall-of-croix-des-bouquets-puts-all-employees-on-standby.html



Two hydropower plants in repair

Repairs works to the hydroelectric generating plants of Deluge and Dejeans in Montrouis are progressing rapidly. The Head of State inspected them the week before. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22357-haiti-politics-towards-a-cooperation-with-cuba-in-the-construction-of-dams.html



Towards the creation of the brand "Country of Haiti"

Friday morning at Hotel El Rancho, a meeting was held between members of the private sector, officials from the Center for Investment Facilitation (CFI) and a group of experts from the firm Future Brand specialized in brand creation. The discussions revolved around the creation of the brand "Pays Haiti" (Country of Haiti). This initiative is supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).



Fight against Organized Crime

As part of the Support Program for the Fight Against Organized Crime in the Caribbean Region (ALCORCA), two Haitian magistrates participated in a regional seminar organized by France in the Dominican Republic.



World Post Day

Monday 9 October, as part of the commemoration of World Post Day, the General Directorate of the Office des Postes d'Haiti (OPH) is pleased to unite its voice to all staff to wish a happy holiday to all member countries of the Universal Postal Union, to all postal entities and to all those who in one way or another contribute to the flourishing of that sector https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22350-haiti-technology-improving-postal-service-in-haiti.html



Positive assessment of the Caravan of Change...

Agronomist Thomas Jacques Coordinator of the Caravan of Change has drawn up a positive assessment of the work carried out since the 1st of May in the Artibonite, evoking in the department of Nippes more than 20 kilometers roads, in the Grand-Anse and more than 60km of irrigation canals were cleaned. Adding that as part of the caravan, at the level of education 474 classrooms had been rehabilitated.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2017/10/10 | Source

Added episodes 43 and 44 captures for the Korean drama "Bad Thief, Good Thief" (2017)

Advertisement

Directed by Jang Joon-ho, Oh Kyeong-hoon

Written by Cha I-yeong, Son Yeong-mok

Network : MBC

With Ji Hyun-woo, Seohyun, Kim Ji-hoon-I, Lim Ju-eun, Ahn Kil-kang, Jung Kyung-soon,...

50 episodes - Sat, Sun 22:00

Synopsis

A story of thieves who affect the authorities that manipulate Korea. It serves to bring satisfaction to those who are frustrated at the reality of the world.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/05/13

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Help
Hawai'i Free Press Current Articles | Archives Monday, October 9, 2017 Jones Act industry anxiety increases with Hurricane waivers

By Michael Hansen @ 11:44 PM :: 3745 Views :: Jones Act Jones Act industry anxiety increases with Hurricane waivers by Michael Hansen, Hawaii Shippers Council, October 9, 2017 The American Journal of Transportation (AJOT) published on Monday, October 09, 2017, the news article, Seafarers Fret Over New Assault on Jones Act in Wake of Storms, reporting the U.S. domestic maritime or Jones Act industry is exhibiting anxiety from all the recent criticism of the Jones Act in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The author Daniel Flatley describes the failure of the Jones Act to fulfill its goal of promoting the U.S. maritime industry, and in fact the number of seagoing U.S. flag ships and seafarers has dropped dramatically since 1960. He also notes the costs of the Jones Act requirements on the noncontiguous jurisdictions embraced by the law  Alaska, Guam, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Interestingly, Flatley reports that U.S. Senator John McCains recently introduced bill, which would exempt Puerto Rico from Jones Act cabotage, may be taken up as part of an aid package for the Commonwealth. And that the key Jones Act lobbying organization, the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), an industry trade association, spent $1.1 million in 2016 lobbying on Capitol Hill. The article reports that Sen McCain established the Jones Act waiver process based upon the legislation he introduced in 1998. However, thats incorrect. That 1998 Jones Act administrative waiver process is known as the small vessel waiver program designed for waiving the domestic build requirement for small foreign built yachts and motor vessels carrying up to 12 passengers. The administrative process for ocean shipping Jones Act waivers was enacted in 1950. Key excerpts: The computerized simulationconducted in a landlocked office park outside Baltimoreis part of a two-week course offered by the International Order of Masters, Mates & Pilots. The union facility was once packed with students working their way up the ranks, but attendance has plunged as the number of U.S.-flagged, oceangoing freighters has fallen from nearly 3,000 in 1960 to fewer than 170 today. The decline has occurred despite the Jones Act, a law that requires goods moving between U.S. ports and territories to be carried on American-built vessels crewed by American officers and deckhands. Thats energized opponents of the nearly 100-year-old law, who say the protectionist measure hasnt saved the fleet and should be curtailed or eliminated once and for all. The latest attack on the Jones Act follows President Donald Trumps decision to temporarily waive it after Hurricane Harvey disrupted refinery operations in Houston, and again to help aid reach Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Senator John McCain, a long-time opponent of the law, took the opportunity to introduce fast-track legislation to permanently exempt Puerto Rico from the lawsomething that would eliminate a major shipping route from the acts protection. The legislation could be included in a vote on an aid package for the island to be voted on this week, according to C. James Patti, president of the Maritime Institute for Research and Industrial Development, a trade association that represents companies with U.S. flagged ships in their negotiations with the pilots union. Protectionism, over and over, has proven not to be in the long-term interests of the protected industry, said Scott Lincicome, an adjunct scholar at the free-market focused Cato Institute. One hundred years of the Jones Act is clearly not working when it comes to maintaining the fleet. Lincicome and Thomas Grennes have separately undertaken in-depth analyses of the law, and they contend that the act has made goods and services more expensive in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Representatives from the maritime industry have fought to preserve the law several times in recent years. The American Maritime Partnership, which represents ship owners, builders and officers who benefit from the Jones Act, spent $1.1 million on lobbying last year, Senate records show. Proponents say it provides a jobs base for American workers who can come to the countrys aid in time of war. In 1998, a McCain-sponsored measure created the waiver process. Previously, Congress had to pass legislation to suspend the law. In 2010 he introduced legislation to fully repeal the law, reintroducing it in 2015 and again in July of this year. A Government Accountability Office report from 2013 found that only a third of the ships calling at Puerto Rico flew the U.S. flag and said the evidence was inconclusive that repealing the act or exempting Puerto Rico from its restrictions would benefit the islands residents. Still freight rates are often  although not always  lower for foreign carriers going to and from Puerto Rico and foreign locations than the rates shippers pay to ship similar cargo to and from the United States, despite longer distances, GAO concluded. Because of those cost advantages, exempting the island from the act could mean the disappearance of most U.S.-flag vessels from this trade, a summary of the report said. Other reports, including one conducted by the University of Puerto Rico, have found that goods cost more on the island due to shipping costs. The study, conducted in 2010, found that the island lost about $537 million annually thanks to the law.
Australia, there is an increasing trend towards appointing people responsible for leading D&I initiatives, according to Anthony Armstrong, country manager  Australia, at Russell Reynolds Associates.This includes committees of senior executives with a manager responsible for implementing a D&I program that might have an LGBTI component, an ethnic diversity component, or a male/female split taskforce.This is what we are seeing more of in the bigger corporations, including the banks and the telecommunications companies, Armstrong told HRD.They have specific programs against each of the groups in order to accelerate the numbers, but the key factor is having the leadership involved and engaged, he said.You will see that in a number of the banks that the CEO is the key stakeholder of these groups, so they have got a very high level of personal commitment and engagement, and that does tend to drive an outcome.Armstrongs comments come as new research indicates that leadership teams in Australia and New Zealand are ahead of the curve when it comes to D&I.The results from a report by Russell Reynolds Associates found that Aus/NZ companies are almost twice as likely to set diversity goals when it comes to appointing senior leadership (56% ANZ v just 38% globally).Aimee Williamson, executive director at Russell Reynolds Associates, added that there are very specific activities that organisations have been focused on from a D&I perspective around the talent life cycle.This includes looking at how aligned the D&I is to the business strategy, as the best organisations will ensure that the strategy and the D&I policies are well-aligned and promoted from the top-down, Williamson told HRD.It is also important to look at the attraction side of things, including how to build D&I into the employer brand, she said.What strategies do you have in place to attract diverse talent?Williamson added that there is also a selection process which includes ensuring that selection processes are free from unconscious bias and are very inclusive.And making sure that the candidate slate is diverse and representative as well, she said.So its about ensuring that the development program is focused on fostering a diverse talent base.In terms of a retention, it is about making sure that the culture allows people to bring diversity to the fore and help capitalise and drive that organisation forward, she added.In retention, we see things like HR policies for flexibility, encouragement of networking, mentoring groups, etc. So there are lots of specific activities for organisations to implement through that whole talent life cycle.The results also found Aus/NZ companies place a higher priority on retaining diverse talent than the rest of the globe (60% of ANZ v just 47% globally).The results came from Russell Reynolds Associates recent D&I Report which surveyed more than 2,000 senior executives globally.
WHO has been Henleys most popular MP  Boris Johnson or his successor John Howell?

Thats a question that some constituents have been asking themselves this week after a debate inadvertently sparked by the Foreign Secretarys input on Britains Brexit negotiations.

Bo Jo hit the headlines after setting out new demands for a swift departure from the European Union, saying the post-Brexit transition should last not a second longer than two years.

This led to calls by some critics that he should be sacked by Prime Minister Theresa May as many saw this as an attempt to manoeuvre himself into position as the next Conservative leader and PM  and possibly sooner rather than later.

Mr Howell, who was a Remain supporter in the build-up to the EU referendum last year, said what he thought of his predecessors intervention while at the Tory party conference in Manchester this week.

He said: My message to Boris is to keep his bloody mouth shut!

The BBCs political editor Laura Kuenssberg tweeted on Monday that Mr Howell had said Mr Johnsons former constituents thought he should be sacked.

This sparked a debate on social media with some agreeing and others rounding on Mr Howell.

Karen Mellors said: Not just his constituents, but the majority of UK think he [Johnson] should be sacked.

Howard Sprenger wrote: Im amazed that anyone with a brain cell can consider him fit for any job, let alone a government minister.

Michael Smith called Mr Johnson an embarrassment to the country and said he was a thorn in the side of the Government.

Simon Saunders said: Johnsons trying to get sacked on purpose in the hope itll split the cabinet and force May out.

But Henley town councillor Ian Reissmann, a member of Henley Residents Group and no fan of the Conservatives, said: Actually most Henley Tories want Boris back as Henley MP  admittedly because his replacement is useless and despised.

Connor Wakefield agreed, saying: To be fair, as one of his constituents, I think John Howell should be sacked.

The Grim Squeaker responded: Id rather have Bagpuss than either of them!

For the record, Mr Howell wins hands down when it comes to majorities at elections.

In this years snap general election, he received 33,749 votes, a majority of 22,294 and almost three times more than his nearest rival, and a 59.1 percent share of the vote. In 2015, Mr Howell received 32,292 votes and a majority of more than 25,000 while in 2010 he received 30,054 votes with a majority of 16,588.

Mr Johnson, who served as MP for Henley from 2001 until 2008 when he left to become Mayor of London, was first elected with 20,466 votes and a majority of 8,500.

At the 2005 election, he was re-elected with 24,894 votes, increasing his majority to 12,793.

Of course, there will be some readers who may have preferred Boriss predecessor Michael (now Lord) Heseltine, another Conservative who fell out of favour after challenging his leader and the first female PM, Margaret Thatcher.

Plus ca change, as they say in Europe!

 Did you hear the news this week that the estimated average age of a Conservative Party member is now, wait for it, 72?
DEBBIE McGEE has been accused of breaking the rules of Strictly Come Dancing.

The radio presenter, from Wargrave, was penalised during Saturday nights show for being out of hold for too long during her routine with professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice.

Then she accidentally revealed the name of the latest contestant to leave the show hours before it was aired on television.

She told listeners to her BBC Berkshire show on Sunday morning that she was very sad to see the Rev Richard Coles booted off.

Then, realising her mistake, she tried to cover it up with an anecdote.

Very sad to see Richard go, the Rev Richard, she said. Oh  or, or going. He fell over at one point and had to be treated and everything else, so now were waiting to see whats going to happen in the results show tonight.

The results show is recorded on a Saturday after the live show but is not broadcast until Sunday night.

The live show had a movie theme and McGee wore a sparkly, gold calf-length ballgown for a quick step to Lets Call the Whole Thing Off by Ella Fitzgerald.

The routine was said to have been inspired by the movie Shall We Dance?, which starred Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.

The pair were awarded 29 points out of 40 by the judges, which was a comedown from the 34 points they scored the previous week with a Viennese waltz to top the leader board.

Shirley Ballas said she didnt like the start, where McGee was seen sitting on a park bench reading a copy of The Strictly Times when Pernice took it from her and then she snatched it back, saying: Youre a dancer so you could get on with it.

But she praised McGees nice scatter chasse, her movement across the floor and her light footwork.

Bruno Tonioli described the routine as light, frothy, glossy and in the Hollywood style and said that McGee must have been watching Ginger Rogers as she had similar mannerisms. He said: She had these dances down to a tee. She always did a back look all the time and you have got that spot-on! I love things like that. That detail tickles me. I loved it.

Darcey Bussell said McGees dances were constantly surprising and praised how she used her neck while in hold and how she made the steps look effortless.

She added: Not making a big deal of a step, when you go into something difficult, that is an art. Constantly, you are surprising us. Im loving this. Thank you.

Craig Revel Horwood said: You broke the 10-second rule  youre only allowed to have 10 seconds in the middle of a routine out of hold and that seemed a lot longer so I have to mark you down for that, Im afraid. But you danced very, very well.

The shows co-host Tess Daly said to the judge: Youre such a party pooper to which Revel Horwood replied: But rules are rules.

Prior to her performance, the 58-year-old widow of magician Paul Daniels said she had found training for the routine difficult and had been putting in extra hours at the gym.

She said: The main thing about the quick step is in the title of the dance. Quick. Step. And thats my problem.

Giovanni keeps saying that you have to be more like a Ferrari but hes forgotten Im vintage.

This week has been a really tough week  its taken me a long time to get this and also to get the energy up to do it.

Rev Coles became the second celebrity to leave the show after Holby City actress Chizzy Akudolu.

He and partner Dianne Buswell paid homage to Flash Gordon in their Paso Doble routine in the dance-off against chef Simon Rimmer and his partner Karen Clifton.

Coles, a 55-year-old former pop star turned priest, said he was sorry to leave the competition but admitted: I really cant dance.

Former JLS singer Aston Merrygold and his professional dance partner Janette Manrara  the bookies favourites to win the series  topped the leaderboard with a score of 35 out of 40 with their Cha Cha routine to Cant Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake.
A young woman suffered serious burns and hearing loss after a lit firework was thrown into her hood, where it exploded.

The incident happened over the weekend in Dublin's north-inner city and was filmed on a mobile phone.

Images show a youth app- roaching the victim from behind before lighting the firework and putting it in her hood.

The terrified young woman then runs from the group and attempts to get rid of the banger, but it explodes inches from her head.

As it goes off, a number of people can be heard on the video laughing.

The victim has said she will be taking the matter further, and revealed the extent of her injuries.

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"This is me in that video, second degree burns, all my hair is falling out and still waiting for hearing to come back," she wrote on social media. "I will be taking it further."

It is understood that the footage was taken on Railway Street, Dublin 1.

As of last night, gardai had not received a formal complaint about the incident, but a source said that local officers are aware of it.

"If a complaint is made, then it will be treated as an assault and a criminal investigation would be launched," said the source.

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Combat

"The woman suffered serious burns to her head and body and has also had a loss of hearing since the incident."

Local politician Christy Burke described the incident as "disgusting" and called for a specialist garda unit to be set up in the north-inner city to help combat anti-social behaviour.

"I'm outraged and appalled. I haven't got the words to express how I felt after seeing that video," said the Independent councillor.

"That could be your daughter, your sister. Imagine the parents of that woman looking at that, it's disgusting. It's animalistic behaviour.

"That's not someone deciding to have a laugh because it's Halloween, that's maliciously intended."

The individual who originally published the video on Facebook has since deleted the post, but it was shared several hundred times.

A garda spokesman said officers "will confiscate any fireworks found in the possession of persons and such persons are also liable to prosecution".

"In addition, there is a specific offence under law for throwing any ignited fireworks in public places," said the spokesman.

Mr Burke said the majority of people living locally are "hard-working people" and slammed the minority "destroying" the area.

"The area lacks a dedicated police force to end anti-social behaviour and public disorder," he said.

"Someone in authority needs to put in a committed garda unit.

"Between the decent people around there, the street traders, the hard-working men and women, as well as community activists, it's a minority who are destroying the place."

Last week, footage emerged of a large gang of youths vandalising a number of cars on Railway Street.

Video footage obtained by the Herald shows the wing mirror of one car flying into the air after one of the youths struck it with an object.

Up to 30 teens, some armed with metal bars, attacked a row of parked cars on the street.

Gardai received reports of three vehicles being damaged at about 9pm on October 2.
the employers of a carer who kicked and pushed an elderly woman back into her chair as she fed her at Beaumont Hospital have been ordered to pay the victim 25,000.

The Circuit Civil Court heard how dementia sufferer Phyllis Byrne, now in a Co Wicklow nursing home, had through her daughter Maria Flanagan sued the hospital and CPL Resources and CPL Healthcare for 60,000.

Barrister Michael Coen said the carer, Valeria Bogdan, had been provided by the CPL Healthcare agency, which has a registered office at Percy Place, Dublin 4, and was a joint defendant with CPL Resources, of Merrion Square, Dublin, and Beaumont Hospital.

Mr Coen told the court that Ms Byrne was 77 when the incident took place in a private room at Beaumont in April 2011.

"If the assault had not been witnessed by a woman who was visiting another patient in a private room across the corridor from Ms Byrne, and who reported it to a senior nurse in Beaumont, we would never have known about it," he said.

Mr Coen told court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that the three defendants were meeting the proposed settlement of 25,000, which he was recommending and asking the court to approve.

He said a legal claim initiated against Ms Bogdan was not being proceeded with and could be struck out with no further order.

Ms Byrne's daughter had been told unknown disciplinary action had been taken against Ms Bogdan.

Mr Coen told the court the carer had been giving Ms Byrne breakfast and it was accepted that she was a challenging patient, who had engaged "in verbals" with Ms Bogdan.

He said the incident was witnessed by Ms Margaret Rooney, who had told a Beaumont Hospital investigation that she had seen the carer on several occasions forcefully push Ms Byrne back into her chair and kick her twice under her table.

Mr Coen said it happened on the morning of April 16, 2011, and had been reported soon after.

Bruising

He added that the hospital had carried out a thorough investigation and produced a report, in which it stated it had accepted the incident had taken place.

Mr Coen said Ms Byrne had been medically examined afterwards and no fresh bruising had been found on her, only existing old bruises.

He said it was the first time Ms Bogdan had met Ms Byrne, and there was a verbal interaction between them. Ms Byrne had attempted to get out of her chair and it was then that she had been pushed back and then kicked.

"To be fair to Ms Bogdan, an experienced and fully-trained carer, she had shortly afterwards asked the hospital to reassign her and she had no further contact with Ms Byrne," Mr Coen said.

He said apologies had been made to Ms Byrne's family by all of the defendants concerned.

Judge Groarke said it was a very sad story and should, "absolutely without question, never have happened".

"We are all human, and I am not saying that in any way to excuse the conduct of the nurse who was obviously having a bad day," he said.

"The defendants have met this case extremely fairly and carried out a very careful and thorough investigation, now coming into court with an apology and a good offer."

He added that he would approve the settlement offer, with costs, and make an order that the money be paid into court to the benefit of Ms Byrne.
The Spar at 23 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin, shut for one day

Infestations by rats and cockroaches are among the reasons 10 food businesses were ordered to shut last month, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has revealed.

For the first time, it has also released copies of the Health Service Executive environmental officer inspector reports that led to the closures.

Among the orders to shut down premises were two that lasted for just one day.

The Spar shop at 23 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin, was issued with a closure order on September 27, but it was lifted the following day.

"A grave and immediate danger to food supply exists in this food business due to the significant rodent infestation," the report stated.

"Rats can transmit dangerous pathogens through their droppings and urine," the inspector said.

"A significant number of rat droppings found in the basement and some droppings found on the shop floor. Pest proofing issues exist throughout the premises.

"Risk of contamination of food products exist."

Chen's Oriental Taste, in Rochfortbridge, Co Westmeath, also had its closure order lifted after a day, having been served with a notice on September 28 with a list of issues.

The problems included boxes of raw chicken stored on the dirty floor of the lobby adjacent to tools and cleaning chemicals, posing a risk of contamination of the food.

The report also identified a leaking ceiling in the kitchen area and missing wall tiles.

Dr Bernard Hegarty, director of enforcement policy at the FSAI, said a closure order often focuses the minds of business owners, so they work swiftly to address the problems.

He said inspectors visit each site before an order is lifted and that, in certain cases, not every issue identified on a report must be fixed before the premises is deemed safe to reopen.

Dr Hegarty explained why some business can have an order lifted in just a day.

"The main thing is it focuses management attitude to the issue. They get their staff working on it right away," he said.

Insects

"The inspector might deem it's good enough to reopen. That does not always mean perfect."

The Akash Indian restaurant on George's Avenue in Blackrock, Dublin, was served with a closure order after the kitchen was found to have an infestation of insects.

"Evidence existed of an extensive infestation of cockroaches throughout the kitchen," the inspector reported.

"Live nymph and adult cockroaches found as well as cockroach egg casings."

The report noted cockroach activity behind the dishwasher and within the motor of the fridge.
One of Ireland's most notorious jail inmates is under "severe pressure" from an extremely volatile south inner city prisoner, who is demanding he pays him 30,000.

The background to the dispute is a debt that the ultra-violent thug insists he is owed by associates of caged criminal Cornelius Price - after they allegedly killed a man who owed him money for drugs.

"The murdered man owed the cash to the south inner city criminal, who never got a chance to retrieve the money because the other gang had the man killed," a source said last night.

"Members of the gang, who have close links to Price, are now under threat from this criminal, who is a key member of a violent south inner city family whose members have been involved in murder and mayhem for decades.

"This might not end well at all and could lead to chaos both inside and outside the prison system. This fella is gunning for Price and he wants that cash."

Price (35) was jailed for three years in February after being convicted of reckless endangerment of a garda at Balbriggan Garda Station more than three years ago.

Price nearly struck the officer as he chased a man in a car "aggressively and dangerously" outside a garda station.

The terrified garda had to jump out of the way, later considered resigning from the force and still got "flashbacks and chills" whenever he passed the scene, the court heard.

Murders

Price's mob is suspected of involvement in three gangland murders.

His bitter rival is a 30-year-old career criminal who has the backing of a number of thugs from south inner city Dublin.

He cannot be named here for legal reasons but he is serving a lengthy sentence for violent disorder and threatening to kill a garda.

He has dozens of previous convictions, including for an incident in which a woman was set on fire, and a brawl at Mountjoy Prison which saw 16 prisoners injured.

The criminal is considered one of the most troublesome within the Irish jail system .

His rival Price has also had problems in jail and has been sent to Cork Prison from Wheatfield, but he is now back in the west Dubin facility.

His compound in Gormanston, Co Meath, has been the subject of major garda surveillance operations and has also been raided on a number of occasions.

In May, the Herald revealed that Price was caught with an illegal mobile phone in his Wheatfield cell, but he has not been formally disciplined over that indiscretion.

It was alleged Price was holding the phone when prison officers stormed his cell on May 7, and the phone and a charger were seized from the thug.

Weeks later, it emerged that gardai were investigating a major smuggling route into Wheatfield Prison after a criminal described as a "bungling fool" attempted to smuggle drugs and a mobile phone into the facility, only to forget the name of the person he was due to visit.
ABINGDON, Va.  A man wielding a machete was shot and killed late Sunday by Washington County Sheriffs Office deputies who were executing a drug-related search warrant at a rural home, Sheriff Fred Newman said Monday.

Roberto Avendano, who worked at a nearby dairy farm, was shot just before 10 p.m. outside a home in the 22000 block of Golden View Drive, Newman said during a news conference at the Sheriffs Office.

An individual ran towards an outbuilding on the property as the search warrant was being executed, Newman said. The suspect barricaded himself in a room inside the outbuilding and attempts to negotiate with him were unsuccessful.

A battering ram and pepper spray were used to lure the man out of the outbuilding, Newman said. Eventually, Avendano, armed with a 2-foot machete, came out the building and lunged at four deputies while swinging the weapon, the sheriff said. Deputies fired several shots at Avendano, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was ordered numerous times to drop the weapon, but he continued swinging it at our officers, Newman said. In my opinion, a machete is just as deadly in some cases as a handgun.

Little was known Monday about Avendano, including his age and whether he had a criminal record, Newman said.

The sheriff said he felt comfortable that the shooting was justified based on the circumstances.

Its still unclear at this time which deputies shot at the suspect, Newman said. They have been placed on administrative leave and when theyre fit to return to duty, they certainly will.

Newman said that the investigation is connected to a Sept. 28 drug bust that started out as a shoplifting call at the Walmart in the Exit 7 area of Bristol, Virginia. A search of a vehicle turned up large amounts of cocaine and crystal meth. More than $50,000 in cash was also found, according to a news release from the Sheriffs Office. Brian J. Swontek, 49, of Glendale, Arizona, and his wife, Erin K. Swontek, 40, were charged with multiple drug and shoplifting charges.

A subsequent investigation led to search warrants at two additional locations, where meth was also discovered, he said. Christopher Carroll Ingram, 45, of Old Airport Road, Bristol, Virginia, and Michael Joseph Hauser, 42, of Peoria, Arizona, also face multiple drug charges.

On Sunday night, an ounce of methamphetamine, an ounce of cocaine, a small amount of marijuana and $2,300 were seized from the Golden View Drive home.

Stephanie Mae Browning, 21, of Golden View Drive, was arrested and charged with possession of meth and marijuana. She is being held without bail at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon.

We are not sure of the full relationship between Browning and Avendano, Newman said. At this time, we believe that the two were just acquaintances.

Additional warrants are pending, according to Newman.

The shooting of Avendano is being investigated by the Virginia State Police Bureau of Investigation. VSP spokeswoman Corrine Geller said there was no information to release Monday.
In Crisis and Leviathan, his masterpiece on the metastasis of the modern state, scholar Robert Higgs shows how the federal government historically has followed the Rahm Emanuel rule: Never let a serious crisis go to waste.

The expansion of federal power has not been steady and inexorable; it has grown through sudden, quantum leaps in times of emergency, most especially war. The crises eventually subside, but many of the powers remain  to be built upon later when the next crisis unfolds.

Lately, this phenomenon has proven itself fractal: The pattern repeats itself on small scales as well as large ones.

We can see that here in Virginia, where a commission appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been drafting new rules for demonstrations around the Lee monument in Richmond. In the aftermath of the race riots in Charlottesville, the governor imposed a moratorium on all demonstrations at the monument, which is owned by the state. This is unconstitutional prior restraint of speech, and an abdication of governments fundamental responsibility: to protect people who are exercising their rights against the threat of violence.

An out-of-state group of neo-Confederates eventually decided to hold a rally near the monument anyway. Wisely, the governors office did not try to shut it down.

Now, though, the commission is considering several regulations that would muzzle free expression at the monument. It has proposed requiring permits for any event involving more than nine people. It would limit events to two hours. Participants would have to file their permit requests 45 days in advance  or, in what passes for a concession to exigency, six days in the cases of more spontaneous events. (Governor to citizens: Spontaneous demonstrations allowed only when carefully planned.)

These rules would remain in effect for 18 months  i.e., for almost two years after the crisis in Charlottesville had ended. And by then, the General Assembly might have made the restrictions, or others like them, permanent.

You also can see the phenomenon of crisis-and-reaction at work in the response to the discovery of Russian-made advertisements and fake accounts on Facebook.

Democrats, including Virginias own Sen. Mark Warner, are suddenly keen to pass new laws and rules to more tightly govern how social-media companies operate. Russian incursions into social media, they contend, are a crisis that must be answered by expanding governments reach.

Pause here for a moment to enjoy the irony: When Mitt Romney declared Russia Americas biggest geopolitical foe during the 2012 presidential contest, Barack Obama mocked him  the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back  and The New York Times excoriated him for displaying either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, the paper said, his comments are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender.

That, however, was before Russian cyber-trolling could be used to justify more government regulation. Its worth noting that under federal law, political electioneering advertising by foreign countries is already illegal, and political issue advertising must disclose that its being supported by the foreign agent, whether governmental or nongovernmental, behind it.

So the need for new legislation is, at least, open to question  especially given the possibility that such legislation could open a back door for regulating political speech online by ordinary American citizens.

The phenomenon Higgs describes is emphatically not a partisan problem. For proof of that, just look at the Trump administrations travel ban. The original ban ostensibly aimed to prevent terrorist attacks like 9/11. Yet it exempted Saudi Arabia, which was home to many of the 9/11 attackers, while singling out travelers from other nations whose residents had killed a grand total of zero Americans in terrorist attacks.

Courts blocked the original version of the ban, and terrorist attacks by foreign nationals did not suddenly erupt. Nevertheless, the latest version of the ban adds North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela and extends the hold on visas from the original 90-day period into the indefinite future. A great comfort to concert-goers in Las Vegas, no doubt.

The attacks of 9/11 ushered in two wars and a vast new surveillance state, but smaller crises  much smaller  have had a leviathan effect as well.

Travelers in the U.S. are forced to remove their shoes at the airport, which  given airport volumes  happens several hundred million times a year. They do so because Richard Reid tried to set off explosives in the shoes he was wearing on an American Airlines flight. In December of 2001. He failed.

Still, thank heaven for small favors: At least Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab did not precipitate a similar policy eight years ago, when he tried to ignite the explosives in his underwear.
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H&M has confirmed that the fashion shop will be coming to Bishop's Stortford after nearly a year of speculation.

The new store in Jackson Square will be ready to welcome customers on November 9, at 11am.

The Herts and Essex Observer reported back in November 2016, that a senior town source had said deal had been done for H&M to come into the town.

At the time however the business denied that there were any immediate plans to come to the town.

Carlos Duarte, H&M's country manager for UK and Ireland, said: "We are pleased to be opening a brand new store in Jackson Square, Bishop's Stortford this November.

"This is an excellent opportunity to introduce H&M's fantastic fashion offering to new customers."

There is even more good news for H&M lovers - the first 200 customers in the queue on November 9 will receive a goodie bag.

Anyone in the queue before 11am will also receive a wristband that will give them a 25 per cent discount in the store on that day.

H&M is also recruiting for sales advisors to work in the new store.

For anyone interested in applying for a position visit https://career.hm.com/content/hmcareer/en_gb/findj...
A call to vote for Hank Guess

Women are very considered in this upcoming mayoral election. A post card advertisement cannot tell how much Hank Guess has done and will do for the city of Hickorys men, women and children.

I read a recent letter that said he does not consider women. The person who wrote that letter needs to check their facts. Hank, works closely with the program Pregnancy Care Center, collecting money in baby bottles to care for the womens as well as the babies well being.

He also has done work for Safe Harbor, a program that helps with women who are homeless. He is involved in ribbon cuttings for women who own their own businesses in Hickory.

There has not always been an acknowledgment of his heartfelt gestures, for he was doing this out of what he believes in and not looking for recognition, because he was doing the right thing. He has always been there behind the scenes helping women.

He was part of the Hickory City Council for eight years, and during that time, worked a part of the past mayor's pro-tem to help Hickory grow. He was an alderman in Ward 4, as well spent 30 years with the Hickory Police Department.

He spent the last part of his time with HPD as lieutenant, where he got to know people and their needs, and is real respected in that regard.

He is running and honest campaign, unlike supporters of a couple of candidates whose signs have been taken down close to the election, for example the last two weeks.

So please know the real facts, and as a woman, I would be proud to vote Hank Guess for mayor of Hickory.

Rita Dellinger

Hickory

A call to vote for Will Locke

I never thought I, as an 80-year-old, would ever say that I would vote for a 29-year-old for mayor of Hickory; however, I will do just that! And, here is why.

Will Locke grew up in Hickory, was educated in Hickory and after college chose to return to Hickory to live and work.

For several years, he has been engaged in business here and has involved himself in activities and organizations that are serving to improve Hickory for the future. These having been listed in previous articles.

I see in Will Locke a young man of character and integrity who respects people wherever they might live in Hickory. He has the gifts of listening and caring. Will exhibits an open mind to possibilities, a desire to connect and network with others in order to implement positive change in all sections of Hickory.

He will sweep no concerns under the rug. Such as, the need for improved education, skilled labor, more businesses and treatment of opioid abusers.

A mayor is an ambassador for the city. Will has the ability to be a great leader for young people, encouraging their education and their remaining in Hickory, as well as, encouraging young families and businesses to come to Hickory.

If you desire Hickory to thrive and the young to remain and to come to Hickory, give this young man your vote.

Ruth C. Clontz

Hickory

A call to vote for Hamilton Ward

Hamilton Ward is my choice for mayor of our fine city. I was born in Hickory and have spent the large majority of my life here.

I have had the privilege to know well Mayors McDonald, Wright, and Cline, and to a lesser extent, Mayors Whitener and Murphy. They all had my favorite attribute of a human: passion, and in particular, a great passion for Hickory.

I have known Hamilton Ward for 15 years, and passion is the first word I think of when I think of him. Hickory is in his heart and soul, and working to make Hickory a better city is his passion.

Experience is another trait Hamilton shares with his mayoral predecessors, a second key trait. Hamilton is a successful salesman in his primary job, but also has ownership in other ventures.

He has experienced the day-to-day rigors of business ownership and working with others that come with time, tireless efforts, and a strong work ethic. His experience includes serving on the Hickory City Council, representing you and me and the city, while understanding the rules and inner workings of the city, region, and state.

Join me during the Oct. 10 primary, and the Nov. 7 election in voting for Hamilton Ward.

Hickory is at a crossroads, and Hamilton Ward is the right person at the right time to lead all generations, areas of our great city to a successful future.

Ross Rogers

Hickory

A call to vote for David Zagaroli

Nothing is free. It may sound nice to provide free Internet to everyone in Hickory, but this is just another empty political promise. Anything you see provided by the government for free is paid for by increased taxes.

If I wanted free Internet, I would move to San Francisco where the general cost of living is 62.6 percent higher than the U.S. average. However, Hickory is an advantage for my business.

I am able to compete with larger companies in San Francisco thanks to the low overhead and cost of living Hickory provides.

As a successful businessman, David Zagaroli understands what Hickory needs. David is who I want on council regardless of age.

This election has proven the stereotype of why our citizens do not want a young person in office. In my opinion, its not the age. Its the lack of real life experience and maturity shown by these candidates.

As a 27-year-old, self-made business owner in Hickory, their actions are injurious to my reputation and legitimate young candidates in the future. The self-righteous rhetoric is not what Hickory needs, nor the moral superiority gimmicks promised by these campaigns.

The real issues facing Hickory are recruiting companies and improving our infrastructure. As long as we have experienced leadership pointing our city in that direction, then we will retain and grow our young population.

Representatives like David Zagaroli are why I chose to stay in Hickory. Voting for anyone else in this election is a gamble Hickory cannot afford.

Josh Shampo

Hickory
HICKORY  Puerto Rico resident Ashley Wright spoke about her experiences during the humanitarian crisis of Hurricane Maria at an event held by the Hickory International Council last week.

Wright, who is the daughter of former Mayor Rudy Wright, runs the business Puerto Rico Destination Weddings in the north-western Puerto Rican city of Isabela.

With the aid of some photos and drone footage taken in the aftermath of the storm, Wright told of her experiences during and after Hurricane Maria hit.

Initially, Wright had evacuated the island for Hurricane Irma before returning to the island shortly before Hurricane Maria hit.

Wright rode out Hurricane Maria in the second-floor apartment of a friend that was located not too far from the beach.

The group passed the time by playing board games and watching a Big Bang Theory boxed set, Wright said.

Periodically, members of the group would go out to the concrete stairwell of the apartment to observe the conditions, Wright said.

Over time, the limbs of a nearby almond tree were stripped away, leaving only six iguanas hanging onto the trunk, Wright said.

Once the storm passed, Wright returned to her own home to find that, though there had been some damage, the building itself was still standing.

In the days after the hurricane, Wrights main concern was getting in touch with her mother.

Communications were almost non-existent in Isabela, so Wright made the 70-mile trip east to San Juan, with a cat in a carrier and $1,000 in cash, in an attempt to reach the airport.

On the way, Wright said she encountered a traffic jam caused by people taking advantage of a nearby cell tower.

Wright said she was able to call her mother, who told her to get to the airport and leave the island.

Wright showed a video of herself driving through waist-deep water in San Juan on her way to the airport.

Conditions at the airport were dire, with no communications or air conditioning, Wright said.

The person responsible for booking the flight had to leave for a nearby bridge with a weak signal so he could check and confirm bookings, Wright said.

Wright herself went to the bridge to talk to her mother, brother and a friend with Southwest Airlines in hopes of getting a ticket.

The amount of disorganization and chaos prevented Wright from booking her flight, so she then tried to seek out friends in San Juan, but was unable to get in touch with them.

Since signs had been blown away by the storm, Wright said she got lost trying to find a friends house.

After being turned away from two hotels and finding temporary shelter in a parking garage, Wright said she decided to return to Isabela.

Wright said she was lucky enough to get some of the limited supply of gasoline and make it back to Isabela.

Throughout the crisis, there were numerous instances of the Puerto Rican people displaying resilience, Wright said.

Theres been some talk about Puerto Rico not banding together or working hard or communities, Wright said. I cant say enough how not true that is.

Even before the government got a chance to clear the roads, people were out using any tools they could to clear trees and other debris from the road, Wright said.

The conditions people faced were often desperate, Wright said.

As a result of the gas shortages, there were almost no cars in the streets and stores were completely emptied of their provisions, Wright said.

While the local governments were doing their best, much aide had not reached the western side of the island and many were without running water.

Reports of the death toll are almost certainly unreliable since the offices that issue the death certificates are unable to re-open following the storm, Wright said.

I have heard that the morgues are full across the island, Wright said. I dont want there to be a high death toll, but Im sure, were all sure, that there is.

Wright also urged people to not avoid traveling to the island in the future because of its association with the storm.

One of the reasons why Im here and Im doing this is my biggest fear as a resident and a lover of the island and everything that she hasis that the word Puerto Rico will become synonymous with disaster, Wright said.

She is so much more than that. So much of what we love about Puerto Rico is still there.

Having people travel to the island and support the local economy will be a key part of recovery, Wright said.

Wrights presentation largely steered clear of political topics, though she did say the Jones Act, a 1920 shipping law that puts restrictions on the ships that can take supplies to the island, should be repealed.

In terms of the U.S. federal government response, Wright said there was more that could be done.

We are not doing, we meaning collective we, our country, are not doing enough until every citizen, every American citizen on that island has access to basic amenities: to running water, to drinking water, to power and to food and to medical care, Wright said.

Until that happens, more can be done.

For more information, call Wright at 939-238-3664 or email ashley@prdestinationweddings.com.
HUDSON  Tornado warnings arent that uncommon in Caldwell County.

However, remnants of Tropical Storm Nate produced a far more sinister conclusion to Sunday nights warning as 93 homes were damaged, according to a Caldwell County Public Information Office press release.

The damage includes 11 homes with major damage and six homes completely destroyed; no injuries have been reported.

Randy Church, chairman of the Caldwell County Commissioners, signed a Declaration of State of Emergency for Caldwell County on Monday evening, according to the release.

North Carolina Emergency Management also is monitoring the storm effects in Caldwell, Burke and Ashe counties.

The storm hit hardest in a very concentrated area along Mount Herman Road and Cedar Rock Road; nearly every home on Mount Herman Road sustained some level of damage, according to the release.

The wind toppled two church steeples in the area, leaving a sizable cleanup project over the next few days.

Pastor Darren Peterson, of Refugee Missionary Baptist Church, said he and others were preparing for a 6 p.m. service Sunday when one of the church members came in and said they had to take shelter downstairs.

We knew about the warning (that was in effect), but we knew at that point it was serious, Peterson said.

Peterson said he didnt hear the steeple topple over, but said others claimed they did. The winds also damaged the new roadside sign the church had just purchased.

These are the strongest winds I have experienced in this area since (Hurricane) Hugo, Peterson said.

Pastor Caren Bigelow Morgan, of Mount Hermon United Methodist Church, said in addition to the steeple of the church that has stood since 1952, the storm also ripped down shingles causing water damage inside the mens Sunday school classroom.

In my 32 years of ministry, Ive never experienced anything like this, Morgan said.

The damage stretched down Ellerwood Road, where Lucille Younce had close to 10 trees uprooted in her front yard. A power line hung over the house Monday morning, heavily damaged by one of the fallen trees.

My son could see the tornado forming, and could see it coming, Younce said. His phone said that the tornado was on Ellerwood Road. When he said that, I flew in the house.

Younce said the storm passed by in only a few seconds, and didnt know what was happening.

Younce, a lifetime resident of the area, said (Hurricane) Hugo was bad, but this was worse for us.

One houses American flag blew off of its station on Fairwood Drive, landing lodged in between two branches of a house close to 100 yards down the road.

Michael Presnells mobile home in the 2100 block of Marley Place was heavily damaged, with portions of his front porch flying off into the adjacent woods and more than an inch of rain inside his home.

It was terrifying, Presnell said. It was to the point where you didnt hear anything but the wind; no trees falling. You look out, and its all of this.

Presnell described the storm as making a second pass through the area.

The first time it came through, it lasted about a minute; then it got calm for 30-45 seconds, and all of a sudden, it started coming again, and came right through the middle of my yard.

Thats the biggest thing Ive ever seen in my life. Ive lived here my whole life, and Ive never seen anything like this, Presnell said. Even when (Hurricane) Hugo came, there were tornado warnings but nothing like this.

Fairwood Drive, Mount Herman Road and Freezer Locker Road remained closed Monday as of press time.

Two task force teams are evaluating damaged homes in the area, with representatives from the Caldwell County Health Department, building inspections, sheriffs office, emergency medical services, American Red Cross and United Methodist disaster relief team.

Two representatives from the National Weather Service were scheduled to evaluate the damage and weather event in Caldwell County on Monday, too.

The Caldwell County Sheriffs office is advising residents in the area to be careful about businesses or individuals coming to their homes and offering to do repairs.

Always make sure that any of the repairmen has proof of being bonded and insured, Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones said via the press release. And never pay anyone up front. Always get the repairs completed before you pay.

Several schools in the area were without power Monday morning, but all power was restored and facilities were at full operations prior to students returning, according to a Caldwell County Schools press release.

School district maintenance crews removed limbs or downed trees on school driveways early this morning, particularly at Hudson Elementary School. School is set to proceed on a regular schedule.
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When Gunda, a Kanti Shah film, first released in 1998, it was quick to fade away. But the internet wasnt going to let such a gem [not really] slip away. More than a decade after its release, the film gained a surprising amount of cult popularity, thanks to several adulatory video reviews and fan pages that have emerged. On his recent visit to Delhi, we caught up with Mukesh Rishi aka Bulla from Gunda about the newfound cult popularity of the 1998 crime thriller.

I felt ashamed while saying Bullas dialogues! There was a mixed feeling of shame and guilt, and I constantly questioned myself why I was doing this in the first place, said Rishi.

He added, I was working with actors like Shakti Kapoor and Mithun da, who were already at the peak of their careers. So one such movie wouldnt have changed their image. But I was fairly new and didnt want to be taken lightly. I didnt want people to stop working with me because they thought that this was the kind of content I was capable of.

via GIPHY

Rishi shared that he is surprised that the movie bounced back the way it did. I never expected that to happen. The movie wasnt to well received for its content back then. So the sudden adulation was surprising. But thats what they say about the internet  nothing really dies [here]. And soon I saw my young fans, especially girls, saying those dialogues like they were something good. That is something I never truly understood, he said.

But if anyone has to take credit for it, Id give it all to the one who wrote the dialogues. Who envisioned them not only surviving that phase of cinema but somehow knew that these lines would stay. It was very intuitive of them.

Villainy is something Rishi is mostly associated with, and if you ask him his favourite role, he doesnt think twice before telling us that it is his role as Billa Jilani in Gardish (1993). That character (Billa) had purpose. He wasnt the usual villain that just wanted to wreak havoc or do wrong deeds just for the heck of it. He wanted something and wouldnt let anything get in the way. If you didnt interfere in his plan, hed stay away, said Rishi.

He added that he wasnt too impressed with the decline of the villains in Bollywood but sees a change now. Villains are as important as the hero. Without the right villain, the hero isnt heroic enough. We, at one point, had such great villains with shades of grey and a compelling story around them. But Bollywood did see a decline when villains were nothing but aimless goons who had no real purpose to them. Things are changing again, and weve had some great villains now. That makes me really happy.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.

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Asterix is to ride again in the 37th book in the legendary comic series, its publishers said on Monday.

Asterix and the Chariot Race will hit the bookshelves on October 19 recounting the adventures of the shrewd Gallic hero and his rotund sidekick Obelix during a mad dash down the length of ancient Italy.

The only Asterix story to be set entirely on the Italian peninsula, it takes place in 50 BC with Julius Caesar trying to prove that all of Italy is in thrall to Rome even though many regions are determined to maintain their independence.

To burnish Roman glory and showcase the dazzling excellence of Roman roads Caesar invites teams from all over the known world to compete in the race. There is only one catch -- the Roman competitor must absolutely cross the finishing first, the publishers said.

French cartoonist Didier Conrad (second from left) and French writer and designer Jean-Yves Ferri (second from right) at a Paris press conference about the comics release. (AFP)

Caesars charioteer and the latest Asterix baddie is a masked villain called Coronavirus, named after the SARS virus which caused a worldwide health alert in 2002.

Writers Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad, who have penned the last three Asterix stories, said this time they wanted Obelix to take the limelight. Its very much Obelix driving the chariot and the story, said Conrad as the books publication date was announced in Paris.

Although details of the story are still under wraps, it features Bretons, Picts (Scots), Goths and Phoenicians as well as the two Gauls. Five million copies of Asterix and the Chariot Race have been printed for the first edition, with two million alone to go on sale in France.

Albert Uderzo, now 90, who created the characters in 1959 with Rene Goscinny, told reporters in a video message that the story really touched me because as well as cartoons I love cars.

More than 370 million Asterix books have been sold since Goscinny and Uderzo first brought him to life in the Franco-Belgium comic Pilote.
Despite attempts to derail the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST), the states are adopting the new regime at a fast pace, finance minister Arun Jaitley has said.

Jaitley was responding to a question on the biggest challenges for GST during a conversation with Dan Schulman, president and CEO of Paypal and Chandrajit Banerjee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

At the event jointly organised by CII and US India Business Council (USIBC) in New York, Jaitley said global integration of Indian economy is happening at a time when other economies are becoming more protectionist.

Asserting that India is now a better place to do business with because of the series of steps being taken by the government in the last three years, Jaitley said procedures have been simplified.

Now as much as 95% of the investments are through automatic route, and foreign investment promotion board has been abolished, he noted.

Today, 99% of tax queries are addressed online, he said.

Now states are being ranked on ease of doing business, he told the audience in Washington.

India is now capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale, the union finance minister said.

As many as 250 highways projects are under construction. India is now having surplus power and capacity of Indian ports have been expanded, he said.

Responding to a question on digital payments, he said the younger generation is taking on to modern payment methods in a big way.

Further, all government benefits are linked directly to bank accounts. The government has introduced low cost insurance policies to incentivise the bank holders, he said.

Jaitley who arrived early in the day in New York also addressed US investors on recent economic reform initiatives.

He is slated to address the Columbia University students today. The finance minister is here in US to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

But before arriving in Washington DC for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, he would travel to Boston to address the students of the Harvard University and interact with the US business community in Boston.

During his three day stay at Washington, the finance minister will hold a bilateral meeting with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

He will also participate in an interactive seminar organised by FICCI on  India Opportunity Conference and attend the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Working Dinner on October 12.
State-owned Coal India on Tuesday said it has signed a wage agreement with workers unions proposing 20 per cent hike in salaries for a period of five years which would have an estimated impact of Rs 5,667 crore per year to the worlds largest coal miner.

Calling the signing of wage agreement a really historic day for Coal India, Coal India CMD Gopal Singh said that they clinched the agreement at 20 per cent hike in salaries against workers demand for a 50 per cent raise.

Initially the demand was for 50 per hike in the wages in the basic wages of our employees ... today we clinched the agreement with 20 per cent hike in the wages as on July 1, 2016 and plus the perks, Singh told reporters here.

Today is really a historic day for Coal India ... This is the 10th wage agreement ... We have clinched this agreement in the 10th meeting today (October 10), he said.

Every fifth year at both Coal India (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) there is revision of the wages of the employees.

Coal India has about three lakh employees and Singareni about 55,000 employees. Wage Agreement of the employees was due from July, 2016.

Singh said the wage agreement was on the negotiation table for more than one year.

The main thrust area of this wage agreement is life after retirement. This is the first time that Coal India as well as workers, both sides, will be contributing seven per cent each towards the Pension funds, he said.

Singh said the decision was also taken to set up a Medical Trust adding that workers will be contributing Rs 40,000 each.

Coal India will contribute Rs 18,000 per head to the corpus which will of Rs 58,000 per head.

S Q Zama, the secretary general of Indian National Mine Workers Federation told PTI that of the five central unions in the coal industry, only three -- AITUC, CITU and BMS -- signed the wage pact.

HMS refused to sign, and INTUC was out because of high court stay, Zama said.

The three unions of AITUC, CITU and BMS represent 25-30 per cent of the over 3 lakh coal workers of both of CIL and SCCL, Zama said. PTI SID MR
Homeopathic doctors will soon be barred from selling medicines from the premises they are practising, according to new rules proposed by the government that are to be notified soon.

No registered homeopathic medical practitioner who is practising homeopathy in the premises where homeopathy medicines are sold, shall deal in homeopathic medicines, according to the new draft rules.

The new rules were drafted following complaints that commercial interests were influencing behaviour of homeopaths, government officials privy to the development said.

It was seen that various pharmacists had started to station a homeopath in their shop for consultations. Likewise, homeopathy practitioners other than dispensing their medicines to their patients had started selling them over the counter too. For better regulation of homeopathic medicines, this practice needed to end, said an official in the Ayush ministry, one of the people cited above.

Once notified, this will delink consultation and selling of medicines. Chemist shop is a commercial entity and the objective of this rule is to ensure that doctors only prescribe and not sell medicines, said the official cited above, requesting anonymity.

Noted homeopath Dr Kalyan Banerjee said the new draft rules will come as a huge setback for doctors selling drugs. This will create a lot of problems for those doctors who sell medicines over the counter too.

According to one of the draft rules, chemists selling allopathic medicines will also be allowed to sell homeopathic medicines without the need to have a separate licence as required now.

These medicines shall be sold in the original sealed small quantity packing and they will have to be stored separately from allopathic drugs, said a health ministry official.

The proposed rules also aim to weed out non-qualified people from dispensing homeopathic medicines. A person eligible to practice medicine with prescriptive rights should hold a degree in homeopathy from a recognised university or a degree in pharmacy from the recognised university or Bachelors degree from a recognised university with one year experience in dealing with homeopathic medicines in the clinic of a registered homeopathic medical practitioner or with the holder of a license in Form 20C or form 20D (applications for retail are made under these forms) or diploma in homeopathic pharmacy or diploma in homeopathy and surgery.

Dr RK Manchanda, co-chair of sub committee of Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) and the Director General of Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH), said that the new rules will help promote quality homeopathic medicines.

The competent authorities have been defined in the new rules for dispensing homeopathic drugs, thereby preventing a host of complications caused by wrong dispensing. The homeopathic medicines will be available widespread in chemists shops as there will be no need to have an additional license to keep homeopathic medicines as required as per the existing rules. Once the new rules come into effect, the homeopathic medicines will be readily available even in far flung areas.

Homoeopathic medicines are covered under the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetic Act, 1940. The new draft rules which were deliberated in detail by the sub committee of DTAB before they were sent to law ministry for vetting, will be notified by the ministry of health and family welfare.

The draft rules have been vetted by the ministry of law and the notification to this effect will come out soon, said another government official from the health ministry.

To promote homeopathy, the new rules also do away the need for license for exhibiting homeopathic drugs in any fair. The manufacturers will also have to adhere to requirements of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) of homeopathy drugs for obtaining license for manufacturing which will remain valid for five years.
Taking note of the presence of child beggars in Dehradun, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has asked the district administration to explain how children can still be seen seeking alms in the city despite a ban on begging in Uttarakhand.

Weve also asked the district magistrate to find out if there is any organised racket working in the state capital that forces children to beg, SCPCR chairperson Yogendra Khanduri told HT. In June, Khanduri had also written to the chief secretary over the growing number of beggars, especially children and women, along the Char Dham Yatra routes in the state.

However, Dehradun district magistrate SA Murugesan said that he had not received the letter and will reply accordingly once it was received. However, we are taking steps to discourage children (and their family members) from begging. We are also planning to introduce training programmes (for beggars) when required, Murugesan told HT. As of now, we dont know of any such gang (that forces children into beggary) active in Dehradun, he added.

On July 1 this year, the state government had issued a notification announcing implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Beggary Prevention Act, 1975 (adopted) in the whole of Uttarakhand, following an order from the high court earlier this year. Uttarakhand thus joined the league of 20 other states and two union territories to have banned begging.

However, beggars, including children, continue to be seen asking for alms, especially at busy crossroads and traffic junctions in the state capital. Acting on a complaint from advocate Rajendra Prasad in this regard, the SCPCR has written a letter to the district magistrate to submit a report on the matter, a copy of which is with HT.

According to the 2011 Census, there were around 3,000 beggars in Uttarakhand, including 274 children, but the numbers may have swollen many times since then, activists fear. After the implementation of the begging ban, over 100 beggars were held in Dehradun and Haridwar areas by the police and sent to the states only beggars home located in Haridwar. Social activists have demanded rehabilitation and livelihood programmes to be put in place for beggars.

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As the thick white smoke, billowing from a corner of the field filled the air, a 63-year-old farmer was busy moving some of the still-burning hay with a shovel. He was spreading it to another corner to allow the flames to spread.

We have no option but to set our farmlands on fire. We know that it triggers heavy pollution, but the stubble needs to be removed before we prepare the farm for the winter crop, said Balwant Singh (name withheld on request).

The practice of burning agricultural residue had been banned by the National Green Tribunal two years ago. But it is largely still prevalent across major farming states like Punjab and Haryana.

Before the pollution from these burnt farms reaches Delhi, the farmers say it takes a heavy toll on them and their families. But with little option and despite being aware of the consequences, thousands of villagers across Haryana and Punjab set their farmlands on fire soon after the monsoon retreats.

While the governments in both states have been trying to find a solution to put an end to the practice, Hindustan Times visited some villages, speaking to farmers, government officials and experts in an attempt to find a possible solution.

With cost concerns, the short gap between summer and winter crops, lack of incentives from the government and shortage of equipment, most farmers resort to residue burning. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

Solutions from farmers

For the villagers of both Haryana and Punjab, stubble burning has turned out to be a Hobsons choice. With cost concerns, the short gap between summer and winter crops, lack of incentives from the government and shortage of equipment to manually cut down the stubble, most farmers take to residue burning.

But amid the dark patches, a ray of hope is slowly emerging. Hindustan Times found some farmers who said they have refrained from the practice.

Resham Singh, a 50-year-old farmer from Kamalpur village in Patiala district, has cut the stubble of his one-acre plot and lined it up on the side.

We wont burn it this year. Instead, we will put water on it and let it decompose and become khaad (manure). Due to government pressure, most farmers this time will not go for the quick-fix solution, he said.

His nephew Dharmender Singh said that a little more government help could make it easier for them to dispose the stubble without burning. We get five hours of electricity a day. Instead, if we get power for eight hours, we can pour water on the parali (crop stubble) to turn it into khaad, he said.

At Behmna village, smoke from farmer Darshan Singhs farm could be seen from a distance. However, he claimed he was not burning freshly cut stubble. This one is from last year. The residue from this year has been put on the edge and wont be burnt. We are not breaking any law, the 52-year-old said.

In Haryana, too, hope seems to be emerging.

This time we have decided to cut the stubble and store it. It would be fed to the cattle in the days to come, said Angrez Singh, a farmer from Karnal.

Darshan Singh, a farmer from Punjabs Bandna village, explains the stubble burning process. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Government offers options

Stacks of briquettes made from of stubble are seen lying in a corner of a farm at Jundla village in Haryana. Villagers said that a private liquor company has asked them not to burn these, and that they would be purchased.

Haryana Liquors Pvt Ltd came up with this proposal last year. They undertook a pilot project last year which proved to be successful. This year, they have already purchased 200 tonnes of stubble and have set a target to buy 5,000 tonnes. It would be used to fuel their furnaces, said a senior official of the Haryana Pollution Control Board.

With an estimated 35 million tonnes of stubble burnt across Punjab and Haryana, 5,000 tonnes seems a small figure, but officials said that at least they had a start. An acre of paddy farm yields around two tonnes of stubble.

Who would burn this stubble to create pollution if theres another alternative? asks Amrinder Singh, a villager in Kurukshetra.

Officials in Punjab and Haryana said that some companies have been showing interest in buying the stubble, which could be used to co-fuel power and biomass plants.

We are ready to sell it off. But someone has to collect it. We cant cut it, stack it and take it to the buyers. It would be next to impossible. But if someone comes to us to purchase the stubble, we are ready to help them. It would be easier for us, Singh added.

Solutions may be there, but the change cannot be expected overnight. Experts said the development of a comprehensive interdepartmental policy is need of the hour. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

Experts weigh in

Hindustan Times spoke to a number of experts who claimed that till the time stubble is considered a waste, farmers would burn it. The only way out is to treat it as a resource.

We have to put an economic value on the stubble first. Only then can we think of putting it to use, said Polash Mukerjee, senior research associate (air pollution) at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Experts from CSE and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) said that a business module and market needs to be developed to do away with stubble burning. TERI had also submitted a set of suggestions to the Ministry of Environment and Forests two months ago.

Unless we develop a market and a business module, this is expected continue. Some companies have shown interest to buy the stubble. But due to lack of a proper mechanism, it remains in the field and the farmers cant sell it off, said Sumit Sharma, associate director, TERI.

The Punjab Electricity Regulatory Commission has already modified the tariff for power from biogas plants. In May 2016, the tariff was increased from less than 7, and was fixed at 8.30 per unit. This has been announced to provide better incentives for farmers to sell their stubble.

Burning the stubble in power generating plants or other industries as co-fuel would generate less pollution as these industries need to follow emission norms. They use electrostatic precipitators which can reduce the pollution by more than 90%, said Sharma.

Experts said that proper mechanism and infrastructure needs to be developed through which aggregators can collect the stubble from the fields and store them in warehouses. This could be used throughout the year.

The constant availability is necessary because power plants would need a supply of this fuel throughout the year. Just providing them with the fuel for a few months would not be helpful. It will not be sustainable, said Mukerjee.

Bagasse, pellets and briquette made out of stubble could be used for other purposes as well, such as in the cardboard industry.

Nearly 300 million households across India use firewood as fuel in their kitchens. These pellets and briquettes could be used instead. Pollution from these products is significantly less than firewood, said Mukerjee.

Solutions may be there, but the change cannot be expected overnight. Experts said the development of a comprehensive interdepartmental policy is need of the hour.

District-level planning committees need to be developed. They would have to come up with region-based plans on how to utilise the stubble. A single business module may not be applicable everywhere, said Sharma.
Delhi government representatives in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Board attended only one of the 15 meetings of different committees in the last two years, Swaraj India said on Tuesday citing DMRCs annual reports.

The allegations come close on the heels of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that the state government was ready to take over Delhi Metro and provide efficient service.

The annual report of DMRC states how concerned the Arvind Kejriwal government is about metro rails functioning. His officials were absent in almost all the meetings of important committees of the board and he is talking about taking over Metro operations, said Anupam, national spokesperson of Swaraj India, a party floated by ousted AAP founders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav.

Documents shared by Swaraj India show that in the 2016-17 financial year, four meetings of the DMRC boards audit committee were held on May 24, 2016, July 22, 2016, September 16, 2016 and January 16, 2017.

Sanjeev Nandan Sahai, the member of the board in the capacity of Delhi governments principal secretary (finance), did not attend any of the meetings.

Sahai gave the property development committee meetings held on September 9, 2016 a miss too. He did not attend the two meetings of the property development committee held on May 18, 2015 and November 26, 2015 and also missed the only meeting of procurement committee held on May 21, 2017. He, however, attended one meeting of the audit committee in 2015-16, the party alleged.

When contacted, Sahai said he was busy and not in a position to comment on the issue..

Similarly, Vikram Dev Dutt, the then transport secretary, did not attend two meetings of the operation and maintenance committee in 2016-17 and Gitanjali Gupta Kundra, principal secretary (transport), gave the only operation and maintenance committee meeting a miss.

Dutt could not be contacted for a comment. Kundra said since she was no longer with the Delhi government, she would not remember why she missed the meeting in 2015.

Media advisor to the CM, Nagendar Sharma, refused to comment on the issue.

Kejriwal on Sunday had offered to take over Delhi Metro and promised to make the capitals most popular mode of mass transport more efficient, his latest salvo in a face-off with the Centre over a proposed fare hike.

Anupam also accused Kejriwal of indulging in theatrics by projecting his government was opposed to the hike

If both AAP and the BJP are against the hike in fares of Delhi Metro, then who actually increased the fare? he asked. And why was there no opposition in May, when both hikes were announced. It is political drama, he added.

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After Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR during Diwali, Delhi Police said it would take strict action against anyone defying the order and would form special teams to implement the rule.

Dependra Pathak, Special CP (Traffic) and the polices chief spokesperson, said the police had begun examining the courts order so that it is followed without fail. We will appeal to the public to cooperate with us to implement the honourable Supreme Courts order, he added.

Though the chief spokesperson appeared upbeat, other senior officers said implementing the order on the ground was going to be a tough task.

We can prevent the sale of crackers from big and licensed shops, but a large number of retailers will instead do business from their homes as they have already purchased the stock. Cracking down on thousands of such shops operating in narrow streets will be difficult. They will find support from customers, said a senior officer.

But we will intensify patrolling on the streets on Diwali and the days preceding it, said the officer, hoping action against a few shopkeepers will send a message to others.

Senior police officers appeared perplexed about how they would deal with several situations arising after the court order. They were undecided on how to prevent the online sales of crackers. Several websites promise to deliver crackers at your doorstep, for a price.

We are examining the order to understand its bearing on online sales. Though many of these websites may not physically be operating from Delhi, they will still be supplying crackers to Delhiites, going against the spirit of the court order, another officer told HT.

We will think of making a database of such websites and instructing them not to supply to Delhi addresses, said the officer.

The police were also undecided on how to react to people bursting crackers as the court order does not call it an illegal act. Under any condition, we will go by an earlier court ruling in which bursting of crackers is not permitted after 10 pm, said the officer.

Over the next couple of days, senior Delhi Police officers will held a meeting on how to implement the order. We will decide on how to deal with people buying crackers outside Delhi-NCR and bursting them in the Capital. Such an act will be defying the spirit of the order, said the officer.

In north Delhis Sadar Bazar, where a large number of licensed crackers shops are located, local traders met the police to clear confusion about the court order. We told them that there is a complete ban on the sale of crackers in Delhi. Any violation will be met with a FIR, said a local police officer no authorised to address journalists.

The Gurgaon Police said that they were yet to receive the court order. Appropriate action would be initiated as per apex courts order, said Ravinder Kumar, public relations officer, Gurgaon Police.

Its a great move by the SC. We will ensure that the orders are followed properly in GBN, said Love Kumar, SSP, GBN.
A 30-year-old allegedly drunk man was killed in a car crash in outer Delhis Alipur on Monday night. His friend escaped a possible death as he refused to be driven by a drunk man, the police said.

Driving his Honda City alone, Lalit Kumar apparently lost control of the car on the GT Road, a few hundred metres from his in-laws village in Tikri. On Monday, he and his friend Dinesh, who goes by his first name, visited Kumars in-laws home, located along the Delhi-Haryana border.

They had barely left for their homes when Kumar said he wanted to have more drinks. Since the alcohol shops in Delhi were closed by that time, they drove across the border to Haryana and drank together, said Rishi Pal, DCP (Rohini). But when it was time to leave, Dinesh allegedly chose to take a bus back home instead of being driven by Kumar who was heavily drunk by then.

Kumar was a parking contractor who lived in a slum near Police Colony in south Delhis Andrews Ganj, while, Dinesh lives in Dwarka Mor and works as a valet parking driver.

According to the DCP, the two friends were already drunk by Monday evening when they decided to return to their respective homes. One of Kumars relatives told a news channel that the family had requested him not to drive drunk but he had ignored their requests.

The evidence suggests that the car first hit a divider before crashing through the short wall on the left side of the road, said Pal.

The car turned turtle after falling into the low-lying area alongside the GT Road. It was at 12.50am (Tuesday) that a PCR van passing by spotted the car. Since Kumar was trapped inside, help was sought from the fire department to pull him out. By the time he was rushed to a hospital, he was declared brought dead, the police said.

Since Kumars family informed that he was accompanied by Dinesh in the car, the police began a search for the missing man near the accident spot over the next few hours. It was in the early hours of Tuesday that the police realised that Dinesh was sleeping safe at his home.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed a 20-year-old rape victim to terminate her eight-week pregnancy, which she alleged was a result of a sexual assault on her.

The high court noted that under the law, pregnancy of less than 12 weeks can be terminated if a medical practitioner comes to the conclusion that it would cause harm, including mental trauma, to the mother.

The court said that in this case, as per facts and circumstances, it saw no reason for a medical practitioner not to accept her plea to end the pregnancy. It allowed the victim to approach Lady Hardinge Medical College, as desired by her, for medical termination of her pregnancy.

The court directed that a female police official should accompany her to the hospital where the termination would be carried out at the states expense, as the victim was from the economically weaker sections.

It granted her additional plea for preservation of tissue samples of the foetus for the purpose of DNA testing.

The court directed the hospital to preserve a tissue sample and forward the remaining to the investigating officer probing the case.

The police were directed to take steps to send the tissue samples for DNA testing so that the results can be used during the trial of the case.

The high court disposed of the victims plea who said she repeatedly raped between February 14 and August 29 this year. She said the accused initially raped her by drugging her.He also took embarrassing and compromising photographs and videos of her.

He repeatedly raped her by threatening to leak her pictures and videos , she alleged in her petition.

She lodged an FIR on September 17, 2017. When she was medically examined, she was found to be pregnant, the plea said.

The victim had initially moved an application before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) in Tis Hazari court on September 20 for permission to medically terminate her pregnancy. However, the magisterial court had declined to grant any relief, saying it was not the appropriate forum.
The Delhi Metro fare hike evoked a mixed response from commuters in the national capital on Tuesday, even as the ABVP agitated against the anti-people measure outside the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) headquarters.

Commuters across the national capital region woke up to increased Metro fares earlier that morning, after demands for deferment were rejected at an emergency meeting of the DMRC board on Monday. The decision to go ahead with the fare hike followed a protracted battle between the Delhi government and the BJP-led Centre on the issue.

Even as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student wing affiliated to the RSS, took its objections to the DMRCs doorstep, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Delhi Congress charted out separate plans to protest the controversial move on Wednesday.

While the Kejriwal-led party will stage a sit-in at Metro stations across the capital under the Metro Kiraya Satyagraha banner from 4 pm, the Delhi Congress aims to hold a similar Stop Politics, Save Metro agitation.

Meanwhile, commuters  who now have to shell out up to Rs 10 extra for travelling over two kilometres  came up with varied responses. Though the more belligerent among them claimed they would switch to alternative modes of transport (including buses) in view of the Metro fare hike, others seemed to take the extra expenditure in their stride.

I have no alternative mode of transport because there is no direct bus service from Ghaziabad to Delhi. So, I have to stick with the Metro even if they increase the fare, said Rupal Sachan, a bank employee who commutes from Vaishali to Rajiv Chowk regularly.

Several commuters came out in support of the fare hike, stating that such a move was necessary to maintain the quality of the transport service. A few angry ones, however, said they were even considering driving to work in the circumstances.

The Delhi government, meanwhile, took its fight against the fare hike a step further by devoting an entire day to discuss the issue in the assembly. It later passed a resolution seeking the formation of a committee to probe how the tariff hike is intended to improve the DMRCs financial health.

After the assembly session, chief minister Kejriwal held a review meeting of the Phase-IV Metro project. It was attended by DMRC chief Mangu Singh as well as officials of the Delhi governments finance and transport departments.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday alleged that the move to increase fares of the Delhi Metro was a conspiracy to benefit private cab aggregators, as the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution to oppose the proposed hike.

Speaking at the Delhi Assembly in support of the resolution moved by transport minister Kailash Gahlot, Sisodia said that the fare hike was an attempt to turn Delhi Metro into a premium public transport system.

Conspiracy is being hatched to make the Metro so expensive that people are forced give up using the Metro and start taking Ola and Uber. It is a conspiracy to benefit these taxi companies, Sisodia told the House.

The resolution opposing the increase in Metro fares, which is likely to come into effect from Tuesday, was passed by a voice vote in the House.

Suggesting that the mass rapid transporter focus on more factors than just profitability, Sisodia asked if the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was a soap-selling company, since it appeared to be giving profit such high priority.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been opposing the proposed Metro fare hike. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also wrote to Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri urging him to stop the fare hike keeping larger public interest in mind.

On Sunday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, while offering to take over the Metro, had agreed to grant a 1,500-crore subsidy to the DMRC if the Centre too matched the figure. In order to stop the hike, the Centre had earlier asked Delhi government to pay DMRC over 3,000 crore annually till 2022 take care of loan repayments, depreciation for replacements and operational expenses.

Sisodia also vowed to make the Metro profitable and efficient if the DMRC is taken over by Delhi government. Rather than thinking of a solution to avoid the fare hike and still make Delhi Metro a profitable venture, they (the Centre) are blaming Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Let me tell them that, even today, the DTC has more ridership than the Metro, he said.

During the discussion, transport minister Gahlot said the DMRC has failed to earn revenues through property development despite the fact that it has properties in several prime locations in the National Capital. From 2006 to 2017, the Metro has earned only 413 crore from property development. If they (Metro) would use their property efficiently, there would be no need for the hike, Gahlot said.

Hitting back at the Kejriwal government, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the AAP dispensation was not serious about concerns of the people. There are five nominees of the Delhi government in the DMRC board. Why did they allow the board to increase fares of Metro? The government is not serious on this issue, Gupta, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, alleged.

Gupta also raised the issue of delay in projects and said Phase-III of Delhi Metro was planned to be completed by December 16, 2016, but due to the AAP governments inaction, the work has been delayed by over 15 months.

Gupta also demanded that Delhi government must provide an annual grant of 3000 crore if it wanted the fare hike the Delhi Metro to be put on hold. Delhi Metro rules stipulate that the state government must bear 100% operational losses. Interference in the recommendations of fare fixation committee is against the rules, Gupta said in the House.

BJP MLAs marshalled out of House

Meanwhile, BJP MLAs Manjinder Singh Sirsa and OP Sharma were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Monday after they sought an apology from Kejriwal over his alleged use of foul language in the last session on October 4.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel issued several warnings to Sirsa and Sharma having them marshalled out as they kept interrupting the discussion on a resolution moved by Gahlot against the proposed hike.

The CM should apologise as in the last session during a discussion on guest teachers he used foul language for the Opposition. It is a serious matter, Sirsa said before he was marshalled out.

The Delhi Metros minimum fare was hiked from 8 to 10, and the maximum from 30 to 50, in May this year. If the fares are increased on October 10, the maximum figure will go up from 50 to 60.

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HT Correspondent

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced it would launch a protest from Wednesday evening at all the metro stations demanding rollback of the fare hike even as the Delhi assembly resolved to constitute a nine-member committee to look into the rationale behind DMRCs move.

Speaking to journalists at the Delhi Assembly, AAPs Delhi convener Gopal Rai said party leaders would protest at the Union urban development ministry office at Nirman Bhavan on October 13.

The AAP called the protest Metro Kiraya Satyagraha.

The ministry and the Delhi government are equal stakeholders in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution tabled by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to form a nine-member committee to look into the rationale and logic behind the hike in tariff and the financial health of DMRC.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel will nominate members of the committee.

The Delhi Metro fares were increased from Tuesday despite strong opposition from the AAP government.

Rai said the Modi government left them with no option but to hit the streets by increasing the fares. The increase in metro fares will trouble the common man but will help cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber whose services would now become cheaper than metro. Our demand is rollback of the fare hike, the AAP leader said.

On Monday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had termed the fare hike as conspiracy to benefit the online cab aggregators.

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot while replying to a discussion in the House said the decision to go ahead with the fare hike, in DMRCs emergency board meeting, was taken in an undemocratic manner.

Gahlot said that in Mondays board meeting, five directors nominated by the Delhi government strongly placed their views but the hike could not be stopped.

If the voices of our directors are not even considered, then what is the point of the Delhi government having a 50% stake in DMRC, Gahlot said.

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said students and working people would be the worst hit.

This fare hike will not raise metros collection but reduce the ridership. It is a conspiracy to increase congestion and trouble the common man.

Jain said DMRC should focus on real estate development and use its properties to increase its revenue.

AAP legislator from Burari Sanjeev Jha started the discussion and said that AAP was ready to protest and do everything possible to reverse the fare hike.

His colleague Alka Lamba called Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the central government dictatorial and said that they would compel them to reverse the fare hike.
A 24-year-old burglar, called Spiderman by his friends, has been arrested along with his three accomplices, police said.

Jai Prakashs friends called him Spiderman because he used to climb buildings effortlessly. Besides Prakash, the police have also arrested Ravi Kumar, who used to help Prakash in burglaries, and Sanjay Goyal and Pramod Kumar Shah, who bought the stolen items from Prakash. The four were caught between October 7 and 9 from Subhash Place and other areas in northwest Delhi, police said.

The police have seized wristwatches, diamond and gold jewellery, mobile phones, laptops and vehicles from them.

A resident of Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi, Prakash had taken a room on rent in Majlis Park where he used to live. He could climb as high as fifth or sixth floor of buildings with no ropes. He would climb the sanitary pipes or PNG gas pipelines to enter homes, said a police officer.

Prakash told the police that he would conduct reconnaissance of buildings in posh residential colonies during the day time to identify targets. After zeroing in on the buildings, he would strike in the night.

Prakash used to hide himself in a park close to the building he planned to target. He used to wear a pair of black pants and black t-shirt so that he wasnt seen during the night, the officer said.

Police said that Prakash mostly committed burglaries alone. But in some crimes, he took Ravis help. Prakash used to deposit stolen gold jewellery in various gold finance companies and took cash against the deposited gold.

Goyal and Shah helped Prakash in disposing of other jewellery items and stolen articles, added the officer. Shah ran a jewellery shop in Sahipur village in Shalimar Bagh area for the last twelve years. He purchased stolen jewellery and sold them to another jeweller in Karol Bagh area, police said.
The Supreme Court has reinstated its ban on the sale of firecrackers in and around Delhi before Diwali to prevent toxic haze, but try explaining that logic on social media.

Tweets and Facebook posts alleging Islamic rule and targeting of Hindu festivals started trending after the courts ban on Monday. People who alleged conspiracy in the courts order appeared to have ignored the toxic impact of firecrackers.

Dense smog in Delhi had forced authorities to close schools and ban construction activities after Diwali last November. That year the city struggled with its worst air pollution for two decades and air quality was categorised as severe. Schools had to be shut down and hospitals reported a rise in cases of respiratory distress, with elderly and children the worst hit.

Experts said fireworks, burning of crop residue in neighbouring states before winter, vehicular emissions and construction dust were the main culprits for the toxic smog. Preventing pollution isnt a good enough reason for some on social media though.

School students cover their face with a handkerchief to avoid thick smog near the India Gate in New Delhi. (Raj K Raj/HT File Photo)

A trader in Sadar Bazaar, Delhis firecracker market, believes Hindu festivals are being banned. A video of him speaking out against the ban was retweeted over 2,000 times.

'There are bans only on Hindu festivals in India,' Gen Sec of Sadar Bazaar says on Supreme Court's #firecrackers ruling #Delhi-NCR pic.twitter.com/eFiuBWxHbP  Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) October 9, 2017

Meena Das Narayan, who has a verified Twitter account and calls herself a Narendra Modi supporter, said she would rather light firecrackers than cut a thousand cows.

I wud prefer lighting a 1000 #firecrackers than cutting a 1000 cows and making rivers of blood flow through cities #Celebrate #Diwali loudly pic.twitter.com/zou4DiwGub  meena das narayan (@MeenaDasNarayan) October 10, 2017

Best-selling novelist Chetan Bhagat tweeted after the top courts ruling: Can I just ask on cracker ban. Why only guts to do this for Hindu festivals? Banning goat sacrifice and Muharram bloodshed soon too?

And w all respect who decides on what makes a part of a celebration, done for generations, suddenly unholy? And the courts should ban it? https://t.co/YZqzDD8HfB  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017

    ,               Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017

Others echoed his sentiments. NO firecrackers in Delhi-NCR on Diwali as Supreme Court bans sale until November 1. But does SC have guts to ban slaughter on Bakra Eid? questioned Twitter user Jagrati Shukla.

Another user, Shefali Vaidya, took a defiant stand. Every Hindu household in Delhi should make it a point to get firecrackers from outside NCR and light them outside the SC! she wrote.

It's not a ban on firecrackers, it is a ban only for Diwali. Fine for Christmas and New Years.#FireCrackersBan #FireCrackers#awkward  manideep (@manideep1919) October 10, 2017

To counter conspiracy theorists, there were appeals for logic. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor responded to Bhagat: Your examples of practices integral to those observances; banning them would be like banning lamps on Diwali. Firecrackers are unholy add-ons.

The annual episode of air pollution on the onset of winter has already begun this year. Farmers in villages of neighbouring states Haryana and Punjab have set fire their farmlands on fire, leaving behind black ash. NASA images showed stubble-burning has already begun and firecrackers during Diwali are known to be a major source of pollution before winter.

Delhis air quality has already started deteriorating, and PM10 and PM2.5 levels are gradually shooting up. With a health hazard in the making, the question is: How did an environmental issue like banning firecrackers turn communal? Guess it happens only in India #crackerban (sic), said Ashwin.

Others argued that the ban was simply a pre-emptive step to stop smog from engulfing Delhi-NCR. Some, however, pointed out that bursting crackers has nothing to do with Diwali and it is a practice fuelled by commercial markets.

@autumnrainwish where it is written tht Deepawali can only be celebrated by bursting firecrackers ?? Why not set example 4 next generation?  Trainee Bhakt (@TraineeBhakt) October 10, 2017

Check air quality in your part of the city with HTs Air Quality Map
The Capitals eastern suburbs are staring at a civic crisis as hundreds of municipal sanitation workers announced on Tuesday to strike work, a move that could overrun roads and neighbourhoods with mounds of rotting garbage this Diwali.

The Swachhta Karamchari Union, which calls itself the biggest worker union of East Delhi Municipal Corporation with 11,000 members, called an indefinite strike from Wednesday over non-payment of salaries, bonus, and arrears due from 2003.

The repeated financial crisis shows the inefficiency of the civic agency in running the system. This time there will be an infinite strike unless all financial issues are sorted out, said Sanjay Gehlot, president of the association.

The rival Swatantra Majdoor Sayunkt Morcha, a union with members in the citys three municipal corporations, also announced a strike from October 16.

The protest raised fears of a repeat of the crisis this January when a strike by 16,000 municipal employees brought the national capital on the brink of a civic lockdown and sparked fears of disease.

Roads and residential areas were strewn with waste and a putrid smell shrouded east Delhi that produces 2,800 tonnes of garbage daily.

No matter where and how the funds are arranged, we want our pending salaries, bonus, arrears and cashless medical insurance for employees. The EDMC needs at least Rs 2,000 crores to fulfill these demands, Gehlot said.

The corporation has not paid its sanitation workers since September.

Mayor Neema Bhagat called their demands legitimate. We are trying to convince them to stop the strike and cooperate with the corporation so that the area remains neat and clean during the festival, she said.

The cash-strapped agency is reeling from a huge budgetary deficit since the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2011. It has failed to pay salaries regularly, triggering six strikes in three years.

The civic crisis is often caught up in political stink. The three corporations are controlled by the BJP and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government accuses rival party councilors of siphoning off funds meant for salaries. The BJP denies the charges.

The strike in January was called off after 11 days when the Delhi government released funds.

We will meet the finance secretary on Wednesday and ask the Delhi government to release the amount and deduct it from the quarterly grant, EDMC commissioner Ranbir Singh said.

According to him, the civic agency has started releasing salary to sanitation workers on its rolls, but additional funds will be needed to pay daily wage earners and other employees.

Singh had said on October 5 that he has asked the Delhi government to give Rs 200 crore to pay salaries and bonuses before Diwali.

The festival of lights falls on October 19 this year.

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Anyone keen on buying crackers legally from areas outside the prohibited limits of Delhi-NCR will have to travel a distance of nearly 140km to 200km from the eastern and southern borders of Delhi with Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Gurgaon on its peripheries.

It would mean a commute of six to eight hours for up and down movement and a few thousands of rupees on fuel and other expenses.

Residents of Delhi-NCR will have to drive down to Aligarh (140km), beyond Alwar (158km), Mathura (162km), Ambala (202km), Hissar (172km), Bijnor (163km) or Moradabad (180km) to be able to buy crackers from the nearest market selling them legally.

The Supreme Court reinstated on Monday its ban on the sale of firecrackers in and around New Delhi ahead of Diwali, in a preemptive step to stop a toxic haze from engulfing the region like last year. The ban will be applicable in Delhi-NCR. Besides Delhi, the NCR comprises 14 districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat, Rohtak, Sonepat, Rewari, Jhajjhar, Panipat, Palwal, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Charkhi Dadri, Jind and Karnal in Haryana.

In UP, the NCR consists of Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar districts.

The ban will be in force in Delhi and the 21 districts in neighbouring Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. A person keen to buy and use firecrackers will have to travel beyond these territories.

In the absence of a detailed order, officials were not forthcoming, except for saying they would implement it.

While resident and environmentalists in NCR towns welcomed the ban, those in the trade were upset.

In Gurgaon, where the annual business is estimated around Rs 15-20 crore, traders said they had already made advanced payments to suppliers.

There are five magazine holders in Gurgaon who supply crackers across Haryana, including Delhi-NCR. Their business runs into crores of rupees. Local traders have already made payments to them and the stock is theirs now. What will happen now, said Amit Nagpal, a cracker trader.

Last year, the Gurgaon administration had issued 200 temporary licenses, less than the earlier figure of 500. Crackers are allowed to be sold for three days at sector-29, the sector 5 at HUDA ground and Gaushala ground near Sadar Bazar. The wholesalers have stockyards at Gadoli village and on Jhajjhar Road.

City fire officer IS Kashyap said the process of issuing temporary licenses for sale of crackers had not begun yet. The process would have started from October 12 had this order not come, he said.

In Ghaziabad, which has fireworks manufacturing units in Farrukhnagar, manufacturers said 2,500 families in and around the village would be affected.

We cannot sell old stock and have no means to sell the stock outside NCR region, said Asif Ali, a fireworks manufacturer.

Officials in Ghaziabad were waiting for a detailed order. We have directed the respective sub divisional magistrates and police officials to check and stop any sales. We have to check the court order copy in case it allows traders to sell their stock outside, said Ritu Maheshwari, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.

In Noida, district magistrate BN Singh had urged the RWAs to appeal to their members not to burst crackers. The air quality goes for a toss every Diwali. We have appealed and will inform residents in all sectors again about the SC order, said AN Dhawan, secretary general of the Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association.
A 21-year-old man has been arrested for duping an e-commerce company of Rs 52 lakh by ordering expensive mobile phones and later getting refunds by claiming he received an empty box, police said on Tuesday.

In April and May, Shivam Chopra, a hotel management graduate, allegedly sought refunds on 225 mobile phones and managed to trick the company into making a refund on 166 occasions, said Milind Dumbere, DCP (north-west).

A resident of Tri Nagar in north Delhi, Chopra worked in some hotels for a brief period and is currently unemployed.

He was arrested last week following a complaint by the e-commerce company whose internal team investigated the crime.

Explaining his modus operandi, Dumbere said that Chopra relied on Sachin Jain, a telecom store owner, to provide him SIM cards on fake identity proofs. Chopra procured 141 SIM cards and created more than 50 email IDs using those numbers. He created many accounts on the e-commerce app and began ordering mobile phones, he said.

Chopra would allegedly provide fake addresses for delivery. When the delivery boy would be unable to trace the address, he would call Chopra for directions. Chopra would then call him to a random place and receive the product by paying cash. This process would ensure his real identity was never known, added Dumbere.

Minutes after the delivery, Chopra would allegedly seek a refund from the company by claiming that the phone box was empty. The company would initiate the refund in the form of gift voucher. Chopra benefitted twice  by receiving the refund and by selling the new phone without its box and documents.

Chopra misused the e-commerce companys customer satisfactory policy by working in a planned manner, said Dumbere in a press conference which was also attended by a team of the e-commerce company.

When questioned by Hindustan Times, the team members refused to comment on the seemingly easy method for anyone with fake credentials to dupe the company.

Neither the police, nor the company officials at the conference answered questions on the mechanisms in place to verify a customers allegations in such cases.

The company realised that they were being cheated when they found that that all the purchases were being made from one particular neighbourhood in Tri Nagar, said an investigator not authorised to talk to the media.

Despite his efforts to allegedly procure multiple SIMs, create email IDs and have several bank accounts, Chopra erred when it came to creating a fake name. He operated under the fake name of Shubham. It sounded similar to his original name, Shivam. He did not find it necessary to use a new name each time, said the investigator.

With this name and the details of the modus operandi, the company approached the Shalimar Bagh police station in north-west Delhi last month. A case was registered and the investigation was handed to the districts cyber cell team.

Weeks of investigations on the purchase trails led the police to Chopra. Three delivery boys have identified him, the investigator added.
It was possibly meant as a flourish of language to put across how serious he was about the issue; but when a Cabinet minister in Uttar Pradesh responsible for Backward Classes Welfare and Disabled People development threatened to keep people in police stations without food or water if they failed to send their children to school, he made a spectacle of his absolute lack of awareness about the problem. The problem of schooling is not simply one of parents not wanting their children to be educated. It is a far more complicated problem of social deprivation, access to schools and the quality of education, among many others. A statement like this can be treated as insignificant if it comes from a lay person, but is irresponsible from a minister in the UP cabinet.

Indias government school system, especially in villages and far flung areas, is plagued by absentee and unqualified teachers, terrible infrastructure, and barely any official attention to their plight. Social norms force girls to either give up education or never go to school at all. The terrible infrastructure in schools, problems of access to rural schools, widespread caste-based discrimination are all roadblocks in the path to education in rural India. Many children are forced into work at a very early age to buttress their familys meagre incomes, and can therefore not afford to go to school at all. Seasonal migrants and their families that have to travel in order to work, earn a living, and make ends meet can hardly be blamed for not sending their children to school.

Coercion cannot be the solution to what is definitely a serious problem. Threatening parents with dire consequences for failing to send their children to school will only worsen an already bad situation for most marginalised parents. The government must instead work on making it possible for everyone to be able to send their children to school. Addressing the social issues around the problem of compulsory schooling in a organised and multi-pronged way is a better solution than threatening punishment.
Delhi metro rides became costlier from Tuesday after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) board decided against rolling back the hike recommended by the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC). Fare-hike, especially of services like energy or public transport, often meets with stiff opposition from the political class. The DMRC boards decision too has not gone down well with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. He has called the move anti-people despite being aware that a fare hike had become a necessity in the wake of metros mounting operational cost.

The DMRC board must be applauded for standing its ground in the face of strong political pressure from the city government to reverse the hike. Ignoring the law --- Metro (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2002 --- which makes it binding on the metro rail administration to accept the recommendations of the FFC, the Delhi transport minister threatened to revoke DMRC chief Mangu Singhs appointment if the hike was not reversed.

Populism could hurt the Metro

Populism, however, well intentioned, should not come at the cost of hurting the efficiency of the citys most popular mode of public transport. A roll back or deferment could earn political dividends for the AAP government but will be disastrous for Delhi metros financial health and operational performance. The last time metro fares were increased was in 2009. Since then electricity tariff has gone up by over 90%, accounting for almost 30% of DMRCs total operating cost. In the last few years, the DMRC has written several times to the Delhi government and the Union housing and urban affairs ministry to increase the fares, citing the rising operating cost. In 2015-16, DMRC had suffered a net loss of Rs 708.5 crore. In January, Arvind Panagariya, former chairman of the federal think tank NITI Aayog had also flagged the issue when he wrote to the Prime Ministers Office that at the current level the fares are inadequate for the provision of high quality services and maintenance.

What happens elsewhere?

Despite the hike, Delhi metro fares continue to be far lower compared to other international cities. The minimum fare in Delhi post revision is Rs 10 as against Rs 288 (4 pound) in London, Rs 35.51 (1 SGD) in Singapore and Rs 21 (2 Yuan) in Shanghai.

Building and running metro rail service is highly capital intensive. Periodic fare revision is a prerequisite for running it efficiently. Worldwide, passenger fares are the largest source of income for metro rail. In London Underground, for instance, the Mayor decides the fare and political interference is unheard of. In India, the FFC is an independent entity set up by the Centre as and when a metro rail corporation requests a fare hike. They are temporary in nature and has three members who are appointed by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet.

Though under the statute FFCs are insulated from political interference, there have been instances where state governments have not accepted their recommendation. In Mumbai Line-1, the FFCs recommendation was not accepted by the state government and challenged in the court. The case is yet to be disposed of.

Subsidy is not the answer

Subsidising a world-class service like the Delhi Metro will not only delay the expansion of the network in the city, it might also send it the way the other train/local services have gone in different cities in India.

Take the case of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the operator of the public transport fleet of buses in the city. Low fares over the years have crippled the public transporter with its fleet now reduced to 3,944 as against the requirement of 5,500 buses. The Delhi government is giving grant-in-aid of Rs ,1600 crore every year to the DTC to keep it running.
Madhu Kumari teaches students of Class 1 to 5 in a government upper primary school for three hours devoting one hour each to mathematics, English, and Hindi.

After that, the 15-year-old attends Class 7 for three hours in the school in Patpara locality of Rajasthans Bharatpur city.

I make all students of primary classes sit in one classroom and teach them from 9.30am to 12.30pm, said Kumari.

Kumari has to perform the duties of a teacher because the school of 134 students, including 73 girls, has just one: the principal.

The schools principal, Rajni Upadhyay, said she had to request Kumari to teach the primary classes after her petitions to the education department went unheard.

I have been requesting senior department officials for posting teachers here but in vain, Upadhyay said.

There are 1,196 primary and upper primary schools in Bharatpur and most of them face a shortage of teachers.

The student-teacher ratio, especially in government schools, is dismal and there is a need to hire more teachers according to the recommended level in the country, experts say, where the quality of education is sub-standard, with poor learning outcomes across the board.

Kumaris three siblings are also students of this school - her brother Mayank Kumar is in Class 7, sister Palak is a Class 6 student and Shivani is in Class 4.

The students of senior classes struggle to complete their syllabus by self-study because theres no one to teach us, said Kumari, whose father is a daily-wage labourer and mother a homemaker.

Puja Kumari and Chanchal Kumari of Class 8 said they were sceptical of taking the board examination conducted by the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education as they fear they will fail.

Principal Upadhyay admits most students are weak in all subjects.

They dont even have the basic general knowledge and cant name Indias President, Prime Minister, forget about their local MP and MLA, she said.

Additional district education officer (elementary education) Sunil Gupta said most of the primary and upper primary schools in the city have been facing shortages of teachers. He said the government has decided to allot teachers to fill the vacant posts in these schools.

The education department has received 24 teachers who will be allotted in different schools, he added.
The chaos surrounding the exam schedule released by the University of Mumbai (MU) has not only delayed the first semester tests, but has also drastically reduced the time available for the next semester. This has forced almost all the city colleges to rework their timetable for the rest of the academic year.

The university, which adopted on-screen marking (OSM) for digital evaluation of answer sheets to avoid human error, is still struggling to complete the assessments. Though the varsity officials said they have announced results of major courses, after missing several deadlines, thousands of students are awaiting their individual results.

With the MU delaying the results of the last semester examination, the timetable for the ongoing semester, which usually ends before Diwali, is expected to run from the second week of November until mid-January. The next semester, which starts after the Diwali vacations, will be delayed by nearly two months.

Colleges affiliated to MU are currently busy reworking their academic calendar in order to accommodate maximum lectures while conducting exams.

Our college runs classes in shifts in order to accommodate junior college as well as degree college courses in three different streams, aided as well as unaided departments. We cant conduct regular lectures during exams so on most days, classes from the morning or afternoon shift will have to be cancelled, said Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate.

In a series of meetings held at the college, the teachers are trying to work out a plan that ensures lectures of a particular department are not cancelled indefinitely until exams are over. This is an unwanted task. We have no choice but to work around the examination schedule, said Wadia.

Most colleges run their degree college classes in the morning shift and push the junior college classes (class XI and XII) to the afternoon shift. According to the examination schedule put up by the university, on some days colleges will end up conducting exams in two shifts, leaving them with no classrooms for regular lectures.

November to January not conducting regular lectures means the exams will eat into almost half of the academic time of the second semester. Our teachers are planning extra lectures during holidays and on Sundays to avoid loss of academic time, said Rajpal Hande, principal of Mithibai College, Vile Parle.

Since many teachers were busy assessing exam papers until recently from the previous semester, colleges are avoiding conducting extra lectures during Diwali vacations in order to give teachers a break. Christmas vacations will have to be compromised, as well as Sundays, said another principal, on condition of anonymity.

November and December is also the period when many colleges conduct their annual festivals. However, with examinations as well as lack of time for regular lectures, many institutes have postponed their cultural festivals by a couple of months.

Itll be unfair to cancel these activities, because children work really hard for the festivals as well. We have requested them to conduct the festivals in January instead of November and December this year. We have no choice but to conduct extra lectures to make up for lost time, said Sobhana Vasudevan, principal of R A Podar College, Matunga.

While colleges are currently conducting Allowed To Keep Term (ATKT) exams, examination for the fresh candidates will begin from November 6.

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Festivities and fashion are inseparable, and keeping in tune with the celebratory spirit of the month, runway action is ready to take over Delhi.Organised by Fashion Design Council of India, the five-day fashion week, that starts on October 11 (Wednesday) at NSIC Grounds and wraps up on Sunday (October 15), will celebrate many milestones. Its the 30th edition of the extravaganza, and many designers are also celebrating 25 years in the industry. These include Payal Jain, Abraham & Thakore, JJ Valaya, Anju Modi and Ashish N Soni. Im delving into my archives, revamping my sketchbook and re-inventing some key things done in the past. It might seem like it is very easy to work with blacks, but its a big challenge, something I wanted to take on, says Soni, wholl present all-black eveningwear for men and women, with textural innovation.

Ashish N Soni celebrates 25 years of being in the industry.

Creations by Abraham and Thakore.

A glimpse at Pawan Sachdevas collection.

Focus is also on fabric engineering, with Rimzim Dadus opening show. I have taken my fascination for cords and yarns further this season. Last season, I played with steel wires and this season, I have taken traditional metallic zari and tried to change its characteristic and behaviour by way of deconstruction and construction. So, its a modern take on zari and other traditional yarns like silk threads. Having said that, the steel wires do make a come back, in a new more fluid form, she says.

Tomorrow! A post shared by Rimzim Dadu (@rimzim__) on Oct 10, 2017 at 1:19am PDT

Creations by designers Kavita Bhartia, Madhu Jain, Nikhita Tandon and Payal Jain.

Designer Charu Parashar is showcasing her designs after a gap of two years.

Muses also take on centerstage, like Rina Dhakas modern nomad. Dhaka is also part of the two-tiered finale which will see pret and couture come together. Ashish N Soni, Krishna Mehta, Pankaj & Nidhi, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Gandhi-Rahul Khanna will wrap the showcase, with Suneet Varma closing with couture and celebrating 30 years in the industry.

Suneet Varma will mark the culmination of the grand finale.

I believe fashion is the politest way of speaking about sex. But, i like the subtle unspoken word, left to the imagination of the wearer. The glamour and sensuality in this collection comes through the use of sheer and lucid fabrics, the delicate placement of embellishments, the drapes and the unexpected details, and, what they reveal or conceal. Couture is like a sixth sense of seduction. It has its own vocabulary and language, like an elaborate braid entwined with history, myth and tradition. It may be modern, whimsical or demure, but always magnificent and carefully crafted , says Varma.

Heres a sneak peek at some other designs:

Dhruv Vaish plays with spring-ready hues like pinks and calming blues for the coming season.

JJ Valaya, who completes 25 years in the industry, is going to showcase occasionwear.

Nida Mahmoods collection focusses on athleisure.

Inputs by Akshay Kaushal

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The Catholic Christian community in Gurgaon has alleged that the burial ground in Ghata village in Sector 58, which was allotted to them by the government in June, 2006, is not accessible as locals have allegedly turned it into a garbage dump. The community also alleged that repeated attempts to build a wall on the site have been thwarted by the villagers who refuse to let them take ownership of the site.

The community members have decided to meet the Huda administrator this week, saying they are finding it difficult to reason with villagers.

They said villagers are not letting them built a boundary wall for last two years and the district administration has been unable to help them deal with locals.

We have not been able to take the physical possession of the land, as whenever we had gone to build the boundary the villagers came and threatened us and asked the contractor to leave the place immediately, Shashi Dharan, treasurer, Gurgaon Catholic Cemetery, said.

There are around 20,000 Catholics spread over different parts of the city and they have been living in Gurgaon for decades. There are around 5 Catholic churches in Gurgaon but there is no designated burial ground for the community. They said since they are unable to take possession of the Ghata cemetery, they are often forced to go to Delhi for burials.

It is very sad that we are unable to carry out construction work on the cemetery land despite being given possession by the Haryana Development Authority (Huda) last year, said Anthony Cruz, secretary, Gurgaon Catholic Cemetery.

Villagers have allegedly dumped construction waste on the cemetery land. Random dumping of waste has not only turned the burial site into a garbage dump, but has also hurt religious sentiments of community members. It is also a source of major pollution, as the pile of garbage and construction waste has risen to almost 10 feet.

Read I A grave concern: Gurgaons dead jostle for two yards space

There is no place for us even after our death to rest in peace. Even after HUDA allotted land for the cemetery, we are not being given access to the burial site, said Father Joseph Henry, chairman, Gurgaon Catholic Cemetery.

Newly re-elected area councillor Mahesh Dayma said, I will organise a meeting with the Catholic community and speak to the official concerned to resolve the issue at the earliest. If the land belongs to Huda and has been given to members of the community, they have every right to use and access it. I will also speak to the village sarpanch and ensure that the matter is resolved amicably.

HUDA officials said that the matter has been brought to their notice and they will take steps to resolve it.

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Fashion designer Donna Karan has said her comments supporting movie mogul Harvey Weinstein over sexual harassment charges levelled against him were taken out of context. On Sunday, Karan, who is also a friend of Weinsteins, told the Daily Mail that he was wonderful. Karan also shamed the victims and said women must consider if the way they dress suggests they are asking for it.

Weinstein was fired late Sunday from his own film studio, three days after a bombshell New York Times report alleged that the Oscar-winning producer behind such hits as The Kings Speech and The Artist had preyed on young women hoping to break into the film industry. Among the women who have accused him of asking sexual favours in return of advancing their careers include Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan.

Donna Karan attends the 69th Annual Parsons Benefit at Pier Sixty, in New York 69th Annual Parsons Benefit, New York. (AP)

I think we have to look at ourselves, Karan said on the red carpet at the CineFashion film awards in Los Angeles, I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?

Karan said women who dressed provocatively were asking for trouble. You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.

The DKNY founder was among the first few to defend Weinstein. After facing a backlash on social media and many celebs including McGowan who called the designer scum in a fancy dress, Karan said her statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein.

Here is Donna Karans statement:

Last night, I was honored at the Cinemoi Fashion Film Awards in Hollywood and while answering a question on the red carpet I made a statement that unfortunately is not representative of how I feel or what I believe.

I have spent my life championing women. My life has been dedicated to dressing and addressing the needs of women, empowering them and promoting equal rights.

My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein.

I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual.

I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.

Earlier, movie legends Meryl Streep and Judi Dench led a chorus of outrage Monday following the revelation that Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed women for decades, as Hollywood stood accused of covering up a pattern of misconduct that finally cost the film mogul his job.

Streep -- who famously called Weinstein "God" in an Oscars acceptance speech -- broke her silence in a statement first published by the Huffington Post, in which she said she was "appalled" by the "disgraceful" news and insisted "not everybody" knew about the allegations.

"I don't believe that all the investigative reporters... would have neglected for decades to write about it," she added.

Fellow Oscar winner Judi Dench, who has credited much of her success to Weinstein and once revealed she had a fake tattoo of his initials applied to her buttocks, said in a statement to Newsweek she was "horrified" and also denied any knowledge of the accusations.

George Clooney also broke his silence and called Weinstein's behavior "indefensible." Clooney said he had heard rumors starting in the 90s about women sleeping with Weinstein in exchange for acting roles, but that he had dismissed them as ploys to dismiss the actresses' talent.

But tough questions were also being asked about what some suspect was a collective effort to protect the movie mogul and father-of-two, one of Hollywood's most influential powerbrokers who was able to make or break careers.

In a statement to the New York Times, the actress Glenn Close acknowledged that "for many years" she had been aware of rumors of inappropriate behavior by Weinstein.

"Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad," she wrote.

The Weinstein Companys board said it had sacked him in light of new information about misconduct in the explosive Times article, which detailed decades of legal settlements stemming from harassment allegations.

Variety magazine reported Monday that Paramount Network had subsequently dropped Weinstein as an executive producer on two upcoming drama series, Waco and Yellowstone.

(With inputs from agencies)
A man who goes by the screenname Averagerob, has social media in splits thanks to his anything but average photoshop skills.

The Belgian man describes himself as a mediocre dude and regularly entertains his 209k followers on Instagram by editing himself into photos of celebrities and politicians.

He falls asleep next to famous people, is Obamas 5am intoxicated friend and asks Selena Gomez to run out and get some toilet paper.

Averagerob created his Instagram account in 2015 and has gotten progressively better with each edit. Sample some:

This beautiful family moment:

Had the weirdest dream last night: Ryan Reynolds was my dad and Blake Lively changed my diapers... twice. Not sure if awkward or lifegoals.  A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:09am PDT

Having a whale of a time with the boys:

Good old times with the boiz  #PrankWarz A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Aug 14, 2017 at 9:49am PDT

This is what dreams are made of:

Never let your dreams be dreams people. Make it happen! Always wanted to be @MileyCyrus's dog... Look at me now bitches!!!  #Inspirational Follow me on my personal instagram too: @shittyrob  A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Jul 6, 2017 at 9:21am PDT

Their hearts will go on:

In a parallel universe my grandfather cockblocked Jack, hooked up with Rose and the Titanic never sunk. #DamnPlayer A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on May 31, 2017 at 8:57am PDT

The time when Justin Bieber left him in the cold:

Justin, I can't feel my toes or nipples anymore... Am I about to die? A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Apr 21, 2017 at 8:53am PDT

The time he fooled around on Ellens couch:

Ellen: 'Do you have any special talents?' Me: A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Jun 8, 2017 at 9:59am PDT

Or asked Selena Gomez to get some toilet paper:

Babe... can you go get some extra toilet paper? I'm afraid we're out.  #MexicanFoodProblems A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Oct 17, 2016 at 9:26am PDT

Psssst:

Pssst... Excuse me Mr. Trump... I think you forgot your bag of lies.  A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Sep 27, 2016 at 9:29am PDT

Watch out, Rob!

"Thou shall not stand behind Barack Obama while fishing." A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Jan 15, 2017 at 9:36am PST

When he hung out with Brad and Angelina:

Good old days...  #RIPBrangelina A post shared by Average Rob (@averagerob) on Dec 8, 2016 at 8:49am PST
A Sonepat court on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb maker Syed Abdul Karim alias Tunda for his role in 1996 Sonepat blasts.

The court of additional sessions judge Sushil Garg also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 50,000 each for conviction in two sections) on him.

Tunda has been held guilty under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 (causing explosion likely to endanger life or property) of the Explosive Substances Act.

On December 28, 1996, Sonepat was rocked by two blasts at the bus stand and a local sweets shop  both crowded areas  within a span of 10 minutes. The blasts had left 12 people injured.

The police had registered a case against three persons  Shakeel Ahmad, Mohammad Amir Khan and Tunda. Ahmad and Khan were arrested by the police in 1998 while Tunda remained at large. In 2002, a Sonepat court had acquitted the arrested duo for want of evidence.

Tunda was later arrested by Delhi Police in August 2013 from the Indo-Nepal border in Uttarakhand.

While recording his statement in court in September this year, Tunda had maintained that he was in Pakistan at the time of the bomb blasts. He was also on the list of most-wanted terrorists that India had given to Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Tundas involvement is suspected to be in at least 40 bomb blast cases across the country, including the 1993 Mumbai train blasts.

Originally from Uttar Pradesh, he is accused of teaching bomb-making to jihadists in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Some reports said he was planning to train Rohingyas from Myanmar to target the Buddhists there.

The prosecution lawyer said 43 witnesses, including those who were injured in the blasts, recorded their testimony in the court during the trial.

Brought by the Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) police here, Tunda has been kept in the Sonepat jail, the police said.

The blast victims welcomed the court order.
Three teachers of a state-run medical college and hospital were booked by the police on the charge of sexual assault and harassment of a student from Jharkhand.

Police said on Tuesday a case has been registered against a senior resident, an associate professor and the head of the department of the dental wing of the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

The second year post-graduate student lodged a written complaint with the police against the three teachers on Monday.

They have been booked under various IPC Sections including 354 (assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 294 (obscene acts) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), police said.

In her complaint, the student said she had been sexually assaulted by the senior resident and the associate professor for the past several days.

When the woman brought this to the notice of the head of the department on Sunday, he misbehaved with her instead of helping her, she alleged.

The three accused were yet to be arrested.
A minor tribal girl in Odishas Koraput district was allegedly gangraped in Odishas Koraput district on Tuesday by four men wearing uniforms, who, her brother alleged, were paramilitary jawans engaged in anti-Maoist operations.

BSF DIG JC Nayak, however, denied involvement of any BSF men in the case.

The class 9 girl was returning to her village Musuliguda in Pottangi block of Koraput after registering her biometrics for Aadhaar card in Kundulihaata area. After taking an autorickshaw initially, she was walking when the men in uniform intercepted her and took her to a nearby forest.

The victims brother alleged that four BSF jawans gagged and sexually assaulted her in the forest. One of my aunts rescued her and admitted her to hospital, he said.

Denying involvement of BSF men, DIG Nayak said its nearest company is located about 35 km from the said spot and BSF does not operate in the area since it is quite away from our jurisdiction.

The girl is undergoing treatment in Koraput district hospital and is stated to be in critical condition, police said, adding that the culprits are absconding.

This incident triggered outrage among locals, who blocked the roads. Congress workers staged a dharna before the SP office, with Koraput MLA of Congress, Krushna Chandra Sagaria demanding speedy investigation and immediate arrest of the culprits.

As per the statement of the girl, the accused persons were in uniform, Koraput SP, Kanwar Vishal Singh said, adding that a case has been registered at Pottangi police station and an inquiry has been initiated.
The CBI has booked a deputy commissioner of the customs department for allegedly allowing importers evade duty on items worth Rs 188 crore in June, and also carried out searches in Bihar and West Bengal on Tuesday.

The searches were carried out at 10 locations in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal and Bihar in connection with alleged illegal imports to the country in collusion with customs officials.

CBI sources said the searches were carried out in connection with an FIR registered against deputy commissioner Navneet Kumar, appraiser Vicky Kumar, examining officer Pranabananda Bala, all posted at Air Cargo Complex, NSCBI Airport, Kolkata and a private citizen Mohammed Naseeruddin.

The deputy commissioner and the appraiser have already been suspended by the customs department.

It was also alleged that in pursuance thereof, couriers/importers were illegally allowed to import items like cigarettes, steroids, hormone supplements, branded shoes, mobile phones, high-end watches and cameras etc. on the basis of false declaration given by the importers about the content of the consignments, a CBI spokesperson said here today.

In the said manipulations, the customs officials allegedly facilitated the importers in paying minimal customs duty, thereby causing huge loss to the Indian government, he said.

It was further alleged that the DRI, Kolkata intercepted such mis-declared consignments worth around Rs 188 crore approx) in the month of June, 2017, the official said.
The government had transitioned from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday in another swipe following a report alleging that a firm owned by BJP chief Amit Shahs son saw a huge rise in turnover after the party came to power.

Gandhis remark came after several Union ministers came out in support of Shahs son Jay Amit Shah.

Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao, Gandhi said on Twitter, using the term Shehzada to describe Shahs son.

He also tagged a report headlined Piyush Goyal defends Jay Shahs business dealings for second day along with his tweet.

On Monday, Gandhi had pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say something on claims in the report in the news portal The Wire.

Modiji, ...Did you act as a watchman or were you a partner? Please say something, he had said.

The Congress has launched an all-out attack on the BJP chief with several party leaders holding press conferences across the country to hit out at Shahs son over his alleged business dealings while prodding the prime minister to speak on the issue.

The charge has been rejected by the BJP and Shahs son, who termed the report false, derogatory and defamatory.

The Congress is asking Prime Minister Modi to remove him as BJP chief and order a probe by Supreme Court judges.
The Gujarat government has decided to reduce the value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by 4%, state chief minister Vijay Rupani said on Tuesday.

The reduction in tax comes just before Diwali in the state, where the assembly polls are due around the year-end.

After the central governments instructions, Gujarat has decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent from today mid-night, Rupani said at a press meet here.

With this rate cut, the price of petrol will come down by Rs 2.93 and that of diesel by Rs 2.72 in the state, he said.

The effective price of petrol in Gujarat from mid-night today will be Rs 66.53 per litre and that of diesel Rs 60.77 per litre, the chief minister added.

Because of this move, the state government will suffer a loss of Rs 2,316 crore annually.

But we have taken this decision in the interest of people, Rupani said.

The lowering of tax in the poll-bound Gujarat follows Union finance minister Arun Jaitley recently writing to all state governments nudging them to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel.

The Centre had recently brought down excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre.

A day later, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan asked the states to slash the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on fuel by 5%.

We urge the states to take the responsibility just like the Centre did, in direction of the consumer interest, so that they get more relief, Pradhan said.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also said that the government would have a serious discussion on the topic, and quipped, Wait for Diwali!

However, the Kerala government, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), objected to the directive, citing that the status is unfavourable to implement the move.
The BJP government in Uttarakhand has recommended the withdrawal of a court case against party legislator Ganesh Joshi, who was booked last year for rioting, hurting and killing Shaktiman, a police horse, during a party rally.

In a letter marked to district magistrate, Ajay Rautela, the additional secretary (home), has instructed to do the needful and inform the government.

Shaktiman Killing March 14: Shaktiman injured during the BJP rally in Dehradun, hind limb fractured March 15: A team of doctors visit, Shaktiman injured limb operated upon March 17: After it fails to show sign of recovery, a team of vets decides to amputate hind limb. An artificial limb is fixed. March 19: Shaktiman stands on his feet with an external support March 28: Skin grafting of the wound is held April 3: Horse stands first time on feet, on his own April 10: Permanent prosthetic leg fitted April 20: Shaktiman succumbed to dose of anesthesia

Government has decided to withdraw the case in the public interest against Ganesh Joshi booked under various sections, the letter by Rautela read, a copy of which is with the HT.

Joshi, a three-time MLA from Mussoorie, was arrested on March 18 last year after he was booked for allegedly hurting a police horse Shaktiman during a party rally held in capital on March 14.

In a video that went viral, Joshi was purportedly seen charging towards the white horse.

The horses hind leg was amputated and a prosthetic leg was fitted, but it couldnt survive and died on April 20. The incident snowballed into a major controversy.

Joshi was not available for comment. One of his spokespersons admitted that they have been pursuing the case (for withdrawal) for long and are yet to receive an official communication.

Former chief minister Harish Rawat reacted sharply to the withdrawal of the case.

It is absolutely unfair to the poor animal which lost its life... I think Maneka Gandhiji should take cognisance of this step of the BJP government, Rawat said, referring to how the Union minister and animal rights activist had called for the arrest of the person responsible for Shakitmans death for killing a police officer on duty.

An Indian police officer salutes the body of police horse 'Shaktiman' in Dehradun on April 21, 2016. (AFP)

State BJP president Ajay Bhatt, however, said Joshi was made a political scapegoat. He didnt hurt the horse. I think the government has rightly taken the decision.

Animal rights activist Pooja Bahukhandi also criticised the governments decision. It appears government has no sensitivity (towards animals).

As a mark of respect, police have named a petrol pump in Shaktimans name besides erecting a statue at Police Lines.

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Women over the age of 45 and travelling in groups of four will be able to go for the Islamic haj pilgrimage without a male guardian next year, if the government adopts proposed reforms.

Women meeting these criteria will no longer have to be accompanied by a mahram, or close male relative, such as a father, husband, brother or son, a government-appointment panel recommended in the countrys first haj policy review.

The mahram rule was there from the very beginning for women - in case they face any difficulty while travelling, it can be taken care of, said Maqsood Ahmed Khan of the Haj Committee of India, a government body which organises the pilgrimages.

This (dropping of male kin) is an important recommendation, the chief executive told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Nearly half of an estimated 170,000 pilgrims who went for the annual religious celebration in Saudi Arabia from India this year were women, officials said.

The panel of bureaucrats and intellectuals was appointed by the ministry of minority affairs to review Indias haj policy for the first time.

Officials from the ministry, which will decide whether to adopt the recommendations, were not available for comment.

The policy would cover the next five years from 2018 and is in line with Saudi Arabias haj requirements.

Womens rights campaigners welcomed the proposal but said it did not go far enough.

Muslim women are travelling across the world independently, said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, which campaigns for Muslim womens rights and won a ban on an instant divorce law in August. While this is a good decision, the restrictions on age and group size should go.

If the new rule is implemented, solo women will no longer have to pay private tour operators to provide them with a mahram for a fee of Rs 10,000 ($153.29), campaigners said.
The Army said on Tuesday it has foiled an infiltration bid of militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Search operations are going on in the area.

An infiltration bid was foiled by the Army in Keran sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district last night, a defence spokesman said here.

The spokesman said during the searches this morning, soldiers recovered two AK rifles, four magazines, 60 rounds, one pistol and other war-like stores.
Heated exchange of arguments between Supreme Court lawyers in what is now called the love jihad case in the Supreme Court prompted the Chief Justices bench to adjourn the hearing on Monday.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra, justices DY Chandrachud and AM Khanwilkar took strong exception to the tone and tenor of arguments forwarded by senior advocate Dushyant Dave who, on behalf of Kerala resident Shafin Jahan, alleged the Centre was using his marriage with a Hindu girl who converted to Islam to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere.

Your tone and manner of submissions are(unclear). You have actually bulldozed your case, the CJI responded when Dave took names of senior BJP leaders to profess the party was communalising the issue.

You dont have to take names of political persons or institution. Keep the legislature and executive outside, Justice Chandrachud told Dave when he kept taking names of BJP leaders.

We dont want to hear submissions unrelated to the case. Please restrict your arguments to the lis (suit) in question, remarked the CJI.

Before the judges intervened, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh shot back at Dave for his obnoxious statements. He told the bench that the high court had relied upon five other decisions before arriving at its own decision to annul the marriage.

Dave also asked the bench to let Jahan and Hadiya celebrate Diwali together, a plea the court refused. It will next hear the case on October 30.

The bench, however, did assert that a 24-year-old woman (Hadiya, in this case) has the right to take decisions for herself and her father cannot interfere with those. Basic principle is when a person who is mentally sound takes a decision, then it has to be respected. The father cannot say I must have her in my custody because she is my daughter.

Hadiyas husband Jahan has challenged the Kerala high courts May 24 order annulling their marriage, which took place in December last year. The order came on a plea by the womans father, Ashokan. The HC set aside the marriage on the ground that the woman was brainwashed and radicalised by elements linked to extremists.

A bench headed by then CJI JS Khehar had in April ordered an NIA probe after the womans father submitted there exists a well-oiled mechanism in Kerala through which girls are brainwashed into joining Islamic State.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Tuesday it has arrested one accused for organising a terror camp in Keralas Kannur district in 2013.

Azharudeen aka Azhar, 24, a resident of Narath in Kerala, was arrested on Monday night, an NIA official told IANS. He would be produced before a trial court in Ernakulam.

The counter-terror agency said the arrest involved the April 23, 2013, case when the secret training camp was organised by Thanal Foundation Trust inside one of its buildings to impart training in using of swords and explosives.

On January 20, 2016, the NIA Special court had found 21 persons of the Popular Front of India (PFI) guilty of the charges including criminal conspiracy, membership of unlawful assembly, possession of arms and explosive substances, inciting communal disharmony, assertions prejudicial to national integration besides organising the terrorist camp.

The case was first registered by the state police, before it was taken over by the NIA in August 2013.
The government has set the ball rolling for raising salaries of judges of lower courts with the law ministry proposing the appointment of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) to recommend pay hikes for approximately 22,000 judges.

The last pay hike, which was a three-fold increase, was given to the subordinate judiciary in 2010 and was applied retrospectively from January 1, 2006, sources in the ministry revealed. The commission will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice PV Reddi.

The current entry level salary for a junior civil judge is approximately Rs 45,000 while a senior judge draws close to Rs 80,000 apart from other allowances and benefits. The commission will submit its recommendations in early 2019 and the hike again is expected to be given with retrospective effect.

While state governments pay the salaries of lower court judges in their respective states, the Centre foots the salary bill for such judges in Union territories.

A revised proposal was sent to the cabinet secretariat on Tuesday and will come before the Union cabinet in the coming days. This is likely to be cleared soon because the ministry has already responded to all of the queries raised by the cabinet secretariat in its earlier correspondence, a source in the know said.

Since the commission will also look into other conditions of service other than the emoluments, the ministry has also obtained inputs from the ministries of housing and urban affairs and the departments of expenditure, pensions, legal affairs and legislative departments.

The move comes after directions from the Supreme Court in May. The first judicial pay commission, headed by Justice Jagannatha Shetty was set up in March 1996 on directions of the SC and it submitted its report in November 1999. The All India Judges Association approached the SC again in 2009 after the sixth pay commission for government employees.

The SC directed the appointment of a one-member committee under Justice E Padhmanabhan, a retired high court judge, who submitted his report in July 2009 recommending the three-fold hikes.

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A week after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of claiming credit for schemes launched by his party for Amethi, BJP chief Amit Shah addressed a rally in the Congress bastion.

The BJP chief asked Rahul Gandhi to show his report card as the Amethi MP and urged the people to give the BJP and Narendra Modi a chance in the 2019 Lok Sabha constituency.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the demonetisation move was praised even by Nobel-winning economist Richard Thaler.

The rally is aimed at playing up Union minister Smriti Iranis work for the constituency.

Union minister Smriti Irani, who lost to Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, targeted the Congress vice president, saying the person who doesnt know the difference between relay transmission and FM station is talking of development.

The BJP leaders claim that the rally will showcase growing saffron presence in the Congress citadel where BJP won six out of the 10 assembly seats in the UP assembly polls.

Below are the highlights:

1.34pm: You have reposed faith in one family for 60 years, you wont regret if you give the BJP and Narendra Modi a chance, BJP chief Amit Shah concludes his speech.

1.33pm: Rahul Gandhis eye-glasses are made in Italy, cannot see Indias development, says Amit Shah.

1.31pm: Amit Shah targets Rahul Gandhi, says BJP has given the country a PM who speaks.

1.26pm: Not BJP but people of Gujarat will give the report card of the states development , says Amit Shah.

1.24pm: There are two models in the country -- one is of Nehru-Gandhi model and another is of Gujarat model.

1.23pm: BJP chief asks Rahul Gandhi as to why there is no TB hospital in Amethi.

1.22pm: Rahul Gandhi has never visited Amethi collectors office even after being elected as the MP from here.

1.21pm: Rahul Gandhi whose party has ruled the country for 60 years is asking for 3-year Modi governments report card, says Amit Shah.

1.20pm: Shah says Smriti Irani comes to Amethi even after losing the Lok Sabha constituency but sitting MP Rahul Gandhi doesnt.

1.16pm: BJP chief Amit Shah begins speech in Amethi, urges people to strengthen the BJP in the constituency.

1.12pm: Will give jobs to 4 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh, says Adityanath.

1.11pm: My government has provided houses to more than 8 lakh families, says Adityanath

1.10pm: Italy, not Amethi, was in Rahul Gandhis agenda. Smriti Irani has made the Congress leader come here, says the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

1.07pm: There have been attempts to divert land to Rajiv Gandhi foundation in the name of cycle scheme, we will not let it happen, says the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

1.06pm: What has the Congress done for Amethi? I have given jobs to the poor, houses to the homeless. I wonder where was the money going then, says Adityanath.

1pm: Adityanath hails Prime Minister Narendra Modi on demonetisation, says Nobel-winning economist Richard Thaler was among the first to welcome Modis decision.

12.59pm: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath says the government will leave no stone unturned to develop Amethi.

12.52pm: Lotus will bloom in Amthi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, says Irani

12.50pm: What Congress couldnt do in 60 years for Amethi, the BJP government could do it in 6 months, says Smriti Irani.

12.48pm: Rahul Gandhi who doesnt know the difference between relay transmission and FM station is talking of development, says Irani.

12.46pm: Rahul Gandhi is talking of development in Gujarat, but would like to ask him about his works Amethi.

12.45pm: Smriti Irani says people of Pipri village told me the Amethi MP has no time to meet them.

12.43pm: Union minister Irani lashes out at Rahul Gandhi, says people skipped voting in the Lok Sabha election because there was no development.

12.41pm: Smriti Irani says she is fortunate to have contested from Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

12.38pm: Union minister Smriti Irani, who contested the last Lok Sabha election from Amethi constituency, addresses people.

12.10pm: BJP president Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath have reached the rally.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed October 31 for the final hearing of a plea challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

A bench comprising Justices R K Agarwal and S Abdul Nazeer listed the matter for final hearing after counsel for Thakur submitted that she would not like to file any documents with regard to the case.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) had filed its reply in the case saying there was no evidence against Thakur.

Petitioner Nisar Ahmed Haji Sayed Bilal, father of one of the blast victims, has alleged in his plea that Thakur was a powerful person and could influence witnesses in the case.

He has sought a stay on the high courts April 25 order granting bail to her. The high court had granted her bail, saying there was no prima facie evidence against her.

The high court failed to appreciate that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is an influential person and is likely to wield her power and influence in an illegal and unlawful manner to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses, Bilal has said.

He has claimed that there was ample evidence against her and her role, involvement and complicity in planning and executing the conspiracy for committing Malegaon blast is writ large on the case record.

It has said that she had been denied bail by a special court in Mumbai several times in the years 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 on the ground that a prima facie case is clearly made out against her.

Thakur was granted bail by the high court, which, however, had refused similar relief to Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, a co-accused in the case. The apex court had earlier this year granted bail to Purohit with certain conditions.

Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008, at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in Nasik district of north Maharashtra.

A special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court had earlier ruled that the Anti-Terrorist Squad had wrongly applied the MCOCA against Thakur, Purohit and nine others.

The 4,000-page charge sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected as the blast target because of a sizeable Muslim population there. It had named Thakur, Purohit and co-accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey as the key conspirators.

The charge sheet had alleged it was Pandey who had instructed Purohit to arrange explosive RDX, while Thakur owned the motorcycle which was used in the blast.

Ajay Rahirkar, another accused, allegedly organised funds for the terror act, while conspiracy meetings were held at Bhonsala Military School in Nasik, it had said.

Rakesh Dhawde, Ramesh Upadhyay, Shyamlal Sahu, Shivnarain Kalsangra, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Jagdish Mhatre and Sameer Kulkarni were the other accused.
A man in Maharashtras Nagpur kicked a puppy to death and then molested a woman taking care of the injured canine.

A Facebook post has exposed the brutality of 30-year-old Abhishek Ingle, who reportedly kicked the two-month-old puppy till its intestines came out and physically abused Karnika Pandey on Friday.

Pandey, a 25-year-old lawyer who lives in the same society as Ingle, then sought the help of animal activists and lodged a complaint at Gittikhadan police station against Ingle.

He manhandled her and tore her t shirt. This is the man of some company who is in the exectutive post. Do you think that the women working under him if there are any is safe. Do you think this is a man who will protect another? (sic) Seetha Anilkumar, an animal rights activist, asked on Facebook.

Abhishek Ingle reportedly kicked the two-month-old puppy till its intestines came out (Seetha Anilkumar/Facebook)

According to a Times of India report, Ingle was charged with animal cruelty and later released on bail for Rs 15,000.

When the police was approached they booked him under sec 354 which is a non bailable offense but what do you know .He got bail .Thanks to our system and our political class (sic), Anilkumar added.

The pictures of the puppy have been widely shared on social media, with many expressing shock and disgust at the barbarity of the man and calling for stronger laws against animal abuse.

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While many of us might have experienced a situation wherein police delay registering a genuine complaint of theft or robbery, Pune rural police have proved to be an exception to this.

Police found it serious enough to entertain a case of a missing sandal of a person.

In a quirky instance, Vishal Kalekar, a resident of Rakshewadi in Khed tehsil of Pune district, went to a police station on October 3 to report that his brand new sandal was stolen from outside his apartment and insisted on filing an FIR.

And Khed police registered a case of theft under section 379 of IPC against unidentified persons after the 36-year-old Kalekar insisted on doing so, a police official said.

Kalekar lives on the third floor of Palash Residency apartment on Takalkarwadi Road in Khed.

We have registered an offence of theft in this case and our probe is on, Pradeep Jadhav, inspector of Khed police station told PTI.

Asked whether he had faced such instances in the past, the official said one cant say who will come with what type of complaint.

As of now, we only can say that an offence of theft has been registered against unidentified persons and nobody has been arrested yet, he said.

As per the complaint, the incident occurred in the early hours of October 3, between 3am and 8am, when some unidentified persons came inside the building and allegedly took away his new black sandal worth Rs 425, an official said.

After Kalekar approached police, on-duty officer YM Gaikwad registered an offence of theft and Kalekar was given a copy of the first information report (FIR).

Khed police station officials confirmed that police Naik SM Dhole was investigating the case.
Home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called terrorism a curse for the civilised society, and said the NIA will soon choke the foreign fund trail to the terrorists operating in the country.

Some people say that the National Investigation Agency has partially succeeded in stopping foreign terror funding. But I will say that the NIA will fully choke the foreign funding to terrorists in the country soon, Singh said.

Inaugurating the counter-terror agencys headquarters in Lodi Road in New Delhi, Singh also said: The NIA will bring down the morale of terrorists.

He said terrorism acts as a hindrance to development.

Lauding the work of the probe agency for proving its credibility in the last eight-and-half years since its formation in 2008, Singh said the conviction rate of the agency was over 90 per cent.

Singh said investigating terror activities is a tough job. But with the help of scientific investigation, it has filed perfect chargesheets, the home minister said.

He also hailed the NIAs role in curbing the menace of fake currency which acted as an oxygen for terrorism.
For a brief while, Jasleen Kaur Josan was the toast of social media, all thanks to a tweet from a Union minister and reports in sections of the media that the 24-year-old had been chosen for NASAs Mars Mission in 2030.

It all began when Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal tweeted a message on September 24 about Josans selection for the Mars Mission. She posted a picture of Josan in a Nasa uniform with the caption, The first Indian Sikh woman who has been selected by NASA to go to Mars.

The tweet took on a life of its own, and several websites that track the Sikh diaspora soon reeled out breathless stories about the starry feats of the girl from Kurukshetra in Haryana. Some compared her to late Kalpana Chawla, the astronaut from Karnal who was aboard the space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated during re-entry into the earths atmosphere on February 1, 2003.

However, NASA said no one by that name was on its rolls of astronauts, past and present, including the newest batch of 12 astronaut candidates announced in June, or had been selected for the manned mission that will make a fly-by around the Red Planet in 2030.

The US space agencys Mars Mission spokesperson, Kathryn Hambleton, said Josan is also not among active astronauts who are trained, experienced and ready to be assigned to missions, such as Sunita Williams, or management astronauts, who are currently in the employ of Nasa but not eligible to fly missions any more.

Hambleton acknowledged Nasas plans for a manned fly-by mission around Mars in 2030, with the possibility of a surface landing at a future date.

Josan, contacted on email, denied being selected for the Mars Mission. I am an aspiring astronaut. I never claimed that I got selected and was going to Mars in 2030, she clarified.

Born into a family of agriculturists, Josan completed her BTech in aeronautical engineering from Satyabhama University in Chennai in 2015, and is pursuing a masters in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She describes herself as an aspiring astronaut (astrophysicist) on her Facebook page, and a graphic on the page refers to her as a research scientist on Mars Mission 2030.

At pains to clear the air, Josan wrote, Its my request to media to not misunderstand the terms (aspiring astronaut and astronaut). I hope I helped you to clear this misunderstanding. If you have any further queries, I would like to clear them in my words.

She made headlines in 2015 when she was part of the International Space Education Institute Team-Germany that secured second position in the university division of NASAs second annual human exploration rover challenge. Josan was part of an eight-member team that included participants from India, Germany and Russia.

Josan said she aspired to be the first Indian lady to go to Mars for which I am working on a few of my proposals and research. She added, I am doing my postgraduation and will be starting my pilot training soon, also I am assisting few professors in research on a NASA-contracted project.

In a post on Facebook, Josan said: Mars 2030 is a long wayfrom noweven NASA has not made any such announcement yet about the final selection of astronauts to go to Mars, they are still working on it.

She added, I will continue working on my research on Mars and training, and on myself to be one in near future, and I am sure I will definitely make you all proud.

Despite Josans clarification, reports of her selection for the Mars Mission continue to do the rounds, the latest being a tweet from RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka, who said she had been chosen for the manned mission to the Red Planet.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah took their political battle to each others bastions on Tuesday, exchanging potshots on corruption and development ahead of two state elections.

Gandhi addressed young people, women and Dalits in Vadodara as part of a two-day march crisscrossing Gujarat, a state that sent Shah to Parliament and is a BJP citadel. The state, along with Himachal Pradesh, is expected to go to the polls this year.

Shah, along with information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, held rallies in Uttar Pradeshs Amethi that has elected a Congress member to Parliament for almost two decades.

Rahul Gandhi, whose party has ruled the country for 60 years, is asking for the report card of the three-year Modi government, Shah said during a rally aimed at playing up Iranis work for the constituency.

He also said the Congress leader couldnt see development because he wore glasses made in Italy. You have reposed faith in one family for 60 years, you wont regret if you give the BJP and Narendra Modi a chance.

The BJP is focusing on Amethi, a dusty town in eastern Uttar Pradesh that Gandhi represents in the Lok Sabha, and has fielded senior leaders to attack the 47-year-old opposition leader. The party feels that Irani, who slashed Gandhis victory margin by almost 200,000 votes, stands a good chance in the next elections.

Rahul Gandhi has never visited the Amethi collectors office even after being elected as the MP from here. Smriti Irani comes to Amethi even after losing the Lok Sabha constituency..., Shah added.

BJP national president Amit Shah with Union I & B minister Smriti Irani, UP chief minister Yogi and UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey during a public meeting for the launch of several development schemes in Gauriganj, Amethi on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

For the Congress vice president Gandhi, Gujarat is a battleground state where the BJP is facing an irate Patel community and angry Dalits and farmers. Gandhi spoke at length about womens empowerment and hit out at the government for fewer jobs and slowing growth, a common theme in his speeches in recent weeks after the economy decelerated to a three-year low of 5.7% in the quarter ended June.

Claiming that initiatives such as Make in India and Start up India failed to create jobs, Gandhi told students, You people enjoy taking selfies. But when you do so, the jobs are generated in China and not in India. The Modi government has no focus on generating new jobs.

He also attacked the BJP for paying what he said was only lip service to womens empowerment. Have you seen any woman in shorts at the RSS shakhas? That shows their mindset. Their claims of women empowerment are hollow. The moment women tries to raise voice, it has been suppressed.

At his first stop of the day in Karjan, Gandhi took a swipe at Shah, whose son is in the news for filing a Rs 100 crore defamation case against a website over a story on his company. The BJPs slogan has changed to Amit Shah ke bete ko bachao (save Amit Shahs son) from Beti Bachao (Save the girl child). And, this has happened under the nose of Modiji. Modiji calls himself chowkidar (watchman). Where is this chowkidar?.

Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi presented with a garland during a public meeting at Bodeli in Gujarats Chhota Udaipur district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

Later in Vadodara, Gandhi also brought up the murder of Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh last month. Do you know why Gauri Lankesh was shot dead? She was shot dead because they want you to live in fear.

The concluding leg of Gandhis Navsarjan Yatra covered central Gujarat that used to be a Congress bastion till the 2002 elections that were held in the backdrop of communal riots that killed more than 1,000 people.

When the UPA was in power, crude oil cost $140 per barrel, which has reduced to $50 now. But has this benefit passed on to you? Is petrol cheap now? he asked the audience in Dabhoi. The crowd chorused, No.

To the east, the BJP kept up a high-octane attack against Gandhi in Amethi, where the saffron party won six out of 10 assembly seats in the last Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Shah asked shehzada Gandhi, who has questioned the Gujarat model of development repeatedly, about the contribution by the three generations of his family in developing the region.

We have given a Prime Minister who speaks ... Amethi is known all over the world as a Nehru-Gandhi family bastion, but there has been no development, he said.

Adityanath also trained his guns on Gandhi and accused him of being more interested in Italy than Amethi. He ridiculed the Congress leader by saying that while all-round development had been ushered in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi was still asking what had been done in the past three-and-a-half years of the NDA regime.

Rahul is in Gujarat raising questions on development. But why doesnt he answer questions of Amethis neglect? Over the next five years, UP will become developed like Gujarat, the monk-turned-politician said.

Irani accused Gandhi of doing little to develop Amethi.

This state was once ruled by the Congress and the Gandhi clan has been representing Amethi for long. Now is the time for them to answer the people on why there has been no development, she said.

(with agency inputs)
BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday questioned Rahul Gandhi on the lack of development in his parliamentary constituency Amethi, a week after the Congress vice president accused the saffron party of claiming credit for schemes launched by his party. (Highlights)

Rahul Gandhi, whose party has ruled the country for 60 years, is asking for the report card of the three-year Modi government, Shah said during a rally aimed at playing up Union minister Smriti Iranis work for the constituency.

Rahul Gandhi has never visited Amethi collectors office even after being elected as the MP from here... Smriti Irani comes to Amethi even after losing the Lok Sabha constituency... he added.

Irani, who reduced Gandhis winning margin by two lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, has been regular to the Congress bastion where she has announced a slew of projects.

On Tuesday, the BJP is expected to announce about 20 more projects in a bid to reinforce the development narrative ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also present.

The BJP leaders claim that the rally will showcase growing saffron presence in the Congress citadel where the Bharatiya Janata Party won six out of the 10 assembly seats in the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Shah asked Congress shahzada Gandhi, who has questioned the Gujarat model of development repeatedly, about the contribution by the three generations of Gandhis in developing Amethi.

We have given a Prime Minister who speaks ... Amethi is known all over the world as a Nehru-Gandhi family bastion, but there has been no development, he said.

He accused the Congress leader of wearing eye-glasses made in Italy, saying it was a reason he cannot see Indias development.

You have reposed faith in one family for 60 years, you wont regret if you give the BJP and Narendra Modi a chance.

The Congress unit in Amethi has launched a programme to reach out to a village every day to take Gandhis message to the people amid a growing BJP presence. Gandhi was in Amethi on a three-day visit last week and had launched a blistering attack on Modi.
The Rajasthan Congress unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday urging vice-president Rahul Gandhi to take over as party chief ahead of two-state elections scheduled for later this year.

In a meeting held at the state party office in Jaipur, the members passed the resolution. Another resolution empowering party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul to elect the Rajasthan unit chief was also passed.

Across the country, party workers want Rahul Gandhi to lead the party. Under the leadership of Gandhi, our party as a strong opposition is fighting with the untamed BJP government and raising peoples voice, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said.

The proposal for elevation of Gandhi as party chief was moved by Pilot, seconded by party general secretary Mohan Prakash.

Pilot said Gandhi was appointed as party vice-president at a Chintan Shivir held in Jaipur in 2013 and that all Congressmen wished that the 47-year-old leader should take over as party president. The state goes to the polls next year.

The way the Congress party is working in Rajasthan, it is certain that our government will form in assembly elections, said Keval Singh Dhillon, in-charge for organisational polls in Rajasthan.

The move comes as Gandhi is leading the partys campaign in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where elections are scheduled for later this year. The Congress leader has hit out at the BJP government over issues of jobs and economic growth, which slowed down last quarter to its lowest rate in three years.

The meeting comes days after a four-day statewide march led by Pilot that focused on farmers issues and demanded a complete loan waiver. His Kisan Nyay Padyatra was aimed at rejuvenating the Congress and focus on farmers issues in a state where agricultural distress has deepened this year with several protests.

The government will have to waive off entire farm loans instead of mere waiver of loans worth only Rs 50,000. Otherwise, the Congress will continue its fight against the government, Pilot had told a thousands-strong crowd last Friday.

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The RSS brass will have a threadbare discussion on the state of the countrys economy and shrinking jobs at an upcoming meeting in Bhopal, amid growing criticism over Narendra Modi-led governments economic policies.

Stating this, sources said the annual Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini Mandal (ABKM) Baithak scheduled for October 12-14 will be attended by RSS pracharaks from across the country. The pracharaks play an important role in disseminating the organisations ideologies and policies to the people.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is apparently concerned over the impact the economic downturn can have on the forthcoming assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in his annual Dusshera speech has already articulated the concerns of various Sangh affiliates over job cuts, economic slowdown, decline in production and farm crisis.

Bhagwat conveyed to the BJP government the need for drafting policy that is based on feedback from various quarters and to protect the small and medium sectors from economic earthquakes.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and former minister Arun Shourie too recently flayed the BJP-led NDA government for its failure to boost the economy. The government, however, dispelled their concerns.

The Sangh which has backed governments foreign policy and its stand against terrorism, is finding hard to defend the latters economic policy going against the sentiments of its foot soldiers.

Policies such as culling of high-value banknotes during demonetisation, allowing FDI in key sectors such as aviation, defence and food production have been red flagged by the Sangh offshoots, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Laghu Udyog Bharti.

Sources told HT that the meeting will also discuss the issue of Indianising education, giving thrust to teaching in the mother tongue, internal security and expansion of the RSS, particularly in West Bengal, Kerala and the northeastern region.

In Kerala and West Bengal, the RSS is facing tough challenge from the ruling Left Front and the Trinamool Congress respectively.

The campaign, which the RSS initiated to challenge the Left in the coastal state of Kerala is now being taken forward by the BJP, but the Sangh leadership does not wants its cadre to lose momentum of the movement.

Cow protection, making borders impermeable to illegal migrants, counter terrorism in restive Kashmir will be the other important issues the RSS top brass will deliberate upon at the meeting, sources said.

Though RSS leaders claim that upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be kept off the table, sources said the Sangh will review the BJPs poll preparedness in the states.

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A week after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of claiming credit for schemes launched by his party for Amethi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will launch a counter offensive here on Tuesday aimed at playing up Union minister Smriti Iranis work for the constituency.

Irani, who reduced Gandhis winning margin by two lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, has been regular to the Congress bastion where she has announced a slew of projects.

On Tuesday, the BJP is expected to announce about 20 more projects in a bid to reinforce the development narrative ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leaders claim that the rally will showcase growing saffron presence in the Congress citadel where BJP won six out of the 10 assembly seats in the UP assembly polls, a development that many within the BJP say has virtually ensured that Irani will get one more chance to test Gandhi in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Read more: Ahead of Amit Shahs visit, Amethi Cong leader quits to join BJP

There is more to the visit by Shah and Adityanath on Tuesday. As I see it they are not just going to target Rahul but also possibly offer Irani as a candidate best suited to take care of Amethi, says Athar Siddiqui, a political analyst at the Centre of Objective Research and Development in Lucknow.

Tuesdays rally by the BJP leadership is being held on the land adjacent to where the Samrat cycle factory briefly operated.

In 2015, Irani had hurled the land grab charge on Congress leadership accusing them of cheating the farmers in the name of setting up a cycle factory and providing employment. The Congress had responded by slapping a defamation notice on Irani.

Amid growing BJP presence here, the Congress unit in Amethi has launched a programme to reach out to a village every day to take Rahul Gandhis message to the people. Gandhi was in Amethi on a three-day visit last week and had launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP leaders including Irani are expected to increase the number of their visits to Amrthi.

No matter what they do now, even the Congress leadership knows that their citadel is crumbling, says local BJP leader Govind Singh Chauhan.

BJP leaders point to the defection of UP Congress general secretary and former lawmaker from Amethi Jung Bahadur Singh to the BJP as proof of Congresss waning support here.

Singh, who is expected to share the stage with BJP bigwigs on Tuesday, too targeted the Congress leadership of doing little for Amethi building on the us vs them narrative scripted by the BJP leadership.

Amethi Congress Committee chief Yogendra Mishra, however, refused to read much into the BJP rally.

They come here for picnic, he said dismissing any impact of BJP here and that of Irani who has visited Amethi seven times since losing here in 2014.

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Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday assured a Russian youth of help after he was forced to seek alms outside a temple in Kancheepuram as his ATM PIN got locked. The External Affairs Minister also said the government will issue medical visa to a one-year old Pakistani girl for open-heart surgery in India.

Swaraj said on Twitter,

Evangelin - Your country Russia is our time tested friend. My officials in Chennai will provide you all help. https://t.co/6bPv7MFomI  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 10, 2017

The 24-year-old, who is touring Tamil Nadu, had to resort to seeking alms after he failed to draw money using his bank ATM card as the PIN got locked, the police said.

Evangelin arrived at the Kumarakottam Sri Subramanya Swami temple and sat at the entrance with his backpack and sought alms using his cap.

Though the devotees spared money for him, they were surprised at the sight of a foreigner seeking alms and alerted the police.

The police said they gave him some money and advised him to go to Chennai and contact Russian Consulate officials for help.

For Hira Shiraz, the announcement of medical visa for her daughter came on Twitter hours after she made an appeal for its approval.

We are giving visa for the open heart surgery of your one year old daughter Shireen Shiraz in India. https://t.co/Jx0h5GI0qN  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 10, 2017

Earlier, Hira Shiraz had tweeted, Maam @SushmaSwaraj this is humble request to approve our pending medical visa request of my 1year daughter for her open heart surgery.(sic)

Swaraj has been sympathetically considering medical visa applications from scores of Pakistani nationals notwithstanding strain in the relationship between the two countries over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir
A little-known cave shrine tucked away in the scenic hills outside Hyderabad is undergoing a lavish government-funded makeover to realise Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Raos dream of matching Indias richest temple in neighbouring Andha Pradeshs Tirumala.

The Telangana government has allocated Rs 1,800 crore to develop Yadadri, a centuries-old hill temple dedicated to the Hindu lion-god Narasimha, ringed by eight other hills and lush forests two hours drive from Hyderabad.

On the agenda

A sprawling 11-acre temple complex that will consist of seven temple domes, including a 100-foot main dome, a 1,400 acre tourist facilities comprising cottages, multilevel parking, and housing for the temple priests.

The government has already created a special-purpose body for developing Yadadri that has employed more than 500 sculptors, and the first phase of construction is expected to finish by May 2018. The surrounding hills are being developed rapidly and four-lane roads constructed for smoother connectivity.

Once the project is completed, Yadadri is going to be as big as Tirumala, with even better facilities, G Kishan Rao, vice-chairman and managing director of Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA), told Hindustan Times. Construction is likely to be completed by 2019.

Observers say the idea of having a Tirumala-like temple in Telangana is the brainchild of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has had a running rivalry with Andhra Pradesh on several fronts since the two states were created from undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2014  including in the construction of a mega secretariat.

People of Telangana believe Lord Narasimha is most powerful, who wards off evil spirits and cures psychological disorders. They even believe that they could get cured of physical ailments. That is why the chief minister felt the need to develop Yadadri into a globally-known shrine, Rao added.

After construction is complete, the footfall is expected to triple from 10,000 to 30,000 a day and the income zoom from an average of Rs 80 crore per year to Rs 200 crore per year, temple authorities say.

KCRs temple run Presiding deity of Tirumala is Lord Venkateshwara and that of Yadadri is Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Tirumala temple is located on the seven hills. Proposed Yadadri templex complex will be spread across nine hills Tirumala gets 70,000 to one lakh pilgrims a day. Footfall at Yadadri is just around 10,000 a day Tirumalas annual revenue is Rs 2,678 crore (2016-17 records). Yadadri temple revenue is just around Rs 80 crore a year. This year, it might touch Rs 100 crore Tirupati has its own airport. The nearest airport to Yadadri is Hyderabad International Airport, about 70 km away

No mortar or bricks are being used in the construction of the temple. As per the temple architecture of the Kakatiya rulers of the Telangana region, only black granite stone is being used, Kishan Rao said. A giri pradakshana, a 2.7 km road has been developed for the devotees to circumambulate the hillock as a ritual.

But even then, Yadadri would find it difficult to match Tirumala that clocks revenues upwards of Rs 2,600 crore.

Nevertheless, the government believes the temple would spark an economic boom in the area in the form of allied commercial activity in real estate, tourism, transport, commercial establishments, hotels and spiritual centres.

But the opposition says the Telangana government is borrowing huge sums from various funding agencies and financial institutions for developmental works like irrigation and power projects, and wasting money on projects such as Yadadri.

A secular government can support religious activities, but cannot construct temples at the public expense. The money can be better utilised for poverty alleviation programmes, Telangana Congress secretary Dasoju Sravan told HT.

The plan to transform the ancient temple of Yadagirigutta into Yadadri began in February 2015 with the formation of YTDA headed by the chief minister himself. The surrounding seven villages were brought under the YTDA and the authorities removed all encroachments. Renowned architects and builders were engaged for the make-over. The main temple was closed in April last year and a temporary structure was built to conduct regular rituals for the presiding deity.

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The two-day token strike by truckers, which hit supplies pan India, concluded on Tuesday with transporters body AIMTC threatening more action again after Diwali if the issues raised by it are not resolved.

Claiming losses of Rs 4,000 crore to the sector during the two-day strike, AIMTC said the government held meeting with its representatives and if there are no concrete results, an indefinite chakka jam will follow after Diwali.

Truck operators across the country were on a two-day token strike against GST, high diesel prices, harassment by authorities on roads and toll policies, said the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC).

Our two-day chakka jam (strike) during October 9 and 10 remained successful with supplies remaining hit across the country barring essential goods, said Bal Malkit Singh, chairman of the core committee of AIMTC, the apex truckers body which had given the strike call.

We have estimated losses to the transport sector at about Rs 4,000 crore during the two days, he said.

Singh said finance ministry officials held talks with the association regarding the Goods and Services Tax which were positive.

The ministry, he said, has assured of looking into the GST issues after holding consultations with the law ministry.

This was only a token strike called by AIMTC and if no concrete results come from this exchange and discussion (with finance ministry) then an indefinite Chakka Jam will be called post Diwali, he said.

There is much resentment among transporters across the country, Singh said, adding that a delegation will also meet the ministries of petroleum as well as the road transport and highways to discuss issues related to diesel/petrol, tolls and check posts.

He said 12 crore people are associated with the transport sector and it is high time the government rationalised taxes on diesel and reduce its prices in line with the international market.

He added that diesel must be brought under the ambit of GST to bring uniformity of pricing across the country, and the prices should be revised on quarterly basis.

Trucks were seen off the roads in many parts of the country including the national capital.

In Mumbai, truck-operators staged protest march from the Vashi Truck terminal to JNPT Port.

AIMTC, with over 93 lakh truck operators in its ambit claimed support from several transporter bodies.

The Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, on the other hand, termed the transporters strike as a flop show.

IFTRT coordinator SP Singh said industrial belts across the country were largely unaffected by the strike.

AIMTC claimed support from all major bodies including the Federation of Bombay Motor Transport Operators, Bombay Transport Cooperative Consumers Society and Maharashtra Tanker Lorry Owners Association.
Union minister Ashwini Choubeys reported remark about Biharis crowding AIIMS, Delhi even for minor ailments on Tuesday drew criticism from rivals and ally JD(U), with chief minister Nitish Kumar saying it is the duty of MPs to take care of their constituents going there for treatment.

People of Bihar are unnecessarily crowding AIIMS, Delhi even for minor ailments which can be treated at home, media reports quoted Choubey as having told a function here last Sunday.

The Union minister of state for health had also reportedly said he had instructed the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to turn away such patients.

Choubeys reported remark kicked up a controversy back home.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, without naming Choubey or referring to his statement, said it has been the duty of every MP from Bihar to take care of people from their constituency visiting the national capital for treatment at the hospital.

This has been a basic responsibility of every MP from Bihar to attend to people coming from their constituency for treatment at AIIMS, Kumar told a health department function.

He said he used to keep an assistant who would accompany patients to AIIMS so that they were not inconvenienced. Kumar, a former Union minister, represented Barh and Nalanda Lok Sabha constituencies four times in the past.

If a patient was serious, I would myself talk to the doctor concerned or visit AIIMS to see him. During such visits I used to see a large number of people from Bihar thronging AIIMS for treatment, Kumar said.

The chief minister said health facilities have improved in Bihar and now people are going to AIIMS, Delhi out of choice and not compulsion.

Choubeys remarks had prompted Tamanna Hashmi, a Muzaffarpur-based social activist, to file a complaint against Chaubey in chief judicial magistrates court on Monday.

The RJD and Congress latched on to the ministers reported remarks to attack the BJP.

Citizens of Bihar feel insulted by the ministers remarks, senior Congress leader and AICC member Prem Chand Mishra said.

RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari said the minister was talking rubbish.

However, Choubeys party BJP came to his defence, with Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi saying his comments were misinterpreted.

What he (Choubey) intended to say is that efforts are being made to improve the facilities available in Bihar to such an extent that the necessity to rush to other places for better medical treatment was minimised, he said of the Union minister, who represents Buxar seat in the Lok Sabha.
Heckled by students over the cancellation of union elections, the vice-chancellor of Odishas oldest university sat on a 12-hour-long dharna before his office in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday morning.

Protesting against the students unrest and repeated incidents of violence on campus, vice chancellor of Utkal University, Soumendra Mohan Patnaik, along with his other colleagues staged a sit-in in front of his office.

Calling it Introspective Silent Fasting, Patnaik began his dharna at 8 am, a day after he was surrounded and barricaded by students inside his office.

Election to the universitys students union was scheduled on September 23, but the PG Council, the apex body for decision-making on campus, decided not to conduct elections due to what it termed as a deteriorating law and order situation.

The decision was met with howls of protest from students groups affiliated to three major political parties, the Biju Janata Dal, Congress and BJP. They demanded the authorities reconsider the issue and conduct the students union poll this year as the university is an autonomous body.

Last year, Biju Chhatra Janata Dal, the student wing of the ruling BJD, had won the students union polls in the university.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said Monday night that he wants to fight the BJPs ideology but would never wish to wipe out the party because it is an expression of the people of India.

He also said that the crushing defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha was an eye-opener for which he would like to thank the BJP.

Both the Congress and the BJP are expressions of people of India. And Indians respect such expressions. I subscribe to the ideology of the Congress. I will fight the BJP. But I will never wish to finish the BJP from India as it is expression of people of India, Gandhi said during a dialogue session with professionals here.

Read more: Modi govt doesnt listen to people, favours crony capitalism, says Rahul Gandhi

The reference was to the BJPs campaign for a `Congress Mukt Bharat (India without Congress) which the saffron party has been pursuing since 2014 to wipe out the grand old party from the countrys political arena.

In his address to doctors, lawyers CAs and businessmen at Sayaji Hall here, Gandhi added, I am thankful to the BJP because the defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections was greatest thing that happened to me. BJP had beaten me and abused me so much. It opened up my eyes.

Gandhi began a three-day tour of Gujarat on Monday as part of second leg of Navsarjan Yatra in the poll bound state. On Tuesday, he is scheduled to travel to tribal district of Chhota Udepar after interacting with students in Vadodara, anaganwadi workers in Dabhoi and farmers along the route.

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A woman who posted tweets last week accusing Rajya Sabha MP Ritrabrata Banerjee of sexually exploiting her has filed a police complaint at Balurghat police station in Bengals South Dinajpur district.

She alleged in her complaint that Banerjee established physical relationship with her by promising marriage. He broke the promise and this amounts to rape, she told the media on Tuesday.

Till evening, it was not clear whether the police was drawing up an FIR based on the complaint.

Banerjee, who was expelled by the CPI(M) recently for leading a non-communist lifestyle, had lodged a police complaint against Datta on October 6, accusing her of extorting money from him. On Tuesday, the woman admitted that Banerjee gave her Rs 2.5 lakh.

We had a physical relationship. Having realised that he is not going to marry me, Ive lodged a complaint with the police, accusing him of rape, said the woman, a software engineer from Balurghat.

I accepted money from him. This is how he intends to compensate for using me as a sex worker, she said.

She also claimed that she gifted Banerjee the Apple watch that landed him in trouble, with CPI(M) leaders raising voices against his ostentatious lifestyle. I also sponsored his trip when he came to visit me in Netherlands, she claimed.

She had earlier tweeted photos of Banerjee and herself in intimate positions and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Union women and child welfare minister Maneka Gandhi.

She alleged they had physical relationship during her stay in Delhi before she left for the Netherlands.

Ritabrata, however, refuted the allegations, accusing her of extortion. He also uploaded screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation he had with the woman during which she asked Rs 50 lakh for not filing an FIR.

Hard Facts. Manufactured Lies will be combatted. Will not succumb to politically aided threats, tweeted Banerjee. He, too, tagged the Prime Ministers office, the Bengal chief minister and several media houses.
Pakistan on Tuesday handed over to the Indian authorities a woman who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control.

Terming it as a gesture of goodwill the Pakistan Army said in its continuation of efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along Line of Control (LoC), Azmat Jan has been returned at Rawala -Poonch crossing Point on humanitarian grounds, the Inter Services Public Relations said.

Jan who, according to the statement, hails from Degwar Maldialan (in Jammu and Kashmir) had inadvertently crossed the LoC in Chirikot Sector.

In January, Pakistan had returned an Indian solder who had crossed the LoC as a goodwill gesture.
The Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh is planning to install a grand statue of Lord Ram in a warrior pose on the River Saryu in Ayodhya, as part of a plan to put the temple town on the religious tourism map.

The senior most official of the state tourism department said the statue will come up in Ayodhya, considered a political cornerstone after the Babri Mosque there was destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992 to build a temple in its place, only after the National Green Tribunal gives a clearance to the project.

Principal secretary Avnish Kumar Awasthi, who is in Ayodhya, said that 100-metre statue is just at the conceptual level and will be on the pattern of Rams statue at Bali and statue of Shiva in Mauritius and may be installed in the future if the appropriate proposal will be obtained.

Awasthi made an elaborate presentation before governor Ram Naik on Monday about the details of the integrated tourism development programme that will cost approximately Rs 195.89 crore and the grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya this year. Of this, Rs 133.70 crore has been sanctioned by the Union government.

Awasthi said in the presentation titled, Nav Ayodhya, a deepotsav will be organised in Ayodhya at Ram Ki Paidi on October 18, a day before the Hindu festival of lights.

Over 171,000 earthen lamps will be lit to celebrate the festival that marks the return of Ram to Ayodhya after an exile of 14 years in the presence of governor Naik, Adityanath, state tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Union minister of state for tourism Alphons Kannanthanan, and Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma.

This will be Adityanaths third visit to Ayodhya after becoming the chief minister.

He added that a grand procession symbolising Rams return will be taken out and will be received by Adityanath at the Ram Katha Park.

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das of Mani Ram Das Chavni Peeth is likely to lead the procession, being taken out for the first time during Diwali in Ayodhya. Hundreds of saffron-clad saints will participate and the whole of Ayodhya will be decked up for the occasion.

A symbolic rajyabhishek or a coronation ceremony has also been planned.

After the ceremony, the governor and chief minister will lay the foundation stone for various development projects in the temple town and then participate at the aarti on the banks of Saryu.

A 30-minute laser show on Rams journey from Ayodhya to Lanka at the Saryu ghat, also known as Naya ghat, will be the highlight. Artists from Indonesia and Thailand will also stage Ramlila, the popular drama that enacts the Hindu deitys battle to kill the 10-headed demon king to rescue his wife Sita.

But the disputed site that remains Indias most potent religious flashpoint will be left untouched during the celebrations.
BJP chief Amit Shah took the battle against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to his parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, accusing him of neglecting Amethi and failing to see development because he wears glasses made in Italy.

Shah, along with information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, held a rally in Amethi that has elected a Congress member to Parliament for almost two decades.

Rahul Gandhi, whose party has ruled the country for 60 years, is asking for the report card of the three-year Modi government, he said at the rally aimed at playing up Iranis work for the constituency.

The BJP is focusing on Amethi, a dusty town in eastern Uttar Pradesh that Gandhi has been representing in the Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms, and has fielded senior leaders to attack the 47-year-old opposition leader.

The party feels that Irani, who slashed Gandhis victory margin by almost 200,000 votes in 2014, stands a good chance in the next elections.

Changes are taking place in the country. You cannot see because you wear Italian glasses. There will be change in Amethi too in 2019, Shah said, suggesting a Gandhi-Irani rematch.

Pitching for Irani, he said: In my 35 years of public life, I have never seen a winner desert his constituency and a runner-up work for it  Smriti Irani comes to Amethi even after losing the Lok Sabha constituency.

Barring Amethi and Rae Bareli, which is Congress chief Sonia Gandhis constituency, the Congress did not win any seat in the 2014 general election in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP has been growing in the Congress bastion since then, winning four of the five assembly seats in Amethi in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections.

Rae Bareli and Amethi are among seats in the state where Shah has tasked party workers to expand the BJPs presence. He identified Amethi as the most vulnerable and party strategists believe they could spring a surprise for the Congress in this seat.

Shah asked Gandhi, who has questioned the Gujarat model of development repeatedly, about the contribution by the three generations of his family in developing the region.

Amethi is known all over the world as a Nehru-Gandhi family bastion, but there has been no development, he said and called the Congress leader a shehzada, or prince.

He said the people of Gujarat know what development is. You just look at Amethi. You have destroyed it.

For his part, chief minister Adityanath accused Gandhi of being more interested in Italy than Amethi. Rahul is in Gujarat raising questions on development. But why doesnt he answer questions of Amethis neglect? Over the next five years, UP will become developed like Gujarat, the monk-turned-politician said.

Union minister Irani raked up an accusation that had attracted a defamation suit.

A vast stretch of land was given by farmers to build the Samrat cycle factory in Amethi. When nothing much happened, theres an effort to occupy the land illegally. And despite an eviction notice they are not letting the land go, she said.

In 2015, Irani alleged that the Congress had usurped the land.

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Complaining and cribbing about the officials or criticising the government and its policies on social media, including on text messaging app WhatsApp, would soon invite action against state employees in Rajasthan.

The department of personnel (DOP) in Rajasthan has proposed disciplinary action against those employees who tarnish the governments image through their posts. The DOP will soon issue a circular in this regard.

Source said many employees spend a lot of time on WhatsApp and Facebook and post comments obliquely directed at senior officials or the functioning of the government. This action, they said, vitiates the atmosphere and leads to inter-departmental rivalry. Government officials have always been barred from criticising government policy or making statements that embarrass the government on the traditional media.

The existing rules primarily address the criticism made by officials in the traditional media (television, radio and print), not the new media. The new rules seek to clarify the situation with regards to the expected behaviour on social media so that there is no room for misrepresentation, an official familiar with the development said.

While there has not been any big controversy regarding posts on social media in Rajasthan bureaucracy, the officials have been receiving complaints on minor issues.

The draft of the circular is ready and awaiting approval at the highest level. The circular will be directed at those who indulge in unnecessary social conduct rule violation, joint secretary (DOP) Arvind Kumar Poswal told HT.

In July 2016, a controversy had erupted in Madhya Pradesh when an IAS officer, Ajay Gangwar liked a Facebook post critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and praised first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Gangwar, who was Barwani collector, was transferred to the secretariat in Bhopal by the Madhya Pradeshs BJP government and told to give an explanation.

While Centre has framed rules for three all India services  Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service  the Rajasthan governments guidelines will be directed at state services officials.

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Four members of a family died in Khempura area of Udaipur Monday after consuming some poisonous substance, police said. A note found at the their house said they were committing suicide of their own free will.

Forty-seven-yearold Vinod Sharma, a teacher, his wife Kalpana (42), daughter Anju (19) and son Nikhil (17) died at a hospital where they were rushed to by the police.

Preliminary investigation shows that Sharma made others consume food-laced with poison before eating the same himself, said deputy SP Bhagwat Singh Hinger.

We are committing suicide and after our death, our property will belong to my brother Purshotam, a note found at Sharmas house read.

The family was under mental stress after Sharmas elder daughter left the house a few days ago and did not return.

Anju reportedly called some relatives and told them they have consumed poison. The relative informed the police. A team rushed the unconscious victims to the MB Hospital. All of them died during treatment.

The bodies were handed over to Sharmas brother after post mortem.

In a related incident, Sharmas mother in-law suffered a cardiac arrest and died while she was on her way from Hindaun city in Karauli district to Udaipur. She was coming to Udaipur to attend the funeral.
A 17-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Jaipur district was allegedly kidnapped and repeatedly raped by an upper caste man over two days, police said.

Police registered a case of kidnap and rape on October 8 and arrested the accused on October 9.

The girls family said they were threatened against going to police to register a complaint. The girl returned home on October 3, but for two days the family didnt gather courage to lodge a case against the rape accused and his accomplices who helped him kidnap the girl.

Activists who helped the family register the case said police sat over the familys complaint for three days.

The victim and her family went to Pragpura police station on October 5 to lodge the case, but the FIR was not filed until October 8. The police delayed the girls medical examination further by a day, showing their reluctance to act in the case, said activist Kailash Mina.

A few upper caste men from a nearby village were harassing me for past 4-5 months, the girl told HT. On October 1, they forced the girl to come to Kotputli, a town on Jaipur-Delhi highway, and kidnapped her.

After dragging me into a car, they gave me a drink laced with sedatives. When I gained consciousness, I was in Jaipur. Vinod Tanwar raped me repeatedly over two days before I managed to run out and reach Sindhi Camp bus stand. I called my family from there, the girl said.

The victim alleged that the police didnt name all the people whom she had made accused in the initial complaint.

Apart from Tanwar, I had named Gurjar and three other people. But while registering the FIR, the cops have made only Tanwar accused and havent even named Gurjar who was actively involved in the kidnapping, she said.

The case against Tanwar has been registered at the Pragpura police station under IPC sections (rape, kidnapping, punishment for criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and SC/ST Act.

The victim said upper caste people in the village pressured her family to withdraw the case.

The family members of the victim were not allowed by upper caste men to go to the police station for two days after her return; they tried to convince the victim and her family to withdraw the case. Even now they are facing threats, said local activist Radheshyam Suklawas.

Mina demanded that the other accused named by the victim be added to the FIR. The purposeful delay on part of the police shows that there are efforts to shield the accused.

The police said Tanwar has been arrested. We have arrested Tanwar on Monday and any decision on including other people in the list of accused will be taken after further investigation, said Mahmood Khan, circle officer, Kotputli.

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Two months ago, when Hindus across India were planning their biggest annual festivals, a globe-trotting homemaker from Bengal, a restaurant owner with roots in Punjab and a man from Himachal Pradesh who runs stores sat for a meeting hundreds of miles away from their homeland.

The city was Budapest, the capital of Hungary, one of the European nations where only a few people of Indian origin live as permanent citizens.

The outcome of the meeting, however, left a mark forever. Between September 25 and 30, Hungary witnessed not only its first Durga puja but also a simultaneous celebration of Navratri by people from north, west and central Indian states and also Golu, the century-old festival of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The exquisite display of idols at the Golu festival drew a lot of attention (Photo courtesy Confluence of Cultures, Hungary)

Significantly, the festivals were all held under one roof and in accordance with the Indian almanac. This, the organisers proudly claim, never happened in any other country. And, the entire event was managed by women.

Kulvinder Singh Jham, or Kukiji as people lovingly call him, offered the banquet hall of Maharaja, his restaurant, as the venue. And, Santosh Sharma supplied all the provisions from his stores. Without them, this attempt would never succeed, Aparajita Dutta, the Bengali homemaker who landed in Hungary with her husband barely a year ago, told HT.

Kulvinder Singh Jham offered the banquet hall of Maharaja, his restaurant, as the venue for the three festivals. (Photo courtesy Kulvinder Singh Jham)

Prabal, my husband, is a top executive with an Indian MNC. Realising our desperation he flew in a priest from Kolkata. Anindya, our son, came down from the USA to help us out. Santosh Ji even sponsored one of the idols that were brought from Kolkata. The rest of us pulled in our resources. Dashami, the last day of the festival, was celebrated at the Indian embassy, said Dutta who hails from Siuri town in Bengals Birbhum district.

Enthused by the response Dutta named the initiative Confluence of Cultures although the maximum footfall never crossed 180 owing to the miniscule presence of Indians in Budapest and the rest of the country.

Malay Sarkar, a doctor who settled down in Hungary 45 years ago and never witnessed a puja in Bangladesh in all these years was invited to inaugurate the puja. (Photo courtesy Confluence of Cultures, Hungary)

This was a unique experience for me. The Durga puja was inaugurated by Malay Sarkar, a doctor who settled down in Hungary 45 years ago and never witnessed a puja in his motherland, Bangladesh, in all these years, said Debapriya Mitra who arrived in Budapest in 2016 to pursue a degree in film studies.

We all rose above regional feelings and linguistic differences to make this happen. It worked like magic. The Golu and Navratri celebrations were spectacular. And, the food was delicious, Mitra added.

Aparajita Dutta (right) with her husband Prabal Dutta and son Anindya at the venue. (Photo courtesy Aparajita Dutta)

The coming together of people from all corners of my country, a few inquisitive Hungarians joining us, a Bengali couple coming down from Norway on hearing the news et al made this an experience of a lifetime. Budapest became the melting pot of Indian cultures for five days, said Debomit Chakraborty, another student from Bengal.

The ladies took charge of the kitchen for five days. (Photo courtesy Confluence of Cultures)

In America, Britain and Canada, where people of Indian origin have significant presence, Durga puja is performed only during weekends. But we boldly followed the actual dates mentioned in almanac, quipped Mitra.

On the evening of Dashami on September 30, when Kolkatans crowded the banks of Hooghly to bid farewell to Durga and her children, a handful of Bengalis assembled by the Danube. They had left the idols at Maharaja because local laws wouldnt allow immersion. So, they released in the waters a ghot, a small earthen pitcher that carried the spirit of the lion rider down the old river.

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A Trinamool Congress leader in West Bengals Nandigram was arrested on Monday after a woman in her mid-thirties accused him of raping her and alleged she was sexually assaulted as she refused to pay him a bribe  part of the loan she got under a scheme to fund housing for the poor.

We arrested (Asit) Hazra on Monday night from a relatives house, said Alok Rajoria, superintendent of police of East Midnapore district.

The incident took place on September 30 in Subdi village of Amdabad area in Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata, and the complaint was lodged on October 2.

The medical examination of the woman was conducted on October 3 that confirmed rape. The confidential statement of the mother of two children was also recorded in Haldia.

According to her complaint to the police, the 45-year-old leader took advantage of the fact that the area was deserted as the villagers had gone to attend the funeral of a neighbour.

She said Hazra grabbed her and dragged her to the first-floor room of a local club and raped her.

The complaint stated that Hazra was angry after she refused to pay him Rs 10,000 out of the Rs 40,000 loan that she got under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).

Asit Hazra told me that since I did not give him the money, he would take my honour. He also threatened me that if I disclosed the matter to the police or villagers, he will kill the members of my family. He also said that I would be implicated in false cases, the woman, whose husband is a daily wage earner, alleged.

Nandigram is a milestone in the history of Trinamool Congress as it proved to be the end of the 34-year old Left Front government in the eastern. It hit the headlines after 14 villagers fell to police bullets in March 2007.

The villagers were resisting the attempts of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government to acquire 10,000 acres for a special economic zone.

Leaders of the ruling Trinamool said no one from the party could be involved in such a heinous crime.

I dont know why the woman and some outsiders are levelling false allegation against us. We are the only party which respect the women, said Mahim Gayen, a Trinamool Congress leader and gram panchayat pradhan of Amdabad.

However, the law will take its own course and police will conduct a proper investigation, Ranjit Mondal, MLA of neighbouring Khejuri constituency and a former zilla sabhadhipati of East Midnapore, told the Hindustan Times.
Actor Richa Chadda has surprised the audience with her diversified roles and won rave reviews for Gangs of Wesseypur, Fukrey, Ram Leela and Masaan.

The actor has three films lined up for release and promises to bring variety with Jia Aur Jia, Fukrey-2 and international crossover film Love Sonia.

Lucknow should be proud of Ali Talk about her beau and Lucknow-lad Ali Fazal and smile plays on her lips. See how wonderful break has he got (with Judie Dench in Victoria and Abdul). Lucknow should be proud of him, she says. We are cool about it (relationship). When it has come in the open, so yes it is! But we are not discussing it any more. We both are very normal person coming from a simple family and background, she adds.

Her next is dubbed to be the first film on female friendship. I believe we have not made any film on female friendship. I tried searching on net but could not find any while on male friendship the list is long  Dil Chahta Hai, Dostana... We have some memorable friendship songs too but nothing on females. In our film, the hero is a cute guy like we use to have heroines in film, she says.

Talking about her project during her recent visit to Lucknow she says, Two girls are out on a shared holiday to Sweden! They select each other as partner online as they have similar name  Jia. And, as both get along they become good friends. A series of events follow and there is some mystery element to it. So, its an interesting light film which I hope the audience will enjoy.

RELEASE IS THE KEY!

Her film was shot four years back. Release actually is not in our hand. Every film has its own destiny. Today, releasing a film is a bigger task than making one. And, when that happens then stars should also favour you.

When my debut film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! was released, 26/11 (Mumbai attacks) happened. Jia & Jia was shot in 2014, even before Dasdev, but I am happy its releasing at the right time, she says.

Richa feels this is good time for women-oriented films. People have started accepting independent films with female star cast. Different types of women-oriented films like Queen, Neerja and Udta Punjab have worked. I think all this will work in the favour of the film, she says.

Fukrey 2 is set to hit the screens in December. The films fan base increased after its release, especially due to its run on satellite. So the audience is waiting and there is a lot of buzz about the film, she says.

The first quarter of 2018 will see the release of Love Sonia. Its a proper international crossover film. It has been directed by Indian-origin director Tabrez Noorani who is settled abroad. My role has been shot in Mumbai, Hong Kong and Los Angles. Its a hard-hitting film on child sex abuse and international trafficking. The film has been liked a lot in LA, she says.

LUCKNOW MUSING

Richa has extensively shot Sudhir Mishras film Dasdev in the state capital and have been regular to the city since then. Now I know what to see, what to eat and from where to purchase. I have had a long stay here during Devdas (now Dasdev) shoot. We used to do 13 hours shift besides two hours of drive to Faizabad and back. So, I have some good memories of the city and its delicious chaat.
After two patients, one of whom is a 62-year-old paralytic, suffered rat bites at Kandivlis Shatabdi Hospital, local politicians urged municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta to take measures to curb such incidents.

Pramila Nerulkar, 62, was bitten by a rat on October 3.

Her daughter-in-law Sakhi said, She started moving her head vigorously as she cannot talk after the paralytic attack. When I ran towards her, the rat climbed on the oxygen pipe and disappeared. The rat bit her near the eye.

Pramilas son Ratnakar said a diabetic patient in womens general ward, Shantiben Shah, 55, was bitten by a rat on Monday.

After the BMC-run hospital failed to take preventive measures, the two families approached local MLA Manisha Chaudhary.

The hospital administration asked us what more (facilities) you want for Rs10, Ratnakar added.

Chaudhary said that she spoke with hospital administration and met Mehta on Monday. Bedsheets in the hospital arent changed for weeks. There is garbage everywhere. Patients are forced to pay Rs50 to use the washroom, Rs20 to change clothes and Rs100 for a wheelchair which is unacceptable, she said.

She added that she asked Mehta to take necessary action or face protests.

Officials from the hospital said they have written to the Pest Control Office of R South ward to control the rat menace. Relatives of patients throw away food, which has caused rats to multiply. The rats have started making holes in the ceilings to get into wards for more food, said an official.

Dr P Jadhav, chief medical superintendent, periphery hospitals, said they are taking preventive measures to control the menace. We have set around 30 rat traps in the hospital and the PCO officers are also working to control the rat menace. We will issue advisories for patients relatives to maintain hygiene in the hospital, said Dr Jadhav.
Two days before the Nanded civic polls in Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil disclosed that a probe was underway against former Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan over the allegedly illegal transfer of two flats to his daughters in Mumbais upscale Worli locality.

Chavan will be defending his home turf in the Nanded municipal polls on Wednesday. His party has controlled the Nanded Municipal Corporation for the past 15 years, and the BJP is pulling out all stops to storm the Congress last citadel in the state.

Patil made the announcement about the inquiry against Chavan on the sidelines of a party press conference held on Monday to defend BJP president Amit Shah following demands by the state Congress unit that he resign.

Investigations are underway over the transfer of two flats in Worlis Shubhada housing society that belonged to deceased legislators, Baburao Auralkar Patil and Narayan Patil, who allegedly willed them to Chavans daughters Srijaya and Sujaya, Patil said. The society is built on collector land and its members include legislators. These flats have been sealed, and there is an inquiry over this transfer, Patil told media.

However, when Hindustan Times asked Mumbai city collector Sampada Mehta about the sealing of flats, she said: I dont remember passing any such order for any such action in any such matter. She also did not confirm whether her office was conducting an inquiry over the transfer of these flats.

Chavan told HT that the BJP clearly had political intentions in raking up the matter just ahead of the Nanded elections. There is nothing illegal in this case. I spoke to the minister, and he denied that he discussed this issue with media. He also said there is no such inquiry underway. How is it that such an allegation is made a day before the polls? Whatever has been done is completely legal and above board, the Nanded MP said.

Sources said the two legislators were close to Chavans family and in their wills named his daughters as nominees of their flats. Chavans family got the probate of the wills and sought the transfer of flats in the girls names three years ago. This file went to the collector for a no-objection certificate as is the norm since the society stands on collectors land.

One bone of contention seems to have been over the payment of transfer fees for these flats. Chavan had questioned the payment as the flats were transferred on the basis of wills. The BJP is likely to question the validity of the will, officials said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to take the final call in this case; the revenue department has sought legal opinion on the matter.

In 2010, Chavan was forced to step down as Maharashtras chief minister following allegations that his family members got three flats in Colabas Adarsh Tower, originally meant for soldiers but occupied by legislators, bureaucrats, ministers and army officials. He is currently engaged in a legal battle in high court over the BJP governments decision to charge-sheet him in the Adarsh scam case, after Maharashtra governor C Vidyasagar Rao gave the CBI the go-ahead to prosecute him. During Congress tenure, Raos predecessor K Sankarnarayanan had denied the CBI sanction on the grounds that there was no evidence against Chavan.
Mumbaiites may soon have to pay higher fares to travel by auto-rickshaws and the traditional black-and-yellow taxis. They will also likely benefit from a cap being set on surge pricing for app-based services of taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber.

The four-member Khatua committee, appointed to determine fares of autos and cabs, submitted its report to the Maharashtra government on Monday with these recommendations, sources said.

In 2012, following a sharp rise in auto and taxi fares, the government announced that a three-member committee led by a retired high court judge would review the fare hike formula derived by the single-member panel of former IAS officer PMA Hakim. However, no retired judge showed interest in heading the panel, and after a delay of a year-and-a-half, on October 10, 2016, the government appointed the Khatua panel, led by former IAS official BC Khatua.

The panel was supposed to submit its report within 90 days, but it took a whole year to submit its 224-page report to state transport minister Diwakar Raote. Sources said the report got delayed as the government, at a later date, asked the panel to also look at the fares of app-based and electric taxis and autos.

The transport department will study the Khatua panel report and decide on the auto and taxi fare hike, aiming not to burden the commuters too much, Raote said, adding that the government would also take a quick decision on the fares of app-based cab services. It will likely take at least a couple of months for the government to arrive at a decision, sources said.

Maharashtra has around 7.5 lakh auto-rickshaws and 1.5-2 lakh taxis, including app-based cabs. Of this, the maximum number  around 1 lakh taxis and 2.5 lakh autos  operates in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

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Mumbaiites may soon have to pay higher fares to travel by auto-rickshaws and the traditional black-and-yellow taxis, even as the rates of petrol and diesel have dipped.

The Shiv Sena, meanwhile, questioned the BJPs stand on demonetisation, with two of their leaders giving contradictory views. According to a BJP minister, a probe is underway against Congress Ashok Chavan over the alleged illegal transfer of two flats to his daughters in Mumbais upscale Worli locality.

The body of a man who jumped off the bridge at Bandra-Worli sea link was fished out on Tuesday.

The top five stories of the day:

1. Petrol to be cheaper by Rs2, diesel by Re1 across Maharashtra from midnight

Following a diktat from the Central government to reduce state taxes on petrol and diesel, the Maharashtra government slashed the petrol price by Rs2 and diesel by Re1 a litre from Tuesday midnight.

The decision to reduce the value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel was taken in state cabinet on Tuesday.

2. Auto, taxi fares in Mumbai likely to rise soon; cap to be set on Ola, Uber surge pricing

Mumbaiites may soon have to pay higher fares to travel by auto-rickshaws and the traditional black-and-yellow taxis. They will also likely benefit from a cap being set on surge pricing for app-based services of taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber.

The four-member Khatua committee, appointed to determine fares of autos and cabs, submitted its report to the Maharashtra government on Monday with these recommendations, sources said.

3. Demonetisation good or bad? BJP leaders need to make up their mind, says Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming its two leaders gave contradictory opinion on demonetisation.

The party, in its mouthpiece Saamana, thanked transport minister Nitin Gadkari for admitting that the poor were hit hard by demonetisation. Union minister Nitin Gadkari admitted that common man has suffered because of demonetisation. We take Gadkaris words seriously because he is known for being straight-forward. But another senior leader Arun Jaitley has put forth a contradictory view, the editorial said.

4. Ashok Chavan under scanner over transfer of Worli flats to his daughters, says BJP minister

Two days before the Nanded civic polls in Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil disclosed that a probe was underway against former Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan over the allegedly illegal transfer of two flats to his daughters in Mumbais upscale Worli locality.

5. Body of man who jumped off Mumbais Bandra-Worli sea link fished out

The Worli police on Tuesday fished out the body of a man who jumped off the Bandra-Worli sea link on Monday night. The man is yet to be identified. His pants are missing. They might have been washed away with the tide, said an officer from Worli police station, adding the body has been sent to Nair hospital for post-mortem. The police have registered a case of accidental death.
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming its two leaders gave contradictory opinion on demonetisation.

The party, in its mouthpiece Saamana, thanked transport minister Nitin Gadkari for admitting that the poor were hit hard by demonetisation. Union minister Nitin Gadkari admitted that common man has suffered because of demonetisation. We take Gadkaris words seriously because he is known for being straight-forward. But another senior leader Arun Jaitley has put forth a contradictory view, the editorial said.

The Sena said BJP spokesperson should clarify whose opinion should be taken into account.

Gadkari on Monday said the poor faced a hard time after demonetisation, adding that people were happy to see the rich having a tough time because of their black money getting flushed out.

Critical of demonetisation, the Sena claimed the move has led to job cuts and impacted the economy adversely. The editorial alleged it was a conspiracy to convert black money into white, and help the rich get richer.

The editorial said that former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan was compelled to step down for opposing the decision. Rajan was called greedy and incompetent, but the same man has been nominated for a Nobel Prize for his contribution to the field of Economics, the editorial said.

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Seven people were arrested for allegedly holding a Bhayander-based garment trader hostage and assaulting him for nine days because he did not pay around Rs12 lakh in dues. Jitendra Joshi, 32, was allegedly starved of food and water for three days.

According to the police, Joshi was kidnapped from Shri Sai Towers on September 29 and kept in a godown in Sonale village in Bhiwandi. He was rescued by the Thane rural local crime branch on Sunday.

The main suspect, Gajanan Harad, another garment trader, was arrested after named by Joshis mother and brother when they registered a kidnapping case with the Bhayander police. According to an official, Joshi owed Harad Rs12 lakh since February. The police traced Harad through call records and on Sunday raided the godown.

The other suspects  Avdut Shelar, Mayuresh Mhatre, Yatish Desai, Prathmesh Walawalkar, Varun Agrawal and Ramesh Yadav  have been charged with kidnapping and assault.
A 29-year-old woman and her accomplice, who were arrested in a baby selling racket, told the police that they had sent a 19-year-old pregnant girl to Indonesia to a couple, who later may have adopted her child.

Prime accused Julia Fernandes got her accomplice Huma Dalvi arrested on Sunday after she revealed her name to the police while saying that they sold six babies together.

Dalvi told the police that she got a passport made for a 19-year-old girl a few months ago and sent her to Indonesia to work for a couple. Dalvi said she was sent as a domestic help but the girl was probably two months pregnant. The couple, who had allegedly bought the girls child, took care of her and after her delivery adopted the baby legally, said an officer from Wadala TT police station. The police are now probing if there are any other cases with international links.

Dalvi has also told the police that she had sold eight babies. Fernandes and Dalvi were in touch with several IVF clinics and illegal abortion centres in Navi Mumbai, Nalasopara and Panvel to look for couples who wanted to abort. Dalvi would convince them to keep the child and sell it to them for Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. The duo and their agents used to find women for surrogacy too and supply them to illegal IVF centres.

According to the police officers, Dalvi was in this business just for a lavish lifestyle. Apart from selling babies to a doctor in Worli, another doctor in Bengaluru and a couple in Thane, Dalvi has also now confessed to have sold a newborn to a hotel chain owner who stays in Charkop in Kandivli. The hotel owner was in America all this while. He has come to India and we have called him for questioning, the officer added.

In another revelation, Dalvi said she had sold a baby to a Bengaluru doctor for Rs12 lakh saying that it was the surrogates fees. But the baby the doctor was given was an unwanted child and could have been stolen. We are now looking into the baby theft case, said the officer. Fernandes, who is in judicial custody, told the police that she had sold a few babies to Rakhi, an accused in the Thane baby selling racket.

These women have confessed to have sold six to eight babies but the police call it a tip of the ice berg. The cops think the number could be much bigger since they sold atleast two babies a month.
A 32-year-old man, who works in a womens boutique, was arrested for molesting a 19-year-old woman. The police said the accused groped the victim from behind when she was at the boutique after she asked that the size of her dress be reduced.

The incident took place last week when accused Sufiyan Chaudhary, a resident of Saki Naka in Andheri, was the only person at the boutique when the woman came in.

An officer from Bandra police station said, Chaudhary has been working in the boutique for the past 10 years. Last week, at the time of the incident, the woman and the salesman were the only ones at the store.

After she entered the boutique, she liked a dress and then approached Chaudhary asking him if the dress can be altered. Usually there are two salesmen working at a time. But on that day, the accused was working alone as his colleague was on leave. She wore the dress and when she started explaining to him how she wanted it altered, he groped her and wasnt ready to leave her, said an officer.

Soon after the incident, the woman called up her friends, who arrived at the spot and confronted Chaudhary. They then reported the matter to Bandra police station and a complaint was registered.

A police team was then dispatched and Chaudhary was nabbed the same evening. He has been booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody.

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As scores of local tourists frequent the promenade at Powai lake, citizens have been asking the civic body for increased security and more garbage bins. But, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it has bigger plans, including those to ensure a cleaner lake.

Powai residents have complained that the promenade is being repaired at a slow pace and construction debris have been strewn about the place for days.

People also throw garbage in the lake. There are no officials or security at site to ensure that these people are fined, said V A Appukuttam of Powai advanced locality management.

Residents said they felt unsafe owing to bikers who illegally enter the 1.5-km-long promenade. They have thus demanded better security. The bikers are our main problem. They are often found speeding, unconcerned about the safety of visitors, said Thresa George, a Powai resident.

However, according to the civic body, 10 security guards man the promenade in shifts. Officials said they cannot deploy more personnel.

We will install aeration and dissolved-oxygen monitoring systems at suitable locations in the lake to help restore aquatic life. Tenders are being floated and work should commence by January, said Anant Kadam, chief engineer, water supply projects.

Tenders are also being floated for another project to stop sewage lines from entering the lake, confirmed officials. Elsie Gabriel, founder of Young Environmentalists Programme Trust (YEPT), who has been researching the lake for 18 years, suggested the 130-year-old silt traps in the lake be replaced and guarded.

Repairs on the promenade will continue till December. We will act on residents requests and place more garbage bins in the area, added Kadam.
A principal sessions court judge on Monday convicted a 33-year old man for kidnapping and killing his friends 13 year-old cousin to pay money he lost in a bet on an Indian Premier League (IPL) match. The cousin who was also an accused was acquitted because of lack of evidence.

On May 13, 2013, Aditya Ranka, son of a diamond merchant, was kidnapped by Vijesh Sanghvi who later demanded Rs30 lakh to release him.During investigations, the burnt body of Aditya was recovered from bushes near Amba river, Kamsal village, Raigad district.

According to the prosecution, the conduct of Himanshu  Rankas cousin  was found suspicious and he was questioned. It was revealed that Himanshu and Sanghvi had lost a huge amount in a bet on an IPL match and they had to repay the dues. Himanshu, who was into steel business, heard that Adityas father had made huge profit in a deal, which prompted the two to devise a plan.

According to the police, they zeroed in on Sanghvi and Aditya after scanning CCTV footage. Himanshu was allegedly keeping Sanghvi posted about the Rankas move, who had registered a case of kidnapping.

CCTV footage was the key evidence. The police however, had failed to comply with the mandatory provisions to produce this key evidence in the court against the accused. We had to later call the authorised of the premises to bring the footage and certify them. The court allowed us to call them, failing which the accused would have taken advantage of loopholes, said special public prosecutor Kalpana Chavan.

While CCTV footage nailed Sanghvi, the prosecution could not get enough evidence against Himanshu. There was no evidence to link Himanshu with the crime, said advocate Amrish Salunkhe who appeared for Himanshu.

The quantum of sentence would be pronounced on Wednesday.
A teenager was killed while two others were injured after a triple-seat bike ride turned fatal on the eastern freeway. Bikers are not allowed on the freeway.

Ashutosh Patil, 19, lost his life in the accident, while Karishma Shinde, 22, and the bike rider are in hospital. The police did not release the bikers name because they are still investigating if the accident was his fault.

The police have booked the biker, who they think may have lost control of the bike before crashing into a divider, but are also investigating if another vehicle hit the bike.

The police said eye-witnesses initially said a truck knocked the bike down, but CCTV footage does not show a heavy vehicle. A detailed statement of the injured duo will reveal the sequence of events, police said.

The police said the trio from Kurla had gone on a joyride to south Mumbai and were returning home around 6.05am on the northbound stretch (towards Chembur) of the freeway when the accident occurred.

The control room was informed by passersby, said Parshuram Karyakarte, senior police inspector, Wadala police station.

Heavy vehicles, except public buses, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, bullock carts, handcarts and pedestrians are prohibited on the freeway. The traffic police have resorted to penalising bikers on the eastern freeway. It is risky for riders to enter the freeway, Karyakarte said.

At times, police personnel are stationed at Bhakti Park (Wadala), Panjarpol junction (Chembur) and the south-end of the freeway to block two-wheelers from entering the freeway.

Police said during monsoon, the roads become slippery and controlling the vehicle becomes difficult for motorists. Low visibility during heavy rain only makes matters worse.

The accused has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 304 A (causing death by negligence) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).

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Gem, mineral show coming up

COLUMBUS -- The Loup Valley Gem and Mineral Club will hold its gem and mineral show 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3115 Sixth St.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/LoupValleyGemMineral.

Businesses pass compliance tests

COLUMBUS -- Tobacco Free Platte County and Back to BASICs coalitions, in cooperation with the Columbus Police Department, performed tobacco and alcohol compliance checks in Columbus.

Of the four businesses checked, none sold tobacco to a minor. Alcohol compliance checks were also conducted with a 100 percent compliance rate for the five businesses checked.

For these checks, cooperating minors use their own identification and make no attempt to look over the legal age of 18 or 21 years.

Back to BASICs/Tobacco Free Platte County is a collaborative effort that works to keep youth from engaging in activities that contain tobacco, drugs and alcohol.

Rifle sight-in offered Sunday

COLUMBUS -- A rifle sight-in day will be held 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Columbus Rifle Club range located 2 miles west of 48th Avenue on 83rd Street or 2 miles east of U.S. Highway 81 on 265th Street.

Bring at least 20 rounds of ammunition for each firearm, as well as eye and ear protection. This is a free service provided by the Columbus Rifle Club.

UNL sets date to raze dorms

LINCOLN (AP)  The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has set a timeline for razing matching pair of high-rise dormitories that have housed thousands of students since 1963.

The university says in a news release that all 13 stories of Cather Hall and Pound Hall will be knocked down via a controlled implosion on the morning of Dec. 22.

Both dorms have been used for overflow in recent years as the demand for student housing exceeded expectations.

Demolition cleanup and site restoration are anticipated to continue through July 2018.

The university plans to offer a live view of the implosion online. A web address will be announced as the date of the razing nears.

Two arrested for dating app robberies

OMAHA (AP)  Two people have been arrested in connection with a string of robberies of men in Omaha who thought they were meeting with a woman they had messaged on a dating application.

Omaha Police say one of the suspects was linked to the robberies after he sold stolen cellphones at a kiosk and used one of the victims' credit cards.

The second suspect was arrested after a search warrant was served. Several items linked to the robberies, including two guns were found.

The suspects have both been charged in connection with seven robberies and one attempted robbery.

Court documents say all but one of the victims used the dating application called "Plenty of Fish." But instead of a woman, they met robbers.
A day after the Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi, Maharashtra environment minister Ramdas Kadam on Tuesday said that a ban on firecrackers is not on the cards immediately in the state.

While the government will examine the possibility of banning firecrackers, the thrust will be more on building awareness on the harmful effects of firecrackers, the minister said, adding that he would discuss the issue with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Our emphasis will be on creating awareness among youngsters and their parents highlighting the ill-effects of pollution. We dont want to dilute the happiness of the festival of lights by banning firecrackers. There have already been too many restrictions on festivals. I will discuss this with our leaders before taking any decision, Kadam told HT.

The Supreme Court has banned the sale of firecrackers during Diwali in Delhi owing to the alarming pollution levels during the festival. Environmental activists have been demanding a similar ban in other cities such as Mumbai too.
App-based taxi operators like Ola and Uber have adopted predatory business tactics, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay high court on Tuesday.

The petitioners (Ola, Uber) have predatory tactics, they aspire for a monopoly in the market and want to wipe out competition including the common men who drive the black-and-yellow taxis, said an affidavit filed by the government in response to petitions challenging City Taxi Rules, 2017. Such tactics cannot be permitted by a welfare state like Maharashtra.

The state also said that just because Ola and Uber are registered as mobile app-based technology companies, they are not beyond the purview of the states transport rules. Their apps that fix routes, decide fares, are neither regulated, nor subject to any scrutiny, the affidavit states highlighting a pertinent need to regulate app-based taxi operators.

The state, in the affidavit, adds that the only reason the app-based cab operators were against the new rules was that they wished for a free reign. It said the implementation of its new rules was crucial to bring about a level playing field for all cab operators in Mumbai and to ensure better services for commuters.

The court was hearing a bunch of petitions, including a petition filed by Association of Radio Taxis seeking a direction to the government to stop Ola, Uber from operating "tourist vehicles as taxies plying in the city and surrounding areas.

The association has contended that the app-based operators are using tourist vehicles as taxies. They have entered into agreements with owners of tourist vehicles and are plying those vehicles as regular taxies, although a vehicle can be operated as taxi only if the driver has obtained permit from the transport authorities and the vehicles have fare meters.

In June, some drivers from Ola and Uber had also joined the litigation challenging the new rules on grounds that they made it unnecessarily difficult for them to get licences and that the new rules do not allow app-based cabs to ply on national tourist permits. Instead, it makes it mandatory for them to apply for new local permits, they complained. The existing permits restrict such cabs within the city of their registration. The affidavit has been filed in response to pleas of app-based drivers.

Additional government pleader GW Mattos told the court that a committee appointed for fixing fare for app-based taxis submitted its report on Monday and sought time to submit it to the court. The court granted time, but only after restraining the government from taking any coercive steps against Ola and Uber until then.
The police on Sunday arrested a 52-year-old man who allegedly cheated two men of Rs4.2 lakh on the pretext of getting their goods stuck with the Customs department cleared. He will be in police custody till October 13.

The department seizes items imported from foreign countries without paying the Customs duty or tax. While the owner has to pay the amount fixed by the government to get the items back, the accused used to promise to sell the consignments for much lower rates.

The complainant, Avinash Avte, 30, alleged Ali Sadiq Sajwani promised to get him a Rs6.5-lakh consignment containing gold coins, mobile phones and other items cleared for Rs5 lakh, using his clout in the department. Avte claimed he paid Sajwani, an HSC dropout who lived in Lokhandwala, Rs2.5 lakh as the first installment.

During the probe, the police learnt that Sajwani worked as a Customs clearing agent at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai around 15 years ago.

On Sunday, another man filed a complaint that Sajwani took Rs1.70 lakh from him.

The Sahar police have filed two FIRs and are checking if he cheated more people.
A 58-year-old resident of Chembur, Nikhil Parekh, on Monday approached the police after unidentified persons stole valuables worth Rs21.92 lakh after breaking the back door of his bungalow while he was abroad.

The incident occurred at Collector colony in Chembur.

The break-in was noticed by one of the neighbours on the morning of September 22, who then informed Parekh, who was in Australia at the time. Parekh returned to the country and lodged a complaint with the Chembur police on Monday. The house break-in may have occurred during the early hours.

Police said the accused may have gained access to the house though a nullah that passes through the bungalow, which is near the railway tracks.

The stolen valuables include diamond jewelry, precious stones, gold ornaments and cash.

Police said they are trying to ascertain the identity of the accused. A case has been registered against unidentified persons under section 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking), 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night) and 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code.
Some years ago, when the Shiv Sena-BJP government between 1995-1999 was overdrawn on its account with the Reserve Bank of India on more than one occasion, I thought to question Maharashtras previous finance minister Ramrao Adik on why this should be happening so often.

His was an enduring lesson I learnt in terms of my personal finances too. These people have no idea how to manage budgets, he told me scathingly. As with personal finances, so with government funds, you have to apply a simple rule - you do not spend more than you can earn, you do not borrow more than you can pay back. And in paying back you have to make sure you have enough left for a rainy day. And always, always save and save as much as you can for an unforeseen emergency. And always resist the temptation to overspend on a whim.You will then never be in trouble.

I am not sure I followed all those cautionary exhortations in my own life but I know the Sena-BJP government didnt - neither then, nor now. Adik had then warned Sharad Pawar it would take them 15 years to mop up the mess after the Sena-BJP regime and he was prophetic in that regard. The first saffron regime in the state tied itself up in knots over payments to Enron, it took some hard fighting by the next Vilasrao Deshmukh government to get Maharashtra out of the looming financial wreckage in 2000-01 on account of a financial deal that had mortgaged everything to the now defunct US power giant. Had Deshmukh honoured the deal, Maharashtra would surely have gone bust.

On top of it, dealing with Enron did not improve the power situation any. Yes, it took 15 years for the Congress-NCP government to bring the 8-12 hours of load shedding across towns and villages in Maharashtra to nil but it has now taken the second BJP-Sena regime less than three years to slip back into a 12-14 hour load shedding in some parts of Maharashtra, though not yet across the state. The reason forwarded is shortage of coal to fire their thermal power plants but there are whispers that the government has not placed orders for coal which is available in plenty because it does not have money to buy that fuel.

I am beginning to believe that grapevine because of two shocking statements from two ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet within the span of a week. First, the minister for sanitation told certain bureaucrats in western Maharashtra while they must complete the targets for building toilets, they should not seek funds from the government for the same. Now each toilet is supposed to cost upwards of Rs 35,000 and civic bodies fund the owners for undertaking this construction. Predictably, they have been left wondering how to rid the state of open defecation without the funds to build a toilet in every home.

Barely could they get over this, that the tribal development minister informed Zilla Parishad CEOs not to ask for funds for any new development projects in tribal areas, again leaving them wondering how to modernise and connect Adivasis to the mainstream without any fresh funds for newer projects.

It is obvious that the government has spent more than it has earned and borrowed more than it can repay on two counts - the first is the loan waiver for farmers where it had been rather more honest than the UP government in seeking to write off loans upto Rs 1.5 lakh and must find the funds for that from all sources, even if it means robbing Peter (tribals and poor villagers) to pay Paul (farmers). I suspect in many instances the Peters and the Pauls might be the same persons, doubly jeopardised by these government decisions.

And now they are borrowing beyond their means and leading the state towards further financial mess in seeking funds for chief minister Devendra Fadnaviss pet Samruddhi Expressway. Initially banks refused to fund this Rs48,000-crore project and the government put pressure on other flush institutions such as CIDCO to realise the funds. When that proved insufficient, the government asked banks to fund contractors promising to stand guarantor for 60 per cent of their borrowings.

Lacking a few thousands to build toilets and access roads for tribals, but having enough to stand guarantee for a multi-crore project? I was always weak at arithmetic. I guess I have to go back to school for my figures still dont add up!

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The Supreme Court has brought back its November 2016 order suspending all licences permitting the sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail, within the Delhi-National Capital Region. A bench headed by Justices AK Sikri on Monday said the apex courts order of September 12, temporarily lifting the stay and permitting sale of firecrackers, would now be effective from November 1. While bringing back its 2016 order, the SC commented that it would be prudent to try out at least one Diwali without firecrackers in light of the severe pollution and smog-like conditions prevalent in the National Capital Region during this period.

Soon after the Bench passed its order, a familiar chorus began on social media, questioning whether the ban was yet another case of judicial overreach. While the court has been accused of overreach quite a number of times recently, notably for its judgements in the national anthem case, the BCCI management issues, and the ban on the sale of liquor within 500 metres of national / state highways; it should be examined whether the present order is also a case where the court might have overstepped its constitutional boundaries in passing what may initially seem to be an executive instruction.

The question that arises is why the judiciary needs to intervene in administration when that is fundamentally the role of the representatives of the people. Often, this is because of a weak or tentative executive and legislature that fail to perform the constitutional duties. Article 21 of the Constitution gives every citizen the right to life including dignity and comfort in livelihood, and also a right to a clean habitable environment to live in. It is the job of the legislature and executive to ensure these fundamental rights for the people. And so often, these arms fail or are tentative in their duties to implement such fundamental rights for a number of varied reasons depending on the mindset and action plans in force. The judiciary, as a guardian, must then step in and ensure that these breaches are rectified or bottle necks cleared to prevent a crisis in the ecosystem.

One of the parties supporting the plea on the ban on firecrackers before the Court, along with petitioner Arjun Gopal, was the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The September 12 order was passed after hearing all parties, and the court had remarked that a graded approach was needed to be taken to curb pollution caused by fireworks. Since the CPCB was already opposed to the lifting of the ban, and given that farmers in northern India have already started burning stubble due to lack of alternative ways for its disposal, which is likely to lead to massive smog conditions in the capital; it may be assumed that the court in its own prudence stepped up to try and control the severe rise in pollution and environmental degradation in the National Capital Region.

A fair inference can be drawn that the executive (through the CPCB) was in favour but lacked the resources to enforce a protective measure at a short notice. It is at this point that the SC merely gave a helping hand to protect citizens and ensured their right to experience a better environment; albeit for a short duration of about a month.

Can this action be called judicial overreach?

Not really. While passing the order, the Supreme Court does permit the sale of firecrackers to resume from November 1. By not enforcing a complete ban, the court has tried to steer clear of interfering with any major executive decision or administrative policy. The court seems to recognise the severe incoming polluting conditions and merely attempts, in its own way, to help curb the spectre of severe environmental conditions. In doing so, it has tried to help the executive, who seemed in favour of a countermeasure (through the pollution control board), but lacked a certain bandwidth for implementation and enforcement.

Since the conditions will change for the worse in a few days, due to the imminent advent of crop smoke across the region, it was the call of the judiciary to step up to protect and dignify the right to life for the people across the national capital region and give them a small window to experience a slightly cleaner environment for some time.

This order is a small prop to support the preservation of the right to life and dignified living and should not be clouded under the prism of judicial overreach, which the court has made an honest attempt to steer clear of. At the end of the day, a chance to breathe less hazardous air should be cheered for since the pros outweigh the cons in this case, even if a shadow of judicial overreach hangs in the horizon.

Neeladri Chakrabarti is a lawyer practising in New Delhi

The views expressed are personal
Students of Swami Devi Dyal College in Barwala, Panchkula district, vandalised the institutes property, including the buildings and vans, following the death of a student on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

The situation remained tense at the college throughout the day, a reminder of a 2009 incident when two groups of students had clashed on the campus.

Nineteen-year-old Noorzam, a second-year computer engineering student who hailed from Nepal, reportedly fell off the fourth floor of his college hostel around 11:55pm. Even as police are probing whether the student committed suicide or was pushed, what enraged the students was the delay in providing treatment to the victim.

The situation remained tense at the college throughout the day, a reminder of a 2009 incident when two groups of students had clashed on the campus.

A group of students told HT that they informed the security guard and even the warden to immediately take the student to hospital. However, help came after one hour, they said.

He could have been saved if the college authorities acted swiftly. But no one bothered. Even the security in-charge was not present, they alleged.

Students alleged the management charged exorbitant fee from them, but provided no facilities.

A student said that they were shocked to find the college ambulance was not working when Noorzam had to be taken to hospital. He had to be shifted to the hospital of the parent groups dental college, where there was no one to administer even first aid, he said.

We got the ambulance started after pushing it, but it broke down at the college gate. Then the victim was taken in the private car of a security official. But by the time we reached hospital, he had died due to excessive bleeding, said a student.

Noorzam, the victim

Police probing death

The entrance of the main administrative block has been vandalised. Even the windowpanes of the building are broken. A portion of reception area, too, caught fire due to short circuit after students hit the building with flower pots. At least three other blocks have been affected.

Police said at least 200 students were involved in the incident. The situation came under control after police entered the campus. Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Manbir Singh said the matter was under investigation.

Students said they will not attend classes till they are assured better facilities on the campus. College vice-president Ashok Jindal said the management had no role in this matter.

Students got carried away after the death of their fellow student, he said. We are trying to identify the students behind the attack. But our first priority is to find out the circumstances under which the victim fell off the building.

Meanwhile, Noorzams body has been kept at the mortuary of the General Hospital, Sector 6. The boys parents, who have left Nepal, will reach early Tuesday morning.

The college has nearly 150 students from Nepal. They want the Nepal embassy to intervene to ensure the college management provides them better facilities and stops harassing them.

Windowpanes of a bus vandalised at Swami Devi Dyal College, Barwala, in Panchkula district. (Sant Arora/HT)
In a respite for the drug-hit Punjab, the supply of heroin from across the border has decreased this year and if present trend prevails, it is likely to remain the lowest in past six years.

As per claims of the Border Security Force (BSF), the central force manning the Punjabs international border with Pakistan, the drug supply from the neighbouring country has dipped due to shoot on sight policy adopted by the force since last year for drug smugglers active in and across the fence.

The BSF has seized 163kg of heroin to date this year as compared to last years 242kg. In the corresponding period last year, the BSF had seized 210kg of the contraband. Heroin is supplied from Pakistan through carriers along the border and suppliers sitting in Punjab send it to other cities in the country and abroad.

The year is coming to an end and we dont think the smugglers across the border are as active as they used to be in the past. Now, we simply open fire when we see any activity on our side. The low seizure does not mean that we have become complacent. Our alertness has increased and drug supply has dipped, a commandant-level officer posted in the Ferozepur sector said.

BSF officials who showcased the increased vigil along the border to a team of scribes from Chandigarh in different posts near Hussainiwala, said security along the border was increased after the Dinanagar and Pathankot terror attacks.

Vigil has been increased along the border in Punjab in past one year and now on every half a kilometre, you will see a BSF trooper keeping watch on activities on the other side of the fence, said another BSF officer.

The move of installing CCTV cameras on some strategic points has also helped the force to check activities of smugglers, especially in the riverine areas. In the Amritsar sector, a pilot project is underway to lay infrared intruder alarm (IRIA) to detect intrusions.

BSF officials also considered the anti-drug campaign launched by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh as one of the reasons behind dip in supplies.

Head of Punjab governments anti-drug special task force (STF) and additional director general of police (ADGP) Harpreet Sidhu said shrinking of drug market in Punjab is also one of the reasons for low seizures.

If supply from Paksitan has decreased multiple factors must be responsible for it. The special drive against drugs has tightened the noose around the drug cartel and many suppliers have gone underground or have started purchasing drugs from Delhi, said Sidhu.

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Actor Nivin Pauly, who plays a highwayman in upcoming Malayalam period film Kayamkulam Kochunni, is getting trained in Kalaripayattu, an ancient martial arts form of Kerala, while shooting for the film.

The film is currently being shot in Mangalore. Nivin takes Kalaripayattu classes every morning for a few hours before joining the team for the shoot. A team of martial arts expert has been flown in from Kerala for this schedule, said a source from the films unit.

Being directed by Rosshan Andrrews, the film is based on Kochunni, the real life famed highwayman, who was active in central Travancore during the 19th century. He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.

For nearly a month, the team has been shooting in Mangalore.

They have been shooting in locations such as Manjeshwar and Udupi. They will shoot for one more month before leaving for Sri Lanka for the next schedule, the source added.

For his role, Nivin will be seen sporting a short crop and a handlebar moustache. Amala Paul plays the leading lady.

Nivin awaits the release of Tamil film Richie. He also has Geethu Mohandass Moothon, apart from Hey Jude and Love Action Drama in his kitty.

Next year, he is expected to start shooting for Malayalam film Kairali, based on the disappearance of a bulk carrier, owned by Kerala Shipping Corporation.

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Is the impulse to care for and attend to others simply a part of human species genetic make-up or is it influenced by gender? If yes, who are more selfish: Men or women?

According to scientists, gender plays a part in what we enjoy more, giving or receiving. Women seem to get more of a chemical reward for being generous than men do, reports The Guardian. A study published on Monday in Nature Human Behavior found that in women, part of the brain showed a greater response when sharing money, while in men, the same structure showed more activity when they kept the cash for themselves.

As Philippe Tobler, associate professor of neuroeconomics and social neuroscience at the University of Zurich, and co-author of the research, sees it, women put more subjective value on prosocial behaviour, or voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another, and men find selfish behaviour more valuable.

In women, part of the brain showed a greater response when sharing money, while in men, the same structure showed more activity when they kept the cash for themselves. (Shutterstock)

However, it was unknown how this difference comes about at the level of the brain, Tobler told CBS Philly . But in both genders, the dopamine system encodes value. By encode, he means the activity in our brain changes in proportion to the value we give social experiences.

In the journal Nature Human Behaviour, Tobler and colleagues from Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands searched for answers for why women and men are not equally selfish. They designed two studies to test whether dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in the brains reward system, is linked to different social behaviours in men and women. Dopamine is released during moments of pleasure, yet it also helps us process our values.

In the first experiment, 56 male and female participants made choices between sharing a financial reward with others or keeping the money for themselves.Given only a placebo before making decisions, women acted less selfishly than men, choosing to share their money with others.

In the second study, the team looked at data from 40 men and women who had undergone brain imaging while undertaking decisions on whether to share money, focussing on the activity of a value-processing region of the brain that relies on dopamine signalling. Compared with the males, the striatum, a critical component of the motor and reward systems, in females showed more activity when they made a prosocial decision.

CBS Philly reports that according to Anne Z Murphy, an associate professor of neuroscience at Georgia State University, other research has shown that females are more prosocial. We find it more rewarding, and if you manipulate dopamine signalling in the brain, you can make females less prosocial and males less selfish. Murphy was not involved in the study.

Still, she said, the study brings greater awareness to the fact that there are brain differences in male and females.

In the first experiment, fifty-six male and female participants made choices between sharing a financial reward with others or keeping the money for themselves. (Shutterstock)

It just shows, once again, that people can point to a biological basis for some of the characteristics that are prototypically male, Murphy said. These traits would include selfishness, self-promotion, generally, a hard-driving profile.

Gender differences in the brain may not be due to structural differences - for example, variations in region size or shape based on sex, noted the researchers.

Gender differences in the brain could be functional. This would mean a flood of the very same neurotransmitter  dopamine - might cause a very different response in women than in men.

It may be worth pointing out that the differences are likely to be learned, Tobler said.

Though male and female tendencies may be learned, Murphy said, these behaviours are not acquired in a single lifetime.

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With all the changes that pregnancy brings to your body, it may not be easy to get intimate especially in the third trimester. But if you thought oral sex could be a good alternative, its time for a rethink. A number of research papers submitted around the world in September suggested that having oral sex, especially in the third trimester, could put women at risk of contracting STIs, such as genital herpes and others. A major contributing factor is the weakened immune system of pregnant women.

Dr Rajshekhar Brahmbhatt, consultant in sexual medicine (sexology) and marriage counsellor at Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai, says, In oral sex, semen and vaginal fluid comes into contact with the surface of the mouth. There are chances that the mouth of either partner may be affected with infections like cold sores and bleeding gums. Protection should be used by either partner while performing oral sex.

Doctors advise that during pregnancy couples should perform sex in comfortable positions. (Shutterstock)

Dr Sonal Kumta, obstetrics and gynecology, Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, suggests regular tests for both partners during antenatal period for sexually transmitted infections like HIV, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C and Syphilis. If the husband has an active herpes infection of mouth, he can transmit it to the wife and she can transmit it to the baby too, she says, adding, We recommend tests for both partners during antenatal period for sexually transmitted infections like HIV, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C and the VDRL test for Syphilis, routinely. In case if any partner has symptoms suggestive of Sexually Transmitted Infections(STIs) like Herpes, then we investigate additionally.

Further complications could include various STDs passing on from mother to child. STDs like chlamydia, and syphilis can result in blindness, organ damage and stillbirth in the child. Herpes can impact the nervous system of the child as the immune system is not fully developed during birth. Herpes can also cause miscarriage as well as brain damage. And there are also chances of either partner contracting Hepatitis B, adds Dr Brahmbhatt.

The complications resulting from this can also lead to a C-section delivery, which is undertaken as a precautionary measure in case normal delivery is not possible. In case of active Herpes genital infection and other STI in woman in the last trimester, we recommend delivering the baby by Caesarean section to reduce chances of transmission to the foetus, says Dr Kumta.

Brahmbhatts advice for couples during pregnancy is to perform sex in comfortable positions, be it kneeling or while sitting. Abstinence is not recommended during pregnancy. Sex during pregnancy is safe (though it should be avoided during the last month of pregnancy) and both partners can enjoy through non-penetrative ways.

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After 500 years of being reserved exclusively for the use of politicians and Italian royalty, a monumental landmark in Venices Piazza San Marco will reopen to the public as an exhibition space that will host art installations, events, seminars and humanitarian projects.

British architect Sir David Chipperfield will spearhead the multimillion dollar renovations to restore the decaying Procuratie Vecchie, the oldest of three buildings that border the piazza. The Procuratie Vecchie was built in the 16th century and dominates the north side of the square. At 152 m (500 ft) long, its also the longest building in Venice.

For nearly two centuries, the building served as the headquarters of one of the worlds biggest insurance companies, Generali Group, which will be financing the massive restoration project. Over the next few years, Chipperfield will breathe new life into the palace, transforming the space into a public venue for art exhibition and installations.

The monument will also be home to a new social equality initiative The Humanity Safety Net which, among other projects, will support refugee start-ups. The building is expected to open in 2020.

The city of Venice receives about 60,000 visitors a day. The announcement follows on the heels of another development in Italys tourism industry. For the first time in decades, visitors will be able to climb to the top of Romes Colosseum and take in the views 120 feet (37m) above ground as of November 1.

During its Gladiator days, the highest levels were reserved for the lowliest members of society, far from the bloody and gruesome battles raging below.

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Two staff members were killed and several students were wounded in Kenya when gunmen fired on vehicles carrying students to the Technical University of Mombasas campus in coastal Kwale county on Tuesday, a police official and a witness said.

The identity of the gunmen was unclear.

Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks along the Kenya-Somali border and along the Kenyan coast. In 2015, it attacked a university in Kenyas Garissa town, killing 148 students.

Two female staff members were killed, and a driver and two policemen were injured, a police official who did not want to be named told Reuters.

A bus carrying students of TUM (the Technical University of Mombasa) was ferrying them from their hostels to the campus in Ukunda for classes and was being escorted by a van that had some staff of the college and two escort police officers, the policeman said.

Armed men numbering about 10 emerged from the bushes and started firing at the van in front. As a result two ladies who are staff of TUM were killed in the van. The driver of the van and two police officers were injured, he said.

A witness who did not want to be named told Reuters she and several other students had fled their vehicle when gunmen opened fire on them and had seen several students covered in blood.
Myanmar on Tuesday launched its first bid to improve relations between Buddhists and Muslims since an eruption of deadly violence in August inflamed communal tension and triggered an exodus of some 520,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.

Rohingya Muslims are still fleeing, more than six weeks after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces in western Myanmars Rakhine state.

The United Nations has denounced a ferocious military crackdown in response to the attacks as ethnic cleansing aimed at driving out Rohingya.

A new surge of refugees has entered Bangladesh in recent days, including about 11,000 on Monday. Some have told of increasing hunger in Rakhine as well as of more mob attacks on Muslim villagers.

Despite growing international condemnation of the refugee crisis, the military campaign is popular in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya, and for Muslims in general, and where Buddhist nationalism has surged in recent years.

The party of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the first step towards trying to ease animosity with inter-faith prayers at a stadium in the biggest city of Yangon, with Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others.

Thousands of people packed the stands of the stadium, with Buddhist monks, Hindus, Christian nuns and Muslim men with beards and caps listening to religious leaders who took turns to appeal for friendship.

Be free from killing one another, be free from torturing one another, be free from destroying or demolishing one another, the chief Buddhist monk of Yangon, Iddhibala, told the crowd.

Stepping off the podium, he shook hands with Muslim leader Hafiz Mufti Ali.

Citizens should collaborate in friendship and work for the country, Ali said, adding: Freedom of life, freedom of education, freedom of religion, it is absolutely necessary for the country to fulfil all these rights.

The Rohingya had pinned hopes for change on Suu Kyis party but it has been wary of Buddhist nationalist pressure. Her party did not field a single Muslim candidate in the 2015 election that it swept.

Rohingya are not classified as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so are denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.

Regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they face restrictions and discrimination and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine, and by much of the wider population.

The militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) who launched the Aug. 25 attacks that triggered the latest spasm of violence are demanding full citizenship rights and recognition as an indigenous community.

Ceasefire ends

A one-month ceasefire the insurgents called in September in order, they said, to ease aid deliveries to Rakhine, expired at midnight on Monday, but authorities said there was no sign of any new attacks.

The government rebuffed the ceasefire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.

Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing. It says more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them ARSA terrorists.

Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA appeared only capable of hit-and-run raids and unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.

The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though their ceasefire was ending.

Reports of food shortages in Rakhine will add to the urgency of calls by aid agencies and the international community for unfettered humanitarian access to the conflict zone.

Villagers said food was running out because rice crops were not ready for harvest and authorities had shut village markets and limited food transport, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.

The government has cited worry about food as a main reason people have cited for leaving, but a senior state government official dismissed any suggestion of starvation.

Among those fleeing were more than 30 people on a boat that capsized off Bangladesh on Sunday. Twenty-five people drowned, 13 of them children, police said.
An onslaught of wildfires across a wide swath of Northern California broke out almost simultaneously then grew exponentially, swallowing up properties from wineries to trailer parks and tearing through both tiny rural towns and urban subdivisions.

Authorities said that at least 11 people are dead, with 100 injured, and as many as 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. All three figures were expected to surge in the coming days as more information is reported.

A new blaze is threatening homes near the Oakmont area of Santa Rosa, a city already battling unforgiving wildfires.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Smoke continues to rise from the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country on October 9, 2017 in Santa Rosa, California. (AFP)

Residents who gathered at emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

All that good stuff, Im never going to see it again, said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighborhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

A DC-10 aircraft drops fire retardant on a wind driven wildfire in Orange, California, U.S., October 9, 2017. (REUTERS)

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away.

Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing-person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.

The reports have come via calls to a hotline the county set up for the missing, according to Scott Alonso, communications director for Sonoma County.

Its possible that many or most of the missing are safe but simply cant be reached because of the widespread loss of cell service and other communications.

An aerial photo of the devastation left behind from the North Bay wildfires north of San Francisco, California, October 9, 2017. (Reuters)

Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a far larger and more developed city than usually finds itself at the mercy of a wildfire. The city is home to 175,000 residents, including both the wine-country wealthy and the working class.

The flames were unforgiving to both groups. Hundreds of homes of all sizes were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry, who now runs an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa, was forced to flee in minutes along with his wife, two daughters, and a son just over 2 weeks old.

I cant shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barreled down on us, Lowry said.

His family and another evacuating with them tried to take U.S. 101 to evacuate but found it blocked by flames, and had to take country roads to get to the family friends who took them in.

A 90-mile (145-kilometer) stretch of the highway is framed by the flames and a major concern overnight, said Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services.

Highway 12, which winds through the heart of wine country, was also rendered unusable by the flames.

Sonoma and Napa counties have been hit very hard, Alexander said.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the centers sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen.

Crews got the more than 200 people from the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

A firefighter works to put out hot spots on a fast moving wind driven wildfire in Orange, California, U.S., October 9, 2017. (REUTERS)

Fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire trucks raced by smoldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1 a.m., and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe, Hoe said.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area. Two were in critical condition and one was in serious condition. The number of injured is expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

Gold Fidge firefighters use a deck gun to protect structures in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday Oct. 9, 2017. (AP)

Flames began coming over a ridge shortly after 11 pm Monday in an area bordering Oakmont and Trione-Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Summer Black told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (http://bit.ly/2wLgBge). Most of the Oakmont area was evacuated earlier in the day.

October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires. What was unusual Sunday, however, was to have so many fires take off at the same time.

Other than the windy conditions that helped drive them all, there was no known connection between the fires, and no cause has been released for any of them.

But the conditions late Monday and early Tuesday were calmer than they were 24 hours earlier, bringing hopes of progress against the flames.

Residents of the Coffey Park neighbourhood sift through a relatives home that was torched, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017 in Santa Rosa. (AP)

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the fire areas, and asked the federal government to do the same. Vice President Mike Pence, who is visiting California, said at an event near Sacramento that the federal government stands with California as it takes on the blazes, but he made no specific promises.

To the south in Orange County, more than 5,000 homes were evacuated because of a fire in the Anaheim area. The blaze had grown to nearly 12 square miles (31 sq. kilometers) as of early Tuesday.

Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said evacuations were not likely to be lifted Tuesday.

The problem right now is that were strapped for resources in the state of California, Wyatt said. We have eight major fires going in Northern California and this fire going as well, and potential for more fires, especially with the weather pattern.

The fire has destroyed at least 24 structures.
Catalan president Carles Puigdemont proposed suspending the declaration of independence from Spain, suggesting that the bid wait a few weeks in order to hold talks with Madrid.

Speaking at a special session of Catalonias parliament, Puigdemont said he had a mandate to declare independence, but proposed waiting in order to facilitate a dialogue with Spain.

With our differences and discrepancies, we make up one people, he said, calling for reduced tensions with the Spanish government.

Catalonia, a region in north-eastern Spain, held a referendum on October 1 to seek independence. Spains constitution says the country is indivisible, and Madrid reacted by cracking down on what it called an illegal vote.

Hundreds were left injured in clashes between separatists and riot police.

(With inputs from agencies)

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A week before the Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), during which President Xi Jinping is expected to strengthen his enormous powers, his signature anti-corruption campaign has been hailed as remarkable and unfaltering.

The state media on Tuesday released the latest numbers for party workers and officials who have been sacked, jailed or punished under the drive, launched soon after Xi took over in 2012 to target both tigers and flies  they added up to more than 1.4 million.

Disciplinary watchdogs nationwide have...punished more than 1.4 million party members or officials since 2012, said a glowing report by the official Xinhua news agency.

In five years, more than 280 centrally administered officials have been investigated by the CCDI, at least 120 of whom have been transferred to judicial authorities, the report said. It didnt mention the status of the remaining 160.

The latest numbers were released at the end of a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)  the CPCs top disciplinary body.

The names of the top tigers were highlighted in the Xinhua commentary.

Last month, the CCDI announced the expulsion of a rising star of the CPC, Sun Zhengcai, who was the chief of the Chongqing municipal committee.

In the fight against all corruption from the low-level flies to the high-ranking tigers, Sun joins several other senior party officials who have been punished for discipline violation including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou and Ling Jihua, the report said.

The names mentioned are a mix of top political leaders, senior military officials and an aide of former president Hu Jintao.

The campaign also adopted flashy names for its operations abroad to capture and bring home accused who had fled China: Sky Net and Fox Hunt.

By the end of August, 3,339 fugitives were captured from more than 90 countries and regions, with 628 of them being former officials. About 9.36 billion yuan (around 1.41 billion US dollars) was recovered, the Xinhua commentary said.

It added that with more than 89 million CPC members, no one can turn a blind eye to political regulations and rules.

The line drawn by party discipline can never be crossed. Although remarkable results have been achieved, the party will continue the fight and root out the scourge that attempts to threaten its survival, the commentary said.

China's anti-corruption drive has played an essential role in consolidating the country's political stability and has boosted people's confidence in sustainable social and economic development, Jiang Laiyong, a senior researcher at the China Anti-Corruption Research Centre at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the China Daily.

The high level of anti-graft pressure is expected to last even though a new CCDI is expected to be elected at the 19th CPC National Congress.
Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighbourhoods.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire trucks raced by smoldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

An aerial photo of the devastation left behind from the North Bay wildfires north of San Francisco, California. (REUTERS)

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

One of the homes that was reduced to ash had a Mercedes Benz in the garage. Two cars parked across the street were untouched.

The flames were unforgiving throughout the city, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminium wheels into liquid. One neighbourhood of older homes was scorched, leaving only brick chimneys and downed power lines.

A firefighter works to put out hot spots on a fast moving wildfire in Orange, California. (REUTERS)

Residents who gathered at makeshift emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

All that good stuff, Im never going to see it again, said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighbourhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed on Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

Flames destroyed many houses in Santa Rosa, California. Ten people have died in wildfires. (AFP)

In the rush to leave, Okrepkie and his wife were able to gather important documents, photos and mementos, like letters from his wifes late father. Still, Okrepkie was tortured by the things he left behind, including a framed photo of his grandfather that his grandmother had carried with her for a decade after he died.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96km) away. The causes of the fires were unknown.

This aerial photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows some of hundreds of homes destroyed in a wildfire that swept through Santa Rosa. (AP)

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Winds have posed a challenge to firefighters in the state this year despite a relatively wet winter that followed years of drought. The fires that broke out Sunday burned at explosive rates because of 50mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires. What was unusual on Sunday, however, was to have so many fires take off at the same time.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties. Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters,

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire churning through canyons in hilly neighbourhoods of Orange County burned at least half a dozen homes and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate. Brown also declared a state of emergency for Orange County.

The inferno in Northern California blackened miles along Highway 12, one of the main gateways into wine country.

Wooden fence posts and guard rails burned fiercely. Thick smoke roiled from the JR Cohn winery.

The fires also damaged the Silverado Resort in Napa and a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa.

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1am, and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe, Hoe said.

They returned in the morning to find the hotel had been destroyed along with most of their possessions. Hoe was relieved he had taken his passport and a few essential items.

Santa Rosa lost a Kmart, restaurants, businesses and homes.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the centres sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen. Emergency workers leapt from their cars to aid the evacuation.

Crews got the more than 200 people from the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Mike Turpen, 38, was at a bar in Glen Ellen early Monday when a stranger wearing a smoke mask ran in and yelled that there was a fire. Turpen raced home through flames in his Ford F-250.

It was like Armageddon was on, Turpen said. Every branch of every tree was on fire.

He stayed to try to defend his own rental home.

By late morning, Turpen, wearing shorts, a kerchief mask and goggles, was the last man standing for miles along one abandoned road. His yard and all those around him were burned, smoking and still flaming in a few spots. But his home was still standing.
Austrias new ban on the full Islamic veil and any face-concealing item is causing confusion, with a man in a shark costume the latest to be ensnared, authorities admitted on Tuesday.

Austria is the latest European country to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil, known as the burqa or the niqab, in public places. The law came into force on October 1. However, in order to avoid discrimination suits, the government worded the law to state that peoples faces must be visible from hairline to chin in public areas.

Those breaking the law can be fined up to 150, and police are allowed to use force people to show their face.

Unfortunately for the mascot for a computer store, his shark costume also fell afoul of the new law. His transgression was reportedly pointed out to the police by members of the public.

The store, McShark, later posted a picture of the man on Facebook. They said police forced the man to take off his costume and fined him, and wrote that life isnt fair.

This is a new law so naturally there are certain unclear situations and grey areas that need to be ironed out, Manfred Reinthaler from Vienna police told public radio. At the same time there is no legal precedence.

Government guidelines set out a number of exceptions including masks and disguises at cultural events, work wear such as medical masks, and scarves in cold weather.

The ban on the full-face veil, which remains a rare sight in Austria, was seen as the latest effort by the two governing centrist parties to halt a rise in support for the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

Polls suggest that the far-right party will garner around 25% support in elections on Sunday and may become junior coalition partners to Sebastian Kurzs conservatives.
London mayor Sadiq Khan announced on Tuesday that he would visit India and Pakistan this year to promote the British capital as a destination of choice for trade and cultural ties.

Khan, whose grandparents were born in India and parents migrated from Pakistan to the UK, said he was very excited to become the first senior British politician in recent times to visit both the countries at the same time during the six- day, six-city tour planned before the end of this year.

As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent, said Khan.

What excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners. Benefits in terms of business and trade, jobs and investment, and in terms of cultural and technological exchange, he said.

While the complete itinerary of the visit is still being finalised, the mayor and his team will cover Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar as part of the India leg of the tour and Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.

The mayor described the visit as an important mission as there are many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan, in business as well as tackling some of the biggest challenges such as air pollution and climate change on a city-to-city basis.

In London we are a beacon of tolerance, respect and diversity, which I will try my best to demonstrate, he said, when asked if he would intervene on the issue of tensions between India and Pakistan.

On Brexit, the senior Labour Party politician said that just because the UK has voted to leave the 28-member European Union (EU) does not mean that London is closed to talent from around the world.

I am passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world. While the government cannot engage in trade talks until Brexit negotiations are ongoing, there is no reason why we cant work on closer relations with the rest of the world, he said.

Highlighting that India remains the third-largest international student market in London, Khan said that he is keen to give confidence to Indians that the city remains open to their talent.

World leaders like (Mahatma) Gandhi, (Jawaharlal) Nehru, (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah and (Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto have all studied in the UK.

My message will be that the underlying reasons have not changed and that I will continue to lobby the government on getting a good deal for London, he said, pointing out that the capital had not witnessed any lack of investment from India and Pakistan since the Brexit vote last year.

During the visit to the subcontinent, the mayor will meet senior politicians, business leaders and city chiefs and will be accompanied by his Indian-origin deputy mayor for business Rajesh Agrawal.

With his London is Open campaign at the heart of the visit, the delegation will also be promoting the city as a great location for Bollywood films.

Meetings with a Bollywood star or two are planned. It pains me to see a film shot somewhere in Europe because I want them all to be shot in London. I am very competitive that way and competition is a good thing, Khan said.

According to official figures, London is strengthening its dominance as the leading destination for Indian investment in the UK as 44 per cent of the fastest-growing Indian companies are now based in London - an increase from 39 per cent last year and 25 per cent in 2015.

Of these, tech is the top sector for Indian investment, accounting for 46 per cent of all Indian investment.

A delegation of business leaders taking part in the Mayors International Business Programme will also meet up with Khan in Mumbai before the members move onto cover Hyderabad and Bangalore under Agrawals leadership.

Besides business ties, security issues around counter- terrorism will also be touched upon but Khan stressed that he did not want the relationship between London and India and Pakistan be seen through the prism of security as he was keen to promote his first visit to the subcontinent as London mayor as a positive one.
South Korea said Tuesday it was maintaining full military readiness following intense speculation of a possible ballistic missile test by the North as it marks a key anniversary.

Tensions over North Koreas weapons programme have soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions.

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers Party on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army and maintaining full readiness.

Consistent movements of personnel and equipment were being detected in certain locations in the North, Yonhap news agency reported, suggesting that preparations for another weapons test might be under way.

Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test on the anniversary of the founding day of North Korea last year.

It remains unclear whether North Korea is holding official celebrations for the party anniversary or if its leader Kim Jong-Un is making any public appearances for the occasion.

The Norths official media touted the partys byungjin policy -- which pushes for simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy -- and added that military power was the guarantee for victory.

We must complete the construction of the national nuclear force by thoroughly upholding the partys byungjin policy, said a front-page editorial carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper to mark the party anniversary.

We must hold high the banner of the great byungjin policy to accelerate the final victory in the anti-America Armageddon, it said.
US President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump has urged Congress to act on immigration and called the fate of immigrants who have been covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme a very complicated issue.

You do have the question of the dreamers: 800,000 young people, most of whom are under 25, most of whom are women. What role should the dreamers be playing in the future workforce? moderator Nina Easton asked the first daughter during a panel discussion on Monday at Fortunes Most Powerful Women Summit.

This is a very complicated issue that needs a long-term congressional fix, she said, prompting murmurs from the audience, which included female business powerhouses, including iconic designer Diane Von Furstenberg and and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Mondays response was the first time Ivanka Trump has addressed the topic of immigration since her father took office, usually opting to stay away from controversial political topics, CNN reported.

President Trump has announced that he would end the DACA, which protects young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, at the beginning of last month, but gave Congress a six-month window in which to act to make the program permanent.

Ivanka Trump echoed her fathers public statements on the future of the DACA programme, and called on Congress to act.

I personally am of the opinion and the President has stated that we have to figure out a good solution that protects these innocent people, many of whom were brought into this country as children.

There has to be a long-term fix and it cannot be bandaged over at a presidential level through another executive order that can be rescinded through another administration, she said in the panel discussion.

On Sunday night, the White House released an aggressive list of priorities for a deal to protect young undocumented immigrants, including tough border security and immigration enforcement measures, reports CNN.

Our system is flawed, and it is not equipped to handle the challenges, and our visa programme is deeply flawed. Were not retaining the best talent for the jobs that we need and that has to fundamentally be reconsidered, Ivanka Trump said.

On Monday, she also pointed to the lack of affordable child care as enormously prohibitive to women in the workforce, saying it was something shes working to tackle with the administrations push on tax reform.
An international team of researchers has completed the atlas of life  the first global review and map of every vertebrate on Earth  that will help identify new areas where action for the conservation of species is vital.

Led by researchers at the University of Oxford and Tel Aviv University, 39 scientists have produced a catalogue and atlas of the worlds reptiles. By linking it with existing maps for birds, mammals and amphibians, the team has identified the areas for action.

The University of Oxford said in a statement that in order to best protect wildlife, it is important to know where species live, so that the right action can be taken and scarce funding allocated in the right places. With this in mind, the team produced detailed maps highlighting the whereabouts of all known land-living vertebrate species.

The research has been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Maps showing the habitats of almost all birds, mammals and amphibians have been completed since 2006, but it was widely thought many reptile species were too poorly known to be mapped, the statement said.

The atlas covers more than 10,000 species of snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises. The data completes the world map of 31,000 species of humanitys closest relatives, including around 5,000 mammals, 10,000 birds and 6,000 frogs and salamanders.

The map revealed unexpected trends and regions of biodiversity fragility. They include the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, inland arid southern Africa, the Asian steppes, the central Australian deserts, the Brazilian caatinga scrubland, and the high southern Andes.

Richard Grenyer from Oxford said: On the one hand, finding vital areas in arid regions is a good thing because the land is fairly cheap. But deserts and dry lands are also home to lots of other modern activities, such as major irrigation projects, huge new solar power developments, and sometimes widespread land degradation, war and conflict. This makes them very challenging environments for conservationists to work.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is currently classifying the species featured in the map with a rating, from critically endangered to least concern. After completion, the interactive resource will be freely available for public access and use.

The maps have also allowed conservationists to ask whether environmental efforts to date have been invested in the right way, and how they could be used most effectively, the statement said.

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Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who had been offered a place to study at the University of Oxford after her A-level results, attended her first lecture on Monday.

She tweeted a picture of three books and captioned it thus, 5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls education. Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford.

5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls' education. Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford. pic.twitter.com/sXGnpU1KWQ  Malala (@Malala) October 9, 2017

The 20-year-old is studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University. Incidentally, PPE was also the course of choice of former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto  a post Yousafzai dreams of running for. In Pakistan, unfortunately, they havent really seen a trustworthy leader yet, Yousafzai had told Hindustan Times in an October 2015 interview.

The education activists tweet has garnered over 2 lakh retweets in less than a day and nearly 7 lakh likes.

Yousafzai also engaged in friendly banter with her brother Khushal Yousafzai, much to the delight of Twitterati.

Sorry for being a headache for the last 5years. So grateful you are still with us??. Ik you miss me but i am coming to oxford in 2years????.  Khushal Yousafzai (@Khushal_KY) October 9, 2017

Okay, after two years, I am going to change my university then ??  Malala (@Malala) October 9, 2017

Khushal ended the conversation with a tongue-in-cheek comment saying, He never wanted to go to Oxford anyway.

In 2012, Yousafzai was shot at by the Taliban for her advocacy of girls education in Pakistan. After undergoing surgery and rehabilitation in Birmingham, she said she got a second life devoted to education.
When defence secretary James Mattis told lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill that the US is willing to work with Pakistan one more time, he was understood to be signalling the Pakistan Army, more specifically, its roguish spy wing, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

There is speculation among Pakistan watchers that the US will have more ISI-related demands.

Ask to share evidence the ISI has on the Haqqani Network and the Taliban, their movements, their crossing points into Afghanistan, their sources of funding and weaponry and specific locations, said an expert in touch with the White House on Pakistan-related issues, requesting not to be identified.

Also some demands that might relate to communication with the Taliban because Pakistan has controlled communication with the Taliban for American negotiators, the ones who are taking about reconciliation (in Afghanistan), the expert added.

US frustration with the ISI was on full display during back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill last week, during which Mattis appeared to separate Pakistans civilian government, which he said wanted to crack down on terrorists, from the ISI, which did not and was running its own foreign policy, putting it firmly in the cross hairs.

Gen James Dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had followed up with a searing assessment of his own: It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups.

Pakistans former envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani, noted that nuanced distinction Mattis sought to make in his deposition. Mattis Senate testimony suggests US now makes distinction b'ween #Pakistan (victim) & ISI (perpetrator) of terrorism. How will that work? he tweeted but did not offer suggestions and declined to comment.

But what is not clear at this time is if any of this will work this time when it hasnt worked in the past, said the expert.

Just as Pakistans promises have lost credibility in Washington, Americas threats have less weight in Rawalpindi (the military headquarters and not Islamabad, the capital and seat of the civilian government) than before.

Actions will probably speak louder than words, the expert added.

Options could include sanctioning the ISI as an entity, on the lines of the Trump administrations reported plans to designate the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. It had been considered a few times before, but never implemented.

There is a growing sense in Washington that when working with Pakistan on counter-terrorism, the focus must be on the military and the ISI, also called the deep state.

In a recent paper, Ashley Tellis, an Asia expert whom the Trump administration has been pursuing for a senior position in the state department, argued that in the context of India-Pakistan tensions, the US could, if it wanted to advance stability in South Asia, make a determined effort to compel the deep state in Rawalpindi to shed ties to jihadi terrorists.

US frustration with the ISI has been festering for long.

Admiral Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the joint chefs of staff, told lawmakers at a hearing in 2011, a few months after Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan, The Haqqani Network for one acts as a veritable arm of Pakistans ISI agency. With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack as well as the assault on our embassy.
Three women returning to China from South Korea were reportedly stranded at the airport because their faces did not match their passport pictures after they underwent plastic surgery.

In a photo that has gone viral on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, the women can be seen clutching their passports, sporting swollen faces and bandages around their heads. The image was reportedly clicked at a South Korea airport during Golden Week, a seven-day holiday, according to Apple Daily.

The photograph was shared by Jian Huahua, a Chinese news anchor, on October 8 on Weibo. It has since been deleted. The caption allegedly read, Received from frontline personnel at the airport during the holidays: These women made use of the long holidays to undergo plastic surgery in South Korea, reported hk01.com. On the way back, they were unable to leave the country and had to await proof of identification. Even your mother wont recognise you.

The photo generated a flurry of response from netizens, ranging from agreement to harsh criticism. It was liked over 51,000 times and shared more than 23,000 times.

Its true, even your mother wont recognise you, and thats the price you pay for beauty, commented a user. (Their faces are) swollen like a pigs head, commented another user. Some commented saying going under the knife was not a crime, according to a report on asiaone.com.

South Korea has an inexpensive and rapidly expanding plastic-surgery industry. It has the most plastic surgeries per capita on earth, with over 980,000 recorded operations in 2014. That is 20 procedures per 1,000 people, putting it ahead of the USs 13 procedures per 1,000, reports Business Insider.

Korean websites Onboa and Munhwa report that hospitals issue plastic surgery certificates at the request of overseas visitors. The certificates help make immigration smoother so officials dont have to resort to calling hospitals to confirm identities. The certificates include the patients passport number, the duration of their stay, the co-ordinates of the hospital, certified by the hospitals official seal.

According to a China News report from August this year, China Eastern Airline rules stipulate that passengers who have undergone plastic surgery are only allowed to fly 15 days after their procedure. Flyers must keep documentation provided by the clinic handy.

It is currently unclear whether or not the women have been allowed to return to China.
Pope Francis will meet Myanmars top Buddhist monks, its military generals and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November when he visits that country and Bangladesh, both caught up in a crisis over the Rohingya Muslim minority.

According to a full programme of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope will say two Masses in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and one in Bangladesh, which is predominantly Muslim.

Francis will be the first pope to visit Myanmar and the second to visit Bangladesh, where Pope John Paul visited in 1986.

The pope arrives in Yangon, the countrys largest city, on Nov. 27 after a flight of more than 10 hours and is scheduled to rest for about 24 hours before heading to the countrys capital Naypyitaw for a day.

There, he will have separate private talks with President Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, who is both State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, making her effectively the countrys civilian leader.

A senior Vatican official said military leaders are expected to attend a separate, public meeting where the pope will address politicians and diplomats. This is where he is expected to give the keynote speech of the trip.

Myanmar is facing international scrutiny over the plight of its Rohingya community. In February, Francis said they had been tortured and killed simply because they wanted to live their culture and Muslim faith.

Last August, some hard-line Buddhists were riled with the pope spoke about the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters and asked Catholics to pray for them, adding that they should be given their full rights.

On Nov. 29, the pope will address the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the countrys highest Buddhist authority, which is a government-backed panel of senior monks responsible for regulating the Buddhist clergy.

The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that Bangladesh border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their country from Myanmar on Monday alone..

The government offensive has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing, which the government denies.

There are about 700,000 Roman Catholics in Myanmar according to the countrys cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, out of a population of about 51.4 million.

Catholics make up a tiny minority in Bangladesh. Francis will be the second pope to visit that country, after Pope John Paul in 1986.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London whose grandparents were born in India and whose parents migrated to the UK from Pakistan, on Tuesday announced his first visit to India to promote trade links with the capital city currently under a cloud due to Brexit.

As London-based companies closely monitor Brexit-related developments, Khan (Labour Party) has been keen to ensure that the UKs exit from the European Union does not adversely impact the citys global reputation as a centre of business and other spheres, including education. Besides India, he will also visit Pakistan.

The India visit, likely to be scheduled in December, is primarily focussed on trade, but Khan will also interact with Bollywood actors. He will visit Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar, accompanied by Indore-origin Rajesh Agarwal, the citys deputy mayor for business.

Khan said: As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent. But what excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners.

This is a really important mission as there are so many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan. Not only in business but in tackling some of the biggest challenges we all face  such as air pollution and climate change.

Khan said he was passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world, and I look forward to strengthening the bonds between London and our friends in India and Pakistan later this year.

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There has been a step-change in India-UK ties in the defence sector since Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to London in November 2015, defence secretary Sanjay Mitra said here on Tuesday after two days of talks that focussed on key issues such as counter-terrorism.

The Defence and International Security Partnership between India and Britain was agreed on during Modis visit. It was taken forward during Prime Minister Theresa Mays November 2016 visit to New Delhi, with a special focus on the Make in India programme.

We are keen that British companies participate in the defence sector, to be fully involved in the strategic partnership. There has been a deepening of ties in the defence area since the prime ministers visit in November 2015, Mitra told reporters.

He said key issues in his talks with officials of the defence ministry in Whitehall included capability building across areas, cyber security, equipment and supply chains. India will participate in the centenary of the Royal Air Force in April 2018.

No details about the talks on counter-terrorism were disclosed, but New Delhi has been pleased with defence secretary Michael Fallons explicit comments about terrorism emanating from Pakistan on the eve of his visit to India in April.

Fallon had told Hindustan Times: There is no excuse, justification for terrorism and we make that very clear in Pakistan. He added that his talks with Indian interlocutors also focus on what more Pakistan needs to do to tackle terrorism that flows across the border into Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Britain has committed to continue its engagement with Indias defence ministry and defence companies to simplify and expedite export controls and to support the transfer of technology for projects in areas of mutual interest.

Mitra also participated in a meeting of the Defence Consultative Group to take forward the bilateral defence agenda, including Londons proposals for capability partnerships through a range of activities, including military-to-military cooperation, training and exchange of experts, research and technology linkages and defence manufacturing.

A series of joint exercises are on the anvil - Konkan 2018 between the two navies, Ajeya Warrior between the armies in India in December, and Indradhanush 2019 between the air forces, Mitra said.

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Thousands of Pashtun tribal people who for decades ignored the invisible line that bisects their dusty villages and demarcates the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier are bracing for a Berlin Wall-style divide of their neighbourhoods.

Pakistan, worried by Islamist attacks, is building a fence to prevent militants criss-crossing the porous 2,500 km (1,500 mile) frontier along the disputed colonial-era Durand line drawn up by the British in 1893.

The fence, which Kabul opposes, will run down the middle of so-called divided villages where few people have passports and Pashtun tribal loyalty often trumps allegiance to the state.

Seven such villages are dotted around Chaman district, home to the bustling border-crossing town of Chaman in Pakistans southwestern province of Baluchistan. Other divided villages are believed to exist further north in the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Pakistani officials in Baluchistan are now working on shifting Pakistani citizens in the divided villages to their side of the fence and say security worries override concerns that it will break up communities.

(A border wall) was there in Germany, it is in Mexico. It is all over the world  why not in Afghanistan and Pakistan? said Col. Muhammad Usman, commander of Pakistans Frontier Corps paramilitary force in Chaman.

These tribals have to understand that this is Pakistan and that place is Afghanistan.

Yet scepticism about the fence abounds. Pakistans previous attempts to build one failed about a decade ago and many doubt whether its possible to secure such a lengthy border.

Citizens wait their turn to enter from Afghanistan at the border-crossing town of Chaman, Pakistan. (REUTERS)

The Trump effect

The appeal of erecting physical border barriers waned after the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989. But in recent years, several populist leaders have advocated building walls to curtail movement of foreigners, most notably US President Donald Trump, who wants a wall along the entire border with Mexico.

Hungarys right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently fenced the border with Serbia to prevent Syrian refugees and other Muslim migrants from entering the eastern European country that acts as a gateway to the European Union.

Pakistan, in anticipation of the fence, plans to build more than 100 new border posts and Islamabad is recruiting in excess of 30,000 soldiers to man them, according to a senior military source.

Trump is doing as per requirements of America; we are doing as per requirements of Pakistan, added Usman.

Tense relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan boiled over in two divided villages in May during Pakistans census survey. More than 10 people were killed when Afghan border troops, objecting to the census, clashed with the Frontier Corps in Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman villages near Chaman.

Kabul and Islamabad accuse each other of sheltering militants and providing safe havens for Islamist groups who carry out cross-border attacks.

Many residents in Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman welcome the fence in the hope it will prevent bloodshed. But others are concerned it will hurt business and separate them from friends and family.

There will no infiltration of terrorists or suspects from Afghan areas...but my own small business, which I was doing with Afghan people, will be affected, said Abdul Jabbar, a Pakistani owner of a small enterprise in Killi Jahangir.

Pakistani officials have long struggled to impose security in the Pashtun tribal heartland. The area stretches for hundreds of kilometres, including rugged mountainous terrain, and has been a hotbed of arms and heroin smuggling for decades. US drone strikes have also targeted militants from al Qaeda and other groups in the region.

For the likes of taxi driver Abdul Razzaq, 30, having peace of mind offsets the loss of business due to the fence.

Now I can sleep in my home without any fear, he said.
The Trump administration has confirmed plans to scrap an Obama administration rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the cap on carbon emissions from power plants set to go now. The new rule is expected on Tuesday.

The war on coal is over, Scott Pruitt, head of the environment protection agency, said at an event in Kentucky on Monday. Tomorrow in Washington, DC, I will be signing a proposed rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan. No better place to make that announcement than Hazard, Ky (Kentucky).

The move is linked directly to President Donald Trumps campaign promise to coal miners rendered jobless by a mix of Obama-era green rules and market forces. Some parts of Obamas Clean Power Plan restrictions on mining have already been removed.

In August the Trump administration notified the UN that it intended to withdraw from the Paris climate accord forged by Barack Obama. Trump had accused India and China, the two countries instrumental for the accords conclusion, of getting a free ride.

Read more: India ready to work above and beyond Paris climate deal: Sushma Swaraj

Power plant emissions are among the most significant contributors to greenhouse gases at the heart of global warming and Obamas 2015 Clean Power Plan had the promise of restricting them to a level that could have helped American meet its mitigation targets.

Trump, who has said he believes global warming is a hoax by the Chinese to hobble US manufacturing, had promised to remove restrictions on coal mines and withdraw the US from the Paris accord. He has moved quickly to deliver on them unhindered by mixed signals he may have given after an unexpected victory in the elections when he said, in his first interview as President-elect that he had an open mind on the issue and that he was in favour of clean air and water.

The President has since made up his mind.
US President Donald Trump said he has prepared an economic-development measure that would punish companies that globally outsource jobs.

The bill would provide economic incentives for companies, Trump said in an interview with Forbes magazine published on Tuesday, and reward firms that maintain jobs in the United States, and deliver punitive measures against those that move operations offshore.

Its both a carrot and a stick, Trump said. It is an incentive to stay. But it is perhaps even more so - if you leave, its going to be very tough for you to think that youre going to be able to sell your product back into our country.

He did not specify what the rewards or punishments would be. The White House was not immediately available to comment.

Trump, a New York real estate developer reality television host, has struggled to translate his business experience into government success, failing to push through any major legislative victories.

The Trump administration has repealed a number of regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan, which was former President Barack Obamas cornerstone regulation to fight climate change. The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday he would rescind the rules.
Britains old one-pound coin is being phased out completely on Sunday but businesses complain they have been given too little time to switch to the new one and many are planning to defy the deadline.

Around 1.2 billion old round coins have been withdrawn from circulation but about 500 million are remaining with less than a week to go.

The changeover period has been fairly short, said Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses.

It would help if small firms knew they were allowed a short transition period to collect the old coins if they wish to, and are willing to bank them.

Poundland, a chain of shops where almost all items cost 1 pound, extended the period during which its customers would still be able to pay with the old coin until October 31.

The countrys main banks, Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds and Santander and the Post Office have also announced that they will continue to accept the round coin after October 15.

A sense of value

The Royal Mint, the official agency that makes the British currency, created the new coin in an attempt to combat fraud, with 3% of the old coins -- or 45 million pounds -- deemed to be counterfeit.

The outgoing round coin, of which two billion were minted, first appeared in 1983 in an attempt to cut costs by replacing the one-pound note.

The new coin, of which 1.5 billion copies have been made, is the safest in the world, said Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint Museum.

Security features on the new coin include 12 sides, a bi-metallic composition, a holograph and tiny lettering called microtext around part of the design.

Two different coloured metal alloys, based on nickel and copper, also make it easier to distinguish between fakes and genuine coins.

The new piece, at 2.8mm thick, will be thinner than its 3.15mm predecessor, but will remain the thickest British coin in circulation.

The idea of having a thicker coin, back in 1983, when the round one pound coin was introduced, was to give it a sense of value, said Clancy.

With the new one pound coin, we continued with that approach.

The coin will also have a new design on its tail side, created by 15-year-old David Pearce, who won a competition organised by the Treasury.

His drawing depicts a rose, a leek, a thistle and a clover -- the symbols of the four nations of the United Kingdom -- surrounded by a royal crown.

On the opposite side is a new portrait of Elizabeth II, the fifth to decorate a British coin.

Supermarket trolleys

The new coin, which was put into circulation on March 27, is supposed to fully replace the old one, which will no longer be legal tender, on October 15.

The authorities have therefore intensified efforts to encourage people either to spend their old coins or change them at the bank.

But many institutions across the country may still accept payments with the old coin after the cut-off date, although they will no longer be able to use it when giving change to customers.

The transition to the new currency could nevertheless cause some difficulties.

Supermarkets Tesco and Sainsburys have not yet adapted their trolleys to take the new coin, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Rail travellers are also expected to face problems, with automatic ticket machines of certain companies, including Southern, Great Northern and the Gatwick Express, not able to take the new coins.
The United Nations has banned four ships from visiting any global port, after they were found violating sanctions imposed on North Korea, the media reported.

Hugh Griffiths, co-ordinator of a UN panel on North Korean sanctions, on Monday night described the move as unprecedented, reports the BBC.

The ships were reportedly the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun.

Graphic showing the latest know positions of four ships banned from port entry by a UN sanctions panel on North Korea. (AFP Photo)

According to the MarineTraffic website, a maritime database that monitors the movement of vessels, Petrel 8 is registered in Comoros, Hao Fan 6 in Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Tong San 2 in North Korea. The registered country of Jie Shun was not listed.

Griffiths said the ships were found transporting prohibited goods.

The ban was announced following a UN meeting earlier on Monday.

In August, a UN resolution banned exports of coal, seafood and iron ore from North Korea, reports the BBC.

Sanctions were expanded last month in response to Pyongyangs sixth and largest nuclear test yet, to include the export of textiles and North Korean guest workers, as well as a cap on oil imports.
The United Nations launched one of its biggest ever cholera vaccination drives in the vast refugee camps of southeast Bangladesh on Tuesday, amid fears of an outbreak among nearly a million Rohingya now living there.

Thousands of Rohingya men and women lined up in intense heat at makeshift health centres today, many with young children in their arms, to receive the oral vaccine against the disease.

The UN is working with the Bangladesh government to vaccinate 650,000 people living in the sprawling camps against cholera, which spreads through dirty water and can kill if left untreated.

These people lack most of the basic services -- toilets, water sanitation and everything, UNICEF spokesman A M Sakil Faizullah told AFP.

When we have this kind of situation, theres a heavy possibility of a cholera outbreak.

Nearly 520,000 Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh since late August, fleeing a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar that the UN has said likely amounts of ethnic cleansing.

Poor and overpopulated Bangladesh has struggled to cope with the mass influx of people, many of whom have to travel for days or even weeks to reach safety and arrive exhausted and malnourished.

The influx had slowed in recent weeks, but now appears to have picked up again. An estimated 10,000 new refugees arrived yesterday.

World Health Organization workers supported by around a thousand local volunteers plan to vaccinate 650,000 Rohingya over the coming weeks.

They will follow up with a second dose of the vaccine for an estimated 250,000 children aged between one and five. Those under one will not be vaccinated.

Rohingya refugees receive an oral cholera vaccine at the Thankhali refugee camp in Ukhia district on October 10, 2017. (AFP)

It is thought to be the second biggest such campaign ever, after 800,000 people were immunised against the disease in Haiti in November.

Volunteers at the Thankhali camp used loudhailers to appeal to refugees to go to the centres, where they queued to have the vial placed in their mouths.

The health workers told us we would be better with medicines, that we wouldnt have any more diseases, said Nabi Hossain, a 35-year-old refugee who arrived at the camp two weeks ago, as he queued with two of his sons.

Abdus Salam, a senior health official with the local government, said workers would go door to door to ensure no refugees were left out of the drive.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority who have long faced persecution in Myanmar, which regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The UN says more than 600,000 have arrived in the last year, swelling camps that were already home to between 300,000 and 400,000 refugees.

Bangladesh has allocated land to accommodate some 800,000 refugees in one massive camp, but the UN has warned that such a large concentration in one area could promote the spread of disease.
They may act like a fairly chilled-out lot, but the youth of India are mortally afraid of examinations, anxious about getting a job, and generally wary of going wrong with crucial life decisions.

As many as 80% of the respondents covered in the Hindustan Times-MaRS Youth Survey-2017 confessed to harbouring worries that take a toll on their sleep. Over 64% said fear of examinations was the main cause of their insomnia while 45% attributed it to matters of the heart.

This is the pattern we see in our clinics. Examinations  especially competitive tests  are a major cause of stress and anxiety for people in this age bracket, says Dr Sameer Malhotra, director of mental health and behavioural sciences at Delhis Max Hospitals.

While maintaining good looks accounted for anxiety among 41% of the respondents, keeping up with peers was found to be stressing out around 40.7%.

When I first joined college, there was obviously some pressure to fit in. In school, everyone wears the same uniform and has the same hairstyle. However, as soon as we go to college, people start judging us by what we wear, how we dress, or even which bag we carry. This is where the problem lies, says Saubia Arshi, a second-year post-graduate student of social work.

Dr Malhotra believes focusing on their hobbies will help the youth tide over such worries upon joining a new college or workplace.

Half of the respondents also felt anxious about their employment prospects. We have been told that my department in college has a 100% placement record, but I am still anxious about the kind of job I will get after my course is done. Guess I will come to know once the placements start, says Arshi.

Fear of failure gives as many as 30% youngsters the blues. A significantly higher number of respondents from tier II cities such as Kochi (80%), Bhubaneswar (77%) and Jaipur (68.3%) seem to worry about not achieving success. Right now, my biggest fear is that I will fail in my career. As I am employed with a start-up, it is very important to me that the company succeeds, says Chitra Surana, whose firm sets up B2B platforms.

Read | HT Youth Survey: More women buy expensive brands for quality, men purchase for style

A little over 10% of the respondents confessed to worrying about being alone.

The survey, which examined the various ways in which the youth cope with stress, said music helped 69.5% people de-stress and unwind. Others chilled out by watching movies (53.5%), talking to others (47.5%), and partying with friends (47.4%).

Around 37% said smartphones helped keep their minds off worries. This, however, is a chill pill that Dr Malhotra doesnt particularly care for. The rise in cellphone usage among people has resulted in undesired consequences such as texting while driving and taking their mobiles to bed. Using cellphones in bed causes sleep deprivation, he says.

Take our quiz to find out what is stressing you:



For more stories from HT Youth Survey 2017, click here. Send in your comments and suggestions at talktous@hindustantimes.com or use #HTYouthSurvey on social media.

Survey Methodology: India Youth Survey 2017 was carried out by MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems in 16 state capitals and major towns in India- Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Chandigarh in the north, Kolkata, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi in the East, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Indore in the West, and Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi in the South.

Target respondents were both male and female from age groups 18-21 years and 22-25 years, belonging to households with durable ownership of CTV, Refrigerator and at least two of: Car, Two Wheeler, Home computer/laptop, Air Conditioner and Washing machine. The respondent was either currently a student of undergraduate or above or employed with education graduate or above. Additionally the respondent was a regular user of internet on the smart phone and member of a social networking site. Total sample size was 5700, equally divided among men and women and the two age groups. Survey was carried out from July 10 to July 31, 2017.

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They toss and turn in bed, examination and employment worries plaguing their minds. Thats Ranchi for you, where 91.5% survey respondents say they have trouble sleeping at night. Bhubaneswar, around 400 kilometres away, virtually doubles as the land of nod for 68.9% youngsters. In fact, youngsters from the Odisha capital dont let anything  not even examinations  faze them.

Respondents at four cities  Delhi (73.5%), Hyderabad (68%), Ranchi (57.4%) and Ahmedabad (57.1%)  were the most worried about being gainfully employed after college or university. In this age of selfies, more than 70% respondents from Delhi and 67.7% from Chennai were found to be worried about their looks.

Although its widely believed that youngsters dont care about their parents, almost half the respondents from Delhi seemed bothered by it. The national capital was closely followed by Chennai in this regard.

Amorous relationships also make the youth restless, especially in Ahmedabad, where 62.9% respondents termed it as a cause of anxiety. As many as 92.9% youngsters in Bengaluru and 91.8% in Kochi confessed to being in bitter fights with their partners.

So, how are these problems handled? Over 90% respondents in Kochi said their version of chilling out constituted everything from watching movies, listening to music and partying with friends to exercising and fiddling with smartphones. Youngsters in Pune and Bhubaneswar didnt binge on movies, but certainly turned to music (94.5% and 93.4% respectively) during times of stress.

Among the 64.1% people who suffered exam-related anxiety, Ranchi clocked 90.2% followed by Pune at 83.6%, and Delhi and Mumbai at over 80%. Bhubaneswar again came up trumps, with 60% saying they rarely worry about tests.

For more stories from HT Youth Survey 2017, click here. Send in your comments and suggestions at talktous@hindustantimes.com or use #HTYouthSurvey on social media.
The 1st and 2nd platoons of B Company, 9th Marine Regiment, attacked North Vietnamese Army positions on Hill 861 near Khe Sanh on April 24, 1967, and came under heavy fire as they moved into position. The Americans responded by deploying the companys 60 mm mortars, but the difficult terrain complicated mortar placement. Lance Cpl. Dana Darnell placed his helmet between his legs and set his mortar tubes base upon it, using his hands to steady the weapon. The Marine maintained a steady rain of fire on the enemy throughout the engagement, pausing only to gather more ammunition. Darnell, killed in action two days later, was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on April 24.

His M19 60 mm mortar had been designed to replace the M2 mortar of World War II and fired the same ammunition. Rejected by the Army, the M19 was favored by the Marineseven though 10 pounds heavier, shorter-ranged and less accurate than the M2because it had sights and a manual trigger that enabled the crew to aim it at a specific target for direct fire and not just lob shells at an unseen target using indirect fire.

The M19 had an M5 rectangular base plate and a bipod that supported the muzzle-loaded smoothbore barrel. Crewmen could anchor the mortar tube in a helmet if a base plate wasnt available. The sight was an M4 collimator sight, which allows the viewer to see an illuminated aiming point aligned with the weapon, regardless of eye position. The mortar was fired manually using a firing lever trigger for direct fire at low angles of elevation. When the tube elevation exceeded 60 degrees, the projectile was dropped into the tube and fired when its ignition cartridge struck the firing pin. Range was set by adjusting the tubes elevation and clipping booster charges to the tail finfour for maximum range.

The M19 was a company-level weapon for U.S. and South Vietnamese marines, filling the indirect-fire gap between the M79 grenade launcher and the 81 mm battalion-level mortars. Never as popular as its M2 predecessor, the M19 gave way to the M224 60 mm mortar by the early 1980s.
Eleanor Franklin Egan, born Bertha Eleanor Pedigo in 1877, was placed in the Rose Orphan Home in Terre Haute, Indiana, following the death of her mother. She was later adopted and raised in Martinsville, Illinois, and Kansas City, Missouri. She moved to New York City in 1898 in search of an acting career but ended up in journalism instead.

Egan covered the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution for Leslies Weekly and World War I and its aftermath for the Saturday Evening Post. She died in New York in 1925, at age 45, from pneumonia.

In 1915 Egan made headlines all over the world when she survived a deadly submarine attack on the British passenger ship Barulos. She wrote about the experience for the Saturday Evening Post, from which this account is excerpted.

I was leaving Greece.

The war I had run from in Serbia, in Bulgaria, and in Turkey snarled at my heels in Athens. Greece was mobilizing; everything was in the utmost confusion, and I knew I must get away, my objective then being my own homeland, where there was no war.

Sailings of the Italian ships to Brindisi had not been suspended; but in that direction the greatest danger lay. There were rumors of Austrian submarines, and one was made to believe that to the westward they were as thick as fishes in an aquarium. Very well; I would go down to Egypt, and from Egypt I would go to Malta, from Malta to Palermo, and thence across to Naples. There was a promise of British and Italian convoy on this route, and the sensible idea is always to seek the safest possible avenue.

It was the Barulos or nothing, everything else afloat being engaged in service connected with either Greek mobilization and the transportation of troops to Macedonia or with the battle of Gallipolli, which was then wallowing along to its end.

The Barulos it had to be. I was the only English-speaking passenger aboard. The three-hundred-odd other passengers suggested nothing but nomadic tribes.

I was standing by the rail when the submarine came upall by myself. I was restless, and I was tremendously interested in the surface of the sea. I always shall be after this. Never again shall I be able to sweep a bright horizon from a ships deck without seeing that black hulk rising like a whale coming up to blow.

Your mind at such a moment is like a film in a camera. It captures and fixes every minutest detail. I remember the white wash of the sea off the submarine decks, though it rose halfway between us and the sky line. I remember the instantaneous of the flash of fire and the reverberating boom which caught up just in time to mingle with the crack of an exploding shell and the loud swish of a geyser that it threw into the air. It was the explosion of that shell that settled our fate. If the submarine could have used some other kind of signal the panic would not have been so instantaneous and complete. But the concussion shook the ship; and all those buried in the bowels of the shipfiremen, engineers, sailors, steerage passengers, everybody, thought just one thing, and that thing was Torpedoed!

I had to clutch the rail to steady myself.

Goodness knows how long I stood there. I dont. Moreover, I have no idea how the first impulse of the crowd expressed itself. I suppose there must have been a momentary hesitation of unbelief before a scream was uttered; but when the sobbing sounds of fear did penetrate my daze they curdled my bloodand that I know.

I turned finally and started aimlessly for the gangway that led below to the cabins. Then I got caught in the crush at the gangway, I being seriously bent on going down when everyone else was in frantic haste to come up. I remember blackened firemen and uniformed officers and sailors fighting women and children and other men in a way that chilled my heart and closed the very shutters of my mind.

It was toward the Englishmens lifeboats that the crowd stampeded. They were the only lifeboats instantly available, and more than 300 persons had gone insane with a determination to get into them.

There was a Greek sailor standing in the bow of the boat toward which I had been rushed by the mob, and I turned in time to see him cutting away like a madman at the rope that held it. I had just sense enough to observe instantly that nobody was doing anything at all to the ropes at the other end; and then it was, I think, that I lost my reason too. The boat was already overloaded and people were still crowding into it, and I got a swift, terrible vision of its being loosed at one end only, and of the whole struggling, screaming lot of them being plunged into the sea. I reached out and caught the sailors arms; but

I think I went over just as the boat fell. How? I wish I knew. There was a clutch of hands behind me, a sudden lift, a long, sickening dropand I was looking wide-eyed through the blue seethe of the sea. Some noble soul, of course, had tried to lift me into the lifeboat and had caught me off my balance as I struggled with the sailor. When I came up and caught my breath in the air, and began mechanically to keep my head above water, I was still thinking that I must go to my cabin and get a life belt. I had been thinking this subconsciously all the time; and that shows how quickly it all happened.

By the time I had adjusted myself and had stroked my way out into a space by myselfaway from the clutching hands and the struggling othersour submarine had come up and was lying under our bows, with two 1,200-pound guns trained on our water line. It was the English captain who told me afterward that they were 12-pounders, else I should not have known. Hereafter, though, I think I shall always know a 12-pounder when I see one, because I looked straight into their muzzle from where I floated in the sea.

My eyes ran down the gleam of them, seeing photographically their every detail. Behind them stood two gunners, as straight and still as statues of men. They were awaiting the order to fire, and I had a sort of frantic feeling that I was exactly in range and was likely to be blown to bits.

The commander of our submarine was an Austrian; and if the German idea is right he should have been court-martialed and shot for being weakand merely human. I imagine that he was once a proud, upstanding navy man, with swashbuckling thoughts, perhaps, and dreams of brave fights with fighting ships. But he was not fitted to command a submarine under orders to be ruthless. He wept!

They got me. I was picked up by one of the lifeboats. I sank into it, exhausted. Do you know anything about the blessed feel of one when it is the only thing between you and the illimitable awfulness of black sea depths?

I am going to skip all the particulars about how my lifeboat was filled with sailors and firemen mostly; how we rowed round afterward and picked up others, until the big chief steward, who was in command, decided we had all we could take care of; how three lifeboats were stampeded as they were launched and swamped as soon as they touched the water; how one woman after another threw her children into the sea, screaming to God to let them be saved by someone, somehow; and how the long swells caught little bodies and swept them far out beyond the reach of rescue.

Yet I would, if I could, make you see the pitiful ship drifting aimlessly and dejectedly there under the guns; and I would, if I could, make you see how the sunset bathed all the horrors in a marvelous light. I would, if I could, make you hear the feeble wails of the little Arab baby I picked up and tucked away under my wet coat, and feel the weight of the dead woman they dragged in and threw across my knees. I would, if I could, call up before you all the 25 drowned14 of them children, and only three of them menand have you listen to their stories. But these are details, only details.

Two weeks later I crossed that spot on a Dutch ship, which I boarded at Port Said for Genoa; within a month I had crossed to the English Channel and was on an American Line ship bound for New York. I can only add that, until I came within sight of the Statue of Liberty, I was subject to occasional heart contractions which felt exactly the way you do when you are dropped suddenly in an elevator.

I went back before the Germans completed their arrangements for unrestrained ruthlessness. MHQ

[hr]

This article appears in the Summer 2017 issue (Vol. 29, No. 4) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: Torpedoed!

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During the East Woods fighting early in the Battle of Antietam, the 10th Maine Infantry found itself hotly engaged with Confederates concealed within the woods. Looking to his right at one point, Lieutenant John Mead Gould, the regiments adjutant, happened to notice several mounted men on a nearby knoll, including his corps commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph King Fenno Mansfield, who was frantically motioning at the 10th to cease firing. As this was the very last thing we proposed to do, Gould recalled, the few who saw him did not understand what his motions meant, and so no attention was paid to him. In response, the 58-year-old Mansfield, accompanied by a single orderly, galloped in their direction, shouting that they were firing on their own men. But when he reached the regiments left flank, an officer and a sergeant in Company C raced up to inform him that he was mistaken and pointed at several soldiers, clearly Confederate, now only about 20 yards away. Mansfield had no time to react. Within moments, he had been shot through the lungs.

Gould was the first to reach the general, and with the assistance of three comrades carried him to the rear. Soldiers from the 125th Pennsylvania lent help, and also provided a blanket, as Mansfield was transported back along the Smoketown Road to a woodlot where Gould had located an ambulance and two medical officers. Mansfield was loaded on the ambulance and taken to the George Line Farm, about a mile to the north, but would die of his wounds the following morning.

The 22-year-old Gould was an intelligent, observant young man from Portland, Maine. In 1861 he had enlisted in the 1st Maine Infantry, a three-month regiment. Upon his discharge from the 1st, Gould promptly enlisted in the newly forming 10th Maine, a two-year regiment. He was promoted to sergeant major, then to second lieutenant, and in August 1862 to first lieutenant. The latter promotion meant Gould would serve as the regimental adjutant, a position that typically required a bright person with good attention to detail.

Throughout the war Gould maintained a detailed diary and devoted considerable space to the Battle of Antietam and to Mansfields mortal wounding. But by early December, when Gould still hadnt seen anything in print about the events surrounding the generals death, he composed a memorandum about what had unfolded before him that day. He also sent a detailed letter to Mansfields widow describing what had occurred.

Perhaps because of Mansfields death, Antietam became a lifelong fascination for Gould. In 1890, curious about what Confederate units his regiment fought in the East Woods, he began looking for answers by corresponding with Confederate veterans. An 1892 account he wrote for the National Tribune, however, would be disputed by veterans of the 125th Pennsylvania, who claimed Gould was radically and entirely mistaken when he says that General Mansfield was killed in front of his regiment. Gould was energized by this questioning. As a combat veteran he understood how the chaos of battle could cloud the memories of some participants. He began eagerly exploring all aspects of the battle not only surrounding Mansfields wounding but also the fighting elsewhere in the East Woods and the nearby Cornfield. He wrote and received hundreds of letters from veterans of nearly every regiment and battery in the Union 1st Corps (Hookers) and 12th Corps (Mansfields), and Confederates from John Bell Hoods, D.H. Hills, and Alexander Lawtons divisions.

Gould was tireless, methodical, and thorough in his efforts to track down men from every unit that fought in those sectors of the battlefield. If, for example, he could find no contacts for a Confederate unit, he often wrote the postmaster in a town he believed might have veterans from a certain regiment and asked him to deliver his circular letter to them. Rarely did he come up empty-handed. Former Confederates sensed that he bore no grudge against them and was genuinely interested in their side of the story and in getting at the truth of what had happened during the battle. Most replied eagerly and graciously to Goulds inquiries.

Ben Millikin of the 27th Georgia for instance, wrote Gould three letters in 1895, one of 18 pages, and the others both eight pages long. J.D. Smither of the 5th Texas, at the end of a 13-page letter, apologized; Pardon the loquacity of an old soldier. You know when they start they never know when to stop off. Such lengthy letters were typical and Gould responded to them all. Millikin grew so fond of Gould through their correspondence that he encouraged the New Englander to invest in a local bank in Millikins home town. Gould had a dry sense of humor and often joked with his former enemies. In responding to a letter from Millikin, Gould wrote, Now all you fellows of the 27th fought wellmost too well to suit mebut such a poor set of correspondents I never struck.

Because Gould was a veteran, his correspondents tended to be frank and honest with him. An example was Lewis Stegman, a captain with the 102nd New York, who minced no words when he described Lt. Col. James C. Lane, the regiments commander at Antietam, as an incubus and added, [W]hen his name is mentioned it is with a damn. A corporal in the same regiment concurred, writing Gould that he grouped Lane with the brigade of coffee cooking, sneaking hospital bummers. John Rankin, a 27th Indiana veteran, fumed about veterans who exaggerated things. What is it about war that upsets mens intellects and starts their minds wandering over a vast ocean of fiction, he wrote.

Gould became an expert on the battle on the northern end of the field and often included notes in the margins of letters when veterans made mistakes. In an 1891 letter, former Confederate Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law made an error regarding the 5th Texas. At the bottom of Laws letter Gould wrote, In my answer I tried to set him right on the matter of the 5th Texas & to tell him all I had learned so far. It was perhaps too much for the General. He never wrote again! JMG. When W.T. Hill of the 5th Texas wrote that there was a fearful slaughter of Union troops in his regiments front, Gould, who knew better, noted, So it appeared to most of them.

Gould shared all that he learned with Ezra Carman, former colonel of the 13th New Jersey, who in the 1890s was the government historian at Antietam tasked with marking the positions of both armies on the field. Much of what Carman learned of the battle around the Cornfield and East Woods came to him via Gould. Today, Goulds Antietam collection resides at Dartmouth College. Except to careful Antietam students, he is largely unknown, but much of what we know about the fighting in those sectors of the battlefield the morning of September 17 is the result of Goulds exhaustive efforts to uncover as much of the truth as possible.

Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.
Former Confederates wrote accounts of their wartime experiences for various magazines and newspapers. Most students of the Civil War are familiar with four of these publications. The most widely known of the quartet is the Century War Series published in The Century magazine between 1884 and 1887 and later issued in four thick volumes as Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. During the 1870s a few ex-Confederates also contributed to a Civil War series in The Philadelphia Weekly Times, and several dozen of these articles appeared in book form in 1879 as The Annals of the War. The two most important outlets for Confederate testimony were Southern Historical Society Papers (SHSP), which commenced publication in January 1876 and provided a forum for the bitter Gettysburg Controversy of the 1870s and 1880s, and Confederate Veteran, the inaugural issue of which appeared in January 1893. The first three of these publications featured writings by notable military officers, and SHSP, shaped by the guiding hand of Jubal A. Early, focused on events in the Eastern Theater. All four have been reprinted at least onceBattles and Leaders multiple timesand are readily available.

The Southern Bivouac, though unfamiliar to most modern readers, also offers a wealth of primary material on the Confederate war effort. Its relative obscurity stems from several factors. The publishers never issued a hardbound compilation of war-related articles from its pages comparable to The Annals of the War or the overwhelmingly successful Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. The Bivouac also enjoyed just a five-year publishing lifea very brief run compared to those of SHSP (1876-1959) and Confederate Veteran (1893-1932). It also trained its lens on events in the Western Theater rather than on the more famous battles and campaigns waged by Robert E. Lee and his army. Perhaps most important, its roster of authors included few leading military figures of the type who regularly wrote for the Century War Series and SHSP.

Launched in August 1882 as The Bivouac (it adopted its final name with that years November issue), the new magazine counted four members of Kentuckys celebrated Orphan Brigade among its five-person editorial committee and promised to publish all kinds of articles of interest to the ex-Confederate soldier, his family, and to all friends of the South and its history. Early issues set patterns that would continue despite later changes of editors and ownership: articles on the Western Theater markedly outnumbered those on the East; the common soldier rather than generals frequently held the spotlight; and miscellaneous short pieces, queries, and correspondence rounded out the war-related content.

Like Early and others who shaped the SHSP, the editors of the Bivouac consciously sought to influence future generations of readers by getting the Confederacys version of the war down on paper. J. William Jones, editor of the SHSP, praised the Bivouac in late 1882 and welcomed its founders as our co-laborers in the great work of vindicating the truth of Confederate history. The Bivouacs editor conceded that North and the South would contribute to literature on the conflict, but, he added pointedly, the survivors of the lost cause can least afford to be silent because the fairest history a victor may write never does justice to the cause he conquered.

The Bivouac departed from SHSP in important ways. Whereas the latter featured debates among prominent Confederate officers about Gettysburg and other campaigns, the Bivouac, as already noted, emphasized the importance of the common soldier (Confederate Veteran would follow its lead a decade later). When we consider the power of ambition, stated one editorial, the valor of high dignitaries is easily accounted for in behalf of any cause; but the motive which impels the privates and subordinate officers to suffer and bleed so long, demands the fullest explanation. The magazine actively solicited accounts from the old soldiers or the members of their families. The SHSP printed many official reports; the Bivouac announced its intention to preserve for history the stories and incidents of the war that never appear in army reports. In language that surely rankled Early and others associated with the SHSP, the Bivouac claimed to be the only Confederate soldiers magazine published in the United States.

[quote style=boxed float=left]The Bivouac also called for critical examination of all Confederate leadersincluding Robert E. Lee[/quote]

The Bivouac also called for critical examination of all Confederate leadersincluding Robert E. Lee. In a clear reference to efforts by Early and his followers to absolve Lee of blame for reverses at Gettysburg and elsewhere, the Bivouac denounced hero worship that masqueraded as history: Really great men do not hesitate to avow their responsibilities, even of errors which prove disastrous. The time had come to put aside personal feelings and seek historical objectivity. That in some cases this is unpleasant to the personal friends of the heroes of history is true, remarked the editors: But this is of no consequence. In a letter to Basil W. Duke, a former cavalry general who fought mostly in the Western Theater and served a stint as co-editor of the Bivouac, Jubal Early complained that the magazine published too many articles by low-ranking officers and enlisted men, printed negative comments about Lee by untrustworthy individuals, and indulged in sensationalism. Duke responded with a touch of humor, defending the Bivouacs editorial policies and inviting Early to submit an article to the magazine.

The May 1887 issue announced that the Bivouac had been purchased by the Century Company and would cease publication (a few articles already in hand would become part of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War). In just half a decade, the editors had bequeathed to future students of the Civil War a rich store of material. Scores of articles cover major battles and campaigns and lesser known operations. Nearly every issue contains personal anecdotes relating to combat, camp life, and other facets of the soldiers experience. The magazine also sheds a good deal of light on the Lost Cause interpretation of the Confederate war and the reconciliation movement that developed in the 1880s. A six-volume, indexed reprint (Broadfoot Publishing, 1992-93) provides a superb literary lens through which to view how the postwar South chose to remember its failed attempt to found a slaveholding republic. 
On the morning of October 14, 1947, the abrupt double-crack of a sonic boom pierced the tranquility of the Mojave Desert. Piloting the Bell XS-1 rocket-powered research airplane, U.S. Air Force test pilot Captain Charles E. Chuck Yeager had just become the first man to exceed the speed of sound, ushering in the era of supersonic flight.

Yeagers accomplishment earned him a share of the Collier Trophy, aviations most prestigious award, together with industrialist Larry Bell (whose firm had designed the little saffron-colored speedster) and aerodynamicist John Stack of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the United States most prominent advocate for supersonic flight testing and flight research. Beyond that, it launched the country down a path that within a decade would see it fielding operational supersonic jet fighters and interceptors, with supersonic jet bombers in flight test or under development, and bold plans in the offing for commercial supersonic transports and even faster military aircraft and research vehicles.

The path to supersonic flight involved an international effort, with significant contributions by a number of European and American engineers and designers. Under different circumstances, it might have been Britain, Germany or even the Soviet Union that became the first to break the sound barrier, not the United States. That America succeeded first reflected the tremendous energy and power of its aeronautical establishment, which during World War II produced nearly 300,000 airplanes for the U.S. and its allies. It was also a reflection of the comparative strength of Americas robust postwar economy, which made possible vast investment in supersonic research facilities (particularly wind tunnels) and aircraft and missile design programs, something other nations could not readily afford.

The roots of supersonic flight lay in the aerodynamics of the propeller. A propeller is really a rotating wing, generating a horizontal lift-vector, and its tip speeds approach the speed of sound. Just after World War I, engineers at the Army Air Service Engineering Division at McCook Field, Ohio, constructed a small wind tunnel for testing propeller airfoils. Researchers Elisha Fales and Frank Caldwell subsequently found that when the airflow around the airfoils reached 450 mph, the airfoils lift abruptly dropped and its drag rose sharply. They had stumbled upon the phenomenon of aerodynamic compressibility, the first inkling of the problems high-speed aircraft would encounter in the late 1930s. Other researchers at the Bureau of Standards built upon this earlier Army work. Hugh Dryden and Lyman Briggs undertook pressure distribution studies of airfoils at the speed of sound, taking the first photographs of shockwave formation on an airfoil as the flow over it exceeded Mach 1. By the early 1930s, George Lewis, director of aeronautical research for NACA (the predecessor of todays NASA), worried that planes might never operationally exceed 500 mph.

John Stack, head of Compressibility Research Division, was a hard-charging man whose attitude toward unproven technology was usually, Lets try the damn thing and see if we can make it work. He shared the 1947 Collier Trophy with Chuck Yeager and Laurence Bell for the development of the Bell X-1. (NASA)

One who thought otherwise was John Stack, a brilliant young engineer at NACAs Langley laboratory who was already envisioning what a compressibility research airplane should look like. In January 1934, he published a technical paper envisioning a prop-driven airplane powered by a 2,300-hp Rolls-Royce R engine, with highly streamlined circular cross-section fuselage and a wing with a thickness-chord ratio (the ratio of the thickness of the wing compared to the distance from leading to the trailing edge) of 18 at the root, decreasing to 9 at the tip. It marked the first conceptual design effort to examine the requirements for a research plane to probe the sonic frontier.

Stacks design reflected a serious challenge in aeronautics at the time: Wind tunnels could not furnish accurate aerodynamic data at velocities around the speed of sound, where airflow compressed and bunched up around a test model. As tunnel speeds increased, shockwaves formed on models and their supports, reflecting back and forth across the test section and generating inaccurate readings.

Since the speed of sound is approximately 760 mph at sea level (dropping to about 660 mph at higher altitudes), and since the world airspeed record was then only 440 mph, this might have seemed a distant problem. But in fact it was not. A propeller blade or airplane wing passing through the air at roughly three quarters the speed of sound has accelerated flow passing over it at the speed of sound or even faster. Propellers lose their efficiency, and wings experience an abrupt decrease in lift and increase in drag. Turbulence streaming behind them buffets tail surfaces, sometimes causing catastrophic structural failure or reducing control effectiveness so that an airplane dives uncontrollably to earth. From the mid-1930s into the post-WWII era, a number of aircraft, typically new fighters, broke up as pilots overstressed them while attempting to recover from high-speed dives at near-sonic velocities. These included the Messerschmitt Me-109, Hawker Typhoon and Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Both prop-driven and newer jet aircraft were equally susceptible.

A researcher positions a model of the XS-1 inside the 16-foot high-speed wind tunnel at Langley Research Center in Virginia. (NASA)

After WWII, NACA aerodynamicists (under Stacks leadership) eventually developed a slotted throat wind tunnel that permitted shock waves to exit the tunnel. That change and the development of the sting mount for wind tunnel models would dramatically increase the fidelity and reliability of wind tunnel data. But until that happened, researchers had little option other than flight-testing models and full-size aircraft if they wanted reliable airflow data.

By the mid-1940s, American researchers had developed a number of alternative test methods that, if not perfect, at least furnished some reliable information. These included dropping instrumented test shapes from high altitude, firing instrumented rocket-propelled models and placing small models on the wings of North American P-51s, with test instrumentation in the gun bay, so that the models would be exposed to the accelerated transonic flow over the wing as the Mustang dived earthward at Mach 0.75. That method, conceived by NACA engineer Robert Gilruth, proved surprisingly useful, though it involved some risk to the pilot as he dived at high speed deep into the dense lower atmosphere. Given the short test times, scaling errors and pilot risk involved in these methods, however, researchers increasingly considered developing piloted jet or rocket-propelled research planes that, carrying extensive instrumentation, could cruise in level flight at high speeds and altitudes, effectively using the sky as a laboratory.

The Douglas D-558-1 took a more conservative approach to supersonic flight research with its thicker wing section, turbojet engine and landing gear. (National Archives)

The federal governments growing interest in developing specialized sonic research airplanes coalesced after an Army Air Forces/ Navy/NACA meeting on March 16, 1944, at Langley resulted in a variety of service-supported design studies. Two very different research planes emerged: the Bell XS-1, sponsored by the Armys Air Technical Services Command, and the Douglas D-558, funded by the Navys Bureau of Aeronautics. Of the two, the D-558 was the more conservative, with a thicker wing section (10 percent versus 8 percent on the XS-1), turbojet propulsion (instead of the XS-1s more risky and higher-performance rocket engine) and a retractable landing gear (rather than relying only on air-launching, as with the XS-1). That the XS-1 was more radical reflected a largely unsung Army Air Forces engineer, Major Ezra Kotcher, who realized that seeking higher performance required rocket, not jet, propulsion. In mid-1944 he undertook a Mach 0.999 design study (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the impenetrable sonic barrier), in conjunction with Sergeant Alex Tremulis, the automotive stylist who would go on to create the legendary postwar Tucker. In late November 1944, Kotcher used Tremulis seductive drawing to persuade Bell chief engineer Robert Woods to accept the challenge of building the worlds first supersonic airplane, launching Bell and the Army Air Forces on the path to the XS-1.

In contrast, the D-558 represented a more operationally focused configuration, reflecting the design approach of NACA and the Navy. In late 1944, 1st Lt. Abraham Hyatt, a Marine Corps aeronautical engineer assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics, prepared a memo advocating a jet-propelled test airplane capable of super speed, stipulating a minimum high speed of 650 miles per hour at sea level, and at least a 10G load limit (the rival XS-1 had an 18G load limit). In late 1944, bureau officials showed Hyatts memo to Douglas engineer L. Eugene Root, asking if the company would be interested in such a project. I said You bet, grabbed it, and ran with it, Root later recalled. Subsequently designed by the legendary Ed Heinemann, the resulting jet-powered D-558 was so slender it earned the nickname the flying test tube.

In October 1935, at the Volta Congress on high speeds in aviation held in Rome, German scientist Adolf Busemann had proposed sweeping a wing back to alleviate the drag rise associated with high-speed flight. Surprisingly, though his audience was filled with leading researchers from around the world, the significance of his simple concept went largely unnoticed. But in Germany, where Busemann had great influence, sweptwing designs were the common currency of aircraft and missile development in the 1940s. By wars end, the German Research Institute for Soaring Flight was developing the DFS-346, an experimental rocket-propelled supersonic research airplane, and had already launched a winged derivative of the A-4 ballistic missile, the A-4b. During its climb out of the atmosphere, the A-4b became the first winged missile to exceed the speed of sound, though it broke up during reentry.

In the fall of 1944, Robert T. Jones, a gifted aerodynamicist at the Langley laboratory, had independently postulated the concept of the sharply angled delta and swept wing as a means of delaying and minimizing transonic and supersonic drag, basing his work on earlier aircraft and missile design concepts by Michael Gluhareff and Roger Griswold, and the theories of emigre NACA aerodynamicist Max Munk. Like Munks ideas, Jones work stirred great controversy until, in the late spring of 1945, American researchers sifting through the rubble of the Third Reichs aeronautical laboratories discovered the tremendous investment German engineers had made in sweptwing and delta aircraft and missiles.

Douglas D-558-2 was launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing P2B-1S (Navy B-29) during test flights that would exceed Mach 2. (NASA)

The swept wing immediately went to the top of design priorities for high-speed flight. In the U.S., North American redesigned the XP-86 as a sweptwing airplane; Boeing did the same with a new design that emerged as the XB-47; and Douglas, at Navy request, split the D-558 program into two phases: the straight-wing turbojet-powered D-558-1 Skystreak and the sweptwing jet-and-rocket-powered D-558-2 Skyrocket. (In November 1953, NACA research pilot Scott Crossfield would fly a D-558-2 beyond Mach 2, the first piloted double-Mach flight in aviation history). Abroad, Soviet technical intelligence personnel transported the DFS-346 design team and their families, together with all available technical data, to Russia in late 1946, completing the design and subsequently test-flying it, though with indifferent results. Britain began an ambitious program to exploit German aerodynamic and rocket technology, complementing the design of the Miles M.52, a futuristic and highly refined supersonic configuration begun in 1943. In the summer of 1946, Sir Ben Lockspeiser, then director-general of scientific air research at the Ministry of Supply, canceled that remarkable aircraft, an action that Sir Roy Fedden, one of Britains greatest engineers, damned a decade later as having cost Britain at least ten years in aeronautical progress.

Though more often associated with second-generation supersonic aircraft such as the General Dynamics F-111, Grumman F-14, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 and Boeing B-1, the variable-sweep wing had its origins in Nazi research. In 1945 Bells Robert Woods led a technical intelligence team to Oberammergau, site of Messerschmitts advanced projects office, where he discovered the prototype P-1101, a canceled Luftwaffe fighter that designer Woldemar Voigt had hoped to use for sweptwing research by installing wings of varying sweepback. Together Voigt and Woods conceived of something very different: installing a pivot on a movable track inside the fuselage so that wing sweep could be varied in flight. This resulted in the Bell X-5, the worlds first variable-sweep aircraft, which closely resembled the P-1101.

Bell built two X-5s, testing the variable-sweep principle up to Mach 1.05, though one was lost due to its vicious spinning characteristics, killing test pilot Major Ray Popson. The Air Force briefly considered exporting an armed version of the X-5 as a NATO fighter, but did not. Meanwhile, the Navy evaluated a Grumman design, the XF10F-1 Jaguar, which featured a generally similar wing planform, though the Jaguars performance was so mediocreeven dangerousthat it did not warrant introduction to the fleet. The variable-sweep concept would remain just an attractive idea until the advent of the outboard pivot concept, which made it far more practicable, enabling development of the 1960s-era F-111 and MiG-23.

Not all the German-rooted ideas worked out. Designers in Britain and America swiftly emulated Alexander Lippischs tailless rocket-powered Me-163 Komet, building similar (though jet-powered) designs, the de Havilland D.H.108 Swallow and Northrop X-4 Bantam. In service, though, the Me-163 had proved dangerously unstable, as fluctuations in the wings center of pressure triggered poorly damped longitudinal pitching, imposing high structural loads. (Pilots compared it to riding over a washboard road.) The Swallow killed experienced test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland (son of the firms founder) on September 27, 1946. Flying low over the Thames estuary at Mach 0.875, the aircraft abruptly pitched out of control and broke up. Learning from that tragedy, Northrops X-4 test team flew at higher altitudes, where the penalty for such a divergent pitch was less threatening.

Likewise, postwar tests of Lippischs proposed DM-1 delta glider proved its wing and tail sections were too thick, creating high drag and unacceptable stability and control problems. Instead, when Convair designers embarked on their own delta designs, they started with a sharply sweptback thin wing, then gradually filled in its trailing edge until they arrived at a classic 60-degree delta planform. Thus, contrary to popular belief, Lippischs wartime delta research had no impact on the XF-92A, the F-102 or any other of the later Convair designs.

The Douglas X-3 Stiletto is flanked by (clockwise, from left) the Bell X-1A, D-558-1, XF-92, X-5, D-558-2 and Northrop X-4 Bantam. (NASA)

The advent of the swept and delta wing, and recognition that efficient supersonic flight demanded wings with much higher fineness ratio and much lower aspect ratio, led to a reshaping of aircraft design. Changing wing designcombining very thin airfoil sections with low-aspect-ratio planforms (such as the short-span straight wings of the Douglas X-3 and Lockheed F-104), swept wings (e.g., North American F-100 and Vought F8U), deltas (Convairs F-102, F-106 and B-58) or variable-sweep wings (X-5)was crucial to achieving practical supersonic flight. With such changes came increased requirements for stiffness and rigidity, to prevent flexing and potential structural breakup of the wing.

The ratio of fuselage length to wingspan also changed dramatically. The shift in ratio had occurred progressively as aircraft flight speeds increased. From the time of the Wrights through the interwar era, wingspan had generally exceeded fuselage length; at WWIIs end, with the first jets, fuselage length and wingspan had been approximately equal. But in the supersonic era fuselage length increasingly exceeded wingspan. This resulted in spectacularly streamlined shapes that, prior to the era of stability augmentation and electronic flight control, were plagued by dangerous instabilities.

One problem was pitch-up: As a sweptwing airplane approached a stall, the onset of stall would begin at the tips (reducing roll control effectiveness) and progress inward, with the aircrafts center of pressure moving forward. This could lead the plane to abruptly pitch upward, possibly stalling completelya potential killer at low altitude. Pitch-up limited the combat performance of both the North American F-86 Sabre (Americas first sweptwing jet fighter) and the MiG-15, its chief opponent (many of which pitched up during turning combat, entering unrecoverable spins). Tail placement was crucially important, with aircraft such as the T-tail McDonnell F-101 and the F-104 particularly susceptible to mission-limiting pitch-up. As a result, the T tail, though fashionable early in the supersonic era, quickly gave way to the low tail, as exemplified by the F-100, F8U-1, Republic F-105, Grumman F11F-1 and Northrop T-38/F-5all with their horizontal stabilizers placed at the bottom of the fuselage. Aircraft that could not take advantage of such placement, such as the McDonnell F-4H-1 Phantom II, employed pronounced anhedral (negative dihedral) as a solution.

Equally important was the all-moving tail, which increased the effective elevator area and deflection by pivoting the entire horizontal tail surface as a single unit. Demonstrated with the XS-1 (which lacked a true all-moving tail but had a movable horizontal stabilizer as well as a conventional elevator), the concept was employed on the F-100 and subsequent supersonic Air Force and Navy-Marine aircraft.

Inertial coupling, also called roll coupling, was another potentially dangerous problem. This phenomenon, induced by rapidly rolling an aircraft that had most of its mass distributed along the length of the fuselage rather than along the span of its wing, plagued a number of new designs, including the D-558-2, the long-fuselage advanced Bell X-1 family, the Bell X-2, the X-3 (tellingly nicknamed the Stiletto), the X-5 and virtually all the early supersonic jet fighters. All of them, if rapidly rolled at transonic and supersonic speeds, would tend to couple into combined rolling, pitching and yawing motions, with the airplane tumbling out of control. At high speeds and high q (high dynamic pressure), results could be catastrophic.

Convairs own research went into the XF-92As delta-wing design. (U.S. Air Force)

In December 1953, inertial coupling sent the Bell X-1A out of control at Mach 2.44, resulting in a tumbling, spinning descent. It required every bit of Chuck Yeagers legendary piloting skill to recover the airplane and then glide back to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base. In 1954 North American test pilot George Welch was less fortunate; inertial coupling during a supersonic rolling dive pullout in an experimental F-100A Super Sabre led to its fatal breakup. Two years later inertial coupling contributed to the death of Air Force Captain Milburn Mel Apt after he turned back to Edwards in X-2 No. 1 after reaching Mach 3.2. Apt, who was experienced in inertial-coupling research, may have been misled by lagging instrumentation readings into thinking the X-2 was flying slower than it actually was.

The solution to inertial coupling was increasing the size of vertical surfaces and adding stability augmentation to flight control systems. Production F-100s had larger vertical tails and slightly larger wings, changes also seen on aircraft such as the F-105, F8U-1 (which featured ventral strakes as well) and North American A3J-1 Vigilante. Single tails gave way in the 1960s and 1970s to twin tails, beginning with the MiG-25 Foxbat and F-14A Tomcat. (North Americans first concept for the A3J-1 envisioned twin fins, which would have anticipated the Foxbats configuration by a decade).

Fluid dynamicist Richard T. Whitcombs Area Rule reshaped not only aerodynamic thinking but the performance of both the Grumman F9F-9 Tiger and Convairs F-102. (NASA)

One more significant design change remained before the United States could exploit routine supersonic flightand like low-aspect-ratio wings, increased fuselage length, larger vertical fins and low-placed horizontal stabilizers, it was readily visible to the casual eye. This was area ruling, as manifested in the classic Coke bottle fuselage shape. As Grummans F9F-9 Tiger and Convairs F-102 interceptor moved toward flight testing, researchers noted that their anticipated drag based on wind tunnel tests was higher than it should be. It took a young NACA fluid dynamicist, Richard T. Whitcomb, to puzzle out the answer. An airplane, he reasoned, could be envisioned as a smoothly expanding and contracting symmetrical body of revolution, elongated as much as practically possible to reduce abrupt drag-inducing discontinuities. Where protrusions had to be madefor example, the wingsthe fuselage could be effectively pinched to fool the air into thinking the body was more streamlined than it actually was. Whitcombs notion saved the Grumman and Convair designs, each of which, in their initial flight test configuration, had proved woefully deficient. Both companies lengthened their respective airplanes and applied area rule to their design. The Grumman design became the F11F-1, best known as the famed Blue Angels demonstration aircraft, and the F-102 went on to become a mainstay of USAF Air Defense Command through the middle years of the Cold War.

this article first appeared in AVIATION HISTORY magazine See more stories Subscribe now Facebook @AviationHistory | Twitter @AviationHistMag

By the time Sputniks beeping shocked Americans out of their complacency, the transformation of Uncle Sams aeronautics from subsonic to supersonic was essentially complete. Hand in hand with progress in design theory had come critical advances in air-breathing flight propulsion, without which supersonic flight would have remained an elusive dream, reached only by experimental rocket planes. The large-diameter centrifugal-flow turbojet that predominated in the early subsonic jet era gave way to axial-flow, variable-compressor, multiple-spool jet engines offering increased performance. Due to their smaller diameter and higher thrust-to-weight ratios, these were more suitable for the supersonic aircraft of the 1950s. The afterburning Curtiss-Wright J65, the General Electric J79 and J85, and the Pratt & Whitney J57, J58 and J75 made possible aircraft such as the Century Series fighters and other Cold War stalwarts. Whats more, those aircraft enjoyed the emerging benefits of the rapidly unfolding avionics revolution, with force-multiplying technologies such as advanced electronic fire control and air-to-air missiles. If much of this seems rudimentary by present-day standards, it was still impressive by the standards of the late 1950s.

As 1958 dawned, American aerospace was firmly fixed within the supersonic era. Both promise and disappointment lurked in the future: the promise of greater flight efficiencies and capabilities made possible by the advent of very high thrust-to-weight after burning turbofans and electronic flight control (typified by the F-15 and F-16), and the disappointment of overexpectations evident in the drive to build a commercial American supersonic transport. Altogether it had been a spectacular ride, however, effectively doubling flight speed every 10 years from 1938 to 1958, from Mach 0.5 to Mach 2. Achieving practical supersonic flight had taken insight, dedication, commitment, expertise and plenty of courage. Fortunately, those were all qualities Americas supersonic pioneers possessed in abundance.

Former U.S. Air Force historian Richard P. Hallion is the author of numerous aviation articles and books, including Supersonic Flight: Breaking the Sound Barrier and Beyond, which is suggested for further reading. Hallion also recommends: Faster, Further, Higher: Leading-Edge Aviation Technology Since 1945, by Philip Jarrett; and The X-Planes: X-1 to X-45, by Jay Miller.

This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of Aviation History magazine. Subscribe here.
When a failed coup detat launched by right-wing generals split Spain into warring factions in 1936, the ensuing civil war became an international cause celebre that attracted legions of foreign volunteers to the beleaguered Spanish Republic. The soldiers in the International Brigades they formed would be immortalized in works by George Orwell, who was invalided home after fighting on the Aragon front, and Ernest Hemingway, who covered their exploits as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Not as well remembered as their white peers, however, are the hundred or so African Americans who found, in the American Lincoln Battalion, a kind of equality theyd been denied at home. Most prominent among these men was Oliver Law, a black U.S. Army veteran who would make history in Spain as the first man of color to command an integrated group of American soldiers.

Born on October 23, 1900, Law grew up in West Texas and in 1919 joined the 24th U.S. Infantry Regiment (Colored)one of the six all-black Buffalo regiments organized after the Civil War. His enlistment came at an especially tense time in the 24th Infantrys history. Only two years before, more than 100 soldiers in the regiment had mutinied in Houston during a race riot over abusive treatment at the hands of local police. More than a dozen white civilians and policemen were killed, along with a lesser number of black soldiers. In the ensuing months, 110 of the regiments members were convicted of mutiny, and 19 were executed. Against this background of discontent and tension, Law would go on to serve six uneventful years on the Mexican border with the unit before leaving the military in search of civilian work. It was 1925, and difficult times lay ahead for both Law and his country.

After a few unhappy years working at a cement factory in Bluffton, Indiana, Law went to Chicago to seek lasting employment. Just as he seemed to have found a source of steady money, as a driver with the Yellow Cab Company, the Great Depression hit. With his long periods of unemployment, interrupted only briefly by jobs on the docks and in restaurants, Law became a social and political activist. Gradually becoming more radical, he first joined the Chicago chapter of the Longshoremans Association, followed by the International Labor Defense advocacy group, and finally the Communist Party. Law saw communism as the antidote to the many inequities and indignities he had endured as a black man and as a union worker. As a labor organizer, Law fought for the rights of Chicagos working-class residents in housing disputes with their landlords and the government.

These activities attracted the attention of the Chicago Police Departments Red Squad, which harassed Law and his fellow leftists whenever possible. In 1930 threats turned to violence: The police beat Law so badly that he was hospitalized. Despite this intimidation, Law became a leading member of the black left wing in Chicago, married the daughter of Claude Lightfoot, a prominent black communist, and found a steady source of income from the Works Project Administration. But in October 1935, with the forces of fascism on the march, Law heard a new call to action.

After months of troop buildups, Benito Mussolini, Italys fascist dictator, brushed aside international outrage with claims of national interest and ordered his army to invade Ethiopia. Nowhere in the United States was anger over the invasion more acute than on Chicagos South Side, where blacks rallied around the plight of Africas one remaining uncolonized nation. Law was one of several speakers to stand on the citys rooftops and address marchers at an unauthorized Hands Off Ethiopia rally.

Law soon pursued more active resistance to Italys aggression. As he and hundreds of other African Americans organized to join the army of Ethiopias emperor, Haile Selassie, the under-equipped Ethiopian forces buckled under the Italian onslaught, which included chemical weapons and advanced military machinery. Thus, the volunteers were left ready to fight but had no battlefield. They would not have to wait long.

When word reached Law and his compatriots in 1936 that the same Italian soldiers who had subjugated Ethiopia would now be deployed to aid General Francisco Francos Nationalist forces in Spain, they saw a second chance to strike a blow against colonialism and international fascism. Soon, Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, would also come to Francos aid. But it was unclear how long the Republican cause in Spaina ragtag collection of anarchists, socialists, communists, and democratscould hold its own against Francos better equipped and better trained forces.

Law got his passport on January 7, 1937, and on the 16th left for Europe aboard the SS France. He and 90 or so black comrades were in the minority on the ship, and even more so in Spain. Of the idealists and adventurers who made up the soon-to-be-christened Abraham Lincoln Battalion, most were white; the majority of those were students, and a quarter were Jewish. They were nevertheless united by a common belief in their cause; their solidarity was further strengthened in the face of the U.S. governments threat of confiscating their passports for breaking with their countrys noninterventionist policy on Spain. It was a heady time for the black Lincolns, who were not only treated equally by their white counterparts in the battalion but also saluted and celebrated by many of the Spanish civilians they encountered.

But they would not have much time to bask in their newfound freedom. With Francos armies advancing to the north of Madrid, the Republics military leadership had decided that the International Brigades were needed immediately to blunt the Nationalist offensive in the Jarama Valley, just east of the capital. Hastily trained and younger on average than any of the other brigades in the coalition, the soldiers of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion turned to the experienced Law for leadership. But the Lincolns, in Spain for less than two months, suffered 65 percent casualties between their initial counterattack and their subsequent defensive efforts.

Shortly before the soldiers in the shattered battalion were removed from the front, they confronted one of the wars cruelest ironies. Rather than facing the elite Italian companies of Francos army, the Americans found themselves grappling with Francos colonial soldiersnative levies from the Spanish colony of Morocco. These soldiers had been lured to fight under the Nationalist banner by promises of good pay and false rumors that the Republic intended to abolish Islam in the name of communist atheism. The great pathos and confusion of this violent meeting between black Americans and the very Africans they had intended to free from colonial oppression was captured by poet Langston Hughes, whose time among the Lincolns inspired him to write, in his Letter From Spain,

We captured a wounded Moor today.

He was just as dark as me.

I said, Boy, what you been doin here

Fightin against the free?

The fact that these Moroccan regulares were deployed in dangerous missions in lieu of white troops reinforced for some Lincolns the righteousness of their cause. Not long after his musings on the Moroccans, Hughes returned to his theme: Fascists is Jim Crow people, honey / And here we shoot em down. The battle in Spain was thus, for Law and his fellow black American volunteers, a battle against the injustice that they had faced at home. Nevertheless, members of the battalion were relieved to be pulled away from the stalemate at Jarama in late February to rest and regroup ahead of a July thrust at Brunete, a small town 15 miles west of Madrid.

In the weeks that followed, a stream of American volunteers helped to replenish the ranks of the Lincolns. But many of the battalions officers had been reassigned or lost as casualties. Vacanciesmost important, that of the commanding officerwould need to be filled rapidly if the unit was to be ready for the coming offensive.

On June 12, 1937, Oliver Law was chosen by popular assent to lead the battalion. (In Spain, Law is reported to have said, I can rise according to my worth, not my color.) It was a promotion that rewarded the grit and competence under fire that Law had demonstrated at Jarama. Made machine-gun commander at the height of the fighting there, Law had proved himself a rock-solid leader. One Lincoln veteran would remember him as both well liked and well respected, even going so far as to call him the best battalion commander in Spain.

Illustrating the difference between Laws new life and the world he had left behind, the color of his skin proved an unavoidable object of attention for American visitors to the battalion in a way that it did not for the Lincolns themselves. Shortly after taking command, Law was confronted by one such visitor, an American colonel from the South who inquired as to whether he knew that he was wearing a captains uniform. Law responded with a dignified affirmative and, when the bewildered colonel offered him the lukewarm congratulation that his people must have been proud of him, Law replied, Im sure they are! Certainly, command of a battalion was a far cry from the six miserable years that he had spent serving exclusively white officers along the Texas-Mexico border.

Sadly, while both popular and historically remarkable, Laws command was brief. When the Brunete offensive was finally launched, the Lincolns were repeatedly ordered to advance into the teeth of a series of well-defended enemy positions. Though he faltered at first in the face of the heavy Nationalist opposition, Law quickly recovered and sought to encourage his men by example. Once again, he was in front when the fighting turned tough. His luck ran out on July 9 as he led an attack on a position known as Mosquito Ridge. Running ahead of his men as they clambered up the hill under machine-gun and rifle fire, Law was an easy target. Hit twice by enemy fire as he attempted to urge the Lincolns on, the badly bleeding Law was carried backagainst his own demands that his stretcher-bearers focus on the men who might still be saved. He was buried with respect under a grave marker, now lost, that proudly declared him to be the First Negro to command American white soldiers.

Oliver Laws story has since largely faded into obscurity. In the year that followed his death, the Lincolns would suffer further losses as the Republican cause slowly unraveled. Eventually returning to a country whose government branded them premature anti-fascists, the American volunteers who managed to escape Francos eventual victory found few in the United States who were willing to listen to their praise for the man they had turned to for leadership during the two defining battles of their Spanish service.

Those who did pay attention to Laws story found that his race and personal politics stood in the way of commemorating his achievements. Paul Robeson, having himself returned from the Christmas tour of Republican Spain in which he had first heard of Oliver Law from his surviving comrades, struggled in the following years to bring to the screen a film that would do justice to the legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and its first black commander. Despite Robesons draw as an internationally acclaimed actor and musician, the Hollywood executives whom he petitioned for support turned a deaf ear to his idea, leaving Robeson to complain that the same interests that block every effort to help Spain control the motion picture industry. Robesons personal assistant later cited the failure of his plans to bring Laws story to the public as the cause of his eventual withdrawal from the movie business.

Likewise, those interested in the story of the integration of the U.S. military have focused on President Harry S. Trumans 1948 reforms of the armed forces and ignored Laws election in Spain a decade earlier. With the Spanish Civil War increasingly in vogue with modern historians, however, it seems possible that Oliver Laws achievement will finally begin to garner the attention it deserves. MHQ

Piers Brecher has a degree in history from the University of Chicago and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Oxford University. This article is adapted from an earlier work that appeared in The Gate, the student-run political science magazine of the University of Chicago.

This article appears in the Autumn 2017 issue (Vol. 30, No. 1) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: Lost Leader

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Just two weeks before a new bill will be brought before the Seanad on gender pay equality, IBEC is now calling for mandatory gender pay gap reporting to be introduced for large Irish companies.

IIBEC's announcement comes as Senator Ivana Bacik prepares to bring Labours Gender Pay Gap Bill before the Seanad for debate at Committee Stage in two weeks time.

Labour's Gender Pay Gap Bill, which we will be debating in the Seanad on October 25th, goes further than IBECs suggestion however, and moves to require companies of 50 or more workers to regularly publish details of the mean and median incomes of men and women in their workplaces.

This will also capture areas such as bonus payments where we know significant gender gaps exist.

We need to legislate for this because its not enough to hope that companies will simply volunteer this information," Senator Bacik tells us.

She points out that this has "already worked" in countries such as Belgium, which has a relatively low pay gap of 6.6 per cent.

Recent revelations over a lack of women on the top ten earners at RTE, as well as issues surrounding pay transparency have shone a welcome light on the gender pay gap in Ireland.

But this is not just an RTE issue and exists in many industries, such as Financial Services and Sales for example, which have estimated pay gaps of around 29 and 23 per cent respectively," adds Senator Bacik.

Its time that Ireland moved toward gender proofing our workplaces- and gender pay gap reporting is a good place to start."

Welcoming IBEC's announcement, Senator Bacik says: "Its great to see key business groups like IBEC come out in support of mandatory gender pay gap reporting, and shows the tide is beginning to turn on an acceptance of gender inequality in the workplace.

Labour has said for some time that there are a number of reasons behind the fact Irish women are paid around 14 per cent less than men, but by requiring companies to regularly carry out wage transparency reviews, we believe it will ensure the issue remains in the spotlight and help to narrow the pay gap over time."
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Energy Secretary Rick Perry is defending tens of thousands of dollars spent on flights aboard charter and government aircraft, as Congress widens its inquiry into the travel expenditures of members of the Trump administration.

In May, Perry and members of his staff flew aboard a chartered Gulfstream jet to a Department of Energy event in Kansas City at a cost of up to $35,000, according to documents the Department of Energy sent the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. Along with three other flights on government aircraft, the Department of Energy estimates it has spent more than $56,000 on noncommercial travel for the secretary and his staff.

"The Department of Energy strictly follows both governmentwide and internal DOE travel regulations and policy," a spokeswoman said. "The secretary travels almost exclusively on commercial aircraft."

The travel habits of President Donald Trump's Cabinet have come under scrutiny after a series of incidents of seeming excess, including when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's wife, the Scottish actress Louise Linton, posted on Instagram a photo of this summer's solar eclipse shot during a flight aboard a government plane.

That has rankled some Democrats and the president himself, who told reporters he was "not happy" after it was reported that former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price ran up more than a $500,000 bill on charter flights and other air travel.

Price resigned last month after the disclosures. Federal inspectors general have opened at least five investigations into senior officials' travel expenses, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General did not return a call for comment on Perry's travel Monday.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly last month, House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., reminded the administration that Cabinet members should travel "by the most expeditious means of transportation practicable' and 'commensurate with the nature and purpose of the (employee's) duties,' and by no means should include personal use."

In a memo to the White House in May, Perry's chief of staff, Brian McCormack, explained the Gulfstream flight to Kansas City as necessary.

"I have determined other modes of transportation, including scheduled airline flights, will not meet the secretary's schedule requirements," he wrote.

The round-trip flight went from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to the New Century AirCenter in New Century, Kan., on May 17, for a "Small Business Forum & Expo" hosted by the Energy Department, as well as a tour of a facility operated by the National Nuclear Security Administration in Kansas City.

The New Century airport is about a 45-minute drive from the Kansas City International Airport, where American Airlines and Southwest Airlines fly nonstop from Reagan National.
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Who pays for the 52,000 deaths a year in the United States caused by small particulates and other air pollution released by coal-fired power plants?

Who pays for the 26 percent increase in chronic bronchitis associated with living near a coal plant? Or the myriad of other health problems caused by toxins released when burning coal?

When Environmental Protection Agency Administration Scott Pruitt talks about how the Clean Power Plan unfairly disadvantaged plants that burn coal, he never talks about who is paying for the human misery this industry causes.

For if the industry had to compensate all the people who suffer and die prematurely from the air pollution produced, coal plants would have gone out of business long ago. And that's before we begin talking about carbon dioxide, and how these plants contribute to climate change.

RELATED: Natural gas and wind burying coal

Anyone with a basic understanding of economics is rolling their eyes when Pruitt claims the Clean Power Plant was distorting energy markets. The EPA's fundamental mission is to make sure polluters pay the costs that they inflict on others, and that's all the Clean Power Plan did.

For over a hundred years, owners of coal plants have pumped noxious fumes loaded with tiny particulates into the air we breath. Those fumes and particulates ruin lungs and have caused a 26 percent increase in respiratory problems and associated deaths, according to hundreds of academic studies since 1970.

Reducing air pollution in urban areas was a major contributor to the 18 percent increase in life expectancy since the founding of the EPA, according to a 2013 Department of the Interior study. Further improvements could decrease premature death from bronchitis by 40 percent, according to a United Kingdom study.

Those longer, healthier lives have value not only to those individuals and their families, but also to our economy due to longer working lives and decreased health care costs. Pruitt and others in the Trump administration don't talk about those economic benefits when they complain that shutting down coal plants may lead to higher electricity prices.

If the Trump administration truly wanted the best, most balanced economic benefit for the American people, it would keep the Clean Power Plan. But because Trump campaigned against it, and promised to boost the job prospects of 63,000 workers in the coal business, Pruitt is going to dirty up the air.

RELATED: Rick Perry wants you to pay more to support coal, nuclear industries

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has also been talking about our energy markets, claiming that tax incentives for wind and solar power distort them. Therefore he has recommended subsidies for nuclear and coal power plants.

Like Pruitt, Perry also fails to understand how markets are supposed to work, or the government's role in making them as fair as possible.

Most of America's coal-fired plants were built using taxpayer money back when the government set the rates. All of America's nuclear power plants were subsidized by the federal government. Just last week Perry provided a loan guarantee to the new Vogtle plant in Georgia.

Government's role in modern energy markets is to guarantee reliable electricity that accurately reflects the generation and pollution costs at the lowest price. Pruitt and Perry are tipping the scales toward coal plants by failing to capture their entire environmental costs.

If you want the Trump administration to favor coal plants, then that's what you are getting. Just don't call it a competitive market when dirty energy is allowed to pollute for free in order to compete with clean energy.

Also know that thousands of people will die from lung diseases every year as a result, and you will bear that cost in slower economic growth and higher health care bills. That's the very definition of a distorted market.
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Richard Thaler, whose work has persuaded many economists to pay more attention to irrational human behavior, and many governments to pay more attention to economics, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday.

Thaler is the rare economist to win a measure of fame before winning the prize. He is an author of a best-selling book, "Nudge," about helping people to make better decisions. He also appeared in the 2015 film "The Big Short," on the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Nobel committee, announcing the award in Stockholm, said that it was honoring Thaler for his pioneering work in establishing that people are predictably irrational - that they consistently behave in ways that defy economic theory. People will refuse to pay more for an umbrella during a rainstorm; they will use the savings from lower gas prices to buy premium gasoline; they will offer to buy a coffee mug for $3 and refuse to sell it for $6.

The committee credited Thaler, who teaches at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, for moving economics toward a more realistic understanding of human behavior, and for using the resulting insights to improve public policies, notably a shift toward the automatic enrollment of employees in retirement savings programs.

"In order to do good economics, you have to keep in mind that people are human," Thaler said after the announcement.

Asked how he would spend the prize money of about $1.1 million, Thaler replied, "This is quite a funny question." He added, "I will try to spend it as irrationally as possible."

The economics prize was established in 1968 and is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Mainstream economics was built on the simplifying assumption that people behave rationally. Economists understood that this was not literally true, but they argued that it was close enough.

Thaler has played a key role in pushing economists away from that assumption. He did not simply argue that humans are irrational, which has always been obvious but is not particularly helpful. Rather, he showed that people depart from rationality in consistent ways, so their behavior can still be anticipated and modeled.

"Thaler more than anyone has disciplined the idea of animal spirits," said Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor who wrote "Nudge" with Thaler.

The 2008 book argued that governments could use behavioral insights to improve the efficiency and quality of a wide range of public services. Two years later, the British government created a department to pursue the experiment. Other countries, including the U.S., followed suit.

Observing that inertia limited participation in beneficial programs, like retirement savings plans or school lunch programs, Thaler proposed that governments and employers should make participation the default option. People are free to opt out, but inertia is on the side of the preferred outcome.

A similar proposal, "Save More Later," offsets the tendency to place a high value on current income by allowing people to commit to setting aside more money next year.

Thaler, 72, was born in East Orange, N.J., and graduated from Case Western Reserve University before earning a doctorate in economics at the University of Rochester.

One of Thaler's most profound findings involves the importance of fairness. He showed that people will penalize unfair behavior even if they do not benefit from doing so.

It explains, for example, why an umbrella store may choose not to raise prices during a rainstorm. It also illuminates the mechanics of unemployment. Standard theory predicted that during an downturn, employers would cut wages to a level consistent with the demand for goods or services, meaning there was no reason to think a downturn would produce unemployment.

But workers regard wage cuts as unfair. And so employers, seeking to avoid angering the workers they plan to keep, prefer to cut employees rather than wages.
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UPS plans to build a 260,000-square-foot distribution center in northwest Houston in an effort to meet growing demand for local package deliveries.

The shipping giant filed a building permit Sept. 26 for an industrial building at 11770 N. Gessner, near Willowbrook Mall. The $17 million project would be built by Alston Construction, a Houston-based general contractor, according to BuildZoom, a San Francisco-based construction data firm that tracks permits.

UPS opened a temporary small-package distribution center on the site last year to support its operations during the holiday shopping season. It's unclear whether UPS plans to tear down the temporary facility to build a new center, which would be the company's fifth in Houston.

"Construction efforts are still in the early planning phases," spokesman Matthew O'Connor said in an email. "Once UPS leadership has made final project decisions, we will share more specific details."

UPS received a $5.1 million tax break from the city of Houston in December 2015 to build a distribution center on 68 acres at 11802 N. Gessner. The 10-year abatement, which ranges from $505,000 to $536,000 a year, is set to start in 2018.

Under the tax agreement, UPS pledged to invest nearly $60 million in capital improvements and $71 million in equipment, as well as hire at least 2,535 permanent employees at the new facility.

Package couriers are building distribution centers across Houston as the rise of e-commerce increases demand. FedEx Ground opened a massive one in Cypress this summer.

FedEx Ground's 800,000-square-foot development - the company's largest facility in Texas - opened in August with 400 employees. The distribution center sits on 484 acres northwest of FM 529 and the West Grand Parkway in Cypress. FedEx Ground is a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.

The company cited major highway access and proximity to other distribution centers used by its customers among the reasons for building there.

At its opening, FedEx Ground's new facility processed about 22,500 packages per day but is expected to ramp up to 1 million packages a day when it is fully staffed in 2022. The facility is part of a national network that includes more than 550 distribution hubs and local pickup-and-delivery stations.

John Talhelm, senior vice president with JLL's industrial group, said the locations of shipping companies' distribution centers are driven largely by supply chain, transportation logistics and where their workforce lives.

Northwest Houston is a strong submarket for industrial space, with a vacancy rate hovering around 5 percent, according to JLL research.

Package couriers are attracted to Houston because of its population growth, circular highway system and its proximity to the Port of Houston and other major markets across Texas, Talhelm said. Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin and Beaumont each are not far by highway.

"Houston is becoming more of a distribution center," Talhelm said. "I think we're going to see larger facilities coming into the Houston market."
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Holiday shopping hadn't crossed Michael Stewart's mind until his son rattled off a Christmas list during the car ride to school on Monday.

The 11-year-old's early draft included a Lego set and three video games, one of which Stewart spotted during a trip to a Best Buy to replace a laptop that afternoon. But he decided to save the gift-buying for after Thanksgiving, when he typically makes purchases with a mouse click.

"It's convenient," he said. "But there are certain things I wouldn't buy without seeing them in store first."

Shoppers will again divide their time between the store and the screen this year during what's expected to be a robust holiday season bolstered by an increase in consumer confidence, rising wages and low unemployment. But the growth in e-commerce sales is expected to far outpace an overall increase in spending and further fuel competition among traditional retailers and e-commerce players.

The National Retail Federation expects holiday retail sales in November and December to increase between 3.6 percent and 4 percent, up from $655.8 billion last year.

Other groups and consulting firms have offered similar outlooks. Deloitte expects retail sales to rise as much as 4.5 percent during the same period, and PricewaterhouseCoopers expects a 6 percent rise driven by higher-income consumers.

Online spending, however, is expected to rise as much as 21 percent this year, according to Deloitte.

The growth in e-commerce sales, by now a familiar trend, has for years challenged traditional retailers to simultaneously retain foot traffic and expand their online presence as companies such as Amazon claim an ever-larger market share. That tension has resulted in widespread store closures and tipped a slew of well-known companies, most recently Toys R Us, into bankruptcy this year.

National chains including Walmart and Target have worked in recent months to incorporate more technology into the in-store experience while investing heavily in their websites and distribution networks. Smaller retailers such as Allbirds and Warby Parker, meanwhile, have built customer bases with niche products and direct-to-consumer sales models.

"The big guys are positioned to do really well and the small guys are positioned to do really well," Rod Sides, vice chairman and U.S. retail and distribution leader for Deloitte. "The ones in the middle are the ones that are at risk."

Consumer expectations for fast, and sometimes free, shipping has risen along with online sales. PricewaterhouseCoopers noted that about 50 percent of consumers buy holiday gifts online, and about 40 percent of them prefer delivery in two days or less.

Rapid delivery

Amazon, which offers free two-day shipping through its Prime membership program, has in part influenced the shift by making a growing number of items available for rapid delivery. On Prime Day, Amazon's day of steep deals for Prime members, the company generated 60 percent more revenue this year than last year, per industry estimates.

Retailers across the board to have built more warehouses to keep up. In Houston, demand for such real estate has spiked as retailers search for space. Companies including Ikea, Walmart, and Floor and Decor have recently expanded their distribution networks here. So have package couriers FedEx and the UPS.

"Retailers have gotten more efficient with their supply chains," said Steve Barr, a PwC analyst. "This year more than ever, they're going to be able to deliver on brand promise for same-day or two-day shipping."

Despite the pressure to deliver more goods more quickly, UPS and FedEx have said they'll hire about the same number of workers as last year. Both have invested in millions to speed package processing and distribution.

It remains unknown how the recent spate of hurricanes will affect holiday spending. The National Retail Federation doesn't expect the storms to have a long-term economic impact, but it issued this year's forecast as a range instead of a fixed percentage because of that uncertainty.

Houston after Harvey

In Houston, economists anticipate a spike in fourth-quarter spending as consumers buy furniture, home goods and building materials in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Some of that spending is expected to come at the expense of nonessentials such as electronics and luxury goods.

Brent Chambers stopped into a Best Buy on Monday to pick up a phone charger and a few other small things on a long list of items that need replacement after the storm flooded his house along Buffalo Bayou with 40 inches of water. He and his wife replaced all their furniture last week for a hefty price that ate into the holiday budget, he said.

"You have to reprioritize," he said.

Kim Hammond and her daughter traveled to Houston from the Beaumont area to shop for appliances as they prepare to remodel their house. She and her family have been living with her parents since the storm flooded their house with 6 inches of water. She expects they'll stay there through Christmas.

Hammond said she hadn't given much thought to holiday shopping, which she usually completes in December with trips to the store and online orders. Even with the unexpected remodel, she doesn't plan to cut back during one of her daughter's favorite times of the year.

"She still likes the traditional gifts under the tree," she said.
The upcoming holiday season will be the last one for the iconic Sears store in Midtown.

The building at 4201 Main will close in late January. A liquidation sale will start Nov. 10.

The closure is part of Sears' plan to close hundreds of locations nationwide. The company closed about 180 stores this year, and it expects to add an additional 150 to that list by the end of the third quarter.

"This is not an effort solely aimed at cost savings but is part of a strategy we have been executing against as many of our larger stores are too big for our needs," spokesman Howard Riefs said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Retail companies that could face bankruptcy soon

Now Playing: Sears had to borrow money again. According to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO Eddie Lampert leant the corporation $100 million from his hedge fund and its affiliates, ESL Investments. Over the last two years, Lampert and his hedge fund have loaned Sears close to $2 billion to keep the business in operation. The retailer's financial hardship is the result of declining mall traffic and growing e-commerce competition. Video: Wochit

The company, more than a century old, has for years downsized its store chain amid a seismic shift in the retail industry. Online sales have skyrocketed, challenging traditional retailers like Sears to improve the in-store experience, invest in their websites and distribution channels and close lower-performing locations.

Saddled with debt, the company also sold its Craftsman tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker in March for about $900 million. It is exploring other options for its Kenmore and Diehard brands.

The Midtown building a stark example of the retailer's decline. The art-deco-style building opened in 1939 as a modern, air-conditioned shopping mecca covered with murals depicting decades of Texas history.

READ ALSO: Here are the 16 biggest bankruptcies of the 'retail apocalypse' of 2017

The store lost foot traffic as the city's shopping district moved south. Sears shrouded the original facade with corrugated metal in an attempt to modernize the building in the 1960s, and many of the original murals have been covered.

Rice Management Co., which is responsible for Rice University's endowment, has owned the six-acre parcel for more than 75 years. In 1945, it leased the land to Sears under a 99-year agreement.

Last week, Rice Management Co. bought out the remaining 28 years of Sears' lease and acquired about three contiguous acres owned by Sears.

Rice now owns 9.4 acres, including the original department store, its parking lots and the Sears Automotive Center on Eagle Street between Fannin and San Jacinto.

Now that Rice has control of the property it will begin studying options.

"Removing the long-term lease obligation from Rice's Midtown property will allow the university to initiate a process of thoughtful planning for the future use of this land," Rice President David Leebron said in a statement.

"The Rice Management Company will initiate a yearlong study to consider options that contribute to the ongoing revitalization of the surrounding community as well as the city's broader economic strength. In this process, we'll consult with many actors and experts, including the Urban Land Institute, city officials and our own Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

"This is another dimension of Rice's enthusiastic engagement with the city of Houston, while at the same time assuring a return to the university's endowment in support of our missions of education, research and community service."

RELATED: Its Wish Book heyday behind it, Sears struggles in new era of retail

The real estate is one of Rice's high-profile Houston properties, which include the Rice Village shopping center. That center was managed by Weingarten Realty Investors until 2014 when Rice bought out Weingarten's ground lease for a figure estimated at between $55 million and $60 million.

Rice also leases land to Fiesta Mart at 4200 San Jacinto. Fiesta has two more years left on its lease.
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Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies on Monday successfully launched its 14th Falcon 9 rocket of the year, bringing the company a step closer to the 20 to 24 total missions it's targeted for 2017.

The predawn launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast carried 10 communications satellites for Iridium Communications to low-earth orbit.
Social media can be great for showing love for one's child, but it can also expose parents to undeserved criticism.

On Instagram, Hollywood actress and mom Olivia Wilde recently shared a picture of herself kissing her son, a sweet gesture which quickly turned controversial.

"We don't kiss on the mouth a child," wrote one commenter. "The kid think 'mum kiss me like she kiss dad' it's not normal."

"Ehhhhh gonna give the kid lip aids," wrote another, presumably referring to herpes.

NOT A CURE: CDC warns parents not to give children antibiotics to treat common cold, flu

Now Playing: Actress Olivia Wilde just got mom-shamed. According to the Huffington Post, the mother of two posted a picture on Instagram on October 3. She was kissing her 3-year-old son, Otis, on the lips, while he was taking a bath. Her caption read, Finding hope in this love Although the post racked up over 112 thousand likes, it also brought the haters out. The Huff Post says that one person commented, "Kissing your kid like your husband. Its not good for him. Video: Wochit

It wasn't long before the disapproving voices were drowned out by people showing support for Wilde.

"Your son is beautiful, your relationship is beautiful," wrote one commenter. "Please do not let anything rob you of that. Fight like a mama bear forever, for him.

Among child psychologists, the jury is still out and little evidence exists for, or against, the smooch, but with so many parents continuing the tradition, its hard to believe any evil will come from it.

See other celebrities who have been mom-shamed above.
If you pass Hugo Ortega these days you might want to accidentally on purpose graze him; maybe some of his good luck will rub off.

In a year of notable highs, another honor was bestowed on Ortega over the weekend when the Southern Foodways Alliance named him the recipient of its Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award. The award presented at the Alliance's annual symposium goes to an individual who has made an indelible mark on cuisine and culture.

Ortega and his wife/partner Tracy Vaught of H-Town Restaurant Group were at the Oxford, Miss., symposium to accept the award. The theme of this year's symposium was "El Sur Latino"

The Craig Claiborne award was just the latest accolade in the Year of Hugo 2017. The year began on a high note when he and Vaught opened their ambitious Xochi, an ode to the foods of Oaxaca just before the Super Bowl at the new Marriott Marquis Houston. That was followed by the 2017 James Beard Award as Best Chef Southwest in May  the sixth time Ortega was up for the "Oscar" of the culinary world. Finally, it was his.

Ortega's work was Xochi was so compelling that Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook bestowed on it a rare four-star review in June. In July Eater national agreed: Xochi found itself on Eater restaurant editor Bill Addison's 2017 Best New Restaurants list. And last month Xochi found itself as the No. 1 restaurant in Houston in Cook's annual Top 100 Restaurants list.

The Southern Foodways Alliance said this about Ortega during the award presentation:

"This year we honor a son of Mexico who endured profound adversity to claim the South, a man who now so fully and completely claims his now hometown of Houston that the mayor, on learning he won the 2017 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest, proclaimed a citywide day of celebration.

"Ortega was born in Mexico City, the oldest of a family of eight children. In 1984, he immigrated to Houston with no contacts or job leads. Ortega began to set down roots and found his first job, as a dishwasher, at a popular bar and nightclub. There he learned the fundamentals of the restaurant business and found contacts to help him improve his English.

"It was Ortega's dishwashing job at Backstreet Cafe that would mark the turning point of his life. In Mexico, he learned cooking from his mother and grandmother. At Backstreet, he moved from dishwashing to line cook and finally executive chef. Backstreet is also where he met his wife, Tracy Vaught. Together, they opened the critically acclaimed Hugo's, which brought Authentic Regional Mexican Cuisine to a Tex-Mex city. In 2013, the Ortega and Vaught opened Caracol, a Mexican coastal kitchen highlighting the richness of seafood found along Mexico's 16 coastal states; and in January 2017 they opened Xochi, which celebrates the flavors of Oaxaca, Mexico."
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Clouds of steam billow from the open kitchen at Yauatcha, wreathing the disembodied heads of cooks in flowing mists. Framed in piles of bamboo steamers and dull glints of aluminum, it's as if some fairytale mountain landscape has sprung to life.

Its creatures arrive on the table, three by three. Emerald petals cupped on pearly centers; on each, the wink of a solitary scarlet eye. Mysterious globes clad in translucent bronze tendrils that reach skyward in a crazy swirl. Gourd-like tuffets, deeply ridged, that seem to have escaped from an off-world pumpkin patch.

And those are just the visual thrills of this rarefied all-day dim sum specialist, one of a London-based upscale chain now marching across the globe, from Delhi to Waikiki. The Houston Yauatcha has been open since March in the Galleria's so-called "jewel box," a freestanding glass structure fronting the legendary mall.

With its glowing cobalt glass panels, its svelte glassware and subtle ceramics, the room is thoroughly chic. Even the lapidary pastry display beyond the cobalt entryway has the look of a museum display - or a show window in one of the Galleria's luxury boutiques.

More Information Yauatcha Two stars 5045 Westheimer (in front of the Galleria) 713-357-7588 Credit cards: all major Prices: dim sum $5-$12; fish & seafood $15-$40; meat & poultry $16-$58; tofu & vegetables $8-$20; desserts $12; teas $6-$10 per pot Must-orders: Shrimp and Chinese chive dumpling; Morel crystal dumpling; bamboo dumpling; Shanghai siew long bun (pork soup dumpling); crispy prawn dumpling with plum sauce; roasted duck pumpkin puff; prawn and crispy beancurd cheung fun; Tropical Dome dessert; Raspberry Delice dessert Reservations: Advisable on weekends and late in the week; walk-ins welcome. Bar seating. Noise level: moderate Parking: Galleria free lots, or $11 valet at the restaurant door Website: yauatcha.com/houston Four stars: superlative; can hold its own on a national stage. Three stars: excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city. Two stars: very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind. One star: a good restaurant that we recommend. No stars: restaurant cannot be recommended at this time. See More Collapse

For all Yauatcha's impeccable good looks, the feel can be warmly informal. The young staff seems intelligent and cheerful. The highly groomed crowds that made tables so hard to book in the restaurant's early days have given way to more casually dressed fans and extended families, including many Asians, who have snapped to the fact that the restaurant's charms extend well beyond its polished surface.

The dumplings and other dim sum items here can be triumphs of taste and texture, as well as looks. I've heard the naysaying (and I'll bet you have, too): prices too high, portions too small compared to what one can get in Chinatown, etcetera and so forth. But I would happily spend my own money on my favorites here. Finally in Houston, I've encountered dim sum as finely wrought as what I've sought out in Vancouver and Hong Kong.

Take Yauatcha's morel crystal dumpling, just one glorious example. Outside, it's a translucent, shiny orb revealing mottles of gray and brown. Inside, past the trembly, gelatinous shell, its mushroom dice explodes with forest-floor flavors.

So pure and gripping is this curious-looking dumpling that it seems beside the point to mix a sauce for it, working from the soy, the red-chile oil and a lovely, sweeter red chile sauce set forth as accompaniments. Neither does the heady allium savor and briny tang of a shrimp and Chinese chive dumpling - the thin wrapper tinted emerald with chive juice - require any dressing. The flavors all but leap from the bamboo steamer.

Speaking of steam: the steamed items here are notably hotter when they reach the table than they are in the big Chinatown dim sum palaces, where they must travel longer distances, or ride around cooling on carts. As tempting as Yauatcha's dumplings may look, a degree of caution is advised, lest you scald your tongue.

Cheung fun, those long, cylindrical noodle rolls, come in a texturally arresting form here: a layer of brittle, crispy fried beancurd curls around a juicy prawn filling, with a soy-sauce dressing poured on at the table by a server. Three-mushroom cheung fun is just as effective in a lower-key, umami-rich way.

Sometimes the surprises here are visual, like the bamboo-shoot stuffed dumpling bonnets in bright orange wrappers colored with carrot juice. And it's hard to beat the pure delight of those baked miniature "pumpkins," stretchy-shelled marvels hiding a dark mince of duck.

The smallish Shanghai soup dumplings give a satisfying spurt of porky broth when they are bitten. Har gau of prawn and bamboo shoot show a classic slide and crunch. A few items have struck me as workmanlike rather than inspired, like the pan-fried turnip cake which is a longtime favorite of mine. Despite its advertised cargo of shrimp and Chinese sausage, it failed to grab my palate. Nor did a praised-by-our-server packet of sticky rice steamed in a lotus leaf, mined with chicken and egg yolk. It was perfectly fine, and perfectly unmemorable.

Not so the dramatic crispy prawn dumpling with plum sauce, a juicy shrimp ball completely covered in long, thin wonton strands fried to bronze. They rode high and twisty above the shrimp packet, like a forest of octopus tentacles. I had to give up on chopsticks and eat it with my hands, relishing the messy fun of the wonton crisps and the deep citrus twang of the plum sauce.

At last, I thought to myself. A plum sauce worth eating.

Besides the steamed, baked, roasted and fried dim sum items, the menu offers a variety of wokked dishes - some of which are common adjuncts to a dim sum feast, like sauteed bokchoy or pea shoots, or a toss of noodles. Yet my forays into the more traditional cooked dishes here has forced me to conclude the dim sum items are the best bets - along with the spectacular French-style pastries and the impeccable tea service.

I was discouraged by a slithery, muted pumpkin and crispy seaweed soup; and by a crab and sweetcorn soup that simply cloyed. I had high hopes for a $40 lobster and bamboo shoot hot pot that turned out to do no favors for the lobster, which was overwhelmed by its hot-and-spicy chili bean sauce and slightly overcooked, as well.

A precisely layered and stacked crispy duck salad proved more agreeable with its frisky components of grapefruit-like pomelo sections and tart pomegranate seeds. But it failed to move me in the way the restaurant's best dim sum items had.

Those are the lures for return visits. So are the surprisingly smart, well-made cocktails that dotted many tables during a recent Sunday mid-afternoon. A Scandinavian Scarlet of aquavit, beet juice, Thai basil and ginger, all smoothed out by egg white, goes better than one might think with this cuisine. So, I discovered, did an unlikely concoction of gin, strawberry, fennel syrup, apricot, mint and rhubarb - the Flower and Stone - which managed to come off as restrained and sophisticated rather than florid.

I was happy to see that they've hired Angie Chang, who did such good work for the Sonoma wine bars, as a sommelier; and that there are some good by-the-glass choices on an interesting list. There are all sorts of non-alcoholic fruit spritzers as well, plus a wide-ranging roster of teas, all of them beautifully served.

If you've thought about expanding your tea knowledge, here's a fine place to start. I've already discovered that roasting oolong gives it a rich, rounded tone not unlike that of Korean barley tea. (Ask for the Anxi Tie Kuan Yin tea from Fujian.)

Then there are those immaculately composed desserts, as formal and constructed as a purring luxury car. I'm partial to the Raspberry Delice, a plush rose blossom in deep magenta, hiding flavors of dark chocolate and lychee. But I'd hate to overlook the lush Tropical Dome of passion fruit mousse clad in a shiny layer of passion fruit gel, with accents of coconut, pineapple and an exhilarating oval of yuzu sorbet.

Like the best dishes at Yauatcha, it tastes as good as it looks. In a restaurant - and an economic setting - that might seem to value style over substance, that speaks volumes.
Last weekend, when a pro-Dreamer political play from the Dallas-based Latino theater company Cara Mia Theatre Co. held a three-show run at Talento Bilinque de Houston, a new kind of mentality seemed to grace Houston, if only for a brief moment.

Compared to the average night at the theater, the community center just north of the Theater District felt more dangerous, more political and more engaged to what actual Houstonians - a city where four out of ten people are Hispanic - care about.

Written by Lee Trull and Cara Mia Executive Artistic Director David Lozano and performed partly in Spanish to a majority non-white audience last Friday, "Deferred Action" is an attempt to humanize the story of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The Obama administration implemented DACA in 2012, allowing undocumented individuals who entered the country as minors, also called Dreamers, to work without fear of deportation. The policy has recently been repealed by Donald Trump.

Trump-era issue plays continue to be a phenomenon within the theater world, yet the irony of "Deferred Action" was that it was written well before Trump's political rise. The story takes place right on the cusp of the 2016 presidential election. A young Dreamer named Javi, played by Ivan Jasso, is caught up in the race when a Democrat and a Conservative both want to use him as a figurehead for their respective platforms.

Javi is engaged to Lisa (Maya Malan-Gonzalez), a political advisor to the Democratic Party's promising female Latino presidential candidate, Nancy Rodriguez (Lisa Suarez). When Javi gets pulled over and nearly arrested without cause by a white cop, he lashes out against the cop, calling the officer a racist who only targeted Ravi because he was brown. His friend films the incident and puts it on YouTube. The video goes viral and Javi soon becomes a well-spoken, indignant face of the Dreamer movement.

The power of Javi's image isn't lost on Rodriguez, who wants to use him to support her pro-DACA presidential platform. But Javi refuses to be a puppet, and angrily criticizes Rodriguez and DACA on a television debate, asking instead for complete immigration reform that makes Dreamers like him full citizens. Lisa is stunned by his stand, and Ravi's friends and family accuse him of selling out his own people by asking for too much, too soon. Ravi, ever the idealist, refuses to compromise.

The play skewers American politics in ways that feel unintentionally ironic in the post-Trump era. Rodriguez' political opponent is Dale Jenkins, a hard-right Conservative who often makes ignorant, prejudiced remarks about immigrants. When Lozano first created the character in 2015, people told him that Jenkins was too unrealistic. Everyone believed that someone so ridiculously unhinged and offensive could never become a potential presidential candidate.

The joke's on all of us. Substitute the "Make America Great Again" hat with a cowboy hat and boots and throw in a stereotypical Texas twang and you have the most accidentally prescient character in "Deferred Action." Jenkins is exactly the type of man to thrust phrases like "bad hombres" or "build the wall" into the popular imagination. Interpreted by the excellent Sonny Franks, Jenkins resembles someone Jeff Bridges would play in a Western - ill-mannered, loose-lipped and unserious about anything but his own sense of manhood.

The pre-Trump perspective of "Deferred Action" makes its perspective more complicated, however, because it doesn't treat Jenkins as an easy villain. When all the Latino characters were busy trying to be complex, human and symbols of an entire people's struggle all at once, Jenkins was kicking around the room like a wild mustang, and a captivating one at that.

Jenkins believed what he believed and said what he meant, while Rodriguez, who refused Javi's pro-immigration demands because she wanted to be more than just the "Latino candidate," chose political calculation over heroism.

What happens to the two candidates in the play becomes a frightening statement on American politics. One day, Jenkins sees a vision of a woman, while attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the U.S., being murdered by a cartel member and leaving behind a baby. Jenkins has a change of heart, believing that he received a revelation from God and is now the anointed prophet of America's undocumented population. Telling his supporters that the baby in his vision deserves a future in this country, Jenkins proposes complete immigration reform that allows for instant citizenship for Dreamers, a policy so radical even Rodriguez, the supposed Latino champion, cannot support.

But the creation of the world's unlikeliest White Savior isn't just a fun thought exercise. It suggests that changing a right-wing conservative's mind about immigration requires an act of God, that even a playwright's imagination can't conceive of a pro-immigration Republican without employing dues ex machina. Another unfortunate implication has to do with the limits of female power - that a male Conservative who wants radical immigration reform, while inconceivable given the current state of U.S. politics, is still a more believable idea than, well, a woman becoming president.

The play's criticisms aren't one-directional. Look at Rodriguez as an embodiment of Hillary Clinton and the play is even harsher on Democrats. Rodriguez is a middle-of-the-line liberal who is ultimately a politician before she's anything else. She is a compromiser, calculator and political pragmatist who represents the status quo that Trump's and Bernie Sanders' supporters despised.

Even the music cues in "Deferred Action" has unfortunate implications for Clinton. In the end, when Ravi makes his choice between Jenkins and Rodriguez, The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" starts to blare, with the line "Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss," reminding us that anti-establishment mentality on both sides of the aisle contributed to Clinton's loss.

Jenkins' success becomes the harshest lesson in "Deferred Action." In the play's topsy-turvy world that so closely resembles our own, a white man becomes a better Latino advocate than a Latino woman. An unhinged flip-flopper beats a career politician at politics. And when it comes to making theater, Jenkins trounces his fellow characters by turning each scene into a boot-stomping, satirical hootenanny. The audience has come to see a play about Latinos fighting for recognition, but it's the red-blooded cowboy who wins the popular vote.
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Fall brings new home furnishings collections and ideas for changing up the look of any room in your home. There are unique shopping events, too, where savvy homeowners and smart shoppers can find special things for themselves or for someone on their holiday gift list.

Here's a list of events in the Houston area:

The Fall Market at the Houston Design Center, 7026 Old Katy Road, on Tuesday tackles classic architecture and serious subjects as local experts look at historic preservation and the city's future in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

At 11 a.m., William Curtis and Russell Windham, founders of Curtis & Windham Architects and authors of "A Vision of Place - the Work of Curtis & Windham Architects," with Robin K. Mueck of Heritage Texas Properties, will talk about their book and their architecture. It will be in the Bunch & Shoemaker Showroom, Suite 152, and will include a book signing.

At 1:30 p.m., Jane-Page Crump, Darla Bankston May and William W. Stubbs will discuss design and historic preservation in the Charlotte Nail Antiques showroom, Suite 165.

From 3 to 4:30 p.m., "Houston After Harvey: What Now?" will be the topic of panelists Chaille Ralph, of Heritage Texas Properties; Joshua Sanders, lobbyist and executive director of Houstonians for Responsible Growth; and Russell Windham, Curtis & Windham Architects founding principal. The event will be in the Thorntree Slate & Marble Showroom, Suite 167.

For information go to thehoustondesigncenter.com.

The Decorative Center of Houston, 5120 Woodway, will hold its Fall Market from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 25.

More than 20 programs will happen in showrooms throughout the building, from sessions on window treatments, fabrics, wallcoverings, art and new furniture collections. Events are free and open to the public.

Jonathan Adler, who recently launched a collection of roller shades at The Shade Store, will be the opening keynote speaker at 10 a.m. in the ground-floor gallery. A reception will follow his talk in the Shade Store.

Alexa Hampton, a New York interior designer and creative director of The Mine, designer Eddie Ross and Paper City editor Holly Moore will be afternoon keynote speakers at 12:30 p.m., also in the ground-floor gallery. A reception will follow in the Ken Kehoe showroom, Suite 2016, when Ross will sign copies of his design book, "Modern Mix."

For information or to RSVP, go to decorativecenter.com.

The annual fall DASH market will run Nov. 2-5 at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards, with more than 80 local and national vendors selling wares, including home decor, furniture and gifts.

A preview party at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 will benefit the Houston Furniture Bank. For a $25 ticket, shoppers can sip cocktails or wine, enjoy live music and shop for a good cause.

On Nov. 3, the market opens to the public at 11 a.m. and ends with a happy hour and a 5-7 p.m. book event with Jane Page Crump signing copies of her new book, "Designed for Dining." A portion of proceeds will go to the Jason Allen Crump Scholarship fund at LeNotre Culinary Institute.

Design-industry experts will share how-to tips in a variety of workshops. Hibiscus Linens will teach an embroidery class at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Nov. 4; and Debbie Pakzaban and Hahn Trans of Hahn Gallery will host make-it, take-it floral arrangement classes at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Nov. 4 and a succulent workshop at 1 p.m. Nov. 5.

Event hours are: 6-9 p.m. Nov. 2, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Nov. 3, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 4 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 5. Admission is $10. Class fees vary. For information go to dashhouston.com.

The Flea Style pop-up shop will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 18, also at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards, with 120 vendors selling handmade, vintage and one-of-a-kind lifestyle goods, including, home decor, fashion and art.

At the event, Alli Koch will sign copies of her book, "How to Draw Modern Florals." General admission is $5; a $40 VIP ticket includes a copy of Koch's book as well as one adult drink ticket and a $10 coupon for Flea Style's own booth. For information go to fleastyle.com.
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Cherie Flores, chair of 2017 Grand Gala Ball, has a theory: "The entrance into a party is its own character in the story."

So, of course, she turned to flowers. Fuchsia flowers. On Friday, the first thing that her 600 guests saw upon entering the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston were roses, hydrangeas, orchids, all in shades of purple to pink.

"When Oscar de la Renta left the Dominican Republic at age 18, the colors and vibrancy of Spain burned into him," she said. "He was the first designer I saw to use that saturated fuchsia."

She and decor conspirator Richard Flowers referenced the late designer's signature floral walls when constructing the motif for the black-tie affair celebrating "The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta" exhibit at the MFAH.

While Flowers had used 75,000 roses for her daughter's debutante party, Flores wanted to up that ante. Indeed, 79,000 fresh blooms make for one heck of a photo backdrop. And Houston's finest dressed accordingly.

Phoebe Tudor, Whitney Crane, Sue Smith, Lynn Wyatt, Pat Breen, Dr. Kelli Cohen Fein and Diane Lokey Farb flexed their de la Renta petal power in botancial-inspired gowns.

Dr. Yvonne Cormier went a few steps further, commissioning Manolo Blahnik to produce pointed-toe pumps and (two!) matching handbags from her tea-length frock's leftover fabric. The head-to-toe ensemble was approved by Andre Leon Talley, Cormier's Brown University pal, "Vogue" editor at large, and the exhibition's head curator.

Hallie Vanderhider gambled on a last-minute outfit change, and won. After learning that three attendees all planned to wear the same dress, she tapped Tootsies for the cerise finale look from Oscar de la Renta's resort 2018 collection and Tenenbaum for a vintage Chanel rose necklace and earring set. The striking combo proved one of the night's most memorable.

Flores went custom.

"My husband decided that I should be in a dress that no one else had," Cherie Flores shared. After she and husband Jim Flores accepted MFAH's invitation to chair, he surprised her with the thoughtful 31st anniversary gift idea. The couple flew to New York, where the design house's creative directors, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, dreamed up a one-of-a-kind gown.

"It's spinel, a hot-pink sapphire, which the brand has never done before. And we did a modern version of the iconic bow  because no one can tie a bow like Oscar."

Her relationship with the late designer dates back more than 15 years. They met only days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, when he was in Houston for a fashion show.

"His (New York) show was scheduled for 9/11 and got canceled. So Houston actually got to see his Spring 2002 collection first," she said.

The evening served as the Floreses' love letter to the city. On the big night, Flores explained that many of the women in the audience took her family under their wing when the Floreses relocated from Louisiana in the late 1990s.

No detail was overlooked.

"I've even written down the songs in the order that I want them to be played," she admitted. "I want music that's going to keep everyone here till midnight."

Her efforts raised a record-breaking $2.3 million for MFAH. As promised, the Flores family members were among last to leave dance floor.

Grand exits can be characters, too.
One of the most famous, or infamous, efforts to protect young people from the possibility of internet or video game addiction is South Korea's "shutdown law," which was implemented in 2011. The shutdown law was designed to block access to the internet between midnight and 6 a.m., so that those young people, the thinking went, would sleep instead of gaming their way into senselessness.

Recent revisions to the law now allow parents to lift it for their kids, if they so desire. But it's worth asking how well this policy actually worked.

Not very, it turns out.

A 2017 study by Korean scholars Changjun Lee, Hongbum Kim and Ahreum Hong analyzed the impact of the "shutdown law" for young people in Korea. They found that the law improved children's sleep by a whopping 1.5 minutes and had negligible impact on problems with regulating internet use.

The authors conclude that the law's negative impact on human rights and free speech far outweigh its insignificant benefits.

So, tempting as it might sound to some parents to yank all the kids off the internet at night, this doesn't seem to do them any actual good.

Why not?

One reason might be that concepts of internet and video game addiction remain mired in controversy. As a scholar who studies these concepts, I'm concerned they remain ill-defined. Certainly, some individuals game or use the internet too much, but some evidence suggest that these behaviors are symptoms of underlying mental health issues, not entirely new diagnoses in and of themselves.

HOLD ON: No, smartphones alone aren't making us unhappy

One recent study from Oxford University found that individuals rated high in symptoms of "game addiction" weren't actually worse off than others, either in terms of psychological or physical health. So, as much as we talk about things like game addiction, it's not clear that this issue predicts a person's wellbeing.

That hasn't stopped groups like the American Psychiatric Association and World Health Organization from considering differing gaming addiction diagnoses. But even these organizations can't agree with each other what such a diagnosis would look like.

And their efforts to pathologize gaming have met with fierce negative reactions from some scholars.

So, it's not clear what problem policies like South Korea's "shutdown law" are meant to fix. It's also not clear that something like a shutdown is the best solution even if a problem does exist. Of course, something like South Korea's shutdown law would be blatantly unconstitutional in the United States. But what should parents who are concerned with excessive gaming or internet use do?

Naturally, no one would advocate for the idea that parents should have no limits on kids' screen time. Though it's hard to say how many hours of screens are too many (even the American Academy of Pediatrics backed down from making any recommendations on this score), media use must be balanced with the demands of work and school, family, exercise and adequate sleep.

But a draconian shutdown doesn't seem to be the solution. Taking away all the screens and locking them in a cabinet at night only communicates distrust and likely creates a "forbidden fruit" effect that could challenge young people to overcome those obstacles. Talking with kids about reasonable guidelines and adjusting them according to school or weekends and holiday schedules might work better.

MORAL PANIC: Should we worry about teens' social media use?

Besides, evidence suggests that teens' poor sleep schedules could have more to do with our foolish insistence to start high school early in the morning. Young people's natural sleep schedules seem to involve late nights and late mornings. Their inability to achieve the opposite might be due more to badly thought-out school schedules than screens.

Nightly screen use is something worth negotiating between parents and young people. It's not unreasonable to suggest that kids get to sleep earlier on school nights, but relaxing those rules on weekends or holidays probably just lets kids make good use of their natural sleep/wake cycles. And forcing kids to go to sleep at midnight is no guarantee they'll sleep well. Maybe, if we're serious about making sure kids get adequate sleep, we need to reexamine school schedules rather than screen use.

Dr. Chris Ferguson (@CJFerguson1111) is a professor of psychology at Stetson University and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He is coauthor of the book "Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong" and author of the mystery novel "Suicide Kings."

Bookmark Gray Matters. It's hard to say how many hours of screens are too many.


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AUSTIN - State officials estimate it will cost Texas taxpayers $1.64 billion over the next two years to help schools ravaged by Hurricane Harvey rebuild and avoid financial losses, according to recently released documents.

The Texas Education Agency estimates include $400 million for school districts that experienced a reduction in enrollment, along with a loss of $974 million that the state normally receives from wealthy districts to redistribute to low-income districts, known as the "Robin Hood" program.

A spokeswoman for the education agency emphasized that the state's estimates are still very fluid because it does not have enough data yet on facilities damage and how Harvey is impacting enrollment.

But the $1.64 billion estimate, released Oct. 4, is the first price-tag attached to the state's commitment to ensure schools hit by Harvey are able to recover.

Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Aug. 25. Its record-smashing rainfall of more than 50 inches and floods damaged more than 136,000 homes and other buildings in Harris County and killed nearly 80 people across the state.

Officials estimate that Harvey could produce 200 to 300 million cubic yards of debris in Texas, which would double or triple the estimated 100 million cubic yards that Hurricane Katrina left behind in all states it hit.

"From day one, we have told our districts that we are going to do everything we can to assist them," said Lauren Callahan, a TEA spokeswoman.

On Monday, Education Commissioner Mike Morath said school systems that experienced declines in enrollment may not lose any funding because the state plans to use a three-year enrollment average in order to "hold affected districts and charters harmless."

Displaced students

Schools in Texas receive funding based on the average daily attendance. Harvey displaced many families, forcing them to enroll their children in other districts, leaving lawmakers and educators concerned that funding would be cut due to a decrease in enrollment.

"Many of our school systems have seen major disruptions in their communities because of Hurricane Harvey," Morath said in a written statement. "This one-time adjustment is meant to bring some certainty for the remainder of this school year as school leaders face a number of major financial decisions following this devastating storm."

The state estimates there are 157 school systems and charter schools eligible for the funding adjustment. The funding will only apply to the 2017-2018 school year, and will be based on average enrollment trends from the 2014-15 school year to the 2016-17.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus commended Morath on his efforts to help districts cope with the storm's aftermath.

"Many Texas schools have suffered setbacks following Hurricane Harvey, but Texas is committed to ensuring that our students continue to receive the best education possible," Abbott said in a statement.

The state expects a jump in enrollment in some school systems taking in displaced students. Already three school systems have applied for enrollment adjustments, for a total of 930 students that they did not have before. The name of those school districts were not available Monday.

Guy Sconzo, executive director of the Fast Growth School Coalition and former superintendent of Humble ISD, said school districts in Houston and other storm-affected areas have been more focused with addressing their students immediate needs than worrying about how average daily attendance counts could affect their finances.

"I commend the commissioner for recognizing what so many people have gone through and holding everyone harmless," Sconzo said. "But I really haven't heard that as a concern."

$1 million 'Robin Hood' loss

In addition to the $400 million the state will pay for enrollment swings, education officials estimate the state will lose nearly$1 million that it receives for the "Robin Hood" program.

School districts hit by Harvey that normally pay into the program, can keep some or all of the money they owe to the state if they have property damage costs that are not covered by insurance or FEMA.

One in five districts affected by Harvey pay into the Robin Hood program, the TEA estimates. Last year, Houston Independent School District owed the state almost $80 million in Robin Hood money.

The state also could face a $266 million bill to pay for services, including meals, for students who became homeless or lack stable housing due to Harvey.

The education department has not yet released how much money it believes districts will lose from a change in property values. TEA says it has reports of property value loss exceeding 50 percent in districts most affected the hurricane.

Shelby Webb contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - When President Donald Trump said a few weeks ago that he wanted to find a way to continue protecting young "dreamers" from deportation, some Republicans touted the possibility of a "Nixon-goes-to-China" moment that could reset the president's deeply frayed relationship with Latino voters.

But ever since, Trump has returned to antagonizing this growing segment of the electorate - including proposing new hard-line immigration measures on Sunday - deepening a rift that many in his party fear will do lasting damage to the GOP's ability to win future elections.

Trump's hostile rhetoric and actions toward Latinos, Republican strategists say, could not only undercut candidates in competitive 2018 races and make the White House harder to retain in 2020 but also further tarnish a GOP brand that party leaders have struggled for years to sell to skeptical Latino voters.

"A whole generation of minority voters is essentially hearing the GOP tell them, 'We don't like you,'" said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. "That might not have sunk the GOP against a flawed candidate like Hillary Clinton, but the demographics are moving into a direction where this will be political suicide."

Trump's actions have already hurt the ability of Republicans to recruit Latino candidates to run for local and state office. And they've become fodder in this year's Virginia governor's race, as well as races in states such as New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida, where an energized Latino turnout could tip what are expected to be competitive elections next year.

The latest source of tension is Trump's announcement last month that he plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a popular Obama-era initiative that provides work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived here as children, calling it "unconstitutional."

Trump said he would work with Congress to find a way to protect the 690,000 "dreamers" enrolled in the program. But on Sunday, the White House said what he wants in return includes the funding of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a crackdown on the influx of Central American minors and curbs on federal grants to "sanctuary cities," all policies seen as hostile by Latinos.

Trump continues to face criticism over his administration's response to the severe damage Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico.

In just the last few days, Trump has offered a cringe-worthy pronunciation of "Puerto Rico" while speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event, appeared insensitive by tossing paper towels at victims of Hurricane Maria and persisted in a feud with the female mayor of San Juan begging for more assistance in the wake of the storm.

In Virginia, which will elect a new governor next month, Trump waded into the campaign by endorsing GOP candidate Ed Gillespie in a tweet where he charged that Democratic candidate Ralph Northam supports the MS-13 street gang all while Gillespie is airing TV ads that seek to tie Northam, Virginia's lieutenant governor, to the violent gang comprised mostly of Latinos.

Claims in the ad have been labeled misleading by nonpartisan fact-checkers and racist by immigration advocates. At issue is a tiebreaking vote Northam cast in the state Senate against a bill that would have banned sanctuary cities. But Virginia does not have any of these municiplaties, which Gillespie has acknowledged.

The president - whose job approval rating has dipped to 16 percent among Hispanics, according to Gallup - also became a central issue in a special state Senate race in a heavily Latino Miami-area district last month that flipped from red to blue. The losing candidate had appeared on Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice."

The GOP contender, state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, had also joined a White House advisory board of Latino leaders and touted his close ties to Trump, even posting a "selfie" of the two. But when Democrats made an issue of it, Diaz deleted the photo.

An ad paid for by a Florida Democratic campaign committee began with Taddeo turning off a television on her kitchen counter that was playing images of Trump.

"Families are too busy to worry about this drama," she said before accusing Diaz of supporting "Trump's every move" - including plans to cut Medicare funding and revamp the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a presidential battleground state where the Latino population is exploding, there's been an uptick in registration by voters identifying themselves as Hispanic in the months since Trump took office, an encouraging sign, Democratic consultants there say.

Trump boosters say concerns about his standing with Latino voters are overstated, arguing that if the president continues to preside over a strong economy and create jobs, Republicans will be rewarded by voters across the board, including Latinos.

Trump, who kicked off his campaign by calling Mexicans "rapists," has provided plenty of reasons for Latino voters to be suspicious, including his pardon in August of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was held in contempt of court for racial profiling.

Gallup polling suggests there has yet to be a permanent realignment of party loyalties under Trump. As of last month, half of Hispanic adults identified themselves as Democrats or leaning Democratic, about twice as many as identify with Republicans. That is virtually unchanged since 2008.

But many GOP party leaders have long argued the status quo isn't good enough. Following Mitt Romney's loss in 2012, the RNC commissioned an "autopsy" report that explored the party's lackluster support among Latinos and emphasized a need to reach out to these voters.

"I think one can safely say that Donald Trump has not taken the 2012 autopsy report to heart," said White Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster. "To this point, there hasn't been much by the way of initiatives or language or tone that would attract anyone who's not already in his corner."

A National Election Studies poll showed Trump winning 23 percent of the Latino electorate last year. Some Democratic-leaning pollsters argue that overstates his support.

Across the country, Republican consultants said they know of many cases of Latinos taking a pass on running for office because they did not want to be tied to Trump.

Juan Hernandez, who has advised Texas GOP candidates for decades, recalled trying to convince a well-known Latino in Texas to run as a congressional candidate, but the potential contender took a pass, telling him: "I'm a Christian, I'm a Latino and I'm a Republican, but I can't be associated with Trump."

"I get calls all the time from Latinos like that all the time," Hernandez said, confessing he doesn't have a good answer. "It's very, very, very difficult."

Leslie Sanchez, a Latino Houston-based GOP operative, agreed that candidate recruitment and cultivating younger Latinos should be top-of-mind concerns.

"You have Gen Y, Gen Z, kind of young students in their high school or formative years in college who already believe that the president doesn't like them," she said "And it's taken an entire generation to reverse some of the falsehoods that the Republican brand had in some minority communities, and this devastates that."

Mike Madrid, a Latino GOP consultant based in California, said that part of the problem is that "DACA is a hugely important issue, especially with the emotion and energy unlike some of the others where you can roll your eyes and say it's Trump being Trump."

"Will Trump ever get majority support of Latinos? No, it's too late," Madrid said. "But can he shore it up a little bit? Yes, absolutely."

Sanchez said that based on polling and focus groups, she believes Latino support for Republicans has to be gauged state-by-state.

While the GOP is slipping in the western states of Arizona, Nevada and Colorado, the party is still performing well in states like Florida, which is larger, and more urban with Latinos who hail from Cuba, Venezuela and Puerto Rico - where illegal immigration is not as relevant or as immediate. Meanwhile, among Spanish-speaking Latinos, there is a "visceral" response to the GOP brand, Sanchez said.

"Republicans are going to have an extraordinarily difficult time separating the Republican brand from Donald Trump among young Latinos," she warned.

In states with sizable Hispanic populations, Democratic gubernatorial candidates have already tried to highlight the uncertainty on DACA.

In Florida, one of 36 states with governor's races next year, Democratic candidate Gwen Graham seized on Trump's initial announcement, calling it "utterly devoid of humanity." In a statement, she also targeted her potential GOP opponents, accusing one of "leaving 50,000 Floridians in limbo."

Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said she expects Democrats to continue to make links between GOP opponents and Trump.

"It's not just on immigration," she said. "There's a whole list of things. Hurricane Maria didn't help."

An Associated Press poll found Trump received particularly low marks for his handling of the response from Hispanics. Roughly one in three Americans overall approved of the response, while roughly one if five Hispanics did.

Rick Wilson, a Florida-based GOP strategist, said the problem with Trump's response is it gives Latino voters something vivid to remember, much in the way that George W. Bush's detached response from Hurricane Katrina was damaging. Among other things, Trump said in a tweet that Puerto Ricans wanted "everything to be done for them."

"There's an anecdotal power with Katrina or Maria," Wilson said. "People find something to latch onto. 'Bush left us to die.' 'Trump said we're lazy.' "

---

VIDEO

The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles Oct. 8, which could threaten to derail a deal in Congress to protect "dreamers." (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

--http://wapo.st/2y6pvq2

--
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"I love her with all my heart."

A 17-year-old high school senior was quoted in the Chronicle a few days ago saying those words, not about his mama, not about his grandma, not about his girlfriend.

He was talking about his 83-year-old principal at Furr High School, Bertie Simmons.

That tells you all you need to know about Simmons, the 5-foot-tall, fist-bumping force of nature who 17 years ago came out of retirement to turn around a gang-ridden school with tough love and boundless devotion to her students. She ended up winning the prestigious Inspiration Award from the College Board in 2011, and just last year, a $10 million grant to reinvent the high school from the XQ Institute, led by Laurene Powell Jobs.

Houston ISD officials should be kissing the linoleum tile she walks on.

Instead, the respected educator was yanked from her post a little over a week ago and placed on temporary leave for allegedly violating the district's relaxed uniform policy and - wait for it - threatening a student with a bat.

"You know I couldn't even pick up a bat," Simmons told me Thursday in an interview.

Anyone who knows Simmons knows she doesn't need a bat to maintain order. This is a woman who once negotiated a peace deal with rival gang members on campus and then, as a reward, hauled them up to New York City to see a Broadway play.

Simmons said she was confused about the district's abrupt move, sad for her students, buoyed by community support and determined as ever to get back to Furr and her kids, whom she says she misses "something awful." The Sept. 29 memo informing her of her removal, signed by Jorge Arredondo, area superintendent for the east side, also banned Simmons from campus and from contact with students and parents pending an ongoing investigation.

"I'm just energized by people doing things that are wrong," she said. "Because I want to make them right."

The district said in a statement that it won't elaborate on Simmons' removal "out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved."

Relaxed dress code

Simmons, known for her lightning wit and dry humor, said she sometimes jokes about a bat she keeps in her office, but everybody knows she's kidding. Indeed, the 17-year-old quoted saying he loved Simmons, Jordan Davis, described to my colleague Shelby Webb how the principal pulled him aside when his grades slipped and playfully told him: "Don't make me take my earrings off and take you down."

The notion that Simmons was removed for thwarting a post-Harvey district policy to relax the student dress code is equally silly. Not only because other principals had done the same thing to maintain order, but because Simmons, like the other principals, had made sure the uniform requirement didn't burden families affected by the storm.

Hours before Simmons was removed from her post, she had tried to explain to district officials that she needed her students to be in uniform to keep them safe, she said.

"We'd already had some gang activity, two fights," Simmons said. "And their colors, good lord. And tags hanging out of their pocket to show their colors. I knew how quickly this could lead to them taking over. I'd seen it when I first got there."

Simmons said she secured donations so that she could provide free uniforms to every student on campus.

It's true that Simmons is known for speaking her mind, cutting her own path and at times locking horns with higher-ups, including former Superintendent Terry Grier. I first met Simmons in 2013 when I wrote about how Grier had placed the veteran principal on a growth plan over test scores.

'A heart of gold'

Furr, once known as a "dropout factory," has made great strides under Simmons' leadership. Gangs no longer rule the school; the graduation rate topped 90 percent last year. The school meets the state's academic standards, but student performance at the predominantly minority, low-income school lags in reading and writing.

Still, Grier didn't hesitate to defend Simmons on Friday when I called for his take on her removal.

"There's nobody who can ever question Bertie's love for kids and what she's done to turn that school around," Grier said.

Grier said he wasn't familiar with the details of the allegations, but he couldn't imagine Simmons acting inappropriately, even with the toughest students.

"The Bertie I know would not do those things," he said. "You never bet your life on much, but Bertie is one of those people - it might be a bet I would take."

His "issue" with Simmons through the years was that he didn't feel she pushed her teachers hard enough. When it came to the students, he said he would tell her "loving them is not enough." But he said he always respected her.

"She's one of the brightest people I've known, one of the most articulate, and she has a heart of gold when it comes to kids," he said.

The reasons the district gave for removing Simmons don't hold water. Perhaps that's why the so-called investigation is dragging into another week - to give more time to dig up something else.

There are always shake-ups under new leadership, and the administration of Superintendent Richard Carranza has been no different. Simmons told me she likes Carranza and has supported him throughout his first year. Last year, he praised her at a community meeting for bringing pride back to Furr when others had written it off, even calling the campus "Bertie Simmons High School."

Respect is owed

At this point, we can only speculate about the real motivations for her removal.

This much is clear: The way Carranza's administration has treated Simmons - a revered educator who has sacrificed her retirement to help underprivileged students - is shameful.

"I don't have to be out there. You know that," Simmons told me. "I'm 83. But I care too much about those kids and I want them to be successful."

The kids at Furr know she loves them, and they love her. She commands respect because she gives it. Respect is the least district officials owe Simmons.

Whoever instigated this investigation - be it a member of Carranza's administration or an elected board member - needs to produce some real evidence of wrongdoing or let Simmons get back to work.

She's got a school to reinvent. She's got young lives to save. Either help her, or get the hell out of her way.
AUSTIN - Sixteen community organizations in coastal areas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey have been awarded a total of $2.15 million in grants to speed recovery from the August disaster, officials announced Monday.

Lori Fey, executive director of the Rebuild Texas Fund, said the funds are the first disbursed by the fund out of what officials hope will eventually total $100 million in a fundraising partnership between Gov. Greg Abbott's OneStar Fund and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

The Dell foundation earlier contributed $36 million.

"These are the first awards in this effort," Fey said. "The organizations receiving funds are spread out all through the areas that were impacted by the storm."

Many of the awards are to rebuild homes and reopen storm-damaged schools and to provide support services and programs for displaced residents.

More awards are forthcoming, Fey said.

Among the recipients:

Aransas County Education Foundation, $200,000 to help reopen schools.

BakerRipley, $100,000 for family assistance programs in the Houston area.

Communities in Schools, $100,000 to provide expanded treatment services for school students.

Education Service Center 2 on behalf of Aransas Pass Independent School District, $200,000 to provide support for teachers and students as schools reopen, including classroom materials and more.

Genesys Works, $30,000 to help low-income students return to school in Houston and surrounding areas.

iConnect Outreach, $75,000 to help rebuild homes in the Houston and Beaumont areas.

Ingleside Independent School District Education Foundation, $200,000 to provide support for teachers and students as schools reopen.

Jewish Family Service, $69,000 for programs to help families in the Houston area negotiate insurance claims, find housing and find new jobs.

Mennonite Disaster Service, $200,000 to help rebuild homes in areas stretching from Beaumont to Victoria and other areas of the Coastal Bend.

New Hope Housing, $100,000 to provide short-term housing and other services for displaced residents in the Houston area.

OneGoal, $30,000 to provide emergency assistance to low-income students in the Houston area.

Operation Blessing, $150,000 to rebuild houses for the elderly, disabled and displaced residents with special needs in the Beaumont area and in the Coastal Bend area.

Port Aransas Education Foundation, $200,000 to provide support for teachers and students as schools reopen, including classroom materials and more.

Samaritan's Purse, $150,000 to repair damaged roofs, remove debris and repair homes from Beaumont to the Coastal Bend area, including Houston.

Save the Children, $150,000 to assist the reopening of child-care centers and after-school programs in the Houston area and in East Texas.

Taft Independent School District Education Foundation, $200,000 to support teachers and students as schools reopen, including classroom materials and more.
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WASHINGTON  The lines hardened Monday against President Donald Trump's new list of demands for a deal that would extend protections for young immigrants brought into the country illegally as minors.

Democrats and advocates for young "Dreamers," some 800,000 people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, promised all-out resistance to Trump's conditions.

More than 120,000 have enrolled in the DACA program in Texas, more than any other state besides California.

With the Trump administration struggling to pass GOP bills on health care, border security and taxes, some Hispanic lawmakers vowed to tie up the rest of his legislative agenda and envelop the administration in further chaos and controversy.

Meanwhile Republicans and immigration hardliners cheered the president's latest move, a reversal from a tentative agreement with Democratic leaders last month that left open whether Trump would insist on new funding for a wall on the southwest border.

The outline Trump sent to Congress Sunday includes everything from border wall funding to more aggressive immigration enforcement and cuts to legal immigration, particularly for extended family members of DACA beneficiaries. It would also cover federal grants to so-called sanctuary cities, local jurisdictions that the administration says don't cooperate fully with federal immigration agents.

The differences have come into their sharpest focus yet a month after Trump said he would wind down the Obama-era DACA program, giving Congress six months  until March  to hash out a plan to make the program permanent.

With the two sides pulling apart, the fate of "Dreamers" has become increasingly uncertain.

"DACA recipients are living in limbo, confronted by an uncertain future while still clinging to their American dreams," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who held a forum at the Leland Federal Building in Houston Monday for "Dreamers" to tell their stories.

Trump's requests mirror much of the GOP agenda on immigration, including proposals to emphasize skills and training in favor of family-oriented "chain migration," which has emerged as a major flash-point in the national debate on immigration reform.

Among those speaking out in favor of Trump's new reform outline was San Antonio Republican Lamar Smith, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee where many of the GOP measures have been brought forward.

"We need to know who's coming into the country," Smith said. "We need to save jobs for American workers. We need to protect American taxpayers. We need to have immigrants respect our laws and we need to keep our communities safe from criminal immigrants."

Supporters of the new Trump requirements see them as a fulfilment of the "America First" theme that propelled his 2016 campaign, which centered on a border wall and protections for American-born workers.

"Most politicians who have been commenting lately on immigration policy have failed to show the compassion and support that the Trump Administration is offering the women and men of America who want a decent shot at a decent job without having to compete with millions of new foreign workers being added to compete with them," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which advocates for lower immigration levels across the board.

Immigrant rights activists portrayed Trump's demands as an attack on young immigrants and their families, many of them made up of workers who have long become an integral part of the U.S. economy. Some also termed it a "poison pill" killing off any hope of permanent protections for "Dreamers," a class of immigrants that enjoys broad public sympathy both among Democrats and Republicans.

House Democrats pointed to a series of recent polls finding that a majority of Americans want young immigrants brought to America protected from deportation. Two weeks ago, a Quinnipiac University national survey reported 82 percent of American voters, including 69 percent of Republicans, believe that the "Dreamers" should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship.

"This proposal is a Breitbart Christmas list of anti-immigrant policies. It's a non-starter in Congress," said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, referring to the far-right online news outlet that embraces hard line immigration policy. "It's a perfect example of why this administration and this president have failed to pass any significant legislation  because they don't seem to be able to work with anyone," Castro told reporters.

Other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the administration's immigration proposals could spark a deeper backlash against the rest of Trump's agenda for the rest of the year.

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said her members will seek to enlist all House Democrats in blocking critical bills unless an agreement for a DACA fix is reached with "reasonable" border security provisions.

"The reality is that there are a lot of must-pass pieces of legislation that require Democratic support to get over the finish line," she said. "And Democrats have made it clear that if the Dream Act is not addressed, if DACA extension through legislation is not in effect, that they are not going to have Democrats to get them over the finish line on anything that they may need."

The Hispanic Caucus has been instrumental in gathering 195 signatures to support a so-called discharge petition for the Dream Act, which would force a floor vote if 218 House members sign on. But the likelihood that an insufficient number of Republicans will sign makes it unlikely that the tactic will succeed.

Castro said he believes that Trump is being influenced by others on immigration, particularly White House senior advisor Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's embattled refugee restrictions.

"I would suggest that the president look over the proposal himself, get more personally involved rather than assigning that to a 30-something year-old hardline zealot on immigration," Castro said, referring to Miller.

'Slamming the door'

Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke said Trump's plan is designed in part to eliminate "the magnets for illegal immigration."

Trump's legislation request also asks Congress to remove standards for the treatment of immigrant children put into place by a 1997 court settlement and a 2008 law. It comes during historically low illegal immigration. After falling precipitously at the beginning of the year Border Patrol apprehensions climbed in recent month, but in August agents detained 2,994 unaccompanied children, the lowest for that month since 2012.

Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission, said Central American children and families afraid of Trump's immigration policies are turning to smugglers rather than surrendering to Border Patrol agents or are seeking asylum in other countries in the region. The legislative proposals would open the door for the U.S. government to keep children in detention, prolong the detention of families and deny asylum requests, Brane said.

"It's slamming the door," she said. "It's undermining longstanding American traditions of protection."

While many Republicans support some kind of permanent legal status for "Dreamers," the chances of hammering out a bill by next March depend on whether the two sides can come together on countervailing enforcement measures.

In a Senate hearing last week on DACA, Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn assayed the balancing act before Congress.

"Creating a legislative fix is the right thing to do but there is a big caveat," said Corny, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. "Before we provide legal status to these young people, we must reassure, and actually, regain the public confidence that we're serious when it comes to enforcing the law and securing our borders."

Migrants' stories

Jackson Lee's event in Houston drew numerous "Dreamers," who shared their stories.

Karen Atilano came to the United States from Monterrey with her parents as a tourist when she was 9 years old.

"We overstayed our welcome," Atilano said. "I didn't know I was illegal and that people didn't want me here."

Atilano's parents work 17-hour days every day delivering newspapers and cleaning food trucks. To see her aging parents still working long, unforgiving hours just to provide for themselves makes her angry, she said.

"It hurts to see that people don't want a hardworking person in their country," Atilano said. "This is my home, I don't know any place like I know the U.S."

Under DACA, Karen was able to get a driver's license and a job to help her parents put her through Prairie View A&M University, where she graduated in May. She has a job now, but returning to her birth country is not an option.

"If I were to go back to Mexico, I wouldn't be able to fend for myself," Atilano said.

 Jason Buch and Marialuisa Rincon contributed to this report.
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An Austin man accused of flying to Florida to have sex with a 9-year-old girl has been arrested by police.

Mark Andrew Nichols, 64, described which sex acts he planned on performing with the child through email and texts, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
Texas Tech University was put on lockdown Monday night after a university police officer was shot and killed.

Officials said a student was brought inside the Texas Tech Police Department after being found with "evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia" during a welfare check.

Once inside, the student pulled a firearm and shot an officer in the head, spokesman Chris Cook said.

At 9 p.m. the university said the situation was "ongoing" and asked students to continue to shelter in place.

Approximately 30 minutes later the Lubbock Police Department said on Twitter that the suspect was in custody. The suspect has been identified by Lubbock Avalanche-Journal as Hollis Daniels, a freshman at the school. The university gave the all-clear just after 9:30 p.m., though administrators said to avoid the north side of campus.

Texas Tech was created by legislative action in 1923 and has the distinction of being the largest comprehensive higher education institution in the western two-thirds of the state of Texas, according to the school website.
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ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's justice minister on Monday said he hoped the United States would review its decision to suspend most visa services for Turkish citizens following the arrest of a U.S. Consulate employee in Istanbul that has deepened tensions between the two NATO allies.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities announced that a second employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul had been "invited" to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office to testify. Authorities did not explain why. Reports say the employee is a Turkish citizen, and the prosecutor's office said his wife and child had also been detained for questioning.

The U.S. on Sunday suspended the issuing of visas for Turkish citizens hoping to visit or study in the United States after Turkey arrested U.S. consulate employee Metin Topuz last week on allegations of espionage.

Turkey immediately halted visa services in the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response.

Murky evidence

John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said in a video message Monday that Topuz was the second Turkish staff member to be arrested this year, adding that U.S. officials were "unable to determine why it occurred, or what, if any, evidence exists against the employee."

Bass added that the arrest has "raised questions whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing cooperation between Turkey and the U.S."

Speaking during a visit to Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the U.S. decision a "saddening" development. He said that he had immediately ordered a retaliatory measure that resulted in the Turkish Embassy in Washington issuing an almost identical text to the U.S. announcement.

Earlier, Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned the embassy's second-in-charge, asking that Washington review the decision that caused "unnecessary escalation" and "victimized" both Turkish and U.S. citizens, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

"It is Turkey's right to try a Turkish citizen for acts carried out in Turkey," said Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul. "Everyone should follow (legal procedures) with respect."

Rising tensions

Despite the seemingly friendly relations between President Donald Trump and Erdogan, ties between the two countries are tense over the arrest of Topuz, a Turkish citizen, and several Americans over alleged ties to a movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for last summer's coup attempt. Gulen denies involvement.

Topuz is accused of espionage and "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and constitution." Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported that he allegedly communicated with former police chiefs in a 2013 corruption probe and others involved in the attempted coup using an encrypted mobile messaging application.

Bass said Topuz worked in an office "devoted to strengthening law enforcement cooperation" between Turkey and the U.S.

"Speaking to and traveling with Turkish police was part of his regular duties," the ambassador said. "The Turkish government has not shared any information to indicate the employee was involved in any illegal activity."

Other Americans held in Turkey include pastor Andrew Brunson who was detained last year and is accused of terror-related charges for alleged ties to Gulen's movement. Erdogan has linked the pastor's possible release or deportation to Washington agreeing to extradite Gulen to Turkey.
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WASHINGTON  Once booed off the stage at the Republican National Convention for his failure to endorse Donald Trump, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz now looks safe to escape the wrath of former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon, who has vowed to challenge every Republican incumbent in the Senate, "except Ted Cruz."

Bannon, who left the White House to go to "war" against Trump opponents, apparently has no beef with Cruz, Trump's most bitter and long-lasting opponent of the 2016 Republican primaries.

"There's a coalition coming together that is going to challenge every Republican except Ted Cruz," Bannon, chairman of Breitbart News, told Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday night. "We are declaring war on the Republican establishment that does not back the agenda Trump ran on... Nobody is safe. We're coming after all of them, and we're going to win."

Cruz, who is running for reelection next year, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning. Despite his high-test clashes with Trump last year, he remains a favorite of the conservative movement, and has settled in with Trump  even dining at the White House with his wife Heidi Cruz, the target of a Trump taunt on Twitter insulting her looks.

But while Trump and Cruz share much of the same conservative base, the 2017 version of Cruz also has sought out productive alliances in the Senate, the locus of the "Washington cabal" he ran against in the primaries.

Bannon has said he will only support candidates who agree to bounce Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader, and who vote to end the filibuster, the 60-vote margin needed to pass anything remotely controversial in the Senate.

Cruz once publicly accused McConnell of lying. But since Trump's election, seeing an "historic opportunity," the Texan and decided to work the inside game to help pass the GOP agenda on health care, immigration and tax cuts.

Whether Cruz will now publicly disavow McConnell as GOP Majority Leader remains to be seen.

McConnell also has argued that Republicans could rue the day they got rid of the filibuster, especially if Democrats win back control of the Senate.

Democrats see Bannon's war against centrists and moderates in his own party as a gift  an intramural clash that could result in unelectable Republican hard-liners going into general elections in toss-up states that could decide the balance of power.

Think Sharron Angle, the Tea Party heroine who ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the Senate seat in Nevada, or Christine O'Donnell, a conservative activist whose 2010 Senate campaign in Delaware collapsed amid reports of her past interest in witchcraft.

Republicans currently hold 52-seats in the Senate. That would seem like a slim majority to gamble with, but for the fact that the 2018 Senate election map favors the GOP, with 10 Democratic senators up for reelection in states Trump won in 2016.

Cruz, for his part, has yet to face significant primary opposition, other than from Houston energy lawyer Stefano de Stefano, a rookie candidate with a track record of voting in Democratic primaries in New York.

If that holds, Texas will be unique. De Stefano's challenge is expected to come from the center, not from the right wing of the Republican Party, where Bannon's sympathies lie.
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles late Sunday that could threaten to derail a deal in Congress to allow of hundreds of thousands of younger undocumented immigrants to remain legally in the country.

The administration's wish list includes the funding of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a crackdown on the influx of Central American minors and curbs on federal grants to sanctuary cities, according to a document distributed to Congress and obtained by The Washington Post.

The demands were quickly denounced by Democratic leaders in Congress who had hoped to forge a deal with President Trump to protect younger immigrants, known as "dreamers," who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Trump announced plans last month to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama-era program that had provided two-year work permits to the dreamers that he called "unconstitutional."

About 690,000 immigrants are enrolled in DACA, but their work permits are set to begin expiring in March. Trump had met last month with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and agreed to try to strike a deal, worrying immigration hawks who feared that Trump would support a bill that would allow dreamers to gain full legal status without asking for significant border security measures in return.

The list released by the administration, however, would represent a major tightening of immigration laws. Cuts to legal immigration also are included.

"The administration can't be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement Sunday evening. "We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures ... but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable. This proposal fails to represent any attempt at compromise."

Dems want narrow deal

In a conference call with reporters, White House aides described the proposals as a necessary step to protect public safety and jobs for American-born workers, which was a centerpiece of Trump's campaign. The president has moved to tighten border security since taking office through a series of executive orders, including curbs on immigration and refugees from some majority-Muslim nations and an increase in deportations from the interior of the country.

The number of immigrants who have attempted to enter the country illegally across the Mexican border has dropped sharply since Trump took office.

Democrats had hoped that Trump, who had equivocated over the DACA program before deciding to terminate it in the face of a legal challenge from Texas, would be open to crafting a narrow legislative deal to protect the dreamers. But White House aides emphasized they expect Congress to include the principles released Sunday in any package deal, a nonstarter for Democrats and some moderate Republicans.

More Information By the numbers 690,000 Immigrants enrolled in DACA whose work permits begin to expire in March. $25 billion Projected cost of a border wall, the first priority on Trump's list. See More Collapse

"We ask that the priorities be included in any" deal for DACA, White House legislative director Marc Short said in the conference call.

Praise for proposal

Immigration hardliners expressed support for the administration's immigration proposals. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, praised the administration for "a serious proposal" and said that "we cannot fix the DACA problem without fixing all of the issues that led to the underlying problem of illegal immigration in the first place."

Trump had said several times over the past month that he did not expect a DACA deal to include funding for a border wall, emphasizing that the money could be included in separate legislation. But ensuring funding for the wall, which is projected to cost more than $25 billion, is the first priority on the list. White House aides declined to specify during the call with reporters about how much money the president would expect from Congress.

The administration also is proposing changes aimed at reducing the flow of tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America who have entered the United States illegally in recent years. Immigrant rights groups have said the minors, as well as women and families, have fled gang violence and other dangers in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Under current law, minors who arrive from non-contiguous nations are afforded greater protections than those from Mexico or Canada, but the Trump administration is proposing to treat them all the same in a bid to be able to deport the minors more quickly. Such proposals are likely to face fierce resistance from Democrats and human rights groups.

The administration also has sought to increase pressure on "sanctuary cities" which refuse, in some cases, to cooperate with federal immigration agents seeking personal information on illegal immigrants who've committed other crimes in their jurisdictions. Under the immigration priorities released Sunday, the administration is proposing that Congress withhold federal grants to such jurisdictions and that it clarify the authority of state and local jurisdictions to honor detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"There is no justification for releasing a public safety threat back into the public," said Thomas Homan, the acting director of ICE. "We will not stop illegal immigration unless we stop the pull factors that are driving it ... Entering this country illegally is a crime but there are no consequences for sneaking past the border or overstaying visas."

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), vice chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said that "Congress should reject this warped, anti-immigrant policy wish list. The White House wants to use Dreamers as bargaining chips to achieve the administration's deportation and detention goals.

Trump aides said the administration's priorities are imperative because legalizing the dreamers without fixing other parts of the immigration system would allow the problem to continue to recur. The last major legislative overhaul to the nation's immigration laws came in 1986, which included a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, but there are more than 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally today.

Giving Congress time

But the White House's list of immigration principles moves the debate over the fate of the dreamers toward the prospect of broader comprehensive reform. Efforts to forge a comprehensive bill failed under the past two presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

During his campaign, Trump had threatened to end DACA on his first day in office, but he equivocated for months, suggesting that the decision over the fate of the dreamers was among the most difficult he faced. After Texas and several other states announced plans to sue the administration over the program, Trump moved to end DACA but said he would hold off the most drastic measures for six months to give Congress time to forge a legislative solution.

"We would expect Congress to include all the reforms in any package that addresses the status of the DACA recipients," said one White House aide on the conference call who was not authorized to speak on the record. "Other views had their fair day in the democratic process."

Noting the Republicans swept the White House and both chambers of Congress last November, the aide added: "The American public voted for the reforms included in this package."
Bail bonds

Regarding "Judges pummel bail case lawyers" (Page A1, Oct. 4), for decades, Harris County Criminal Courts systematically denied personal recognizance bonds to indigent defendants charged with misdemeanors. Stuck in jail, the poor were left with little choice but to plead guilty to get out. This disgraceful system was referred to as the "plea mill."

The county was sued over this system in federal court. In ruling against the county, the federal judge ordered Harris County Criminal Court judges to immediately begin granting PR bonds. The county appealed.

Last week the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard the appeal.

A lawyer for the county judges asserted that the granting of more PR bonds resulted in more defendants failing to show up for court. He called this "a tragedy."

The tragedy here is not found in some poor person's failure to appear. The tragedy in this case is in the wreckage left by the Harris County Criminal Courts' long-standing systematic denial of PR bonds.

Thousands of poor people were denied effective assistance of counsel and saddled with criminal records they did not deserve. These records forever make it harder for the poorest among us to obtain employment sufficient to support their families.

Robert J. Fickman, Houston

Compromise

Regarding "Core of GOP support is beyond Trump's control" (Page A21, Friday), Jonah Goldberg's column nailed it. The tea party/Freedom Caucus ideology is completely incompatible with representative democracy. Fear and fury are great for riling people up, but you can't govern with them. Without compromise, you can't organize a Boy Scout picnic, much less a country.

Because of the far right's conspiracy-fueled stranglehold on the Republican Party, we get bathroom bills and border walls instead of responsible leadership. Moderate politicians risk being ambushed in the primaries just for trying to do the right thing. Case in point: Texas House Speaker Joe Straus. Is there such a thing as a moderate populist? We definitely need some.

Robert Campbell, Katy

North Korea

Regarding "The Latest: Trump won't say what 'calm before the storm'" meant (Chron.com, Friday), Trump's "calm before the storm" comment clearly was a veiled threat. It's potentially a very dangerous threat when we know that the dictator of North Korea is a dangerous leader who has killed his own family members when he felt they were disloyal.

Trump has likely just given Kim Jong Un a reason to strike first. Do we really want a war with North Korea? Millions will die, including many American servicemen and women and American civilians.

Why would our president make such a statement when tensions are so high? I shudder to wake up each morning, wondering if he has started war.

Thomas Bickham, West University Place

Columbus' feat

Regarding "Indigenous People Day? Italians say stick with Columbus" (Chron.com, Monday), Christopher Columbus conquered the high seas and discovered vast new lands for civilization. That deserves recognition.

Chris Heasley, posted via Facebook
The state of Texas has drawn a line in the sky that limits the height of billboards along our highways. Unfortunately, many billboard owners regularly ignore it.

A number of the billboards that are subject to state regulation exceed the current height limit of 42 feet, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Ignorance is no defense since the permit application for every billboard requires the owner to certify it will comply with the height limit and other provisions.

This issue emerged in the waning days of the 2017 legislative session as part of Senate Bill 312, the must-pass legislation to allow the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to continue to operate.

As two of the Senate negotiators for Senate Bill 312, we pushed back against a hastily considered House amendment that would have allowed billboards to go up to 85 feet - double the current limit. Unable to pass a bill to increase the height limit, billboard proponents had added language to SB 312 that hadn't been considered in a public hearing.

We weren't willing to take that drastic step, but we struck a compromise that grandfathered existing billboards in order to dispense with a lot of costly litigation.

This deal provided relief to the industry and the state while also respecting the legislative process.

But the industry now wants more and is working hard to circumvent the Legislature to get it. Rather than committing to following the rules going forward, billboard owners are trying to repeal the height limit altogether through TxDOT's rule-making process.

There are very strong opinions on both sides of the billboard issues. To some, billboards are a blight on our beautiful landscape. To others, they're an effective tool for economic stimulus and communication.

The industry has tried to convince the Legislature to increase or eliminate the height limit for years. While there is no magic to the current height limit, which is an arbitrary number put in place in the 1980s, the Legislature has decided every time to keep the current rule in place.

In its initial rule proposal, TxDOT went beyond the compromise we struck by essentially eliminating the height limit altogether. After we and others objected, TxDOT scaled back its proposal. Now we're hopeful that the Texas Transportation Commission will maintain the current height limit when it adopts final rules.

You can add your voice to this debate during the public comment period, which ends Oct. 16. We hope you'll join with us in telling TxDOT that an industry shouldn't be able to ignore the Legislature and rewrite regulations in their favor.

Nichols, R-Jacksonville, is the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and served on the conference committee that negotiated Senate Bill 312 along with Watson, D-Austin.
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The name of one city pops up repeatedly in conversations about microbreweries and market saturation.

Asheville, North Carolina.

People use the word saturation, and I think that really depends on how good of a product you put out. You look at someplace like Asheville, North Carolina. Theres over 16 breweries in the downtown area  and they thrive, said Mike Moll of Molly Pitcher Brewing.

Asheville

A retired engineer and homebrewer lit the spark for Ashevilles brewing scene in 1994 when Oscar Wong opened Highland Brewery.

He kind of paved the way with a very high quality product, said Dodie Stephens, director of communications for Explore Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

When Stephens came to Asheville 10 years ago, there were only a handful of breweries in the metro area. Since then, the number has grown to 35 as the industry grew hand in hand with the growth and increasing notoriety of the towns independent restaurant scene.

Over those years, only one has closed to Stephens knowledge.

A study from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County showed a 754 percent growth in the brewing industry.

Stephens credits that growth to a number of factors, the most important of which is the breweries themselves and the experiences they are creating as well as the promotional efforts of groups like the Asheville Brewers Alliance and the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association.

Explore Asheville launched a culinary branding campaign 10 years ago that offered additional support in marketing and promotions.

The craft beer scene has very much been layered into that campaign, which had significant investment over the years, Stephens said.

One of the things that has been very important to the evolution and support is the infrastructure that has grown along with it, Stephens said. Those supporting players are an important part and should be supported as much as the breweries.

The ancillary businesses include retail stores as well as businesses that provide directly to the brewing such as malt and hops growers. Much of the economic growth surrounding the beer scene is actually in these supporting businesses, Stephens said.

Early on, businesses were launched to guide visitors through the brewery offerings. Asheville Brews Cruise has been in business for 10 years, taking visitors to breweries to enjoy samples and tours of the operation. The Amazing Pubcycle is essentially a bar on wheels that moves with the power of 10 people pedaling all at once. Walking tours are also available.

They offer wonderful enriching experiences that add a new layer to the brewery scene, Stephens said.

The work to build businesses around the brewing industry and to market the town as a destination for craft beer fans has paid off.

Were now finding that beer is actually motivating travel to Asheville, which is really exciting to us, Stephens said.

Craft beer has crept into the top segment of reasons people come to Asheville. Stephens said more than 25 percent of visitors stop by breweries during their visit, and 14 percent say the breweries were their primary reason for coming to town.

They really are a great way to explore the destination, if they are built and conceived as a way to connect your destination, Stephens said.

Bringing it to Carlisle

With one-quarter of the population of Asheville, is it realistic to think that Carlisle could become a sort of mini-Asheville of the north?

If that was the direction the borough wanted to go, and came up with some creative ways to entice people to do it, Carlisle could easily be a beer destination town, Moll said.

Ive seen Carlisle moving in the right direction as far as investment of local businesses and catering to current market tastes in the sense of restaurants and craft alcohol, said Chad Kimmel of Grand Illusion Cider.

Downtowns are coming back from the demise that accompanied the rapid construction of malls in the 1970s and 80s, Kimmel said. People are starting to find strip malls and suburban shopping experiences unenlightening, and are more interested in experiences.

Businesses and experiences that cater to the unordinary are going to win in time, he said.

Part of a downtown rebound includes filling in empty buildings, and Dave Hamilton from Burds Nest Brewing believes theres room to add more breweries to the mix.

Any place in Carlisle thats empty, you want to get something in there. So having four or five different breweries isnt a bad thing because its taking over an empty space, he said.

As the number of breweries grows, so does the opportunity for new business, said Kristin Rowe, communications manager for the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. More foot traffic offers more opportunity for restaurants and shops, which helps to grow a downtown vibe and make it all more visitor friendly.

Were in this boom of getting all these breweries right now. Thats phase one. Phase two would be other businesses seeing that more people are in town at different hours than theyre used to, and increasing their hours, she said.

Stretching the business community into phase two could be what sets Carlisle apart from other potential destination communities, but it can be a challenge.

You can go to some of these downtowns and they have the restaurants. They have the breweries, but they dont have the retail. I think we do have those unique shopping experiences. Its just getting them integrated into this whole concept, Rowe said.

The redevelopment underway on three former industrial sites in the borough will result in more opportunities for businesses to bring employees to Carlisle for meetings, said Valerie Copenhaver director of marketing for the bureau.

The breweries add another element to the town for people who are coming in for those meetings as well as other events, though Rowe said it has been proven in the industry that people will travel solely to visit the breweries themselves.

Thats particularly true among those with a millennial mindset, Rowe said. That demographic typically prefers weekend getaways to weeklong cruises.

A weekend hike on Waggoners Gap helped Copenhaver realize how ripe the region is for such tourism. In addition to the attractions in town, visitors dont have to go far to get an outdoor, recreational experience that pays off with views from the mountaintop.

That brings the whole region into play as a potential beer destination rather than relying solely on downtown Carlisle. The Cumberland Valley Beer Trail includes 23 breweries in a growing market, as compared to 35 throughout the Asheville metro area.

From our perspective, we know that visitors dont care where the county starts and ends so, for us, were promoting opportunities to come a couple of times and experience the beer trail, Rowe said.

Its possible, though, that the key to making Carlisle a destination town is more basic than building retail or drawing visitors to the outdoor opportunities in the area.

The trend, obviously, is people like breweries. Right there is the attraction. People want to go have one or two beers and relax, Hamilton said.
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our Department data say close to 40,000 Malaysian workers were retrenched last year while 17,798 employees lost their jobs in the first half of 2017, but this could be just the tip of the iceberg.Most small, medium and micro enterprises are also not aware of the requirement to report layoffs to the government.Worse, retrenched workers also face the challenge of collecting salaries and other compensation from their previous employers.While the employers eventually do pay, the process often takes months, even years, Asia One reported.Fifty-year-old Goh Chee Seng, for instance, was retrenched from his job at a cable manufacturing factory in Shah Alam, alongside 100 other workers and lower management staff.He had been with the company for 29 years, during which he observed how it had been plagued with management problems. In September last year, he and his colleagues started getting their salaries late. Things got progressively worse until they were laid off in May 2017.Goh and his fellow workers are now seeking the help of the Electrical Industry Workers Union under the umbrella of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC). The union facilitates dialogue sessions with the former employers to ensure that salaries and compensation would be paid as promised.Goh is the sole breadwinner in the family and also cares for his 86-year-old mother at their home in Kapar."They promised us that our three-month salary would be paid to us by November this year. It was very sudden, but there was nothing we could do about it. We signed the letters and left, Goh told Asia One."Suddenly, we were jobless. We had no other source of income coming in every month, no money to put food on the table or pay our bills."Employment insurance schemes vary from country to country, but many have a system in place that provides temporary financial relief to those who have been retrenched.For example, Goh was able to withdraw a portion of his Employees Provident Fund savings in order to make ends meet.The money helped but Goh worries about how long his EPF savings will last.He knows he needs to secure a job as soon as possible, but his age may pose a problem."Whenever I attend interviews or call a company regarding a job opening, one of the first questions they ask me is 'How old are you?'"They think twice about hiring a person of my age, even though I am fit, skilled an able to contribute productively, he said.Many of the other staff who lost their jobs are in their 50s as well.Most employers prefer to hire foreign workers, especially for jobs in factories, as they are perceived to be more affordable and easily available."I am very stressed about my future and how I will continue to care for my family."My mother also keeps asking me when I will return to work," said Goh. He is worried the stress over his prospects might take its toll on her health
re is an increasing trend towards appointing people responsible for leading D&I initiatives, according to Anthony Armstrong, country manager  Australia, at Russell Reynolds Associates.



This includes committees of senior executives with a manager responsible for implementing a D&I program that might have an LGBTI component, an ethnic diversity component, or a male/female split taskforce.



This is what we are seeing more of in the bigger corporations, including the banks and the telecommunications companies, Armstrong told HRD.



They have specific programs against each of the groups in order to accelerate the numbers, but the key factor is having the leadership involved and engaged, he said.



You will see that in a number of the banks that the CEO is the key stakeholder of these groups, so they have got a very high level of personal commitment and engagement, and that does tend to drive an outcome.

Armstrongs comments come as new research indicates that leadership teams in Australia and New Zealand are ahead of the curve when it comes to D&I.



The results from a report by Russell Reynolds Associates found that Australian and New Zealand companies are almost twice as likely to set diversity goals when it comes to appointing senior leadership (56% ANZ v just 38% globally).



Aimee Williamson, executive director at Russell Reynolds Associates, added that there are very specific activities that organisations have been focused on from a D&I perspective around the talent life cycle.



This includes looking at how aligned the D&I is to the business strategy, as the best organisations will ensure that the strategy and the D&I policies are well-aligned and promoted from the top-down, Williamson told HRD.

It is also important to look at the attraction side of things, including how to build D&I into the employer brand, she said.



What strategies do you have in place to attract diverse talent?



Williamson added that there is also a selection process which includes ensuring that selection processes are free from unconscious bias and are very inclusive.



And making sure that the candidate slate is diverse and representative as well, she said.



So its about ensuring that the development program is focused on fostering a diverse talent base.



In terms of a retention, it is about making sure that the culture allows people to bring diversity to the fore and help capitalise and drive that organisation forward, she added.



In retention, we see things like HR policies for flexibility, encouragement of networking, mentoring groups, etc. So there are lots of specific activities for organisations to implement through that whole talent life cycle.



The results also found Aus/NZ companies place a higher priority on retaining diverse talent than the rest of the globe (60% of ANZ v just 47% globally).



The results came from Russell Reynolds Associates recent D&I Report which surveyed more than 2,000 senior executives globally.
elson employer has been ordered to pay out almost $30,000 after failing to dismiss one of its employees in a fair and reasonable manner.Shane Clement  a hose doctor with Diverse Hydraulics & Pneumatics  received his first warning when he left work after just 90 minutes, having had a heated argument with a colleague.Company manager Jeff Chandler then saw Clements van parked outside his own personal workshop. When Clement went home sick the following day, his van was again seen outside the workshop.Clement was called in for a disciplinary meeting about the absence but walked out.The Employment Relations Authority later found that this first warning was unfair because Clement had completed his time sheet accurately and Diverse had failed to properly investigate the circumstances.The second warning came as Clements van was spotted outside his workshop while he was meant to be making sales calls for Diverse.Clement claimed he had left the van there and walked but was called in for a second disciplinary meeting  on this occasion, he was offered a pre-written letter but declined to accept it.Finally, after Clements van was spotted outside of his workshop another time, manager Jeff Chandler summoned Clement and gave him a dismissal letter.While the employer in this case felt it had given Clement multiple chances, the ERA ultimately disagreed and found procedural failings with the warnings and final dismissal.When he was called in for the meetings, Clement was not told he could bring legal representation  instead, he was offered a support person. The ERA also said Diverse used an unfair process to dismiss Clement.An employer who has dismissed an employee needs to prove that the decision it made, and the way it made its decision, was something a fair and reasonable employer could have done in all the circumstances, member of the authority Christine Hickey wrote in her decision.Hickey also pointed to four basic procedural rules that must be satisfied for a dismissal to be justified. These rules require an employer to investigate each of its concerns, raise those concerns with the employee in question, give the employee in question a reasonable opportunity to respond, and consider the employees explanations when considering disciplinary or dismissal.If none of the four of those basic procedural requirements were complied with, then the dismissal would be an unjustified one, wrote Hickey.In the end, Diverse Hydraulics & Pneumatics was ordered to pay Clement lost wages of $11,375, holiday pay of $910, compensation for the loss of dignity and injury to feelings of $15,000 and legal costs of $1,946.The hefty compensation award came after Clement suffered an emotional and physical breakdown which caused him to lose his home and relationship of 14 years.
You wouldn't be alone in wondering whether PND was an illness of the millennial generation as they start to become mothers - with the statistic that mental health issues effects 1 in 5 mums (and 1 in 10 dads) but most of the baby boomers not having come across many mums who struggled in their time.

Whilst I'm sure social media has increased millennials' feelings of loneliness and therefore increased cases of PND, I also think it's down to how women are now brought up (that's for another post!), more medical understanding of mental health issues, and the fact that millennials are talking more openly about it.

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The fact that there is better medical understanding, and help available, definitely helps. It means that new mums are less worried that they will be sent to hospital, or have their baby taken away. Although there are still some worries. I was contacted a couple of months ago by a mum who had come to one of my local events to help mums meet, saying she was worried she was suffering with PND. But she didn't want to go the GP as she was so worried that she would be put on anti-depressants, so she was just battling on alone. Having felt very similarly when I struggled with PND, I told her that I also hadn't wanted to take anti-depressants, so I was well aware of the other options. I encouraged her to go to her GP.

But what made me sad about this, was that I'd met her over 6 months previously (and if I'm honest I can't remember what she looks like!), had mentioned in passing that I had had PND, and I was the closest person she felt she could talk to. If I saw her walking down the road I wouldn't know I had. This is why it's so important that we talk about our struggles. I'd be amazed, given the fact that 1 in 5 mums now struggle with some form of mental health issue, if she didn't have someone closer to her also struggling, or who had.

So was PND around in previous generations?

Through my MummyLinks work I've been lucky enough to meet a number of mums who have survived the PND struggle, and whilst most of them are millennials, some are Baby Boomers, or even the Silent Generation.

When I met Janie Felstead I asked her if she felt this was a new issue, and she said:

"PND isn't new. It's just not something that previous generations haven't felt able to talk about. It was something to be ashamed of and was hidden."

She was unfortunate enough to struggle with pre- and post-natal depression and anxiety, but she hid it from her husband. Only her mother was aware, and whilst she did everything practically she could to help - including private psychiatrists and the like - it was all very much kept hush-hush.

She also agreed that loneliness played a major factor in her difficulties. When she found herself pregnant she was married for a second time, but still living with her parents at their country club in Hertfordshire. This kept her busy helping out, and around those who loved her. But unfortunately soon after, her parents decided to sell up and move across the country to Hampshire. Her husband at the time worked in London, so she decided it best to buy a house in the middle of her parents and her husband.

"This was my biggest mistake. The area was full of old people, and I was a bit shy, so I became very lonely. I had no support. I should have either moved to Hampshire with my parents, or to London."

She described getting so lonely, that one day she was out walking the pram and in the distance saw another mum with a pram and a dog. So she walked over and asked to join her. This ladies name was Michelle, and they have been firm friends since.

"She saved me" Janie said.

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This was thirty-odd years ago, so you would have thought with all the new technology nowadays, it would be easier to meet mum friends. We've got Facebook to keep in touch, Whatsapp to message, and apps like Happity to find activities. So why are mums still struggling with loneliness?

But as Janie found, and I think is even more of an issue nowadays, mums often live far from their family, and may have moved away from a city or friends to find a suitable "family home". And maybe this is a mistake?

A few months ago I also had the pleasure of talking on Radio Jackie about MummyLinks to a lady called Sarah Onions. She invited me on as she had written a book about her mother's experience of PND back in in 50s - "Don't Bring Lulu". She says:

"PND affects each generation of women. My mother Doris Moody accused my father of trying to kill her near Brighton in 1958. There was a lack of understanding then but worse - she had none of the resources provided online. Support is crucial for mother at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives."

PND is an awful illness, which has been around for generations. But now we are really starting to hear about it. This is thanks to the many celebrity mums opening up, and now other mums telling their story.

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An issue that affects every single of us at some point in our lives couldn't possibly be overlooked by policymakers, right? Wrong. When it comes to mental health, there is a lot of work to do!

All of us can face mental health challenges - it can affect us individually, as part of a family, or a wider community. The LGBTI community in particular can face specific challenges; many of which are still unseen or ignored by policymakers.

That is why ILGA-Europe wants to do something about it - by launching a campaign that has a message for individual LGBTI activists and policymakers.

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There is a great need for support, the research on the subjects exists, there's an abundance of resources being produced by LGBTI groups... but the conversation that will link all these pieces up is still missing. We have to start talking about LGBTI mental health.

Come Out For Mental Health is ILGA-Europe's way of kick-starting the conversation.

On an individual level, the taboo around mental health has persisted for far too long.

Every single one of us has 'a mental health' - but even in 2017, there is still a resistance to talking openly about it, including in the LGBTI community. The time to talk is here and now.

Many LGBTI organisations are already offering solutions and we need to link up with those services more. From support centres that provide a range of mental health services, to helplines, and working with governments to produce inclusive healthcare policies - there are some many great examples of how LGBTI organisations are supporting positive mental health. For example, Seta, one of our members in Finland, have set up a range of services focused on the mental health of LGBTI people - peer support for gender-variant kids and their parents, dressing rooms at their offices, online services, as well as support groups for older LGBTI people.

And the LGBTI movement can offer each other a deep, meaningful system of support. For many LGBTI people, their friends and fellow activists are their family of choice; a support network who can understand their experiences in a way that their straight, cis friends might not. There is so much potential love and resilience waiting to be tapped into - if people can smash through the silence.

When it comes to the mental health of LGBTI people specifically, policymakers have definite responsibility. ILGA-Europe's campaign has several goals - not only do we want politicians to invest in services, we want them to think about the power behind the language they use from day to day.

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Having your own personal life debated and dissected as part of a public discourse is something that many LGBTI people all over Europe have experienced. But what is not openly discussed is the real impact that this can have on the mental health of LGBTI people.

So, why do we need to come out for mental health? There are many events that can have a negative impact on the mental health of LGBTI people, including the effect of hostile public debates on the well-being of LGBTI people.

One example that always sticks with me was the news from our member organisation SOS Homophobie that calls to their phonelines asking for support had greatly increased during and after the equal marriage debates in France. (This was after a year-long political debate on the issue, accompanied huge by counter-demos, all heavily reported in the media). Similar concerns were raised in Ireland and are being discussed now by activists in Australia around their own equal marriage plebiscite.

Just to be clear - I'm not complaining about seeing LGBTI equality issues being more visible! But there can often be unintended consequences to this increased level of prominence. Politicians making LGBTI-phobic comments during debates, added to the ongoing daily discrimination and micro aggressions, online hate, the threat of bias-motivated crimes - all of this can contribute to minority stress.

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That is why coming out for mental health is so important. Today, on World Mental Health Day, I'm inviting you join our Come Out For Mental Health conversation. The discussion around mental health in the LGBTI community is one that we all need to have, starting here and now.
In 2016, Sierra Leone was ranked in the 10 worst countries to be a girl in terms of gender inequality. Girls in Sierra Leone face child marriage, early pregnancy, gender-based violence and are far less likely than boys to go to school. In fact, 46% of girls and young women aged 15-24 do not know how to read and write in Sierra Leone.

Yet education has the power to transform lives, especially for girls. When girls and women are educated, it benefits their families, their communities and their countries. Girls who go to secondary school earn more, have fewer and healthier children and are more likely to send their own children to school (World Bank).

On International Day of the Girl Child we must stand up for girls' rights to education. Girls like 16 year old Aminata.

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Aminata dropped out of school when she lost her sister to Ebola. Desperate, she slept with a man for money and fell pregnant. With no money and nowhere to live she was forced to pick plastic on the local rubbish dump to sell. Going to school was a distant dream.

Sadly, Aminata's story is a common one amongst girls in Sierra Leone. Teenage pregnancy, loss of a caregiver and poverty are the three most common barriers to a girl's education. In households with very limited incomes, education for girls is not a priority.

But education for girls should be a priority. Evidence shows that even a single year of secondary education has the potential to increase a girl's future earnings by up to 25%.

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NGO Street Child is working to help thousands of girls across Sierra Leone and Liberia to access education thanks to its Girls Speak Out appeal, which was supported by the UK government. Already they have supported over 4,000 girls with education materials so they can go to school and provided 2,500 families with business grants and training so they can set up a business.

Aminata is just one of those who Street Child have supported back to school. A Street Child social worker reunited Aminata with a caregiver. Street Child have supported her caregiver to set up a business so she can afford the costs of sending Aminata to school long-term.

'I have more hope for the future because when I've finished my schooling I will become a prominent individual... I want to become a nurse.'

'My hope for my baby is that she will get to go to school and also be prominent when she grows up.'

International Day of the Girl Child is about standing with girls like Aminata. Her hopes should be a reality for all girls in Sierra Leone and around the world. We must keep striving to empower all women and girls, because progress for them means progress for everyone.

Street Child is an NGO working in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nepal and Nigeria. Street Child's 'Girls Speak Out' Appeal was match-funded by the UK government and is helping 20,000 children - especially girls - to go to school in post-Ebola West Africa.

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Carlisle brewers and tourism officials agree theres still room for growth in the boroughs blossoming microbrewery scene.

Theres always going to be a threshold, a point at which its saturated, given the population and exposure. But I dont think were there yet, and I think we certainly could accommodate more growth, said Chad Kimmel of Grand Illusion Cider.

Kimmel, who has studied community development, said the demographics in Carlisle support these businesses with its mix of institutions like the Army War College, Dickinson College and Penn State Dickinson School of Law in town, and Shippensburg University a reasonable drive away. The local populations variations in age, generational preferences and education also support growth.

Geography plays a dual role in the rise of the breweries. On one hand, Carlisle is a self-sustaining community with not much around us for miles, said Mike Moll of Molly Pitcher Brewing. That makes the borough a prime location for multiple breweries.

Theres plenty of beer drinkers in this community alone to support multiple breweries, and everybody loves to get behind their local brewery. Its a hometown pride kind of thing, Moll said.

On the other hand, the intertwining highways around town make it easy for visitors to access Carlisle.

Youre not just looking at local support from borough residents, said Jeremy Rhone of Rhone Brewing Company. Carlisle is, and for the foreseeable future will be, a major crossroads in Pennsylvania that has tons of visitors in and out for all kinds of different reasons. I believe the craft beer scene here will blossom enough that that will become yet another reason to come to Carlisle.

Moll noted the diversity of the people who pass through the town throughout the year. People from all over the country come in during the shows at Carlisle Events. The U.S. Army War College brings in people from around the world, and corporations headquartered in the area bring in people from across their organizations for business meetings.

Its primed to become a destination. Adding as many places that are going to pop up in the next year in our industry is really going to drive that. All of a sudden people will be coming three or four hours to Carlisle because there are five or six places to go, Moll said.

Thats the philosophy behind the creation of Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureaus Cumberland Valley Beer Trail. The trail, unveiled in April, includes Carlisle breweries as well as locations in Chambersburg and through the West Shore into downtown Harrisburg.

We definitely dont believe that we are tapped out certainly because of all the trends weve been seeing and everything we see in the tourism world outside of this area, said Kristen Rowe, communications manager of the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. People will travel for this kind of experience and they will go to multiple locations. Thats what led to us putting together this Cumberland Valley Beer Trail.

More people are coming to the area for brewery tours and the brewing experience, and they are visiting multiple places, said Ashleigh Goss Corby of Market Cross Pub. Opening new breweries expands that experience.

I looked at it more as a stepping stone to get more tourism here, and to get more of our locals to stay in our area rather than venture out into other areas to get the exposure to craft beer, wine or cider, she said.

The visitors bureau has heard that people are discovering new places because of the beer trail, and Rowe said it was especially gratifying to hear that some of those people finding new places were local.

Demographics, geography and the potential to become a destination town aside, the reason behind the growth of microbrews in Carlisle may boil down to something more basic.

Beer and food gets people. Dont overthink it, Rowe said.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive

Mental health has moved centre stage. We don't have to hide. We don't have to pretend that everything is 'fine,' when really we are struggling. That is something to celebrate in our country on World Mental Health Day.

Mental health is on the TV. On the radio. In the tabloids, in the broadsheets, in the magazines. Online. Mental health is on everyone's lips; Prime Ministers and future kings. Mental health is what everyone seems to be talking about.

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It's time to talk. It's good to talk. That really is something to celebrate.

We are all talking about mental health - and yet ... and yet the talk is increasingly of crisis.

That is why I have been joined by 160 of my MP colleagues in writing to Prime Minister Theresa May to demand that she ring-fence mental health spending.

The government promised parity, but has delivered a crisis of care, staffing and funding. Most of all, it has overseen a crisis in confidence that help will be there when called for. The crisis is national, and that means it is local too.

As constituency MPs we see the hurt and pain that exists in the gap between government rhetoric and the lack of action on the ground.

On the eve of #WMHD17 160 @UKLabour MPs have written to the PM to ask that mental health funding is ring-fenced. Now is the time for action. pic.twitter.com/R8IHd50Dm2  Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) October 9, 2017

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We told Mrs May: 'We see this injustice every day in our constituencies. Our constituents face long waits to access mental health services, if they get a referral at all. The number of young people and adults turning up at A&E in a crisis continues to rise. The amount and quality of contact provided in the community has diminished significantly. And too often inpatient treatment means leaving family and friends for a unit hundreds of miles from home.'

Through a series of Freedom of Information requests I uncovered that, for the fourth year in a row, the government has failed to deliver on its promise to increase the money reaching frontline services. For the second year in a row, over half of CCGs say that they plan to reduce the proportion of the budget they spend on mental health.

That is on top of a national funding formula that acts against areas in greatest need.

I know the impact these budgetary decisions are having locally because my constituents share their experiences. I know the impact they are having nationally because, as President of the Labour Campaign for Mental Health, colleagues and campaigners from across the country tell me.

That is why so many have signed the letter to the Prime Minister demanding that she ring-fence mental health.

On World Mental Health Day 2017, we need to commit to campaign harder than ever before for fair funding for mental health.

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We must, of course, continue to talk about mental health because although the stigma and discrimination has been reduced, it has not gone away.

It's good to talk. Talking is necessary, but it is not sufficient.

We must ring-fence mental health spending to close the gap between the rhetoric of parity and the reality of cuts on the front-line.

We must keep talking. But if we want to see real equality for mental health now is the time for action.
If you fail a university course or lose your job because you are so distracted by your smartphone then is the phone manufacturer to blame? Is addiction the problem?

It sounds like a stupid question, but think about it slightly differently. The tobacco and alcohol industries both invest heavily in programmes designed to prevent and treat addiction - likewise with the gambling industry. Any industry selling a product that could potentially be addictive is forced to take measures to prevent addiction, such as funding awareness programmes or treatment charities.

You can argue that the measures are not enough. Gambling companies want to encourage gambling, not stop their customers logging in and placing bets, but most organisations are responsible. The gambling companies don't want a wave of online poker addicts meaning their entire industry is more heavily regulated or closed completely. The drinks companies want you enjoy a good night out, but not to the extent that you rely on drinking their products every night and sleeping rough. Addictive products have a place in society when they are used responsibly.

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But are we ignoring the addictive nature of smartphones? Try taking away someone's phone today and see how long they can cope without it. Look around on a train or bus and see how many people are lost to the real world, gazing blankly into their phone. Phone separation, or battery status, is now a genuine source of anxiety for many people.

The Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive recently said that constant use of an iPhone is actually misuse. He uses an Apple Watch to filter the number of notifications he personally has to interact with. What he is implying is that most people are constantly distracted by their phone. The product is being misused and this is the man who designed the iPhone.

When Tim Cook was asked if the iPhone creates poor social behaviour he dodged the question, but now we are a decade into the smartphone era the data is starting to arrive. The Wall Street Journal recently published research indicating that college students who left their phone outside the lecture theatre - and therefore were more focused on the class - scored a full grade higher. Academics believe that the intellectual reliance on smartphones is having a seriously adverse effect on our mental skills, such as problem solving and creativity.

Apple and Samsung do all they can to encourage us to use our phones even more. Researchers suggest that the average American interacts with their phone at least 80 times a day. When the Financial Times profiled how British teenagers relate to their phones, they found that 13-year-olds feel a closer relationship to their phone than to other family members. The phone has become a family member. What happens when we move beyond smartphones to wearables and implants?

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I've talked for several years to corporate leaders about how they need to change the way they talk to customers because the way that customers talk to each other has changed. It's obvious really. When is the last time you called a family member for a catch-up? In fact when is the last time you called anyone or answered a call from a number that isn't in your contact list? Voice calls feel disruptive today when compared to texting. It's a lot to expect the recipient of a call to drop everything they are doing so they can focus on a conversation with you.

Conversation is now largely through text and social networking platforms. Families are held together by Facebook. Kids share activities from their day via Snapchat. I'm not an anthropologist, but I can see that in just ten years there has been a complete revolution in how humans interact and communicate. There must surely be an effect on how we process information and learn - we just don't know what will change at this point. It's still too early and change is coming so fast.

What is becoming clear though, is that for all the incredible communication benefits of smartphones there is a downside to constant distraction. It affects study, work, and relationships. How many times have you seen a couple in a romantic restaurant with both of them in a deep conversation with their smartphone rather than each other?
If you could go back in time to your 20s, what would you tell yourself? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Alyssa Satara, Masters of Law (LLM) Public International Law & Human Rights, City University London (2016):

1) What you like

Your 20s are the best time to experience and try new things. With these new experiences you are able to gain fresh perspectives and find out what you like.

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This sounds simple, but when you multiply it across your life it becomes more complex (and crucial).

What kind of people do you like being around?

What attributes do you like in a partner?

What do you like about yourself?

What do you like spending money on (travel, shopping, eating out with friends, investments)?

How do you like to spend your time?

What do you like working on?

Etc.

This is a huge reason why your 20s can, and should, be an extremely pivotal part of your life.

For most people, it the first time you get to be creative with yourself and shed layers of societal and conceptual beliefs that you have been taught growing up.

It's the first time you get to make decisions on your own.

From a young age, children are taught to do things, and how to do things. Your 20s are a great time to question those teachings, and to find out how you like doing things.

2) What you don't like

It's equally important to figure out what you don't like.

In your 20s most people's habits, lifestyles, and even allergies tend to change. It's an evolutionary part of your life, where you get to keep the lessons and laughs from the past but move forward with a newer version of yourself.

Your 20s really are about self discovery; this means learning to figure out what you don't like.

The kind of people you don't like being around.

The attributes you don't like in a partner.

Habits or tendencies you don't like about yourself.

Activities, and purchases you don't like spending your money on.

How you don't like spending your time.

The kind of work environments you don't like being a part of.

Etc.

For a lot of people in their 20s, this also comes with learning to say "no" to the habits, situations, or groups of people you don't want to be a part of.

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There is a lot of power in learning what you don't like.

Identifying what you don't like makes room for you to pursue and surround yourself with opportunities that you do like.

3) Work to play balance

For many, your 20s is the first time you are a full-time employee. It's the first time you have the freedom to work or play as hard as you want.

And eventually this leads to developing some sort of work to play balance in your life.

This is incredibly important because it indirectly affects your entire life's balance, and how you spend your time.

So if you tend to prioritize going out on weeknights, and going to work all week ... you probably neglect sleep.

Or if you prioritize sleep, work, and socializing equally ... you don't leave yourself a lot of time for "self" activities like yoga, or reading, or staying home and cooking.

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If you don't have a balanced life--whatever that means to you--part of you, even if it's a subconscious part, will remain unfulfilled.

This is an extraordinary and beautiful lesson to learn in your 20s that can positively shape the rest of your life.

Your mental and physical health is important, and in your 20s you should learn to prioritize it.

This means asking yourself what you need to be balanced.

4) What you want to be when you grow up

Your 20s are a hilarious yet terrifying part of your life because you're at this stage where you are old enough to know better and young enough to not care.

On top of that, most people-- especially in recent generations--are still figuring what careers they want to embark on.

For most, this means floating and swaying in the waters of job applications and rejection. It means reflecting and productively figuring out what career will make you happiest. And it means trying things, hating them, and moving on to newer and better opportunities with a positive outlook.

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Embarking on your career journey will teach you so much, and in your 20s you should try and learn what it is you want to do with your career. And more importantly, learn how to take steps towards those goals.

Your 20s are about making mistakes, but they are also about learning to navigate yourself and the world so you don't have to continue to make the same mistakes.

A huge part of your 20s is figuring out what you want to do and who you want to be.
Anyone who knows me, or has been within a five mile radius of me over the past couple of months, will know that I have gotten dangerously into shedding. Shedding, decluttering, heartlessly throwing away, whatever you want to call it, I'm hooked to the point that the act in itself sparks joy. I am one smug eBay seller, Oxfam donator, dumpster filler.

A little bit of context: I'm no minimalist Insta pervert, Marie Kondo convert getting all #GoodbyeThings on your ass. I moved out of my south London flatshare last week, which in itself felt like a ripe time for a shedding, and hopped into a feathered love nest with le boyfriend. Being the car-less, shockingly weak creature that I am, I didn't much fancy trawling 28 years' worth of possessions in bin bags across TFL's intricate network. So I decided to ditch or sell as much as I could...and got on a bit of a roll. Based on absolutely no concrete calculations whatsoever, I'd estimate that I got rid of a good 70% of my stuff. Feeling smug, smug, smug.

If that weren't gross enough, I've also become one of those people who is almost evangelical about decluttering. Because, sweetie darling, shedding is about so much more than making your home easier to clean and a whole lot more Instagram-able. And that's what makes it so incredibly wonderful and ridiculous at the same time.

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For me, the most wonderful/ridiculous benefit of decluttering is, by a long shot, the fact that it allows you to understand and appreciate who you are, rather than who you were or who you want to be. Together with our face, food and travel snaps, our home (or aspirational home) has got to be one of the most posted or pinned things out there. Therefore our home and, by extension, our possessions, are powerful signifiers of our identity, which we broadcast to the world both for our own sake and that of elusive 'other people'. Whether your tipple of choice is groaning bookshelves to denote your intellectual dexterity, or travel trinkets from Easter Island and Vietnam, we have become attuned to the idea that if we don't put it out there, people won't 'get' us.

Things become a whole lot more complicated when you cohabit, be that with friends, a partner/partners, family members, a sticky-fingered small human. Who (or, rather, who's stuff), gets the upper-hand in the self-expression game? And, if it's not you, does that mean your identity has somehow been subsumed by a sticky-fingered person?

The laboured point I'm making is that decluttering forces you to confront what you really hold dear. And in doing so you'll probably realise that a lot of your stuff could go in a time capsule as it is, in all honesty, totally unrepresentative of who you are. Here. Today.

As a stoic member of generation anxiety, I have spent more time in the past or in the hypothetical than I care to admit. Having some way to grasp and ground myself in who I am at this precise moment, even if that's someone who favours Glamour magazine over Argentine pulp fiction, is incredibly valuable and liberating.

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Letter: Blackmer Is the Public Servant We Need

To the Editor:



In 2012, I was involved with running the coordinated campaigns of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, President Barack Obama and the new-to-the-Berkshires U.S. Rep. Richard Neal for Northern Berkshire County. When Congressman Neal showed up at our headquarters on Ashland Street in North Adams, one of the first people to greet him was City Councilor Lisa Blackmer. After sticking her hand out with a quick pleasantry, Lisa skillfully went to work and listed off a number of specific projects that North Adams could use federal help with. I was both impressed and floored by her chutzpah with a sitting member of Congress. That's the kind of gutsy, in the trenches, public servant she is.



I am happy to see three respectable contenders lining up for the 1st Berkshire District special election; I made my mind up almost immediately. Over the past decade, there is nobody who has delved further into the policies and practices of local governments than Lisa Blackmer. As a city councilor, town administrator and town treasurer, her dedication did not go unnoticed by others around the state, including the Massachusetts Municipal Association, where she eventually presided over the board.



In these days when Berkshire County and Massachusetts face serious challenges, from the current opiate crisis to Gov. Baker's slashed budget proposals to President Trump's attempts to strip health insurance from millions of Americans, we need someone representing us on Beacon Hill who will delve deep into the policies that affect us and our families. We need someone who is not afraid to advocate and fight for our schools, our healthcare needs, our roads, our jobs and our people. We need someone diligent, compassionate and consistent. That person is Lisa.



If you don't actually know Lisa, you should. She shows up, does her homework as well as the unglamorous behind-the-scenes work of policy crafting. She has a track record of making things happen. Please considering giving her your vote for state representative.

Greg Roach

North Adams, Mass.
North County Goes to Polls for State Representative Primary

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Voters in much of North County head to the polls today to select the Democratic Party nominee for the 1st Berkshire District.

Only one winner will emerge in the state representative special election primary between John Barrett III, a former mayor; Stephanie Bosley, daughter of a prior holder of the seat; Lisa Blackmer, a city councilor; and Kevin Towle, a legislative aide.

More on the candidates can be found on our election page

Based on past voting performance, Tuesday's winner could well be considered the presumptive state representative, although it's possible Republican candidate Christine Canning could pull an upset in the November general election.

The race for the 1st Berkshire is the only primary in Berkshire County on Tuesday. The candidates are seeking to fill the seat of Cariddi, who died earlier this year during her fourth term. Cariddi won the primary in 2010 and coasted to victory that November with no opponent; she faced no other challengers in her next three races. All four candidates are connected to Cariddi: Towle worked for her, both Barrett and Blackmer served in public office with her, and she filled the seat that Bosley's father stepped away from.

The primary in 2010 that sent Cariddi to the State House had a turnout of more than 30 percent in North County, but it also featured a primary for county sheriff. In both cases, it was the first time in decades that the 1st Berkshire seat (24 years) and the sheriff (32 years) did not have an incumbent running.

open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting will take place in the 1st Berkshire District of Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Lanesborough, New Ashford, North Adams, and Williamstown. Polls areVoting will take place in the 1st Berkshire District of Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Lanesborough, New Ashford, North Adams, and Williamstown. You can find your polling location here

Only voters who are unenrolled in a party can select either the Republican ballot (with Canning's single name on it) or the Democratic ballot with the four candidates. Those enrolled as Democratics or Republicans can only vote on the primary ballot for their respective parties.
A wax form used to create the ceramic shell into which the bronze will be poured. The molds were part of an illustrated presentation by sculptor Andrew DeVries to the committee hoping to get a bronze statue of Susan B. Anthony. DeVries, who has been sculpting for near 40 years is based out of Middlefield. DeVries has sculptures displayed throughout the world and has a gallery in Lenox. The process for sculpting and casting a bronze is complicated, he says. Rubber is placed on the clay statue to form a caste which will be used to create a wax copy of the sculpture. PreviousNext

Adams Looking to Immortalize Susan B. Anthony in Bronze



The centennial committee is considering a statue showing Anthony as a child and as her older, more recognizable age. ADAMS, Mass.  The Adams Suffrage Centennial Celebration Committee has been given the go-ahead for plans to install a bronze statue of native daughter Susan B. Anthony on the Town Common.

Committee member Erin Mucci said the approval last week will allow the committee to send out a request for proposals and seek input from artists around the country.

"This will allow site work to begin and we will be able to include pictures and a layout of the town common," she said. "We will be able to get what we hope some very thoughtful conceptual designs and drawings."

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said the board will still want to a detailed plan before final approval.

"The board will vote on a final plan in the future. This is the beginning of the process, not the end," he said. He added that the town may also be able to capture state grants that will allow design work for the Town Common itself.

"Even without the statue the town common is getting to get a little tired," Mazzucco said. "We are looking at it in conjunction with the statue and we know it's time to freshen up the town common a bit."

Anthony, a Quaker born in Adams, became one of the most prominent activists in the late 19th century for civil rights and women's right to vote. She was arrested in 1872 for voting in what was then her hometown of Rochester, N.Y. She didn't live to see the 19th Amendment, establishing women's right to vote, became enacted, dying 14 years before its ratification at the age of 86.

The celebration committee met several weeks ago with Middlefield-based sculptor Andrew DeVries to discuss the process of creating a bronze sculpture of Anthony to mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in 2020.

DeVries went through the bronzing process and fielded questions from the committee but urged that committee get a move on.

"I got to tell you, you really need to get on the ball because it may be two years away but it's challenging," he said. "You need to get this all on paper and really tie down what you want."

The committee has some loose ideas of what it wanted after months of deliberation between the committee and relatives of Anthony.

They settled on a younger Anthony, possibly the age of 6 when she would have been an Adams resident, posed with an older more recognizable version.

"Our claim is to the young Susan B. Anthony. That is very important to us," committee member Bill Kolis said. "Many of the values that went on to make her one of the most important women in the history of the United States were formed right here in Adams."

There have been different locations discussed, including Town Hall, the small park on Park Street or near the President McKinley statue, however, the consensus was the Town Common.

"The feeling was the Town Common provides an opportunity for people to go up and appreciate it," Kolis said. "With the McKinley statue, it is visible by automobiles but virtually inaccessible by people. The plaques are unreadable and you take your life in your hands if you want to try."

Mucci said that with both Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School and Hoosac Valley Elementary School near the common, children could interact with the life-sized statues.

"I want people to be able to interact with it, and I'd like a little girl to be able to sit next to the young Susan B. Anthony and have that feeling," she said. "I want people to be able to interact with it and be part of it."

DeVries said he would need to understand the site plan and the parameters and was willing to consult with the committee and help landscape and design the basic concept of the statue and area but that would mean more of his time and a higher cost.

There is no way to estimate a charge at this point, he said. "I have no clue you haven't given me enough information yet."

Sculpting the statue and formings the casts for the bronzing can easily take well over six months.

DeVries brought the committee through the bronzing process and presented a slide show of a 15-foot bronze sculpture he created.

The first step is a maquette, a small preliminary model of the final sculpture, then a structure is made out of wood and plaster on which to adhere the clay. Once that is completed, it's cut into pieces to create individual bronzing casts.

"Bronzes are not cast in one shot. There is no foundry I know of in the U.S. that does that," he said. "In Italy, you might still get one for a one size life-size bronze."

The next major step is to put layers of rubber on the pieces and create a rubber mold that will untimely create a wax copy of the sculpture that is finished and trimmed. The wax models are covered in a special slurry mix that creates a ceramic shell that has an inner and outer mold.

"Everything you do in the bronze process is important, and you mess up one place you have messed up the entire process and you have to fix it in the end," DeVries said. "It is about 20 times harder to fix a bronze than it is to fix a wax."

Wax is removed from the shell, which is packed into a sand container for pouring. Bronze melts at 1,875 degrees and DeVries said you typically want the temperature around 2,150 degrees before you pour.

Once poured and cooled the ceramic shell cracks to unveil the bronze parts of the statue that need to be finished, sandblasted and welded together.

DeVries said at this point he will add a patina by applying differed acids to the sculpture that oxidize the copper and changes its color from light brown to black

The statue is then mounted on granite.

DeVries said he was happy residents attended the presentation that was held at the Visitors Center and hopes the community is involved in the bronzing process.

"It's educational and a lot of people don't know what goes into a work of art especially sculpture," he said. "You want the community to own this process and you want them to feel part of it."
Midstate chambers of commerce and other business groups are being solicited to attend an event with President Trump on Wednesday regarding tax reform.

Trump will be at the Harrisburg International Airport to plug the GOPs tax plan during a speech at the Air National Guard Hangar. The facility can hold up to 1,000 people.

According to an administration official who spoke with reporters Tuesday, the speech will focus on how Trumps tax proposal could benefit small businesses and industrial workers.

The event will feature a large contingent of truckers, according to the official, whose personal stories Trump will feature during his speech. Trucks will also be present in the hangar as a visual prop.

The trucking focus will be used to promote the repeal of the estate tax and the creation of a 25 percent rate for pass-through entities, both major elements of the Republican tax plan which, Trump is expected to argue Wednesday, could help small trucking businesses.

Several local chambers of commerce have been asked to attend, including the Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce, said President & CEO Michelle Crowley.

It doesnt sound like a rally-type event, from what weve been told, more of an informational presentation, Crowley said. Were not looking to endorse any particular tax plan, but were interested to hear what the president has to say.

Trump, as well as Republican congressional leaders, have been pushing a tax plan that they say will simplify the federal tax code while cutting tax burdens overall.

Federal brackets for personal income would be reduced from seven ranges to three. The standard deduction would be doubled, but many itemized deductions, as well as personal and dependent exemptions, would be scaled back.

This would result in the middle quintile of Americans, earning between $41,000 and $66,000 per year, seeing an average tax break of $410 under the Trump-backed plan, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said.

But the plan has been criticized for introducing a number of tax breaks aimed at higher earners. Although the administration has pitched the pass-through rate as a break for small businesses, it would also allow corporate paychecks to be taxed at this rate, instead of the 35 percent top personal rate to which high-income individuals are otherwise subject.

The GOP plan would also eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, which establishes a minimum rate for those who would otherwise pay very little due to deductions claimed on business investments.

Trump himself was subject to the AMT in 2005, according to personal tax returns leaked in March, and would thus pay significantly less out of his own pocket under his tax plan.

According to ITEPs calculations, 58.6 percent of the total tax cuts proposed under the GOP plan would go to households earning over $1 million per year. In Pennsylvania, this would mean that a half-percent of the states total population would receive 53.6 percent of the states total tax break, with millionaires saving $113,400 per year on average.

Trump is also expected to stress on Wednesday his proposal of a one-time tax repatriation deal, which would allow American businesses holding cash in overseas subsidiaries to bring that value stateside at a significantly reduced rate.

Along with cuts to the base corporate profits rate, this will create better wages and more jobs, Trump is expected to argue, according to the administration official.

Evidence of this theory bearing out, however, is scant. A 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service, reviewing the 2004 repatriation tax cuts under George W. Bush, found that while empirical evidence is clear that this provision resulted in a significant increase in repatriated earnings, empirical evidence is unable to show a corresponding increase in domestic investment or employment.




iciHaiti - Education : Monitoring visit of the Ministry DG on EPT and PEQH projects





Meniol Jeune, the Director General of the Ministry of Education visited the members of the Education For All (EPT) committee to inquire about the functioning of this project and the ongoing or future activities of the Quality Education Project in Haiti (PEQH), carried out in partnership with the World Bank, which funds this project to the tune of $45 million.



Let's recall that the components of the PEQH project are designed to: increase access to quality public and basic education in the poorest and least served communities; support access to basic quality and non-public education in the poorest communities and institutional strengthening and technical capacity of the Ministry.



Norbert Stimphil, EPT Project Coordinator with a team of managers and technicians, provided an update on each aspect of the project and a review of the actions undertaken in the EPT 2 project. Noting that the EPT team was responding to the Minister's orders within the framework of the contract between the Haitian state and the donors.



Meniol Jeune insisted on the mission of the Ministry to improve the quality of education and the governance of the education system. According to him, the EPT project aims to improve this quest for quality and must play its role in this direction. He was pleased with the presentations and promised to come back to follow the progress of the project.



IH/ iciHaiti


















Imperial Valley News Center

It's Time to Mobilize a Global Response to the Terrorist Group Lebanese Hizballah

Washington, DC - Sunday, October 8 marked the twentieth anniversary of the United States official designation of Hizballah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Hizballah, originally formed as a violent union of Iranian-backed extremists in Lebanon, has terrorized the Middle East and the world since its inception thirty-five years ago.

Hizballah remains a threat to the United States and to the security of nations across the Middle East and beyond. It is time for more nations around the world to join the United States in exposing this murderous organization for what it is, in confronting its networks and its sponsors, and in mobilizing a global response to counter the threat it poses to the civilized world.

Hizballah kidnaps soldiers and civilians, fires rockets on Israeli families and children, and plans terrorist attacks around the world. Hizballahs 1983 and 1984 bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, and its 1983 attacks on the U.S. and French barracks in Beirut, killed hundreds of American, Lebanese, and French citizens.

In recent years, law enforcement has thwarted attempted Hizballah terrorist attacks on nearly every continentin countries such as Thailand, Cyprus, Kuwait, Peru, and Nigeria. In 2012, Hizballah operatives conducted a successful suicide bombing attack in Bulgaria. We also believe that Hizballah has been operating inside the United States. The FBI recently arrested two U.S. persons for allegedly operating on behalf of Hizballahs international terrorism unit.

For decades, this terrorist organization has tried to disguise its murderous intentions under the guise of political legitimacy. Hizballah first competed in Lebanese national elections in 1992. Today, Hizballah and its political allies hold half of the seats in Lebanons Cabinet and nearly half of the seats in its National Assembly.

Hizballahs political cover cannot mask its true intentions. The same Hizballah officials responsible for its political apparatus oversee its terrorist planning. Hizballah has built its political power at the expense of its victims, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and dozens of other Lebanese officials. The Lebanese people can never be truly free to express their political will under the constant threat of Hizballahs violence and coercion.

There is no difference between Hizballahs terrorist wing and its supposed political wing. Hizballah is one organizationa global terrorist organization.

That is why the United States will continue to recognize the entire group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and the Trump Administration will aggressively target its terrorism infrastructure and financial support networks. None of this, of course, will affect our ongoing support for Lebanons legitimate state institutions.

We are encouraged that nations around the world are increasingly joining the United States in recognizing Hizballahs true terrorist nature. In August, the United Nations Security Council reached agreement on a series of reforms to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. These will improve its visibility into what is happening on the ground and its capacity to identify and report on Hizballahs illegal activity. Additionally, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Arab League, Canada, and the Netherlands have each joined the United States in designating the entirety of Hizballah as a terrorist organization, and in 2013, the European Union sanctioned its military wing.

Still, more action is needed. The United Nations and countries across Europe, South America, Africa, and Southeast Asiaall areas where the organization continues to operatehave not yet sanctioned the entirety of Hizballah. This complacency about an organization whose purpose is to terrorize and kill around the world must end.

The Trump Administration will also continue to lead the effort to isolate Hizballahs benefactorIran. The Iranian regime does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors or the dignity of its people. Iran takes oil profitsresources that should benefit the Iranian peopleand uses them to fund Hizballah and other terrorist organizations. The regime employs Hizballah as a surrogate to violate the sovereignty of nations across the greater Middle East. The United States condemns Irans destabilizing actions and calls on all nations to stand against this murderous dictatorship in Tehran and its junior partner Hizballah.

The international community must send an unequivocal and united message that Hizballah is not a legitimate political party. The safety and security of the American people and of people all around the world depends on our cooperation in confronting this threat.

Today, we renew our unwavering commitment to standing against Hizballahs terrorist actions in the Middle East and around the world. We urge our partners to join our efforts to hold Hizballah accountable. Together, we can prevent this malicious terrorist organization from threatening the peace and security of the world.
This time of year, I cant help but think of my days as a student at Dickinson College. I loved my time at that school and still consider Carlisle my home away from home.

Im proud of what the institution, its professors and students continue to accomplish. The community has made tremendous strides toward sustainability and its Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM) remains an invaluable program for water resources.

I am, however, saddened that my liberal arts college and its students have chosen to only focus on topics that some in the media consider trendy  like energy policy  without thoroughly examining the issues from more than one prospective.

The U.S., and Pennsylvania, are amid a profound energy revolution that wont be slowing anytime soon. It includes dynamic breakthroughs in shale gas development, pipeline expansion, nuclear and renewables. It has also influenced other outlying factors on issues across the globe, from Russia to the Middle East to Venezuela and beyond  all in Americas favor.

Thus, new opportunities and challenges have arisen as we collectively aim to distribute energy effectively, reliably and affordably.

But conversations about energy cant happen in a vacuum. They demand a sincere, realistic discussion about the best path forward, domestically and abroad. Thats because the policy decisions we make now will have a lasting impact on families and businesses for generations.

Unfortunately, in todays political climate, families and small businesses  the driving force behind these markets  often get lost in the endless rounds of predictable, tired political rhetoric.

Case in point: In Pennsylvania, the choices legislators have made on energy have led to a situation where the average family pays $159 per year more than the national average for electricity even though the state is the second-largest producer of nuclear power, the third-largest producer of natural gas and the fourth-largest producer of coal, nationally.

That means Pennsylvanians collectively lose hundreds of millions of dollars in after-tax income every year due to poor policy decisions surrounding energy. This is most egregious when you consider what it means for low-income and fixed-income families, all of whom spend more than 20 percent of their after-tax income on energy bills and gasoline. Thats more than seven times the percentage people with higher wages pay, according to a recent report by Groundswell, a renewable energy advocacy group.

For cash-strapped households working hard to stretch every dollar, these ever-increasing costs often lead to the types of difficult decisions that no family should have to make.

Sadly, this is not limited to a small group of our neighbors. There are 1.85 million Pennsylvanians on food stamps and not enough utility assistance dollars to ease the burden they face.

How is that possible in a state like ours? Moreover, how is it acceptable to taxpayers?

Yes, of course, environmental stewardship is a top priority. But the vocal opposition needs to be balanced by an equally vocal, fact-based approach that acknowledges the reality  and severity  of the situation across the state and nation: Energy poverty is high, and we must have a sensible energy policy that balances their needs with those of the environment. Any one-sided perspective presents a harmful attitude towards the future.

And its only through robust dialogue  the hallmark of a liberal arts education  that well truly give credence to an all-of-the-above energy approach that gives families and businesses access to the affordable, reliable energy they need and deserve.
Governor Brown Declares State of Emergency in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange Counties Due to Fires

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued an emergency proclamation for Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties due to the effects of multiple fires, including the Cherokee, LaPorte, Sulphur, Potter, Cascade, Lobo and Canyon fires, which have damaged critical infrastructure, threatened homes and caused the evacuation of residents.

The Governor also requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support the state and local response to fires burning in Northern California, following the emergency proclamation issued earlier today for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY

WHEREAS between October 8, 2017, and October 9, 2017, the Cherokee and LaPorte Fires began burning in Butte County, the Sulphur Fire began burning in Lake County, the Potter Fire began burning in Mendocino County, the Cascade and Lobo Fires began burning in Nevada County, the Canyon Fire began burning in Orange County, and multiple other fires began burning in these counties and continue to burn; and



WHEREAS these fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten homes and other structures, necessitating the evacuation of residents; and



WHEREAS these fires have damaged and continue to threaten critical infrastructure and have forced the closure of major highways and local roads; and



WHEREAS extreme weather conditions including strong winds have further increased the spread of these fires; and



WHEREAS the Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted Fire Management Assistance Grants to assist with the mitigation, management, and control of the Cascade Fire, LaPorte Fire, and Lobo Fire; and



WHEREAS Fire Management Assistant Grants have been requested from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist with the mitigation, management, and control of the Potter Fire and the Canyon Fire; and



WHEREAS the circumstances of these fires by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat; and



WHEREAS under the provisions of section 8558(b) of the Government Code, I find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exists in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, and Orange Counties due to these fires; and



WHEREAS under the provisions of section 8571 of the Government Code, I find that strict compliance with the various statutes and regulations specified in this order would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of these fires.



NOW, THEREFORE, I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the California Constitution and statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular, section 8625 of the Government Code, HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, and Orange Counties.



IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. All agencies of the state government utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan. Also, all residents are to heed the advice of emergency officials with regard to this emergency in order to protect their safety.



2. The California National Guard shall mobilize under Military and Veterans Code section 146 (mobilization in case of catastrophic fires) to support disaster response and relief efforts and coordinate with all relevant state agencies, including the Office of Emergency Services, and all relevant state and local emergency responders and law enforcement within the impacted areas.



3. The Office of Emergency Services shall provide local government assistance to Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange Counties, if appropriate, under the authority of the California Disaster Assistance Act, Government Code section 8680 et seq., and California Code of Regulations, Title 19, section 2900 et seq.



4. State statutes, rules, regulations and requirements are hereby suspended to the extent they apply to the following activities: (a) removal, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste and debris resulting from these fires that have burned and continues to burn in areas that are subject to the jurisdiction of agencies within the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency; and (b) necessary restoration and rehabilitation of timberland, streams, rivers, and other waterways. Such statutes, rules, regulations and requirements are hereby suspended only to the extent necessary for expediting the removal and cleanup of debris from these fires, and for implementing any restoration plan. Individuals who desire to conduct activities under this suspension of statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements shall first request that the appropriate Agency Secretary, or his delegate, make a determination that the proposed activities are eligible to be conducted under this suspension. The Secretary for the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency shall use sound discretion in applying this Executive Order to ensure that the suspension serves the purpose of accelerating cleanup and recovery, while at the same time protecting public health and the environment. This order shall apply to, but is not necessarily limited to: solid waste facility permits; waste discharge requirements for storage and disposal; emergency timber harvesting; emergency construction activities; and waste discharge requirements and/or Water Quality Certification for discharges of fill material or pollutants. To the extent it is within their administrative authority, the boards, departments and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency shall expedite the granting of other authorizations, waivers or permits necessary for the removal, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous debris resulting from these fires, and for other actions necessary for the protection of public health and the environment.



5. As necessary to assist local governments and for the protection of public health and the environment, state agencies shall enter into contracts to arrange for the procurement of materials, goods, and services necessary to quickly assist with the response to and recovery from the impacts of these fires. Applicable provisions of the Government Code and the Public Contract Code, including but not limited to travel, advertising, and competitive bidding requirements, are suspended to the extent necessary to address the effects of the fires.



6. The provisions of Unemployment Insurance Code section 1253 imposing a one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance applicants are suspended as to all applicants who are unemployed as a direct result of these fires, who applied for unemployment insurance benefits during the time period beginning October 8, 2017, and ending on the close of business on April 8, 2018, and who are otherwise eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.



7. Vehicle Code sections 9265(a), 9867, 14901, 14902, and 15255.2, requiring the imposition of fees, are suspended with regard to any request for replacement of a driver's identification card, vehicle registration certificate, or certificate of title, by any individual who lost such records as a result of these fires. Such records shall be replaced without charge.



8. The provisions of Vehicle Code sections 4602 and 5902, requiring the timely registration or transfer of title are suspended with regard to any registration or transfer of title by any resident of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange County who is unable to comply with those requirements as a result of these fires. The time covered by this suspension shall not be included in calculating any late penalty pursuant to Vehicle Code section 9554.



9. Health and Safety Code sections 103525.5 and 103625, and Penal Code section 14251, requiring the imposition of fees are hereby suspended with regard to any request for copies of certificates of birth, death, marriage, and dissolution of marriage records, by any individual who lost such records as a result of these fires. Such copies shall be provided without charge.



I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this proclamation be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this proclamation.



IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 9th day of October 2017.



__________________________

EDMUND G. BROWN JR.

Governor of California



ATTEST:



__________________________

ALEX PADILLA

Secretary of State
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 8 through October 14 as Fire Prevention Week

Washington, DC - During Fire Prevention Week, we recognize the dangers posed by fires and emphasize the importance of fire prevention and preparation. We also honor our Nation's brave firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty and their families, and those firefighters who continue to put their lives on the line each day.

Each year, an average 1.4 million fires burn in the United States. In 2015, fires caused approximately 3,360 deaths and 15,700 injuries. This year, the American West has especially suffered, as wildfires have raged from California to Oregon and Montana. These fires have already consumed more than 8 million acres and destroyed more than 650 homes and other structures. All of this destruction can be sparked by a single careless act. We must remain vigilant whenever we are around fire. By taking the appropriate precautions, we can prevent fires, save lives, and protect property and the environment. In particular, we should always mind dishes on the stovetop, carefully contain and completely extinguish campfires, take care to handle fireworks away from flammable materials, and ensure that cigarettes are handled appropriately and discarded after use.

When a fire breaks out, every second counts. A working smoke alarm can buy the few extra moments necessary to save a life. A well-conceived and regularly practiced plan can help ensure a safe and orderly fire escape for families. All Americans should create a fire escape plan and practice it yearly with their families. We must make sure to teach our children how to escape on their own and make special plans for family members with limited mobility. The National Fire Protection Association's Every Second Counts: Plan Two Ways Out campaign can help your family prepare for home fires.

As we observe Fire Prevention Week, we pray for the Federal, State, local, and tribal responders battling the wildfires in the West and around the country and for all those who have lost their homes to fires. We recommit ourselves to preventing fire-related disasters by, among other things, staying current with the latest fire-prevention techniques and raising awareness about fire-safety practices.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 8 through October 14, 2017, as Fire Prevention Week. On Sunday, October 8, 2017, in accordance with Public Law 107-51, the flag of the United States will be flown at half-staff at all Federal office buildings in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. I call on all Americans to participate in this observance with appropriate programs and activities and by renewing their efforts to prevent fires and their tragic consequences.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.

DONALD J. TRUMP
Uganda National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the people of the United States, our best wishes to all Ugandans as you celebrate the 55th anniversary of your independence.

"The United States values its relationship with Uganda, a key partner with shared interests in promoting regional security and economic growth. After decades of cooperation, the bonds between our governments and our peoples are strong. I have no doubt that our relationship will continue to grow and mature as we work together toward our mutual goals of peace and prosperity.

"Congratulations on 55 years of independence and best wishes for another year of progress."
Visit of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore

Washington, DC - President Donald J. Trump will welcome Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore to the White House on October 23, 2017. President Trump looks forward to reaffirming the relationship between the United States and Singapore, which has been one of Americas closest partners in Asia for more than 50 years.

The President and Prime Minister will discuss ways to further strengthen our economic, political, security, and people-to-people ties, and work to advance United States engagement and mutual interests throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
Fiji's National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the people of the United States, I send my best wishes to the people of Fiji as you celebrate the 47th anniversary of your nations independence this October 10.

"This has been a remarkable year for Fiji, and I offer my congratulations for taking on a global leadership role as President of the United Nations General Assembly, host of the UN Oceans Conference, and President of this years 23rd Convention of Parties. The United States also values Fijis leadership and commitment to global peace and stability through UN peacekeeping operations.

"The United States and Fiji have enjoyed a close friendship, and our partnership on regional and global issues grows stronger, as demonstrated during our first bilateral strategic dialogue earlier this year. We take great satisfaction in the rich ties between our peoples, including our cooperation through the U.S. Peace Corps, which next year will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Fiji. We also appreciate the Fijian communities who share their culture and warm spirit in the United States.

"The United States celebrates with you on this special day. Once again, congratulations on your independence day."
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Without conducting extensive research, one can state with some certainty that many more people have encountered Philip K Dick through cinema or television than have read his published novels or short stories. Blade Runner, the critically acclaimed 1982 sci-fi blockbuster directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, was based on Dicks 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The highly anticipated sequel, Blade Runner 2049, has just been released to general acclaim.

Channel 4 is currently broadcasting a ten-part series of standalone dramas, penned by British and American writers, called Philip K Dicks Electric Dreams and based on his short stories. In 2015, Amazon aired the first season of The Man in the High Castle, a loose adaptation of Dicks Hugo Award-winning novel of 1962 which vividly imagines an alternative history in which the Axis Powers were victorious in World War Two.

The full list of Dick adaptations is too long to reproduce here, but it includes two big-screen versions of Total Recall, based on Dicks 1966 story: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Richard Linklaters 2006 production of A Scanner Darkly, and the Steven Spielberg-directed Minority Report in 2002.

Filmmakers and TV producers continually plunder the late Philip K Dicks (above) work

On the surface, it is easy to understand why filmmakers and television producers are so keen to plunder Dicks oeuvre. For one thing, there is his sheer prolificacy. Dick published his first short story in 1951 and never stopped writing until his death from a stroke on March 2, 1982, barely four months before the release of Blade Runner. There are 45 novels and more than 120 short stories for potential adaptors to choose from.

Many critics have observed that this headlong rush of creativity  driven partly by a naturally feverish imagination and partly by amphetamines  led to works of variable prose quality. And yet each of Dicks sci-fi texts is replete with surprising and compelling visions of dystopian futures (or presents) and profoundly unsettling explorations of his recurring themes. These include: the nature of reality, subjective consciousness, schizophrenia, alternate universes, authoritarianism, technology and interactions between humans and non-humans.

The opening paragraph of one of Dicks less critically-acclaimed novels, Eye in the Sky (1957), suggests the attractions of his work for producers of popular visual media: The proton beam deflector of the Belmont Bevatron betrayed its inventors at four oclock in the afternoon of 2 October, 1959. What happened next happened instantly. No longer adequately deflected  and therefore no longer under control  the six billion volt beam radiated upward toward the roof of the chamber, incinerating, along its way, an observation platform overlooking the doughnut-shaped magnet.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid in Total Recall (1990), based on Dicks short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

The opening is highly misleading, in fact. If it promises uncompromising action ideal for cinematic special effects, then it highlights a consistent problem with adaptations of Dicks work, whether or not they are (as is the case with Blade Runner) great movies. The author himself feared that Ridley Scott would turn his vision into one titanic lurid collision of androids being blown up, androids killing humans, general confusion and murder, all very exciting.

Coloured by his wry humour, Dicks comments nonetheless raise an important issue about his writing which is that it isnt, in any immediate, descriptive sense, particularly visual. Eye in the Sky, despite the bombastic opening, becomes a deeply paranoid meditation on consciousness, identity and gestalt, in which individuals injured in the deflector beam accident are forced to live in each others solipsistic subjective realities, inner worlds constructed and projected through prejudice and ignorance.

So Dicks real visual strengths  the ones much less amenable to Hollywood treatment  consist in the conviction with which he visualises irrational, unconscious, inner terrain. When he describes alien landscapes, as he does in Martian Time-Slip (1964), they are inseparable from the psychological landscapes of his profoundly troubled characters.

Borgens Sidse Babett Knudsen as Jill in the Crazy Diamond episode of Channel 4s Philip K Dicks Electric Dreams based on his short stories (Channel 4)

For author Jonathan Lethem, who, having edited the Library of America editions of his novels, has tried harder than anyone else to drag Dick into the mainstream, Dick remains the ultimate outsider, nonconformist dissident. This is because of his absolute emotional commitment to the inner lives of his characters. Indeed, he was so close to them that, in Lethems words, he was not utterly in control.

Like that of his sci-fi contemporaries, such as Robert Heinlein, Dicks work critiques consumer capitalism and authoritarian institutions, and reflects and predicts technological advances, not all of them benign. Lethem is right, however, to argue that Dick stands apart from other practitioners because of his personal visionary intensity and the overwhelming sense of powerlessness his characters experience in the face of their shifting universes. For the same reasons, Lethem suggests, some readers have found Dicks writing challenging.

Rufus Sewell in The Man in the High Castle, a loose adaptation of Dicks 1962 novel ( Rex) (Liane Hentscher/Amazon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Critics have identified a kind of spiritual turn in Dicks work after 1974, when he started having powerful, religious hallucinations. In truth, the novels which followed these visions, such as Valis and The Divine Invasion (both 1981), have more in common with his early, more obviously political sci-fi stories than many have allowed. Though these later novels evince a sincere interest in gnostic Christianity and divine communications, their obsession with identity, perception and the battle between isolation and connectedness is consistent with previous works.

Philip K Dick, who tried to write mainstream literary novels without much success before embarking on his sci-fi career, seems to epitomise the struggle that genre fiction continues to have to gain credibility within the canon. And yet he also seems to be positioned to the side of that debate, somewhere in his own created universe, following his own path. His remarkable destabilising visions will continue to offer rich material to cinema and television  and yet the adaptations will never quite catch the unique spirit of his work.

James Peacock is Senior Lecturer in English and American Literatures at Keele University

This article was originally published in The Conversation
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The new Blade Runner sequel will return us to a world where sophisticated androids made with organic body parts can match the strength and emotions of their human creators. As someone who builds biologically inspired robots, Im interested in whether our own technology will ever come close to matching the replicants of Blade Runner 2049.

The reality is that were a very long way from building robots with human-like abilities. But advances in so-called soft robotics show a promising way forward for technology that could be a new basis for the androids of the future.

From a scientific point of view, the real challenge is replicating the complexity of the human body. Each one of us is made up of millions and millions of cells, and we have no clue how we can build such a complex machine that is indistinguishable from us humans. The most complex machines today, for example the worlds largest airliner, the Airbus A380, are composed of millions of parts. But in order to match the complexity level of humans, we would need to scale this complexity up about a million times.

There are currently three different ways that engineering is making the border between humans and robots more ambiguous. Unfortunately, these approaches are only starting points, and are not yet even close to the world of Blade Runner.

Rutger Hauer as replicant Roy Batty in the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner

There are human-like robots built from scratch by assembling artificial sensors, motors and computers to resemble the human body and motion. However, extending the current human-like robot would not bring Blade Runner-style androids closer to humans, because every artificial component, such as sensors and motors, are still hopelessly primitive compared to their biological counterparts.

There is also cyborg technology, where the human body is enhanced with machines such as robotic limbs, and wearable and implantable devices. This technology is similarly very far away from matching our own body parts.

Finally, there is the technology of genetic manipulation, where an organisms genetic code is altered to modify that organisms body. Although we have been able to identify and manipulate individual genes, we still have a limited understanding of how an entire human emerges from genetic code. As such, we dont know the degree to which we can actually programme code to design everything we wish.

But we might be able to move robotics closer to the world of Blade Runner by pursuing other technologies, and in particular by turning to nature for inspiration. The field of soft robotics is a good example. In the last decade or so, robotics researchers have been making considerable efforts to make robots soft, deformable, squishable and flexible.

Dave Bautista plays the role of replicant Sapper Morton in Blade Runner 2049

This technology is inspired by the fact that 90% of the human body is made from soft substances such as skin, hair and tissues. This is because most of the fundamental functions in our body rely on soft parts that can change shape, from the heart and lungs pumping fluid around our body to the eye lenses generating signals from their movement. Cells even change shape to trigger division, self-healing and, ultimately, the evolution of the body.

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The softness of our bodies is the origin of all their functionality needed to stay alive. So being able to build soft machines would at least bring us a step closer to the robotic world of Blade Runner. Some of the recent technological advances include artificial hearts made out of soft functional materials that are pumping fluid through deformation. Similarly, soft, wearable gloves can help make hand grasping stronger. And epidermal electronics has enabled us to tattoo electronic circuits onto our biological skins.

Softness is the keyword that brings humans and technologies closer together. Sensors, motors and computers are all of a sudden integrated into human bodies once they became soft, and the border between us and external devices becomes ambiguous, just like soft contact lenses became part of our eyes.

Nevertheless, the hardest challenge is how to make individual parts of a soft robot body physically adaptable by self-healing, growing and differentiating. After all, every part of a living organism is also alive in biological systems in order to make our bodies totally adaptable and evolvable, the function of which could make machines totally indistinguishable from ourselves.

It is impossible to predict when the robotic world of Blade Runner might arrive, and if it does it will probably be very far in the future. But as long as the desire to build machines indistinguishable from humans is there, the current trends of robotic revolution could make it possible to achieve that dream.

Fumiya Iida is a lecturer in mechatronics at the University of Cambridge. This article was originally published in The Conversation (theconversation.com)
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Three women have accused the film mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape, escalating the flurry of claims levelled at the producer and raising fresh questions about who within Hollywood was aware of what was allegedly taking place over more than 20 years.

The women, two who agreed to be identified and one who spoke anonymously, told an American magazine that the producer of movies such as The English Patient and Pulp Fiction forcibly performed or received one sex act, and forced another on them.

The allegations, which Mr Weinstein has denied, follow claims made last week that the co-founder of Miramar Films had settled claims from eight women who accused him of sexual harassment. Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and other actresses have subsequently come forward with their own claims of such harassment at the hands of the 65-year-old.

Angelina Jolie is among those who have claimed they were sexually harassed by Mr Weinstein (Getty Images) (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, in perhaps the most serious claims yet, the New Yorker said that as part of a ten-month investigation, it had spoken to three women who claimed they were raped by him. The Independent is not naming the women.

For more than twenty years, Weinstein has also been trailed by rumours of sexual harassment and assault. This has been an open secret to many in Hollywood and beyond, but previous attempts by many publications, including The New Yorker, to investigate and publish the story over the years fell short of the demands of journalistic evidence, said the magazine.

Too few people were willing to speak, much less allow a reporter to use their names, and Weinstein and his associates used nondisclosure agreements, monetary payoffs, and legal threats to suppress these myriad stories.

The magazine said in the course of its inquiries it had spoken to 13 women who said that between the 1990s and 2015, Mr Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them.

It also said 16 former and current executives and assistants at Mr Weinsteins companies said they had witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with his films, or in the workplace.

They and others describe a pattern of professional meetings that were little more than thin pretexts for sexual advances on young actresses and models, the article says.

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Mr Weinstein last week denied claims that he had been forced to settle the series of claims from eight women, as reported in the New York Times.

Mr Weinstein initially told the Times: I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.

He said he came of age in the 60s and 70s, when all the rules about behaviour and workplaces were different. That was the culture then. He said he was working with therapists and planning to take a leave of absence to deal with this issue head on.

A lawyer subsequently said Mr Weinstein denies many of the accusations as patently false. She also said he was an old dinosaur learning new ways.

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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Weinstein also claimed his British-born wife, Georgina Chapman, a designer for the Marchesa fashion brand, was supporting him 100 per cent.

The New Yorker story appeared two days after Mr Weinstein was fired from by the board of his own company.

A spokesman for the mogul, Sallie Hofmeister, said in a statement any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein.

Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.

She added: He will not be available for further comments, as he is taking the time to focus on his family, on getting counselling and rebuilding his life.

CNN separately spoke with one of the woman interviewed in the New Yorker article. She said she was haunted by the experience of what happened to her.

Just his body, his presence, his face, bring me back to the little girl that I was when I was twenty-one, she told the magazine. When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak. After the rape, he won.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has said she was shocked and appalled by the allegations about Mr Weinstein, who has for many years been a major Democratic Party donor.

The behaviour described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated, said Ms Clinton. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behaviour.
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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Actress Romola Garai has claimed that she had a "humiliating" encounter with Harvey Weinstein aged 18, where he allegedly auditioned her while wearing just a dressing gown.

The star of Atonement is the latest to come forward with claims of sexual misconduct against the Hollywood mogul.

Garai told the Guardian that the alleged encounter took place at the Savoy Hotel in London and called it an "abuse of power".

"Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein, where I'd actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him," she said.

"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."

Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Show all 42 1 /42 Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein Harry Weinsteins reputation as one of Hollywoods leading executives was long cemented in stone. The acclaimed movie mogul, who produced Oscar-winning films Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, and The Artist, clocked up box office successes and accolades aplenty. But this has quickly changed since a chorus of women have come forward to accuse the Hollywood producer of sexual harassment and assault. Since the New York Times bombshell report disclosed sexual harassment and rape allegations against the film mogul dating back decades, Weinstein has been fired from his namesake company, expelled from the Oscars and has had his wife leave him. Weinstein has apologised for having caused a lot of pain but has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Annabella Sciorra The Sopranos actor alleged Weinstein raped her after shooting The Night We Never Met, a 1993 movie that Weinstein produced. Similar to the stories told by other women, Weinstein drove the actor home, only to reportedly burst into Sciorra's apartment and start unbuttoning his shirt. He shoved me onto the bed, and he got on top of me, Sciorra said. I kicked and I yelled. Weinstein then allegedly locked her arms and forced sexual intercourse on her. After the incident, Sciorra found it increasingly hard to get work, many filmmakers saying 'We heard you were difficult', something the actor claims was because of the 'Weinstein-machine'. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Natassia Malthe The model and actress, who has appeared in around 50 films, said she met Weinstein at a BAFTA after party in 2008 while she was working as a spokeswoman for LG. She told a press conference in New York that she felt pressured into telling Weinstein she was staying at the Sanderson Hotel after being put on the spot. Malthe, now 43, said after her shift on February 10 she went back to her room and went to sleep, but was awoken by "repeated pounding" on her door, from someone yelling: "Open the door Natassia Malthe, it's Harvey Weinstein." Feeling humiliated, she said she opened the door. She alleged Weinstein began implying sex would get her a role in an upcoming film while semi-undressed and then he began to masturbate. "I was sitting on the bed talking to Harvey when he pushed me back and forced himself onto me. It was not consensual. He did not use a condom," she said. AP Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sean Young The actor, best known for her role in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, said that Weinstein exposed himself to her in the early 1990s, when she was starring in the Miramax-produced Love Crimes - a production company that Weinstein headed at the time. "I personally experienced him pulling his you-know-what out of his pants to shock me," she said. "My basic response was, 'You know, Harvey, I really dont think you should be pulling that thing out, its not very pretty.'" Young never worked with Weinstein again after the incident. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lupita Nyong'o In an op-ed for The New York Times, the Oscar-winning actor said she was invited to Weinsteins family home in Connecticut on the premise of watching a film shortly after they met in 2011. But she said shortly after it started he "insisted" in front of his children that she follow him and she was led to his bedroom. The Kenyan-Mexican actress, now 34, said she felt pressured into giving him a massage after he offered her one. "Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants," she wrote."I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that." Over the years that followed, he continued to get in touch, Nyong'o said, and when she declined another proposition she felt her career was threatened. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lena Headey Writing on social media, the Game of Thrones actor claims she first met Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 where, after taking her for a walk by the water, he made some suggestive comment and gesture. Headey claims she bumped into Weinstein years later where he kept asking her questions about her love life. She alleges that, when Weinstein invited her to his hotel room to show her a script, the "energy shifted. The actor notes how, after saying she was not interesting in anything but the work, Weinstein was furious, apparently marching her back to a lift, "grabbing and holding tightly to the back of [her] arm." She claims that, after paying for her car, he whispered in her ear: "Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent. Headey finished the post, writing: I got in the car and I cried. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Laura Madden Madden, a production assistant who worked at Miramax for a decade, told the Times that Weinstein allegedly prodded her for massages at hotels, a common theme among the sources the Timess reporters spoke with. On one occasion, she claims she locked herself in his hotel bathroom, sobbing Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Judd recounted for the Times how Weinstein allegedly harassed her while she was filming Kiss the Girls in 1996, inviting her to his hotel room and asking her for a massage, then inviting her to watch him shower. Judd first went public with the allegations in a 2015 interview with Variety during which she discussed the experience without naming the producer involved. She described Weinsteins alleged behaviour as coercive bargaining; I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask, she told the Times AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rose McGowan McGowan reportedly reached a previously undisclosed $100,000 settlement with Weinstein in 1997, over an incident that occurred in a hotel room Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emily Nestor Nestor had been temping at the Weinstein Company for only one day in 2014 when Weinstein allegedly offered to boost her career in return for sexual favours, according to the Times. She declined and reportedly complained of his behaviour to colleagues, who later passed the information on to senior executives. An internal Weinstein Company document cited by the Times describes Nestors encounter with Weinstein as follows: She said he was very persistent and focused though she kept saying no for over an hour Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ambra Battilana In March 2015, Battilana, an aspiring model and actress, was reportedly summoned to Weinsteins office on a Friday night to discuss her career. According to a police report cited by the Times, Battilana claimed she was assaulted by Weinstein, who grabbed her breasts after asking if they were real and put his hands up her skirt. Weinstein later claimed that Battilana had set him up, according to colleagues of his who were interviewed by the Times. The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, later declined to press charges, and according to the Times, made a payment to Battilana. On 5 October, the International Business Times reported that after Vance dropped the charges, he received $10,000 from Weinsteins lawyer Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lauren OConnor Lauren OConnor, an employee of the Weinstein Company, penned a memo to executives alleging a toxic environment for women at the company. The memo cited numerous incidents of Weinstein harassing or coercing women who worked for him. She expressed fear that Weinstein was using her and other female employees to facilitate liaisons with vulnerable women who hope he will get them work. That same year, Weinstein allegedly reached a settlement with OConnor Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Kate Beckinsale The actor, who starred in the Weinstein Company films Serendipity and The Aviator, alleges that she was invited to Weinsteins hotel room at the age of just 17. When she approached the door, the producer reportedly greeted her dressed in just a dressing gown. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him, she wrote on Instagram. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed. Theo Wargo/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Gwyneth Paltrow The actor alleges that after he cast her in the title role of the film Emma when she was 22, he took her to his hotel room, placed his hands on her and suggested massages. I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, Paltrow told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Asia Argento Italian actress Asia Argento has alleged that in 1997 Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop. When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak, Argento told The New Yorker. After the rape, he won. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Cara Delevigne The British model and actress penning an Instagram post claiming that Weinstein had ordered her to kiss another woman in his hotel room, and tried to kiss her on the lips. AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Ashley Judd said she rebuffed Harvey Weinsteins unwanted sexual advances by offering to consent only after she had won an Oscar. When she was initially invited to a meeting with Weinstein, Judd said, she was surprised to learn the producer was in his hotel room - a tactic that recurs in other womens accounts. Echoing the accounts of other women, Judd said Weinstein suggested she give him a massage and then invited her to watch him shower. After a volley of nos she said she would only after she wins an Oscar, fleeing after making the comments. Reuters/Mike Segar Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Judith Godreche French actress Judith Godreche said when she was 24 Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked to give her a massage. The next thing I know, hes pressing against me and pulling off my sweater, she told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mira Sorvino The Oscar-winning actor said she found herself in a hotel room with Weinstein in 1995 where he started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around. According to an interview in The New Yorker Weinstein subsequently arrived at her apartment late at night and she had to call a friend to come over to pose as her boyfriend in order to get Weinstein out of the house. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Katherine Kendall The actress said Weinstein undressed and chased her around a living room when she was just 23. She subsequently felt that telling others meant Ill never work again and no one is going to care or believe me, she told the New York Times. WireImage Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Tomi-Anne Roberts As an aspiring actress and working in a restaurant in New York, Tomi-Ann Roberts encountered Weinstein who encouraged her to audition for one of his films back in 1984. She subsequently went to meet him and found him naked in the bath and invited her to get naked and get into the bath with him, she told the New York Times. She said she left feeling manipulated. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Myleen Klass It has also been alleged that the disgraced film producer propositioned Myleene Klass with a sex contract at Cannes Film Festival in 2010. One of the singer and television personalitys friends reportedly told The Sun, Klass had told Weinstein to f*** off. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sophie Dix Sophie Dix, best known for her role as Captain Sadie Williams in Soldier Soldier, described her encounter with Weinstein when she was 23 as the single most damaging thing thats happened in my life. She told The Guardian Weinstein had pushed her to her bed and was tugging at her clothes. She rushed to the bathroom to escape, but when she came out she found him standing there masturbating. I quickly closed the door again and locked it, she said. Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran. Rex Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lea Seydoux The actor and director claims she had to fight off Weinstein after he brought her to his hotel room during what she remembers to be 2012. He suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. Hes big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted, she wrote in The Guardian. AFP/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Claire Forlani British actress Claire Forlani wrote on Twitter that she had evaded Weinsteins advances on five occasions at the age of 25. At meetings with the Hollywood a-lister, she says massage was suggested, and that Weinstein had boasted of all the women hed had sex with. Mark Douet Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Florence Darel French actress Florence Darel claimed Weinstein relentlessly pursued her in the mid 1990's and propositioned her while Eve Chilton, his wife at the time, was in the hotel room next door. I was astonished, she told People magazine. When you have someone so physically disgusting in front of you, continuing and continuing as though this was all perfectly normal What happened to me may not be illegal but it was inappropriate. Very inappropriate. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lysette Anthony Lysette Anthony, who starred as Marnie Nightingale in Hollyoaks, has claimed Weinstein raped her in the late 1980's after turning up to her London home in the late 1980s. She described the disgraced film producers alleged attack as pathetic and revolting and said it left her feeling disgusted and embarrassed. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Dawn Dunning Dunning said she met Weinstein in 2003 when she was 24-years-old and the disgraced film producer suggested she have a threesome with him and someone else. She told the New York Times Weinstein got angry when she refused. Youll never make it in this business, she said he told her as she left. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Arquette was already well known for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan, when she said she met Weinstein at his hotel to pick up a script in the early nineties. Weinstein was dressed only in a dressing gown, and tried to put her hand on his erect penis. Speaking to the New York Times, Arquette said as she left she told him: I will never be that girl. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emma de Caunes Caunes, a French actor, claimed Weinstein took her to his hotel room in 2010 supposedly to retrieve a book he was making into a film, but once there he went into the bathroom. De Caunes said he then emerged naked, with an erection and told her to lie on the bed. She fled the room. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Zoe Brock Model Zoe claimed that she had to lock herself in a bathroom at Weinsteins hotel in 1997, after the mogul had sent all of the assistants out of the room, and then appeared naked. I was alone with Weinstein, she told ITVs This Morning programme. He very quickly left the room and came back naked. He chased me naked. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Barth Actress Jessica Barth described an encounter with Weinstein in 2011 in an interview with The New Yorker in which she said Weinstein veered between offering her roles in films and demanding a naked massage. She alleges the producer said to her: So, what would happen if, say, were having some champagne and I take my clothes off and you give me a massage? When she tried to leave, he then promised to give her the number of a female executive at the company. He gave me her number, and I walked out and I started bawling, Barth said. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Romola Garai The actress told The Guardian she felt violated after she went to a meeting with Weinstein at the age of 18 and he met her in his hotel room wearing nothing but a dressing gown. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Heather Graham Graham claimed that during a casting opportunity in the early 2000's Weinstein had told her he had an open relationship with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy, Graham told Variety. There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there. Graham was never hired to work in a Weinstein film. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Hynes Spaced and W1A star Jessica Hynes tweeted about an encounter with Weinstein earlier this week, but subsequently deleted the tweet. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louisette Geiss The former actress said she met Weinstein to pitch a film script she was working on. During the meeting, Weinstein allegedly went out and reappeared naked and got into a jacuzzi where he masturbated in front of her and said he would make the script into a film if she stayed and watched. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Liza Campbell Liza Campbell, a British writer and artist, alleged that Olympically ugly Weinstein asked her to join him in the bath and began getting undressed at a hotel. In a piece for The Times, Campbell claimed she was forced to sprint to the door to escape. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louise Godbold Writing in a blog post, Louise Godbold, a non-profit director in Los Angeles, said her encounter with Weinstein took the form of an office tour that became an occasion to trap me in an empty meeting room. She said then Weinstein was begging for a massage, his hands on my shoulders as I attempted to beat a retreat.

She added that the alleged incident was a norm for Weinstein in his approach to women in the film industry.

"The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power. It was an abuse of power."

 New accuser says Harvey Weinstein tried to masturbate in front of her at Sundance

The scandal over Weinstein's alleged treatment of women in Hollywood emerged in an exclusive report by the New York Times last week.

It was claimed that the film mogul - one of the most powerful people in Hollywood - had been sexual harassing women for almost three decades.

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

Weinstein took a leave of absence from his company following the report, but was fired by the board of executives on Sunday night, "effective immediately", a spokesperson said.

Most recently it has emerged that he apparently sent a desperate email to Hollywood executives, pleading with them to oppose his being fired.

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Ian Smith, of Bonne Terre, was named to the State Technical College of Missouri 2017 summer semester honor roll. To be placed on the Honor Roll, a full-time student must earn a semester grade point average between 3.0 and 3.499 on a 4-point scale.
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Just because you follow a plant-based diet, doesnt mean you should miss out on a sweet treat or two.

Thankfully, there is now a wide variety of vegan chocolate available, in all manner of shapes, sizes and cacao percentages, which more than stand up to their dairy counterparts in terms of quality and flavour.

While most dark chocolate is in fact suitable for vegans, many brands are now choosing to use dairy alternatives, such as oat and plant milk, to create their chocolate, so youll find milk and white chocolate alternatives on offer too.

How we tested

From decadent truffles to artisan chocolate bars and hefty slabs of chocolate, we tested an array of vegan chocolate, in different styles and cacao percentages.

We paid close attention to overall flavour, texture, quality, ingredients and value for money to make our decision.

Read more:

The best vegan chocolates for 2022 are:

Best range of flavours  Crosstown yuzu and passion fruit chocolate: 5.95, Crosstown.co.uk

 Crosstown yuzu and passion fruit chocolate: 5.95, Crosstown.co.uk Best white chocolate alternative  Happi plain white oat m!lk chocolate: 7, Happifreefrom.com

 Happi plain white oat m!lk chocolate: 7, Happifreefrom.com Best smaller chocolate bar alternative  LoveRaw vegan white chocolate cre&m wafer bar: 1.89, Hollandandbarrett.com

 LoveRaw vegan white chocolate cre&m wafer bar: 1.89, Hollandandbarrett.com Best texture  Tonys chocolonely dark almond sea salt: 3, Waitrose.com

 Tonys chocolonely dark almond sea salt: 3, Waitrose.com Best milk chocolate alternative  HiP salty pretzel oat m!lk chocolate: 3, Fenwick.co.uk

 HiP salty pretzel oat m!lk chocolate: 3, Fenwick.co.uk Best fruit-flavoured chocolate  Divine smooth dark chocolate with raspberries: 2.20, Ocado.com

 Divine smooth dark chocolate with raspberries: 2.20, Ocado.com Best fruit and nut chocolate  Willies Cacao pistachio and date 100% dark chocolate: 2.69, Williescacao.com

 Willies Cacao pistachio and date 100% dark chocolate: 2.69, Williescacao.com Best nutty chocolate alternative  Lindt vegan hazelnut bar: 3, Lindt.co.uk

 Lindt vegan hazelnut bar: 3, Lindt.co.uk Best coconut-based chocolate  PLAYin ChOC organic Peruvian cacao dark chocolate: 3.30, Playinchoc.com

 PLAYin ChOC organic Peruvian cacao dark chocolate: 3.30, Playinchoc.com Best variety pack  Hotel Chocolat vegan sleekster: 23.50, Hotelchocolat.com

Crosstown yuzu and passion fruit chocolate Best: Range of flavours Rating: 10/10 Crosstown has been making sourdough donuts since 2014, to rave reviews, and in 2017 the brand went on to create a vegan version, using chia seeds and coconut butter in the dough and oat milk and dairy-free chocolate in its various toppings. On top of donuts, Crosstown has branched out to include ice cream, cookies and most recently, chocolate, inspired by its donut flavours. There are a couple on offer that are suitable for vegans, with the standout for us being yuzu and passionfruit. It features a fresh-tasting zesty and fruity ganache, encased in 72 per cent dark chocolate: utterly delightful. Buy now 5.95 Crosstown.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Happi plain white oat m!lk chocolate, 4x 40g Best: White chocolate alternative Rating: 7.5/10 In spite of being dairy-free, this vegan-friendly bar still manages to achieve the creamy notes youd typically expect of white chocolate, thanks to the inclusion of gluten-free oat powder and dried rice powder in lieu of dairy. It looks like white chocolate, and is laid out in 24 neat little squares, so it can be easily broken off. Its rich, creamy and tasty, and on the whole its quite difficult to tell that its vegan. We also like the fact that packaging is fully recyclable and compostable. Buy now 7 Happifreefrom.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

LoveRaw vegan white chocolate cre&m wafer bar Best: Smaller chocolate bar alternative Rating: 9/10 Youll find vegan nut butter cups and m:lk choc bars in LoveRaws repertoire, but its the white chocolate wafer bars we particularly rate, which are also available in vegan milk chocolate or salted caramel. Think of it as a vegan Kinder Bueno of sorts: each packet contains two individually wrapped chocolate wafer fingers, covered in dairy-free chocolate and filled with delicious layers of wafer and a hazelnut and almond vegan cream centre. Buy now 1.89 Hollandandbarrett.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Tonys chocolonely dark almond sea salt Best: For texture Rating: 9/10 When it comes to texture, its hard to beat Tonys Chocolonelys, as its bars are impressively chunky. Whats more, the bars themselves are set in an uneven design, so when you break a piece off, you dont know what size piece youre going to get (which, for us, meant we kept going back for more). Each bite of this moresish vegan chocolate bar is filled with a wonderful marriage of chunky almond as well as a clean finish of sea salt. It isnt just texture that Tonys Chocolonely gets right either: it excels at flavours, too. Additionally, Tonys is also a B Corp and Fairtrade certified company, while also being committed to ending slavery within the chocolate making industry. Buy now 3 Waitrose.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

HiP salty pretzel oat m!lk chocolate Best: Milk chocolate alternative Rating: 9/10 H!p  which stands for happiness in plants  creates a range of plant-based m!lk chocolate bars in a variety of flavours including: creamy and smooth, cookies no cream, salted caramel and salty pretzel. Considering how creamy the chocolate is, and its incredibly smooth mouthfeel, its impressive to think that it doesnt contain any dairy at all. The salty pretzel variety is the brands standout flavour. Made with Colombian cocoa, dried gluten-free oat powder and salted pretzels, its irresistibly moreish, and tricky to put down. We also love its bright and eye-catching packaging, which also happens to be recyclable and compostable. Buy now 3 Fenwick.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

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Its a fact that mental illness can debilitate a persons life just as acutely as physical conditions. What is less understood, however, is what exactly causes a person to suffer from conditions like depression, anxiety, or bipolar.

The kindling hypothesis is just one explanation that experts consider when trying to understand how and why mental illness affects us. Kindling is a term used to describe how some people slip down into the psychological rabbit hole of a mental health crisis in shorter periods of time and with less extreme triggers. When once a person would be thrust into a depressive episode by a major life event, such as a bereavement, less earth-shattering events like a squabble at work seem to set people off with ever more extreme symptoms - like a pane of glass that is more susceptible to breaking once it is cracked, or the foundations of a fire burning more fiercely with every twig thrown onto it.

But kindling is a controversial concept. Its logical conclusion seems to be a state where sufferers must put up with having their lives interrupted by illness more frequently and in unavoidable ways. It suggests that episodes of mental illness damage us on a neurological level that can't be overcome. So what is the truth?

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Kindling was a term coined in the 1960s in relation to epilepsy, when US scientists found that the severity of electrically induced seizures in cats and rats worsened each time they were administered and were set off more easily. The parts of the brain which caused seizures appeared to be primed for another attack with each instance. This is linked to a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity, where the brain learns responses to certain triggers.

In the 1980s, psychiatrist Robert Post at George Washington University applied the term to explain a pattern he had noticed in patients with mood disorders: that low periods were kicked off easier and in shorter spaces of time. He wondered, was the brain priming pathways for triggering conditions like clinical depression, bipolar and PTSD in the same way it was epilepsy?

The kindling model helps us think about the progression, the unfolding and evolution of the illness, he commented in a The New York Times piece in 1988. He devoted further research into explaining how psychotherapy and medications could be used to prevent this kindling effect. Later research has indicated that each bout of a mood disorders damage brain cells and nerve pathways and making a person susceptible to attacks, and turning the hormonal response to stress out of whack.

So, where does that leave the average sufferer when most of us will experience mental illness at some point in our lives? Are we really doomed to a worsening spiral of ill-health?

The resounding answer from experts is no. Kindling is just one hypothesis used to explain why some peoples mental health appears to worsen, and is not a universal eventuality by any means. Mental health is nowhere near that fatalistic or, frankly, easy to pin down.

Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Show all 10 1 /10 Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 30 per cent of people deal with anxiety by talking to a friend or relative, or by going for a walk. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Almost one in five people feel anxious all or a lot of the time. PA Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 22 per cent of women feel anxious a lot or all of the time, compared to 15 per cent of men. Roman Levin/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 45 per cent of people who feel anxious in everyday life cite financial issues as their biggest cause of worry. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report And 26 per cent of people who feel anxious say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with worry. And 26 per cent of people say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with anxiety. Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 27 per cent of people who suffer from anxiety say work issues, such as long hours, are the source of the problem. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report But 16 per cent use alcohol to cope, while 10 per cent turn to cigarettes in the face of anxiety. Unemployed people are more likely to resort to these harmful strategies: 27 per cent use alcohol and 23 per cent use cigarettes. AFP/Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Only seven per cent of people who say they suffer from anxiety seek help from their GP. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report People are thought to be more anxious than they were five years ago. Alessandra/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report The stresses of modern life are thought to have created "The Age of Anxiety". Getty

Firstly, mental illness isnt merely set off by pathological abnormalities in the body, but is a normal response to the stresses of life. For the minority of people who do experience kindling, medication can be used to prevent and treat its debilitating effects.

Its a slightly odd theory, says Peter Kinderman, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool. There are about 65million other things that are more important when it comes to a persons mental health, he says.

If anything, most people tend to learn to cope with mental illness better as they grow older, as they become more settled and can notice what might set them off. In addition, life tends to become more stressful. Kinderman uses the analogy of a group of people being by acid and some going blind: no one would try to find fault with the persons body for having been injured.

There is a struggle for coming up with analogies from the world of biological medicine to apply to the world of mental health which stretch those analogies a long way. And this is one of them, he says.

What I'm interested in more is the idea that what is important that the emotions are part of human life and not studied through a microscope, he says.

Plucking a biomedical explanation and using it for mental health is worrying because it implies we can think of mental health problems like any other. It doesn't work that way. 

What is much more interesting is the sociological story about why people look for biomedical explanation for misery.

Prevention, stresses Dr Brian Marien of the Positive Group, which helps schools and workplaces with mental illness, is more important than worrying about kindling. He says that while neuroplasticity is undeniable, this is one small factor that plays into a persons mental health.

Rather than worrying about kindling and psychological jargon, we should educate young people to identify, understand and cope with triggers to avoid developing chronic mental illnesses altogether.

For some - the more often they get depressed - the more easily the next episode is triggered - due to kindling and sensitisation. We need to have good reactive services to help reduce the severity and duration of anxiety and depression in the first place.

Humans aren't happy all the time and we can feel sad and happy and distressed and a lot of the distress and unhappiness in adulthood has its genesis during our formative years.

This is an area of psychology called metacognition. If you or I became anxious or depressed what happens is that if I get anxious I think oh my god, Im losing control, its going to stop me fulfilling my potential. I might become anxious about feeling anxious, and that makes me more anxious and theres a danger that triggers a kindling process or a neural sensitisation.

He stresses that there is always hope for people with mental illness. "The aim is prevention and early intervention because the research shows that medication can reduce relapse of depression, cognitive behavioural therapyis an effective treatment for anxiety and can reduce the risk of relapse of depression; mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) can reduce depressive relapse and early intervention is protective and would reduce the kindling and or sensitisation process," he explains, adding: "Prevention is better than cure.
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Over 13 million people have watched Neil Hilborn's poem OCD, in which he lays bare the reality of being in a relationship while coping with mental illness, his face turning red as he speaks. It's safe to assume that his stark take on how his mental health can encroach into every aspect of a person's life struck a chord with a few people.

The 27-year-old from Houston, Texas, was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as a child, and then with bipolar in college, and has used poetry as an outlet. Now, he's one of the most-watched spoken word poets in the world, having recently completed a tour of the UK including at the prestigious Union Chapel in north London.

To mark World Mental Health Day, we spoke to Hilborn about how poetry is therapeutic, his artistic process, and why he think OCD is such a popular poem.

You read a poem publicly for the first time when you were 19. Do you remember how that felt? Were you nervous? Was it cathartic?

To be honest, I dont remember much about that first performance. We had just started a poetry slam at our college and this was our first time running a show, which of course meant that I was so nervous that I blacked out for most of my performance. I had never been on stage before, so the whole thing was rather terrifying.

My performance cant have been that good though, the poem I was reading was about how I was in love with one of my friends but couldnt express it because of stupid ninteen-year-old reasons. I knew she was going to come to the show, so the whole poem was pretty vague rhyming nonsense about skeletons and bicycles.

Why do you think your poem about OCD has been so popular?

The sense that I get from talking to people about that poem is that while most people dont have experience with OCD, almost everyone has felt like they were ruining an important relationship because of unchangeable parts of themselves.

When I was writing OCD seven years ago, my main goal was to show my experience with OCD through the lens of how it complicates relationships, specifically because of how much time and patience it requires to be close to me. So I think that people connected with that sense of frustration and loss, the feeling that though you might love someone intensely, who you are as people will never be compatible.

How has poetry helped you to deal with mental illness? Is writing like a release for you?

Writing is quite therapeutic for me. When I write down my feelings Im literally making my internal state external. If Im right up against my thoughts inside my head its almost impossible to get any perspective on them, but if those thoughts are on a piece of paper in front of me Im able to analyze them and turn them into something helpful and productive.

You have a huge following - do people often contact you to thank you for making them feel more confident in opening up about their mental health? Are there any particular instances that really stand out for you?

I get around 50 messages a day from people who say that my openness has inspired them to speak up about their mental health. Honestly, Im still pretty overwhelmed by it all. So many peoples stories are so intense, and Im still figuring out how to be receptive and present while still protecting myself and maintaining my emotional stability.

Ive had a lot of memorable experiences with people sharing their stories, but the one that comes immediately to mind happened last week. I was at a hipster dive bar in Minneapoliswood paneling, terrible beer in filthy glasses, delightfulwhen my friends mentioned that a poet I really admired would be joining us shortly. I was trying to play it cool, but this guy was the author of one of my top five poetry books of all time, and also I am not very good at playing it cool.

After a couple more drinks I said to him Hey, sorry to talk about work when were all hanging out like this, but I just wanted to tell you that your poems have had a huge influence on me, and I really appreciate the art youre putting out there. He seemed really surprised, and he told me that he was inspired that work with my kind openness and honesty was getting such a large audience, and that seeing my success was inspiring to him. Ive been trying not to obsess too much about that moment, but it was pretty amazing for me.

What is your artistic process like? How does an idea become a poem?

I have two distinct processes. The first is that one you always hope for, that lightning bolt moment of inspiration that demands you sit down and write. Those moments usually come whenever Im doing something else, biking, washing the dishes, falling asleep, and a couple of lines will jump into my head that I just have to write down. Those lines go at the top of the page, and the rest of the poem just falls out after them. I cant however, reliably depend on those moments, so the second one is much more methodical and intentional.

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Every day when I sit down to write, usually in the tea shop where I used to work or in my office at home, if Im not inspired to write anything in particular I pick up whatever book I happen to be in the middle of and I read until something inspires me. Maybe its a poem structure, an image, or a cool turn of phrase, and I write whatever it is at the top of the page and then free write until I have at least a couple lines that I like. Most of what I produce from these drafts is garbage, but I can usually get at least an idea that I can work into a full poem.

Is there anything you would never write about?

I wouldnt say never, because there have been plenty of things in my life that I said I would never do only to find myself doing them, but there are definitely topics that I tend to avoid. I play an extrovert on stage and on the internet, but in my everyday life I am fairly introverted and shy, so I try to protect myself and maintain my sense of safety by keeping some aspects of myself out of the poems that I release publicly. I still write about those things, but those poems will stay in my notebook.

What is the most memorable experience you have had since becoming a famous poet?

The past four years have been absolutely wild. If you told me when I was sixteen that in twelve years Id be making a great living as a touring poet Id have called you a liar and also asked where you got your time machine. Its hard to pick a most memorable experience, so Im going to pick my favourite moment from my recent UK tour. About three weeks into the five week tour I had a show at Union Chapel in Islington, my third of three shows in London.

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Union Chapel is an absolutely stunning church with wooden pews, stained glass, candles, everything an ignorant American imagines a church in London to have. When we walked into the venue for sound check, I turned to my tour manager and whispered, Shut up, theres no way theyre gonna let me do poems here. I am constantly astounded by the places I get to go because of my dumb loud feelings.

Why do you think poetry and art in general is such an important outlet for so many people?

Lots of smart people have said smart things about this subject, so Im going to go with Gwendolyn Brooks who said, Poetry is life distilled. For me, thats always whats been the most attractive about the art form. When Im writing a poem I take all of my thoughts and experiences about a subject and try to relate them in as few words as possible. I think that a poem should tell you its story as succinctly as it can, and I think thats what art does for people. It removes everything extraneous so that we can focus on the emotions and ideas that actually matter.

It's Mental Health Day today - what is your advice for someone who is struggling but doesn't know what to do?

Find a therapist or a counsellor, someone to talk to whos an unbiased professional. Therapy has been the most important tool thats allowed me to be at least partially functional as a human, so what I say to everyone whos struggling is, if you can, please please get some help. Im not sure what that process is like in the UK, but I know there is a process, so get on it.

Please add anything else you feel is important

I find myself saying often that Im not a mental health professional, I have only the knowledge of psychology that Ive gained from being a mentally ill person, so its important to take everything I say with several large grains of salt. What I can say with certainty, however, is that everyone should try writing poetry, regardless of their mental health state. Its the cheapest art form to get into: all you need is a pen and a piece of paper, and you can steal those things. So please, for me, write a poem.
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The Dutchman at the centre of the pull a pig scandal has spoken out to say that the claims made by Sophie Stevenson are false.

Stevenson accused Jesse Mateman of luring her to Amsterdam and abandoning her as part of a game where men try and kiss or sleep with the ugliest woman they can find.

Her story went viral yesterday and provoked outrage across the world, with many people expressing disgust for 21-year-old Matemans alleged actions.

However, he now claims that the allegations are false and that Stevensons story was invented.

That whole story is invented. Its a witch hunt, he told Dutch website Metro.

Im just broken here. After that piece on Geenstijl (a Dutch blog) my parents, my sister and I have been threatened.

Despite many British publications claims otherwise, Mateman said: No newspaper from England called me. The messages contained in those tabloids are either made by Sophie or by the newspapers, because I did not send them.

24-year-old Stevenson had claimed that she and Mateman had met in Barcelona in August and had a proper romance.

She went on to say that shed spent 350 on flights to Amsterdam to visit Mateman, but he left her abandoned at the airport.

Stevenson claims that it wasnt until six hours later that she found out via message that shed been a victim of a pull a pig prank.

According to her story, Mateman messaged her saying: You were pigged. It was all a joke.

Pull a pig is an incredibly cruel game that most people struggle to believe even exists.

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It involves a group of men going out and trying to sleep with the woman they consider to be the least attractive - whoever ends up with the ugliest girl is the winner.

Mateman said that while he did know Stevenson, there was no holiday romance. He also says he doubts whether she ever arrived at the airport in Amsterdam.

Yesterday, Stevensons father Andrew spoke out against Mateman, calling him a b****** and saying he wanted to go to Amsterdam to confront him.

As soon as I heard I wanted to go over there and find him, he told The Sun.

It would be awful for it to happen to anybody, but for it to happen to my daughter is disgusting. Its awful to think of.

She is a beautiful, confident, gorgeous girl and how dare that b****** do anything like this.
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In 2017, everything is just one click away, maybe even a mental illness.

Google have partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to create a self-assessment test that enables US users to see if they should seek help for depression.

All you have to do is type am I depressed? into the search engine to find the easy to use questionnaire.

Although Google and the NIAM have stressed that the tool should not be relied upon as a professional diagnosis, the pragmatic concept arguably raises a number of concerns as it inherently simplifies a string of medical conditions which are by nature far from simple.

Should someone in a vulnerable enough state to take such a test be given the opportunity to diagnose themselves with depression in the same way that they might identify an ear infection?

Simon Gilbody, a psychological medicine professor at the University of York, recently voiced his concerns in the British Medical Journal, explaining that false positive rates from Googles test were high.

It's certainly a controversial questionnaire.

Not to mention the fact that the symptoms youre prompted to analyse in it (feeling tired; little energy; and overeating) reads more like a hangover than a mental illness.

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Thanks to a string of prolific figures (Prince Harry and Lady Gaga to name a few) who have spoken about their own experiences, mental health has never been such a prominent talking point in the media.

Whilst its imperative that these conversations continue in the hope of addressing what is a severely understaffed and under-funded sector of the NHS, the ways in which these conditions manifest themselves in everyday lives in a clinical sense remains largely ambivalent.

How do you know if you're depressed or not?

When it comes to describing the human experience, we are a label-obsessed culture.

Married, single, bisexual, heterosexual, bipolar, depressed if someone tells us that the thing were feeling or doing has a name; it legitimises it with a token of authority and in some cases, provides comfort via clarity.

"I think it's important to understand that mental health is a huge spectrum, explains Claire Eastham, mental health blogger and author of We're All Mad Here.

"You can feel depressed and not have depression, or feel anxious but necessarily have anxiety.

Vlogger and presenter Grace Victory, who has written about her own issues with PTSD and bullimia in her book, agrees.

"Whilst social media and online communities can help in making mental health issues less taboo and allowing sufferers to connect and be there for one another, we have to remain careful and vigilant, she said.

A bad day doesn't mean you have a bad life and young people especially should be aware of this.

When should you seek professional help?

"It is a question of intensity of the abnormal emotion, the length of time the problem has been there, and how pervasive it, explains Dr Rafael Euba, consultant psychiatrist at The London Psychiatry Centre.

"The crucial difference with depression is that the sadness permeates everything in your life for a prolonged period of time and you are not able to enjoy any of the positive things in your life.

If you feel like this you should seek advice from your GP or a mental health professional, he told The Independent.

Dr Rachel Andrew, clinical psychologist at Time Psychology, told The Independent that a clinical diagnosis also comes down to how much the symptoms are impacting your daily lives.

However, Euba revealed that the concept of over-diagnosing with regards to mental illnesses is something he rarely comes across.

"If anything people sometimes have a reluctance to accept that they may have a psychological problem rather than the opposite, he said.

"If someone thinks they may be depressed, more often than not they are.

After years of mental health issues being discussed as taboo, Euba doesnt believe that the coverage of mental health in the media could have anything other than a positive effect.

"Its encouraging more people to talk about it, and the more people talk about something, the more understanding there is in society as a whole. This can only be a good thing, he added.
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A boss at courier firm Hermes has apologised to MPs over a case in which a driver's contract was cancelled because he was unable to work due to the premature birth of a child.

Director of legal affairs Hugo Martin admitted the company had been shocked by evidence of the way its self-employed couriers were treated and said a new code of conduct introduced last year should make incidents of this kind a thing of the past.

MPs on the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee grilled Mr Martin and other representatives of gig economy firms immediately after taking anonymous evidence in private from workers about their experiences of the controversial form of self-employment.

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In one case raised at the committee, a courier said he had not taken a day's holiday in 10 years and was told on a day when he was working while sick that the parcel is more important that you.

And MPs also heard evidence of drivers working as many as 21 days without a break during the busy Christmas period.

Mr Martin told the committee that the treatment of the worker with a premature baby was unacceptable and would be a disciplinary matter under Hermes' new code.

The standard operating procedures that have been rolled to all the field managers would stop that from ever happening today, he said.

If it happened in the past, all we can do is apologise and say the pressure of a vastly expanding business puts pressure on people.

We had assumed couriers were being treated fairly throughout the network. It turns out in some cases they weren't.

We accept that and we have taken real meaningful steps to address it and make sure it never happens again.

Hermes now maintains a network of back-up drivers to provide cover in cases like the birth of a premature baby or a sickness, if couriers were unable to find someone else to do their round, he said.

Those wanting a break during busy periods were free to find substitutes to do their work for them.

Mr Martin said the case of a courier going 10 years without a holiday was news to me.

But he acknowledged that the company was shocked by the findings of Frank Field MP's 2016 inquiry into the treatment of self-employed workers in the gig economy, which prompted the introduction of its code of conduct.

He insisted that couriers were treated with dignity and respect and were not unduly pressured into going without holiday or days off sick.

Couriers earn a minimum of 8.50 an hour and an average of 12.20 - or 10.60 after expenses like petrol are taken into account - he said.

But Labour MP Peter Kyle told him: The evidence we have seen is that (for couriers) life has to fit around the work.

There is a chasm between what you are saying and the life you are describing of the couriers and the one we are hearing about.

Hermes and other gig economy firms told the committee that they do not believe many of their self-employed drivers and riders would take up employee status if they were forced to offer it as a result of tribunal decisions.

Mr Martin said that offering employed status to up to 15,000 couriers would cost the company 58.8m a year in national insurance, holiday pay and sick pay, while cab-hire firm Uber's head of public policy Andrew Byrne said the bill for its 50,000 self-employed drivers would run into tens of millions.

Both Hermes and Uber are currently facing employment tribunal cases brought by workers who want to be classed as employees rather than self-employed.

But Mr Martin told the committee: In our case we think the couriers don't want to be workers in the vast majority of cases. They are very happy being self-employed.

The self-employment model creates a flexible framework which allows us to provide these opportunities in the first place.

The work fits around the life of the couriers and their life is such that they would not be able to access traditional PAYE employment.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

We believe in the unlikely event that couriers were deemed to be workers, there would be very little take-up.

Mr Byrne told the committee that the company could cope with switching its drivers on to employee status, but said it would mean exerting more control over the driver in terms of set shifts and paying a fixed salary which many drivers would not welcome.

The UK managing director of Deliveroo, Dan Warne, told the committee that the flexibility of self-employment was very, very popular with the company's 15,000 riders, the vast majority of whom fit stints delivering takeaway meals around other work or studies.

PA
The Park Hills City Council and the Leadington Board of Aldermen will each hold meetings tonight.

Park Hills

The Park Hills City Council will meet in regular session tonight to hear reports, consider several matters and to set future public hearings.

After hearing from visitors, the council will hear a city administrators report from Mark McFarland regarding Parks and Recreation, street and sidewalk work, utilities and other matters.

The council will hear reports on the Public Safety Committee, Public Works/Utilities Committee, Administration/Personnel Committee, Parks/Library/Senior Center Committee and the Code Enforcement/Ordinances Committee.

The council will also discuss the citys two-bag limit on weekly trash collections.

In new business, the council will consider several ordinances and public hearings.

An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Missouri Natural Gas will be considered. A letter of engagement from Boyer and Associates for auditing services will be considered, as well as a letter of accounting services for Janice Neubrand of Crouch, Farley & Heuring, PC.

The council will set a public hearings regarding the following matters: a zoning change for newly-annexed property located at 915 Fifth Street; a request to close an alley located between the 600 block of Missouri and Pennsylvania Streets; a request to close a portion of an unimproved street located between adjacent lots at 716 West Buckley Street; a special use permit requested to operate a bed and breakfast business at 32 Hill Street; amendments to chapter 400 of the zoning regulations, related to Table of Permissible Uses.

The council will then consider appointments to the library board and an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement for the demolition of a city-owned structure located at 1380 Woodlawn Drive.

This meeting will be open to the public and will take place in Council Chambers at Park Hills City Hall.

Leadington

The Leadington Board of Aldermen will meet at 6 p.m. tonight at the municipal building located at 12 Weir St.

According to the tentative agenda, the board will be discussing the city audit, health insurance for city employees, a dump truck, a car repair bill, Trunk or Treat, TalentForce, vacating a building, members of the TIF Board and passage of an amendment to the city employee manual.

The meeting is open to the public.
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Deep-seated racial inequality in the UK has been laid bare in a new report exposing "entrenched" disparities between different ethnic communities.

Significant differences in the life outcomes of British ethnic minority and white people revealed in the Governments racial disparity audit have prompted Theresa May to urge institutions to help ensure race is never a barrier.

A considerably higher unemployment rate among black, Asian and minority ethnic people than white British adults and lower home ownership among Bangladeshis and black people are among the findings to come out of the report.

British white groups also fall behind in some instances, with white British pupils on school meals less likely to reach the expected standard at Key Stage 2 than any other ethnic group and white teenagers more likely to be smokers than black teenagers.

The audit has been published on a new Ethnicity Facts and Figures website, breaking down how people of different races are treated in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

Among the findings are:

Ethnic minorities are under-represented at senior levels across the public sector

Black Caribbean pupils were permanently excluded at three times the rate (0.29 per cent) of white British pupils (0.1 per cent)

The unemployment rate for black, Asian and minority ethnic people (8 per cent) is nearly double that of white British adults (4.6 per cent), with a larger gap in the North (13.6 per cent) than the South (9 per cent)

White people, Indians and Pakistanis are more likely to own their own home than Bangladeshis and black people, and there are disparities in home ownership even after taking account of age, geography, income and socio-economic group

White teenagers are four times more likely to be smokers than black teenagers

Chinese and Asian secondary school pupils perform better than white and black children, particularly those eligible for free school meals, although Pakistani pupils consistently fall behind, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children do significantly worse

Among children aged between seven and 11 (Key Stage 2), 71 per cent of Chinese children met the expected standard for reading, writing and maths, compared with 54 per cent of white British pupils and 13% of white Gypsy and Roma pupils

Less than a third (32 per cent) of white British pupils on free school meals reached the expected standard at Key Stage 2 - worse than any other ethnic group

A high percentage of people of all ethnicities feel they belong to Britain, with little variation between groups (white 85 per cent, Asian 84 per cent, black 81 per cent)

Across primary, special and secondary school education, Irish heritage Traveller children and Gypsy/Roma pupils had the highest rate of permanent exclusions - 0.49 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively

The report has prompted campaigners to urge ministers to lead the way in tackling the inequalities, but also to acknowledge that society as a whole must change to ensure a level playing field for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Britons, as well as white people.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission meanwhile called for a comprehensive and coherent race equality strategy from the Government.

Its chairman David Isaac said: The findings of the race audit do not come as a shock to us. The Prime Minister should be applauded for laying out this information for all to see and we now need to use to the data to set the foundations for real change.

Only by taking focused action to tackle race inequality can Britain become a fair country in which individuals can reach their potential and our communities can live and work together to create a strong economy and a cohesive society.

"The Government must tackle the significant disparities confirmed by the audit in order to address the entrenched inequality that is so prevalent in our society."

Recommended One in four British people admit to being racially prejudiced

Race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust, whose latest report found that the poorest black and Asian households will experience the biggest drop in average living standards of any group in society, called for more social mixing with neighbours talking to other neighbours to tackle fear and prejudice.

Director Omar Khan said: No one can be in any doubt that racial inequalities is a major issue that requires real effort to fix, not just from government but also action by employers, schools, and individuals.

We have had decades of reports into the problem - many from the Runnymede Trust. The time for talking is now over, we must now move to debating solutions.

Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, said: Yes, some findings make uncomfortable reading, but unless these things are laid bare we can't begin to resolve them.

"Over many years the Prime Minister has shown a real desire to grapple with the scourge of racism including confronting high levels of BAME Stop and Search, BAME deaths in police custody and now this."

To launch the new website, thought to be the first official resource of its kind in the world, Mrs May hosted a discussion around the Cabinet table involving key stakeholders.

She told them the audit will become an essential resource in the battle to defeat ethnic injustice.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA

People who have lived with discrimination don't need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge, she said.

But this audit means that for society as a whole - for government, for our public services - there is nowhere to hide. These issues are now out in the open. And the message is very simple: if these disparities cannot be explained then they must be changed.

Britain has come a long way in my lifetime in spreading equality and opportunity. But the data we are publishing will provide the definitive evidence of how far we must still go in order to truly build a country that works for everyone.
Dr. Don VanHerck, Mineral Area Colleges longest-serving trustee, died Monday afternoon at the age of 82.

In his 43 years on the board, he was known for providing a steady hand of leadership to the Park Hills-based community college. VanHerck's fellow trustees recently presented the retired educator with a plaque, noting that they had voted to name their boardroom after him.

The conference room connected to both the theater lobby and President Dr. Steve Kurtz's office is now known as the VanHerck Board Room. At last months meeting, Dr. VanHerck presented former trustee Sally Parker-Nash with a plaque honoring her years of service to the college.

In response to the long-time trustee's death, Kurtz, described VanHerck's passing as "a surprise."

We knew his health had been increasingly frail, but he continued to rally during the last couple of years, He said. Dr. VanHerck was almost a force of nature.

The Subdistrict 5 trustee was first elected to the board in 1974. He brought with him a wealth of vocational and technical education knowledge, having been UniTec Career Centers director from 1973 to 1997.

According to fellow trustee, Harvey Faircloth, VanHerck offered insights into the college that no one else could provide.

"Dr. VanHerck was a unique guy," he said. "A lot of people didn't know that he had a great sense of humor, but I think the thing that I'll always remember about him is the knowledge of the college that he had stored in his memory.

"It was so valuable to be able to go to him and ask, 'Hey, how did this happen?' or 'Why did this come about?.' He would look into the past and be able to explain why some of the decisions made at the school were made. I'll miss him because of that."

Although VanHerck  a Bismarck native  hadnt given education much thought for the future, his mother approached him with $60 in her hand, along with a request that he enroll in Flat River Junior College, Mineral Area Colleges precursor.

A reluctant student at first, Dr. VanHerck soon became friends with some of his junior college instructors who, he felt, gave him the impression that they believed he could do great things.

I didnt set the world on fire in my classes, he said. But they gave me confidence and seemed to think they saw something in me that could succeed.

Following his graduation in 1956, VanHerck worked for the Missouri Division of Employment Security for a couple of years, but realized that if he wanted to have a family and earn enough to support them, he would need to continue his education. At Murray State University, he learned the joys of academic competition, earning an A average in his studies to secure a Bachelors Degree in Education and was invited to pursue his masters degree studies while teaching classes for Murray State.

VanHerck began working toward his doctorate, eschewing a full scholarship to Texas A&M to work for and attend a favorite Murray professors alma mater, the University of Missouri-Columbia. There, he met up with an old friend from his hometown of Bismarck, Dixie A. Kohn, who was also pursuing his studies while working for the university.

Both men eventually entered careers in education, which led to them working together once again when Dr. Kohn was hired as MACs president. VanHerck was just closing out his first decade on the colleges board of trustees at that time.

Over almost 40 years, VanHerck served in every officer capacity on the board of trustees, since the offices rotate regularly. Some of the highlights of his tenure included pioneering the addition of the Central Methodist University 2+2 plan, the construction of several additional buildings on campus and the expansion of outreach centers in Perryville, Winona, Fredericktown and Potosi.

Several years ago, VanHerck received the Missouri Community College Association Award of Distinction for his lifetime achievement in vocational and higher education.

According to Kurtz, VanHercks absence will be felt deeply at the college.

Ive been here for 18 years now and hes always been reliable for sound discussion and putting things in context of the colleges history, he said. Weve all gotten to know his friend, Judy, and his son, Major General Glen VanHerck, over the years and weve delighted in their company. The MAC family has lost an important member today.
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Britain is unlikely to make sufficient progress in Brexit talks until the end of the year, the European Council President has said.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Donald Tusk also warned that if negotiations continued at the current slow rate then both sides would have to think about where we are heading.

Both the UK and EU have previously said they wanted to reach the milestone  as set and judged by the EU  by October this year, with officials saying as recently as last month that they were optimistic it could be met.

When the European Council deems sufficient progress on separation issues like the divorce bill, Northern Ireland border, and EU citizens rights to have been met, it says it will authorise its negotiators to move on to other issues like trade and the future relationship with the UK.

However Mr Tusk has now said he believes his institution will not judge sufficient progress to have been made until at least December  and has hinted that at the current rate of progress it may never be reached.

We hear from London that the UK Government is preparing for a no deal scenario. I would like to say very clearly that the EU is not working on such a scenario, he told the European Committee of the Regions.

We are negotiating in good faith, and we still hope that the so-called sufficient progress will be possible by December.

However, if it turns out that the talks continue at a slow pace, and that sufficient progress hasnt been reached, then  together with our UK friends  we will have to think about where we are heading.

The President also used his address to warn that while Britains referendum campaign was full of false arguments and unacceptable generalisations it would have been a big mistake to interpret the negative result exclusively as a symptom of British exceptionalism and Euroscepticism.

All over Europe, even moderate voters were asking is the European Union the answer to problems of instability and insecurity, or is it now standing in the way? he admitted.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

The fifth round of talks are currently under way in Brussels, with the next official update due on Thursday.

A UK Government spokesperson said: "As the PM said yesterday, we have made real and tangible progress in a number of vital areas and we are looking for the negotiating teams to reach full agreement quickly.

"We are approaching these negotiations in a constructive way and in a spirit of friendship and cooperation.

"We want a deep and special partnership and believe it is everyone's interest to discuss this as soon as possible. We are optimistic about achieving this, but it is the duty of a responsible government to plan for all scenarios."
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MPs and activists gathered outside Parliament for a cannabis tea party demanding the legalisation of the drug for medicinal purposes.

Organised by the United Patients Alliance, a group that hopes to legalise the drug for those suffering from chronic conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS), the Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Tonia Antoniazzi appeared alongside the Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran.

Sitting at the head of table with cakes and scones containing cannabis, Mr Flynn, who has introduced a private members bill on the issue in the Commons, accused the Government of having an evidence-free approach to the criminalisation of cannabis.

Despite the possession of cannabis currently carrying a maximum prison sentence of five years, activists smoked joints at the tea party just yards away from the House of Commons.

Mr Flynn added: Its political cowardice. They are afraid of being accused to going to pot. Im afraid governments get brownie points for appearing to act tough.

Clark French, a founder of United Patients Alliance, who was diagnosed with MS in 2010 during the final year of his degree at Reading University, said cannabis improves his symptoms of chronic pain, including spasms, fatigue, migraines and tremors.

Cannabis helps me to have a much better quality of life than I get on the medications my doctor can prescribe me, he said. I think it is ridiculous that I can legally take opioids and chemotherapy based treatments which could kill me, but am criminalised for consuming cannabis despite the support of my neurologist, GP, MS nurse and wider health care team.

The UK Government needs to act on the evidence which shows that cannabis has medicinal value and change the law immediately.

Ms Moran, who told journalists gathered on College Green that one of her best friends had died of MS and detailed the pain they suffered as a result. She added: IF there was anything that we can do to help them then I think this is a good thing.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. 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She said that while she did indulge in some drugs for recreational purposes while at university she no longer did, insisting she would not be consuming any of the cakes on sale at the event.

I dont any more, Im a grown up now, but for gods sake, she said. Ive never run in a wheat field, that I can say.

Another activist Alex Fraser, a 26-year-old who has Crohns disease since he was 19, said that he also used the drug to relieve his symptoms. I have tried not smoking, and my symptoms always increase dramatically, he said.

My pain is worsened and I often cant eat or sleep without severe discomfort, he added. I also have taken prescription meds, and have tried not taking those, and the difference is minimal. I can safely say that cannabis is the most effective treatment for my Chrons disease that Ive tried.

I hope that with the help of the United Patients Alliance I can have safe, legal access to it as soon as possible.
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A young pharmacist killed herself during a romantic holiday with her boyfriend in Tenerife, an inquest heard.

Victoria Smith said she would meet her boyfriend for dinner before being found hanged from a stone jetty on the Spanish island in March last year.

Ms Smith, from Leyland in Lancashire, suffered from depression and had complained of having the world on her shoulders.

She had also just sold her horse to purchase a house and settle down with her boyfriend Matt Arkwright.

The inquest heard that Ms Smith was unhappy at work and had been due to start a new job.

She was last seen alive by Mr Arkwright reading by the pool of their hotel and saying she would meet him for dinner.

At an inquest in Preston, coroner James Newman recorded a conclusion of suicide but said: Victoria was a young woman who evidently had all of her life in front of her and every opportunity to make a wonderful life.

She had episodes of feeling down and had been prescribed anti-depressants - but she seemed to have been excited by her new home.

She wanted to change jobs as it was not to her satisfaction but she had been about to start a new job in April. Her future appeared to have been incredibly bright.

''Mental illness is one of the greatest demons of our time and it is tragic that Victoria had periods of lows but she was being medicated and it seemed to be working.

It is such a waste of a very young and promising life.''

She had just sold her horse to buy a house with her boyfriend Matt Arkwright (Cavendish Press ) (Cavendish Press)

The hearing was told Miss Smith was a ''bright and bubbly'' young woman but who had 'ups and downs over the years and had been put on anti-depressants.

She had previously moved to Wales to work on a farm and moved back to Preston to get a job at a pharmacy in Ashton-on-Ribble. But she found dealing with customers difficult and accepted another job at the Royal Preston Hospital.

In a statement Miss Smith's father Alan Smith, 62, and mother Linda Smith, 59, said: There were a couple of things that she felt werent going right. She went to the GP and was prescribed Fluoxetine.

The job in Wales was not what she expected so she came back home, but she felt that she had let herself down and other people down. As a family we reassured her. She started the job at the pharmacy again but it wasnt the job that she wanted.

The relationship with Matt was blossoming and they were moving in together and enjoying themselves. Vicky had talked about coming off the anti-depressants, We asked if it was sensible and she said that she had been forgetting to take them a lot of the time anyway.

Her attendance at work started to suffer, and she was told by the GP to take some time off work. This was to get her medication stable again and then they were on holiday.

Cycle shop manager Mr Arkwright, 31, said: Ive always thought that Vicky was a friendly and caring person who was funny and could make anyone smile.

She was well organised and planned well ahead for everything. We bought the house together and she was very excited about it.

She wanted to put her own stamp on it. Her more so than me. She was planning what she wanted to do to each room and how she wanted the house to look.

Before we had gone on holiday she had bought some Ikea furniture and was planning how she was going to make it look like antiques.

We had a second holiday booked to Rome later in June, where we had been before and both loved it. The Tenerife holiday was just for a break in the summer.

Vicky was a very sociable person, and always had friends and family over. She was looking forward to having a BBQ in the new house. Our relationship was strong and happy.

In February 2016 she sold her horse, and when that happened she was clearly depressed and it was a sad experience for her.

I thought that was normal because she was getting rid of something that had been in her life for such a long time.

She was selling it because she wanted to move on with her life and become a homeowner.

I knew she was on her medication. In February this year she was feeling very down about her job, and she knew it wasnt quite right for her.

She took the job at the hospital and she was looking forward to it and thinking of it as a career opportunity.

Shortly before we went away, we had been out with friends and normally she was loud and engaging but she was quiet and withdrawn.

We had a private chat and she felt as though she had the world on her shoulders. She was anxious that they would have to sell the house, thought she was letting me down and wanted to go to university to do veterinary studies.

The next day she felt embarrassed about it. We went on holiday on the 21 March, we went out to markets and things and she was her normal self until the 28th when we were supposed to leave.

She was very quiet, and she said she just wanted to sit by the pool and read. I asked her if she wanted to go for dinner and she said no but that I could go without her.

I waited for her but it got to the stage where we had to sort things for when we were leaving, so I left at about 6.30pm and she said she was right behind me. It was the last I saw of her.

The hearing was told the stone jetty where Miss Smith was found, was a spot the couple had visited during their holiday.

At the time of the tragedy Miss Smith's family said her death had come as a monumental shock to all who knew her.

:: The Samaritans offers free support and advice on 116 123 or at samaritans.org
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More than 100 hippos have died from a suspected anthrax outbreak in Namibia.

Shocking images show dozens of the lifeless creatures, many flat on their back, at the Bwabwata National Park in the north-east of the country.

Namibias entire hippo population stood at around 1,300 before last weekend, so the outbreak is likely to have killed off 10 per cent the southern African nation's population.

Apollinaris Kannyinga, deputy director of parks in the country's north east region said that around 10 hippos were initially found dead over the weekend, but that number had increased tenfold in the following days.

The other mortalities are dispersed over the river, and the crocodiles and vultures are feeding on them, he told The Namibian newspaper.

He added that there had been 109 recorded hippo deaths, but he said outbreaks of the disease are common and the population usually recovers.

Up to 10 per cent of Namibia's hippo population have died (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation)

We will just sensitise the community not to try and get the meat of these dead hippos for consumption," he said.

Pohamba Shifeta, Namibias environment minister, said the death toll could be higher due to rangers missing carcasses already eaten by crocodiles.

Our veterinary services are currently working at the area to determine the cause of death. Once we have the results of the cause of death than we can decide on the way forward, Mr Shifeta told the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency.

Anthrax is an infection caused by the spores of a bacteria which can lie untouched in the soil for years. It needs rapid antibiotic treatment and can often be fatal for both animals and humans.

Mr Kanniyinga said the latest outbreak was caused by the low waters of the Kavango river.
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A South African woman who stabbed a man to death and severely injured two others after allegedly catching them raping her daughter has been told she will not face murder charges, following a public outcry.

The woman, who has been dubbed Lion Mama by the South African media, told police she had stabbed the three men at an unoccupied house in the village of Qumbu in the Eastern Cape, after she found them attacking her daughter.

She said she had been told about the attack by the 18-year-old cousin of the man who died and had tried to call the local police but received no answer.

When she got there, she found the three men taking it in turns to rape her daughter and stabbed them all repeatedly until they collapsed, she said. The mother has not been named in order to protect the identity of her daughter.

The 56-year-old reportedly ran 3km with a kitchen knife after she was told her daughter was in danger during the incident on 2 September.

After attacking the alleged rapists she comforted her 27-year-old daughter until the police arrived but was arrested by police and charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder.

But on Sunday the National Prosecution Authority announced all charges were officially being dropped, according to local media reports.

Prosecutors gave no official explanation for why the charges had been dropped but spokesman Luxolo Tyali told South Africa's News 24 that they did not see a realistic chance of conviction.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The Lion Mama case prompted an outpouring of support on social media with people across the country rallying to help her.

A woman in Cape Town, Natalie Kendrick, set up a crowdfunding page which raised over R130,000 (7,170) to help her with her legal fees, Times Live reported.

Addressing a huge crowd which had gathered outside the Lady Frere Magistrates Court for the hearing where the charges were formally dropped, the woman thanked her supporters.

She said: "I felt like an old baboon that has no friends, but today you showed me I have people and that I was not alone. Thank you.

"I am happy that the charges are withdrawn against me and I thought I was going to jail, but God was on my side."

Her lawyer, Buhle Tonise, said the money raised would now go towards trauma counselling for the woman and her daughter.

The two surviving men, Xolisa Siyeka and Mncedisi Vuba, are due to appear in court next week to face charges over the alleged rape. Zamile Siyeka was pronounced dead at the scene.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I recently started a business and work out of my home. I need to have client meetings to get things going, but I don't have a place to go. I have been inviting people to meet me for coffee or drinks at various locations, but that is getting expensive. I don't have much disposable income right now. If I invite someone to meet with me, I feel like I have to offer them something. I don't know what to do. I get that you have to pay to play, but I can't keep paying at these prices. -- On the Path, Philadelphia

DEAR ON THE PATH: Do a little research on your spending patterns. How much do you typically spend per month to entertain clients? Count every cup of coffee, doughnut, lunch, drink or dinner. Be specific so you can assess what you have allowed yourself to afford thus far.

Next, consider some of the popular temporary workspaces popping up in your area. Often you can rent a desk with access to a conference room for a relatively low monthly fee. Then, voila, you have an office and can invite people to meet you there. You can also look for free public spaces to meet, including the library -- if there is a room where you are allowed to meet. Look for enclosed public spaces that are opulent and that attract a professional population. This could include open space that's attached to a business. You have to get creative to identify an opulent space you can afford, which is why the rented desk and conference room could be the answer. Don't give up!

DEAR HARRIETTE: When do you stop trying to keep a friendship going? I ask because I made friends with a woman a few years ago, and we spent a lot of time together initially. I met her through a mutual friend who remains friends with both of us. But whenever I contact this woman to get together, she's busy. I have been sending her notes every few months for about two years. Sometimes she writes back to say hello, but nothing has happened. I know how busy our lives can get, which is why I don't necessarily think she's brushing me off. But still, it has been two years. Do I give up now? -- Distant Friend, Jackson, Mississippi

DEAR DISTANT FRIEND: How important is this woman to you? You must decide. If you believe she adds value to your life, you can continue to check in on occasion. What she is making clear to you is that you are not a priority for her right now. I recommend that you cultivate the relationships that feel ripe for the harvest. One day, this friendship may feel more favorable. Until then, you will likely be left unfulfilled because she is not choosing to make time for you. Never forget your own value; you are worthy of respect and thoughtfulness. If you aren't getting that from someone you like, step away until you believe you will be welcomed.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I had an intern many years ago whom I really liked. He tried to keep in touch with me, which I appreciated, but it was at a time when I was busy building my business, so I was distracted. When I finally realized how dismissive I had been of him and tried to find him, I had no good contact information. Years have passed, and this young man's teacher, who is my friend, found a letter from him. We have his parents' contact information. I'm a little nervous. I want to reach out to reconnect with this young man, but I was not responsible years ago. Do you think it's wise to knock on that door again? -- Closing the Loop, Seattle

DEAR CLOSING THE LOOP: Your sincerity should ring through when you make this next effort. Starting with his parents, write a note, or call if you have a phone number, and say you want to reach out to their son. Remind them of when he worked with you so they will feel comfortable making the connection.

If you do reach the young man himself, start off by saying how happy you are to reconnect. Ask how and what he is doing. Allow him to share his story. Then admit you didn't feel good about the way you parted ways years ago and that you have tried to find him for some time. Ask for his forgiveness for your lack of responsiveness in the past and see if you can forge a relationship now. There is a chance he could be in a busy phase, but your overture should count for something.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I worked for a year on a project with a woman who had good intentions but who was often late and even more often was abrupt in the way she talked to me and to others on our team. I endured it during those 12 months, but I'm wondering if I want to work with her anymore. It was hard, and I'm kind of sensitive to lots of things, including timeliness and communication style. She is a team member and equal to me, but her behavior makes it hard to work as a team.

I was recently asked by the boss to stay on. I can use the money, but I worry that I will become angry if I have to keep making up for what this woman lacks. What can I do? -- Filling the Divide, Milwaukee

DEAR FILLING THE DIVIDE: Talk with your boss about the opportunity being offered to you. Thank him or her for believing in you and wanting to keep you on the team. Describe to the boss what you like about the job and ask if you can share what you consider the difficulties to be. Explain that you have experienced conflict with the woman in question. Admit you have considered not staying on at the company because of the specific interactions you have had with this woman. Ask if the boss can help make the work experience more comfortable.

Know that you risk losing your job by bringing this up. Since you were ready to walk anyway, you might as well tell your boss what your concerns are. He or she may not be aware of what's going on in the office and may be able to help.

DEAR HARRIETTE: The fall season is upon us, and it's busy for me. I am happy that I have lots to do at work and in my social life, but I can't figure out how to juggle everything. Just last week, I was invited to three events on one night and at least two on every other weeknight. I am young, and I understand this is my time to be out and about, but I can't do everything. It's making me too tired at work. How do I manage my schedule, bow out of some things gracefully and not make enemies? -- On the Go, Newark, New Jersey

DEAR ON THE GO: Keep a schedule of your week, including all key work duties as well as all invitations. Prioritize the invites that will further your career ambitions, expand your knowledge or fortify your friends and family. Your goal should be to strike a balance in your life between work and play. Agree to attend the key events and stay there only until the time that you know is your cutoff.

When you know you are overextended, RSVP that you cannot attend. You can write a brief note saying you are sure it will be a great event and you regret not being able to be there. Be honest with yourself and those who have invited you.

Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106
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As wildfires raged across Northern California, authorities have said the fires have burned more than 3,500 buildings and at least 23 people have died.

The fires have been among the largest and most damaging in the states history. Some 285 people are missing and 25,000 have been forced to flee their homes.

Eerie photos of Disneyland California, clouded over with smoke and ash dropping from an orange sky, which have emphasised the magnitude of the disaster.

Recommended Couple die together in California wildfires after 75 years of marriage

Disneyland has said it will stay open.

More than 100 people have been treated in hospitals for fire-related injuries and smoke inhalation.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is trying to bring the fires under control.

The Canyon fire 2 in the nearby Anaheim Hills has burned at least 7,500 acres.

"@Disneyland looking surreal with #canyonfire2 burning in the distance," wrote Laura Olden on Twitter.

Twitter user S Preston said: "Anaheim fire as seen from Disneyland. Ash dropping everywhere. #Wildfire."

President Trump declared the fires as a major disaster and has approved additional funding to the state.

Vice President Mike Pence said Congress will consider allocating $576m and passing new legislation to aid fire suppression in the future.

Mansions burn in California wildfires Show all 7 1 /7 Mansions burn in California wildfires Mansions burn in California wildfires 171174.bin Getty Images Mansions burn in California wildfires 171219.bin MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Mansions burn in California wildfires 171227.bin MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Mansions burn in California wildfires 171228.bin MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Mansions burn in California wildfires 171213.bin AFP Mark Ralston Mansions burn in California wildfires 171230.bin MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Mansions burn in California wildfires 171229.bin MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

"To California, we say though this declaration, we are with you, our prayers are with you and we will be with you every day until we put the fires out," he said.

In Santa Rosa, blocks in some neighborhoods resembled war zones, with little left but charred debris, broken walls, chimneys and the steel frames of burned-out cars.

The 23 recorded deaths make the fires the deadliest in the state since 1991, with Tubbs, which has accounted for 13 fatalities, the worst single blaze since 2003, according to state data.

In addition to high winds, the fires have been stoked by an abundance of thick brush left tinder dry by a summer of hot, dry weather.

Matt Nauman, spokesman for the region's main utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, said many power lines had fallen during gales that packed gusts in excess of 75 miles (120km) per hour.

Agencies contributed to this report
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Hillary Clinton had said "the whole world should be concerned" about Donald Trump's leadership, and agreed he is the most dangerous President in US history.

The remarks, which she made during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Four Seasons" programme, follow a warning she issued during the presidential campaign  that Mr Trump was the most dangerous White House candidate ever to make a leadership bid.

Asked by journalist Sarah Ferguson whether Mr Trump was the most dangerous President the US had ever had, she said: "I think he is, because he is impulsive, he lacks self-control, he is totally consumed with how he is viewed, with how people think of him. He is vindictive."

Recommended Hillary Clinton launches blistering attack on NRA over Las Vegas

When questioned about whether Australia should be worried about the Republican inhabiting the White House, she said: "I think the whole world should be concerned."

Earlier this month the former Secretary of State spoke forcefully in favour of stricter gun control following a massacre in Las Vegas, which killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.

She said: Our grief isn't enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA [National Rifle Association], and work together to try to stop this from happening again."

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

Mr Trump was elected with the endorsement of the NRA, and repeatedly said the solution to mass shootings was having more citizens with firearms. The NRA ended up spending more that $30m (22m) on Mr Trump's presidential bid.
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Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo shut down questions from a far-right conspiracy theorist during a press conference on last week's massacre.

Laura Loomer had asked about changes to the police timeline of Stephen Paddock's movements in the days and hours before he shot dead 58 people from his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Authorities initially said the 64-year-old checked in to the resort on September 28, three days before the massacre, but now believe he arrived on September 25.

Recommended Conspiracy theories swirl as hunt for Las Vegas motive continues

Far-right trolls have seized upon the revision as evidence in support of various conspiracy theories, including claims of a false flag attack or cover-up of links to Isis terrorism.

"All of the evidence that is being leaked is further showing how the Deep State is covering it up," Ms Loomer has previously written on Twitter, describing the FBI as "the Federal Bureau of Islam".

But she was swiftly silenced by Sheriff Lombardo after asking a leading question about "timeline changes" at Monday's press conference.

Thats not how I conduct press conferences he told her.

Please stop asking your question. Theres a decorum that we have here.

He later confirmed authorities now believed Paddock had checked in to the hotel on September 25 and not September 28, although he added: "I'm under the belief he was not occupying the room between those dates."

Investigators remain mystified about Paddock's motive, and conspiracy theorists have taken advantage of the absence of information to promote groundless claims about the shooting.

InfoWars' Alex Jones, who has previously pushed falsehoods about the 9/11 terror attacks and Sandy Hook massacre, has depicted Paddock variably and without evidence as an Islamist terrorist, anti-fascist activist, and Democrat stooge.

Ms Loomer, who describes herself as an "investigative journalist", has appeared on InfoWars promoting her conspiracy theories. Her widely shared posts appear alongside appeals for money and links to her PayPal and Patreon accounts.
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Donald Trump has challenged Rex Tillerson to "compare IQ tests" if the Secretary of State did call him a "moron", as reported.

The president said he believed the reports were "fake news" but boasted he would win in a battle of wits with Mr Tillerson.

The pair's tense relationship burst into public view last week. An NBC News story claimed Vice President Mike Pence had to talk the secretary of state out of resigning this summer and that Mr Tillerson had described the president as a "moron."

 Rex Tillerson evades answering whether he called Trump a moron

In an interview with Forbes magazine, Mr Trump said: "I think it's fake news. But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

Mr Tillerson, who is scheduled to have lunch with Mr Trump and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday, held a special press conference last week to deny considering quitting. His spokeswoman insisted he had not used the language attributed to him.

Mr Trump also took to Twitter to deny the story last week, writing: "Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me."

But he was reportedly left "seething" after footage of him comforting victims of the Las Vegas massacre was overshadowed by the story.

MSNBC anchorwoman Stephanie Ruhle, who broke the story, was later quoted as saying: My source didnt just say he called him a moron. He said he called him an f***ing moron.

Mr Tillerson was reported to have made the remarks during at meeting with national security officials at the Pentagon after Mr Trump's highly politicised speech - likened by some to a "drunk stepdad" - to the Boy Scouts of America in July.

The Secretary of State once led the Boy Scouts organisation and was said to be unhappy with the president's election victory boasts and political attacks in his address to an audience of thousands of children at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree.

In Thursday's press conference, however, he insisted the reports were "erroneous" and described Mr Trump as "smart".

Pressed of the alleged moron comment, the former Exxon chief executive described the story as "misreported... petty nonsense meant to divide the Trump administration.

 Donald Trump's presidency 'could be doomed'

The president and his secretary of state have not always seen eye to eye. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate" with North Korea amid escalating fears of nuclear war.

"Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done," he wrote on Twitter.
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Ivanka Trump has called for a long-term solution for Dreamers, the childhood immigrants for whom her father has promised to end protections.

I am of the opinion  and the president has stated  that we have to figure out a good solution that protects these innocent people," Ms Trump said at a dinner panel honouring powerful women.

She added: There has to be a long-term fix. I cant be bandaged over on a presidential level by another executive order that can be rescinded by a subsequent administration.

Dreamers is a term used to refer to immigrants who came to America illegally as children. Under the Obama-era DACA programme, some Dreamers were given temporary work permits and protection from deportation. Donald Trump announced the end of DACA  with a six-month delay  in September, drawing outcry from many on the left.

Last month, Mr Trump looked poised to strike a deal with Democrats to protect the estimated 800,000 Dreamers in the country. He met with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, and even tweeted that he would revisit the issue if Congress could not come up with a solution.

People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Show all 16 1 /16 People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Washington, DC, U.S., February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants AUSTIN, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school student Kathia Suarez holds up a sign as she protests with others outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. LM Otero/AP People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school senior Vicky Sosa holds a sign outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. In an action called "A Day Without Immigrants," immigrants across the country are expected to stay home from school, work and close businesses to show how critical they are to the U.S. economy and way of life. LM Otero/AP

But the White House recently released a list of hard-line policy proposals that could put any Democratic deal in jeopardy. The policy priorities include constructing a border wall with Mexico, stopping sanctuary cities, and creating a merit-based immigration system  none of which would be popular with Democrats.

The administration cant be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans, Ms Pelosi and Mr Schumer responded in a statement.

White House officials clarified that the list should only be considered a starting point for a DACA deal.

 US rescinds DACA program for young immigrants

The Presidents daughter is said to be a mediating voice in his ear on social issues, but rarely speaks out publicly on her opinion. Sundays Fortune Most Powerful Women panel was an exception  if only a brief one.

After voicing her support for Dreamers, Ms Trump turned to echoing her fathers calls for large-scale immigration reform.

I think that is the right approach because our system is flawed, and it is not equipped to handle the challenges, she said. [O]ur visa program is deeply flawed. Were not retaining the best talent for the jobs that we need and that has to fundamentally be reconsidered.

The White Houses list of proposals has been sent of Congress to consider.
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President Donald Trump has challenged his Secretary of State to a battle of the wits  but intelligence experts dont think thats such a good idea.

The President lashed out at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a recent interview with Forbes, responding to reports that Mr Tillerson had called him a moron during a Pentagon meeting. (The State Department denies this occurred.) Tensions between the two men have simmered in recent weeks, and some say the Secretary of State is planning his departure.

I think its fake news, but if he did that, I guess well have to compare IQ tests, Mr Trump said of the "moron" comments. And I can tell you who is going to win.

Recommended Donald Trump challenges Rex Tillerson to IQ test

Joel Schneider, a Temple University professor who studies the assessment of intelligence, says he can tell, too.

My money's on Tillerson, he told The Independent, pointing to the Secretary's previous experience as CEO of Exxon Mobil.

Large companies like that generally aren't run by unintelligent people," he said.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

Stephen Ceci, a Professor of Developmental Psychology at Cornell University, declined to comment on the match-up, but said Mr Trump would likely come in somewhere in the mid-range of IQ scores, based on his word usage and lack of inhibition.

Mr Schneider, however, thinks the former businessman would actually be considered "bright" compared to the general population (though not, he stimulated, compared to past presidents).

People criticise his vocabulary, which is extremely narrow, but every once in awhile he'll let a $20 word out, [so] you can tell that he actually does know these words, Mr Schneider said.

He added that the Presidents winding, wordy sentence structure actually indicates a good short-term memory.

His mind wanders as he talks a lot, but what's striking to me is that he usually finishes his sentences, no matter how long they are, Mr Schneider said. He doesn't lose track.

Mr Trumps more obvious public gaffes  mispronouncing the Turkish President's name, or telling an audience in Israel he "just got back from the Middle East"  dont stem from a low intelligence, Mr Schneider said. Instead, they come his lack of intellectual curiosity.

His bad moves generally come from his narcissism, and his arrogance, and his extreme centeredness, he said. He doesn't seem to know very much, because all he cares about is himself. And he knows a great deal about himself.

 Trump tells interviewer: "I think I'm much more humble than you would understand"

Jack Naglieri, a psychological research professor who also develops intelligence tests, has a different theory. He believes Mr Trump is lacking in executive function  the process of strategising, evaluating, decision making, and impulse control.

According to Mr Naglieri, strong executive function is a hallmark of intelligence," and makes for a more modern, reliable indicator than notoriously imprecise IQ tests.

It's very, very clear that Trump lacks this critical executive function, Mr Naglieri said, pointing to the Presidents outbursts, impulsivity, and apparent lack of empathy and insight.

The tweeting is an obvious impulse control problem, Mr Naglieri said.

As for who would win in a battle of the wits, the researcher is absolutely on team Tillerson.

Tillerson is clearly a person who has impulse control, who thinks things through, he said. ...He's not blurting out, he's not impulsive, he's not flying off the handle. He's not telegraphing his anger like Trump does.

I'd put my money on Tillerson any day, he added.
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Donald Trumps ex-wife has claimed she has an active presence in the presidents life, including a direct line to the White House.

In an interview on Good Morning America, Ivana Trump said she had a direct number to the White House and talked to Mr Trump about once every two weeks, although she said she was wary of antagonizing the presidents current wife Melania.

I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that, because I'm basically first Trump wife. OK? I'm first lady, Ivana Trump said, also suggesting that Melania Trump would chafe at the horrible responsibility of living in Washington.

That prompted a scathing rebuttal from Melania Trump, whose spokeswoman said the first lady loves living in Washington and is honored by the role.

There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise, the statement said.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

The White House did not respond to a question about whether Ivana Trump has access to a direct phone line.

With Melania, the president is currently on his third wife. His marriage to Ivana Trump - the mother of children Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric, all of whom have functioned as key advisers to the president - dissolved amid Mr Trumps affair with Marla Maples, which became a staple of New York tabloids and fueled a contentious divorce.

 Donald Trump 'asks ex-wife Ivana for advice about Tweeting'

During the divorce was brutal, Ivana Trump said. He took the divorce as a business deal and he cannot lose. He has to win.

While Ivana Trump said she had forgiven Mr Trump his transgressions with Ms Maples and discounted the idea that he is sexist, saying he definitely respected women, she said she remained angry with Ms Maples.
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Donald Trump may be planning to visit the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, it has been claimed.

The rumoured tour would come during his November visit to the South, according to a source quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

A White House reconnaissance team scouted potential destinations including around Panmunjom and Observation Post Ouellette, the source said.

Trump will likely do something like that and his aides are making the relevant preparations, they added.

Mr Trump is due to visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii, in less than two weeks next month.

His predecessor, Barack Obama, visited Observation Post Ouellette in 2012, peering into North Korea through bulletproof glass and a pair of binoculars.

The visit will come after Mr Trump signalled he believed only one thing will work to curb the Norths nuclear ambitions.

He told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to save your energy, after the US top diplomat said his country maintained channels of communication with Pyongyang despite heightened tensions.
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A woman reportedly threatened to accuse a father of paedophilia because he was using a supermarket nappy-changing room which she claimed was only for women.

As the man tried to change his young son's dirty nappy, the woman is said to have told him that the room was only for mothers".

"Get out, you sicko, she said, according to another mother, Mikaa Ives, who recounted the episode in a Facebook post.

Recommended Australia hears citizenship case that could collapse government

Ms Ives from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, said she had gone to change her own daughter at Kawana Shopping World when "a lady with two little kids entered the same time I did."

She said the dad, who was in the middle of changing his son's nappy was "already having a difficult time with his son not wanting to be changed", when "the lady piped up and started abusing the dad for being in the parents room."

The lady she started "saying she would call security and say he was staring at her naked kids if he didnt leave the room, she added.

He picked up his son, who, mind you, didnt even have a clean nappy on yet, and went to stand outside the door," Ms Ives wrote. "His son was hysterical and hes just saying, Its okay mate, well go back in there soon. At this point I thought f**k this, told the dad to come back in and finish changing his son, told the lady that if she wanted to call security to go ahead because I would 100 per cent back the dad up.

She didnt even change her kids, just had them in there playing so she could sit on her phone. I was beyond disgusted. Old mate finished changing his son, thanked me and off he went.

She added that the woman "didnt even change her kids, just had them in there playing so she could sit on her phone."

As a result, she was she was "beyond disgusted" but the man "finished changing his son, thanked me and off he went.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. 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Ms Ivess post attracted widespread support on the Sunny Coast Community Board page.

Other Facebook users also weighed in. One said: This is so sad, dads deserve as many rights as mums, poor guy.

And another said: I got this on so many occasions [being] a single dad with my daughter 24/7, made me not want to go out.
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All plane tickets should be subject to a levy to fund the repatriation of passengers after an airline collapses, the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) has demanded.

The organisations chief executive, Mark Tanzer, said: The Monarch collapse has shown consumer protection in travel is not understood and theres a gaping hole at its centre.

Monarch went into administration in the early hours of 2 October, citing terrorism in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt for its demise. Almost 2,000 employees lost their jobs.

Simultaneously the Government announced that all 110,000 passengers with Monarch tickets up to 15 October would be brought back free of charge.

Mr Tanzer told Abtas convention in the Azores that the association was not consulted about the airlift. He called the exercise completely unsatisfactory, and said: It sets a precedent for next time theres an airline failure.

Either the Government sticks to the principle youre unprotected, youre on your own or it adopts the principle that everyone has to be brought back.

If the latter, he said, There has to be a fighting fund based on a levy on all flights.

A levy of 1 on all flights from the UK would amass around 125m in a year. The Government-funded airlift cost about half as much  representing a fare of 545 per passenger.

On Monday the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, praised the airlift: I have been hugely impressed by what I have seen, and we have had a very strong, supportive response from the passengers affected.

He said: There would have been insufficient capacity in the commercial aviation market to enable passengers to get home on other airlines. The danger was that tens of thousands of passengers abroad would have no easy means of returning to the UK.

That is why I instructed the CAA to ensure that all those abroad were offered an alternative flight home.

We are currently engaged in constructive discussions with the relevant credit and debit card providers so that we can recoup from them some of the cost to taxpayers of the repatriation flights."

But Andy McDonald, the Shadow Transport Secretary blamed the collapse on a litany of failures by the Government, the regulator and the companys financial backers and advisers.

He said: A further backdrop to the industry is the foggy skies of Brexit, and the total lack of certainty from this Government for the British aviation industry after March 2019.

Mr Grayling responded: This airline did not fail because of Brexit; this airline failed because it had a business model that was not capable of dealing with a price war in the Mediterranean.

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If governing was all about making the right noises, Theresa May would be an exceptional Prime Minister. For instance, she hit upon the crisis in social housing and promised action. We all applauded. And then found out that her actual response to this national emergency was to build 5,000 houses, dismissed by an independent expert as chicken feed.

So too, sadly, with mental health, which as a Liberal Democrat health minister in the coalition I tried to push to the top of the political agenda. Recently the Prime Minister declared: Ive made mental health a priority precisely because there are issues. Over the years we havent given mental health the same focus in our national health service and other services as I think is necessary.

But on World Mental Health Day, let us look at the reality. Far from building on the Liberal Democrat legacy, the Conservatives have taken a wrecking ball to it.

Additional funding secured by the Lib Dems in the last coalition Budget  1.25bn over five years  is not all being delivered. In year one, almost half was diverted elsewhere. In year two, half of local areas fell short of what they should have spent.

Even if, for a moment, you put aside the human misery of mental ill health, this parsimonious attitude represents poor economics. Mental health problems cost 70 million days off sick a year, with one in six employees depressed. The bill? 22bn a year  eye-watering sums, and behind them often are tear-jerking stories.

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But money is not the only policy failure.

Shockingly, the Care Quality Commission reported in July that there are 3,500 beds in locked mental health rehabilitation wards  a contradiction, surely? These beds are often a long way from home, leaving victims institutionalised and isolated.

The CQC also highlighted the use of force to restrain patients. Four years on from the guidance I issued as minister to end this practice, it persists in far too many places. My investigation revealed a staggering 12,347 cases of face-down restraint in a single year  33 each day.

Yet Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that no one shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. The uncomfortable truth is that in Britain in 2017, many people are.

Imagine having suffered abuse earlier in your life and then experiencing the physical force of face down restraint in a mental health ward. This can destroy trust and can be appallingly traumatic.

In childrens mental health services, long waits and outrageous thresholds for admission are common. A father in North Norfolk told me how his teenage daughter with significant mental illness had been told that she would have to wait up to nine months to start her treatment.

And then there are those shunted across the country because there is no care available close to home.

Things are so bad that a judge had to intervene in August to demand a bed be found for a teenage girl who was acutely ill and about to be released from youth custody.

The nation, he said, would have blood on its hands if an NHS bed could not be found.

Meanwhile, teenagers with an eating disorder are too often turned away from treatment: Your body mass index isnt low enough.

Would we turn away someone with cancer and tell them to return when their tumour had grown? Like cancer, eating disorders can kill.

And it is a scandal of our time that there are so many people in our prisons who are there, in large part, because of their mental ill health. Yet their chances of proper care and treatment are not good.

There were a catastrophic 40,000 cases of self-harm in our prisons last year. Every three days, a life was lost to suicide. Even putting aside the human cost, surely proper investment in wellbeing, education and drug rehabilitation in prison  and diverting more people away from incarceration  would ultimately save money. The recidivism rate would surely fall, rather than leaving us with one of the highest prison populations in Europe.

While chairing a commission on mental health in the West Midlands, Ive proposed a Wellbeing Premium  a temporary discount on your business rates if you take tangible steps to improve wellbeing at work. If we can show clear, positive results from our proposed trial, then the Government should roll this out across the country.

And we should set a clear requirement that any company bidding for public contracts must demonstrate that they are a good employer, that they care for their workers. Why should we give work to corporate cowboys?

We could also make mental health awareness part of teacher training, because it is the incidence of mental illness among young people that is now so alarming.

But we cannot hide away from the uncomfortable truth that we need more resources. If Theresa May can think beyond the headlines to her legacy, she will realise government is about tackling the problem, not the publicity.

Norman Lamb is the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk
Sixty-five farmed salmon have been caught in Galway and Mayo rivers since August

Scores of farmed salmon have been caught in five renowned rivers despite producers not reporting any escapes, fisheries chiefs have revealed.

Sixty-five of the fish were taken from the Delphi, Erriff, Kylemore/Dawros, Newport and Bunowen catchments in counties Galway and Mayo since August.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) said the licensing authority in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had confirmed tha t salmon farm owners have not filed any reports of escapes from cages.

The fisheries agency took the step of issuing a statement from its board, chaired by Fintan Gorman, amid concerns about the damage that inter-breeding can do.

"Inland Fisheries Ireland has been charged with the protection of wild Atlantic salmon and continues to have concerns regarding the impacts of fish farms on Ireland's precious wild fish," it said.

"The licencing regime and best management practice should provide assurance to the state that controls are in place that safeguard our heritage. This does not appear to be the case in this instance.

"Inland Fisheries Ireland supports sustainable fish farming but cautions against the renewal and/or award of licences where conditions are not being adhered to.

"The board recommends immediate strict enforcement and audit of existing licence conditions to ensure compliance and ultimately a sustainable resource for all."

Inland Fisheries said the scale of escapes from salmon farms is not fully understood.

It said the majority of the 65 escaped fish were caught by anglers, demonstrating that only a small proportion have been seen or intercepted.

Inland Fisheries' scientists are also running analysis on the captured fish in an attempt to identify their history and maturity and assess the risk to wild stocks.

Three tests so far were found to be mature males with the potential to spawn and impact the genetic integrity of native salmon stock, the agency said.

The river catchments where the farmed fish were caught are said to be already under pressure from significant decreases in salmon runs over the last 20 years.

All fish entering the Erriff are monitored in an upstream trap allowing for the removal of farmed fish.

There are no traps on the Delphi, Kylemore, Newport or Bunowen systems.

"Inland Fisheries Ireland staff will continue to monitor the situation. However, it will be extremely difficult to assess the exact numbers of escapees potentially running the river systems without having appropriate information on escapes from any affected farm," the agency said.
The City of London looks set to lose more business because of Brexit

The City of London could see an "avalanche" of companies leaving unless the UK government can bring some clarity to the Brexit talks and the proposed transition, the mayor of London's financial district has warned.

Alderman Andrew Parmley, Lord Mayor of the City of London, said there has so far been little movement of staff out of London to other locations as a result of the Brexit vote, but preparations are being made.

"In terms of people actually leaving the City, we're told night and day that the City is going to decamp to Dublin, to Frankfurt, to Paris, to New York, etc," Mr Parmley said.

"Thus far we've seen very little movement of people, although we've seen a great deal of preparation for movement," he added.

He said JP Morgan was planning on doubling its headcount in the EU outside of the UK, as it plans to expand its staff in Dublin, but is still retaining 14,000 workers in the Square Mile.

"That's the current situation but this could become a complete avalanche, or deluge, if we don't get clarity about transition," Mr Parmley told the Dublin Chamber Brexit lunch.

Mr Parmley, who holds the ceremonial post of mayor of the municipal authority that oversees London's financial district, has stressed that the financial sector needs to know more about the "final state" or future trading terms with the EU.

He also told the audience of business chiefs that Dublin would beat other European rivals like Paris and Frankfurt as a location for companies displaced from London due to Brexit.

But he warned there is competition from outside the EU also.

"Dublin would be a natural partner within the European environment.

"Because of the language, because of the long tradition of co-operation together and because of the huge amount of bilateral trade," Mr Parmley said.

"That said, if London begins to fail, and we see fragmentation on the scale that we've been told, I don't think in the end, the net beneficiaries are going to be Dublin, Frankfurt or Paris, they're going to be New York, Singapore or Hong Kong," he said.

"So we've all got to watch out for the bigger players."

During his two-day visit here, Mr Parmley will hold talks with Central Bank Governor Professor Philip Lane as well as Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

He will also travel to Belfast. It has been chosen as the prime location for the UK's innovation centre for cybersecurity and the City's ambassador for the financial sector will tour it during his visit.
It's the one day when the most popular thing for Irish people to talk about is not the weather.

Budget Day gives us an incredible amount of mileage to air our views to anyone who will listen.

Which mostly involves plain old giving out.

Here are ten of the things youre likely to hear next Tuesday, October 10.

1) "That's it... I'm giving up the fags"

Cigarettes are likely to be hit again in Budget 2018 so prepare for the vehement promises never to have another ciggie. But on Wednesday the refrain will probably sound more like "I can't believe my fags cost this much". Moaning - but paying.

2) "Will somebody please explain who the squeezed middle is?"

This oh so vague phrase encompasses just about everyone who feels like they've been financially hard done by. So before you assume that you fit in to this bracket - which is apparently due to get some relief - take a look at the small print and make sure it's your own back pocket that benefits.

3) "The price of a bottle of wine has gone up Again?!"

See point no 1. The chances are that a good many people will be so disappointed - nay bored - with the speech on Tuesday that they'll need a tipple. And sure we'll have that 5 for the price of a (cheap) pint no?

4) "Im never voting for Fine Gael or Fianna Fail again"

Ah yes, the disgruntled resolutions...Let's see what happens in the next election so.

5) "Ah sure the boom is definitely back"

This regularly trotted out phrase applies to the ever growing rush-hour traffic, the return to camping overnight in the hope of paying over 400k for a standard three-bed house and bank officials suddenly asking 'Are your lending needs looked after?'. And while it might not even really be relevant on Tuesday, be sure the worn out expression will be given an airing.

6) "You won't see those cuts in Leo's wage packet, will ye?"

When the dust settles and we've totted up how we fared on the Budget calculator (and realise that we're really no better off than we were before all the fuss), there's only one thing to do. Give out about how much the politicians are earning. Sure that'll make you feel better.

7) "But what the hell is happening with Brexit?"

Yes, there's another B-word in town, and it's still relevant. With all those businesses, agencies and individuals impacted by Brexit calling for extra support to ward off the threat, it remains to be seen how much money will be allocated to stretch around.

8) "This country has gone to the dogs"

See point no 5. You can't beat the old reliables. Even if you haven't got a breeze of what's going on around you, at least you'll sound like you care.

9) "Why didn't we take that 13bn back from Apple?"

With hope pretty much completely dashed that Donohoe will pull a wad of hidden cash out for Budget 2018, that 13bn would come in really handy...

10) "I remember when a Mars Bar used to cost 30p"

Best start making a little kitty of those 10c coins or you'll be stuck shaking the vending machine again.
Around 20,000 toddlers are to get almost four extra months in free preschool as a result of todays Budget.

Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone has secured funding to close a series of anomalies in the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme (ECCE), increasing the average entitlement from 61 weeks to 76.

From next September all children aged between three and four will be entitled to two full years of free preschool.

In his first speech as Finance Minister, Paschal Donohoe will emphasise the Government wants to help working families. He will today unveil cuts to the universal social charge, a widening of the tax band and an increase in tax credit for the self-employed.

The Irish Independent understands he will cut the 2.5pc rate of USC by 0.5pc and the middle 5pc rate by 0.25pc. This, when combined with a rise of about 750 to the point at which workers enter the higher income tax bracket, means a worker on 50,000 stands to be 250 better off over the course of a year.

The measures will put around 20 back in the average workers pocket every month, but sources say Mr Donohoe promises more to come in the years ahead if the economy stays on track.

It will be the first time in a decade that the countrys books will be balanced as a result of a series of revenue-raising measures including a major hike to stamp duty on commercial property sales, the introduction of a sugar tax and increases to employers PRSI.

Mr Donohoe will also announce a 400m increase in spending on social housing and a new scheme targeted at people who dont qualify for a local authority house but cant afford a mortgage.

The Irish Independent understands a special fund will also be established to help small-time developers who are struggling to get finance from the main banks. The minimum wage will also increase by 30 cents to 9.55 per hour.

While there will be no increase in the childcare subsidies which kicked in last month, money has been set aside to encourage more providers to sign up to the Affordable Childcare Scheme.

Creches and other childcare providers will receive 18m to help offset administration costs associated with the scheme. The allocation for Early Years/Childcare will be 490m, an increase of 34m from this year.

Last year the plan was to get the Affordable Childcare Scheme up and running, now the attention is being turned to improving quality in the sector, said a source.

As part of this shift in emphasis the child and family agency Tusla will see its funding increased by 37m to 750m.

This will primarily be used for an increase in the number of frontline staff but is also likely to see investment in IT.

The changes to ECCE should end a glaring anomaly under which entitlements vary significantly depending on the month of a childs birth. Currently a child born in September 2015 is entitled to 61 weeks of free pre-school but a child born a month earlier is entitled to 76 weeks. Similarly anomalies exist in the system throughout the school year.
EMPLOYERS will get a 10,000 subsidy to hire long-term unemployed workers who are over 50.

Employment and Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said the measure is an enhancement of the JobsPlus scheme to support older workers.

A new Youth Unemployment Support Scheme will also be rolled out next year for long-term unemployed young people.

"Working families are the backbone of the Irish economy," she said.

She said other measures to support those on lower incomes include a 30c increase in the minimum wage to 9.55 an hour.

The minister said the Back to Work Family Dividend that was due to end in March next year will be kept in place.

In other social welfare changes, payments are to increase by 5 per week, but recipients will have to wait until the last week of March 2018 for the changes to come into effect.

The Christmas Bonus for welfare recipients will be paid at 85pc again this year.
After weeks of speculation and leaks Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has revealed a Budget package of 1.2bn. Here is everything you need to know about how it will affect your pocket.

Tax

The entry point for higher rate of tax is to increase by 750. There have also been cuts to two rates of USC.

In total the changes are worth around 250 a year to the average worker.

Meanwhile for PAYE workers the threshold for the higher rate of income tax is to be raised by 750 from 33,800 to 34,550.

Mr Donohoe also announced that the 2.5pc USC rate is being reduced to 2pc and the 5pc USC rate is being dropped to 4.75pc.

Minimum wage

The minimum wage is to increase to 9.55 from January.

Mr Donohoe said the ceiling for the new 2pc rate is being raised from 18,772 to 19,372 to ensure that full-time workers won't be hit with a higher rate of USC, which would wipe out any gains.

Pensions and social welfare payments

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There will be a 5 increases to social welfare payments including pension, dole and disability allowance from last week of March 2018.

The Telephone Allowance is to be brought back at a rate of 2.50 per week.

Mr Donohoe also said there would be a 20 increase in the earnings disregard for the One Parent Family Payment and Jobseekers Transitional Scheme.

In addition, the threshold for the Family Income Supplement will rise by 10 a week for families with three children.

Meanwhile, stay at home parents are set to benefit by about 100 per year.

This is due to the increase in the home carer credit to 1,200 a year.

Diesel

There is no increase to the cost of diesel following Budget 2018. There will also be no hike on carbon tax.

Housing

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Minister Donohoe said housing is a priority for the Government as he outlined a number of measures to address the housing market. These include:

750m to be made available for commercial investment in housing finance.

In a significant move stamp duty is to rise to 6pc with effect from midnight tonight. For land used for residential developments the Government is introducing a stamp duty refund scheme subject to certain conditions.

The planned vacant site levy for 2019 will now be 7pc  not the 3pc previously announced.

The message to vacant site owners you need to get on with developing your lands urgently," Minister Donohoe said.

Funding for homeless services will increase by 18m to over 116m.

1.83bn is also being made available for additional housing delivery in 2018 - 3,800 new social homes next year 2018.

Housing Assistance Payment funding is to be increased by 149m in 2018, allowing an additional 17,000 household to be supported next year.

However Mortgage Interest Relief for boom-time buyers to be cut by 25pc in 2018.

Cigarettes

The cost of a box of cigarettes will hit 12 for the first time, following a 50c increase. There is no increase to duty on alcohol, which Mr Donohoe has said he did not feel would raise revenue.

Sugar Tax

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A 30 cent tax will be applied to the most sugary drinks on sale as part of the Governments bid to tackle obesity.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed that the tax on drinks containing over eight grams of sugar per 100 ml will be introduced next year.

A reduced tax of of 20 cent will be applied to drinks that contain between five and eight grams of sugar per 100ml, Mr Donohoe told the Dail.

The sugar tax will be introduced in April 2018 in conjunction with the UK and Northern Ireland. The move is subject to State aid approval and was agreed following a public consultation.

Mr Donohoe estimates that the tax will net the Exchequer 40m in a full year.

Sunbeds

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In his budget speech, Mr Donohoe announced plans to increase the VAT rate on sunbed services from 13.5 per cent to 23pc.

This is in recognition of the clear evidence of a link between sunbeds and skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in Ireland, Mr Donohoe said.

Childcare

There is no increase to childcare subsidies introduced last year which came into effect in September. However, Minister Zappone has secured funding to close loopholes which will see around 20,000 three and four-year-olds benefit from additional free childcare.

Funding has been secured for the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme (ECCE), increasing the average entitlement from 61 weeks to 76.

Public services

In education, 1,300 extra teaching posts have been announced for 2018, which will reduce pupil-teacher ratio to 26:1. Extra funding has also been made available for 1,000 additional special needs assistants.

Meanwhile the levy paid by employers toward National Training Fund is to be raised by 0.1pc next year and again in 2019 and 2020.

Health funding is to rise by just under 5pc, or 685m, bringing total funding to 15.3bn. This includes funding for 1,800 new frontline staff.

Additional funding is to be made available for the recruitment of 800 new gardai next year.
Budget 2018 has been described as "morally indefensible", as interest groups and the opposition offer their criticisms on Paschal Donohoe's 1.2bn Budget package.

The leader of the country's largest union has described the Budget as a "slick piece of political presentation" that is "morally indefensible".

Siptu President Jack O'Connor said that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, backed by a "coterie or right wing independents", have returned to a value system that sparked the economic crash.

He said the parties had the chance to transform "our grossly unequal society" for the first time since the economic collapse of 2008.

"In the midst of a housing and homeless crisis, the government has chosen to deploy 335m on token tax cuts, 461m on continuing the VAT give away to bad employers in the hospitality sector and 1.5bn on a totally unnecessary pet project rainy day fund," he said.

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He said this amounts to 2.29bn, which could build 12,000 local authority houses that "would actually make a difference".

"On top of that, developers are to be gifted 750 million or 60pc of the cost of constructing 6,000 houses," he said.

Meanwhile, Barnardos chief and Children's Rights advocate Fergus Finlay, speaking on RTE news described the Budget as a "dolly-mixture" Budget.

The Irish Medical Association has slammed the Budget has "fake news".

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IMO president Dr Ann Hogan has hit out at the Government, who today announced an increase in health funding of 685m, bringing total funding to 15.3bn. This includes funding for 1,800 new frontline staff.

"That is nothing but spin and fake news. The reality is that our spending on public health services has not kept pace with either rising demands or the increase in population of our patients over 65," she said.

"Everyone knows that the health budget for the coming year will not even keep pace with health demands and the various crises afflicting the health services will worsen over the coming year. What we now know as a crisis in our health services will become the new norm and we still wait for our Government to make meaningful investment."

The Government's newly announced housing measures have received a mixed reaction.

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The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland welcomed several measures aimed at boosting the housing stock.

But the group warned that the Vacant Levy tax hike may not go far enough.

Supply has finally become the focus of the Governments plans. The housing crisis has been worsening because of the lack of supply and new building," Aine Myler, Director General of the society said.

The increase to the Vacant Site levy is a welcome signal to the market to get building. However, the increase from 3pc to 7pc may not be sufficient in a market with double digit capital appreciation rates on development land."

Meanwhile, the national representative body for private landlords, the Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA) strongly criticised Budget 2018 for "ignoring the difficulties in the private Rented Sector again and pigeon holing, 700,000 Tenants and 175,000 Landlords into obscurity".

IPOA Chairman, Stephen Faughnan, said that the Budget was "another missed opportunity" to encourage private landlords to stay in the sector following many years of bad decisions.

Meanwhile, today's reduction in the Pupil Teacher Ratio to one teacher for every 26 pupils, 26:1, down from 27:1, has been broadly welcomed.

The reduction of the PTR to 26:1 is expected to have a direct impact on about 300 schools, those with the most overcrowded classes. That amounts to about 10pc of all primary schools.

Schools will be told to use the extra resources to prioritise smaller classes for infant pupils, where it is deemed to make the most difference,

Currently, average class sizes in Ireland are about 25, second highest in the EU after the UK , and well ahead of the EU average of 20.

Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said it was a welcome step towards bringing Irish class sizes into line with other countries.

This is the first move to tackle over-crowding by this government. Irish primary schools will see this as progress towards a fairer deal for children.

Meanwhile, Solidarity People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, described the budget as a "budget of spin".

Sinn Fein's Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the Budget marks a return to the "boom and bust" politics of the past.

The Labour party have also been critical of today's Budget with deputy Alan Kelly even going as far as using a cup of coffee as a prop in the Dail when delivering his comments.
Almost two-thirds of Independent.ie readers feel that Budget 2018 will not leave them better off.

The Budget introduced a mix of moderate tax changes and Social Welfare increases against revenue raising measures including a rise to commercial stamp duty and an increase in excise duty on cigarettes.

But more than 1,300 readers who responded to Independent.ie's poll said they will not be better off thanks to the measures announced today.

Some 31pc of respondents said they would be somewhat better off as a result of the budget, while a minority (4pc) said they would be significantly better off.

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The Budget has been met with mixed reaction across the board: housing and homelessness campaigners have given it a cautious welcome, while the opposition has criticised it as a "stand still" Budget and a return to the politics of boom and bust.

We asked our readers if they feel the Budget has done enough for their back pocket:

Many of the changes introduced by Minister Donohoe today will not come into effect immediately. Below is a timeline for how they will be rolled out:

Cigarettes

From midnight tonight smokers will be paying more than 12 for a box of cigarettes for the first time, following a 50c hike.

Commercial Stamp Duty

A new rate of Commercial Stamp Duty will come into effect at midnight also. The rate will rise from 2pc to 6pc tonight.

However, buyers of residential land will be entitled to claim back the stamp duty, provided that development takes place within 30 months of the land being purchased.

Tax changes

Changes to two rates of USC and the widening of tax bands to raise the ceiling at which earners begin paying the higher rate of income tax is due to come into effect in January 2018.

Sugar tax

A two tier sugar tax of 30c per litre on sugary drinks with more than 8g of sugar per 100mls and 20c on drinks with between 5 and 8g of sugar per 100mls is due to be introduced in April 2018, in tandem with the UK.

Social welfare hikes

Social welfare payments are to increase by 5 per week, but recipients will have to wait until the last week of March 2018 for the changes to come into effect. The Christmas Bonus for welfare recipients will be paid at 85pc again this year.

Mortgage Interest Relief to be cut

Boom-time buyers who are benefiting from mortgage interest relief will now see that cut by 25pc this year as part of a phasing out plan.

The tax relief will be reduced by 25pc every year for the next three years. It is expected the reduction will save the State 50m next year.

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It could be September before branded cigarettes disappear entirely from shop shelves after tobacco was stockpiled in order to beat new plain-packaging laws.

The news comes as Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe prepares to increase the excise duty on a packet of cigarettes by 50 cents, bring the price of 20 for many standard brands to 12.

But the Irish Independent has learned that the Department of Finance has struggled to predict the income from taxes on tobacco in recent months due to the introduction of plain packaging.

New rules mean that, from last month, manufacturers can only import non-branded cigarette packets into Ireland.

However, it has emerged that companies brought in significant quantities of tobacco prior to September which can be legally sold for up to a year.

The move has complicated the Department of Finances efforts to predict income from excise duties.

By moving stock literally from one side of the warehouse to the other across the customs line, and paying the excise on it, it meant they had stock that was still branded and they can sell, said a senior finance official, who noted that excise has fluctuated greatly in recent years as tobacco firms had anticipated plain packaging coming into force earlier.

By the end of September 2015 Revenue had collected 3.7bn in excise duty.

Last year this rose by around 615m but it is down from that high by 173m for 2017. The hike in prices will kick in at midnight tonight.
FINANCE Minister Paschal Donohoe has delivered his first Budget, which has been described by some as a "dolly mixture" budget by some people. Here are the 10 talking points that everyone needs to know about after his speech.

Tax changes

Tweaks to the tax band at which people begin paying a higher rate and a cut to two rates of USC is set to see the average worker round 250 better off each year. Meanwhile, stay at home parents are set to benefit by about 100 per year.

This is due to the increase in the home carer credit to 1,200 a year.

Meanwhile for PAYE workers threshold for the higher rate of income tax to applied raised by 750 from 33,800 to 34,550.

Mr Donohoe also announced that the 2.5pc USC rate is being reduced to 2pc and the 5pc USC rate is being dropped to 4.75pc.

Minimum Wage

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The new increased national minimum wage of 9.55-an-hour won't pay the upper rates of USC.

He said the ceiling for the new 2pc rate is being raised from 18,772 to 19,372 to ensure that full-time workers won't be hit with a higher rate of USC, which would wipe out any gains.

Mortgage interest relief

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Boom-time buyers who are benefiting from mortgage interest relief will now see that cut by 25pc this year as part of a phasing out plan.

The move has been criticised by some who argue that it may lead to more people being unable to pay their mortgage.

The tax relief will be reduced by 25pc every year for the next three years. It is expected the reduction will save the State 50m next year.

Housing supply

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Noting that the Government is acutely aware of the housing crisis Minister Donohoe announced a number of measures to address the housing crisis.

The Government also plans to provide 750m in commercial lending for home builders, which will deliver up to 6,000 homes and help struggling small and medium-sized builders who cannot secure finance.

Some 1.83bn will be spend on housing in 2018. A total of 3,800 new social houses and apartments will be built by local authorities and approved housing bodies, and an additional 149m will be spent on the Housing Assistance Payment, which is paid by the State to landlords.

The spend on homeless services will also increase by 17m to 116m.

The Government has pledged to deliver an additional 4,000 extra housing units next year.

A number of measures aimed at supply were also announced today.

On vacant homes, owners will be able to claim tax relief of up to 5,000 to bring properties back into use for rent. The vacant site levy is being more than doubled from 3pc to 7pc, and commercial stamp duty will rise from 2pc to 6pc by midnight tonight.

Buyers of residential land will be entitled to claim back the stamp duty, provided that development takes place within 30 months of the land being purchased.

In a blow for homeowners who bought between 2004 and 2012, Mortgage interest relief will be scrapped by 2020.

Childcare

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An additional 20 million allocation in 2018 towards an extension of the Pre-School programme, allowing children of pre-school age access to a full two-years of pre-school service.

During his budget speech in the Dail today, Mr Donoghue said the government was committed to the development of affordable quality childcare with a focus on children, parents and providers.

In addition, the capitation rate for providers of the ECCE Pre-school programme will increase by 7 per cent from September 2018. The ECCE scheme provides early childhood care and education for children of pre-school age, not older than 5 and a-half years of age.

Social welfare

All social welfare recipients including pensioners, job seekers and the disabled will get an extra 5 a week from the last week in March next year.

This follows a 5 increase in the maximum rate of all weekly payments for 1.5 million beneficiaries that came into force this year as part of the last budget.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe also said a Christmas bonus, worth 85pc of the weekly payment, will be paid again this year.

In a further boost for pensioners, the Telephone Support Allowance will rise by 2.50 a week for those living alone and receiving the fuel allowance.

Mr Donohoe also said there would be a 20 increase in the earnings disregard for the One Parent Family Payment and Jobseekers Transitional Scheme.

In addition, the threshold for the Family Income Supplement will rise by 10 a week for families with three children.

Teachers, health staff and gardai

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Funding has been announced for an additional 800 garda recruits in 2018, while extra funding has also been made available to lower the teacher-pupil ratio to 26:1.

1,300 extra teaching posts have been announced for 2018, which will reduce pupil-teacher ratio to 26:1. Extra funding has also been made available for 1,000 additional special needs assistants.

Meanwhile the levy paid by employers toward National Training Fund is to be raised by 0.1pc next year and again in 2019 and 2020.

Health funding is to rise by just under 5pc, or 685m, bringing total funding to 15.3bn. This includes funding for 1,800 new frontline staff.

Cigarettes, diesel and sunbeds

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The areas for traditional excise increases has produced a mixed bag this year. Cigarettes are to increase by 50c to 12 for the first time. Jowever, diesel remains untouched, as does carbon tax.

Meanwhile, Mr Donohoe announced plans to increase the VAT rate on sunbed services from 13.5 per cent to 23pc.

This is in recognition of the clear evidence of a link between sunbeds and skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in Ireland, Mr Donohoe said.

Alcohol excise duty is also to remain the same.

Sugar tax

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A 30 cent tax will be applied to the most sugary drinks on sale as part of the Governments bid to tackle obesity.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed that the tax on drinks containing over eight grams of sugar per 100 millilitres will be introduced next year.

A reduced tax of of 20 cent will be applied to drinks that contain between five and eight grams of sugar per 100ml, Mr Donohoe told the Dail.

The sugar tax will be introduced in April 2018 in conjunction with the UK and Northern Ireland. The move is subject to State aid approval and was agreed following a public consultation.

Mr Donohoe estimates that the tax will net the Exchequer 40m in a full year.

Brexit

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The challenges posed by Brexit made a number of appearances in this year's Budget speech.

A Brexit Loan Scheme is to be set up with 300m for SMEs who need to innovate to meet the challenges posed by the UK leaving the EU.

Another 25m is to be set aside for Brexit response loan scheme for agrifood sector. Meanwhile, the Minister for Agriculture gets 50m for Brexit response measures in 2018.
Welfare payments, including the dole and the old-age pension, will be increased across the board by 5. Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has also secured agreement for increases to the fuel and telephone allowance  but these hikes will not come into effect until the latter months of 2018.

The Christmas bonus is to be retained in a move that benefits thousands of welfare recipients.

The decision to increase welfare payments across the board is in line with Ms Dohertys pledge that nobody will be left behind.

Other groups, such as lone parents, the disabled, the carers and the blind are due to enjoy their increases from March or April.

Some 1.3 million medical cards are to also benefit from a 50c reduction in prescription charges as a result of a deal brokered by Health Minister Simon Harris.

Prescription charges were reduced from 2.50 to 2 for the over 70s last year  with the same cut being brought in for families and those under 70.

Mr Harris has secured an increase in his overall budget  with a major focus on tackling hospital waiting lists.

Its understood a 55m boost will be provided to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which has been tasked with implementing measures to tackling long waiting lists and overcrowding.

The restoration of the NTPF was a key demand of Fianna Fail in return for the party agreeing to prop up Fine Gael.

There will also be substantial investment in home help and a dedicated fund to assist those affected by dementia.

Funding for scoliosis  a medical condition that affects the spine  will also be included.

But one of the headline items out of health today relates to the States Nursing Home Support programme, known as Fair Deal.

As first revealed by the Irish Independent, the Government will introduce a three-year cap on contributions from farms and businesses. This will dramatically reduce the financial burden facing elderly people and their loved ones.

Under the current scheme, families pay a 7.5pc annual contribution on their principal residence for a maximum of three years.

However, the three-year cap does not apply to farmland or business premises  meaning the financial burden facing farmers and business owners is much greater. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is due to announce the extension of the cap to farm and business assets in his speech today.

Aside from the changes to Fair Deal, Older People Minister Jim Daly has also secured extra money and a new centralised hub for mental health services, as well as a new fund for community and voluntary groups that specialise in helping the elderly. And tax incentives for employers who hire older workers will also be announced, according to Minister Kevin Boxer Moran.
The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue's announcement in today's Budget that Stamp Duty on commercial property transactions will increase from 2pc to 6pc.

And unbeknown to many, 'commercial' property includes farmland. However, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed told journalists today in his post-Budget press briefing that agricultural land would not be included in the new measure.

However, Minister Donohoe never mentioned any exemptions to the Stamp Duty increase for farmland, making it look likely that farmland will continue to be classed as 'commercial' when it comes to Stamp Duty calculations.

Stamp Duty on non-residential property was lowered to 2pc in 2011 to get the commercial property market moving again.

In the Dail today, Donohoe said that it worked and now that the market is performing strongly, the time is right to focus resources elsewhere.

The Minister said the new rate which comes into force at midnight is still below the maximum rate of 9pc charged between 2002 and 2008.

And if that is true, from midnight tonight the price of land will be a lot more expensive.

According to tax expert Declan McEvoy, IFAC Accountants, the impact on farmers is that those who purchase land will now liable to the higher rate of Stamp Duty.

On 100 acres land worth 1m, he says the purchaser will now be liable to pay Stamp Duty of 6pc  leaving them facing a Stamp Duty bill of 60,000 - instead of a previous bill of 20,000.

He also said an immediate unknown is whether transactions that have not yet closed before midnight tonight will be subject to the new rules, as this will mean an increased cost of 40,000  the increase from 2pc to 6pc.

He says the Stamp Duty increase would encourage more inter family land transfers with the young trained farmer relief critical  as young trained farmers will not be subject to the 6pc as long as they are under 35 years of age and meet the criteria set out.

But if the new measure does apply to farmland, it is certain to make outside farmer buyers think twice before buying land.

IFA President Joe Healy said that any increase in commercial Stamp Duty, from 2pc to 6pc, will increase the cost of land purchase if it is included.

Now, it remains to be seen if any exemption can be put in place to exclude farmland and keep the Stamp Duty rate at 2pc for farmers.
Marginal farmers are set to be among the winners in today's Budget.

The long-awaited 25m top-up to the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme will be given the green light, the Farming Independent has learned.

All of the farm lobby groups have been calling for action on the commitment to increase the ANC set out in the Programme for Government.

Expenditure on the TAMS programme is also expected to rise this year to meet the increase in approval levels.

The Budget is also expected to include provision for a scheme similar to last year's low-cost loans for farmers.

There was extremely high demand for the 150m low-cost loan scheme, developed by the Government and Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) for cash-strapped farmers. The farm bodies have been warning access to credit at a competitive rate is vital to provide working capital on farms.

There will also be continued expenditure under the Rural Development Programme for schemes such as GLAS and the 300m Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).

However, it is understood there won't be any increase in funding under the BDGP scheme.

Long-running concerns over the impact of the Fair Deal nursing home scheme on family farms and businesses are also expected to be tackled.

A proposed three-year cap will apply to farmland and businesses as part of a Budget deal set out by Minister of State for Older People Jim Daly. This will dramatically reduce the financial burden facing elderly people and their families. Today's Budget is also expected to have an extremely strong Brexit focus for farmers and small businesses who have been badly hit by the collapse in sterling.

One of Agriculture Minister Michael Creed's top priorities in recent months has been building opportunities in new markets and helping protect farmers against vulnerability.

Mr Creed (pictured) recently announced a market diversification drive to support the food and drink sectors that are heavily dependent on the UK market, with an additional 6.7m of funding for Bord Bia. Another key focus of the Budget for farmers could be measures to tackle the level of income volatility affecting farmers and agri-businesses. Several tools to help cope with volatility have been set out by the IFA and ICMSA.

These include a proposal from the IFA and ICMSA for a deposit scheme which would allow farmers to place on deposit income received in a particular year and to bring it back into their farm enterprise at any time within the next five years.

The income would become subject to income tax at the time of its being drawn down.

In their pre-Budget submissions, the IFA and ICMSA highlighted the importance of retaining key measures such as keeping the 90pc Agricultural Relief from Capital Acquisitions Tax.
Some of Ireland's most eligible farming talent have stripped off for a calendar that has been nicknamed "agri porn."

Swapping gruelling farm work for a photoshoot, the men have done their best to give supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid a run for their money.

These snaps are from the latest Irish Farmer Calendar, which is now in its 9th year.

The product has gone down a storm with the public, topping the Irish calendar charts in 2015 and 2016, beating offerings from A-listers including One Direction and Taylor Swift.

It has even been snapped up by people as far away as the US, Australia, Hong Kong and South Africa.

The farmers featured this year come from Cork, Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary, Roscommon, Derry and Dublin.

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Eager to show off their farmers' tans, they pose with animals including goats, hens, sheep and pigs and the snaps were taken on a farm at Croan Cottages in Co Kilkenny.

Proceeds raised by the calendar will go towards Bothar, which supports families and communities to overcome hunger and poverty around the world.

Organiser Ciara Ryan and photographers Jan Golden and Ian Shipley said they have been blown away by the response to the calendar.

Ian added: "All the lads were brilliant and managed to keep smiling despite being a bit cold minus their shirts.

The calendar is on sale now online here for 10.99, it will also be available in Calendar Club stores in Ireland and the UK later this month.
French farmers walk ahead of hundreds of sheep as they stage a protest against the government's "Plan loup" (wolf project) which protects wolves which the farmers blame for livestock deaths and financial losses, in Lyon, France, October 9, 2017. REUTERS/Robert Pratta

Farmers trucked hundreds of sheep into a central square in the French city of Lyon on Monday in protest against the governments protection of wolves, which they blame for livestock deaths and heavy financial losses.

European wolves were hunted to extinction in France in the 1930s but a pair crossed the Alps from Italy in the early 1990s and they now number about 360 in packs scattered across the country, according to wildlife groups.
Ireland ranks below the global average in positive employee experience levels

Ireland ranks below the global average in positive employee experience levels, according to the Employee Experience Index report launched today by Globoforce and IBM.

The employee experience index score for Ireland was 65pc, which came in at 4pc below the global average.

The report found that Irish employees see meaningful work and empowerment of voice as key drivers of a positive employee experience.

Read more: Length of working life for men in Ireland falls

However, meaningful work on its own is not enough to ensure people are happy in the workplace, with the report finding that meaningful work needs to be in conjunction with other practices such as recognition, feedback and growth, and co-worker relationships.

Interestingly, work/life balance ranked as only a small driver for Irish employee experiences, at 8pc.

Globally, meaningful work emerged as the single most influential driver of employee experience, contributing to more than a quarter of employee perceptions of a positive employee experience.

The lowest score for positive employee experience in Europe was found in Hungary at 49pc, followed by the Czech Republic, where the employee experience score was 52pc.

Meanwhile the highest score for employee experience in Europe was found in Norway and Portugal at 74pc, with the Netherlands completing the top three.

Overall, more than 22,000 workers in 43 countries took part in the survey.
A COMPANY behind a planned 100m commercial and residential development on part of Dublin's south docks waterfront district says the project continues to be delayed by another firm in a dispute over legal interest in part of the site.

Balark Investments - part of Marlet Property Group, which is led by developer Pat Crean - says Johnny Ronan's Chambury Investment Company claims Chambury's interest in part of the land at Lime Street and Sir John Rogerson's Quay, overlooking the River Liffey and the Samuel Beckett Bridge, is worth 20m.

Balark says the Circuit Court has already ruled that Chambury's interest in the disputed land is just 60,000 and that is all Balark has to pay to acquire it. Chambury has appealed that Circuit Court decision.

Balark wants the Commercial Court to determine its entitlement to acquire that fee simple interest in the affected land.

Paul Horn, a director of Balark, says in an affidavit that Chambury has sought to frustrate the development by using its freehold interest in certain lots of the site as a form of "ransom strip" in an attempt to force Balark to pay "a completely inflated sum for that interest".

Mr Horn says Mr Ronan had bought the freehold interest in the affected lots in June 2015. However, in September 2015, Mr Ronan's lawyers said he was no longer the owner.

Title records show Mr Ronan transferred the freehold interest to Chambury in October 2015.

Subsequently, Chambury brought proceedings alleging breaches of covenant under the leases for these lots by Balark and served forfeiture notices on Balark, Mr Horn says.

The High Court rejected Chambury's case in June 2016.
Power-hungry data centres are placing a strain on Ireland's energy-producing capacity and transmission networks - especially around the capital.

Ireland is a popular global location for data centres, with companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others investing heavily in such infrastructure here.

But Eirgrid, the semi-state company responsible for the network, has already warned that extra generation capacity may be needed in Dublin in the short-term to deal with the associated power demand.
If Catalonia declares independence from Spain this week, one community in the region's mountainous north might declare independence from Catalonia.

Most people in the picturesque Aran Valley - a semi-autonomous community nestled among the Pyrenees - want to stay with Spain, and the area has the right to self-determination under a law passed in 2015 by the Catalan parliament.

"We're a little spot on the map and often we're not taken into account," said Maria Verges Perez, the deputy mayor of Aran's capital, Vielha, a cluster of stone-and-slate houses on the valley floor ringed by autumnal forests. "But we will exercise our right to decide our future."

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is expected to declare independence today in Spain's worst constitutional crisis since the return of democracy in the 1970s.

The roughly 10,000 people of Aran, on the border with France, have a language and culture distinct from the rest of Catalonia, which itself differs from the rest of Spain. The valley's economy is heavily dependent on winter-sports tourists from Spain and the EU.

Their politicians say the 2015 law gives them the right to vote on whether they want to break away with Catalonia - something which Catalan officials do not dispute. The Spanish government has vowed to prevent Catalonia seceding. Losing the region would deprive the country of 16pc of its people and a fifth of its economic output.

But while Madrid insists Spain is indivisible under its constitution, the Aran Valley underlines the complex nature of nationhood in such a culturally diverse country.

Ever since Spain's return to democracy in the 1970s, Madrid has struggled to balance the country's patchwork of regional identities, including its decades-long fight to quell separatism in the northern Basque Country led by violent militants ETA.

Few in the medieval villages along the Aran Valley doubt the community would opt to stay with Spain if asked to vote.

"The people here feel very far away from what is going on in Barcelona," said Carlos Barrera, head of the Aran government, at a rural festival in Salardu village where locals judged stocky Pyrenean horses and handed out racks of blood sausages.

The valley had the lowest voter turnout by far in Catalonia's independence referendum on October 1, which had been declared illegal by Spain's constitutional court.

Across Catalonia there was a 43pc turnout, with most people who wanted to remain in Spain staying home, and 90pc of those who voted backed secession. In Aran, just 24pc voted, with 84pc of those backing independence.

Many people in Aran fear Catalan independence would destroy its tourism economy which revolves around Baqueira-Beret, Spain's most popular ski resort.

About two-thirds of the population in Aran depend on the ski resort for jobs. In the winter, the population triples with the influx of skiers drawn to the same slopes used by Spain's royal family.

Since the referendum, Verges Perez, the Vielha deputy mayor, said potential visitors had cancelled almost 30pc of hotel reservations for next week's local holidays.

And if an independent Catalonia was no longer part of the EU, Aran's reliance on agreements to use French hospitals for medical emergencies would be jeopardised, she added. (Reuters)
There was a mixed reaction from those who work on the coalface of the housing and homelessness crisis to Budget 2018.

Pat Doyle CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust said We welcome many of the measures outlined by the Minister today including those that will, we hope, see greater delivery of social and affordable housing.

Read More

The additional funding for the Housing Assistance Scheme (HAP) was broadly welcomed by a number of groups.

The additional 18 million funding for homeless services and an increase in the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in 2018 are particularly welcome, said Mr Doyle.

"The Housing Assistance Payment scheme is an important element towards alleviating the homeless crisis in 2018, as the results of an accelerated social housing building programme are yet to come on stream.

Niamh Randall, National Spokesperson for the Simon Communities also broadly welcomed the changes to HAP.

"The increase in funding of 149m for HAP is very welcome and must be accelerated," she said. "Preventing people from becoming homeless is absolutely key to ending this crisis. We welcome the commitment to increase funding towards HAP Placefinder as people urgently need assistance to find homes. We await more detail on this. Any expansion of HAP is dependent on supply in the Private Rented Sector. This budget does not address the issue of rent certainty and enhanced security of tenure which is urgently needed."

Read More

And while bodies welcomed the changes to commercial stamp duty and the vacant site levy, there was criticism overt the failure to address the number of empty houses around the country.

"The Peter McVerry Trust is disappointed that an empty homes tax wasnt announced in Budget 2018," said Doyle. "We feel that this is out of line with the Governments vision and aim to significantly reduce the amount of homes and properties lying vacant around the country. Peter McVerry Trust believes that empty homes provide an opportunity to bring about additional housing stock at a faster and more sustainable rate."

Simon's Niamh Randall was also unhappy with the lack of an initiative on this.

"There was no mention of empty homes and particularly no mention of a vacant homes tax," said Randall.

"The full Empty Homes Plan must be published urgently now that the Budget has been announced including any revisions in the Repair and Lease Scheme. We have been waiting for this since last May. The Simon Communities have been highlighting the potential of vacant homes culminating in our Ten Point Plan published in March of this year. The use of vacant housing stock alone will not solve current crisis or prevent future housing crises. This cannot happen again. Governments must ensure the building and delivery of sustainable social and affordable housing output."

The extra 18m announced for homeless services was widely welcomed but Simon warned that "we must not be reliant on short term measures and temporary solutions. We know that moving to a secure home with support is the best way to support people to move out of homelessness."

Plans to increase social housing support were also cautiously welcomed with the Peter McVerry Trust saying: Minister Donohoes statement that funding will be available from 2019 for an accelerated social housing is welcome. Its also positive to see an increase of 3,000 units in social housing targets up to 2021.

Head of homeless charity Focus Ireland Mike Allen also said the number of houses due to be built does not appear to be any more than it was before the Budget was announced.

"Under Simon Coveney's plan, it appears that there were 5,900 new social homes planned for next year, of which 3,000 were going to be built. Now after all of this there are going to be 3,800 built, but the total number is going to remain the same," Mr Allen said.

He added that while it was positive for the Government to commit to building houses, "the actual number of social homes that will be delivered, available to people to move out of homelessness doesn't appear to be any larger than it was before the budget".

And another group, Inner City Helping Homeless, a volunteer organisation in Dublin, was not happy with the measures announced and slammed the Budget on Twitter.

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And with today being World Homelessness Day, Simon pointed out that there are over 8,000 people living in emergency accommodation in Ireland and at least 90,000 people on the social housing waiting list.
Jacqueline Walsh, from Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to stealing money from the Department of Social Protection. Photo: Courtpix

A civil servant stole more than 6,500 in fake jobseeker's allowance claims under her brother's name.

Jacqueline Walsh, a mother of four, was brought to the attention of gardai by her brother, William Walsh, after he had tried to get some tax back from Revenue and discovered that false claims had been made under his name.

Walsh (33), with an address in Millbrook Lawns, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to four counts of stealing money from the Department of Social Protection between October 2011 and May 2012. Eight other counts were taken into consideration.

She stole 6,736 over nine months while working in the Tallaght branch of the Department of Social Protection, Det Garda Colin Rochford told prosecution barrister Karl Finnegan BL.

Walsh was working in the department at the time and accessed details in relation to her brother's PPS number.

Det Garda Rochford said that three claims were made in the name of William Walsh under three different staff members' user names within the department.

None of these user names belonged to Jacqueline Walsh.

The court heard that a culture existed in the Tallaght office in 2011 whereby computers were regularly left unlocked and employees could access each other's user names.

Walsh resigned from the department shortly before her offending came to light in 2015. When interviewed by gardai, she said she did not have the expertise to carry out the claims, but admitted to receiving the money into her account.

This was rebuffed by her superior, who told gardai that Walsh was competent at accessing the claims system.

Det Garda Rochford agreed with defence barrister Kieran Kelly BL that gardai had been unable to prove who carried out the claims.

The court heard that Walsh, who is on bail, has no previous convictions, save for some minor road-traffic offences. None of the stolen money was recovered.

Defence counsel said Walsh has four young children, two of whom have health issues. She is on maternity leave and is receiving maternity benefit.

Her partner is a full-time carer for his father. They struggle financially and are in arrears on their mortgage.

Mr Kelly said Walsh was remorseful for her actions. "Ordinarily, she is a good person and she wants to move forward," he said.

Judge Karen O'Connor ordered a probation report and adjourned the matter for sentencing on December 6.
PHONE company Eircom has been fined 10,500 after it admitted overcharging customers.

Eircom Ltd, trading as Eir, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court today to offences under the Communications Regulation Act 2002. The prosecution was in connection with complaints by five people who went industry watchdog ComReg after Eircoms customer service teams failed to resolve their problems.

Cavan pensioner Irene McHugh, who attended the hearing, who was an existing customer had been cold-called by an Eircom sales agent last year and agreed to a fibre optic broadband plan for 65 a month.

ComReg compliance analyst Una Milton agreed with prosecution counsel Ronan Kennedy that a verbal contract was entered into but a day later she had second thoughts. She was concerned the payments were difficult to make and made a number of calls to cancel. She ended up paying two bills, her old account which she believed was cancelled and the new account.

Ms Milton agreed with Mr Kennedy that the pensioner felt like it was talking to a brick wall when she dealt with the Eircoms helplines.

She ended up getting disconnected and left without a service for two weeks. The court heard that she had a personal alarm on her wrist and would not have been able to contact anyone in an emergency. The court heard she was overcharged by 148 but has since been refunded by Eircom.

The court heard that another woman who had moved from Belfast to the Glenties in Co. Donegal and opted for a landline and mobile broadband service which did not work. She was overcharged 592 and cancelled her direct debit payments after which she got disconnected.

Ms Milton agreed that the woman was upset and in an emergency she would not have been able to contact anyone.

The third customer was overcharged by 205, told she would have to pay an early cease charge of 450 and had a debt collection agency contact her.

The fourth complainant was overcharged by 31 after she changed her package and the fifth complainant had been overcharged by 149 after a discount was not implemented, Judge John Brennan heard.

The court was told that the company two prior convictions for similar offences. It was fined 21,000 in 2015 and 16,500 in March this year.

Refunds were granted after the customers made complaints to ComReg.

Defence counsel Joe Jeffers asked the court to note Eircom had refunded them and had co-operated with the investigation. He said the company has put in place new ways of dealing with customer issues. This has seen complaints drop from 1,000 to 300 a month, he said.

The court heard human error as well as system errors were responsible for the overcharging of the customers. He also issued an apology on behalf of the company which had agreed to pay prosecution costs.

Judge Brennan said it was clear the measures taken after the 2015 case were not sufficient and he noted the distress caused. However, he accepted what the court had been told about the new system put in place to improve customer service.
Phone company Eircom has been fined 10,500 after it admitted overcharging customers.

Eircom Ltd, trading as Eir, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court yesterday to offences under the Communications Regulation Act 2002.

The prosecution was in connection with complaints by five people who went to industry watchdog ComReg after Eircom's customer service teams failed to resolve their problems.

Cavan pensioner Irene McHugh, who attended the hearing, was an existing customer and had been cold-called by an Eircom sales agent last year and agreed to a fibre- optic broadband plan for 65 a month.

ComReg compliance analyst Una Milton agreed with prosecution counsel Ronan Kennedy that a verbal contract was entered into, but a day later she had second thoughts. She made a number of calls to cancel. She ended up paying two bills, her old account which she believed was cancelled and the new one.

Ms Milton agreed with Mr Kennedy that the pensioner felt like it was "talking to a brick wall" when she dealt with Eircom's helplines. The court heard she was overcharged by 148 but has since been refunded.

The court heard another woman, who had moved from Belfast to Glenties, Co Donegal, opted for a landline and mobile broadband service which did not work. She was overcharged 592 and cancelled her direct debit payments, after which she got disconnected.

The third customer was overcharged by 205, told she would have to pay an early cease charge of 450 and had a debt collection agency contact her.

The fourth complainant was overcharged by 31 after she changed her package, while the fifth complainant had been overcharged 149 after a discount was not implemented, Judge John Brennan heard.

The court was told the company had two prior convictions for similar offences. It was fined 21,000 in 2015 and 16,500 in March this year. Refunds were granted after the customers made complaints to ComReg.

Defence counsel Joe Jeffers asked the court to note Eircom had refunded them and had co-operated with the investigation. He said the company had put in place new ways of dealing with customer issues. This had cut complaints from 1,000 to 300 a month.

The court heard human error as well as system errors were responsible for the overcharging of the customers. Mr Jeffers also issued an apology on behalf of the company, which had agreed to pay prosecution costs.
A 72-year old woman has denied causing a collision which claimed the life of her seven-year old grandson.

Margaret Saunders, from Forthill Park in Newtownabbey, appeared at Belfast Crown Court, where she denied a charge of causing the death of Jackson Turner by dangerous driving on December 26, 2015.

The seven-year old Sunnylands Primary School pupil died in his parents' arms in hospital just hours after the three-car collision on the Old Carrick Road in Newtownabbey.

Also injured in the collision were six other people including Jackson's four-year old sister Ally, as well as their grandmother Margaret Saunders.

During Tuesday's brief hearing, Saunders entered the dock of the court with the aid of a walking stick. When the charge of causing the Carrick youngster's death was put to her, she replied "not guilty."

The pensioner - whose son is Jackson's father - will face trial on the single charge at the same court later this year. The trial has been scheduled to take place on December 12, and is expected to last for two weeks.

After she denied the charge, Saunders was released on continuing bail.
A WOMAN who claims she fell over an ornamental lion on a pathway of a luxury hotel as she left a wedding reception has sued in the High Court.

Civil servant Joyce Mills (45) suffered a fracture to her lower leg, is left with scarring, and was 11 weeks off work after the accident as she left the Cabra Castle Hotel, Kingscourt, Co Cavan, the court heard.

Opening her case, Pat O'Connell SC said she had been staying the courtyard area of the hotel and was returning to her accommodation with her partner and friends after the wedding reception when the accident happened.

Ms Mills,of The Oaks, Clonshaugh Woods, Dublin, fell over the black ornamental lion as she could not see it. She suffered a significant injury to her left lower leg, counsel said.

A fellow guest at the wedding who was a doctor advised she should not be moved and she had to wait an hour and a half for an ambulance.

Counsel said Ms Mills had to have surgery the next day and was in hospital until October 26, 2011 when she was discharged with a cast on her leg and on crutches.

He said when Ms Mills returned to work 11 weeks later, she still had to use one crutch.

She has been left with scarring, and had worn high heels all her life but can't do it any more, he said.

An issue in the case, counsel said, will be the position of the decorative lion, which was 22inches high, on the night of the accident.

He said a photograph taken the night after the accident showed the location of the lion.

A photograph put up on on Trip Advisor by a hotel client recommending the hotel also showed the lion in a similar position as to when Ms Mills fell and not against a wall as contended by the hotel side.

Ms Mills has sued Kingscourt Castle ltd trading as Cabra Castle Hotel as a result of the fall on October 23, 2011.

She has claimed a dangerous tripping hazard was allegedly created and there was an alleged failure to have any or any adequate lighting around the statue.

The hotel denies the claims and contends there was contributory negligence on her behalf and that she allegedly failed to look where she was walking.

The case continues.
Bernard Mongan has been described as a "gentle giant"

A young man who died in a car crash in Galway last night was due to get married next year.

Bernard Mongan (21) from Cluide, Corrundulla in Co Galway was killed on Monday night after his car collided with another car at Carrowhuineagh, Dunmore, Co Galway at 8.30pm.

Two units of Tuam Fire Brigade attended the scene.

Mr Mongan was due to get married next June. His fiancee Chantelle McDonagh had been on a family holiday to Medjugorje when the tragic accident occurred. She is now travelling home.

He is survived by his parents John and Ellen Mongan, two sisters and two brothers.

His uncle Tom Mongan said the entire family were in shock at the news.

Expand Close Pictures from the scene of the crash in Dunmore Co. Galway. Photo:Andrew Downes / Facebook

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Whatsapp Pictures from the scene of the crash in Dunmore Co. Galway. Photo:Andrew Downes

"Bernard was a very, very nice guy. He was due to get married next June. We just cant take it in, we cant really believe it. The family are just in shock and traumatised," he said.

He described the young man as a "gentle giant".

"Bernard was a big guy, a six footer and very very strong guy but he was just a gentle giant. Everybody liked Bernard," he added.

The family are now finalising funeral arrangements for the young man.

"Chantelle is still in Medjugorje, she wasnt due home until next week, now shes flying into the UK on Monday night and then back to Knock," he added.

A passenger in the car who received minor injuries has been released from hospital. He suffered a broken shoulder in the accident.

It is understood the accident occurred after Mr Mongan lost control of the car on a dangerous bend and hit a ditch.

The car is believed to have rolled onto its roof and slid into an oncoming car carrying a couple in their 70s and a two-year-old child.

The occupants in the second car, a 74-year-old male driver, 70-year-old female passenger and two-year-old girl sustained only minor injuries.

The road remained closed off until this afternoon to facilitate an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and local diversions were in place.

Gardai investigating the accident appealed for any witnesses to contact Tuam Garda Station on 093-70840 The Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Some GPs have been accused of wrongly charging medical card holders for the flu vaccine as scientists confirmed the virus has already arrived in Ireland.

The claims that some GPs in Limerick have charged medical card holders around 15 for the vaccine - which should be free - were made by constituents to Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan.

"I brought it to the attention of the Health Minister Simon Harris, who said they should not be charged," he added.

The HSE, which launched its flu campaign yesterday, was unable to provide a response last night to the claims.

However, Dr Cillian De Gascun, head of the National Virus Laboratory in UCD, confirmed the flu had already struck several people in Ireland, despite that fact winter had not yet brought its icy grip.

He said the laboratory had confirmed around 15 cases of the H3N2 strain that some might have picked up while abroad.

This strain can be a particular risk for older people and it infected a lot of people in Australia during its recent winter.

Dr De Gascun said, however, that it did not appear to have a very severe clinical effect in Australia in terms of serious illness or death.

He advised at-risk groups, including the elderly, to get the flu vaccine, which can offer protection although it is not foolproof.

Only half of people over 65 got the flu vaccine last winter and this number should rise this year.
Health Minister Simon Harris said he is still "hopeful" that free GP care can be extended to 200,000 children under 12 next year - even though doctors insist the issue has not even been discussed in long-running talks.

Mr Harris said there would be more funding for GPs in next week's Budget. But it now looks like this will be used for the phased expansion of more care in the community for patients with long-term illnesses to reduce their visits to hospital.

Speaking about the extension of free GP care to children aged six to 12 - which was supposed to be in place a year ago - the minister said yesterday it was his "hope to roll it out next year".

He said, however, that any negotiation takes two parties and he is currently in talks with GPs about a new contract, which he hoped would be ready to phase in at the start of next year. He acknowledged that GPs needed to be better resourced to deliver more care.

However, it now appears the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), the doctors' union, is taking a hardline stance that could delay the agreement of a new contract, including the extension of free GP care.

The union wants the 38pc cut in GPs' funding from the State for treating medical card holders and other services, imposed during the recession, to be reversed. The IMO has said there will be no contract agreed by the end of the year.

Members were told by the executive in recent days that it is not in talks about the extension of free GP care, which it did not regard as a "priority."

GP surgeries in many areas of the country, particularly rural parts, have been hit by a shortage of doctors due to emigration and retirement.
New research by Irish scientists has increased the hope of developing badly needed tailored treatments for schizophrenia, the brain condition affecting nearly 4,000 people in this country.

The team from Trinity College and the Royal College of Surgeons has found that flaws in the blood vessels in the brain of some people may contribute to the mental illness.

Schizophrenia can cause a range of different psychological symptoms.

A person may not always be able to distinguish their own thoughts and ideas from reality.

Dr Matthew Campbell, assistant professor in neurovascular genetics at Trinity, said the finding was the first time it has been suggested that these abnormalities in brain blood vessels were associated with schizophrenia.

"The concept of tailoring drugs to regulate and treat abnormal brain blood vessels is a novel treatment strategy.

"It offers great potential to complement existing treatments of this debilitating disease," he said.

The study, which appears today in the journal 'Molecular Psychiatry', points out that existing treatments for schizophrenia patients largely and almost exclusively involve the use of anti-psychotic drugs.

These are used along with psychosocial therapy, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

However, these are often dropped by patients because they see them as ineffective and people cannot put up with "intolerable side-effects".

There is "a clear and urgent need" to provide new insights into the cause of schizophrenia and develop new therapies.

The new research, led by scientists in the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, which also may have implications for other brain disorders, looked at this network of blood vessels.

They regulate the transport of materials in and out of the brain and form what is known as the blood-brain barrier.

But abnormalities in this network may be instrumental in the development of schizophrenia. The flaws are also implicated in traumatic brain injuries and neurodegenerative disorders.

Central to understanding of the condition, and potential new treatments, are levels of the gene termed 'Claudin-5'.

The researchers believe that if drugs can be developed to directly target the blood-brain barrier, patients could be offered new therapies to treat the disorder.

The desperate need for more therapies is highlighted in stark figures showing the life expectancy of people with schizophrenia can be between 10-25 years fewer than non-sufferers, according to the study.

The scientists pointed out up to 16,000 people die annually as a result of the condition.

Schizophrenia can run in families and previous research suggested that combinations of genes can make people more vulnerable to the condition.

Previous studies have looked at identical twins to try to provide answers.

They found that if one twin developed schizophrenia, the other twin had a one in two chance of also being diagnosed.

The research found this can happen even in the case of twins who grew up in separate families.

For non-identical twins who had different genetic make-ups, the odds were different.

If one twin developed schizophrenia, the other had a one in seven chance of also being diagnosed.
Representatives of a third of the country's Catholic priests have called on the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore to withdraw his comments on the safety of the HPV vaccine as a protection for women against cervical cancer.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) hit out at Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan's comments after he caused controversy by suggesting that vaccinating young girls could lead to promiscuity.

The ACP warned yesterday such views were "idiosyncratic" and were also "ill-informed and dangerous". The group, which has over 1,000 priest members, said parents might be led to believe that Dr Cullinan has some competence in this area and follow his advice, thereby "unwittingly" putting their children at risk.

"[The comments] bring the Irish Catholic Church into further disrepute suggesting a nonchalance about women's health and an obsession with sexuality," the leadership of the ACP lashed out.

The members of the Irish Bishops' Conference has also been urged to disassociate themselves from Bishop Cullinan's comments.
Pictures from the scene of the crash in Dunmore Co. Galway. Photo:Andrew Downes

A YOUNG man was killed - and a number of people were injured - in a two-car collision on Monday night.

Gardai are investigating the fatal collision which occurred at 8.30pm at Carrowmhuineagh, Dunmore, Co Galway.

"A 21 year old male driver was fatally injured when the car he was driving was in collision with another car; a 21-year-old male passenger received minor injuries," a garda spokesman said.

The male driver (74) of the other car and two female passengers (aged 70 and two) also received injuries, which are understood to be minor.

The road is currently closed to facilitate an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators, and local diversions are in place.

Gardai wish to appeal for any witnesses to contact Tuam Garda Station on 093-70840 or on the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111.
Neill ONeill was Managing Editor of The Mayo News and a highly respected journalist in the region

Tributes have been paid to a prominent West of Ireland journalist who passed away suddenly at his home last night.

Neill ONeill was Managing Editor of The Mayo News and a highly respected journalist in the region.

The 36-year-old fell ill and died at his home in Rosbeg at The Quay in Westport.

Mr ONeill had been Managing Editor of the paper since 2011. During this time it won a number of international awards for design, layout and content. He had been working on this weeks edition of the paper until late yesterday.

Death occurs of Neill ONeill, Managing Editor of The Mayo News https://t.co/VJ286eSRij pic.twitter.com/gzVYFPaHho  The Mayo News (@themayonews) October 10, 2017

He is survived by his partner Emma Joyce, parents Colm and Mary, brothers Conor and Finbarr and sisters Aoife and Orla along with a wide extended family and large circle of friends.

The 36-year-old was heavily involved in his local community and the local Westport Chamber of Commerce.

Mr ONeill became a well known face of regional journalism through his appearance on the first series of the RTE show The Local Eye which followed the fortunes of three regional newspapers including The Mayo News as they faced new challenges in the digital age.

In a statement from The Mayo News today management and staff along with the owners Dermot and Natalie Berry expressed their sincere condolences to the ONeill family.

Editor of The Mayo News, Michael Duffy, said the staff of the paper, and the town of Westport in general, is absolutely devastated with the news of Neills untimely passing.

"There is just a complete sense of disbelief that our colleague and dear friend Neill has passed away," he said.

"Neill has been the heart and soul of The Mayo News since he took over as Managing Editor in 2011, having previously worked as a journalist with the paper from 2007 to 2009.

"We are all struggling to come to terms with the news that someone so energetic, enthusiastic and full of life has been taken from us at such a young age."

Funeral arrangements to follow.
WOW air has launched the latest transatlantic flash sale from Dublin, with one-way tickets to nine North American destinations from 99.99.

The fares are available to Boston, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, New York, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

WOW's flights from Dublin involve a stopover in Reykjavik, with meals, seat selection and bags (starting from 31.99 each-way) all charged as extra.

The sale prices are available online (wowair.ie) for travel between November 1 and December 13... perfect for pre-Christmas shopping, if thats your bag.

WOW flies five times weekly between Dublin and Reykjavik (from 39.99 each-way) but will suspend its service between Cork and Iceland this month due to low demand.

Last week, Icelandair announced that it would join WOW on the Dublin route, launching a six-times weekly service from May 2018.

Air routes are mushrooming between Ireland and North America, with Norwegian already offering a 99 sale this summer, and Aer Lingus adding new direct flights to Philadelphia from March 2018 - with several new aircraft on order to continue its transatlantic expansion.

This summer, it launched a new 169 "unbundled" fare offering.

WOW air plans to launch five new US destinations from Dublin in 2018, including Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St Louis and Dallas.

Read more:
Everything revolves around the best grass  its our fundamental

A sixth-generation Tipperary dairy farm has come out on top as the overall national winner in this years hotly-contested NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards.

Dairy is thriving in Ireland right now and there were also celebrations around the country as farms, assessed by an expert judging panel over the past 12 months, received national and category awards for the fantastic quality of their milk.

John and Maria Walsh, who farm 92 hectares and keep 104 cows at Ballylooby, Cahir and supply their milk to Dairygold Co-op, took home the top prize at the awards in the company of their three children Claire, Helena and Brendan.

Accepting the prize, John is keen to point out that its very much a family win. As with farms all over the country: Youre in your job  but you still have all your family beside you  its all one unit. You need the whole family.

The children bring new ideas  it makes me proud

The family has a long legacy to celebrate and the tradition is very much alive on their farm where they consciously have a meeting on all farm-related matters whenever they can come together over dinner on Saturday evenings.

Their knowledge sharing  and the sharing down through the generations on this land has paid off and they are now the 2017 barometer of excellence for dairy in the country. Speaking about his children, John points out they bring out new ideas  thats what makes me proud

The Walshs want to use the spotlight that the award has put on them to really emphasise farm safety. They are passionate about attention to detail and believe that farm safety has to come first and is paramount.

Congratulating the Walsh family and all the winners, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed stated: Irish farming is more than just a business; it is a way of life. Irish farmers learn their craft from their parents and grandparents before them. It is no accident that Irish dairy products are regarded as the best in the world. Irish farmers and their familys commitment to delivering world class quality milk, day in day out, coupled with our grass based farming systems has enabled us to build successful markets for dairy products around the world.

The farmers who were nominated for the NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards are representing milk pools of hundreds or sometimes even thousands of dairy farmers in their own co-ops. The three judges included Professor Pat Wall from UCD, Dr. David Gleeson (Teagasc) and Dr. Jack Kennedy (Irish Farmers Journal. This year Irish chef Clodagh McKenna got involved as the Food Ambassador celebrating the delicious taste and quality of Irish dairy produce both at home and abroad.

On behalf of the judges, Dr. Gleeson explained that: When we visit the short-listed farms every year as judges we see at first hand the genuine pride of Irish farmers and why they are made for this. Twenty-two farms were nominated and 14 were short listed for a farm visit. These farms were located in 9 different counties from west Cork to Donegal. Three of the key milk quality parameters assessed in the shortlisting process are TBC; SCC and protein percentage. The milk quality standards being achieved on these nominated farms are getting higher each year. What stands out is dedication to doing things right; a thirst for sharing knowledge and learning about ways to improve how things are done; and a heartfelt wish to carry on the tradition of the family farm, passing on the farm as good as, or better than it was before to the next generation.

Zoe Kavanagh, CEO of the NDC said Our work in the NDC is really made possible because of the high quality of Irish milk and dairy produce available to consumers here, produced from top quality farms, off grassland

Three farms received Excellence in Dairy Awards with Category Acknowledgement

1. Crowley Family, Bauravilla Upper, Skibbereen, Co. Cork

Best Percentage Solids

Nominated by: Drinagh Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/crowley-farm/

2. Gerard Doyle & Family, Curragh, Owning, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny

Innovation

Nominated by: Glanbia Ingredients Ireland

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/doyle-farm/

3. John Walsh and family, Ballylomasna, Ballylooby, Cahir, Co. Tipperary

Sustainability

Nominated by: Dairygold Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/walsh-farm/

Five farms received National Category Awards:

1. All year-round Winner

David Boland, Horseleap, Moate, Co. Westmeath

Nominated by: Aurivo Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/boland-farm/

2. Best New Entrant

Padraig, John & Gertrude Keane, Ballywilliam, Kilcormac, Birr, Co. Offaly

Nominated by: Glanbia Ingredients Ireland

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/keane-farm/

3. Lowest TBC

John, Niall & Carol Mason, Ballinduganig, Ballyseedy, Tralee, Co. Kerry

Nominated by: Lee Strand Co-op Ltd.

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/mason-farm/

4. Lowest SCC

Eamon McMahon, Knockaturley, Stranooden, Co. Monaghan

Nominated by: LacPatrick

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/mcmahon-farm/

5. Highest Milk Solids per Hectare

Robert & Shirley Shannon, Droumgarriffe, Ballinascarthy, Clonakilty, Co. Cork

Nominated by: Lisavaird Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/shannon-farm/

6 National Finalist Awards

Patrick & Shauna Crotty, Loop Head, Kilbaha South, Kilrush, Co. Clare

Nominated by: Kerry Agribusiness

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/crotty-farm/

Declan Finn, The Lodge, Curraglass, Newtown, Charleville, Co. Cork

Nominated by: Kerry Agribusiness

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/finn-farm/

Sean Hegarty, Pairc na Glas, Killavarrig, Whites Cross, Co. Cork

Nominated by: Clona Dairy Products

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/hegarty-farm/

Sean Lynch, Glencrow, Moville, Co. Donegal

Nominated by: Aurivo

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/lynch-farm/

Norman Perrott, Grange, Timoleague, Bandon, Co. Cork

Nominated by: Barryroe Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/new-project-2/

Nicky & Philip Thornton, Beechwood, Dualla, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

Nominated by: Centenary Thurles Co-op

http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie/thorntonfarm/

To read more about the awards and each of the finalists go to http://www.qualitymilkawards.ie

Sponsored by:
LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

From Monday afternoon:

Meth charges  Victoria Leah Ann Karen Challe, 33, of Albany, was charged with delivery and possession of methamphetamine. The crimes allegedly occurred between Sept. 1 and Oct. 3. Challe also was charged in another case with possession of methamphetamine, tampering with physical evidence and resisting arrest. Those crimes allegedly occurred on July 7, according to court paperwork.

Heroin  Shane Alexander Pew, 31, was charged with delivery and possession of heroin, possession of methamphetamine, five counts of felon in possession of a firearm, second-degree child neglect and endangering the welfare of a minor. The crimes occurred on Friday, according to court paperwork.

Burglary  Thomas Junior Hernandez, 53, of Sweet Home, was charged with two counts of first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and possession of methamphetamine. Hernandez allegedly entered a dwelling in the 1300 block of 34th Avenue SE and another in the 400 block of Sixth Avenue SE. The crimes occurred on Saturday, according to court paperwork.

LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Spud gun damage  8:26 p.m. Sunday, 33000 block Wheeler Loop, near Lebanon. A caller reported a neighbor shooting a potato gun. A stray spud hit the callers shop. A deputy responded and learned that the residents will handle the damage as a civil matter. No report was taken.

LEBANON POLICE

Funny money  4:17 p.m. Friday, 2700 block South Santiam Highway. A business reported receiving a fake $100 bill, which was mixed in with two other good $100 bills.
After weeks of keeping a low profile and focusing on her health, Kate Middleton is dipping her toe back into public life.

Kensington Palace announced last month that the Duchess of Cambridge and husband Prince William are expecting their third child and Kate would be stepping away from her royal duties as she has been suffering with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe morning sickness which she experienced while pregnant with Prince George (four) and Princess Charlotte (two).

She was so ill she couldn't join William on George's first day of school in September. She put on a brave face today as she attended a Buckingham Palace reception honouring those who work in the mental health sector, as part of their work with their organisation Heads Together, for World Mental Health Day today.

As usual, all eyes were on the Duchess as she looked glowing in a dusky blue Temperley dress.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge celebrate World Mental Health Day at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/ Heathcliff O'Malley/Pool Catherine Duchess of Cambridge celebrates World Mental Health Day at Buckingham Palace Photo: Reuters/Heathcliff O'Malley/Pool / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge celebrate World Mental Health Day at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/ Heathcliff O'Malley/Pool

Heads Together encourages people, in particular children and teenagers, to speak about any issues they may be having, as well as educating others on the importance of listening.

She is still thought to be less than 12 weeks pregnant and as with both her previous pregnancies, the British royals were forced to announce the news early in order to explain her absence.

Normal morning sickness affects around 70% of pregnant women, and causes some degree of vomiting and discomfort commonly during the first trimester (12 weeks) of pregnancy. But those suffering from HG can be constantly sick morning, noon and night and unable to keep any food or drink down.

In September, Middleton appeared in a video for her charity, in which she stated her passion for mental health. "As parents, we all want our children to have the best possible start in life," she explained.

"Encouraging children to understand and be open about their feelings can give them the skills to cope with the ups and downs that life will throw at them as they grow up."

William thanked well-wishers after the baby news broke, saying: "We need Catherine to get over this first bit and then we can start celebrating. It's always a bit anxious to start with, but she's well. There's not much sleep going on at the moment."
How to solve a problem like Theresa? Well, no more lecturing Britain on where its going wrong, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar seemed to do. Photo credit: Philip Toscano/PA Wire

Love him, loathe him or shrug your shoulders at him, Leo Varadkar is arguably the most divisive Taoiseach in recent history.

But you are in the Style section folks, so I would visit elsewhere on this website for an in-depth analysis of policy and politics for Budget Day. Were here to talk about fashion.

Expand Close Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is to meet Prime Minister Theresa May in Downing Street on Monday. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is to meet Prime Minister Theresa May in Downing Street on Monday. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French president Emmanuel Macron, Leo is part of a generation of modern politicians who bring style and substance in equal quantities and are as close to eye candy as were getting.

While Budget Day hardly brings with it the same humdrum as a red carpet event might provide in showbiz  the opportunity to wear dazzling gowns or James Bond-esque tuxedos  its like the political debs: everyone wears their best suit or dress because they know that picture will follow them for years to come.

And Leo is no exception; especially in comparison to his predecessor Enda Kenny, whose too-long trousers and ill-fitting blazers werent particularly suited to a world leader, in fact, on most occasions I saw him on the news or at an event, I always desperately wanted to give him a sneaky hairbrush.

Never in a million years would you catch a member of the new generation of politicians in something so ill-fitting or without extra strength hair gel. To show such lack of interest in your appearance indicates youre out of touch and would almost immediately alienate you from the next generation vote; who are statistically more likely to stick with the party they voted for the first time.

But we shouldnt be concerned about what he wears! The focus should be on policy!

This, of course, is true. Policy comes first, but appearance is a narrow second. Leos wardrobe reflects a confident, modern Irish man, the kind of self-assurance that comes from being a post-baby Boomer, a pre-Millennial and a life-long politician who has always had his eye on the prize.

Expand Close Taoiseach Leo Varadkar waves to TDs and well wishers at Leinster House. Photo: Getty / Facebook

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Whatsapp Taoiseach Leo Varadkar waves to TDs and well wishers at Leinster House. Photo: Getty

In July, during Trudeaus visit, his maple socks nearly broke the internet. Critics suggested he was trying too-hard and that he should be spending less time sock shopping and more time in the Dail. But such a simple gesture is indicative of a forward-thinking individual who understands the importance of using fashion as a diplomatic tool.

Its also crucial that in a world with increasingly nationalistic superpowers like Britain and the United States, that Ireland continues to stand out. So if wearing a pair of socks and a smile will result in that, Id prefer a leader willing to take one for the team.

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The idea of fashion diplomacy is a concept familiar to first ladies around the world for decades. Traditionally, they wear a dress by a famous designer from the country theyre visiting or purposely only wear designers from their home countries for state visits at their residence. Its a powerful technique and usually spurs on an economic boost for the local fashion industry.

Its unlikely well see the Leo effect come into place any time soon, especially since his big moment didnt exactly result in a boom of novelty socks; but he is proof that men are finally clued into its effectiveness.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, US president Donald Trump uses his wardrobe to show just how little he cares what anyone thinks of him. He has been pictured with actual sellotape keeping his oft too-long tie in place, lest it rise above his waistline. The length of his tie was reportedly a trademark to show just how anti-establishment he is, especially while trying to garner votes during the 2016 election, because nothing says, f*** the establishment like an old man who cant even tie his own tie properly.

Fashion journalists are often criticised for their analysis of womens clothing and not mens, but the truth is: mens fashion just isnt that exciting. While its moved admirably apace in recent years, it still has a long way to go before it reaches the cultural impact of womens, especially among Irish politicians, who seem singlehandedly determined to push the boundaries of facial grooming. Which is why its exciting to have someone like Leo injecting at least some life into the same old humdrum in Leinster House.

Leo isnt trying to make his wardrobe exciting, he understands the focus needs to be on the numbers on Budget Day. Or every day for that matter. But he respects the industry. Excluding a pair of very questionable sunglasses at Electric Picnic in 2016, he is usually impeccably tailored with rarely a hair out of place. He even walked a runway before when he was Health Minister.

He takes care of himself and when I see him representing Ireland on an international platform, I always think he looks well, which is a very important thing for a statesman, stylist and tv presenter Darren Kennedy tells me. When you see him standing next to Theresa May, he looks good. Unlike with previous Taoiseachs, when I would think, Oh my God, hes the face of the nation!

Expand Close Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) walks with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (L) during the Montreal Pride parade in Montreal, Canada August 20, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi / Facebook

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Whatsapp Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) walks with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (L) during the Montreal Pride parade in Montreal, Canada August 20, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi

The style suit he wears is quite classic, its usually navy with a single button. Blue is his friend and generally he wears a bright blue tie. He has a great complexion so I would love to see him embrace slightly more adventurous colours in terms of suiting, something like a light grey or subtle check, nothing too crazy, I do appreciate his role. On balance, he always looks great.

In 2015, he joined a number of other high profile politicians in the Oireachtas Fashion Show to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease  sure, he looked a bit uncomfortable, but he was a good sport who slapped a smile on his face for a worthy cause. Last year, when he was Fine Gael Deputy, he was nominated in the Most Stylish Man category for the Peter Mark VIP Style Awards, a move which could arguably be deemed a vanity vote in an attempt to secure his attendance, but a nomination is a nomination.

Varadkars strategy has always been to enforce the image as that of the cool Taoiseach, but the position can only ever equate to that of a cool teacher who pretends they dont see you texting under your desk.

There is an emerging uniform among Fine Gael politicans: the navy power suit with suitably jazzy tie to show that they too are young and hip, like their leader. Pascal ODonohoe has a penchant for bright blue and current Health Minister and whiz kid Simon Harris prefers stripes. Leo prefers different shades of blue, especially for Budget Day, which coincidentally is associated with stability, trust, wisdom and intelligence.

For a man whose interests vary as wide as Leos does, its doubtful he isnt aware of the subtle implications his wardrobe choices make. The clothes mightnt maketh the man, but never underestimate the power it holds.
Finalists at the Limerick Racecourse Keanes Most Stylish Lady competition lined out with judge Sinead O'Brien, far left. Picture: Alan Place

Lesley Teehan from Kilkenny scooped the lucrative prize at the Limerick Races.

The Kilkenny native won the Keane's Most Stylish Lady competition at Limerick Racecourse on Sunday in the true best dressed uniform - a mixture of high end with high street. The hat entrepreneur stood out from the crowd in white flared trousers from Zara, a wrap-around coat from Swamp and taking a page straight from Amy Huberman's book, her crystal encrusted wedding shoes by Jimmy Choo and a headpiece from her Harper's Hats range. She walked home with a rose gold and diamond pendant from the Limerick-based jeweler, worth 4,000.

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Nadine Smith from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, went home with the second prize with a voucher from Carraig Donn for 1,000 and caught attention in an all-Irish emsemble: her silver ensemble from Annsbury's boutique in Tralee, Co Kerry and a feathered fascinator by milliner Aoife Hannon. Rounding out the top three was Diana Hilliard from Listowel, Co Kerry, who injected some colour to the weekend's festivities in her red suit from Zara.

Each of the 10 finalists received jam-packed goodie bags from sponsors Keane's Jewellers, Carraig Donn, Inis, Dr Hauschka, Ramen Limerick, Anner Beauty and Alexandra Orthodontic & Dental Centres. Blogger Sinead O'Brien, aka Sinead's Curvy Style, was head judge on the day, while guests were treated to a stylish afternoon with Celia Holman Lee MC'ing a fashion show accompanied by afternoon tea.

The tv personality is synonymous with racing style, in particular in her native Limerick, and is a regular fixture at the most exclusive social events on the racing calendar. On Sunday, she opted for a semi-sheer lace dress with a waterfall coat for her hosting duties.
President Donald Trump says the US federal government will be there for California as devastating wildfires rage through the state's wine country, leaving at least 15 people dead.

Mr Trump says he talked with Governor Jerry Brown to "let him know that the federal government will stand with the people of California. We will be there for you in this time of terrible tragedy and need".

As well as the deaths, 100 people have been injured and at least 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by the wildfires in northern California.

Mr Brown said the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded promptly to California's request for help.

He also said he appreciates Mr Trump's fast response.

Mr Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties and requested a presidential major disaster declaration to help battle at least 18 blazes burning throughout the state.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away.

Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing-person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.

Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a far larger and more developed city than usually finds itself at the mercy of a wildfire.

The city is home to 175,000 residents, including the wine-country wealthy and the working class.

The flames were unforgiving to both groups. Hundreds of homes of all sizes were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass in cars and turned aluminium wheels into liquid.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry, who runs an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa, was forced to flee in minutes with his wife, two daughters and a son just over two weeks old.

"I can't shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barrelled down on us," Mr Lowry said.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the centre's sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen.

Crews got the more than 200 people out of the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire engines raced by smouldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

A large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area. Two were in critical condition and one was in serious condition.

AP
Have you ever stopped to consider just how many chickens there are in the world? And given that hens lay roughly an egg a day, how many there would be if humans stopped eating eggs?

Well, luckily, somebody else has  so prepare for a flood of semi-sarcastic tweets on the subject.

Popular tweeter @KeetPotato wondered whether, rather than an actually pretty brutal practise, all those eggs we eat are in self defence.

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The threads author, who has more than 120,000 followers, questioned whether humans eat eggs to stop chickens from becoming the worlds superior species, rather than because theyre a good source of protein and healthy fats.

Some investigative work needed to be done, and luckily the UN had previously collected some data on the subject.

A 2011 report suggested there were 19 billion chickens on Earth, a full 12 billion more chickens than humans.

That led to @KeetPotato doing some maths of his own.

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Its a scary thought, a driveway full of chickens. But spare some sympathy for the people of Bahrain, the country with the highest chicken-to-person ratio in the world.

The Gulf country has around 40 chickens for every one person, so if humans stopped consuming their eggs, Bahrain would likely be the first to fall.

The thread ended with a tongue-in-cheek call for people to keep eating chickens, but obviously thats not the answer.

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There are only 19 billion chickens in the world because thats the number of chickens needed to at least maintain current levels of consumption by humans.

In the world vegans want, there probably would be a lot of chickens for a while but, over time, as humans left them alone, the worlds chicken population would presumably drop back down.

In conclusion though, for as long as humans are eating meat, its probably a good idea to pray chickens dont catch the revolutionary bug.
A Rohingya refugee child sleeps in a basket after crossing the border in Palong Khali, Bangladesh, yesterday. Photo: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar fled to Bangladesh yesterday in a new surge of refugees driven by fears of starvation and violence the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing.

About 519,000 Rohingya have crossed the border since August 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts in Rakhine state sparked a ferocious military response.

The EU is proposing shunning contact with Myanmar's top generals as a first step towards sanctions to punish the military for the violence, according to a draft document.

On the Bangladeshi side of the border, in Palong Khali district, several thousand people crossed yesterday from northern Rakhine, filing along embankments between flooded fields and scrubby forest.

"Half of my village was burnt down. I saw them do it," said Sayed Azin (46), who said he had walked for eight days carrying his 80-year-old mother in a basket strung on a bamboo pole between him and his son.

Soldiers and Buddhist mobs had torched his village, he said.

"I left everything," he said. "I can't find my relatives... I can't take this any more."

Some new arrivals spoke of bloody attacks by Buddhist mobs on people trekking towards the border.

Refugees and rights groups say the army and Buddhist vigilantes have engaged in a campaign of killing and arson aimed at driving the Rohingya out of Myanmar.

Myanmar rejects accusations of ethnic cleansing and has labelled the militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army who launched the initial attacks as terrorists who have killed civilians and burnt villages.

Among those fleeing were up to 35 people on a boat that capsized off the Bangladesh coast on Sunday. At least 12 of them drowned while 13 were rescued, Bangladeshi police said.

"We faced so many difficulties, for food and survival," said Sayed Hossein (30), adding that his wife, three children, mother and father-in-law had drowned.

Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced scathing international criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although she has no power over the security forces under a military-drafted constitution.
Barbara Spain-Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Mehrdad Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. John Stillwell/PA Wire

Mehrdad Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Barbara Spain-Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 10, 2017. John Stillwell/PA Wire

Mehrdad Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Barbara Spain-Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. John Stillwell/PA Wire

Barbara Spain-Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Mehrdad Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. John Stillwell/PA Wire

A wealthy Iranian businessman is embroiled in a divorce court fight with his estranged Irish wife.

Diplomat's son Mehrdad Radseresht, who is in his 70s, says Barbara Spain-Radseresht, who is in her 40s and used to work in the travel industry, agreed to a divorce when they lived in the Middle East more than seven years ago.

Mrs Spain-Radseresht, who comes from Dublin and now lives in London, disputes his claim and says she is entitled to a fair share of a marital fortune running into tens of millions of pounds.

A High Court judge has been asked to make decisions about the validity of the marriage.

Expand Close Mehrdad Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Barbara Spain-Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. John Stillwell/PA Wire / Facebook

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Mr Justice Cohen is analysing evidence at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

He said the couple could be named.

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Whatsapp Mehrdad Radseresht who is in a divorce court fight with Barbara Spain-Radseresht leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 10, 2017. John Stillwell/PA Wire

Mr Radseresht told Mr Justice Cohen they reached a settlement agreement in Dubai in 2009 after Mrs Spain-Radseresht was unfaithful.

Mrs Spain-Radseresht said she was tricked into signing paperwork.

She said she found out about the "alleged Dubai divorce" a year ago when she made a separate divorce application.

Mr Radseresht is represented by barrister Joe Rainer at the trial, and Mrs Spain-Radseresht is representing herself.

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Mr Radseresht, who has worked in the food industry, told the judge: "A divorce was agreed."

He said he had not forced Mrs Spain-Radseresht to do anything and said he still loved her.

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"You wanted a divorce and you got one," Mr Radseresht told Mrs Spain-Radseresht, adding: "Now you want money."

Mr Radseresht asked the judge to police Mrs Spain-Radseresht when she asked him questions.

"Please make her refrain from theatrics, from making faces at me," he said.

He said of Mrs Spain-Radseresht: "Any time I would say 'cry' she cries. (She) could cry now if she wanted to. She's professional at that."

He told Mrs Spain-Radseresht: "When you miss a flight and you start crying and we get a flight somehow."

Mrs Spain-Radseresht told Mr Justice Cohen she had not knowingly signed any divorce paperwork in 2009.

She said she had "no idea what was going on".

"It's probable that I signed it in a pile of documents and I didn't know what I was signing. I trusted my husband."

She added: "I felt really bad after my affair so I did whatever he said to make him happy."

Mrs Spain-Radseresht said the whole divorce was a forgery and told the judge: "He definitely tricked me."

She said: "He really put me under a lot of pressure after he found out about my liaison."

Mrs Spain-Radseresht, who wept at times as she gave evidence, said they were together for more than 20 years.

She claimed Mr Radseresht threatened her, adding: "He said I could stone you to death or have you executed."

"I stayed with someone who was nasty 95% of the time. At times it was nice but it just got worse.

"He was out to kill me. He was out to destroy me psychologically."

Mr Justice Cohen heard that the couple had lived in Dubai, Iran, London, and California.

Mrs Spain-Radseresht also told of two palaces in Iran with a combined value of more than 5 million and a home in Ireland.

The hearing continues and is expected to end later this week.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont walks up the stairs as he arrives at the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona, Spain, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Juan Medina

The president of Catalonia has said he has a mandate to declare independence but proposes waiting "a few weeks" to encourage dialogue.

Catalan lawmakers have now signed a document they call a declaration of independence but have delayed its implementation.

olice tightened their protective ring around the region's parliament on Tuesday as regional leader Carles Puigdemont held a meeting of his cabinet to decide how to press an independence drive that has stirred powerful emotions across Spain and raised fears of turmoil among European Union partner states.

Catalan police armed with automatic rifles guarded Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella that houses the elegant 18th century parliament as it prepared to convene at 6 p.m (16.00 GMT). About 20 armoured Catalan police vans blocked every entrance to the park and the entrance to parliament itself was guarded by three armoured vans and officers wearing balaclavas.

Expand Close Catalan President Carles Puigdemont arrives at the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona, Spain, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Albert Gea / Facebook

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Spanish national police, denounced by separatists for their use of force to hinder the region's Oct. 1 referendum, were not to be seen. However, the Spanish government was reinforcing security at airports and rail stations in Catalonia.

Pro-independence activists were gathering around the parliament, where big screens had been set up for them to watch proceedings. Farmers parked half a dozen tractors near the assembly, flying the separatist Catalan flag.

Earlier, both Spain's government and European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to Puigdemont not to proclaim independence.

"I ask you to respect, in your intentions, the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible. Diversity should not, and need not, lead to conflict, whose consequences would obviously be bad for the Catalans, for Spain and for the whole of Europe," Tusk said in a speech in Brussels.

The government of Spain's wealthiest region says 90 percent of those who voted on Oct. 1 backed independence, but turnout was only 43 percent as many opponents of statehood stayed at home.

Irreversible

Expand Close Catalan President Carles Puigdemont walks up the stairs as he arrives at the Catalonian regional parliament in Barcelona, Spain, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Juan Medina / Facebook

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The Spanish government appealed to Puigdemont to reflect and not to take an irrevocable step by declaring independence.

"I want to ask Mr. Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to take a path of no return, not to carry out any unilateral declaration of independence and to return to legality," Madrid government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters.

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French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU should not play a mediating role in the Catalonia crisis, expressing confidence in Madrid's ability to handle the situation.

The Catalan parliament and other buildings, such as the regional high court building, could become a focus of contention between Spanish and Catalan authorities.

Thousands of national police reinforcements sent by Madrid for the referendum remain in the area, many of them in two cruise ships docked in Barcelona harbour.

Supporters of independence were already congregating near the parliament hours before a pro-independence rally called for 6 p.m. to coincide with Puigdemont's speech to the assembly.

"Were very excited, its another historic day and were hoping they will declare independence," said Laura Moreno, a 21-year-old literature student, sitting wrapped in a Catalan flag near the parliament.

If independence is not declared, she said, "the fight will go on and well try again ... If it doesnt happen now, it will in the future."

Aitor Llado, 30, walking near the Catalan parliament carrying a Catalan separatist flag, also said it was an historic day. "Today is the day they are going to declare independence and we hope to leave Spain because its an oppressor country."

The issue has deeply divided the northeastern region as well as the Spanish nation. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence.

Losing Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, would deprive Spain of a fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of exports.

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona against independence at the weekend, waving red-yellow Spanish flags through the city centre.

That rally occurred a week after some 900 people were injured when police fired rubber bullets and stormed crowds with truncheons to disrupt a referendum ruled illegal in Madrid.

Puigdemont has said he is determined to apply a law passed by the Catalan assembly that called for a declaration of independence within days if Catalans voted "yes" on Oct. 1.

Puigdemont could ask the parliament to vote on a motion of independence, which lawmakers say would start a period of up to six months during which Catalonia would write a new constitution and negotiate a divorce with Spain. Or, he could make a statement of intent on a future independence declaration.

Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull refused to disclose what Puigdemont would say but told a news conference after the cabinet meeting he would be "clear and explicit" and Tuesday would be an historic day.

The Madrid government has said it will respond immediately to any unilateral independence proclamation.

Spanish ruling party lawmakers said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was considering taking the unprecedented step of dissolving the Catalan parliament and triggering new regional elections, the so-called "nuclear option".

The European Commission repeated its call for dialogue in Spain to end the crisis in Catalonia. Puigdemont has also called for talks and international mediation, but Rajoy has said he will not negotiate with the Catalan leaders unless they abandon plans to declare independence.

Business climate

Markets have been rattled by the Catalan crisis, raising Spain's borrowing costs and pushing down shares.

Spain's benchmark 10-year bond yields were a touch lower on Tuesday, but above lows hit the previous session as investors awaited Puigdemont's speech. Spain's benchmark Ibex share index was down nearly one percent.

The tension is taking its toll on the business climate.

On Monday, three more Catalonia-based companies joined a business drift from the region that has gathered steam since the referendum.

Property group Inmobiliaria Colonial and infrastructure firm Abertis both decided to relocate their head offices to Madrid and telecoms firm Cellnex said it would do the same for as long as political uncertainty in Catalonia continued.

Publishing house Grupo Planeta said it would shift its registered office from Barcelona to Madrid if the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence.
About 12:30 p.m. Monday, a Marion County man reported being punched and having a handgun pointed at him after he met with a potential buyer for a motorcycle near the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge near Jefferson.

The man had posted the motorcycle and other items on multiple social media platforms, according to the Marion County Sheriffs Office.

In addition to the motorcycle, the victim reported the theft of his wallet, jacket, helmet and cell phone.

The suspect is described as an adult white male between 6-feet and 6-feet three-inches tall and weighs between 240 and 250 pounds. The suspect is balding with buzz-cut blond hair.

He was last seen wearing a red and black riding jacket, red and black helmet, black T-shirt, blue jeans and dark cowboy boots.

The suspect arrived in a newer black Jeep Cherokee with temporary stickers in the window. The victim was unable to describe the driver of the Jeep.

The motorcycle is a gray 2014 Yamaha R6 bearing Oregon license plate M722871.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office reminds the public that when meeting with potential buyers from posted ads, it is always best to meet in a very public location such as your local sheriff's office.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call 503-588-5032 or text tips to TipMCSO at 847411. If you see the motorcycle please do not approach it and call 9-1-1.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned that Spain will not be divided by a declaration of independence from Catalonia and said the government was ready to respond to any such attempt.

Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont plans to address the Catalan parliament this evening. Separatist politicians say there will be a declaration of independence for the region, although some legislators in the ruling coalition say the move could be simply "symbolic". Mr Puigdemont has not clarified what his intentions are.

Mr Rajoy warned that the national government in Madrid would not stand for such a declaration.

He told the German newspaper 'Die Welt': "Spain will not be divided and the national unity will be preserved. We will prevent this independence."

Referendum

Nevertheless, politicians supporting Mr Puigdemont's minority government and separatist groups say they will not accept anything less than a full declaration of independence.

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Mr Rajoy's deputy Soraya Saenz de Santamaria also warned that Spain would act decisively if there was any independence declaration.

"If they declare independence, there will be decisions to restore the law and democracy," she said and called for members of the Catalan government "who still respect democracy and freedom to refrain from jumping into the void".

Meanwhile, Catalonia's top judicial official has ordered additional Spanish police protection for the headquarters of the regional judiciary.

Jesus Barrientos has asked the chief of the national police force in the region to join in the protection of the building.

His statement said a declaration of independence, even if illegal under Spanish laws, could trigger the suspension of the judiciary and the ousting of its president.

On Sunday, a massive protest in Barcelona showed the strength of Spanish unionists in Catalonia, as thousands marched with the Spanish national flag that had been absent until now in the regional debate.

They chanted "Don't be fooled, Catalonia is Spain" and called for Mr Puigdemont to go to prison for holding the banned referendum.

Catalan authorities say the "Yes" side won the referendum with 90pc of the vote, although only 43pc of the region's 5.3 million eligible voters turned out in polling that was marred by police raids of polling stations.

Meanwhile, France will not recognise Catalonia if its government unilaterally declares independence, its European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau has warned.

"If there were to be a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral and it would not be recognised," Ms Loiseau said on CNews television, calling for dialogue to resolve the crisis.

The minister also reiterated warnings that a Catalan Republic would find itself shunned by Brussels.

"If independence were to be recognised - which is not something that is being discussed - the most immediate consequence would be that (Catalonia) automatically left the European Union," she said.

Separatists

French President Emmanuel Macron had already made his position clear in the wake of the referendum in a telephone conversation with the Spanish prime minister, in which he expressed firm support for the "constitutional unity" of Spain.

The French position chimes with that of the European Commission, which has consistently thrown its weight behind the Spanish government.

But it has come under pressure from many MEPs, who have expressed revulsion at the violent crackdown by Spanish police on the day of the banned referendum.

Yesterday, the Council of Europe joined the United Nations in calling for an independent investigation into the violence, which left up to 900 people injured. (Daily Telegraph, London and agencies)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Soldiers applaud during an event marking the 20th anniversary of the election of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

The UN Security Council has banned all nations from allowing four ships that transported prohibited goods to and from North Korea to enter any port in their country.

Hugh Griffiths, head of the panel of experts investigating the implementation of United Nations sanctions against North Korea, announced the port bans at a briefing to member states on Monday.

A North Korean diplomat attended the hour-long session.

Mr Griffiths later told several reporters that "this is the first time in UN history" that the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang has prohibited ships from entering all ports.

He identified the four cargo ships as the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun.

According to MarineTraffic, a maritime database that monitors vessels and their moments, Petrel 8 is registered in Comoros, Hao Fan 6 in St. Kitts and Nevis, and Tong San 2 in North Korea.

It does not list the flag of Tong San 2 but said that on October 3 it was in the Bohai Sea off north China.

Mr Griffiths said the four ships were officially listed on October 5 "for transporting prohibited goods", stressing that this was "swift action" by the sanctions committee following the August 6 Security Council resolution that authorised port bans.

That resolution, which followed North Korea's first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, also banned the country from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood products.

Those goods are estimated to be worth over 1 billion US dollars (760 million) - about one-third of the country's estimated 3 billion dollar (2.28bn) in exports in 2016.

The Security Council unanimously approved more sanctions on September 11, responding to North Korea's sixth and strongest nuclear test explosion on September 3.

These latest sanctions ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates, and cap its crude oil imports.

They also prohibit all textile exports, ban all joint ventures and cooperative operations, and bars any country from authorising new work permits for North Korean workers - key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation.

Both resolutions are aimed at increasing economic pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - the country's official name - to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs.

Mr Griffiths told UN diplomats that the panel of experts is getting reports that the DPRK "is continuing its attempts to export coal" in violation of sanctions.

"We have as yet no evidence whatsoever of state complicity, but given the large quantities of money involved and the excess capacity of coal in the DPRK it probably comes as no surprise to you all that they're seeking to make some money here," he said.

Mr Griffiths said the panel is "doing our very best to monitor the situation and to follow up with member states who maybe have been taken advantage of by the tactics deployed by DPRK coal export entities".

As for joint ventures and cooperative arrangements, Mr Griffiths said the resolution gives them 120 days from September 11 to close down.

But "in a number of cases, the indications are that these joint ventures aren't shutting down at all but are on the contrary expanding - and therefore joint ventures is a major feature of the panel's current investigations," he said.

Mr Griffiths also asked all countries to pay "special attention" to North Korea's Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, also known as the Mansudae Art Studio, which is on the sanctions blacklist and subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

According to the sanctions listing, Mansudae exports North Korean workers to other countries "for construction-related activities including for statues and monuments to generate revenue for the government of the DPRK or the (ruling) Workers' Party of Korea".

AP
Police have made a significant change to the timeline of the Las Vegas mass shooting, saying the gunman shot a hotel security guard before he opened fire on concert-goers.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo had previously said the guard was shot after Stephen Paddock fired at the country music festival and that the guard's arrival in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel may have caused him to stop firing.

Mr Lombardo said security guard Jesus Campos was in a hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel responding to a report of an open door when he heard drilling from Paddock's room.

Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security officials.

A few minutes later, Paddock began raining down bullets for 10 minutes in an attack that killed 58 people - the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, Mr Lombardo said.

Authorities also said Paddock targeted aviation fuel tanks, stocked his car with explosives and had personal protection gear as part of an escape plan.

He had power tools and was attempting to drill a hole in an adjacent wall, perhaps to mount another camera or to point a rifle through, but he never completed the work, Mr Lombardo said.

He also drilled holes and bolted a metal bar to try to prevent the opening of an emergency exit stairwell door near the door of his room.

Mr Lombardo again expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation, but not with the investigators who have yet to pinpoint the motive behind Paddock's decision to fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino on a Las Vegas Strip concert crowd of 22,000 on October 1.

"It's because this individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Mr Lombardo said.

"We believe he decided to take the lives he did and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."

There is still no evidence Paddock was motivated by ideology, or that there was another gunman, he said. Investigators have found 200 incidents of Paddock moving through the city, and at no time was he with anyone else.

Mr Lombardo said police and FBI agents, including behavioural profilers, have still not found a particular event in Paddock's life that might have triggered the shooting.

The sheriff added that a complete evaluation of Paddock's mental condition was not yet done. Authorities did not find a note in his room, only a paper with numbers, he said.

Investigators believe the numbers represented calculations for more precise shots, according to a law enforcement source.

The sheriff also confirmed investigators are talking with Paddock's brother Eric, who travelled to Las Vegas, and continue to speak with the gunman's girlfriend Marilou Danley.

Mr Lombardo declined to reveal what they have said, but added: "Every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle."

AP
The board of convenience store operator Nisa has recommended that its members accept a 143 million takeover bid from the Co-op Group.

The offer comes after the Co-op replaced Sainsburys as the front-runner in the process earlier this year and would see the group take on Nisas debts of 105 million.

A combined entity would see the number of stores the Co-op supplies almost double to 7,000.

The Co-op has 3,800 outlets while Nisa has 3,200.

Nisa said the tie-up will give the group access to greater scale and Co-op ranges, with chairman Peter Hartley adding: The board was unanimous in its decision to recommend the Co-op offer.

While the business has made significant strides in recent years, we firmly believe that the combination with the Co-op is in the best interests of our members.

The Co-op offers the right blend of buying capability, convenience expertise, and respect for the heritage of our business, to enable our members to fully thrive in this new partnership.

Nisa will be retained as a standalone business and brand, and the offer price includes 5.5 million of associated deal costs that the Co-op will pay.

Under the terms of the deal, Nisa shareholders will receive an equal initial payment, a deferred share payment payable over three years, as well as additional rebates payable over four years.

Nisas 1,190 shopkeeper members will vote on whether to accept the deal in early November.

The deal comes as the supermarket sector is in flux following the announcement of Tescos 3.7 billion merger with wholesaler Booker, which is currently undergoing a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe.

Jo Whitfield, food CEO at the Co-op, said: This acquisition provides the opportunity to create an even greater and more compelling member-led presence within the UK convenience sector.

We believe we have presented a compelling offer for Nisa members, with a future proposition that would bring them our award-winning own label products and wide range.

The deal still requires regulatory approval from the CMA.
Christopher Sayers was shot and killed in New York

Tributes have been paid to a construction worker who was gunned down in New York by a former employee he had fired two days previously.

Christopher Sayers (37) was shot multiple times by Samuel Perry (44), who then turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

His father Paddy Sayers is a native of Marian Park in Dingle, and his late mother, Josie Cavanagh came from Feothanach, west of Dingle.

The shooting happened on the 37th floor of a building they were working on in Manhattan's Midtown last Thursday.

His funeral mass took place on Tuesday at Our Lady of Mercy Church on Long Island and friends and family have described him as a "great guy" who was the life and soul of every party.

"What is this world coming to? My sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Christopher Sayers. He was a great guy. He was the spark every party," one friend said.

"You will be greatly missed, Chris. You will never be forgotten," another said.

Mr Sayers attended Holy Trinity High School and staff also paid tribute to the foreman.

"We are deeply saddened to inform all about the sudden passing of Christopher Sayers ('98). Please keep Christopher and the Sayers family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Once a Titan, Always a Titan....."

Robert Pagan (42), a carpenter, told the New York Times he heard the gunshots but thought it might have been a nail gun. He was heading up to the 37th floor to see what happened when he ran into Mr. Perry on the 33rd floor staircase.

I just saw the shooter coming downstairs, very calm. I jokingly asked him if he brought a gun to the job because youre not supposed to be here, Mr. Pagan said.

The New York Police Department said Perry had been arrested at least three times in the past, including once for robbery.

Muiris Bric, the former president of the Kerrymen's Association in New York, says the Irish community are in shock.

"All the people that I have spoken to are shocked and it's kind of unbelievable. They really can't seem to get around it."
Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited the company's platforms in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 US election, according to people familiar with the company's investigation.

The Silicon Valley giant has found that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation across Google's many products, which include YouTube, as well as advertising associated with Google search, Gmail, and the company's DoubleClick ad network, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not been made public. Google runs the world's largest online advertising business, and YouTube is the world's largest online video site.

The discovery by Google is also significant because the ads do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated troll farm that bought ads on Facebook - a sign the Russian effort to spread disinformation online may be a broader problem than Silicon Valley companies have unearthed so far.

Google previously downplayed the problem of Russian meddling on its platforms. Last month, spokeswoman Andrea Faville told the 'Washington Post' the company is "always monitoring for abuse or violations of our policies and we've seen no evidence this type of ad campaign was run on our platforms".

Nevertheless, Google has launched an investigation, as Congress pressed technology companies to determine how Russian operatives used social media, online advertising, and other digital tools to influence the 2016 presidential contest and foment discord in the US.

Google declined to comment. The people familiar with its investigation said the company is looking at a set of ads that cost less than $100,000 (85,000) and that it is still sorting out whether all of the ads came from trolls or whether some originated from legitimate Russian accounts.

To date, Google has mostly avoided the scrutiny that has fallen on its rival Facebook. The social network recently shared about 3,000 Russian-bought ads with congressional investigators that were purchased by operatives associated with the Internet Research Agency, a Russian-government affiliated troll farm, the company has said.

Some of the ads, which cost a total of about $100,000, touted Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and the Green party candidate Jill Stein during the campaign.

Other ads appear to have been aimed at fostering division in the United States by promoting anti-immigrant sentiment and racial animosity. Facebook has said those ads reached just 10 million of the 210 million US users that log onto the service each month.

At least one outside researcher has said the influence of Russian disinformation on Facebook is much greater than the company has so far acknowledged and encompasses paid ads as well as posts published on Facebook pages controlled by Russian agents. The posts were shared hundreds of millions of times, said Jonathan Albright, research director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University.
Harvey Weinstein became a Hollywood pariah last night as stars including Judi Dench and Meryl Streep said they were "horrified and appalled" by his alleged sexual harassment of other actresses.

It took four days for the floodgates of condemnation to open after the accusations against Weinstein, including that he had settled eight legal cases over several decades, were made public.

One of his accusers, the actress Rose McGowan, had pointed to a "deafening" lack of support from Hollywood's elite, saying they were complicit in a "30-year cover up".

But the wall of silence came crashing down as the movie mogul was unceremoniously fired by his own studio, The Weinstein Company.

In the UK there were calls for Weinstein to be stripped of the honorary CBE he was awarded for his contribution the British film industry.

Theresa May yesterday said she was "concerned" about the allegations. "On the issue of honours that's an independent process carried out by the forfeiture committee. Each case is considered on its merits," a spokesman said.

Expand Close Actress Hayley Atwell. Photo: Getty Images / Facebook

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Judi Dench, who previously credited Weinstein with reviving her film career, said: "Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying, and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out."

She had been a long-time collaborator of Weinstein's after winning an Oscar in 1999 for her performance as Elizabeth I in the Weinstein film Shakespeare in Love.

Dench subsequently received Oscar nominations for five more Weinstein-distributed films.

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In 2014 she described embarrassing the studio boss by having her make-up artist tattoo his name on her rear.

"I actually got up and showed him! I've never seen a man more embarrassed and I've never let him forget it," she told 'The Hollywood Reporter'.

Streep, another Weinstein collaborator, also broke her silence.

She won an Oscar for playing Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady', which was distributed by The Weinstein Company. In an acceptance speech for that role at the Golden Globes in 2012 she thanked Weinstein, jokingly referring to him as "God, the punisher, Old Testament, I guess".

Streep denied previously knowing anything about his behaviour and called the women speaking out against him "heroes".

She said: "The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported. The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.

"One thing can be clarified. Not everybody knew. Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally. The behaviour is inexcusable but the abuse of power familiar."

Amid calls for male actors to condemn the studio boss, Oscar nominee Mark Rufallo said: "To be clear, what Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power and horrible."

Other stars to speak out included Jessica Chastain, Susan Sarandon, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham and Michael Keaton.

Allegations emerged on Sunday that Mr Weinstein told British actress Hayley Atwell that she looked "like a fat pig" during a lunch for the cast an crew of 'Brideshead Revisited' in 2007. Weinstein stared flirting with the then 24-year-old actress, who was playing Julia Flyte in the movie. He then told her to watch what she was eating because "you look like a fat pig on screen", according to allegations published by the 'New York Post'.

According to an article published by 'The New York Times on Thursday, the film chief appeared naked in front of staff.

Ashley Judd, the actress, told the newspaper he lured her to a hotel room and asked her to massage him or watch him shower.

Weinstein has admitted to having caused "a lot of pain" and apologised, saying he is undergoing therapy.

He has also threatened to sue The New York Times for "reckless reporting".

Since the article was published several other women have publicly made allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement The Weinstein Company said their co-founder was "terminated, effective immediately". Among those now in control will be his brother Bob Weinstein. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Demonstrators take to the streets during a march in Paris (AP)

A nationwide strike disrupted schools, hospitals and air traffic across France on Tuesday, and nearly a quarter of a million civil servants took to the streets around the country in protest at President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

They were expressing anger at wage freezes, the axing of 120,000 jobs in public services over the next five years and a succession of spending cuts and labour reforms that Mr Macron argues will boost the economy.

In Paris, the police said they counted 26,000 demonstrators, while the CGT, the main trade union, counted twice that number in the capital alone and hundreds of thousands across the country.

The Interior ministry said 209,000 took part in protests nationwide.

It was the first time in ten years that all public service unions had called for strike action.

Philippe Martinez, the CGT leader, told reporters in the Paris demonstration that the participation in this strike day was "very significant" and praised the union unity.

Among the protesters marching in Paris was Beatrice Vieval, a 49-year-old nurse, who said her Paris public hospital had seen three recent suicides among staff, and she feared that Mr Macron's plans "will make the situation worse".

Alongside teachers, hospital workers made up many of the protesters. Ms Vieval, who works at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, told The Associated Press she already felt squeezed by increasing cutbacks - "wages are frozen, hospital conditions are deteriorated, staff is depleted by reorganising services".

Amado Lebaube, a 20-year-old philosophy student in the Sorbonne university, said degraded working conditions were already hurting consumers of public services, and could threaten his ability to stay in school.

He expressed thanks for state-paid teachers, student housing aid and government scholarships, adding: "I can study today because there are public services in this country."

Flagship carrier Air France said about 25% of domestic flights were cancelled due to a walkout by some traffic controllers. The airline maintained long-haul flights to and from Paris airports.

The education ministry said in a statement about 17% of teachers across the country were on strike Tuesday.

Some school canteens and nurseries were closed, and several high schools in Paris were closed because students were blocking the entrances in solidarity with the union action.

"They unravel all the social protections supposed to protect the weakest and the workers," said Sandrine Amoud, a teacher on strike in Paris.

Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of the FO union, called on Mr Macron to stop "austerity" policies toward public servants during a protest in Lyon.

While demonstrations were largely peaceful across the country, a small group of protesters skirmished with police at the end of a march to the Place de la Nation in eastern Paris.

The industrial action came after several other street protests in recent weeks against Mr Macron's proposed changes to labour laws.

Unions fear Mr Macron's economic policies will weaken France's hard-won worker protections.

The hard-left CGT union called for new protests and strikes on October 19.

AP
Albany students practice bus safety procedures twice a year, whether or not they are regular bus riders.

That's so they can be safe on field trips or rooter buses, or ready for a one-time ride with a friend. But the practice also makes sure students are prepared for another possibility, which has been on Superintendent Jim Golden's mind lately: the need to evacuate a building.

The hurricanes that leveled structures in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico aren't a danger to the mid-valley, but other natural disasters lie in wait, particularly the overdue quake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. And, Golden said, as unthinkable as it might be, human-caused disasters such as last week's massacre in Las Vegas can't be ruled out completely.

"My hope is that we have a community-wide focus on becoming better prepared for disasters," he said.

"We know that the most likely disasters we would experience here in the mid-Willamette Valley are earthquakes, fires and possibly some kind of chemical spill from I-5 or our railyard," he went on. "We could possibly also have a weeklong cold spell where we had some loss of electrical service and difficulty traveling."

Golden said he's encouraging families to be prepared for a disaster that restricts access to food, water and power for at least a week.

Ideally, the schools themselves would serve as relief centers and evacuation sites. But if disaster were to strike during classroom hours and compromise a building's safety, the school district's emergency plan includes the option of evacuating students and staff to the Linn County Fair and Expo Center.

Students and their teachers would be bused to the fairgrounds and stay there until they could be picked up by their families. The school would provide supervision for the students and supervise the turnover to parents.

Thus: bus safety practice, going on at Albany schools all this month and next. Buses are staying in place in school parking lots while drivers go over the rules.

"How many have ridden a bus before?" driver Russ Berg asked close to 70 first- and second-graders Thursday morning as they sat at attention in his bus parked outside Clover Ridge School. "We sometimes need your guys' help to make sure everybody gets to school safely."

Berg led his small charges through the basics of good bus behavior: staying seated, facing forward, at all times; remaining quiet at railroad tracks; and filing off in left-right order without pushing.

He had the children count the emergency exits, helped them estimate the 100-foot evacuation distance and showed them the fire extinguisher under the dash and the first aid kit above the door-side window.

"Safety is the biggest thing we try to impress," Berg said.

Said Golden: "The better educated we are about these possibilities, and the better prepared we are as a community, will mean that there will be less suffering and the ability for us to help each other out."
Emergency personnel stage at an intersection across from Talkington Hall on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)

Hollis Daniels was taken to police HQ after officers found evidence of drugs in a university room (Lubbock County jail/AP)

A 19-year-old student has been charged with capital murder after the shooting of a campus officer at a Texas university's police headquarters.

Texas Tech University officials identified the gunman as Hollis Daniels, who was booked into Lubbock County jail early on Tuesday.

The gunman had fled police headquarters after mortally wounding the unidentified officer on Monday night. He was later spotted by university police, a foot chase ensued and he was tackled and taken into custody.

In a statement, the university said campus police had taken Daniels to the police station after finding evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia in a room.

It is not clear if Daniels had the gun on him at that point, or if he took the weapon from an officer.

Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said: "T he suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer. The suspect fled on foot and was later apprehended by ... (campus police) near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum."

"The family of the officer is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community," said Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec.

"I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sheriff's Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response."

Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a statement about the shooting, saying: "Hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed."

He said he had mobilised state law enforcement resources to aid the investigation.

Texas Tech is a public research university in the city of Lubbock.
Armed security officers at the scene of the shooting south of Mombasa (AP)

Gunmen have killed two female employees of a technical university on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, police said.

The assault in Ukunda, near Mombasa, occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for the rerun of presidential elections later this month.

The gunmen, suspected to be al-Shabab rebels from neighbouring Somalia, sprayed a vehicle carrying university staff and police with bullets near the campus, said Larry Kieng, the region's police chief.

Ukunda is 19 miles south west of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city.

Two staff members of the university were killed in the attack, said Mwangi Kahiro, acting county commissioner for Kwale County.

The incident recalled the attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenyan in April 2015 in which four gunmen killed 148 people, most of them students.

Somalia's al-Shabab militia has been carrying out attacks in Kenya as retribution for Kenya's deployment of troops in Somalia to fight the rebels.

Kenya is one of six African countries that contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia to fight al-Shabab, which is waging an insurgency against the UN-backed government to establish a state based on strict Shariah law.

Al-Shabab is the most potent threat to east Africa's stability, having regained territory in parts of southern and central Somalia and carrying out frequent attacks in Somalia's capital and in Kenya, according to the US State Department.

The 22,000 troops in the African Union force pushed al-Shabab out of most of Somalia's cities and towns but the rebels continued to hold territory in southern Somalia where the extremist group "gained time and space needed to grow, regroup and recruit new fighters", said the report.

AP
Whitbread has paid 35 million to seize full control of its Costa Coffee joint venture in China.

Costa currently owns 51% of the joint venture, which operates 252 stores in the Asian powerhouse, and the new deal will see it acquire the remaining 49% from its partner Yueda.

Whitbread boss Alison Brittain said the move was part of the firms plan to grow internationally, singling out China in particular as coffee culture becomes more popular in the country.

The coffee shop market in China is highly attractive, with a compelling opportunity for Costa to grow its presence over the longer term.

This acquisition gives us full strategic and funding flexibility to unlock Costas potential in China, providing a strong platform to facilitate future growth, enhance the customer experience and make Costa the coffee shop of choice in this fast-growing market, she said.

Whitbread added that its other joint venture in China, with BHG in the north of the country, remains unaffected.

Whitbread, which also owns Premier Inn and Beefeater, revealed a slowdown in sales growth at its coffee shops in a June trading update.

The group said like-for-like Costa sales grew by 1.1% in the first quarter to June 1, down from 2% growth in the previous year.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said of the China deal: Costa China has been honing its customer proposition since we saw management a year ago.

It is trying to focus on a somewhat different offer to Starbucks: handmade coffee rather than push-button, a British heritage (although this seems to have been tamed down somewhat), and well-invested stores (trendy, modern, stylish, with trials of its Hothouse project).
When I first started covering politics there were three registered Democrats for every one registered Republican in North Carolina. The chairman of my county Republican Party jokingly said they could hold a county convention in a phone booth. The most competitive elections were always the Democratic primaries. Republicans struggled to find candidates, so whoever won the Democratic nomination was almost a sure bet to win the General Election. Times have changed.

As of last week there were 6.8 million registered voters in North Carolina. Democrats have declined from about 75 percent to only 39 percent of registered voters today. Republicans now total 30.3 percent, but the major gains have taken place among unaffiliated registrations. They also number 30.3 percent, with a handful more registrations than Republicans.

What happened? Both parties have their own spin, but it is clear that large numbers dont like either party. We can speculate that unaffiliated gains have occurred because Democrats ventured too far to the left while Republicans have swung too the right, but the facts are the facts.

If current trends continue unaffiliated registrations might equal and perhaps exceed those of Democrats. Weve heard pundits remind us that large numbers of unaffiliated voters still predictably vote for one or the other party. While true, we would postulate thats because voters dont have much choice.

Political parties dont have the influence of yesteryear and are becoming almost irrelevant. With clearly identified platforms and almost machine-like precision, state and county party leaders previously raised money, held rallies and actively campaigned for their candidates. On Election Day they made sure the party faithful turned out to vote. Candidates dont enjoy nearly that level of party support today.

Over the years state leaders have tinkered with election laws to allow or restrict early voting, change election rules, gerrymander legislative and congressional districts and recently restructure the state and local boards of elections. Not content with these changes they are now dabbling in judicial elections, by requiring judicial candidates be identified by their party affiliation and also attempting to rearrange the districts in which local judges and District Attorneys run. All these efforts have resulted in endless and costly legal suits.

Lets be clear. Few, if any, of these changes were made with an eye toward giving voters more and better choices  they were solely intended to continue the two party system, while giving the most advantages to whichever party was in power.

North Carolina has some of the most stringent ballot access rules in our nation, making it difficult, if not impossible, for candidates not affiliated with one of the two parties to run in and win elections. It is time for that to change. While we dont endorse ballots with exhaustive numbers of candidates, we do assert that the changing political climate dictates that voters have more choices than just the two parties.

Lowering the ballot access thresholds would benefit us in many ways. It would level the playing field; voters would have more opportunities to choose their representatives instead of the other way around. We would see better candidates, compelled to run more issue-oriented campaigns instead of just vicious attack ads. The result could be less partisan and divisive government. Reforming restrictive ballot access laws is an idea whose time has come.

Tom Campbell is former assistant North Carolina State Treasurer and is creator/host of NC SPIN, a weekly statewide television discussion of NC issues. Show airs in Charlotte on WCCB Sundays at 6:30 a.m.
The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has increased the demand for temporary jobs and organized flexi-staffing firms in India. The flexi-staffing industry in India is worth approximately US$280 billion (Rs 27,000 crores), and is expected to develop in a positive way due to the impact of GST.

How does the flexi-staffing model work in India?

Flexi-staffing or contract labor refers to an employment model where employees are hired by a staffing agency (contractor), and lent out to work at and under the supervision of a user company (principal employer). In such a model, the principal employer does not have any direct employment relationship with the flexi-employees, although they may be liable to fulfill certain limited legal obligations.

In India, the flexi-staffing industry employs more than two million workers in the organized sector  the majority of whom are aged 21-30 years. Most flexi-employees are employed in jobs such as data operations, accounts, sales, back end operations, administration, and marketing.

How does GST impact the flexi-staffing industry?

Flexi-staffing in India is both organized as well as unorganized, with the latter having a pricing advantage due to exemption from service tax and compliance burdens. Under the pre-GST era, organized flexi-staffing agencies needed to comply with applicable labor laws, and pay service tax at the rate of 15 percent.

However, the GST regime changes this, bring in much needed pricing parity between organized and unorganized agencies by eliminating the pricing advantage enjoyed by unorganized agencies. The GST rate for staffing agencies is pegged at 18 percent for both organized as well as unorganized firms. GST rules also allow firms that avail services of staffing agencies to benefit from input tax credit. This benefit may only be availed if the staffing firm is registered and pays tax to the government.

Due to the input tax credit benefit under GST, it is expected that firms will move towards hiring from organized agencies, and unorganized agencies will be forced to become organized in order to survive in the market. This will make the industry move towards stricter compliance with applicable laws and improved working conditions.

What is the impact on doing business in India?

With the introduction of GST, hiring flexi-staffing services will be more cost efficient for companies doing business in India as it ensures easy dispensability of employees, relatively cheaper workforce, low monitoring and administrative costs, as well as input tax credit benefits.

Firms operating using new age technology such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain as well as startups and firms engaged in emerging industries stand to gain from flexi-staffing as it helps them avoid the burden of hiring permanent employees in a volatile market, thereby minimizing liabilities.

Regulation of flexi-staffing in India

At present, the primary law in India regulating flexi-staffing is the Contract Labor (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and allied Rules. The Act applies to every establishment as well as every staffing agency, which has employed 20 or more contract workers in the preceding 12 months.

The key compliances under the Act are as follows:

Registration of every covered establishment.

Contract workers are to be paid in accordance with the minimum wage rate.

Contract workers must be provided certain facilities such as safe drinking water and first-aid.

The primary responsibility of providing these facilities lies on the staffing agency/ contractor. In case the contractor defaults in making payments or providing facilities, the burden falls on the principal employer. The principal employer has the right to claim reimbursements for such costs from the contractor at a later date.

Recently, some states such as Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have increased the applicability threshold of the Act to 50 workers in order to reduce compliance burden for employers.

Nevertheless, the staffing industry in India still views the current labor laws as restrictive and compliance intensive, calling for employer friendly labor reforms.
Ali Fazal is a happy man these days as not only he is riding high on success with his film, but also because he has a special someone by his side. Recently, he opened up about his romantic association with actress Richa Chadda. Besides, his Hollywood project Victoria & Abdul has been well-appreciated by critics as well as audiences.

thr.com

After having worked with Judi Dench in the movie, rumours are afloat that he is soon going to sign his next project, which is going to be a biopic. With that, Ali Fazal will become the first Indian actor to sign a biographical film in Hollywood.

cobrapost.com

It will hopefully roll in 2018. I cant elaborate further as I am yet to sign on the dotted line. Filmmakers are experimenting with unique topics and I want to grab these opportunities and not get typecast, Ali Fazal was earlier quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror about his next international project.

glamsham.com

Now, the grapevine suggests its a biopic. However, it is not known as to whom the film will be based on as details on the project have been kept under wraps.
This heartwarming picture of a Hyderabad police officer smiling down at a four-month-old child has gone viral.

Inspector R Sanjay Kumar of Nampally Police Station was pictured with Faizan Khan after the cop saved the latter from a kidnapping.

Also read: Karnataka Lady Cop Who Exposed VIP Treatment Of Sasikala In Jail Gets Top President's Medal

twitter/Swati Lakra IPS

The photo was tweeted by Hyderabad IPS officer, Swati Lakra who "Loved this pic!" Her tweet has been liked over 23,000 times.

Inspector Sanjay Kumar @shonampally rescued this child who was kidnapped. The smile of the child says it all. Love this pic! @hydcitypolice pic.twitter.com/zA1jZ2QGMx  Swati Lakra, IPS (@AddlCPCrimesHyd) October 7, 2017

The child was saved 15 hours after he was kidnapped on Wednesday night, reported The Indian Express.

Also read: Video Of Police Officer Demonstrating How To Douse Fire Caused By Cylinder Leak Is Going Viral

Inspector Kumar tweeted that the two kidnappers were arrested and the child was handed over to his parents.

Nampally police arrested 2 child kidnappers MD Mustaq & MD Yousuf n Traced 4 months baby boy with in 15 hours and handed over to parents pic.twitter.com/tmKegzBOkG  SHO NAMPALLY (@shonampally) October 5, 2017

The police arrested the culprits with the help of CCTV footage and handed the infant back to his mother, Humera Begum, reported Times Of India.

Also read: Meet Abhishek Patel, Head Constable Who Ran 1 Km Non-Stop With A 10 Kg Bomb To Save School Kids

Twitterati couldn't hold back its collective admiration for the wonderful moment shared between the cop and the child.

This is beautiful. Well done @hydcitypolice  VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 8, 2017

Amazing photograph. Brought smile and tears together :)  Subbarao's son (@sumanththoleti) October 7, 2017

a photo speaks a thousand words..so special  annaline de wet (@annalinedewet) October 9, 2017

Good job inspector. May God bless u & your team. beautiful smile on the little ones face  Atul Aror (@atulaurora24) October 7, 2017

Hats off to the police!
A local court in Sonipat has held 75-year-old alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba bombmaker Abdul Karim Tunda guilty in the 1996 Sonepat bomb blasts case. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Sushil Kumar Garg will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Wednesday, Tunda's counsel Ashish Vats said.

BCCL

"Abdul Karim Tunda has been held guilty under section 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act," he said.

While recording his statement in court in September this year, Tunda, who is currently lodged in a jail in Sonepat, had claimed that he was in Pakistan at the time of the blasts.

At least 15 persons were injured in twin blasts in Sonepat in 1996 -- one near a cinema hall and another near a sweets shop.

BCCL

Tunda is a trained LeT bomb-expert, was named as the main accused in the case.

The lawyer said that 43 witnesses, including those who were injured in the blasts, recorded their testimony during the trial.

Tunda was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16, 2013. He was suspected to be involved in several blasts cases across the country, some of which are still pending.

The 75 year old was among the 20 terrorists that India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
In a breakthrough, a joint team of security forces on Monday killed top Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Khalid in Ladoora area of North Kashmir, police said.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid said it was a major breakthrough for the security forces as the terrorist was involved in many attacks on security camps in North Kashmir as well as targeting policemen in particular.

TOI

"He was killed in a joint operation by the Jammu and Kashmir Police's Special Operation Group, local police, the CRPF and the Army," he said.

Khalid, who is a Pakistani national, had been operational in the area for last two to three years and was also instrumental in arranging recruits for the terror outfit, police said.

He had recently carried out an attack on a Special Police Officer and his seven-year-old son at Handwara, they said and added that Khalid was an A++ category top-ranking terrorist and carried a cash reward of nearly Rs 7 lakh.

Giving details of the encounter, the police said security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Ladoora area following information about the presence of terrorists in the area.

The search operation turned into a gun battle when the terrorists opened fire on the search party, the police said, adding more troops were rushed to the area to prevent the terrorists from escaping.

ANI

The Jaish commander was killed in the encounter, they said.

The police are also probing his role in the recent attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammed on BSF battalion headquarters near high-security Srinagar airport and attack on the District Police Lines at Pulwama.

It is expected that he was a part of the conspiracy behind these dastardly attacks, the police said.
It kills me to write this over and over but our security is in the hands of those who care very little about us. Even after seeing cases like Nirbhaya and what happened with Varnika Kundu, the government is just isn't waking up to the demons of those who treat women as their property.

Also read: 30-YO Woman Returning From Clinic Gangraped At Gunpoint In Front Of Husband, Child In UP

It's a fad among young boys to indulge in conversations with unknown women on Facebook, just for the heck of it. They find it humorous and believe that by doing that, they can maybe amuse them as well. Unfortunately, most women find this disturbing.

So when a girl received a comment on her picture by a stranger, she did not take a second to think that it was of no relevance to her and deleted it. However, on the other side of the world, in a place where men find it too hard to take rejections and no for an answer, this guy was offended through and through.

Also read: Man Rapes Teenage Girl To Avenge Love Marriage Of His Sister With Victim's Brother

A guy named Agniswar Chakraborty from Kolkata then sent rape threats to the girl.

Facebook

He did not even know her.

Reports claim that Agniswar posted a smiley on her picture and since she did not know him, she deleted it. This became a reason for his angst and resulted in a rageful comment.

Warning: Explicit language.

Facebook

It boils my blood to see how feeble these threats are deemed to be by those who aren't affected by it. Women, on the other hand often quiver in fear.

1.

What the hell could ever prompt such words??  Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) October 9, 2017

2.

File a police complaint. Please.  Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 9, 2017

3.

Please file an FIR with the cyber crime division of police. Get him arrested for such threats. Just reporting him won't help.  Mihir Bijur (@MihirBijur) October 9, 2017

4.

@KolkataPolice please look into this !  Jose Covaco (@HoeZaay) October 8, 2017

5.

I am shaking with rage. pic.twitter.com/C3K0J5ZClh  Karishma (@The_Karishma) October 8, 2017

Following this, online page Shontu - United against Online Harassment has kickstarted a petition to fight people who write such threats.

To fight this evil and completely eradicate it out of our system, every single one of us needs to fight it.

Also read: Karnataka Govt Official Calls Women's Safety Garbage Segregation, Says Rapes Happen In Parties
The Delhi Metro, touted to be the most "convenient and cost-effective" mode of transportation for millions of commuters across Delhi-NCR region, may no longer remain a preferred mode for many. Reason  Yet another fare hike.

The Central government has raised the fares for the second time this year and everyone, from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to the common man, is crying foul.

How much will you shell out now?

The Delhi Metro fare hike that came into effect today, just five months within the last one, will affect over two million people who travel by metro every day. Passengers will shell out Rs 10 more if they are travelling beyond 5 km from the Delhi.

bccl

The hike will affect every commuter of the mass rapid transit who travels beyond 5 km, while journeys falling in the 2-5 km distance slab will cost Rs 5 more.

The revised fare structure will be: up to 2 km -- Rs 10, 2 to 5 km -- Rs 20, 5 to 12 km  Rs 30, 12 to 21 km -- Rs 40, 21 to 32 km -- Rs 50 and for journeys beyond 32 km -- Rs 60.

Should I take a cab or board to metro to work?

With the recent fare hike coming into effect, travelling by metro costs as much as taking a cab. Lets consider this scenario  Miss Z travels daily from Safdarjung Enclave in South Delhi to Udyog Vihar Phase 3 in Gurugram, covering a total distance of a little over 15 km. She takes an auto rickshaw to reach the Green Park Metro station, the nearest from Safdarjung Enclave and pays Rs 30 for the ride. She boards a metro from Green Park to Guru Dronacharya metro station in Gurugram and pays Rs 40. From the station, she again takes an autoriskshaw to reach her office which costs her Rs 100. A shared cab costs Rs 50 and a pre-booked autorickshaw ride will cost her around Rs 30. Also, these autorickshaws are rarely available and shared cabs take commuters for a Gurugram tour before they finally reach the destination.

Lets say Miss Z boards one of the readily available autos from the metro station and pays Rs 100 at the end of the journey.

Her entire journey now costs Rs 170 (30+40+100). Assuming that she pays the same amount while commuting back to home, the total amount spent on travelling per day via metro (plus autorickshaw twice) comes at a total of Rs 340.

Boarding an Uber or Ola costs around Rs 140 on an average for a one-way ride, aggregating to Rs 280 per day.

bccl

"In just two months the metro fares have doubled for me. The way the rate has increased, I would think twice before taking a metro, as at almost the same cost I can hire a cab pool which is comfortable and I don't have to fight with others for a space to just put my feet", says Rahul from Gurugram, who boards a metro every day to work.

Effectively, commuting by metro, which also doesn't guarantee a seat, is expensive than taking a cab. The worst hit is those who travel a shorter distance in the metro. With the revised fares coming into effect, those travelling just a little over 2 km will shell out more than Rs 10 per kilometer.



Is the hike justified?

The Centre and Delhi government have been involved in an intense war of words over the hike with the state saying that the hike is too steep. Delhi CM Kejriwal tweeted, "Out of 16, the Delhi government has five directors, who opposed but Centre adamant. Hike too steep. Centre should have been more considerate for common man.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) refused to interfere in the matter of the fare hike. The Delhi government had earlier termed the Metro fare hike as anti-people.

The Centre also informed the Delhi government that the Metro Act does not allow it to put on hold the hike in fares. The Centre, however, said that a fresh committee to fix fares could be constituted only if Delhi government agrees to provide over Rs 3,000 crore each year for years to the DMRC since operational loss is the responsibility of the state government as per the metro guidelines. DMRC needs this money to repay the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loans, depreciation for replacements etc.

bccl

The DMRC has been dealing with diminishing savings and snowballing operational costs, which has left it with little room for maintenance expenses. In the next five years, the metro operator needs Rs 16,104 crore to repay its loan liabilities to Japan International Cooperation Agency and meet its operational expenses. Annually, Metro shells out an average Rs 500 crore interest on loans it has taken from JICA.

Metro fares were revised in 2009, when minimum ticket prices were increased from Rs 6 to Rs 8 and the maximum from Rs 22 to Rs 30. Since then, the DMRC has been requesting an increase in fare, but hasnt been able to do so. Since 2009, electricity costs have gone up by over 90%, accounting for almost 30% of DMRCs total operating costs.

In May 2017, the Metro fares were raised by as much as Rs 20. The DMRC then announced that the fares will be revised again in October.

The government is said to be mulling to offer special passes or discounts to students and differently-abled people.
ap

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has unveiled a plan to set up a 100-metre tall Lord Ram statue in the banks of River Sarayu in Ayodhya. The grand statue is part of the state tourism department's plan to showcase Navya Ayodhya, which aims to boost religious tourism in UP. Read more





Here are more top news of the day:





1) Protesting Fare Hike, Aam Aadmi Party To Start 'Metro Fare Satyagraha' From October 11

bccl

The increased fares came into effect today despite strong opposition from the AAP-led Delhi government which had locked horns with the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) over the hike -- the second this year. Read more

2) Lashkar-e-Taiba Bomb Maker Abdul Karim Tunda Held Guilty In 1996 Sonepat Bomb Blasts Case

BCCL

A local court in Sonipat has held 75-year-old alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba bombmaker Abdul Karim Tunda guilty in the 1996 Sonepat bomb blasts case. Read more

3) Indian Navy Sailor Sacked For Undergoing Sex Change Says She Will Move Court

Indiatimes

Sabi Giri, aka Manish Giri, an Indian Navy Sailor who was discharged from service for undergoing a sex change surgery has said she will challenge the decision in the court. Read more

4) At Least 300 Students Admitted To Hospital After Suspected Chemical Leak In UP, Probe Ordered

ANI

At least 300 students of a school in Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, were on Tuesday admitted to hospital after getting suffocated due to harmful chemicals from a nearby sugar factory. Read more

5) With Trump's New Immigration Policy, Indians May Not Be Able To Take Their Parents To The US

Source: bccl/representational image

High qualifications and skills seem to be the key for the new merit-based immigration system proposed by the Donald Trump administration. It will virtually eliminate any prospect of ageing parents and extended family immigrating to the US. Read more
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has unveiled a plan to set up a 100-metre tall Lord Ram statue in the banks of River Sarayu in Ayodhya. The grand statue is part of the state tourism department's plan to showcase Navya Ayodhya, which aims to boost religious tourism in UP.

Yogi Adityanath (Source: BCCL/ File photo)

The government has sought the approval of the National Green Tribunal for the construction of the project.

The statue which is likely to be around 100-meters tall is expected to cost around Rs 195.89 crore.

Not just the statue, the Yogi government is also organizing a grand Diwali this time in Ayodhya by illuminating the town and lighting 1.71 lakh earthen diyas.

A deepotsav will be organised on Ram Ki Paidi where 1.71 lakh earthen lamps will be lit, he said while giving a presentation to governor Ram Naik on Monday. Prominent building and ghats will also be illuminated to attract tourists. The objective of the entire programme will be to promote Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, as a tourist destination.

The statue which is likely to be around 100-meters tall is expected to cost around Rs 195.89 crore. (Source: BCCL)

A heritage walk, a yatra reminiscing return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, and launch of several schemes by the chief minister and other dignitaries will be part of the programme, the officer said. A grand aarti of River Saryu will also be performed by the chief minister and the governor and a laser show will be held on the banks of the river. During the programme, Ramlila will be staged by artists from Indonesia and Thailand.

The Union tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs133.70 crores for making Ayodhya a tourism hub. The money sanctioned will be utilised in renovating ghats, including Guptar Ghat, where Lord Rama had taken Samadhi, installing CCTV cameras, making police booths, construction of guest houses for tourists and auditorium at Digamgar Akhara.

A deepotsav will be organised on Ram Ki Paidi where 1.71 lakh earthen lamps will be lit, he said while giving a presentation to governor Ram Naik. (Source: BCCL)

On Diwali, a grand programme will be held in Ayodhya in which sadhu-saints will also participate. I will also invite the governor for this, Adityanath had said recently in Gorakhpur.

In its first budget, the Yogi government had a special mention of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura, earmarking Rs 1,240 crore for the Ramayan, Buddhist and Krishna circuits in these cities.

Earlier in May, the state government had re-started popular Ram Leela in Ayodhya at the Ayodhya Research Centre, after a hiatus of 17 months. The practice of holding Ram Leela in Ayodhya was started by the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in May 2004 but was stopped during Akhilesh Yadavs regime.
Almost all the smartphones in the metro cities in India support 4G LTE. And with the boom of cost-effective offers by Reliance Jio, many smartphone users are using high-speed LTE internet on their smartphones.

However, Telecom service providers are working to bring the next generation 5G technology by the year 2020.

Now although this seems like a really long timeline, the work necessary to overcome this exorbitant too. The way these telecom giants are going to achieve this feat is by introducing the Multiple Input Multiple Output technology (MIMO) into their networks.

MIMO is one of the pre-requisites for the deployment of 5G network. Massive MIMO boosts up a network base station by five to seven times while reducing disturbances considerably. This also helps in boosting transmission signal to the devices. On 5G connectivity, for instance, you could easily achieve speeds between 30 Mbps and 35 Mbps on average. 4G in India, on the other hand, delivers anything between 4 Mbps to 16 Mbps.

ALSO READ: Why Now Is The Best Time To Be An Internet & Cellular Data User In India

Bharti Airtel has already started the upgrade process with the first round of installations in Kolkata and Bengaluru, and will soon include Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad. Chinese brands ZTE and Huawei are currently responsible for the MIMO hardware for Bharti Airtel in India. Swedish telecom hardware brand Ericsson is also in conversations with other telecom operators for 5G network solutions.

It is surprising that even with 4G LTE running on our smartphones, we still face the problem of call drops, even in metros. The data speed and stability still remains to be one of the major concerns for smartphone users. Moreover, the rural areas in the nation are still far behind to even get a stable data connectivity.

Will 5G be the solution to these problems? Only time can tell.
For a while now, NASA has noticed that KIC 8462852, also known as Tabbys Star, has been dimming repeatedly over long periods of time, sometimes for extended durations.

The phenomenon has generated a wild range of theories, the most out there being that a supposed alien megastructure (likely at least the size of the Death Star) was crossing in front of it from time to time. However, it seems the answer may be a lot more mundane.

An illustration of Taby's Star - NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA is now proposing that the periodic dimming of light from Tabys Star could be due to an irregularly shaped dust cloud orbiting the celestial body. This would account for the several patterns of dimming spotted by the Kepler Space Telescope, in its search for exoplanets.

In 2016, Tabetha Boyajian of Louisiana State University was the lead on a study of the star, leading to it being nicknamed in her honour. Boyajian then participated in a follow-up study between January to December 2016, where scientists viewed the star in ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light.

The study showed the star dimmed less in infrared than in ultraviolet, giving them a clue to a possible dust cloud causing the incidents. Thats because anything larger than a dust particle crossing in front of a star would cause dimming in all wavelengths.

This pretty much rules out the alien megastructure theory, as that could not explain the wavelength-dependent dimming, said Huan Meng, at the University of Arizona, lead author of the new study. We suspect, instead, there is a cloud of dust orbiting the star with a roughly 700-day orbital period.

Of course, there are still questions as the dust cloud explains the stars long-term dimming and not its short-term fluctuations. Still, seeing as scientists suggest a swarm of comets is causing the later, its probably safe to say theres no alien megastructure on Tabys Star.
ELKO  Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital held its third annual Drive-Thru Flu Shot Clinic on Sept. 30. Participants were able pull into the hospital parking lot and receive a free flu shot without even getting out of their vehicles.

We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to get their flu shot, said Jennifer Koopman, the hospitals director of physician relations and the coordinator of the event. Its estimated that around 30 million people will contract influenza this winter in the United States. And getting the flu can lead to more serious illnesses. Thats why we encourage everyone to get an annual flu vaccine.

More than 800 people heard the message and visited the hospital to receive their shots. This was an increase from 490 participants at last years event.

It was a really great turnout, said Koopman. We were very fortunate to have lots of staff here to handle the demand and keep the traffic flowing. It was wonderful that so many of the student nurses from GBC volunteered their time to help out.

The first and second year nursing students from Great Basin College administered the flu shots under the supervision of both their instructors and registered nurses from the hospital.

This was a great learning experience for the students, and we are very thankful for our continuing partnership with GBC, Koopman said.

The theme of gratitude continued throughout the event. Although the flu shots were free, members of the community were encouraged to bring a donation of canned food to fill up the food banks at Friends In Service Helping (FISH) and Ruby Mountain Resource Center (RMRC). While the hospital collected 477 pounds of food at the event in 2016, this year the community donated over 1,500 pounds. Several individuals also made cash donations which were divided  along with the food  between FISH and RMRC.

This was a day of great generosity, said Rebecca Hepworth, director of RMRC. We are grateful to NNRH for inviting RMRC to take part in this event.

Sherry Smith, executive director of FISH, agreed. We are thrilled beyond thrilled with this all. Thank you for allowing us to be part of such a wonderful community event.

Koopman said she was grateful to everyone who was involved in the flu shot clinic.

The positive benefits from this event touch our region in so many ways. Its so positive to see everyone  the hospital, the student nurses, and everyday citizens  giving back to make our community healthier.
Worried About Trumps Mental Stability? The Worst Is Yet to Come By Mehdi Hasan October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Is Donald Trump psychologically unstable and unfit for office? Does the president of the United States have a dangerous mental illness of some shape or form? Ask his fellow Republicans. During the GOP primaries, Marco Rubio suggested he was a lunatic, Rand Paul dubbed him a delusional narcissist , and Ted Cruz denounced him as utterly amoral and a narcissist at a level I dont think this countrys ever seen. Mitt Romney opined , His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader, and Jeb Bush declared, He needs therapy. In recent months, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) has admitted she is worried about the presidents mental health, and Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) has warned that Trump has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence necessary for a successful presidency. Ask the ghostwriter of his best-selling book, The Art of the Deal. Tony Schwartz has called Trump a sociopath and has said there is an excellent possibility that the Trump presidency will lead to the end of civilization. Ask the voters. One in three Americans say they believe Trumps mental health is poor while two out of three regularly question his temperament. Four in ten voters in the swing state of Michigan  which helped deliver the White House to Trump  say they think the president is mentally unstable while a majority of them are worried that he has access to the nuclear codes. Ask the experts. In a new book published this week, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a group of 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts warn that anyone as mentally unstable as this man should not be entrusted with the life-and-death-powers of the presidency. Seemingly in defiance of the American Psychiatric Associations Goldwater rule, which states it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion [on a public figure] unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement, the various and very eminent contributors paint a picture of a president who has proven himself unfit for duty. Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo  of the famous Stanford prison study  suggests the unbalanced Trump is a specific personality type: an unbridled, or extreme, present hedonist and narcissist. Psychiatrist Lance Dodes, a former Harvard Medical School professor, says Trumps sociopathic characteristics are undeniable and his speech and behavior show signs of significant mental derangement. Clinical psychologist John Gartner, a 28-year veteran of Johns Hopkins University Medical School, argues that Trump is a malignant narcissist and evinces the most destructive and dangerous collection of psychiatric symptoms possible for a leader. For Gartner, the catastrophe of a Trump presidency might have been avoided if we in the mental health community had told the public the truth, instead of allowing ourselves to be gagged by the Goldwater rule. The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump was conceived of and edited by Professor Bandy Lee , a forensic psychiatrist on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, who writes of her professions moral and civic duty to warn the American public about the threat posed by their volatile, erratic and thin-skinned president. On the latest edition of my Al Jazeera English show, UpFront, I spoke to Lee about Trumps mental state, the purpose of the book and the arguments put forth by her critics. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed. MEHDI HASAN : Why did you write this book and what is your main message? BANDY LEE : We are a group of mental health experts who have come to a consensus conclusion about an issue that is of vital interest to the public and that the public has a right to know: basically, that Mr. Trump in the office of the presidency is a danger to the public and the international community. We are not purporting to make a diagnosis. Assessing dangerousness is different from diagnosing someone for the purpose of treatment. Im speaking on my own behalf and not representing the views of Yale University, Yale School of Medicine, or Yale Department of Psychiatry. MH : According to a study by experts at the Duke University Medical Center, around one in four presidents have had some sort of mental illness while in office. So why is Trump so special? BL : Mental illness itself does not involve an incapacity to carry out a duty. Its really the specific symptoms, the severity of the symptoms, and the particular combination of impulsivity, recklessness, an inability to accept facts, rage reactions, an attraction to violence, a proneness to incite violence  all these things are signs of danger. MH: Allen Frances, the famous psychiatry professor who wrote a manual on diagnosing mental disorders, has denounced your book, saying : Bad behavior is rarely a sign of mental illness Psychiatric name calling is a misguided way of countering Trumps attack on democracy. Whats your response to him? No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter BL: Actually, I dont think were that much in disagreement. We are declaring dangerousness, which is different from making a diagnosis. I am of the camp that believes it is necessary to do a full interview and to [have] all the information, including any medical conditions, any other disorders, that could explain behavior before making a diagnosis. So, again, we are not purporting to make a diagnosis. The conjecture is that he shows signs of severe mental impairment. We are concerned enough that we are calling for an urgent assessment. MH: A lot of presidents were narcissists, egomaniacs, incited violence, suffered from conditions such as depression. People didnt question their fitness for office, did they? BL : That is right. Very few conditions are dangerous. Very few conditions would make one unfit for duty. In this particular situation, we are declaring a danger to the public and to international security. I can tell you as an expert on violence that he has shown many signs of dangerousness. The most obvious ones might be verbal aggressiveness, history of sexual assault, incitement of violence at his rallies, attraction to violence and powerful weapons, [provoking] hostile nations, and, more recently, an endorsement of violence, during [the protests in] Charlottesville, and sparring with another nuclear power that has an unstable leader. All these things are signs of dangerousness. MH: Theres been talk of setting up a commission of mental health experts to evaluate every future president and perhaps advise Congress on a presidents fitness for office. Should Donald Trump be removed from office based on his mental state? Should the 25th Amendment , which discusses how to remove a president if he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, be invoked? BL : Well, were merely recommending that procedures be put in place to evaluate every presidential candidate and every president, in the same manner that every military officer and every civilian service person is put through. That the commander-in-chief is not put to the same test is a glaring omission. Currently we are advocating the setting up of an expert panel to advise a commission and were recommending that the panel consist of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and neurologists. MH : But youre of the view that there is a case for removing Trump from office based on his mental state? BL : There are many signs pointing in that direction and so were calling for an urgent evaluation. MH: How worried should we be that Trump has access to the nuclear codes? BL : Well, that is our critical concern: that his condition is actually probably far worse than people are detecting now; that [his] mental impairment goes deeper and is far more pervasive than people can understand when they are untrained in psychological matters. And that the worst is yet to come.
ELKO  After two battles with breast cancer within seven years that included chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation, Glen Ellen Finley is dedicated to living life to its fullest and getting the message out about early detection.

Finley, who turned 60 this summer, completed a second round of breast cancer treatment this year, something she didnt expect five years ago when she went through her first go-around.

I feel pretty good for the most part, Finley said in late September. She keeps busy, but is careful not to get overwhelmed for the sake of her health. Art, photography and caring for her three pug dogs keep her going, but at a pace that is just right for her.

A creative person, Finley points to her love of art for motivating her in-between cancer diagnoses and during chemo and radiation treatments.

Looking back on her experience, Finley hopes other women can learn from her story and get checked as soon  and as often  as possible.

The first round

It began March 2010 after Finley had a routine breast exam. A scan and follow-up ultrasound revealed a cyst on her right side.

The doctor told her the news, adding that we think its just a cyst and we want you to watch it. Finley recalled she was calm. There were no alarm bells going off, she said.

That summer, the cyst grew bigger, and Finley scheduled a recheck with her oncologist. This time, they told her it was suspicious and asked her to make an appointment for a needle biopsy in Salt Lake City.

That finding also came back as suspicious. A tumor, diagnosed as stage-two cancer, was hiding behind the cyst. In November, Finley began chemotherapy to shrink it and decided to undergo a double mastectomy instead of a single mastectomy.

Although all the surgeries were emotional, Finley opted for the double-mastectomy because I just wanted to get it over with. Looking back, Finley said she would have had a lumpectomy.

Soon after the surgery, a check showed a lymph node in her armpit that tested positive for cancer. She completed another round of chemo that lasted from late 2010 to early 2011 to make sure they eradicated it.

Finley had two surgeries, including a reconstructive operation, and spent most of her time recovering from the effects of the chemotherapy. She also struggled with her concentration and controlling her anxiety.

I was doing chemo every three weeks, Finley said. She would be tired for about a week and half and get a week of feeling pretty good before she returned for the next treatment.

One side effect occurred about a week after her chemo treatment. It was intense pain that hits your bones in your body so hard that you can barely walk. Finley stayed an additional night in Salt Lake City to get a shot to minimize the intense pain she felt.

Respite

In fall 2011, Finley said she felt like the worst was over. It finally sunk in that I was going to be OK and I was going to live through that experience. She could now tell herself, youre going to live through this.

At the same time, Finley knew she had to get busy living life [because] the next day isnt guaranteed. She said writing poetry, photographing and working on crochet projects helped her with recovery.

I still had the desire to photograph during that time, Finley said. The view of the Ruby Mountains from her home in Spring Creek, trips to the Pacific Ocean coast and random things she saw kept her busy behind the camera.

I cant put a finger on what I really like photographing because I see things, they catch my eye, and I think Ive got to get that, Finley said.

Deciding to enter her pictures in the Elko County Fair, Finley said she met someone who encouraged her to go the next step in her work.

I kept running into this gentleman who said, Your stuff is good, and you need to have your stuff on a wall somewhere, Finley said. Even though she had her doubts, she accepted an invitation to attend a meeting at the Elko County Art Gallery.

I thought, Hes right. I need to step out of my scary box and do it, Finley said. She joined the art club in 2013 and started volunteering at the gallery.

Since then, shes met people, discussed art and taught classes, even though she hates public speaking. However, its worth it. I help people learn the art process, she said.

Her involvement in the art club gave Finley a fresh outlook on life and rejuvenated her art career. It extended my aspirations and what I should be doing with my life.

In 2016, Finley received the news that she had to do it all over again.

Round two

Last year I had a little bump in the road, Finley said. It had been five years since she finished her last treatment, but she was still getting checked. At one check-up, the doctors requested an ultrasound on the right side of her body because something had come up.

It was malignant  and this time it came back in an un-localized area, Finley said. The cancer was in a tissue, and three nodes were affected.

I was off to the races again, doing a hard round of chemo, which really didnt shrink it much, Finley said.

A surgery followed, chemo treatments started again and then she had radiation therapy at the Northern Nevada Radiation Oncology Center. The second time, chemo was a little bit dicier than before, but it was every two weeks.

I still did pretty well on that, but I was super tired, Finley said. This time for the pain, and to prevent staying overnight, she wore a meter that injected medication over 24 hours.

Radiation was a treatment Finley did not opt for on her first round because it meant having to stay in Salt Lake City for six weeks, even though the appointments were four or five times a week and took 15-20 minutes.

I cant say enough about having radiation therapy here in Elko, Finley said, urging cancer patients to use the facility so that it remains an option for those who cannot afford to leave town. People dont know the value of what we have.

Finley said her uncle pointed out that if she had undergone the radiation treatment in 2010, it wouldnt have come back. However, radiation in 2010 wasnt doable for me the first time, she said.

Looking to the future

Im supposed to be clear of cancer again, Finley said. I try not to dwell on it every day or worry about it.

Finley took up watercolor painting, something she hadnt done since high school, and said she challenges herself to try new things.

Through both bouts of cancer and treatments, Finley said she had a lot of family support from her husband, sons and others who live out of state.

Present at every appointment was her husband. We did it together, Finley said.

She makes sure she does not get run down or catch colds because of her low white blood cell count. Finley also makes sure she is not overwhelmed with commitments that lead to anxiety because it is not good for anyone who has cancer.

Today, Finley cares for her four pugs, photographs and volunteers at the Elko County Art Club Gallery, teaching Zentangle drawing on Tuesday afternoons.

She also said she hopes women will learn from her story and take the time to get screened, even if it cuts into their busy schedule.

I can sympathize [that] they are so busy with their life that they put themselves in second place, Finley said. But youre the focal point. Everyone depends on you, and you need to be strong and healthy.

Listen to your doctor. If they tell you to watch this and come back in six months, do it, Finley said. Its not going to go away on its own.

She also advises women to check their insurance to see how often it pays for screenings. If its every other year, its worth it to pay the additional cost, Finley said, adding that if she had waited every two years, her cancer would have metastasized.

Most important, Finley said she believes its the outlook one has on life that can get anyone through such an ordeal.

The best thing I can say is try to have a positive attitude through it all, because negativity just brings you down, she said. Theres still a lot of good things that come.

I cant say enough about having radiation therapy here in Elko. People dont know the value of what

we have. Glen Ellen Finley
Our whole system is rotten to the core

U.S. Ambassadors Adviser Ran 'Dark Money' That Donated $1m to Zionist Movement

Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone has been working for U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman for several months, but previously worked at Shining City, which gave millions of shekels to Im Tirzu from unknown sources

By Uri Blau

October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman s senior adviser is a rabbi who previously headed a U.S.-based nonprofit that donated over $1 million to the controversial Israeli right-wing organization Im Tirtzu in 2015.

An embassy spokesperson confirmed to Haaretz that Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone is now serving as a senior adviser to Friedman at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Lightstone has spent the past two decades professionally in the startup, real estate and not for profit worlds, the spokesperson said, adding, He is a prolific fundraiser for a myriad of philanthropic, political and issue-based advocacy organizations.

However, the embassy did not answer Haaretzs questions about Lightstones previous role at Shining City, which donated 3.7 million shekels (about $1 million) to the Im Tirtzu organization during Israels last election year, 2015.

Im Tirtzu defines itself as a Zionist movement, but is best known for its media campaign at the end of 2015 when it branded various artists and human rights organizations as foreign agents.

In June, Haaretz revealed Lightstones involvement in Shining City , which is what is known as a dark money organization. The nonprofit was registered under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(4), which gives a special tax-exemption status to nonprofits involved in promoting social welfare goals, and also enables them to use part of their capital to promote political objectives  without revealing their sources of funding.

Shining City was founded in Virginia in late 2014 to educate the public on relations between Israel and the USA, and Americas political relationships in the Middle East, according to organization documents.

It was registered by the Virginia law firm Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky. According to a December 2012 Bloomberg report, the law firm was previously involved in registering companies that donated over $250 million to campaigns connected to the 2012 U.S. presidential election, calling it a nexus of Republican secret money and power.

Shining City operated mostly during the 2015 Knesset election campaign in Israel, when the nuclear agreement between six world powers and Iran was under discussion in the United States. At the beginning of 2015, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to address Congress on why he was against the accord, the nonprofit promoted his speech on social media and lauded Netanyahu.

During that year Lightstone was listed as the executive director of Shining City, and the only one receiving a salary from it ($73,750).

Haaretz also traced U.S. public records indicating that Lightstone filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in the name of Shining City, being particularly interested in records concerning the Iran deal.

He asked the U.S. Treasury Department for all the records from January 1, 2015 to December 4, 2015 concerning Treasury and other government entities regarding the implementation day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He also requested a signed copy of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reached on July 14, 2015 by the P5+1, the European Union and Iran.

Other records show that Lightstone was working as a consultant to a California-based Republican candidate to Congress, Denise Gitsham.

No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter

Though Shining City is still registered as an active organization, it is hard to find any mention of its current activities. Its official website has been taken down and there have been no tweets on its Twitter account since the end of 2015. Its Facebook page ( Shining City Community ) still shares posts, though, including statements by Netanyahu like this:

As Haaretz previously reported, Shining City had three directors in 2016  Phil Rosen, Eliot Lauer and Andrew (Andy) Albstein. All are prominent New York lawyers and at least two of them are close to Netanyahu and the Republican Party.

In a conversation with Haaretz in June, Albstein called Lightstone one of the nicest young men you will find. He is involved in education, pro-Israel. Albstein added that he got to know Lightstone through their involvement with the same political figure who is involved in pro-Israel activity. However, he refused to name that person.

The actual source of Shining Citys funds is unknown, but Haaretz found that in 2015 it received contributions of more than $3.2 million, all from one organization: Americans For Jerusalem. That group, also a 501(c)(4), was founded under the name One Jerusalem and, according to its 2010 reports to the IRS, operated from the New York address of the philanthropic foundation of businessman and former Netanyahu associate Ronald Lauder . That same organization also donated directly to Im Tirtzu during 2015.

On his LinkedIn page, Lightstone says he was executive director at Shining City for eight months, from July 2014 to February 2015.

On his official page on the Orthodox Union website, meanwhile, Lightstone doesnt mention his involvement with Shining City but does mention Ivanka Trump.

Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, formerly Regional Director of New York NCSY, was appointed in April 2017 to serve as advisor [sic] to U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman, it states. Since receiving semicha from RIETS, Rabbi Lightstone has been fully engaged in all forms of communal work. A businessman at heart but a klal [people] person in reality, Rabbi Lightstone infuses his entrepreneurial spirit into all of his programs. Over the years, his programs have gained the acclaim of the likes of Ivanka Trump, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Prime Minister Netanyahus office, among many others.

In June, Im Tirtzu told Haaretz that most of its donors today are Israelis, but we are pleased to find private donors from around the world as well (individuals and private foundations) who support our important activity and thereby try to strengthen the Jewish and democratic identity of the State of Israel. The guideline in the movement with regard to raising funds is non-acceptance of money from any foreign state entity or foundations that promote delegitimization of Israeli society.

Haaretz contacted Lightstone several times in June, but he asked not to be interviewed or to discuss his involvement with Shining City.

I am not associated with them anymore, he said, adding that media stories at the time about his appointment as an adviser to Friedman were premature. I dont have a job at the moment, he said.
New Rule: Residents In Nine States Will Need Passports For Domestic Flights in 2018 By Lea Lane October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - When traveling, it's best to plan ahead whenever you can. For example, you may have thought you don't need a passport because you don't travel outside the United States. But for residents of nine states, that will change at the beginning of 2018 for any commercial flight, whether international or domestic. As reported by Travel and Leisure, nine states will no longer allow travelers to board an airplane with just their state issued drivers licenses as of January 22, 2018. To get past TSA security checkpoints, another form of identification will be required: passport, permanent resident card/green card or a military ID. The Real ID Act of 2005 states that state-issued IDs from these nine states do not meet the minimum security standards of the federal government: Kentucky

Maine

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Washington Back in December, it was announced that signage would start being placed around the security checkpoints in airports to remind travelers of what is to come. With just a few months until the Real ID Act goes into full effect, it is time to start planning now and look into getting your passport. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Some states have started working on offering federally approved issued IDs that would not require a passport for domestic air travel. Check with your local government office to see if there is a different type of ID you can apply for. These posters are huge reminders that 2018 is not nearly as far away as it seems. On January 22, 2018, the enforcement for those nine states will go into effect, and by 2020, even more people will end up needing a passport, as confirmed by the official website of the TSA. This means that if youre going to take a flight and you have a state-issued ID from one of those nine states, you will need a passport to go anywhere. That includes going to the next state, across the country, or even to Walt Disney World, as all domestic travel is included in these new standards. Yes, traveling by air seems to have been made more difficult by the federal government, just as it has been made more complicated because of the need to remove our shoes at security check-in. But this new move is considered another way to make traveling safer, and another example of the new normal. Again, to be clear, The Real ID Act is going to maintain that the residents of the nine included states must have another form of ID, most typically a passport, other than their state-issued drivers licenses for international and domestic flights. If this applies to you, start applying for a passport now. 2018 isnt too far away. And there will be a last-minute rush for sure. Follow me @lealane , or on Instagram, where I'm Travelea ; and check out Amazon for my latest book in paperback and on Kindle, Travel Tales I Couldn't Put in the Guidebooks This article was originally published by Forbes - See also - Jazz great, former Oscar Peterson drummer Alvin Queen, denied entry into USA : New York native Alvin Queen was recently notified that U.S. Homeland Security will not allow him to enter the United States to perform at a prestigious, long-planned concert in Washington.
The Future of the EU at Stake in Catalonia



A new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union: 'In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else'



By Pepe Escobar October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Fascist Franco may have been dead for more than four decades, but Spain is still encumbered with his dictatorial corpse. A new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union, self-described home/patronizing dispenser of human rights to lesser regions across the planet: In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else. Call it democracy nano-Franco style. Nano-Franco is Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose heroic shock troops were redeployed from a serious nationwide terrorist alert to hammer with batons and fire rubber bullets not against jihadis but  voters. At least six schools became the terrain of what was correctly called The Battle of Barcelona. Extreme right-wingers even held a demonstration inside Barcelona. Yet this was not shown on Spanish TV because it contradicted the official Madrid narrative. The Catalan government beat the fascist goons with two very simple codes  as revealed by La Vanguardia. Ive got the Tupperware. Where do we meet? was the code on a prepaid mobile phone for people to collect and protect ballot boxes. Im the paper traveler was the code to protect the actual paper ballots. Julian Assange/WikiLeaks had warned about the worlds first Internet war as deployed by Madrid to smash the electronic voting system. The counterpunch was  literally  on paper. The US National Security Agency must have learned a few lessons. So we had techno power combined with cowardly Francoist repression tactics countered by people power, as in parents conducting sit-ins in schools to make sure they were functional on referendum day. Some 90% of the 2.26 million Catalans who made it to the polls ended up voting in favor of independence from Spain, according to preliminary results. Catalonia has 5.3 million registered voters. Roughly 770,000 votes were lost because of raids by Spanish police. Turnout at around 42% may not be high but its certainly not low. As the day went by, there was a growing feeling, all across Catalonia, all social classes involved, that this was not about independence any more; it was about fighting a new brand of fascism. Whats certain is theres a Perfect Storm coming. No pasaran The institutional declaration of overwhelming mediocrity nano-Franco Rajoy, right after the polls were closed, invited disbelief. The highlight was a mediocre take on Magritte: Ceci nest pas un referendum. This referendum never took place. And it could never take place because Spain is a mature and advanced democracy, friendly and tolerant. The days events proved it a lie. Rajoy said the great majority of Catalan people did not want to participate in the secessionist script. Another lie. Even before the non-existent referendum, between 70% and 80% of Catalans said they wanted to vote, yes or no, after an informed debate about their future. Crucially, Rajoy extolled the unwavering support of the EU and the international community. Of course; unelected EU elites in Brussels and the main European capitals are absolutely terrorized when EU citizens express themselves. Yet the top nano-Franco lie was that democracy prevailed because the constitution was respected. Rajoy spent weeks defending his repression of the referendum by invoking the rule of law such as ours. Its their law, indeed. The heart of the matter are Articles 116 and 155 of a retrograde Spanish constitution, the first one describing how states of alarm, exception and siege work in Spain, and the latter applied in order to compel the [autonomous community] forcibly to meet  obligations, or in order to protect the  general interests. Well, these obligations and general interests are defined by  who else, Madrid and Madrid only. The Spanish Constitutional Court is a joke  it couldnt care less about the principle of separation of powers. The court congregates a bunch of legalistic Mafiosi/patsies working for the two parties of the establishment, the so-called socialists of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) and the medieval right-wingers of Rajoys Peoples Party (PP). Few outside Spain may remember the failed coup of February 23, 1981  when there was an attempt to hurl Spain back into the long dark Francoist night. Well, I was in Barcelona when it happened  and that vividly reminded me of the South American military coups in the 1960s and 1970s. Since the coup, what passes for justice in Spain never ceased to be a mere lackey to these two political parties. The Constitutional Court actually suspended the Catalan referendum law, arguing that it was violating the  medieval  Spanish constitution. This disgraceful collusion is crystal-clear for most people in Catalonia. What Madrid is essentially up to amounts to a coup as well  against the Catalan government and, of course, against democracy. So no wonder the immortal civil-war mantra was back in the streets of Catalonia: No pasaran! They shall not pass. Brussels does demophobia Rajoy, thuggish, mediocre and corrupt (thats another long story), lied even more when he said he keeps the door open to dialogue. He never wanted any dialogue with Catalonia  always refusing a referendum in any shape or form or transferring any powers to the Catalan regional government. Catalonias regional president, Carles Puigdemont, insists he had to call the referendum because this is what separatist parties promised when they won regional elections two years ago. And of course no one is an angel in this hardcore power play. The PDeCaT (the Democratic Party of Catalonia), the main force behind the referendum, has also been mired in corruption. Catalonia in itself is as economically powerful as Denmark; 7.5 million people, around 16% of Spains population, but responsible for 20% of gross domestic product, attracting one-third of foreign investment and producing one-third of exports. In a country where unemployment is at a horribly high 30%, losing Catalonia would be the ultimate disaster. Madrid in effect subscribes to only two priorities: dutifully obey EU austerity diktats, and crush by all means any regional push for autonomy. Catalan historian Josep Fontana, in a wide-ranging, enlightening interview , has identified the heart of the matter: What, for me, is scandalous is that the PP is whipping up public opinion by saying that holding the referendum means the secession of Catalonia afterwards, when it knows that secession is impossible. It is impossible because it would mean that the Generalitat would have to ask the Madrid government to be so kind as to withdraw its army, Guardia Civil and National Police from Catalonia, and to meekly renounce a territory that provides 20% of its GDP  so why are they using this excuse to stir up a climate reminiscent of a civil war? No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Beyond the specter of civil war, the Big Picture is even more incandescent. The Scottish National Party is sort of blood cousins with Catalan separatists in its rejection of a perceived illegitimate central authority, with all the accompanying negative litany. SNP members complain they are forced to cope with different languages; political diktats from above; unfair taxes; and what is felt as outright economic exploitation. This phenomenon has absolutely nothing to do with the EU-wide rise of extreme right-wing nationalism, populism and xenophobia  as Madrid insists. And then theres the silence of the wolves. It would be easy to picture the EUs reaction if the drama in Catalonia were happening in distant, barbarian Eurasian lands. The peaceful referendum in Crimea was condemned as illegal and dictatorial while a violent attack against freedom of expression of millions of people living inside the EU gets a pass. The demophobia of Brussels elites knows no bounds; the historical record shows EU citizens are not allowed to express themselves freely, especially by using democratic practices in questions related to self-determination. Whatever torrent of spin may come ahead, the silence of the EU betrays the fact Brussels is puling the strings behind Madrid. After all the Brave New Euroland project implies the destruction of European nations to the profit of a centralized Brussels eurocracy. Referenda are untamable animals. Kosovo was a by-product of the amputation/bombing into democracy of Serbia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; a gangster/narco mini-state useful as the host of Camp Bondsteel, the largest Pentagon base outside of the US. Crimea was part of a legitimate reunification drive to rectify Nikita Khrushchevs idiocy of separating it from Russia. London did not send goons to prevent the referendum in Scotland; an amicable negotiation is in effect. No set rules apply. Neocons screamed in vain when Crimea was reunited with Russia after shedding tears of joy when Kosovo was carved out of Serbia. As for Madrid, a lesson should be learned from Ireland in 1916. In the beginning the majority of the population was against an uprising. But brutal British repression led to the war of independence  and the rest is history. After this historic, (relatively) bloody Sunday, more and more Catalans will be asking: If Slovenia and Croatia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the tiny Baltic republics, not to mention even tinier Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, can be EU members, why not us? And a stampede might be ahead; Flanders and Wallonia, the Basque country and Galicia, Wales and Northern Ireland. All across the EU, the centralized Eurocrat dream is splintering. Its Catalonia that may be pointing toward a not so brave, but more realistic, new world. This article was originally published by Asia Times - See also Spanish ruling party threatens to jail Catalan leader if he declares independence Spain Catalonia: France snubs independence bid Watch; Catalan Police trained in Israel
Kremlin Issues Stern Warning to Washington Over Its Help for Terrorists in Syria By Gilbert Doctorow October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - From time to time, the Kremlin uses the Sunday evening weekly news wrap-up program of Dmitry Kiselyov on state television channel Rossiya-1 to send blunt and public warnings to Washington without diplomatic niceties. Last night was one such case and we must hope that the intended audience within the Beltway can put aside its focus on Russia Todays supposed fake news long enough to read a real message from Moscow. The last such message came in the week following the April 8th Tomahawk attack on a Syrian air base that Donald Trump sprung on the world, allegedly to punish the regime of Assad for a chemical attack on a village in Idlib province. Kiselyov used his airtime then to spell out the Russian response, which he characterized as unprecedented in scope and seriousness. It was essential to put all of its elements together in one place, as he did, because our boys in the Pentagon chose to downplay one or another element in isolation, such as the Russian installation of their Iskander nuclear potential missiles in Kaliningrad, or the abrogation of the deconfliction agreement relating to air space over Syria, or the dispatch of still more Russian vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean equipped to sink our Navy. While our generals were saying that the Russians didnt really mean it, Kiselyov put the whole picture on the screen: an ultimatum to Washington to back off or be prepared for war. A still earlier message of this kind to Washington aired on the Kiselyov Sunday news show in the week following the supposedly accidental US and allied bombing of Syrian army positions in the encircled eastern town of Deir Ezzor, which killed more than 80 Syrian soldiers and prepared the way for a renewed offensive by the siege forces. That bombing scuttled the agreement on a Syrian cease-fire concluded with the approval of Barack Obama less than a week earlier by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry after a 14 hour negotiating session. Lavrov was shown on the Kiselyov program openly accusing US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter of directing friendly fire against Kerry and of dangerous insubordination to his boss, the US President, which put in question any possibility of reaching agreements with the Americans on anything. That last charge has now again re-emerged in the program that Kiselyov presented yesterday. The Americans were identified as the main obstacle to the mopping up operation in Syria, at a time when the light at the end of the tunnel is visible [Kiselyovs characterization], when more than 90% of the Syrian territory is under government control. To wit, the United States is secretly aiding the terrorists: supplying them with weapons, helping them to move around, removing them from under hostile fire, giving them the findings of aerial reconnaissance, maps of where Syrian government forces are operating and even the locations of Russian military detachments. Things have gotten to the point where it is not the military capability of the Islamic State but the American assistance which stands in the way of the total liberation of Syria from terrorists. This, says Kiselyov, is not his own idea: it is the official position of the Russian Ministry of Defense as issued through its spokesman this week, Igor Konashenkov. Kiselyov resumes: The Americans deny everything. But the RF Ministry of Defense does not believe their words, relying instead on facts. We recall in the past week how part of the main road connecting Palmyra and Deir Ezzor was taken over by the fanatics. This is the main artery supplying the Syrian forces leading the offensive from Deir Ezzor against the remaining forces of the terrorists in Syria. De facto this was an attack in the rear. This was planned and facilitated by the Americans. In parallel, on 28 September a large group of terrorists numbering about 300 men left the area of the American base in Et Tanf at the Jordanian border. In this area there is a refugee camp numbering tens of thousands. Per Kiselyov, the Americans have cut off the refugee camp, not allowing in UN or other humanitarian relief convoys, so as to use the camp as cover, a human shield, for the Islamic State fighters they are supporting. Then comes the direct warning from Konashenkov: If the US forces see these attacks by mobile units of terrorists they are assisting as unforeseen random events, then Russian armed forces in Syria are prepared to totally destroy all such random events directed against the zone under their control. Kiselyov asks why is this happening? Did Trump decide this? The question is rhetorical. Trump is exculpated. It may be amazing, but it appears that Trump was not a party to this. More likely it is due to what he calls sloppy management, when the military gets out from under political control, and then on the territory of Syria, they start wandering around quite on their own and flirting with the terrorist groups. Whatever the case, says Kiselyov, the result is extremely unpleasant both for Russia and for the American leadership as its generals are being pushed towards adventurism. Konashenkov characterized the area in Syria under American control near the Jordanian border as a black hole that is 100 km long. From this black hole, like devils escaping from a snuff box, the terrorists come out to stage their attacks on Syrian troops and against the peaceful civilian population. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The feature segment moves on to a calm note, with insistence that Putin remains confident in the victory over the terrorists regardless of who is aiding them. To demonstrate this Olympian calm, which comes from certainty of victory in the near future, we are shown footage of Putins response to questions put to him at the Energy Forum in Moscow at mid-week. Putin tells us that: in the end, we all [presumably including the Americans] have common interests in securing Syria and the region against terrorists and that will bring us together for cooperative action. In the meantime though, we are treated to videos showing the consequences of Russian air activity in Syria this past week. That included more than 400 sorties of Russian planes based in Syria, plus bombing by SU 134 and 135 arriving from Russian territory that killed a dozen or more terrorist leaders together with 50 security personnel and seriously injured their top official, who lost an arm and sank into a coma. Russian air attacks destroyed the terrorists main underground weapons caches amounting to a thousand tons. And an attack by Kalibr cruise missiles launched from submarines in the Mediterranean destroyed Islamic State command installations and vehicles as well as weapons supplies. This cleared the way for Syrian troops to move to liberate the town of Meyadin. The dots are left unconnected, but the Russian threat is clear: they will use their air power to eliminate all forces standing in the way of their complete victory including US forces on the ground near the Jordanian border. The same news round-up last night also had another segment that relates in less direct fashion to the coming Russian victory in Syria: this was a week when the king of Saudi Arabia made the first state visit to Russia in their 90 plus years of diplomatic relations. And it was not a simple affair. Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud brought with him a suite of 1,000, including business leaders, ministry officials and senior military. We are told they came with 100 tons of baggage, including favorite carpets and other necessities of life. All aspects of this visit were impressive, including the signing of contracts and letters of intent for multi-billion dollar joint investments in industrial projects in both countries, possible Saudi purchases of Russian Liquefied Natural Gas from yet another mega-project seeking financing and multi-billion dollar military procurement, said to include the latest S-400 air defense system that Russia agreed to supply to Turkey a few weeks ago in exchange for a 2.5 billion dollar down payment and which Turkey accepted gratefully over NATO objections. Putin quipped to the moderator of the Moscow Energy Forum also held during the past week that nothing is forever, not even the U.S. hold on the Saudis. Kiselyov placed the visit in the context of Russian foreign policy in the region generally. Putin, he said, is pursuing a policy of seeking peaceful harmony in the Near East that takes into account the balance of interests of all countries in the region, a policy which is paying off: Russia is now the only country in the world to have good relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Iraq and, of course, Syria. From both segments it would appear that US domination is unraveling. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. This article was originally published by Russia Insider - See also - 'Negative consequences' if Trump quits Iran deal: Kremlin
An Al Jazeera Reporter Went Undercover with the Pro-Israel Lobby In Washington By Aida Chavez, Ryan Grim October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Britains broadcasting regulator on Monday concluded that Al Jazeera did not violate any rules in its controversial undercover investigation exposing the Israeli embassys campaign to target British citizens critical of Israel , a campaign that included attempts to destroy the careers of pro-Palestinian British politicians. The move by the communications regulator, known as Ofcom, clears the way for a follow-up documentary focused on Israeli influence in the United States, the existence of which has previously been suspected but had yet to be made public. Clayton Swisher, director of investigative journalism for the Al Jazeera Media Network, confirmed it on Monday to The Intercept. The goal of the British complaint may partly have been to delay publication of the follow-up American version, he said. At the very same time [as the London investigation]and we can safely reveal this nowwe had an undercover operative working in tandem in Washington, DC. With this UK verdict and vindication past us, we can soon reveal how the Israel lobby in America works through the eyes of an undercover reporter, he said. The four-part series The Lobby dug into the Israeli embassy in London, as well as several other pro-Israel lobby groups, and their campaign to take down British Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan. The investigation led to the resignation of a top Israeli official in London, as well as a high-profile complaint that Al Jazeera had broken broadcasting regulations in the United Kingdom. One of the complaints charged the investigation with anti-Semitism, but the government board ruled that imputing such a motive to a film critical of Israel would be akin to calling a series on gang violence racist. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May in January, calling for a probe into Shai Masot, the Israeli Embassys then Senior Political Officer. An undercover reporter secretly filmed Masot discussing a plot to take down Duncan, which Corbyn described as improper interference in this countrys democratic process. Masot resigned shortly after the recordings were made public. Swisher, whose writing has also appeared in The Intercept, said that his outlet turned over reams of its unpublished audio and video files to demonstrate that its report had not been unfairly edited. For several months we were put through the equivalent of an editorial colonoscopy. Turning over emails, different edits, all the raw footage, photos, cell phone messagesbasically anything the investigators found of interest, said Swisher. Ofcom received complaints about the series from pro-Israel British activists and a former Israel embassy employee. It dismissed all charges, which included anti-Semitism, bias, unfair editing and the infringement of privacy. It ruled that as per the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances (IHRA) guidance: It did not consider that such a critical analysis of the actions of a foreign state constituted anti-Semitism, particularly as the overall focus of the programme was to examine whether the State of Israel was acting in a manner that would be expected of other democratic nations. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter All other charges were also dismissed as Ofcom found the program maintained due impartiality, the footage was not edited in a way which resulted in unfairness, and there was no unwarranted infringement of privacy. In January, pro-Israel activists in the United States began to suspect theyd been infiltrated when footage in America appeared in the British version of The Lobby. Tablet began piecing things together, and identified the likely hoaxer as a highfalutin British intern whod dissonantly been renting a fully furnished $5,460 per month corporate apartment. Swisher wouldnt confirm or deny the identity of the American operative, but he said that with the American political class focused on foreign intervention in the affairs of the United States, now is an appropriate time to run the follow-up investigation. I hear the US is having problems with foreign interference these days, so I see no reason why the US Establishment wont take our findings in America as seriously as the British did, unless of course Israel is somehow off limits from that debate, he said. This article was originally published by The Intercept - See also - How the Israel Lobby Influences British Politics
Mattis Tells Army To "Be Ready" On North Korea Military Options By Emily Tillett October 09, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. Army "must stand ready" in the face of continued provocations by the North Korean regime. While delivering the keynote address at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting on Monday, Mattis outlined the current strategy in North Korea for the U.S. military, saying "it is right now diplomatically led, economic sanctioned, buttressed effort to try to turn North Korea off its path." He conceded, however, that "neither you nor I can say" what the future holds for the regime. "There's one thing the U.S. Army can do, and that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ if needed," said Mattis. Mattis embraced the current diplomatic approach to the crisis, including the UN-led sanctions on the regime supported by the international community. He added, "But that means the U.S. Army must stand ready, and so, if you're ready, that's your duty at this point in time. And I know the Army will always do its duty." Mattis' comments come after Mr. Trump met with a group of military leaders at the White House on Friday, where he ominously warned the meeting was perhaps "the calm before the storm." It was unclear if Mr. Trump was referring to the current crisis in region. Mr. Trump has also tweeted that "only one thing will work" in dealing with North Korea. Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid......  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017 ...hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017 Mattis also called on Congress to consider military readiness, particularly as it relates to continued global threats, in its budget discussions. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter "I am among majority in this country that believes our nation can afford survival and I want Congress to act in the driver's seat of budget decision, not in the spectator seat of automatic cuts," urged Mattis. He said that he had "great confidence in the U.S. congress" but had "no confidence in automatic mathematical budget cuts." The secretary said the Department of Defense was now reworking its business practices to "gain the full benefit from every dollar spent on defense." "We're taking aggressive action to reform the way we do business and to gain and to hold the trust of the congress and the American people that we are responsible stewards of the money allocated to us and that it translates directly every dollar into the defense of our country and what we stand for." Mattis said what is probably most important for the Department right now is laying out the problems the military faces to Congress "in compelling and persuasive terms" "There are times when those of us who wear the uniform can be rightly condemned for being overly conservative, wanting more insurance and more boats and planes and guns and tanks and I understand that," he said. He added, "But I think the more we can explain we have the time right now to prepare for war is the best way to prevent war, should conflict break out, to get money later, will not be good enough because we won't have the time at this point." Mattis also said that the military must lay out it's necessary requirements, like proper funds for training and equipment, in such a way that it "leaves no doubt about the need for what we're asking for in order to ensure that America's army is at the top of its game." This article was originally published by CBS News -  2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The seat of an All Progressives Congress chieftain, Badaru is currently being treated with an impeachment following a squabble with the House of Assembly.

Tension is heightening in Jigawa State over alleged plan by the House of Assembly to impeach Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar.

Sources said the impeachment was one of many options to confront the governor for alleged illegal sale of a landed property belonging to the state that is domiciled in Lagos.

It was only last week that the House of Assembly commenced investigation with a view to probe the governor over what they described as illegal approval given to 27 local government councils of the state to purchase primary schools furniture.

Sources said the purchases were not captured in the 2017 fiscal year budget. Speaking to journalists, yesterday, in Dutse, the Member representing Dutse Constituency, Musa Sule, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, said the governor illegally sold a plot of land belonging to the state that was located in Lagos and in its place bought a house which was furnished with a view to serve as government lodge.

He said the deal was illegal because the process of disposing and acquiring the two properties contravened the stipulated laws as enshrined in the constitution.

Sule alleged that the transaction took place when the deputy governor, who is a lawyer, was in acting capacity.

We were baffled for such process to be effected under his (deputy governors) watch, after knowing full well it was illegal to carry out such transaction without referring to the assembly.

We are talking of a property that was sold. It is a plot of land in Lagos. It was sold and a house was bought. We learnt that it was furnished and it will serve as government lodge in Lagos.

We felt it was an insult on our part because we have heard how some other executives go about it on cases like this, he said.

We are going to do things accordingly, but all the same, we have drawn their attention to what they have done. It is a breach of the constitution and that may warrant anything, even impeachment, he added.

Daily Trust also gathered that as at the time of filing this report, the governor and all the members of the House of Assembly were in a meeting behind closed doors at the government house.

Contacted, the governors spokesperson, Bello Zaki, said there was nothing like that. It is all rumour, he said.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director, of the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, appeared to set aside their differences to speak about ways to building a stronger and more efficient petroleum industry.

The two top officials have not had the best of relations since last week Tuesday when a letter Mr. Kachikwu wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari accusing Mr. Baru of insubordination and corruption surfaced online.

With Mr. Barus reply still generating ripples in the media, it seemed unlikely both officials would come together soon.

But, during the third planery session of the Nigerian Economic Summit, NES 23 in Abuja on Tuesday, both spoke of a stronger, more encompassing regulatory authority that would soon emerge in petroleum industry after the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.

Mr. Kachikwu said the government was still working to make the regulatory environment in the industry better, pointing out that by the time the National Assembly completes its work on the PIB, a much stronger, a much larger independent regulator would emerge.

Whatever model of PIB that we are pushing, the point that Dr. Baru made is very, very key, he said referring to the NNPC boss. To see an independent regulator with very enormous powers, with less of political interference so that individuals could do their work and also whittle down the powers of the minister, so that these institutions could work and work well.

He added: The reality is that no one will work as a minister forever. You are going to hand over that portfolio. We should be looking for the system surviving and able to work well. So, its something that we are working with the National Assembly very hard on and I think if you look at the issues that come up, there are a lot of emphasis on that independence.

He said government would develop policies that would ensure the global decline in fossil energy does not take Nigeria unawares any more, adding that government was already thinking in that direction.

The minister, who was the moderator in the panel on energy, said the government was currently dealing with the fundamentals of ensuring the refineries worked, while ensuring the availability of energy sources to meet the countrys day to day needs. 

On the forthcoming marginal fields bidding round, Mr. Kachikwu said government was determined to ensure transparency in the process, to give the public all that they need to know about who gets what and able to monitor the progress.

He said these were some of the issues the Niger Delta communities, and indeed all Nigerians, were always inquiring about.

The more transparent it is, the better for us. We are developing models to ensure better regulations geared towards transparency in the bidding process, and we would alert Mr. President as soon as we are done, Mr. Kachikwu said.

Earlier, Mr. Baru, lamented that previous marginal field bidding rounds has not achieved the objectives the government set out to achieve, saying only nine out 14 of those who won the licenses were operational.

Describing this as not good enough, Mr. Baru said he was committed to work closely with the minister to address the concerns and constraints that hindered the remaining five companies from appropriately operating the marginal oil fields.

Vanguard
Kenyas opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has pulled out of the country presidential re-run race scheduled to hold on October 26.

The Supreme Court annulled the result of the original August 8 poll due to irregularities.

The first election was won by incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr. Odinga had called for the replacement of electoral officials, threatening to withdraw from the race.

He announced Tuesday that his withdrawal would give the electoral commission enough time to introduce reforms that will help deliver a more credible election, the BBC reports.

We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC [electoral commission] to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one, he was quoted as saying.

Mr Odinga also called on people to protest Wednesday, using the slogan no reform, no elections.

Source: ( BBC )
The abductor of iconic, South-south entertainer, Osayomore Joseph are demanding for a whooping sum of N200 million for his release as the family runs helter skelter.

The abductors of the popular Edo State musician, Osayomore Joseph have contacted the family, demanding N200m as ransom.

Recall, the musician was kidnapped in his house at Orovie village, Benin, the Edo State capital.

Now, a family source revealed to Vanguard that;

The family has been contacted, but honestly the money they are talking about is outrageous.

It is not affordable because there is no way the family can find that kind of money. Osayomore is just managing his life right now and does not have such money.

We are only appealing that they should free him unhurt. The family is not rich; they are only managing just like any other Nigerian. We are begging them to see reasons and release him because his health is not in the best state.

The spokesman of Edo State Police command, Moses Nkombe, said the Police were working relentlessly to ensure the freedom of the victim.
Nonprofit groups may submit announcements of upcoming events to events@elkodaily.com.

Lutherans to celebrate 500 years

ELKO  Faith Lutheran Church of Elko is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

In 1517 the German monk Martin Luther collected 95 points or theses to fuel discussion concerning corruption in the medieval church, and nailed them on the door of his hometown church in

Wittenberg, Germany. In doing so, he unleashed a storm of change, thus kicking off the most important event of the last 1,000 years.

Beer, Brauts and so much more will mark the event following worship services on Oct. 29.

Those attending are asked to bring a food item to share.

Fall Craft Festival entries sought

SPRING CREEK  The Lamoille Womens Club is now accepting applications for their annual Fall Craft Festival being held at the Spring Creek High School on Nov. 11-12.

The Fall Craft Festival features arts and crafts of all kinds. Proceeds fund the clubs many community projects.

For information contact Martha Wallace at 340-6922 or Elisabeth Moore at 934-7194 or visit www.lamoillewomansclub.org.

Local RPEN to meet Oct. 11

ELKO  The Elko County chapter of Retired Public Employees of Nevada will hold their Oct. 11 meeting at 12:30 p.m. at the Terrace Senior Center at 1795 Ruby View Drive. Robert Wines, attorney, will speak on Advance Directives.

All ACTIVE and retired public employees who are in the PERS retirement system are encouraged to attend.

For more information contact President Hal Keaton at 962-1991 or email halkeaton@yahoo.com.

Scholastic Book Fair begins

Oct. 16

ELKO  The Elko County Library is hosting its annual Fall Scholastic Book Fair from Oct. 16-28.

With the holidays just around the corner, the Book Fair is a perfect opportunity to stock up on books for family and friends. Proceeds go toward craft and program supplies and for some of the librarys special events, such as the Halloween Carnival.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can shop the Fair through www.scholastic.com/fair from Oct. 9 -29.

For more information, contact the Library at 738-3066.

Grief and loss support group meetings

ELKO  Horizon Center at 1250 Lamoille Highway, Suite 413, is offering grief and loss support group meetings this fall through spring.

Peer support groups are open to anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one, including adults, teens and children.

Meetings begin at 6 p.m. on the following dates: Oct. 16, Nov. 6, Dec. 4, Jan. 22, Feb. 5, March 5 and 19, April 2 and 16, and May 7 and 21.

A light snack and dessert will be provided.

Your choice of haunted houses

ELKO  HAUNT After Dark, Nevadas scariest haunted complex terrorizing Elko, is open on weekends through Halloween.

HAUNT has been expanded into two premier attractions featuring the Psycho Circus and the After Dark Haunted House. Both haunts are professional, high-fear haunted attractions with new animatronics, technology and scare tactics never witnessed before.

Chicken doors have been installed for the weak to escape when they cant handle the fear. Enter at your own risk.

The haunted house is located at 729 Douglas St., opening every Friday and Saturday night and Halloween at 7 p.m. starting Oct. 6. Admission is $10 for each haunt or purchase the $18 combo to experience both attractions. Whatever you fear you will find it in here.

Contact 738-2759 or HauntElko.com for the gory details. All proceeds benefit FISH and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Elko.

Family Bible Seminar at The Terrace

ELKO  Happy Family Bible Seminar is offered from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 12-15 and Oct. 19-22 at The Terrace at Ruby View, 1795 Ruby View Drive.

Join the group as speaker Mario Navarro Jr. of the Elko Seventh-day Adventist Church describes how to have healthier and happier families. Topics include: 7 ways you can tell if it is really love; tips for successful singles; what does God say about sex; and marriage and money.

The seminar and included childrens program are free to the public.

Scrapbooking workshop at library

ELKO  The Elko County Library will be hosting a Scrapbooking Workshop on Oct. 14, starting at 10 a.m. in the Bruce Memorial Meeting Room. This will be an all-day event. This adult program is designed to teach the basic techniques of scrapbooking.

All levels of experience are welcome to attend. Supplies and equipment will be provided. Just bring your pictures and an album if you have one. If you have any supplies or tools feel free to bring them.

The workshop will end at 4 p.m. It is free to the public and pre-registration is not required.

For additional information, contact Annette Robinson at 738-3066.

Holocaust Book Club meets

Oct. 18

KO  The Elko County Library is continuing to offer the Holocaust Book Club through the fall months. The next Holocaust Book Club will meet Oct. 18th from 4:30- 5:30 p.m. in the Bruce Memorial Meeting Room.

The book that will be discussed is Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz by Yehuda Koren. The library has a limited supply of books available for check out. Participants can stop by the front desk and check out a book.

For additional information call 738-3066.

Book club to discuss a Christie classic

ELKO  On Oct. 16 the Elko County Library Book Club will discuss Agatha Christies bestselling mystery And Then There Were None.

The book club will meet at 6 p.m. in the Library Meeting Room. Copies of the book are available for check-out. All are welcome to attend.

Call Patrick Dunn at the library for more information, 738-3066.
A Ghanaian lawyer, Maurice Ampaw, has said that incessant loud moaning during sex is a crime and must carry a penalty.

According to myjoyonline, Ampaw says moaning infringes on the rights of others and must be stopped.

He said, Why is it that you are having sex, I cannot sleep? In a compound house, they are having sex with you and everybody cannot sleep, you are infringing upon their rights to privacy and you are committing a crime because you are committing what we call a sexual nuisance.

Everything that makes noise, everything that makes you uncomfortable is a nuisance.

The lawyer explained, There are some girls when they are having sex and you are passing on the streets, you will hear them moaning and screaming.

The worst ones are the men. If you are a man and you are having sex and you are talking and moaning, cant you control yourself? You should have self-control, he said. When animals are having sex do you hear them moaning like that?

Ampaw also gave an instance of when he had to lodge in a hotel and could not sleep because of the noise coming from a couple that also lodged in the same hotel.

He narrated, After I had finished with a hard days work at 7 oclock I checked into my room and this guy and this girl came to town to rest, I was lying down before I could realize, [their] bed [was making noise] and then I woke up, I could not sleep and the girl was giving commentary.

If you are enjoying, enjoy but dont come and infringe on [my rights]We must put a stop to it, He concluded.

Source: ( Myjoyonline )
A petty trader, Mrs. Toyin Adelanke, has reportedly died when tax officials from Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State wanted to collect tax from her, NewTelegraph has reported.

Speaking about her death, the victims 89-year-old mother, Mrs. Abike Ijiyemi, told journalists yesterday that Toyin planned to give her food the day she died in the hands of the tax collectors.

Toyin (38) reportedly died while the tax officials were trying to seize her television for failure to pay tax. It was learnt that Toyin fell down while dragging her television with the government officials which they wanted to seize because she did not pay the money demanded from her. The local government officials were said to have taken the television to their vehicle and left without attending to the woman.

It was also learnt that the woman died later and her remains were deposited at the morgue of the State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

However, Toyins distraught mother told journalists at Idanre in Idanre Local Government that: In the morning of the day she was killed, she called me and said that she had bought some foodstuffs for me. She promised to bring them to me at Idanre the second day. Instead of coming to fulfil her promise, it was the announcement of her death they brought to me.

My daughter was a widow. Her husband died four years ago. She has been singlehandedly taking care of their only child since then. She was the one who sponsored the education of their 24-year-old son up to the Gateway Polytechnic in Ogun State. She was the person taking care of me and paying my debts. Also, Toyins sister, Mrs. Mojisola Otitilowo, said the deceased was in her shop at Bolajoko Street, Oke-Aro area of Akure about 2p.m. when the government officials invaded her shop.

She said: They were four in number. Three of them disembarked from the vehicle they brought. They did not accept her plea. One of them removed the television from where it was but Toyin started dragging it with them.

She fell down. Despite that, the council officials went away with the television. A woman, who came to buy sachet water, discovered that Toyin was unconscious where she lay on the floor of the shop and raised the alarm which attracted neighbours who rushed in and started pouring water on Toyin to revive her.

When it was realised that Toyin had given up the ghost, the matter was reported at the Police B Division, Oke-Aro.

Toyins son, Ayodele Adelanke, demanded that his mothers killers be brought to book, saying she must not die in vain. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident, described it as unfortunate. Joseph said some suspects had been arrested over Toyins killing.

Source: NewTelegraph
The Federal Government has been urged by the Senate to liaise with the World Health Organisation for unforseen eventualities as Nigeria fights against monkeypox.

This was part of the prayers of a motion moved by Senator Ali Wakili (Bauchi-South), titled Urgent Need for Proactive Steps to Nip in the Bud Reported Outbreak of Monkeypox Disease in Nigeria, which the Senate adopted at the plenary on Tuesday.

The upper chamber of the National Assembly also urged the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health, state and local governments, to be proactive in containing and preventing the disease from spreading beyond where it had been reported.

The lawmakers also called for aggressive enlightenment and education of the citizens on measures that could be taken to mitigate risk factors of exposure to the virus, while seeking a sustained public health education messages through media platforms.

Wakili, while moving the motion, said the Senate was worried that there are no specific treatments in the provision or availability of vaccine for monkeypox infection and that Nigerians have been thrown into panic, as the countrys health sector is facing a myriad of

challenges.

He added, The Senate is disturbed that since there is no vaccine or specific treatment, the only ways to reduce the infection in people is through awareness of risk factors, enlightenment about measures to be taken to reduce exposure to the virus, reduction of possibility of

animal to human transmission, and through cooking of all animal products before consumption.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper)
The Senate, has received a letter from President Mohammadu Buhari seeking an approval of $5.5bn external borrowings.

The request was contained in a letter to both chambers of the National Assembly, which was read by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the plenary on Tuesday.

The letter read in part, Accordingly, the Senate is requested to kindly approve the following external borrowings: Issuance of $2.5bn in International Capital Market through Eurobonds or a combination of Eurobonds and Diaspora bonds for the financing of the Federal Government of Nigerias 2017 Appropriation Act and capital expenditure

projects in the Act.

Issuance of Eurobond in the ICM and/or loans syndication by the banks in the sum of $3bn for refinancing of maturing domestic debts obligations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, while looking forward to the timely approval of the National Assembly to enable Nigerians to take advantage of these opportunities for funding.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper)
Former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, has opened up on why he said that Nnamdi Kanu has left the country, his 2019 presidential ambition and more as he visits IBB in Minna.

While speaking in an interaction with newsmen shortly after he visited former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, in Minna, Niger State, on Monday, former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, insisted that he was misunderstood on comments about whereabouts of the IPOB leader.

He said; What I said was clear, Nnamdi Kanus brother told me that he (Nnamdi) has left the country.

I was not looking for him for any bad intention. I was looking for him, to be able to let the federal authority know that he was with me and no Army or Police can take him away from me. I did that so we can discuss the way forward.

People misunderstood my intention. I was just after peace because burning down our state (Abia) wouldnt have been the best.

And, again, the lives of over 15 million Igbo living in the North are more important than one person; that was the issue. So, we needed to take control of the situation.

According to Daily Sun, the influential politician who pointed out that the unity of Nigeria is more important than individual interest, said; I did not say anything bad about IPOB agitation, they have the right to carry their flags around and agitate, but, they dont have the right to separate Nigeria.

He disclosed that the solution to agitations is justice and fairness, by the federal government. Build my roads, give me water, let my children have access to good school, I mean fairness and we will respect the law.

The absence of all these is responsible for whatever agitation you are seeing. It is not only the South East that is being marginalised, every part of this country is being marginalised.

When I was coming, I passed through the Minna-Suleja Road and I concluded that it is not only the eastern part of the country that is being marginalised. All parts of the country are being marginalised. Nigeria and Nigerians need new orientation from A to Z, and that is the only solution.

When asked if he would contest the 2019 presidency, if Buhari does not run, he replied: I am a Nigerian, I am entitled to it, but, as I will always say, and I maintain my position, northerners should be allowed to complete their second term.

If Buhari is not contesting, although he is entitled to second term, the North should still present a candidate because this is the turn of the North. Other zones should be ready for 2023, but, for now, I still maintain my position and I am not afraid of anybody.

This is the turn of the North. Anybody can take me for what I say. Whoever is castigating me over my position on this is wasting his time. I live by the truth and I will be ready to speak the truth always. Opinion is an entitlement, and that is my opinion given to me by God.

Source  Daily Sun
Some bankers who allegedly diverted funds belonging to their employers will be temporarily cooling their heels behind bars pending on when their case is concluded.

Two officers with the Ogba, Lagos branch of Sterling Bank Plc, James Oke, 28 and Moyosore Shofowora, 27 have been arrested and arraigned before a Lagos Magistrate Court for allegedly withdrawing the sum of N25,466,330 from the internal control accounts of the bank without authorisation and converted the money to their personal use.

The two bankers were arrested on the order of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO in charge of Lion Building Division, CSP Folashade Tanaruno following a complaint by the management of Sterling Bank through its Chief Security Officer, Mr Okodugha Sunday Evaristus.

The accused were arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate Court, Lagos on a two-count charge of felony to wit, stealing.

Prosecuting Counsel, Abbass Abayomi informed the Court in Charge No/65/2017 that the accused persons committed the alleged offence between 22 September, 2016 and 28 July, 2017 during working hours at Sterling Bank Plc, Ogba Branch, Lagos.

Abayomi told the Court that the first accused, James Oke after withdrawing the sum of N9, 377,000 from the account of his employer, he used part of the money to procure travelling documents and ticket fares to escape to the United States of America, but that he was arrested inside a USA bound aircraft at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos before the plane could take off following a tip off.

Abayomi added that the police recovered the sum of USD2,150 from James Oke at the airport during a search. Abayomi said that the second accused, Shofowora stole N16,060,000 from the account of his employer and used part of the money to purchase a Toyota Camry Car valued at N2.5m and confessed that he used the balance to gamble.

Abayomi noted that the offences the accused committed were ppunishable under sections 411 and 287 (7) of the criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime and the Chief Magistrate, B.A Sonuga granted them bail in the sum of N5m each with two sureties each in Like sum.

Sonuga directed that one of the sureties must be a Bank Manager with Sterling Bank and the other must be a Bank Manager with Wema Bank Ple who must also own landed properties in Lagos.

Sonuga further directed that the two surrties must deposit the sum of N1m each in the Court registrar account and adjourned the case till 14 November.

The magistrate ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Ikoyi Prison,Lagos till they were able to fulfill the bail conditions.
Many woman in Akwa Ibom State are now reportedly hunting for tortoises for use in making love portions for their lovers, as well as other charms.

Dr. Edem Eniang, the Director of Biodiversity Preservation Center, BPC, in Akwa Ibom State, has expressed concern over the widespread hunt for tortoises in Akwa Ibom State by women for the preparation of love potions, popularly known as Kop nno mi for their lovers and other charms.

According to Vanguard, Dr. Eniang, a University of Uyo, UNIUYO, lecturer, who spoke at a campaign, Conserve Nigerian Endangered Tortoises, Dont Hunt Them, Dont Use Them For Love Potions, in Mbiakong community, Uruan local government area, said that the survival of the animal is greatly endangered in the state, as it was daily hunted for meals and preparation of love concoctions, popularly known in the area as Kop nno mi and charms for fortune seekers.

The programme was sponsored by Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, CEPF, and its global partners, Birdlife International and the Guinea Forest of West Africa, GFWA.

The BPC director stated that the rate at which the animal is hunted for fetish reasons is worrisome and may likely force the animal to go into extinction, calling on the people, especially hunters, to stop hunting the creature.

He said that expert evaluation had shown that there are approximately 350 species of tortoises in the world out of which three of the species in Nigeria, including black hinged, forest, home hinged tortoises and marine sea turtles have been identified as critically endangered. To save the situation, he urged that all hands should be on deck to ensure the survival of the animals in the state and indeed Nigeria.

Eniang recalled that the Oba of Benin, His Royal Mayesty, Omo NOba NEdo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, recently received a 145-year- old tortoise as a gift from his friend, the Emir of Borgu.

He said,The Queen of England also used a live tortoise to inaugurate the University of Ibadan in the late 1940s and the tortoise was a graduate of the University of London at the age of 50 and has remained alive till date.

The Village Head of Mbiakong Chief Hyacenth Nyong Okon, said: I am not a woman, it is the women, who like to use it to force their husbands to love them, my own is to kill and eat. We do not use tortoise for rituals, we only use the hard shell to play the Nabo traditional dance.
Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Monday said he had no plan to contest the 2019 presidential election.

According to Reuters, Osinbajo said this when he was asked at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London if he had considered running.

None of that is on the cards, the Vice-President reportedly said.

It will be recalled that Osinbajo had earlier disowned a group known as Osinbajo Volunteers, which is campaigning for his election as President in 2019.

His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, had asked Nigerians to disregard the group, adding that he had nothing to do with them.

The group had noted that Nigeria now has a leader who has a clue what to do and (how to) turn Nigeria the beloved to the land of our dreams.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
ELKO  High school seniors planning to attend Great Basin College in fall 2018 have less than a month to apply for the Nevada Promise Scholarship.

An application workshop and training for the NV Promise will be held at 5 p.m. Oct. 19 at the High Tech Center, room 138.

Students and parents are encouraged to attend to learn more about filling out the application as well as applying for other types of financial aid.

The goal of NV Promise is to allow Nevada high school graduates to complete a certificate or associate degree at no cost to the student and the program begins with the high school graduating class of 2018.

The NV Promise is a scholarship and mentoring program where the state intends to pay the cost of attending classes at Nevada community colleges that is not otherwise funded by federal aid, the Millennium Scholarship or the Silver State Opportunity Grant.

In addition to covered class fees, NV Promise students will be assigned a GBC mentor who will assist them with the scholarship requirements, as well as the admissions and financial aid processes. Completion of 20 hours of community service no later than April 30, 2018, is one of the scholarships requirements.

To become eligible, apply no later than Oct. 31.

For information about Nevada Promise at GBC, visit http://www.gbcnv.edu/scholarships/nvpromise/.
Peterborough, ON (October 9, 2017)- Meteorological forecast models predicted that it would be the best day of the weekend and for the eight drivers wholl capture an Autumn Colours Classic main event win, it could be the best weekend of their career. Feature races were the order of the day on Sunday, October 8, as the 25th anniversary edition of Ontarios premiere auto racing event came to a close at Peterborough Speedway.

Home track favourites Anthony DiBello and Dan Archibald brought the field of 28 Thunder Car starters to the Great Canadian RV green flag to get things underway. As the field entered the first turn on the first lap, DiBello drifted high and slid off the track for the first caution flag of the afternoon. Treyten Lapcevich took the lead, as he powered around Archibald on the restart. The 13 year-old upstart pulled out to about an eight-car length advantage with 10 laps on the scoreboard and was almost a half a track ahead of the second-place car when the caution flew for an incident in the second turn with 16 circuits complete. Defending event champion Jordan Howse moved into second spot and things were running smoothly until a lap 25 yellow flag slowed the charge again. Lapcevich and Howse broke away from the pack and with about two laps to go, Dan Archibald made contact with the wall in turn three while making a charge for the runner-up spot. Lapcevich held-off Howse in the 2-lap shootout. Carson Nagy, Ken Grubb and Kris Allard completed the top 5.

With 75 laps on the table, a pair of former track champions, Rick Spencer-Walt and Ryan Kimball, brought a field of 16 Organics & Glass Limited Late Model machines to the line. A pair of cars came together on the front stretch with just a single lap on the board. The lead duo started to break away from the pack, but the pace was slowed again for an incident in the second turn, with 10 laps complete. On the restart, it was business as usual for the #31w and #29 rides, as the caught the tail-end of the field with 23 laps on the board. Another yellow flew on lap 36 and a back-stretch issue tightened the pack with 44 circuits on the board. Kimball pitted during the yellow flag and rejoined the fight at the rear of the field. Another pair of late race yellow flags did nothing to delay the inevitable, as Rick Spencer-Walt led all 75 laps to take the win. Amanda Balson was second, with Ryan Kimball taking third from Gord Shepherd. Nick Goetz completed the top five.

Michigan state invader Gregory Rudzik and Wesley Cuthbertson brought the pack of 22 Trailers Plus Eastern Ontario Legends Series machines from the staging area. The second turn was the scene of a couple of early issues, but Rudzik kept control of the field. After scoring a win with the series at Grand Bend about a month earlier, the runner from south of the border was looking forward to his first Autumn Colours start and started working through the backmarkers around the halfway mark. Gregory Rudzik led from start-to-finish to take the win. Cole McFadden, Dave Riopelle, Miles Tyson and Parker Traves followed the victor to the checkered flag.

A dozen OSCAAR Super Late Models came to Canadas Toughest 1/3-Mile Paved Oval with Tyler Hawn and Charlie Gallant on the front row to battle it out for 50 laps and the prestige of being named the 2017 Autumn Colours Classic champion. Hawn grabbed the lead on the break, with Brandon and Glenn Watson battling for second and third. The races first yellow flag flew with only three laps on the board for an incident in the fourth turn. Brandon Watson picked-up the lead with less than 10 circuits complete and held on for the win. Glenn Watson, Ryan Kimball, John Cadman and Tyler Hawn finished-out the fast five.

Griffin Powell and Jeremy Kelly brought the Battlefield Equipment Rental 4Fun for 40 laps of action. The first yellow flew with only four laps complete for an issue in turn two. Powell kept control on the restart, with the Kelly cars of Chris Tubman, Jeremy and Jake Kelly hot on his tail. Just a lap after the leaders started working through the backmarkers, the caution flew again  this time for a single car crash in the third turn  on lap 17. Powell didnt give-up the lead from the green flag to the checkered for his second straight Autumn Colours win. Chris Tubman, Colin Parkes, Jake Kelly and Chad Strawn followed the leader across the line.

24 starters brought the OSCAAR Modifieds to the Autumn Colours Classic stage with Luke Gignac and John Harper on the front row. Several early cautions meant Gignac held the top spot, until Gary McLean  a multi time series and ACC champion  took over near the 20-lap mark. A hard wreck on the backstretch just short of halfway brought out the red flag, but the two drivers involved were uninjured. In the interest of time, officials elected to begin counting laps and all restarts were to be single file. Although he ran a limited schedule in 2017, McLean picked-up the victory over A.J. Emms, Gignac, Gary Elliott and John Baker Jr. His second-place finish was enough to see Luke Gignac clinch the 2017 title.

2017 APC Series champion Brandon Watson and former NASCAR Pintys Series regular J.R. Fitzpatrick paced the Pro Late Model field to the line for their 117 lap A main. From the drop of the green flag, Watson was the class of the show and had started working through the back of the field with less than 15 laps complete. A lap 41 yellow flag brought the rest of the pack to his rear bumper, but other than a single circuit led by Fitzpatrick, Watson  who earlier in the day had captured the Autumn Colours Classic win with his OSCAAR Super Late Model  added another win to his impressive resume. Andy Kamrath took the runner-up spot, with Fitzpatrick, Gord Shepherd and Steve Laking following the lead duo to the checkered flag.

Noel Snow and Kevin Strutt led the way as the Jiffy Lube Mini Stockers hit the track to wrap-up the 2017 edition of the Autumn Colours Classic. It was an action-packed affair, with Snow leading the first portion of the 50-lap event. Eric Yorke took control a fifth of the way in and survived a scary wreck on the front stretch to take the victory. Snow snatched the runner-up spot from Strutt with less than a lap remaining. Shawn Chenoweth and Nolan Gould rounded-out the top five.

All main event finishes are unofficial and subject to post-race technical inspection and scoring review.

Bullring bullet points: A big crowd meant an equally big payoff in the 50/50 draw, as Earl Bailey of Colborne, Ontario collected $2056.00The final feature event of the day  the Mini Stock 50 lapper  had a couple of tumbles. Nick Clarke got upside-down on the opening lap in the fourth turn, while Ken Townsend barrel-rolled on the front stretch 13 laps into the race. Each driver was checked by track personnel, but their cars were too damaged to continue.

With the stock car racing portion of Peterborough Speedways 2017 schedule concluded, the track will host an afternoon of grass drags and radar runs for snowmobiles and ATVs on Sunday, October 15th. Spectator gates will open at 11:00, with action underway at 12:30.

Complete information and off-season details can always be found by visiting www.peterboroughspeedway.com, checking the tracks Facebook page or Twitter feed. Fans can also download the free Smartphone app to get the latest news.

Prepared by: Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media

clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com, www.facebook.com/clarkemotorsports

613.968.6410
Number and price of shares in proposed offering yet to be determined
Endeavour Insurance Services has unveiled a technology and cyber facility, naming 28-year insurance veteran Tony Loizides as head.



The accredited Lloyds broker said the creation of the cyber facility will predominantly be managed through an online portal. Aimed at generating new business streams in the North American specialty lines space, it will provide multiple opportunities for managing general agents, producing brokers, and clients in the US and Canada.



Celebrate excellence in insurance. Join us at the Insurance Business Awards in Chicago.



Loizides, who began his insurance career in 1989 at brokers Sedgwick, specializes in professional indemnity and D&O (directors and officers), as well as in financial lines and healthcare. With a particular focus on technology and cyber, he also worked at First City Partnership, HSBC Insurance Brokers, and Safeonline LLP where he was head of broking.



The opportunity to be part of the successful journey that is unfolding at Endeavour, the entrepreneurial attitude that is allowed to flourish, allied to its commitment as an independent employee owned Lloyds broker, was simply too good to pass up, commented Loizides.



The new divisional director added: I value the expertise and diligence with which Endeavour takes care of its clients needs, and I am looking forward to developing new opportunities and distribution methods to grow their business even further.



For David Lawrence, chairman and chief executive of Endeavour Insurance Services, this is the next step in the firms growth. Given recent events, cyber protection is fast becoming a major consideration in future risk management, commented Lawrence.



He said: The project to develop cyber in this way is a medium-term investment for us, and I am delighted that somebody with such understanding and class knowledge as Tony Loizides has bought into the Endeavour story.



Specializing in the placement of business produced by North American and European agents handled under delegated authorities, the company employs 46 people in its London office.






Nothing beats a bit of healthy competition  if youve got the impetus and creativity to get a one-up on your rivals.



But thats not always an easy task when the main competition is the worlds leading insurance market, which provides specialist insurance services in over 200 countries and territories.



Lloyds of London has changed the scene in the US and forced domestic markets to up their game, according to James F. Langan, senior vice president, casualty broker, Worldwide Facilities, LLC.



The US wholesale insurance industry is ever-changing. Its very competitive and new markets are always emerging, Langan told Insurance Business. In general, the property & casualty (P&C) space is very competitive and there are always markets looking to lower rates and drive down pricing.



Lloyds is a key player in the E&S and wholesale markets in the US, according to Langan. It has opened a number of new offices across the country and made the competitive landscape much greater.



Years ago, the London market was relatively unknown among retail producers in the US, said Langan. They were a bit nervous about where and how claims might be handled because the markets hub was based in London.



However, whats happening now is that US underwriters are joining the Lloyds firm, which means more claims are being handled domestically and the retail producers are much more comfortable about working with Lloyds.



He added: As Lloyds keeps invading the US, they are adding more markets and more capacity, which is creating a more competitive situation.



An ever-changing, competitive environment is a challenging but exciting place for a wholesale broker, according to Matt Domitrovich, senior vice president and transportation team leader at Worldwide Facilities, LLC.



For most areas of E&S and wholesale, the market is soft, so not only do you have to be price competitive, but youve also got to find a way to get a leg-up on everyone else, Domitrovich said. That advantage might come in the shape of a new form, service or an endorsement. Anything like that takes critical thinking, which is vitally important in todays marketplace.



Like the more traditional areas of insurance, the wholesale markets have been touched by technology. The marketplace is completely different to how it was 10 years ago and that rate of change is only going to get faster.



Theres also more private equity money in the insurance space now than ever before, so theres capital, theres capacity and theres technology. Its exciting, added Domitrovich.




According to data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, property insurance claims from Hurricane Irma have reached $4.2 billion in estimated losses.As of September 28, 644,908 claims  a total of $4,182,798,217 in insured losses  had been filed following the catastrophic hurricane event.According to a breakdown of the claims, 77,132 claims were filed in Miami-Dade County, 53,799 in Orange County, 43,017 in Collier County, 27,394 in Duval County, while Leon County saw 916.Monroe County, where the storm first made landfall, saw 21,702 claims filed.Other counties that reported a large number of claims included Broward with 51,242, Lee with 48,146, Polk with 40,444, Brevard with 29,876, Palm Beach with 25,335, and Osceola with 21,386.WJXT reported that the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance had confirmed receiving over 45,600 claims from policyholders. The insurer projected that the overall total of the claims will reach $1.23 billion, with another batch of 15,000 claims to be filed within the next two years.
Identifying properties whose owners have collected from the NFIP multiple times because their homes are prone to repeat flooding, and discontinuing coverage if they flood again;

Increasing the NFIP reserve fund and exempting it from a cap on annual rate increases;

Phasing out the programs coverage for newly constructed property in designated special flood hazard areas and allowing private flood insurers to sell coverage in those areas;

Requiring the disclosure of flood insurance risks before a real estate transaction is completed

The National Flood Insurance Program will be broke before the end of the month, the Office of Management and Budget has warned.The OMB warned Congress that the NFIP will have fully exhausted its financial resources  including its $30 billion borrowing limit  before the end of October. According to a letter sent by OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the NFIP will be unable to pay claims after that.The NFIP was already $24 billion in debt  and then four hurricanes plowed into the US in rapid succession, devastating areas of the Southeast and Puerto Rico. Those hurricanes have put the already-struggling program in an even worse position, according to a CBS News report.The recent hurricanes have inflicted projected losses of $16 billion, Mulvaney said. And thats not accounting for the most recent hurricane, Nate, which is projected to drop an additionally three to six inches of rain on the Gulf region.Congress has been slow to renew the NFIP  which was supposed to lapse last month, until it was given an extension until December. The White House has set a December 08 deadline for Congress to act on the program, according to CBS News. President Trump has also asked Congress for $16 billion in debt forgiveness for the NFIP.But Mulvaney is calling for more drastic measures, CBS News reported.The NFIP is simply not financially sustainable in its present form, Mulvaney said. He wants systemic reforms to the program, including:
Computer virus: 36%

Phishing: 29%

Trojan horse: 13%

Hacking: 12%

Data breach: 7%

Ransomware: 7%

Issues due to unpatched software: 7%

Unauthorized access to company info: 7%

Unauthorized access to customer info: 6%

57% of owners do not have a dedicated employee or vendor monitoring for cyberattacks.

76% of respondents do not have a cyberattack response plan in place; 57% lack a plan to protect employee data, and 54% do not have measures in place to protect customer data.

Of the various cybersecurity best practices recommended by the US Small Business Administration:

85% say they protect against viruses, spyware and other malicious code, but only 65% actually do so.

85% say they secure their networks, versus the 58% that actually do.

85% say they make backup copies of important business data and information, but only 59% follow through.

83% talk about establishing security practices and policies to protect sensitive information, but only 50% make good on their promises.

81% say they control physical access to computers and network components  only 60% do so.

80% of the respondents say they require employees to use strong passwords and to change them often, but only 52% implement their policy.

76% say they educate their employees about cyber threats and hold them accountable, but only 42% actually do.

74% say they protect all their pages on public-facing websites (and not just their checkout and sign-up pages), but only 42% follow through.

73% say they employee best practices on payment cards  only 47% can truly back their claims.

64% have said that they have created a mobile device action plan, but only 26% have done so.

Cyber insurance is now more important than ever for any business owner  if the results of a recent survey are anything to go by.A survey conducted by Nationwide found that nearly half of all business owners did not know they were on the receiving end of a cyberattack.The report, the third in Nationwides annual series, surveyed 1,069 business owners with between one and 299 employees. While the survey found that 13% of business owners said they experienced a cyberattack, that number jumped to 58% in total when owners were shown a list of specific threats that could qualify as a cyberattackThe breakdown of cyberattacks respondents have confirmed is as follows:The results of the survey revealed a 45% gap and lack of understanding about what constitutes an attack.Cyberattacks are one of the greatest threats to the modern company, commented Nationwide property and casualty president Mark Berven.Business owners are telling us that cybercriminals arent just attacking large corporations on Wall Street. Theyre also targeting smaller companies on Main Street that often have fewer defense mechanisms in place, less available capital to re-invest in new systems and less name recognition to rebuild a damaged reputation.The survey also discovered that over 20% of cyberattack victims spend at least $50,000 and took longer than six months to recover, while 7% spent more than $100,000 and 5% took a year or longer to rebuild their reputation and customer trust.Other things the survey revealed included:
Every insurance agency has their toolbox of tried-and-true marketing tactics and ways to gaining new customers, but what happens when those strategies work against you?Search engine optimization, marketing automation and website content are three key stages for gaining new customers that work great together when utilized properly; but, if not used correctly, agencies run the risk of actually driving customers away, says Kirsten Thornton, website content specialist at Insurance Technologies Corporation ( ITC ).Bringing people to a website is no small feat. SEO and marketing need patience and consistency, she says. Content requires creativity and awareness to meet customers needs at a glance. Ultimately, the goal should be to deliver convenience and availability.In what ways could your agency be failing to deliver? Thornton explains how SEO tactics can go a tad overboard. While websites can target search engines rather than customers, Thornton advises that customers too should be targeted  its as simple as that, she says.When it comes to email marketing  an area that often gets overused  flooding prospects inboxes can result in e-fail marketing.Pay attention to your automated marketing, continues Thornton. Make sure it is thoughtful, pointed and relevant. Know your audience and treat their inbox how you want yours to be treated.And once you have your prospects on your website, make certain that consumers have a call to action or a clear path to follow, says Thornton.People will spend mere moments seeing if your website meets their needs; so, be catchy, be brief and be honest, she concludes.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP)  Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighborhoods.

As he fled through the ember-strewn streets of his neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Jeff Okrepkie knew it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday morning, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

We live in the valley, where its concrete and strip malls and hotels and supermarkets, Okrepkie said. The last thing you think is a forest fire is going to come and wipe us out.

At least 10 people died and two were seriously injured in the blazes that started on Sunday, fire officials said.

The flames were burning at explosive rates because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Fourteen large fires were burning, spread over a 200-mile region north of San Francisco from Napa in the south to Redding in the north. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

It was unusual to have so many fires take off at the same time, fire officials said, though October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire. The fire area covered more than 100 square miles over eight counties.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Orange County burned multiple homes and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate.

Some of the largest blazes were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away. What caused the blazes was not known.

Fires also burned in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties  all north of the state capital.

The inferno blackened miles along one of the main gateways into wine country, State Highway 12 into Sonoma County. Wooden fence posts and guard rails burned fiercely. Thick smoke roiled from one winery, JR Cohn.

The fires also damaged the Silverado Resort in Napa and a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the fire area, with a population of about 175,000.

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1 a.m., and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe. It was dangerous, Hoe said.

They returned in the morning to find the hotel had been destroyed along with most of their possessions. Hoe was relieved he had taken his passport and a few essential items.

Santa Rosa lost a Kmart, restaurants and an unknown number of businesses and homes. The blaze shut down schools and forced more than 200 patients at two city hospitals to evacuate.
Uber said on Tuesday that paying National Insurance contributions for its British drivers would add tens of millions of pounds to the taxi apps costs were they to be deemed employees.

Uber currently classifies its around 50,000 drivers in Britain as self-employed, affording them only basic entitlements, whilst employees also receive rights such as sick pay and the minimum wage.

Asked about how much it would cost in National Insurance payments if self-employed drivers were directly employed, the firms UK Head of Policy Andrew Byrne told parliaments business committee:

I dont have the precise figures  but Im certain it would be the tens of millions certainly.

Also appearing before lawmakers, Deliveroos UK and Ireland Managing Director Dan Warne said additional costs including National Insurance contributions, would add around 1 pound ($1.32) to the cost of each hour.

National Insurance is collected by the government and helps pay for the state health service, pensions and certain other benefits.

Firms operating in the so-called gig economy  whereby people tend to work for different companies without a fixed contract  have been criticized by unions and some lawmakers for what they call exploitative practices.

Uber and Deliveroo both say their drivers enjoy the flexibility they offer but last year two drivers won a tribunal hearing against Uber and were granted worker rights, in a decision which the Silicon Valley firm appealed last month.

Ubers Byrne said on Tuesday he expected the judge to make a ruling by around Christmas.

Uber is also battling to overturn a decision by Londons transport regulator to strip the smartphone app of its license in the British capital. It has until Friday to lodge an appeal.

Byrne said he could hopefully see a way to address concerns by Londons transport regulator, which cited the firms approach to reporting serious criminal offenses and background checks on drivers.

Hopefully we can see a path forward now with TfL (Transport for London) where we can address their concerns and continue to operate, he said.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; additional reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

Related:

Topics Personal Auto London
Japans government sought on Tuesday to contain the fallout from the disclosure by the nations third-biggest steel maker, Kobe Steel Ltd, that it had fabricated data on components used in cars, aircraft and space rockets, sending shock waves through the Japanese manufacturing sector.

Faced with the latest in a series of missteps that have undermined Japans reputation for high-quality production, the industry ministry instructed Kobe Steel to assess the safety impact from the scandal.

The company said products used by about 200 companies were certified with falsified data. They included Toyota Motor Corp , Central Japan Railway, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mazda Motor Corp and Subaru Corp , the companies confirmed.

Analysts say the announcement further tarnishes the reputation of Japans globe-trotting manufacturers, long celebrated for their high-quality products. It could also undermine confidence in Prime Minister Shinzo Abes moves to improve corporate governance as part of his program of Abenomics.

The admission from the steel and aluminum maker follows scandals involving falsified data at household names such as Nissan Motor, Mitsubishi Motors and Takata Corp., which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Toshiba Corp is still battling the fallout of a scandal involving reporting inflated profits.

Looking back over several years, foreign investors have bought Japanese stocks on expectations for Abenomics, but among the three arrows, the growth strategy isnt functioning, said, Makoto Kikuchi, CEO of Myojo Asset Management. While they say theyre strengthening corporate governance, improprieties focused on manufacturing have been popping up. Going forward, this will be a body blow to Japanese shares.

Toyota called the revelations a grave issue, and said it was making checks on where the components were used and what effect they have on products using them.

Kobe Steel shares closed at the limit low after being untraded for the whole session, diving 22 percent to 1068 yen.

Impact on Kobe Customers Unclear

In a statement on Sunday Kobe Steel said some aluminum and copper products shipped from September 2016 to August 2017 were falsely labeled.

Kobe Steel said the misconduct involved dozens of staff and possibly stretched back 10 years. It apologized and said it had appointed lawyers to investigate.

Aluminum castings, forgings and flat-rolled items, along with copper strips and tubes were among the products affected, the company said in a statement.

These are improper actions that could shake the foundation of fair trade, Yasuji Komiyama, director of the industry ministrys metal industries division, told reporters at a briefing on the revelations.

We want Kobe Steel to make the utmost effort to restore trust from society, he said.

A Kobe spokesman told Reuters the firm is working with customers to check for any issues. To our knowledge it has not affected any customers products at this stage, he said.

Boeing said in a statement it was working with our suppliers since being notified of the issue.

Nothing in our review to date leads us to conclude that this issue presents a safety concern, it said. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) supply parts to Boeing including for its 777 Dreamliner.

MHI said Kobe Steel products were used on its Mitsubishi Regional Jet and rockets, including a H-2A rocket launched on Tuesday to put a navigation satellite into orbit. There were no technical problems with the components, MHI said.

Industry ministry officials said Kobe Steel materials were used in some defense equipment made by Kawasaki Heavy, MHI, IHI Corp and Subaru and checks were being made for any safety issues.

Earnings Fallout?

Kobe Steel has said the impact of the data falsification on its earnings is still unknown.

The impact on financials is unclear, but could be substantial depending on request(s) for replacement/recall, Jefferies analyst Thanh Ha Pham said in a note. Handling the situation is key to avoid long-term reputation damage.

The steelmaker has reported losses in the last two full financial years but is expecting to return to profit in the current period.

Sales of Kobe Steels aluminum and copper division fell 6.4 percent year on year to 323.3 billion yen ($2.87 billion) in the financial year ending March 2017, with recurring profit falling 20.5 percent to 12 billion yen.

The company, based in Kobe in western Japan, has been expanding its aluminum business as carmakers increasingly use the material, which is lighter than steel, to meet tighter environmental rules.

($1 = 112.6700 yen) (Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Timothy Kelly and Ayai Tomisawa; writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
Willis Towers Watson said it has strengthened its Insurance Consulting and Technology business with two new senior appointments.

Based in London, Neil Bruce joins the UK P&C Insurance Consulting and Technology team from Travelers Syndicate Management, where he was chief actuary for over nine years. In addition to actuarial delivery for the syndicate, Bruce was responsible for re-engineering the end-to-end reserving processes and improving the understanding and impact of actuarial delivery to underwriters and management.

Bruce brings over 20 years of experience across insurance consulting and the Lloyds/London Market and has held advisory and committee appointments in the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), including setting up the Towards the Optimal Reserving Process working party and being co-deputy chair of the Lloyds Market Association (LMA) actuarial committee. Prior to Travelers, he was group actuary at Creechurch Underwriting and spent eight years at PwC.

In addition, Tim Rourke joins the Insurance Consulting and Technology team from LV=, where he held a number of senior roles including head of Broker Pricing and, latterly, head of Personal Lines Underwriting. At LV=, he delivered business transformation to maximize the benefits achieved from broker partnerships.

Rourke has over 15 years of experience in senior roles in the UK personal lines insurance industry and, prior to LV=, he led the personal lines pricing function at Ageas, with responsibility for the home, motor, commercial vehicle and non-standard business lines.

Willis Towers Watsons Insurance Consulting and Technology business has over 1,200 colleagues operating in 35 markets worldwide. The business provides advice, solutions and software  primarily to the insurance industry.

The units consulting services help clients manage risk and capital, improve business performance and create competitive advantage  by focusing on financial and regulatory reporting, enterprise risk and capital management, M&A and corporate restructuring, products, pricing, business management and strategy, Willis Towers Watson explained.

Source: Willis Towers Watson

Topics InsurTech Tech Willis Towers Watson
Losses from Hurricane Maria and other recent natural disasters, including hurricanes Irma and Harvey, the Mexico City earthquake and other events, have led global insurers and reinsurers to issue profi warnings.t

Below are statements from insurers and reinsurers in the wake of the catastrophes (in alphabetical order):

AIG American International Group Inc. said it expected to book pre-tax catastrophe losses of about $3 billion in the third quarter mainly related to hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The company estimated pre-tax losses of about $1 billion each from Harvey and Irma, up to $700 million from Maria and additional catastrophe losses, including earthquakes in Mexico, of about $150 million.

ALLSTATE Allstate Corp., the second-largest U.S. homeowners insurer based on premiums collected, estimated pre-tax catastrophe losses of $593 million, net of reinsurance recoveries, for August.

BEAZLEY Lloyds of London insurer Beazley said losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and a series of earthquakes in Mexico would reduce its 2017 earnings by about $150 million.

CHUBB U.S. property and casualty insurer Chubb Ltd. estimated after-tax losses of up to $1.28 billion from hurricanes Harvey and Irma. It expects insured losses of about $520 million from Harvey and $640 million to $760 million from Irma after tax. The worlds largest listed property and casualty insurer estimated the maximum net insurance and net reinsurance losses related to Hurricane Maria would be about $200 million after tax for the third quarter.

HANNOVER RE German reinsurer Hannover Re said it could miss its 2017 profit target because of claims from the natural disasters, its first such warning since the 2008 financial crisis.

HCI GROUP HCI Groups principal operating subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance, a provider of home insurance in Florida, issued a preliminary estimate indicating its losses related to Hurricane Irma would be $100-$300 million.

HISCOX Lloyds of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd. estimated it would face net claims totalling about $225 million from Harvey and Irma.

LANCASHIRE Lancashire Holdings said it estimated that its losses from hurricanes in the Caribbean and southern United States and earthquakes in Mexico would be between $106 million and $212 million.

LLOYDS OF LONDON Lloyds of London expects net losses of $4.5 billion from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which analysts said would eat into the insurers capital and hit its profitability. Lloyds 80-plus syndicates have already paid out more than $160 million in claims from Harvey and more than $240 million from Irma.

MAIDEN HOLDINGS Maiden Holdings Ltd. said it expected a net impact from Harvey on its third-quarter results of $6-$18 million and $2-$13 million from Irma.

MAPFRE Spains Mapfre SA said the size and frequency of hurricanes in the Caribbean and earthquakes in Mexico would imply a net cost of between 150-200 million euros on its attributable result for the year.

MS&AD INSURANCE Japans MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. estimated up to 110 billion yen ($977 million) in incurred losses related to the hurricanes and earthquakes in the Americas and said it was reviewing its FY2017/18 earnings forecasts.

MUNICH RE Germanys Munich Re warned it could miss its profit target this year, the first major reinsurer to flag a hit to earnings from damage caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

PROASSURANCE CORP. Proassurance Corp. estimated net pretax losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria to be about $7.5 million.

QBE INSURANCE GROUP Australias biggest insurer, QBE Insurance Group, revealed a $600 million earnings hit on its business from hurricanes in the Atlantic and earthquakes in Mexico.

RENAISSANCERE RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. said its initial estimates pointed to $625 million of net negative impact from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the Mexico City earthquake.

RLI CORP. Specialty insurer RLI Corp. said it expects third-quarter pretax losses of $30-$40 million from Harvey and Irma, net of reinsurance.

RSA INSURANCE British motor and home insurer RSA said its UK business would see catastrophe losses from the U.S., Caribbean and Mexico, impacting September results in the marine and international portfolios.

SCOR French reinsurer Scor estimated a 430 million-euro ($505 million) impact from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the Mexico earthquake. Scor had said earlier that hurricanes Harvey and Irma were expected to count as an earnings event rather than a capital event in the third quarter.

TALANX German insurer Talanx warned it may miss its profit target for 2017 as its reinsurer Hannover Re is being hit by major claims from a series of hurricanes and an earthquake in Mexico.

VALIDUS Insurer and reinsurer Validus Holdings Ltd. estimated net losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the Mexico City earthquake of $412.7 million.

ZURICH INSURANCE GROUP Zurich Insurance Group said that Farmers Re faced a hit of no more than $20 million in the second half from catastrophes such as hurricanes Irma and Harvey. ($1 = 0.8516 euros) ($1 = 112.6200 yen)

(Compiled by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Jason Neely, Greg Mahlich)

Topics Carriers Catastrophe USA Profit Loss Excess Surplus Reinsurance Hurricane Property Casualty Lloyd's Mexico London Homeowners Earthquake
The Trump administration is exploring ways to replace the use of Social Security numbers as the main method of assuring peoples identities in the wake of consumer credit agency Equifax Inc.s massive data breach.

The administration has called on federal departments and agencies to look into the vulnerabilities of employing the identifier tied to retirement benefits, as well as how to replace the existing system, according to Rob Joyce, special assistant to the president and White House cybersecurity coordinator.

I feel very strongly that the Social Security number has outlived its usefulness, Joyce said Tuesday at a cyber conference in Washington organized by the Washington Post. Every time we use the Social Security number, you put it at risk.

Joyces comments came as former Equifax CEO Richard Smith testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the first of four hearings this week on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from both parties expressed outrage over the size of the breach as well as the companys response and grilled Smith on the timeline of the incident, including when top executives learned about it.

Smith said the rising number of hacks involving Social Security numbers have eroded its security value.

The concept of a Social Security number in this environment being private and secure  I think its time as a country to think beyond that, Smith said. What is a better way to identify consumers in our country in a very secure way? I think that way is something different than an SSN, a date of birth and a name.

Joyce said officials are looking into what would be a better system that utilizes the latest technologies, including a modern cryptographic identifier, such as public and private keys.

Flawed System

Its a flawed system that we cant roll back that risk after we know weve had a compromise, he said. I personally know my Social Security number has been compromised at least four times in my lifetime. Thats just untenable.

Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, said one possibility could be giving individuals a private key, essentially a long cryptographic number thats embedded in a physical token that then requires users to verify that the number belongs to them. It could work like the chip in a credit card that requires the owner to enter a pin allowing use. He pointed to Estonia where they have deployed such cards that people use to validate their identity.

Your pin unlocks your ability to use that big number, he said. The challenge is how to create the identifiers and how to distribute the keys. Its very promising and its possible to technically design something like this but it could be expensive to design and disseminate such material to each American, he said. This is a pretty big endeavor.

The administration is also participating in discussions Congress is having about the requirements of protecting personal data and breach notifications for companies.

Avoiding Balkanization

Its really clear, there needs to be a change, but well have to look at the details of whats being proposed, Joyce said. In the response to the Equifax hack, though, he said, we need to be careful of Balkanizing the regulations. Its really hard on companies today facing local, state and federal regulators as well as international rules, he added.

The U.S. government began issuing Social Security numbers in 1936. Nearly 454 million different numbers have been issued, according to the Social Security Administration. Supplanting such an ingrained apparatus would not happen over night. The original intent was to track U.S. workers earning to determine their Social Security benefits. But the rise of computers, government agencies and companies found new uses for the number, which gradually grew into a national identifier.

Over the decades, the Social Security number became valuable for what could be gained by stealing it, said Bruce Schneier, a fellow at Harvards Kennedy School of Government. It was the only number available to identify a person and became the standard used for everything from confirming someone at the doctors office to school.

Akin to Infrastructure

They appeared at an age when we didnt have other numbers, Schneier said in an interview. Think of this as part of our aging infrastructure from roads and bridges to communications. Sooner or later we as a society need to fix our aging infrastructure.

He pointed to Indias wide-scale rollout of the Aadhaar card, a unique number provided to citizens after collecting their biometric information  fingerprints and an iris scan  along with demographic details, to almost 1.2 billion people. In the U.S., a more secure system could be designed, but magic math costs money, he said.

Making any changes to the current system, including replacing numbers entirely or restricting who can use them, would likely require an act of Congress, according to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, which advocates for limiting the use of Social Security numbers.

Rewriting Laws

Youd need to change a lot of existing public law, Rotenberg said. There would need to be extensive hearings and study about the consequences. Its a complicated issue.

The governments own record of protecting Social Security numbers has its blemishes. Medicare, the federal health-care program for senior citizens, has long used the numbers on identification cards recipients must carry. After years of criticism by the agencys inspector general for the risks that creates, new cards with different numbers are currently being rolled out.

The failure of the Social Security number is that theres only one for each person, once its compromised one time, youre done, Bob Stasio, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former chief of operations at the National Security Agencys Cyber Operations Center.

Public and private keys  long strings of code  could help validate identities. For instance, the government could issue each person a public key and private key. If people were to open a bank account, for instance, they could provide their public key  instead of a Social Security number  and the bank would send a message that could only be decrypted using their private key. If the private key gets compromised, the government could easily issue another one.

Saved by Math

Stasio also cited emerging blockchain technology as another potential tool. It could create a kind of digital DNA fingerprint thats mathematically impossible to duplicate. In place of a Social Security number, each person could receive a blockchain hash  a kind of algorithm unique to an individual  that is stamped on every digital transaction or action.

That type of technology could be used as a much more efficient and mathematically sound method of transaction, identification and validation, Stasio said.

While lawmakers were unanimous in criticizing Equifaxs response to a breach that compromised information on 145.5 million U.S. consumers, they were divided on how to fix the underlying issue. Democrats on the panel have reintroduced legislation imposing requirements for when companies have to report data breaches, while Oregon Republican Greg Walden noted the companys human errors, saying you cant fix stupid.

Smith said the Equifax employee responsible for communicating that the vulnerable software needed to be patched didnt do so. That failure was compounded when a scan of the companys systems didnt find that the vulnerability still existed, the former CEO said.

Joyces comments helped take some of the focus off Equifaxs blunders, analysts at Cowen Inc. said in a note Tuesday.

The White House may be indirectly coming to Equifaxs rescue, they wrote. This reduces the risk of business-model-busting legislation such as a requirement that consumers opt-in to a credit bureau collecting their data.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Legislation Cyber Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sidestepped a growing controversy over who can give permission to access a computer, a debate that goes to the core of what constitutes hacking in this era of widespread use of the internet and social media.

The justices turned away two cases over whether it is a violation of federal anti-hacking law for account holders to give a third party access to a computer system they do not own themselves. In doing so, they left in place a lower court ruling that went against a Cayman Islands company in a dispute with Facebook Inc., and another against a California-based executive recruiter.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled in both cases that only computer system owners may grant authorization, and not account holders or employees with legitimate access credentials.

The defendants in these cases, as well as rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said innocuous acts such as sharing a bank website password with a spouse in order to pay a bill could now be held criminally liable because the bank prohibits password sharing.

The 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act made it a crime to intentionally access a computer without authorization, and also allowed victims to sue for damages.

Facebook sued Cayman Islands-based Power Ventures Inc. in 2008 after Power began offering its users access to Facebook through its own online portal. Power argued that it had its users consent to access data they had stored on Facebook. But Facebook said Power was harvesting data from not only those users, but others as well, making the data insecure.

The appeals court ruled that once Facebook had forbidden Powers access, it became unauthorized.

The appeals court also upheld a jury verdict finding executive recruiter David Nosal guilty of computer fraud for accessing a confidential database belonging to his former employer, Korn/Ferry International, with the help of two other former company employees who used the login credentials of a third employee who remained at the company, according to court documents.

Power and Nosal urged the Supreme Court to hear their appeals, arguing that anti-hacking law does not define who must give permission to access a computer system. They said either an owner or account holders can do so.

(Reporting by Will Dunham)

Topics Cyber
Victims of the Las Vegas shooting sued manufacturers of bump fire stocks, accusing them of negligence. A dozen bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire with the rapidity of an automatic weapon, were found in gunman Stephen Paddocks 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay Resort hotel room. The attack targeted the Route 91 Harvest festival and left nearly 60 dead and some 500 wounded.

Filed in Clark County District Court, the complaint, which seeks class action status, alleges that Slide Fire Solutions Inc., a bump stock manufacturer, and other unidentified manufacturers and retailers behaved negligently in selling and producing these devices.

This horrific assault did not occur, could not occur, and would not have occurred with a conventional handgun, rifle, or shotgun, of the sort used by law-abiding responsible gun owners for hunting or self-defense, the complaint states.

Slide Fire didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has determined in at least two separate instances that bump stocks are legal under existing federal statutes. The classification depends on whether they mechanically alter the function of the firearm to fire fully automatic, said Jill A. Snyder, ATF special agent in charge, during a press conference last week. Bump fire stocks, while simulating automatic fire, do not actually alter the firearm to fire automatically, making them legal under current federal law.

Rather than using a mechanism to cause the repeated firing, the stocks use recoil to increase the rate of fire. The user generates a forward activation force so that the trigger collides with the stabilized finger, stimulating the first round of ammunition in the receiver, Slide Fires the website says. A recoil force from the discharging ammunition pushes the firing unit rearwardly so that the trigger separates from the stabilized finger.

The National Rifle Association has said that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.

The group, which opposes gun control regulation, didnt immediately respond to request for comment on the lawsuit.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Lawsuits Gun Liability Manufacturing
The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has distributed 2,000 smoke alarms to fire departments in 20 Texas cities this fall during its annual Were Out to Alarm Texas smoke alarm campaign.

This life saving campaign is adding three new cities to the list of fire departments who receive the smoke alarms. This years effort coincides with Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 8-14).

The smoke alarm program started as a joint effort between ICT and the State Fire Marshals Office which has strongly supported the use of smoke alarms, said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. At first, we sought cities that had experienced a number of fire fatalities, but weve have since tried to reach out to fire departments in every corner of the state.

ICT has distributed more than 20,000 smoke alarms since the program began in 2005. The program continues to grow through the financial assistance of The Travelers Insurance Companies, State Farm, the Association of Fire and Casualty Companies of Texas (AFACT) and First Alert.

This year, we are adding the fire departments in Bastrop, Robstown and Terrell. Hanna and State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy will hold news conferences in each city to announce the start of campaign which is a first-come, first serve program for seniors and others wanting a free smoke alarm.

In addition to the new cities, these cities have also received smoke alarms this year: Odessa, Laredo, Wichita Falls, Travis County, Lufkin, Potter County, Galveston, Mission, Rivers End, Bonham, Farmers Branch, Amarillo, Haltom City, Little York, Burnet, New Braunfels and Conroe.

The First Alert smoke alarms are equipped to detect heat and smoke and contain a built-in 10-year lithium battery. Firefighters in each city install the smoke alarms and point out possible fire hazards in each home.

In its first year of operation, Were Out to Alarm Texas saved three lives when elderly residents in New Braunfels and Waco were rescued by firefighters after being alerted, by donated smoke alarms, to fires in their smoke-filled homes.

The insurance industry wants to make sure Texans are able to protect themselves and their property from fire. These free smoke alarms, and the effort to educate about the importance of having a smoke alarm in your home, are an easy and effective tool to prevent loss of life and property.

Source: ICT

Topics Texas
Wildfires that tore through northern Californias iconic wine-growing regions have prompted evacuations of more than 20,000 people, killed 11 and damaged some of the most valuable vineyards and wineries in the U.S.

Blazes are sweeping through one of the states most scenic and treasured destinations, threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. Californias wine industry drew 23.6 million tourists and sold $34.1 billion in retail value in the U.S. in 2016, according to the Wine Institute. The Napa and Sonoma Valleys are where the highest-end wine in the state is produced.

We are all in shock and trying to help our fellow growers and neighbors where we can, said Heidi Soldinger, a spokeswoman for Napa Valley Grapegrowers.

In the last 24 hours, winds fanned 17 fires across the northern part of the state, burning more than 115,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. About 1,500 commercial, residential and industrial structures were burned, and damage assessment teams have started accounting for the destruction. Governor Edmund Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

The harvest in Sonoma and Napa counties is mostly finished, said Daniel Sumner, an agricultural professor at the University of California at Davis. Still, fires can damage grapes yet to be collected and can also destroy vines and wineries, he said.

Its bound to be a significant and substantial impact on the high-quality wine industry, Sumner said.

Jennifer Putnam, chief executive officer of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, said 80 percent of the countys crop has been harvested. How long smoke lingers will help determine whether grapes on the vine are tainted, she said.

This was going to be a big week, she said. A lot of the fruit still hanging is high quality cabernet.

In Sonoma, about 90 percent of the crop has been harvested, though some winegrapes were scheduled to be picked in the next 10 days, according to Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers. Reports of fire damage to wineries, businesses and homes are mounting. About 6 percent of Sonomas 1 million acres is grapes, Kruse said.

Constellation Brands Shuts Napa Wine Tasting Rooms as Fires Rage

While Sonoma and Napa produce about 10 percent of Californias wines, its the most valuable region in the country, said Stephen Rannekleiv, a beverage analyst at Rabobank International. Most grapes in the state are grown in the San Joaquin Valley, where cabernet sauvignon grapes go for about $400 a ton. The same fruit from Napa Valley usually costs closer to $7,000 a ton, and can sell for as much as $50,000. High-end wines are driving demand growth in the U.S., with bottles priced over $10 seeing the biggest gains, Rannekleiv said.

Thats why its so devastating  so much of the value is created there, and incredible investment has gone in there, Rannekleiv said by telephone. Its the face of the California wine industry.

Pictures flooded social media showing burned-down buildings in the region. Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa was among those that burned down, according to a Facebook post. Signorello Estates burned as well, according to the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance.

Fires tripped several high-voltage power lines leaving tens of thousands without electricity, according to PG&E Corp.

The French Laundry, a three-Michelin star restaurant, shuttered Monday due to power outages, according to the restaurants Twitter account. Spirits maker Constellation Brands Inc. closed its tasting rooms as well, including at Robert Mondavi Winery. Phone lines at some of the regions other famous producers were out of commission Monday afternoon, including Whitehall Lane Winery and Martinelli Winery.

Even in vineyards where all the grapes have been collected, theres the possibility of fire damage to the vines themselves, said Jess Koehler, co-owner of La Finquita Winery in Ramona, outside of San Diego in Southern California.

It takes at least three years minimum to get a crop that you can actually do something with  the more mature the vine gets, the higher quality the grapes, the higher quality the wines, Koehler said. It could have a real long-lasting impact for everybody up there.

In 2008, smoke from smoldering wildfires in Mendocino County contaminated crops of pinot noir grapes, said Bill Pauli, a grower and general partner of Yokayo Wine Co. in Ukiah, California.

Some wines had the odor of someone who had been standing next to a barbecue, Pauli said in a telephone interview. It was not a good situation and we all hope it doesnt happen again.

Sonoma County Winegrowers estimates that 90 percent of the countys crop has already been harvested, but there are still winegrapes that were scheduled to be picked in the next 10 days, according to Karissa Kruse, president of the group. Damages are still being assessed, and reports of fire damage to wineries, businesses and homes are mounting. Sonoma has about 1 million acres, and 6 percent of that is grapes, Kruse said.

Even in vineyards where all the grapes have been collected, theres the possibility of fire damage to the vines themselves, said Jess Koehler, co-owner of La Finquita Winery in Ramona, outside of San Diego in Southern California.

It takes at least three years minimum to get a crop that you can actually do something with  the more mature the vine gets, the higher quality the grapes, the higher quality the wines, Koehler said. It could have a real long-lasting impact for everybody up there.

Some vintners dont have details about damage because theyve been evacuated and cant yet return to their properties, Rannekleiv of Rabobank said. While anything in tanks should be safe as long as the winery isnt affected, crops that havent been harvested are at risk of both burning and smoke taint, which affects flavor.

Anything left on the vine is at risk of being damaged by the smoke, Koehler of La Finquita Winery said. Its going to be a waiting game to see, when its all said and done, what the impact is, but were not just talking about the vines. Its going to be barrels upon barrels of wine, several years old, all their bottle stock. It could completely take them out for years.

In 2008, smoke from smoldering wildfires in Mendocino County contaminated crops of pinot noir grapes, said Bill Pauli, a grower and general partner of Yokayo Wine Co. in Ukiah, California.

Some wines had the odor of someone who had been standing next to a barbecue, Pauli said in a telephone interview. It was not a good situation and we all hope it doesnt happen again.

Still, growers are optimistic that the region will come back from this disaster.

Three years ago we had an earthquake and now things are back 100 percent, said Michael Honig, who runs Honig Wine and the Napa Valley Vintners Association. It certainly wont be the demise of the wine community. Weve always been very resilient as a community and farmers always come back.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Agribusiness
Christopher Columbus was a narcissist.

He believed he was personally chosen by God for a mission that no one else could achieve. After 1493, he signed his name xpo ferens  the Christbearer. His stated goal was to accumulate enough wealth to recapture Jerusalem. His arrogance led to his downfall, that of millions of Native Americans  and eventually fostered his resurrection as the most enduring icon of the Americas.

Columbus in chains

In 1496, Columbus was the governor of a colony based at Santo Domingo, in what is now the modern Dominican Republic  a job he hated. He could not convince the other colonists, especially those with noble titles, to follow his leadership.

They were not colonists in the traditional sense of the word. They had gone to the Indies to get rich quick. Because Columbus was unable to temper their lust, the Crown viewed him as an incompetent administrator. The colony was largely a social and economic failure. The wealth that Columbus promised the Spanish monarchs failed to materialize, and he made continuous requests for additional financial support, which the monarchs reluctantly provided.

By 1500, conditions in Hispaniola were so dire that the Crown sent Francisco de Bobadilla to investigate. Bobadillas first sight, at the mouth of the Ozama River, was four Spanish mutineers hanging from gallows. Under authority from the king, Bobadilla arrested Columbus and his brothers for malfeasance and sent them to Spain in chains. Columbus waited seven months for an audience at the court. He refused to have his chains removed until the meeting, and even asked in his will to be buried with the chains.

Although the Spanish rulers wanted Columbus to disappear, he was allowed one final voyage from 1502 to 1504. He died in 1506, and went virtually unmentioned by historians until he was resurrected as a symbol of the United States.

Inventing Columbus

In the mid-18th century, scholars brought to light long-forgotten documents about Columbus and the early history of the New World.

One of the most important was Bartolome de las Casas three-volume Historia de las Indias. This book was suppressed in Spain because it documented Spains harsh treatment of the native peoples. His depiction of Spanish mistreatment of the Indians provided the foundation for the Black Legend. His account blackened Spanish character by depicting it as repressive, brutal, intolerant and intellectually and artistically backward. Whatever Spains motives, the conquest of the Americas destroyed native cultures and ushered in centuries of African enslavement.

Another was the personal journal of Christopher Columbus from his first voyage, published in 1880. The journal captured the attention of Gustavus Fox, Abraham Lincolns assistant secretary of the Navy, who made the first attempt to reconstruct the route of Columbuss first voyage.

Renewed scholarly interest in Columbus coincided with political motives to deny Spain any remaining claims in the Americas. Spains American colonies declared independence, one by one, from the beginning of the 19th century. Simon Bolivar, and other Creole revolutionary leaders, embraced a classical philosophy that highlighted their Roman ancestry to a degree that Spanish America was converted to Latin America. The final assault came with the U.S. invasion of Cuba and the six-month Spanish-American War in 1898. Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of the purchase of the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark.

Columbus likely would have slipped back into obscurity if not for American hubris.

The Columbian Exposition

In 1889, France put on what reviewers described as the most spectacular Worlds Fair possible. Held on the Champs de Mars in Paris, its crowning achievement was the Eiffel Tower.

After Paris, the United States set out to prove to the world it was the equal of Europe by staging its own Worlds Fair. No one has claimed credit for the theme of the Exposition, but the stage was set when American writer and author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving, attempted to revive his flagging career by writing the first biography of Christopher Columbus in English, published in 1828.

His embellishments created the great hero whose legend the fair celebrated: He was one of those men of strong natural genius, who appear to form themselves; who, from having to contend at their very outset with privations and impediments, acquire an intrepidity in braving and a facility in vanquishing difficulties.

The Columbian Exposition and Worlds Fair was timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Columbuss arrival in the New World. President William H. Harrison presided over opening ceremonies on Oct. 12, 1892. That same day, the Pledge of Allegiance was introduced in American schools.

Seventy-one portraits of Columbus, all posthumous, hung in a Grand Gallery. Following Irvings descriptions, Columbus became the embodiment of the American Dream. The son of simple wool weavers and someone who had a great dream challenged the greatest scholars of his day, and boldly went where no man had gone before. Better yet, he was Italian. America could deny that Spain had any part in the discovery of the New World.

President Harrison declared a national holiday to coincide with opening of the Columbian Exposition  Columbus Day. It was officially recognized by Congress in 1937.

In 1992, as the United States prepared for the 500th anniversary of Columbuss arrival in the Americas, the pendulum swung again. The devastating impact of his discovery on native peoples throughout the Americas led protesters to decry Columbus as a terrorist.

Columbus the man died more than 500 years ago. Columbus the legend is still being dismantled. His story illustrates the blurred borders between myth and history  how an architect of destruction was turned into a national symbol.
The reports author, from the Danish Ministry of Finance, tells ITR - in his personal capacity - that more robust policies are needed to tackle what is a serious global problem.
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by Declan Brennan

A man who stole nearly 76,000 in social welfare payments while running a courier business with an annual turnover of over 100,000 has received a suspended jail sentence.

Richard Burbridge (46) of La Touche Rd, Bluebell, Dublin committed the offences while operating a courier contract for the Courts Service.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to eleven sample counts of stealing from the Department of Social Protection between April 2009 and December 2014.

Garda Thomas Burke told the court today that Burbridge collected the disability allowance payments on a regular basis from the post office in Inchicore.

The court was told Burbridge became eligible for the payments in 2009 because he was suffering from depression. The payments were conditional on his income not going over a certain threshold.

In the following years his courier business began making a turnover of up to 102,000, Garda Burke said. After expenses, his net profit ranged from 33,00 to 41,500. Burbridge had also inherited his family home mortgage-free from his parents.

Judge Karen O'Connor said the case was unlike most other social welfare fraud cases which involved people dealing with social deprivation.

She noted that the offending only came to light when a former employee tried to assess social welfare benefits and found that there was no record of PRSI payments from that employment.

Garda Burke said that the total amount in overpayments that Burbridge received without entitlement was 66,961.

John Noonan BL, defending, told the court his client had already begun making monthly repayments of 400 and had paid back just over 10,000. He said it would take around 12 years for the total amount to be repaid.

Judge O'Connor suspended a sentence of three years for five years on condition that Burbridge continues to make monthly repayments to the Department. She said if his circumstances changed in the five-year period the DPP could make an application to the court.

She said that people were more useful to the exchequer when they're paying off the outstanding amounts rather than going to jail.

Mr Noonan said his client no longer worked and no longer claimed any welfare benefits.
Update 10pm: Catalan lawmakers have signed a document they are calling a declaration of independence from Spain but are delaying its implementation.

Regional president Carles Puigdemont was the first to sign the Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia document.

Dozens of other lawmakers signed it after him in the regional parliament in Barcelona.

The signing ceremony came a few hours after Mr Puigdemont addressed the parliament, saying Catalans had earned the right to independence from Spain after a referendum on October 1.

However, he called for dialogue with Spain's government, which has condemned the referendum as illegal and unconstitutional.

The 72 pro-independence MPs signing right now, #Catalonia's Declaration of Independence before, inter alia, hundreds of foreign journalists. pic.twitter.com/xkX2fgrngB  M Strubell (@mstrubell_EN) October 10, 2017

The central government in Spain responded by saying it did not accept the declaration of independence by the separatists and did not consider the October 1 referendum or its results to be valid.

Mr Puigdemont said the landslide victory in the referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain.

However, he proposed the regional parliament "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue, not only for reducing tension but for reaching an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people".

"We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state," Mr Puigdemont said.

Such a move would help reduce political tensions and reach "an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people", Mr Puigdemont added.

About two dozen tractors flying secessionist flags paraded near parliament and thousands of separatists gathered in the promenade next to Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, where the movement's main grassroots group has called for a rally.

The Spanish government does not accept the "implicit" declaration of independence by the Catalan separatists and the results of a banned referendum cannot be considered valid, an official said.

The official told The Associated Press that the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy cannot accept validating a Catalan referendum law that was suspended by Spain's Constitution and called the referendum "fraudulent and illegal".

Mr Rajoy's government "considers it inadmissible to make an implicit declaration of independence and then leave it in suspension in an explicit manner," according to the official.

Mr Puigdemont was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum and the violent police reaction that left hundreds injured on voting day, but said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

"We are not criminals, we are not crazy, we are not pulling off a coup, we are not out of our minds. We are normal people who want to vote," he said.

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our suspended declaration to pursue dialogue"#Catalonia pic.twitter.com/ooAxk936yL  Insonias em Carvao (@insoniascarvao) October 10, 2017

Opposition leader Ines Arrimadas of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party slammed the speech.

"This is a coup. Nobody has recognised the result of the referendum. Nobody in Europe supports what you have just done," she said.

"Stop saying the Catalan people are united. Above all after what you have done. You have forced us to turn against one another," she said, addressing Mr Puigdemont during the parliament session.

"The majority of Catalans feel they are Catalans, Spanish and Europe. We won't let you break our hearts into bits," Ms Arrimadas said.

Some 2.3 million Catalans - or 43% of the electorate in the region - voted in the referendum.

Regional authorities say 90% of those who voted were in favour of independence.

AP

#Catalonia is on the brink of declaring independence. Here's a timeline of the events that brought us here #10Oct https://t.co/boMCv90Ztp. pic.twitter.com/HiV38rJR72  Catalan News (@catalannews) October 10, 2017

Update 7.45pm: Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has said he has a mandate to declare independence for the north-eastern Spanish region but is prepared to wait "a few weeks" in order to facilitate a dialogue.

An opposition leader described Mr Puigdemont's plans as "a coup" which has no support in Europe.

Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament a landslide victory in the disputed October 1 referendum on independence gives his government grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain but he is suggesting holding off.

His speech was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum but he said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

At the end of his speech, Mr Puigdemont was applauded by standing separatist lawmakers.

The opposition leader in Catalonia's parliament said Mr Puigdemont's statement that he has a mandate to declare independence from Spain "is a coup" and has no support in Europe.

Ines Arrimadas of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party said the majority of Catalans feel they are Catalans, Spanish and European, and that they will not let regional officials "break their hearts".

AP

Update 6.45pm: Catalonias regional leader has indicated to the Catalonian parliament that he wants to respect the will of the people who have voted Yes to independence.

In a highly anticipated address that marks a critical point in the standoff between separatists and Spains central authorities Mr Puigemont said: "The ballots say Yes to independence this is the will that I want to go forward with.

"At this historical moment as the president of Catalonia, I want to follow people's will for Catalonia to become an independent state."

Mr Puigdemont went on to say, however, that he would suspend effects of declaration of independence for further talks.

"Today I assume the mandate for Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic ... We're suspending the declaration of independence for a few weeks, because we want a reasonable dialogue, a mediation with the Spanish state."

Watch live coverage here ...

Earlier: Catalonias regional leader is addressing the Catalonian parliament in a highly anticipated session that could spell the birth of a new republic, marking a critical point in the standoff between separatists and Spains central authorities.

His speech had been delayed for over an hour.

Carles Puidgemont and his advisors have gone into private meetings and it was suggested the delays could be due to ongoing international mediation, problems with his his party's coalition partners or ongoing attempts at a n ational level to have his parliament appearance cancelled

The Spanish government just sent extra security to Catalonia https://t.co/zZ7JekDmxS  angela mcevoy Free Assange (@maxmcevoy) October 10, 2017

The view from above. Thousands awaiting President #Puigdemont's key Catalan speech at #Barcelona arc de triomf. pic.twitter.com/75oIqAUXpB  Gavin Lee (@GavinLeeNews) October 10, 2017

Earlier: Security is tight in Barcelona and police cordoned off a park surrounding the legislative building where Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is expected to walk a fine line when he addresses regional legislators.

The speech will need to appease the most radical separatist-minded supporters of his ruling coalition, but Mr Puigdemont faces shutting down any possibility of negotiating with Spain if he adopts a hard line.

The Catalan leader has not revealed the precise message he will deliver in the address, but separatist legislators and activists have said they will not be satisfied with anything short of an independence declaration.

A full declaration of secession - or an outright proclamation of a new Catalan republic - would meet fierce opposition by central Spanish authorities, who could take the unprecedented step of suspending the self-government of Catalonia and taking over some or all powers in the region.

Mr Puigdemont himself could end up in prison.

Some 2.3 million Catalans - 43% of the electorate in the north-eastern region - voted in the October 1 independence referendum, which the Spanish government said was illegal.

Regional authorities say 90% who voted were in favour and declared the results of the vote valid.

The ballot was marred by violence as riot police tasked with stopping the voting clashed with voters, leaving hundreds injured.

The political deadlock has plunged the country into its deepest political crisis in more than four decades, since democratic rule was restored following the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

In the streets of Barcelona, expectations were divided between those who want to see the birth of a new nation and others opposed to the idea. Some feared a drastic backlash from the Spanish central authorities.

The Catalan parliaments governing board acknowledged on Tuesday morning it had received the results in last weeks disputed independence referendum, but a parliamentary official said the board refrained from putting the results through normal parliamentary procedures to elude any legal problems, because the referendum and its legal framework have been suspended by the national Constitutional Court.

Hundreds of thousands have turned out for street protests in Barcelona and other towns in the past month to back Catalan independence and protest against police violence during the vote. Those committed to national unity have also staged separate, large-scale rallies.

The tension has impacted the economy, with dozens of companies already relocating their corporate address away from the troubled region to remain under Spanish and European laws if Catalonia manages to secede.

Associated Press
Investigators have met the brother of the Las Vegas gunman while friends and relatives of the 58 killed and other concert-goers returned to the scene to reclaim shoes, phones and bags left behind in the panic as they fled.

The interviews with Stephen Paddock's brother were part of an exhaustive search through the 64-year-old's life in search of clues about why he unleashed gunfire from broken windows in the 32rd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino.

Eric Paddock declined to say what he was asked, but he said he is co-operating with investigators, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"I'm trying to get them to understand Steve's mindset," Eric Paddock told the newspaper. "I don't want them to chase bad leads."

In a newly revealed court document obtained by CNN, Stephen Paddock described himself as a nocturnal creature who bet up to 1 million dollars each night at Las Vegas casinos in flip-flops and tracksuits, catching sleep in the day.

The description of his lifestyle comes from a deposition filed as part of a civil lawsuit he filed against Cosmopolitan Hotel, where he slipped and fell in 2011.

The personal effects being recovered were strewn across the massive grassy concert venue where 22,000 country music fans attended the Route 91 Harvest festival. They have become sentimental memories of loved ones for some, and haunting reminders of the night of terror for others.

Some of the victims of the deadliest shooting in modern US history have already been returned home for funerals while many others are en route ahead of services planned for later dates.

Eric Paddock said he came to Las Vegas to retrieve his brother's body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said he could not discuss the results of a post-mortem done on Stephen Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived at the Las Vegas Strip hotel suite.

Eric Paddock told the Review-Journal that he plans to put his brother's assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims. He has described his brother as a multimillionaire who considered himself a professional gambler and owned real estate.

Some of the casinos along the Las Vegas Strip dim their marquees signs for about 10 minutes to pay tribute to the victims who spent that much time under fire in the shooting.

The family of one of the victims, 56-year-old John Phippen, of Santa Clarita, California, has already asked a Nevada judge to appoint a special administrator to take control of the gunman's assets. The lawyers said that is a necessary step to allow lawsuits to be brought against Paddock's estate.

AP
Melania Trump has hit back at Donald Trump's first wife for referring to herself as "first lady".

Ivana Trump told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday that she talks to the president about every two weeks and has a direct number to the White House.

She added: "I don't want to call him there because Melania is there and I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife. I'm first lady, OK?"

Melania Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said there was "clearly no substance to this statement from an ex," and called it "attention-seeking and self-serving noise".

Ivana Trump is promoting her book, Raising Trump and Ms Grisham suggested she was trying to "sell books".

Melania Trump, a native of Slovenia and former fashion model fluent in several languages, was rarely seen in the weeks after Mr Trump's inauguration, and was usually at her husband's side when she did appear in public.

In an unusual move for modern first ladies, she and Barron, the couple's now-11-year-old son, lived at the family's Trump Tower penthouse in New York for several months after the inauguration so he would not have to switch schools in the middle of the year.

They joined Mr Trump at the White House in June, and Barron started at a private school in Maryland.

She has more recently raised her profile, and talked about how she plans to "use my platform as first lady" to achieve her goals, including helping children suffering from cyberbullying.

Melania is the most popular Trump in the White House, according to a recent CNN survey in which 44% of those polled said they have a favourable opinion of the first lady.

She beat her husband, stepdaughter Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Ivanka's Trump's husband, in the poll late last month.

It is usual for first ladies to be more popular than their husbands, who are called upon to sound off on a host of difficult issues, and Donald Trump, who has experienced some of the lowest public approval ratings of a first-year president, has called attention to his wife's popularity.

"She's become very, very popular, I'll tell you that," he said after she introduced him at a recent event at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

He said she has become an "incredible emissary" for the American people, and he was "very proud of her".

AP
A report in the German media has suggested EasyJet has reduced its offer for the purchase of up to 30 planes, while there is disagreement over landing rights with Lufthansa, which is bidding for other parts of Air Berlin.

Flights operated by Air Berlin are set to end by October 28 at the latest, with staff being urged to seek jobs elsewhere while the airline works toward a carve-up of its assets.
The proceedings have been brought by the owner of Tipperary Crystal, Allied Imports Ltd, and its director Robert Scanlan.

The firm is known for its crystal, glassware, ceramics, as well as jewellery brands.

Allied Imports and Mr Scanlan claim Kavanagh Giftware Ltd have been using Tipperary Crystal marks on the packaging of specific goods it is offering including mugs and cups.

In correspondence, lawyers for Kavanagh Giftware reject claims it has infringed Allied Imports intellectual property rights.

Allied Imports and Mr Scanlan, represented by Jonathan Newman, say the infringing elements of their products are the use of a graphical representation in grey and white on the outside and the inside of the packaging of items being offered for sale by the defendant.

The plaintiffs claim the defendant is offering the allegedly infringing products for sale through its retail outlet in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, and online.

It is further alleged that the Kavanagh Giftware is engaged in the wholesale distribution of the infringing products to other retailers in Ireland.

They claim that the unauthorised use of the Tipperary Crystal mark is causing confusion with the public.

In their action, Allied Imports Ltd and Mr Scanlan seek various orders against the defendant including injunctions restraining Kavanagh Giftware from infringing their trade marks and passing off the goods.

In addition, the plaintiffs seek orders that all the goods allegedly infringing its trademarks are handed over and destroyed.

They also seek damages.

The case was admitted to the fast track Commercial Court list by Mr Justice Brian McGovern.

There had been an objection in admitting the case to the fast track list by counsel for the defendant James ODwyer.

However, the judge said it was a suitable case for the list.

The matter will return before the court in February.
Phyllis Byrne, now suffering from advanced dementia in a Co Wicklow nursing home, had, via daughter Maria Flanagan, sued Beaumont Hospital and CPL Resources and CPL Healthcare for 60,000 damages.

Barrister Michael Coen, who appeared with Thomas Loomes Solicitors for Ms Byrne, told the court she had been suffering from advanced dementia for up to 12 years and was 77 years old when the incident occurred in a private room at Beaumont in April 2011.

If the assault had not been witnessed by a woman who was visiting another patient in a private room just across the corridor from Ms Byrne, and who reported it to a senior nurse in Beaumont, we would never have known about it, said Mr Coen.

He said the carer, Valeria Bogdan, had been provided to the hospital by an agency, CPL Healthcare Limited, with a registered office at Percy Place, Dublin 4, a joint defendant with CPL Resources Ltd, Merrion Square, Dublin, and Beaumont Hospital.

He told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that these three defendants were meeting the proposed settlement of 25,000 which he was recommending and asking the court to approve.

He said a legal claim had been initiated against Ms Bogdan but this was not being proceeded with. Ms Byrnes daughter had been told that disciplinary action had been taken against Ms Bogdan but he did not know what this had entailed.

Mr Coen told the court the carer had been giving Ms Byrne breakfast. It was accepted that Ms Byrne was a challenging patient and had engaged in verbals with Ms Bogdan.

He said the incident had been witnessed by a visitor to the hospital, Margaret Rooney, who told a Beaumont Hospital investigation that she had seen the carer on several occasions forcefully push Ms Byrne back into her chair and kick her twice under the table.

He said Ms Byrne had been medically examined afterwards and no fresh bruising had been found, only existing old bruises.

To be fair to Ms Bogdan, an experienced and fully trained carer, she had shortly afterwards asked the hospital to reassign her and she had no further contact with Ms Byrne, Mr Coen said.

He said there had been apologies to Ms Byrnes family by all of the defendants concerned.

Judge Groarke said it was a very sad story and should, absolutely without question, never have happened.

We are all human and I am not saying that in any way to excuse the conduct of the nurse who was obviously having a bad day, Judge Groarke said.

He said he would approve the settlement offer, with costs, and make an order that the money be paid into court to the benefit of Ms Byrne.
Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty was in last-minute talks with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe but was expected to secure a package close to 400m, sources said.

Leo Varadkars first budget as Taoiseach will also include house building plans, Brexit supports, extra revenue increasing commercial stamp duty, and will be the first balanced budget since the crash.

Negotiations went down to the wire last night as competing ministers sought to secure as much funds as possible from Mr Donohoe, with an extra 900m to 1bn earmarked overall for services and tax cuts.

Qualified child payments for parents on welfare will increase from 29.80 to 32.30. There will also be a widening of criteria for lone parents on supports, where they will be able to earn more and still get benefits.

Ms Doherty is also keen to ensure all groups on welfare-related payments see increases and not just some recipients. Pensioners, the disabled, carers and jobseekers all look set to get increases in the budget. Weekly rises of up to 5 were being flagged, but some groups may not see increases until March or later if payments are staggered as there is not enough money to meet all demands from January.

Elsewhere, workers will see modest tax cuts with reductions to the USC and changes on income tax.

The 2.5% and 5% rates of USC may be reduced by less than a half per cent while the threshold for the introduction of the top rate of income tax for workers may rise by 700 or 800 from its current base of 33,800.

Both measures overall may see workers on average only get a 4 weekly rise in wages.

Fine Gael ministers were last night understood to be content with their negotiations, with social protection and housing talks still continuing with Mr Donohoe.

It is also thought there will be no increases in taxes on alcohol or diesel, but this could be subject to change if Mr Donohoe decides he needs to suddenly get extra spending power at the last minute to pay for any ministers demands, Department of Finance sources said.

Housing will also feature strongly during todays announcements. It is expected that the government will announce new Nama-linked measures to increase the construction of affordable homes. A new inter-agency, possibly using the expertise or financing from Nama, could be flagged to help builders.

But the Government will also hit the corporate sector by increasing commercial stamp duty. This may be increased by between 2% and 4%. Each 1% rise raises an extra 100m. This is likely to be the biggest standalone revenue raising measure in the budget.

The help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers also looks set to be retained, but possibly tweaked.

A sugar tax will also be introduced next year, but is unlikely to come into effect until April or later. Cigarettes are also likely to be increased by 50c.

What sweeteners are likely to be offered?

By Juno McEnroe, Political Correspondent
The request, sent to the English attorney general, follows the discovery by author and former IRA prisoner Richard ORawe of archive material, released from an official inquiry, during a joint trawl of files with the BBC.

Mr ORawe outlines the revelations in a new book In The Name of the Son  The Gerry Conlon Story which includes a foreword by Johnny Depp.

The author told the Irish Examiner he and a BBC journalist were wrapping up their examination of six files, which had been released from the 700 embargoed files of the John May Inquiry, when he saw a particular document.

Former IRA prisoner Richard ORawe who has written In the Name of the Son  The Gerry Conlon Story. Picture: Ann McManus

It referenced a statement from forensic expert Douglas Higgs, made before the then-upcoming trial of the Balcombe Street IRA gang in 1977.

It said: After April 76: Manuscript note by Mr Mathew [the leading Crown Counsel at the Balcombe Street trial] indicates request to Mr Higgs to redraft his statements of 24-1-75 and 19-2-76 omitting Woolwich. This referred to the bombing at Woolwich, in November 1974, and connecting it with the Balcombe Street IRA gang, apprehended in December 1975.

Mr ORawe said: Higgs said in a statement [to the May inquiry] the five bombs, including Woolwich, were carried out by the same people: the same modus operandi, same timers, same clocks, same amount of explosives, same kind of explosives and in his professional opinion these were carried out by the same people.

He noted Mr Higgs statement was made in January 1975, long before the Guildford convictions in October 1975 and the Maguire Seven in 1976. He said Mr Higgs was not a witness at the Guildford Four trial.

I was absolutely flabbergasted by the document, said Mr ORawe.

You dont expect to find a golden nugget. It made the hair stand up on the back of my head.

Gerry Conlon pays respects at the grave of his father Guiseppe at Milltown cemetery, Belfast, in January 1994. Picture: Getty

He claimed the document showed that there was an attempt by the Crown Prosecution Service to manufacture evidence to convict the Guildford Four.

He said he rang Kevin Winters, a solicitor with KRW Law, human rights lawyers based in Belfast, which is representing both Anne McKernan, sister of Gerry Conlon and survivor Yvonne Tagg.

His view is that this is proof manifest that the Crown perverted the course of justice, said Mr ORawe.

In its letter to the English AG, KRW said the archive material outlined a basis upon which you can direct a new investigation into alleged criminality on the part of the original Surrey Police investigation team and prosecutors which whom they worked in securing the wrong conviction of Mr Conlon and others.

The firm said the request of Mr Higgs  which was complied with  to omit any mention of the Woolwich bombing amounted to suppression of forensic evidence.

The Guildford Four Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson  served 15 years by the time their convictions were overturned.

Gerrys Dad, Patrick Giuseppe Conlon, one of the Maguire Seven, died in prison.

In The Name of the Son (Merrion Press) had its Belfast launch last Friday and its London launch on October 20.
The gauntlet has been thrown down by Cork county councillors, who reacted furiously after learning that the chairman of the Implementation Oversight Group, John OConnor, had been given extra powers which would compel them and their officials to co-operate with formulating his decision, or else face possible imprisonment.

A letter which will be sent to Mr Murphy from Mayor of County Cork, Declan Hurley, says: This appointment has created a situation whereby if Cork County Council officials and elected members do not cooperate with a process of agreeing a boundary based on the expert advisory group report [Mackinnon] they are liable to criminal prosecution and imprisonment.

Mr Hurley described that as an intolerable imposition on the rights of an independent local authority, and said the council had no alternative but to take legal action in the High Court, including taking injunctive relief to vindicate its rights.

The Mackinnon report recommends the extension of the city boundary to cover Cork Airport, Ballincollig, Blarney, Glanmire, Little Island, and Carrigtwohill.

The county council has said it is only willing to cede Frankfield, Grange and Ballyvolane.

Seamus McGrath, Fianna Fail leader on the council, formally proposed the council deliver the ultimatum.

He described the appointment of Mr OConnor as an authorised officer as an unhelpful and provocative step which ran contrary to any attempt to find an amicable solution to any boundary extension and said railroading through the Mackinnon recommendations would make the county council unviable.

Fine Gael councillor Kevin Murphy said that, from the beginning, he believed that the appointment of an independent mediator was the only solution.

Mr Hurley said he was reluctant to send the ultimatum, and did not make threats easily.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Cork City Council said last night that the council is not in a position to respond to the countys formal boundary alteration request submitted under Section 29 of the Local Government Act.

In a technical response required under the act, Ann Doherty told councillors that the information provided by the county will need interrogation, testing and validation which she said can be addressed as part of the Mackinnon implementation process.

Ms Doherty also said the definition of the extent of the city boundary extension will follow from the work of the implementation group.
Increases in welfare-related payments, modest tax cuts for workers and home-building measures will also be announced.

The Government is set to unveil some 900m in extra spending for services and tax cuts next year.

A key initiative from Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone will see thousands of extra toddlers, aged three to four, getting access to free childcare under a 30m plan to extend services to families.

Under existing rules, while the free pre-school year support is available for families sending their children to creches, not all parents are able to benefit as their child was born late in the year.

Under new measures, up to 30m will be given to creches to ensure the free pre-school year is available regardless of what month they were born.

Fianna Fail last night secured a reduction in class numbers by one pupil, to a maximum of 26 per class.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has also secured increases in qualified child payments. The weekly 29.80 per child will be increased to 32.30.

The minister was last night also fighting to secure across-the-board weekly rises for pensioners, carers, and jobseekers. The expected 5 weekly rise may be held back until March for some groups.

Fianna Fail were in talks last night with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe on when the increases would start.

Overall, Ms Doherty is expected to secure a 350m to 400m package, which will also see lone parents allowed to work and earn more while still claiming benefits.

Modest tax cuts through reduced USC and tweaks to the higher income tax rate will also be announced. On average, workers may only get an extra 4 a week.

While increased taxes on diesel or alcohol were being ruled out, sources warned Mr Donohoe may change his mind before he unveils his budget at 1pm today.

The Government are also expected to signal the creation of a new agency, which will be linked to Nama, to help builders construct cheaper homes.

However, the Help-to-Buy scheme for first-time buyers looks set to remain and a report will likely rule out claims the 20,000 grant was inflationary for home costs.

The Government will also unveil a Brexit package, expected to include supports for exporters, while moves to expand diplomatic and trade services will also be flagged.

Elsewhere, families will benefit from a 10 cut in the threshold for the drug payment scheme and prescription charges will fall to 2.

What sweeteners are likely to be offered?

By Juno McEnroe, Political Correspondent
It was his eyes that got me. Eyes that simultaneously exuded wisdom and a childlike purity; a desire to live and love. There was no question that these powerful eyes had seen and experienced much. This was Gerry Conlon, the actor wrote about the pairs first meeting.

In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story is a new book by Richard ORawe, a former Irish republican prisoner and a leading figure in the 1981 Hunger Strike in the H Blocks of the Maze prison.

Depp first came across Gerry Conlon in an actors agency in California in 1990, a year after his release from prison, when his story was being turned into an Oscar-winning movie, In the Name of the Father.

The actor said that Gerry invited him to play him in a movie about his life and how the exchange had both men in tears.

Depp remembered being more than touched at this profoundly personal invitation from this man. I was already on the deck wiping away tears (as was he) when he gave the first details of his abduction and torture by the British authorities.

Depps foreword goes on to describe how the pair holidayed together in 1991, alongside members of the Conlon family. The actor recalled a long night out in Limerick involving multiple pints of Guinness.

Depp also referred to Gerrys principled campaigning for the Birmingham Six and international issues such as the rights of Native Americans as well as indigenous Australians.

He also addressed Gerrys struggles with drugs saying how he got off his knees and he beat the monster.

The foreword closes by describing the book as a tour de force, a warts-and-all depiction of the life of Gerry Conlon from the minute he walked out of the Old Bailey.

The book was published last Friday but its foreword has already drawn criticism because of its reference to Limerick as Stab City.

Local Fianna Fail TD Willie ODea has criticised Depp for libelling Limerick with an unfair description of the city.

Hes basing this on a visit back in 1991. Not only was Stab City the wrong designation in 1991, but in 2017, it is so out of date it is laughable. Its a libel on a city. It was always a grossly unfair and grossly overstated description of Limerick.

We have worked very hard and come an awful long way and I think its very unfortunate that someone would choose to resurrect this insult, he said.
Because they remain two departments and technically he is minister for both, under existing rules, the minister for public expenditure must write to the finance minster to approve increases in spending ceilings for departments, as required under legislation.

It would happen at revised estimates time. The minister for finance is responsible for expenditure ceilings so he has overall responsibility for that, a spokesman told the Irish Examiner.
Social entrepreneur and urban planning expert Phillip Crowe has set up Space Engagers  a platform that allows people to map Ireland online.

It is currently being used by the homelessness charity, the Peter McVerry Trust, to locate vacant properties around Dublin and the rest of the country.

The Space Engagers project in the capital is called Reusing Dublin and so far active citizens have helped to locate 40,000 vacant properties in the city that could be regenerated for homeless people.

We started with a platform called Reusing Dublin, which is basically a crowd-sourced platform where people put up vacant and unused spaces onto a map, said Mr Crowe.

Weve got thousands of people following us and the mapping seemed to have some effect in terms of engaging people with the issue.

We call ourselves a version of Pokemon Go with a social conscience.

While the project in the capital is called Reusing Dublin, the general app which is being prepared for launch goes by the organisations name, Space Engagers.

You can engage in a number of different projects on the app, explained Mr Crowe.

You take a picture and the picture is geotagged and goes on to a map.

You take individual pieces of information and individual observations and you put them into a collective space.

When you put them into a collective space you get an overall picture.

We started applying it to urban regeneration projects.

Another of the projects is the urban regeneration of Longford town.

The social entrepreneur said the success of the interactive mapping is based on ordinary peoples willingness to engage and improve society.

Were testing out this idea of interactive mapping. Can it engage people with local issues? said Mr Crowe.

Can it generate useful information that is distributed out over a very large area thats resource-intensive to gather?

Thirdly, can we use that engagement to make a difference, to do things differently?

People know their local areas best. Citizens are interested in bringing about positive change.

The Dublin arm of the project, Reusing Dublin was initially developed by Mr Crowe and his colleague Aoife Corcoran as part of an EU-funded project called Turas (Transitioning towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability).

Last year, their project ended but its achievement was spotted by the Peter McVerry Trust, which engaged with the researchers.

It will now be used by the housing charity to create a campaign platform.

The campaign will concentrate on the need to increase housing supply and availability as well as improve land and property management systems, said a spokesperson for the Peter McVerry Trust.

Ultimately, it is hoped that the campaign will result in a number of positive social impacts, as well as delivering an improved urban environment.

The most recent figures show a record total of 8,270 people homeless in Ireland, made up of 5,222 adults and 3,048 children.
Fergal Grace, of 17 Travara, Skehard Rd, Cork, was given a 10-month sentence yesterday for harassment. Judge Olann Kelleher suspended the jail term on Graces undertaking to have no contact with the injured party  directly or indirectly  for the next two years. Grace gave that undertaking yesterday.

Inspector Daniel Coholan said when gardai obtained a warrant to search the defendants home in relation to the harassment complaint they found he was cultivating cannabis in his bedroom.

The two plants had an estimated street value of 800.

Judge Kelleher said the accused could do 200 hours of community service instead of five months in prison for that offence.

The judge also fined him 500 for having the cannabis for his own use.

Defence solicitor Frank Buttimer said the most significant matter was the harassment. Of that he said: Mr Grace knew her a long time ago and had a limited relationship with her a long time ago.

By coincidence, he acquired her phone number around the time of the harassment offence and he began to communicate with her.

The reason he did it is psychiatric in nature. He has been attending his GP and a consultant psychiatrist for what seems to me to be a depression type situation.

He was prescribed a certain medication but he chose to go without the medication, probably without the approval of the doctor, said Mr Buttimer.

Grace pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to a charge stating that between May 21 and June 6, 2016, he harassed a woman.

Insp Coholan said the woman complained to gardai that she was harassed by unwanted text messages, videos, and selfies of an explicit nature from an old boyfriend to whom she had not spoken in years.

There was a total of nearly 200 communications sent to her phone.

Judge Kelleher put the case against the 32-year-old back until yesterday to give the complainant an opportunity to give victim impact evidence if she wanted to do so.

The judge read this report. Mr Buttimer said the defence accepted what was said in the statement in every respect.

Mr Buttimer asked the judge to take account, in particular, of the victims request that the main thing she sought was to be left alone and to have no further communications from Grace.
Businesses can expect to pay a higher rate of employers PRSI, as the Government seeks to add close to 200m to the National Training Fund (NTF) to invest in further and higher education.

A consultation this year, announced in Budget 2017 a year ago, set out the proposal to increase the amount employers pay into the fund from 0.7% of each workers pay to 1% over three years. This could see the figure rise by 0.1% next year, and again in 2019 and 2020.

While its introduction is uncertain, as is whether it would kick in from the start of next year, it is the only funding stream which has been alluded to in any pre-budgetary commentary from Mr Bruton or his department.

The Government is committed to providing 160m extra to higher education across three years, which began this year. Although 36m was provided this year, the bulk of that went to new initiatives for improving access and other programmes, leaving little provision to allow colleges cater for increased student enrolments.

If the minister meets Fianna Fails demand for an additional 110m investment in third-level, most of which the opposition party wants to come from an increased NTF, it will barely keep pace with student growth either.

This is based on the Irish Universities Associations estimate of a 59m cost of meeting the demands associated with rising numbers in their sector alone, excluding the institutes of technology and other colleges, and a further 8m the universities say would be required to provide grants for some of the extra students.

The rising student population in primary and second-level schools is expected to continue until 2022, which should see teachers pay bill taking up the bulk of any increases outside of higher education. This year alone, without reducing class sizes or addressing any other significant policy increases around teacher supply, the cost of teachers pay is going up around 300m to over 4.1bn  as their numbers climb toward 70,000.

This could leave unions and school managers unhappy later today that Education Minister Richard Bruton will not be addressing the long-running question of class sizes, particularly at primary level. There was some leeway on this question in this years budget for second level, when effective increases in pupil-teacher ratios affected by the removal of ring-fenced guidance counsellors posts in 2012 were reversed by Mr Bruton.
WITH the Iran nuclear deal at stake, US president Donald Trump has until Sunday to tell Congress if he believes Tehran is complying with the seven-nation agreement. Many expect that the US president will decertify Iranian compliance with the deal, returning US-Iran relations to overt hostility.

Not all in the administration agree with Trumps harder-line approach on Iran. Defence secretary James Mattis has publicly stated that Trump should consider staying in the deal, while secretary of state Rex Tillerson has reportedly argued against decertification. Speaking after his first meeting with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, Tillerson also seemed to indicate a willingness to take a longer-term view when he told a media conference that the Washington-Tehran relationship had never had a stable, happy moment in it.

Is this going to be the way it is for the rest of our lives and our childrens lives, and our grandchildrens lives? Tillerson asked.

His remarks evoked an encounter recounted to me by Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, of a 1982 meeting he had with Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Rafiqdoost recalled suggesting that the US embassy grounds in Tehran be converted to a Revolutionary Guards base. Ayatollah Khomeini rejected the idea, asking: Why would you go there? Are we not going to have relations with America for a thousand years?

Decades of estrangement have led to a fundamental misunderstanding of Iran in Washington. Notwithstanding the Obama administrations nuclear negotiations, every US administration since the 1979 Iranian revolution has failed in its declared objective to contain Iran.

If Trump wishes to free future generations of anxiety over US-Iran tensions, he should pay careful attention to five points in formulating his Iran policy.

First, American officials need to stop speaking about Iran in threatening and insulting terms. The Iranian people are proud of their thousands of years of history and view mutual respect as integral to their foreign relations. However, Zarif told me that Trumps speech to the UN General Assembly last month was the most insulting speech of any American president toward Iran since the revolution and that it made any potential for dialogue with the United States meaningless.

Second, US regime-change policies have been self-defeating. Since the revolution, the principal reason for lasting Iranian distrust of the United States has been US policies aimed at undermining and overturning the Iranian political system. In June, Tillerson openly declared that US policy towards Iran included regime change  a statement not heard from a senior US official in years and which marked a sharp departure from the conventional US rhetoric of seeking Iranian behaviour change.

In contrast, former US president Barack Obama told the UN: We are not seeking regime change and we respect the right of the Iranian people to access peaceful nuclear energy.

Consequently, he was able to diplomatically engage Iran on its nuclear programme, and reach the July, 2015 nuclear deal. The respectful letters between Obama and Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei helped set the process in motion. This would not happen today, even if Trump made a similar overture, as the key to successful negotiations with Iran is to first drop regime-change policies.

Since the 1953, US-led coup that overthrew democratically-elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, Iranians have resented US interference in Iran. The political landscape of conservatives, moderates, and reformists in Iran is similar to the competition between Democrats and Republicans in the US. As such, any agreement between Washington and Tehran must be negotiated in a way that transcends the partisan divide in each country  or else it would be inherently fragile.

The undermining of the nuclear deal in Washington by the Republican Party is testament to this need. Negotiations must be carried out in a way that respects Irans political makeup and hierarchies.

Fourth, the Trump administration needs to accept that Iran, as a large country with immense natural resources and an educated population, has legitimate security concerns and interests in its neighbourhood.

Washington must recognise that US policies aimed at isolating Tehran and refusing to accept a legitimate Iranian role in the region have only seen Iranian influence grow in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, while US influence has waned in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere.

From Irans perspective, its post-1979 foreign policy has been aimed at deterring foreign aggression and securing the countrys borders, rather than the pursuit of regional hegemony.

After the revolution, Iran was invaded by Saddam Husseins Iraq and, for much of the past decade, there has been chaos on its thousands of miles of borders with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan  all factors that have compelled it to play a regional role. If the US wants to avoid scenarios where regional states aggressively compete for power, it must encourage the creation of a regional security system, involving the six Gulf Co-operation Council countries, along with Iraq and Iran.

Finally, the record of US-Iran negotiations shows that dual track policies of pressure and diplomacy are destined to fail. While Trump appears to be trying to bring Iran to the negotiating table in a position of weakness, Iranian policymakers tend to respond to pressure by retaliating in kind.

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, former US secretary of state, John Kerry, highlighted how, by the time he had entered into negotiations with Iran, after years of sanctions, Iran had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle and built a uranium stockpile large enough to make 10 to 12 bombs.

In other words, Iran was already a nuclear-threshold state, wrote Kerry.

The lesson for Washington is that if push comes to shove, Tehran will develop its own bargaining chips  not capitulate in the face of whatever threats are made when Trump delivers his next policy speech on Iran.
Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE

Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia

Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases.

UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS

Google Ad

Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights

Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom

Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces
Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE

Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia

Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases.

UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS

Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights

Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom

Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces
Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus.
ANTIQUE DAY: Bromley Mayor Councillor John Holbrook will hold an antiques and collectables day on September 1, in the Great Hall, Bromley Civic Centre, Stockwell Close from 10am to 4pm. Stalls are available at various prices and a team of specialists will be available to identify and value small possessions for 2 per item. proceeds go to the mayoral charities. Call the mayor's office on 020 8313 4433.

OVERCOME PHOBIAS: The Beckenham group of Triumph Over Phobia (TOP UK) meets every week. It is a self-help group for sufferers of phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder. Call 020 8650 8605.

PRINT TALK: St Mary Cray Action Group will have a talk on the history of finger printing from Peter Jones on August 28. The presentation will be in the Vernon Hall, High Street, St Mary Cray, at 8pm.

BOOK LOVERS: The Book Appreciation Group meets on the last Thursday of every month at Hayes Library from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

August 3, 2001 11:06
ISLAND MP Bob Seely has received assurances today that the Government will support Isle of Wight workers who face redundancy at BAE Systems' Cowes factory.

Mr Seely asked Department of Work and Pensions minister Claire Perry in Parliament that those potentially losing their jobs at the defence giant's Newport Road facility should not be forgotten.

Mr Seely said he had spoken to BAE this morning and said: "What support will DWP provide to those affected? Will the Government assure me that any support package includes Isle of Wight workers affected at the BAE Cowes plant in my constituency? And can I also highlight the importance of the advanced radar programme on the Isle of Wight, both for the UK defence industry and for Island jobs."

In reply, the minister said the DWP has a rapid response team that will visit BAE sites to talk to those affected and to make sure they were aware of their rights and opportunities.

She added: "I understand his point about the Isle of Wight and I will make sure that is reflected into any work that is going forward."

Speaking after the Urgent Questions debate, Bob said he has been told up to 18 jobs were at risk at the 242-employee facility, which is part of the company's maritime division, but he had also been told that the work on the radar programme was largely unaffected by the job cuts.

"This is very unfortunate news for Island BAE staff as Christmas approaches. My hope is the majority, if not all, of these losses can be accommodated through voluntary redundancy," he added.
Allegacy plans Mount Airy branch by years end

Allegacy Federal Credit Union said Tuesday it plans to open a branch in Mount Airy by years end.

The branch will be at 1996 Rockford St., Suite 300. It will be joined by three other businesses at a new construction site where a Long John Silvers restaurant was razed in 2016. Those businesses are Starbucks, Jimmy Johns restaurant, and AT&T cellphone.

Allegacy said the branch will offer dedicated resources focused on small business, financial planning and mortgage services.

The branch will serve current select employee groups that include Pike Electric, Insteel Industries, Insteel Wire Products, Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care, Omega Construction and Foothill Ford.

Branch hours are projected to be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays.

Richard Craver

Moser Mayer Phoenix joining N.Y. firm Nov. 1

Moser Mayer Phoenix Associates of Greensboro said Tuesday it is joining the architecture, engineering and planning firm of Clark Patterson Lee.

Moser Mayer principals William Moser Jr., Kenneth Mayer Jr., Thomas Phoenix, Alan Cox and Cheryl Graeub and their team of 20 design professionals will join Clark Patterson Lee on Nov. 1.

Moser Mayer was established in 1986 as a full-service design firm and serves clients in North Carolina and Virginia.

Clark Patterson Lee, founded in 1975 in Rochester, N.Y., will expand to a full-service design firm with 330 employees and 13 offices, including in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greenville, S.C., and Atlanta.

The firms said they project that the Greensboro office will grow by at least 15 percent over the next 18 months, dependent on backlog and new business initiatives.

Richard Craver

Wise Man Brewing plans solar system downtown

Wise Man Brewing, a downtown Winston-Salem craft brewery, said Tuesday it will build a 34-kilowatt solar system on the roof of the historic Angelo Brothers building at 826 Angelo Bros Ave.

The system, to be built by Renu Energy Solutions of Charlotte, is projected to offset a majority of the brewerys future power bills.

The system is part of an overall remodeling of the building that began in 2015 and includes a new roof, insulation, LED lights and high-efficiency water taps for brewing.

Richard Craver

HondaJet dealer network expands in China, Asia

Honda Aircraft Co. said Monday it has expanded sales of its HondaJet in greater China with the appointment of Honsan General Aviation Co. Ltd., based in Guangzhou, as a HondaJet dealer.

The group will provide sales, service and support for HondaJet in China, Hong Kong and Macau. The service will be based at a business jet terminal being constructed at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

The first phase is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Honda Aircraft has established a worldwide dealer network to provide unsurpassed service and support for HondaJet customers. The dealer network spans territories in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Richard Craver
Lightning can strike more than once.

Just ask the students of Summit School, where empty wine bottles are stuffed with letters and placed into the ocean as a science experiment.

One of these bottles was found in February 2014 in Portugal. A second bottle was found March 2016 in France, and a third was found last month in Normandy, France.

On Sept. 8, I check my email, and I had a message from France, said Susan Schambach, the second-grade science specialist at the Summit Schools Triad Academy, which focuses on students with dyslexia. It said a bottle was found in the sleeve, the French term for the English Channel.

Each year, Schambach teaches her students about the Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean that includes the North Carolina coast.

In the five years Schambach has done the project with her students, 53 bottles have gone into the ocean, dropped off into the water by her friend, Capt. Ken Upton. He goes about 40 miles off the coast of Wrightsville Beach and places the bottles into the Gulf Stream, which carries them to parts unknown.

Each bottle has a generic, typed letter, written by Schambach, which explains the project, as well as saying its the work of second-graders at Summit School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. A postcard also is included in the bottle along with Schambachs email address.

In addition to the typed message from Schambach, each students name is on it so they know whose bottle was found. Students also decorated their note.

The bottles are sealed with a cork.

Ben Geren, now 10, was shocked that it was his bottle that was found a continent away.

I was excited, but more surprised, said Ben, who prepared the bottle in March 2016. I knew there was a chance in a million that it would be me, but millions happen.

Ben drew Poseidons trident on his letter, as well as an image of a bottle, and wrote, you found it!

Jean Pierre Enguehard, a retired grandfather who was taking a walk on the beach, found Bens bottle tangled in rope and seaweed. The neck of the bottle was encrusted with what appeared to be pale, blue-gray barnacles.

Enguehard brought it home to show his wife before breaking off the barnacles to see what was inside, he told Schambach.

On his Facebook page, Enguehard posted a photo of the bottle with a message stating (translated), (Found) this morning on the beach with message inside North Carolina USA.

When he learned it was his bottle that was found, Ben couldnt wait to surprise his mom with the news. But he couldnt even make it home to tell her.

He said she guessed something big happened the moment he got in the car.

I cant hide it when I smile, said Ben, who lives in Clemmons.

The news was a chance to recall the lessons of the Gulf Stream that the students, now in fourth grade, learned two years ago.

I remember it goes fast, Ben said, and that turtles and fish like the warm water.

He also recalled they use glass bottles to seal up their letters, rather than plastic, so animals dont eat the bottles.

Schambach said shes hoping another bottle will be found.

Ben offered a suggestion for the second-graders who will put notes in bottles this year.

It would be cool if we could put a camera on it to see the animals in the water, he said. I cant wait to see whose bottle will be found next.
HUDSON  Tornado warnings arent that uncommon in Caldwell County.

However, remnants of Tropical Storm Nate produced a far more sinister conclusion to Sunday nights warning as 93 homes were damaged, according to a Caldwell County Public Information Office press release.

The damage includes 11 homes with major damage and six homes completely destroyed; no injuries have been reported.

Randy Church, chairman of the Caldwell County Commissioners, signed a Declaration of State of Emergency for Caldwell County on Monday evening, according to the release.

North Carolina Emergency Management also is monitoring the storm effects in Caldwell, Burke and Ashe counties.

The storm hit hardest in a very concentrated area along Mount Herman Road and Cedar Rock Road; nearly every home on Mount Herman Road sustained some level of damage, according to the release.

The wind toppled two church steeples in the area, leaving a sizable cleanup project over the next few days.

Also late Monday, the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va., confirmed that an EF1 tornado had touched down Sunday from just west of Harley in Wilkes County to near Idlewild in Ashe County.

The tornado traveled 6.91 miles with an estimated maximum wind of 105 mph from 6:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, according to an NWS statement.

The tornado was at its widest  300 yards as it traversed Summit Road, just south of the Blue Ridge Parkway in northwest Wilkes County.

Most of the damage consisted of snapped trees, with half a dozen structures suffering minor damage, the statement said.

No one was injured.
Last June, after a gunman opened fire in the gay-friendly Pulse nightclub in Orlando, candidate Donald Trump proclaimed he'd be a stronger advocate and champion for America's LGBTQ community than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

"I'm far better for the gay community than she is," Trump said of Clinton in an interview with Fox News. "She talks a lot about it, and yet she'll allow people in [to the U.S.] that want to kill people from the community, from that community, and I think it's terrible."

Turns out that was just another lie in the long chain of them that Trump has peddled to American voters.

Last week, Trump's Justice Department, through Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reversed a long-standing federal policy protecting transgender Americans from workplace discrimination.

That comes on top of the ongoing controversy over the government's decision not to count LGBTQ Americans in the 2020 U.S. Census, a move that advocates say is critical to making sure that community receives adequate government services, NPR reported.

The Census Bureau canceled its consideration of a request by multiple agencies to count LGBTQ Americans after one of the agencies that made the request, Sessions' Justice Department, backed off from it.

The original request for data had been made by the Obama-era Justice Department, as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, NPR reported.

But under Sessions, the Justice Department asked the Census Bureau about the "'appropriateness" of certain sexual orientation and gender identity topics appearing on the upcoming American Community Survey, according to a letter sent in March by the Commerce Department that was published on the website of U.S. Sen Tom Carper, D-Del." NPR reported.

The Commerce Department oversees the Census Bureau.

The Justice Department then wrote to the Commerce Department saying that it was "unable to reaffirm" its request for information about LGBT populations "because such a request requires thorough analysis and careful consideration," NPR reported.

Bills are currently pending in Congress requiring the Census to count LGBTQ Americans in the decennial canvass. So the fight appears to not yet be over.

Still, it's hard to know where to start quantifying the offensiveness of these twin actions by the Justice Department.

And the only rational conclusion is that Sessions' DOJ, which is charged with both upholding the law, and safeguarding the rights of us all, wants to erase some Americans from the map.

Then again, these actions are in keeping with Sessions' votes when he was the senior United State senator from Alabama.

As The Huffington Post reports, while in the Senate, Sessions "voted in support of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, against taking up a bill providing workplace discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, against repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and - two times - against expanding the definition of hate crimes to include attacks on people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

And, "in 2014, a year after the Supreme Court struck down part of the now-defunct Defense of Marriage Act, Sessions co-sponsored a bill that would allow the state definition of marriage to supersede the federal definition," The Huffington Post reported.

In 2015, Sessions said he wasn't giving up the fight against Obama-era executive orders on immigration, even after the U.S. House had approved a "clean" spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

At the time, Sessions questioned the legal authority of those orders.

As the nation's top enforcement officer, however, he seems perfectly content to find whatever slender legal justification he can to sandblast the civil rights of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and potentially close off millions more from more than $400 billion in services that their taxes underwrite.

That's just odious - if entirely unsurprising given Sessions' own wildly discriminatory record on Capitol Hill.

As ABC News thoroughly detailed last year, Trump's own views on LGBTQ Americans have been something of a moving target.

In a 2000 interview with The Advocate, Trump said he thought it "was important for gay couples who are committed to each other to not be hassled when it comes to inheritance, insurance benefits, and other simple everyday rights."

As a candidate, however, Trump pivoted away from those views, reiterating his opposition to same-sex marriage. He also told Fox News last year that he would "strongly consider" appointing U.S. Supreme Court judges who would overturn the landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, ABC News reported.

Last year, Human Rights Campaign Director Jay Brown warned Americans to "make no mistake, Donald Trump is no friend of the LGBTQ community," ABC reported.

Last week, those warnings came home to roost.

There's no other way to put it: The White House and DOJ can't be trusted to protect LGBTQ Americans.

As the man himself might say, "Sad."
WASHINGTON  When President Trump said a few days ago that now isnt the time for a debate about gun control, presumably he meant that we should respect a decent interval of time for mourning after the Las Vegas shooting before launching into a political discussion that historically has led nowhere.

If thats how he felt, it would have been easy enough (and sane) to say. But he didnt.

More likely, Trump doesnt want any distraction from (a) his brilliant PR idea to toss paper-towel rolls to thirsty, hurricane-sogged Puerto Ricans (cake to follow); (b) his photo op Thursday evening with leaders of the armed forces and their spouses during which he teased the fake news media he had summoned that the dinner gathering with military brass could be the calm before the storm.

What storm, Mr. President? an intrepid reporter queried.

Youll find out.

Whoa. Mr. Mystery Man has our attention now. Oh, so clever. Are we going to war? Will it be with the Islamic State? North Korea? Iran? Just you wait, fake newsies, just you wait.

Or perhaps he wants to keep the spotlight on  his request that the Senate Intelligence Committee investigate the media, without which his military charade would have merely been the worlds widest-angle selfie.

No, actually, his absurd (unconstitutional) request was, likely, a smokescreen itself, as was the paper-towel toss, one hopes (surely no ones mind is that inert), and the photo op. Trump has mastered the Art of Distraction, lately to keep our eyes off the firefight within the White House and the ever-obvious fact this administration is staring at an eclipse without glasses and this president couldnt lead a starving dog to a tenderloin buffet.

The revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is like Saks at Christmastime. Latest to the lineup is Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Others have included FBI Director James Comey, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer, and national security adviser Mike Flynn, to name a few.

Next up, most likely, is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, not only because the president routinely undermines and contradicts the nations top diplomat but because Tillerson clearly holds Trump in contempt. Most important, Tillerson recently told the truth.

Trump reportedly was furious upon returning from his diplomatic coup in Puerto Rico, which he seemed to have thought was a Spanish colony, only to see the face of his secretary of state on all his favorite TV channels.

According to NBC News, Tillerson had said the president is a moron, which caused most sentient humans to shrug and roll their eyes as if to say, No, really? But this slight likely bothered Trump less than the fact that Tillersons face, and not his, was on all the cable shows.

Trumps fan base, of course, was unfazed by Tillersons reported insult, knowing that this term could not possibly apply to a president who recently had scolded Puerto Ricans for messing up the U.S. budget and implied that they were a shiftless lot who want everything to be done for them. No siree. That person would be a genius.

As Americans gnaw their nails wondering which war this way comes  or when Tillerson will be replaced  Trump is focused on decertifying the nuclear deal with Iran, continuing to taunt North Koreas Kim Jong Un and trying to convince the rest of the world that hes got everything under control.

Thus, the very last thing Trump needs right now is a political shootout over guns.

Nows not the time, he says. Apparently, however, many if not most Americans  about 90 percent of whom would support expanding background checks  beg to differ. If not now, when?

The pessimist notes that if the murder of 20 6- and 7-year-olds at Sandy Hook Elementary School resulted in no sensible restrictions to gun ownership, then the slaughter of 58 country music fans isnt likely to, either. But wait, we have a headline: Even the National Rifle Association has called for regulating (not banning or confiscating) bump stocks  the attachment used by the Las Vegas shooter to essentially convert a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon, the better to kill the most. And Republicans are expressing a willingness to consider restrictions.

Youd think by the reactions  this is really, really huge editorialists have clamored  that the NRA decided to support banning from private ownership all semi-automatic weapons, which were created solely for the purpose of killing human beings. But, no. Like Coco Chanel, who always removed one bauble before leaving home, the NRA is offering to eliminate one accessory from a warehouse of gaudy, bloodletting fashions.

Talk about distractions. Or was this the artifice of a deal?
Today

Rain likely. High 41F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with mostly cloudy conditions overnight. Low 37F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 54F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
After two months of interning with the Summerville Orchestra, Olivia Johnston was recently hired to replace the outgoing Nancee Adams as the community music organization's new associate director of marketing and communications. Read moreS'ville Orchestra's Olivia Johnston settles into new role
This year's Nov. 8 election didn't present any unforeseen outcomes, at least as it pertains to Dorchester County Council races. However, the competition between Republican Rita May Ranck and Democrat Carlisle Harrison was one of the more thrilling ones in the State, as the latter temporarily Read moreNewly elected Councilmember Rita May Ranck ready to 'work' and 'listen'
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday, denied certiorari [orders, PDF] to consider the last remaining conviction of Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul, a Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee and former personal assistant to Osama bin Laden, who was tried and convicted by a military commission created after September 11, 2001.

Al Bahlul is reported to have taped recruitment videos and the wills [Reuters report] of some of the hijackers who were responsible for the September 11 attacks. Al Bahlul was convicted in 2007 of providing material support for terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and solicitation of others to commit war crimes. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] overturned [JURIST report] all but the conspiracy convictions in July 2014. The court remanded the conspiracy charge back to the Court of Military Commission Review.

Upon appeal, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit initially struck down [opinion, PDF] the conspiracy conviction in a 2-1 decision in June 2015 stating that Congress does not possess the constitutional authority to add conspiracy to the internationally recognized war crimes list that may be tried by military commission. However, upon request for reconsideration by the Obama administration to the full appeals court, the full bench of the DC Circuit changed track and ruled 6-3 [JURIST report] that foreign nations do not have a de facto veto power over Congressional determination of which war crimes may be considered by a military tribunal.
They are like the infamous images from Abu Ghraib prison, only worse. Iraqi civilians in Mosul facing rape, torture and murder from members of their own army who had retaken the city from the Islamic State.

"They are the most sinister, upsetting pictures I have seen in my entire life," the veteran BBC war correspondent Jeremy Bowen said of the images taken by Kurdish photographer Ali Arkady.

This weekend the brutal series of pictures called "Kissing Death" Arkady took last year while embedded with members of an Iraqi special forces unit, won France's top prize for war correspondents.

The photographs were not just "really strong" said Bowen, who chaired the Bayeux-Calvados jury, "they were evil".

But it wasn't only their content that disturbed the jury. Arkady, 34, admitted to being pressured into hitting two suspects during a torture session to save his own skin, actions of which he said he was "not proud".

But other war photographers asked whether a line had been crossed?

While Bowen insisted that "the service he did by taking those pictures is more powerful that the fact he made some mistakes", others were not so sure.

Another member of the jury, who asked not be named, told AFP that he was disturbed by the ethical issues the "shocking" pictures raised.

"The story is not clear. A lot of people think he has been very brave in telling this story... but I think we are not sending the right message in rewarding this type of work," he added.

- 'He admitted his mistakes' -

Arkady was forced to flee Iraq with his family earlier this year, bringing with him images and films which he said proved war crimes were committed by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) which he had followed for two months.

Arkady said he kept working with the unit after the torture began partly from guilt because he had painted the soldiers as heroes in an earlier report for the US television network, ABC.

"What began for Ali as a positive story about Shia and Sunni Iraqi soldiers fighting on the same side against a mutual enemy, turned into a horrific journey that included torture, rape, killing and thieving of innocent Iraqi civilians by the ERD," said the US-based photo agency, VII, who helped get him out of Iraq.

"I'd seen two heroes (the unit's commanders) do something bad," Arkady told AFP. "They started torturing people, raping women. Everything changed in my mind. I was confused. I decided to investigate more."

Bowen, who has spent decades reporting from the Middle East, said the fact that Arkady had exposed abuses that would otherwise have gone unreported was the overriding factor.

"I think it is very important he admitted the mistakes he made. In moral terms, he is not a torturer," he told AFP.

Award-winning British war photographer Sean Smith of The Guardian, who was not on the jury, said he "would not condemn" Arkady either.

For him, however, "the system which put him in that position -- where often inexperienced locally hired freelance 'stringers' provide the coverage" from dangerous war zones, is the real problem.

- 'Whole system compromised' -

"The whole thing has got so compromised because major news organisations are sending fewer and fewer experienced people," he said.

"There is no one there. Virtually all the coverage is coming from stringers and social media," he said.

Stringers often go "from not covering anything to covering extreme stuff. They just feed the machine" of photo agencies that want to show "they are still in the business even if they don't cover most things anymore.

"And then when something goes wrong, the guy becomes a scapegoat and everyone becomes very self-righteous."

VII co-founder Gary Knight told AFP that the agency did not know what Arkady had uncovered while he was working on the story.

"We did not pressure Ali to publish the images, the opposite is true," said Knight.

"We suggested that he think long and hard... because we knew that he would have to leave the country for his own security -- possibly forever -- if he did," he added.

Knight said he and the agency's other acclaimed war photographers Christopher Morris and Ron Haviv had mentored "Ali for years to offer him support and advice".

Smith said although Arkady should not have taken part in torture, photographers were sometimes put in desperate positions.

"If you go with people like that you can't say, 'I don't agree with what you are doing.' You blend in and disappear, you may even end up getting drunk with them."

For there is always "a very real danger you can end up dumped by the side of a road with a bullet in your head", he said.

fg-tsz/pvh/iw

KNIGHT CAPITAL GROUP
KEARNEY  In February 2016 as construction on the new Kearney High School was well on its way, members of the Kearney Public Schools Board of Education were excited by what they saw during a walk-through.

I think our community is going to be overwhelmed with pride when they see the finished product, said Angela Nickel, then president of the KPS Board. We care about our kids. We care about education, and I think this is going to be a shining star of that feeling we have as a community.

Monday during the monthly KPS Board meeting, the tone of comments had turned from excitement to disappointment as Superintendent Kent Edwards read a list of problems he said are plaguing the $75.4 million high school building: Poor drainage of the grounds; leaking roof and water damage; and failure by general contractor Sampson Construction to test systems in the building for correct performance  also called commissioning.

After a short discussion, the KPS Board adjourned to closed executive session for private discussions with legal counsel.

KPS Board President Dave Glover said that during the executive session the board discussed with our legal counsel the options we might have, and then concluded its meeting without a decision.

John Sampson, president of Sampson Construction, headquartered in Lincoln, provided a written response when asked about the KPS concerns.

Sampson wrote: We have the utmost respect for Kearney Public Schools, its board, administration, staff, students, and the Kearney community. We are working with KPS, the design team, and our subcontractors to resolve any outstanding issues. I can assure the KPS community that Sampson will continue to stand behind its work.

KPS officials said Monday night they have hired a firm to help determine how many and where deficiencies exist in the new building.

The district has engaged Vector Commissioning Services at the cost of approximately $50,000, and, as of today, they have found over 160 items that need addressed by the contractors, Edwards said. Vector is about halfway done with commissioning so the list is growing.

At the top of the list is KHSs crumbling parking lot, Edwards said. He said the KPS Board had specified in a change order that the lots concrete should be 6 inches thick, but core sample thicknesses range from 3.9 inches to 6.5 inches.

Edwards said although Sampson has proposed a solution for the parking lots, KPS countered with a proposal to replace some of the parking lots, seal areas with smaller issues and ask for a cash settlement for areas where the 6-inch thickness was not met.

The situation continues to get worse, board member Alex Straatmann said. I challenge anyone to stand in the northwest corner of that lot and find a spot that isnt broken up.

Glover said KPS has been talking with Sampson for 17 months and is dissatisfied so far. We have been engaged in efforts to mitigate or resolve issues. We have not been able to find a process that has led us to a resolution.

Glover said KPS officials are worried about increasing financial costs to KPS taxpayers if problems at KHS arent resolved or they continue to develop.

KPS patrons in 2013 approved the $68 million bond issue to build the new KHS and an extra $7.5 million for a competition-size swim pool.

Weve reached a point where we dont know if we can reach a satisfactory resolution, Glover said.

Other board members expressed similar concerns.

Its very disappointing. We dont feel like were getting anywhere, Nickel said.

It should have been more than evident to them how important the commissioning was to us, Straatmann said.

You choose a reputable contractor like Sampson, and they dont stand behind their work, board member Kathy Gifford said.

Sampson Construction turned over the new 340,400-square-foot KHS building to KPS in July 2016. According to the Sampson website, work continued in the building to fine-tune systems and work on final details.

Sampson completed the school in less than two years, and KPS dedicated it on Aug. 15, 2016.
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FILE - In this April 4, 2017, file photo, actor Alec Baldwin appears at Barnes & Noble Union Square to sign copies of his new book, "Nevertheless: A Memoir" in New York. Strange as it seems, Iowa Democrats can expect to see Donald Trump at the state party's annual marquee fundraiser on Nov. 27. That is, in the form of actor Baldwin, the walking parody of the Republican president. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this March 2, 2014 file photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Oscars in Los Angeles. Weinstein has been fired from The Weinstein Co., effective immediately, following new information revealed regarding his conduct, the company's board of directors announced Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Las Vegas: 59 dead, 500+ injured. I worry about our medical colleagues who will suffer tremendously while treating the injured; they will be wracked with guilt for the patients they could not help and false back to the horror of that night and the ensuing days and weeks caring for the living. We must find ways to support each other help them cope as well as looking for sensible solutions.

My son was 18 months old when the Columbine shootings took place. The school and nearby park were where we spent many hours playing. I was shocked, and grief-stricken. I had friends whose children were trapped at the school, and others whose children escaped. Watching the images  of my neighborhood, my park, my community surrounded by police, with students marching out of the school  was gut-wrenching.

That was where my baby played on the swings, dug in the sand, ran joyously over the hills. How could this be happening? Helicopters, police in riot gear, weeping children and adults, gathering where he chased butterflies. Bodies lying on the ground, blood seeping slowly, people huddled in the bushes where we played hide-and-seek.

We cared for several of the injured children at Denvers Childrens Hospital. These children returned days, weeks, months later for additional surgery, anesthesia, therapy, and pain management. We grieved at their setbacks and rejoiced in their triumphs. Maybe now, we thought, something will be done, changes will be made. Somehow we can prevent guns from getting into the hands of the wrong people. We can recognize and adequately treat mental illness; we can prevent bullying. We can do something.

Several years later, Childrens Hospital moved to a new campus at the former Fitzsimmons Army base, in Aurora. I left work one night, drove past the nearby mall and movie theatre, and returned to work the next day to find a world gone crazy. During a midnight showing of the new Batman movie, someone had walked into the theater and shot people. I heard about it when I got up in the morning, on the way into work, driving past the movie theater. We received several patients from that massacre. University Hospital got most of them.

My colleagues who had been on call that night were still there, shell-shocked, grappling with disbelief. We mourned, wept, remained professional, took care of our patients, and helped mop up. We shook our heads at the frailty and strength of the human body, and at the incomprehensible human brain that could be capable of committing and justifying such actions.

We worried about each other and our colleagues at the University Hospital. Some got counseling; others coped by talking to one another. A few struggled profoundly and a few never truly recovered.

Now there have been more shootings, worse shootings. And always, there is blame, anger, finger-pointing, and nothing changes. We live with the sorrow and keep trying to take the best possible care of our patients.

The horror is a living, palpable presence that doesnt go away. It fades but returns unexpectedly at random times, or whenever massacres happen again  and again  and again. Most of us find ways to cope and live our lives; some dont. Most of us are changed in ways both profound and subtle. I think about both Columbine and Aurora all the time, the patients, the murdered, the first responders the medical professionals who care for these patients in the short and long-term, the heroes and bystanders. My family and I returned to our park often, visited the memorials, and drove by the movie theater.

Sensible solutions must be possible. We are all intelligent, caring people and physicians. Some of us own guns, and some of us dont. Some think banning certain kinds of weapons is the answer; others think banning large-capacity magazines and improving background checks will help. Many believe that people on the Terrorist Screening Centers No Fly List should be barred from buying guns, and many believe that guns are not the problem. Diagnosing and adequately treating mental illness is a mandatory part of any solution, but the stigma and lack of resources are crippling.

Whether you believe in the unlimited right to buy whatever weapon you wish, or you believe that there should be limits, Im sure no one wants to see more of these murders. Our lawmakers in Washington cant seem to help; they have voted down all proposed gun control regulations from both parties.

How about studying the causes and effects of gun violence? Why is there so little research? Why dont the scientists at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), do more? The CDCs Division of Violence Prevention doesnt even mention the subject.

The answer is simple: because in 1997 Congress stripped the CDC of its funding for gun violence research, and then passed a measure (known as the Dickey Amendment) forbidding the CDC to spend any funds to advocate or promote gun control. While the CDC is allowed to track firearms-related deaths, it has not been able to perform any meaningful research since 2001.

Though President Obama instructed the CDC to resume research after the Newtown massacre, Congress has not restored funding. Researchers have moved on to other areas, and people continue to die.

Calling gun violence a public health crisis, the AMA is asked Congress to restore funding and promote research about gun violence in 2016. This should be a first step. How can we treat that which we do not understand? It is time to stop the rhetoric formally study gun violence. What are the causes? How do we better recognize, diagnose and treat mental illness? What types of mental illness makes a person susceptible to behaving in this heinous and inhumane manner? How can we reduce the harm caused by gun violence in general? We study everything else  why not this? This problem, while not unique to this country, is certainly much more prevalent here than anywhere else in the civilized world. Is this what we want? Is this what our Founding Fathers wanted?

I do know that Las Vegas will never be the same: the first responders, the concert goers, the community, the physicians, the health care providers, the bystanders, and the public. We cant keep letting the next worst mass shooting in the U.S. occur. We must work together to find solutions.

Rita Agarwal is a pediatric anesthesiologist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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On the porch.

Its that time of year again, when we escape from the heat of New York City summers, and head to New Hampshire, to the Central Lakes District, where my wifes family has had a house perched out over the clear waters of Newfound Lake for over 120 years.

Its a small wooden house, with barely enough room for all of us squeezed in, painted bright yellow and orange, with a beautiful porch that allows for perfect viewings of the sunset on the lake beyond the mountains across from us.

Despite being empty-nesters this year, my wife and I had planned to come up for the week to rest, relax, recharge, bringing our dog Winchester with us.

When our children heard we were coming up without them, they arranged conveniently to have their summer jobs end right at the time we were scheduled to come up, so they could join us from their respective cities (Portland and Chicago).

We have things we like to do every summer, physical and emotional touchstones we like to get to each year, hikes we like to take, swimming in the lake, restaurants and favorite bakeries or coffee shops that we remember, that weve been coming to for at least 20 years.

But mostly its that chance to unwind, to sleep a little late, to eat a little too much, to drink a lot of coffee, and even have a glass of red wine on the porch watching the sunset.

With all of us sitting on the porch, Winchester usually finds a place to park in between someones legs or on the old couch, and take in all the stimulation that he, as a city dog, doesnt get through most of the year.

One of the things that baffles him the most is ducks.

Several times during every session we have on the porch, whether eating breakfast, lunch, or cocktails before sunset, a small group of ducks will come floating by the house, looking for fish or breadcrumbs.

At this point, the ferocious hunter in him comes out, and he becomes apoplectic trying to get at them.

He is, after all, a terrier, bred to hunt, bred to chase down ferrets and rats and badgers into holes under the barn, and the idea of some wild creature coming close to his territory sends him into a genetically predetermined rage.

His entire body quivers with rage, and hes desperate to get at them. Unfortunately, he is afraid of the water. He struggles to get at them, barking and barking, his back legs shaking, waiting to propel him forward, but he is restrained by three things: the porch railing, the fact that we are 20 feet above the water, and the fact that hes afraid of the water.

He stands, shoulder deep with his head between the porch railings, barking with fury until the ducks swim peacefully out of sight.

We often joke about what it would be like if he could fit through the porch railings, if he could leap into the waters below, if he liked to swim, and then what he would do with the duck once he got it.

This is how I think about where we are with our battle to change the health care system in our country.

We have railed against the injustices, the inequality, the fractured care, the bureaucratic nonsense, the electronic health record that gets in our way, so many things that we want to be better, to help us better take care of our patients.

But how far have we moved towards actually making a difference, actually fixing all of these things?

Every incremental change we make, every new idea, every pilot project, every change in our workflow, every redesign of the team, seems to inch us incrementally along the path towards a truly better health care system.

But, like Winchester, I think we are held back by the fact that we are afraid to turn our shoulders to the side and slip through and past the railings, to leap through the air to the water below, to swim after the ducks and to finally catch them.

In the year ahead, as we continue to work on creating a more patient-centered health care system, I think we need to continue to try and fix whats broken, piece by piece, finding better ways to do things, finding better ways to bring back the joy of practicing medicine to those of us on the front lines, across all fields of health care.

But we need to bravely think about slipping our shoulders through the railings, leaping off the porch, diving into the cool waters below, and swimming after the really big prize of the health care system our country deserves.

Fred N. Pelzman is an associate professor of medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital and associate director, Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates, New York City, NY. He blogs at MedPage Todays Building the Patient-Centered Medical Home.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
If it seems like the number of record-breaking and other noteworthy diamonds discovered has been increasing in recent years, its because they are. Over the last nine years 66 press-released-diamonds were recovered, and 61 of those have been found within the last five years.

These diamonds were considered special enough that the company that discovered them subsequently issued a press release to announce the occasion.

For publicly traded companies, securities laws generally require notifying the public when a material event occurs. In this case material typically means information that will have an impact on the company's stock price, or the announcement will likely change the perceived value of the companys stock. Given the unusual asymmetric valuation of diamonds compared to other commodities, for a diamond miner, a material event could include the discovery of a single very-valuable diamond.

The greater the value of the diamond recovered and the smaller the size of the company, the more material a diamond discovery is to a particular company.

A good example was when Lucara recovered the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona in November 2015. At the time of the discovery the market cap of Lucara was just over $500M and the perceived value of the diamond was upwards of $75M, or 15% of the value of the whole company. When Lucapa Diamond (ASX: LOM) discovered a pure 404-carat stone in February 2016 the situation was similar. The market cap of the company was under $100M but the diamond was worth over $15M.



Letseng mine in Lesotho. Source: Gem Diamonds

Over just the last 2-years multiple historic gems have been found. In addition to the Lesedi, Lucara also found an 813-carat stone the same weekend, which later sold for $63M, making it the most expensive rough diamond ever sold (The Lesedi sold for $53M).

The aforementioned 404-carat diamond that Lucapa recovered was the largest ever found in Angola. In December 2015, Rio Tinto recovered a 187-carat diamond at its Diavik mine in Canada, the largest gem-diamond ever found in North America. And just last month ALROSA produced a 28-carat fancy-pink diamond (see image below), the largest of its kind ever found in Russia.

Lucaras Karowe mine in Botswana, the source of the Lesedi and 813-carat Constellation is relatively new having commenced production in the summer of 2012. The company has continually worked to enhance the successful recovery of large-diamonds. Just this summer the mines processing plant was fitted with industry-leading technology aimed at identifying and recovering mega-stones without breakage.

However, current large-diamond recovery technology still has its limits. Breakage during processing has been an ongoing challenge for Gem Diamonds (LSE: GEMD), owner of the Letseng mine in Lesotho, another primary source of the worlds large diamonds. During the companys most recent analyst call in August, management gave average-price-per-carat guidance that included a breakage rate of 80%, saying that while ameliorating breakage has been a priority, the results have been disappointing due to the limitations of current technology.



27.85 carat pink diamond recovered by ALROSA in 2017. Source: ALROSA

Lucapa commenced commercial production at its alluvial Lulo mine in January 2015. Last year, Lulo diamonds averaged $2,983 per carat, the highest average-price-per-carat figure in the world for a commercial operation, but the mine only produced 19,800 carats.

Over the last 3 years Lucapa press released 15 diamond recoveries, more than any other company, despite being one of the smallest publicly-traded diamond miners by market capitalization.

Gem Diamonds Letseng mine produced 108,000 carats last year at an average-price-per-carat of $1,695, giving it the highest figure for a non-alluvial mine. The company has already produced 6 press-released diamonds in 2017 including 4 colorless diamonds in excess of 100 carats.



29.6-carat blue diamond recovered by Petra Diamonds in 2014. Source: Petra Diamonds

Lucaras Karowe mine had an average-price-per-carat of $824 last year, producing 354,000 carats. Over the last year Lucara has been mostly processing Karowe tailings and has not produced any press-release-worthy diamonds, as torrential rain, a new contract miner, and increased waste-rock removal limited mining. However, with a processing plant upgrade now complete the company is well positioned to resume mining Karowes South Lobe, the portion of the ore body that produced the Lesedi and Constellation.

Petra Diamonds (LSE: PDL) Cullinan mine in South Africa is perhaps the prolific source of special diamonds in history. The mine has been in production since 1903 and is the source of the Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough diamond ever recovered at 3,106 carats, which resides in the British Crown Jewels. In January 2014, a 29.6 carat vivid blue diamond with extraordinary saturation, tone and clarity was recovered from the mine (see image above), and as recently as last year the mine produced 2 "newsworthy" white diamonds, both over 100 carats.

It's important to note that while serving as a proxy for spectacular diamonds recoveries, press releases are not a conclusive database. Some companies are more aggressive than others with regards to publicizing specific recoveries and some producers do not announce individual recoveries at all.

The second-largest diversified miner in the world, Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO), has only press released one rough diamond recovery in recent years despite being the sole-owner of the Argyle mine, the world's primary source for ultra-valuable pink, purple and red diamonds. Instead Rio has press released the dates and offerings of its special Pink Diamond Tenders in two of the last three years, in essence debuting more than a year of production at once. In 2015 the special tender included 65 diamonds, this year the tender includes 58 diamonds, but the company has specifically highlighted a 2.11 (polished) fancy-red, the largest high-quality red diamond ever recovered.



104 carat D-color Type IIa diamond recovered by Lucapa in 2016. Source: Lucapa Diamonds

Russias ALROSA didnt press release special diamond recoveries until they publicly offered a minority stake of the company in the fall of 2013, and subsequently increased financial reporting transparency. The largest diamond producer in the world by value, De Beers, does not announce the recovery of special diamonds, nor does its parent Anglo American (LSE: AAL). Privately held diamond mining companies and governments rarely publicize the recovery of individual diamonds.

More detailed data on all 66 press-released diamonds over the last 9 years can be found here.
HONG KONG, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's securities regulator plans to implement a real-time investor identification system for "northbound" stock trading around mid 2018, its chief executive said on Tuesday, in a move aimed at detecting potential misconduct.

Northbound stock trading means foreign investors will be able to buy and sell Chinese stocks via two-way trading between stock markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai and Shenzhen, as part of Beijing's efforts to open up capital markets.

The regulator sees "enormous" potential for trading of risk management products in the Asian financial hub, said Ashley Alder, CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission, while speaking at the Thomson Reuters Pan-Asian Regulatory Summit in Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Elzio Barreto and James Pomfret; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
By Swati Pandey

SYDNEY, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The New Zealand dollar hovered near four-month lows on Tuesday on concerns the country's opposition Labour Party stood a fair chance at forming a ruling coalition after a final vote count turned the country's nail-biting election in its favour.

The New Zealand dollar held at $0.7065, within spitting distance of Monday's low of $0.7052 - a level not seen since late May. The kiwi has fallen in eight out of the last 10 sessions.

The final vote released over the weekend showed the incumbent National Party lost some ground to the centre-left Labour-Green bloc, compared with the preliminary tally announced on the Sept. 23 poll day.

Labour and the Greens now have 54 seats giving them greater bargaining power, analysts said.

National has 56 seats while the small conservative New Zealand First has cornered nine seats - leaving it in a pivotal position to meet the 61 seats needed for a majority in parliament. New Zealand First boss Winston Peters is holding multiple talks with National and Labour leaders and is expected to announce his allegiance later this week.

"In our view, the weekend transfer of two seats makes it more likely that New Zealand First will now form a coalition government with Labour/Green rather than with the governing National party," said Sean Keane, a director at Triple T Consulting.

"Their combined representation will provide that coalition with a three-seat majority in the New Zealand Parliament, and that should be more comfortable for Peters than the one seat majority that such a coalition would have held previously."

Economists say a Labour win might lead to further losses in the kiwi, with curbs on immigration and trade renegotiations on its agenda, while the currency would likely rally if Prime Minister Bill English emerges victorious.

Across the Tasman, the Australian dollar was a touch firmer at $0.7768 after three straight days of losses, but still within sight of a three-month trough of $0.7733 set last week.

The Aussie was supported by a private survey that showed Australian business conditions held at its highest since early 2008 in September with strength in construction and mining lifting sales and profits. The currency has slid 3.5 percent since hitting a more than two-year peak of $0.8125 last month as U.S. policymakers look to unwind stimulus, a contrast to Australia where rates are expected to remain at record lows for months to come.

New Zealand government bonds slipped, sending yields 2.5 basis points higher at the long-end of the curve.

Australian government bond futures eased, with the three-year bond contract down 2 ticks at 97.84 The 10-year contract fell 1 tick to 97.1400.

(Editing by Sam Holmes)
(Updates to close)

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended flat amid thin trade on Tuesday as a rally in smaller miners was offset by losses in financial stocks, which reversed the day's earlier gains.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.02 percent, or 1.158 points, to close at 5,738.1. The benchmark rose 0.5 percent on Monday.

Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to its highest in more than a week, helping the Australian gold index close up 1.2 percent. Saracen Mineral Holdings led the gains on the main index, ending up 3.7 percent while Regis Resources ended 2.7 percent higher, at its highest in over two weeks.

Western Areas rose 2.5 percent as prices of base metals like nickel were firmer. On the other hand, larger miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto ended 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent lower, respectively, with iron ore traded in major market China slipping 2.5 percent. The financial index rose as much as 0.3 percent early in the day before ending 0.1 percent lower as lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia National Australia Bank fell 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Gaming machine maker Aristocrat Leisure pushed the benchmark up the most as it rose 2.8 percent to its highest in two months.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent, or 27.53 points, to finish the session at 8,037.81 on comments by the leader of the kingmaker New Zealand First party regarding the Kiwi dollar.

As the political impasse in Wellington continued, Winston Peters said on Monday that the island nation's exporters should welcome the Kiwi's decline to the four month low it touched at the start of the week. The Kiwi fell to $0.7052 on Monday before recovering to trade at $0.7063 on Tuesday afternoon.

Dairy major A2 Milk was the top gainer and pushed the index up the most, rising 3.3 percent.

Conversely, Fletcher Building resumed its slide after rising on Monday, shedding 1.5 percent.

The home builder and construction material maker has fallen over five of the last six sessions.

(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Nikhil Nainan; Editing by Sam Holmes)
By Christopher Spink

LONDON, Oct 10 (IFR) - Any incoming regime in Venezuela replacing President Nicolas Maduro will have to consider how to gain temporary relief from paying its creditors without giving them legal grounds to accelerate their outstanding debts, according to legal experts.

One solution will be to create "some form of temporary standstill on creditor actions", according to Lee Buchheit, partner at law firm Cleary Gottlieb, and Mitu Gulati, law professor at Duke University.

Venezuela is struggling to service debts with a combined face value of US$63bn after a collapse in oil prices left it with dwindling revenues and a huge fiscal shortfall. Talks are already being carried out bilaterally between Venezuela and its sovereign creditors, China and Russia, which are owed US$37.2bn between them, but policy-makers in the country still face complex challenges to find a long-term solution.

In an article for FT Alphaville, Buchheit and Gulati acknowledge that their earlier idea of persuading holders of Venezuelan sovereign bonds and those of state-owned oil company PDVSA simply to extend the maturities of their instruments while keeping most other terms the same, may not be workable in this situation. Voter thresholds of up to 100% are too high in the bonds.

Instead they say a standstill mechanism would be best approved by a "bare majority of the holders of each instrument" or two-thirds of each republic bond, since the latter have collective action clauses that can sweep up holdouts from such votes. That level of votes is enough to amend the voting threshold to allow an acceleration of the bonds from 25% plus one to a higher level.

Buchheit and Gulati suggest this could be used as soon as a new administration takes over to lift voting thresholds to over 50% for six months to allow the regime, and outside bodies like the IMF, to assess the situation and then propose a more lasting debt restructuring. This would stop accelerations during this six-month period if principal or interest is unpaid in that time, unless a majority opted to do so.

This contrasts with a plan put out by Mark Walker, former lead adviser to Greece for Lazard during the country's 200bn debt restructuring in 2012 and now managing director at Millstein & Co. He and Richard Cooper, another partner at Cleary Gottlieb, suggested that a new Venezuelan regime should put PDVSA into bankruptcy protection, either through US Chapter 15 or another regime, before defaulting.

"Our preference is to look for solutions that can be implemented in a manner consistent with the underlying legal instruments rather than jettison the contracts in favour of more adventuresome approaches such as trying to jury-rig a bankruptcy proceeding in one jurisdiction or another," Buchheit and Gulati wrote.

Buchheit also advised Greece on its debt restructuring in 2012.

(Reporting by Christopher Spink)
SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - China stocks edged up on Tuesday, erasing early losses thanks mainly to gains in consumer and healthcare shares as investors awaited third-quarter economic data and earnings reports.

The blue-chip CSI300 index , which at one point was down 0.7 percent, rose 0.2 percent, to 3,889.86 points.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3 percent to 3,382.99 points.

Economic data in coming weeks is expected to show solid growth continued into September, though many China watchers maintain there will be some loss of momentum in coming months in response to higher borrowing costs and a cooling housing market. Wang Jun, a strategist at Hua Chuang Securities, expected markets to be stable ahead of a key Communist Party Congress starting on Oct. 18. The twice-a-decade event will see a leadership reshuffle and discussions on long-term political and economic priorities.

There was muted reaction to comments from the Statistics Bureau on Tuesday that China will have no problem meeting its economic growth target of around 6.5 percent this year, and may even beat it. Such an outcome had been widely expected after the year's robust start.

Sector performance was mixed on Tuesday.

Defensive consumer and healthcare stocks led the gains, after the government vowed to deepen medical reforms, while material and energy plays retreated amid a widespread correction in the commodities market.

Shenzhen-listed chemical maker Fangda Jinhua Chemical Technology Co Ltd kicked off the quarterly earnings season with a 187 percent surge in nine-month profit.

But the stock ended 1.7 percent lower, as traders said a strong showing had already been priced in.

(Reporting by Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
By Samuel Shen and John Ruwitch

SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Hobbled by the yuan's unexpected surge this year, more Chinese companies are trading currency derivatives to hedge risks, although many mainland firms remain exposed to swings in China's increasingly volatile currency.

Companies in China have for years been accustomed to a stable yuan that moved in one direction for long periods of time. Yuan hedging markets are still in their infancy, stymied by the central bank's stringent requirements for hedging and the limited participation of speculators and large state-owned firms, which could make markets more liquid.

But that is changing. Volatility has risen steadily since 2015 after the People's Bank of China decided to let market forces have a bigger sway in the yuan's direction, clamped down on capital flows and, more recently, introduced more opacity in the way it sets the currency's value.

The yuan slumped 6.5 percent against the U.S. dollar in 2016, but has unexpectedly reversed course this year, surging 5.3 percent so far.

More than 70 China-listed companies have announced plans this year to use derivatives for risk-hedging, according to Reuters' calculations based on exchange filings. Among them, 27 firms are trading yuan forwards, swaps or options for the first time.

"Last year, when the yuan was falling, there was no need to hedge, because depreciation was on our side," Jiang Tao, an investor relations official at Shenzhen Yuto Packaging Technology Co , told Reuters.

The Chinese exporter of gift boxes and stickers is one of the 70 companies reviewed and generates over 60 percent of its revenue overseas. In the first half of this year, it posted a 47.5 million yuan currency loss due to a stronger yuan.

It says the less predictable currency trends have prompted it to use derivatives this year to hedge risks.

Although Reuters' calculations are not exhaustive, with some companies not disclosing their use of derivatives, it nonetheless shows a rising interest in hedging currency risks. Between 2012 and 2014, only about 30 companies each year announced hedging plans, but that number jumped to 68 last year.

"It's more about mentality, than about competence," said Oliver Rui, Professor of Finance and Accounting at business school CEIBS.

Rui, who sits on the boards of several Chinese companies as an independent director, said most firms are not used to hedging because the yuan has only become more volatile in recent years.

Corporate China's still evolving risk-management culture, however, poses a dilemma for Beijing, which has been under international pressure to liberalise the yuan while also seeking to prevent destabilising currency swings.

EXPORTER COMPLACENCY

China has seen a rise in foreign exchange transaction volumes between banks and clients, a barometer of companies' hedging activities, which has tracked increasing volatility in the yuan over the past six months.

But that monthly turnover of around $500 million is tiny for the world's second biggest economy, which has an annual trade turnover of $3.7 trillion yuan, as well as increasing offshore financing and investment activities. Several local companies have turned to overseas derivatives market, such as Hong Kong's yuan futures, or non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).

A lack of participation by China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the derivatives market has also kept volumes low. Many such firms were barred from being too active in the onshore yuan market after incurring losses in overseas derivatives during the 2007-08 global financial crisis.

For export-oriented manufacturers such as Shenzhen Yuto Packaging Technology Co., a strong yuan has meant weaker dollar income.

According to an estimate by brokerage Minsheng Securities, China's listed manufacturers recorded currency losses totaling 8 billion yuan ($1.20 billion) during the first six months, equivalent to 1 percent of their combined net profit. Nearly 1,400 listed firms in the sector said they suffered.

Shandong Laiwu Jinlei Wind Power Technology Co is another firm making its debut in the currency derivatives market. It last month announced plans to conduct hedging worth up to $40 million for 2017.

Others, such as Kingclean Electric , have been stung by unhedged positions. The home appliance maker, dubbed "the King of Cleanliness", booked a 62.9 million yuan currency loss in the first half and as a result posted a meager 2 percent net profit gain despite a 37 percent surge in sales.

Liu Zheng, an analyst at Zheshang Securities Co, pointed to Kingclean's U.S. dollar cash pile, worth more than $400 million at the end of June, which he says was unhedged. The company didn't return emailed requests for comments.

"Apparently, the company was betting that yuan would depreciate further, following last year's tumble," Liu said.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ China's corporate hedging volumes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Winni Zhou; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Sam Holmes)
(Adds Qualcomm, Mossi Ghisolfi, Royal Dutch Shell, Cinven, Trading Technologies; Updates Pfizer, Honeywell, Express Scripts)

Oct 10 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday:

** JPMorgan Chase & Co and Temasek Holdings have led a $100 million investment in Bill.com, a Palo Alto, California-based company that helps businesses digitize their payments. ** Brookfield Asset Management's Public Securities Group (PSG) has agreed to buy Center Coast Capital Holdings (CCC), an energy infrastructure-focused investment firm, for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement. ** EU antitrust regulators are expected to clear without conditions Italian infrastructure group Atlantia's bid for Spanish Abertis to create the world's largest toll-road operator, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. ** Express Scripts Holding Co said on Tuesday it would buy privately held specialty healthcare benefits manager eviCore healthcare for $3.6 billion to bolster its medical benefits management business amid the threat of losing a major client. ** The Finnish government fully supports state-controlled utility Fortum's bid for Uniper despite the German firm's investment in Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Economy Minister Mika Lintila said. ** Air France signed a new joint venture deal with Vietnam Airlines and said it was in advanced talks with India's Jet Airways over a partnership as part of efforts to boost its long-haul network. ** Russian tycoons Mikhail Prokhorov and Viktor Vekselberg are selling a 3-percent stake in Russian aluminium giant Rusal via accelerated bookbuilding (ABB), one of their bookrunners said. ** Honeywell International Inc said Tuesday it will focus on fewer business lines, including aerospace, and use spin offs of two other businesses to help fund acquisitions. ** China Power International Development Ltd said it would buy clean energy assets from its state-owned parent State Power Investment Corp (SPIC) for 4.97 billion yuan ($750.4 million), accelerating a push away from coal-fired generation. ** Italian utility Enel said it had sold a 10 percent stake in Indonesian coal producer PT Bayan Resources Tbk for $85 million in cash. ** Whitbread's Costa coffee chain is buying the 49 percent of a joint venture in south China held by Yueda Group to bolster its presence in the country, the British firm said. ** Pfizer said on Tuesday it was considering the sale or spin-off of its consumer healthcare business, shaking up the industry and potentially putting a headache pill to lip balm operation worth some $15 billion up for grabs. ** U.S. smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm has offered to buy NXP Semiconductors without some of its patents in a bid to win EU antitrust regulatory approval for the $38 billion deal, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. ** Italian bioplastics multinational Mossi Ghisolfi is considering selling its Italian business in the biofuels sector as part of a restructuring deal, a source close to the matter said. ** Royal Dutch Shell is seeking to sell its 17 percent stake in the Mukhaizna oil field in Oman, which could fetch up to $200 million, banking sources said. ** Buyout group Cinven is close to the sale of the German industrial ceramics group Ceramtec to BC Partners, two sources close to the matter said on Tuesday. ** Trading software provider Trading Technologies International Inc said on Tuesday it has acquired Neurensic LLC, a startup that uses artificial intelligence for market surveillance and compliance, for an undisclosed amount. (Compiled by Arunima Banerjee, Arjun Panchadar and Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru)
(Kitco News) - Are diamonds the new safe-haven hedge against volatility? This Singapores exchange thinks so.

Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange (SDiX) has introduced a credit card-sized package of diamonds for those risk-off investors who want to protect themselves against any market instability.

A diamond has absolutely zero correlation with any other asset class, whether its commodities, bonds, equities. Its a store of wealth, its a hedge against volatility and you need that in your portfolio, Alain Vandenborre, executive chairman of the exchange, said on Tuesday.

The new format allows traders to invest in diamonds as they do in gold.

Until now, there was no way people could invest in diamonds in the form which is equivalent to investing in gold, Vandenborre pointed out.

The exchange attempts to simplify diamond investment by selling what it calls Diamond Bullion  sets of investment-grade polished precious stones that come in denominations of about $100,000 and $200,000 each.

Vandenborre recognizes that diamond investment can be complicated, as all gems are different in color, cut, clarity and carat. But, he is certain that with the Diamond Bullion, precious stones can be the new gold.

The precious stones offered on the exchange are issued by the Singapore Diamond Mint Co. and are sourced from the wholesale market through De Beers and Alrosa. All gems are also in the top five levels of color and clarity, Bloomberg quoted Vandenborre as saying.

The SDiX plans to expand its product in the future by listing other denominations as well.

As of now, the Diamond Bullion is tradeable, with real-time pricing available online, according to the exchange.

SDiX was launched in May 2016 as the world's first fully electronic diamond exchange.
Oct 10 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has built a stake in artificial hip and knee maker Smith & Nephew Plc , Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

It is unclear how much stake the activist investor owns or what it plans to push for at the company, according to the Bloomberg report. ( )

"We do not comment on rumour or speculation and we do not comment on the identity of our investors other than those publicly disclosed," Smith & Nephew said in an emailed statement.

Elliott declined to comment.

London-based Smith & Nephew said on Monday its CEO Olivier Bohuon would retire by the end of next year and that the board is currently scouting for a successor.

Smith & Nephew's U.S.-listed shares rose as much as 11.87 percent on Tuesday to a record high of $40.43.

The company, which competes against larger U.S. rivals in the orthopedic replacement market, is battling to bring new technology on-stream to help it win business, with robotics as a key area of innovation. (Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 10 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed support on Tuesday for European Central Bank (ECB) proposals that would force banks to set aside more cash against newly classified bad loans from 2018.

"I can only support the ECB with its position. A large majority of European finance ministers also supported (ECB chief Mario) Draghi on this point," he said after a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg.

Schaeuble also said Spain had developed "wonderfully" in the last few years. "I would like this development to continue within the framework of the Spanish constitution," he added.

(Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Michael Nienaber)
BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The German government will raise its forecast for economic growth this year to 2.0 percent, a sharp increase from an earlier estimate of 1.5 percent, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Berlin also plans to lift its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth next year to 1.9 percent from an earlier forecast of 1.6 percent, the person familiar with the projections said.

Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries will present the government's updated growth forecasts on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Michelle Martin)
* Global capacity down just 0.6 percent to 2.36 bln T - OECD

* Excess capacity still nearly double what is needed

* 40 mln T capacity additions underway for 2017/19

* New capacity undermines cuts in China, threatens prices

By Maytaal Angel

LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The global steel sector's recovery from a glut-fuelled slump, driven by Chinese capacity cuts, is being put at risk by surplus capacity being built in the Middle East and Asia, sources and experts say.

Figures from China show it has cut nearly 100 million tonnes of legal steel capacity and 120 million tonnes of illegal low-grade capacity since last January, but industry analysis shows only marginal declines in overall capacity. According to the latest estimate from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global steel-making capacity stood at 2.36 billion tonnes in the first half of 2017, easing just 0.6 percent from 2.37 billion in 2016.

The figures are evolving and may not yet reflect the full extent of capacity reductions taking place, a source close to the OECD Steel Committee, which produced the estimates, said. But he also said the overall global overcapacity picture was worrisome.

"Excess capacity remains at alarmingly high levels," OECD Steel Committee chair Lieven Top said late last month, following the release of the estimates at its bi-annual meeting.

According to the OECD steel capacity report on which the estimates were based, some 23 million tonnes of potential output additions are underway in the Middle East, primarily Iran. These should come on stream during 2017-2019, with another 7 million tonnes planned for possible start-up during the period.

The extra capacity is headed in part for the export market given that the World Steel Association (worldsteel) estimates demand in the Middle East will grow by a total of just 3.7 million tonnes this year and next.

Iran, which became a net steel exporter for the first time last year, says it aims to export 20-25 million tonnes of steel annually by 2025, equivalent to almost a third the amount of steel China is set to export this year. "Frankly, any region that increases capacity poses a distinct risk to future steel pricing and profit," Alistair Ramsay, research director at Metal Bulletin Research, said.

SUSTAINING PROFITS

Experts say that to meet demand and sustain profits, the steel industry requires at most 400 million tonnes of spare capacity over and above the current 1.63 billion tonnes it produces each year. But with global production potential at 2.36 billion, the industry has some 730 million tonnes spare.

Despite this, the OECD report shows a total of nearly 40 million tonnes of capacity additions are underway and could come on stream in 2017-19, including the Middle East additions, and some additions in Asia.

The report also shows another 54.5 million tonnes of capacity is planned for possible start-up during the period, primarily in Asia, with some in the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Ukraine.

The numbers are gross estimates that do not take into account capacity cuts going forward, the OECD source said, but they still sound a note of caution for further investment.

"We do not expect sufficient global demand growth to justify the extent of capacity additions cited (in the OECD report). However, certain individual investments can still make sense, if very low cost or where they are best placed to serve local markets," CRU analyst Chris Houlden said.

Global steel prices have soared 50 percent since Jan 1, 2016, according to data from consultants MEPS.

Share prices of steel companies jumped 70 percent during the period, according to the Thomson Reuters Global Steel Index, with the sector seeing some high profile acquisitions like ArcelorMittal's 1.8 billion euro ($2.1 billion) offer for Italy's Ilva, Europe's largest and most troubled steel plant. CHINA BLAME GAME

Price rises have been driven by the Chinese capacity cuts, but these should wane going forward. The China Iron and Steel Association said the country had essentially completed its five-year target, set last year, to cut 100-150 million tonnes of excess capacity. Much of the blame for the global steel sector crisis of 2015 has been directed at China - producer of half the world's steel - with 121 duties in place globally on Chinese output as of end-June this year, a U.S. Department of Commerce report showed.

In the United States, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to take a tough line on what he says is unfairly traded Chinese steel, even launching an investigation into whether steel imports pose a risk to U.S. national security.

"Politicians in the West and western steel producers love to blame China for overcapacity, which is fair to an extent; but Chinese mills have shouldered most of the burden of capacity reductions in the last two years," Roger Bell, director of mining research at Hannam and Partners, said.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Changes in global steel capacity ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Veronica Brown and Jane Merriman)
By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - India's gold imports in September rose 31 percent from a year ago as jewellers increased their purchases ahead of a festival at the end of the month, provisional data from GFMS showed.

Higher purchases by India, the world's second-biggest consumer, could lend support to global prices that are trading near their highest level in a week. The higher imports may also widen the South Asian country's trade deficit.

The country's imports were 48 tonnes in September, Sudheesh Nambiath, a senior analyst with GFMS, a division of Thomson Reuters, said on Tuesday.

Much of the gain last month was simply due to the Indian holiday of Dussehra being celebrated on Sept. 30, rather than in October last year, as the holiday shifts since it is based on a lunar calendar.

Gold buying during Dussehra is considered auspicious.

"This year since Dussehra was advanced by a fortnight, import numbers for September are looking better than last year," said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank.

However, the September figure was lower than the monthly average for 2017 of 75 tonnes, because buyers were wary of purchasing gold since purchases were counted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) beginning in August.

"Dussehra demand was weak due to the PMLA," said the Mumbai dealer.

Indian jewellers thought the PMLA required them to keep records of customers' personal identification number or tax code for transactions above 50,000 rupees ($765.58), which limited gold sales by buyers hesitant to give the information.

Indian authorities on Friday withdrew the amendment that made jewellers subject to anti-money laundering legislation. Excluding the jewellery industry from the PMLA will help in reviving demand, but still sentiment is weak, said Ashok Jain, proprietor of Mumbai-based wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji.

Gold demand usually strengthens in the final quarter as Indians gears up for the wedding season as well as festivals such as Diwali and Dussehra.

The country's imports in October could rise above 70 tonnes as banks and other importers are increasing overseas purchases for the Diwali festival, said Nambiath of GFMS. The festival falls in the middle of October this year. ($1 = 65.3100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
* NSE index up 0.34 pct, BSE index 0.39 pct higher

* Infosys up 1.7 pct after shareholders approve buyback

* Q2 earnings in focus - analyst

By Samantha Kareen Nair

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Indian shares climbed on Tuesday, with Infosys Ltd gaining after its shareholders approved a buyback plan while Lupin Ltd rose after winning U.S. approval for its hypertension drug.

However, broader gains were limited as investors hedged their bets before corporate results kick in this week. Software bellwether Tata Consultancy Services Ltd reports on Thursday and index heavyweight Reliance Industries on Friday.

The July-September earnings will be viewed as a gauge to determine whether the current high valuations hold ground after a record-setting rally this year.

"Going ahead, earnings revival is absolutely critical for the current market valuations to sustain. Any disappointment can impact market sentiment given that second quarters are generally cyclical and could be impacted by factors like monsoon," said Teena Virmani, vice president, Kotak Securities.

The broader NSE index was up 0.34 percent at 10,023.1 as of 0534 GMT, while the benchmark BSE index was 0.39 percent higher at 31,969.87.

Infosys was up 1.7 percent to be the top percentage gainer on the Nifty IT index , which gained as much as 0.86 percent to its highest since Aug. 17. Shareholders of India's second-biggest IT firm on Monday approved a 130-billion-rupee ($1.99 billion) buyback plan. Drugmaker Lupin jumped to its highest since July 31, rising as much as 3 percent, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its generic drug to treat hypertension. Among other gainers, Adani Transmission Ltd hit the 10-percent upper circuit after the company entered into an exclusivity period with Reliance Infrastructure to discuss the proposed acquisition of the latter's Mumbai city power business. ($1 = 65.2650 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Samantha Kareen Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
DUBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Investment Corp of Dubai, the Dubai government's main investment arm, plans to tap its 4.625 percent bonds maturing in 2024, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed on Tuesday. Initial price guidance is in the 4.15 percent area.

Under a bond tap, an existing transaction is reopened for subscription, using the same documentation as before.

Emirates NBD Capital and Standard Chartered Bank are joint bookrunners on the deal, the size and price of which is to be determined later on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Andrew Torchia)
DUBLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Ireland's Finance Minister more than tripled the amount of money available for tax cuts and spending increases announced in Tuesday's budget for 2018 by raising additional revenue elsewhere. Paschal Donohoe initially had just 350 million euros in spare resources but boosted the final package to 1.2 billion euros. "I am raising additional revenues of the order of 830 million euros, giving a total budget day package of 1.2 billion euros," Donohoe told parliament in his first budget speech as finance minister.



(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by John Stonestreet)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
DUBLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Ireland is to allocate up to 300 million euros to provide loans at competitive rates to small businesses impacted by Brexit, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe announced on Tuesday. Ireland, which after Brexit will have the European Union's only land border with the United Kingdom, is widely seen as the EU country most exposed to the fall-out from Britain's leaving the bloc in 2019.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
NAIROBI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that a re-run of August's nullified presidential election would go ahead as planned on Oct. 26 after opposition leader Raila Odinga said he was withdrawing from the "unfair" race.

"We have no problem going back to elections. We are sure we will get more votes than the last time," Kenyatta told a rally in the southern town of Voi, speaking in Kiswahili.

(reporting by George Obulutsa; writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Catherine Evans)
London, Oct 10 (Reuters) - M7 Multi-Let REIT Plc, a newly-established firm set up to invest in industrial and office property, said it aims to raise up to 300 million pounds ($394.95 million) from listing as a real estate investment trust (REIT) on the London stock market.

The company said it has agreed to buy 93 property assets across two UK portfolios for 119.8 million pounds, on condition that its listing is successful.

The REIT's investment manager, M7 Real Estate, already manages over 995 industrial, office and retail properties worth approximately 4.6 billion ($5.42 billion), with its British portfolio currently valued at 1.1 billion.

M7 said the listing would only go ahead if it raises at least 147 million pounds. ($1 = 0.7596 pounds) ($1 = 0.8486 euros)

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong)
MANILA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank on Tuesday released preliminary data on net foreign direct investments (FDI) in July.

FDI Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan in mln $ 307 674 568 874 432 366 684

- Net FDIs in the first seven months of the year totalled $3.9 billion, down 16.5 percent from the same period last year.

- Net inflows in July were 38 percent lower versus the year-ago figure, due mainly to the decline in investments in debt instruments, the central bank said in a statement.

- FDIs hit a record $7.9 billion in 2016 but the figure pales in comparison with Malaysia's $13.5 billion, Singapore's $61 billion and Vietnam's $12.6 billion because of poor infrastructure, high power costs and foreign ownership restrictions in key domestic industries.

- This year's net equity capital, a component of the overall FDI, was down 81.5 percent as of July given last year's high base.

- The central bank expects FDIs this year to hit $8 billion.

- Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the government should "drastically" cut the number of sectors and activities closed or limited to foreign investors to get more of the investment flows into Asia. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz)
SOCHI, Russia, Oct 10 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia should set up a regulatory base for crypto-currencies to protect its citizens and businesses from risks posed by virtual currencies.

"The usage of crypto-currencies carries serious risks. I know the central bank's position on that, we have discussed it several times with the central bank's governor," Putin said.

Putin said virtual currencies could be used to launder money, evade taxes and finance terrorism.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Jack Stubbs)
SINGAPORE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Vickers Venture Partners, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, on Tuesday said it had raised $230 million in its fifth and largest fund to invest in startups globally.

The firm, which was launched in 2005, has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and San Diego. It plans to open an office in San Francisco in 2018.

Its portfolio includes fitness-classes membership startup GuavaPass and life sciences company Samumed.

The firm is led by Finian Tan, who is well known for being an early investor in Chinese search engine Baidu Inc .

Vickers' fifth fund is larger than the firm's four previous funds put together, the biggest of which was $81 million.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
HANOI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0404 GMT.

October 10 USD/VND mid-point 22,467 USD/VND interbank 22,723/22,724 USD/VND unofficial 22,725/22,735 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.43/36.65

Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.7-1.1

1 week 0.9-1.2

1 month 1.5-1.9

3 months 3.2-3.6

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016, the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.

For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
BUDAPEST, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Hungarian Government Debt Management Agency (AKK) sold 15 billion forints worth of three-month Treasury bills on Tuesday, as planned, it said. Series: D180117 Issue status: Auction data: AUCTION DATE 10/10/2017 03/10/2017 TOTAL BIDS (bln HUF) 37.20 37.55 ALLOTTED (bln HUF) 15.00 15.00 AVERAGE YIELD (pct) -0.05 -0.05 (Reporting by Sandor Peto)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
ANKARA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Turkey has imposed a requirement that agricultural imports from Russia receive approval from Turkish authorities starting from Oct. 9, Customs Minister Bulent Tufenkci said on Tuesday. Speaking at a ceremony in Ankara, Tufenkci said the decision was taken as a reciprocal measure adding that the approvals will be sought for nine products including corn, two kinds of wheat, sunflower oil and pulp, paddy rice, dried peas.

(Reporting by Ercan Gurses; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
* Catalan leader could declare independence on Tuesday

* Pro-independence demonstration planned outside assembly

* Spain PM Rajoy does not rule out suspending Catalan autonomy

* More firms move HQs outside Catalonia

(Adds Catalan government spokesman, EU comments)

By Angus Berwick

BARCELONA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Catalan police tightened their guard on the region's parliament on Tuesday where secessionists have threatened to adopt a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain despite warnings from Madrid of swift counter-measures.

Regional leader Carles Puigdemont held a meeting of his cabinet to decide how to press an independence drive that has stirred powerful emotions across Spain and raised concern in European Union partner states.

Catalan police armed with automatic rifles stood guard at Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella which houses the elegant 18th century building. Spanish national police, decried by separatists over their use of force to hinder an Oct. 1 referendum, were not to be seen.

A declaration of independence would deepen Spain's biggest political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981 and would almost certainly draw tough counter-measures from Madrid, possibly including suspension of the regional government.

The parliament and other buildings, such as the regional high court building, could become a focus of contention between Spanish and Catalan authorities.

Thousands of national police reinforcements sent by Madrid for the referendum remain in the area, many of them in two cruise ships docked in Barcelona harbour.

Pro-independence demonstrators were due to gather before the parliament building under the slogan "Hello Republic" to mark Puigdemont's speech at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT).

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona against independence at the weekend, waving red-yellow Spanish flags through the city centre. That rally fell a week after some 900 people were injured when police fired rubber bullets and stormed crowds with truncheons to disrupt a referendum ruled illgal in Madrid.

Puigdemont has said he is determined to apply a law passed by the Catalan assembly which called for a declaration of independence within days if Catalans voted 'yes' in the Oct. 1 referendum.

The government of Spain's wealthiest region says 90 percent of those who voted backed independence, but turnout was only 43 percent as many opponents of independence stayed at home.

The Madrid government has said it will respond immediately to any unilateral declaration.

Puigdemont could ask the parliament to vote on a motion of independence, which lawmakers say would start a period of up to six months during which Catalonia would write a new constitution and negotiate a divorce with Spain; or he could make a statement of intent on a future independence declaration.

Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull refused to disclose what Puigdemont would say but told a news conference after the cabinet meeting he would be "clear and explicit" and Tuesday would be an historic day.

Ruling party lawmakers say Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is considering taking the unprecedented step of dissolving the Catalan parliament and triggering new regional elections, the so-called nuclear option.

The European Commission repeated its call for dialogue in Spain to end the crisis in Catalonia. Puigdemont has also called for talks and international mediation, but Rajoy has said he will not negotiate with the Catalan leaders unless they abandon plans to declare independence.

BUSINESS CLIMATE

Markets have been rattled by the Catalan crisis, raising Spain's borrowing costs and pushing down shares.

Spain's benchmark 10-year bond yields were a touch lower on Tuesday, but above lows hit the previous session as investors awaited Puigdemont's speech. Spain's benchmark Ibex share index was down nearly one percent.

The tension is taking its toll on the business climate. On Monday, three more Catalonia-based companies joined a business drift from the region that has gathered steam since the Oct. 1 referendum.

Property group Inmobiliaria Colonial and infrastructure firm Abertis both decided to relocate their head offices to Madrid and telecoms firm Cellnex said it would do the same for as long as political uncertainty in Catalonia continued.

Publishing house Grupo Planeta said it would move its registered office from Barcelona to Madrid if the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence.

Spain's finance minister said it was the Catalan government's fault the companies were leaving. The issue has deeply divided the northeastern region as well as the Spanish nation. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence.

Losing Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, would deprive Spain of a fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of exports.

The crisis has reopened old divisions in a nation where the right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, is a living memory easily revived by strong displays of nationalism.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Catalan bank depositors flockto other regions to open accounts The Basque: Spain's effective but expensive antidote to secession A split within a split: the Catalan valley sticking with Spain - ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Rodrigo de Miguel, Paul Day, Blanca Rodriguez, Emma Pinedo, Jesus Aguado, Carlos Ruano and Alba Asenjo; Writing by Adrian Croft; editing by Ralph Boulton)
(Adds details, background)

By Gernot Heller

BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The German government will raise its 2017 growth forecast for Europe's biggest economy to 2.0 percent, a sharp increase from its earlier estimate of 1.5 percent and the strongest rate since 2011, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Berlin also plans to lift its 2018 forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 1.9 percent, up from its earlier forecast of 1.6 percent, the person familiar with the projections said.

Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries will present the government's updated forecasts on Wednesday.

The German economy grew by 1.9 percent in 2016, the strongest rate in five years, propelled by private consumption and state spending as households and authorities are benefiting from record-high employment and ultra-low borrowing costs.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its growth forecast for the German economy to a calendar-adjusted 2.0 percent in 2017 and 1.8 percent in 2018.

The government's growth forecast figures are not adjusted for workdays. Due to the unusually strong calendar effect in 2017, the forecast would translate into an adjusted growth rate of 2.3 percent this year.

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Michelle Martin and Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
* GMF AeroAsia aims to sell 20 pct stake to strategic partner -Garuda CEO

* Conditional sale, purchase agreement could be signed early Dec -Garuda CEO

* There are four potential buyers -Garuda CEO

(Adds comments from CEOs of Garuda Indonesia and GMF AeroAsia, partnership, IPO background, share debut)

JAKARTA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk estimated its unit PT Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia (GMF AeroAsia) could raise $200 million from selling a 20 percent stake to a strategic buyer, Garuda Indonesia CEO Pahala Mansury said.

A conditional sale and purchase agreement could be signed in early December, Mansury told reporters on Tuesday. There are four potential buyers, he said, declining to elaborate.

GMF AeroAsia has a longstanding partnership with Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance. The latter said in a statement last month that it signed a letter of intent with GMF AeroAsia to "move up" their partnership. It did not detail any plan to buy a stake.

Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance could not be reached for comment outside of regular business hours.

The chief executive of GMF AeroAsia, Iwan Djuniarto, told reporters on Tuesday the company will use the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) last month as a benchmark when pricing the stake it intends to sell.

"The pricing can not be smaller than what we have sold to the public," Djuniarto said.

GMF AeroAsia sold 10 percent of the company in an IPO at 400 rupiah per share, raising 1.12 trillion rupiah ($83.01 million), he said.

The size of the potential sale to a strategic partner rose above an initially planned 10 percent after the firm cut its IPO size. GMF AeroAsia had previously aimed to raise as much as 5.55 trillion rupiah through the IPO. GMF AeroAsia shares debuted on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday and were trading at 384 rupiah a piece at 0315 GMT. The company plans to use proceeds from the strategic stake sale to help finance expansion and for debt repayment. ($1 = 13,492 rupiah)

(Reporting by Cindy Silviana; Additional reporting and writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
* Ireland more than trebles budget package to 1.2 bln euros

* Vacant site levy hiked, new housing agency introduced

* Brexit loan scheme to offer SMEs cheap working capital

(Adds details on Brexit loan scheme, reaction)

By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries

DUBLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Ireland's finance minister sought to raise over 800 million euros in extra revenue in a budget on Tuesday to give taxpayers a "modest" break and help tackle a housing crisis.

He also sought to balance the state's books for the first time in a decade.

Ireland started reversing years of savage spending cuts and tax hikes in 2014 - about the time its economy began to rebound sharply from a deep financial crisis.

But hemmed in by European Union borrowing rules, Paschal Donohoe initially had far fewer resources this year than in those expansionary budgets.

In the event, he boosted the budget package to 1.2 billion euros from the mere 350 million available chiefly through a 4 percentage point increase in stamp duty on commercial property, ensuring income tax cuts will not go into one pocket and come out the other.

"On this budget day we build on progress that would have looked impossible only a few short years ago," Donohoe told parliament in his first budget speech as finance minister.

While Ireland's economy has posted the fastest growth in Europe for the past three years, sluggish sentiment surveys suggest many consumers are seeing few benefits amid increasing living costs, particularly in rents and rising house prices.

By increasing the relatively low threshold at which people hit the higher rate of income tax and trimming the amount they actually pay, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said an average family would be a "modest" 500 to 600 euros better off a year.

Varadkar knows that with the agreement with their main rivals to back the minority administration set to expire in just over a year's time, the small boosts will likely be the last to filter through to voters' pay packets before the next election.

HOUSING FOCUS

The government stuck to its ratio of over 2:1 in favour of spending increase over tax cuts, increasing current spending in line with the 3.5 percent growth in the economy as services try to keep pace with a population that is also the fastest growing in the EU.

But Donohoe focussed much of his speech on housing as the government scrambles to boost a chronic under-supply across the country, including a significant increase in a planned levy on vacant sites that owners fail to build on. He will also siphon off 750 million euros from the state's sovereign wealth fund, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, to start a new body that will offer debt finance to builders and be staffed by executives from the state's "bad bank", NAMA.

Ireland's Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said the measures will help address the "systemic weaknesses" in infrastructure investment.

After last year's "Brexit proof" budget was criticised by business for not doing enough to shield it from key trade partner Britain's departure from the EU, a new 300 million euro Brexit loan scheme was introduced to help businesses employing fewer than 500 people with short-term working capital.

The scheme will leverage funds from the European Investment Bank, the EU's lending institution, and target vulnerable but viable firms, particularly in the food sector which accounts for most of the EU's most exposed goods to the British market. Enterprise Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she was also working on a longer term loan scheme and is in talks with the EU on the availability of rescue and restructuring aid, part of "a suite of measures that will be available to companies".

The government has said previously that it can only consider major interventions such as seeking a potential exemption from EU state aid rules when the shape of Brexit becomes clearer.

"Three hundred million euros is a very, very small amount of money when you consider 93 percent of our members are trading with the UK. I think long term it's only a finger in the dyke," said Irish Exporters Association Chief Executive Simon McKeever.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Peter Graff)
* Aims for proceeds of 250-300 million euros

* Aims for break-even on EBITDA level in next 15 months

* Listing aims for 1.5 bln euro valuation - source

* Rival Blue Apron has seen shares tumble since June listing

(Adds interview with CEO)

By Arno Schuetze and Nadine Schimroszik

FRANKFURT/BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - HelloFresh plans a flotation that could value the German meal kit delivery group at up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion), testing investor appetite after a sharp decline in shares in U.S. rival Blue Apron .

HelloFresh, majority owned by German ecommerce investor Rocket Internet , dropped a plan to list two years ago after investors rejected a higher valuation.

Its largest market is the United States where it is spending heavily on discount offers and advertising to compete with rivals including Blue Apron and Plated.

Blue Apron joined the stock market in New York in June but its valuation has halved to around $980 million due to rising costs, falling customer numbers and the threat of competition from Amazon . Dominik Richter, the 32-year-old co-founder and CEO of HelloFresh, said his loss-making company was on a different trajectory.

"Our margins and our outlook on profitability are quite different. We are gaining a lot of market share in the United States. That is why we assume our listing will turn out differently," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The HelloFresh announcement is a boost for Rocket Internet, which owns a 53 percent stake.

Rocket Internet listed in 2014 with a pledge to be a launch pad for flotations of start-ups, but volatile markets meant it had to wait until this year for its first success with takeaway firm Delivery Hero , which has seen its shares rise by a quarter since it listed in Frankfurt in June. Rocket Internet shares were up 1.3 percent at 1200 GMT, having hit their highest level in almost five months.

INTO THE BLACK

HelloFresh is planning to sell new shares worth up to 300 million euros, which would give the new investors a 20 percent stake in the company, according to a person close to the deal, implying a valuation of up to 1.5 billion euros.

That is below the 2 billion euro valuation put on the company last December when it raised funds from asset manager Baillie Gifford and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. HelloFresh, which increased its number of active customers to 1.3 million in the second quarter, said it would use the proceeds to fund growth. It wants to make its service more personalised and add more choice, such as wine and desserts.

While not a direct competitor of HelloFresh, ready meals supplier Bakkavor also announced plans on Tuesday to list, in a deal that sources say could value it at up to 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion). HelloFresh, which delivers meal ingredients and recipes in 10 countries, said it expected to break even on an operating level (EBITDA) by early 2019. Its net loss stood at 56.7 million euros in the first half on revenues of 435 million euros.

In August, Blue Apron forecast a second-half net loss of between $121 million and $128 million due to the costs of moving to a new distribution centre, and revenue ranging from $380 million to $400 million. Richter said HelloFresh would trim losses by reducing marketing costs per customer, saying that was possible now it has built up a loyal following for its range of ingredients paid for by monthly subscription.

HelloFresh spent about 45 euros ($53) per customer on marketing in the second quarter, down from about 54 euros in the first quarter and compared to the $37 Blue Apron spent per customer in the most recent quarter.

Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint global coordinators for the listing. ($1 = 0.8488 euros)

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BREAKINGVIEWS-HelloFresh IPO belongs in the deep-freeze ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Keith Weir)
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High near 35F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 18F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Nanta performance / Korea Times file



By Yun Suh-young

A Seoul theater that exclusively hosts performances of "Nanta" will close due to the plummeting number of Chinese visitors, the show's main customers.

Chungjeongno Theater, one of the four Nanta theaters in the country (three in Seoul and one in Jeju), will halt operations next year, PMC Productions, the producer of the show, announced Tuesday.

The theater is suffering a decline in the number of visitors, mainly from China, due to the intensifying diplomatic row stemming from Korea's decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Beijing has been against the move since Seoul's decision last year and has been discouraging Chinese tourists from making group visits to Korea.

Of the three Seoul theaters in Myeong-dong, Hongdae and Chungjeongno, the latter had been specially geared toward Chinese tourist groups. The theater claimed there have been virtually no Chinese groups since April and it will be difficult to keep the theater open any longer although the initial contract is valid until the end of next year.

Nanta, a kitchen comedy featuring drumming, was created in 1997 and debuted at Hoam Art Hall. Nanta has been seen by over 12 million people worldwide in over 46,000 performances.

The first Nanta-exclusive theater opened in Seoul in 2000. Chungjeongno Theater was the third to open in 2013 with 554 seats. The theater will mark the 20th anniversary of Nanta, Oct. 13.


CEOs with over 3 children reap success despite difficulties

By Park Jae-hyuk

Korea has long been considered the worst place to be a working woman among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

According to the Economist, Korea was again named as the most unequal country for working women this year, in terms of higher education, labor-force participation, pay, child-care costs, maternity and paternity rights, business-school applications and representation in senior jobs.

The proportion of female executives at the nation's top 500 companies was no more than 2.7 percent, and 366 companies among the 500 had no female executives.

Against this backdrop, Rep. Shin Yong-hyeon of the minor opposition People's Party proposed a bill earlier this month for the prohibition of gender discrimination at workplaces. Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin also vowed last week to appoint a female CEO as soon as possible.

For now, however, most working mothers in Korea seemingly have no choice but to envy female chief executives in other countries who have multiple children.

The most recognized case must be Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube.

Wojcicki, who has led the video hosting subsidiary of Google since 2014, has five children.

Unlike prejudices against CEOs of global enterprises, she has been known for keeping a balance between her career and home. She reportedly spends time only with her family between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and does not check her emails.

Emphasizing the importance of paid maternity leave, the CEO also got the first paid maternity leave at Google.

Thanks to her efforts to shatter the glass ceiling, the proportion of female workers at YouTube has grown to 30 percent from 24 percent when she took the helm.

For most Korean working mothers, who have become frustrated with the glass ceiling, Wojcicki's case may be regarded as a thing of another world.

But still, there exist female CEOs with more than three children in this country as well.

M&K PR CEO Jeong Min-a, who has three daughters and two sons, is an example.

As the head of the PR agency, Jeong said she wakes up early in the morning to do her work and take care of her children. Just like Wojcicki, she often leaves her office at 5 p.m. so that she can spend time with her family.

Organizing her schedule for her job and housework every day, Jeong, who was the CEO of Min Communications, still serves as founder and president of M&K PR, the combination of her previous workplace and another PR agency SMC.

Another example is Moe Jean, the former CEO of Danone Pulmuone, who has three sons.

After working 27 years for global firms, such as Procter & Gamble, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Bausch Lomb, Moe became the head of Danone Korea in 2009. Then, she served as the CEO of Danone Pulmuone, the joint venture between the French-based Danone and the Korean food firm Pulmuone, from 2012 to early this year.

During her tenure, Danone's Activia yogurt became the top-selling yogurt in Korea. She also suggested the joint venture with Pulmuone, and her decision quadrupled the company's sales.

In addition to Jeong and Moe, Hansol Group founder Lee In-hee also raised three sons and two daughters.

Directing the group's overall businesses, she let her sons study abroad and talked with them in English. Her sons, who ask her for advice, call Lee their adviser instead of mother.

Lee is the eldest daughter of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul.

Some people say the CEOs have enough money to hire someone to take care of their children. Their stories, though, may be far from the reality of ordinary working mothers.

Female CEOs admit such claims, attributing their success to support from their families and other people.

"Mothers of my children's friends take care of my children a lot. They offer rides to my children when they go on field trips," Jeong said. "A nice babysitter, who has taken care of my children for 10 years, also allowed me to give birth to five children."

Some female CEOs hoped the government will expand support for working mothers so they can build their careers without financial difficulties or support from their acquaintances.
Labor-friendly steps, higher taxes feared to weaken corporate competitiveness



By Lee Hyo-sik



President Moon Jae-in, who campaigned on promises of giving more to workers, has introduced an array of labor-friendly policies and placed a heavier burden on businesses, according to analysts, Tuesday.



The Moon administration, among others, has been pushing to impose a higher income tax on corporations, reduce working hours and raise minimum wages to force employers to pay more to workers and add more to their payrolls.



This approach has made it more difficult for Korean companies, which have been struggling to deal with the prolonged domestic consumption slump, to generate earnings, expand investments and hire workers here, the analysts said.



Outside the country, things are not any better as Korea Inc. has been facing growing trade protectionism across the globe.



Exporters have been facing higher U.S. trade barriers erected by the Donald Trump administration, which has been preaching an America-first policy. Korean firms have also been withering in China, the nation's largest export market, amid Beijing's escalating retaliation against Seoul's decision to deploy a U.S. missile shield.



"These days, there has been way more bad news than good for Korean businesses both at home and abroad," said an analyst at one of the country's major business associations, who declined to be named.



"Exporters, except for Samsung and several other chipmakers, have been coping with deteriorating business conditions overseas as the United States, China, India and other major economies introduced more protectionist policies to curb imports of foreign goods," the analyst said.



"Retailers and other companies have also been grappling with continued sluggish spending. Against such a backdrop, the government should unveil more corporate-friendly policies to keep the economy going, but the Moon administration has been doing the opposite," he said.



Policymakers must refrain from resorting to populist policies to appease the masses but instead they should be willing to swallow the bitter pill, the analyst said.



He added "The government should drastically remove regulations and promote innovation to ensure businesses can do what they are good at."



The liberal Moon administration has unveiled a revised tax code to increase the corporate income tax to 25 percent from the current 22 percent, despite strong protests from the corporate world. It plans to collect more taxes from businesses and use the money to finance social welfare programs for the poor.



The government also raised the hourly minimum wage by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.7) for 2018, which will increase labor costs by 16.2 trillion won, according to the Korea Federation of SMEs. Working hours will be slashed to 52 hours a week from 68 hours, incurring about 12.3 trillion won in additional costs.



Companies have also been pressed by policymakers to turn irregular workers into regular employees, and directly hire workers currently dispatched by outsourcing companies.



The government recently scrapped guidelines adopted during the previous Park Geun-hye administration, which aimed at enabling businesses to easily lay off underperforming workers and change employment rules.



Employers now cannot fire underachievers, and introduce the performance-based wage system and the peak wage system without workers' consent.



In addition, the Ministry of Environment plans to impose a new tax on vehicles with combustion engines to encourage the use of more electric and other eco-friendly cars.



However, this is widely seen as benefiting Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other European car brands because Hyundai, Kia, Renault Samsung, GM Korea and Ssangyong have few eco-friendly vehicles.




By Yoon Ja-young



Korea and China continued their talks Tuesday on extending a currency swap deal, which was set to expire at midnight.



"Nothing has been completed yet and a meeting is scheduled for today as well," Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters Tuesday morning.



Local media reported that the central bank and the finance ministry are negotiating with their Chinese counterparts over details of the currency swap deal after agreeing in principle that it should be extended.



"When one is engaged in negotiations, the expiration date is not necessarily important. It would be good if everything was complete before the expiration of the deal, but this may not be the case," Lee said.



Korea signed the won-yuan currency swap deal with China in April 2009. After suffering a massive outflow of capital during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Korea has been actively signing currency swap deals. Such deals work as a buffer since a country can borrow foreign currency against its own currency. The 360 billion yuan ($56 billion) swap deal with China accounts for a significant portion of Korea's currency swap deals which total $122 billion.



The deal has been extended twice so far, but with the expiration date approaching, there was concern that Beijing might not extend it this time. The country has been engaged in economic retaliation following Korea's deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, despite Seoul's explanation that it needs the missile shield to protect itself against increasing threats from North Korea. China has been claiming THAAD undermines its security. Korea has been expressing its hope to extend the deal, but China has not been so active, though it agreed the deal should be extended in principle.



Since Seoul has ample foreign exchange reserves, direct damage to Korea is unlikely if the deal is not extended. However, if the market interprets it as sign of escalating tension between two countries, it might add to risks, experts point out.



The National Congress of the Communist Party of China, scheduled for Oct. 18, is also known to be a factor delaying completion of the negotiations. China may become more active after finishing handling domestic issues.



If the two countries fail to immediately extend the deal, they are likely to suspend it for the time being and sign a new one at a later date. This will be as effective as an extension of the deal. The deal between Korea and Malaysia, for instance, expired in October last year, but the two countries agreed to extend it for three more years early this year.




Fashion & Creative Industry Division Director of Seoul Design Foundation Kim Yun-hee, left, talks during the press conference at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jung-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap



By Kim Jae-heun

The world's top fashion weeks often serve as trade markets bridging individual designers and retailers to boost the local fashion industry. Seoul Fashion Week also began with the same goal, but it has settled as a cultural festival first, attracting some 280,000 visitors to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) last season.

"There is no fashion festival like Seoul Fashion Week in the world, where the event has turned to a festival for everyone to enjoy," said Fashion & Creative Industry Division Director of Seoul Design Foundation (SDF) Kim Yun-hee during the press conference at DDP in Jung-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. "We've witnessed many fashionable people gathering to watch the fashion shows and meet models every season, so we have decided to provide things to eat, things to buy and things to enjoy this season."

Seoul Fashion Week will run movie nights starting this season for three days from Oct. 18 to Oct. 20.

The fashion festival also invites popular fashion models to meet their fans and host a talk show while having food trucks for the convenience of the fans.

Fashion model Kim Ki-bum of YG KPLUS will DJ during the evenings with other musicians from "NHR" crew led by Seungri of BIGBANG, beginning the second day of the festival.

Fashion magazine CeCi has confirmed its open audition for a "fashionista" on the spot, who will appear on the cover of a future edition of the magazine. CeCi will hold three auditions to pick ordinary people on the street.

Seoul Fashion Week invites veteran designer Rubina to host an honorary exhibition under the title "Endless Journey." The show displays Rubina's work of the last 38 years as a fashion designer. The exhibition is free of charge and open to everyone from Oct. 17 to Nov. 12.

Better plans needed for Seoul Fashion Week

People had big expectations of Jung Ku-ho when he took over the position of executive director to lead Seoul Fashion Week two years ago.

He has led Fashion Week for four seasons since October 2015 and promised he will make Seoul Fashion Week a leading fashion festival in Asia.

His beginning looked impressive with Jung inviting his personal connections of global fashion leaders to Seoul such as Vogue International editor Suzy Menkes and buyers from luxury department stores such as Harrods, Selfridges and Barneys New York.

However, a number of important figures did not make a second visit to Seoul, not to mention obtaining any orders. Regarding buyers, most said they've spent most of their budget at fashion weeks in New York, London, Paris and Milan and they will consider a purchase here if they come back next year.

Kim says the number of buyers coming to Seoul Fashion Week has increased from 140 to 170 this season and 130 more will participate voluntarily. However, she agreed that the total amount of orders at fashion week has not increased since Jung took over.

"Our goal is to promote Korean designers abroad and help them go viral. It takes time," Kim said.

Every year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government allocates 2.6 billion won to Seoul Design Foundation to run Seoul Fashion Week. Kim says the budget is far from enough and sponsorships from fashion companies are indispensable.

Two years have passed and Jung spent 5.2 billion won sending less than five fashion designers abroad to display their clothes in a pop-up store at European multi-shops.

Jung has less than a year with Seoul Design Foundation until his contract expires as the executive director.
A North Korean village in Kaepung County, South Hwanghae Province, is seen from an observatory on Ganghwa Island, Tuesday, the founding anniversary of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Pyongyang's did not conduct any military provocations on the anniversary. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-kee



Allies keeping close watch on possible missile launch



By Jun Ji-hye

North Korea celebrated the founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Tuesday, without carrying out any military provocations.

But the South Korean military said it is continuously monitoring and tracking any developments in the North as the regime there could commit a large-scale provocation at any time.

"We are maintaining a thorough readiness posture in preparation for North Korea's possible provocations," said Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesman Army Col. Roh Jae-cheon, refusing to elaborate further.

An official from Cheong Wa Dae also told reporters the North was capable of firing a missile at any time, but currently there were no signs of an imminent launch, such as fueling activities.

Sources noted movements of personnel and equipment in the North's missile facilities have been consistently monitored.

The repressive state has been widely expected to fire a long-range ballistic missile on or around the anniversary.












One out of six South Korean children and youths are obese with the rate increasing every year, government data showed Tuesday.

The data by the Ministry of Health and Welfare showed that 16.5 percent of elementary, middle school, and high school students suffered from obesity in 2016, up 0.9 percentage point from a year earlier.

The obesity rate increased from 11.2 percent in 2008 to 14.3 percent in 2010, 14.7 percent in 2012 and moved up to 15 percent in 2014, the data showed.

Also, the data showed that 77.1 percent of children and teens drink soft drinks at least once a week, up from 74.2 percent in 2014.

People whose body mass index reaches 25 kg/ or over are considered obese.

The ministry said it will stage a campaign to reduce the obesity rate by encouraging youth to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Yonhap)
By Kim Hyo-jin



One out of 10 Korean-born adoptees in the United States does not have U.S. citizenship, according to a ruling party lawmaker, Tuesday.



Of 111,148 ethnic Koreans legally adopted into American families, 14,189, or 12.8 percent, have failed to obtain American citizenship and are left vulnerable to deportation, said Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).



"While 91,719 adoptees from South Korea are confirmed to have won U.S. citizenship, the status of the remaining 14,189 adoptees is left undocumented," said the lawmaker, who heads the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification committee, citing reports from Korea's welfare ministry.



Since 2001, the U.S. has implemented the Child Citizen Act (CCA) that grants citizenship automatically to children adopted by U.S. citizens. But the act was not retroactively applied to adoptees that had already become legal adults.



Adoptees born before 1983, those who were not subject to the CCA, can secure U.S. citizenship only when their adoptive parents voluntarily apply with the authorities.



There are many cases where their parents overlooked the procedure, Shim said.



"Some simply believed, once they completed the process of adoption, their children would become American citizens automatically, and others inadvertently or intentionally did not do so as they were estranged from their adopted children due to their involvement in drugs, crimes or maladjustment to society," he said.



Those adoptees without U.S. citizenship face various limitations  they have to keep renewing their visas in order to stay in the country and are also deprived of the rights to vote and receive consular protection.



The situation is worse for adoptees with criminal records and no citizenship. According to U.S. immigration law, the federal government can deport noncitizen immigrants found guilty of aggravated felonies.



Risk runs high under the Donald Trump administration as it has actively pushed for deportations of illegal immigrants.



According to adoptee advocates, those deported to South Korea suffer financially and mentally with difficulties in finding work because of language and cultural barriers, not to mention being unable to receive medical benefits.



Referring to Phillip Clay, a Korean-American adoptee who committed suicide after being deported back to his birth country, Shim called on the government to pay more attention to the issue of noncitizen adoptees.



Clay was adopted at age eight into an American family but was deported to South Korea after 30 years in the U.S., due to his criminal record and lack of citizenship. The government-run Korea Adoption Services, in charge of looking after the adoptees deported back here, recalled Clay did not receive ongoing professional help for a mental illness that was diagnosed in 2014.



"The Moon Jae-in government should make diplomatic efforts to encourage the U.S. Congress to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act in the near future," he said, noting it is intended to offer citizenship to anyone adopted before turning 18, regardless of when the adoption took place.




Musicians perform at Thunderhorse Tavern at last year's HBC Fest in Haebangchon, Seoul. / Courtesy of Alecia Janeiro



By John Redmond

The 12th installment of the Hae Bang Chon Fall Music Festival (HBC Fest) will take place on Oct. 20 to 21.

The popular international music fest is made up entirely of independent musicians from Korea and a host of other countries.

Lance Reegan-Diehl and James Gaynor started the festival in 2006 as a showcase for expat musicians to perform to larger crowds.

HBC, located in Yongsan-gu, is the main street that has become famous as a local expat hangout.

The festival has made the entire area blossom into a busy place for all kinds of businesses, as more people find it an attractive neighborhood to be in.

"The festival has always adapted to the demands of both musicians and venues," Reegan-Diehl said.

"The festival is known for the up-close, small venue and intimate feeling you get from watching the variety of people perform."

This fall festival venues and supporters comprise Hair Of The Dog, Chimac Life, Phillies Pub, Bedrock, The Cave, Bonny's Pizza Pub, Al Matto Terrace, Camarata Music, Genie Pub, Living Room, Leo's, Rabbit Hole, Casablanca Sandwiches, Marrakech, Thunderhorse Tavern, The Workshop and Hidden Cellar.

Local bands performing include Kimchi Cowboys, L.A. Galbi, Cicada State, Rooftop Stray, Wooden Lucy and Bluetooth Blues Band.

A host of solo and smaller acoustic acts will be on stage at some of the venues.

Guests are advised to keep the music and the party inside the bars. There will be police on hand to manage pedestrians and keep traffic moving.

"There are sections in front of venues taped off in order to walk behind and stay out of traffic," organizers said. "The festival is provided by local business owners who support this music festival and give independent artists a place to play."

Friday performances in selected venues start at 9 p.m. and runs until midnight.

Saturday sees an entire day of music from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. with a variety of styles and stages to choose from.

Entry to this music festival is free. T-shirts are available for 15,000 won to support the festival.

Visit hbcfest.com or facebook.com/HBCFest for more details, including an updated schedule and list of performers.
By John Redmond



The 25th Annual Korea TESOL (KOTESOL) International Conference kicks off its two-day conference for teachers, educators and researchers at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, Oct. 21.



One of the largest teaching conferences in Asia, it attracts over 1,000 attendees each year from Korea, Asia and beyond.



This year the conference is being held in conjunction with the Pan-Asian Consortium of Language Teaching Societies (PAC), of which Korea TESOL is a founding member.



TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.



The conference theme is "Why are we here? Analog learning in the digital era."



The theme provokes thought and discussion on the relevance of in-classroom teaching when there are now so many digital alternatives.



The goal of the conference is to support KOTESOL's mission to "assist teachers in self-development and improve ELT in Korea."



Experts in the field of English language teaching, such as Andy Curtis of Anaheim University and Nicky Hockly from The Consultants-E, will conduct numerous presentations, workshops and discussions.



The schedule is also packed with presentations by educators who just want to share what has worked for them.



"The result is that there is something for everyone: Whether the attendees are kindergarten practitioners or university professors, they will not leave disappointed," the organizer says on its website. "Every teacher, no matter their experience, leaves with new activities, strategies, and methods to use straightaway in their classroom."



Featured speakers include Glenda Rose of Texas A&M University, Ted O'Neill from Gakushuin University, Mark Dressman of the University of Illinois, Helen Slatyer from Macquarie University, Kalyan Chattopadhyay from the University of Calcutta, Korea National University of Education's Chan Kyoo Min, Kathleen Kampa from Seisen International School and Bodo Winter from the University of Birmingham.



Registration is 60,000 won for KOTESOL members and 85,000 won for nonmembers.



The conference will be held at the Gemma Hall of Sookmyung Women's University in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.



Saturday registration opens at 8 a.m. and there are sessions from 9 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.



Sunday registration opens at 8 a.m. and there are sessions from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.



To get there, go out exit 10 of Sookmyung Women's University Station on Line 4. Turn around and walk through the tunnel under the railway line, cross the main road and walk up the hill towards the university. Keep going up the hill until you come to a second set of traffic lights.



There is a large staircase on the left. Go up the stairs and follow the signs, crowds, and volunteers up to conference registration.



Visit koreatesol.org for more information.




Korean textbooks published in Thailand on Monday for secondary school students. Chapter nine is titled "Korean is fun." / Courtesy of the Ministry of Education



By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo

Thailand has published Korean textbooks for secondary school students who learn Korean as a second language.

The publication on Monday came nine years after the country added Korean to a list of second languages taught in middle and high schools. The textbook, co-authored by the education ministries of South Korea and Thailand, will be used from the spring semester.

The new textbook is "Korean 1", for beginners. The Thai education ministry will publish five more editions by March for intermediate and advanced learners.

Without accredited Korean language textbooks published in Thailand, students and teachers had used textbooks published by Korean universities or assembled by Thai teachers.





Students hold the new Korean textbook, "Korean 1," in a classroom on Sunday. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Education



"As the Korean Wave continues to gain popularity, so does the number of Thai students studying Korean," a Thai education ministry official was quoted as saying in a report.

Korean is the fourth most popular of the 17 languages the ministry has designated as a second language, after Chinese, Japanese and French. Nearly 30,000 Thai students study Korean, up from 3,000 in 2010, according to the ministry.

Earlier, the Thai education ministry designated Korean as an official foreign language subject for the college entrance exam. The first exam will take place February 2018.




By Kim Bo-eun



Pricy computer coding classes in the private sector are thriving ahead of the introduction of such classes at public schools; but the government is allegedly turning a blind eye.



The government announced it would make coding classes mandatory for upper-level elementary and middle school students in 2018. In response, the private sector has delved into the opportunity to take advantage of parents' wishes to provide their children a head start.



The large scale of private education is a deep-rooted problem in Korea, but it has become a bigger issue with regards to coding education.



This is because unlike classes teaching Korean language, math and English, the cost for coding classes is much higher.



Data from Rep. Park Kyung-mee of the Democratic Party of Korea shows camps teaching the MIT-developed programming language Scratch and robotics during summer vacation charged as much as 600,000 won ($528) for three-day courses.



Private coding academies weekly classes charge 300,000 won a month. Some academies that provide classes in English charge over 1 million won a month.



While programming language software is available for free, the academies charge for learning kits that include interactive objects.



The academies also target young students _ first and second graders in elementary school _ raising concerns of posing an excessive academic burden on children.



However, the government has not taken any measures to curb the phenomenon.



Last December, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and ICT pledged in their software education plan to monitor the private education market for coding classes.



"Private coding education targeting young children can create another education gap," Park said.



"As much as private academies are inciting anxiety in parents to put their children in classes, the government must legally require academies to disclose their curricula and tuition in detail so that monitoring can be done. Rigorous monitoring is urgently needed."



Expensive private classes are a problem because they can contribute to an education gap between the haves and have-nots.



A government study released in March showed high-income households spent 8.8 times as much on private education than low-income ones.




North Korean hackers are believed to have stolen a large amount of classified military documents, including the latest South Korea-U.S. wartime operational plan, last year, a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday.

Citing information from unnamed defense officials, Democratic Party Rep. Rhee Cheol-hee said that the hackers broke into the Defense Integrated Data Center in September last year to steal the secret files, such as Operational Plans 5015 and 3100.

OPLAN 5015 is the latest Seoul-Washington scheme to handle an all-out war with Pyongyang, which reportedly contains detailed procedures to "decapitate" the North Korean leadership. OPLAN 3100 is Seoul's plan to respond to the North's localized provocations.

Rhee said that 235 gigabytes of military documents were taken with the content of nearly 80 percent of them yet to be identified. Also among them were contingency plans for the South's special forces, reports to allies' top commanders, and information on key military facilities and power plants, he added.

"The Ministry of National Defense has yet to find out about the content of 182 gigabytes of the total (stolen) data," the lawmaker said in a statement.

In May, the defense ministry's investigation authorities said that the communist state was thought to be behind the hacking of the military's key online network. They did not reveal what data had been taken at the time.

The hacking incident has raised calls for the allies to remain alert to the possibility of the belligerent regime readjusting its own contingency or wartime plans based on the stolen military documents.

In recent years, Seoul has been pushing to bolster its cyber defense capabilities as Pyongyang has launched a host of attacks on South Korean corporate and government websites by mobilizing its specially trained personnel, including those based in China and other foreign countries.

Pyongyang has denied responsibility for the cyberattacks, including the latest one, upbraiding Seoul for "fabricating" claims about online attacks. (Yonhap)
By Yi Whan-woo

North Korean hackers accessed hundreds of classified military documents in September last year, including one about a Seoul-Washington operational plan on removing Pyongyang's leadership, according to a lawmaker, Monday.

The revelation contradicts the Ministry of National Defense's explanation in May that, although its cyber networks were compromised in September 2016, the data leak was not at a "serious level."

Citing information from the ministry, Rhee Cheol-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said 235 gigabytes of data were stolen after the hackers broke into internet websites and the intranet managed by the Defense Integrated Data Center (DIDC).

The DIDC is responsible for storing all types of digital military data.

It has only identified 22.5 percent or 53 gigabytes of the stolen data and does not know the content of the rest.

Among the leaked data were 226 files classified as "secret" and 42 others listed as "confidential."












The prime suspect of killing a 14-year-old girl is taken into Jungnang Police Station in Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho

A 35-year-old suspect, who allegedly strangled his daughter's friend two weeks ago, confessed to killing the girl, police said Tuesday.

According to Jungnang Police Station in Seoul, the man surnamed Lee admitted to killing the 14-year-old and burying her body on a hill in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province.

Police also said that his 14-year-old daughter helped him by luring the victim to their house in Seoul, giving her a drink that had powdered sleeping pills in it and disposing of the body.

The prosecution has requested an arrest warrant for her.

Previously, Lee denied the murder allegation, claiming the friend died after taking the sleeping pills by mistake, despite the National Forensic Service's conclusion that she was strangled.

Yet he refused to give a reason as to why he killed her, police said.

Police said they are investigating whether his sadistic sexual propensity and unstable mental state were factors in the murder of the girl, whose body was found Sept. 6 with bruising on her neck and scratches on her face.

According to police, Lee had a collection of many adult products at his house. His wife, who was found dead in an apparent suicide last month for unclear reasons, said in a suicide note that he sexually abused her.

He even filmed the process of cleaning his wife's dead body and covering her in a shroud.

He was registered as disabled for his mental condition in December 2015, which could affect the investigation and court rulings.

Another big question is why he targeted the victim, who had barely talked to his daughter for almost two years after they graduated from the same elementary school.

His mental illness is also in doubt. Some believe he is just pretending to be "crazy" to avoid serious punishment.

He and his daughter suffer from a rare disease known as gigantiform cementoma, which involves dental tumors growing on the jaw. They became famous in 2006 when their stories were aired on TV. Until recently, he raised donations through TV programs and social media.

He knew how to raise funds with emotional messages using his daughter as an excuse, and many believed him.

But it turned out that Lee used much of the money to buy three luxurious cars, high-class audio systems and many other things unrelated to medical treatment.

Meanwhile, police are again looking into the suicide of his 31-year-old wife. According to police, she filed a complaint with police on Sept. 1 against Lee's stepfather, accusing him of sexually assaulting her for eight years. Four days later, she killed herself.
President Moon Jae-in talks with five key political and government leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. From left are Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su, Moon, National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, Constitutional Court acting President Kim Yi-su and National Election Commission Chairman Kim Yong-deok. / Yonhap



By Kim Rahn

President Moon Jae-in discussed the issue of revising the Constitution with five political and government leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday, presidential aides said.

Moon had a meeting with the five leaders to discuss solutions to challenges they face. The five were Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, National Assembly speaker Chung Sye-kyun, Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su, Constitutional Court acting President Kim Yi-su and National Election Commission Chairman Kim Yong-deok.

Since his presidential campaign, Moon has pledged to push for a referendum on a constitutional revision to be held in June next year in tandem with local elections. The Assembly also formed a bipartisan committee in January to gather opinions from politicians, citizens and experts on the revision.

"Opinion polls show about two-thirds to three-quarters of citizens agree on the need for constitutional amendment," Chung said, adding almost all lawmakers consent to the need for the revision although they may have different opinions in detail on how to revise it according to which party they belong.

"During the presidential election campaign, all candidates, including Moon, agreed on the revision idea and the Assembly established a special committee for it in January. I hope the country can achieve the amendment this time."

In amending the three-decade-old Constitution, both ruling and opposition parties agree on limiting presidential powers, expanding fundamental human rights and bolstering local autonomy. But they differ about how to limit presidential powers and change the central government structure.

A constitutional revision requires at least two-thirds of the votes in the Assembly and then a majority vote in a referendum.

Moon also called for bipartisan cooperation on security issues.

"The situation is not good because the security risk is being created from outside, making it difficult for us to take a leading role in managing the risk," Moon said. "But even though it is an outside factor, we can overcome the risk if we are united internally.

"If a regular consultative body comprised of people from the ruling and opposition parties and the government is set up to share security-related information and seek cooperation, it will help unite people."

Moon rules out nomination of Constitutional Court chief

Meanwhile, Moon decided to have the Constitutional Court keep the acting chief system for the time being, after the Assembly earlier voted down the confirmation of his pick for the head position, current acting President Kim Yi-su.

"On Sept. 18, the justices of the court unanimously consented to retain the acting president system, so Cheong Wa Dae decided to do so," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.

The presidential office did not state until when the acting head system would continue, but it is likely to be until next Sept. 19 when Kim Yi-su's six-year term ends.

The court's leadership has been vacant since former head Park Han-chul retired in January.

In a separate meeting with his staff, Moon urged the government to speed up social reforms and measures to boost the economy, including efforts to eradicate the "deep-rooted evils" of society, which was his campaign pledge.

Conservative opposition parties, which made up the ruling bloc during the former Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, have called Moon's drive "political retaliation."

"Reforms and such efforts are not political retaliation but are a move to reform improper practices that have accumulated for decades in all sectors of society including law enforcement and the economy, to make a just Korea," Moon said. "It will also help boost national competitiveness."
By Stacy Molnar





When babies are born, they start playing instinctively. During this play process, they face situations and make decisions by themselves, experiencing various challenges and even failures, but gaining accomplishments, independence and perseverance. These are some of the reasons why adults need to create a sound environment for children to play.

Recently, I attended an international study group in the small city of Reggio Emilia, Italy. At the schools, the children enjoyed carefully planned play activities inside and outside of the classroom. The teachers and children utilized many things in nature as materials in developing new play activities. Most importantly, the teachers focused on the children's interests during the classes by regarding them as capable, smart, active and curious individuals and learners. The children constructed their own body of knowledge from a carefully planned curriculum that engaged and built upon their current understanding.

This educational philosophy stems from the efforts of the townspeople of Reggio Emilia. After World War II, teachers, parents, women activists, administrators and educators gathered together and created this educational philosophy, emphasizing the bond between schools, families and communities. The core of the Reggio Emilia approach is learning from experience. Children learn from various situations and experiences, such as trials and errors, conflicts, reconciliations and associations with their friends. This approach enable lessons and other important information to remain longer in children's memory and become a foundation for their life.

The role of teachers, which is to facilitate the children's ability to articulate what they know and what they want to learn, is also important. Teachers help children communicate with their peers in the process of forming and sustaining relationships and to perform meaningful activities by themselves. Teachers also document children's milestones to understand children's learning and interests over time.

The role of the classroom environment, which is considered children's "third teacher," is also important. The learning environment should be designed as nature-friendly and sensible by using various materials, utilizing natural light and exhibiting children's works so as to stimulate their creativity and curiosity. As suggested by Reggio Emilia teachers and other researchers, children learn more effectively when they can use a wide variety of materials in a wide range of activities and in cooperation with adults, who encourage them to ask good questions.

As the head of the elementary school at St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju, I am inspired by this approach for our early childhood curriculum. In the school, which opens this month, I look forward to children being enthusiastic, curious and brave explorers and investigators in their own learning the setting of the wonderful natural environment of Jeju.

In this school, children will be encouraged to play with their peers in a natural environment that is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, a philosophy that allows students to follow their own curiosities and passions, learn strong communication skills with friends and adults, and practice conflict resolution skills while engaging in various activities.

It is important for parents and families to continue discussions with their children at home and to play with their children. Parents should try and create an enjoyable environment for play and other learning activities at home, as doing so will allow for happier children who believe that it is possible to reach their dreams.



The writer is the head of the elementary school at St. Johnsbury Academy, Jeju.
By Emanuel Yi Pastreich





Koreans worry that the conflict between the United States and China will force them to choose between a military ally and their most important economic partner. Although this view of the current situation is accurate, it is only part of the problem. In fact, Korea is also faced with a profound choice about how it defines economics and the future of civilization itself.

The recent meeting between United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese President Xi Jinping was ostensibly about planning for the upcoming visit of President Donald Trump to Beijing and discussing how China can increase economic pressure on North Korea.

But these two individuals could not be more different in their motives and backgrounds. Rex Tillerson is an unprecedented secretary of state, someone with zero political, governmental, academic or diplomatic experience. As the former CEO of Exxon, Tillerson was directly involved in the cover-up of climate change and the pursuit of profits from petroleum regardless of its impact on the environment.

Since his appointment, he has been ruthless in gutting the State Department, removing any senior diplomats who might offer even the slightest resistance  and many have quit of their own accord.

By contrast, Xi Jinping has spent his entire career in government and has an intimate understanding of policy and practice. Under his leadership, China has declared that healthcare is a human right and spoken out about desertification.

But a more important decision of President Xi's is to focus on climate change and the environment as national policy at the very moment that the United States is leaving the Paris Agreement and going back on its previous promises.

Xi has spoken repeatedly about the critical importance of an "ecological civilization" for the future of China, and of the Earth. This isn't empty talk. The Chinese government has committed to solar and wind power on a scale unmatched by any other country and strict regulations requiring electric automobiles are being implemented at a remarkable speed across the country.

The embodiment of this shift is the phrase President Xi frequently invokes, "blue water and green mountains are like piles of silver and gold."

The phrase implies that protecting the environment and creating a civilization that is in harmony with nature is such a priority that has absolute value in itself. Nature has a value equal to profits or assets. Xi Jinping suggests that the value of nature is absolute and that it must be considered as part of what defines the economy. He is opening the door for the return of ethical concerns to economic policy and going against the IMF consensus.

In a sense, the phrase may have as much historical import as Chairman Deng Xiaoping's remark, "I don't care if a cat is white or black as long as it catches mice."

Whereas Deng Xiaoping implied that we should not assess people in ideological terms, but rather in terms of their effectiveness, Xi suggests that there must be an ethical component to the economy that includes the natural environment.

He is subtly moving the discourse towards a more general critique of the narrow concept of value and the economy embraced by the entire Bretton Woods system, and hinting at a more profound transformation of the principles by which we govern the world.

There are many around the world who have been waiting for someone of the stature of Xi to make such an argument, and if China will seriously take on the contradictions within the concept of growth at this moment, its global leadership role will soar.

The concept of "ecological civilization" has gained general acceptance and we can anticipate even more ambitious policies to move away from fossil fuel as a national strategy after the Communist Party Congress.

The United States under Trump, however, is running backwards, embracing even coal and rejecting even the weakly-worked Paris Agreement. Tillerson embodies the breakdown of governance in the United States. A man who knows only the oil business and has no experience with diplomacy, helping to formulate national strategy based around fossil fuels.

This choice for Korea is serious. All indications are that Korea has already made a fatal mistake. We are falling behind in the development of electric batteries because Korea has not moved quickly to invest and make sure that the domestic market goes electric, and Korea has to secure large-scale contracts in China.

Picking a dying carbon-based economic system at this moment could be a far more serious problem than the short-term response to the abstract threat of a nuclear war with North Korea. Korea should keep its eyes focused on what is critical, not what shows up frequently on television.

Emanuel Yi Pastreich is a critic of literature, technology and international affairs. He teaches at Kyung Hee University and works at the Asia Institute. Contact: epastreich@gmail.com.
By Choi Sung-jin





U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to put Koreans' minds at ease even during their most significant holiday of Chuseok.

"Only one thing will work" in dealing with nuclear-armed North Korea, the twitterer-in-chief wrote Saturday, hinting at military action against the North. Two days earlier, the U.S. leader described a gathering of American military leaders as "the calm before the storm," while declining to elaborate. On Friday, Trump said, "You'll find out."

It's a small surprise then many South Koreans wonder who  Kim Jong-un or Trump  is madder and who is more anxious to firm up their domestic political base through what could be the most disastrous military adventure ever.

Unless either side pulls a crazy stunt shortly, however, gripping people's minds here, for the time being, will be another nuclear concern. Exactly 10 days from now, a committee will decide whether or not this country, which has scarce energy resources, should cease atomic power generation.

The latest social controversy began on July 21.

President Moon Jae-in, who had promised to phase out atomic power plants during his election campaign (four of the five candidates made similar pledges), launched an ad hoc committee and let it decide whether to continue the construction of Shin-Kori nuclear reactors Nos. 5 and 6, within 90 days. If its conclusion is negative, that will mean the gradual exclusion of nuclear power from the nation's energy mix.

Proponents of the nuclear power generation, composed of the "nuclear mafia" of atomic scholars and engineers as well as conservative politicians and media, mainly cite economic reasons. If Korea shuts down all of its 24 nuclear power plants, on which the nation relies for 31 percent of its electricity, it will suffer from a drastic power shortage and sharply higher electricity bills. "Blackouts and brownouts will be commonplace, while the export industries will lose their price competitiveness owed to cheap electricity," they say.

The supporters of nuclear energy also lament the loss of opportunities to export the nation's world-class technology and know-how to build and operate reactors. "If Korea stops nuclear power generation, the nation will not only lose the source of the cheapest and cleanest energy but also the billions of dollars in the nuclear reactor market to such emerging economies as China and Russia," pro-nuclear industrialists point out. Others stress the need to maintain the nuclear power industry to prepare for the nation's eventual nuclear armament and neutralize the ever fiercer security threats from North Korea.

Opponents  environmentalists, progressive politicians and media outlets  counter with ecological reasoning. They emphasize that atomic power plants are neither clean nor cheap, considering the potential damage nuclear wastes inflict on this planet and the enormous costs to decommission old power plants. Calling for phasing out nuclear generation and replacing it with renewable sources such as solar and wind power, the anti-nuclear activists also hit back with the theory of economic value, asking until when should the nation's economy rely on energy-guzzling manufacturers in the upcoming era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Most worrisome of all, as everyone knows, is the indescribable calamity resulting from nuclear accidents, as shown in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Unlike those two areas with relatively sparse populations, the Busan-Ulsan area where the Kori and Wolseong nuclear plant complexes are located has 3.8 million residents within a radius of 30 km, about 22 times higher than in the Fukushima area. Proponents say Korean reactors have been built to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9. That, however, falls short of standing against the maximum 7.5 magnitude quakes which experts agree can occur on the Korean Peninsula. Experts had said the accident at Fukushima was a 1 in 100,000 chance  until it happened. North Korea may not need nuclear-tipped missiles if the worst-case scenario becomes a reality on the southern half of the peninsula.



Laypersons, including this writer, have little means and objective and reliable information to judge which side is right.

Some facts, however, appear more transparent and undisputable, than others. First, Korea's reliance on nuclear power is too high while the share of its renewable energy is at rock bottom among 35 OECD member nations, with a meager 1.3 percent. Second, the pro-nuclear industrialists and scholars are exaggerating possible side effects of the Moon administration's energy policy. Korea is not shutting down all atomic power plants but will not be building new power plants while phasing out old ones. Even the ad hoc panel's decision on Oct. 21 will be about their temporary suspension  not complete stoppage  of the two reactors which are 29 percent completed. Third, the pro-nuclear group says renewable energy is not suitable for a small, densely populated nation such as Korea. How would they explain then Taiwan's case, which is moving toward denuclearizing its energy mix?

The pro-nuclear side also contends the nine-member panel, which includes no atomic energy expert, is poorly qualified to make such a crucial, long-term decision. That is why the industry should provide objective and reliable information to the committee, which is too important to include even a single nuclear industrialist with biases  and vested interests.

Most advanced countries, including the United States, Germany, and even France that once depended on nuclear power for 77 percent of its energy demand, are weaning their industries from atomic plants, cheap in the short term but expensive  and fatal  in the long run.

Korea has just reached the first threshold toward clean and safe energy landscape. No shortsighted, greedy interest groups should be allowed to obstruct the nation's march toward this valuable and commendable goal.

Choi Sung-jin is a Korea Times columnist. Contact him at choisj1955@naver.com.
By Yoon Sung-won





Cho Bum-coo, Cisco Korea CEO

Cisco Korea may have to share its key financial information starting next year as the government aggressively pushes to tackle the lack of transparency and tax-dodging practices by foreign enterprises, according to industry sources, Tuesday.



"Though there still is much to be seen about the application of the revision, it can provide authorities the legal grounds to track important financial actions of limited liability companies (LLCs). It would prompt foreign firms such as Cisco Korea to monitor possible malicious offshore tax evasion and practices of base erosion and profit shifting," an industry source said.



According to the Financial Services Commission, the National Assembly passed a revision on the External Audit Law on Sept. 28. One of the key points of the revision is that LLCs here, many of which are Korean subsidiaries of foreign enterprises, will be obliged to receive external audits and release audit reports including their balance sheets, income statements, surplus appropriation statements and dividend information.



This revision is scheduled to take effect in October next year.



Under the current law, LLCs have been considered private companies and thus have been exempt from external audits. A commercial law revision in 2011 even lifted regulations on their number of investors and share assignments, giving them extra freedom.



To tap into such unchecked freedom, Cisco Korea changed itself to an LLC in 2013 like many other Korean subsidiaries of foreign enterprises such as Apple. Apple Korea had become an LLC earlier in 2009. Cisco Korea, which is 100 percent owned by its U.S. headquarters, was founded in 1994.



Since 2013, Cisco Korea stopped releasing earnings reports, leading to criticisms over its lack of transparency. Cho Bum-coo is in charge of the company.



In its last available business performance data, Cisco Korea posted only 82.8 billion won in sales, 14.1 billion won in operating profit and 13.8 billion won in net profit in its 2012 fiscal year between August 2011 and July 2013. But the company is estimated to generate over 500 billion won in sales in Korea in the year considering its dominance in Korea's network equipment business for mobile carriers and data centers.



It has been criticized for being lukewarm in investments and making social contributions here. After becoming an LLC, however, it could keep such business information secret, the source said.



Another industry source pointed out the revision may not have significant impact on local subsidiaries of multinational IT companies as they have already received internal rules on receiving external audits.



"Many local subsidiaries of global enterprises have received external audits from accounting firms, following directions from headquarters," the source said. "The point will be that if the law can tackle profit shifting practices of Korean subsidiaries of global firms and force them to release actual sales and profit information they generate here, it will be difficult to force their global headquarters to bend their rules to take advantage of Korea."
By Yoon Sung-won



SKC is seeking to cooperate with Evonik in the global chemical market, the company said Tuesday.



The petrochemical business arm of SK Group said it is in discussion with the German chemical giant to gain access to its hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) conversion technology.



The HPPO process uses hydrogen peroxide to oxidize propylene to propylene oxide (PO) and generates only water as a byproduct. For this reason, the HPPO process has been considered the most eco-friendly and economically efficient in the industry, according to SKC.



"SKC is currently reviewing multiple options for strategic cooperation with Evonik such as direct market participation through a joint venture and newly opening an operation and maintenance business," an SKC official said. "We are trying to find a strategy that is mutually beneficial to both firms."



PO is a basic chemical for the automobile, construction, furniture and home appliances industries. Along with the growth of relevant industries, demand for PO has been increasing by 300,000 tons to 400,000 tons annually.



SKC said Chinese PO manufacturers have shown particularly strong interest in the HPPO process.



"This can be attributed to the stronger environmental policy in China, which seeks to promote eco-friendly methods by imposing a penalty on environmentally harmful methods," the official said.



The Chinese government plans to impose a new tax that charges in line with the volume of pollutants produced, starting next year. About 60 percent of PO manufacturing facilities in China are using the chlorine method, which emits serious levels of polluted waste.



The company said it has signed agreements with potential partners in China and the Middle East, while in discussion with Evonik over the possible global cooperation.






Apple, Google required to open balance sheets

By Park Jae-hyuk

Starting from October next year, Chanel Korea will be forced to disclose its business performance, which has been shrouded in secrecy for the past 27 years.

This follows the recent revision to the External Audit Law, which will allow regulators to subject limited liability companies to external audits.

The French fashion house's Korean unit will now have to disclose its balance sheet, income statements and other accounting data. Chanel Korea has been able to keep its key corporate information secret, because it was established as a limited liability company in 1991.

Avoiding disclosing its sales and the amount of its donations, the company faced criticism that it tended to be stingy with its social contributions.

Its spokesman stated that the company has carried out proper corporate social responsibility programs relevant to its business.

But data from the domestic consultancy Chaebul.com show the luxury brand has never made a donation in Korea despite enjoying long-lasting popularity among consumers here.

The audit reports are expected to show which side is right.

On top of Chanel Korea, local branches of other foreign luxury brands are facing a similar situation.

Louis Vuitton Korea, which transformed its corporate structure in 2012, has been criticized for its poor social contributions. Before it became a limited liability company, its ratio of donations to operating profits was below 0.5 percent compared to the average 2 percent for the top 500 firms in Korea.

Its spokeswoman countered, "Louis Vuitton Korea donated $380,000 to UNICEF last year, and the Korean branch spent the third-largest sum of money among branches worldwide."

But critics countered that the "unusual measure" was intended to avoid criticism.

Gucci Korea, Hermes Korea and Prada Korea have been suspicious of concealing their high amounts of dividends and royalties paid to their headquarters, compared to their low amount of donations. The three have been limited liability companies from their beginning here.

Google and other global tech giants have been accused of attempting to avoid taxes here.

Industry officials have estimated that Google earned more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in Korea last year. Data from the Korea Mobile Internet Business Association showed Korean consumers bought apps worth 4.46 trillion won via Google Play last year.

However, they said Google Korea has never paid taxes for the sales at all, because the app store is run on servers based in other countries. Google has reportedly paid taxes for its sales in Korea in Singapore, thus avoiding the relatively higher taxes here.

Korean branches of Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, which are also limited liability companies, have faced similar criticism.



A Google Korea spokesman said, "Google follows the laws and pays all applicable taxes in Korea. The Korean government recently completed an audit of Google Korea and found that the company is in compliance."

If the companies undergo external audits, regulators will be able to ascertain whether their suspicions are true.

According to the Financial Services Commission and the National Tax Service, the number of such companies totaled 26,858 as of 2015, which is more than double the 12,091 from a decade ago.

Most international enterprises established their Korean units as limited liability companies. Included among them are Cisco, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald's.

The government will soon decide on the minimum size of companies to be subject to external audits.
Organisers, the Australian Embassy to Vietnam and University of Industrial Fine Arts, hope to see creative designs that reflect the long-standing and close relationship over 45 years.

Photo: ATP

The winner will receive an iPad NEW 9.7 2017 (around VND10 million) and a VND10 million voucher (transferable) to learn English in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh city. While a VND5 million English language voucher offers for the most liked logo on Facebook. Besides, a set of IELTS books, a kangaroo helmet and a certificate of appreciation, will come to ten runner-up entries.

"The relationship between Australia and Vietnam has come a long way since Australia and Vietnam announced the establishment of diplomatic relations on February 26th, 1973 and now spans a wide range of cooperation, including economic, security and innovation partnerships. I hope this competition will be an opportunity for all participants to show their talent and creativity as well as to learn more about our two countries", said Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Craig Chittick.

The submission period will run from now to November 30th, 2017.

Contestants can submit multiple entries online. Logo competition rules and guidance on how to submit logos can be found on the Embassys website or via this link: http://bit.ly/thilogo45namAustraliaVietnam./.
A Bolivar Doctor is celebrating a big milestone on his bike. He just reached the same distance that it would take to cycle around the world, twice! He's now using the milestone to encourage everyone to get active

Dr. Curtis Schreiber logged his 49,805th mile on his bike Monday. He has been working on this goal for 12 years now. While he is proud of the accomplishment, he says it's an obtainable number for anyone.

"I don't ride big miles. I only ride about 10 to 12 miles a day, but I do it lot. Almost almost every day."

12 years ago he was telling his patients they needed to excersice every day but realizing he wasn't doing it himself.

"One day I looked in the mirror and I said, who you kidding your not doing it, how could they do it?"

Thousands of miles later Schrieber says he is proof of the physical and mental benefits he preaches about every day.

"A big number is great and feels good to make the big number but the thing that makes me feel the best are the day to day rewards that I get and anyone can get by being a regular exerciser."

For the big number he was looking forward to on Monday, he rode on his lunch break -- to a small crowd of people cheering him on, including his wife.

"Doing it for his patients really made me proud of him. Thinking your wanting to do something and to demonstrate that this is important that they should be doing this to take care of their own health," his wife said.

Schreiber says consistency is key and urges everyone to find what works for them, weather it's a pool, a bike or just walking.

"Until you carve out the time for yourself you'll never get it done," he said.

He rode almost all of those miles on what he calls a 'hidden gem,' the Ozarks Greenways Trail, Galloway Creek Greenway and the Frisco Highline Trail. He says they are a perfect and safe spot to exercise.
PRESS RELEASE

Chile Wants China To Build Large Bioceanic Projects; Without China There Is No Integration with the World

Oct. 9, 2017 (EIRNS)Speaking to China Hoy, Chiles Undersecretary of Public Works, Sergio Galilea, emphasized that "without China, there is no integration with the world," adding that Chile can serve as a "a good bridge nation" [to China] primarily for South America.

Galilea added that the vision that Chile and China share can help create a "community of interests," particularly in the field of infrastructure. Chile wants, and needs, Chinas expertise in building large-scale infrastructure projects, he said, pointing to the binational, two-way Agua Negra tunnel under the Andes, which will create a bioceanic corridor connecting Chiles Pacific port of Coquimbo (in central Chile) with Brazils Atlantic port of Porto Alegre. "Its not just anyone who can build tunnels at 4,500 meters of altitude," Gallilea states, referencing the expertise of Chinese construction firms.

The Minister noted that these large projects

"also require in their construction phase types of technologies and a productive organization in which Chinese plays a vanguard role in the world."

The construction of Agua Negra, he adds, is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of other infrastructure projects in which Chinese companies can participate. There is, for example, the Las Lenas tunnel, another binational project in the central OHiggins region of Chile, which is not at such a high altitude. During the recent early-September "Chile Week in China," Chilean and Chinese officials discussed many other infrastructure projects including possibly building a railroad at the San Francisco border crossing, in northern Chiles Atacama region, passing into the Argentine province of Catamarca.
President Trump said he has an economic development bill, which nobody knows about, that would provide incentives to keep companies in the U.S. and severely penalize them if they move offshore.

Its both a carrot and a stick, Trump said in an interview with Forbes that appeared online Tuesday.

It is an incentive to stay. But it is perhaps even more so  if you leave, its going to be very tough for you to think that youre going to be able to sell your product back into our country, he said.

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Trump told Forbes that you are hearing about it for the first time.

He said he thinks the bill will be fantastic and added that nobody knows about it.

The bill would provide economic-development incentives for companies  to be here, Trump said. U.S. companies that send jobs overseas would get penalized severely, he said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders provided no details when asked about the bill by reporters Tuesday.

In addition to the historic tax cuts and regulatory reform, the president is looking at different ways we can bring jobs and profits back to our shores, she said at the daily news briefing.

During his campaign, presidential candidate Trump blasted U.S. companies for moving jobs overseas and threatened to slap heavy tariffs on products they tried to bring into the country from abroad. But the Trump administration has not proposed any broad new tariffs.

Trump also said during the campaign that he wanted to pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. is in talks with Canada and Mexico to try to renegotiate the pact.

I happen to think that NAFTA will have to be terminated if were going to make it good, Trump told Forbes.

House Republicans had advocated for including a border-adjustment tax as part of tax overhaul legislation that would have provided incentives for companies that manufacture products in the U.S. The plan would have exempted corporate profits made on exports while imposing a new tax on goods imported by U.S. companies.

The provision was controversial, and the Trump administration and congressional Republicans decided in July to leave it out of broader tax overhaul negotiations. A framework for the overhaul was released last month but has yet to be turned into legislation.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

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UPDATES:

12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

This article originally was published at 7:45 a.m.
California doesnt have enough doctors.

By 2025, the state will be short about 4,700 primary-care physicians, according to a recent report from the UC San Francisco Healthforce Center. This will result in more people turning to costly emergency-room visits for routine care, it predicts.

One solution is to expand the role of well-trained nurse practitioners, who can meet the basic healthcare needs of our growing population at a fraction of the cost of doctor visits. Thats what many other states are doing.

But this obvious remedy is opposed by a powerful interest  doctors. As a result, the Legislature has repeatedly failed to give greater independence to nurse practitioners, or NPs for short.

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I wasnt even aware of this issue until I stopped by a CVS MinuteClinic the other day to get my annual flu shot (which you should do as well; about 36,000 people in this country are killed by the flu every year).

The clinics nurse practitioner and I chatted as she prepped my injection. I asked if she could do most things a doctor could do. Could she prescribe medicine?

Yes, she replied, she could prescribe meds and do pretty much everything a family practitioner can do.

So why arent there more clinics like the one at CVS, serving as the affordable front line in our battle for wellness?

The law doesnt allow it, she answered.

Really?

Theresa Ullrich, president of the California Assn. for Nurse Practitioners, clarified that the law does allow for greater use of NPs, but it contains language that makes an expanded role challenging if not impossible.

Were a good answer to the need for cost-effective and high-quality care, she told me. But were hamstrung by the states regulatory language.

First, many people might not know the difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner. In California, a registered nurse needs at least an associates degree in nursing, which takes about two years to obtain, often from a community college.

A nurse practitioner, meanwhile, must have at least a masters degree and must receive advanced training in his or her specialty, such as family medicine. Unlike a nurse, a nurse practitioner can order tests, diagnose medical problems and manage a patients overall care.

Think of an NP falling between a nurse and a doctor. The typical nurse practitioner receives up to eight years of postsecondary education, whereas a doctor receives an average 12 years of postsecondary education and training, often more.

An NP focuses on wellness  keeping patients fit and addressing routine medical needs, such as checkups and health-maintenance programs. More complicated issues would require a doctors care.

For years, healthcare advocates have been pushing for a greater emphasis on nurse practitioners, and that makes a lot of sense. Many medical issues dont require the expertise of a physician.

NPs, who earn about half what the typical California doctor makes, are in a position to offer treatment at a much more reasonable cost.

The problem is a state law requiring all drug-prescribing nurse practitioners to have a supervising physician, even though this doctor might play little if any role in the NPs day-to-day practice.

If I opened my own clinic, I would need a physician to supervise me, Ullrich said, and Id need to put him on the payroll.

The law also stipulates that each supervising physician oversee no more than four nurse practitioners.

So if the clinic was going to expand, Ullrich said, Id have to bring on more supervising physicians, and Id have to pay them as well.

The California Medical Assn., which represents doctors, insists that patients benefit from having physicians oversee nurse practitioners  even if a doctor isnt physically present or isnt terribly engaged with an NPs activities.

Physician-led, team-based care is one of the best avenues to quality, low-cost healthcare, Joanne Adams, a spokeswoman for the trade group, said in a statement.

She cited the collaborative relationship between physicians and other healthcare practitioners, and her organizations support for efforts to expand the productivity of these teams.

Thats a lot of team spirit. But its hard not to suspect that doctors are just trying to make sure they keep getting a piece of the action for relatively little work.

Nearly two-dozen states have waived the requirement that nurse practitioners have a supervising physician. More than dozen others allow NPs to diagnose and treat patients (but not prescribe drugs) on their own.

California is the only Western state that still requires a supervising physician for nurse practitioners to diagnose, treat and prescribe medicine for patients.

I could move to Nevada or Oregon and open my own practice without having to pay a physician to oversee what Im doing, Ullrich said.

State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), an optometrist before he turned to politics, has introduced bills seeking to follow other states in granting NPs more freedom. Each bill has collapsed amid fierce opposition from the doctors lobby.

Organized medicine  the California Medical Assn.  doesnt want anyone infringing on their business, Hernandez told me.

He said theres no evidence that giving nurse practitioners more latitude to practice medicine endangers the public or undermines the integrity of the healthcare system.

In fact, theres decades of evidence showing that theyre safe and that patients like them, Hernandez said.

He emphasized that for many rural and inner-city communities, NPs may be the only healthcare providers willing to open local clinics and to take Medi-Cal.

While a third of Californians rely on the state-federal insurance program for coverage, a recent study found that 36% of California doctors refuse to see Medi-Cal patients because of relatively low reimbursement rates.

The state has a population close to 40 million people. By 2050, California could have 50 million residents, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Not having enough doctors to meet the healthcare needs of that population is frightening.

Not taking steps to address this shortfall with a greater number of nurse practitioners is simply foolish.

David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.

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When 6,000 of her fellow audience members placed cardboard goggles on their faces to watch her five-minute virtual reality film, Fistful of Stars, Eliza McNitts heart broke from happiness.

She heard people shuffling around, then a brief silence followed by a collective gasp. This happened when viewers, many of whom had never experienced VR before, realized that they were being transported inside the Hubble Telescope in order to view the enigmatic enormity of the cosmos from its privileged perch beyond the earths atmosphere.

McNitts VR experience is the metaphorical tail on the multimedia comet that is classical composer Paola Prestinis The Hubble Cantata, which swept up that huge audience in Brooklyns Prospect Park last summer and stages its West Coast premiere Wednesday at the Ford Theatres in Hollywood. Presented in association with Los Angeles Opera, the show features soprano Jessica Rivera and baritone Nathan Gunn singing a libretto by Royce Vavrek. Members of the L.A. Opera Orchestra, L.A. Opera Chorus and Los Angeles Childrens Chorus are also part of the production.

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I think storytelling is at the heart of all these experiences. We are trying to leave people with a sense of wonder and awe.  Eliza McNitt, filmmaker

The performance is a cosmic collision of science and art on a novel scale, arriving at a time when experimental companies such as Yuval Sharons the Industry are using the classic art form to push technological and artistic innovation  and in the process draw a new generation of fans.

What is so exciting about this project was being able to bring a new perspective to an art form that has existed for so long in order to provide a new way of experiencing it, McNitt said by phone from New York. I think storytelling is at the heart of all these experiences. We are trying to leave people with a sense of wonder and awe.

Prestini first approached McNitt about the project a few years ago. She told McNitt that she wanted to create visuals for the performance, which tells the tale of an astrophysicist who looks to the mystery of the cosmos after losing his wife and child. This story finds its parallel in the life cycle of a star, which McNitts film reveals as viewers are transported to the Orion Nebula to watch a star be born, age and eventually explode in a supernova.

McNitt, 26, is a bit of a supernova herself. She is a two-time winner of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a self-professed certified nerd whose research on honeybee colony collapse disorder earned her a visit to the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. There, during a stroll in the particle accelerator, she fell deeply in love with particle physics and realized she needed to show the world that science is art.

This led to her first documentary film, Requiem for the Honeybee, which was broadcast internationally on C-SPAN. Since then, McNitt has made it her mission to create films that bring science to vivid life.

For Fistful of Stars, McNitt worked closely with astrophysicist Mario Livio, a prolific author who devoted more than 25 years to overseeing many of the Hubble Telescopes discoveries. Livio also narrates The Hubble Cantata, and he helped McNitt hew true to the scientific realities of her interstellar journey.

Using real footage from the telescope, McNitt crafted a film that took scientific theories grounded in hard data and interpreted them through an artistic lens, making sure to consider crucial points of interest including the color of a star when it is born and what solar flares look like when theyre circling off the body of a star.

I wanted to make people feel like they were seeing through the lens of the Hubble Telescope, and peering back in time billions of years ago to see what Hubble sees thousands of light years away, she said.

The beauty of this particular collaboration, L.A. Opera President Christopher Koelsch said, is how seamlessly the various art forms blend together.

You dont want to allow the technology tail to wag the artistic dog, he said. There would be no point in incorporating this technology if it werent merited by the aesthetics of the piece.

Koelsch is a big fan of Prestinis work. The young composer, who in 2011 was named one of the top 100 composers under 40 by National Public Radio, is part of an exciting group of new music innovators whom Koelsch affectionately calls the iPod generation of composers.

They are classically trained musicians who are as equally influenced by pop culture and rock n roll as they are by Wagner, he said, adding that the kind of experimentation Prestini has lent to her work will help shape what masterpieces come out of the next 50 years.

Ford Theatres interim executive director, Olga Garay-English, is welcoming The Hubble Cantata to Los Angeles as part of a 10-part series featuring work by contemporary artists called Ignite @ the Ford!

Its not an expensive technology, so were able to share this for free with all of our patrons who come to the event, she says of cardboard goggles that fit to audience members personal mobile phones for viewing Fistful of Stars. They will download the film in advance, so that when the cue comes to don the goggles, they are ready for experience.

As the music crescendos, you meld into the cosmos, she said. What can be accomplished these days is extraordinary.

Also extraordinary, added McNitt, is the collective nature of the experience. VR has traditionally been a solitary experience, with viewers isolated in headsets and headphones, separate from the rest of the world while becoming part of another world entirely.

I think there is something very special about embracing the flaws of that idea to create this communal experience where you can not only listen to this thunderous score, but listen to the person next to you reacting to that experience, McNitt said.

         

The Hubble Cantata

Where: Ford Theatres, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: Start at $65 (subject to change)

Info: (323) 461-3673, www.fordtheatres.org

jessica.gelt@latimes.com

@jessicagelt

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Movies

Oct. 10, 2017, 12:05 p.m. Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie detail unacceptable encounters with Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein and Gwyneth Paltrow at an event in London in 2002. (Getty Images)

Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have revealed that they, too, were victimized by disgraced Miramax and Weinstein Co. mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Weinstein was credited with helping to launch Paltrows career, aiding in her Oscar win for Shakespeare in Love and turning her into the first lady of Miramax.

Before that, though, Paltrow claimed that the film producer assaulted her when she was 22 after he summoned her to his hotel suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills for a work meeting about 1996s Emma. There, he placed his hands on her and suggested they go to the bedroom for massages  a story that has been echoed by several Weinstein accusers.

I was a kid. I was signed up; I was petrified, she told the New York Times, which last week exposed decades of sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein. He was fired from his namesake studio Sunday despite taking a leave of absence and issuing a bizarre public apology.

Paltrow said that she confided in her boyfriend at the time, actor Brad Pitt, who later confronted the producer. But Weinstein threatened to fire the Goop founder if she talked about it again.

He screamed at me for a long time, she said. It was brutal.

Actress-director Angelina Jolie. (Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images)

Jolie, who starred in Miramaxs Playing By Heart (1998), Pulp Fiction star Rosanna Arquette and French actress Judith Godreche also told similar tales, the New York Times said.

I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did, Jolie told the outlet. This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.

Those stories came just as the New Yorker published a report on Tuesday detailing more victims stories, some of which included allegations of rape. In the report, Weinsteins spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, denied the allegations of non-consensual sex and that Weinstein retaliated against women for refusing his advances.

Mr. Weinstein obviously cant speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual, she said. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.

Several well-known celebs have publicly decried Weinsteins actions. Actors Jennifer Lawrence, George Clooney and Ben Affleck excoriated the disgraced movie producer on Monday and Tuesday, as did Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Julianne Moore.

Read The Times full coverage of the Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal.
Lupita Nyongo relates her story of inappropriate Harvey Weinstein encounters

Lupita Nyongo with her Oscar after winning Best Actress for 12 Years a Slave at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

With stories about women allegedly harassed by Harvey Weinstein surfacing all around her, Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo decided she couldnt keep her own story squashed down any longer.

She thought the things that had happened were unique to her, not a larger pattern of what she on Thursday called sinister behavior. She blamed herself for much of it.

I had shelved my experience with Harvey far in the recesses of my mind, joining in the conspiracy of silence that has allowed this predator to prowl for so many years, Nyongo wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.

The 12 Years a Slave actress was still at Yale School of Drama when she and Weinstein crossed paths at a 2011 awards ceremony in Berlin, where he was introduced to the then-aspiring actress as the most powerful producer in Hollywood. Dinner companions told her he was a good man to know in the biz, but someone to be careful around because he could be a bully, she wrote.

The interactions that followed between her and the producer went back and forth between seemingly appropriate and uncomfortably inappropriate, Nyongo said.

The invitation to screen a movie with Weinstein and his children at his Connecticut home turned into a restaurant lunch where he tried to bully her into drinking alcohol, she wrote, followed by him cutting short her viewing of the movie after 15 minutes and taking her to his bedroom where he offered to give her a massage. She said she flipped the situation around.

I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation, the actress said. Then he wanted to take off his pants, she wrote.

He couldnt make it to see a production she was in, but invited her to bring anyone she wanted to see a staged reading of Finding Neverland, one of his. Dinner followed, with her friends relegated to a non-Harvey table.

The talk was shop the whole time and Harvey held court with ease. He was charming and funny once more, and I felt confused about the discomfort I had previously experienced, Nyongo said.

Lupita Nyongo accepts the supporting actress Academy Award for her work in 12 Years a Slave on March 2, 2014. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A couple of months later, he invited her to a screening of W.E. followed by a trip to the Tribeca Grill, which she said she assumed would be another group meal. It was not. His assistants, she said, had seemed uncomfortable as they set up the logistics with her.

Before the starters arrived, he announced: Lets cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal. I was stunned, Nyongo wrote. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naive. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them.

She declined, and his tone changed, she said. As he escorted her out, sans meal, she checked in with him to make sure they were still good after shed said no.

His response, according to the actress: I dont know about your career, but youll be fine, he said. It felt like both a threat and a reassurance at the same time; of what, I couldnt be sure.

They didnt cross paths again until the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, which she was attending in support of 12 Years a Slave.

At an after-party, he found me and evicted whoever was sitting next to me to sit beside me, she wrote. He said he couldnt believe how fast I had gotten to where I was, and that he had treated me so badly in the past. He was ashamed of his actions and he promised to respect me moving forward. I said thank you and left it at that. But I made a quiet promise to myself to never ever work with Harvey Weinstein.

Our business is complicated because intimacy is part and parcel of our profession; as actors we are paid to do very intimate things in public. Thats why someone can have the audacity to invite you to their home or hotel and you show up.  Lupita Nyongo

The following year, after her Oscar win, he tried to get her in one of his films, showering her with talk of a star-vehicle film in the offing for her later if shed first take a role in a Weinstein Co. movie shed already turned down. She held firm.

When she first met the now-disgraced producer, she wrote, she was entering into a community that Harvey Weinstein had been in, and even shaped, long before I got there. He was one of the first people I met in the industry, and he told me, This is the way it is. And wherever I looked, everyone seemed to be bracing themselves and dealing with him, unchallenged.

Since then, she said, she hasnt encountered treatment like that from anyone else. Still, she talked about the often-blurry lines in the workplace known as Hollywood.

Our business is complicated because intimacy is part and parcel of our profession; as actors we are paid to do very intimate things in public, wrote Nyongo, who is now 34. Thats why someone can have the audacity to invite you to their home or hotel and you show up. Precisely because of this we must stay vigilant and ensure that the professional intimacy is not abused.
Seven albums into the bands career, theres a level of fame to be expected from being in the National, who headline the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday.

Frontman Matt Berninger, who was reached by phone at his hotel room between a recent run of shows in the U.K., described some of his response to Nationals new album Sleep Well Beast becoming the groups first No. 1 in that country (back home in the U.S., it debuted at No. 2, another career high).

I just went and was buying some shirts, and it came on BBC or whatever their main radio station was, and I started singing along to [early single] The Day I Die  just perfectly, perfectly in sync with the song, he said wryly, still a little proud. And the two women at the shirt shop thought I was just . . . yeah, they didnt catch on.

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We are the  what are the opposite of household names? he joked. Its sort of the perfect level of fame.

Which isnt to say he or the band has reached the point of late-career coasting. Some three years in the making, Sleep Well Beast has many of the familiar hallmarks of a National album, but with new wrinkles. While the National doesnt shed its reputation for vivid if often gloomy chronicles of domestic disenchantment and discord, this albums heartsick lyrics such as I know its not working, Im no holiday on Guilty Party feel particularly raw when considering its the product of a married couple.

Berningers wife, Carin Besser, a former fiction editor at the New Yorker, is co-credited for lyrics and melodies on Sleep Well Beast alongside her husband. Though shes appeared in the Nationals credits dating back to Boxer in 2007, it feels worth asking Berninger: Is everything OK? He laughs at the question.

We have a really healthy marriage, he said, adding that while he sees most of the album as pretty slippery in more concerning relationships with fear, friendship or even ones country, Guilty Party really is about the breakup that it seems.

You go through breakups, little breakups, like little emotional things where you just cant talk to each other for a day or two, he said. So we look over the edge. We let each other evolve, we let our marriage evolve. We dig into it. Shes just as interested in the truth of the human soul as I am.

Such exploration on Sleep Well Beast is accompanied by distraught, disruptive arrangements. Buzzy electronics and a latticework of percussion frame Ill Still Destroy You while glitchy textures and arcs of guitar rise and collapse around the amorphous, album-closing title track. The noisy Turtleneck, by contrast, is probably the most barbed rock song ever released by the National, who sound like a band still reaching for new directions.

Onstage at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, the band continued with its long held ability to translate inward-facing drama into onstage catharsis. From quiet beginnings, Ill Still Destroy You closes with a squall of guitar noise worth of Sonic Youth and first single The System Dreams In Total Darkness plays like a swiveling dance number with Berninger tilting into odd angles to reach its shout-along chorus.

We wanted to throw away the playbook, said Aaron Dessner, who produced Sleep Well Beast and, along with twin brother Bryce, forms part of the intricate two-guitar structure for the band. Obviously when Matt sings or even when Bryan [Devendorf] drums you can still recognize the National. But I think we needed to sort of open a new chapter and push ourselves.

Part of that effort was simply bringing everyone back into the same place. Each member of the National now lives in a different city, but the group has long had a fragmented work structure where the Dessners, along with the sibling rhythm section of Bryan and Scott Devendorf, would submit in-progress music to Berninger for him to write and record lyrics over. Dessner likened the unconventional process to designing a building and building it in pieces.

To upend this process, Dessner designed another building; a new recording studio outside of his home in upstate New York dubbed Long Pond. Specifically built for the Nationals specific needs with plenty of open space to foster a relaxed sense of collaboration, the studio became a central figure in Sleep Well Beast, so much so that its pictured on the album cover.

Its the combination of tranquil and beautiful and really sort of scary, Berninger said of the space, which backs up against a pond. Like any watering hole, its also where the predators come so wed be working on stuff late and hear, all of a sudden, this swell of coyotes yelping, which sounded like old ladies screaming to death, and its terrifying.

It was not only recording it was also, like, hanging out with each other, Dessner said. It was the first time in a long time where we were actually just enjoying being friends and not being on tour and not being in some sort of pressurized situation.

But the covers stark nighttime image is misleading. While evoking a band walled off from the world, Sleep Well Beast extends the Nationals track record of collaboration. Previous albums have included a long roster of guests such as Sharon Van Etten, Sufjan Stevens and Bon Ivers Justin Vernon, and this album goes a step further by including the results from a free-flowing residency the Dessners hosted at a former radio center in East Berlin called the Funkhaus.

Bryce and I had an open studio where we were just working on the National record. We had turned all the vocals off, but anyone could come in and play, even audience members could come in and play and we were recording everything, he said. Vernon and the German electronic duo Mouse on Mars were among those on hand, and the effort gave the record some fresh, unexpected flourishes.

If you go back and listen to [Sleep Well Beast] you might start to pick out elements which might have come from that time, because they tend to be a little bit wilder or just more like ... not necessarily sympathetic to the proceedings, Dessner said. More and more I think to have a sort of rewarding musical life you need to be open and collaborative. Thats what sustains you, not building the National up to this giant arena rock thing, or whatever.

But after seven albums of mining his emotional entanglements for material, does Berninger ever regret sharing too much in a song?

I really regret around 20 to 30% of everything thats on every record, he said with a laugh. But you got to wear something to prom. And you know, on one level or another, in a few years youll look like a fool in those photos, but you gotta go to prom.

Im OK with a certain level of humiliation, he added. I choke it down.

         

The National with Local Natives and Daughter

Where: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A.

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Cost: $32.50-$450

Info: www.ticketmaster.com

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

chris.barton@latimes.com

Follow me over here @chrisbarton.

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On Tuesday, with devastation all around him, and without knowing what else to do, Siduri Winerys Adam Lee walked 2 miles to his winery in Santa Rosa.

Lee walked through the Coffey Lane neighborhood. What he saw stunned him. Where once there had been houses, now lay smoldering piles of rubble and ash, skeletons of cars and charred trees. Nearby, a Hilton Hotel, the historic Round Barn, the Fountaingrove Inn and several shops lay in ruins.

I dont know what a nuclear zone looks like, Lee said, but this looked like the devastation after a nuclear bomb strike.

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Across the North Coast of California, vineyards and wineries were burning, 15 lives had been lost, with many fires still raging out of control.

Hundreds of wineries have been affected, as have their staffs, vineyard workers, office and maintenance crews and tasting room teams. Thousands of wine industry professionals, from winemakers to executives, importers, logistics workers, suppliers and pickers, have lost homes and workplaces. Wineries and vineyards in Calistoga, Stags Leap, Atlas Peak, Coombsville, Sonoma Valley, Bennett Valley and as far away as Mendocino have been affected.

Signorello Estate, White Rock, Stags Leap, Paradise Ridge and Gundlach Bundschu wineries all have suffered catastrophic damage, according to reports. One of the most alarming images of the last few days was of the roofless stone walls of Signorello Winery, on the Silverado Trail, containing an inferno.

By some fluke, Siduri Winery, in an industrial park west of Highway 101, was spared. On Tuesday, Lee, assistant winemaker Ryan Zepaltas and cellarmaster Luke Henderson were assessing the situation.

Wineries that have been spared will do what they can to pull together whats left of the harvest sequence. Most of them will do so without the use of power. It will be a time of triage, improvisation and cutting of corners, as they try to salvage their growing season.

Grape leaves are silhouetted against the rising sun as smoke chokes the sky near Kenwood in Sonoma County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

The harvest was nearly complete. But on Sunday, the fires moved into the area so quickly that several scheduled picks in Sonoma and Napa, many of which occur at night, had to be called off for workers safety.

For Siduri, it had been a quick harvest and, for Lee, whose winery is largely devoted to the early ripening Pinot Noir, most of his fruit was already in, fermented and pressed off. His wines now reposed in barrels, well out of harms way.

But because Siduri draws fruit from all over the state, there were still tanks from late-ripening sites that hadnt finished fermentation  and the winery had no power.

Thats a huge concern for a modern winery, which relies heavily on temperature-controlled tanks and storage vessels, as well as a host of monitoring devices to keep tabs on the progress of fermentation. Lees first priority was to cool down those tanks. So he and his team wrapped and packed the vessels with dry ice. The ice will not only slow fermentation but it will also buy him time.

The next issue, says Lee, was to determine how far along fermentation was. We could look back to our data, he says, and see where these fermentations were a few days ago. But we really dont have any means of measuring sugar or temperature right now. It might be ready to press off, but we cant press it.

So once the team assesses the readiness of the juice  not an easy feat without electronic instruments  theyll devise a system to drain the tanks. Were working out a plan, says Lee, so that at the very least, if the wines ready, we should be able lift the bins with a forklift and let them drain by gravity. We wont get nearly as much juice, but it will be very good.

As he says this, Lee seems to catch himself. When you have to walk through a neighborhood where people died, he says, it doesnt feel all that important.

food@latimes.com

ALSO:

Fires strike a blow to the wine industry in Sonoma and Napa counties

Destructive fire turns suburban tracts into burned-out wasteland in Santa Rosa

Death toll climbs to 15, missing person reports soar as Northern California fires continue to rage

UPDATES:

1:33 p.m.: This article was changed to update the number of deaths.

This article was originally published at 1:20 p.m.
If youre looking for tips on how to create the Jungalow look (think color, pattern, plants) in Justina Blakeney s The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes, ($27.50, Abrams) youll have to first look inside yourself. For the popular designer and bloggers follow-up to her bestselling The New Bohemians is less about how things look and more about how things feel.

Blakeney, 38, describes her new book as a guide to creating a home that works for you. The first book was about how creative people live, says Blakeney. In this book, Im hoping to guide readers. Its not about achieving perfection but how families operate and dream. I want readers to tap into their self, their history and their personality to help them decorate as a reflection of who they are. We chatted with her about the new book, good vibes and, yes, her 52 houseplants.

Why did you want to write this book?

I wrote my first book to inspire people. My goal with this book is to empower people. It has a lot to do with what is going on in the world and with me personally. I want us to think about wellness as well as home decor. There is such an intimate connection between quality of life and how you live inside your home.

So its not about how to create the Jungalow look?

Thats my vibe and personal style. I am trying to encourage others to find what lights them up. Thats how people should be decorating.

In the introduction to the book, you describe a client who wanted to attract more love into her life. She was successful. How did you achieve that?

I figured out the colors that made her feel good and incorporated symbols that signified love to her. But what I really think happened was her confidence level changed. All of a sudden she had a place that matched who she was and she felt good bringing people to her apartment. She felt a different level of confidence. For whatever reason, I am confident in my style and who I am. Its a huge part of why I have been successful.

Under all the color, the pattern and the plants is this hope that people really can tap into who they are and radiate joy.  Justina Blakeney

How do you create good vibes?

Everyone has different experiences and memories. I spent two years living in Switzerland, which were two of the most magical years of my life. Some things bring me back to that time and give me joy. How do I bring that into my home? Certain colors and smells. In my master bathroom I am surrounded by incredible blue hues. When Im showering in there it transports me to Lake Tahoe. That is something that people miss out on when they use a decorator  experiences that make them feel a certain way.

You believe in the healing power of plants.

Its so reinvigorating to bring plants into the home. Plants are more than decorative. It goes back to our well-being. Plants purify the air and are good for the soul. And there is that caring aspect. For me its 100% therapy, as I think it connects us to nature. I spend so much time in front of a screen, devoting a couple of hours a week to the ritual of composting, weeding, making cuttings is good for me.

You stress that you dont need a lot of money to create an amazing home.

I design home furnishings, but you dont need to buy new things to create an amazing environment. You can do it working with the stuff you already have. I emphasize moving things around and painting before you go out and spend a ton of money. You also dont have to follow mores about typical room assignment. The master bedroom does not have to be the master bedroom. It can be the difference between having a good nights sleep.

What do you want readers to take away from the book?

Make choices that reflect who you are. So many books are aspirational. I want people to work with what theyve got. They will live better and have a better quality of life. Thats what my blog is about: Create an environment that has good vibes and makes you happy. Once you have that, you can spread it around. When someone is happy, it radiates. Under all the [Jungalow] color, pattern and plants is this hope that people really can tap into who they are and radiate joy.

lisa.boone@latimes.com

Twitter: @lisaboone19

For an easy way to follow the L.A. scene, bookmark L.A. at Home and join us on our Facebook page for home design, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

ALSO:

Before & After: A modernist home goes from dark and dismal to filled with light

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More Southern California home tours
Fires leave elderly evacuees with nearly nothing. Shes 85 and hes 87. How do you start all over?

Amid the rubble of his mother-in-law's mobile home Alex Perez salvaged a couple of ceramic artifacts, nothing else pic.twitter.com/A6klIiV9VR  Nina Agrawal (@AgrawalNina) October 10, 2017

At the Journeys End mobile home park for seniors on Mendocino Avenue, sons and daughters returned to the skeletons of their parents homes for the first time since the fire to see what could be salvaged.

Almost all of the parks 160 homes had been completely destroyed, though some on Sahara Street, near the Kaiser Permanente hospital, were still intact.

Alex Perez, 41, said he would drink tea with his mother-in-law at her home on Biltmore Street. All that remained Tuesday was the trailers steel frame, the carcass of her sons motorcycle and the shells of a washer, dryer, microwave, refrigerator and stove. Two stools, a countertop and a sink lay on the ground.

Im just glad shes safe, thats it, Perez said. He said she had only thought to evacuate because her brother had texted asking if she was OK. Perez said his mother-in-law wished shed had more notice. She only saved her documents for the house and a Bible.

A couple of doors down, Carrie Reindahl said her mom and stepdad only got out in time because they woke up from the noise of their U.S. flag whipping in the wind. By then, two trailers and a tree were already ablaze.

They tried to wake up some neighbors, and they barely got out with the clothes on their back, Reindahl said.

On Tuesday, Reindahl managed to pull out her grandmothers collection of porcelain Kewpie dolls from the rubble. Some had been broken.

Its just so devastating, she said, looking at the wreckage of her mothers home of 25 years. Shes 85 and hes 87. How do you start all over?

Reindahl said her mom and stepdad had been able to drive out in their own car, but she worried about others at the park. Trailers go up like a match, she said.

A few streets over, Jeff Moroni, 55, had come back to see what he could collect of his mothers belongings. Shirley, 86, lived in the biggest and newest home in the park, Jeff said, a three-bedroom, double-wide trailer.

Jeff Moroni salvaged his dad's coin collection from a mobile home in Journey's End. Little else was left pic.twitter.com/AMjpFvcSTB  Nina Agrawal (@AgrawalNina) October 10, 2017

Shirley Moroni had kept a few of her late husbands prized possessions, including an antique bathtub he had turned into a flower planter and a lifelong collection of Morgan silver dollars, old pennies and nickels. On Tuesday, the coins were in good shape, but the surrounding papers were burned to a crisp.

Jeff also searched for his familys cat, an 11-year-old orange tabby. Shirley Moroni hadnt had time to grab much when sheriffs deputies knocked on her door early Monday morning and evacuated her in their patrol car to the veterans building downtown.

The only thing she had time to grab was my dad  his urn, Jeff said, holding back tears. The family had been saving the ashes, he said, so they could be mixed with his mothers when the time comes.

The fires destructive speed surprised him. Jeff said he thought the flames might have started in the hills above Fountaingrove Parkway and then raced down.

He said, It looks like a bomb dropped.
The deadly firestorms raging across wine country have burned hotels, small lodges, winery buildings and even some vineyards, officials in the region said.

But the worst damage is likely to be to the residents who toil in the wine and tourism industry, particularly in Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, where the Fountaingrove fire devastated neighborhoods in the north end of the city.

That fire burned the 250-room Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel and the smaller Fountaingrove Inn, and reportedly destroyed several other small inns, restaurants and other businesses, according to fire officials and local media reports.

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Im pretty sure I lost my house, said Karissa Kruse, president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, an industry group. It sounds like most of the houses in the Fountaingrove neighborhood have been burned down.

Despite scattered reports of flames engulfing and surrounding wineries in the thick oak woodlands of Sonoma and Napa counties, the vineyards are likely to weather the flames well, Kruse said. Most of the crop has been picked, she said.

Our grapes are about 90% harvested in Sonoma County, Kruse said. I think Napa is probably a little behind us, just given how much cabernet fruit they have, and the ripening time for cabernet.

It would be way too soon to know if smoke damaged the remaining grapes, she added.

Were just trying to get our arms around making sure everybody is safe, she said.

In Napa County, more than 50 structures, including homes and barns, have burned in the Atlas Peak fire alone, Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said during a news conference.

Residents around Santa Rosa described running from the approaching flames in the pre-dawn hours Monday. Among them were vintner Ken Moholt-Siebert, whose family vineyard, Ancient Oak Cellars, lies beside California 101 near Santa Rosa.

Before he could spring uphill to turn on a pump, embers from the Tubbs blaze ignited a spot fire, which soon tore across the property where his family has been raising sheep and growing grapes for four generations.

I was just being pelted with all this smoke and embers, Moholt-Siebert, 51, said. It was just really fast.

Moholt-Siebert eventually fled, watching the flames engulf the vineyard where Pinot Noir grapes were still on the vines. Those and the ancient oaks from which the winery drew its name are probably gone, he said.

I have a feeling there is not going to be much left, Moholt-Siebert said.

The Paradise Ridge winery sustained extensive damage, as flames raced through Sonomas Kenwood and Glen Ellen wine districts, while in Napa, they tore through the Stags Leap district of Napa, threatening some of the best-known winery facilities in the region.

The fires erupted so fast Sunday night that Duff Beville, who owns a vineyard management company, didnt know what was going on as he supervised night picking crews in Healdsburg. Then power went out in the area and operations had to shut down, he said.

As a general rule, vines dont burn because theyre a green plant, Beville said. But cover crops between the vines can burn.

The wine industry contributed $57 billion to the states economy in 2015 and is responsible for 325,000 jobs, according to the Wine Institute and California Assn. of Winegrape Growers.

Times staff writer Javier Panzar contributed to this report.

geoffrey.mohan@latimes.com

Follow me: @LATgeoffmohan
Counties may restrict the location of gun stores as long as residents have the ability to purchase firearms, a federal appeals court decided Tuesday.

An 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging an Alameda County zoning ordinance that barred firearm sales near residential neighborhoods, schools, day-care centers, other firearm retailers and liquor stores.

The 9-2 decision overturned an earlier ruling by a three-judge 9th Circuit panel, which said the county had to justify the restriction. If the zoning amounted to a ban on new gun stores, it was likely to violate the Constitutions guarantee of the right to bear arms, that panel decided 2 to 1 last year.

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In Tuesdays ruling, the court said the 2nd Amendment does not create a commercial right to sell guns, as long as law-abiding people are not deprived of keeping arms in their homes.

Alameda County residents may freely purchase firearms within the county, wrote Judge Marsha S. Berzon, a Clinton appointee, for the en banc panel. As of December 2011, there were 12 gun stores in Alameda County.

In fact, a store selling guns stands 600 feet from the site where the proposed store in the original case would have been located, the 9th Circuit said.

Gun buyers have no right to have a gun store in a particular location, at least as long as their access is not meaningfully constrained, the court said.

The case, backed by several gun groups, was brought by individuals who sought a permit for a gun store in an unincorporated part of Alameda County.

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Twitter: @mauradolan

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Southern Californias largest water agency Tuesday threw a lifeline to California WaterFix, approving a $4.3-billion buy-in to the water delivery project.

The closely watched vote by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board does not ensure the survival of the $17-billion project, which needs significant funding from other urban and agricultural water districts to move forward.

But it gives a much-needed boost to the long-planned proposal to build two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the heart of Californias complex waterworks.

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The influential MWD staff has been a leading proponent of WaterFix, arguing that it is necessary to sustain delta deliveries that constitute roughly a third of the Southlands water supplies.

Gov. Jerry Brown last week personally lobbied board members on behalf of the project, a top priority of his administration.

During two hours of public comments before the vote, MWDs packed boardroom echoed with passionate arguments for and against WaterFix.

Opponents  mostly environmentalists and community advocates  complained that the tunnels would drive up regional water rates, harm the struggling delta environment and primarily benefit San Joaquin Valley agribusiness.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, an anti-tunnel group, called the project a nostalgic effort to build a massive water project that the state does not need and that already faces multiple lawsuits.

A Beverly Hills City Council member retorted that project opposition was motivated by anti-Southern California bigotry and the parochial self-interests of delta growers.

Southern California business and labor representatives urged the board to vote yes, saying the tunnels were critical to preserving water deliveries that sustain the regional economy.

The urban and agricultural customers who rely on delta deliveries are supposed to pay for the tunnels, which would carry supplies from a new diversion point on the Sacramento River in the north delta to existing government pumping plants in the south delta.

The financing plan suffered a major setback last month when the Westlands Water District, the states largest irrigation district, said its growers could not afford the tunnels and voted not to participate in WaterFix.

With MWD expected to pick up 26% of the projects costs, the agencys support is critical. The Kern County Water Agency board is expected to vote Thursday on its share.

If Westlands does not change its mind and other agricultural districts that receive delta supplies from the federal Central Valley Project dont step up, the project would have to be downsized to match the diminished funding.

The MWD boards motion to approve a 26% share of WaterFix costs and to authorize staff to enter several related agreements passed 28 to 6 with two abstentions.

Los Angeles five-member delegation was divided, with three members  Mark Gold, John Murray and Jesus Quinonez  voting no, and Glen Dake and Lorraine Paskett voting yes.

The three who voted no said they would be willing to consider a smaller, less expensive project.

Earlier Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti broke his public silence on the project. I oppose the two tunnels as is. But I do support one tunnel, he said at a Sacramento Press Club luncheon.

Garcetti had been under pressure from both opponents and supporters to take a stand on WaterFix. Responding to criticism that he was dodging a controversial issue, Garcetti said he needed to take time to study the engineering and environmental aspects of the project.

The mayor said he opposed the current version for environmental and financial reasons.

The ratepayers of Los Angeles will be saddled with a disproportionate share of building and construction costs for a project that the city wont need as much in the future because it is working to reduce its reliance on imported supplies from MWD, Garcetti said.

Other no votes were cast by San Diego County Water Authority representatives Keith Lewinger and Michael Hogan, and Santa Monica representative Judy Abdo. Elsa Saxod and Fern Steiner of the San Diego authority abstained.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Twitter: @boxall

UPDATES:

8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the vote and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcettis comments.

This article was originally published at 4 p.m.
The fire spared little as it swept through the idyllic northern neighborhoods of Santa Rosa.

The McDonalds, the Applebees, the Kmart, the round red barn built in 1899, the neat-as-a-pin tract homes  all burned to the ground.

In the early-morning darkness, residents grabbed what they could and fled. Patients at hospitals and nursing homes were evacuated on gurneys. Winery owners left their vineyards behind, not knowing whether their grapevines would be there when they returned.

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The Fountaingrove Inn, a Hilton hotel and a high school were leveled, as were homes in the community of Kenwood and at a mobile home park off the 101 Freeway.

The Sonoma County Sheriffs Office reported seven fire-related deaths. By Monday evening, the Tubbs fire had burned more than 35,000 acres, Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon said.

In Coffey Park, a subdivision of quiet culs-de-sac west of the 101 Freeway, many homes were reduced to smoldering rubble. Swaths of suburbia became wasteland, with brick chimneys and denuded trees the only objects left standing.

As the sun began to set Monday evening, Brent Colombo sorted through the ruins of the house on Tuliptree Road that he and his wife bought three years ago. A china cup and saucer from their wedding were the only intact items he found.

Fires in Northern an Southern Calif. create widespread damage, destroying homes and claiming live

Colombo had just finished landscaping his home and was about to start remodeling the bathrooms. He and his wife chose the neighborhood because it was a good place to raise a family. Their 6-year-old sons elementary school was down the street.

As the flames closed in, they left with a few family photos and some jewelry.

We had about 10 minutes to get out of the house, said Colombo, 41, who owns a video security business. It was coming fast. We were choking on the smoke.

Here in the suburban flatlands of Northern California, surrounded by redwoods and other greenery, Colombo never thought wildfires were a threat.

But high winds, dry vegetation and low humidity created conditions more typical of Southern California, said Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott.

Late last night, starting around 10 oclock, you had 50- to 60-mph winds that surfaced  really across the whole northern half of the state, he said. Every spark is going to ignite.

In another part of Coffey Park on Monday afternoon, Bill Mikan grabbed bucket after bucket of water to douse burning embers on the ruins of his next-door neighbors house.

Mikan was one of the lucky ones: His home was still standing. He estimated it was one of about seven on his block that survived the Tubbs fire.

The neighbors whose house burned have young twins, Mikan said. They had moved in only recently after losing their previous house in a fire, he said.

Mikan, who lives with his wife and daughter, said he smelled smoke about 9 p.m. Sunday and called the fire department. The dispatcher, already overwhelmed, said she could not send a firetruck unless there were flames visible.

About 2 a.m., Mikan looked out his window and saw a cloud of burning embers flying overhead. Neighbors were going door to door telling everyone to get out.

Im blessed that they saved my house, said Mikan, 58, who works for the county. But I feel terrible that my neighbors werent so lucky.

The Mikans headed to a shelter at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building with their golden retriever, Buddy.

When shelter workers began serving food, people with dogs had to leave.

Back at their house on Monday, the Mikans exchanged bad news about the local institutions they had assumed would always be there  Kmart, Arbys, the historic Round Barn. Audrey Mikan turned 20 on Monday, but there was no cause for celebration.

In the Fountaingrove neighborhood on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa, Sonoma County sheriffs Det. Troy Newton saw the growing red snake of fire moving toward him Sunday night.

He told his wife to get ready to leave with their 4-year-old son. Then, even though he was off-duty, he started banging on neighbors doors, hitting 40 homes in 40 minutes.

It was boom, boom, boom. Ring the door bell. Boom boom  until someone inside got the message, said Newton, 46.

Many homes in Newtons neighborhood survived. But dozens just down the hill were reduced to ash.

By early Monday evening, the evacuation center at the Veterans Memorial Building was at its capacity of 400 people.

Among the evacuees were hospital patients and nursing home residents. Nurses and doctors monitored blood pressures and glucose levels, and tended to those whose breathing issues were aggravated by the smoke.

It is unusual to have to evacuate a hospital, said Joan Acquistapace, a school nurse who fled her home in Rincon Valley and was helping with the patients. What can you do? You cant very well keep the patients in a place thats going to burn down.

Colombo, the Coffey Park resident, said he plans to rebuild his house. He will look for a rental close by so his son can continue to go to the same school  if it reopens soon.

Willon, Agrawal and Sahagun reported from Santa Rosa. Times staff writers Javier Panzar, Alene Tchekmedyian and Dakota Smith contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

phil.willon@latimes.com

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

cindy.chang@latimes.com
Scott Lambert and his wife were sleeping in their home north of Napa on Sunday night when they awoke to the sound of a honking horn and shouts of Get out!

At the door he was greeted by wind and an eerie night sky washed in orange.

Lambert, 76, and his wife, Laura, grabbed a few things and fled, first to a friends winery and then to a Napa community church that was doubling as a Red Cross shelter.

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Heavy smoke choked the air and bits of white ash from the Atlas Peak fire drifted earthward Monday morning as he fretted over the fate of the house his parents bought three decades ago.

I think the outlook is bad, said Lambert, who is retired from the oil industry and has a passion for English literature. I had my library, thousands of carefully selected books. My grand piano. My music 

The Atlas was one of 14 wildfires that cut a devastating and deadly path across Northern California on Sunday night. Driven by appropriately named Diablo winds, the firestorm killed at least 10 people and destroyed 1,500 structures across eight counties.

Seven deaths were reported in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and one in Mendocino County, according to authorities.

As of Monday afternoon, the blazes ranked as the states fifth-most destructive and among the 10 deadliest.

We are a resilient county, Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said. We will come back from this. But right now we need to grieve.

Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said 17 large wildfires, including the Anaheim Hills blaze in Southern California, had blackened more than 94,000 acres across the state. Three-quarters of the acreage was in the north.

Leaping from ridge top to ridge top in grass and oak woodlands, flames raced across the heart of the California wine country, claiming houses, at least one winery and a dairy.

In Santa Rosa, the Tubbs fire leveled an entire neighborhood, burned a Hilton hotel, turned big-box stores into smoking ruins and prompted the evacuation of two hospitals, Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Kaisers Santa Rosa Medical Center.

 Santa Rosa is hit hard as fires swept through Sonoma and Napa counties.

Video on social media showed flames dancing in the background as nurses hurriedly wheeled a patient in a hospital bed across a parking lot, IV drip bags in tow.

Late last night, starting around 10 oclock, you had 50- to 60-mph winds that surfaced  really across the whole northern half of the state, CalFire director Ken Pimlott said Monday. Every spark is going to ignite.

Though the conditions that fed the blazes  high winds from the interior, dried-up vegetation and low humidity  are more typical of Southern Californias fall fire season, the north has seen its share of horrific autumn wildfires.

The states second-deadliest blaze is the October 1991 Tunnel fire in the Oakland and Berkeley hills, which erupted on a quiet Sunday and killed 25 people.

The Tunnel also ranks as the most destructive wildfire in California history, consuming 2,900 structures.

Two years ago the Valley fire roared across Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, killing four people and destroying 1,995 buildings.

The scene Sunday night when Brenda Burke, 55, fled her cottage north of Napa was awful, she said.

The fire would move with the wind. You knew when a house went up because there would be a whole slew of smoke and you could hear the propane tanks exploding.

Eager to find out if her home survived, she went back Monday morning, past fire-gutted houses and smoking lawns. When she got to her drive, she saw flames from what appeared to be the front of my house.

Later in the day she threw herself into volunteer work at an animal rescue organization.

Sitting outside a Napa emergency shelter with a dog and a cat pulled from a parked van, she managed a tight smile.

I have what Im wearing right now and my dog and my phone, she said. And I have friends and family. I will be fine.

About 45,000 people were without power and/or cell service in Napa and Sonoma counties.

Residents flocked to Napas largely shuttered downtown to take advantage of the WiFi at a Starbucks, one of the few businesses open. The smoke was so thick that most drivers turned on their headlights.

In the hard-hit Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa, Diana Wilder stood outside the pile of rubble that was once her home, clutching a concrete Buddha lawn ornament.

I wanted to take something from the house with me, said Wilder, 53, a homemaker.

A safe and some flower pots were evident in the wreckage, but not much else.

I was praying all night, Please, house, still be there, said Wilder, who spent Sunday night with her husband in a supermarket parking lot.

Wilder returned to find every house on her cul-de-sac burned to the ground, the charred remains of washing machines, barbecues and chimneys standing amid the graveyard of homes.

She and her husband bought their house in 2000. Their monthly payment was $1,200. These days, she doubts she can find an apartment for that amount and plans to live with her brother until she figures out what to do next.

Houses usually burn when eaves or attic vents catch wind-driven embers. The embers may land on one building but not a neighboring house, often leaving a haphazard trail of destruction.

In one neighborhood, houses on one side of the street had barely a smudge on them. Across the street, there was little left but the scorched remnants of domestic life.

There was no wind, then there would be a rush of wind and it would stop, said Ken Moholt-Siebert, who fled with his wife, Melissa, as the Tubbs blaze bore down on his Santa Rosa vineyard.

Then there would be another gust from a different direction. The flames wrapped around us, he said.

At Jack London State Historic Park in Sonoma County, state park rangers packed irreplaceable artifacts Monday and began hosing down the roofs of historic buildings as the Nuns fire approached.

Rangers moved memorabilia, including Londons original typewriter and his wife Charmians Steinway piano, said Tjiska Van Wyk, the parks executive director.

Several homes on London Ranch Road, which leads into the park, had burned to the ground.

It wasnt just the Diablo winds  similar to Southern Californias Santa Ana winds  that turned Sunday into a nightmare of random destruction.

It was also the type of vegetation that was burning.

Much of this is in grass-oak woodlands, which is why its spreading so quickly, Pimlot said Monday.

Dried-out grass ignites easily and burns quickly, sending fires galloping across the landscape.

And despite a wet winter, Pimlot said vegetation still hasnt recovered from Californias punishing drought. At the end of the summer dry season, all it needed was a spark and winds.

Conditions, he said, were really explosive.

To read this article in Spanish, click here.

St. John reported from Napa, Willon from Santa Rosa, Panzar and Boxall from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Makeda Easter, Sonali Kohli, Dakota Smith, Joy Resmovits, Rong-Gong Lin II and Geoffrey Mohan, in Los Angeles, contributed to this report.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

Twitter: @paigestjohn

javier.panzar@latimes.com

Twitter: @jpanzar

phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Twitter: @boxall

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Bob Schiller, a comedy writer whose credits reach back to TVs infancy, including I Love Lucy and later Maude, 'All in the Family and The Carol Burnett Show, has died. He was 98.

Schiller died Tuesday in Pacific Palisades, his daughter, Sadie Novello, said.

He began writing for television in 1950, and three years later formed a partnership with Bob Weiskopf, with whom he collaborated for nearly a half-century. Among their hundreds of TV scripts was the classic I Love Lucy episode that found Lucy Ricardo stomping grapes.

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Besides I Love Lucy, the team wrote for such 1950s sitcoms as The Bob Cummings Show, 'December Bride, 'The Jimmy Durante Show and The Ann Sothern Show.

Their partnership continued through the 1960s and 1970s with such shows as Balls follow-up comedy The Lucy Show, which they co-created, and The Red Skelton Hour, Flip Wilsons variety show Flip and Archie Bunkers Place.

Schiller had also written scripts for such classic radio series as Duffys Tavern, 'Abbott and Costello and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

He shared writing Emmys with Weiskopf for All in the Family and Flip.

When asked about the success and longevity of his partnership with Weiskopf, Schiller was known to respond, Thats easy  weve never agreed on anything, to which Weiskopf would fire back, Yes, we have! Weiskopf died in 2001.

Raised in Los Angeles, Schiller attended UCLA, where he wrote a humor column for the school newspaper. He was drafted into the Army in 1940. While deployed overseas, he produced comedy variety shows for the troops.

After the war, Schiller took a job with the Rogers & Cowan public relations agency, whose clientele included a dentist for whom he wrote the billboard, Visit your neighborhood friendly dentist. Come in before they come out.

His writing career then evolved into radio. His first job after pairing with Weiskopf was a radio script for Our Miss Brooks comedy show.

Schiller retired in 1988.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Sabrina, and four children, including director-filmmaker Tom Schiller. He was married to Joyce Harris from 1947 until her death in 1963.
Ukrainian Deputy Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci signed on October 9 a protocol introducing amendments to the intergovernmental agreement on avoiding double taxation, the press service of the Ukrainian Finance Ministry has reported.

"The signing of this protocol is aimed at avoiding double taxation of income of individuals and legal entities that arise in the territories of both countries. This will be achieved both by distributing the right of taxation of certain types of income between Ukraine and Turkey, depending on the place of their origin, and by accounting in tax obligations of the taxpayer of one state of the amounts of taxes paid in the territory of another state," reads a statement posted on the website of the Ukrainian government.

The ministry said that the signing of the protocol created favorable conditions for Ukrainian and Turkish investors, stimulated the business initiative of entrepreneurs and regulated the issue of international taxation of income in bilateral relations.

This will also help prevent tax evasion with the simultaneous reduction of pressure on law-abiding taxpayers, eliminate and tax discrimination. In addition, the protocol helps create mechanisms for improving cooperation between the tax authorities of Ukraine and Turkey by establishing procedures for mutual coordination of disputable issues and ensure the exchange of tax information.

The protocol envisages, inter alia, the extension of the term "resident" in accordance with the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital, as well as the new wording of the article on information exchange, which foresees a significant expansion of the opportunities of contractual states to exchange tax information as part of national tax interests or bank secrecy and a new article on assistance in collecting taxes.

To ratify this protocol, Ukraine and Turkey must implement internal procedures, the report says.
Fifteen years ago, he was Rufus the Stunt Bum, a homeless alcoholic goaded into degrading and damaging antics by young men with video cameras.

Then Rufus Hannah turned his life around. He stopped drinking and became an advocate for the homeless. He got married, co-authored a book, reconnected with his family.

He seemed headed for a happy ending.

But Hannah was killed Oct. 4 when the car he was riding in with his sister was struck by a truck not far from their home in Adrian, Ga. He was 62.

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Its just the saddest thing ever, said Barry Soper, a San Diego businessman who befriended Hannah when he was on the streets and steered him toward sobriety. To have come that far, and then to have this happen.

Born Nov. 27, 1954, in Swainsboro, Ga., Hannah moved around as a child and found comfort in drinking. Some kids are born with silver spoons in their mouths, he wrote in A Bum Deal, a 2010 memoir he co-authored with Soper. I was born with a beer bottle in mine.

He dropped out of high school at 14 and worked construction, then enlisted at age 27 in the Army. An injury during basic training led to his discharge and a deeper descent into the bottle.

Homeless, he drifted to California and wound up in San Diego, where he and a buddy, Donnie Brennan, drew the attention of an aspiring filmmaker who paid them $10 to perform stunts. Brawling with each other. Riding in shopping carts down stairs. Jumping off buildings. Running head-first into brick walls.

Packaged into a 2002 video called Bumfights, the footage was a cult sensation that led to several sequels; collectively the films sold hundreds of thousands of copies and spawned a drinking game among college students watching them: Toss a shot back every time Hannah  toothless, wild-haired, the letters B-U-M-F-I-G-H-T tattooed across his knuckles  falls down.

The films also drew the attention of homeless advocates, who blamed them for helping to spark a wave of violence against transients, and law enforcement officials, who charged four men involved in producing the videos with conspiring to stage illegal fights, a misdemeanor.

They pleaded guilty, and two of them were eventually jailed for failing to complete their community service. The filmmakers also paid $300,000 to settle a civil suit filed on behalf of the homeless men.

By then, Hannah had started to change course, thanks to a budding friendship with Soper. Theyd met one day when Hannah was sifting through a Dumpster for aluminum cans at a townhome building Soper owns in San Diego.

Rather than run him off, Soper hired him to do odd jobs around the complex.

He opened my heart to the less fortunate, Soper said.

After a doctor told Hannah he would be dead within a year if he didnt stop drinking, Soper reinforced the point by taking him to a local mortuary.

Get into rehab, Soper told him, or pick out your casket.

He chose rehab. He went to work for Soper as an assistant manager at the townhome complex. He married a former girlfriend, the mother of two of his children. He toured the country as an advocate for the homeless, speaking at high schools and colleges.

About three years ago, he moved to Georgia to be closer to family.

Survivors include four children. He was predeceased by his wife and a son, Eric.

Wilkens writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Twitter: @sdutwilkens
President Trump on Friday announced steps to weaken the nuclear deal with Iran, which could potentially unravel one of the most important anti-proliferation agreements of the century.

Trump declared that the agreement the Obama administration and five other world powers reached with Iran in 2015 to suspend its nuclear program is not sufficiently strong to benefit U.S. national security interests. Iran should no longer be seen as in compliance with the accord, Trump said. Twice before, under a law requiring the presidents certification every 90 days, Trump had declared that Iran was in compliance.

Trump on Friday called on Congress to consider reimposing sanctions if Iran crosses certain lines, such as firing ballistic missiles or financing terrorism. He also moved to impose new sanctions by executive action, including blacklisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irans elite military unit that is heavily involved in much of the countrys business and trade.

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We cannot and will not make this certification, Trump said in a speech from the White House ahead of the next deadline for certification on Sunday.

 Trump slaps Iran with more sanctions but keeps nuclear deal in place

His judgment is shared by a number of conservative organizations and members of Congress. Many others, including several of his top Cabinet officials, most European diplomats and the United Nations, disagree with him and say the deal is working.

What impact does a refusal to certify have?

Refusing to certify is not the same as withdrawing completely from the deal. It would not automatically reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. That is because the requirement to certify Irans compliance with the deal every 90 days is written into U.S. law and is not part of the international agreement.

With two tracks, Trump can do both: continue to attack the deal without officially voiding it.

The refusal to certify kicks the issue to Congress, opening a 60-day period for debate. The official deadline for certification is Oct. 15.

What would Congress do?

When the deal was being negotiated, a majority in Congress opposed it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unprecedented appearance before a joint meeting of Congress to denounce the deal and what he described as the dangers posed by Iran, going around the White House to oppose one of President Obamas top priorities.

Nonetheless, Congress allowed the deal to take effect, approving a compromise that included the certification requirement.

Today, opinion is more divided. Even among some lawmakers who have criticized the deal in the past, such as Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, there is a feeling that sticking with it, however flawed, is far better than blowing it up. The deal at least sustains control over Irans nuclear ambitions, they argue, at a time when tensions with nuclear-armed North Korea are at a fever pitch.

Some say the refusal to certify (often incorrectly described as decertification) would be the first step in strengthening the agreement and putting greater controls on Tehran.

What did the Iran deal do?

In exchange for getting rid of most of its centrifuges, disabling its plutonium-producing heavy water reactor at Arak and agreeing to regular inspections, Iran received considerable sanctions relief: readmittance to the international banking system, permission to trade on the oil market and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in overseas assets.

How do we know the deal is working?

We dont, not with total certainty.

However, the U.N. watchdog agency charged with monitoring Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repeatedly said the country is complying with the technical aspects of the deal. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano reiterated that assessment again this week.

Most parties to the deal  Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, as well as the European Union  accept that judgment.

Why does the Trump administration say Iran is in violation?

Regardless of its technical compliance with the terms of the agreement, few would disagree that Iran is guilty of other behavior in the region that the U.S. labels as destabilizing, including the testing of ballistic missiles and support for militant groups in several countries.

Those sorts of acts, which dont involve nuclear development, were not covered by the agreement. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has supported sticking with the deal, has said he believes Tehran violates its spirit by continuing to promote destabilizing actions in the region.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., goes further than Tillerson. She has said she believes Iran has continued to secretly move ahead with efforts to develop nuclear capability. She contends that numerous Iranian military sites are off-limits to U.N. inspections.

Some Obama-era officials had hoped the nuclear deal would give a boost to so-called pragmatists in Tehran over more hard-line factions. President Hassan Rouhani, who supported the agreement, won easy reelection in May.

But the rhetoric from the Trump administration seems to have unified Irans factions, and there has been no discernible decrease in Iranian support for armed militants in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere.

What do U.S. allies say?

European diplomats in Washington and here at the United Nations in New York have been lobbying the administration vigorously to try to save the agreement, warning that U.S. credibility and trustworthiness are also at stake.

Going back on the deal with Iran would discourage other countries, like North Korea, from trusting any agreement the U.S. might negotiate, some allies warn.

On Tuesday, a representative of British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement that she had called Trump and reaffirmed the U.K.s strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners, saying it was vitally important for regional security.

How is Iran expected to react to the sanctions Trump announced?

Reinstating sanctions is likely to anger Iran and perhaps cause Tehran to quit the deal.

Over the long term, I think the Trump administration would not mind if it could goad Iran into violating terms of the deal, Jon Wolfsthal, a senior nonproliferation official in the Obama administration, said in a recent forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

The U.S. is likely to lose much of its leverage with Iran if it snaps the sanctions back in place.

Doing so also might be an unnecessary provocation. Washington can impose sanctions on Iran without using those associated with the nuclear program. For example, in July, Congress approved new economic sanctions on Iran and North Korea (and on Russia, which made Trump reluctant to sign the bill).

Im very concerned they will let it die by a thousand cuts, Wolfsthal said.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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UPDATES:

Oct. 13, 11:55 a.m.: This article was updated with President Trump announcing he would not certify Irans compliance.

1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from a representative of British Prime Minister Theresa May.

12:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The article was originally published at 9:55 a.m., Oct. 10.
When Sinthia Colons sister-in-law called from Orlando offering plane tickets to flee Puerto Rico, she did not hesitate. Hurricane Maria had destroyed her small farm, wrecked the local power grid and spurred her town of San Lorenzo to impose a curfew to combat looting.

In a few hours, she was bound for Florida.

It was, like, all of a sudden  Im going, Colon, 42, said shortly after arriving at a disaster relief center at Orlando International Airport with her daughter, son and mother-in-law. I didnt have time to make plans.

Two weeks after the storm devastated Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of hurricane evacuees are packing scheduled flights and charter jets in what officials there and in states across the U.S. fear is the beginning of a mass exodus of historic proportions.

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The mainland had already been absorbing record numbers of Puerto Ricans fleeing economic decline and a mounting debt crisis, with more than 700,000 migrating between 2006 and 2015. Some people also moved back over that time, but after decades of population growth, the island saw the total number of residents drop from about 3.8 million to 3.4 million  or more than 10%.

The majority of those who moved were of working age, compounding the economic damage.

Now that cycle is poised to accelerate in a migration that could have profound implications for the rebuilding of the island and for U.S. politics.

This has no historical precedent for the United States, said Jesse Keenan, a Harvard professor who specializes in climate adaptation and resilience.

If just 10% of people leave, its going to have a huge impact, both in Puerto Rico and on the mainland, he said. If as many as 20% left, which wouldnt surprise me, it would completely collapse the islands economy and burden jurisdictions across the United States.

Caribbean evacuees greet their relatives on at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun-Sentinel )

As U.S. citizens, the evacuees have a legal right to move anywhere in the country. Many are bound for Florida, which is already home to more than a million Puerto Ricans, or nearly a fifth of the 5.4 million living in the 50 states.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in all 67 Florida counties last week and opened three disaster relief centers at Orlando and Miami airports and the Port of Miami.

The Orlando metropolitan area  which already has a decidedly Puerto Rican flavor, with an abundance of restaurants serving mofongo, sofrito and pastelillos  is bracing for as many as 100,000 evacuees. Local officials and volunteers are already scrambling to help thousands of new arrivals find new homes, jobs and schools.

If we dont prepare, it is really going to hurt our local economy, said Emily Bonilla, a Democrat of Puerto Rican descent who was elected last year to the Orange County Commission and is setting up a task force aimed at preventing the influx from driving up rents and depressing wages.

We knew we were going to grow, and grow fast, but this is speeding the process up exponentially, she said. We are not prepared. We do not have the housing. We have to act fast.

The size of the influx in Florida  and New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, also home to large numbers of Puerto Ricans  is likely to depend on how fast the recovery is and how well the federal government responds to the disaster.

Puerto Ricans are very resilient, but give them a few weeks without electricity and theyll come running, Bonilla said.

Jorge Duany, a professor of anthropology at Florida International University who left the island five years ago for his career, said that although a mass influx of Puerto Ricans is nearly guaranteed, at least one question is open: Whether they will stay.

After filling out paperwork at the relief center to register her 12-year-old daughter in school, apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and launch her job search, Colon said she had no idea how long she would remain in Orlando.

I never thought of moving here, but here I am, she said upon leaving the relief center with an emergency food box of canned tuna, pouches of beef tacos and granola bars. Ive got all the information I need to get a job. Maybe I will get a house? Im a quick learner. I think I can do anything.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, more than half of New Orleans 480,000 residents moved out. Yet over the years, nearly half of those came back. The city has gradually rebounded to 390,000.

Angel Delgado hugs family members relatives after arriving in Fort Lauderdale on Friday on a flight that evacuated seniors from Puerto Rico. (Michael Laughlin / South Florida Sun-Sentinel )

People seem to have strong ties to New Orleans, despite the fact it was not a thriving city, said Tatyana Deryugina, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Illinois who studies the economic impact of disasters. With Puerto Rico, I would expect many of those who leave will want to return. Whether they will depends a lot on how much is rebuilt.

She said that reconstructing Puerto Rico will be far more complicated than the recovery from Katrina, which cost the federal government about $50 billion  about $100,000 per resident.

A failure in Puerto Rico could have deep political repercussions for Republicans. Puerto Ricans tend to vote Democrat, at least in recent years, and Florida is one of the nations tightest swing states.

President Trump won by about 113,000 votes in Florida. Of the 50 million ballots cast by Floridians in the seven presidential elections since 1992, a difference of 18,000 votes separate Republicans and Democrats, said Steve Schale, a Democratic political strategist in Florida who directed Obamas Florida campaign in 2008.

In a state where elections are decided by a point, 100,000 potential new voters that lean Democratic  thats a lot, he said.

That consideration has been lost on few as political leaders in Florida has pressed the federal government to do more to repair infrastructure, address health issues, provide housing and restore agriculture on the island.

While well welcome anyone to central Florida, were also conscious of the fact that a mass exodus for the island would hurt long-term prosperity efforts there, said Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat who is of Puerto Rican descent and whose congressional district includes Orlando. We want people who want to stay on the island to be able to do so. We just need to get help to them.

Frustrated by what they view as a slow response by the federal government, many Puerto Ricans in Orlando were focused on shipping supplies to the island and helping the new wave of evacuees.

So many residents dropped off bottles of water, canned food, diapers and medical supplies at a community ballroom space, Acacias El Centro Borinqueno, that organizers stopped taking donations last week until they receive new shipping containers.

While visiting the storm-ravaged island last week, Trump told assembled officials, I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you threw our budget a little out of whack!

Yet it remains unclear how much his administration is willing to invest in Puerto Rico.

Keenan, the Harvard expert, said that determination comes down to a choice: The government needs to decide whether it would rather have people move to the mainland or try to have a more distributive recovery there in Puerto Rico.

Jarvie is a special correspondent.

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Washington state sued President Trump on Monday over his decision to let more employers claiming religious or moral objections opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women.

State Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson, who successfully sued to block Trumps initial travel ban early this year, announced his latest lawsuit on Monday, three days after the new rules were issued.

Other Democratic-leaning states, including Massachusetts and California, sued on Friday, as did the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Trumps policy is designed to roll back parts of former President Obamas healthcare law, which required that most companies cover birth control as preventive care for women, at no additional cost. Among those Food and Drug Administration-approved methods is the morning-after pill, which some religious conservatives call an abortion drug even though scientists say it has no effect on pregnant women.

The Trump administration touted the new policy as a victory for religious freedom, and the announcement thrilled the social conservatives who make up a key part of the presidents supporters. Asked about court challenges during a briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the new rules were legal.

The president believes that the freedom to practice ones faith is a fundamental right in this country, and I think all of us do, she said. And thats all that today was about  our federal government should always protect that right.

But Ferguson said it violated the 1st Amendment because it required individuals to bear the burden of religions to which they didnt belong, as well as the equal-protection requirements of the 5th Amendment, because it affected women but not men.

President Trumps contraception rules are unfair, unlawful and unconstitutional, Ferguson said in a news release.

The rules could affect more than 1.5 million Washington workers and dependents who receive health coverage through an employers self-funded plan, Ferguson said. Some might have to turn to state-funded programs to receive contraceptive coverage, he said.

The vast majority of companies have no qualms about offering birth control benefits through their health plans.
President Trumps spiteful campaign to undo the accomplishments of his predecessor has ramped up on two fronts in recent days. On Sunday, the White House announced that it intends to hold the future of the so-called Dreamers hostage to Trumps vision of an America with fewer immigrants. Then on Monday the Environmental Protection Agency said it would rescind the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, a regulatory mechanism that forces power plants to reduce emissions of climate-changing gases.

Fortunately, the courts have stymied many of the administrations earlier efforts to undo or ignore regulations it doesnt like, and we hope they will do so with the Clean Power Plan. The initiative was Obamas signature policy for meeting carbon-reduction promises under the Paris Agreement on climate change. Of course, Trump, who has in the past called global warming a hoax, has already announced that hes backing the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, too, because its a bad deal for America. Why he thinks stronger storms, intensified droughts, rising sea levels and food insecurity are good for America is beyond comprehension. The Clean Power Plan was adopted fairly and legally through the rigid regulatory process that is set out in law, and the Trump administration will now have to make the case  eventually in court  that the Obama administration was wrong in declaring its necessity. Thats a hard argument to make, and one we believe will ultimately be unpersuasive.

The day before the EPAs announcement, the White House took another step backward on immigration, announcing a menu of hard-line policy goals that it says must be approved if Congress wants to extend protection to the Dreamers  immigrants who have been living illegally in the country since they were children. Obama had offered this group of mostly young people permission to stay and work in the U.S. under his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump, however, has been hostile to the program from the start, though he has veered around incoherently in search of a position that would minimize his political vulnerability on the issue.

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Immigration has made this country stronger, not weaker. Our policies must reflect that.

First, he campaigned vociferously against DACA (calling it one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a president). He announced in September that he would end the program in the spring. Then, in what seemed like a bizarre contradiction, he told Congress that he hoped it would save the DACA recipients by crafting a new law to protect them. Now, in yet another twist, he is saying he will back that new law only if Congress gives him funding for his ridiculous and exorbitant border wall, 10,000 more immigration agents and more immigration judges, prosecutors and detention beds, while also scrapping protections for the most vulnerable unaccompanied minors. Thats not a policy template, its a ransom demand.

DACA has allowed about 800,000 people who have lived illegally in the U.S. since childhood to come out of the shadows and work, go to school and take part in everyday life without fearing deportation. It was an imperfect solution to the difficult problem of what to do with people brought here as children by their parents and who have been raised and educated as Americans, but who lack legal status. It is a matter of fundamental fairness, and humanity, to find a way to let them stay instead of deporting them to countries they barely know. Their fate should not be used as a bargaining chip to achieve Trumps goal of cracking down on immigration.

Trumps new demands would reduce the number of people allowed to come live in the United States, turn away more of the neediest applicants and put a new emphasis on accepting those who are already successful in their home countries. All in all, it would be to the detriment of the nations future. Congress  both Republicans and Democrats  should see this play to jingoism and chauvinism for what it is, and reject Trumps proposals.

Congress already has a template for reforming the system  the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration plan that cleared the Senate in 2013 but later died in the House. The administration ought to dust off that legislation, work with Congress to make it better and push it through. That compromise included Republican-backed steps to secure the border. But it also included a path to citizenship for the Dreamers and a path to legal status for others who have been here so long they have established roots and families, become productive members of their communities and become integral to certain parts of the economy, particularly agriculture, construction and the service industry. Immigration has made this country stronger, not weaker. Our policies must reflect that.

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To the editor: Your interesting analysis of the California bar exam stated that there is no evidence that higher scores produce more competent lawyers. But you did not suggest ways that better lawyers might be produced for our legal system  now more critical than ever in maintaining the stability of American governance in the face of the deep partisan divisions that are evident in nearly every issue discussed. (Ease up on Californias bar exam to achieve more diversity among lawyers, editorial, Oct. 6)

A look at the requirements for qualifying as an attorney in Germany, South Africa and many other countries would give us a clue on how to improve American lawyering. These other countries have a full-fledged apprenticeship system where those who have passed a written examination are then given and rated in supervised practical situations before they are permitted to represent clients.

That is something the new California agency regulating lawyers should actively study.

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Godfrey Harris, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: As one who never made an acceptable cut, I agree with your editorial, a carefully crafted but scathing bill of particulars that outlines the incalculable damage done to California by a very small group of people.

As a repeat test-taker, I agree that this exam is more of a hazing ritual than a test of competence. It is a well-known fact that Californias arbitrarily established cut score imposed ever-changing standards and clearly discriminated against thousands of us who would have truly cut it in the real world.

Your observation that Californias restrictive exam ensures that the state has fewer attorneys practicing law is spot on. These ever-evolving rules, ostensibly crafted to protect Californians from the access to legal representation they otherwise deserve, speaks volumes about those who have manipulated cut scores to benefit a small group of people.

George Callas, Hemet

..

To the editor: I dont see why the standard should be lowered for the state bar exam simply because too few minorities are able to pass.

If the exam is passable by a given percentage of applicants, it would seem that the remaining group that were unable to pass were simply not putting enough effort into it. In other words, study harder.

Robert Andrews, Claremont

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Orange County at center of fundraising in Californias most contested races By Sarah D. Wire More than half of the money raised for the most contested House races in California is going to candidates in Orange County, another indication of its starring role in the Democratic effort to win back control of the House next year. Of the 80 or so challengers in California, 27 are running in Orange County. A Los Angeles Times analysis of this years campaign finance filings found it is also where the cash is going to: About $15 million of the nearly $28.5 million raised this year for 13 key races went to candidates in just four Orange County districts: Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown plans climate trip to Vatican, Belgium, Norway and Germany By Chris Megerian (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown has mapped out a busy European travel schedule that includes attending the next United Nations conference on climate change in Bonn, Germany. While the White House declares war on climate science and retreats from the Paris Agreement, California is doing the opposite and taking action, Brown said in a statement. We are joining with our partners from every part of the world to do what needs to be done to prevent irreversible climate change. Roughly two dozen public events are planned over 10 days, starting with a speech at a Vatican symposium on Saturday. Brown wont be the only California politician at the conference. Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) is speaking later that day, and state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is scheduled to appear Friday. After the Vatican, the governor is bouncing between Germany and Belgium, plus a stop in Norway to meet with scientists. Hes holding press conferences with the president of the European Parliament and the minister-president of Baden-Wurttemberg, a German state that has collaborated with California on an international climate pact. Once the Bonn conference begins, much of Browns focus will be on how states, provinces and other local governments can tackle climate change absent stronger action from national leaders. He was named a special advisor to the U.N. conference for states and regions earlier this year. Brown is scheduled to appear with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Nov. 11 and speak at numerous other events, a packed itinerary much like the one he kept at the Paris climate conference two years ago. His last event is expected to take place Nov. 14. Facebook

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California business tax incentive program should end, legislative analyst says By Liam Dillon California no longer should give specific tax incentives to businesses and instead should provide broad-based tax relief, the states nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office said in a new report. The analysts office examined California Competes, a program that began four years ago to give tax credits to businesses looking to move to the state or remain here, and found it puts existing companies that dont receive the awards at a disadvantage without clear benefits to the overall economy. Picking winners and losers inevitably leads to problems. In the case of California Competes, we are struck by how awarding benefits to a select group of businesses harms their competitors in California, the report said. We also think the resources consumed by the program are not as focused as they should be on winning economic development competitions with other states to attract major employers that sell to customers around the country and the world. California Competes has allowed the awarding of nearly $800 million in tax credits. The legislative analyst found that more than a third of the credits awarded through California Competes resulted in no change to the overall economy and put the states existing businesses at a competitive disadvantage. The analyst couldnt assess the value of the remainder of the credits because its impossible to know how businesses would have reacted had they not received them. California Competes is scheduled to end next year. The analysts office recommends replacing it by lowering business taxes overall or, should lawmakers want to keep it, tailor the program more narrowly to focus on attracting and retaining high-value companies. Facebook

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Electric companies found at fault in North Bay fires wont be able to pass costs onto residents under proposed bill By Liam Dillon Jason Miller, 45, plants an American flag on the charred remains of his house in Coffey Park. He had lived in the Santa Rosa neighborhood for 23 years. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) If electric utilities are found at fault in the recent wildfires in the North Bay, a group of state lawmakers want to ensure they dont pass along their costs to residents. Victims of devastating fires and other customers should not be forced to pay for the mistakes made by utilities, state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) said in a release. Hill is one of four Bay Area legislators who said they plan to introduce a bill when lawmakers return to the Capitol in January to block any effort by utilities found at fault to recoup any costs from ratepayers. Investigators have not identified the cause of the wildfires that ripped across Northern California this month that left more than 40 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed. But the lawmakers said their legislation is motivated by San Diego Gas & Electrics efforts to recover costs from wildfires in that region a decade ago. Co-authoring the bill with Hill is Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael). Facebook

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Proposed initiative would end early release for some crimes, allow more DNA collection By Patrick McGreevy (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) A coalition including police officers and prosecutors on Monday proposed a California state initiative that would end early release of rapists and child traffickers and expand the number of crimes for which authorities could collect DNA samples from those convicted. The ballot measure is sponsored by the California Public Safety Partnership, and would reverse some elements of Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and reduced some crimes deemed nonviolent from a felony to a misdemeanor. The proposed initiative would add 15 crimes to the list of violent crimes for which early release is not an option, including child abuse, rape of an unconscious person, trafficking a child for sex, domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon. These reforms make sure that truly violent criminals stay in jail and dont get out early, said Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert, a leader of the coalition. The initiative would also allow DNA collection for certain crimes, including drug offenses, that were reduced to misdemeanors under Proposition 47. Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) said there have been 2,000 fewer hits matching DNA to cold cases annually in recent years. He cited one case from 1989 involving the murder of two young girls in Sacramento that was solved last year by DNA taken from a man in a drug case before those were excluded from DNA collection. If that case happens today, right now, it does not get solved, said Cooper, a former sheriffs captain. Changes in law also made theft of goods valued at less than $950 a misdemeanor, so some criminals are committing serial thefts and keeping each one to $949 or less, Cooper said. The initiative would make serial theft a felony. The measure also mandates a parole revocation hearing for anyone who violates the terms of their parole three times. A Whittier police officer was recently murdered by a parolee who had violated parole five times, said Los Angeles Police Protective League President Craig Lally, who supports the initiative. A representative of the group behind Proposition 47 said it was not reasonable to blame the ballot measure for an uptick in some crimes in some parts of the state. Fluctuations in crime have much more to do with economic and social policies and practices, said Tom Hoffman, a spokesman for the group Californians for Safety and Justice. Its so much more complicated than one piece of legislation as an issue. The proponents of the initiative need to collect signatures from 365,880 voters by the end of April to qualify the initiative for the November 2018 election. Facebook

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When men with power go too far: After years of whispers, women speak out about harassment in Californias Capitol By Chris Megerian Tina McKinnor, left, Sadalia King, Amy Thoma Tan, Jodi Hicks and Sabrina Lockhart have come forward to talk about their experiences with sexual harassment at the Capitol. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) It started with a dinner invitation from a former assemblyman more than twice her age. He had offered his services as a mentor, but his hand reaching for her knee under the table revealed other intentions. Then came the late-night phone calls and unexpected appearances at events she had to attend for her job in the Capitol. Fresh out of college, Amy Brown did what she thought women were supposed to do in these situations  she reported him. The former assemblyman accused her of slander, an experience that left her so humiliated that she left Sacramento for a new job in San Jose. I immediately got the hell out of town, Brown said. I felt like the people  the person  I was relying on for advancement in my career was preying on me. Stories like these have taken many forms through the years. Sometimes its a professional meeting that turned inappropriately sexual, or its a groping hand on a backside. In one case, a woman said a lawmaker masturbated in front of her in a bar bathroom. No matter the details, each story involves a man with power  the kind of power bestowed by voters, an influential lobbying client or a supply of campaign cash. And instead of wielding that power to shape politics or public policy, the man used it to proposition women or to touch them inappropriately. Read More Facebook

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Big jump in the number of House challengers isnt great news for California Republicans By Christine Mai-Duc So far this year, 80 challengers have reported raising money across California for the 2018 midterm elections, more than triple the number who had done so at this point in the 2016 election. Collectively, theyve raised more than $14.9 million, and 70% of that has gone to the four Republican-held districts in Orange County that Democrats consider key to their chances. There havent been this many congressional challengers in Californias House races this early in the game since at least 2003, and that could be bad news for Republican incumbents. Read More Facebook

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Californias Senate culture doesnt encourage women to file complaints. Heres how that could change By Melanie Mason Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), shown in September, acknowledged that the Senate could improve its procedures for reporting misconduct. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) In 2014, reeling from scandals that led to the suspension of three Democratic senators, Californias state Senate changed its policies to make it easier for employees, members and the public to sound the alarm about misconduct. A Times analysis of those rule changes shows a lack of follow-through to make reporting complaints more accessible. And the lawmaker who worked on changes in the Senates operations after that scandal says more could have been done. Then-Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) suggested at the time that the move would lead to positive cultural change and strengthen the integrity of this great institution. But as the Capitol now soul-searches over allegations of widespread sexual harassment, the current legislative leaders acknowledge the culture still does not encourage women to file complaints. The Senates effort to reform itself three years ago  and how it fell short  is instructive as both legislative houses embark on a new round of self-improvement. Read More Facebook

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Have you experienced sexual harassment in government or politics? Tell us your story If you work in government or politics and have experienced sexual harassment, wed like to hear from you. Please tell us your story using the form below. We will not share your personal contact information. Facebook

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California Assembly Speaker applauds Capitol staffers bravery in going public with complaint against assemblyman By Melanie Mason Gyore spoke publicly for the first time about a 2009 complaint she filed against Bocanegra. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said Friday that the experience of a staffer who filed a complaint eight years ago against now-Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra illustrates why the Capitol culture must change. Elise Flynn Gyore told The Times about her experience filing a complaint against Bocanegra, who was then a legislative staffer, after she said he groped her and followed her in a manner she found threatening at a 2009 after-work event in a Sacramento bar. The Friday morning story in The Times was the first time she had spoken publicly of the incident and the complaint, which resulted in Bocanegra being disciplined. I appreciate Ms. Gyores bravery in bringing this incident forward. We have to change the culture in the Capitol and in society and her experience shows why, Rendon said in a statement Friday afternoon. How incidents of harassment were handled in the past can inform our current efforts to improve the system and to build a future where these injustices are prevented before they happen and no employee has to fear harassment or abuse. Bocanegra, who was first elected in 2012, is part of Rendons leadership team, serving in the position of majority whip. A top lieutenant to Rendon, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), also chimed in with support for Gyore on Friday. I dont know Elise Gyore. But, I believe her & Im grateful for her bravery. This is unacceptable.  Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) October 27, 2017 Former Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), who led the Assembly from 2010 to 2014, said he was unaware of the complaints existence until The Times report. He said he had never heard of any complaints  formal or informal  against Bocanegra, nor had he witnessed any inappropriate behavior from the Pacoima Democrat. Also on Friday, the organizers of We Said Enough, a recently launched campaign against harassment, thanked Gyore for sharing her story. This is an act of true courage  and we support every woman who chooses to do so. Sadly, this story is just one example of how the existing system fails victims and survivors. We are resolute in our call for action, the group said in a statement. The groups organizers added that they are calling for an overhaul to the complaint process  such as confidential reporting, an independent oversight body and whistleblower protections  to better guard against harassment. Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown says California Republicans have slavish adherence to their partys tax plan By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) Gov. Jerry Brown took aim at the sweeping tax overhaul plan in Congress and Californias Republican delegation on Thursday, saying their support of the plan is wrong economically and morally. Brown, who joined New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a conference call with reporters, aimed most of his fire at the provision to cancel deducting local and state taxes paid from federal taxes. Both governors said it could have a profound impact on their states bottom lines. Brown criticized Californias 14 Republican House members for their Thursday budget vote, which allows for a $1.5-trillion deficit to help finance tax cuts. I know there is a lot of slavish adherence to the Republican leadership, Brown said. Its bad for California. Theyre doing a disservice. California and New York taxpayers have long been able to deduct the cost of paying local and state taxes from their federal tax liability. Both governors said Thursday they believed the effort by President Trump and Republicans to be at least somewhat motivated by their states voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump last November. Its using a handful of states to finance the tax cuts for their states, Cuomo said. Brown, who sent personal letters to all California GOP members of the House urging them not to go along, said the proposal was particularly unfair in light of how it would not apply equally to corporations. Its a gross manipulation of our tax code, he said. Its a Hail Mary pass by the Republicans. Facebook

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Heres why Republicans could help send Dianne Feinstein back to Washington  even if they cant stand her By Mark Z. Barabak Its the voters like Republican Larry Ward  conservatives who feel voiceless and adrift, bobbing like red specks in a blue sea  who could help usher the 84-year-old Dianne Feinstein back to Washington with a new lease on her Senate seat. Like most voters here in El Dorado County, Ward supported President Trump. He cant understand why Democrats and the media pile on and keep him from cutting taxes and fulfilling a campaign pledge to repeal Obamacare. He certainly doesnt think Feinsteins been too kind to Trump  the argument made by her newly announced challenger, Kevin de Leon. The state senator from Los Angeles and others on the left were spitting fire a few weeks back when Feinstein allowed as how she hoped, given time and a radical transformation, Trump might end up being a good president. Read More Facebook

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Car runs into immigration protesters outside Rep. Ed Royces district office By Sarah D. Wire  A vehicle drove into a group of protesters outside of GOP Rep. Ed Royces office in Brea on Thursday afternoon, but no injuries have been reported to police so far. (Tony Mendoza / Unite Here) A vehicle drove into a group of protesters outside GOP Rep. Ed Royces office in Brea on Thursday afternoon, but no injuries have been reported to police so far. The alleged driver, 56-year-old Daniel Wenzek of Brea, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked and released pending further investigation, according to Lt. Kelly Carpenter of the Brea Police Department. Organizers say several hundred people were protesting outside Royces office, many of them arriving on buses after a morning news conference with elected officials and labor leaders in Los Angeles MacArthur Park. They were trying to deliver letters to Royce (R-Fullerton) about what losing temporary protected immigration status would mean to them, said Andrew Cohen, a communications specialist with the organization Unite Here. Read More Facebook

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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla backs Gavin Newsom for governor over former colleague Antonio Villaraigosa By Seema Mehta California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, left, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the highest-ranking Latino in a statewide elected position in California, endorsed Gavin Newsom for governor on Thursday. Padilla said he had known Newsom for more than a decade and admired his track record as mayor of San Francisco and now lieutenant governor. Its always important to [have] leaders that are committed and get it done, and thats what Ive seen in Gavin Newsom over and over and over again, Padilla said, speaking to dozens of Newsom supporters at a union hall in downtown Los Angeles. The endorsement was seen as a slap at former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is one of Newsoms top rivals in the governors race. Padilla was president of the Los Angeles City Council during the two years Villaraigosa was a member of the body, and for the first six months of Villaraigosas tenure as mayor. But the two men have never been viewed as close allies. They come from different power bases for Latino politicians in Los Angeles  Villaraigosa from the Eastside and Padilla from the San Fernando Valley. They also have not supported each others political pursuits. In 2001, Padilla backed James Hahn over Villaraigosa in the mayoral race. In 2006, Villaraigosa backed Cindy Montanez in a state Senate race over Padilla. Padilla said he has a relationship with all of the top Democrats running for governor. This is a tough one because I do know Antonio Villaraigosa and I know John Chiang and I know Gavin Newsom, but I think that because of whats happening in the political environment at this time, this isnt one where we can sit back, Yeah. OK. Cool, lets see who wins and well work with whoever, Padilla said. If there is a candidate I believe is best for the future of California, Im compelled to weigh in and thats what Im doing today. Luis Vizcaino, a Vilaraigosa spokesman, said the announcement was to be expected and noted that Padilla had a leadership role in Newsoms short-lived 2009 gubernatorial campaign. The only surprise here is we thought Alex had endorsed Gavin months ago considering he was Gavins Campaign Chair the first time he ran for governor, Vizcaino said in an email. Villaraigosa and Chiang, the state treasurer, have also received key endorsements from Latino politicians. Villaraigosa has the backing of the Latino Caucus in the state Legislature, former Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and Lucille Roybal-Allard. Chiang has won the support of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar. Updated at 2:07 p.m.: This post was updated to add a comment from Villaraigosas campaign. Facebook

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Californias Rep. Paul Cook picked to lead Foreign Affairs subcommittee By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) has been named chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) made the announcement in a news release Thursday morning following the former subcommittee chairman Rep. Jeff Duncans (R-S.C.) departure from the committee this week. As a former Marine Corps colonel, Rep. Cook is deeply committed to defending U.S. interests worldwide. I look forward to working with him to continue holding the [Raul] Castro and [Nicolas] Maduro regimes [of Cuba and Venezuela, respectively] accountable for their brutal repression, while increasing U.S. commercial opportunities throughout the hemisphere, Royce said in a statement. California holds several leadership positions on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is the chairman of the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats subcommittee. Rep. Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks is the highest ranking Democrat on the Asia and the Pacific subcommittee and Rep. Karen Bass of Los Angeles is the highest ranking Democrat on the Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations subcommittee. Facebook

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GOP tightens restrictions on Rep. Dana Rohrabachers subcommittee because of scrutiny over his Russia connections By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Dana Rohrabacher speaks to Russian lawmakers at a meeting in the Russian parliaments lower house in Moscow in 2013. (Misha Japaridze / Associated Press) The congressional subcommittee led by California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is being heavily monitored by GOP leaders because of allegations the Orange County congressman has been overly influenced by his connections to Russia. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) will be more involved in guiding the direction of the subcommittee that is in part responsible for examining U.S. policy in Russia, said a senior congressional aide who asked not to be identified in order to discuss internal committee matters. Rohrabacher has long said that the United States needs a better relationship with Russia, puzzling colleagues who have speculated privately about why hes willing to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Connections between Rohrabacher and Russian officials have been newly highlighted as Congress investigates Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Read More Facebook

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Californias GOP members vote in favor of Republican budget, paving way for tax overhaul By Sarah D. Wire All 14 California House Republicans on Thursday voted in favor of the GOPs budget, which paves the way for overhauling the U.S. tax system. The budget, which allows for a $1.5-trillion deficit increase that sets the stage for President Trumps tax cuts, passed 216 to 212, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats in opposing it. At the root of their objection is the potential repeal of the federal deduction for state and local taxes, which would hit especially hard in wealthier states like New York and California. Gov. Jerry Brown had implored the GOP members not to support the budget, saying there hasnt been enough time to fully understand what it will mean to the estimated 1 in 3 Californians who claim the deduction. Democrats are targeting nine of the states 14 Republican-held districts, and have said theyll make the elimination of the tax deduction an issue in the campaign. Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale said he voted for the budget because hes been assured that a fix will be made to the tax plan that will address or offset the potential tax increase caused by the elimination of the tax deduction. The tax plan is scheduled to be unveiled next week. Still worried about it, still working on it, Knight said after the vote. I am confident [it will be fixed], but Ive also said that is my No. 1 priority, so if we cant get it fixed then were going to have problems. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown urges California GOP House members to vote no on budget bill: First lets get the facts By Sarah D. Wire Gov. Jerry Brown implores each GOP member of California delegation to vote no on budget today over end of state and local tax deduction. pic.twitter.com/bkCihAtvFG  Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) October 26, 2017 Gov. Jerry Brown implored Californias GOP House members to oppose their partys budget bill over a provision that will end a deduction for state and local taxes used by one in three Californians. In letters to each Republican member of the California congressional delegation, Brown asked the members to at least ask for more time to learn the specifics of the plan. First lets get the facts. Then, debate the issue. And then we can decide whats the right thing to do, Brown says in his letter. The potential repeal of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction  the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes paid  would hit especially hard in wealthier areas. The vote is scheduled to take place Thursday morning. Facebook

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Six female California lawmakers back Dianne Feinstein in Senate race By Sarah D. Wire Assemblywomen Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, right, and Susan Talamantes-Eggman in May. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Six California Assembly committee chairwomen endorsed Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday over their state Capitol colleague, Senate leader Kevin de Leon. In a statement released by Feinsteins campaign, Assemblymembers Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), Blanca E. Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) and Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) said the state needs Feinstein in these uncertain and difficult times. We are proud to endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has been an inspiration for all of us. The first woman to serve on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Feinstein is now the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. In that position, she is defending California against the Republicans and the Trump administration on critical issues like immigration, womens rights, federal judicial appointments, LGBT rights, civil rights, and gun control, they said. De Leon is the highest-profile Democrat to announce plans to challenge Feinstein in her bid for a fifth full term. Facebook

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Kevin de Leon vows to back Medicare for all, signaling key issue in 2018 Senate campaign By Sarah D. Wire State Senate leader Kevin de Leons opening salvo in the U.S. Senate race against Sen. Dianne Feinstein takes on one of the main frustrations progressives have voiced with her, a refusal to support single-payer health care. I believe that every family, it doesnt make a difference who you are or where you come from, deserves to have quality healthcare. It is a universal right, De Leon says in a video released by his campaign Wednesday. Its not the exclusive privilege of the elite and the wealthy. The concept of single-payer healthcare has grown in popularity among Democrats since the 2016 election, with some members of the so-called Sanders wing of the party urging Democrats to use support for it as a litmus test in 2018. Such a program is unlikely to become law while Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Feinstein has said she doesnt support expanding Medicare to the entire population at this stage and has cited the cost of doing so as a reason. If he were elected, De Leon would join Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and 15 other Democratic Senators as co-sponsors of the bill proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Facebook

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Sen. Kamala Harris wont back federal spending bill without DACA fix By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she wont back a bill that allows the federal government to spend money unless Congress has a legislative fix to address the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children. I will not vote for an end-of-year spending bill until we are clear about what we are going to do to protect and take care of our DACA young people in this country, Harris said. Each day in the life of these young people is a very long time, and weve got to stop playing politics with their lives. President Trump announced in September that he was giving Congress until March before the program would shutter and recipients would begin losing work permits and protection from deportation. An estimated 200,000 of the nearly 800,000 recipients of the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program live in California, giving the Golden State an outsized stake in resolving their legal status. Harris spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday with other members of the California delegation to urge quick action on the issue. It is absolutely urgent that we pass the legislation, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said. We are determined that the Dream Act will be the law of the land before the year is out. Democrats and Republicans are negotiating the details of a fix, and when something could pass. Pelosi has hinted that if Republicans dont have the votes within their party to pass the end-of-year spending bill, which Congress has to pass to keep the government open, Democrats will offer their votes  for a price. Facebook

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher gets a second Republican challenger By Christine Mai-Duc A second Republican is jumping in to challenge GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, and hes pitching himself as an alternative for conservatives who are fed up with Rohrabachers controversial antics. Paul Martin, 52, is a freelance writer and self-proclaimed Reagan Republican who lives in Costa Mesa. Rohrabacher is himself a former speechwriter for Reagan. Martin grew up in Anaheim with an Italian immigrant mother and a Mexican American father, and says hes opposed to many of the policies coming out of the Trump administration. Ive had enormous struggle with the rhetoric thats coming out of Washington, D.C., and even more so with the rhetoric that comes out of Dana Rohrabachers mouth, Martin said in an interview. Its just not in the spirit that I grew up with. Following President Trumps travel ban announcement, Martin started the Christian-Muslim Alliance, a campaign aimed at fostering dialogue between people of different faiths. He describes himself as a raging centrist on a personal blog, where hes criticized Trumps response to white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va., and Rohrabacher for taking money from the National Rifle Assn. Still, Martin says hes a true conservative who wants to focus on issues of human dignity and bring better-paying jobs to the district. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott send a message with their World Series bet By John Myers (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) As governors of states hit hard by natural disasters, the leaders of California and Texas hope to send a message with their wager on the outcome of the World Series. The winner will receive food or drink from either Californias wine country or Houstons best barbecue joints. The bet, made Tuesday before the start of the first World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros, came with a request from both Gov. Jerry Brown and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for tourists to come back to those regions as soon as possible. While we dont expect to have to send any vino to Texas, we hope travelers from all over the world  yes, even the Lone Star State  will continue to visit California, said Brown in a written statement. If the Dodgers win, Abbott will send Brown Texas-style barbecue and a six-pack of Houston-brewed beer. Should the Astros prevail, Brown has promised wine from the Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino regions. Texas and California are recovering from some of the worst natural disasters our states have ever encountered, Abbott said in a joint statement from the two governors. As we work to overcome these challenges, our two states are united by Americas pastime as we cheer on our home teams in the World Series. Go Astros! Facebook

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California Assembly to hold public hearings to address sexual harassment By Melanie Mason Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, right. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) The California Assembly will hold public hearings next month to address sexual harassment in the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers announced Tuesday, as allegations of pervasive mistreatment continue to ripple through Sacramento. The announcement comes one day after the California Senate announced it has hired lawyers and human resources consultants to investigate allegations of widespread sexual harassment and evaluate Senate procedures. In a joint statement, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) said that sexual harassment of any kind is intolerable. The lawmakers say a three-pronged approach is necessary to confront the issue: changing a climate that has been permissive to sexual harassment, offering victims have a safe place to discuss complaints and ensuring that sexual harassment is dealt with expeditiously and that the seriousness of consequences match the violations committed, they said in a statement. Vowing a comprehensive effort to address these issues, lawmakers said there will be public hearings in November to discuss how the Legislature can tackle the issue. The panel, tasked to discuss harassment, discrimination and retaliation prevention and response, is chaired by Friedman and was formed in June, though it has not yet met. The panel is a subcommittee of the powerful Rules committee, chaired by Cooley, which functions as the chambers de facto human resources department. As we move forward, we must remember that the bottom line is harassers need to stop their abusive actions, the statement said. The rest of us need to call out harassment and abuse by its name and stigmatize this behavior each and every single time we see it. Adama Iwu, who helped organize the public letter published last week decrying an atmosphere of sexual harassment in the Capitol, said she and some of the women who signed the letter were concerned if any victim would be asked to testify with no legal guarantee against retaliation. Furthermore, we are concerned about the divergent paths of the Assembly and Senate, Iwu said in a statement. It is imperative that we work with outside experts, as part of a public independent review with whistleblower protections, to address the pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the Capitol community. Meanwhile, the trade association representing lobbyists, the Institute of Governmental Advocates, said in a statement Tuesday that it unequivocally supports [the women who signed the letter] and any other person in our Capitol community who has suffered harassment. Dates for the hearings, which are expected in late November, have not been set. Facebook

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Recall effort against Sen. Josh Newman still on track after too few voters request to remove their names from petitions By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), left, listens to debate in June on a measure to change the rules governing recall elections. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Of the more than 70,600 voters who signed petitions to hold a recall vote on state Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton, only 849 asked that their signatures be withdrawn by the deadline, clearing a major hurdle for an election on whether to oust the Democratic lawmaker, officials said Tuesday. Opponents of the recall needed to get more than 7,000 voters to withdraw their signatures to deprive supporters of the 63,593 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, under a new system approved recently by the Democratic-controlled Legislature that slows down the process. Sen. Josh Newman has spent months lying to his constituents by claiming people were duped into signing the recall petition against him, and with todays tally, he has been unmasked again as a pathological liar who is unfit to hold office, said Carl DeMaio, a Republican activist heading the recall drive. We eagerly look forward to voters having a chance to vote him out for his lies and his decision to increase the gas tax. Newman won a close contest last November in a district formerly represented by a Republican. He was targeted for recall by Republican activists for voting in April for a $52-billion transportation plan that raises gas taxes and imposes a new annual vehicle fee. A successful recall would deprive Democrats of a supermajority in the Senate. Once Secretary of State Alex Padilla certifies that there are sufficient valid signatures based on the data collected Tuesday, the new process calls for him to notify the state Department of Finance, which will be given 30 business days to prepare a cost estimate for the recall election. Once the estimate is prepared, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee will have 30 calendar days to review and comment on the estimate, said Sam Mahood, a spokesman for Padilla. On the following business day, the secretary of State will certify to the governor that the recall has qualified for the ballot. That could happen as late as Jan. 11 if the reviews take all the time allotted. Gov. Jerry Brown must then call an election to be held 60 to 80 days later, or within 180 days if there is a regularly scheduled election within Senate District 29 during that period. There will be a June 2018 primary election for the Assembly districts that make up the Senate District, so Brown could consolidate the Senate recall vote with that state primary. However, the new, longer process could end up being abandoned if supporters of the recall are successful in a lawsuit alleging the new rules are improper. At the same time, opponents of the recall have filed a lawsuit to block the recall, alleging petition circulators misled voters by saying their signatures would help repeal the gas tax. The underhanded methods used to qualify this recall likely represent one of the worst cases of voter fraud in California history, said Derek Humphrey, a consultant for the Newman campaign. Now, millions of tax dollars will be wasted to redo an election the Sacramento special interests lost barely a year ago. Its a shameful waste of money that voters will soundly reject and vote to keep Josh Newman fighting for them in the state Senate. Facebook

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Rep. Devin Nunes announces investigation into Obama-era uranium deal By David S. Cloud House Republicans are opening investigations of the Obama administrations 2010 decision to approve the sale of American uranium mines to a Russian-backed company, and California Rep. Devin Nunes is at the forefront. Nunes (R-Tulare), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said at a news conference that his panel and the House Oversight Committee would jointly probe the deal, which President Trump has called the real Russia story. Nunes and other Trump supporters have raised the 7-year-old uranium deal while four congressional committees and Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III are looking into Russia interference the 2016 election and whether Moscow had any direct links to the Trump campaign. Read More Facebook

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Former deputy director of California tax agency says he was fired for whistleblowing By Patrick McGreevy The state Capitol (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A former deputy director of the state Board of Equalization said Tuesday he was improperly fired this month after cooperating with a state Department of Justice investigation into allegations that agency officials improperly used public resources. Mark DeSio was fired Oct. 12 as the director for external affairs of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which recently was split off from the board in an agency shakeup. He has filed a whistleblower complaint and appeal to the state Personnel Board seeking reinstatement to his position. He alleges the agency before its split up was rife with nepotism and that there is improper hiring and use of employees from one fund to instead help elected board members in field offices. For more than a year, DeSio gave information about the BOE to the Department of Justice and several state agencies and auditors, right up until the time of his firing, said a press release from his attorney, Mary-Alice Coleman. Despite being pressured, DeSio refused to engage in certain activities. DeSios job was threatened multiple times during the course of his employment. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown called for a Justice Department probe of allegations that employees of the state Board of Equalization misused state resources assigning high-paid tax auditors to tasks such as directing traffic for community events promoting elected board members. Brown also set in motion steps that broke up the agency in June, putting the five-member board in one office, and tax collection and appeal system in two other offices. At the time, Brown cited serious problems of mismanagement identified in a Department of Finance audit of the agency, which is responsible for collecting $60 billion in tax revenue annually. DeSio said he has also provided information on alleged improprieties to the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which investigates political wrongdoing. Days before he was notified of his termination, DeSio said he told Department of Justice investigators that the board had misused 30 information officer positions as personal staff for board members. He also said supervisors overruled him when he refused to hire 10 new call center employees from funds not set aside for that purpose. He said 10 people were hired even after Brown had revoked the agencys hiring power. DeSios complaint alleges that in August 2016, board member Jerome Horton pressured DeSio to promote a particular employee who was funded by DeSios office, but actually worked in Hortons office. When DeSio refused, saying the employee was not the top-scoring candidate, the complaint says Horton became angry and his chief of staff threatened DeSio. Board Executive Director David Gau, the complaint alleges, contacted Desio and told him to either do what Horton wanted or be fired. After meeting with Department of Finance auditors, DeSio said he was contacted by Horton in November 2016. Horton demanded to know what DOF had asked and what documentation Desio had provided in response. DeSio said he refused to disclose what he gave the auditor. Horton threatened DeSio, saying, I only need one more vote to take you out, the complaint alleges. Horton disputed the allegations. If he has filed a complaint, the facts will show that I had an excellent professional relationship with Mr. DeSio and the allegations are not true, I had nothing to do with his termination, Horton said in a statement. Gau did not immediately respond to requests for comment. DeSio also alleged multiple cases of nepotism in the agency. In one example, he alleges agency officials improperly orchestrated the hiring of the man whose wife worked for a top manager at the agency. Updated at 3 pm to include comment from Board member Jerome Horton. Facebook

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Want the Sierra Clubs endorsement? Here are its standards By Chris Megerian The Sierra Club is setting some ground rules for California gubernatorial candidates that may want its endorsement. No. 1 on the list is independence from the oil industry, which has been a fault line in the Capitol during debates over climate change policies. This year, given how important Californias role has become to the nation for leadership on the environment, it made sense to lay out in advance what some of the overall characteristics that the endorsement committee will be looking for in candidates, said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California. Other requirements include independence from the tobacco and e-cigarette industry and a commitment to public health, environmental equity and transparency. Facebook

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California Senate hires investigators to look into sexual harassment allegations By Melanie Mason California Senate leader Kevin de Leon will hire two outside firms to look into allegations of a widespread culture of sexual harassment in the state Capitol. De Leon announced Monday he has hired the law office of Amy Oppenheimer to conduct an external investigation into harassment and assault allegations, and the consulting firm CPS HR Consulting to review Senate policies on harassment, discrimination and retaliation. De Leon also sent letters to lobbyists in the Capitol community detailing how existing rules protect non-employees. Theres always more employers can do to protect their employees, De Leon said in a statement. Everyone deserves a workplace free of fear, harassment and sexual misbehavior and I applaud the courage of women working in and around the Capitol who are coming forward and making their voices heard. The women behind an open letter sent last week calling out a pervasive culture of mistreatment in the political industry said that De Leons actions were insufficient. More than 140 women, including legislators, Capitol staff, political consultants and lobbyists, signed the letter. To find the truth and rebuild trust, we need a truly independent investigation, not a secretly hand-picked self-investigation, said Adama Iwu, a government affairs director for Visa who spearheaded the campaign. We need full transparency. How was this firm selected? Who will they report their findings to? What exactly are they investigating? Is the Assembly involved? Meanwhile, the women who have signed the letter, who have coalesced into a group called We Said Enough, announced they were formalizing their advocacy efforts on Monday by launching a nonprofit organization. The group plans to hold forums to outline a plan of action for improving how harassment and abuse complaints are reported, investigated and addressed. Facebook

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Kevin de Leon has millions in state campaign accounts that cant be rolled over to his Senate race By Patrick McGreevy State Senate leader Kevin De Leon has millions of dollars socked away in state campaign accounts, but federal law prohibits him from rolling over the money into his federal campaign for the U.S. Senate. So what options does the Los Angeles legislator have as he puts together a campaign to unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a fellow Democrat, in next years election? Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown heads to Washington to talk about the threat of nuclear war Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: What happens next in Sacramentos discussion of sexual harassment is important By John Myers Theres a big, challenging question beyond the initial shock of sexual harassment stories told by women working in California politics: What happens next? On this weeks California Politics Podcast, we discuss the allegations that have emerged from an open letter first reported by The Times on Tuesday. And a key part of the next chapter is how legislative leaders and the states major political parties respond to the concerns raised in the letter signed by more than 140 women. We also take a closer look at the new effort by wealthy activist Tom Steyer to demand impeachment proceedings against President Trump, and whether the San Francisco Democrat is thinking seriously about jumping into the U.S. Senate race. And with Gov. Jerry Browns action on hundreds of bills complete, we offer up a few notable decisions in those final signings and vetoes. Im joined by Times staff writer Melanie Mason and Marisa Lagos of KQED. Facebook

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Sen. Tom Cotton chides Californians: Your sanctuary cities werent enough, you had to have a sanctuary state instead By Phil Willon Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton addresses the California Republican Party at its fall convention in Anaheim. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told California Republicans they should expect better days ahead, in part, because of liberal overreach by California Democrats on taxes, immigration and other issues affecting the daily lives of working-class Americans. Cotton invoked the memory of former president and California governor Ronald Reagan as a guiding light, and ridiculed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as a harbinger of doom. All it takes is a little new thinking applied with old principles. The principles of Ronald Reagan, Cotton told a packed ballroom at the California Republican Partys fall convention in Anaheim on Saturday. Cottons keynote address hewed toward traditional conservative themes and was peppered with light moments and witty jabs about the Democrats grip on California politics. When Jerry Brown has to veto your legislation because its too liberal, you might have to take a look in the mirror, Cotton told the crowd. It was a big departure from the speech the night before by GOP firebrand Steve Bannon, President Trumps former political strategist. Bannon unleased attacks on former President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). He told Republicans they needed to rise up in California or else the progressive left and lords of the Silicon Valley would try to secede from the union in 10 to 15 years. Cotton, who at 40 is the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, is widely believed to be eyeing a run for higher office. During the 2016 Republican National Convention, he was the most active politician on the breakfast circuit, visiting the South Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and California delegations. California, of course, is home to more than 5 million Republican voters and has been a wellspring of political cash for GOP presidential candidates. Cottons message of hope has been a running theme throughout the three-day GOP gathering as the state party tries once again to turn things around in left-leaning California. The partys share of the state electorate has fallen to 26% and no Republican has been elected to statewide office since 2006. Cotton, however, told the party faithful to remain upbeat. Californias Republican members of Congress play a pivotal role in Washington, and there are ample opportunities to rekindle the partys presence in Sacramento and throughout the state. Cotton zeroed in on the new gas tax and vehicle fee hike in the state, which would raise $5.2 billion annually for transportation and mass transit improvements, saying it would hurt ordinary Californians. If you live in West L.A. or San Francisco and you have the money to afford a Tesla, maybe youll be OK, Cotton said. What about the farmer in the Central Valley who has a pickup truck and needs to fill it up three times a week? He also took shots at the so-called sanctuary state law signed this month by Gov. Jerry Brown, which will limit law enforcement agencies from questioning and detaining people for immigration violations. Your sanctuary cities werent enough, you had to have a sanctuary state instead, Cotton said. So all your citizens will face greater danger no matter where they live. Before he took the stage, the state GOP played a short video introduction of the Arkansas senator, focused on his experiences serving as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Washington, Cotton was a harsh critic of President Obama and is considered a hawk on national defense. During a hearing in June, Cotton also openly mocked the idea of the Trump administration colluding with Russia. Facebook

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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy criticizes Gov. Brown, lauds Trump at California GOP convention By Seema Mehta McCarthy is lauding Trump for his "character and vision and understanding," compares him to Reagan. #cagop17 pic.twitter.com/AlyvgOvQWF  Seema (@LATSeema) October 21, 2017 House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) on Saturday blasted Gov. Jerry Brown over Democrats positioning the state as the liberal resistance to President Trump and for legislative efforts to circumvent the presidents policies. Brown, he warned, could be viewed similarly to southern governors who sought to pick and choose which federal laws to uphold during the civil rights era. He focused on Browns recent signing of a bill to make California a so-called sanctuary state, which will limit law enforcement agencies from questioning and detaining people for immigration violations. I dont think history will be very kind to Gov. Brown, McCarthy told a few hundred delegates and guests at a luncheon at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim. California is a critical part of Democrats efforts to retake the House of Representatives, with a focus on seven Republican-held districts that Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Only one of the Republican representatives of those targeted districts had appeared at the convention as of Saturday afternoon, Rep. Mimi Walters of Irvine. McCarthy said Vice President Mike Pence raised $5 million for the efforts to protect the seats during a recent three-day fundraising trip through California, but he did not otherwise go into detail about the congressional battle expected in 2018. He instead lashed out at Republican members of the state Legislature who voted for Democratic policies. My advice to those Assembly members in Sacramento: You will not win a majority by thinking youll be Democrat-light. You will win the majority by showing the differences in the party, McCarthy said. You will not win the majority by voting against your own principles on a Democratic policy, and let Democratic targets vote no. You will not win the majority if youre concerned about being able to stand behind a podium with a Democratic governor instead of giving the freedom to Californians across this entire state. McCarthy did not name the members he was speaking about, but it was clear he was referring to Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) and other Republicans who voted for an extension of the states cap-and-trade program this year. Mayes stepped down as Assembly Republican leader under pressure from others in his party who were upset over his vote for the climate change program, which requires companies to purchase permits to release greenhouse gases. McCarthy spoke a day after former Trump White House advisor Stephen K. Bannon addressed the group. Bannon has declared war on the GOP establishment, of which McCarthy is a member. McCarthy did not push back at Bannons remarks, which included criticism of former President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Rather, McCarthy lauded Trumps vision, compared him to former President Reagan and pointed to economic gains and regulatory reform since Trump took office. What a difference nine months and one election makes, McCarthy said. What a difference: A man who ran for president on issues and keeps his word and actually enacts the things he promised to do. Trump has tried to enact many of his campaign promises but has been unsuccessful on several priorities, including a travel ban on citizens from Muslim-majority countries and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Tax reform is the latest priority on the Republicans agenda, and McCarthy promised that Congress would push a package by Thanksgiving that includes lowering rates for small businesses and corporations, and simplifying the tax code from seven income tax brackets to three. He also spoke out in support of one of the more controversial parts of the proposal: eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes. I dont think its fair for somebody else to subsidize poor management in California, McCarthy said. Look at the entire [tax reform] bill when it comes out, you will pay less. But no longer can Sacramento say, Im going to raise the rates just because Ill have the federal government subsidize it. They will have to be held accountable for when they want to raise taxes. Facebook

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Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who clashed with Trump during the election, goes after him again in California By Phil Willon Khizr Khan at the National Union of Healthcare Workers conference in Anaheim on Saturday. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq who feuded with Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, on Saturday criticized the Trump White House for its clash with a widow of a fallen soldier this week. Khan, speaking to reporters after addressing a National Union of Healthcare Workers conference in Anaheim, said the families of all military members killed in combat deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, especially in the days and weeks immediately following the death of their loved one. It was disappointing to see the behavior of [the White House], Khan said, before criticizing Trump administration officials for standing in front of the cameras and providing a defense for the indefensible behavior. Khans comments came just days after the uproar over Trumps call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson of Florida, one of four U.S. soldiers who died in an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger. Rep. Frederica S. Wilson of Florida was with Johnsons wife, Myeshia Johnson, in a car when the widow took Trumps call on speakerphone. Wilson publicly described Trumps comments as insensitive, saying he suggested that the sergeant knew what he was getting into when he joined the Army. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, whose son was killed in combat, defended the presidents comments, saying that he advised Trump on what to say and that the president was trying to praise Johnsons unselfish military service as well as offer words of comfort to his widow. Khan avoided attacking Trump directly or expanding on his remarks, saying he will address the controversy in more detail after Johnsons memorial services. The clash between Khan and Trump ignited after Khans speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. There, Khan ripped into Trump, then the Republican nominee for president. Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son the best of America. If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America, Khan said at the convention. Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities  women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country. Trump responded by questioning whether Khans wife, who stood by her husbands side during the couples high-profile appearance, was silent because of her Muslim faith. The controversy ignited by Trumps jabs at a Gold Star family dragged on for days, and he drew rebukes from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). During his speech to the healthcare union Saturday, Khan lamented the loss of civility in national political discourse and pointed squarely at the president. He said the current White House has sown division by attacking immigrants and belittling political rivals. Facebook

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California Teachers Assn. votes to endorse Gavin Newsom for governor By Seema Mehta Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with participants of a march in Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles commemorating the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide in April. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) The politically influential California Teachers Assn. on Saturday endorsed Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for governor, praising his support for public schools and his promise to hold charter schools more accountable. Gavin has long supported increased funding for education and is committed to making investing in students a top priority as governor, CTA President Eric Heins said in a written statement Saturday. He supports a public education system that attracts, not attacks, teachers, universal preschool and affordable college for all. The move is not entirely surprising given the antagonism between one of Newsoms top Democratic rivals, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and teachers unions in California. Villaraigosa launched his career as a union organizer, including for United Teachers Los Angeles, and labor played a critical role in getting him elected to office. But after he tried to gain control of Los Angeles schools, he questioned policies fiercely guarded by teachers unions, such as seniority protections that resulted in regular layoff notices to younger teachers who tend to staff the most challenging schools. He grew to support using student test scores to evaluate teachers and other overhauls opposed by union leaders. Villaraigosa, who eventually gained control of more than a dozen struggling city schools through a nonprofit, ultimately blasted the citys teachers union where he once worked as the largest obstacle to creating quality schools. The teachers association also passed over Democrat Delaine Eastin, a long-shot candidate who jumped into the 2018 governors race last year. Eastin, who served as Californias state superintendent of public instruction, has vowed to put education at the forefront of her campaign. The key question going forward is how much CTA plans to invest in the governors race and how it plans to spend it. In 2014, the union spent $12 million to defeat Marshall Tuck, a huge sum in an obscure race to be state superintendent of public instruction. A Democrat and former charter school leader, Tuck was hired by Villaraigosa to run the nonprofit that oversaw his schools. Tuck, who narrowly lost his race in 2014 against an incumbent, is running for state superintendent again in 2018. CTA on Saturday also endorsed his opponent, Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond). Facebook

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Bannons mention of Sen. John McCain, George W. Bush draws boos at California GOP convention By Seema Mehta  Former Trump White House advisor Stephen K. Bannon ripped into former President George W. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain Friday night at the California Republican Party Convention in Anaheim, saying there has not been a more destructive presiden Mere mentions of former President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) drew loud boos and catcalls as former Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon derided the GOP leaders in his address to California Republicans on Friday night at their fall convention in Anaheim. Bannon, who runs the far-right website Breitbart News, blasted Bush for his harsh assessment of Trump and his policies, which the former president delivered at a policy seminar in New York on Thursday. Bush suggested that Trump has promoted bigotry and falsehoods, violating this countrys values. President Bush to me embarrassed himself. Speech writers wrote a highfalutin speech, Bannon said. Its clear he didnt understand anything he was talking about.  Just like it was when he was president of the United States. Bannon, who was ousted from the White House in August but said he considers himself Trumps wingman, didnt stop there. He ripped into Bush, saying he allowed China to grow as a world power under the premise that global engagement might shepherd the county toward democracy. Theres not been a more destructive presidency than George Bushs, Bannon said. Bannon also had no love for McCain, who has openly clashed with Trump and helped torpedo Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The crowd at #CAGOP17 just booed George W. Bush and John McCain. "Hang him!" one man yelled about McCain.  Seema (@LATSeema) October 21, 2017 He praised McCains military service, but said as a politician, Hes just another senator from Arizona. The boos from the crowd of Republican donors and activists show how much the state party has changed as its influence has waned and its numbers have dwindled in California. The brand of conservatism belonging to Bush and McCain resonated with Californias GOP voters during their presidential campaigns. Both men forged deep ties with the states Republican elected leaders and donors, raising tens of millions of dollars here for their political campaigns. In California, Bush received 1.1 million more votes in the November 2004 presidential election than Trump did last November. McCain received almost 600,000 more votes in the November 2008 presidential election than Trump received in the state in 2016. Read More Facebook

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College journalists say covering Bannon at GOP convention prepares them for Yiannopoulos on campus By Anh Do Student journos Amy Wells + Brandon Pho of #CalSrateFullerton say peers are interested in party politics, esp info collected by young ppl. pic.twitter.com/b2MikBGnQD  ANH DO (@newsterrier) October 21, 2017 Student journalists Amy Wells and Brandon Pho from Cal State Fullerton teamed up outside Anaheims Marriott Hotel as night descended, assigned to cover Stephen K. Bannons speech and protesters targeting him. We dont underestimate how movements can pull in more youth, especially if they hear other youth pushing it on social media, said Pho, a sophomore majoring in journalism. Were always on the lookout for more policy to dig into because we have a lot of undocumented students on our campus and theyre way aware of national issues, added Wells, a senior pursuing a journalism degree. Pho and Wells said reporting on the small crowd of protesters will prepare them for much larger turnouts when provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos visits their campus at the end of this month. While Bannon is more provocative, he doesnt have the reach of someone like Milo who knows how to engage an online audience, said Pho, 19. We learn from watching how different public figures do outreach. Wells, 22, described the nights gathering as having the feel of a college campus protest. And of course, that feels familiar, with people here maybe figuring out what to do next. Small steps. Facebook

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Indivisible members rally ahead of Stephen K. Bannons speech to California Republicans By Anh Do Michelle Fowle, founder of The Resistance - Northridge, Indivisible, along w 100 supporters, launch protest vs. #SteveBannon in #Anaheim. pic.twitter.com/1yEdrUm9Si  ANH DO (@newsterrier) October 21, 2017 Growing up as a Republican in Southern California, Michelle Fowle said she automatically registered to join the party because her parents were also members. I didnt know the right civics, recalled the Northridge activist, 50. I didnt really know women died for the right to vote. I just voted for whoever I saw on signs, or whose names I remembered. Now Fowle is the founder of The Resistance - Northridge, Indivisible, which united supporters outside the California GOP convention in Anaheim on Friday to protest an appearance by Stephen K. Bannon. She joined a crowd of about 50 people across the street from the Anaheim Marriott on Friday night as they denounced President Trumps former advisor. They were separated from conventiongoers by metal barriers and a cordon of private security guards while police officers observed from nearby. Information and exposure and understanding show us that he is dangerous. Hes a very, very good manipulator, Fowle said of Bannon. His goal is to try and get rid of established Republicans and bring in more extreme people. Bannon is using whatever base Trump has left to recruit. Carolyn Criss, a retired film industry researcher, drove from Sherman Oaks to protest. Bannon is a clear danger to our democracy, she said. Criss said Trumps election awoke her dormant activist tendencies, and she now regularly attends protests against the president. She said she thought Bannons visit was an effort to amplify his voice while also helping the GOP raise money. I really hope the GOP just wants to make some money off him and doesnt believe what he says, she said. Facebook

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California lawmaker plans to introduce legislation to protect workers who exercise right to free speech By Mina Corpuz San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, left, take a knee during the national anthem in a 2016 game against the Rams. (Daniel Gluskoter / Associated Press Images for Panini) A California lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would help protect workers from employer retribution for exercising their right to free speech. Sen. Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park) said Friday that the state should be a sanctuary for free speech, including the kind that some might find offensive. He said he will introduce a measure when the Legislature is back in session in January. It doesnt matter if youre Ben Shapiro speaking at UC Berkeley, a brave female employee standing up to misogyny in her workplace through the #MeToo movement, or a Dallas Cowboy playing in California this Sunday, he said in a statement. The Constitution does not limit speech based on value judgments so long as it doesnt harm others. Stern said the presidents attempt to urge NFL owners to fire players who kneel during the National Anthem is a troubling attack on the 1st Amendment. The Constitution trumps Trump, he said. Americans of all political stripes ought to stand up and defend it. The legislation would also help public institutions fund security for events that could include offensive speech. Public institutions and law enforcement shouldnt have to bear the cost of ensuring constitutional protections for such events, Stern said. Stern, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is part of the ongoing work to define hate speech and find a way to address it while upholding the Constitution. Facebook

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Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom fights NRA over gun control law in federal court By Patrick McGreevy Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Tim Berger / Times Community News) Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the courts to lift an order that blocks Californias ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines, which was approved in November by voters when they passed Proposition 63. In June, a federal judge in San Diego ruled in favor of a request by the National Rifle Assn. to temporarily delay the magazine ban until the court could make a final decision on the law. U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez wrote then: If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess ones self of lawfully acquired property. In a friend-of-the-court filing, Newsom and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence argued the ban on large-capacity magazines is needed to help prevent the occurrence of high-fatality gun massacres, and to reduce the bloodshed when these tragedies occur. Newsom, a candidate for governor, sponsored Proposition 63 with the law center. Its a tragic reality that as time passes, we are presented with more and more evidence on the devastating power of large-capacity magazines, which are consistently the accessory of choice in mass shootings for mass murderers, Newsom said Friday in a statement, predicting the federal courts would uphold the ban. Facebook

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State GOP leader says the new gas tax and high poverty rate make Democrats vulnerable in California By Phil Willon California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, center, addresses GOP delegates at the state partys convention in Anaheim on Friday. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte kicked off the state GOPs fall convention with a speech to delegates that outlined why he thinks Democrats will be vulnerable in the upcoming 2018 elections. Brulte zeroed in on the new gas tax and policy declaring California a sanctuary state  both approved by Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic-controlled Legislature and both, he said, unpopular with California voters. He said Democrats have tried to deflect voter attention from these issues, as well as Californias high poverty rate and an uptick in crime, by continually attacking President Trump. Here in California, the reason they want to talk about Donald Trump is because they dont want to talk about the record they created, Brulte said. They broke it. They own it. If Donald Trump were not president, we would still have 22% of Californians living below the poverty line. Thats not Donald Trumps fault. Thats the Democrats who control California. The state GOPs three-day convention at the Anaheim Marriott will kick off in earnest Friday night when Trumps former political strategist, Steve Bannon, takes the stage for a keynote address to delegates. Facebook

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Far-right blogger Chuck C. Johnson gave bitcoin donation to Dana Rohrabacher By Christine Mai-Duc Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) speaks to Russian lawmakers at a meeting in Moscow in May 2013. (Misha Japaridze / Associated Press) Right-wing blogger and provocateur Chuck C. Johnson gave Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) a $5,400 campaign contribution weeks after he said he helped arrange a meeting between the Orange County congressman and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The donation, the maximum amount allowed by law, came in the form of bitcoin, a virtual currency. Johnson, who previously was banned from Twitter after soliciting donations toward taking out a prominent black activist, is listed on campaign finance forms as a self-employed investor who lives in Rosemead. Rohrabacher campaign spokesman Jason Pitkin confirmed the donor was the same person who helped arrange the Assange meeting. Johnson also recently sat in on a meeting between Rohrabacher and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in the Capitol. Pitkin said they discussed Assanges legal situation and cannabis policy, among other things. Rohrabacher previously said Assange had emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in hacking the 2016 elections but claimed his plans to bring the information directly to President Trump have been thwarted by White House staffers. Pitkin said Johnson approached the Rohrabacher campaign shortly after his trip to London and said he wanted to donate. He said, Do you take bitcoin? and I said, I think we can,  Pitkin recalled. The campaign then set up a bitcoin wallet to receive the funds, Pitkin said. Rohrabacher is not the only California House candidate this cycle who has accepted contributions in bitcoin. Democrat Brian Forde, who is challenging GOP Rep. Mimi Walters of Irvine, reported raising more than $59,000 in bitcoin donations between July 1 and Sept. 30. Facebook

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Government needs more women, Nancy Pelosi says By Colleen Shalby Nancy Pelosi has 30 years worth of insight for women starting out in politics. Shes run into plenty of naysayers over the years, but said she hasnt let other peoples doubt stop her. Her advice for those at the beginning of their career is simple. Know your purpose, she said in an interview Wednesday night before a Summit event hosted by the Los Angeles Times and the Berggruen Institute. The House minority leader said she hopes more women will run for office, calling their participation a necessity for government and the future. Whether its education, the environment, equal rights, womens health  whatever it is. Master your subject. Have a plan on how you will implement your ideas and you will attract support. Facebook

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This Los Angeles representative spent $105,500 on Hamilton tickets By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Tony Cardenas asks a question of Lin-Manuel Miranda during a town hall at Panorama High School in Panorama City. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Hamilton fever has caught at least two Los Angeles area members of Congress whove used campaign funds to purchase tickets to the hit musicals run at the Hollywood Pantages. Rep. Tony Cardenas campaign and his political action committee Victory by Investing, Building and Empowering PAC spent $105,500 in April buying tickets to the show, which is playing in L.A. until Dec. 30. Two fundraisers using the approximately 400 tickets have raised more than $300,000, a spokesman for the congressmans campaign said. For both Cardenas campaign and the PAC, the tickets were the single most costly expense of the year. Basically they saw this as an opportunity to have a nice fundraising opportunity and go to a show that celebrates American democracy, campaign spokesman Josh Pulliam said. The Los Angeles Democrat is friends with the father of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning creator of Hamilton. When the show opened in Los Angeles in mid-August, Miranda spoke to nearly 1,000 students in Cardenas largely Latino San Fernando Valley district . He raffled off some tickets to the show as an online fundraiser in September. Miranda has a history of supporting Democrats, and Hamilton has been used as a fundraiser before. In July 2016, Hillary Clintons presidential campaign hosted a special showing of the musical for donors, with a starting ticket price of $2,700. Cardenas held two fundraisers tied to the show. Miranda did not attend either event, Pulliam said. Pulliam said a few dozen tickets went to people in the community as gifts. He also raffled off some tickets to the show as an online fundraiser in September. Cardenas isnt in a particularly tough race for 2018. A Democrat and a Green Party member have filed to run in his district, but neither have raised or spent enough to require them to file campaign finance reports. Cardenas most recent report, which covers what he raised and spent in the last three months, shows he raised $232,389 and had $481,049 in the bank as of Sept. 30. Its fairly common for lawmakers or candidates to use sports events or concerts as major fundraising opportunities, especially when big names such as Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen play concerts in Washington. Rep. Maxine Waters campaign spent just under $11,000 on tickets to Hamilton in August. Reached by phone, the Los Angeles Democrat seemed surprised reporters were asking about the tickets. She said her campaign made $110,000 at a fundraiser using the tickets. Everybody does it, whether its a concert or a baseball game, she said. Several conservative groups have targeted Waters, an outspoken critic of President Trump, for the 2018 election. She won in 2016 with 76% of the vote over Republican Omar Navarro, who is challenging her again. In a statement released by her campaign, Waters stressed that fundraising at an event means the campaign doesnt have to rent space or buy food. These fundraising activities are similar and sometimes less expensive than the amount of money a candidate would spend to host a fundraising dinner within a private room at a restaurant or hotel  once you factor in associated catering costs, she said. The price for the Hamilton tickets was similar to what one would have to pay at these venues. There was nothing improper or unusual about the expenditure. Facebook

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California Republicans increase security at state convention ahead of Steve Bannon speech By Seema Mehta (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press) The California Republican Party is ramping up security at its weekend convention in anticipation of protests at the Friday night keynote speech by Steve Bannon, a former advisor to President Trump and the executive chairman of Breitbart News. Part of providing a good experience for our convention goers is assuring your safety, state party Executive Director Cynthia Bryant wrote in an email to attendees on Thursday describing the security measures. Attendees will pass through metal detectors and their property is subject to be searched before they are allowed to enter the ballroom at the Anaheim Marriott, where the speech and dinner are taking place. Weapons, noisemakers and signs are prohibited. We did not make the decision for the additional security lightly and we know that it does impact your convention going experience, Bryant wrote. I sincerely regret that. Its a level of security rarely seen at political party gatherings in California. Convention attendees were also screened when Donald Trump, then a candidate seeking the GOP presidential nomination, appeared at the spring 2015 convention in Burlingame. That decision was made in consultation with the Secret Service, which had already begun protecting Trump. That convention attracted large-scale protests that at times turned into tense stand-offs between activists and police officers. Bannons speech is also expected to draw protests. Bannon, a conservative media leader, promoted Breitbart as a platform of the alt-right and needled establishment Republicans when Trump selected him to be the chief executive of his 2016 presidential campaign. His views as a nationalist, economic populist and nativist indelibly shaped Trumps message to voters. Once Trump was sworn in as president, Bannon was named White House chief strategist. He was a divisive figure in the administration, disparaging his colleagues to the media before he left the White House in August. He has since declared war on the GOP establishment, including supporting challengers to incumbents and other candidates backed by Trump. Facebook

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L.A. County Supervisors unanimously back Sen. Feinstein for reelection By Sarah D. Wire L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times) The five members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have all endorsed Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the senators campaign announced Thursday. The announcement comes as factions of California Democrats begin weighing in on the Senate race between Feinstein and state Senate leader Kevin de Leon next year. Its a snub for De Leon, a native Angeleno who has represented part of the city for more than a decade in the Assembly and state Senate. Sen. Feinstein has been our strong partner on the critical issues confronting L.A. County  homelessness, healthcare, and transportation. Her support for our county hospitals, including her commitment to our new Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, has been essential to our countys healthcare system, Board Chairman and 2nd District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a statement. Ridley-Thomas said the board members support Feinstein -- including the lone Republican on the board, 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who said in a statement that California needs Feinstein in the Senate. Ive worked with Sen. Feinstein for many years. Shes extremely knowledgeable and always prepared on the tough issues we confront. Shes a problem solver we can count on now and in the future, Barger said. Feinstein already has the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which traditionally backs incumbents. Soon after he announced a challenge, De Leon was endorsed by Democracy for America, the progressive political action committee formed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in 2004. Facebook

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Northern California wildfires mean thousands of families will flood the regions already strained housing market By Liam Dillon Tom and Shelly Lanning, from left, talk with Lannings mother, Jeannie Anderson, on Oct.17, 2017. The Lannings have been staying with Anderson since they lost their home in wildfires. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Even before devastating wildfires struck Northern California last week, the regions housing market was in crisis. Home values and rents already were at or near record highs, and decades of slow construction has left few homes available for the thousands of displaced residents. The number of new families flooding the market is giving rise to fears of widespread displacement and even higher costs. The scope and magnitude of the rehousing is unfathomable, said Larry Florin, chief executive of the nonprofit Burbank Housing, one of Santa Rosas largest low-income housing providers. If you take 3,000 units being demolished in a market that was already dramatically constrained, its hard to imagine whats going to happen, where people are going to go. Read More Facebook

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California lawmaker wants to ban secret settlements in sexual harassment cases after Weinstein scandal By Melanie Mason State Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), shown speaking at a 2016 news conference for ending the statute of limitations for rape, wants to ban confidentiality provisions from sexual harassment settlements. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) A California state senator says she intends to introduce a bill next year to ban confidentiality provisions in monetary settlements stemming from sexual harassment, assault and discrimination cases. Secret settlements in sexual assault and related cases can jeopardize the public  including other potential victims  and allow perpetrators to escape justice just because they have the money to pay the cost of the settlements, Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) said in a statement Thursday. This bill will ensure that sexual predators can be held accountable for their actions and ideally prevent them from victimizing others. The measure comes after revelations of decades-long alleged sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Some of those incidents were obscured from public view thanks to monetary settlements whose terms required confidentiality. The issue has a renewed resonance in Sacramento after scores of women working in state politics renounced a pervasive culture of harassment and abuse in the Capitol in a public letter this week. Leyva told the Times she intends for her proposed settlement ban to include both private employers and public ones, such as the Legislature. 9:41 a.m.: This post was updated to specify Leyvas proposal would apply to private and public employers. This post was originally published at 8:54 a.m. Facebook

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Nancy Pelosi: Its your problem if you dont recognize that women are ready to do any job By Colleen Shalby Nancy Pelosi knows what it feels like to have to prove herself in politics simply because shes a woman. She says she experiences the pressure every day. But its your problem if you dont recognize that women are ready to do any job, the House minority leader said in an interview before a Summit event hosted by the Los Angeles Times and the Berggruen Institute on Wednesday night. When she decided to run for a leadership position in Congress, Pelosi said a man questioned her move. As if a woman had to be told she could run, she recalled. We just laughed and said poor babies. In the midst of a growing sexual misconduct scandal centered on Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, many women are sharing their stories of sexual harassment and assault. No industry has been spared  women at Californias Capitol signed an open letter Tuesday outlining pervasive harassment in Sacramento. Pelosi said she wasnt prepared to share a so-called me too moment, but she thanked the women who have. The sheer numbers speak eloquently to the fact that we should get to zero tolerance, she said. Facebook

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Watch: The View from California political panel with John Myers Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers hosted a panel discussion about the view from California as part of our L.A. Times and Berggruen Institute Summit series. Joining him were state Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), Republican strategist Luis Alvarado, UCLA political scientist Lynn Vavreck and Alma Hernandez, executive director of SEIU California. We also had a conversation with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Watch that here. Facebook

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Watch: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi talks to the L.A. Times House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) spoke Wednesday about her view of national news, working with the Trump White House and the future of the Democratic Party. The event was co-hosted by The L.A. Times and the Berggruen Institute. Following that conversation, Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers hosted a panel discussion about the view from California. Joining him were state Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), Republican strategist Luis Alvarado, UCLA political scientist Lynn Vavreck and Alma Hernandez, executive director of SEIU California. Watch that here. Facebook

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Kevin de Leon: My whole life, Ive been told to wait my turn and know my place You know, my whole life, Ive been told to wait my turn and know my place. Well, its Californias turn to lead. And Californias place to be a shining example for the world and a stark contrast to the failures of Washington.  State Senate leader Kevin de Leon, kicking off his U.S. Senate campaign Read More Facebook

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Pelosi, in Los Angeles visit, calls on Congress to pass Dream Act By Makeda Easter Rep. Nancy Pelosi meets with young immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in downtown Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called on the GOP-controlled Congress to pass the Dream Act by years end. Pelosi appeared at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights with community leaders and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients in Los Angeles. The San Francisco Democrat said she has confidence Republicans and Democrats will be able to work together to pass the Dream Act. President Trump said we had shared values when we spoke to him, Pelosi said. I trust that he will honor that commitment because the American people want him to do so. The Democratic leader had conversations with Trump about continuing DACA after his heartless decision to end the program. Pelosi said that President Reagan was great on immigration and noted his immigration agenda protected a larger percentage of people than President Obama did with his executive order regarding DACA. She added the last three Republican presidents strongly acknowledged the value of immigration to America. A majority of the estimated 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children live in California. These newcomers make America more American, Pelosi said. She noted there have been a handful of Republicans who support forcing a Dream Act vote via a procedural move. Still, her party is in the minority. You can have all the conversation in the world that you want, but youve got to have the votes, she said, encouraging moderate Republicans to support the Dream Act. She was joined by Democratic Reps. Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles, Judy Chu of Monterey Park and Lucille Roybal-Allard of Downey, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress and original co-author of the Dream Act. Roybal-Allard said the so-called Dreamers have lived in this country, they have grown up here, they have pledged allegiance to our flag. To do anything else but to protect them by passing the Dream 
Sen. Dianne Feinsteins decision to seek a sixth term in theory leaves her open to a fierce challenge from someone closer to the ascendant and most vocal voters in a party that has moved sharply to the left and begun a generational shift.

Feinstein has long straddled two camps in California, demonstrating enough liberal tendencies to attract a majority of Democrats and enough moderate ones to be acceptable to those in the middle of the political spectrum. Early in her career, for example, she gained credit among moderate voters by drawing boos from a crowd of liberal party activists when she said she favored the death penalty in some cases.

In recent years, that sort of straddle has become an increasingly difficult posture to maintain.

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The leftward move by Democrats has been matched by a Republican shift to the right, leaving fewer voters to occupy the moderate middle on which Feinstein has depended. This year, she has come under loud public criticism from liberal activists for refusing to endorse a single-payer healthcare plan and other goals.

Most recently, she was blistered by her partys left for uttering what appeared to them to be a heresy, telling a San Francisco audience that she still had hope President Trump could be a good president and counseling patience rather than agitating for impeachment.

For all that, she remains at this point the favorite to win, for reasons central to her record and to the states complicated politics.

Garry South, who managed the successful campaigns of another moderate, former Gov. Gray Davis, said Feinsteins comments about Trump, in particular, opened the door to a challenge.

In the last 10 years, Democratic voters have moved substantially to the left, he said. There are a lot of challenges, but I think the chances she draws a Democratic opponent are far better today than before her remarks in San Francisco.

Still, he said, I dont know that all of this means theres a perfect storm awaiting Dianne Feinstein.

Potential challengers circled Feinstein on Monday after she made her announcement.

State Senate leader Kevin de Leon, who represents a central Los Angeles district, released a letter to supporters that emphasized his resolve in actively taking on Trump  a suggestion that Feinstein had not. De Leon has not officially announced a candidacy, but word that he might do so soon was believed to have played a role in Feinsteins abrupt announcement.

I fully intend to stand with the millions of Californians who are committed towards action in the fight for our nations soul, he wrote.

Another potential challenger, Los Angeles entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg, let loose a string of tweets that similarly appeared aimed at Feinstein.

Here at home, Californians are leading the resistance to bullies like Trump, he tweeted. But we need representatives willing to do the same in DC.

The partys leftward shift makes those potential challenges more serious. In 2011, the year before Feinsteins last race for the Senate, 52% of Democrats characterized themselves as liberal, according to polling by the Public Policy Institute of California. In a recent poll, that number had jumped to 61%.

This year, the race to lead the state party was upended when establishment leaders found themselves under siege from younger and more liberal activists, who mounted a challenge to the party chairmanship that nearly succeeded and contributed to angry public fights during a party convention.

The change has been fueled in part by the 2016 challenge to the Democratic establishment mounted by Vermonts independent senator, Bernie Sanders. Sanders energized younger voters, in particular, and remains a lodestar to them. It is his plan for universal insurance coverage that Feinstein declined to endorse.

But Sanders presidential race offers other reminders that, however powerful the ideological and generational change may be, Californias politics still hew in Feinsteins favor.

Hillary Clinton won the California primary handily despite the energy apparent in Sanders campaign. She did so by relying on the same set of voters who have powered Feinsteins races since her first Senate contest in 1992.

Among Democratic voters, the Public Policy Institute polling found, 62% are women, historically big supporters of the senator. And most are older, requiring any challenger to employ a deft hand when trying to knock off a veteran who was the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate. A candidate seeking to make an issue of Feinsteins age, 84, would risk a backlash.

Another potential advantage for Feinstein: Voters in California have tended to define liberalism by many topics, not just healthcare. (Indeed, the states popular Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, is among party leaders who share her moderate views on healthcare.)

Feinsteins image as a centrist belies a vast record that in any other state would be considered reliably liberal.

Shortly after her arrival in the Senate, she pushed through a ban on assault weapons, one that lapsed during the Bush administration and has not been renewed since. The issue has now taken on greater prominence once again because of the Las Vegas massacre. Feinstein speedily moved last week to ban devices that can turn semiautomatic weapons into functionally automatic ones.

Feinstein also was the prime mover behind forcing into public view a review of CIA interrogation tactics. That battle strained her relations with Obama administration national security officials but put her in the company of liberals seeking to ban torture.

Feinstein also has constructive organizational advantages: She is better known in the state than any figure who might challenge her, an important factor in a place where television advertising costs millions per week. She has an existing national fundraising network, whereas others would have to build one from scratch.

She also has allies, including prominent figures on the partys left. Sen. Kamala Harris, who is far more popular than Feinstein among liberals, swiftly endorsed her after the announcement Monday, as did Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, who has emerged as one of Trumps main antagonists in Congress.

We are better off with her leadership, Harris wrote.

While opponents see Feinsteins style and longevity as a negative, her backers see it otherwise.

Her longtime campaign strategist, Bill Carrick, ticked off a string of issues  guns, abortion rights, desert protection, environmental issues, torture, LGBT rights  on which Feinsteins record is closely aligned with the most liberal elements of the party.

Shes in good shape, and the Democratic base is her strength, he said. Anybody who thinks theyre going to run to the left of her with Democrats, good luck.

Ultimately, the race may center on what Californians expect of their politicians. Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, is a believer in the school of compromise, of both sides working together to achieve an end that fully satisfies neither but moves the issue along.

I can work across the aisle. I can work with other people. I know how to make judgments that can make bills passable, she said in a brief interview after her announcement.

That is a style that has gone broadly out of fashion in recent years. If a challenger with enough money and manpower arrives, the Senate race could foretell whether California voters still want it  or prefer a more antagonistic tone. Feinstein is betting thats not the case.

Im not a rabble-rouser; its not what I intend to do, she said after a frequently testy town hall in mid-April at Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church. I want to try to dim the cry and to fashion it into something constructive. I think people want me to be constructive.

Staff Writer Sarah D. Wire contributed to this article.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Twitter: @cathleendecker

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Turkish metal companies since the start of 2017 have been stably boosting production, increasing purchase of scrap ferrous metal, the Ukrainian association of scrap metals (UAvtormet) has reported.

From January through August 2017 liquid steel production in Turkey grew by 13%, to 24.7 million tonnes, and cast iron output  by 4%, to 7.1 million tonnes.

A total of 19.5 million tonnes of scrap metal was used to produce the above-mentioned volumes of steel by Turkish metal companies. The domestic market supplied 35% of the scrap metal required  6.8 million tonnes, and the rest of scrap metal was imported.

In January-August 2017, around 12.9 million tonnes of scrap metal was shipped to Turkey (12% up year-over-year). Traditionally, the key suppliers of scrap metal are the EU countries (63.2% or 8.1 million tonnes), the United States (15.5% or 2 million tonnes) and the CIS states (12.2% or 1.6 million tonnes). African countries are boosting their supplies.

The current price of scrap metal offered by Turkish companies that import it is $300-310 per tonne (CFR for European scrap metal of HMS1& type) and $280 per tonne (CFR for A3 type offered from the ports of the Black and Azov seas).
Indiana officials are refusing to release an indeterminate number of emails from private AOL.com accounts that Mike Pence used while he was governor, and theyre not saying whether the vice presidents lawyers influenced which messages should be withheld.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcombs office has released more than 1,300 pages of his predecessors emails, although most of the documents  released in multiple batches over recent months  contain little substance. They largely consist of correspondence from staffers sharing press releases or news articles, laudatory notes from Pences supporters and documents so heavily redacted that theyre barely readable.

Its hard to justify withholding information after a governor leaves office, said Nate Jones, of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which advocates for government transparency. It makes it look like they arent subscribing to good open government practices.

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A Pence spokeswoman declined to comment Monday.

The Associated Press has sought emails from Pences private AOL accounts, which he regularly used for state business, since shortly after he was tapped to be Donald Trumps running mate in July 2016.

The emails released to date reveal little about some of the divisive topics that defined Pences term as governor, including a religious objections law he signed in 2015 that critics decried as discriminatory against gays. Amid the national backlash, Pence held a news conference to push back, hired a crisis management firm and ultimately signed a fix into law.

But 293 pages of recently released emails about the controversy predominantly consist of news story summaries and links. A few show Pence staffers providing an opinion article to the Wall Street Journal. And one exchange alerts him that the publication of a critical story was postponed. Left out, however, was any meaningful discussion about one of the most difficult situations he faced as governor.

Indiana has a weaker public records law than many states, and Holcombs office says it can withhold records deemed advisory or deliberative. Those classifications are undefined, giving state officials wide latitude to shield from disclosure documents containing internal debates, advice or speculation. Holcombs office also declined to provide a count of the emails it withheld because it said state law doesnt require it.

Not knowing what they are withholding is a big disadvantage to the public, said Gerry Lanosga, an Indiana University journalism professor and former investigative reporter. Without at least an index or some detail about what those records are, its hard not to be skeptical.

During the presidential campaign, Pence suggested that Hillary Clintons use of a private server while secretary of State disqualified her from becoming president because it threatened national security. His aides have said charges of hypocrisy regarding his own private email use are unfair because there is a big difference between the secretary of States correspondence about sensitive national matters and business conducted by a governor.

Pence aides have said he that he had an Indiana government email account, but it is unclear if he regularly used it. Most records released before and after he was governor either obscured his email account domain name or show they were routed to an AOL.com account.
Republicans, in a shift after Las Vegas massacre, are open to considering a gun limit -- on bump stocks

The Las Vegas massacre has forced a breach in congressional Republicans solid opposition to gun restrictions, prompting many, from party leaders on down, to say they will consider banning bump stocks that turn assault rifles into virtual machine guns.

The National Rifle Assn., to which most Republicans are loyal and which had been silent since the gunmans attack Sunday night, on Thursday in a statement said it could back such limits -- as a federal regulation, not law.

The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations. its statement on Thursday said.

The NRAs blessing will probably increase the number of Republicans willing to back restrictions, but if those limits come in the form of regulations from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), rather than in a law, Democrats are certain to object.

Just Wednesday, when California Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to ban bump stocks by law, only fellow Democrats joined with her.

By Thursday, however, top GOP leaders in the House and Senate, including Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, signaled their interest in working on legislation that that could limit access to the devices.

Clearly thats something we need to look into, Ryan told MSNBC host Hugh Hewitt in an interview scheduled to air this weekend.

Senators on Thursday morning privately discussed ways they could tackle the issue as they met for routine business.

I will tell you that the unique aspect of the bump stock and how you would literally transform a semiautomatic weapon into an automatic weapon is something that I think bears looking into, Cornyn told Texas reporters on a conference call.

He has asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa to convene a hearing and look into it.

Even Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus of conservative hard-liners, told reporters earlier in the week hed be willing to consider banning bump stocks, if the Senate passes a bill and sends it to the House.

The shift is notable for Republicans who, under great pressure from the NRA and other gun rights groups, have resisted past efforts at gun control, even after some of the most devastating mass shootings in the United States.

Coming after the Las Vegas shooting, which left 58 dead and hundreds wounded in what authorities said is the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, the movement may indicate the potential limits of the gun lobbys reach into politics and policy.

Polls show Americans overwhelmingly want measures that could curb gun violence and pressure has mounted as cultural figures, including late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, have delivered heart-wrenching criticisms of congressional inaction.

Democrats, who have at times splintered on firearms issues as conservative-state lawmakers joined Republicans to defeat gun-safety bills, welcomed the changed outlook.

They have called on President Trump to cut across partisan lines and push Congress toward legislation to reduce gun violence that polls show most Americans would support.

Will the president stand up? said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York. The president has a choice.

Many Democrats, however, will not want to limit action to bump stocks.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said bump stock legislation was one approach, but no substitute for a background check bill that she said would have bipartisan support in the House if Ryan would allow a vote.

It really is all up to the speaker, she said. Is he going to bring the bill to the floor?

At the same time, lawmakers were skeptical that initial interest in limited bipartisan legislation would translate into enough actual votes to write the restriction into law.

We need to move Republicans from being open to the idea to being willing to actually work on it, said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat who has become a leader on firearms safety measures since the 2012 killings of 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

One key Republican, Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who co-sponsored a bipartisan background check bill that was defeated a few years ago, was noncommittal Thursday. He said he was just learning about bump stocks and needed more information.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told reporters it was too soon, as the investigation in Las Vegas was just underway, to consider legislation.

Lawmakers, though, appeared concerned that the device offers a way to get around the existing ban on automatic weapons, which have been outlawed for years except for military use.

In the House, several military veterans, led by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, sent a letter to federal officials asking them to reconsider how they regulate the devices. During the Obama administration, the ATF authorized use of the stocks.

This is definitely an area were going to look [at], Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield said on Fox News.

A number of lawmakers, including Ryan, an avid hunter, said they were unfamiliar with bump stocks before the Las Vegas shooting. The alleged gunman appears to have used the device for rapid shooting.

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The doctors who lead the medical professions debates on how best to preserve and restore our health are done with moments of silence in the face of gun-related violence.

In the wake of a mass shooting that killed 59 people and wounded hundreds more in Las Vegas, they neither minced words nor observed political niceties in describing the threat that firearms pose to Americans health.

Guns kill people, Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor in chief of the influential Journal of the American Medical Assn., and a team of colleagues wrote in an editorial published online Monday. Guns do not make individuals, their families, or homes safer and they result in far more deaths to loved ones than to an intruder intending to cause harm.

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Such claims are certain to inspire howls of protest from gun-rights advocates. However, in keeping with the tradition of JAMA and other research journals, Bauchner and his co-authors preempted such claims not with heated rhetoric but with with footnotes to studies that support their argument.

One of the earliest studies they cited showed that, in Washingtons King County, 54% of all 743 firearms-related deaths that occurred between 1978 and 1983 took place in the home where the gun had been kept. Only two of these 398 deaths  not even 1%  were cases of an intruder shot during an attempted entry, and seven other people were killed in self-defense.

Whats more, among the fatalities that involved a firearm kept in the home, accidental deaths were 30% more common than self-protection homicides. Suicides involving firearms were 37 times more common than self-protection homicides. The findings were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A more recent study published this year in JAMA Internal Medicine found that Floridas adoption of a stand your ground law, which broadened homeowners right to use lethal force in self-defense, was linked to an abrupt and sustained increase in homicides by firearm.

In the Annals of Internal Medicine  a journal almost universally read by the nations 200,000 primary-care doctors  editor in chief Dr. Christine Laine and deputy executive editor Dr. Darren B. Taichman had similarly run out of patience after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

More silence is not the answer, wrote Laine, Taichman and Bauchner along with the top editors of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen) and the open-access journal PLOS Medicine (Dr. Larry Peiperl). With firearms claiming an average of 93 lives per day in the United States  more than half by suicide  guns are responsible for more deaths than vehicle crashes or terrorism.

Many Americans have become accustomed to the threats posed by guns. But an event like Las Vegas should not lose the power to shock, the five journal editors wrote.

What would happen if on one day more than 50 people died and over 10 times that many were harmed by an infectious disease in the United States? they asked. Healthcare professionals would sound the alarm. We would demand funding. We would go to conferences to learn what is known and what we should do. We would form committees at our institutions to plan local responses to protect our communities.

The same thing should happen when the threat comes not from a virus or bacterium but from a man-made weapon, they wrote.

A handful of physicians working on the front lines of healthcare already have risked the ire of politicians to speak up about gun violence, the group wrote. We should be proud of them, but they need all of our help. And so do our patients.

The journal editors called on their fellow doctors to ask their patients about their ownership of guns, to challenge their belief that those guns increase their safety, and to direct them toward risk-reducing resources just as you already do for other health risks.

Physicians should also demand funding for studies and mobilize their employers  hospitals, healthcare groups and universities  to plan campaigns aimed at reducing firearms violence.

We dont throw up our hands in defeat because a disease seems to be incurable, the journal editors wrote. We work to incrementally and continuously reduce its burden. Thats our job.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

@LATMelissaHealy

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Take a contrasting family unit  two blacks, two homosexuals, one character losing touch with reality  and you have the ingredients for some meaningful conflict. At least thats the premise of Rachel Bonds new play, Curve of Departure, now in its world premiere at South Coast Repertory.

These disparities, however, hardly figure into the plot of this curiously semi-involving drama. Rather, Bonds offers them more as window dressing for issues which surface in her plays brief (80 minutes) running time, during which resolution is conspicuous by its absence.

Under Mike Donahues delicate direction, Curve of Departure brings human frailty to the surface, but never really finishes its journey into our hearts. Playgoers are virtually asked to complete the process in their own minds.

Bonds four characters, who share a New Mexico hotel room as they gather for a funeral, consist of the elderly and shaky Rudy (Allan Miller), his supportive daughter-in-law Linda (Kim Staunton), her son Felix (Larry Powell) and his boyfriend Jackson (Christian Barillas), who bring their own troubles into the mixture. The funeral is for Rudys son and Lindas ex-husband, who, we learn, was hardly the salt of the earth.

Millers character, for whom no real city exists outside of New York, is the most engaging of the lot, except that hes asleep for much of the time. The task of plot management on stage falls to Staunton, who is excellent in that regard, riding herd on both the old man and her apparently troubled son.

Powell and Barillas engagingly present a contented couple whose relationship is endangered by Jacksons wish to adopt his drug-addled sisters little girl. Barillas projects heartfelt emotion while Powells character is more enigmatic and noncommittal, the result of sketchy craftsmanship by the playwright.

There is a next-day scene outside the motel in which some semblance of resolution could have been achieved, as well as a toast with airline-type liquor bottles which might have successfully ended the play. However, Bonds chooses to press on and further cloud her story.

This element raises a curious point. As the scene changes, Linda folds up her cot and moves it upstage  so where did she spend the night? And does Rudy actually plan to end his life on the Ides of March? Inquiring minds wont be satisfied.

Curve of Departure raises more questions than it dispenses answers to, which indicates its playwrights work is far from over. Its an interesting, if unfinished effort at South Coast Repertory.

If You Go

What: Curve of Departure

When: Through Oct. 15; performance times vary

Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

Cost: $23 to $88

Information: (714) 708-5555 or visit scr.org.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater.
Costa Mesa planning commissioners endorsed new rules Monday that would allow accessory housing units, sometimes called granny flats, on smaller lots and in more areas than currently permitted.

The regulations  advanced on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Jeffrey Harlan opposed  are meant to bring Costa Mesa into compliance with state laws aimed at making it easier to develop supplemental units that, in theory, could help ease Californias housing shortage.

The final decision on the proposed rules rests with the City Council, which will take up the issue at a later date.

Despite moving the matter forward, some commissioners criticized what they called an onerous state mandate that could reshape the makeup of Costa Mesas single-family communities.

This is completely rewriting our code and, essentially, Sacramento telling the people of Costa Mesa that we are going to have to shoulder more of the burden as far as housing is concerned, said commission Chairman Stephan Andranian.

However, since the state allows cities some leeway to regulate certain aspects of accessory dwelling units, Vice Chairman Byron de Arakal said its important for Costa Mesa to adopt its own rules that can help maintain the character of local neighborhoods.

I think this is a medium ground, he said of the proposed regulations. Its not the best. I think it is reasonable enough to keep the jackals in the marble halls of Sacramento from coming down and hassling us.

Under the commissions recommendations, accessory units  which can be freestanding structures, attached to a home or fashioned out of existing space such as a garage or master bedroom  would be permitted on lots of at least 7,500 square feet in single-family areas.

Thats down from the current requirement of 8,500 square feet.

Costa Mesa currently doesnt allow granny flats in multifamily residential areas, but the revised rules would allow them on lots of 6,000 to 7,260 square feet, as long as a parcel is already developed with a single home.

Accessory units that are fixed to a primary residence would be limited to no more than 50% of the existing living area  up to a maximum of 800 square feet.

Detached structures also would be capped at 800 square feet. Costa Mesa currently permits accessory units to be as large as 1,200 square feet.

All told, the recommended regulations would allow development of up to 3,895 accessory units in the city, according to city staff.

Commissioners and residents who spoke during Mondays meeting seemed of two minds on the issue.

On one hand, some said accessory units could provide a much-needed and potentially cheaper housing source.

Housing is a huge problem and we need units, Harlan said. To my mind, this is at least an attempt for us to encourage housing that we need  housing that people can probably afford.

Still, in voting not to recommend the regulations, he said he feels city rules should make accessory units easier to develop.

On the other hand, some speakers favored more stringent standards to stave off what they feared could be an avalanche of granny flats, particularly in single-family areas.

Commissioner Carla Navarro Woods said accessory units can provide additional options for working families and multi-generational households.

I definitely lean toward more flexibility because I think thats the way the law was intended and I think thats what we need, she said.

She pointed out that Costa Mesa, being near the coast, is a desirable place to live and that the city will continue to need more housing.

Andranian said that although he understands the desire to provide affordable housing, hes not necessarily in agreement that this is the way to accomplish that, nor am I in agreement that it is the responsibility of Costa Mesa to provide housing for everybody who wants to live in a coastal zone.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney
Three men were arrested early Sunday in Newport Beach on suspicion of spray-painting graffiti on several buildings along a stretch of the Balboa Peninsula, police said.

Newport Beach police officers who were investigating another incident near the boardwalk were flagged down at about 2:10 a.m. by people who said they saw a group of men painting graffiti, said police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella.

Witnesses told police that the graffiti spanned several blocks up to 32nd Street, Manzella said.

Residents photos show homes in the area, a sign on 32nd Street, a light pole and the boardwalk itself marked with pink, black, blue and white lettering.

Jose Angel Carrillo, 22, and Melvin Salazar, 20, both of Santa Ana, and Alberto Arteaga Angeles, 19, of Fountain Valley were arrested in the 100 block of McFadden Place on suspicion of vandalism.

All three were booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $20,000, according to jail records.

Newport Beach requires graffiti on private property to be removed at the owners expense and tries to remove graffiti on public property within 48 hours.

To report graffiti anywhere in the city or for information on removal services, call (949) 644-3333.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
Japan is ready to implement a new project to supply equipment to medical facilities in the Kharkiv region, in which the ATO members are treated and rehabilitated, Minister-Counselor, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine Michio Harada has said.

"This is the delivery of equipment to the Kharkiv regional hospital," Harada said at a meeting with the governor of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Yulia Svitlychna.

Svitlychna said that the Kharkiv region is interested in implementing similar projects that contribute to strengthening the material base and medical facilities in which the ATO soldiers are treated and rehabilitated, and is also ready to participate in the continuation of the project on energy substitution and in the program of the government of Japan concerning the sphere of ecology, the press service of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration said.

"Kharkiv region can effectively implement those projects that Japan implements in Ukraine," Svitlychna said.

She also suggested that Harada consider options for implementing programs in the field of education and science, in particular the possibilities for upgrading the skills of Kharkiv teachers and students, including those from universities that train IT specialists.

In turn, Harada said that he plans to meet with representatives of Kharkiv IT companies and also suggested inviting representatives of Japanese companies to Kharkiv next spring, so they could see the opportunities that exist in the region.

Svitlychna promised that the necessary support would be provided by the regional administration for the preparation of such a meeting. "We will prepare all the necessary information and help gather business representatives who have an interest in cooperation in the field that will be of interest to our Japanese partners," she said.
We write as people of faith who are either attendees at, or members of, Irvine United Congregational Church. Our progressive Christian faith prompts us to express both outrage and heartbreak over the latest mass shooting in Las Vegas in which a gunman high in a hotel room shot down into a crowd of innocent concertgoers, killing 58 and injuring hundreds more.

We simply cannot accept the toll of gun violence as the norm in our nation. This is a moral imperative. Of course, we can pray, but prayer is not enough. People of faith cannot be silent as gun violence takes the lives of children, women and men, at a rate exceeding the death toll of all wars ever fought by the United States.

Instead, we call upon our elected leaders to take action. We understand that no one piece of legislation can solve this problem. But we know that gun violence is preventable and can be reduced. Unfortunately, many of our elected representatives campaigns are funded by the National Rifle Assn., which opposes most gun safety measures.

We call on our members of Congress to do what is morally right and stand up to the gun lobby by passing meaningful laws. Last week, in Las Vegas, the shooter owned several semi-automatic weapons and used bump stocks to make these de facto machine guns: Congress should immediately make sale and possession of these devices illegal.

They should also reject the pending Sportsmens Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act, which would make it easier to legally obtain gun silencers and armor-piercing ammunition. It would also make sense to strengthen background checks on gun purchases.

No one measure will immediately end the violence but laws promoting gun safety would give law enforcement an opportunity to curb it. Our culture has a heavy investment in death; isnt it time we invested in life and hope? This is our faith call.

This piece is signed by DAVID A. SMITH and 48 members of the Irvine United Congregational Church Irvine.
Bob Martin, a World War II veteran, was invited to take a whirlwind weekend trip to Washington, D.C., courtesy of the nonprofit Honor Flight Southland, according to Maureen Bond, vice president of the Kiwanis Club of La Canada, of which Martin is a former president.

Martin, 91, joined 17 other veterans on the Oct. 6-8 trip to the nations capital for an itinerary that included a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, the Womens Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the World War II, Korean and Vietnam war memorials. They also paid a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and the Navy Yard/Museum.

Learning of Martins pending trip, the Kiwanians prepared a specially designed card thanking him for his service in the armed forces, which members began signing earlier this month.

As a 19-year-old Marine, Martin fought in Okinawa in 1945. In 2015 his memoir of that time, Remembering Okinawa, which features his account and drawings of the battle, was published.

Martin was accompanied on the trip to Washington, D.C., by his son and two daughters.

carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Twitter: @CarolCormaci
The Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth will receive a sister ship in 2022 when luxury line Cunard adds a new ship for the first time in a dozen years.

Parent company Carnival Corp. in a recent news release said it has contracted with Italian company Fincantieri to start building the new ship next year.

The ship, currently unnamed, will be the 249th vessel to sail for Cunard since the companys started in 1839, the release said. Sharing the iconic livery and red funnels, the new ship will accommodate up to 3,000 guests, Cunards website says.

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The line celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2015. Since then, the company has spent $172 million to refurbish the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.

The new ship is one of 18 to be delivered between 2018 and 2022 to lines owned by Carnival Corp. It also owns Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, Costa Cruises and other lines.

travel@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimestravel

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Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday pulled out of a rerun election scheduled for later this month, saying his party lacked confidence in the credibility of the process.

Kenyas Supreme Court ruled the Aug. 8 presidential election invalid because the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission failed to follow the correct procedures laid down in the constitution and electoral law, ordering a repeat election be held.

The opposition has held repeated protest actions in recent weeks, claiming it has no confidence in the IEBC and calling for key officials on the commission to be removed.

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All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one, Odinga said Tuesday.

He called for fresh elections in 90 days to allow time to ensure a credible election and he demanded nominations for the presidential race be reopened.

Odinga, head of the opposition coalition NASA, said the election due on Oct. 26 would not meet the minimum demands for a fair election called for by the opposition.

We at NASA have insisted that the fresh election orders be held to the standard ordered by the Supreme Court, that is in strict conformity with the Constitution and written law, he said at a press conference..

Odinga said the governing coalition Jubilee was arguing that any election would do, opposing reforms on the grounds there was insufficient time before the election.

In a constitutional democracy we should not be debating about a free and fair election or compliance with court orders or accountability for breach of public trust. We should have been working together to ensure that we uphold these values as they are not only our national values but are also the foundations of a credible electoral system.

After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election, considering the interests of the people of Kenya, the region and the world at large, we believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October 2017, Odinga said.

Under a ruling by the IEBC, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga were the only candidates allowed to contest the Oct. 26 presidential election.

Odinga said NASA would hold countrywide protests to support its call for a fresh election and reopened nominations within 90 days.

After Odingas withdrawal, the IEBC tweeted a letter dated Tuesday, saying that it was committed to delivering free and fair elections and had taken appropriate steps.

The commission said it was meeting with legal advisors to decide on the appropriate steps to take next. However the latest twist in an election which has already seen a string of legal challenges may trigger new legal action.

A Kenyan lawyer specializing in constitutional and human rights law, Nelson Havi, tweeted that a withdrawal in a repeat election should lead to a new election and fresh nomination of candidates.

But others suggested that the IEBC must declare President Kenyatta to be the winning candidate.

Since the Supreme Court decision to invalidate the election, President Kenyatta has called the Supreme Court judges responsible for the ruling crooks and threatened to fix them. He said Tuesday the elections would go ahead despite Odingas withdrawal, since Kenyans had a right to choose their leaders. He accused Odinga of wasting public money that had been spent to prepare for the repeat election.

The International Crisis Group, an independent analysis and research group concerned with conflict, argued recently that an opposition withdrawal from the repeat election could trigger a constitutional crisis and deadly new clashes between protesters and security forces.

At least 37 people, including seven children, were killed during post-election protests in August, according to a report this week from the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights. All but two of the deaths were caused by excessive use of force by Kenyan riot police, it found. At least 126 were injured.

The International Crisis Group said that if both sides were able to place representatives in the IEBC to observe all aspects of the process, it could be a compromise that may build confidence in the election.

Even if the parties find a path to elections, the threat of violence afterwards, whatever the outcome, is high. A firmer stand by Kenyan leaders against hate speech and pledges to campaign peacefully and take any complaints back to the courts after the vote would go some way to lower the temperature, the organization argued.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT

UPDATES:

9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from opposition leader Raila Odinga and additional details.

This article was originally published at 7:25 a.m.
Mu Sochua had never been deterred by the prospect of jail time. In her two decades as a bold voice in Cambodian politics, the deputy opposition leader has faced down her fair share of government intimidation. In 2014, she spent a week in prison.

But something about the latest government crackdown felt more sinister, she said last week, hours after fleeing to Bangkok, Thailand, to avoid being taken into custody.



For the record: An earlier version of this article referred to Charles Santiago, a lawmaker from Malaysia, as the human rights chair of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations. He is the chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights,

In the past, I never left my country, she said. But this time, I couldnt speak freely or move freely. I thought that if my days were coming to an end, I wanted to be free.

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After the arrest of the head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, deputy leader Mu Sochua feared she would be next. She packed her bags and fled to Thailand. (Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images )

Cambodia, which emerged from the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge as a nominal democracy, is lurching toward full-blown dictatorship. Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985  and who will seek another term in elections next year  has forced the closure of an independent newspaper, deported American workers for nongovernmental organizations, and effectively crushed the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP.

With his total control over the military, police and the courts, this is a strongmans coup, with Hun Sen shaking off the last vestiges of democratic rule, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.

Authorities arrested the leader of the opposition party, Kem Sokha, on Sept. 3, and are holding him in a remote prison near the Vietnamese border on treason charges. He stands accused of conspiring with the U.S. to overthrow the government.

Hes in a room by himself, and theres a 24-hour surveillance camera inside his room, and also a voice recorder, said Kem Monovithya, a CNRP spokeswoman and Kem Sokhas daughter, who is currently in Washington. Hes being watched 24/7.

If convicted, Kem Sokha, 64, faces a sentence of between 15 and 30 years.

In a speech Oct. 2, Hun Sen foreshadowed the arrest of rebels in the city who were plotting to instigate a color revolution, a reference to the largely nonviolent movements to overthrow governments in places such as Ukraine (the Orange Revolution) and Georgia (the Rose Revolution). About half of the oppositions 55 lawmakers, fearing a similar fate, have fled the country.

Mu Sochua, 63, said a high-ranking official sent her a warning that she would be arrested next. She packed her bags and left for Thailand the next day. From there, she planned to go to her reported final destination of Morocco.

Its the total destruction of democracy, she said. The red line has been crossed so many times. I dont know what the international community is waiting for.

On Friday, the government filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court seeking to dissolve the CNRP under controversial legislation passed this year. Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said an investigation, ostensibly launched at the behest of two minor political parties last week, had amassed 21 pieces of evidence proving the opposition had conspired with foreign powers to topple the government.

The court will almost certainly act as a rubber stamp in the case, said Sebastian Strangio, a journalist and the author of Hun Sens Cambodia. The opposition would have little recourse to appeal.

We know the courts are controlled mostly by [Hun Sens] Cambodian Peoples Party; they take their orders from on high, he said.

The opposition has roundly denied any conspiracy, saying the accusations are politically motivated. In an Oct. 3 letter from jail, Kem Sokha insisted his goal was nonviolent and positive change, according to an unofficial translation.

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander, has ruled Cambodia for 32 years, regularly outmaneuvering challenges to his control of a country that is rapidly developing but has also been plagued by corruption, poverty and environmental destruction. Widely regarded as a tough and cunning leader, his record has been marred by human rights abuses, including several suspected political killings.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen shows off his inked finger after voting in a local election June 4 in Cambodias Kandal province. (Heng Sinith / Associated Press )

Cambodia held its first free elections in 1993 under United Nations supervision, but most analysts agree the country has never been a true multiparty democracy. Strangio said the latest crackdown represents an end to the international democratic experiment in this country.

The opposition party emerged as a surprise political force in 2013, when it nearly won a national election soon after forming in a merger of two smaller parties. But by the end of 2015, the government had imprisoned several of its officials, and then-opposition leader Sam Rainsy had fled into exile to avoid jail time. The latest crackdown has been intensifying since June, when the opposition performed well in local elections nationwide. In a contest traditionally dominated by Hun Sens party, the CNRP received about 40% of the vote.

The government has also targeted media and civil society in recent months, with U.S.-backed broadcasters Radio Free Asia and Voice of America taken off air, the Cambodia Daily newspaper closed and nongovernmental organizations such as the U.S.-funded National Democratic Institute shuttered.

Its not just the oppositions leadership team that is under pressure  the party said the crackdown extends all the way down to grass-roots activists. We are being watched, investigated, and our meetings are being recorded by plainclothes security forces, said San Soeurng, a CNRP provincial council member in Hun Sens home province of Kampong Cham.

The European Union and governments including the U.S. have issued statements condemning the crackdown, and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) last week introduced a resolution urging the State Department to consider placing all senior Cambodian officials on the Specially Designated Nationals list, which could prevent them from visiting the U.S.

But Charles Santiago, a lawmaker from Malaysia who is the chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said the international response  particularly from the Trump administration  so far has been quite lame and weak.

If the Americans do not say something decisive about the state of democracy in the region, including Cambodia, the role of the U.S. in the region is going to be completely weakened, he said. Its already in a bad shape, but its going to deteriorate further.

Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan dismissed international criticism, saying that foreigners do not understand Cambodian law, and they dont have any understanding of Cambodian interests at all. Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the victims of any sanctions would be the citizens, not the leaders.

Strangio, the author, said a strong international response is improbable and would be unlikely to have much sway over Hun Sen, who can now rely on unwavering backing from Beijing. China is Cambodias largest investor  in recent years, it has launched major infrastructure projects such as dams and highways, and driven a property boom in the capital, Phnom Penh. Beijing, unlike the U.S., does not make its development aid contingent on addressing human rights abuses.

The government no longer feels the need to wind back these escalations in order to preserve Western support, Strangio said. They really couldnt care less what foreign governments think.

Robertson is a special correspondent.

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Catalonias leader stopped short Tuesday of an outright independence declaration for the region in northeastern Spain, instead charting a course that seemingly satisfied neither his separatist base nor the central government in Madrid.

The Catalonia confrontation, Spains worst political crisis in decades, pits breakaway-minded leaders in the wealthy region against the Madrid government, which has warned of harsh but unspecified measures if the independence bid goes forward.

In a much-anticipated speech to the regional parliament, Carles Puigdemont, Catalonias president, called for a temporary suspension of the results of Catalonias Oct. 1 referendum vote favoring independence, even while making clear his belief that the region is on the road to secession from Spain.

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Catalonia has the right to become independent, Puigdemont declared to cheers from lawmakers. The ballots have said yes to independence, and thats what I am committed to follow.

But directly addressing the Madrid government, he appealed for dialogue, saying: We hope this can be solved easily and peacefully.

Madrid swiftly signaled that was unlikely. Spains deputy prime minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said the government would make a formal response Wednesday, but she again sharply contested the referendums legality.

Neither Mr. Puigdemont nor anyone else can reach conclusions based on a law that does not exist, she said.

Spains Constitutional Court had previously struck down the regional laws on which Catalan officials said the balloting was based.

Spain called an emergency Cabinet meeting for Wednesday, and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was scheduled to address the Spanish parliament afterward.

Catalonia, a region of about 7.5 million residents, has its own language and culture that were repressed during the nearly 40-year dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, who died in 1975.

In the referendum this month, about 90% of the nearly 2.3 million votes cast were in favor of independence, and about 8% were against, according to the Catalan regional government. Officials said the region has about 5.3 million registered voters, meaning fewer than half went to the polls.

In Barcelona, Catalonias regional capital, some supporters of independence watched Puigdemonts speech on huge screens, wrapping themselves in Catalan flags. As the full import of his remarks became clear, many were crestfallen, some wiping away tears.

I think people who voted yes on the 1st of October  people who went there and were hit by the police  they want a yes now, said Alessia Martinez, 19, a college student studying chemistry in Barcelona. We dont want to speak to the Spanish government. They had some chances before. Now its too late.

The issue has enormous emotional and political resonance in Spain, which spent years confronting a sometimes-bloody Basque separatist movement and views the Catalonia independence bid as something approaching an existential crisis.

Within Catalonia, theres been polarization as well. Pro-unity protesters turned out by the hundreds of thousands over the weekend.

The European Union, already embroiled in a messy divorce from Britain, has watched the unfolding drama with apprehension. The bloc is reluctant to meddle in internal affairs of its member states, and few EU governments have any interest in encouraging secessionists in other countries, lest that be seen as an open invitation to breakaway movements within their own borders.

Analysts said Puigdemonts call for conciliation might not stave off a sharp reaction from the Madrid government, which has a range of options at its disposal. It could invoke an article of the Spanish Constitution and move to take over the region administratively, or even jail separatist leaders.

Puigdemont has chosen to buy some time. He wants dialogue, said Xavier Arbos, a constitutional law expert based in Barcelona. But I dont think it will result in conversations with Mr. Rajoy, who is  to say it plainly  quite fed up with the Catalan problem.

Some of Puigdemonts allies, too, were disappointed  even though after his speech, the Catalan government issued photos of a document signed by him that some lawmakers in his coalition referred to as an independence declaration.

This was not a declaration of independence. Confidence in the Catalan government has been damaged, said Quim Arrufat, a spokesman for the far-left separatist party CUP. We will not allow this term to end without the application of the results of the referendum.

Special correspondent Frayer reported from Barcelona and Times staff writer King from Washington.

UPDATES:

3:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction to the speech by Carles Puigdemont.

12:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information on the referendum.

11:20 a.m.: This article was updated with quotes from the speech by Carles Puigdemont, Catalonias president, and other details.

10:05 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with Times reporting.

This article was originally published at 8:05 a.m.
Gunmen killed two female employees of a university in Ukunda, near Mombasa on Kenyas Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack, a Kenyan police official said Tuesday.

The assault occurred as President Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned in the coastal region for the rerun of presidential elections later this month.

The gunmen, suspected to be Shabab rebels from neighboring Somalia, sprayed a vehicle carrying university staff and police with bullets near the campus, said regional police chief Larry Kieng.

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Two female staff members of the Technical University of Mombasa were killed in the attack, Mwangi Kahiro, acting county commissioner for Kwale County, said in a statement. Students held demonstrations following the shooting, condemning insecurity in the region.

The attack recalled the April 2, 2015, attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenya in which four gunmen killed 148 people, most of them students.

Somalias Shabab militia has been carrying out attacks on Kenya as retribution for Kenyas deployment of troops in Somalia to fight the rebels.

Kenyas military said Monday it had gunned down five suspected Shabab militants in the Bodhei area of Lamu County. The military claimed the five were part of a group that has been terrorizing the coastal area. Shabab has claimed responsibility for 16 beheadings in the area since June and dozens of fatalities from roadside bombs.

Kenya is one of six African countries that contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia to fight the Shabab, which is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government to establish a state based on strict Sharia law.

The shabab is the most potent threat to East Africas stability, regaining territory in parts of southern and central Somalia and carrying out frequent attacks in Somalias capital and in Kenya, according to the U.S. State Departments country reports for 2016.

The 22,000 troops in the African Union force pushed the Shabab out of most of Somalias cities and towns but the rebels continued to hold territory in southern Somalia, where the extremist group gained time and space needed to grow, regroup and recruit new fighters, the report said.

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UPDATES:

7:55 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details on the victims and more background.

This story was originally published at 3:50 a.m.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine has begun to examine the project of the Ukraine-EU Energy Bridge worth EUR 243.5 million, which envisages transmission of power generated by the second reactor of Khmelnytsky NPP to the EU energy system, First Deputy Prime Minister, Economic Development Minister Stepan Kubiv said commenting on the results of the meeting with representatives of the consortium of companies Westinghouse, Polenergia and EDF.

The Ukraine-EU Energy Bridge could become the first public-private partnership (PPP) project to be implemented in accordance with the amended PPP legislation, which will contribute to the integration of Ukraine's energy system into the European energy grid ENTSO-E and will give an opportunity for exporting Ukrainian nuclear power," Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page.

According to him, the project implementation may add to the country's national budget about EUR 2.9 billion in taxes and dividends.

Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB, Polenergia International S.ar.l. and EDF Trading Limited, a consortium of companies, earlier sent a concept note and the feasibility study for public private partnership in the project on establishing the Ukraine-EU Energy Bridge.

The Energy Ministry said that a working group for implementing the project approved the conclusions after analyzing the efficiency of the implementation of the project and sent them to the Economic Development and Trade Ministry for approval. In addition, the relevant section of the research and technical council of the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry endorsed the scheme for connecting reactor two of Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (NPP) to the European power grid.

The Ukraine-EU Energy Bridge project envisages the organization of transmission from reactor two of Khmelnytsky NPP to the European power grid. The funds that will be received from exports of this electricity will be used to finance construction of reactors three and four of the NPP.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a personal meeting have discussed the issues of economic cooperation in the sphere of trade, the premier said on his Facebook page.

"The agreements on mutual protection of investments and the avoidance of double taxation during a high-level meeting of the Strategic Council under the chairmanship of the presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey is a good signal for the business circles and businesses of both countries," the Ukrainian premier said.

As previously reported, yesterday the president of the Republic of Turkey arrived in Ukraine on a working visit, after which he met with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The presidents discussed a number of issues on cooperation between the two countries and signed a number of documents.
A New York City man was caught with more than 2 1/2 ounces of suspected cocaine Monday at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Qing Ben Zhu (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Qing Ben Zhu, 44, of Brooklyn, was reported to police by Sands security after he "sniffed a white powdery substance at a baccarat table" about 7:37 a.m. inside the casino on Bethlehem's South Side, court records say.

Two troopers watched Zhu leave the gaming room and enter a men's room and followed him in.

A trooper "observed a white powdery substance" on his "upper lip as he stood at the sink," court records say.

At that moment, Zhu "tossed a small clear plastic container with a pink lid into the bathroom sink," according to police; inside was a white powdery substance of suspected cocaine.

A pat-down search turned up a bag in Zhu's pocket containing three additional bags of suspected cocaine weighing about 74.2 grams.

Zhu was arraigned before District Judge Jacqueline Taschner on a felony count of drug possession with intent to deliver, in addition to misdemeanor drug possession.

He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled Oct. 23 before District Judge Joseph Barner.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, representative of Ukraine in the Executive Council of UNESCO, Serhiy Kyslytsia, has said that the violation of UNESCO norms and standards in the occupied Crimea is a serious challenge to the international community and requires the introduction of direct monitoring on the peninsula, according to the official website of the Foreign Ministry.

Speaking at the plenary meeting of the 202nd session of the UNESCO Executive Board in Paris on Monday, the head of the Ukrainian delegation cited facts of flagrant violations of human rights on the territory of the occupied peninsula, noted the importance of uniting the efforts of the international community to address the problem of the illegal occupation by Russia of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

"UNESCO must respond to the dynamic changes of the modern world. The enormous potential of the Organization should be used in full. A litmus test of UNESCO's ability to find adequate answers to the challenges of the 21st century should be the introduction of direct monitoring in Crimea," Kyslytsia said.

In this regard, the representative of Ukraine in the Executive Board of UNESCO expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in the consultations between Ukraine and the UNESCO Secretariat on the parameters of monitoring.
A man suspected of assaulting his girlfriend is accused of attacking two troopers trying to arrest him, Pennsylvania State Police said.

Ryan Johnson bit one trooper, smashed another trooper's head into a cabinet and grabbed one of the troopers' stun guns, police at the Bethlehem barracks said.

Johnson was eventually arrested, and is now facing charges including disarming a law enforcement officer and two counts of aggravated assault.

Johnson, 35, of Washington, D.C., is being held in Lehigh County County Jail in lieu of $400,000 bail.

State police said troopers were called for a reported domestic assault, at about 4:20 p.m. Monday at the Knights Inn and Suites, 1880 Stelstone Road, Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

Troopers said the victim, Johnson's girlfriend, had visible injures from being choked and hit in the head. Johnson came back to the hotel as troopers were speaking with his girlfriend.

State police said as the troopers tried to arrest Johnson, he immediately fought with them.

In addition to the above charges, Johnson is facing resisting arrest, and three counts each of simple assault and harassment.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The fire was intentionally intentionally set. There is no disagreement about that.

But by whom?

The prosecution says it was Erik J. Gall. He was allegedly enraged at an ex-lover -- both of them involved in a soap-opera-like series of relationships involving a group of friends -- and sought to kill her while she slept, setting fire early one morning last December to the woman's home in Phillipsburg.

"Rejection. Resentment. Revenge. That's what this case is about," Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Victor Jusino said during opening statements Tuesday in Gall's trial on charges of attempted murder and aggravated arson.

Gall's attorney, John Lanza, said the state has no physical evidence linking Gall to the crime, and that the prosecution's promised testimony from Gall's best friend -- who was also romantically involved with the fire's intended victim -- cannot be trusted.

"There's still an arsonist loose in Flemington and Phillipsburg," Lanza concluded in his opening.

The 23-year-old Gall, whose listed address is in Milford, Hunterdon County, is accused of setting the Dec. 20 fire at 309 Firth Street in Phillipsburg that damaged two homes and resulted in minor injuries.

Flames were reportedly showing at 3:38 a.m. Dec. 20 when authorities arrived at the address, across from a town fire station. It took the approximately 60 town firefighters about 30 minutes to get the blaze under control.

Phillipsburg firefighters respond Dec. 20, 2016 to an early morning fire at 309 Firth Street. (Tim Wynkoop | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

According to Jusino, Gall's affair with the victim had cost him his relationship with her roommate, leading to a convoluted chain of events involving mutual friends. One of those friends -- reluctantly, Jusino said -- told police that Gall set the fire after finding out the woman, who had taken a long trip out of the country, had returned without telling him.

He allegedly drove enraged from Monmouth County that night, got a can of gasoline from the tow company where he works in Hunterdon County and doused the side of 309 Firth Street where the victim lived, set the fire and ran away.

"It was his intention to kill her," the prosecutor said. "Why? Because he felt that she was the root of everything that was wrong in his life."

Lanza, however, said investigators did not examine every possibility. There was no sign of the car Gall was supposedly driving that night, nor a study of the car for any sign of the accelerant used to start the fire, he said. The entire case hinges upon the testimony of Gall's friend, who only provided police with incriminating information after police threatened him with charges and jail time, Lanza said.

Jurors, he said, will find there is "not one piece of physical evidence ... that connects this young man to the fire."

Phillipsburg firefighters respond Dec. 20, 2016 to an early morning fire at 309 Firth Street. (Tim Wynkoop | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

Gall is a Delaware Valley Regional High School graduate who was attending Raritan Valley Community College, according to his Facebook page. He sat silently through the court proceedings, wearing a blue blazer, tan khakis and tie.

A jury of 11 men and three women was empaneled after a selection process that started Oct. 2. Two will be randomly selected as alternates when deliberations begin.

Testimony began immediately following Tuesday's opening statements.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The GAA, the ESB, Aldi and a Laois county councillor are among the landowners subject to compulsory purchase orders (CPO) to facilitate the building of a new road in Portlaoise.

Laois County Council has put landowners in Portlaoise on notice that it is to acquire more land under CPO to allow the extension of the Southern Circular Route ringroad to the south of the town.

Among those listed in the CPO advert carried in the Leinster Express are trustees of Laois GAA. The extension will run close to O'Moore Park GAA grounds.

The council will also be buying land from a poll-topping Laois county councillor with Fine Gael. Portlaoise-based Cllr Willie Aird runs a dairy farm in Portlaoise.

Another property owner is the ESB. The State-owned electricity company owns a substantial amount of land to the south of the town. It operates a service depot, substation and training centre in Portlaoise. Apart from being subject to a CPO, the council is also temporarily acquiring land.

Other parties subject to CPO include the German supermarket chain Aldi. A spur road to its supermarket in Portlaoise already runs from the existing James Fintan Lalor Avenue through Portlaoise town centre. A previous plan linked this spur road to the southern circular route.

Land owned by the the State registered to the 'Minister for Industry and Commerce' is also subject to the order.

Other companies listed in the order are Solus Developments and Lismard Developments. Lismard, which is linked to the Morrissey quarry company in Carlow, owned land and commercial property along the route.

Several private citizens are listed.

The latest CPO advert is the second phase of compulsory orders to pave the way for the project.

When built the road will link the Timahoe road and the Abbeyleix road. The council has said it wants to use it as the N80 national road to divert traffic away from Portlaoise town centre. The Timahoe road is linked to the N80 Stradbally road via a road built during the boom.

The Minister for Transport Shane Ross was in Portlaoise this week to discuss the project with county councillors, council officials and his ministerial colleague and Laois TD Charlie Flanagan.

Funding of 1 million was allocated to Laois County Council under the 2017 Specific Improvement Grant Scheme earlier this year.

The full list is available in the Leinster Express this week with more details available from Laois County Council.
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FORTY per cent of county Kildares population aged three or over declared they are able to speak Irish, according to the 2016 Census.

That leaves around 60% who cannot speak the native language, many of them born elsewhere with neither Irish or english as their native tongue.

Questions asked by the Central Statistics Office indicated that 85,426 spoke the language in Kildare.

But over a third of those speakers use the Irish language daily only within the education system.

Just 1,759 people indicated that they spoke the native Irish language daily outside of the education system. Another 31% of Irish speakers (26,783 people) in the county said they spoke Irish less often outside of the education system.

The Census highlights the fact that many Kildare residents who cannot speak Irish are from other countries and cultures.

There were were almost 30,000 speakers of foreign languages in the county Kildare population.

To cite one minority example, the number of Urdu speakers in Kildare doubled from 128 to 247 between 2011 and 2016. Or another: speakers of Pashto, one of the Afghanistan languages, rose from four to 17, a small rise but probably the third largest percentage rise between 2011-2016.

Relative to their declared numbers in Census 2016, the largest % increase was in Romanian speakers, up 70% over the five years to 2,124 in 2016.

Just over 8,000 declared themselves Polish speakers and Hebrew speakers numbered 169 last year.

Just under 16,000 foreign nationals said they spoke english very well and another 8,800 spoke it well.

But 3,642 said they spoke english but not well and just over 700 did not speak it at all.

Last week members of the Irish-speaking community from Kildare met with their local representatives to voice their concerns around Irish language and Gaeltacht funding. The Clinic Na Gaeilge, Conradh na Gaeilge, visited Kildare Street in Dublin and met, among others Kildare North TD, Frank ORourke, to ask for their support for an Irish Language and Gaeltacht Investment Plan which could create over 1,150 new jobs. The group was looking to secure 5.3 million for its plan in Budget 2018.

It was good to sit down as Gaeilge with Frank and encourage him to make investment in the Irish language and in the Gaeltacht a priority for the Government in Budget 2018, said a spokesperson, Alswyn Ni Aonghusa-Ni Dhuill.

Dr Niall Comer, President of Conradh na Gaeilge said the plan would provide essential resources towards the language planning process, and afford the public many opportunities across the country to use Irish

He said Irish language and Gaeltacht employment authorities have seen their resources slashed by up to 70% since 2007. It is time to honour the Programme for Government and invest in our Gaeltachts and in our language, said Dr Comer.
THE COMMUNITY of Ardpatrick in County Limerick is petrified somebody is going to get killed, says Cllr Lisa Marie Sheehy.

She was speaking at a meeting of the Cappamore-Kilmallock municipal district where she tabled a motion to build a footpath to join the village of Ardpatrick to the local national school.

A number of Ardpatrick residents and members of the local community have raised the dangers with me.

They want to see the school linked to the village.

The safety of children is most important. The speed through the village is crazy. People are constantly saying it, said Cllr Sheehy.

The independent councillor said people get used to the speed feedback signs.

They slow down for the first few weeks, said Cllr Sheehy, who asked if it was legal to put down ramps on a main road in County Limerick.

Cllr Sheehy called for the speed limit to be reduced from 60kmph to 50kmph as well as the construction of the footpath linking the village and school.

Time is of the essence. People are petrified somebody is going to get killed, said Cllr Sheehy.

Her motion was seconded by Cllr Mike Donegan.

The community has extensive plans to combat speeding including a one way system, speed limit review. There is no place for the speed van to be located. Hopefully we can get the gardai out, said Cllr Donegan, who referenced Banogue as it is always on your mind that the speed van is going to be there.

Cllr Donegan said he doesnt think Limerick City and County Council has a policy on speed ramps on main roads. He referenced Buttevant in County Cork which has ramps.

Cllr Sheehy said: The only thing to slow down drivers are ramps. The speed some drive through Ardpatrick is crazy. These are the dangerous drivers we want to stop.

Cllr Bill ODonnell said traffic islands that narrow the road, like in Boher, slow down traffic.

Barry Murphy, senior executive engineer, said it would be a long section of footpath. He told councillors he would ask one of his fellow engineers to draw up a cost proposal.
TOP tips for autumn styling, advice on how to create the perfect winter wardrobe as well as guidance on the best beauty products for the colder weather are just some of the areas covered at Inspire, Munsters leading fashion event.

Inspire which takes place in association with the Limerick Leader and Limericks Live 95FM will be held on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21 at the Crescent Shopping Centre.

One of the high profile figures taking part in this years event is Limericks style queen, and Inspire favourite, Celia Holman Lee who will be on hand to impart a range of advice over the weekend.

Inspire is one of the event highlights at the Crescent Shopping Centre each year, and this year proves no different welcoming back Celia Holman Lee delivering style advice and tips on getting the capsule autumn winter wardrobe, commented John Davitt, centre manager, Crescent Shopping Centre.

On Friday, October 20 the Crescent Shopping Centre will welcome Celia for the autumn winter style workshop at 5pm taking place at the central concourse where Celia will share her top tops for autumn winter styling, how to create the perfect winter wardrobe, whats on trend, along with some top tips on beauty and skincare.

The workshop will be followed by the annual autumn winter showcase from the Crescent Shopping Centre with clothing, accessories, sportswear and jewellery.

On Saturday, October 21 Inspires Kidsfest will commence at 12 noon featuring a fun day of activities for children and parents where special guest Aoibhin Garrihy (actress and Dancing with the Stars finalist) will make an appearance to guest judge the Crescent Halloween Fancy Dress competition for a chance to win some fabulous prizes.

GemStars School of Performing Arts will also perform at the Crescent Shopping Centre from 12 noon showcasing Crescent Kids fashion through dance and songs that we all know and love  under the tuition of Emma and Georgina O Driscoll of GemStars School.

Kidsfest will also welcome the Bunnyzone  all the way from Wooly Farm for kids to meet the resident bunnies along with fun and interaction with Nano, the friendly futuristic 6ft robot. There will also be free facepainting and balloon modelling for the children on the concourse. Kidsfest will run from 12noon to 3pm.

Another highlight of the weekend will be the Happiness Hunt during which people must find the smiling Emojis on shop windows around the centre for a chance to win a shopping spree for the whole family to the value of 150.

Celia Holman Lee explained that some lucky attendees over the weekend will receive some gorgeous goodie bags with lots of little treats  so make sure to come along on October 20, come with any questions  bring a friend, and make a day of it.

For more details log onto www.crescentshoppingcentre.ie
A MOTORCYCLIST who was caught driving at twice the speed limit while disqualified has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment.

Robert Hickey, aged 37, of Kilteragh, Dooradoyle pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving relating to an offence on the Southern Ring Road on May 3, last.

Garda Brian ODwyer of the divisional traffic corps said he was travelling on the N7 near the Rosbrien Interchange at around 9pm when he observed the defendant emerging at high speed onto the dual carriageway from the M20 slip road.

He said Mr Hickey, who was travelling on what he described as a high-powered sports bike, proceeded to travel at speeds of around 200kph in the direction of the Limerick Tunnel.

The limit on the dual carriage way, he said, is 100kph.

Garda ODwyer, who was also travelling on a motorbike, told Limerick District Court that while following the defendant at a safe distance he observed him perform a number of dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.

Judge Marian OLeary was told the defendant, who was subsequently stopped near the Dock Road exit, has been disqualified on seven occasions previously and that he was disqualified for six years in 2014 for a drink-driving offence.

Solicitor Darach McCarthy said his client  a father-of-two  accepts his driving on the evening was appalling and that he has a bad record.

He said Mr Hickey had bought the motorbike some time earlier and had repaired it in hope of selling it on.

He took it out for a cycle to check it was working, he said, adding that his clients behaviour had given motorcyclists a bad name.

Mr McCarthy said his client, who previously had a difficulty with drugs, had made admissions, cooperated with gardai and has not driven since the incident.

He accepts he has to answer for it, he said urging the court to be as lenient as possible.

Judge OLeary said Mr Hickeys driving was appalling and that he had put both himself and other road users in danger.

She said his previous convictions were an aggravating factor as was the fact that he was disqualified and did not have insurance.

She imposed fines totalling 1,000 and sentenced him to three months imprisonment.

The defendant was also disqualified from driving for ten years.

Leave to appeal the severity of the sentence was granted.
BOSSES at University Hospital Limerick have responded to Minister Simon Harris scathing criticism, saying the new 24m emergency department was not going to spell an end to the phenomenon of trolley waits.

And since the minister sent an e-mail to a Department of Health official outlining his concerns, monthly overcrowding at the department has increased by 36%.

The Minister for Health expressed strong dissatisfaction with UHL following reports of overcrowding at the new emergency department  just weeks after he cut the ribbon at its launch.

Internal correspondence between the minister and Department of Health officials, published in the Irish Daily Mail, show that overcrowding on one day in July was a source of significant concern.

The minister took issue with management after his department invested 24m into a new emergency department, which he launched on June 12. And the minister expressed his frustration just 27 days after his visit to Dooradoyle.

In an e-mail to an official on July 9, he said: I see that UHL has worsened this afternoon rather than improved as per their expectation/undertaking. 27 on trollies [sic] on a summer day with the access to level 2 hospitals etc that they have is far too high and a source of significant concern. We have invested heavily in the new ED and additional staffing for Limerick. I would be grateful if you could convey my concerns and the need for actions/improvement.

In July, there were 662 patients being treated on trolleys. In September, this rose to 902.

However, a major increase in patient numbers was predicted a week before the doors of the EDs opening. On May 25, management told the press that, in line with international research, they were going to expect a 10% hike in patient admissions.

In a statement to the Limerick Leader, a spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said that it regrets that any patient has to face long waits in our ED during busy periods. However, it was always acknowledged by the hospital that the new ED would not spell an end to the phenomenon of trolley waits.

The hospital has applied a longlist of measures to ease overcrowding, including the HSE-funded 17-bed short stay facility. But a spokesperson has confirmed that this is operating at its full occupancy rate.

UHL currently has 400 inpatient beds, but is consistently operating at 110-115% occupancy rate. That is why the UL Hospitals Group has submitted a 25m bid to the department for the delivery of a 96-bed block unit.

The New ED was the first phase of improving patient facilities, however a new building will not completely solve crowding when bed capacity is low. UL hospitals work continuously to improve patient flow.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan said that recent overcrowding reinforces my opinion that the minister is unable to fix this escalating crisis.
THE metropolitan Mayor of Limerick has invited Hollywood star Johnny Depp to Limerick to show him how the city has moved on from its Stab City past and give him a Cead mile failte.

Mayor Sean Lynch was commenting after offence was taken to Limericks reference in a foreword written for a book by the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

Our brief pit stop proved to be one of the most chaotic nights that I ever remember. Suffice to say we conquered Stab City, wrote Depp in a book about Guildford Four member Gerry Conlon.

Depp provided the foreword to the book, In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story, by Richard ORawe, which is due out later this month.

He described Conlon, who was wrongly jailed for 15 years for IRA bombings and died in 2014, as his long-lost brother.

Mayor Lynch, a former high-ranking detective in Limerick at the height of the citys gangland feud, said the citys past cannot be whitewashed but urged people to look to the future.

As someone who worked for An Garda Siochana when unfortunately commentators were using that phrase, it did have a reputation, but that is now past tense, and we have moved on.

I would love to give a Cead Mile Failte to Johnny Depp and no better man than myself, having worked with the gardai for over 30 years, and being one of a number of people who has brought the city to where it is today, a city that is full of positivity.

Id have no problem entertaining him and giving him a reception, and a tour of the city. Weve come a long way since he visited the city [in 1991]. Theres no point saying there wasnt a problem in Limerick  there was, and it took a lot of people to bring it to where it is today.

We wont knock him for his comment, but if hes ever around the country, he should come to Limerick. He owes us that much.

We should be mindful of our past. Its no harm to remember where we came from, so we dont take our foot off the pedal and go back.

Limerick is now a great place, and while we cant keep taking that term to heart, we also have to remember that a lot of victims were on the receiving end of that terminology, and that people did die, he told the Limerick Leader.

Others who have visited the Treaty City in more recent times have hailed its renaissance, following a major reduction in crime across the board, its year as national City of Culture, the regeneration programme tackling disadvantaged estates, and a major investment plan launched for some 500m in infrastucture works.

Author Colum McCann said he believes Limerick is witnessing a renaissance and a revolution in how it perceives itself, while Barack Obama's poet of choice, Richard Blanco, said he has found that there's something inexplicably wonderful about the city.

Fianna Fail deputy Willie ODea said the term is an irritating moniker, dug up from the grave and is tired of the same throwaway remark being bandied about.

A poll by the Limerick Leader newspaper this Monday on whether Limerick people are overly-sensitive to the continued use of the term revealed that 51% of voters believed this was not the case, given its offensive nature.

Deputy ODea said while there is a temptation to let negative remarks about Limerick slide, it really irritates me and I find it hard to let it slide.

Its a lazy, throwaway remark by people who have no knowledge of Limerick.

ODea said the comments were born from the depths of his ignorance...talking as if Limerick is somewhere to be conquered.

He said the reference is so out of date it is laughable.

American comedian Chris Rock also made a recent jibe about his scary ass drive through Limerick.

I didnt hear anything about the Rock chap, added ODea.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have signed a joint statement and Action Plan on the development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Turkey for 2017-2019 following the results of the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey.

Contracts were also signed between Ukrainian and Turkish companies in the defense sector, the official website of the Ukrainian president said on Monday.

Following the Strategic Council, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Diplomatic Academy of the Republic of Turkey. The document testifies to the readiness of the two educational institutions to develop cooperation in the educational sphere, promotes the exchange of scientific experience and the development of educational programs.

Also, an agreement was signed between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on amendments to the Agreement on Mutual Assistance and Protection of Investments between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey. The document defines the procedure for facilitating the attraction of mutual investments from Turkey to Ukraine and from Ukraine to Turkey, determines the mechanism of their mutual protection in the territories of both states and promotes a fair and equal regime of investment.

In addition, a Protocol was signed between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on amendments to the Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation and on the Prevention of Tax Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Property; an Implementation Protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on Cooperation in the Field of Geographic Information.
FURTHER cuts to the unpopular Universal Social Charge (USC), increases to various benefits and pension rises are all features of Budget 2018.

The first set of measures in six years not to be put together by Limerick TD Michael Noonan, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe this Tuesday delivered the second budget of the 32nd Dail, with spend topping 60bn.

.@Paschald is on his feet announcing #Budget2018. Follow me & @Limerick_leader for updates on how it it will affect #Limerick pic.twitter.com/5GEIvjcV1N  Nick Rabbitts (@Nick468official) October 10, 2017

There will be a 50c rise in the excise on a packet of cigarettes which will mean the price of 20 will top 12 for the first time.

This will come into effect at midnight, while Mr Donohoe announced a series of other tax increases  including notably a sugar tax.

This tax will be brought in at a rate of 30c a litre on drinks with over eight grammes of sugar per 100ml.

The idea has been floated in recent years by Junior Minister Patrick ODonovan.

In order to combat cancer cases, the Finance Minister also announced a VAT rate rise of 13.5% on sunbeds up to 23%.

But the VAT rate on tourism enterprises remains fixed at 9%, something welcomed by Senator Maria Byrne, who said this will help protect jobs and create further employment.

All social welfare payments will rise by 5 a week from the last week of March. This year, social welfare recipients can look forward to a Christmas bonus of 85%, the Minister has announced.

There will be no increases in the duty on alcohol, petrol and diesel, although a carbon tax will be discussed next year. A Benefit in Kind scheme for electric vehicles will be brought in.

Irelands rate of Corporation Tax will remain fixed at 12.5%, with Mr Donohoe stating: This remains a core part of our offering.

In terms of take home pay, Mr Donohoe confirmed the top marginal rate of tax on income will rise to 70,044, reduced to 48%. The entry point for the higher rate of income tax for single earners will increase from 33,800 to 34,550.

The 5% rate of Universal Social Charge will drop from 5% of income to 4.75%.

Mr Donohoe pledged 1.83bn his being allocated to housing in 2018  a move which will see 3,800 new social units to be developed by local authorities and approved housing bodies.

Spending on the Housing Assistance Payment is going up by 149m, while funding for homeless services rises 116m.

In addition to this, 75m will be provided to support local authority delivery of affordable houses, a move being made in an effort to tackle Irelands spiralling housing crisis.

Mr Donohoe said potentially 5,000 new homes could be delivered under this investment by 2021.

He has also declared war on vacant site owners, with the levy on this doubling from 3% to 7% by 2020.

The message to vacant site owners is clear  get on and develop these lands, Mr Donohoe told the Dail.

The Finance Minister will increase spend of 685m in health, bringing funding to 15.3bn for 2018.

He pledged 1,800 new staff across front-line HSE services.

In Education, 10bn is being spent on services, a move which is anticipated to bring the teacher-pupil ratio down to 26:1.

Theres going to be more investment in An Garda Siochana  800 new officers will be taken on in 2018, with 500 civilians also recruited.

Mr Donohoe confirmed 20m extra to support a range of childcare measures. The Universal Childcare Payment for the under 3s will continue into next year.

Limerick specific measures will become clearer in the coming hours and days as each department publishes its estimates following Budget 2018.

Total of 1.83 billion for social housing in #budget18  Frankie Mulqueen (@FrankMulqueen) October 10, 2017

15bn on health and 10bn on education.....record levels of spending  James Ring (@drjamesring1) October 10, 2017

We are delighted to welcome the retention of the 9% vat rate in #Budget2018 https://t.co/8LzxiFNi6Y  LimerickStrand Hotel (@LimerickStrand) October 10, 2017

Glad to see pensioners and carers payments up by 5 per week.  James Ring (@drjamesring1) October 10, 2017

Local reaction to #Budget2018: #Limerick Senator @kodonnellLK: 'The message going out clearly is for developers to start building on sites'  Nick Rabbitts (@Nick468official) October 10, 2017

USC is coming down. Marginal rate of tax for under 70K is down to 48.75%. We are getting there  James Ring (@drjamesring1) October 10, 2017
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regrets the U.S. decision to stop issuing visas for Turkish citizens, and warns that retaliatory measures will be taken.

"We are saddened by the fact that the embassy in Ankara has taken this decision and is doing so ... Turkey is a law-abiding state. We are not wild men. And no matter what the text they have posted - we must immediately, according to the principle of reciprocity, publish a similar text, which will be applied by the Republic of Turkey against them," he told journalists in Kyiv on Monday.

Erdogan also said that the employees of the Foreign Ministry of Turkey tried to contact their counterpart partners to address this situation.

It emerged earlier that a U.S. Embassy officer in Istanbul, Metin Topuz, had been arrested on the accusation of having links with the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. According to Ankara, the preacher was responsible to last year's failed military coup in Turkey. Washington ignored Turkey's demand for his extradition.

According to the Anadolu Agency, Topuz has been charged with espionage and attempts to undermine the country's constitutional order.

After that the U.S. decided to minimize the number of visitors to its embassy and consulates in Turkey, the restrictions become effective after the announcement that the issuance of non-immigration visas by all U.S. diplomatic missions will be suspended.

Turkey immediately responded with similar steps, with its Embassy in Washington repeating word for word the statement of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, having only switched the country names.
Western sanctions may compel Russia to agree to support a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Donbas, Trilateral Contract Group representative on political issues and ex-Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. Oleksandr Motsyk has said.

During a press conference in Kyiv on Monday Motsyk said the main task of the UN peacekeeping force would be to help Ukraine attain a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

"The aggressor must leave our territory. We must restore the nation's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Ukraine was the first to appeal to the UN on this question in March 2015. Russia was then against the idea, but recently proposed its conception of peacekeeping. Ukraine thinks the mission must be deployed in occupied territories and on the [Ukraine-Russia] border, but the Russia plan envisages a frozen conflict. This does not suit us," he said.

According to Motsyk, lengthy consultations are in store for official Kyiv in the UN if sides can agree on a peacekeeping mission in Donbas.
The first deputy head of the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine (SMM), Alexander Hug, will visit the eastern regions of the country from October 10 to October 14, the OSCE SMM said on Facebook.

"The purpose of the visit is to assess the security situation along the contact line and its impact on the lives of the civilian population, as well as to determine the status of ongoing repair and recovery operations at life-support facilities. In addition, Hug intends to urge all the parties concerned to promote peace and normalization of the situation especially during meetings with heads of state authorities, representatives of the Joint Control and Coordination Center, the leadership of armed groups and other parties," it said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has said that since the beginning of this year 72 cases of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been seen in areas where military units are deployed.

"During 2017 the military servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces recorded in total 72 cases of UAVs' use in areas where military units were stationed. Some 26 people were detained who controlled unmanned aerial vehicles. In some cases weapons were used to shoot down this equipment," the General Staff said on Facebook on Friday.

The General Staff calls on all UAV owners not to use them in areas where military units are located in order to avoid situations involving the shooting down of aircraft and the detention of their operators.
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A swarm of fires supercharged by powerful winds ripped through Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties Monday, killing at least 11 people, injuring dozens of others, destroying more than 1,500 homes and businesses, and turning prominent wineries to ash.

Starting in the middle of the night, the fires hopscotched across neighborhoods, raced across fields and jumped freeways. Wind gusts up to 70 mph pushed walls of flames nearly 100 feet high, throwing embers ahead like hot fingers into strip malls and subdivisions. Many people who fled the surge had enough time to grab car keys, perhaps a pet, but not much more.

And some didnt get out. Sonoma County sheriffs officials said seven people had died in that county. Two people died in a blaze in Napa, state fire officials said. At least one person was killed in Mendocino County and another in Yuba County.

In addition, Sonoma County officials received more than 100 reports of missing people as of Monday evening, said Scott Alonso, a county spokesman.

Facing one of the most damaging series of blazes in modern California history  fires that left thousands of evacuees in scores of emergency shelters and parts of the wine industry potentially crippled  Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa and Sonoma counties as well as fire-struck Yuba County. The move will make it easier for local and state officials to secure government aid.

The blazes blackened 103,000 acres and blanketed much of the Bay Area in cough-inducing smoke. And it wasnt just the North Bay that was hit hard.

In Napa and Sonoma counties, more than 100 people were treated at hospitals for injuries that included burns and smoke inhalation. Two patients with severe burns were in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, officials said.

Hundreds of firefighters streamed into the region. The California Highway Patrol said it had used helicopters to rescue 42 people, some of them vineyard workers. Those saved from the flames range in age from 5 to 91.

But Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said crews had limited or no containment on the fires  and the situation had not improved by Monday night.

Many communities, Pimlott said, were just overrun.

Helping and getting help The Red Cross is organizing relief efforts in the North Bay. Evacuees trying to connect with family and friends should check the organization's Safe and Well website: www.redcross.org/safeandwell Community volunteers who want to help in relief efforts can sign up with the Red Cross: http://tinyurl.com/RedCrossVolOctober2017 Donations to help those affected by California wildfires and other disasters can be made at www.redcross.org. People can also call (800) 733-2767 or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. People needing information about a missing person in Sonoma County can call the county Fire and Emergency Services Department at (707) 565-3856. For tips on how to prepare for a wildfire: www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/wildfire See More Collapse

Officials were looking into the cause of the fires, which were also burning thousands of acres in Lake, Butte and Yuba counties. In Southern California, meanwhile, residents in and around Anaheim in Orange County were under evacuation orders as a fire raged uncontrolled, destroying at least 24 structures.

The fires occurred in a year of record-setting heat and persistent drought. They followed extreme weather events elsewhere in the U.S., including the hurricanes that ravaged Houston, Puerto Rico and parts of Florida.

Residents in the areas hardest hit by the fires described fleeing for their lives in the middle of the night, in cars or on foot, amid a disaster that stood as another stark reminder of the peril of wildfires in California at the end of the long dry season.

Its not uncommon to have multiple fires burning, Pimlott said. But I can certainly tell you its becoming more of the norm now to have multiple large, damaging fires now like were seeing today. These are the conditions we continue to talk about that California is experiencing.

Now Playing: The owners escaped the fire with help from two men, but it was too late to save the homes. Video: Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle

Vice President Mike Pence, in California for political fundraising, said Monday evening he had spoken to Gov. Jerry Brown about the fires.

The dryness of the climate, the strength of the winds, you all in California know much better than this Midwesterner does, Pence said. I can assure you, as I did the governor, the federal government stands ready to provide any and all assistance to the state of California as your courageous firefighters and first responders confront this widening challenge.

In Mendocino County, sheriffs Capt. Gregory Van Patten said flames darted early Monday from the community of Potter Valley through rugged terrain to the west as wind gusts downed trees and power lines. The speed of the fire, he said, left little time for escape in Redwood Valley, a town of 2,000 people about 8 miles north of Ukiah.

He said at least one person had died, and that the number could rise.

It looks like we will have multiple fatalities, Van Patten said. There were areas where there just wasnt enough time to give an evacuation notice because the spread of the fire was so rapid. A lot of the area was overcome before we got ourselves injected into the situation.

Perhaps the worst damage came in the jagged path of a blaze that slammed into northern Santa Rosa called the Tubbs Fire, which had burned at least 27,000 acres by Monday evening and flattened several neighborhoods. The fire started Sunday in Calistoga and burned west through canyons and over hills, feeding on dry eucalyptus and pine trees in wooded, upscale neighborhoods.

Coffey Park, a 1980s-era subdivision just northwest of downtown Santa Rosa where 7,000 people lived, was leveled. Most of the homes burned, along with a Kmart, a McDonalds, an Arbys and an Applebees.

Many homes were also lost in the Fountaingrove area east of Highway 101, and the Journeys End Mobile Home Park for seniors was flattened. The Fountaingrove Inn burned, as did a Hilton hotel and the popular Willis Wine Bar. The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts and Cardinal Newman High School suffered serious damage.

Among those who left their Santa Rosa homes as the flames bore down were 11 members of the Flores family, who woke up and piled into two vehicles with four dogs after being jolted awake by neighbors. They said the air was thick with smoke and the wind was blowing so hard that trash bins toppled over.

We couldnt really see anything, said Bradley Flores, 15. We just got our dogs and got into the car and left. The wind was so bad our car was shaking.

Lance and Barb Cottrell packed suitcases, grabbed prized antiques and headed to a friends house just in time.

Our house is probably gone, Lance said. We just finished it in 2014.

Soon, though, flames jumped west across Highway 101 and raced so fast into their friends neighborhood that people ran for their lives. Lance jumped in his car and Barb in hers, and they tried to drive away. But they saw a house engulfed in front of them and had to make a U-turn. They ended up stuck in traffic before escaping down country roads west of Santa Rosa, avoiding trees that had blown down.

So vast was the havoc, and so sweeping the evacuations, that Santa Rosa, a city of 175,000 people, was a virtual ghost town from side to side, with most businesses shuttered. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, those run by Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, were evacuated. Some of those transferred from Sutter were pregnant women in labor.

Another aggressive fire roared in the Atlas Peak area of Napa County, a famed winemaking spot northeast of the city of Napa and the Silverado Trail. Two people were killed, officials with Cal Fire said. Their names and circumstances of their deaths were not immediately known.

At least 50 structures and more than 25,000 acres burned. Signorello Estate, a winery on Silverado Trail, was ruined, and buildings at nearby Stags Leap Winery burned, too. Several homes were destroyed on Soda Canyon Road.

Guests of the Silverado Resort and Spa on Atlas Peak Road said they escaped in a rush late Sunday, just before midnight, as flames approached. The resort had hosted the Safeway Open, a PGA Tour event, which ended Sunday.

We were sleeping, but we kept smelling smoke, said Chris Thomas, 42, of Kirkland, Wash., who arrived in the Napa Valley late Sunday with his wife, Marissa Schneider, for a wine-tasting trip. They saw a fire truck pass, then were ordered to leave by loudspeaker. The power went out.

It was surreal, Thomas said. When I started loading stuff into the car, it was a hell-storm of smoke and ash. There were 30- to 40-mph winds. I couldnt even breathe, so I ran back to the unit to get Marissa. It was so smoky I went to the wrong unit. When I found her I said, Forget it, lets just go. It went from being an annoying evacuation to something really scary.

They drove to downtown Napa and found a hotel room, wary of being evacuated again. The Silverado Resort and Spa somehow survived, a representative later said, and all staffers and guests got out safely.

The series of fires began to ignite Sunday and multiplied as the night went on. One damaging fire ignited north of Carneros, and another near Kenwood, east of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. There, dozens of homes, farms and cars burned along Highway 12.

Across the region, power failures were widespread. People flocked to gas stations in cities that were safe from the fires, to fuel up and buy water and other supplies. Evacuation centers were set up, then quickly filled, forcing more to open.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

On Monday afternoon, families started trickling back to their neighborhoods in Santa Rosa.

One of them was Andy Luttringer. He said he could deal with the loss of his home of 19 years, but what really got him was that his wifes artwork burned. She died of cancer a few years ago, and her acrylic and watercolor paintings, many of which portrayed rural Sonoma County through her signature abstract figures, were a comforting reminder for Luttringer of his late love.

Im really mad at myself, said the retired 62-year-old police officer as he looked out across his property in Santa Rosas Fountaingrove neighborhood, where there was nothing left but hot ash and rubble from the family's four-bedroom home. I could have grabbed a couple of her pieces. The rest of the stuff I couldnt care less about.

Chronicle staff writers Michael Cabanatuan and Carolyn Said contributed to this report.

Peter Fimrite, Jill Tucker, Kurtis Alexander and Demian Bulwa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com, jtucker@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com, dbulwa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite, @jilltucker, @kurtisalexander, @demianbulwa
More than 100 people were treated Monday for injuries caused by the wildfires that tore through Napa and Sonoma counties and forced the evacuation of two Santa Rosa hospitals.

With Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health medical centers evacuated, the St. Joseph Health hospitals in the two counties took on much of the burden.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospitals emergency department treated about 90 patients for wildfire-related injuries, including 12 for burns that left them in critical condition, said Vanessa deGier, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph Health in Northern California.

Five were treated and released, while three remain in the intensive care unit and the medical-surgerical units, deGier said. Four patients were transferred to burn centers.

The majority of injuries were related to smoke inhalation. In total, Santa Rosa Memorial treated 160 people since midnight, and Chief Medical Officer Chad Krilich said the staff anticipates that number will climb to around 200 by end of day  a jump from the typical patient load of about 125 per day.

Santa Rosa Memorial also accepted a total of 12 transfers from Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa and Sutter Medical Center  the six transfers from Sutter included several expectant mothers in active labor and newborns.

Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa treated a number of people for smoke inhalation, deGier said. The hospital saw 50 patients for wildfire-related injuries, with four patients treated and released for minor burns and a fifth who suffered significant burns transferred to a burn center.

Although Petaluma Valley Hospital did not receive any burn victims, hospital personnel treated 28 patients,including several who needed to be evacuated from Sutter Medical Center, Kaiser Santa Rosa and senior living facilities in the area.

The majority of patients sought care for smoke-related illnesses such as shortness of breath, dizziness, asthma and smoke inhalation, deGier said. Four patients were admitted to monitor their injuries and four patients were in active labor.

Chad Krilich, the chief medical officer at Santa Rosa Memorial, said many doctors who reported for duty Monday had lost their homes just hours before. The hospital was providing on-site accommodations for staff and volunteers who needed a place to sleep.

Krilich said he assumed his home was gone. He said he grabbed two photos  a picture of his wedding day and one of his children  five pairs of underwear and Hip Hop, the familys aquatic turtle, before fleeing his Santa Rosa home about 2 a.m. and heading into work.

Vivian Ho and Marissa Lang are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com, mlang@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @VivianHo @Marissa_Jae
During a meeting on the Ukrainian-Russian border on the detention of two Ukrainian border guards of the Sumy detachment, the Russian side turned over a protocol of the meeting without answering questions asked. The Ukrainian side, in turn, objected in writing, assistant to the head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodian has said.

"The meeting ended with no results. The Russian border guard who came to the meeting said that he had not been authorized to answer questions. He only gave the Russian version of the protocol of the meeting. The document is formal and does not contain any answers to questions that are of interest to the Ukrainian side. Border guards expressed their objection in writing in connection with the violation of protocol agreements by the Russian border service and openly cynical position," Slobodian wrote on his Facebook on Monday after the meeting.

"The State Border Guard Service together with the Foreign Ministry will continue to demand that the Russian side extradite Ukrainian border guards," the assistant to the head of the State Border Guard Service said.

As reported, on October 3, two employees of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine disappeared in Sumy region near the border with the Russian Federation. Later, the Russian Federation officially confirmed the detention of two Ukrainian border guards. The Ukrainian consul was refused to talk with the detainees. It was explained by the fact that their personalities were not established then. Later Oleh Slobodian said that the Russian side agreed to a border-representative meeting on the fate of the detained border guards.
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The first alert came Sunday at 10:51 p.m., warning Sonoma County residents of multiple fires in the area being fed by strong winds.

Twelve minutes later, mandatory evacuations were ordered in the hills between Santa Rosa and Calistoga.

By 2:19 a.m., the fire had jumped Highway 101 in Santa Rosa, tearing through buildings and prompting a stark warning.

This is a life-threatening event, an alert from the Santa Rosa Police Department read. Leave immediately.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

As fires spiraled out of control in Sonoma and Napa counties late Sunday might and early Monday morning, emergency officials used multiple systems to try to warn residents of the dangers and issue evacuation orders.

Its unclear, however, how many people promptly received the communications. Some in neighborhoods hit hard by the fires said they never got an alert on their phone or an official evacuation notice.

Tim Ros, a Coffey Park resident, fled only after he got a call from a friend saying there was a fire, then later saw burning embers float by his window.

He said he has gotten emergency weather and Amber Alerts in the past, but nothing this time.

Why was there no alert? he asked.

Heres what we know so far about the emergency response systems in Sonoma and Napa counties, and how they have worked during the massive fires.

Nixle

Sonoma and Napa counties alert people about emergencies through the Nixle system, which sends text messages and emails to people that have registered for the service.

On Oct. 8, the day the fire broke out, roughly 28,150 people were signed up to receive Nixle messages from any Napa County agency - a relatively small fraction of the regions population. By the next day, the number of people signed up for alerts increased nearly three-fold, said Kristi Jourdan, a spokeswoman for Napa County.

It speaks volumes about the gravity of the situation and the need for information, she said. People want to know what's going on with the fire, with donations and volunteers, and most importantly, they want to find out about their loved ones.

Sonoma County officials were unable to immediately tell The Chronicle how many people are registered with Nixle, or another local emergency response system called SoCoAlert.

Joel Rosen, chief marketing officer of Nixles parent company Everbridge, said prior to the fires they had about 300,000 people signed up to receive Nixle alerts in Napa, Sonoma, Mendicino and Lake counties. Since the fires broke out, theyve added more than 150,000, with people signing up at a rate of about 15,000 per hour.

To sign up for local Nixle alerts, text your zip code to 888777, or go to https://local.nixle.com/register.

Reverse 911 calls

Both Sonoma and Napa counties attempted to robo-call people in areas affected by the fires to issue evacuation orders and emergency instructions.

Neither county was able to immediately say when the warning calls went out, and whether or not they were directed at cell phones and landlines in the vicinity of the fires, or to phones registered in the area.

Its still unclear why some residents say they did not receive these warning calls, but its possible that cell towers or phone lines had been damaged by the fires.

Emergency officials on-scene

Along with trying to contact people through email, phone and social media, first responders also went to areas in the fires paths to knock on doors and issue instructions through loudspeakers.

County officials have said they did the best they could to warn residents, especially considering the size of the blazes and the speed at which they spread.

Last night (Monday) we had 5,000 people at our shelters, said Jennifer Larocque, a spokeswoman for Sonoma County. That indicates we were very successful in notifying people to evacuate and find shelter.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Benny Evangelista contributed to this report.

Joaquin Palomino is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino
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For more than 60 years people have been enjoying jewelry from James Avery Craftsman, but many probably don't know that the private, faith-based company is based in Kerrville.

The brand, founded by James Avery, has become immensely popular in the state of Texas and beyond since Avery began crafting jewelry inside his mother-in-law's two-car garage in Kerrville. Now production takes place inside a 42-acre complex.

TEXAS ICON: 25 amazing things you probably didn't know about Buc-ee's

Avery was a World War II veteran and a decorated pilot who commanded B-26 bombers and survived 44 missions over Germany. A Chicago native, Avery went to the University of Illinois after the war and received a B.F.A. in Industrial Design.

Around 1951 he crafted his first piece of jewelry in his free time.

A trip with his wife to her family's home in Kerrville in 1954 sparked a move to Texas and an entry into the jewelry business with just $250 in supplies. With a slim volume published in 1949 titled How to Make Modern Jewelry as his guide, he began creating.

SOUPS AND SANDWICHES: Learn all about the humble beginnings of Texas' own Jason's Deli

A recent return to faith after years of being an agnostic guided his spiritual designs.

Avery soon began selling items via a mail order catalog. By 1957 he and his first employee, Fred Garcia, were making up to 39 items for a core group of devoted customers. The company incorporated in 1965.

The brand really took off once its items began being sold in church gift shops and specialty boutiques.

THANKS TEXAS: If it wasn't for Texas the world would be without these amazing things

Faith-based images such as crosses, chalices, doves and fish make up about 20 percent of the company's offerings. A plain sterling silver Latin cross remains one of the brands most-popular items after all these years. You no doubt have a friend or relative with one of their charm bracelets on their wrist.

Avery's Christian-themed jewelry soon found an audience, beyond the church set. The first retail store was opened in Kerrville in 1973 and sales were booming to the tune of nearly half a million dollars a year.

These days the company employs just over 2,000 people and has over 70 stores around the country. You can also find the brand in Dillards department stores.

WHATACHARMS: Those Whataburger James Avery charms aren't so cheap anymore

Avery officially stepped down as CEO in 2007 and passed the reins to his son Chris Avery. Seven years later, for the brands 60th anniversary, they reproduced some designs from decades past, to the excitement of longtime collectors.

The elder Avery is frequently asked what his favorite design is. Picking from the untold amount of designs hed helped birth couldnt be that easy.

I like to say the next one, he usually replies.

In late 2014, the company opened up a destination showroom in Kerrville for shoppers to visit next to the main headquarters. The showroom also features exhibits from Averys earliest days in business, even his tools and work bench.
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A longtime Houston business, a favorite of generations, is preparing for its last Halloween.

Frankel's Costume Shop has been making Houstonians look spooky, sexy, and weird for decades and this will be the shop's last Halloween in business.

RELATED: Departed businesses in Houston we miss the most

According to the owners, they have sold the land that the shop occupies at 2801 Polk Street and are preparing to retire.

Now Playing: Frankel's Costume, 2801 Polk, the long-running shop is closing shown Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Houston. Frankels Costume Company began in 1950 as a magic store at 808 Texas Ave. in downtown Houston. Video: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle

For 67 years, Houstonians have looked to Frankel's for their costuming needs, with Halloween bringing crowds aplenty looking for just that right look.

Terrie Frankel, 72, and Lonnie Frankel, 76, are looking to retire after serving Houston for decades. They will be open through Thanksgiving and close to Christmas for sure, they say. Mrs. Frankel has helped outfit the Thanksgiving Day Parade since the late '70s and is looking forward to one last hurrah.

The property was sold in June, according to Mrs. Frankel. A prominent Houston developer bought the property and Frankel isn't sure of what will happen to the building or the land it sits on after the first of the year. The Frankels are currently just tenants.

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"We were one of the first big businesses to come to the east side of downtown so it's a big deal," Frankel says.

She says that three different offers came knocking on their door and they finally got the price they wanted on their own terms. The area around Frankel's shop has seen a dramatic increase in development since they moved into the neighborhood in late 1999. She jokes that they were pioneers of sorts on the east end.

The Frankel's location that everyone knows off Polk opened in early 2000, with sons Jason Frankel and Aaron Frankel pitching in to work at the 40,000 square-foot building.

"Lonnie and I always said that we were just two kids making a movie," she says. "Now it is time for a change of scenery."

She did hint to Chron.com that they won't be completely retiring and becoming addicted to leisure. They do have some ideas of what that next chapter could mean for everyone in the Frankel family but want to keep people guessing for now.

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How do you get rid of nearly 57,000 rental costumes? Rental costumes are getting sold at varying prices already, Frankel noted.

"Everything has prices on the tags," Frankel said. "It's not a garage sale, we're doing this with dignity and style."

Two months ago the Frankels began contacting teachers, schools, and even churches from all over the country who had done business with them over the decades to make appointments to come and buy costumes first. People are reconnecting with costumes they wore decades ago as students even.

"One woman found her old costume from a "Crucible" production and just melted when she saw it," Frankel said.

Since Sept. 25 the store's hours have been expanded to service Houstonians looking to get outfitted for Halloween week. It's hard to get any of the Frankels on the phone in October without first waiting for them to finish helping a customer.

Back in 1950 Frankel's as Houston knows it began as Morty's Magic Mart, owned by Morty Frankel, located at 808 Texas Avenue. That was across from the Rice Hotel and until not too long ago, the old Houston Chronicle building.

Magic tricks and gags gave way to costumes when a customer asked Morty about an outfit for a magic gig. According to the store lore, Morty's wife Leola stepped up and used her skills as a seamstress to create something special for the act.

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The shop later moved off Fannin Street near the future Texas Medical Center. By the late '70s Leola had grown weary of the business and eldest son Lonnie and wife Terrie took over the business.

What started as a modest costuming sideline boasted nearly 60,000 costumes on hand for rental. It's hard to stump the staff at Frankel's, who can find most any costume someone asks for.

Customers can still spy Mrs. Frankel fluttering around the shop greeting guests, giving costuming advice, and generally cutting up with the staff.

Robert Williams with Ms. Monkey's Emporium travels around Houston and the rest of the country performing with his three Capuchin monkeys Sasha, Darwin, and Cody. He said this week he will miss Frankel's quite a bit, along with the rest of the Houston performing community.

"It's going to be huge for the theater and professional entertainers, as we all shop there," Williams said. Other shops in the area he's visited don't have the style of theatrical quality costumes that he uses for his burlesque-friendly act.

"Shopping with Terrie these last few days have been memorable because being a friend she has been picking out things she wants me to have because of their look and quality," Williams said.

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Williams has gotten small hats for Sasha and Terrie recently picked out a sequin jacket for him that would specifically match fabric for costumes for his three little performers.

Frankel's is not just a Halloween-season phenomenon. They also see business ramp up closer to Christmas when Houston's Santas and elves need to be outfitted to spread cheer.

For kids, its a wonderland of masks and oddities, and adults can transform themselves into something different if only for a few hours. Nearly everyone in Houston has a Frankel's tale. Maybe it was finding the right dress for a high school play or scoring the best costume at the Halloween party.

"There have been lots of tears but also lots of laughter," Terrie says. "It's a joyful occasion in many ways."
World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech

By Franklin Foer

Penguin Press. 257 pp. $27

---

Silicon Valley's achievements are typically viewed through the lens of innovations that have transformed modern life. We can go back a few decades and look to Intel's development of the integrated circuit, for instance, or Apple's reimagining of the personal computer. More recent are planet-spanning websites, such as Facebook; search engines that resemble magic mirrors, such as Google's; and bazaars without end, such as Amazon's. Many of us over 35 see this as a mixed blessing, of course: Access to wondrous technological tools has also brought us too much email, too many distractions and too much vulnerability - hackings, trollings, stalkings and worse. But what if the trade-offs are much larger than we realized? In the midst of our digital lives, Franklin Foer argues, doesn't it seem possible that Silicon Valley's darkest, stealthiest triumph has been to merge personal technologies that improve our efficiency with personal technologies that alter our humanity?

On a basic level, Foer's book aims to expose the dangers that four technology giants - Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon - pose to our culture and careers. In their methods of consumer observation and data gathering, and in their intention to replace human decision-making with merciless algorithms, these companies, Foer says, "are shredding the principles that protect individuality."

It's even worse than that, actually. Bent on dominating our markets as well as the world, the four corporations have lulled us into a sense of pliant dependency as they influence our thinking and activities. Far more powerful than the elite "gatekeeping" institutions of the past - the major television networks, for example, or the leading newspapers - this fearsome four, as Foer characterizes them, are the new arbiters of media, economy, politics and the arts. By making their services cheap and indispensable, and by tailoring their complex algorithms to our data profiles, they can gently push us toward products they want us to buy or, say, YouTube videos they want us to watch. Yet the methods by which we get such recommendations - for news, consumer goods, movies, music, friends and the like - remain opaque. Facebook's acceptance of thousands of Russian ads during the recent election may be a case in point. As Foer reminds us, through an algorithmic dispersal of misinformation, the social-media giant possibly helped elect to the presidency of the United States a frequently bankrupt real estate developer without any political experience whatsoever.

The heart of the problem, as Foer sees it, "is that when we outsource thinking to machines, we are really outsourcing thinking to the organizations that run the machines." It's an important distinction. Foer isn't an anti-technology zealot; he cops to being a Twitter addict and an enthusiastic user of screens and smartphones, even as he admits that his favorite indulgence is reading a book in his bathtub at home. What he most wants us to see, though, is how the companies that dominate the world's technology ecosystem have assumed the roles of monopolists, even if by an economist's definition they more closely resemble oligopolies, which is to say they are immensely powerful within certain markets (Web search, for instance, or social media) where there is limited competition.

I don't think he's exaggerating the point. As the investors Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen make clear, in the tech business, monopoly is not a forbidden zone but a desired destination. And as Foer notes, Andreessen has even argued that it may be the natural order of things - that while normal markets might have a Coke and a Pepsi competing against each other, "in technology markets in the long run you tend to only have one."

Monopolies or quasi-monopolies that seem to be exploiting consumers - Western Electric, AT&T, IBM, Microsoft - have of course long been targets for government scrutiny. But Foer thinks advanced technologies may be creating a more dangerous situation than what we've experienced in the past. The tech companies' wealth, market share, ingenuity and growing power on Capitol Hill make them increasingly formidable. As Foer frequently points out, "We have begun to outsource our intellectual work to companies that suggest what we should learn, the topics we should consider." But by carving out for themselves immense networks of influence and intelligence, these companies, he argues, have also developed what may prove to be unassailable advantages. They know our preferences better than their upstart competitors ever could, so the more they win, the more they win. And the longer this goes on, Foer fears, the worse it will get.

The first half of Foer's book is a takedown of what he terms the "sham populism" of the big tech companies. While he often seems less critical of Apple, he is scathing on the ambitions of Google's Larry Page, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder (and Washington Post owner) Jeff Bezos. About halfway through his book, though, Foer moves his argument in a more personal direction - toward his experiences as an editor at the New Republic magazine, where he was vanquished by a data-driven owner who bought the magazine with wealth gained from his Facebook stock. Foer's overly sentimental attachment to TNR narrows the shock-and-awe attack he began waging at his book's start. But it does allow him to illustrate the difficulties of trying to run a struggling cultural institution in the digital age, and it gives him insight into how the Web environment created by the technology behemoths exerts pressure on magazines and newspapers to make knowledge free online, often with diminishing returns to the content producers.

Also, it leads him eventually - and persuasively, I thought - toward some prescriptions for lessening the dangers he perceives. For one thing, he asserts that we need to permanently reject the notion that knowledge should be free and that digital media shouldn't charge users. For another, we need the hand of government to intervene in a variety of novel ways. One place to start would be to give citizens a measure of control over information that technology companies collect. "What we need," Foer writes, "is a Data Protection Authority to protect privacy as the government protects the environment." He posits that this idea would let Americans purge their data that sits on company servers while also having the choice to opt out of surveillance.

By the end, one can't help but see "World Without Mind" as a polemic. And it happens to come in the wake of other powerful technology critiques - by Jaron Lanier and Nicholas Carr, for instance, who covered related ground in their own superb books. But Foer's writing is deft enough to make this a polemic in the best sense of the word, which is to say a relentless intellectual argument, executed in the tradition of George Orwell and Christopher Hitchens, which often eschews nuance in favor of wit and aggression. To be sure, he pens at least a few dubious, attention-grabbing sentences of caricature and fear-mongering. (For instance, he warns us that Google intends "to impose its values and theological convictions on the world.") And I would presume that Foer does not actually think he, or anyone else, can stop the march of technological progress, even if he sometimes comes off that way. His essential point seems that at the very least we should pause and consider acting, on both a public and a personal level, before we find that we've lost more of what makes us human - our individuality, agency and spontaneity - than we ever bargained for. And before we discover that the creative industries that support our culture have been so eroded by lower wages and machine learning that they are in danger of infrastructural collapse.

We might ask if this is an unwinnable battle. We love technology; we need technology. And in an era when regulation has increasingly fallen out of favor, the likelihood in the near future of a tight yoking of big tech (or a wholesale revamping of our government's anti-trust policies) seems unlikely. But I don't think it's unreasonable to believe, judging by the growth trajectory and ravenous appetites of the tech giants, that their day of reckoning will eventually come, just as it came for monopolies such as Western Union and AT&T.

Until then, Foer suggests that a number of refusenik decisions - reading a book on paper, say, rather than in an electronic format, which allows for the collection of information on our reading habits - are a good place to draw the line. Now, isn't that silly and small bore? At first I thought so, but then his modest argument struck me as having both symbolic and practical import. It's a starter kit for thinking deeper. Even if innovations in personal technology can't be stopped, their true value should always be questioned. And embracing some technologies while rejecting others is not an instance of hypocrisy. As Foer reminds us, the stakes are high, the marketing pitch is deafening, and saying no to big tech - at least sometimes - is an increasingly crucial matter of personal choice and civic responsibility.

---

Gertner is the author of "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation."
Fractured Continent: Europe's Crises and the Fate of the West

By William Drozdiak

Norton. 298 pp. $26.95

---

Over the past decade, Europe's celebrated project for an "ever closer union among its peoples" has been in a constant state of paralysis because of a series of crises: the euro-zone debt crisis, the flood of refugees knocking on Europe's doors, Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and covert support for pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine, and the systematic move away from democratic principles in Hungary and Poland. Finally, Brexit - Britain's vote in favor of leaving the European Union - raised fears of the union's disintegration.

To get a broad sense of Europe's predicament, there is perhaps no better guide than William Drozdiak's "Fractured Continent." Drozdiak, a former chief European correspondent for The Washington Post, crisscrosses the region from Berlin to London, Paris to Brussels, Madrid to Rome, Warsaw to Copenhagen, and Riga to Athens, with jaunts to Moscow, Ankara and Tunis, ending with a final trip to Washington. Along the way, he skillfully investigates the state of politics in Europe's capitals, its citizens' ambivalence toward European integration and the shifting balance of power among the large E.U. member states. Combining the objective distance of a well-informed outsider with the subjective warmth of someone who for a long time adopted Europe as his second home, Drozdiak concludes that each country struggles with its own unique crisis of national identity, while Brussels - the capital city of Europe's two key postwar institutions, NATO and the E.U. - mostly resembles the Tower of Babel, with "many tongues in search of one voice."

Drozdiak demonstrates that while national elites are preoccupied with domestic problems, the E.U. and NATO have a hard time dealing with the combined international challenges of the 21st century, i.e. trade, migration, capital flows, climate change, terrorism and a steady global retreat from democratic values. Drozdiak explains why Germany has not yet come to terms with its status as Europe's indispensable nation - the continent's chief creditor and dominant economy - and why it sees its leadership mainly in terms of making sure the southern-periphery countries in the union follow the rules. He dissects Britain's misguided decision to break away from the rest of Europe, analyzes France's quest to recover its lost glory under President Emmanuel Macron, and wonders whether the political center can hold in Spain, Italy and Greece. Informed readers will find little to disagree with in those chapters.

They will probably learn most from Drozdiak when reading about issues that have received relatively less attention in the media, such as Denmark's unique commitment to fighting climate change, the strange paranoia of Poland's recently elected ultra-conservative government about Berlin's and Brussels' intentions, and Latvia's daily treatment of its ethnic Russian population as second-class citizens.

Drozdiak observes an inward turn in Europe's capitals and institutional navel-gazing in Brussels, noting that it could not have come at a worse time. The traditional guarantor of Europe's postwar security, the United States, is living through one of its occasional isolationist moments. President Trump has portrayed NATO as "obsolete," disparaged the E.U. as a vehicle for German power and hinted that Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance - which states that an attack on one is an attack on all - is conditional on NATO members paying their fair share. Russia's saber-rattling on the E.U.'s eastern flank, first in Georgia then in Ukraine (both once touted as prospective NATO members), has served as a wake-up call for the West. Finally, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power grab and autocratic temptation, as well as the crushed democratic hopes of the Arab Spring of 2011, are stark reminders that Europe's soft power is not enough to transform even its own neighborhood.

What seems to be missing from Drozdiak's book, however, is a central argument for how Europe arrived at this moment of continental discord. While he does an excellent job of weaving together the disparate threads of Europe's current malaise, he does not really explain how we got here, thereby leaving the reader bereft of any potential solutions. The central thread that seems to tie the chapters together, and the argument he should have made, is twofold. First, unlike many other advanced industrial states, the E.U.'s member countries have lost much of their discretion over national economic policy and have given up control over their borders. Second, as long as democratic legitimacy lies with the national capitals, European rules agreed upon 25 years ago and enforced by an unelected technocracy at the European Commission in Brussels will quickly lose their popular appeal in tough times in favor of national governments taking back control. Subtly woven through Drozdiak's chapters is a hidden but recurring theme: While many economic problems are idiosyncratic to the E.U.'s member states and therefore in need of national solutions, most political and foreign policy problems are crying out for European solutions.

Many of the E.U.'s problems are of its own making, even though it is fashionable to repeat ad naseum in elite policy circles that member states themselves are largely to blame. Between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, Europe's member states chose to take three ambitious leaps forward in economic integration. They created the single market and the common currency, and embarked on membership enlargement to the east. The idea was that economic integration would lead to convergence in living standards and would naturally be followed by political integration. The dictum of E.U. founder Jean Monnet that Europe would be forged in crises and would be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises was believed by many to act like an iron law of progress toward European unity.

But while E.U. member states embraced the four freedoms - of goods, services, capital and people - and a common currency, they forgot to put in place the institutions necessary to manage them in an orderly manner. They chose to give up national control over important economic policy levers, depriving member states of vital domestic shock absorbers, instead opting for a set of rigid (and German) rules. That choice may have made sense during the benign economic climate of the 1990s and 2000s, but it proved counterproductive after the global financial crisis of 2008. At the same time, the E.U. relied on the American security umbrella for Europe's defense, rather than putting in place a muscular foreign and security policy of its own. Enlargement to the east also made for a much less cohesive union and multiplied the potential for discord.

In this elite-driven process, Europe chose to largely ignore its own people, who were perhaps willing to entertain closer cooperation on issues of foreign policy, terrorism and climate change, but did not necessarily long to give up national discretion over trade, migration and economic policy matters that create local winners and losers.

Even though a recent uptick in economic data may suggest that the "wind is back in Europe's sails," as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker put it in his most recent State of the European Union address, the underlying causes of Europe's recent crises have not been addressed. Like other federalist romantics, Juncker still believes that "more Europe" - more powers for his commission and continued transfers of sovereignty from the member states to Brussels - is the answer. But if one reads Drozdiak's book carefully, one will quickly come to the conclusion that most problems ailing Europe's national democracies cannot be solved at the supranational level, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Many national and local economic problems have only national and local solutions. Where there is a need, and a popular desire, for more Europe - in dealing with refugees, terrorism, Trump's America, Putin's Russia, Erdogan's Turkey, etc. - there is no appetite among elites to forge a common strategy.

While Drozdiak leaves open the possibility that the E.U. may yet turn out to be a rising phoenix, a more realistic takeaway from his book is that Europeans have yet to come to terms with their shattered dream.

---

Matthijs is an assistant professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Justin Roiland, the co-creator of Adult Swim's smash hit "Rick and Morty," told The Washington Post this summer, only partly in jest, that while writing the show, he has feared angering its millions of hardcore fans.

Perhaps McDonald's should take the cue, because on Saturday, the burger chain managed to do just that.

In April, Roiland expressed his nostalgic love for McDonald's limited Szechuan sauce - a promotional tie-in during the 1998 release of Disney's "Mulan" - by incorporating it into a "Rick and Morty" plotline. In response, the fast-food titan sent the Cartoon Network creator/voice actor an industrial-size bottle.

After Roiland tweeted images of the mailed dipping sauce over the summer, fans of "Rick and Morty" - aka the No. 1 show among millennials - continued to grow a mass hankering for the Szechuan goodness. A Change.org petition to bring back the sauce drew about 45,000 supporters.

McDonald's heard the call and promised a "super limited" release of the sauce on Saturday, only at select locations.

But the chain failed to anticipate the high demand - despite the Szechuan-sauce episode topping 11 million viewers. It delivered only 20 sauce packets to some locations. Others received zero promised packets. Soon, #RickAndMorty and #SzechuanSauce were trending on Twitter.

Now, containers of the sauce are for sale on eBay for hundreds of dollars for a single, wee packet.

Some fans have called for a boycott of McDonald's. Others posted photos of themselves eating chicken nuggets and tenders at competing fast-food places.

McDonald's apologized Sunday, emphasizing that the sauce was "super-limited." And on Monday, the company realized it needed to do more: The brand has promised to bring back Szechuan Sauce in greater quantities, and to more locations, later this winter.

One Washington Post reporter was among those "Rick and Morty" fans who went questing Saturday for the fabled sauce, drivingto three Maryland locations - one of them listed as an official "participating" outlet - and none had received a Szechuan shipment. One restaurant tried to pawn off Sriracha sauce. Another tried to sell the tangy Signature sauce. And a third outlet's shift manager came to the drive-thru window to apologize profusely - clearly this wasn't her first "Rick and Morty"-related apology of the day.

Fans' frenzy for the sauce mimics that of the multiverse-hopping, ethically challenged mad genius Rick Sanchez in the episode in question, which aired by surprise on April Fools' Day of this year. Rick draws upon a memory of going to a McDonald's drive-through and ordering Chicken McNuggets with Szechuan sauce. By episode's end, Rick declares his life's goal: He must score more of the sauce that ceased production so long ago. (Not that time is any impediment to a desired condiment in the portal-dependent series, co-created by Dan Harmon.)

If there's any upside to the incident, it's that it underscored the pop-culture power of "Rick and Morty," which just finished airing Season 3.

As Rick would say: Wubba Lubba Dub Dub.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is taking the initiative to prohibit the passage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over military facilities, including arsenals, bases and military depots.

"The General Staff initiates amendments to a number of regulatory documents before the State Service of Ukraine for the Supervision of Aviation Safety, in particular, the provision on the use of the airspace of Ukraine, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 29, 2002 No. 401 and in the guidelines for implementation of requirements of paragraph 83 of the provisions on the use of airspace of Ukraine, approved by the order of the State Service of Ukraine for Supervision of Aviation Security dated May 6, 2005 No. 303," the General Staff said on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

Earlier the General Staff reported that since the beginning of this year, 72 cases of using UAVs were observed in the areas of stationing military units, 26 people were detained for piloting drones.

The General Staff also said that the use of UAVs near military facilities and depots of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by other military formations is carried out in agreement with the command. In case of detection of an unmanned aerial vehicle which has no authorization, Ukraine's Armed Forces will take measures to neutralize it.
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An anonymous tip landed two men behind bars after authorities discovered more than 700 pounds of marijuana at a home in El Azteca neighborhood, authorities said.

On Sunday, authorities arrested Ricardo Eduardo Garcia and Angel Reymundo Espinoza, both 20, and charged them with felony possession of marijuana.

Garcia was also charged with evading arrest after he tried to elude authorities, police said. LPD found him on the rooftop of a residence in the 200 block of Grant Street.

READ MORE: Records show past offenders in Laredo gambling promotion cases received minor charges

At 10:13 a.m., an anonymous caller stated that bundles of narcotics were being unloaded from a vehicle and into a residence in the 200 block of San Leonardo Avenue.

Police said they found 34 bundles of marijuana that had an estimated street value of $614,400.

In addition, U.S. Border Patrol agents, who assisted in the case, took custody of an immigrant from Mexico who was in the country illegally.

RELATED: Trial canceled for Laredo man accused of inappropriately touching 13-year-old

"The Laredo Police Department would like to thank the anonymous tip that led to the confiscation of 768 pounds of marijuana and the arrest of two accused of the possession of that narcotic," LPD said in a statement.

"The police and the community are one and with the continued assistance of our citizens we will continue to greatly reduce narcotics from reaching the homes and lives of our families. Keep those tips coming," the statement added.
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Local authorities dealt with a splashdown Friday, and had to rescue one of the vehicle's occupants from the Rio Grande.

Splashdowns occur when drug or human smugglers drive into the river in an attempt to elude capture.

"In addition to the actual splashdown itself, criminals that engage in splashdowns commit multiple offenses, such as drug trafficking, vehicle flight and reckless driving," according to DPS. "Some of these criminals also use dangerous weapons as they flee from law enforcement and attempt to destroy evidence."

Since 2009, the Texas Department of Public Safety has recorded over 100 drug cartel-related splashdowns.

READ MORE: Records show past offenders in Laredo gambling promotion cases received minor charges

Late Friday afternoon, a man transporting more than 400 pounds of marijuana drove a vehicle into the Rio Grande to elude authorities, according to the Laredo Police Department.

Police said that one of the two men who exited the blue Ford Explorer had to be rescued. The man, Esteban Magana, 20, was then arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana and evading arrest with a vehicle.

The second suspect floated along the Rio Grande heading south. Authorities could not locate him.

RELATED: New Laredo ISD police officers sworn in

LPD said the case unfolded when a police officer attempted to pull over the Explorer on Calton Road.

Police said the driver, Magana, refused to stop and eventually drove the vehicle into the river by Anna Avenue and Markley Lane.

On Saturday morning, divers from the Laredo Fire Department, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens assisted in retrieving five bundles from inside the vehicle. Police said the marijuana weighed 415 pounds with an estimated street value of $332,000.
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A prominent campus-carry advocacy group pointed out Tuesday that the alleged Texas Tech University shooter would be too young to legally carry a concealed handgun on public university campuses under the controversial law.

Gun-control proponents and the Texas Democratic Party have cited the fatal shooting of a university police officer Monday in renewing criticism of a law implemented in 2016 that allows students to carry firearms in many areas of campus.

Authorities said Hollis Daniels, 19, was brought inside the Texas Tech Police Department after being found with "evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia" during a welfare check. Once inside, the student pulled a firearm and fatally shot an officer in the head, spokesman Chris Cook said.

Texas allows licensed handgun owners to carry a concealed weapon on many areas of public four-year university campuses, but the minimum age to get a license to carry is 21 (military veterans and active members are the exception). The alleged shooter, then, would have likely been too young to legally carry a concealed handgun.

The Texas chapter of Students for Concealed Carry said on Twitter that there is no evidence the law had an impact on the Texas Tech shooting, citing the suspects age.

Still, the Texas Democratic Party called the law enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature allowing the carrying of concealed firearms on college campuses a dumb and dangerous idea as it shared a link to ongoing coverage on its official Twitter account.

It later deleted the tweet, calling it "inadequate" and "hurried" while calling for "sensible gun laws" in a statement.

Why was he armed? #campuscarry, wrote the left-leaning Center for American Progresss gun violence prevention policy center on Twitter.

As the law came into effect at four-year universities in 2016, faculty members worried that students in moments of fear or anxiety  like when teaching a sensitive topic or handing back exams  could turn to violence if they were carrying concealed handguns.

The law's implementation came a half-century after former Marine sniper Charles Whitman took a rifle and other weapons to the observation deck of the main tower at the University of Texas at Austin and opened fire on people below, killing 17 and wounding 31 more. The 96-minute shooting spree came to an end when two police officers reached the top of the tower and fatally shot Whitman.

UT-Austin professors contended in a lawsuit that the possibility of the presence of concealed weapons in a classroom impedes my and other professors ability to create a daring, intellectually active, mutually supportive, and engaged community of thinkers.

The professors added that they would be forced to self-censor classroom discussions based on their fear that someone could cause harm. The lawsuit was tossed over the summer by a federal judge.

Incidents of violence on four-year campuses have been relatively rare under the new law.

At least 20 Texas universities had no gun discharge incidents or reports of intimidation with a firearm in their first academic year under the law, according to a Houston Chronicle review of university records.

More than a dozen had at least one report, including aggravated robbery, an accidental discharge in a residence hall and disorderly conduct.

Community colleges implemented the law in August.

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.
Poroshenko to address PACE meeting in Strasbourg on Wed, meet with Jagland

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will pay a working visit to Strasbourg (France) on Wednesday, October 11.

He will address the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the official website of the Ukrainian president reported.

The president is also scheduled to meet with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.

In addition, Poroshenko will participate in the opening ceremony of the "Star of Heavenly Hundred" near the Palace of Europe, which houses the headquarters of the Council of Europe, the message reads.
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The City of Laredo has taken official legal action against the owner of the former Mercy Hospital.

A restraining order was filed Thursday against Laredo Lomas Properties, a real estate company owned by Chendo Carranco.

The city is suing for Carranco to remedy the property's poor, hazardous condition, which is in violation of four of the city's codes of ordinances, according to the suit. The Laredo Police Department has received 41 calls regarding the hospital in 2017 alone, records show.

The city is seeking $1,000 per code violation, per day until the building is in compliance. The city also requests access to inspect the old hospital "to determine the full extent of the health and safety dangers the property poses to neighbors and the public."

READ MORE: Plan to turn Old Mercy Hospital into affordable housing falls through

Carranco's son has previously stated that since July they have been fined weekly for various code violations.

Carranco declined to to comment on the lawsuit, but spoke to LMT last week about his perspective on the former hospital and its history, first offering an apology.

"I really want to apologize to the neighborhood and to the entire city for the way the former Mercy Hospital building looks. I'm not proud of that. I feel terrible, and I want to get it fixed as soon as I can," Carranco said.

In April, City Council voted to create an ad hoc committee to meet and eventually recommend viable options for the future of the property. Carranco's son, Andrew Carranco, has represented him at these meetings. But Chendo Carranco said he won't be asking him to attend them any longer.

Carranco said he had been delegating these meetings to his son because Andrew Carranco was a neutral figure to all those involved. Chendo Carranco said he believed it would give them a chance.

In the past, when Carranco has been speaking with potential buyers for the old hospital, he said City Council will put something on its agenda concerning the property that gets picked up by the media.

"It's my private building, and every time they make it public, it really hurts my negotiating abilities," Carranco said. "Anyone who wants to buy is going to want support from the city."

RELATED: Old Mercy Hospital owners given cleanup deadline

This happened recently when a company from California came in town and said they wanted to buy the property, Carranco said. He did not disclose the name of the company or their intended use for the building, but he said they wanted to build a courtroom, offices and a detention facility  something similar to Shiloh Tower.

Carranco said he always includes city officials in meetings with potential buyers because it is important for them to be kept in the loop. In this case, he included Mayor Pete Saenz, District III Councilman Alex Perez and Laredo Chamber of Commerce President Miguel Conchas, Carranco said.

Then at the next City Council meeting on April 17, Perez made a motion to pass a resolution objecting to the use of the old Mercy Hospital for use as a federal, state or local detention center. He said this is not something the residents of the Heights want in their neighborhood. It passed 6-0.

On Sept. 5, City Council voted to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Carranco to conduct a site analysis and appraisal of the property to determine its potential use for low-income housing units.

The site analysis would have been conducted in joint effort with the Laredo Housing Authority. The city and the LHA agreed to give Carranco until Sept. 30 to sign the memorandum of understanding, according to Deputy City Manager Cynthia Collazo.

MORE ON OLD MERCY: Temporary restraining order sought against owners of old Mercy Hospital

However, Carranco said the memorandum of understanding was essentially an indictment against him, and could not sign it. He then got the flu for three weeks, and when he recovered, he asked to meet with City Manager Horacio De Leon.

Carranco said he called his office every two days for two weeks, but never got a meeting.

On Sept. 28 he asked for a deadline extension, Collazo said, which they said on Oct. 3 they were not willing to grant.

Carranco said he was saddened by this, and that he's gotten nothing but problems from the city.

His attorney, Doahn "Zone" Nguyen, said he would like for Carranco and the city to find a resolution rather than administering fines. The property is a structure that needs to be addressed, he said.

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com
Dorothea Lange

What does the internment of Japanese Americans have to do with the Trump administrations proposed travel ban? Plenty, as filmmakers Abby Ginzberg and Ken Schneider point out in their new documentary, And Then They Came for Us.

The documentary, which makes its San Francisco premiere at the AMC Van Ness 14 on Sunday, Oct. 15 (event is sold out), has interviews with former detainees, survivors of the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated. The film also details Japanese Americans who speak out against the proposed Muslim ban.
Those of us old enough to remember Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court of the United States remember him as a stern, heavy presence. So what a surprise to meet him again in Marshall and to find out that, as a young man, he was a very cool guy  fearless and charismatic, and not just brilliant but up for a good time.

Marshall is a historical drama that will introduce many Americans to the life and career of one of the 20th centurys most important lawyers. But if the filmmakers feel any responsibility to that fact, they wear it lightly  and well. Marshall is a serious movie, but its not preachy or didactic. Rather, it tells its 20th century story by reviving a surefire 20th century form, the courtroom drama.

The year is 1941, and Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) is a lawyer for the NAACP. In fact, hes the lawyer for the NAACP, so he travels constantly, providing legal counsel to black Americans wrongly accused of serious crimes. Unlike other criminal defense lawyers, its his policy to defend only innocent people. Its hard, uphill work, and in addition to the rigors of the court, he has to deal with racists and threats of physical violence.

The story of Marshall centers on a court case in Connecticut. A rich white woman (Kate Hudson) claims that her black chauffeur raped her twice and tried to kill her by throwing her off a bridge. Meanwhile, the chauffeur (Sterling K. Brown) insists that he had no contact with her, that the claims are entirely false.

In the womans favor is not only that shes white and rich, but the obvious question: Why would she lie? And working against the man is not only his race, but also that he has a dishonorable discharge from the military and a history of stealing from his previous employer. So Marshall and his partner on this project, Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), have all that to deal with, plus a hostile judge (James Cromwell) and an enraged community that just assumes the chauffeur is guilty.

Marshall revisits such serious history that it feels almost disrespectful to talk about it as a fun movie, but it is. The court case has many sides to it and is like a puzzle for the audience, as well as the characters, to work out. There are no dull scenes. And as played by Boseman and Gad, Marshall and Friedman are a complementary pair, like something youd see in a buddy movie  one fit and one fat, one black and one white, one tall and one short, one calm and one stressed, but both Americans working together in a just cause.

Like its title character, Marshall remains breezy and engaging, while never losing focus on its higher purpose. The movie reminds us that, though much of American life is ruled, as it should be, by majority opinion, juries must reach their decisions, not through gut feeling or uninformed impulse, but by the application of the laws and the evidence. In this way, the courts have been central, not only to the preservation of American freedom, but also to its expansion.

Marshall is yet another case of a movie that was made in 2015 and early 2016 but that feels tailored to the specific concerns of our particular moment. Thats the uncanny way good movies have of knowing whats coming before it happens, and of knowing what to say and what people need to hear.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

Marshall

Drama. Starring Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad. Directed by Reginald Hudlin. (PG-13. 118 minutes.)
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For nearly a year, Randy Brazil and his wife Monica and their partners were riding a wave of success.

The couple spent years quietly investing in their olive orchard in Devers and last year made their big splash with a marketing strategy and competition win that brought them almost instant notoriety with their company, Southeast Texas Olive Oil.

But that wave of joy soon became as much as five feet of water in the orchard in some spots, and a couple of feet or more in their pasture and home when the hurricane hit. They could only watch helpless as Hurricane Harvey washed away their dream.

"It just breaks our heart that we've had to put all of this on the backburner so that we can get our lives somewhat back to normal," he said looking at the rows of trees and overgrown grass that reaches several feet high. It was not the beautifully manicured rows that had produced their success but this was reality - for now.

Neither of them had been to the orchard since driving up to the gate in the driving rain and losing their home.

"From the road it looked like a lot of yellow," he said expecting a lot of dead trees, but as it turns out, it was only ragweed that had begun to grow up in the midst of the trees and they were still a beautiful forest green.

After a quick turn through the orchard, it appeared they lost maybe a half dozen trees and maybe a few more that appeared to be in distress from too much water, but otherwise, their investment survived.

Parts of the property became a river of water trying to reach the bayou.

"The backside of the farm wasn't too bad," he said and that's where his cattle stayed until the water went down.

The land was covered with water for four days.

"I was really discouraged at first. I was just overwhelmed after losing my house and facing retirement next year," he said.

The bottling and labeling facility will have to be ripped out and rebuilt.

"We'll have to order new labels. They were destroyed in the flood as well," he said.

Brazil, who has about 100 cattle on his 600-acre ranch, owns the olive farm and will retire from Covestro next year.

He and his wife have lived on the farm for the last 13 years and never dreamed they would be in this predicament.

About 10 years ago, the 120-acres close to Brazil where the olive farm sits was up for sale.

Gino Venitucci, a graduate of Texas A&M, purchased the land and decided to farm. The Italian grew up in northern Italy, moved to the states and married a girl from Kilgore. He spent most of his life working around the world in the petroleum industry.

He retired and with a friend from Texas Tech, researched the Gulf Coast area and thought it would be perfect for an olive farm.

"The Gulf Coast was warm enough in the winter it wouldn't freeze and the temperature was consistently warm enough for it to flower in the spring," Brazil said he reasoned.

Brazil showed the Italian how to use a levy plow and pulled up 60 rows for him and he began planting his trees.

The two became friends and olives piqued Brazil's interest. They mutually shared farming knowledge with one another and Gino eventually sold out the farm to Brazil and his partners.

It's a super high-density orchard where the trees are lined in rows that are 12-14 feet from the next row with trees that are about five feet apart from each other in the row.

"This orchard is set up to do mechanical harvesting," he said.

There are about 650-680 trees per acre and they have around 34,000 trees.

They buy the cuttings to plant new trees from a nursery in California and it takes about five years before the trees begin to bear olive fruit.

A bad winter last year already meant little fruit were bearing on the trees when Harvey hit.

"What little bit we would have harvested, we lost during the flood," he said.

Few Texas olive farmers were harvesting this year because of the bad winter, but this was a devastating blow to lose all of the fruit.

"This is the first year that we didn't produce any olives or oil," he said disappointed.

There are hoses that are wound through the trees for irrigation, but are largely unnecessary with the soil in this part of Texas.

"We spend more time fighting to keep water off of the trees than on them," he said. "We haven't watered our trees in four years."

Brazil said the trees should have to work for their water.

"This is a clay gumbo type of soil and it retains water so you really don't want it to be sitting in water for any length of time because it can develop a root fungus that's hard to get rid of," he said.

To keep the orchard pristine, it takes about two days to mow.

Harvest time can be exciting.

To ensure the highest quality of oil, the olives are pressed within a half hour to hour or so of being picked.

The harvesting is done now with an Oxbo 6420 Super High Density Olive Harvester that basically straddles over the trees and drives at about four miles per hour using a bow rod picking system that removes the olives with minimal tree damage and delivers them to dual dump bins. The bins are then transported on the property just minutes away to an awaiting Texas Mobile Mill where the mobile olive processing unit mills the olives on-site saving transportation and storage costs.

"The quicker you get it milled, the better the oil," Brazil said.

Brazil has put together a plan now and is headed back in the right direction and anxious to get back to his speaking engagements and taste testing parties that brought them so much success in the past.

"I'm still learning every day more about olive ranching. The farming is easy to me. It's the marketing that's the hardest for me," he said.

To compensate, he attends as many conferences as he can.

Success has been sweet with the Southeast Texas Olive Oil knocking out more than 900 teams to win the coveted 2017 Silver Award in the New York International Olive Oil Competition.

The olive oil can now be found in the high-end Spec's stores and many others locally.
WASHINGTON - The trial of the accused mastermind of the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans at a U.S. special diplomatic mission and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, will turn this week to testimony by two active CIA security force operatives, another who was at the assault and the widow of another killed in the assault.

Beginning Tuesday under unusual security measures, two CIA witnesses will testify under the pseudonyms "Edwards" and "Charles" in a courtroom closed to nearly everyone but the defendant, Ahmed Abu Khattala, 46; the lawyers for each side; jurors; U.S. District Judge Christopher R. "Casey" Cooper of Washington; and courtroom personnel, according to in-court discussions last week among Cooper, prosecutors and defense lawyers.

As has been done since the trial started Oct. 2, a live audio stream of the pair's testimony will be fed to two other rooms at the federal courthouse in Washington for observers, including journalists.

Video feeds that have been provided in the ancillary rooms will continue to show the judge, attorneys, exhibits and defense table, but a camera showing the witness stand will be turned off during the testimony by the two active CIA security operatives, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors described the upcoming testimony as coming from "OGA" witnesses - a shorthand for "other government agency" that generally is used as a reference to the CIA. The role of CIA security personnel and the location of the annex have already been acknowledged in court filings and in open court at Abu Khattala's trial.

The Justice Department asked for the closed hearing to protect the men's identities because they continue to work as secret, undercover security for the agency, prosecutors said. Courts in the past have allowed CIA witnesses to testify behind partitions or while wearing light disguises, such as wigs, false beards or eyeglasses.

Cooper approved another atypical request - to which the defense agreed - to allow "front office" representatives of the pair's employer to sit in the courtroom for the testimony because of the organization's stake in the trial.

Court transcripts of the discussions about that request show that each side thought having some people sitting in the public benches in the courtroom might avoid signaling to jurors that the courtroom had been cleared for a special purpose, a cue that could be prejudicial if it affected how jurors weighed the testimony they then would hear.

The court released transcripts of last week's proceedings Friday.

The transcripts include muffled conversations at the bench that are out of earshot of the jury and of anyone sitting in court, but become part of the public court record. The transcripts also include other discussions - that occur in front of any trial watchers but after jurors have been moved out of the courtroom - in which the parties in the case and the judge hash out scheduling and trial administrative matters.

Prosecutors also are posting exhibits that have been introduced at the end of each trial day.

The CIA's secret contractor security force, called the Global Response Staff, guarded the annex and helped protect the mission, where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and State Department communications aide Sean Patrick Smith were killed, witnesses and prosecutors have said in court. GRS members Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods died at the annex, where they fought alongside other GRS and State Department security personnel.

Abu Khattala, a Libyan national who led a brigade of the Ansar al-Sharia militia, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization and holds responsible for the Benghazi attacks, has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges including conspiracy to support terrorism, murder, attempted murder and damaging U.S. facilities. He faces life in prison if convicted.

The trial is set on Wednesday to hear again from the State Department's chief regional security officer at the small, special diplomatic mission in Benghazi at the time, Alec Henderson.

He had testified for several hours before the trial broke Thursday for the weekend and the federal holiday Monday.

The federal trial in Washington, five years after the attacks, returns a focus to the criminal prosecution in an episode that became a political lightning rod during last year's presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state in 2012.

It also poses a high-profile test of U.S. counterterrorism policies developed in recent years to capture alleged terrorists overseas and interrogate them for intelligence purposes, while preserving the right to prosecute them in civilian court.

Abu Khattala was captured in Libya by U.S. commandos in June 2014.

Henderson has given the 15-member Washington jury - 12 plus three alternates - a blow-by-blow account of the attacks the night of Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, 2012, using excerpts of closed-circuit video surveillance from multiple security cameras around the Benghazi diplomatic mission, which was overrun starting at 9:42 p.m. The CIA's secret post, to which GRS and State Department security personnel evacuated afterward, subsequently came under attack after midnight.

Outside the presence of the jury, defense attorneys said Thursday that they were waiting for the government to disclose to them unspecified but agreed-upon snippets of classified documents for Henderson's cross-examination.

In the transcripts, prosecutors said they expect testimony later this week from Dorothy Narvaez Woods, a Navy veteran, University of Maryland-educated dentist and the widow of Tyrone S. Woods. Also expected is testimony by GRS member and U.S. Marine Corps veteran John "Tig" Tiegen, 41, prosecutors said.

Tiegen will testify openly because his name is well-known, prosecutors said, identified in a feature film and book about the Benghazi incident co-written by several GRS members.

GRS contractors provided security to CIA staff seeking to track Libyan stockpiles of rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. They also backed up a low-profile and lightly staffed State Department special mission that Stevens used when in Benghazi. It relied on a handful of U.S. diplomatic security agents and a larger Libyan contract force.

Last week, in poignant testimony, Peter Sullivan, who is married to Stevens's sister, Ann Stevens, recalled his brother-in-law as a dedicated "man of peace."

Stevens was "trying to forge a coalition among factions" in Libya, Sullivan recalled the ambassador saying, including a description he said Stevens relayed roughly as working with "about 156 [groups] with an average of seven people trying to put together a government."

"He roamed a lot of the land. He moved around with little security, to some people's objection, but that's the way he was. He was a man of peace," Sullivan said. "He got something like 40,000 letters from Libyans after his death. They loved him there."
WASHINGTON -- EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a proposed rule Tuesday that would repeal sweeping regulation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing U.S. power plants.

The move, aimed at bolstering the nation's struggling coal industry, will trigger an immediate court fight and could result in months, if not years of litigation. Yet the policy reversal is unlikely to affect the nation's overall shift from coal to natural gas and renewable power generation in the electricity sector.

"We are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate," Pruitt said in a statement. "Any replacement rule will be done carefully, properly, and with humility, by listening to all those affected by the rule."

The Obama-era climate rule, dubbed the Clean Power Plan, aimed to cut carbon emissions from the nation's electricity sector 32 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. That measure, which the Supreme Court stayed after 28 attorneys general and the utility industry challenged it in court, would have required states to meet targets by reducing emissions at individual plants as well as by deploying renewable energy and taking other energy-efficiency steps.

As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt argued that EPA exceeded its statutory authority under the Clean Air Act in requiring utilities to pursue emissions reductions beyond their actual facilities. The notice of proposed rulemaking does not indicate whether EPA will replace the Clean Power Plan with a new rule, though the agency determined in 2009 that it was obligated to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the law because it endangered public health.

"We can now assess whether further regulatory action is warranted, and, if so, what is the most appropriate path forward, consistent with the Clean Air Act and principles of cooperative federalism," Pruitt said. The previous rule, he added, "ignored states' concerns and eroded long-standing and important partnerships that are a necessary part of achieving positive environmental outcomes."

Although the 2014 climate rule never took effect, coal continues to decline as a source of the nation's electricity. Coal accounted for about 30 percent last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it accounted for about 30 percent of output last year, putting it below natural gas (nearly 34 percent) for the first time. Non-fossil-fuel generation (almost 36 percent) outranked fossil fuels for the first time since before World War II.

A new analysis by the Rhodium Group estimates that CO2 emissions from the U.S. power sector in 2025 will be 27 percent to 35 percent below 2005 levels. But the same group projects that absent new federal or state action, the nation is on track to fall short of long-term climate targets it adopted under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. As part of that global accord, which President Trump has vowed to exit, the United States pledged to cut total carbon emissions between 26 percent and 28 percent by 2025.

John Larsen, the Rhodium Group's director, said the rule's repeal would not alter broader energy trends but could affect between 12 and 21 states not already on track to meet its targets.

"If a state wasn't already acting to scale back emissions, the Clean Power Plan would nudge them to do that," he said.

Many top Republicans on Capitol Hill hailed Pruitt's announcement, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso, Wyo. "It would have hurt energy workers in Wyoming and harmed the state's economy," Barrasso said.

But several business and environmental groups decried the rollback, saying it would impede the deployment of clean energy and other measures, such as EPA's Clean Energy Incentive Program, which focuses on improving energy efficiency in low-income communities.

"Undoing this plan would be a step backward for energy efficiency and the benefits it delivers for consumers and businesses alike," Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said in a statement.

Some states and corporations say they will maintain their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, despite the policy changes underway in Washington. Mars, Inc. which has pledged to make its direct operations carbon-free by 2040, said it will continue to advance that goal.

At least four Democratic attorneys general - from California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon - have pledged to challenge EPA's proposed rule in federal court, along with environmental groups such as Earthjustice.
Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov is sure that the Ukrainian sovereignty will be restored in Donbas.

"I consider the prospects for returning Donbas are rather good. And the way we will do it  whether through the peacekeeping mission or the liberation movement or in any other way  I don't know, let's see," the interior minister told journalists in Kyiv at the 14th international specialized exhibition "Arms and Security-2017," answering the question regarding the prospects for the introduction of a peacekeeping mission into Donbas.

Avakov also positively assessed the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading of the bill on the restoration of state sovereignty in Donetsk and Luhansk regions: "This law is the one that is needed."
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenya's main opposition leader announced Tuesday that he was dropping out of a rerun of the August presidential election, casting doubts on the legitimacy of the voting process.

Kenya is a key U.S. partner on the continent and has the most dynamic economy in East Africa, but its rowdy elections are often plagued by violence, threatening the country's stability.

Even for Kenya's often lively politics, however, the latest developments mark a plunge into uncharted waters, with first an election outcome struck down and now a candidate walking away.

It was a legal challenge by opposition politician Raila Odinga that prompted the Supreme Court, citing irregularities, to nullify the results of the Aug. 8 election, won by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta. But Odinga, who leads the National Super Alliance (NASA), says not enough has been done to address the problems. He has singled out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for particular criticism, deeming it "rotten."

"We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention from IEBC to make sure that the irregularities and illegalities witnessed before do not happen again," Odinga told reporters Tuesday as he announced his withdrawal from the new election planned for Oct. 26. "We believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidacy in the election."

Legal expert Dunstan Omari described the stalemate as a "constitutional crisis" and said the two main parties - Odinga's NASA and Kenyatta's Jubilee Party - would have to consult the courts for guidance.

He said the Supreme Court is most likely to rule that new candidates would have to be found in the next 90 days, though other experts said the election could go ahead with just one candidate, akin to a yes-or-no vote.

Odinga called for nationwide protests on Wednesday. Politics in Kenya have often been marred by violence, frequently along ethnic lines. At least 37 people died in the August vote, but in 2007, at least 1,400 people died in a wave of violence after Odinga lost to Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent.

For his part, Kenyatta said the election would go forward, according to the Nation newspaper. While Odinga had the right to pull out, the president said, "he should know that Kenyans have a right to choose their leaders."

In its ruling invalidating the August election, the high court cited a consistent pattern of irregularities in polling stations reporting results. It ordered a new vote within 60 days.

Kenyatta had said he would abide by the court's decision but repeatedly accused the justices of standing in the way of the people's will. He also said he would use his party's majority in parliament to impeach Odinga if the latter won.

In the run-up to the new election, the Jubilee Party attempted to overhaul electoral laws and the IEBC, but the opposition dismissed the efforts as insincere.

"The Jubilee administration's proposed amendments to election laws demonstrate that it has no intention of competition on a level playing field," Odinga said. "All indications are that the election scheduled for October 26 will be worse than the previous one."

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday boycotted a session of the National Assembly dedicated to amending the election laws.

John Otieno, an Odinga supporter, said he was very disappointed that his candidate would not run. He said he had hoped that the ruling party and the electoral commission would have heeded demands for reforms.

"Raila was our only hope. Our future for now seems very uncertain," Otieno said. "We will wait to see what happens next, but for now, we will heed his call of countrywide protests starting tomorrow."

Odinga's supporters have been holding weekly demonstrations to pressure the electoral commission, in the capital as well as in their strongholds of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu.

The protests have been heating up, with police opening fire on a demonstration in Nairobi on Monday, injuring one man. Last week, the University of Nairobi was shut down indefinitely after clashes between students and police.

Supporters of Kenyatta, however, dismissed Odinga's withdrawal as political theater and said he was never ready for office.

"We want Kenyatta to be sworn in as early as tomorrow so that we can celebrate," said Francis Kinyajui, one of them. "This was a joke; it was a waste of time. These were just plans to cause divisions in the country."

Amid the political furor, gunmen attacked a university near Mombasa along the coast and killed two staff members.

The attackers, thought to be members of neighboring Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist group, opened fire on a vehicle carrying university staff.

---

Schemm reported from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The political ramifications of the Harvey Weinstein scandal expanded Tuesday as the National Republican Congressional Committee called on its Democratic counterpart to return money that the Hollywood superproducer donated to elect Democrats to the House.

Weinstein's donations to support House Democrats have been far outstripped by the sums he gave to elect Democratic Senate and presidential candidates. But he wrote checks to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1993, 2011 and 2013 totaling $23,200, and the GOP is pouncing.

An NRCC web video released Tuesday recounts the allegations of sexual harassment and, in some cases, assault against Weinstein that were published over the past week in The New York Times and the New Yorker magazine. It includes photos of Weinstein with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as an excerpt of Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., telling CNN anchor Jake Tapper that "people that took money from him should probably give it back."

Several Democratic politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, N.Y., and at least six Senate colleagues, have made donations to women's charities offsetting Weinstein's contributions, some of which date back 20 years or more. The Democratic National Committee also said it would make donations to charity in response to the Weinstein reports.

DCCC representatives did not respond immediately to messages seeking comment Tuesday. The Washington Post previously contacted the organization on Friday regarding Weinstein's giving and received no comment.

In a statement to the Times, Weinstein seemed to admit at least some wrongdoing. "I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it," he said, but he did not detail that behavior.

"In light of these allegations, it's time for Democrats to return Harvey Weinstein's dirty money," said Matt Gorman, the NRCC's communications director. "The DCCC's silence is unconscionable and they cannot excuse years of abuse by one of their donors."

Weinstein made scattered contributions to Democratic House campaigns over his 25 years of political giving. Of the recipients, only Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Conn., who received a 1996 contribution of $1,000, remains in office. DeLauro said Friday she will donate a matching $1,000 to Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven.
WASHINGTON - Reid McCollum, a 34-year-old father of two from Hinsdale, Illinois, was barely a month into his first foray into political activism when, on a whim in early March, he attended a protest outside the office of Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.

"I brought a megaphone, and there was another guy with a megaphone, and his was dying," McCollum recalled.

That guy, it turned out, was a professional field operative with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the main national organization for electing Democrats to Congress. He invited McCollum to a small meeting the following week of fellow grass-roots activists - people who, since President Donald Trump's election, have organized through Facebook and Twitter and emerging progressive groups such as Indivisible and Swing Left.

From that meeting emerged the "Coalition for a Better Illinois 6th," a group that has knocked on 8,000 doors and is intent on persuading voters in a district that favored Hillary Clinton by seven points last year to oust Roskam as he seeks a seventh term next year - and, they hope, return the House to Democratic control.

Amid ongoing tension between liberal activists and Democratic leaders, that early organizing success in suburban Chicago reflects a careful effort by party officials to harness the post-Trump surge in activists interested in electing Democrats to Congress. The officials have worked to connect them with the data and expertise the DCCC has at its fingertips but, wary of a backlash, have largely allowed them to plan and direct their own efforts without interference from Washington.

Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats to win the House majority, and DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena said his group's aim is to "arm the rebels" - a conscious nod to conflicts abroad where, rather than fight every battle itself, the U.S. military has instead advised and supplied native forces invested in winning.

"We understand what is happening on the grass roots," Sena said in an interview. "If our allies are successful at doing this, if they're engaging people and getting them involved, we want them to be part of this. We want them to connect. We care about holding Republicans accountable. . . . How that happens, there's no reason to fight over that. This is about putting technology behind it and people behind it, too."

Dating to well before last year's election, Democratic Party leaders have been eyed with suspicion by progressives. Plenty of activists remain aggrieved over the Democratic National Committee's apparent effort to favor Clinton over fellow presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and the DCCC has been the subject of rampant second-guessing after gaining only a handful of seats in 2016.

That has been compounded by Democrats' expensive loss in a June special election in Georgia, as well as the party's hesitation to invest heavily in Democrats running in other recent special elections. But so far, grass-roots organizers are giving positive early reviews of the DCCC's effort to encourage and coordinate with the liberal activists flocking toward the midterms through new online channels.

"I've been organizing for 20 years, and I've never seen this much grass-roots energy," said Matt Ewing, chief community officer for Swing Left, which has attracted more than 300,000 volunteers. "And I think it's very smart of the Democratic Party to recognize that the best way to leverage that energy is to support it versus trying to narrowly funnel it. That, to me, is great news."

Ewing said that the impact of the party operatives has been evident in his conversations with activists in various battleground districts across the country.

"They tell me about all the great Indivisible groups they are working with, the Sister March huddles, the local Democratic county clubs, and then they tell me about this great organizer that's been placed there by the DCCC who's helping them with their training and infrastructure," he said. "They're not coming in hard-charging, but our experience is they are setting up training, they're building relationships, they're supporting our volunteers on the ground. And that's the type of posture that we need the Democrats to be doing more of."

The involvement of the party organizers varies district to district. In Illinois, for instance, the grass-roots group McCollum helps run keeps its distance from party organizations for legal reasons. But the DCCC organizer sends potential volunteers toward the grass-roots coalition rather than try to duplicate its canvassing efforts under the national party's aegis.

In California's 39th Congressional District, where Democrats are seeking to oust 13-term GOP incumbent Edward Royce, the party operative is working directly with volunteers - many of whom connected through Swing Left, Indivisible and other activist groups.

"When I wanted to do something, I did not go to the Democratic Party; I went to Swing Left," said Bonner Meudell, a retiree from Sierra Madre, California, volunteering to help unseat Royce. "I don't even know why, but it just never entered my mind to go to the Democratic Party. That didn't seem as alive."

But the training, tools and data provided by the DCCC organizer, Meudell said, have become an integral part of her efforts. "I had never set foot canvassing or doing voter registration before April of this year, and now I'm training and leading," she said. "And I doubt that we would have made this progress without him very gently guiding and leading us."

The Democrats' efforts are unusual in coming well before the electoral landscape in many of these battleground districts is even close to settled. Numerous Democratic candidates have stepped forward to run for many of the seats. Progressives have frequently been frustrated by party officials in Washington favoring certain candidates - often the more moderate candidates - over others.

Those tensions may reemerge as the midterms approach, some of the activists predict, but the early collaboration is paying dividends. In addition to the building of relationships and establishing of infrastructure, voter data gathered by grass-roots activists is being funneled back into party databases, ready for the eventual Democratic nominees to take advantage.

Sena said the DCCC's new website will offer tools for activists ranging from novices who simply want to know about events in their neighborhood to more experienced political hands who want to know more about social media campaigns, voter registration or get-out-the-vote drives. One function, "Claim Your Precinct," helps users get involved at the most granular level of politics, inviting them to become a "captain" of a voting precinct and connecting them with a Democratic field organizer to guide their efforts.

Those efforts will be coordinated by the party's growing staff of field operatives, but much of the district-by-district specifics in the online toolbox - ranging from meetup listings to social media content - will be generated by volunteers without any affiliation with the party.

"I think the fact that the party committee's willing to not make this look, feel and sound like it's the party committee doing it and just allowing the grass roots to build this, I think is incredibly novel," Sena said. "I think it is smart to give local people the tools to do it themselves."
This weekend saw the United States and Turkey engage in a tit-for-tat imposition of travel restrictions on each other's citizens. It was yet another sign of the increasingly strained relationship between Washington and Ankara, two NATO partners who have traditionally kept deep military, intelligence and commercial ties.

The restrictions come despite President Donald Trump's pledge to restore good relations with Turkey following years of tension under former president Barack Obama. Trump had praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "friend of mine" during Erdogan's visit to the White House last month, saying the two were "now as close as we've ever been." But as his country teeters on the brink of bigger chaos, some analysts suggest that Erdogan may have more to gain by keeping his spat with the United States going.

"Friendly reminder: Erdogan wins frm this spat politically and policy decision making fundamentally broken. Don't expect Turkish concessions

- Howard Eissenstat (@heissenstat) October 9, 2017"

What is clear is that this diplomatic breakdown has been a long time coming - and it may have a long way to go.

As The Post's Kareem Fahim reports, the latest development stems directly from the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, on charges of espionage last week. On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced the immediate suspension of all nonimmigrant visa services at diplomatic facilities across Turkey. The incident, the embassy said, required the United States to "reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. Mission facilities and personnel."

Just hours later, the Turkish Embassy in Washington issued a nearly identical statement about the suspension of non-immigrant visas for Americans. Prosecutors also summoned a second U.S. employee on Monday and took his wife and child into custody, according to reports in the Turkish press.

Like many of the disputes between Washington and Ankara, the basic issue here is Turkey's ongoing obsession with an elderly man who lives in Pennsylvania: Fethullah Gulen, a powerful Turkish Muslim cleric.

Gulen was once a key ally of Erdogan's, but he fled to the United States nearly two decades ago. The Turkish government accuses Gulen of masterminding last year's failed coup, which the cleric denies. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Erdogan adviser Burhan Kuzu claimed that the arrest of the first U.S. Consulate employee had embarrassed Washington because the man had information about an alleged American role in the coup attempt. "The visa move came in order to pressure Turkey to give up this person," Kuzu said.

Over the past year, there have been widespread conspiracy theories about American involvement in the attempted coup, despite frequent denials from the U.S. government. A number of American citizens are among the 50,000 people who were arrested after the coup; U.S. officials suspect that they are bargaining chips in Turkey's bid for Gulen's extradition.

Gulen is just one bone of contention out of many for Washington and Ankara. During the Obama administration, Erdogan had numerous disagreements with American foreign policy, most notably on Syria and the Kurds, while Obama also criticized Turkey's creeping authoritarianism and human rights abuses. Washington's muted response to the 2013 coup in Egypt, as well as its awkwardly neutral response to the attempted coup in Turkey, made Ankara even more paranoid about American intentions.

There had been hope that President Trump - a man perhaps more comfortable with autocracy and eager to push back on Obama's legacy - would offer a fresh start for the two nations. There were a few positive signs from both camps: Trump was the only world leader to congratulate Erdogan after voters approved controversial constitutional changes in April, while the Turkish leader publicly called for a "reset" with Washington.

But almost nine months into his term, Trump has shown little positive interest in Turkey. His administration has agreed to arm the YPG, a group of Syrian Kurdish fighters that Turkey sees as allies of the PKK, the Kurdish separatist party in Turkey. Last month, U.S. federal prosecutors indicted a former Turkish minister of the economy for allegedly conspiring with Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, to skirt sanctions on Iran.

Then there was the viral footage of Erdogan's bodyguards allegedly beating protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's residence in Washington - a major blow to Turkey's reputation among Americans. All of this means Gulen will probably remain a Pennsylvania resident for the foreseeable future.

In a country where the "deep state" is much feared, many Turks view the problem as not Trump himself but the bureaucracy that surrounds him. Writing in the pro-government Daily Sabah last week, Washington correspondent Ragip Soylu suggested that "the establishment in Washington" was targeting Turkey, just as they were targeting Trump, "because he is also an outsider."

Such a narrative may suit Erdogan, at least in the short term. There's long been an anti-American tendency in Turkish society, but it became far more potent after the 2016 coup attempt.

Reports have suggested that a "Eurasianist clique" that seeks closer relations with Russia is gaining sway within the powerful Turkish military.

The idea of shadowy American powers protecting the shadowy cleric Gulen also offers an easy excuse for any failings. As Soner Cagaptay, author of the recent book "The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey" suggested to The Post in May, Erdogan may not even want Gulen to be extradited lest he become "more of a martyr rather than a nefarious coup plotter."

But these short-term gains mask the long-term risks of the diplomatic spat. Thousands of American and Turkish tourists, academics and businesspeople have had their lives disrupted, while Turkey's economy is already wobbling. Erdogan may want to flirt with abandoning the West, but following through on that rhetoric would probably hurt his own country more than others.
The University of Florida is bracing for a speech by the white nationalist Richard Spencer on campus later this month, coming after he led another torchlight rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday night with supporters chanting, "You will not replace us."

The Florida school had canceled a planned speech by Spencer in September after clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters turned violent at the University of Virginia in August, with tensions worsening the next day in Charlottesville. A man drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman and injuring many others.

That violence led several public universities to deny Spencer a platform in the days that followed, saying the First Amendment does not require them to risk imminent violence. But as time passed, Spencer's supporters increased pressure on the schools, filing and threatening lawsuits.

Now, the University of Florida is in the position of spending an anticipated $500,000 to try to ensure security on campus for a speaker it did not invite and does not want to host.

Concerns about security during Spencer's visit are forcing the university to close one of its biggest outpatient clinics and surgery centers, postponing medical services, one of the school's top doctors said.

Spencer's actions from this past weekend - when he led another protest in Charlottesville - do not change plans for the Oct. 19 speech in Gainesville, Florida, university spokeswoman Janine Sikes said Monday, "but we are paying attention."

So are many others. And not just schools such as the University of North Carolina and Penn State, which denied Spencer a platform post-Charlottesville. Others view it as an incendiary test of a constitutional issue that touches on many of the political and racial tensions simmering across the country.

"People are concerned for their well-being and safety," said Dwayne Fletcher, a senior who is president of the University of Florida's Black Student Union. "I personally don't want him on campus either, especially since the incidents in Charlottesville. . . .

"Gainesville will definitely have a different atmosphere in the days to come, and afterward, because of his presence," Fletcher said. He said some students are having a hard time accepting the university's decision to allow Spencer, and his message, to come to their school.

Even though they reject "Spencer's white supremacist rhetoric, the university, as a state entity, must allow the free expression of all viewpoints, " Sikes said.

In the spring, a federal judge overturned Auburn University's decision to cancel a speech by Spencer, ruling there was no evidence Spencer advocated violence and that it was unconstitutional to ban the speech because of its content.

In September, Cameron Padgett, who is helping to organize Spencer's college tour, sued Michigan State University in an effort to force the school to let Spencer speak on campus.

Padgett is described in the suit as supporting "Identitarian philosophy . . . a Eurocentric political ideology which advocates the preservation of national identity and a return to traditional Western values." The case argues that people on the political left find the views of the National Policy Institute, which Spencer leads, objectionable and seek to shut down his events despite it being constitutionally protected speech.

Spencer presented it as an important issue. "When one just says things that are anodyne or conventional, free speech is not in question," he said last week. "But when someone says something controversial and radical, then the rubber hits the road."

He said the anticipated security costs stem directly from people trying to keep him from bringing his ideas to campus. At other venues, protesters have rallied to drown out his message or to try to shut down his event, saying they can't allow hate speech in their community.

The University of California at Berkeley has spent $2.8 million on security for divisive speakers this year after violent clashes erupted between far-left and far-right extremists. In February, some anti-fascist and other left-wing protesters were so swiftly destructive - throwing rocks, setting fires - that university police canceled a speech to restore order.

"It's going to be exciting," Spencer said. "I expect good intellectual pushback from the students. That's part of the fun of it all."

David Quillen, the head of the University of Florida faculty senate, a trustee and an associate professor in the College of Medicine, rejected the idea that there would be some kind of intellectual exchange.

"We're not going to have a debate, because these aren't issues people need to debate," he said Monday. "Bigotry and racism don't need debate - they are what they are."

He said most faculty understand the university is obligated to allow Spencer to speak, but that there are real costs. Not just the money for security, which takes funding away from their educational mission, but, "Mr. Spencer's visit causes real fear and anxiety in some of our faculty, staff and students. . . . This fear will cause some to miss classes, postpone exams and interferes with our educational, research and service missions."

Fletcher expects protesters.

He doesn't plan to be one of them.

He weighed the different outcomes. "If there's something to gain, some kind of change that would be enacted, I'd be willing to go out and protest," he said. "If it's ideology versus ideology. . . .

"But that's not a forum where people can go out and speak to each other, have a heart-to-heart conversation. I don't see the worth outweighing the risk, especially in light of what happened in Charlottesville."
The promising solutions of the Ukrainian defense industry were exhibited for the first time at the AUSA 2017 Annual Meeting & Exposition (the Association of the United States Army) in Washington on October 9, the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States has reported.

"The real pride of the Ukrainian stand was a BTR-4 and a remotely controlled Phantom 2 mini armored personnel carrier," reads a report posted on the Facebook page of the embassy.

The opening ceremony of the Ukrainian stand was attended by Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly, Director General of Ukroboronprom Roman Romanov and First Deputy Commander of the Airmobile Forces, Major-General Andriy Kovalchuk.

The exhibition showcased the latest developments of Ukrainian arms producers that were tested in conditions of actual military operations in the southeast of the country.

The report also notes that "the combat experience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces using Ukrainian technology in real conditions is unique for international partners."

AUSA 2017 is a key international exhibition at which participants from different countries present samples of the most advanced military technologies, weapons, and equipment.
Wind-charged fires across California have ravaged homes, businesses, vineyards and farmland over the last three days. By Wednesday, 17 people were confirmed dead and several others were severely burned. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, and President Trump issued a major disaster declaration.

Information from authorities and residents on the ground continued to develop. Officials said efforts were focused on saving peoples lives and trying to contain the infernos, so many details were not fully known.

What we know:

 Seventeen people are confirmed dead  11 in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and three in the Mendocino County town of Redwood Valley and one in the Yuba County town of Loma Rica. More than 110 people were treated at hospitals, many for smoke inhalation but some for severe burns.

 Sonoma County officials said they had received about 300 reports of missing individuals, but 110 have been located. Those looking for relatives and friends may file a missing-person report with Sonoma County at (707) 565-3856.

 In Sonoma County alone, schools Superintendent Steve Herrington said more than 70,000 students were displaced by fires.

 Between 1,500 and 3,000 homes and commercial facilities have been destroyed in the fires, which are burning in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Lake, Nevada, Butte, Calaveras, Shasta, and Yuba counties.

 Twenty-two California fires have together burned at least 170,000 acres, state officials said Wednesday. The majority of fires were located in Northern California.

 Some of the fires tearing through Wine Country and the surrounding region: the Tubbs Fire near Calistoga and Santa Rosa was at 28,000 acres by Wednesday; the Atlas Peak Fire at 26,000 acres; the Partrick Fire in the Carneros area at 6,000 acres; and the Nuns Fire off Highway 12 north of Glen Ellen was at 5,000 acres.

In Mendocino County, the Mendocino Lake Complex Fire  in which several fires joined to become one  grew to 29,500 acres.

 There was zero or extremely limited containment on all of the fires.

 Vice President Mike Pence said President Trump had approved a major disaster declaration Tuesday, which will give California additional federal resources and funding to fight fires up and down the state. He said legislation that will be considered in Congress next week includes $576 million for fire suppression.

 Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for certain residential areas of Santa Rosa, and numerous areas in Sonoma County, Fairfield and in and around the city of Napa.

 Emergency dispatch centers in the Bay Area were being overwhelmed by 911 calls. Officials urged people to only call 911 for active, unattended flames or life-threatening emergencies.

 The National Weather Service issued its highest possible alert, a red flag warning, for 5 p.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday in the North Bay hills and 11 p.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday in the East Bay hills. The service warned of winds gusting as high as 45 mph.

 A number of historic structures and popular destinations, including Santa Rosas luxury Fountaingrove Inn and the Signorello Estates winery in Napa, were destroyed.

 Portable classrooms, the library and the main office at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa were destroyed. The Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa was damaged.

What remains unclear:

 The causes of all the fires remain under investigation.

 Officials do not yet know how many people were injured in the fires. Hospitals reported treating more than 100.

 The exact number of damaged and destroyed structures was not known, but officials believe there were more than 2,000.

 The exact number of evacuees was not known, but officials believe there were about 20,000.

 How much money and how many resources  including an exact number of firefighters  being devoted to battling the blazes was not clear. Hundreds of firefighters from as far away as San Diego were assisting in the efforts.

 The total number of dead and missing individuals was not known.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Among the beakers and petri dishes in the Southside High School lab room Monday morning was an ordinary-looking UPS box.

But three ninth-graders in white lab coats, two scientists, and U.S. Rep. Will Hurd gathered around it with fixed gazes.

Im afraid something is going to jump out, joked Hurd as Neco Jimenez, 14, started ripping open the box.

It held the spores of a chytrid fungus, which had just returned from a 254-mile trip to Earth from the International Space Station. The students had won a national competition to send the fungus, which was isolated in a test tube called a Fluids Mixing Enclosure, or FME, into space

We have to make sure were supporting NASA, not only for space exploration but for its role in inspiring the next generation, said Hurd, who caught wind of the Southside students project and supported them during a presentation in Washington. These are students who are actually trying to solve the worlds problems.

The Southside students hoped to see what effect zero gravity would have on the chytrid fungus, which infects amphibians with the chytridiomycosis disease and is causing a global mass extinction. If the space stations no-gravity environment inhibited the development of spores, as they hypothesized, that could provide ideas on how to slow its spread, likely through genetic engineering.

Learning the results will require help from the University of Texas at San Antonios microbiology team and their high-tech equipment.

The students pitched their experiment at the National Air and Space Museum last summer. It was launched into space in August, one of 21 experiments in Mission 11 of the national Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, said district spokeswoman Sylvia Rincon.

The idea for experimenting with chytrid fungus came from a question Robert Bryson Jr., an eighth-grade science teacher, posed to his class.

I said, What if you could send anything up to space? What would it be? And they came up with stuff like animals  like a zoo. And then I said, Now let me tell you the catch. It has to fit in this, Bryson said, holding up the 7-inch FME.

Carlos Gonzalez, Lydia Araujo and Jimenez, all 14, knew of the chytrid frog fungus crisis.

Do you like mosquitoes? Im pretty sure you dont, said Jimenez, making the point that stopping the fungus from killing frogs, which feed on mosquitoes, can control the insects.

If our experiment succeeds, then theres a chance we can get closer to finding a cure, Araujo said.

More than 300 Southside ISD students from fifth to 12th grades competed for a chance to present their proposals with students from across the country.

I really didnt think I could do something like this, Jimenez said. But we did it. Im proud of myself, and of my team.

The school district and a $10,000 grant from the Southside Education Foundation paid to develop the experiment and for the trip to Washington. District officials say theyre looking for more funding so students can continue sending experiments into space and presenting proposals  and results  in Washington.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net; Twitter: @SilviaElenaFF
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Austin police arrested the man they believe robbed several convenience stores armed with a roman candle and a wearing a Jabbawockeez mask.

Sean O'Brien, a 44-year-old Lockhart man, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin plans to meet with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto on October 12 and discuss, among other topics, the issue of Hungarian passports to Ukrainians.

"I confirm my willingness to engage in a dialogue with Hungary on all levels. We will talk about everything, including the issue of Hungarian passports to Ukrainians, and not only about that," Klimkin said on his Twitter microblog on Tuesday.

As earlier reported, Klimkin will travel to Budapest for a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart about the recently adopted Ukrainian law on education. On October 19, Hungary's Human Resources Minister Zoltan Balog is expected in Kyiv.
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Authorities have apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station overnight.

University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody Monday night and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels. According to a report from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Daniels is a freshman from Seguin.

RELATED: Affidavit details what S.A.-area teen said after TX Tech shooting

Now Playing: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. Video: TMTime

According to a university statement, campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and  upon entering the room  found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

"During this time, the suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer," Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said. "The suspect fled on foot and later apprehended by ... (campus police) near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum."

RELATED: Texas Tech students honor slain officer with touching tribute on statue

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

"The family of the officer is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community," said Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec. "I want to express my deep appreciation to the Texas Tech Police Department, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Sherriff's Office, and other state and federal law enforcement officials for their response."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also issued a statement about the shooting late Monday, saying "hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed." Abbott also said he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation.
A Buda man was arrested Friday by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office after allegedly sending multiple nude pictures of himself to a child under the age of 17.

Michael Hartley, 53, was booked into Hays County Jail on two charges of online solicitation of a minor. His bail is set at $100,000, according to jail records.
By and large, Gov. Greg Abbott has shown commendable and inclusive leadership in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, but his initial resistance to aiding Houston was baffling.

He eventually came through for Houston  delivering a $50 million check and pledging to tap the rainy day fund in 2019, or possibly sooner. But getting to this point was unnecessarily difficult.

In early September, Abbott had ruled out tapping the states $10 billion rainy day fund to help Houston and other coastal cities battered and flooded from Hurricane Harvey. That was odd. Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on the Houston area. If thats not enough rain to tap the rainy day fund, what is?

In response, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he would pursue a one-time property tax increase to raise $50 million to clean up debris and other forms of storm relief. It wasnt a popular idea, costing the average Houston homeowner $48 on top of storm damage. But Turner credibly said he was out of options.

Abbott likened the possible tax increase to a hostage situation, saying It raises a concern that the mayor seems to be using this as hostage to raise taxes when, in reality, the city of Houston is sitting on hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that hes not tapping into.

But that money is not available for hurricane relief. At any rate, Abbotts message was not well-received.

Soon after, Abbott and Turner had worked out their differences. Abbott handed Turner a $50 million check from the governors $100 million Disaster Relief Fund. Turner dropped the property tax increase idea. And Abbott said the rainy day fund would be tapped to help cover costs, either in the 2019 regular session or possibly in a special session. He doesnt want to tap the Rainy Day Fund until the full cost of the storm is clearer.

But why did this take so long in the face of such obvious need?

Abbott could have just tapped the Disaster Relief Fund and committed to using the rainy day fund at a later date without any hassle or drama. Instead, we witnessed an almost boilerplate partisan fight about taxes and spending.

This is not the time or the issue for that fight.

Generally, weve appreciated Abbotts leadership in response to the storm. His appointment of Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp to lead the recovery was needed. His negotiations with the federal government have been fruitful.

Going forward, Abbott will need to sustain this kind of leadership as Houston and others rebuild. This will require expensive projects to mitigate flooding and hurricane damage. It will mean making decisions about where not to rebuild. It will mean honestly assessing climate science.

And, yes, it will mean tapping the rainy day fund.
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Association Agreement with EU may be revised only in terms of ensuring clear European prospect for Ukraine  Klimkin about Hungarian FM's statement

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has been surprised by the statements made by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto that the law on education violates the principles of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which prompts the Hungarian minister to initiate its revision.

"I am very surprised by the statements of the Hungarian foreign minister about the revision of the Association Agreement. I plan to discuss all these issues in Budapest on October 12... For us, the revision of the Association Agreement is possible only in terms of ensuring a clear European prospect for Ukraine," Klimkin wrote on his Twitter page on Tuesday.

Szijjarto said while visiting Ukraine's Uzhgorod on Monday that Ukraine's new law on education significantly violates the principles of the Ukrainian-EU Association Agreement, which is why he is planning to initiate its revision at a conference of the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg next Monday.

In September 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the law on education, according to which the education given in the languages of national minorities will shift to Ukrainian in three years. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the law on September 27.

The law holds that the national language, Ukrainian, is the language of the educational process in educational institutions, but in accordance with the educational program, one or more subjects can be taught in two or more languages, namely in Ukrainian, English, or other official languages of the European Union.

The foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and Romania wrote a letter to the Ukrainian foreign minister expressing their concern about the compliance of the new law with respect for the rights of minorities and education in their native language.

On September 28, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine sent the law "On Education" for examination to the Venice Commission.
Klimkin to organize foreign ambassadors to visit to Zakarpattia so that they talk to locals about 'language issue'

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin invites European partners to Zakarpattia and also intends to organize a visit of foreign ambassadors to talk to the residents of the region about the 'language issue'.

"I invite our European partners to visit Zakarpattia. I plan [to organize] a visit of foreign ambassadors to this region, direct communication with its residents," the foreign minister said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Longford/Westmeath Fine Gael TD Peter Burke has described Budget 2018 as "both fair and prudent" in a total package worth 1.2bn.

Mr Burke, who is appearing on the RTE budget coverage and analysis today, said that the days of big announcement a la Charlie McCreevey and decentralisation were long gone.

Instead Fine Gael, he maintained, have brought in structures to ensure that any tax cuts and spending increases were fair, measured, and gave back to all in society.

An extra five euro to all social welfare payments from the end of March may not seem like a lot, but it is preferable in my opinion than going back to giveaway budgets of the late 90s and naughties only to have to impose savage cuts in the subsequent years.

"We can build on these increases gradually and avoid the boom and bust cycles of the past.

I also welcome the increase to the home carers tax credit by 100 as I believe that carers are the backbone of our healthcare system.

"Again, the amount is small but a figure we can build on again next year and in future budgets.

"There has been an extra 685 million allocated to the health budget to decrease waiting lists and increase hospital capacity.

As a Chartered Accountant, I have a keen interest in the national debt and the current budgetary conditions.

"It was vital that we put forward a balanced budget this year in order to maintain a stable economy and to operate within EU rules and I think it is an achievement to have done this in a short number of years while decreasing income tax so that everyone feels a small improvement in their pocket.

"This has been consistently weighted towards those on lower incomes who see the biggest decrease in USC rate of .5%, as opposed to the middle rate being decreased by .25%," he said.
Here's what the SuperValu Tidy Towns 2017 adjudicators had to say about Derrahaun and above are the marks Derrahaun received.



Community Involvement & Planning / Rannphairtiocht an Phobail & Pleanail:

Derrahaun is very welcome to the 2017 SuperValu Tidy Towns Competition. Thank you for the very well composed and concise application form, excellent sketch map of your picturesque village and documentation on the schools green programme and biodiversity project.

You have also included a note of special thanks for your generous contributors to your work which is nice gesture. Yes indeed there are a number of spellings of the village as witnessed by the adjudicator on this his first visit to the village. The population category that you are in surprised me at first glance but on traversing the village and its outskirts one can see that it takes in a large enough area. Of course like many other villages and small towns in the midlands the village has long association with Bord na Mona which is reflected in the houses that were built in the 50s.

Your committee size is more than adequate for the size of your village. Lasting relationships have been built up with a number of agencies and of course Longford County Council. You have an excellent approach to dealing with the wider community and the value of one to one contact can never under estimated even in this day of instant social media communication.

The school involvement is one of the best experienced by this adjudicator during a good number of years in this job. Thank you for your endorsement of the competition and what it means to the greater Derrahaun Community. You have attained a good standard in this category over the last number of years and this year is no different.

Built Environment and Streetscape / An Timpeallacht Thogtha agus Sraid-dreacha:

Some of the input in this category has been interspersed with the landscaping and open spaces category but it can be dealt with under the two headings.

The village does not have a village street as such and is a little unusual that it doesnt have a core area consisting of the usual shops or a village pub.

Cloontagh NS is a little outside of the main village and is presented to a very high standard indeed. The school is a very progressive one in that it has attained a very high green flag standard that one would not see in larger national schools. Well done to both the teachers and the pupils for achieving this well deserved accolade.

The school also has a separate entry in the SuperValu Youth Award. The adjudicator was very impressed with the Commemorative Stone Based Memorial on the wide green area on the Longford Road and also the reason why James Connolly was chosen. This was a very big undertaking for any community irrespective of size so you are to be commended for your endeavour and creativity.

This was one of the best Tidy Towns initiated 1916 projects seen by this adjudicator in the last year.

As was stated in last years report the village was not encumbered by unsuitable over development that happened in other villages nationwide.

Landscaping and Open Spaces / Tirdhreachu agus Spasanna Oscailte:

Landscaping and the management of your green spaces are in indeed one your strengths. The commemorative memorial to James Connolly takes centre stage and this is complemented by an excellently maintained green space. The trees, copper beech and beech if one recalls correctly, and shrubs planted at the perimeter of the memorial will mature with time.

One concern maybe that over the years they may overshadow the stone structure but one assumes that you have been advised correctly on the matter. There is no point in repeating back to you what you have done and inputted into your submission it is suffice to say that the standard was very much on par with what reported on last year.

The adjudicator would suggest that you try to keep the crossover from built environment and landscaping to a minimum for next years application as it can be a bit confusing especially when deciding on marks. The adjudicator also took his own photograph of the James Connolly Memorial.

Wildlife, Habitats and Natural Amenities / Fiadhulra, Gnathoga agus Taitneamhachtai Nadurtha:

You have some very interesting mini initiatives that you have undertaken in this category and as you rightly say that the village is surrounded by bog lands a haven for natural wildlife habitats. The objective of this category is to create an awareness of the wildlife that exists in ones area and to take measures to promote the preservation and conservation of the different forms of fauna and flora.

One notes, in conjunction with the National School, that you are in the process of carrying out a survey of the fauna and flora that exist in Derrahaun area.

We will look forward to seeing the results and the interpretations of same in next years application although it is noted that this project seemed to have been initiated last year judging by comments in last years report.

Cloontagh National Schools Green Schools Project and its biodiversity programme are very impressive and are major contributors to what you are trying to achieve in this category.

The adjudicator admired your wildlife area with bird boxes and community composter to the fore. The birches on the Newtowncashel Road were also noted during the adjudication walkabout. The adjudicator also gained some additional knowledge that he can use for further reference in relation the danger of gorse and bog fires and their destructive impact on the environment. Overall the standard was very good and merits an increase in marks.

Sustainable Waste and Resource Management / Bainistiu Acmhainni agus Dramhaiola Inbhuanaithe:

The main objective of this category is to reduce the production of unnecessary waste at source and the category criteria have changed to reflect this. Last years report had an n interesting take in that it alluded to the fact that as a small village you are not a generator of large amounts of waste.

That said there is still ample opportunity for you to gain marks under this category by providing evidence of how you promote the use of resources such as water and transport in your community. Encouraging local residents to consider taking the necessary steps to eliminate as much waste from their daily routine is very much recommended.

The school information submitted was read with interest and is very much in line with the main objective in this category. The following are websites that will allow you to investigate the possibilities of additional project ideas www.localprevention.ie www.greenhomes.ie and www.sustainableprocessing.ie In addition the Tidy Towns Unit booklet produced few years back is also another good source of information on the subject matter.

As a progressive community you may also consider looking up what the circular economy has to offer.

Tidiness and Litter Control / Slachtmhaireacht agus Rialu Bruscair:

The fact that your village is quite small is a help in terms of trying to identify areas that could be considered litter black spots. These have been very much identified and named in your submission and the measures that you have, taken such as regular late evening litter picks, are having the desired effect as on the day there was virtually no litter to be seen. Summer and autumn weekends can be very productive times for litter as there are a myriad of leisure activities such as festivals taking place. General tidiness was very good in the village of Derrahaun.

Verges were kept well, weeds are cleared at regular intervals and even though the surrounding area is very rural there was very little farm related activity residue seen.

Residential Streets & Housing Areas / Sraideanna Conaithe & Ceantair Tithiochta:

Derrahaun is unusual in that similar to Coill Dubh in Kildare and Rochfordbridge in the neighbouring county of Westmeath it was very much a Bord na Mona Village. Thankfully, unlike the last mentioned, it was not subjected to overdevelopment and the possibility that the character of the village would be totally destroyed. The residents have a great sense of pride of place and this is reflected in the manner in which they have presented their homesteads.

Very little more to offer in terms of advice except to keep doing what you are doing as it is having the desired effect. The committees recognition of the efforts of residents has been noted.

Approach Roads, Streets & Lanes / Boithre Isteach, Sraideanna & Lanai:

Again thanks for the excellent sketch map it was much appreciated in identifying the roads in and out of Derryaaun. The village is situated on a busy cross roads and the stretch on the Lanesboro Ballymahon road can be an invitation for some motorists to put on the gas. That main road has beautiful entrances from both sides with exceptional name stones, tidy green areas, raised flower beds on those green areas and tree lined vista on the other side.

The Longford entrance was also impressive with nice timber name sign, young saplings that will mature in time and well kept verges. The Newtowncashel entrance was also of good standard. Signs were in good condition, road surfaces good, but maybe there is need for a little more traffic calming measures on the Ballymahon Lanesboro Road.

Concluding Remarks:

It was a pleasure to visit this very attractive village for the very first time and learn about its association with Bord na Mona. Very impressed with the community spirit in Derryaaun and you are wished well for the future.

You may also be interested in reading:

SuperValu Tidy Towns 2017 - Ballymahon commended for its approach ahead of Center Parcs Longford Forest becoming operational
KYIV. Oct 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The absolute minority (2%) of Ukrainian scientists believe that their scientific activities are financed sufficiently, according to a poll conducted by the Rating sociological group.

The results of the survey were presented at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

According to the survey, 55% believe that scientific activity is financed partially, and 35% think that it is not financed at all.

Almost one in four (28%) considers the possibility of leaving the work of a scientist and choosing other activities. The main reason is unsatisfactory wage (87% of respondents) disappointment in the development of Ukrainian science (41%), the insufficient level of financing of scientific developments (57%), and 19% said they would prefer to work in another sphere.

Some 26% of respondents consider the possibility of moving abroad to carry out scientific activities. Among those who think about such "scientific emigration" most of scientists are from Lviv and least of all from Odesa.

At the same time, when asked whether respondents applied over the past five years for scientific grants from the Ukrainian authorities or international organizations, two thirds answered negatively, while only 33% answered positively. At the same time, only one in five of those who applied for such grants received them.

According to the survey, 47% believe that it is difficult to get a grant from international organizations, and only 33% believe that it can be done quite easily.

At the same time, 86% of respondents believe that scientists should engage in the popularization of science, but only 45% said that they are personally engaged in such activities, in particular, they give lectures, publish their works in unscientific journals, comment in the media, and participate in TV programs. In addition, almost 90% of respondents support the idea of creating in Ukraine a center for the popularization of science and support of domestic scientific research.

The study was conducted by the Rating sociological group from September 4 to September 30, 2017, at the request of the Ukrainian Partnership Forum public union, among the staff of scientific institutions of Dnipro, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Kharkiv. A total of 1,000 respondents from 35 scientific institutions were interviewed.
Lifestyle / Travel

Rich in culture and beautiful landscapes by the Atlantic coast, the country also took home 18 other awards, including Europes Leading Beach Destination and Leading Island Destination.

Oct 09, 2017 | By Pameyla Cambe

Europes leading tourism destinations and airlines have been announced, and it looks like Portugal is poised to become the new Spain. At the annual Word Travel Awards Europe gala that took place on September 30 in St. Petersburg, Portugal took home the highly coveted award of Europes Leading Destination.

On top of that, the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira was hailed as Europes Leading Island Destination, while the famed shores of The Algarve have been given the title of the continents best beach destination.

Outside of Portugal, other notable winners include the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul for Europes Leading Hotel, a title that it has impressively kept a stronghold on since 2013. Pariss five-star The Peninsula won the the Leading Luxury Hotel award, while St. Petersburg  the city that hosted this years awards  bagged the title of the Leading City Destination.

Besides resorts and hotels, airlines also had their fair share of time under the spotlight. If youre travelling between Europe and the US or Canada any time soon, you might want to book your flight on KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines, which took the title of the best European airline to North America. Similarly, for travellers flying between Europe and Asia, British Airways is the airline carrier to turn to.

The winners of the prestigious World Travel Awards are determined based on the votes of travel professionals, industry leaders and consumer travellers. A standard vote carries a weighting of one, while verified travel professional votes carry a weighting of two.

The above winners of the Europe edition of the awards will later go forward to compete against those from the other editions in Asia, Australasia, North America and more. The 24th Annual World Travel Awards Grand Final will take place in Vietnam on December 10.
Properties / Homes

Oct 10, 2017 | By LUXUO

Very few luxury home options come with a royal address and an authentic wildlife safari experience, but thats exactly what Thanda Royal Residences promises.

Located in the heart of the Zulu Kingdom, Thanda Royal Residences is a private sanctuary and a one-of-a-kind living experience that is founded and offered by Swedish billionaires and philanthropists, Christin and Dan Olofsson. Making it extra special, the couples extended invitation to the luxury lodges are shared by the reigning King of the Zulu Nation, His Majesty King Zwelithini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu, ruler of the Zulu Kingdom.

An Interview with Pierre Delvaux, CEO of Thanda Group

LUXUO sits down with Pierre Delvaux, the CEO of Thanda Group (including Thanda Safari and Thanda Island), who tells us more about the aims and concept behind the beautiful Thanda Royal Residences and gives us an insight into the unique luxury living project.

LUXUO: What makes THANDA Royal Residence estate a truly iconic project rarely heard of?

Pierre Delvaux, CEO of Thanda Group: It is indeed an opportunity that very rarely comes around. First of all, it is underwritten by the Swedish billionaires, Dan and Christin Olofsson of Malmo, Sweden, who are the chairman and owner of Sigma AB in Europe. Having represented their family and observed their lifestyle for the past 15 years, the Thanda Royal Residence project was modelled around offering other discerning investors a taste of their unbelievable lifestyle. This includes a rich life quality with their family and friends, giving back through philanthropic projects in Africa to educate and empower under impoverished communities, pioneering conservation and endangered wildlife protection programmes, and basically living the life of King and Queen under the beautiful African sun.

Secondly, the King of the Zulu Nation, His Majesty King Zwelithini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu, Head of State of KwaZulu Natal, is a founding member of the project and residence owner. This is the first of its kind in Africa, as his patronage and involvement in the Royal Residence Estate, makes it a truly royal residential address. Thirdly, the land spanning some 14,000 ha is protected under the environmental law as a wilderness sanctuary and game reserve. This means that the real estate value is exceptional and continues to appreciate and increase each year, far more than another other piece of land in South Africa.

Fourthly, by owning a Residence within this award-winning member of the Leading Hotels of the World, you get a lifetime of rights to traverse over a vast tract of wilderness land, fully stocked with all of the Big 5 wildlife and game that is leased from the Zulu King. This means that you are not just buying a luxury residence In South Africa, but you are buying into the experience whereby buyers, their children, family and friends, can experience the rich culture of the Monarch and the Zulu nation, as well as the opportunity to appreciate the wild animals of Africa for the rest of your life. Lastly, the project is a legacy project that can be left to your children and grandchildren. The power of association of having some of the worlds wealthiest and influential philanthropists as members of this very elite and exclusive club of only 44 members in total, means that you share the pristine address with others who are giving back from their wealth, leaving a legacy whilst living the life of their dreams in a very safe, secure and beautiful environment.

How did you come up with this unique concept and in what ways are you partnering with the Royal Zulu family members?

The unique concept is really a duplication of what I have observed for the past 15 years, whilst representing and acting for the Dan and Christin Olofsson family. We are now offering this lifestyle, investment and humbling philanthropic opportunity to others who wish to live like Kings and Queens, whilst doing good by giving back and making a difference. The Royal family are members, along with Dan and Christin Olofsson and myself. I grew up on the property and have enjoyed a lifetime of association with the Zulu Monarch, and, since my adulthood, with the present reigning Zulu King. This means that he too will have one of his own palaces within the estate. Thanda also leases vast tracts of land from his Royal Trust which it manages on his behalf. This has been declared a protected reserve meaning that no one can ever change the land status nor infringe on your full title, whole ownership rights of land that are entrenched in this proclamation of protection. The Zulu nation are thus our partners, friends, neighbours as well as beneficiaries of philanthropic ventures.

What specific actions did you take in terms of wildlife conservation and environmental conservation in general (eco-friendly, specific construction materials being used, etc)?

Everything that Thanda does is centered around responsible environmental development and management. Thanda Island (www.thandaisland.com) which opened late last year, is a typical example of a self-sustaining, eco-friendly and responsible tourism development within a protected marine reserve in Tanzania, East Africa. In South Africa, Thanda has been at the forefront of wildlife conservation for more than 15 years. This has included the endangered Wild Dog protection programme, the endangered Cheetah protection programme, Elephant Breeding programmes and the most important being the Rhino, especially the endangered Black Rhino protection programme. Thanda is a founder member of Project Rhino which was established by Government Parks, leading KwaZulu Natal NGOs and land owners who own Rhino, in an effort to do something about the senseless killing of our Rhino.

Royal Residence members will enjoy the same benefits as the existing Thanda Swedish owners get to enjoy in terms of supporting our various conservation programmes. The construction footprint and development methods include the latest trends for eco-friendly residences. There are no internal fences or boundaries within the estate, and plain, non-dangerous game will be able to roam freely within the estate, giving members a unique experience of freedom under the African sky.

We understand that there are 40 magnificent villas available for sale with all the specific customizing features that can go with each of them. Can you elaborate more on this?

Thanda Royal Residences comprise 44 members or Villas in total. The Zulu King, the Olofsson family as well as my family, make up the first 3 founder members out of a total of 10 initial founder members. Having launched the project this month, we only have 4 Founder Members currently available before the first phase is sold out. Founder Members get a discounted purchase price with special benefits that other members will not have nor enjoy. Then there are 34 ordinary members who will own residences within the estate, making it a total of 44. Buyers get 3 primary choices of Villas, namely the standard 4 bedroom 350 sqm Villa, the 5 bedroom 500 sqm Villa, and then the flagship 850 sqm Villa. Each option comes with a toolbox of additional extras that owners can choose from in order to improve each option in terms of personal preferences. Each Villa boats state of the art luxuries and lifestyle features, expertly crafted to integrate with the lifestyle choices of discerning investors.

The land range sold along with a villa can vary in size from 1 to more than 42 hectares. What usage would you recommend to a discerning client going for 42 hectares plot of land?

The size of each plot of land is determined in order to maximize and optimize privacy, exclusivity and magnificent view. Hence, each plot size is different as the land covers deep valleys, river frontage, mountainous ridges and steep elevated views of the skyline in the distance. The plot has a pre-determined Villa footprint that has been carefully selected and chosen to ensure that the location is in the best possible place. The remaining extent of land will be natural bush. No other development is permitted and no internal fences or boundaries are permitted. This means that your Villa is truly secluded and set in a private, discreet and breathtaking location within the entire estate.

Seen from an Asian based investor perspective, what are the incentives and benefits in investing in South Africa? How secured and efficient is the buying process (legal framework and paperwork such as title deeds, fees to be disbursed, etc)?

The incentives of buying in South Africa is primarily due to the reality that Africa as a continent is rising, economically, socially and from a geo-political perspective. South Africa is considered the engine room of Sub-Saraha Africa, and with its developed and established infrastructure, robust constitution, tested legal justice system and entrenched land ownership rights for individuals. From an economic perspective, vast tracts of very fertile undeveloped land, ideal for agriculture, provides the world with future food security along with an abundance of water resources. The weather is considered amongst the best in the world in terms of the different season of the year with its ideal climate for great outdoor lifestyle living.

Having the Zulu King as a member, traversing his Royal Lands where members can view all of the naturally occurring game, including the big 5, means that by having the Head of State of our Province, coupled to an excellent national constitution, security and peace of mind are synonymous with Thanda Royal Residences. Individual land ownership rights are entrenched in the constitution and this is something that can give all investors peace of mind. The legal frame work for property ownership is thus secure, sustainable, credible and simple to understand. There are NO restrictions on foreign ownership of residential land in South Africa. Buyers will have their title deeds that they can leave to future generations by means of ownership through the Home Owners Association of 44 members.

Lastly, the capital appreciation on up market, exclusive protected land, is very attractive with annual returns outperforming most markets in the world. A team of highly competent, credible professionals of exceptional integrity will assist buyers to navigate their way through ownership structures, ideal tax planning, estate planning and money transfers.

Seen from an Asian based investor perspective, what are the incentives and benefits in investing in THANDA Royal Residence?

Asia is investing more money into Africa and Southern African than any other region. Asias future is interlinked with Africa, with its vase agricultural resources and potential for food security and water supply, mineral wealth, cultural wealth and a strategic partnership through membership of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Asia is looking to diversify their investment portfolios, and all indicators are that massive infrastructure investment and development in Southern Africa out of Asia will bring about future prosperity and unique and impressive growth.

Do you promote THANDA Royal Residence more like an opportunistic investment or a unique family holiday destination? What would be the expected R.O.I?

Thanda Royal Residences is a unique lifestyle opportunity, where wealthy families can live their lives like Kings and Queens in South Africa, whilst also going good through combined philanthropic ventures and programmes. Secondly, there is the power of association with other global wealthy members from around the world in one discreet, unique, private residence club. The real estate returns on the land and villa are also exceptional based on the model of the existing Villa belonging to the Olofsson family that was built in 2003 on Thanda. Members also have the opportunity to place their Villas in a rental pool, which will enable them to general rental returns on their investment. The ROI will depend on what Villa choice they go for, and the participation in the rental pool. However, it is estimated that returns of about 6  8 % excluding land appreciation would be fair to assume.

You are now promoting and selling Phase 1: what is the plan for Phase 2?

Phase two will only be started once phase one is fully sold out. This is to minimize any disturbance to the other residences in the estate. Phase 2 will be done in two tranches depending on the level of interest. We expect that as soon as phase one starts construction early next year, interest in phase 2 will be great.

For further information, please contact John Brun at +61 499099463 / john.brun@waldorfinvestments.co or visit www.waldorfinvestments.net
MARTINSVILLE  PHCCs visiting author symposium will end with a bang as the writer USA Today calls one of the reigning queens of womens fiction speaks on Thursday.

The New York Times bestselling (for several books) author Adriana Trigiani will speak at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, in Stone Hall Gym at PHCC. She will sign books starting at 10 a.m.

Trigianis bestselling books include Lucia, Lucia, Very Valentine, The Queen of the Big Time, The Shoemakers Wife, Rococo and All the Stars in the Heaven. She has won many literary awards, including various awards from Publishers Weekly.

Her first book, Big Stone Gap, became a movie starring Ashley Judd, Whoopi Goldberg, Jenna Elfman and Patrick Wilson in 2014. Big Stone Gap was named after and filmed in her Virginia hometown, though she has spent most of her professional life in New York City.

Tammy Forbes is PHCCs Writing Center and tutor coordinator and an English instructor.

Though Trigiani currently is on a tour for her latest book, Kissing Carlo  another New York Times bestseller  the humanities program at PHCC is interested more in Big Stone Gap, Forbes said.

That book deals with a lot of issues in our area weve had to deal with, like change, Forbes said. It is a fictional story in a real setting and situation: Its characters are adapting to life after the coal mine, which had been the backbone of the town, closes.

It is comparable with how the Martinsville/Henry County area has had to adjust to the new local economy after the closing of the textile and furniture factories, Forbes said. In the book, like locally, people were scared by change. Their lives were totally disrupted, she said.

Many of her books feature fictional characters in historical settings, Forbes said. Kissing Carlo is set in the period after World War II, and the changes that World War II made are the changes she talks about in the book.

Combined, Forbes said, she and Kathy Price, the administrative coordinator in the division of Academic Success and College Transfer, have read several of Trigianis books.

We agree that change is a pattern, a motif or a recurring type of thing that she deals with in all these novels, she said, [including] changes in the community, changes in the world, changes that affect (characters) lives because theres nothing they can do about them. The changing economy and changing way of life  the characters have to cope with that.

Trigianis writing style is like talking to somebody, Forbes described. Its easy to read and has a lot of conversations in it. Its very accessible.

In July, Forbes, Kathy Price and Joyce Staples went to hear Trigiani talk about Kiss Carlo at Quail Oaks bookstore in Raleigh, North Carolina. They knew they should get their early, Forbes said  because when they called to reserve a spot for an earlier appearance in Southern Pines, North Carolina, they were told it was sold out.

They arrived at the Raleigh shop early, and it was full, Forbes said. The group sat near some of Trigianis college friends, who told them some stories about her.

The electricity in the store went out before the author arrived, but Trigiani didnt let that stop her: She used a flashlight and spoke for more than an hour anyway, Forbes said.

Before she could answer all of the questions the audience had for her, a store worker announced that the session had to finish because fire code did not allow that many people to be in the building at dark without electricity. Trigiani took people who still had questions to a side entrance to stand in the area beside the store where daylight gave a little light to finish, Forbes said.

I was very impressed with not only Trigianis talk, but also her determination to continue her time with her readers, Forbes added.

PHCCs Humanities Honors Program, which includes the visiting author series, is funded through a $100,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The theme of the PHCC program is Appalachian culture. Former professor Angela Wright, who recently has retired, was the colleges director of the humanities grant and helped establish the program.

The basis of the program is six standard classes taught in greater depth than normal. The program also will include enrichment activities such as visits from authors and field trips. This is the first year it is holding classes, and Forbes is the teacher of the first, English 111.

In the class, Forbes said, she uses local works as the springboard for instruction and assignments that would be enhanced versions of that taught in the basic English class.
#BenvingudaRepublica (Welcome Republic): this is the hashtag being used to organise mobilisations today, Oct 10 in Barcelona, when the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, will address Catalan Parliament about the results of the independence referendum on Oct 1. Those organising the mobilisations have two aims: to push Puigdemont to actually declare the Catalan Republic and also to defend and protect the session of the Catalan Parliament (the Spanish Constitutional Tribunal already ruled on Friday that a session which was to take place on Monday had to be cancelled). What will happen?

Let's go back a few days. The brutal repression of the Catalan independence referendum was met with a massive Catalan-wide stoppage combined with a general strike on Oct 3, which brought hundreds of thousands to the streets in Barcelona and tens of thousands to towns and cities across Catalonia.

For a few days there was a lot of talk of negotiations and mediation. Initiating these talks was the Catalan government, which seemed to be wavering and looking for a way out. Two things prevented them from moving towards compromise: mass pressure on the streets during the Oct 3 general stoppage but also the stubborn and provocative position of the Spanish government, also under pressure from its right. The King's speech on Oct 3 in the evening was harsh and sent a clear and sharp message: NO NEGOTIATION, NO TALKS, SURRENDER OR ELSE.

The message was aimed at the Catalan government but also at the PSOE party in case it was having second thoughts on giving the PP full support in measures against Catalonian self-rule.

Unidos Podemos then intensified their campaign and either initiated or took advantage of an initiative called "Let's Talk" (Parlem - Hablemos). In a complete misreading of the situation (one that cannot come from ignorance but from political calculation) their argument was: this is a clash of trains, both sides should talk to each other and reach a negotiated agreement. What a scandal! The Spanish regime is denying the right of self-determination and using truncheons to prevent people from actually voting, but according to Podemos and IU it all comes down to "lack of dialogue! Instead, they should have been saying: we stand for the right of self-determination, which is a basic democratic right. The Spanish regime is denying this basic right, therefore the regime must be brought down.

On Saturday, in a program by Catalan broadcaster TV3, Pablo Iglesias said that a Unilateral Declaration of Independence on the part of the Catalan government would be a grave mistake as it would "give the PP all excuses to suppress democratic rights in Catalonia", which in reality, particularly in the absence of any realistic alternative, is an argument in general against any strike, demonstration or act of civil disobedience.

Catalan independence protest / Wikicommons

On Saturday, Oct 7 there were demonstrations in different parts of Spain under the "let's talk" slogan. In Barcelona, a sizeable crowd gathered, but these were mainly against independence rather than being for negotiation. Outside of Catalonia however, these demonstrations were seen as a (very weak) attempt to resist the growing wave of reactionary Spanish nationalism. In Madrid thousands gathered, dressed in white, for talks, but also in opposition to an ugly reactionary crowd for Spanish unity. The crowd included prominent leaders of the ruling PP and its political spectrum went all the way to the far right and open fascist elements.

On Sunday there was a big march in Barcelona that had been billed as being against independence and for Spanish unity. The "silent majority" of Catalans against independence were going to come out. Who convened the demo? An organisation called Catalan Civil Society (SCC), which has now attempted to clean up its image but has far-right elements amongst its founders. The demo had the backing of PP and Ciudadanos, but also that of the Catalan PSOE (PSC) which sent a letter to its members encouraging them to participate. Again, as in Madrid, this was an opportunity for the far-right to came out in public. Far-right (Vox, Hazte Oir, PxC, Identitarians), openly fascist (Falange, Legion) and openly Nazi (Democracia Nacional) organisations were all present and officially calling for the demonstration.

The crowd was estimated by Barcelona local police at 300,000, which is probably accurate. Make no mistake, this was a sizeable demonstration, though nothing like what we saw during the general strike a few days earlier (700,000) nor during Catalan national day on Sept 11 (1 million). The demonstration was not just for Spanish unity, this was a demonstration which cheered on the National Police and Civil Guard which had broken up the independence referendum and called on Catalan president Puigdemont to be jailed.

Those present fell broadly into a four categories: middle-class and upper-middle-class from the wealthy neighbourhoods of Barcelona, some layers of backward working-class elements from the red belt outside of Barcelona, lumpen fascist elements, people who had come from outside Catalonia (bused in and in trains, from Madrid, Valencia, Andalucia, etc).

It would be wrong to say that the demonstration was a fascist one. If it were, we would be talking of a mass fascist demonstration and that would certainly be extremely dangerous. Fascists were clearly present, a few hundred at most, they blended in with the rest of the reactionary crowd, acted from within it and went on the rampage in a several incidents attacking mainly migrants, but also others. The Spanish police had a policy of tolerance towards their actions.

Saludos nazis de los " democratas" en BCN pic.twitter.com/4A2KzSnEWT  juan carlos mohr (@juancarlosmohr) October 8, 2017

Fascist aggression against a Latin American migrant, Barcelona metro, after Spanish unity demo, Oct 8 pic.twitter.com/H4KVNZ6orX  Jorge Martin (@marxistJorge) October 9, 2017

It would also be wrong to say that the bulk of the demonstrators came from outside Catalonia, as some have tried to argue. The PP and Ciudadanos  the two main forces behind this demo  received a total of over 750,000 votes in the Sept 27, 2015 Catalan elections just in the province of Barcelona. In a highly polarised situation they are of course able to mobilise large numbers in the streets. A big demonstration does not mean a majority of Catalans reject independence. Nor does it mean that all Catalans who oppose independence are reactionary. About 170,000 turned out to vote NO on Oct 1. However, the demonstration on Sunday was thoroughly reactionary in its character, slogans and aims.

Over the last few days we have also seen intense pressure from the Catalan bourgeoisie on Puigdemont not to go ahead with a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI in Catalan). One of the main bosses organisations (Cercle d'Economia) had a meeting with the Catalan president on Saturday with one clear message: NO DUI. On Sunday, the head of the largest and oldest Catalan bosses organisation, Guy de Montella from Fomento Nacional del Trabajo, was present at the reactionary unionist demo. The FNT issued a very sharply worded statement the day after with one message: not one single step further towards a DUI. The last few days have witnessed a constant stream (more like a flood) of Catalan companies and banks announcing they were moving their fiscal residence outside of Catalonia (La Caixa, Banc de Sabadell, Abengoa, Freixenet, etc). In fact the largest Catalan companies have either moved or announced they will move their fiscal residence if there is independence.

Take note those who think that the movement for Catalan self-determination is being driven by the Catalan bourgeoisie! Those who lead the Catalan government are bourgeois and petty-bourgeois politicians, but the capitalist class in Catalonia is unequivocally AGAINST Catalan independence, for two reasons, which they explained clearly. One, it would create uncertainty and disruption (including the question of EU membership), which is never good for business. Two: it is unleashing a movement of the masses on the streets with its own dynamics, which they fear as a mortal threat.

These highly publicised decisions (encouraged by a new law by the Spanish government easing the legal requirements to move fiscal residence) are a form of economic blackmail against a Catalan republic and have already had a certain impact on the ruling PDECAT, which is after all a bourgeois party. A string of statements from prominent party members have questioned the wisdom of declaring a DUI, including Catalan government member Santi Vila, the party's general coordinator Marta Pascal and former Catalan president and party heavyweight Artur Mas. They have all argued for a form of "symbolic" declaration of independence which would somehow not come into being for a few months more (perhaps via Constituent Assembly elections).

However, any attempt by the Catalan government to climb down and start a retreat faces two main problems. One: the fact that the Spanish state, rather than offering any way out, is hardening its stance. Two: the fact that there is a mass movement in the streets for Catalan independence, which braved police repression to make sure the referendum took place and they would see anything short of recognition of its results as a betrayal.

Monday Oct 9 was also Valencia's national day. The Catalan-speaking region south of Catalonia usually sees demonstrations in defence Valencian language (as Catalan is called there) as well as institutional events. This year the day was marked by tension over Catalan independence. An unauthorised far-right demonstration of a few hundred thugs attacked two left-wing and nationalist demonstrations, while the police watched on. The scenes were hair-raising; with the fascist thugs chanting slogans against the main left and Catalan nationalist leaders: Artur Mas camara de gas (gas chamber for Artur Mas), Puigdemont al paredon (Puigdemont to the execution squad), metralleta para el de la coleta (machine gun Pablo Iglesias), dinamita para el podemita (dynamite against podemos supporters), Monica Oltra hija de puta, (Monica Oltra, motherfucker), while giving the fascist salute.

fascistas envalentonados en el #9dOctubre en Valencia - atacan a Guillem Agullo, Monica Oltra, Puigdemont, Podemos

pic.twitter.com/oVRQQZ0HxY  Jorge Martin (@marxistJorge) October 9, 2017

On the same day, there was a failed arson attack against the national headquarters of the CUP in Barcelona, as well as an earlier attack against the offices of Podemos and ERC in Sabadell.

The fascist gangs are not large in numbers, but now they have been allowed to take the streets with the acquiescence of the ruling PP and the connivance of the police.

The lesson from this is clear: the fascists need to be fought back by well-organised stewarding and self-defence by the left and working-class organisations. Demonstrations, offices and well-known leading figures need to be protected. In Valencia there should be a call for a mass anti-fascist demonstration mobilising the full might of the workers organisations.

On the eve of the Oct 10, Pablo Casado (the national spokesperson of the Popular Party) showed clearly the intentions of the ruling party and the Spanish regime. In an incendiary press statement he recalled the anniversary of the October 6 events in 1934, when Catalan president Companys declared a Catalan State, adding that he hoped "no one would make the same mistake as anyone making it would end up in the same way".

Companys was arrested in 1934 but he "ended up" being shot by Franco. A chilling reminder that both the PP and the Spanish 1978 regime sink their roots in the Franco dictatorship.

Casado added he would propose the introduction of legislation banning parties ADVOCATING independence, which would leave parties currently representing 48.5% of the Catalan electorate outside of the law.

Regarding the mobilisations being organised for Oct 10: the official civil society demonstrations are calling for a rally outside the perimeter of the Ciutadella Park, which houses the Catalan parliament in the afternoon, when the session is supposed to take place. However, others have different ideas. Several Committees for the Defence of the Referendum, the rank and file bodies which sprung ahead of Oct 1 and played a key role in defending the polling stations, are calling for people to start gathering outside parliament itself from 6am in order not only to make sure the session can go ahead, but also that members of parliament inside actually go through with the declaration of the Catalan Republic.

The students movement, which has played a key role in the independence movement, is calling for students to march in columns from their universities from 12.30pm in the afternoon to converge outside parliament at 2pm.

It is likely that Puigdemont will make a declaration of independence in one form or another. The PP, Cs, PSC and others will attempt to block it. He might just announce it without putting it to the vote, on the strength of the referendum result, to which he is legally bound. He might attempt a manoeuvre to gain time.

As soon as any decision is taken or announced the Spanish state will move swiftly and strongly against it. Already 150 agents from the special intervention unit of the Civil Guard are stationed near the Barcelona airport, ready to take over key transport and infrastructure centres if independence is declared. Today, the Catalan Supreme Court of Justice has announced it was switching its security arrangements from the Catalan police Mossos to the Spanish National Police. Article 155 which allows for the suspension of Catalan self-rule is likely to be used. Those responsible for the declaration of independence could be arrested (the Catalan government, the speakers of Parliament, etc).

The Spanish state might want to use Spain's national day on Oct 12 to mobilise people in the streets throughout the country, including in Barcelona, to back its actions and give them legitimacy.

But any move on the part of the Spanish state to arrest the Catalan government and/or suspend autonomy will be met with fierce resistance, mass demonstrations and general strikes. Two small unions have already legally registered a general strike to take place at any time between Oct 10 and 20, so that a strike can actually be called legally at short notice on any of those dates.

October 10 will be yet another crucial turning point in the mass movement in Catalonia and the crisis of the Spanish regime. The masses will be on the scene once more, and what will happen will depend, to a large extent, on their actions.

Tomorrow will also see the launch of the new paper of the IMT in Catalonia: REVOLUCIO.

Catalan paper of the IMT / Own Work
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May says Britain prepared to leave EU with no deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May (Xinhua file photo)

LONDON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May gave her clearest indication so far on Monday that Britain would be prepared to leave the European Union with no deal.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons on the first day back after the conference season, May said achieving a special partnership after Brexit will require leadership and flexibility, not just from Britain, but from the 27 nations of the EU.

"As we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic it will receive a positive response," May told MPs in her first parliamentary statement since her big speech last month in Florence.

May added: "What we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us, but I believe that will also be the best possible deal for our European friends too. Progress will not always be smooth but by approaching these negotiations in a constructive way in a spirit of friendship and cooperation and with our sights firmly set on the future, I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong."

In her statement, May said the British government had published Monday two new policy consultation statements on trade and customs.

"These pave the way for legislation to allow the UK to operate as an independent trading nation and to create an innovative customs system that will help us achieve the greatest possible tariff and barrier-free trade as we leave the EU," said May.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, responded to May's speech by saying that 16 months on after the referendum, no significant progress has been made.

The government is no closer to deciding what it wants, said Corbyn.

May's statement came as the fifth round of negotiations between Britain and the EU started in Brussels.

Brexit Secretary David Davis sat alongside May as she delivered her statement, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson seated some distance away.

Some media observers speculated this could be significant after calls on May to fire or demote Johnson.
In the years that Next Frontier Capital http://www.nextfrontiercapital.com/ launched in Montana, it has enabled nine companies in the state to create 81 new jobs with $8.6 million in compensation.

Along the way, it has invested $47 million in capital.

By Martin Kidston
Sentinel is the first high school in Montana to offer the AP Capstone program launched by the College Board in 2014 as part of a new effort to equip "students with the independent research, collaborative teamwork, and communication skills that are increasingly valued by colleges."

JAYME FRASER [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/news/local/sentinel-high-school-students-learn-how-to-learn-in-new/article_acd2f9a0-6fda-55bf-aeda-f3b7b6055dbe.html#tncms-source=home-top-story-1
Nicolas Terraz, who has been recently appointed President of Exploration and Production and member of the executive committee of TotalEnergies, will participate in Africa Oil Week (www.AfricaOilWeek.com) in Dubai. He will deliver an opening address on Monday 8 November 2021 on TotalEnergies strategic position within the evolving African upstream landscape.

TotalEnergies remains strongly committed to Africa, and we look forward to sharing and discussing our vision at Africa Oil Week in Dubai, says Terraz.

Terraz will be accompanied by Henri-Max Ndong Nzue, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President for Africa, and Kevin McLachlan, the companys Senior Vice President of Exploration. Both will take to the stage to discuss current operating trends, and outline value-creation opportunities through high-impact portfolios and new entry prospects.

This impressive line-up of speakers from TotalEnergies complements its high-profile involvement as one of Africa Oil Weeks leading sponsors. For many years, TotalEnergies has been a loyal partner of Africa Oil Week, considered as the major event of the oil industry on the African continent.

Terraz joined TotalEnergies in 2001 and was Senior Vice President for Africa from 2019 until August 2021, before being promoted to his current position.

The appointment of Ndong Nzue, who replaces Terraz as Senior Vice President for Africa, is significant, particularly in the African context. Until recently, Ndong Nzue was previously Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Americas at Total Marketing and Services, and also held the position of Managing Director of Total Gabon.

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WeChat vote buying is becoming a money-making venture in China. [File Photo: zj.zjol.com.cn]

Online voting for contests is nothing new. However, Wechat-based voting has become a money-making venture in China, reports the Beijing News.

Because WeChat is widely used across China, various contests are hosted on Tencent's social media platform.

Often times participants will share a voting link with their contacts or chat groups for various contests in China which require online votes, begging for "a precious vote" for someone they know.

This has spawned a "cottage industry" in China, with people now offering to supply individuals or companies with votes.

Prices are said to cost around 100 yuan for 300 votes for companies taking part in consumer-based contests, such as "best restaurant."

Others are offering rates for individual rankings.

These prices can run as high as 8,000 yuan to "ensure" that a person will earn the top prize in these types of competitions.

The report in the Beijing News suggests concerns are being raised about the vote-buying schemes.

Some argue that the costly voting is promoting negative values, especially for children.

Others note that voting contests which require real-name registration can drive up the potential risk of identity theft by groups hoping to sell votes.

Education authorities in China have issued a notice, calling for limits in online campus voting.

Authorities are also warning would-be vote buyers that the rankings are ultimately decided by the organizations putting on the vote, meaning a massive payout for the "top prize" can't be guaranteed.
The Old Fort Board of Aldermen offered condolences shooting victims in Las Vegas during Mondays meeting.

According to Alderman Andrew Carlton, he has spoken on two separate occasions to Las Vegas Mayor Protem Lois Tarkanian and offered thoughts and prayers on behalf of the board to the victims of last Sundays mass shooting, in which 59 people were killed and nearly 500 were injured in an outdoor country music festival on the strip.

Shes asked that we keep them in our prayers, along with their family members, said Carlton. Their biggest problem right now is providing security for peoples families from the media. The media is bombarding the victims families and theyre having a difficult time providing safety.

In other business:

 There were no public comments

 In old business, the aldermen confirmed that the state has approved everything that would be listed under the towns recent revitalization grant. According to Hensley, beautification projects will commence once the money arrives.

 Trunk-or-treat in Old Fort will be held Halloween night on North Railroad Street, with the road closing after 5 p.m. for public safety. All welcomed businesses and citizens must contact Town Hall if they plan on attending and passing out candy in order to accommodate needs.

 The Old Fort Christmas lighting ceremony will be held Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Depot.

 In new business, the board is holding a Meet the Candidates forum for the upcoming town election on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Depot. The Q&A session will be moderated by Terry Wilson. Refreshments will be served.

The next Board of Aldermen meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said Monday the country will make a greater contribution to global poverty reduction.

"China is an active advocate and strong force for world poverty alleviation," Wang said at a forum.

China will share its experiences and improve collaboration with other countries to push for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said.

After years of work, China is closing in on its goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, with a baseline task of lifting all people out of poverty. More than 10 million people have been freed from poverty each year since 2012.

As of the end of 2016, there were still 43.35 million people living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (344 U.S. dollars) in annual income, about 3 percent of the population.

Completing the task will require precise measures, focused on specific areas and groups, Wang said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter of congratulation to the meeting, which gathered more than 200 people, including government officials from 13 countries and representatives of 16 international organizations.
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"Being a geneticist, I was naturally curious about the Durian genome- what gene causes its pungent smell? How did its spiny husk arise?" said study co-lead author Professor Teh Bin Tean, a durian lover and currently the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore.Using state-of-the-art sequencing platforms, the team mapped the genome of a particular durian variety called Musang King ("Mao Shan Wang" in Chinese), known for its exceptionally delicate texture and potent aroma and considered as the King of Kings in the local durian world.The team's analysis revealed that the durian genome comprises approximately 46,000 genes, almost double that in humans who have about 23,000 genes. Based on the newly generated genomic data, the team also studied the evolution of durian and traced its relationship 65 million years back to the cacao plant which produces chocolate.The team also focused on the million dollar question:"What causes the durian's notorious smell?" By comparing gene activity patterns from different parts of the durian plant, including leaves, roots, and ripening fruits, they identified a class of genes called MGLs (methionine gamma lyases) that regulate the production of odour compounds called volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs)."Our analysis revealed that VSC production is turbocharged in durian fruits, which fits with many people's opinions that durian smell has a 'sulphury' aspect'," said co-lead author Professor Patrick Tan from Duke-NUS Medical School.The team speculates that in the wild,The technological expertise developed by the team may also be applied to other plants, including those that may be of medicinal value.Professor Soo Khee Chee, Director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore explained: "There is a long and distinguished history of medicines being discovered from plants. The best example is Taxol, the well-known drug used for treating breast cancer, and it is originally derived from the bark of the Pacific yew!"The team notes that besides the specific durian species (Durio zibethenus) sequenced in this study, there are over 25 other durian species in nature, some are edible and some are not."Many of these other durian species are in this part of the world and sadly some are endangered due to the increasing loss of biodiversity. DNA sequencing is thus an important tool to protect the precious information contained in these fascinating and important plants," said Prof Teh.Published in the prestigious journalthe team has donated the Durian genome data to the National Parks Board, where they hope it will spur further durian research and education in Singapore and the region.The team also looks forward to working with the National Parks Board's botanists to study other plants, especially those endangered in the region due to increasing deforestation and industrialization.Source: Eurekalert
Genetically engineered hens were found to lay eggs that contain drugs which can fight serious diseases including cancer. If successful, the method can be used as a cost-cutting alternative for the treatment of cancer.



The team from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology used have interferon beta, a protein related to the immune system. It is used in the treatment of malignant skin cancer and hepatitis, as well as for research in viral infections.

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Genetically engineered hens whose eggs contain drugs that can fight serious diseases including cancer, could be used as a cost-effective treatment.

Chickens Lay Eggs That Contain Drugs To Fight Cancer
Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs G. Katrougalos met today, in a working luncheon, with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Roman Vassilenko, with whom he is co-chairing the Greek-Kazakhstani Joint Inter-ministerial Committee.



During the meeting, they discussed issues concerning bilateral relations, issues that will form the agenda of the Greek-Kazakhstani Joint Inter-ministerial Committee, which is to convene in Athens in the first half of 2018, as well as issues concerning the cooperation between the European Union and Kazakhstan.



Issues bearing on the promotion of Greeces economic cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union were also discussed.



Mr. Vassilenko invited Mr. Katrougalos to officially visit Kazakhstan soon. The invitation was accepted and the visit will take place on 4 December 2017.
An executive of the refinery is interviewed by journalists.

The Atyrau Oil Refinery in Kazakhstan, once on the verge of closure, is under a full test run and its oil production rises by times after being upgraded by a Chinese enterprise, CCTV.com reported on Oct. 9.

The refinery, one of the largest in Kazakhstan, was built in 1945 and is designed to produce 4.9 million tons of oil a year. But it has been on the verge of closure for a long time due to backward technology and equipment.

Since 2009, Chinas Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd. has invested a total of $2.7 billion in the upgrading of deep-processing equipment and the manufacturing of aromatics, which has greatly alleviated insufficient supply of refined oil in the country and helped to produce high-quality oil products that meet international standards.

A manager at the refinery said that the refinery has become the most important one of its kind in the country, with the yearly production of gasoline increasing to 1.7 million tons from 600,000 tons in the past.

In addition, the project drove the technological progress of equipment manufacturing and employment in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan over the past few years, Li Zhigao, director of the project pointed out.
Thousands of Americans on Saturday rushed to buy Szechuan sauce at McDonalds restaurants after the fast food restaurant chain announced that it was bringing back the sauce for one day only, thepaper.cn reported on Oct. 9.

According to The New York Times, McDonalds first launched the sauce in 1998 for promotion of the film Mulan, and brought the sauce back after it was mentioned on the popular American animated science-fiction sitcom Rick and Morty shown this April.

Many people failed to get their hands on the sauce after lining up for hours because of limited supply and chaotic scenes unfolded at restaurant chains across America.

McDonalds later responded to the snafu and said they felt sorry about failing to supply customers with enough sauce and promised to bring it back once again this winter. The sauce will be available at many McDonalds restaurants.
Sixteen graduates from Chinas prestigious Peking and Tsinghua universities, including two doctors, started a barbecue restaurant named Lancet in downtown Beijing, gaining wide attention from the medical community, China Youth Daily reported on Oct. 10.

The small grill has been in operation since last April. Cheng Si and Wang Jian, two doctors graduating from Peking University, named it Lancet to honor the worlds oldest and best known general medical journal.

The editor-in-chief of The Lancet in the UK will reportedly come to China for an academic meeting and is likely to visit this special restaurant.

The doctor-themed restaurant takes food safety seriously. It aims to provide clean and safe barbecue for customers, most of whom are doctors. Since Sept. 21, a special discount can be given to peers who have published papers on influential citation indexes such as SCI, SSCI, and CSSCI in the past five years.

Running the grill is only a side job for the two young doctors, which helps them worry less about income so that they can be better doctors, said Wang Jian.

Now, Cheng and Wang are not only shop owners, but also editorial board members of a medical journal. Since this new business opened, Cheng has passed her PhD dissertation defense and Wang has been accredited as attending physician.

The side job shouldnt have a negative impact on their work as doctors, said the two. And they practice this rule strictly.

As medical students and practitioners busy themselves with literature and papers, its hoped that the grill can provide support and comfort to peers, said Cheng.
HURON COUNTY -- The safest place in the county is also now one of the cleanest after area bankers spent their Columbus Day holiday giving a helping hand to the local shelter.

The Huron County SafePlace is a shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault from all areas of the Thumb.

On Monday, as part of Chemical Bank's annual Care Day, members of the Bad Axe branch spent the day doing yard work, cleaning the shelter from top to bottom, washing walls and even adding a fresh coat of paint -- donated by Moritmer Lumber -- to the shelter's shed.

"It's an important cause to me and I'm a big supporter of SafePlace here in Huron County," said Pam Will, relationship banker for Chemical Bank. "I believe it's important to support this cause and we're doing that here today (Monday)."

Will was accompanied by nine of her fellow colleagues during Monday's Care Day. Her husband, John, even spent a good portion of his weekend power washing and cleaning the gutters of the shelter.

"It's really inspiring for SafePlace and what they can do for our community to help us out," said MJ Caradonna, shelter operations manager. "It helps a lot because we're running completely on donations."

"It's really a good feeling to know there's people out there doing great things like this," she added.

After a long day of labor, Chemical Bank workers also donated cleaning supplies to the shelter for future use.

In related news, SafePlace will host a candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. tonight in front of the Huron County Courthouse building in honor of domestic violence awareness month.
UPPER THUMB -- With the fall harvest underway, yield predictions look good for many local crops.

Despite heavy spring rains, dry bean yields are "better than expected," said Caleb Sundblad, marketing specialist for Cooperative Elevator Co. of Pigeon.

But the flooding -- which hurt the Saginaw-Bay City area worse than the Upper Thumb -- did affect the crop.

"Between drowned out areas, replants and delayed plantings, the heavy rains affected yield," said Bob Battel, crops educator for Michigan State University Extension.

"There are a lot of small beans getting screened out," Battel added.

"Some of the crop had to be replanted, or was planted late," Sundblad said. "The later planted beans have yet to be harvested, but if they can be taken off in time, (they) should yield very well. I would say the average yields will be somewhere north of 20 cwt/acre."

Soybeans

Soybeans fared better.

"Soybeans can take the excessive water better than dry beans," Battel said.

"Conditions this year were conducive for mold development and some growers experienced issues," Sundblad said. "But most are still happy with how the crop has yielded. Last year, there were numerous reports of records being set across the area. This year, the tone is a bit different, but still production should be high."

Sundblad estimates local average yields of 48-49 bushels per acre, and looks for the soybean harvest to wrap up within the next couple of weeks.

"The unseasonably warm weather has really advanced the corn and bean (soy and dry) crops after a very cool August," Battel said. "People were wondering if the crops would mature, and they have. The dry weather has allowed for harvest to progress as fields The dry weather has created a challenge for winter wheat. A nice rain would help those plants get out of the ground.

Corn

The weather this summer, however, was very good for the corn crop, which is expected to hit a record this year.

"This year's corn crop looks like it could be a record setter," Sundblad said. "Yields will easily push north of 200 bushels per acre in some spots."

"If the current estimates are realized," he added, "The state would break records both for yields and production."

While the local average will probably be around 180-185 bushels per acre, Sundblad said, the United States Department of Agriculture projects Michigan to have a statewide average yield of 170. That would top the 2015 yield of 167.

"The USDA also expects the state of Michigan to produce a total of 358.28 million bushels of corn for grain in 2017 while last year the final number was 320.28 million," Sundblad added. "The state record for production is 355.81 million bushels, which was produced in 2014."

With warm and dry weather over the past few weeks, Sundblad expects the harvest to begin soon.

Sugarbeets

"I've heard that sugar content is good," Battel said. "Cercospora leaf spot, which has been a very big problem the last two years is down this year. Leaf spot decreases sugar content."

"The very dry weather late summer/early fall has been hard on beets," Battel added. "Beets grow right up until they are harvested. They use all the late season rains to grow. I've heard that Michigan Sugar has decreased projected yield to 27 or 28 tons/acre (down from 30)."
BAD AXE --Some members of the Huron County Planning Commission are disappointed in a recent wind energy zoning report from Michigan State University Extension.

Last week, the planners reviewed "Sample Zoning for Wind Energy Systems," which is part of the MSU Extension Land Use Series.

Criticism included the fact that wind developers from NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and DTE Energy contributed to discussion of the subject prior to publication.

Planner Ken Walker called the report "very one-sided."

"This is not independent," he said. "To me, it's useless."

Anything beneficial, Walker said, was in the original document published in March. Soon after that, it was taken down from MSU's website, and another version was released Aug. 24.

The March version included recommendation of a 2,500-foot setback from the property line of a non-participating landowner.

Planning commission Chairman Bernie Creguer said this was an impossible standard, and that it would create exclusionary zoning.

That recommendation was taken out of the August report.

Jeff Smith, county building and zoning director, was one of eight people who reviewed the publication.

He told the board the extent of his involvement was to:

 Provide MSU with a copy of the county's 2015 wind ordinance

 Provide the sound methodology that was included in the 2015 ordinance

 Review the portions of the pamphlet that referred to Huron County.

Planner Robert McLean said he would have appreciated it if Smith had notified the commission that he was involved with the report.

"I didn't skew it one way or another," Smith answered. He added that MSU chose what went into to the pamphlet, and he gave no opinions in his feedback.

Smith said he distributed the document to planners as soon as he received it.

"I've lost a lot of faith in MSU," McLean said. "This is politically motivated -- not independent science."

"I don't see really any value in this new document, unfortunately," McLean added, later saying he was "outraged" by it.

Planner Robert Oakes had pointed out that universities are typically in favor of green energy.

The 40-page pamphlet includes court and case law; cautions and commentary; reports on noise and shadow flicker; and a section entitled, "Not all wind farms are controversial."

"Research includes a 'place identity theory' where a person's personal identity is tied to valued landscapes in place," the report reads. "In other words landscape has a symbolic value -- so those with a strong bond to their community may view wind farms as a form of 'alien invasion' ... "

Outside interests benefitting from the local community also contributes to opposition to wind development, the report says.

At last week's meeting, Smith and McLean also debated what is the best sound methodology for wind ordinances, which the report also addresses.

Walker criticized the report for showing no impact on property values where there are wind turbines, and presented an article that showed a decline in the value of homes near wind turbines.

The full report by MSU can be found at http://msue.anr.msu.edu/resources/sample_zoning_for_wind_energy_systems_2017

In other planning commission business, planners:

 Received a letter from the Huron County Farm Bureau stating that large-scale solar production is incompatible with agricultural production.

 Approved a PA 116 (farmland preservation) partial termination application for Stephen Gayari in Winsor Township.

 Approved a PA 116 application for Leslie and Linda Weiss of Huron Township.

 Approved PA 116 applications for Leslie, Troy and Katie Jo Volmering; and another for Troy Volmering in Sherman Township; and one for Johannes and Anthonia Verhaar in Grant Township. The PA 116 applications will go before the Huron County Board of Commissioners for final approval.

The following meetings were announced to take place in Room 305 of the County Building on Oct. 25: Planning commission by-laws committee at 5:30 p.m.; and a Huron County Master Plan workshop at 7 p.m.

The next regular meeting of the planning commission will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 1, also in Room 305 of the County Building.
Egypt's Candidate for the UNESCO position of director-general, Moshira Khattab, will be a second round finalist for the post after she came in third out of seven candidates in the first round of secret-ballot voting by the organization's 58-member-state executive board in Paris on Monday.

Qatar's candidate Abdulaziz Al-Kawari came in first with 19 votes while France's candidate Audrey Azoulay finished second with 13, Egyptian state TV's UNESCO correspondent reported.

A second round of secret-ballot voting to elect the new chief among the three contenders will be held on Tuesday.

The winner must be supported by 30 of the 58 members of the board and then approved by the 195-member general assembly.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry is currently in Paris to support the veteran Egyptian diplomat.

Kattab was born in Cairo in 1944.

She graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University in 1967. She holds a PHD on child rights from Cairo University, as well as an M.A. in International Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

Khattab joined the ministry of foreign affairs in 1968.

She served as Egypt's ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1990 to 1995, and later the ambassador to South Africa from 1995 to 1999.

Shortly after the end of her diplomatic career in 1999, she shifted her focus to human rights, serving as secretary-general of the country's National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), where she tackled the issues of female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.

She was appointed as minister of family and population from March 2009 to February 2011.

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Middletown police reported the following arrests:

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: Shane OReilly, 28, of Erin Street, was arrested Sept. 29 on a warrant and charged with criminal mischief. He was released on $500 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 13.

BREACH OF PEACE: Kayla Prescott, 31, of Prospect Street, was arrested Oct. 1 and issued a misdemeanor summons for breach of peace. She is accused of engaging in a verbal and physical altercation with a neighbor.

EVADING: Jennifer Kelly, 42, of Tryon Street, Glastonbury, was arrested Sept. 1 and issued a misdemeanor summons for distracted driving, evading responsibility and failure to maintain lane. Kelly claimed her phone rang as she was driving and looked away from the road to answer it, causing her to leave her travel lane and hit a parked vehicle, police said. She then allegedly left the scene before returning 30 minutes later. She was issued a court date of Oct. 3.

POSSESSION: Adam Dunbar, 35, of Perth Road, Hagaman, New York, was arrested Sept. 29 and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, weapons in a motor vehicle, carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana and failure to signal. Police observed a motor vehicle change lanes without signaling and initiated a motor vehicle stop. Officers smelled marijuana emanating from the car and observed a large knife sheathed on his belt, police said. Police searched the vehicle and found a small piece of plastic around 0.5 grams of cocaine, a colored glass pipe containing partially burnt marijuana residue, a small round rubber container containing marijuana wax residue, a glass pipe with burnt residue, a Butane torch, a .40 caliber bullet, two knives and a pry bar that had been grinded down into a sharp knife, according to the report. He was held in lieu of $5,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 2.

THREATENING: Paul Godet, 31, of Berlin Street, was arrested Oct. 1 and charged with threatening, improper lane change, traveling unreasonably fast, failure to carry a drivers license and failure to carry an insurance card. Police observed a car traveling at a high rate of speed cut in-between two vehicles, so the officers initiated a motor vehicle stop. When an officer attempted to speak with Godet, he repeatedly shouted profanities, threatening to harm the officers, according to the report. Godet also did not have insurance or a drivers license with him, police said. He was held in lieu of $5,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 2.

FAILURE TO APPEAR: Max Minnifield, 57, of Union Street, was arrested Oct. 2 on a warrant and charged with failure to appear. He was held in lieu of $5,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 3.

SEXUAL ASSAULT: Donye Bunch, 28, of Washington Street, was arrested Oct. 3 on an outstanding warrant and charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. He was held in lieu of a $100,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 3.

LARCENY: Brandon Jackson, 35, of Summer Street, Portland, was arrested Oct. 2 and charged with second-degree larceny. He is accused of renting a motor vehicle but failing to return it despite reported claims of being informed several times to do so. He was released on $20,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 16.

FAILURE TO APPEAR: Alden Keeling III, 54, of Indian Lane, was arrested Oct. 4 on three active warrants and charged with three counts failure to appear. He was released on $3,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 19.

DISORDELY CONDUCT: Gysiah Badger, 22, of Dublin Hill Road, was arrested Oct. 5 and issued a misdemeanor summons for disorderly conduct. He is accused of getting into a verbal argument with a woman he knew and throwing her possessions into the living room. The woman claimed Badger hit her, but he asserted he just placed his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from entering the bedroom. He was released on a promise to appear that same day in court.

FAILURE TO RESPOND: Paul Keeler, 51, of Pond Meadow Drive, Westbrook, was arrested Oct. 5 and charged with failure to respond to an infraction. He was held in lieu of $103 bail and issued a court date that same day.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: Delnishia Gray, 32, of Rose Circle, was arrested Oct. 4 and charged with criminal mischief and breach of peace. Gray is accused of banging on the doors and windows of a female neighbors apartment, allegedly demanding the neighbor come out. The neighbor claimed Gray woke up multiple neighbors and ripped out a screen window. He was held in lieu of $25,000 bail and issued a court date of Oct. 5.

DISORDELY CONDUCT: Rene Wallace, 21, of Congdon Street, and Dylan Jelliffe, 20, of Eastern Drive, were both arrested Oct. 4 and each issued misdemeanor summonses for disorderly conduct for allegedly engaging in a physical altercation with each other. Jelliffe claimed he wanted to go out with friends but did not want Wallace to come. Wallace allegedly became angry, and the two argued, escalating with the two of them reportedly striking each other in the head and face several times. Both were released on a condition of release family violence and issued a court date of Oct. 5.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told state TV on Monday that some African nations who had committed to voting for Egyptian candidate Moushira Khattab had likely voted against him in the first round

Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman has said Qatar's first-round win in voting for a new UNESCO director-general raises "many question marks", after the Gulf nation's candidate took a surprising lead following Monday's secret ballot.

In comments to Egyptian state TV, ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said Cairo had not expected the Qatari candidate to emerge in lead position in the voting, which will continue through the week until a winner emerges.

"There are many question marks over the Qatari candidate getting that number of votes," he said.

On Monday, former Qatari culture minister Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari received 19 votes out of 58, while France's candidate Audrey Azoulay finished second with 13, followed by Egyptian diplomat Moushira Khattab in third place with 11 votes.

"I can say that it was not expected that the Qatari candidate would gain that number [of votes] for many reasons," Abu Zeid said.

While he did not go into detail on the nature of the questions surrounding Qatar's success, the foreign ministry spokesman did say that Egypt had expected more votes for its own candidate based on agreements reached with African nations.

He explained that some African countries did not act in accordance with the plan to lobby for Khattab, as agreed by the UN's African bloc hours ahead of the vote.

"We expect African leaders to talk to their permanent representatives and emphasize the importance of supporting the African Egyptian candidate," he said

A key feature of the first round, said the spokesman, was identifying "what African countries did not commit to the African stance."

He added that Cairo needs to contact African countries to make sure they vote in favour of the Egyptian candidate in subsequent rounds.

The Egypt-Qatar rivalry in the UNESCO vote comes amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Qatar and four Arab nations, including Egypt. The group of four nations has imposed a boycott on Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism.

Abu Zeid said that the first-round success of Qatar is no indication of the final outcome.

"Countries would not necessarily follow the same pattern of vote in the second round. On the contrary, there are some electoral deals that require a country to support a certain candidate only the first round," he said.

"When the candidate does not get enough votes to at least be among the top competitors ... the country moves on to support another candidate."

On Monday, 58 members of UNESCO's executive board embarked on a week-long period of voting to select a successor for outgoing Bulgarian Director-General Irina Bokova.

Delegates will continue to vote every day this week until one candidate receives a majority of votes.

Seven countries  France, China, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Qatar and Lebanon  are currently vying for leadership of UNESCO.

In UNESCO's 72-year history, no Arab nation has ever held the position of director-general.

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The state of Hawaii provides several veteran benefits. This page explains them.

Housing Benefits

Hawaii State Veterans Home

The Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo is a state nursing home for honorably discharged Hawaii resident veterans over 55 who require skilled nursing care and meet the VA requirements for an "eligible veteran". The veteran is responsible for any costs not covered by the VA or medicare. Spouses may be eligible for admission depending on available space.

Special Housing for Disabled Veterans

Payment by the state of up to $5,000 to each qualified, totally disabled veteran for the purpose of purchasing or remodeling a home to improve handicapped accessibility.

Hawaii Veteran Financial Benefits

Income Tax

Retired pay and SBP payments are tax-free.

Hawaii National Guard and Reserve drill pay are tax-free. Up to the amount that an E-5 with eight years of service receives for forty-eight drills (equivalent of twelve weekends) and fifteen days of annual training duty is exempt.

Property Tax Exemptions

Real property owned and occupied as a home by a totally disabled veteran or their surviving spouse is exempt from all property taxes.

Vehicles

Vehicle Registration Fee Waiver

Permanently disabled veterans can get a $45.00 discount on the state registration fee. To be eligible, you must be have a service connected 100% VA disability rating, be a Hawaii resident and have an other than dishonorable discharge.

Weight Tax Exemption for Non-Resident Military Service Members

Active duty members stationed in Hawaii who are residents of another state are exempt from payment of Hawaii's motor vehicle weight taxes for one vehicle registered in their name.

Hawaii State Education Benefits

The Hawaii Army National Guard State Tuition Assistance Program (STAP) offers tuition waivers for eligible members who have completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training. The waiver covers 100% of your tuition if you are a community college student, and 50% of your tuition if you are a four-year university student. In order to be eligible for STAP, you must:

Be pursuing an undergraduate degree

Be enrolled in courses pertaining to that undergraduate degree

Be a satisfactory performer in your assigned Hawaii National Guard unit

STAP can also be used in conjunction with your G.I. Bill and Federal Tuition Assistance benefits.

Hawaii State Employment Veterans Preference

Non-disabled veterans receive 5 preference points, disabled veterans receive 10 points. Preference points are added to examination scores completed by applicants for open competitive state employment positions.

Some spouses and surviving spouses of disabled veterans may also be eligible for the 10 point award.

Hawaii Veteran Recreation Benefits

Hunting Licenses

Active duty military personnel and their dependents stationed in Hawaii are considered to be residents for the purposes of obtaining a hunting license.

Hawaii State Veterans Cemeteries

Hawaii has 7 state veterans cemeteries located in:

Hilo

Hoolehua

Kailua-Kona

Kaneohe

Kauna Kakai

Lanai City

Lihue

Veterans, spouses, and some dependents are eligible for interment. There may be a small fee charged for burial.

Visit the Hawaii Office of Veterans Services website for more information on any of these programs.

Stay on Top of Your Veteran Benefits

Military benefits are always changing. Keep up with everything from pay to health care by subscribing to Military.com, and get access to up-to-date pay charts and more with all latest benefits delivered straight to your inbox.
The state of Idaho provides several veteran benefits. This page explains them.

Idaho Veteran Housing Benefits

There are three state veterans homes in Idaho: Boise, Lewiston, and Pocatello. The fourth Idaho veterans home, in Post Falls is scheduled to open in 2022.

Applicants may be peacetime or wartime veterans, with wartime veterans retaining priority admission status. Applicants must have been discharged under honorable conditions and be an Idaho resident. Applicants must be unemployable as a result of age, illness, or disability, and must apply for and be eligible for Medicaid benefits or must pay a monthly fee.

Idaho Veteran Financial Benefits

Income Tax

Military pay is tax free if stationed out-of-state.

Military retirement and SBP recipients can deduct up to $37,776 of their retirement/SBP income for a single filer or $56,664 for a joint filer. This amount changes annually and only applies to veterans or their un-remarried surviving spouses, age 65 or older, or disabled and age 62 or older.

Property Tax

Veterans with a 100% service-connected disability, or those rated unemployable by the VA may reduce the property on their home and up to one acre of land by as much as $1,500. The program doesn't have an income limit.

Veterans with at least a 10% service-connected disability may reduce the property tax on their home by up to $1,500 if they have income of $32,230 or less for 2021.

Grocery Tax Credit

Veterans age 65 or older, or disabled and age 62 or older, may claim the Grocery Tax Credit even when not required to file an income tax return if VA disability benefits are the veterans only income.

Financial Assistance

Provides up to a $1,000 grant, in cases of extreme emergency, to wartime veterans in need of assistance. Must have entered the military from Idaho, or lived within the state for at least 5 years. The event or emergency must have occurred within 90 days of the request.

Idaho Veterans Employment Benefits

State Employment Preference

Idaho state employment gives preference points for active duty veterans. Honorably discharged veterans get 5 preference points, disabled veterans get 10 preference points. Surviving spouses who have not remarried can get the same points as the veteran.

Occupational Licenses

Idaho offers military members and their families expedited processing for occupational licenses. They also accept credit for military training that is relevant to the occupational license/registration being applied for.

Idaho residents on active, reserve or guard duty do not have to pay any professional or occupational license or renewal fees while in the military. Also, service members holding an occupational or professional license will have that license's expiration date extended until six months after they leave the service.

The state of Idaho may accept your military education, training, and experience toward meeting the qualifications for a license, certification or registration. Idaho also expedites license applications of military spouses.

Idaho Veteran Recreation Benefits

Idaho State Parks Veterans Pass

Idaho resident 100% service-connected disabled veterans get free access and camping at Idaho State Parks.

Hunting & Fishing Licenses

Resident disabled veterans may be eligible for reduced fees for licenses and tags.

Nonresident disabled veterans with a VA disability rating of at least 40% are eligible for nonresident reduced fees for licenses and tags.

Idaho State Veterans Cemeteries

The Idaho State Veterans Cemeteries are located in Blackfoot and Boise. The eligibility requirements for burial at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery follow the National Veterans Cemetery eligibility requirements and Idaho law. There is no requirement to be a resident of the state of Idaho.

Visit the Idaho Division of Veterans Services website for more information on any of these programs.

Stay on Top of Your Veteran Benefits

Military benefits are always changing. Keep up with everything from pay to health care by subscribing to Military.com, and get access to up-to-date pay charts and more with all latest benefits delivered straight to your inbox.
The U.S. Army will continue to build new, non-special forces units for training and advising foreign militaries, despite an ambush that killed four Green Berets in Niger last week, the Army's chief of staff said today.

"It is my assessment, and the assessment of the secretary and the assessment of the Army staff, that we are likely to be involved in train, advise and assist operations for many years to come," Gen. Mark Milley told defense reporters today at the Association of the United States Army's 2017 annual meeting.

Milley's comments come after the Pentagon announced last week that four Army Special Forces soldiers were killed in an ambush while conducting a joint reconnaissance patrol with local forces in the north-central African state of Niger.

Army officials declined to comment on any details of the ongoing investigation into the Oct. 4 attack, but did discuss an effort to create six Security Force Assistance Brigades, or SFABs, which the Army unveiled in February.

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Army officials plan to stand up five such brigades in the active force and one in the National Guard. The first SFAB will be based at Fort Benning, Georgia, home to the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

"All the soldiers are volunteers, they are going to be highly vetted; they will approach standards similar to the Ranger Regiment," Milley said. "They will be trained in many ways similar to Special Forces, but they are not Special Forces."

These SFABs will be structured using the non-commissioned and commissioned officers of infantry brigade combat teams to train foreign military units in conventional light infantry tactics, Milley said. Special Force units will continue to train and advise commando-style units in host nations.

Tasking conventional Army units with training foreign military units is not a new concept, Milley said, but it has been done in a "fundamentally ad-hoc" manner.

"We have ripped chains of command out of conventional brigades and on short term assigned them over a change of command into the theater to advise host nation forces," Milley said. "The balance of troops in battalions and brigades are left behind."

SFABs will be institutionalized into the Army and will not impact the service's force structure, Milley said.

"These numbers are really small; the chain of command of an infantry brigade is 500 to 600 people ... we are not looking at huge organizations," Milley said.

"They will be assigned to these units for three years, and they will deploy overseas to do train, advise and assist missions," he said.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Raytheon's Joint Precision Approach and Landing (JPAL) System has been used for years by the Navy to help guide fighter aircraft into clean tailhook landings aboard aircraft carriers. But now the company is pitching JPALs to the Army as a way to help rotorcraft operate safely in bad-weather conditions and land with confidence -- even in brownouts.

Navy Cmdr. Brooks Cleveland, a F/A-18 Hornet pilot and Raytheon's senior aviation adviser for precision landing systems, told Military.com at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting Monday that Raytheon was developing a smaller, rapidly deployable version of JPALS designed to be portable within a C-130 Hercules and fit within a Humvee on the ground.

JPALS uses a GPS satellite navigation system that links with aircraft from a distance to provide accurate guidance for landings. By relying on coordinates from the system, planes can avoid geographic obstacles and essentially "auto-land," despite any reduced visibility conditions.

Cleveland said Raytheon is now in conversations with the Army, as well as the Air Force, to discuss how the technology could improve aviation.

"This system, it takes the weather variable out of it so those high profile missions can happen," he said. "You just take one of the variables that might scrub it out. It opens up the aperture of what's possible."

A demonstrator for the deployable system is expected to be built sometime next year. The system is platform-agnostic, and can control up to 50 aircraft at a time within a radius of up to 20 nautical miles, Cleveland said.

Aircraft requirements to interact with the system are basic and configuration needs minimal: inertial navigation system and GPS, which come standard on most military aircraft, and a radio that can recognize the JPALs signals, a feature that can be configured with software.

In addition to opening the aperture for flight, Cleveland said increased safety could bypass potential crashes and other mishaps.

"With a precision landing system like this, you can get into that brownout condition, you just keep those needles centered, it will land you ... without having to worry about looking outside and getting disoriented, which is where a lot of these mishaps happen in the helicopter community," he said.

For now, the Army and Air Force have had discussions with Raytheon about JPALS, but have not taken any action to adopt the technology.

"What we're just trying to do is turn the light bulb on ... because of what it can do, the possibilities," Cleveland said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
A brigade of tanks equipped with the "Trophy" Armor Protection System (APS) is expected to be fielded in Europe in 2020, Army officials said Monday.

The Army is also testing similar APS systems for the Stryker combat vehicle, called "Iron Curtain," and for the M2 and M3 Bradley fighting vehicle, known as "Iron Fist."

Those systems are behind Trophy in development, Maj. Gen. David Bassett, the Army's program executive officer for ground combat systems, said Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention and exhibition.

APS systems rely on sensors and radar, computer processing, fire control technology and interceptors to find, target and knock down enemy fire such as rocket-propelled grenades and Anti Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs).

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Trophy was initially developed for Israel's Merkava tanks by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Group. Once a target is detected, the system fires a burst of projectiles similar to buckshot from two rotating launchers on the sides of the vehicle.

With the Trophy system installed, "I tried to kill the Abrams tank 48 times and failed," said Army Col. Glenn Dean, the Project Manager of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Combat Ground Systems, of live-fire testing at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

"Trophy exceeded our expectations," Dean said in a panel discussion on APS.

Officials project that a brigade of more than 80 Abrams tanks equipped with Trophy will be in Europe in 2020 to counter the growing threat from Russia.

In developing Trophy for the Abrams, "we didn't become hostage to the acquisition process that we all know needs reform," said Bassett, echoing what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the convention earlier Monday.

"The intention here is that we move faster in research and engineering" to get new technologies into the field, Mattis said in endorsing the Defense Department's move to split its acquisition, technology and logistics arm into separate functions.

To adapt Trophy to the Abrams, Bassett said the Army scrapped the usual procedure in which a future requirement for the force would be established and studies would be commissioned to sort out how the requirement could be met.

For Trophy, and also for Iron Curtain and Iron Fist, the Army's leadership instead started with a statement of intent to meet a currently defined threat and worked from there, Bassett said.

"It's not what we normally would have done in the past," he said. The main factor in the development was "what can we do quickly," Bassett said

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
An Italian tourist accused of beating an Egyptian hotel manager to death in the Red Sea resort of Marsa Alam was referred to criminal court on Tuesday.

According to Egypt's tourism ministry, the deadly assault took place when a heated argument erupted between the tourist and a hotel manager in August.

The manager had warned the tourist and his two children to leave an off-limits construction area in the hotel, the ministry says.

The tourist was arrested and later released on bail of EGP 100,000 (around $5,600) in September after a ruling by a Hurghada court.

According to judicial sources, the public prosecutor has placed a travel ban on the defendant, who has signed an agreement to remain in Egypt and appear before investigating authorities whenever he is summoned.

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ANN ARBOR, MI - About 27,000 American men will die of prostate cancer in 2017, and one Ann Arbor biotech company is spearheading an initiative to change that statistic.

Strata Oncology is collaborating with the University of California San Francisco on the Stratify Prostate program, which is providing $25 million in funding to help identify possible treatments for metastatic prostate cancer.

Metastatic cancer is identified as an aggressive form of cancer that has spread from one area of the body to other areas.

Dan Rhodes, president and CEO of Strata, said the Stratify Prostate program incorporates "a dual mission for patients and for the drugs," as it will assist pharmaceutical companies in finding clinical trial participants.

Strata and UCSF are seeking tumor samples from 10,000 men with metastatic prostate cancer to be tested at the Michigan company's laboratory in Ann Arbor.

Program participants are identified through partnerships with health care systems across the United States, Rhodes said.

Using DNA from tumor samples, Strata scientists can identify potential treatments and then connect with patients through their physicians about clinical trials that may be available to them.

Tests results are delivered virtually within 7 to 10 days. A similar test could cost around $2,500 in the marketplace, Rhodes said.

"We're funding the broad screening and then the pharmaceutical companies we are partnering with then come in and strike deals with us to help us fund that sequencing going forward," Rhodes said.

UCSF physicians and researchers can use the tumor sequencing results to identify new treatments for clinical trial consideration, and Rhodes said pharmaceutical companies are interested in finding participants for clinical trials.

A majority of prostate cancer patients can experience remission when treated with radiation or surgery, Rhodes said, but that is not the case for all patients.

"For a fraction of men, they present at diagnosis with prostate cancer that has already spread or after that surgery and radiation, the cancer comes back and spreads to other parts of the body," Rhodes said. "They're the ones who really need these break-through treatments."

Strata has already received several tumor samples from interested participants, Rhodes said.

Two prostate cancer-related clinical trials are already in the works: TRITON2 and TRITON3, which evaluates Clovis technology that uses rucaparib, already in use for treatment of ovarian cancer.

He encouraged those battling prostate cancer or family and friends of prostate cancer patients to let them know about the Stratify Prostate initiative.

"There are amazing new targeted therapies on their way and you can get access to those medicines, but only if you've been tested," Rhodes said. "Our goal is to get our message out as much as we can and drive awareness."
After reaching a new high in numbers last year, I'm Concerned About the Blueberries is looking to continue to grow.

Last year, the program included 1,300 kids throughout Genesee County and the founder of the organization, Phil Shaltz, hopes to continue to expand by opening its doors to third graders.

Educators interested in being a part of the effort can sign up using a new (quick and easy) online form available. The form is also available on our Facebook page. This is an opportunity for educators to commit to the program, get more information and ensure they have a spot in this year's program. The names of actual student Blueberry Ambassadors will be collected after the initial school signup.

Plans also are in the works for the annual kickoff party for this year's student Blueberry Ambassadors. The event will be held on Oct. 26, 2017 and will take place from 11:30 - 1:30 at the Riverfront Banquet Center.

As part of the Blueberry student ambassador program, Genesee County-based schools, classes, groups or collegiate student organizations recruit student volunteers who agree to perform three random acts of kindness and write about their experiences.

Through a unique partnership with MLive and The Flint Journal, Blueberry Ambassadors share their random acts of kindness with the community and inspire others who read about their Blueberry Moments.

"Never underestimate the power of our young people. The passion and dedication we've seen has been amazing and I cannot wait to see the impact these student ambassadors have on our community," said Phil Shaltz, the founder of I'm Concerned About the Blueberries.

"These students will be a positive force for change in our community - now and years from now."

I'm Concerned About the Blueberries also is continuing its partnership with the Genesee County Educational Foundation, a local nonprofit organization that is helping to spread word of the program throughout schools in the Genesee Intermediate School District.

The I'm Concerned About the Blueberries effort started in 2013 with a mysterious billboard along I-69 in Flint. It gained nationwide notoriety before Shaltz, a Flint businessman and philanthropist, stepped forward explaining that the campaign encourages random acts of kindness. "It's about caring for each other and doing a little something, causing an avalanche of good," he said then about the Blueberry effort.

The program started with just 100 student Ambassadors as a pilot program. The response over the past four years was so overwhelming that the effort grew to 1,300 Ambassadors in the 2016-17 school year.

More about the student Blueberry Ambassador program:
ANN ARBOR, MI -- When the Ann Arbor City Council voted 9-2 five years ago to accept a $2.8 million federal grant to plan for a new Amtrak station, Jane Lumm voted against it.



The 2nd Ward representative has remained skeptical about the project and the costs involved. When the council voted 8-3 this year to approve a $2.14 million contract for preliminary design and engineering for the project, she again voted no.



"We've been at this for a decade now," she said, raising concerns that taxpayer money was being wasted.



Her opponent in the Nov. 7 election, Democrat Jared Hoffert, is more open to the idea of pursuing a new train station.



The city's leadership has set its sights on building a new station and parking deck in part of Fuller Park in front of the University of Michigan Hospital, hoping that the federal government will fund a majority of the estimated $81 million in costs.



The two candidates discussed the matter last week during a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters.



Hoffert said the city needs a growing job base to stay healthy and the question is how to get people to the city.



"We cannot widen or build new roads," he said. "We've got 70,000-plus people driving in every day and more coming. Housing is not keeping up with demands, so we need some form of transit to get them in and help alleviate traffic problems.



"Transit usage ebbs and flows over time, related to gas prices and other factors, but I believe more trips are inevitable," he said, mentioning the possibility of the Regional Transit Authority putting a tax proposal for regional transit, including commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit, back on the ballot in 2018.



Hoffert said it looks like it's trending to pass and Ann Arbor needs to be ready to be a leader in this area.



"Investment in heavy rail shows good benefits for the community in terms of property value and longterm gains overall," he said.



He suggested the city should partner with Washtenaw County, the University of Michigan or others to fund the portion of the costs that would not be covered by the federal government.



"And when it comes down to it, the voters need to be involved," he said, referring to the fact that the City Council already decided the construction of a new station must be put to voters to decide.



"The voters are going to have to approve this location and have a say in it. So, with the say of our residents and our voters, along with finding alternate sources of funding, I would be in favor of this train station."

What an $81M train station could look like and why Ann Arbor wants to build it

Lumm noted the capital construction costs were estimated at $65 million previously and now have grown to $81 million.



"These are big numbers obviously," she said, adding it's still not clear what the ongoing operational costs might be because there's no business plan yet.



"With the train station, before we go down any of these paths, first we need to much more clearly define -- you know, again, have a business plan -- the costs," she said.



"And this all needs to be presented to the community priority to engaging in, you know, borrowing money, raising taxes."



Lumm vs. Hoffert



Hoffert is running with support from Council Members Kirk Westphal, D-2nd Ward, and Graydon Krapohl, D-4th Ward, as well as former 2nd Ward Council Member and Downtown Development Authority board member Joan Lowenstein and others.



Lumm is backed by fellow Council Members Jack Eaton and Sumi Kailasapathy. Together, they've been on the losing side of several 8-3 council votes in the past year or so.



That includes the 8-3 vote to sell the city-owned Library Lot to make way for a 17-story high-rise, multiple 8-3 votes to continue moving ahead with plans for a new Amtrak station in the city, and other 8-3 votes approving new housing developments.



Hoffert said he was born and raised in Southfield and came to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in theater performance. After graduating, he said, he moved to New York City and spent 17 years there. As of five years ago, he's back in Ann Arbor with his wife and young daughter.



Along with working in business operations roles for a global consulting firm, Hoffert said he has sat on the board of managers of the New York Choral Society and more recently the board of directors of the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, helping ushering those groups through financial and various other challenges.



Hoffert said it was while serving on the Civic Theatre board that a neighbor alerted him that Lumm, an independent who previously served on council as a Republican, would be running unopposed this year if no one stepped up to challenge her.



"I felt called to offer the residents of Ward 2 a choice, a positive progressive voice and set of ideas," he said.



While he loves living in Ann Arbor, Hoffert said he's aware the community faces certain challenges, including pedestrian and bicycle safety, maintaining a sustainable environment, affordable housing and the cost of city operations.



Lumm, a longtime Ann Arbor resident and native of Pennsylvania, said it's been an honor to represent 2nd Ward residents on council. She previously served in the 1990s and returned in 2011.



Lumm said she has worked to keep the promises she made to insist on fiscal responsibility and ensure tax dollars are spent efficiently and in keeping with residents' priorities, focusing on infrastructure reinvestment and improving basic services such as neighborhood safety. She said she brings an independent, commonsense voice to council and ensures inclusive, rigorous debate.



"A council member has no more important role than to assist neighborhoods and residents in resolving issues, to listen, help, help them navigate city hall and to advocate for them," she said.



City spending priorities



Both candidates were asked at last week's forum which areas of city government they believe are underfunded or overfunded.



Hoffert said the City Council has been adopting reasonable budgets and doing the best it can with the resources the city has.



"I would like to see more attention paid to service and cost benchmarks related to peer communities to see if we can find more cost savings," he said. "Without raising taxes or implementing an income tax, the only revenue that will help stabilize the city's finances will come from new housing construction."



He added, "If the community can agree on where new housing is appropriate, it can help address our workforce housing shortage, which will help maintain current service levels and also investment in areas such as pedestrian protections, water quality and so forth."



Lumm said she doesn't think the city has a revenue shortfall challenge as some other city leaders, including the city's chief financial officer and city administrator, argue.



"City revenues are solid now and growing at 2-plus percent a year," she said, going on to explain she has tried to shift some of the city's spending priorities during the annual budget process.



She said she has always identified offsets to avoid adding any new costs when proposing budget changes such as hiring more police officers for traffic enforcement. The council voted 8-3 against Lumm's proposal to do that earlier this year.



"Again, the costs for that can be offset. It's all a matter of establishing priorities," Lumm said, going on to raise concerns about the city's growing administrative costs. "We added a lot of administrative overhead to the tune of about a half a million dollars, and that is simply not sustainable. And yes, our expenses will continue to grow if those are the kinds of budget proposals we will be presenting."



Housing density



Both candidates were asked whether they favor zoning changes to increase housing density in Ann Arbor.



Lumm said the city has been increasing density downtown and she believes that's where density belongs as long as new developments don't overwhelm surrounding areas, and she said some have.



She has a different position on increasing density in residential neighborhoods. She noted she did not support the council-approved changes last year to allow accessory dwelling units in single-family neighborhoods, which essentially allow homeowners to create apartments on their properties that they can rent out. She said that could put the character of single-family neighborhoods at risk.



Hoffert said zoning changes are a public process and the city has a master plan in place.



"If we want to change the zoning, the public needs to have a say in this as to what they want to see," he said.



"In terms of density, it's a matter of where the density can be properly implemented," he said, suggesting that, in addition to downtown, there can be transit-oriented development in other areas to create more housing options and affordable housing closer to public transit.



"But in terms of residential areas, each neighborhood likes to keep its specific setups and I think the voice of the public needs to be heard when it comes to that," he said.



Keeping the river clean



The candidates also shared their thoughts on what funding the city should be providing to clean and maintain the Huron River and its impoundments. Lumm said that's something she was just asking the city administrator about the other day.



"I think we need to be doing more in this regard," Lumm said, adding the city, county and Huron River Watershed Council have over the years produced various reports with recommendations and action plans for how best to manage the Huron River. "And right now, frankly, I don't think the river looks that healthy."



Lumm said impoundments on the river, such as the pond at Gallup Park, are overgrown with vegetation and she doesn't want that to impede enjoyment of the river by people canoeing and kayaking.



Hoffert said it's worth discussion because the health of the river is important to the city, both recreationally and ecologically.



"I think we need to work with the Huron River Watershed Council and other organizations to look at the studies," he said. "I would defer to the experts in those levels of what is needed and how soon it's needed. We do need to pay attention to it to make sure that it's clean and that it's always flowing, but I think we also need to prioritize."



Hoffert added, "We can't divert funds that are not there, but if there is something that we cannot put off any longer that needs to be addressed ... I would like to see an approach how we could fund cleaning up those parts of the river."



Closing remarks



"If re-elected, I'll remain a strong voice on council for transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility in city government, and rigorous, inclusive debate at the council table," Lumm said.



Lumm said she has sponsored dozens of budget amendments to try to reallocate city spending to what residents tell her are their priorities: streets, parks, sewers and basic services.



"Especially neighborhood safety and pedestrian safety at our schools," she said. "I'll remain an advocate for these priorities."



She added, "And I continue to believe that, rather than simply add new taxes to the already-heavy tax burden that many Ann Arbor residents struggle to meet, the city must identify efficiency improvements and prioritize, just as the folks paying the bills do."



Lumm said she also will continue to fight for balance in city policies and in development decisions.



"We should not return to the days where council consisted of like-minded thinkers and there was very little debate of policies and priorities," she said.



Hoffert said there's a theatrical concept called "yes, and ..." and it's how he thinks about city government.



"Yes, we must provide basic city services to residents reliably and efficiently, and we must extend our proud tradition of progressive leadership on community priorities," he said.



"Yes, we must resurface the roads, and we must ensure that we make them as safe as possible for all users -- old, young, walking, biking, driving, using transit. Yes, we must work to keep our water and sewer infrastructure in good working order, and we must do our part to enact environmental protections in a changing climate, as well as keeping our drinking water safe by addressing the 1,4-dioxane plume."



Hoffert said he would support shifting more funding to pedestrian safety and energy efficiency measures that save people money and fight carbon emissions.



"And I would support community-supported ways of advancing affordable housing," he said. "I would never turn down millions in federal funds to bring our train infrastructure into the 21st century."



Watch the full forum:
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Is a lack of affordable housing in Ann Arbor causing neighborhoods to become less racially and socioeconomically diverse? And can the city prevent neighborhoods from becoming increasingly segregated?



The two candidates competing for a 4th Ward seat on the City Council shared their thoughts on those questions at a recent forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, but they said there aren't any easy answers when it comes to affordability.



"There's really little the city can actually do," said Diane Giannola, the independent challenger trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Jack Eaton in the Nov. 7 election.



"Our problem here is not gentrification, which everybody keeps using that word incorrectly," she said. "It's really affordability for everyone. It's not segregation. It's that everybody living here -- whether they're the elderly or the students -- can't afford the cost of housing."



Giannola noted rent control isn't allowed under Michigan law, so that's not an option.



She said the problem is really that too many people want to live in Ann Arbor, so housing prices go up.



"We all can't live in the neighborhoods we want to live in, so it's really can you live somewhere in the city?" she said. "Can most people pick an area in the city within a certain radius and afford to live here?"



Eaton, who is seeking a third term on council, said the issue of affordability affects everyone.



"But certainly it affects low-income people more and it certainly does have an impact on just how white our city is," he said. "I mean, the Water Hill area of our town used to be primarily African American residents, and it's mostly hipsters and young white families."



Eaton said the city can't deny the fact that a dramatic increase in home values is driving out some segments of the population.



"Ypsilanti has become our area for affordable housing for people who work just regular jobs. And to a great extent, we're becoming a less-diverse community as a result of this." he said.



"There is not an easy answer to affordability. It impacts all age groups and all races, but it really does have a dramatic impact on our ability to claim to be a diverse community."



Eaton was the lone dissenting vote when the City Council voted 10-1 in 2015 to adopt a new set of affordable housing goals, making a commitment to work with other partners toward creating nearly 2,800 new affordably priced rental units in the city by 2035.



That's part of a larger goal of growing non-student affordable rental units in the Ann Arbor area over the next two decades, while simultaneously growing demand for market-rate housing in the Ypsilanti area. In stating his opposition, Eaton called it "an elaborate and very expensive experiment in social engineering where we try to change the demographics of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti."



Eaton vs. Giannola



Giannola is a former member of the city's Planning Commission and Historic District Commission. She lives in the Georgetown neighborhood and works for the University of Michigan.



"My reason for running is simply that I want to be a more effective and informative voice for the 4th Ward," she said.



"I believe that there is more to being a council member than just voting or pushing your own personal initiatives. There is a customer-service aspected to the position that I think is not appreciated by some who currently serve on the council."



Giannola said she wants to help residents navigate the city's bureaucracy and understand issues. She said she would be a fresh, pragmatic voice on council and she would place emphasis on finishing current initiatives before adding new ones to the city's agenda.



Eaton, a labor attorney from the Dicken Woods neighborhood, was first elected to the City Council in 2013.



He was re-elected in 2015 and is now seeking a new three-year term in what is expected to be the city's final odd-year election.



"When I first ran for council, I promised to focus on improving our basic services and maintaining our essential infrastructure," he said. "I promised to represent the commonsense point of view of Ward 4 residents. I've kept those promises."



During his four years in office, Eaton said, the city has made great strides, catching up on addressing neglected streets and other infrastructure. He said he has co-sponsored more than 40 resolutions, most of which were approved by a majority of council.



"I believe that democracy works best with a variety of points of view," he said. "I'm not always in the majority, but I have had a real impact on the discussions of issues at council."



Along with fellow Council Members Jane Lumm and Sumi Kailasapathy, Eaton is part of a minority faction on council that's been on the losing side of several 8-3 votes.



That includes the 8-3 vote to sell the city-owned Library Lot to make way for a 17-story high-rise, multiple 8-3 votes to continue moving ahead with plans for a new Amtrak station in the city, and other 8-3 votes approving new housing developments.



Giannola took a shot at Eaton at the recent forum, suggesting he belongs to a faction on council that she calls the "Party of No." She said she tends to be more realistic about the city's future.



"Over time, there is growth and change. Time moves on, preferences change, and we can accept the change and manage it or we can stand by and let it roll over us, allowing others to dictate the outcome," she said. "I believe we need to invest in our future and not fight it. I am a strong supporter of public transit, commuter rail and for a large taxpaying building on top of the Library Lot.



"I support our vibrant and walkable downtown, along with our eclectic mix of neighborhoods. I believe that measured and controlled growth is necessary to keep our city alive and to help expand our tax base so that we can fund the services we all expect."



Eaton said council members are fundamentally policymakers and he believes he has demonstrated his ability to listen to and represent residents and address neighborhood concerns.



He noted he fought unsuccessfully to convince his council colleagues to vote to release certain information and communications about the city's train station project and he also fought unsuccessfully to convince his council colleagues to put the sale of the Library Lot to a vote of the people after a citizen petition effort fell short.



"I have a positive view of our town's future that includes protecting what's good and unique about our community," he said.



"We must promote restoration over demolition. We should value fiscal responsibility over indebtedness. We must work to protect our environment," he said. "I have always emphasized commonsense priorities. The city can provide excellent services and maintain our infrastructure without raising taxes."



Though she's running as an independent, Giannola emphasizes she's a Democrat. She doesn't have any endorsements listed on her campaign website and she intends to keep it that way. She said she's not running as part of any side or faction.



New development



Both candidates were asked if there are any zoning changes they'd recommend to either spur or constrain new development.



Giannola said the zoning changes the city has approved over the last decade, which have allowed some of the new dense development the city has seen, were the result of years of public process.



"We just in the last 10 years redid most of the zoning, so there's not like a single parcel that I would point out that needs rezoning," she said, going on to argue there are people who try to get projects stopped and don't understand how the zoning process works.



Giannola states on her campaign website she favors increasing the density in downtown and around the city, but she prefers mixed-use development with residential and commercial mixed together.



Eaton said it's time for the city to review the zoning changes that allowed, for example, the Packard Square development, a $93.5 million mixed-use project at 2502 Packard.



"Previously that parcel of land, just as an example, would have allowed basically a grocery store and some two-story condos on the back of the lot. After the area, height and placement changes, we were faced with the prospect of having a four-story, massive building in the center of a residential block," he said.



"Our zoning seems to favor density over common sense and doesn't really take into consideration the impact that those changes have on the neighboring neighborhoods and existing homes."



Eaton said it's time for the city to look at "the bad experiences we've had and try to respond to the complaints that residents have reasonably raised about the kinds of developments that we've seen."



$81M train station



The two candidates also differ on whether the city should move forward with plans to build a new Amtrak station in part of Fuller Park in front of the University of Michigan Hospital.



Eaton said his primary concern is the "enormous cost," currently estimated at about $81 million.



"Even if the rosiest scenario is followed and the federal government funds 80 percent of that, which is very unlikely, that would still obligate us to come up with $16 million in local dollars," he said, questioning whether that makes sense when the city is already talking about its ability to afford what he considers basic necessities.



"The current train station was designed with the capacity to be easily expanded. We don't need an entirely new train station," he said.



"We could just expand the station we have. And we could have, if we had taken the opportunity, worked with DTE as a collaborator on coming up with more parking and their broader view of development on the other side of the railroad tracks. Instead we're on this adventure that's wildly unaffordable."



Giannola said she's a strong supporter of building a new train station in Fuller Park and she thinks that's the best location for it because it would serve as a convenient stop for future commuter rail users.



There have been talks of launching a commuter rail service between Detroit and Ann Arbor for more than a decade.



"Commuter rail will only be successful at the hospital site," Giannola argues. "We need to have where the most commuters come in to be the drop-off point. If you put it on Depot Street then it'll be far from downtown Ann Arbor and from the medical center, and most commuters ... will not be taking the train."



Giannola said getting people out of their cars and onto commuter trains can help address climate change.



$55M urban trail plan



Giannola and Eaton both have mixed feelings about the city's vision for a $55 million urban trail known as the Treeline, which the city hopes to fund with a combination of public and private money.



Both candidates like the general concept of a trail for pedestrians and cyclists along the historic alignment of the Allen Creek, but they have some concerns about how the plan has come together.



Giannola said she won't support it until the plan is expanded to route the trail further south.



"In theory, I'm in favor of the Treeline trail plan that's there," Giannola said of the proposed route starting at Argo Pond and going past neighborhoods, downtown and the University of Michigan to get to the intersection of State and Stimson. "I think it's a little exorbitant. I think the cost is excessive, but that's because I think they put too many bridges in it and they went the gold standard."



Giannola said she wants to see the route continue from State and Stimson to the south side of the city and she's extremely disappointed that wasn't explored as part of the master plan study.



She said she contacted Eaton and the council to try to get the city to expand the scope of the master plan last year. The council decided against it at the time, though the council did ask the city's staff to consider adding a second master plan phase for the area between Stimson and Ellsworth to the city's list of future projects.



"I honestly would not vote to fund any part of the trail until the southern part has the master plan study started," Giannola said.



Eaton said he's hesitant about the Treeline project at this point because of the "outlandish" cost and he thinks it has strayed from the original vision for an Allen Creek greenway.



"The original greenway vision and plan was much more park-like, and the more we talk about it the more it becomes just a strip of asphalt through town, and the less visionary and the less robust it is," he said of the new Treeline urban trail plan.



"At the same time, the price tag has exploded because, as my opponent noted, we're including all of these massive project bridges over streets and it's wildly overpriced at this point in its planning."



Eaton said he would like the city to return to the idea of creating more of a park-like greenway.



No new taxes



There's been a lot of talk at city hall lately about the possibility of a city income tax or other ways to increase revenue.



Both candidates suggested they're not going to be pushing for any new city taxes any time soon, though Giannola said the city could make good use of a new countywide tax that's being proposed.



"As anyone who pays taxes in Ann Arbor knows, we pay a lot of taxes," Eaton said. "And so, rather than looking for increased revenues, I would really like to have a more rigorous method of establishing our priorities and learning to live within the revenues that we do collect.



"This isn't always easy, but often it's a matter of just simply not hiring a consultant or learning to do something more cheaply or more effectively," he said. "But for us to talk about trying to collect more revenues from our residents, who I believe are really quite heavily taxed already, isn't the right answer."



Giannola suggests the city should stop "throwing away" revenue that's coming into the city.



"We don't need to raise the taxes. We just need to stop being fiscally irresponsible," she said.



She said the city could sell the Library Lot, which is the parking lot on Fifth Avenue next to the downtown library, for $10 million and realize $2 million per year in new tax revenue from a high-rise development on it. And if the county's mental health and public safety tax is approved on Nov. 7, she said, the city would get new revenue from that.



"That revenue can be used for these longstanding projects that have never finished, like crosswalks," she said. "We could sign, light and paint all those crosswalks. We could put up the streetlights we need that have been backlogged for years. There are all these things that need to be done, but we never have the money for it. Yet every time we get an influx of revenue, we always turn it away."

Watch the full forum:
Another 50 were handed life sentences following convictions for the violent assault in Helwan following the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi

A Cairo criminal court has sentenced eight men to a death for acts of violence related to the storming of Helwan Police Station on 14 August 2013.

In Tuesday's sentencing, another 50 defendants were handed life sentences, seven given 10 years in prison and three defendants handed five years, all in the same case.

The death sentences follow a criminal court ruling in July to refer the preliminary death sentences to the countrys grand mufti for a consultative non-binding opinion, as per Egypts penal code.

The verdicts can be appealed before the Court of Cassation within 60 days, with the court empowered to order a retrial.

The men were convicted of committing acts of terrorism, murder, illegal assembly, destroying public buildings and property, and possessing automatic weapons.

They were involved in throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, burning tyres and gas cylinders at Helwan Police Station, as well as shooting at police personnel and citizens inside the station.

The violence resulted the deaths of three policemen and three civilians, as well as the burning of the police station, 20 police cars and three civilian vehicles, according to the prosecution.

Following the deadly dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Rabaa and Nahda squares on 14 August 2013, there was a wave of attacks by Morsi supporters on churches and police stations around Egypt.

Thousands of people stood trial in cases related to these events, and hundreds were convicted.



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ANN ARBOR, MI - Author Charles Murray's upcoming appearance at the University of Michigan is expected to be met with some protesting when he appears on campus Wednesday, Oct. 11.

Murray, who has drawn criticism for his views on the role of IQ shaping America's class structure in his 1994 book, "The Bell Curve," is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Palmer Commons on the UM campus. The event is limited to MCard holders who are either students or employees of the university.

At least two local organizations have scheduled protests surrounding the event, which is sponsored by the university's chapter of College Republicans and the American Enterprise Institute University of Michigan Executive Council, where Murray serves as the W.H. Brady Scholar.

Murray, who describes himself as a Libertarian, has attracted protests at colleges and universities across the country, particularly for his book "The Bell Curve," which some believe argues that African-Americans have lower intelligence than other races.

AEI Executive Council Co-Chairman Jesse Arm said the subject of Murray's talk on Wednesday surrounds his recent book "Coming Apart" in which he demonstrates that a new upper class and a new lower class have diverged so far in core behaviors and values that they barely recognize their underlying American kinship.

The goal of this event, Arm said, is to explore Murray's writings about the impact of class division on American politics and the new populist revolt. He hopes students and faculty attending are able to engage in constructive dialog, regardless of their views on Murray.

"Students and faculty who disagree with Dr. Murray on the topic he will be speaking about, or on his older and more controversial work, are welcome to attend the event and challenge his ideas," Arm said. "We hope they do, as it will enrich the intellectual diversity of the event and further the marketplace of ideas on our campus.

"Rigorous debate and reasoned disagreement from protesters of Dr. Murray's work is encouraged; physical violence or attempts to shut down speech are not," he added. "We have taken all of the necessary security precautions with AAPD and are hoping for a respectful discourse tomorrow night."

UM Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the university's Division of Student Life staff has been working closely with students from the College Republicans on making sure the event is secure for all who wish to attend.

"This is assistance offered to all student organizations that bring high-profile speakers to campus," Fitzgerald said. "The overall goal is to help students have a safe and successful event.

That effort includes our Division of Public Safety and Security, which will carefully consider the safety of our community before, during and following this event," he added.

Fitzgerald noted that UM President Mark Schlissel has, on a number of occassions, articulated the need to be open to differing viewpoints.

In the past couple of years UM also has hosted a wide range of speakers from from Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro, David Horowitz and Bill Ayers and Dinesh D'Souza, to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. UM also hosted Murray in the past back in 2012.

In recent months, his speeches have drawn protesters at Middlebury College, Columbia University, Indiana University, University of Notre Dame and most recently at Harvard College in September.

On Wednesday, UM student groups Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR) and the Multicultural Leadership Council (MLC) have organized a march at 4:30 p.m. from UM's C.C. Little Science Building to Palmer Commons. Another protest is being organized by By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) at UM for 4 p.m. on the Diag.

Under the description of the event, BAMN argues that Murray is a white supremacist whose views shouldn't be given a platform in Ann Arbor.

"Charles Murray is a white supremacist," the description reads. "His upcoming event has already inspired another racist poster campaign on campus claiming white superiority, which threaten the safety and rights of the students and faculty of UM, especially immigrants, other minority, Muslim, trans, and women students who are the ones most consistently targeted. The event must be cancelled or shut down."

Jessica Prozinski, a member of the Stop Trump Ann Arbor group, which is encouraging people to attend the protests, said she believes people should join together in speaking out against Murray sharing his views on campus.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center has called Charles Murray a white supremacist," Prozinksi said. "It's not a debate whether people of all races are created equal - that's not something we're willing to debate. (Murray's views) doesn't protect someone from drawing the ire of the community when they come at you with this racist garbage."

Murray's visit to UM comes after students have protested incidents of racist vandalism on campus since the start of the fall semester.

On Oct. 3, racist flyers found outside of Stockwell Hall contained the words "Make America White Again" attributed to an alt-right, white supremacist website. It also referenced the percentage of black students on the UM and Michigan State campuses, while alleging the disparity between the IQ's of black and white people.

Students have also spoken out about the racist painting of the campus Rock directed at the Latinx student population, while three UM students were the target of racist vandalism on their name tags inside the West Quad dormitory.

Despite the tension on campus, Arm said canceling Murray's speaking engagement would be a missed opportunity for the UM community to engage in an educated dialogue.

"AEI's Executive Council does not believe in shielding students from ideas that they disagree with," Arm said. "Intimidation should not dictate who gets a voice on college campuses."
Related Ministry of Health dismisses recent reports of Dengue fever in Egypt

Egypt's Minister of Health Ahmed Emad said that 199 out of a total 224 patients infected with dengue fever in the Red Sea governorates El-Qusair city have been treated and released from hospital, state-run MENA news agency reported on Tuesday.

There are currently 25 patients receiving hospital treatment for the virus in El-Qusair, which has a population of 65,000, Emad added, assuring that the disease is not endemic or of concern nationwide.

The minister, who recently inspected a new hospital in El-Qusair, said that the top priority is to discover the reason behind the spread of the disease in the Red Sea governorate.

Emad urged citizens to live their lives normally and let their children go to school, as dengue fever is transferred by mosquito, not from person to person.

The minister said that the source of the virus could be 300 Sudanese who arrived in El-Qusair one month ago, adding that they will be tested to determine if they carry the virus.

Earlier this month, Egypt's Ministry of Health dismissed reports of dengue fever cases in El-Qusair and Upper Egypt's Qena governorate, saying that the cases treated in hospitals varied between normal fever, headaches and muscle pain unrelated to the mosquito-borne disease.

Several news websites have reported cases of dengue fever, including the death of a child in El-Qusair city, though the health ministry has denied that there have been deaths from the virus, stressing that the disease is not deadly.

Health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed said that in the past, limited cases of the disease appeared El-Qusair city due to the presence of the virus-carrying mosquito larva known as Aedes aegypti in water reservoirs.

Megahed noted that 80 percent of city reservoirs are not casketed with plate covers, providing a fertile environment for the growth of the disease-transmitting mosquito larva.

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After it was approved in principle on Monday, Egypt's Administrative Watchdog Authority law was finally approved by parliament on Tuesday

Egypt's parliament approved on Tuesday amendments to the law regulating the Administrative Watchdog Authority (AWA), which is in charge of fighting corruption.

MPs, who approved the law in principle on Monday evening, finally voted in favour of the new amendments in a plenary session on Tuesday morning.

Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal decided on Monday that the final approval of the law be postponed to Tuesday morning "because it needs the endorsement of two thirds of MPs."

Abdel-Aal said the new law represents a very progressive step in the country's battle against corruption.

"As you know, Egypt's position on the Transparency International's Perceptions of Corruption Index was very bad, but because the Administrative Watchdog Authority has done a great job fighting corruption in recent years, Egypt's position on this index has improved," said Abdel-Aal, adding that the new amendments should step up the country's fight against corruption and improve its international position in this respect.

Transparency International's Perceptions of Corruption Index ranks countries based on their perceived level of corruption.

In the 2016 report, Egypt ranked 108 out of 176 for perceived corruption.

Abdel-Aal deplored that the number of MPs available on Monday evening's session was not enough to give a final approval of the law. He said, however, that he is happy that the law received final approval by both majority and opposition MPs.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marawan also told MPs on Tuesday that "it is excellent that the first law approved by parliament at the beginning of its third session [for 2017/2018] is one aimed at fighting corruption."

"Parliament's approval of this newly-amended law should prove an effective weapon against all forms of corruption in this country," said Marawan, adding that "the law reflects the government's determination to wipe out corruption in administrative circles."

The law, approved by parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee on Sunday, aims to amend the law (law no.54/1964) to go in line with Egypt's 2014 constitution and UN agreements on combating corruption and fighting graft crimes.

Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa, the head of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told MPs that the draft amendments were revised by the State Council's Department of Legislation.

"This revision was necessary to ensure that the draft amendments go in line with the constitution and Egypt's approval of relevant international conventions in 2008," said Abu Shoqa, adding that "it is high time for this draft law to be passed because this reflects a popular demand and in order to step up the war against corruption in government and administrative circles."

Osama Abu Magd, the spokesperson of the Future of a Homeland party, said the new law reflects a strong political will to fight corruption.

"We all remember how the president [Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi] ordered the AWA chairman [Mohamed Erfan] two months ago to make sure that the AWA does everything possible to fight corruption and ensure that national projects are implemented in a transparent way," said Abu Magd.

A report prepared by the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee said the draft law seeks to amend five articles.

"Article 1 states that the ACA is a supervisory authority is affiliated with the president of the republic in line with Article 214 of the constitution, having administrative, technical, and financial independence," the report said.

The report also said that Article 5 of the law will be amended to oblige the ACA to submit an annual report to the president of the republic, parliament, and cabinet.

"This goes in line with Article 217 of the constitution, which also states that the ACA's report should cover its performance through the year in terms of fighting all forms of corruption and graft and submit recommendations in this field," said the report.

The report added that the new law obliges the ACA to coordinate with other watchdog institutions such as the Central Auditing Agency to forge a new anti-corruption strategy and improve the values of transparency and integrity in line with Article 218 of the constitution.

The report said the amendments give the president the right to name the ACA's chairman, deputy chairman and board members only after parliament's approval in line with Article 216 of the constitution.

The report added that the amendments also give the AWA the power to refer certain corruption cases to the Administrative Prosecution and the Prosecutor General for investigation if initial information indicates that there is corruption in a certain sector.

Abu Shoqa said the ACA has uncovered a number of high-profile corruption cases in recent years.

"The amendments give the ACA more powers to tighten control on corruption and help the government's 2014 National Anti-Corruption Committee fight nepotism and reinforce accountability in government circles," said Abu Shoqa, adding that "we hope the ACA exercising a more active role in combating graft will help improve Egypt's position on Transparency International's Perceptions of Corruption Index."

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The board of the commission, which will be in charge of supervising national elections and referendums, will comprise 10 members, all of whom are senior judges

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued Tuesday a decree forming the board of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which will be in charge of supervising all national elections and referendums.

El-Sisi's decree, which goes in line with articles 208, 209, and 210 of Egypt's 2014 constitution, states that the NEC's board will be chaired by deputy head of the Court of Cassation Lashin Ibrahim, and that Mahmoud El-Sherif, another deputy head of the court, will act as Ibrahim's deputy.

The board will also include Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid and Yasser Ahmed El-Maabadi, who are heads of the courts of appeals in Cairo and Tanta; Ahmed Abdel-Halim Hassan Abboud and Faris Saad Handal from the State Council; Hani Mohamed Ali and Abdel-Sallam Ramadan from the State Cases Authority; and Mohamed Abu Deif Pasha Khalil and Khaled Youssef Ibrahim from the Administrative Prosecution Authority.

According to Article 208 of the constitution, the NEC will be officially and exclusively mandated with supervising all elections  presidential, parliamentary and municipal  and referendums in Egypt.

Article 208 states that the NEC's responsibilities will range from preparing the country's national voter lists, designating electoral districts, preparing the rules of campaigning and funding, supervising media coverage, facilitating voting operations, to announcing the final results.

The NEC's head Ibrahim said in media statements on Tuesday that the NEC's members will meet on Wednesday to name the board's executive director.

"This director, who will be a judge, should be approved by the president by decree," said Ibrahim, adding that "in its meeting on Wednesday, the NEC will also prepare for supervising a by-election in the district of Gerga, which is affiliated with Upper Egypts Sohag."

Gerga's deputy in parliament Heracle Wefki died last summer and his seat has to be filled in a by-election.

Article 209 of the constitution states that the board of the NEC should include 10 members; two from the Court of Cassation, the heads of two appeal courts, two deputy heads of the State Council, two deputy heads of the State Cases Authority, and two deputy heads of the Administrative Prosecution Authority.

The article also states that the Higher Council for Judges will be the one responsible for naming members of the NEC's board, and that the board will have to be ratified by the president of the republic.

The states that the NEC's terms in office will be six years, to be updated every three years.

On 2 October, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marawan said in an interview with Al-Ahram that members of the NEC, will soon meet to supervise a parliamentary by-election in Sohag before moving on to preparations for 2018's presidential election.

Marawan also said that the NEC law, which was approved by parliament last July, states in Article 36 that the two commissions responsible for supervising presidential and parliamentary elections will be eliminated.

"The creation of the NEC leads to an automatic elimination of what was once called the Presidential Election Commission and the Supreme Electoral Commission," said Marawan.

President El-Sisi's decree on Tuesday comes just one day after a number of MPs affiliated with parliament's national security and defence committee announced that they will call upon the president to run for a second four-year term in office.

Egypt's presidential election is expected to be held in May or June 2018.

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Egyptian diplomat Moushira Khattab took third place, with 12 votes, in the second round of voting to elect the new UNESCO director-general, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Qatar's former culture minister Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari took the lead with 20 votes, followed by France's candidate Audrey Azoulay, who received 13 votes.

Fifty-eight members of UNESCO's executive board voted in a first round on Monday to select a successor to outgoing Bulgarian Director-General Irina Bokova. Khattab also finishing third.

Delegates will continue to vote in further ballots this week if no candidate obtains the required 30 votes.

A third and fourth round of voting is set for Wednesday and Thursday.

A fifth and final round is scheduled for Friday between the two candidates who obtain the most votes in the fourth round.

In case of a tie between the two finalists, a toss will determine the winner.

The winner is expected to be announced no later than 13 October.

Six candidates from France, China, Vietnam, Egypt, Qatar and Lebanon are in the running for the leadership of the organisation, after three of the initial contenders withdrew.

In UNESCO's 72-year history, no Arab nation has ever held the position of director-general.

Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman said in comments to state TV that Qatar's first-round win in voting for a new UNESCO director-general raises "many question marks," after the Gulf nation's candidate took a surprising lead following Monday's secret ballot.

The Egypt-Qatar rivalry in the UNESCO vote comes amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Qatar and a number of Arab nations, including Egypt. The group of four nations has imposed a boycott on Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism, which Doha has denied.

Abu Zeid said that the first-round success for Qatar is no indication of the final outcome.

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Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Bombay Burmah is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 1,380, target of Rs 1,420. Delta Corp is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 220, target of Rs 236. Future Consumer is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 64, target of Rs 76."

"Banks have stopped moving significantly. These days, if just ICICI Bank and State Bank of India do not fall a whole lot, that is a big deal. If the banks kind of participate a little bit, then we can get out of this 10,030 type of zone. So that possibility is alive because for the last 2-3 sessions, the weak banks have fallen enough, so now the strong ones are going up. So odds are that the bank Nifty at some point will move higher," he said.

"In UPL, Rs 780-790 is a 200-day moving average. So it corrected up to the 200-day moving average and now is moving higher. So that way, it is a buy and will probably see levels of Rs 880-900 coming in fairly soon."
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Gas is doing very well today. So, Indraprastha Gas (IGL) is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 1,460 and target of Rs 1,520. HDFC Bank is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 1,780 and target of Rs 1,840. Reliance Industries is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 837 and target of Rs 860."

"As crude has kind of come off, so, maybe aviation is that sort of a trade, but I dont think Interglobe Aviation is really now outperforming. It has just hit its 200-day moving average at about Rs 1,050 and from there it is moving up. So, anybody who wants to buy, now keeps a stop loss below Rs 1,050 and maybe looks for targets closer to say about Rs 1,250. So basically it is a trading type of stock. I dont think it is likely to make new highs," he said.

"Shriram Transport Finance is a very choppy stock. At best despite all news flow, Rs 950 to Rs 1,100 is the kind of range that it is in."

"SRF is now a buy on dip type of stock because the 200-day moving average was crossed yesterday; that is about Rs 1,600-1,610. Since that was a large move, you could have two to three days of consolidation. However, looks like it will hit the higher end of its range which is closer to Rs 1,900-1,950," he said.

"May be one can add on Avanti Feeds. The idea should be to add on strongly, maybe get the average up to even Rs 1,500. I think at some point Rs 3,000-3,200 will happen. This is that kind of stock which you find once in your lifetime. So that way bull market stock and just keep a Rs 2,000 type stop and continue to carry."

"Vivimed is not a great stock; let us be clear on that. You want to enter into stocks which are leading this bull market. So today as we speak, the broker dealers are doing very well - Motilal Oswal Financial Services, JM Financial, etc. I would advise to move into a JM Financial. If one wants to stay here, then Rs 120 is the stop loss and maybe on a good day you may find Rs 165. However, I am not very positive here," he added.

: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd
Facebook India and South Asia Managing Director Umang Bedi has stepped down from his role at the company, a little over a year after he joined the world's largest social network.

Bedi had joined Facebook in July 2016 from Adobe India, where he was the Managing Director of the South Asia region.

Facebook confirmed the development. "We confirm that Umang Bedi will be leaving his role and Facebook at the end of this year. Hes built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best," the company said in a statement.

India is Facebook's largest market after the United States, with 201 million monthly active users.

Bedi took over from Kirthiga Reddy, who returned to the United States to take on a new role at the companys headquarters at Menlo Park.

Bedi has nearly two decades of leadership experience covering sales, marketing and partnerships where he successfully built teams and grew businesses for multinational companies.

Reddy had stepped down from her role last February, shortly after a public debate between Facebook's Free Basics platform that aimed to provide free Internet access to certain apps and websites registered on its platform by striking a partnership with a telecom operator.

Facebook was accused of abusing its market dominance to swing the debate in its favour, but it was not clear if Reddy's exit from her role was linked to the controversy.

She is now Managing Global Client Partner and Emerging Markets Lead, Global Accounts at Facebook, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley is in the United States for a week-long official visit. He addressed students at some select universities and is also scheduled to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

CNBC-TV18's Malvika Jain caught up with Amy Hariani, Vice President of US India Business Council (USIBC) in the United States and asked her about the mood of the foreign investors and if they are still optimistic about the Indian market.

Hariani said that India's macroeconomics still good compared to other investment economies, so American investors remain bullish on India.
The US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) for Mylan's Biologics License Application (BLA) for MYL-1401H, a proposed biosimilar pegfilgrastim (cancer drug). This product is a part of the biosimilars portfolio being developed jointly by Biocon and Mylan.

Complete Response Letter is a communication by the US FDA asking for more information in terms of the application. The CRL can be anything; they could have a problem with the drug, they could have a problem with the plant. It could just be to-and-fro in terms of incremental exchange of information.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Vishal Manchanda, Pharma Analyst at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities shared his views and readings on the news as well as on Biocon stock.

Manchanda said the CRL is not as severe as one would have anticipated.

"We should not react to this news and rather wait for the approval because there are other hurdles in terms of litigation," he said.

We were estimating second half of next year as a launch timeline but there are other variables too in terms of how the competition shapes up, said Manchanda.

He further said that it would not be wise to change earnings per share (EPS) estimate with the CRL.
Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India (SBI)

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In a motivational letter to over 2.6 lakh employees, State Bank of India or SBIs new chairman Rajnish Kumar urged them to follow the highest standards of governance and keep themselves updated with new technologies to ensure the countrys largest lender maintains its competitive edge.

"Today, there is also a severe trust deficit amongst the various stakeholders in the financial ecosystem. I believe that ethics is the only way out to bridge this gap. Therefore, I urge you all, to promote moral and ethical grandeur unconditionally in your daily actions and decisions, Kumar said in a letter addressed to the banks 268,705 employees.

Moneycontrol has reviewed the letter, which was uploaded on Monday on the banks internal website for employees.

Kumar succeeded Arundhati Bhattacharya to take charge as the new SBI Chairman on October 6.

While Bhattacharya had left a mark with her "sterling legacy and a host of path-breaking initiatives" as Kumar says, as the first woman chief of SBI, Kumar said his top priorities now would be revival of credit growth, resolving stressed assets, and continued focus on digitisation as well as HR initiatives.

In the letter, Kumar said while performance and productivity are non-negotiable, employees must pay attention to their health and maintain a strike a proper work-life balance.

He also asked the 211-year bank's employees to stick to strong ethical standards. "To do so, our conduct must be absolutely clean".

Kumar asked customer-facing staff to be courteous. "I read somewhere, that a man without a smiling face must not open a shop. This is the finest expression of the spirit of a service organisation that I have ever come across. A bank is as good as its frontline people."

We may have best of products, technology, ambience but if we are not courteous and polite to our customers, our business will not endure," he added.

Kumars appointment comes at a time when stressed loans in the Indian banking system are estimated to have surged to be over Rs 10 lakh crore.

For SBI, at the end of June, it's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at loans of Rs1.88 lakh crore, or almost 10 percent of total advances.

Further, SBI's merger with its associates has impacted its profitability.

In the letter, Kumar noted the banking industry is passing through tough times, a trend seen worldwide. The sector could not be insulated from unfavourable macroeconomic conditions because of a highly interconnected world and economic environment.

He also said that from being perceived as a traditional bank, SBI has transformed itself as a technology-savvy one in all aspects from delivery channels to product offering.

With this essential core of our strengths, I have no doubt that our bank will overcome the current challenges soon. Still, we should not forget that the crown position in the industry bequeaths greater responsibilities on us to push ourselves extra, the new SBI chief's letter read.

Laying emphasis on digital, Kumar said there is need for employees to continually update themselves on the tech front to provide seamless digital services, especially to younger customers -- millennials & Gen- X.

He said, "Bare adoption of digital platforms for delivery is not going to serve us. We need to educate and functionally update ourselves on tech-front continually for providing an easy to navigate and seamless digital services.

Only then, technology will provide us with a sustainable, competitive advantage. Only then, we would be able to efficiently deliver new age banking for New India," he added.

He concluded by asking employees to follow the value of STEPS which stands for:

S - Strong EthicsT - Transparent & High Standards of Corporate GovernanceE - Empathy & compassion for Colleagues, Customers & Communities aroundP - Politeness in dealing with Customers, Peers, Seniors & Junior Colleagues, andS - Sincerity.
As climate change makes itself more and more felt, fossil fuels are being looked at as something that needs to be changed. In an effort to move towards something more sustainable auto companies have no doubt started moving towards the electric path. And while the road will be long and hard, it is not undoable. Here are the electric cars that are already on sale in India.

Automakers could be up for a big relief as 2030 may not be the final deadline for rolling out of electric vehicles in India.

Sources informed Moneycontrol that there is no deadline for rolling out electric vehicles in India as electric vehicles do not have the required range.

There is no deadline It is just a wish of some ministers to have substantial penetration of electric vehicles, sources said.

Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, had shaken up the auto-industry last month by saying that he would bulldoze the industry if they dont comply with it.

Also read: Bulldozer, E-vehicles and BS-VI: Gadkari must bring 'clear' vehicle policy soon, feel experts

We should move towards alternative fuel... I am going to do this, whether you like it or not. And I am not going to ask you. I will bulldoze it Gadkari had said at Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) annual convention.

EV penetration is less than a percent of total automobile count in India. Majority of these are low speed scooters.

Industry players and experts had called the deadline ambitious as other developed countries have set a deadline two decades ahead.

The target for roll out of EVs is 2032 for Scotland and 2040 for France and Britain. China has also announced its plans to phase out fuel based vehicles but has not specified the time.

Sources also said that government would be happy if there was enough penetration of EVs in the next 13 years.

Even if we achieve 30-40 percent, that would be enough, Moneycontrol was told.

It was learnt that there is a general consensus among policy makers that India has infrastructural hurdles thus having a complete EV fleet is not possible.

Also read: Govt should scrap old vehicles before bringing new ones: Renault

India has only 500 charging stations against a requirement of three lakh stations alone in Delhi. Battery manufacturing is also a concern in the country as there is no indigenous manufacturing facility available.

Anything that doesnt have range may not last very long, people close to the matter added, hinting that electric vehicles would not be the end in India.

It was also learnt that since electric cars have slow charging, it wasnt affirmed that electric fleet would be seen in future or not.

We dont even know whether electric (vehicles) shall stay till 2030 or not We might have hydrogen cars, we might have fuel cell cars... electric is only transient, they informed.
India Economy

India is experiencing some of the greatest structural changes as bold new reforms like note ban and GST have put the country firmly on a sustainable growth path, oil cartel OPEC's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said today.

Speaking at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, he said the country's expanding middle class represents a growing source of demand, not just for energy but for goods and services from around the world.

"India's economy has been experiencing some of the greatest structural changes in a generation. A slate of bold new reforms, embarked upon under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has put the country firmly on a sustainable dynamic growth path  particularly when it comes to energy," he said.

Reforms, including demonetisation policy, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and efforts to diversify the energy mix have all been designed to move the country toward sustainable growth and stability, he said.

He further said that with major growth in transportation sector, expansion in exports of numerous goods and services, world-renowned IT sector, a strong services sector and solid manufacturing base, India has undergone a great economic transformation and its role in the global marketplace as well as involvement in international trading networks are admired signposts.

"At OPEC, we have been paying close attention to these macroeconomic and business trends in India. Some of them shall directly benefit the growing populations of OPEC's own member countries," Barkindo said.

In particular, he said, OPEC is working to better understand the potential impacts that such beneficial economic changes may have on future oil demand.

"OPEC even sees world oil demand growth increasingly shifting to India. We anticipate that by 2040, India's oil demand will increase by more than 150 per cent to 10.1 million barrels per day from around 4 mbpd currently," he said.

The country's total share of global oil demand is also seen rising to over 9 per cent by 2040 from 4 per cent now.

"There are many factors helping to foster, strengthen and support the deepening relationship between OPEC and India," he said.

During 2000 to 2015, India's imports from OPEC nations increased from USD 2 billion to nearly USD 140 billion. OPEC countries' imports from India increased from USD 5 billion in 2000-2001 to USD 56 billion by 2015.

"In terms of crude oil, what we see is similarly impressive in terms of growth. India's total imports have risen to close to 4.3 mbpd in 2016 from around 1.5 mbpd in 2000. Nearly 80 per cent of these total imports came from OPEC member countries," he said.

This has been because of demand in India, which last year was the fastest in the world, with an increase of close to 340,000 barrels per day or 8.3 per cent.

India currently is the world's third-largest oil consumer.

"Along with other oil producers, we have all seen that constructive dialogue and flexible cooperation can play an important role in maintaining stable oil markets," he said.
The Supreme Court ban on the sale of firecrackers in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) during the Diwali season has caused significant distraught to the firecracker industry and shopkeepers as they are staring at losses to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore.

Firecracker firms in the town of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu which supplies 85 percent of the total firecrackers sold in the country are worried as other states might emulate the Apex Courts order.

Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers association president Asai Thambi told HT, Diwali is the time we make maximum profits and the SC order will completely smash many units. We cause pollution only for a week at best, but vehicles pollute the city 24x7 all 365 days. What about that?

The town of Sivakasi is fearing massive job loss due to SC decision as around 300,000 workers are directly employed by the firecracker manufacturing units and another 500,000 are engaged in related industries such as packaging, printing, paper rolling transportation and others. The estimated turnover of the firecracker industry is worth around Rs 7,000 crore.

While firecracker vendors in the wholesale market of Sadar Bazar and Jama Masjid in Old Delhi fear losses in the hundreds of crores as they have stocked up crackers of all kinds in the range from Rs 20 up to Rs 1,000 and more for the festival period.

Amit Jain, a shopkeeper in Jama Masjid, said that all dealers in firecrackers in the National Capital Region will be impacted by the SC decision which would continue till October 31. About 500 short-term licences have been issued to sell firecrackers in Delhi-NCR by the authorities, said Harjit Singh Chhabra, head, Sadar Nishkarm Welfare Association, apart from the permanent licence holders.

For many traders it is a double whammy as they were already impacted by the 28 percent GST on cracker and stocks they have piled up for the festival seasons will go waste.

The bench headed by Justice AK Sikri had on October 6 reserved its order on a plea seeking restoration of the apex court's last year order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. The court had said that it wanted to evaluate the difference to air quality.

Now the trader lobby has pinned its hope on big manufacturers in Sivakasi to get a stay on the Apex Courts order.

(With inputs from PTI)
Turkey will boycott meetings with the US ambassador to Ankara as it no longer recognises the envoy as the US representative in the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, stepping up a diplomatic row.

"We have not agreed and are not agreeing to this ambassador making farewell visits with ministers, the parliament speaker and myself," Erdogan said of US ambassador John Bass, who is shortly to leave Turkey after being nominated the US envoy to Afghanistan.

"We do not see him as the representative of the United States in Turkey," he said at a news conference with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

It is traditional for outgoing envoys in Turkey to make valedictory visits to bid farewell to top officials before leaving their posts.

Although Bass is expected to leave Turkey in the coming days, it is unprecedented in the history of Turkish-US relations for Ankara to say it no longer recognises Washington's ambassador.

The dispute erupted last week when Turkey arrested a Turkish employee of the American consulate on suspicion of links to the group blamed for last year's failed coup.

In response, the United States stopped issuing non-immigrant visas from its missions in Turkey, prompting Turkish missions in the United States to hit back with a tit-for-tat step of their own.

Erdogan said the arrest, based on evidence found by the police, shows "something is going on at the Istanbul consulate."

"The US should evaluate one thing: how did those agents leak into the consulate?" Erdogan asked.

"If they did not (put them there), then who put them there? No state would allow such agents to pose such a threat."

The US embassy has dismissed the allegations against the consulate staffer as "baseless".

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U.S. economist Richard Thaler, of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, speaks during a news conference after winning the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. October 9, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski - RC12E03FA3D0

Moneycontrol News

Soon after his winning the Nobel Prize 2017 for economics, Richard Thaler became the toast of Twitter as BJP leaders retweeted the Chicago Booth School professor's support for demonetisation last year.

But they were in for a rude shock after Twitterati brought it to their notice that the Nobel laureate had also questioned the issuance of Rs 2,000 notes.

When demonetisation was announced in November last year, Thaler described it as a "policy I have long supported" but also remarked "damn" when it was brought to his notice that the government was introducing Rs 2,000 currency notes.

"This is a policy I have long supported. First step toward cashless and good start on reducing corruption."

These tweets came from the Twitter handle '@R_Thaler', which is not officially verified but was tagged by the official feed of the Nobel Prize.

The head of the BJP's IT Cell, Amit Malviya wasted no time in retweeting the old tweet.



Richard Thaler just won the Nobel for Economics.. pic.twitter.com/oUvSGO0dbX  Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) October 9, 2017



Others such as Giriraj Singh also retweeted the same tweet. Union Minister Piyush Goyal too is said to have tweeted about this (Moneycontrol cannot independently verify this as Goyal apparently deleted the tweet for the reason that follows.)

However, when someone pointed out to Thaler that the government had also introduced Rs 2,000 currency notes, Thaler tweeted, "really? Damn", information that the BJP leaders did not reveal.

really? Damn. Richard H Thaler (@R_Thaler) November 8, 2016

Twitterati wasted no time in highlighting the fact that the full context of Thaler's sentiment on demonetisation was not being shown.

Dear @R_Thaler your name is used for political propaganda, can you please clarify your view on this pic.twitter.com/REt6xVmbFX  Indian Lallu (@Indianlallu) October 9, 2017

Interestingly, one of Thaler's colleagues happens to be former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, currently serving as Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School, and whose opposition to demonetisation is well-known.

Rajan, whose name was also doing the rounds for the Economics Nobel, recently stated that he was never in favour of demonetisation, and would have "resigned had it been thrust on him".

As an academic, Thaler is known for making popular the idea that rational markets are affected by human behaviour.

"By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, he has shown how these human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes," it said in a release while announcing him as the winner of the Nobel prize.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as part of efforts to weed out illicit fund flows and corruption, and it immediately became a matter of heated debate.

The issue was re-opened recently when BJP veterans Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha lashed out at government policies in view of the economic slowdown.

PM Modi recently refuted criticism of his government's handling of the economy, saying a "handful of people" were trying to spread pessimism on the basis of figures from the last economic quarter, when growth slowed to 5.7 percent, the lowest in three years.

(With inputs from PTI)
Onion prices, which had fallen after the government's crackdown on wholesale traders, have seen a sharp surge and hit the highest mark in six weeks despite adequate supply.

At the Lasalgaon mandi in Maharashtra, onions are currently trading at Rs 21.50 a kg. The price of export quality onion jumped by Rs 2 a kg on Friday, a 58 percent rise from its low of Rs 13.60 a kg on September 19, reports the Business Standard.

The rise in prices is mainly due to floods in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. Late rainfall in September reportedly damaged onion kharif crop in Karnataka also.

Due to this, the onion demand is now concentrated on the Lasalgaon mandi.

On an average, onion prices rose Rs 200 per day. On October 3, the minimum price was Rs 700 a quintal and maximum was Rs 1,826 a quintal, according to data available on the Agmarknet.

The minimum price rose to Rs 1,200 while maximum went to Rs 2,731 a quintal.

According to a report in the HinduBusiness Line, the farmers in Karnataka did not sow onions to full capacity due to drought-like conditions. Only 50 percent crop was sown, of which nearly 15 percent got destroyed due to heavy rainfall.

Till Diwali, prices are likely to rise to Rs 2,800 to Rs 3,200 a quintal. Not only Maharashtra, but onion prices have risen in Bengaluru and Hubbali, too.

In September, six of the 16 wholesale mandis had been shut for onion trading after a sudden steep fall in prices to Rs 11/kg.

The average wholesale price of onion in Nasik, which was ruling at Rs 20/kg in early September fell to Rs 11/kg by September 15. Wholesale rates in other onion markets in Maharashtra too fell.

On a daily basis, onion arrival in mandis is about 20,000 tonnes. The onion being sold in Nasik mandis at present are of stored ones of last year's crop. The new kharif crop is yet to arrive.
Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses a gathering during a conference of start-up businesses in New Delhi, India, January 16, 2016. Indian Prime Minister Modi launched a number of initiatives on Saturday to support the country's start-ups, including a 100 billion rupee ($1.5 billion) fund and a string of tax breaks for both the companies and their investors. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi - RTX22ONI

Rakesh Khar

Small is literally big. And on the ground, it is fighting a grim battle for survival. But for its new found proponents, small is a big time opportunity. The talk here is about the small business segment that is currently facing unprecedented turbulence.

For politicians, though, this turbulence has come as a grand opportunity. Small business may be languishing on the ground but suddenly it has become the most potent constituency (read vote bank).

They say every crisis brings with it an opportunity. And politicians of all hues would rush to steal any such "breakthrough". So when demonetisation and GST dealt a double blow to the already fledgling small business community, the opposition in Congress suddenly "felt" the pain of the small business community. It accused the government of unleashing license raj on the small traders in name of GST, debilitating their ability to stage a recovery.

Worried about the charge sticking, a nervous Modi government just announced a new set of measures to smoothen the rough GST blow for the MSME sector. The damage, though, has already been done.

Rahul Gandhi, who for a change made a smart impression at UC Berkley early September, used this ammunition of small businesses to fire at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Since then, Gandhi has lost no opportunity to position himself as the champion of the small business community. Wherever he goes and speaks now, a small business pain story weaves its way into the narrative.

Rhetoric apart, there is a catch here: Small business has traditionally been a BJP vote bank. The segment has shied from ever voting for the Congress. Now, the Congress has launched a campaign to take control of this potent vote bank.

A look back shows how the opportunity arose in the first place for the Congress.

With the BJP in power, Modi was expected to be a big votary of business, small and big. In the initial days, the euphoria over Digital India, Make in India and Start-up India somehow gave small business an impression that it was being forced to play second fiddle to big business.

This was exploited politically by the opposition with Gandhi coining the now famous Suit Boot Ki Sarkaar.

As the Prime Minister traded his suits for the now famous Modi jacket, he sought to reinvent himself as the messiah of the poor and the downtrodden.

The course correction led to the advent of demonetisation. This was a severe short term blow to the micro, small and medium business. Six months later, GST happened and the MSME sector gasped for breath. That said, GST is a historic and bold reform which will integrate the economy, but only in the medium and long term.

Gandhi seized the low-hanging fruit and now he believes he is the voice of the trader community.

The UPA governments own track record in uplifting the mood of small business was pretty modest, made worse by plethora of scams caused by distribution of patronage to big business.

The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a MSME Task Force in his office chaired by his Principal Secretary TKA Nair. An exhaustive report was submitted with little or no follow up for execution.

The ruling dispensation is now desperate to take back control of what it believes is a community that has been a committed vote bank. Over the past week, top economic ministers brainstormed to mitigate the falling business sentiment more so for the small business.

The truth is that small business community actually got the wrong end of the stick from the Modi government early on.

First, the MSME ministry was entrusted to a veteran politician in Kalraj Mishra, who always lived on the edge with age being a disadvantage. His rather modest knowledge of the sector made it worse, though he made an effort to connect the dots.

As he was given two junior ministers to try and retain focus, the Prime Minister himself aggressively pushed for Startup India, a more attractive proposition from within the small business space.

Policy imperatives apart (demonetisation and GST), the MSME sector witnessed another setback with the latest Cabinet reshuffle witnessing the ministry losing out on one of its junior ministers and Mishra being eased out having crossed the age of 75.

The incumbent minster with independent charge, Giriraj Singh, isnt a political lightweight but is certainly as raw about matters of the economy as his predecessor.

The sector needs a patient hearing and a mentor alike in the government and the opposition who understands the pain points. It has yet the biggest potential to put the Indian economy, especially manufacturing back on track.

Alas, what it is receiving instead is a lot of sympathy rather than empathy. The obvious overflowing attention isnt to redeem the pain but to use the beleaguered community of 5.3 crore MSMEs in India for vote bank politics.

Thereby hangs a sordid tale of our politics of economics.
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The Nifty on Tuesday was trading in the green up 22.85 points at 10, 012 led by Reliance Industries, Infosys and Lupin which were among the top gainers, up 1.58 percent, 1.34 percent and 2.29 percent respectively. UPL was also among the top Nifty gainers, up 1.77 percent while Power Grid was up 1.62 percent. The most active stocks in the Nifty50 Index were Reliance Industries, Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart), Infosys and Larsen & Toubro.

In the real estate space, Delta Corp jumped 4.49 percent and Indiabulls Real Estate was up 1 percent while Prestige Estates was also trading in the green which added 0.63 percent.

CNX infra was outperforming the Nifty led by stocks like Adani Ports and NHPC which added 1 percent each. Voltas gained 1.42 percent and Siemens was trading at Rs 1,230 per share, up 0.63 percent. Future Retail gained 1.64 percent intraday after Nomura maintained its buy rating on the stock with increased target price at Rs 619.

Bank Nifty was also trading positive holding on to its morning gains led by IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank. However, ICICI Bank which was one of the most traded stock in the Nifty was trading in the red, down by 0.64 percent. South Indian Bank tanked 6.4 percent after its profit plunged 96 percent.

In the BSE Index, the top gainers were Adani Transmission, Religare Enterprises, GHCL, GNFC and Delta Corp. On the other hand, from the Nifty Index, Lupin, UPL, Power Grid, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the top gainers.

In the Nifty50, the advance-decline ratio was in favour of the advances with 27 stocks advancing and 23 stocks declining. On the other hand, the BSE Index saw 1506 stocks advance and 1108 stocks decline.

: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd
Equities have witnessed a solid rally over the past year amid expectations of an earnings rebound led by an economic revival -- both of which have remained elusive.

But as the street heads into another earnings quarter, one that could make or break the market, Kotak Institutional Equities is not overly optimistic.

This is not going to be a great quarter. We are looking at 8 percent growth in overall numbers, Sanjeev Prasad, Managing Director, Co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

An EPS growth of 8 percent would not please the market given that it is pencilling in double-digit earnings growth for the full year.

What's worse? Prasad expects growth only to come from the oil and gas space.

The sector will witness fantastic numbers. Strong refining margins of 10-11 dollars per barrel are seen, he told the channel, adding that rest of the sectors may not paint a very pretty picture. "In case of automobiles, volumes are good, but margin compression is a challenge."

In the oil and gas space, Prasad expects Reliance Industries to see "complicated earnings" due to the telecom impact. Core chemical refining will be very strong and its refining margins are set to be strong. Having said that, telecom could pull down the numbers, Prasad said.

In the telecom space, he foresees a bad quarter. In fact, the December quarter could be bad as well given the changes in interconnect usage charge (IUC).

For non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), he expects strong numbers, especially the retail-ending ones. So, the likes of Bajaj Finance, Cholamandalam Investments, and M&M Finance could see good numbers, he said.
A spike witnessed during the first hour of trade was held by the market for rest of the session, with the Nifty closing above 10,000-mark on Tuesday. The Sensex too ended the day on a good note.

Despite mixed global cues, Indian indices began the day with gains of about 80 points on the Sensex, while the Nifty managed to open above 10,000 in the opening tick.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 77.52 points at 31,924.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 28.20 points at 10,016.95. The market breadth was in favour of advances as 1,569 shares advanced against a fall of 1,141 shares.

Among the broader markets, midcaps had a day of outperformance with the index gaining around a percent, while smallcaps too gained one percent as well.

Meanwhile, on a sectoral basis, FMCG witnessed a day of correction, which dragged the indices from intraday gains. Positive moves were seen across, pharmaceuticals, IT, auto, metals, energy and infra, among others.

Among top gainers were Lupin, Axis Bank and UPL, while stocks such as ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Vedanta and Eicher Motors lost the most.

In case of precious metals, gold rallied by Rs 145 to Rs 30,765 per ten gram at the bullion market, in line with a firming trend overseas amid increased buying by local jewellers.

Silver followed suit as prices went up by Rs 290 to Rs 40,990 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

Bullion traders said a firming trend overseas where gold rose to the highest in more than a week as an uptick in geopolitical uncertainty raised demand for the precious metal as safe haven, kept gold and silver prices higher.

Besides, persistent buying by local jewellers to meet the ongoing seasonal demand at domestic spot market too supported the upside, they added.

On a stock-specific basis, stocks as Infosys, Reliance, HDFC Bank, Lupin, Cochin Shipyard and Adani Transmission, among others were in focus.

Infosys gained over 1 percent after it announced the record date for its buyback offer.

Lupin was up 2 percent as it received US FDA approval for generic Corgard tablets that are used to treat chest pain & hypertension. The company also launched painkiller generic Norco tablets in the US.

Cochin Shipyard surged over 11 percent on Rs 5,400 crore order from Indian Navy.

Biocon gained 7 percent after the US health regulator issued complete response letter for proposed biosimilar Pegfilgrastim, indicated for use in the treatment of cancer.

Meanwhile, Adani Transmission rallied 10 percent after exclusivity talks with Reliance Infrastructure for buying its Mumbai City power businesss. Reliance Infrastructure closed flat.

Among midcaps, fertiliser and sugar stocks rallied smartly. RCF, GNFC, Deepak Fertilisers and GSFC gained between 3 percent and 6 percent. Dwarikesh Sugar, Balrampur Chini, Shree Reunka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Dalmia Sugar, Mawana Sugars and Triveni Engineering gained 5-18 percent.

Further, Petronet LNG, Havells India, Jubilant Foodworks, Avenue Supermarts, Raymond, Nandan Denim, Indo Count, TVS Electronics and JM Financial rallied 2-20 percent.

The earnings season began with South Indian Bank posting 96 percent fall in Q2 profit, largely on account of doubling of provisions. The stock was lower by 6 percent.

In the primary market, as of 4:00 pm, MAS Financial Services IPO was oversubscribed a whopping 117 times on the last day, reflecting strong appetite among investors. In case of Indian Energy Exchange, the issue was subscribed 38 percent as of 4:00 pm on Day 2.

Going forward, the Street could be waiting for further cues from the upcoming earnings season. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be first among major companies to announce the results on Thursday, October 12.

But a few market voices are not very upbeat about it. This is not going to be a great quarter. We are looking at 8 percent growth in overall numbers, Sanjeev Prasad, Managing Director, Co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

What's worse? Prasad expects growth only to come from the oil and gas space.

The sector will witness fantastic numbers. Strong refining margins of 10-11 dollars per barrel are seen, he told the channel, adding that rest of the sectors may not paint a very pretty picture. "In case of automobiles, volumes are good, but margin compression is a challenge."
GoDaddy

US-based GoDaddy, the largest .IN domain registrar, is gunning for the small and medium enterprises, independent businesses, farmers and so on in tier 2 and 3 towns of India to drive its next level of growth, Managing Director and Vice President of Godaddys India operations Nikhil Arora told Moneycontrol.

Arora, who replaced Rajiv Sodhi at the company in July, is hoping to employ his experience with SMEs at Intuit and then WeWork to re-direct GoDaddy's focus towards providing end-to-end management of businesses than just being a product seller.

This is the right time to take the company to the next level. When GoDaddy entered India 5-years ago, it was very experimental for the company, the first international foray outside the US. They were trying to see which existing products can make sense here. Now we have insights, customer base to create reach, said Arora.

Globally, GoDaddy has 72 million registered domains with about 17 million customers, in about 50 countries. In India, the company hosts 750,000 merchants and holds over 30 percent market share. Since its inception in India in 2012, GoDaddy has grown to house a team of 700 people, from 40 earlier, handling over 4,000 service calls a day.

Considering that India has just about 6 million registered domain names, in a market that consists of over 50 million SMEs, Arora is guiding the company to tap those un-digitised businesses.

Bangalore-based Instamojo, founded in the same year as GoDaddy, has already cracked the segment. Started as payment link generator, the startup is now adding value-added services in order to expand its merchant network and is now offering cataloguing and other business management tools for small businesses.

In FY17, Instamojo recorded over 2 million transactions with a total volume of Rs 600 crore. Over 65 percent of these transactions came from merchants residing in tier 2, 3, and 4 towns. Rest is divided among top 10 metro cities. InstaMojo's link alleviates the need for a merchant to buy a domain or host a website.

ShopX, another Bangalore-based company, also focuses on connecting markets beyond tier 2 towns to connect digitally. The startup connects small neighbourhood shops, kirana stores, paan kiosks to major brands. These shopkeepers can browse through a digital catalogue of all major brands such as Unilever, Loreal, Patanjali, Micromax, and so on, and order any product directly from the sellers.

In less than a year, ShopX has brought over 50,000 such kirana stores on board its digital platform that allows the shop owners to directly order products from the brand.

Arora, however, is unperturbed by competition through innovation in Indian startup ecosystem. He rather sees them as partners in building an ecosystem. Some of our clients demand features and products that are out there. So we will definitely look at partnering with a unique solution provider, he says.

His strategy is three-fold. In the first phase, the current phase, Arora is driving his team to make existing products incrementally better. To do that GoDaddy launched a customer engagement program where Arora himself, and his team, go and meet customers in their premises to understand and study their requirements.

I have always believed in this one quote  You should fall in love with your customers problem, not with your products. I wanted to bring that learning to GoDaddy. Thats where I have taken my team also. Lets get out and meet the customers. Above all it creates empathy. We need to create products to solve their problems, Arora says.

The company will draw insights from this outreach program to build on to the existing products. To that effect, GoDaddy this year extended its market in India with the launch of its website builder, business hosting on mobile, and e-mail hosting platforms.

In the second phase, the customer engagement program will be extended to create new products based on the insights derived. The company plans to launch one or two products every year, and the insights from customer interactions will play a significant role.

GoDaddy is also exploring partnerships or even acquisitions to grow its product portfolio. There is a product roadmap we are testing right now. The focus will be on enhancing online presence for our customers, increase e-commerce, innovative productivity platforms, Arora said.

We will also focus on mobile of course! Given its reach in India it is imperative to touch that medium, he added.

But Arora believes that mobile-only cannot be a fool-proof strategy. He sees it as an entry-point for first-time users, and an opportunity for the existing ones to scale up with web domain. Discovery and penetration are through mobile but fulfilment is through the web. Web hosting can offer a lot more like inventory management, work-flow management, customer management, and so on, he says.

The third phase is what Arora likes to call the transformation phase, which will see GoDaddy developing products specifically for relevance and scale to grow the market. All the future products will be with the focus to solve specific problems; specific to language, location, verticals and so on, Arora says.

Today, reach is not there. We want to create that by building relevance and productivity. If we do not put out a relevant product, we will do them a disservice. We will turn them away from digitisation, he adds.
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 06: John Collison speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 - Day 2 on May 6, 2014 in New York City.

An entrepreneur from Ireland has been named the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. John Collison who is the co-founder and President of Stripe, the company that lets businesses and individuals easily accept payments over the internet is just 26-year-old, two months younger than Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.

According to a list released by Forbes, the number of billionaires has reached an all-time high at 2,043. Their total net worth rose by 18 percent to USD 7.67 trillion, also a record. This year, there were 195 newcomers including Collison.

Also Read: Nusli Wadia richest newcomer on Forbes India Rich List

Collison along with his brother Patrick Collision hatched the idea for Stripe during a vacation trip to South Africa. He was still in his undergrad at that time, pursuing a major in Physics.

Both the brothers started working on the company in 2009 and launched the product in September 2011. Eventually, Collison dropped out from Harvard.

Global financial giants like American Express, Visa, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Sequoia Capital are some investors in the company.

Currently, his company employs 696 people and processes billions of dollars in transactions every year in 25 different countries. Stripe is valued at USD 9.2 billion.

This, however, is not the first success for Collison. He and his brother founded Auctomatic, another startup which helped sellers on e-retailing websites manage transactions. They sold the company for USD 5 million in 2008, becoming teenage millionaires.
The University of California (Berkeley) is planning to launch a smart city co-Innovation lab in New Delhi which will act as an accelerator program for young entrepreneurs.

The accelerator lab will be launched in India in collaboration with 1M1B (A Million for A Billion), an initiative to activate a million leaders who will drive a billion people out of poverty and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

Smart City Co-Innovation Lab aims to be an accelerator program for young innovators to create best solutions for making India's cities smarter. The age range to participate in the program is from 19 years to 29 years.

Entrepreneurs and startups will be identified, mentored and funded to create sustainable solutions for India's cities which are plagued with problems such as traffic, pollution, open sewage and unplanned growth.

"In older days we had pitch competitions and people used to write business plans. Now we have a structured educational method of becoming an entrepreneur," says Andre Marquis, Executive Director of the Innovation Acceleration Group at UC Berkeley Executive Education.

The program will teach courses on customer relationship management, understanding business models and monetization in a structured way.

Another part of the program is we teach people how to figure out how they dont have a good idea.

The startup accelerator at UC Berkeleys student teams raised about USD 12 million last year.

The conversations of these startups with investors are much richer because they tested their product before coming to investors with data," says Marquis.

'Don't build a product before testing'

Marquis also advises startups not to launch a business without testing a model.

Being a startup is a search process. You start with an idea. You need to know how to test it, iterate it, and then running a process where you can start interviewing your customer. Then you must try to build a business model that can scale and impact people. Then you build the product, he says.

A lot of entrepreneurs do it the other way- they build the product and they hope some customers will like it and eventually they hope to find a business model, he adds.

He also explains the reasons why there are more startup investors in the US than any other country.

Its not that we have a lot of investors in the US. We have much better startups in the US so more investors come to America (than India), said Marquis.

He added, Thats a core challenge in India. Our aim is to bring what we have learned about creating better startups in the US and bring the processes here in India.

UC Berkeley plans to target Indias Tier II and III cities with this program.

The program will be started at the end of this year through a Smart City Innovation challenge' inviting entrepreneurs.
Adani Transmission share price was locked at 10 percent upper circuit at Rs 193.25 on Tuesday, following exclusivity talks with Reliance Infrastructure for buying its Mumbai city power business.

There were pending buy orders of 42,545 shares, with no sellers available, at 10:54 hours IST while Reliance Infrastructure share price was quoting at Rs 483.20, up Rs 6.10, or 1.28 percent on the BSE.

"....has entered into a period of exclusivity until January 15, 2018 in relation to discussions for the proposed sale of its integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai City to Adani Transmission (ATL)," Reliance Infrastructure said in its filing.

The proposed transaction is subject to confirmatory diligence, definitive documentation, and customary approvals. Accordingly, there can be no certainty that a transaction will result, it added.

Reliance Infrastructure intends to utilise proceeds of the proposed transaction entirely to reduce its debt, and further strengthen its financial position to tap mega growth opportunities in defence and EPC for the infrastructure sector.

Meanwhile, Reliance Infrastructure on Monday signed the business transfer agreement for transfer of its Western Region System Strengthening Scheme (WRSSS) Transmission Undertakings, to its two subsidiaries.

The transfer of WRSSS B & C Undertakings is part of process of sale of the businesses to Adani Transmission.

Earlier in December 2016, Reliance Infra had entered into share purchase agreement with Adani Transmission for sale of WRSSS valuing the businesses at Rs 1,000 crore.

The transaction is expected to be closed shortly as all key approvals (CCI, CERC and lenders) have been obtained.

Reliance Infra will utilise these sale proceeds for debt reduction.
Spain's economy minister Luis de Guindos said Tuesday that Madrid has the full support of the European Union in its response to the independence crisis in Catalonia.

One of Spain's most respected politicians internationally, de Guindos slammed the independence call as a "rebellion against the rule of law", just ahead of a key speech by Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont.

"What I can say is that everyone has supported the position of the Spanish government," said De Guindos, as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts after breakfast talks with ministers from the European People's Party, the bloc's right-of-centre political grouping.

The support comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, and French leader Emmanuel Macron backed Spanish unity in recent telephone calls with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Ministers from Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Hungary, as well as European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis took part in the breakfast meeting, according to Spanish government sources.

"This is not an issue of independence... This regards a rebellion against the rule of law and the rule of law is the basis not only for coexistence in Spain but also for coexistence in Europe," said De Guindos.

De Guindos also highlighted the support of the EU institutions, as well as member states, which in recent weeks have said they consider the Catalan crisis to be an internal Spanish matter and voiced respect for Spain's legal framework.

His comments come hours before an expected speech by Puigdemont, the first since Catalonia held an referendum prohibited by the central government which overwhelmingly backed independence.

It is not known whether the 54-year-old Catalan president will actually go ahead with a declaration of independence or back down.

"It's all up to Mr Puigdemont right now," said De Guindos, who wanted the return of "common sense, not only for Catalonia as a whole, but also for the whole of Spain and Europe."

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Bull's Eye, CNBC-TV18's popular game show, where market experts come together to dish out trading strategies for you to make your week more exciting and compete with each other to see whose portfolio is the strongest.

Remember these are midcap ideas not just for the day, but stocks that look attractive in the medium-term as well.

This week, Kunal Saraogi, Sumeet Jain and Jay Thakkar battle it out for top honours.

Below their top stock picks and analysis:

Kunal Saraogi of Equityrush

Buy PVR with a stoploss at Rs 1366 and target of Rs 1430

Buy TVS Motor with a stoploss at Rs 667 and target of Rs 685

Buy South Indian Bank with a stoploss at Rs 31.50 and target of Rs 32.70

Buy Piramal Enterprises with a stoploss at Rs 2700 and target of Rs 2835

Sumeet Jain of Destimoney Securities

Buy GNFC with a stoploss at Rs 374 and target of Rs 412

Buy Delta Corp with a stoploss at Rs 213 and target of Rs 232

Buy Prestige Estates with a stoploss at Rs 288 and target of Rs 316

Buy PVR with a stoploss at Rs 1359 and target of Rs 1460

Jay Thakkar of Anand Rathi Securities

Buy Reliance Naval with a stoploss at Rs 51.60 and target of Rs 55.50

Buy Can Fin Homes with a stoploss at Rs 2606 and target of Rs 2753

Buy Sun TV Network with a stoploss at Rs 775 and target of Rs 818

Buy HDIL with a stoploss at Rs 56.20 and target of Rs 59.40
Shares of Cochin Shipyard advanced more than 9 percent intraday Tuesday on order win worth Rs 5400 crore.

The company has emerged as the L1 bidder for 16 X ASW SWC project for the Indian Navy.

The company has received communication from the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), New Delhi.

The contract include eight vessels at a cost of about Rs 5400 crore, which is expected to be concluded with the Ministry of Defence after due process.

The order was bagged against a competitive tender issued by the Ministry of Defence in which both private and public sector yards had participated.

At 14:42 hrs Cochin Shipyard was quoting at Rs 560.70, up Rs 44.70, or 8.66 percent on the BSE.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 580 and 52-week low Rs 432 on 12 September, 2017 and 10 August, 2017, respectively.

Posted by Rakesh Patil
Moneycontrol Research

Though theres no denying the fact that the long-term benefits of GST outweigh the short-term disruptions involved in the immediate aftermath of its implementation, many sectors bore the brunt of the adjustment pangs, and for some, the going was difficult.

A case in point being jewellery players and manufacturers of man-made yarns. While the former faced immense difficulties in complying with the strict Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, the latters financials were strained on account of an inverted duty structure (raw material was taxed at a much higher rate vis-a-vis the output) and delayed clearances/ambiguity in relation to export-related tax refunds.

Taking cognizance of the matter, the Finance Ministry, in its recently concluded GST Council Meet, made some key revisions just ahead of the festive season, thereby soothing the nerves of hassled entities in both categories.

Textile sector

The GST Council revised the GST rate for job work (embroidery) in the textile sector from 18 percent to 5 percent in connection with apparel, shawl, and carpet manufacturing. This, in turn, is likely to facilitate a swift flow of processes throughout the textile value chain, enable job workers to claim input tax credit (previously, job workers were forced to pay tax on raw materials procured but couldnt charge service tax, thus resulting in a cost hike of products manufactured by them), benefit domestic consumers, and strengthen the global competitiveness of Indias textile units.

In the past, as against 18 percent tax on man-made fibre (MMF) yarn, the corresponding rate for synthetic fabric was only 5 percent. Consequently, synthetic manufacturers resorted to MMF yarn imports to save costs. To address these concerns, the GST rate on yarn manufactured from man-made fibres (MMF) has been reduced from 18 percent to 12 percent to prevent price escalations and ease working capital requirements. Nonetheless, until the option to claim input tax credit is made available at the fabric manufacturing stage, the residual problems for synthetic yarn businesses will continue to linger on.

To ease the bottlenecks confronting textile exports, a series of measures were undertaken. Exporters have to pay a nominal GST rate of only 0.1 percent on the value of goods manufactured for export. Additionally, refund claims processing for exports undertaken in July and August would be initiated from the month of October 2017. The government plans to introduce e-wallets from April 2018 to improve exporters cash flows, too.

Jewellery sector

Indias gems and jewellery companies, that have been reeling under major headwinds over the past year (in the form of demonetisation and GST-induced complexities), were in desperate need of some relief immediately before the festivities kick off. The GST Council Meet, by virtue of a few important decisions, gave the sector a shot in the arm.

The GST Council eased KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh on jewellery purchases. The government exempted small jewellers (with a turnover up to Rs 2 crore) from provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA, 2002) as well, wherein they would not be required to submit KYC information of customers transacting in excess of Rs 50,000. Though the revised provisions will boost overall demand, the move, incrementally, will help the unorganised players more than their large organised counterparts.

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Edelweiss' research report on NBCC

NBCC management, during our recent interaction, indicated a shift in focus from order accretion to execution. The company is now geared to award design-build contracts/turnkey contracts of INR10bn plus and prune execution timeframe to 18-24 months. While it has already awarded ~INR60bn worth projects (Pragati Maidan, Ghosikhurd irrigation) over the past 1.5 months, tendering is underway for several large projects. We expect execution to gather pace in FY19 when work gathers steam on AIIMS, redevelopment projects in Delhi, among others. Maintain HOLD with target price of INR223.

Outlook

Burgeoning public sector spending on building construction (Buildings: Dawn of a new era) is triggering significant order accretion for NBCC. We expect the company to commence work on large value projects over Q4FY18/Q1FY19 and hence revenue growth to step-up in FY19. Pace of work on these projects will determine stock performance, in our view. We maintain HOLD with target price of INR223, based on 33x FY19E EPS.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Edelweiss has maintained hold rating on NBCC with a target of Rs 223 per share.

The management has indicated a shift in focus from order accretion to execution as they are reducing completion timeframe to 18-24 months from 24-30 months, said Edelweiss.

The tendering is underway for several large projects and expects execution to gather pace in FY19 when work gathers steam on AIIMS, redevelopment projects in Delhi and others, it added.

The firm expects the company to commence work on large value projects over Q4FY18/Q1FY19 and pace of work on these projects will determine stock performance.

The company management has given revenue guidance of Rs 10000 crore for FY19.

At 12:25 hrs NBCC (India) was quoting at Rs 220.45, up Rs 2.25, or 1.03 percent on the BSE.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 228.50 and 52-week low Rs 153.24 on 21 September, 2017 and 09 November, 2016, respectively.

Posted by Rakesh Patil
Representative image

India has been garnering attention worldwide for its headstrong approach towards reforms and stable economy. While the Narendra Modi government drew flak during the past few months for a downward trend in growth, International sentiment about India continues to remain positive.

One minister, however, has continuously garnered appreciation for his decisive attitude and fast-pace development. Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, has, to his credit, an overwhelming record of speedy project completion, promoting innovative ideas and quick decision making.

While the union minister has put on track scores of stalled projects, lot of them continue to face hindrance in light of strained land acquisitions and dried up private investments.

In an exclusive conversation with Moneycontrol, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)  a World Bank (WB) arm promoting foreign direct investment -- representatives talked about how Indias infrastructure has gained strength over the years, how to pump in more investments and why it continues to be bullish on Indian economy. Here are the highlights of the conversation.

Mix of Public and Private Funds

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has crashed with private players shying away from investing due to uncertainty in returns and huge risk involved.

Also read: At 41 km a day, govt plans to build 15,000 km new highways in 2017-18

For private investments to be coming in, a project has to have a decent cash flow so that the project itself can be repaid for debt on time, said Keiko Honda, executive vice chairman-chief executive officer, MIGA.

She suggested that fund for public infrastructure projects could be received from two sources: the ultimate beneficiary and government.

Cash flow should come from two sources. First source is the ultimate beneficiary. For example, if its a subway project (then) people using the subway (should) pay some (for using it). And if the government, for some reason, decides to put the price of those tickets lower than the cost, then the government should also give little bit of subsidy to the project, she said.

Apart from fund raising, appropriate risk allocation can also boost investment. They said that risk between government and private parties must be divided as per the suitability and their ability to bear it.

Projects are investable when the risk allocation of project is appropriately done, said Sarvesh Suri, director, operations, MIGA.

Honda and Suri believed that infrastructural projects needs funds from both, government as well as private parties to keep them running. They said that while efforts from the governments side is visible to bring in private sector, small steps like appropriate risk allocation and better contractual terms could expand the investment.

Also read: Govt mulls raising Rs 10 lakh cr from retirees, PF beneficiaries to fund infra projects

He said that while government must bear risk related to land acquisition, private players must bear market risk.

There are certain risks which the government is better suited to bear, such as land acquisition. And then there are certain risks which the private sector is expected to bear, like mkt risk and in case of highways, traffic risk, said Suri.

As long as the risk allocation is done appropriately and the contracting arrangements between the public and private sector are done in a transparent manner with both the parties (agreeing to) bear the risk, then the overall risk reduces for the investors.

Suri said that once the contracts are very well reached, investors can have long term sustainability of the project.

(Government must) make sure that the financing that the investors put into the projects are appropriately structured, there is less currency mismatch, the equity-debt profile of the projects is structured well, the traffic projections are done appropriately. As long as these are done, I think highway projects are win-win for government and private sector investors, said Suri.

Be cautious with Insurance money

The WB arm said raising funds from insurance companies should be done with thorough homework as these companies could be less experienced.

Infrastructure investment is typically a project finance, said Honda adding Insurance companies, some of them, (have) started to enter into the field. But they dont necessarily, every single one of them, have the experience.

I am not saying it is bad, its good but we cant rely on them 100 percent, she added

Union minister for roads had recently mooted the idea of raising funds through retirees and provident fund.

The government is considering raising Rs 10 lakh crore from retirees and Provident Fund (PF) beneficiaries to fund large infrastructure projects facing shortage of bank credit, Gadkari had told a national daily.

World Bank would like to invest

Honda and Suri said that government has been working hard to attract private players to invest money in to the sector. They said that WB applauds the work done by India and would like to invest in the country.

I think India has improved infrastructure a lot, which is wonderful, said Honda adding,  I am hearing from Indian government that they see some room for improvement, where we (MIGA) would like to support.

What we have seen globally is that, which is also the situation in India, some of the contacting terms are being relooked at. Some of the highway projects which had got stuck, government is looking at having new investors come in into those... We are seeing from the governments side, there is effort to bring in private sector into the space, said Suri.

They appreciated the models of financing adopted by the Indian government while suggesting another model that could be adopted.

Indian government along with other G-20 (group 20) countries really need to leverage more on private investors where we would like to help, she said.

Also read: India's economic slowdown an aberration: World Bank

Honda said that Indian government could adopt another model where the respective state government, Centre, private parties (including commercial banks) and WB would collectively finance to stabilise the projects.

The existing models definitely work. The other that I can showcase is Public-Private-Branded-finance where the state government, World Bank, Centre and Private party fund the project, she said.

Suri said, MIGA, under WB, could also provide insurance cover to private parties to safeguard their interest and promote private investing.

For Indian market, one of the options is a breach of contract insurance which WB would offer to investors. In case the government doesnt perform its obligation, under the contract arrangement, then MIGA can come and cover that risk for investment, said Suri.

India will grow a lot faster than global averages

Honda and Suri were optimistic about the Indian growth story. They said that Indias slowdown is temporary and that the country was faring well.

In medium to long term, everybody is forecasting that India will grow a lot faster than global averages, said Honda adding, compared to other countries, Indias economic growth is significantly higher than global average You think your number for this month or last month is low, but its actually double (than global average) and people need to understand that you are improving.

Suri said that while the direction of reform is clear, Indian government needs to focus now on inclusion in the society.

Indian government must focus on inclusion. We have seen that growth is great and it has lifted a lot of people out of poverty but it has also created a bit of rift between people who are rich and not that rich, he said.

Indian government is actually quite positive and also encouraging as they bringing private investment to bring more jobs Of course there is execution challenge all the time but the strategy is very-very right, said Honda.
Ahead of Diwali, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi will launch the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 in India on Tuesday. The bezel-less Mi MIX 2 will compete against the likes of Samsung Galaxy S8+, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Vivo V7+. Not to forget, it will also vie for attention of enthusiasts looking to buy iPhone X and Google Pixel 2 XL.

Mi MIX 2 Full Specs

The smartphone has a 5.99-inch full-HD display at 1080x2160 p resolution with an aspect ratio of 18:9. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and has a 12MP Sony IMX386 rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The front camera on Mi MIX 2 is a 5MP snapper. It is powered by a 3400 mAH battery

Mi MIX 2 variants

The phone was first announced in China where it sells in three variants and a special edition. The three models offer 6GB RAM and 64GB storage; 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM and 256GB storage. The Mi MIX 2 Special Edition houses 8GB RAM with 128GB storage housed under an all-ceramic body. Xiaomi hasn't said how many variants will make it to the Indian shores.

Mi MIX 2 Price

In China, the Mi MIX 2 pricing starts at RMB 3299 for the 64GB variant. The 128 GB Mi MIX 2 unit costs RMB 3599 while the 256GB variant is priced at RMB 3999. The Mi MIX 2 Special Edition is priced at RMB 4699. Going by the China prices, it is highly likely that the Mi Mix 2 will be Xiaomi's costliest phone in India.

Live Stream

Xiaomi will launch the Mi MIX 2 at an event in New Delhi at 12 noon. The event will be streamed live here
Firstsource Solutions | Net sales on Mar 20: Rs 250 crore, Dec 19: Rs 246 crore, Sept 19: Rs 207 crore, Jun 19: Rs 194 crore. The stock price falls 21 percent in the last 1-year.

The Kotak Committee on corporate governance has suggested setting up of an information technology committee for listed companies, which will focus on digital and other technologies along with risk management.

A committee like this will require a complete revamp of the current IT teams and ultimately, help create software jobs within IT and outside it, too.

Currently, people look at employment within the IT sector only. But this will help grow IT jobs outside the IT sector. It will create a significant surge for IT skills across sectors, R Chandrasekhar, President at Nasscom told The HinduBusiness Line.

Such a revamp will need redesigning the structure and functioning of current teams as it is not just a technology management process, he said.

The Kotak Committee has also suggested that the Risk Management Committees at the listed companies should look at issues of cyber security and risks.

The suggestions come at a time when hiring has slowed in the sector. According to a survey by TeamLease, hiring in IT is likely to shrink further between October 2017 and March 2018.

The IT firms are going slow on mass hiring now to shift to smaller teams that focus on specific operations. This can be attributed to changing business models for these companies as more new technologies come in.

Demand, however, is high for skills like artificial intelligence, data and machine learning, the report said.

Besides these jobs, there has been an uptick in demand for cyber security experts among the companies. In the next 12 months, demand for 10,000 cyber security personnel at various levels is expected, Headhunters India CEO Kris Lakshmikanth told the newspaper.

Overall hiring in India is expected to improve in the third quarter of the current fiscal, according to a survey by the ManpowerGroup. However, the pace of hiring will be slower as compared to the same quarter last year.

The net employment outlook for the October-December quarter stands at 19 percent. The outlook in same quarter last year was 30 percent.
The 73-day Doklam standoff and the Rohingya issue will be examined by a parliamentary panel on external affairs headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

The panel, which also includes Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, will deliberate on a number of key foreign policy issues at its next meeting which is likely to be held next month, one of its members said.

Sino-Indian relations including the border situation and the Doklam stand-off, relations with Myanmar and the Rohingya issue are among subjects selected by the panel for deliberations, according to the Lok Sabha bulletin.

Voting rights to NRIs, the crisis of the European Union in the wake of Brexit and its implications for India and performance of passport issuance system including issuance of e-passport are topics for discussions shortlisted by the panel for its year-long agenda.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had in July briefed the panel on the Doklam stand-off.

India and China had in August struck a deal to pull back from their most serious face-off in two decades. The development had come a week before the BRICS summit in China which was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The Supreme Court order that banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) on Monday may have a loophole  sale of firecrackers online.

Several manufacturers such as sell firecrackers online through their cockbrand.in, ayyanonline, buyonlinecrackers.com, crackersindia.com. Some websites also mention that the minimum order should be worth at least Rs 3,000. The apex court order misses out on a directive for such online sale of firecrackers.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered a blanket ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, with an eye on the air pollution levels in the national capital, especially immediately after Diwali festival. Its directive, however, doesn't mention anything about bursting crackers.

As an advocate argues in this News18 report: "Say for example the firecracker business is based out of Bengaluru, and the order is made from Delhi, the seller can reject the order considering the area of purchase falls under the SC order. Likewise, if the firecracker brand is selling its products online from Delhi, it should ideally curb its practices because the SC has banned sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR.

The top court's order also does not specify what happens to all those who bring in firecrackers into Delhi-NCR from neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh or Haryana where sale of firecrackers is legal. As there is no ban on bursting firecrackers, those who have already stocked the crackers would still be able to burst them which would throw the court's attempt to curb air pollution, into disarray.

Writer Chetan Bhagat, among many others on Monday had expressed disagreement with the apex court's order, saying it should be regulated not banned.
Ethiopia will devalue its currency by 15 percent in a bid to boost demand for its major exports, a state-run media outlet reported Tuesday.

Africa's second most-populous country is also one of its best economic performers, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimating in September that the economy had grown by 9 percent since 2016.

Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported the devaluation of the birr currency will take effect on Wednesday and is intended to boost demand for the country's flagging exports, including coffee, leather and gold.

Income from Ethiopia's top products has dropped in recent years because of low global commodities prices, contributing to a shortage of foreign exchange that has hampered the economy.

John Ashbourne, researcher at London-based Capital Economics, said the devaluation will increase costs of vital imports like fuel and machinery, but will give agricultural exports such as coffee and cut flowers an edge over East African competitors.

"In theory, it should boost the competitiveness of their exports, particularly compared to the Kenyan ones," Ashbourne told AFP.

One of Africa's poorest countries, agriculture makes up 85 percent of employment in Ethiopia, though the government is attempting to build up a manufacturing sector to transform the economy.

It has promoted Ethiopia's low cost of doing business despite concerns over the country's long-term stability after a wave of anti-government protests that ended last year.

The devalued currency may convince investors to give Ethiopia a second look, Ashbourne said.

"If you were thinking of setting up your shoe factory, or whatever it is, Ethiopia's advantage is that it's a low-cost destination. It's just become a lower cost destination," he said.

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Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav

Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case, officials today said.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office here where it is expected that the investigating officer of the case will record his statement, they said.

It had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

The ED had earlier questioned few people in this case including the wife of former UPA Minister P C Gupta.

Tejashwi's mother and former state chief minister Rabri Devi has been summoned to appear before the ED tomorrow.

The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.

In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.

Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR.

The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.

The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as quid pro quo.

The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.
Representative Image

Launching an attack on BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah over his business dealings, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan today sought to know if he was aware of the demonetisation decision of the Centre beforehand.

The former Maharashtra chief minister also demanded the resignation of Amit Shah over the controversy surrounding his businessman son.

The BJP, however, came out in strong defence of Jay Shah and rejected the allegations against him.

"This is nothing but crony capitalism by the BJP. Why did Jay Shah close down his company a day before demonetisation was announced? Was he aware of what was going to happen in advance?" Chavan sought to know while speaking to reporters here.

"BJP chief Amit Shah should immediately resign," the former Union minister added.

He said either Amit Shah or Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should clarify how Jay Shah's company increased its business manifold after the BJP came to power at the Centre in May, 2014.

Chavan claimed that a company owned by Jay Shah got a loan of Rs 10.36 crore from a public sector firm under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, headed by Piyush Goyal, against a collateral security of just Rs six crore.

"Jay's company did not have any previous experience in windmills or in the renewable energy sector. Yet, Goyal approved the huge loan against a collateral security of just Rs six crore," he said.

Chavan said Kusum Finserve, a company in which Jay Shah had a 60-per cent stake, bought wind farms in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, despite it being engaged in stock trading.

"Kusum Finserve was involved in trading of shares. Then, suddenly it bought wind farms in Ratlam. This again is an example of crony capitalism," he alleged.

"This raises many questions which cannot be shrugged off by filing a defamation suit. Amit Shah himself should answer whether he misused his position. These dealings should be probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI," Chavan said.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders and Maharashtra ministers came out in Jay Shah's defence and accused the Congress party of defaming him.

Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Vinod Tawde and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar addressed a press meet at the party's state headquarters here and defended Jay Shah. Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari was also present.

They rejected the allegations levelled against Jay Shah by Chavan and another Congress leader, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

"The Congress has become frustrated because the BJP is winning elections after elections. They do not know what to do with defeat after defeat. Hence, false allegations are being levelled against Jay Shah," Patil said.

Tawde said, "This is an unethical practice by the Congress. When we criticised the Congress government (over graft), we showed proof. Here, there is no proof (of wrongdoing), just some jugglery of figures.
Dismissing the argument that Artificial Intelligence would lead to job losses, a technology expert today said it would, in fact, create different ones.

"Many people argue that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, our people will lose jobs. No. I do not believe we will lose jobs, we will create different kind of jobs," Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, said here.

Artificial Intelligence does jobs which are repetitive in nature, where humans tend to make mistakes, and also where a lot of memory is required, she said, speaking at an event jointly organised by FICCI and the Telangana government.

"Who will identify where can AI be leveraged? It's us. But, that technology is absolutely critical, because everything that we do, use, wear is going to become smarter tomorrow and impact the lives, including our health," she said.

Predicting that as many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020, she said 5G would be essential technology to make it a reality.

"It is important because the amount of data that will be floating in the air tomorrow is going to be so much that your 4G LTE technology will fail," she said.

It is important to re-skill oneself to rise above Artificial Intelligence rather than worrying about what AI will do, Rai said.

Noting that India is at the cusp of digital transformation, she wondered which another country can boast of the digital identity of more than one billion people stored with Aadhaar.

"We have all kinds of digital information...What we together collectively have to do, is to leverage this generation of digitisation and see how can we empower our citizens," she said.
1080x1920p

5.99-inch screen with Full HDdisplay

13:24 Thanks for staying with us. We'll have a full story up soon on the launch.

13:15 The phone will officially reach Mi.com, Flipkart, Mi Preferred Partners and Mi Homes during the first week of November.

13:05 So when can you buy it? A special preview sale of the phone will start on October 17 at noon exclusively on Mi.com and Flipkart.

13:01 It will cost Rs 35,999.

12:58 And now for the price....

12:56 The MIX 2 works in several regions across the world, including the 10 countries most visited by Indians.

12:53 Now for the camera. Mani is talking up the phone's image stabilisation capabilities.

12:52 The Mi MIX 2 comes with 6GB RAM and 128 GB of built-in storage.

12:51 The phone runs on the Snapdragon 835 processor, which is smaller than a coin.

12:49 It's scratch-resistant too, which Xiaomi tests by scraping a key and pocket knife on the back panel.

12:46 The device also has a 18K gold-plated decorative camera rim for an ultra-premium look and feel.

12:44 The phone has a matte frame and a thickness of 7.7mm.

12:41 More background being given on that bezel-less display. Xiaomi is clearly proud of its work on this innovation.

12:36 The MIX 2 has a large 5.99 inch display, but Mani says it's the same as a 5.5 display on a traditional screen. "We've chopped off the forehead," he says.

12:33 Mani says 16:9 displays were not going to cut it anymore and hence the "bold decision" to move to 18:9.

12:31 "If we use a typical square display, the bezels become big. But, with rounded edges, we can reduce the bezel," he says.

12:29 Mani is getting into the minute details of how Xiaomi managed to produce a full-screen display.

12:27 The device has a custom-designed earpiece in order to make the full-screen display possible.

12:25 He's now showing off the bezel-less display and recounts how smartphone screens have evolved.

12:23 Mani is now talking about the positive reviews that the Mi MIX 2 received globally.

12:21 Lead product manager Jai Mani is now on stage.

12:20 Jain says that the first Mi Mix was one of the world's first bezel-less smartphones.

12:19 Xiaomi sold a million phones in less than two days during this period and Redmi Note 4 was the top-selling phone.

12:18 He says Xiaomi shipped 10 million phones in September, a first for the company.

12:17 Jain says the Mi MIX 2 is the 'most innovative product in the world'.

12:15 Xiaomi India's MD Manu Jain is now on stage.

12:05 The live stream of the event should begin anytime now.

11:58 Going by the China prices, it is highly likely that the Mi Mix 2 will be Xiaomi's costliest phone in India.

11:53 The phone was first announced in China where it sells in three variants and a special edition. The three models offer 6GB RAM and 64GB storage; 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM and 256GB storage. The Mi MIX 2 Special Edition houses 8GB RAM with 128GB storage housed under an all-ceramic body.

Xiaomi hasn't said how many variants will make it to the Indian shores.

11:45 The front camera on Mi MIX 2 is a 5MP snapper. It is powered by a 3400 mAH battery.

11:40 The smartphone has a 5.99-inch full-HD display at 1080x2160 p resolution with an aspect ratio of 18:9. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and has a 12MP Sony IMX386 rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture.

11:30 The bezel-less Mi MIX 2 will compete against the likes of Samsung Galaxy S8+, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Vivo V7+. Not to forget, it will also vie for attention of enthusiasts looking to buy iPhone X and Google Pixel 2 XL.

11:15 The launch event will begin at 12pm and we will have live updates right here.

Xiaomi is set to launch the Mi Mix 2 in India today. We'll bring you live updates.
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State-owned Coal India today said it has signed a wage agreement with workers' unions for a period of five years which would have an estimated impact of Rs 5,667 crore annually to the miner. The "Memorandum of Agreement for National Coal Wage Agreement-X has been signed on October 10 for a period of five years from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021", Coal India said in a filing to BSE stock exchange.

"This agreement will impact 2.98 lakh coal workers and the total estimated average annual impact would be Rs 5,667 crore," the filing said. S Q Zama, the Secretary-General of Indian National Mine Workers Federation told PTI of the five central unions in the coal industry, only three -- AITUC, CITU and BMS -- signed the wage pact.

The three unions of AITUC, CITU and BMS represent 25-30 percent of the 3.6 lakh coal workers of both of CIL and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), Zama said. The central trade unions at the coal PSU had been demanding 25 percent increase in gross wages as on June 30, 2016, plus 4 percent as perks.

D D Ramanandan, General Secretary of CITU-affiliated All India Coal Workers Federation had earlier said that the unions had settled for 20 percent minimum guaranteed benefit as the management was earlier not contributing to the medical scheme but now has agreed to provide Rs 18,000 per person. "We have reached an understanding with the Coal India management for 20 percent minimum guaranteed benefit," he had said. Every five years, all central workmen unions negotiate with the management for a salary hike through a series of meetings. The validity of the last pay hike expired on June 31 last year.
Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav

Tejashwi Yadav, son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, was today grilled for about nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office here at about 12 noon and left after 9 pm, officials said.

They said at least 40 questions were put across Tejashwi and that the investigating officer recorded his answers.

The agency is expected to record the statement of Tejashwi's mother and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi tomorrow.

The CBI had recently recorded the statement of Tejashwi and Lalu Prasad in the case.

The ED had registered a criminal case against Lalu Prasad's family members and others under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

It had earlier questioned a few people in this case, including the wife of former UPA minister P C Gupta.

The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.

In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR and conducted multiple searches against Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.

Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR.

The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.

The FIR alleges that Lalu Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a 'benami' company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on July 5 in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as 'quid pro quo'.

The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (L) sits with former New York City Mayor and founder of Bloomberg L.P. Michael Bloomberg at The Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, U.S., September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid - HP1ED9K13UYYU

Apple boss Tim Cook went out of his way to single out a small French firm involved with innovative features in the latest iPhones ahead of meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, who has called for a tougher line on technology company taxes.

The Apple chief executive paid a surprise visit to Eldim, a Normandy-based firm that has tested optical technology used in the facial recognition system inside new top-of-the-range iPhone X smartphones due out next month.

Prices start at $999. Face ID, as the iPhone X feature is known, will replace the fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone and features in Apple's campaign to distinguish the phone from rival devices.

"Bravo for your work!", Cook said on his official Twitter account in French. A picture of him chatting with Eldim employees was also posted. Cook later met Macron, who has called for Apple and other tech companies such as Amazon.com to pay more in taxes in Europe.

"Bravo to Europe for acting with determination to get tax rules and justice respected," Macron said in a tweet last week praising European Union officials for taking member-state Ireland to court to reclaim 13 billion euros ($15.3 billion) in back taxes from Apple.

CONSTRUCTIVE TALKS

A French presidency official said Macron and Cook did not rake over the past and described the talks about regulating digital platforms and tax policy as constructive and forward-looking. Asked if they had discussed France's proposal to tax the revenue of big tech companies and not profit, the Macron adviser said: "They didn't go into specifics. The tone was very open. This wasn't a posturing competition."

Tech giants were under pressure from shareholders worried about reputational damage over how the companies arrange their taxes, the official added. Eldim, located outside Caen, near the northern coast of France, had worked with Apple on research projects for nearly a decade before gaining recognition for its optical work on behalf of Apple, the world's most highly valued company. "They (Eldim) certainly have a top-notch technology," said industry analyst Thomas Husson of Forrester Research. "Facial recognition is one of iPhone X's differentiating features."

Apple is normally highly secretive about the suppliers it uses to develop new phones, computers and other devices. A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics, one of Europe's larger technology companies, is widely understood to be a supplier of sensors for the Apple iPhone 7 and forthcoming iPhone devices but is barred by Apple from saying so.
First Lady Melania Trump has accused her husbands first wife, Ivana Trump, of attention-seeking and self-serving noise after the former wife of US President Donald Trump joked that she was the first lady.

Ivana Trump, who is presently on a tour to promote her new book Raising Trump, in an interview to ABC News on Good Morning America revealed that she still spoke to her ex-husband about once every 14 days on a direct number to the White House.

She also admitted that she was reluctant to call the President too often because Melania is there, and I dont want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that.

She then added, laughing, Because Im basically Trump first wife, okay? Im first lady, okay?

Ivana Trump also offered some faux sympathy for Melania Trump by saying I think for her to be in Washington must be terrible.



Ivana Trump says she has Pres. Trump's direct White House number: "I'm basically first Trump wife. I'm first lady." https://t.co/SiTlUUDX2S pic.twitter.com/0DQ5AMQ311

 Good Morning America (@GMA) October 9, 2017

Here's the clip from the interview she gave to ABC News

Melania Trumps spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham soon responded to the comment and said Ivanas comments had no substance.

"Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books," wrote Grisham in a statement to CBS News.

"There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex," Grisham continued. "[T]his is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise."

Ivana Trump is the mother of Donald Trumps eldest daughter Ivanka Trump and his two sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump. The two were married from 1977 to 1992.

During the 2016 US Presidential election, it was reported that Ivana once signed a deposition alleging that Donald had raped her.

She later clarified by saying that the account was not in a literal or criminal sense.

Donald Trumps lawyer further amplified the issue by saying that there was no such thing as a marital rape.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 02: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt answers reporters' questions during a briefing at the White House June 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pruitt faced a barrage of questions related to President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said he will sign a new rule superseding the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan policy that was used to cap carbon emissions from coal power plants, the Associated Press reported.

During President Barrack Obamas tenure, the EPA had proposed the said policy as a measure against climate change caused by human activity. Clean Power Plan is a set of federal guidelines to states for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity plants fired by fossil fuel, especially coal.

The war on coal is over, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was quoted as saying in Kentucky  a major coal-mining state. He added that federal agencies should never exercise authority to declare war on any sector of our economy.

In March this year, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order to overhaul the climate policies of the Obama era. Trumps order let EPA review the Clean Power Plan among other things, paving the way for Pruitt to frame the new rules.

According to the AP report, it was not clear during Pruitts declaration if he would try to introduce a new rule without approval from Congress.

Pruitts rule, in that case, would not be finalised for months, and face legal challenges from left-leaning states and environmental groups who are deciding to fight the move to kill the Plan, the report said.

The Supreme Court put the Clean Power Plan on hold last year after the policy faced legal challenges from the industry and coal-friendly states.

Speaking at an event in Kentucky, Pruitt said his agency would issue the new proposed rule on Tuesday.

The draft of the proposal, as per a report in the Washington Post, does not propose a supplanting plan to curb emissions, which the agency ought to do as per a Supreme Court ruling.

For the present EPA administrator, the scrapping of the Obama-era policy bears import as he has fought for long against climate policies after he was elected attorney general of Oklahoma.

Pruitt is also in the league of several attorney generals who sued to halt President Obamas endeavours to limit carbon emissions and hinder policies from coming into effect.

The EPA has changed under the Trump Administration with a series of such actions being taken while the President decided to pull out of the international Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.

Recently, in a controversial move, Donald Trump nominated coal-industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as deputy administrator of the EPA.
Community Life  as seen on social media
International ride-hailing company Uber will invest $20 million in the next five years in the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Cairos Fifth Settlement, Uber Vice President and Head of Operations EMEA Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty said at the centres inauguration Tuesday.

Serving customers in 16 countries, the CoE is the largest in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle Ease and Africa) region, and the second largest in the world, after the one in India.

The investments will be spent on hiring teams, training them and expanding the centres facilities.

From a current 400 employees, Uber targets bringing this number to 700 by year-end, and 1,000 by 2020.

The CoE reflects the welcoming atmosphere for US companies and shows the potential of economic partnership between the two countries, Thomas Goldberger, the US Embassys Charge dAffaires, said at the inauguration.

Ubers expansion plans also include launching its services in more cities as well as expanding to remote parts of cities where it already operates, Gore-Coty told Ahram Online.

The ride-hailing service currently operates in Cairo, Alexandria, and Mansoura, in addition to the North Coast during the summer.

Uber mass transportation

Uber has not yet determined which service it will launch for mass transportation, pending the drafting of the legislation that governs ride-hailing apps in Egypt.

Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr, who inaugurated the Centre of Excellence, urged Uber to launch mass transit and encouraged faster expansion in more governorates.

The minister had announced in September that Uber will be launching public bus services, but the company has not yet decided which mass service it will implement.

Uber is currently in talks with the different ministries on how to expand and which model to implement in order to tap the mass transportation market, Abdellatif Waked Uber Egypt's general manager, told the press on Tuesday.

Nasr said that the government is working with Uber to create a supportive legislative framework to foster a competitive atmosphere that aims at offering the best service at the best price.

Our first priority is essentially to make sure that we can get to a regulatory framework that makes all of those innovations possible, such as [this] mass transit product, Gore-Coty told Ahram Online, speaking of the public bus service, and saying Uber is very much interested in it.

Gore-Coty mentioned UberPOOL as a successful product in other cities, adding that it is too early to specify which service will be implemented in Egypt.

The conversation with the ministries in the context of this law is going very well, and we are extremely humbled and happy to have the opportunity to participate in this very important step for the regulation that governs mobility in Egypt, Gore-Coty told Ahram Online.

Data privacy

Uber wants to make sure no legislation will force it to compromise on data privacy of users, Gore-Coty told Ahram Online, adding that this is one of two areas the company is actively discussing with the government.

Another main focus is to make sure to remove barriers to entry, including financial and administrative constraints, in order to make it easier for people to become drivers.

For instance, Uber believes drivers should be able to rent a car for a number of hours and share it with other drivers, while making sure there is an appropriate level of safety for riders and drivers, according to Gore-Coty.

Uber is also working on launching soon a chat feature between drivers and customers so they do not have to give their phone numbers to increase the safety level, Gore-Coty announced.

Separately, food-ordering feature UberEATS could also launch in Egypt.

Gore-Coty said the service is very popular and growing fast in cities where it exists.

I think the natural, next step for us would probably be to bring the service to more cities in Africa, and Im sure that Egypt will be considered as we get into this launch roadmap, Gore-Coty told Ahram Online.
Many people underestimate the power of fear in investing. Barry Ritholtz, chairman and CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management recently pointed out how dangerous fear can be, especially because investors tend to fear the wrong things. This is evident in the public's fear of taking on risk. In investing, risk is often seen only as downside, instead of as a necessary part of achieving higher long-term returns.

Speaking at the 2017 Morningstar ETF Conference, Ritholtz gave multiple examples of humans being controlled by irrational fears. He mentioned the film "Jaws" that came out in 1975. Since its premiere, sharks have been seen as menacing, man-eating predators. Growing up in Rhode Island, Ritholtz even remembers people staying out of the water that summer, out of fear of a shark attack. Although sharks are great predators they are certainly not deserving of this stigma. In fact, more people are killed by trying to take selfies. In the U.S. deer and cows are much more dangerous than sharks.

Ritholtz discussed a similar irrational fear that developed after the 9/11 terrorist attack; people were afraid of flying. This fear didn't come from a well-reasoned look at data, instead it was born from an intense, emotional response to a national disaster. When something as catastrophic as this happens, our emotions can get the better of us and seep into our decision-making process.

Fear-based or emotional decision making can only lead to bad judgment and outcomes in capital markets according to Ritholtz. In this example, the fear of flying prompted people to take to the road instead, causing 1,500 more travel deaths due to car crashes. Why Does this Happen? According to Ritholtz, emotional decision-making came in handy for our ancestors who had to survive in the wild. But today, it can make us miss out on returns. In capital markets, these survival instincts turn into behavioural biases, such as availability bias and loss aversion. Availability bias is our tendency to overreact to attention-grabbing events. Ritholtz gave multiple examples of investors and the media shouting doomsday at every bump in the road  such as after the 2003 Bush tax cuts or the swine flu scare of 2009  only to see the markets soar months later. What Does This Fear Make Investors Do? Our irrational fears prevent us from taking on risk. In behavioural science, this is called risk aversion, or our tendency to put our money on a low risk, low return investment, instead of taking on a riskier, but more promising investment. We prefer to choose the sure and safe option, even at the cost of higher returns. In the long run, this bias can cost investors dearly. This instinct was great for our ancestors when exploring a new environment, but today, it can lead us to a portfolio that consistently underperforms the market. According to Ritholtz, this is why it's important to manage our emotions when investing. As we all know, without risk, there is no return. To help manage our emotions, Ritholtz gave a few tips. Focus on the data. Research on investment risk show that markets always recover. Disciplined investors who hold on through the rough times are rewarded in the long term. Focus on things that matter and that you can control. The market is bound to fluctuate, and there's nothing investors can do about that. Instead, focus on managing that risk, like diversifying. Remember that risk is necessary for returns. When it comes to investing, our minds are our own worst enemies. When making investing decisions, try to focus on long-term goals  and not the naysayers.
Egypt and Germany signed three agreements worth 320 million euros to finance Egypt's economic and social reforms and fund the country's employment, energy and education projects, state news agency MENA said on Tuesday.

The agreements were signed between Egypt's investment minister Sahar Nasr and German Development Minister Gerd Mueller as well as Germany's KfW Development Bank during the second bilateral cooperation commission between the two countries.

The first agreement pertains to the first tranche of Germany's fund for Egypt's economic and social reforms, worth 225 million euros.

Investment minister Nasr said in March that Germany plans to provide Egypt with a total of $500 million, half of the figure in support of the country's economic reform programme and the rest to fund local micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

Egypt has been pushing ahead with a series of austerity measures, including fuel and electricity subsidy cuts, to help ease the country's gaping budget deficit.

The reforms have helped the government secure a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and allowed the central bank to replenish its foreign currency reserves.

The second agreement is partially about Germany providing Egypt with 45 million euros to finance employment, education, energy and infrastructure projects.

Another deal was signed where Germanys government-owned KfW Development Bank will offer Egypt 50 million euros in support of the country's entrepreneurship programme and small and medium-sized projects.

During the commission meeting, German and Egyptian officials discussed means to bolster economic cooperation between both countries.

German investments in Egypt are estimated at 1.5 billion, providing around 22,000 jobs, according to Germanys Ambassador to Egypt Julius Georg Luy.

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Asia

Japanese equity markets picked up where they left off last week, resuming their upward move after Mondays public holiday. As campaigning kicked off for the general election on October 22, the Nikkei index pushed towards the 21,000 points level, gaining 132 points on Fridays close. The Topix index also moved higher, closing at 1,695.14, reaching levels last seen before the financial crisis.

South Koreas stock market was the best performing in the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday, rising nearly 2% to 2,433.81, a new record high, helped by strong gains in Samsung (005930) stocks.

Chinas CSI 300 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng indices were also higher on the day. The head of Chinas statistics bureau, Ning Jizhe, said the country would meet or exceed the economic growth target of 6.5% for the full year after a strong first six months of the year. Chinas ruling communist party begins its party conference next week, which will see medium-term target set for various key industries. September lending figures will be released on Tuesday, forecast to be around 20% higher than August levels after Chinas central bank relaxed lending criteria.

Europe Spains Ibex index was lower again, shedding more than 0.5% to around 10,176, ahead of a closely watched speech at 6pm local time by Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont  the address to the regional parliament could contain a unilateral declaration of independence by the region. There were a number of data points for UK currency and equity investors to digest, especially the news that Britains trade deficit  the gap between imports and exports  has widened to a record high after a surge in imports. The FTSE 100 held above the 7,500 level amid minor gains for banks and commodity firms. In Germany, the Dax index was off slightly approaching midday local time, as the stock market failed to build on Mondays record high just below 13,000 points. Germanys trade balance for August was slightly better than expected. North America In the US, investors are braced for the start of the bank reporting season on Thursday, which will be kicked off by Citigroup (C) and JP Morgan (JPM). Canadian housing starts for September and building permits for August will be in focus. The IMFs World Economic Outlook will be released before US market open  investors will be keen to see the Funds views on US economic growth after a range of mixed data, including a surprise contraction in the jobs market in September. Federal Reserve minutes from last months meeting will also be released. US stock markets are predicted to open higher, according to early futures markets.
The festival runs from 11 to 15 October and will screen 10 Egyptian films

This years edition of the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam is marked by a prominent Egyptian presence, with a total of 10 Egyptian films to take part in the festivals main section, the Short Focus: Kaleidoscope section, and the Short Focus: Mosaic section.

The festival is set to open on Wednesday 11 October with Sherif El-Bendarys 2016 film Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim.

The film follows two male protagonists leading odd and troubled lives on a bizarre cross-country road trip. One of the two men, Ali, is in love with his goat, Nada; while Ibrahim is haunted by screeching sounds that no one else can here.

The two meet at a clinic, and following the doctors orders, they embark on a voyage to throw their healing stones into the three main water bodies of Egypt: the Nile, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Red Sea.

El-Bendarys comedy is a touching tale of friendship, adventure, and self-discovery. The film will also be screened on Thursday 12 October.

Joseph Adels 2016 short film A Jar Full of Fish will be screened as part of the Short Focus: Kaleidoscope section on Thursday 12 October.

The film follows Youssef, a 28-year-old man who leaves his home in Upper Egypt during the 2011 revolution to become a filmmaker in Cairo. Upon his arrival, he struggles with feelings of loneliness and insecurity, but finds an unusual companion in a small goldfish.

Four more Egyptian films will be screened on Friday 13 October. Mohamed Rashads 2016 feature Little Eagles; Magdy Ahmed Alys 2016 film Mawlana; Youssry Nasrallahs Brooks, Meadows and a Lovely Face; and Marwan Hameds 2017 film Al-Asleyeen.

Little Eagles is an Egyptian-Lebanese co-production that tells the story of a young Alexandrian man named Mohamed.

The son of a modest worker, he dreams of moving to Cairo to become a filmmaker. His relationship with his father, with whom he has been living alone since his mothers death, is so strained that he feels no guilt leaving him behind when he travels to Cairo.

In the capital, he meets Salma and Bassam, whose parents were both leftist opponents of the regime in the 1970s.

Mohamed begins to research his fathers history, hoping to find something to impress his Cairene counterparts with; only to find out that his father lived a simple life, working to earn a living and raise his son. His journey is not only a quest for answers, but a profound comparison between the life of his generation and that of his fathers.

Magdy Ahmed Alys Mawlana is a drama that follows Sheikh Hatem (Amr Saad), whose moderate religious stances bring him much opposition in a society plagued with fundamentalism. The protagonist goes from leading prayers at a government mosque to becoming a popular TV icon, gathering millions of fans with his unconventional religious rhetoric.

Throughout the film, Sheikh Hatem navigates many personal and professional conflicts, and struggles to stay true to his beliefs and not allow himself to be taken in by other peoples political agendas.

The films controversial topic and Amr Saads acclaimed performance rendered it one of the most discussed in the region after its release.

Youssry Nasrallahs 2016 film Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces follows the story of Yehia, a chef who manages a catering company with his sons Refaat and Galal.

The first is a passionate chef, the second, a womaniser. Yehia is set to marry his cousin Karima, but both of them are in love with other people. During a wedding catered by Yehia and his sons, a rich couple offer to buy his business, and when Yehia refuses, the offer turns to a threat.

Marwan Hameds Al-Asleyeen follows Samir, a father who works in a bank to provide for his family and struggles to find a new job after he is fired.

Due to old debts, Samir reaches the point of bankruptcy. He finds a box at his doorstep, containing a phone on which he finds footage from his past, before receiving a phone call that will forever change his life.

Four more films from Egypt are set to screen on Saturday 14 October, the first of which is Besoy Youssefs 2017 short film Hidden Lust, which will be screened as part of the Short Focus: Mosaic section.

Through the story of Radyah, whose husband Sayed makes her spend her wedding night inside of a box, the film aims to portray the dark side of human nature.

Two other films are Yassin Koptans 2016 short film Piece of Wood, and Iman Kamels Jeanne DArc Masriya (Egyptian Joan of Arc)

Piece of Wood will take part in the Short Focus: Mosaic section.

The film tells the story of Adam, a young skateboarder who attempts a new trick at the local mall while being filmed by his friend George. When a security guard takes away Adams skateboard, he and his friends attempt to retrieve it in several ways.

Jeanne DArc Masriya blends the documentary genre with some fictional elements, poetic narration and dance to tell the true stories of Egyptian womens resistance after the outbreak of the 2011 revolution.

It follows filmmaker Iman Kamels journey into the Western Desert, where she discovers the diary of a Bedouin girl named Jehanne. Inspired by the girls struggle to become a dancer and break free from patriarchal oppression, Kamel calls on the help of fellow female artists to trace Jehannes whereabouts.

Throughout this adventure, the women share their own stories of aspiration and resistance over the past five years.

Lastly, Kamla Abou Zekris 2016 film A Day For Women will be screened as part of the Ladies Night programme, which welcomes female attendees with goodie bags, snacks and other treats.

The film revolved around a youth centre in one of Egypts underprivileged neighbourhoods that decides to allocate a day at the swimming pool for womens use only.

Abou Zeids film portrays the impact of this decision on the social, psychological and emotional lives of local women. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with actress Elham Shahin. The film will be screened again on Sunday 15 October.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 56F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The second ceremonial bed of King Tutankhamun was escorted on Monday from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza, in preparation for its soft opening in mid-2018.

The bed was moved using a specially made hydraulic vehicle to prevent any vibrations that might cause damage, with a team of 20 archaeologists supervising the process, said Tarek Tawfik, the GEM's general supervisor.

The first gilded bed and a funeral chariot from Tutankhamun's tomb were transferred last May as part of a plan to move 1,000 artifacts to the GEM.

The Grand Egyptian Museum had been scheduled to open in 2015, but its construction has been delayed due to the expense involved, amounting to more than $1 billion.

Located at the foot of the Giza Pyramids, the GEM is not yet complete. However, when it finally opens it will display the collections of the current Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square, including many objects that are kept in storage.

The new complex is expected to host more than 100,000 relics, including 4,500 items of Tutankhamun treasure discovered in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

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E! News: In the finale, Lestat isn't burned and instead left in the dump, meaning he's still alive. Can you definitely say if we will see Lestat in season two? Jacob Anderson: Yes, I can definitely say that you will see Lestat in season
GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.
A Disney World employee is accused of masturbating in the waiting room of a Clermont car dealership.

Man accused of masturbating at car dealership

Brian Davis watched porn in the waiting area, police said

Charged with indecent exposure of sexual organs

Brian Patrick Davis, 47, of Clermont, was arrested Saturday and charged with indecent exposure of sexual organs.

The incident happened at the Reed Nissan dealership on Hwy 50, just before 10 a.m.

According to the police report, Davis was watching pornography on his mobile phone while in the dealerships waiting area. Another customer in the waiting room told police he saw Davis pull his shirt over his lap area and touched himself while watching the video. The witness also said he recorded Davis and provided the video to police, the report states.

Davis told police he was aware that other people were in the waiting area but that he had no intention of anyone seeing him. He said it was a sudden urge.

Police looked at the search history on Davis phone and found several entries for the website Pornhub.

Davis was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail.

He has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the charges, a Disney spokesperson said in an email.
A Florida Senate panel approved a $50 million coastal renourishment plan Monday, setting the stage for a long and expensive rehabilitation of the state's Hurricane Irma-battered beaches.

$50 million coastal renourishment plan under consideration

Money would go to local govts. to deal with beach erosion

Irma may have costs hundreds of million in erosion impact

The storm effectively cut the size of many beaches, particularly those along Florida's west coast, in half. The legislation (SB 174) that passed the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to prioritize renourishment of beaches suffering from the worst erosion.

The funding would be included in the 2018-19 state budget and would primarily be funneled to cities and counties, which oversee most of the beaches.

While a statewide estimate of Irma's coastal erosion impacts is not yet available, some conservationists expect it to total hundreds of millions of dollars. A recent renourishment project in Miami Beach that dumped new sand along eight blocks of beach carried a price tag of $11 million, underscoring the steep costs involved in combating erosion.

Sen. Dorothy Hukill (R-Port Orange), whose district spans Volusia and Brevard counties on Florida's east coast, suggested after Monday's vote that the state will eventually need to devote much more money to the renourishment efforts.

"The erosion in Volusia is incredible, you know, the seaweed, the garbage that's coming up from the hurricane in Brevard," Hukill said. "Brevard got a lot of flooding, a lot of water main breaks, they were very, very badly hit. So, this is important for us."
KKK recruitment fliers are making their way around a Volusia County neighborhood and that has some people upset.

Clear plastic bags with KKK fliers, candy, left in neighborhood

Fliers listed several statements about race, sexuality

KKK says they are no longer a hate group, are recruiting in several states

Clear plastic bags were thrown in the driveways of the Sugar Forest neighborhood, and the hateful messages inside of them has angered neighbors.

"I just was really surprised that it was left on our street just wondering who would've done that," said Connie Imburgia, neighbor.

Connie Imburgia and her neighbors found the bags outside of their homes Sunday.

Inside they found at least two separate fliers from the Ku Klux Klan listing several statements about race and sexuality.

It included a piece of candy and then asks for people to join their white revolution.

"I found it in other neighbors' driveways and I took some of them because they were new neighbors. I didn't want them to see that because they are from different countries and hate doesn't live in this community," said neighbor Joy Betancourt.

The phone number listed on a flier has a voicemail setup that identified the group as the KKK. It also talks about the Las Vegas shooter as well and it ends stating "white power."

James Spears, who said he is the Great Titan of the KKK in Virginia, said they are doing a recruitment drive in several states, which began over the weekend.

He said they are no longer a hate group and don't care if people are against them.

But neighbors said they won't let whoever is responsible for leaving the fliers leave a sour taste in their mouths.

"The people I talked to, they didn't like it," Betancourt said. "They said that's not what we're about, and it made everyone angry to see that, they said not in our neighborhood. I just hope that the neighborhood comes closer together and watch out for each other."
Work on a $2.8 million project Texas Department of Transportation to improve curb ramps along several state roadways in Lamb and Hale counties, including the city of Plainview, is set to begin the week.

The project will add or upgrade ramps to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards at various locations on BU27, FM400, SH194, US70 and FM3466, said Stevan Perez, P.E., TxDOT Littlefield Area engineer overseeing the project.
Oct. 11, 1937: Russell Horton, one of Hollywoods leading tenors, will appear in concert at the First Baptist Church tomorrow. He will be accompanied by Miss Elizabeth Cine.

--A meeting of members of the Plainview Country Club is scheduled at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the club, according to Jack Skaggs, secretary.

--The Plainview Polo Team defeated Lubbock, 8-5. Playing for Plainview were Marvin Shurbert, Lloyd Phillips, Clyde Blair and Vernon Bradley.

Oct. 11, 1957: Tommie Stevens has been accepted by Northrop Aeronautical Institute for the engineering program. He is a PHS graduate.

--The grand opening of the Weatherford 5 cents to $1 store is scheduled for Saturday at 112 E. Fifth.

--Sixty-five Hale County 4-H Club members will exhibit more than 100 head of livestock at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas beginning Saturday.

Oct. 11, 1977: Southwestern Public Service Co. announced Monday it will build a coal burning plant at a cost of more than $200 million in Lamb County instead of Lubbock County.

--Newly-elected executive officers for the Plainview Chamber of Commerce include Bill Rice, president; John Skaggs, first vice president; Romey Fennell Jr., second vice president; and Nancy Purtell, secretary-treasurer.

--Hale County Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Steve Rampy has notified commissioners that he will resign Oct. 23. He has been with the department for almost three years and has accepted a parole officers job with the state.

Oct. 11, 1987: Hale County Farm Bureau welcomes Betty Dennis as a new insurance agent. She transferred from Castro County.

--Central Plains Regional Hospital recognized Judy Springer, medical laboratory tech, as the employee representative of the hospital for the quarter ending Sept. 30. She has been employed by CPRH since March 1982. She grew up in Kress.
HARTFORD (AP)  A former governor of Connecticut who was twice convicted on felony charges is set to be released early from a federal minimum-security prison in Pennsylvania.



A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons says former Gov. John Rowland will be released in May 2018, 19 months into his 30-month sentence.



The spokesman declined to explain the early release date, citing privacy laws.



The 60-year-old Republican resigned from office in 2004 and served 10 months in prison following a corruption scandal. Rowland was sentenced to prison again in September 2014 after he was convicted of campaign fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.



The U.S. Supreme Court declined to disturb Rowlands convictions in March.






MERIDEN  Sujitno Sajuti, a 68-year-old former Fullbright scholar and undocumented West Hartford resident, disobeyed orders from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to board a plane to Indonesia Tuesday, a country he has not seen in three decades, instead taking sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Paddock Avenue while lawyers explore his legal options.



Most of my life I live here, Sajuti said. If I (go to Indonesia) Id be a stranger.



Sajuti first came to the United States in 1981 on a Fullbright Scholarship, earning advanced degrees from Columbia University and the University of Connecticut. After overstaying his student visa, Sajuti chose to remain in the United States. He registered with immigrations officials in 2001 and after being detained by ICE for a period in 2011, had been granted stays of removal since 2013. Sajuti learned in August his request for a stay had been denied and ICE would be moving forward with deportation orders.



Sajutis flight from JFK International Airport to Indonesia was scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. Unitarian Universalist Church the Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull said she received a call Monday night informing her of Sajutis situation. Church leaders had already decided to open the church as a sanctuary and readied an unused office space for shelter.



The immediacy of Sujitnos needs came to our attention yesterday, so we acted quickly, Carlsson-Bull said. Its a gift to us that we are able and willing to offer sanctuary.



Alok Bhatt, an organizer for the Connecticut Immigration Rights Alliance, described Sajutis contributions to the community at a press conference at the church Tuesday morning.



Hes a cherished member of this community as a cultural ambassador, as an educator, as an activist, hes built so much respect for himself, Bhatt said. This is his home. Its where hes established his life. Its where his community engagement lies. This is where Sujitno belongs.



Unidad Latina en Accion Organizer Jesus Morales criticized immigration authorities for sending this elder back to a place he has not seen in over 30 years,



This is inhumane, Morales said. There is no words to describe the pain that the community feels right now as this man is in need of seeking refuge in a search to avoid being separated from his family, community and loved ones.



Although Meriden is not a sanctuary city, Mayor Kevin Scarpati said area churches have been organizing to offer shelter for those facing deportation. An estimated 1,800 undocumented people reside in Meriden.



Yes, they are here illegally but are they an active criminal? Are they committing crimes? Are they not paying taxes? Are they not working? And its obviously a very sensitive situation, but its a shame that churches have to step up to offer shelter to these people who otherwise would be deported, Scarpati said. I dont agree with what Washington is doing  I dont agree with how they are handling their deportation policies ... Its unfortunate that many families are still fighting this.



Sajuti is the third in the state to seek sanctuary to avoid deportation. It has been nine weeks since Meriden resident Marco Reyes took refuge in a New Haven church to avoid deportation to Ecuador. Reyes is a father of three children who came to the United States in 1997 and is the sole caretaker of his wife, children and other family members, and has been for 20 years. He received a deportation order in 2009, but was given stays of leave since. Nury Chavarria, a single mother of four from Norwalk who entered the country illegally in 1993, took sanctuary in a New Haven church in July to avoid deportation to Guatemala. She was granted an emergency stay a week later that allowed her to remain in the U.S. while her lawyers fight to keep her in the country permanently.



It is unclear how long Sajuti will stay in the church.



This is something that may last a week, this is something that may last months, Morales said.



Sajuti hoped legal proceedings could be handled quickly so he can return to his work in the community.



This work I do is for helping people, the most important thing in my life, Sajuti said.



A practicing Muslim, Sajuti spent most of the day in prayer. He expressed gratitude to church officials for taking him and placed faith in God to decide his fate.



Thank you very much. This is a good thing for me. I get the blessing from God whoever is helping, could be church, could be synagogue, could be mosque, Sajuti said. This is still part of Gods process, hes got to the make the decision, not me.



ltauss@record-journal.com 203-317-2231 Twitter: @LeighTaussRJ






Indigenous Peoples Day, the holiday that celebrates Native American culture and its people, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in Berkeley this week. It's also the holiday that began as a Bay Area counterprotest to Columbus Day.

Here's how it happened: In the 1980s, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan created the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. Its job was to come up with a grand celebration to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas.

The plan was for replicas of Columbus' three ships to sail along the East Coast and then over to California.

"They were going to go into the Panama Canal, and sail into the San Francisco Bay as part of this national hoopla," says John Curl, Berkeley resident and one of the organizers of the first Indigenous Peoples Day.

Curl says this idea of having the Bay Area as the centerpiece of Columbus Day celebrations did not sit well with him and a lot of native people. So they formed a group to counterprotest the jubilee. They called themselves Resistance 500.

"The Bay Area is a pretty progressive place and we did not want to be the center of a national celebration of imperialism and colonialism and genocide," Curl says. "We tried to turn it into something different, something positive."

That's exactly what they did. In 1992, just weeks before the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival, Curl and other native leaders convinced Berkeley's City Council to get rid of Columbus Day and instead celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day. On Oct. 12, 1992, Berkeley became the first official city in the U.S. to celebrate the holiday.

Now, 25 years later, several other cities have followed suit, including Seattle, Austin and Los Angeles.

"All we did was plant the seeds for this, and we've just tended to it for over 20 years," Curl says.

And if you're wondering what happened to the grand Columbus Day celebration that was planned to end in San Francisco Bay, that ship never sailed.

Berkeley will celebrate its 25th annual Indigenous Peoples Day Pow Wow on Saturday, Oct. 14.

This article originally appeared on KQED.
Santa Clara County and a union of its employees sued President Trump on Tuesday for repealing the program known as DACA that provides young undocumented immigrants with reprieves from deportation, arguing that the action broke the governments binding promises to the youths, popularly known as Dreamers, and was based on racism.

The lawsuit, like others challenging Trumps decision, cited the presidents remarks during the 2016 campaign that Mexican immigrants were rapists and that a federal judge who had refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Trump was biased because the judge was of Mexican ancestry. Nearly 80 percent of the 700,000 current participants in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are from Mexico, and more than 90 percent are from Latin America.

The administrations actions rescinding DACA target Latinos and, specifically, immigrants from Mexico, and are motivated by animus toward these groups, lawyers for the county and Service Employees International Union Local 521 said in the suit, filed in federal court in San Jose.

Now Playing: FOX 5's Tom Fitzgerald reports. Video: Fox5DC

They also said the government had promised DACA applicants that the identifying information they provided would not be used against them  the very information, the suit said, that now could be used to find and deport them.

Immigration enforcement, like all government law enforcement, must be fundamentally fair, the suit said.

The program, established by President Barack Obamas executive order in 2012, provides renewable two-year reprieves from deportation and work permits to immigrants who entered without documentation before age 16, have lived in the U.S. since 2012, attend or have graduated from school or are military veterans, and have no serious criminal records.

More for you Hundreds in Bay Area protest Trumps decision on DACA

Trump announced Sept. 5 that he would repeal DACA in six months unless Congress enacted it by law. Prospects for a renewal appeared to diminish this week when the president, who previously had told congressional Democratic leaders he was open to a continuation in exchange for increases in border security, said he would insist on conditions that Democrats have deemed unacceptable, including funding for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

At least 20 states, including California, have sued to preserve the program, along with the University of California and individual DACA recipients. The suits have been filed in several different courts but may be consolidated.

In Mondays suit  described as the first by an employer and a union on behalf of DACA participants  Santa Clara County and the SEIU said a number of county employees and union members are in the program, including at least three in a recently established county fellowship that provides information and support to local immigrants and refugees. The county has at least 15,000 DACA-eligible residents, and a repeal would mean a loss of tax revenue and valuable employees, the suit said.

Stopping these young people from working, studying and productively contributing to our communities is foolish and violates fundamental principles of law, said County Counsel James Williams.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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The only nonprofit school for highly-functioning autistic students in Santa Rosa was reduced to ashes amid the series of wild fires that ravaged Northern California, school officials confirmed Monday.

The Santa Rosa campus of Anova Center for Education, with classrooms located in the Luther Burbank Center of the Arts, was completed destroyed when a fast-moving fire ripped down the Fountaingrove area and engulfed the school, said Andrew Bailey, CEO and founder of Anova.

The blaze will leave 120 students ranging from 5 to 22 years old without a school to attend as officials work with districts who may not have the same resources to provide for the schools curriculum. The only other school in the the area, the for-profit Lattice Educational Services, houses about 30-40 autistic children who are not necessarily college-bound, he said.

It was not immediately known if the Lattice building survived the blaze.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Theres no other options because what we do is so specialized, Bailey said Monday. It felt like we lost our home and were out of a place to live.

Now, the school is seeking out any facility willing to offer classrooms to students. The school started as a passion project of Baileys more than 15 years ago and grew to two branches. The first one that started in Santa Rosa in 2000 and another started in Napa in 2006 then moved to Concord in 2012, he said.

San Francisco Chronicle

"I started the company in my garage in 2000. It's my life. It's my blood, sweat and tears. It's my baby," Bailey said. "This is our flagship school. It's our home base and where we started."

School officials will head to the facilities at the 22,000 square-foot venue Tuesday morning to assess the damage and meet with an insurance adjuster and Sonoma Countys office of education, Bailey said.

They had spent two years raising $75,000 for a playground structure that was just delivered and burned to the ground in a box on the campus, he said. Plans for how to serve the students remain up in the air, Bailey said, but hes already decided the new mascot for the school will be a Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Its a tragedy. We really have joined Houston and Miami and Florida, and Puerto Rico and those other Caribbean islands as a disaster of epic proportions, he said. Its a sad situation but we will rise up out of the ashes. Our families are very used to fighting the odds.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

RANCHO CORDOVA, Sacramento County  Vice President Mike Pence said the federal government stands ready to provide any and all assistance to California as firefighters battle blazes throughout the state.

We just learned today of 10 people having lost their lives, Pence said during an appearance outside Sacramento to raise support for the Trump administrations tax proposals. The fires are going to continue. I spoke to Gov. Jerry Brown this afternoon. The dryness of the climate, the strength of the winds, you all in California know much better than this Midwesterner does.
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As a flurry of ash began to fall from the sky outside Santa Rosa Memorial hospital Monday afternoon, Elizabeth and Joseph Tito took comfort in controlling what they could: the flow of ambulances, cars and panicked families in and out of the hospitals main parking lot.

The Tito family had evacuated their new home in Fountaingrove, an upscale community north of downtown Santa Rosa, about 3 a.m. Monday after seeing flames licking the tops of nearby hills. They had just moved to the area in August  an attempt to escape East Coast blizzards and bad weather, Elizabeth Tito said.

I guess we traded the blizzards for fire, she said.

San Francisco Chronicle

Elizabeth and Joseph Tito, who work as surgeons at St. Joseph Healths outpatient facility and Healdsburg District Hospital, respectively, said they were happy for the distraction of directing traffic.

It kept them from spending too much time wondering whether their home was still standing.

Santa Rosa Memorial was the northernmost hospital to remain open in the midst of the North Bay fires Monday.

Officials said the hospital opened its command center about 1 a.m. and has since seen a steady stream of people in need of care.

About 60 people arrived at Santa Rosa Memorial throughout Monday morning, including two burn patients in critical condition, 15 people with moderate injuries and 43 with minor injuries, Colleen Flynn, a spokeswoman for the St. Joseph Health group said.

Santa Rosa Memorial, Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa and Petaluma Valley Hospital remained open as of about 3 p.m. None of the medical centers had suffered any structural damage, officials said.

Santa Rosa Memorial also accepted evacuees from our neighboring hospitals  including six transfers from Kaiser Santa Rosa, which was evacuated and shut down, and six from Sutter Medical Center.

Among the patients transferred from Sutter were several mothers with newborns as well as expectant mothers in active labor.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Queen of the Valley, in downtown Napa, treated about 50 patients, the majority of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation, Flynn said. One patient brought to Queen of the Valley was transferred to a burn center due to the severity of the patients injuries. About four people were treated for minor burns and released.

Petaluma Valley Hospital had not treated any burn victims as of late afternoon Monday. Six patients suffered mild to moderate injuries related to the fire and smoke hanging in the air throughout the North Bay, including shortness of breath, dizziness, asthma, and smoke inhalation.

Petaluma Valley took in 28 patients, including several who needed to be evacuated from Sutter Medical Center, Kaiser Santa Rosa and senior living facilities in the area.

Following the early morning rush of burn patients and those suffering injuries directly related to the wildfires, Flynn said, the hospitals began to see waves of patients coming in with injuries related to evacuations, including car crashes and injuries from falling.

We implore the public to take all necessary precautions and be safe; heed all evacuation orders; dont speed; do not venture out unless it is necessary, she said in a statement.

Some people, unsure of where else to go, turned up at area hospitals. Flynn emphasized that those without injuries should seek help at shelters, not medical centers.

But for the Tito family, the hospital has become their temporary refuge. After evacuating Fountaingrove about 3 a.m., the family took shelter in Elizabeth Titos office, where their youngest child, 11, and pets remained Monday afternoon.

We keep running into people out here who say they lost everything, that all they have left is in a backpack or a bag, Elizabeth Tito said. People who forgot their medication and inhalers on their way out. Its surreal.

Chad Krilich, the chief medical officer at Santa Rosa Memorial, said many doctors who reported for duty Monday had lost their homes just hours before.

The hospital was providing on-site accommodations for staff and volunteers who needed a place to sleep.

Krilich was one such doctor, who assumed his home was gone. He said he grabbed two photos  a picture of his wedding day and one of his children  five pairs of underwear and Hip Hop, the familys aquatic turtle, before fleeing his Santa Rosa home about 2 a.m. and heading into work.

By late afternoon Monday, Santa Rosa Memorial had treated 160 people. Krilich said the staff anticipates that number will climb to around 200  a jump from the typical patient load of about 125 a day.

Of those 160 patients, 90 people were admitted with wildfire-related injuries, including 12 with burns. Three remain in the hospital, four were transferred to burn centers due to the severity of their injuries and five were treated and released earlier in the day.

All non-urgent surgeries scheduled for Tuesday at Petaluma Valley and Santa Rosa Memorial have been cancelled to allow the hospitals to focus on the communitys most pressing surgical needs for patients in need of life-saving or time-sensitive procedures, Flynn said.

A walk-in clinic will remain open in Santa Rosa at 510 Doyle Park Drive until 10 p.m. for people who have non-urgent medical needs, the hospital group said.

Santa Rosa Memorial said it had been adequately staffed all day, with at least 10 doctors who arrived from out-of-area hospitals to pitch in.

In coming days, Krilich warned, the hospital may lose manpower as doctors and nurses whose houses were destroyed in the blaze leave to take care of whatever remains of their homes.

Anyone seeking to help is advised to call the labor pool at 707-525-5300, ext. 5105.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
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Without social media, a beloved local burger joint would have closed its doors.

Mark's Outing, previously called Fatty's Burger, has been a downtown staple since 2005, and when restaurant employees called on the community for help, the community answered.

Four days ago, Mark Outing told his customers via a Facebook video of his business and personal debts. He pleaded with customers to stop by the restaurant at 1624 E. Commerce St. for a burger. He said it was "an actual emergency."

"If no one would have responded, I would have no choice" but to close, Outing told mySA.com Monday. "Oh absolutely, I know I would have closed."

RELATED: Sink your teeth into San Antonio's most recommended burgers

Now Playing: Since posting this video, which was shared more than 4,100 times, Outing said business has been good. Video: Courtesy Mark's Outing/Facebook

Outing said he made the video with his "back against the wall" as a final effort to claw the business out of its mounting bills.

Since posting the video, which was shared more than 4,100 times, Outing said business has been good.

"Friday and Saturday were the biggest days we've ever had at the restaurant in 12 years," he said, though he added the problem was not a "two-day fix thing."

"The response has actually been overwhelming," he said.

kbradshaw@express-news.net | Twitter: @kbrad5
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The Food Network hasnt gotten enough of San Antonio chef Jason Dady. Dady is set to battle against Food Network personality Bobby Flay in an upcoming episode of Beat Bobby Flay.

This morning, Dady posted a photo of an awake Flay lying in bed with the caption: @bobbyflay cant sleep. And I know why. Watch me on #beatbobbyflay Thursday November 2nd at @9pm cst.

Were not allowed to say what well be cooking or the style, Dady said. But I will say that its a surprising dish.

The range of the local Dady restaurant empire, where barbecue, steaks, lobster rolls, tapas, Nutella desserts and a wide range of Italian fare are featured, makes the focus of the potential Flay showdown difficult to pare down.

The show, which has been in production for 14 seasons, revolves around cooks from all over the country, regional authorities on dishes that range from Korean crabcakes to fish and chips and beyond, challenging Flay to outcook them on their signature dishes. First, two challengers go head-to-head, and the winner of the first round gets to challenge Flay.

In the upcoming episode, Dady said that he will battle Minneapolis-based chef Mike DeCamp, who, like Dady, oversees the menus at multiple properties.

Dady competed in the Food Networks Iron Chef Gauntlet challenge last spring and made it to the final episode before finishing third in the competition.

In those May-June-July months, it was absolute insanity rocking back and forth around the country, Dady said. I look it as a chance to promote San Antonio and the fact that we are a great food city.

Dady made headlines last week with a social media feud with TV star Mario Lopez. Dady suggested that Lopez, or a publicist working on his behalf, solicited a free meal at Dadys newest restaurant, Range, which opened a couple weeks ago at the Embassy Suites on the River Walk, in exchange for a social media promotion. Lopez denied it on radio, but Dady doubled-down after the former Saved by the Bell actor took aim at his publicist.

I was a little taken aback by his response on the radio show, Dady told the Express-News. It again basically accepted zero responsibility that he has people that are making these phone calls on his behalf  versus just owning it and saying Hey, maybe it was a miscommunication. Maybe he didnt represent it to the restaurant the way I would have done it, and Im sorry.

Getting back to Beating Bobby Flay, Dady said there will be a viewing party Nov. 2 at his seafood restaurant Shuck Shack at 520 E. Grayson St.

Ill be in attendance, and it will be similar to what we did before with the outdoor picnic tables, and well probably run an oyster special, Dady said. Its all about watching the show and having fun, and maybe well do a Q&A afterwards.

cblount@express-news.net | @chuck_blount
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Editors note: Today we look back at Week 40 of 365 Days of Tacos, in which food writer and restaurant critic Mike Sutter reports on a different taqueria, restaurant or truck every day on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com/Tacos. Sign up for our taco newsletter while youre there.

Taco of the Week

Chicharron and egg a la mexicana, Chaparritas Mexican Restaurant. If youve followed this series and wondered what would possess anybody to put pork rinds in a breakfast taco, Id send you to Chaparritas to understand why.

This taco puts pork rinds in exactly the right form and context: crunchy, but softened by a soaking in ranchera sauce. They provided textural balance to scrambled eggs, a melted mozzarella and a cargo of sauteed onions, tomatoes and peppers.

The week in tacos, Oct. 1-7

Angels Mexican Haven: The pink adobe trim makes Angels easy to spot. In addition to all-day breakfast and 25 lunch plates covering the spectrum of enchiladas, fajitas, gorditas and grill plates, Angels makes more than 35 tacos. Featured taco: Fried pork chop. 2302 E. Commerce St., 210-224-4500, Facebook: Angels Mexican Haven

Rositas Mexican Restaurant: Theres something about the first taco of the day. The simpler, the better. Rositas understands the impulse, opening at 6 a.m. with more than 20 breakfast taco possibilities at $1.39 each. Featured taco: Potato and egg. 7500 Eckhert Road, 210-236-9504, rositasmexicanrestaurant.com

Chaparritas Mexican Restaurant: This is a cool and shady retreat for coffee klatch regulars who come for all-day breakfast, a full Tex-Mex menu and more than 35 kinds of tacos. Before 10:30 a.m., 11 of those tacos are just 99 cents apiece. Featured taco: Chicharron and egg a la mexicana. 7350 Tezel Road, 210-520-8100, Facebook: @ChaparritasMexicanRestaurant

Que Tortas: In San Antonio, even a specialty Mexican sub shop sells 16 kinds of tacos, including that rare steamed dumpling of a beast called tacos al vapor. Featured taco: Tacos al vapor. 7500 Eckhert Road, Suite 152, 210-680-1826, Facebook: @quetortasTX

Mias Mexican Grill: Since it opened in 2012, Mias Mexican Grill has done something much harder than it looks: combine the independent mom-and-pop spirit of a locally owned restaurant with the tasteful decor and slick execution of a national franchise. Featured taco: Choriquiles. 11739 Bandera Road, 210-680-4478, miasmexicangrill.com

Casa Azul de Andrea: They really should rename this King William bungalow Casa Azul de Frida, because Frida Kahlos unibrow follows you through every room. She would no doubt approve of the short, well-curated menu of tortas, tacos, tapas and creative bar drinks. Featured taco: Carnitas and carne asada mini-tacos. 1036 S. Alamo St., 210-451-9393, casaazuldeandrea.com

L Taco: This well-organized, spotless taqueria is ready to make the light-speed jump to franchise space, from its logo en fuego and color-coded menu boards to the well-stocked salsa bar. Featured taco: Chicken Norteno. 7531 Bandera Road, Suite 101, 210-521-8226, l-taco.com

Week 39 winner: Mamas Kitchen

Week 38 winner: La Fogata

Week 37 winner: Tacos Mando

Week 36 winner: Tacos Lira

Week 35 winner: Berthas Mexican Restaurant

Week 34 winner: Garcias Mexican Food

Week 33 winner: El Siete Mares

Week 32 winner: Rossys Tacos

Week 31 winner: La Perla del Pacifico

Week 30 winner: Sazon Mexican Cafe

Week 29 winner: Taco Libre

Week 28 winner: Ruthies Mexican Restaurant

Week 27 Winner: Angelas Cafe

Week 26 winner: Los Valles

Week 25 winner: Taco Riendo

Week 24 winner: Las Sabrosas de Guanajuato

Week 23 winner: Oscars Taco House

Week 22 winner: Tacos Betos

Week 21 winner: Carnitas Lonja

Week 20 winner: Tommys Restaurant

Week 19 winner: Lees El Taco Garage

Week 18 winner: Mi Ranchito

Week 17 winner: El Paraiso de Jalisco

Week 16 winner: Salsas Cafe

Week 15 winner: Taquitos West Ave.

Week 14 winner: Taco Taco Cafe

Week 13 winner: Los Campos Dos Hermanos

Week 12 winner: Mittman Fine Foods

Week 11 winner: Sabinas Coffee House

Week 10 winner: Dannys Cocina Mexicana

Week 9 winner: The Original Donut Shop

Week 8 winner: Claudias Restaurant

Week 7 winner: Don Jose Mexican Cafe

Week 6 winner: Paloma Blanca

Week 5 winner: Mendez Cafe

Week 4 winner: Tacos Y Burritos Metro Basilica 2

Week 3 winner: El Buen Gusto Mexican Cafe

Week 2 winner: Taco Haven

Week 1 winner: Rays Drive Inn

msutter@express-news.net

Twitter: @fedmanwalking
Memorial Villages Police Department

Bunker Hill Village approved an ordinance that prohibits right turns for vehicles at a red light in school zones.

The main intersection affected is at Memorial Drive and Gessner Road, where Frostwood Elementary sits on the north side of Memorial.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign on Saturday with Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia.

The Northam campaign said Biden will host a "workforce development roundtable" Saturday morning in Reston. The event is at a tech incubator and will not be open to the general public, the campaign said.

That same day, Vice President Mike Pence will be appearing with Republican nominee Ed Gillespie at a campaign event in Abingdon, in Southwest Virginia.

Both sides are ramping up their efforts as the Nov. 7 election day approaches. Virginia's race has drawn national attention as one of only two gubernatorial contests in the country this year, and is considered far more competitive than the other race, in New Jersey.

It has shaped up as a proxy for national political clashes over the polarizing Trump administration. Northam attended a fundraising event last week in New York with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and late last week President Donald Trump tweeted his first direct endorsement of Gillespie.

The Republican campaign has not said whether Trump will appear with Gillespie in Virginia. The president remains deeply unpopular in the state, but has a rabid following among core Republicans who are most likely to come out and vote.

Pence's wife, Karen, has appeared at a fundraiser for Gillespie, and the two families have been friends for years.

The Northam campaign said Biden will help their candidate talk about what he calls his "G3 plan," which involves helping people pay for community college to get training for technology-related jobs.

Northam has said that former President Barack Obama will also campaign with him, but has yet to release any information about when that might take place. Most polls show Northam with a lead in the race, but many voters say they have yet to firmly make up their minds.
Proposed rules for single-drug executions in California were rejected Monday by a state legal agency whose decision may soon be nullified by an initiative approved by state voters last November.

State prison officials have been trying to rewrite their regulations since a federal judge halted implementation of Californias death penalty in 2006, finding flaws in staff training and procedures that created the risk of a prolonged and agonizing execution. The state has nearly 750 inmates on Death Row, and courts have rejected final appeals on the convictions and sentences of at least 18 of those inmates.

With lethal drugs increasingly scarce, Gov. Jerry Browns administration settled a lawsuit by murder victims families by switching from the previous three-drug executions to a single dose of a powerful barbiturate. Prison officials drafted procedures to use one of two possible drugs, to be obtained from private pharmacies. They received thousands of public comments, mostly critical, and then submitted them to the state office that reviews new state regulations for their compliance with the law.

On Monday, the Office of Administrative Law vetoed the procedures for the second time, issuing a brief notice that the prison department did not resolve all necessity and clarity issues. The office said it would explain its reasoning within a week.

Meanwhile, however, 51 percent of the states voters in November approved Proposition 66, a measure designed to speed up executions, while rejecting a competing initiative to abolish the death penalty. The state Supreme Court upheld some provisions of Prop. 66 in August, including one that eliminates the need for regulatory review of one-drug executions.

Opponents of the measure have asked for a rehearing, and the court has delayed implementation until at least Nov. 22 while it considers the request. But if the ruling stands, Mondays action will have no effect.

The dispute over execution procedures would then move to federal court, where lawyers for the condemned prisoners would renew their arguments against Californias proposed injection procedures.

The whole thing is stupid, death penalty supporter Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and an author of Prop. 66, said of the regulatory review process. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has approved similar execution drugs and procedures in other states.

On the other side, David Crawford of the anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Focus endorsed the state offices decision.

Weve known all along that (the proposed procedure) was deeply problematic, and that it increased the risk of botched executions and secret drug deals like weve seen in other states, Crawford said. Were coming up on a year since the election and nothing has changed, except that weve wasted another $150 million in maintaining Death Row.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.S. should immediately withdraw its ambassador if he failed to consult with his superiors over a decision to suspend visa services, saying he doesn't regard the envoy as an American representative and won't accept his farewell visit.

"I find the lack of consultation by senior U.S. authorities with our foreign minister awkward," Erdogan said in televised remarks in Belgrade, Serbia. "If the ambassador acted on his own, then the U.S. administration should not keep him there for a minute."

While the White House and State Department stayed silent over the latest crisis to roil ties between the NATO allies, U.S. ambassador John Bass late on Monday issued an unusual video statement on YouTube saying he hasn't been told why a Turkish employee working for the U.S. was arrested last week, the second such detention this year. The embassy stopped issuing non-immigrant visas in Turkey, a NATO ally and key trading partner, in a move that sent markets falling and prompted a retaliatory response by Turkish authorities. Bass has been tapped by President Donald Trump as the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

By pinning the blame on the ambassador, Erdogan could be trying to find a way out of the crisis while saving face, said Timothy Ash, senior emerging-markets sovereign strategist at Bluebay Asset Management in London. And Trump may be willing to "throw Bass under the bus for the sake of U.S.-Turkish relations," Ash said.

Erdogan also rebuffed criticism of Turkey's arrest of the consulate employee, alleging he had ties to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accuses of masterminding of last year's coup attempt.

"The information that a second person is there shows something is going on at the consulate in Istanbul," the president said, adding that the U.S. should evaluate how these "agents" infiltrated the mission or who placed them there.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim earlier said Turkey didn't need the consent of U.S. authorities to prosecute its own citizens working at American diplomatic posts in the country.

"Turkey is a state ruled by law, Yildirim told lawmakers of his governing AK Party in parliament on Tuesday. "Does working at an American mission bring any immunity to anyone accused of committing a crime?" Channels of communication were available to help solve the impasse, Yildirim said.

Turkey's ties with U.S. have frayed following a failed coup against Erdogan in July 2016. The U.S. has refused to extradite Gulen, citing a lack of evidence. In the following purge, about 110,000 alleged supporters of Gulen have been removed from state jobs; banks, businesses and media outlets were seized or shut down; tens of thousands, including army officers, academics and journalists, remain in detention.

The two countries have also feuded over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, which Ankara says are aligned with the outlawed PKK group at home.

Yildirim touched on both grievances in his address in Ankara. "Why you are still harboring Gulen, does it bind with being an ally?" he said. If our alliance is to continue, "you should stop protecting the PYD-YPG, cousins of the PKK in Syria."

He also alluded to the detention in the U.S. of Halkbank deputy CEO Mehmet Hakan Atilla for allegedly conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Iran. "Did you ask us when you forcibly jailed the deputy manager of one of our state banks in your country?" Yildirim said. A former Turkish government minister and other senior executives Halkbank were also charged in the case.

Turkey's Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said he had rejected a meeting request from Bass. Meanwhile, prosecutors had "invited" another consulate worker to testify, AHaber TV reported on Monday. The pro-government television channel said the employee's wife and child had been detained, but it didn't specify the man's whereabouts.

Bass's statement -- and the lack of comment from Washington -- was the latest unexpected twist in a relationship that seemed poised for an upgrade when Donald Trump took office in January, after deteriorating ties during the Obama administration. As recently as last month at the United Nations, Trump said Erdogan was "becoming a friend of mine" and that "frankly, he's getting high marks."

Even if "this spat is now resolved quickly, I think it has exposed the deep-seated problems in Turkish relations with the West," Ash of Bluebay Asset Management said.

In recent months, Erdogan has increased coordination with Russia and Iran amid deepening tensions with the U.S., and Turkey recently agreed to buy a Russian missile-defense system that isn't compatible with the arsenals of its North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners.

Despite their disagreements, both countries will want to patch things up, according to Anthony Skinner, a director with U.K.-based forecasting company Verisk Maplecroft. "Neither Turkey nor the United States have a clear interest in allowing a complete rupture in ties," he said by email. "Turkey still boasts the second-largest armed forces in NATO and Washington would prefer to avoid pushing Ankara even more into Moscow's corner."

That said, "the Trump administration does not have the ability or indeed the appetite to extradite Ankara's number one concern: Fethullah Gulen," he said.

---

Bloomberg's Firat Kozok contributed.
FAIRFIELD  A Florida woman who tried to cash a check using a New Jersey drivers license at a bank in Connecticut was arrested Oct. 6.

According to police, Yeney Caruncho, 25, of Miami, Fla., showed up at the Citibank branch at 1275 Post Road and tried to cash a check for $4,903. The check, and the drivers license she showed for identification, had a different name than her own. Another woman had just attempted to cash a fake check at a Citibank in Norwalk and so police were called to the Fairfield location.
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NORWALK  Broken tombstones line the old schoolhouse that abuts the cemetery on Mill Hill. Nearby, Samantha Kulish-Fargione, who runs the community programs at the Norwalk Historical Society, helped guide Emma Rogers through the cemetery.

Rogers was having difficulty with her depth perception because one of her eyes was covered in a mangled crimson mass. Where she was shot in the face, Kulish-Fargione said.

Rogers and Riley Sexton, who sported a simulated rope burn on his neck, were preparing for this years Haunting at Mill Hill, when actors will re-enact ghastly historic tales in the old city cemetery. They will tell the story of Berta Karoly and Endre Rohali, a pair of Hungarian immigrants living in South Norwalk not far from the railroad  an area known in the early 1900s as Whistleville.

If Karoly had moved to the United States in pursuit of the American dream, she seemed well on her way. By 1907, the teenager had found work at the nearby corset shop and made a large number of friends, if the historic turnout at her funeral was any indication.

However, she had also found an admirer, the hard-drinking Rohali. Newspapers at the time reported he was already married to her sister back in Hungary  whatever the case, Rohali proposed to Karoly, and she turned him down. He shot her in a fit of rage and successfully fled back to his home country. But if he expected to return to his previous life, he was foiled by the police, who had tracked his voyage. Hungarian authorities awaited him at the docks, and he was eventually hung.

Kulish-Fargione thought the story was particularly relevant now, as the Historical Commission and Redevelopment Agency have set about turning Whistleville into a historic district.

Whistleville is also the name of a musical about the neighborhood, which features the couple. It is entering its fourth production this season at the Crystal Theatre  Kulish-Fargione will be directing.

The musical version of this is not as gory as what well present at the Haunting, she said with a laugh.

To Kulish-Fargione, keeping stories like Karolys and Rohalis alive is important. They are not stories that would make it in the history books, not even the history of Norwalk, she said. We get to actually say she lived: This is her story.

Kulish-Fargione has always had a propensity for ghost stories  she still remembers the eerie stories her grandparents and father used to tell he as a child. Growing up, she had always looked up ghost tours when the family went on vacation. She said she was attracted to the sense of the unknown. Are these stories real? she wondered. Can you believe they actually happened?

This is not the first time she has brought forgotten stories to life. It is the seventh year she has organized the Haunting at Mill Hill, and she has also organized ghost tours of Danbury and Western Connecticut State University.

The tours typically take a lot of research, sifting through stories in archives until a headline grabs her.

She looks for stories that have substance beneath their shock value. I want there to be empathy, those poignant moments, she said. I dont want people to be scared through the whole thing.

Other stories this year will include the accident of a World War II pilot and a steamboat explosion off Gregory Point  Norwalks second-worst disaster, she said, after a train that drove straight into the Norwalk River off the Walk Bridge, now facing a billion-dollar replacement project.

Some of the stories still feel remarkably relevant.

Its interesting to see what hasnt changed. Youd think wed learn from history, but sometimes we just dont, she said. When it comes to Karoly and Rohalis story, she saw issues of domestic violence and gun violence that the country still grapples with today. Can we learn from this? Will we learn from this?

She said she was drawn to the stories as a way of honoring individuals lives. I think of the graves that were sitting by. Their family is all gone. But their stories linger on.

A Haunting at Mill Hill will take place in the cemetery at 2 East Wall St. on Oct. 14, 20 and 21 at 7:30 and 9 p.m. On Saturdays, there is an additional performance at 6 p.m. Tickets are available on the Historical Society website and range from $10 to $18. This year, there will also be a haunted maze designed by Norwalk special effects experts Greg Kling and George Holomakoff.
MILAN - Four years ago, a father in the small northeastern Italian town of Remanzacco murdered his teenage son. The crime earned him a life sentence, a rarity in Italy and many other European countries. But last week the country's highest court ruled that the murderer should have a reduced sentence - because his son was adopted.

Andrei Talpis, 57, a Moldovan immigrant living in Italy, killed his 19-year-old son, Ion, during a family fight in November 2013. Talpis was beating his wife, Elizaveta, when Ion stepped in to protect his mother. Talpis stabbed him to death.

Found guilty of aggravated murder, Talpis was sentenced to life in prison in 2015. While Italian law doesn't typically call for life sentences for murder, the penal code recommends them in cases where a parent kills his child. The life sentence was confirmed by an appeals court in 2016.

But when Talpis's case reached the Corte di Cassazione, Italy's rough equivalent of the Supreme Court, the judges ruled that the norm prescribing a life sentence for the murder of one's own offspring cannot be applied to Talpis's case because adopted children do not count as "offspring," according to the country's penal code.

Predictably enough, the ruling caused an uproar. Some interpreted it as a statement that adopted children don't count as "real" children - or, worse yet, that their lives aren't worth as much. "I found this sentence appalling," said Francesca Sforza, a writer for the liberal newspaper La Stampa who has three adopted children, said in a telephone interview. "It reflects all the prejudices that adoptive families face when we have to prove that we are real families, as if blood was the foundation of love."

From a legal standpoint, however, the ruling is fully justified, said Andrea Del Corno, a lawyer in Milan who specializes in criminal justice. Like most European countries, Italy has a legal system in which judges must closely stick to written codes rather than relying on previous rulings and interpretations as they would in the United States. Italian judges, explained Del Corno, "aren't allowed to rule according to common sense. Their job is to apply the written law."

Italy's penal code, which dates back to the 1930s, simply does not consider adoptive and biological children as equal. And while Italian civil law was modernized in the 1980s and confers equal status upon adopted children, that status "does not extend to criminal cases, which are subject to the penal code," said Del Corno.

"The court had no other option," he said. "One could argue that we need to change the penal code, but changes in the law aren't retroactive so it would not apply to this case."

Still, the episode raises broader issues about Italian society's approach to identity, relationships and blood. "This sentence was about biology coming first," Sforza argued.

The ruling came at a time when international adoptions are in sharp decline in Italy and when the liberal government failed to pass a law granting citizenship to children born in Italy to immigrant parents. "We still have a legal principle called jus sanguinis [or "the law of blood"] regulating who gets to be a citizen. It's the part of the same mentality: As the concepts of family and nation evolve, people cling to biology in an identitarian backlash," said Sforza.

"Italy is stuck with the mythology of blood," she continued. "And, honestly, that's scaring me."
California lawmakers have passed legislation to reduce the penalty for those who knowingly or intentionally expose others to HIV without their knowledge, rolling back a law that mostly affected sex workers.

The bill, SB 239, which was approved by the Democrat-controlled state legislature in September and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Friday, will lower the charges for these acts from a felony to a misdemeanor when the law goes into effect in 2018. The act of knowingly donating HIV-infected blood, also a felony now, will be decriminalized.

The statutes that the new laws revise date back to the late 1980s, when AIDS had emerged as a public health crisis in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Fear and misinformation about the disease's potential to spread ran high as the authorities struggled to get a handle on the new epidemic and a spate of legislation about HIV exposure cropped up across the country.

Supporters of the reform push in California, which included a broad coalition of public health, LGBT, civil liberties and HIV groups in the state, described the laws as outdated and ineffective, pointing to statistics that showed that the vast majority of convictions were related to sex workers, who are required to undergo testing for HIV after being convicted of crimes such as solicitation.

In the case of the laws around blood donation, research has shown that the law was probably never enforced and likely did little to enhance the screening measures that already exist to identify sources of infected blood.

"If you are a sex worker and you solicit someone and you're HIV positive, you're guilty of a felony before any contact occurs," said California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a co-sponsor of the bill. "These laws are so draconian that you can be convicted of a felony and sent to state prison even if you engage in behavior that creates zero risk of HIV infection."

Many Republican lawmakers in the state disagreed.

"I'm of the mind that if you purposefully inflict another with a disease that alters their lifestyle the rest of their life, puts them on a regimen of medications to maintain any kind of normalcy, it should be a felony," said Sen. Joel Anderson during debate over the bill, according to the Los Angeles Times. "It's absolutely crazy to me that we should go light on this."

The bill has since drawn wide media attention, including particularly critical coverage from conservative media sites.

"Good grief," wrote the National Review's Wesley Smith. "Leave it to California to make a declining and decadent culture even more declining and decadent."

Breitbart's story about the bill, which drew more than 4,500 comments, focused on three cases, in Michigan, California and Scotland, where in each case a man had allegedly attempted to intentionally infect others.

But these types of cases are rare.

Of the 379 HIV-related convictions in California between 1988 and 2014, only seven - less than 2 percent - included the intent to transmit HIV, according to a recent series of studies from the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute.

Instead, the law mostly affected sex workers or those suspected of sex work. The vast majority of the convictions - 90 percent - were for solicitation cases where it was unknown whether any physical contact had occurred. When expanded to include the 800 or so people arrested or charged for the laws through 2014, more than 95 percent were related to sex work, the researchers found.

Statistics showed that the charge was disproportionately levied against women and minorities: 67 percent of the people who came into contact with law enforcement because of HIV-related laws were black or Latino, the Williams Institute studies showed. Women made up 43 percent, though they represent only 13 percent of the HIV-positive population in the state.

That requirement that sex workers get HIV tested after convictions will be abolished when the provisions in the bill take effect.

"At the very beginning, people expected to see most of the weight playing out in those intentional exposure laws," said Amira Hasenbush, a fellow at the Williams Institute and the co-author of the reports. "I think everyone was surprised to see that wasn't where the law was being enforced. It was in this felony solicitation."

The bill was also prompted, its sponsors say, by a 2015 report on combating HIV from the Obama White House, which cited studies showing that HIV exposure laws do little to influence behavior, and said that many "run counter to scientific evidence about routes of HIV transmission and effective measures of HIV prevention."

Wiener said he believed that California's felony HIV laws created a disincentive for some people to get tested, potentially doing more to increase rather than mitigate the public health risk of HIV.

Others in the group of more than 150 to support the bill included the California Medical Association, the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the California Women's Law Center and the ACLU of California.

Supporters pointed out that the knowing or intentional transmission of any other communicable disease in California, including some potentially deadly ones like SARS, Ebola and tuberculosis, is a misdemeanor crime.

"There's no reason that HIV should be treated differently," said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, a LGBT civil rights nonprofit which was a co-sponsor of the bill. "A lot of what was behind this was basically looking at the laws to see how we could improve public health and modernizing these laws, so HIV is treated the same."
Authorities investigating the Las Vegas massacre on Monday expressed irritation that after eight days, they have still not determined why a gunman opened fire on concertgoers, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

"I'm frustrated," Joseph Lombardo, the Las Vegas sheriff, said at a news briefing. "Because this individual purposefully hid his actions leading up to this event and it is difficult for us to find answers for those actions."

During the briefing, Lombardo offered a key update to the shooting timeline that officials have previously laid out. Lombardo said that the gunman shot a hotel security guard, injuring him minutes before opening fire at concertgoers far below his 32nd floor suite in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Lombardo had previously said that while he did not know what caused Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old gunman, to stop shooting, he assumed it was due to the security guard's arrival, hailing the guard as a hero. Police have also warned that information released to the public could change as the investigation continues, and Lombardo said that this is what happened with the timeline involving the guard, Jesus Campos.

Speaking on Monday, Lombardo said Campos was shot at 9:59 p.m., six minutes before the gunman began raining bullets on the country music festival. Campos arrived on the 32nd floor due to an alarm involving an open door, Lombardo said. He said the door was not Paddock's, but did not elaborate.

WATCH: Las Vegas goes dark in memory of mass shooting victims

Even as the gunman began firing on the crowd below - shooting for 10 minutes - police were not aware that the security guard was shot until they arrived on the hotel's 32nd floor. Campos alerted security of the situation, Lombardo said, but police hunting for the gunman were not aware of the shots fired at the guard.

The new information comes as investigators are still struggling to explain why Paddock carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Authorities have pulled together a picture of Paddock's mental state, Lombardo said, but have found no single occurrence in his life that may have set him off.

"We do not believe there is one particular event in the suspect's life for us to key on," he said. "We believe he decided to take the lives he did and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."

Investigators are speaking to Paddock's relatives and to his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who returned to the country after the shooting and was interviewed by the FBI. They are also trying to scour his medical history, Lombardo said, and speak to people who knew him.

But so far, authorities looking to see if anyone may have aided Paddock found no evidence of the gunman having associates in Las Vegas. Lombardo said investigators have discovered more than 200 instances of Paddock traveling through the city over an unspecified period of time, "and he has never been seen with anyone else."

"We want to figure out the why to this, and we'd like to know the motive," Lombardo said.

Lombardo said police still do not know what Paddock's ultimate plans were, noting that the gunman shot at fuel tanks nearby and had explosives in his car.

"We do not know whether he had planned to cause additional harm outside of what happened at Mandalay Bay," Lombardo said.

Officers who stormed Paddock's room said they found an "armory" of guns and ammunition inside - along with a note suggesting the gunman had mapped out the trajectory of the bullets he would rain down on concertgoers.

Since the Oct. 1 massacre, while Paddock's motive has baffled investigators, a picture of his life has taken shape. He was described as a man of considerable financial means who avidly played video poker and avoided human contact when possible. Paddock was meticulous and methodical, carefully plotting out his actions right up until the moment he shot himself in the head.

Before opening fire, Paddock had smuggled his arsenal into a two-room suite in Mandalay Bay and set up cameras to monitor police as they arrived.

The Las Vegas police officers who marched up to the hotel's 32nd floor said in a television interview that they found further evidence of Paddock's painstaking preparations as they approached. These officers, who at the time feared they might be dealing with multiple shooters, entered a hotel stairwell and discovered that Paddock had apparently blocked the door leading to the hallway near his suite.

"He had screwed shut the door - with a piece of metal and some screws," Sgt. Joshua Bitsko, one of the officers, told "60 Minutes." Dave Newton, another officer who responded, told "60 Minutes" that a third officer had "a pry bar and was able to easily pop that door."

The Las Vegas police have given few media interviews since the massacre, instead releasing information through news briefings held over the last week. In the "60 Minutes" interview, broadcast Sunday night, officers offered new details about both the shooting and what they encountered during the unfolding chaos.

Matthew Donaldson, a detective, said he was doing paperwork at police headquarters when the calls began coming in about the gunfire on the Las Vegas Strip. He sped to the scene, but could only get so close, and eventually had to take the last few blocks on foot while wearing cowboy boots.

"I took my boots off," he said. "I just threw 'em in the casino. That was slowing me down. I was faster barefoot. and I was gonna be more effective barefoot."

Police were told there was fire coming from someone on the 29th floor as well as the 32nd, the officers said, so they prepared to face multiple attackers. After Jesus Campos, a hotel security guard, took fire on the 32nd floor - Paddock blasted rounds through his door - officers headed up the stairs and found the barricaded stairwell door.

When they got through the door, the officers saw a hotel service cart with wires leading to Paddock's suite and suspected it might have been rigged with explosives; they later discovered Paddock had placed a camera there. Officers turned toward Paddock's suite, seeing a door Newton said "was just riddled with bullet holes coming out. It looked like Swiss cheese."

Unsure what they would find inside, the officers blew the door open, setting off the fire alarm. What they found inside "looked like almost a gun store," Newton said.

"So many guns," Newton said in the television interview. "So many magazines. Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout."

The suite smelled of gun powder and its floor was littered with shell casings, the officers said. They found monitors, laptops, phones, drills and drill bits - and, amid it all, Paddock's body with a gun nearby. It was not clear when he shot himself.

Bitsko said the level of preparation and work inside, including setting up wires for the cameras, suggested that it took Paddock "days to finish" getting it all ready.

Officers then went through the room to make sure no one else was hiding behind a curtain or in the bathroom. Near where Paddock had opened fire, they also found a piece of paper, which was visible in images that have circulated online of the hotel suite. Scribbled on it were numbers, the officers said, that suggested Paddock had calculated his trajectory before opening fire.

"I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was gonna be for the crowd," Newton said. "So he had had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there."

---

The Washington Post's Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Last week's massacre at a Las Vegas country music festival offers gun control advocates a fresh chance to test a law, put in place by Republicans and the gun industry's lobby, that protects the industry from liability for the criminal actions of some of their customers.

Starting with a lawsuit filed late last week in Nevada state court, the effort follows similar litigation over mass killings, most notably those of 20 elementary school children and six adults in Newtown, Conn. In most cases, the plaintiffs fail to overcome the law's high bar for liability, but with the Harvest 91 Festival, where almost 60 died and more than 500 were injured, that pattern may shift.

A dozen bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire with the speed of an automatic weapon, were found in gunman Stephen Paddock's 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay Resort hotel room. The complaint, which was filed in Clark County District Court and seeks class action status, alleges that Slide Fire Solutions Inc, a bump stock manufacturer, and other, unidentified makers and retailers behaved negligently in selling and producing these devices.

"This horrific assault did not occur, could not occur, and would not have occurred with a conventional handgun, rifle, or shotgun, of the sort used by law-abiding responsible gun owners for hunting or self-defense," the complaint states.

The named plaintiffs include Devon Prescott, Brooke Freeman, and Tasaneeporn Upright, all residents of Nevada who represent the potential class. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages as well as funds to pay for the victims' counseling and treatment for emotional distress. The three are represented by the Las Vegas law firm Eglet Prince and by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Slide Fire didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Victims of mass shootings have sued in the past. Following the Newtown school shooting in 2012, suits were filed against Remington Arms Co. The first case was dismissed by a judge, citing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The act, passed in 2005, says gun dealers and manufacturers cannot be held liable for crimes committed with their weapons.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has determined in at least two separate instances that bump stocks are legal under existing federal statutes. The classification depends on whether "they mechanically alter the function of the firearm to fire fully automatic," said Jill A. Snyder, ATF special agent in charge, during a press conference last week. "Bump fire stocks, while simulating automatic fire, do not actually alter the firearm to fire automatically, making them legal under current federal law."

Rather than using a mechanism to cause the repeated firing, the stocks use recoil to increase the rate of fire. "The user generates a forward activation force" so that "the trigger collides with the stabilized finger, stimulating the first round of ammunition in the receiver," Slide Fire's the website says. "A recoil force from the discharging ammunition pushes the firing unit rearwardly so that the trigger separates from the stabilized finger."

Still, it's unclear whether bump stocks fall under the PLCAA, which indemnifies manufacturers of guns and ammunition as well as "a component part of a firearm or ammunition" from such litigation. The act has a number of exceptions, including negligence, and the lawsuit filed in the Las Vegas shootings includes numerous claims of negligence.

A 2010 letter from the ATF to Slide Fire refers to a letter the bureau received from the company in which Slide Fire argued that its device "is intended to assist persons whose hands have limited mobility." The lawsuit juxtaposed this statement with remarks by Slide Fire founder Jeremiah Cottle that bump stocks were for "people like me [who] love full auto," referring to automatic weapons.

"Plaintiffs are unaware of any measures taken by Slide Fire to ensure that bump stocks would only be sold to persons whose hands had limited mobility, or to even see if persons buying bump stocks who were not limited in mobility had any legitimate reason to buy them," the lawsuit states.

Avery W. Gardiner, co-president of the Brady center and the gun control group's former chief legal officer, said she doesn't believe PLCAA will protect bump stock manufacturers. "PLCAA covers firearms and ammunition," she said. "A bump stock is not a firearm and it is not ammunition. It does not qualify for immunity. I would be surprised if the defendants didn't try to make a PLCAA argument, but they will not win." Gardiner cited the 2010 letter sent by the ATF, which specifically states that the bump stock "is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm."

Slide Fire's reference to people with disabilities is "troubling," Gardiner said, adding: "We need to know more about who made, marketed, and sold these devices. It's not just about makers. We want to know who sold the bump stocks to the Las Vegas shooter."

Though Gardiner doesn't think the bump stock industry will benefit from the protections of PLCAA, the defendants will still probably seek to have the case dismissed, she said. "I expect they're going to try a number of legal tricks to try to avoid liability, to try to avoid a trial. We will see them as they come," she said. "We will be anticipating those tricks."

Slide Fire is the only company named in the lawsuit, though the complaint also refers to unnamed, "Doe" and "Roe" manufacturers and retailers. The Texas-based company holds a variety of patents related to the bump stock and has previously sued competitors for infringement.

Even the National Rifle Association has said that "devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations." The group, which opposes gun control regulation, didn't immediately respond to request for comment on the lawsuit.

The suit also seeks funding for medical monitoring for those who attended the festival and were affected by the attack. "After the cameras are gone from Las Vegas, these concertgoers, many of them are still going to be suffering significantly," Gardiner said.

"Paddock could not have injured so many people without a bump stock," the complaint states. "Paddock may not have launched his military-style assault without a bump stock. There are people who were killed, injured, and suffered emotional distress who would not have been, if Paddock had not possessed a bump stock."
WASHINGTON - The oratory was lofty, the setting, before the space shuttle Discovery, was fitting. Guests included the secretaries of state, transportation and commerce, and the chief executives of some of the largest aerospace companies in the world, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

During the first meeting of the reconstituted National Space Council last week, Vice President Mike Pence vowed in soaring rhetoric that the United States would not only return astronauts to the moon, but that "we will push the boundaries of human knowledge. We will blaze new trails into the great frontier. And we will once again astonish the world as we boldly go to meet our future in the skies and stars."

Although he did not include a timeline, a budget or a commitment of resources, his words evoked the pair of speeches that John F. Kennedy gave in the early 1960s.

In the first, to a joint session of Congress in 1961, he said that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Then, in 1962, he gave the famous "because-it-is-hard" speech at Rice University: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Since then, presidents have given their own version of the space speech, an attempt to rally the country and recapture the national pride that came with the 1960s-era Apollo program. It has become something of a rite of passage. And last week, at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, it was the Trump administration's turn to make the space speech, with Pence at the podium.

And yet, for all the talk, there has been little progress over the past four decades. The United States has not returned astronauts to the moon, or gone to Mars - or met any of the lofty promises wafting out of the White House, as one administration aims for the moon, the next for Mars, then the next for the moon again.

Instead, NASA's astronauts go to the International Space Station. The orbiting laboratory is a marvel, but at 250 miles above the Earth, is not near the accomplishment of the moon, which is about 250,000 miles away. And NASA doesn't fly them there. It hasn't been able to since the space shuttle retired in 2011, forcing the United States to rely on Russia for rides to the station.

So, as the Trump administration makes it promises of returning to the moon, here's a look at the pantheon of White House space speeches Pence's joins.

- President Reagan: Jan. 25, 1984

Over the advice of many of his advisers, Ronald Reagan resurrected the idea for a space station. The Gipper stood at the same podium where Kennedy had announced the nation's lunar ambitions, and his lofty tone matched Kennedy's, tying national pride to its prowess in space. Reagan gave the announcement prominent placement in his State of the Union address.

"America has always been greatest when we dared to be great," he said. "We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic and scientific gain. Tonight, I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade."

The space station would be named Freedom.

Two years later, however, as Reagan prepared to give another State of the Union address, Vice President Bush and Pat Buchanan, a communications aide, burst into the Oval Office. Bush started to inform the president of the news, but Buchanan couldn't contain himself. "Sir, the Challenger just blew up!" he said.

Until then, the shuttle program had been hitting its stride. The first two years it had launched 10 astronauts into space. Then in 1983, 25 had gone up. Another 23 the following year. In 1985, 58 astronauts had flown into orbit, and now NASA had grand plans to open up space with a special program that would grant everyday Americans a chance to hitch on ride on the shuttle. The first of those would be a bright, beaming high school social studies teacher named Christa McAuliffe, who was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants. But now she was dead, along with six NASA astronauts.

Reagan delayed his State of the Union until a few days later. That night, his voice caught for just a moment as he said, "We will never forget those brave seven, but we shall go forward."

The Challenger disaster grounded the shuttle for more than two years and delayed the increasingly complicated space station program, which was running over budget and facing design challenges.

- President George H.W. Bush: July 20, 1989

On the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, President George H.W. Bush went to the National Air and Space Museum to announce he would continue plans to build a space station, and then direct a mission back not just to the moon but to Mars, as well.

In 1961, the country was motivated by the Cold War space race to "speed things up," he said. "Today we don't have a crisis; we have an opportunity. To seize this opportunity, I'm not proposing a 10-year plan like Apollo; I'm proposing a long-range continuing commitment. . .

"Why the moon? Why Mars? Because it is humanity's destiny to strive, to seek, to find. And because it's America's destiny to lead."

But at the White House, the new NASA administrator was fumbling the rollout, buckling under intense questions by the media.

How much would it cost? He didn't know.

What was the specific timetable? He didn't know.

Would Congress go along? He couldn't answer that, either. And at one point he seemed so flustered that when he was asked when the first astronauts might land on Mars, he stammered, "I just frankly learned this morning what [Bush's] direction was."

There was so much pressure to make the announcement on the 20th anniversary of the lunar landing that many details had yet to be sorted out.

When Congress did finally become aware of the total program cost - about $500 billion - it choked. NASA wasn't going to the moon, and it certainly wasn't going to Mars.

- President George W. Bush: Jan. 14, 2004

Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, was in the audience at NASA headquarters when President George W. Bush took the stage and said that the country needed to strike out more boldly, going further than the space station in low Earth orbit. Bush recited what Cernan had said as he departed the lunar surface in 1972, promising, "We shall return." In his speech, Bush promised that "America will make those words come true."

By 2008, he said, "We will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration." By as early as 2015, manned missions would begin "with the goal of living and working there for an increasingly extended period of time."

Meanwhile, Bush's plan became fodder for late-night television, which mocked an ambition for space exploration that a generation earlier had been venerated for achieving the impossible. Not that long ago the United States had reached the moon, but America's space program had since had so many false starts and been subject to so many unfulfilled political promises that the critics were quick to pierce the soaring rhetoric and bring it back to ground.

"He wants to build like a space station on the moon, and then from the moon, he wants to launch people to Mars," David Letterman said in one of his monologues. "You know what this means, ladies and gentlemen? He's been drinking again."

- President Barack Obama: April 15, 2010

By the time President Barack Obama was elected, Bush's moon program was so over budget and behind schedule that it was an easy target for the new administration. During a speech at the Kennedy Space Center, with Buzz Aldrin in the audience, Obama outlined his plan for space.

"Now, I understand that some believe we should attempt a return to the surface of the Moon first, as previously planned," he said. "But I just have to say pretty bluntly here: We've been there before. Buzz has been there. There's a lot more space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do. So I believe it's more important to ramp up our capabilities to reach - and operate at - a series of increasingly demanding targets, while advancing our technological capabilities with each step forward."

Those targets would include first an asteroid, and then by the mid-2030s NASA would send astronauts to orbit Mars. But NASA's "Journey to Mars" never got much momentum. Then a new administration took office, and with it a new space speech-and a new destination.

- Vice President Pence: Oct. 5, 2017

During his speech last week, Pence scuttled the Mars first mission, vowing to direct NASA back to the moon.

After Apollo, "sending Americans to the moon was treated as a triumph to be remembered, but not repeated," he said. Every passing year that the moon remained squarely in the rearview mirror further eroded our ability to return to the lunar domain and made it more likely that we would forget why we ever wanted to go in the first place.

"And now we find ourselves in a position where the United States has not sent an American astronaut beyond low Earth orbit in 45 years. Across the board, our space program has suffered from apathy and neglect."

Like other administrations, the Trump White House would do something about it, he vowed.

"The president has charged us with laying the foundation for America to maintain a constant commercial, human presence in low Earth orbit. There, we will turn our attention back toward our celestial neighbors. We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond."
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WILLITS, Mendocino County  The number of people killed in a fire burning through southern Mendocino County rose to three on Tuesday, as nearby communities struggling with dead cell phones and web connections waited to see where the flames would move next.

The Redwood Complex Fire burned through Redwood Valley on Sunday night and early Monday, claiming three victims and sending 28 other people to hospitals, including four who suffered serious burns. The names of those killed have not been released.

The fire had burned 21,000 acres by Tuesday afternoon, with zero percent containment, forcing the evacuation of Redwood Valley, Potter Valley, Pine Mountain, Cave Creek and the Wente Scout Reservation. Fifty homes were destroyed, along with 20 other buildings.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Although the winds that originally fanned the blaze had died Tuesday, residents of other towns strung along Highway 101 wondered about the safety of their own homes. And with problems plaguing cell phones, land lines and cable television service, they had a hard time finding answers.

About 600 people packed into the Willits public library for a late-afternoon meeting with county Sheriff Tom Allman and state fire officials. Some of those evacuated in a rush demanded to know when they would be allowed to return to their homes.

Allman said his department hoped to lead some of the 2,000 residents of Redwood Valley back for brief, supervised visits to collect belongings, perhaps starting Wednesday. Deputies arrested one alleged looter at a house that escaped the flames.

I can assure you no one is sitting on their can, waiting to figure out what to do, Allman told the crowd. Everyone is working at this.

The library has become Willits main link to the rest of civilization.

The string of fires that erupted across the North Bay late Sunday knocked out 77 cell phone towers throughout the region, state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said Tuesday after meeting with utility executives and emergency officials. Thirty-five of those were running Tuesday morning, but in Willits, the library proved to be the only place where residents could get a wireless phone or Internet connection.

They milled about outside the small brick building, tapping messages on their phones and laptops.

Landline phones werent much help. Allman said the telephone cable that connected Willits to other communities wasnt working  perhaps the fault of a road crew digging into it, he said, or perhaps due to copper thieves. Residents of this town of 5,000 could call each other, but no one in the outside world. The damaged cable also meant that businesses couldnt process credit or debit cards.

Not that many businesses were open. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., fearing damage to its natural gas distribution network, shut down gas service from Willits to Calpella.

Its cash-only, said Linda Matz, 65, at her gift store, the Cats Meow.

No ones come in here, added her friend Patty Rede, 57. Theres absolutely no business. Its dead.

Matz and her husband, Ed Morris, live outside of Willits. Worried that they might not get advance notice in case of an evacuation, they loaded up their mobile home Monday night and headed toward the coast. They couldnt get cell phone service until they reached Fort Bragg.

Its an adjustment, said Morris, 65. You get used to things, and then you cant connect.

At the community meeting, many of the questions focused on how people would get information, or what they should do if the fire approaches. Fire officials said they did not expect that more evacuations would be needed.

If someone in my house has a medical emergency tonight, what do I do? Deirdre Santaniello, 69, asked officials. Their answer: Bring that person to the fire station.

By days end, the communications blackout was starting to ease. AT&T brought in two portable cell phone towers. People with dish television still had service, although it didnt always work.

Its like the old days, only worse, Rede said. Because then, we at least had landline service. This is very weird.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @ctuan
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The Uptown Midland Business and Professional Women honored long-time Midland Realtor Victoria Printz as the 2017 Woman of Achievement at the National Business Womens Week dinner Monday night at the Petroleum Club.

Growing, empowering and mentoring women is a natural goal of mine, taught to me over many years by many women, Printz said.

A native Midlander, Printz has spent the last 24 years working to create her team of professional Realtors at the Victoria Printz Team, Realtors, which has celebrated success after success in the real estate industry with Printz at the helm. Before her achievements as a real estate leader in the Permian Basin, Printz was the president of a title insurance company in Austin by the age of 28 and also worked internationally as social director on the Viking World Cruise Line.

The last 24 years I have been privileged and blessed to experience the joy of helping many women further their personal abilities, Printz said. This week as we celebrate women professionally, it is a joy to watch these women flourish, grow, and its been very rewarding.

During the course of the evening, Judge Robin Darr presented Printz with the Woman of Achievement recognition, and Printz delivered a keynote address, during which she detailed a few of her keys to success.

Connect, minister and serve, Printz said. That has kind of been my tagline in helping other women.

If shes not in her office or working alongside her self-proclaimed girl-power team at the real estate agency, Printz can be found giving back to the community through local nonprofits, hosting events, or competing at professional ballroom dancing competitions.

In the last year, Printz took up ballroom dancing as a pastime and has now reached a level of skill that allows her to compete in national and international professional ballroom dancing competitions. Her passion for ballroom dancing, she said, came about after she thought there was not any more room in her schedule. She has also opened her own dance studio, the Ballroom Dance Studio, across from her office.

At 55 I had a new passion, Printz said. I didnt think I had another day in my schedule to work in anything other than real estate, and now I find myself dancing 10 to 15 hours per week.

Printz and her husband, local oil company financial executive Bob Blintiff, spend their free time traveling and attending her numerous competitions.

She said she owes much of her success to her mother, who inspired her to take up real estate after Printz returned to Midland and launched her own agency in 1995. Since then, she and her team of 17 women have earned MRTs Readers Choice Favorite Agent in 2002, 2009 and 2014-17. Thanks to her community involvement, diligence and leadership, Printz was named a 2017 Woman of Distinction by Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest.

In honor of her outstanding achievement, the Uptown Midland Business and Professional Women officially designated Oct. 9 as Victoria Printz Day.

Its rewarding to see women helping women in so many ways, Printz said.
WILTON  A Weston woman nearly struck another vehicle while driving intoxicated, police said.

Wilton police received a call from a concerned motorist who claimed that an erratic driver had nearly struck another vehicle while headed north on Danbury Road around 4 p.m. Friday.

A Wilton patrol unit eventually located a vehicle fitting the description provided by the concerned caller being driven on Church Street, near the Wilton-Georgetown border.

The driver of the vehicle  46-year-old Shannon Waldis, of Weston  told police that she had just left work and was on her way home.

Though police said Waldis denied being under the influence of anything, the 46-year-old failed subsequent sobriety tests and later refused to submit to a breath test, at which point she was placed under arrest.

Waldis was charged with driving while under the influence. She posted the $260 bond, and she is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16.
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Legacy of Educational Excellence High School.

Effective next school year, thats the new name North East Independent School District trustees, by a 5-2 vote Monday, decided will replace Lee High School, the name the San Antonio school has held since it opened in 1958.

When they voted unanimously in August that the name would change, several board members made it clear they didnt think honoring the Confederate general was inappropriate but wanted to avoid the distraction of an ongoing controversy. Violent white supremacist protests in Virginia had rekindled the national debate about memorializing the Confederacy, including Lee, its most prominent military leader.

RELATED: Vintage photos show Robert E. Lee High School through the years

It seemed an open question whether Monday's vote will end the debate over the school's name. By design, it harkens to the original when used as an acronym  LEE  which drew both support and brickbats.

Now Playing: Workers were guarded by armed officers Video: NowThis News

Board President Shannon Grona made the motion, which also maintains the Volunteers as the schools mascot, calling it a compromise that would retain the schools history while minimizing the complication and expense of reprinting and repainting a new name.

We can honor the legacy of the past, Grona said. It is my hope that changing the name to Legacy of Educational Excellence will minimize the financial burden and help the community heal.

RELATED: Robert E. Lee H.S. alumni create Rebel-inspired Fiesta medal as district drops controversial name

Edd White, a trustee who voted to rename the school when the board first grappled with the issue two years ago, said keeping Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee associated with the school in any form defeated the idea of changing the schools culture.

I just think were trying to put lipstick on a pig if youre gonna still have the acronym LEE, he said.

The board asked the public to submit ideas after its August vote, then selected the new name out of a pared down list of 542 suggestions. Board members had asked that the new name reflect an idea, rather than an individual, but had to eliminate 1,900 of more than 2,400 submissions for vulgarity or not adhering to the requirements.

Over the years, White said, the district had attempted to make Lee a more palatable figure by stripping away the corresponding Civil War symbolism from its athletic teams and spirit groups  the Confederate battle flag on uniforms, and, more recently, the bands renditions of Dixie during football games.

Weve tried to clean it up, he said. And it didnt work. And it may not work this time.

RELATED: Robert E. Lee apartments want to remove Confederate general's last name from building

Immediately after the vote, three seniors on the girls soccer team stormed outside, sobbing.

I have never been so mad about anything in my life, said Kendall Kloza, a student enrolled in the STEM Academy, a magnet program at the campus along with the International School of the Americas and the North East School of the Arts.

The girls described an environment after the boards Aug. 29 vote in which students questioned what side classmates were on and sat in class accordingly. They said only a small number of mainly NESA students wanted the name change.

The Lee name is our spirit and our pride, and its the only thing we have left, said Selah Evans, an ISA student.

The girls said students at other NEISD schools have made fun of their school as being run down and ghetto. The district should have used the money for changing the name to update facilities at the school, which has one field for its nine sports, they argued.

RELATED: Suggestions NEISD actually received to rename Robert E. Lee High School

Mondays meeting repeated the 2015 division on the board, when it voted 5-2 against changing the name. Students had circulated competing online petitions over the name after a white supremacist gunned down nine black congregants in Charleston, South Carolina. The two trustees who favored the change that year, White and Jim Wheat, both voted against Mondays motion. The change was inadequate, they said.

But the other board members, including its new District 3 trustee, Joseph Trevino, followed Gronas lead. Trustee Sandy Hughey said it was important to remember that the school was a large community of students, parents and alumni. The acronym LEE would acknowledge that community and set a precedent that we support the past, we support the future, she said.

When they voted in August to change the name, trustees acknowledged that times had changed, citing student safety and the risk of disruption as the primary reasons for setting a new course.

But if the vote two years ago wasnt permanent, wondered Tim Adams, a Class of 1979 graduate, why would this one be? He called the board out of touch for not interpreting the many inappropriate name suggestions they had received as a signal that many wanted to keep the name.

Whats the point? asked Adams, 56. Because you really havent changed anything.

lcaruba@express-news.net
A Midland ISD administrator told the school board Monday that district leaders were too conservative with growth estimates, including those that went into the 2012 bond plans.

James Riggen, the districts chief operations officer, said student population numbers were greater than what could have been anticipated from previous studies.

Now, district officials and the community are left to deal with 2 percent growth over the last decade and the anticipated 2.5 percent growth in the community.

And while Riggen didnt say the $163 million bond passed was inadequate, he did present data, including growth studies that show how extreme the current growth is. District leaders, as recently as 2012, expected growth in the range of 1 percent to 1.5 percent. That number over the last five years appears closer to 2.5 percent.

The district is reporting a student population  or membership  of 25,627 this academic year and that population could increase to 32,859 in 10 years if there is an annual average increase of 2.5 percent, Riggen said.

However, his crystal ball shows a student population closer to 35,855 at the end of a decade. That most extreme growth pattern would mean 5,069 additional students at the elementary level (enough to fill at least six extra schools), 1,806 students in middle school, or junior high, (enough for two additional schools) and 3,339 students in high school (enough to fill an additional new high school for grades nine through 12).

That is a total of more than 10,000 students, which could fill as many as nine new schools.

Riggen said he used birth rate information (which he said increased by 3 percent to 30 percent compared to 10 years ago), housing starts data provided by the city and oil industry stability as factors.

Facilities, or the lack thereof, were a reason for the presentation on Monday. The process moving forward includes the creation of a facility planning committee and a look at what future facilities are needed.

During the back-and-forth between the board and Riggen, board member Robert Marquez said he envisioned a district without portables.

You will have to look at construction to handle that, Riggen told Marquez.

Also, district leaders expect to see an updated existing building capacity and the study of a possible junior high boundary adjustments and building capacity opportunities.

Notes: Recently opened Gen. Tommy Franks Elementary has its mascot and school colors. The board approved the cadets as the mascot and red, white and blue as the colors.  The board approved a resolution that starts the process of seeking a District of Innovation designation. This, according to Superintendent Orlando Riddick, will allow the district to be as out of the box as possible within the law when coming up with certain improvements. While the process is just beginning and will include public hearings, there appeared to be enthusiasm among district leadership about one of the changes -- an earlier school start date.
Sexual harassment, coerced consumption of alcohol, and that time when a student was told to wear different pants because the kitchen staff could not "control themselves" around him or her are just some of the sex-related complaints students made against faculty and staff at Texas' largest universities in 2016.

Nine faculty or staff members were terminated or resigned in lieu of termination proceedings for sexual harassment-related allegations at Texas A&M University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, Texas State University, and University of North Texas, according to complaints obtained by Chron.com from each school.

The information culled from the 28 total complaints made at these five Texas universities adds to a growing list of sex-related crimes, accusations, and indiscretions involving staff and faculty that have rocked institutions of higher education around the U.S.

Now Playing: Stanford University's annual crime data shows reports of rape on campus are on the rise. Video: FoxLA2

The past 18 months alone have seen details emerge about a University of Kentucky professor accused of sexually assaulting and harassing multiple students, a former head of Drexel University's department of neurology was charged with indecent assault of patients and harassment as well as exposing himself on one occasion, and a renowned University of Rochester professor was accused in a federal complaint of having sexual relationships and using drugs with students.

BY THE NUMBERS: Texas universities with the most sexual assaults

One case involved a former associate chemistry professor at the University of Texas. The professor, who resigned in lieu of termination and whose name is being withheld, had four complaints lodged against him from students claiming he engaged them in uncomfortable contact. This contact involved touching students on their lower backs, rubbing his shoulders up and down against their shoulders, touching a student's earrings, and other discomforting touches, pokes, and tickling, the documents stated.

This chemistry professor was also accused of "coercing" and "pressuring" students to consume more alcohol than they wanted to drink during group social outings, according to university documents. Many of the complainants felt like the chemistry professor was "testing the waters" to see if a sexual relationship with them was achievable. The chemistry professor resigned in June 2016, the university's executive vice president and provost's office opened an investigation.

The University of Texas at Austin had another professor accused by multiple students of allegedly trying to convince them to go swimming nude with him at the beach and to pose nude for photographs. This philosophy professor was also accused by many students of holding school-related meetings at bars and led discussions that were sexual in nature. This professor was ultimately found to have violated the university's handbook of operating procedures and placed on a one-semester suspension. During the suspension, he was placed on half-time leave without pay and restricted from teaching or advising students and conducting on-campus research. The philosophy professor is still employed by the University of Texas.

GETTING PAID: These are the 41 highest-paid high school principals in the Houston area

When presented with all the complaints obtained by Chron.com, the University of Texas' Communications Strategist Shilpa Bakre said the school is developing a comprehensive faculty and staff education plan with a specific focus on sexual misconduct and harassment policies. The university's Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault conducted the Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments (CLASE) study starting in 2016.

The survey was filled out by more than 28,000 students and resulted in the University of Texas hiring a peer advocacy coordinator to be housed within student emergency services to develop and implement a survivor peer advocacy program to increase access to information, options, and non-mandatory reporting spaces. The university also expanded its BeVocal program, started by University of Texas staff in 2012 to prevent high-risk behavior and harm, to include a full-time staff member focused on bystander intervention strategies for students, faculty, and staff.

All employees of the University of Texas must get a background check before working at the school, Bakre said. The university uses the Texas Department of Public Safety for criminal background checks for persons whose last seven years of residence are in Texas and it uses Pre-Employ for those who have at some point lived out of state within the last seven years. Additionally, a sex offender check is also conducted on all new hires.

CONTROVERSIAL: White nationalist Richard Spencer claims First Amendment right was violated by Texas A&M

"In cases where the university finds a faculty member has violated the sexual misconduct policy, the outcomes are termination of the relationship with the university or significant disciplinary action," Bakre said.

Of the five universities analyzed, the one with the most sex-related complaints made by students against faculty or staff in 2016 was Texas A&M with 11. One of its faculty members, an associate professor in mechanical engineering, was accused by a graduate student of sexual harassment. That claim was substantiated, according to documents from Texas A&M. The professor, whose name has been withheld, is still employed at Texas A&M.

Of all five universities analyzed, Texas A&M had the largest increase in reported fondlings and rapes on campus from 2015 to 2016, according to a Chron.com analysis of the school's latest crime report made public on Oct. 1.

When asked to address the complaints made in 2016 by students against its faculty and staff, Texas A&M's Title IX coordinator Jennifer Smith highlighted many of the sexual violence prevention programs and resources available to the campus community. The university's Consensual Language, Education, Awareness, and Relationships office (CLEAR) provides bystander intervention training that addresses the dynamics and frequency of sexual assault; the Women's Resource Center (WRC) provides advocacy, education, prevention programs, support, and referral services for female and male students, faculty, and staff; and the university has developed the Step In. Stand Up. Campaign, endorsed by its president, Michael Young, to create a culture of awareness that does not tolerate incidents of sexual violence, Smith said.

ARRESTED: Horse riding instructor accused of sexually assaulting child

"Texas A&M University believes that sexual harassment and sexual violence have no place in our states, cities, universities or our country," Smith told Chron.com. "Employees receive primary prevention information through a web-based Creating a Discrimination Free Workplace training mandated by The Texas A&M University System. New employees are required to complete the training and all employees have an on-going requirement every two years thereafter."

The Texas university which received the most sex-related complaints in a given month specific to faculty or staff was the University of North Texas in Sept. 2016. That month, the school had a faculty member accused of using his or her university contact information to solicit romantic relationships on OkCupid (no findings, no actions taken), another staff member told a student to wear different pants because the kitchen staff "cannot control themselves" (resigned in lieu of termination), and yet another staff member pretended to slap a student's behind (no findings, no action taken).

If you have any information regarding staff or university faculty in Texas engaged in criminal or inappropriate sexual situations, contact Fernando Alfonso at fernando.alfonso@chron.com; 713-362-7068.

Swipe through the slideshow above to see more information on the 28 sex-related complaints students made against faculty and staff at Texas universities in 2016.
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SEGUIN  News that a second-year Texas Tech student from this small town in Guadalupe County is accused of fatally shooting a university police officer weighed heavily on the minds of townspeople Tuesday.

Hollis Daniels, 19, known locally as Reid, is charged with killing the police officer while he was being booked on a drug charge Monday night.

Daniels is the son of Hollis A. Dan Daniels II, who served on the Seguin City Council from May 1998 to September 2002 and from May 2006 to May 2010, and Janis Turk Daniels, a well-known local travel writer.

Seguin Mayor Don Keil said word of Reid Daniels alleged role in the deadly shooting cast a pall over the city.

Now Playing: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. Video: TMTime

Its such a tragedy, said Keil, who has been friends with Dan Daniels since grade school and said the Daniels family is active in the community and has been operating movie theaters in Seguin since the 1930s.

I know that their family is just devastated by the news, Keil said, but added, We need to first consider the fallen policeman and his family and extend our sincere condolences for his loss.

The shooting suspect always seemed to be very polite, very well mannered.

Thats one of the things that has me so puzzled, Keil said. The community really feels bad for Daniels family in what Im sure is a very, very difficult time for them. Thats not to minimize the grief thats going on in Lubbock with the policeman and his family. Thats even far more tragic.

A Seguin ISD spokesman said Daniels attended summer school at Seguin High School in 2013. He enrolled in at the high school Feb. 2, 2015, and graduated from there June 3, 2016.

Tristan Kirkpatrick, a former Seguin schoolmate of Daniels, responded Tuesday to a message on Facebook by saying: All yall need to know is that he was a great person, one damn good friend who had made one bad decision that will determine the rest of his life.

As high school senior Ashley Ibarra, 17, walked with two friends after school along Cardinal Lane, the only thing she wanted was to hear her friend's voice again.

It bums me out because hes not dumb like that, she said. Hed never intentionally try to kill anyone. Im not trying to justify anything, its just not like him.

Ibarra said she was a freshman when she met Daniels, then a sophomore at Seguin High School. She said he was a fun guy to be around and was a whiz with computers.

Ibarra recalled how hed greet her and their friends with PPF! short for Patriotic Project Family, which was a point of pride for the group.

No matter how this (comes) out, Ibarra said, hes lost everything because of this decision.

At the town square, Tiffany Silva, 21, and Cassandra Austra, 19, whiled away their lunch hour talking about the shooting as they dangled their feet in the dry fountain.

Austra said she was surprised to hear that her town was connected to the shooting.

No matter what your background is, theres no need to take it out on someone else, she said, especially someone putting their life on the line.

Silva agreed.

You never know when someone is going to unleash their demons, Silva said.

Armando Rodriguez, 36, was eating hamburgers at a fast food stop with his young son Tuesday afternoon when his phone rang and the shooting became the topic of discussion.

He said the thing that worried him most was the safety of his children in the midst of reports about daily violence.

Its getting close to home, Rodriguez said, as he left the restaurant, not far from the high school Daniels attended. Whats the world coming to? Its horrible.

vtdavis@express-news.net
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AUSTIN - It will likely take at least $2 billion in state funds to help cover the damage from Hurricane Harvey, State Comptroller Glenn Hegar said Tuesday, a piece of more than $6 billion in budget challenges facing lawmakers when they next meet in regular session.

This event, being from the edge of Corpus (Christi) all the way to the Sabine River - this is going to be very costly especially for the school district side  We already know Hurricane Harvey is going to cost more from the state perspective than any hurricane has ever cost, Hegar told the San Antonio Express-News in an interview. Weve got to rebuild Texas and make sure the economy is strong and peoples lives are put back together.

Hegar answered questions about the state budget as he released his updated estimate of the funds expected to come into the state in the next two years. After taking into account legislative action and an updated economic picture, he said lawmakers will have a balance of just $94 million after paying for the current two-year spending plan.

Thats a tiny amount compared to the budget, which totals well over $216 billion in state and federal money over two years.

Anything less than $300 million is budget dust, as we would call it around here, Hegar said. I hate to say it in those terms because thats a lot of money, but it barely moves the needle in the overall budget picture.

Besides state costs associated with Harvey  which Hegar said could be as high as $2.5 billion in addition to more substantial federal assistance that is expected to roll in  lawmakers face other budget issues.

They will have to cover about $2 billion in Medicaid costs when they return in regular session in January 2019, he said.

Leaders have said they are willing to dip into the states multi-billion-dollar rainy day fund for the Harvey funding, much of which could be addressed in a supplemental spending measure. Lingering Medicaid expenses also are typically addressed through a supplemental spending bill, while other costs can be addressed in the next two-year appropriations measure.

Lawmakers also will have to cover an extra $1.58 billion in transportation funding, a cost that they pushed off from the current budget cycle to the next one as lawmakers juggled funds this year to address a tight budget.

Thats on top of billions in tax revenue that will continue to be funneled directly to transportation under a proposition approved by voters, tying lawmakers hands since the money otherwise could have gone to general spending.

Other challenges include the need to put $300 million to $350 million into a state-sponsored prepaid college tuition plan, and the loss of $450 million in revenue when a federal law kicks in that bans state taxes on internet access.

Hegar emphasized that the economy is healthy, despite the budget challenges, and is expected to grow at a rate smaller than in the past but larger than the nations performance.

He also said that Hurricane Harvey, while requiring substantial spending, isnt expected to have a significant effect on the revenues coming into state government.

There may be a difference in timing in collecting certain state revenues, such as taxes due on the sales of motor vehicles, he said. People may replace lost or damaged cars earlier than expected.
A man who runs a San Antonio-based physical therapy clinic has been indicted on charges of trying to defraud the federal workers compensation program out of $7.5 million.

The 12-count indictment alleges Rafael Enrique Rodriguez, 50  through his 210Workers clinics  wrongly billed the federal government between 2012 and 2016, for services that were not provided as required, and that he used the identities of a doctor and a licensed physical therapist without their permission. He is charged with six counts of health care fraud, five counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, and is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Oct. 17.

The 210Workers clinics have two locations, one in Northwest San Antonio and the second in Utah. Among the clinics clients are federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Postal Service.

Rodriguezs lawyer, Mike McCrum, said Tuesday that his client is innocent, and that the clinics operate openly and nothing is done in secret or wrong.

Rafael did his best in every way possible to make sure he was complying with the law, McCrum said. Doctors would visit his clinics daily and voluntarily submitted themselves to go through therapy, along with lawyers and public officials, and no one ever said anything was being done wrong. This indictment is wrong and we will fight it.

According to the indictment, Rodriguez submitted claims under the Federal Employees Compensation Act health care benefit program, which is administered by the Department of Labors Office of Workers Compensation Program.

More Information https://www.210workers.com/ See More Collapse

Officials with the workers comp program have said in an unrelated prior trial that FECA does not pay for professional services performed by unlicensed aides. The OWCP requires the enrollment of all licensed professionals providing services , including copies of professional licenses.

The unlicensed aides or therapists may provide physical therapy under the direction of, and as prescribed by, a medical doctor.

Rodriguezs indictment alleges that he enrolled his clinics in the program in 2012 .

The indictment further alleges that Rodriguez in 2012 submitted a doctors professional license information to OWCP to enroll 210Workers in FECA, without the doctors authorization. The indictment also says Rodriguez submitted a physical therapists license information to OWCP without authorization.

Rodriguez then failed to identify, in provider enrollment forms to the OWCP, the identity of the individuals who actually proved the hands-on services that were billed to the OWCP, the indictment said.

The indictment said Rodriguez submitted or ordered others to submit, materially false claims to OWCP for one-on-one physical therapy supposedly provided by a physician or other qualified health care professional, when in truth and fact, the physical therapy was not provided by any licensed physician or other qualified health care professional, but by unlicensed individuals.

gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
A Central Texas man who threatened to kill former President Barack Obama, judges, federal prosecutors and agents, among others, was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in federal prison.

Gavin Leonard Friedman, 21, who has lived in Kerrville and Austin, mailed letters with a series of threats over several months in 2016. In September 2016, for example, he sent letters to the U.S. Attorneys Office in San Antonio expressing some threats while he was incarcerated at the Kerr County Jail.

In some of those letters, he called Obama a puppet for (ZOG) Zionist Organized Government, referred to Obama derogatorily or profanely, and said he would kill Obama so Friedman could be martyred in the name of Allah, court records show.

In one letter in September 2016, he threatened to harm Obama: I am going to kill him, and detonate a(n) explosive device at the White House. That letter includes a crude drawing of an ammonium nitrate explosive device, detonation device and ignitor. The letter also contains threats against the FBI field office in Houston, CIA headquarters, NSA headquarters, the Pentagon, judges, federal prosecutors (including the prosecutor he mailed the letter to, U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin of San Antonio) and agents, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.

When a federal marshal interviewed Friedman at the Kerr jail on Sept. 29, 2016, Friedman said:  I do want you to know that I have every intention of doing what I said I was going to do in those letters.

But in a letter to the court this February, Friedman said he wished to plead guilty to all federal charges but wanted to stay in federal custody instead of state or county jails.

I am sorry and remorseful for the crimes I have committed and the people that I scared in the (process), he wrote. I do not intend to carry out any of the threats and will seek help for mental health disorders and other problems that I face.

He pleaded guilty in July to four of the seven charges he faced, including making a threat against the president, mailing threats about blowing up the FBI building in Houston and the White House, and two counts of mailing threats to kill prosecutor Durbin and kidnap and kill his family.

Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra said it was fortunate Friedman did not carry out his threats.

Threatening a public official, such as the president of the United States, regardless of ones view, whether you like them or dont like them, its a very serious matter, Ezra said. In the past, courts have seen this as transitory... and not taken it as seriously. The world has changed dramatically. Guns are readily available. ... Public officials have become targets.

The judge said Americans are free to participate in discourse and peaceful protest, but not with violence or threats of violence: The way we reconcile our differences is at the ballot box.

gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District wants to know what the community thinks about increasing the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21 years of age. The public can give its opinion by completing a community survey, which will help gauge interest and support for this measure.

Metro Health is looking into the feasibility of increasing the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vaps, hookahs, and chewing tobacco.

If San Antonio were to increase the legal minimum sale age of tobacco to 21 years of age, it would be the first city in Texas to do so. Currently 5 states (California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, and Oregon) and over 250 municipalities in 16 states have taken this important step, covering nearly 60 million people.

Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J3GM5YV to take the survey.

In Bexar County, 12.6 percent of high school males and 9.9 percent of high school females smoke, according to Metro Health. In the past few years, the rate of tobacco use among high school students has increased, the health district reports, and many experts think this is due to the availability of nicotine-delivery products, including electronic cigarettes.

Road project near Centro Plaza to affect VIA service

Work to rebuild four intersections along Frio Street that will affect VIA bus routes in the Centro Plaza area has been postponed until Sunday, Oct. 15.

The work, originally scheduled to begin Oct. 6, means several detours will be in place. The project is expected to last four to six weeks, and VIA will have staff available to assist customers in the affected areas. Service updates also will be shared online and through social media.

The project will begin on Frio Street at Cesar Chavez Boulevard and progress to the intersections at Buena Vista, Commerce, and Houston streets. Service detours are expected during construction at Cesar Chavez. Once the work moves to Buena Vista, Commerce and Houston, almost all routes that serve Centro Plaza will follow detours that connect at nearby Milam Park and other available stops.

For more information, go to VIAinfo.net, or call VIA Customer Service at 210-362-2020.

Carver Library hosts book sale

The Carver Library will host a book sale Oct. 20-21 at the library, 3350 Commerce St.

The sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, will include books for adults and children. Romance novels, history books, cookbooks, science and medical books, as well as CDs, videos and records will be sold.

Donations are welcome. Contact Shirley Coleman at 210-333-1705 for more information.

South Side

Harlandale Class of 1997 plans reunion

The Harlandale Class of 1997 invites classmates to join in a reunion on Nov. 11 to celebrate 20 years since graduation.

Reunite, reminisce, and make new memories with past classmates with food, drinks and dancing. Two complimentary drink tickets will be given to attendees; a cash bar will be available.

The first 20 people to buy their tickets to the reunion will be entered in a drawing for a raffle basket. Tickets are nonrefundable, and the cost is $70 per couple and $45 for individuals through Oct. 28.

Send an email to hhsindians97@gmail.com for more information.

South San ISD looks to fill jobs

The South San Antonio Independent School District needs to fill several positions, including jobs in its food service and transportation. Job candidates with experience as custodians, plumbers, electricians, painters and general maintenance workers also are needed.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in these positions, please visit the school districts Central Administration Building, 5622 Ray Ellison Boulevard, on Oct. 20, between 9 a.m. and noon.

Interviews will be conducted on that day, so come prepared with appropriate attire and resources.

Contact Jocelyn Durand at jdurand@southsanisd.net for more information.

West Side

Catholic ministry is raising funds for refugee shelter

Posada Guadalupe, a Catholic ministry on the West Side, will hold a fundraising dinner at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at St. Dominic Catholic Church, 5919 Ingram Road.

The event will benefit its mens shelter for refugees from Mexico and Central America, most of whom have aged out of detention facilities for minors. Many were injured on their journeys to the United States. The ministry, run by Father Phillip Ley of the Conventual Franciscans, provides food, educational direction and medical attention.

The event will be held in the churchs Piper Community Hall, with food by La Sorrentina Italian Restaurant. Individual tickets cost $50; tables for eight cost $400. Checks made out to Posada Guadalupe can be sent to Father Ley at 1104 Kentucky Ave., San Antonio, TX 78201.

For more information, call 210-218-2882.

Compiled by Melissa Renteria
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Before he allegedly told Texas Tech University police he'd shot an officer Monday night, Hollis Daniels was a student from Seguin who worked at the local theater.

Daniels, who also goes by Reid, is accused of shooting and killing a police officer who was filing booking paperwork on Daniels for a drug possession charge Monday night, according to an arrest affidavit.

"Everybody needs to [know] he was a great person and amazing friend," said Tristan Kirkpatrick, who went to high school with Daniels. "I would have never thought he would do something like that, ever."

The 19-year-old grew up in Seguin, the son of a former city councilman and a travel writer, and attended high school there.

RELATED: Affidavit details what S.A.-area teen said moments after fatal Texas Tech shooting

Now Playing: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. Video: TMTime

His parents, Janis Turk Daniels and Dan Daniels, are active members of the Seguin and San Antonio communities. Dan Daniels is a former Seguin City Councilman, news archives show, and Janis Turk is a travel writer. The Seguin Gazette reported the Daniels family maintains ownership of the Palace Theatre in downtown Seguin, where Daniels said he worked on Facebook.

Turk has written articles for the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News, including one about San Antonio's Hotel Emma.

In a 2008 article about a trip to Nashville for the Houston Chronicle, Turk writes about her son, Reid, who brought two stuffed bears, Jack and Teddy, on the trip.

Some little boys have brother, others have beloved pets, Turk writes. Reid has Jack and Teddy - two stuffed bears as much a part of the family as any dog or cat. They have personalities and exciting story lines.

After traipsing around Nashville, visiting the Grand Ole Opry theatre, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and stopping for barbecue at Jacks Bar-B-Que on Broadway, Turk and Reid headed back to their hotel room.

RELATED: Report: Texas Tech student accused of fatally shooting officer is from S.A. area

"I like Nashville. You have a cool job, Mom,'' Reid said, according to the story. "I love you.''

In April, Daniels posted a photo with his mom on Instagram, saying, "I appreciate how you raised me, and all the extra love you gave me."

On Instagram, Daniels also posted photos of what appears to be his dorm at the university, Weymouth Hall. In a June 16 post, Daniels wrote, "Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?"

Last month, Turk posted photos of San Antonios Cured restaurant at the Pearl on Facebook, posing with Chef Steve McHugh in photos. When shes not in South Texas, it appears Turk travels all over the world, according to her website. Shes photographed areas in Sweden, New Orleans, South Africa, France, China, Morocco and Ireland, among others.

News archives also show the Daniels family is related to actor Wendy Benson and her husband Michael Landes. An article from 2001 details Bensons summers spent with her grandparents in Seguin and Turk said she was a proud aunt. Both Benson and Landes starred in Burlesque and CSI, among other roles, according to their IMDB pages.

A Texas law went into effect last year allowing license holders to carry guns at public universities. At 19, Daniels was old enough to purchase a long arm and to possess a firearm but too young to obtain a license to carry a handgun. It's not clear how he had a weapon in the police station after his arrest on the drug charge.

Staff researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net | Twitter: @kbrad5
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The Texas Tech student accused of fatally shooting a university police officer told police "he was the one that shot their friend" and later said he "f----d up" and did "something illogical," according to an arrest warrant obtained by mySA.com.

The warrant details what allegedly happened leading up to and after the shooting.

Hollis Daniels, 19, of Seguin, was first arrested Monday evening on a drug possession charge when campus police responded to his room for a welfare check and reportedly found drugs and drug paraphernalia inside.

RELATED: Texas Tech students honor fallen officer with touching tribute on statue

Now Playing: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night. Video: TMTime

According to his arrest warrant affidavit, officers took him to the campus police station, where an officer began working on the booking paperwork at one of the station's computers. His back was to Hollis, who was not handcuffed at the time.

There was one other police officer in the room, a corporal, but he left the room as the officer worked on the booking paperwork, police said.

A short time later the corporal "heard a bang from the briefing room," the affidavit says.

RELATED: Texas Tech placed on lockdown after officer killed at campus police station

When the corporal walked back in, he saw the officer suffering from a gunshot wound. Hollis was nowhere to be found, according to the affidavit. The corporal later told police the officer's body camera was missing, but that his pistol remained in its holster. A single .45 caliber shell casing was found near the officer's body, according to the affidavit.

Authorities located Hollis a short time later in the 2700 block of Drive of Champions at the City Bank Coliseum, where he was arrested, officials said. A .45 caliber pistol and police body camera were found near the location of his arrest, officials said.

During his arrest, Daniels allegedly said "he was the one that shot their friend." Later, in interviews with police, Daniels said he "f----d up" and did "something illogical."

He was charged with capital murder and booked into the Lubbock County Jail.

A judge set his bail at $5 million.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
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A homeowner fatally shot by an intruder early Tuesday in Universal City confronted the suspect moments after opening his bedroom door, according to police.

Michael Clayton Robinson, 51, was fatally shot just before 2:30 a.m. inside his home in the 8400 block of Ulysses Drive, according to the Universal City Police Department.

The suspect, Jonathan Andrew Perales, 18, was also shot but survived, police said. He was arrested by responding officers shortly after the fatal confrontation.

RELATED: Affidavit: Texas Tech student told police he 'f----d up' and 'shot their friend' following arrest

Now Playing: S.A. ranked first out of 15 largest U.S. cities in 2016. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Universal City Police Lt. Steve Mihalski said Perales broke into the home in the 8400 block of Ulysses just before 2:30 a.m. and awoke a woman inside.

The woman looked out the window and saw an unknown vehicle in the driveway so she woke up Robinson who armed himself, police said.

According to Perales' arrest warrant affidavit, Robinson grabbed his 9mm Glock and immediately saw Perales upon opening his bedroom door.

Robinson yelled "Get out of my house," the warrants states. Shots were fired, and Robinson was hit once in the torso, police said.

RELATED: Apparent murder-suicide discovered at burned out mobile home in Seguin, police say

He was later pronounced dead at Brook Army Medical Center, the Bexar County Medical Examiner confirmed.

Robinson's wife and two of his children who were inside at the time of the gunfight, were not injured, police said.

Perales was shot twice and fled the home, Mihalski said.

"He got back into his vehicle, and he tried to leave but got lost," Mihalski said. "He finally bailed out of the car and asked for help."

Police responding to the shooting were flagged down at a neighboring home and found Perales.

Perales was wearing one red shoe on his left foot when officers found him. The matching right shoe was found inside Robinson's kitchen, according to the affidavit.

Investigators said they received a report of a car burglary on the same street the night of the shooting, leading them to believe Perales was randomly targeting the area.

Mihalski said police plan to remotely book Perales into jail on a capital murder charge while he remains at BAMMC.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Maranda Lynn ODonnell, a 22-year-old waitress and single mother living paycheck to paycheck, was arrested last year in Harris County on a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended license. Because she didnt have $2,500 for bail, she was forced to spend three days in jail by a criminal justice system that is supposed to presume innocence until proven guilty.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments recently in ODonnells case to determine if Harris Countys money bail system denied her equal protection under the law because she was poor. The courts ruling could affect not just Harris County, but cash bail systems elsewhere in Texas and around the country.

The case turns on the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War and guaranteed to all people the liberty and equality envisioned by the Declaration of Independence a century earlier. The amendment reads, in part, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

During the debates over the 14th Amendment, its framers explained that it was designed to give to the humblest, the poorest, the most despised  the same rights and protection before the law as it gives to the most powerful, the most wealthy, or the most haughty.

The Supreme Court has a long history of rulings against deprivations of liberty that affect people based on their financial status. The 5th Circuit should rule similarly in this case.

Nationwide, 34 percent of jail inmates in 2009 were jailed pretrial because they could not afford to pay bail. Today, 467,500 Americans who have been charged but not convicted are locked up because they are unable to raise bail. They are being punished for being poor.

And yet the Supreme Court held earlier this year that a basic premise of our criminal justice system is that (o)ur law punishes people for what they do, not who they are.

Historically, bail has been used to ensure pretrial liberty  to spare defendants punishment before conviction but ensure they show up for trial. Bail was not intended to keep the accused locked up until trial.

Defenders of Harris County, which detains 40 percent of all people arrested on misdemeanor charges before trial, have argued that cash bail is necessary to protect public safety and ensure defendants attendance at trial. But an array of alternatives  pretrial supervision, periodic drug testing and court date notifications, for example  achieve the same goals without violating the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal justice under the law.

Many states  Kentucky, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland and West Virginia among them, plus the District of Columbia  have shifted from bail-based to risk-based release systems so that even those without financial resources may remain free before trial. Reforms such as these, the states have found, not only reduce the number of people detained pretrial but actually increase the appearance of defendants at trial, with no degradation to public safety.

ODonnell was accused of a minor, nonviolent crime and was not a flight risk but still had to spend time in jail. Thats why the district court said, For misdemeanor defendants unable to pay secured money bail, Harris County maintains a sentence first, conviction after system that pressures misdemeanor defendants to plead guilty  because that is the only way to secure timely release from detention.

The Harris County bail system denied ODonnell equal protection of the laws by demanding a sum of money she did not have to secure the same freedom that others with more money could buy. Disparity in treatment based on wealth turns a constitutional right into a privilege only for those who can afford it. The 5th Circuit should strike down this arbitrary imposition of bail and rule in ODonnells favor.

Elizabeth Wydra is president of Constitutional Accountability Center, a public interest law firm and think tank.
GREENWICH  Steven Mojica, 18, of Franklin Street, Stamford, was arrested Saturday and charged with criminal mischief.

Police were called to a disturbance on Hickory Drive, and came across Mojica. It was discovered that an arrest warrant was being held for him, in connection with an incident on March 23 on Hillside Road. According to the arrest report, Mojica was observed on video surveillance breaking a school-issued computer. Mojica formerly attended Greenwich High School.
THE police force is going to take action on two police officers whose pictures and video ca_ressing each other in uniform have gone viral on social media.

Disciplinarian officer, Sargent Major Mutandi is seen in the video clip being ca_ressed and responding positively in the arms of her unidentified male constable in an office.

The police officers have since been identified and are believed to be stationed at a Bulawayo station.

Deputy police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed that they are police officers and stated that action is being taken after they identified them.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police does not tolerate any acts of indiscipline or misdemeanor that tarnishes the image of police, said Chief Supt Nyathi.

The action is to correct any acts of indiscipline which were exhibited through that video clip circulating on social media.

We have nothing to hide and we thank members of the public for raising that issue and I assure you that action is being taken, said Chief Supt Nyathi.

-H Metro

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CHICAGO  The Daily Northwestern reports that the Cook County Board of Commissioners will likely repeal a controversial beverage tax this week, noting that enough commissioners have signed on to override a veto by Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Per the countys Finance Committee agenda for the public hearing, it has become increasingly clear that the Sweetened Beverage Tax Ordinance, approved and adopted on November 10, 2016, is a regressive tax which will cause immediate and irrevocable hardship to businesses in Cook County and put those businesses in competitive disadvantage to businesses nearby.

The notice states that per U. S. Census Bureau data from July 2015 to June 2016, Cook County has lost more population than any other county in the United States, and that it has been widely reported that one of the main reasons businesses and residents are moving out of Cook County is excessive tax regulations.

A lawsuit has been filed questioning the constitutionality of the countys beverage tax ordinance, and Cook County may again be forced to spend huge sums to defend a potentially unconstitutional ordinance. The agenda states that a poll conducted by a credible organization shows that 87% of Cook County residents are not in favor of the sweetened beverage tax, and although the tax has only been in effect a short time, it appears that many consumers are crossing county borders to purchase items being taxed and are also buying other items leading to an ultimate loss of tax dollars to our neighboring counties and states.

Sean Morrison, 17th District commissioner, said in a press release that after numerous negotiations last week, an agreement has been reached with 11 of my fellow commissioners to sign onto the Sweetened Beverage Tax Repeal Ordinance, which will be called for a vote in the Finance Committee on Tuesday, October 10.

On October 6, Morrison submitted a substitute amendment that calls for the elimination of the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax effective December 1, 2017.

I would like to thank my colleagues for working together so diligently to come to an agreement on such an important issue to our constituents and to Cook County. It has not been easy task but in the end, we have reached an agreement that will address the concerns of our residents and businesses and set forth a goal to chart a new fiscal course for Cook County, he said.

The Daily Northwestern reports that 11 votes are required for a veto, and that 12 out of 17 commissioners have stated that they oppose the tax.

Leading up the vote, local retailers operating in Cook County and industry partners joined to educate the public and county commissioners about the harmful impact the beverage tax is having on their customers and businesses. In a Chicago Tribune op-ed, retailers explained how high property taxes, a minimum wage increase, a plastic bag tax and the beverage tax have combined to make Cook County and inhospitable climate for growing their businesses.

I have three minimum wages to follow, said Stephanie Dremonas, a second-generation owner of Petes Fresh Market while testifying against the beverage tax at a recent Cook County Board meeting. I pay over $4 million in real-estate taxes. So you have to find a cheaper way of doing business and none of them have been in Cook County, she said.

Other local business owners shared similar stories during the Sept. 13 board meeting, adding that addition of the beverage tax convinced them not to open new stores or restaurants, or to expand existing locations in Cook County.

Read more on how beverage taxes are percolating at the local level in the NACS Magazine cover story, A Costly Pour.
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
Local and national businesses with ties to the Bay Area are slashing prices and offering free services to residents affected by the deadly wine country fires.

Airbnb activated its Disaster Response Program on Monday to help provide free shelter to first responders and evacuees fleeing from the massive inferno, which has been ravaging much of the North Bay since Sunday. So far, more than 100 hosts on the house-sharing platform have offered up their homes at no cost.

A spokesperson for Airbnb says the company is looking for more Bay Area volunteers to opt-in to the Open Homes program, specifically those who live in Alameda, San Francisco, and Marin counties.[[450084303, C]]

We encourage hosts in safe areas to aid in this effort by listing their available rooms or homes on the platform to help the growing number of people evacuating, said Kellie Bentz, Head of Global Disaster Response and Relief for Airbnb, in a statement.

The free listings are currently slated to continue until Oct. 30. Interested homeowners can check out how to join here.

Hotels are also slashing prices for first responders and evacuees. The Westin in San Francisco, a ritzy hotel in Union Square, lowered its prices from about $250 per night to $95. Hotel Zephyr, a pet-friendly hotel on Fishermans Warf, lowered its prices from about $200 per night to $95 for evacuees. And the Days Inn and Suites in Antioch is offering free rooms to evacuees and first responders.

Meanwhile, The de Young Museum in San Francisco is waiving admission this weekend for all Bay Area residents who want to escape the noxious and smoky air.

"Those affected by the fires, or those seeking to escape poor air conditions, we are offering free & safe space for visitors this weekend," the museum tweeted on Friday.

Other businesses are also offering aid to customers affected by the fires. Verizon Wireless is giving its affected subscribers talk, text and data relief. AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah have opened an emergency response trailer at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. There, members can get help with insurance claims and receive personal care items.

Officials estimate that 20,000 people have been displaced by multiple fires, which together have flattened entire neighborhoods in Santa Rosa and Petaluma  densely-populated suburbs home to both the working class and wine-country wealthy.[[450153703, C]]



Hundreds, possibly thousands, of homes of all sizes were obliterated by flames. On Monday, a few residents attempted to return to their neighborhoods, against official advice and found nothing but charred rubble.

John Gianfermi returned to one of those leveled Coffey Park homes Monday morning. As he talked against the backdrop of his gutted home, he picked out a washing machine, folding chairs, and what looked like a bed frame in the ruins. A Buddha had survived the flames, but he thought his photo albums and other family possessions were gone.

"A neighbor pounded on our door and said, 'You've got to go now,'" he said, recalling the moment he was told to evacuate. "You dont think that thats ever going to happen to you.

This list will be updated with local businesses providing shelter to fleeing evacuees. Have a tip? Email Gillian.Edevane@nbcuni.com
A price-gouging alert was issued Monday by the California attorney general to remind residents and business owners that California law prohibits price gouging during a state of emergency, the attorney general's office said.

Gov. Jerry Brown Monday issued a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties as wildfires have devastated communities in the counties.

Across Northern California, 14 fires have destroyed at least 1,500 homes and led to at least 11 deaths, officials said.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra is asking anyone who has been a victim of price gouging or who has information of potential price gouging to file a complaint on the attorney general's website, call 800-952-5225 or call their police department or sheriff's office.

California's price-gouging law prohibits many different businesses from charging more than 10 percent than they were before the state or local emergency was declared.

The attorney general's office said an exception exists if the business's cost of labor, goods or materials has increased.

California's price-gouging law applies to businesses that sell food, emergency supplies, medical supplies, building materials, gas, reconstruction services, emergency cleanup services, transportation, freight and storage services, hotel rooms and rental housing.

Violators can be criminally prosecuted and could face up to a year in the county jail or a fine of up to $10,000.

The attorney general's office said violators also face civil enforcement action including penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, injunctive relief and restitution.

District attorneys and the attorney general's office can enforce the price-gouging law.

Officials with the attorney general's office were not immediately available to say whether anyone had reported price gouging Monday.
An investigation into the cause of deadly fires sweeping across California wine country includes scrutiny of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.s power lines and transformers and whether they sparked any of the blazes, according to fire officials.

The speed with which 17 blazes moved through Napa, Sonoma and other Northern California counties took residents and even firefighters by surprise Sunday night into Monday morning, as people evacuated suddenly in the early hours. By Friday, at least 31 people had been killed, more than 100 had been treated for fire-related injuries, and more than 3,500 homes and businesses had been destroyed.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said its investigators were looking for links between the fires and the utility's power lines and transformers as they fanned out across the region. An examination of Cal Fire and Sonoma County records by NBC Bay Area revealed that one of the first emergency calls at 9:22 p.m. reported a vegetation fire in the hard hit city of Santa Rosa. Less than a minute later, dispatchers noted an "electrical investigation" and at 9:24 p.m., they sent out alerts of a transformer explosion.

Scott L. Stephens, a professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, said that all of the fires seemed to ignite between midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, when 50-mph winds were the strongest. Branches or trees could have fallen on the lines or the lines themselves failed, he said.

Arson is also being considered, he said.

The Mercury News found that Sonoma County dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 locations for sparking wires, exploding electrical transformers, fallen power lines and other electrical problems in Sunday nights high winds. The Bay Area News Group, of which it is part, reviewed emergency calls over a 90-minute period starting at 9:22 p.m. Sunday.

The San Francisco-based PG&E acknowledged problems with its electric lines but told the news group in a statement that questions about maintenance were highly speculative.

These destructive winds, along with millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter storms, all contributed to some trees, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the North Bay, a spokesman, Matt Naumann, said. In some cases, we have found instances of wires down, broken poles and impacted infrastructure. Where those have occurred, we have reported them to the CPUC and CalFire.



In April, PG&E was fined $8.3 million for failing to maintain a power line that sparked a massive fire in Northern California in 2015, The Associated Press reported. The California Public Utilities Commission levied the fine for poor tree maintenance by the utility and its contractors and for its failure to report that one of its power lines might have started the Butte Fire in September 2015. An investigation by Cal Fire found that the fire was ignited by a gray pine tree that slumped onto a line.

J. Keith Gilless, the dean of the College of Natural Resources, said that Sundays weather  high winds, high temperatures and low relative humidity  was conducive for bad fires.

And of course it became far worse than just bad; it became catastrophic, he said.

The high winds threw lots of embers in front of the large fires, creating many smaller ones, Gilless said. The vegetation of brush, grass and trees added to the hazard, unlike a redwood forest, which is moister and protected from the winds.

Weve had this phenomenon a couple of times recently and not far from there, he said.

The Jerusalem and Valley fires in Lake County in Northern California in 2015 surprised firefighters with how quickly they spread, he said.

Gilless said that the 50-mph gusts meant that firefighters were focused on keeping people safe rather than suppressing the fires, and they continue to struggle to contain the firestorm amid strong winds. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning, signalling critical conditions, for the North Bay mountains and East Bay hills that is in effect through Thursday afternoon.

The worst fires in Northern California typically strike in October. Twenty-five years ago, the October 1991 Tunnel fire in the Oakland hills left 25 dead.
A slew of wildfires continued to blaze through Northern California Tuesday morning, destroying structures in the region's wine country and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The fires, which have left at least 11 people dead, can even be seen from space, satellite imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday shows.

NOAA

Patches of flame and plumes of billowing smoke scores of miles long can be seen at the sites of several wildfires north of the San Francisco Bay.

In a nighttime image, the glow of the fires is as bright as city lights in San Francisco and Sacramento, and smoke can be seen rising from the Tubbs Fire, the Redwood Complex Fire and others.

Satellite imagery of the #wildfires in #California today captured by the VIIRS instrument DayNight Band. More info @ https://t.co/MPP390W64K pic.twitter.com/7KAvRMh9uT  NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) October 9, 2017

At least a dozen fires in Northern California, driven by up to 55 mph winds, have torn across dozens of square miles, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate their homes. Area hospitals are treating at least 100 for fire-related injuries. Another fire has burned several homes in Orange County in Southern California.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in seven counties in the face of one of the most destructive set of fires in California's history.

The high winds are expected to die down on Tuesday, but many parts of the state are still at high risk, Cal Fire said. The fires have scorched at least 73,000 acres so far.

[[450214623 , C]]



"Hopefully we'll start seeing some turnaround throughout the course of today and into tomorrow," Scott McLean, deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

The fires have prompted than 100 missing-persons reports in Sonoma County alone, though an emergency operations official told NBC News that some were duplicates and others were already found.
The Trump administration has declared a disaster for California in the midst of the state's battle with more than a dozen wildfires, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday.

He made the declaration in a briefing at the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services.

"This declaration will allow FEMA to identifiy, mobilize and provide additional equipment and resources to assist with the emergency," Pence said.



At least 17 people are dead  a fact that Pence called "heartbreaking"  and authorities said they expect that number could rise.

[BAY GALLERY BAY ONLY SB]North Bay Inferno: Images From Wine Countrys Deadly Fires

The vice president said President Donald Trump asked Pence to go to California and said the federal government will work with the officials already tackling the deadly blazes springing up in wine country and in Southern California.

For his part, President Trump said he spoke Monday night with California Gov. Jerry Brown to "let him know that the federal government will stand with the people of California. And we will be there for you in this time of terrible tragedy and need."
Students at Santa Rosas Cardinal Newman High School are off the rest of the week as district officials assess the damage to the campus.

The question on everyones minds is whether students will be able to complete the school year at 50 Ursuline Road, a small campus that houses just over 600 students. Tragedy struck as students were getting ready for homecoming, which will likely at least be delayed.

The school's principal estimates that up to 18 of the schools 35 classrooms were burned. That includes the library, main office and many portable classrooms  not to mention equipment like computers, text books and other resources.

Over the next few days, Cardinal Newman officials will try to determine how much of the school is still usable. But if more than 50 percent of the school is damaged, the big challenge ahead will be where then to send the students.

Superintendent Steven Herrington issued a statement that said in part: We are still learning the impact of these devastating fires on our community as this situation unfolds. I urge everyone to make safety their top priority.

Meanwhile, on social media, several rival high schools tweeted out good wishes to Cardinal Newman High School students.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help rebuild the school. As of Tuesday morning, $775 of a $5,000 goal have been raised.

Here's a list of Northern California school districts that will be closed Tuesday as deadly fires burn:
She's played spies on the big screen, but Angelina Jolie reportedly considered playing the role of a secret agent in real life, too.

According to a report from The Sunday Times, the Oscar-winning actor wanted to help arrest Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, leader of guerrilla group the Lord's Resistance Army. For more than a decade, Kony had been wanted on charges of rape, murder and abducting and forcibly enlisting children to fight.

However, this year the U.S. military ended its mission to capture Kony, as his army had diminished to only about 100 soldiers, according to The New York Times.

As The Sunday Times reported based on leaked ICC documents, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC chief prosecutor at the time, claimed in one email that Jolie "has the idea to invite Kony to dinner and then arrest him." As the honeytrap plot was allegedly shaped, the actress was meant to act as celebrity bait to lure Kony out of his compound to clear the way for U.S. Special Forces to move in and apprehend the warlord.

Angelina Jolie's Best Roles

And according to the report, had the plan come to fruition, she may have worked alongside her then-husband Brad Pitt. According to The Sunday Times, an email to Jolie mentions the possibility of Pitt helping with the mission.

"Apparently you can be embedded with the special forces that are chasing Kony. Can Brad go with you?" Moreno Ocampo wrote in an email, according to The Times.

"Brad is being supportive," the star reportedly replied. "Let's discuss logistics. Much love Xxx."

However, according to The Sunday Times, the dinner "does not appear to have gone ahead" and, despite an indictment by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Kony has not been captured. Moreno Ocampo finished his term at the ICC in 2012, the same year that Jolie publicly called for Kony's arrest.

As The Sunday Times reported, Moreno Ocampo claimed he had been "the focus of a cyber-attack." E! News has reached out to Jolie's camp for comment on the report.
Cleanup in Aisle 5 had a whole new meaning at a northwest Indiana grocery when a group of shoppers caught and held a robbery suspect until police arrived to arrest him.

And now, police are looking for witnesses who saw or took part in the incident.

Police were called about 7:20 p.m. Friday about a robbery in progress at the Aldi Foods at 2906 Laporte Ave. in Valparaiso, according to Valparaiso police.

While en route, officers were told that customers in the store had caught and were restraining a male subject, police said.

They arrived to find five or six individuals holding a male subject on the floor. Officers immediately handcuffed the subject, police said.

Witnesses said the masked man approached a cashier and demanded money, according to police. He inferred he had a weapon in his pocket but did not show one.

The cashier gave him an unknown amount of cash, but as he turned to run out, he was immediately physically restrained by one customer. Additional customers assisted and held the subject on the floor, police said.

Thomas Powell, 36, of Hebron, Indiana, was arrested and charged with robbery, police said. All the money was recovered.

Those restraining him included a cardiologist and the owner of a local restaurant, witnesses said on Facebook.

If they were, police want to speak with them.

If you assisted with the apprehension of the subject in the store on Friday evening, police would like to thank you and speak with you, a statement on Valparaiso Police Department Facebook page said.

Individuals involved were witnesses to the robbery and police would like an explanation of the incident from as many witnesses as possible, police said.

They especially want to talk to anyone who is in the photo the department has released. Witnesses should call Det. Tom Horn at (219) 462-2135.
A shared hope of winning Amazons second US headquarters bid brought a bi-partisan group of elected officials and leaders together Monday morning.

At an invite-only event, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a Gov. Bruce Rauner showed a rare moment of unity as the full court press to recruit Amazon remained in high gear.

The early morning breakfast did not appear on either the mayors or the governors public schedules, but nevertheless, the pair joined a few hundred others for the pep rally of sorts.

Key leaders were also part of the event, including lawmakers and business leaders.

"It's a kick off of an effort that is community-wide, city-wide, state-wide -- in many ways with the governor leading it, said former Commerce secretary Bill Daley.

Winning the bid would bring 50,000 jobs to the city, but the question remains: How much is Chicago and Illinois willing to give in terms of incentives?

"We have something to offer that is not only critically important for the future, but reflects a strong history, said Sen. Dick Durbin. Chicago has always been in the middle of change in America and we have lead and we can do it again."

Several locations across the city are viewed as potential sites for Amazon. The suburbs and even downstate are also prepping proposals.

Those inside the event said Rauner listed both positives and negatives in Illinois bid for the company.

"I think this is a great opportunity for all of us not to agree on everything, but one thing we agree on is our economy, and jobs for the people of the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, said Ald. Walter Burnett.
The Berlin Board of Education is considering charging students to play sports. Reactions to this "Pay to Play" proposal are mixed.

"Im sure they have to pay enough with uniforms and everything else, so I dont think theyd probably approve," said parent, Sara Mortensen.

"I dont see a problem with it," Marie Janelle said.

Berlin School Superintendent David Erwin says nothing is happening yet. Its on Tuesdays meeting agenda to decide if talks should move forward. Some who spoke to NBC Connecticut say the conversation should end now.

"There might be some kid who are good athletes that might not be able to participate if it becomes a pay for play situation and that would be a shame," Mark Harris said. "There are other things they can cut other than keeping kids from playing sports."

As long as there is no state budget, Berlin could face deep education funding cuts. Under Gov. Dannel Malloys plan, Berlin is one of 85 towns with a zeroed out Education Cost Sharing Grant for Fiscal Year 2018. Its money school leaders say they need.

The meeting is Tuesday at 7 p.m. If they decide to move forward, the idea will go on to a special subcommittee.
Concerns are swirling in Connecticut as President Donald Trump promises to make changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare.

On Tuesday he tweeted Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people  FAST.

Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017

He also met with Democrats last week to gauge whether the minority party was interested in helping pass "great" health legislation.

Open enrollment on Access Health CT is Nov. 1, 2017. Despite the indecision in Washington, James Wadleigh Jr., the chief executive officer for Access Health CT said the company has been working diligently toward open enrollment. Wadleigh told the Connecticut Health Care Cabinet on Tuesday that all the plans for 2018 have been set and they hired a full-time outreach team to help with marketing and advertising.

Other cabinet members expressed concern about inaction in Congress.

Kate McEvoy, with the Department of Social Services, said Congress failed to renew funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by the September 30 deadline. CHIP provides health insurance for 17,000 children in Connecticut. CHIP funds support HUSKY B as well as children served by Medicaid.

We have funding that should take us around through mid-January, but if Congress does not reauthorize, wed have to make some very difficult decisions about what we can continue to cover, said McEvoy.

Leaders of community health centers in Connecticut are also worried about funding.

The Bureau of Primary Health Care typically disperses funding to health centers through a grant. Charter Oak Health Centers grant ends on December 31 and the CEO has not yet been notified if the grant is renewed.

With a reduction of at least $4 million, I think about the number of staff I might have to lay off, the number of sites I might have to close. And our ability to still provide access to care to so many people in our underserved community is really concerning, said Nichelle Mullins, the president and CEO of Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford. Charter Oak provides care for approximately 18,000 patients per year.
Hundreds of Connecticuts foster kids will soon have something to call their own as they travel to new homes.

Volunteers from Mott Corporation worked with the Wheeler Clinic on Monday to put together a special kind of overnight bag.

Assembled with love, the bags are more than just luggage they are known as 'sweet cases'.

Patty Dillon Cruikshanks is one of 15 volunteers from Mott Corporation working with the Wheeler Clinic in Plainville. Their mission is to pack foster kids with overnight bags that are better equipped for their belongings.

"Most of our kids have to travel or even go on visits with a trash bag," Sharon Pendleton-Ponzani, with the Wheeler Clinci, said.

Pendleton-Ponzani said the sweet cases will bring a sense of comfort to kids when their homes are often changing.

"By having these bags, children have something that's nice to take with them, something they can keep their belongings in and something they can call their own," Pendleton-Ponzani said.

Chris Popilowski, also with the Wheeler Clinic, said the 200 bags are packed with blankets, teddy bears, art supplies and toiletries and will soon be in the hands of some of the states 4,000 foster kids.

"They are going to love it, it's going to make a big smile on their face and it's really going to make a difference in their day," Popilowski said.

For volunteers like Dillon-Cruikshanks, it's a chance to take her heart off her sleeve and onto these bags.

"It's really fulfilling to do work like this," Dillon-Cruikshanks said.

The sweet cases will be delivered to foster kids in the coming days.
A North Texas girl is on a big mission to find a cure for a rare blood disease. She's not just trying to save her own life but also the lives of other children.

Hallie Bernard is often the center of attention and sure can captivate an audience.

"What do you call a bear with no teeth?" she asks. "A gummy bear!"

The 9-year-old is a pint-sized junior officer with the Fort Worth Police Department on a mission to help save lives.

"I know that God is up there. He's always watching over me, and I know that it is fate. This is what I was supposed to do," Hallie said.

She is living with Diamond-Blackfan anemia.

"Less than 800 people have it," Hallie said.

The disease reduces the number of red blood cells a person's body produces, and finding a cure is Hallie's ultimate goal.

"It makes me feel like I'm really doing something good for the world," she said.

Hallie's Heroes was created to inspire people to become bone marrow donors. They swab cheeks at events across North Texas.

"I save lives everyday. Like, we just found out my dad's a match for somebody," Hallie said.

She has seen the results, even though she's still waiting for hers.

"One day I'm just going to come downstairs, and my mom's going to take me in a room and tell me we found your match," she said.

She's a courageous kid who sure knows how to make people smile.

"I'm still waiting for chief to issue me a Taser," she joked.
Dallas city leaders were excited Monday to hear details about Hyperloop Texas, a new transportation method that could move people and freight as fast as 700 miles an hour.

Austin would be just 19 minutes away.

I just wish it was already here, said Dallas City Council Member Sandy Greyson. To think you could get between cities in 20 minutes? Id love that.

Urban Planner Steven Duong with architectural consulting firm AECOM represents the Hyperloop Texas project. He visited Dallas City Hall Monday to explain the vision to city leaders.

It is definitely possible. They built a test track out in the dessert of Nevada that proves the concept works, Duong said. They had the working acceleration, propulsion, brake system and software up and running to fine tune the technology.

Hyperloop technology levitates vehicles with electric propulsion in a near vacuum tube with very little air resistance to allow extremely high speed.

A Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston configuration is already the winner of a global competition to pursue potential Hyperloop routes.

It kind of reminds me of some of the Star Wars kind of thing, said Dallas City Council Member Ricky Callahan. I think its very plausible. I think its something that can be done and ultimately will be done. But, it just blows me away.

Dallas is already a key stop for a separate $12 billion high speed rail project that would make travel to Houston possible in 90 minutes. A group called Texas Central is using no public money for high speed rail and hopes to be operating by 2021. It would run at speeds of over 200 miles per hour, a third of what the Hyperloop claims.

Duong said Hyperloop could compliment high speed rail.

He had no forecast Monday for how much Hyperloop Texas would cost or who would pay for it.

But Duong said he expects it to be reality somewhere in the world around 2021, perhaps in India first, and Texas sometime after that.

Hyperloop One recently finished another series of funding from venture capitalists out in LA, so there are clearly investors who feel this can happen and will happen and the potential benefit to both people and cities is substantial enough to make that investment, Duong said. We think its a good opportunity, now that weve been selected as a winner, to educate the Council.

Members of the City Council Mobility Committee Monday said Dallas is anxious to be included.

Big D, said Rickey Callahan. Big things happen here. We want one here.
The campus police officer who was killed while booking a Texas Tech University student on a drug possession charge has been identified, authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities say a Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who was booking him on a drug possession charge.

Campus police officer Floyd East Jr. was processing 19-year-old Hollis Daniels III Monday night when the teen, who wasn't handcuffed, shot the officer, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock City Police Department said.

A campus police officer was shot and killed Monday at Texas Tech, prompting a lockdown that ended with the suspect's arrest later in the evening.

Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang, Bonds said. When he returned, the other officer found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East's body camera was taken.

Daniels was recaptured Monday evening near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum following a foot chase, and he was charged with capital murder of a police officer. He later admitted to killing East, authorities said.

Daniels had the body camera and a handgun, Bonds said.

Video from Texas Tech University shows the moments that Lubbock police captured a man they say killed a Texas Tech University Police Officer on Monday night.

Daniels told officers he had done "something illogical" and that "he was the one that shot their friend," according to the police statement.

University officials said East had gone to Daniels' room for a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia.[[450164383,R]]

Authorities say Daniels is from Seguin, just east of San Antonio.

Daniels was booked into the Lubbock County jail early Tuesday. Online jail records don't indicate if he has an attorney to comment on his behalf.

It is not clear if Daniels had the gun on him at the police station, or if he took the weapon from an officer.

Jacob Walker, a senior at Texas Tech University, was in his dorm room on Monday night as police searched the campus for the gunman who killed a Texas Tech University Police officer. NBC 5 talked to Walker over the phone about what he experienced during the lockdown on campus.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

"The family of the officer is in the thoughts and prayers of the Texas Tech community," Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec said in a statement.

"Our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement late Monday. "I have spoken to Chancellor Robert Duncan to offer my condolences... As the Texas Tech campus deals with this heartbreaking tragedy, Cecilia and I pray for the continued safety of the students and the entire community."

Statement on the shooting that occurred at @TexasTech this evening. pic.twitter.com/J92GP7UGOp  Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) October 10, 2017

The school said classes would resume as scheduled Tuesday.

"Words can't express how saddened I am by the tragic loss of one of our Texas Tech University police officers tonight," said Duncan. "Our Texas Tech family is strong and will support each other as we grieve."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he'll travel to Texas Tech University to meet with administrators and law enforcement officials.

Paxton said in a statement that he'll be in Lubbock on Tuesday "to offer the entire support" of his office.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a black man who was brutally beaten in a parking garage during a deadly far right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, police told NBC News Monday.

DeAndre Harris, 20, was wanted for unlawful wounding in connection with the Aug. 12 assault, according to a statement from the Charlottesville Police Department, NBC affiliate WVIR reported.

The beating occurred after a white supremacist tried to spear a counter-protester with a flag pole, the Washington Post reported in August.

Then, Harris  a former special education instructional assistant  swung a flashlight at the man, possibly striking him, according to the Post.

Footage shows a vehicle appear to drive into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Clashes between white nationalists and counter protesters had been ongoing on Aug. 12.
In just a few days, the monster Camp Fire in Northern California tore through a Butte County community to become the state's most destructive wildfire on record.

Its staggering rate of destruction places it atop a list of historic wildfires in California, where four of the state's 20 most-destructive wildfires started in the August 2020. They are the Creek, CZU Lightning Complex, North Complex and LNU Complex fires.

Below, a look at the most damaging wildfires on record in the state.

The figures, obtained from CAL FIRE, are based on the number of structures  homes, barns, garages, sheds, commercial properties and other buildings  that were destroyed.

1. Camp Fire, November 2018

The Camp Fire burned through Northern California's Butte County with stunning speed, burning through the town of Paradise. Cal Fire reported more than 18,800 structures destroyed. Eighty-five deaths were linked to the fire, which was sparked by powerlines.

2. Tubbs Fire, October 2017

The Tubbs fire was the most destructive of a complex of wildfires known as the October Fire Siege in California's Wine Country. The fire, fanned by unrelenting winds in Sonoma and Napa counties, destroyed 5,643 buildings and resulted in 21 deaths, according to CAL FIRE. The fire started in the Calistoga area on the night of Oct. 8, spreading at a stunning rate and burning through entire neighborhoods, forcing some residents to run from their homes in search of shelter. The official cause remains under investigation.

3. Oakland Hills Fire, October 1991

Also called the Tunnel fire, the firestorm scorched hillsides in northern Oakland and southeastern Berkeley during an October weekend. Responsible for 25 deaths, the fire rekindled from an earlier grass fire and burned only 1,600 acres  not large when compared to other wildfires on the list. But it was located in a densely populated area with houses and other buildings in its path and ended up destroying 2,900 structures. Fanned by powerful wind gusts, the flare-up grew into a wall of fire that left some residents trapped in an inferno.

4. Cedar Fire, October 2003

The catastrophic San Diego County Cedar fire is one of the largest in California history. The 273,000-acre firestorm wiped out 2,820 structures and resulted in 15 deaths. The fire was started by a lost hunter who started a signal fire in Cleveland National Forest near Julian. It grew into a burning monster that stormed through wilderness areas and rural communities.

5. North Complex Fire, August 2020

A group of fires in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties that started in August 2020 combined to become the North Complex Fire, resulting in 15 deaths. The fires burned 318,935 acres and 2,352 buildings. The cause of the fires is under investigation, according to CAL FIRE.

6. Valley Fire, September 2015

The 76,000-acre fire burned nearly 2,000 structures in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties. In just about 24 hours, strong wind gusts pushed the fire to about 50,000 acres after it was started by a faulty electrical connection that caused nearby dry grass to ignite. Four residents were killed.

7. Witch Fire, October 2007

Damaged power lines caused arcing that set off another monstrous fire in San Diego County. The 197,990-acre Witch fire destroyed 1,650 structures. It burned during an onslaught of large wildfires in Southern California that scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in October 2007.

8. Woolsey Fire

The Woolsey Fire started in November 2018 in Ventura County and burned south to the Los Angeles County coast with astounding speed and destroyed 1,643 structures. Mass evacuations included the city of Malibu as the fire burned nearly 97,000 acres, and three deaths were reported. The cause remains under investigation.

9. Carr Fire, July 2018

The deadly Carr fire burned more than 229,600 acres in Shasta and Trinity counties as firefighters, mourning two colleagues killed in the firefight, continue to work through sweltering weather. At least 1,614 structures, including about 1,018 residences, were destroyed and eight deaths are linked to the fire. It is the only fire on this list to have burned in July. It is believed that have started due to a mechanical failure involving a vehicle, which sparked nearby brush.

10. Glass Fire, Sept. 2020

Fires in Napa and Sonoma counties spread to cover 67,484 acres and eventually burned about 1,520 buildings. Despite 70 mph wind gusts that fanned the flames, there were no deaths, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation according to CAL FIRE.

11. LNU Lightning Complex, August 2020

Burning Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo and Solano counties, a group of lightning-sparked fires burned 363,220 acres and 1,491 buildings. Six deaths were reported.

12. CZU Lightning Complex, August 2020

Another group of lightning-sparked fires burned in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. The CZU Complex burned 86,509 acres and destroyed 1,490 buildings. One death was reported.

13. Nuns Fire, October 2017

Part of a deadly complex of fires called the October Fire Siege, the Nuns fire began Oct. 8 and burned through at least 54,000 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties. At least 1,350 structures were destroyed. The official cause remains under investigation.

14. Dixie Fire, July 2021 (still active)

As of Aug. 20, the Dixie Fire in Northern California burned more than 700,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,200 structures. The fire has burned for more than a month in Butte, Plumas, Lassen and Tehama counties. Ongoing damage surveys have counted more than 1,200 buildings destroyed, including 630 homes, and more than 16,000 structures remained threatened. Numerous evacuation orders are in effect.

Investigations are continuing, but PG&E notified utility regulators that it might have been caused by trees falling into its power lines. The Dixie Fire began near the town of Paradise, devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire ignited by PG&E equipment during strong winds.

15. Thomas Fire, December 2017

The fire broke out Dec. 4, 2017 in Ventura County and, fanned by Santa Ana wind gusts, grew into one of the largest fires on record in California. The fire destroyed 1,063 structures, including homes in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Two deaths, including a 32-year-old firefighter, were reported. In January 2018, the city of Ventura sued Southern California Edison, alleging powerlines sparked the fire  a cause that CAL FIRE now also cites.
What to Know Wind, dry conditions add up to increased fire danger for Southern California

The strongest winds are expected Monday

Red flag warnings are set to expire Tuesday morning

Here's what you need to know as a brush fire burns in Anaheim about evacuations and school and road closures:

Note: This page will no longer be updated. Evacuations have been lifted. Click here for the most recent report.

An information line for residents with questions about the Canyon Fire 2 has been established at 714-765-4333.

For those who need help evacuating, dial 2-1-1. Officials say evacuees will not be allowed back Monday night.



EVACUATION CENTERS:



Dowtown Anaheim Youth Center, 225 S. Philadelphia St.;

Dowtown Anaheim Community Center, 250 E. Center St.;

Animals can go to OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa;

East Anaheim branch library, 8201 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road;

El Modena High School, 3920 E. Spring St., Orange;



Katella High School, 2220 E. Spring St., Orange.

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS:


The father of a college student who was shot and killed by police after they say she ran over a Miami Beach officer is speaking out, as video showing the fatal encounter was posted on social media.

Cariann Hithon, a 22-year-old Temple University student from Bowie, Maryland, was celebrating her birthday in Miami Beach when the incident unfolded Sunday night.

"It's hard to express the amount of pain and distress you feel," her father, Cary Hithon, told NBC Philadelphia Monday night. "What the heck could have gone wrong, I mean don't we have enough of this going on in this country?"

Police say Hithon got behind the wheel of the BMW in the 1400 block of Ocean Drive around 6:15 p.m., then drove at a high rate of speed southbound, passing cars in the oncoming lane and hitting two cars at the intersection of 12th Street and Ocean Drive.

Hithon fled the crash scene and hit another car at 12th Street and Collins Avenue, as witnesses and officers responded to the intersection, police said.

Video posted on Instagram showed the crowd around the damaged BMW, as a man got out of the passenger side and an officer ordered Hithon to get out. Moments later, the car starts moving forward, hitting at least one officer as another officer opens fire on the car.

Hithon was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where she later died. The officer who was struck, David Cajuso, was also hospitalized and later released.

"That kind of activity is not rational, I can't explain why she wouldn't have listened to commands," Cary Hithon said. "As a father and as a man of God, obviously I want the truth to come out."

Hithon had attended Hampton University in Virginia but transferred to Temple, where she was studying political science and philosophy. The Temple Student Government released a statement saying that "our thoughts are with Cariann's friends and family during this tremendously difficult time."

Cary Hithon is demanding answers but said he's waiting for an autopsy and toxicology report.

"How in the world could this happen?" he said.

Officials haven't released the name of the officer who opened fire. The man who was in the car with Hithon was identified as 22-year-old Ryan Jerrell Lucas, also from Maryland.

Relatives said Hithon and Lucas were friends from church.

Miami-Dade Police are investigating the shooting.
Hey craft beer aficionados, some of the countrys best beer is brewed right here in area.

NJ.com reports three New Jersey-based breweries received high praise at a recent beer festival in Colorado that featured thousands of breweries all over the country. Beers from Spellbound Brewing in Mount Holly, Eight & Sand Beer Co. in Woodbury and River Horse Brewing Co. in Ewing all won awards in the Great American Beer Festival.

Spellbound Brewings Porter Aged on Palo Santo Wood beer won the top medal in the category of best wood and barrel-aged beer, which had 70 entries, NJ.com reports. Eight & Sand Beer Co.s Bad Hombre won silver in the category of Chili Beer, which had 98 entries, and River Horse Brewing Co. earned the bronze in the Belgian-style Tripel category for its Tripel Horse beer. That category had 77 entries.

Four beers from four different breweries in New York also won awards as well as four beers from three different Connecticut breweries, according to the festival's official list of winners.

For the Empire State, Bay Shores Great South Bay Brewerys Jetty Ale claimed the silver in honey beer, a category that had 69 entries. Bloomfields Nedloh Brewing Co.s 5 & 20 IPA won the bronze for American-Belgo-Style Ale that had 53 entries. Cooperstowns Brewery Ommegangs Witte Ale claimed the bronze in the Belgian-Style Witbier. Athens Crossroads Brewing Co.s Black Rock Stout took home the bronze in the Export Stout category.

Branford, Connecticuts Stony Creek Brewery took home two awards. Its Stony Joe won bronze in the coffee beer category, which had 89 entries and its Dock Time beer also took home the bronze in the Vienna-Style Lager category, which had 87 entries. Stamfords Half Full Brewery's Bright Ale won bronze in the English-Style Summer Ale category that had 41 entries. Bloomfields Back East Brewings Porter beer took home the gold out of 57 entries in the brown porter category.

NJ.com reports the beers were judged by nearly 300 experts and the festival is the worlds largest commercial beer competition.
What to Know Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy has a history of mental health and drug issues, according to documents unsealed on Monday.

He is one of three men arrested in an alleged plot to attack New York City subways, Times Square and area concerts.

El Bahnasawy has pleaded guilty and faces life in prison; the other two men also face life in prison, if convicted.

The would-be terrorist who admitted to plotting with two other men to attack concerts, subways and Times Square has a history of mental health issues and drug use, according to documents unsealed on Monday.

Court records show that Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy also tested positive for the buprenorphine -- a narcotic used to treat pain and opioid addiction -- after he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction for his role in an attack planned for 2016.

The 19-year-old Canadian citizen born in Kuwait was arrested in New Jersey in May of 2016 after using chat apps and buying bomb-making materials in a plot he he told an undercover agent he hoped would become "the next 9/11."

In a plea hearing on Oct. 13, 2016, according to the documents, he admitted in court to plotting with others to "carry out an attack in Times Square, to Support ISIL; specifically we agreed to try to set off a bomb in Times Square." He also admitted to sending materials through the mail and traveling from Canada to the United States as part of the plot.

Two other men arrested in the plot, Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen based in Pakistan; and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old orthopedic surgeon in the Philippines, were detained in their home countries after FBI and NYPD authorities cuffed El Bahnasawy. Haroon is accused of plotting to come to New York City to carry out the attack with El Bahnasawy; Salic is accused of funding the operation. Both men are in the process of being extradited to the United State to face charges, and it's not clear if they have attorneys.

FBI and NYPD officials told the I-Team the plot was more aspirational than operational. But according to court documents unsealed last week, the three began talking with one another -- and an undercover agent posing as an ISIS sympathizer -- in the spring of 2016.

Over the month of May, they allegedly plotted to carry out a variety of attacks in the city during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan -- that year, from June 6 to July 5 -- or on Memorial Day. They then reached out to Saric, who they called "The Doctor," in May to help finance their plans.

Prosecutors said that Al Bahnasawy and Haroon identified the 7 and 4/5/6 subway lines and Times Square as ideal targets and talked about trapping people inside the Crossroads of the World and kill as many people as possible.

Prosecutors added that Al Bahnasawy also communicated with an undercover agent posing as an ISIS sympathizer about wanting to "shoot up concerts cuz they kill lots of people." He also researched upcoming concerts in the city and talked about picking a show in a concert hall thats far away from cops.

"We just need guns in our hands," El Bahnasawy said. "That's how the Paris guys did it."

Haroon, meanwhile, told the undercover agent that he saw the subway as a "perfect" target for the attack, and that they should shoot as many train riders as possible before setting off suicide vests.

"When we run out of bullets we let the vests go off," he said.

Prosecutors add that El Bahnasawy bought bomb-making materials while in Canada; Haroon allegedly met with an explosives expert in Pakistan to get more information on how to build bombs.

Around the same time, the two allegedly had been talking with Salic, known as "the doctor," about getting money to carry out the attack. Salic, who also maintained a pro-ISIS social media presence, allegedly wired $423 to the undercover to help pay for the attacks on May 11, 2016, and told the agent he'd send more in the future.

The undercover also sent Salic a picture of hydrogen peroxide El Bahnasawy had bought to carry out the attacks; Salic allegedly responded by saying he might carry out his own attack if he wasn't able to go to Syria to join ISIS. He then allegedly wrote that "(I)t would be a great pleasure if we can slaughter" New Yorkers, according to the complaint.

El Bahnasawy was detained on May 21, 2016, after he traveled to Cranford, New Jersey, to carry out the attacks; he has since pleaded guilty to multiple terrorism offenses. Haroon was arrested in Pakistan; Salic, was arrested in his home country. All three men were charged with seven terror-related counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.

El Bahnasawy will be sentenced in December and could face life in prison; his attorney declined to comment to the Associated Press on Friday.

The other two men could also spend the rest of their lives behind bars, if convicted. They're awaiting extradition to the United States, and it's unclear if they have attorneys.
A possibly intoxicated 22-year-old Temple University student in town to celebrate her birthday drove her BMW into a Florida police officer and was killed by another officer in Miami Beach in front of a crowd of stunned onlookers, police said.

Cariann Hithon of Bowie, Maryland, slammed into several cars Sunday evening as people watched from sidewalk cafes in the tourist district known as South Beach.

Video footage showed people standing around the wrecked car, wondering aloud what had happened. Then the BMW suddenly started moving again and took out the officer standing in front of it. Another officer fired three shots into the car.

"It played out like a movie set with people running, screaming, car crashes, gunshots, an injured officer lying on his back on the ground  all within a minute," retired Miami-Dade homicide detective John Butchko, whose car Hithon hit, told the Miami Herald.

Butchko's passenger, Miami Beach lawyer Sean Ellsworth, added: "I was literally shocked she would drive into four or five officers. She just floored it." Ellsworth and Butchko suffered minor injuries.

"One of the cops was in front of the car and when they were yelling at her to get out of the car, she just started the car again," witness Miguel Garcia said.

Police officers then fired several shots at Hithon's black BMW, striking her. Cellphone video captured the moment as her car crashed half a block away then as officers rendered aid.

Both Hithon and the officer were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where the woman later died.

The officer, later identified as David Cajuso, was hospitalized in stable condition and later released.

Police haven't released the name of the officer involved in the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Hithon, from Bowie, Maryland, was in South Florida celebrating her 22nd birthday, a family member told NBC 6. She transferred to Temple University this year and was studying political science and philosophy.

"It's hard to express the amount of pain and distress that we feel," Hithon's father, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Cary Hithon, said. "I can't explain why she wouldn't have listened."

The reason Hithon tried to flee may never be known. But investigators said they believe Hithon and her male friend  who was seen by witnesses casually getting out of the car before she accelerated  may have been drinking heavily earlier Sunday.

Miami-Dade police detained that man, 22-year-old Ryan Jerrell Lucas, for questioning, according to a news release. Lucas and Hithons were friends from church in Maryland. He traveled to Miami to mark the special occassion, sources told NBC.

The elder Hithon said he has many questions about what happened. The account of events given to him by police does not sound like his daughter, he said.

"That kind of activity is not rational, I can't explain why she wouldn't have listened to commands," he said. "As a father and as a man of God, obviously I want the truth to come out."

While attending Hampton University, Hithon had contact with police at least six times and was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, marijuana possession and falsely identifying herself to a police officer, according to court records. None of those charges ended in a conviction.

She was found guilty of speeding in December 2015 and improper control while driving in March 2016. Her license was also restricted for six months in 2016 to driving to and from work and church in relation to a marijuana possession charge in March of that year.

In Maryland, she was also charged with several motor vehicle offenses in 2015 and 2016, including speeding, driving with a suspended license and giving a false name to police.

But Hithon's father said his daughter aspired to be a lawyer one day.

"Being an attorney to help the underserved is something she wanted to do," her father said. "She would have been a good one."

The Temple Student Government released a statement saying that "our thoughts are with Cariann's friends and family during this tremendously difficult time."

Earlier this year, recent Temple transfer Jenna Burleigh was killed after a night of drinking with friends in North Philadelphia. The doubles tragedies have not unnoticed on campus.

"This has been a painful semester, Owls. We Know. We hear you. We see you. We support you," the student government said. "We will continue to push unity and peace through these times because pain is always easier to deal with when you have people surrounding and encouraging you."
A man was killed while a woman and boy were injured in a multi-vehicle crash at a busy intersection in the Bustleton section of Northeast Philadelphia.

The crash occurred on Bustleton and Grant avenues Monday afternoon. At least four cars were involved in the accident.

Officials say a 40-year-old man died in the crash. A 41-year-old woman and 11-year-old boy also suffered non-life-threatening injuries. SkyForce10 was over the scene as the woman and boy were placed in the ambulance. They are both in stable condition.



The intersection of Bustleton and Grant was closed for several hours before it reopened around 10 p.m.


An award-winning former Drexel University neurologist faces seven counts of indecent assault for allegedly inappropriately touching patients, according to recent published reports and court filings.

Dr. Ricardo Cruciani was fired in March after an internal investigation of complaints made by several patients, and he was charged in late September, but the allegations and firing became public as reports surfaced in recent weeks.

After firing Cruciani, now 63, from his role as the chair of the Department of Neurology, Drexel alerted professional licensing organizations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware of its findings, the university said in a statement after NBC10 asked for comment Monday.

The university said it worked with Philadelphia Police special victims unit investigators and the district attorneys office, which later pressed charges.

Cruciani is accused of inappropriately touching seven different women and exposing himself to one.

"Drexel is deeply disturbed by the reports that led to the filing of these charges," the university statement read.

Cruciani faces seven counts each of indecent assault without consent, simple assault and physical harassment and one count of indecent exposure following his arrest last month, according to court records. A preliminary hearing for the Philadelphia resident is set for later this month. He remains free on bail.

Prior to joining Drexel, Cruciani  who earned his medical degrees in Argentina  worked at Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and Capital Health Institute for Neurosciences in New Jersey, according to his Drexel biography. Over his years practicing, Cruciani was recognized with Patients Choice Awards and Compassionate Doctor Recognitions.

Cruciani's Philadelphia-based attorney Linda Dale Hoffa denied the allegations.

"Dr. Cruciani has a very impressive background as an academic, researcher and medical doctor and hes been wrongly accused," Hoffa said. "Dr. Cruciani will plead not guilty and looks forward to having the opportunity in court to clearing his name."

Drexel's neurology department focuses its research on epilepsy, movement disorders like Parkinson's Disease and cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's Disease.

Drexel says its committed to strengthening its policies for faculty and professional staff and giving support to Crucianis former patients.

"Patient safety and well-being is a top priority in all of Drexels clinical practices. Drexel has provided support and resources to Crucianis former patients, including medical and counseling services and assistance with transitioning to new medical care providers."
Police in Delaware suspect a teenager of exposing himself to multiple woman over a series of months after catching him attempting to expose himself over the weekend.

Middletown police arrested the 15-year-old along the 500 block of South Broad Street on Sunday, police said.

One of the teen's favorite targets was nearby Cadia Healthcare's Broadmeadow nursing home, Middletown Chief Michael Iglio said.

Investigators charged the boy with multiple counts of indecent exposure, peeping, lewdness and trespassing after connecting him to at least five incidents targeting women dating back to May.

A judge arraigned the suspect and released him on $1,300 bond, police said. He is to have no contact with the victims and is subjected to a curfew.

Anyone with information on the incidents should contact Middletown police.
The mold infestation found last week at a South Jersey school may not be as deadly as the fungul problems in the Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville in 1958, but it was dangerous enough to warrant closing the building for at least a week.

When it comes to mold in a school, there are usually spore questions than answers for concerned parents and teachers. What kind of mold (out of the thousands of species)? Does it have toxic effects? How long will it take to cleanse the affected areas of fungi? Is the damage irreversible?

Using what was found at Holly Glen Elementary School in Monroe Township, New Jersey, as an example, here's some ways to think about mold when it's found at elevated levels indoors.

- For starters, mold is everywhere: As the Centers for Disease Control points out, "Molds are very common in buildings and homes and will grow anywhere indoors where there is moisture." The proliferation of mold occurs when moisture in the air is elevated. An analysis of the situation at Holly Glen by a remediation firm, TTI Environmental, found that all the locations tested had humidity levels condusive to mold growth.

- Above 50 percent humidity is not cool: Mold "becomes a problem only where there is water damage, elevated and prolonged humidity, or dampness," according to the American Industrial Hygeine Association. The CDC recommends keeping indoor spaces below 50 percent to avoid mold growth. Nine of the 10 locations at Holly Glen tested by TTI had humidity levels of 50 percent or above. The 10th had 49 percent.

- "Toxic mold" is not a thing: It's more an inaccuracy of the wording than the meaning. Mold itself is not toxic, but some molds can produce toxins. The four most common molds found indoors, if found in great enough quantity, can produce respiratory problems, as well as increase asthmatic reaction in those with asthma. In the case of Holly Glen, the two molds found at elevated levels are among those four most common. The notorious "black mold," aka Stachybotrys, was only found in one location, and at a miniscule percent of the overall test sample.
What to Know More than 20 structures burned Monday, when winds fanned the brush fire into a neighborhood

Red flag warnings are set to expire Tuesday morning

The Canyon Fire 2 was part of Gov. Jerry Browns emergency declaration, which includes Wine Country areas affected by about a dozen fires

Water-dropping helicopters attacked a fast-moving brush fire Tuesday after a day of devastation in an Anaheim Hills neighborhood.

The Canyon Fire 2 spread quickly Monday, exploding from a hillside brush fire into an inferno that consumed at least a dozen homes in Anaheim Hills. The fire was included in Gov. Jerry Brown's state of emergency declaration as deadly wildfires were also ripping apart California's wine country.

Firefighters from multiple agencies worked overnight to battle the blaze with the help of three water-dropping helicopters. The 7,500-acre fire was 25-percent contained Tuesday. One thousand firefighters were battling the flames.

"That containment number will go up," said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi. "There were a thousand firefighters here. A lot of these guys were here all night. We're going to hit it extremely hard from the air."

Firefighters responded to the Anaheim Hills area Monday morning near the 91 and 241 freeways, where winds gusting at about 30 mph were fanning flames and embers toward homes.

Emergency Information for Residents: 714-765-4333



Firefighters said they were concerned from the start of the fire about embers drifting on strong winds into densely populated neighborhoods. The fire raced up hillsides, chewing through brush as it climbed to within a few feet of homes.

"The hillside was on fire," said resident John Teague, who has lived in the neighborhood for 21 years. "I've never seen anything like this."



The fire appeared to move from home to home in some locations, leaving behind charred residences.

"Unfortunately, we can't protect them all," said Battlion Chief Marty Ortiz. "Once it gets to a certain point, we have to just kind of triage and move to the ones we can save."



A homeowner on Santiago Way told NBC4 the fire was about the fourth in the area since 1980.

"I saw the flames coming up over the dry brush," he said. "It lasted for quite some time."

Mandatory evacuations were extended to all areas south of 91 Freeway, west of the 241 Freeway, north of Nohl Ranch Road and east of Serrano Avenue. Evacuations shelters were set up for residents.

Thick smoke billowed over the freeways and the communities of Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills, forcing the closure of the 241 Freeway and eastbound 91 Freeway. By early Monday afternoon, the fire moved into the Tustin area.

Details about how the fire started were not immediately available.

The most destructive fire in Orange County's history, based on structures burned, was the October 1993 Laguna fire -- an arson that destroyed 441 buildings, according to CAL FIRE statistics. No fatalities were reported in connection with the Laguna fire. The fire burned more than 14,400 acres.

The strong gusts in Southern California early this week combined with relatively high temperatures, low humidity and the presence of very dry vegetation to increase the wildfire threat. Red flag warnings are in effect through Tuesday morning for a widespread part of the region.

October is historically one of the most dangerous months of the year when it comes to wildfires in California. Four of the state's five most-destructive fire occurred in October, including the 1991 Oakland Hill firestorms that resulted in 25 fatalities and burned 2,900 buildings.

As of Oct. 1, CAL FIRE reported more than 5,600 fires in California so far this year. Those fires scorched nearly 233,000 acres. During that same period last year, CAL FIRE reported 4,200 fires that burned nearly 243,600 acres. California's five-year average through September is about 4,200 fires and more than 200,200 acres of scorched land.

The state had one of its wettest winters in years, leading to sprouting vegetation on hillsides that had been ravaged by five years of drought. But that brush dried out during the summer, leaving behind fuel for fall wildfires.

In Sonoma and Napa counties, several fires broke out Sunday and forced evacuations, including a hospital in Santa Rosa. States of emergency were declared for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

The strongest winds in Southern California are expected Monday through midday.

The offshore winds will die down quickly Tuesday morning and make way for the onset of onshore winds by afternoon, forecasters said, adding that these winds combined with low humidity will keep the danger of wildfire elevated.

In the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast winds are forecast to blow at between 30 and 45 mph, with gusts of 60 to 70 mph. In the Santa Monica mountains and Santa Clarita Valley, the wind will blow at between 25 and 40 mph and gust at 60 mph, with isolated gusts of 65 mph across the western peaks of the Santa Monicas.

In the San Fernando Valley, winds of between 20 and 30 mph were expected, along with 50-mph gusts, with the strongest winds likely along the 118 Freeway, forecasters said.

Temperatures are forecast to decline in some communities on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but rise again starting Saturday.
Marine mammal experts from several aquariums--including two members of SeaWorlds San Diegos animal rescue team--are joining efforts in Seward, Alaska to give an orphaned beluga whale calf a second chance at life.

On Sept. 30, a beluga whale calf was found stranded and in distress near Trading Bay in Western Cook Inlet, Alaska. Rescuers transferred the whale to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, where they placed it under intensive care.

Dr. Todd Schmitt, SeaWorld San Diegos senior veterinarian, and Eric Otjen, the park assistant curator of mammals, are part of a team providing around-the-clock care to the orphaned calf. With them are veterinarians and marine mammal husbandry experts from Georgia Aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium and Mystic Aquarium.

"Its truly a privilege to be part of such a passionate group of animal care specialists with the singular goal of trying to save this young belugas life," said Schmitt.

About four weeks old, the calf belongs to the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population, which now only has 328 individuals left in the wild. The young whale, struggling to stay alive on its own, was five feet long and weighed 142 pounds when it arrived at the center.

If the first few days of a rescue are generally the most critical to ensure the survival of cetaceans, dealing with a neonatal calf makes the situation even harder. This is because the risk of complication is higher for such young animals, and their survival rate is only 10 percent, according to the Alaska SeaLife Center.

Monitoring the beluga closely, the experts from SeaWorld and the other aquariums are working hard to make future a reality for the calf.

"As Alaskas only marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation center, our team of experts is responsible for the care of a variety of critical wildlife response situations across the state," said Tara Riemer, Alaska SeaLife Centers president and CEO.

"To be able to have our expert colleagues assist us with this critically endangered beluga calf is a true testament to the marine mammal communitys commitment to caring for and preserving wild cetacean populations. To witness everyone come together for this very young calf is heartwarming as he is receiving the best 24-hour care from experts across North America," she added.
A coalition of left-leaning states and environmental groups are vowing to fight the Trump administration's move to kill an Obama-era effort to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Speaking Monday in the coal-mining state of Kentucky, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said he would be issuing a new set of rules overriding the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's drive to curb global climate change.

"The war on coal is over," Pruitt declared, adding that no federal agency should ever use its authority to "declare war on any sector of our economy."

It was not immediately clear if Pruitt would seek to issue a new rule without congressional approval, which Republicans had criticized the Obama administration for doing. Pruitt's rule wouldn't become final for months, and is then highly likely to face a raft of legal challenges.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was among those who said they will sue.

"The Trump Administration's persistent and indefensible denial of climate change  and their continued assault on actions essential to stemming its increasing devastation  is reprehensible, and I will use every available legal tool to fight their dangerous agenda," said Schneiderman, a Democrat.

For Pruitt, getting rid of the Clean Power Plan will mark the culmination of a long fight he began as the elected attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt was among about two dozen attorney generals who sued to stop Obama's 2014 push to limit carbon emissions, stymieing the limits from ever taking effect.

Closely aligned with the oil and gas industry in his home state, Pruitt rejects the consensus of scientists that man-made emissions from burning fossil fuels are the primary driver of global climate change.

President Donald Trump, who appointed Pruitt and shares his skepticism of established climate science, promised to kill the Clean Power Plan during the 2016 campaign as part of his broader pledge to revive the nation's struggling coal mines.

In his order Tuesday, Pruitt is expected to declare that the Obama-era rule exceeded federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet.

Pruitt appeared at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at Whayne Supply in Hazard, Kentucky, a company that sells coal mining supplies. The store's owners have been forced to lay off about 60 percent of its workers in recent years.

While cheering the demise of the Clean Power Plan as a way to stop the bleeding, McConnell conceded most of those lost jobs are never coming back.

"A lot of damage has been done," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. "This doesn't immediately bring everything back, but we think it stops further decline of coal fired plants in the United States and that means there will still be some market here."

Obama's plan was designed to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The rule dictated specific emission targets for states based on power-plant emissions and gave officials broad latitude to decide how to achieve reductions.

The Supreme Court put the plan on hold last year following legal challenges by industry and coal-friendly states. Even so, the plan helped drive a recent wave of retirements of coal-fired plants, which are also being squeezed by low cost natural gas and renewable power. In the absence of stricter federal regulations curbing greenhouse gas emissions, many states have issued their own mandates promoting energy conservation.

The withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan is the latest in a series of moves by Trump and Pruitt to dismantle Obama's legacy on fighting climate change, including the delay or roll back of rules limiting levels of toxic pollution in smokestack emissions and wastewater discharges from coal-burning power plants.

On Thursday, Trump nominated former coal-industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to serve as Pruitt's top deputy at EPA  one of several recent political appointees at the agency with direct ties to the fossil fuel interests.

The president announced earlier this year that he will pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Nearly 200 countries have committed to combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

"This president has tremendous courage," Pruitt said Monday. "He put America first and said to the rest of the world we are going to say no and exit the Paris Accord. That was the right thing to do."

Despite the rhetoric about saving coal, government statistics show that coal mines currently employ only about 52,000 workers nationally  a modest 4-percent uptick since Trump became president. Those numbers are dwarfed by the jobs created by building such clean power infrastructure as wind turbines and solar arrays.

Environmental groups and public health advocates quickly derided Pruitt's decision as short sighted.

"Trump is not just ignoring the deadly cost of pollution, he's ignoring the clean energy deployment that is rapidly creating jobs across the country," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
The minute before a 22-year-old Temple University student drove her BMW into a police officer on Miami Beach and was fatally shot "played out like a movie set'," said a retired homicide detective who witnessed the incident.

Cariann Hithon of Bowie, Maryland, crashed into several cars Sunday evening as people watched from sidewalk cafes in the tourist area of South Beach, police said.

"It played out like a movie set with people running, screaming, car crashes, gunshots, an injured officer lying on his back on the ground -- all within a minute,'' retired Miami-Dade homicide detective John Butchko, whose car Hithon hit, told the Miami Herald.

According to investigators, Hithon was driving a black BMW at a high speed when she crashed into two vehicles on 12th Street and Ocean Drive and fled the scene.



"The car was coming westbound from Ocean on 12th and went through the red light, struck an occupied car on 12th and Collins," said Chief Dan Oates, with the Miami Beach Police Department. "At some point, the driver made a decision to speed away, and she continued west on 12th Street."

As she fled from the crash, she struck another vehicle on Lincoln Drive, police said.

Several people surrounded the driver, telling her to get out of the car. Once police arrived on the scene and asked Hithon to get out of the car, she slammed the accelerator and ran over a police officer, officials said.

"One of the cops was in front of the car, and when they were yelling at her to get out of the car, she just started the car again," said Miguel Garcia, a witness.

Police officers fired several shots at the driver's black BMW, striking Hithon.

Both Hithon and the officer were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where Hithon later died.

The reason Hithon tried to flee may never be known. But investigators said they believe Hithon and her male friend - who was seen by witnesses casually getting out of the car before she accelerated - may have been drinking heavily earlier Sunday.

Miami-Dade police detained that man, 22-year-old Ryan Jerrell Lucas, for questioning, according to a news release. The agency is investigating the case, which is typical when a Miami Beach police shooting occurs. Additional details, including Lucas' hometown, were not released.

The officer who was struck, later identified as David Cajuso, was hospitalized in stable condition and later released.

"Our officer who was injured, we know he lost consciousness at the scene for a period of time," said Oates. "He is now at the hospital. He is stable and alert but he is being treated for his head injury and undetermined at this time internal injuries."

Hithon's father, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Cary Hithon, told the newspaper his daughter wanted to be "the attorney to save the world."

"Everybody that knew her, knew she had a great future," he said.

Hithon's father said she had recently transferred from Hampton University in Virginia to Temple University in Philadelphia and expected to graduate with a degree in political science in the spring.

While attending Hampton University, Hithon had contact with police at least six times and was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, marijuana possession and falsely identifying herself to a police officer, according to court records. None of those charges ended in a conviction.

She was found guilty of speeding in December 2015 and improper control while driving in March 2016. Her license was also restricted for six months in 2016 to driving to and from work and church in relation to a marijuana possession charge in March of that year.

In Maryland, she was also charged with several motor vehicle offenses in 2015 and 2016, including speeding, driving with a suspended license and giving a false name to police.

Police have not released the name of the officer who shot Hithon. The shooting remains under investigation.

Hithon's father says he has "a lot of questions'' about what happened.
Three Connecticut police departments are investigating after statues of Christopher Columbus in Middletown, New Haven and Norwalk were found vandalized.

Middletown police told NBC Connecticut they are investigating after someone vandalized the statue of Christopher Columbus at Harbor Park with red paint. The vandalism happened sometime overnight. The graffiti read "kill the colonizer."

A statue in Wooster Square in New Haven was also vandalized with red paint, according to New Haven police.

Both departments have stepped up security in those areas.

Prakash Melvani

Norwalk police said they are investigating vandalism of a statue of Columbus, but did not release any other details.

For years a debate has raged over Columbus' historical legacy, with some arguing that a man who opened the Americas to European domination should not be celebrated.

By focusing so much on Columbus you eliminate and erase the histories of the people who were here before him and I think thats horrible, Yale University senior Chris Rice said.



But many Italian-Americans argue that Columbus is a symbol of their ethnic pride.

Well it means everything because actually if it wasnt for Columbus we wouldnt be here, so it's fundamental to us and for the next generation to celebrate this holiday and keep it a holiday in this country, said Gennaro Sevino, a member of the Sons of Italy Valley Regional Lodge in Derby.



It's not the first time the debate has led to vandalism. Last month in New York vandals doused the hands of a Christopher Columbus statue in blood-red paint and scrawled the words "hate will not be tolerated." In August, a statue in Yonkers was beheaded.

New Haven resident Imani Williams took the middle ground, though she was disturbed to hear of the vandalism to the statue outside the window of her Wooster Square home.

This is a historic statue just like the one in New York City. They should stay. Maybe some newer statues that dont need to be there, maybe they can be removed. But the older statues, historic statues, they should stay, Williams said.

Similar incidents have been reported over the years in cities across the country.

Those who spoke to NBC Connecticut tended to agree that the vandalism was wrong.

"I'm not OK with anybody vandalizing any property, I feel that's wrong," said Jersey City resident Tynesha Banks. "However, I can understand why people are against a statue of Christopher Columbus being up."

"It sucks that people actually have the audacity to do that and take away from a great town like us," said Destiny Rosado, of Middletown.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who represents New Haven as part of the 3rd District, chimed in on the incidents.

I am proud of my Italian heritage. Christopher Columbus is part of the history of America. Honoring him is something I am proud to be a part of. Vandalism is unacceptable, DeLauro said.

It's not clear if any of the incidents are connected. The penalty for this type of crime can be as many as five years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. Anyone with information should contact local police.
A prominent police chief in Vermonts Chittenden County says her department moved swiftly and decisively to respond to a report that a longtime dispatcher paid a prostitute for sex and leaked top-secret information to that woman about an ongoing police investigation.

Earl Benway, 41, of Milton, served as a dispatcher for the Colchester Police Department from March 2001 until last month. Tuesday, he appeared in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington to answer to allegations he leaked confidential information to a prostitute.

Rob Kaplan, a defense attorney for Benway, entered not guilty pleas on his clients behalf to two criminal charges.

Benways former boss said she called for an outside investigation last month, after the dispatchers name came up in a case through the Burlington Police Department.

Ben Katz, a detective sergeant with the Vermont State Police who led that investigation, wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that Benway paid a prostitute for oral sex.

Katz said Benway saw an ad on a website used to advertise illicit services, and that the dispatcher realized he knew the woman from childhood, because they went to school together.

Benway allegedly contacted the woman through Facebook to set up a meeting, had sexual contact with her in a Colchester park, then told her that her home was being monitored by federal authorities as part of an ongoing investigation.

Benway is accused of letting the woman know that tipsters were watching cars coming and going from the residenceand reporting the plates to authorities. He allegedly used his insider knowledge to advise the woman to be careful about who she has visit her house, because the home was under surveillance.

Katz wrote in the affidavit that Benway would not go to the womans house himself, because he thought his presence there would be detected by the monitoring.

Chief Jennifer Morrison of the Colchester Police Department declined to share any information about the specifics of the feds' reported investigation into the property, saying she wanted to respect the sensitivity of another agencys case.

Morrison said Benway was fired from his job with the Colchester Police Department shortly after the allegations came to light.

"Its not just shocking, but its disappointing," Morrison said of the allegations against a former trusted employee. "And its sad for the entire department."

Morrison said the department responded quickly to the report, and fired Benway for what she described as clear-cut violations of existing training and policies.

"The actions that Mr. Benway is accused of engaging in are not reflective of the values of this organization," Morrison told necn.

Morrison added that anyone who works in law enforcement is held to a very high standardin both their professional and personal lives.

"And that doesnt just go for police officers," said Morrison, who is also the head of the Vermont Police Chiefs Association. "That goes for all the men and women who support the sworn police officers: records clerks, dispatchers, and other support personnel."

Benway pled not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of engaging in prostitution, and to a felony charge of obstruction of justice.

"This is a weak case thats been overblown by the state because of my clients position as a police dispatcher," defense attorney Rob Kaplan said after Tuesday mornings arraignment. "We will definitely test these charges through a rigorous defense. Well be doing that through the court process."

Benway was released on orders he not have contact with the woman he allegedly paid for sex. He declined to answer questions posed to him by necn after the hearing.
An Indonesian man who has lived in Connecticut for decades and is facing deportation has sought sanctuary at a Meriden church.

The Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance confirmed that 68-year-old Sujitno Sajuti has sought sanctuary at the at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Meriden.

Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull said the church made the decision in September to become a sanctuary location and that they have the full support of their regional leadership to take in Sajuti.



Sajuti came to the United States in 1981 as a Fulbright Scholar and currently lives in West Hartford.

After receiving stays of removal for four years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ordered Sajuti's deportation for Tuesday.

ICE released a statement on Sajuti's case:

Sujitno Sajuti is a citizen of Indonesia who entered the U.S. legally in 1989, but overstayed his lawful visit by several years. A federal immigration judge issued him a final order of removal in October 2003.

In an exercise of discretion at the time, ICE chose not to place Mr. Sajuti into custody and allowed him ample time, and numerous stays of removal, to pursue legal options to resolve his case. He has since exhausted these options and in August he was given instructions to provide evidence he intends to depart the United States in compliance with the judges removal (deportation) order. Mr. Sajuti did not leave the United States per the courts instructions and is now considered an ICE fugitive."

Advocates from the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance said the decision is heartbreaking and that Sajuti is a productive member of his community.

"This is inhumane. This is  there are no words to describe the pain that the community feels right now as this man is in need of seeking refuge in a church to avoid being separated from his family, his community, his loved ones, said Jesus Morales Sanchez, who works for the Alliance.

The Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance is involved in other cases, including that of Marco Reyes, who is in his ninth week in the sanctuary of a church in New Haven.



Sajuti was issued a GPS tracking device, which he continues to wear. His lawyers continue to search for an outlet for him to legally remain in the country. For now, he remains in Meriden at the church with his wife, who is not at risk for deportation.
Two men are dead after being shot in a car in Massachusetts.

Only one of the victims has been named -- 27-year-old Stephen Bodden, who had addresses in New Bedford and Taunton -- while the other man's name is being withheld pending notification of his family. He is described as a 28-year-old New Bedford man.

The Bristol district attorney's office said New Bedford police responded to a 911 call around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday for shots fired at a car on Central Avenue. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Bodden dead in the driver's seat of a Honda Accord.

His passenger was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he died later that morning.

No arrests have been made in connection to the shooting.

The investigation is ongoing.
A 13-year-old Massachusetts boy will appear in juvenile court Tuesday after allegedly shooting a 12-year-old boy with a rifle Monday.

Police said they are investigating possible messaging between the two boys and possible Facebook bullying.



Taunton police said the incident happened around 12:15 p.m. in the area of 100 Highstone St. The two boys are neighbors and live near the scene.

After an argument, police say the teen felt threatened. He allegedly went home, unlocked a gun safe and retrieved a .22 long rifle. He went back and shot the victim in a wooded area, according to police.

The shot went through the boy's arm, out the inside of his elbow and into his rib cage.

He was taken to Hasbro Childrens Hospital and is listed in stable condition.

The suspect ran home after the shooting and locked himself inside. Police arrived shortly after and surrounded the home.

The teen came out of the home while on the phone with his mother shortly after and was taken into custody. He is being held by the Department for Children, Youth and Families.

He faces charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon and firing a gun within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Neither boy's identity has been released.
Maine State Police have arrested a man who was involved in a standoff with police at a motel in Portland late Monday night.



Authorities said Vincent Teruel, 40, checked into a room at Motel 6 after an alleged assault in York on Sunday. When authorities arrived at the motel the next day, Teruel was not in his room.

After evacuating nearly three dozen guests on the third and fourth floors of the motel as a precaution, police discovered that Teruel had fled the scene.

Guests were then allowed to go back to their rooms.

On Tuesday, Maine State Police Public Safety spokesperson Steve McCausland said Teruel had been taken into custody. No further details were released.
Police in Vermont say they have located a missing 30-year-old Colchester woman.

Vanessa Whitaker was last seen Monday around 11 p.m. at her home on Hawthorne Lane.

She was found in St. Albans, roughly a half-hour from Colchester around 1 p.m. Tuesday.

A passerby called saying Whitaker was laying on the side of the road. Police say she was safe and unharmed.

It's not clear how Whitaker got to St. Albans.
Massachusetts State Police say a man who allegedly made threats to officers in Scituate on Tuesday morning that resulted in a multiple agency manhunt and led several schools to be placed in lockdown is now safely in custody.



After an intense five-hour search in the woods along Route 3A, 46-year-old Douglas Simonovitch of Oxford was apprehended by a SWAT team with an armored vehicle.

The manhunt began after Simonovitchs female friend called police around 8:30 Tuesday morning saying he had run out of her car into the woods near the police department and was suicidal.

The officers established communications with him via cell phone. During that communication, he indicated that he was armed with two .45s and 14 round clips," Scituate Police Chief Michael Stewart said.

Police said they knew Simonovitch had a backpack on, but they werent sure what was in it.

"He indicated that if we approached him, he would shoot police," Stewart said.

MetroLEC SWAT, ATF, and the FBI were called in, and they established a mile wide perimeter. A section of Route 3A was temporarily closed.

Nearby Cushing Elementary, Gates Middle and Scituate High School were told to shelter in place. Some parents opted to pick their children up from school as the search continued.

When they said it was in the vicinity of the neighborhood, I just got nervous," said Sandra Ponichtera, a mother of two students who also lives near where the suspect was arrested.

A reverse 911 call was also made to nearby homeowners.

Joe Mulhern, who lives nearby, said the call said, You should stay in your home because of a man thats around and hes suicidal.

After further negotiations, Simonovitch was taken into custody without any injuries.

Police said he is believed to be an Army veteran who appeared to be intoxicated and will likely undergo a mental health evaluation.

Theres likely to be no charges here," Stewart said. "While he did make a threatening response to the officers, the officers were never exposed to a firearm, we have not located a firearm.

Police said Simonovitch did have an outstanding warrant out of Rockland for violating a restraining order taken out by a female relative of the woman he was with on Tuesday morning.

He could be arraigned on that charge in Hingham District Court on Wednesday.
Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed a new executive order Tuesday that focuses on boosting cyber-security in the state.

Gov. Scott, a Republican, created a 10-person cyber-security advisory team, which he wants to keep him up-to-date on readiness, strategy, and planning.

The panel will make recommendations to the governor on how to better protect state information and citizens personal data, Gov. Scotts office said.

The new team also aims to improve federal and state partnerships to assess digital risks, raise awareness among Vermonters, and attract a top-notch cyber-security workforce.

Gov. Scott said Vermont must try to stay ahead of emerging threats from hackers.

"Were only as strong as our weakest link in terms of cyber-security," Scott said at a news conference Tuesday. We have a lot of state employees, we have a lot of opportunities for failure in some respects, and thats why its so important that we work together.

Its up to Gov. Scott to appoint the commission, which his office said will include technology and homeland security experts, as well as members of the business, higher education, and utility sectors.
A Vermont woman is going to spend between six and 15 years in prison after she pleaded guilty intentionally crashing her car on Interstate 89 in Richmond, killing another driver.

The Burlington Free Press reports Karri Benoir was sentenced Monday in court in Burlington.

The 25-year-old Benoir pleaded guilty in August to a charge of gross negligent driving.

She read a letter of apology in court during her sentencing.

Judge Kevin Griffin imposed the sentence that had been agreed upon as part of a plea deal.

Prosecutors have said they believe Benoir was attempting to kill herself when her car crossed the median in July 2015 and hit a car driven by Brendon Cousino, of Richmond.

Benoir's attorney has disputed that assertion.




Being a mum and a wife, with Gods help Being a mum and a wife, with Gods help

Linda Nnene shares her thoughts as a Christian on coping with the pressures of being a wife and mother in her 40s.



I am still wide awake at 01:05. It has been a busy day but things have been constantly served up and the day seems to have just run away. Being a mum and a wife can frequently take its toll. Incessant demands, never ending chores and pressure to be the indefatigable super-mum, can create a weariness that tends to pull one down both physically and emotionally.



I believe our focus should be what we do on those occasions when we think No one is looking out for me, No one acknowledges the things I do around here, I am exhausted, Get me out of here. Need I go on? Do these statements resonate with you?



When, in your mid-40s, some issues rise to the top of your priority list. We want to ensure that our children are safe, happy, content and doing well in every area. Do we need reminding that we still have many years to go until our children are 'fully sorted' and frankly does this ever happen? I see the 40s as a changing time in my life but not the end of the striving.



There are inevitable changes that occur in our physical bodies. How do we cope? How do we move through perimenopause to the full-blown menopause? Suffice to say this is a treacherous time. It is unpredictable on so many fronts and has the potential to manifest quite severe adverse consequences.



My husband always says that society is built on the family unit. Stable families lead to a stable society. The wife's or mother's wellbeing are a key determinant of family stability. It would not be far wrong to say that the family unit is built on the females hormone! Think about it people, mums are jack of all trades the chauffeur, secretary, receptionist, chef, pastoral leader/manager, husband helper / ego soother, school liaison officer, trouble-shooter and so much more. We are selfless. Therefore, when perimenopause to menopause comes it is often like an explosive. No one prepares you. Slowly the mummy-sagacity is moving on. We can feel this happening and so can the rest of the family.



The symptoms you may notice include anxiety, persistent low or variable mood, irritability, sleep difficulties, fatigue, aches and pains, forgetfulness or a lack of concentration, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, weight fluctuations, ones belly becoming not so flat, hair and skin changes.



No amount of Christian praise and worship will miraculously make any of these symptoms disappear or tranquillise your nerves. We just need to prepare ourselves. This is one topic mothers do not talk about and it takes their daughters by surprise. We should be speaking about this to our daughters. However, I am still uncertain this would prepare us well enough for the change. The following steps will help make a difference.



Accept the change. We are unable to deny that we are experiencing changes in our bodies. Denying it can only affect us negatively, mentally. Accept the change and continue saying to yourself I am beautiful, I have reached an amazing age and despite the changes I am beautiful. As a Christian, I go through scriptures that help me. Philippians 1:6 tells me categorically tells us He who began a good work in me (and you) will perfect it. What a promise!



Get closer to your spouse. Your husband still loves you the way you are. You both are going through changes however you need to both remain committed. This means your journey is his journey. I am still learning to depend on his robust assessment but I am glad we are going through this journey together, developing in every area of our lives together.



Learn to relax and reduce stress. Exercise is such a wonderful thing. We all are extremely busy but we must find time to exercise. A mix of exercises will be good for us. Do not forget your pelvic exercises!



Chat Woman to Woman. I am completely blessed that I have my mother whom I run to when I need to chat, gain objective knowledge, gossip and more. I can speak to my mum about anything and everything. When we initially chatted about perimenopause, her response was Oh I went through it, every woman goes through it. We laughed and the conversation began. Every young woman needs an older wiser woman who can teach, mentor and show by example. The older woman has been on this road and will be the right person to encourage and inspire you. The bible speaks of this in Titus 2:3-5.



Seek professional support. For those of us who believe, my message here is trust in God through the medical professionals and consider their diagnosis. Seeking professional help does not mean you have no faith. God uses medical professionals to provide skill, proficiency aegis and care. You may uncover other diagnoses through medical assessment and testing for anaemia, cholesterol, diabetes, and thyroid.



Develop a mindset. Our disposition and mental attitude will determine our responses to situations. Each day I reflect on the positives that have worked well. It could be the most mundane things. You have been suffering from hot flushes, weight gain, mood swings. So what?! Think positive thoughts by being aware of what you say to yourself. Be grateful with your body and your health. We must also learn to have some me time where you set aside time for you and you alone.



Practice Gratitude. Celebrate the fact that you are alive and well.

For those of us who are married perhaps it is also time to focus on our husbands. He may also be confused and concerned. I have to sometimes remind myself that he is also going through my uncertainties so I must try and be nice, friendly, patient but mostly treat him with love.





The truth is that we are all growing up, developing and changes will occur. When this happens let us embrace it. There is life beyond this and I choose to be happy and celebrate. I am still realising this. Love and much blessings to you.



Ike and Linda Nnene live in Norwich and worship at Soul Church. Ike is a GP and Linda is a teacher at CNS School, and they are both passionate gospel musicians. They have a passion for marriage, family, wellness and personal development training.



They have a blog called Power and Beauty - www.ikeandlinda.org



enquiries@ikeandlinda.org To find out more e-mail





The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive and good-natured debate between website users.
Venkatesan Parthasarathy By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Was it youthful arrogance or stupidity is debatable but a video of students wielding sickles and knives as they travel in foot-board of a suburban train, certainly constituted a threat to public security. While it is not clear when the incident happened, the video shows students of Pachayappas College creating ruckus even as the train arrives at Nemilichery station on the Chennai-Arakonam railway line.

The video was supposedly uploaded on Facebook by another student, Bharathiraja of Pachayappas College, around 4 pm on October 7. He had uploaded three videos taken with different cameras. The content was removed from Facebook on Monday evening, but a copy of the video was circulated among some circles.One of the videos showed a group of students, wearing college IDs, waving sickles and knives as the train slows down. Few students were seen bursting fire crackers on the platform, while others danced with the deadly weapons.

CLICK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO:

The issue has been taken seriously by the Railway Protection Force, who confirmed that tension between different group of students on the railway line had existed in the past. Speaking to City Express, Louis Amuthan, senior divisional railway commissioner, RPF Chennai, stated that they are unable to confirm when the incident took place but steps are being taken to nab those involved.

Special teams have been formed, while random checks across all stations on the Chennai-Arakonam line was done on Monday. Further, Ill visit Pachayappas College on Tuesday to meet the management and sensitise students, he said.

The weapons they were 'playing' with.

(Photo | ANI Twitter)

At Madras Moore Market station, RPF personnel said seven persons including four students were held on suspicion and handed over to the railway police. Officials are holding an enquiry to ascertain those responsible. Similarly, few students were reportedly apprehended at Pattabiram and were questioned.

Incidents involving unruly students on suburban trains is not uncommon. Last July, two groups from Pachayappas and Presidency College fought on a moving train near Nemilichery. Around a dozen students from both colleges had suffered knife-induced injuries with the shell-shocked passengers witnessing the deadly assault.

Another picture of the students.

(Photo | ANI Twitter)

CHENNAI: Was it youthful arrogance or stupidity is debatable but a video of students wielding sickles and knives as they travel in foot-board of a suburban train, certainly constituted a threat to public security. While it is not clear when the incident happened, the video shows students of Pachayappas College creating ruckus even as the train arrives at Nemilichery station on the Chennai-Arakonam railway line. The video was supposedly uploaded on Facebook by another student, Bharathiraja of Pachayappas College, around 4 pm on October 7. He had uploaded three videos taken with different cameras. The content was removed from Facebook on Monday evening, but a copy of the video was circulated among some circles.One of the videos showed a group of students, wearing college IDs, waving sickles and knives as the train slows down. Few students were seen bursting fire crackers on the platform, while others danced with the deadly weapons. CLICK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO: The issue has been taken seriously by the Railway Protection Force, who confirmed that tension between different group of students on the railway line had existed in the past. Speaking to City Express, Louis Amuthan, senior divisional railway commissioner, RPF Chennai, stated that they are unable to confirm when the incident took place but steps are being taken to nab those involved. Special teams have been formed, while random checks across all stations on the Chennai-Arakonam line was done on Monday. Further, Ill visit Pachayappas College on Tuesday to meet the management and sensitise students, he said. The weapons they were 'playing' with. (Photo | ANI Twitter)At Madras Moore Market station, RPF personnel said seven persons including four students were held on suspicion and handed over to the railway police. Officials are holding an enquiry to ascertain those responsible. Similarly, few students were reportedly apprehended at Pattabiram and were questioned. Incidents involving unruly students on suburban trains is not uncommon. Last July, two groups from Pachayappas and Presidency College fought on a moving train near Nemilichery. Around a dozen students from both colleges had suffered knife-induced injuries with the shell-shocked passengers witnessing the deadly assault. Another picture of the students. (Photo | ANI Twitter)
Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary and Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito visited Japans National Archive to see the exhibition called "Japan and Denmark: Valuable Records of the Historical Relation" in Tokyo, which was created in cooperation with the Danish National Archive.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg visit United Arab Emirates (UAE) between the dates of October 9-12, 2017 together with an economic mission. Minister of Development Francois Bausch and a business delegation accompany HGD Guillaume and HGD Stephanie. The purpose of that visit is to strengthen the political and economic relations between two countries and to make a series of economic agreements.
Even before it arrives in India in early 2018, the all-new 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift has managed to create quite a furore in the domestic market. And it can go on to become the most successful car in India, within no time of its launch. The 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dzire is a proof of our prediction. The compact sedan based on the hatchback, which was launched a couple of months back in India, is already the highest selling car in a single month.

Maruti Suzuki Dzire managed to attract more than 30000 buyers in a single month of August, making it the most successful car ever in India. The new Swift can replicate the same magic, given the kind of excitement people have for the new product. Even the current generation Swift is selling more than 18000 units a month.

2018 Maruti Suzuki RS Turbo. (Image: Pakwheels)

While we have already reported that a Suzuki Sport has landed in India, the 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift is yet to make its way to the country. On the other hand, the new hatchback has already reached our neighboring country of Pakistan. A website called Pakwheels has driven the car, borrowing it from a local dealership named Sigma Motors in Lahore.

Pakwheels has done a review of the vehicle and its the RS Turbo variant which they have driven. In India, though, we are not very sure if this variant will make its way. It comes powered by a 3-cylinder Boosterjet turbo 1000cc engine that makes 110 bhp of power and 150 Nm of torque. Its mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox.

2018 Maruti Suzuki RS Turbo Cabin. (Image: Pakwheels)

In India though, Maruti Suzuki could very launch a 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.3-litre DDiS and a 1.0-litre turbo petrol motor (like the one in Baleno RS) and it can be called the Swift Sport. There can be a hybrid version too, as reported by various sources.

The new Swift will adorn a completely new body design, like the one seen on the Dzie, albeit without a boot. The cabin will also be completely changed, with a new touchscreen infotainment system and 3-knob air con unit.

You can relish the images of the red beauty here and keep a tab here for further developments related to the 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift!

Also Watch:
Washington: Responding to a question on the biggest challenged to GST, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that there are "attempts" being made to derail the project but it was being adopted by the states at a fast pace.

Jaitley was in conversation with Dan Schulman, president and CEO of Paypal and Chandrajit Banerjee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

At the event jointly organised by CII and US India Business Council (USIBC) in New York, Jaitley said global integration of Indian economy is happening at a time when other economies are becoming more protectionist.

Asserting that India is now a better place to do business with because of the series of steps being taken by the government in the last three years, Jaitley said procedures have been simplified.

Now as much as 95 per cent of the investments are through automatic route, and foreign investment promotion board has been abolished, he noted.

Today, 99 per cent of tax queries are addressed online, he said.

Now States are being ranked on ease of doing business, he told the audience here.

India is now capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale, the union finance minister said.

As many as 250 highways projects are under construction.

India is now having surplus power and capacity of Indian ports have been expanded, he said.

Responding to a question on digital payments, he said the younger generation is taking on to modern payment methods in a big way.

Further, all government benefits are linked directly to bank accounts. The government has introduced low-cost insurance policies to incentivise the bank holders, he said.

Jaitley who arrived early in the day in New York also addressed US investors on recent economic reform initiatives.

He is slated to address the Columbia University students on Tuesday. The finance minister is here in US to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

But before arriving in Washington DC for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, he would travel to Boston to address the students of the Harvard University and interact with the US business community in Boston.

During his three day stay at Washington, the finance minister will hold a bilateral meeting with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

He will also participate in an interactive seminar organised by FICCI on  "India Opportunity Conference" and attend the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Working Dinner on October 12.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal invited German companies to invest in India's food processing sector, saying this segment has huge growth potential as only 10 percent of food is being processed.

The minister, who participated in food exhibition at Anuga in Cologne, invited German companies to participate in World Food India summit to be held early next month. "Germany is among India's most important partners bilaterally and in global context, and India is ready with open arms to welcome German companies," Badal was quoted as saying in a statement.

Anuga, which is the number one trading place in the world, gave us the right platform to interact with various global players in the food industry, she added. The ministry is gearing to host over 30 countries and 2,000 companies at World Food India and Germany will be a partner country, the statement said.

"By 2050, world population is going to be over 9 billion, and demand for food is expected to increase by 50 percent. Where only 10 percent of food is being processed currently in India, we see huge potential to co-develop and optimise food processing capability, to serve the world food market," Badal said.

The World Food India summit will provide a platform to foster partnerships and transform food economy, she said, and welcomed food processors, machine manufacturers, technology suppliers and refrigeration companies, to come to India and expand their business opportunities.
The photograph of a toddler in the lap of the police officer has gone viral on social media. The viral photograph from Hyderabad showing officer SHO R Sanjay Kumar of Nampalli smiling down at the 4-month-old baby boy he rescued from the kidnappers is melting the hearts on the Internet.

The four-month-old toddler was rescued 15 hours after he was kidnapped while he was sleeping next to his mother - Humera Begum (21) - on the footpath in Nampally, Hyderabad on Wednesday night.

Inspector Sanjay Kumar @shonampally rescued this child who was kidnapped. The smile of the child says it all. Love this pic! @hydcitypolice pic.twitter.com/zA1jZ2QGMx  Swati Lakra, IPS (@AddlCPCrimesHyd) October 7, 2017

The photograph which was tweeted by Hyderabad IPS officer Swati Lakra on Saturday has been retweeted over 5500 times and "liked" 23,000 times on the microblogging site.

Nampally police arrested 2 child kidnappers MD Mustaq & MD Yousuf n Traced 4 months baby boy with in 15 hours and handed over to parents pic.twitter.com/tmKegzBOkG  SHO NAMPALLY (@shonampally) October 5, 2017

Immediately after getting the information, the police became active and nabbed the kidnappers within 15 hours of the abduction and the child was released from their clutches. The arrested kidnappers Mohammad Mushtaq (42) and Mohammad Yusuf (25) later confessed during interrogation that they were going to sell the child.

This #photo in @TelanganaToday of a baby smiling at cops who rescued him from his kidnappers in #Hyderabad is so sweet! #WorldSmileDay pic.twitter.com/3wpgblW3NO  IPS Association (@IPS_Association) October 7, 2017

"The boy's smile and his mother's tears of joy were worth the team's effort. The boy was crying when he was rescued. He kept crying even after he was handed over to his mother. At that time, I took him in my arms, rocked him gently and he stopped crying. Then he looked at me and gave the widest smile I have ever seen," Inspector Sanjay Kumar said to the Indian Express.

Twitterati came together to congratulate the cop and rejoiced the wonderful photograph.

This is beautiful. Well done @hydcitypolice  VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 8, 2017

This is beautiful. Well done @hydcitypolice  VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 8, 2017

This #photo in @TelanganaToday of a baby smiling at cops who rescued him from his kidnappers in #Hyderabad is so cute! #WorldSmileDay pic.twitter.com/szHHyPz2qh  Dennis Marcus Mathew (@dennismarcus) October 6, 2017

SMILE : It's a boldest statement you can make without saying a world...Cops rescued this baby with kidnappers... #PicOfTheDay #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/GoNl7UOvoG  RJNUPOOR (@RJNUPOOR) October 7, 2017

Baby smiling at cops who rescued him from kidnappers in Hyderabad, India pic.twitter.com/OOhbzZneki  MakingYouSmile (@_MadeMeSmile) October 8, 2017

Baby smiles at cops who rescued him from his kidnappers. #Hyderabad #Jasva #hyderabadpolice . Our country want this smile forever pic.twitter.com/B4qZxl2O5x  Selvam Saravanan (@SelvamSaravana3) October 7, 2017

I loved this picture so much ... U should use it as part of public relations resource too https://t.co/59Y6hlGP7U  Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) October 7, 2017

1 of the best pic of spreading happiness and defeating threat n terror. Smile is so real that those who see it feel happy from inside.   manish bihani (@mbihani0710) October 7, 2017

Not to miss the smile on the relieved cop's face... Their service to mankind is truly a service to god... Not all Cops are Bad :-)  ... (@ChoVial) October 7, 2017

Rarely I have seen such a beautiful photo. Kudos to cameraman. God bless the child.  Priti (@Dfreebirdpriti) October 8, 2017

"She woke up around 4 am and found the child missing, and after searching for some time, she approached the police," Inspector R Sanjay Kumar told Telangana Today. Later the vigilant police reviewed the CCTV footage and the child was rescued from the kidnappers.
New Delhi: The Central government on Tuesday submitted before a Supreme Court Constitution bench of five judges that it has drafted a "Management of patients' with terminal illness-withdrawal of medical life support bill', and stated that 'living will' of a terminally ill patient seeking euthanasia will not be binding on doctors.

The court is now considering the prayer of an NGO, Common Cause, to declare that every person should be able to execute a document like living will so that he or she is not subjected to unwanted medical treatment or unwanted life support system.

The petitioners have taken it beyond terminally ill patients and that every person has a right of self-determination and one has the right to pass that advanced directive.

The bill as accessed by News18 was proposed by the Health Ministry in 2016 as "The Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill Patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill ("draft bill"), a model law proposed under the 241st report of the Law Commission of India.

The bill has called the will of a person to be or not be given medical treatment in case he or she falls terminally ill as "living will" or "advance medical directive" in the drafted bill. The bill proposes that any such will or a medical power of attorney will not be binding on any medical practitioner and cannot be executed by any patient since it would be considered void.

Additional Solicitor General P Narasimha, who was arguing the case on behalf of the government, said that the Centre's resistance to 'living will' is due to the law commission recommendation.

"It's not that we opposed living will only. The law commission had proposed in the 241st report that living will cannot be legal," said Narasimha.

Living will is a situation when a living person executes a will just like distributing property rights, and states that in case he ever falls terminally ill, then he should not be given medical care which would eventually lead to his death.

The term "passive euthanasia" used by the Supreme Court in its verdict on Aruna Shanbaug's case is defined as the withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten a terminally ill-patient's death.

The bill has clearly outlined a difference between a competent and an incompetent patient where it has been stated that if a person who is above 16 years of age and can understand consequence of his decision and makes an informed call about denying medical treatment, then such a decision would be binding on the doctor attending him and would eventually lead to passive euthanasia.

Though the bill does not mention the word 'passive euthanasia' but it states that 'life sustaining treatment' can be refused by a competent patient and such a decision will be binding on the doctor.

If the patient is above 16 years of age, then consent with regard to such a decision has to also be obtained from their parents or major spouse.

The arguments are slated to continue on Wednesday. The SC has also advised the Centre to constitute permanent medical board to decide medical cases on Passive Euthanasia.

NGO Common Cause speaking to News18 said that the government has not yet presented the bill in court but the government has stated that they are ready with a bill on passive euthanasia, they are against living will of a person.

Our case is solely about living will or an advance medical authoritative direction to a medical practitioner and not a government bill on passive euthanasia. The court was hesitant about technicalities and procedures to be followed in case of living will so that it is no misused. Our argument was that once the living will is there and a board of doctors certify, then there should not be a problem with regard to living will. The certificate needs to be strong and robust, said a lawyer working with the NGO Common Cause.
New Delhi: A fresh DNA report has revealed that the newborn of the 10-year-old Chandigarh rape victim was fathered by her younger maternal uncle and not his elder brother, as the police suspected initially. In September this year, the DNA sample of her elder maternal uncle hadn't matched to that of the newborn, compelling the police to investigate the case further.

The Chandigarh police had filed an FIR against her maternal uncle for having sexually abused the girl repeatedly over a period of time. The accused was arrested on September 19, and now rape charges will be framed against the second uncle, too.

The 10-year-old, a student at a Chandigarh government school, had complained of stomach pain in July 2017. The medical examination disclosed that she was six months pregnant.

The family wanted the foetus aborted, but the advanced stage of pregnancy and medical reasons couldn't have allowed that. The family knocked on the doors of Supreme Court, seeking the permission to abort the foetus, but the plea was rejected.

The girl delivered a baby on August 17, and a DNA test was conducted on the maternal uncle the same day. The Chandigarh police filed a chargesheet against the accused on August 25, and charges were framed on August 30.

On August 31, the 10-year-old girl and her mother recorded their statement at the Chandigarh district court where they named the maternal uncle again. However, the DNA report has once again brought the investigation to a standstill. The girl will record her statement once again before the District Magistrate on September 15.
New Delhi: The Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh has rejected Centres directive to cut value added tax (VAT) on fuel.

The Chhattisgarh government said they already have a lower VAT on fuel as compared to other states.

Earlier in the day, Gujarat became the first state to announce a reduction it VAT on diesel and petrol. In a move seen as an attempt to lure voters in the poll-bound state, the Vijay Rupani dispensation announced a 4% reduction in VAT.

"After the central government's instructions, Gujarat has decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent from today mid-night," Rupani said at a press meet on Tuesday morning. The state government is bound to suffer a loss of Rs 2,316 crore to the exchequer with this announcement.

Earlier this month, the central government had for the first time in its tenure reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel prices and asked the state governments to do the same with VAT.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Rs 2 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel was done to give relief from relentless increase in prices and leave more money in hands of consumers. Now it is up to state governments if they are concerned with the issue (to cut sales tax or VAT)," he said.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also said states should cut sales tax or VAT on petrol and diesel by 5 per cent.

Unlike the Centre, states levy VAT as an ad valorem duty which rises every time there is an increase in price. The Centre, Pradhan said, sacrificed Rs 26,000 crore in revenue in the cut in excise duty.
New Delhi: Even as the Supreme Court, on Monday, ruled in favour of a ban on sale of firecrackers, it seemed to have left a small loophole in the entire process. While it may not be a raging trend, the apex court seems to have missed out on the online sale of crackers.

Many firecracker companies, like Cock brand for example, have a legitimate website where one can order firecrackers online. The website mentions that the minimum order should be worth Rs 3,000. The Supreme Court had, keeping in mind the air pollution levels in Delhi especially post Diwali, ordered for a blanket ban on sale of firecrackers, not bursting them, effective from November 1.

Websites like cockbrand.in, ayyanonline, buyonlinecrackers.com, crackersindia.com, and even e-bay are selling firecrackers of all sorts across the country. The apex court, however, is silent on that. Say for example the firecracker business is based out of Bengaluru, and the order is made from Delhi, the seller can reject the order considering the area of purchase falls under the SC order. Likewise, if the firecracker brand is selling its products online from Delhi, it should ideally curb its practices because the SC has banned sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, said advocate Ashish Dixit.

Another aspect that the order seems to be silent on is what happens to all those who bring in firecrackers from other states, say Uttar Pradesh or Haryana. Also, since there is no ban on bursting firecrackers, those who have already stocked up on the crackers would still be going ahead with the festivities, thus throwing into disarray the courts observation based reducing air pollution.

The Supreme Court on Monday banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region with immediate effect, saying its September 12 order temporarily permitting sale of firecrackers would be effective from November 1.

A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice AK Sikri said it wanted to test the effect of the ban on the national capitals notoriously toxic air in view of the upcoming Diwali. "We should see at least in one Diwali the impact of a cracker-free festivity," the bench said. Diwali is on October 19 and the order effectively means that no firecrackers will be available for purchase before the festival.

The court had on September 12 temporarily lifted its order of November 11, 2016, suspending permanent licences for sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR.

During the hearing on the plea seeking restoration of last year's order, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had told the bench that they "support" the application.
Ahmedabad: The BJP government in Gujarat has announced a 4% reduction of VAT (Value Added Tax) on diesel and petrol.

Gujarat is the first state to have done so after the Centre urged states to reduce taxes on fuel amid a growing hue and cry over rising fuel prices.

The opposition Congress cried foul, alleging that the step has been taken by the government with an eye on the upcoming state poll and is a result of the pressure built up because of the response to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's campaign tour in the state.

The rate reduction has been done with an eye on polls. They (government) have come under pressure after looking at the response Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has been getting during his campaign tour in Gujarat, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said.

With Tuesdays announcement, petrol will be cheaper by Rs 2.93 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.72 per litre in Gujarat. The state levies a 28.96% VAT on petrol and diesel.

"After the central government's instructions, Gujarat has decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent from today mid-night," Rupani said at a press meet on Tuesday morning.

The effective price of petrol in Gujarat from mid-night on Tuesday will be Rs 66.53 per litre and that of diesel Rs 60.77 per litre, the chief minister added.

The state government is bound to suffer a loss of Rs 2,316 crore to the exchequer with this announcement.

Earlier this month, the central government had for the first time in its tenure reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel prices and asked the state governments to do the same with VAT.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Rs 2 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel was done to give relief from relentless increase in prices and leave more money in hands of consumers. Now it is up to state governments if they are concerned with the issue (to cut sales tax or VAT)," he said.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also said states should cut sales tax or VAT on petrol and diesel by 5 per cent.

Unlike the Centre, states levy VAT as an ad valorem duty which rises every time there is an increase in price. The Centre, Pradhan said, sacrificed Rs 26,000 crore in revenue in the cut in excise duty.

With PTI inputs
New Delhi:The DG-designate of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Y C Modi on Tuesday assured home minister Rajnath Singh that he and the NIA "won't let the government down."

Delivering the vote of thanks after the inauguration of NIA headquarters' new building, Modi addressed Singh, saying, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I will not let you down. I shall live up to your expectations."

The Congress-led opposition has criticised NIA in the past for becoming a political tool in the hands of the current government.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh had alleged that NIA's decision seeking discharge of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in Malegaon case was to please the BJP-led central government. NIA has also been criticised for not appealing against the bail Swami Aseemanand was granted in Samjhega express blast case.

But Home Minister Rajnath Singh was all praises for the agency and its current DG Sharad Kumar. He said the DG deserves appreciation for "making NIA the most credible agency." "No one can question the NIA investigation anymore. They have brought such credibility," Singh said.

He also pointed out that NIA has 95% conviction rate. "In terror cases, it is not easy to find evidence. But through its scientific investigation, NIA has solved cases of terrorism and they deserve our praise for this," Singh said.

Home Minister also pointed out that terror funding from the 'neighboring country' and circulation of high-quality fake currencies have all come down because of NIA investigations.

Sharad Kumar is set to retire from the post of DG NIA after getting two unprecedented extensions. His successor Y C Modi, who as part of the SIT had exonerated then CM Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots cases, will take over as DG NIA next month.

Modi, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, would assume charge as the DG of the NIA on October 30.

Among the successes of the NIA include conviction of six persons by a Mumbai court for possessing and circulating Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), conviction of 15 people, including former militants, elected representatives and government officials in two cases connected with terror- funding in Assam.

A court also convicted three people for explosion at the Ajmer dargah in 2007. The case was probed by the NIA.
United Nations: India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan at the UN for repeatedly raising the Kashmir issue on platforms where it has not been part of the agenda, saying the neighbouring country has ventured to plough a "lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history".

India's response came after Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said that the decolonisation agenda of the UN will "remain incomplete" without resolution of the "long-festering dispute" of Jammu and Kashmir.

The issues was raised by Pakistan during a debate on decolonisation in the fourth committee of the UN General Assembly.

Srinivas Prasad, minister at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, said India "rejects the efforts of the delegation of Pakistan to bring issues which have never been on the agenda of this Committee ever in its history."

He said India considered it a diversion from the agenda and as a distraction not worthy of a response.

"Even as all those who have taken the floor have focused on issues of Non-Self-Governing Territories, a solitary member State, as usual, has ventured to plough a lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history," said the Indian diplomat.

However, exercising its right to reply, Pakistan said that Kashmir remained a "dispute under any definition", and that there was an "explicit obligation" for the UN and the parties to work to resolve it.

Earlier, Lodhi continued with her anti-India tirade at the UN.

"Contrary to Indian claims, Jammu and Kashmir never was and never can be an integral part of India. It is disputed territory, the final status of which has yet to be determined in accordance with several resolutions of the UN Security Council," she said.
Washington: US First Lady Melania Trump accused her husband's first wife Ivana of making "attention-seeking and self-serving noise", after the former Mrs Trump jokingly referred to herself as the first lady while trying to sell her memoirs.

In an interview with ABC News to promote her new book -- "Raising Trump" -- the 68-year-old Ivana Trump attempted a little joke when describing her longstanding relationship with the 45th US president.

"I have the direct number to White House but I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there, and I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?" she told ABC, with a laugh. Melania Trump, 47 and normally very reserved, was not amused.

"Mrs Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the president," said a tersely worded statement from her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, published by CNN. Barron is the Trumps' young son.

"She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States." "She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books," Grisham said.

She added: "There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. This is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise." Ivana Trump is the mother of Trump's three eldest children: Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.

The former real estate magnate has two other children: Tiffany, with his second wife, Marla Maples, and 11-year-old Barron -- who lives with his parents at the White House. Ivana, a Czech-born former model, skier and businesswoman, married Trump in 1979. The couple were a fixture on the New York celebrity circuit before divorcing in a blaze of scandal in 1992.

Trump went on to marry Maples, with whom he had been having an affair, but they divorced six years later. Melania is Trump's third wife.

Ivana is perhaps best known for coining Trump's nickname "The Donald."
Thiruvananthapuram: A 65-year-old priest has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor inside a church in the district.

Father Devaraj was arrested on Monday for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl who had attended church on Sunday. The girls father told police that he saw his child being sexually abused while he entered the church to pick her up.

The priest has been serving at the Kandanthitta CSI church for last one year and has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The case of rape has been filed against the priest under Section 367 of IPC and POCSO.
Srinagar: Sajjad Mughal, the security guard who had killed 25-year-old lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha in her Mumbai flat five years ago, was arrested from the Srinagar-Leh highway on Tuesday, more than a year after he jumped parole and went missing.

Police said they had received inputs that Mughal may be hiding near his hometown in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. He was picked up by the state police and will be transferred to Maharashtra, officials said.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Pallavis father Atanu Purkayastha, expressed his gratitude to police and demanded that Mughals sentence should be changed from life imprisonment to death now. The last year has been a very difficult time for us. But justice has not been done till now. He should be hanged, he said.

Mughal, who was lodged in Nashik Central Jail, had been granted parole in February 2016 after he filed an application saying that his mother was unwell. He was allowed to travel to Kashmir on the condition that he would report to the local police station. He never returned.

His parole was set to end in March, but he sought an extension of two months. However, he did not return even in May, after which a complaint was filed. Investigations later revealed that soon after reaching his hometown, Mughal had skipped parole. Special teams were sent to Kashmir to re-arrest him, but he remained untraceable for over 18 months.

The news of his disappearance had caused a furore all over and opened a can of worms for the police jail machinery, with questions being raised on the procedure for granting furloughs to convicts. The then prison superintendent of Nashik prison, BK Upadhyaya, was eventually suspended by the state government.

It had also led to an overhaul in the parole system, with the Devendra Fadnavis government banning parole for rapists and murder convicts. The number of days of parole was also reduced from 90 to 46 days.

Pallavi, the daughter of a Delhi-based IAS officer, was murdered in her 16th-floor apartment in Wadala on August 9, 2012. Mogul, who was employed as a watchman in the building, had managed to get a duplicate key of the main door of Pallavi's house where she lived with her fiance, Avik Sengupta.

He tried to rape Pallavi, but stabbed her multiple times and slit her throat when she fought back.

A sessions court had found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2014. The autopsy report, the murder weapon, Moghuls bloodstained clothes, call records and DNA samples had nailed his crime.
New Delhi: NIA in its ongoing probe against 'love jihad' has now got testimonies from two women who've alleged to have been lured and converted to Islam.

Athira alias Ayesha from Kasargod and Athira from Palakad have both told NIA that they were lured. "We spoke to the two Athiras and both have said they were lured," an NIA officer told CNN News18.

Athira alias Ayesha had recently reconverted to Hinduism after converting to Islam a few months back. She had told CNN News18 after reconversion, that she was influenced by Zakir Naik videos on Islam and also after observing her Muslim friends. Sources say the second Athira from Palakad eloped with a Muslim man and converted to marry him. In both these cases NIA suspects the role of Popular Front of India (PFI).

The role of Sainaba, president of PFI's women's wing, the National Womens Front (NWF) is being probed in the Athira and Hadiya cases. NIA suspects that PFI fronts like Satyasarini and NWF are responsible for mentoring and training girls like Hadiya and Athira into Islam.

Hadiya's case has sparked NIA investigation in the alleged love jihad cases. Her husband, a SDPI activist has gone to supreme court challenging Kerala high court's decision to annul his marriage to Hadiya. Kerala govt has opposed NIA investigation in this case but also handed over 94 inter-faith marriage cases to NIA. "Out of all the cases that Kerala police has handed over, PFI's role is suspected in atleast 23 cases," a NIA officer said.

Fifty PFI activists have been questioned in this connection. NIA investigation is now focussed on ascertaining of PFI link to these marriages is limited to converting people to Islam or training them for terror activities.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took an indirect dig at Union Minister of State for Health, Ashwini Choubey, for his remarks that Biharis are responsible for crowding the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

While inaugurating various health projects in Patna on Tuesday, Nitish advised all MPs to help people of Bihar who need better treatment. "I urge all MPs of the state to extend help to those who want treatment outside Bihar," he said.

The CM said his government was doing everything possible for the betterment of health facilities within the state so that no one has to go outside.

On Sunday, Choubey landed in controversy when he remarked that Biharis were flocking to AIIMS and straining the premier institutes resources.

The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare added that he had directed doctors to send such patients back to the state.

Choubey made the controversial comment while stressing on the need to develop health infrastructure in Bihar. We have this peculiar habit of visiting AIIMS in Delhi for everything. The people of Bihar tend to go there even for a small disease. This has put pressure there and I have directed the doctors to send such patients back to the state.
For 25 years, October 10, has been celebrated as the World Mental Health Day. With this year's theme being 'Mental Health in Workplace', the time is opportune to examine how ready Indian workplaces are to combat the growing burden of mental illness.

India's National Mental Health Survey, 2016, the largest of its kind globally, had a morbid finding -- at any given time, over 10 percent Indians suffer from a mental illness. Additionally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates one in four Indians will suffer from some form of mental illness in their lifetime.

This is scary. What should worry us is that 90 percent sufferers have no access to healthcare.

Mental illness is remarkably egalitarian in its bite. It attacks across caste, class and religion, though, those at the bottom of the pyramid are worst off. The youth is most afflicted but anyone can fall ill later in life. Even if early youth, adulthood and middle age are more susceptible ages for mental illnesses to occur, geriatric cases are on the uptick. Yet, despite the preponderance and severity of mental illness, it remains surrounded by a lack of awareness and an abominable stigma.

Mental Illness and working Class Population

Youth, adults and middle aged persons constitute the working population  public or private, formal or informal, urban or rural. If we stratify this population, by official estimates, a minimum 1.5 Crore Indians of working age suffer from serious mental illnesses. I'd add an estimated 3.5 crore, who are suffering, if not severely. Thus, 5 crore of country's work force, at any given point, is in need of mental health care.

It begs the questions, are workplaces ready to provide assistance to those in need?

A Personal Story

In early 1997, I was a highly successful Government of India officer, toast of the prestigious Konkan Railway Project. In the aftermath of the Harshad Mehta Securities Scam, market conditions were extremely hostile. Yet, I was labeled the 'Financial Engineer', after raising money for the completion of the signature project. One sunny morning, my professional life changed dramatically as I moved, laterally, from a cushy government job to become one of the youngest Vice Presidents in the Essar Group, with a then rare six figure salary, too.

The change from a Class-I government officer to corporate honcho was disruptive. My circadian clock had to reset to 18-20 hour corporate workdays, a total lack of tenure security sent shivers down the spine (I was my own boss in the government job), and extraordinary stress worsened my mental health. Within months, I spiraled into deep depression. By November, I was in an inescapable vicious cycle. In February and September, 1998, I had two successive, severe mental breakdown, and was reduced to a vegetative state.

Colleagues and bosses were dumbfounded. I was of no use to Essar's promoters, the Ruias and my corporate career seemed over before it started. Given the stigma and ignorance attached to mental illness, the Ruias could have chucked me out.

Instead, Shashi and Ravi Ruia proved to be guardian angels. Being new to the organisation, I had no leave to my credit, and between November 1997 and May, 1999 (when I took the decision to go abroad in inebriated state to get Masters in Management degree from Asian Institute of Management, Manila). I largely stayed home. If I went to office, in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, and later in Hazira, I curled up in a fetal position in my chair and cried inconsolably. Every month, I was given my fat salary without contributing anything to justify it. I was allowed to retain my pricey accommodation in up-market Lokhandwala and the use of the costly office car. My wife got occasional calls from the Group HR Head, asking what more could be done to help us.

This, even as I blamed, cursed and abused Essar scion Prashant Ruia for my state. Truthfully, my illness, Bipolar Disorder, had biological determinants, and various environmental triggers, both before and after joining Essar, brought it to the fore.

Mine was one in a million cases of compassion shown by a corporate to an employee suffering from mental illness. It was a textbook case of what to do when your star employee breaks down.

With this in mind, I ask how inclusive Indian workplaces are for the mentally ill. India was one of the first countries to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has a forward looking Mental Health Policy, 2014, and the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, which will become operational in next three months.

Yet, increasing workplace stress lends urgency to this questions. Incidences of suicides and suicide attempts are growing, particularly due to depression.

Despite changes in policy and statues, corporate India is not an inclusive place for mentally ill. As one who follows the policy of Glasnost, I went public with my story a decade ago. However, I have faced stigma and, ever since, found it impossible to be employed again. When I created the blog akhilvaani, last year, for people to "Own-Up, Open-Up and Talk" about mental health, I found few takers.

Most people, I've found over three and a half decades, cannot talk about their mental illness to colleagues and bosses. Most dare not, as employers, barring a few, are not ready to shoulder the responsibility of a mentally ill employee. Shareholders' returns are more important than the health of this most important stakeholder, even though, in this process, the organisation is the net loser. Employees keep their illness to themselves, though most are either curable or eminently treatable. If someone ill is reasonably taken care of they can return to regular work and contribute handsomely.

Current Scenario

A leading newspaper today asks "Why men in uniform are feeling low" (I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO CROSS CHECK THIS), and lists those men who committed suicide this year. This trend is not limited to men in uniform, but to those in the all sectors. Alarmed by this increase in suicides, of the young and not so young, I committed myself to Mission Zero Suicide India.

Intriguingly, I found those suffering illnesses are treated better in the public sector than in the private. Possibly, relatively less stress and job security makes the difference. Stigma abounds in the private sector. If you get cancer you get sympathy, if you get depression you get fired.

My disorder has not stopped me from contributing immensely in various fields. My case stands apart as my workplace accommodated me. Apart from a supportive family and regular treatment, my bosses, colleagues, even clients cooperated.

Mental illness is like any other illness. Most suffering from some form of it can work, as much if not more, than colleagues in better health. They just need empathy and an understanding office.

If there are maternity and paternity leaves for employees, then why no similar consideration for those with mental illness. A patient does not require sympathy, only their organisation's solidarity, for a while.

Employers have a selfish reason to promote mental health at work place. Mental illnesses have huge economic cost in terms of lost productivity. Today's workers, increasingly, are knowledge worker. There is much to be gained in taking care of them.

If charity begins at home, why not to look to taking care of employees as the beginning of corporate social responsibility?

(Author is Principal Instigator "Action Group-Mission Zero Suicide India". He was also a member of Government of India constituted Mental Health Policy Group)
Shamli: More than 300 children have fallen ill in Uttar Pradeshs Shamli district after inhaling poisonous gas emitted by chemicals used to dispose of waste from a nearby sugar mill.

The children were rushed to a nearby hospital, but no casualties have been reported yet. However, doctors said some of the kids are in a critical condition.

Waste from Sir Shadi Lal Sugar Mill was dumped near the road. The students of Saraswati Vidya Mandir and Saraswati High School, which are also located on the same stretch on Budhana Road, complained of stomach ache, nausea and burning sensation in their eyes after inhaling the gasses emitted by the chemicals.

While Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the matter, parents of the affected students have demanded strict action against the sugar mills employees and owners.

"We have come to know that similar incidents had taken place in the past. A probe is on and strict action will be taken against those responsible," ADG, Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar said.

He said all the children are safe and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Principal Secretary, Information, Awanish Awasthi told PTI here that "The CM has ordered a probe into the Shamli incident by Commissioner Saharanpur and directed the DM and all local officers to provide all possible help to the affected children."
New Delhi: In a landmark development, Muslim women may soon be allowed to embark on Haj pilgrimage without men accompanying them, known as Mehram. New Haj policy for 2018-2022 has not only proposed to abolish the Haj Subsidy but has also stated that women above 45 should be allowed to go on pilgrimage without a male partner.

The committee headed by former IAS officer and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Afzal Amanullah was set up on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment, dated April 16, 2013, which examined Government of Indias Haj policy 2013-17. The Supreme Court had asked the Centre to frame the next five-year policy.

Interestingly, while Saudi government allowed women to travel alone for Haj, India didnt. We have not understood religion and we go by what majority Muslim community holds in this country we have denied women their right to do Haj, Amanullah told News18.

Article 10 of the bilateral agreement that we have signed with the Saudi government shows that women below 45 will be accompanied by male Mehram. This age cap was put by the Saudi government and it was clear that women above 45 can travel without Mehram. This has not been implemented till date because we have not understood religion and we go by what majority Muslim community holds in this country, Amanullah explained.

He further pointed out that India being a secular country is neutral to religion and thus the committee report gives an option to a woman to either be a part of the policy to travel alone or adhere to ones belief.

I have clearly stated that only those women whose school of thought allows them to go on Haj alone should be permitted to do so in groups of four or more But in a secular country, state will be neutral to religion, he said.

Amanullah said prohibiting women to travel alone without a male company was only a way to listen to the majority of the Muslim opinion in the country. Amongst Indians, 70% are followers of one particular sect who say that a woman can never perform Haj without a Mehram.

Now the Haj Committee of India, which is to represent all Muslims of India and to allow all Muslims as per Allahs willing to go for Haj, is precluding some segment of Muslims who are eligible to go for Haj alone but she is not allowed as she has no Mehram, he said.

Explaining the Committees recommendation, Amanullah said the popular conception of women not being allowed alone is derived from two popular incidents from the life of Prophet Mohammad.

The first was when a person came up to Prophet Muhammad and asked him that he had to go for a war and his wife desired to go for Haj. The prophet replied that he must go with his wife. Now people have extrapolated this incident to give credence to their belief. The second thing is that long ago there used to be some routes where pirates used to loot the caravans. During such loots, women were captured, raped and kept as slaves. Hence it was said that women during Haj should not travel alone, Amanullah said.

Regarding the age restriction, Amanullah said it was rule of the Saudi government and that the committee had no role to play in it. The age restriction of 45 years has been set because we spoke to the Saudi government and it is their policy to not allow single women below 45 to travel without Mehram. Now we have got it in written from them that they will be issuing Visas to single women travelling in group. We have to respect the countrys laws, said Amanullah.
New Delhi: Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case, officials today said.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office in New Delhi where it is expected that the investigating officer of the case will record his statement, they said.

It had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

The ED had earlier questioned few people in this case including the wife of former UPA Minister P C Gupta.

Tejashwi's mother and former state chief minister Rabri Devi has been summoned to appear before the ED tomorrow.

The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.

In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.

Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR.

The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.

The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as quid pro quo .

The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.
New Delhi: A series of mental health care projects, conceived in a year-old brainstorming session by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), may finally bear fruit this month.

25 projects, by researchers from across the country, on suicide prevention, alcohol abuse, depression during pregnancy, training community-level workers were among those talked about in May of 2016. This was done under the mentorship of the ICMR and the World Health Organisation (WHO), with assistance from the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh.

After much planning, these projects will finally take off this month, said Dr Ravinder Singh of the ICMR to News18.

The 2015-16 National Mental Health Survey, undertaken by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), determined that 13.7 percent of Indians lived with mental illnesses, while 10.6 percent needed immediate intervention. In numbers, that is over 7 crore people live with mental illness. However, India has only an estimated 4000 psychiatrists and 43 government-run institutes to tend to them.

ICMR has mentored these 25 researchers for over a year to finally turn research into action that reaches patients. It's called operational or implementational research, said Dr Ravinder Singh, a scientist trained in public health. It aims to turn the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) into actual patient care.

The DMHP came about in 1996 as an actionable component of the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP), 1982. The idea was always to turn goals and research of the NMHP into a reality on the ground, explained Singh.

It was the patient care component of the NMHP, hinged on deploying enough trained staff on the ground, where implementation has been lacking. Of the 358 districts, the central health ministry is supposed to be running DMHP in, only 150 are operational. It's a huge challenge, said Singh, as we don't have enough psychiatrists and psychologists to cover the population.

In April, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the outgoing Director General of ICMR had spoken of plans to set up a registry of patients with severe psychiatric disorders, to help further research on them. For now, ICMR is waiting on NIMHANS to draft the plan and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to provide data from the on-field site in Ballabhgarh, Haryana.

History is important, we be on-ground without knowing the background of cases, said Singh, explaining the logistical obstacle course that comes up between planning and implementation. However, he acknowledges the need to speed things up.

We need to build on the ministry, he said, form a national commission to get things going. Its not just scientists who have to work, politicians also need to get involved.

Research on mental health first started in the 1950s when the administration decided India needed large scale data collection in this area. However, it was mostly focussed on finding patients with different problems. Stress, then known as psycho-social stress, became a subject of study in the '70s and '80s. The research then oriented itself towards disaster aftermaths in the 2000s, taking into account the trauma of survivors of the 1993 earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra and 2001 disaster in Bhuj, Gujarat. Even those affected by the Bhopal Gas disaster of 1984 were taken into account. However, the focus on implementation of research, Singh said, is new. Even with all the stumbling blocks, we now have mental health care as a right, he said, pointing to the Mental Health Care Act, 2017.
Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has now proposed a grand statue of Lord Ram on the banks of Saryu River in Ayodhya. Amid the ever-present Ram Janmabhoomi debate, the government is now planning the statue not far from the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.

Proposed as a part of its Navya Ayodhya project to promote religious tourism in the state, the massive structure might cost hundreds of crores. This comes even as the UP tourism department gave the Taj Mahal a miss in its tourism booklet, ignoring the historic monument that is a huge revenue generator for the state, apart from being one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Hours later, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik endorsed chief minister Yogi Adityanth's proposal to built a 100-metre tall Ram statue in the holy city.

The height of the statue has been proposed at 100 metres, while the measurements have not been finalized yet as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is yet to give a no-objection certificate (NOC).

The proposal has been sent to Governor Ram Naik after a presentation by Tourism Principal Secretary, Awanish Awasthi. However, the state government is yet to ask for an NOC from the NGT.

According to highly placed sources, Awasthi went to invite Governor Naik for the grand Diwali celebrations at Ayodhya, on which Naik enquired if the measurements for the statue has been taken or not.

Awasthi then gave a presentation on the preparations for Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, along with one on Navya Ayodhya, under which the grand Ram statue has been proposed.

Meanwhile, a Diwali aarti has been planned on the banks of Saryu. Thousands of diyas will be lit across Ayodhya and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth, who is the head priest at the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, will lead a procession through the streets of Ayodhya, better known as Rams birthplace.

"Yes, there is a proposal for a Ram statue in Ayodhya. It is at a conceptual stage right now, there are many other proposals for different tourist destinations across Uttar Pradesh and it is one of them. If you go to Bali in Indonesia, you will find many such statues and our idea is to boost tourism in the state," said Principal Secretary (Tourism), Awasthi.

According to sources, apart from the statue, a Ram Katha gallery on the banks of the river, a multi-purpose auditorium in the Digambar Akhara premises and various other public utility services will also be part of the Navya Ayodhya project.

For an integrated development of Ayodhya, the state government has sent a detailed project report (DPR) of Rs 195.89 crore to the Tourism Ministry at the Centre and the ministry has so far provided Rs 133.70 crore to the state.
Madhu Jain says she is going to celebrate three master-weaves and motifs at the forthcoming Amazon India Fashion Week (AIFW) Spring-Summer 2018. The ace designer says they are a glorious offering to India's rich and diverse textiles tradition.

"Internationally renowned dancer, cultural visionary and Padma awardee, Prathibha Prahlad, has choreographed a powerful dance sequence by her group, Prasiddha Repertory, as a prelude to this very special collection," said the designer in a statement.

The first textile in this collection is a paean to the frescoes and murals of the temple paintings of Kerala's Guruvayur temple complex, the intricacy of which have long fascinated Jain.

Her collection in cotton brings alive the depiction of Puranic themes with a vibrancy and wealth of detail. She has incorporated the highly-stylised temple motifs with exquisite detail and a rare delicacy that are enhanced by the natural pigments and dyes used by her in rendering these outstanding works of art.

The second textile is the diametrical opposite: a deceptively simple bamboo-silk collection in undyed, luminescent ivory. For the last 15 years her experiments with bamboo have finally yielded perfection, for which she has been feted on several platforms. .

Finally, the triad is completed with a Royal Venkatagiri collection from Andhra Pradesh that has been woven in the Jamdani tradition, where the designer has incorporated tribal motifs to thrilling exuberance.

The five-day fashion event will flag off on Wednesday.
New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi during a mega rally in Amethi on Tuesday. Shah said Rahul cant see the development by the Narendra Modi government because he is wearing Italian spectacles. He said Rahul must stop touring around Gujarat and instead focus on Amethi.

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Lucknow: Taking the political battle to the Gandhi bastion of Amethi, BJP President Amit Shah will address a mega rally on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Union Minister Smriti Irani in tow.

Union Cabinet minister Smriti Irani, who successfully managed to reduce Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhis victory margin in his pocket borough in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has already declared that Amethi has lost its faith in the Gandhi scion.

Irani arrived a day ahead of the mega show and said, The people have promised a Congress-free Amethi to Amit Shah in 2014. In the 2017 assembly elections, Amethi ensured that Congress was booted out of the area. Now, Rahul Gandhi has suddenly started visiting Amethi more often but it will do him no good.

Rahul Gandhi was in Amethi for three days last week. The district administration had first denied him permission to visit, citing security reasons, but relented later.

Rahul's visit, planned just ahead of the BJPs grand display of strength in Amethi, was seen as an attempt to dispel allegations that the Congress leader has been neglecting his constituency. The visit also assumed significance in the wake of the upcoming internal polls in the Congress, in which Rahul is widely tipped to take over party reins.

The BJP mega show on Tuesday is expected to act as a dampener for the big move in Congress ranks.

Tuesday would also be CM Adityanaths maiden visit to Amethi since he took the reins in March. Adityanath has often referred to Gandhi as shehzade (scion) and vanshwad (dynast) and he is expected to further raise the pitch today.

Few days back the duo of Adityanath and Amit Shah, in an attempt to gain some grounds in Kerala, took out a Janraksha Yatra to criticize the states Left Front government against its red terror. However, Shah abandoned the show midway and Adityanaths call against love jihad and red terror didnt draw much support.

The two BJP big shots are expected to inaugurate a number of healthcare and irrigation projects in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. This would be deemed as the BJP governments development agenda for the Gandhi pocket borough of Amethi.

Smriti Irani has often accused the Gandhi family of fooling the people of Amethi, Rae Bareli and Sultanpur.

On Monday she said, It is the BJP that keeps its promises. Even Rahul Gandhi has accepted this in one of his recent speeches. Now we have adopted Amethi and will ensure its all-round development.

Irani has been a strong opponent to Rahul Gandhi in the last Lok Sabha elections and BJP has made it clear that it wants to capture the Gandhi bastion in 2019.

Part of the strategy is also to corner and confine Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and keep him busy in trying to save his family seat in 2019, so that he has little time for campaigning across the nation in the 2019 general elections.

Meanwhile, Shah would be visiting Sitapur, where besides a public meeting, he would also lay the foundation stone of party offices in 51 districts.
Lucknow: It's unconstitutional to endorse a particular religion on taxpayers' money, Babri Masjid Action Committee convener and former Additional Advocate General, Uttar Pradesh, Zafaryab Jilani, said on Tuesday, hours after chief minister Yogi Adityanath proposed to build a 100-metre tall Ram statue in Ayodhya.

Speaking to News18, Jilani put across his point, calling the proposal "unconstitutional", adding that if something was being done to promote tourism, it was more than welcome. "Many people will get employment. It will also develop Ayodhya as a tourist spot. However, if Lord Ram's statue is established, prayers will also be offered which makes it unconstitutional because taxpayers' money is involved."

The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has proposed a grand statue of Lord Ram on the banks of Saryu River in Ayodhya. Amid the ever-present Ram Janmabhoomi debate, the government is now planning the statue not far from the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site. Proposed as a part of its Navya Ayodhya project to promote religious tourism in the state, the massive structure might cost hundreds of crores. This comes even as the UP tourism department gave the Taj Mahal a miss in its tourism booklet, ignoring the historic monument that is a huge revenue generator for the state, apart from being one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Reacting sharply to the Yogi government's proposal, Samajwadi Party MLC, Sunil Singh Sajan said, Whenever elections are around the corner, BJP starts talking about Ayodhya. BJP is just interested in doing politics in the name of Lord Ram, development is not their agenda. If BJP Chief Ministers Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and Ram Prakash Gupta had developed Ayodhya in their regime, then the BJP would not have to do politics over it today. During the regime of Akhilesh Yadav, we gave a Bhajan Sthal to Ayodhya along with 14 Kosi scheme, developed ghats in ayodhya. But since the BJP government is formed in state, thrice the central tourism minister has visited Ayodhya but not even a single development work has started.

Prinicipal Secretary Toursim, Awanish Awasthi, speaking about the proposed Lord Ram statue on the banks of Saryu River in Ayodhya, said, We have just thought about the statue and the proposal is just conceptual. The selection of the site has not been done yet.
Ahmedabad: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's campaign in Gujarat ahead of Assembly election later this year has shown a drastically different image of his, one in stark contrast from his past. Not only has he sought blessings, visiting a number of temples, the Gandhi scion has also engaged people with stinging one-liners aimed at his opponent.

The Gujarat Assembly election, whose result many thought was a foregone conclusion, promises to be a keen electoral battle. A battle in which Congress seems to be setting the political discourse.

One such example is the "Vikas gone crazy" campaign. After a flurry of memes that went viral over the past month, BJP decided to counter the campaign with its own 'I am Vikas, I am Gujarat' campaign. Such has been the impact of the 'Vikas Gone Crazy' campaign that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted to it on his visit to Gujarat last weekend.

Peddling a softer version of Hindutva, too, appears to be a well-thought-out strategy by the Congress. By the end of his Navsarjan Gujarat Yatra, Rahul Gandhi will have visited almost every famous temple in the state. In addition, visits to gaushalas (shelters for cows) are on his agenda, too.

Another distinguishing feature of Rahul Gandhi's campaign this time around is his attempt to engage the crowd in a dialogue. Undoubtedly, he has picked a leaf or two out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's book.

At various stops along the road show, Rahul Gandhi has been asking people questions. For example, "Can you afford the exorbitant fees of schools and colleges? Do you get cheap medical facilities? Are our youth getting jobs?" And when the people respond with a resounding "No", Gandhi has been seen suggesting they vote for change.

And then there is that one question which Rahul Gandhi has asked at every meeting along the road show route: "What has happened to Vikas in Gujarat?" By now everyone knows the answer.
Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday levelled fresh charges against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad of amassing 'benami' properties, alleging that his family received a valuable piece of land in Patna from a man who apparently did not have the means to own it.

The RJD denied the charges.

Modi alleged that Prasad had left Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, far behind in acquiring 'benami' properties. He said he previously gave details of land transferred in the name of Lalu Prasad or his family by leaders of his party.

"I now wish to draw the people's attention towards a transaction wherein a little-known person from Gopalganj district gave away land to Misa Bharti - more than six thousand square feet he supposedly owned in Patna," he told reporters.

"It is puzzling how the purported owner Subhash Chandra Chaudhary, with modest means came to own the plot in the state capital which must be worth crores now.

"It is odd that though the property was said to be acquired in 1993 itself, it was not mutated until 2003 when he gifted away the land to Prasad's daughter saying he was impressed by the services she had offered," Modi said.

"The land was gifted to Misa when her mother Rabri Devi was the chief minister of Bihar. One cannot understand why the purported owner gave it away to Misa instead of his own children," he said.

"All this looks like an exercise in money laundering. Land was being bought with the RJD supremo's ill-gotten money in the name of someone pliable who would oblige by transferring the property in the name of a relative of Lalu in course of time," Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Bihar government, said.

"I have evidence suggesting that his extended family owns about 150 benami properties across the country. It would not be wrong to say that he has left Robert Vadra way behind," he added.

However, the allegations made by Sushil Modi drew sharp criticism from the RJD.

"Sushil Modi has been playing the same record again and again. The senior BJP leader is doing so because the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is feeling threatened by Prasad, who is making efforts to unite all non-NDA forces before the next Lok Sabha polls," RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari told PTI.

"There is no merit in what the Bihar Deputy CM is saying. Details of assets owned by RJD leaders are in public domain and we have nothing to hide. He is wasting time by indulging in mud-slinging instead of concentrating on development of the state," Tiwari said.
Google Doodle today celebrates the 156th birthday of world-renowned explorer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen. The Norwegian explorer shot to fame after he reached a record northern latitude of 86 degrees and 14 minutes. Nansen had achieved the feat during his North Pole Expedition of 189396. Nansen had also led a team back in 1888 htat made the first crossing of the Greenland interior.

Fridtjof Nansen was also accredited with a research on the central nervous system of lower marine creatures, an accomplishment that earned him a doctorate and helped establish the modern theories of neurology. Nansens techniques of polar explorations and his innovations in the equipment that he used for those travels influenced an entire generation of polar expeditions thereafter.

Fridtjof Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as the league of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, helping displaced victims of the First World War. He also introduced Nansen passport, a certificate which was then recognised by 50 plus countries and helped stateless refugees get recognition and establishment in new areas. Nansen faced a sudden death in 1930, after which the Nansen International Office for Refugees was established by the league to further propagate Nansens agenda. The office also received Nobel Peace Prize in 1938.

Watch Video: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Review | The Premium Xiaomi For India | News18 Tech
Silicon Valley graphics chipmaker NVIDIA unveiled on Tuesday the first computer chips for developing fully autonomous vehicles and said it had more than 25 customers working to build a new class of driverless cars, robotaxis and long-haul trucks. Deutsche Post DHL Group, the worlds largest mail and logistics company, and ZF, a top automotive parts supplier, plan to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery trucks based on the new chips, starting in 2019, NVIDIA said. The third generation of NVIDIAs Drive PX automotive line, code-named Pegasus, are chips the size of car licence plates with datacenter-class processing power. They can handle 320 trillion operations per second, representing roughly a 13-fold increase over the calculating power of the current PX 2 class. This dramatic improvement is a pre-condition for developing and testing future autonomous cars, experts said.

"NVIDIA is one step ahead. But you can be sure you can expect (rival chipmakers) Intel, NXP and Bosch not to be too far behind," said Luca De Ambroggi, principal automotive electronics analyst with industry market research firm IHS Markit. Computer chip giant Intel and its Mobileye automotive unit are working with German carmaker BMW and U.S. auto supplier Delphi on their own autonomous driving platform due out in 2021. NXP has agreed to be acquired by Qualcomm to form the world's largest auto electronics supplier, while Bosch, the industry's top auto supplier, is working with carmaker Daimler. NVIDIA's automotive director Danny Shapiro said in an interview that many of the first 25 customers using Pegasus chips would focus on robotaxis, which will be built without steering wheels or brakes and used only on dedicated routes. Bigger name automakers will announce vehicles running on Pegasus at their own product launches in coming months, he said.

MISSING PIECE IN DRIVERLESS PUZZLE

The Pegasus line will be available by the middle of 2018 for automakers to begin developing vehicles and testing software algorithms needed to control future driverless cars, NVIDIA executives told a developers' conference in Munich on Tuesday. A level 5 vehicle is capable of navigating roads without any driver input and in its purest form would have no steering wheel or brakes. A level 3 car still needs a steering wheel and a driver who can take over if the car encounters a problem, while level 4 promises driverless features in dedicated lanes.

The deal between Deutsche Post, ZF and NVIDIA will include future Deutsche Post StreetScooter delivery trucks. In Munich, the three partners are showcasing a prototype StreetScooter running NVIDIA Drive PX chips used to control sensors including six cameras, one radar and one lidar, or 3D laser camera. Initial use cases will be for logistics vehicles on private roads within freight centres or for long-haul trucking in dedicated lanes, Shapiro said: "They are not replacing the drivers, but making the drivers more efficient and safer".

For its current generation Drive PX2, NVIDIA has said it has 225 customers, including car and truck makers, Tier 1 auto suppliers, high-definition mapping companies, start-ups and research institutions. These customers can make use of PX2-class software when they upgrade to Pegasus chips, NVIDIA said. These could encompass existing customers, Tesla, including its latest Model 3. Others include Volkswagen's Audi A8, the first car to use Level 3 semi-autonomous driving features, Toyota Motor's next-generation autonomous cars and Geely's Volvo business.

De Ambroggi said NVIDIA's Pegasus automotive chips were the first chips with the processing power for automakers to begin developing truly autonomous vehicles, which could be upgraded with software improvements ahead of actual roadway deployments. But the analyst stressed that while such chips could find their way into mass-produced robotaxis running in defined lanes, these early fully-autonomous chips would likely only allow carmakers to develop prototypes ready for the driverless era.

Regulations, road-testing, nagging safety concerns - and questions about how power-intensive the new data-hungry chips will be - are likely to mean truly driverless cars for personal use won't arrive until at least 2025, he said.

Watch Video: Tech And Auto Show | EP15 | Reliance Jio Phone, Ducati SuperSport & More
Xiaomi is set to launch its premium device in India by the name of Mi Mix 2 today at an event in New Delhi. The flagship Xiaomi smartphone will come as a refreshing change from Xiaomi's existing budget offerings in the country. Launched in China last month, the Mi Mix 2 boasts of a bezel-less edge-to-edge display with a ceramic built and a unique smartphone design. The device will be the first premium offering by Xiaomi in India after the Mi 5, which was launched last year.

Read our review of the Mi Mix 2 and know how the smartphone competes with other flagships.

Xiaomi's Mi Mix 2 comes as the successor to its last year's launch Mi Mix which was essentially a concept smartphone and yet was put up for sale weeks after Xiaomi announcing it. The smartphone never made its way to India though. Xiaomi looks to change that with its upgraded version, the Mi Mix 2, as the company officials had already hinted at an India release for the smartphone.

As for its specifications, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 comes with a 5.99-inch display with 18:9 aspect ratio and is powered by the Qualcomm's current best, Snapdragon 835 Processor. The device runs the latest Android Nougat 7.1 and is powered by a 3400 mAh battery. The optics on the Mi Mix 2 include a 12-megapixel camera at the back that is placed just above a fingerprint sensor. The selfie shooter carries a 5-megapixel lens.

In China, the Mi Mix 2 has been priced at 3299 Yuan (or Rs 33,000) for the 6GB RAM and the 64GB internal storage variant, 3599 Yuan (or Rs 36,000) for a 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage variant and 3999 Yuan (Rs 40,000) for the 6GB RAM and the 256GB storage variant. We can expect a similar pricing of the smartphone for India as well.

You can watch our review of the Mi Mix 2 and know how the smartphone fares for Indian smartphone users.
Quetta: Gunmen killed five men, including three Shia Muslims from the ethnic Hazara minority, in southwest Pakistan on Monday, a police official said, giving details of the second shooting targeting Hazaras in a month.

The attack took place in Quetta, where nearly half a million Hazaras have settled since fleeing Afghanistan to escape the violence in their homeland during the past four decades.

The attackers opened fire from a motorcycle killing the five men who were travelling in the back of a pick-up truck, on their way to sell vegetables at a market, the official said.

"It was a sectarian target killing," senior police officer Malik Nisar told Reuters, adding that the attackers escaped after opening fire.

"It was unclear initially, but now we know that it was three Hazaras among the five people killed," he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hazaras are frequently targeted by Taliban and Islamic State militants, and other Sunni Muslim militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

More than 20 Hazaras have been killed in similar shootings in Baluchistan in the past two years, police say.

In 2013, three separate bombings killed over 200 people in Hazara neighbourhoods, raising international awareness of the plight of the community.

The ongoing violence in Pakistan's Baluchistan province has fuelled concern about security for projects in the $57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a transport and energy link planned to run from western China to Pakistans southern deep-water port of Gwadar.

A suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in the Baluch town of Jhal Magsi on Thursday killed 22 people and wounded more than 30 others.

The bombing was claimed by Islamic State and is the latest sectarian attack in the restive province.

Taliban and other Sunni Islamist militants are active in the province, while ethnic Baluch separatists have run a low level insurgency for decades, mounting attacks on security forces and other targets linked to the central government.

Elsewhere in Pakistan on Monday, an official said gunmen killed three soldiers and wounded eight in an attack on their vehicle in the semi-autonomous tribal region of North Waziristan.

North Waziristan was a Taliban stronghold until 2014, when Pakistan's military launched a major offensive against the group and pushed many of its fighters across the border into Afghanistan.

Following Monday's attack, security forces closed off roads in Razmak district, and surrounding villages.
London: Iran said on Tuesday that the United States would be joining the terrorists camp if it chose to designate its elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) a terrorist organisation.

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce this week his final decision on how he wants to contain Iran's regional influence.He is also expected to designate Iran's most powerful security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp as a terrorist organisation.

The world should be thankful to the Revolutionary Guards for its fight against terrorists, especially against Daesh (Islamic State), Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a weekly news conference broadcast live on state television.

So by taking a stance against the Revolutionary Guards and designating it a terrorist group, the Americans would be joining the terrorists' camp, he added.

Trump is expected to de-certify a landmark 2015 deal Iran struck with world powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of most international sanctions.

Trumps announcement would stop short of pulling out of the agreement but give Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.

US sanctions on the IRGC could affect conflicts in Iraq and Syria, where Tehran and Washington support warring parties that oppose the Islamic State militant group.

IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Sunday that if Washington designated the Guards a terrorist organisation, they will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world.

Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday that Tehran would give a "firm, decisive and crushing" response if the United States goes ahead with such a plan.
Lubbock: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station Monday night.

University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels.

University spokesman Chris Cook said that campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and  upon entering the room  found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

While at the station, Cook said the suspect pulled out a gun and shot an officer in the head, killing him. The suspect then fled on foot before being apprehended a short time later.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

Additional information was not immediately available.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement about the shooting late Monday, saying "hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed." Abbott also said he had mobilized state law enforcement resources to aid in the investigation.
Yangon: Myanmar authorities said there was no sign of attacks by Rohingya Muslim militants on Tuesday as a one-month insurgent ceasefire came to end.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) announced the ceasefire from September 10 in order, they said, to facilitate aid deliveries to Rakhine State, where their attacks on the security forces on Aug. 25 triggered a ferocious government crackdown.

The government offensive in the north of Rakhine State has sent some 520,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing to Bangladesh and has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing.

The government denies ethnic cleansing. It had rebuffed the insurgents' ceasefire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.

Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them insurgents.

Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA had only appeared capable of hit-and-run raids on security posts and unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.

Authorities had been on guard over recent days and tightened security in the state capital of Sittwe as the end of the ceasefire approached, a state government spokesman said.

"We had information that the ARSA could attack but there have been no reports," the spokesman, Min Aung, said early on Tuesday.

The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though the ceasefire was ending at midnight on Monday.

They also reiterated their demand for rights for the Rohingya, who have never been regarded as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so have been denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.

Instead, Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants with freedoms restricted and rights denied, and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and much of the wider popular in Myanmar, which has seen a surge in Buddhist nationalism in recent years.

Thousands more Rohingya villagers have arrived in Bangladesh this week in a new surge of refugees, now also driven by fears of starvation and telling of bloody attacks by Buddhist mobs on people trekking towards the border.

'VERY REAL THREAT'

Villagers in Rakhine said food was running out because rice in the fields was not ready for harvest and the state government had closed village markets and restricted the transport of food, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.

"While the Myanmar military has engaged in a campaign of violence, there is mounting evidence that Rohingya women, men and children are now also fleeing the very real threat of starvation," rights group Amnesty International said.

The government has cited worry about food as one of he reasons people have been giving for leaving, but a senior state government official on Monday dismissed any suggestion of starvation.

Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced scathing international criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although she has no power over the security forces under a military-drafted constitution.

The United States and European Union have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders, diplomats and officials have told Reuters, although they are wary of action that could destabilise the country's transition to democracy.

EU foreign ministers will discuss Myanmar on Oct. 16, and they said in a draft joint statement the bloc "will suspend invitations to the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar/Burma armed forces and other senior military officers".

Such a move would be largely symbolic, but could be followed by further action.

The military campaign against the insurgents is popular inside Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi's party, in the first attempt to improve relations between religions since the latest violence erupted, will hold inter-faith prayers on Tuesday at a stadium in the biggest city of Yangon, with the participation of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Christians.

"This is for peace and stability," party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters. "Peace in Rakhine and peace nationwide."

The Rohingya had pinned hopes for change on Suu Kyi's party but it has been wary of upsetting Buddhist nationalists. Her party did not field a single Muslim candidate in the 2015 election that it swept.
FOREST  During the summer of 1971, against his mothers wishes, PJ Abbott took his Honda 350 motorcycle on a trip from Lancaster, Ohio, to Niagara Falls, New England and parts of Canada. He rode more than 10,000 miles that summer.

Abbott had just graduated from high school and was gone for nearly a year but said it was something he had to do at the time.

Now 64 years old, he flips through 40-year-old Polaroids in an album documenting his trip through America: pictures of the World Trade Center Twin Towers just after they were built, photos of Abbott racing his Honda on an Iowa dirt track and scenes of New York City circa 1970. He camped along the way or stayed with relatives and only packed a sleeping bag, a utility bag and $500 in travelers checks.

I saw the last concert at the Fillmore East in New York City, he said. I saw Allman Brothers Band, J. Giles Band and Albert King.

Now a retired employee of Areva living on 62 acres of land in Forest, Abbott still has a passion for the style of transportation that has given him so many experiences.

The bikes have been my life, he said. Theyve taken me so many places and given me so much pleasure.

He dedicates most of his time now to restoring antique motorcycles in what he calls his wigwam.

Its called the wigwam because thats where the Indian lives, he said.

The Indian he refers to is a restored 1948 Indian Chief motorcycle, which took Abbott five years to finish.

He describes it as a hobby and obsession.

Its a passion, he said. Its so rewarding because youre doing something that is bringing history back in a small way.

Abbott bought the bike in Butler, Pennsylvania, for $8,500 and he worked on the motorcycle on the weekends while still at Areva.

He has a soft spot for the antique bikes because of the challenge they present. It takes years to find all of the right parts, which are more than 50 years old.

Abbott restored the bike to a T, reading the manual line by line as a guide, making sure he had the right paint and that the numbers on the motor matched the numbers on the frame.

Larry Bailey, a riding buddy and friend of 30 years, said that is just the kind of person Abbott is.

Its those little details. To do it right, it takes years, Bailey said. I think its great to bring a piece of history back to life. Both of the bikes are 70 years old or older. They are a part of American history. Just to be able to have the skill and the patience to bring it back to life as it rolled off the showroom in 1948 is unbelievable. It takes a lot of patience, time and research.

The other bike Bailey mentions is a 1936 Norton ES2 with a 500cc engine.

Abbott purchased the Norton two years ago from a friend and has been restoring it ever since.

I only know of two Nortons like this in the country and one of them is this one, Abbott said.

Though the investment is high to fix these bikes up, its well worth it for Abbott, who considers them keepsakes.

Just looking at [the Indian] it boggles my mind that I did all of this, to see the before and after, he said.

Abbott offered to loan the Indian to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke but said he never heard back.

He said he will never give it away or sell it but since he never rides it, he still wants people to see it.

His love for bikes started when he was a kid riding on the backs of motorcycles with his grandfather and father.

He points to a black-and-white photo of his dad and grandfather seated on a 1952 Ariel motorcycle.

Thats the one I learned to ride on, he said. Once you ride them, youll never go back. Its the freedom. Its just a great feeling.

Now in the wigwam, Abbott has his own 1955 Ariel with a 1,000cc engine that he bought in South Wales.

Bailey, who owns a 1997 Suzuki Intruder and a Honda Goldwing, has taken several trips with Abbott to places like New York and South Dakota.

We found out very quickly that we both liked motorcycles and its been a camaraderie ever since, Bailey said. Sometimes we take off riding somewhere and dont even know wherere were going. One day we headed down the [Blue Ridge] Parkway and ended up in Asheville.

Bailey describes Abbott as a free spirit and kind of his own person.

Hes just a neat person to know, he said. Hes one of those people. You dont meet many people in your life that youre really glad you get to be friends with and he fits in that category. He would give you the shirt off his back.
A Lynchburg man found shot near Rivermont Avenue in August has died, police said.

Police were notified Monday that Jermaine Shamont Hawkins, 34, died from his injuries, Lynchburg police said in a news release.

Officers responded to Rodes Street and Rivermont Avenue at about 4:36 a.m. Aug. 31 and found Hawkins, suffering from several apparent gunshot wounds, according to the release.

Police have said the victim was found on a motorcycle with three wheels, and initially, the call to police was about a possible vehicle crash.

Hawkins was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital and then to the University of Virginia Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

According to a search warrant executed by the Lynchburg Police Department, law enforcement found an unlocked Dodge Caravan in the area where Hawkins was shot, with keys in the ignition. Shell casings were around the van, and police found a handgun in the grass outside the vans door.

The shooting still is under investigation, the release states.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective R.F. Robinson at (434) 455-6116 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900, www.cvcrimestoppers.org, or texting CVCS and a tip to 274637.
BEDFORD  Staunton River middle and high schools are the latest schools in Bedford County to create a chapter of Help Save the Next Girl.

Jane Lillian Vance, vice president of Help Save the Next Girl, said in a Facebook message last week that with the addition of those two chapters there are now 85 chapters nationwide.

The nonprofit promotes personal safety and responsibility in young women from grade school to college through education, family/victim outreach and legislative advocacy.

The chapters discuss internet and social media safety, participate in self-defense training and create community among young women.

Bedford resident Shannon Jurkus started the first chapter in the school district at Bedford Middle School in 2015 with 30 members. Jurkus said the group now has 40 members.

She has inspired others to start new chapters.

Now there are chapters at each Bedford County middle school and Staunton River High School.

Gil Harrington created Help Save the Next Girl in 2010 after her daughter, Morgan Harrington, a Roanoke resident and Virginia Tech student, went missing in Charlottesville at a music concert in 2009. Her remains were found in 2010, and in 2016, Jesse Matthew pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder and abduction of Morgan.

Hes now serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole or release.

Sarah Yost, Staunton River Middle School seventh grade math teacher and co-sponsor of the schools chapter, said they have about 25 female student members.

The chapter began last month after Yost and co-sponsor Jalenda Settles, who also teaches math at the middle school, were inspired by the Bedford Middle School chapter.

I wanted to start something like that at Staunton River Middle School to give the girls some empowerment and knowledge, so they know whats ahead, Yost said.

Yost said its important to teach middle school students safety skills, so it becomes second nature to them when they go out with friends in high school.

I want them used to the buddy system, Yost said. I want them used to watching out for each other and learning to take care of themselves, so its not something they have to learn the hard way at a later age.

Yost said she would like to see her schools chapter work in the future with the Staunton River High School chapter.

At Staunton River High School, more than 70 students have joined the chapter, including ten male students, since it began on Sept. 27, biology teacher and co-sponsor Billi Hutchings said.

Hutchings said because she was a Virginia Tech student when Morgan Harrington went missing, she felt it was important to help start a chapter.

Hutchings mom, Lori Hockman-Walter, a biology teacher at Staunton River High School, is the chapters co-sponsor.

I just want them to be as prepared as possible, Hutchings said. Obviously academically I want them to be prepared, but theres more to it than just teaching kids biology.

Its important to educate students about being aware of their surroundings, especially because some are driving, Hutching said, adding shes told students to stay together, park next to well-lit areas and ask a security officer to walk them to their car if they feel uncomfortable.

When they go off to college, its a whole new world, Hutchings said. Youre living on your own. Youre walking to class or to college events, catching the bus, being vigilant. Are you taking the most lit path to a night class? Do you have a buddy you walk to class with?

In February, Forest Middle School began a chapter which now has about 30 members, Morgan Johns, who teaches 8th grade English and is the sponsor, said in an email.

The Forest Middle School chapter participated in a self-defense course taught by Blue Ridge Martial Arts Academy Saturday. The group also has made goody bags for faculty and staff and wrote positive message to other students in chalk around the school.

In the future the members will hear a presentation about internet and social media safety from an Internet Crimes Against Children employee of Bedford County Sheriffs department.

One thing I can do to keep them as safe as possible is to teach them how to protect themselves, Johns wrote in an email. ... I want to empower young women to speak up for themselves, listen to their instincts, and view other girls as allies, not competitors.

The chapter at Bedford Middle School changed its name last month to just Bedford to allow others, such as high school and home school students, adults without children and community members, to join.

The whole goal is to be able to do more and have more people involved, Jurkus said.

Another reason for the name change is this is the last year students will attend Bedford Middle School. Next school year, students assigned to Bedford Middle School will attend the new Liberty Middle School, which is currently being constructed adjacent to Liberty High School.
The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance began moving into its new office on Lucado Place on Monday. Construction on the building, formerly the James River Conference Center, began in February.

The building served as an event center from 2007 until summer 2015 when it went up for auction. The Alliance purchased it for about $1.1 million.

The new building totals 25,000 square feet, although the Alliance will use only about 9,000 square feet.

The organization will keep the conference center space for events and will have additional space available for tenants. Previously the organization worked out of an office on Memorial Avenue.
You could call it a moment of truth, except that what actually came out of that moment was a realization of how little truth now matters.

This is back in 2010, after I recounted in this space an astonishing feat of World War I heroism  a small African-American soldier named Henry Johnson, wounded 21 times, single-handedly fighting off a company of Germans. In response, a guy named Ken shot off an angry email calling the story PC bull.

Judi, my assistant, sent Ken documentation. I wrote a follow-up column listing history books and contemporaneous news sources that verified the event. Ken was unmoved.

What struck me wasnt so much Kens ignorance. Rather, it was how impervious his ignorance was to corrective fact. That was when I first fully understood that we had entered a new era wherein facts  those things that once settled arguments conclusively  carried all the weight of goose down. These days, you may prove your point to a fare-thee-well, use The New York Times, a study from Harvard, federal statistics, but the skeptical reader will still brush it all aside like a blurry Polaroid of Bigfoot.

So PolitiFact, Facebook, McClatchy and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University have their work cut out for them. You see, those institutions have launched projects to improve media credibility.

The fact-checkers at PolitiFact have been touring deep red areas like Mobile, Alabama, and Charleston, West Virginia, hosting forums to engage with Donald Trump voters who, by definition, distrust media fact-checking.

Meantime, the social media giant, the newspaper conglomerate  which owns my employer, The Miami Herald  and the J-school are partnering in the Facebook Journalism Project. Its aim, according to an ASU statement, is to help newsrooms work with their communities to develop innovations that increase transparency, engagement, mutual understanding and respect.

I wish them Godspeed. But both projects, I think, proceed from an assumption that truth is something all of us value. And Im not convinced all of us do.

Its not just Ken who makes me doubt. Its also Fox News and talk radio. Its Donald Trumps lies, his war on journalism and peoples tolerance for both. And its studies dating to the 1970s, when researchers at Stanford first documented a counterintuitive phenomenon. Namely, that people tend not to change their minds when facts prove them wrong. Instead, they double down on the false belief.

So we are fighting human nature here. Worse, it is human nature exacerbated by extreme partisanship, fear-mongering pundits, a lying president and a social media complex so vast and varied that even the most bizarre belief can find validation there.

Michelle Obama is a transvestite? Sure.

The military plans to conquer Texas? Okey-dokey.

Vaccines cause autism? Well, all righty, then.

Hillary Clinton is running a child molestation ring? OK. Out of a pizza joint? Why not?

Thats just a sampling of the crazy that has gained purchase in American minds. So while its fine to engage todays news consumers, I think our long-term salvation lies in their kids, in teaching them the lost art of critical thinking. That should be a priority in our schools. Because the status quo  facts-free ignorance  is unsustainable.

Yes, there is always room for improvement in how news media do their jobs. But it is important to understand that the disconnect media face does not stem from failure to report the facts.

Rather, it stems from some peoples failure to want them.

Pitts is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Miami Herald. Email him at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Food Lion has finished fixing up its 71 stores in the Richmond region and hopes those renovations will give it an edge with customers in Richmonds crowded and competitive grocery market.

Signage, flooring and checkout counters are upgraded. Fourteen of the 71 stores have new walk-in produce coolers.

New products include more grab and go prepared foods and deli meat and cheeses already weighed and packaged and more organic products.

The stores also are carrying products from Ukrops Homestyle Foods, such as White House Rolls and baked goods, including cornbread and chocolate fudge and lemon chess pies, under the companys Good Meadow Homemades brand. The chains store in Ashland, however, carries some products under the Ukrops brand.

In all, Food Lion has made a $110 million investment to its stores in the Richmond market, including hiring more than 1,000 additional workers, lowering prices and making charitable donations, Food Lion President Meg Ham said Monday.

We call it our reintroduction into our towns and cities, Ham said, speaking at the Food Lion store at 9157 Staples Mill Road in Henrico County during a media event.

Weve also added a tremendous amount of assortment across the entire store, and added new offerings that our customers have asked for, more gluten-free products, more organic and natural products, said Ham, Food Lions president since November 2014.

Weve also continued to lower our prices throughout the entire store, she said.

Employees have been trained to be more customer-oriented, with new front staff positions devoted to keeping checkout lanes moving during busy times.

All 71 stores in the grocers Richmond market will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. At each store, the first 100 customers will receive a $10 gift card and a thermal tote bag.

With the local improvements, Food Lion has completed renovations at about half of its 1,000 stores, Ham said. The renovations began in 2014.

Customer Barbara Ross, shopping at the Food Lion on Staples Mill on Monday morning, had a bag of collard greens in her cart for a meal of turkey wings, stuffing and greens she was planning to prepare that day.

She gave the store renovations a thumbs-up.

I love it. The store seems bigger to me, and everything is arranged so nicely, Ross said. She said she shops at multiple stores, including Kroger, which has a location almost directly across the street from the Staples Mill Food Lion.

I go everywhere, Ross said.

Food Lion has been in the Richmond market since 1982, Ham said.

Based in Salisbury, N.C., Food Lion is owned by the global grocery giant Ahold Delhaize, based in the Netherlands. Ahold Delhaize was formed in 2016 when Royal Ahold and Belgium-based Delhaize Group merged, bringing stores such as Giant, Martins Food Markets and Stop & Shop under ownership of one company.

The Richmond grocery landscape has undergone significant change in the past few years. Shoppers looking for lower-cost groceries have a lot more options.

Walmart, for instance, in the spring of 2015 began opening its smaller-footprint Neighborhood Market stores in the Richmond area. The Germany-based discount grocer Aldi has opened more than a dozen stores in the Richmond area since April 2015. Lidl, another low-price competitor based in Germany, began opening stores in the Richmond area this past July and has five stores open here so far, with more coming.

According to the publication Food World, Food Lion ranked third in local grocery market share based on sales, behind No. 1 Walmart and No. 2 Kroger, during the 12 months that ended March 31.

Food Lion, with 49 stores included in the analysis, had a 14.21 percent market share. Walmarts market share was 16.06 percent with 21 stores. Kroger, with 18 stores, had a 15.71 percent market share.

Food World Publisher Jeffrey Metzger said Food Lions Easy, Fresh & Affordable plan has reaped modest gains in some of its markets in the Carolinas.

Richmond will be a much tougher challenge, because the new, robust and differentiated competition in the market as well as solid performances from stalwarts Kroger and Walmart, Metzger said.

Also Monday, Food Lion announced a $100,000 donation to the hunger relief agency FeedMore.
How well do you know your grocery store house brands?

In a competitive grocery market, retailers are turning to store brands, also called private label brands, to help boost their bottom lines.

One result: store brands have fancier packaging and are better quality than they were in the past, industry experts say.

If you are accustomed to the old private labels and you look at some of these private brands, you would think they are branded products because they look so good and are so good, said Lawrence Aylward, editor of Illinois-based Store Brands magazine which reports on the private label grocery products sector.

A lot of retailers have upped their game. They definitely have come a long way, Aylward said.

Some examples: Krogers Private Selection brand offers gourmet and artisan items that continually change as food trends evolve. Food Lions Taste of Inspirations brand combines exotic flavors with authentic tastes from around the globe. Whole Foods Markets 365 Everyday Value brand lets you fill your pantry without emptying your pocketbook.

Theres more (shelf) space being devoted to private label. Even though the products typically sell for less there is more profit margin in private label, said Jeffrey Metzger, publisher of trade publication Food World, which tracks the grocery market in the Mid-Atlantic.

Store brands have been around for decades but resurged in popularity during the most recent recession when consumers were looking for ways to trim expenses.

Even before then, grocers turned to them as a competitive strategy, said Robert Kelley, a former Ukrops Super Markets executive and an assistant professor of management at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Kelley traces the rise of store brands to another period  right after a recession in the early 1990s.

Two things happened during that period, he said. Walmart expanded into the grocery business, and retailers like Kroger wanted to take control from the big national suppliers such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills.

Kroger was the leader of the pack, said Kelley. They got out there and they were doing 25 percent of their revenue  at least in center store in terms of grocery  from their private label brands. It was a pretty big deal, said Kelly, who runs Pure Culture Consulting Inc., a branding and strategy firm.

Its a defense strategy to keep people from going over to Walmart and Food Lion and the lower price brands, Kelley said.

Store brands are enjoying popularity now for multiple reasons. Discount grocers such as Aldi and Lidl, which operate stores where 90 percent of products are store brands, are opening more locations and introducing customers to store brands in a way never seen before.

The importance of store brands to grocery companies was center stage in a recent federal court fight between newcomer Lidl and Kroger.

Kroger in June sued Lidl maintaining that Lidls logo for its premium Preferred Selection brand was too close in design to Krogers logo for its premium Private Selection store brand.

A judge refused to grant Kroger a preliminary injunction that would have prevented Lidl from selling its Preferred Selection products. Last month both sides agreed to dismiss the case.

Another reason for the surge in store brand popularity is that consumers, in general, are becoming less loyal to national brand names, said Jim Wisner, a former grocery company executive who now runs Illinois-based Wisner Retail Marketing.

Most of the major national brands, quite honestly, were built for the baby boomers and their parents, Wisner said.

You had the growth of commercial television in the United States when all these brands established basically targeted at young families from that era. It used to be for a retailer your primary target was going to be households with children because that accounted for the bulk of purchases. Thats not true anymore. Less than 1 in 5 households is a traditional family. So what you have is a much greater number of singles and others who can be more adventurous in what they eat.

Millennials also are having an impact. More cash-strapped than previous generations, they are looking for bargains. Even so, food culture is very much a part of the millennial experience, Wisner added.

The major national brands are kind of like yesterdays food, if you will. It is perceived to be heavily processed, and that is something people of all ages are turning away from now, Wisner said.

Store brands are usually cheaper  often costing 20 percent to 30 percent less than national brands.

Availability and scope of store brand offerings vary by store.

Kroger, the countrys largest traditional grocer, offers more than 30,000 Our Brand store brand items under names such as Kroger, Private Selection, Simple Truth, Simple Truth Organic and HemisFares, said Allison McGee, corporate affairs manager for Krogers Mid-Atlantic division.

Research by an independent third party shows that our customers favor our store brands  Our Brands  over national brands, McGee said.

Our Brands allow our customers to get superior quality at a very affordable price. This unit is one that continues to grow and be very successful, McGee said.

According to figures provided by Kroger during a recent financial quarter, the companys house brands accounted for about 27.7 percent of total units sold and 25.4 percent of sales dollars.

At Wegmans, about 15 percent of the 65,000 distinct products or SKUs are Wegmans brands, a spokeswoman said. She would not say what percent of sales are from its store brands.

But Food Worlds Metzger estimates Wegmans generates at least 40 percent of its sales from selling its private label products. It is a significant part of their whole marketing strategy and of their item presentation in the stores, Metzger said.

Metzger said Wegmans and other grocers are increasingly putting their store brands on previously unbranded products such as vacuum-packed meats and deli items.

The Private Label Manufacturers Association, a trade group for companies that manufacture store brands, estimates that $150 billion worth of store brands were sold last year in the U.S. Total grocery stores sales in 2016 were an estimated $668.7 billion, according to the Food Marketing Institute, which represents the interests of the retail food industry.

In a Food Marketing Institute survey of consumers, 82 percent considered private brands very or somewhat important to their decision to shop at a particular grocery store. The Institutes 2017 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report also indicates that 98 percent of retailers indicate they are emphasizing private-brand products to be more competitive.

The key issue for private label versus the national brands is to offer the consumer an equivalent product at a better price, said Tom Stephens, of Canada-based Brand Strategy Consultants.

Although growth of private labels has been significant, its reached a plateau, Stephens said.

Now that private labels are as good or almost as good as main brands, consumers are happy with them, he said. Where its not growing at the moment is in the innovation area. ... The consumer sees that the big brands, the national brands, continue to innovate and bring out new and exciting products.
Bezos' Ex Is

Already Doing

This. Now

He Is, Too
On Thursday a 29-year-old Missouri man was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two women who disappeared nearly a decade apart, People reports. According to a probable cause statement, authorities say Kylr Yust admitted to choking Kara Kopetsky to death in 2007 after she said she wanted to end their relationship. In that same statement, Yust is said to have confessed to killing Jessica Runions in a similar fashion after leaving a party with her in September 2016. Yust has been in jail since September 2016 on charges that he burned Runions' car, per CBS News.

Yust has long been a suspect in both cases. A month before she disappeared, Kopetsky filed a protection order against him, claiming he had kidnapped her and choked her during their relationship. And Yust was the last person ever seen with Runions before she disappeared. Runions was 21 years old when she vanished, Kopetsky just 17. Yust was released from prison last February after serving time on drug charges. He has also been convicted of assault, theft, and animal cruelty after stomping a kitten and tossing it into a river. He is currently being held on $1 million bond. (Read more murder stories.)
A man arrested for drunk driving and hit-and-run in July killed a woman and four children in a horrific head-on crash on Sunday, Oregon State Police say. Lizette Medrano-Perez, 25, and an 8-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl, and a 2-year-old girl were killed when a Land Rover driven by 27-year-old Favian Garcia slammed into their Buick Century a mile north of Salem, KATU reports. "Those were completely innocent children," says police spokeswoman Lt. Cari Boyd. "There are just no words to explain what happened." Garcia was released from jail in August but a warrant for his arrest was later issued when he failed to show up for court. Records show he was also charged with drunk driving in 2011.

The crash was Oregon's deadliest since a tour bus crash killed nine people in 2012, the Oregonian reports. Garcia, who was hospitalized after receiving minor injuries in the accident, was booked into jail Monday on five counts of manslaughter, felony driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, and driving with a suspended license. The three oldest children were Medrano-Perez's and she was the legal guardian of the youngest girl, her niece. "To see the sadness in people's eyes knowing their family members aren't coming back because somebody made a bad choice is just one of the worst parts about our job," OSP Trooper Bob Charpentier tells KOIN. (Read more drunk driving stories.)
The hotel security guard injured by Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was shot before the mass shooter began massacring the festival crowd below the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Resort, police said Monday, making a major change to their timeline of the shooting. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who previously said the arrival of security guard Jesus Campos may have caused Paddock to stop firing on the festival audience, now says Campos was investigating a report of an open door on the 32nd floor when he heard drilling sounds coming from Paddock's room, the AP reports. The sheriff says Paddock had installed hidden cameras and started firing into the hallway when he saw Campos approaching.

Campos was hit in the leg but was still able to alert security officials to Paddock's location, Lombardo says. He says that Paddock started firing on the crowd about six minutes after shooting the guard and never completed his drilling, which may have been to install more cameras or create a hole to shoot through. The sheriff didn't explain why such a big change was made to the timeline or say how it could affect the investigation, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. "In your zest for information and my zest to ensure the public safety and the calming of their minds, some things are going to change," he said. (Lombardo released more new details Monday, but said police still don't know what Paddock's motive was.)
Harvey Weinstein may have no future in Hollywoodbut his sexual misconduct scandal is causing a lot of people to delve into the past. Amid questions over whether the producer's predatory behavior could have been halted a lot sooner, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet has denied Sharon Waxman's claim that the paper "gutted" her 2004 story on sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein. He says it's "unimaginable" that the paper would have bowed to pressure from an advertiser like Weinstein. Baquet says the Times story last week that led to Weinstein's downfall was researched for months and had on-the-record comments from several women, while Waxman relied on "an off-the-record account from one woman." In other developments:



Late-night response. Late-night hosts weighed in on the scandal Monday, with Jimmy Kimmel rejecting Donald Trump Jr.'s suggestion that the "biased left-wing" media wouldn't attack Weinstein because he's a Democrat. "Never mind the thousands of jokes about Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton and all the other Bills of their ilk," he said. Seth Meyers brought on three of his female writers to give their thoughts on Weinstein, while Stephen Colbert slammed Weinstein's excuse that he was an "old dinosaur learning new ways." "A, that's no excuse. B, dinosaurs didn't touch themselves in front of employeesT. rex's arms were way too short," he said, per the Hollywood Reporter.

'Angry and darkly sad .' Glenn Close said she was "deeply upset" by Weinstein's behavior, Vanity Fair reports. She said she'd long been aware of "vague rumors" that Weinstein behaved inappropriately. "Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad," she said.

.' Glenn Close said she was "deeply upset" by Weinstein's behavior, Vanity Fair reports. She said she'd long been aware of "vague rumors" that Weinstein behaved inappropriately. "Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad," she said. Furious wife . Sources tell People that Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, is "furious and embarrassed." She has two children with Weinstein: 7-year-old India Pearl and 4-year-old Dashiell Max Robert.

. Sources tell People that Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, is "furious and embarrassed." She has two children with Weinstein: 7-year-old India Pearl and 4-year-old Dashiell Max Robert. Wiped from the credits . Weinstein's name has been dropped from upcoming Weinstein Company series Waco and Yellowstone, where he was to have received an executive producer credit, Variety reports. The company also plans to remove his name from series such as Project Runway.

. Weinstein's name has been dropped from upcoming Weinstein Company series Waco and Yellowstone, where he was to have received an executive producer credit, Variety reports. The company also plans to remove his name from series such as Project Runway. A defender . Fashion designer Donna Karan was one of the few people sticking up for Weinstein on Monday. She described Weinstein and his wife as "wonderful people" and claimed women who dressed provocatively were "asking for trouble," reports Page Six. Her comments were denounced by Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, among many others. McGowan called Karan "scum in a fancy dress."

. Fashion designer Donna Karan was one of the few people sticking up for Weinstein on Monday. She described Weinstein and his wife as "wonderful people" and claimed women who dressed provocatively were "asking for trouble," reports Page Six. Her comments were denounced by Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, among many others. McGowan called Karan "scum in a fancy dress." A desperate letter . In a last-ditch letter sent to studio heads and other Hollywood execs before he was fired on Sunday, Weinstein begged them to help him keep his job, USA Today reports. "Allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance," he wrote. "I am desperate for your help. Just give me the time to get therapy. Do not let me get fired. If the industry supports me, that is all I need."

. In a last-ditch letter sent to studio heads and other Hollywood execs before he was fired on Sunday, Weinstein begged them to help him keep his job, USA Today reports. "Allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance," he wrote. "I am desperate for your help. Just give me the time to get therapy. Do not let me get fired. If the industry supports me, that is all I need." Lena Dunham . In an op-ed at the New York Times, Lena Dunham says Weinstein's behavior is "a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always" and calls for the men of Hollywood, especially Weinstein's collaborators, to speak out. Women watching the industry "need a signal that we do not approve of the abuse of power and hatred of women that is the driving force behind this kind of behavior," she writes.

. In an op-ed at the New York Times, Lena Dunham says Weinstein's behavior is "a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always" and calls for the men of Hollywood, especially Weinstein's collaborators, to speak out. Women watching the industry "need a signal that we do not approve of the abuse of power and hatred of women that is the driving force behind this kind of behavior," she writes. George Clooney. Clooney became the highest-profile male star to speak out against Weinstein on Monday when he told the Daily Beast that the producer's behavior was "disturbing" and "indefensible." He said he knew Weinstein liked to hit on young women, but he "had no idea that it had gone to the level of having to pay off eight women for their silence, and that these women were threatened and victimized."

(Read more Harvey Weinstein stories.)
/

'Right Now We Need to Grieve' in Sonoma County

At least 10 dead as fires rage in wine country
Conservative congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is running for the Senate, and her entry into the Tennessee race has gotten more attention than anticipated thanks to a decision by Twitter. The company blocked a video ad in which Blackburn declares, "I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts. Thank God." Twitter informed the campaign that the reference to "baby body parts" was too volatile and that it would have to be ditched if the ad were to run, reports the Tennessean. Blackburn, who is running to replace the retiring Bob Corker, is instead trying to use the decision in her favor. "This is urgent," she wrote in an fundraising email to supporters, per Politico. "Im being censored for telling the truth." She also called out "Silicon Valley elites" in the message.

While Twitter won't allow the video to be used as a paid ad, Blackburn can still keep it on her Twitter campaign page. The line in question is in reference to a 2015 controversy involving Planned Parenthood in which an anti-abortion group accused it of selling "baby parts" based on undercover recordings. Blackburn led a House panel investigating the incident, which Democrats called a waste of time and taxpayer money, per the AP. It was never shown that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue for a profit, which would be illegal, and the group faced no charges. Blackburn's panel recommended that the federal government stop funding the group. "I know the left calls me a wingnut or a knuckle-dragging conservative," Blackburn says in the video. "And you know what? I say that's all right. Bring it on." (Read more Twitter stories.)
A Texas Tech freshman is in custody after the fatal shooting of a campus police officer sparked a manhunt and a lockdown of the Lubbock campus that lasted more than an hour. Police say Hollis Daniels, a 19-year-old man who lived on campus, was arrested near Lubbock Municipal Coliseum at 9:35pm local time, almost two hours after he allegedly shot the officer at campus police headquarters and fled on foot, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports. The school says Daniels, from Seguin, near San Antonio, was first taken into custody when police found drugs and drug paraphernalia after being called for a welfare check.

Daniels was being processed for jail when "he produced a weaponit has yet to be determined the details of thatand mortally wounded one of our officers," says University Police Chief Kyle Bonath, per NBC News. Sources tell KCBD that Daniels ripped off the slain officer's body camera after the shooting, but it was found about an hour after he was arrested. Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec thanked the Lubbock police department and other agencies that helped apprehend Daniels, the Daily Toreador reports. "The family of the deceased officer will be in the prayers of the entire Texas Tech community," he said. "In the coming days, we'll be offering our full support to that family." (Read more campus shooting stories.)
A family is suing a Minnesota hospital for making a personal tragedy worse four years ago. Esmerelda Hernandez prematurely gave birth to Jose, a stillborn boy, in April 2013 at St. Paul's Regions Hospital, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports. As she and her family mourned Jose in her room, Regions staff asked if they could cremate the baby's body, per the suit; the family agreed. But nearly two weeks later, someone anonymously placed a call to cops that staff at Crothall Laundry Services, where the hospital's linens were sent for cleaning, had come across the baby, still in his diaper and ID bracelet, in dirty laundry. The baby's body "flew out and landed on a metal grate," and workers proceeded to "gawk at Baby Jose, took photos of him, and sent pictures of him into cyberspace," per the complaint, which is asking for "far in excess of $50,000" each for Hernandez and her nine co-plaintiffs.

Two hospital workers were allegedly sent to get the body, and neither cops nor the Hernandezes were called, the suit notes; the Hernandezes reached out to the hospital after they heard media reports. Per legal documents, the laundry facility manager noted it wasn't unusual to find medical wasteincluding "tissue, blood, and on occasion, an appendage"among the hospital's linens. Regions reps say a hospital worker had spotted the baby's body wrapped in linens (not in a body bag, a process Minnesota Public Radio has called into question) on a shelf in the hospital's morgue and mistaken it for a pile of dirty laundry, reports the Washington Post. The body of a second baby was believed to have been sent to Crothall around the same time as Jose; that body was never found. A hospital rep reiterates its apologies and says it's "always open to a reasonable resolution," per Courthouse News. (Read more lawsuit stories.)
The minute before a 22-year-old Temple University student drove her BMW into a Florida police officer and was fatally shot "played out like a movie set" on Miami Beach, said a retired homicide detective who witnessed the incident. Cariann Hithon of Bowie, Md., crashed into several cars Sunday evening as people watched from sidewalk cafes in the tourist district known as South Beach, police said, per the AP. "It played out like a movie set with people running, screaming, car crashes, gunshots, an injured officer lying on his back on the groundall within a minute," retired Miami-Dade homicide detective John Butchko, whose car Hithon hit, tells the Miami Herald. Butchko's passenger, Miami Beach lawyer Sean Ellsworth, added: "I was literally shocked she would drive into four or five officers. She just floored it."

Ellsworth and Butchko suffered minor injuries, and the officer who was hit by Hithon while on a bicycle, David Cajuso, was out of the hospital and recovering at home. The reason Hithon tried to flee may never be known. But investigators said they believe Hithon and her male friendwho was seen by witnesses casually getting out of the car before she acceleratedmay have been drinking heavily earlier Sunday. Hithon was in town to celebrate her birthday. Hithon's father, retired US Navy Capt. Cary Hithon, tells the AP that he has many questions about what happened. But he says the account of events given to him by police does not sound like his daughter: "The only logical explanation in this situation is she panicked, and things just escalated out of control."

(Read more Florida stories.)
Jimmy Carter wants "to prevent a second Korean War," and so has offered to meet with Kim Jong Un, per a University of Georgia professor who met with the ex-US president. Park Han-shik spoke of Carter's plans to South Korea's Korea JoongAng Daily amid rising tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, the Hill reports. "Carter wants to meet with the North Korean leader and play a constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula as he did in 1994," says Park, who helped arrange Carter's visits to the North in 1994 and 2010. He says Carter would travel there to discuss a US-North Korea peace treaty and the "complete denuclearization of North Korea." Such a trip would require US authorization, as President Trump has banned US citizens from traveling there since last month. Carter detailed his concerns about the possibility of another Korean War in the Washington Post last week.

Trump himself may take a trip to the regionnot to the North itself, but to the Demilitarized Zone separating North Korea from South Korea, Reuters reports, citing a report in South Korea's Yonhap. The president is visiting South Korea next month, and sources tell Yonhap the White House sent an advance team to check out potential sites in the DMZ for Trump to visit. Reuters says such a visit, which would bring Trump within yards of North Korean soldiers, would "likely be regarded by the North as highly provocative." In other news, a lawmaker tells the BBC that North Korean hackers reportedly stole a large number of military documents from the South's defense ministry last year. The documents are said to contain US-South Korea wartime contingency plans, details on military facilities and power plants in the South, and even an assassination plot against Kim. South Korea has yet to confirm this. (Read more North Korea stories.)
Katie and Jacob Evans' premature twin girls weren't expected to survive when they were born at around 2 pounds each less than eight weeks ago. Now they're thrivingbut after visiting them in the hospital Friday, their mother is gone. Katie Evans, a 37-year-old mom of six, was almost home in Santa Clarita, Calif., late at night after leaving the hospital when a 21-year-old driver veered into oncoming traffic, crossed a median, and slammed into Evans' vehicle head-on, People reports. "They said her body was thrown from the vehicle," Evans' sister-in-law says. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe the other driver may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time; alcohol containers were found in her vehicle, a sergeant tells the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. Police are awaiting toxicology test results, per KTLA.

"You have dozens of medical professionals who have spent years training, and they've spent months actually working to save two lives that we thought would be lost, and then we have a life we thought we'd have that was lost just because of two bad decisions," her husband, Jacob Evans tells ABC7. "One to go out drinking and the otherworse oneto drive afterward, and obviously it breaks my heart and it's broken six little hearts." The couple's older children, four boys, range in age from 2 to 12, per a YouCaring fundraiser set up for the family; Jacob's brother tells People the oldest has special needs. The twins are expected to go home in four to six weeks, KTLA reports. "Katie couldn't go a day without visiting her brand-new twin girls in the hospital," says the fundraiser page. "She was a devoted mother, sister, and wife and will be immensely missed." (Read more California stories.)
If the US designates Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organizationas reports state President Trump is likely to doit would be a "strategic mistake," according to Iran's foreign ministry. "Irans reaction would be firm, decisive, and crushing, and the US should bear all its consequences," the Guardian quotes ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi as saying Monday. Reuters reports the threats continued from Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, who said such a decision would show "the stupidity of the American government" and would force the Revolutionary Guards to "consider the American army to be like [the] Islamic State." Jafari says the US would have to move its military bases in the region outside the 1,250-mile range of the Revolutionary Guards' missiles.

The US has a complicated relationship with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which is accused of supporting groups like Hamas and Hezbollah while also helping the US fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Atlantic reports. While the Revolutionary Guards itself has never been listed as a terrorist organization by the US, individuals and groups associated with it have. Experts say Trump designating it a terrorist organization would be a largely political move as the Revolutionary Guards has already had a number of sanctions placed on it by the US. Experts also say past attempts by the US to play tough with the Revolutionary Guards have only strengthened it in Iran, and Trump risks further escalating tensions with the country as he mulls a move to "decertify" the Iran nuclear deal. (Read more Iran stories.)
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News:

A 28-year-old techie of American IT major Accenture was stabbed by two bike-borne men near a Chocolate Factory in South Bengaluru.

The engineer was found murdered in the citys south-east suburb under mysterious conditions on Monday, police said.

South East deputy commissioner of police, MB Borolingaiah told reporters, The techie has been identified as Pranoy Mishra.

He added, Mishra was rushed to hospital after someone cited him bleeding profusely, Doctors of the hospital had declared him brought dead.

The DCP added that the deceased hail from Odisha and was working with the Indian Arm of American IT major Accenture in Bangalore.

Also read: Journalist covering political agitation stabbed to death in Tripura



We have registered a murder case, added the DCP.

Another police officer investigating the case said, It is not a loot and murder case as his cell phone and other belongings were found in shirt and pant pockets.

Also read: Female professor stabbed in Madurai University campus



According to Bengaluru police Mishra was stabbed several times in the stomach and neck.

Police in its initial investigation have learnt that Mishra was chased for a distance to escape the attack.

His murderers fled the incident site after he collapsed, added police.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Karti Chidambaram, son of former union minister P Chidambaram, on Monday denied CBIs charges of having 25 overseas bank accounts and assets abroad before Supreme Court.

He told the Apex court that he owns only one assent abroad and it was acquired with the help of nationalised bank under RBIs liberalised remittance scheme (LRS).

Karti said that he owned his assets legally and maintained in his books of account.

He also sought courts permission to travel to UK to get her daughter admitted at the Cambridge University and was willing to undertake that he would not visit any bank there.

The apex court was hearing CBI's appeal challenging a Madras High Court order staying the Centre's look out circular (LOCs) against Karti and others in an alleged graft case over irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007.

Also Read: Enforcement Directorate attaches Karti Chidambarams assets worth Rs 1.16 crore

Chidambaram and his son Karti, facing the criminal probe, have filed separate affidavits in the apex court alleging vendetta. (With PTI Inputs)

Also Read | NX Media case: Karti Chidambaram went abroad to close foreign bank accounts, CBI tells SC

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Around 300 children of Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Uttar Pradeshs Shamli district complained of vomiting and burning eyes after a reported chemical leakage in a nearby sugar mill on Tuesday.

Uttar Pradesh Yogi Aditya has ordered an inquiry by Commissioner Saharanpur and directed district magistrate to provide all help to children affected due to toxic emission.

The students were rushed to Shamli district hospital for medical care. According to sources, more than 150 students have been referred to hospitals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut.

According to reports, students of the school fell ill after an alleged gas leakage from Sir Shadi Sugar Mill.

According to locals and parents of the wards, the gas leak was reported after the Sugar mill a few meters away from the school used chemical to destroy factory wastage.

Also read: Officers confirm death of 38 children in Bareilly hospital in month of August



A basic siksha adhikari who rushed to the hospital on learning the incident said ,Due to gas leakage in a nearby sugar mill the students fell ill.

A student of the school said, We all started vomiting after a pungent smell.

Another student of the school said that several students fell unconscious after the pungent smell which was coming from outside.

Also read| Uttar Pradesh: 49 children die due to lack of oxygen in one month at a Farrukhabads hospital



The students are being treated at government hospital. According to doctors all childrens admitted in the government hospital our out of danger.

According to doctors of government hospital in Shamli, a few students fell unconscious, several complained of uneasiness and difficulty to breathing.

He added all students are out of danger.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Police on Tuesday arrested five persons in connection with assaulting a Nigerien national in Delhis Malviya Nagar on Tuesday.

A shocking video surfaced on Monday where it can be seen how a youth of Nigerien living in Delhi's Malviya Nagar was brutally beaten up while tied to a lamp post by a local mob on suspicion of theft.

The video that has gone viral on various social media platforms dates back to September 24 when a resident of Malaviya Nagar by the name Krishna Kumar alleged that he has caught the Nigerian youth who attempted an act of theft at his house.

It is worth noting that Malaviya Nagar has a substantial population from various African nations, Nigerians being one of the highest among them.

After the brutal assault, the Nigerian was taken to the police where the locals reported that he sustained injuries as result of a fall from the staircase.

The video was captured on a cell phone by one of the bystanders shows how the mob was hitting him on the leg, the back and other places of the body.

The Nigerian youth was seen begging for mercy as the mob continued to shower him with rods and sticks on his body. He was eventually stripped to his underwears and was tied to a lamp post.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Tata Group is interested in bidding for state owned Air India, N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Groups holding company Tata Sons, told television channel CNBC TV18 in an interview.

The Tata group chairman told the channel that Tata would definitely look at Air India once the government finalises privatisation process.

Chandrasekaran further said, The government has yet not made clear if it will sell all parts of Air India and what it might do about the loss-making airline debt burden of $8.5 billion.

He added, they are waiting for details.

Chandrasekaran during the interview to the channel said that they have two airliners  joint ventures in India, one with Singapore Airlines and the other with Malaysias AirAsia Bhd  and both are subscale.

Also read: Air India ties up with IndusInd, Punjab National Bank for Rs 3,250 cr loan



I feel scale is important, added the Tata group chairman.

When CNBC TV18 asked him whether Tata had spoken to Singapore Airlines about its interest in bidding for Air India, Chandrasekaran replied, Do you think I would have not.?

Also read: Tata Motors gets Rs 1,120 cr order for 10,000 electric cars from EESL



In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet gave the go-ahead to sell Air India, which has received $3.6 billion since 2012 in state aid.

Indian carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation and Turkeys Celebi Aviation Holding have expressed interest in buying some of Air Indias various business.

Air India was founded in 1930s by the Tata Group.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

Nisha Desai Biswal, former Indian-American assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia has been appointed as the new president of US India Business Council (USIBC), an official announcement says.

Biswal was the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, in which capacity she spearheaded the India and South Asia policy of the previous Obama Administration. She will join the US Chamber beginning October 23, USIBC said on Tuesday.

She replaces Mukesh Aghi, who quit USIBC in July because of the differences he had over the working and imposing style of US Chambers of Commerce, which tried undue interfere in the independent working of the US India Business Council.

The entire board of USIBC too moved out of it and have now created US India Strategic and Partnership Forum. The Forum is headed by Aghi.

Most recently, Biswal was a senior advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group, where she helped expand the firms India and South Asia practice.

She is a driven, visionary leader who has a strong record of advancing United States business across the growth markets of Asia and throughout India. Under her strong leadership, were confident the US-India Business Council will play a critical role growing commercial partnership, investment, and innovation across the worlds oldest and largest democracies, said Myron Brilliant, US Chamber executive vice president and head of International Affairs.

As Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the US Department of State from 2013 to 2017, Biswal oversaw the US-India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation, including launching the US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

In recognition of her efforts, Biswal was awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by the President in January 2017. She previously served as Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Biswal also spent over ten years on Capitol Hill, serving as staff director on the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.

As one of the most significant and fastest growing markets, India is an important economic partner for the United States. Likewise, Indian companies are investing in ever greater numbers here in the United States, Biswal said.

I am proud to be part of an organisation which will play such a critical role in shaping US-India relations, and I am thrilled at the chance to help our companies deliver a brighter, more prosperous future for the citizens of the United States and India, she said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
paraklisi

Alexander Michailovich Grenkov was born November 23, 1812 in the Russian province of Tambov. His parents raised him strictly and with fervent piety. Since he was of a priestly family, it was no surprise when he entered the Tambov Theological Seminary in 1830.Saint Ambrose of Optina (+ 1891)He did well in his studies and was ranked among the top students.About a year before graduation Alexander became seriously ill. He promised that if God healed him, he would become a monk. Although his prayer was answered, Alexander seemed to forget his promise.After graduation from the seminary he took a position as tutor to the children of a certain landowner and remained with this family for a year and a half. After this he became a teacher at the local parochial school.One day in 1839 Alexander and a friend visited the famous hermit Father Hilarion to ask him what they should do with their lives. Alexander was surprised when he was told to go to the Monastery of Optina Pustin, where they had great need of him. In September of that same year, however, he seemed to be prepared to continue with his teaching career.One night he was invited to spend a pleasant evening with some friends. His conversation was witty and brilliant, and all his jokes and puns were on the mark. Although his hosts were amused and impressed by him, Alexander was disgusted by his own frivolity. Perhaps his unfulfilled promise to become a monk weighed on his conscience.The next morning he quit his job and arrived at Optina in October of 1839. After a trial period he decided to remain in the monastery and dedicate his life to God. He received the monastic tonsure in 1842, and was given the name Ambrose in honor of Saint Ambrose of Milan (Dec. 7). Ambrose knew the famous spiritual directors Elder Leonid and Elder Macarius. He was the cell attendant of Elder Macarius, who undoubtedly influenced the young monks spiritual development.Ordained as a priest in 1845, Father Ambroses reverence and piety in celebrating the divine services were noticed by the other monks. His health began to decline shortly afterward, and he had to ask to be relieved of all duties. In 1846 he was so ill that the Mystery of Holy Unction was administered to him. He bore his illness without complaint and slowly regained his strength. By 1848 he was able to walk with the aid of a cane.Father Ambrose began to help Elder Macarius with his correspondence and in preparing the Russian edition of Saint John Climacuss Ladder of Divine Ascent, which was published by the monastery.When Father Macarius had to go to Moscow in 1852, he designated Father Ambrose to take his place until his return. Father Ambrose never gave his personal opinions when he was asked for advice, but always referred people to the writings of the Fathers. If someone did not understand the text he was given to read, Father Ambrose would explain it in simple terms.Father Macarius died in 1860 without naming anyone to succeed him as Elder. By divine providence, all the other possible candidates either died or were appointed as abbots of other monasteries. This left Father Ambrose as the undisputed spiritual director of the monastery. In his role as Elder, Father Ambrose had to receive many people each day to hear confessions and give advice. He used to say, The Lord has arranged it so that I would have to talk to people all my life. Now I would be happy to remain silent, but I cannot.An average day in Saint Ambroses life began at 4:00 A.M. when his cell attendant came into his cell to read the morning Rule of prayer for him. After this he would wash and have some tea, then he would dictate replies to the many letters he received every day. Visitors would be lining up even as he was having breakfast. Sometimes he would take a break after two hours, but more often he would continue seeing people until noon when he had his lunch.After lunch he would go out into the next room and greet more visitors. People would call out questions and he would give an appropriate response. He took a short rest at 3:00 P.M. then talked to people until the evening. At 8:00 P.M. he had dinner then received more visitors until 11:00 P.M. At that hour the evening Rule of prayer was read, and Father Ambrose begged forgiveness of the brethren whom he may have offended by thought, word, or deed. After three or four hours of sleep it would all begin again. This routine would fatigue a strong man. It is remarkable that Saint Ambrose, who was often in poor health, was able to keep it up for so many years.From all over Russia, people flocked to the venerable Elder. The writer Tolstoy visited him on at least three occasions, and left impressed by the wisdom of the holy monk. Fyodor Dostoevsky came to Optina in 1878 after the death of his son Alyosha and was profoundly affected by his meeting with Saint Ambrose. The novelist used Father Ambrose as a model for Starets Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov.The Saint founded Shamordino Convent in 1884. This convent, which was near Optina, opened its doors to women who were poor, sickly, or even blind. Most convents were very poor and had to rely on the incomes of women who had a certain personal wealth in order to remain open. Saint Ambrose made it possible for any woman who wished to become a nun to follow this path of salvation.Shamordino began to decline after the death of the first abbess, Mother Sophia. Saint Ambrose went there in June 1890 to straighten out the convents affairs. He was unable to return to Optina due to illness, then winter made it impossible for him to travel. Father Ambrose continued to see visitors at Shamordino, even though his health continued to deteriorate in 1891.By September, it was clear that he had not long to live. He fell asleep in the Lord at 11:30 A.M. on the morning of October 10 1891. Throngs of people attended his funeral and also his burial at Optina. Fathers Joseph, Anthony, Benedict, and Anatole succeeded him as Elder until the monastery was closed after the Russian Revolution.The Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration of the Optina Elders on June 13,1996. The work of uncovering the relics of Saints Leonid, Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatole I, Barsanuphius and Anatole II began on June 24/July 7, 1998 and was concluded the next day. However, because of the church Feasts (Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, etc.) associated with the actual dates of the uncovering of the relics, Patriarch Alexey II designated June 27/July 10 as the date for commemorating this event. The relics of the holy Elders now rest in the new church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.The Optina Elders were glorified by the Moscow Patriarchate for universal veneration on August 7, 2000.Saint Ambrose was glorified in 1988 by the Patriarchate of Moscow as part of the Millennium celebration of the Baptism of Rus.SourceApolytikion in Plagal of the First ToneWe run to thee O Ambrose our Father, as to a healing spring. For thou dost truly instruct us on the path of salvation, preserving us from misfortune and calamity by thy prayers, consoling us in sorrows of body and soul, teaching above all by humility, patience and love. Pray to Christ, the Lover of mankind, and to our Fervent Intercessor that our souls may be saved.Kontakion in the Second ToneHaving fulfilled the precepts of the Shepherd of shepherds, thou didst inherit the grace of eldership, having pity on all who run to thee with faith. Therefore we, thy children, cry out to thee in love: Holy Father Ambrose, pray to Christ God that He would save our souls.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a member of a quasi-criminal syndicate over the alleged confinement and attempted extortion of a boy in Toshima Ward earlier this year, reports TBS News

In August, the member of Chinese Dragon allegedly demanded 1.4 million yen in cash from the boy, a 19-year-old Chinese national, and burned his hand with a lit cigarette inside a karaoke parlor in the Ikebukuro area.

The victim suffered a burn that required 14 days to heal.

The suspect denies the allegations. "I didn't do anything," the suspect was quoted by police.

Prior to the crime, the suspect was inside a restaurant in the same building as the parlor when a woman, also a Chinese national, suggested they leave together. Upon their arrival at the parlor, the suspect and accomplices then confined the victim.

Based in Ikebukuro

The core membership of Chinese Dragon, based in Ikebukuro, is comprised of second- and third-generation returnees from China who came to Japan after the end of World War II.

Law enforcement had long viewed Chinese Dragon, along with Kento Rengo, as bosozoku biker gangs. However, starting in 2013 the National Police Agency began classifying bosozoku gangs as "pseudo-yakuza" groups to better reflect the true state of their activities.

According to police, cases similar to that which transpired in the karaoke parlor have taken place one after another in Ikebukuro this year. Police are now investigating whether the cases are related.

Oct 10 (ANNnewsCH) - aaeSaaa19aaaaseaaS aaceaeaaaaaaaYaaaaacaaa2aaaaaaaaasaSaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeaeacaeaaaaaYa
A court on Tuesday ordered the state and the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant to pay a total of about 500 million in damages for the 2011 nuclear disaster, the second ruling of its kind in a series of group lawsuits filed nationwide.

The Fukushima District Court ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay 500 million to about 2,900 of the 3,800 plaintiffs, many of whom stayed at their homes in Fukushima Prefecture and elsewhere in the midst of one of the world's worst nuclear crises.

The plaintiffs, the largest group among around 30 similar suits, filed lawsuits in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex, which was triggered by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit the Tohoku coastline.

Among the lawsuits, three rulings have been handed down so far, and two of them - the latest by the Fukushima court and one handed down by the Maebashi District Court in March - found that both the state and Tepco are liable for damages.

In the latest case, the plaintiffs claimed the government should be held liable because it was able to foresee the tsunami - based on an assessment in 2002 - and force Tepco to take preventive measures.

The assessment, made by the government's Earthquake Research Promotion Unit, predicted a 20 percent chance of a magnitude 8 tsunami-triggering earthquake occurring along the Japan Trench in the Pacific Ocean within 30 years, including the area off Fukushima.

The government and Tepco claimed the assessment was not established knowledge, and that the tsunami could not have been foreseen. The government also argued that it only obtained powers to force Tepco to take anti-flooding measures after a legislative change following the disaster.

The plaintiffs also urged restoring the radiation levels in residential areas to levels before the accident. They sought a monthly compensation of 50,000 until radiation levels return to the pre-crisis level of 0.04 microsieverts per hour.
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DANBURY - There will be no formal debate between the mayoral candidates in the marquee race of the November elections.

Thats the way it appears today, one month away from Nov. 7, and Democratic challenger Al Almeida blames GOP Mayor Mark Boughton for that.

The mayor is saying he doesnt have time, and I am saying that is a poor excuse, said Almeida, who accuses Boughton of declining separate debate invitations from the NAACP and the League of Women Voters. I am going to continue to make this case.

Boughton responded that Almeida was slanting the issue by oversimplifying scheduling challenges, and by overlooking other candidate forums where the two are booked in October.

We just had a debate at the Board of Education forum last week, and we have other forums planned this month, including the Volunteer Firemans Association and one with The News-Times, said Boughton who is completing a record eighth two-year term and is exploring a 2018 run for governor. If this was such a big deal to him, he should have been talking about it in July, because it is little late now to be running around screaming for debates.

Almeida, a decorated combat veteran who came to the United States from Portugal when he was 11, accused his rival of not wanting to debate because of the mayors higher aspirations. As a result, Almeida said, the mayoral race is less of a priority for Boughton.

I think that he is so keen on running for state office right now that Danbury is being deprived of a leader, said Almeida, an investigator in the public defenders office in Danbury.

Boughton has heard the Democrats charge before that he treats Danbury as a consolation prize. He is hearing more about it this year because this is the first time in three elections that Democrats have run a candidate against him.

Boughton says Danbury only gains by having its profile raised as a model city in his statewide campaign literature.

If anything is constraining him, Boughton says, its his recovery from life-saving surgery to remove a brain tumor in August. His doctors have cleared him to return to a full days work, but it drains his energy to keep a political schedule after work hours, he said.

Even so, Boughton said, he would agree to a one-on-one debate with Almeida, provided the event was scheduled during work hours and did not conflict with other duties.

Almeida said he wished Boughton was as open to debates when he was approached by the League of Women Voters of Northern Fairfield, and the Greater Danbury NAACP.

When the NAACP contacted me I said I would go anytime and anyplace, Almeida said. When the League of Women Voters contacted me I agreed, because I think voters have a right to hear from us.

Boughton said by the time the League of Women Voters contacted him, the Republican schedule was already full. He added that it was not clear to him when the NAACP reached out to his campaign that the group wanted to schedule a mayoral debate.

The NAACP volunteer who called and left messages with both campaigns said she was clear about the nature of the forum.

I said we wanted to have a community conversation about issues of importance to the people of Danbury, especially concerning race, said the NAACPs Chris Halfar. I offered the mayor a choice of dates and I never heard back from his campaign.

In retrospect, Halfar said, she might have made a formal request instead of a call.

The only regret is that I did not send a letter signed by the president, Halfar said on Tuesday. I think it would have clarified the request.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Tests that estimate the number of a womans remaining eggs before menopause arent a good indicator of that womans short-term chances of conception, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study.

The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at 750 women aged 30 to 44 with no history of infertility who had been attempting to conceive for three or fewer months.

Women are born with a set number of eggs that gradually declines through the reproductive years, said Dr. Esther Eisenberg, of the Fertility and Infertility Branch of NIHs Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in a news release. This study suggests that testing for biomarkers of ovarian reserve does not predict the chances for conception in older women still of reproductive age.

According to the news release from NIH, as a woman ages and her egg supply declines, cells in the ovary secrete lower amounts of inhibin B and anti-Mullerian hormone, substances considered to be indicators of ovarian reserve. The ovaries also produce higher amounts of follicle stimulating hormone in the days before ovulation. Although there is little research to support their use, tests for anti-Mullerian hormone are routinely offered in many fertility clinics on the assumption that women with a lower ovarian reserve would be less likely to respond to treatment. Moreover, home fertility tests of urinary FSH are commercially available.

Women were ineligible to participate in the NIH study if they had known fertility problems, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, tubal blockage or endometriosis. The women provided a urine and blood sample and checked for conception with home pregnancy test kits. The researchers statistically corrected for factors known to reduce fertility, such as smoking, recent use of oral contraceptives and obesity.

After six cycles of attempting to conceive, results did not differ significantly between women with low levels and normal levels of anti-Mullerian hormone  a 65-percent chance of conception, compared to a 62-percent chance. Similarly, results were not statistically different after 12 cycles: 82 percent versus 75 percent.

Chances for conception also did not differ significantly according to high versus normal levels of FSH, with conception rates of 61 percent versus 62 percent after six cycles and 82 percent versus 75 percent after 12 cycles. The researchers found no association of inhibin B levels and conception after six cycles or 12 cycles.

Our study suggests that younger women with biomarker levels indicating lower ovarian reserve should not become anxious that they wont be able to have a baby, said Dr. Anne Steiner, first author of the study, in a news release.

According to RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association, 12 percent of married women have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy, and about 7.4 million women have received any infertility services in their lifetime. About one-third of infertility is attributed to the female partner, one-third attributed to the male partner and one-third is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, is unexplained.
Seeing autumns urge for flight South  whether in the form of V-shaped flocks of Canada geese soaring overhead or hawks riding cold fronts from the north  can stir up all kinds of longing.

But look down on a path or a sidewalk: Woolly bear caterpillars  the object of civic festivals, the most celebrated crawlers in North America  are on the move as well.

A lot of people are out hiking because the weathers been gorgeous, said Ken Elkins, director of educational programs at Audubon Connecticuts Bent of the River sanctuary in Southbury. Theyre seeing them.

The folklore about woolly bears  that the narrower their brown bands, the more severe the coming winter  is as scientifically valid as predicting spring by whether groundhog notices its shadow on Feb. 2.

Theres absolutely no truth to it, said Gail Ridge, an entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven.

Yet people believe.

Ive had grown-ups and kids say they believe in it, said Diane Swanson, executive director of the Pratt Nature Center in New Milford.

But Elkins said hes found a schism among woolly bear believers.

A lot of the younger visitors havent heard the old wives tale, he said. Their parents have. Theres a generation gap.

Then there is their appearance. Dressed in autumn-colored winter coats  black and russet brown  they inch along, making their way through the world. Unlike groundhogs, they are right in front of us.

They are the caterpillar everybody knows, said Sarah Breznen, education director at the Woodcock Nature Center in Ridgefield. Theyre cute and fuzzy. A lot of kids just want to pick them up and take them home.

Thats not good for woolly bears.

They need to hibernate, she said.

We pick them up, then put them back where we found them, said Swanson of the Pratt Nature Center.

Woolly bears  known as woolly worms below the Mason-Dixon line  are found throughout eastern North America, from Texas into Canada.

The caterpillars are the larval stage of the Isabella tiger moth, a yellow-orange moth that hatches in the spring, lays its eggs and dies after two or three weeks of fluttering around.

The eggs hatch into woolly bears and spend their time feeding on grass and weeds. They molt several times, adding a section to their bodies with every molt  13 by the time they stop growing.

In the fall, they move out of the fields, looking for a place to hibernate  in stone walls or fallen logs.

They want a place thats dry, Ridge of the Agricultural Experiment Station, said. If an insect gets wet, it will die.

If stopped en route, woolly bears curl up in a ball, stick their bristly hair out and play dead  hence their other folk name, the hedgehog caterpillar.

Secure for the winter, woolly bears can withstand any cold. Their bodies produce a cryoprotectant  a biological antifreeze  that lets them turn into ice yet live. In the spring they defrost, spin a cocoon and emerge anew as moths.

The origin of the folklore surrounding the brown band are murky, although it supposedly dates to the Colonial days. It is possible Native Americans told the Europeans about it to test the limits of their gullibility.

But the woolly bear story might have gained some credibility through Harold C. Curran, a renowned entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Curran, his wife and their friends measured the brown bands of woolly bear caterpillars at Bear Mountain State Park in New York from 1948 to 1956, to see whether there is any truth to the myth.

It has been suggested the group  which founded The Original Society of the Friends of the Woolly Bear  simply wanted to get away from the city to enjoy fall along the Hudson River.

Likewise, Ridge said, if people say they believe in woolly bear winter weather stories today, well, why not? Its harmless fun.

Its a little light relief to relieve the stresses of life, she said.

Contact Robert Miller at earthmattersrgm@gmail.com
OTTAWA, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canadian nuclear industry is pleased with the Government of Canada's response to recommendations of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources' report on the nuclear sector. The government has recognized Canada's nuclear advantage by accepting all of the committee's recommendations.

The Government's response to the committee's recommendations outlines federal activities, program and engagement mechanism to foster innovation, increase coordination and support a strategic vision for the future of nuclear energy and nuclear science and technology in Canada.

"In particular, the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) is pleased that the government response directly and positively supports a number of key areas flagged by the CNA as important to the immediate as well as longer-term future of the nuclear industry in Canada," said CNA President and CEO Dr. John Barrett.

This includes:

The government agrees with the recommendation that Canada's nuclear industry has a bright future and that an overall strategy could help guide future partnerships.

nuclear industry has a bright future and that an overall strategy could help guide future partnerships. The government agrees that nuclear energy is "an important part of Canada's clean energy and climate change initiatives, and beyond energy, the nuclear sector contributes to a wide range of other scientific and economic activities, such as medicine, human health and safety, material testing, food safety, even space exploration."

clean energy and climate change initiatives, and beyond energy, the nuclear sector contributes to a wide range of other scientific and economic activities, such as medicine, human health and safety, material testing, food safety, even space exploration." The government acknowledges a role for nuclear technologies and operations in the implementation of federal programs for technology development and industrial support that cover the full innovation spectrum.

Initiatives announced in Budget 2017 on federal support for clean technologies "could support nuclear energy technologies at different points in the innovation spectrum recognizing that nuclear energy is an important component of Canada's clean energy mix."

clean energy mix." The government will use its convening power to bring together a dialogue to develop a Canadian road map for Small Modular Reactors, starting with provinces, territories and utilities.

The Government of Canada agrees with the committee recommendation that industry, along with academia and innovators, should establish a nuclear innovation council with representatives from the federal and provincial governments to leverage non-power applications (e.g., for health care, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.) of the nuclear sector for national benefit.

"The government's positive response comes just as Canada's energy community meets in Winnipeg for Generation Energy, a national dialogue on Canada's path to a low-carbon future led by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr," noted Barrett. "Canada's nuclear industry looks forward to working with the government at this important meeting on what's next for nuclear."

Nuclear power is absolutely critical to domestic and international efforts to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and address the threat of climate change, while powering economies with reliable, affordable and always-available electricity assets.

The full government response can be read here http://www.ourcommons.ca/content/Committee/421/RNNR/GovResponse/RP9142298/421_RNNR_Rpt05_GR/421_RNNR_Rpt05_GR-e.pdf

SOURCE Canadian Nuclear Association

For further information: Paul Hebert, Director of Communications, Canadian Nuclear Association, Email: [email protected], Phone: 613.292.2876

Related Links

http://www.cna.ca


AJAX, ON, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Investing in public infrastructure supports efficient, affordable and sustainable transit services that help Canadians and their families get to work, school and essential services on time and back home safely at the end of a long day. The governments of Canada and Ontario are making investments that will help create well-paying jobs and grow the middle class now while building a strong foundation for a sustainable economic future.

Mark Holland, Member of Parliament for Ajax, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities; Granville Anderson, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament for Durham; and Shaun Collier, Regional Councillor, on behalf of Roger Anderson, Durham Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer, today announced approval of the Durham Region Transit Fleet procurement project that will benefit Durham Region under the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF). The federal government is providing up to 50 percent of funding for this project$987,799. Durham Region will provide the balance of funding.

This PTIF project involves the procurement of four conventional transit buses. The new fleet will improve service reliability and rider experience for a more comfortable daily commute. Once in service, these new buses will support the growth of the Region's public transit system while getting people where they need to go efficiently and on time.

This investment is part of an agreement between Canada and Ontario for the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada is working closely with the Province and municipalities to invest in important transit initiatives that will strengthen communities across Ontario by growing the middle-class and fostering long-term prosperity. Durham Region residents today and into the future will benefit from the improved public transit system, providing transit users with affordable and efficient public transit infrastructure."

Mark Holland, Member of Parliament for Ajax, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"This project will benefit everyone in our community by supporting the growth of our transit system. These new buses will help the people of Durham Region get around with reliable service and a more comfortable commute. I am happy to work with our federal and municipal partners to support greater investment in public transit."

Granville Anderson, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament for Durham

"Durham Region Transit aims to make life easy for our residents by providing frequent, direct, reliable and seamless transit. These are goals that we share with our federal and provincial partners. Dedicated funding allows municipalities to plan and grow our transit systems for the future, and we welcome today's investment of to enable the procurement of four additional conventional transit buses."

Roger Anderson, Durham Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Quick facts

The Government of Canada will invest more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.

will invest more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. $25.3 billion of this funding will support public transit projects, including $5 billion that will be available for investment through the Canada Infrastructure Bank.

of this funding will support public transit projects, including that will be available for investment through the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Since 2004, the Government of Ontario has committed more than $3.7 billion to municipalities across the province through the provincial gas tax program. This funding supports municipal transit systems.

has committed more than to municipalities across the province through the provincial gas tax program. This funding supports municipal transit systems. The Government of Ontario is making the largest infrastructure investment in hospitals, schools, public transit, roads and bridges, and water and wastewater infrastructure in the province's history  more than $190 billion in public infrastructure over 13 years, starting in 201415. To learn more about what's happening in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON.

Associated links

Government of Canada's $180-billion+ infrastructure plan in Budget 2017:

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/plan/chap-02-en.html#Toc477707375

Federal infrastructure investments in Ontario: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/map-carte/on-eng.html

The Public Transit Infrastructure Fund: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/ptif-fitc-eng.php

Building Ontario - Infrastructure Plan: https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

For further information: Brook Simpson, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, 613-219-0149, [email protected]; Celso Pereira, Minister's Office, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, 647-201-9348, [email protected]; Liam Hatch, Communications, Durham Region Transit, 905-668-7711 ext. 2181, [email protected]; Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected], Twitter: @INFC_eng, Web: Infrastructure Canada

Related Links

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/


Investment Community Teleconference Set for November 10, 2017 at 8 a.m. ET

TORONTO, Oct. 6, 2017 /CNW/ - Hydro One Limited (TSX: H), the largest electric transmission and distribution utility in Ontario, plans to release its third quarter financial results the morning of November 10, 2017 before North American financial markets open. A summary of the results will be distributed by newswire and the complete MD&A and financial statements will be posted at hydroone.com/investors and www.sedar.com.

Hydro One's management will host a teleconference with the investment community at 8 a.m. ET that same morning to discuss the results and outlook. Those wishing to listen to the teleconference should access the live webcast on the Investor Relations Events and Presentations section of Hydro One's website at hydroone.com/investors. A rebroadcast of the teleconference will be available following the call at the same link.

Those members of the North American financial community wanting to ask questions during the call should dial 1.855.716.2690 at least ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time and request Hydro One's third quarter results teleconference, conference ID 90923670 (international callers should dial 1.440.996.5689). Other interested parties and media are welcome to participate on a listen-only basis.

About the Company:

We are Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with more than 1.3 million valued customers, $25 billion in assets and annual revenues of over $6.5 billion. Our team of 5,500 skilled and dedicated employees proudly and safely serves suburban, rural and remote communities across Ontario through our 30,000 circuit km high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit km primary distribution networks. Hydro One is committed to the communities we serve, and has been rated as the top utility in Canada for its corporate citizenship, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. We are one of only four utility companies in Canada to achieve the Sustainable Energy Company designation from the Canadian Electrical Association. We also provide advanced broadband telecommunications services on a wholesale basis utilizing our extensive fibre optic network. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H). For more information about everything Hydro One, please visit www.hydroone.com.

SOURCE Hydro One Limited

For further information: Omar Javed, 416.345.5943, [email protected]
CALGARY, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Keyera Corp. (TSX:KEY) ("Keyera") today announced that it has entered into a 20-year midstream agreement (the "Agreement") with Chevron Canada Limited ("Chevron") to fractionate and handle natural gas liquids from Chevron's Kaybob Duvernay operations near Fox Creek, Alberta. The Agreement includes an area of dedication that is in excess of 230,000 gross operated acres and also includes take-or-pay commitments. Under the terms of the Agreement, Chevron will deliver approximately 50% of its natural gas liquids from the area of dedication to Keyera for fractionation, storage and terminalling services on a fee-for-service basis.

Upon Chevron's request during the term of the Agreement, Keyera will provide such services through individual long-term service agreements. Keyera expects to provide the requested services through its fractionation, storage and terminalling assets at its Keyera Fort Saskatchewan energy complex. Depending on the success and scale of Chevron's Duvernay program, Keyera may need to expand its facilities in the future.

"We are pleased to have been selected by Chevron to provide NGL midstream solutions, highlighting our commitment to provide reliable and competitive services with a focus on our customers' needs," said Dean Setoguchi, Keyera's Senior Vice President of the Liquids Business Unit. "With Chevron being one of the largest lease holders in the Duvernay resource play, the Agreement represents an exciting opportunity for Keyera. We look forward to working with Chevron in a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship."

About Keyera

Keyera Corp. (TSX:KEY) operates one of the largest midstream energy companies in Canada, providing essential services to oil and gas producers in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Its predominantly fee-for-service based business consists of natural gas gathering and processing, natural gas liquids processing, transportation, storage, marketing, iso-octane production and sales, and an industry-leading condensate system in the Edmonton/Fort Saskatchewan area of Alberta. Keyera strives to provide high quality, value-added services to its customers across North America and is committed to conducting its business ethically, safely and in an environmentally and financially responsible manner.

Disclaimer

This news release contains forward-looking statements based on Keyera's current expectations and assumptions made by the management of Keyera relating to its business, the environment in which it operates, its future operations and the performance of its assets, including the proposed Project. As these forward-looking statements depend upon future events, actual outcomes may differ materially depending on factors such as: Chevron's future plans and development activities; future demand for fractionation, storage and terminalling services by Chevron and other customers; operating capacity at the Keyera Fort Saskatchewan complex; future operating results of the assets; the ability of Keyera to execute its strategic initiatives in connection with the service offering; availability and cost of engineering resources, construction crews and materials, as well as the accuracy of the construction schedule and cost estimates should future capital expansions be required; timely receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals or changes in requirements should future capital expansions be required; changes in production decline rates; weather conditions; commodity supply/demand balances and prices; activities of producers, competitors, customers, business partners and others; competitive dynamics affecting the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin; overall economic conditions; access to capital and financing alternatives; operational risks; environmental liabilities; the legislative, regulatory and tax environment; and other known or unknown factors. There can be no assurance that the results or developments anticipated by Keyera will be realized or that it will have the expected consequences for or effects on Keyera.

For additional information on these and other factors, see Keyera's public filings on www.sedar.com. The information provided in this release is given as of the date hereof. Readers are cautioned that they should not unduly rely on forward-looking information.

SOURCE Keyera Corp.

For further information: about Keyera, please visit our website at www.keyera.com or contact Keyera Corp: Lavonne Zdunich, Director, Investor Relations; Nick Kuzyk, Manager, Investor Relations, Email: [email protected]; Telephone: 403.205.7670 / Toll Free: 888.699.4853

Related Links

http://www.keyera.com


MILFORD  An elementary school was briefly evacuated Tuesday afternoon due to a fire in the cafeteria, a school official said.

Fire and police personnel were called to Live Oaks School for a a minor incident involving a stove pilot light, according to an email from Kathryn Bonetti, communications coordinator for Milford Public Schools.
For decades, every American kid in a schoolyard has known Christopher Columbus as the Italian explorer who "in 1492, sailed the ocean blue." But that little ditty is being phased out faster than you can name the explorer's three ships.

The rhyme is part of Columbus' romantic image, which includes searching for riches and spices, discovering America and befriending the "Indians." But historians have been pointing out for some time there is much more to this story, a rather grisly and gruesome tale of conquest. Now many teachers are presenting more perspectives on European colonization, and they don't paint Columbus as statue-worthy.

A longtime educator has created an increasingly popular lesson that turns the classroom into a courtroom and asks students to put Columbus, his crew, the King and Queen of Spain and the indigenous people on trial for murder.

"It begins on the premise that there's this monstrous crime in the years after 1492 when perhaps as many as 3 million or more Tainos on the island of Hispaniola lost their lives," says Bill Bigelow, the curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools and the co-director of the Zinn Education Project. "It asks students to wrestle with the responsibility in this."

The students play the role of the defendants and are asked to defend themselves against the charges, and to explain who they think is guilty and why.

Bigelow taught high school in Portland, Ore., for 30 years and he now creates lesson plans and teaching materials with a more critical view of historical narratives. He says more than 73,000 teachers across the country, including many in San Francisco and the Bay Area, have registered with Zinn Education Project and downloaded hundreds of thousands of the free lesson plans. "The People vs. Columbus, et al." is the most popular.

Bigelow says Columbus has long been inaccurately presented in the classroom as a godlike figure.

"In the traditional stories, Columbus is presented kneeling, planting a flag and claiming the lands he supposedly discovered in the name of the King and Queen of Spain. Children are never taught to ask, 'What right did he have to that land?'" says Bigelow. "The myth begins there with dividing the world in two, with the people who are the rulers and the people who are there to be ruled. The traditional story legitimizes the cleaving of the world into the worthy and the unworthy."

In actuality, Bigelow says, Columbus wasn't the first to discover America. His ships landed in the Bahamas and he went on to become the first to transport slaves across the Atlantic, sending the indigenous Caribbean people know as the Taianos to Spain.

"In February 1495, he ordered his men to round up 1,600 of the Tainos and to choose the 500 best and to ship them as slaves to Spain, and then he told his men to help themselves to the rest," Bigelow says. "He forced the Tainos to search for gold and they had a quota that they had to meet, or else they'd have their hands chopped off."

He adds: "The defense is that he was a man of his time."

WATCH: Activists perform public whipping to protest Columbus statue (story continues below)

Now Playing: These activists staged a whipping to protest Christopher Columbus. Video: NowThis News

When Bigelow teaches his lesson in Columbus, he always starts by asking students what they know about this time period, and not a single student has ever mentioned the Tainos.

"We all know this name of this one white guy who came from Europe but none of us know the names of the people who came here first," he says. "What does that say about our education?"

SFGATE heard from teachers at several schools around the Bay Area who said their students have put the explorer on trial in their classrooms.

Dominic Altieri, who teaches sixth through eighth grades at Synergy, says he spends two weeks on the project and his students are all assigned roles  from Columbus himself to Columbus' sailors to Tainos. They study the history of their characters, make costumes and prepare their defenses for the trial.

"We don't try to cast moral judgement," Altieri says. "We're trying to look critically at those events and that allows us to look at Columbus' discovery in a more accurate light. Who was really responsible for the deaths of millions of indigenous people? I try to not get too judge-y with it, and when he is on trial, they draw their own conclusions."

Maya Baker, an eighth grade teacher at the Bayshore School, introduced the lesson in her classroom for the first time this year.

"What was powerful was the kids had to be thoughtful about being on the other side," Baker says. "They are like, 'I know that King Ferdinand and Isabel are guilty. They should be guilty.' But they had to think about it, think about why they did what they did."

Baker says the lesson involves putting the "System of Empire"  the government at the time and its conquest for riches  on trial. That was the most challenging and enlightening part for her students.

"The system is the most complicated one," Baker says. "It gives them this whole other perspective and awareness. How can you blame the system? They have to think about the structures that were in place and what that means. The jury got really thrown off.

"Kids are recognizing that there are these structures in place and people just make assumptions about it. They started thinking about it in other ways and how it plays into modern society. Why we have certain holidays off. They become aware of the assumptions people make based on the structures in our system and learn it's important to challenge them."

Lauretta Komlos teaches ninth grade modern world history at Lowell High School and has had her students participate in a mock trial  complete with witnesses  for the past three years.

"I think that what we get out of it is that there's understanding of how history can be written one way and there can be this dominant narrative for hundreds of years, so much that we can have this national holiday celebrating Columbus," says Komlos, who practiced law before becoming a teacher. "And now that we're becoming more open about understanding history and we're realizing this was not a very nice man. It's not even close to a person you'd want to celebrate."

***

Bigelow's lesson is mainly taught in middle and high schools. Nancy McTygue, executive director of California History-Social Science Project, says teaching the complexities to elementary school children is more complicated.

McTygue is one of the lead writers of a new framework for the curriculum at California's K-12 public schools presented in 2016, and she says fifth grade teachers, who teach the explorers and founding of the country, are now encouraged to present multiple perspectives in their lessons.

"I think one of the reasons Columbus has become a symbol is that it's easy for school children to glom onto one person," McTygue says. "I think Columbus in and of itself isn't as important as what happened when these two civilizations came together. That I think is the larger and more significant story."

In the new framework, teachers are advised to help students trace and learn the routes of the explorers and study the trade routes. They're also asked to have students discuss the explorers' economic and religious motives and answer questions such as "What happened when Europeans encountered indigenous people?"

It's suggested that students read the letters European explorers like Christopher Columbus wrote to the sponsors of their voyages to help students understand that all historical actors have agendas and perspectives.

Original source material  whether logs, journals or letters  are recommended as a teaching tool through the new framework to present a more accurate picture of history. Anthea Hartig is the executive director of the S.F.-based California Historical Society that's working with the California History-Social Science Project at UC Davis to identify, collect and make materials available.

She's thrilled to see the rethinking of the history of Columbus in public schools.

"History has been traditionally taught in the hero style. A great man, rarely a woman, at the center of an event, "Hartig says. "Maybe you could stick Joan of Arc in there. These men were exalted and meant to inspire. If you read a lot of juvenile literature you'll notice this. But really, the revolutions Columbus launched weren't the revolutions for which he's celebrated. What he imposed on the islands was some of the most heinous genocide and labor forced on the world. By 1555 there were no more natives. Then they started to import slaves from Africa."
By Paul J. Fusco / CT DEEP-Wildlife

The stateDepartment of Energy and Environmental Protection is reminding motorists to be watchful of increased deer and moose activity along roadways, especially during early morning and evening hours.

Motorists should be aware and heed deer crossing signs along state highways, DEEPs Wildlife Division said in a release. Drivers are also advised to slow down and drive defensively should a deer or moose be spotted on or by the road.
NEW HAVEN  Just as the nation grapples with changes being made in the status of many undocumented immigrants, a class of New Haven students ruminated on what that means for people they know.

If theyre deported, theyll be homeless, said Makayla Dawkins, a James Hillhouse High School junior who serves as a student member of the Board of Education.

Many of her friends are immigrants, she said, and she sees them as no different from any other teenager.

Dawkins is one of approximately 12 students learning about the history of immigration in America at Gateway Community College, with a specific focus on how issues of race have echoed throughout the nations history.

For the last seven years, through a partnership with Gateway Community College, students at Hillhouse, Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School and New Haven Academy have been able to take a college-level sociology course for both high school and college credit that examines the history and role of race in America.

Donnell Hilton, coordinator of the Middle College program within Gateways dual-enrollment programs, said students go through the normal application process to take courses. Although principals have the final say to authorize courses if they line up with credit areas in the high school curriculum, students can elect the courses they want to take. The course examining American race relations has been a student choice every year.

This may be a perspective they dont get in high school, Hilton said. Theyre not just treated as high school students.

Sixty to 75 students participate in the program each semester, he said. Students can apply for courses 15 to 60 days before the semester begins.

Adjunct sociology professor Darryl Hugley examines race in his Racial and Ethnic Diversity course by discussing current events, he said.

Recently , that meant looking at immigration through the lens of the days Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewal expiration deadline.

I would like to say Im the teacher that gives them a leg up by providing cutting edge, contemporary perspective on issues they can take to their everyday lives, he said.

As students watched a news report of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System President Mark Ojakian discussing the procedure for dealing with raids by immigration authorities, students lamented the amount of bureaucracy involved.

Hugley shared some other issues facing DACA recipients, such as having access to employer-provided health care and concerns with calling the police to report muggings or domestic violence.

In New Haven under then-Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Hugley reminded the class, the city began an identification card program for all city residents, including those who are undocumented. The card is intended to allow access to certain services.

Dawkins and others in the class shared that they have family members who are immigrants, some of them only receiving papers recently.

Were all smart children, said Hillhouse junior Ashley Harris, a Jamaican immigrant.

Hugley told the students that Americas history includes a pattern of nativism and xenophobia, citing examples such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentlemens Agreement of 1907, which limited immigration of workers from Japan, according to history.com. Immigration was heavily restricted from places other than northern Europe, with white laborers acting out of the fear their jobs may be taken by immigrants, he told the class.

Harris said her interest in the course is because of a desire to learn more about the subject .

I want to learn how it could benefit me as an immigrant and the history of race in America, she said.

Due to his participation in the program, Hillhouse senior Ahrtez Moore expects to graduate from high school with nine college credits.

Hopefully I can go to a four-year university, he said. With nine credits, it would save him money by avoiding almost an entire semester.

Hilton participated in an early college experience himself.

As a senior at Hillhouse in 1999, he said he initially planned to enter a trade after graduating, until he enrolled in a psychology course at Southern Connecticut State University while still in high school.

I realized I belonged in a classroom, he said. Thats why Im here today.

Hilton said the Middle College is one of six dual enrollment programs run by the college , and he hopes to expand the program to other high schools in the district.

The Middle College program is available for free to students, with credits appearing on their transcripts. In addition to the course on race, students can take nine other courses in areas such as criminal justice, psychology, government, business and Web design.

brian.zahn@

hearstmediact.com
MIDDLETOWN  Dr. Jeffrey T. Shelton, chief of psychiatry at Middlesex Hospital, cant overstate the importance of having a dose of nalaxone ready for patients at high risk of death from opioids.

To my knowledge, Ive had 15 overdoses reversed and Im just one provider, he said.

So I believe in this, he said, pulling out the plug on a palm-sized training device inside a rescue kit.

The hospitals emergency room has just been outfitted with 10 naloxone kits under a state Department of Public Health pilot program. The little red pouches contain two doses of Evzio, which can reverse an opioid overdose.

This trainer contains no needle or drug, a female voice intones once the plug is removed. If you are ready to use, to inject, place black end against outer thigh, then press firmly and hold in place for five seconds, the voice says as Shelton demonstrates the medication on his own leg.

People talk a lot about first responders having to have this, but the real first responders are other addicts  people who are actually there when the overdose happens, Shelton said.

In response to a community needs assessment compiled six months ago, which identified substance abuse as one of the top health crises locally, the hospital recently created a 15-member opioids committee. The board is tasked with creating resources for patients with substance abuse disorders and reducing the number of those with these addictions, said Dr. Rachel I. Lovins, chairwoman of the department of medicine and co-chairwoman of the committee.

Its interesting, Shelton said. The overdoses that were reversed, they were not the person I had prescribed it for: a neighbor, a family member, a child (injected the life-saving drug). My goal is to make this a street drug in Middletown. This has to be out there, everywhere.

Statistics coming out of the nations opioid epidemic are alarming.

Connecticuts Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Gill said in August that he estimates there will be 1,078 fatal drug overdoses by the end of 2017 in Connecticut, a skyrocketing figure when compared to 2012, when fatal overdoses totaled 357.

Since 1997, 300,000 Americans have died of opioid overdose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Opioid misuse is now the No. 1 cause of death in Americans under the age of 50, according to the American Science of Addiction Medicine.

During a news conference ahead of National Drug Takeback Day in Middletown in April, U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said 917 people in Connecticut died from an overdose in 2016, many of them between the ages of 18 and 26.

The hospitals new initiative includes decreasing the number of opioids being prescribed, tracking them, creating accountability and making sure the hospital has providers who can give medication-assisted treatment, she said.

Its a really complex problem, so it takes a multidisciplinary approach to address it, Shelton said. Part of it is, as providers and physicians, how are we prescribing opiates?

The number of opioid prescriptions dispensed has increased 400 percent since 1997, Lovins said.

In his psychiatric career, Shelton said, hes treated more than 1,000 people addicted to heroin. Not one started with heroin. They all started with some sort of prescription opioid: either illicit or prescribed, he said.

Eighty percent of all heroin users start with prescription pain medication, Lovins said.

And in my experience, its even higher than that, Shelton said. I dont think Ive ever seen anybody who started an opiate addiction with heroin, he said.

Medication-assisted treatment, Shelton said, is using drugs like suboxone or methadone to support someones recovery.

The committee is focusing on creating a continuum of care for those addicted to opioids  no matter where or how they enter the health care system: through their primary care physician, in the emergency room, being admitted to a medical or psychiatric in-patient unit, Shelton said.

Part of getting effective treatment  and successfully recovering  is overcoming the stigma of addiction.

Shelton, who has been prescribing naloxone for years to his drug-addicted patients, said after talking with a patient one day, he realized the man had been too embarrassed to fill the prescription because he was afraid he was going to be discriminated against.

Its not enough to give them the script. You have to actually give them the medication, Shelton said. Its a huge barrier to recovery.

Times have changed since Lovins and Shelton were in medical school and learned about the fifth vital sign. Most times, when a health care worker assesses a patient, he or she records body temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure.

We were told that they were not addictive and that we should check the vital signs and ask every patient, every day, their pain level, and should give whatever is needed to treat their pain, she said.

That process took the physicians objective decision making taking out of the equation, she said. So we started prescribing huge amounts of opiates.

I remember feeling uncomfortable having a patient tell me they were in a 10 out of 10 pain level and looked unbelievably comfortable  but were also not so great at assessing other peoples pain, she said.

Now, state law requires that physicians check the Connecticut Prescription Monitoring Program, which identifies all the controlled substances a patient has been given in the last year in Connecticut and neighboring states, Lovins said.

So when an opiate-addicted patient cant get legal drugs, the option is to hit the streets, or quit cold turkey. The latter doesnt work, Lovins said.

Were told this in med school: Opiate withdrawal doesnt kill you. Thats the end of the story, Shelton said. I was talking to a patient who said, The first day I was so sick, I was scared I was going to die. The second day, I was so sick, I was scared I was going to live, Shelton said.

Middlesex now tries to use nonopioid medicine whenever possible, and opioids are only prescribed for acute and severe pain, such as broken bones, according to the hospital. When opioids are prescribed, doctors usually only prescribe a two-day or three-day supply and encourage patients to follow up with their regular doctors as soon as possible, staff said.

The defining thing about opiates is, people get tolerant and dependent so what they need to get high escalates over time, Shelton said. And the introduction of fentanyl-laced opioids, 50 times more powerful than heroin, is killing more people than ever: a 4,000 percent increase in deaths associated with the drug since 2012, Lovins said.

Its terrifying, Shelton said.

There are legitimate uses, Lovins said, in surgery and for cancer pain. Its a very powerful pain reliever, she said.

Besides the psychiatry departments daytime program that is dual-pronged and can help people with mental health issues and drug-dependency  which often go hand in hand  Shelton has created an intensive evening recovery program for people addicted to any substance.

We want to meet people when they can meet. Recovery is much more than stopping using drugs. Its about that, plus finding your joy and having a family and a job and housing and all those things, he said.

I think the best thing we have in this hospital to help get rid of stigma is him, Lovins said, referring to her colleague. Because hes so passionate, hes so nonjudgmental. And if we can train everybody in the hospital to have his attitude, itll be a completely safe place, she said.

For information, visit middlesexhospital.org.

Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day

@hearstmediact.com.
Newborn babies are a bundle of stress for everyone, but a new study suggests one parent might be doing more heavy lifting when it comes to early childcare.

When examining parents three months after the birth of their first child, researchers at Ohio State University found that fathers spend about twice as much time relaxing as moms.
President Buhari today had a closed-door meeting with all the service chiefs, the Minister of defence, Masur Dan-Ali and Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, at the state house in Abuja.The meeting presided over by the president, also had in attendance Lawal Daura, director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS); Arab Yadam, the acting director of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a representative of the inspector-general of police.The service chiefs at the meeting included Gabriel Olonisakin, chief of defence staff; Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff; Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, chief of naval staff, and Sadique Abubakar, chief of air staff.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has met in closed-door with President Muhammad Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the crisis surrounding Oluibadan throne.The Governor after the meeting while fielding questions from State House correspondents said that the first class monarch has committed offence that could warrant his removal but he was not going to dethrone him.Ajimobi described the natural ruler as his father, though he alleged that the recent appointment of traditional Chiefs by Oluibadan was politically motivated, stressing that one of the newly appointed Chief who is a politician was eyeing his office to replace him at the expiration of his tenure.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, Tuesday, put aside their differences and discussed opportunities in the Nigerian petroleum industry and ways to grow the sector.The duo met at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, at the Energy Policy Committee breakout session.Baru, a lead discussant at one of the sessions, came first at the venue of the programme, while Kachikwu walked in about 15 minutes later. As soon as the Minister of State entered, Baru stood, approached him and exchanged pleasantries.Kachikwu also offered that he be represented at the second session of the dialogue by Baru, a request the organisers politely declined, because Baru was to chair a session and it would affect his participation.However, Kachikwu left before the end of the programme and Baru represented him. However, Kachikwu returned and joined Baru in chairing the event. After the session, both men held brief chat before departing.Speaking on the opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, Kachikwu said Nigerian petroleum industry has immense potentials which are growing on a daily basis.He agreed that the operating environment is tough, but stated that the Federal Government was looking at areas where it can provide incentives to boost returns for investors, so as to attract more investors into the industry.He explained that the Federal Government is putting in place machineries to increase the scope of its earnings in the industry.He also noted that the environment is improving, adding that companies that had suspended their big ticket projects are beginning to look at the potentials of reviving the projects and are set to take Final Investment Decision, FID.Baru, on the other hand, highlighted the opportunities in the forthcoming marginal oil fields bid round, stating that the successful completion of the process would present a veritable opportunity for Nigeria to grow its crude oil output and create employment.
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has bemoaned the erosion of Yoruba culture by what he called the importation of Islam and Christianity.The monarch spoke on Monday while declaring open the international conference on Yorubaland and politics since the 19th Century and beyond, held at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, in honour of a renowned historian, the late Prof. Joseph Atanda, which was the 5th in the series.Oba Adeyemi lamented that with the advent of both religions, some aspects of Yoruba culture and traditions suffered great assault leading to the extinction of family life, pattern of social relations, family names and praise names.The monarch explained that both religions had portrayed Yoruba values and traditions as evil, satanic or demonic.He said, Yoruba land is at a critical juncture today more than ever before. The assault on our culture has assumed frightening dimensions, coming from the received religions of Islam and Christianity, especially their puritanical and pentecostal trends.Family life, nature and pattern of social relations, indigenous social welfarism, family names and praise names, values and traditions have almost been completely destroyed by their portrayal as evil, satanic or demonic.It is no longer that they represent inferior civilisation as was the case when the religions just came but that they are evil, demonic and satanic in all areas.The monarch, however, urged all stakeholders in Yoruba land to revive the dying culture and tradition for the sake of the present and the coming generations.Oba Adeyemi, who eulogised the late historian, describing him as an activist and enthusiast of Yoruba history, said he had followed closely his academic odyssey.He said the late Atanda placed Yoruba culture in its proper perspective in his works.In his keynote address, the Executive Vice-Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, canvassed regional integration in which the six states in the South-West would set the pace for other Nigerian states.He said, It is high time the Yoruba began taking their cultural and socio-political heritage seriously.It is only through this that Yoruba can be counted among those who are taking Nigeria seriously.Presenting the collection of works by the late Atanda, the Chairman, Bi-Courtney Group of Companies, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), urged other historians not to shy away from telling the authentic story of the Yoruba.In his contribution, Prof. Toyin Falola of the University of Texas, Houston, said currently two students of higher institutions were beneficiaries of the scholarship awards instituted by the Atanda family.
Independent Human Rights Group in Nigeria, IHRGN, has commended the Nigerian Army over the success of its military drill in the South East ...

Independent Human Rights Group in Nigeria, IHRGN, has commended the Nigerian Army over the success of its military drill in the South East tagged, Operation Python Dance II.

The body said the military drill was able to stop members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, from using their relationship with the political class and elites in the southeast to blackmail the Army.





IHRGN stated that the military drill has thwarted the growing spate of crimes like kidnapping, assassination, ritual Killings, armed robbery and other life threatening evil across the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. 





Speaking in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the leader of the group, Barr Zineke Werigbelegha, opined that the achievement of this particular operation should catalyze strong consideration for retaining it as an annual drill to not only hone troops skills but to help make the country safer for citizens.





According to Werigbelegha, The launch of Operation Python Dance II follows from the maiden edition of the drill in 2016, which was widely acclaimed for ridding the southeast of Nigeria of crimes like kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes ahead of the Yuletide season.





To revive these crimes, perpetrators brought them under a political cover which manifested as agitations for the re-creation of the erstwhile republic of Biafra. While crime if any nature is against the law, bringing these crimes under a call for succession went on to create a volatile mix.





Since the objective of Operation Python Dance II was to build troops capacity it went ahead irrespective of the mutations that the crimes in the region are undergoing. There were instances where the crime gangs and terrorist group exploited the peaceful nature of the drill to provoke troops through surprise attacks that were professionally repelled.





It was found that Operation Python Dance II was widely but erroneously perceived as a full scale military operation against the terrorist activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) even when the Army sufficiently communicated its intention as a training drill for troops familiarize with the operating environment of the country. This perception was not helped by the propaganda launched by IPoB, which was noted as desperate to keep the military out of the southeast while its activities gain further grounds.





The decision by IPoB terrorists to deny troops right of way in the course of the operation led to potentially volatile incidents that IPoB publicized as attacks on its operational base in Abia state. It was however confirmed that troops professionally managed the situation with several arrests made of the terrorists that had launched attacks on troops.





The propaganda infrastructure of IPoB far exceeds that of Boko Haram and possibly rivals the ones by Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) as the terror group was able to flood the public discourse space with manipulated pictures and videos that created the impression of rights abuses. The research however found that Operation Python Dance II operated within acceptable rules of engagement for the period under review.





No one came forward to identify themselves as the people in the videos that made the round alleging abuses by the military. Some residents suggested that the footages may have input of the film industry to attain the level of manipulation exhibited.





Residents wanted an extension of the one month duration of the operation with several of them noting that they only began to feel safe with its launch. They also requested that the operation should be instituted and designated with a year name as opposed to series name (Operation Python Dance 2017 compared to Operation Python Dance II)





There was an immediate scale down of crimes  robbery, kidnapping, assassination, ritual killings, extortion and criminal groups. The research revealed that these crimes were not random acts but were centrally coordinated as sources of funding for IPoB. A determination to protect these sources of its funding was in part responsible for its decision to obstruct and attack troops on the exercise.





IPOB enjoys patronage of the political class and elites in the southeast and they exploited this relationship to blackmail the Army.





Operation Python Dance II (with its predecessor) was in the best interest of the public as it helped addressed pressing security issues that the civil police was grappling with even though that was not its original intent.





The accusations of human rights abuses against the military was the product of propaganda since those who made the allegations failed to step forward in the course of this research. The allegations of human rights abuses were therefore found to be unfounded and without evidence.





The conduct of Operation Python Dance II met the expected standards for acceptable rules of engagement during military operations in a civilian area.





Those arrested for obstructing and attacking troops should be put on trial as deterrence for recurrence of such.





Those found to be supporting IPoB as a terror group should be isolated from the political space to send a clear message that people cannot precipitate crisis to get political leverage. Such persons should be put on trial where there is strong enough evidence to arraign them.





Operation Python Dance should be institutionalized as an annual exercise. The knowledge that the operation would hold on regular basis will reduce the propensity for dismantled crime groups to re-group.
The Senate has urged the Federal Government to liaise with the World Health Organisation and other donor agencies for contingencies against eventualities as Nigeria fights against monkeypox.This was part of the prayers of a motion moved by Senator Ali Wakili (Bauchi-South), titled Urgent Need for Proactive Steps to Nip in the Bud Reported Outbreak of Monkeypox Disease in Nigeria, which the Senate adopted at the plenary on Tuesday.The upper chamber of the National Assembly also urged the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health, state and local governments, to be proactive in containing and preventing the disease from spreading beyond where it had been reported.The lawmakers also called for aggressive enlightenment and education of the citizens on measures that could be taken to mitigate risk factors of exposure to the virus, while seeking a sustained public health education messages through media platforms.Wakili, while moving the motion, said the Senate was worried that there are no specific treatments in the provision or availability of vaccine for monkeypox infection and that Nigerians have been thrown into panic, as the countrys health sector is facing a myriad ofchallenges.He added, The Senate is disturbed that since there is no vaccine or specific treatment, the only ways to reduce the infection in people is through awareness of risk factors, enlightenment about measures to be taken to reduce exposure to the virus, reduction of possibility ofanimal to human transmission, and through cooking of all animal products before consumption.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Dr Ike Ekweremadu, has said that Nigeria is better as a united country and should not be dismembered.Ekweremadu expressed the view after delivering a lecture on Constitutionalism and the challenges of leadership in Africa: an evaluation of tested models, in New York.The event was organised by the Centre for Media and Peace Initiatives, a New York-based international non-governmental organisation, to mark the 10th anniversary of the centre.He said, Nigeria does not require to be fragmented at this time. There is joy in being together. There is benefit in being together.There is advantage that is conferred on us as a country by our large population. What we need is giving everybody a sense of belonging and ensuring good governance.Ekweremadu, however, stressed the need for the country to be restructured from the current over-concentration of power at the centre, which was non-responsive to the citizenry.The central government that once appeared necessary and beneficent has compromised, even jeopardised its standing by perceived highhandedness, unfair treatment of some ethnic groups and abuse of power.The powerful central government has made citizens vulnerable to bureaucratic manipulation and control and left them powerless, and reminded them at every turn that the promise of self-government has been eroded.Nigeria, and indeed African constitutions, should espouse federalism characterised by weak centres and strong federating units.Currently, Nigeria has a very powerful centre, hence the need for devolution of powers.Ekweremadu stressed that a restructured Nigeria would be in the best interest of everyone as each geo-political zone would maximise its potentialities.If we start this process, it will assure the agitators that there is hope for a better Nigeria.We must continue to assure that the best way to go is restructuring, not dismemberment of the country.According to him, no argument that is both coherent and respectable can be made to support the continued emasculation of the component states by the centre.
Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, Monday stunned participants at a two-day stakeholders meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child Adolescent Health and Nutrition, RMNCAH+N when she lamented that there was no single syringe at the Aso Rock clinic.Mr. Buhari also said that the clinic which was budgeted for in the nations budget lack drugs and equipment, insisting that the management must explain how the budgetary provision for medical facilities was utilized.The event was organized by her pet project, Future Assured, and had in attendance state governors wives, development partners, primary health care coordinators and other stakeholders, including the Chief Medical Director of State House Clinic, Dr. Hussain Munir.Her outburst came barely one week after her daughter, Zahra, equally called out the State House Permanent Secretary, Mr. Jalal Arabi, on social media, asking him to account for the N3 billion.Speaking in her remarks at the stakeholders meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the First Lady noted that President Buhari spent several months outside Nigeria for medical treatment, and wondered what could happen to ordinary Nigeria despite the budgetary for the State House clinic.Besides, she disclosed that she was sick some weeks ago and was advised to take the first flight out of the country to London for treatment but she turned down the advise and insisted that she will be treated in Nigeria because there was budget for the State House clinic.But to her greatest surprise, when a call was put across to the Aso Rock clinic, to find out if the X-ray machine was working, she was told that the equipment was not functional.She queried why the management of the clinic would be funding new civil construction projects when medical items as ordinary as syringes were not available for patients at the facility.According to her, Before I commence my speech, I will like to be realistic and say a few words concerning health delivery system in Nigeria.It is very, very, very poor; sorry to say that. I am happy the CMD of Aso Clinic is here, or is he around? Dr. Munir or his representative? Ok Dr. Munir Im happy you are here.As you are all aware for the last six months, Nigeria wasnt stable because of my husbands ill-health. We thank God he is fully recovered now.If somebody like Mr. President can spend several months outside Nigeria, then you wonder what will happen to a common man on the street in Nigeria.Few weeks ago I was sick as well, they advised me to take the first flight out to London but I refused to go. I said I must be treated in Nigeria because there is a budget for an assigned clinic to take care of us. If the budget is N100 million, we need to know how the budget is spent.Along the line I insisted they call Aso Clinic to find out if the X-ray machine is working, they said it is not working. They didnt know I was the one that was supposed to be in that hospital at that very time.I had to go to a hospital that was established by foreigners in and out 100 percent. What does that mean?So, I think it is time for us to do the right thing. If something like this can happen to me, no need for me to ask the governors wives what is happening in their states. This is Abuja and this is the highest seat of government, and this is Presidential Villa.One of the speakers has already said we have very good policies in Nigeria. In fact, we have the best policies in Africa. Yes of course, we have but the implementation has been the problem. So, we need to change our mindset and do the right thing.I am sure Dr. Munir will not like me saying this but I have to say it out. As the Chief Medical Director, there is a lot of constructions going on in this hospital but there is no single syringe there; what does that mean? Who will use the building?We have to be good in reasoning. You are building new buildings and there is no equipment, no consumables in the hospital and construction is still going on.The First Lady said the pitiable condition of health facilities in the country aggravated the impetus to secessionist agitation by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, when President Buhari was on medical vacation in London.She said, Going back to the same health issue in Nigeria, as a result of spending several months by the President outside Nigeria, a 40-year-old man who was still living in his fathers house, created a state out of a state; and that is a major setback for the country and the health sector did not benefit.The State House Clinic is meant to offer free medical services to the President, the Vice-President and the families as well staff and other persons duly accredited to carry out some official duties at the State House, Abuja and the annex in Lagos.In an earlier reaction last week to the development, the State House Permanent Secretary, Jalal Arabi had refuted allegations of fraud levelled at the management of the State House Clinic, saying that only a mad person would steal money from the clinic and toy with peoples lives.Arabi had said: I know people will insinuate and give all sorts of reasons because they dont ask but it will be foolhardy and madness for anybody in his senses to defraud a medical centre of a kobo and toying with peoples lives.No sane person will do that, so the truth of the matter is the hospital is being run on subvention and appropriation; if it comes we pile the drugs; but the truth is the drugs are always overwhelmed by the number of people who use the Centre, because it is not controlled.He explained that the problem of funding and inadequate drugs would be tackled by some reforms, which include commercialisation of the medical services at the Clinic and restricting treatment to only patients on National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) whose Health Maintenance Organisations (HMO) or primary health providers are domiciled there.Recall that the Presidency had last week announced that there was plan to commercialize the State House Medical Centre, SHMF, for better health delivery system amidst mounting allegations of misappropriation and withholding of funds meant for medical supplies in the centre.President Buharis daughter on her post on her Instagram handle @mrs_zmbi, on Saturday raised concerns over the poor state of the hospital despite the N3 billion budgetary allocation in the 2017 budget.She specifically called out the Permanent Secretary in the State House, Arabi to provide answers as to why simple drugs as paracetamol, syringes and gloves were not available, leaving patients and staff to individually source for those items.Using the hashtag #statehousepermsecplsanswer, she asked: why isnt there simple paracetamol, gloves, syringes..why do the patients/staff have to buy what they need in state house clinic?More than N3 billion budgeted for state house clinic and the workers there dont have equipment to work with? Why?#statehousepermsecplsanswerWhere is the money going to? Medication only stock once since the beginning of the year? Why?While clearly avoiding responding to the Presidents daughter, the Permanent Secretary said the management will among other things seek the commercialisation of the Centre to boost its revenue and augment the appropriation it receives from the government in the quest for a better qualitative service.He said, The Centre is the only health centre in Abuja where patients are not required to pay any dime before consultation.In other government hospitals in Abuja, patients are required to pay for consultation, treatment, laboratory tests and others but that has not been the case with the State House Medical Centre.The Centre offers free services, nobody pays a kobo for hospital card, consultations or prescriptions and this has taken a toll on the subvention the Centre receives from the government.We have some of the best equipment in the country. For instance, to maintain the MRI and other scan machines, we spend close to N2 million monthly. Yet we do not charge a dime for those who require MRI scans in the clinic, he said.Arabi said the proposed reforms will ensure that those eligible to use the Centre are NHIS complaint with their Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) or primary health provider domiciled in the clinic.We have already created a NHIS desk at the clinic where patients will be required to authentic their profile. If their HMOs are registered in other hospitals they will be required to transfer to the Centre.This is another way through which we can boost revenue generation at the hospital and this has started yielding results because the stark reality is there is no free lunch anywhere, he said.Arabi also dismissed allegations of misappropriation and withholding of funds meant for medical supplies in the Centre.I know people will insinuate and give all sorts of reasons because they dont ask but it will be foolhardy and madness for anybody in his senses to defraud a medical centre of a kobo and toying with peoples lives.No sane person will do that, so the truth of the matter is the hospital is being run on subvention and appropriation; if it comes we pile the drugs; but the truth is the drugs are always overwhelmed by the number of people who use the Centre, because it is not controlled, he said.In the 2016 budget, the State House Medical Centre was N3.219 billion which was for the completion of ongoing work as well as procurement of drugs and other medical equipment.In the 2017 budget, the sum was reduced drastically from N3.89 billion to N331.7 million.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has declared as illegal, the proposed Senator of the Year Award to Sen. Dino Melaye (Kogi-APC) b...

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has declared as illegal, the proposed Senator of the Year Award to Sen. Dino Melaye (Kogi-APC) by the Senate Press Corps.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the corps had nominated Melaye and 14 other senators for series of awards, slated to hold on Monday Oct. 9 at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.In separate statements on Monday, the National President of NUJ, Abdulwaheed Odusile and the Chairman of FCT Council of the Union, Ella Abech, said the Union had canceled the proposed award ceremony.The NUJ said the Press Corp of the Senate was not recognised by the constitution of the NUJ and as such, had no locus standi to present award to the lawmakers.Odusile said the purported award by the Senate Press Corp was illegal as the body was not recognised by the NUJ constitution to give any award to anybody.The Union dissociates itself from the so-called conferment as it did not comply with the provision of the Constitution of NUJ on such issues, hence the nullification of the award,he said.>The Chairman, FCT Council, Ella Abechi, has called off the award ceremony, adding that it was illegal and lacks legitimacy by the constitution of the NUJ.The press corps is not a legitimate organ to decide who to give awards to,he said.(NAN)
Former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu on Monday visited Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) in his country h...



Former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu on Monday visited Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) in his country home in Minna, Niger state.

Addressing journalists after meeting IBB behind closed door, Kalu said they spoke about 2019 presidential elections.





According to him, they agreed that even if President Muhammadu Buhari will not contest in 2019, the north should produce the next President.





He, however, stated that after the north Presidency, the next President in 2023 should come from other part of the country to forge cohesion, stressing that he would not mind to be a President.





The Former Governor also defended his earlier position on the disclosure that IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu has gone to London through Malaysia.





Kalu when asked if he wants to contest the 2019 Presidency if Buhari did not run, said: I am a Nigerian, I am entitled to it but like I will always say and I maintain my position that northerners should be allowed to complete their second term.





If Buhari is not contesting even though he is entitled to second term, the north should still present a candidate. This is the turn of the north.





Other zones should be ready for 2023, but for now I still maintain my position and I am not afraid of anybody. This is the turn of the north. Anybody can take me for what I say.





Whoever that is castigating me over this my position is wasting his time. I live by the truth and I will be ready to speak the truth always. Opinion is an entitlement, and that is my opinion given to me by God, he added.





On his comment on Nnamdi Kanu, he stated that I did not say anything bad on IPOB, they have the right to carry their flags around and agitate but they dont have the right to separate Nigeria.





What I said, and it is clear, Nnamdi Kalus brother told me that he has left the country and I was not looking for him for any bad intention, I was looking for him to be able to call federal authority that he is with me and no Army or Police can take him away from me, so that we can discuss the way forward, he added.





According him People misunderstood my intention. I was just after peace because burning down our state (Abia state) wouldnt have been the best. And again the lives of the over 15 million Igbos that are living in the north are more important than one person. That is the issue. So, we need to take control of the situation.





He stated that agitations were often fueled by lack of Justice and fairness especially in providing basic amenities which was not peculiar to any region adding that absence of all these amenities is responsible for whatever agitation you are seeing. Not only IPOB is being marginalized, every part of this country is being marginalized.





He said When I was coming I passed through the Minna-Suleja Road, I now concluded that not only the Eastern part of the country are being marginalized. All parts of the country are being marginalized. Nigeria and Nigerians need new orientation from A to Z, that is the only solution.

Asked why he was in Minna, Kalu added I am in Minna because it is one of my homes and also this is one of my regular visits to Minna. So, my visit has no political undertone. I come here regularly.
Hundreds of policemen on Monday staged a peaceful protest over non-payment of two months salaries in Kaduna, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.NAN learnt that over 700 of the policemen had not been paid their August and September salaries, while more than 5,000 were being underpaid.The policemen, cutting across all ranks, gathered in front of the Salaries Office at the State Police Command Headquarters, lamenting that it was not easy to operate without salaries.They appealed to the police authorities to rectify the problem to save them from further hardship.The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Agyole Abeh, who addressed the protesting policemen, absolved the police authorities of blame, attributing the delay in payment to the Federal Ministry of Finances IPPS office.He appealed for restraint and advised those affected to channel their grievances through the right channel.We are not happy with the situation; but what government is doing is to check ghost workers and restore sanity to the financial system, Abeh said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met separately with three state governors from the northern part of the country on issues bordering...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met separately with three state governors from the northern part of the country on issues bordering on the possible oil exploration in the North as well as security among others.The governors include Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State.The meetings were held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Tambuwal told State House correspondents that he briefed Buhari on the outcome of the recent visit of some northern governors to the South-East over growing agitations across the country.He said, I came to see our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, and we had discussions on quite a number of issues. Of specific mention is the issue of the general well-being of the country, and the security situation of the country.I am sure you are aware that recently we were in the South-East as governors from the North.We went to interact with our brothers in the South-East and the South-South and particularly people of the North residing there. So, there was a need for a feedback.The governor said he also seized the opportunity of the meeting to brief Buhari on possible oil exploration in the Sokoto Basin.He said there was a need for the Federal Government to continue to support the endeavour which he said would help in the provision of more oil and gas for the country and bring about agricultural revolution in the North.The governor said oil had always been in the basin since 1957 when the first attempt at exploration was made in the area.He however said the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta, which was easier to exploit, caused a shift in focus to that of Niger Delta.Tambuwal said Buharis response was positive.Geidam on his part said he told Buhari that peace had returned to Yobe State, an area that was hitherto at the frontline of insurgency.He said he told the President that all Internally Displaced Persons had returned to their bases and resumed their normal business.The governor said the current problems facing the state bordered on resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the destroyed areas by the Boko Haram.Geidam said he sought the Federal Governments assistance in that regard.He said, In terms of reconstruction and rehabilitation, although there is the Presidential Committee in the North-East, they are doing their best but they need to do more. That is what I told Mr. President.Some of our people lost their means of livelihood, their farms, homes etc. They need to be given some amount of money or the Federal Government through the Presidential Committee may assist them to reconstruct or rebuild their houses so that they can start their normal lives.We have not received a kobo in terms of cash but in terms of materials, food and non-food items, we have been receiving a lot which I cannot tell you precisely in a quantified form here. We have received enough.But during the last administration, Yobe State took care of the Joint Task Force which is a combination of the military, the DSS, the police, the mobile police who were carrying out the war against insurgency. We even paid their allowances, all their logistics including patrol vehicles.We have spent quite a substantial amount of money in that direction up to about N13bn during the time of insurgency and we have submitted our spending to the Federal Government if they could refund even 30 per cent of that so that we can deploy it in the establishment of some infrastructure like hospitals.Recently, we have awarded a construction of cargo airport, if we can get a portion of that money, it will go a long way in solving some of our problems.
A controversial Ghanaian legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw, has stated that incessant loud moaning during s3x is a punishable crime.

A controversial Ghanaian legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw, has stated that incessant loud moaning during s3x is a punishable crime.

The legal practitioner was speaking in Behind the Fame on Drive Time on Joy FM, where he insisted that moaning infringes on the rights of others and must be stopped.





According to him, Why is it that you are having sex and I cannot sleep? In a compound house, they are having sex with you and everybody cannot sleep, you are infringing upon their rights to privacy and you are committing a crime and a wrong to them because you are committing what we call sexual nuisance.





Everything that makes noise, everything that makes you uncomfortable is a nuisance.





There are some girls when they are having sex and you are passing on the streets, you will hear them moaning and screaming.





The worst ones are the men, if you are a man and you are having sex too and you are talking and moaningcant you control yourself? You should have self-control.





When animals are having sex do you hear them moaning like that?





Ampaw told a story of an experience in Koforidua in the Eastern region where he could not get sleep because of the excessive noise being made by a couple having sex at a hotel he was lodging at.





After I had finished with a hard days work at 7 oclock I checked into my room and this guy and this girl came to town to chilland they came to also rest





I was lying down before I could realize, [their] bed [was making noise] and then I woke up, I could not sleep and the girl was giving commentary, he narrated.





He said the couple punished him because he was also in the mood and he didnt have anybody to have sex with.





If you are enjoying, enjoy but dont come and infringe on [my rights]We must put a stop to it.
The Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra has condemned a fresh military invasion of the home of Eze Israel Kanu, the father of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, at Afara Ukwu, Abia State.In a statement in Awka, Anambra State, on Monday by MASSOBs National Director of Information, Samuel Edeson, it described the attack as primitive and cowardly.The group said no amount of such intimidation would stop Biafran agitators from continuing with the struggle, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari cannot destroy the Biafran consciousness.It wondered why the army would continue to unleash such primitive and brutal attacks on non-violent Biafran agitators.Edeson described the act as a sign of jittery, cowardice and Buharis governments frustration on the eloquent consciousness and realities of Biafra freedom which is being appreciated and acknowledged by international community.Kanus family had on Sunday raised the alarm that soldiers invaded their compound again.Kanu younger brother, Emmanuel Kanu, alleged that the soldiers invaded their home and carted away some household items.He said the soldiers took away some items such as television, generator, clothes among other belongings of the family.He said, The international community should prevail on the Nigerian Army to stop raiding our home. We have been telling the army to produce my bother whose whereabouts has remained unknown since after the September 14 military invasion of our compound.While confirming having an operation in the area, the military, however, denied removing any household item from the compound.The army said, We were there in search of weapons; no household item was removed from Kanus home.But MASSOB, in its statement on Monday, maintained that there was no amount of force that could crush the Biafran ideology.The statement read in part, MASSOB and other pro-Biafran agitators are not cowed or intimidated by these sheer acts of overzealousness and ethnic hatred of the people of Biafra by the Hausa-Fulani dominated Nigeria security apparatuses.Even in these persecutions, arrests, extrajudicial killings, subjections and detentions of non-violent pro-Biafran agitators, we shall continue to maintain our non-violent principles.MASSOB and other pro-Biafran groups are the political masqueraders of Ndigbo. We shall continue to be the pride of Ndigbo, upholding the vision of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.MASSOB called on the South-East governors to be wary and sensitive on Biafra issues in order not to fall into the political trap of the Hausa-Fulani intimidation through President Buhari.On the Anambra November 18 poll, MASSOB said pro-Biafran groups had yet to reach an agreement on boycotting the exercise or calling for a sit-at-home on the election day.It said, We shall consult and deliberate widely on the positive and negative implications of such exercise in Anambra State. MASSOB must be tactical and sensitive in considering the will and civil rights of the citizens.
ATLANTIC CITY -- Two Atlantic County residents burned a man's feet with a blowtorch, stuck a fish hook in his mouth and beat him over two days while robbing him, authorities said Tuesday.

The robbers took more than $700 from the 36-year-old New York man before he escaped, Atlantic City police said in a statement.

Mark Hopewell, 32, of Atlantic City,and Roberto Alicea, 28, of the Mays Landing section of Hamilton, tied up the man in an apartment on South Georgia Avenue in Atlantic City, according to police.

Police are attempting to locate a third person who took part in the robbery.

The New York man went to police headquarters Monday afternoon to report he had been robbed and beaten. The man told police he was repeatedly punched and had his feet burned with the blow torch.

When police arrested Hopewell he had a small blow torch, authorities said. Detectives also found a large fish hook in the apartment.

Both Hopewell and Alicea are charged with robbery, aggravated assault, two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, criminal restraint and conspiracy.

They were held at the Atlantic County jail.

The victim was treated for his injuries at AtlantiCare Reigonal Medical Center in Atlantic City.

Anyone with information about the incident or the identity of the third person is asked to call police at 609-347-5766. Information can also be texted to tip411 (847411). Begin the text with ACPD. All texts are anonymous.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WINSLOW TOWNSHIP -- Rich Mason loved music -- everything from System of a Down's aggressive riffing to Tom Petty's California rock.

On Tuesdays, he would often head down to the Bus Stop Music Cafe in Pitman to hear bands play live.

His love for music even manifested in photographs, as his niece Christa flipped through photo after photo of Mason holding up the peace sign or the sign of the horns.

"He was always up for something fun, taking us to festivals, ballgames, you name it," said Mason's sister Tina, who lives in Clayton.

And it seemed like all his co-workers at Tractor Supply Co. in Sicklerville, where Rich, 53, had been working for about a month, were into country music. So he had been listening to country lately, too.

Mason was on his way to work when he was killed Sunday afternoon in a head-on car crash that killed three other people and injured two on Sicklerville Road near Dunlin Way.

Gloucester Township Police Chief Harry Earle, speaking at a Monday morning press conference, could offer few details as to what may have caused the crash, or which car crossed the center line. It was not immediately clear if the drivers and passengers were wearing seatbelts, or how fast the vehicles were moving. All of those factors are part of the ongoing investigation, Earle said.

Mason's silver Toyota Camry collided with another blue Camry driven by Peter Ramoundos, who had his parents Anastasia, 80, and Demetrios, 77, as passengers. Two other passengers in Ramoundos' car, identified as family members, were taken to Cooper University Hospital in critical but stable condition. Ramoundos and his parents died from their injuries in the crash.

Peter Ramoundos, who is mentioned in a GoFundMe page raising money for funeral expenses, was heading to the Greek Agora Festival in Cherry Hill that afternoon, according to the fundraising page. The four-day festival had Greek food, wine, art and music and was held at St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church, where the Ramoundos family were members, a church employee said.

Ramoundos and Mason lived on the same street, according to police, less than a quarter mile apart.

As for the Mason family, relatives from Florida will be visiting soon, said Tina, who lives in Clayton. She was at her brother's house in Winslow Township along with other relatives when NJ Advance Media visited.

She described her brother as a warm, caring man who, besides for his love for music, was keen on adopting animals, including his Boston Terrier named Pebbles. He and his wife had adopted other dogs over the years and often did the "Paws for a Cause" charity walks to fund cancer research.

Rich, an Army Reserves veteran, had only been working at Tractor Supply Co. for about a month, a sign of progress from a state of grief that he had been in since his wife, Maria, died of cancer about eight years ago. She was a special ed teacher in the Waterford Township school district.

Sorry to hear of the passing of Rich Mason. Rich was a great friend to us and a genuine supporter of local music and... Posted by Bus Stop Music Cafe on Monday, October 9, 2017

"His life was moving forward," Tina said. "You lose your wife, you're in a rut. He was just coming out of it."

Along with going to events with his niece and nephews, Rich loved to celebrate Halloween, and had several pumpkins and other festive decorations outside. In past years, he was Jack Skellington from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Dracula, and several other spooky characters.

"He was picking himself up," Tina said. "It's just a total loss for us."

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

This post has been updated to indicate that Rich Mason was in the Army Reserves.
NORTH WILDWOOD -- Plans to renovate the vacant Seaport Pier in North Wildwood include a swim club, restaurant and an upscale coffee bar, according to a report.

The goal is to offer activities that won't compete with retail and amusements on the boardwalk, the CapeMayCounty Herald.com report said. There are no other public pools right along the beach in New Jersey, the project manager told the website.

Construction at the corner of Boardwalk and and 22nd Avenue could begin early next year and be complete by May, the report said. Parking for bicycles would also be offered. The project still needs approval from the city's planning board.

Lighthouse Architecture of Philadelphia has already submitted designs for the project. JB Richards Construction LLC would oversee construction of the venues.

Lighthouse didn't immediately reply to a message from NJ Advance Media seeking additional information.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Former Vice President Joe Biden is headed to Rutgers University Thursday for what is expected to be a frank discussion of sexual assault on college campuses.

Biden's student-only event is part of the "It's On Us" campaign, which he started with President Barack Obama in 2014 after a White House task force recommended ways to prevent sexual violence on campus.

The former vice president has made headlines on college campuses around the country with his fiery message urging men and women to step up and take responsibility for the culture surrounding rape and sexual assault.

It is unclear if Biden will address the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the media mogul who was once one of the Obama-Biden campaign's biggest supporters.

Biden has not publicly commented on the accusations against Weinstein, who was the subject of explosive stories in the New York Times and the New Yorker accusing him of sexual harassment and sexual assault of young women over three decades.

Weinstein's alleged victims included Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan and numerous other young actresses, assistants and employees, according to the reports.

The board of Weinstein's company fired him over the weekend after he admitted in a statement that his actions in the past "caused a lot of pain." Through his attorneys, Weinstein has denied the allegations of sexual assault or retaliating against women who refused his sexual advances.

Rutgers recently accepted a $100,000 donation from Weinstein and his family's foundation for the university's new Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies.

University officials had said last week they plan to keep Weinstein's donation. On Tuesday, they reaffirmed that decision despite the reports of additional allegations against Weinstein.

"The allegations of sexual assault and harassment of women by Harvey Weinstein are appalling and indefensible," said Dory Devlin, a Rutgers spokeswoman. "More work is needed to advance women's equality and the $100,000 donation by the Harvey Weinstein and the H. Weinstein Family Foundation to help fund the Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies will help those efforts. We think devoting these funds to advance women's equality is a better use of the dollars than returning the donation to Harvey Weinstein and the H. Weinstein Family Foundation."

Biden's appearance at Rutgers was arranged by the Rutgers University-New Brunswick Division of Student Affairs. It is part of the End Sexual Violence Campaign and Turn the Campus Purple Week, an initiative where people display a purple light in windows to raise awareness about dating violence.

Biden, 74, will not be paid for the speech, campus officials said. The event in the College Avenue Gymnasium will only be open to students and the media.

All of the tickets to the event were distributed last week on the first day they were available, organizers said. However, students will be permitted to line up outside the event and will be admitted if space is available.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.
Shaka McKinney didn't know how to react to the people clapping for him Saturday in Newark.

He told them he had been shot four times last year, that his friend was killed last week and that he did a lot of wrong things hanging out in Newark's streets. No one in the auditorium judged the 23-year-old city resident as he stood on the stage at Belmont Runyon School. Members of the New Jersey Crime Survivors -- a nonprofit organization that supports crime victims -- don't do that. Neither do its allies: the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, My Brother's Keeper, the Newark Community Street Team, FP Outcry for Youth and the Safer Newark Council.

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns

This day had been set aside for crime victims like McKinney to come forward and heal.

"I feel the love," he said. "I appreciate y'all. I don't know what to say."

Panelists discussing victimization and trauma embraced him. The audience stood and greeted him with an ovation for his willingness to share his hurt.

It came in the final minutes of a five-hour gathering that was emotional, spiritual and substantive. There was a healing prayer circle with African drum beats for those who lost loved ones to violence. There was information on legislation to remove barriers to receive funds from the state's Victims of Crime Compensation Office for treatment and services.

The pain from rejection and death was visible Saturday.

Tracey Gardner of Newark held on to Sharon Redding, her cousin, who was the inspiration behind the event. Gardner, wiping away tears, thought about her 26-year-old son, Malcolm, who was shot and killed in June. She's angry no arrests have been made, and saddened that young people are seemingly callous toward life.

"This is not normal," she said.

Neither is the violence that has visited Gardner's family. Redding's son was shot and injured a week before this event, a victim of random gunfire on Hawthorne Avenue. In 2007, Gardner's nephew, 18-year-old Brandon Gardner, was shot and killed. No arrests have been made in his death, either.

When the people made their way into the school, the conversation shifted to a broken victim crime compensation system. Sen. Joseph Vitale promised to fix it with legislation he says he plans to introduce in January.

"I want to unequivocally say I am sorry for what you've been through and that you haven't been treated with the compassion and humanity that you deserve," said Vitale, D-Middlesex.

He was speaking about people such as Shakerra Jackson of Newark.

Early this year, she and her fiance, Isaac Brown, became the parents of a daughter. Three weeks later, in February, Brown was shot and killed.

The compensation board denied benefits to Jackson, however, even though under its guidelines her 9-month-old daughter should be eligible because she is a surviving child of Brown, a crime victim who was murdered.

"I explained to them that he's not here because somebody tragically took his life," Jackson said. "They still said no."

Vitale's bill expands the definition of a crime victim, and that should help Jackson. The couple were in a legitimate relationship in which Brown was living with Jackson and supporting her financially to care for their child. He said he would make sure legislation includes an example like hers so similar couples would be eligible for assistance.

Among its many new features, the bill requires funds to be dispensed immediately after a crime to pay for funerals, mental health counseling and the loss of financial support, unexpectedly adding to Jackson's hardship.

MORE CARTER: Trauma is real for Newark residents and police

The senator said he got involved to update the compensation law after Elizabeth Ruebman, an organizer with New Jersey Crime Survivors, told him that residents, particularly people of color in urban communities, were denied funding and it's not being used.

"Last year, they (the board) had a surplus of almost $10 million that they didn't pay out,'' she said.

In this fight to help crime victims, Aqeela Sherrills, director of the Newark Community Street Team, said grassroots organizations must hold government accountable to release money that belongs to residents in need.

"Government deploys law enforcement to apprehend the perpetrator, but we don't deploy therapists and healers and counselors to deal with the after-effects of violence," said Sherrills, who was responsible for brokering a truce between the Bloods and Crips gangs in Los Angeles in 1992.

The lack of treatment can be devastating, especially for men who don't seek help when their world is collapsing. LaKeesha Eure, a counselor and chair of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, said male crime victims view professional help as a sign of weakness. They bury pain with drugs and alcohol, making their situation worse.

"All they've got is their ego and pride, and their reputation in the community," she said. "They can't be seen as anything other than the big brother in the neighborhood."

But Eure was able to reach McKinney. Before the event started with a march to the school, McKinney told me that he's trying to get past the shooting. His heart drops, he said, whenever a car drives over a bottle. The sound reminds him of gunfire.

"Anybody can get it," he said of the shooting.

His 19-year-old brother, Justin Clark, keeps his eyes and ears open, too. They were together when the gunman targeted McKinney over a dispute.

Clark fell to the ground, shot once in the back. McKinney dove on top to shield Clark from further injury, and was shot three times in the chest. A fourth bullet struck his hand. He was in a coma for a month.

"I know I'm here for a reason," McKinney said. "I just don't know what it is yet."

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL
JERSEY CITY -- Two Jersey City police officers are sharing an apartment in the city's Newport section that was set aside as affordable housing for people making less than the cops earn, sources with knowledge of the matter told The Jersey Journal.

The two officers -- Joseph Connors Jr. and Francesca Zappella -- are rookies earning $37,000 a year each, or $74,000 total. The apartment, on River Drive South in the 22-story Waterside Square South tower, is reserved for households with income less than $68,800.

A Newport spokesperson told The Jersey Journal the company intends to remove the apartment's occupant and find tenants who meet the income requirements.

Connors, 28, reached by phone, asked who was providing information about him to The Jersey Journal. When this reporter declined, Connors hung up. A voicemail left for Zappella, 24, was not returned.

Neither officer's name appears on the lease of the apartment, which expires on Saturday. But documents obtained by The Jersey Journal show Connors registered with Newport to be an occupant in October 2016, a month before he changed his voter registration information to reflect his new address on River Drive South.

A Dodge Dart that appears to belong to Zappella -- a Fraternal Order of Police badge is displayed on the dashboard and this reporter saw a vest with Zappella's name written on it sitting in the backseat on a recent morning -- is parked on River Drive South nearly daily. Her voter registration information lists her address as one in the Jersey City Heights.

Reached by phone, the woman whose name is on the apartment's lease told The Jersey Journal, "I don't know anything, I don't know what you're talking about," before hanging up. A source with knowledge of the individuals involved told The Jersey Journal the woman is Connors' ex-girlfriend.

LeFrak, the developers of Newport, a neighborhood of residential and commercial towers on the Hudson River waterfront just south of Hoboken, received tax-exempt bonds from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency for four of its buildings, including Waterside Square South, and those bonds were insured through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to state Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Tammori Petty.

In exchange for receiving the bonds, LeFrak was required to meet regulatory agreements, like reserving 18 percent of the buildings' units for low- or moderate-income tenants, Petty said. Income limits are determined by HUD and are defined by not more than 80 percent of the adjusted median income in the Jersey City area, according to Petty. The 80 percent figure for Hudson County in 2017 is $55,050 for two people.

Documents given to potential renters say the rents for Newport's moderate-income apartments range from $1,204 for a studio to $1,393 for a three-bedroom unit. Maximum household income for any of the moderate-income units is $68,800.

The moderate-income program at Newport gives a significant discount to renters seeking to live in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Jersey City. A studio in Waterside Square South at market rate goes for $2,190 monthly, and a one-bedroom for $2,525.

Applicants to the moderate-income program must fill out a letter confirming the total income of all occupants. It includes a warning that if any statements on the application are false the applicant is "subject to punishment."

"As part of our routine administration, we have been working with our legal department to terminate this lease, remove the occupant and fill the unit with new tenants that meet the program requirements," a Newport Residential Management spokesperson told The Jersey Journal.

Renters in the affordable units are not given rental assistance, Petty said.

In Jersey City, a rookie cop's salary starts at $37,000 and rises by $8,000 annually until the officer's sixth year on the job.

Connors' father is a deputy police chief in Jersey City.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
The widow of a Union City police officer who died last year thanked officers of the Jersey City Police Department yesterday for their support during his funeral.

Police Officer Ricardo Fernandez's widow, Lillian Fernandez, with her two children, Isabella, 6, and Marc Anthony, 9, and her husband's siblings, visited the West District precinct and presented a plaque to Capt. Michael Kelly, who coordinated the police escort of 20 Jersey City officers -- mostly from the West District -- for the cortege from the funeral home to the church, then to the cemetery.

Describing her husband, Lillian said, "He was a great person. Before he thought about himself, he thought of everybody else."

His older brother, Rafael, remembered him as a "great father, son, brother, friend. He's one of many officers that wore his blue uniform with great pride. He was an excellent police officer. He was a people person. Everybody loved Rick."

In his honor, Fernandez's family has organized a 5K run/walk for Oct. 21. Proceeds will benefit his family as well as those of two other Union City officers who have died in the past 10 months -- Lt. Mark Zeitounian and Officer John Kamel.

Registration and more information can be found here.
By Roberto Miranda

for The Jersey Journal

Union City and Hispanic heritage are practically synonymous. From iconic landmarks like Celia Cruz Way and Mi Bandera Supermarket to the countless businesses on Bergenline Avenue, cultures of various South American, Central American and Caribbean countries are represented in the North Hudson community.

So, it was fitting that on Thursday, the city Board of Commissioners hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at Colin Powell Elementary School.

Hundreds of Union City residents of all ages were in attendance, celebrating each other's cultures.

The night began with Commissioner Lucio Fernandez conducting a moment of silence for 16-year-old Union City High School student Sean Lemus, who died earlier in the week when his bicycle collided with a garbage truck, and for the police officers injured at the scene of the accident when a motorcycle hit them.

"It is important for a community to come together when you have a tragedy such as this," Fernandez said. "We need to empower and support each other through these tough times."

The Union City High School Junior ROTC performed the National Anthem, followed by traditional bolero dances by students and a recitation of the poem "Naci donde Naci,'' an homage to Cuba by Jorge Luis Seco.

Cuban salsa and Latin jazz bandleader Alberto "El Capitan" Plummer and his group, Rumba y Fuego, performed as Plummer danced and interacted with audience members.

Weehawken mariachi group Nuevo Mexico performed as well.

And the Union City High School Junior ROTC handed out plates of traditional dishes to 35 tables of attendees. The feast included such standards as pernil (Puerto Rican pork shoulder), arroz con gandules (rice and pigeon peas), and pollo asado (roasted chicken).

"To me, personally, (the Hispanic heritage celebration) means to celebrate the United States of America, for opening its arms to me, my family and all the other Hispanics," Fernandez said. "There's no greater country than the United States of America, and I'm so grateful to be an American.

"As a Cuban immigrant, although I was raised here, my parents loved this country more than anything else. I know what my parents went through: poor family, no shoes, no toys to play with and no food to eat. My mother came to this country and was given the opportunity to work hard, be able to provide and put me through college and I have become the person that I have become. I cannot be but incredibly grateful to this country."

Commissioner Celin J. Valdivia concurred.

"We're really a melting pot," he said. "We have Hispanics from every Hispanic country in Latin America -- South America, Central America, the Caribbean -- and it means a lot to the community over here that we celebrate our heritage, our culture. We thank the United States for opening the doors for all of us."
From left, Mandy Patinkin, Cary Elwes and Andre the Giant, in a scene from director Rob Reiner's 1987 fairy tale adventure "The Princess Bride." (Fathom Events)
St. Tammany Parish schools Superintendent Trey Folse, shown here visiting a classroom on the first day of school in August, joined other education and economic development leaders during a panel discussion Tuesday about job growth and workforce education. (David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
In this Oct. 11, 2013 file photo, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Corker is hardly the only Republican lambasting President Donald Trump and raising dark concerns about harm the president might cause the U.S. and the world. He's just the only one who's sounding off in public. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)(Erica Werner Associated Press)
Any escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a phone call on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned over the weekend that "only one thing will work" in dealing with Pyongyang, hinting that military action was on his mind. "Lavrov underlined the inadmissibility of any escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula, to which the USA's military preparations lead, and called for contradictions to be resolved by diplomatic means only," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov also demanded the return of Russian diplomatic property seized by the United States in 2016 when former U.S. president Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and ordered that some of its U.S. diplomatic properties be vacated.

The Obama administration said it was retaliating for Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
The study looks at two smaller-scale projects that are in some ways predecessors to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the $2 billion plan to slow land loss erasing Louisiana's coast. Construction on that project could begin as early as next year, while a similar one on the opposite side of the river known as the Mid-Breton Diversion could follow.
Ella Haitz is a sixth-grader with a passion for life. She became a middle-schooler this year at Kirn and is excited for this new journey and her future.

Ella was born in Sioux City and moved to Council Bluffs with her family at the age of 3. She attended Roosevelt and Longfellow Elementary Schools. She has learned much from her teachers and friends and has been able to accomplish so much after having them in her life.

Having sleepovers with friends, listening to music of all types, watching movies and making people laugh are her favorite things to do. Oh, and spaghetti  she loves spaghetti. Ella has attended Camp High Hopes for the past two summers where she was awarded the Best Dance Moves award.

This past year, she was also given the opportunity to help with the SWAT girls volleyball team where she made instant friends. She went on a family vacation to Colorado this year and saw mountains for the first time, loved the challenge of white-water rafting and traveling to the top of Pikes Peak.

The Southwest Iowa Down Syndrome Parent Group holds a special place in her heart. She is always excited for that day and asks about it all month. She hopes you will all join her to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month at the Buddy Walk on Oct. 21 at the Iowa School for the Deaf campus at 10 a.m. There will be a wide range of family activities, including breakfast served by the Pancake Man beginning at 9 a.m. for $5 per person.
Methamphetamine has dropped out of the public spotlight since the time, more than a decade ago, when it was labeled Americas most dangerous drug.

But the highly addictive stimulant is at least as common now as it ever was in Iowa and Nebraska, far outpacing the opioids plaguing many other states.

Right now, meth is very abundant, said Brenda Daley, coordinator for the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA, a regional drug-control effort. Its supply and demand, and there is a lot of supply.

The areas last surge in meth use occurred in the early 2000s.

At that time, meth was a target of concern across the nation. The drugs popularity brought with it a proliferation of explosive and hazardous home meth-making laboratories.

At one point it was probably on everyones mind, said Detective Greg Chase of the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and Council Bluffs Police Department.

Iowa and Nebraska saw a dip in use after they and the federal government passed laws restricting sales of pseudoephedrine, a decongestant and key meth-making ingredient.

The laws require pseudoephedrine to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Buyers have to show identification and are logged in a statewide database.

The mom-and-pop meth labs virtually disappeared after the restrictions took effect.

The combined total of clandestine labs seized by Iowa state, local and county departments for 2016 was 85, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Last year, Nebraska authorities found only three labs.

Were almost to the point where meth labs have been eliminated, said Sgt. Dave Bianchi of the Omaha Police Departments narcotics unit. Its almost gone the way of unicorns. Extremely rare.

The decline in use that followed the demise of home labs was short-lived, though.

International drug cartels soon stepped in to fill the gap in production, pumping high volumes of highly potent meth into Nebraska and other states from large-scale laboratories in Mexico.

As a result, law enforcement officials throughout the Midwest continue to rank meth as the top drug threat to the region, according to a survey by the Midwest HIDTA.

That differs from the eastern United States, where heroin and prescription opioids have replaced meth and cocaine as top concerns in recent years.

Opioid use also is increasing in Iowa and Nebraska, along with the numbers of overdose deaths, Daley said.

But meth remains the most common hard-core drug with the greatest impact in the two states. Nebraska law enforcement points to meth as the drug that contributes most to violent and property crimes in the state, the survey found.

Users tend to be young white adults, who can be from any corner of the state. In fact, child-removal statistics suggest that meth is more common in rural parts of the state than in urban Omaha.

If you were to drive west on I-80, every town is going to have (a meth) problem, said Darin Thimmesch, an agent in the Drug Enforcement Administrations Omaha office.

The drug comes north from Mexico via the nations Interstates, hidden in private and commercial vehicles. Sometimes the drugs travel by mail.

Situated at the intersection of Interstates 80 and 29, Omaha has become a trafficking hub, several in law enforcement said.

Drugs and money flow in and out of the city to be transported throughout the Midwest. In February 2016, a record-breaking bust resulted in the arrests of 64 people across Nebraska and into Colorado. The yearlong investigation was orchestrated among 30 agencies, targeting mostly dealers at the end of distribution networks. Meth collected from the bust came from four states  Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah  but could be traced to Mexico.

Mexican cartels control most of the trafficking, with the Sinaloa cartel dominant in the region.

Those caught smuggling face stiff penalties  up to life imprisonment under state and federal laws  depending on the circumstances. But rather than cases slowing down, authorities have seen them increase in recent years and drug availability grow.

The price is as low as its ever been and the purity as high as its ever been, Thimmesch said.

Several years ago, wholesale prices for meth ranged from $15,000 to $20,000 a pound, he said. These days the price for that pound has dropped to between $3,000 and $5,000.

On the street, one-sixteenth of an ounce  called a teener  can sell for $100, Bianchi said. That small amount can equal four uses.

Meanwhile, the purity of the meth that is available has increased.

In 2008, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab reported an average purity of 35 percent for meth seized by law enforcement. By 2013, the average was 93 percent. Law enforcement agencies across the Midwest report that the influx of meth from large Mexican laboratories has pushed purity levels to 90 percent or more.

That means a given amount of meth, once mixed with filler ingredients, can supply more users. It also means the high that meth users get likely packs a larger punch, Daley said.

Its become almost a perfect science, said Lt. Scott Wagner of the Douglas County Sheriffs Offices narcotics division. (Cartels have) chemists doing it. Millions and millions of dollars put into these labs.

Lt. Jason Scott of the Nebraska State Patrol said he doesnt expect a change in the situation anytime soon.

I dont want to say were not winning, he said. Every time we pull a kilo of meth, thats a win. Thats a pound of meth thats not going to be grammed out and sold to our community.

But its a supply-and-demand issue and a numbers game, he said. Theres a ton of meth out there.
Sgt. Seth Kotouc (retired) of rural Underwood has been named Grand Marshal of the 2017 Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade.

Kotouc served in the U.S. Army for about 5 1/2 years and suffered a severed spine in a rocket attack during his deployment in Afghanistan in 2012. The injury left him wheelchair-bound.

We thought he would be a good person to recognize for what hes done for his country, said Brad Powell, a former commander of American Legion Post No. 2 in Council Bluffs.

Powell noted that Kotouc is involved with several veterans organizations.

Hes tried to give back to his fellow veterans as much as he possibly can, he said.

They have helped him, as well. Last year, the American Legion Post 2 Legion Riders raised money to have a fence and a flagpole installed at his house.

Kotouc, not one to seek out the spotlight, was humble about his selection as Grand Marshal.

Im honored by it, he said. I wasnt expecting it.

Kotouc graduated from Mount Ayr Community High School in 1999. He attended Kirkwood Community College and earned a bachelors degree in political science at Coe College, both in Cedar Rapids.

After college, he worked in retail management for years, but he wasnt happy.

I wanted to do something bigger with my life, Kotouc said.

He has a number of relatives who have served or are serving in the military, he said. His grandpa served in the Navy during World War II, his mother enlisted in the Army but broke her leg during basic training, and one of his uncles served in the Air Force.

Several of my aunts went into the military  mostly the Navy, Kotouc said.

His brother served in the Army, then enlisted in the Navy. He was deployed to the Houston area to do cleanup after Hurricane Harvey, then sent to the U.S. Virgin Islands and is now working in Puerto Rico. He is assigned to the USS Kearsarge.

Seth Kotouc had thought about joining the Army years before. Searching for something more, he decided to enlist. He originally planned to go to officer candidate school after basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, but a stress fracture in his foot that limited his ability to run changed his path.

He trained in military intelligence and was deployed to Korea for two years, from 2010 to 2012. In early 2012, he was transferred to Germany and, three months later, he was deployed to Forward Operating Base Shank, located in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan. On Sept. 22, 2012, while he was working in an office in the headquarters building, a 107mm rocket hit the roof and exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. A piece hit Kotouc and severed his spine.

The Afghan compound was right behind us, and they had been getting pretty good at hitting that; but for whatever reason, this one came up short, he said.

The next few hours and days were a blur, with an exploratory surgery on base first up, to see the extent of the damage. Then, Kotouc was taken to Bagram Air Base, the largest U.S. presence in Afghanistan, and flown to Germany. From there, he was flown to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, on Sept. 26, 2012.

Surgeries, rest and then rehab followed. He spent a year at Fort Riley, Kansas, as he received treatment and went before the medical retirement board. His medical retirement was official in July of 2014.

The injury ended Kotoucs military career, but it hasnt defeated his determination to do what he can with his life. He does exercises and has plans to build a gym in his basement. He was given a wheelchair with a lift in case I want to stick my head under the hood of the car or something.

It has a five-point harness and blocks for my feet, and it just slowly stands me up, he said.

Kotouc worked with a physical therapist at the VA to learn how to get into his wheelchair, if he falls out, he said. He had to strengthen his arms and learn the best position for pulling himself up.

It uses a lot, he said. Its pretty much a one-shot deal.

The effort has already paid off, Kotouc said.

Ive had to do it once or twice since then, he said. You try not to fall, but sometimes you overexert yourself or you lean over too far.

Kotouc is still figuring out his next move. He thinks he might like to teach government and politics  either in person or online  which would allow him to use his college degree. He keeps his eyes open for an opening at Offutt or another government facility, too.

He is involved with the Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and American Legion and serves on the Nebraska Veterans Council.

The parade will step off at 11 a.m. on Nov. 4. The parade will start at Ninth Avenue and travel north on South Main Street, taking the Pearl Street branch where Main splits into two one-way streets. At West Broadway, it will jog east to Main Street and head back south, exiting east on Story Street at the split and turning back south on South Fourth Street to Ninth Avenue.

A free lunch will be served following the parade at the Legion Hall, 716 S. Fourth St., and a silent auction and raffles will be held. Door prizes will be given away.

The Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade is sponsored by American Legion Post No. 2, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 5, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 737 and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 798.

There is no cost to enter the parade. Those interested in participating can read the parade rules, waiver and information on the lineup and route and register for the parade at councilbluffsveteransdayparade.org.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Sen. Bob Corker is hardly the only Republican leader lambasting Donald Trump and raising dark concerns about harm the president might cause the U.S. and the world.

"Cool it," Sen. Chuck Grassley said in Iowa on Monday, delivering a message to both men. "And I think it would help if the president would be the first to cool it."

Tennessee Sen. Corker, with his Twitter broadsides and his explosive weekend New York Times interview  he charged that Trump could set the nation "on the path to World War III"  gave voice to concerns that circulate widely on Capitol Hill about an unpredictable president whose tendency to personalize every issue creates risks for the nation.

But Trump's enduring popularity with a segment of the GOP base serves as a political muzzle that keeps most elected Republicans from saying anything similar, even those who believe it to be true.

Grassley, who wouldn't be up for re-election until 2022, responded bluntly when asked about the situation.

"I don't see how it's productive, and I think that two words would kind of answer your question from my point of view: Cool it ... I think it would be better if we stuck to the issues and leave personalities out of it."

A few other Republican senators who provided public views on Monday aligned themselves with Trump, not Corker.

For example, Montana's Steve Daines' office said simply that the senator "has confidence in the president."

GOP Sen. John Barrasso disagrees with Corker, according to his office. Referring to Barrasso and Trump, the Wyoming senator's office said, "On tax cuts, border security, and rebuilding American infrastructure, they fight the same fight."

Barrasso is among the establishment Republicans who face potential primary challenges from pro-Trump activists on the right, heightening the political dangers if they should break with the president.

The Associated Press sought to contact all 52 Republican senators on Monday for their response to Corker's comments and ask whether they believe Trump is fit for office, a question Corker declined to answer in the Times interview. With the Senate on recess this week and many offices closed for Columbus Day, the inquiries elicited few responses, and those who did largely declined comment.

Corker offered no solution to the problem he identified so graphically. Trump is the president, and few doubt that he will remain so, despite constitutional provisions for impeachment or for the vice president to take over if the commander in chief cannot discharge his duties,

Moreover, Republicans' political fortunes remain tied to the president's. They need his signature if they are to rescue a flagging agenda and pass a tax overhaul, a goal many believe is imperative if the GOP is to retain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. So unlike Corker, who recently announced he is not running for re-election in Tennessee, even GOP Trump critics will continue to mute their concerns about his behavior and try to work with the administration.

"Sen. Corker, who's been a strong supporter of the president in the past, is essentially saying the emperor has no clothes," said Michael Steel, who served as spokesman to former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

But, Steel added, "The president was elected under our constitutional system and that's where we stand. Congressional leaders are going to continue concentrating on doing everything they can to get big things done for the American people, and they hope to have as much support from the administration as possible."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the target of Trump attacks after the Senate's failure to pass health care legislation, didn't directly answer when asked at an event in Hazard, Kentucky, whether he shared Corker's sentiments.

"Sen. Corker is a valuable member of the Senate Republican caucus and he's also on the Budget Committee and a particularly important player as we move to the floor on the budget next week," McConnell said.

His comments underscored what has frustrated Republicans most about the Trump-Corker feud, which burst open Sunday when Trump began tweeting, inaccurately, that Corker had begged for his endorsement and decided not to run for re-election when Trump turned him down. Trump will need Corker if he is to get big tax changes through the Senate, where the narrow GOP majority thwarted McConnell's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And Corker also figures to be a key player if Trump moves as expected to unwind the Iran nuclear deal.

Vice President Mike Pence, in a statement that never mentioned Corker, praised the president for "achieving real results on the international stage. While critics engage in empty rhetoric and baseless attacks."

Republicans do frequently complain about Trump's attacks on fellow Republicans like McConnell, his failure to stay focused on his legislative agenda and his tendency to make demands on Congress and then blame lawmakers for poor results. But those GOP comments are nothing like Corker's apocalyptic statements.

For House Republicans, who face voters every two years and largely represent conservative districts where support for the president remains strong, there's even less incentive to turn against the commander in chief. Sixty-eight percent of Republican voters approve of Trump, though that's down from 80 percent in March, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, criticized Corker, saying he finds "those type of comments to not be appropriate especially coming from the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and certainly not in keeping with what I know of the way that things are conducted in the West Wing, having been there multiple times."

"It's really easy to be bold when you're not coming back," Meadows added of Corker
SIOUX CITY (AP)  Debi Durham is happy to report her eight-month battle with uterine cancer is nearing an end.

Durham, Iowas economic development director and a Sioux City resident, shared her story Wednesday with the Sioux City Journal as a cancer survivor, which started with a diagnosis in February.

I called the doctor and said, I think there is something wrong. I need to get in, Durham recalled. When I told them my symptoms, they concurred it was something that couldnt be put off. I got a call less than a week after that it was cancer ... I knew it was not going to be a good diagnosis, so I was somewhat prepared for it. But I have to tell you, Im a person of faith. Ive had perfect peace from day one on this cancer journey.

Surgery was performed almost immediately afterward in Omaha in early March. She then went through multiple chemotherapy treatments in Sioux City. Today she is in the final stage of radiation treatment in Des Moines, all while still fulfilling her duties leading the states Economic Development Authority.

I have to say, treatments arent easy, but overall, Ive done very, very well and maintained pretty much a full-work schedule the entire time, which I think has helped me at least mentally and emotionally, she said, expressing gratitude to her family and IEDA team. There were days where I could not do what I needed to do and they were quick to step in. So I have not let cancer define who I am. I dont think about it every day. I focus on my treatment and getting well.

Durham served as president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce and The Siouxland Initiative for 15 years before then-Gov. Terry Branstad picked her to lead the IEDA in 2011. In between treatments, Durham was able to attend a trade mission trip to Israel last month with Gov. Kim Reynolds, the former lieutenant governor who succeeded Branstad this spring after he resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to China.

While Durham shared her diagnosis with family and friends, including a post on her personal Facebook page in March, she said she was reluctant to discuss her illness publicly as a way of controlling the story of her cancer journey. And now with a good prognosis, she wants to give back.

When I finally started telling people, an individual wrote to me that knew cancer too well. Not only he had it, but his wife (had it too.) He said Debi, welcome to the cancer club. You are going to realize it is a very big one. You will be overwhelmed with the outpouring of support. Accept it with grace and find a way to pay it forward.

Durham said throughout treatments she found it troubling that some health insurance policies do not cover the purchase of expensive wigs for those, like herself, who lose their hair through the course of treatment.

I think that is unfortunate, she said. Whether a woman wants to wear a wig or not after cancer treatment ... it not being affordable (shouldnt) be the impediment to that.

As a result, Durham agreed to co-host a fundraiser/cocktail party dubbed Wig Out Thursday at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center, where she has received treatment. Tickets to the private fundraiser quickly sold out.

One hundred percent of the proceeds are going to the Cancer Center for wigs because they give away a lot of wigs, and I think that is something insurance companies need to reevaluate, she said. But it is one of those things that is part of the cancer journey. ... Its a small thing that I can do to pay it forward.

Durham says she will have a few more doctor visits every few months but, for the most part, all indications point to her winning the battle with cancer.

Im a new grandmother, she said. I plan on being, God willing, there to see my grandchild grow up.

I said to someone one day, I have never cried over cancer, but when I found out I was going to be a grandmother, I wept for a week.
The head of Russia's central election commission urged President Vladimir Putin on Monday to ensure all investigations intoelection violations detected in Russia last month were completed, and the Kremlin leader promised to do so.

Russia voted in local elections in many regions on Sept. 10 in what was widely seen as a dress rehearsal for next year's presidential vote, with Kremlin-backed candidates for regional parliaments and governorships performing strongly.

Putin is the strong favorite to win re-election in March, although he has so far declined to say if he will run.


One of Hollywood's most powerful movie producers, Harvey Weinstein, has been fired by the board of the company he founded after a news report recounted his decades-long sexual harassment of women in the film industry.

The 65-year-old Weinstein oversaw production of some of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful films over the last 30 years, including "Shakespeare in Love," "Pulp Fiction," "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "The English Patient," "Good Will Hunting" and "Lee Daniels' The Butler." He ran the Miramax and later the Weinstein movie companies with his brother Bob Weinstein.

But the movie mogul's fall came quickly after The New York Times reported last week that Weinstein, a man known in Hollywood for his demanding control of film productions and angry outbursts, had made unwanted sexual advances on women stretching over nearly three decades. The story said Weinstein had paid confidential settlements to at least eight women who had accused him of sexual harassment.
Top apparatchik Choe Ryong-hae in a speech called on North Koreans to prepare for a "final battle" against the U.S. and vowed to "relentlessly wipe out" the enemy.

Around 100,000 North Koreans were roped into a rally in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the 20th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong-il being elected general secretary of the Workers Party.

On Saturday, the regime conducted a major reshuffle of the party's Central Committee that promoted no key officials who have supported dialogue with South Korea.

None of the 44 new members of the Central Committee come from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, suggesting that the regime is dead set against any dialogue with the South as the prospect of direct talks with the U.S. looms.

Instead, leader Kim Jong-un promoted his sister Kim Yo-jong to the politburo in an apparent bid to cement his rule. She is apparently in charge of promoting the personality cult surrounding her brother.
History books overflow with Native tribes being wronged by federal and state governments. In ruling that Whiteclays beer stores must remain closed, the Nebraska Supreme Court has awarded a rare victory to the tribes residing on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Barring an unforeseen legal development, the four beer stores in the Sheridan County hamlet that exported 3.5 million cans of beer, primarily to the adjacent reservation, will remain closed. That decision is the long-awaited victory for the tribes and activists who sought this outcome for decades.

A Native activist called the rulings impact for the Oglala Lakota people possibly the biggest for the tribe since Sitting Bull defeated George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

In 1904, when President Theodore Roosevelt all but eliminated a 50-square-mile buffer zone around the Pine Ridge that was designed to prevent alcohol sales, unscrupulous traders were more than happy to make a quick buck by hawking liquor to Native populations. Until this year, Nebraska had been the hub for selling alcohol to the officially dry reservation.

After the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission ordered the stores closed in April, vagrants were no longer passed out on Whiteclays sidewalks. Alcohol-fueled assaults and killings stopped. The Supreme Courts ruling reaffirming the state edict is both cause for celebration and a reminder of the long road ahead.

Closing down the nearest, most convenient beer stores wont solve the problems of widespread substance abuse  and the health crises it causes  on the reservation.

Bootlegging remains a problem, one Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has accused the beer store owners of abetting. Still, people determined to purchase booze have showed theyre willing to drive to Rushville or Chadron to get their fix. Three fatal alcohol-related car crashes near the reservation have demonstrated as much.

But Nebraska fueled this problem for more than a century. Its our turn to begin undoing the legacy of harm peddled across the state line in South Dakota, where the reservation reports high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome and a life expectancy similar to a Third World country.

The courts ruling ends Nebraskas overt, direct contributions to the scourge of alcoholism at Pine Ridge. But it by no means absolves this state of responsibility in the community and family problems caused by Whiteclay. A victory in the courts is only the first step toward fixing the societal ills to which Nebraska contributed for years.

By essentially guaranteeing Whiteclay will remain dry, the Nebraska Supreme Court has blotted out the stain of beer sales. Now, Nebraska must help in the long, arduous process of restoring the fabric of the Pine Ridge reservation after years of worsening the Natives plight.

 The Lincoln Journal-Star
Nebraskas National Guard has a long, distinguished history of serving our state and country. Since 1854, the Nebraska National Guard has played a pivotal role in helping keep Nebraska safe and secure. As governor, I am honored to serve as their commander-in-chief for the 4,600 soldiers and airmen from every corner of Nebraska who proudly wear our nations uniform. Their stories are all different, but they all have one thing in common: a desire to serve their state and nation.

The National Guard has a unique mission and dual role in the Department of Defense. Day to day, the constitutional militia in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia answer to their respective governor. In Nebraska, the National Guards mission is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of our state. When they are federally mobilized, they report to the president of the United States, and their mission is to fight and win our nations wars.

Usually in Nebraska, anyone you see in uniform is a Nebraska National Guard member, unless youre in Bellevue, home of Offutt Air Force base. The Nebraska National Guard has 25 readiness centers in 23 different communities. Throughout its history, the Nebraska Guard has maintained armories in 109 different communities across our state.

Since its inception, the Nebraska National Guard has played a vital role in helping secure and protect our state, nation and allies. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, most National Guard members did not expect to be deployed. Since that tragic day, the Nebraska National Guard has deployed over 10,000 soldiers and airmen. Nebraskas young men and women now join the National Guard with the expectation that they will be deployed and making a difference. Their commitment to service gives both myself and all Nebraskans something to be proud of.

During my time as governor, I have had the honor to represent the people of Nebraska at a number of send-off ceremonies. Susanne and I have delivered words of encouragement and watched as families say goodbye to their sons, daughters, husbands and wives. They must begin a chapter in life without them. It is a difficult moment for everyone. I know, however, the entire state stands behind them and are ready to help the families.

I have also had the honor of attending a number of welcome home ceremonies. These are some of my favorite memories as governor. This April, we welcomed home 35 soldiers who conducted aeromedical evacuation services in Afghanistan. In August, we welcomed home 51 airmen who conducted 40 combat missions and delivered six million pounds of fuel for air strike operations.

The days that our servicemen and women return home safely are unforgettable for them, their families and our state.

Right now, Nebraska soldiers and airmen are around the globe protecting the Republic. For example, we have dozens of Nebraska soldiers deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they are supporting detainee operations. Next year, the Nebraska Air National Guard will take on new missions to key locations in the Pacific as well as the Middle East. Our National Guard members are ready, able and willing to take on any mission they receive.

But missions are not just in faraway lands. They are also on the home front. The Nebraska National Guard recently supported relief efforts for our neighbors in Texas and Florida. Following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, they rescued 461 people and 44 pets, delivered 142,000 pounds of cargo, 6,000 pounds of bottled water, 3,000 pounds of food and 1,000 pounds of medical supplies.

Often, the National Guard is one of several Nebraska resources, such as Nebraska Task Force 1, responding to natural disasters. Together, they put into action that Nebraska community spirit by helping our neighbors in need.

Whether they are responding to disasters or serving overseas, Nebraskans are grateful to the men and women of the Nebraska National Guard. Our members sacrifice and leave family, friends and employers to protect us both here and abroad. They and their families couldnt do this without the support of community and family support they receive from people like you.

Whenever you get the opportunity, I encourage you to take the time to thank our National Guard members for their service. God bless them, God bless Nebraska and God bless the United States of America!

If you would like to share a story about the positive things youve observed our servicemen and women doing in your community or across the country, I want to hear from you.

Contact Gov. Pete Ricketts: 402-471-2244 or pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov.
But in fact the hackers got their hands on OPLAN 5015, part of South Korea-U.S. combined operations in a full-scale war between the two Koreas, which was worked out in 2015.

Suspected North Korean hackers managed to break into the Defense Ministry's intranet in August and September last year, but South Korean authorities have previously claimed that nothing significant leaked out.

The Defense Ministry admitted the leak in documents submitted to Minjoo Party lawmaker Rhee Cheol-hee under a freedom-of-information request. The ministry admitted hackers "presumed to be North Koreans" stole 235 GB of documents by breaking into the military's Intranet and other networks.

But it only listed 53GB or about 10,700 documents, a mere 22.5 percent of all leaked documents. They include OPLAN 5015, the newest war plan that Seoul and Washington have worked; OPLAN 3100 for a response against commando infiltration or a local provocation; and a contingency plan for the Special Warfare Command in the event of a sudden change in the North or in response to a major provocation.

These plans are aimed at winning a war at an early stage by minimizing damage to South Korea and carrying out pinpoint decapitation operations against top North Korean leaders. "I can't reveal further details because they are a military secret," Rhee said.

The leaked documents also include personnel reports on key South Korean and U.S. military, and the minutes of meetings about South Korea-U.S. military drills, as well as data on military installations and power plants in South Korea.
Steve Lunn is stepping down as CEO of Porter Healthcare System.

Lunn, who has served the role since March 24, 2014, is taking a position as regional vice president for American Physician Partners in Nashville, Tennessee. His last day with Porter Healthcare is Nov. 10.

Lunn, a native of Nashville, said while he is returning to his roots, it was not an easy decision to step down from Porter Healthcare.

I have had great respect for the teams and physicians here who provide the best healthcare in the region," Lunn said in a statement. "That has made this a difficult decision. At the same time, I know this is the right decision for me and my family to relocate closer to family in the South and explore this new opportunity."

A search already is underway for Lunn's successor, Porter Healthcare officials said.

Dr. Jac Cooper, chairman of Porter Regional Hospital's board of trustees, commended Lunn for strengthening Porter Healthcare System by opening a new emergency room in Valparaiso and helping the system win numerous awards and accreditations.

Every leader brings with them a certain focus, and for Steve, the focus has always been high-quality care," Cooper said. "We have seen Porter grow and improve during his tenure with us, and we will continue to stay on that path of excellence and continuous improvement. As with Steve, the board of trustees will be extremely selective in our next choice for CEO.

Lunn was named Porter CEO in February 2014 but didn't take over the position until a month later. He replaced Jonathan Nalli, who stepped down in January 2014 after 6 years in the post for a job with Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health.

Porter Healthcare System, which employs 2,990 people, operates Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso and Portage Hospital in Portage as well as several other facilities that serve Porter, Lake, LaPorte, Starke, Newton and Jasper counties.

Lunn has a bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He served as CEO of Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Illinois, before joining Porter Healthcare.
The Southeast Environmental Task Force in Chicago is threatening to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how it's handling an air permit renewal at the Indiana Harbor Coke Co. in East Chicago.

A subsidiary of Sun Energy, the company supplies coke for the blast furnaces at the ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor steel mill in East Chicago. The environmental group, which was active in dealing with the petcoke piles on the banks of the Calumet River in Chicago, has wanted an "environmental justice analysis" since the EPA has cited the contractor seven times since 2010 for violations such as releasing 160 excess tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

Southeast Environmental Task Force attorney Keith Harley sent a notice of intent to sue to the U.S. EPA Administration for failing to respond to the group's petition in July asking the EPA to object to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's proposed air permit renewal.

The EPA did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Government agencies and other organizations often do not comment on pending litigation.

Harley wrote a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt giving notice for a lawsuit that charges his agency failed to respond to the petition within 60 days, as required by law.

"The undersigned public health, environment and conservation organization intends to file a citizen suit against you in your official capacity as administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for your failure to perform a non-discretionary duty as mandated by Section 505 of the Clean Air Act," Harley wrote in the letter.

The group wants the EPA to review the permit for the facility at 3210 Watling St., which supplies the Indiana Harbor mill with a purified version of coal that's burned in blast furnaces to make the iron that's eventually converted into steel. The Southeast Environmental Task Force in Chicago points to earlier EPA findings that the contract emitted more coke-oven gases than allowed multiple times over the last several years.

"In its compliance report for the third quarter of 2016, IHCC lists a total of 1,900 deviations," the environmental group said in its petition. "Coke oven door leaks contribute to the bulk of the deviations, with 1707 door fires reported this quarter."

The Southeast Environmental Task Force said such emissions are concerning because of its proximity to Lake Michigan, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Joseph L. Block Jr. High School, East Chicago Central High School, East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy, Jeorse Park on the lakefront, Callahan Park, Nunez Park and other public recreational areas.
PORTAGE  Gaps in the long-planned 58-mile Marquette Greenway trail could be filled in the next five years if the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission gets a $24 million grant it's applying for this month.

Plans call for the Marquette Greenway to run from the South Side of Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan. Sections already in use include the Calumet Park Trail in Illinois, Marquette Trail in Gary, Calumet Trail in Porter and LaPorte counties and shorter trails at Whihala Beach Park and George Lake.

The longest gap is through Ogden Dunes and Burns Harbor that would connect the west and east portions of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The eight-mile stretch is referred to as the National Lakeshore Connector. Stretches in Lake and LaPorte counties also remain undone.

"We hope we can get all that taken care of through this funding," NIRPC Transportation Planning Manager Mitch Barloga said during a Tuesday meeting of the agency's Technical Planning Committee. He said the full project has an estimated cost of about $33 million. Local funding will make up the difference.

NIRPC is applying for a highly competitive TIGER or Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for the project. In 2016, the Department of Transportation awarded 40 grants from among 585 applications.

Congress allocated $500 million to the program in the fiscal year 2017 federal budget.

"We thought it would be a nice idea to try for the home run ball," Barloga said.

He said the overall project would have 20 components, including about 30 miles of trails and associated infrastructure like bridges and boardwalks.

If completed as planned, the Marquette Greenway will connect to the Burnham/Pennsy Greenway, Erie-Lackawanna Trail, Prairie-Duneland Trail, Dunes-Kankakee Trail and the Lincoln Memorial Trail corridor.

Barloga compared NIRPC's application to a successful one made by the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District last year. That $7.9 million grant funded just under half of a project to construct four miles of trails and a bridge to the city's lakefront. The project will "complete an active transportation network," according to DOT.

"That was one city," Barloga said. "We're talking about three states."

The sole successful Indiana applicant in the 2016 cycle was Madison County, which won $13.5 million for a bridge replacement over the White River. Other Indiana applicants included the Indiana Department of Transportation, LaPorte County, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and the Ports of Indiana.

The deadline for applying for a 2017 TIGER grant is Monday. Barloga said NIRPC will know late this year or early 2018 if it gets the grant. He estimated it would take three to five years to get the work done, with local governments being the lead agencies for their portions of the trail.

The TIGER grant application comes as Porter County officials consider making use of a $1.6 million federal grant, coupled with $400,000 in local money, to pave a two-mile stretch of the Calumet Trail between Mineral Springs and Tremont roads.

And on Tuesday, the Indiana Department of Transportation issued a request for proposals on behalf of Michigan City for engineering of a Singing Sands Trail that would run from the east end of the Calumet Trail to downtown Michigan City. That segment also already has federal funding available.
If you share a workplace with any difficult people, you might want to check out an upcoming workshop by Northwest Indiana SCORE.

SCORE, the U.S. Small Business Administration-affiliated nonprofit that offers free advice on running small businesses, plans a workshop on handling difficult colleagues at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce at 162 W. Lincolnway.

"We all, from time to time, encounter people who are 'difficult,'" Northwest Indiana SCORE said in a news release. "Do you recognize any of these people? The tantrum thrower, the incessant complainer, the always negative, the silent unresponsive, the one who agrees but never delivers, the know-it-all, and the staller who never makes a decision?"

Northwest Indiana SCORE chairman Jim Hubbard will give a one-hour talk that draws lessons from Robert M. Bramson's "Coping with Difficult People," a mass market paperback book subtitled: "The Proven-Effective Battle Plan That Has Helped Millions Deal with the Troublemakers in their Lives at Home and at Work."

"Jim will give a prescription that will help cure the problem if any or all of these type people are making your life miserable," Northwest Indiana SCORE said in a news release. "Jim is an HR professional and an attorney with over 45 years in the business world who has conducted training and education programs for employees at all levels of an organization."

Attendees will get paper copies of the presentation for reference and complimentary coffee.

For more information or to register, visit www.northwestindiana.score.org.
GARY  Local legislators said they are impressed with the work done so far by the newly appointed Gary schools emergency manager, but that no one will ever care as much about the Gary students as its residents.

Local legislators Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Merrillville, and Reps. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, Charlie Brown, D-Gary and Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, were part of a panel who spoke at the Gary Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting Monday at the U.S. Steel Yard, the RailCats stadium.

When the state took over the Gary Community School Corp., the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board named Peggy Hinckley and MGT Consultants as the emergency manager for the district assigned to improve the academics and finances.

The district is more than $100 million in debt, and has more than 20 judgments against the school corporation from vendors, along with owing the IRS. The district has had difficulty making payroll, and Hinckley told the state last month the finances were in disarray.

She said there were no processes in place and no internal controls. She said the district's financial department is managed using text files that have to be manually entered into a system that dates back to the 1980s.

Hinckley also has said some people have said there is some "ghost" employment, but that hasn't been proved.

Legislators said if Hinckley and MGT Consultants are successful, that means success for Gary students and the community.

Melton said he's impressed that school started on time and that basic repairs have been made to buildings.

"They are not finding out anything new that we didn't already know," he said.

"Maybe it's new to the state to a certain extent. They've been able to address some of the leaky roofs and problems with the bathrooms. I hope they are successful, and we're going to do everything we can to help."

Melton repeated that he wants the Legislature to put in place an early warning system about school finance troubles before they get worse and a school district has to be taken over. Gary and the Muncie schools are the only two school systems that have been taken over by the state, but Melton and other state leaders say those two districts are not the only ones experiencing financial trouble.

Smith said the consultants will be more successful than the school leaders because the state had lost a "level of trust" in local leaders.

"We knew the biggest burden on the Gary school system was the payroll," Smith said. "It's a big cost item for any entity. It's led to creative financing. She (Hinckley) has been given the authority to do some things that our leaders didn't have the authority to do."
CROWN POINT  A plea bargain remains elusive for a 27-year-old East Chicago man accused of shooting into a vehicle, which injured one woman, during an argument more than two years ago with his ex-girlfriend.

Dilly D. King appeared Tuesday in Lake Criminal Court with defense attorney Kerry Connor.

Connor told Magistrate Judge Natalie Bokota the state has offered a plea agreement, but the parties continued to negotiate a deal to resolve charges of attempted murder, battery committed with a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness.

She requested a trial date be scheduled at a new court hearing Oct. 24.

King is jailed on allegations he threatened his ex-girlfriend with a handgun April 1, 2015, outside her vehicle in the 4900 block of Northcote Avenue in East Chicago, according to The Times archives.

The state alleges King shot a handgun near the woman's face and then fired several times into her vehicle, which was occupied by another woman and a 9-month-old child.

The woman inside the vehicle was shot in the hip, archives state.
LANSING  Police are cautioning residents to be on high alert after receiving a report of a potential telephone scam.

The latest scam is reaching Lansing residents' phone lines through calls that have reportedly been spoofed, which is when the actual originating caller ID number is disguised with another number, according to the Lansing Police Department.

The caller ID is showing up as originating "FIRE DEPT" and coming from the Village of Lansing's Fire Department main phone number.

When the person answers the call, an automated machine picks up and informs them that a package has arrived for them, according to a news release.

Then, the person is asked to stay on the line to speak with an operator, the release stated.

In this particular case, a person recognized it as an obvious scam and did not follow through with the call or provide any information to anyone, police said.

The village of Lansing is not sending out automated messages about packages and will not ask for payment over the phone in any way, the release said.

"Do not give out any type of person or financial information to anyone over the phone that contacts you unsolicited," Lansing Detective Lt. Steven Roberts said in the news release.
VALPARAISO  A Hebron man, who was sentenced at the age of 16 to 36 years behind bars after being labeled a violent criminal, has been denied early release from prison.

Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper, who sentenced Miles Folsom on Jan. 15, 2010, said in a recent order that her hands are tied.

"Mr. Folsom is not eligible for sentence modification because he is a violent criminal ... it has been more than 365 days since his sentencing, and the prosecutor did not consent to modification," according to Harper.

Folsom, who is now 24, has an earliest possible release date of Sept. 24, 2026, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.

Folsom was sentenced on felony robbery and criminal confinement charges for pistol whipping and robbing an acquaintance on March 20, 2009.

He also was sentenced for burglarizing a home in the Gas Lite mobile home park on Oct. 30, 2008.

His case had been waived from juvenile to adult court.

Folsom told police he also was involved in numerous vehicle thefts and other burglaries that resulted in six or seven weapons that have never been recovered, prosecutors said. His "reign of terror" began at the age of 9 when he stole poisonous chemicals in a plot to contaminate Hebron's water supply, a prosecutor said at the time of sentencing.

The young man testified he had been using drugs since the age of 6 or 7.

"You are a very dangerous young man," Harper said at the time of sentencing.

Harper said it was her understanding Folsom had threatened to do her harm.

A week before sentencing, Folsom reportedly went to the bathroom at Porter County Jail, carved "I'm sorry" on his chest and attempted to hang himself.

He was rescued before he died and was well enough to be brought over to the court to tell the judge he is a changed man.
The Education Ministry on Monday published an official textbook for middle and high school students in Thailand who are learning Korean as a second foreign language.

A ministry official here said Sunday, "There has been an explosive growth in the number of people in Thailand who are learning Korean thanks to the popularity of the Korean Wave there."

Six textbooks are available for different levels of proficiency. The first edition was published Monday to mark Hangeul Day and additional volumes will be released until March of next year, which marks the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations.


INDIANAPOLIS  State Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, will ask the General Assembly in January to jack up penalties for some drug-related crimes and expand mandatory minimum sentencing.

Just three years ago, Hoosier lawmakers adjusted drug crime penalties to target high-level dealers, while increasing treatment opportunities for drug users and also giving judges discretion to fashion sentences appropriate to each individual.

Merritt declared Tuesday "that was a different time" and "we need to readjust."

He believes Indiana's courts have "broken-down" in punishing serious and violent felons, and the only way to fix it is by increasing penalties so prosecutors have more leverage in plea bargain negotiations.

"I'm empowering prosecutors, and I think that is what we need to do because it's not working right now," Merritt said.

Under his plan, the details of which still are being finalized, drug crimes involving the opioid drug fentanyl or illegal drug sales that result in a user's death would be subject to a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term.

In addition, criminal sentences for armed robbery no longer could be partially suspended to probation, and the penalty for attacking an off-duty police officer, or a member of the officer's family, would match the penalty for battery against an on-duty officer.

"We mean business on this," Merritt said. "We want our citizens safe, we want our law enforcement safe, we want to save lives."

Merritt's proposals face an uncertain fate as state lawmakers generally have resisted efforts to increase criminal penalties following the 2014 criminal code reforms to give the changes time to filter through Indiana's police departments, courtrooms and prisons.
HAMMOND  The city's redevelopment commission has agreed to a deal that calls for it to purchase another downtown building.

Under terms of a settlement agreed to by the commission recently, the city would acquire the Straube building in the 5200 block of Hohman Avenue.

The city would pay $110,000 for the building and another $20,000 for a liquor license, said Chief of Staff Phil Taillon.

Taillon said the liquor license could help the city attract a restaurant operation to the building, although he said the city is open to other possibilities for the building. He noted, however, the city has been continually looking for a new downtown restaurant operator.

The liquor license being acquired by the commission as part of the deal could be used at other locations in the city, Taillon noted. For instance, the downtown Hotel LaSalle the city is acquiring has a restaurant facility.

Taillon said he is "very confident" the city will be able to find a purchaser or user for the property. Ideally, he said, the city would want someone to purchase the property, but it would be open to leasing it out as well.

Rich Barnes, who owns the Yale Business Center at 200 Russell St., said he thought it would take "considerable investment" to make the Straube building commercially functional.

He said the building has an interesting construction, however, and he hopes the city can preserve the structure's history if it takes over the building.

"I think we have shown that private investment in downtown real estate can stand on its own if the property is managed and marketed properly," Barnes said.

He added they are still "bullish on downtown Hammond" and there is a "real attraction" to being in the city because of Indiana's competitive tax structure and "Hammond's pro-business attitude."

The city's purchase of the building is part of a settlement agreement between C&R Remodeling LLC, the city of Hammond, the city's planning and development department, and the city's facade rebate committee.

C&R Remodeling had contended in a lawsuit the city did not give the company the amount it felt it had been promised under the city's facade rebate program for improvements made to several of the buildings it owned in Hammond.
HOBART  A dog owner who visited County Line Orchard on Saturday with a group of LGBTQ friends remained at odds Monday with the orchards owners and police about events leading up to the dog owners removal from the orchard property.

A video of part of the groups encounter with a Hobart police officer has been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media.

LaSaia Wade, of Chicago, said she traveled to County Line Orchard in Hobart to pick apples along with her service dog, a Staffordshire terrier, and a group of friends.

Wade said orchard staff asked her about the dog, which assists her with high anxiety. She said she showed at least two orchard employees an electronic copy on her smartphone of a certificate showing her dog is a service animal, but one staff member insisted she present a paper copy.

When a police officer approached, he immediately started telling the group to leave and she did not present the electronic certificate to him, Wade said.

I tried to show him. He was not having that, Wade said. He was not even trying to listen to anything we had to say.

Wade, who is black and serves as the executive director of the Chicago-based LGBTQ advocacy group, Gray Space Alliance, accused the officer of failing to show professionalism.

I understand policing, she said. You have to protect both sides. He was not doing that. He was one-sided that day.

Wade claimed the federal Americans with Disabilities Act does not require her to present a license or paperwork to prove her dog is a service animal or outfit it with a vest or other indicators.

She thought orchard staff and police discriminated against her and her dog, because of its breed.

I was shaken. I was discriminated against, she said. I was pushed off of something that was supposed to be enjoyable to me and my friends.

County Line Orchard said in a statement that its staff confronted Wade multiple times about the dog, which the orchard described as a pit bull. The orchard prohibits pets on the grounds, but makes exceptions for service dogs, according to the statement.

Unfortunately, we found this group to be uncooperative in regards to information about their dog being a service dog. Due to their unwillingness to cooperate with our staff and security team, the decision was made by ownership to ask this group to leave the orchard," the statement said.

Orchard staff contacted a Hobart police officer, who was hired by the orchard, to escort the group and dog off the property, the orchard said.

Hobart police also said the officer was contacted by orchard staff, who told him several patrons were concerned about the safety of their children because of the dogs presence.

Police said administrators conducted a preliminary investigation of the incident and concluded the officer acted professionally.

In addition, there was a statement to the fact that the pit bull was a service dog, police said. The owners(s) of the dog did not produce any documentation to the officer on scene that provided the pit bull was a service animal, nor did the pit bull have any identifying garments or markings that indicated the pit bull was a service animal.

Police said administration determined race, special needs and gender were not determining factors in the officers action.

County Line Orchard said it was offended that Wades group accused the orchard of discrimination based on race, gender and/or sexual orientation on social media after the incident.

We find this claim to be offensive and disturbing based on the fact that none of the staff, the owners and/or the police were aware of any description or characteristics of the guests other than their unwillingness to answer questions in regards to the pit bull, the orchard said.

The orchard champions diversity in its work force, but asks that all guests follow its policy on pets and service dogs, according to the statement.
EAST CHICAGO  A monthlong celebration of Hispanic Heritage will conclude on Wednesday when the city's Public Library conducts a program geared toward Puerto Rican culture.

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 as a way to salute the generations of Hispanic Americans who have made positive contributions to society.

The program on Wednesday is free to the public and will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the main library, 2401 E. Columbus Drive.

Over the past month, the library has hosted several well-attended games of loteria, a Mexican game similar to bingo.

It has shown movies from the Golden Era of Mexican cinema, treated visitors to a performance of traditional Mexican dances by Ballet Folklorico Yolotzin, held Latin-style exercise classes and even taught guests how to make tortillas from scratch.

"It's going to be a wonderful celebration that culminates Hispanic Heritage (Month)," said Latonya Hicks, head of public relations for the East Chicago Public Library.

It will include a one-hour performance by AfriCaribe, a group from Chicago that celebrates the African influence in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean lands through song, dance and percussion.

Puerto Rican food will be served prior to the performance and there also will be a presentation by Chicago-based author Ada N. Lopez.

Lopez has put together a collection of vibrant photos with text that highlights Puerto Rican culture in a work called Asi Somos/Who We Are.

"We're going to have a book signing as well, with her," Hicks said.

Hicks said the library is a logical place to celebrate the city's diversity and different cultures in part because of the books it contains on the history of countries, including Mexico and Puerto Rico.

She said a free resource the library has called Mango Languages can even help patrons learn to speak a new language.

Hicks said Wednesday's program will provide an opportunity to pay tribute to Mexican and Puerto Rican cultures during a time in which both countries are recovering from the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria and an earthquake last month.

"Their culture is so rich, in so many different ways," Hicks said. "There are so many different foods, so many different dances."
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP)  Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighborhoods.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire trucks raced by smoldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

One of the homes that was reduced to ash had a Mercedes Benz in the garage. Two cars parked across the street were untouched.

The flames were unforgiving throughout the city, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid. One neighborhood of older homes was scorched, leaving only brick chimneys and downed power lines.

Residents who gathered at makeshift emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames. They recalled all the possessions they had left behind and were lost.

"All that good stuff, I'm never going to see it again," said Jeff Okrepkie, who fled his neighborhood in Santa Rosa knowing it was probably the last time he would see his home of the past five years standing.

His worst fears were confirmed Monday, when a friend sent him a photo of what was left: a smoldering heap of burnt metal and debris.

In the rush to leave, Okrepkie and his wife were able to gather important documents, photos and mementos, like letters from his wife's late father. Still, Okrepkie was tortured by the things he left behind, including a framed photo of his grandfather that his grandmother had carried with her for a decade after he died.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away. The causes of the fires were unknown.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Winds have posed a challenge to firefighters in the state this year despite a relatively wet winter that followed years of drought. The fires that broke out Sunday burned "at explosive rates" because of 50 mph winds, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires. What was unusual Sunday, however, was to have so many fires take off at the same time.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties. Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters,

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire churning through canyons in hilly neighborhoods of Orange County burned at least half a dozen homes and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate. Brown also declared a state of emergency for Orange County.

The inferno in Northern California blackened miles along Highway 12, one of the main gateways into wine country.

Wooden fence posts and guard rails burned fiercely. Thick smoke roiled from the JR Cohn winery.

The fires also damaged the Silverado Resort in Napa and a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa.

Kim Hoe, a 33-year-old tech worker from Penang, Malaysia, was staying at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, which was gutted by flames. He said the power went out around 1 a.m., and he and his colleagues started packing up when someone knocked on the door and told them to run.

"We just had to run and run. It was full of smoke. We could barely breathe," Hoe said.

They returned in the morning to find the hotel had been destroyed along with most of their possessions. Hoe was relieved he had taken his passport and a few essential items.

Santa Rosa lost a Kmart, restaurants, businesses and homes.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the center's sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen. Emergency workers leapt from their cars to aid the evacuation.

Crews got the more than 200 people from the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Mike Turpen, 38, was at a bar in Glen Ellen early Monday when a stranger wearing a smoke mask ran in and yelled that there was a fire. Turpen raced home through flames in his Ford F-250.

"It was like Armageddon was on," Turpen said. "Every branch of every tree was on fire."

He stayed to try to defend his own rental home.

By late morning, Turpen, wearing shorts, a kerchief mask and goggles, was the last man standing for miles along one abandoned road. His yard and all those around him were burned, smoking and still flaming in a few spots. But his home was still standing.
Exports of dried seaweed, instant noodles and beer to China have increased this year despite an unofficial Chinese boycott.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation on Monday, exports of the three products from January to August this year reached US$150 million, accounting for 18 percent of the country's entire exports of agricultural products and processed food worth $856.20.

Korea exported $64.9 million worth of dried seaweed to China this year, up 46.2 percent on-year, $56.5 million worth of ramyeon, up 45.7 percent, and $29 million worth of beer, up a whopping 106.8 percent.

The corporation attributed the increase in seaweed exports to a poor crop in China, while Korean instant noodles became popular through social media and beer benefited from expanded sales networks.


Auckland renters living in properties managed by Barfoot & Thompson expressed a strong desire to own their own home, a survey conducted by the real estate company showed.The research showed that 59% of 310 Auckland renters surveyed by Barfoot & Thompson wanted to buy within the next two to five years  a response that surprised the real estate company.Barfoot & Thompson Director Kiri Barfoot said the company was taken by surprise by the positive response around buying a home in the next few years. Its very encouraging particularly given much of the recent commentary around it (home ownership) has been negative.Barfoot said she would have expected fewer renters to say they were aiming to buy a home. A number of factors could be behind this. Aucklands housing market has steadied in the past few months after several years of rising prices  we also have around 30% more houses listed for sale than the same time last year. More choice is good for people thinking about buying, Barfood said.The survey was conducted in August and 31% of 1,000 tenants responded to the survey.QVs monthly property values to September 2017 showed the average New Zealand house had increased 4.3% on the same month for 2016 from $619,660 to $646,378.The average house is Auckland remains over $1 million at $1,039,066 which is up 0.8% from 2016.
Heavy winds and rain caused water to seep up through the floor, and the roof required a blue tarp to be strapped down to keep it from leaking. The noise itself foiled any plans for a good nights rest, and the wind created a slight rocking effect.

Still, Lisa Pierce toughed it through Sundays stormy weather while hunkered inside a 10-year-old, 5-foot-8 wooden shack on South Gay Street, the same place shes stayed since last week as a part of a campaign of the Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM) to raise awareness and funds for repairing substandard homes throughout rural Alabama.

The 10th annual Sweet Homes for Alabama campaign has three objectives, explained Pierce. She is the founder and executive director of ARM, the latter of which is a Methodist-based ministry that started growing in 1998 as a pilot project to provide home repair in the local community.

First of all, wed like to make homes warm, safe and dry, she said Monday. Thats what we refer to as sweet when we say, Sweet Homes for Alabama. The second thing is were volunteer-based, so this is a way that we encourage more people to volunteer and sign up with us to work on homes. And then the third thing is it is a fundraiser, and were trying to raise $100,000 this year. And that will help us repair 20 more homes.

Approximately $82,000 was raised last year, Pierce added, and so far more than $40,000 has been raised.

Devoting time

This years campaign began Oct. 4, Pierce said, when the wooden shack and its accompanying trailer were transported from Auburn United Methodist Churchs basement to the front lawn of the Auburn Wesley Foundation on 131 S. Gay Street, across from Tiger Rags and Burger King.

Mostly local pastors and community leaders have devoted time, generally three-hour shifts, to the campaign, during which they have sat with Pierce or visited the slightly larger, 8-foot-8 wooden shack positioned beside Pierces temporary home. More are expected to join her today Pierce said, which will mark the conclusion of her stay in the dilapidated structure before it is returned to the church basement.

The shack, according to Pierce, features two leaky windows, in addition to flooring provided by the trailer upon which it stands and thick, plastic sheets for carpet that helps keep water from reaching her mattress. Felt paper provides insulation and helps secure Pierces backpack, pillow and small blanket.

Three meals have been delivered to her each day, ranging from Panera Bread to homemade lasagna and food from Captain Ds.

And I love coffee, Pierce said. So lots of Starbucks.

'Fulfilling and exciting

Funding from the campaign and other events goes toward repairs needed on rural homes in Lee, Macon and Sumter counties, said Jeremiah Bryan, construction supervisor with the ministry. Volunteers assist with repairs, during which attention is focused on roofs, windows, floors, siding and renovations, excluding major plumbing or electrical work.

Of course, collective efforts are not solely about repairing homes, Bryan noted, but also building enduring relationships among those most in need.

Its rewarding, he said. Its joyful just getting to meet them. From the construction side, I get to know them on a personal level, and I enjoy the process that we go through in repairing their homes.

Joe Davis, director of ministry operations, also looked forward to meeting and helping others remove worry or anxiety out of their lives.

Id say its very fulfilling and exciting to see families who know the roof is not going to cave-in or anything, Davis said.

God-send

Seated beside Pierce in front of the shack and near a blue Wheelbarrow of Change containing donations, Notasulga resident Andrea McIntosh spent time with her friend who, along with volunteers and others, helped repair her home last year through the ministry.

A waterline had burst at the time, ruining the kitchen floors, den and half-bath, McIntosh said. However, those with the ministry helped fix her floors and walls, in addition to painting the kitchen and adding a new sink with a granite top.

McIntosh, herself, also worked alongside the volunteers and is grateful for their work.

It was a God-send, she remarked.

> Alabama Rural Ministry will accept donations throughout October at the following website: www.arm-al.org/sweethomes
China will carry forward public hospital reforms to optimize medical care resources for public health, according to a decision at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Oct 9.

The reform on medical care pricing at public hospitals will continue toward dynamic price adjustments in medical services so that the expertise and efforts of medical workers are better reflected in values.

One or two cities in provincial areas where comprehensive medical reform are being piloted will be chosen for medical insurance payment reform, covering all medical care institutions and services. The government will also designate over 100 disease categories for an insurance payment by-category reform.

Medical care reform is not only a major project to better public well-being, but also a major economic measure, Premier Li said.

He said public hospital reform should be pushed forward across the board, and that reforms on medical care partnerships should be piloted in multiple forms to serve a healthy China with better and more convenient healthcare services.

Chinas medical care reform should adhere to the principle of guaranteeing basic healthcare, building working mechanisms and strengthening community health services, he added.

China started the latest round of healthcare reform in 2009, with the core objective of offering healthcare services to all people as a public good.

As of September, all public hospitals in China have joined the comprehensive reform program to end the 60-year-old practice of drug price markups, which enables rationalization of medical care costs. As the reform proceeds, the share of drug sales in hospitals total revenue dropped from 46.3 percent in 2010 to 38.1 percent in 2016.

Public hospitals, which totaled 12,708 by the end of 2016, provided 2.85 billion diagnoses and treatments last year, accounting for 87.2 percent of cases provided by all hospitals in China, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The reform on medication dispensing plans will also be expanded as public hospitals will be encouraged to practice category-based pharmaceutical procurement. Hospitals across different regions and different specialized hospitals will be encouraged to conduct procurement together.

The public hospital oversight mechanism will be reformed to better supervise the quality and safety of medical care, medical services and medical expenses. The number of hospital beds, construction standards and procurement of large medical equipment will undergo greater scrutiny.

Medical care reform is an ongoing reform, and these are progresses yet to be consolidated. The government should provide due financial support. The reform on the remuneration mechanism of medical workers should get stronger support to provide them with more incentives, Premier Li said.

The meeting on Oct 9 decided to speed up efforts to establish medical treatment partnerships, which would promote effective cooperation and coordination between different types of medical institutions, including major hospitals and grassroots clinics.

All major public hospitals must take part in the development of the partnerships before the end of October. The operating mechanism of medical partnerships will be further improved to ensure better coordination in technical support, staffing, staff salary arrangements, and resource-sharing among different medical institutes.

Private medical care facilities, aged care and rehabilitation centers will also be encouraged to join the partnerships to provide integrated services for the public.

More efforts will be made to expand the availability of family doctors, and to enable the doctors to offer more services based on demand and improve the fee collecting and paying mechanisms.

Medical services at the grassroots level will be further improved, with more emphasis on improving the talent, technology and key departments at county-level hospitals.

Medical treatment partnerships should be developed in parallel with systematic reform. Instead of exclusivity, openness to private capital is the way to go. A lot can be done to advance Chinas medical equipment and pharmaceutical industry, not least the traditional Chinese medicine, including with internet plus medical care that can help better consolidate our resources, Premier Li said.
A fire outbreak in the computer laboratory at Busitema University Nagongera campus burnt and destroyed several computers and various science equipment.

The fire is said to have broken out at around 3pm on Sunday.

Eriya Ntaga, the senior advancement officer of the university says they suspect the fire could have started from faulty equipment in the server room they had identified and were in the process of repairing and replacing.

He says the university had just secured 70 computers and projectors that were due for commissioning.

The destroyed computer lab

"The burnt equipment had just been purchased with computer accessories that the university had procured as component under the '' Higher Education Science and Technology [HEST], a government project through support from African Development Bank intended to retool universities to boost science and computer teaching." Ntaga said.



According to Ntaga, they could have detected the fire early enough, but since it was a weekend most of the staff members and students were away.

"Some students rushed to help but even the few parts of computers rescued had already melted by virtue of being plastic," he said.



He says they tried to get help from the police fire brigade but the fire engine arrived two hours later when everything had been reduced to ashes.



Dr Edward Andama, the Dean faculty of Science and Education Nagongera campus, says they tried their level best but couldn't save anything. He says the damage is likely to affect the teaching of computer science if the situation isn't accorded urgent attention.



Busitema university Nangongera campus is the home of faculty of science education and its one of the public universities in Uganda
A fresh strike by state prosecutors over low pay paralyzed court business in Kampala today.

The prosecutors resumed a strike in protest of their low pay, after the lapse of the 90-day ultimatum given to government to address their grievances.

One of the cases that flopped was against 24 men accused of the murder of former police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and his driver Godfrey Wambewo.



The suspects are charged with terrorism, murder and aggravated robbery in relation to the gruesome shooting of the three police officers on March 17 this year in Kulambiro, a suburb of Kampala.

Kaweesi murder case couldn't go on because of the prosecutors strike Nakawa Grade 1 Magistrate Noah Sajjabbi said hearing of the case could not continue in the absence of state prosecutors. He adjourned the hearing to October 24. Nakawa Grade 1 Magistrate Noah Sajjabbi said hearing of the case could not continue in the absence of state prosecutors. He adjourned the hearing to October 24.

The prosecutors, under the umbrella Uganda Association of Prosecutors (UAP), are demanding that the minimum salary of the lower ranking officials be raised to at least Shs 9 million and Shs 40 million for the director of public prosecutions.



Currently, the lowest ranking state prosecutor earns a gross salary of Shs 645,000. Senior principal state attorneys earn Shs 2.1 million a month, the deputy director of public prosecution is paid Shs 2.9 million and the assistant DPP earns Shs 2.4 million while the DPP earns Shs 11 million.



The government had committed to increasing salaries of state prosecutors days after they laid down their tools in July.

In the commitment, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Maj. Gen Kahinda promised that the increment will be in effected in three months through a supplementary budget to be passed by parliament. He added that a cabinet sub-committee had also agreed to waive their taxes.



However, the pledges have not been fulfilled triggering off another round of industrial action which has affected court business.
The recently inaugurated Pornography Control Committee will engage Kampala Capital City Authority over its failure to control pornographic materials at last weekend's Kampala City Carnival.



The three-day carnival started on Friday and ended on Sunday. On Friday when the carnival kicked off, Dr Annette Kezaabu Kasimbazi the Pornography Control Committee chairperson wrote to the KCCA executive director, Jennifer Musisi, informing her that the last festivals were invaded by dancers who exhibited pornographic performances.



"Our major concern is that in the past few years, the carnivals have been invaded by some dancers and other entertainers or participants or revellers/merrymakers who noticeably openly and unmistakably exhibit pornographic performances, exploits and undertakings unbridled or unrestrained," the October 6 letter seen by URN reads.

KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi at the carnival The letter further notes; "This is therefore to seek your most esteemed and well considered judicious direction to explore a viable and ethical appropriate solution to this unfortunate developing tradition and to protect our children from this obvious child pornography..."



Dr Kezaabu told URN that there was no compliance with the Anti-pornography Act. Kezaabu says the committee will call for an engagement meeting with KCCA and set ground rules to ensure that no pornographic content is displayed at other carnivals and other future events organised by the institution.



When asked whether measures were put in place to control pornographic content in the carnival, KCCA spokesperson Peter Kaujju said the city authority gave strict instructions to the police not to allow skimpily dressed people into the carnival. The letter further notes; "This is therefore to seek your most esteemed and well considered judicious direction to explore a viable and ethical appropriate solution to this unfortunate developing tradition and to protect our children from this obvious child pornography..."Dr Kezaabu told URN that there was no compliance with the Anti-pornography Act. Kezaabu says the committee will call for an engagement meeting with KCCA and set ground rules to ensure that no pornographic content is displayed at other carnivals and other future events organised by the institution.When asked whether measures were put in place to control pornographic content in the carnival, KCCA spokesperson Peter Kaujju said the city authority gave strict instructions to the police not to allow skimpily dressed people into the carnival.

"If one or two (skimpily) dressed girls came into the carnival, then that was unfortunate," he said.



Kaujju said the carnival concentrated on cultural display as per the theme celebrating cultural diversity.

"As an institution we promote decency and high moral standardswe don't allow skimpily dressed girls who sexually arouse people into the carnival."





Inaugurated in August, the committee is supposed to ensure the early detection and prohibition of pornography, ensure that the perpetrators of pornography are apprehended and prosecuted, collect and destroy pornographic objects or materials with the assistance of the police.



Other committee functions include; educating and sensitising the public about pornography, rehabilitation of individuals, groups, families or communities affected by pornography, expedite acquisition and installation of effective protective software in electronic equipment for detection and suppression of pornography. Inaugurated in August, the committee is supposed to ensure the early detection and prohibition of pornography, ensure that the perpetrators of pornography are apprehended and prosecuted, collect and destroy pornographic objects or materials with the assistance of the police.Other committee functions include; educating and sensitising the public about pornography, rehabilitation of individuals, groups, families or communities affected by pornography, expedite acquisition and installation of effective protective software in electronic equipment for detection and suppression of pornography.

It is also charged with promoting appropriate educational materials against pornography in the school curriculum in consultation with the government.




Alarmed by how many cigarette butts littered the parks of Amsterdam, two Dutch designers came up with an unusual plan to train crows to pick up the butts and trade them for tasty rewards.

Industrial designers Ruben van der Vleuten and Bob Spikman originally considered using robots to clean the streets of cigarette butts, but they presented a series of difficulties, particularly the complicated programming required to have them vacuuming the buts out of every nook and cranny while trying to avoid bicycles and passers-by. So they turned their attention to one of the most abundant resources of urban areas  birds. Pigeons were the first ones they considered, because they can be found in virtually every city in the world, but a quick search revealed that they arent really known for their intelligence, so training them would have been very hard. But the two designers soon found a bird that was both very common around human settlements and much, much smarter  the crow.

Crows are ranked among the most intelligent species on the planet, and their understanding of causality allows them to plan, create and use tools to achieve their goals. They can learn things by observing their surroundings, manipulate humans into helping them, and some can apparently even count. Crows encephalization quotient (approximate intelligence level) is equal to that of chimpanzees, so they were perfect for the project envisioned by Ruben and Bob.

The two designers knew that they wanted to train crows to clean cities of discarded cigarette butts, but it wasnt until they discovered the Crow Box, a project by Joshua Klein, that they realized how to go about doing it. Klein had invented a machine to autonomously train crows to pick up change from the streets and exchange it for peanuts, so if they could be trained to do that, they could definitely pick up cigarette butts as well.

What you want is that the crows associate food with butts, Ruben van der Vleuten told TNW. To achieve this, they plan to follow a four-step process thought up and tried by Joshua Klein. The first step presents the cow with a cigarette butt and a treat, on a tray in the machine. This helps the bird associate the butt with the food, so that it comes back for more.

In the second step, you take away the food and only drop it when the crow arrives at the Crow Box, which helps it learn that the machine does things. During the third step, the crow learns that the Crow Box responds to certain actions, so you take away the food completely, leaving only the cigarette butt on the tray. During this crucial step, the crow, used to the food always being there, will start pecking around for it and eventually push the butt into the machines receptacle, causing the food to drop.

The fourth step is the only step where humans are involved. When the crow is comfortable with step 3, a person scatters a couple dozen butts around the machine. Now the crow has to find out it can pick up those butts and deposit them in the machine, van der Vleuten said. Once they get used to how things work, the crows will start looking for cigarette butts in the wild and trade them for tasty treats at the Crow Box machine.

Asked if constantly picking up cigarette butts full of toxins is bad for the crows, the Dutch duo gave a very pragmatic answer: The effect on nature is huge, and we feel that a few crows are a small price to pay. Moreover, the short contact with the butt ensures the effect is minimal. We can regulate the machine to limit the number of crows that are trained. But indeed, we still need to do extensive research on this, because if the effects are found out to be bad for crows we have to look for another solution.

As crazy as the Crowded Cities project may sound to some people, Prof. John Marzluff, a world-renown corvid expert, believes that it can actually work.

I am sure crows could learn to do this. They are quick studies when rewarded for their actions. Ive heard stories of crows picking up cigarettes elsewhere and have wondered if it had a purpose, Marzluff said. Pet crows often steal their owners cigs, and Indian house crows have been photographed with cigs in their beaks. But why? Maybe just trying potential food sources they see us put in our mouths? Or perhaps they are using the spent filters as insecticides for their nests as some other birds have been found to do? So, yes they could do it.

However, Marzluff also points out the ethical dilemma posed by the Crowded Cities. It is equally important to ask, should we enslave crows to do our dirty work for us? To me the answer to that question is NO, the professor told TNW. Crows have lives of their own to live and we should just marvel at their lives, rather than try to coerce them into working for us. It would be more ethical to devise a machine to pick up butts, create biodegradable butts, or better yet, train our smoking conspecifics to pick up after themselves.

Bob and Ruben still plant to carry on with their plan, though, and are currently looking ways to fund a serious experiment to see how long it takes to train wild crows to pick up cigarette butts for food. Despite the ethical questions, the two say that, at the very least, their project will start a conversation about the environmental problems posed by cigarette butts around the world.

Data shows that out of the 6 trillion cigarettes we smoke every year, about two thirds end up in the environment. To put that into perspective, the roughly 4 trillion cigarette butts are enough to fill 2.5 million Olympic swimming pools.


Carole McFall

The Castle Group brings on Carole McFall as VP-PR. McFall come to Castle from Emerson College, where she was associate VP of communications, leading strategies to support enrollment, development, branding and presidential transitions. Before that, she oversaw marketing and media relations for WGBHs national public television programs NOVA and NOVA scienceNOW. In addition to being a senior leader for Castles strategic communications and crisis practices, McFall supports clients of the Boston-based PR and events firmin a variety of industries, including education and healthcare.



Brianna Taylor





Devine + Partners promotes Brianna Taylor to VP. Taylor, who started with the firm four years ago as a senior account executive, most recently served as an account supervisor. In her new role, Brianna will lead strategic communications initiatives and thought leadership positioning, provide change and issues management counsel, guide social media strategies and engage in new business development, among other responsibilities.



Dave Goodman

Lambert, Edwards & Associates expands its web development team to its Detroit office with the hiring of Dave Goodman as designer and front-end developer. Before coming to LE&A, Goodman was a freelancer, working on projects that included the design and development of a user dashboard to amplify internal communications at Chrysler and supporting the design of the user experience for Stahls.coms mobile website. In his new role, Dave will execute high-end website designs to meet the objectives of LE&As clients.
San Francisco-based digital tech PR and marketing shop Karbo Communications has expanded with the addition of a new office in Silicon Valley.

Agency staff officially move into Karbos new Redwood City outpost on October 16. Initially, five team members will be based there, with all staff given the choice of working in Redwood City or the agencys South of Market area District headquarters full-time or part-time.

Julie Karbo

The Redwood City office plans to add more staff in the future.

While technology can liberate us from geographical constraints, we still believe that face to face contact has value, Karbo Communications founder and CEO Julie Karbo told ODwyers. While being located in San Francisco has never stopped us from meeting anywhere at any time, some clients prefer to have us close by. We anticipate this move will also help us recruit PR and marketing pros that want to work close to home or simply dont want to commute into the city.

Karbo Com, which specializes in B2B and consumer technology PR, counts TDK U.S.A. Corporation, Logitech, eBay Advertising, Internet of Things World and Equinix as clients.
Every year off-road enthusiasts gather at the FAIRPLEX in Pomona, CA for the largest off-road show on the west coast. The 18th Annual OFF-ROAD EXPO Powered by General Tire brings together over 350 off-road companies showcasing the latest off-road parts, equipment, and gear - in addition to the hottest off-road builds and race vehicles for a weekend packed with high energy and excitement.

For many companies in the off-road industry, this is the biggest show of the year, full of new product unveils and giving locals a sneak peak at what's in the works for the big SEMA Show in Las Vegas. From tricked out UTVs to desert pre runners and race trucks, the Off-Road Expo is where the off-road nation comes together.

Here are some of the highlights from this year's OFF-ROAD EXPO.

This year's OFF-ROAD EXPO had several special features taking place during the show, like the 50th Anniversary of the SCORE Baja 1000 exhibit, which showcased the best of SCORE off-road desert racing. On Saturday, the highly anticipated race course map for the Baja 1000 was unveiled for the big race in November.

READ MORE: 2017 Baja 1000 Race Course Revealed

Saturday night, SCORE also held a very special VIP event with Dust 2 Glory producer Dana Brown. We had the great privilege to meet Dana Brown and preview the upcoming film. Just like the original Dust to Glory film, Brown ties in Baja racing stories from SCORE racers and fans, bringing to life the mystique that keeps people coming back for more year after year. We're excited to see Dust 2 Glory it in its entirety come December.

READ MORE: Dust 2 Glory Set to Premiere on Dec.6





The crew at KMC/Wheel Pros always have eye candy at the show, and this year was no different. On display was an extensive collection of rim designs and different finishes, along with new race beadlock wheels and applications.

4 Wheel Parts had a massive outdoor display area in addition to their indoor sales floor at the OFF-ROAD EXPO this year. UTVs are hot, and 4 Wheel Parts is helping fuel the passion with a dedicated semi-rig for UTV products. It joined the TMG train of semis representing parts and gear from their portfolio of brands like Pro Comp, Smittybilt, G2 Gear & Axle, and Poison Spyder.

KC HiLites brought out the big guns with this KC LED equipped Raptor Trophy Truck. The combination of round KC LED lights on the roof and modular light bar in front of the grill added tasteful detail to this wicked looking desert race truck. If you think it looks good sitting still, you should see it in action, lit up and all. BAD ASS.

The crowds were solid all weekend long. Southern California's sunny weather and cool temperatures made it a great weekend to get out and enjoy everything off-road at the show. As the economy continues to heat up, so does the off-road industry. The 18th Annual Lucas Oil OFF-ROAD EXPO powered by General Tire hit record highs this year for exhibitors and attendance. We're told by event organizer Family Events that the show experienced a 10 percent uptick from last year.

DIRT KING unveiled some new long-travel suspension kits for late model Toyota Tundra and RAM 1500 trucks. High quality components and finishes matched with top of the line KING Shocks bolted up to DIRT KING boxed upper and lower control arms made these show trucks really stand out.

Ever wanted to experience the Rubicon trail? 4 Wheel Parts gave show attendees a little taste with Jeep ride-a-longs at the Rubicon Experience. The rigs were equipped with the latest Pro Comp, Smittybilt, G2 Axle & Gear, LRG Rims and Rubicon Express parts. Not only was it a fun experience, it was also a great opportunity to show off how well these suspension systems and Jeep accessories work on the trail. If you like what you see, all the parts are available from 4 Wheel Parts to build your very own Rubicon trail rig.

Yokohama Tire hosted live music in addition to having James Foster from Nitro Circus in the house for a live autograph session with fans. They also showcased their new Yokohama Geolander M/T tire at the show. The updated thread design not only looks good, it works well too.

Read More: Yokohama Geolander MT G003 Review

O'Reilly Auto Parts hosted top fan-submitted daily driver off-road vehicles on-site for the weekend in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Show-N-Shine. The "Best of Show" went to Howard Frausto and his 1969 Ford Bronco.

Attendees also enjoyed a live DJ and a bikini contest on the STEEL-IT Main Stage. Miss Savannah Snyder took home the title of Miss OFF-ROAD EXPO for 2017.

OFF-ROAD EXPO fans watched high-flying, high horsepower Dirt Alliance and Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series demos all weekend long. Dirt drifting, big jumps, and ground pounding horsepower filled the track, and with the freshly burnt rubber and high-octane race fuel scent flowing through the air, it's obvious what makes this high adrenaline lifestyle so addicting.

Next year's event is scheduled for September 29 and 30, and we won't miss it!

http://www.offroadexpo.com/
South Carolina Politicians Propose Monument Honoring Black Confederate Soldiers Elijah C. Watson Elijah Watson serves as Okayplayer's News & Culture Editor. When

Two South Carolina politicians are trying to get a monument honoring black Confederates built.

As The Post and Courier reports:

Republican Reps. Bill Chumley of Woodruff and Mike Burns of Travelers Rest announced Monday they plan to file a bill ahead of the January session to add the African-American Confederate memorial to the 31 monuments and markers already on the 18-acre Statehouse grounds. This history is the truth and is being white-washed, Burns told The Post and Courier. Some of our history is good and some of our history is not so good. But they deserve to be honored for what they did on behalf of South Carolina.

Chumley said a specific design for the monument will be revealed at a later date, with options including a sculpture, a structure with plaques listing the names of black Confederate veterans, or some combination of the two. The proposal from the two Republican politicians comes after two state senators called for a monument honoring Robert Smalls, a former slave who commandeered a Confederate ship and fought for the Union during the Civil War.

READ: Trump Says Hes Sad To See Beautiful Confederate Statues Removed

Senator Darrell Jackson, one of the senators behind the call for the Smalls monument, believes that Burns and Chumleys proposal is a sarcastic reaction by Confederate flag supporters.

What makes memorializing black Confederates problematic is that it is impossible to separate the fact that many fought because they were forced to, as well as led to believe that they would be freed upon fighting for the Confederacy. But by also honoring these black Confederates it contributes to the lost cause myth of the Confederacy, erasing the true reality of what the Confederacy was fighting for  slavery and white supremacy.

Source: postandcourier.com
Virginia Authorities Issue a Warrant for Deandre Harris, the Man Brutally Beaten at Charlottesville Dimas Sanfiorenzo Dimas Sanfiorenzo is the Managing Editor for Okayplayer. He specializes

Trigger Warning: Images and video of graphic violence included in this story.

The most striking image from the Charlottesville riots featured a young man named Deandre Harris. His head was tilted to the left; water was being squirted on his bloodied face.

Harris had just been beaten by a group of neo-Nazis at the Unite the Right rally. Now, more than two months after that incident, Charlottesville authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest.

Harris is wanted for unlawful wounding in connection with the events that occurred at a Charlottesville parking garage on August 12th.

Charlottesville authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of parking garage beating victim Deandre Harris. https://t.co/uGvcocO9D6 pic.twitter.com/VE6wF2lIAX  WCPO (@WCPO) October 9, 2017

Lt. Stephen Upman said that an unnamed alleged victim detailed the events that occurred prior to the beating of Harris. After an investigation the warrant was placed.

Fight broke out. Nazis beat black kid w/sticks at end. I kick one in back 2 help & he runs after me. Kid is safe but bloody #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/kr11a8zQ0K  ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) August 12, 2017

Harris attorney, Lee Merritt, said that the charge wasclearly retaliatory.

H/T: Raw Story, WCPO
The Omaha area avoided its first freeze of the season Wednesday, but other spots in Nebraska dropped below 32 degrees.

The overnight low at Eppley Airfield, recorded Wednesday morning, was 37. It hit 36 at Offutt Air Force Base and 35 in Millard.

The National Weather Service office in Valley had issued a freeze warning for most of eastern and central Nebraska.

In some Nebraska locations, temperatures did hit or fall below the freezing mark overnight: Albion, 28; Alliance, 28; Aurora, 29; Beatrice, 32; Broken Bow, 28; Columbus, 26; Fremont, 31; Grand Island, 32; Hastings, 32, Hebron, 31; Holdrege, 31; Imperial, 32; Kearney, 29, Kimball, 29; Lexington, 32; Lincoln, 31; Norfolk, 26; North Platte, 31; ONeill, 32; Ord, 28; Scottsbluff, 29; Sidney, 28; Tekamah, 32; Wahoo, 32; and York, 32.

Meanwhile, the chances for rain return to eastern Nebraska and eastern Iowa heading into the weekend as a cold front drops into the central Plains, the weather service said.

Forecasters said Thursday in the Omaha area should be sunny with a high around 72. Thursday nights low will be in the low 50s.

Partly sunny skies, a slight chance of showers and a high in the upper 60s are in Fridays forecast. Friday night, there is a 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 1 a.m. The low is expected to be in the low 50s.

Saturday and Saturday night look to be wet in the Omaha area, with the high around 65.

Once again, we have a pretty good chance of rain as we hit the weekend, said Ryan McPike, a KMTV meteorologist. The rain could impact the Nebraska-Ohio State game in Lincoln, he said.

A chance of showers is in the forecast for Sunday morning before clouds give way to sunshine, with a high in the upper 50s.
A pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and seriously injured early Tuesday in South Omaha.

The man was struck around 4:10 a.m. just south of 27th and Q Streets during a rainstorm, Douglas County 911 dispatchers said.

The man was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition, according to rescue squad personnel at the scene.

Later, around 8:30 a.m., another pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and seriously injured at 20th and Harney Streets.

That pedestrian was also taken to Nebraska Medical Center.
SANTA ROSA, Calif.  After battling massive, fast-moving wildfires that have torched more than 100,000 acres of land and killed at least 17 people, with the death count likely to rise, firefighters received a badly needed reprieve Tuesday as winds continued to weaken.

Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director for Cal Fire, said winds slowed to single-digit speeds, down from the 50 to 60 mph gusts reported Monday. The National Weather Service expects temperatures in the North Bay Area, which includes at least three counties affected by the fires, to hover in the low to mid-70s for the rest of the week, with wind gusts of up to 20 mph.

"That's given us a good opportunity to make progress on these fires," Berlant said. "We're hoping to continue to see less wind and cooler temperatures. That combination is a welcome sight compared to what we dealt with just 24 hours ago."

The improving conditions allowed fire crews to slowly  and cautiously  contain the fires Tuesday.

Still, officials warned that the death toll, now at 17, is expected to rise. Nine people have been killed by the fires in Sonoma County, the Sheriff's Office announced late Tuesday morning, and another 200 people were reported missing. Sheriff's officials said they had "located about 45 of those missing people."

But authorities said they are "preparing for further fatalities."

In Napa County, an elderly couple died after they were unable to evacuate from their home, Sheriff John Robertson said at a press conference Tuesday. Charles and Sara Rippey, ages 100 and 98, respectively, had a caretaker, but she was unable to get to the couple in time, Sgt. Mark Foster told the East Bay Times.

Three people were killed in Mendocino County to the north, where four others were seriously injured, Cal Fire said. An additional death was reported in Yuba County near the Sacramento area, well outside of wine country.

Seventeen wildfires have destroyed at least 2,000 homes and commercial buildings, mostly in Northern California's wine country, according to Cal Fire.

About 25,000 people from the county were forced to evacuate and nearly 5,000 are in shelters. Residents who remain at home outside the mandatory evacuation zones are dealing with suffocating smoke and fear that fires could spread in their direction.

At a shelter at the Petaluma Community Center in Sonoma County, 450 people anxious for information had taken refuge, said Drew Halter, a county recreation supervisor who's helping to run the shelter.

"Glued to their phones. Looking to get anything, news of their homes, friends, etc. We received most of the folks initially from the North Santa Rosa area," Halter said. "They really arrived here with whatever they could carry with them."

Officials have also imposed a curfew in areas covering large swaths of the northern and eastern areas of Santa Rosa.

"This is really serious. It's moving fast," Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday at a press conference in which he declared an emergency in seven counties. "The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse. It's not under control by any means. But we're on it in the best way we know how."

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that the president had approved a major disaster declaration, which would give California additional funding to respond to the wildfires. Legislation that will be considered in Congress next week includes $576 million for wildfire suppression, Pence said.

The situation in Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma County, appeared dire. The Tubbs Fire, as the biggest blaze in Sonoma is known, has charred 27,000 acres in the county. The fire sped southwest from Calistoga in Napa Valley, jumped Highway 101 and entered Santa Rosa. Cal Fire officials said the cause is under investigation.

Daniel and Cindy Pomplun, who were caught in the Tubbs Fire, said there had been no warning; just the sight of the flames. As smoke filled their Santa Rose home, "we got lower and lower until we were down to a foot," Daniel said Tuesday, as he and his wife sat in a nearby evacuation center, their face covered in blisters.

The Pompluns said they had jumped into their pool in the middle of the night to avoid the flames. They draped washcloths over their heads as they came up periodically to breath, their backs to the fire that was engulfing their home and the acreage around it.

When the fire passed, they lay shivering on the hot stones of their patio, taking off items of clothing to let the heat from the stones dry them. A Sonoma County deputy sheriff later spotted them as they were walking and drove them to the evacuation center.
Nebraska conservatives say they are puzzled by reports that former presidential adviser Stephen Bannon is targeting U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.

Bannon has promised to back primary challengers to almost every Republican senator who is running for re-election next year, including Fischer.

Even safe incumbents like (Wyoming Sen. John) Barrasso and Deb Fischer, they have to understand something, Bannon said on the Fox News show Hannity. Just voting is not good enough. You have to have a sense of urgency. Nobodys safe. We are coming after all of them and were gonna win.

Bannon is President Donald Trumps former chief strategist who has returned to the helm of the conservative Breitbart News.

Bannon has also been controversial for his particular brand of populism and for his website providing a platform to white supremacists. Most recently he supported Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore over Luther Strange, who had support from Trump and members of the Republican establishment. Moore prevailed and is the Republican nominee to fill the seat left open by Jeff Sessions appointment as U.S. attorney general.

Now, Bannon says hes turning his attention to 2018  and Ted Cruz is the only senator whom he doesnt plan to target.

But in Nebraska, hard-line conservative Trump supporters say theyre pleased with Fischers performance.

My gosh, I mean, shes a conservative, said Doug Kagan of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, so I dont understand why Bannon would want to run anyone against her.

Bannon will support only candidates who agree to two conditions, according to a report in Bloomberg News: They will vote against Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as majority leader, and they will vote to end senators ability to block legislation by filibustering.

Fischer campaign manager Allison Bedell did not respond to questions about where Fischer stands on those two issues.

But in a statement, Bedell said: The senator continues to work hard every single day and remains focused on serving Nebraskans. She and her staff have an excellent working relationship with the White House and the administration. Recall she has already hosted both the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Transportation in Nebraska  at their request  just this year.

Fischer, a first-term senator who served eight years in the Nebraska Legislature, won a surprise victory over two well-known Republicans in the Senate primary five years ago. She sailed to victory over Democratic former Sen. Bob Kerrey in the general election.

Fischer, who ranches near Valentine, received the endorsement of Sarah Palin during that primary, leading some national media outlets to label her as an insurgent Tea Party-style candidate.

But Fischer has hardly been an anti-establishment crusader during her time in office. While pushing conservative approaches, shes also been willing to back bipartisan compromises along the way, such as highway funding and education policy.

And she serves as a member of Senate leadership, both as counsel to McConnell and a member of the Senate GOP whip team  positions she touts as giving her an opportunity to take concerns directly to leadership.

The news website FiveThirtyEight, which tracks political polls and other statistics, says Fischer so far has voted with Trump almost 92 percent of the time.

Like many Republicans, shes faced some backlash from constituents lately, particularly over health care and over her support for Trumps nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos.

Lincoln City Council member Jane Raybould, a Democrat, plans to challenge Fischer in the general election.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said she thinks Bannons words are more than idle threats.

There are enough Republicans that have ambition in our state that would go for it, she said.

But former state Republican Party Chairman J.L. Spray said Fischer has broad support among Republicans in the state.

Ive never really heard anybody on our side be dissatisfied by Sen. Fischer, he said. Itd be hard to run to the right of her, I think.

Political consultant Chris Peterson, a former state Republican Party executive director, said he hadnt heard any names of Republicans who might challenge Fischer.

Its hard to imagine what a primary opponent that would be successful against her looks like, he said. I dont know what their issue would be or that they would rally enough support to be credible against her.

World-Herald staff writer Joseph Morton contributed to this report.
FOTO Soldatii ucraineni au afisat o mitraliera pe care nu ar trebui sa o aiba
NEW YORK  Any day now, President Donald Trump is expected to take steps that have the potential to unravel one of the most important nuclear anti-proliferation deals of the century.

Trump has indicated he will declare that the agreement the Obama administration and five other world powers reached with Iran in 2015 to suspend its nuclear program is not sufficiently strong to benefit U.S. national security interests. Iran should no longer be seen as in compliance with the accord, Trump is expected to say.

His judgment is shared by a number of conservative organizations and members of Congress. Many others, including several of his top Cabinet officials, most European diplomats and the United Nations, disagree with him and say the deal is working.

Q: What impact would refusal to certify have?

A: Refusing to certify is not the same as withdrawing completely from the deal. It would not automatically reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. That is because the requirement to certify Irans compliance with the deal every 90 days is written into U.S. law and is not part of the international agreement.

With two tracks, Trump can do both: continue to attack the deal without officially voiding it.

The refusal to certify kicks the issue to Congress, opening a 60-day period for debate. The official deadline for certification is Sunday, although some White House sources have suggested Trump would act before that.

Q: What would Congress do?

A: When the deal was being negotiated, a majority in Congress opposed it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unprecedented appearance before a joint meeting of Congress to denounce the deal and what he described as the dangers posed by Iran, going around the White House to oppose one of President Barack Obamas top priorities.

Nonetheless, Congress allowed the deal to take effect, approving a compromise that included the certification requirement.

Today, opinion is more divided. Even among some lawmakers who have criticized the deal in the past, such as Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, there is a feeling that sticking with it, however flawed, is far better than blowing it up. The deal at least sustains control over Irans nuclear ambitions, they argue, at a time when tensions with nuclear-armed North Korea are at a fever pitch.

Backers of the deal worry that hard-line opponents could use the 60-day period to snap back into place nuclear-deal economic sanctions on Iran that were removed as part of the agreement.

Others, however, say that refusal to certify (often incorrectly described as decertification) would be the first step in strengthening the agreement and putting greater controls on Tehran.

Q: What did the Iran deal do?

A: In exchange for getting rid of most of its centrifuges, disabling its plutonium-producing heavy water reactor at Arak and agreeing to regular inspections, Iran received considerable sanctions relief: readmittance to the international banking system, permission to trade on the oil market and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in overseas assets.

Q: How do we know the deal is working?

A: We dont, with total certainty.

However, the U.N. watchdog charged with monitoring Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repeatedly said the country is complying with the technical aspects of the deal. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano reiterated that assessment again this week.

Most parties to the deal  Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, as well as the European Union  accept that judgment.

Q: Why does the Trump administration say Iran is in violation?

A: Regardless of its technical compliance with the terms of the agreement, few would disagree that Iran is guilty of other behavior in the region that the U.S. labels as destabilizing, including the testing of ballistic missiles and support for militant groups in several countries.

Those sorts of acts, which dont involve nuclear development, were not covered by the agreement. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has supported sticking with the deal, has said he believes Tehran violates its spirit by continuing to promote destabilizing actions in the region.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., goes further than Tillerson. She has said she believes Iran has continued to secretly move ahead with efforts to develop nuclear capability. She contends that numerous Iranian military sites are hidden from U.N. inspections.

Some Obama-era officials had hoped the nuclear deal would give a boost to so-called pragmatists in Tehran over more hard-line factions. President Hassan Rouhani, who supported the agreement, won easy re-election in May.

But the rhetoric from the Trump administration seems to have unified Irans factions, and there has been no discernible decrease in Iranian support for armed militants in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere.

Q: What do U.S. allies say?

A: European diplomats in Washington and here at the United Nations in New York have been lobbying the administration vigorously to try to save the agreement, warning that U.S. credibility and trustworthiness are also at stake.

Q: How would Iran react if the U.S. reimposed sanctions?

A: Reinstating sanctions, even if the U.S. could to do so without its European, Russian and Chinese partners, would anger Iran and perhaps cause Tehran to quit the deal.

Over the long term, I think the Trump administration would not mind if it could goad Iran into violating terms of the deal, Jon Wolfsthal, a senior nonproliferation official in the Obama administration, said in a recent forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

The U.S. would likely lose much of its leverage with Iran if it snaps the sanctions back in place.

Doing so also might be an unnecessary provocation. Washington can impose sanctions on Iran without using those associated with the nuclear program. For example, in July, Congress approved new economic sanctions on Iran and North Korea (and on Russia, which made Trump reluctant to sign the bill).

Im very concerned they will let it die by a thousand cuts, Wolfsthal said.
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Two people have been arrested in Sri Lanka for suspected money laundering from a Taiwanese bank whose computer system was hacked to enable illicit transactions abroad, police said on Monday.

Police acted after state-owned Bank of Ceylon reported a suspicious transfer into one of its accounts of $1.2 million from Taiwan Far Eastern Bank, following by a withdrawal of some of the money by one of the suspects.

We arrested on a tip-off from the Bank of Ceylon that there had been a suspicious transaction, Shani Abeywardana, director at the police criminal investigations division (CID), told Reuters.

From the investigations and questioning weve found out that this is connected to hacking in Taiwan, Abeywardana said.

Officials from Taiwan Far Eastern Bank were not immediately available for comment.

Focus Taiwan, the English-language news website of Taiwans Central News Agency (CNA), said on Saturday Far Eastern Bank had reported to Taiwans financial watchdog that its computer system had been infected with malware.

Through the planted malware, hackers conducted virtual transactions to move funds totaling nearly $60 million from Far Eastern Bank customers accounts to some foreign destinations such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia and the United States, the bank found on Tuesday, Focus Taiwans website said.

A spelling mistake in an online bank transfer instruction discovered by a Sri Lankan bank helped prevent a nearly $1 billion heist early last year involving the Bangladesh central bank and the New York Federal Reserve.

(Reuters)
Tuesday 10 October 2017 11:34am

Getting caught in fishing nets is a major cause of death for the increasingly endangered New Zealand sea lion, according to new research from the University of Otago, Massey University and the University of Toronto.

Scientists from the three universities have analysed government data of the New Zealand sea lion population and fisheries bycatch to investigate the role commercial fishing has played in the near 50 per cent decline of the species.

Their conclusion, published in the international journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America), is that, despite measures since 2001 to protect New Zealand sea lions from being killed in fishing nets, commercial fishing continues to affect their numbers. The authors believe the current management of sea lion bycatch in the arrow squid fishery around the subantarctic Auckland Islands places the population at risk of extinction, because the New Zealand government assumes fishing is not a major threat to the species.

Lead author and population ecologist Dr Stefan Meyer, an Otago Department of Zoology PhD graduate, says the study presents a major breakthrough in understanding why New Zealand sea lions are declining at their main breeding colonies on the Auckland Islands.

"Several threats, such as disease and fisheries bycatch, have been postulated as causes of the sea-lion decline. However, until this research, studies have been unable to link these threats to the decline.

Associate Professor Bruce Robertson, of Otagos Department of Zoology, says since 2001 sea-lion exclusion devices have been used in the arrow squid fishery to stop them drowning in the trawl nets.

While the observed bycatch has declined, he says unfortunately there is no firm evidence the devices have successfully removed the bycatch threat.

What information is available raises concerns that the devices may be hiding sea-lion deaths by allowing dead sea lions to fall out of the nets at sea or causing injury that reduces life expectancy or reproductive ability.

Dr Meyer adds: We now know that sea-lion exclusion devices have, despite all assumptions, obscured bycatch of New Zealand sea lions and that this factor posed a significant and ongoing impact to the population. Our findings are therefore a game changer in New Zealand sea lion management.

Professor Martin Krkosek, from the University of Toronto, says the findings are unique in global bycatch research.

Given what we have found in this case study, we urge a wider assessment of bycatch exclusion devices used in global trawl fisheries.

In the recently released New Zealand sea lion threat management plan (TMP), published by the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Government committed to halting the species decline within the next five years, aiming for a stable or growing population within the next 20 years.

The current focus of the New Zealand TMP is on reducing pup deaths; fishing impacts are, incorrectly, thought to be only minor.

Associate Professor Louise Chilvers from Massey University and Associate Professor Robertson have been researching New Zealand sea lions for almost 20 years.

They question the downplaying of the role of commercial fishing in the sea-lion decline.

The PNAS study shows that the impact from the squid fishery is likely a key driver of the NZ sea-lion decline, Associate Professor Robertson says.

With fishing threats being ignored in sea-lion management, it is hard to see how the Governments goals to increase the population will be achieved.

We hope that our study will lead to meaningful management. The good news is there are a range of options open to the government to reduce the impact of fishing on the sea-lion population, while still allowing commercial fishing in the New Zealand subantarctic.

For more information, please contact:

Associate Professor Bruce Robertson

Department of Zoology, University of Otago

Email: bruce.robertson@otago.ac.nz

Dr Stefan Meyer

Email: stefanmeyer621@gmail.com
Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. High near 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
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The smell of smoke from the North Bay fires is more than just annoyance, air quality officials said Monday  its a potential health hazard as well.

Air monitors are detecting very elevated levels of fine particulates around the region, said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Those particulates  so tiny you could fit many on the head of a pin  are especially of concern to children, the elderly and anyone with respiratory problems, Roselius said.

They can go into your lungs, bypass your bodys normal filtration system and even into your bloodstream, she said. They can trigger asthma attacks and exacerbate respiratory issues.

Northeast winds that swept through the Bay Area overnight blew the sooty air from the Wine Country all the way down to the South Bay. Residents throughout the nine Bay Area counties woke up to choking fumes and the smell of smoldering wood. People in San Francisco, Contra Costa and Alameda counties reported that their cars and homes were caked with ash.

Particulate levels in the North Bay are very, very high, Roselius said. Were likely to see smoke impacts throughout the area.

John Blanchard

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory for the entire region Monday, largely because wood smoke is a major pollutant that irritates eyes and lungs. Children, the elderly and people with respiratory ailments are particularly vulnerable, said district spokesman Tom Flannigan.

But Flannigan noted that wind conditions changed by Monday afternoon, as a westerly breeze blew in from the coast.

So the dirty air is moving out of the Bay Area and being replaced by clean air from the ocean, Flannigan said.

Nonetheless, he and Roselius warned people to avoid outdoor activities Monday and otherwise limit their exposure to the smoke. People who have air conditioners should use them to recirculate the air, Flannigan said.

Trapper Byrne and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tbyrne@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @trapperbyrne, @rachelswan
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UPDATE: The Mendocino Animal Shelter has reached 100 percent capacity.

As residents flee the North Bay amid several fires, animal shelters nearby are bracing to take in household pets that may be in harm's way.

The Napa County Animal Shelter at 942 Hartle Court is taking in cats, dogs, and other animals. The shelter is seeking volunteers (those interested should call 707-253-4382), but is asking the public to only bring in animals who need emergency help.

"We are only accepting animals that need emergency housing at this time," a Facebook post on the site reads. As of 6:45 p.m., the shelter tells SFGATE that they are close to capacity.

RELATED: Safari West animals remain at risk amid Wine Country wildfires

Additional makeshift shelters for animals have also been set up; one is in a gym at the Napa Valley College, and the other is at CrossWalk Church at 2590 1st Street in Napa. Both have animal supplies onsite.

Now Playing: Santa Rosa's Hilton Sonoma hotel and Kmart store were among 1,500 structures burned in North Bay fires Monday. Video: Kurtis Alexander Video: Kurtis Alexander

Further to the south, Marin Humane at 171 Bel Marin Keys Boulevard in Novato is preparing to house as many pets as possible  including large animals, if needed  for those able to make their way down. As staffers make room for as many pets as possible, the first rescues have begun to arrive. The shelter expects to receive many more.

"We have a capacity for dogs, cats, rabbits, and livestock if needed," shelter spokesperson Lisa Bloch tells SFGATE. "People can bring in pretty much any kind of animal. We're all hands on deck here."

On Monday afternoon, San Francisco Animal Care and Control helped to relocate cats from Marine Humane to make more room for pets being evacuated from the North Bay. Some of those spots were filled shortly thereafter by 100 cats and kittens who came from the evacuated Pets Lifeline in Sonoma.

The Petaluma Animal Shelter was similarly assisted by the Humane County Silicon Valley late Monday afternoon when staffers at the South Bay shelter picked up dogs  some of which had come from places recently ravaged by hurricanes  to make room at the Petaluma space for more rescued animals.

RELATED: Sonoma County farmers and ranchers flee from North Bay fires

Elsewhere around the area, shelters including Forgotten Felines in Santa Rosa have been evacuated, with administrators sending pets to safety in foster homes.

"Our facility is in the fire zone," a post on the rescue center's Facebook page reads. "Fortunately the cats who were staying over for medical reasons have been safely evacuated and moved into a foster home."

The CHP is patrolling the North Bay, with aircrews rescuing animals in addition to people stranded. So far, at least five dogs and one cat have been saved.

SFGATE has reached out to the Napa County Animal Shelter and Sonoma County Animal Services.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


Social media sites exploded overnight as Bay Area residents  some located more than a hundred miles from the rapidly spreading Wine County fires  called emergency responders to report the smell of smoke while those closer to the destruction shared photos of the spreading disaster.

A total of 14 fires were reported burning in the North Bay early Monday afternoon.

As of 11:30 a.m., Cal Fire reported that the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa had burned at least 25,000 acres and the Atlas Fire in Napa County also 25,000 acres. Two smaller blazes also had done significant damage: the Nuns Fire in Sonoma County with 5,000 acres charred and the Patrick Fire in Napa County with 3,000 acres burned. In Mendocino County, the Redwood Fire scorched more than 10,000 acres. No containment was reported for any of the blazes.

The Atlas Fire was near Atlas Peak Road in an area, northeast of the city of Napa and the Silverado Trail. Some were evacuating near a second blaze in Calistoga.

A number of evacuations were also underway in Sonoma County where, just after 2 a.m., Santa Rosa police reported a fire had jumped Highway 101 on the north side of the city and "ignited structures" on Hopper Avenue. Evacuations were also ordered for residents and businesses in the Skyfarm, Fountaingrove Parkway and Montecito Heights areas, according to the police department. Those evacuees were directed to the Finley Community Center on West College Avenue and Stony Point Road, according to The Chronicle.

RELATED NEWS: Get the latest on evacuations here.

For residents in the lower Bay Area counties, air quality deteriorated so quickly that dispatch reported several calls to 911 in San Mateo County due to "drift smoke from Sonoma County." Others simply took to social media to to express their concerns, causing #napafire  and later #sonomafire, #tubbsfire and #atlasfire  to jump to the top of Twitter's trending San Francisco topics.

Police requested that people do not call 911 to report smoke.
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As huge fires continued to burn in the epicenter of the U.S. wine industry on Monday, Napa and Sonoma vintners braced to confront the long-term consequences of a disastrous event that could affect the supply of grapes, the quality of the regions wines and the local tourism industries for years to come.

Of the hundreds of wineries in the region, nearly all were forced to close Monday, and a handful of wineries were burned to the ground, such as Signorello Estate in Napa and Paradise Ridge in Santa Rosa. Others, including Continuum Estate on Napas Pritchard Hill and Cliff Lede Vineyards in Yountville, remained untouched, but were being vigilantly watched as fires surged closer and closer.

Some historic properties were lost. White Rock Vineyards, whose Soda Canyon area winery was first established in 1870, was completely gone, a staff member confirmed. And some historic vineyards, especially in Sonoma Valley  irreplaceable old vines dating back to the 19th century, in some cases  were feared singed.

Other winery owners were still trying to determine the extent of the damage to their vineyards, their homes and their businesses, many of which have burned and more of which have been evacuated. And many are preparing for the worst.

Joe Nielsen drove over to Donelan Family Wines, where he is the winemaker, around 7:30 Monday morning. He saw the industrial park at Coffey Lane in flames, blocked off by fire trucks. By 10 a.m., it was clear that his winery had been spared, though homes just across the street were singed.

It looks like a bombing run, said Nielsen, who had evacuated his own home in Santa Rosa around 2 a.m. Just chimneys and burnt-out cars and cooked trees.

When he entered the winery, he found it full of smoke, and sealed all of his tanks  still full of fermenting grape juice  in the hope that carbon dioxide might push out any smoke that might taint the nascent wines.

Even though the fate of the wines looks bleak, Donelan was luckier than many wineries, in that its building did not burn.

Noah Berger/Special to The Chronicle

Other areas were not so fortunate. Atlas Peak and its surrounds in southeastern Napa Valley were particularly hard-hit. Signorello Estate, on Silverado Trail, was completely destroyed; buildings at nearby Stags Leap Winery burned, too. California Highway Patrol airlifted about 30 workers late Sunday off of Atlas Peak, where roads had become impassable, according to David Shew, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

On Monday evening, roads connecting to Atlas Peak remained closed, and many vineyard owners still had no idea what had happened to their properties there.

Meanwhile, fires burning around Sonoma Valley appeared to have consumed Nicholson Ranch, a winery just off Sonomas Highway 12. Jake Terrell, vineyard manager for St. Francis Winery, said its Behler Vineyard had fires burning on all three sides but was itself safe. At Sonoma Valleys Scribe Winery, Cal Fire was successfully holding off nearby flames, said owner Andrew Mariani.

Santa Rosa was another hot spot, extending from areas downtown  where there are many industrial wineries, like Donelan  through the Mark West Springs area, toward Calistoga. But many vintners had evacuated the area and had not yet returned to survey the damage.

How to Help and Get Help The Red Cross is organizing relief efforts in the North Bay. Evacuees trying to connect with family and friends should check the organization's Safe and Well website: www.redcross.org/safeandwell Community volunteers who want to help in relief efforts can sign up with the Red Cross: http://tinyurl.com/RedCrossVolOctober2017 Donations to help those affected by California wildfires and other disasters can be made at www.redcross.org. People can also call (800) 733-2767 or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. People needing information about a missing person in Sonoma County can call the county Fire and Emergency Services Department at (707) 565-3856. For tips on how to prepare for a wildfire: www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/wildfire See More Collapse

In Napa and Sonoma counties, autumn is the busiest time of year for the regions hospitality industries, when harvest is under way. Most wineries are close to completing this years harvest, and most of the grapes are in tanks or barrels.

The Napa Valley wine industry, which employs 46,000 people in the county, last year saw 3.5 million visitors, generating $80.3 million in tax revenues, according to research firm Destination Analysts. In Sonoma County, according to the county tourism board, annual tourism spending is around $1.93 billion.

However, the immediate concern is for the thousands of people working in vineyards at this time of year.

We were set to pick at Moon Mountain vineyard, and instead spent it chainsawing some trees out of driveways for friends, said Eppie Ordaz of Ordaz Family Wines, based in Kenwood. Pretty much the entire eastern mountain range from Santa Rosa to Glen Ellen looked like it was burning.

In Santa Rosas Bennett Valley, a night pick was already in progress at Carlisle Winery when evacuation orders came through. The workers harvested grapes in smoke until around 5 a.m.

They got it mostly picked, and then had to evacuate, said Carlisle owner Mike Officer.

Hall Winery is one of the many businesses with a vineyard on Atlas Peak. Like others, Hall is still wondering about potential impacts, according to Jamie Chandler, the director of marketing for Hall Winery. Similarly, Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars had been told that Mead Ranch, also on Atlas Peak, has burned, but is still awaiting confirmation.

Benovia winemaker Mike Sullivan said the Santa Rosa winery was fine  but his home, near Santa Rosas Wikiup area, was not.

I am sure my home is gone, he said. He evacuated just after 1 a.m. Monday to the winery, where there is a generator.

Dan Kosta, founder of Kosta Browne Winery in Sebastopol, had evacuated with his three children around midnight from their home off Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa.

That whole area is just gone, he said. It was getting to be too windy and smoky there, and there were ashes  you couldnt breathe when we left. Kosta and his children first went to John Ash & Co., the restaurant where he once worked, but when the fire began approaching there, too, they drove north to Healdsburg.

In terms of long-term effects surrounding major fires, the usual winemaker concern is smoke taint  whereby lingering ambient smoke can imbue grapes with a strong flavor and permanently impart itself into the wine. But vineyards burning entirely to the ground  that is far more perilous altogether.

Noah Berger/Special to The Chronicle

Depending on how widespread the destruction of vines is across Wine Country, it could mark a severe shortage of grapes for years to come. When vineyards are planted, it can take three to five years for them to bear fruit. Additionally, most Napa and Sonoma wineries hold at least three vintages of wine in barrel at any given time, not to mention the large inventory of bottles that many wineries hold back for years.

Elsewhere in the hospitality industry, the historic Fountaingrove Inn in Santa Rosa confirmed on Facebook that guests were evacuated and the hotel was destroyed.

Willis Wine Bar, a critically acclaimed restaurant at 4404 Old Redwood Hwy., burned down early Monday morning as well. Owner Terri Stark confirmed the news.

Everyone was gone except one of the managers, who tried to hose it down and turn the gas off, Stark said. But eventually he had to leave.

Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Kauffman contributed to this report.

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley
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SAN JOSE, Calif.  Those first months after leaving college can bewilder many graduates, but some apps may help to ease the transition from the sheltered halls of academia to the harsh realities of the business world.

Landing a job, handling finances, creating a budget, finding a new home, socializing with other young people, or identifying deals on food, clothing and other goods can be pretty overwhelming  even if they are dealt with one at a time.

It can be even tougher for those who have to juggle a lot of these all at once. But the apps  some from startups, some from big-name companies  can help automate and organize many processes for new graduates.

San Francisco-based Handshake is tackling one of these challenges through an app it's developed to assist graduates in hunting for jobs.

Garrett Lord, Handshake's co-founder, saw how tough it was for employment recruiters to get to his college, Michigan Technological University in Houghton, a town in upper Michigan. A few miles from Lord's alma mater, one can spot an unofficial road sign that proclaims: "End of Earth, 2 miles" and "Houghton 4 miles." So Lord was well aware of the difficulties in getting recruiters to visit the remote college to dangle offers before him and his fellow students.

"We created Handshake to democratize the process and help students to get into a career and find a job," Lord said.

Handshake aims to help students land jobs regardless of where they reside or go to school. The company vets employers to allow them to post job openings to the app and to target certain majors.

"We are bringing a diversity of employment opportunities to students," Lord said.

Students educated on the West Coast who have an interest in the oil and gas industries might be less likely to see recruiters representing those industries. Students living in Gulf Coast states  or in Houghton, Mich., like Lord  might be unlikely to encounter recruiters from Silicon Valley's tech sector. But Handshake aims to banish the days when college graduates or students pinned hopes on whether recruiters might grace their campuses with an appearance.

"With our app, students can tell us what locations they would like to live and work in, what industries are you passionate about, what student organizations are you a member of," Lord said. "We will then curate based on background, major, minor, and so forth. With Handshake, it's a personalized, friendly, career-seeking journey."

Handshake is being used by more than 8 million students, up from 3 million a year ago; 450 universities are on the app, up from 160 a year ago. About 160,000 employers post jobs on the app, up from 60,000 a year ago, according to Lord.

Handshake is available on all desktop platforms and Apple's App Store, and the company is working on a version for the Android phone platform.

The top job app on mobile devices is provided by Texas-based Indeed.com, which is available for both Android and iPhone users. And, like Handshake and other apps for college grads, Indeed's offering is geared towards the go-go nature of college graduates and other phone aficionados.

"Our mobile app allows you to apply with just one click, no matter where you are," said Raj Mukherjee, a senior vice president of product at Indeed. "Over half of the job searches on our site happen on mobile."

Indeed's app has been downloaded more than 100 million times, and people can upload their stored resume to apply for jobs on their phone.

One of the biggest challenges for new graduates is getting their finances under control, and that's where Mint, offered by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Intuit, can help.

"Graduates go through a major life transition after college, and really the idea of Mint is to help people stay on top of their finances," said Kimmie Greene, a spokeswoman for Intuit. "It's an all-in-one-place tool, and we think that college graduates can really benefit from Mint."

Intuit described Mint as an app publicized largely by word of mouth, in many cases among college graduates.

"About 70 percent of the people who use Mint are under 35 years of age," Greene said.

With the Mint app, people can receive reminders about paying bills, craft a budget, scrutinize their credit scores and track expenses. For those who are serious about creating a budget and sticking to it, Mint provides an array of tools.
BLOOMINGTON  Aldermen plan to vote in two weeks on an ordinance outlining what expenses, such as meals and travel, the city will pay for and how the city will reimburse its elected officials for those costs.

"It seemed to me that probably our policies needed to be revisited and perhaps specifically for us as elected officials we might be willing to hold ourselves to a higher standard related to that," said Ward 2 Alderman David Sage, who had asked for discussion of the proposal that took place during a nonvoting work session Monday night.

"This is reflective of the change of philosophy from direct purchase practices to a reimbursement model on expenses," said city attorney Jeff Jurgens, who drafted the proposed ordinance.

Renner said he uses his p-card primarily for lunches with government officials, potential business investors and members of city boards and commissions.

Those meals still would be covered by the city, but under a reimbursement format.

Under the proposed ordinance, meals would be approved for reimbursement if the elected officials' guests fall into one of these categories: representatives of a government agency to discuss a policy position of the city; a developer, business owner or representative of a community organization to discuss a city initiative or proposal involving the city. Meals during a conference, seminar or meeting outside of Bloomington-Normal also would be covered.

The proposed ordinance would not prohibit the city administration from putting certain charges for elected officials on a city p-card, said Jurgens. For example, the city would be able to book airline tickets or hotel rooms or pay conference registration fees, especially if the upfront cost would be high because "I don't know that you would expect elected officials with the nominal salaries ... to have to put a $2,000, $3,000 or $4,000 charge on their personal credit cards," he said.

The ordinance also would address food the city provides for the City Council at some of its meetings.

"It's not uncommon if the City Council is starting a meeting at 5 (p.m.) right after a lot of (the aldermen) get off of work to have some food available to eat as (they) get ready for what could be a four-hour-plus meeting," said Jurgens. "But a lot of the desire that I heard from individual council members was maybe this was a practice that should be eliminated."

Renner, at his first City Council meeting since returning from medical leave, said little during the discussion.

"I support what's happening and I think that's important," said Renner after the meeting. "It's not going to stop what I have to do as mayor. I think it's inconsistent with what other cities are doing, but if that's what the council decides, that's fine."

A controversy surrounding the use of a city state member's p-card to purchase airline tickets for Renner and his partner for an August trip to a sister-city anniversary event in Asahikawa, Japan, triggered an Illinois State Police investigation of the mayor's office.
PEORIA  Lawyers for 12,000 mentally ill inmates and the Department of Corrections are headed back to federal court to determine if the state has violated the terms of a settlement requiring a massive overhaul of the state's mental health system.

The motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois alleges that 18 months after the landmark agreement was reached, the state has failed to meet the requirements of medication management, timely evaluations, and minimum standards of care for those in crisis and segregation.

Instead, inmates "continue to be devastated by the lack of meaningful mental health treatment," according to the motion.

The motion is the latest round in a 2008 lawsuit filed by inmate Ashoor Rasho that evolved into a class action. The state and lawyers for inmates reached an agreement in 2016 calling for the establishment of a mental health system that DOC officials have admitted did not exist before the settlement was approved by Judge Michael Mihm.

Amanda Antholt, senior attorney for Equip for Equality, one of four firms handling the inmates' lawsuit, said, "Our clients are suffering and are at risk of serious harm on a daily basis. IDOC has failed to adequately address the violations identified by the monitor, so we need the court to step in."

In an Oct. 1 letter to IDOC from Dr. Pablo Stewart, quoted in the court filing, the federally appointed monitor declared the psychiatric situation to be "in a state of emergency."

The backlog of inmates waiting for a psychiatric appointment grew from 3,270 in May to 3,552 recently, according to Stewart's letter.

The 12,052 inmates on the DOC mental health caseload represent about 25 percent of the state's 44,817 inmates currently housed in the prison system. About 4,900 have been designated seriously mentally ill.

A disconnect between timely psychiatric evaluations and prescriptions for psychotropic medications has put some inmates at risk, according to the monitor. Segregation is still used as a remedy for inmates in crisis in a place that lacks even minimal care, Stewart told the federal court.

In previous comments, the DOC maintained it is working to address deficiencies outlined in the monitor's report. Serious challenges with hiring and retaining staff have made compliance difficult, the state has argued. One area of progress recognized by both sides is the opening of an inpatient treatment facility in Elgin  the first of its kind for inmates  and a residential treatment center in Joliet.

In a statement announcing the court filing, Alan Mills, executive director of Uptown People's Law Center, described what he termed "depraved indifference to people's well-being" witnessed during visits over the past year with hundreds of inmates in 10 prisons.

"One very seriously mentally ill prisoner recently ate glass and cut herself. As punishment for her act of self-harm, she was left in her cell with the untreated wounds," according to Mills.

A hearing date has not been set on the inmates' motion.
Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "Tim Cook's meeting with French President Macron was relatively brief and to the Point about future Taxes." We noted in that report that France's President Macron was leading a group of countries -- including Germany, Italy and Spain -- that are seeking a way to plug the European loopholes that allow some companies to minimize taxes by funneling profits to jurisdictions such as Ireland or the Netherlands. Today, it looks like South Korea now wants in the tax grab as well.

In a new Korea Times report titled "Cisco, Apple may shudder at regulatory change," we learn that "Cisco Korea may have to share its key financial information starting next year as the government aggressively pushes to tackle the lack of transparency and tax-dodging practices by foreign enterprises, according to industry sources, Tuesday.

"Though there still is much to be seen about the application of the revision, it can provide authorities the legal grounds to track important financial actions of limited liability companies (LLCs). It would prompt foreign firms such as Cisco Korea to monitor possible malicious offshore tax evasion and practices of base erosion and profit shifting," an industry source said.

Under the current law, LLCs have been considered private companies and thus have been exempt from external audits. A commercial law revision in 2011 even lifted regulations on their number of investors and share assignments, giving them extra freedom.

To tap into such unchecked freedom, Cisco Korea changed itself to an LLC in 2013 like many other Korean subsidiaries of foreign enterprises such as Apple. Apple Korea had become an LLC earlier in 2009. Cisco Korea, which is 100 percent owned by its U.S. headquarters, was founded in 1994.

'Many local subsidiaries of global enterprises have received external audits from accounting firms, following directions from headquarters,' the source said. 'The point will be that if the law can tackle profit shifting practices of Korean subsidiaries of global firms and force them to release actual sales and profit information they generate here, it will be difficult to force their global headquarters to bend their rules to take advantage of Korea.'"

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
(6-2-03; revised slightly: 1-20-04 and 10-10-17)

***

What does medieval corruption have to do with the abolition of five of seven sacraments, the move to sola Scriptura as the rule of faith over against an authoritative Church and councils and apostolic succession and episcopacy (and including a papacy as well), or the ending of the sacrifice of the mass, or the move away from transubstantiation, or the ditching of purgatory or the end of baptismal regeneration among many Protestants and even infant baptism in some camps? What does it have to do with the cessation of the notion of the communion of saints and intercession of saints, and much of Mariology, and forensic, imputed justification vs. infused?

What does it have to do with the removal of seven previously accepted books from the Bible or the Lutheran and Calvinist drowning of Anabaptist heretics, or the mutual anathematizing of Luther and Zwingli over the issue of the Eucharist? What does the corruption of the medieval Church have to do with Luthers adoption of double predestination and utter rejection of free will, or Calvinist iconoclasm or the suggestion from the highest Protestant quarters to Philip of Hesse that he lie about his bigamy? Or the widespread early Protestant antipathy to philosophy and science and art?

Etc., etc., etc.

To act as if the Protestant Revolt would not have happened but for medieval problems of schism and corruption is to ignore a host of other factors, as if they were non-contributors. Its historically ludicrous. No Catholic who knows history at all will deny that corruption of certain popes and bishops was a major factor, but to claim that some reforms of the papacy and/or the Church would have prevented the so-called Reformation is a position which is well-nigh unprovable, given all that occurred during that turbulent time, and how many traditional Christian doctrines were ditched by the Protestants. There was far more going on here than merely the usual intrigues of church politics and power plays.

What does getting rid of the papacy and episcopacy and apostolic succession have to do with a corrupt papacy? In other words, how does corruption lead to a conclusion of utter worthlessness, such that something can be discarded? Something is either intrinsically bad and evil or unbiblical or it is not. If it were intrinsically a bad thing, then it wouldnt take corruption to want to get rid of it (as an evil thing is already corrupt anyway). If it is not intrinsically bad, then the proper response is to reform it and get it back to where it should be, not banish and abolish it. Either way, it makes no sense. So why, then, was the papacy abolished in Protestantism? This is nonsensical, incoherent reasoning.

The Reformation was not that (it is a misnomer), but rather, a Revolution insofar as it departed from passed-down Christian Tradition, as I am demonstrating in a roundabout way. It was a Christian movement, but not a reformation of some so-called pure early church, because such an animal never existed (i.e., the early church did not remotely resemble any brand of Protestantism, which claimed to merely be restoring it  the literal meaning of Reformation). One cant re-form something which never existed in any form.

The Catholic has as much right to call what happened a Revolt as the Protestant has to call it a Reformation. I dont choose terms of historical epochs based on partisan concerns. I would argue that Revolt is much more neutral, whereas Reformation presupposes in its very use and literal meaning a Protestant outlook. We deny that what Protestantism brought the world was a return to the early Church, so how can we use the term? It has become a standard term just as Enlightenment has, but note how the latter is also thoroughly biased. Protestants and Catholics can agree that what happened in the 18th century was no enlightenment  a big light that went on in culture because Christian tenets were being rejected and the goddess of reason put in their place.

Many things could have been different if we had acted against various corruptions sooner. No one disputes that. Of course, I dont place the onus nearly as highly on papal and Church corruption (sins and sinners in the high ranks). I see infinitely more tyranny in Luther and his princes or stuff like the destruction of cathedrals and Christian art (due to iconoclasm), or the massacres of Henry VIII and wholesale theft of the monasteries in England. Few scholars will underestimate or dismiss those things, but plenty will assert that the Inquisition has been greatly exaggerated and distorted.

I agree with Karl Adams view about medieval Catholic corruption. The following is from the first draft of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism, written in 1991:

Catholics today (more so than formerly) freely admit that the Church in Luthers time sorely needed reforming. The eminent German Catholic theologian Karl Adam, in his book The Roots of the Reformation (translated by Cecily Hastings, New York: Sheed & Ward, 1951 [portion of One and Holy, 1948] ), devotes nearly a third of its space to weakness in the Church. He states that the Renaissance Popes seem to have carried out in their own lives that cult of idolatrous humanism, demonic ambition and unrestrained sensuality (p. 14). He quotes the words of Pope Adrian VI (1522-23), who in turn cited St. Bernard: Vice has grown so much a matter of course that those who are stained with it are no longer aware of the stink of sin (p. 20). He is quite frank and descriptive of other abuses: The majority of this clerical proletariat had neither the intellectual nor the moral capacity to so much as guess the profundity of the questions raised by Luther . . . In this waste of clerical corruption it was impossible for the Spirit of our Lord to penetrate into the people. . . There was no sacramental impulse towards an interiorizing and deepening of religion. So the attention of the faithful was directed towards externals . . . This hideous simoniacal abuse of indulgences corrupted true piety . . . indulgences were perverted to a blasphemous haggling with God. Night fell on the German Church . . . (pp. 22-26) He lamented the loss of the Luther that might have been: Had Martin Luther then arisen with his marvelous gifts of mind and heart, his warm penetration of the essence of Christianity, his passionate defiance or all unholiness and ungodliness, the elemental fury of his religious experience, his surging, soul-shattering power of speech, and not least that heroism in the face of death . . .- had he brought all these magnificent qualities to the removal of the abuses of the time . . . had he remained a faithful member of his Church, humble and simple, sincere and pure, then indeed we should today be his grateful debters. He would be forever our great Reformer . . . comparable to Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi. He would have been the greatest saint of the German people . . .But  and here lies the tragedy of the Reformation . . .- he let the warring spirits drive him to overthrow not merely the abuses in the Church, but the Church Herself . . . what St. Augustine calls the greatest sin . . . he set up altar against altar and tore in pieces the one Body of Christ. (pp. 27-28) Adam then gives his opinion of the origin of Luthers revolt: The longer the strife continued . . . the confusion in his eyes between the abuses in the Church and the essence of the Church increased; his belief in himself and his mission deepened . . . The abuses . . . certainly unleashed Luther upon the path of revolution, and justified him in the eyes of the masses and in his own judgment. But they were not the actual ground, the decisive reason for Luthers falling away from the doctrine of the Church . . .: [Luther]: I would have little against the Papists if they taught true doctrine. Their evil life would do no great harm. It was not ecclesiastical abuses that made him the opponent of the Catholic Church, but the conviction that she was teaching falsely. And this conviction dates from long before the fatal 17th October, 1517. (pp. 34-35)

The Protestant still cannot, however, adequately account for why so many doctrines changed, if in fact, the impulse for reformation had primarily to do with abuses-in-practice. All the corruption did not change Catholic dogma in any appreciable way, whereas the Protestant Revolt did; therefore it is reasonable to contend that it must contain some tradition-rejecting or novelty-creating element not present in the earlier forces and movements of the medieval era. Some of us opine that this is the presence (to whatever degree  that itself can be argued) of heretical theology and a schismatic spirit.

Protestant Church historian Owen Chadwick, in his work, The Reformation (Pelican History of the Church, Volume 3, London: Penguin Books, revised version of 1972), states that The feeling, diffused through Europe, that the Church must be reformed was as diversified as possible (p. 12). He also minimizes the doctrinal aspects of the revolt:

When churchmen spoke of reformation, they were almost always thinking of administrative, legal, or moral reformation; hardly ever of doctrinal reformation. They did not suppose the Popes doctrine to be erroneous. They supposed the legal system and the bureaucracy to breed inefficiency, graft, injustice, worldliness, and immorality . . . The first question, then, in the public mind was not the question: Is the teaching of the Catholic Church true? That teaching was believed to be unaltered through the long centuries of the past, unalterable into the future to eternity. (pp. 13-14)

A man like Erasmus would be a perfect example of this sort of person. Why, then, the massive doctrinal changes of the so-called reformers?  especially of the radical reformers like the Anabaptists? From whence did they derive, if doctrine was not the issue in the public mind? What accounts for the sea-change in Luthers views, if not his personal theological beliefs and opinions on issues such as the primacy of conscience over against councils and all tradition if needs be, and sola Scriptura?

What does Chadwick say about what caused this essential change from moral reform to doctrinal upheaval? He hints at a position somewhat like mine, in a sociological sense: Widespread, popular, and unsatisfied demands for reform are usually, in the end, revolutionary (p. 20). He then offers his own thesis:

. . . what was it that made the call to reformation more potent and more revolutionary in the early sixteenth century than a hundred years before? Was it simply that the abuses were worse? That corruption so rotted the carcass that the hollow body collapsed in the moment it was pushed? The evidence upon this point, though hard to judge, suggests not . . .We must therefore seek other explanations than the simple theory that the Church was too bad to continue, and consider two special circumstances: the increased control of kings over their kingdoms, and the improved education of the intelligent minds of the western world. (pp. 22, 24)

Chadwick thus opts for political power and education as primary causes. The papacy is not even included. This still does not account for doctrinal revolution. Preserved Smith, a secularist historian, in his Reformation in Europe (New York: Collier Books, 1962, from the 1920 original), observes in a section on Causes of the Reformation:

In the eyes of the early Protestants the Reformation was a return to primitive Christianity and its principal cause was the corruption of the church. That there was great depravity in the church as elsewhere cannot be doubted, but there are several reasons for thinking that it could not have been an important cause for the loss of so many of her sons. In the first place, there is no good ground for believing that the moral condition of the priesthood was worse in 1500 than it had been for a long time; indeed, there is good evidence to the contrary, that things were tending to improve, if not at Rome yet in many parts of Christendom. If objectionable practices of the priests had been a sufficient cause for the secession of whole nations, the Reformation would have come long before it actually did. Again, there is good reason to doubt that the mere abuse of an institution has ever led to its complete overthrow; as long as the institution is regarded as necessary, it is rather mended than ended. (p. 27)

Smith then gives something approaching his general thesis:

The Reformation, like most other revolutions, came not at the lowest ebb of abuse, but at a time when the tide had already begun to run, and to run strongly, in the direction of improvement . . . Had the forces already at work within the church been allowed to operate, probably much of the moral reform desired by the best Catholics would have been accomplished quietly without the violent rending of Christian unity that actually took place. But the fact is, that such reforms never would or could have satisfied the spirit of the age. Men were not only shocked by the abuses in the church, but they had outgrown some of her ideals . . . in certain respects they repudiated, not the abuse but the very principle on which the church acted. (pp. 31-32)

Smith thus arrives at doctrinal causes of the revolution (a factor I emphasize). He goes on to mention four areas that were repudiated: 1) sacramentalism / sacerdotalism, 2) ascetic other-worldliness, 3) the cultus of the saints, and 4) the temporal power of the popes. At least he mentions the papacy as one factor (though even then only the aspect of temporal power). And he was no Catholic.

Joseph Lortz is a Catholic historian who is widely regarded as a fair, ecumenical historian by Protestants. I have a 1955 essay of his, entitled, Why Did the Reformation Happen?, included in editor Lewis W. Spitzs work, The Reformation: Basic Interpretations (Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath & Co., 2nd ed., 1972, pp. 119-138). He, too, opts for multiple causation:

. . . the Reformation arose out of the dissolution of the basic medieval principles. That appears to be banal. Correctly developed, however, this sentence shows the whole enormous abundance of elements which one can appeal to as causes of the Reformation. (p. 121)

Lortz allows an important place for the issue of the papacy:

. . . an existence free of the pope seemed to them no longer impossible . . . Without the centuries-long preparation through the pre-reformation the Reformation could not have come . . . Out of the multiplicity of events we shall select three great complexes . . . 1. First of all, the medieval unity . . . this unity was already greatly weakened, its destruction decisively prepared-for . . .For the development of the church the Western schism means an unheard of, and almost universal uncertainty . . . It was an experience of the whole West, an experience that could no longer disappear from the Western consciousness and actually for a century did no longer disappear. The importance for the effect of the Reformation doctrines is clear without further comment. (pp. 122-124)

Lortzs second factor is a most comprehensive dissatisfaction with conditions in the church (p. 124). This is the area of moral reform, on which everyone agrees. Then he dares to assert that doctrine and theology, too, play an important role:

3. Finally, the most important thing. The Reformation is above all the disavowal of Catholic dogmas . . . Up until now this has been seen all too little. And yet it describes the cause which first made the Reformation possible. The foundation of the Reformation from which it rose up and a large part of the Reformation movement itself was formed not merely of religious, but of decisive theological factors . . . (p. 125)

Lortz makes reference to the Ockamism of the fifteenth century which included in its content as in its way of thinking propositions which, if consistently followed out, had to lead away from church doctrine (p. 126). He continues:

Ockhamism is no longer fully Catholic. The missal knows nothing of an arbitrary God . . . Ockhamism teaches an arbitrary God instead of the father-God; a God who without an objective criterion destines the one for heaven, the other for hell, who only by chance has named the one good and the other bad, who likewise could have commanded what today is forbidden as evil or could have forbidden what today is praised as good.. . . Ockhamism, which rejected the authority of Aristotle, is finally characterized by the tearing apart of nature and the supernatural, almost to the point of the proposition of the double truth. That is, it acknowledges the conception that something can be true theologically (because it is in revelation) and at the same time can be refuted philosophically or can be demonstrated to be impossible. . . . This way of thinking from the superficial nominalistic was not adequate for supernatural realities. Its individualizing and atomizing thinking, which tore apart the elements of tension and made them too sharply one-sided, is in addition not capable of conceiving of the sacramental organism Church and its sacramental life and rendering them theologically understandable. Church is only the sum of individual believers . . . The theological consequences of this in the direction of a radical ecclesiastical democracy and of the destruction of the correctly understood intermediary role of the priest are completely incalculable  if they are followed through consistently. These consequences became evident in Luther in many ways . . . His conflict with Eck reveals the tragedy of the situation: both are thinking in nominalistic terms. Luther proceeds from this way of thinking with due consistency to the denial of Catholic dogmas. Eck, proceeding from the same nominalistic thought, is unable to illuminate theologically even in a measure satisfactorily the Catholic theses to which he firmly holds . . . Let us now summarize: at the end of the Middle Ages a dangerous lack of theological clarity existed. It was of such a kind that it was relatively easy for a theologically independent person to become a heretic . . . (pp. 126-128)

Lortzs explanation of the influence of nominalism gives, I think, a plausible connection between the currents of late medieval theological upheaval and (from the Catholic perspective) the heterodoxy, heresies, and rebellious elements in Luthers thoughts. If Protestants can come up with a better alternative explanation for the origin of all the doctrinal change and novelty introduced by Protestantism, Im all ears.

Dogmas and corruptions in practice are two different things. If indeed the papacy can be defended from the Bible alone, what effect does corruption fourteen centuries later have to do with that case? Even during the life of St. Paul, he was railing against the corrupt churches, yet still calling them (most interestingly) churches. Jesus did the same at the beginning of the book of Revelation. Thus, such a thing as a papacy can exist and be defended from Scripture and theological reasoning, whether it is corrupt or not. Corruption does not render something non-existent.

St. Catherine of Siena railed against corrupt popes every bit as much as Luther did. But she did it with intelligence, sanctity, and lack of foul-mouthed vulgarities and widely-distributed woodcuts showing, e.g., the pope being expelled from the anus of a goat, etc. St. Catherine, after all, still believed in the papacy, whereas Luther had abandoned it because the Church was so brash and closed-minded as to refuse to adopt his heresies.

How about if I rush up to a Calvinist school (or Westminster Seminary or some place like that) and demand that they deny TULIP and if not, to show me from Scripture and plain reason how they can possibly defend their clearly false beliefs? Failing that, I will stomp my foot, cry here I stand and be carried out by the staunch defenders of Established Orthodoxy, perhaps fleeing to a present-day Wartburg Castle, where I can come up with ideas for vulgar woodcuts of Calvin or R.C. Sproul being eliminated from the rear end of a Grizzly Bear. Im sure I would be wildly popular in Calvinist circles, wouldnt I . . . ?

Corruption existed, and Protestant theology was in many respects a revolt against Catholic theology. One can simultaneously analyze the 16th century events from historical and theological perspectives. The practice and abuse of indulgences is often cited as a major cause of the Revolt. It was certainly a factor, but it still remains the case that elements of Luthers soteriology were heretical as early as 1515 and his Commentary on Romans (1515-1516). According to Luther biographer Hartmann Grisar:

The Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans really represents the first taking shape of Luthers heretical views. From the very beginning he expresses some of them without concealment . . .Luther endeavours to show how imputed righteousness is the principle doctrine advocated by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans . . . Luther cannot assure us sufficiently often that man is nothing but sin, and sins in everything. His reason is that concupiscence remains in man after baptism . . . Original sin is not removed by baptism, remains obdurate to all subsequent justifying grace, and, until death, can, at the utmost, only be diminished. He says expressly, quite against the Churchs teaching, that original sin is only covered over in baptism, and he tries to support this by a misunderstood text from Augustine and by misrepresenting Scholasticism. Augustine teaches with clearness and precision in many passages that original sin is blotted out by baptism and entirely remitted; Luther, however, quotes him to the opposite effect . . . [Luther]: As we cannot keep Gods commandments we are really always in unrighteousness, and therefore there remains nothing for us but to fear and to beg for remission of the unrighteousness, or rather that it may not be imputed, for it is never altogether remitted, but remains and requires the act of non-imputation . . . He says that the philosophers of olden time had to be damned, although they may have been virtuous from their very inmost soul, because they had at least experienced some self-satisfaction in their virtue, and, in consequence of the sinfulness of nature, must necessarily have succumbed to sinful love of self . . . But what place is given to the virtues of the righteous in Christianity? . . . Even when we `do good, we sin (bene operando peccamus), so runs his paradoxical thesis; but Christ covers over what is wanting and does not impute it. And why do we always sin in doing good? Because owing to concupiscence and sensuality we do not perform the good with the intensity and purity of intention which the law demands, i.e., not with all our might (Lk 10:27), the desires of the flesh being too strong. The Church, on the other hand, teaches that good works done in the state of sanctifying grace are pleasing to God in spite of concupiscence, which, it is true, remains after baptism and after the blotting out of original sin which ensued, but which is not sinful so long as there is no consent to its enticements . . . He already denies the merit of good works. It is clear, he writes, that according to substance and nature venial sin does not exist, and that there is no such thing as merit. All sins, in his opinion, are mortal, because even the smallest contains the deadly poison of concupiscence. With regard to merit, according to him, even the saints have no merit of their own, but only Christs merits . . . If it might be done unpunished and there were no expectation of reward, then even the good man would omit the good and do evil like the bad. . . . All the new doctrines we have passed in review may be regarded as forerunners of the great revolution soon to come . . . The views formerly current with regard to the origin of Luthers struggle against the old Church were due to an insufficient knowledge of history . . . It was said that the Churchs teaching on Indulgences, and the practices of the . . . Indulgence-preachers first brought Luther into antagonism with the Church authorities and then gradually entangled him more and more in the great struggle regarding other erroneous teachings and usages. As a matter of fact, the question of Indulgences was raised only subsequent to Luthers first great departures from the Churchs doctrine. Then it was said that the far-seeing teacher of Wittenberg had from the very first directed his attention to the reformation of the whole Church, which he found sunk in abuses, and had therefore commenced with a doctrinal reform as a necessary preliminary . . . but the Doctor of Holy Scripture was, as a matter of fact, far more preoccupied with the question of the theology of Paul and Augustine than with the abuses in the Church and outer world, which were, to tell the truth, very remote from the Monks cell and lecture-room . . . Luthers new opinions on doctrine . . . originated quite apart from any attempt at external reform of the Church, and were equally remote from the idea of breaking away from the Pope or of proclaiming freedom of belief or unbelief, though many have fancied that these were Luthers first aims . . . (Luther, translated by E. M. Lamond, edited by Luigi Cappadelta, 6 volumes, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1917, vol. 1: 94, 98, 100-102, 104-106)

Grisar continues:

He was to say to Melanchthon in 1536: Born of God and at the same time a sinner: this is a contradiction; but in the things of God we must not hearken to reason (Table Talk, ed. K. E. Forstemann, Leipzig: 1848, vol. 2, 148). His Commentary on Romans prepares us for his later assertions: The gospel is a teaching having no connection whatever with reason, whereas the teaching of the law can be understood by reason . . . reason cannot grasp an extraneous righteousness (Exegetical Works in Latin, Erlangen: 1829, vol. 23, 160) . . . The enduring sin is admitted by God as non-existent; one and the same act may be accepted before God and not accepted, be good and not good . . . Whoever terms this mere cavilling is desirous of measuring the Divine by purblind human reason and understands nothing of Holy Scripture (Werke  Works , Weimar: 1883, vol. 2, 420; from the year 1519). . . .

* God cannot be possessed or touched except by the negation of everything that is in us. Then only are we capable of receiving Gods works and plans, when our planning and our works cease; when we are altogether passive with regard to God interiorly as well as exteriorly. . . . If men willed what God wills, even though He should will to damn and reject them, they would see no evil in that [in the predestination to hell which he teaches]; for, as they will what God wills, they have, owing to their resignation, the will of God in them. Does he mean by this that they should resign themselves to hating God for all eternity? Luther does not seem to notice that hatred of God is an essential part of the condition of those who are damned . . . He even dares to say to those who are affrighted by predestination to hell, that resignation to eternal punishment is, for the truly wise, a source of ineffable joy . . . . . According to Luther, even Christ offered Himself for hell whole and entire . . . He actually and in truth offered Himself to the eternal Father to be consigned to eternal damnation for us. His human nature did not behave differently from that of a man who is to be condemned eternally to hell. On account of this love of God, God at once raised Him from death and hell, and so He overcame hell. (This and other quotes from Luther, Commentary on Romans: 1515-16, from ed. J. Ficker, Leipzig: 1908 / This quote: 218 ff) (Grisar, Luther, ibid., vol. 1: 216-217, 221-222, 238-240)

Grisar then writes about Luthers developing heretical theology in his Commentary on Galatians (1516-17):

He continued to rifle St. Augustines writings for passages which were apparently favourable to his views . . . He certainly did not allow himself sufficient time to appreciate properly the profound teachings of this, the greatest Father of the Church, and best authority on grace and justification. Even Protestant theologians now admit that he quoted Augustine where the latter by no means agrees with him. His own friends and contemporaries, such as Melanchthon, for instance, admitted the contradiction existing between Luthers ideas and those of St. Augustine on the most vital points; it was, however, essential that this Father of the Church, so Melanchthon writes to one of his confidantes, should be cited as in entire agreement on account of the high esteem in which he was generally held.[Letter of Melanchthon to Brenz, May 1531; Luthers Correspondence, ed. L. Enders, Frankfurt: 1907, vol. 9, 18 ff.] Luther himself was, consciously or unconsciously, in favour of these tactics; he tampered audaciously with the text of the Doctor of the Church in order to extract from his writings proofs favourable to his own doctrine; or at the very least, trusting to his memory, he made erroneous citations, when it would have been easy for him to verify the quotations at their source . . . In his expositions of the Epistle to the Galatians, Luthers antagonism to the Catholic doctrine of Works, Justification and Original Sin is carried further than in any other of his exegetical writings, until, indeed, it verges on the paradoxical . . . He goes so far in speaking of faith and grace . . . as to brand the most sublime and holy works, namely, prayer and meditation, as idolatry unless performed in accordance with the only true principle of faith, viz. with his doctrine regarding justification by faith alone. (Ibid., vol. 1: 305-307, 309)

So much for the many historical myths rampant in Protestant analysis of its own origin. It is beyond dispute that these early views of Luther were heretical by the standards of Catholic orthodoxy (even if not yet defined at the highest levels), and it is equally clear that nominalistic thought had a great influence on Luther.

Orthodox doctrinal development and corruption and the various currents of theology throughout history are also separable ideas. They are not mutually exclusive. Tradition does not reduce to mere history; that is a rationalistic tenet. The Christian has faith, and will view Church history accordingly. It is not contrary to historiography but goes beyond it, just as faith in biblical inspiration is not contrary to archaeological evidences of biblical accuracy, but goes beyond it, introducing the supernatural.

What is truly un-catholic are utterances of Martin Luther, the Super-Duper Deluxe-Pope:

I need not have any title and name to praise highly the word, office, and work which I have from God and which you blind blasphemers defile and persecute beyond measure. I trust my praise will overcome your defiling, just as my justice will overcome your injustice. It does not matter if, with your blasphemy, you are on top for the moment.Therefore, I now let you know that from now on I shall no longer do you the honor of allowing youor even an angel from heavento judge my teaching or to examine it. For there has been enough foolish humility now for the third time at Worms, and it has not helped. Instead, I shall let myself be heard and, as St. Peter teaches, give an explanation and defense of my teaching to all the world  I Pet. 3:15. I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angels judge through this teaching (as St. Paul says [I Cor. 6:3 ]) so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved  for it is Gods and not mine. Therefore, my judgment is also not mine but Gods. (From: Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called, July 1522. Martin Luther, Luthers Works, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan (volumes 1-30) and Helmut T. Lehmann (volumes 31-55), St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House (volumes 1-30); Philadelphia: Fortress Press (volumes 31-55), 1955. This work from Volume 39: Church and Ministry I (edited by J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, and H. T. Lehmann); pages 239-299; translated by Eric W. and Ruth C. Gritsch; excerpt from 248-249)

***

Photo credit: Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany (31 October 1517); painting (1878) by Julius Hubner (1806-1882) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

***
It was on this day, the 10th of October, in 1837 that Robert Gould Shaw was born into the intellectual and Unitarian elites in Boston, Massachusetts.

Before they sold the property at 25 Beacon Street, every time I would go up to the Unitarian Universalist Association denominational headquarters on Beacon Hill in Boston, I would stop at the monument to the men of the 54th Massachusetts that stands just opposite what was the UUA headquarters. It absolutely captured my heart. And I would wander around Augustus Saint-Gaudens masterwork contemplating, well, many things. It continues to haunt my dreams.

The Massachusetts 54th was the first black regiment sent into battle in the Civil War.

Due to the bone deep racism of the time, even for those who fought to end slavery, their commanding officers had to be white. And so fierce abolitionist Robert Gould Shaw was appointed their colonel. The troops including their colonel knew the war was not about states rights. Or, rather it was about only one terrible, sinful right. And they were prepared to fight, to kill, and if necessary to die to put an end to this one terrible thing. The 54th was all about ending slavery.

Along the way to freedom they suffered various indignities. For instance they were recruited with the promise of equal pay to their white compatriots. But, once in South Carolina they were informed they would be paid roughly one half of white soldiers. Colonel Shaw protested loudly and the regiment decided to accept no pay less than their fair payment. All the time they were continuing to put their lives on the line. Finally Congress intervened and they were paid equally.

The 54th was first bloodied on July 16th 1863, stopping a Confederate assault on James Island, in South Carolina. Then, two days later, they were the spear point of an assault on Fort Wagner.

According to Wikipedia It was at this battle Colonel Shaw was killed, along with 29 of his men; 24 more later died of wounds, 15 were captured, 52 were missing in action and never accounted for, and 149 were wounded. The total regimental casualties of 272 would be the highest total for the 54th in a single engagement during the war.

Although Union forces were not able to take and hold the fort (despite taking a portion of the walls in the initial assault), the 54th was widely acclaimed for its valor during the battle, and the event helped encourage the further enlistment and mobilization of African-American troops, a key development that President Abraham Lincoln once noted as helping to secure the final victory.

Decades later, Sergeant William Harvey Carney was awarded the Medal of Honorfor grabbing the U.S. flag as the flag bearer fell, carrying the flag to the enemy ramparts and back, and singing Boys, the old flag never touched the ground! While other African Americans had since been granted the award by the time it was presented to Carney, Carneys is the earliest action for which the Medal of Honor was awarded to an African American.

As the article continues, A Union officer had asked the Confederates at Battery Wagner for the return of Shaws body, but was informed by the Confederate commander, Brigadier General Johnson Hagood, We buried him with his niggers.

Shaws father wrote in response that he was proud that Robert, a fierce fighter for equality, had been buried in that manner. We hold that a soldiers most appropriate burial-place is on the field where he has fallen. As a recognition and honor, at the end of the Civil War, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, and the 33rd Colored Regiment were mustered out at the Battery Wagner site of the mass burial of the 54th Massachusetts.

I find myself haunted by questions. Among them, who would you die among? Who are your brothers and sisters?

And.

Who would you be buried with?

Something terrible and beautiful emerged out of the collaboration of Colonel Shaw and the men of the 54th, and their fight, somehow captured in that common grave. A hope. A dream.

The secret heart of who we might yet become.
Patna: With the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress Party out of his way and him once again safely in the driver's seat with his former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appeared to be completely in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his former nemesis, praising him for announcing projects that, in his opinion, would put Bihar on the past of development.

Speaking at his weekly 'Jan Samvad' meet in Patna on Monday, Kumar praised the Center for its very positive approach towards Bihar as the Prime Minister gears up to launch a slew of new projects in the state as part of the Rs. 1.25 crore package that he had announced shortly before the 2015 Assembly elections in Bihar.

"These projects are designed to improve roads, energy sector, and strengthen infrastructure needed to make Bihar a developed state. A number of projects that had been pending for one reason or another are also being cleared so work could begin on them immediately," he said.

As reported, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Patna on October 14 to take part in the Patna University centennial celebration. He is expected to make a number of announcements during his stay in the state capital.

Kumar also broke his silence over attacks on him by his pal-turned-ardent critic Sharad Yadav saying the former Janata Dal  U President had abandoned his principles and was consumed by his passion to save the Lalu dynasty and other corrupt leaders.

"Sharad Yadav should not be lecturing others about principles and convictions when he favors dynastic politics, corruption, and corrupt leaders. He is now only concerned with saving the 'common heritage'," he said eluding to caste members sticking to their caste as in one Yadav supporting another Yadav.

Shrugging off Sharad Yadav's claim that he was the real JD-U, the Chief Minister said that the Election Commission (EC) had already dismissed his assertion but he was free to continue to approach the EC.

BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was also present at the Lok Samvad.
Patna: A day after Congress leaders in Bihar declared that everything was just peachy within the party, supporters of Akhilesh Prasad Singh and former BPCC President Ashok Kumar Chowdhary clashed with each other outside Sadaqat Ashram indicating deep divide in the party that could lead to a split Congress in the state.

{gallery}newsimages2017/oct/100917{/gallery}The drama unfolded on Monday in full view of the public and dozens of reporters outside Sadaqat Ashram, the party's state headquarters, just minutes before the leaders were gearing up to hold a meeting of the newly-elected delegates.

As Chowdhary's supporters tried to enter the compound to attend the meeting, they were met with fierce resistance by Singh's supporters who roughed them up only to aggravate the situation as Chaudhary's supporters began chanting anti-Congress slogans and pro Narendra Modi chants.

Those who were able to get inside the meeting hall accused the current leadership of hijacking the party and purposely leaving out leaders who had worked all their lives to make Congress strong in the state.

"The way real party leaders are being treated and insulted, it would be no surprise that the BJP would only become stronger in Bihar," the former President and ex-Education Minister said.

Interestingly, the whole drama was being played out in the presence of Pradip Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal who was sent to Patna as the state returning officer for the purpose of electing the new delegates.

Later, while talking to reporters, Bhattacharya, Akhilesh Singh, and BPCC acting President Kaukab Qadri denied the scuffle saying it was just a minor incident that was handled properly.

"Some leaders tried to create a ruckus but the situation was brought under control very shortly," Bhattacharya said before leaving for Kolkata.

Denial aside, the party set up a probe committee to be led by former legislator Jyoti Kumari to 'get to the bottom of the truth'.

The committee will submit its findings next week, Qadri said.

Choudhary, in the meantime, calling the incident 'unfortunate', claimed that today's meeting of the BPCC delegates was called without issuing the list of elected leaders. "This was undemocratic and unconstitutional," he said adding some anti-Congress elements had found ways into the party who were determined to make Congress weaker in Bihar.

"Until few months ago, these people were known for burning effigies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi but today they are occupying important positions in the party as opposed to those who had dedicated their lives to the strengthening of the Congress Party," he said.

Former minister Ashok Ram, Shakeel Ahmed, Sadanand Singh, Vijay Shankar Dubey, and Premchandra Mishra were also present at the chaotic meeting.
The Gathering JCPOA Storm and the Way Forward

10/10/17

By Hooshang Amirahmadi, PhD; Professor, Rutgers University



Iranian-Americans Support Diplomacy with Iran

The JCPOA: From Despair to Hope

The North Korean crisis has pushed the future of the 2015 nuclear deal among Iran and the 5+1 (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China), commonly referred to as the Joint Compressive Plan of Action (JCPOA) into the background. Yet, this temporary situation will soon reverse itself as a powerful storm is gathering around the subject. The JCPOA, which was intended to reduce tension between the US and Iran, has been criticized repeatedly by President Donald Trump as a highly deficient agreement, and this change in the White House's attitude under a new president is the primary cause of this developing storm. Indeed, US-Iran relations have unexpectedly become highly explosive in the post-JCPOA period. President Donald Trump's speech at the UN was a clear indication of this new situation. To mitigate this emerging danger, the policy community must overcome complacency, act with urgency, offer an even-handed and realistic analysis, and propose a fair solution.

President Trump, has said that the deal is "bad" and that the JCPOA and all its underlying tenets and documents must be strengthened through renegotiation. Otherwise, he has threatened to scrape the deal or demand significant modifications to it. To Trump's pleasure, and Iran's dismay, the French President Emmanuel Macron, who wishes to maintain the JCPOA (his country has already made significant inroads into the Iranian economy), supports the idea of strengthening the JCPOA by extending its sunset timeline, and introducing new requirements for controlling Iran's missile program and regional influence. Conservatives in the U.S. have even charged that the former President Barak Obama concluded the deal largely to create a "legacy" for himself rather than protect the US national interest. Just like many other "signature accomplishments" of Mr. Obama, President Trump's ideal will be to overturn this one as well.

On the opposite side, Iran has argued that the JCPOA is a multilateral agreement that has been ratified unanimously by the UN Security Council, and is essential for the preservation of peace, and must be thus preserved. Tehran is nervous about a possible negative action by Mr. Trump because it has made the JCPOA a source of national pride, and has depended on the deal to rebuild its economy. Tehran's expectation is that Mr. Trump will challenge Iran's compliance, send the deal to the US Congress, and re-impose sanctions that were lifted. It is no wonder that Iran is making every effort to convince other parties to the JCPOA to continue honoring the deal. However, leaders in the Islamic Republic have made confusing statements about what they might do in reaction to Trump's scraping of the deal.

Tehran has publicly objected to renegotiation the deal but it might be convinced to renegotiate if its terms can be well established in advance. Iran fears that renegotiating the deal will open a "Pandora's box "of renewed pressure and more "unacceptable concessions. To save the JCPOA, President Hassan Rouhani government is hoping to convince Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Leader, to accede to an extension of the sunset clause beyond 2025 and allow limited monitoring of its military sites. Concession on missiles will not be possible now but even that might be open for negotiations if some of Iran's security and economic demands are met. Tehran will also be most concerned with the publicity of such concessions as they could lead to opposition by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and political upheavals by the Islamic "hardliners" and patriotic Iranians.

Notwithstanding these concerns by Tehran, President Trump is adamant that the deal be openly renegotiated and its defects fully corrected. Indeed, Mr. Trump and associates want to make the JCPOA a permanent deal or scrap it, and see Iran's missile power diminished and its military sites opened to intrusive monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The organization is tasked to ensure that Iran is complying with its technical commitments in the JCPOA. Contrary to the publicly held view, Trump is unlikely to scrap the JCPOA initially. Rather, he will maintain it as a killing trap for Iran by tough sanctions and military threats. The purpose of this coercive process will be to force Tehran to accede to Trump's demands, weaken Iran, and ultimately change its theocratic regime, which Trump derided harshly during his address to the UN General Assembly.

In this essay, I will discuss current US concerns with the JCPOA including the deal's sunset clause, and Iran's missiles as well as what it sees as the broader issue of Iran's regional "misdeeds". I will also describe Iran's rebuttal but show that Washington will not be convinced and that Trump is expected to persist in his demands. Mr. Trump might even append the push for renegotiation of the JCPOA with a policy of regime change if Tehran continues its current policies and regional posture. I will also outline some of the key measures, including crippling new sanctions, that the US might introduce to make Iran accept a new nuclear deal or exit the JCPOA. Iran's possible counter-measures will also be discussed.

While Trump's coercive measures will not be immediately effective, Tehran may find it hard to persist if Europeans join the US, which is likely given that some of the US concerns are also echoed by France, Germany and the UK. Yet, as I will argue, and the JCPOA experience indicates, a resolution that is based on coercive measures will not be in the long-term interest of either side and cannot be sustained. A more amicable resolution will require that both parties consider realities on the ground and accept a paradigm shift in the way each sees the other. I will outline some of such realities and explain areas where serious rethinking has become imperative. The concluding section will speculate about the likelihood of a comprehensive settlement.

US Critiques: The Flawed JCPOA and Iran's Misdeeds

From the perspective of Mr. Trump and some of his associates, including National Security Advisor R.T. McMaster, the JCPOA is flawed for many reasons. The deal has a sunset clause of around 10 years for Iran to begin increasing centrifuge counts and 15 years to begin stockpiling enriched uranium. Beyond these dates, Iran will be allowed to gradually return to a "normal" nuclear enrichment operation on its soil. Mr. Trump wants a permanent deal and hopes to dismantle Iran's remaining nuclear infrastructure. He does not trust Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Leader, despite the latter's declaration that nuclear weapons are "un-Islamic." President Trump also discounts Iran's commitment in the JCPOA that, "it will never and under no circumstance" develop or possess a nuclear bomb.

The US is also worried that the nuclear deal does not disarm Iran of its nuclear bomb-making potential because it does not mandate the IAEA to monitor Iran's military and other "suspected" sites on a regular basis. Iran has not yet ratified the IAEA's Additional Protocol, which allows for snap inspections. The deal also falls short of any effective control over Iran's growing missile program, and the UN Security Council's Resolution 2231, dealing with the matter, is vague and inadequate. Mr. Trump is also unhappy that the IAEA is not given a clear mandate to monitor Iran's technological modeling of bomb-making. Trump remains concerned about the IAEA's ability to fully monitor Iran.

The fact that the JCPOA is not a comprehensive deal also alarms Trump. He believes that the deal should have comprised many crucial issues that stand between the US and Iran, including Iran's backing of terrorism against Israel, support for Bashar Assad of Syria, interventions in Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere, and its human rights violations at home. Iran discriminates against religious and ethnic minorities and is currently holding several dual US-Iran citizens in its prisons on espionage charges. Thus, Trump insists, the deal leaves Iran with a free hand, and provides it with billions of dollars to expand the operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Quds force across the Middle East.

For Mr. Trump, who hopes to build his presidential legacy on boosting the US economy, the JCPOA is of little use. The deal opens Iran's lucrative emerging market to trade and investment relations with the rest of the world, including the US rivals in Europe and Asia, while its scope for expanded US-Iran economic relations remains highly limited. While this objection is not publicly stated, it is implied in the administration's efforts to discourage multinational firms and large banks to transact with Iran, and to curb Iran's expanding economic ties with Europe, China and Russia.

Iranian Defense: The JCPOA is a "Win-Win" and Working

Iran disagrees with US objections and defends the deal for many of its positive attributes. The JCPOA is a "win-win" agreement and has successfully resolved the long-standing nuclear disputes between Iran and its nemeses. The other issues standing between the two countries have been purposefully left outside the deal to make a resolution to the nuclear dispute simpler and faster. The JCPOA was also intended to build confidence between the two governments and thus help in a resolution of such other issues. US' objections now threatens to erode any trust that was built during the negotiations.

Iran insists that the deal is working and General Jim Mattis, US Secretary of Defense, has also confirmed that it serves the US security interest. According to periodic reports issued by the IAEA, Iran is meticulously implementing the JCPOA and these findings have been confirmed by the US intelligence and military officials. Iran says it intends to continue in this path of rigorous implementation under the intrusive monitoring of the IAEA. By accepting to voluntarily implement the Additional Protocol now and to ratify it in 2023, Iran will be subjecting itself to the toughest permanent monitoring and surveillance regime that the IAEA has ever undertaken in any country. Iran also notes that the monitoring of its nuclear sites is the sole responsibility of the IAEA, and that the US cannot interfere in the Agency's monitoring task.

In Tehran's view, while the JCPOA has a sunset clause, Iran's commitment to not build or possess a bomb is permanent as per the JCPOA and the Leader's determination. Even after Iran's enrichment restrictions end, the intrusive monitoring system in place will continue indefinitely, making it impossible for Iran to divert its civilian program towards military use. Thus, Tehran believes, US concerns regarding the sunset clause of the JCPOA are misplaced and irrelevant. Tehran also insist that its foreign policy outlook views possessing nuclear weapons as being detrimental to Iran's national security.

Iran has also complained that the implementation of the JCPOA has already cost it billions of dollars in dismantled centrifuges and their infrastructure, shipment of over 10 tons of enriched uranium to outside the country, dismantling of its heavy water reactor, and a significant reduction in its nuclear-related R&D and centrifuge-building activities. For the US to demand renegotiation of the deal now that Iran has sacrificed so much is unacceptable and unjust. As Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has noted, if Mr. Trump wants to renegotiate the JCPOA, he must first compensate Iran for these losses.

From Tehran's perspective, the UN Resolution 2231 is independent of the JCPOA, and its wordings does not support the US claim that Iran's missile testing is a violation of its spirit or intent. Iran's missile program is solely for defensive and deterrent purposes and it is not aimed at any group or nation. Indeed, Iran's missiles are weaker than those of its main rivals in the region, and they are not designed to carry nuclear warheads, which Iran cannot build as per the JCPOA. Tehran has also said that its missile activities are non-negotiable, partially because they are not controlled by Iran's civilian leaders and fall under the authority of the IRGC.

Tehran has also forcefully argued that its support for Assad regime and "friendly groups" in the region, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, its involvements in Iraq, and its human rights situation all predate the JCPOA, and, therefore, they were assumed to remain outside the deal. Now that the JCPOA is concluded and is being implemented, the US cannot claim that the deal must be linked to these other issues. Besides, a significant part of Iran's activities in Syria and Iraq, Tehran argues, are aimed at defeating ISIS, which benefit the US as well.

Iran also maintains that The JCPOA is not an obstacle to American firms willing to trade with Iran or engage in investment projects in the country. The challenge comes from other US sanctions. Otherwise, Tehran would have welcomed such economic relations and has issued invitations to US firms to participate in Iranian tenders. If Mr. Trump wishes to expand economic relations with Iran, all he must do is to remove the US sanctions. Iran's prime example is the Iran-Boeing multi-billion-dollar deal for civilian planes, which has faced tough Congressional obstacles for implementation.

Trump's Approach: Applying Coercive Tools

President Trump has shown little inclination to listen to Iran. He appears bent on imposing all the coercive measures he can on the Islamic Republic including sanctions, political isolation and public censure to make Tehran submit to his will. He is already disputing the findings of the IAEA concerning Iran's full implementation of the JCPOA. Washington has said that the IAEA does not have enough information regarding all of Iran's nuclear activities to make such determination. The IAEA may disagree but some 60 percent of its monitoring budget is paid by the US. Niki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, has already asked that the IAEA visit Iran's military sites and "undeclared" locations, and Mr. Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA, has "rejected Tehran's claim that its military sites were off-limits to inspection.

Mr. Trump is also contesting Iran's missile program. He has already gained support from the UN Secretary-General, Britain, France and Germany. In a recent communique, these countries joined the US in issuing a demand on Iran to stop testing new missiles. They have accused Iran of violating the Resolution 2231. The UN Secretary-General and Security Council have also echoed a similar concern. The US and its European allies have specifically noted in their communique that the "technologies" Iran has used in a non-military space launch vehicle (Simorgh) on 27 July "are closely related to those of ballistic missiles development, to those of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles."

The use of the word "technologies" is a new warning to Iran that it will not be allowed to advance in certain technologically advanced fields. Unless Iran is ready to make compromises on the missile front as well (as in the case of its nuclear enrichment), it is expected that more sanctions will follow and Europeans may even join or at least observe such American sanctions. The issue of missiles can prove to be a time bomb in US-Iran relations and for the future of the JCPOA. While the Leader Khamenei used his "heroic flexibility" to let Iran's nuclear enrichment infrastructure to be largely dismantled, he may not have the same flexibility with respect to the nation's missile programs. Tehran insists that its missile program is defensive and non-negotiable.

Every three months, President Trump is required by law (the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) to certify to the US Congress that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA for the lifted nuclear-related sanctions to remain in force. The US State Department has prepared a list of options for the President. All evidence to date suggest that Mr. Trump has no intention to recertify the JCPOA on October 15. If he refuses to recertify, then Congress can act to impose new sanctions on Iran. This will be a major blow to Iran, as it will jeopardize the deal, can make the nuclear-related sanctions to "snap back" as per the JCPOA, and discourage other nations and major companies from working with Iran as well. All these will cause serious problems for Iran's weak economy and its delicate domestic political balance.

To reduce pressure from European allies on himself and to avoid being blamed for scraping the JCPOA, Trump plans to have the US Congress involved in the future of the deal. A major issue which Trump wants Congress to address is the deal's sunset clause. If involved, Congress is also expected to scrutinize Iran's missiles and regional policy. For Iran, Congressional involvement is nothing short of a nightmare. This is the same Congress that the Obama and Rouhani governments isolated to reach the nuclear deal. Even if Congress were to maintain the JCPOA, it would do so after crippling it through more sanctions and lengthy uncertainty-infusing debates about its future.

The Trump administration, along with Congress, seem determined to impose more non-nuclear-related sanctions on Iran and to tighten the existing ones. The Obama administration initiated the post-JCPOA sanctions on Iran, and the Trump administration has already imposed a few more sanctions. The new planned non-nuclear sanctions w ill include sanctions on Iran for supporting Bashar Assad of Syria and radical groups like Hezbollah of Lebanon and Hamas of Palestine, testing new technologically advanced missiles, and for human rights violation in the country. The administration also plans to impose nuclear-related sanctions on Iran for violation of the JCPOA's "spirit" (the expectation that in post-JCPOA, Iran would stop acts contrary to American interests and those of its allies).

The US is already putting pressure on countries and firms to refrain from engaging in trade and investment relations with Iran. This act of the US is expected to intensify and become more public as the JCPOA is further discredited and more sanctions are imposed on Iran. Many large banks and companies have remained reluctant to engage with Iran, and a few that have entered Iran are expected to pull out as US pressure increases. In the past, a good number of large firms and banks have paid large penalties to the US Treasury Department for busting US sanctions. Indeed, the expected foreign investment after the JCPOA has not materialized for Iran, and a good part of the country's frozen oil money remains unavailable to it, accessible to Iran only through barter trades with countries holding the funds.

Iran's Approach: Stand Firm and Hope for the Best

Tehran's mood has been one of wait and see and hope for the best. It still expects that, by some miracle, Trump will not, or cannot, do what many thinks he will do, that is, to scrap the JCPOA. Leaders in Iran believe that Trump can be isolated. For now, he has no support for scraping, or even renegotiating, the deal from other members of the 5+1 group, the UN, and the IAEA. The world public opinion is also against him for his post-deal "illegal" maneuvering to extract more concessions. Iran also argues that the JCPOA is a UN-backed multilateral deal that the US must observe as otherwise its credibility would be jeopardized. While these obstacles exist, Iran must also know that Mr. Trump is genuinely against the deal. As President, he has tremendous power, and the US Congress is controlled by his Republican Party. Together, they can destroy the deal if they want.

Tehran also hopes that economic interests will make other members of the 5+1 group to stay with the JCPOA even if the US walks out. They expect Europe to stay and assume an even more forceful support from Russia and China. Tehran is counting on its large emerging market, and is providing unprecedented incentives to lure countries and firms to engage in trade and investment with Iran. However, the response to Iran's economic outreach has not yet been very successful. Besides, while these countries have not yet supported Mr. Trump publicly, it is very possible that they change heart to protect their vast economic interests in the US, especially when, as expected, Trump makes the issue of missiles the source of a new major dispute with Iran. They may also be inclined to agree with the US argument for the need for extending the sunset clause of the deal. Europeans can also be persuaded with a call for restricting Iran's regional deeds and human rights.

In response to a possible unraveling of the nuclear agreement, Iran is also threatening to restart its nuclear program and quickly return it to the pre-JCPOA condition. They hope this possibility will make Trump "think twice" before he destroys the JCPOA or acts to fully erode Iran's economic benefits from the deal. Tehran's hope in this regard may prove wishful thinking as the US has already begun sanctioning Iran for reasons other than the nuclear dispute. Washington also knows well that Iran has dismantled much of its nuclear infrastructure, and it faces serious technological hurdles to reviving its program quickly. Besides, threats will beget threats leading to a crisis between the two nations much bigger than the dispute over the JCPOA.

On missiles, Iran is arguing that other regional powers are heavily armed with even more advanced missiles, and that Iran's military expenditures are a fraction of its main regional rivals. Iran also maintains that its missiles are for deterrence. Tehran hopes that these reasons will persuade Mr. Trump and his military advisors, who better understand Iran's defensive needs, to temper their opposition to Iranian missiles. Iran also hopes to gain support for its missiles from other parties to the deal. These expectations are certainly misplaced because current US military leaders despise the IRGC and its regional arm, the Quds Force, and European powers have already raised concerns about Iran's missile advances, and Mr. Trump is under heavy pressure from US allies in the region to roll back Iran's missile program.

The Islamic Republic has constantly bragged about its regional reach and power, including its irregular military forces in several countries, and support from the regional Islamic radical groups loyal to Tehran. The Islamic Republic has always hoped to use such show of force and propaganda to persuade Washington to work with Tehran rather than opt for confrontation. While Iran is a regional power, it is also under stress because of various ongoing conflicts in its vicinity, a fact also known to Washington. As in the past, the US may even use Iran's regional power in specific conflict theaters, but it also wants to weaken the country and change its theocratic system. Thus, Tehran may not be able to dissuade Washington from scraping the JCPOA simply because it is a regional power.

Tehran has been extensively using a "fatwa" or religious edict propagated in the name of Ayatollah Khamenei to convince the world leaders that "nuclear bombs are forbidden in Islam." Leaders in Tehran have hoped, and continue to hope, that the religious decree will mitigate fear and help build trust. Iran also committed in the JCPOA that it will "never" and under "no circumstances" build or possess a bomb. Tehran hopes that this commitment, along with that fatwa, will convince the 5+1 group, Mr. Trump in particular, that Iran's real sunset clause for bomb-making is permanent. This hope may not be all that relevant as it was not also relevant when Mr. Obama negotiated the nuclear deal. Trump's approach will also be "distrust but verify," and he is expected to insist that the current sunset clause be extended indefinitely.

The Way Forward: From Delusion to Reality

The arguments presented above show that both sides are somewhat delusional and tend to ignore reality for wishful thinking. Indeed, it is this mindset that has brought them to the current perilous stalemate. To emerge from this impasse, one respectable approach will be for the parties to shed their mutual misconceptions and begin to understand each other better. Only then they can move beyond their short-sighted approaches, and towards a new paradigm of rational and strategic thinking. In the following pages, I will outline some of the key truths each side might recognize as a precondition towards a fresh start.

The JCPOA is a multilateral deal, ratified unanimously in 2015 by the UN Security Council. The US' ability to exit such an agreement and then form a comprehensive coalition against Iran will be limited. Even if such a coalition were to form, it could not be sustained for a long time given the fragile political environment in the Middle East and the unstable global economic condition. Most countries will want Iran integrated into the global economy, which will require a settlement of US-Iran disputes.

The JCPOA is a deal largely written against Iran, and outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to which Iran dismantled its multi-billion-dollar nuclear infrastructure in the hopes of relief from sanctions. Making this deal even more "unjust" will be either inadvisable for the long-term interests of the US, or if done, impossible to sustain. Regimes come and go but nations endure, and they have red lines that cannot be crossed. Before the JCPOA, a section of the Iranian population mistrusted the US; now, after the JCPOA, that mistrust is much more widespread.

Cornering Iran by making unwarranted demands on its NPT rights can back fire. Islamic revolutionaries are against the deal, and if they have accepted the JCPOA, it is because their leader accepted it first, leaving them with no option. However, further pressure on Iran for more concessions might force the Leader to withdraw support, causing the deal to collapse and spurring Iran to even consider leaving the NPT. The JCPOA's collapse can also lead to a domestic political upheaval against the "moderate" faction who negotiated the deal.

If the deal collapses and Iran leaves the NPT, Iran will become widely radicalized, and it is possible that the country, under the leadership of a new radical junta would move towards building a bomb. If this option is exercised by Tehran, it will be hard, if not impossible, to stop it, given that the "diplomatic" option has already been tested and failed. Iran can, and most likely will, become another North Korea for the US if the JCPOA is trashed and not replaced by a reasonable deal.

The problem with Iran cannot be resolved through coercive diplomacy of more sanctions or military action. Sanctions would be resisted and it is almost certain that a limited attack to destroy Iran's nuclear and or certain military infrastructure will quickly expand into a full-scale war. Iran is a huge and complex country of rugged terrains and 80 million people, many of whom are ferociously nationalistic.

Iran is a heavyweight in its region, and a self-assured Iran has the potential to become a powerful strategic ally of the US as in the past. Normal cooperative relationship with such an Iran will be in the long-term interest of the US, much more than the short-term benefits that the US might gain from animosity with the country. Thus, taking a long view of Iran and helping it gain confidence is imperative for the US.

A regime change cannot happen through more military threats and sanctions. On the contrary, such pressures will make even anti-regime Iranians more sympathetic to their "victimized" state. Iranian culture supports the victim against the victimizer. Another corollary will be increased anti-Americanism in the country. Iranians want change but they want it to happen internally, without foreign intervention. This desire is born from their past experience with counterproductive foreign interventions (like the CIA-sponsored coup of 1953).

The Islamic Republic is rapidly changing and increasingly becoming a non-revolutionary Islamic state very much akin to a more modern Saudi Arabia. Such an Iran, if the regime survives to see its transformation, can have normal relations with the US, and perhaps with Israel as well. Its Arab neighbors will also be reassured. If the JCPOA collapsed and the Iranian economy returns to its pre-JCPOA negative plight, radicals will return to executive power and re-revolutionize the state.

Truths Iran Must Recognize for a Fresh Start

The JCPOA is an executive deal, made possible and led by the executive branches of the US and Iranian governments. This legacy makes Mr. Trump "king of the castle" of the JCPOA. Iran's misunderstanding of this reality can increase its risks. Recognizing this fact demands that high-ranking Iranian officials cease dismissing, insulting or ridiculing Mr. Trump. Instead, they need to appreciate his concerns and find ways to close gap with him.

From Trump's perspective, the JCPOA goes against the US national security interests, and therefore must be modified. This recognition will require realism and foresight as well as pragmatism in Tehran. Iran must also know that the JCPOA is neither a matter of national pride nor a panacea for Iran's economic ills. It can and should be negotiated to ameliorate Trump's concerns, and Iran should not fear the result.



The JCPOA is against US-Iran economic relations, and Americans will do everything in their power to prevent their rivals from having normal economic relations with Iran as in the pre-JCPOA period. The JCPOA must change to rectify this terrible condition, which will require a more comprehensive settlement of issues between the two governments. This result may not be easily achievable but embracing a negotiation for a global settlement of issues, particularly now that Mr. Trump is indeed asking for it, will be an important tactical move for Iran.

The US is capable of imposing crippling sanctions on Iran even as Iran stays with the JCPOA. Issues such as Iranian missiles, support for terrorism, and abuse of human rights can easily be used, as they are now, to impose new non-nuclear sanctions on Iran. The US can also advance sanctions against any nation that might trade with Iran (secondary sanctions). Tehran will have no recourse against such sanctions. Therefore, rejecting to renegotiate the JCPOA will not necessarily mean less sanctions or more business for Iran.

It is hard to isolate Europe from the US on matters relating to Iran. It is even possible that European nations will, after a short period of resistance, join the US on demanding modifications to the JCPOA to accommodate US' concerns over the deal's sunset clause, and Iranian missiles and regional military activities. They may even support new US sanctions or at the least not raise objections. Iran cannot count on the sustained support of China and Russia. They can also be persuaded to follow the US as in the pre-JCPOA period. They also have tremendous economic interest in the US.

No amount of Iranian incentives to international firms can persuade them to transact with the country if the US were to reimpose old sanctions or introduce new ones. Such an environment will only make Iran lose more and face possible future court challenges from firms that might have to pull out during their operations. Currently, Iran is in court with a few firms which had to suspend operations due to US sanctions or Iran's domestic politics.

The JCPOA is based on the latent assumption that the current Islamic system will not, or should not, survive beyond the deal's sunset clause. Otherwise, why would its adversaries accept free uranium enrichment on Iranian soil after the sunset clause but not now? Indeed, Iran's insistent to preserve the JCPOA as is will only make Mr. Trump to insist on his regime change policy. President Obama used to say, "war or the JCPOA"; President Trump may soon say, "regime change or the JCPOA".

If Iran continues with its current animosity towards the US and Israel, it cannot hope to expand its military capabilities beyond certain limits. In this regard, further advancement of Iran's missiles is a ticking time bomb. The same goes for "normalization" of Iran's uranium enrichment beyond the sunset date. There is only one condition under which Iran can become a normal state for the US: normalization of relations between the two countries and a reduction of tension between Iran and Israel. Absent this comprehensive settlement, the US will either dismantle the JCPOA and diminish Iran's missile program, or try to change the Iranian regime. Only a comprehensive negotiation can provide a chance for the required global settlement.

Iran cannot resist renegotiating the JCPOA for a long period of time, and its fear is misplaced. Instead, Mr. Rouhani should, after coordinating with the Leader, take Mr. Trump on his offer of comprehensive negotiations but insist that the new negotiations be expanded to include other matters of mutual concern, including matters beyond the JCPOA that concern Mr. Trump and Iran. Even if the negotiations reach a dead-end, they can at least freeze US-Iran relations, and the JCPOA, in their current place. They will also offer Iran an opportunity to open a dialogue with the new US administration.

Negotiation with this US administration (made up of career military leaders and business men) cannot be just "diplomatic" but will require a different team and strategy. Iran needs to match the Trump administration and involve its own military leaders alongside professional negotiators. Iran must also know that for Trump "facts are what people want to hear." A rational Iran will not accept closed-door negotiations with such an administration. Rather it will insist they take place publicly.

Iran must speak with one authoritative voice. Currently, Tehran is giving contradictory messages to Washington. For example, while President Rouhani has rejected renegotiations of the JCPOA, his Foreign Minister Dr. Javad Zarif, has implied that such negotiations are possible if "Iran's enriched uranium are returned." Similarly, General Hassan Firouzabadi, a top military advisor to Mr. Khamenei, has said that visits of the military sites may only be possible if the Leader allowed. In sharp contrast, other top military leaders have insisted that Iran's Armed Forces will never allow the IAEA inside its military sites.

Concluding Remarks

Accepting these provisions is a precondition for successful negotiations towards improved US-Iran relations as well as preserving the JCPOA. However, for full applicability of these stipulations, they must be admitted voluntarily and with the understanding that they will serve the respective national interests and world peace. Neither side should be threatened. Negotiating under duress of sanctions and war, just like what happened during the nuclear negotiations, is contrary to the national interests of both parties, and coercive diplomacy cannot produce lasting solutions.

The author of these lines , a 30-year veteran of US-Iran relations, hopes that both sides will listen to voice of reason, and by improvising and adopting the said provisions, begin resolving issues that stand between them. Their animosity has huge cost s, directly and indirectly, as billions of dollars in economic damage and many lost lives attest. Getting the parties to shed their strongly held mutual delusions is not going to be easy. Yet, it is always imaginable to change the impossible into probable , and it is this hope that must be upheld.

Meanwhile, a few past breakthroughs in US-Iran relations should reinforce that hope. For example, the US did extend an apology to the Iranian people for the past policy mistakes (including the 1953 CIA-sponsored coup in Iran), and the Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, used his "heroic flexibility" to make serious concessions on Iran's nuclear program. What makes this author even more optimistic about a transformation of US-Iran thinking and reaching a "global settlement" is the fact that their inimical relationship has become more dangerous while the regional and global environments have become increasingly volatile. A global settlement of US-Iran disputes towards an improvement in their relationship has become an imperative.

About the author:



Hooshang Amirahmadi is a professor and former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University. He holds a PhD from Cornell University and is the founder and president of the American Iranian Council. He is also a Senior Associate Member at Oxford University in the U.K. His publications include The Political Economy of Iran under the Qajars, Revolution and Economic Transition, and three other books in Persian on civil society, industrial policy, and geopolitics of energy. Dr. Amirahmadi is also editor of ten books on Iran and the Middle East, and 16 conference proceedings on US-Iran relations, as well as numerous journal articles. A frequent contributors to international media and conferences, Dr. Amirahmadis advice has been sought by major multinational agencies and international corporations around the world. www.Amirahmadi.com; hooshang@amirahmadi.com
Ghanas delegation for the 2017 IMF / World Bank annual meetings has arrived in Washington D.C, USA.



The delegation is expected to showcase Ghanas recent economic recovery efforts to international development partners as well as hold talks with stakeholders to secure more international support for Ghana ahead of the 2018 Budget.



The team is led by Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Mafo and includes Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, Planning Minister Prof Djan Bafour, Deputy Finance Minister Charlse Adu Boahen and Deputy Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.



It also includes Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Ernest Addison and his first, Deputy Maxwell Afari.



A team of technical advisors from the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank is supporting the delegation.



Speaking to the media from Washington, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Mafo said: Our objective is to engage our development partners with evidence of the work we have been doing on the Ghanaian economy since our take over in January. Initially the world was hedging their investments in Ghana. But as evidence emerges of how we are daily improving the marco-economy while at the same time funding our key social interventions, it is a good opportunity to engage some more and attract more support for the Ghanaian economy.



Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta will be a key representative on a number of panels focused on addressing key challenges to developing economies like Ghana and shaping international finance policy in that regard.



He will also be briefing the International Monetary Fund and its directors about the steps in issuing Ghanas cedi denominated energy sector bond.



Other ministers will also represent Ghana at simultaneous meetings of the G20, ratings agencies the World Bank and other development partners.



They will also be pitching Ghanas new economic policy direction and inviting support from the global finance and development community.



The annual IMF / World Bank meetings are a platform to engage global finance and development agencies to secure commitment and support for a countrys economic and development agenda.



Ghanas recent participation in similar international events have brought benefits such as inclusion in the G20 compact which will provide 120 million for the country.



The team is expected to return to Ghana by October, 18.

Source: 3news









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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Midwives and Nursing Trainees in Brong-Ahafo have expressed appreciation to government and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for launching the restoration of their allowances in Sunyani, the regional capital.



Overwhelmed with joy and ecstasy, the students, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in a random interview that the reinstatement of the allowance would bring great economic relief to them and their parents.



The previous National Democratic Party (NDC) government scrapped the allowance, under which nursing trainees received at least GHC 450.00 every quarter.



President Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party government assured nurses and midwife trainees of the Party's commitment to bring back the allowances if elected into office during the 2016 electioneering period.



The more than 1,000 student nurses and midwives who had gathered at the Sunyani Nursing Training College, where President Akufo-Addo is expected to launch the scheme, could not hide their joy as they dance to brass band music.



As some of them outlined the financial difficulties they had gone through since the allowance was scrapped, other student nurses said the bold decision taken by the government was highly commendable.



They expressed the optimism that the re-instatement of the allowance would facilitate their smooth training so that they could serve the country with a high sense of patriotism on their completion.



"We don't know how to thank the President for this. We are really overwhelmed by the kindness and we promise to use the allowances judiciously", Joyce Anima, one of the midwife trainees told the GNA.



Another nursing trainee, who also spoke on condition of anonymity described the restoration of the allowances as "a dream come true".



There was however a spontaneous jubilation among the students when President Akufo-Addo arrived at the venue for the launching.



The colourful ceremony is being witnessed by traditional leaders, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, Municipal and District Chief Executives and a section of the general public.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the decision taken by him, in run up to the 2016 elections, to restore the nursing training allowances if he won the election was not mere political rhetoric, campaign talk, and neither was it meant to deceive nursing trainees in order to get their votes.



According to President Akufo-Addo, it was much more than that. We believed, and still believe, that Ghana needs all the nurses and healthcare workers she can get, if the nation is to have a solid, world class healthcare system, and we think it necessary to provide the relevant incentives to make that possible.



The President was speaking at the Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training College on Tuesday, 10th September, 2017, when he made this known, at the restoration of the nursing and midwifery training allowances.



Bemoaning the cancellation of the allowances, in 2014, by the government of the former President John Dramani Mahama, President Akufo-Addo noted that this singular action brought untold hardships to the thousands of nurses and midwives in the country, who depended on it for their studies and for their welfare.



The cancellation, according to the President, left many trainee nurses demotivated and demoralised.



The New Patriotic Party and I heard your cry, and assured you of the restoration of these allowances, if we won the election. By the grace of God, and by the generosity and trust of the Ghanaian people, I am here, today, as President of the Republic, ready to fulfill the pledge we made to you, he said, to a rousing applause from the packed auditorium of the school.



To this end, President Akufo-Addo stated that, for the 2017/2018 academic year, effective September, 2017, fifty eight thousand health trainees, comprising nurses and midwives, will be paid their allowance of four hundred Ghana cedis (GH400.00) per person, for each of the ten months of the academic year.



This means government will be spending a total of GH232,000,000 for this academic year. The E-Zwich platform will be used to effect payment, as it will ensure convenience, prompt payment, and accountability, he said.



The President continued, To the professional cynics and skeptics, those who have made an industry out of constantly asking is this policy sustainable?, I wish to assure them that, with the proper management of our public finances, the nations budget can accommodate such an amount.



The implementation of the Free SHS policy, on 12th September, 2017, he added, should be an indicator of the fact that leadership is about choices.



I have chosen to invest in the education and in the future of our young men and women, and I will use the blessings the Almighty has so amply bestowed on us to this end, he added.



The payment of the allowances, the President noted, would also not have been possible without the prudent management of the economy.



NHIS, Employment of nurses



It is the judicious application of resources, he explained, that is heralding the revival of the National Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has led to the payment of GH560 million out of the GH1.2 billion debt inherited from the Mahama administration, which was strangling the NHIS.



Government, he added, is committed to paying the balance within the next 12 months, indicating that in the meantime, payments to service providers in the NHIS are now current, with no arrears being built up.



President Akufo-Addo added that it is the work of Ministers like Hon. Kwaku Agyemang Manu, and the brilliant, resourceful Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, that is restoring the health of our public finances, leaving rapidly behind us the era of corruption, incompetence, mismanagement and profligacy that sent us cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for relief.



We are going to make our public finances robust again, so we can pay our way in the world, like any self-respecting nation should, he added.



The President revealed that, within the short space of 9 months, Government has employed some 16,000 qualified young nurses and midwives and other health professionals, who, though qualified, had not found employment over the last few years.



Before the year ends, he assured further that additional nurses and midwives will be employed.



Next year, we plan to employ even more healthcare workers. To your colleagues in private nursing and midwifery training institutions, who have been at home for a number of years, next year our healthcare institutions will begin recruiting them, he added.



The aim of his government, he stressed, is to banish the spectre of nurses, midwives and health assistants who are not posted after completion of their courses.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The entire leadership and members of Ashanti regional NPP gleefully congratulate Henry Nana Boakye (NANA B) on his call to Bar.



As a group, we are proud of your modest achievements which include your academic prowess at the University. This tacitly chronicles the hard work and many sacrifices geared towards this feat.



Again you proved us right when you emerged as one of those to be called to the BAR when you passed the law school examinations in flying colours. This could not have being on a silver platter but a culmination of hard work. Indeed, you displayed class and brilliance.



Today we join your family, political associate, friends and well wishers in congratulating you for this worthy academic feat. You are indeed an adroit and inspiration to your generation.



As you journey into the murky waters of politics, we pray that this feat will be an added advantage to your political career since you have gain the brainpower to argue better on behalf of the youth in a constitutionally mandated court and not court of public opinion.



Congratulations on this wonderful achievement, Lawyer! The horizon leans forward, offering you space in our young democratic system which intertwines with judicial and legal framework.

An ASSERT you are, EXCELLENCE you should strive for.





Source: Peacefmonline









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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Celebrity lawyer, Maurice Ampaw says he will become Ghana's next President in 2024.



According to him, Every dream if pursued will enable that individual live a life full of fun and purpose.



Yes, I have a dream to become the President of Ghana in 2024. Speaking to an Accra-based radio station he said I will become president of Ghana in 2024.



He, however, could not tell if he will do that on a political partys ticket or go solo.



Growing up,I wanted to become a pastor but by twist of fate, I have ended up being a Lawyer, he added.





Source: Isaac Owusu/Peacefmonline









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the decision taken by him, in run up to the 2016 elections, to restore the nursing training allowances if he won the election was not mere political rhetoric, campaign talk, and neither was it meant to deceive nursing trainees in order to get their votes.



According to President Akufo-Addo, it was much more than that. We believed, and still believe, that Ghana needs all the nurses and healthcare workers she can get, if the nation is to have a solid, world class healthcare system, and we think it necessary to provide the relevant incentives to make that possible.



The President was speaking at the Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training College on Tuesday, 10th September, 2017, when he made this known, at the restoration of the nursing and midwifery training allowances.



Bemoaning the cancellation of the allowances, in 2014, by the government of the former President John Dramani Mahama, President Akufo-Addo noted that this singular action brought untold hardships to the thousands of nurses and midwives in the country, who depended on it for their studies and for their welfare.



The cancellation, according to the President, left many trainee nurses demotivated and demoralised.



The New Patriotic Party and I heard your cry, and assured you of the restoration of these allowances, if we won the election. By the grace of God, and by the generosity and trust of the Ghanaian people, I am here, today, as President of the Republic, ready to fulfill the pledge we made to you, he said, to a rousing applause from the packed auditorium of the school.



To this end, President Akufo-Addo stated that, for the 2017/2018 academic year, effective September, 2017, fifty eight thousand health trainees, comprising nurses and midwives, will be paid their allowance of four hundred Ghana cedis (GH400.00) per person, for each of the ten months of the academic year.



This means government will be spending a total of GH232,000,000 for this academic year. The E-Zwich platform will be used to effect payment, as it will ensure convenience, prompt payment, and accountability, he said.



The President continued, To the professional cynics and skeptics, those who have made an industry out of constantly asking is this policy sustainable?, I wish to assure them that, with the proper management of our public finances, the nations budget can accommodate such an amount.



The implementation of the Free SHS policy, on 12th September, 2017, he added, should be an indicator of the fact that leadership is about choices.



I have chosen to invest in the education and in the future of our young men and women, and I will use the blessings the Almighty has so amply bestowed on us to this end, he added.



The payment of the allowances, the President noted, would also not have been possible without the prudent management of the economy.



NHIS, Employment of nurses



It is the judicious application of resources, he explained, that is heralding the revival of the National Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has led to the payment of GH560 million out of the GH1.2 billion debt inherited from the Mahama administration, which was strangling the NHIS.



Government, he added, is committed to paying the balance within the next 12 months, indicating that in the meantime, payments to service providers in the NHIS are now current, with no arrears being built up.



President Akufo-Addo added that it is the work of Ministers like Hon. Kwaku Agyemang Manu, and the brilliant, resourceful Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, that is restoring the health of our public finances, leaving rapidly behind us the era of corruption, incompetence, mismanagement and profligacy that sent us cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for relief.



We are going to make our public finances robust again, so we can pay our way in the world, like any self-respecting nation should, he added.



The President revealed that, within the short space of 9 months, Government has employed some 16,000 qualified young nurses and midwives and other health professionals, who, though qualified, had not found employment over the last few years.



Before the year ends, he assured further that additional nurses and midwives will be employed.



Next year, we plan to employ even more healthcare workers. To your colleagues in private nursing and midwifery training institutions, who have been at home for a number of years, next year our healthcare institutions will begin recruiting them, he added.



The aim of his government, he stressed, is to banish the spectre of nurses, midwives and health assistants who are not posted after completion of their courses.

Source: http://presidency.gov.gh









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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HARRISBURG - 401.

It's a badge number that will never again be worn by a member of the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire. The badge bearing those numerals now hangs on the wall of the Pennsylvania National Fire Museum in Harrisburg, along with the other Harrisburg firefighters who died in the line of duty.

401 belonged to Lt. Dennis DeVoe.

"401, however, was more than just a number to Lt. DeVoe, and DeVoe was more than just a fire officer and a badge number to the city of Harrisburg," Fire Chief Brian Enterline said today. "401 will end its legacy with that great firefighter, fire officer, husband, father, son, and most of all, friend."

Enterline made his remarks during the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire's 2017 Awards Ceremony today. While many firefighters, decked out in their dress blues, received awards for their heroism and bravery over the last year, it was DeVoe's memory that hung over much of the event, as it still does in the memories of the firefighters, many of whom wore black ribbons on their badges.

And during the ceremony, DeVoe's wife, Amy DeVoe, added his name and badge to the Memorial Wall at the museum on North Fourth Street.

DeVoe was a 45-year-old father of four from Stewartstown when he died on March 11 from injuries suffered during a crash that occurred while responding to a fire the previous night.

And that fire at 2534 Lexington Street was a horrific one, claiming the lives of two young girls, 2-year-old Ashanti Hughes and 10-year-old Savannah Dominick. Savannah died six days later, having suffered serious injuries when she ran upstairs after the fire broke out to try to help the younger children.

Khanyae Kendall, the 19-year-old driver who broadsided DeVoe's vehicle, was intoxicated and driving a stolen vehicle, authorities say. And the fire itself kicked off an outcry over hover boards, one of which was blamed for the fire.

While today's ceremony was a happy event for firefighters to be recognized by their department in front of their families and city officials, it was also a somber occasion as they remembered DeVoe.

Firefighter Nick Lindsay received the Award of Heroism for helping save three victims of the Lexington Street fire. He climbed a ladder up the burning, three-story row home and carried the victims below to safety.

"It means a lot coming from the department and from what happened," Lindsay said after the ceremony. "It was a terrible night for the department and for the family that was there, as well."

It was the night that his friend and fellow firefighter DeVoe was killed, and though it still saddens him, he's pleased to see DeVoe's name on the Memorial Wall.

"It's a fantastic thing the museum has going here to be able to remember the people that gave up so much," he said. "You can come at any time and see their names and be reminded of what they stood for and what they did."

Firefighter Nate Martin received an Award of Heroism, as well. It's an award that means a lot to him because it comes from his last fire call with DeVoe.

"We successfully saved a man's life on Kittatinny Street," he said.

But it was more than his humble retelling. According to the reading of the event at the ceremony, Martin and DeVoe got to the home around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 2 and walked through a wall to pull the victim out.

As an extra reminder of what their job means, Martin got to meet that fire victim a few months later and was pleasantly surprised to see he was doing great, recovering from his injuries.

"It ended up being a pretty cool experience," he said. "It makes it more real when you get to see the person in their worst situation in life, and you get to see them on a better day."

DeVoe was posthumously awarded for that night, too.

"It's been a tough nine months or so," Martin said. "We're all grieving in our own way. We always seem to be reminded every day of what happened."

But he is proud to have that last memory - that successful rescue.

A few other examples of the heroism honored today include:

The Award of Bravery went to eight firefighters who saved two people trapped on the second floor of a fire on Barkley Lane in November. They are Capt. Glenn Sattizahn, Lt. Rob Lohin, Lt. Charles Zavrel, Lt. Corey Stone, and firefighters Thomas Cucchiara, Justin Flanders, David Schock and Jamie Kleckner.

Lt. Jeremy Saul, firefighters Dave Gilkey and Christopher Kalman and police Cpl. Eric Carter received the CPR award for saving a jogger who had a heart attack on Front and Walnut streets in July.

Also awarded for their bravery and merit for their efforts in the Lexington Street fire were firefighters John Matson, Justin Zimmerman, Kyle Bertin, Jeremiah Hoover, Will Turner, Leon Cliatt and Frederick Nevus.

And DeVoe, along with fellow firefighters Jeff Miller and Pat Fuller, received a Distinguished Unit Citation for freeing a worker at trapped under a large, steel pipe at Dura-Bond in Steelton last year.
The Dauphin County couple who allegedly robbed a man, bound him with duct tape and abandoned him in the woods are no strangers to the criminal justice system.

John William "JW" Williams, 47, served about half of a 30-year sentence in a Texas prison for a 1996 kidnapping conviction and two theft convictions.

No details were immediately available about the circumstances of the kidnapping, but one of the theft convictions involved an item valued at more than $20,000, according to Texas court records.

While on parole in 2011, prosecutors charged him with being a felon in possession of a handgun, resulting in a return to prison for about three years.

His girlfriend, Charmayne Patricia Maddy, 45, a former licensed practical nurse, meanwhile, was convicted in 2013 for possession of a controlled substance after prosecutors alleged she stole fentanyl from patches she removed from ill patients at nursing homes.

Her crimes risked injury and caused the patients in Montour County pain, police said, according to a report in the Daily Item newspaper. Maddy admitted to removing the patches and reaffixing them to patients, knowing she wasn't licensed to do so, police said, according to the article.

The state later revoked her nursing license, citing her dependence on narcotic drugs. She also lost custody of her four children.

Police arrested the couple Saturday in Cranberry Township after they spent five days on the run. It's unclear what brought them to Butler County, but acquaintances said the couple had previously traveled through Bucks County where they stayed at an unsuspecting relative's home.

They remained in Butler County Prison Monday night in lieu of $50,000 cash-only bonds.

State Police released few details of the recent crime that started in Cumberland County and ended in Perry County other than to report that the couple forced a man into their vehicle using a shotgun in the early hours of Oct. 2. They found him in an "abandoned" parking lot in Carlisle.

Police would not say how the pair knew the man or the circumstances or how they all came to be in the parking lot at the same time.

They allegedly drove the man to a desolate area along Miller's Gap Road in Rye Township, stripped some of his clothes and bound him with tape. Police said they took his keys, wallet and cell phone, and abandoned him.

The couple then used his debit card to remove cash from ATMS at various locations in Middlesex Township and Carlisle, according to police, as the victim lay in the woods.

The last known ATM transaction occurred between 5 and 6 a.m.

About an hour later, a hunter found the victim alive. Police provided no details about the victim's condition.

Police charged Maddy and Williams each with three felonies, including robbery and conspiracy, and two misdemeanors.

Both Williams and Maddy were relatively new to the Harrisburg area. Maddy wrote on her Facebook account that she moved to the area in January from Selinsgrove. She previously lived in Bristol.

Williams was released on parole in Texas in September 2013 and appears to have moved to the Harrisburg-area last year. He noted on his Facebook page last June that he started attending Harrisburg Area Community College, where he studied hospitality management.

He also started dating Maddy last summer.

Williams began a job in the kitchen at the Lancaster Brewing Company this spring and about a month after he was hired, the restaurant hired Maddy to work as a server

They both resigned their jobs, however, a few months later.

Williams then took a laborer job constructing townhomes in Chambersburg. He impressed his bosses as being polite, but soon quit that position to work a construction job closer to Harrisburg.

It's unclear if Maddy had a job recently.

PennLive is working to find out more about the case, so check back for updates.
By WALLACE McKELVEY | WMcKelvey@pennlive.com

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TO BORROW a turn of phrase from the late, great Yogi Berra, Pennsylvanias experiencing deja vu all over again.

In the recent past, the state has gone days or weeks without a compromise on spending and taxes. In 2015, it went more than eight months without a fully fledged budget.

Now, four months into the current fiscal year, the Republican-led Legislature has signed off on $32 billion in spending with no plan to pay for it. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, let that spending bill lapse into law without his signature.

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With no end to the impasse in sight and no agreement with the Legislature, Wolf plans to borrow $1.2 billion against future revenue from the state-run liquor system and generate a possible $200 million from leasing the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex.

Ive had enough games, the governor said, during a press conference last week where he vented his frustration.

Heres the thing: It doesnt have to be this way.

Heres a look at how the system worksfor better and worsein other states.

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'Legislative Paycheck Protection Act'

California provides its lawmakers with a tremendous incentive to pass a budget on time. State law doesnt provide for a temporary or stop-gap budget if a final budget isnt passed by the established deadline. In the event legislators blow through that deadline, they dont get paid.

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"It's not a budget bill, it's the Legislative Paycheck Protection Act," one lawmaker told the AP as California passed a last-minute budget this year. Negotiators went all the way to midnight. That clever budgetary lever was the result of a 2010 proposition passed by California voters.

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Call 'em back to work

During the 2015-16 impasse, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a hurriedly passed budget with extensive line-item vetoes. At the time, he scolded the Legislative Republicans for leaving Harrisburg after quickly passing a budget he considered to be "garbage." At a press conference last week, he said, "they simply left town without doing their job." Beyond the bully pulpit, however, he didn't have much at his disposal to remedy that grievance.

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If Wolf was the chief executive of Missouri, however, he would have the option of calling lawmakers back to the Capitol in Jefferson City for a special session. In fact, that state's governor can reconvene a special session on virtually any topic for up to 60 days.

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The Pennsylvania governor does have the power to convene and adjourn the Legislature, although it's not clear if the failure to pass a budget would qualify as an "extraordinary occasion" as outlined by in the state constitution. Here's the full language: "He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly, and in case of disagreement between the two Houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not exceeding four months. He shall have power to convene the Senate in extraordinary session by proclamation for the transaction of Executive business."

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Shut it down (again)

In 22 states, a missed budget deadline means that a wide array of government services stop, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thousands of state employees not critical to public health or safety are furloughed, parks close to campers and hunters and DMVs stop issuing drivers licenses. Those consequences put real pressure on budget negotiators.

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In the wake of a series of mass furloughs, the last of which took place in 2009, Pennsylvania has largely forestalled such a shutdown. In 2007, the one-day furlough of 24,000 public employees resulted in about $3.5 million in lost wages that were eventually still paid. Since then, more and more employees are labeled "essential" and most appropriations have essentially continued on autopilot since June 30.

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No more fuzzy math

Pennsylvania has a long history of fuzzy math with its revenue projections  and virtually everything else. Both sides inevitably claim the other is overinflating the money that will come into the coffers from any given program or utilizing accounting tricks to balance the budget. Those disputes resulted in the creation of the Independent Fiscal Office, which weighs in with its own analysis.

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Unlike Pennsylvania, however, 25 other states include a consensus revenue forecast as part of their formal budget process, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). In practice, that means creating bipartisan panels or recruiting disinterested third parties to review the states finances.

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In Vermont, the executive and legislative branchs economists must come together for their revenue estimates, which are then voted on by a special board that includes the governor and legislators. Virginia gathers together staffers from its House, Senate and the states Department of Taxation for its estimates. Massachusetts, for another example, holds a consensus revenue hearing.

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A two-year budget?

A biennial budget is another oft-proffered idea to ease Pennsylvanias budget strains. According to NASBO, 20 states have adopted a two-year budget cycle that generally puts a halt to constant maneuvering over the budget. Many of those states, however, also pass a supplemental budget in the second year to cover expenses or revenues not anticipated in the year prior.

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Arizona has a kind of hybrid process, in which the largest agencies submit annual budgets while other smaller departments continue on the two-year schedule. Hawaii, according to NASBO, is biennial in name only; despite what its Constitution says, the budgets are negotiated every year. In Maine, the governor can choose to submit an emergency appropriation bill in off years.

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Balanced budget requirement

Although lawmakers and politicos often argue about what it means to have a balanced budget, nearly all states require one. In all, according to NASBO, 44 states require the governor to submit a balanced budget while 40 require the final signed budget to be balanced. Eleven states allow a deficit in special circumstances.

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Arkansas, for example, requires the governor to submit a balanced budget but makes no such demand on its Legislature. Louisiana will call a special session if a mid-year budget deficit isnt resolved within 30 days. It also requires any deficits at the end of the year to be resolved in the next budget. In Wisconsin, any deficit carried over must be corrected in the next budget cycle. Of course, Wisconsin has its own history of budget impasses.

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A limit on tax increases?

Twenty-eight states have tax and expenditure limitations that restrict the growth of government spending from one year to the next. Of those, nine were created as a result of a ballot initiative voted by residents. Often, these limits are not a concrete figure but are tied to growth in the states average personal income or inflation rates. In essence, these limits mean that governors and legislators still debate tax increases but the cap is already set by some factor thats out of their control.

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A 1992 law has meant that Rhode Island must direct 3 percent of revenues into a rainy day fund. Oklahoma requires a public vote to increase taxes. New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas all limit appropriations to growth in personal income.

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Pennsylvania, however, isnt the only state to have serious budget issues this year. Illinois went a full 793 daysfrom July 1, 2015 through Aug. 31, 2017without completing a state budget. The stalemate between its Republican governor and a Democrat-controlled Legislature wore on through two separate fiscal years and threatened to continue through a third.

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Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (pictured above, in an AP file photo), a businessman who took office in 2015, has pushed for property-tax relief and more restrictions on unions. The state faced a roughly $6 billion deficit with a $130 billion pension liability. Like Pennsylvania, Illinois saw multiple credit downgrades due to its budget woes.

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Connecticut, meanwhile, is currently in the throes of its own budget stalemate and it hasn't even passed half of a budget, the way Pennsylvania did. Democrats hold slim margins in the Legislature there. Eight Dems, five in the House and three in the Senate, broke with their party to back a GOP budget in September but that's not enough to override Democratic Gov. Dannell Malloy's veto.

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So what does it all mean?

Failing to balance the budget could lead to more credit downgrades, which will make it more difficult (and more costly) for the state to borrow money. Further down the line, it may imperil nonprofits and schools that rely on the state--or at least the assurance that the state will eventually come through--for their own budget plans.

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In case you missed it, PennLive opinions editor John Micek took to the whiteboard last week to explain how we got here. You may also want to check out my colleague Charles Thompson's 2015 video, where he breaks out some wonderful metaphors. (A few details are outdated but the broader ideas haven't changed since then.)

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Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook.

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Read more about the budget

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Read more from Wallace McKelvey
The father of a 20-year-old Pittsburgh student broke into his daughter's room at an off-campus home to find her dead Sunday morning, according to Associated Press reports.

Alina Sheykhet was the victim of head trauma and her death has been ruled a homicide. Her ex-boyfriend, Matthew Darby, is sought for questioning following Sheykhet's death. He has not been charged, police said.

She was to have celebrated her brother Artem's 25 birthday Sunday morning with her family. Her father kicked in the door to her room after going to pick her up at her home on the 3500 block of Cable Place. Sheykhet was bruised and badly beaten, authorities said. She was later pronounced dead at the scene from what has been determined to be blunt force trauma.

Sheykhet was studying to be a physical therapist, according to the AP report. She attended high school in a Robinson Township outside of Pittsburgh after moving from Ivanovo, Russia.

Matthew Darby

Sheykhet tried to break up with Darby when she transferred from Pitt's Greensburg campus to the main campus, according to a KDKA report. Darby's efforts to maintain a relationship with Sheykhet persisted, taking a dark turn when police said he broke into her home Sept. 20.

Darby faces a felony criminal trespass charge for the incident. In the PFA subsequently filed against Darby, Sheykhet said repeatedly grabbed, pushed and subjected her to abuse, as well as being controlling and jealous, according to the report.

The night before Sheykhet's death, a party was reported at the Oakland home where she lived, with about 30 people in attendance. Pittsburg police Chief Schott Schubert said authorities do not believe Sheykhet's death was a random act of violence and did comment on the matter further.

The university issued a statement expressing sadness and extending "its deepest sympathies to the student's family and those who knew her."

Anyone with information as to Darby's whereabouts is asked to contact Pittsburgh police at 412-323-7800.
Activists may have lost the legal battle against the the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, but on Monday they began their "non-violent mass action" in Lancaster County.

From 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Oct. 9, Lancaster Against Pipelines activists blocked access to pipeline construction space on Whitmer Road near Safe Harbor in Manor Township. Around 35 people in 18 vehicles blocked access to a road in Manor Township Monday morning, according to an LNP report.

Police were called to the scene but no citations or arrests happened. The demonstration halted when police ordered protestors to stop, according to the report, which also noted that no work was done because of the weather.

Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Williams Partners permission to begin construction on the 197-mile stretch of the $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in Pennsylvania. Protesters in Lancaster County have fought against the 37-mile portion of the pipeline that will pass through parts of the county, but ultimately lost legally and with the sale of land where demonstrations were staged.

The organization has a legal defense fund, should it's members encounter need bail money during any protest. Anti-pipeline organizers said they will continue non-violent action to preserve clean air and water, describing the pipeline's impact on the 350 waterways crossed, 250 wetlands bisected, 44 interior forests permanently fragmented, and violated 41 preserved farms and scores of Native American heritage sites.

Future plans for demonstrations had not been released at the time of this post.

Here are some pics from our action this morning- We began at 6AM and went til 1030- blocking access to the pipeline... Posted by Lancaster Against Pipelines on Monday, October 9, 2017

Posted by Lancaster Against Pipelines on Monday, October 9, 2017
Sen. Bob Casey is among the first Democrats to donate campaign money from embattled film producer Harvey Weinstein to women's shelters.

A New York Times story recently revealed that Weinstein, the co-founder of Miramax and one of the biggest donors to Democratic campaigns, sexually harassed women for decades.

Weinstein reached settlements with at least eight women amid a culture of silence and persistent harassment, according to the report.

Working for Mr. Weinstein could mean getting him out of bed in the morning and doing "turndown duty" late at night, preparing him for sleep. Like the colleague cited in Ms. O'Connor's memo, some junior employees required to perform those tasks said they were disturbing.

In interviews, eight women described varying behavior by Mr. Weinstein: appearing nearly or fully naked in front of them, requiring them to be present while he bathed or repeatedly asking for a massage or initiating one himself. The women, typically in their early or middle 20s and hoping to get a toehold in the film industry, said he could switch course quickly -- meetings and clipboards one moment, intimate comments the next. One woman advised a peer to wear a parka when summoned for duty as a layer of protection against unwelcome advances.

Another excerpt in the story described the situation further:

I am a 28 year old woman trying to make a living and a career. Harvey Weinstein is a 64 year old, world famous man and this is his company. The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.

-- From Lauren O'Connor's memo

Since those words were first shared by the New York Times on Thursday, Democrats have been retroactively rejecting Weinstein's campaign donations.

Casey looked back to 2006 coffers and saw $2,190 received from Weinstein in the form of one $2,100 donation and three $30 donations. Those contributions were received during his first U.S. Senate campaign.

On Friday, a day after the bombshell report on Weinstein, Casey donated $2,190 to the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, according to Max Steele, senior communications advisor for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

But state Republicans say the state Democratic Party, as a whole, needs to do more.

The Republican Party of Pennsylvania on Monday called on the state Democrats to return all "dirty Harvey Weinstein cash," referring to a $5,000 donation in 2010.

"Sadly, the Pennsylvania Democrats have failed to denounce their donor's disgusting behavior and are unapologetic about accepting cash from serial sexual harasser Harvey Weinstein - the dirty money must be returned immediately, not funneled to liberal special interest groups," Greg Manz, spokesman for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, said in an email.

Democratic senators across the country are announcing plans to donate Weinstein contributions to nonprofits, especially those that advocate for women who have been sexually abused.

Sen. Al Franken is giving $19,600 to the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is giving $14,200 to women's groups.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is giving $11,800 to RAINN.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is giving $5,000 to Boston nonprofit Casa Myrna.

Sen. Cory Booker is giving $7,800 to the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

The Democratic National Committee is also donating Weinstein contributions, with their contributions headed to three women's groups: Emerge America, EMILY's List and Higher Heights.

Those organizations are help women get elected, drawing some criticisim from some Republicans who say the money should go to organizations that help victims of sexual abuse.

The DNC is also being criticized for donating just $30,000.

Weinstein has given the DNC about $250,000 through the years, according to The Hill.
A student from Temple University was shot and killed by police in Miami Beach after the car she was driving struck an officer in what appeared to be an attempt to flee the scene of an accident.

Philly.com identified the student as 22-year-old Cariann Hithon.

"We are saddened to just be learning of the death of Cariann Hithon, a transfer student majoring in political science," said Temple spokesman Brandon Lausch in an email to Philly.com on Monday night. "As we gather more information and assess our community's needs for support, we send our thoughts and prayers to her family and friends."

Statement regarding the tragic event in Miami that led to the loss of our own Cariann Denise Hithon. pic.twitter.com/Ua8lDhk4bn  Temple Student Government (@TempleTSG) October 10, 2017

Hithon, of Bowie, Md., was driving a black BMW with a male passenger on Sunday when she struck two vehicles, according to the Miami Herald. Her vehicle then ran a red light and crashed into a vehicle driven by a retired homicide detective.

As a crowd gathered around the crashed BMW, the vehicle sped forward and struck an officer. Another officer then fired three shots into the vehicle, and it came to a stop down the street. Hithon was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

An eyewitness captured video of the incident as it played out. This video contains graphic content.

Police said the officer struck by the BMW "lost consciousness at the scene" and was in stable condition at a hospital with a head injury and possible internal injuries.

Update: Officer injured is expected to be ok. https://t.co/VT7ZkVSrvw  Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) October 9, 2017

Hithon's father told the Miami Herald that she recently transferred from Hampton University in Virginia to Temple University and expected to graduate with a degree in political science this spring. Hithon then planned to attend law school.
This undated photo provided by Texas Tech University shows Hollis Daniels. A Texas Tech University police officer has been shot and killed at the campus police headquarters, prompting a lockdown of the campus on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. University spokesman Chris Cook says campus police brought Daniels, suspected of drug violations to police headquarters on Monday. The suspect pulled a gun and shot an officer in the head, killing him and then fled on foot and has not been captured, according to Cook. (Texas Tech University via AP)
FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2016, file photo, a sign calling attention to the loss of jobs blamed on the lack of water is displayed near Lemoore, Calif. The powerful Metropolitan Water District voted Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 to pay its share of the $16 billion project to build two massive tunnels to pipe water from Northern California to Southern California cities. The vote gives Gov. Jerry Brown's ambitious project an important boost of support after an influential agricultural group withdrew its support last month. The tunnels, which have been discussed in one form or another for generations, would pipe water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Ai where Sierra Nevada water flows toward the sea Ai to a system of canals that deliver water to farms and residents mostly in the southern half of the state. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2017, file photo, a patron of a Grand Crossing neighborhood car wash finishes off cleaning his car next to several Norfolk Southern train locomotives in Chicago. A suburban Chicago mother of seven is accused of urging Facebook followers to kill a gang member-turned-FBI mole for his role in a sting that put an associate of hers behind bars on charges he tried to sell semi-automatic rifles stolen from a freight train that had stopped overnight at the Norfolk Southern yard on Sept. 18, 2016, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast File)
By Bruce Stanley and Debjit Chakraborty

ABU DHABI/DELHI

Petroleumworld 10 10 2017

Oil producers are succeeding in re-balancing an oversupplied market, though they may need to take further steps to sustain the recovery into 2018, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said.

Saudi Arabia and Russia are currently leading consultations between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major suppliers about the future of their agreement to cut oil output, Barkindo said Sunday in New Delhi. The pact expires in March, and oil producers are debating whether to extend it later into the year.

There is a growing consensus that, number one, the re-balancing process is underway, he said after meeting with Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Number two, to sustain this into next year, some extraordinary measures may have to be taken in order to restore this stability on a sustainable basis going forward.

Barkindo didn't elaborate on what those additional measures could be and if they would include the main proposal currently on the table -- an extension of the existing cuts by up to nine months -- or something else. Venezuela has suggested making deeper cuts, but that's considered unlikely given the political challenges of getting all members to agree unanimously.

OPEC and allied producers agreed in December to pare output to clear a glut and bolster oil prices. The cuts have helped revive crude, which had fallen to half its 2014 peak. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week said the country is open to extending the cut deal to the end of 2018. OPEC plans to meet on Nov. 30 to assess the market and its production policy.

Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half of the world's oil, was little changed at $55.32 a barrel by 10:43 a.m. in London. Prices fell 3.3 percent last week, the steepest weekly drop since June, and are down about 2 percent this year.

The 24 producers that agreed to pump less oil are looking forward to welcoming additional participants in the accord, Barkindo said, without identifying any possible newcomers. At the moment, there is no talk of an extraordinary meeting beyond the session scheduled for next month in Vienna, he said.

United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said he's optimistic that the next OPEC meeting will lead to a consensus between the group and its non-OPEC partners that will help balance the market in 2018, according to a tweet. The production cuts have led to a decline in crude inventories and a better balance in the oil market, he said.
Alex Bekker, M.D., at a hearing in February. He chairs a health panel investigating expanding the number of ailments and conditions covered under the NJ Medical Marijuana program. Read more

Five months ago, a New Jersey health panel voted in favor of dramatically expanding the list of conditions that may be treated with cannabis. Chronic pain, Alzheimer's, autism, anxiety, migraines, and other maladies should be added to the list of 13 ailments, said the panel of doctors and other health professionals.

Before the panel reached this decision, it reviewed petitions submitted by 68 patients a year ago, and then held three hearings. At these hearings, patients pleaded for the right to use cannabis to alleviate various ailments. Many confided that they had tried cannabis and wanted to be able to use it legally because it had helped.

But it doesn't appear a new list will be adopted soon.

The state Department of Health now says the panel must hold another meeting  to take a vote that would finalize its first vote. That's scheduled for Oct. 25, according to Alex Bekker, chairman of the Medicinal Marijuana Review Panel. "We just have to go through the voting," he said. "The majority of the panel believes it's the right treatment."

Then, the health commissioner has up to six months to decide whether to approve the panel's recommendation.

Gov. Christie, who appointed Commissioner Cathleen D. Bennett, has long been opposed to adding to the list of ailments covered by medical marijuana. Last year, he reluctantly signed a bill that allowed post-traumatic stress disorder to be added.

New Jersey's marijuana program is considered one of the most stringent of the 29 states with such programs. Other states allow cannabis to be used for chronic pain and autism, as will Pennsylvania when it rolls out its medical marijuana program next year.

Here are some questions and answers about the New Jersey program.

How many patients are in N.J.s program?

About 14,600 patients are enrolled in the state's nearly eight-year-old program. An estimated 200,000 more could qualify for cannabis if the new ailments are added.

What ailments are on N.J.s list now?

Multiple sclerosis; terminal cancer; muscular dystrophy; inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease; terminal illness; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; seizure disorder, including epilepsy; intractable skeletal muscular spasticity; glaucoma; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); positive status for human immunodeficiency virus; acquired immune deficiency syndrome; cancer, if the treatment causes pain or other complications.

In some cases, a doctor must certify that conventional treatments failed, before he or she can recommend cannabis.

What new conditions is the panel recommending for inclusion?

The panel voted, 5-1, in favor of opening the door to patients with 43 new conditions. For starters, the panel says cannabis should be available to treat chronic pain arising from surgeries, injuries, back and neck problems, and other medical problems. Chronic pain is defined by the Cleveland Clinic as pain that lasts longer than six months.

Other ailments the panel is recommending for inclusion are migraines, anxiety, opiate-use disorder, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, autism, Tourette syndrome, sciatica, diabetes, neuropathy, Lyme disease, lupus, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and pancreatitis.

What does N.J.s marijuana law say about adding new conditions?

The law is nearly eight years old, and one year after the marijuana program was implemented, patients should have had the opportunity to submit petitions to a health panel to request that conditions be added. But the Department of Health delayed creating the health panel until March 2016, effectively preventing any petitions before then. The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey submitted one anyway, in 2014, saying the commissioner has discretion to add conditions to the list anytime. The petition  suggesting PTSD be included  was rejected.

Why did it take more than a year for the panel to vote on the petitions?

Petitioners were required to provide reasons, answer questions, attach scientific research papers, and submit letters of recommendation from physicians before submitting their requests, which were due at the end of August 2016. The petitions then were posted online, and the health department invited public comment. The panel then had to hold two hearings to take more comment. After the panel took a vote on the petitions at a May hearing, it was told by the health department that it had to hold yet another hearing in September and take a final vote in October.

When patient advocates complained at the September hearing about the lengthy process, Bekker said: "I want to emphasize that this panel has nothing to do with the timing of this legislative process." Bekker, who is head of anesthesiology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, said later: "It's not up to me.  It's the policy and procedures of the health department."

Who else is on the panel?

Stewart A. Berkowitz, a radiation oncologist who served on the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners; Jessica Anne Scerbo, a pediatric hematology/oncology attending physician; Petros Levounis, chair of the department of psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a former director of the Addiction Institute of New York at Columbia University; Stephanie Zarus, a pharmacist who is a consultant for health-care companies; Mary L. Johansen, a registered nurse and clinical associate professor at Rutgers-Newark; and Mary M. Bridgeman, a pharmacist who teaches at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

What is the commissioners position on adding new conditions?

Bennett has not responded to requests for an interview, but a health department spokesperson said in an email: "The commissioner has to review the recommendations and rule on them, so the department has no comment at this time."

What will happen to medical marijuana if N.J. legalizes marijuana for recreational use?

There are several bills that outline how marijuana could be legalized, but it is unclear which, if any, would win approval of the legislature and the signature of the next governor after Christie leaves office next year. Christie has vowed to veto any such legislation.

Recent polls say a majority of New Jersey residents favor legalization, and lawmakers are working to get a bill on the desk of the next governor as soon as next year. Some lawmakers say the medical marijuana program would continue and would offer patients a bigger tax break on marijuana purchases than consumers who buy it for recreation.
When it comes to online social networking sites like LinkedIn, it is the quality  not the quantity  of your connections that counts. Read more

Before online social networks came along, finding a job was often a matter of who you knew.

The digital age hasn't debunked that conventional wisdom. But it has deluded some into believing that having hundreds of connections on LinkedIn or other professional social networks will make their next job search quicker and more successful.

If you think that's the case, Rahul Telang, who teaches information systems and management at Carnegie Mellon University, has some news: It's the quality of your connections  not the quantity  that counts.

"It's OK to have a large network," Telang said. "But realize that it's only a certain part of your network, people who you know well  those are the people who are going to be very helpful."

Telang and Rajiv Garg of the University of Texas analyzed how unemployed people used their social networks in their searches for jobs and how effective those strategies were.

They found the strongest connections on LinkedIn and other career-related online networks generated the most success in finding leads for jobs, landing interviews, and ultimately getting job offers. Strong connections are more likely to go to bat for you, calling employers on your behalf, and helping you get your foot in the door, Telang said.

Their study, based on a survey of 424 jobseekers, was published in Management Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

"Strong ties play a positive role in all aspects of job search  however, weak ties are mostly ineffective in generating job outcomes," they wrote.

The average job hunter in their sample had 99 LinkedIn connections. But a 2014 study found that 41 percent of LinkedIn users had over 500 connections and that 15 percent reported having more than 1,000. Telang said the career-related networks make it easy to pile up the connections. That makes some users overestimate the value of their network.

"It's very easy to build your network. It's just a mouse click away. But the value of that connection is not very large," he said.

So what does Telang do when he gets an electronic message from someone he scarcely knows asking to connect on LinkedIn?

"I just say yes most of the time," he admits. "But when I'm looking for a job, it is highly unlikely that I'll reach out to these people."

Teland and Garg found that "weak connections are not as useful as users perceive them to be."

"What our research suggests is that while these connections might provide other useful information, they are not very useful for job outcomes," they write in their study.

Telang's advice to job hunters: Spend more time cultivating and working with your strong connections and invest less time in your tenuous connections.
Flamenco star Belen Maya leads a class at Drexel. She will dance her one-woman show, Romnia, for two performances this weekend. Read more

Belen Maya is flamenco royalty. Her parents  Spaniards Mario Maya and Carmen Mora  were celebrated dancers, and Maya herself is renowned for her traditional and experimental choreography. Born in New York City, where her father's troupe was on tour, Maya was raised in Spain. Now in her late 40s, she has lived in Seville for many years.

This weekend at Drexel, she will make her Philadelphia debut  performing Romnia, a one-woman show that explores the lives of seven Roma ("gypsy") women. Experimental flourishes include non-Spanish music, a passage danced in wooden shoes, audience participation, and a brief suggestion of nudity (beneath a sheer floor-length black dress that Maya wears at one point).

Maya is tiny but intense and speaks fluent English. In an interview last week on the Drexel campus, she talked about her reluctance to follow in her parents' footsteps, how her bisexuality is received in this ultratraditional dance form, and the surprising power of Balkan folk music. These are edited excerpts.

How did you become a flamenco dancer?

Originally, I wanted to be a Spanish-English translator and a writer. Although I liked watching my parents on stage, I wasn't interested in doing flamenco. And after my parents' divorce, I lived with my mother, who didn't want me to become a flamenco dancer.

But my mom died when I was 14, and, after that, dancing was how I felt I could be in contact with her. So I rediscovered flamenco. I also reconnected with my dad and joined his company. My dad was a wonderful teacher and mentor. He taught me a lot about how to put flamenco on stage, and how to create innovative choreography.

You talk a lot about other experimental flamenco dancers, such as Israel Galvan and Rocio Molina. How has working with them affected you?

Israel was in my father's company, so I've known him a long time, and it was wonderful to be in his latest show. I'm so in awe of his work that, when he asked if I could dance in wooden clogs, I said, "Sure!" without a moment's hesitation. And when he asked if I could also dance naked, I said, "Sure!" I spent months in those wooden shoes and decided to include them in Romnia.

In our own work, both Rocio and I protest the way that women in flamenco are stereotyped and objectified. I am bisexual, and I said so openly some time ago  which is still shocking in the world of flamenco. But now there is also Rocio, who is openly queer. In Romnia, I also explore nudity  which is definitely forbidden within the Roma community, and still unusual within flamenco. Rocio Molina uses nudity, as well.

How did you come to create Romnia?

My mom wasn't Roma, so I wasn't in touch with those roots, growing up. But during my father's final illness, we grew close, and I became fascinated by Roma history and culture.

Three years ago, the flamenco scholar Joaquin Lopez Bustamante suggested that I create a show concerning the Roma. But I said no because I didn't know enough. Then he sent me some recordings of Balkan folk-dance music from different countries  Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic  and I loved it. The music was so powerful. So I decided to create a show based on the roles women play in Roma and flamenco culture, using traditional Balkan music.

This is my first one-woman show. At first, I was worried. Would I be able to keep up my energy, to do this whole hour-long piece by myself? But it's fine, partly because I had a great woman director, Marilia Samper.

Tell me more about Romnia. What happens in these different segments?

First, I play a Roma goddess  like the Amazons, women warriors who are independent and unafraid of their bodies. Then I embody a present-day Roma woman who has suffered physical and emotional abuse. Next, there's the "circus" segment, inspired by the colorful patterns and textures Roma women like to wear.

The most dramatic part of Romnia is about a Roma woman during the Holocaust in World War II. There's also a scene in which I invite audience members to join me on stage.

In the final section, I wear an enormous ruffled white dress and a tiara. The over-the-top wedding is still the biggest symbol of Romani culture. But I wanted to "break the code" between Romani families and outsiders, so I present the bride as drunk.

Romnia includes recorded voice-overs  in Spanish. Is this an issue for foreign audiences?

I created Romnia to be performed in the street during the Seville Biennale of Flamenco. Since then, I have danced it in many theaters, in various countries. I want the audience to understand what's being said, so in Philadelphia there will be English translations in the program.

Some time ago, I performed Romnia in Switzerland. After the show, a woman came up to me, crying. She said, "I felt things I've never felt before." And that's the point of art. I'm tired of just being "pretty" on stage, or doing things that are technically impressive. There's not a lot of flamenco movement in Romnia, but my soul, my energy is flamenco. I want the audience to experience that and to leave the theater feeling changed.

Belen Maya's Romnia

Performances 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Drexel's URBN Black Box Theater, 3401 Filbert St.

Tickets: $25 ($15 for students).

Information: 215-895-1029 or drexel.edu/westphal/news-events.

Maya will also present a free public lecture and demonstration 7 p.m. Thursday at Drexel's Mandell Theater, 3220 Chestnut St.
For an actual seance, many of us might need a little openness or suspended disbelief  but few such mental calisthenics will be required to enjoy the comic misfortunes in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. The Hedgerow Theatre kicks off its season with a buoyant production that breathes new vision into this 1941 classic.

Socialite and author Charles Condomine (Jared Reed) and his second wife, Ruth (Jennifer Summerfield), invite the spiritualist Madame Arcati (Penelope Reed) to their home for a seance. Charles wants material for his newest book; Ruth and her friends Doctor Bradman (Michael Fuchs) and his wife (Stacy Skinner) seek an amusing way to spend the evening. All get more than they bargained for when Arcati's trance materializes the ghost of Elvira (Maryruth Stine), Charles' temperamental first wife. Over two and a half hours (broken by two generous intermissions), Stine's Elvira floats around the house angelically, enticing Charles, annoying Ruth, and confusing their already befuddled housekeeper, Edith (Susan Wefel).

From the start, Carly L. Bodnar's direction rushes through the chatty first act, leaving Reed pressed for time to deliver his deliciously witty role. On the whole, however, that pace is a good thing. When Arcati arrives, Penelope Reed's exuberance pops open the humor as though it were a magnum of Dom Perignon: She whirls about spouting cliches, ends each sentence with exclamations, and elicits laughs with her contorted postures. Her humor and Wefel's more understated gags furnish a wide range of comic styles.

Justin Baker's outstanding lighting design uses small-budget effects to evoke supernatural hilarity, and Sarah Mitchell's smart costumes range from Charles' dapper blue-grey suit to the vibrant colors of Acati's headband and waistband. Shaun Yates' set and Grey Kelsey's props evoke a home somewhat less rich than one owned by a wealthy couple who can socialize in London and afford two servants. This is but a minor blemish before Act 1 steams into full swing.

Coward called all these characters unlikable, but Bodnar's direction gives the main characters attractive qualities. Moments of genuine affection dot the dialogue of Act 2 as all three sides in this love triangle navigate grief and remorse. In moments of quiet sincerity, Reed invites deserving sympathy. As the two wives, Stine and Summerfield conjure in moving ways with love reluctantly requited.

Like most of Coward's work, Blithe Spirit contains his signature flippancy. If the departed possessed voices, they too would laugh, and yet they might also pause to appreciate how both time and the Hedgerow have infused an endearing quality into this seven-decades-old masterwork.

Blithe Spirit. Through Oct. 29 at the Hedgerow Theatre Company, 64 Rose Valley Rd., Rose Valley. Tickets start at $20. Information: 610-565-4211 or hedgerowtheatre.org
Not everyone in Dina Buno's world understood why she agreed to let cameras follow her around Philadelphia for more than a year. But they'll get it after watching the documentary that shares her name, a jarring but exultant reminder that life is what you make it.

"A lot of people were skeptical of me  why are you putting yourself out there?" says the 50-year-old Glenside resident. "But I go with my gut. I knew it would be positive. I'm a strong woman and I believe in doing what you love."

That confidence is the unflappable engine that powers Dina, the second feature from directors Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini. Billed as a "a real-life romantic comedy," it hones in on the oh-so-Philly courtship of Buno and her now-husband Scott Levin, from SEPTA bus rides and Jersey Shore day trips to their Tiffany Diner nuptials and honeymoon in the Poconos.

It is very romantic and very funny, but it's the "real-life" portion of that descriptor that works hardest. Buno and Levin are members of the neurodiverse community, which encompasses those on the autism spectrum, as well as individuals with Asperger syndrome and a multitude of other neurological differences. As the film progresses, we slowly learn that outgoing, outspoken Buno, in addition to battling many barriers bundled with her status, struggles daily to overcome a heart-rending past tarnished by death and violence.

Authentic neurodiverse perspectives  particularly as they pertain to universal topics like love, loss, and relationships  have never been easy to find on screen. Sickles, 29, kept that in mind as he embarked upon a personal project that won the grand jury prize for a U.S. documentary at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

"When you're pushed to the margins of society, it demands that you create your own politics," says the Upper Dublin High School and NYU grad, who now lives in Paris. "You find your own way to live as truthfully and honestly as you can, knowing that a lot of your existence is framed by this diagnosis."

Sickles had a serious leg up when it came to capturing Buno at her realest  she knew his father before Sickles was born. The late Edward Sickles taught special education for years at Abington High School, first getting to know Buno as a student in the early 1980s. Through mentorship and neurodiverse support groups like the Abington Aktion Club, which the elder Sickles founded, Buno became an honorary member of the Sickles clan, babysitting Dan and attending his school plays. Buno remembers times when she would call the Sickles home, looking to connect with Ed for advice. "If he wasn't available, [a young Dan] would say, 'Why don't you talk to me?' " recalls Buno. "That's how mature he was."

The Aktion Club, which we see gathering for meetings early in the doc, was the initial narrative focus for Sickles and Santini, NYU friends whose award-winning 2014 debut, Mala Mala, took viewers inside the transgender community of Santini's native Puerto Rico. "We were definitely trying to figure out what the best thing to ground it would be," says Santini. When Buno surprised Sickles with the news that she was engaged to Levin, years after her first husband, John, had died from cancer, they knew they had their hook.

"She was opening herself to the possibility of finding love again," says Sickles. "That takes a lot of courage for anybody, but people like Dina aren't lended that sort of consideration  that they can be brave role models."

Filming, which lasted from the summer of 2015 to the fall of the following year, saw Sickles and Santini shadow Buno and Levin in their local day-to-day activities. They ended up with 550 hours of raw footage. Aside from ravishing cinematography that turns Levin's early-morning SEPTA commute into an irreverent action sequence and makes the Neshaminy Mall parking lot pop like an oil painting, the most palpable technical aspect of Dina is how remarkably unobtrusive Sickles and Santini remain throughout. With the couple as our tour guides, we sit as silent eavesdroppers on the private conversations all of us have but none of us broadcast. Unremarkable nail salons, bowling alleys, and NJ Transit depots transform into raw confessional booths where Buno and Levin air their most most human hopes and insecurities  including plenty of frank talk about sex, a topic rarely discussed with this level of candor by anyone, let alone neurodiverse people.

"I've heard people say what they found so surprising about the movie is how unfiltered they are," says Sickles. "The other way of looking at that is how filtered we are. We're animals of deception and evasion and mask-wearing. Dina and Scott are the opposite."

Dina had its local premiere at the Kimmel Center on Monday night, a red-carpet event attended by the filmmakers, stars, and a large contingent of family, friends, and coworkers. For Buno, however, it's the feedback from people she doesn't know that charges her up the most. Though her instincts correctly surmised her story would resonate with the neurodiverse community, meeting these admirers face to face at screenings and film festivals has been fulfilling. Parents of neurodiverse children, in particular, have been going out of their way to commend Buno for her attitude and resilience.

"They want to learn more about my life  they're thrilled I'm giving [them] hope," says Buno, newly motivated to expand her career as a public speaker. "I'm not a label. I'm a human being."
Overall, almost half of all pregnancies and 75 percent of pregnancies in women over 40 years of age are unplanned. If you dont want to become pregnant, using effective birth control until you are truly menopausal is very important. (Mark Aplet/Dreamstime/TNS) Read more

On Friday, the Trump administration announced new regulations governing contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The rules will make sweeping changes to the law's requirement that most employers provide coverage of birth control with no out-of-pocket costs to women.

The changes were hailed by religious groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said it was "a return to common sense, long-standing federal practice and peaceful coexistence between church and state." But others, including the National Women's Law Center, said they plan to file suit against the rules. The National Health Law Program said that the rules appeared "legally suspect."

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about the new rules.

Q: What is the new policy?

Trump administration officials said they are significantly rolling back rules requiring many insurers to provide contraceptive coverage to women. Employers with a moral or religious objection to contraceptive services will be allowed to stop offering that coverage.

Under provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration had issued rules requiring most plans to cover all contraception methods that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration with no out-of-pocket cost to women. The provision does not cover plans that have a grandfathered status under the law.

That guarantee was whittled back through regulation and court actions to exempt some religious-based organizations, such as churches, and some privately held companies in which the owners have strong objections to contraception. Other nonprofit religious employers were offered an accommodation so that they didn't contract or pay for the insurance coverage for their workers.

The rules unveiled Friday expand those exemptions to any nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies with firm religious opposition, as well as health plans provided to students at colleges with a religious affiliation. A second rule extends an exemption to organizations and privately held companies that have moral objections.

If an employer doesn't have any moral or religious objections to contraception coverage, current ACA guidelines still apply. Federal policy for programs that offer free or subsidized coverage to low-income women also will not change.

The rules become effective as soon as they are published in the Federal Register, which is expected soon. View them online here and here.

Q: Who is covered by the ruling?

Exactly who will be affected is in dispute.

In a news release, the Department of Health and Human Services said that the rules "will not affect over 99.9 percent" of the 165 million women in the United States. The exemptions announced Friday, HHS said, "may impact only about 200 entities, the number that filed lawsuits based on religious or moral objections."

Groups that favor the ACA's contraception coverage say the impact will be far larger.

"The Trump administration just took direct aim at birth control coverage for 62 million women," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. "With this rule in place, any employer could decide that their employees no longer have health insurance coverage for birth control."

Mara Gandal-Powers, a senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center, said that even though many employers will not change their coverage, women in some places could find it difficult to get the health care they need.

HHS estimated in 2015 that 55 million women were covered by policies that provide no-cost contraceptives. The number of women paying for contraceptives fell from nearly 21 percent in 2012 to fewer than 4 percent by 2014, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

While some employers will be exempt from the ACA rules covering contraception, they may not be exempt from applicable state laws. Eight states currently have laws requiring contraceptive coverage at no cost to employees, while another 20 states have laws requiring coverage of prescription contraceptives with the option of asking employees to pay some of the cost. Those state laws still apply, said Laurie Sobel, associate director of women's health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Q: How have the courts ruled previously on the ACA and contraception coverage?

In 2014, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow a key exemption to the health law's contraception coverage requirements when it ruled that closely held, for-profit businesses could assert a religious objection to the Obama administration's regulations.

The court's majority said that the companies that filed suit  Hobby Lobby Stores, a nationwide chain of 500 arts-and-crafts stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a custom cabinet manufacturer  did not have to offer female employees all of the Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives as part of a package of preventive services that must be covered without copays or deductibles under the law. The companies had argued that several types of contraceptives violate their owners' religious beliefs.

The companies are family-owned, and they said that the health law's contraception requirement violated their religious views. While both employers' health plans covered some forms of birth control, they found some forms of emergency contraceptives objectionable, such as Plan B and Ella that can prevent a pregnancy if taken within a short window after unprotected sex. They said these contraceptive methods prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the woman's uterus and therefore are a type of abortion.

In another lawsuit, religious groups, including the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, said that complying with an Obama administration accommodation for religious-affiliated groups violated their religious views. In May 2016, the Supreme Court sent that lawsuit back to the lower courts to see if a compromise was possible.

Q: How does the Obama administration's accommodation work?

The Obama administration's policy also did not apply to churches or houses of worship. And in response to protests from other nonprofit religious organizations  such as church-affiliated hospitals or schools  officials set up an accommodation that allowed those employers to not contract for contraceptive coverage as part of the insurance that they offered workers. Instead, the insurance plan that served their employees would provide coverage, at no cost, to the workers. Some of those groups, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, objected to this setup and challenged the policy in court.

KHN's coverage of women's health care issues is supported in part by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Joseph Bradley Jr. faces DUI and aggravated assault charges after allegedly hitting an 84-year-woman with his car in Northeast Philadelphia. Read more

A 24-year-old man has been arrested and charged with DUI and assault after hitting an 84-year-old woman with his car in Northeast Philadelphia's Fox Chase section, leaving her fighting for her life, police said Tuesday.

Joseph J. Bradley Jr., of the the 15000 block of Wayside Road, in the Somerton section was taken into custody shortly after police responding to a report for a crash found the woman unconscious and injured in the roadway on the 8000 block of Pine Road about 4:20 a.m. Monday, police said.

NBC10, quoting friends of the victim, identified her as Mabel Stottler and said she was on her daily morning trip to a Dunkin' Donuts when she was hit.

Police said Tuesday morning the woman, who used the walker, was in extremely critical condition at Aria Torresdale Hospital.

Bradley was behind the wheel of a 2002 Chevrolet when he hit the woman, police said.

He has been charged with aggravated assault while driving under the influence of an intoxicant, aggravated assault by motor vehicle and related offenses, police said.

Bail for Bradley was set at $250,000 at hearing early Tuesday, according to court records.
A rowdy crowd swarmed the vehicle, many with cellphones raised and recording.

"Y'all all get out the way so in case she drives off," a woman is heard warning on one of the recordings.

"She's drunk," came another voice from the crowded Miami Beach, Fla., street.

Temple University student Cariann Hithon, in the driver's seat of the black BMW, the front bumper smashed in, held the wheel and glanced at the passenger beside her.

Then she took off.

What happened in the next frantic seconds Sunday evening  the car rammed into an officer, shots were fired, the car veered into a parked vehicle  ended the life of the 22-year-old woman and put a spotlight on an evolving debate on deadly force: When should police be allowed to shoot at moving vehicles?

For decades, many major police departments have said: Almost never. But some are reconsidering, prompted by terrorist attacks in Europe in which drivers have rammed large vehicles into unsuspecting crowds. The Miami Beach Police Department just five months ago updated its policy to allow officers to shoot when a vehicle is moving into a group of people, according to the Miami Herald.

"Police chiefs and other policy makers are saying, we cannot stand by and let someone drive a semitrailer down Fifth Avenue and kill a bunch of New Yorkers," said David A. Klinger, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri St. Louis and a former police officer. "We can't let someone drive down the sidewalk in Miami when there are a bunch of revelers out."

Police departments over several decades moved toward restricting when police can shoot from or at moving vehicles, citing concerns that innocent people could be harmed by the gunfire or by the vehicle if the driver is shot and loses control. New York City adopted its ban in 1972 after a 10-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire of such a shooting.

Philadelphia updated its directive in 2015, banning officers from shooting at moving vehicles unless the driver is "immediately threatening the officer or another person by means other than the vehicle," such as firing out the window.

But the policies have not meant an end to the incidents, in Philadelphia or nationwide.

A Washington Post review found that between January 2015 and May, police had killed at least 193 people who were inside vehicles at the time they were shot. A 2015 Inquirer investigation found that Philadelphia police had shot 43 people in vehicles since 2002, killing eight. In many cases, the Inquirer found, the drivers were unarmed.

In May 2016, Philadelphia Police Officer Shannon Coolbaugh fatally shot 52-year-old Richard Ferretti while Ferretti was searching for a parking spot in Overbrook. Ferretti's family has since sued the city. Coolbaugh has remained on desk duty pending an investigation by the District Attorney's Office.

A Philadelphia police spokesman said the department's policies are subject to "perpetual review" but did not say whether the department was actively considering changing its rules around firing at moving vehicles.

New York City did that in February, giving officers the discretion to shoot at moving vehicles to prevent a "mass ramming incident," like the Bastille Day 2016 attack in Nice, France, in which a man intentionally drove a semitruck into a crowd, killing 86.

Klinger said other police departments have done the same, and he expects more will follow. He equated it to how, after the Columbine High School massacre, police departments across the country rewrote their policies to allow officers to enter active shooting situations before SWAT teams arrive.

Maria Haberfeld, a professor of political science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said she has long found strict bans on shooting at vehicles to be impractical.

"Police officers find themselves in an impossible situation," she said. "And to make that assessment whether someone behind a wheel is just intoxicated or has malicious, premeditated intent is not something they can do, no matter how much training you have."

Miami-Dade Police have opened an investigation into Hithon's shooting. In a statement, the head of Miami Beach's police union defended the officer who fired on the car, saying the union "cannot dismiss the fact that an officer was hit with deadly force by a vehicle that was driving recklessly and fleeing from the scene of an accident."

After reviewing news reports on the shooting, Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major City Chiefs Association, agreed.

"It's clear the young woman had no intention of stopping. She'd already injured someone, injured the officer," he said. "And so they fired to try to stop that from continuing to take place."

Philadelphia civil rights attorney Paul Messing, who also teaches at Temple, said while it is true that Hithon was a "fleeing felon," it might not have been necessary to use deadly force. Having a vehicle involved, he said, changes the equation.

"It's very hard to watch something like this," he said after seeing videos from the scene. "This was obviously a young person with great promise, and we don't know everything that happened out there, but it looks like she panicked. And a situation quickly devolved into a terrible tragedy. And one that could have been avoided."

Hithon's father told the Associated Press that she was in Florida celebrating her 22nd birthday. He said Hithon, who is from Maryland, had transferred from Hampton University in Virginia to Temple recently and planned to graduate in the spring and go on to law school.

"Being an attorney to help the underserved is something she wanted to do," Cary Hithon, a retired Navy captain, said Tuesday. "She would have been a good one."

According to the AP, Cariann Hithon had been charged with several crimes while at Hampton, including misdemeanor assault and battery, and marijuana possession. She had several motor vehicle violations and had her license restricted last year for six months in connection to a marijuana possession charge.

It is unclear why Hithon was trying to flee the scene Sunday. According to the Herald, investigators believe she and her friend had been drinking.

Police say moments before the shooting, she had smashed her vehicle into two cars, then ran a red light, and hit a car driven by a retired county homicide detective, the newspaper reported.

That is when officers arrived and bystanders started to circle the car. Videos show the car screeching forward and hitting an officer a few yards away. Another officer fired three shots, and Hithon's car immediately veered to the left, hitting a parked car.

The final frame of one video showed an officer kneeling in front of Hithon performing CPR.

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
Mary Barbara Pannepacker, 72, of Jenkintown, who for more than two decades was the store manager at the Glenside florist Penny's Flowers, died Tuesday, Oct. 3, of a heart attack at her home.

Hers was often the smiling face thousands of people over the years first encountered when they walked into Penny's. From anxious brides to eager prom moms, from besotted boyfriends to bereaved families, she helped them select the perfect flowers. She celebrated with them in happy times and passed the tissues in sad times.

She was a hub of cheer as the shop hummed with activity in advance of Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, the December holidays, and other important occasions.

She started working at Penny's when her two daughters from her first marriage were nearly grown.

"She was exuberant," said Penny's owner Richard Pannepacker, whom she married in 2011. "She made everyone's day  customers' and employees'  better. She loved what she did, and so did her customers."

She even helped a man who would be president. In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama stopped by the store while campaigning in Abington to purchase flowers for wife Michelle on the couple's 16th wedding anniversary.

It was Mary  she was always "Mary" to the customers  who led him to the flower refrigerator. They picked out a dozen white roses and baby's breath. Obama asked her if the flowers would last the two-hour flight back to Chicago, and she assured him they would.

"We had a nice little chat for about 20, 25 minutes," her husband said. "It was quite a day. He was impressive."

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/politics/Roses_for_Michelle.html

Born in Philadelphia in 1945 to Garwood and Catharine Whitecar, she graduated from Philadelphia's Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls, where she made friends that would last a lifetime.

"Once someone was Mary's friend, it was a lock," her family said in a tribute. "Her loyalty was absolute. After high school, she and some friends went to Europe. They were nearly out of money when one girl saw in a store window a pair of shoes she simply had to have. Mrs. Pannepacker handed over her last francs, and they called their fathers to get the plane fare home."

She and her first husband, Michael Darcy, had two daughters, Tara Bell and Megan Darcy. "She was always just a warm, loving spirit," Bell said. "She was the cool mom. She often was the lunch monitor at my school. She always brought people together for family gatherings and made people feel welcome. She saw the good in everyone."

"When I think of my mom, I always remember her singing and humming happily around the house," Megan Darcy said. "She would put her records on and do housework, everything with a smile."

She and Michael Darcy divorced. In 2011, she married Pannepacker, forging close bonds with his two children, Jenna and Josh.

Her family and friends valued her cheerfulness and her love of life. When she heard a song she loved, she often started dancing and invariably coaxed everyone else onto the floor, be it a wedding, birthday party, or just a living-room gathering.

"She was elegantly funky," said her husband, recalling with a smile how she liked beer but drank it from a wine glass. "She regularly wore high heels  even with jeans  and had a pair of high-heeled flip-flops."

At her request, her three granddaughters called her "Ma Mare," from the French Ma mere, or "My mother." She felt that "Grandmom" made her sound old.

In addition to her husband, former husband, daughters, and two stepchildren, she is survived by three granddaughters and two sisters.

A Funeral Mass was offered Saturday, Oct. 7, in Glenside.
A black man brutally beaten at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is now facing a felony charge related to the August attack.

A local magistrate on Monday issued an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris on an unlawful wounding charge after a man, identified Tuesday afternoon by Harris' lawyer as Harold Ray Crews, claimed in a complaint to have been injured by the 20-year-old during the brawl.

The lawyer, Lee Merritt, issued a statement saying the unlawful wounding charge was orchestrated by the League of the South, a neo-Confederate white nationalist group, to "further victimize" Harris. Crews did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.

In an interview with the Washington Post, he called the charge "clearly retaliatory." He maintained that Harris did not instigate the fight.

"We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but what's more jarring is that he's been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him," he said.

Merritt added that it was "highly unusual" for the warrant to come from a magistrate rather than police, and suggested that Crews had previously tried to implicate Harris in the violence without success. He said his client would surrender to police in the coming days.

The Charlottesville Police Department said the alleged victim went to the magistrate's office in person to explain what had happened. After describing his allegations, the magistrate issued the warrant.

"We were not expecting this. We were expecting to do our own investigation into the man's allegations," said Det. Sgt. Jake Via, a spokesman for the Charlottesville Police Department.

Harris was marching in opposition to the rally on Aug. 12 when a scuffle broke out between a group of white supremacists and several counterprotesters at a downtown parking garage.

Videos from the scene showed the man, identified by Merritt as Crews, thrusting a Confederate flag pole at a counterprotester and Harris swinging a flashlight at him. Six white supremacists then descended on Harris, kicking him and striking him with wooden sticks as he lay curled up on the pavement, as The Post has reported.

Images of the brawl and Harris' bloodied face went viral, prompting a frenzied campaign on social media to identify his attackers.

Two men were later arrested in the attack on Harris, who said he suffered a concussion, a head laceration that required 10 staples and other injuries. Both were charged with malicious wounding, a felony.

One of them, 33-year-old Alex Michael Ramos of Georgia, was identified after he posted about the incident on Facebook. He said in a television interview that the attack was "defensive" and denied being a white supremacist, as The Post has reported.

"I was there because, pretty much, I'm a conservative," he said. "There were some non-racist members who were going to a free speech rally."

At a court hearing in September, Ramos' attorney said, "it may have been Mr. Harris who struck the first blow in that fracas," according to the Daily Progress.

The "Unite the Right" rally was organized by conservative blogger Jason Kessler after Charlottesville officials voted to remove a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park.

The event drew an assortment of white nationalists, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right, as well as throngs of counterprotesters. During the demonstrations, a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring many others.

James Alex Fields Jr., a 20-year-old Nazi sympathizer, was charged with second-degree murder in the hit-and-run. Scores of other people were injured in street skirmishes throughout the day.
NAIROBI, Kenya  Kenya's main opposition leader announced Tuesday that he would not contest the rerun of the presidential election, set for Oct. 26, casting doubts on the legitimacy of the vote process.

It was a legal challenge by Raila Odinga that prompted the Supreme Court to nullify the results of the Aug. 8 election, won by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta, citing irregularities. But Odinga, who leads the National Super Alliance (NASA), says not enough has been done to address the problems. He has singled out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for particular criticism, deeming it "rotten."

"We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention from IEBC to make sure that the irregularities and illegalities witnessed before do not happen again," Odinga told reporters. "We believe that all will be best served by NASA vacating its presidential candidature in the election."

In its ruling invalidating the Aug. 8 election, the high court cited a consistent pattern of irregularities in polling stations reporting results. It ordered a new vote within 60 days.

Kenyatta had said he would abide by the court decision but has repeatedly accused the justices of standing in the way of the people's will.

In the run-up to the reelection, there were attempts by Kenyatta's Jubilee Party, which has a majority in parliament, to reform electoral laws and the IEBC, but the opposition dismissed the efforts as insincere.

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday boycotted a session of the National Assembly dedicated to amending election laws, saying they refuse to give legitimacy to a flawed process.

Supporters of Odinga have been holding weekly demonstrations against the electoral commission in the capital, Nairobi, as well as in their strongholds of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu.

The protests have been heating up, with police opening fire on a demonstration in Nairobi on Monday, injuring one man. Last week, the University of Nairobi was shut down indefinitely after clashes between students and police.

Amid the political furor, gunmen attacked a university near Mombasa along the coast and killed two staff members.

The attackers, thought to be members of neighboring Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist group, opened fire on a vehicle carrying the university staff.
The pursuit of criminal charges against the engineer who derailed an Amtrak train in Philadelphia in 2015 will continue, as Pennsylvania's attorney general reported he was appealing a municipal court judge's decision last month to dismiss charges.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that he had filed a notice of appeal. The filing with Common Pleas Court comes just before an appeal deadline would have expired. A hearing has not been scheduled.

The lawyer who handled Bostian's criminal case, Brian J. McMonagle, emphasized that in the last six months both the Philadelphia district attorney and the municipal judge concluded that Bostian committed no crime.

"Enough is enough," he said of the appeal filing. "It's wrong."

On Sept. 12, charges against engineer Brandon Bostian of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and risking a catastrophe were dismissed by Municipal Court Judge Thomas Gehret. The judge said at the conclusion of a four-hour hearing that there was not enough evidence to warrant a trial.

"Based on that evidence," Gehret said at the time, "I think it's more likely than not this was an accident and not criminal."

The May 12, 2015, crash of Amtrak Train 188 on the Frankford Curve in Port Richmond caused eight deaths and more than 100 injuries.

The basis of the state's case against Bostian in that September hearing was that he knew his route well and knew his responsibility for the 250 passengers on the train but still sped at 106 mph into a bend with a 50 mph limit, causing the derailment.

The federal investigation concluded that Bostian had no alcohol or drugs in his system and was not using his cellphone at the time of the derailment. Bostian told the NTSB that he did not remember what had happened. The federal agency's review concluded that he lost "situational awareness," probably because of radio chatter about a rock hitting a SEPTA train near the curve shortly before the derailment.

Bostian has been on unpaid administrative leave from his Amtrak position since the crash.

The case has taken an unusual roller coaster ride through the criminal justice system. In May, nearly two years after the derailment, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office stated that it had reviewed the evidence and decided against charging Bostian.

Quickly thereafter, the father and husband of Rachel Jacobs, who died in the derailment, filed a reckless endangerment complaint against Bostian. Saying it had made its decision, the District Attorney's Office rejected the complaint, leading the family to seek a judge's order compelling authorities to charge. The District Attorney's Office recused itself, leading to the attorney general's involvement in the case.

Just days after the district attorney concluded there was not enough evidence to charge Bostian, the Attorney General's Office made the opposite determination, filing charges for eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, a count of causing a catastrophe, and 238 counts of reckless endangerment.

The swings in the case have been difficult for the people affected by the crash. Many have wanted to see Bostian held criminally accountable. Along with the complaint filed by Jacobs' family, derailment survivor Blair Berman participated in the last hearing, providing testimony about her experience the night of the crash.

"It is welcome news that the attorney general has decided to further pursue full accountability of Mr. Bostian, which they, as victims, have all urged throughout the criminal justice process," said lawyers Thomas Kline and Bob Mongeluzzi in a statement, who represent some of the derailment victims.
Philadelphia Police headquarters, commonly known as the Roundhouse Read more

A Philadelphia police officer lauded as a hero last year after being wounded in a shootout has been fired for allegedly misleading investigators about his actions that day.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross on Tuesday ordered the firing of Officer Angelo Romero, 26, who was struck in a thumb, both legs, and his buttocks with bullets or fragments on Nov. 18 near his home at 11th and Parrish Streets.

Based on information Romero provided, police described the incident as a shootout involving a group of youths between 15 and 18 years old. Romero had said he was an innocent bystander, carrying his 2-year-old son on the street when the gun battle broke out.

Romero, who could not be reached for comment, had told the department he was unarmed but was able to protect the toddler.

News of the shooting gained national attention from groups that support police, and Romero was portrayed as a hero.

Police began an Internal Affairs investigation and questions were raised about Romero's version of events, officials close to the investigation said. On Tuesday, police said Romero had lied to investigators.

Officer Tanya Little, a department spokeswoman, declined to provide details on what part of Romero's statements were believed false.

She said Romero was suspended with intent to dismiss, and he would be terminated in 30 days  a standard process for firings.

Romero, hired in March 2015, had worked in the department's 15th District in Northeast Philadelphia before he was suspended.
Here's the thing about those radical, controversial, crazy safe-injection sites that Toronto and other Canadian cities are using to save lives amid their own heroin crisis:

They're not that crazy at all.

What strikes me most after visiting Toronto, and after talking with activists here since I got back, is the realization that Philly could be doing the same thing  and quickly.

As I wrote Sunday, Toronto opened an interim safe-injection site at the city's downtown needle exchange after activists set up a pop-up site in a city park. Too many people were dying. Now, more lives are being saved.

But to go about the business of saving lives, Toronto drew on resources that Philly has had in place for decades. And we have people on the ground who are just as passionate as the Toronto advocates who made it happen.

Take the needle exchange in Kensington. It serves 10,000 people a year, offering clean works and health services. That's 10,000 people  potential victims all  we have a shot at saving right now. Instead, we send them away with their opioids to use and die on the streets.

When they drop, we ask outreach workers to run outside to save them. A safe-injection site would simply allow those people to come inside.

The same goes for the neighborhoods most devastated by the crisis, like the blocks around the shuttered heroin encampment along Gurney Street. What would change if, as in Toronto, outreach teams set up a table and tent? Nothing. Except fewer people would be dead. And there would be fewer needles on the ground, fewer people using on corners that should belong to children, not heroin.

What's holding us back is that those advocates who already know what to do can't get assurances from our elected officials that they won't get arrested if they start doing it.

No one's asking elected officials to personally cut a ribbon or dig a shovel into the dirt. Just let advocates get to work.

A safe-injection site is simply the logical, inevitable, and moral extension of the harm-reduction services we are already offering in this city.

Some in politics are standing up. Last month, Larry Krasner, possibly our next district attorney, offered his support of sites, telling the Atlantic that if privately run facilities began offering services, his office would not begin prosecution.

If a site was "responsibly run, appropriate and well-operated, and was saving lots of lives  why would any district attorney want to prosecute that?" Krasner told me Monday.

And Tuesday, in what should be looked upon as a major victory for advocates, Councilwoman Helen Gym said what needs to be said on safe injection when I asked where she stood.

"I've always felt that we need to treat addiction as a public-health issue and not solely a criminal one," she wrote by email from Copenhagen while on a transit-improvement trip. "Safe-injection sites are going to be controversial and require us to think and act differently, but they are among the most promising new approaches to come forward while we work to end the opioid crisis. I support establishing one in Philadelphia."

Brava, Councilwoman.

Now her colleagues need to follow.

I'm not trying to oversimplify this decision. We would be the first American city to offer safe injection. Logistically, the tools are there. But the political courage must follow. Emergency steps need to be taken. And hard citywide conversations must begin.

Far too much misinformation and stigma still cloud the conversation.

My inbox is evidence of it.

Let them die, some responses read. It's their choice, read another. And: It's not a disease. These writers argue that the sites would only promote drug use, violence and blight. They're wrong. Evidence from dozens of cities across the globe show these sites save lives, usher more into treatment, and help impacted neighborhoods. Those are facts.

If you believe in safe-injection sites, you need to tell your friends and relatives why they are a good idea. Stigma kills. And a failure to fight that stigma falls on all of us.

Tell them that I'd say yes to one in my backyard if that meant saving lives. I hope you would, too.
Criztina Gonzalez (right), a supervisor and certified application counselor for the Affordable Care Act healthcare marketplace, assists a client at La Comunidad Hispana in Philadelphia during a previous enrollment period. Read more

Good morning, friends. I'm back from Las Vegas, where I wrote about the aftermath of the mass shooting at a concert on the strip a week ago (you can read some of my coverage here).

I keep thinking about something Steve Sisolak, the Clark County committeeman who raised millions for the shooting victims, told me a few days after the attack. This is what he can't stop thinking about: how he toured the crime scene the morning after, when there were still bodies on the grounds of the concert venue, and purses and jackets and chairs and cell phones scattered all over. And how, as he stood there, trying to take all of it in, one of those phones started to ring.

I don't know whose phone it was, or who was trying to find them, or whether they made it out. You hear so many stories like this when you're covering a tragedy  the kind that chill you for a moment and stay with the people who lived it forever.

Las Vegas is a good city with good people in it, whose outpouring of love and support was truly inspiring to watch, and they'll pull through. Everyone always pulls through. I'm reminded, though, that this December it'll be five years since I drove to Newtown, Connecticut to cover a shooting at an elementary school there  a horror so great that your naive correspondent, then 24, thought it might represent some kind of line in the sand for this country and the destruction we allow our people to wreak. I wonder how many more lines we'll draw.



This newsletter covers President Trump and how his policies affect greater Philadelphia. You can sign up here to get it in your inbox, for free, every week. You can send suggestions/complaints/questions my way by email or on Twitter, and if you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend.

 READ MORE: Aubrey Whelan

Today, lets talk about what got lost in the Obamacare debate.

What's at stake

A few pretty crucial deadlines sailed by us amid the last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare (again) a few weeks back. The deadline expired for Congress to renew funding the Children's Health Insurance Program  which, generally speaking, covers kids whose families can't afford private insurance but whose incomes are too high for Medicaid. And unless Congress acts, $2 billion in funding cuts at Disproportionate Share Hospitals, which see a higher number of uninsured patients and who use funds from the federal government to help make up the difference, are set to go into effect next year. (Temple University and several other hospitals in Philadelphia get DSH funds.)

Healthcare advocates have been sounding the alarm about these deadlines for some time. But the delay in funding these programs  combined with the Trump administration's apparent attempts to undermine Obamacare enrollment in the wake of repeated repeal failures  mean that this year has been marked by uncertainty and upheaval for healthcare advocates and providers and many patients, too.

The local angle

Cuts to DSH funding are actually an Obama-era plan  with the thinking being that every state would accept the Medicaid expansion, more people would get insured under the Affordable Care Act, and hospitals like Temple wouldn't have to see so many uninsured patients and wouldn't need the extra cash. But that didn't go quite as planned, and Congress has continued to delay the cuts  until now. Pennsylvania got $616 million in DSH funds this year; the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania reported that several Pennsylvania congressmen on both sides of the aisle signed a letter against the cuts.

Kids who get CHIP in Pennsylvania and New Jersey will likely not be affected immediately  funding exists through the spring in Jersey, and probably until February in Pennsylvania. But elsewhere in the country, the situation is becoming increasingly dire.

What's ahead

There are bills in Congress to address both programs, and CHIP, especially, is such a political no-brainer ("Senator So-And-So Took Insurance Away From Children In Particular" is not an attack ad anyone wants) that it will likely eventually get funded. (Still, the fallout is real: "Congress can't even handle healthcare for kids," the Baltimore Sun scoffed last week.) But it's the uncertainty that gets you in these times: not knowing whether to plan for funding cuts, health advocates say, is dangerous enough.

"It's not doing anything good for us and families in PA to have this continual uncertainty about what the future looks like," Teresa Miller, the state secretary of health and human services, told me today. Trump-instituted cutbacks on the Obamacare enrollment period have her worried fewer Pennsylvanians will sign up for health insurance this year  and repeated repeal attempts destabilize insurance markets, she said.

As for CHIP: "There's bipartisan support for this program," Miller said, "so for the life of me I don't understand why it's taking so long."

What theyre saying

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."  Donald Trump in Forbes, on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly calling him a "moron."

"The dirty money must be returned immediately, not funneled to liberal special interest groups."  PA GOP spokesman Greg Manz, on Sen. Bob Casey and other local Democrats sending campaign donations from Harvey Weinstein to women's groups after explosive reports on years of sexual harassment and assault allegations against the powerful Hollywood producer.

"It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center."  Sen. Bob Corker, taking a Sunday afternoon Twitter feud with the president to the next level.

In other news

President Trump is demanding a slew of concessions from Democrats in return for a deal on DACA, the program that protects young undocumented immigrants who arrived here with their parents from deportation. Among them: withholding funding from sanctuary cities like Philly  where ICE, specifically targeting sanctuary cities, arrested 107 people last month.

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, several local Congressmen from both sides of the aisle went to Philly's oil refinery to rally for regulatory changes that they say would keep manufacturing jobs in town.

Today is the last day to register to vote in the local elections in November  Philly's chance, after this spring's progressive-friendly primaries, to send a message on the city's political priorities in the age of Trump.

What Im reading

The New York Times profiles Stephen Miller, immigration hardliner, White House aide and former agent of chaos at his hyper-liberal Santa Monica high school.

My colleague Andrew Seidman profiles PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro, an aspiring thorn in President Trump's side who may have grander political designs of his own.

POLITICO looks at White House staffers' strategies for "installing guardrails for a president who goes on gut feeling." The short of it: Tell him to wait and hope he forgets about it.

A non-political palate cleanser

My colleague Allison Steele has a lovely story on a beloved North Philly bakery bouncing back after a fire.
Cariann Hithon, a 22-year-old Temple University student, was fatally shot by police Sunday in Miami Beach. Read more

A 22-year-old Temple University student was fatally shot Sunday evening by a police officer in Miami Beach, Fla., after the car she was driving struck another officer in what appeared to be an attempt to flee the scene of an accident.

"We are saddened to just be learning of the death of Cariann Hithon, a transfer student majoring in political science," said Temple spokesman Brandon Lausch in an email Monday night. "As we gather more information and assess our community's needs for support, we send our thoughts and prayers to her family and friends."

Hithon, of Bowie, Md., was driving a black BMW with a male passenger Sunday when it hit two cars, the Miami Herald reported. The BMW then ran a red light and crashed into a Mercedes-Benz driven by a retired county homicide detective.

As police and a crowd gather around the damaged BMW, a graphic eyewitness video shows, the car speeds forward, knocking a police officer to the pavement. Another officer then fires three shots into the car and it veers to a stop down the street.

Hithon was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

The officer struck by the BMW "lost consciousness at the scene," Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates said Sunday night. The officer was in stable condition at a hospital with a head injury and possible internal injuries, Oates said.

The officer who fired the shots was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Cary Hithon, her father, told the Herald that she had recently transferred to Temple from Hampton University in Virginia and was on course to graduate this spring with a degree in political science. She then planned to attend law school.

Her father told a CBS station that she was in Miami to celebrate her 22nd birthday.

"I have no answers," he said. "She was just loving life and having a good time."

Hithon is the third Temple student to die under tragic circumstances this semester.

Jenna Burleigh, 22, was allegedly killed by a former Temple student she met at a bar near campus on Aug. 31. Richard Dalcourt, 19, died Oct. 3 in a fall from his sixth-floor dorm room in what was ruled a suicide.

"This has been a painful semester, Owls," the Temple Student Government said in a statement. "We know. We hear you. We see you. We support you."

The government directed students feeling "overwhelmed, upset, distressed, or anything else" to counseling and support services available to them.
President Trump has reignited a battle with Secretary for State Rex Tillerson (right), this time over IQ points. Read more

In a new jab at his own secretary of state, President Trump threatened to compare his IQ with Rex Tillerson's following reports the secretary of state privately called him a "moron."

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said in a new interview with Forbes.

Trump's comments come after the Washington Post reported the president has shown "flashes of fury" in an outburst following Tillerson's comment, which in turn reportedly sent White House Chief of Staff John Kelly scrambling to manage Trump's flare ups.

Trump has repeatedly appeared to undermine Tillerson, tweeting negatively about the secretary of state after a dialogue was reportedly reopened with North Korea. But Trump doesn't see it that way, telling Forbes, "I'm not undermining  I think I'm actually strengthening authority."

NBC News White House Correspondent Peter Alexander reported that both Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will have lunch with President Trump Tuesday at the White House.

Last week, NBC News reported that Tillerson called Trump a "moron" and threatened to resign during a meeting at the Pentagon in July. Tillerson, in a hastily arranged press conference, pushed back against the report but did not deny that he used the word "moron" to describe the president, casting questions about it aside as "petty stuff."

The president blasted NBC News over the report, dubbing the story "fake news" and even suggested the Senate Intelligence Committee should investigate the network for what he deemed "made up" news reports.

But NBC News has staunchly defended its reporting. NBC News correspondent and MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, one of four reporters who worked on the Tillerson story, offered an impassioned defense of her team's reporting last week, and went after Trump specifically after he complained the network didn't verify their report with him.

"Sir, we didn't need you to verify that he called you a ' moron,' " Ruhle said. "He did it behind your back."

"We have a very good relationship," Trump told reporters on Saturday about Tillerson. "We disagree on a couple of things. Sometimes I'd like him to be a little bit tougher. But other than that, we have a very good relationship."
Temple University is responsible for $4.5 billion in economic impact within the commonwealth each year, and supports nearly 27,000 jobs statewide. Read more

As Philadelphia's public university, Temple University plays a unique role. We are passionately dedicated to our mission of providing an educational experience that is accessible, affordable, diverse, high-quality, and engaged with our communities. That is who we are, and our valued partnership with the commonwealth  which has lasted for more than 50 years  makes this possible.

Currently, Temple receives an annual appropriation of about $150 million from the state. These funds are vitally needed to help keep tuition as low as possible for Pennsylvania students. Unfortunately, Temple, Penn State, Pitt, and Lincoln  and the 130,000 Pennsylvania students and their families these state-related universities serve  are threatened by the ongoing state budget impasse.

Like any business, we could not simply swallow a loss of this size without making drastic decisions. At Temple, nearly 22,000 undergraduate students now get a discount of almost $12,000 a year, which totals $48,000 over four years. Without our state appropriation, this in-state discount  which Pennsylvania families have depended on for decades  would be over, and student debt would increase dramatically.

The irony is that when I talk with elected leaders, the vast majority agree that Temple and our fellow state-related schools provide a great education at a good price. They praise us for programs like Temple's Fly in 4, which creates a clear path for students to graduate in four years or less, reduces debt, and allows them to quickly enter the workforce.

Legislators boast about the research that is being done at our schools on critical issues, from eliminating AIDS and fighting the opioid crisis to creating better helmets for our soldiers at war and our athletes on the field.

The fact is, Temple provides extraordinary value to the commonwealth in so many ways.

Temple is responsible for $4.5 billion in economic impact within the commonwealth each year. The university is also responsible for supporting nearly 27,000 jobs statewide. Likewise, Temple University Health System provides nearly $3 billion in economic impact for the state annually while supporting 16,000 jobs.

Put together, that's $7.5 billion in economic impact and 43,000 jobs statewide. As we see it, the commonwealth allocates $150 million to Temple University, and we use our resources to turn that into a multibillion-dollar return on investment.

Our students know Temple is on the right path. This year, for the first time, we have a student body of more than 40,000. They are voting with their feet and enrolling in a university that has for more than a century committed to changing lives for the better.

We urge our elected leaders in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to take action and pass the stalled legislation that provides Temple and our fellow state-related schools with the funding that opens doors for talented, deserving Pennsylvania students.

Let's keep the public in Philadelphia's public university.

Richard M. Englert is president of Temple University. president@temple.edu
It seems likely the Trump administration may decide to renegotiate the terms of the Iranian nuclear accord by "decertifying" it. This would start the clock on possibly reimposing U.S. sanctions on Iran that were lifted as the U.S part of the nuclear deal with Iran two years ago. At that time, Iran was within 30 days of producing several nuclear warheads. Today, it would take Iran about a year to regroup and build the same warheads, assuming President Hassan Rouhani keeps his word not to renegotiate if America breaks the accord.

If the United States were unsuccessful at renegotiation and the countries withdrew from the nuclear accord, there would then be two new nations with a nuclear weapon capability to reach America: North Korea and Iran. The U.S. ability to shoot down one intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile launched from either of these countries is at best 50-50. However, the alternative to stopping Iran from having the nuclear bomb is a U.S. military strike on Iran's nuclear and missile infrastructure.

Our military can do it. But first, our aircraft carriers must depart the Persian Gulf, where Iran's 20-plus submarines lurk undetected and where hundreds of anti-ship missiles sit ashore, ready to be fired from a few miles away. Moreover, our aircraft carriers can operate in only two small areas deep enough to permit sailing safely 30 minutes in one direction to launch aircraft every hour. Consequently, the Iranian midget submarines can sit on the gulf bottom in those two areas, waiting for the carriers to come near them, knowing they are virtually undetectable by U.S. sonar.

By the time we begin the strikes from outside the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz will be closed by thousands of mines laid by Iranian fishing vessels. That would effectively bottle up 20 percent of the world's oil supply in the gulf, while playing havoc with the global economy outside it. After the weeks  months  needed to do the strikes, it will take additional weeks to then clear the strait safely. The length of time is based on the likelihood that the aircraft carriers will assume a disproportionately heavy share of the strikes if regional nations don't permit U.S. air bases on their territory to be used against Iran.

The initial U.S. strike priority will be the fairly sophisticated air defense systems Iran has purchased, partly from the Russians, so follow-up strikes by aircraft can proceed safely. Meanwhile, not only are hundreds of anti-ship missiles and combat aircraft being launched, but so are hundreds of Shahab ground missiles that will hit U.S. military bases in the region, and that will also strike Israel. These missile sites demand destruction, too, before proceeding against Iran's nuclear infrastructure weeks later.

Iran is not Iraq for any comparable U.S. strike assessment: Iran is four times larger, permitting wide dispersal of military assets; it has more sophisticated weapons systems; and it has offensive naval, air, missile, and special forces capabilities. In addition, Iran's nuclear production facility is not only broadly distributed but also deeply buried and hardened. Though nuclear facilities at Natanz, Tehran, Esfahan, and Arak may be impaired and destroyed, it is likely the Fordow enrichment facility may only be damaged because it is under 200 to 300 feet of rock.

In short, the United States can neutralize the nuclear production facilities of Iran, with great consequential damage to its military capability, by a sustained air and missile attack of several months  but in about four years, Iran will have rebuilt the facilities. Our successful strikes will have brought about destructive Iranian retaliation on U.S. regional forces and Israel, forfeiture of an international alliance against Iran's nuclear capability, unsettling global economic instability, and the likelihood that Iran will become a nuclear power  unless struck again.

Iran should not be permitted to be a nuclear weapon power. The nuclear accord has achieved this, and Iran has adhered to it. To break the deal is to permit what has been described above. Keep in mind: Though militaries can stop a problem, they cannot fix a problem. But the nuclear accord has done just that. If the Trump administration plans to break that nuclear deal, the public should know both the military and economic challenges and costs of stopping, not fixing, the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapon capability. Only then can they best decide whether the administration's actions are necessary.

Joe Sestak is a former Navy admiral and U.S. congressman. joe@joesestak.com
Absolute Poker Exec Pays Fine, Serves Minimal Jail Time

October 10, 2017 Mo Nuwwarah Editor

Scott Tom, founder of Absolute Poker, appears to have finally ended his long-running legal case with the U.S. government, and poker players victimized by the fraudulent site won't be happy to hear he escaped with relatively little punishment.

Tom paid $300,000 in fines as part of a plea deal and then served a week in jail before heading back to his adopted home in Antigua, CalvinAyre.com reported yesterday.

Charges, Pleas and Sentencing

Originally hit with a host of felonies in conjunction with the Black Friday charges fired off by the Department of Justice against a litany of poker sites serving U.S. customers, Tom returned to American soil in February after years on the lam. He entered a plea of not guilty and was released on $500,000 bond.

His attorney promised a quick resolution and a plea deal, and that's exactly what happened. Tom pleaded guilty early this summer to just a single misdemeanor count of accessory after the fact in connection with the transmission of gambling information.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses did give Tom a final slap on the wrist by handing him the short jail sentence in lieu of time served, which clearly came as a surprise to Tom, as he and his attorney complained that he'd already secured a plane ticket out of the country.

Empty Justice

However, the punishments as a whole will ring hollow to countless players victimized by the shady workings of Absolute Poker and sister site Ultimate Bet. Tom never answered for his role in the superuser scandal that rocked the poker world and caused national headlines, including a spot on 60 Minutes.

Players who had their bankrolls shattered by the infamous financial collapse of the two sites are beginning to be made whole with several players confirming on Twitter recovery of lost funds in the past couple weeks. That remissions process, plus Tom's exit from the country, looks likely to be the final chapter of the saga, but it will remain an ugly memory in the minds of poker players everywhere for years to come.
A 19-year-old university student in West Texas was charged early Tuesday with capital murder of a peace officer in the fatal shooting of an officer inside the police station.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, officials identified the officer as 48-year-old Floyd East Jr. Officer Floyd East Jr. (Photo: Texas Tech University)

East began his career with the Texas Tech Police Department on December 1, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Carmen, and his two daughters, Ana and Monica, reports the Associated Press.

The fatal shooting happened at the campus police station, where the student was being questioned in a drug-related case, authorities said. The suspect, who was not handcuffed, reportedly fled on foot after shooting and killing Officer East.

The suspect, identified by the university as Hollis Daniels, was tackled by officers in a parking lot adjacent to the coliseum.

Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department says in an affidavit that Daniels told officers he had done "something illogical" and that "he was the one that shot their friend."

Hollis Daniels (previous booking photo)

Related: TX University Officer Killed in Station, Suspect in Custody
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It was a sign of presidential weakness, and just how much some Senate Republicans cant stand him, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended Bob Corker from Trumps attacks.

McConnell defended Corker at an event in Kentucky:

McConnell at Paris, KY event: "Senator Corker is a valued member of the republican conference in the senate and a key player on the budget."  Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 9, 2017

More McConnell in Paris, KY: "We're going to be turning to the budget next week, & (Corker) will be a big help in helping us get it passed"  Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 9, 2017

The message to Trump is clear. If forced to choose between the President and their colleagues, Senate Republicans will choose their colleagues. The Senate Majority Leader doesnt respect his own president, and what is even worse is that McConnell went out of his way to defend Corker, even though the Senator from Tennessee is retiring.

The Trump/McConnell feud is alive and well, and McConnell smells blood in the water when it comes to Trump. This president is wounded and reeling, and a top member of his own party would rather defend a guy who is cruising into retirement than Donald Trump.
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Congressman Ted Lieu agrees with Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corkers recent comments that Donald Trump is endangering the country and putting the U.S. on the path to World War III, but Lieu says Corker should put his money where his mouth is and actually do something.

According to Lieu, a good way for Corker and other frustrated Republicans to do that would be to curb Trumps power to start a nuclear war.

Video:

.@tedlieu Proposes Cutting Off Trumps Power To Start A Nuclear War #inners pic.twitter.com/VDvYMyj0MT  Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) October 10, 2017

After MSNBCs Chris Hayes asked the Democratic congressman what concrete steps can be taken to mitigate Trumps reckless behavior, Lieu said:

I would love if theyd support HR-669, which is legislation Ive introduced with Sen. Ed Markey, that prevents the president from launching a nuclear-first strike without congressional approval  because that would be war, and only Congress can declare war. And I think Congress needs to step in and say, Mr. President, you cannot start a war with North Korea without first coming to Congress.

Ted Lieus approach to governing in the age of Trump is exactly right. Not only should members of both parties be speaking out against this presidents reckless behavior, as he repeatedly has, but they should also back up their rhetoric with real action.

Barring the unlikely scenario that Robert Muellers investigation wraps up quickly or leads to Donald Trumps impeachment, we are stuck with him in the Oval Office for more than three years. Instead of complaining about Trumps increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior, responsible Republicans and Democrats should take real, meaningful action to limit Trumps power.

That starts by cutting off his authority to wage a war that could cost the lives of millions of people.
This is what could hit Tesco hard, not the Hungarian government

Uncertainties over Brexit fuel labour shortages and drive prices higher, according to a report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published on Monday.

56% of retailers revealed that their EU colleagues are concerned about their right to remain in the UK;

39% of retailers reported some EU nationals are considering leaving the UK;

22% reported that people from the EU have already left their UK workforce

Without swift action to provide certainty for people from EU working in the UK and a new immigration system fit for the future, consumers could pay the price, according to a new reportpublished by the BRC.It noted that 170,000 people from the EU work directly in retail, which accounts for 6% of the industrys UK workforce. In some regions of the country and different parts of the industry this is much higher - over a quarter in warehousing and distribution, for example.Due to the lack of certainty about the future status of EU colleagues and the UKs future relationship with the EU,, according to the latest report by the BRC.The retail industry is undergoing a transformation, driven by technology and the changing needs of consumers. This is increasing the need for new and different skills. Therefore, for retailers to continue delivering for consumers now, the Government must recognise the spectrum of skills and experiences that currently contribute to the success of the industry," the BRC said.It warned that the knock-on impact of a potential reduction in availability of skills and workers, and higher costs of employment could hit consumers.

From the service delivered in a store to next day delivery of an online order, from the latest developments for your mobile phone to the prices of what you buy, it is clear that people from the EU play an important and hugely valuable role."

The UKs decision to leave the EU has created uncertainty, not only for business, but for the people from the EU they employ. These are real people with families, livelihoods and homes in this country. It is not right that 16 months after the referendum these people still dont have the security they need to continue their lives

, commented Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the BRC.To provide certainty, EU colleagues must have their status confirmed as a priority. The UKs offer of settled status in June was welcome, but the UK Government must go further in outlining what the process for acquiring settled status looks like and provide greater clarity about when the cut-off date is, confirming it will not be retrospective," the BRC said.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that EU citizens who have lived in Britain for five years will be offered a new settled status", but will have to apply for a special ID card giving them the right to stay. The application fee for the document is expected to be approximately the same as a British passport, which is currently set at GBP 72.50.

[...] looking at our domestic workforce; the government should work with our industry to invest in the skills and talent for the future

A simple and accessible system for securing settled status.

Align the date for acquiring settled status to the date the UK formally leaves the EU.

Automatic transition to settled status for those who have already acquired permanent residence under EU law.

A simple, demand-led system that does not require employer sponsorship.

Access to non-graduate labour from the EU.

Effective integration between the new immigration system and UK employment law.

Cross-border mobility throughout Europe for business travel without the need for work permits or visas.

A parallel focus on skills development for the domestic labour force.

, added Dickinson.The BRC made the following recommendations:About a month ago, the British Hospitality Association (BHA) described leaked proposals to cut the number of low-skilled immigrants from Europe permitted to work in the UK after Brexit as potentially  catastrophic for the UK hospitality industry".An 82-page document leaked tocontains proposals to drive down the number of lower-skilled EU migrants, offering them residency for a maximum of two years.One of the BHAs researches, from KPMG, shows that at least 60,000 new EU service workers are needed per year just to fill the vacancies in hospitality. This would be in addition to the 200,000 workers needed to replace churn each year. The research showed that 75% of waiters, 25% of chefs and 37% of housekeepers are EU nationals.BHA Chief Executive Ufi Ibrahim has written separate letters to the Immigration Minister and the Education Minister expressing her dismay" at the decision and urging them to reconsider this oversight." She fears the delay will cost jobs and growth.In her letter to Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis, Ibrahim said, "We are not in a position to fill these vacancies without hiring non-UK workers. This is due to the fact that the UK is currently at near full employment and because the educational system does not encourage young people to consider a career in hospitality."Meurig Raymond, President of the National Farmers Union (NFU), told the bodys annual conference that another 90,000 seasonal workers will be needed by 2021, versus 85,000 currently. This is to supplement the more than 250,000 permanent workers already employed by farmers in the UK. Roughly three-quarters of these permanent workers also come from the EU.

Quite simply, without a workforce  permanent and seasonal  it wouldnt matter what a new trade deal looks like. Food will rot in the fields, and Britain will lose the ability to produce and process its own food

, Raymond said earlier this year
Pizza has been a constant in Brian Kesslers life, from the time he got a job in a pizzeria as a teenager until the day he met his wife in a pizza joint. Read moreIggy's Pizza Shop is now open in Mount Pleasant
"Sadly, we can't go back and change Mr. Conyers' experience at the Naval Academy. But what we can do and what we must do and are proud to do is to share his story of courage and service," said Jeff Webb, CEO and president of the Naval Academy Alumni Association. "The telling of that story is long overdue." Read moreFirst Black man to attend US Naval Academy honored in Charleston 150 years later
GREENVILLE  Few South Carolinians know that red-light cameras were made illegal in the state in 2010. While the red-light camera ban may be in keeping with this states tendency to lean toward a less is more approach to the public road system, I dont believe its for the better. Read moreCommentary: Repeal SC ban on red-light cameras to help save lives
An upcoming presentation will shed light on the status of the City of Rochester's plan to dredge Silver Lake.

Megan Moeller, communications director for Rochester's public works department, will lead the Stormwater Presents Speaker Series event on Oct. 24. The speaker series event is part of a monthly program that examines issues connected to stormwater management in Rochester.

The presentation, which is free to the public, will be held at Saint Mary's University of MinnesotaCascade Meadow from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Preceding the event, the Post Bulletin spoke with Matthew Crawford, Rochester public works project development manager, about the dredging project.

What is the Silver Lake dredging project about in general and why is it being done?

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The dredging is to remove sediment that's built up in the channel for Silver Lake, and in the Zumbro channel leading up to Silver Lake. As part of the flood control project that was built back in the early '90s, it was designed as a sediment trap area, so we need to clean it out periodically. And Silver Lake has gotten full enough again for us to come in there and remove that sediment again.

How much does this project cost?

It's going to probably be in the $4 million to $6 million range.

Is that all city funds?

We have flood control funds that were built up when the original projects were done. We're using that money to pay for the project.

Why is this project necessary?

It's to maintain the flood control channel through Rochester. It was designed for a certain volume of water to come through, and if sediment builds up in the channel, it reduces that volume and we don't have the same flood protection as was originally designed.

What was the project's delay, and why did it happen?

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The actual Silver Lake (dredging) won't be done until we get the bridge on Seventh Street NE that goes over that south part of Silver Lake repaired. It needs to (have) upgrades done to it, be rehabilitated if we're going to drive heavy-loaded trucks over it.

The repair of that bridge is tied to the state bridge bonding money, and we haven't got that money yet. We're not sure when we're going to get it from the state, so that's kind of the delay right now. Until we get that money to do the repair, we really can't set an exact date on when the dredging will occur. We're thinking it's 2019 or 2020.

What exactly goes into dredging the lake?

We don't have the final design done yet, so we're still working on that. But how we envision at this time is we're going to lower the water level, use the dam and lower it down like they did back in (1993), the last time they did this. And you would push the material up to the banks or to an area where we could have it dewatered some, and have haul trucks that would haul the material to a certain spot. Then they load those onto trucks and we take it to the site we're going to use to dispose of the extra sediment.

When the lake is being dredged, will that impede residents' ability to do stuff on the lake?

Yes, when it is dewatered there will be no water activities. You won't be able to kayak or row or rent those paddleboats out at that time. That's why usually these projects are  done in the fall time frame, because that's usually the lowest waters, in the fall.
ST. PAUL  An exhibit at the University of Minnesota has uncovered an uncomfortable past.

"A Campus Divided" is a collection of documents that reveal how university administrators discriminated against African-American and Jewish students.

They tell of the 1930s and '40s, when university presidents like Lotus Coffman and deans like Edward Nicholson spied on students' political activity. Those names, Coffman and Nicholson, are still displayed on campus buildings today, including the student union that houses the offices of multicultural student groups.

"There are many, many documents, and I've encountered people who've come multiple times," said Professor Riv-Ellen Prell, who teaches American Studies. She was inspired to dig deeper into the time period, when she read about the history of political anti-Semitism in Minnesota in the 1930s.

"That brought into the story not just political surveillance but segregated housing on the campus in the 1930s," she said.

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The exhibit runs until Nov. 30. A digital version is available online.

"A Campus Divided" describes university administrators' efforts to hinder integration on campus, but it also tells an inspiring story of how activists rose up to fight discrimination.

"What you see ... is what's the dynamic of racism and anti-Semitism," Prell said. "'It's not our fault that other people discriminate. These aren't our attitudes. Our view of the races is entirely wholesome. We're doing this for your own good. You wouldn't be comfortable living with white people. You're not going to get a job.' There is a way in which it's always turned back on the Jewish student or the African-American student."

Researchers were able to dig up letters, newspaper clippings and university records to showcase the environment African-American and Jewish students lived in. They relied heavily on the student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, and the African-American publication, the Spokesman Recorder, for additional information on student activists.

One of the students who played an important role in the fight was Martha Wright. She graduated from high school at age 15. She was a math major at the university, the only African-American and only one of three women. And she was president of the Negro Student Council.

"My aunt came from a family context, people who had been struggling for what was once called, 'race elevation, raising my race,'" said John Wright, Martha's nephew and a professor. He grew up learning the history of campus discrimination.

"Hearing these stories, of course, gives one some pause about attending the U," he said. "A lot of black families would not send their students to the university precisely because they did not want to expose their children, their young people, to this kind of experience."

The exhibit comes as a surprise to people who never thought such things could happen at the University of Minnesota.

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Wright said efforts to segregate students have been kept out of view for a long time  and the exhibit has been a revelation for many who were shocked by what they saw.

Shortly after the exhibit opened, University President Eric Kaler appointed a committee of historians, faculty, students and alumni to examine the U's troubling history and come up with appropriate responses. There have been calls for the university to remove names from some campus buildings.

The committee will discuss that idea, said chair John Coleman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

"You can think of it as getting out in front of some of the issues that might potentially come up over time, as people learn about particular parts of the university's history," Coleman said.

"As we learn more and become aware of and confront our own history as an institution, under what conditions would it be perhaps appropriate to consider naming changes?" he asked. "And what kinds of considerations might we want to take into account on the front end, when we are naming buildings and monuments and so on?"

It's not clear yet whether the names of Coffman Union or Nicholson Hall will be changed, or whether students like Martha Wright will be honored. The committee's first report is due in February.

But for now, the exhibit at Elmer Andersen Library ends with a wall of hand-written notes from visitors responding to what they see. The most common response: Rename the buildings.

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Susan Glasser recorded a podcast under the moniker of Global Politico yesterday with Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. Glasser focused the interview on national security and foreign policy issues. Senator Cotton expresses himself trenchantly in complete sentences and full paragraphs. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He speaks frequently with President Trump. He knows what he is talking about. The interview is lucid and informative.

I have embedded the Stitcher version of the audio below. The transcript is posted here. Glassers write-up with embedded audio is posted here under the heading I have borrowed for this post.

Glasser introduces the interview with a preview of coming attractions: This is a moment of truth for President Trumps national security team. He is set to overrule both his secretaries of State and Defense on the Iran nuclear deal this week, declaring it no longer in the U.S. national interest in explicit contradiction to their public position. And if they dont like it, Senator Tom Cotton says, then they should get out.

Reading recommended by Senator Cotton: Walter Russell Mead, A Special Providence.

Quotable quote: I would submit that [Trumps] foreign policy, over these first nine months in office, is much more in keeping with the bipartisan tradition of foreign policy, starting with Truman in 1945 and going through George Bush in 2009, than President Obamas policy was. In almost every area, in his own way, with his own rhetoric, he has reasserted American leadership, and hes willing to confront threats before they gather.So even though his rhetoric may sound unusual to the foreign-policy establishment in Washington and New York and Brussels, I think his foreign policy itself is much more in keeping with a long bipartisan tradition than Barack Obamas was.
Melanie Phillips recently drew attention to the September 25 appearance of a former prince of Hamas with a surprising message at the 36th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The sole purpose of this worse than worthless organization seems to be the disparagement of Israel. Melanie posted the video along with an introduction. Here is the video.

Up for discussion was the evergreen subject of human rights in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (its not clear to me whether this includes the marvelous state of human rights protected by Hamas in Gaza). Israel is castigated by one and all. Speakers seen in the video include representatives of such paragons of human rights as the PLO, Syria, Qatar, North Korea, Pakistan, Venezuela and Iran. Then the surprise guest speaking under the auspices of United Nations Watch is heard.

Where are the men of Monty Python to do justice to the farce of the UNHRC? Where is Rod Serling to guide us on our way to the Twilight Zone?

They arent here, but Melanie Phillips is. She provides this introduction to the mystery guest at the UN party:

Musab Hassan Yousef is the so-called Green Prince. The son of one of the founders of the Hamas, Yousef turned against that terrorist organisation and became such a supporter of Israel that this Ramallah-born Arab served for some years as an informant for the Israeli Shin Bet security service. Thus much is well known: there is a book and even a movie about this man. Nevertheless, when the campaigning group UN Watch brought him to speak to the UN no-one seems to have expected what was coming. The reaction was as comical as the underlying situation is unforgiveable. The UN, the crucible of defamatory lies and libels against Israel because of the dominance there of the Arab block and its global allies, rarely hears the brutal truth about the Palestinian leadership  and certainly not by someone with Yousefs pedigree. Watch this video of what Yousef said  and watch the faces around him as he said it.

United Nations Watch puts it this way: EPIC MOMENT: U.N. stunned, Palestinian delegates in shock, as UN Watch brings surprise guest speakerPalestinian Mosab Hassan Yousefto expose PLO lies. Watch heads turn!!
Dick Durbin may be playing dumb on the Dreamers, but President Trump isnt. On Sunday evening, he released his immigration principles that outline reforms that must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

As we have explained, DACA recipients are a subset of Dreamers. They are the ones who came forward to take advantage of the DACA program illegally instituted by President Obama. Trump has expressed willingness to back legislation that grants them permanent status, in exchange for concessions from Democrats on border security and related issues. Now, he has set forth a list of the reforms he wants.

What are these reforms? They include funding the border wall, significantly beefing up staffing of ICE, ending asylum abuse, stopping sanctuary cities, requiring E-Verify, and ending chain migration and the visa lottery.

The Democrats immediately cried foul. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi complained that Trumps list fails to represent any attempt at compromise.

Certainly, Trumps list is aggressive. It is best viewed as an opening bid. Im pretty sure Trump would sign DACA legislation that did not include all of the items he enumerated. If so, the list represents an attempt to negotiate a compromise.

Whether a compromise can be reached depends on whether congressional Democrats are willing to accept some of what Trump is calling for. The Dems havent shown that willingness. As Mark Krikorian says, Schumer and Pelosi would be willing to accept meaningless border security theater  e.g., drones  in exchange for a DACA amnesty. But its not clear that the Democratic base would allow even this.

Krikorian reminds us that last month anti-borders radicals shouted down Nancy Pelosi, screaming We are not a bargaining chip! and All of us or none of us! In other words, the anti-borders activists are demanding a clean DREAM Act (which would be many times larger than a simple DACA fix) without even flaccid border security provisions. In that environment, says Krikorian, the Dems are in no position to bargain with Trump.

Thus, in a sense, Trump has done Schumer and Pelosi a favor. They can pretend to be interested in compromise, but claim, falsely, that the presidents aggressive list makes compromise impossible.

At the same time, Trump has done immigration hardliners a favor. In Krikorians words, he has made it less likely Congress would send him, or hed sign, a naked DACA amnesty, maybe with some fig-leaf border security provisions, an approach favored not just by Pelosi and Schumer, but also more than a few Republicans. Having raised the bar like this, signing a DACA bill that doesnt include some significant portion of whats outlined would be a Neville Chamberlain-level failure of deal-making, and would have political consequences, Krikorian concludes.

With Donald Trump, nothing is certain, but Krikorians analysis seems sound. The upshot? Probably no DACA fix by March, when DACA work permits start expiring at the rate of a few hundred a day.
LINWOOD  As students attend classes at Stockton Universitys Atlantic City campus for the first time next fall, visiting professors and dignitaries may have a rehabilitated home to relax in during their stay.

A three-bedroom ranch house, which the university has maintained since the state purchased it in 1970, sits on almost 2 acres along Shore Road bordering the Linwood Country Club.

The state bought the house to serve as the residence for Stocktons president. The first three Stockton presidents lived there: Richard E. Bjork, Peter M. Mitchell and Vera King Farris.

University President Harvey Kesselman doesnt live there, nor did his predecessor, Herman J. Saatkamp Jr.

Earlier this year, Stockton negotiated with the State House Commission to buy the house for $150,000, said Michael Angulo, Stocktons interim vice president for administration and finance.

The discount price reflects the many years (decades) that Stockton cared for the property and the substantial improvements/maintenance Stockton has invested in the property over that time, Angulo said.

The house needs roof work and other renovations the university did not want to pay for without holding title to the property, said Angulo and Donald Hudson, Stocktons vice president of facilities and operations.

I dont know if it (the roof) can make it through another winter, Angulo said.

During the 47 years Stockton has looked after the property, the school has overseen at least three additions to create 2,938 square feet of living space, a roof replacement and kitchen renovations, Angulo said.

Charles E. Ingram, Stocktons vice president of finance who now lives in the house, is leaving the university.

Hudson said he expects a new roof could cost $25,000 to $30,000.

Any time a house is being rebuilt or maintained, the owner has to look at the exterior envelope, such as windows, garage door, front door, caulking, ceilings and gutters  and all that adds up, Hudson said.

We could be on the hook for $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 to properly maintain this over the next couple of years, Hudson said.

Its an advantage to have the Linwood house, which be used for visiting professors and their families, Hudson said.

Its important that we treat our special guests with that type of honor, Hudson said. It saves us money. If we had to put them up in a hotel for an extended stay somewhere, it would cost a lot more than it costs to maintain this property.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  After five weeks in space, an agricultural experiment designed by two Stockton University students has made it safely back to Earth and to the college for analysis.

The experiment was designed by Valkyrie Falciani, of Hammonton, and Danielle Ertz, of Woodlynne in Camden County.

The experiment went up to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in August with 20 other science projects designed by students from across the county. They were part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Educations Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. This was the 11th mission for the program.

Falciani and Ertz designed the experiment, Spores in Space, as part of a Stockton class last fall led by associate professor of biology Tara Luke. Luke served as a mentor for the students during the design process.

The students used the versatile flax seed to examine the effect of microgravity on the process known as mycorrhizae, which is a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi.

We want to look at how efficient it is in space, Falciani said.

Falciani said this information could be useful in future long-term space travel, when astronauts would need to be able to grow their own food in space.

Now, Luke is helping Falciani through the analysis portion along with student Hannah Sandler, 20, of Flemington in Hunterdon County. Sandler is filling in for Ertz, who has since graduated.

Were in post-production, Falciani said. We fix our seeds and roots, which means we stopped all biological processes.

They will then use a dark stain to tint the seeds to more easily examine the experiment.

Were going to take it from there, Falciani said. Were looking for spots where the fungus has infected the roots.

Falciani, 24, already has a degree in marine biology and is working on her second degree from Stockton, in teaching.

Its really cool because this is an educational program, she said. Its a chance for students to get involved in their own science, and thats something I want to bring into my classroom.

Luke said the students have a chance to work without pre-conceived outcomes or procedures.

Ive learned as much as these guys have, she said.

Luke said Falciani and Ertzs experiment is useful because regardless of what the results are, it still tells us something.

Falciani said they plan to do a formal write-up of the results of their experiment, which will be published online at Stocktons Student Spaceflight Experiments Program website.

Falciani said being involved in the program has been a surreal and exciting experience. She had the chance to speak at the programs conference in Washington, D.C., this summer and travel to Florida for the rocket launch.

Its been such an amazing opportunity, she said.
LINWOOD  The two candidates for Atlantic County sheriff compared records, challenged each other and lamented the opioid crisis in a debate Monday afternoon.

Somers Point Mayor John Jack Glasser, a Republican, and Eric Scheffler, a Democrat, cited their years of law-enforcement experience during the debate on WOND-AM 1400s Off The Press with Scott Cronick.

One of the choices facing voters Nov. 7 is whether they would like their next sheriff to have more big-city experience or a small-community background.

Glasser, 64, retired at the rank of captain after 25 years in the Northfield Police Department.

Scheffler, 51, of Northfield, worked for 23 years in the Atlantic City Police Department and retired as a lieutenant.

They are vying to replace Frank X. Balles, who left the sheriffs job to return to the Pleasantville Police Department as a captain. Security of the courts is the Sheriffs Departments major responsibility.

Cronick used a format that let candidates ask questions of each other.

Glasser, who is an executive as a mayor, asked Scheffler about his experience with budgets and administration. As captain, Glasser said, he did everything in the small department, and that is the experience of most of the police departments in the county, except for Atlantic City.

Scheffler said he has experience as the commander of the midnight shift and commander of the training unit, where he had to deal with budgets, overtime and purchasing.

Both men addressed the opioid crisis.

This is a scourge hitting all communities, Glasser said. We have to educate families. ... A family I know very well lost a son.

Glasser also works in the security department at the Atlantic County Institute of Technology. An effort has to be made to reach out to at-risk youth and help them.

Scheffler, who works with special-needs children at Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, is a founding member of the Mainland Regional One Life Committee. It is a volunteer organization tackling heroin and opioid addiction issues in schools.

These individuals (tempted by drugs) dont fit into a box. We have to build a box for them, said Scheffler, who added part of the equation is teaching them coping skills for stress.

Scheffler advocates for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion. The LEAD program looks toward treatment and recovery more than incarceration.

Scheffler asked Glasser about what he would do about overtime in the Sheriffs Department.

Glasser said the only way he could imagine decreasing the overtime is to hire more personnel.

The biggest problem will be trying to get funding for the Atlantic County Sheriffs Department, Glasser said. Frank (Balles) has had cutbacks.

Glasser already has in mind a couple a former sheriffs officers hed like to serve in his administration. He also would like to hire more veterans while being fair to everyone else.

Scheffler said he has created training programs used by dozens of police departments today throughout South Jersey.

New ideas he brought up during the debate included a professional development program for sheriffs officers to train for the rank above their current position.

Scheffler also said he was a strong advocate for a veterans court and a post-traumatic stress disorder initiative.
PLEASANTVILLE  Police on Monday were investigating a shooting that damaged a car early Sunday morning.

Officers investigated a report of shots fired at 1:13 a.m. near Second Street and Adams Avenue but didnt initially find any evidence there, Capt. Matthew Hartman said in a press release.

About 10 minutes later, Egg Harbor Township police called to report a man at the NJ Transit bus maintenance yard on Washington Avenue said his car had been shot.

The victim, identified as Alexander Neewilly, 22, of Pleasantville, told police his car was shot near Devins Lane, which caused him to crash the car and damage New Jersey Water Co. property at 914 W. Washington Ave.

Police said casings were found near Devins Lane.

Neewilly walked to the NJ Transit yard before encountering police, Hartman said.

Detective Angelo Maldonado is investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 609-641-6100 or Atlantic County Crime Stoppers at 609-652-1234.
CAPE MAY POINT  With five of 10 weeks of monarch counts completed, this year is the best for the migration of the butterflies in four years.

But its still below 2012, which was quite a big year, said Mark Garland, director of the Cape May Bird Observatorys Monarch Monitoring Project. Exactly what is yet to come we dont know, but it is encouraging.

A promising start to monarchs' migration CAPE MAY POINT  Her friends arent surprised when Rebecca Zerlin suddenly calls out Monarc

He said hes heard anecdotal reports there are plenty of monarchs left to the north that will be part of the annual fall migration to Mexico, as temperatures have remained mild.

And the projects educational programs, including public demonstrations of monarch tagging, are attracting lots of people this year, Garland said.

A bunch of our demos have had more than 100 people, he said. People are seeing them in their own neighborhoods and thinking, Ill bet its really good in Cape May.

There have been several nights when CMBO staff and volunteers have found large roosts of the butterflies on trees and shrubs here. CMBO is part of New Jersey Audubon.

When that happens, its because the winds are not conducive to them leaving, and it gets cool at night. Those are the conditions that give us those large roosts, Garland said.

Winds pushing up from the south or strong winds from any direction throw a roadblock up to movement.

They dont want to fight those winds across the bay, Garland said.

That leaves large numbers clustering in Cape May until conditions change.

Last Monday we had ideal conditions, and a bunch took off and flew across to Delaware, pretty much at first light, Garland said.

While their leave-taking is disappointing to the folks in Cape May, who love seeing large numbers of monarchs mass there, its whats best for the monarchs.

Its great to see them get good conditions for the 15-mile bay crossing, Garland said.

To learn more about the Cape May Monarchs, go to MonarchMonitoringProject.com.
ATLANTIC CITY  A jury awarded $210,000 to three Atlantic County residents in their 2012 arrests after they chased teenagers from a home they were renovating, a lawyer said.

The jury found Oct. 5 after a civil trial that they were unconstitutionally prosecuted, he said.

Homeowner Melanie Shaw, Anthony Florio and Dr. Timothy McGuarn will each receive $70,000 in their case accusing three police officers of malicious prosecution, according to court documents provided by Alan Lands, attorney for Florio and McGuarn.

Attorneys for the officers and city officials did not return telephone calls for comment.

In October 2012, Officer Andre Corbin, Sgt. Mark Benjamin and Detective Franco Sydnor responded to a 911 call reporting a man with a gun in the house in the 600 block of North New York Avenue, Lands said.

Shaw, 55, owns the property in which officers found the trio. She was in possession of her fathers 1939 Japanese rifle from World War II, which is not functional, Lands said.

The three juveniles ages 16 to 18 broke into the home Shaw, Florio and McGuarn, 62, were renovating, Lands said. McGuarn chased them out of the house, and Florio tried to scare the teens with Shaws rifle.

Corbin, Benjamin and Sydnor arrested the adults on charges of criminal trespassing and possession of a weapon with intent to use it for an unlawful purpose, Lands said.

Shaw, Florio and McGuarn were taken to the Atlantic County jail on $2,500 cash bail, which was increased to $50,000 cash when they were indicted in January 2013, Lands said. They were released from jail in April 2013.

In May 2013, Lt. Charles DeFebbo deemed the weapon not operable, according to documents from the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office. First Assistant Prosecutor Diane Ruberton dismissed the charges in June 2013.

The jury unanimously found Corbin, Benjamin and Sydnor did not falsely arrest any of the three residents. But the jury 7-to-1 found the defendants had unconstitutionally prosecuted the plaintiffs.

The jury also found Benjamin did not use excessive force against Shaw, as the lawsuit alleged.
PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP  The New Jersey Pinelands Commission has begun livestreaming its monthly meetings from its headquarters in the 1.1 million acre reserve.

People can see what the commission is up to without making a drive that is at least an hour for many New Jersey residents. And recordings of the meetings are available online.

I think its good. Its not quite the same as being able to be there, said Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the nonprofit Pinelands Preservation Alliance. You cant stand up and make a comment.

But with the commission meetings routinely held on Friday mornings, when most people are working, its unrealistic to expect them to attend, Montgomery said.

The next meeting is 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The plan is to make commission meetings and the information they provide more easily available.

Were hopeful that by livestreaming our meetings, it will engender a greater interest in the work of the Pinelands Commission and our efforts to safeguard this region, said spokesman Paul Leakan.

The July and August meetings were livestreamed and remain available on YouTube.com, said Leakan, as well as through links on the commissions website nj.gov/pinelands/home/meetings/ live.shtml.

But the September meeting was not. It was held off-site at the War Memorial in Trenton to accommodate a larger crowd interested in the fate of the New Jersey Natural Gas pipeline and a road map for Wharton State Forest.

We could not do it from the War Memorial. We didnt have a connection that could work, said Leaken.

The alliance has been recording the meetings for years. Older meetings are available on the website at pinelandsalliance.org, and more recent meetings are available on its Facebook page, including the September meeting at the War Memorial.

Now the recordings will also be available on the government website that many turn to first for information.

Watching meetings online allows the public to see what staff members and commissioners say, and their manner while saying it, Montgomery said.

Theres a greater sense of the people involved, Montgomery said, compared with simply reading written minutes. And we all know people make all the difference.

Leakan said people have asked over the years for the commission to provide video access to meetings, but he hasnt gotten a huge response to the start of it.

According to YouTube, the July meeting was watched 179 times and the August meeting was watched 63 times.
JOHANNESBURG, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The Government of the Republic of Chad and African Parks announced on Tuesday October 10th the signing of an agreement for the management and protection of key reserves Siniaka Minia, Bahr-Salamat and wildlife corridors around Zakouma National Park, to create the Greater Zakouma Functional Ecosystem. African Parks, a conservation NGO which manages protected areas on behalf of governments across Africa, has managed Zakouma National Park since 2010. The results achieved in Zakouma enabled the extension of the mandate to manage a much larger landscape, securing vital habitats beyond the national park.

Zakouma National Park is home to the country's largest population of elephants, which was reduced by 95% due to rampant poaching between 2002 and 2010. In the seven years since the Government of Chad delegated management to African Parks, law enforcement measures and community programmes have practically eliminated poaching and the elephant population is on the increase for the first time in a decade.

"The Government of Chad has shown extraordinary vision in committing to the conservation of its irreplaceable parks," said African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead. "Through our partnership in Zakouma, our actions have produced stability and security for both local communities and wildlife, paving the way to incorporate the Siniaka Minia and Bahr-Salamat Wildlife Reserves, and important corridors between them within our management mandate. We are immensely grateful for this partnership, and for the support of the European Union and other funding partners who have made this possible."

The key priorities will be to reduce poaching and human-wildlife conflict through the improvement of law enforcement; to promote national capacity; and to contribute to socio-economic growth. On Sunday October 8th, the Governments of Chad and South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enable African Parks to translocate a founder population of black rhinoceros from South Africa to Zakouma for reintroduction to Chad next year. This commitment to fortifying security and eliminating poaching to facilitate the safe return of key species is a critical component of the restoration of Zakouma, and the larger ecosystem.

"The satisfactory results that we have achieved in this public-private partnership stem from the foresight of His Excellency Mr. Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic, Head of State," said Chad's Minister of Environment and Fisheries Ahmat Mbodou, "The conservation and sustainable management of resources is in perfect coherence with Chad's 2030 vision and the objectives of sustainable development."

Read the full release

SOURCE African Parks
Honor Celebrates Exceptional Contributions Made in the Field of Mental Health Advocacy and Awareness

GHENT, Belgium, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Dr. Guislain Museum and Janssen Research & Development, LLC announced that Sotheara Chhim, M.D., M.P.M., Ph.D., has been named the 2017 winner of the Dr. Guislain "Breaking the Chains of Stigma" Award. The award honors Dr. Chhim for his extraordinary efforts developing mental health services in Cambodia through scientific therapeutic approaches and launching the Operation Unchain initiative, a program designed to break the stigma of mental illness. He will be recognized for his contributions tonight during a ceremony in his honor at the Dr. Guislain Museum in Ghent, Belgium.

"Dr. Chhim's work to literally break the chains of those suffering from mental health disorders in Cambodia embodies Dr. Guislain's passion to stand up for the rights of patients with mental illnesses and improve their care and ultimately their social position," said Brother Rene Stockman, General Director of the Dr. Guislain Museum. "It's an honor to give this type of work the recognition it deserves to continue to destigmatize the perception of mental illness in our communities globally."

Dr. Chhim is the executive director and senior consultant psychiatrist of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Cambodia, the country's leading Non-Government Organization (NGO) in the field of mental health care and psychosocial support. Under his leadership, TPO Cambodia has developed and implemented programs to raise awareness about psychosocial and mental health conditions in many parts of Cambodia. Dr. Chhim and TPO have also provided mental health counselling, treatment, and specialized services for prisoners, gender-based violence survivors and torture survivors. To date, more than 220,000 patients and families have benefitted from his and his team's work.

"After experiencing the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime and the lack of mental health care, I was inspired to pursue my lifelong passion of helping people by becoming one of the first psychiatrists in Cambodia," said Dr. Sotheara Chhim. "I'm honored to receive the 2017 Dr. Guislain Award and look forward to expanding my work and bringing even more awareness of mental health issues in communities throughout Cambodia."

In 2015, Dr. Chhim launched Operation Unchain, an initiative to help the poverty-stricken rural communities of Cambodia where mental health treatment, awareness and resources are unavailable, which results in patients being locked up or chained. Operation Unchain provides treatment to these patients and educates their families and communities on mental health leading to a change of attitude towards the mentally ill. It also provides a chance for the patients to lead productive lives. Since its launch, this project has treated 68 patients who were chained or caged between two to 20 years, impacting 62 communities.

"We are honored to recognize Dr. Chhim's tireless efforts to provide resources to destigmatize mental illness in communities throughout Cambodia," said Husseini K. Manji, M.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head for Neuroscience, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. "With the Dr. Guislain Award, Janssen seeks to pay tribute to individuals and organizations for their exceptional contributions to help reduce mental health stigma in communities around the world."

The Dr. Guislain "Breaking the Chains of Stigma" Award is named for, and honors, the legacy of Dr. Joseph Guislain (1797-1860), the first Belgian psychiatrist to provide scientifically based treatment for patients with mental illness and a staunch patient advocate. Both the Dr. Guislain Museum and Janssen are organizations with a rich heritage and long-standing involvement in the field of mental illness research, treatment and education. For 31 years, the Dr. Guislain Museum has existed to educate the public and rectify the misunderstandings and prejudice associated with treatment for mental illness.

The Dr. Guislain Award program is a joint project of the Dr. Guislain Museum and Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Janssen provides financial and in-kind support for the program. Dr. Chhim will receive a $50,000 prize that must be used toward further work to reduce societal stigma about mental health and help those patients still chained or caged in Cambodia.

Janssen's sponsorship of this award reflects its nearly 60-year commitment to helping find solutions for patients with mental illness. The Award is an important component of the Healthy Minds initiative of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, which aims to encourage collaboration among biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and public-sector partners to accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic solutions for diseases and disorders of the brain, as well as support the mental health community and various advocacy organizations and projects.

Dr. Guislain Museum issued the call for nominations for the Dr. Guislain "Breaking the Chains of Stigma" Award on 23 February 2017. More than 35 nominations were received from across the globe, after which a jury of international mental health advocates and renowned authorities in the field selected Dr. Chhim.

About the Dr. Guislain "Breaking the Chains of Stigma" Award

Individuals, organizations or projects all over the world that have made an exceptional contribution in dealing with, or promoting the awareness of, mental health care are eligible to receive the Dr. Guislain "Breaking the Chains of Stigma" Award. The Award is given to an individual(s), organization or project that:

has made an exceptional contribution to mental healthcare in the broadest sense on a cultural and/or social level;

has provided a genuine contribution to decreasing stigma around mental health conditions;

has promoted attention for mental health care; and

has done all this with passion, creativity and innovation.

The jury is comprised of:

Mohan Agashe  Actor, psychiatrist, member of Governing and Executive Council at Children Film Society of India

 Actor, psychiatrist, member of Governing and Executive Council at Children Film Society of Ellen Baxter  Founder of Broadway Housing Communities (BHC) in New York

 Founder of Broadway Housing Communities (BHC) in Siri Hustvedt  Essayist, novelist and poet

 Essayist, novelist and poet Vikram Patel  Pershing Square professor of Global Health and Welcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the Harvard Medical School , professor at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, adjunct professor and co-director of the Public Health Foundation of India's Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries, honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, co-founder of Sangath, fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences, and has served on several WHO expert and Government of India committees

 Pershing Square professor of Global Health and Welcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the , professor at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, adjunct professor and co-director of the Public Health Foundation of Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries, honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, co-founder of Sangath, fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences, and has served on several WHO expert and Government of committees Bernard Sabbe  Professor of medical psychology and psychiatry at University of Antwerp , and psychiatrist/psychotherapist at Psychiatric Hospital Duffel

 Professor of medical psychology and psychiatry at University of , and psychiatrist/psychotherapist at Psychiatric Hospital Duffel Andrew Scull  Distinguished Professor of sociology and science studies at University of California, San Diego

 Distinguished Professor of sociology and science studies at Erik Thys  Psychiatrist in the University Psychiatric Centre at the KU Leuven in Kortenberg and the Psycho-Social Centre St. Alexius Ixelles in Brussels, Belgium

About Dr. Guislain Museum

The Dr. Guislain Museum was founded in 1986 in Ghent, Belgium, and its exhibits address the history of psychiatry in a permanent collection and through a series of half-yearly changing thematic exhibitions. The Museum features an array of psychiatric photographs, two centuries of comprehensive archives and an extensive library chronicling the history of psychiatry. Comprehensively, the Museum seeks to educate the public and rectify the misunderstandings and prejudice associated with treatment for mental illness. The Museum Dr. Guislain attracts 70,000 visitors each year.

About Dr. Joseph Guislain

Dr. Joseph Guislain (1797-1860) was a driven activist for patients with mental illness and the first Belgian psychiatrist to provide scientifically-based treatment for these individuals. As a passionate advocate for those with mental illness, Dr. Guislain worked tirelessly to stand up for the rights of patients and help improve their social position. He lectured and published extensively about mental illness and enjoyed considerable recognition by his contemporaries.

For more information about the Dr. Guislain Award, please visit www.drguislainaward.org.

Contact:

Patrick Allegaert

Dr. Guislain Museum

+32 9 216 35 95

allegaert.patrick@gmail.com

Yoon Hee Lamot

Dr. Guislain Museum

+32 9 216 35 36

y.lamot@museumdrguislain.be

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570437/Dr_Guislain_Museum___Award_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Dr. Guislain Museum
SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Walkable Urbanism" is emerging as a new global standard for urban development. Today, how much the city provides a safe and comfortable walking environment is becoming important. Urban planners prioritize pedestrians and develop ideas about how to make their city a better walkable city.

Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8189051-seoul-korea-seoullo-7017/

Seoul is also in line with these global efforts. One of the recent accomplishments is "Seoullo 7017" (hereinafter "Seoullo"). It is a 1,024-meter-long elevated pedestrian walkway opened on May 20th, 2017. It is built on the overpass that had served as a driveway for the past 45 years. Since its official opening, over 5,00,000 people have visited the Seoullo, making it the signature place for the city's walkable city initiative.

"7017" combines the number from "1970," the year the overpass was built, and that from "2017," the year of its rebirth as a pedestrian walkway. It also refers to 17 connected paths and the height of the road, which is 17 meters.

The area of the Seoul Station, where the Seoullo is located in, is a major gateway to/from Seoul where an average of 390,000 commuters and travelers every day are visiting. However, the area has long been isolated like an island, surrounded by roads for cars. Instead of the demolition of the overpass, the city regenerates it to create a pedestrian road and provides the right to walk to its citizens.

As the architect who designed the Seoullo, Winy Maas once said, "It is often compared to the Highline in New York, but it is different in many ways - The size and height as well as its context are very different. I think Seoul project is more interesting. I like the idea of reusing the overpass."

One of the interesting things about Seoullo is that the road is regarded as one big tree with its ramps as branches. Its 17 paths are organically connected, creating a network of the area. Its vision and strategy that transform a concrete structure into a space full of life have been praised for being future-oriented and innovative.

"Seoullo project is a new attempt to revitalize the underdeveloped downtown area and its surroundings," said Mayor Park Won-Soon. He also added, "We will make the Seoullo a place where people gather, which leads to the revitalization of the surrounding area."

For more information, visit http://seoullo7017.seoul.go.kr.

Contact:

Young-yune Jang

Seoul Metropolitan Government

yyjang@seoul.go.kr

Related Links

http://seoullo7017.seoul.go.kr.



SOURCE Seoul Metropolitan Government
Following launches in Seattle and Massachusetts, world's largest station-free bike-sharing company launches in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ofo, the world's first and largest station-free bike sharing company, announces its launch in Washington, D.C. today.

"We have seen great engagement with our bicycles in the U.S. so far and are thrilled to bring ofo to Washington, D.C.," said Dai Wei, founder and CEO. "As we continue to expand to new regions, more and more cities show great interest in ofo because of its convenience, positive environmental impact and health benefits. We look forward to bringing ofo to more cities across the U.S. soon."

ofo's latest model bike pictured in Washington, D.C.

ofo will deploy 400 of its bright yellow bikes over the course of its first week. In accordance with the city's pilot policy, ofo bicycles will be rolling out in every ward, including high-traffic areas like Foggy Bottom, Farragut Square, Dupont Circle, Chinatown and Union Station. Users can download the ofo app to find nearby bikes and scan the QR code located on either the frame or smart lock to unlock them. Once a trip is completed, users will be charged a fee of $1 for each hour ridden.

Rides throughout the city are free until October 22nd, with additional promotions taking place throughout the coming months. As in all other cities where it operates, ofo will have local, on-the-ground maintenance and management staff to assist with bike parking and repairs.

"Washington, D.C. is a great candidate for station-free bike sharing," said Grace Lin, vice president of ofo U.S. "We are happy to improve access and transportation options for the high number of residents, commuters and visitors who prefer not to or cannot rely on driving, taxis or public transportation to get where they are going."

Founded in 2014, ofo pioneered the concept of station-free bike-sharing. Today it operates in over 180 cities across 15 countries and generates more than 25 million daily transactions. Washington, D.C. marks ofo's fourth official city in the United States, in addition to Seattle, Washington; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Revere, Massachusetts. ofo will be launching in Aurora, Colorado and additional cities in Massachusetts within the month.

ABOUT OFO

Founded in 2014, ofo is the world's largest station-free bicycle-sharing platform. ofo was created for sharing and aims to unlock every corner of the world by making bikes accessible to everyone. To date, ofo has connected users to more than 10 million bikes in over 180 cities across 15 countries, generated more than 25 million daily transactions and has provided over 200 million global users with 4 billion efficient, convenient and green rides. ofo partnered with the UN Development Programme in April to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and launched a partnership with Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation in August, in which ofo donate bicycles to girls living in Malawi in need of a safe way to get to school. To learn more, visit www.ofo.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS

U.S. Contact

Hannah Buzicky

Mobile: (212) 819-4879

Email: media@ofo.com

Global Headquarters

Angela Cai

Mobile: +86 138 1063 8166

Email: caimuyuan@ofo.com

Hilary Shi

Mobile: +86 136 9336 7685

Email: shiyingchang@ofo.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570468/ofo_Bike.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570467/ofo_new_logo_500.jpg

Related Links

http://www.ofo.com



SOURCE ofo
New Unilever Announcement Falls Short of Groups' Demand

BRUSSELS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EU and US organizations, led by US-based Organic Consumers Association (OCA), will confirm today at a press conference that samples of Unilever-owned Ben & Jerry's ice cream from France, Netherlands, Germany and the UK contained glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

Glyphosate was detected in 12 of 14 samples, at levels as high as 1.228 ng/mL, according to John Fagan, chief scientist for HRI Labs, which conducted the tests.

Ronnie Cummins, OCA international director, said: "Ben & Jerry's announcement yesterday that it will source 6% organic dairy is positive news. But that leaves 94% of its supply coming from conventional dairies which use massive amounts of GMO animal feed. We will push for a transition to 100% organic, backed by a legally binding contract."

Speakers at the press conference will include EU Parliament Members Michelle Rivasi and Philippe Lamberts; Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini, author of numerous studies on Roundup/glyphosate, Dr. John Fagan, chief scientist, HRI Labs; and Pat Thomas, founder/director, Beyond GM.

Commenting on the results, Seralini said: "Research indicates that levels of glyphosate in most samples likely pose a health risk. The regulatory levels set in the EU and US are based on outmoded toxicology models that fail to account for the properties of hormone disrupters like glyphosate-based herbicides, which can damage health at very low levels."

Prior to the conference, Rivasi said: "Based on the research of Seralini and others, Europe should immediately ban Roundup, and all uses of glyphosate in toxic formulations."

Thomas said: "Moving to a fully organic system is the only way to ensure a product is free from traces of endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic glyphosate."

Beyond GM, Sustainable Pulse (Bulgaria), the Monsanto Tribunal (NL) and the Soil Association (UK) joined OCA in asking Ben & Jerry's to go 100% organic. 150 organizations and businesses signed a letter to Ben & Jerry's, asking the same.

Available: Certificates of Analysis, Statement of Relevance, Description of Analytical Method

Organic Consumers Association is a non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization advocating on behalf of more than two million consumers. @OCA_Press.



Related Links

http://www.organicconsumers.org



SOURCE Organic Consumers Association
DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Led by significant achievements in catering, off-premise/to-go dining, and impressive average sales on special event days, On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is successfully delivering on its vision to break away from mainstream casual dining chains. At this year's system-wide conference, the world's largest casual Mexican restaurant brand shared news of double-digit growth in catering and triple-digit growth in third-party delivery and a record-breaking Cinco de Mayo for 2017.

"We're breaking away from the past and building a bigger, better company for the future," said Ward Whitworth, Chief Executive Officer for On The Border. "This is a year that has been dedicated to change and making a difference for our operators, our team members, and our guests and so far, we're on track to follow through with our goals while also learning what else we can do to help our brand stand out in a positive way."

Whitworth's comments were delivered under the conference's theme of Always On, and highlighted the CEO's philosophy that responsibility and personal leadership are more vital than ever in the current dining industry landscape. "It's a challenging market right now," he explained to more than 350 attendees and team members from around the country. "Despite that, On The Border is holding its own  remaining steady with some industry trends and winning big in others."

A number of team members were recognized at the conference for their outstanding performance and commitment to progress.

Shanna Jones , who oversees operations in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania , was honored as General Manager of the Year

, who oversees operations in , was honored as General Manager of the Year Dawn Simon , from Escondido, California , was awarded Franchise General Manager of the Year

, from , was awarded Franchise General Manager of the Year Ed Jarvis , who leads the brand's Philadelphia and Baltimore markets, was named Area Director of the Year

Whitworth pointed that the Best-of-the-Year winners were reflective of a company culture that celebrates extra effort and maintains a positive attitude towards change, which has been an essential element of the brand's success this year. On The Border has been simplifying operations in 2017, trimming back its menu to feature more fan favorites and seasonal additions, and streamlining costs and speed of service along the way. "Everything we do to benefit the brand should also benefit our guests," he added. "That is how we stand out from the 'chain gang'  by consistently owning the ways we can exceed expectations."

Other positive trends the brand is looking to continue into 2018 and beyond include upswings in social media engagement, visual updates that include more unified branding as well as restaurant remodels that have been shown to enhance dine-in traffic, and being active in the community on both local and national levels. Whitworth then closed his remarks with an inspiring challenge to management and senior team members. "Let's all be willing to ask ourselves, 'Am I the mayor of my town? Am I the kind of leader that attracts great talent and loyal guests?' and then be willing to do what it takes to say 'Yes' to those questions. Our people have always been the secret to On The Border's success  that's true now more than ever  and we're also better equipped than ever to make that difference meaningful to the guests we serve."

About On The Border

On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand, offering an extensive menu of great-tasting, classic and contemporary Mexican food, like sizzling mesquite-grilled fajitas, and Margaritas as big and bold as the border itself. On The Border is owned by Border Holdings, LLC, with 157 restaurants in 32 states, Puerto Rico and Asia. Follow and 'like' On The Border on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnTheBorderMexicanGrillandCantina, and @OnTheBorder on Twitter. For more information, visit www.ontheborder.com.

Contact: Jessica Chacoff

888.869.7899

[email protected]

SOURCE On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Related Links

http://www.ontheborder.com


CLEVELAND, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration is officially open for Intelligent Content Conference (ICC) 2018. Produced by the Content Marketing Institute, the three-day premier content strategy event created just for marketing professionals returns to the M Resort Spa Casino, March 20-22, 2018, in Las Vegas, NV.

Registration is now open: http://www.intelligentcontentconference.com/registration-info/

What is the Intelligent Content Conference?

What is ICC 2018 about? Strategy. It's the people, processes and tools that can help you make your content an asset within your organization. It's not just marketing, although your content is a huge component of your marketing. ICC wants you to broaden your minds and your strategic business goals to enable your content to be the lifeblood of your customer's entire experience.

Check out this video: https://youtu.be/Grudo15hZ08

Who should attend Intelligent Content Conference?

Marketing practitioners passionate about leveraging content as an organizational asset, including communications roles, content strategists, managers and creators and internal content change agents. Sessions will lean toward larger enterprises and those companies that want to bring structure to their content marketing with process and technology.

What will you learn?

We'll be offering courses ranging from beginner to advanced, served to you from the leading practitioners, consultants and authors from around the world. Previous speakers came from top brands including, IBM, Cisco Systems, Zillow, LinkedIn and more. So whether you don't have a clue where to start (we have you covered there) or are looking to optimize your already wicked content strategy, we have an ICC session for you.

Session Tracks include:

Tools & Tech

Core Concepts

Content Collaboration

Future of Content

Advanced Planning

If you're serious about putting content to work in your business, then this event is for you!

ICC includes one day of pre-conference workshops (March 20) and two full conference days (March 21 & 22) with a special focus on how customer experience and content play a role in digital transformation.

For more information on Intelligent Content Conference: http://www.intelligentcontentconference.com/

About Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing Institute is the leading global content marketing education and training organization, teaching enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI's Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and the Intelligent Content Conference event is held every spring. CMI publishes the bi-monthly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. Watch this video to learn more about CMI. Content Marketing Institute is organized by UBM plc. UBM is the largest pure-play B2B Events organizer in the world. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors. Our deep knowledge and passion for these sectors allow us to create valuable experiences which enable our customers to succeed. Please visit www.ubm.com for the latest news and information about UBM.

SOURCE Content Marketing Institute
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the National Business Aviation Association's annual exhibition today, UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), unveiled a pair of innovative new solutions for the business jet market.

The company's new proprietary microbiological water purifier consists of multiple layers to trap pathogens, remove odors and neutralize microbes. Compared to existing water purifiers that use ultraviolet or fine micron rating methods of sterilization, UTC Aerospace Systems' purifier is extremely lightweight at just over 4 pounds and requires minimal water pressure. In addition, the unit requires no electrical power or wiring, has the capacity to purify 4,000 gallons over its lifetime, and meets bacteria, virus and cyst reduction per National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) P231 purifier requirements.

Currently undergoing prototype and lab testing, the new purifier is expected to be fully qualified in early 2018. It is designed for use in aircraft galleys, lavatories, potable water tank outlets and service panel fills, and can be scaled in size to meet specific customer and platform requirements.

Also at NBAA today, UTC Aerospace Systems launched its Kidde Halotron BrX handheld cabin fire extinguisher, which uses a non-Halon, environmentally friendly fire suppression agent. The new extinguisher meets the ICAO recommendations and EASA regulations restricting and replacing the use of Halon 1211 on aircraft, and is designed as a drop-in replacement for existing Kidde 1211 extinguishers. Halotron BrX has passed UL 711 5B, 2B cold temperature and FAA Minimum Performance Standard (MPS) tests.

"The business aviation sector is a key focus area for us, and UTC Aerospace Systems is committed to meeting the needs of our customer in it," said Mark Skarohlid, vice president of business development for the company's Sensors & Integrated Systems division. "Whether it's through products that are lighter and more efficientlike our new water purifieror products that are more environmentally friendlylike our new handheld extinguisherbusiness jet owners and operators know they can count on cutting-edge technologies from UTC Aerospace Systems to meet their evolving needs."

For more information on these UTC Aerospace Systems solutions, stop by the company's booth at NBAA, N9204, or visit http://utcaerospacesystems.com/cap/systems/Pages/sensors-integrated-systems-business.aspx.

About UTC Aerospace Systems

UTC Aerospace Systems is one of the world's largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and defense products. UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries, supporting a global customer base with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utcaerospacesystems.com or follow us on Twitter: @utcaerosystems

About United Technologies Corporation

United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. By combining a passion for science with precision engineering, the company is creating smart, sustainable solutions the world needs. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utc.com or follow us on Twitter: @UTC

SOURCE UTC Aerospace Systems

Related Links

http://www.utcaerospacesystems.com


DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantage Facility Services, an integrated facilities management company with a focus on providing highly-managed janitorial solutions, has rebranded in response to a growing market in need of on-demand facility solutions from the commercial cleaning, landscaping, facility maintenance, and janitorial services market.

Advantage Facility Services is an integrated facilities management company with a focus on providing highly-managed janitorial solutions. based in Dallas, Texas and founded by Doug Shelton, Founder & President in 2007 to help customers in the commercial cleaning, commercial landscaping, facility maintenance, and janitorial services market.

Advantage Facility Services will continue to help customers decrease time spent on building maintenance services and will partner with green-friendly solutions providers while increasing the health, environment and productivity of staff. Advantage customers currently include commercial offices, multi-tenant buildings, medical offices, schools, and churches, among others.

Doug Shelton, founder of Advantage Facility Services explains: "Our aim is to re-position the brand to better represent the size and scope of our company, its core capabilities and solutions for our clients. For over 10 years now we've provided the same level of service to small business owners as we do for our Fortune 500 clients."

Based in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, Advantage Facility Services plans to double in size over the next twelve months. The company has expanded its service area from the DFW area to now include Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

Prior to launching, Doug Shelton served as regional manager for two nationwide companies, and has over 25 years' experience in facility maintenance/operations, customer service and teambuilding. He is currently serving as President for Advantage Facility Services, a facility services company providing janitorial, landscape and facility maintenance services who seeks to be a trusted provider for businesses throughout the state of Texas and beyond.

For media requests please contact Doug Shelton at 1-855-238-2689 or [email protected]

New brand mark available to view here: http://afs-texas.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ADVlogo.jpg

About Advantage Facility Services

Advantage Facility Services is an integrated facilities management company with a focus on providing highly-managed janitorial solutions. based in Dallas, Texas and founded by Doug Shelton, Founder & President in 2007 to help customers in the commercial cleaning, commercial landscaping, facility maintenance, and janitorial services market to decrease time spent on building maintenance services, partner with green-friendly solutions providers while increasing the health, environment and productivity of staff .

SOURCE Advantage Facility Services
DUBLIN, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) for ulipristal acetate, an investigational drug for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in women with uterine fibroids.

"Women with symptomatic uterine fibroids may suffer from physical and emotional distress2,3 without realizing their symptoms are caused by a treatable medical condition," said David Nicholson, Ph.D., Chief Research and Development Officer, Allergan. "Even when diagnosed, women in the U.S. are faced with limited treatment options. We are eager to continue working with the FDA on the potential approval of the first, once-daily oral treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding in women with uterine fibroids."

"Uterine fibroids have a serious impact on public health, and I am hopeful ulipristal acetate will offer millions of women a new, non-surgical treatment option that will help them manage their uterine fibroids," said Millie A. Behera M. D., FACOG, Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility Medical Director, Bloom Reproductive Institute. "It is welcome news for physicians to learn about the possibility of an oral treatment option, and that's exactly what U.S. physicians can look forward to if the investigational drug ulipristal acetate is approved for abnormal uterine bleeding in women with uterine fibroids."

Allergan expects the ulipristal acetate Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date to occur in the first half of 2018.

About Uterine Fibroids

According to an analysis published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in the United States an estimated 26 million women between the ages of 15 and 50 years old have uterine fibroids,1 and at least half of these women have symptoms that may impact the routine activities of their daily lives. Common symptoms include heavy menstrual bleeding, long menstrual cycles, irregular menstrual cycles, anemia, pelvic pain, pelvic pressure and urinary symptoms.2

These symptoms can be associated with iron deficiency, fatigue, pain, social embarrassment, interference with daily and social activities as well as lost productivity in the work place.2,3

Currently, surgery is a common treatment option for symptomatic uterine fibroids. In fact, uterine fibroids are responsible for over 350,000 hospitalizations and are the leading cause of hysterectomies, accounting for more than one-third of all hysterectomies annually in the U.S.4 The economic burden of uterine fibroids is also large, costing the economy up to $34 billion each year.4

About Ulipristal Acetate

Ulipristal acetate, an investigational drug in the U.S. for the medical treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in women with uterine fibroids, is a selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM), which acts directly on the progesterone receptors in three target tissues: the endometrium (uterine lining), uterine fibroids, and the pituitary gland. In the U.S, the safety and efficacy of ulipristal acetate has been evaluated in two North American Phase 3 studies (Venus I and VENUS II) of more than 500 adult women of reproductive age. Ulipristal acetate is protected by a patent that expires in 2029.

In addition to the Venus I and II trials, the efficacy of ulipristal acetate has been demonstrated in a series of four, multi-center, Phase 3, European trials involving more than 1,000 women with uterine fibroids. In Europe, ulipristal acetate is marketed under the trade name Esmya by Gedeon Richter. In Canada, ulipristal acetate is available under the trade name Fibristal and marketed by Allergan. Esmya and Fibristal are currently approved for the pre-operative and intermittent treatment of moderate to severe symptoms of uterine fibroids in adult women of reproductive age.

To date, approximately 500,000 women have been treated with ulipristal acetate for fibroids in over 70 countries worldwide.5

About Allergan Women's Healthcare

Allergan is a leader in women's healthcare that is dedicated to developing and commercializing best-in-class pharmaceuticals to improve the health and wellness of women. Allergan takes a holistic and a best-in-class approach to women's healthcare as it prioritizes educational partnerships with OB/GYNs. The mission of Allergan Women's Healthcare extends beyond its pharmaceutical products to ensure that all women can make informed decisions about their health and have access to high-quality medications. Allergan is committed to investing in programs that support the education and well-being of all women.

About Allergan plc

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a bold, global pharmaceutical company and a leader in a new industry model  Growth Pharma. Allergan is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical and regenerative medicine products for patients around the world.

Allergan markets a portfolio of leading brands and best-in-class products for the central nervous system, eye care, medical aesthetics and dermatology, gastroenterology, women's health, urology and anti-infective therapeutic categories.

Allergan is an industry leader in Open Science, a model of research and development, which defines our approach to identifying and developing game-changing ideas and innovation for better patient care. With this approach, Allergan has built one of the broadest development pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry with 65+ mid-to-late stage pipeline programs currently in development.

Allergan's success is powered by our more than 18,000 global colleagues' commitment to being Bold for Life. Together, we build bridges, power ideas, act fast and drive results for our customers and patients around the world by always doing what is right.

With commercial operations in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives every day.

For more information, visit Allergan's website at www.Allergan.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Statements contained in this press release that refer to future events or other non-historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect Allergan's current perspective on existing trends and information as of the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially from Allergan's current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting Allergan's business. These factors include, among others, the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of FDA approvals or actions, if any; the impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance of and continued demand for Allergan's products; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Allergan's periodic public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Allergan's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and Allergan's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2017. Except as expressly required by law, Allergan disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

1 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Evidence-based Practice Center Systematic Review Protocol: Management of Uterine Fibroids. https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov Published March 1, 2016. Accessed August 16, 2017.

2 De La Cruz MS, Buchanan EM. Am Fam Physician. 2017 Jan 15;95(2):100-107.

3 Borah BJ , Nicholson WK, Bradley L, et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013;209:3119.e1-20.

4 Wechter ME, Stewart EA, Myers ER, et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011;205(5):492.e1-492.e5.

5 Data on file.

CONTACTS: Allergan:

Investors:

Daphne Karydas

(862) 261-7328





Media:

Mark Marmur

(862) 261-7558





Tara Schuh

(201) 427-8888

SOURCE Allergan plc

Related Links

http://www.allergan.com


In line with Ally's commitment to do " Seriously Anything " for its customers, the bank wanted to create an innovative experience to highlight the importance of helping consumers stay connected and make banking easy and stress free. Building on its heritage as a leading online-only bank and digital disruptor, Ally commissioned a customized drone to surprise and delight shoppers with free mobile phone chargers to keep them "in charge" while on the go.

"National Online Bank Day is the perfect time to demonstrate how Ally does it right for consumers, going as far as delivering phone chargers to make sure they can bank anytime, anywhere," said Diane Morais, president of Consumer & Commercial Banking Products at Ally Bank.

*Follow Ally's drone story on social media through hashtag #NationalOnlineBankDay and on the Ally media site at https://media.ally.com/index.php?s=20325&item=1629

The ability to charge mobile phones anytime, anywhere gives consumers the freedom to be in charge of many aspects of their lives, including when and how one banks. In fact, a 2016 survey commissioned by electronics company LG regarding how consumers feel when their mobile phones run out of battery found that 90 percent of people suffer from the fear of their phone dying. Additionally, 46 percent of people say they feel embarrassed to ask a total stranger to use their charger, but would anyway because the anxiety of a dead smartphone is too great.

In its own survey on consumers' relationships with their banks, Ally Bank found a positive sign that financial institutions are heeding the call in recent years to focus on making the banking experience simpler and frictionless. In the survey, 82 percent of respondents agreed that their bank is committed to doing everything it can to meet their banking needs.

"As the bank that set out on a journey eight years ago to disrupt the status quo and challenge the win-lose practices in the banking industry, we're pleased this survey indicates that Americans feel their financial institution will go above and beyond to help meet their banking needs," added Morais. "Everyone wins when as an industry, we understand the importance of doing right by our customers."

Learn more about National Online Bank Day at http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-online-bank-day/

Survey Methodology

The Ally Financial Inc. study was conducted using two probability samples: randomly selected landline telephone numbers and randomly selected mobile (cell) telephone numbers. The combined sample consists of 1,008 adults (18 years old and older) living in the continental United States. Of the 1,008 interviews, 508 were from the landline sample and 500 from the cell phone sample. The margin of error for the sample of 1,008 is +/- 3.09% at the 95% confidence level. Smaller subgroups will have larger error margins.

About Ally Financial Inc.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial services company and a top 25 U.S. financial holding company offering financial products for consumers, businesses, automotive dealers and corporate clients. Ally's legacy dates back to 1919, and the company was redesigned in 2009 with a distinctive brand, innovative approach and relentless focus on its customers. Ally has an award-winning online bank (Ally Bank Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender), one of the largest full service auto finance operations in the country, a complementary auto-focused insurance business, a growing digital wealth management and online brokerage platform, and a trusted corporate finance business offering capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies.

The company had approximately $164.3 billion in assets as of June 30, 2017. For more information, visit the Ally press room at http://media.ally.com or follow Ally on Twitter: @AllyFinancial.

Media Contact:

Andrea Puchalsky

313-656-3798

[email protected]

SOURCE Ally Financial
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE: AMN), healthcare's leader and innovator in workforce solutions and staffing services, will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2017 financial results on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Company also expects to issue an earnings news release on Thursday, November 2, 2017 after market close at approximately 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time.

A live webcast of the call can be accessed through AMN Healthcare's website at http://amnhealthcare.investorroom.com/presentations. Please log in at least 10 minutes prior to the conference call in order to download the applicable audio software. Interested parties may participate live via telephone by dialing (800) 230-1059 in the U.S. or (612) 234-9959 for international callers. Following the conclusion of the call, a replay of the webcast will be available at the Company's website. Alternatively, a telephonic replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on November 2, 2017, and can be accessed until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on November 16, 2017 by calling (800) 475-6701 in the U.S. or (320) 365-3844 internationally, with access code 431402.

About AMN Healthcare

AMN Healthcare is the leader and innovator in healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities across the nation. The Company provides unparalleled access to the most comprehensive network of quality healthcare professionals through its innovative recruitment strategies and breadth of career opportunities. With insights and expertise, AMN Healthcare helps providers optimize their workforce to successfully reduce complexity, increase efficiency, and improve patient outcomes. AMN delivers managed services programs, healthcare executive search solutions, vendor management systems, recruitment process outsourcing, predictive modeling, medical coding and consulting, and other services. Clients include acute-care hospitals, community health centers and clinics, physician practice groups, retail and urgent care centers, home health facilities, and many other healthcare settings. For more information about AMN Healthcare, visit www.amnhealthcare.com

The Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMN." For more information about AMN Healthcare, visit www.amnhealthcare.com, where the Company posts news releases, investor presentations, webcasts, SEC filings, and other material information. The Company also utilizes email alerts and Really Simple Syndication ("RSS") as routine channels to supplement distribution of this information. To register for email alerts and RSS, visit http://amnhealthcare.investorroom.com/emailalerts.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and the industry in which it operates using information currently available to it. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and its other periodic reports as well as the Company's current and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Be advised that developments subsequent to this press release are likely to cause these statements to become outdated with the passage of time.

Contact:

Randle Reece

Director, Investor Relations

866-861-3229

Web site: http://www.amnhealthcare.com

SOURCE AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.amnhealthcare.com


"We're completely supportive of recognizing dogs as incredible companions," said Stacey Coleman, executive director of Animal Farm Foundation. "But we can't get behind singling out a loosely-defined group of dogs. Dogs that fall under the "pit bull" label are just like any other dog, and they should be seen for their individual characteristics rather than the label society assigns them."

A new public service announcement drives this point home by sharing the confusion from a dog's point of view over the silly things humans do, including celebrating "Pit Bull" Awareness Month. Santiago, the four-legged star of the PSA, is a former shelter dog and advocate for all dogs, including those labeled "pit bull." He recently added being part of the cast of the film "The Wilde Wedding" to his impressive resume and is using his rising stardom as a platform to advocate for all dogs through the #ItsBullAwareness campaign.

Not only is it inaccurate to single out dogs based off of a label, it can also be damaging. Calling attention to an arbitrary label even with the best intentions still suggests that the group of dogs being identified is different from other dogs. Campaigns singling dogs out as different can actually perpetuate misleading stereotypes, which can often be used to argue for breed specific legislation.

While breed traits do exist, they are only a small portion of the factors that make up a dog's personal traits. In fact, according to research from the National Canine Research Council, identifying a dog's breed based off of its appearance is inaccurate. There is also evidence showing that a dog's behavior or personality cannot be predicted by breed alone because of the wide variety of factors operating on each individual dog.

In response, AFF is taking action by challenging current advocates to change their approach and reinforce all dogs as individuals to avoid inadvertently hurting the very dogs they are trying to help. Advocates are encouraged to share the video using the #ItsBullAwareness hashtag on their social channels. They can also get involved by making a donation here that will support AFF's animal shelter, free internships for animal welfare professionals, educational resources and grant opportunities.

More about Santiago:

Before starring in the #ItsBullAwareness PSA and appearing in "The Wilde Wedding," a major motion picture, Santiago was found as a stray and adopted. It was not long before his talent and good looks were recognized. Since then, he has appeared in VOGUE for Free People and Lands' End ads, and a national PSA alongside actor Jon Bernthal. Santiago is determined to use his platform to prove that shelter dogs can do all the things that purebred, purpose-bred dogs can.

More about Animal Farm Foundation:

Animal Farm Foundation (AFF) is a 501(c)3 whose mission is to secure equal treatment and opportunity for "pit bull" dogs through recognizing that all dogs are individuals. Established in the 1980s, AFF works to achieve this goal by offering free resources to animal care workers and community advocates, as well as through their assistance dog, detection dog, and grant programs. For more information visit animalfarmfoundation.org.

SOURCE Animal Farm Foundation
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ansun BioPharma announced that the Division of Antiviral Products of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Ansun's first-in-class experimental compound DAS181, for the treatment of lower respiratory tract parainfluenza virus (PIV) infection in immunocompromised patients. PIV infection causes significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients as well as hospitalized patients, and currently there are no treatments available for patients infected with PIV.

"We have quietly been developing DAS181 to treat severely ill patients infected with PIV and other respiratory infectious diseases, including influenza, for a number of years, and the Breakthrough Therapy Designation granted by the FDA is a major milestone in the clinical development of this potentially lifesaving drug," stated Dr. Nancy Chang, the CEO of Ansun BioPharma.

DAS181 utilizes a unique host-directed approach to block respiratory viruses by cleaving sialic acid receptors located in the human respiratory tract which are bound by most of the major respiratory viruses as they infect patients. DAS181 has demonstrated antiviral activity against three of the four major respiratory viruses, influenza virus (IFV), parainfluenza virus (PIV) and metapneumovirus (MPV), as well as human enterovirus-68 (EV-68). DAS181 blocks viral infection in a manner that makes it difficult for viruses that rely on sialic acid receptors for entry to develop resistance; and little to no resistance has been observed in multiple non-clinical and clinical studies.

The FDA grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation status to products that treat serious or life threatening conditions and that have preliminary clinical evidence that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints.

"We are hopeful that our Breakthrough designation will permit us to meaningfully accelerate the progress of DAS181 through Phase 3 trials and product approval so that seriously ill, PIV infected patients can finally have a treatment option available to them," stated Mike Havluciyan, the Senior Vice President of Operations at Ansun.

Ansun recently completed a Phase 2 study of DAS181 for treatment of PIV infection in hospitalized, immunocompromised patients and is now in the planning stage of a Phase 3 study. In addition, Ansun has worked in collaboration with the FDA to make DAS181 available for treatment of over 130 pediatric and adult patients through compassionate use under single patient emergency IND applications. "We are excited about this designation and look forward to continuing to work closely with the Division of Antiviral products at the FDA as we plan and implement a Phase 3 study for this severely ill patient population," said Dr. George Wang, Chief Technical Officer of Ansun Biopharma.

In the U.S., approximately 55,000 to 200,000 hospitalized patients are diagnosed with PIV infection each year. Many of these hospitalizations are immunocompromised patients, including patients undergoing leukemia treatments, solid organ transplants and hematopoietic stem cell transplants. DAS181, if it successfully completes Phase 3 trials and is approved, could become the first product specifically available to meet this significant medical need.

About Ansun BioPharma

Ansun BioPharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, California focused on the development of unique host-directed anti-viral therapies for respiratory viruses. Ansun BioPharma has two programs in late stage clinical development, both involving DAS181. The first is for the treatment of influenza in which a Phase 2B study has been completed. The second is for the treatment of PIV infection, and Ansun is working with FDA to plan and implement a Phase 3 clinical trial of DAS181 for the treatment of PIV infection in hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. In addition to Breakthrough Designation, DAS181 has also received Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA for this indication. Recently the company has observed activity of DAS181 against other important respiratory pathogens based on the same host-directed anti-viral mechanism. For more information, please visit www.ansunbiopharma.com or www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT01644877.

SOURCE Ansun BioPharma
TORONTO, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AOMS Technologies Inc. (www.aoms-tech.com) is pleased to announce the deployment of its patented Fiber Optic Sensing technology (AOMS-FOS) for monitoring of soil and groundwater during In-Situ Thermal Remediation (ISTR) projects in Europe. This is the first deployment of AOMS-FOS technology in Europe after many successful installations in North America including Superfund remediation sites in the US. AOMS-FOS is a fully integrated electricity-free sensing platform for multi-point and multi-parameter sensing of parameters such as temperature, humidity, vibration, pressure, and liquid level in harsh and hazardous environments, hard-to-access locations, and remote areas. AOMS-FOS technology enables in-situ thermal remediation technology to collect an accurate and high-fidelity map of three-dimensional data in real-time from soil and groundwater through an advanced sensor technology that is an industry first.

"AOMS optical sensing platform is the most reliable monitoring solution for harsh environment sensing applications such as ISTR. AOMS Technologies has helped environmental remediation service providers reduce the capital and operational cost of remediation projects and has enabled them to better comply with the stringent environmental regulatory requirements. The technology has significantly contributed to the efficient removal of contaminants from soil and groundwater in urban and remote areas. As opposed to legacy electronic-based sensors and transducers that have reportedly failed due to the exposure to high temperature, hazardous chemicals (such as NAPL, DNAPL, PCB, VOC), and high-voltage electric fields, AOMS-FOS technology has a proven track record of immunity to all these external factors. Sensor failure leads to the inefficient contamination removal from soil and groundwater and high operational and capital cost in an environmental remediation project," said AOMS CEO, Hamid Alemohammad.

The technology is compatible with state-of-the-art ISTR technologies including Electric Resistive Heating (ERH), Thermal Conductive Heating (TCH), Steam Enhanced Extraction (SEE), and Gas Thermal Remediation.

AOMS-FOS technology is expandable to other subterranean and ground monitoring applications in geothermal, oil & gas, geotechnical, and environmental industries.

About AOMS Technologies:

AOMS Technologies has developed a fully integrated optical sensing technology using fiber optics to empower industries with uninterrupted monitoring of multidimensional performance data. AOMS offering is an end-to-end hardware/software solution integrated with state-of-art Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). AOMS products have been developed mainly for harsh environments and hard-to-access locations where conventional electronic sensors fail, lose performance, or cannot be effectively deployed. AOMS is serving customers in environmental, industrial asset management, oil and gas, process industry, and infrastructure monitoring.

For further inquiries, please contact AOMS Technologies via email: [email protected].

Related Images

image1.png

Deployment of AOMS-FOS Technology in Environmental Remediation

SOURCE AOMS Technologies Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aoms-tech.com


LINCOLN, Mass., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied BioMath (www.appliedbiomath.com), the industry-leader in applying mechanistic modeling to drug research and development, today announced their participation in the upcoming American Conference on Pharmacometrics (ACoP) occurring October 15th-18th in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Applied BioMath will be a conference sponsor, exhibitor, and poster presenter. Applied BioMath's posters will highlight several examples of model-aided drug invention (MADI) by presenting case studies in immuno-oncology, osteoarthritis, and antibody-drug conjugates. More specifically, they will show:

An example of integrating systems modeling to predict optimal drug properties targeting PD-1 and TIM3 in immuno-oncology for bispecific biologics and fixed dose combinations

QSP approaches to determine best in class properties for targeted anabolic growth factor to arthritic joints

Computational exploration of mechanistic determinants of ADC pharmacokinetics using QSP modeling strategies

"We are excited to share our work with the participants of ACoP again this year," said Dr. John Burke, PhD, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Applied BioMath. "Our proprietary MADI approach continues its track record of successfully helping biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies better understand their drug candidate's mechanism of action in the context of human disease mechanisms."

The American Conference on Pharmacometrics is just one stop of many on the Applied BioMath Fall 2017 speaking tour. Prior to ACoP, Dr. Burke will be speaking at the World Bispecific Summit as well as the Pharmaceutical and BioScience Society's QSP event both being held in Boston, MA. Dr. Burke will also be speaking at the Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Industry and Academia Symposium on October 24th being held at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA. For more information on any of these events, visit www.appliedbiomath.com/events.

About Applied BioMath

Applied BioMath (www.appliedbiomath.com), the industry-leader in applying mechanistic modeling to drug research and development, helps biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies answer complex, critical Go/No-go decisions in R&D. Applied BioMath leverages biology, proprietary mathematical modeling and analysis technology, high-performance computing, and decades of industry experience to help groups better understand their candidate, its best-in-class parameters, competitive advantages, and the best path forward. Our involvement shortens project timelines, lowers cost, and increases the likelihood of a best-in-class drug. We provide clarity to complex situations, answer otherwise unanswerable questions, and our approach, when validated in the clinic, is 10x more accurate than traditional methodologies.

Applied BioMath and the Applied BioMath logo are trademarks of Applied BioMath, LLC.

Press contact:

Kristen Zannella

[email protected]

SOURCE Applied BioMath

Related Links

http://www.appliedbiomath.com


LISLE, Ill., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquilon Energy Services recently opened a new, expanded office in the Esperson building in downtown Houston to support its ongoing growth in the city. Aquilon is the developer of the Energy Settlement Network, the first collaborative, cloud-based platform to automate wholesale energy settlements.

"Houston is the energy capital of the world, and we expect much of our company's future expansion to happen in the city," said Jeffrey Wagner, founder and CEO of Aquilon Energy Services. "We are impressed with the talent we've hired in Texas and look forward to continuing to add to our strong team in Houston. This new space offers us room to grow as we help more companies automate energy settlements with our Energy Settlement Network."

The ESN enables buyers and sellers to automatically identify exceptions and settle physical and financial energy transactions with their counterparties. Earlier this year, Aquilon announced that it raised $19 million during a Series B financing round. This included investments from Citi, Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, Invenergy and Macquarie Group. In addition to investing, all four companies are joining the ESN.

Aquilon's Houston office is located at 808 Travis Street, Suite 400. For more information about the Energy Settlement Network, visit www.aquiloninc.com or call 888-943-0340.

About Aquilon Energy Services Inc.

Aquilon Energy Services Inc. develops innovative software and service solutions for the energy industry. The Aquilon team combines deep industry insights with advanced technology to bring reliable, collaborative solutions to the energy market. The firm's Energy Settlement Network (ESN) enables energy participants of all sizes to manage, access and settle large volumes of power, oil and natural gas transactions with their counterparties. The company is based in Lisle, Illinois, and has an office in Houston. For more information, please visit www.aquiloninc.com.

SOURCE Aquilon Energy Services Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aquiloninc.com


SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AtScale, the only company to provide enterprises with a universal semantic platform for BI on Big Data, announced today the general availability of AtScale 6.0. With this release, customers will see unparalleled cost savings when deploying analytical workloads with pervasive BI tools like Tableau and Microsoft Excel and the Google platform Cloud.

To find out more, go to www.atscale.com/try and read the company's release blog here.

AtScale 6.0 brings key universal semantic layer capabilities to Google BigQuery as the company advances the BI on Big Data space by introducing the industry's first solution that lets enterprises experience faster time to value on any data, regardless if it's stored on premises, in the cloud, in Hadoop or in a relational database.

AtScale is a key sponsor of this week's Tableau Conference and will be showcasing the solution at booth #344.

Big Data Analytics at scale don't have to break the bank

"We've tested Google BigQuery against some of the most demanding queries," said Josh Klahr, VP of Product Management at AtScale, "and the technology has shown to be easy to use and very performant. The new functionality added to our Adaptive Cache now offers additional cost efficiencies to run hundreds of queries for thousands of users."

With the AtScale Adaptive CacheTM, a technology that continually analyzes query patterns and automatically creates and manages aggregates, users get sub-second query results and put significantly less load on BigQuery, resulting in big infrastructure savings:

AtScale's Adaptive Cache graph engine optimizes the processing of aggregates, starting with the finest grain aggregates first before moving to more summarized aggregates. Early deployments have shown aggregate processing time to improve by up to 10X.

Perhaps even more importantly, by rerouting Big Data queries to its Adaptive Cache, AtScale 6.0 reduces the number of unique requests hitting the underlying infrastructure. This helps with reducing infrastructuring stress and it also considerably lowers the cost incurred for each query. In initial testing on Google BigQuery, query costs have been reduced by up to 1,000X per query.

The average enterprise has dozens of Business Intelligence tools deployed across its many departments. Some tools, like Tableau or QlikView support SQL. Others, like Microsoft Excel, MicroStrategy or IBM Cognos support MDX. In order to provide business users with unified reporting capabilities, enterprise I.T. typically builds data pipelines dedicated to each BI tool. This means that for each BI tool silo, I.T. exports data out of their data warehouse or data lake, stores it into dedicated data marts and prepares it before it can make it available for each tool. This costs time and agility, and is a key burden for enterprises.

AtScale's patented Hybrid Query ServiceTM technology is the industry's only solution that lets any BI tool run on Big Data directly, using SQL or MDX, and without any data extract. This means that any Business Intelligence user can create reports and dashboards that run live on Big Data. This is now also possible on Google BigQuery.

"There are over a billion users of Microsoft Excel in the world," said Matt Baird, co-founder and CTO at AtScale, "This release now enables users to run live pivot tables on BigQuery with best-in-class speed, scale and security."

Not just any report

"Our research shows that three quarters of organizations prefer to use their existing business intelligence tools to analyze big data, but many of these tools can be overwhelmed and perform poorly," said David Menninger, SVP & Research Director at Ventana Research, "AtScale provides multi-dimensional capabilities enabling enterprise users to interrogate data in the way that supports their company's most pressing problems, across any data and any tool."

Companies that compete on analytics rely on solutions like AtScale to answer sophisticated questions and queries. Take for instance the case of a large North American insurance provider with millions of members and 100s of millions of claims a year. This enterprise utilizes AtScale to calculate a key metric called "PMPM" (Per Member Per Month) to measure the efficacy of their procedures. This metric requires a sophisticated multi-pass engine that runs at large scale and works consistently across any BI tool including Tableau, Excel and custom-built applications.

Industries of all kinds, from financial services, to retail to telecommunications and healthcare, require support for complex calculations such as multi-level metrics, semi-additive calculations, parallel period and metrical attributes for example. AtScale 6.0 not only supports such sophistication, the platform also centrally manages the semantics of such calculations, making them equally available to any and all BI tools, regardless if they speak SQL or MDX.

With AtScale, enterprise I.T. gets to support the sophistication business users need without having to manage complex, rigid and expensive data pipelines. To find out more about how AtScale works, simply go to www.atscale.com/try and read the company's release blog here.

About AtScale

AtScale makes BI work on Big Data. With AtScale, business users get interactive and multi-dimensional analysis capabilities, directly on Big Data, at maximum speed, using the tools they already know, own and love  from Microsoft Excel to Tableau Software to QlikView. Built by Big Data veterans from Yahoo!, Google and Oracle, AtScale is already enabling the BI on Big Data revolution at major corporations across healthcare, telecommunications, retail and online industries. To see how AtScale can help your company, go to www.atscale.com/try

SOURCE AtScale

Related Links

http://www.atscale.com


ATLANTA, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Simmons Bedding Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC (SSB) and maker of the Beautyrest premium brand mattress, announced its selection of Anomaly as the company's new lead agency, and will partner with the company on strategy and creative development.

The move comes after an agency review and is part of SSB's overall efforts to expand and refresh its advertising and marketing activities to further reach and engage consumers.

"After a thoughtful and thorough review, we determined that Anomaly is an outstanding fit for the Beautyrest brand, based on their understanding of our business and creative vision," said Warren Kornblum, Interim Chief Marketing Officer for SSB. "We expect that Anomaly will bring unique, creative ideas and campaigns that will propel the brand forward. Their past work speaks for itself, and I am fully confident that their future work will be a breakthrough for the Beautyrest brand."

"We look forward to creating a new partnership with Anomaly to accelerate our current momentum," said Jim Gallman, Executive Vice President, Marketing for the Simmons Beautyrest brand. Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners (KBS) previously led the Simmons Beautyrest creative account. "We would like to thank KBS for their past partnership," Gallman added.

"We're excited to partner with the Beautyrest team on their next chapter," said Franke Rodriguez, Partner and CEO of Anomaly. "The Beautyrest line of mattresses is one of the best in the industry -- anchored by a long history of developing great products and driving product innovation -- so the chance to really strengthen the brand and drive relevance with consumers is an exciting one."

About Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC

Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC is the leading sleep company and the largest manufacturer, marketer and supplier of mattresses in North America. Based in Atlanta, SSB owns and manages two of the largest bedding brands in the mattress industry, Serta, which has five other licensees who manufacture mattresses in the United States, and Beautyrest. The two brands are distributed through national, hospitality, and regional and independent channels throughout North America. SSB also owns Tomorrow, a direct-to-consumer mattress brand. The company operates 39 manufacturing plants throughout the United States and Canada. For more information about SSB and its brands, visit www.sertasimmons.com.

About Anomaly

Founded just over 10 years ago, Anomaly is a difficult to define, but exciting to work at 'new model' agency. Driven by a passionate and entrepreneurial culture encompassing a diverse, elastic set of skills, Anomaly has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Shanghai. Clients include: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Beats, The Campbell Soup Company, Carnival Cruises, Converse, Diageo, Electrolux, Google, Hershey's, Lego, MINI, Nike, Sally Hansen, The Coca-Cola Company and Vroom.com . Anomaly has been recognized for a very wide range of work and IP, covering both effectiveness and craft excellence including: Ad Age's 2017 Agency of the Year, Cannes Lions, Effies, Fast Company's Most Innovative, Jay Chiat, Digiday Awards and the Mashies  among the usual suspects. Anomaly has also been honored with a few less conventional accolades as well, such as being named one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2016 for hmbldt, Toy of The Year for Mighty Jaxx, plus two Emmys for a television series, all of which the agency created and co-owns. www.anomaly.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact or relating to present facts or current conditions included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "seek," "plan," "intend," "believe," "will," "may," "could," "continue," "likely," "should," and other words. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by SSB in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. SSB does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC Investors Contact:

D. Paul Dascoli

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

+1 770-673-2625

Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC Media Contact:

Noreen Pratscher

Vice President, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

+1 470-303-4937

SOURCE Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC

Related Links

http://www.sertasimmons.com


FAIRFIELD, Conn., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Biased views on the value of girls and their roles within the classroom and society begin to show as early as fourth grade, according to new data released today by Save the Children. The global humanitarian organization, which surveyed boys and girls in the United States and the West African nations of Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire, found that a striking number of young boys  and even many girls  believe fathers rule the household, boys are smarter than girls and girls need less school than boys.

Survey Methodology is Available for Downloaded HERE

Infographics Are Available for Downloaded HERE

Launched to coincide with International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11, the new data indicates that girls are significantly less valued than their male peers, even in these very different regions of the world.

In the survey, Save the Children asked fourth graders whether or not they agree with a series of questions about education and power dynamics between males and females. In the United States, 37 percent of fourth-grade boys believe that boys are smarter than girls, whereas in the districts in Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire where these data were collected, two out of three fourth-grade boys surveyed agreed with this sentiment. Surprisingly, in both the United States and the sites surveyed in West Africa, more than one in five fourth-grade girls report needing less school than boys (22 percent in the U.S., 25 percent in Sierra Leone).

These stereotypes carry over to the role women play within their families and communities as well. The overwhelming majority of boys (94 percent) and girls (92 percent) surveyed in Sierra Leone think that the father is in charge of the home, compared with more than one-third of American fourth graders who agree. In regions of Cote d'Ivoire surveyed as well as across the United States, approximately two-thirds of fourth graders report that moms are more responsible than dads for taking care of the children. In the United States, the research found that these views not only apply to the home, but also the workplace, with 17 percent of American fourth graders believing a man would make a better boss than a woman.

"Girls are worth far more than what the world tells them," said Carolyn Miles, president & CEO of Save the Children. "Globally, we know that girls are more likely than boys to miss out on school, experience violence and live in poverty. That is why we need to invest in their education and do everything possible to delay early marriage and motherhood. By providing children equal opportunities and access to learning, every girl can realize what she's truly worth."

The research in Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire sought to evaluate the impact of Save the Children's School Me program, which aims to empower girls, boys, teachers, families and community members to address biased gender perceptions and promote positive change. In the United States, Save the Children works in rural, isolated communities to ensure girls and boys succeed in school and in life.

"Save the Children is committed to reaching every last child, regardless of who they are or where they live," said Mark Shriver, Senior Vice President, U.S. Programs & Advocacy, Save the Children. "We know the enormous challenges that children growing up in rural America face  we began our domestic work in Appalachia in 1932. That's why today, Save the Children specifically serves these rural communities and calls for significant investment in our nation's forgotten children."

In 2017, girls around the world are still frequently marginalized in their families, communities and societies because of who they are or where they were born. They face discrimination, lack equal opportunities and earn less money  their lives and futures aren't given the value they deserve. Save the Children analysis revealed that a girl under 15 is married every seven seconds. International Day of the Girl is a day dedicated to highlighting barriers and empowering girls to reach their full potential.

Parents of fourth graders in the United States also were surveyed about their perceptions on gender. These additional findings were alarming and revealed that 50 percent of parents believe the father controls the household. More than one-fifth think that men should make more money than women and more than a quarter of fathers think it is more important for boys to get an education than girls.

Added Miles, "If girls are ever going to truly value themselves  and be valued  the same as boys, the U.S. government, nonprofits, corporations and everyday citizens need to advocate together on their behalf. On International Day of the Girl, Save the Children is calling on everyone to prioritize equal education for every last girl, and to help bring an end to child marriage and gender discrimination. Because a girl who knows her own value can change the course of her life, her family's life and the future of her community."

Save the Children is releasing the survey findings ahead of an African-led conference on ending child marriage later this month in Dakar, Senegal. The West and Central Africa High-Level Meeting on Ending Child Marriage (Oct. 23-25) will see government leaders, traditional, religious and other influential leaders, child rights organizations, youth and UN agencies come together to discuss solutions to end this harmful practice, such as legal reforms and targeted interventions to enable girls to remain in school as a viable alternative to marriage.

To learn more about Save the Children's investment in girls, visit www.savethechildren.org/girls.

Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood  every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Notes to Editors:

To arrange a media interview with key spokespeople, please contact Jordyn Linsk , [email protected] .

, . Save the Children operates a range of programs that support the most disadvantaged girls around the world. The organization also runs a program that engages male family members to challenge and change their attitudes towards women and girls  because men and boys must be part of the process to truly transform harmful mindsets and practices.

Additional joint research conducted with the World Bank on child marriage was released today. To learn more, click HERE. To download the full report on child marriage laws and their limitations, click HERE.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Save the Children

Related Links

http://www.savethechildren.org


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Blink Fitness  a premium-quality, value-based fitness brand that focuses on how exercise makes you feel rather than exclusively on how it makes you look  is set to expand in its home territory with a six unit agreement for Long Island and Westchester, New York along with Central New Jersey.

Eclipse Capital LLC will develop the six gyms, all of which will be open and operating over the next five years. The first unit is slated to open early 2018, and will be located at 600 N. Wellwood Ave, Lindenhurst, NY in the King Kullen/Applebee's shopping center off of Sunrise Highway.

"We recognized that the Blink team had a blueprint for success and a tremendous support system for franchisees," said Allen Pinero, Co-Founder of Eclipse Capital, who is also a native Long Islander. "As owner/operators, we are excited by the opportunity to improve the lives of people in our local communities in Long Island, Westchester and Central Jersey by providing a high-quality, welcoming fitness option."

Launched in 2011, Blink offers a truly unique experience to its members, based on a company philosophy of Mood Above Muscle, which celebrates the positive feelings you get from exercise rather than just the physical benefits. Their Feel Good Experience comes to life in each gym through a commitment to providing contemporary and colorful design, elevated customer service, relentless focus on cleanliness, energizing music and confidence-boosting training programs.

"While Blink has certainly been focused on expanding nationally, we were also looking for the best franchisees to further solidify the brand's presence in our home market," said Todd Magazine, President of Blink Fitness. "We are thrilled to team up with an experienced group in Eclipse Capital and we're confident they share our focus on providing the very best member experience."

Blink Fitness has opened nearly 60 corporate locations across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and has several additional company-owned and franchise locations in various stages of development in other major U.S. markets. According to Magazine, Blink will have approximately 70 locations open and operating by the end of the year, including the brand's first locations in California. He also expects Blink to surpass the 300-unit mark over the next five years.

In advance of the grand opening, Blink Fitness in Lindenhurst, NY is offering a sweepstakes for a free one-year membership. Visit the Blink Fitness website for more details and enter to win.

About Blink Fitness

Founded in 2011, Blink Fitness is a premium quality, value-based fitness brand with more than 70 locations open or in development throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Blink Fitness puts Mood Above Muscle which celebrates the positive feeling you get from exercise, not just the physical benefits. Each gym employs the company's signature Feel Good Experience that highlights enthusiastic staff members, a clean environment, an open, spacious, and colorful design, energizing music and fitness training that is motivating and affordable.

For more information about Blink, visit blinkfitness.com. Franchising details are available on blinkfranchising.com. Blink Fitness has franchise opportunities available nationwide with a focus on the following markets: Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Tampa and several areas of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Facebook: BlinkFitness

Twitter: @BlinkFitness

Instagram: @BlinkFitness

Click here to take a drone tour of a Blink Fitness gym.

Contact: Cami Fannin, Franchise Elevator PR, (847) 239-8149, [email protected]

SOURCE Blink Fitness

Related Links

https://www.blinkfitness.com


ZUG, Switzerland, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BLOCKv, creators of the world's first "user interface" layer for blockchain- based tokens, announced two new prestigious contributors  Blockchain Capital and Token-as-a-Service (TaaS), the first-ever tokenized closed-end fund dedicated to blockchain assets. The contributions come just before BLOCKv's Token Generation Event (TGE) on October 12, when BLOCKv will release a network token, 'VEE,' with a target of $40 million in participations.

"The recent participation from Blockchain Capital and TaaS is a testament to the future vision of our company and technology platform, which we believe will accelerate the consumerization and commercialization of blockchain technology," said Reeve Collins, CEO at BLOCKv. "Blockchain Capital and TaaS are extraordinarily well-connected within the blockchain community, and their support will unlock doors to future potential partnerships."

BLOCKv has created a blockchain-based development platform that enables the creation of smart, secure and dynamic virtual objects called vAtoms. The platform promises to usher in the next generation digital goods economy through the creation of a user interface layer that mitigates the complexity of blockchain development to unlock exponential growth. As sharable digital goods become more ingrained in the lives of consumers, BLOCKv technology provides an unprecedented opportunity for brands, marketers and developers to engage with and build stronger relationships with consumers.

"BLOCKv's vision for creating a user interface layer for the blockchain is extraordinarily compelling, especially when one considers the business and societal impact that similar user interfaces have had on other complex technologies, such as what the web browser did for the Internet, or what Microsoft Windows did for MS-DOS," said Brad Stephens, managing partner and co-founder at Blockchain Capital. "We firmly believe that the world is ready for next generation digital objects that have real-world value and can extend beyond the digital world. Right now, BLOCKv is the only platform that facilitates the creation of such objects, which puts the company in an enviable position among both traditional and blockchain-based companies alike."

Ruslan Gavrilyuk, president of TaaS, said,"We were very impressed with BLOCKv's platform and concept around the vAtom, these smart, dynamic digital objects on blockchains, and see great potential in the numerous consumer and business applications that could be built on the platform. We believe that BLOCKv has created something revolutionary and we are excited to be involved with the company at this critical stage of its development."

The company recently received the highest grade at the blockchain pitch competition at the 9th edition of the d10e Conference, the leading conference on decentralization exploring the future of FinTech, Token Generation Events (TGEs), Blockchain, Sharing Economy, Future of Work and Disruptive Cultures. The grade was based on numerous factors including such elements as its business model, team, token structure, business materials, milestones and roadmap.

About BLOCKv

Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, BLOCKv provides a development platform and community for the creation and distribution of dynamic, intelligent, experiential digital objects called vAtoms that bridge the gap between digital and physical worlds. Built on secure blockchain technologies, BLOCKv's 'smart' digital objects work on any digital platform, are obtainable anywhere, store actual transactional value and are immune to fraud. When combined with the power and name-recognition of major brands, vAtoms have the power to transform the landscape of physical, digital and social advertising, micro-transacting, ticketing, gifting, coupons, promotions, and more. For more information, please visit https://blockv.io/.

SOURCE BLOCKv

Related Links

http://blockv.io


FARNBOROUGH, England and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Sky Network, an industry leading global provider of satellite-based asset tracking, operational analytics and HawkEye fleet management solutions, announced today its strategic partnership with RocketRoute, the European based aviation services company, to integrate the satellite tracking and real-time communication capabilities of SkyRouter with RocketRoute's leading flight planning, fuel and concierge services suite.

"Blue Sky Network's cloud based SkyRouter mapping and analytics dashboard is the gold standard in real-time asset tracking, management and analytics for any global fleet," said Uwe Nitsche co-founder and CEO of RocketRoute. "It will allow our operations team to communicate with our clients and field representatives in flight and provide them with critical information and operational updates. We are very much looking forward to a uniquely fruitful and synergistic relationship with the Blue Sky Network team."

"The RocketRoute flight planning app offers a revolutionary and comprehensive one-stop-shop solution for pilots and operators to organize their trips," said Blue Sky Network CEO Kambiz Aghili. "The integration agreement announced today between Blue Sky Network and RocketRoute creates considerable value for our mutual customers as in tandem our technologies simplify and accelerate full integration from flight planning to landing while increasing precision and safety."

"As part of the agreement RocketRoute will provide sales services to European operators for Blue Sky Network equipment including the HawkEye7200A," said Nitsche. "We are also going to offer Blue Sky's dual-mode and portable equipment lineup including the HawkEye PT+ to our premium Concierge customers on their worldwide trips where radar coverage is unreliable which makes the SAR operations quite risky."

Please visit Blue Sky Network at Booth # N1131 and RocketRoute at Booth #C10835 at NBAA.

ABOUT BLUE SKY NETWORK

Blue Sky Network is an industry-leading provider of mission-critical fleet management, tracking and operational analytics solutions serving private, commercial, and government clients worldwide. Blue Sky Network deploys innovative and custom satellite-based communication solutions that help aviation, marine, and land/mobile customers track and manage their assets in real-time in over 50 countries, resulting in improved safety, security, operational efficiency, and profitability. Blue Sky Network is headquartered in San Diego, California, USA. For more information about Blue Sky Network products and services, visit www.blueskynetwork.com

ABOUT RocketRoute

RocketRoute is a leading aviation services company, helping flyers to get airborne, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. With innovative and smart technology for flight planning, marketplace, and concierge services, RocketRoute is transforming the aviation industry. The company has processed over one million flights and has more than hundred thousand registered users flying worldwide. RocketRoute works anywhere, on any device and brings together into one system, everything the flight department or pilot needs to operate an aircraft. The principles of fast, easy to use, direct access has been at the heart of the business, since its formation in 2009, fuelled by its passion for aviation. www.rocketroute.com

SOURCE Blue Sky Network, LLC

Related Links

http://www.blueskynetwork.com


HOUSTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE: BWP) will report its third quarter 2017 earnings on Monday, October 30, 2017. A conference call for analysts and investors will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time and will be hosted by Boardwalk's Chief Executive Officer, Stan Horton, and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Jamie Buskill. Boardwalk will issue its earnings news release before the market opens on Monday, October 30, 2017.

The news release and a live webcast will be available online at the Boardwalk website (www.bwpmlp.com). Please go to the website at least 10 minutes before the event begins to register and to download and install any necessary audio software. Those interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call should dial (855) 793-3255 for callers in the U.S. or (631) 485-4925 for callers outside the U.S. The Conference ID for the call is 95897043. Following the call, an online replay will be available on Boardwalk's website.

About Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE: BWP) is a midstream master limited partnership that transports and stores natural gas and liquids for its customers. Additional information about the Partnership can be found on its website at www.bwpmlp.com.

CONTACT:

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP

Molly Ladd Whitaker, 866-913-2122

Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP

Related Links

http://www.bwpmlp.com


"The annual Sitejabber Customer Choice Awards honor outstanding businesses that demonstrate superior customer service and provide exceptional products or services," said Sitejabber Founder and CEO Michael Lai. "These awards reflect the best businesses in over 60 different categories based on the reviews of over 100 million visitors. Over 70,000 businesses are reviewed by the Sitejabber community each year, and Boostability has ranked in the top 1% of businesses reviewed on Sitejabber."

Boostability Vice President of Client Services Trish Stines was pleased that the hard work the company has put toward providing quality customer service was recognized by the Sitejabber community.

"I'm ecstatic," Stines said. "Our employees have worked really hard. 2017 has been a concerted effort to improve the client experience, and we treat every interaction as if it's the most important. Client satisfaction and an overall positive experience are what make us the best in the industry."

Stines indicated that the company has seen a marked increase in reported customer satisfaction, which has increased in all areas and is now at an all-time high.

"The increases are phenomenal," Stines said. "It is evidence that the entire company is working hard to provide a quality product, and our customers are seeing value in it."

The Sitejabber Customer Choice Award is the second major award that Boostability has won recently, as the company was named to the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth consecutive year in August. Boostability has helped tens of thousands of businesses grow online since the company's founding in 2009.

Stines expressed optimism about Boostability's future as it continues to provide high-quality digital marketing services to small and medium-sized businesses at an affordable price and enables its clients to outcompete much larger companies for coveted spots on the first page of Google.

"One thing that's unique about Boostability is our mission statement, 'We help small businesses succeed online,'" Stines said. "Everyone in the company focuses on that initiative, regardless of the team. If we keep that in mind and continue to focus on the customer, then we will continue to be successful."

About Boostability

Established in 2009, Boostability was founded on a simple business model: to create affordable and effective SEO for the small business marketplace. And it's worked. Today, Boostability serves thousands of small businesses, helping them elevate their digital presence and succeed online. Boostability primarily works with partners that offer their white-labeled SEO, social media, and website build services to their SMB clients. The company serves more than 25,000 active clients and has over 300 employees based in two offices across the Silicon Slopes of Utah and satellite locations in Amsterdam and Berlin.

About Sitejabber

Founded in 2008 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sitejabber was created to help consumers get better information about companies before they make purchases. Financed by investors such as 500 Startups and The Seraph Group, Sitejabber was also awarded a series of Innovation Research Grants from the National Science Foundation, which allowed the company to develop its technology platform.

Contact: Kelly Shelton, 1-800-261-1537, [email protected]

SOURCE Boostability

Related Links

http://www.boostability.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedical, Inc., an industry leader in the development of next-generation cancer therapeutics, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for DSP-7888, an investigational cancer peptide vaccine, for the treatment of brain cancer. This is the second ODD for DSP-7888 this year. The first was granted in June 2017 for myelodysplastic syndrome.

DSP-7888 contains peptides to induce Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and helper T cells, which attack WT1-expressing cancerous cells found in various types of hematologic and solid cancers. The National Cancer Institute ranked WT1 as the number one priority target for cancer immunotherapy.1 We are evaluating DSP-7888 in phase 1 and 2 studies for patients with pediatric high grade gliomas, myelodysplastic syndrome, recurrent or progressive glioblastoma, and other malignant cancers.

"We are pleased to receive the second orphan drug designation for DSP-7888 this year, which strengthens our belief in this innovative cancer therapy and its potential to provide a meaningful treatment advancement for people with brain cancer who often face a poor prognosis," said Patricia S. Andrews, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Biomedical, Inc. "We are dedicated to developing novel treatments for patients with high unmet need malignancies and look forward to further study of this candidate."

It is estimated that approximately 23,800 malignant brain or spinal cord tumors will be diagnosed this year in the U.S., leading to 16,700 deaths.2 The FDA's ODD program provides special status and development incentives for drugs and biologics which are intended for the safe and effective treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of rare diseases and disorders that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S.3

About DSP-7888

DSP-7888 is an investigational cancer peptide vaccine containing peptides that induce Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and helper T cells, which attack WT1-expressing cancerous cells found in various types of hematologic and solid cancers. By adding helper T cell-inducing peptides, improved efficacy may be achieved, compared to a killer peptide treatment regimen alone.

DSP-7888 is currently being investigated in three monotherapy studies: a phase 1/2 study in myelodysplastic syndrome (NCT02436252), a phase 1/2 study in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory high grade gliomas (NCT02750891), and a phase 1 study in advanced malignancies (NCT02498665). DSP-7888 is also being evaluated in combination with bevacizumab in a phase 2 study in patients with recurrent or progressive glioblastoma (NCT03149003). More information on DSP-7888 and ongoing clinical trials can be found at www.BostonBiomedical.com.

About Boston Biomedical, Inc.

Boston Biomedical, Inc. was founded in November 2006 and is wholly owned by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Boston Biomedical's mission is to develop the next generation of cancer therapeutics by creating drugs designed to target cancer stemness pathways. Boston Biomedical's innovation in drug discovery has received a number of recognitions and awards in the U.S., including the Frost & Sullivan 2010 North American Drug Discovery Technology Innovation of the Year Award, the National Cancer Institute cancer stem cell initiative grant award in 2010, and the 2011 Biotech Pioneer Award at the Alexandria Oncology Summit. The company also received the "Company To Watch" award in the 10th Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards in 2013. Boston Biomedical is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Additional information about the company and its product pipeline can be found at www.BostonBiomedical.com.

Disclaimer Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of information presently available, and involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Any forward looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice.

For general inquiries:

Boston Biomedical, Inc.

617-674-6800

For media inquiries:

Stephanie Bukantz

CHAMBERLAIN PR

212-849-9440

[email protected]

1 Cheever, M., Allison, J.P., Ferris, A.S., Finn, O.J., Hastings, B.M., Hecht, T.T. (2009) The Prioritization of Cancer Antigens: A National Cancer Institute Pilot Project for the Acceleration of Translational Research. Clinical Cancer Research. http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/15/17/5323.full-text.pdf. Accessed October 2017.

2 American Cancer Society. About Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors in Adults.

https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/CRC/PDF/Public/8567.00.pdf. Accessed October 2017.

3 FDA. Developing Products for Rare Diseases & Conditions. http://www.fda.gov/forindustry/developingproductsforrarediseasesconditions/ucm2005525.htm. Accessed October 2017.

SOURCE Boston Biomedical, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bostonbiomedical.com


BOSTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The much anticipated launch of .boston websites for the general public is finally here! Any business or individual is now able to purchase available .boston (www.example.boston) domain names of their choice, for a fee starting at $18 per year per domain. www.cic.boston, www.ducktours.boston, www.newtechnology.boston, and www.techstars.boston are already onboard.

.boston domain names .boston domain names

Starting today, the domain names ending in .boston are registered on a first come first served basis. This means that the earlier a domain is applied for, the higher the chances are of it being available; and that the first person to apply for an available web address will be the first person to get it. Taking into account that a domain can only belong to one person, it is very likely that Bostonians will rush to register their business and personal names, hobbies and interests before other applicants.

At 12pm Boston time, the Registry will open for public access. Anyone can request a domain name ending in .boston and get it registered in minutes. Prior to today, Bostonians could apply for domain names, but were subject to an allocation process and their applications were being held.

Traction has begun with a handful of local businesses. Companies like Boston Duck Tours, the quintessential Boston attraction, can now be found at www.ducktours.boston. Some other companies are obtaining the .boston domain to get an email address like [email protected]. These emails can be forwarded to any existing service or configured to work with any provider. More local businesses, organizations and ventures are expected to adopt the .boston address in the following days because of its SEO and branding benefits.

According to www.hello.boston, one of the main registration services specialized in .boston domains, there has been a lot of interest from individuals and organizations to rebrand themselves with .boston and use it as their primary web address. Gerardo Aristizabal from Hello.boston pointed out that "People doubt if they can use a .boston just as a traditional web address like .com or .net. The answer is yes you can! New .boston web addresses can be used for email, websites, etc. and work with any existing provider of these services."

With the world moving to the digital space, .boston may become the new "go-to" place on the Internet for Boston related businesses and projects. Companies and individuals are invited to take advantage and claim a piece of .boston real estate at www.hello.boston.

Domains can be registered at Hello.boston - www.hello.boston

Contact:

Gerardo Aristizabal

e. [email protected]

ph. 917.331.3703

www.hello.boston

SOURCE Hello.boston

Related Links

http://www.hello.boston


WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Brady Campaign is pleased to endorse Phil Murphy for New Jersey Governor. Brady Co-Presidents Kris Brown and Avery Gardiner had the following statement:



"The Brady Campaign is honored to endorse Phil Murphy as Governor of New Jersey. Phil is a staunch advocate for gun violence prevention and fighting for sensible, smart solutions that keep guns out of dangerous hands. Now more than ever, in the wake of our nation's deadliest mass shooting last week in Las Vegas, we need strong leaders like Phil who will lead the way to a safer America, by enacting common sense gun laws, regulations and policies that protect citizens and law enforcement alike, and can be models for the nation."

Kevin Quinn, Chairman of the Board of the Brady Campaign, offered his strong support to Murphy's candidacy:

"I'm proud to stand with Phil in his bid for New Jersey Governor. Phil has been vocal in his support for stronger gun measures. He has pledged to sign every piece of gun violence prevention legislation vetoed by Governor Chris Christie and Lieutenant Governor Guadagno. In their travels throughout New Jersey and its communities, Phil and his wife Tammy have met with numerous New Jerseyans who have been injured or lost loved ones to the epidemic of gun violence. Their tragic stories have strengthened his resolve to lead an administration free from the gun lobby's influence. I wholeheartedly endorse him as the next governor of this great state."

The mission of the Brady organization and its Million Mom March is to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by 2025. For more insight on gun violence prevention, follow us on Facebook and Twitter @BradyBuzz.

About Us: The Brady Campaign and Center, united with the Million Mom March, is a national network of over 90 grassroots chapter affiliates mobilized to prevent gun violence at the community level. The network has played a vital role in expanding Brady background checks in the six states that have passed legislation since the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut and produced the largest national protest of gun violence in U.S. history - The Million Mom March, Mother's Day 2000.

SOURCE The Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Related Links

https://www.bradycampaign.org


Northrop Grumman performs more than 40 percent of the work required to produce the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler (EW-variant). As the principal subcontractor to Boeing, the F/A-18 prime contractor, the company produces the center/aft fuselage and vertical tails, and integrates all related systems, helping to make the F/A-18 one of the most affordable, capable, and low-risk strike fighter solutions currently available.

"We greatly appreciate the confidence Northrop Grumman has in our company's ability to offer innovative solutions that support the F/A-18 program," said Mike Shand, President, Bron Aerotech. "Through our working partnership with Northrop Grumman, we bring 40 years of technical experience in producing pressure sensitive tapes and new cutting edge innovations to drive affordability. We are honored to be recognized by Northrop Grumman as an industry partner of choice."

To date, Northrop Grumman has produced more than 2,200 F/A-18 and EA-18G shipsets, including more than 700 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet Shipsets. It also provides post production support for the jet, which includes engineering services and structural upgrades.

About Bron Aerotech, Inc.

Bron Aerotech sources, stocks and supplies engineered films, fabrics and tapes that meet aerospace OEM specifications and perform in the application. Working with its manufacturer partners, Bron Aerotech provides material solutions drawn from existing, low-cost industrial materials, or develops unique, custom products specifically designed to fit the bill. The company also provides material updates to its aerospace customers. Please visit bronaerotech.com for more information.

Contact: Brett Jones | cell: 206-409-0019 | [email protected]

Bron Aerotech, Inc., 200 Rio Grande Blvd., Denver, CO 80223 | tel: 1.800.782.8807 | www.bronaerotech.com

SOURCE Bron Aerotech, Inc.

Related Links

www.bronaerotech.com


The initiative will culminate with a special delivery to patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in New York City by Build-A-Bear Workshop President and Chief Executive Officer Sharon Price John on Thursday, October 26, the day before the company's 20th Birthday.

The donation was funded by Build-A-Bear Foundation to commemorate the past 20 years of giving and to introduce a new charitable focus as it looks toward the future.

"Since 1997, Build-A-Bear has donated nearly $50 million in funds and furry friends to a variety of organizations," said Sharon John, president and CEO, Build-A-Bear Workshop. "We have always believed in the power of hugs and the simple comfort of having a furry friend by your side. Starting in November, Build-A-Bear Foundation will turn its focus to giving efforts that support the well-being of children through opportunities to make their days a little bit brighter. The delivery of tens of thousands of teddy bears to deserving patients at some of our country's best hospitals would not have been possible without the generous support of our partners at United Way and UPS."

Nearly 100 volunteers are helping to make the bear deliveries happen thanks to tireless coordination and support from United Way and HandsOn Network organizations located near the hospitals.

"United Way is excited to celebrate this milestone anniversary with Build-A-Bear, alongside UPS, through this donation," said Orvin Kimbrough, president and CEO, United Way of Greater St. Louis. "We look forward to continuing our long-time partnership, working together to support child well-being and help people in communities across the country."

Each teddy bear is accompanied by a personal message hand-written by representatives of Build-A-Bear, United Way and UPS. The finished bears were packaged with care by Build-A-Bear associates at the company's Bearhouse in Groveport, Ohio. Dedicated teams of UPS drivers will make sure the furry friends journey safely and quickly to every corner of the country.

"A child's smile can be the most telling sign you've made a positive impact in their life," said David Hopkins, director of marketing and United Way coordinator for UPS. "UPS enjoys making a difference in our communities, including supporting the United Way as one of its largest givers. We're honored to extend that relationship by helping Build-A-Bear Foundation deliver some happiness to children while they're receiving treatment in their local hospitals."

To learn more about the mission of Build-A-Bear Foundation, visit buildabear.com/giving. For more information about Build-A-Bear, visit buildabear.com and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

About Build-A-Bear

Celebrating 20 years of business in 2017, Build-A-Bear is a global brand kids love and parents trust that seeks to add a little more heart to life. Build-A-Bear Workshop has approximately 400 stores worldwide where Guests can create customizable furry friends, including company-owned stores in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and China, and franchise stores in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East. The company was named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the ninth year in a row in 2017. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE:BBW) posted a total revenue of $364.2 million in fiscal 2016. For more information, visit buildabear.com.

About United Way Worldwide

United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. Supported by 2.8 million volunteers, 9.8 million donors worldwide, and more than $4.7 billion raised every year, United Way is the world's largest privately-funded nonprofit. We're engaged in nearly 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our communities. United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, government, civic and faith-based organizations, along with educators, labor leaders, health providers, senior citizens, students and more. For more information about United Way, please visit UnitedWay.org.

About UPS

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at ups.com or pressroom.ups.com and its corporate blog can be found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, follow @UPS_News on Twitter.

SOURCE Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.buildabear.com


BVAccel will also name Rocket Code's Founder and Chief Executive, Jonathan Poma, as its new CEO. BVAccel's current CEO, Dylan Whitman, will be moving into a Co-Chairman role alongside company Co-Founder Kyle Widrick.

"The strategic union of Rocket Code and BVAccel marks an exciting time in our company history. Both companies were early market leaders in the Shopify space, and have continued to innovate as top partners to Google, Optimizely and Shopify Plus. As a unified company, we strengthen BVAccel's position as the number one Shopify Plus Partner agency and thought leader in the evolving area of eCommerce," said Jonathan Poma, newly appointed Chief Executive of BVAccel. "Rocket Code yields synergies from increased scale and complementary service offerings. Together, as BVAccel, we will continue to serve a variety of national and multinational companies looking for explosive revenue growth in the Retail & Fashion, Consumer Packaged Goods, Consumer Electronics, Health & Beauty, and Food & Beverage industries."

With the average spend per eShopper steadily rising year-over-year, total eCommerce sales are expected to reach more than $9.0T by 2020. BVAccel works with brands looking to maintain and expand their market position. By equipping brands with eCommerce solutions, BVAccel's clients engage their customers in a dynamic and evolving retail environment where over 60% of consumers favor mobile shopping experiencesi.

With expanded capabilities from Rocket Code, BVAccel becomes the go-to partner for eCommerce execution in customer acquisition, conversion and retention  offering leading talent in design, development, and digital marketing.

Annie Winger, COO and CFO of BVAccel, said, "The acquisition of Rocket Code further solidifies BVAccel as the agency leader continuing the shift from traditional brick-and-mortar to a consumer-driven online retail experience. Consumers, and the brands that seek to reach them, demand sophisticated eCommerce integrators with flawless execution. We are thrilled to welcome Jonathan Poma as CEO and the entire Rocket Code team. Rocket Code's leadership in applied data analytics, strategy and design will further strengthen BVAccel's operations and offerings to provide even greater results and revenue growth to our clients."

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and fulfillment of closing conditions, and expected to be completed within the second half of 2017. BVAccel corporate counsel Adam Greene of Robinson Brog Leinwand Greene Genovese & Gluck P.C. served as advisor to the transaction.

ABOUT BVACCEL

Brand Value Accelerator (BVAccel) is one of the pioneer Shopify Plus Partners and the fastest growing Shopify focused agency in the world. We work in the relentless pursuit of profit for our clients. We are innovative, data-driven experts from across the eCommerce sector and maintain impactful partnerships with Shopify, Optimizely and Google. With a best-in-class technology stack, we create valuable shopping experiences that serve as the foundation of revenue acceleration. We create mobile-first shopping experiences that are anchored in the three pillars of eCommerce: acquisition, conversion and retention. BVAccel is headquartered in San Diego, California with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Mexico. For more information visit, https://www.bvaccel.com/

ABOUT ROCKET CODE

Rocket Code builds eCommerce software and web experiences that foster closer, longer-lasting high-value relationships between customers and brands. We help brands sell more products to more consumers every day. We're proud to build solutions that fuel revenue and profit growth for ambitious brands. All of our work obsesses about performance-driven interfaces, rock-solid engineering, and complete experiences that transform casual shoppers into loyal customers. Rocket Code is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. https://rocketcode.io/

i Sources: Digital Commerce 360, American Marketing Association, CNN Money

SOURCE BVAccel

Related Links

https://www.bvaccel.com/


CHICAGO and ATLANTA, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sourcing job candidates is one of the most labor-intensive, time-consuming tasks for a company's recruitment teamuntil now. CareerBuilder announced today that it is reducing the time it takes to source job candidates from hours/days to a matter of minutes with a new platform that is providing an unprecedented level of speed and efficiency to recruiters. The platform, known as CareerBuilder Talent Discovery, is an integral part of the company's expanded - and significantly enhanced  suite of solutions that cover everything employers need from the moment a job requisition opens to the moment a candidate is hired and selecting benefits.

CareerBuilder Talent Discovery is launching at a time when companies are facing an increasingly competitive hiring environment. A low unemployment rate and low labor force participation rate paired with a growing skills gap has created a significant talent deficit with serious implications for how a business will perform. Half of employers have jobs they cannot fill because they cannot find qualified candidates.* Nearly 60 percent of employers have jobs that stay vacant for 12 weeks or longer, and the average cost HR managers say they incur for having extended job vacancies is more than $800,000 annually, according to CareerBuilder research.

"CareerBuilder is focused on more than making recruiters efficient  they're trying to help recruiters become more effective in an increasingly complex hiring climate," said Kyle Lagunas, Research Manager at IDC. "With their new Talent Discovery platform, CareerBuilder combines 20 years of search experience with the power of machine learning technology and predictive analytics to deliver modern capabilities that help recruiters get a step ahead."

CareerBuilder designed Talent Discovery to reduce time to hire and cost per hire and solve some of the biggest problems companies face in acquiring new employees, including:

No. 1  Unclear or unrealistic expectations from hiring managers

One in five HR managers (21 percent) say that trying to explain to hiring managers why their open positions are not filled yet is one of the top challenges in their day.*

Talent Discovery uses real-time labor market and compensation data to align and calibrate expectations of recruiters and hiring managers and position recruiters as expert consultants. The platform provides an in-depth breakdown of the active supply and demand for a given position and average compensation ranges, indicating how difficult or easy it will be to fill the role and the best places to find the talent. Recruiters can share this information during the intake meeting while taking advantage of a new, first-to-market intake tool that guides them through a series of steps to collect preferred candidate attributes from the hiring manager and present sample resumes. This ensures everyone is on the same page as the recruiter moves forward with finding the right candidates.

No. 2  Having to search multiple sources for candidates and not always being able to view candidates who applied in the past

The average employer spends around five hours logging in and out of systems to source candidates to fill one job. Of HR managers who have an ATS, 44 percent say they either can't search their ATS for candidates or it is a poor search experience.*

Talent Discovery enables recruiters to see candidates from all CareerBuilder products and their ATS in one place, so all the information is right in front of them. Because Talent Discovery syncs directly with a company's ATS, recruiters can easily search both current and past applicants, and export candidates from CareerBuilder's system to the ATS. Recruiters can also view detailed candidate-level and requisition-level status within the system.

No. 3  Candidate search results that don't match what is needed

More than one third (36 percent) of HR managers say that one of the biggest time wasters in their day is seeing candidate search results that don't match the context of what they are looking for. The same percentage said one of their biggest time wasters is reaching out to candidates who never reply.*

Leveraging the latest in machine learning, Talent Discovery automatically matches relevant candidates in an employer's private or public databases to their posted jobs. This includes CareerBuilder's 45 million resumes and 150 million candidate profiles. The technology understands the searches recruiters are running and candidates they are viewing, and looks at various signals from job seekers based on their activity to zero in on candidates who are the most likely to respond.

No. 4  Spending too much time trying to work with the system and ultimately delaying outreach to candidates

One in seven HR managers reported that a major issue with their recruitment technology is that it takes too long to find and engage candidates.*

Talent Discovery helps recruiters get in front of candidates as quickly as possible with a new campaign manager feature. It enables recruiters to easily create and send fully branded, customizable and responsive emails to an entire audience of potential candidates with various calls to action  and with all communications conveniently handled through the system. After emails are sent, recruiters can see, in real-time, which candidates interacted with the email and then view each candidate's resume and contact information within one click so they can follow up.

"CareerBuilder is introducing a new generation of candidate sourcing that is unlike anything on the market," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder and co-author of The Talent Equation. "We designed Talent Discovery to solve real problems recruiters face every day so they can make better hires much faster. The idea of removing complexity, improving efficiencies and outcomes and providing an easy, intuitive user experience for all parties drives all of our solutions for the candidate and employee lifecycles."

Enhancements to CareerBuilder's Applicant Tracking and Human Capital Solutions

CareerBuilder also announced that it made major enhancements to its applicant tracking offering and expanded its human capital management solution set.

CareerBuilder's ATS is fully integrated with Talent Discovery and CareerBuilder's background screening and talent network solutions. In addition to offering advanced search capabilities to view current and past candidates, CareerBuilder's ATS now enables employers to:

Use a single sign-on to access all CareerBuilder products through the ATS.

Create multiple, customized workflows to accommodate the hiring needs for different types of jobs.

View all email communications between recruiters and candidates in the ATS or through their native email system.

Easily schedule interviews. The ATS syncs with a recruiter's calendar and automatically books the interview once a candidate selects an open time slot.

Visualize hiring data through a number of ready-made or customized reports.

On the post-hire side, CareerBuilder's human capital management solutions began with a rich benefits administration tool and ACA compliance offering. The company is now adding a new, robust onboarding offering via a strategic partnership with SilkRoad. Through the partnership, CareerBuilder is providing customized, branded portals and automated workflows to help companies capture the information they require and help new employees hit the ground running. Employers can send welcome communications to engage new hires; and create, store and automate new hire documentation, including W-4 and I-9 forms. The onboarding offering is already integrated into CareerBuilder's employment screening solutions and will soon be integrated into CareerBuilder's ATS.

*Series of CareerBuilder nationwide surveys of more than 200 human resource managers per survey, conducted at different intervals by Harris Poll from September 2016 through June 2017.

About CareerBuilder

CareerBuilder is a global, end-to-end human capital solutions company focused on helping employers find, hire and manage great talent. Combining advertising, software and services, CareerBuilder leads the industry in recruiting solutions, employment screening and human capital management. CareerBuilder is majority-owned by Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) and operates in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact

Jennifer Grasz

773-527-1164

[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR

SOURCE CareerBuilder

Related Links

http://www.careerbuilder.com


DEERFIELD, Ill., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) will release third-quarter 2017 financial results at 6:30 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 24. The release will be available at caterpillar.com/earnings and the full text of the news release will also be available on PR Newswire at about 6:30 a.m. CDT. The news release will be furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) via a Current Report on Form 8-K in compliance with applicable SEC rules.

Teleconference and webcast access:

A real-time, listen-only teleconference and webcast of the quarterly results call that Caterpillar conducts with security analysts and institutional investors will begin at 10 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 24. Supporting materials will be available before the webcast at caterpillar.com/investors/events-and-presentations.

In addition to the webcast, the one-hour conference call can also be accessed by telephone from both domestic and international locations, with a listen-only entry code provided below:

Conference Call Number: 877-216-8554 (domestic)

973-528-0009 (international) Listen-Only Entry Code: 5621

The call can be accessed in real-time at caterpillar.com/irwebcast. Listeners should go to the website at least 15 minutes before the live event to download and install any necessary audio software. The transcript from the conference call will be made available at caterpillar.com/irwebcast following the webcast.

For those unable to participate in the live broadcast, the replay will be available at caterpillar.com/irwebcast shortly after the live event. There is no charge to access the webcast. A telephone replay of the call will not be available. Those without access to the Internet may listen to an audio summary of Caterpillar's press release by calling 800-228-7717 (for U.S. and Canada) or 858-764-9492 (for all other regions).

About Caterpillar

For more than 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2016 sales and revenues of $38.537 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.

Related Links

http://www.caterpillar.com/


BOSTON, Oct.10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage, an education and technology company, today launched OpenNow, a suite of digital products for general education courses with open educational resources (OER) content. OpenNow from Cengage is designed to help higher education institutions and instructors easily access and use OER by delivering curriculum-aligned OER content on an intuitive, outcomes-based platform. The product starts at $25 per student per course, offering students access to high quality materials at an affordable price point.

OpenNow delivers content through a flexible platform that engages students and boosts confidence with assessments and analytics. The content is curated with the licensing rights ensured and mapped to proven course objectives. Instructors can use the content out of the box or enlist an instructional design team from Cengage to develop course mapping and personalization, or to develop required additional courses.

All narrative and assessment included in OpenNow is openly licensed (CC-BY), so instructors and institutions can adapt and reuse the material and customize it to fit their objectives. OpenNow includes content from OpenStax and other sources, including new content created by Cengage, as well as content previously under a Cengage copyright. All Cengage content in OpenNow will become open and can be reused, modified and used elsewhere.

"We are committed to providing students strong educational value with our products and services. This means offering product models that help students achieve their goals at a price that fits their budget," said Michael Hansen, CEO, Cengage. "Early activation and access to course materials leads to a higher level of engagement and improved outcomes. OpenNow is a direct response to students telling us what they want and need to be successful."

The OpenNow platform and all content is ADA-compliant and universally designed. OpenNow is currently available for Introduction to Psychology, American Government and Introduction to Sociology, with additional courses coming this fall, including: College Algebra, General Chemistry, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Introduction to Biology, U.S. History, College Success, Composition and Developmental English. To learn more about Cengage's OER solutions, visit www.cengage.com/opennow.

About Cengage

Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Cengage creates learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA with an office hub in San Francisco. Employees reside in nearly 40 countries with sales in more than 125 countries around the world. Visit us at www.cengage.com or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

Media Contact:

Chloe Ryan, Cengage

617-757-8160, [email protected]

SOURCE Cengage

Related Links

http://www.cengage.com


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group ("Cetera")*, a leading network of independent firms empowering the delivery of professional financial advice to individuals and families, and to company retirement plans, today announced that a collective charitable donation of $200,000 has been given to the American Red Cross. Funds from Caring Cetera, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, were used to match those donated by Cetera's employees, advisors and their employees.

Additionally, an anonymous donor is matching donations to the American Red Cross of San Diego/Imperial Counties designated for Hurricane Irma relief, up to $1 million. Therefore, a portion of Caring Cetera's donation to the American Red Cross of San Diego/Imperial Counties will be doubled.

Caring Cetera is an advisor-initiated, registered 501(c)(3) that serves communities where Cetera conferences are held, aids persons living in communities affected by natural disasters, and extends timely resources to people affected by personal tragedy. To commemorate and celebrate the generous donation, a check presentation was held at Cetera's San Diego office on Wednesday, October 4. Cetera Financial Group CEO Robert J. Moore officially presented the donation to Charlene Zettel, Interim Regional CEO of the American Red Cross of San Diego/Imperial Counties.

Moore stated, "With the incomprehensible level of damage done by recent disasters, we sought to challenge all members of our organization to contribute to the wider relief efforts. Not surprisingly, they rose to the challenge and far surpassed the initial $50,000 goal we'd set, which is a testament to the commitment and character of the individuals who participated in the effort. In addition to the donations to the Red Cross, numerous advisors and staff in the impacted regions have given their time and resources in a variety of ways to help those in need. As a leader, it's truly an inspiration to witness the level of initiative and generosity exhibited by the Cetera family during this tragic time."

"The Red Cross is proud to work with Cetera Financial Group to assist those affected by the recent devastating hurricanes," said Zettel. "Over the past six weeks, in addition to operating shelters and working on long-term recovery plans, the Red Cross has served more than 6.1 million meals and snacks, and provided more than 2.8 million relief items to people in need. Financial donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters. We truly appreciate Cetera Financial Group for all they are doing to provide this much needed relief."

About Cetera Financial Group

Cetera Financial Group ("Cetera") is a leading network of independent firms empowering the delivery of professional financial advice to individuals, families and company retirement plans across the country through trusted financial advisors and financial institutions. Cetera is the second-largest independent financial advisor network in the nation by number of advisors, as well as a leading provider of retail services to the investment programs of banks and credit unions.

Through its multiple distinct firms, Cetera offers independent and institutions-based advisors the benefits of a large, established broker-dealer and registered investment adviser, while serving advisors and institutions in a way that is customized to their needs and aspirations. Advisor support resources offered through Cetera include award-winning wealth management and advisory platforms, comprehensive broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services, practice management support and innovative technology. For more information, visit cetera.com .

* "Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Investment Services (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions), Cetera Financial Specialists, First Allied Securities, Girard Securities, and Summit Brokerage Services. All firms are members FINRA/SIPC.

Cetera Media Contacts:

Joseph Kuo

Haven Tower Group

Tel: 424.652.6520 ext 101

[email protected]

Chris Clemens

Haven Tower Group

Tel: 424.652.6520 ext 102

[email protected]

SOURCE Cetera Financial Group

Related Links

http://cetera.com


CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cut the ribbon at the new OppLoans headquarters in downtown Chicago this week. OppLoans, the nation's leading socially responsible online lender, has more than tripled its employee-count in the past two years and expanded their operations in One Prudential Plaza. In 2017, the firm was named the 14th fastest-growing company in Illinois and the 219th nationally.

In his remarks, the mayor said, "While for a lot of people outside this room, this may be the first time they've heard of OppLoans. There is no doubt in my mind this will not be the last time they've heard of OppLoans. I look forward to being back as you scale more mountains, more heights, and continue to grow and to be successful, and to offer financing to a lot of families."

Since its founding in 2012, OppLoans has garnered national attention for its innovative financial product, outstanding customer service and commitment to delivering on its socially responsible mission. OppLoans offers financial bridge products to the subprime consumer that are safer and more affordable than traditional alternatives. The firm maintains a customer satisfaction rating of 4.8/5 stars on Google and received an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. Additionally, OppLoans awards $10,000 in academic scholarships annually, donates quarterly to employee-selected charities, and offers free financial education through its online university OppU.

"To be honored for our growth and our new headquarters is exciting," said Jared Kaplan, CEO of OppLoans. "But it's truly gratifying to be able to speak with the mayor about our commitment to hiring in Chicago, paying a living wage to our employees, and continuing to contribute to the Chicago technology startup ecosystem. The growth we've experienced in the past two years has been remarkable and we fully expect it to continue. We asked the mayor to hold onto his scissors and bring them to our next ribbon cutting."

Opportunity Financial, LLC, doing business as OppLoans, is one of the highest-rated online lenders in the industry. With faster funding, significantly lower rates, total transparency, and unmatched customer service, OppLoans provides non-prime borrowers a safe and reliable alternative to payday lending. OppLoans is licensed and able to lend or arrange loans in the following states: Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

For more information regarding OppLoans, please visit OppLoans.com, email John O'Reilly, or call (312) 212-8079 extension 818.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE OppLoans

Related Links

http://OppLoans.com


TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 4, 2017, manufacturers, business leaders, and policymakers from across the state met in Indianapolis to honor those companies that have made outstanding contributions to the development of a healthy, dynamic environment in Indiana, and to the state's overall economic well-being. Clabber Girl is excited to be among the select group of companies acknowledged at this prestigious event, and honored to have been selected as an inductee into the Indiana Manufacturers Hall of Fame.

According to Indiana Manufacturers Association (IMA) President Brian Burton, "Manufacturing is one of the main drivers of Indiana's economy, representing 30% of Indiana's gross domestic product. Clabber Girl is a perfect example of a company that has not only demonstrated its long-term dedication to Indiana manufacturing, but also through its continued support of the IMA, with its overarching goal to protect, support, and grow manufacturing. We are pleased to induct Clabber Girl into our Indiana Manufacturers Hall of Fame."

In response to the induction, Gary Morris, President and Chief Operating Officer of Clabber Girl said, "The employees at Clabber Girl, have an exceptional work ethic, team focus and are dedicated to the company vision. It is because of their efforts and the efforts of those employees that came before them that we have been successful in continuing to grow our business."

The Hall of Fame Luncheon was attended by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. In addition, Katz, Sapper & Miller LLP, along with IU professors Dr. Mark Frohlich and Dr. Steve Jones, presented The 2017 Manufacturing Survey results. The results indicate that the Hoosier manufacturing sector remains healthy, although regulatory and workforce challenges continue to blunt its potential growth.

About the Indiana Manufacturers Association

Formed in 1901, the Indiana Manufacturers Association (IMA) is the second oldest manufacturers association in the country and the only trade association in Indiana that exclusively focuses on manufacturing. The IMA is dedicated to advocating for a business climate that creates, protects and promotes quality manufacturing jobs in Indiana. Indiana is one of the top manufacturing states in America in wealth and jobs created, sustained and supported. More than 50 percent of all employment in Indiana has some connection to manufacturing. For more information, visit www.imaweb.com.

About Clabber Girl

For more than 150 years, Clabber Girl has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary professionals alike, producing a broad range of ingredients, specialty dry mixes and custom leavening systems. Today, the Clabber Girl brand is distributed nationwide and to many different countries around the world. Clabber Girl is proud of its rich heritage, which is celebrated at the company's headquarters and includes a museum, bake shop cafe, artisan coffee-roasting operation, and culinary classroom. For more information, visit www.clabbergirl.com.

Clabber Girl Media Contact:

Megan Pence, Executive Director of Marketing & PR

[email protected]

900 Wabash Avenue,

Terre Haute, IN 47808

Phone: (812) 232-9446

SOURCE Clabber Girl

Related Links

http://www.clabbergirl.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Urban School Food Alliance (the Alliance), a coalition of the largest school districts in the United States that includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Orange County in Orlando and Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, is pleased to announce that it will expand its membership to ten with the addition of Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas, The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools). Their addition will expand the Urban School Food Alliance's collective student reach to more than 3.6 million children and the group's total annual purchasing power to nearly $735 million in food and food supplies.

"We couldn't be happier to welcome Clark County School District, the School District of Philadelphia and Baltimore City Public Schools to the Urban School Food Alliance," said Eric Goldstein, chairman of the Alliance and chief executive officer of School Support Services for the New York City Department of Education. "We understand that nutritious meals help students excel in school and we're excited to work with CCSD, SDP and City Schools in challenging industry to create healthy, innovative products for the health and wellness of students."

The fifth largest school district in the United States, CCSD serves 326,000 students  nearly 75 percent of all K-12 schoolchildren in Nevada. SDP is the 13th biggest school district in the nation and the largest in Pennsylvania, serving 134,000 students. And Baltimore City Public Schools is the 36th largest in the country with more than 82,000 students.

"We recognize the collective strength of the Urban School Food Alliance districts," said David Wines, CCSD Food Service Director. "CCSD believes in providing high quality meals that are nutritious and delicious. The Alliance embodies this vision and we are proud to be a part of this organization."

"It's an honor to work with the Alliance as we start the new school year," said SDP Senior Vice President of Food Services Wayne T. Grasela. "We strive for excellence in the meals we provide our students and we believe the Urban School Food Alliance will be a great partner in continuing to fulfill this mission."

A nonprofit group, member districts in the Urban School Food Alliance share best practices and leverage their collective purchasing power to drive school food quality up and costs down through socially responsible practices. Together, its districts serve nearly 593 million meals annually.

"We are excited to join the Alliance at the same time as two other districts around the county, who share our belief in bringing healthier meals to students," said Elizabeth Marchetta, executive director of the Food and Nutrition Department at Baltimore City Public Schools. "The Urban School Food Alliance will allow us to improve the quality of products we offer through the influence, strength and reach of our collective purchasing."

The Urban School Food Alliance has already created systemic changes in the food service world for healthier, nutritious meals for students. Even before many of the nation's leading restaurants called for healthier poultry in their menus, the Alliance already adopted a policy to help school districts move toward an antibiotic-free standard for companies to follow when supplying chicken products to its schools. In addition, the Alliance rolled out the use of compostable round plates at cafeterias, removing 225 million polystyrene trays from landfills every year to ensure sound environmental practices.

About the Urban School Food Alliance

The Urban School Food Alliance was created by school food professionals in 2012 to address the unique needs of the nation's largest school districts. The nonprofit group allows the districts to share best practices and leverage their purchasing power to continue to drive quality up and costs down while incorporating sound environmental practices. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami-Dade, Orange County in Orlando, Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Clark County in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Baltimore City together offer service in more than 5,500 schools to more than 3.6 million children daily. This translates to nearly 593 million meals a year. The coalition aims to ensure that all public school students across the nation receive healthy, nutritious meals through socially responsible practices. To learn more about the Urban School Food Alliance or to support its work, please visit www.urbanschoolfoodalliance.org.

SOURCE Urban School Food Alliance

Related Links

http://www.urbanschoolfoodalliance.org


LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A class action lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Clark County Nevada on behalf of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history that took place on October 1, at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. The suit, filed by Las Vegas law firm Eglet Prince and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is against Slide Fire Solutions, LP and the sellers, manufacturers and marketers of "bump stock" devices which convert semi-automatic weapons to the functional equivalent of a machine gun.

This case is on behalf of all the festival goers who suffered emotional distress as a result of the shooting. The lawsuit asks the defendants to pay for the costs associated with counseling and other treatment for emotional distress. The lawsuit also asks the court to award punitive damages. The lawsuit alleges that such damages are appropriate for defendants who provided a product that turned a semi-automatic gun into the functional equivalent of a machine gun, thereby evading longstanding federal law.

The lawsuit asserts that Slide Fire Solutions, LP was negligent in developing and marketing "bump stocks" to the general public without any reasonable restrictions, thereby subverting federal law that has highly regulated machine guns for over 80 years. According to the Complaint, "this horrific assault would not and could not have occurred, with a conventional handgun, rifle, or shotgun, of the sort used by law-abiding responsible gun owners for hunting or self-defense." The complaint goes on to allege that the damage caused to the plaintiffs, "resulted from the military-style arsenal that the defendants manufactured, marketed, and sold to the public, without any reasonable measures or safeguards."

Representing the Plaintiffs are Robert Eglet, Robert Adams, Aaron Ford, and Erica Entsminger of the Eglet Prince law firm, and Jonathan Lowy, of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Brady Campaign & Center Co-Presidents, Kristin Brown and Avery Gardiner, released a statement regarding the impact of this case:

The people who attended the concert have suffered so much already. The physical injuries are staggering, and we know the emotional injuries can be equally severe and long term. Brady has decades of experience supporting the victims of gun violence and has been the only organization in the nation focused on seeking justice for them in the courts.

The announcement was made at a press conference on Tuesday, October 10th at 10:30 am PST by Robert T. Eglet of Eglet Prince and Jonathan Lowy, Vice President, Litigation of the Brady Center. The event was held at the law offices of Eglet Prince 400 South Seventh Street, Suite 400 in Las Vegas.

Background:

Since 1986, the National Firearms Act ("NFA") has heavily regulated the sale of fully automatic guns, a.k.a. "machine guns," so they are not readily available to the US public. "Bump stocks" enable generally available semi-automatic firearms to simulate machine guns by greatly increasing their rate of fire. Based on reports, in the October 1 Las Vegas mass shooting, the number of lives lost and people injured and emotionally traumatized in 11 minutes -- a mere 660 seconds in which bullets hailed down upon them -- resulted from the shooter using "bump stock" devices. Numerous bump stock devices were found in the killer's hotel room.

Bump stock devices were created by Slide Fire Solutions, LP. In 2010 letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms Explosives, ("ATF") Slide Fire wrote that the bump stocks were intended to assist "persons whose hands have limited mobility." However, Slide Fire's inventor of the bump stock, in a 2016 interview with AmmoLand, Jeremiah Cottle stated later, that the bump stock was geared toward "people like me, who love full auto." The complaint alleges that plaintiffs are unaware of bump stocks actually being marketed or sold only to people whose hands had limited mobility. The complaint alleges that Slide Fire grossed more than $10 million in sales of bump stocks in 2010. According to Cottle, a semi-automatic rifle may cost between $800 and $1,200, while a fully automatic model can run more than $15,000. It was also asserted in marketing materials that the bump stock allows semi-automatic rifle to mimic the fire rate of a fully automatic rifle for a fraction of the price and without the legal paperwork. Slide Fire marketed its bump stock as a military-grade accessory for civilians, and sold for $100 to $400, depending on the model. Slide Fire has since suspended new orders on its website and disabled its "locate a dealer" section. Also, some retailers have stopped selling bump stock products after the shootings.

The members of the class action suit are seeking equitable relief in the form of a court supervised program for psychological monitoring for all the Class Members at the expense of the Defendants. Equitable medical testing will provide medical monitoring, testing and evaluation that would have been unnecessary had the Defendants not been negligent and conducted this reckless behavior.

A COMPLETE COPY OF THE COMPLAINT AVAILABLE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE  INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

ABOUT EGLET PRINCE

Eglet Prince has successfully represented thousands of clients. The firm is best known for its multimillion-dollar verdicts, including two verdicts in excess of $500 million against a pharmaceutical company. The attorneys at Eglet Prince are experienced trial lawyers and have successfully handled complex litigation, mass tort litigation and class actions. Eglet Prince is located at the Robert T. Eglet Advocacy Center 400 S. 7th Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101, 4th Floor

702-450-5400

ABOUT BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

For more than 25 years, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has represented victims of gun violence litigation cases across the country. As a result, the Brady Center has obtained or helped obtain more than $80 million in verdicts and settlements against gun companies on behalf of victims. A 501(c)(3) organization, the Brady Center is located at 840 First Street, NE, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20002

https://www.bradycampaign.org/legal-action-project

SOURCE The Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Related Links

https://www.bradycampaign.org


"I commend President Trump for keeping his promise to Americans to protect our religious freedom," Doak said. "The government should not force anyone to compromise their faith, and the new rules will allow businesses to focus on their goals and mission without fear of legal battles."

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all insurers and group plans must offer coverage for contraceptive methods approved by the FDA for free, with limited exceptions for churches, non-profits and "closely held" for-profit businesses. But the new rule change expands the exemptions to allow any employer that registers a religious or moral objection to refuse to offer health care plans that include birth control coverage.

Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. filed a lawsuit in 2012 against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services arguing that the contraception mandate contained in the ACA, specifically in regards to emergency contraceptives and intrauterine devices, violated its religious beliefs. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hobby Lobby's favor.

About the Oklahoma Insurance Department

The Oklahoma Insurance Department, an agency of the State of Oklahoma, is responsible for the education and protection of the insurance-buying public and for oversight of the insurance industry in the state.

For more information, contact:

Kelly Dexter

405-522-0683

[email protected]

SOURCE Oklahoma Insurance Department

Related Links

http://www.oid.ok.gov


SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The customer aftermarket has become an afterthought for makers of home appliances, power tools, consumer electronics and other durable goods. Manufacturers and their retail partners have differing opinions when it comes to ensuring a valued, satisfying and profitable product ownership experience.

New research among consumer, marketer and retailer audiences by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and LiveTechnology highlights the need for leading brands in the $12 trillion consumer durables market to improve commitments to quality aftermarket service, 24/7 multi-channel customer support, and timely and efficient repair and parts replacement that is not dependent on retail partners.

The new report released todayentitled "ELEVATE WHAT CONSUMERS APPRECIATE: Increase Brand Attraction by Upgrading Ownership Satisfaction"notes discrepancies in how manufacturers and retailers view and approach post-purchase revenue, profit and relationship-building opportunities in the aftermarket service sector.

Despite the fact that 93 percent of manufacturers view ownership experience as important to the business and a significant brand differentiator, they lack leadership, focus and commitment to realizing revenue and profit from the aftermarket business. Only 19 percent of manufacturers derive more than 10 percent of their revenue from aftermarket services, and only 20 percent generate more than 10 percent of their profit from this area. This compares to 65 percent of retailers who source more than 10 percent of their revenue and 51 percent who earn more than 10 percent of their profit from the aftermarket.

Just 45 percent of marketers representing manufacturing companies say their companies view aftermarket services as a strategic area of focus and essential to customer experience and business success. This compares to 56 percent of marketers from retail organizations.

While 71 percent of manufacturers believe their level of ownership satisfaction is excellent or very good, retailers are not as sanguine. Only 26 percent give manufacturers the same ranking, with another 31 percent saying it varies greatly by brand. In fact, 61 percent of retailers say they play a significant role in advancing the ownership experience and helping manufacturers distinguish their brands in the aftermarket service sector.

"While top management on the manufacturer side is strongly committed to creating customer-centric cultures, they don't appear to be giving CMOs the responsibility to take ownership of the aftermarket as a revenue and margin opportunity or a critical area of customer loyalty-building and brand attachment," noted Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. He pointed to findings in the research that showed less than 10 percent of chief marketers had responsibility for this area of operation, and it was mostly fragmented across multiple titles and functions.

Earlier this year, consumer research by the CMO Council and LiveTechnologyentitled "Product Ownership: Lasting Satisfaction or Painful Distraction?"revealed that nearly 35 percent of 2,000 North American homeowners surveyed rated product manufacturers as poor or needing improvement. Some 60 percent of poll participants rated their post-purchase experiences with manufacturers as underwhelming, and 56 percent were disappointed with service from retailers and eCommerce sites.

The CMO Council's online survey of 150 marketers, evenly split between retail and manufacturing decision makers, was fielded in Q2 2017. Most notably, there was some discrepancy between what manufacturers said they were doing to upgrade the ownership experience versus what retailers thought manufacturers should be doing. Here are the top five recommended strategies by the two groups:

Manufacturers

Building out our eCommerce portal for direct sales and online/mobile service 40% Reviewing and expanding our aftermarket service offerings 33% Integrating customer data from path to purchase to all areas of ownership 27% Ensuring all replacement parts and product information are readily available 27% Evaluating our customer lifetime relationships 23%

Retailers and Distributors

Evolving to an omni-channel model for customer experience management 43% Evaluating customer lifetime value and relationships 40% Building out an eCommerce portal for direct sales and online/mobile service 33% Integrating customer data from path to purchase to all areas of ownership 30% Ensuring all replacement parts and product information are readily available 27%

"Customer advocacy should be the lynchpin of marketing for all brands as the primary driver of the purchasing decision is the sharing of information between friends and family and by other owners (e.g., ratings, reviews and forums)," explained Wayne Reuvers, CEO of LiveTechnology. "As product owners constantly rely on their mobile devices to access relevant information on the things they own (manuals, specifications, parts, accessories, advice, etc.), a consistent, intuitive experience will turn owners into advocates that positively communicate their brand experience. Frustration, on the other hand, results in strong negative posts."

LiveStuffan innovation from LiveTechnology that will serve as the world's largest, centralized product data repository, enabling product owners to identify and source replacement parts, receive product alerts (e.g., recall information) and updates, and access crowd-sourced guidance and self-help from other ownersis offering an Ownership Experience Evaluation that will evaluate the process required to discover or find important information pertaining to a specific product. This Ownership Experience Evaluation, at a cost of $1,120 ($728 for CMO Council members) will:

Score the accessibility of information

Gauge the likelihood of positive social sharing

Provide a summary of where things can/should be improved for the highest impact

The evaluation will help to benchmark and scorecard a brand's aftermarket service offering and is designed to empower leading manufacturers of consumer durables and their retail and distribution partners to understand their current state of ownership experience and work to elevate all aspects of the global aftermarket service experience.

The evaluation will also include:

A review of a manufacturer's warranty process (customer friendliness, comparison to competitors, terms and conditions, requirements for coverage, ease of registration, extended warranty options, etc.)

An evaluation of user manual and documentation accessibility (digital/print format, clarity and comprehension, visual richness and relevance, availability for downloading, etc.)

An assessment of aftermarket services program (responsiveness, accessibility, multi-channel interaction, cost, replacement parts inventory, ease of sourcing/ordering, fulfillment time, service availability, cost, in-house vs. contract provider, quality of aftermarket support, etc.)

Benchmarking of social connectivity, self-help options and level of advocacy (e.g., can/will owners become advocates; is it possible for product owners to share key information/features of the product; do forums exist?)

An online survey of 1,000 of current product owners and/or warranty registrants; qualitative interviews with four to six channel or support partners

The assessment will result in a comprehensive scorecard, including key recommendations on how to address deficiencies across the ownership experience.

The "Elevate What Consumers Appreciate" report includes findings from both the marketer and consumer surveys, as well as in-depth interviews with brand leaders at companies like Ace Hardware, Casio, Dell, DeLonghi, Electrolux, Emerson, Janome, JD Power, Kia Motors, Keurig, Lennox, Lenovo, Microsoft, Samsung, Vitamix, Wally/Sears, Whirlpool and Yamaha. Source the full 88-page report and a complimentary executive summary by visiting https://cmocouncil.org/aftermarket-report.

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership, and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council's 12,500-plus members control more than $500 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 65,000 global executives in more than 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa. The council's strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Marketing Supply Chain Institute, Digital Marketing Performance Institute, GeoBranding Center and the Brand Inspiration Center. For more information, visit www.cmocouncil.org.

About LiveTechnology

LiveTechnology, a U.S. technology innovator and marketing solution provider, is building the world's largest, centralized product data repository with mobile application interface () to advance the aftermarket service opportunity. It will enable consumer buyers of durable goods to easily register, store and retrieve essential product/parts information, warranties, owner's manuals, and purchasing records on demand. The LiveStuff consumer service will enable product owners to identify and source replacement parts, receive product alerts (e.g., recall information) and updates, and access crowd-sourced guidance and self-help from other owners. The big-data LivePlatform will provide advertisers and marketers with valuable analytics and owner insights for cross-selling, repeat selling and upselling, as well as managing warranty and product return programs. It will also enable them to track satisfaction, advertise and promote their brands, and enhance many new aspects of the ownership experience. For more information, visit www.livetechnology.com.

SOURCE CMO Council

Related Links

http://www.cmocouncil.org


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With a following of over six million subscribers, YouTube superstar Karina Garcia is pleased to announce the launch of her new brand Craft City by Karina Garcia. Widely known for her DIY slime videos, Garcia has joined forces with Brandable to launch Craft City with the release of their first product, the Official Make-Your-Own Slime Kit by Karina Garcia, which is now exclusively available nationwide at Target both in-store and online.

Since early 2017, Garcia and Brandable have been working hand in hand with suppliers to create epic designs, source and manufacture high quality and safe materials, and create the ultimate kits that result in one-of-a-kind creations. Craft City Official Make-Your-Own Slime Kit by Karina Garcia was born after discovering her followers' love of slime and their interest in making it themselves at home.

"I'm so pleased to announce the release of my very own slime kit, this is only the first of many products to come from Craft City and I couldn't be more excited to share this moment with my fans!" Says Karina Garcia. "With this kit, we wanted to encourage everyone to craft on their own terms and make every creation uniquely you. I can't wait to see what everyone creates, send me pictures of your final products so I can see what awesome creations you craft!"

This fun-filled kit has everything to assemble eight different slime creations, including a variety of color tablets, blue glitter, glow coloring powder, Garcia's unique formulated glue and more! Each kit comes with an instruction manual, guiding step-by-step on how to produce the various slime mixtures. Garcia reveals her exclusive tips and tricks, while still empowering her fans to follow her motto of, "Creating On Your Own Terms" and adding any desired unique fun to the recipes. Plus, Craft City has incorporated special mixing tools and plastic cups to allow safe play and speedy clean-up, making it the ideal DIY slime kit without the mess.

"Karina is our kind of partner, she's the most followed crafting expert on YouTube, creator of the DIY slime movement, and has her finger on the pulse of how kids want to craft today," said Oliver Boger, CEO and Founder of Brandable. "We couldn't be more excited about our partnership on Craft City and this is the first of many products created by Karina, with more hitting stores in 2018."

ABOUT BRANDABLE

Brandable is a next generation consumer products studio that partners with strategic influencers, content brands and trendsetters to help them build the next great consumer product brand. Brand focuses on innovating with original products and brands in the following categories: toys + games + crafts, cosmetics + wellness, pets, food + drink. With headquarters in Los Angeles, CA, Brandable was founded in 2016 by Forbes 30 Under 30 Alumni Oliver Bogner, who serves as CEO.

To learn more visit brandablela.com.

ABOUT KARINA GARCIA

Karina Garcia is DIY and overall lifestyle expert with a wildly popular YouTube channel (over 6 million subscribers), one best-selling book published and a second one on the way, a crafting product line (Craft City) available exclusively at Target and is considered to be one of the top 5 most followed crafters on the internet. Beyond teaching the world how to make slime and crazy crafts projects, Karina loves design, style and keeping up with the latest trends. Karina has been featured on programs such as Good Morning America, The Ellen Degeneres Show and has been featured in numerous coveted publications, such as the New York Times.

To learn more follow Karina Garcia on Instagram or Twitter, and subscribe to her YouTube channel.

SOURCE Karina Garcia
As someone who has expressed a longtime love of design and entertaining personally and, most recently, via the creation of Draper James in 2015, Reese Witherspoon was a natural partner for the brand. Both Reese and Crate and Barrel exude timelessness infused with modernity through everything they do and create, resulting in the perfect synergy for a collaboration.

"We are honored to work with Reese, who expresses so many of the best qualities of our brandstyle, warmth, and optimism," said Crate and Barrel President Steve Woodward. "Reese has shown the world she has an eye for design, and we're thrilled for her to showcase that as an ambassador for the company. Reese truly brings the unique Crate and Barrel experience and spirit to life."

The holiday campaign, "Make This Season Merry and Just Right," features Reese entertaining friends and family at home, accompanied by her favorite products from Crate and Barrel. The campaign - created by Crate and Barrel's Agency of Record Preacher - includes several national TV spots and placements across multiple digital and social platforms that will air through the end of the year.

This holiday season, Crate and Barrel will also highlight select gifts from Draper James, both in stores and online at crateandbarrel.com. As a part of their longer-term relationship, Crate and Barrel and Draper James will release co-designed collections for Spring and Summer 2018 and beyond.

About Crate and Barrel

Crate and Barrel is an industry-leading home furnishings specialty retailer, known for its exclusive designs, timeless style and superb customer service. In addition to a direct marketing division that services more than 90 countries, the company operates stores throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as international franchise locations around the globe. Working directly with European ateliers and factories, Crate and Barrel was among the first to introduce affordable household goods and contemporary home decor to American consumers. Founded in 1962, the brand's essence has translated perfectly to the omnichannel era 55 years after opening its first store. The Crate and Barrel family of brands, which includes CB2 and The Land of Nod, is owned by Otto Group, a global retail and services group based in Hamburg, Germany. For more information, visit www.crateandbarrel.com.

About Draper James

Draper James is a Southern-inspired lifestyle brand that embodies the personal style and sensibility of its Founder and Creative Director, Reese Witherspoon. Reese named the brand after her grandparents who taught her everything she knows about gracious Southern living. Draper James brings contemporary, yet timeless Southern style to your wardrobe and home, no matter where you live. The direct-to-consumer business launched online in May 2015 followed by its flagship store in Nashville that fall. Draper James also has brick-and-mortar locations in Dallas and Lexington with Atlanta opening fall 2017. Designed in-house, the collection consists of ready-to-wear, accessories, and home accents. For more information, please visit www.draperjames.com or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat.

Media Contact:

Derris, Jessica Crain

[email protected]

SOURCE Crate and Barrel

Related Links

http://www.crateandbarrel.com


HIAWATHA, Iowa, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Crystal Group, a leading designer/manufacturer of rugged and reliable computer hardware, takes the enterprise-level Ruckus wired solutions to harsh environments with its new RCS7150 high-performance, rugged network switch, making its debut at AUSA 2017 in Washington, D.C., October 9-11 at booth 6514.

"Keeping devices connected in all operational environments, no matter how harsh or extreme the elements, is of the utmost importance to help ensure safety and mission success. The RCS7150 is designed to meet this specific need, and further exemplifies Crystal Group's dedication to delivering rugged, reliable systems with the best and most robust enterprise-level capabilities to warfighters everywhere," said Jim Shaw, Crystal Group Executive Vice President of Engineering.

Crystal Group rugged network switches combine enterprise-class functionality and MIL-SPEC environmental performance to provide reliable, high-throughput connectivity and data handling in deployed environments. The RCS7150 intelligent, scalable, edge switch solution is based on the Ruckus ICX 7150 Series stackable switch with a 9.75-inch depth available in 12- and 24-port configurations. Crystal Group's latest network switch is housed in rugged, lightweight, and compact enclosure  a choice of transit case or 19-inch rack with strain-hardened, aircraft-grade aluminum  designed to survive harsh environments, including extreme temperatures or high shock and vibration.

The Crystal Group RCS7150 Rugged Network Switch supports IPv6 routing, offers plug-and-play functionality, and is compatible with industry command line technology enabling the integration of multiple units into a single logical unit addressable with a single IP address.

Both 12- and 24-port configurations of the RCS7150 are available in a 1U form factor and weigh just 8 pounds. Mounting for the unit complies with the EIA-310 19-inch rack standard using Delrin glides or a fixed mount. Crystal rugged switches are designed for extended temperature ranges between -40C to +55C.

Crystal Group is demonstrating the new RCS7150 Rugged Network Switch in booth 6514 at the 2017 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting & Exposition, October 9th through 11th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Contact Crystal Group for a quote or more information on RCS7150-12/24, available now.

About Crystal Group Inc.

Crystal Group Inc., a technology leader in rugged computer hardware, specializes in the design and manufacture of custom and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) rugged servers, embedded computing, networking devices, displays, power supplies, and data storage for high reliability in harsh environments. An employee-owned small business founded in 1987, Crystal Group provides the defense, government and industrial markets with in-house customization, engineering, integration, configuration management, product lifecycle planning, warranty, and support services.

Crystal Group products meet or exceed IEEE, IEC, and military standards (MIL-STD-810, 167-1, 461, MIL-S-901); are backed by warranty (5+ year) with in-house support; and are manufactured in the company's Hiawatha, Iowa, USA, facility certified to AS9100C:2009 and ISO 9001:2008 quality management standards.

crystalrugged.com

 2017 Crystal Group Inc. All rights reserved. All marks are property of their respective owners. Design and specifications are subject to change.

SOURCE Crystal Group Inc.

Related Links

http://crystalrugged.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ZingBox, leading a new generation of IoT security solutions focused on IoT service protection, today announced that its CTO and co-founder, Dr. May Wang, was named a finalist in three categories of the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, which include: Most Innovative Woman of the Year, Maverick of the Year, and Woman of the Year  Technology. In addition, the company itself has been named a finalist in the Most Innovative Company of the Year  More than 10 Employees category, while its IoT Guardian solution is a finalist in both the Best New Product of the Year  Business Products and Best New Product or Service of the Year - Business Services categories, and will ultimately be a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winner in the program.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run  worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world's premier business awards.

"Dr. May Wang has transcended cultural and academic barriers throughout her pioneering technology career," said Xu Zou, CEO at ZingBox. "This past year, Wang has played a leading role in protecting organizations from cyber threats and has worked with various government agencies to transform the industries' view on the importance of IoT security. She is truly deserving of being a finalist in each of the categories she was named, and I have no doubt that she, along with our company and its solution, will take a place as a winner."

ZingBox IoT Guardian, which was named a finalist in two categories, provides visibility into the nature and actions of all connected devices. Because it builds the deep knowledge of each individual device's trusted behavior, it can automatically sense, identify, and classify connected devices. Unlike traditional end-point security products, IoT Guardian eliminates the need to install and manage software agents.

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 90 categories, including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Company of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women Run Workplace of the Year.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Friday, November 17. Nominated women executives and entrepreneurs from the USA and several other countries are expected to attend. The event will be broadcast on Livestream.

"Every year we say that the current crop of Stevies for Women nominations couldn't be better, and the next year we're proven wrong," said Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie Awards. "The judges' scores and comments bear witness to the fact that this year we will honor a truly remarkable class of women and women-led organizations in New York on November 17."

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

For more information on ZingBox and its solutions, please visit www.zingbox.com.

About ZingBox

Enabling the Internet of Trusted Things, ZingBox provides hospitals, companies and manufacturing facilities with Internet of Things (IoT) security software that helps ensure service delivery. ZingBox's new approach is based on deep learning and enforcement of trusted behavior. Founded by Silicon Valley veterans with expertise in cybersecurity, IoT, deep learning and networking, ZingBox was selected by the Stanford StartX program, was named one of NetworkWorld's hottest security startups, and was most recently named a "Cool Vendor in IoT Security, 2017" by Gartner. For more information, visit www.zingbox.com.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

Media Contact:

Jacqueline Velasco

ZingBox

(408) 680-0564

[email protected]

SOURCE ZingBox

Related Links

https://www.zingbox.com


IRVING, Texas, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR) will hold a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, November 8, 2017, to discuss the Company's third quarter 2017 financial results. The teleconference will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET and will be hosted by Mr. Randall Stuewe, CEO and Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Patrick Lynch, EVP and Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, the Company will have a slide presentation available to augment management's formal presentation, which will be accessible via the investor relations section of the Company's website. The related press release will be issued after the market closes on November 7, 2017.

Due to historically high call volume, the company is offering participants the opportunity to register in advance for the conference through the following link: http://dpregister.com/10112133

Registered participants will receive an email with a calendar reminder and a dial-in number and PIN that will allow them immediate access to the call on November 8, 2017.

Participants who do not wish to pre-register for the call may dial in using 844-868-8847 (U.S. callers) or 412-317-6593 (international callers), and ask for the "Darling Ingredients" call. A replay will be available two hours after completion of the call through November 15, 2017. To access the replay, please dial 877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), 855-669-9658 (Canada) and 412-317-0088 (international callers) and reference passcode 10112133. The live webcast and archived replay also can be accessed on the Company's website at http://ir.darlingii.com.

About Darling

Darling Ingredients Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients, creating a wide range of ingredients and specialty products for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, technical, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries. With operations on five continents, the Company collects and transforms all aspects of animal by-product streams into broadly used and specialty ingredients, such as gelatin, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow grease, fuel feedstocks, green energy, natural casings and hides. The Company also recovers and converts used cooking oil and commercial bakery residuals into valuable feed and fuel ingredients. In addition, the Company provides grease trap services to food service establishments, environmental services to food processors and sells restaurant cooking oil delivery and collection equipment. For additional information, visit the Company's website at www.darlingii.com.

Safe-Harbor Statement

Statements contained in this release that state the Company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The words "believe," "expect," "should," "estimates," "intend," and other similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. It is important to note that actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. For reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and on Darling's website at http://ir.darlingii.com.

For More Information, contact:

Melissa A. Gaither 251 O'Connor Ridge Blvd., Suite 300 Vice President Investor Relations and Irving, Texas 75038 Global Communications Phone: 972-717-0300 [email protected]



SOURCE Darling Ingredients Inc.

Related Links

http://www.darlingii.com


The boutique is 2,500 square feet and the store's interior was inspired by the colors of the brand's most iconic gemstones and the hues in Sybil Yurman's paintings hung throughout the space. These subtle shades were introduced sparingly in the boutique through the use of rich fabric upholstery covering various vintage and custom-made furnishings. In the main sales area, Mayflower plaster motifs, the Massachusetts State Flower, were hand-applied over white gold leaf and are featured on decorative panels, offering a subdued elegance.

Other distinct features include the use of wood plank formed concrete on the store's facade, a men's jewelry area and a private salon. The men's area has a distinctly masculine feel created through the use of darker materials and found objects. Vintage furniture and decorative elements alongside simple, natural materials are a nod to Evan Yurman's creative workspace and men's showroom, Noumenon, in New York.

David Yurman's Boston boutique is located in Copley Place at 100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116.

ABOUT DAVID YURMAN:

David Yurman is the premier American luxury jewelry brand with a mission to share in life's exceptional moments. Founded by two artists, David and Sybil Yurman, in New York in 1980, artistic inspiration, craftsmanship and unconventional yet elegant designs are at the core of the brand. The marriage of David's background in sculpture with Sybil's natural understanding of color and art yields signature jewelry designs; diamond, pearl, and gemstone jewelry and Swiss-crafted timepieces that are renowned for capturing the essence of relaxed American luxury. David Yurman collections are available at 47 retail and concession locations throughout the United States, Canada, France and at over 350 locations worldwide, through their exclusive authorized fine jewelry and timepiece network of retailers.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Jennifer Noel

David Yurman

646.264.7353

[email protected]

Alexis Wulf

HL Group

646.643.9223

[email protected]

SOURCE David Yurman
New "Distributed Core" computing model the basis of IoT strategy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to work in concert with IoT infrastructure to deliver smarter, more predictive systems

New Dell Technologies IoT Division to orchestrate development of products and services across Dell Technologies.

New IoT specific products, labs and partner program help customers speed implementation of IoT projects

Dell Technologies to invest $1B in IoT R&D over next three years

Full story

Dell Technologies today unveiled its Internet of Things (IoT) vision and strategy, a new IoT division as well as new IoT specific products, labs, partner program and consumption models. Today's announcement underscores Dell Technologies commitment to helping customers realize their digital future by safely navigating the complex and often fragmented IoT landscape.

IoT, a New Distributed Model for Computing

As more and more customers look to digitally transform their business, a new model of computing is emerging. For the last 15 years the IT industry has seen the rise of Cloud Computing, a highly centralized model for delivering IT services. But in an age where every type of device, from phones to cars to oil rigs to robots to heart monitors are alive and intelligent, there is a requirement for a "distributed core" focused on real time processing of information. These devices simply cannot wait for a response from centralized cloud infrastructure that may be 'seconds' away.

"IoT is fundamentally changing how we live, how organizations operate and how the world works" said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies. "Dell Technologies is leading the way for our customers with a new distributed computing architecture that brings IoT and artificial intelligence together in one, interdependent ecosystem from the edge to the core to the cloud. The implications for our global society will be nothing short of profound."

Customers have expressed a growing need for one company to pull together complete IoT solutions that can be deployed within their organizations. Dell Technologies' comprehensive approach to IoT is based on leading technology and services and a carefully curated partner ecosystem designed to realize value for customers today and prepare them for the future.

New Dell Technologies IoT Division

The company's new IoT Division will be led by VMware CTO Ray O'Farrell, and is chartered with orchestrating the development of IoT products and services across the Dell Technologies family. The IoT Solutions Division will combine internally developed technologies with offerings from the vast Dell Technologies ecosystem to deliver complete solutions for the customer.

"Dell Technologies has long seen the opportunity within the rapidly growing world of IoT, given its rich history in the edge computing market" explained Ray O'Farrell, VMware EVP & CTO, and general manager for Dell Technologies IoT division. "Our new IoT Division will leverage the strength across all of Dell Technologies family of businesses to ensure we deliver the right solution  in combination with our vast partner ecosystem  to meet customer needs and help them deploy integrated IoT systems with greater ease."

Organic Investments in our IoT Future  Products, Labs, Partner Program

Over the next three years, Dell Technologies is investing $1B in new IoT products, solutions, labs, partner program and ecosystem.

Today Dell Technologies already provides Edge Gateways, which can be secured and managed by VMware Pulse IoT Control Center. Dell EMC PowerEdge C-Series servers have been enhanced for batch training and machine learning as a part of the distributed core. Dell EMC Isilon and Elastic Cloud Storage provide file and object storage for massive amounts of data and enable analytics through HDFS. Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF) and Pivotal Container Service (PKS) provide an ideal platform for developing new cloud-based analytics applications. Virtustream's PCF Service provides a managed Pivotal Cloud Foundry Service simplifying the deployment and operation of mission-critical cloud architected workloads in Virtustream Enterprise Cloud, while Virtustream Storage Cloud is available for off-premises cloud object storage. Finally, Dell Boomi rapidly connects relevant data to enhance cloud-based analytics and deep learning.

New product development initiatives include:

Dell EMC 'Project Nautilus': Software that enables the ingestion and querying of data streams from IoT gateways in real time. Data can subsequently be archived to file or object storage for deeper advanced analytics;

'Project Fire': a hyper converged platform part of the VMware Pulse family of IoT solutions that includes simplified management, local compute, storage and IoT applications such as real-time analytics. 'Project Fire' enables businesses to roll-out IoT use cases faster and have consistent infrastructure software from edge to core to cloud;

RSA 'Project IRIS': Currently under development in RSA Labs, Iris extends the Security Analytics capability to provide threat visibility and monitoring right out to the edge;

Disruptive technologies like processor accelerators will increase the velocity of analytics closer to the edge. Collaboration with industry leaders like VMware, Intel and NVIDIA and the Dell Technologies Capital investment in Graphcore reflect opportunities to optimize servers for AI, machine learning and deep learning performance.

Project 'Worldwide Herd': for performing analytics on geographically dispersed data  increasingly important to enable deep learning on datasets that cannot be moved for reasons of size, privacy and regulatory concern.

Customers can also now visit one of the newly designed Dell Technologies IoT Labs.

New IoT services initiatives include:

IoT Vision Workshop  identifies and prioritizes high-value business use cases for IoT data  essentially how and where to deploy IoT analytics that drive business.

IoT Technology Advisory  develops the overall IoT architecture and roadmap for implementation.

In addition, with the core focus on technology and services, Dell Technologies' strategy is to grow the IoT footprint via a strong partner program and ecosystem.

Dell's award-winning IoT Solutions Partner Program is a carefully curated, multi-tiered program comprising more than 90 partners from enterprises like Intel, Microsoft and SAP to start-ups like Action Point, IMS Evolve, FogHorn and Zingbox.

The program will now support partners across all Dell Technologies businesses, allowing for easier collaboration and implementation of blueprints.

An example of the partner ecosystem at work is the recent announcement that VMware and SAP are collaborating to create an integrated solution for IoT analytics and vertical applications. The solution utilizes VMware Pulse IoT Center, SAP Cloud Platform and SAP Leonardo and is designed to help customers roll out IoT use cases faster and scale more easily.

Dell Technologies continues the commitment to openness and standardization in IoT by participation in efforts such as EdgeX Foundry, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the OpenFog Consortium. Seeded by Dell source code, EdgeX Foundry is a vendor-neutral open source project building a common interoperability framework to facilitate an ecosystem for edge computing. Since launching in April 2017, EdgeX Foundry has grown to more than 60 member organizations. Recently the project announced its first major milestone with the 'Barcelona' code release, as well as an alliance with the IIC to collaborate on testbeds.

IoT is creating new revenue models for customers and, in turn, Dell Technologies is offering new financing options to support those customers. In particular, Dell Technologies provides cloud-like payment options through Dell Financial Services flexible consumption models. These payment solutions are available across the Dell Technologies family of business and allow customers flexibility in technology acquisition and consumption.

Investments in IoT Future through Dell Technologies Capital

Dell Technologies Capital, the venture arm of Dell Technologies, is partnering closely with the new IoT division, providing industry insight and relationships to support its strategic agenda. Through its investments in promising startups and founders, Dell Technologies Capital provides a valuable link to the external innovation ecosystem, effectively accelerating the development and deployment of new IoT, AI and ML technologies and solutions. Dell Technologies Capital will be showcasing some of these startups and investments at the company's New York IQT event, including:

Edico Genome, creator of world's first processor designed to analyze next-generation sequencing data

FogHorn Systems, a leading developer of edge-device intelligence software for IoT solutions

Graphcore, a developer of next-generation processors optimized to accelerate AI-solutions

Moogsoft, a market leader in applying Artificial Intelligence to IT Ops (AIOps)

Zingbox, a developer of IoT security solutions to enable the Internet of Trusted Things

Supporting quotes

David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AeroFarms

"AeroFarms is redefining agriculture combining world-class expertise for horticulture, engineering, food safety, nutrition, and data science to set a new standard for product quality and production. We are as much a capabilities company as we are farmers, utilizing science and technology to achieve our vision of totally-controlled agriculture. We have worked closely with Dell Technologies to develop the tools to wirelessly track and monitor our product throughout the growing process from seed to package. Dell Technologies understands our IoT infrastructure and integration needs, and we see the opportunity to collaborate on additional solutions as we build our indoor vertical farms in major cities around the world."

Peter Zornio, Chief Technology Officer, Emerson Automation Solutions

"Emerson is focused on helping manufacturers transform their businesses through digitization with our Plantweb digital ecosystem. We help manufacturers deploy precision sensor technologies, then securely deliver data to advanced analytics tools on premise or in the cloud to enable nimble, confident decision making. Part of our ecosystem includes connected service offerings which provide 24/7 Emerson monitoring of customer assets and proactive guidance to onsite teams to maximize performance. We've been working on the development of these services and alternatives for secure deployment together with the Dell Industrial IoT (IIoT) team. We're excited to see Dell Technologies making additional investments in its already strong IoT portfolio and support organization."

Christopher R. Wilder, Sr. Analyst Internet of Things, Moor Insights

"Today there are real IoT solutions available to enterprises that increase efficiency, reduce risk, improve customer experience, and create new revenue streams and business models for their specific use cases. Moor Insights & Strategy recommends enterprises looking to identify, design, and deploy IoT solutions strongly consider Dell Technologies as a collaborative partner. Their experience, broad infrastructure portfolio, well curated partner program, world-class service, support and global scale make them uniquely positioned as one of the only tier one, end-to-end, IoT solutions providers in the industry."

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies is a unique family of businesses that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important asset, information. The company services customers of all sizes  ranging from 98 percent of the Fortune 500 to individual consumers  with the industry's broadest and most innovative portfolio from edge to core to cloud. Dell Technologies family consists of the following brands: Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream and VMware.

Copyright  2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell, Dell Inc. and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Technologies in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

VMware, Pulse, and Pulse IoT Control Center are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions.

SOURCE Dell Technologies
Shares Issued and Outstanding: 54,659,623

TSXV:DMI

OTCQB:DMIFF

KELOWNA, BC, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Diamcor Mining Inc., (the "Company") announces the results of the tender and sale of rough diamonds recovered from ongoing exercises performed during the quarter ended September 30, 2017 at the Company's Krone-Endora at Venetia Project (the "Project"). The Company sold 7,771.13 carats of rough diamonds for gross proceeds of USD $1,334,335.41, resulting in an average price of USD $171.70 per carat. As of the end of the quarter, the Company had approximately 2,465.00 additional carats of rough diamonds, before acid washing, which will be tendered in the coming quarter. The Project continued to demonstrate potential for the recovery of larger rough diamonds despite limited processing, with 3 individual rough diamonds in the specials category (+10.8 carats), and 35 individual rough diamonds over 5 carats in size recovered and sold during the quarter. Given the continued price weaknesses in certain categories of rough diamonds during the period, the Company was pleased with the average dollar per carat achieved, which is indicative of the overall quality of the Project's rough diamonds.

Operational Update

The testing, commissioning and calibration of the facilities at the Project continued during the quarter, with an emphasis on refining the Project's newly expanded facilities to increase processing volumes, increase the efficiencies of the screening of material at the Project's In-field Dry-Screening plant, and improve the recovery of water from the Project's settling dams. Both of the Project's processing plants are now complete and capable of processing material at significantly higher volumes; however, insufficient recoveries of water from the Project's settling dams limited the Company's ability to operate these plants at their designed capacities during the period. The Company's operational team, in conjunction with various consultants, performed testing on both the Project's water quality and the material being processed during the quarter, and have identified that the cause of the issue is related to the combined borehole water quality and the excessively suspensive properties of the very fine kimberlitic clay materials of the Project. The Company has long identified the removal of fines as a key element of the Project, and has expended significant resources and time in the development of the Project's In-field Dry Screening plant to address this issue. While those efforts have succeeded in removing a significant amount of the fine material, the current issue is a result of the additional fines which are created after the introduction of water at the Project's Main Treatment Plant. Testing and initial modelling performed by Vietti Slurrytec in Johannesburg indicate the challenge can be alleviated through water treatment and paste thickening solutions. As a result, the Company is now finalizing plans to deal with this issue in the near-term. In the meantime, additional efforts are underway to minimize the negative impact of the issue in the short-term through an additional screening circuit at the In-field Dry-Screening facilities. These efforts are aimed at further liberating and removing additional fine materials under 1.0mm prior to their delivery to the Project's Main Treatment plant. The installation of automated water control valves is also being completed to lower overall water consumption until the noted water treatment and paste thickening solution can be finalized. The newly expanded facilities are performing well with the issue of water recoveries being the only limiting factor, and the Company is confident that processing volumes can be significantly increased once the noted solution for this issue can be implemented.

"it is unfortunate that the material being processed through our larger facilities reacts in a manner which does not allow us to recover/recycle sufficient water from the current settling dams; however, we firmly believe this is the only item limiting the processing of materials at much higher levels, and the solution we have identified will not only address this issue, but will also provide other operational benefits over the long-term", noted Diamcor's CEO Mr. Dean Taylor. "With the Project's newly expanded facilities, permitting, and infrastructure in place and the average dollar per carat continuing to confirm the quality of the Project's diamonds, we are confident that implementing the new water recovery solution will allow us to demonstrate the considerable value proposition of the Project in the near-term", added Mr. Taylor.

The combined testing, commissioning, and calibration exercises currently underway are designed to support the continued advancement of objectives consistent with the recommendations of the updated NI 43-101 Technical Report ("Updated Technical Report") filed by the Company on April 28, 2015, and to aid the Company in arriving at initial production decisions for the Project. The recovery of all rough diamonds to date are incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing exercises performed at the Project. The above-noted testing exercises and incidental recoveries do not form part of the Updated Technical Report and therefore no general grade, price, or quality determination is intended by the Company at this time due to the nature and purpose of the processing of this material.

About Diamcor Mining Inc.

Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publically traded junior diamond mining company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol V.DMI, and on the OTC QB International under the symbol DMIFF. The Company has a well-established operational and production history in South Africa and extensive prior experience supplying rough diamonds to the world market.

About the Tiffany & Co. Alliance

The Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world famous New York based Tiffany & Co., to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project at then current prices to be determined by the parties on an ongoing basis. In conjunction with this first right of refusal, Tiffany & Co. Canada also provided the Company with financing to advance the Project. Tiffany & Co. is a publically traded company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TIF. For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com.

About Krone-Endora at Venetia

In February 2011, Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. On September 11, 2014, the Company announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. The deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with a maximum total depth of approximately 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine.

Qualified Person Statement:

Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. Dean H. Taylor

President & CEO

Diamcor Mining Inc.

[email protected]

Tel (250) 864-3326

www.diamcormining.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Diamcor Mining Inc.

Related Links

http://www.diamcormining.com


SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney-Mediator Don Philbin has been named a "Thought Leader" in the field of Mediation by Who's Who Legal 2017.

Who's Who Legal describes "Thought Leaders" as "worthy of special mention owing not only to their vast expertise and experience advising on some of the world's most significant and cutting-edge legal matters, but also their ability to innovate, inspire and go above and beyond to deliver for their clients."

Don Philbin

In its Analysis Section, Who's Who Legal reports that, "Donald Philbin Jr at ADR TOOLBOX in Texas is recommended for his 'exceptional' mediation skills and depth of knowledge of the mediation process. One client says of him, 'His grasp of the forces that drive a successful mediation is always spot on. There is not a mediator working today that I would trust more in bringing a case to resolution.'"

Since 1996 Who's Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law from more than 100 national jurisdictions. Nominees are selected based on comprehensive, independent research results from both general counsel and private practice lawyers worldwide. Philbin has been included on its Commercial Mediation list since its inception in 2011 and is among 11 Texas lawyers on the 2017 list.

Best Lawyers  Arbitration Lawyer of the Year

Philbin was recently selected as the 2018 "Lawyer of the Year" for Arbitration in San Antonio. He received that designation for Mediation in 2014 and 2016 and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in Mediation and Arbitration since 2007. His law firm is one of four in San Antonio recognized with a Metro Tier 1 ranking for Mediation and Arbitration in U.S. News and Best Lawyers "Best Law Firm" survey.

Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the "Lawyer of the Year." Attorneys are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer-review assessments. This honor reflects the high level of respect an attorney has earned among his or her peers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

SuperLawyers

Philbin has been selected to the 2017 Texas Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Philbin has been listed for Alternative Dispute Resolution (Mediation and Arbitration) since 2010.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys.

Don Philbin, J.D., M.B.A., LL.M., was named "Lawyer of the Year" in San Antonio by Best Lawyers (Mediation: 2014, 2016; Arbitration: 2018), was recognized as the 2011 Outstanding Lawyer in Mediation by the San Antonio Business Journal, is one of eleven Texas lawyers and five "North American Thought Leaders" in the 2017 Who's Who Legal: Mediation Analysis, and is listed in Texas Super Lawyers. He is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, the American Academy of Civil Trial Mediators, the Texas Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, and is past chair of the State Bar of Texas ADR Section. Don is also president of Picture It Settled, Moneyball for negotiation, curator of www.ADRtoolbox.com, and an adjunct professor of law.

Contact:

Don Philbin

2102127100

[email protected]

SOURCE Don Philbin

Related Links

http://donphilbin.com


NORTHFIELD, Ill., Oct. 10, 2017 //PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- R. Bruce Williams, MD, FCAP, has been inaugurated as the 35th president in a ceremony at the College of American Pathologists' (CAP) annual meeting near Washington, DC. Dr. Williams has been a CAP member for 40 years, holding leadership roles in the organization for the last 25 years. He has served on the Board of Governors since 2009 and, most recently, as its president-elect since 2015.

The CAP, founded in 1946, is the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs.

"As president, I plan to grow the value of the organization for our members beyond what we have built together over the last 70 years," Williams said in his inaugural remarks. "We fight for our patients and profession on Capitol Hill, we develop guidelines and protocols to improve patient care, and we ensure the highest level of laboratory quality and excellence worldwide through our accreditation inspections. What we built all those years ago, we will continue to improve upon over the next two years."

Dr. Williams has served the CAP on numerous committees, commissions, and councils, including chair and/or vice chair of the Council on Accreditation, Council on Membership and Professional Development, and Council on Scientific Affairs.

Dr. Williams is a founding member and laboratory director of The Delta Pathology Group, LLC, and is in full-time practice of anatomic and clinical pathology in Lafayette, LA. The Delta Pathology Group began in 1990 with the merger of several practices in Shreveport, LA, and since has grown into a statewide group of more than 40 pathologists. Dr. Williams serves on the executive committee as practice manager of the mid-Louisiana region of Delta Pathology.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University (BA, 1971) and Vanderbilt University Medical School (MD, 1975), Dr. Williams completed his anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Vanderbilt and Louisiana State University Medical Center (LSUMC)-Shreveport pathology departments. He is associate clinical professor of pathology at LSUMC-Shreveport. Dr. Williams has been active in organized medicine, serving as president of the Shreveport Medical Society and the Louisiana State Medical Society and serving on the Louisiana delegation to the American Medical Association.

Dr. Williams and his wife, Susan Williams, MD, currently reside in Lafayette. They have two sons, a daughter and son-in-law, and six grandchildren.

About the College of American Pathologists

As the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, read the CAP's annual report at cap.org.

SOURCE College of American Pathologists

Related Links

http://www.cap.org


RHODES, Greece, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Dr Vladimir Yakunin, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute ("DOC", or the "Institute") gave a welcome address at this year's 15th Anniversary Rhodes Forum, a two-day event themed "Multipolarity and Dialogue in Regional and Global Developments: Imagining Possible Futures" which opened on 6 October in Greece.

In his address, Dr Yakunin thanked the people of Rhodes, the island's Governor and Mayor, for hosting the forum, and welcomed this year's high-profile guests including the Honourable Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria 2010-2015, Dioncounda Traore, President of Mali 2012-2013, Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France 2005-2007, and Dr Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development, Oxford University.

"In 2006, the Rhodes Forum had warned of the pending global financial crisis. After 2008, when the economic crises hit the world, the ideas of the Forum began to be heard. We were discussing the need for a new fair and humane system of interaction between nations, capable of taking into account the interests of the majority, and not to ignore the hopes for the future of those who - due to wars, revolutions, and coup d'etats - were excluded from world development."

"Two years before the European refugee crisis began, the Rhodes Forum had warned that faulty inter-societal policies would inevitably lead to a migration crisis. And we all have witnessed how our forecasts came true," Dr Yakunin said.

Dr Yakunin stressed the transformations that the Rhodes Forum has undergone in the years since its inaugural edition, mentioning that thousands of people have participated in the Rhodes Forum and related events over its history.

"Our annual Rhodes Forum has developed over its fifteen-year history into a strong platform where world scholars, businessmen, policy-makers, and heads of government debate the most pressing global issues," Dr Yakunin said.

"The vocabulary and methodology of dialogue of civilizations, developed by our expert community, have firmly entered the language of international relations and have become a critical component in bridging what Samuel Huntington termed 'cultural fault lines'," Dr Yakunin said.

First convened in 2003, the Rhodes Forum brings together concerned members of the international political, business, civil society and academic communities in a spirit of dialogue and inclusivity. Every year, hundreds of participants from more than 70 countries explore the major challenges facing the world and seek concrete, applicable solutions rooted in shared values of equality, mutual respect and compassion.

About the DOC

The Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute is an international think tank that researches and develops proposals to address key challenges faced by the international community today .

Committed to seeking dialogue-based solutions to humankind's most pressing issues, the DOC builds on the legacy and expertise of the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations. We bring together global thought leaders from academia, public policy, business, and civil society in order to foster debate, share experiences, and develop sound policy recommendations.

The idea of a public forum that would promote dialogue as a means of easing and preventing conflicts, contrary to the theory of an imminent clash of civilizations, followed the adoption of key documents by the UN. On 9 November 2001, UNESCO Member States unanimously adopted the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, and the UN General Assembly presented its Global Agenda for Dialogue Among Civilizations. These resolutions laid out principles of intercultural dialogue and laid the basis of the DOC.

The World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations (WPF), the predecessor of DOC, was founded to advocate for this initiative and help implement its objectives. The WPF was founded in 2002 by Indian entrepreneur and visionary the late Jagdish Kapur, business leader and philanthropist Dr. Vladimir Yakunin, and the businessman Nicholas F.S. Papanicolaou. The WPF has enjoyed UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Special Consultative Status and regularly collaborates with UNESCO.

The DOC is an independent, non-partisan think tank, and receives no government funding.

Media Contacts

Agnieszka Rzepka, Press Officer

+49-302-096-77900

[email protected]



SOURCE Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute
CAPE CORAL, Fla., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eclipse Corporation announced today they have signed a Platinum Partner agreement with 4Point Solutions. The agreement enables 4Point to sell, implement and support Eclipse Corporation's DocOrigin line of solutions. This will allow 4Point to expand its business solution offerings and provide its current and new clients with a new level of Customer Communications Management.

DocOrigin produced Order Acknowledgement - Data-driven marketing and messaging for business documents! DocOrigin helps you create labels that work for you! Your shipping labels can provide relevant marketing upsells and cross-sells.

Built and packaged by the core developers of Adobe (Jetform) Central, DocOrigin is an enterprise software solution used to design, present and deliver mission critical business forms, documents, labels and checks. The software has proven reliability, performance and features and meets the needs of the most demanding vertical markets having been adopted by leaders in the education, finance, government, healthcare, insurance, logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications and utilities industries.

"We are very excited about our Platinum partnership with Eclipse," says Scott Morin, CEO of 4Point Solutions. "The DocOrigin offerings will allow a new level of professional success for 4Point and our clients."

Since 2003, 4Point has been committed to bridging the gap between the business needs of their clients and the capabilities of their business systems.

"Eclipse is pleased to have 4Point join us, bringing their experience and expertise to further DocOrigin's market penetration. They have a history of working with effective and varied solutions for enterprise document design, generation and customer communications management," says Steve Luke, CEO of Eclipse Corporation.

About Eclipse:

Eclipse Corporation is a leading provider of enterprise document design, presentation, generation, automation and customer communication management software. Eclipse and their authorized partners work closely with clients to provide tailored solutions that conform to specific needs at a fair price. Eclipse's principles are simple: provide the right solution and get the job done - on time. Our depth of knowledge and experience allows Eclipse to deliver on these principles every time. Our scalable pricing model allow companies of all sizes to take advantage of the same features our Fortune 10 clients require. Video - What Eclipse Does

Product info: www.DocOrigin.com Oracle Users Zebra Users

Customer Communications

About 4Point:

4Point has a long history as a provider of business process and workflow experiences that cross all channels. Its certified, highly qualified teams boast a wealth of knowledge and expertise. They thrive on developing engaging, efficient and user-friendly solutions for clients. Responsible for more than a thousand Adobe implementations worldwide, in a broad range of sectors, 4Point is recognized globally as one of Adobe's key partners.

Media Contact:

Claire Knibbs

[email protected]

678-408-1245 x512

SOURCE Eclipse Corporation

Related Links

https://eclipsecorp.us


KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The EDGE Security Conference, a first-class cybersecurity conference taking place this Oct. 17-18 at the Knoxville Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, has announced the final schedule for keynotes, speaker sessions and roundtables.

The conference will explore today's most challenging cybersecurity topics and developments including data breaches, ransomware, blockchain technology, personal privacy, corporate governance and the Internet of Things (IoT). Sessions will range in topics from entry level to advanced, giving both business executives and IT professionals the opportunity to learn and share their knowledge.

The conference will kick off Tuesday morning with a welcome from John McNeely, president and CEO of Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, the host of EDGE, followed by an introduction from Knoxville City Mayor Madeline Rogero.

From there, keynote speakers Dr. Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, best known for the remote compromise of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, will reveal how they identify vulnerabilities in various technologies and devices, discuss their roles as ethical hackers, and explain what this means for specific industries, organizations and individuals.

Chris Poulin, principle/director of Booze Allen Hamilton, will then explore the security impacts of the Internet of Things and where the line between biology and technology becomes blurred with continued advances in human augmentation.

Several expert-led afternoon sessions will then take place, focusing on topics at the forefront of cybersecurity ranging from risk management and incident response to cloud exploitation and mobile device security.

EDGE will cap off the day with an interactive after-hours event Tuesday evening at the Convention Center.

Wednesday morning will start with a keynote address from retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Brett T. Williams, former director of operations, U.S. Cyber Command (2012-2014). As one of the few speakers who can talk with the credibility that comes from being on the front lines of defending the nation in cyberspace, he will present a message that applies to business leaders and security professionals alike, and will provide specific action items they can use to defeat today's complex cybersecurity threats.

Robert Johnston, president and CEO of Adlumin, will then provide insights on the DNC hack and discuss how analytics, deception, and data streams are saving the security industry, or would have at least saved the Democratic National Committee.

Experts will conduct another round of afternoon sessions on topics such as building a security program with zero budget, the future of blockchain and its possibilities, and the Internet of Things (IoT) as it relates to cybersecurity.

Other sessions include a lively roundtable discussion regarding effective threat management, dealing with data breaches, proper handling of ransomware outbreaks, and best practices for incident handling. A PCI Q&A panel discussion will also take place about the upcoming changes to the DSS, hosted by Jack Dempsey, managing consultant of Sword & Shield's PCI practice.

Both days will feature end-of-day CyberViews panels, moderated by emcee Brandon Bruce, that will focus on "big picture" topics that challenge cybersecurity to spur conversations about how to solve these problems. Tuesday's CyberViews will focus on the greatest cyberthreats enterprises face today and what can be done about them. Wednesday's CyberView will address the changes needed in the cybercommunity as a whole to achieve better security and privacy, and provide a call-to-action as the conference comes to a close.

"There's a genuine interest from everyone who attends EDGE2017 in trying to do something about the state of security and helping companies protect themselves," McNeely said. "Whether you're a security veteran or a curious company decision maker who is looking to better understand the cybersecurity landscape, there's something for everyone to take away at EDGE2017."

To register, or to find out more information about EDGE2017, including remaining sponsorship opportunities, visit https://edgesecurityconference.com/.

About EDGE2017

EDGE2017 Security Conference is the second offering of the annual EDGE Security Conferences presented by Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, Inc. EDGE2017 is focused on exploring real-world solutions to today's toughest cybersecurity challenges. Dedicated to advancing the security industry through comprehensive world-class sessions, EDGE2017 is designed to educate business professionals and encourage information security professionals to openly discuss the issues that are facing their industry to foster a community of creative problem solvers.

To learn more about EDGE2017 and to sign up, visit https://edgesecurityconference.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE EDGE2017 Security Conference

Related Links

https://edgesecurityconference.com


BOSTON, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Drones will be the shepherds of the robots on a clean campus in the near future. That was just one of the messages about the future of facility management in higher education that emerged from the first annual Planon Higher Education Symposium, held September 29, 2017 at the Harvard Club of Boston.

The event brought together university and college personnel from the United States and Europe, along with other experts in higher education and technology, to share ideas about how technical innovation is transforming higher education. The symposium's interactive workshops generated a plethora of intriguing scenarios about the smart campus of the future. Participants were asked to focus on a common facility management business process of their choosing, and to design a speculative scenario in which emerging technologies could remove friction points from the process. One of the groups focused on litter and trash removal - the concept of a constantly "clean campus" - and envisioned the use of robots to roam the campus doing the actual pickup, while drones scouted locations where service was needed and guided the robots to these areas. Other workgroups created similar scenarios around equipment maintenance and financial processing, enlisting technologies such as BIM, artificial intelligence, machine learning and 3-D printing to speed up work and eliminate sticking points in workflow. The exercise assumed a 5-year window for implementation.

The daylong event, sponsored by Planon Corporation, the world's leading provider of Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) solutions, also included presentations from two European universities - Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and Wageningen University in the Netherlands - about their advanced facility management processes, and the importance of communities in promoting the distinctive requirements of the academic world in managing facilities and real estate. Other sessions focused on specific technological and management needs in the world of higher education.

"Planon leads the world in providing facility management solutions to institutions of higher education, with more than 125 clients globally taking advantage of our advanced technologies and deep knowledge of the domain," said Fred Guelen, North American CEO and global CFO of Planon. "We are a relatively recent entrant in the North American market, so this symposium gave us an opportunity to share with clients and friends in the United States and Canada the many lessons we have learned in our 30 years of meeting client needs worldwide."

About Planon

With over 30 years of experience, Planon is the leading global provider of innovative software that supports corporate real estate and facility managers in optimizing the performance of their workplace by simplifying business processes and reducing costs. Furthermore, Planon delivers an integrated software platform that helps commercial service providers to increase operating efficiency and customer value through radical process automation and seamless system integration.

Planon's software has been completely designed in-house and is fully integrated to deliver reliable management information. Gartner, the leading independent technology research organization, has consistently rated Planon as a global leader in their market. Planon has implemented its comprehensive solutions for over 2,000 clients, supported by offices around the world. To learn more about Planon's software, visit planonsoftware.com or follow us on Twitter @Planon_US.

SOURCE Planon
Rappe commented, "I've got a passion for sales, but believing in what you're selling is vital. I've spent years traveling the country and I've heard frustration from customers about thefts they've suffered. When I saw Electric Guard Dog, I knew instantly this is a service that will truly protect a business. What's more, the company has a great culture and the vision to go to the next level. I look forward to playing my part, and giving my team the tools to win."

VP of Sales and Marketing Mike Dorrington commented, "I am proud and excited to have someone with Austin Rappe's professionalism and sales aptitude join the EGD sales leadership team. Austin fits perfectly within our EGD culture and he has an extremely high Sales IQ. He is committed to helping our team grow and develop in their sales careers while relentlessly protecting our customers."

About Electric Guard Dog

Headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, Electric Guard Dog, the #1 Theft Deterrent Service in the U.S., is the market leader in electric security fences and perimeter security in the country. As a security partner for over 3,600 commercial and industrial locations across the U.S., the Company protects businesses from theft and provides a safer work environment for employees while reducing total security costs.

For additional information on this release, contact Kathleen Hannon at [email protected]. For more information on Electric Guard Dog, visit www.electricguarddog.com.

SOURCE Electric Guard Dog

Related Links

http://www.electricguarddog.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) today announced new funding initiatives to increase advocacy and service delivery for people living with and at-risk for HIV and hepatitis C.

In the U.S., EJAF will be launching a new funding initiative to address HIV in Black gay men and transgender individuals, building on our years of experience and support in fighting AIDS in these communities. In Eastern Europe, EJAF will launch the Key Populations Fund for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA KP Fund), focused on prevention and treatment of HIV and hepatitis C for individuals most vulnerable to the HIV epidemic in the region: people who use drugs, sex workers, and gay and bisexual men in the region.

The U.S. program will reach an anticipated 5,000 HIV-positive Black gay men and transgender individuals to learn about their HIV status and get linked to health care, social services and treatment. Another estimated 10,000 will receive HIV prevention services including access to PrEP. Support for advocacy will seek increased coverage for PrEP through Medicaid and ADAP programs and expansion of state Medicaid programs to provide HIV treatment to thousands of Black gay men and transgender individuals across the U.S. One key aspect of this new initiative will be to engage leadership from Black gay and transgender communities to help set priorities and strategies for this funding and to support community mobilization through the funding process as well as through the grants themselves. This will be the largest private funding initiative specifically supporting Black gay and transgender communities in history.

The EECA KP Fund will address the needs of key populations in the region. Over three years, the Fund will reach an estimated 20,000 people with HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. Mirroring a current Fund that EJAF runs for LGBT populations in countries in Africa where homosexuality is criminalized, the EECA KP Fund will also include a Rapid Response element to address emergencies, including the physical safety of people living with HIV. The EECA Key Populations Fund will also develop "Lighthouse" grants that support HIV and hepatitis C care within the public health system.

Funding for the new initiatives will be supported by EJAF and include financial contributions from Gilead Sciences. Gilead will also provide a donation of hepatitis C products to the EECA Fund to help cure 5,000 patients  a critical contribution in a region where up to 97% of people living with HIV are co-infected with hepatitis C.

Although Black gay and bisexual men account for one in 500 people living in the U.S., they make up nearly one in four new HIV infections and one in six Americans living with HIV. One in four Black gay and bisexual men are already infected with HIV by the time they reach age 25, and one in two will become HIV-positive in their lifetimes. An estimated overall 21% of transgender individuals are infected with HIV in the U.S. and that number is approximately three times higher among Black transgender people.

Over the past three years, EJAF-US has invested more than $6.6 million in organizations working to change the course of the epidemic in Black communities of gay and bisexual men and transgender individuals. Through this new initiative, EJAF's goal will be a more intensive focus to support community mobilization to develop programs and advocacy to:

Reduce new infection rates through support for innovative community-based programs to increase access to and use of HIV prevention and testing services.

Reduce AIDS-related illness and death through support for advocacy and community-based service delivery to improve engagement in health care and earlier access to HIV treatment and care.

Confront racism, homophobia, and transphobia as key drivers of HIV infection and disease.

"Our new funding initiative in the U.S. has the potential to substantially change the course of the HIV epidemic among Black gay men and transgender individuals by supporting the leadership and organizations within those communities," said Scott Campbell, Executive Director of EJAF-US.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, over 1.5 million people are living with HIV. New HIV infections in the region have increased by over 50% since 2010. People who inject drugs, sex workers, and gay men make up over 96% of those infected. Over 75% of people living with HIV in EECA are not on treatment. Co-infections with hepatitis C are also widespread with an estimated 60  97% of people living with HIV who inject drugs co-infected with hepatitis C, depending on the country.

"The HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, remains the fastest growing in the world," said Anne Aslett, Executive Director of EJAF-UK. "As other donors have withdrawn from the region, EJAF remains committed to supporting people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers throughout the region to improve their health and protect their human rights. The EECA KP Fund is the first initiative of its kind. It aims not only to save the lives of thousands of very vulnerable people but to introduce new ways of addressing and scaling up response to the region's expanding epidemic."

EJAF Founder Sir Elton John said. "These investments will make a measurable difference at a pivotal moment by connecting people most vulnerable to HIV to the care they need and the compassion they deserve."

About the Elton John AIDS Foundation

At the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), we believe AIDS can be beaten. We act on that belief by raising funds for evidence-based programs and policies and also by speaking out with honesty and compassion about the realities of people's lives. Sir Elton John created EJAF nearly 25 years ago, first in the United States in 1992 and then in the United Kingdom in 1993. Through the generous support of far-sighted individuals, foundations, and corporations, the two foundations together have raised more than $400 million over the past quarter century to challenge discrimination against people affected by the epidemic, prevent infections, provide treatment and services, and motivate governments to end AIDS. The U.S. foundation focuses its efforts on programs in the United States, the Americas, and the Caribbean, while the U.K. foundation funds HIV-related work in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Join us in speaking out, taking action, and contributing to our efforts to achieve a world without AIDS. For more information, please visit www.ejaf.org.

SOURCE Elton John AIDS Foundation

Related Links

http://www.ejaf.org


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- enSilo, the company that protects endpoints pre- and post-infection to stop data breaches and data disruption in real time, and Matrix42, the leading global managed service provider for workspace management solutions, today announced a partnership to integrate the capabilities of the enSilo Endpoint Security Platform into Matrix42's full-feature digital workspace security suite. Under the terms of the partnership, Matrix42 will also have the ability to sell enSilo's single, cloud controlled, lightweight endpoint security platform in Central Europe.

"Our customers and partners in the European market demand an endpoint security solution that stops breaches pre- and post-infection. The ability to offer a fully integrated endpoint security solution that provides real time detection, response and breach protection capabilities is critically important to meeting those demands," said said Oliver Bendig, CEO of Matrix42. "enSilo is the only vendor in the market that provides a comprehensive feature set that successfully stops modern attacks like ransomware, targeted malware and fileless infections in real-time."

Traditional endpoint security defenses like antivirus tools are no longer able to provide an adequate level of protection from ransomware and advanced attacks.To combat this wave of threats, particularly as it impacts digital workspaces, enSilo's partnership with Matrix42 will enhance the service provider's ability to deliver managed Next Generation AntiVirus (NGAV) and automated, blocking enabled Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities combined with Threat Hunting, Incident Response, and Virtual Patching features that protect its customers' workstations, servers and virtual instances. enSilo is the only vendor in the market that offers a robust post-infection approach to endpoint security that enables real-time breach containment and response, allowing zero dwell time and the immediate blocking of data exfiltration and data tampering.

"Matrix42 is a market leader in Digital Workspace Management Solutions. They offer robust managed services backed by some of the best people and advanced processes in their region," said Roy Katmor, CEO, enSilo. "Matrix42 conducted a number of tests to evaluate all the common endpoint security vendors measuring security efficacy, ease of management, use and integration. They selected enSilo as their exclusive endpoint security partner because it outperformed the other solutions on the market. We're honored to be in this partnership and look forward to powering the delivery of best of breed managed endpoint security services by Matrix42."

This partnership will provide Matrix42 with access to new revenue streams and improved margin capabilities. By integrating enSilo into its workspace management solutions and services, Matrix42 will be able to offer their customers enhanced endpoint security platform that:

Provides a differentiated Real-Time Response Service Level Agreement to customers

Enables lower operating expenditures and ease of management by providing the ability to manage ten times more endpoint via a single platform that can be used by analysts, support, security engineers, incident handlers, forensics and threat investors

Enables a one-stop-shop single endpoint deployment

Easily integrates via REST APIs into to existing provisioning, billing, NOC, SOC, and support and customer portal systems and processes. enSilo can be deployed in virtually any enterprise IT environment at full enterprise scale

Supports PCI and HIPAA compliance for companies that handle sensitive payment card and patient health data

Matrix42 will initially offer the enSilo platform as a standalone solution. Over time, however, it will be integrated into Matrix42's proprietary products, including its new digital workspace security suite currently under development. For more information on how enSilo works with Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) like Matrix42 as well as Value Added Resellers (VARs), please visit: https://www.ensilo.com/partners/.

About Matrix42

Matrix42 is a top provider of workspace management software. The company offers forward-thinking solutions for modern work environments under its 'Reimagine Workspace Management' motto. More than 3,000 customers around the world, including BMW, Infineon, and Carl Zeiss, currently manage approximately 3 million workstations using workspace management solutions from Matrix42.

Matrix42 maintains offices in eight countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. The company's headquarters are in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Matrix42's products and solutions are designed to simply and efficiently manage modern work environments  whether physical, virtual, or at mobile workspaces.

Matrix42 focuses on user orientation, automation, and process optimization. The company's solutions meet not only the requirements of modern employees who want to work from any location and with a great variety of devices, but also those of IT departments and businesses themselves.

Matrix42 offers its solutions to organizations across different sectors who value forward-looking and efficient workspace management. The company also successfully collaborates with partners who provide on-site consultation to Matrix42 customers. Some of these leading partners include TAP.DE Solutions GmbH, Consulting4IT GmbH, and DSP IT Service GmbH.

For further information, visit www.matrix.42.com

About enSilo

enSilo comprehensively secures the endpoint pre- and post-infection. enSilo automates and orchestrates detection, prevention and real-time response against advanced malware and ransomware without burdening cybersecurity staff. enSilo's single lightweight agent includes next generation antivirus (NGAV), application communication control, automated endpoint detection and response (EDR) with real-time blocking, threat hunting, incident response and virtual patching capabilities. Coupled with a patented approach that has full system visibility, enSilo's endpoint security solution stops modern malware with a high degree of precision and intuitive user interface. Cybersecurity staff with enSilo can effectively manage malware threats without alert fatigue, excessive dwell time or breach anxiety. enSilo's cloud management platform is flexible and extensible to meet operational needs that stop malware impact.

For more information please visit www.ensilo.com.

SOURCE enSilo

Related Links

http://www.ensilo.com


THE HAGUE, Netherlands, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Ethernity Networks (AIM: ENET.L), an innovative technology solutions provider that develops network data processing technology used in high-end Carrier Ethernet applications across the telecom, mobile, security and data centre markets, is to extend the ENET portfolio for support of CSPs business with carrier grade Ethernet requirements, including SLA deterministic performance monitoring, high precision OAM probe methods and hierarchical QoS accuracy.

The ENET portfolio extension is aimed at two different platforms in this arena. The first is a low-end customizable small size SmartNIC platform, based on ENET that, despite the low cost, provides Carrier Ethernet demarcation and IPsec embedded on the new generation FPGA. This is integrated into network edge appliances, such as vCPE, uCPE, and gateways. Supported applications include SD-WAN, vIoT gateways, vBRAS, vFW and others. The second will re-use novel SoC solutions, which already include embedded FPGAs. In this case, ENET Flow Processor would be easily adopted for running directly on a COST server and delivering carrier grade VNF acceleration for CSP networking infrastructure vRouter and vSwitch, and applications like vFW.

David Levi, CEO of Ethernity, explains: "It became clear that software-only NFV solutions are not sufficient for delivering carrier grade functionality, and a firmware running on FPGA is the only solution accepted by the market to advance deployment of NFV. Adding the required carrier grade functions on top of current NFV solutions is impossible due to the unpredictable behaviour of general purpose CPUs. At the same time, most of modern communication requires predictable traffic and data delivery. Ethernity's ENET data networking processing firmware on COTS FPGAs brings the required carrier grade set of features."

Ethernity's ENET FPGA firmware provides support of classification of millions of flows, millions of counters, OAM/ CFM with integrated packet generator and analyzer, switching, routing, hierarchical traffic management, IEEE 1588 and tunneling offload including MPLS, VxLAN, GRE, GTP. Given this capability, Ethernity is well positioned to complement NFV and SDN with Carrier Ethernet features needed for deterministic performance.

David Levi continues, "According to Forbes, FPGA will be the preferred component to carry onboard data processing, thanks to Intel architecture that embeds FPGA within Xeon processor. In the new generation of COTS servers, acceleration of NFV infrastructure layer will be implemented on FPGAs, which will be integrated directly into standalone servers and rack architectures."

Acceleration technology that Ethernity has developed delivers a 50x performance improvement and reduces the amount of server resources required for the same tasks. Taking into account SW licensing, hosting, and power consumption costs, Ethernity's solutions provide tremendous savings in CAPEX and OPEX for service providers, and in some cases, such as a remote cloud, where power consumption is the critical issue, Ethernity offers the only applicable server based architecture.

Ethernity's experts will explain the ENET portfolio in detail at the SDN NFV Congress in The Hague, Netherlands, at the booth C8, between 9 and 13 October. Ken Dennen, the Company's Senior Director of Business Development in the U.S. will participate in the panel debate "NFV Cost Reduction", at the BUSINESS & SD-WAN FORUM, October 11 2017.

About Ethernity Networks:

Ethernity Networks is an innovative technology solutions provider that develops and delivers data processing technology used in high-end Carrier Ethernet applications across the telecom, mobile, security and data centre markets. The company's core technology, which is populated on programmable logic, enables data offloading at the pace of software development, improves performance and reduces power consumption and latency, therefore facilitating the deployment of virtualization of networking functionality.

Ethernity now offers VNF performance acceleration for the growing SDN&NFV market with All Programmable Intelligent NIC, controlled through OpenFlow.

Ethernity's technology gives telecom operators the ability to support the huge growth in users and data consumption. With Ethernity's technology that can be easily ported on any hardware, operators enjoy agile and future-proof NFV deployment, eliminate hardware vendor lock-in and decrease TCO.

For more information http://www.ethernitynet.com.

Media contact:

Kaya Sorkin, Head of Marketing Communications, Ethernity Networks

E: [email protected] E2: [email protected] T: +972-544504510, +37128889294

W: www.ethernitynet.com Skype: kayasorkin

SOURCE Ethernity Networks
Over two days replete with meditation, engagement and questioning, the symposium developed a compelling dialogue about modern day spiritual practice that audience members found deeply moving and profound.

"I had no idea I was going to learn something so pivotal about myself today," said a guest of the event, explaining that it was an experience that was personally transformative.

The Center acts as a living bridge between traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings and curious people everywhere. 'Beyond Hark Knocks' embodied the principles of community and connectedness cherished by Dawn Mountain. Speakers Marcia Brennan, Guy Newland, Ken McLeod, Daniel Cozort and Sarah Jacoby discussed their subjects separately and in dialogue.

About Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism

Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism, founded in 1996 by Anne C. Klein and Harvey B. Aronson, is a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, Community Center and Research Institute drawing from multiple Buddhist traditions and grounded in transmissions from the Ancient (Nyingma) lineage. The mission of Dawn Mountain is to further the spiritual growth of our diverse community as a living bridge between traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings and curious people everywhere.

Media Contact

Mageida Sopon

[email protected]

832-310-5124

SOURCE Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism

Related Links

http://dawnmountain.org


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance Exchange ("Farmers Exchange") today announced the pricing of its offering (the "Offering") of $400 million aggregate principal amount of surplus notes (the "Surplus Notes"). Interest will accrue on the Surplus Notes at a fixed rate of 4.747% per annum to but not including November 1, 2037, and thereafter at a floating rate equal to the London inter-bank offered rate for three-month deposits in U.S. dollars plus 3.231% per annum. Farmers Exchange may redeem some or all of the Surplus Notes at any time on or after November 1, 2037 at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Surplus Notes redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. The Surplus Notes will mature on November 1, 2057.

Farmers Exchange intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering, together with cash on hand, to repay its 6.15% Certificate of Contribution due 2021 issued to Zurich American Insurance Company, with an outstanding principal amount of $707 million as of June 30, 2017, on December 29, 2017.

The Surplus Notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The Surplus Notes will be offered in the United States only to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act and outside the United States to non-U.S. persons in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About Farmers Exchange

Farmers Exchange is a reciprocal insurer owned by its policyholders. Farmers Exchange and its subsidiaries and affiliates comprise the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies. The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is a multi-line, multi-channel (exclusive and independent agents, direct and affinity), insurance provider, whose core business is insurance for individuals and small businesses. Farmers Group, Inc. in its capacity as attorney-in-fact, provides administrative and management services to Farmers Exchange. "Farmers" is a trade name of Farmers Exchange and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance Exchange
ALPENA, Mich., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- First Federal of Northern Michigan Bancorp, Inc. (OTCQX: FFNM) ("First Federal Bancorp"), the parent company of First Federal of Northern Michigan ("First Federal Bank"), has agreed to sell deposits and certain loans associated with their Branch in Oscoda, Michigan to Huron Community Bank, effectively exiting that market. The decision to sell and exit the Oscoda market was related to management's ongoing focus toward enhancing the efficiencies of its branch network.

The transaction, which is subject to the receipt of all applicable federal and state regulatory approvals, will include the transfer of an estimated $10.9 million of deposits and $1.5 million of loans to Huron Community Bank. First Federal Bank's branch office at 201 N. State Street in Oscoda will be closed as part of the transaction, and Huron Community Bank will continue serving those customers at its existing full service Oscoda branch office. Once the transaction is complete First Federal Bank will have seven branches in Northern Michigan.

Michael W. Mahler, Chief Executive Officer of First Federal Bancorp, commented "As the banking landscape has been changing over the years, we regularly review our branch network to ensure our operations are as efficient as possible. The sale of the Branch supports our strategy to invest in enhancements to customer experience and shareholder value."

Jeff Loomis, President & Chief Executive Officer of Huron Community Bank states that this transaction facilitates our continued growth strategy and solidifies the Huron Community Bank brand in the market.

East Tawas based Huron Community Bank has seven branches in Michigan, including one in Oscoda which will serve the customers acquired from First Federal Bank.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release and other releases and reports issued by the Company may contain "forward-looking statements." The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company is including this statement for purposes of taking advantage of the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

SOURCE First Federal of Northern Michigan Bancorp, Inc.
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- (SGIA EXPO, Booth 1351) -- Ricoh USA, Inc. is celebrating more than 30 years at the forefront of the inkjet industry, a market it continues to revolutionize and redefine. Its commitment to pushing inkjet boldly forward with new applications and offerings is illustrated by many industry-shaping launches including "solid ink" technology, the first-ever Grand Format Billboard printer powered by Ricoh's inkjet technology, and the first drop on demand inkjet solution for high-volume document production. Ricoh will be celebrating these milestone accomplishments  along with displaying many of the newest inkjet solutions that continue to help customers broaden revenue streams  at SGIA EXPO, October 10-12, in New Orleans. Attendees are invited to take a look at Ricoh, Booth 1351.

Ricoh's inkjet innovations span an impressive gamut: drop-on-demand piezoelectric printheads used by many vendors around the world due to their speed and efficiency; developments in 3D printing; and leveraging inkjet for new and exciting ways to print on substrates such as metal, wood and other decor. Ricoh's development of inkjet technology, with the introduction in 1995 of the first Grand Format Billboard printer, enabled developers to replace a "spray gun" approach which delivered print quality improvements four times over (300 dpi compared to 72 dpi). Further advancing inkjet technology are the high temperature operating characteristics of Ricoh "solid ink" technology which enable emerging 3D printing applications, leading to the production of pioneering medical devices such as prosthetics, hearing aids and dental appliances.

When Ricoh's InfoPrint 5000 debuted in 2007, it was the first inkjet platform to simplify the full color inkjet process due to the speed and efficiency of digital technology. The InfoPrint 5000 proved not only that inkjet was viable, but that its potential was enormous. From there, Ricoh set out to help develop that potential and has done so with its continued development of award-winning continuous feed platforms including the RICOH Pro VC60000 and the new RICOH Pro VC40000.

Crucial to those efforts is Ricoh's patented drop-on-demand, variable-drop printhead technology. This technology provides extremely granular control over how ink is applied to  and how it presents on  media. That level of flexibility in turn grants these printheads impressive range, in terms of speed, volume, image quality, substrate type and even the substance being jetted, allowing for accurate 3D printing. For those reasons, Ricoh's printhead technology is widely licensed for use in solutions both customized and mass-produced around the world. They are also integral to Ricoh's work in the industrial print space, which is the focus of Ricoh's SGIA EXPO booth.

Visitors to booth 1351 can learn more about how the brand-new RICOH Pro T7210 platform is continuing to push the envelope for inkjet. Ideal for the decor market, it features high ink adhesion for diverse substrate applications including acrylic, glass, wood, aluminum, steel and more.

"It was not all that long ago that inkjet seemed nearly impossible to get right in a meaningful, cost-effective way," said John Fulena, Vice President, Commercial & Industrial Printing Business Group, Ricoh USA, Inc. "The science behind inkjet, which involves jetting billions of drops of ink, in a short period of time, onto fast-moving substrates, is absolutely incredible. Often, the substrate is moving so fast, the movement of the droplets even has to account for the flow of air over the media to land exactly where you want it to. The inkjet innovation is truly amazing when you think about it. That's what we are always trying to do: make the impossible possible for our customers. We are proud of what we've accomplished in these thirty years, and we're excited to share what we have in store for the next decade."

For details on Ricoh's full line of products, services and solutions for the production print market, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com and follow @RicohProPrint on Twitter, Ricoh USA Production Print on LinkedIn and Ricoh USA Production Print on Facebook.

To learn more about Ricoh's work in the industrial printing market, visit Ricoh at booth 1351 at SGIA Expo, October 10-12, in New Orleans or follow the conversation on Twitter at #LookatRicoh.

| About Ricoh |

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2017, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,028 billion yen (approx. 18.2 billion USD).

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com

 2017 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are

the trademarks of their respective companies.

Contacts:

John Greco

Ricoh USA, Inc.

(973) 882-2023

[email protected]

Tracey Sheehy

Breakaway Communications for Ricoh

(212) 616-6003

[email protected]

SOURCE Ricoh USA, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ricoh-usa.com


LONDON, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Ignitho Technologies, a UK-based software house which is rapidly establishing itself as the market leader in 'frugal technology innovation', has announced its plans to exponentially expand its market reach and capabilities. A key step in this direction is ramping up its team based at its brand-new UK Innovation Labs in the Gatwick Diamond area. Ignitho plans to leverage this facility for active collaboration with local universities towards jobs creation and talent development, as well as contributing to the local community. Building on strong testimonials from UK clients, Ignitho has also embarked on an expansion into the U.S. and Continental European markets. Ignitho is already actively in discussions with investors to fund this next phase of scale-up growth.

"Ignitho has today evolved from a UK start-up established in 2013 to an established scale-up, with a credible track record of long-term clients and exponential revenues from its core services business. We have a first-mover market advantage with Frugal Technology Innovation, where we partner with enterprises to nurture business ideas on limited budgets. We collaborate closely on the Frugal Technology Innovation methodology with Jaideep Prabhu, a world-renowned innovation thought leader from the University of Cambridge. Our clients have also strongly endorsed our capability to take them from Rapid Prototyping to Scalable Solutions using emerging technologies (RPA, Machine Learning, AR and IoT), as well as established technologies in web and mobile. The time to aggressively capitalise on the market opportunity is now," says Jijo Olassa, one of Ignitho' s three co-founders.

Co-founder Roney Soloman adds, "We are excited by the strong interest and support from industry watchers as well as our clients and peer ecosystem. Clutch has recently named us as a Top 5 UK IT Services Firm for the mid-market, besides which Bloor Research recently blogged about our disruptive value proposition. These recognitions have further encouraged us to devise and implement an aggressive growth strategy. Having achieved so much in such little time bootstrapping with money from the founding team thus far, a sizeable investment into the business at this stage will take us remarkably forward towards our vision for Ignitho. Early conversations for 2-3 million in funding from the UK investment community are progressing."

To provide further leadership impetus, Roney Soloman as Executive Chairman will drive the strategic focus for these aggressive growth and investment plans. Jijo Olassa as Chief Executive Officer will work alongside Roney on Ignitho' s market expansion and execution, while Vinoo Thomas as Chief Delivery Officer will lead Ignitho's technology and delivery capabilities. Ignitho's three co-founders are senior IT industry professionals who have led business growth and delivery in key western markets for the likes of Accenture, Cognizant, Mindtree and HP, and are based in Ignitho's London office.

About Ignitho Technologies:

Started in 2013 and headquartered out of London, with innovation centers at Gatwick, UK and Kochi, India, Ignitho has established itself today as a credible technology innovation partner for enterprises. Based out of Ignitho's London offices, Ignitho's leadership team are senior IT industry professionals who have led business growth and delivery in key western markets for the likes of Accenture, Cognizant, Mindtree and HP. Ignitho peer ecosystem of industry experts, including former CIO's, offers enterprises the added ability to collaboratively ideate and successfully deliver with these thought leaders for maximum impact at minimum risk.

For additional information, please visit: http://www.ignitho.com.

Media Contact:

Vineet Raman

E-mail: [email protected]



SOURCE Ignitho Technologies
Home Price Perception Index (HPPI)

There was an average of 1.14 percent difference between the appraisal and the homeowner's estimate of value in September  with the appraiser's opinion falling below that of the homeowner. However, the trend is positive. September was the fourth consecutive month the gap between the two perceptions narrowed, as perceptions moved closer to equilibrium. On the other hand, there is still a wide variety of home value perceptions across the country. From Dallas, where appraisals are an average of 2.87 percent higher than expected, to Philadelphia, where the average appraisal is 2.89 percent lower than what the owner thought it would be.

"An appraisal can vastly impact the mortgage process. This number alone can impact how much a buyer needs to bring to closing, or the current equity a homeowner has when refinancing," said Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. "If homeowners are aware of local home values and how they are changing, it will assist with a smoother mortgage process."

Home Value Index (HVI)

Home values continued their ascent in September. On a national level, appraisals rose 0.44 percent from the previous month. Even more impactful, the average home valuation was 3.38 percent higher than the same time last year. Regionally, all areas showed annual home value growth, from 2.08 percent in the South to 5.77 percent in the West. Monthly, however, the South did have a 1.33 percent drop in September.

"Home values are highly impacted by the balance of buyer's interest and the volume of available homes. Currently this is highly tilted, with a lack of home inventory  leading to rising values," said Banfield. "One of the most impactful things that could be done to achieve stability is an increase in new home building. If move-up buyers move on to new construction, it will open up starter homes for first time buyers."



HVI September 2017 January 2005 = 100 HVI September 2017 vs. August 2017 % Change HVI September 2017 vs. September 2016 % Change HPPI September 2017 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* National Composite 104.44 +0.44% +3.38% -1.14% -1.26%

*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.

Geographic Regions HVI September 2017 January 2005 = 100 HVI September 2017 vs. August 2017 % Change HVI September 2017 vs. September 2016 % Change HPPI September 2017 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* West 128.09 +0.98% +5.77% -0.93% -0.73% South 103.98 -1.33% +2.08% -1.14% -0.91% Northeast 98.68 +0.91% +2.71% -1.21% -1.50% Midwest 87.25 +0.66% +5.64% -1.31% -1.45%

*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.

Metropolitan Areas HPPI September 2017 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* HPPI August 2017 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value

vs. Homeowner

Perception of Value* Dallas, TX +2.87% +2.90% +1.85% Denver, CO +2.52% +2.66% +3.14% Seattle, WA +2.12% +2.17% +1.12% San Jose, CA +1.73% +1.55% +2.11% San Francisco, CA +1.63% +1.36% +2.34% Portland, OR +1.58% +1.34% +1.84% Boston, MA +1.07% +0.89% +0.59% Charlotte, NC +1.05% +1.08% -0.18% San Diego, CA +0.94% +0.76% +0.47% Los Angeles, CA +0.86% +0.86% +1.39% Sacramento, CA +0.72% +0.61% +0.88% Miami, FL +0.64% +0.57% -0.22% Phoenix, AZ +0.35% +0.36% -0.72% Minneapolis, MN +0.32% +0.32% +0.33% Kansas City, MO +0.25% +0.29% -0.49% Las Vegas, NV +0.09% +0.07% -0.75% Riverside, CA +0.03% +0.08% +0.23% Houston, TX -0.11% -0.05% +0.97% Detroit, MI -0.30% -0.37% -2.99% Tampa, FL -0.30% -0.51% -1.81% Washington, D.C. -0.66% -0.83% -0.14% Atlanta, GA -0.70% -0.93% -0.69% New York, NY -1.16% -1.46% -1.31% Chicago, IL -2.15% -2.36% -2.08% Cleveland, OH -2.24% -2.33% -1.95% Baltimore, MD -2.68% -2.82% -2.68% Philadelphia, PA -2.89% -3.05% -3.03%

*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.

About the HPPI & HVI

The Quicken Loans HPPI represents the difference between appraisers' and homeowners' opinions of home values. The index compares the estimate that the homeowner supplies on a refinance mortgage application to the appraisal that is performed later in the mortgage process. This is an unprecedented report that gives a never-before-seen analysis of how homeowners are viewing the housing market. The HPPI national composite is determined by analyzing appraisal and homeowner estimates throughout the entire country, including data points from both inside and outside the metro areas specifically called out in the above report.

The Quicken Loans HVI is the only view of home value trends based solely on appraisal data from home purchases and mortgage refinances. This produces a wide data set and is focused on appraisals, one of the most important pieces of information to the mortgage process.

The HPPI and HVI are released on the second Tuesday of every month. Both of the reports are created with Quicken Loans' propriety mortgage data from the 50-state lenders' mortgage activity across all 3,000+ counties. The indexes are examined nationally, in four geographic regions and the HPPI is reported for 27 major metropolitan areas. All indexes, along with downloadable tables and graphs can be found at QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.

About Quicken Loans

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's second largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $300 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states between 2013 and 2016. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 17,000 team members from Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies work in the city's urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination" in the United States by J.D. Power for the past seven consecutive years, 2010  2017, and highest in customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four years, 2014  2017.

Quicken Loans was ranked #10 on FORTUNE magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2017, and has been among the top-30 companies for the past 14 consecutive years. The company has been recognized as one of Computerworld magazine's '100 Best Places to Work in IT' the past 13 years, ranking #1 for eight of the past twelve years including 2017. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rock Holdings, Inc., the parent company of several FinTech and related businesses. Quicken Loans is also the flagship business of Dan Gilbert's Family of Companies comprising nearly 100 affiliated businesses spanning multiple industries. For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room.

Twitter: @QLnews

Facebook.com/QuickenLoans

SOURCE Quicken Loans

Related Links

http://QuickenLoans.com


PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org released Women in the Workplace 2017, a comprehensive annual report on the state of women in corporate America. This year's study shows women's progress is slowand may even be stallingin part because many employees and companies fail to understand the magnitude of the problem. It also recommends a series of actions that companies can take to make more progress and points to the practices of top-performing companies.

Drawing on pipeline data from 222 companies employing more than 12 million people, the 2017 report shows that women remain significantly underrepresented at every level in corporate Americaand women of color face an even more dramatic drop-off at senior levels. Only one in five C-suite leaders is a woman, and fewer than one in thirty is a woman of color. This disparity is not due to company-level attrition or lack of interest: women and men stay at their companies and ask for promotions at similar rates.

Company commitment to gender diversity is at an all-time high for the third year in a row, but this commitment isn't changing the numbers. The report points to a simple reason: we have blind spots when it comes to diversity, and we can't solve problems that we don't see or understand clearly.

Many employees think women are well represented in leadership when they see only a few. Nearly 50 percent of men think women are well represented in leadership in companies where only one in ten senior leaders is a woman. And remarkably, a third of women agree. It is hard to imagine a groundswell of change when many employees don't see anything wrong with the status quo.

"We can't unlock the full potential of the workplace until we see how far from equality we really are," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and founder of LeanIn.Org. "We need to resist the temptation to settle for the status quo and do more to build diverse teams and inclusive workplaces. This is not just about fairness, but also about building more prosperous companies and a strong economy for us all."

Many men don't fully grasp the state of women in the workplace. More than 60 percent of men say that their company is doing what it takes to improve gender diversity, while only 49 percent of women agree. Fifty percent of men say managers consider a diverse lineup of candidates to fill open positions, compared to just 35 percent of women. Further, men are less personally committed to gender diversity, and some even worry that diversity efforts disadvantage them.

Many companies also overlook the realities of women of color. Women of color face more obstacles and a steeper path to leadership, from receiving less support from managers to getting promoted more slowly. This negatively affects how they view the workplace and their opportunities for advancementand is particularly acute for Black women.

"There is a clear business benefit when senior leaders publicly invest in and commit to workforce equality," said Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Company. "This research helps us identify the actions companies can take to build greater momentum and accelerate change."

The report identifies concrete actions that companies can take to level the playing field, from making a strong business case for gender diversity to tracking gender metrics, sharing them broadly with employees, and setting targets. This year's findings also point to the importance of giving managers more visibility into the scope of the problem and the tools they need to be part of the solution. Managers often determine how widely policies and programs are adopted and make many of the day-to-day decisions that impact women's careers. Moreover, when managers are committed to gender diversity, employees are more likely to be committed themselves.

It is also critical that companies address the distinct barriers women of color face and get sufficient buy-in from men. The report speaks to strategies for doing both.

The complete Women in the Workplace 2017 report, including detailed findings and recommendations for change, is available at womenintheworkplace.com. From the website, organizations can download the report and sign up to participate in this ongoing research.

KEY FINDINGS

The bar for gender equality is too low. Nearly 50 percent of men think women are well represented in leadership in companies where only one in ten senior leaders is a woman. A much smaller but still significant number of women agree: a third think women are well represented when they see one in ten in leadership.

Nearly 50 percent of men think women are well represented in leadership in companies where only one in ten senior leaders is a woman. A much smaller but still significant number of women agree: a third think women are well represented when they see one in ten in leadership. Women hit the glass ceiling early. At the first critical step-up to manager, women are 18 percent less likely to be promoted than their male peers. This gender disparity has a dramatic effect on the representation of women: if entry-level women were promoted at the same rate as their male peers, the number of women at the senior vice president and C-suite levels would more than double.

At the first critical step-up to manager, women are 18 percent less likely to be promoted than their male peers. This gender disparity has a dramatic effect on the representation of women: if entry-level women were promoted at the same rate as their male peers, the number of women at the senior vice president and C-suite levels would more than double. Men are more likely to say they get what they want without having to ask. Women of all races and ethnicities negotiate for raises and promotions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. However, men are more likely to say they have not asked for a raise because they are already well compensated or a promotion because they are already in the right role.

Women of all races and ethnicities negotiate for raises and promotions at comparable rates to their male counterparts. However, men are more likely to say they have not asked for a raise because they are already well compensated or a promotion because they are already in the right role. Women get less of the support that advances careers. Women are less likely to receive advice from managers and senior leaders on how to advance, and employees who do are more likely to say they've been promoted in the last two years. Similarly, women are less likely to interact regularly with senior leaders, yet employees who do are more likely to aspire to be top executives.

Women are less likely to receive advice from managers and senior leaders on how to advance, and employees who do are more likely to say they've been promoted in the last two years. Similarly, women are less likely to interact regularly with senior leaders, yet employees who do are more likely to aspire to be top executives. Women are less optimistic they can reach the top. Women are less likely than men to aspire to be a top executive, and those who do are significantly less likely than men to think they'll become one. However, when you look at ambition by race and ethnicity, both women and men of color are more interested in becoming a top executive than white women and men.

Women are less likely than men to aspire to be a top executive, and those who do are significantly less likely than men to think they'll become one. However, when you look at ambition by race and ethnicity, both women and men of color are more interested in becoming a top executive than white women and men. Men are less committed to gender diversity efforts. Men are less likely to say gender diversity is a top personal priority and point to concern over de-emphasizing individual performance as the primary reason. Some men even feel that gender diversity efforts disadvantage them: 15 percent of men think their gender will make it harder for them to advance.

Men are less likely to say gender diversity is a top personal priority and point to concern over de-emphasizing individual performance as the primary reason. Some men even feel that gender diversity efforts disadvantage them: 15 percent of men think their gender will make it harder for them to advance. Many women still work a double shift. On average, 54 percent of women do all or most of the household work, compared to 22 percent of men. This gap grows when couples have children. Women with a partner and children are 5.5 times more likely than their male counterparts to do all or most of the household work. And even when women are primary breadwinners, they do more work at home.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS

Make a compelling case for gender diversity. Companies and employees don't see eye to eye on why gender diversity is important. While 90 percent of companies say prioritizing gender diversity leads to better business results, only 42 percent of employees think this is the caseand when employees do, they are more likely to be personally committed to gender diversity. Invest in more employee training. Less than 20 percent of employees involved in hiring decisions and performance reviews receive unconscious bias training. When employees understand how bias impacts decision-making, they are empowered to make fairer, more objective decisions. Give managers the means to drive change. Managers' actions have a big impactboth on women's career progression and on employee commitment to gender diversity. Yet this is an area where many managers are falling short. Ensure that hiring, promotions, and reviews are fair. Most companies are taking steps to reduce bias in recruiting and performance reviews, but few have end-to-end processes in place to ensure fairness. A majority focus on hiring underrepresented groups, but less than a third mandate a diverse slate of candidates. Companies need to review their hiring and review processes to make sure there aren't gapsas well as set gender targets and track outcomes. Give employees the flexibility to fit work into their lives. Less than two-thirds of companies offer maternity leave beyond what's required by law, and about half offer fathers the same benefit. Even fewer organizations run programs that ease employees' transitions to and from extended leave. Yet companies that offer these supports have a higher representation of women. Focus on accountability and results. Eighty-five percent of companies track gender representation by level, but far fewer track external hiring and promotions by genderalthough both have a significant effect on women's representation. Sharing gender metrics also matters. Top-performing companies are more likely to share a significant amount of gender diversity metrics with all employees, yet only 8 percent of companies do this.

ABOUT THE STUDY

The Women in the Workplace 2017 report is part of an ongoing partnership between McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org to give organizations the information they need to promote female leadership and foster gender equality. This year 222 companies employing more than 12 million people shared their pipeline data and completed a survey of HR practices. In addition, more than 70,000 employees completed a survey designed to explore their experiences regarding gender, opportunity, career, and work-life issues. Since 2012, more than 350 companies have participatedmany for multiple yearsand close to 200,000 employees have been surveyed. To the authors' knowledge, this makes Women in the Workplace the largest study of its kind.

STUDY AUTHORS

About LeanIn.Org

LeanIn.Org is an initiative of the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation to empower women to achieve their ambitions. LeanIn.Org offers inspiration and support through an online community, free education materials, and Lean In Circles, small groups of peers who meet regularly to learn and grow together. The Lean In community includes over 2 million women and men and 33,000 Lean In Circles in more than 150 countries. The Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, which also runs OptionB.Org, is a private operating nonprofit organization under IRS section 501(c)(3).

About McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm, deeply committed to helping institutions in the private, public, and social sectors achieve lasting success. For more than nine decades, the firm's primary objective has been to serve as our clients' most trusted external advisor. With consultants in more than one hundred offices in sixty countries, across industries and functions, McKinsey & Company brings unparalleled expertise to clients anywhere in the world, working closely with teams at all levels of an organization to shape winning strategies, mobilize for change, build capabilities, and drive successful execution.

MEDIA CONTACT

We are actively monitoring [email protected] for press inquiries.

SOURCE LeanIn.Org
PORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Cancer Gene Therapy Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023," the Global Cancer Gene Therapy Market accounted for $289 million in 2016, and is estimated to reach $2,082 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 32.4% from 2017 to 2023. North America is the highest contributor in the cancer gene therapy market in 2016; however, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth rate.

Cancer gene therapy is an approach for the cancer treatment, where genetically engineered vectors such as viruses are used to transfer or replace a mutated gene (that is causing cancer) with a heathy gene. This technique can be used for both the prevention and treatment of disease. The most commonly used techniques for the treatment using cancer gene therapy includes oncolytic virotherapy, gene transfer, and gene-induced immunotherapy.

Do Enquiry for Sample Report@ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2605

The rise in prevalence of cancer, ethical acceptance of gene therapy for cancer treatment, and the advancement in this field drive the market growth. In addition, benefits of cancer gene therapy over conventional cancer therapies, increase in government support, and rise in biotechnological funding that encourage the R&D activities for cancer gene therapy fuel the growth of the cancer gene therapy market. However, high cost associated with the treatment and unwanted immune responses are expected to restrain the market growth.

Among the therapy segment, oncolytic virotherapy segment is the largest contributor toward the market growth and gene transfer therapy segment is anticipated to be a lucrative market due to the positive results for these therapies during the preclinical and clinical trials for the treatment of cancer.

In 2016, North America accounted for maximum contribution to the total revenue generated, owing to the high prevalence rate of cancer, presence of high disposable income, and high funding for R&D activities associated with cancer gene therapy. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the analysis period, attributable to rise in incidence rate of cancer, increase in government initiative to improve healthcare infrastructure, and rise in healthcare expenditure.

Do Enquiry before purchasing [email protected] https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2605

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

Gene transfer segment is projected to grow at the highest rate during the analysis period.

Oncolytic virotherapy segment generated the highest revenue, and is expected to continue its dominance in the future.

North America dominated the global cancer gene therapy market, and is projected to continue its dominance in future.

dominated the global cancer gene therapy market, and is projected to continue its dominance in future. China is expected to grow highest in the Asia-Pacific region.

is expected to grow highest in the region. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period.

The key companies profiled in the report include Adaptimmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Bluebird bio, Inc., Merck, Celgene, Shanghai Sunway Biotech, BioCancell, Shenzhen SiBiono GeneTech, SynerGene Therapeutics, and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals.

Popular Reports by Allied Market Research:

U.S IVF Services - Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014-2022

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023

Forensic Technology Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2016-2023

About Us:

Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
LONDON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global electric bus market is expected to witness a CAGR of 33.5% during 2017  2025 led by various reasons. The policy makers of various countries are focusing on developing public transit infrastructure with no or low pollution to tackle the air pollutant emissions, mainly in the densely-populated cities and mega-cities. The developed countries are replacing their existing diesel and natural gas based public transit to zero emission buses. The surge in urbanization, along with lower operating cost of electric buses is propelling their growth in the developing countries.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5038468







The rising interest of people worldwide in the new energy vehicles and their increasing demand have led to several events and exhibitions. Such events and exhibitions are either entirely focused on electric vehicles or new energy vehicles are a part of their agenda.



Market Dynamics

Led by China, Asia-Pacific accounted for the highest number of shipments in the global electric bus market in 2016. The Chinese electric bus market is expected to grow significantly, during the forecast period, owing to the increasing urbanization and development of several newly built advanced public transit systems in its smart cities.



Besides China, the Indian government has also shown its interest in using electric buses. India's leading bus player, Ashok Leyland, is expected to commercialize their circuit electric bus in India by 2017. Tata Motors, another Indian company, completed its first commercial pilot of electric bus in April 2017. In Europe, U.K., the Netherlands, France and Germany are the major markets for electric buses. In 2015, the government of U.K. launched a double decker electric bus in London. Cote d'Ivoire, Uruguay and Brazil are expected to be the early beginners in making use of electric buses in the Rest of the World region.



The premium price of electric buses is a major hindrance in their large-scale adoption in public transit infrastructure, especially within the developing countries, where regional governments are focusing more on low emission natural gas powered buses.



Trends



The venturing of regional competitors in the global market have been one of the major trends in the global electric bus market. The adoption of electric vehicles has been surging globally, and none of the markets is anywhere near saturation. This has been encouraging the regional electric bus manufacturers to enter the international market. For instance, in 2015, Chinese manufacturer - Yutong begun a trial run of its electric bus in Paris, France, in a bid for a contract to replace 9,200 city buses with their electric counterpart. Another Chinese company, BYD, entered the Brazilian market in 2013, and the U.S. market in 2014 and the South Korean market in 2016. BYD also plans to enter the Indian market in near future. A Finnish start-up company, Linkker, is also targeting to venture into Netherlands and France.



The increasing product portfolio of several electric bus manufacturers is another major trend prevailing in the market. Proterra, Ebusco, Ashok Leyland, Solaris, and Tata Motors have been the major companies launching new electric bus in the recent past.



Growth Drivers



The rising concern about greenhouse has (GHG) emission and long term cost benefits provided by electric bus are alluring transit agencies to adopt electric bus. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is one of the leading causes of death in Europe. Every year about 100,000 deaths in Europe occur due to air pollution. Considering the negative impact of air pollution, the governments around the world are investing heavily in reducing pollution levels. France, the U.K., and Germany are some of the early adopters of electric bus as means of public transportation system.



Political instability in major oil producing countries has intensified the instability in crude oil prices. The upstream supply chain of crude oil is also being affected by the civil war in the oil producing countries of Middle-East. As a result, the transit agencies around the globe are increasing the number of new energy vehicles. In spite of the high initial cost, electric buses have low operating cost. The transit agencies in developing countries are focusing more on long term environmental and cost benefits. The establishment of new cities and satellite cities in developing countries offers significant development space to support the infrastructure for electric buses.



An electric bus in their entire life cycle saves fuel of around $365,000 value, as compared to diesel buses; and $ 225,000 as compared to natural gas (CNG) buses. Moreover, electric buses are less noisy and require lesser maintenance, as compared to their conventional counterparts. Transit agencies, including Foothill Transit in California (the U.S.), Tennessee (the U.S.), the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority, Worcester Regional Transit Authority, Massachusetts (the U.S.), and Boreal Transport (Norway) are deploying electric buses to develop sustainable transport systems.



The increasing number of venture funding is another major driver in the electric bus market. The electric bus market is still in its nascent phase, and requires further technical development for their increased adoption. Many venture capital firms have shown interest in the market by providing large funds to the electric bus players. Venture capitalists, such as General Motors Ventures LLC and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, recently invested $30.0 million in Proterra Inc., a U.S. based electric bus manufacturing company. Moreover, the company has gained over $120 million from private equity funding, since 2011. Partnerships between Transdev (an international public-private transport operator company based in France) and the transport department has been encouraging the local transit agencies in American and European countries, to increase the number of electric buses.



Opportunities



The emerging economies are expected to offer growth opportunities for the electric bus market during the forecast period. China was among the earliest adopters of electric vehicles (EV) in the world. The country has been aiming to increase the number of electric vehicles, for which the government rolled out several subsidy schemes. India, another emerging market has set a target to deploy over 10,000 electric buses in near term.



Competitive Landscape

The global electric bus market has a consolidated structure, where the top three players held a majority share in 2016. Some of the major companies operating in the global electric bus market include Yutong Group, AB Volvo, Shenzhen Wuzhoulong, BYD, King Long, Proterra, Daimler, Solaris, Zhongtong, Ebusco, Alexander Dennis, and Ashok Leyland.



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LONDON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Market Overview



Helicopter is a type of aircraft which drives with the thrust supplied from rotors. Helicopter are used for several applications such as medical services, corporate services, disaster management, law enforcement, oil and gas and defense. There are two types of helicopters, civil helicopter and military helicopter. Civil helicopters refer to the helicopters (apart from military usage) used for VIP or corporate transportation, offshore transportation, law enforcement, medical services, firefighting, general utility, and others. The military helicopters are the helicopters specifically used for defense purposes.



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Global Helicopters Market



Military helicopter, which includes heavy, medium and light helicopters, held larger share in the global helicopter market in 2016. Heavy military helicopter refers to the helicopter with maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) greater than 8,500kg; medium military helicopter with MTOW between 4,500kg and 8,500kg; light military helicopter with MTOW less than 4,500kg. Civil helicopter, which includes light, intermediate, medium, and large and heavy helicopters, is expected to witness higher growth during 2017 - 2023. The increasing demand from developing nations and increasing usage in firefighting and emergency medical services is driving the growth of civil helicopter market.



Light civil helicopters refer to the helicopters with MTOW of 3,175kg or less; intermediate civil helicopters are the helicopter with MTOW between 3,175kg and 5,700kg; medium civil helicopters refer to the helicopters with MTOW between 5,700kg and 9,000kg; and large & heavy civil helicopters are the helicopters with MTOW greater than 9,000kg.



Market Dynamics



The global helicopter market is expected to witness a CAGR of 3.4% during 2017  2023. Ageing helicopter fleet, increasing usage of helicopters in disaster relief, and technological advancements are the major factors driving the growth of the global helicopter market. The market faces challenges such as economic uncertainty, and ongoing crisis in the oil and gas industry.



Opportunities



The global market is expected to be positively impacted by growing helicopter market in emerging economies. The increasing compliance for helicopters in the emerging economies is expected to provide growth potential for the market during the forecast years. Countries such as China, Brazil and India have a huge market potential, as the government is spending huge capital for developing their civil and military helicopter fleet. The economy of developing nations has witnessed significant growth over the past few years. Moreover, the territorial disputes in Asia compels governments to increase their defense spending. This is expected to result in increased procurement of military helicopters especially in the developing nations such as China and India.



Growth Drivers



The growing demand for medium helicopters, shift towards civil helicopters market, growing joint ventures between global manufacturers, increased demand for technologically advanced combat helicopters, increasing up-gradation of existing fleet, tie-up between helicopters manufacturers and aviation colleges are the key Growth Drivers for the global helicopter market. Several countries have high demand for helicopters in their defense sector, which finally shows a growth in the market.



Civil helicopters are widely being used by government bodies, mainly for law-enforcement activities and emergency response services. The market in civil sector provides helicopters for various purposes including transportation, private use, government use, and other purposes. The most popular helicopters are light helicopters with MTOW 3,175kg or less. The civil helicopter is estimated to have increased demand in emergency medical services and corporate sector. Increasing customer compliance for more equipped and sophisticated avionics, and flight safety are expected to fuel the growth of the global helicopter market. As an outcome, the global OEMs are continuously developing helicopters with specialized safety features, precisely designed to perform specific activities. In March 2015, Airbus Helicopters introduced H160, a twin-engine medium class helicopter. The company claimed that the H160 represents its strategy to provide the efficient solutions for its customers to safely carry passengers in the demanding environments.



Competitive Landscape



The global helicopter market is consolidated with top six players including Russian Helicopters, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Airbus SE, Leonardo, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., and The Boeing Company, accounting for more than 70% of revenue in the global market. The major players are investing huge capital to develop light and medium civil helicopters and light and medium military helicopters with advanced security features and technology. Helicopter operators have shown interest in purchase of technologically advanced medium civil helicopters specifically for application in law enforcement, firefighting, and medical services. Key competitors are specifically focusing on Latin America for expansion of civil helicopter fleet, as the operators in the region show strong purchase intention in the coming year for civil helicopters. Similarly, manufacturers are also investing in the Asia-Pacific region for the expansion of military as well as civil helicopter fleet. Russian Helicopters showcased its latest developments during China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition-2016, which took place in November 2016. The company demonstrated a range of its civil helicopters models and featured latest products including medevac Ansats, a multi-purpose Mi-171A2 and a firefighting Ka-32A11BC. In November 2016, the company also signed a contract with Wuhan Rand Aviation Technology Service Co. Ltd. for the supply of 18 new helicopters including Mi-171s, Ka-32s and Ansat.



Some of the other key players in the market include Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd., Robinson Helicopter Company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, MD Helicopters, Inc., and Kaman Corporation.



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NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

About Private Label Food and Beverages



Private labels products are manufactured by a company, which are offered under another company's brand name. Private label products are manufactured by third-parties or companies that specialize in the product but do not own a brand of their own. These are usually cost-effective alternatives to the international or national branded products. Private label is available for a wide range of products like cosmetics, food and beverage, textiles, web hosting, and more.







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05136841







Technavio's analysts forecast the global private label food and beverages market to grow at a CAGR of 7.26% during the period 2017-2021.



Covered in this report

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global private label food and beverages market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail selling price as the average selling price of the product.



The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:

 Americas

 APAC

 EMEA



Technavio's report, Global Private Label Food and Beverages Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.



Key vendors

 ALDI

 Costco

 Trader Joe's

 Walmart Stores

 Wegmans Food Markets



Other prominent vendors

 A&P

 Ahold USA

 Carrefour

 Delhaize Group

 Dollar General

 EDEKA

 Family Dollar

 Giant Eagle

 H-E-B

 Hy-Vee

 Kroger

 Loblaw Companies

 Publix

 Sobeys

 SuperValu

 Target

 TESCO

 Whole Foods

 Winn Dixie



Market driver

 Affordable price of private label products

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market challenge

 Threat from national brands

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market trend

 Growing digitization of private label

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Key questions answered in this report

 What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?

 What are the key market trends?

 What is driving this market?

 What are the challenges to market growth?

 Who are the key vendors in this market space?



You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05136841



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



https://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 10th annual TC3 Summit is just a few weeks away and we are excited to announce carriers who will be sharing their roadmaps and the technology segments that are of highest priority to the innovation community for 2018.

The Telecom Council

TC3, held Nov. 1-2 in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, is widely recognized as the annual event where the companies who build communications networks come to discover innovation. The TC3 agenda includes technology roadmaps; case studies; demo pavilion featuring new technologies and startup companies; and a meeting maker tool that helps match operators, major vendors and other innovation investors to new companies, new products, and new technology.

Technology Roadmaps presented by:

AT&T

BT

China Mobile

CableLabs

Docomo

DT

Orange

NTT

Rogers

Telefonica

Telstra

Tata

US Cellular

Verizon

and more

Case Studies in Innovation include:

Verizon with their data lake partner

NTT with their SDWan partner

Sprint with a customer experience partner

T-Mobile USA with a connected car partner

with a connected car partner Orange with a IoT partner

Comcast with a home energy platform partner

and more

Technology Discussions include:

Network Transformation

Open Networking

Network Analytics

NFV/SDN

Industrial IoT

Managed IoT

Connected Car

5G

Backhaul

Last Mile

Satellites

and more

Startup Demos include:

Drones

IoT Security

Messaging

Emergency Communications

eSIM

Subscriber Loyalty

Retail Transformation

WiFi

Rural Internet

Enterprise SaaS

Smart Home

Tech Support

and more

10th ANNUAL TC3 SUMMIT

Telecom Council Carrier Connections

Nov. 1-2, 2017 in Silicon Valley, CA

www.telecomcouncil.com/tc3

About TC3 Summit:

Every fall, communication industry executives from carriers, vendors, and startups around the world travel to Silicon Valley for TC3 Summit (#TC3Summit) to discover innovation, meet future partners, and get a sneak peek at the technology roadmaps of global telcos. Don't miss 100s of tech scouts, 50 demos, and 10 hours of facilitated networking over two days and across 2 stages. Full details on speakers, agenda, demo pavilion, and sponsors online at www.telecomcouncil.com/tc3.

Press Passes available for relevant media.

About the Telecom Council: The Telecom Council of Silicon Valley is Where Telecom Meets Innovation. We connect the companies who are building communication networks, with the people and ideas that are creating them - by putting those companies, research, ideas, capital, and human expertise from across the globe together in the same room. Last year, The Telecom Council connected over 2,000 executives from 750 telecom companies and 60 fixed and wireless carriers across 40 meeting topics. By joining, speaking, sponsoring, or simply participating in a meeting, there are many ways telecom companies of any size can leverage the Telecom Council network. For more information and to join our invitation list, visit: http://www.telecomcouncil.com.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Telecom Council at 408-834-7933.

Related Links

TC3

SOURCE The Telecom Council
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, today announced the opening of a new service center in Ft. Lauderdale that is dedicated to the tri-county area in Southeast Florida.

The new service center, located at 3410 SW 30th Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, spans 161,500 square feet and serves as the primary shipping facility for Graybar in southeast Florida. The new facility will provide access to over $10 million in inventory and more than 14,000 SKUs, as well as product staging, kitting, and customizable consolidated packing service capabilities. The facility represents Graybar's commitment to sustainability and features 100% high efficiency LED lighting, high efficiency HVLS fans, low VOC paints and adhesives and automatic/low flow fixtures to minimize water consumptions. It is equipped with a full back-up generator and hurricane-rated storage yard protection and screening.

"This new service center has been years in the works as we strive to best support our customers' needs across Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties," said Andy Ciccone, Graybar Tampa District Vice President. "We officially opened on September 5, and the facility was quickly put to the test with Hurricane Irma's arrival. We were proud to be back in business the day after the hurricane. This new location will improve the region's access to inventory and enhance the services we offer customers."

Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of more than 290 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR.

Media Contact:

Kara Bowlin

(314) 573-2578

[email protected]

SOURCE Graybar

Related Links

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cotton growers face many challenges in the field, but growers who plant FiberMax and Stoneville cotton seed varieties have a combination well suited to overcome those hurdles: the science behind their varieties and their well-honed management skills. Today, Bayer announced commercial availability of four varieties that were introduced earlier this year, giving growers access to diversified solutions to combat pest and disease pressures in the field.

Looking to increase in-field resistance to worms and hold on to high yield potential and high quality? TwinLink Plus, available in FM 1953GLTP and ST 5517GLTP, give you that in-season strength.

"Bayer provides growers with an impressive portfolio of variety options to optimize profit potential, maximize performance and increase yield potential," says Jason Wistehuff, Bayer product manager for FiberMax and Stoneville cotton. "A grower-centric focus drives Bayer's commitment to creating varieties that are top performers in the battle against pest and disease resistance  and these new varieties are coming to the ring ready to fight."

In addition to offering high yield potential, the lineup targets agronomic issues that were prevalent for growers this year, such as bacterial blight resistance, storm tolerance and worm resistance.

All four varieties feature GlyTol and LibertyLink traits. GlyTol LibertyLink technology in cotton allows growers greater flexibility in weed management and control of herbicide-resistant weeds. Three of the new varieties also include TwinLink and TwinLink Plus traits, which provide growers season-long Bt protection against major lepidopteran pests, such as tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, pink bollworm and beet armyworm.

Proven weed-control traits are essential in this era of resistance. Each of the new varieties from FiberMax and Stoneville is equipped with exclusive Bayer herbicide-tolerant traits: GlyTol and LibertyLink.

LibertyLink arms growers with the ability to apply Liberty  herbicide in-season. Liberty herbicide used in an effective herbicide program in LibertyLink crops has been proven to provide the most effective broad-spectrum control of challenging weeds, including weed species resistant to other herbicides, including Palmer amaranth (pigweed), marestail, morning glory, kochia and annual grasses.

herbicide in-season. herbicide used in an effective herbicide program in LibertyLink crops has been proven to provide the most effective broad-spectrum control of challenging weeds, including weed species resistant to other herbicides, including Palmer amaranth (pigweed), marestail, morning glory, kochia and annual grasses. GlyTol provides the flexibility of over-the-top glyphosate herbicide treatment and delivers proven crop safety to various glyphosate formulations with no impact on yield, quality or plant height.

The FiberMax varieties are:

FM 1953GLTP

An early/medium maturity GlyTol LibertyLink TwinLink Plus variety that provides bacterial blight resistance and enhanced protection against bollworm and fall armyworm. FM 1953GLTP has shown excellent yield potential and fiber quality across a wide range of environments. Bred for the South Texas growing environment, this variety also has shown a wide adaptation for the Rolling Plains, Eastern Texas and Oklahoma .

Texas crop consultant Justin Chopelas has watched this variety since its experimental trials. For the 2017 season, he reports four-plus-bale yields in several fields, quality in premium ranges with no discounts and good drought and storm tolerance.

"We really tested our varieties here this year. Worm control is always an issue here locally. We have pyrethroid-resistant boll worms. We've had that population since the early 2000s. Now we have TwinLink Plus and it seems to have a little better control on some of the additional worm problems that we have," Chopelas says. "As for the whole season, FiberMax 1953GLTP looked great. It looked like a linebacker coming out of the ground. It has big strong leaves, a good strong stalk and it grew off strong all season. So, I'm looking forward to seeing more and more acres of TwinLink Plus varieties."

"Growers are looking for quality varieties and we feel like the FiberMax 1953GLTP can really set a new standard for that," adds Bayer Regional Agronomist Health Reeves. "FiberMax 1953GLTP really holds onto the fiber quality even under very stressful conditions."

FM 1888GL

An early/medium maturity variety that offers outstanding yield potential and consistent performance in the High Plains. FM 1888GL offers bacterial blight resistance alongside the weed control traits West Texas growers need to control weeds: GlyTol and LibertyLink. This variety starts strong with great early season vigor, features good storm tolerance to hold the bolls, and finishes with high gin turnout and great fiber quality.

Growers looking for a compact plant similar to FM 1830GLT and FM 2011GT should consider FM 1888GL, says Bayer Regional Agronomist Tim Culpepper. "In my area, FM 1888GL topped the yield tests in both irrigated and dryland," Culpepper says. "It offers very high yield potential and good quality in all environments. The FM 1888GL outyielded FM 2322GL in some of FM 2322GL's best environments."

The Stoneville varieties are:

ST 5020GLT

A medium maturity variety that delivers bacterial blight resistance and has the best fiber package available in a Stoneville variety. Bred for the Eastern Cotton Belt  including the Southeast, Delta and Mid-Atlantic, ST 5020GLT offers excellent early-season vigor, outstanding fiber quality and yield potential that is stable across a wide range of environments. ST 5020GLT delivers the exclusive Bayer herbicide-tolerant and Bt traits growers need to manage their crops for high yield: TwinLink, to provide season-long resistance to a broad spectrum of worms; and GlyTol and LibertyLink to control herbicide-resistant and tough weeds with the unique site of action provided by Liberty herbicide.

"Stoneville 5020GLT explodes out of the ground with exceptional early-season vigor and continues growing strong all season long. ST 5020GLT offers Bayer's proven herbicide and insect trait package, delivers excellent yield and stable fiber quality across a range of environments," says Jenny Cahoon, Bayer regional agronomist.

ST 5517GLTP

A later medium maturity variety with the industry-leading three-gene Bt technology of TwinLink Plus, ST 5517GLTP provides excellent early season vigor and standability, bacterial blight resistance and good storm tolerance. Growers can look to this variety for exceptional yield potential and fiber quality across a wide range of environments  from Virginia to the Rolling Plains of Texas and Oklahoma .

"ST 5517GLTP is our first Stoneville variety with TwinLink Plus, which provides broader protection and resistance management of major lepidopteran pests in cotton," says Scott Asher, Eastern region agronomic manager. "It has shown excellent emergence, even under some of the challenging planting conditions that growers faced in the Southeast and other parts of the Eastern Cotton Belt in 2017. With exceptional yield potential, a good fiber package and bacterial blight resistance, it meets the key needs of cotton growers across a wide geography."

In addition to the four new varieties for 2018, FiberMax and Stoneville continue to offer a stellar lineup of varieties that offer the high yield potential, premium quality, herbicide tolerance and disease and insect resistance growers need to choose the right seed for the right field. Bayer plans to release more varieties this winter. The new varieties to be announced in January 2018 will have limited seed availability.

Bayer is committed to bringing new technology and solutions for agriculture and non-agricultural uses. For questions concerning the availability and use of products, contact a local Bayer representative, or visit Crop Science, a division of Bayer, online at www.cropscience.bayer.us.

Visit the Bayer Connect - Social Hub for social media, recent news, blog posts, videos and more from Crop Science, a division of Bayer.

Bayer: Science For A Better Life

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2016, the Group employed around 115,200 people and had sales of EUR 46.8 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.7 billion. These figures include those for the high-tech polymers business, which was floated on the stock market as an independent company named Covestro on October 6, 2015. For more information, go to www.bayer.us.

Find more information at www.cropscience.bayer.us.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com . The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

2017 Bayer CropScience LP, 2 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Always read and follow label instructions. Bayer, the Bayer Cross, FiberMax, GlyTol, Liberty, LibertyLink, Stoneville and TwinLink are registered trademarks of Bayer. For additional product information call toll-free 1-866-99-BAYER (1-866-992-2937) or visit our website at www.CropScience.Bayer.us.

SOURCE Bayer

Related Links

http://www.bayer.us


CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB), the nation's largest food ordering company, today closed its previously announced acquisition of Eat24.

With approximately 75,000 great local restaurants available online or on the app, Grubhub has the most complete restaurant network for online pickup and delivery ordering in the United States. In conjunction with the acquisition, Grubhub and Yelp have also commenced a long-term partnership agreement, which will bring online ordering for all Grubhub restaurant partners to the Yelp local goods and services platform.

"Grubhub creates unmatched value for our restaurant partners and the best possible experience for diners," said Matt Maloney, Grubhub CEO. "Eat24's loyal diner base and extensive restaurant selection will satisfy more diners while driving more orders to restaurants and our drivers. We couldn't be more excited about the Eat24 acquisition and Yelp partnership."

With the close of the Eat24 deal, Grubhub has completed all three of the acquisitions discussed on its second quarter earnings call, including Foodler and OrderUp. In connection with these acquisitions, Grubhub has refinanced its existing credit facility with a new five-year, $350 million committed facility, consisting of a $125 million term loan and an expanded $225 million revolving credit facility.

Grubhub will discuss the financial and operational impacts of these transactions on its upcoming third quarter earnings call.

About Grubhub

Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is the nation's leading online and mobile takeout food-ordering marketplace with the most comprehensive network of restaurant partners and largest active diner base. Dedicated to moving eating forward and connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, the Company's platforms and services strive to elevate food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub is proud to work with approximately 75,000 restaurant partners in over 1,200 U.S. cities and London. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, Eat24, Foodler, AllMenus and MenuPages.

SOURCE Grubhub Inc.

Related Links

http://www.grubhub.com


CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB), the nation's leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace, today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter financial results on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. CT, following the release of the Company's financial results. CEO Matt Maloney and CFO Adam DeWitt will host the webcast.

The live webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations section of the Grubhub website at http://investors.grubhub.com/. Following completion of the call, a recording of the webcast will be available on the website.

About Grubhub

Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is the nation's leading online and mobile takeout food-ordering marketplace with the most comprehensive network of restaurant partners and largest active diner base. Dedicated to moving eating forward and connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, the Company's platforms and services strive to elevate food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub is proud to work with approximately 75,000 restaurant partners in over 1,200 U.S. cities and London. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, Eat24, Foodler, AllMenus and MenuPages.

SOURCE Grubhub Inc.

Related Links

http://investors.grubhub.com


The G650ER embarked on its latest world-record run out of New York-area's Newark Liberty International Airport on Oct. 1, taking off for Tokyo's Haneda Airport and landing 12 hours and 40 minutes later. The aircraft flew on Gulfstream's supply of renewable fuels and covered the 5,940-nautical-mile/10,943-kilometer trip at an average speed of Mach 0.89.

On Oct. 3, the G650ER returned from Haneda to Newark in 10 hours and 54 minutes at Mach 0.90.

Following the Newark-to-Tokyo round trip, the G650ER departed Long Island's Farmingdale Republic Airport in New York bound for Paris Le Bourget Airport and completed the flight in 5 hours and 59 minutes at Mach 0.90. It then traveled 2 hours and 40 minutes to Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport at Mach 0.90.

On Oct. 6, the G650ER completed the final leg of this world record tour from Moscow to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, flying 5,247 nm/9,717km at Mach 0.90 in 10 hours and 10 minutes.

"These records are part of our continued investment in demonstrating the real-world capabilities of our aircraft after they enter service and our drive to exceed our customers' expectations," said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. "It's clear from its lengthy record resume that the G650ER provides unmatched range and speed that help our customers pursue and accomplish their professional and personal objectives."

Pending approval by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association, the records will be sent to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in Switzerland for recognition as world records.

In addition to its range of 7,500 nm/13,890 km at Mach 0.85 and top operating speed of Mach 0.925, the G650ER features an award-winning interior and class-leading cabin comfort. Its sister ship, the Gulfstream G650, recently marked the five-year anniversary of receiving type certification. Together, more than 260 G650 and G650ER aircraft operate in 40 countries and have set 70 city-pair records.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world's most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,600 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the Gulfstream G280, the Gulfstream G550, the Gulfstream G500, the Gulfstream G600, the Gulfstream G650 and the Gulfstream G650ER. Gulfstream also offers aircraft ownership services via Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales. We invite you to visit our website for more information and photos at www.gulfstreamnews.com.

More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

SOURCE Gulfstream

Related Links

http://www.generaldynamics.com


Gulfstream will build a 43,200-square-foot/4,013-square-meter service center in Van Nuys, with nearly 24,000 sf/2,230 sm of attached shop and office space. Gulfstream's facility will complement an adjacent fixed-based operation run by sister company Jet Aviation. Operations are expected to begin in 2019.

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast of the United States, a Gulfstream FAST unit, which comprises factory-trained technicians and a custom truck outfitted with equipment and spare parts, will be based at Jet Aviation's facility at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.

There are more than 130 Gulfstream aircraft based at Van Nuys Airport, the busiest business aviation airport in Southern California, and nearly 20 at Hanscom Field.

"These additions to our product support network will keep us well-positioned to accommodate operators located at or traveling through these busy corridors for Gulfstream aircraft," said Derek Zimmerman, president, Gulfstream Product Support. "They will also help us prepare for the upcoming deliveries of our two new aircraft, the Gulfstream G500 and G600, and enhance our ability to provide a world-class customer experience."

Gulfstream Van Nuys will initially focus on line maintenance and serve as the new base of operations for the FAST unit in place at Van Nuys Airport since late 2013. Operators whose aircraft require heavier maintenance can continue to use Gulfstream Long Beach, the company-owned service center approximately 45 miles away.

Gulfstream FAST provides 24/7 customer support and includes specially equipped vehicles in the U.S. and Europe, more than 125 dedicated technicians worldwide and two dedicated aircraft based in the U.S.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world's most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,600 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the Gulfstream G280, the Gulfstream G550, the Gulfstream G500, the Gulfstream G600, the Gulfstream G650 and the Gulfstream G650ER. Gulfstream also offers aircraft ownership services via Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales. We invite you to visit our website for more information and photos at www.gulfstreamnews.com.

More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

SOURCE Gulfstream
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this year, General Vision Services (GVS) partnered with non-profit RestoringVision to improve vision across the globe. Together we created the "See Well, Do Good" program, which donates a pair of eyeglasses to someone in need every time a GVS member uses their vision benefits.

As a vision benefits provider serving over 3 million union, HMO and corporate members, GVS has a proud history of helping people see. Similarly, RestoringVision has improved vision globally by distributing glasses worldwide. Since 2003 the non-profit has donated over 7.5 million glasses to people in 124 countries, and now GVS is helping to expand those efforts.

GVS' CEO, Myles Lewis, expressed enthusiasm in the partnership, saying, "Giving the gift of sight is such a generous, meaningful thing to do. Just by caring for their own eye health, our members can change the lives of those in need."

We recently took the "See Well, Do Good" program to Guatemala, distributing nearly 100,000 pairs of glasses. Many elderly recipients who previously relied on their grandchildren's eyesight to perform basic tasks are now self-reliant. Providing independence to the elderly enables children to return to school and continue their education.

The success of our program is also evident through the positive impact experienced by the working population. Local electrician, Fernando, was overjoyed with his renewed vision. Before receiving his new glasses Fernando lived with chronic eyestrain due to the precision required for his job. "The glasses have been a great help," Fernando said. "It's like having good vision again, like having young eyes again."

Visit generalvision.com/philanthropy to view our video and support our mission.

Media Contact:

Myles Lewis

General Vision Services

212.729.5336

generalvision.com

Related Images

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Fernando

image2.png

GVS

Related Links

General Vision Services

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPxfVRiMmvY

SOURCE General Vision Services

Related Links

http://generalvision.com/philanthropy


At the end of 2016, industry experts predicted poke would have a significant influence on the restaurant space in 2017 with menu additions and new concepts. Naturally, the office catering space wasn't far behind. In fact, since the start of 2017, ZeroCater has seen a 76 percent increase of poke meals delivered from poke meals delivered in 2016. One factor may be a focus on health in the workplace. Poke is full of flavor, low in calories and high in protein, with sushi-grade seafood boasting essential fatty acids, which are great for maintaining brain function, cardiovascular health and healthy cholesterol levels.

With clients' increased interest in poke, ZeroCater brought on five new poke vendors to accommodate demand, including Pokeworks in the San Francisco Bay and New York regions.

"We strive to keep our offerings fresh and exciting so that our clients and their employees enjoy their food programs to the fullest," said Arram Sabeti, CEO of ZeroCater. "As wellness becomes increasingly important in the workplace, especially among millennials, poke is a fresh, flavorful option loaded with veggies and omega-3s."

One of the fastest-growing poke concepts, Pokeworks presents this delicious, Hawaiian-inspired cuisine in a healthy and inspiring way, and it is now exclusively available for corporate catering in the San Francisco Bay and New York regions through ZeroCater. The Pokeworks menu, which features the freshest raw sushi and poke as well as cooked shrimp, chicken and scallop options, has the capability to provide something for everyone. Offices can choose from "Signature Works" such as Hawaiian Classic, Sweet Ginger Chicken or Sweet Chili Tofu Poke. Catering to the millennials' desire for customization, the "Poke Your Way" option offers a build-your-own poke bar, where employees can choose from a bowl, burrito or salad with their choice of protein, mix-ins, flavors, toppings and crunchy items. With employers' continued focus on employee wellness, Pokeworks also offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

Helping companies feed their employees since 2009, ZeroCater has grown and now caters to thousands of offices by offering a diverse selection of cuisines from more than 500 top-rated restaurant partners nationwide. As competition for top talent grows, companies are getting creative in their efforts to attract and retain employees by offering enticing benefits and perks such as delicious food programs that mirror the latest trends in restaurants and on supermarket shelves. With ZeroCater, companies are able to offer catered lunches from the city's best restaurants and next-level office snacks featuring a carefully curated collection of the latest artisanal snacks.

ABOUT ZEROCATER

Founded in 2009, ZeroCater is a San Francisco-based startup with a mission to help companies build high-performing cultures through food so they can hire, retain and make top talent productive. Arram Sabeti founded ZeroCater after realizing firsthand the pain points of organizing office meals. ZeroCater makes office catering and snacks simple through dedicated account managers, top-notch vendors and technology that allows for a seamless process and in-depth insight. Currently, ZeroCater provides office catering and snack services in San Francisco; New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Austin and Los Angeles.

Media Contact:

Megan Palmer

ZeroCater

415-432-8173

[email protected]

SOURCE ZeroCater

Related Links

http://www.zerocater.com


SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Bay Technologies Inc., a technology-driven real estate company, expands to Florida. Home Bay offers consumers a new way to buy and sell homes without commission fees, saving its customers an average of $16,000 per transaction.

Proprietary technology enables significant cost savings, while automation and efficiencies streamline the real estate transaction. Home Bay passes savings directly to consumers by charging a low flat rate of $2,000 to $3,500 per home sale, in lieu of the standard 3% commission charged by traditional agents to sell a home.

Buyers who use Home Bay receive 50% of the buyer agent commission upon purchasing a home. For both buyers and sellers, Home Bay employs a centralized team of licensed agents to advise consumers through each step of the transaction.

The company is delivering better results than a traditional real estate agent. This season, homes listed with Home Bay sold 23 days faster and for $13,771 more than the industry average. Additionally, 94% of homes sold through Home Bay sold in less than 90 days.

"Consumers using traditional agents are a very dissatisfied group. Even when consumers like the agent, they understandably hate the fees. Intuitively, consumers understand that three to six percent of the price of their home is way too much.," said Tom Owen, co-founder of HomeBay. "Based on our strong adoption and success, we believe consumers are eager for a superior solution at a fraction of the cost."

About Home Bay Technologies Inc.

Home Bay Technologies Inc., a San Diego based company, provides consumers a smarter way to buy and sell homes with data-driven intelligence, complete transparency and an on-demand customer experience. Home Bay's sophisticated platform expedites the transaction with efficient, seamless systems that save consumers and real estate agents time and money. For more information, visit HomeBay.com.

SOURCE Home Bay Technologies Inc.

Related Links

https://www.homebay.com


Cox Automotive's HomeNet is the only auto retail partner with the ability to quickly market auction buys within hours of the gavel dropping. The speed and its associated value is only possible because of the rich data sharing between fellow Cox Automotive brands HomeNet and Manheim. "It can take ten days on average for inventory from the auction to appear online with photos and descriptions," said Russ Daniels, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, HomeNet Automotive. "Rapid Retail imports vehicle data and photos from the auction into IOL in hours, providing speed to market to accelerate vehicle turn."

As dealerships face a post-peak era and tight margin compression, speed to market and technology to streamline dealer operations to protect profits becomes more important than ever. A one to two week delay has a cascading negative effect on a dealership: in addition to racking up holding cost, it also creates a lag and inconsistencies in vehicle marketing on the website and in the showroom, which add up to missed opportunities to capture interest from shoppers and reduced front-end gross.

Rapid Retail allows for lead generation and even the purchase of auction vehicles before they arrive on the dealers' lot. "My dealership benefits from faster speed to market as we're able to start conversations with customers early, and make them aware of cars we bought only hours before," said Jimmy Esteves, Sales Manager, Paul Miller BMW in Wayne, New Jersey. "The extra days of exposure create more interactions with customers. Some are calling my dealership before the car arrives."

HomeNet's Rapid Retail solution will be featured at the Driving Sales Executive Summit Innovation Cup Product Showcase in Las Vegas, October 22-24, 2017.

About HomeNet

At HomeNet Automotive, we help dealers merchandise and distribute their inventory from one unified platform and seamlessly push this information to their own website and their third-party advertising sources. Simply put, HomeNet helps you save time and sell more cars by getting inventory out of your system and in front of online shoppers.

Based in Exton, PA, with offices across the U.S., HomeNet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cox Automotive.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, financial, retail and wholesale solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, Xtime and a host of other brands. The global company has 32,000-plus team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises' other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.

SOURCE Cox Automotive

Related Links

http://www.coxautoinc.com


MIAMI, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Resilience Action Fund (RAF) founder and construction industry veteran Aris Papadopoulos today spoke to Kerry Sanders on NBC's "Today Show." Both were at the Institute for Business and Home Safety's (IHBS) crash-test facility in South Carolina, witnessing a home built to the latest codes (applicable to 90 percent of the U.S.) being destroyed by winds gusts around 115 mph. That's about the intensity of a level 1 hurricane or tornado. See: https://www.today.com/video/-1-metal-straps-could-help-save-homes-during-powerful-storms-1065039939911

Comments were features on Today Show story aired October 7, 2017. https://www.today.com/video/-1-metal-straps-could-help-save-homes-during-powerful-storms-1065039939911

IBHS's test demonstrated that even the latest codes are still below hazard levels that the public faces. This weakness had been repeatedly demonstrated with hurricane, flood and fire events across the country. It will make 2017 the most costly disaster year in U.S.history, perhaps exceeding $300 billion.

Yet the building industry is moving at a snail's pace to raising building standards, often lobbying government against such improvements, mostly by claiming affordability to the public. Nonetheless, the public is being saddled with billions of dollars in costs, whether through direct losses, insurance rates or taxes/ government debt.

RAF's founder compares the present situation to how car builders reacted to calls for greater safety in the 1960's. They then claimed that the public could not afford it, or they did not have the solutions. Yet under the pressure of regulation, the industry innovated and moved down the cost curve that made safety affordable to all. Today, safety is being used a marketing tool to promote cars. He believes that the same needs to happen in the homebuilding industry, which has gotten used to decades of setting the bar too low.

RAF is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to advance awareness, transparency, and education for greater resilience in the built environment against natural and other hazards. The mission is closely aligned with the goals of the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015-2030, signed in March 2015 by 187 countries. This milestone agreement is referenced in the COP21 Paris Agreement, which contained the strongest ever call for climate adaptation. RAF is also the publisher of the recent book 'Resilience: The Ultimate Sustainability  Lessons from Failing to Develop a Stronger and Safer Built Environment' (available at www.buildingresilient.com.

For more information please contact [email protected]

Related Files

News Release - Miami October '17.pdf

Related Images

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RAF Founder Aris Papadopoulos talking to NBC's Kerry Sanders

image2.png

Cars were unsafe in '60's similar to what most American homes are today

SOURCE Resilience Action Fund

Related Links

http://www.buildingresilient.com


The ICP School, which serves more than 3,500 students each year, will make the move downtown in summer 2019. The ICP Museum will also shift from its current space at 250 Bowery to Essex Crossing in early 2019, following the close of its fall 2018 exhibition program.

"We are thrilled to be reuniting the ICP Museum and the ICP School under one roof. This is something towards which we've been working for nearly twenty years," says ICP Board President Jeffrey Rosen and ICP Board Chair Caryl Englander. "It's gratifying to bring this exciting goal to fruition."

"ICP is that rare institution in today's cultural landscapewe exhibit, we collect, and we educate. Thanks to the vision and support of our board, the synergy between these different elements of our mission and our identity will be strengthened by this move," says ICP Executive Director Mark Lubell. "Our Essex venue will continue to reinforce our ties with the vibrant Lower East Side arts community. It enables us to look forward to an exciting future for both ICP and the neighborhood as a whole."

"From the very beginning, we've been committed to building a project that both reflects and enhances the rich cultural tradition of the Lower East Side," said Paul Pariser, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Taconic Investment Partners. "Aligning our cultural goals with the Lower East Side's burgeoning arts scene wasn't a simple task: we wanted to find a world-class institution, but also an organization that would be accessible to the community, from practicing artists to schoolchildren and their families. ICP will deliver that rare blend to the LES, and really help make Essex Crossing the beating cultural heart of the neighborhood."

"Arts and culture are at the heart of what makes New York City great, so we couldn't be more excited to welcome the International Center of Photography home to Essex Crossing as a cultural anchor," said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President James Patchett. "With this new addition, Lower East Side residents and visitors will soon be able to enjoy a world-renowned museum, photography school, and the historic Essex Street Marketall just a block apart."

Upon completion, Essex Crossing will include 1.9 million square feet of residential, commercial, and community space on nine sites across six acres that had sat mostly vacant since 1967. The project, expected to be complete by 2024, includes 1,079 residential unitsmore than half affordable housingand represents one of the most significant urban renewal developments in the history of New York City.

The addition of ICP positions the project as the new focal point for the arts in a neighborhood with a venerable cultural history, and is one of several ways Essex Crossing will engage a thriving LES arts scene. Just across Essex Street from ICP will be the Market Line, an expansive, bazaar-like marketplace spanning 700 feet along Broome Street at the base of three new buildings that will include 350,000 square feet of Class A office space and a mix of rental and condominium units. At 150,000 square feet, it will be one of the largest marketplaces in the world, and a third of it will be devoted to the local arts, including gallery and performance space. Delancey Street Associates is also working with LES street artists to facilitate large-scale installations within the Market Line and at several exterior locations.

In addition to the arts, the Market Line will include a blend of local fashion and food vendors and a beer hall, and be anchored by the new home of the Essex Street Market. The current market remains open for business until next fall, when its vendors will move into their new state-of-the-art space. The first phase of the Market Line will also open next spring.

ICP's new home will be a four-story building, running a full city block between Ludlow and Essex. The center will also occupy two additional floors in the adjacent residential building at 242 Broome, a 14-story, 55-unit luxury building designed by SHoP Architects and currently under construction. The residential portion of the building is scheduled to open in early 2018.

Classes for the ICP School will continue at the Midtown location through June 2019. The fall 2018 exhibition will be on view at the current ICP Museum location through mid-January 2019. Full schedules to be announced at a later date. Other locations, including ICP at Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, NJ); ICP-Bard MFA Studios (Long Island City, NY); and the ICP Community Partnerships (various locations throughout NYC) will continue to operate in their current locations and roles.

The ICP/Essex Crossing deal was facilitated by the highly experienced real estate law firm DLA Piper and the space will be designed by Gensler, a top-ranked architecture firm known for its work in the art and culture space, including ICP's current Midtown location. The exterior of the ICP space was designed by SHoP, the architect of 242 Broome.

ABOUT ICP

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world's leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to preserve the legacy of "concerned photography"the creation of socially and politically minded images that have the potential to educate and change the world and the center's mission endures today, even as the photographic medium and image making practices have evolved. Through its exhibitions, school, public programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role that photographs, videos, and new media play in our society. To date, it has presented more than 700 exhibitions and offered thousands of classes at every level. ICP brings together photographers, artists, students, and scholars to create and interpret the realm of the image. Here, members of this unique community are encouraged to explore photography and visual culture as mediums of empowerment and as catalysts for wide-reaching social change. Visit icp.org to learn more.

SOURCE International Center of Photography

Related Links

https://www.icp.org


CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to Presence Health's Annual Community Benefit Report, the Catholic health system, one of the largest in Illinois, contributed over $161.3 million in community benefit during 2016. Presence Health's effort helped more than 281,000 people in communities the health system serves with free or discounted medical care, direct financial support, community health programs and education, as well as other services. And while the Affordable Care Act has opened up access to care, its future remains unclear and there are still many in need in the communities served by Presence Health. In accordance with the health system's Catholic mission, Presence Health provides quality, compassionate care to all members of the community regardless of their ability to pay; often achieving this through Community Benefit.

Presence Health community benefit calculations are based on Internal Revenue Service Form 990, Schedule H, the totals include:

Financial Assistance (at cost) - $43 million  the cost of providing free or discounted health services for those who could not afford to pay and met the criteria for financial assistance.

(at cost) -  the cost of providing free or discounted health services for those who could not afford to pay and met the criteria for financial assistance. Medicaid Shortfall (at cost) - $45.2 million  the unpaid costs of public programs for those with low income or disability.

(at cost) -  the unpaid costs of public programs for those with low income or disability. Community Transformation - $73.3 million  programs and activities provided to improve community health, educate health professionals, conduct research studies, provide subsidized clinical services and build community capacity.

To determine the state of health of each community and identify greatest care needs, each Presence Health hospital ministry collaborates with charitable organizations, community health providers, elected officials, business leaders, schools, churches and residents in creating its Community Health Needs Assessment. From Community Health Needs Assessment findings, plans are developed to address the unique health requirements of each community.

Based on Community Health Needs Assessment data, the following themes emerged as priority health needs across the Presence Health service area in 2016.

Behavioral Health

Access to Care

Chronic Disease

Social and Structural Determinants of Health

Additionally, in 2016, Presence Health broadened its Financial Assistance Policy (FPL) to provide greater support for patients in need who are covered by health insurance but unable to meet out-of-pocket expenses. Under the new policy, patients with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines will have zero out-of-pocket expenses for their care, whether they are insured or not, and insured patients below 400% of the FPL will receive steep discounts for out-of-pocket expenses.

"This policy update reaffirms our commitment to the poor and vulnerable in all of our communities and allows our financial assistance programs to respond quickly to national policy changes as coverage gains continue to provide more of our patients with insurance," Presence Health System Vice President, External Affairs Will Snyder commented. "The insurance landscape is in flux, but our financial assistance provides certainty for patients regardless of their insurance status. We are proud to have developed an innovative solution that responds with compassion and flexibility to the needs of those we serve."

Through this policy change, Presence Health supplied more funding for financial assistance as a percent of system revenue in 2016 than any other Catholic health system in the country, with the exception of Ascension Health, the national health system that recently signed a Letter of Intent with Presence Health to merge the health system with Amita Health.

About Presence Health

Presence Health is one of the largest Catholic health systems in Illinois, providing compassionate care to over 4 million people. With over 150 sites of care including 10 hospitals, over 15,000 associates and more than 4,000 medical professionals, Presence Health has annual revenue of $2.6 billion.

SOURCE Presence Health
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania-based Independence LED Lighting and New York-based June Lite KIND Bulbs announce today that they have partnered with the non-profit 501c(3) First Light Project to help families in the aftermath of the recent devastating earthquake in Mexico and the hurricanes that have ravaged Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean Islands. The "Bright Light Relief" program donates solar-powered LED lanterns to help families in need. In areas that have damage to the electricity grid, these lanterns play a particularly key role such as helping children do their homework as well as, in some cases, charge cell phones via USB cable ports.

Highlights on the "Bright Light Relief" program:

By donating through the First Light Project http://www.firstlightproject.org/bright-light-relief each tax-deductible donation of $100 will provide three solar-powered LuminAID lanterns to those in need. These lanterns contain a USB socket allowing for phones to be charged. To ensure that the lanterns make it into the hand of those that are most in need, the First Light Project is engaging its relief network developed over the years of providing LED lighting donations.

When anyone in America, requests energy-saving LED lights for their business through this program, between now and the end of 2017, Independence LED Lighting (www.IndependenceLED.com) will donate a solar LED LuminAID Solar powered lantern, via "Bright Light Relief" for every $100 of its LED tubes and fixtures that are purchased. Independence LED is one of the very first authentic Made in USA manufacturers of LED lighting, celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year.

For Americans that would like energy-saving LED bulbs for their homes or apartments, June Lite KIND Bulbs (www.JuneLite.com) will also donate a LuminAID Solar Powered LED lantern via "Bright Lights Relief" for every traditional LED bulb purchased through this program from June Lite, between now and the end of 2017. To streamline the program, anyone that donates to the non-profit First Light Project, at any level, triggers the lantern donations by Independence LED Lighting and June Lite KIND Bulbs for their LED purchases. Saving energy in America now also helps provide relief to those in distress.

Lois Davidson-(412) 613-5544

Related Images

image1.jpg

First Light Project Logo

image2.png

Independence LED Logo

image3.png

June Lite Logo

SOURCE First Light Project

Related Links

http://www.firstlightproject.org


GAINESVILLE, Fla. and BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Commercialization of Public Research (the Florida Institute) announced today results of a new study conducted by The Washington Economics Group, Inc. (WEG), a boutique economic consulting firm led by nationally recognized business economist Dr. J. Antonio (Tony) Villamil. The study measured economic impacts of the Institute between during FY 2016-17 to update prior years' studies, and concluded that the organization's impact throughout the state of Florida increased significantly as more companies continue to grow, create jobs, raise investment capital and bring innovative products to market.

The Florida Institute works with research partners across the state to create and build new companies and clean jobs in knowledge-based industries that are driving the global economy. By providing support services and seed funding to qualified companies, the Florida Institute enables young companies to develop and launch products in industries that are of strategic importance to the state, including life sciences, information technology, homeland security and defense, logistics and distribution, and manufacturing. Highlights of the new study include:

overall economic impact for FY2016-17 was $340 million , a 35% increase over FY 2015-16

, a 35% increase over FY 2015-16 2,214 total jobs supported in FY2016-17; a total of 6,305 from 2011  2017;

average earnings per direct job created were $79,680 ;

; companies raised in excess of $175 million , inducing capital into Florida that may otherwise have been invested outside the state;

, inducing capital into that may otherwise have been invested outside the state; GDP impacts of $176 million in FY16-17, a total of $511 million over the six-year period.

in FY16-17, a total of over the six-year period. annual return on investment (ROI) to the state of Florida of 26x.

"The economic impacts of the Florida Institute have increased steadily since 2011 due to the support and seed funding that the organization provides to qualified knowledge-based startup companies", said Dr. Tony Villamil, founder and principal of the Washington Economics Group. "These results affect all aspects of the economy including employment, household income, gross domestic product (GDP), and federal, state and local fiscal revenues, making the Florida Institute a key component of the state's economic development strategy, and an important driver of economic vitality and innovation in the state."

"We are extremely proud of the progress made by the companies we are helping to create as they commercialize innovative products developed right here in the state of Florida, said Jackson Streeter, MD, Florida Institute Chief Executive Officer. "Not only do these programs deliver an outstanding return on investment to the state, the entrepreneurs and companies with whom we work are delivering products that truly improve and save lives."

About the Institute

Formed by the Florida Legislature in 2007, the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research is a non-profit organization that works with research partners to leverage a $2.5B+ research base and form investable companies that create clean jobs in new industries that are driving the global economy. With funding from the State of Florida through the Department of Economic Opportunity, and through the generosity of mentors, advisors and donors, the Institute provides company building services, and seed funding through the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund, to promising Florida startups. Seventy-two companies have been funded to date, and the Institute's overall economic impact through June 30, 2017 was $970 million.

About the Washington Economics Group, Inc.

Founded in 1993 in the City of Coral Gables, The Washington Economics Group is a boutique economic consulting firm specializing in comprehensive economic solutions for businesses. WEG engages a limited number of clients each year in order to ensure the best client experience within premiere areas of specialization, and possesses expertise in the economies of Florida, the U.S., Latin America as well as the global economy and emerging markets.

CONTACT:

Jane Teague

Chief Operating Officer

Institute for Commercialization of Public Research

(561) 368-8889

[email protected]

SOURCE Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research

Related Links

http://www.florida-institute.com


PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Janrain, the company that pioneered the Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) category and market leader in Privacy by Design, today announced that it has obtained two of the industry's most comprehensive third-party security certifications, and the only ones designed specifically for the cloud: 1) Cloud Security Alliance Level 2 (CSA) STAR Certification, which verifies that Janrain follows industry-best practices for securing cloud offerings, and 2) the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) 27018:2014 Certification for handling personally identifiable information (PII) data in the cloud. These certifications apply to all services and product offerings associated with Janrain's Identity Cloud product, which provides customers a seamless and secure way to move between web, mobile and IoT-device properties.

Janrain becomes the first CIAM provider to achieve CSA Star Certification, the highest level achievable in CSA's program. Until now, no CIAM provider had exceeded CSA's Level 1 self-assessment, which is simply a questionnaire uploaded by the vendor to the CSA site. By contrast, CSA Level 2 certification entails an in-depth audit by an accredited, independent third party to verify that the company adheres to the highest cloud security standards throughout its operations. ISO 27018 certification confirms that Janrain applies industry best practices when handling PII, which is only going to increase in importance once the EU's General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR) stringent PII-protection decrees go into law May 2018.

"Meeting CSA's and ISO's most exacting security protocols doesn't just benefit Janrain, it assures our clients that their customers' most critical dataupon which their respective businesses are builtis secure with Janrain," said Jim Kaskade, CEO of Janrain. "The monetary and manpower expense of meeting these standards is a drop in the bucket compared to the peace of mind our customers get knowing that the 1.5 billionplus digital identities under Janrain's management are safe."

More than 3,400 Global 1,000 and midsize organizations use Janrain's cloud-based product suitewhich includes social login, registration and profile-data storage, among other offeringsto give their customers a seamless, highly personalized experience across their web, mobile and digital properties. The number of digital customer accounts under Janrain's management is expected to grow furtherthe Identity and Access Management market will reach $14.82 billion by 2021 according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. Janrain was first to market in 2002 and has pioneered almost every major CIAM product development since. By obtaining CSA STAR Level 2 Certification by Attestation and ISO 27018 certification, Janrain once again raises the bar in the CIAM industry while saving CIAM customers the time, money and hassle of performing their own vendor security audits in evaluating choices.

Janrain aims to keep its security measures as ironclad as possible. In order to make this transparent and attestable for clients, Janrain maintains more security assurance programs than any other CIAM vendor. In addition to the new CSA STAR Level 2 and ISO 27018 certifications, Janrain also maintains and is audited or assessed for certification/compliance with ISO 27001:2013, SOC 2 Type II (in addition to the Security Common Criteria, Janrain is compliant for the Availability and Confidentiality Trust SOC 2 Trust Principles), HIPAA (storage of healthcare data), HITECH (transmission of healthcare data), US-EU Privacy Shield Framework and the TRUSTe privacy program. Janrain is Open ID connect (OIDC)certified, GDPR-ready and compliant with many other security/privacy regulations, such as COPPA, PIPEDA, and CFR (Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, Part 11).

CSA STAR's security-assurance program is built on principles of transparency, rigorous auditing and harmonization of standards in order to promote best practices and validation of security posture of cloud offerings.

About Janrain

Founded in 2002, Janrain pioneered Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) and is widely recognized by industry analysts as a global CIAM leader. The Janrain Identity Cloud provides identity management, security and activation solutions that enable seamless and safe customer experiences across their digitally connected world, while providing enterprise organizations with deep customer insights. Janrain's identity capabilities include social and traditional login and registration, single sign-on, customer profile data storage and management, customer segments, customer insights and engagement solutions. The company powers brands like Pfizer, Samsung, Whole Foods, Fox News, Philips, McDonald's and Dr Pepper. Janrain is based in Portland, Oregon, with offices in London, Paris and Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit www.janrain.com and follow @janrain.

Media Contact:

Chris Blake

MSR Communications

Phone: 1-415-989-9000

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Janrain

Related Links

http://www.janrain.com


WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tomorrow, the Job Creators Network will join together with business, political, and industry leaders from across the country in an open letter pressuring Congress to pass significant tax cuts for small businesses and the middle class now. The two-page spread advertisement in The Hill is running tomorrow and is part of JCN's multi-million dollar campaign that includes TV, radio, and print advertisements, as well as a nationwide bus tour and a tax cuts petition housed at TaxCutsNow.com.

The letter is signed by over 60 organization heads and leadersincluding JCN President and CEO, Alfredo Ortiz, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, Former Senior Economic Adviser to the Trump Campaign, Stephen Moore, President of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, and Honorary Chairman of Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity, Steve Forbes. Signers also include power players from the restaurant, hospitality, tourism, and construction industries, as well as leaders of other business and political advocacy groups.

View the full-page open letter in The Hill here

Read the text of the open letter below:

For too long, American businesses of all sizes and hardworking Americans have been struggling under high federal tax rateswhich for some small businesses can be as high as 40 percent. This burden is having a crippling effect on their ability to expand and contribute to economic growth.

According to a recent national poll of small business owners, a majority would use the savings from tax cuts to create more jobs, raise wages, and expand into new product fields and locations. This is what drives economic growth and tax cuts are necessary to spur this expansion.

Small business is the backbone of the economy with two-thirds of new jobs being created by small businesses. There are 29 million small businesses in America employing 56 million people that's 85 million Americans depending on the success of small business. It's time to give them a break.

We urge you to support the Unified Framework for Fixing our Broken Tax Code, which we believe will provide a much-needed economic boost to American businesses and the hardworking employees that make their operations possible.

Let's bring prosperity back to Main Street once again.

Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO, released the following statement:

The job creators have spoken and it's time to answer their call. By uniting together in support of small business and middle class tax cuts, our political capital increases exponentially and amplifies our voice so Congress hears our message loud and clear. Our lawmakers must put party politics aside and rescue small businesses from the high federal tax rate they have been subject to for years. If accomplished, our nation's small business entrepreneurswho create two-thirds of all new jobscan expand and extend the American Dream to so many more people. Tax Cuts is not a partisan issue. It's a win-win policy everyone should get behind. Together, we can strengthen Main Street and the 29 million small businesses that make it up.

Job Creators Network (JCN) is a national small business advocacy organization. JCN is the voice of Main Street and holds politicians accountable to job creators and workers alike. For more information, please visit www.JobCreatorsNetwork.com.

SOURCE Job Creators Network

Related Links

https://www.jobcreatorsnetwork.com


INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Celadon Group, Inc. ("Celadon" or the "Company") (NYSE: CGI) today announced the appointment of Kathleen L. Ross to its Board of Directors. The Board has determined that Ms. Ross is an "independent director" under NYSE Rule 303A.02.

Ms. Ross retired from Bank of America in September 2016, where she served as a Senior Vice President in the bank's transportation and logistics group since 2008. Ms. Ross was also designated to the investment banking divisions, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated since 2010, and Bank of America Securities LLC since 2009. Ms. Ross previously worked as a Senior Vice President at LaSalle Bank, from 2003 until it was acquired by Bank of America in 2008, and at ABN Amro from 1994 to 2003. Prior to joining ABN Amro Ms. Ross worked for First National Bank of Chicago from 1989 to 1994 and for Bank of America from 1982 to 1989. Ms. Ross has experience in arranging financing, optimizing capital structures, arranging and advising on public and private equity and debt offerings, and advising companies on strategy, market conditions, and management of financial and other risks. Throughout her career, Ms. Ross has specialized in serving the transportation, logistics, and supply chain industry. In addition, Ms. Ross has served as a member of Northwestern University's Transportation Center's Business Advisory Council since 2008. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan, as well as an M.B.A. in finance and accounting from Columbia University.

Michael Miller, Chairman of the Board, commented: "Kathleen's vast experience as a senior officer of one of the world's largest financial institutions will assist us in areas that are critical to the success of our Company, including fortifying our capital structure and financial position. With over 30 years of experience in transportation finance, I am confident that she will be invaluable in guiding our newly strengthened management team as it works to execute our strategic initiatives."

About Celadon

Celadon Group, Inc. (www.celadongroup.com), through its subsidiaries, provides long haul, regional, local, dedicated, intermodal, temperature-protect, and expedited freight service across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Company also owns Celadon Logistics Services, which provides freight brokerage services, freight management, as well as supply chain management solutions, including logistics, warehousing, and distribution.

This press release contains certain statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those sections and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such statements may be identified by their use of terms or phrases, including "expects," "expected," "will," "would be," "intends," "believes," and similar terms and phrases. Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, which could cause future events and actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. In this press release, statements relating to our future capital structure, financial position, and execution of our strategic initiatives, among others, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Readers should review and consider factors that could impact results as provided in various disclosures by the Company in its press releases, stockholder reports, and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For more information :

Joe Weigel

Director of Communications

(317) 972-7006 Direct

[email protected]

SOURCE Celadon Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.celadongroup.com


DALLAS, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) will webcast a discussion of its third quarter 2017 results at 9 a.m. CDT on Monday, October 23. Chairman and CEO Thomas Falk, President and COO Michael Hsu, and Senior Vice President and CFO Maria Henry will participate in the live webcast. A news release detailing the results will be issued via PR Newswire and First Call earlier that same day.

A link to the broadcast and related presentation slides will be provided through the Investors section of Kimberly-Clark's website at www.kimberly-clark.com.

Kimberly-Clark will continue to post the date of future quarterly earnings releases and related webcasts on its website. Interested stockholders and others should monitor the website for these announcements.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust Kimberly-Clark brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No.1 or No. 2 share positions in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest news and learn more about the company's 145-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

[KMB-F]

SOURCE Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Related Links

http://www.kimberly-clark.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP alerts investors that it is investigating Kobe Steel Ltd. (OTHER OTC: KBSTY) for possible securities law violations. If you purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Kobe Steel before October 10, 2017 and suffered losses contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP. For more information visit:

https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/KBSTY

or contact Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling 510-725-3000 or emailing

[email protected].

On October 10, 2017, TheStreet reported in an article entitled "Kobe Steel Shares Are Getting Torn to Shreds After New Scandal Emerges" that the group revealed it falsified data on the strength and durability of copper and aluminum shipments to customers for as much as a decade.

According to TheStreet Kobe explained "[a] portion of the products traded with customers did not comply with the product specifications which were agreed between the Company and its customers" and "[d]ata in inspection certificates had been improperly rewritten etc., and the products were shipped as having met the specifications concerned." Kobe reportedly stated the falsifications may have occurred over a period of ten years.

This news drove the price of Kobe securities down $1.30 to close at $4.00 on October 10, 2017  a loss of over 24%.

"We're focused on the matters leading up to Kobe's emergency quality audit findings triggering the Company's belated disclosures and the damages inflicted on Kobe investors," said Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Kobe Steel should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower Program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email [email protected].

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a national investor-rights law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington with 11 offices across the country. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw.

Contact:

Reed Kathrein, 510-725-3000

SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

Related Links

https://www.hbsslaw.com


LONDON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Latin American bio-fertilizers market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15.0% from 2014 to 2019. In Latin America, the remarkable biotechnological growth in the field of fermentation technology is expected to aid the growth of the bio-fertilizers market in the region. These developments have led to the production of better quality bio-fertilizers. Advanced molecular biology has enabled the fermentation process to be economical and streamlined for commercial level production.







Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4167871







In this report, the Latin American bio-fertilizers market has been segmented based on major applications, such as cereals & grains, oilseeds & pulses, fruits & vegetables, and others. Cereals & grains is projected to be the fastest-growing segment of the market during the forecast period of 2014 to 2019. The in-depth analysis of the Latin American bio-fertilizers market by type such as nitrogen-fixing, phosphate solubilizing, and potash mobilizing has also been discussed in this report.



The Latin American bio-fertilizers market is dominated by Brazil, followed by Argentina. In Brazil, the market for bio-fertilizers is expanding, due to strong commercial appeal related to its benefits to soil and the environment. The rising emphasis by government agencies and increasing health conscious population are expected to drive the Latin American bio-fertilizers market.



Novozymes A/S (Denmark), Antibotice S.A., and Rhizobacter Argentina SA (Argentina) are the major firms operating in the Latin American bio-fertilizers market in the region. These companies are developing market strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, new product development and expansion to increase their market share in this market.







Reasons to Buy the Report:



From an insight perspective, this research report has focused on various levels of analysisindustry analysis, market share analysis of top players, company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging and high-growth segments of the Latin America bio-fertilizers market, regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



The report will enrich both established firms as well as new entrants/smaller firms to analyze the market. This in turn will help the firms to achieve higher market share. Firms purchasing the report could use any one or combination of the below mentioned five strategies (market penetration, product development/innovation, market development, market diversification, and competitive assessment) for strengthening their market share.



The report provides insights into the following pointers:



-Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on bio-fertilizers offered by the top 10 players in the Latin American market



-Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights into upcoming technologies, research and development activities, and new product launches in the Latin American bio-fertilizers market



-Market Development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets. The report analyzes the markets for various application of bio-fertilizers across Latin America



-Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Latin American bio-fertilizers market



-Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of leading players in the Latin American bio-fertilizers market



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4167871



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

https://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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"Amy is an established mergers and acquisitions lawyer on both sides of the Atlantic," said Angela Styles , chair of Crowell & Moring. "Her addition enhances the firm's capabilities to advise clients on complex cross-border joint ventures and investments in emerging markets across EMEA and Asia. We are pleased to welcome her to the firm."

Comer's global and U.S. clients span multiple industries, including technology, media, telecommunications, energy, life sciences, insurance, and financial services. In the energy sector, she negotiates and drafts wholesale power purchase and tolling agreements, natural gas sales and purchase agreements, and energy hedging (derivative) agreements. Additionally, she counsels media clients on copyright, trademark, and licensing issues related to the distribution and licensing of films, television programs, and music. She also advises clients in the technology and telecommunications industry on software licenses, technology development agreements, privacy policies, and website terms of use.

"Amy's reputation for deftly handling sophisticated transactions in emerging international markets is well known, particularly in the energy and healthcare sectors," said Morris F. DeFeo Jr., co-chair of the firm's Corporate Group. "She is highly regarded by clients who rely on her counsel to offer exceptional value from a business and legal perspective. Her addition provides an important capability to our Corporate Group."

Jack Thomas, managing partner of the firm's London office, said of Comer: "Amy's presence solidifies our corporate depth in London, adding to our already notable office capabilities in insurance, sanctions, and arbitration."

Comer joins the firm from Morgan Lewis, where she was instrumental in building its corporate practice in London. She has been recognized in recent years by Legal 500 UK and Chambers Global.

"I'm excited to join Crowell & Moring's distinguished group of lawyers," Comer said. "I am eager to help grow the firm's corporate presence in London and expand our work in emerging markets."

Comer earned her J.D. from Tulane University Law School and her B.A. from Utah State University. She is admitted to practice in England & Wales and in New York.

About Crowell & Moring's Corporate Group

Crowell & Moring's Corporate Group is an interdisciplinary team of corporate and regulatory lawyers that offers a full-service corporate practice with an emphasis on M&A, joint ventures and strategic partnerships, corporate securities and finance and complex outsourcing, IP, and commercial arrangements. The group works with large international and domestic public companies, mid-sized and emerging businesses, privately held firms, private equity sponsors and hedge funds, investment firms, and high net-worth individuals across a wide range of industries. It is adept at operating in industries such as healthcare, defense and other government contracts, financial services, manufacturing, automotive, retail/consumer goods, energy, life sciences, and high tech.

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with approximately 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, London, and Brussels.

Media Contact:

An Pham

Manager, Media PR & Communications

+1 202.508.8740

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Crowell & Moring LLP

Related Links

http://www.crowell.com


"This magnificent model, recently appraised for $35 million, is now back in America. In cooperation with the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, it will have a one day only public viewing," stated Rod Maly, co-owner of the work. "This will be only the fourth time since its unveiling in 2012 that the work will be publicly displayed. We are excited to team with Red Rock Resort, a beautiful property and a wonderful venue for the event," Maly added.

The public is invited to view Horse and Rider on Sunday November 5 from 3PM -6PM in the hotel rotunda area, directly upstairs from the hotel lobby at Red Rock Resort, located at 11011 W. Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89135. Admission is free.

"For this artistic achievement to be preserved for centuries is remarkable," added J.W. Petty, partner, and co-owner with Maly. "To think, a work like this could have easily disappeared from existence."

The history of the artwork is fascinating, having passed from several prestigious European collections to being saved from Nazi looting during World War II. A five-minute film documents the history of the sculpture from its creation in 1508 to the present day. VIEW FILM NOW: www.DaVinciHorseandRider.com

Future plans to publicly display the work have not been disclosed at this time. "The sculpture will reside in a vault for now until we can determine how best to share 'Horse and Rider' with the world," Petty added. "We are excited to show this masterwork in Las Vegas, another step in telling its incredible story to the world."

About 'Horse and Rider'

An early maquette for an unfinished monument, 'Horse and Rider' features a rider in full military regalia on horseback. Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 before he could complete the larger project, leaving 'Horse and Rider' to his star pupil, Francesco Melzi. The work remained with the Melzi family in Italy. It was later removed to Switzerland for safekeeping before the onset of WWII.

In 1985, world renowned Leonardo expert Dr.Carlo Pedretti, was called on to verify its authenticity. After in-depth analysis, Pedretti declared in writing, "In my opinion this wax model is by Leonardo himself." Photos of the model appear in the Catalogue Raisonne of Leonardo's drawings known as the "Queen's Collection at Windsor Castle, Horses and Other Animals". The beeswax model is also well documented in the scholarly work "Leonardo da Vinci; Scientist, Inventor, Artist" by Otto Letze and Thomas Buchsteiner. More recently, Leonardo scholar Ernesto Solari published the first complete study dedicated to the work, Leonardo da Vinci HORSE AND RIDER.

Las Vegas based Art encounter is the exclusive representative of Horse and Rider. Art encounter has been a destination for discerning fine art collectors since 1992. Art encounter offers a wide range of services to include fine art consulting and appraisals as well as award-winning picture framing. The owner of Horse and Rider is Silver Point Holdings, LLC, managed by J.W. Petty, retired airline executive, and Rod Maly, CEO, Art encounter.

For more information contact:

Scott Ferguson  [email protected]

702-227-0220

www.DaVinciHorseandRider.com

Lori Nelson - Station Casinos-Red Rock Resort

702-495-4248 [email protected]

SOURCE Da Vinci Horse and Rider

Related Links

http://www.davincihorseandrider.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The global liquid biopsy market should reach $4.5 billion by 2022 from $1.5 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.2%, from 2017 to 2022.





Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03596607





 The global noncancer market is expected to grow from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2.6 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 15.2% for the period 2017-2022.

 The global cancer market is expected to grow from $229.3 million in 2017 to $1.9 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 52.4% for the period 2017-2022.



Chapter 1: Introduction

Study Goals and Objectives

BCC Research's goal for this study is to provide an in-depth update study of the liquid biopsy diagnostics industry, an emerging industry with high market potential. The global market is analyzed by application, biomarker type, analysis platform, analysis purpose and geography. The market sizes are given for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).



Market segments that provide exceptional growth opportunities include cancer therapy guidance and monitoring and organ transplant surveillance.



The report provides a comprehensive discussion of liquid biopsy technologies, clinical applications, industry structure, liquid biopsy funding initiatives, global markets, patent status and companies. The report is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of the industry and markets and aid companies in their strategic planning efforts relating to life science tools and diagnostics.



Reasons for Doing This Study

Traditional biopsy methods are often invasive, uncomfortable and carry risks of side effects. Liquid biopsy addresses these issues because it is noninvasive and carries little, if any, side effect risks.



In the age of genomics and personalized medicine, it is critical for clinicians to have diagnostic tools that can be used on a regular basis to screen, monitor, conduct surveillance, guide treatment or otherwise give valuable genomic information about a disease. Liquid biopsy provides this capability and thus is of high interest to the medical community.



Liquid-biopsy-enabling technologies are coming to the forefront and provide significant market growth momentum to the industry. Downstream analysis technologies like next-generation sequencing and digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are progressing in capabilities, efficiency, and costs. Upstream technologies like microfluidics, cell-free deoxyribo nucleic acid (DNA) capture and isolation, cell capture, and DNA amplification are also making significant progress.



Liquid biopsy is also gaining significant traction with key opinion leaders, medical societies and insurance payors.



As a result, liquid biopsy is penetrating into attractive clinical applications, including average-risk noninvasive prenatal testing and cancer therapy guidance and monitoring.



Based on these trends, liquid biopsy markets are rapidly emerging and the need for industry and market characterization is great.



The outstanding growth potential for liquid biopsy diagnostics makes it particularly timely for preparing this updated report.



Scope of Report

The scope of the report includes liquid biopsy technologies, applications, industry subsegments, biomarker technologies, major funding initiatives, patents and companies. The market sizes for liquid biopsy diagnostics are given for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).



This report reviews liquid biopsy biomarkers and technologies and provides background on why liquid biopsy is increasingly viewed as a replacement for, or a companion to, tissue biopsy. It then discusses several of the significant large-scale research initiatives that are contributing to liquid biopsy development. Market driving forces are also discussed.



The structure of several important industry subsectors is reviewed, as well as major industry acquisitions and strategic alliances from January 2016 through July 2017. Industry subsectors analyzed include next- generation sequencing (NGS) instruments, droplet digital PCR, target enrichment and amplification, single-cell DNA polymerase, prenatal screening, liquid biopsy, direct to consumer, and clinical laboratory.



The market for liquid biopsy diagnostics is analyzed in depth. The market is analyzed by application (cancer, reproductive health, transplant), biomarker type (nucleic acids, cells, extracellular vesicles, proteins), analysis platform (microarray, NGS, PCR, proteomics and other), analysis purpose (screening/early detection, diagnosis, therapy guidance, monitoring) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest of World). Market data cover the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).

More than 165 companies in the liquid biopsy industry are profiled in this report.



BCC Research provides a summary of the main industry acquisitions and strategic alliances from January 2016 through July 2017, including key alliance trends.



Information Sources

BCC Research performed both primary and secondary research for this report. Primary sources included industry companies and leading research institutions and secondary sources included company websites and industry, trade and government publications.



Methodology

Both primary and secondary sources were consulted for this report, and a study of the industry trends was performed. BCC Research examined each of the key enduser market segments that will be commercially important during the forecast period: cancer, transplant medicine and reproductive health.



Based on this analysis, the current and future applications of liquid biopsy products are evaluated in each of the major clinical market segments and historical sales revenues are given for 2015 and 2016, estimated revenues are given for 2017, and forecast revenues are given for 2022.



Geographic Breakdown

In this report, the geographic regions considered for market analysis include, and only include:



North America

 U.S.

 Mexico.

 Canada.



Europe

 Austria.

 Belgium.

 Czech Republic.

 Denmark.

 Estonia.

 France.

 Finland.

 Germany.

 Greece.

 Hungary.

 Iceland.

 Italy.

 Ireland.

 Luxembourg.

 Netherlands.

 Norway.

 Poland.

 Portugal.

 Romania.

 Spain.

 Sweden.

 Switzerland.

 Turkey.

 U.K.



Asia-Pacific

 Australia.

 China.

 Hong Kong.

 India.

 Japan.

 Malaysia.

 New Zealand.

 Philippines.

 Singapore.

 South Korea.



 Taiwan.

 Thailand.



Rest of World

 Argentina.

 Brazil.

 Chile.

 Israel.

 Kuwait.

 Russia.

 Saudi Arabia.

 South Africa.

 United Arab Emirates.



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Application

Cancer

Reproductive Health

Transplant Medicine



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Biomarker Type

Nucleic Acids

Cells

Extracellular Vesicles

Proteins



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Analysis Platform

Microarray

NGS

PCR

Proteomics

Other



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Analysis Purpose

Screening/Early Detection

Diagnosis

Therapy Guidance

Monitoring



Chapter 2: Summary and Highlights

Liquid biopsy is rapidly gaining traction as a supplement or alternative to doing a tissue biopsy for applications in reproductive health, cancer and transplant medicine. The liquid biopsy captures and analyzes biomarkers, mostly cell-free DNA, found in body fluids, most often in blood.



In the noninvasive prenatal testing market, liquid biopsy has achieved significant penetration in the high-risk pregnancy segment and is moving into the low-risk sector.



In cancer, liquid biopsy is gaining significant market traction. Two trends stand ou agnostic labeling strategy for cancer drugs is driving the use of liquid biopsy companion diagnostics. An example of the former trend is the agreement in June 2017 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a liquid biopsy test, PlasmaSelect 64, to advanced cancer patients being treated at its facilities.



An example of the latter trend is the expanded approval in May 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the checkpoint inhibitor drug Keytruda (Merck, pembrolizumab) for advanced cancer patients with microsatellite instability or mismatch repair deficiency. This approval highlighted a new paradigm in cancer care, where the patient is treated based on specific genomic defects rather than on the organ of origin. This will boost the market for molecular diagnostics that can detect these genomic markers and be used to guide treatment decisions associated with these drugs.



The global liquid biopsy market is estimated to be $1.5 billion in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate 24.2% to reach a forecast size of $4.5 billion by the year 2022.



The two main applications for liquid biopsy are cancer and noncancer (reproductive health and organ transplant diagnostics).



The global cancer market is estimated to be $229.3 million in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 52.4% to reach a forecast size of almost $1.9 billion by 2022.



Key growth sectors in the liquid biopsy cancer market include tests for lung cancer, pan-cancer tests that can detect cancer recurrence, and tests that can provide real-time assessment of disease progression or drug response. Liquid biopsy gives physicians a key tool for assessing whether a patient is taking the right drug in light of a wider choice of therapies coming onto the market.



The global noncancer market is estimated at nearly $1.3 billion in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.2% to reach a forecast size of $2.6 billion by 2022.



Driving this market has been the success of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for high-risk pregnancies.

Test providers are focusing on the low-risk sector as well as on test differentiation as strategies to maintain growth.



A third high-potential market sector for liquid biopsy is for organ transplantation diagnostics. In this market, there is a strong need for noninvasive diagnostics that can detect the early onset of organ rejection so that immunosuppression can be optimized.



Circulating cell-free DNA is fast emerging as the predominant biomarker for liquid biopsy for all market segments. This creates a market opportunity for companies who have or can develop proprietary technologies for improving the workflow for capturing, detecting and analyzing this biomarker type.



The liquid biopsy industry is dynamic and gaining substantial traction in its three main clinical market segments. This report provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of this industry, which is undergoing exceptional growth and promises to transform medical treatment and surveillance strategies.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03596607



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of last week's Route 91 tragedy, two Las Vegasbased organizations are teaming up to help local residents learn valuable crisis preparation skills. Nevada Benefits and military nonprofit American Dream U are hosting "Stay Safe: Personal Safety Workshop" this week. The event will also benefit the Las Vegas Victims' Fund.

Nevada Benefits American Dream U

Open to all ages, the workshop will take place Wednesday, October 11, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Heinrich YMCA, 4141 Meadows Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89107. The event is free, with a suggested minimum donation of $25.00 to support the Las Vegas Victims' Fund. Nevada Benefits Corporation will match the first $5,000.00 in donations.

A SWAT operator and a retired special operations combat veteran will co-lead the workshop, which will focus on basic safety, crisis preparation and threat awareness and assessment.

"Due to the horrific events of October 1 that took the lives of 58 people and injured almost 500, it is extremely important for everyone to have the tools and awareness to protect themselves and others in a crisis or disaster situation," says Nevada Benefits Corporation and American Dream U founder Phil Randazzo. "The goal of this workshop is to provide essential safety skills and build the confidence of individuals to feel more prepared in worst-case scenarios."

Those interested in attending "Stay Safe: Personal Safety Workshop" can register on the Eventbrite page or the American Dream U Facebook page.

About American Dream U

American Dream U is a nonprofit dedicated to helping our military get the education and resources they need to find their dream job or to start a business. Overall we are a team dedicated to bridging the gap between military and civilian life. The arsenal of tools we provide is always growing and it includes national events, professional leadership and mentorship speeches, monthly meet-ups, an online educational program, a transition book that highlights veteran success stories, and a start-up accelerator program. To learn more, please visit http://americandreamu.org/

About Nevada Benefits

Nevada Benefits Corporation takes care of all areas of Benefits including Life, Disability, Long Term care, Medicare, 401k and Retirement. They service all health insurance companies including the Nevada Health Link.

Media Contact

Jess Holland

702-233-2366

[email protected]

SOURCE Nevada Benefits and American Dream U

Related Links

http://americandreamu.org


(MTADS/PNVS) systems and services to the United States , United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .

The awards are part of an initial task order under a new indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract signed with the U.S. Army. The ID/IQ, with at least $2 billion in potential orders and a five-year period of performance, serves as the contracting vehicle to provide MTADS/PNVS systems and services to U.S. and international customers.

"Lockheed Martin is committed to a strong and sustained partnership with our customers in the United States and around the world," said Paul Lemmo, vice president of Fire Control/Special Operations Forces Contractor Logistics Support Services at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "This contract enables us to respond rapidly to their emerging defense needs, including requirements for new M-TADS/PNVS systems and upgrades."

Under an order for the U.S. Army, Lockheed Martin is providing upgrade kits for the MTADS/PNVS Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) and Modernized Laser Range Finder Designator. For the U.K. Ministry of Defence, it is delivering M-DSA upgrade kits for M-TADS/PNVS refurbishment as part of a remanufacture effort to upgrade D-model Apaches to E models. For the Saudi Ministry of National Guard, it is providing MTADS/PNVS systems for new E-model Apaches.

M-TADS/PNVS, known as the "eyes of the Apache," provides pilots with long-range, precision engagement and pilotage capabilities for safe flight during day, night and adverse weather missions. M-DSA increases M-TADS/PNVS designation and ranging capabilities to fully accommodate current weapons and those planned for the future. The upgraded sensor enables Apache pilots to see high-resolution, high-definition, near-infrared and color imagery on cockpit displays. M-DSA also provides a new laser pointer marker that improves coordination with ground troops, and an updated multi-mode laser with eye-safe range designation that supports flight in urban environments and critical training exercises.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three Penn State alumni, including the founder and CEO of digital communications firm Lumentus, a faculty member and an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist earned the top annual awards from the university's Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications Alumni Society Board.

The awards were presented earlier in October on the University Park campus. Those selected for the honors were:

Laurence Moskowitz , a 1973 journalism graduate, who earned the Alumni Achievement Award;

, a 1973 journalism graduate, who earned the Alumni Achievement Award; Tony Mancuso , a 2008 advertising/public relations graduate, who earned the Emerging Professional Award;

, a 2008 advertising/public relations graduate, who earned the Emerging Professional Award; David Skidmore , a 1979 journalism and history graduate, who earned the Outstanding Alumni Award;

, a 1979 journalism and history graduate, who earned the Outstanding Alumni Award; Nancy Eshelman , a columnist for the Harrisburg Patriot-News and PennLive.con, who was named as recipient of the Douglas A. Anderson Communications Contributor Award; and

, a columnist for the Harrisburg Patriot-News and PennLive.con, who was named as recipient of the Douglas A. Anderson Communications Contributor Award; and Ann Marie Major , an associate professor in the Bellisario College who earned the Excellence in Teaching Award.

Alumni Achievement, Laurence Moskowitz

Moskowitz, who was named one of the 10 most influential public relations executives of the 20th Century by PR Week magazine and honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for communications in 1999, received the award for Alumni Achievement.

Regarded as an expert in crisis communications, issues management and strategic corporate communications, Moskowitz founded the New York-based Lumentus in 2009 after recognizing that technology and client service needs were changing how public relations, marketing and advertising firms must operate.

A communications pioneer, Moskowitz has leveraged emerging technologies throughout his career to provide business and professional communicators with more powerful and effective means of reaching their audiences. Prior to Lumentus, Moskowitz founded Medialink, then the world's largest provider of video-based media communications services to Fortune 500 companies.

As chairman and CEO of Medialink, Moskowitz forged strategic alliances with The Associated Press and Nielsen to create the first professional distribution network linking corporations and other organizations with television broadcasters nationwide. Medialink, which he took public in a 1997 IPO led by Dean Witter -- now Morgan Stanley  and then expanded to 18 offices and nearly 400 employees, won hundreds of public relations industry awards, and was successfully merged into a successor company in 2009.

Moskowitz holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Penn State, where he was Kappa Tau Alpha in communications. He began his career as a reporter and editor with United Press International.

Emerging Professional, Tony Mancuso

Tony Mancuso is in his second season with the New York Jets, serving as manager, digital media services. He oversees all aspects of NewYorkJets.com, including day-to-day editorial, video and photo content coverage of the Jets.

Outstanding Alumni, David Skidmore

Dave Skidmore serves as a media relations officer and speech editor for the Federal Reserve Board, which he joined in 1999 after a career in journalism. He works in a collaborative team-oriented environment, focusing more on media relations and editing than on writing.

Anderson Communications Contributor, Nancy Eshelman

Nancy Eshelman has been writing a weekly column for the Harrisburg Patriot-News since 1989. She began her career with Lancaster Newspapers and joined the Patriot-News in 1985. She's been a reporter and an assistant city editor, but her heart has always been in her column.

Excellence in Teaching, Ann Marie Major

Ann Marie Major has taught a wide range of communications courses -- from capstone, senior-level advertising and public relations courses to first-year seminars -- during her tenure at Penn State. This semester she is teaching multiple sections of public relations campaigns. She has also served as the adviser of the University's chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America.

About Lumentus

Lumentus is a digital marketing and communications firm based in New York that helps its clients manage their brands, protect their reputations and improve their perceptions across target and stakeholder audiences. The firm's principals are leading practitioners in the areas of corporate communications, public relations and public affairs, digital reputation management, social media, crisis communications, advertising and branding.

For more information on the firm's capabilities and case histories, visit www.lumentus.com

SOURCE Lumentus

Related Links

http://www.lumentus.com


SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation ("MagnaChip") (NYSE: MX) will hold a conference call Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 5 p.m. EDT to discuss the Company's third quarter 2017 financial results. Participating in the call will be YJ Kim, MagnaChip's CEO and Jonathan Kim, Executive Vice President and CFO. The earnings press release will be issued after the market closes that day.

The conference call will be webcast live and also is available by dialing toll-free at 1-844-536-5472. International call-in participants can dial toll-free at 1-614-999-9318. The conference ID number is 98596895. Participants are encouraged to initiate their calls at least 10 minutes in advance of the 5 p.m. EDT start time to ensure a timely connection. The webcast and earnings release will be accessible at www.magnachip.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available the same day and will run for 72 hours. The replay dial-in numbers are 1-404-537-3406 or toll-free at 1-855-859-2056. The access code is 98596895.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor

MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The Company's Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Groups provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with over 30 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,300 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. Information on or accessible through, MagnaChip's website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this release.

CONTACTS:

In the United States: Bruce Entin Investor Relations Tel. +1.408.625.1262 [email protected] In Korea: Chankeun Park Director, Public Relations Tel. +82.2.6903.3195 [email protected]

SOURCE MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation

Related Links

http://www.magnachip.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chapter 1: Introduction

The global market for magnets and magnetic materials has been increasing at an average rate of 7.8%, due to the demands from the intermediate as well as end-user industries. To assess the market, magnets and permanent magnets have been divided into four major types: alnico, neodymium, Samarium-cobalt and ferrite/ceramic. Soft magnets have been divided into three types: electrical steel, soft ferrite and other alloys. Alnico magnets are alloys, with aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) present in large amounts.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05136790



These magnets primarily find their applications in instruments and meters, generators and ignition systems.

Neodymium or neodymium-iron-boron magnets belong to the rare earth family of magnets (due to the presence of rare earth elements in these magnets such as neodymium and dysprosium). These magnets are considered the strongest magnets available in the world. Neodymium magnets primarily find their applications in electronic motors; generators; medical devices; sonic equipment, magnetic sensors, transducers, meters and instruments; consumer electronics (cell phones, disk drives, and home appliances); and others.



Samarium-cobalt magnets also belong to the rare earth family of magnets in which samarium and cobalt are the main elements. These magnets possess high magnetic properties, and the ability to operate under very high temperatures. These magnets primarily find their applications in industries such as automobile, marine, medical, and aerospace and defense.

Ferrite magnets are also known as ceramic magnets. These magnets consist of iron oxide in addition to either barium carbonate or strontium as raw materials. These magnets primarily find their applications in sonic equipment, motors, magnetic separators and couplings, and other industrial purposes.



The steel segment, which consists of electrical steel, cold-rolled lamination steel, and amorphous steel, has the largest market shares.

For any application at high frequency, soft ferrites are used since they are ceramic insulators with a minimal loss of eddy current. These materials are ferrimagnetic, with a cubic crystal structure and the general composition would be MO.Fe2O3, where M is a transition metal such as nickel, manganese or zinc.



MnZn ferrite is sold commercially as ferroxcube, and is applicable at frequencies up to 10 MHz, for example, in telephone signal transmitters and receivers and in switch mode power supplies or DC-DC converters. For these types of applications, high frequency is used to allow miniaturization.



Other alloys used as soft magnetic materials are amorphous alloys, nickel-iron alloys, silicon-iron alloys, iron-cobalt alloys, ferritic chromium-iron alloys and niobium-tin alloy.

The major drivers behind the growth of the global market of magnets and magnetic materials are: the growth in the global automotive industry, increasing reliance on electronic devices around the world, and increasing applications and demands for industrial purposes such as in renewable energy, healthcare, aerospace, defense and IT industries.



Study Goals and Objectives

The goal of this report is to provide a detailed, comprehensive, multi-client study of the worldwide market for magnets and their materials along with emerging technologies and potential business opportunities in the future. Objectives include a thorough coverage of the underlying economic issues driving the magnet business, as well as assessments of new and potential technologies, products and services developed by leading companies in this field. Another important objective is to provide realistic market data and forecasts for worldwide demand of magnet products and materials.



This report starts with an overview of the chemistry and physics of magnet and the processes used to produce magnet products, and then moves on to the specific applications of magnetic materials. It describes the market's growth, the developing technology trends, industry leaders, and applications for these magnet products in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and the Rest of the World

(RoW).



Reasons for Doing This Study

The current demands of automotive, electronics, electrical, industrial, home appliances and medical devices around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe regions, is increasing the demands of both permanent magnets and soft magnets.



China is the world's largest producer of all types of magnets, particularly with a high control over rare earth magnets. Due to the high degree of dependence on China for raw materials for magnets, as well as the magnets themselves, global consumers must understand the dynamics of the global industry of magnets to make informed decisions about sourcing, supplier engagement and alternatives.



A comprehensive study on the global industry of magnets and magnetic materials is extremely important in understanding the crucial role that magnets play in enabling the technologies that are important for the future, such as hybrid vehicles, "green" energy and advanced consumer electronics.



Scope of Report

The scope of this report is broad and covers two types of magnets used globally: soft magnets and permanent magnets. They have been classified in terms of their magnetic properties and their uses.



There are four types of permanent magnets based on the magnetic materials used for production: alnico, neodymium, samarium-cobalt and ferrite. Each of these is further divided on the basis of production processes, which primarily are termed sintering and bonding. The major applications of permanent magnets are in electric motors; generators; medical devices; sonic equipment, magnetic sensors and transducers; and consumer electronics.



The market for each type of permanent magnet in these applications and the market for each type of permanent magnet by region is also covered in this report. Additional breakdowns on the basis of global consumption in each end-user industry, which includes automotive, industrial, medical and home appliances, are also covered. The revenue forecasts from 2017 to 2022 are explained for each type of permanent magnet by production process, application and region.



Soft magnetic materials are divided into three types: electrical steel, soft ferrite and others. Other alloys used as soft magnetic material are amorphous alloys, nickel-iron alloys, silicon-iron alloy, iron-cobalt alloy, ferritic chromium-iron alloys and niobium-tin alloy. The major applications for soft magnetic materials are in electric motors, transformers, generators, alternators and others, which include inductors, relays and switches, antenna and filters. The end-user industry for soft magnets are electronics and telecommunications, electrical and automotive. The revenue forecasts from 2017 to 2022 of each type of soft magnets are described for each type for application, end-user industry and both by region.



The report also consists of a discussion of the major players across each of the segments; it explains the major market drivers for the global market of magnets and magnetic materials, the current trends within the industry and major end-user industries.



Information Sources

The findings and conclusions of this report are based on information gathered from both primary and secondary research sources. The primary sources of information consist of industry association data, and interviews conducted with educational hardware and software companies and distributors.



Secondary sources were also consulted for the report, comprising of industry journals and publications, product literature, white papers and technical journals, and financial reports for industry suppliers.



The base year for analysis and projection is 2016, and market projections were developed from 2017 to 2022. These projections are based on a consensus among the primary contacts combined with an understanding of the key market drivers and their impact from a historical and an analytical perspective.



The analytical methodologies used to generate the market estimates are described in detail in the market analysis. All dollar projections presented in this report are in 2016 constant dollars.



Methodology

A descriptive study has been done with a trend analysis for the global market for educational hardware and software in the academic sector with a quantitative and qualitative approach.



BCC Research collects data through various primary and secondary sources, including interviews with industry vendors, white papers, business journals, public financial proceedings and historical market data from the internet. The market data is assessed and validated considering interrelated market attributes and the impact of global economic variables.

The value of the market is then obtained through a combination of the bottom-up and top-down approaches using exclusive market modeling tools to generate BCC Research's market data and forecasts. Estimated values used are based on manufacturers' total revenues.



Geographic Breakdown

In this report, the geographic regions considered for market analysis are named below:



North America

 U.S.

 Mexico

 Canada



Europe

 From Greenland (Denmark) to Russia and from Norway to Greece.



Asia-Pacific

 From Afghanistan to Japan and from Mongolia to New Zealand.



South America

 From Guatemala to Chile.



RoW

 Entire Middle East countries and entire African Regions.



Chapter 2: Summary and Highlights

According to their magnetic properties, magnetic materials can be divided into two classes: soft and permanent. Soft materials are easily magnetized and demagnetized, and include electrical steel and soft ferrite, among other materials. These are widely used in transformers, generators, motors, relays, solenoids and other products. On the other hand, if the magnetic material is difficult to demagnetize, then it is referred to as a permanent (or hard) magnet.



The latter is the focus of this study, and includes hard ferrite, aluminum-nickel-cobalt, samarium-cobalt, and neodymium-iron-boron materials used in motors, audio devices, MRI, microwave apparatus and various instruments.



Magnets are an integral part of several industries, such as automotive, electrical and electronics, renewal energy and healthcare. Companies worldwide are focusing their R&D efforts on technological innovations to expand the applications of different types of magnets in several end-user industries to provide state-of-the-art as well as energy-efficient products. This report examines the global market of magnets and magnetic materials in terms of value ($ Millions) with a focus on the major subsegments and trends in the industry that will impact the market of permanent magnets and soft magnets in the next five years.



The global market for magnets and magnetic materials was valued at approximately $32.2 billion in 2016, and is estimated to grow at a year-over-year (YOY) growth rate of 7.8%, in terms of value, to reach almost $34.9 billion in 2017. Further, the market is estimated to increase at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) (2017 through 2022) of 8.2%, in terms of value, to reach over $51.7 billion in 2022.



The magnets industry has had sustained growth, from its inception in the 1940s until the last decade, when the global recession and other structural changes affected most of the consumer industries. This resulted in a slump in activity, eventually leading to a slow, and often fleeting, recovery. Nonetheless, a recovery is underway, and growth is likely to continue because of increased usage of magnetic circuit components in a variety of industrial equipment and devices.



Electromechanical devices constitute the large market for magnet materials. Large motors use ceramic magnets, soft magnetic materials, powdered iron, and, for certain military applications, samarium- cobalt (SmCo) is still the preferred magnet. For the voice coil motors (VCMs) in disc drives, the need for reduction in size and higher performance makes neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet the preferred one.



Major players in the global market of magnets and magnetic materials in their respective regions are:

North America:

 Adams Magnetic Products Co.

 Arnold Magnetic Technologies.

 Dexter Magnetic Technologies.

 Electron Energy Corp.

 Integrated Magnetics Ltd.

 MMC Magnetics Corp.

 Stanford Magnets.

 Viona Magnetic.



Asia-Pacific:

 Advanced Technology and Materials Co. Ltd.

 Baotou Inst Magnetic New Materials Co. Ltd.

 Beijing Zhongke San Huan High-Tech Co.

 China Rare Earth Magnet Ltd.

 Clime Magnet Manufactory Co. Ltd.

 Daido Steel Co. Ltd.

 Feller Magtech.

 Fuzhou AO Magnet Electronic Co. Ltd.

 Hangzhou Best Magnet Co. Ltd.

 Hitachi Metals Ltd.

 HPMG (Hangzhou Permanent Magnet Group).

 Longze Magnet Electronic Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Bestway Magnet Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Co-Star Material High Tech Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Jinke Magnetics Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Ketian Magnet Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Newland Magnetics Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Ninggang Permanent Magnetic Materials Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Sanhuan Magsound Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Songke Magnetic Material Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Vastsky Magnet Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Xinfeng Magnet Industry Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Yunsheng High-Tech Magnetics Co. Ltd.

 Ningbo Zhaobao Magnet Co. Ltd.

 Shenzhen Thinova Co. Ltd.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05136790



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



https://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Miami Grill, the South Florida-based fast-casual chain, is growing in the North Florida region, adding its first Miami Grill restaurant in Jacksonville, with Miami-based International Food Chains, LLC. The new 3,048 square foot Miami Grill is on 9575 N. Regency Square Blvd. and is open Sunday  Thursday 10 a.m.-midnight and 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday.

Led by Mario Cordovez and Sebastian Espinosa, International Food Chains, LLC are proven and successful multi-unit restaurant operators with Papizzec S.A., in Ecuador. The team has also shown to be successful operators of the Miami Grill brand with their location in Kendall, FL, one of the chain's highest performing restaurants.

Miami Grill has aligned with Northboro Builders to provide International Food Chains, LLC with a turnkey restaurant. "We are excited to have Northboro Builders provide their general contracting services to build the Jacksonville restaurant and also a Gainesville location due later this year for the same group," said Jonathan Vogel COO for Miami Grill. Northboro is a national builder known for their quality craftsmanship, impressive portfolio and track record. "We look forward to streamlining our expansion process with continued on-time and on-budget facilities."

This location offers guests a diverse menu featuring signature items such as Philly Cheesesteaks, Wings, and Gyros as well as antibiotic and hormone free Angus Steak Burgers, Grilled Fish, and delicious Salads. The restaurant will also offer a Latin menu and Beer and Wine. It's all served up with excellent customer service, high-quality ingredients and a South Beach vibe. Miami Grill will have online ordering available as well as offer delivery with UberEATS. Guests will also be able to enjoy Chef Inspired Catering of their favorite menu items.

"We're excited to expand the brand to the Jacksonville market," says Robert Haar, Vice President of Franchise Development at Miami Grill. "The expansion of Miami Grill is crucial to our overall success and we look forward to developing the brand in North Florida." We are actively seeking a second site in Jacksonville for another franchise group." Future development plans include additional restaurants in Orlando and Daytona.

About Miami Grill

South-Florida based Miami Grill is the hottest fast-casual concept to hit the market, developed by the same owners as Miami Subs, Miami Subs Capital Partners 1, Inc, and key equity partner, Armando Christian "Pitbull" Perez. Miami Grill and its "Everything Goes" concept embody the taste and sensations of South Beach and provide a diverse menu, unlike any other chain in the category. For franchising and other information, visit www.mymiamigrill.com.

Media Contact:

Jackie Maceda, Marketing Director

Phone: 954-623-6031

[email protected]

SOURCE Miami Grill International Inc

Related Links

http://www.mymiamigrill.com


The choice of tracks for SCREAM reflects The King of Pop's affection for this time of the year and its themes of costumes and disguise, darkness and light, character transformations and surprise. It's the perfect soundtrack for Halloween/October parties. Consequence of Sound wrote, SCREAM is "a collection that usefully corrals the man's darkest and spookiest fare into a convincing and sonically fluid totality of its own." The album will also be available on October 27 in glow-in-dark vinyl. CDs and vinyl each containing a poster unique to the format. Fittingly, the poster and cover art conceal the first-ever AR (augmented reality) experience created for a Michael Jackson project.

Each track on SCREAM is remarkable in its own way. For example, "Thriller", penned by Rod Temperton, was the seventh of an unprecedented seven Top 10 singles from Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time; "Dirty Diana," was the fifth consecutive No. 1 song from the album Bad which shattered records for consecutive chart topping singles off a single album; and the Top 5 hit "Scream" is the only duet between Michael Jackson and his sister Janet. Also included are fan favorites from The Jacksons' albums - "Torture" and "This Place Hotel" (the first single to be written, composed, and arranged solely by Michael); and, making its first appearance on a Michael Jackson album, "Somebody's Watching Me," the international 1985 hit by Rockwell featuring an iconic hook sung by Michael.

SCREAM is available on iTunes now: https://MichaelJackson.lnk.to/SCREAM_itunes. SCREAM is also available on AMAZON: https://MichaelJackson.lnk.to/SCREAM_amazon and on collectible, glow-in-the-dark 2LP vinyl (which will be released on October 27): https://MichaelJackson.lnk.to/SCREAM_VINYL.

Fans are invited to Official Michael Jackson SCREAM Album Celebrations this fall. The first of these celebrations took place in London and Sydney. Paris and Berlin are hosting events this week and the celebrations in Los Angeles and Tokyo will be later this month. The events will feature the full-length 40-minute Michael Jackson's Ghosts, rarely seen following its initial screening at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and "Michael Jackson's Thriller" in 3D. An after-party will follow each celebration.



For future Michael Jackson and SCREAM news:

MICHAEL JACKSON:

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

OFFICIAL SCREAM TRACKLISTING:

This Place Hotel Thriller Blood On The Dance Floor Somebody's Watching Me Dirty Diana Torture Leave Me Alone Scream Dangerous Unbreakable Xscape Threatened Ghosts

Bonus Track: Blood On The Dance Floor X Dangerous (The White Panda Mash-Up)

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Related Links

http://www.legacyrecordings.com


CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to industry demand for a turnkey MiFID II reporting solution, Born Technology's CrossCheck now delivers Transaction Reports to EU Regulators. Retrieving trade flow across exchanges and execution platforms, CrossCheck enriches data in accordance with RTS 22, validates, and securely transmits reports to FCA, BaFin and more. Firms are able to verify, amend, and export Transaction Reports directly within the CrossCheck interface. Integrating Transaction Reporting with DEA Management and Algo Monitoring, Born Technology offers CrossCheck as a unified platform for fulfilling MiFID II obligations.

Derek Haworth, CEO, Born Technology commented "With its Transaction Reporting features, CrossCheck is quickly becoming one of the derivative markets premiere MiFID II compliance systems."

CrossCheck is a SaaS based system with a web browser interface for easy deployment on all devices.

Born Technology will be attending the Futures Industry Association's Expo on October 17-19. If you are interested in setting up a meeting or learning more, please contact [email protected].

About Born Technology

Founded in 2002, Born is a pioneer and leading visionary for hosted infrastructure and managed software services to the global financial community. Born's solutions, including our Smart Latency infrastructure and FlightControl trade messaging systems, save our customers time and money.

Our team members are industry leaders with deep domain expertise who bridge the gap of technology, trading, clearing and regulation. Born is your trusted advisor for efficiently navigating the capital markets landscape.

Contact

For Media Inquiries:

Jessica Titlebaum Darmoni

The Title Connection

312 358 3963

[email protected]

SOURCE Born Technology

Related Links

http://borntec.com


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Karma, a blockchain technology company developing the Karma Protocol and Karma International Token (KIT) to empower membership-based communities, today announced the appointment of Mike Costache as its new President. As a founding member of Karma since its inception in 2005, Mike served as Director of Global Expansion from 2012 to 2016.

Mike never liked being put in a box, so he spent the last 20 years as an entrepreneur, investment banker, author, professor, speaker, angel investor and fundraiser for various charities. Mike is a Managing Partner at KrowdMentor, a strategic investment and advisory firm empowering blockchain startups, funds and entrepreneurs to reach their funding and liquidity goals. Mike is also the founder of the Blockchain Investors Consortium (BIC) and serves on the Advisory Board of Token-as-a-Service (TaaS), the first-ever tokenized closed-end fund dedicated to investments in blockchain assets.

Established in 2005, Karma as a membership-driven company, began with the mission of connecting exceptional, inspirational individuals socially and professionally through high profile experiential events, business networking and social gatherings. In the past twelve years, Karma has enjoyed revenues of $32 million (membership fees, sponsorship, and tickets) and built nine membership chapters to include Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Bucharest, and Kyiv. Additionally, Karma has produced over 374 experiential events all over the world to their community of 65,000 people from private yacht socials to red carpet events to include Maxim Hot 100, Maxim at the Big Game and Maxim Halloween, each of which produces over 2 billion impressions with their mainstream media coverage. Over the past three years, Karma has built an advanced membership technology platform to allow scalability of its model membership organization worldwide.

"I had the pleasure of meeting Mike twenty years ago when he was a student at a business academy I was speaking at. Over the years, we worked on numerous projects, and he always impressed me with his tenacity to achieve greatness while always paying it forward for many others to benefit from his efforts," said Dylan Marer, Chairman & CEO of Karma. "With Mike Costache as our new President of Karma, I look forward to offering the world the first decentralized Smart Community Network. "

In the era of decentralization, Karma's has added to its mission is to provide its Protocol to empower membership-based communities around the world, including:

Physical membership organizations (golf clubs, social clubs, etc.) Virtual membership organizations (university alumni chapters, business networking organizations, etc.) Non-profit organizations, which lack the operational backbone (CRM, ERP, BI, etc.) to raise funds from their donor base transparently.

The blockchain capabilities and, more specifically, the Karma International Token (KIT) lay at the foundation of these efforts, allowing all organizations to launch, manage, build and operate on the Karma Community Network (KCN) and ensure thriving and sustainable ecosystem with all the customizable modules and support necessary.

"I'm humbled to accept the new role of President and be a driving force in our vision to become a core provider of high-quality, effective technology to empower communities of all shapes and sizes, without borders around the world to scale and reach new heights while providing support and incentives along the way," said Mike Costache, President of Karma.

SOURCE Karma International
BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MilliporeSigma, the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced that it will host a panel discussion, "The Personalized Cell Therapy Challenge: A Race Against Time," featuring leading cell and gene therapy experts from academia, hospitals and industry, on Thursday, October 12, 3:30 p.m. at the HUBweek Green Dome at City Hall Plaza in Boston.

The technology, called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, collects a patient's immune cells and re-programs them to target their specific type of cancer. Advancement of this potentially lifesaving treatment requires an alliance among physicians, hospitals, biopharmaceutical manufacturers and the life science industry. The panel will discuss achievements to date, as well as looming challenges and the path forward to success.

"At MilliporeSigma, our purpose is to collaborate with the global scientific community to solve the toughest problems in life science," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. "Supporting and participating in HUBweek is an extension of what we do every day. It is an honor to be on stage with distinguished leaders in science, medicine and academia."

The panel features:

Dr. Bruce Levine , Barbara and Edward Netter professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at University of Pennsylvania

, professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at Dr. David Williams , Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Boston Children's Hospital; President, Dana/Farber Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center; Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital; Leland Fikes Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Boston Children's Hospital; President, Dana/Farber Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center; Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital; Leland Fikes Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Marcela Maus , director of Cellular Immunotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

, director of Cellular Immunotherapy at General Hospital Cancer Center Shashi Murthy , Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering of Northeastern University

, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering of Geoff Hodge , Chief Technical Officer of Unum Therapeutics

, Chief Technical Officer of Unum Therapeutics Dave Backer , Ph.D., head of Gene Editing & Novel Modality Commercial Development at MilliporeSigma

The cell therapy panel will be part of HUBweek, Boston's annual civic collaboration and weeklong festival bringing together the most creative and inventive people from around the world who are making an impact on art, science and technology.

MilliporeSigma supports "Future Forum," a featured HUBweek event that will focus on the accelerating pace of advances in science and technology. HUBweek is a civic collaboration of Harvard, MIT, Mass General and The Boston Globe.

The festival will include various multi-sensory, interactive projects, including MilliporeSigma's Curiosity Cube, a hands-on, mobile science lab. The cube will be at 1 City Hall Square, Boston, where HUBweek visitors will be able to tour the 22x10-foot, retrofitted shipping container, which has been transformed into an engaging learning environment for interactive experiences and science lessons. The cube will be open at HUBweek Oct. 12-14 from 10 a.m.  8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 15 from 10 a.m.  4 p.m.

The Curiosity Cube will also be at MilliporeSigma's new Life Science Center  Burlington with students on Oct. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Other key locations include Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington on Oct. 18, Boston Children's Museum on Oct. 21 and Wharf District Park in Boston on Oct. 28.

The visit of MilliporeSigma's Curiosity Cube to City Hall Plaza continues the science lab's U.S. tour  one way the company is striving to spark interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers. The Cube will visit 19 cities this year, with employees from 35 sites volunteering.

More details on the MilliporeSigma "Future Forum" events at HUBweek are available at https://hubweek.org/. HUBweek is designed to foster collaboration to inspire innovationconnecting great ideas coming out of Boston with more ideas from around the world. MilliporeSigma's sponsorship of HUBweek reflects and reinforces its commitment to advance research and innovation in life science.

All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the U.S. or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.

About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 20,000 employees and 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has five businesses  Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Life Science and Performance Materials  and generated sales of 15 billion in 2016. Around 50,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company  since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70 percent interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. The company holds the global rights to the name and the trademark "Merck" internationally except for the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.

SOURCE MilliporeSigma
Monarques' Camflo mill pours its first gold bar from the Lamaque mine ore

MONTREAL, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - MONARQUES GOLD CORPORATION ("Monarques" or the "Corporation") (TSX-V: MQR) (FRANKFURT: MR7) is pleased to announce the signature of a custom milling contract with Eldorado Gold Corporation ("Eldorado") (TSX: ELD; NYSE: EGO) to process ore from the Lamaque gold mine, located east of Val-d'Or, Quebec. The contract provides for the Corporation to process some 50,000 to 55,000 tonnes of ore from the Lamaque mine ore at the Camflo mill until December 31, 2017. The contract can be extended by mutual agreement of both parties.

"This is very good news for Monarques and our team at the Camflo mill," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarques. "This contract will enable the Camflo mill to operate at 90% of its 1,200 tonne-per-day capacity, and will effectively reduce the operating costs for the Beaufor mine over the coming months. We have also received a certificate of authorization from Quebec's ministry of sustainable development, environment and climate change to increase the operating capacity of the Camflo mill to 1,600 tonnes per day, allowing us to offer custom milling services to other prospective clients."

The technical and scientific content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Marc-Andre Lavergne, Eng., the Corporation's qualified person under National Instrument 43101.

ABOUT MONARQUES GOLD CORPORATION

Monarques Gold Corp (TSX-V: MQR) is an emerging gold producer focused on pursuing growth through its large portfolio of high-quality projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently owns more than 240 km of gold properties (see map), including the Beaufor Mine, the Croinor Gold (see video) and Wasamac advanced projects, and the Camflo and Beacon mills, as well as six promising exploration projects. It also offers custom milling services out of its 1,200 tonne-per-day Camflo mill. Monarques enjoys a strong financial position and has more than 150 skilled employees who oversee its operating, development and exploration activities.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements in this press release involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Monarques' actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Monarques Gold Corporation
Tim Rues, site administrator of Constitution Hall and a member of the Lecompton Reenactors, will portray Lane, as he has for two decades, delivering an 8-minute condensed version of the widely-published diatribe. The public is invited to join historians and scholars, including a group from Wichita State University, at the 1 p.m. event.

Lane was followed by an abolitionist group that marched on Lecompton from Lawrence aiming to sack the city. Dragoons and artillery from Fort Leavenworth prevented violence, although Lane threatened to assassinate the pro-slavery delegates in Constitution Hall, built a year earlier.

"There would have been quite a crowd out in front of this building," Rues says. "They were celebrating a free-state victory in the legislature, but they were denouncing the Lecompton Constitution that would make Kansas a slave state."

Pro-slavery leaders had started writing the constitution in Lecompton, the seat of territorial government on Sept. 7, 1857. The rival free-state Topeka Constitution had been delivered to Washington in 1855, but President James Buchanan wanted Congress to ratify the slave-state constitution.

Kansas voters on each side had boycotted their opponents' referendums, generating lopsided but artificial results. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, author of the popular-sovereignty 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, declared the Lecompton Constitution a fraud. His rift with Buchanan destroyed Democratic Party unity and paved the way for Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 with less than 40 percent of the vote against three Democratic candidates.

The free-state Wyandotte Constitution, adopted by Kansans in 1859, was finally ratified by Congress after Southern opponents in the Senate left to join the Confederacy. Buchanan signed the legislation bringing Kansas into the Union on Jan. 29, 1861.

Contact: Paul Bahnmaier

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 785-887-6148

SOURCE Lecompton Historical Society

Related Links

http://www.lecomptonkansas.com


CALABASAS, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With over 18 years of supporting entrepreneurship and providing award-winning customer service in the incorporation and LLC formation industry, MyCorporation.com is taking a closer look at how small businesses can embrace seasonal fun with their latest infographic, "7 Ways to Spread Fall Cheer in the Workplace."

"Halloween is such a festive time of year. The Fall and Halloween season permeates all parts of our lives and businesses," said Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.

Some of the statistics the infographic examines include that 90% of U.S. adults work at least 40 hours weekly while 50% work up to 50 hours. These long hours have resulted in 70% becoming disengaged in the workplace. However, breaking up routine with seasonal festive activities like costume contests and organizing pumpkin carving outings can help lift spirits.

Sweeney agrees with the fact that the change in season can bring a new energy to the workplace. "It's interesting to see how consumers and businesses alike are impacted by seasonality and seasonal excitement. It's that visceral reaction of consumers to seasons that can make all the difference in the success of businesses who leverage seasonality to inspire purchases!"

"7 Ways to Spread Fall Cheer in the Workplace" also gives readers a glimpse at how Americans spend their 7.6 average hours of free time each day. These activities, including sporting events and going out to restaurants, may provide more inspiration for events entrepreneurs can host to engage with their team and increase their overall job satisfaction all throughout autumn.

As an industry leader, MyCorporation.com has reliably, and affordably, helped over 1 million small business owners incorporate their businesses and form LLCs. If you're ready to start your own business, give MyCorporation a call at 1 (877) 692-6772 Monday through Friday at 7 AM  5 PM PT or visit us at mycorporation.com.

CONTACT: MyCorporation, [email protected]

SOURCE MyCorporation.com

Related Links

http://www.mycorporation.com


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (CSE: MYM) (OTCQB: MYMMF) (MYM.CN) (the "Company" or "MYM") is pleased to announce it has entered into a consulting agreement with Master Grower, Zachary Tietolman.

Under the agreement, Zacharay Tietolman shall provide to MYM the following services consistent with a Master Grower for an initial term of five years:

Manage and oversee MYM's commercial marijuana growing and production.

Manage grow warehouse employees.

Develop and/or maintain grow warehouse protocols and nutrient regiment.

Manage plant scheduling and organization to precisely project all garden needs on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to keep garden green and expenses low.

Catalogue and analyze each individual strain from clone to flower to harvesting.

Execute preventative maintenance and elimination of all types of mold, powdery mildew, spider mites, root aphids, fungus gnats, etc.

Use the technique of Soilless growing methods including micronutrients, beneficial bacteria and nutrient implementation.

Continuously explore new techniques and insight to expand knowledge in nutrient of individual strains, high yield recipes, controlled stress environments to different lighting systems and set ups.

Assist government auditors with inventory, sales and compliance audits with Health Canada.

Comply with all HR policies including confidentiality and non-disclosure.

"Finalizing the agreement with Master Grower Zacharay Tietolman is yet another step forward for MYM and our goal of building world class medicinal cannabis production facilities", said Rob Gietl, CEO of MYM. "Zacharay has a proven track record and is well respected in the industry. His experience and connections will be of great value to MYM as we embark into the growing stages of production".

About MYM

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is an innovative company focused on acquiring Health Canada licenses to produce and sell high-end organic medicinal cannabis supplements and topical products. To ensure a strong presence and growth potential within the industry, MYM is actively looking to acquire complementary businesses and assets in the technology, nutraceuticals and CBD sectors. MYM shares trade in Canada, Germany and the USA under the following symbols: (CSE: MYM) (OTC:MYMMF) (FRA:0MY) (DEU:0MY) (MUN:0MY) (STU:0MY).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Rob Gietl, CEO

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

www.mymarijuana.ca

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are posted on www.sedar.com.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

Investor Relations:

+1-855-696-2261

www.mymarijuana.ca

SOURCE MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) announced today the release of "Examining the Returns: The Financial Returns of Diverse Private Equity Firms," a research report that provides the most detailed and comprehensive insights on the investment returns generated by diverse-owned private equity firms in the US.

Published with assistance from KPMG, an independent accounting firm that analyzed and compiled the performance data to ensure its integrity and accuracy, and AON Hewitt, who wrote the report, it will serve as a resource for institutional investors, industry professionals and the media. A prior report, released in 2012, was instrumental in informing the industry, institutional investors and the public at large of the value diverse managers bring to portfolios.

The study continues to demonstrate that diverse managers are performing well and are worthy of consideration by institutional investors seeking alpha. "I hope this report causes institutional investors to have an epiphany regarding investing with diverse-owned private equity firms," says Robert L. Greene, President & CEO of the NAIC. "The opportunity for outperformance is clear and the perceptions which have limited the flow of capital are invalid and unwarranted."

Among the performance report's revelations are the fact that diverse-owned private equity firms continue to demonstrate their skill and expertise and have once again outperformed the relevant benchmarks. On an aggregate basis, diverse-owned firms generated an impressive 16.5% internal rate of return for the 10-year reporting period ending in December 2015. This exceeds the Cambridge Buyout & Growth Equity index of 11.3% by more than 500 basis points.

The full report is available on the NAIC Website.

About the NAIC: The National Association of Investment Companies (www.naicpe.com) was founded in 1971 to serve as the industry association for diverse-owned and emerging managers, a number of which rank among the best performing private equity firms and hedge funds in the United States. With more than 40 member firms representing over $85 billion in assets managed, the NAIC is a recognized thought leader on the U.S. Emerging Domestic Market (EDM).

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alan Hughes

917-993-3842

[email protected]

SOURCE National Association of Investment Companies

Related Links

http://www.naicpe.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Narvar, the post-purchase experience leader, today announced the opening of an office in London, England, its third location after its headquarters in San Francisco, California and office in Bangalore, India. Following the acquisition of India-based GoPigeon in August, Narvar is heavily investing in growing its team and platform capabilities internationally. Brands including Amway, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Levi's, Moda Operandi and Puma already rely on Narvar to engage with consumers around the globe during the critical moment between purchase and fulfillment. Through its relationship with multinational retailers like these, Narvar delivers over 30 million post-purchase experiences per year to consumers outside North America.

"Our world is more interconnected today than ever before. And consumer expectations are changing at a rapid pace regardless of where they live," said Amit Sharma, Founder and CEO of Narvar. "Narvar recognizes that European consumers desire the same level of communication and care that we've seen become table stakes for shoppers worldwide. This is why we are on a mission to deliver the product innovation needed to create consistent, seamless, emotionally-engaging post-purchase experiences helping drive greater customer loyalty for European brands and retailers."

From its base in London, Narvar is well-positioned to readily meet increasing demand for post-purchase solutions in Europe's 602 billion ecommerce market. Among European online shoppers, speed of delivery and risk of damaged goods are the greatest complaints. This underscores the unmet need for seamless post-purchase experiences. Through effortless order tracking, proactive communications, and seamless returns, Narvar will help European retailers provide the experiences consumers crave in the critical moment of truth between purchase and fulfillment.

Narvar is the market leader in the post-purchase category and powers two billion experiences for more than 125 million consumers per year after they click buy. In the last twelve months, Narvar has tripled its revenue and grown employee headcount by 200 percent. The company has invested heavily in product development, especially in emerging consumer channels including AI-powered chatbots. Narvar's technology powers bots on Facebook Messenger for over 400 retailers, which have facilitated nearly 6 million incremental brand interactions.

For more information including contact details for all three corporate offices, please visit Narvar.co.uk.

About Narvar

Narvar helps the most admired brands and retailers build lifelong relationships beyond the "buy" button. As an enterprise-grade SaaS platform serving 400+ retailers like Sephora, Neiman-Marcus, Crate & Barrel, and GameStop, Narvar drives brand loyalty at scale by enabling immersive and emotional post-purchase customer experiences. From effortless order tracking, proactive communications, and seamless returns, Narvar applies machine learning across billions of interactions to simplify the everyday lives of consumers. For more information, visit narvar.com.

SOURCE Narvar

Related Links

http://www.corp.narvar.com


This is the first of ten student-led, civic improvement projects that Mayor Megan Barry's Youth Council will activate over the next two years to help revitalize the city. The projects arise from a $100,000 grant that AkzoNobel announced earlier this year, which will also provide up to 10 academic scholarships for Nashville youth. By coming together with the city, companies and their community, these young people are taking action to beautify their community and make it more colorful and livable.

"This project is a great start to the community-centric partnership between AkzoNobel and the Mayor's Youth Council," said Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. "The 'Unity' mural truly speaks to the future of our city as led by these outstanding young people."

"Since AkzoNobel came to Nashville in 1947, we have made a commitment to be an active corporate member of the community," says Yvette Williger, AkzoNobel People Services Leader based in Nashville. "We are proud to support the Mayor's Youth Council and all our employees who have volunteered their time to support this worthwhile organization."

The Mayor's Youth Council is comprised of students from 23 public, private and charter schools located in the city of Nashville. Members of the group are involved in student-led programs through the city's Oasis Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to train the next generation of leadership in the city through community service and positive action.

"Students who participate in the Oasis Center care deeply about the city of Nashville, and are working together to create the projects they will activate over the next two years. The mural is a great start, we have a tree planting project planned, and there is a lot more to come. I am looking forward to seeing what our students can accomplish with the Human Cities grant over the next two years," says Brandon Hill, Director, Mayor's Youth Council of Nashville/Davidson County.

Earlier this year, AkzoNobel announced that it is investing $10 million to expand production capacity at its Nashville facility. There is significant investment to increase production capabilities and the company expects to add more than 30 new positions to support manufacturing. Over the next five years, the company will also look to bring additional new jobs to the city.

AkzoNobel creates everyday essentials to make people's lives more livable and inspiring. As a leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals, we supply essential ingredients, essential protection and essential color to industries and consumers worldwide. Backed by a pioneering heritage, our innovative products and sustainable technologies are designed to meet the growing demands of our fast-changing planet, while making life easier. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we have approximately 46,000 people in around 80 countries, while our portfolio includes well-known brands such as Dulux, Sikkens, International, Interpon and Eka. Consistently ranked as a leader in sustainability, we are dedicated to energizing cities and communities while creating a protected, colorful world where life is improved by what we do.

SOURCE AkzoNobel

Related Links

https://www.akzonobel.com/home


TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - The Company's results for the 2017 third quarter will be issued by press release on Wednesday, November 8, 2017 after the close of business at 5:00 p.m. ET.

An Investor Conference Call will be hosted by Brian R. Hedges, Chief Executive Officer, John G. Reid, President and Chief Operating Officer and Marion E. Britton, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on Thursday, November 9, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. ET to review the results.

The dial-in telephone numbers for the call are 416-764-8688 (Toronto and International callers) and 1-888-390-0546 (U.S. and Canada). Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the call to ensure that you get a line.

A replay of the call will be available at 416-764-8677 (Toronto and International callers) and 1-888-390-0541 (U.S. and Canada) until midnight, Thursday, November 23, 2017. You will be required to enter pass code 272752# in order to access the call.

If you would like to unsubscribe from receiving notices of our Investor Quarterly Conference Calls, you may do so by emailing [email protected] ; or by calling our Investor Relations Line: 905-816-5178.

If you have any additional questions, please contact our Investor Relations Department at [email protected] or 905-816-5178.

SOURCE Russel Metals Inc.

Related Links

http://www.russelmetals.com


BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have discovered the first compound that directly makes cancer cells commit suicide while sparing healthy cells. The new treatment approach, described in today's issue of Cancer Cell, was directed against acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells but may also have potential for attacking other types of cancers.

"We're hopeful that the targeted compounds we're developing will prove more effective than current anti-cancer therapies by directly causing cancer cells to self-destruct," says Evripidis Gavathiotis, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and of medicine and senior author of the study. "Ideally, our compounds would be combined with other treatments to kill cancer cells faster and more efficientlyand with fewer adverse effects, which are an all-too-common problem with standard chemotherapies."

AML accounts for nearly one-third of all new leukemia cases and kills more than 10,000 Americans each year. The survival rate for patients has remained at about 30 percent for several decades, so better treatments are urgently needed.

The newly discovered compound combats cancer by triggering apoptosisan important process that rids the body of unwanted or malfunctioning cells. Apoptosis trims excess tissue during embryonic development, for example, and some chemotherapy drugs indirectly induce apoptosis by damaging DNA in cancer cells.

Apoptosis occurs when BAXthe "executioner protein" in cellsis activated by "pro-apoptotic" proteins in the cell. Once activated, BAX molecules home in on and punch lethal holes in mitochondria, the parts of cells that produce energy. But all too often, cancer cells manage to prevent BAX from killing them. They ensure their survival by producing copious amounts of "anti-apoptotic" proteins that suppress BAX and the proteins that activate it.

"Our novel compound revives suppressed BAX molecules in cancer cells by binding with high affinity to BAX's activation site," says Dr. Gavathiotis. "BAX can then swing into action, killing cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unscathed." (See video animation of BAX here)

Dr. Gavathiotis was the lead author of a 2008 paper in Nature that first described the structure and shape of BAX's activation site. He has since looked for small molecules that can activate BAX strongly enough to overcome cancer cells' resistance to apoptosis. His team initially used computers to screen more than one million compounds to reveal those with BAX-binding potential. The most promising 500 compoundsmany of them newly synthesized by Dr. Gavathiotis' teamwere then evaluated in the laboratory.

"A compound dubbed BTSA1 (short for BAX Trigger Site Activator 1) proved to be the most potent BAX activator, causing rapid and extensive apoptosis when added to several different human AML cell lines," says lead author Denis Reyna, M.S., a doctoral student in Dr. Gavathiotis' lab. The researchers next tested BTSA1 in blood samples from patients with high-risk AML. Strikingly, BTSA1 induced apoptosis in the patients' AML cells but did not affect patients' healthy blood-forming stem cells.

Finally, the researchers generated animal models of AML by grafting human AML cells into mice. BTSA1 was given to half the AML mice while the other half served as controls. On average, the BTSA1-treated mice survived significantly longer (55 days) than the control mice (40 days), with 43 percent of BTSA1-treated AML mice alive after 60 days and showing no signs of AML.

Importantly, the mice treated with BTSA1 showed no evidence of toxicity. "BTSA1 activates BAX and causes apoptosis in AML cells while sparing healthy cells and tissuesprobably because the cancer cells are primed for apoptosis," says Dr. Gavathiotis. He notes that his study found that AML cells from patients contained significantly higher BAX levels compared with normal blood cells from healthy people. "With more BAX available in AML cells," he explained, "even low BTSA1 doses will trigger enough BAX activation to cause apoptotic death, while sparing healthy cells that contain low levels of BAX or none at all."

Plans call for Dr. Gavathiotis and his team to see whether BTSA1 will show similar effectiveness when tested on animal models of other types of cancer.

The paper, "Direct activation of BAX by BTSA1 overcomes apoptosis resistance in acute myeloid leukemia," was published October 9 in Cancer Cell. In addition to Dr. Gavathiotis and Mr. Reyna, other Einstein researchers involved in the study were Thomas P. Garner, Ph.D., Andrea Lopez, M.S., Felix Kopp, Ph.D., Gaurav S. Choudhary, Ph.D., Ashwin Sridharan, M.D., Swathi-Rao Narayanagari, M.S., Kelly Mitchell, M.S., Baoxia Dong, Ph.D., Boris A. Bartholdy, Ph.D., Amit Verma, MB.B.S., and Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (R01CA178394), and awards from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, the Gabrielle's Angels Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance. Partial support was also provided by the Albert Einstein Cancer Center, which is funded by the NCI (P30CA013330).

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2016-2017 academic year, Einstein is home to 717 M.D. students, 166 Ph.D. students, 103 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 278 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,900 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2016, Einstein received more than $160 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States through Montefiore and an affiliation network involving hospitals and medical centers in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook , and view us on YouTube .

SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Related Links

http://www.einstein.yu.edu


PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CraftNOW Philadelphia, a creative consortium of artists, galleries, museums, universities, retailers, and civic organizations, returns for its third year of programming to spotlight the vibrant contemporary craft movement in Philadelphia. Through a curated two-week event series, taking place Nov. 1 - 12, 2017 surrounding the opening of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, CraftNOW encourages locals and visitors alike to engage with the art of craft. The 2017 theme - Fluid Boundaries: Intersections of Craft with Fine Art, Design, and Making - explores the evolution of craft in the twenty-first century and how it relates to other disciplines through lectures, interactive activities, exhibitions, and special events.

The 2017 CraftNOW series unites more than 100 artists, 13 special exhibitions, eight events (including the 2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show), 15 venues (from independent galleries to the Kimmel Center), and world-renowned fine craft experts.

"We are thrilled to continue to spotlight the rich history of Philadelphia as a hub for innovation and creativity with the third year of our CraftNOW series," said Clara Hollander, CraftNOW president and co-founder. "Philadelphia was once known as the 'Workshop of the World.' In 2017, the same spirit of industry and imagination drives our unique creative economy, and we are eager to share that with the local community and visitors, through this diverse group of artists, experts, and events."

Throughout the month of November, CraftNOW will provide unique opportunities for the public to discover and engage with the Fluid Boundaries of material-based art. New for 2017, CraftNOW kicks off their series on Wednesday, Nov. 1, with a joint reception for Crafting Contexts, a juried exhibition in partnership with Art in City Hall and the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. During this reception, the City of Philadelphia will proclaim November as "CraftMONTH" in Philadelphia, in recognition of the continuous efforts of CraftNOW, University of the Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, and the craft community.

Over the course of 11 days, CraftNOW showcases the unique and engaging mediums of the art of craft throughout Center City and beyond. Additional CraftNOW signature events include:

CraftNOW partners with the Old City District to present A Well-Crafted First Friday on Nov. 3 , from 5 - 8 p.m. See, shop, dine, and sip with evening hours at The Center for Art in Wood , The Clay Studio, Wexler Gallery and many other venues. CraftNOW specials are available at select bars and restaurants throughout Old City with presentation of the CraftNOW brochure. Visit craftnowphila.org for food and beverage partners.

The 5th Annual Irvin Borowsky International Prize in Glass Arts Lecture and Reception takes place on Nov. 9 , at the University of the Arts , Hamilton Hall. Previous winners include Matthew Szosz, Bryan McGovern Wilson , and Helen Lee . The 2017 award presentation begins at 5:30 p.m. and is followed by a reception at 6:30 p.m. Admission is FREE; registration required.

Also on Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. , join Ruth and Rick Snyderman and local artist Ryan Greenheck to learn about the history of craft in Philadelphia and how it has shaped the city into a leading 21st century craft and making center during the Craft Then and CraftNOW discussion at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show. (Craft Show tickets required for entry.)

On Nov. 10 , CraftNOW welcomes Abraham Thomas , the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery at The Smithsonian American Art Museum , as the keynote speaker for the Fluid Boundaries Symposium. This will be the debut lecture for Thomas in front of a Philadelphia audience. Presented by The Galleries at Moore and Freeman's, the Symposium will feature public lectures between 1 - 5 p.m. followed by the keynote address and reception.

On Nov. 11 , CraftNOW Create steps out of the studio and into the heart of Philadelphia . From 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. , families are invited to take part in this FREE and family-friendly event at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, sponsored by Freeman's Auction. Activities and demonstrations, presented by a dozen of the area's top studios and institutions, include claymation, woodworking, 3-D printing, glassblowing, and button making.

2017 CraftNOW signature exhibitions include:

The Philadelphia Museum of Art invites guests to explore At the Center : Masters of American Craft, now through July 2018 . This special exhibition focuses on the careers of Yvonne Pacanovsky Bobrowicz , Sharon Church , and Jack Larimore - pioneers in the ceramic and wood artistic mediums.

Louis Kahn : The Power of Architecture at The Fabric Workshop and Museum displays Khan's diverse architectural models, drawings, photographs, and films. Currently running through November 5, 2017 , Khan explores the life and career of the Philadelphia icon, regarded as one of the greatest master builders of the twentieth century.

Remains: Process and Production in Craft at the Philadelphia Art Alliance presents the work of Holly Hanessian , C. Pazia Mannella , Mary Smull & Summer Zickefoose , now through November 19 . This group exhibition highlights artists or collectives who raise questions about the making of crafting objects and its relation to process or performance, asking viewers to take an active role in creating meaning.

Now on view, The Galleries at Moore presents Narrative Horizons, Body Works, Nick Lenker and Ursula Von Rydingsvard . This collection of exhibitions presents contemporary practices heavily influenced by traditions of functional craft and the handmade. Narrative Horizons (through Dec. 9 ) features three fiber-based artists Kay Healy , Sophia Narrett and Erin Riley . Body Works (through Dec. 9 ) is a symposium of performances, workshops, and collaborative projects that examine the body as both material and tool. Nick Lenker : Recreation, The First Person (through Jan. 6 ) showcases this Philadelphia clay artist addressing the complexities of identity and intimacy within virtual/digital spaces. Ursula Von Rydingsvard : Visionary Woman (through Nov. 11 ) celebrates the sculptor in conjunction with Moore's 2017 Visionary Woman Award Gala.

Between Oct. 6 - Nov. 26, 2017 , The Clay Studio introduces guests to the art of ceramics with three unique CraftNOW exhibitions. Heirloom: Nicholas Kripal , His Students, and Friends honors the insightful and important legacy of the late Nicholas Kripal - Chair of the Crafts Department at Tyler School of Art and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Clay Studio. Watershed Legends: Paula Winokur , Wayne Higby , Jack Troy honors the master of Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine - a vibrant partner in the national ceramics community. Mark Burns : King of Kitsch explores societal norms of sexuality and identity through humorous and abstract sculptural forms.

Criss Cross : Robyn Horn and Brian Dickerson at The Center for Art in Wood , Oct. 8, 2017 through Jan. 28, 2018 , examines two artists working in different ways. Robyn Horn (with strong sculptural pieces) and Brian Dickerson (constructed paintings with paint on joined wood surfaces) enter an artistic conversation mirroring each other's practice.

Art in City Hall, October 9 - November 24, 2017. The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy presents Crafting Contexts, a juried exhibition by artists from the Philadelphia region displayed in our historic City Hall. This exhibition presents craft projects serving as a critical tool to examine culture, immigration, the environment, current events, and institutional traditions.

From Oct.17 - Nov. 19 , Gravers Lane Gallery presents Mara Superior: Porcelain Stories Tyler School of Art. Mara Superior is known for works based on traditional forms, using sprigging and under glaze decoration on press molded or slab built wares that are strongly influenced by Superior's interest in traditional American folk imagery, travel, and politics.

Challenging the traditional labels that categorize art, Wexler Gallery exhibits work that coexists in the expressive realms of design, fine art and contemporary glass and ceramics. Artists currently on view include Roberto Lugo , William Morris , Albert Paley , Peter Pincus , Timothy Schreiber , and more.

At InLiquid, guests will find Configuration: Nicholas Kripal , now through April 28, 2018 . The first exhibition since his passing, Configuration is a collection of tightly conceptual sculptures inspired by tools and objects from everyday life.

Through Dec. 8 , Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art hosts Adaptive Design of Greater Philadelphia . This collaborative project with Temple University's Institute on Disabilities is designed to improve access to assistive technology that will facilitate inclusion and education for underserved Philadelphia children birth to 6 with paralysis and other disabilities.

CraftNOW closes out 2017 with the opening reception for Wayne Art Center's Craft Forms 2017, An International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Craft on Dec. 8 . Craft Forms is internationally recognized as a premier contemporary craft exhibition - the finest works in ceramics, wood, fiber, metal, glass, mixed medium, and 3D printing are featured, supporting the Center's mission of expanding the public's awareness of fine contemporary crafts.

The event series, open to the public, is bolstered by the 41st annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, which runs from Nov. 9 - 12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

For more information on the CraftNOW organization, partners, sponsorship, and programs visit craftnowphila.org. Join the conversation and engage with the local craft community on social media with @craftnowphl (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and the official hashtag #craftnowphl.

About CraftNOW: CraftNOW Philadelphia was launched in 2014 by a consortium of two dozen individuals, galleries, museums, universities, retailers, and civic organizations whose mission is to promote Philadelphia as a national center of craft and making. CraftNOW serves as a citywide platform that celebrates Philadelphia's unparalleled craft and artisanal legacy, showcases the area's many outstanding craft artists, galleries, and other institutions, and highlights the City's continuing role in defining the future of craft and making. Each year CraftNOW promotes and/or sponsors a series of exhibitions, public demonstrations, and educational programs occurring concurrently with The Philadelphia Museum of Art's Contemporary Craft Show in November. These cultural experiences are designed to animate the City, grow the local creative economy, and offer opportunities for the public to engage directly with the art of craft. CraftNOW 2017 programming is supported by University of the Arts, The Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Freeman's Auction, and the Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Arts Education Fund.

Media Contact: Crystal Casazza, [email protected], 215-867-8060

Related Images

image1.jpg

CraftNOW Philadelphia

image2.jpg

CraftNOW Create

image3.jpg

Rose Cabat: Feelie at The Clay Studio

image4.jpg

Nick Lenker: CROWN at Moore College of Art & Design

Related Links

CraftNOW

CraftNOW Instagram

SOURCE CraftNOW Philadelphia

Related Links

http://www.craftnowphila.org


CHICAGO, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Women's March on Chicago, the historic and broad-reaching coalition which drew more than 250,000 people to Grant Park in January, 2017, is launching "March to the Polls." On January 20, 2018 marchers will come together in downtown Chicago to celebrate the spirit of the resistance efforts over the past year and unite to focus on the 2018 elections and beyond.

The fight for women's rights and social justice through political engagement continues. "As we approach local, mid-term, and gubernatorial elections in 2018, it's even more critical that women are engaged and involved. If we want to see progress in this city, state, and country we need women's votes, voices, and leadership," said Jessica Scheller.

Media availability with march organizers to discuss the new event will take place WEDNESDAY, Oct. 11th at 1 p.m. at the northeast corner of Jackson Drive and Columbus Drive.

The location for the rally has yet to be set, but participants can expect to make their voices heard to city, state, and national administrations. The march will also serve as a kick-off for programming that empowers voters to support women's rights and social justice.

"The fight for women's rights is only becoming more crucial. In 2017, activists, new and seasoned, joined advocates in the fight for women's rights and social justice. In 2018 we celebrate that movement, and march our demands to the polls," said event organizer Jaquie Algee.

Women's March on Chicago supports women's rights including equal rights, equal pay, reproductive justice, affordable healthcare, affordable childcare, racial justice, voting rights, freedom from violence, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, fair wages, access for persons with disabilities, environmental protections, and other critical areas of focus.

WHAT: Media availability to discuss 2018 Women's March on Chicago to support widespread voter activation, women's rights, and social justice

WHEN: 1 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 11th

WHERE: Southwest corner of Jackson Street and Columbus Drive

WHO: Organizers of the historic 2017 Women's March on Chicago

SOURCE Womens March on Chicago

Related Links

http://womens121marchonchicago.org


DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- International research firm Parks Associates announced today that Tom Kerber, Director of IoT Strategy, will speak at the TMA 2017 Annual Meeting, October 11 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kerber will examine key trends in the residential home security market and how smart safety and security products impact the competitive landscape.

Parks Associates: Smart Home Devices: Main Purchase Driver

"The residential security market has experienced continued growth, and the introduction of smart devices and services has opened new opportunities to bring more U.S. homes into the security market," Kerber said. "Security providers must adapt to this trend and embrace the new IoT reality, which will expand the market for monitoring services and ultimately bring provider higher revenues."

The firm recently released the consumer research Smart Home Devices: User Experience, which shows security is the strongest driver for smart home adoption. Among U.S. smart home device owners, 37% made this purchase to keep their home safe, while 29% wanted to monitor their home while away. One-fifth of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a smart all-in-one security product in the next 12 months, and another 20% plan to purchase a networked camera.

Kerber will address the security landscape during the session "Home Security Market Dynamics, Disruption, and Opportunity" at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 11, at the AAA Five Diamond Fairmont Scottsdale Princess.

What: TMA 2017 Annual Meeting

When: Saturday, October 7 to Wednesday, October 11

to Where: AAA Five Diamond Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona

According to Parks Associates' Home Security NUMBERS research, more than 26 million U.S. broadband households will have professionally monitored security by 2021. The research also shows that total annual revenue for professionally monitored security in U.S. households will exceed $14 billion by 2020.

"The residential security industry is changing along many dimensions," Kerber said. "The addition of interactive services and home control products has expanded the market and changed the value chain and competitive landscape. Cable and telecom operators have entered the market with security services. New approaches to selling professional monitoring including self-installed solutions and on-demand monitoring services, and service providers are working to expand the market by connecting smart products to monitoring services."

The Monitoring Association (TMA), formerly Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), is an internationally recognized nonprofit trade association that represents professional monitoring companies that are listed by a TMA-approved Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, such as FM Approvals, Intertek/ETL or UL. TMA is legally entitled to represent its members before Congress and regulatory agencies on the local, state and federal levels, and other authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) over the industry. Since its incorporation in 1950, TMA has served its members' interests through education, online training, meetings and conventions, certification, insurance, and industry standards.

For more information on Parks Associates research or events, visit www.parksassociates.com, or contact [email protected], 972-490-1113. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, contact Julia Homier at [email protected], 972.996.0214.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webcasts, the CONNECTIONS Conference Series, Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, and Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer. http://www.parksassociates.com

For Immediate Release

Julia Homier

Parks Associates

972.996.0214

[email protected]

SOURCE Parks Associates

Related Links

http://www.parksassociates.com


ARLINGTON, Va., Oct.10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance) today announced that ten new companies have become members of the Alliance. Medtronic plc and Verizon have joined at the Strategic Level and will appoint representatives to the PCHAlliance Advisory Council. Verizon currently holds a seat on the Board of Managers.

"Our membership represents the full connected health ecosystem who are focused on the urgent need for consumer-centered connected health in care delivery, including companies addressing critical needs in chronic care, healthy longevity, mobile and analytics capabilities," said Horst Merkle, Chair, PCHAlliance Board of Managers, and Director, Digital Solutions, Roche Diabetes Care. "PCHAlliance is the catalyst for important collaborations, policy initiatives and innovation supporting technology, pharma and life sciences companies, healthcare provider organizations, major consumer giants and early stage companies alike."

PCHAlliance is convening market leaders, innovators and industry icons to bring the best thinking, experience and perspective to solving tomorrow's healthcare challenges. PCHAlliance members represent all sectors of the market, coming together to create the right technologies for remote monitoring and personal health tracking; advance the application of new tools such as behavioral health, data analytics and artificial intelligence; and support the widespread adoption of personal connected health technologies through interoperability and public policy initiatives.

In addition to Medtronic and Verizon, PCHAlliance also welcomed eight additional members: Cellnovo, Infopia, SPMS - Servicos Partilhados do Ministerio da Saude, Taiwan Scientific Corporation, TrackMyBeat Healthcare, WEGO Health, Wellsmith and Valotec.

"We have seen remarkable growth this year, with the addition of nearly 30 new member organizations, representing an impressive range of expertise and diverse industry affiliations that will help to advance our work to support the adoption of personal health tools to improve human health and healthcare around the world," said Patty Mechael, Executive Vice President, Personal Connected Health Alliance. "Our membership is engaged and actively contributing to our strategic goals, including policy and advocacy, country adoption of the Continua Design Guidelines to support clinic-grade interoperability, and our healthy longevity initiative."

PCHAlliance's goal is to help people make health and wellness an effortless part of daily life. The Alliance is convening the global personal connected health community -- technology companies, healthcare providers, payers, governments and the public -- to accelerate the technical, business, policy and social initiatives necessary to advance the field. PCHAlliance is developing and promoting technical standards, facilitating collaboration, convening conferences, sharing research and advocating policy to help drive personal connected health forward.

Personal Connected Health Alliance

The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance) aims to make health and wellness an effortless part of daily life. The PCHAlliance, a non-profit organization formed by HIMSS, believes that health is personal and extends beyond healthcare. The Alliance mobilizes a coalition of stakeholders to realize the full potential of personal connected health. PCHAlliance members are a vibrant ecosystem of technology and life sciences industry icons and innovative, early stage companies along with governments, academic institutions, and associations from around the world. To support its vision, PCHAlliance convenes the global personal connected health community at the annual Connected Health Conference, the premier international event for the exchange of research, evidence, ideas, innovations and opportunities in personal connected health. The Alliance publishes and promotes adoption of the Continua Design Guidelines. Continua is recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the international standard for safe, secure, and reliable exchange of data to and from personal health devices. PCHAlliance accelerates technical, business, policy and social strategies necessary to advance personal connected health through its Healthy Longevity initiative to promote lifelong health and wellness.

SOURCE Personal Connected Health Alliance

Related Links

http://www.pchalliance.org


SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pot Valet is a leading provider of premium-grade cannabis in California. With its medical marijuana delivery service growing to every city in the state, and soon the whole country, the company offers patients safe, legal, and discreet access to their medicine, eliminating their need to visit a cannabis dispensary.

Cannabis Tech Conference 2017 potvalet

According to Pot Valet, "Mobile marijuana services are competitive and in high demand. There is no need to drive anywhere anymore to get weed, you only need an app downloaded to your phone." This is the future of cannabis delivery services in California, but it comes with its own unique challenges. For the first time, the four biggest pot delivery companies are coming together to discuss these issues.

Brandon Adam David, host and founder of the Infused Show and Investing in Cannabis, will act as moderator. Other panelists include Zachary Brown, President of Operations at Pot Valet, Jim Patterson, Chief Executive Officer at Eaze, AJ Gentile, Co-Founder and Chief Execute Officer at Speedweed, and David Hua, Chief Executive Officer at Meadow. Gathered in one room, these industry influencers will further aggressive talks in the industry.

On 13, 14, and 15 Oct., at the New West Summit 2017 in Marriott City Center, Oakland, they will bandy ideas about how to grow the community. They will answer questions about local permits, both getting and retaining them. Lawmakers in California are drafting regulations for a merged medical and recreational market next year, and it is vital that state-issued licenses are realistically attainable for those working in the pot distribution industry.

There is also the issue of law enforcement. Currently, marijuana remains an illegal drug under the federal government's Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It is a federal crime to transport weed, even if California and other legal states permit it. How can companies protect themselves and their drivers? Furthermore, state police will enforce regulations when the market goes live next year.

Pot delivery services have another problem to resolve. A cash-only environment is extremely dangerous, as working solely with cash acts as a magnet for criminals. Because of federal prohibition, banks will not provide financial services to weed businesses, restricting them to cash sales and exposing them to theft and robbery. This urgent matter will require relaxing of federal law so that pot firms can use banks.

Also up for detailed discussion are the future trends of cannabis delivery. This is particularly exciting, as consumers can look forward to getting pot by drone delivery or by self-driving car. Safety is the primary focus of every panelist there, and because drones and self-driving cars do not need a driver, the future guarantees total privacy, anonymity, and safe delivery for consumers, without having to see anyone.

Zachary Brown, one of the four panelist speakers on marijuana delivery, looks forward to how this growing industry is about to change, to flourish. The role that companies like Pot Valet can play in communities can benefit everyone everywhere. With the company going recreational next year, he is enthusiastic that those in the delivery industry can work together to secure future trends.

Pot Valet is the top-rated, highest-reviewed online cannabis dispensary. Based in Santa Monica, it serves patients across California. Its large selection of products consistently meet regulatory requirements for the highest quality medical marijuana and the company only delivers to valid medical patients.

Patients across California can now get their orders in less than 45 minutes. Those still using the company's Overnight Delivery Service get their medicine the next day. Pot Valet is expanding its Immediate Delivery Service throughout the United States and soon, patients everywhere will enjoy the same benefits.

To order marijuana delivery through Pot Valet, patients must upload a copy of their Medical Marijuana Recommendation and a government I.D. photograph. The company is fully compliant with state laws and regulations.

Pot Valet, LTD

3110 Main Street #304

Santa Monica, California

90405

Office: (800) 357-1314

potvalet.com

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

SOURCE Pot Valet

Related Links

http://potvalet.com


TULSA, Okla. and NASHUA, N.H., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The editors of Power Engineering and Renewable Energy World magazines are pleased to announce the 2017 Project of the Year Finalists.

Fourteen outstanding power projects were selected from industry-nominated projects in five categories: Coal, Combined Heat & Power (CHP), Energy Storage, Natural Gas, and Renewables.

To be eligible, projects must have come online between Aug. 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017. Editors from Power Engineering and Renewable Energy World selected the finalists based on innovation, local and industry impact, and the ability to overcome logistical challenges.

The winning projects in each category will be announced Dec. 5 during the Keynote session at POWER-GEN International 2017 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. More than 1,400 exhibiting companies from every sector of the industry will be showcasing their products and services on the exhibit floor.

Finalists were selected for each category. They are:

Best Coal-Fired Project

NRG Energy's Petra Nova Carbon Capture Retrofit

China Resources Power Holdings' Hezhou Power Plant

Wisconsin Power and Light's Edgewater Unit 5 AQCS

Best CHP Project

NRG Energy's Corporate Headquarters

China Resources Power Holdings Cangzhou Heat and Power Cogeneration Power Plant

Best Energy Storage Project

GENSA Energy Gestor Colombia Microgrid

Imperial Irrigation District Battery Energy Storage System

Southern California Edison's Hybrid Battery / Gas Turbines

Best Gas-Fired Project

Grand River Energy Center Combined Cycle Unit 3

Exelon Wolf Hollow

Burullus Power Plant

Best Renewable Project

China Resources Power Holdings' Ningxia Haiyuan Xihua Mountain Wind Farm

PG&E's Blue Lake Rancheria Microgrid

DC Department of General Services Rooftop Solar Arrays

"Companies like those represented by this year's project finalists are instrumental in meeting public demands for cleaner, more efficient electricity," said Richard G. Baker, publisher of Power Engineering and senior vice president of PennWell's Power Generation Group. "Power Engineering and Renewable Energy World are once again pleased to be able to recognize some of the exceptional power projects that were completed in the past year."

The greatest minds in power generation will be gathering in Las Vegas Dec. 5-7 for POWER-GEN International to discuss the technology, operation and regulation of power generation. The most innovative and cost-effective solutions for maintaining, operating and building new power generation will be shared with more than 20,000 attendees. To register, click here.

About PennWell Corporation:

Founded in 1910 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, PennWell Corporation is a privately held and highly diversified business-to-business media and marketing services company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: Electric power generation and delivery, hydropower, renewable energy, water and wastewater, oil & gas, electronics, optoelectronics, fiber-optics, aerospace and avionics, LEDs and lighting, fire and emergency services, and dental. PennWell publishes over 130 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, websites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell's headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; London, England; Houston, Texas; Mountain View, California; Fairlawn, New Jersey; Moscow, Russia; Istanbul, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Hong Kong, China. For more information visit www.pennwell.com

RUSSELL RAY (Gas, Coal, CHP)

Editor-in-Chief, Power Engineering

Conference Committee Chairman

POWER-GEN International

1.918.832.9368

[email protected]



JENNIFER RUNYON (Renewables, Storage)

Editor-in-Chief, Renewable Energy World

1.603.891.9363

[email protected]

SOURCE Power Engineering; Renewable Energy World
"I think we're first and foremost trial lawyers, at least that's how I view myself," said founding partner Joseph A. Power Jr. in an interview with Chicago Lawyer . "Everyone knows we're very happy and willing to try a case in the event they're not willing to negotiate a reasonable sum of money."

"Your opponents know whether you try cases of whether you just settle them," said founding partner Todd A. Smith in an interview with Chicago Lawyer. "The reason I get a case to settlement is because we're ready to try a case."

Partner Devon C. Bruce secured a $47.5 million settlement for a 4-year-old quad-amputee, the largest single settlement considered in the report, and the largest recorded settlement in Cook County history for any medical malpractice action. According to court documents, the patient suffered a small laceration after jumping in a pool that became infected, but did not receive the necessary antibiotics until the infection progressed to the point where amputation was necessary.

The firm thanks its clients and its referring attorneys for entrusting us to handle these important matters for them.

Power Rogers & Smith, L.L.P. is a personal injury law firm based out of Chicago, IL dedicated to protecting the rights of injured victims. Over the past 20 plus years, our attorneys have secured more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements for our clients. To contact one of our personal injury lawyers, give us a call at (312) 313-0202, or visit our website at http://www.prslaw.com/.

SOURCE Power Rogers & Smith

Related Links

https://www.prslaw.com


LATHAM, N.Y., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PrimaLoft, Inc. ("PrimaLoft" or "the Company"), a materials science company specializing in advanced branded technical products including insulation, fabric, and yarn for outdoor, fashion, and other industries, today announced the completion of a management-led transaction to recapitalize the business and to help the rapidly growing company invest in innovative technologies to meet growing consumer demand. The new investor group is led by private equity firm Victor Capital Partners in partnership with the private equity group at Allstate. PrimaLoft management will continue to maintain a significant investment in the business. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Latham, NY, PrimaLoft is a leader in research and development of high performance materials for leading outdoor and fashion brands, as well as work wear, hunting, home furnishings and military applications. Originally developed in the 1980s for the U.S. army as a water-resistant, synthetic alternative to down insulation, PrimaLoft is today recognized as a leading consumer ingredient brand. With a focus on innovation, the Company has expanded its product line into a broad array of comfort solutions that are recognized by consumers and brand partners for being lightweight, warm, water-resistant, comfortable, soft, breathable, durable, eco-friendly, and animal-friendly. The Company was previously owned by Prudential Capital Group.

"This is an incredible opportunity to enhance the future of PrimaLoft," said Mike Joyce, president and chief executive officer of PrimaLoft. "In recent years, we have enjoyed significant growth and further established PrimaLoft as a leading consumer ingredient brand that partners with many of the best outdoor, fashion, and home furnishings companies in the world. Our new partnership with Victor Capital will provide the capital, commitment and operating support to drive our technological innovation and market development to new levels."

"We would like to thank Prudential Capital Group for the tremendous support they have provided the Company over the past five years," said Joyce. "They have been an exceptional partner and a great steward of the business, helping to drive the strategies that have underpinned our growth and position us well for the future."

"We are delighted to be partnering with Mike Joyce and the talented team at PrimaLoft and bringing our experience working with valuable consumer brands to the Company," said Douglas Korn, managing partner of Victor Capital. "The strong and growing reputation of the PrimaLoft brand and the Company's history of leadership in developing innovative technologies offer an exciting platform for continued growth. We look forward to helping the management team propel the Company to new levels of success."

About Victor Capital Partners

Victor Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm that invests in branded businesses with compelling growth potential in the industrial and consumer sectors. Victor Capital's focus areas include industrial manufacturing and technology, industrial and business services, and specialty consumer products and services. Victor Capital seeks to use its capital and resources to partner with companies that have valuable brands, solid foundations in technology, potential for add-on acquisitions, and attractive business and market trends and characteristics. The firm was founded in late 2015 by Douglas R. Korn, a private equity veteran who has been partnering with strong management teams to help build great companies since the late 1980s. For more information on Victor Capital, please visit www.victorcapitalpartners.com.

About Allstate

The Allstate Corporation is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life's uncertainties. Allstate's Investments team manages over $80 billion of the Allstate companies' investments and has decades of experience pursuing strategies in a broad array of asset classes and geographies in both the public and private markets. Allstate's private equity group currently manages more than $6 billion of invested capital deployed in both direct transactions and funds from offices in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong. For more information on the private equity team's focus, please visit www.allstateinvestments.com/private-equity.html.

About Prudential Capital Group

Prudential Capital Group has been a leading provider of private capital to companies for more than 75 years. Managing a portfolio of nearly $80 billion as of June 30, 2017, Prudential Capital offers senior debt and junior capital, leveraged leases, and equipment financing to companies and projects worldwide. The global office network has locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Minneapolis, Newark, N.J., New York, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney.* More information is available at prudentialcapitalgroup.com.

*The Sydney office operates through PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd.

About PrimaLoft, Inc.

PrimaLoft, Inc., a materials science company based in Latham, New York with offices in Munich, Germany and Xiamen, China, is the world leader in research and innovative development of comfort solutions with high performance insulations, fabrics and yarns. The PrimaLoft brand, a registered trademark of PrimaLoft, Inc., delivers feel-good products that are used in the top global outdoor and fashion brands, home furnishings, work wear, hunting and military applications. PrimaLoft insulation was originally developed for the U.S. army as a water-resistant, synthetic alternative to down. Today, the brand is recognized as a benchmark in the outdoor industry for providing unsurpassed comfort in any condition, ultimately empowering users to stay in the moment. PrimaLoft, Inc. is active in sustainable textile production through partnerships with the bluesign system, the International OEKO-TEX Association and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition's Higg Index. For more information, please visit www.PrimaLoft.com, and follow PrimaLoft on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE PrimaLoft, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.primaloft.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

The Dark Side of Crowdsourcing

New Crackdowns on Payday Lending and Predatory Lending

When It Comes to College Savings Basics, Parents Struggle to Make the Grade

Building a Personal Brand

How Leaders Can Positively Impact the Workplace

MEDIA JOBS

Marketing & Media Executive  Behavox ( London /NY)

/NY) Editor, Weekend Business & Finance Section  The Wall Street Journal (NY)

Digital Financial Journalist  Investor's Business Daily (CA)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

How to Get Started as a Ghost Writer

5 Questions with Miami Herald: Reporting on Irma When You're in the Path of the Storm

Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in October

-------------------------------------------------------------------

EXPERT ALERTS:

The Dark Side of Crowdsourcing

Kyumin Lee

Computer Science Professor

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester, MA

With social media sites and search engines being manipulated by malicious tasks to promote fake news, inflated or deflated data, crowdsourcing may not be as benevolent as it seems. Says Lee: "Crowdsourced manipulation threatens the foundations of the open web ecosystem, reducing the quality on online social media, degrading trust in search engines, manipulating political opinion and ultimately degrading security and trustworthiness of cyberspace."

Lee's published work on the topicincludes: "Detecting Malicious Campaigns in Crowdsourcing Platforms," IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM), 2016. "Uncovering Fake Likers in Online Social Networks," ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), 2016.

Website: www.wpi.edu

Contact: Colleen Wamback, [email protected]

New Crackdowns on Payday Lending and Predatory Lending

Terri Friedline

Assistant Professor of Social Welfare

University of Kansas

Lawrence, KS

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has new rules on payday lending and predatory lending, and is cracking down on such practices. Says Friedline: "These new rules are an important step toward protecting consumers. Consumer advocates have been anticipating CFPB's new rules on predatory lending for a long time, and it was exciting to participate in the local and regional conversation about predatory lending at the CFPB's field hearing in Kansas City last year."

Friedline is an expert in financial opportunity and equity, and is the lead creator of the Mapping Financial Opportunity project.

Website: https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/mapping-financial-opportunity/where-are-financial-services-located/

Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected]

When It Comes to College Savings Basics, Parents Struggle to Make the Grade

Kyla Michaud

Vice President

Fidelity Investments

"While saving for college is a top priority for a majority of families, many parents still stumble over a number of college savings fundamentals. Taking time early to map out a savings strategy that fits your family's unique college goals can help you stay on track, and feel prepared when the time comes for your child to head to campus."

Michaud can speak to Fidelity's College IQ Survey (to be released on Oct. 12), which reveals parents' college savings knowledge gaps and pinpoints areas where they may need a tutor.

Contact: Brendan Beaver, [email protected]

Building a Personal Brand

Marlene J. Waldock

Brand Builder, Motivational Speaker, Business Trainer, Author

1st Impressions Communications

New York, NY and West Orange, NJ

Branding isn't just for companies and products. Just about everyone needs a personal brand, whether you are an employee, a business professional, business owner, entrepreneur, or student. According to Waldock: "People [can] achieve their dreams by learning how to define what they really want for themselves. Knowing what you want is key and then it is about creating a plan."

Waldock is an award-winning brand builder, motivational speaker and nationally published author. For over two decades, her focus has been personal branding, verbal marketing, powerful presentation skills and how to "ask," with the mantra "If you don't 'ASK," you don't 'GET'."Most recently, she's earned a spot on the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs Brand Builders, and a Leading Women Entrepreneurs Finalist.

Website: http://becausewearewomen.com

Highlight Reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIKseATTOMA

Contact: Amy Delman, [email protected]

How Leaders Can Positively Impact the Workplace

David Cunningham

Seminar Leader

Landmark

"The future you envision is what empowers you in the present. When people are connected to a purpose, they are more satisfied and productive. You want people to experience their contribution and fulfillment inside the enterprise. Everyone should be working toward the same things, from the CEO to the employees. Transformation happens when we empower people to see how they fit into the whole and the difference they make. People's behavior shifts when they see themselves as being on a journey toward something greater."

David Cunningham, M.Ed., is a communication expert and seminar leader for Landmark, a personal and professional growth, training and development company. In The Landmark Forum, Landmark's flagship program, people cause breakthroughs in their performance, communication, relationships and overall satisfaction in life.

Online Press Kit: http://davidcunningham.onlinepresskit247.com

Website: www.LandmarkWorldwide.com

Contact: Michelle Tennant, [email protected]

****************

MEDIA JOBS:

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

Marketing & Media Executive  Behavox ( London /NY)

/NY) Editor, Weekend Business & Finance Section  The Wall Street Journal (NY)

Digital Financial Journalist  Investor's Business Daily (CA)

*****************

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected]

So you want to be a ghost writer. Here's what you need to know. It's not so spooky, but like any type of freelance writing, it comes with its own challenges: http://prn.to/ghostwriter

5 Questions with Miami Herald: Reporting on Irma When You're in the Path of the Storm. While the wind and rain of Irma ravaged the state of Florida , members of the media stayed put to cover the full story to get the most up-to-date information to its readers. Here's what Miami Herald Managing Editor Rick Hirsch had to say: http://prn.to/2xZp42S

, members of the media stayed put to cover the full story to get the most up-to-date information to its readers. Here's what Miami Herald Managing Editor had to say: http://prn.to/2xZp42S Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in OCTOBER. This a monthly column of what's happening in the blog world. Here are top events to attend in October: http://prn.to/octblogevents

****************

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

SOURCE ProfNet

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MADISON, Wis., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Propeller Health released the first ever application programming interface (API) to provide local asthma conditions to anyone in the US who would like to share this insight with their audiences. This service, Air by Propeller, is open and free to use. Propeller has trained a machine-learning model on millions of days of anonymized data, including where and when people experience asthma symptoms and the environmental conditions at these times, to predict potential effects on people's breathing. With the launch of Air, Propeller now enables other individuals and organizations to use its local asthma condition calculations to improve the health of people with chronic respiratory disease.

At a one-day company hackathon held last week in Wisconsin, the Propeller team built a series of free tools using the Air API that are also being released to the public today. Propeller has been traveling to Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin annually over the last four years to come together, celebrate successes, and inspire new ways to create more symptom-free days for people with respiratory disease. This year, the 70 team members broke into small groups to build and launch tools under Air.

"Each year, we return to Camp Wandawega to recommit ourselves to creating a company no one else can build," said David Van Sickle, CEO, Propeller. "Our culture brings together people who are passionate about health, passionate about technology, and passionate about inventing the future, and puts us to work to solve problems for people with respiratory disease and for those who care for them."

The tools created during the hackathon demonstrate some of the potential applications of Air API. They range from an email or text subscription, to Alexa and Google Home integration, IFTTT Applets, or an embeddable Air Widget for other websites. Each application notifies people of asthma conditions in their area. Propeller hopes Air tools will inspire others to build applications from Air API so more people can become aware of local asthma conditions.

"We're excited to release the first version of Air by Propeller, a set of services designed to enable a larger audience to help people with asthma," said Greg Tracy, CTO, Propeller. "With the new infrastructure and services, people will be able to make use of Propeller's analytics, which draw on the largest database of respiratory medication use, environmental exposures and conditions. We look forward to seeing how others build on this to change the experience of respiratory disease."

Air is a continuation of features recently launched by Propeller. This summer, the company introduced a new model of its patient app Daily Asthma Forecast, which leverages machine-learning to create personal predictions of asthma conditions. Propeller for Apple Watch and Find My Inhaler were also introduced over the last few months.

This is just the beginning of Air, and another step in Propeller's mission to maximize symptom-free days for people with asthma. Propeller will continue to roll out additional tools under Air in the coming months.

About Propeller

Propeller empowers people with asthma and COPD to live measurably better lives. In 2010 Propeller set out to modernize respiratory medicine, empower people to minimize the impact of asthma and COPD on their daily lives, and connect them to their physicians, environment and community. Propeller's information-powered approach to respiratory management guides physicians and patients to the optimal path of therapy for each individual. With connected inhalers, digital interfaces, and real time personalized insights, participants receive personal guidance and expert direction anytime. Backed by 3M Ventures (NYSE: MMM), SR One, Hikma Ventures (LON: HIK), Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), Social Capital and other investors, Propeller has been used by patients with asthma or COPD in over 45 commercial programs across the US at major healthcare systems, payers, employers and other commercial partners. The company has been recognized as the recipient of the American Telemedicine Association's 2016 President's Award for Innovation in Remote Healthcare, as one of the world's Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, and as one of the top "Fierce 15" medical device companies in 2015 by FierceMedicalDevices. For more information visit: www.propellerhealth.com

SOURCE Propeller Health

Related Links

http://propellerhealth.com


MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To further address the needs of its clients, global consulting firm Protiviti has expanded its Member Firm network in Colombia via an agreement with Creinpro Colombia, S. A. S., a business consulting services firm with offices in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. The Protiviti Member Firm network in Latin America also includes offices in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.

"Protiviti's expansion of the Member Firm network into Colombia, South America's second largest country by population, reflects the rapidly improving economy of that country," said Joseph Tarantino, president and CEO of Protiviti. "We are pleased to be able to provide this additional support to new and existing clients looking to pursue market opportunities in Colombia and Latin America with the expertise in local regulatory and compliance matters that Protiviti is known for worldwide."

The new Protiviti Member Firm office in Colombia offers a range of services, such as digital transformation, anti-money laundering compliance, technology consulting, including cyber security and data management, and internal audit. The new Member Firm will also give clients access to the Governance Portal, Protiviti's proprietary governance, risk and compliance software solution. The consulting team in Colombia, together with Protiviti's other Latin America Member Firms, serves clients across Latin America, including Central America and the Caribbean. As a Protiviti Member Firm, Creinpro is Protiviti's exclusive representative for Colombia. Managing Director Gamal Perez leads the Bogota office, having served with Protiviti's Venezuela Member Firm since 2006.

Protiviti Member Firms provide local knowledge and expertise to deliver high quality services and solutions in countries around the world. Protiviti Member Firms are separate and independent legal entities, are not agents of Protiviti Inc. or other firms in the Protiviti network, and have no authority to obligate or bind other firms in the Protiviti network.

About Protiviti

Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Through its network of more than 70 offices in over 20 countries, Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms provide clients with consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit.

Protiviti has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half. Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index.

Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services.

Editor's note: photos available upon request.

SOURCE Protiviti

Related Links

http://www.protiviti.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PSafe Technology, Inc., a leading provider of mobile security and optimization solutions for Android phones, today announced DFNDR Security 5.0, its flagship product with enhanced anti-hacking technology and anti-phishing features. The new app versionDFNDR Security 5.0steps up protection against phishing attacks through the latest advances in machine learning and crowdsourcing.

This video describes what makes PSafe different from other Android security apps and why you should consider itwhether you choose the free version or the paid version at $4.99 per year with no adsas your first choice for defense when it comes to Android security.

Phishing scams go beyond just email and include popular chat and messaging services such as SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Sophisticated ad promotions, such as e-coupons, giveaways, online donation drives, and contests, have also been used by hackers to fool consumers into giving up their personal information. Just this year, PSafe has caught phishing attacks that attempted to undermine popular consumer-facing companies such as Facebook, Wells Fargo, McDonald's, and American Airlines.

"More and more phishing attacks are affecting mobile phone users," said Marco DeMello, CEO, PSafe. "Your mother, your brother, or your neighbor, anyone could be a victim. Hackers are creating increasingly sophisticated phishing scams that fool even the most tech-savvy consumers. DFNDR Security uses advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting for users so that they can have the freedom to connect and share online without worry."

This infographic details the statistics and looming threats of cyber attacks on Android phones.

The DFNDR family of security apps includes:

DFNDR Security with phishing scam detection in SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Rather than detecting potentially malicious links after users have already clicked on them, DFNDR Security 5.0 automatically checks for phishing-related activities inside these apps without the user ever having to click on any links.

with phishing scam detection in SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Rather than detecting potentially malicious links after users have already clicked on them, DFNDR Security 5.0 automatically checks for phishing-related activities inside these apps without the user ever having to click on any links. Anti-hacking technology is also being added to the DFNDR VPN app, which is a virtual private network service providing users with privacy and security while they're connected to the internet.

app, which is a virtual private network service providing users with privacy and security while they're connected to the internet. A secure storage solution with military-grade encryptionDFNDR Vaultthat keeps information safe on Android devices and further helps to protect users' privacy.

PSafe's DFNDR Lab, comprising a global team of security experts that use artificial intelligence, proprietary technology, and community collaboration to uncover cyber attacks and scams, monitor over 2 billion URLs and detects on average 800,000 - 900,000 malicious attempts every day. As a proud sponsor of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), PSafe collaborates with industry leaders around the globe to help unify the effort and develop best practices to prevent phishing scams and cyber crime.

"The number of phishing scams is on the rise. In 2017 to date, our team at DFNDR Lab has detected and blocked 17 million malicious URLs in the U.S., that is 8.5 times more than malware attempts," said Emilio Simoni, head of PSafe's DFNDR Lab. "Also, chat-based hacker attacks are on the rise, and we're offering proprietary proactive protection, so that the user is alerted without taking that first risky step."

PSafe, with seven years of mobile security experience, holds a dominant position in the Latin American security software market and already has close to 4 million monthly active users in the U.S. after entering the market in 2016.

About PSafe

PSafe Technology is a leading provider of mobile privacy, security, and performance apps for the Android platform. The company is dedicated to delivering innovative products that protect consumers' freedom to safely connect, share, play, express, and explore online. The flagship antivirus and anti-hacking app, DFNDR Security, has 100+ million installations globally and was recently named a top-rated antivirus software by the AV-TEST Institutethe world leader in security and antivirus research. To safeguard and enhance Android users' online experiences, the company's app portfolio continues to grow and now includes a virtual private network appDFNDR VPN, a private storage appDFNDR Vault, and a battery performance appPowerPro. PSafe is funded by Redpoint Ventures, e.ventures, RPeV, Pinnacle Ventures and Index Ventures. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in Brazil and numerous satellite employees around the globe.

Media Contacts:

David Templeton

DBT Communications

[email protected]

(203) 530-0458

Marie Domingo

DBT Communications

[email protected]

(650) 888-5642

SOURCE PSafe

Related Links

http://psafe.com


LONDON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) - Pipeline Review, H2 2017



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/943794



Summary

Global Markets Direct's latest Pharmaceutical and Healthcare disease pipeline guide Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) - Pipeline Review, H2 2017, provides an overview of the Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) pipeline landscape.



Radiation Toxicity (also known as radiation sickness) is an acute illness caused by irradiation of the entire body by a high dose of penetrating radiation in a very short period of time (usually a matter of minutes). The major cause of this syndrome is depletion of immature parenchymal stem cells in specific tissues. Symptoms include bleeding from the nose, mouth, gums, and rectum, bloody stool, bruising, confusion, dehydration, diarrhea, fainting and fatigue.



Report Highlights

Global Markets Direct's Pharmaceutical and Healthcare latest pipeline guide Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) - Pipeline Review, H2 2017, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology), complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases.



The Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) pipeline guide also reviews of key players involved in therapeutic development for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) and features dormant and discontinued projects. The guide covers therapeutics under Development by Companies /Universities /Institutes, the molecules developed by Companies in Filing rejected/Withdrawn, Phase III, Phase II, Phase I, IND/CTA Filed, Preclinical, Discovery and Unknown stages are 1, 3, 5, 8, 1, 44, 8 and 1 respectively. Similarly, the Universities portfolio in Preclinical and Discovery stages comprises 4 and 1 molecules, respectively.



Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) pipeline guide helps in identifying and tracking emerging players in the market and their portfolios, enhances decision making capabilities and helps to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. The guide is built using data and information sourced from Global Markets Direct's proprietary databases, company/university websites, clinical trial registries, conferences, SEC filings, investor presentations and featured press releases from company/university sites and industry-specific third party sources. Additionally, various dynamic tracking processes ensure that the most recent developments are captured on a real time basis.



Note: Certain content / sections in the pipeline guide may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data.



Scope

- The pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology).

- The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.

- The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages.

- The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities.

- The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects.

- The pipeline guide evaluates Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type.

- The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects.

- The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology)



Reasons to buy

- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.

- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.

- Find and recognize significant and varied types of therapeutics under development for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology).

- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.

- Develop tactical initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies.

- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and it's most promising pipeline therapeutics.

- Formulate corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) (Toxicology) pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics.

- Develop and design in-licensing and out-licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.

- Adjust the therapeutic portfolio by recognizing discontinued projects and understand from the know-how what drove them from pipeline.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/943794



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

https://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Rapid test market projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.7%"

The rapid test market is projected to reach USD 15.71 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2017. The market is driven by factors such as the establishment of stringent regulations in the food industry by developed as well as emerging countries due to increasing food product recalls and cases of bloodborne illness & hospitalizations caused by contaminated food. The growth in the market is also attributed to the technological advancements due to increased R&D investments by companies.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05135701





Factors such as complexity in testing technologies and the lack of standardization in regulations across various regions are restraining the market growth.



"Meat speciation segment is projected to be fastest growing from 2017 to 2022"

The meat speciation segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR among the all contaminants for rapid test market from 2017 to 2022. Increasing incidences of meat adulterations in higher value meat products in fueling growth of the market. Consumers must be correctly informed about the materials used in the product through the labeling act before they make any purchase decision. As the inclusion of meat is increasing in modern food, a convenient method of verifying the labeling of commercial food products is important to ensure food safety and gain consumers' trust.



"PCR-based technology segment led the market with the largest share in 2016"

PCR is DNA-based molecular technology. The technology amplifies fragments of DNA extracted from the food product samples to accurately identify the DNA of each species in the product, resulting in enabled cross-checking of the product's quality and confirmation of the claims that the product makes. PCR technology provides assurance of reliability, quality, and faster test results, which in turn drives its market.



"Meat & seafood products testing dominated the market in 2016"

Meat & seafood products include products from fish, crustaceans, mollusks, crabs, beef, chicken, mutton, and pork. There are certain processed meat and seafood products such as ham and sausages that are genetically modified during the production process. The rapid test technology largely used for meat identification is the detection of species-specific proteins or DNA analysis (using PCR-based technology).



"China contributed to the largest market share in the Asia Pacific region in 2016"

The North American region dominated the rapid test market in 2016. The market for rapid test in North America is driven by the growth in the US market, as it is a large producer, importer, and exporter of different types of meat, food products, and producer of various crops.



The US has been implementing various regulations to certify and assure the quality and safety of food from biological and chemical threats.

The Asia Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of rapid testing in the Asia Pacific region is driven by the increasing export activities, which need faster test results and stringency of rules & regulations enforced by different countries and regions.



Food security standards are getting stringent year-on-year to ensure safer supply of food to individuals in local and foreign countries. Since countries such as China, India, and Australia are large exporters of food products to developed countries of North America & Europe, which are cautious about the quality and labeling of products imported from the Asia Pacific region, the governments of these exporting countries have enforced various regulations in place for consumers, producers, and regulators.



The figure below shows the breakdown of the primaries on the basis of the company, designation, and region, conducted during the research study.

- By Company Type: Tier 1  38%, Tier 2  42%, and Tier 3  20%

- By Designation: C level  45%, and D level  55%

- By Region: Europe  70%, Asia Pacific  15%, North America  10%, RoW  5%



Major players such as SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, Eurofins, TUV SUD, and Merieux NutriSciences collectively accounted for a majority of the global rapid test market. Other players in the market include ALS Limited, Microbac Laboratories, AsureQuality, Romer Labs, and OMIC USA.



Research Coverage:

The report focuses on rapid test services for different materials and regions. It aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of this market across different segmentscontaminants, technology, food tested, and region. Furthermore, the report includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market along with their company profiles, competitive leadership mapping, recent developments, and key market strategies.



Reasons to buy this report:

 To get a comprehensive overview of the global rapid test market

 To gain wide-ranging information about the top players in this industry, their service portfolios, and key strategies adopted by them

 To gain insights of the major countries/regions in which the rapid test market is flourishing



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05135701



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



https://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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"With so many airborne threats in the battlespace, our ground forces need the protection of additional mobile air defense systems," said Kim Ernzen, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president. "Combining these two proven systems gives the Army an immediate, low risk, high-value solution."

The Army is now evaluating the Stinger missile/Stryker vehicle solution.

The Stinger weapon system is a lightweight, self-contained air defense system that can be rapidly deployed by ground troops and on military platforms. It's combat proven in four major conflicts and in use by more than 20 nations as well as all four U.S. military services.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter.

Media Contact

Lorenzo Cortes

+1.520.746.2156

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Company

Related Links

http://www.raytheon.com


Launched in April 2017 in partnership with Nextdoor, the private social network for neighborhoods, the "Nicest Place in America" contest is Reader's Digest 's first national crowd-sourced search for exceptional places that are epicenters of community spirit and trust. The inaugural contest drew hundreds of nominations of physical locations from across America with stories that reflect a more civil, kinder American attitude.

"At a time when the country seems to be more divided than ever, we launched 'Nicest Places' as a way to counter that national dynamic," says Bruce Kelley, Editor-in-Chief of Reader's Digest. "We all know local places where neighbors help one another in good times and bad and where strangers are made to feel welcome. Reader's Digest wanted to celebrate those places that embody community spirit and remind us that trust and a sense of belonging, rather than division and incivility, is what binds us together as Americans."

"More and more, we are seeing people pull together at a national level when faced with tragedy," says Kelley." But that eagerness to connect exists every day at the local level, in small towns and city neighborhoods all across America."

Located just outside of booming Nashville, the winning place of Gallatin is a farm-community-turned-suburb of nearly 40,000 residents with a commitment to diversity, charity work, and an overall culture of kindness. In 2016, the town rose above adversity in the wake of a police shooting that threatened to be a catalyst for major conflict. The once-segregated community, rather than descend into the finger-pointing or violence that have afflicted other cities and towns, hosted a prayer vigil outside of city hall that drew civic and religious leaders from across the town's diverse communities.

"Gallatin was one of hundreds of places eager to share their stories of people instinctively putting community ahead of themselves," says Kelley. "Never was this more apparent than in the wake of a terrible shooting, when the people of Gallatin decided against the 'us against them' anger and suspicion of the past and instead chose peaceful and civil dialogue to move forward as a community."

Kelley notes that the ten finalists were a mirror of the "compassion and generosity that is at the core of America's values and sense of belonging." Among the finalists are places like Providence, Rhode Island, where residents gather to shine their flashlights to the windows of a local hospital as a way of signaling support for children undergoing cancer treatment; Pflugerville High School, in Texas, which has stamped out teen cyber-bullying and built a better school community; and Shorewood, Wisconsin, where a local group of families has turned a local online bulletin board into a no-judgment zone offering emotional and financial support to its virtual community of young mothers.

The ten editor-selected "Nicest Place" finalists were announced in June 2017, when voting was opened to the public, resulting in over 300,000 views and close to 80,000 votes, more than 30,000 of them cast for Gallatin. Reader's Digest editors then considered this voting tally along with its in-depth reporting on the finalist placesplus the input of Platinum-selling Country artist Brett Young, the contest's celebrity judgeto select the "Nicest Place in America."

"I was happy to be a part of recognizing places that celebrate and embrace kindness," says Young. "It's important to highlight places that value being good to one another and I'm glad that there is a spotlight on these inspiring communities."

An award ceremony and celebration will be held at Gallatin City Hall on Wednesday, October 11th at 9:00am (CDT).

About Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest, a Trusted Media Brands, Inc. brand, simplifies and enriches consumers' lives by discovering and expertly selecting the most interesting ideas, stories, experiences and products in health, home, family, food, finance and humor. Reader's Digest is available online at RD.com; in print; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and tablets; and can be accessed via its social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

About Trusted Media Brands, Inc.

Trusted Media Brands, Inc. comprises a network of engaged, active readers who genuinely connect with its blend of uplifting and enduring expertly-curated family, food, health, home improvement, finance and humor content digitally, via magazines and books, social media, and events and experiences. Founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace as Reader's Digest Association, one of the first user-generated content publishers, Trusted Media Brands, Inc. is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit TMBI.com.

About Nextdoor.com, Inc.

Nextdoor (nextdoor.com) is the free and private social network for neighborhoods available on Web, iOS, and Android. On Nextdoor, neighbors create private online communities where they get to know one another, ask questions, and exchange advice and recommendations. More than 160,000 neighborhoods across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands are using Nextdoor to build stronger and safer places to call home.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Nextdoor is a privately-held company with the backing of prominent investors, including Comcast Ventures, Axel Springer SE, Benchmark, Greylock Partners, Tiger Global Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and others.

For additional information and images: nextdoor.com/newsroom

Media Contact:

[email protected]

917-806-8917

SOURCE Reader's Digest

Related Links

http://www.rd.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stayawhile, a New York-based company building a global network of furnished apartment rentals for medium-term lengths of stay, will become the first real estate platform to utilize blockchain-based utility tokens as a store of value and security measure. The company announced the launch of Stayabit, an ERC-20 Ethereum token, which will be sold in a crowdsale beginning on October 30.

"Stayawhile's mission is to create a world with fewer borders. Our Stayabit token will help to eliminate many of the obstacles our international clientele often encounter when attempting to rent apartments in markets where they do not own assets," said Janine Yorio, the company's Founder and CEO.

By integrating blockchain technology into its platform, Stayawhile will help facilitate seamless cross-border payments and security deposits, assess creditworthiness of individuals who may not have a U.S. credit score, and be able to offer booking priority and discounts.

Token Sale

Stayabit (STAY) tokens will be sold starting at a price of $1 per STAY token during the sale, which will run from October 30 through November 30. Pricing discounts will be available to early buyers and there will be additional bonuses for large purchases. A private pre-sale will begin on October 15, during which time tokens will be offered at discounted rates of up to 40%. Detailed pricing information is available at https://token.stayawhile.com and purchase inquiries can be made directly to [email protected].

About Stayawhile

Stayawhile is a global network of furnished, branded, designer apartments. The company currently operates apartments in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia, with plans to expand to Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Berlin in the near future. The apartments are joined by both aesthetic and technology, which makes moving between them seamless and hassle-free. Stayawhile is based in New York City and led by an experienced management team with a depth of experience in real estate, hospitality and technology development. The company is based in New York City and was founded in 2016.

Read the whitepaper here: https://token.stayawhile.com/pdfs/whitepaper.pdf

Join the discussion on Telegram: https://t.me/stayawhiletoken

Media Contact

Name: Eli Nemzer

Email: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/thestayawhile

Follow on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/thestayawhile/

SOURCE Stayawhile

Related Links

http://www.stayawhile.com


REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Replicon, a leading provider of global project and time management solutions, today announced the launch of its Time Intelligence Platform - designed to fundamentally change the way organizations manage, analyze, and leverage time as a strategic asset. Companies need to treat time much as they do finances, talent, and materials, so management can better connect time spent to outcomes produced - optimizing operational efficiency and driving business growth. Replicon's Time Intelligence Platform will be unveiled today in Booth #3028 at the HR Technology Conference & Exposition, at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

"Too often, organizations overlook the importance of time in their business - when in fact, it's a powerful resource that impacts productivity, performance, and profitability," explained Raj Narayanaswamy, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Replicon. "By creating a new category of Time Intelligence, Replicon applies more than 20 years of best practices to help global brands unlock the underlying power of time - empowering them to analyze, optimize, and capitalize on time."

As part of HR Tech, Narayanaswamy will talk specifically about how applying Time Intelligence can bridge the gap between maintaining global compliance and a healthy company culture, on a panel with speakers from Facebook, Heluna Health (Public Health Foundation Enterprises), and Trunk Club. The session, "Culture vs. Compliance: How to Maintain a People-First Culture While Complying With Labor Laws," will take place Friday, October 13th at 9:30 AM. The discussion will focus on best practices and technology solutions for the distributed workforce, to keep a unique company culture while ensuring labor and payroll compliance on a global scale.

At HR Tech, Replicon will showcase two new solutions along with its Time Intelligence Platform:

Time Intelligence Platform

Replicon's Time Intelligence Platform is designed to capture and process time signals from multiple streams, including the Internet of Things (IoT), in real time. Applying Artificial Intelligence technologies, time data signals are cleansed, transformed, contextualized, and processed to derive time intelligence. Transformed time intelligence is used to train predictive and prescriptive machine learning models as well as create new ones to drive Time Intelligence Services and automate business workflows. Time Intelligence services use exception-guided workflow automation design to orchestrate business workflows with minimal human intervention. Replicon's Time Intelligence platform delivers a holistic view of time data and its relationship with metadata throughout the enterprise and functions as an authoritative system of record for time data across the enterprise. Time Intelligence Services and SDKs facilitate building Time Intelligence Applications to solve unique business problems.

Global Time and Gross Pay Automation

The Global Time and Gross Pay Automation addresses the significant complexities that multinational companies face when adding teams and offices around the world, with multiple worker types, complex CBA requirements, global complexities, and several small locations, empowering them to centrally track and manage changing time - ensuring global gross pay compliance at all times. This easy-to-deploy solution is available in several languages, and includes a compliance library for global pay rules, a calculation engine to ensure accuracy, automatic updates to support changing regulations, traceability and controls for internal audits and payroll audits, and a scriptable framework that allows companies to be up and running with their complex requirements in months, not years.

Enterprise Time Management

The Enterprise Time Management solution provides a real-time, easy to use, and agile front end time management interface to legacy ERP systems including SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft, allowing ERPs to play their role while using a purpose built product to address diverse workforce's time management needs with ease. This enterprise-ready solution eliminates the need for custom feature enhancements to the ERP, minimizes change management with plug and play capabilities, maximizes ROI with a true-cloud deployment model, and is highly customizable to business needs enabling quick implementation and adoption.

About Replicon

Replicon, the Time Intelligence Company, has over 20 years of industry leadership and is pioneering a new approach to time management. Time Intelligence elevates time as a strategic asset within an organization, to improve operational productivity, performance, and profitability. Replicon's Time Intelligence Platform offers solutions for global time and gross pay compliance, integrations with leading ERP solutions, and an SDK for continued development - expanding the company's award-winning portfolio of cloud-based products for workforce management, including complete solution sets for client billing, project costing, and time and attendance. Replicon supports thousands of customers across 70 countries, with over 400 employees around the globe including the United States, Canada, India, Australia, and the United Kingdom. To learn more, visit www.replicon.com.

Media Contact: Dan Capawana

Resound Marketing for Replicon

[email protected]

(609) 279-0050 x109

SOURCE Replicon

Related Links

http://replicon.com


SUNNYVALE, Calif. and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RiskSense, Inc., the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management, today announced that its CEO, Srinivas Mukkamala, Ph.D. will present a session on how organizations can use artificial intelligence (A.I.) to implement a proactive cyber risk management strategy at the 18th Annual Cybersecurity Symposium hosted by UNC Charlotte on October 11.

WHO: Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala is co-founder and CEO at RiskSense. He is a cyber security expert on malware analytics, breach exposure management, Web application security, enterprise risk reduction, and was part of a think tank that collaborated with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Community on cyber security best practices. Dr. Mukkamala was also a lead researcher for CACTUS (Computational Analysis of Cyber Terrorism against the U.S.) and holds a patent on Intelligent Agents for Distributed Intrusion Detection System and Method of Practicing.



WHAT: While A.I. can be used to bolster security defenses by analyzing vast volumes of data, the converse is also true. Malevolent A.I. can assist hackers in identifying targets and vulnerabilities to launch more targeted attacks against organizations and critical infrastructures. In this talk, Dr. Mukkamala will present a real-world case study and best practices on using A.I. as an offensive tool to identify vulnerabilities, as an attacker would, in an organization's entire attack surface - including networks, endpoints, applications, cloud services, mobile and IoT devices, and even operational technology (OT) networks. He will also explain how to combine A.I. with human analysis to proactively predict attack susceptibility, validate whether vulnerabilities are exploitable, test the ability of existing security controls to prevent an attack, and quantify the risk to valuable assets based on diagnostic and operational data.



WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017 from 11:20 AM to 12:05 PM EDT.



WHERE: UNC Charlotte, McKnight Auditorium, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, North Carolina.



HOW: To schedule a conversation with Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala, contact Marc Gendron at [email protected] or +1 781.237.0341. For more information, visit: http://cybersecuritysymposium.uncc.edu/

Resources

RiskSense Platform Overview: http://bit.ly/2yIJ1YE

White Paper on Operationalizing Cyber Risk: http://bit.ly/2gaurSX

Webinar on Cyber Risk Management: What's Holding Us Back? http://bit.ly/2xTE2ba

About RiskSense

RiskSense, Inc. is the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management. The company provides enterprises and governments with clear visibility into their entire attack surface, including attack susceptibility and validation, as well as quantification of risks based on operational data.

The RiskSense Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform unifies and contextualizes internal security intelligence, external threat data and business criticality to transform cyber risk management into a more pro-active, collaborative, and real-time discipline. It embodies hands-on expertise gained from defending critical government and commercial networks from the world's most dangerous cyber adversaries.

By leveraging RiskSense cyber risk management solutions, organizations can significantly shorten time-to-remediation, increase operational efficiency, strengthen their security programs, heighten response readiness, reduce costs, and ultimately minimize cyber risks. For more information, please visit www.risksense.com or follow us on Twitter at @RiskSense.

Media Contacts

Marc Gendron

Marc Gendron Public Relations

+1 781.237.0341

[email protected]

or

[email protected]

SOURCE RiskSense, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.risksense.com


SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Medallia, Inc. (www.medallia.com) today announced Sam's Club (www.samsclub.com) has deployed the Medallia Experience Cloud solution in all of its U.S.-based wholesale clubs. Medallia's software underpins Member Experience Voices ("MxVoices"), a program Sam's Club launched in January 2017. MxVoices gives associates access to timely member feedback and insights, and Sam's Club is using the feedback to continue to improve its member experience.

"With Medallia's help, our associates have real-time and actionable data that help them provide the best possible shopping experience," said Tracey Brown, Sam's Club's Chief Experience Officer. "Associates in every location have the information they need at their fingertips, 24/7, in an easy-to-use app. That empowers them to take action to solve member problems, and we're seeing member satisfaction scores rise as a result."

The vision of Sam's Club to engage in a two-way dialogue with members, capture their experiences and take immediate action, was the reason behind choosing Medallia Experience Cloud. Medallia Experience Cloud created a powerful feedback loop between Sam's Club associates and their members that is making shopping at Sam's Club a fun and memorable experience.

"Sam's Club is a leader in creating positive customer experiences for its members," said Borge Hald, CEO and Co-Founder of Medallia. "We're thrilled to collaborate with this retail brand that represents value, consistency, and excellence in service. What's most impressive is that Sam's Club has created a company culturefrom the CEO to the frontline associatethat values its members. They are living out Sam Walton's vision to be 'agents' for their customers."

"This is a vitally important initiative," said Brown. "We will continue to challenge companies like Medallia to help us build a frictionless experience for both our members and our associates."

About Medallia

Medallia's mission is simple: to create a world where companies are loved by customers and employees alike. Hundreds of the world's best-loved brands trust Medallia's Software-as-a-Service application to help them capture customer feedback everywhere the customer is (on the phone, in store, online, mobile), understand it in real-time, and deliver insights and action everywherefrom the C-suite to the frontlineto improve their performance. Founded in 2001, Medallia has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, and Tel Aviv. Learn more at www.medallia.com.

 2017 Medallia, Inc. All rights reserved. Medallia, the Medallia logo, and the names and marks associated with Medallia's products are trademarks of Medallia. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Medallia, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.medallia.com


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Boehringer Ingelheim has selected SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human capital management (HCM) to help drive its digital HR transformation and improve the employee experience for its global workforce. Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the pharmaceutical industry's top 20 companies, headquartered in Germany, will partner with SAP to deliver an optimized employee experience across its global locations.

The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly competitive, so it is critical for HR to evolve digitally and deliver a consistent HR experience that empowers and engages the total workforce. With some 50,000 employees worldwide, Boehringer Ingelheim was looking to deliver a comprehensive yet simplified HR experience with a cloud-first HCM solution. Boehringer Ingelheim selected the SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite to not only unify its HR data and practices but also provide a modern, consumer-grade experience to all workers across its operating locations. These leading solutions will enable the HR department to gain faster insights from its global workforce, and help ensure the continued development of all employees.

"Boehringer Ingelheim's work is critical to improving the health of humans and animals around the world, and we're pleased to support the company on its mission by providing a state-of-the-art HR system for its employees," said SAP SuccessFactors* President Greg Tomb. "As leading companies around the world seek a path of digital innovation, SAP SuccessFactors solutions are helping HR become increasingly strategic  putting people at the center of business and attracting and retaining top talent."

As more companies look to transform HR to meet the demands of an increasingly global and digital workforce, they are embracing leading SAP SuccessFactors solutions to help optimize HR processes and enhance their employees' experiences. With 10 data centers around the world  including one in Germany  the global cloud infrastructure footprint of SAP SuccessFactors solutions can help customers comply with local and regional regulations.

For more information, visit the SAP SuccessFactors website or the SAP News Center. Follow SAP SuccessFactors solutions on Twitter at @SuccessFactors and SAP at @sapnews.

*SAP SuccessFactors is a brand name launched in January 2016 and is used here to mean the offerings, employees, and business of acquired company SuccessFactors, which continues to be our legal entity until integration with SAP is complete.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device  SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 355,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

 2017 SAP SE. All rights reserved.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:

Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24

United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:

Geraldine Lim, SAP, +1 (415) 418-0945, [email protected], PDT

SAP News Center press room; [email protected]

Tim Scarfe, LEWIS Communications, +1 (510) 399-9032, [email protected], PDT

SOURCE SAP SE

Related Links

http://www.sap.com


Dr. Clark used his background in science to create a line of hair care products that would block the frizzing effects of humidity, without causing damage to the hair. Armed with cutting edge ingredients and an understanding of the molecular cause of frizz, Dr. Clark combined recent advances in protein science and polymer chemistry with nature's finest properties. After nearly a year of testing custom formulas on his daughter in the family kitchen, Dr. Clark proved his hypothesis that changing the molecular structure of hair's protein core would lock out humidity and air pollutants, while sealing in hair's natural oils. The result of locking the cuticle down chemically was incredibly soft, shiny and frizz-free hair, and in 2015, Lubricity Labs, LLC was born.

Lubricity Labs' signature product line includes a 2-step treatment for salon-quality smoothing, and the Q-Shampoo & Q-Condition work to maintain and enhance those newfound glossy, manageable locks. All ingredients in Lubricity Labs products are naturally derived, and the formulas are non-GMO, and paraben- and sulfate-freeno exceptions. Certified cruelty free by Leaping Bunny and safe for all hair types, regardless of ethnicity, age or color treated tresses, Lubricity Labs lets you keep and embrace your hair's natural texture, because your authentic self is your very best self.

"As a father, I was extremely frustrated that my daughter was struggling with her hair, and that there seemed to be no viable solution available that wouldn't compromise her health. But as a PhD chemist, I was intrigued," explains Dr. Clark about his journey to creating hair therapy. "I'm thrilled to finally bring a safe product to the public that helped to transform my daughter's hair from coarse and tangled to shiny and manageable. We went from tearful mornings to just getting up and going without a fuss, and in that way the treatment has truly changed our lives. At Lubricity Labs, we want to share this with the world, so that everyone can focus less on taming their hair, and more on the things they love."

Just as Dr. Clark predicted, Lubricity Labs is revolutionizing the hair care industry and transforming the relationships that people have with their hair for the better.

Q-Shampoo & Q-Condition are available for $40 each

The Lubricity System Box Set is available for $170

at LubricityLabs.com

SOURCE Lubricity Labs
SAVANNAH, Ga., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) announces the launch of SCAD+, a groundbreaking university program designed to assist alumni in developing commercially viable digital products.

This is the first entrepreneurial program for SCAD, the preeminent leader in preparing students for careers in creative fields. SCAD was the first university to use VR technology in acceptance letters and AR technology in a college course catalog, advancing the college admission process on an international scope.

Nine alumni were selected from hundreds of applications by the SCAD+ advisory board to participate in the program. Alumni were placed on to four teams and provided with a living space, work studio, and an incremental stipend over the course of twelve months. The projects focus on gaming, virtual reality, augmented reality and mobile experiences. The inaugural SCAD+ program will culminate on Demo Day, when each group will present their ideas to potential investors.

"Video games comprise a 75-billion-dollar global industry, a macrocosm of creative demand and opportunity. The launch of our latest alumni atelier, SCAD+, directly addresses the demand for creative content paired with sophisticated technology," said SCAD President and Founder and SCAD+ Advisory Board Member, Paula Wallace. "SCAD+ offers SCAD grads who are innovators and entrepreneurs a direct-to-market expressway to success. Think Super Mario, Madden and Minecraft  the next big gaming obsession is coming from SCAD+!"

SCAD plans to expand SCAD+ among more degree programs in the near future.

"The SCAD+ program is a prime example of how SCAD fosters innovation, particularly in emerging fields such as virtual and augmented reality," said John Paul Rowan, Vice President for SCAD Savannah and SCAD+ Advisory Board member. "We are proud to cultivate an environment where SCAD alumni can develop projects with a lasting global impact."

SCAD+ Projects 2017-2018:

Battery Jam  A two-to-four-person multiplayer combat game where gamers push, pull, stun and knock players into lethal traps around an arena.

TSA Frisky  Players become TSA agents to earn "employee of the month" honors. No bag or person can be left unchecked and flights must remain on schedule.

Manifest  A hands-free god simulator, this game allows players to make decisions that affect the growth of emerging ancient civilizations. (initially built for Android devices)

KineticARds  A collection of augmented reality greeting cards that animate on screen through a special AR app. From gender reveals to bridesmaid proposals, condolences to congratulations, there are secret messages revealed in every design.

Innovations in augmented and virtual reality

SCAD+ is the latest program in SCAD's suite of technology "firsts." SCAD introduced the first augmented reality college catalog produced and designed entirely by a university. In 2017, an integrated SCAD team launched "Dialect Effect: A Tale of Two Tongs," an immersive Chinese language and culture learning simulation utilizing voice recognition technology, authentic environments, and engaging animated non-player characters to teach a semester of entry-level Mandarin. In 2016, SCAD debuted the world's first VR musical short film, a collaboration among students from fourteen different degree programs including film and television, animation, costume design, dramatic writing, visual effects and motion media design. In 2015, SCAD introduced the first virtual reality experience in acceptance letter packages, featuring customized Google VR goggles that enabled students to virtually visit SCAD's four global campuses.

SCAD: The University for Creative Careers

The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution conferring bachelor's and master's degrees at distinctive locations and online to prepare talented students for professional careers. SCAD offers degrees in more than 40 majors, as well as minors in more than 75 disciplines across its locations in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia; in Hong Kong; in Lacoste, France; and online through SCAD eLearning. With more than 35,000 alumni worldwide, SCAD demonstrates an exceptional education and unparalleled career preparation. The diverse student body, consisting of nearly 14,000, comes from across the U.S. and more than 100 countries worldwide.

In 2016, the prestigious Red Dot Design Rankings placed SCAD in the top four universities in the Americas and Europe. Career preparation is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni placement rate. In a study of Spring 2016 SCAD graduates, 98 percent were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. For more information, visit the official SCAD blog.

SOURCE The Savannah College of Art and Design
BLOOMINGTON, Minn., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SkyWater Technology Foundry has named Thomas Sonderman as the company President. Effective immediately, Sonderman will be responsible for leading the operations of the semiconductor wafer manufacturing company. Interim-CEO Gary Obermiller, will continue to serve the organization as Chairman of the Board of Directors and provide guidance on strategic planning.

Thomas Sonderman

Formed following the purchase of a 200mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Minn. from Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in March 2017, SkyWater specializes in the development and manufacturing of a wide variety of semiconductor-based solutions. Sonderman's immediate focus will be on defining new product markets and target customers while simultaneously driving operational efficiencies. Building upon the company's culture and brand will another important aspect of his role.

"We felt it was important that SkyWater's president not only understand the industry and the operational aspects of a fab but is also capable of growing and diversifying a company built upon the foundation of another," said Obermiller. "With Tom (Sonderman) we found someone who had experience in all aspects of fab operations and its associated processes. But more importantly, he was part of an executive team that spun-off manufacturing operations to form a new entity. Having walked a similar path, he is ideally suited to guide SkyWater forward."

Prior to joining SkyWater, Sonderman was the group vice president and general manager for Rudolph Technologies' Integrated Solutions Group. In this position, he was responsible for delivering industry-leading growth and profitability for the company's software division, creating a Smart Manufacturing ecosystem based on big data platforms, predictive analytics and IoT. Under Sonderman's leadership, the business unit realized three years of consecutive revenue and margin growth while solidifying a dominant market share position.

Prior to Rudolph Technologies, Sonderman was vice president of manufacturing technology at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Formed as a spin-off of AMD's manufacturing operations in 2009, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is a $4.0B full-service semiconductor foundry serving more than 150 integrated circuit customers worldwide. A key contributor to the spin-off, Sonderman assumed global responsibility for utilizing proprietary Design for Manufacturing and Automated Precision Manufacturing technologies to create a competitive advantage for the company. During his tenure, he built and led a team that transformed AMD's manufacturing operation into an independent manufacturing powerhouse able to effectively compete with competitors ten times its size.

"I'm very excited to join SkyWater," said Sonderman. "Our company has a differentiated foundry portfolio and a highly motivated team. I look forward to leveraging my experience at GLOBALFOUNDRIES to create a truly world class technology foundry that delivers tremendous value over time."

During his two decades at AMD, Sonderman held numerous executive management and engineering positions. Prior to the spin-off, he served as vice president of Manufacturing Systems Technology. In this role, he had global responsibility for development, integration, support and scalability of automation and manufacturing systems in the company's wafer fabrication and assembly operations.

The author of numerous articles in the area of manufacturing technology, Sonderman is a sought-after expert on semiconductor industry issues and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, CNET and DigiTimes. A champion for innovation within the semiconductor industry, he holds 47 patents and currently serves on the Executive Board for the American Society of Semiconductor Manufacturing and SEMI's SMART Manufacturing Council. Additionally, he served as Board Chair for the International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing from 2007-2010.

Sonderman received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an MS in Electrical Engineering from National Technological University.

About SkyWater Technology Foundry

SkyWater is a U.S.-based technology foundry specializing in the development and manufacturing of a wide variety of semiconductor based solutions. As a globally recognized, DMEA accredited Trusted facility with advanced development capabilities co-located with volume production, SkyWater has the ability and flexibility to innovate to any scale with a wide array of special materials. Our roots go back to the pioneers of computing technology and as such SkyWater offers what most foundries cannot: decades of technology innovation experience. Reach out to see how SkyWater can help revolutionize your product. To learn more, visit www.skywatertechnologyfoundry.com.

Contacts: Eva Keiser, APR

[email protected]

612.940.4254

SOURCE SkyWater Technology Foundry
CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Slim Jim, a brand of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), is introducing Slim Jim Premium Smoked Sticks, featuring premium cuts of 100 percent grass-fed beef or 100 percent premium pork with contemporary flavors.

"For many Slim Jim fans, as they leave their teenage years, taste preferences change," said Adam Beane, senior brand manager, Slim Jim. "We're addressing this opportunity by introducing new Slim Jim Premium Smoked Sticks  a premium meat snack with the advantages of both sticks and jerky. Premium Smoked Sticks deliver high quality ingredients, sophisticated flavors, and a less greasy experience, all with the easy-to-eat convenience of a stick."

Each stick is grass-fed 100 percent beef or 100 percent premium pork, always raised without hormones*, and with no artificial colors or flavors, and no added MSG**. Each serving contains at least 10 grams of protein.

The debut of Slim Jim Premium Smoked Sticks includes three flavors:

Smokehouse Original: Brown sugar and soy sauce notes combine for a sweet and savory experience with a hint of spice (100% Grassfed Beef, 10g Protein)

Brown sugar and soy sauce notes combine for a sweet and savory experience with a hint of spice (100% Grassfed Beef, 10g Protein) Thai Style Chili : Sweet chili and garlic combine with spicy red peppers for a well-balanced flavor experience (100% Pork, 11g Protein)

: Sweet chili and garlic combine with spicy red peppers for a well-balanced flavor experience (100% Pork, 11g Protein) Memphis Style BBQ: Our Dry Rub seasoning blend will transport your taste buds to the authentic BBQ pits of Memphis (100% Pork, 11g Protein)

Slim Jim Premium Smoked Sticks are slow-cooked for over 14 hours and seasoned with the perfect balance of herbs, spices, and peppers to deliver an elevated flavor experience.

The new Premium Smoked Sticks debut this month and will be available at convenience stores and mass retailers nationwide. They are available in 1.2 oz and 4.1oz resealable packs priced at $1.79 and $4.99 respectively.

The new sticks are part of a robust pipeline of snacking innovation at Conagra following the recent acquisition of the protein-based snacking business Thanasi Foods LLC, maker of Duke's Premium Smoked Meats and BIGS seeds. Conagra Brands' growing portfolio of protein-based snacks includes Slim Jim, Duke's, Penrose Pickled Sausages, BIGS, and DAVID Seeds.

For more information, including where to find the new Slim Jim Premium Smoked Meat Sticks, visit www.slimjim.com, as well as www.facebook.com/SlimJim, https://twitter.com/SlimJim, www.instagram.com/slimjim and www.youtube.com/user/slimjim.

*Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in pork

**Except for that naturally occurring in soy sauce and hydrolyzed soy protein

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), headquartered in Chicago, is one of North America's leading branded food companies. Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, Conagra Brands combines a rich heritage of making great food with a sharpened focus on innovation. The company's portfolio is evolving to satisfy people's changing food preferences. Conagra's iconic brands, such as Marie Callender's, Reddi-wip, Hunt's, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim and Orville Redenbacher's, as well as emerging brands, including Alexia, Blake's, Frontera and Duke's, offer choices for every occasion. For more information, visit www.conagrabrands.com

For more information, please contact:

Dan Skinner

Conagra Brands

(312) 549-5636

[email protected]

www.conagrabrands.com

SOURCE Conagra Brands, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.conagrabrands.com


DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is launching a three-day sale offering extra-low fares for winter travel, so book your next trip now! Customers may take advantage of low domestic fares starting at $49, $79, $99, and $129 one-way to select destinations today through Oct. 12, 2017, 11:59 p.m. in the respective time zone of the originating city. Seats and days are limited; blackout dates apply. See full fare rules and terms and conditions below.

Customers may also book flights to international destinations with some of Southwest's low international fares starting at $99 one-way to select destinations today through Oct. 12, 2017, 11:59 p.m. in the respective time zone of the originating city. Seats and days are limited; blackout dates apply. See full fare rules and terms and conditions below.

"This winter, Customers can get away with Southwest Airlines' low fares, no change fees* and up to two bags that fly free*," said Ryan Green, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. "With low fares, an expanding list of international destinations, and an incredible Rapid Rewards program, you can't afford miss this sale. Join us this winter for incredible Hospitality, and low fares with nothing to hidethat's Transfarency."

See below for examples of these great low fares and for restrictions and exclusions. To see the full list of available cities and prices, and to take advantage of Southwest's special fares, visit Southwest.com.

Examples of Southwest Airlines' domestic low fares include (see fare rules below):

As low as $49 one-way nonstop between Nashville and New Orleans

one-way nonstop between and As low as $79 one-way nonstop between Dallas ( Love Field ) and San Francisco

one-way nonstop between ( ) and As low as $99 one-way nonstop between Chicago (Midway) and Raleigh-Durham

one-way nonstop between (Midway) and Raleigh-Durham As low as $129 one-way nonstop between Houston (Hobby) and Phoenix

Domestic fares are available for travel on nonstop, domestic flights, except for Fridays and Sundays, from Oct. 31 through Dec. 19, 2017 and from Jan. 3 through Feb. 14, 2018. Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid Oct. 31 through Dec. 7, 2017 and Jan. 16 through Mar. 1, 2018. (Travel to Florida and Nevada and from Florida to Nevada is valid only on Sundays through Wednesdays. Travel from Florida and Nevada and from Nevada to Florida is valid only on Tuesdays through Fridays. Travel to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid Monday through Thursday.) Blackout dates for domestic and San Juan, Puerto Rico travel include Nov. 21-22 and Nov. 25-27, 2017.

Examples of Southwest Airlines' international low fares include (see fare rules below):

As low as $99 one-way nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) to San Jose del Cabo/ Los Cabos, Mexico

one-way nonstop from (LAX) to del Cabo/ As low as $99 one-way nonstop from Santa Ana / Orange County to San Jose del Cabo/ Los Cabos, Mexico

International fares are available for travel on nonstop, international flights, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from Oct. 31 through Dec. 13, 2017 and Jan. 10 through Mar. 2, 2018. Blackout dates for international travel include Nov. 21-22, 2017.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SALE FARE RULES

A 21-day advance purchase is required between Oct. 10 and 12th, 2017, 11:59 p.m. in the respective time zone of the originating city. Domestic travel is valid Oct. 31 through Dec. 19, 2017, and Jan. 3 through Feb. 14, 2018. Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid Oct. 31 through Dec. 7, 2017, and Jan. 16 through March 1, 2018. International travel is valid Oct. 31 through Dec. 13, 2017, and Jan. 10 through March 2, 2018. Domestic travel, including San Juan travel, is blacked out Nov. 21-22, and Nov. 25-27, 2017. Sale fares to international destinations are blacked out Nov. 21-22, 2017. Domestic travel is not valid on Fridays and Sundays. Travel to Florida and Nevada and from Florida to Nevada is valid only on Sundays through Wednesdays. Travel from Florida and Nevada and from Nevada to Florida is valid only on Tuesdays through Fridays. Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid Monday - Thursday. International travel is valid only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fares are valid only on nonstop service. Displayed prices include all U.S. and international government taxes and fees. Points bookings do not include taxes, fees, and other government/airport charges of at least $5.60 per one-way flight. Seats and days are limited. Fares may vary by destination, flight, and day of week and won't be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods. Travel is available for one-way Wanna Get Away fares. Fares may be combined with other Southwest Airlines combinable fares. If combining with other fares, the most restrictive fare's rules apply. Sale fares may be available on other days of week, but that's not guaranteed. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines, as long as reservations are canceled at least ten minutes prior to the scheduled departure. Failure to cancel prior to departure will result in forfeiture of remaining funds on the reservation. Any change in itinerary may result in an increase in fare. Standby travel may require an upgrade to the Anytime fare depending on Rapid Rewards tier status. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Offer applies only to published, scheduled service.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

In its 47th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) differentiates itself above all other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 55,000 Employees to more than 115 million Customers annually. Southwest became the nation's largest domestic air carrier in 2003 and maintains that ranking based on the U.S. Department of Transportation's most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded. Southwest operates more than 4,000 departures a day during peak travel periods among a network of 99 destinations in the United States and nine additional countries. Service to Turks and Caicos is scheduled to begin Nov. 5, 2017.

Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, empowering them to expect a reliably low and uniquely flexible fare from purchase through journey. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply; some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances), and Southwest never charges change fees, though fare differences might apply.

As launch customer of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the Company operates the largest fleet in the world of Boeing aircraft, all of which are now equipped with satellite-based WiFi. That connectivity enables Customers to use personal devices to view video on-demand movies and television shows, as well as nearly 20 channels of free, live TV. In 2014, the airline proudly unveiled a bold new look: Heart. A new logo, aircraft livery, interior design featuring a new seat and Flight Attendant galley, Employee-designed uniforms, and an updated airport experience all showcase the dedication of Southwest Employees who connect Customers with what's important in their lives.

From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel described by the U.S. Department of Transportation as "The Southwest Effect," a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic whenever the carrier enters new markets. With 44 consecutive years of profitability, Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. The 2016 Southwest Airlines One Report can be found at SouthwestOneReport.com.

Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Related Links

http://www.southwest.com


DALLAS, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) celebrates DisneyPixar's all-new, big-screen adventure "Coco" in high-flying style this fall with a comprehensive program that includes a Boeing 737-700 aircraft emblazoned with the vibrant "Coco" logo and artwork inspired by the film. The aircraft will fly among the carrier's nearly 100 destinations throughout the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean through the end of 2017. As the largest domestic carrier in the U.S. serving more than 115 million passengers yearly*, Southwest Airlines connects People every day to what is important in their lives. With DisneyPixar's "Coco," Southwest connects its Customers to an all-new story that's both exciting and inspiring. The film opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2017.

*Based on latest U.S. Dept of Transportation data of O&D passengers.

"Southwest specializes in bringing unique and meaningful moments to our Customers," said Southwest Airlines Vice President Controller and California Executive Leah Koontz at the aircraft unveiling event in Oakland. "DisneyPixar's 'Coco' centers on the universal themes of Heart and family, core values we celebrate every day with our Employees and Customers."

"'Coco' is about a boy with big dreams and a strong connection to his family," says Director Lee Unkrich. "These themes really lend themselves to teaming up with a company like Southwest. And after working for nearly six years to bring this story to life, we were all so excited to see 'Coco' on the side of an airplane."

Customers are encouraged to spot the "Coco" plane and share their photos using #CocoAndSouthwest. Southwest is also giving families the opportunity to enter for a chance to send their family on an adventure of a lifetime by entering the Southwest Family Flyaway sweepstakes between October 1-25, 2017, to win roundtrip air travel for four to Los Angeles; four tickets to the DisneyPixar "Coco" U.S. premiere and party on November 8, 2017; a two-night stay at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood; and a $1,000 VISA gift card for travel expenses. To view the full rules and to enter, visit familyflyaway.com.

Additionally, Southwest is sharing the adventures of "Coco" with Customers onboard flights beginning Nov. 1, with the launch of the DisneyPixar "Coco" OnDemand Channel, featuring complimentary movie clips and trailers to get everyone excited about "Coco" in 3D this Thanksgiving. Be sure to tune-in ahead of the film's Nov. 22 theatrical debut.

Later this fall, the music of "Coco" will come to life onboard the "Coco" aircraft with a Live at 35 inflight concert performance by Anthony Gonzalez, who voices Miguel in the movie. Customers will experience the sounds and culture up-close and in-the-moment as Anthony sings a song from the upcoming film accompanied by a guitarist.

For images and video of the Southwest Airlines "Coco"-themed 737-700 aircraft, visit swamedia.com.

SWEEPSTAKES RULES

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING. Void where prohibited. Open to legal residents of 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia age 19 or older at time of entry. Limit one entry per person. All fields must be completed. Approximate retail value of prize: $3,788.00. For complete details and Official Rules, visit familyflyaway.com. By entering, information collected will be used in accordance with Sponsor's Privacy Policy at Southwest.com/privacy. Sponsor: Southwest Airlines Co., 2702 Love Field Drive, Dallas, TX 75235. Enter by October 25, 2017 at 11:59p.m. CDT.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

In its 47th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) differentiates itself above all other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 55,000 Employees to more than 115 million Customers annually. Southwest became the nation's largest domestic air carrier in 2003 and maintains that ranking based on the U.S. Department of Transportation's most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded. Southwest operates more than 4,000 departures a day during peak travel periods among a network of 99 destinations in the United States and nine additional countries. Service to Turks and Caicos is scheduled to begin Nov. 5, 2017.

Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, empowering them to expect a reliably low and uniquely flexible fare from purchase through journey. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply; some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances), and Southwest never charges change fees, though fare differences might apply.

As launch customer of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the Company operates the largest fleet in the world of Boeing aircraft, all of which are now equipped with satellite-based WiFi. That connectivity enables Customers to use personal devices to view video on-demand movies and television shows, as well as nearly 20 channels of free, live TV. In 2014, the airline proudly unveiled a bold new look: Heart. A new logo, aircraft livery, interior design featuring a new seat and Flight Attendant galley, Employee-designed uniforms, and an updated airport experience all showcase the dedication of Southwest Employees who connect Customers with what's important in their lives.

From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel described by the U.S. Department of Transportation as "The Southwest Effect," a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic whenever the carrier enters new markets. With 44 consecutive years of profitability, Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. The 2016 Southwest Airlines One Report can be found at SouthwestOneReport.com.

Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA.

ABOUT DISNEYPIXAR'S "COCO"

Despite his family's baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael Garcia Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history. Directed by Lee Unkrich ("Toy Story 3"), co-directed by Adrian Molina (story artist "Monsters University") and produced by Darla K. Anderson ("Toy Story 3"), DisneyPixar's "Coco" opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2017. For more information, check out http://movies.disney.com/coco, Hashtag: #PixarCoco, Pixar Coco Facebook, Pixar Coco Twitter and Pixar Coco Instagram.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Related Links

http://www.southwest.com


CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the massive humanitarian challenge facing the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) as it recovers from the devastating impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Barrington, Illinois-based Stephenson Family Foundation, under the leadership of Richard J Stephenson, today announced a pledge of $5 million in relief funds to assist with the islands' recovery. Two million dollars is being funded immediately, with the additional $3 million pledged as a matching fund to encourage other donations to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) for hurricane recovery.

Stephenson, founder and chairman of International Capital & Management Company (ICMC), International Private Bank (IPB) and Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), is partnering with CFVI in launching HelpUSVINow! to aid in the recovery of the USVI from the unprecedented ravages of the two storms. Tax-deductible donations can be made at www.EDCReliefandRecovery.org.

"I was both shocked and dismayed by the immense suffering and damage that has occurred," said Mr. Stephenson, a longtime resident of the USVI. "I immediately sought out the people and organizations with the potential to make the most direct impact on the ground without delay and am eager to contribute my family's resources to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands to support this effort."

CFVI is a long-standing USVI nonprofit organization working around the clock to provide financial and other support for hurricane relief efforts throughout St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, supporting health care and educational infrastructure, the general welfare of families and children, and other imminently needed basic necessities. Additional local relief and recovery support will be driven by the collaborative efforts of other organizations operating in the USVI, including businesses that participate in the programs administered by the Economic Development Commission (EDC), businesses that participate in the economic development program administered by the University of the Virgin Islands' Research and Technology Park, nonprofit and charitable organizations committed to USVI community development, and educational and business development organizations providing assistance and services throughout the USVI.

During this morning's Governor's press conference on St. Thomas, in which the CFVI Fund launch was announced, USVI Governor Kenneth E. Mapp said, "It is the resilience of Virgin Islanders that will lead the way to our recovery. But the road ahead has many challenges, and we could not be successful in this effort without the generous support of the Stephenson family and many other USVI businesses. For this, we are grateful."

In addition to the $5 million commitment to the HelpUSVINow! Fund, the largest private contribution to the USVI to date in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Stephenson family has coordinated numerous hurricane relief efforts, including the charter of a Boeing 737 out of Chicago to deliver critical supplies, medical equipment, food and dozens of generators to St. Thomas and the surrounding islands in the wake of the storms. The family also assisted in helping many USVI residents, especially those with children or special circumstances, fly to the U.S. mainland to get out of harm's way.

The Stephenson family's relationship with the U.S. Virgin Islands dates to 2003 when they launched International Capital & Management Company, an EDC company that today employs over 130 people. Since then, they have been champions and financial backers of community events such as "Jazz in the Park" and to scores of local charities such as CFVI and the VI Cancer Support Fund. The family has recently launched a new private investment entity on St. Croix, called International Private Bank, which is in the process of becoming fully operational in the next few months.

"We know many communities are facing incredible challenges from these storms, and we're so thankful for the considerable humanitarian efforts of the Stephenson family including this financial initiative that is keeping U.S. Virgin Islanders front of mind as we come together to rebuild," said Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), who represents the territory. "I applaud the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and its HelpUSVINow! campaign, and the collaborative and tireless efforts of our EDCs and other businesses working in the USVI community, for the life-saving work that is supporting our recovery. As we begin our rebuilding to make the Virgin Islands the leader of the Eastern Caribbean, this action by the Stephenson family serves as an example of private and non-governmental organization partnerships which will bolster the public sector as we become a more resilient community."

"CFVI has taken a leadership role in the renewal and recovery efforts of our islands," said Dee Baecher-Brown, president of CFVI, "and we are so very grateful for the Stephensons' generous support as well as the numerous USVI businesses committing resources to aid our recovery."

At the writing of this press release, the following companies have pledged their support to the USVI recovery effort:

Alpine Securities USVI

183 Media, LLC

Discover Fund Management, LLLP

White Bay USVI

BP Consulting VI

United Electronic Industries, LLC

Standard Aviation, LLC

Brad's Deals, LLC

Ferrer, LLC

For more information and to donate:

Visit www.EDCReliefandRecovery.org or call Katrin Bradell , CSVI Development Director at 340-201-0299.

, CSVI Development Director at 340-201-0299. Checks can be mailed to the CFVI office: PO Box 11790 / St. Thomas, VI 00801 with the memo: HelpUSVINow!

For more than 25 years the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands has been catalyzing positive changes in the Territory through initiatives committed to youth, learning, family support and the environment. With a professional staff and a volunteer Board of Directors composed of community leaders, CFVI is a trusted advocate and supporter of programs that ensure opportunity and sustainability for current and future generations. To enhance its work, CFVI actively collaborates with trusted non-profit partners and other entities throughout the Territory. CFVI operates or funds close to 50 community initiatives and programs including college scholarships, teacher grants, the TFC Kindercamp for school readiness, the Junior Angels volunteerism/philanthropy program, the Next Generation Scholars college access program, and emergency grants to families and elderly residents of the USVI. CFVI is a registered non-profit organization entirely supported by individual donors, grants, trusts, corporate donations and estate planning.

Contact: Dee Baecher-Brown

President, CFVI

340-513-3122

[email protected]

Michael Myers

561-923-3179

[email protected]



SOURCE Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands

Related Links

http://www.EDCReliefandRecovery.org


Based in New York City, Gladstone Place Partners will assist corporate boards, CEOs, chief communications officers and members of the C-suite in managing the complexity and fast-paced nature of today's communications environment, with a strong focus on sound independent advice and best-in-class execution. Gladstone Place Partners will combine expertise in business, finance, media, and corporate communications with a backbone in social and digital media.

Meet the team in this video on our website or YouTube.

The firm will be highly focused on four core practices, advising clients on:

Financial Communications : Planning for and executing communications strategies for mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, spinoffs, investor communications and significant disclosures, and helping clients manage the challenges of shareholder activism.

: Planning for and executing communications strategies for mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, spinoffs, investor communications and significant disclosures, and helping clients manage the challenges of shareholder activism. Corporate Reputation and Strategic Positioning : Helping companies own and manage their long-term reputation, assisting them as they refine their narrative, and advancing their corporate priorities through investor relations programs, stakeholder communications, media programs and thought leadership platforms.

: Helping companies own and manage their long-term reputation, assisting them as they refine their narrative, and advancing their corporate priorities through investor relations programs, stakeholder communications, media programs and thought leadership platforms. Issues Management : Advising clients as they manage a significant crisis or cyber security issue and as they communicate through delicate litigation situations; working with companies to anticipate potential issues before they arise.

: Advising clients as they manage a significant crisis or cyber security issue and as they communicate through delicate litigation situations; working with companies to anticipate potential issues before they arise. Corporate Governance Communications: Working with C-suites and boards as they manage corporate governance-related communications, including succession planning, board and executive positioning, and proxy and compensation disclosures.

Steven Lipin will lead Gladstone Place Partners, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lipin founded Gladstone Place Partners after 16 years as Brunswick Group's U.S. Senior Partner. Prior to joining Brunswick in 2001, Mr. Lipin had a 17-year career in business journalism, including 10 years at The Wall Street Journal where he was the lead M&A reporter and finance editor.

Mr. Lipin said: "Look no further than our phones, tablets and newspapers: as the communications needs of companies evolve, so do the requirements of a top-tier firm. The demands faced by companies today are unprecedented, stemming from a hyper-connected social media environment, increased competition for talent and capital, and pressures from regulators, critics and others."

"We are hitting the ground running, ready to serve clients in critical communications matters at the nexus of the corporate world, financial markets and media."

Gladstone Place Partners starts as a firm with top business leaders, communications professionals from leading firms, former senior journalists, and finance professionals who will bring deep expertise to clients and their issues.

They include:

Ambassador Louis Susman , senior advisor, is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom . A senior statesman in the world of business and finance, with decades of experience in law, finance and government, Mr. Susman is a former Vice Chairman at Citi Investment Bank, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

, senior advisor, is a former U.S. Ambassador to the . A senior statesman in the world of business and finance, with decades of experience in law, finance and government, Mr. Susman is a former Vice Chairman at Citi Investment Bank, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Lauren Odell , partner and chief operating officer of Gladstone Place Partners, has nine years of experience in financial communications and investor relations at Brunswick Group. Ms. Odell started her career at J.P. Morgan.

Senior Vice Presidents

Danielle Belopotosky has 17 years of experience as an editor, reporter and producer who has been at the forefront of digital media. Ms. Belopotosky brings social media and digital savvy to Gladstone Place Partners from her experience working for the digital The New York Times on the business desk and in Asia .

has 17 years of experience as an editor, reporter and producer who has been at the forefront of digital media. Ms. Belopotosky brings social media and digital savvy to Gladstone Place Partners from her experience working for the digital on the business desk and in . Vanessa Esparza is a member of Gladstone Place Partners' management team, and has six years of experience at Brunswick Group. Ms. Esparza leads the firm's talent management and development initiatives and closely supports its strategic growth priorities.

is a member of Gladstone Place Partners' management team, and has six years of experience at Brunswick Group. Ms. Esparza leads the firm's talent management and development initiatives and closely supports its strategic growth priorities. Michael Flaherty is a seasoned business journalist who most recently led Reuters ' activist shareholder and corporate governance coverage out of New York . In his 14 years at Reuters, Mr. Flaherty also covered the Federal Reserve and ran Reuters ' Asia financial news desk out of Hong Kong .

is a seasoned business journalist who most recently led ' activist shareholder and corporate governance coverage out of . In his 14 years at Mr. Flaherty also covered the Federal Reserve and ran ' financial news desk out of . Felipe Ucros is a 2017 graduate from Columbia Business School who has seven years of experience working on high profile M&A and crisis situations at Brunswick Group.

Vice Presidents

Josh Clarkson has six years of experience advising clients on M&A, shareholder activism, debt restructurings, investor relations and corporate positioning. Prior to Gladstone Place he was an associate vice president at Prosek Partners.

has six years of experience advising clients on M&A, shareholder activism, debt restructurings, investor relations and corporate positioning. Prior to Gladstone Place he was an associate vice president at Prosek Partners. Max Dutcher has five years of strategic communication and financial analytic expertise. Most recently, Mr. Dutcher was a Director at FTI Consulting, and started his career at Deloitte.

has five years of strategic communication and financial analytic expertise. Most recently, Mr. Dutcher was a Director at FTI Consulting, and started his career at Deloitte. Ross Lovern joined Gladstone Place Partners after nearly six years at Kekst. Recognized by the New York Observer in 2016 as a "rising star in public relations." Mr. Lovern worked on a number of high profile M&A and activist matters, with particular focus in the retail, financial services, entertainment and industrials sectors.

Account Executives

Victor Mallet joined Gladstone Place Partners from Finsbury in the U.K. and has several years of experience advising on large-cap private equity transactions, corporate M&A and litigation communications across Europe .

joined Gladstone Place Partners from Finsbury in the U.K. and has several years of experience advising on large-cap private equity transactions, corporate M&A and litigation communications across . Jamie Tracy is a CPA and has several years of experience in the accounting and finance profession. Ms. Tracy most recently was a financial analyst at a boutique entertainment firm, and began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"I'm incredibly proud of the strong team my colleagues and I have built at Gladstone Place  designed from the ground-up to be a partner of choice for companies as they weigh critical strategic priorities and navigate this environment," said Mr. Lipin.

Gladstone Place Partners will be operating from its offices in midtown Manhattan and serve clients in the U.S. and around the world. For more information, visit www.gladstoneplace.com.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18270538/

Twitter: @GladstonePlace

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GladstonePlace

Contact: Felipe Ucros

Telephone: 212-230-5930

SOURCE Gladstone Place Partners
EXTON, Pa., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST), a global leader in innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, today shared the results of a study highlighting the benefits of West's ID Adapter for improving the intradermal administration of polio vaccines. The study results were presented at the Fourth Skin Vaccination Summit in May 2017 by Dr. Ondrej Mach, Clinical Trials and Research Team Lead, Polio Department, World Health Organization (WHO), and recently published in the journal Vaccine.i

The two-phase field campaign evaluated the feasibility of using fractional inactivated poliovirus vaccine (fIPV) in remote locations where polio outbreaks have persisted. The study demonstrated that fIPV delivered via West's ID Adapter, used in conjunction with a staked needle syringe by Helm Medical GMBH, offers a safe, effective, dose-sparing option for drug delivery.

"We are pleased that our ID Adapter performed so well in this critical research study that addresses a vital medical need," said Karen A. Flynn, Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, West. "West is proud to offer a solution that can help improve the reliability and performance of intradermal injections while also extending the limited supply of IPV."

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease that mainly affects children under five years of age. Caused by a virus, polio invades the nervous system and can cause partial to total paralysis in a matter of hours. There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented through administration of the polio vaccine.ii Fortunately, a 20 percent fractional dose of intradermal IPV has been proven just as effective as a full dose of intramuscular inactivated poliovirus vaccine, while allowing significant dose sparing.iii,iv,v,vi,vii,viii,ix,x And while intradermal administration has been proven to be a safe, effective method for delivering fractional doses of many vaccines, greater technical skill is required to deliver the dose. West's ID Adapter addresses this problem.

Conducted in Pakistan, where polio outbreaks have persisted, this study sought to evaluate the use of fIPV in conjunction with two types of intradermal devices for outbreak response and routine immunizations of children. The study was led by researchers from Aga Khan University with funding from the WHO and support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study was comprised of two phases:

Phase 1 assessed the usability and immune response of fIPV administration in children ages 6-12 months with two novel intradermal adapters: one of which was developed by West with a syringe from Helm Medical GMBH.

Phase 2 evaluated the feasibility of conducting a door-to-door vaccination campaign to administer the fIPV to children under 5 years old.

The study results showed that the immune response achieved with one dose of fIPV administered via the Helm syringe with West's ID Adapter was similar to that achieved by fIPV administered with conventional needle and syringe. The data also demonstrated the safety and usability of intradermal devices in difficult field conditions and showed that fIPV can be used successfully for both primary immunization and as an alternative to full-dose IPV.

For more information about West, visit us online at www.westpharma.com.

About the ID Adapter

West's ID Adapter is a novel injection guide designed for use with 1mL 1/2 inch fixed needle allergy syringes. The ID Adapter can help make intradermal injection easier and more consistent by guiding the angle and limiting the depth of needle insertion. The ID Adapter consists of a sterile, disposable, single-use, injection-molded part that snaps onto a syringe. The ID Adapter provides for consistent ID injections, is convenient and easy to use, and requires minimal end-user training.

About West

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of packaging components and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products. Working by the side of its customers from concept to patient, West creates products that promote the efficiency, reliability and safety of the world's pharmaceutical drug supply. West is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, and supports its customers from locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. West's 2016 net sales of $1.5 billion reflect the daily use of approximately 112 million of its components and devices, which are designed to improve the delivery of healthcare to patients around the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain forward-looking statements are included in this release. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this release. There is no certainty that West's ID adapter will achieve any level of commercial success. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For a description of certain additional factors that could cause West's future results to differ from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements, see Item 1A, entitled "Risk Factors," in West's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. Except as required by law or regulation, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.



West and the diamond logo and By your side for a healthier world are registered trademarks or trademarks of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., in the United States and other jurisdictions.

i Saleem AF et al. Needle adapters for intradermal administration of fractional dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine: Evaluation of immunogenicity and programmatic feasibility in Pakistan. Vaccine 2017 May 31; 35(24): 32093214. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.04.075

ii World Health Organization. Poliomyelitis Fact Sheet. April 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/

iii Mohammed A.J., AlAwaidy S., Bawikar S. Fractional doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine in Oman. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:23512359. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0909383.

iv Nirmal S., Cherian T., Samuel B.U., Rajasingh J., Raghupathy P., John T.J. Immune response of infants to fractional doses of intradermally administered inactivated poliovirus vaccine. Vaccine. 1998;16:928931.

v Resik S., Tejeda A., Mach O. Immune responses after fractional doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine using newly developed intradermal jet injectors: a randomized controlled trial in Cuba. Vaccine. 2015;33:307313. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.11.025. Epub 2014 Nov 22.

vi Estivariz C.F., Jafari H., Sutter R.W. Immunogenicity of supplemental doses of poliovirus vaccine for children aged 69 months in Moradabad, India: a community-based, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2012;12:128135. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(11)70190-6. Epub 2011 Nov 7.

vii Soonawala D., Verdijk P., Wijmenga-Monsuur A.J. Intradermal fractional booster dose of inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine with a jet injector in healthy adults. Vaccine. 2013;31:36883694. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.05.104. Epub 2013 Jun 13.

viii Nelson K.S., Janssen J.M., Troy S.B., Maldonado Y. Intradermal fractional dose inactivated polio vaccine: a review of the literature. Vaccine. 2012;30:121125. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.11.018. Epub 2011 Nov 17.

ix Resik S., Tejeda A., Lago P.M. Randomized controlled clinical trial of fractional doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine administered intradermally by needle-free device in Cuba. J Infect Dis. 2010;201:13441352. doi: 10.1086/651611.

x Resik S., Tejeda A., Sutter R.W. Priming after a fractional dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:416424. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1202541.

Media Contact:

Emily Denney

Global Communications

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

+ 1-610-594-3035

[email protected]

SOURCE West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.westpharma.com


MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aireon announced today the successful launch and deployment of the third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites, carrying its space-based automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) payloads. Conducted from Vandenberg Air Force Base with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 a.m. PDT, this launch has increased the total number of Aireon payloads in orbit to 30, with another 45 destined for space in a series of five additional launches planned over the next ten months. Aireon is well on its way to become the first to provide global, real-time air traffic surveillance and tracking to air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and aviation stakeholders.

The Aireon payloads from the first two launches, completed on January 14th and June 25th of 2017, have demonstrated the ground-breaking capability to identify aircraft all over world, resulting in more than six billion ADS-B position reports being received in just seven months. Besides highly accurate position reports from commercial aircraft, the system has generated position reports from helicopters, general aviation aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and surface vehicles, such as airport maintenance vehicles. These findings are a testament to the strength of the Aireon system.

Many Aireon customers and partners, including NAV CANADA, Enav, Naviair, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), South Africa's Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) and FlightAware, have been connected to the system in preparation for live operations in 2018. Initial results of these integrations show an average update of position data for ADS-B equipped aircraft approximately every five seconds. This will enable Aireon to provide radar-like position information to air traffic controllers in 100 percent of their airspace. That far surpasses current coverage capabilities, where 70-plus percent of the world, particularly oceanic airspace, averages 10-minute to 18-minute aircraft position updates.

"Air traffic surveillance over the oceans is a dramatic change to the current operating environment. Knowing, in real time, where an aircraft is flying over 500 miles per hour makes a big difference to the ability of air traffic controllers to efficiently and safely manage their airspace," said Aireon Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering, Vinny Capezzuto. "The industry has always maintained a safety-first mindset, and this new data will further contribute to key industry goals such as reducing risk, increasing efficiency and improving environmental sustainability due to reduced fuel consumption. With 10 more satellites now in-orbit and going directly into service after the testing and validation phase, we are that much closer to providing this world-changing service."

In September of 2016, Aireon and FlightAware announced a partnership and the launch of GlobalBeaconSM, a solution that will provide airlines with 100 percent global flight tracking. GlobalBeacon is designed to ensure airlines are in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Global Aeronautical Distress Safety System (GADSS) recommendations and requirements.

"Even with only a partial constellation in orbit, we've been able to start tracking flights that nobody has been able to fully track before," said FlightAware CEO, Daniel Baker. "Each and every successful launch of Iridium NEXT satellites makes us more excited to be the first and only flight tracking service to offer 100% global coverage to airline customers and other partners like SITAONAIR. Through our partnership with Aireon, we will be able to provide an unprecedented level of visibility and enable operators unparalleled control of their fleet."

The Aireon service is hosted by the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation, which will consist of 66 low-earth orbit interconnected satellites. A total of 81 Iridium NEXT satellites are being built, all of which will have the Aireon payload onboard. Currently, 75 satellites are planned to be deployed with nine serving as on-orbit spares and the remaining six as ground spares. After launch, each satellite payload goes through a rigorous period of testing and validation ensuring optimal performance is achieved. The constellation is planned for completion in mid-2018.

For additional information about Aireon, please go to www.aireon.com.

For additional information about Iridium NEXT, please visit www.IridiumNext.com.

About Aireon LLC

Aireon is deploying a space-based air traffic surveillance system for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) equipped aircraft throughout the entire globe. Aireon will harness next-generation aviation surveillance technologies that are currently ground-based and, for the first time ever, extend their reach globally to significantly improve efficiency, enhance safety, reduce emissions and provide cost savings benefits to all stakeholders. Real-time ADS-B surveillance will cover oceanic, polar and remote regions, as well as augment existing ground-based systems that are limited to terrestrial airspace. In partnership with leading ANSPs from around the world, like NAV CANADA, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), ENAV and Naviair, as well as Iridium Communications, Aireon will have an operational, global, space-based air traffic surveillance system by 2018. For more information about Aireon, visit www.aireon.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Jessie Hillenbrand

Aireon

+1 (703) 287-7452

[email protected]

SOURCE Aireon

Related Links

http://www.aireon.com


ST. LOUIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Textel, an extensible cloud texting platform has partnered with Aisle411, a leader in product location technology to create Atlas, your digital shopping assistant. Atlas is a texting chat bot that helps customers locate products in retail stores. By integrating Aisle411's product location technology with Textel's proprietary AI and message handling, shopping has never been easier. Now, shoppers can text a store's existing phone number to find products and promotions quickly and easily.

The service was developed to help stores enhance shoppers' experience by providing a more convenient way to locate products. Aisle411 discovered in a recent consumer survey that 84% of shoppers have difficulty finding products on store shelves. With Atlas, shoppers simply text their store and instantly get a text back with an aisle number and map of the product in the store.

"Atlas was developed out of frustration. How many times do you go to a retail store and spend half your time wandering around looking around for something? Store associates can be hard to find and are often preoccupied. This is 2017, shopping should be easier," said Mike Mixon, Chief Marketing Officer, Textel. "When deciding how to reach most shoppers, texting was an easy decision. App downloads are declining but 98% of smartphone users text."

"Aisle411 is excited to partner with Textel to offer another way for shoppers to more easily shop and buy products they want while in the store," Nathan Pettyjohn, Founder and CEO, Aisle411. "Texting is a natural behavior among the majority of smartphone users and offers retailers more ways to digitally connect and offer great service to their guests."

About Textel:

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and founded in 2014, Textel provides an extensible platform that allows businesses to communicate with their customers via text, using their existing business phone number. Textel strives to empower businesses by engaging consumers through their message handling platform and AI technology. For more information, visit atlas.textel.net.

About Aisle411:

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and founded in 2008, Aisle411 is a market leader in providing a product location data platform. Aisle411 provides a comprehensive local and in-store search and navigation solution for consumers, and shopper marketing analytics for retailers and brands. Aisle411's proprietary system collects, organizes and monetizes retailers' product inventory location data and enterprise software space planning systems and store maps.

SOURCE Textel

Related Links

http://www.textel.net


NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The M&A Advisor is proud to announce the establishment of an annual award to honor the memory of Thomas "Tom" Farrell, former Executive Vice President of Generational Equity, and to celebrate his contributions to the mergers and acquisitions industry.

On November 9th, 2016, Mr. Farrell was presented with the 2016 M&A Advisor Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into The M&A Advisor Hall of Fame for his significant achievements across a storied career in corporate finance. During the annual assembly of the industry's leading professionals in New York, he addressed and received a standing ovation from his peers for decades of service to corporate growth across America. It was with great sorrow that a short time after, on December 24th, the industry lost a friend and ally when Tom succumbed to illness and passed away.

"I am honored to have had the opportunity to call Tom Farrell a colleague - he was a valued member of The M&A Advisor Faculty, a mentor and a friend. His care for the industry and the thousands of organizations that he has contributed so positively to, will have a lasting effect for generations," stated David Fergusson, President and Co-CEO of The M&A Advisor. "In honor of his legacy, the Thomas Farrell Memorial Award will be presented each year to the individual chosen by their peers to have made the most generous contribution to the advancement of our industry."

The inaugural recipient of this distinguished award for 2017 is Robert "Bobby" Blumenfeld, the Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Growth (ACG) - New York Chapter.

"I cannot think of a more fitting candidate for the inaugural Tom Farrell Memorial Award than Bobby Blumenfeld, who embodies the very essence of this award's purpose," Fergusson shared. "Throughout his dealmaking career and in his contribution to the ACG New York Chapter, Bobby has tirelessly been a champion for the advancement of our industry and the members of it."

Along with his role as Executive Director of ACG New York, the non-profit financial association whose membership of over 1000 engage and support over 1/3 of the US economy, Bobby is a founding Director of ACG Cares, a charity that assists graduating college students, from all social and economic backgrounds, to find their first job. Past honors bestowed upon him include ACG New York's Peter Hilton Award for furthering the mission of the chapter during his volunteer term and the ACG Global Meritorious Award for Outstanding Service to the organization and the industry.

The Thomas Farrell Memorial Award will be presented to Mr. Blumenfeld during the 16th Annual M&A Advisor Awards Gala at the Metropolitan Club in New York on November 13, 2017. To learn more about how you can attend the awards gala to celebrate the presentation, CLICK HERE.

The M&A Advisor

Now in its 20th year, The M&A Advisor was founded to offer insights and intelligence on mergers and acquisitions, establishing the industry's leading media outlet in 1998. Today, the firm is recognized as the world's premier leadership organization for mergers & acquisition, restructuring and corporate finance professionals, delivering a range of integrated services from offices in New York and London. www.maadvisor.com

SOURCE The M&A Advisor

Related Links

http://www.maadvisor.com


WOODSIDE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- T.J. Rodgers, founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, today announced an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to fund the "T.J. Rodgers RLE Laboratory" with a $5 million gift. The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) is MIT's leading entrepreneurial interdisciplinary research organization.

$3.5 million of Rodgers' $5 million gift derives from the payment received by Rodgers under the Cooperation and Settlement Agreement reached with the Cypress Board of Directors following the election by Cypress shareholders of Rodgers' two nominees to the Cypress Board on June 20, 2017.

Rodgers said, "The Research Laboratory in Electronics (RLE) at MIT is a hallowed institution that invented 10-centimeter radar as part of our World War II effort. It is a cross-functional laboratory that applies electronics to fields of science, including quantum computation, biomedical science, atomic physics, photonic materials and energy. I am proud to help MIT redesign and enhance the RLE laboratory with advanced equipment. I strongly believe this laboratory will change our lives."

MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Marc Baldo said, "It is a great privilege and responsibility to serve as Director for the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics. We are proud of our origins in the RadLab and proud of our continuing tradition of creatively tackling important problems. Dr. Rodgers' gift will prepare us for the next frontiers. This new facility within RLE will demand that we excel, and we are very grateful for the opportunities this new facility will create for generations to come."

MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Steven Leeb said, "America's research universities are our society's gift to itself, the fertile fields that help provide technology to enhance human abilities and enrich all our lives. We are incredibly fortunate to live in a nation that has thrived not only through collective courage, craft and commitment, but also through intellect and invention. Dr. Rodgers' has spent his life as a leader and innovator creating value in and through technology, and making opportunity available for others. I am beside myself with gratitude in recognizing his genius, his generosity, and his grace in repeatedly opening doors for the next generations. This gift will create a new proving ground for our faculty and students and thereby bring new technical miracles to fruition."

About T.J. Rodgers

T.J. Rodgers was the founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in 1982 and served as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer until April 2016. He is a former chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and SunPower Corp. and currently sits on the boards of directors of high-technology companies, including Bloom Energy (fuel cells), Enphase (solar energy electronics), WaterBit (precision agriculture), Enovix (silicon lithium-ion batteries), FTC (utility-scale solar power plants) and NexGen Power Systems (gallium nitride power transistors). He has been honored for his foundational support over a 20-year period of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and the California Association of African American Educators. Rodgers received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, graduating as salutatorian with majors in chemistry and physics. He received his master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he invented the VMOS technology, which was licensed by American Microsystems, Inc.

About RLE

Founded in 1946 as the MIT Radiation Laboratory (RadLab), RLE has played a pivotal role both operationally (during wartime) and in basic research (during peacetime) on multiple fronts on physical electronics, including microwave physics, cathodes, electronic emission, and gaseous conduction. In recent years, RLE researchers have earned the Nobel prize and have been awarded the National Medal of Science. Recent research has included noted advances in ultracold atoms, condensates, haptic signaling, optical coherence tomography for medical imaging, and organic and inorganic nanostructures.

SOURCE T.J. Rodgers
DENVER, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust Company of America (TCA), the largest independent provider of integrated technology, custody and practice management support for registered investment advisors (RIAs) today announced its partnership with Fi360, a fiduciary education, training and technology company. Fi360's Fiduciary Focus Toolkit is now integrated with TCA's Liberty platform, enabling advisors to streamline their business processes by providing them access to critical client data within the Fi360 software, such as account information, balances, and positions.

Importantly, the Fiduciary Focus Toolkit promotes greater compliance with new fiduciary requirements as its tools lead advisors through investment policy statement creation, watch-list management and FINRA-reviewed reports.

"Our integration with TCA enables their 7,000+ advisors to focus on helping their clients achieve their goals and avert the time-consuming manual processes," said Fi360 CEO Bill Mueller, AIF. "We are very excited to be partnering with an industry leader like Trust Company of America to help their advisors build trust and add value."

Fi360's easy-to-use interface allows advisors to analyze, manage and report client investments efficiently, and deliver reliable information. Whether selecting new investments, monitoring an existing investments lineup, or building client-friendly reports, the Fi360 Toolkit can help TCA's advisors optimize and solidify their investment-management process.

Fi360's web-based software combines a step-by-step investment process that ensures investment strategies are properly developed, implemented, and monitored, in order to drive superior client outcomes and better business results.

"At TCA, our mission is to provide advisors with best-in-class technology they need to better serve their clients and grow their business," said Trust Company of America CEO Joshua Pace. "Our partnership with Fi360 enables us to do just that while also providing our advisors with an enhanced competitive edge."

For more information on Fi360's integration with Trust Company of America, including pricing, please contact Trust Company of America at 1-800-955-7808, or email [email protected], or contact Fi360 at 1-866-390-5080 or email [email protected].





About Trust Company of America:

Since 1972, Trust Company of America (TCA) has been a champion of Registered Investment Advisors, dedicated to helping them realize their full potential. TCA is the only independent RIA custodian offering fully integrated real-time technology, consultative services and back office support built exclusively for RIAs. TCA partners with advisors to provide them the technology and support they need to manage their practices and clients' financial futures. Learn more at www.trustamerica.com.

About Fi360:

Fi360, a fiduciary education, training and technology company, helps financial intermediaries use prudent fiduciary practices to profitably gather, grow and protect investors' assets. Since 1999, the firm has provided financial professionals with the tools necessary to act as a fiduciary in their work with investors. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Fi360 is the home of the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation, the Fiduciary Focus Toolkit and the Fi360 Fiduciary Score. Fi360 is also the parent company of CEFEX. Learn more at www.Fi360.com, via Twitter or on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Trust Company of America

Related Links

http://www.trustamerica.com


#BTS Seller of BTS member Jungkook's lost hat referred to prosecution Police on Tuesday referred to the prosecution a former foreign ministry employee accused of attempting to sell BTS member Jungkook's lost hat online, officials said. The suspec...
DUBLIN, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Annual Update for Senior Trade Mark & Design Administrators" conference has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

This conference is a must-attend event for all senior trade mark and design administrators. It will bring you up-to-date with the recent EUIPO legal reforms, focusing on changes to the law and practice, including a case law summary.

The EUIPO is constantly innovating and updating its online systems and tools, and you will get a tour through not only EUIPO but some of the linked databases. It will show you the differences between US and EU practice and what you should do about them. It will also highlight the pitfalls to be aware of in relation to trade marks in the US, as well as focussing on other country specific issues that you need to know about.

It will focus on common issues that can be encountered and how to deal with them to best effect. You will also learn about the international registrations of trade marks and designs under both the Madrid System and the Hague System and what future developments are planned that will affect you.

Key topics to be covered at this annual update:

EUIPO legal reform

Changes to current law and practice

Office online databases, tools and projects - EUIPO, TMView, TMClass, Observatory

EU and US practice differences and how to deal with them

Foreign filing pitfalls and how to avoid them

Country specific issues

International registration of trade marks and designs - issues to avoid

The Madrid and Hague Systems

and Hague Systems Latest developments and future plans

Why you should attend



This conference will give you a unique overview of this year's changes from the EUIPO and WIPO. It will inform you of latest developments and future plans that will affect you and how you work. The event also provides a networking opportunity for you to share your experiences with the other delegates and discuss answers to your questions. You'll acquire many take-home solutions that will save you time and money, and help you avoid costly mistakes.



Includes: Interactive sessions



Who should attend

Senior trade mark administrators

Formalities managers

Senior design administrators

IPR and legal assistants

Paralegals

For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/sgxghw/annual_update_for

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


BALTIMORE, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA, UAA) plans to release the results of its third quarter (ended September 30, 2017) on Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at 6:55 a.m. ET. Following the news release, Under Armour management will host a conference call at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET to review results.

This call will be webcast live at http://investor.underarmour.com/results.cfm and will be archived and available for replay approximately three hours after the live event.

About Under Armour, Inc.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA, UAA), the originator of performance footwear, apparel and equipment, revolutionized how athletes across the world dress. Designed to make all athletes better, the brand's innovative products are sold worldwide to athletes at all levels. The Under Armour Connected Fitness platform powers the world's largest digital health and fitness community through a suite of applications: UA Record, MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. The Under Armour global headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. For further information, please visit www.uabiz.com.

SOURCE Under Armour, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.underarmour.com


GPS III SV01 now awaits a call up to begin pre-launch preparations. In the meantime, the advanced satellite is stored in an environmentally-controlled clean room, where engineers can perform maintenance and continue to service the satellite.

New GPS Capabilities:

GPS III SV01 is the first space vehicle of an entirely new satellite design. GPS III is a next generation technology and capability leap over any of the 31 GPS Block II satellites that currently populate today's operational GPS constellation.

Better Accuracy : For military forces, precision is essential. GPS III signals will provide them three times more accuracy than any current GPS satellites. How accurate is that? We cannot get specific, but stretch your arms out, we are within that range now.

: For military forces, precision is essential. GPS III signals will provide them three times more accuracy than any current GPS satellites. How accurate is that? We cannot get specific, but stretch your arms out, we are within that range now. Improved Anti-Jam: It is no secret that future adversaries will try to nullify tools like GPS that give our military an edge in conflicts. GPS III's powerful new signals have eight times improved anti-jamming capability, and the satellites' nearly 70 percent digital payload will provide the Air Force with greater operational flexibility.

It is no secret that future adversaries will try to nullify tools like GPS that give our military an edge in conflicts. GPS III's powerful new signals have eight times improved anti-jamming capability, and the satellites' nearly 70 percent digital payload will provide the Air Force with greater operational flexibility. Stronger Design: Space is a tough neighborhood and GPS III is built tough. GPS III comes with a more resilient design and a design life which can expand its operational life to 15 years. That's 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today.

Space is a tough neighborhood and GPS III is built tough. GPS III comes with a more resilient design and a design life which can expand its operational life to 15 years. That's 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today. New Civil Signal: GPS III will be the first GPS satellite broadcasting L1C, a new, common signal being adopted by other international Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like Europe's Galileo. In the future, users of civilian GPS receivers will be able to connect to L1C from multiple GNSS constellations, allowing for greater connectivity.

Designed for the Future:

One of the keys to Lockheed Martin's GPS III is it was designed for today's mission with an eye on tomorrow's needs.

"As we designed GPS III, we knew that mission needs would change in the future and that new technology will become available. We wanted the satellite to be flexible to adapt to those changes," said Mark Stewart, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Navigation Systems mission area. "To do that, we intentionally developed GPS III with a modular design. This allows us to easily insert new technology into our production line."

Future satellites  already with a robust, production-ready design -- also would benefit from the inherent risk-reductions already proven out in GPS III, like compatibility with OCX and the existing GPS constellation. Significant work has already been completed on future requirements like an accuracy-improving Laser Retro-reflector Array and a Search and Rescue payload.

For Lockheed Martin, the completion of GPS III SV01 is a major milestone on a challenging development program to design and build the most powerful GPS satellites ever envisioned. With all major development risks behind them, the company is now in full production on ten GPS III satellites at its GPS III Processing Facility near Denver.

"Lockheed Martin's GPS III team owes much of its success to the Air Force's Back to Basics program," Stewart added. "We are proud to partner with the Air Force on this important program and look forward to launching the first GPS III satellite in 2018".

The GPS III team is led by the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Air Force Space Command's 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.

For additional GPS III information, photos and video visit: www.lockheedmartin.com/gps.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


CHANTILLY, Va., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vencore Inc. announced today that it will serve as title sponsor of the 3rd Annual Cyber Electromagnetic Activity (CEMA) Symposium, co-hosted by the Association of Old Crows and the United States Army Program Executive Office Intelligence Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S). The event will be held from October 16-19, 2017 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Additionally, Dr. David Shur, senior manager scientific research at Vencore Labs, the innovative research arm of Vencore, will brief attendees on the RadioMap wireless and large-scale distributed operation system. RadioMap, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), provides real-time radio frequency mapping and sensor command and control to help troops more effectively use and manage available spectrum in tactical operations.

The CEMA Symposium is a premier national defense event, bringing together an anticipated more than 1,000 attendees from military, industry and academia to educate and discuss technical needs in support of the PEO IEW&S mission. Specifically, this year's event will focus on the multi-domain battle concept and the need for innovative solutions in electronic warfare, cyber, SIGINT and other related technologies.

About Vencore, Inc.

Vencore is a proven provider of information solutions, engineering and analytics for the U.S. Government. With more than 40 years of experience working in the defense, civilian and intelligence communities, Vencore and its transformational applied research organization, Vencore Labs, design, develop and deliver high impact, mission-critical services and solutions to overcome its customers most complex problems.

Vencore has 3,750 employees and is based in Chantilly, Va. For more information about Vencore and Vencore Labs, visit www.vencore.com and www.vencorelabs.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Vencore and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Vencore undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Vencore believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Vencore, Inc.
Nine companies from around the globe compete for $5 million in investments

ROCKY HILL, Conn., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Connecticut Innovations (CI), the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticut's innovative, growing companies, today announced the finalists for VentureClash, its $5 million global investment challenge.

VentureClash attracted top early-stage companies in digital health, financial technology, insurance technology and the Internet of Things from around the world. The challenge will provide one top winner with a $1.5 million investment. Up to two second-place winners will each receive a $1 million investment, and up to three third-place winners will receive awards worth $500,000 each.

The nine finalists from seven countries will present in front of a panel of expert judges at the Yale School of Management on Friday, October 20, 2017. Tim Armstrong, CEO of Oath, will be the keynote speaker at the event.

This year's VentureClash finalists are:

Bought By Many  A U.K.-based interactive members-only service, Bought By Many offers targeted insurance opportunities designed to help individuals find the right insurance efficiently and customized to their needs.

Buzzmove  Buzzmove is the U.K.'s only price-comparison and instant-booking platform for all services related to moving and the right level of insurance needed to cover moving-related services.

Davra Networks  Based in Ireland, Davra Networks provides a complete Internet of Things (IoT) platform that allows customers to define, build and bring to market vertical-specific IoT applications while collecting and easily sharing data.

EAVE  U.K.-based EAVE is developing the next generation of hearing protection and communication technology utilizing noise cancellation and speech enhancement to eliminate noise-induced hearing loss.

FRISS  Based in the Netherlands, Friss uses proprietary analytics software to provide state-of-the-art solutions in the fields of fraud, risk and compliance for the insurance industry.

Peek Health, S.A.  Based in Portugal, Peek Health offers powerful three-dimensional preoperative planning software for orthopedic surgery that aims to help the surgeon better treat the patient while reducing costs and surgical times.

SCADAfence  Based in Israel, SCADAfence is a pioneer in securing mission-critical industrial networks from cyber threats, reducing the risk of connecting multiple devices in industries like manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas.

Tellspec  Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Tellspec is a data company with the ability to scan food, offering non-destructive real-time food testing for quality control, authentication, safety and nutritional value.

Vouchr  Based in Canada, Vouchr is a secure, payment-agnostic tool that allows users to bundle transfers of funds with photos, videos, social networking and gamification.

"VentureClash again attracted an impressive list of innovative, early-stage companies poised for growth," said Matt McCooe, CEO of Connecticut Innovations. "The fundamental improvement in this year's competition is the deep involvement of so many corporate partners. Many of Connecticut's flagship companies engaged in the process to learn about, meet and help us select the competitors in VentureClash. The Connecticut-based companies are looking to CI to act as a tech scout, and to help identify fantastic talent and innovation from across the globe."

VentureClash 2017 has partnered with the following organizations for this year's competition: Aetna; Bank of Ireland's Startlab; Boehringer Ingelheim; Dream Payments; Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina LLP; General Dynamics Electric Boat; Health Venture; ISG (Information Services Group); Magellan Health; Medtronic; Microsoft BizSpark Assets; Navigators; Pitney Bowes; RBS/NatWest; Shipman & Goodwin; Sikorsky & Lockheed-Martin; Stanley, Black & Decker; Stanley Ventures; Synchrony Financial; The Hartford; The Jackson Laboratory; Travelers; Updike, Kelly & Spellacy; Webster Bank; Yale University; Yale New Haven Health; and Yale Office of Cooperative Research (OCR).

For more information on qualifications, requirements, guidelines and the finalist event, visit www.ventureclash.com. To register to attend the 2017 VentureClash finals event, visit: www.ventureclash.com/event.

About VentureClash

VentureClash is Connecticut Innovations' global investment challenge focused on early-stage companies. The challenge identifies promising companies in digital health, financial technology, insurance technology and the Internet of Things that will receive investments from a $5 million award pool and the support of resources around Connecticut. To learn more, visit www.ventureclash.com.

About Connecticut Innovations Inc.

Connecticut Innovations is Connecticut's strategic venture capital arm, providing funding and strategic support to early-stage technology companies. In addition to equity investments, CI provides grants that support innovation and collaboration through CTNext, and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. To learn more, visit www.ctinnovations.com.

Contact: Lauren Carmody

Director of Public Relations

Phone: (860) 258-7829

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Connecticut Innovations

Related Links

http://ctinnovations.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildfires in California are threatening homes and popular tourist destinations, including Disneyland and Napa Valley. Leading travel insurance comparison site, Squaremouth, answers the top 3 travel insurance questions from travelers with trips affected by the fires.

What if there are fires at my destination?

If you're traveling to an area that's affected by the fires, your travel insurance policy may cover you to cancel your trip and refund your trip expenses.

Many travel insurance policies with the Trip Cancellation benefit cover natural disasters, including wildfires, that prevent travelers from taking their trips. In order for a traveler to be covered, their destination must be under a mandatory evacuation or deemed uninhabitable.

What if my travel plans are ruined?

Popular tourist areas in California, including Disneyland and Wine Country, may close down if the wildfires continue to spread. If you have a trip planned to these areas, or other affected areas in the state, a closure that ruins your plans is likely not enough to cancel.

Trip Cancellation doesn't cover loss of enjoyment. As long as you aren't prevented from reaching your destination, and your hotel is safe, you will not be refunded to cancel your trip. Only travelers who bought the Cancel For Any Reason upgrade can cancel due to loss of enjoyment.

What if I live in California and my home is at risk?

California residents are the most frequent travelers in the United States, according to Squaremouth sales data.

If a resident's home is damaged by the fast-spreading wildfires, many travel insurance policies can refund their trip costs if they must cancel. In order for a traveler to be reimbursed to cancel their trip because their home is damaged, it must be rendered uninhabitable.

Squaremouth's California Wildfires and Travel Insurance Information Center explains travel insurance coverage with up-to-date information for travelers affected by the fires, including answers to FAQs and statements from providers.

ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH

Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth's comparison engine and third-party reviews, travelers can research and compare insurance products side-by-side. More information can be foud at www.squaremouth.com

Available Topic Expert

Steven Benna

[email protected]

(727) 619-7262

SOURCE Squaremouth

Related Links

http://www.squaremouth.com


"Immediately following natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, access to safe drinking water is of the utmost importance," said John Wundrock, President and CEO of Wisconsin Pharmacal Company. "And in the weeks that follow, personal care products and items like first aid kits and insect repellents, due to standing water and heat which brings mosquitoes, become increasingly important. We are committed to helping get these types of products into the hands of those who need it most and working to assist in any way we can with our Potable Aqua, Coleman Insect Repellent, and Coleman First Aid Kit brands."

Wisconsin Pharmacal Company is also working with United Way and a number of retail partners on donations of their other product lines, including personal care items like MG217 lotions and vH essentials feminine health items, as well as Coleman Insect Repellents and First Aid.

Wisconsin Pharmacal Company is the official licensee of Coleman Insect Repellents and First Aid.

About Wisconsin Pharmacal Company

Wisconsin Pharmacal Company is a leader in outdoor health and safety products. The company's complete brand portfolio includes: Potable Aqua water purification tablets, Coleman Insect Repellents, Coleman First Aid, StingEze insect bite relief products, Atwater Carey pre-treated mosquito nets, and Baitmate fish attractants. For more details, please visit www.Pharmacalway.com.

SOURCE Wisconsin Pharmacal Company

Related Links

http://pharmacalway.com


The NJBIZ Fast 50 celebrates New Jersey's most dynamic businesses who progressively contribute to the success of the state's economic growth and stability. WorkWave has seen accelerated growth over the past 3 years in both revenue and employee count. In May, the company relocated its headquarters to Bell Works in Holmdel, N.J., to accommodate its growing team.

"WorkWave is honored to be named one of NJBIZ's Fast 50 for the second year in a row," said Chris Sullens, CEO of WorkWave. "I believe WorkWave's steady and consistent growth over the past few years is a direct result of us investing in our people, products and processes to better serve our customers. We look forward to helping field service and last-mile delivery and logistics companies transform the way they operate through our market-leading software solutions and services."

The top 50 companies rankings will be revealed during an awards ceremony on Tuesday, November 14 at The Palace at Somerset.

To learn more about WorkWave, visit workwave.com.

About WorkWave

WorkWave is dedicated to simplifying the complexity of running field service and other fleet-based businesses, large or small - a $45+ billion market worldwide. The company's suite of solutions, which include PestPac, WorkWave Service, ServiceCEO, WorkWave Route Manager, WorkWave GPS, GPS Heroes and ContactUs, allow WorkWave clients to easily attribute and automate sales and marketing activities, improve their back office efficiency and increase their visibility into field operations through a single, easy to use interface. WorkWave's platform provides its 8,000+ clients an unprecedented level of business insight and information, enabling them to increase efficiency, increase revenue and provide a 5-Star customer experience. Founded in 1984, WorkWave has been recognized with multiple awards for its outstanding growth and culture, including the Inc. 5000, SaaS Award, and Best Place to Work by NJBiz & Inc. Magazine. For more information, visitwww.workwave.com.

About NJBIZ

NJBIZ, New Jersey's leading business journal, produces a weekly print edition with a circulation of more than 15,000 copies, as well as providing 24/7 business news coverage through its NJBIZ.com website and multiple daily e-newsletters.

The publication, founded in 1987 and based in Somerset section of Franklin Lakes, is also well-known throughout the state for its events honoring New Jersey's top business professionals.

Contact Danielle Panichi Email [email protected] Phone 800-792-6067 Website https://www.workwave.com

SOURCE WorkWave

Related Links

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Thane, Oct 4 : Absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and his brother Anees have been named as 'wanted accused' in an extortion case filed against their younger sibling Iqbal Kaskar, who was arrested from his Mumbai home last month.

During the investigations into the ongoing extortion cases against Iqbal, the role and involvement of his two other brothers Dawood and Anees came to the fore and they have been accordingly booked, investigating officials said.

This is the first time ever that all the three Kaskar brothers - sons of a former Mumbai police official Shaikh Ibrahim Ali Kaskar - have been named as accused in any case simultaneously.

On Tuesday, Iqbal was slapped with a third case of extortion of Rs 3 crores from a builder in a deal involving a 38 acres land transaction in Gorai, a coastal village in south-west Thane.

Besides the Kaskar siblings, the role of Dawood's close associate Chhota Shakeel has also come to light and he has been made a 'wanted accused' in the case.

The Thane Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) nabbed Iqbal and his associates Israr Ali Sayyad and Mumtaz Ali Shaikh in an extortion case of Rs 30 lakhs and on charges of extorting four flats from a builder.

Subsequently, they were booked in another extortion complaint lodged by a prominent Thane jeweller, followed by a third complaint from a builder in the Gorai land deal case.

Last week, the AEC also nabbed Borivali-based bookie Pankaj Gangar in the same case after his role as a financer for the extortion rackets came to light.

Incidentally, Dawood - who is reportedly based in Karachi as per Iqbal's latest statement to the police - is wanted in a series of serious cases including the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts which claimed 257 lives.

Anees, his brother and close lieutenants are also wanted in several cases ranging from extortion, kidnapping, attempt to kill and murders, while Iqbal is booked in three different extortion cases.

Among the three other Kaskar brothers, the oldest, Shabbir, was shot dead in gangwar in 1981, Noora passed away in 2009 in Karachi while Humayun succumbed to cancer in Dubai last year.

Their only prominent sister Haseena Parkar, who was known as 'Godmother of Nagpada' and involved in some minor cases of intimidation, passed away after a brief illness in Mumbai in 2014.

An elder sister Saeeda passed away several years ago due to natural causes while another sister Farzana leads a low-profile life in Mumbai.
Washington, Oct 6 : US President Donald Trump is expected to "decertify" the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and turn it back to Congress for possible renewed sanctions, senior US officials said.

Trump is likely to announce his plans in a speech next week in which he will say the agreement was not in US national interest, the officials said.

The move would mark the first step in a process that could eventually result in the resumption of US sanctions against Iran, potentially derailing a deal limiting Iran's nuclear activities reached in 2015 with the US and Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, the New York Times reported.

Lawmakers would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were suspended under the agreement. A decertification could also open the door to renegotiate the deal, although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that was not an option.

Trump, who called the pact an "embarrassment" and "the worst deal ever negotiated", faces an October 15 deadline for certifying that Iran was complying with its terms.

Meeting with his top military aides at the White House on Thursday, Trump said Iran didn't live up to "the spirit of the agreement".

"The Iranian regime supports terrorism and exports violence, bloodshed and chaos across the Middle East. That is why we must put an end to Iran's continued aggression and nuclear ambitions," he said.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not say what the President planned to do, other than saying he would "make an announcement about the decision that he's made on a comprehensive strategy that his team supports" in the coming days.

Democrats argued that Trump should certify the agreement, warning that the administration's ability to press Iran on other activities it objects to would be compromised - rather than enhanced - if the US threw the future of the agreement into question.

The deal is also contentious inside the administration.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis both urged Trump not to back out of it because that would free Iran to begin producing uranium and reprocessing plutonium immediately, not after 13 years, as is stipulated in the agreement.
Ranchi, Oct 6 : The opposition parties have asked the Jharkhand government to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) to help the people reeling under high prices of petrol and diesel.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is the main opposition party in the state, has threatened agitation if the VAT was not reduced to half from the existing 22 per cent by October 30.

"Our party will call a shutdown in the state if the state government fails to reduce the VAT by half on petrol and diesel by October 30," former Chief Minister and JMM Executive President Hemant Soren told reporters here.

He said that 22 per cent VAT has been imposed on petrol and diesel while a cess of Re 1 was also being collected per litre which means Rs 2,500 crore are being collected every year from the people.

The former Chief Minister compared the VAT rate of Jharkhand with the neighbouring states of Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. Jharkhand is collecting higher VAT in comparison to the neighbouring states.

"The Jharkhand government can provide relief up to Rs 5 per litre on petrol and diesel by reducing the VAT up to 50 per cent."

The Congress has also demanded reduction in the VAT rates and other duties to provide relief to the people.

"In 2014, the Congress backed JMM-led government had reduced the VAT to provide relief to the people of Jharkhand. Raghubar Das government should also reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel to help the farmers and common people. The central government should also reduce the excise and other duties to reduce the prices," Jharkhand Congress General Secretary Kishore Sahdeo told IANS.

"During the UPA government, petrol prices were Rs 71 per litre when the crude oil prices were Rs 130 per barrel. Now it is Rs 50 per barrel and Narendra Modi government is selling petrol at Rs 71 per litre in Jharkhand," he added.
New Delhi, Oct 6 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday opposed the bail plea of a woman Director of a Dubai-based company in a money-laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

Public Prosecutor Navin Kumar Matta requested Special Judge Arvind Kumar not to grant bail to Shivani Saxena, citing serious nature of offence filed against the woman accused.

The prosecutor told the court that if she was released on bail, she could tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses.

The court has listed the matter for October 7 for further hearing.

On September 13, the Directorate charge-sheeted Shivani Saxena under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED, in June last year, filed the first supplementary chargesheet in the case against British national Christian Michel James, Delhi-based Media Exim Pvt Ltd and its Director R.K. Nanda and former Director J.B. Subramaniyam in its ongoing money-laundering probe in the Rs 3,600 crore helicopter deal.

The first charge-sheet was filed in the case in November 2014 against businessman Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and two alleged Italian middlemen -- Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The charge-sheet said the alleged middlemen managed to make inroads into the Indian Air Force to influence and subvert its stand on reducing the service ceiling of helicopters from 6,000 metre to 4,500 metre in 2005, after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIP duties.

Shivani, wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, was arrested on July 17.

The ED alleged that Shivani and her husband Rajeev were partners and Directors in Dubai-based companies UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings Ltd, through which proceeds of the crime were routed and used for buying immovable properties and shares.

According to the agency, Britain-based AgustaWestland International Ltd paid 58 million euros in kickbacks, through Tunisia-based Gordian Services Sarl and IDS Sarl, who transferred the money to Mauritius-based Interstellar Technologies Ltd in the guise of consultancy contracts and this firm, in turn, sent the money to these two Dubai companies.

Shivani Saxena was the second accused arrested by the Directorate in the case. In 2014, the agency had arrested lawyer Gautam Khaitan for his alleged role in routing the kickbacks in the purchase of 12 AW-101 helicopters. Currently, Khaitan is out on bail.

The case is based on the investigation being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which had arrested former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and two others in connection with the case in 2016.
New Delhi : Almost 16 years to the day since the US embarked upon its war on terrorism against the Afghan Taliban on October 7, 2001, as reprisal for the enormity of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it appears that a White House administration is again issuing dire warnings to Rawalpindi (GHQ of the Pakistan Army) while still dangling the familiar "carrot".

At a congressional hearing of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington DC on Tuesday (October 4), General Joseph Dunford, Chairman, US Joints Chiefs of Staff, observed candidly: "I think it's clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups." This is not the first time that an incumbent in his chair has come to such a determination.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis had a similar assessment, adding that while Pakistan may have come down on terrorism, "the ISI appears to run its own foreign policy". This is an unusually unambiguous assertion by a senior US offical but General Mattis added the caveat too: "We need to try one more time to make this strategy work with them; by, with and through the Pakistanis. And if our best efforts fail, the President (Trump) is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary."

The war in Afghanistan, where Pakistan was accorded the status of a major non-NATO ally, has been expensive for the US both in terms of blood and treasure. A study by the Brown University estimates that, as of 2016, the US may have spent up to $ 2 trillion towards the Afghan campaign, which still remains inconclusive and messy.

As a benchmark, it may be relevant to note that India's GDP in 2016 was estimated to be $ 2.26 trillion. The total number of people killed since the US led war against terror began in October 2001 has crossed 370,000 and the number displaced is upwards of 800,000. And the violence continues.

Will the latest warning by the Trump team have the desired effect on the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the "deep-state" in that country? It is difficult to be optimistic.

Three high-level political visits in end September frame the intractable nature of the Afghan war. They were dramatically illustrated by events in Kabul. Mattis arrived in Kabul from Delhi (September 26) and a few hours later the airport was subjected to rocket fire by the local Taliban. This attack on the Kabul airport led to a delay in the visit of Abdullah Abdullah, CEO of Afghanistan, to Delhi.

It is pertinent to note that in their public remarks in Kabul and Delhi, the two men reiterated the imperative of closing down safe havens and sanctuaries for terror groups and dismantling the infrastructure in the region that supports such bloodshed.

The not-so-subtle reference was to Pakistan and its deep-state that continues to support groups such as the Haqqani network, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates.

This brings us to the third visit -- that of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in end September to the US, where he asserted that charges of Pakistan sheltering terrorists were "untrue", and that the only cross-border movement of terrorists was "from Afghanistan to Pakistan"!

Abbasi went further and categorically ruled out any role for India in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, adding, "Zero, we don't foresee any political or military role for India in Afghanistan."

This inflexible veto that Pakistan has accorded unto itself in relation to the internal affairs of Afghanistan and the brazen manner in which it continues to deny the role being played by Rawalpindi in supporting terror groups lies at the core of the political and military challenge for the US, India and Afghanistan.

This was reiterated during the Mattis-Nirmala Sitharaman (India's Defence Minister) meeting in Delhi. A highly respected US marine corps general, Mattis has first-hand experience of the war in Afghanistan and is deeply aware of Pakistani duplicity, wherein the US taxpayers money is being spent to attack and kill US military personnel.

The (George W.) Bush and (Barack) Obama administrations were aware of this fundamental contradiction -- that in September 2001 -- before 9/11, Pakistan was one of just three nations in the world who recognised the Afghan Taliban and their regime in Kabul at that time.

Yet the White House chose to overlook this contradiction and allowed Pakistan to become a non-NATO ally in the global war on terror. Further ironies followed, for in October 2001, when the US and its allies were bombing Afghanistan, the wily General Pervez Musharraf was able to strike a deal with the Pentagon and safely withdraw Pakistan army personnel in Afghanistan who were assisting the Taliban.

The metaphor hunting with the (US) hounds and running with the (Taliban) hare could not be more apt.

But the more relevant question that many US citizens ask in anger is how the world's lone superpower could allow such perfidy to continue for years. This is the question that President Trump is seeking to answer and introduce a much needed corrective to the US South Asia policy.

India, which is also a stakeholder in the war against terror, is a major development partner in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and has provided aid in excess of $2 billion. During the Mattis visit Defence Minister Sitharaman confirmed that while Delhi would not send any troops to Afghanistan, it would enhance its training role for security and police personnel.

The critical military equipment that the Afghan military needs is a complex matter and India is constrained by its own military inventory gaps and the dependence on Russian-origin equipment that cannot be supplied without involving Moscow in the deliberations.

The sub-text of the three visits illuminates both the nature of the Afghan conundrum and the difficulties inherent in crafting policy options that will be more effective than what has been the cost-benefit analysis of the last 16 years. To add to the complexity, Beijing has also become an interlocutor.

Even as the Mattis-Abdullah visits were taking place, the second meeting of the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan (CAP) Practical Cooperation Dialogue was held in Kabul (September 26, 27).

Weaning Rawalpindi away from supporting terror groups will not be a swift binary choice and the White House has considerable experience in the matter. Whether President Trump will be able to cut the Gordian knot remains moot.

(C. Uday Bhaskar is Director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi. He can be contacted at cudayb@gmail.com. The article is in special arrangement with South Asia Monitor)
New Delhi, Oct 9 : The Delhi Police on Monday denied any racial angle to the beating up of a Nigerian national in south Delhi and said a man has been arrested and four others identified in the case. The accused have been booked for attempted culpable homicide.

"There is no indication of a racial attack. The Nigerian Embassy was informed about the arrest of Nigerian national Ahmed before he was sent in judicial custody by a court here till Tuesday," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said.

Police identified the arrested person as Krishan Kumar, a landlord who registered a case of attempted theft against Nigerian national Ahmed at his Savitri Nagar residence in Malviya Nagar area.

A manhunt was on to nab four other accused, who assaulted Ahmed, after they were identified in a video clipping shown on television news channels.

Police said the assault occurred on September 24, when Ahmed was allegedly caught on suspicion of attempted theft. Krishan Kumar had filed an FIR against Ahmed that night.

"We have arrested Krishan Kumar for beating up Ahmed. Krishan Kumar is the person at whose residence Ahmed had gone with an intention to commit theft. Efforts are on to arrest others involved in the crime. So far, we have identified four others. They have been booked for attempt to culpable homicide in a fresh FIR," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said.

"Local police were handed over Ahmed, who resides in Lajpat Nagar, by the residents of south Delhi locality. Ahmed suffered swelling in one hand and a leg apart from other minor bruises," Ishwar Singh said.

"Initially, Ahmed did not cooperate and refused to reveal his identity, but later shared details. Area people said he had attempted a break-in at a house, and jumped off the roof on to a neighbouring house in Savitri Nagar after an alarm," the officer said.

"A wire cutter and a bag with master keys was found on his person. He was given medical aid but he did not inform police during his medical examination that the public had thrashed him or how he got injured," Ishwar Singh added.

"We got to know about the assault after seeing the video clip, in which Ahmed is seen surrounded by many people who beat him with batons while others kicked and slapped him. Eventually, the African, whose feet were tied with a rope to a pillar nearby, started to bleed profusely from the head."

Krishan Kumar had claimed that he saw a man, later identified as Ahmed, trying to unlock a cupboard in his house. He claimed he and his brothers chased him as he tried to escape, but the man slipped from the stairs and injured himself in the head.

Earlier this year, attacks on nationals from several African countries in Delhi and Noida were described by envoys of these nations as "xenophobic and racial".

In two attacks caught on camera in April, four Nigerians were assaulted by a large group of people taking out a candlelight march at Greater Noida to denounce the death of a boy due to suspected drug overdose. A Nigerian student was also beaten inside a mall.
Lucknow, Oct 9 : Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India Milan Hovorka on Monday travelled on the Lucknow Metro and expressed his admiration over its facilities.

Visiting the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC), he, along with his delegation, first came to the Charbagh Metro station where he was welcomed by Managing Director Kumar Keshav and senior officials of the Corporation.

Hovorka saw the world class state-of-the-art facilities provided by LMRC at the Metro station including the Automatic Ticket Vending Machine, Recharge Card Terminal Machine, Automatic Fare Collection gates, escalator, lift with braille buttons and other automatic passenger oriented facilities.A

Impressed with the facilities he praised LMRC for setting up a system at par with the European standards in such a compressed time schedule of just less than three years.

He and hiss delegation then also took a ride in Metro train from Charbagh Metro station to Transport Nagar Metro station. The Managing Director briefed the Czech Ambassador about the unique design and special features of the Lucknow Metro Train.

Later, ovorka visited the Depot Control Centre and saw the facilities developed by Lcknow Metro for the Software Development Centre and the Operations Control Centre. He also planted a tree sapling inside the Transport Nagar Metro Depot to mark his visit.
New Delhi, Oct 9 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday gave away the "Vayoshreshtha Samman" awards to senior citizens at a function here.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said there was a healthy tradition of respecting and taking care of elders in the country.

He said according to the last census, the population of senior citizens in our country was approximately 10.5 crore, which was about 8.5 per cent of the country's population, and it was expected to go up to 19 per cent by 2050.

"The average life expectancy has increased in recent decades due to improvement in health services and other reasons," he said.

The President said the government had taken several steps for the welfare of elderly persons including the national programme for Healthcare of the Elderly, wherein they could avail specialised treatment.

Under the National Health Insurance Scheme, implemented with the help of state governments, now additional health insurance is being provided.

Vayoshreshtha Samman awards are given under a scheme of national awards for senior citizens.
Los Angeles, Oct 10 : Parts of California's wine region in the US are being ravaged by fast-spreading fire that has killed at least one person and seriously injured two others.

Mass evacuations have been announced as several others are reportedly missing, BBC reported on Monday.

About 20,000 people have fled from Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties after fires broke out across the area renowned for its vineyards.

The governor of California declared an emergency as firefighters battled to control the wild blazes.

"These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents," the declaration said.

The head of California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Kim Pimlott, said that about 1,500 buildings had already been destroyed.

It is not yet known how the fires started on Sunday night.

Napa County's fire chief warned that conditions were hindering fire-fighting efforts, as further resources were brought in from across the state.

One person died in Mendocino County when thousands of acres burned in one valley. Further injuries have been reported and others are said to be missing.

Dozens of vineyard workers were reportedly airlifted to safety overnight.

The fires are particularly fast-spreading because of the combination of high winds, low humidity and hot, dry weather.

The National Weather Service has issued a warning for the San Francisco area that "any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly".

One vineyard owner told the LA Times that he thought his property was likely destroyed after he and his family escaped from a fire late on Sunday night.

"There was no wind, then there would be a rush of wind and it would stop. Then there would be another gust from a different direction. The flames wrapped around us," Ken Moholt-Siebert said.

"I was just being pelted with all this smoke and embers."

The fire department's website estimates that tens of thousands of acres have already been destroyed in at least 14 fires, making it one of the most destructive outbreaks California has seen.

In September the Californian city of Los Angeles suffered the largest wildfires in its history.
Paris, Oct 10 : French President Emmanuel Macron has urged more acts in the conflict zones to handle the refugees crisis better and stem flows of asylum seekers that have prompted Europe's worst migration crisis.

"Protecting ... means taking action as close as possible to the conflict zones by first providing financial support to UNHCR in the countries hosting the most refugees in the Middle East and in Africa," Macron said on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

In this context, Macron promised to increase 10 million euros ($11.73 million) Paris' financial aid to help treat migrants crisis in Libya, where according to him, "the situation remains critical".

Macron also pointed to the necessity to energize diplomatic efforts "to build a political solution negotiated in Libya that will allow stability".

As to the situation of Syrian refugees, Macron pleaded for "a collective capacity" to reach a political response to the end the year-long and offer a lasting political stability in the area.

Admitting that France had failed to honour commitment to receive refugees, Macron pledged to handle the issue with a "realistic" way, proposing to welcome 10,000 asylum seekers mainly from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Niger and Chad by 2019.

At a meeting with Filippo Grandi, President of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Macron also stressed "the need for Europe to build a common area of protection and solidarity, in particular by setting up a European Asylum Office which accelerates and harmonizes our procedures with a common training and integration program of refugees".
Brussels, Oct 10 : Finance Ministers of the 19-country Eurozone are scheduled to elect a new chief to chair the group at their December meeting, said outgoing Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

"I would leave my job," Dijsselbloem, also Dutch Finance Minister, told a press conference in Luxembourg on Monday following a Eurogroup meeting, referring he would step down in two weeks as his party will not join a long-waited coalition nearly seven month after election in the Netherlands, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dijsselbloem's mandate as Eurogroup will last until January 13 next year.

"I have put to the colleagues in the Eurogroup today that it would be my intention to complete my mandate which runs until January 13," he told reporters.

"There was unanimous support for that, everyone was content with me staying on until mid-January," Dijsselbloem added.

The new Eurogroup chief's mandate would start in January 2018, but the election should take place at the end of the Eurogroup meeting in December while candidates can be put forward in the two weeks before the December meeting.

Position of Eurogroup president usually falls on a sitting finance minister in the single currency zone.

Earlier at the Eurogroup meeting, finance ministers as well bid farewell to Wolfgang Schauble, the German Finance Minister who is slated to become speaker of the Bundestag in Germany's new government.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Age is just a number for Amitabh Bachchan, who turns 75 on Wednesday. His work diary is already spilling into 2019, but he remains firmly "not out", continuing a glorious journey that has lasted over four decades.

In an industry where roles are seldom written for veteran actors, Bachchan is experimenting with looks, characters and themes with an enthusiasm and passion of a newcomer.

"When he comes on the set, he is always in character. I never feel like I'm directing Mr Amitabh Bachchan. I feel I am directing the character," Umesh Shukla, who is working with the "living legend" in "102 Not Out", told IANS.

"When he steps out of his vanity van, he comes out in the type of mood that is required for a scene and makes the atmosphere like that. It's fun to work with him," added Shukla, who has cast veteran actor Rishi Kapoor as a 75-year-old and Bachchan as his 102-year-old father in the movie.

Another challenging role that Bachchan has taken up is in "Thugs of Hindostan", which will see him in an armoured look with a heavy beard. His co-star Aamir Khan, who will be sharing screen space with Bachchan for the first time, has been a long-time admirer.

"His aura, action, every nuance of his acting was such a fulfilling experience in cinema," Aamir said of watching Big B's films in theatres in his younger days.

But as he rings in his milestone birthday, Bachchan wants no celebrations.

He is off to the Maldives for a vacation with wife Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter Shweta, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and granddaughter Aaradhya. And he will be back to work soon.

"A small and peaceful family time is more than enough for me," Big B had once said.

Film historian S.M.M. Ausaja, whose forthcoming book "The Bachchans" retraces the journey of what he calls the "premier family of Bollywood", said Bachchan's "extraordinary" success is a "spectacular example of talent and luck".

"If you're very talented and low on luck, you're Naseeruddin Shah. Or if you're low on talent and high on luck, you're Jeetendra. In Mr Bachchan's case, it has been the right mix. He was unconventional in looks and amidst a string of actors for whom it was the romance genre all the way, he was like a whiff of fresh air. His mannerisms and style were his own," Ausaja told IANS.

Having started with a role as one of the seven protagonists in "Saat Hindustani", Bachchan next featured in the Rajesh Khanna-starrer "Anand" and did a few more films. But it wasn't until the 1973 movie "Zanjeer" that he came into his own.

"There was no stopping him then," Ausaja said, pointing to some of his "sensitive films" like "Ek Nazar", "Mili" and "Abhimaan", as well as hits like "Deewaar", "Sholay", "Mard", Naseeb", "Namak Haraam", "Kabhie Kabhie", "Don", "Hum" and "Shahenshah".

In 1978, he was at the top of his game with movies like "Muqaddar Ka Sikandar", "Trishul", "Don", "Kasme Vaade", "Ganga Ki Saugandh" and "Besharam" doing well.

A near-fatal injury on the sets of "Coolie" in 1982 led him to take a break from films and he ventured into politics from his native Allahabad. He contested the Lok Sabha election on the Congress ticket in 1984, but didn't continue his political journey for long.

He found himself named in the infamous Bofors scandal, but was cleared of the allegations 25 years later and remains apolitical even though he associates himself with issue-related social campaigns for the government once in a while.

Until 1988, when "Shahenshah" was released, Bachchan -- son of legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan -- was in top form.

"Post-'Shahenshah', his fall began when directors started presenting him as larger-than-life characters in films like 'Toofan' and 'Jaadugar'. He endured a lot of flops and other problems until the start of the millennium when he came up with the television show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' in 2000. In fact, Mr Bachchan was named 'Star of the Millennium' at the worst phase of his career.

"But then, after 'KBC', his meteoric rise began and he started playing his age on screen and reinvented himself with every project -- be it 'Sarkar', 'Baghban', 'Bunty Aur Babli', 'Paa', 'Black'... His popularity is a binding factor for the country," Ausaja said.

For someone who was considered too thin and too tall to fit in the Hindi film industry, Bachchan's run in showbiz -- to many -- is what dreams are made of.

He failed when he launched Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd in the 1990s, but his acting acumen has taken him places.

Bachchan has earned epithets like "Angry Young Man" and "Shahenshah", and has won the love of fans who throng the gates of his house in Mumbai every Sunday to meet him.

Shukla said Bachchan must be still working 14 to 15 hours a day. "It's commendable at his age. He is always on his toes and I have never seen him tired..."

"Sometimes we have to tell him to take it easy. He says, 'No, I'll do it'. That's his spirit," Shukla said.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
Nay Pyi Taw, Oct 10 : A human rights group on Tuesday condemned the Myanmar Army for blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya villages in the violence-ridden Rakhine state.

Many of the villages near Buthidaung municipality in Rakhine state have not received humanitarian assistance since the military crackdown in late August, the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said.

Activists said authorities had also blocked access by the UN to the north of Rakhine state, where the majority of the Rohingya Muslims currently live, reports Efe news.

According to the NGO, only local organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross were given access to the area but were mostly directed to Buddhist villages in Rakhine state instead.

On August 25, Rohingya militants carried out a coordinated attack on about 30 police posts in the state resulting in the death of 12 security personnel. It sparked a response from the Army, which has then been accused of rapes, killing civilians and burning their homes.

Since then,over 500,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh.

The BHRN also said that Bangladeshi authorities destroyed boats arriving from Myanmar with Rohingyas on board, saying that the refugees were transporting drugs into their country and arrested fishermen for helping those fleeing the violence.

Without rescue boats, thousands of Rohingyas have been stranded on the mouth of the Naf River, which marks the border between the two countries.

It is estimated that before the crisis about 1 million Rohingyas lived in Rakhine state, where they faced growing discrimination from the government, which considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh The UN labelled the conflict in Myanmar as "ethnic cleansing".
Shimla, Oct 10 : After thwarting foes within, six-time Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, 83, is set to don battle gear once again with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi declaring him the "commander" who will lead the party to victory.

In contrast, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which contends it is confident of clawing back to power in the hill state, is still a divided house.

"There is too much confusion over who will lead the party in the forthcoming assembly elections," a senior state BJP leader, who did not wish to be identified, told IANS.

He said the party is divided in two camps -- one led by two-time Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and the other by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda.

Nadda, who has been devoting much time and energy in the state launching central projects and programmes, played a key role in the 2014 election, helping the party win all four parliamentary seats even though a Congress government was in office.

"The party cadre and the leaders are totally confused over who the party leader is. Who will take the party to the victory," wondered a senior BJP leader, a cabinet minister in the previous Dhumal-led government.

He said at least the Congress leadership had sorted out issues related to the one-upmanship between the Chief Minister and state Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ahead of the polls.

Ending months of speculation and turmoil within the party, Rahul Gandhi last Saturday announced at a public meeting in Mandi town that Virbhadra Singh will "become the Chief Minister for the seventh time".

Clearly indicating the party stands behind Singh, who is facing cases related to disproportionate assets, he said: "Virbhadra Singh ji has done tremendous development as six-time Chief Minister. He will be the Chief Minister for the seventh time. This will have full backing of the party."

"Rahul Gandhi's public announcement clearly indicated that Virbhadra Singh will lead the party in the elections and will have a say in the allocation of tickets too," said a Congress leader.

He added that Singh, who has been in active politics for over 50 years and is a regular target of the BJP, is considered a threat only by top state leaders but not by the cadre.

"The party's workers at the grassroots are emotionally connected to Virbhadra Singh and with Rahul Gandhi clearing the air about the party leadership, their morale has been boosted," added the leader, once a cabinet minister in the Virbhadra government.

Informed sources said Virbhadra Singh had categorically told Congress President Sonia Gandhi in late August that he would not take the party into the assembly elections under state chief Sukhu's leadership.

At that time, the Chief Minister, along with his cabinet colleagues, camped in New Delhi for three days to seek a "free hand" in the selection of candidates and the conduct of the party's campaign ahead of assembly polls.

Rahul Gandhi was out of India at that time.

Despite the Congress sorting out its leadership issues, the BJP remains confident of regaining the ground it lost in the 2012 assembly election.

It also feels Virbhadra Singh is on the brink of political "collapse" following charges framed against him and his family by a CBI court in connection with a money-laundering case.

Dhumal has often hinted that Congress legislators were unhappy with Virbhadra Singh and were in touch with him.

Without naming Virbhadra Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a recent visit to Bilaspur to lay the foundation of a Rs 1,350 crore AIIMS hospital and launch the party's election campaign, said: "This is a zamanati sarkar (government on bail)."

"When some people of the Congress came to meet me, I told them the Chief Minister and his entire family are out on bail... Then the Congress people replied that our entire party is on bail, our (Congress) President is facing corruption charges," Modi said.

Undeterred by the court cases and carping critics, Virbhadra Singh has been aggressively touring the state for the past six months, laying foundation stones and inaugurating infrastructure projects.

Only time will tell whether the veteran politician will succeed in leading his troops to victory in what must surely be his last electoral joust.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called terrorism a "curse for the civilised society", and said the NIA will soon choke the foreign fund trail to the terrorists operating in the country.

"Some people say that the National Investigation Agency has partially succeeded in stopping foreign terror funding. But I will say that the NIA will fully choke the foreign funding to terrorists in the country soon," Singh said.

Inaugurating the counter-terror agency's headquarters in Lodi Road here, Singh also said: "The NIA will bring down the morale of the terrorists."

He said terrorism acts as a hindrance to development. Lauding the work of the probe agency for proving its credibility in the last eight-and-half years since its formation in 2008, Singh said the conviction rate of the agency was over 90 per cent.

Singh said investigating terror activities is a tough job. "But with the help of scientific investigation, it has filed perfect chargesheets," the Home Minister said.

The Home Minister also hailed the NIA's role in curbing the menace of fake currency which acted as an oxygen for terrorism.
New York, Oct 10 : The Indian government has been able to change domestic public opinion in favour of inviting foreign investment into sectors of production that were earlier considered out of bounds both for ideological as well as security reasons, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

"We have been able to invest FDI (foreign direct investment) in almost every sector of the economy," Jaitley said on Monday night at an investors roundtable here jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the US-India Business Council.

"Areas that were earlier considered sacrosanct, like defence manufacturing, we have been able to convince public opinion that it is better to invite foreign expertise to set up manufacturing in India," he said.

"Suddenly we find a lot of joint ventures coming up (with foreign firms) for defence investment."

Jaitley is on a week-long official visit to the US during which he will attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to be held in Washington.

The Finance Minster also said that his government had further simplified procedures for FDI entry into India.

"Ninety-five per cent of FDI anyway comes in through the automatic route. In my last budget, I had spoken about doing away with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board," he said, adding that the body which sanctioned FDI proposals had outlived its purpose because of liberalisation in FDI rules.
Beijing, Oct 10 : China welcomes Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's greeting to Chinese soldiers on the border as a "friendly gesture", a Chinese daily has said.

"China welcomes Sitharaman's greeting and hopes this friendly gesture is also welcomed by Indians," the state-run Global Times said in an editorial. "Sitharaman's charm offensive might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion."

Sitharaman visited Nathu La Pass on the Sino-Indian border and greeted Chinese soldiers on the other side.

"Sitharaman held friendly exchanges with Chinese soldiers... An Indian soldier standing beside (her) is seen holding a gift in the video released by the Indian Defence Ministry, probably the most warm-hearted scene at the Sino-Indian border area since the Doklam standoff," it said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in a dragging face-off at Doklam, claimed by both China and Bhutan, from June to August, seriously straining relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

"Sitharaman's greeting to the Chinese soldiers conveys her hope for peace on the Sino-Indian border and unwillingness to see a new standoff. This is commonly regarded as the attitude of the Narendra Modi government," the daily said.

The daily said that friendly cooperation with China was the best option for India, "strategic exhaustion the worst. Both countries should control the risks".
Mumbai, Oct 10 : Reliance Infrastructure (RINfra) on Tuesday said it has entered into a period of exclusivity with Adani Transmission until January 15, 2018, for the proposed sale of the Mumbai City power business.

"RInfra has entered into a period of exclusivity until January 15, 2018, for the proposed sale of its integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai City to Adani Transmission Limited (ATL)," a Reliance statement said here.

"The proposed transaction is subject to confirmatory diligence, definitive documentation, and customary approvals.

"Accordingly, there can be no certainty that a transaction will result. Further announcements will be made at an appropriate stage."

RInfra said it intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction entirely to reduce its debt, "and further strengthen its financial position to tap mega growth opportunities in defence and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) for the infrastructure sector".

On Monday, RInfra executed a business transfer agreement for its "Western Region System Strengthening Scheme" (WRSSS) transmission undertakings.

According to the company, "WRSSS B and C" undertakings are being transferred to its two subsidiaries as part of the process to sell the businesses to Adani Transmission Limited (ATL).

Earlier, in December 2016, RInfra had entered into share purchase agreement with ATL for sale of WRSSS valuing the businesses at Rs 1,000 crore.

RInfra owns the country's first 100 per cent private sector transmission project -- WRSSS B and C -- projects located in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
Bangkok, Oct 10 : Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha on Tuesday announced that General Elections would be held in November 2018, more than four years after the army launched a coup in 2014.

General Prayuta, chief of the country's military junta since then, said at a Cabinet meeting that the exact dates would be announced around June 2018, reports Efe news.

The announcement comes days after Prayut met with the US President Donald Trump and told him they would hold free and fair elections in 2018.

Thailand's new law on political parties, one of the four essential organic laws required for holding general elections, came into effect on Sunday.

The other laws include those that will regulate the election commission, approved earlier this year after the new Constitution came into effect in April, and those regulating the upper and lower houses.

Since the coup on May 22, 2014, all parties in Thailand have been banned from political activities, and the authorities are yet to revoke the ban.

The Puea Thai Party, founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is currently living in exile in Dubai, is the main political party in Thailand and has won all legislative elections, including the last one in 2011, since 2001.

Thailand has witnessed 20 coups or coup attempts since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday rejected demands for probe into the alleged extraordinary spike in the turnover of a company owned by BJP President Amit Shah's son Jay Shah after NDA came to power, describing them as "baseless".

"All these allegations are baseless and there is no truth in them. Earlier also there were a number of charges made against him (Amit Shah). No probe is required in the issue," Singh told reporters here after inaugurating the National Investigation Agency headquarters.

Singh's remarks came in the wake of Congress demanding a probe into alleged spike of 16,000 times in the turnover of a company owned by Jay Shah in 2015. The Congress has also demanded resignation of the Bharatiya Janata Party chief over the issue.
Chennai, Oct 10 : French automotive tyre major Michelin will be doubling its production capacity at its Indian facility by 2018 while a new production line for truck tyres was inaugurated on Tuesday, said officials.

"A new production line was inaugurated to roll out tyres. The Indian market is showing steady growth trend. It is an important market for us," Jean-Dominique Senard, Chief Executive Officer, Michelin Group told reporters.

He declined to reveal the investment that has gone into the new production line which will help double the current capacity by 2018.

Michelin's Indian plant rolls out tyres for trucks. The Indian subsidiary sources two wheelers tyres from a TVS group company while importing tyres for passenger cars and other vehicles.

"The Indian plant's capacity will be doubled to 30,000 tons per annum (tpa) by 2018," Serge Lafon, Executive Vice President-Trucks and Bus Tyres said.

The expansion is mainly to cater to increasing demand from the replacement market and from vehicle manufacturers.

Michelin has signed an agreement with commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland Ltd to supply the X-Guard range of radial truck tyres for its Captain 3718 Plus long and medium distance commercial vehicles.

The deal is a major one for Michelin in India.

According to officials a total of Rs.3,500 crore has been invested by Michelin at its factory and research and development centre in India.

Officials said the Indian subsidiary would increase the range of tyres produced for commercial vehicles but would continue to source tyres for two wheelers from a tyre maker.

Speaking about the distribution network in India Mohan Kumar, Executive Vice President, Michelin India said the company's products are present in around 5,000 outlets and the expenditure on building the brand equity has increased.

According to Kumar, the company is now focusing on digital space for building its brand.

He said the Indian plant exports tyres to some markets and also some mixtures that would be used to make tyres in some other markets.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : A court here on Tuesday reserved for October 16 its order on the bail plea of a woman Director of a Dubai-based company in a money laundering case related to AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

Public Prosecutor Navin Kumar Matta opposed the bail plea of Shivani Saxena in the court of Special Judge Arvind Kumar, citing serious nature of offence she is accused of.

Matta said that if released on bail, she could tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.

Claiming innocence, the woman has sought bail on grounds of poor health.

On September 13, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) charge-sheeted Shivani Saxena under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED, in June last year, filed the first supplementary charge sheet in the case against British national Christian Michel James, Delhi-based Media Exim Pvt Ltd and its Director R.K. Nanda and former Director J.B. Subramaniyam in its ongoing money-laundering probe in the Rs 3,600 crore helicopter deal.

The first charge sheet was filed in November 2014 against businessman Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix, and two alleged Italian middlemen -- Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The charge sheet said the alleged middlemen managed to make inroads into the Indian Air Force to influence and subvert its stand on reducing the service ceiling of helicopters from 6,000 metre to 4,500 metre in 2005, after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIP duties.

Shivani, wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, was arrested on July 17.

The ED alleged that Shivani and her husband Rajeev were partners and Directors in Dubai-based companies UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings Ltd, through which proceeds of the crime were routed and used for buying immovable properties and shares.

Shivani Saxena was the second accused arrested by the Directorate in the case. In 2014, the agency had arrested lawyer Gautam Khaitan for his alleged role in routing the kickbacks in the purchase of 12 AW-101 helicopters. Currently, Khaitan is out on bail.

The case is based on the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which arrested former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and two others in connection with the case in 2016.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 10 : The Kerala Police is probing who is behind videos urging migrant workers in Kerala to leave the state following the death of one of them, police chief Loknath Behra said on Tuesday.

Behra said preliminary findings showed that the "canards" were meant to portray Kerala in a poor light.

The campaign followed the alleged suicide of a West Bengal youth working in a hotel in Kozhikode. A video that has gone viral, however, shows the worker being beaten to death.

Muhammed Suhail, President of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association in Kozhikode, told IANS that the 26-year-old youth committed suicide due to family issues.

"On Saturday, pictures of the dead youth were circulated on WhatsApp with an audio in Hindi saying he was beaten to death and that migrant labourers should return to their home state. We immediately brought this to the attention of the media and police," said Suhail.

Behra said the Cyber Police had started an investigation and that District Collectors and police chiefs in all the districts would meet and discuss this issue "to instil confidence in the minds of the migrant labourers".

Another hotel owner said that many of the migrant workers were returning to their home states on account of Diwali.

An estimated three million workers from West Bengal, Bihar and the north-east work in various sectors in Kerala, including in the hospitality sector.

On Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said a particular lobby was spreading canards about migrant labourers in Kerala.

"A north Indian lobby is trying to propagate a false campaign through the social media against the migrant labourers in Kerala. This is meant to create unrest," he said.

"This has been done on purpose to damage peace in Kerala and project it in poor light," he said in a statement here.

"The truth is Kerala has extended special schemes for them, including insurance cover for health and accidents. Over the years, on numerous occasions, the state government has extended a helping hand to families of those who died working here.

"No other state in the country has done what we have been doing for them."
Visakhapatnam, Oct 10 : Zohu Corporation, which develops cloud-based ERP solutions for small and medium enterprises, plans to set up a large development centre in Tirupati, it was announced on Tuesday.

Andhra Pradesh's Information Technology Nara Lokesh said the firm, known for operating from tier-II cities, was setting up a small unit with 150 employees in a leased premises.

It has sought land to launch the development centre. He hoped that investment and other details would be clear by next month.

The Minister said some IT companies prefer temple town for their operations due to its proximity to Chennai and Bengaluru.

Tirupati is also emerging as electronic manufacturing cluster for cell phones and consumer durables.

Dixon has already started operations for manufacturing LCD TVs. It has so far invested Rs 100 crore in two production lines and is ramping up the operations.

Home-grown mobile phone brand Celkon has already started manufacturing the phones while Carbon is expected to start manufacturing by November-end. Lava will start foundation work in December, he said.

India's first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant will be launched by the month-end.

He hopes with end-to-end ecosystem, the Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) there will emerge like a mini-Shenzen and will reduce the cost associated with the entire process.

The companies have so far invested Rs 1,000 crore and it includes investment by Foxcon, which has set up operations in Sri City.

Lokesh said 26 companies had applied for setting up their plants in the second EMC in Tirupati. "We are in last leg of evaluation. They are all SMEs, who will create 200 to 500 jobs each," he added.

The EMC in Anantapur will be defence and automotive related.

Stating that 40,000 jobs were created in electronics during last three years, he was confident that the target of 200,000 jobs will be achieved by 2019.

He said 22,000 jobs were created in IT and claimed that they are on course to achieve the target of 100,000 jobs by 2019.

Tirupati and state capital Amaravati in addition to Visakhapatnam were attracting IT companies.

A total of 27 IT companies signed agreements with the state government for setting up their operations in Amaravti, where 200 acres of land has been designated for IT. Of them, nine companies had become operational with their own infrastructure including Pi Datacenter.

Lokesh said the companies had already invested about Rs 650 crore and will make further investment of Rs 350 crore. The companies coming up in the zone will create 10,000 to 11,000 jobs and it excludes HCL's IT and training centres.

HCL, which is setting up the centres with an investment of Rs 600 crore, will provide 7,000 jobs in the first phase and ramp up it to 11,000.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Full-service passenger carrier Vistara on Tuesday launched a "48-hours only festive sale offers" with all-inclusive fares starting at Rs 1,149 for economy class and Rs 2,099 in premium economy.

According to the airline, bookings under the sale will open "from 0001 hours Wednesday, October 11, 2017 to 2359 hours of Friday, October 13, 2017, for travel between October 26, 2017 and March 24, 2018".

"The lowest fare under this sale is available on the Srinagar-Jammu route ... Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Amritsar for Rs 1,199 and Rs 1,299, respectively; Delhi-Srinagar for Rs 1,699; Delhi-Leh, Delhi-Ranchi and Delhi-Mumbai for Rs 2,099; Delhi-Bagdogra for Rs 2,899; Delhi-Goa for Rs 2,999," the airline said in a statement.
Thiruvananthapuram, October 10 : State police chief Loknath Behera on Tuesday issued a statement giving assurances of safety to migrant workers in the backdrop of fake stories being circulated on social media platforms of widespread attacks on workers from other states.

Amidst reports of the fake stories on social media triggering a mass exodus of migrant workers from the state, Behera assured the migrant workers that no such attacks against labourers from other states were taking place in the state and requested them not to fall for false propaganda.

Behera read out the statement in both Hindi and Bengali. Besides giving assurances of safety to the migrant workers, the state police chief also said that the state police would reach out directly to labourers from other state to assuage their concerns by creating awareness about the issue among them.

The state police chief also warned that stringent action would be initiated against anyone spreading falsehoods on social media platforms.

Panic-stricken migrant labourers are reportedly fleeing the state en masse in the wake of Hindi voice clips - accompanied by gory visuals of incidents of violence from other states - being circulated widely on social media, including WhatsApp, falsely claiming that widespread violent attacks were on against migrant workers in the state.

The malicious clips also allege that the violent attacks against labourers from other states were being carried out at the behest of the Kerala government and urge the migrant labourers to go back to their home states.

According to reports in the media on Tuesday, hotels and restaurants in Kozhikode, Ernakulam, and Kollam have downed shutters for want of employees following mass exodus of migrant labourers from these districts.

The Kerala hotel and restaurant owners association (KHRA) had the other day lodged a complaint with the police saying that their businesses have been severely affected what with migrant workers leaving en masse following the circulation of the voice clips on social media.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : New Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tueasday in what was described as a courtesy call.

Purohit, who was sworn in last week as Governor of Tamil Nadu, is currently on a visit to the capital to attend the annual Governor's conference.

On Monday, he called on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the Congress is on the wane throughout the country and advised its Vice President Rahul Gandhi to give up Twitter politics and work on the ground.

Referring to BJP's success in the first phase of Maharashtra Gram Panchayat polls, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the party's performance showed it was the choice of the poor.

"The whole country is supporting Modiji and the BJP for development and the Congress is shrinking in every part of the country. It is going in reverse direction. Even in the meetings of Congress, people chant Modi-Modi. We saw it yesterday (Monday) in Bihar," Javadekar told reporters here.

Referring to the reported resentment in various state units of the Congress, he said the Congress got divided in Gujarat after Shankar Singh Vaghela left the party but Rahul Gandhi was not paying attention to it.

"Even in Amethi, many Congress workers joined the BJP today (Tuesday). In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there is no chance of Congress' revival," he said.

In the first phase of Gram Panchayat polls in Maharashtra, out of 2,974 panchayats for which the results were declared on Monday, the BJP won 1,457, followed by the Congress that won 301, Shiv Sena 222 and the Nationalist Congress Party 194 panchayat bodies.

Slamming Rahul for Congress' poor performance, Javadekar said: "Rahul Gandhi is on Twitter only. Your strength shows when you have the ground and then you tweet. It is (political) bankruptcy if you are only depending on tweets and do not have the ground force. Social media can only be addition to the ground force, which BJP follows."

On Rahul's comment on women in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas, Javadekar said: "He (Rahul) has never seen the shakhas. In Rashtriya Sevika Samiti (the women wing of RSS) women hold separate shakhas. But Rahul Gandhi never tried to know about it. He only tweets and that too dictated content."
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 10 : Over four months after Flight Lieutenant S. Achudev's death in a fighter jet crash, his parents on Tuesday urged new Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a CBI probe to bring out the truth behind the mishap.

Retired Indian Space Research Organisation scientist V.P. Sahadevan said their agony over the loss of their 26-year-old son continued since they could not perform his funeral rites as Dev's mortal remains had not yet been received by the family.

"It's going to be five months since we lost our son. We request authorities to give us evidence in the case -- conversation between my son and Air Traffic Controller, where the aircraft was last seen, and details of items recovered from the crash scene. This is our right. Moreover, we continue to believe he is missing since we have not got his mortal remains," Sahadevan told IANS.

He said he had raised a demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in June and he had reiterated the same to the new Minister in his letter.

"She is also a mother. We want justice and we want our demands to be met. So, we have written again to the new Minister. My wife has still not recovered after the crash," he said.

Flight Lieutenant Achudev and Squadron Leader D. Pankaj were on board the Sukhoi-30 fighter jet which went missing during a routine training mission on May 23 in Doulasang area of Arunachal Pradesh. The plane's wreckage was detected on May 26, following which the Indian Air Force declared the two pilots dead.

On June 2, Sahadevan claimed, he was handed over an empty coffin, which he took to the state capital. Next day, he took it to his home town in Kozhikode and conducted the funeral ceremony.

Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran also wrote a letter to Sitharaman on Tuesday to ask for speeding up action on the bereaved family's demands.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Vidya Balan-starrer "Tumhari Sulu" will now release on November 17, a week before it was due to hit the screens.

The makers of the film announced the new release date via a statement.

"Tumhari Sulu", directed by ad filmmaker Suresh Triveni, is described as a slice-of-life comedy-drama.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Tanuj Garg, Atul Kasbekar and Shanti Sivaram, the film also stars Manav Kaul, Neha Dhupia and RJ Malishka in supporting roles.

Vidya is excited about the movie, and at a recent event, she said: "Sulu is someone who doesn't care about what others think and I love that about her. Not in a selfish way, of course, but she only cares about what she wants."
San Francisco, Oct 10 : At least 11 people were killed as wildfires raged across eight counties in Northern California on Tuesday, engulfing its renowned wine producing regions and sending vast plumes of smoke as far as San Francisco, officials said.

At least 100 people were injured as the massive wildfires swept through Monday night, forcing up to 20,000 to evacuate and destroying over 1,500 buildings, ABC News reported. The fires scorched nearly 100,000 acres of land.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in the counties affected by the blaze that started on Sunday night.

"This is really serious. It's moving fast. The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse," Brown told the media. "It's not under control by any means. But we're on it in the best way we know how."

Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano told reporters that seven people had been killed, adding "the number is going to change." County officials said they had received more than 100 calls reporting missing persons.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection confirmed two deaths in Napa County and another in Mendocino County.

According to the NBC network, another fire-related death was confirmed in Yuba County.

More than 100 people were being treated at Napa and Sonoma hospitals for fire-related injuries including burns, smoke inhalation and shortness of breath, CNN reported.

The devastation was significant in Santa Rosa, a city of about 175,000 where the fire levelled subdivisions and reduced cars and homes into burnt piles of ash and rubble. The fire gutted a Hilton hotel and flattened a trailer park community.

More than 103,000 people were without gas and electricity, authorities said. A half-dozen school districts cancelled classes on Monday.

Napa County was dealing with the biggest blazes, with the Tubbs fire at 27,000 acres, the Atlas fire at 25,000 acres and the Partrick fire at 5,000 acres.

In Sonoma County, firefighters also battled the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa, the Nuns fire at 5,000 acres and another fire that spread 1,500 acres.

In Mendocino County, the Redwood Complex fire had burned at least 19,000 acres, as of Monday night. Large wildfires often are named for local geographic areas or features.
Islamabad, Oct 10 : A bus carrying over 50 wedding guests met with an accident in Pakistan's Sindh province on Tuesday, leaving at least six people dead and 40 injured, the media reported.

The injured people including women and kids have been shifted to a nearby hospital where several of them were said to be in critical condition, Dunya reported.

Road accidents happen in Pakistan mainly due to poorly maintained vehicles, dilapidated roads and negligence of road safety measures.

Traffic police officials say most of the accidents happen in the country mainly due to human error.

According to the latest figures available with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, road accidents killed an average 15 people every day across the country over a decade from 2005 to 2015.
Panaji, Oct 10 : The Congress state unit on Tuesday condemned Goa's BJP-led government's decision to ban journalists at the State Secretariat on Wednesdays when weekly Cabinet meetings are held.

"I condemn the government's decision to ban journalists from the Secretariat on days the Cabinet meeting is held. You (media) all are not hiding anything, you are not stealing anything. Then what is the need to debar the media? It means the government is trying to con people and therefore trying to restrain the media," All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar told reporters here.

He also condemned the Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by Jay Shah, son of Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, against news website TheWire.in, which published a report on a company owned by Jay Shah.

Chodankar said the defamation suit amounted to "intimidation" of the media which, he alleged, was the BJP's national policy.

"If you are claiming zero tolerance to corruption, then lift the ban on the media. Open your doors to the media. Welcome the media with a red carpet, if you have nothing to hide. The BJP's national policy is to harass the media," the Congress leader said.

The informal decision to bar the media from the Secretariat on a particular day was taken several years ago during Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's earlier term, after a verbal spat between Ministers during a Cabinet meeting was reported by the media who were waiting outside the meeting venue.

After Laxmikant Parsekar took over as Chief Minister, the ban was relaxed, only to be put into effect again after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government retained power in 2017.

The media are allowed in only after the culmination of the Cabinet briefing.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday filed a contempt petition against the Sahara Group accusing it of obstructing the auction of Aamby Valley project.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that it will send the matter to the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra who is hearing the SEBI-Sahara case.

On April 16, the top court had asked the Bombay High Court's official liquidator to evaluate and auction the Aamby Valley property of the Sahara Group. In his report on its worth, the liquidator had said that its market value is Rs 37, 390 crore and the fair value is Rs 43,000 crore.

On August 14, the Bombay High Court put the prestigious project on public auction.

The auction process was initiated three days after the Supreme Court declined to entertain the Sahara group's plea to postpone the auction of its prime hill station properties nestled in the lush green Western Ghats in Pune district.

Sebi claims that Sahara Group had raised money from its customers in violation of its guidelines. In March 2014, group chief Subrata Roy was sent to jail by the court following his failure to appear before the court despite repeated summons.

Roy came out on parole in 2016, following his mother's demise. He has been out ever since.
Thiruvananthapuram, October 10 : Minister for devaswom Kadakampally Surendran has termed the appointment of non-bhrahmins as priests in temples under the travancore devaswom board (TDB) as a silent revolution.

Highlighting the significance of the appointments, the minister pointed out that despite decades having elapsed since the temple entry proclamation that won the subaltern sections the right to enter temples, the sanctum sanctorum of temples had always been out of bounds for them.

The appointments were made on the basis of merit and reservation lists, leaving no room for corruption, Mr. Surendran said.

History has been rewritten by implementing the constitutionally-mandated reservation norms in the appointment of priests, the minister stated, adding that, previously, not only in temples under devaswom boards, but even in important temples controlled by trusts, dalits were never appointed priests.

Earlier, the practice of appointing upper caste people who were not proficient in temple rituals as priests by accepting bribes used to be prevalent. We have managed to get rid of such corrupt practices, Mr. Surendran added.

He also said that the government would explore the possibility of implementing reservation norms for appointment of priests to the Sabarimala temple.

Mr. Surendran was addressing a press conference here in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

In a historic development, the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board had recently recommended 36 non-brahmins, including six dalits, for appointment as priests in temples under the travancore devasvom board.
Kolkata, Oct 10 : A woman who accused expelled CPI (M) parliamentarian Ritabrata Banerjee of cohabiting with her on the pretext of marriage on Tuesday lodged a police complaint against him and he in turn hit back by filing a complaint against her.

"I have come to lodge a complaint against him and will meet the Superintendent of Police," the woman said. In a social media post, she had earlier claimed the local police had refused to record her complaint.

"He promised to marry me and gave me tickets to come to his 104 South Avenue flat (in Delhi). We had physical relationship... he is now completely denying it (promise to marry her). He gave me Rs 2.5 lakh a couple of days back as compensation for having physical relations with him," the woman said.

Banerjee claimed the woman had made the accusations against him to "malign my reputation as I did not yield to her demand for Rs 50 lakh".

In his complaint at the Garfa police station in Kolkata, he said: "... she threatened to cause harm to my life and career. I strongly apprehend such malicious acts of her are politically motivated and backed by influential political persons to cause harm to my life, property, career and malign my reputation in society."

He also uploaded on Twitter a few screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation he purportedly had with the woman, during which "she asked for Rs 50 lakh for not filing an FIR".

"Hard Facts. 'Manufactured Lies' will be combated. Will not succumb to "politically aided" threats," he said in his Twitter handle.

According to Banerjee, the woman "portrayed and represented herself" to be a hapless woman in urgent need of a loan to pursue education abroad.

Banerjee claimed he helped her secure a loan from a Balurghat branch of the State Bank of India but she continued to make repeated monetary demands.

"I was ... lured to meet her material demands till I realised her demands were boundless... she informed me she was suffering from lymphoma and again demanded money for her treatment. Due to her threat, I was compelled to make a payment of Rs 2.25 lakhs on July 20," the Rajya Sabha MP said in his complaint.

The woman, however, said his claims were false.

Banerjee was shown the door by the Communist Party of India-Marxist last month after an internal inquiry found him "outright guilty" on four charges, including "moral degeneration in relation to women" and "serious inconsistencies between his income and expenditure".

The CPI-M also charged him with grave "anti-party activities" as he "persistently continued to malign the party image by various means" and refused to change himself despite the party trying its best to help him rectify.
Vatican City, Oct 10 : Pope Francis will next month visit Myanmar and Bangladesh on a six-day visit when he will meet their political and religious leaders and is likely to raise the issue of Rohingya Muslims, it was announced on Tuesday.

Francis will set off on November 26, his first stop being Myanmar's former capital Yangon.

On November 28, the pontiff will travel to Myanmar's modern capital Naypyidaw, where he will be received by President Htin Kyaw and meet the country's civilian leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn international criticism for failing to stop or condemn violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where over half a million minority Rohingya Muslims have fled a deadly Army crackdown since August 25.

Francis, who has decried the persecution of the Rohingya, is expected to raise their plight during his visit to Myanmar.

On November 29, Francis will celebrate mass at the Kyaikkasan Ground stadium in Yangon before holding meetings with Buddhist monks and later with the country's bishops at St Mary's cathedral.

On November 30, Francis will fly to Bangladesh where he will meet President Abdul Hamid and give an address after visiting the National Martyr's Memorial monument honouring those killed in the country's 1971 war of independence.

On December 1, Francis will celebrate an open-air mass in Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan Park before holding meetings with Bangladeshi Premier Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi bishops and other faith leaders.

On December 2, Francis will wrap up his trip with a visit to a home run by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa and address priests, religious seminarians and novices.
Imphal, Oct 10 : Four drug traffickers carrying narcotic pills valued at Rs 60 lakh in the international market have been arrested near the Manipur-Myanmar border, police said on Tuesday.

The drug traffickers, arrested by the 12 Assam Rifles personnel from Khudengthabi area close to the border, were handed over to Moreh Police, H. Achouba, the Moreh Police Station House Officer, said.

The police said in the first incident, the troopers intercepted a car on Monday morning which had passed through some checkpoints in Moreh, the border town.

"Altogether 3,000 tablets of narcotics drugs were found inside the car and three traffickers were taken into custody. The seized contraband is valued at Rs 15 lakh," police said.

In the afternoon, another van going towards Imphal -- the state capital -- from Moreh was intercepted at the Assam Rifles checkpost. The troopers found 9,125 pills of narcotic drugs valued at Rs 45 lakh. One trafficker was nabbed.

All the four arrested persons, pills and the impounded vehicles were handed over to them, the police said.

The troopers have been making seizures of gold biscuits, drugs, illegal weapons and other contraband items at Khudengthabi, from time to time.

Manipur Home Minister N. Biren Singh said: "Police and paramilitary forces are engaged in normal patrolling and counter-insurgency operations, so most of them cannot be put on duty to check smuggling.

"But, once the IRB battalions are set up and police personnel recruited against vacant posts, the situation will improve."

However, some state officials said since the legalisation of border trade in 1995, smugglers and traffickers of all hues had been having a field day in these border areas.
Islamabad, Oct 10 : Pakistan on Tuesday handed over to the Indian authorities a woman who had "inadvertently" crossed the Line of Control.

Terming it as a gesture of goodwill the Pakistan Army said in its "continuation of efforts to maintain peace and tranquility along Line of Control (LoC), Azmat Jan has been returned at Rawala -Poonch crossing Point on humanitarian grounds," the Inter Services Public Relations said.

Jan who, according to the statement, hails from Degwar Maldialan (in Jammu and Kashmir) had inadvertently crossed the LoC in Chirikot Sector.

In January, Pakistan had returned an Indian solder who had crossed the LoC as a "goodwill gesture".
Kolkata, Oct 10 : Accusing the BJP-led central government of increasing involvement in corruption, the CPI on Tuesday demanded a high-level probe into the allegations of abrupt growth of a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay during the Narendra Modi regime.

"We are hearing about the company of Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, whose turnover increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore in a year. Why don't they inquire into it? Why is the party and the central government supporting his claims of being clean?" CPI General Secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy said at a media meet here.

"Corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is increasing. They say no one can accuse their party of corruption but we have been saying regularly that this a corrupt government.

"There has been Vijay Mallya case, Lalit Modi case and the alleged involvement of Rajasthan Chief minister Vasundhara Raje and their leader Sushma Swaraj in corruption. There are no inquiries against these cases," he alleged.

A recent report in a website The Wire claimed that filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) have revealed that Temple Enterprises, the company owned by Jay, first made a profit in 2014-15 and in the next financial year its turnover reached Rs 80 crore, swelling by 16,000 times.

Calling it a serious allegation, CPI National Council Secretary D. Raja said his party had demanded a high-level probe into the issue under the supervision of the apex court.

"These are serious allegations and there should be a thorough inquiry. We have a simple and straightforward demand -- we want a high-level probe to be conducted by the apex court into the matter," Raja said.

He also criticised the BJP President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being silent on the issue till date.

"We also want to know why is the Prime Minister silent when there is allegation against his own party President and his son?" he said.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : A multinational plan to thwart the sudden and severe decline in vultures across Africa, Asia and Europe, including three critically endangered Indian species, will be presented at a global summit on migratory species this month, it was announced on Tuesday.

Experts estimate the majority of African-Eurasian Vultures are critically endangered and at "very high risk" of extinction in the wild, mainly due to poisoning. Unless effective conservation measures are implemented, there is a significant likelihood that several of these species will become extinct in the near future, they say.

The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which spearheaded the action plan, says a "step change" in conservation is required.

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.

"It needs to be led by governments and supported by all who have a vested interest, including many who have so far not recognised the importance of vultures," an official statement quoting CMS Executive Secretary Bradnee Chambers as saying.

"Vultures are nature's garbage collectors and therefore provide critical services by cleaning up carcasses and other organic waste in the environment. Without them, we are looking at an increase in the spread of diseases in both wild and domestic animals, which means very real risks to human health."

The Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures aims to rapidly halt current population declines in 15 species across most of the combined landmasses of Africa and Eurasia.

It recommends 124 actions for countries to take to restore numbers by 2029.

"When we meet in the Philippines at COP12 it is incumbent on all range states to take the threat seriously. Vultures are important to humans and we ignore their desperate plight at our peril," Chambers added.

The action plan includes developing guidelines, targeted research and monitoring, policy and legislative changes, education and awareness, and conservation initiatives.

It covers the bearded vulture; Egyptian vulture; red-headed vulture; white-headed vulture; hooded vulture; Himalayan griffon; white-rumped vulture; white-backed vulture; Indian vulture; slender-billed vulture; Cape culture; RAppell's vulture; griffon vulture; cinereous vulture; and lappet-faced vulture.

According to the CMS-led team of authors, vulture populations in Africa, Asia and Europe - with the exception of Western Europe - are in serious decline. They cite intentional and unintentional poisoning as the main cause.

"The precipitous population decline of three species in India and elsewhere in South Asia during the 1990s was due primarily to secondary poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac. In Africa, the threat of indirect and intentional poisoning has accelerated in recent years, and the immense scale and impact has only recently been exposed," they say.

"Poisoning, particularly in Africa, is being driven by conflicts between humans and carnivores. Vultures feed off carcasses laced with poison, which are intended to kill predators threatening people's livestock."

Other threats include habitat loss and degradation, decreasing food availability, fragmentation of remaining populations, human disturbance, collisions with wind turbines and power lines, and electrocution on electricity infrastructure.
Lucknow, Oct 10 : The Aam Adam Party (AAP) on Tuesday said it will launch a protest across Uttar Pradesh to demand an independent SIT probe into allegations against Jay Shah, son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah.

Party spokesman Sabhajeet Singh told the media here that demonstrations would be held in all districts of the state on Thursday and a memorandum demanding a probe against the junior Shah would be forwarded to the President of India.

The AAP leader said it was shameful that the entire union government had gone into an aggressive mode to defend the indefensible acts of the son of the BJP chief.

"There are millions of people in the country who cannot afford a lawyer to fight their just cases...and here the entire government, ministers and party office-bearers are out baying for blood of anyone and everyone questioning 16,000 times growth of Jay Shah's company in just a few years," the leader said.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : Terming the brutal assault on a Nigerian national here a "hate crime", human rights NGO Amnesty International India on Tuesday said that police inaction in such cases of mob violence will only embolden attackers.

Responding to a video clip in the media showing the brutal assault on the Nigerian accused of committing theft by a mob in Delhi, Amnesty International India Programmes Director Asmita Basu said that the assault is "another example of hate crimes" against Africans in India.

"The Nigerian national was barely conscious and severely wounded when he was handed over to the police on September 24. Although the police registered an FIR against the Nigerian national upon his release from the hospital, it was only after the video emerged that an FIR was registered against his attackers," she said.

"Police inaction in cases of such mob violence will only embolden attackers. The Delhi police must bring all involved in the assault to justice," Basu added.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : President Ram Nath Kovind will preside over 48th Conference of Governors to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 12 and 13, with the theme of its opening session being 'New India-2022'.

Twenty-seven Governors and three Lt. Governors are scheduled to attend the Conference, an official statement said.

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address the conference which will deliberate on some important issues across various sessions.

The first session of the Conference will start with a presentation by NITI Aayog on the possible elements of 'New India 2022'. Then the Governors will have detailed deliberations on the subjects of 'Infrastructure for New India 2022' and 'Public Services for New India 2022' in two groups, an official release said.

In each group, Union Ministers concerned will be present. The HRD Minister and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministers will make presentations covering the vision and roadmap for addressing the issues on the agenda.

The Governors will also give their remarks and suggestions on ways to achieve the goal along with their experiences from the states.

The second session will be on the subjects of 'Higher Education in States' and 'Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to Make Youth Employable'.

In the third session on the second day, Governors will make brief remarks on any special issues pertaining to their respective states/Union Territories. They will also highlight key achievements or initiatives started in Raj Bhavans, which can be adopted or replicated, it said.

"In the concluding session, a brief report on the deliberations will be presented by the respective conveners. The deliberations and outcomes of the Conference will be used by Governors to sensitise stakeholders in their respective states as well as for working towards 'New India 2022'," the release said.

Issues such as quality education, training and skill development, healthcare, cleanliness, open-defecation free cities and villages, pollution free environment and safety and security of citizens will be in focus.
Kolkata, Oct 10 : Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy will quit his Rajya Sabha seat on October 11, sources close to the leader said on Tuesday.

Roy is slated to meet Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, at 3.30 p.m. and submit his resignation from the upper house of parliament.

He would then hold a media meet at his New Delhi residence explaining his reason to leave the party of which he was a founding member.

Amid much speculation that he was eyeing a role in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Roy has met over the past few days BJP heavyweights including Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and its National General Secretary and West Bengal in charge Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Another theory doing the rounds is that Roy might revive the Nationalist Trinamool Congress or float a new outfit and function as an ally of the BJP by joining the centre's ruling National Democratic Alliance. Poliitcal circles feel Roy might try to rope in some dissident Trinamool leaders to prove his political weight to the BJP.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool launched a scathing attack on its erstwhile national General Secretary and Vice President.

Accusing Roy of betraying the party, Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee claimed without party supremo Mamata Banerjee's support, Roy's political career would be in oblivion.

"He is now trying to weigh his options. He will be lost into the sea. If he quits tomorrow, no one would enquire about him. If he was intelligent, he would not have taken such a decision to betray the party," he alleged.

"If Mamata Banerjee's picture is removed he will go back to his position of being a Kanchrapara (the locality where Roy resides in North 24 Parganas district) boy. It is unthinkable that he could betray someone who has given him everything," he retorted.

Chatterjee, who is also state Education Minister, also took a swipe at Roy for delaying his resignation from the party.

"I do not know why is he taking so long to leave the party. This is not a job that he has to serve a notice period. We have suspended him for six years. Party has already served him the notice," Chatterjee said.

On the other hand, Congress President Adhir Chowdhury, who held meetings with Roy after his suspension from the party, said the former Union Minister had approached the Congress but the decision to take him depended on the party's central leadership.

"I met him and we had long discussions on various issues. He approached the Congress before and had a word with Rahul Gandhi but we could not take him as there was some problems. I do not know what would happen now. This is for the central leadership to decide," he said.

Terming the saga between Trinamool and Roy as their internal issue, the Communist Party of India claimed his political credentials would be questioned if he decided to join the BJP.

"This is an issue between Mukul Roy and Trinamool Congress. I have nothing to say on him quitting the party. But if he decides to join the BJP, his political credentials would be questioned by the people of Bengal," CPI national council Secretary D. Raja told media persons here.

"It is to be seen how the people of Bengal react to it and I think they would consider his move as a betrayal," he claimed.

Roy, once Banerjee's right hand man, on September 25 announced his decision to quit the party, which hit back by suspending him for six years.

Roy had then said he would resign as the primary party member and also from his Rajya Sabha seat after the Durga Puja, which concluded on September 30.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : A young man was arrested on the charge of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl in his neighbourhood in west Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

Police said accused Ravi Shankar was familiar with the girl's parents and used to play with children in their locality in Palam area. Her father works as a rickshaw-puller.

Police said Ravi lured the girl to a park in his locality on Sunday evening on the promise to give her chocolate and committed the crime. He was arrested on Sunday from his hideout in Palam area.

"When the girl returned home and complained of stomach pain, her mother noticed she was bleeding from her private parts. She was taken to hospital for treatment. During her counselling, the girl disclosed the crime," a senior police officer said.

Shankar was booked under Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the officer added.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The Delhi Police on Tuesday said it had arrested four more persons on the charge of beating up a Nigerian in south Delhi about a fortnight ago.

Police said those arrested from the Malviya Nagar area early Tuesday morning were Sanjay, Kamal Kant and Mahavir and Mukesh Kumar. The latter two are the younger brothers of prime accused Krishan Kumar who was arrested on Monday evening.

Krishan Kumar was arrested soon after police came to know about the assault after a video clipping of the assault on Nigerian Ahmed went viral.

"Ahmed was kicked, slapped and beaten up with batons. Eventually, his feet were tied with a rope to a pillar nearby, following which he bled profusely from the head," a senior police officer said.

Police said the assault occurred on September 24, when Ahmed was allegedly caught on suspicion of attempted theft in Krishan Kumar's residence at Savitri Nagar. Krishan Kumar had filed an FIR against Ahmed that night. Ahmed is presently in judicial custody.

Earlier this year, attacks on nationals from several African countries in Delhi and Noida were described by envoys of these nations as "xenophobic and racial".

In two attacks caught on camera in April, four Nigerians were assaulted by a large group of people taking out a candlelight march at Greater Noida to denounce the death of a boy due to suspected drug overdose. A Nigerian student was also beaten inside a mall.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday grilled RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav for over nine hours in connection with alleged irregularities in the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case.

Tejashwi Yadav, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, reached the agency's headquarters on Lodhi Road in south Delhi around 11.40 a.m. He was questioned till 9.10 p.m.

"Tejashwi was questioned for over nine hours by ED officials. He was asked over 100 questions," an ED official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The questioning comes four days after Tejashwi was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for seven hours in connection with the case.

The ED had, on July 27, registered a separate case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following the CBI FIR in the matter and began probing Lalu Prasad and others for alleged transfer of money through shell companies.

The ED has summoned Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi to appear before it on Wednesday.

The CBI, on July 5, filed a corruption case against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm when the RJD chief was the Railway Minister.

The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar -- both named in the CBI FIR as accused -- in lieu of bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Bihar's Patna district, the CBI said.

A preliminary CBI inquiry found that the said land was sold by the Kochhars to Delight Marketing Company and payment was arranged through Ahluwalia Contractors and its promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia, another accused person. The ED has since questioned Ahluwalia.

Delight Marketing, which bought the property from the Kochhars, was later taken over by Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, alleges the CBI.

Sarla Gupta, wife of the RJD chief's close associate and former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta and a director of Delight Marketing, is a co-accused in the case, apart from then IRCTC Managing Director P.K. Goel.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Tuesday called for greater participation of the Indian railways and waterways authority to meet the transportation demand of the auto sector.

Abhay Firodia, President, SIAM and Chairman, Force Motors said that the Indian railways has been a major catalyst and "a lever in transformation of our country". He spoke at the 4th SIAM Automotive Logistics Conclave which was held here.

"It has the power to move things, people and freight, which have huge impact on efficiency and cost," asserted Firodia.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani, who was the chief guest at the conclave said that his organisation will spare no effort in meeting the auto industry's logistics needs.

"We want private investments in this segment. We have a scheme of entering in long term partnerships. The long term contract agreement will help reduce logistic cost," Lohani explained.

"We understand that the manufacturing of vehicles has gone up and so the requirement of logistics is crucial for the sector. Automobiles are symptom of how our economy is doing."

Currently, the railways' share in transportation of automotive units like cars stands at 4-5 per cent.

According to Inland Waterways Authority of India's Member, (Technical) S.K Gangwar movement of cargo through waterways is more economical than road, especially for long distances."

Gangawar informed that currently cars can be transported through waterways but not vehicles like trucks.

India has a navigable length of around 14,500 km, of which 5,200 km of river and 4,000 km of canals can be used for water transportation.

However, the total cargo moved in the country is just about 0.1 per cent of the total inland traffic in India, while it is over 20 per cent in the US.
Washington, Oct 11 : The White House has said US President Donald Trump will make an announcement later this week on an overall Iran strategy.

"He'll make that later this week," said White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders here on Tuesday at the daily briefing, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The President has reached a decision on an overall Iran strategy. He wants to make sure that we have a broad policy to deal with that, not just one part of it," Sanders added.

Multiple media reports had earlier said Trump was expected to announce soon that he will "decertify" the landmark Iran nuclear deal, a move that could lead to the potential collapse of the agreement.

The nuclear deal was reached between Iran and the world six powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany in July 2015.

The deal, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, has helped defuse the Iran nuclear crisis and bolstered the international non-proliferation regime.

Trump has long criticized the Iran nuclear pact. In his speech delivered at UN General Assembly last month, Trump called the agreement "an embarrassment" for the US and indicated that he may not recertify the deal at its mid-October deadline.

The Trump administration is due to inform the Congress by October 15 whether Tehran is complying with the deal. If he decides it is not, it could open the way for US lawmakers to re-impose sanctions against Iran.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN nuclear watchdog, said that Iran was playing by the rules set out in the nuclear accord.
As part of our commitment to our partners success, MeridianLinks aim is to deliver end-user value that helps clients reach new heights of efficiency and profitability. -- Tim Nguyen, president and CEO, MeridianLink

MeridianLink, developer of the financial industry's first multi-channel loan and new account origination platform, today announced that it has supplemented its offering by adding the MeridianLink Lending Analytics (MLA) credit risk solution. The MLA solution assists Credit Union and Financial Institution (FI) management with meeting current expected credit loss (CECL) requirements, helps level the playing field in dealing with regulators and provides fact-based metrics for making better loans.

MLAs credit risk analytics go far beyond CECL requirements and help lenders improve product design, risk pricing, underwriting, collections and marketing. Lenders using MLA can also expect to increase resource performance and profitability.

MLA was started to provide credit unions and financial institutions with detailed and sophisticated tools to analyze their loan portfolios. Using MLA as a management tool enhances FI decision-making as they grow loan portfolios successfully and profitably, and monitor decisions to take corrective action if necessary.

The web-enabled MeridianLink Lending Analytics treats each loan as a combination of risk components and generates specific risk calculations for every loan within the portfolio. Through MLAs accurate risk measurement and reports, credit risk becomes much more transparent.

MeridianLink Lending Analytics is distributed and operated by MeridianLink under license from CUFA Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland), which owns the CUFA trademark. Founded by Mike Kitchen and Ralph Swoboda, highly-regarded international Credit Union leaders, CUFA (http://www.cufa.ie) is already being successfully used by the largest credit unions in Ireland to comply with the international version of CECL, which took effect for financial years starting in 2015. Over 50% of Credit Union loans in Ireland run through CUFA Lending Analytics, and the solution has proven acceptance by auditors and regulators in that country.

MeridianLink sought to offer the MLA solution in the United States as part of its strategy to provide 'best of breed' IT solutions to leading FIs. Tim Nguyen, president and CEO, MeridianLink, said, As part of our commitment to our partners success, MeridianLinks aim is to deliver end-user value that helps clients reach new heights of efficiency and profitability.

As competition continues to increase from traditional competitors and new non-traditional players, effective, timely and continuous analysis of your portfolios and proactive decision making to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities is a survival issue, said Mike Kitchen, chairman, CUFA. Having and using the best tools is critical. CUFA is the best answer.

CUFA is the best piece of software in the Credit Union space, said Barry Monaghan, CEO, Gorey Credit Union.

Set to take effect in 2020, the current expected credit loss methodology (CECL) is a new accounting standard for determining allowances for loan losses. CECL will transform the way FIs must handle bad debt provisions, and MeridianLink Lending Analytics provides a big data/statistical solution to comply with CECL, along with much more.

About MeridianLink

MeridianLink, Inc., developer of the industry's first multi-channel account opening and loan origination platform, is a leading provider of enterprise business solutions for 20,000+ financial service organizations. The companys passion for excellence is reflected in their web-based credit reporting, lending and new account opening/deposit technologies, which all enjoy solid reputations as being cutting edge, reliable and affordable. Based in Costa Mesa, California, MeridianLink is committed to creating smart solutions that deliver real value. For more information, visit http://www.meridianlink.com.
Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty, a leading real estate firm in northeastern North Carolina, would like to welcome Pattie Sexton as a new broker sales associate with the firm. Sexton is enrolled in Launch, a Coldwell Banker University program designed exclusively for sales associates newly affiliated with the Coldwell Banker brand. The live, instructor led online program will provide Sexton with best practices, tips, and insights on building (his/her) business plan, working effectively with clients and planning for contingencies and challenges in her business.

Pattie Sexton has recently relocated to Hertford from Mebane, NC. Her background in real estate administration and her love of home design and DIY projects give her a creative and savvy perspective to all the details of real estate transactions. Pattie will be based out of the Elizabeth City office and can be reached at 910-624-0384 or pattiesexton(at)cbseaside(dot)com.

"It's exciting to begin my new career with such a professional and welcoming firm!" says Pattie Sexton.

"It is critical for new sales associates to gain the necessary knowledge to successfully interact with clients and develop business. Our in-house training, along with the Launch course, will provide Pattie with the necessary skills for a successful career in real estate," says Pamela Smith, Vice President of Sales.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty is a consistent top producing firm with over 25 years of local knowledge and experience. Family owned and operated, the company offers real estate services across the entire Outer Banks as well as all of northeastern North Carolina. Combined with the Coldwell Banker brand, one of the largest and most influential residential real estate brokerage franchises in the world, Seaside Realty offers top-tier real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout the region.
Dr. Chad Mirkin Over the past decade, we have developed methods for modifying nanoparticles with oligonucleotides and explored how they can be used as designer constructs for preparing highly ordered, highly functional materials.

The Pittcon Program Committee is pleased to announce this years recipients of 13 prestigious awards honoring scientists who have made outstanding contributions to analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy. Each award will be presented in a scheduled symposium during Pittcon 2018, the worlds leading conference and exposition for laboratory science, which will be held February 26-March 1, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida.

Symposium sessions will cover relevant topics in applications such as bioanalytical, biomedical, clinical/toxicology, environmental, fuels/energy, genomics, material science, neurochemistry and pharmaceutical. Methodologies include electrochemistry, fluorescence, mass spectroscopy, LC/GC, microfluidics, microscopy, sample/sample preparation and infrared, Raman, molecular and vibrational spectroscopy.

Dr. Chad A. Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the George B. Rathmann Prof. of Chemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, and Medicine at Northwestern University, is the recipient of the Ralph N. Adams Award. This award is sponsored by The Pittsburgh Conference and the Friends of Ralph N. Adams. The award was established to honor an outstanding scientist who has advanced the field of bioanalytical chemistry through research, innovation and/or education.

This award symposium will cover a broad range of topics related to nanotechnology and new probes for cellular engineering and analysis. The speakers will highlight specific nanomaterials and molecular probes that have opened new application areas in biomolecular sensing, drug delivery, and the study of disease biology.

Dr. Mirkin summarizes, "Over the past decade, we have developed methods for modifying nanoparticles with oligonucleotides and explored how they can be used as designer constructs for preparing highly ordered, highly functional materials. Over the course of these studies, we have discovered many unusual fundamental properties that make these materials particularly useful in biodiagnostics and intracellular gene regulation."

Additional awards and recipients are as follows:

The Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, Michael D. Fayer, Stanford University

Pittcon Analytical Chemistry Award Xiaowei Zhuang, Harvard University

The Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award, Parastoo Hashemi, University of South Carolina

Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Awards, Neil Kelleher,Northwestern University; Francesco Ricci, University of Rome: Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, RMIT

The Satinder Ahuja Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science, Zachary Breitbach, AbbVie

The Chromatography Forum of the Delaware Valley Dal Nogare Award, Robert Kennedy, University of Michigan

The Coblentz Society  Williams-Wright Award, Charles R. Anderson, Spectral Systems, LLC,

The LCGC Lifetime Achievement in Chromatography, Ronald Majors, ChromPrep

The LCGC Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award, Zachary Breitbach, AbbVie

SEAC - Charles N. Reilley Award, Patrick Unwin, University of Warwick

Royce W. Murray Award, Parastoo Hashemi, University of South Carolina

See complete information on the Pittcon 2018 award recipients at pittcon.org

About Pittcon

Pittcon is a registered trademark of The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a Pennsylvania non-profit organization. Co-sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Pittcon is the premier annual conference and exposition on laboratory science. Proceeds from Pittcon fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult. Pittcon donates more than a million dollars a year to provide financial and administrative support for various science outreach activities includingscience equipment grants, research grants, scholarships and internships for students, awards to teachers and professors, and grants to public science centers, libraries and museums. Visit http://www.pittcon.org for more information.
Vietnam is expected to have a total cement production capacity of 86 million tonnes in 2017, and keen to export. At the October meet in Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Quang Cung, Chairman, Vietnam National Cement Association explains further with paper on Vietnams Cement Market Demand/Supply Forecast  detailing new projects, construction boom and impact of new export tariff. Next presenting its strategy in the region and export trends is Mr. Ryan Dat, Deputy CEO of Vissai Cement Group.

India's cement market is reviewed by Mr. Yogesh Mehta, Joint Vice President (Commercial & Logistics), Shree Cement while the 'Promising Outlook in Indonesias Cement Industry' is shared by Mr. Christian Kartawijaya, CEO & President Director, PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa. Additionally, Cambodias construction industry boom and its impact on cement demand is presented by Oknha Kuch Sinith, CEO, Camcem Co.

The summit also has Mr. Imran Akram, CEO, IA Cement sharing cement industrys global market outlook with key reviews for USA, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia as well as projections for 2018. Further, Dr. Adam McCarty, Chief Economist, Mekong Economics presents Global Economic Outlook highlighting USA economic forecast under the new administration and Brexit and regional issues such as Asia post-TPP, among others.

The other notable sessions are:



Chinas Cement Market Trends & Overseas Expansion Drive  Institute of Technical Information for Building Materials Industry of China

Meeting Cement Demand in Nepal - Cement Manufacturers' Association, Nepal and Cosmos Cement Industries

Rising Cement Demand in Pakistan - D.G. Khan Cement Company

Tomorrow Matters - FLSmidth

Sustainability Initiatives for the Cement Industry  ResourceCo Asia

Asia Coal & Petcoke Markets Outlook with Focus on South East Asia - PT HMS Bergbau Indonesia

Freight Markets & Its Impact on Buyers/Sellers  Norden Shipping

Organized by Centre for Management Technology (CMT), the summit welcomes exhibitors BWF Environmental and Industrial Technology (Wuxi) and Al-Ghadeer Packaging Materials Factory.

Visit 19th Asia CemenTrade Summit website or call Ms. Grace Oh at +65 6346 9147 for more details.
xAPI Modern Learning Solution Now Available from PlayerLync xAPI is a game changer for anyone involved with employee learning and development.

PlayerLync, the market leader in modern learning software for the mobile workforce, launched an innovative solution that combines the full capabilities of Experience API (xAPI), a functional LRS (Learning Record Store), and dashboard reporting within the core PlayerLync application. The complexities that have historically prevented teams from capitalizing on the benefits of using mobile devices to deliver rich media and video training at the point of need are no longer a barrier through PlayerLyncs unique and integrated solution.

"PlayerLync is excited to enhance our mobile content delivery, team management and offline content availability with powerful multi-source xAPI eLearning capabilities," states Paul Bradley, head of Product at PlayerLync. "It's a game changer for both users and anyone involved in learning content because it delivers on the promise of xAPI analytics that managers have been seeking for years. More importantly, it avoids the need to invest in separate LRS and reporting tools, and that means IT also avoids time-consuming systems deployments and data integration projects. Delivering eLearning content, tracking learner performance and managing the flow of learning data across complex organizations has never been easier.

This first of its kind solution is easily deployed and creates a simplified means to collect and report on performance information at any level of an organization. From groups to individual learners, PlayerLync now gives learning departments, or even franchisors and franchisees, the ability to dashboard valuable information that's critical to operational performance and improvement. Activity completion, behaviors, test results, compliance and even employee engagement can be correlated to yield insights for creating more effective learning content. Reporting is configurable so entities can choose only the information they want or need to see.

"Learning managers know how powerful xAPI can be within the performance environment, especially for mobile content delivery to teams that work on their feet. Customers view legacy LMS systems as inadequate and fossilized because they don't fully mobility. Weve essentially removed the complexity of leveraging xAPI so that managers can more easily focus on the things that matter most in today's modern learning environments - learning, performance, improving customer experience and driving positive business outcomes," concludes Gary Iles, head of Marketing at PlayerLync.

For more information on how PlayerLync enhances or replaces your current LMS by introducing a data-rich mobile learning environment to your teams, schedule a demo at https://info.playerlync.com/demo.

About PlayerLync

PlayerLync is modern learning software that integrates mobility, digital forms, content distribution, and daily performance management into a single solution that helps operational teams deliver exceptional customer experiences. Deskless workers can communicate with one another and immediately access valuable information anywhere they need it, even with no or slow network connectivity. PlayerLync enhances or replaces your current LMS by introducing a data-rich mobile learning environment to your teams so that companies can adopt the next generation of learning and performance support solutions for mobile workers. For more information schedule a demo: https://www.playerlync.com/.
2017 Dutch Bros Breast Cancer Awareness Once a year during breast cancer awareness month we have an opportunity to work with our customers to make a difference.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all Dutch Bros Coffee locations will donate $5 from each sale of its specialty Be Aware travel mug to the advancement of breast cancer research at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

To date, Dutch Bros has raised over $750,000 for breast cancer research. Beginning Thursday, Oct. 12, these specialty travel mugs will be available at all 292 Dutch Bros locations across seven states. The funds raised will be donated to both the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation.

As we look toward the future there are fewer things more exciting than the prospect that we could see a day when the detection and treatment of breast cancer is simple and effective, says Travis Boersma, Co-founder Dutch Bros Coffee. Breast cancer touches all of our lives in one way or another and The Knight Cancer Institute is doing amazing work to improve outcomes for patients.

The Knight Cancer Institute researches treatments and preventative methods for breast cancer. They take an individual approach with each patient in their care, and utilize cutting edge technologies, including DNA specific drugs and radiation therapies. Last May, a team at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute received a $9.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease.

We appreciate the continued support from Dutch Bros, said Arpana Naik, M.D., associate professor for surgery in the OHSU School of Medicine and breast surgical oncologist for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Their community effortsincluding their visit to the OHSU campus last year and interviews with our physicians via social mediaare important ways to raise awareness for breast cancer in our community.

The Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation provides life-saving assistance, as well as testing, patient advocacy, prevention education and compassionate support for individuals facing or fighting breast cancer.

To find a location near you, please visit http://www.dutchbros.com/locations

About Dutch Bros Coffee

Dutch Bros Coffee is the countrys largest privately held, drive-thru coffee company, with more than 290 locations and over 7,500 employees in seven states.

Dutch Bros serves specialty coffee, smoothies, freezes, teas and a private-label Dutch Bros Blue Rebel energy drink.

The rich, proprietary coffee blend is handcrafted from start to finish. Every ingredient is measured, every process timed, and every cup perfected.

With a mission to serve as a role model in the community and commitment to doing the right thing, Dutch Bros donates over $2 million annually to nonprofit organizations and local causes selected by local owner-operators.

Dutch Bros Coffee is headquartered in Grants Pass, Ore., where it was founded in 1992 by Dane and Travis Boersma, brothers of Dutch descent.

To learn more about Dutch Bros, visit http://www.dutchbros.com, like Dutch Bros Coffee on Facebook or follow @DutchBros on Twitter.
"Our mission is to provide farmers and producers with leading hedging, risk management, and futures brokerage services, paired with excellent customer service, said Rich Jablonski, Executive Vice President at Wedbush Futures.

First Capitol Ag, a division of Wedbush Securities, announces the launch of its new website at http://www.firstcapitolag.com. The website features a new education portal - Ag Central - and offers an array of hedging calculators, reports, insight, and data for farmers and producers.

First Capitol Ags Six Point Plan, guides producers in their marketing and to limit price risk exposure, through a process developed over decades of working with farmers and producers of all sizes, across America. This process forms the principles of how First Capital Ag works closely with each customer to develop a customized strategy to help reduce risk.

Our mission is to provide farmers and producers with leading hedging, risk management, and futures brokerage services, paired with excellent customer service, said Rich Jablonski, Executive Vice President at Wedbush Futures. First Capitol Ag has worked to help protect producers from risk for nearly 30 years. Through our knowledge, services, and tools, we aim to build relationships that help our clients succeed for many years to come.

All First Capital Ag clients receive access to Ag Central, First Capitol Ags premium education and information hub, which was rebuilt as part of the website redesign, to provide even more access to insight and data, ag professionals need to manage their business.

Several experts regularly contribute reports and commentary to Ag Central, including Brian Wagner, VP of Sales and Hedge Specialist, who posts daily technical reports covering leading markets. Customers have access to more than 20 reports from a variety of specialists. Hedging calculators, for leading ag products, futures quotes and charts, and various guides, are just some of the additional tools and resources available. Visitors can sample Ag Central by signing up for a free two-week trial.

In addition to hedging and risk services, First Capitol Ag offers access to managed futures, futures trading performed by professional, licensed, and regulated traders known as Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA). Clients interested in managed futures opportunities can sign up for access to a managed futures database, and speak with a futures brokerage specialist.

About First Capitol Ag

Since 1989, First Capitol Ag assists farmers, producers, and agribusiness operators with their marketing needs, by providing hedging and risk management, full-service brokerage, and managed futures services, paired with excellent customer service and support. First Capitol Ag is a trade name used by the Wedbush Futures division of Wedbush Securities, Inc. To learn more about First Capitol Ag, visit http://www.firstcapitolag.com. Follow us on Twitter @FirstCapitolAg.

About Wedbush Futures

Wedbush Futures, a division of Wedbush Securities Inc., is one of the largest non-bank Futures Commission Merchants (FCM) in the United States. The division specializes in clearing and financing activities for professional traders and strategic correspondents. Located in Chicago, Wedbush Futures is at the forefront of our business, with deep industry specialization and a distinguished track record in financial securities. Our client relationships are built on trust and supported by our firm, which is rooted in experience, stability, and innovation.

About Wedbush Securities

Since our founding in 1955, Wedbush has been a leader in the financial industry providing our clients with a wide range of services; including institutional sales, correspondent clearing services, equity research, corporate and municipal finance, equity market making, fixed income trading, prime brokerage, and wealth management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, with nearly 100 registered offices, the firm focuses on dedicated service, client financial safety, continuity, and advanced technology. Wedbush Securities is the largest subsidiary of holding company WEDBUSH, Inc., which also includes affiliated firms.

Follow us on Twitter @Wedbush.
Intelligent and Scalable Candidate Screening for Recruiters Im pleased to officially launch this solution to give recruiters a better way to evaluate their applicants and delight hiring managers with qualified candidates every time.

InterviewHost, a company focused on transforming the candidate screening process with intelligence and scalability, today announced its official launch as a new company at the HR Technology Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas. The company was formed to empower recruiters and HR professionals with a powerful recruiting tool for bringing insight and scale to the candidate screening process.

Using InterviewHost, internal and external recruiters can easily screen hundreds of applicants with unprecedented insights. InterviewHost works by soliciting valuable information from the entire applicant pool to better assess the skills, background, and personality of each candidate. Using InterviewHost, recruiters can find the right talent for each job faster and more efficiently, while also eliminating phone screens with unsuitable candidates.

As an entrepreneur, there are never enough hours in the day, which is why wasting time on phone screens with unqualified candidates was such a huge frustration for me, said Arun Kumar, Co-Founder of InterviewHost. By creating InterviewHost, I have overcome my own screening challenges, and Im pleased to officially launch this solution to give recruiters a better way to evaluate their applicants and delight hiring managers with qualified candidates every time.

INTERVIEWHOST KEY BENEFITS



Generate job-related insights on hundreds of candidates

Verify capabilities through comprehensive testing

Determine cultural fit with interactive personality tests

Eliminate biases and expand diversity with collaborative applicant review

Easily scale screening capacity as number of job postings and applicants grow

Insert into existing processes with per-job pricing

The sheer volume of applicants to any one job posting can dramatically impact a recruiters ability to consider all of the best candidates. Plus, the pressure to deliver candidates quickly can cause recruiters to overlook top talent by relying too heavily on resume keyword searches. InterviewHost solves the problem by enabling applicants to demonstrate their capabilities through a multitude of tests, surveys, and more. The end result is more insight on each candidate and less time spent phone screening unqualified candidates.

DEMO INTERVIEWHOST AT HR TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

Come visit InterviewHost at Booth 1241 at the HR Technology Conference & Exposition, October 10 - 12 in Las Vegas, NV.

Learn more about InterviewHost on our newly launched website at http://www.interviewhost.com.

ABOUT INTERVIEWHOST

InterviewHost is revolutionizing the recruitment industry with a simple yet powerful platform for accelerating, enlightening, and refining the screening process. Instead of spending countless hours phone screening candidates, internal and external recruiters can use InterviewHost to quickly assess the entire applicant pool and focus on the best talent. Gain valuable insight about each candidate by allowing (or requiring) them to support their application with relevant files and documents.

Featuring an intuitive UI, InterviewHosts cloud-based platform can be easily dropped into any recruiting process with zero learning curve. Plus, recruiters can leverage the power of multiple reviewers and built-in intelligence to reduce biases and uncover qualified talent that might otherwise be overlooked. Find the best candidates first, before they get away. Become a Recruiting Hero by adding InterviewHost to your hiring arsenal. http://www.interviewhost.com
StoneGate Senior Living's launched a new Dallas-Fort Worth Central Intake Center to ensuring the continuity of patient care and expedite admissions for the medical care community. Its mission is to deliver excellent, seamless patient service by streamlining the admission, discharge and referral process for the acute and post-acute care community.

StoneGate Senior Living, an award-winning full-spectrum senior care and housing company, is announcing the launch of StoneGates Central Intake Center (CIC). The CIC is a centralized referral system in the Dallas-Fort Worth area aimed at ensuring the continuity of patient care and expediting admissions for the medical care community.

The CIC was launched to answer the industry need to provide more cost and time-effective services, while delivering an excellent standard of patient care. Located in StoneGate Senior Livings headquarters in Lewisville, Texas, CIC is a free service available to area medical professionals and administrative personnel.

The centralized referral system assists acute-care providers in delivering fast, appropriate patient admission and bed placement at a post-acute care facility, said John Paul Taylor, Chief Operations Officer of StoneGate Senior Living, LLC. Its mission is to deliver excellent, seamless patient service by streamlining the admission, discharge and referral process for the acute and post-acute care community.

The CIC team will provide the regions caregivers with a centralized, streamlined assessment of patients, ensuring he or she is placed in the best possible environment. CIC team members will confirm the plan of care, gather clinical and payer information, secure proper authorization, and place the patient in a post-acute care setting most appropriate for the patients needs.

The CIC will make use of a real-time bed board program, which keeps track of patients in beds and the status of each bed. This allows the CIC team to readily determine availability of facilities, and help to transition patients promptly from the hospital.

The medical care community can access the referral service 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 833-EZ-ADMIT (833-392-3648).

The Dallas-Fort Worth CIC service will coordinate referral to the following area facilities: Baybrooke Village Care and Rehabilitation, Settlers Ridge Care Center, Garnet Hill Rehabilitation and Skilled Care, The Plaza at Richardson, Accel at Willow Bend, The Villages on MacArthur, Lakewest Rehabilitation and Skilled Care, Town East Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, Williamsburg Village Healthcare Campus, and The Homestead of Sherman.

About StoneGate Senior Living, LLC

StoneGate Senior Living, LLC provides support services to senior living and care properties that offer skilled health care, assisted living, memory support and independent living locations in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Founded and led by a team of senior living industry veterans, StoneGate understands that careful attention to customer expectations is vital to the success of a senior living and care community. Learn more at http://www.StonegateSL.com.
Say NO to Climate CO2 Coercion! carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect, meaning food crops have enhanced growth and productivity. These benefits to Canada will be about $100 billion per year by 2100... Past News Releases RSS

A new evaluation of the Social Costs of Carbon using the FUND economic model posted on Sept. 29, 2017 to the Friends of Science website, shows that there is a net benefit of carbon dioxide emissions in climate change. A similar work using slightly different parameters on "The Economic Benefits of Greenhouse Gas Emissions" by Friends of Science Society president Ken Gregory, shows global net benefits on the order of some $US 17/tCO2 (per tonne of carbon dioxide). These recalculations coincide with a viral fair taxation campaign in Canada with small business denouncing proposed tax changes at a petition site entitled: wtfjt.ca

Meanwhile, other major small business tax changes, proposed by the Canadian government, were denounced in full page ads that dotted Canadian newspapers on Sept. 17, 2017, echoing the web-site text calling for reconsideration. The ad was signed by well known small business supporters and investors like Arlene Dickenson of Venture Communications, Bruce Croxon of Round 13 Capital, Brett Wilson, philanthropist and entrepreneur and many more.

According to Friends of Science Society, the upcoming federal and provincial carbon taxes set to kick in Jan 1, 2018 along with a rise in provincial carbon taxes will devastate industry and small business.

The Canadian government website erroneously attributes extreme weather to warming caused by human-caused greenhouse gas emission, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change rejects the association of extreme weather with human-caused warming. The Canadian government website claims the carbon prices will reduce emissions and be a matter of fairness; Friends of Science Society disagrees, noting virtually no emissions reductions are expected from the Paris Agreement, as described by Ottawa energy policy expert Robert Lyman in "Just the Facts" of June 9th, 2017. As in Europe, the UK and Ontario, Friends of Science forecasts a rise in heat-or-eat poverty for lower middle class and the poor in the most unfair manner as reported by Euractiv April 18, 2016 .

Most people have never thought of the benefits of the nominal warming that we have experienced, says Ken Gregory, B. App. Sc., President of Friends of Science Society and author of numerous commentaries on carbon pricing and climate science. Canada benefits from nominal warming because warmer weather reduces the burden of fuel costs for heating during our extreme winters and improves the growing season overall. Likewise, carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect, meaning food crops have enhanced growth and productivity. These benefits to Canada will be about $100 billion per year by 2100, if the climate is as sensitive to CO2 emissions as the climate models assume.

Phys.org reported on April 25, 2016, a widespread increase of growing-season leaf area, with the CO2 fertilization effect explaining 70%, and warming explaining 8%, of the observed greening trend. The increased greening added over the past 33 years is equivalent to 2/3 of the area of the USA mainland.

The FUND model estimates that CO2 fertilization add a global social benefit of $US10/tCO2 emitted. The monetary benefit to crop production from 1961 to 2011 was $US 4.0 trillion ($2017).

The benefits of CO2 emissions greatly exceed the costs, says Gregory. The carbon tax will do great harm to Canadian welfare for no benefit, and will not benefit the world.

About

Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens, celebrating its 15th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).

Friends of Science Society

P.O. Box 23167, Mission P.O.

Calgary, Alberta

Canada T2S 3B1

Toll-free Telephone: 1-888-789-9597

Web: friendsofscience.org

E-mail: contact(at)friendsofscience(dot)org

Web: climatechange101.ca
Adding Ulyngo provides an easy-to-use student marketplace that will create a more sustainable and affordable campus experience. - Helen Norris, CIO of Chapman University

Ulyngo has been selected by Chapman Universitys Information Systems and Technologies for its Marketplace Platform to enable student-to-student commerce within its campus. Ulyngos services have been integrated into existing student web and mobile portals accessible on all devices utilizing Chapmans single sign-on to authenticate students. With the new Chapman Student Market, students will be able to post and find products quickly and easily, communicate with each other safely through internal messaging, and securely make payments and receive disbursements through integrated payment processing.

With the rise of marketplaces for consumers to buy and sell things, challenges such as counterfeit and fraud, safety, discovery, and usability continue to prevail. According to the US Department of Education, 20 million people will attend universities this year of which over 80% will engage in peer-to-peer commerce, many for the first time. Existing generic marketplaces like eBay, LetGo, and OfferUp are monopolized by fraudsters, power-sellers, and hobbyist sellers, while Craigslist has accounted for over 100 lives lost. Ulyngo is the first modern marketplace that is built for students and integrated directly into university systems to solve these fundamental problems for their campus life.

By being built exclusively for universities and their students, our service has the functionality that students want from the web and mobile apps they use while providing the security and trust they expect from their university, stated Alex Jekowsky, CEO and Founder of Ulyngo. We are excited to be working with Chapman University to simplify the lives of all Chapman Panthers.

At Chapman, we are always looking for ways to enhance the student experience., said Helen Norris, CIO of Chapman University. Adding Ulyngo provides an easy-to-use student marketplace that will create a more sustainable and affordable campus experience. Chapman University will oversee the marketplace with administrative and management tools provided by Ulyngo for monitoring, auditing, and reporting.

The Student Government Association is supporting the roll-out and its President Mitchell Rosenberg stated, We are committed to building awareness and adoption among our student body and the upcoming features to post and search by on-campus housing location, curriculum, and even lifestyle will make this a very relevant service for our students.

Chapmans marketplace can be accessed by students by logging in with their student ID at studentmarket.chapman.edu or by clicking on the Buy and Sell button on both the Chapman University and CU Panther Experience app.

About Ulyngo

Ulyngo is a marketplace platform that enables universities to facilitate, manage, and monetize student-to-student commerce on their campus. Ulyngo gives universities the opportunity to increase student safety, engagement between students, and revenue generation through transaction based-fees. Ulyngos white-label platform is designed to utilize university single-sign-on and authentication systems, integrate into university mobile and web applications and portals, co-exist with bookstores and other storefronts, and be fully customizable to the universitys campus life. Ulyngo safety and security features include moderated student-to-student messaging, enterprise-grade payment system, and integration with campus police internet sale safe zones. Ulyngo is based in San Francisco, California and has been the leader in student-to-student commerce since it was founded in 2015. To learn more, visit http://www.ulyngo.com.
"I start each day ensuring that we are delivering on the promise of providing the best administration system to each of our customers," said Mark Nagelvoort, President & CEO

(PRWEB) October 10, 2017 -- PCMI Corporation has been recognized as one among the elite group of companies that are featured in the Automotive Technology special edition of CIOReview magazine.

We are glad to announce PCMI Corporation in our annual ranking list of 20 Most Promising Automotive Technology Solution Providers 2017, said Jeevan George, Managing Editor of CIOReview

PCMI Corporation (Policy Claim Management International) offers the most comprehensive package of integrated software solutions for Extended Warranty management and F&I administration. The modular platform, Policy Claim and Reporting Solutions (PCRS), supports and automates the full lifecycle of all aftermarket products. As a cloud-based application, administrators, insurers, agents, and dealers obtain cost benefits in real-time through PCRS.

I start each day ensuring that we are delivering on the promise of providing the best administration system to each of our customers. We have spent years building a team of industry experts, which gives our clients the confidence that we understand their business, said Mark Nagelvoort, President & CEO of PCMI Corporation.

PCMI is featured in a one page article in CIOReview magazine that includes an interview with Nagelvoort.

About PCMI Corporation

PCMI provides the technology to automate the administration of Extended Warranties, Service Contracts, Prepaid Maintenance, Theft Prevention and Detection, GAP, and Manufacturers Warranty Claims. The company leadership brings decades of policy claim and reporting software technology to the market. Its software supports domestic and international markets for Automotive, Consumer, and Home Extended Warranty providers. For more information, contact Mark Nagelvoort  President & CEO, at mark.nagelvoort(at)pcmicorp.com, call (847) 653-6916, or visit http://www.pcmicorp.com

About CIOReview

Published from Fremont, California, CIOReview is a print magazine that explores and understands the plethora of ways adopted by firms to execute the smooth functioning of their businesses. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, IT-VPs including CIOReview editorial board finalized the 20 Most Promising Automotive Technology Solution Providers 2017 and shortlisted the best vendors and consultants. For more information, visit: http://www.cioreview.com
Diversified is very pleased to be acquiring Luxperience from such a talented entrepreneur as Helen Logas, who has developed a strong brand and a successful trade event since its inception in 2012.

Diversified Communications announced today the acquisition of Luxperience, Australias only event dedicated exclusively to the business of luxury travel. As a premium invitation-only hosted buyer model that features awards and networking opportunities, Luxperience is in a great position to understand and continue to service the needs of this growing community, stated General Manager of Diversified Communications Australia, David Longman.

Luxperience extends Diversified Communications travel and transportation portfolio to Australia, complementing their British Tourism & Travel brand. This is the second acquisition in Australia for Diversified in 2017. In June the company acquired Naturally Good Expo to align with Diversified Communications Australias Fine Food, FoodPro and FoodTech brands as well as expand their global Natural & Organic Products trade show portfolio.

We are looking for opportunities such as this that allow us to invest in a variety of business-to-business event models and broaden our portfolios in key markets and regions, said Theodore Wirth, President & CEO of Diversified Communications. We are very pleased to be acquiring Luxperience from such a talented entrepreneur as Helen Logas, who has developed a strong brand and a successful trade event since its inception in 2012. We are also very pleased to welcome her expert staff to Diversified Communications Australia.

Diversified Communications continues to expand their event portfolio, through acquisitions and partnerships with entrepreneurs and established media producers.

Diversified Communications is a leading international media company providing market access, education and information through global, national and regional face-to-face events, digital products and publications. Diversified serves a number of industries including: travel and transportation, food and beverage, natural and organic, healthcare, commercial marine, technology and business management. Based in Portland, Maine, USA, Diversified has divisions in the Eastern United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit: http://www.divcom.com
StreetLight Data, Inc., the mobility analytics company that brings real-world travel patterns to light, today announced the company has been selected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) for a pilot subscription. MnDOT will utilize a Regional Subscription to the StreetLight InSight platform to transform Big Data into useful mobility Metrics to tackle transportation, event and development projects statewide, including major events like the Minnesota State Fair, the Renaissance Festival and Super Bowl LII.

MnDOTs StreetLight InSight subscription will provide unlimited analyses of real-world travel patterns across Minnesota, such as origin-destination and select link studies. The platform is available to designated employees of MnDOT, the Metropolitan Council, which is the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Twins Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) region, the Minnesota Division of the Federal Highway Administration, and specified consulting firms that do work on behalf of these agencies.

To the ultimate benefit of Minnesotans, StreetLight Data is bringing MnDOT Big Data insights into travel behavior that were impractical to get before, offered Paul Czech, Planning Manager with MnDOT Metro Districts office of Planning, Program Management, and Transit. We are piloting a comprehensive Regional Subscription so that we can get travel data when and how we want. We also aim to save budget compared to collecting data for individual projects.

Potential StreetLight InSight uses by MnDOT include:



Super Bowl planning for Super Bowl LII, to be hosted by Minneapolis

Renaissance Festival relocation

General modeling, forecasting, and planning -- especially public transit planning and freight/commercial truck studies

Performance measurement for major construction projects

Public engagement

Its exciting to be working with the MnDOT to bring greater visibility to travel patterns in the state, said Laura Schewel, CEO and co-founder of StreetLight Data. Like many states, Minnesotas transportation needs vary greatly from border to border, and the Regional Subscription to StreetLight InSight makes collecting mobility data for every project - no matter how big or how small - easy and cost-effective. This leaves transportation planners, engineers and modelers more time to focus on designing the policies and infrastructure the state needs.

About StreetLight Data, Inc.

StreetLight Data is San Francisco-based technology firm that transforms the massive amount of geospatial data produced by mobile devices into useful transportation behavior information. Transportation experts, urban planners, and commercial property developers can access StreetLight Datas Metrics in minutes via an easy-to-use online platform, StreetLight InSight. To learn more visit http://www.streetlightdata.com.

About Minnesota Department of Transportation

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is the state agency charged with building, maintaining and optimizing Minnesotas state multi-modal transportation system. It is intent is that this system will encourage and support the health, environment and economy for all Minnesotans.
We acted fast and were the first on the scene to bring medical supplies, water, clothing, food and moving people out of harms way.

In the wake of the devastation of past Hurricanes, Palm Beach based private jet company, Exclusive Charter Service has been on the forefront of facilitating help as well as evacuations throughout the Caribbean. Hurricane Irma and Maria has left nothing but widespread destruction throughout the Caribbean and U.S Virgin Islands, even said to leave islands such as Barbuda inhospitable and nothing but rubble. After two weeks the island of Puerto Rico is still 95% without power, not to mention without clean water. The aftermath of both Irma and Maria is far more disastrous, roofs of homes missing, walls dilapidated, extreme flooding, government buildings in ruins with no electricity or supplies crucial for survival. Due to all these factors, the death toll is rising rapidly.

In the short amount of time in which Exclusive has become one of the first jet companies to be cleared by Caribbean airports, they have worked as a team to make sure that all resources and evacuations are done quickly and efficiently as timing is key. It is unfortunate when disasters happen but fortunately we can rely on aviation as the first responders in any crisis," says ECS founder Jason Johnson. In the first couple days after airport clearance Exclusive had already delivered over 12,000 pounds of aid to St. Martin and St. Barths, evacuated many people from St. Thomas and U.S Virgin Islands as well as a group of medical students from Anguilla. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Exclusive sent a couple thousands of pounds of supplies including medical, water, and meal replacements on a Lear 60 as well as a Lineage 1000. Additionally, Exclusive flew communication engineers and water sanitation employees to offer additional aid. Once landing in both San Juan International and Old San Juan, they were able to evacuate people and reunite them with their family in the U.S. Exclusives main goal is helping people reunite with their families, and they have been successful in doing so.

Being a South Florida-based company, we were expected to receive Category 5 weather conditions resulting in electricity lost for 6 million and airport closures. Despite all of that, Exclusive was able to reach all of those in need. We acted fast and were the first on the scene to bring medical supplies, water, clothing, food and moving people out of harms way. Being in the industry for over 15 years, it is our duty to assist and help no matter what the cost. We have been doing so thru Katrina, Harvey and every storm that has affected Haiti. We underwent our own hurricane, and although we had damage, it paled in comparison to those in the islands. It was our top priority to offer our support and help to those thousands of people stranded, says Johnson. Currently, Exclusive is sending more than 6,000 pounds of supplies with no intention on stopping any time soon.

About Exclusive

In 2005, Jason Johnson and Adam Klein founded Exclusive Charter Service, Inc. today known simply as Exclusive. Originally designed as an On-Demand boutique membership program, the company has evolved into a full service Part 135 management firm over the past decade. With both a managed and an owned fleet, Exclusive has continued to keep the tradition of our dedicated advisors for that boutique service experience. In addition, we now offer a much larger variety of programs to meet the demands of most flyers. Exclusive is responsible for 1000's of non-scheduled flights annually and has in the past 10 years operated with 0 incidents and 0 accidents. Exclusive leads the On-Demand and membership jet charter market. Where other companies have just started membership programs, we have had a decade to perfect our membership platform.

To learn more visit http://www.Ecsjets.com, or call us at (888) 522-0883
Megan Beyer, Civic Nation Advisor, joins PeaceTech Lab Board of Directors Three years ago, PeaceTech Lab was formed with a simple mandate: to bring new players, new ideas, and new tools to the peacebuilding field. We are grateful to our newest Board members, Megan and Andre, who are committed to putting their diverse backgrounds to work in ending violent conflict.

Two prominent experts in their fields have joined an expanding Board of Directors at PeaceTech Lab, a DC-based nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating peacebuilding efforts through technology, media, and data. Leading gender equality advocate Megan Beyer from Civic Nation and cybersecurity investment expert Andre Pienaar of C5 Capital and founding partner of the PeaceTech Accelerator with PeaceTech Lab and Amazon Web Services, will join a prominent group of technology, engineering, and foreign policy experts on the Board.

Megan Beyer and Andre Pienaar share our vision for the PeaceTech Lab. Both have extraordinary careers spanning technology, media, and data and have made important contributions to issues like womens equality and promoting transparency & accountability, stated Chairman of the Board and former IBM Executive, Nicholas M. Donofrio. With their combined passion and experience, the Lab is positioned better than ever to tackle the tough challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Lab CEO and President Sheldon Himelfarb agreed, Three years ago, PeaceTech Lab was formed with a simple mandate: to bring new players, new ideas, and new tools to the peacebuilding field. Thats why our programs emphasize reaching across sectors and disciplines. We are grateful to our newest Board members, Megan and Andre, who are committed to putting their diverse backgrounds in government and business to work in pursuit of an end to violent conflict.

Megan Beyer is a journalist, activist, and life-long advocate of womens rights and gender issues. Ms. Beyer currently serves as an advisor to Civic Nation, a nonprofit that operates several Obama White House programs including United State of Women, Let Girls Learn, and Reach Higher. In 2015 Ms. Beyer was appointed by President Barack Obama to be Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. In this role, she led the first official U.S. Cultural Delegation to Cuba in 2016, which included directors of four U.S. cultural agencies and prominent artists, including Usher, Joshua Bell, Smokey Robinson, and Dave Matthews. In 2010 she founded the bilateral Swiss-U.S. project, Sister Republics, which accelerates private market drivers to break the glass ceiling. Ms. Beyer also served as the External Relations Representative for the Swiss-based EDGE Gender Certification, a company that certifies companies achieving a global standard of gender certification.

Expressing her enthusiasm for the Labs work, Ms. Beyer said, From my early days as a journalist to spearheading the Sister Republics Women's Leadership initiative, I have seen firsthand the positive, tangible transformation that comes from empowering individuals to tell their stories and put their ideas into action. Im thrilled to join PeaceTech Lab in its continued efforts to support peacetech entrepreneurs, amplify peace messages to counter hate speech, and provide a platform for youth voices.

Andre Pienaar is the Founder of C5, a specialist technology investment group focused on cybersecurity, cloud computing and big data analytics with offices in Washington, London, Luxembourg and Bahrain. Andre serves on the boards of several cybersecurity companies including the Haven Group in Luxembourg, ITC Security in London and Omada in Copenhagen. He started his career in Kroll Inc where he became the youngest managing director until the successful sale of the company to Marsh Mclennan. In 2004 Andre founded G3, an international consulting firm that advises global companies and international law firms on cybersecurity. He sold G3 in 2011 to Europes leading technology investment holding company. Andre advised the 6th Duke of Westminster on the establishment of the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) in the United Kingdom as a state of the art centre for the rehabilitation of British military veterans.

Mr. Pienaar emphasized the worlds growing need for transparency and accountability. Every day, issues like corruption, cybersecurity, and resource scarcity are eroding public trust in our governments and businesses. That loss of confidence is bad for all of us. PeaceTech Lab understands that solutions to these problems require efforts at all levels - from working with local governments and activists on improving transparency and accountability, to leveraging the latest AI and machine-learning techniques to predict and prevent conflict. As a Board Member and founding partner of the PeaceTech Accelerator, I am proud to support these initiatives and help chart the course for the Labs future.

-About PeaceTech Lab-

PeaceTech Lab works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data to accelerate and scale peacebuilding efforts. An independent nonprofit organization, the Lab brings together engineers and activists, MBAs and conflict experts, social scientists, data scientists, and other innovators to develop effective peacebuilding solutions.
Believe: a journey into the spiritual realm filled with mystery, wisdom, intrigue, and miracles. Believe is the creation of published author, C. Read. In 1972, author C. Read and her family moved to the foothills of McKinley, Alaska where the family of thirteen carved out a home from rough-cut timbers with the aid of a chainsaw. There, she discovered dangerous realities that bite, including frostbite, bears, wolves, and, surprisingly, shrews. She learned the hostile environment of Alaska brings everyone to their knees in the mercy of God.

In modern terms, King Solomon was a party animal, born into grace and wealth. Ordained by God to build his church, the silver spoonier never wanted for anything. It appears that God does not focus on mistakes as much as improvements. With Solomon, he returned the love and devotion that was Solomons free choice to give. --C. Read

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, author C. Read invites reader to expect the unexpected as they embark on a fantastical journey of incalculable mystery, unfathomable wisdom, powerful intrigue, and Godly miracles. Faith is an obscure, invisible notion. Nature is easily understood and accepted by all. People have faith it will rain. They know winter will come, because they have seen it and felt it. Not all people have seen a platypus, yet most have faith that it exists. People cannot see air, but it exists whether or not people believe in it. Doubt does not transcend or define truth or proof. Doubt by itself is a farce and a path of least resistance. Faith in the spiritual realm does not determine if the supernatural exist.

View a synopsis of Believe on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseBelieve at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, Kobo or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Believe, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Bradford Christian Academy faculty member Brian Indrelie engages students in discussion during AP Seminar, a distinguishing course in the AP Capstone Diploma program.

Bradford Christian Academy is one of approximately 1,000 schools worldwideand one of only 36 in Massachusettsto implement AP Capstone, an innovative diploma program that allows students to develop the skills that matter most for college success: research, collaboration, and communication. The program consists of two courses taken in sequence: AP Seminar and AP Research. Developed in direct response to feedback from higher education faculty and college admission officers, AP Capstone complements the in-depth, subject-specific study of other Advanced Placement courses and exams. Students graduating with this diploma, students also earn credit for 6 college-level courses, reducing the burden on both the cost of college and coursework.

Bradford Christian Academy implemented the AP Seminar in the fall of 2017.

BCA is very excited to be accepted into the AP Capstone Program, says Loren Stevens, Dean of the Upper School. She adds: The Capstone Program unites the rigor of discipline specific AP classes with the intellectual creativity and breadth of the Seminar and Research classes to give our students excellent critical thinking abilities and effective presentation, researching, and writing skills. In addition to the strong college preparatory and honors programs offered at BCA, we are pleased that our students now have the opportunity to graduate with the AP Diploma, one of the most well-respected distinctions in academia.

The AP Seminar course, typically taken in 10th or 11th grade, equips students with the ability to look at real-world issues from multiple perspectives. Through a variety of materialsarticles to research studies to foundational and philosophical textsstudents tackle complex questions; understand and evaluate opposing viewpoints; interpret and synthesize information; and construct, communicate, and defend evidence-based arguments. Further, teachers have the flexibility to choose subject content based on student interests, whether local, regional, national, or global. By tapping into students personal interests, Bradford Christian Academys AP Capstone Program gives students from a wide range of backgrounds an entry point into stimulating coursework more than ever before. Graduating with this diploma, students would also earn academic credit for up to six college-level courses, reducing the burden on the cost of college and coursework.

We are proud to offer AP Capstone, which enables students and teachers to focus on topics of their choice in great depth, said Trevor Packer, senior vice president for AP and instruction at the College Board. He adds, This provides terrific opportunities for students to develop the ability to write and present their work effectively, individually, and in groupsthe very skills college professors want their students to possess.

By responding to and partnering with the higher education community, the College Board developed AP Capstone so students can practice skills that will serve them well in college and career. Because the program is a result of feedback from education professionals, it is not surprising that several colleges and universities have confirmed their support of the program.

"Colleges and universities kept telling the College Board that its AP program needed to focus more on getting students to think critically, both in their analysis of ideas and their use of research methods, adds Alexander Burgess, BCA Humanities Department Chair and AP Capstone faculty. In response, the College Board modified most of its existing AP's and created two new AP Capstone courses, AP Seminar and AP Research. Only about 1,000 high schools worldwide, and fewer than 40 in Massachusetts, offer this innovative and challenging program. It's exciting and extraordinary that Bradford Christian Academy is privileged to be part of such a select group, but what's most satisfying is that our BCA students now have this opportunity to be even better prepared for college."

About:

Bradford Christian Academy

Bradford Christian Academy is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory elementary, middle and high school serving students in grades 1-12. With campuses in Bradford and Haverhill, MA, Bradford Christian Academy enrolls students from over 40 communities throughout the region as well as countries throughout the world. For more information, please visit http://www.bradfordchristianacademy.org.
Soldiers Angels Hunger Relief Program will be hosting the first Veteran Mobile Food Distribution on Friday, October 27th, 2017 at the Arcadia VA Clinic located at 250 North Arcadia Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, 30030. The event will provide food assistance to over 200 low-income, at-risk, and homeless veterans from the Atlanta Area. The distribution will be conducted in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

The event will be the first of what will now be a monthly event for Atlanta area veterans. Soldiers Angels Hunger Relief Program is a nationwide initiative that was started in September of 2015 at the Soldiers Angels headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. The program continued on a monthly basis in San Antonio and was also established in four other cities across the country: Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan, and now, Atlanta, Georgia.

Soldiers Angels recognized the need for a food assistance program specifically for the veteran population, said Amy Palmer, Soldiers Angels President and CEO. The number of veteran families that fall at or below the poverty level across the country is astonishing. We knew that we needed to put resources into creating a program that would serve this growing population.

When the program was first conceived in 2015, it took some time to get it off the ground in San Antonio.

The first couple of months that we hosted the food distribution in San Antonio, it took us nearly the entire month to fill the event to capacity, said Palmer. But now, two years later, as soon as we open the registration link for that months event, it is filled to capacity within one hour. Since it is a mobile event, we are only able to serve approximately 200 families at each distribution.

The event in Atlanta will likely follow the same course as San Antonio. However, Soldiers Angels feels confident that it will not be long before the demand for the Atlanta distribution rivals that of San Antonio.

Cities that have a large military presence, such as Atlanta, tend to also have a large population of low income veterans. Although it may take us some time to get the word out to the veterans in Atlanta who are in need of food assistance, the word will get out and this event will soon be in high demand every month.

The Veteran Mobile Food Distribution has become a staple for the families served in other cities. Working with the local food banks at each location, the event provides approximately 50 pounds of food for the attending families. The food includes fresh fruits and vegetables as well as meats and non-perishables.

The program is designed to provide monthly supplemental food assistance for the families as well as some non-perishable items that may last beyond the month, continues Palmer. These families have sacrificed so much in service to our country, and many of them rely on this program in order to keep food on their table for the entire month. This is really a small token of appreciation for all they have sacrificed for our freedoms and a way we can come together and say thank you for your service.

Soldiers Angels partners with businesses, large and small, to sponsor the monthly events in each city. Some sponsors even offer the opportunity to their employees or members to volunteer at the event.

The distribution is set up drive-through style so the veterans, many of whom have injuries, dont even have to get out of their car. Those who dont have cars walk through with a volunteer and load their groceries in a cart or wagon. This is an amazing volunteer opportunity for anyone interested in giving back to our military heroes. To hand someone a bag of food for their family and shake their hand, its truly touching to watch the volunteers in action.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this monthly event in Atlanta, Soldiers Angels will be continuously looking for volunteers and sponsors to help with the Hunger Relief Program. Contact Soldiers Angels at (210)629-0020 to learn more about assisting in this program. Or visit their website at http://www.SoldiersAngels.org to view the many other programs and services they provide for active duty service members, wounded heroes, veterans, and their families.

####

About Soldiers Angels: Soldiers' Angels is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, their families, and the growing veteran population. Founded in 2003 by the mother of two American soldiers, hundreds of thousands of Soldiers' Angels "Angel" volunteers assist veterans, wounded and deployed personnel and their families in a variety of unique and effective ways. (Tax ID# 20-058-3415). Learn more at http://www.soldiersangels.org.

About Atlanta Community Food Bank: The Atlanta Community Food Bank works to end hunger with the food, people and big ideas needed to ensure our neighbors have the nourishment to lead healthy and productive lives. Far too many people in our own community experience hunger every day, including children, seniors and working families.

Through more than 600 nonprofit partners, we help more than 755,000 people get healthy food every year. Our goal is that, by 2025, all hungry people across metro Atlanta and North Georgia will have access to the nutritious meals they need when they need them. It takes the power of our whole community to make that possible. Join us at ACFB.org.
MaintenX International is pleased to announce its participation in the 2017 Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show October 11-13 in Orlando, Fla. The show will allow facility owners and managers a unique opportunity to learn about MaintenX and its network of knowledgeable and skilled technicians who have been helping businesses and organizations for more than 30 years.

As a company headquartered in Tampa, and with tremendous resources within the state of Florida, we are able to provide world-class service and support to all Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association members, said Bill Schaphorst, MaintenXs VP of Business Development. We look forward to meeting the managers and owners of local facilities to learn about the their challenges. Then we can work to develop facility maintenance programs to help.

With more than 8,000 attendees, the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show provides the Florida restaurant and foodservice community a chance to learn about industry trends, increase customer loyalty, and minimize business risks. The show also includes awards, a number of special tastings and events, as well as opportunities to network with fellow industry professionals.

For additional information about the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, visit http://www.flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com.

For more information about MaintenX, visit http://www.maintenx.com.

ABOUT MAINTENX INTERNATIONAL:

MaintenX International is a fully licensed, general contracting company. As one of the largest national facility maintenance and repair companies in the U.S., MaintenX has created a wide network of knowledgeable and professional technicians that includes a national subcontractor network of over 45,000 members. For over 30 years, MaintenX has been expertly serving multi-location retail stores, restaurant chains and Fortune 500 companies nationwide.
Several of my close relatives died and my mother abandoned my siblings and I at a young age," says Trauco. "And so I know what it feels like to have major losses as a child.

For children, the loss of a loved one, friend, or family pet can be both devastating and extremely sad. A new book series by grief expert Gail Trauco, R.N. is now available to provide comfort, guidance and reassurance to children and their families experiencing the cycles and stages of grieving.

LuLus Journey is a childrens book series featuring a young, little unicorn named LuLu, who has a soft white coat and a rainbow-colored twirling horn. After losing her mother, a number of animals in the forest come to LuLus side and help her through this very tough time of her life. The sweet, simple and down home approach Trauco brings to LuLus Journey is inspired by her Southern upbringing and informed by her own healing after numerous losses and trauma during childhood.

Several of my close relatives died and my mother abandoned my siblings and I at a young age and so I know what it feels like to have major losses as a child, says Trauco, a licensed Grief Mediator and Registered Nurse who has helped more than 5,000 families through the grieving process. Growing up in the rural south, I was always surrounded by animals that were my loving support system through all of the heartbreak. The story of LuLu and the other helpful animals is an ode to that time and my experience is that most children feel a sense of ease and safety when it comes to animals.

LuLus Journey is a heartfelt, sensitive series of seven books that echo the seven stages of grief for youngsters that can be read on two levels. They tell a simple story about a young unicorn who has lost her mama and is trying to find her. On another level, the books can be used as a tool to help children who have been affected by the loss of a loved one. Each of the books are written to help youngsters cope with loss in a child-friendly way.

According to Trauco, it is very natural for any person and especially children to want to run and hide in the face of grief and loss. The LuLus Journey book series is consciously designed to help introduce the seven stages of grief and the feelings that go with them in terms that make sense to a child. The character of LuLu, her friend Magica young fox, and the other forest animals created by Trauco and brought to life by illustrator Ms. Mahfuja Selim, are archetypes that boys and girls of all ages can relate to and learn from.

The first two books, LuLu Faces Fear and LuLus Denial, are available now, The remaining five LuLus Journey books will be published one after the other between now and Spring 2018. Each of the books will be available via Amazon.com and in select bookstores and hospital gift shops around the country. For more information about LuLus Journey series and/or author Gail Trauco visit: http://www.FrontPorchTherapy.com.

# # #

LuLu Faces Fear (the first in the series) is 39 pages.

Retail cost: $16.95 for paperback and $6.99 for Kindle version. ISBN: 13-Digit: 9781547006830

LuLus Denial (the second in the series) is 39 pages.

Retail cost: $16.95 for paperback and $6.99 for Kindle version. ISBN: 13-Digit: 9781548901639

About the Author

Gail Trauco endured more loss and sadness in the first 12 years of her life than most people do in a lifetime, yet you will not hear her complain about the past. Instead, Trauco considers it all part of the path she is on as an advocate for people going through challenging times. During the past 30 years, Trauco has helped more than 5,000 families navigate the grieving process following a variety of losses, including deaths and divorces. She is a mother of three grown sons and now calls her ranch with a multitude of animals and a lovely front porch in Forsyth, Georgia her home.
Whether you're just discovering what feminism means to you, or you teach a class on it, we've got something for you."

The Grand Rapids Feminist Film Festival (GRFFF) today announced films, performances, and panel discussions for what will be its most exciting festival to date. Taking place at the UICA in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 21, GRFFF is a free one-day celebration dedicated to elevating voices and showcasing talent from historically underrepresented groups in mainstream media. The full lineup of films, performers and panels can be found at http://www.grfff.org.

GRFFF began when a group of film buffs and social justice advocates decided to put together a film festival that showcased diversity in front of and behind the camera. In addition to short films  including a kid-friendly block!  the festival offers panel discussions, comedy and musical performances, a drag show and presentations on feminist issues ranging from trans rights to feminist parenting to cultural appropriation to body positivity and diversity. In 2016, GRFFF hosted upwards of 800 attendees, and received nearly 150 film submissions from around the world. This year, with a new downtown venue and a stronger focus on elevating diverse voices, GRFFF expects to have its most successful festival yet.

What I love most about this festival is that weve been able to use our privilege to shine the spotlight on those who don't often get to have the stage, said festival Co-Founder and Director Lydia VanHoven. We try to be better and better each year at being more intersectional, and especially in this political climate, making sure we provide a safe, inclusive, and educational space for women and non-binary folks to be empowered.

In fact, in order to ensure the voices and perspectives from the diverse Grand Rapids community are highlighted, there will be a greater push this year to connect with the community on social media. In addition to having reached out to the community to encourage people to volunteer and join the organizers in planning the event, GRFFF will be soliciting from its social media community suggestions for questions and topics to address with panelists and presenters. The festival organizers will also be taking questions from the audience in real time during the festival using the hashtag #GRFFF2017 to help fulfill the festival mission of ensuring as many diverse voices as possible are heard and empowered.

This film festival is a unique event in Grand Rapids, said festival Co-Founder Sarah Vesely. Whether you're just discovering what feminism means to you, or you teach a class on it, we've got something for you. We're not overly academic or exclusive, and by keeping our event free at a central downtown venue, we are able to include the whole community.

GRFFF by the Numbers:

Films

Exploring issues like racism, LGBTQ rights, body image, gender equality, the wage gap, disability rights, the 2016 election, the portrayal of Muslim women in the media, immigration, sexual assault, and more.



32 short (20-minute or less) films from local, national, and international filmmakers made by or about women and non-binary folks in 6 individual film blocks

11 films from outside the U.S.

9 Michigan-made films

9 kid-friendly films

Speakers, Artists and Performances

Exploring issues like cultural appropriation, feminist parenting, women in advertising, feminism in horror films, fake news, and lots more. All speakers, artists and performers are compensated for their time.



30 panelists

17 diverse panels, performances and speakers

6 speakers

4 t-shirt designs printed exclusively at the fest by CitizenShirt, designed by local Grand Rapids artists, Rayne Klar, Complete VII, and Ariana Ortega

2 performances, including a sketch comedy show and a drag show

Organizers and Volunteers

GRFFF loves hearing from its community, and encourages anyone who has a topic they want to champion, art they want to contribute, or time they want to donate to reach out to the organizers via the GRFFF website.



Over 20 volunteers donating their time

15 organizers who have worked for months in advance to organize the festival

100% of all funds raised and proceeds earned by the festival go directly back into the not-for-profit GRFFF

About Grand Rapids Feminist Film Festival:

The Grand Rapids Feminist Film Festival was founded in 2014 as a not-for-profit, free, one-day celebration dedicated to elevating voices and showcasing talent from historically underrepresented groups in mainstream media. Join the conversation this year by visiting our website at http://www.grfff.org, connecting with us on social media, and contributing your perspective with hashtag #GRFFF2017.

Festival organizers, filmmakers, and panelists are available for interview prior to and on-site at the festival. Press photos can be found at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4zRA9FKt1ILRG42eVk0VkYzcGs?usp=sharing

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Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers We are confident that our countrys long tradition of admitting immigrants will continue under Director Cissnas leadership and that U.S. businesses will continue to thrive though a combination of a talented U.S. workforce AND the hiring of the best and brightest from around the world.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Lee Francis Cissna as director of the USCIS on October 5, 2017. The vote was 55-43 in favor of Cissnas confirmation.

Cissna, a lawyer from Maryland, most recently helped write the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2015  a bill that would have dramatically enlarged the enforcement authority of the U.S. Department of Labor and restricted H-1B and L-1 visa requirements and benefits. Cissna also helped draft the American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act of 2015  introduced by Sen. Grassley and Sen. Leahy  which included an array of what have come to be known as EB-5 integrity measures.

USCIS is in charge of granting many immigration benefits. In that regard the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) urges Cissna to:

1. Encourage adjudicators to apply the statutes and regulations as written

2. Refrain from altering regulations through the promulgation of policy memoranda

3. Solicit stakeholder input before and not after changing existing or implementing new policy

4. As a benefits granting agency, return to an alien-based reading of the immigration statute and its implementing regulations
FirstHand not only gives Philadelphia youth access to the tools, resources and expertise necessary to gain 21st Century skills  its inspiring young minds and filling the pipeline of tomorrows STEM workers.

For the second time in three years, the University City Science Centers FirstHand program has won a US2020 STEM Mentoring Award. Representatives of the FirstHand program travelled to Washington, D.C. Tuesday, October 10th, to accept the award for Excellence in Volunteer Experience from US2020.

US2020s mission is to change the trajectory of STEM education in America by dramatically scaling the number of STEM professionals engaged in high-quality STEM mentoring with youth.

The third annual US2020 STEM Mentoring Awards, in collaboration with Co-Founding Sponsors Chevron and Tata Consultancy Services, are a national platform to celebrate and encourage exceptional work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring. Excellence in Volunteer Experience recognizes programs that provide high-quality and well-supported engagements for their volunteers.

This award affirms FirstHands approach to hands-on, project-based learning guided by the experience of our amazing professional mentors  scientists and entrepreneurs that walk the Science Center hallways every day, says FirstHand Director David Clayton. Were creating a unique mentoring experience for Philadelphia youth  and were thrilled to be honored by US2020 for this approach.

FirstHand not only gives Philadelphia youth access to the tools, resources and expertise necessary to gain 21st Century skills  its inspiring young minds and filling the pipeline of tomorrows STEM workers says University City Science Center President & CEO, Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA.

FirstHand received the 2015 Most Innovative Hands-on Project award from US2020 and was a finalist in the Excellence in Volunteer Experience same category in 2016.

Serving Philadelphia youth from under-resourced schools and the teachers, professionals and families from their communities, FirstHand aims to spark an interest in the STEAM disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math that students can explore and cultivate throughout their lives. FirstHand specializes in interactive learning where students design experiments, test hypotheses and work toward final projects to share with the community. Programs are supplemented with mentorships from the Science Centers resident companies, allowing students to learn about and experience real-life STEM entrepreneurship in real-world applications. This fall, students from Philadelphia area schools are participating in Polymer Play, AmpItUp, DNA Selfie, and Project Inquiry, working alongside STEM professionals.

About the Science Center

Located in the heart of uCity Square, the Science Center is a mission-driven nonprofit organization that catalyzes and connects innovation to entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. For 50+ years, the Science Center has supported startups, research, and economic development in the life sciences, healthcare, physical sciences, and emerging technology sectors. As a result, graduate firms and current residents of the Science Centers incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in the Greater Philadelphia region and drive $13 billion in economic activity in the region annually. By providing resources and programming for any stage of a businesss lifecycle, the Science Center helps scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators take their concepts from idea to IPO  and beyond. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www.sciencecenter.org
Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes TB -- the leading infectious disease and cause of death globally claiming 1.8 million lives each year. The SureAdhere VOT app saves money while providing high quality, patient-centered care that could increase adherence and cure rates.

SureAdhere Mobile Technology, Inc. this week announced the launch of its video-based directly observed therapy (VOT) in the United Kingdom. The mHealth platform supports the National Health Service (NHS) Find & Treat TB-control program with outreach that tackles TB among Britains most vulnerable populations. The U.K. has the highest rate of TB in Western Europe. More than 2500 people living in London are diagnosed with TB each year. SureAdhere announced the expansion into Britain at the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Tuberculosis is the leading infectious disease cause of death globally, claiming 1.8 million lives each year. Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) is used to support patient adherence to TB treatment that can take six months or more to complete. The World Health Organization, the NHS and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend DOT for monitoring TB treatment. Health care workers personally observe patients taking each medication dose at the clinic, the patients home or an agreed upon location for the duration of treatment. This costly, labor-intensive method often is impractical to provide for all patients.

VOT offers a new and efficient way for health care workers to verify that prescribed doses are taken without the need for travel by patients or providers. The SureAdhere mobile app allows patients to video-record their medication ingestion. The videos are encrypted and uploaded to a secure server where staff can view the content and make notations in the systems database. The SureAdhere VOT app saves money while providing high quality, patient-centered care that could increase adherence and cure rates.

SureAdhere VOT is a convenient method for patients to show they are taking their medications and an efficient way for providers to verify that all prescribed doses are taken, said Dr. Richard Garfein, PhD, MPH, SureAdhere Co-founder and Chief Science Officer. With the roll out of VOT in the U.K. and other locations, we are on our way to meeting our long-term mission of scaling VOT so that it is affordable in low and middle income countries where the TB burden is highest.

SureAdhere is working closely with Find & Treat founder and clinical lead Dr. Alistair Story to identify ways to enhance the VOT app while developing best practices for using it to fight TB, and potentially other infectious diseases. Find & Treat will serve as a role model for implementing VOT in other TB programs around the world.

VOT is transforming care quality and outcomes for hundreds of TB patients in Britain, said Story. "We are delighted to be at the forefront of scaling and refining this game changing technology.

About SureAdhere Mobile Technology, Inc.

SureAdhere is a San Diego based provider of a unique mobile health platform enabling remote medication adherence monitoring for patients with TB and other diseases. Led by CEO Kelly M. Collins, PhD, MPH  an expert in global public health and infectious disease epidemiology, SureAdheres primary focus is on the treatment and cure of TB globally. For more information, visit http://www.sureadhere.com or call +1-775-343-5302.

About Find & Treat

The Find & Treat team is multidisciplinary and includes former TB patients who work as peer advocates, TB nurse specialists, social and outreach workers, radiographers and expert technicians. The UCLH Find & Treat team takes TB control into the community, finds cases of active TB early and supports patients to take a full course of treatment and get cured. Find & Treat works alongside over 200 NHS and third sector front-line services to tackle TB. For more information visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tb/research/find-and-treat.

About the World Conference on Lung Health

The Union World Conference on Lung Health is the worlds largest gathering of clinicians and public health workers, health program managers, policymakers, researchers and advocates working to end the suffering caused by lung disease, with a focus specifically on the challenges faced by the low- and middle-income countries. This years conference theme, Accelerating Toward Elimination, will center discussion around the global lung health agenda and the ambitious goals that have been set for the public health community working in lung health. http://guadalajara.worldlunghealth.org
Chef Morimoto Headshot

Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, a Japanese master chef known for his innovative and signature style of cuisine, will open two restaurants at the all-new Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach that will officially debut in December 2017. Morimoto Asia Waikiki is set to open this winter while Momosan Waikiki is targeting a 2018 opening.

I look forward to having Morimoto Asia Waikiki and Momosan Waikiki at Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach, especially since the island of Oahu is a very special place to me, said Chef Morimoto. The stunning views of the beach and water combined with the two distinct dining options that we will offer provide true culinary destination experiences.

Morimoto Asia Waikiki, the resorts signature restaurant, will showcase Chef Morimotos unique take on Pan-Asian cuisine. The dinner-only menu will feature a variety of flavors representing China, Korea, Japan, Thailand and other regions of Asia, all with Morimotos creative touch. Signature dishes that present Chefs spin on his favorite Asian flavors will include Peking duck, sticky ribs, lo mein, Korean kalbi, dim sum and traditional wok fry dishes such as kung pao chicken and Thai lobster chow fun. Located on the second floor of the resort, Morimoto Asia Waikiki will bring an interactive culinary experience to Waikiki Beach, courtesy of a glass-encased exhibition kitchen that will offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into culinary preparations and traditions, and outdoor lanais with views of the world famous beaches and sunsets of Waikiki. The restaurant will be Chef Morimotos second Morimoto Asia location as the first opened in 2015 as the flagship restaurant of the re-imagined Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort.

For a fun and casual breakfast, lunch and dinner experience at street level with indoor and outdoor dining options, guests can experience Momosan Waikiki, Chef Morimotos ramen and yakitori concept. At Momosan Waikiki, noodles are front and center with an array of flavor-forward ramen varieties to choose from, including tonkotsu ramen, Tokyo chicken ramen, tantan and tsukemen. The restaurant will also serve playful small plates and signature appetizers including tetsunabe pork gyoza, crispy mimiga (Japanese fried pig ears), buta kimchi and Chef Morimotos signature take on garlic shrimp; innovative salads and classic izakaya style rice dishes; and yakitori including salmon and duck. The menu will showcase 20 sake options, six of which are Morimoto signature sake, red and white wines, draught and bottled beer including Japanese-style lager, three Morimoto signature beers in collaboration with Rouge Ales, and a rotating local Hawaiian brew. This will be Chef Morimotos second Momosan location, with the first location opened in New York City in 2016.

The product of a $115 million, head-to-toe transformation of the Pacific Beach Hotel, the all-new Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach will officially debut in December 2017 as Hawaiis sophisticated modern resort destination in the heart of Waikiki. The resort will feature striking aloha chic design from acclaimed New York design and architecture firm Rockwell Group across all 839 guest rooms and suites, a soaring lobby with a 280,000-gallon saltwater oceanarium, five new culinary concepts, a see-and-be-seen destination pool deck, a world-class fitness center, intimate spa, movement studio and more. Residing on land held by the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, the resorts new name of Alohilani  Hawaiian for the heavenly brightness  was carefully chosen to honor Hawaiis beloved last reigning monarch.

For more information on Chef Morimoto, visit http://www.ironchefmorimoto.com. For more information on the debut of Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach please visit http://www.alohilaniresort.com or call 808-921-6196.

About Chef Masaharu Morimoto:

Chef Masaharu Morimotoknown to millions as the star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef Americahas garnered critical and popular acclaim for his seamless integration of Western and Japanese ingredients. In 2001, Morimoto opened his first restaurant in Philadelphia, which was later followed by restaurants in New York, Napa, Honolulu, Boca Raton, Mumbai, New Delhi, Mexico City, Tokyo and Maui. Morimoto Asia Disney Springs, Orlando, opened in 2015 followed by Momosan Ramen and Sake NYC this spring 2016. Since 1998, Morimoto has competed on the Japanese television show, Iron Chef and also appears on the Food Networks Iron Chef America. His first cookbook, Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking, won two IACP awards--in the Chefs and Restaurants category and the First Book: The Julia Child Award"--and it was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. His second cookbook, Mastering The Art of Japanese Home Cooking, introduces readers to the healthy, flavorful, surprisingly simple dishes favored by Japanese home cooks. For more information about Masaharu Morimoto, visit Facebook, Twitter or http://www.ironchefmorimoto.com.

About Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach

Located on the coveted and bustling Kalakaua Avenue, Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach will open in December 2017 as a modern and tranquil oasis in the heart of Waikiki that pays homage to Queen Liliuokalani and Hawaiis rich cultural heritage. The $115 million redevelopment of the Pacific Beach Hotel, which first opened in 1969, spans the entire property from the exterior facade to all public spaces and 839 guest rooms and suites. Acclaimed architecture and design firm Rockwell Group, which designed the resorts lobby, restaurant, amenities, pool deck, guestrooms and suites; and architectural firms WATG and Pacific Asia Design Group were enlisted to create a modern, refined Waikiki Beach retreat with authentic design touches inspired by Oahus lush landscape, rich culture and heritage. Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach is managed by Highgate, a premier real estate investment and hospitality management company, and is a member of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts Lifestyle Collection. For more information on the debut of Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach please visit alohilaniresort.com, call 808-921-6196, or visit the resorts social media channels on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest at @alohilaniresort.

Media Contact

Morimoto Waikiki

Allied Integrated Marketing

morimotowaikiki(at)alliedim(dot)com

Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach

Murphy OBrien Public Relations

alohilaniresort(at)murphyobrien(dot)com
BIP Compact Linear Position Sensor

Balluff announces the release of the new BIP04 Compact Inductive Linear Position Sensor. The BIP04 provides accurate, continuous linear position feedback over a 17 mm range, in an extremely compact form factor. The BIP04 is ideal for position feedback on machine tool clamping spindles, pneumatic grippers, and any other application requiring linear position feedback in a confined space.

"This inductive linear position sensor is very small and ideal for use in any short stroke, space critical application," says Scott Rosenberger, Marketing Manager for Measurement Sensors. The BIP04 expands Balluff's extensive line of miniature sensors which includes inductive, photoelectric and capacitive sensors with discrete and measurement outputs. Rosenberger continues, "Where other position sensors may not fit, this sensor can provide gauging or positioning of grippers or clamps, enhancing flexible manufacturing applications." For manufacturers, this sensor provides an upgrade from discrete sensing to continuous monitoring of position.

The BIP04 compact inductive linear position sensor is available in analog 0-10V, analog 4-20 mA, and IO-Link interface versions. In addition, the BIP04 offers the following features:



Non-contact inductive technology ensures dependable operation and long service life.

Field-teachable measuring range offers maximum flexibility and customization possibilities.

Fully potted housing provides protection against damage in harsh machine environments.

About Balluff Inc.: Balluff Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Balluff GmbH, Neuhausen, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of a wide range of inductive, photoelectric, vision, capacitive and magnetic sensors as well as linear position transducers, RFID systems, and networking products. Balluff products for OEM and factory floor solutions are used to control, regulate, automate, assemble, position, and monitor manufacturing, assembly, and packaging sequences for industries including: metalworking, automotive, plastics, material handling, wood processing, aerospace, alternative energy, medical, electrical, and electronics.
Meryl McMaster (Plains Cree/Blackfoot) Anima (In-Between Worlds series) detail, 2012 Digital chromogenic print, 36 x 36 inches Museum Purchase: Eiteljorg Fellowship We in Indianapolis are proud to be stewards of one of the most important collections of contemporary Native art in the nation and to support the artists who created it, " said Eiteljorg President and CEO John Vanausdall.

A new exhibition of some of the best contemporary Native American artworks of the past 25 years, "Native Art Now!," opens Nov. 11-12 at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. The field of contemporary Native art takes center stage in Indianapolis as the exhibit opening coincides with a gathering of leading Native artists, scholars and others for roundtable discussions, accompanied by a "Native Art Now!" television documentary and book.

As both a retrospective celebration and a summit meeting for influencers in contemporary art, "Native Art Now!" will promote appreciation for todays Native art and artists, and generate dialogue about the current state of the field and its future challenges. The exhibition features 39 iconic works of Native art that the museum acquired primarily through its Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, including installations, paintings, prints, sculptures and glass and fabric art. Visually compelling works from artists Truman Lowe, Allan Houser, Kay WalkingStick, Meryl McMaster and Nicholas Galanin among others will be on view in the special exhibition gallery that opens to visitors Saturday, Nov. 11.

In conjunction with the exhibition are two days of facilitated discussions Nov. 11-12 hosted by the museum that examine the importance of Native art in the contemporary art world and the obstacles such artists face today. The convening of Fellowship artists and scholars from across the U.S. and Canada will be moderated by a nationally known art and social justice expert, Betsy Theobald Richards (Cherokee Nation).

Every other year since 1999, the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship has selected a group of five contemporary Native artists and provided them grant support so they can continue to pursue their art professionally and receive greater recognition. Through the support of the Lilly Endowment Inc., the Eiteljorg Museum has purchased more than 200 works of contemporary art since 1999 and received gifts of approximately 200 more to add to its permanent collections. Of the 50 past Fellowship artists, 45 still are living and many are scheduled to attend the "Native Art Now!" events opening weekend.

We in Indianapolis are proud to be stewards of one of the most important collections of contemporary Native art in the nation and to support the artists who created it. These works challenge conventional notions that Native American art is limited to particular styles or materials or focused on particular eras. Instead, they reveal how thought-provoking contemporary art can be and how relevant it is to issues of today, Eiteljorg President and CEO John Vanausdall said.

Developed by a team led by Jennifer Complo McNutt, the Eiteljorgs curator of contemporary art, the traveling exhibition "Native Art Now!" is the culmination of the museums more than two decades of efforts to raise awareness of and build appreciation for artworks of Native American artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

A one-hour TV documentary that presents a more personal perspective of developments in contemporary Native art during the past 30 years is in production and will be broadcast in the near future. It features interviews with artists, writers, administrators and collectors. Excerpts will be shown during the Nov. 11 discussions Richards is facilitating at the museum.

The Eiteljorg also has produced a scholarly companion book for "Native Art Now!" that examines in depth the broad continuum of Native expression in contemporary art. The book will be available at the Frank and Katrina Basile Museum Store.

Once the "Native Art Now!" exhibition closes Jan. 28, it will travel to other institutions. Meanwhile, two other ongoing exhibitions of contemporary Native art are on view elsewhere in the Eiteljorg. Located in the Hurt and Harvey galleries, the exhibit "In Their Honor" pays homage to five influential contemporary Native artists, now deceased, who were awarded Eiteljorg Fellowships. Nearby in the Myrta Pulliam Photography Gallery are prints by renowned women artists, "The Geometry of Expression."

For visitors, all exhibits are included in regular Eiteljorg admission and are free for museum members.

Intended primarily for working artists, scholars and art students, the roundtable and panel discussion sessions in the museums Clowes Court on Saturday Nov. 11 are open to the public, but there is a registration fee: $30 per person and $15 for students. An exhibit opening celebration Saturday evening Nov. 11 is $50 for museum members and $60 for nonmembers. Those interested in making reservations to attend either of the Saturday events should contact khinds@eiteljorg.com or 317.275.1341. Meanwhile, a separate breakfast panel discussion with the artists on Sunday morning Nov. 12 is included with museum general admission, but attendees should make reservations.

About the Eiteljorg:

The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis seeks to inspire an appreciation and understanding of the art, history and cultures of the American West and the Indigenous peoples of North America. Located on the Central Canal at 500 West Washington St., the Eiteljorg Museum recently was named one of the USA Today Readers Choice 10 Best Indiana Attractions.

Image captions for attached images:

Meryl McMaster (Plains Cree/Blackfoot)

Anima (In-Between Worlds series) detail, 2012

Digital chromogenic print, 36 x 36 inches

Museum Purchase: Eiteljorg Fellowship

Jim Denomie (Ojibwe, born 1955)

Blue Eyed Chief, 2008

Oil on canvas

Museum Purchase: Eiteljorg Fellowship

Holly Wilson (Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma/Cherokee, born 1968)

Enough, 2015

Bronze

Museum Purchase: Eiteljorg Fellowship

Media Contacts:

Bryan Corbin

Public Relations Manager

317.275.1315

bcorbin@eiteljorg.com

Bert Beiswanger

Director of Marketing and Communications

317.275.1317

bbeiswanger@eiteljorg.com

Hyacinth Rucker

Communications Coordinator

317.275.1388

hrucker@eiteljorg.com
Shaw + Scott, a digital marketing agency that creates tailored technology solutions for any brand marketing problem, announced today it has strengthened its leadership team with the addition of Lynn Baus as vice president of digital experience, Lin Wang as vice president of strategy and analytics and Kim Reedy as vice president of account management. This announcement is a clear illustration of Shaw + Scotts ongoing commitment to deliver an integrated digital marketing service crafted in collaboration by a team of subject matter experts.

We are incredibly excited to welcome Lynn, Lin and Kim to the Shaw + Scott team as we continue to grow and focus on the expansion of our agencys services, said Jamie Frech, president of Shaw + Scott. The most innovative digital marketing campaigns come as a result of strategic collaboration, which is why we are constantly striving to find the best talent to bring this vision to life. We believe these new executive leaders will enhance the collaboration of our cross-functional teams and continue our mission of creating better, more fluid consumer experiences.

As the recognized #9 company in the Seattle region by Inc. 5000, Shaw + Scotts new leadership will focus on creating deep insights into customer needs to build collaborative solutions from strategy and content execution to user experience. New executives include:

Lynn Baus, Vice President, Digital Experience

A skilled and innovative marketer with over a decades worth of experience, Lynn Baus has been recognized with over 35 awards for her work in one-to-one communications. Baus specializes in building award-winning creative teams, working with clients to increase engagement and maximize the revenue of email, mobile, and social programs. Prior to joining Shaw + Scott, Baus served as a Senior UX Consultant within the Oracle Marketing Cloud where she built cross-channel campaigns for top brands such as Harley-Davidson, Comcast and Grainger. Baus joins Shaw + Scott to build and lead a cross-disciplinary User Experience team that embraces creativity, rigor and data. This team will guide clients through the complex world of modern marketing needs to deliver effective and engaging customer-centric solutions.

Lin Wang, Vice President, Strategy and Analytics

With over 15 years of analytics and business insights experience, Lin Wang brings expertise in business KPIs, analytics, data integration and visualization to Shaw + Scott. He focuses on activating company data and using it as the core for the decision making process in order to build executable plans. Prior to joining the team, Wang built and sold his successful digital consulting firm, Insight Success, as well as led the analytics practice at Glu Mobile, transforming the company to an analytics-driven business. Now, Wang will use his deep subject matter expertise to enhance Shaw + Scotts strategy, analytics and email marketing practices to expand the companys reach further into the global digital market.

Kim Reedy, Vice President, Account Management

Kim Reedy is a versatile marketer with over a decade in the industry, specializing in CRM and customer experiences that drive revenue and results. She will serve as an integral player for Shaw + Scott in developing digital customer relationships. Prior to joining the team at Shaw + Scott, Reedy served as a vice president and senior account leader at both DigitasLBi and Team Detroit/Global Team Blue. Looking forward, Reedy will continue to act as a leader in account and project management, with a focus on launching an account planning framework that will elevate relationships with new and existing clients.

All digital marketing firms are certainly not created equal, and Shaw + Scott takes this concept to the next level. When considering the traditional business model of most agencies, clients come first and employees might come second or third. Getting and keeping accounts is much more important than the overall health of the organization. This philosophy is whats behind the extensive revenue growth and additional executive leadership.

Shaw + Scott has also turned the typical agency model upside down with their virtual agency of nearly 100 competent professionals across the globe. The agency values working with like-minded, unique and extremely talented professionals, and foster a true sense of unity both with customers and with each other. Shaw + Scott prefers to have heart in business and partners with clients who trust their experience and authority when it comes to digital marketing.

About Shaw + Scott:

Shaw + Scott was founded in 2009 by Melissa Shaw and Julian Scott to deliver a full range of digital marketing solutions to client organizations across a spectrum of industries and market verticals. Recognized brands including Alaska Airlines, Snapfish, Lululemon, Pier 1 Imports, Jo-Ann Stores, and Holland America rely on the digital marketing experts at Shaw + Scott to conceive, design, build, and implement marketing campaigns that drive bottom line results and positive customer experiences. Recently placed at #618 by the Inc. 5000, Shaw + Scott prefers to have heart in business and partners with clients who trust their experience and authority when it comes to digital marketing. To learn more, visit the Shaw + Scott website at http://www.shawscott.com.

Media Contact:

Teena Touch for Shaw + Scott

415-310-3125

teenatouch(at)gmail.com
Gilbane Building Company Breaks Ground on Butler and Bellville Elementary Schools

Gilbane Building Company and Clear Fork Valley Local School District came together to celebrate the official groundbreaking of Butler and Bellville Elementary Schools. Also in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony were members of the project team and local community.

Gilbane is providing construction management services for Clear Fork Valley Local School Districts two new elementary schools. Each school will be approximately 51,000 SF and house 387 students ranging from grades PK-5. Scope of work includes the abatement and demolition of the existing schools as well as construction of two new school buildings to accommodate the growing district. The project designed by Garmann Miller and Associates is set to wrap up in early 2020.

Gilbane is proud to partner with Clear Fork and the OFCC on this exciting project that will provide students and staff with new school facilities and leave a lasting impression for generations to come, said Chad Stevers, Gilbane Building Company Senior Project Executive.

About Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services  from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build and facility management services  for clients across various markets. Founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has more than 50 office locations around the world. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com. Gilbane has been providing construction management services in Ohio since 1959.
Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC (RCCB), a law firm offering a distinctive combination of practical business acumen, legal expertise and entrepreneurial passion, today launched their International Practice Group. To support the launch, RCCB has hired Jacquelyn A. Kunkel, Associate, and Ana-Maria Satmar, Law Clerk (pending admission to the Pennsylvania bar). Both Kunkel and Satmar come to RCCB with varied experience and are expected to strengthen the firms international capabilities.

Partner David Gitlin, a distinguished international lawyer, joined the firm earlier this year and has been working with Dustin Covello, Partner of the Tax Group, on a number of international matters, adding to the cross-border matters the firm was already handling. The launching of the International Group, along with Kunkel and Satmars hiring, allows the firm to expand the type of international counsel they provide to clients.

With the announcement of our International Group and the additions of Jacquelyn and Ana, RCCB is now able to offer our clients even greater resources when it comes to meeting their international goals, said Dustin Covello, Partner and Co-Chair with Gitlin of RCCBs International Group. Both Jacquelyn and Ana join RCCB with differentiating prior experiences, and we are confident that they will apply their backgrounds to offer our clients insightful counsel.

Kunkel comes to RCCB from KPMG LLP, where she was Senior Associate, working for the International Tax Group and the Mergers and Acquisitions Tax Group. At RCCB, she will work with Partner Dustin Covello as part of the firms Tax Group.

Kunkel earned her Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws, Taxation, degrees from Villanova University School of Law. Prior to law school, Kunkel studied engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning her Bachelors of Science degree. After MIT, Kunkel went on to earn her Master of Science in Engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She will practice out of the firms Conshohocken office and is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.

Satmar joins RCCB after spending the past year as a Law Clerk at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in New York. Before that, Satmar practiced law for almost nine years at Schoenherr Attorneys at Law in Bucharest, Romania. Satmar will use the relationships shes developed in countries such as Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Mexico to help grow RCCBs international practice.

Satmar earned degrees equivalent to a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctorate from Babes-Bolyai University, as well as a Masters degree in business administration. She earned her Masters degree in employment law from the University of Bucharest and her Master of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She will practice out of the firms Philadelphia office and is admitted to practice law in Romania while pending admission in Pennsylvania.

About Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC

RCCB empowers your ambition. We are attorneys who think and act like entrepreneurs and business people. We combine sophisticated, cost-effective legal counseling with the type of sound practical judgment that comes from hands-on business experience. We encourage entrepreneurial approaches and creative thinking, while maintaining the utmost in integrity and responsiveness. RCCB understands and delivers the advice that companies, business executives and investors, as well as individuals and their families, need to realize their hopes and goals. From offices in the Greater Philadelphia area and New York, RCCB serves clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Additional information about Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld is available at http://www.rccblaw.com.
Ultra IoT Connected Lab, focused on creating and supporting solutions within the Internet of Things (IoT) and backed by nation wide mobile carrier Ultra Mobile, announced today that they have selected outdoor advertising startup Ozzy as their inaugural winner, as well as two runner ups, for their IoT Incubator program.

Ozzy is an innovative startup based out of Palo Alto that is building the first targeted out-of-home content network, and will be harnessing the incubator program to delivery and manage their IoT connectivity as effectively as possible. The startup is currently in stealth mode, and is looking to scale quickly through the program. Ozzy will receive:



$20,000 US Ultra Mobile connectivity (to be used within 12 months)

Customized portal (to be built during the 10 week program)

Mentorship

$4,000 towards travel

The runner ups to the program are BarnOwl, an AgTech company developing real-time monitoring solutions for farmers and ranchers to improve security and productivity; and a transportation company. These two companies will receive:



$10,000 US Ultra Mobile connectivity (to be used within 12 months)

Mentorship

$2,000 towards travel

Applications to the Labs Incubator program spanned different industry verticals, and various stages of companies showcasing the breadth of IoT applications. The top three industries that applied were Transportation, which was 46% of the applicant pool, and Shipping and Environmental, which both landed at 13%.

We are so thrilled to start our journey with the three companies as they become our partners, particularly as they show such diverse applications of IoT, said Sarah Neil, VP of Corporate Development at Ultra Mobile and General Manager of Ultra IoT Connected Lab. We truly believe this program will keep us competitive as the rest of the industry is still wrestling with the opportunities around IoT. The Ultra Connected Lab and this incubator program ladders up to Ultra Mobiles mission of democratizing communication for global communities. IoT is such an exciting field, the types of innovation and thinking behind some of the applications is incredible. Were firm believers that IoT will change the world as we know it and make it a better place.

Powered by lean startup and customer-first mentalities, the Labs 10-week incubator program will offer a Launchpad to build a bespoke portal to uniquely suit their requirements. The Labs ultimate goal is that through increased collaboration, the team will identify barriers to entry within IoT, and generate disruptive solutions to facilitate innovation within industry at large.

For more information on Ultra IoT Connected Labs please visit ultramobileiot.com.

About Ultra Mobile:

Founded in 2011, Ultra Mobile is a non-contract nationwide mobile carrier, focusing on delivering innovative, cost effective mobile voice, text, and data services for people living in the United States who regularly call or text internationally. Its international services reach over 200 destinations, providing convenient and affordable solutions that connect people with their extended families, friends and colleagues living around the world. In an effort to further democratize communications for all, Ultra Mobile launched mobile wireless provider Mint SIM in 2016, a service for the savvy internet shopper who are looking for flexible options at incredible value. In 2015, Ultra Mobile was ranked #1 on the Inc. 500 as the fastest-growing private company in the United States. Ultra Mobile is co-headquartered in New York City and Southern California, with more than 150 employees based in USA, Europe, and Asia. The company offer customer support in English, Chinese, and Spanish. For more information, visit: http://www.ultramobile.com.
We look forward to working with SAMS in providing quality support to civilian and defense agencies alike.

NCN Technology (NCN), a full-service IT consulting firm, announced today that it will partner with Strategy and Management Services, Inc. (SAMS), to deliver technology solutions for the Army Contracting Command. SAMS was awarded a fourth Task Order on a five-year IDIQ by the Army Contracting Command to deliver contract operations, procurement management support, and administrative office operations for the Business Administrative Support Services (BASS) contract at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Belvoir (ACC-APG Belvoir). NCN will provide procurement and contract specialists to successfully fulfill the project work statement.

Our goal is to serve public sector clients with high quality service, said Sharon Muniz, CEO of NCN. Were delighted and honored that SAMS has selected us as a partner on this and other projects going forward. Staci and the talented SAMS team have a deep understanding of the Federal Government space and Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). Their knowledge of specific reporting and purchasing requirements is invaluable, and we look forward to working with them in providing quality support to civilian and defense agencies alike.

In 2016, the SBA approved an 8(a) Mentor-Protege (MP) partnership between SAMS and NCN Technology, whereby SAMS will help NCN navigate the government contracting arena and enable SAMS to leverage NCNs SharePoint, Web and Mobile development expertise.

NCNs core expertise  agile software development and IT project management for private sector companies  perfectly complements the expertise we bring to public sector agencies, said Staci L. Redmon, President and CEO of SAMS. As a woman-owned business, SAMS continually seeks ways to support other WBENC-certified, female entrepreneurs. Were particularly excited to be working with Sharon, who shares our commitment to delivering quality work and providing responsive service.

About NCN Technology

NCN Technology is a woman and minority owned WBENC-certified IT consultancy firm involved in the development of interactive mobile applications, responsive websites, and quality SharePoint applications. Led by dynamic management, NCN Technology offers cutting-edge software solutions to meet the diversified requirements of growing businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.ncntechnology.com

About SAMS

Founded in 2008, Strategy and Management Services, Inc. (SAMS) is an award-winning, SBA 8(a) program participant, verified SDVOSB, EDWOSB, SBA-certified SDB small business, Commonwealth of Virginia SWaM and WBENC-certified company. It provides Back Office Support and Building Services for federal agencies, state and local governments and commercial entities who want the high-quality services of a top-tier company with the high-touch of a client-focused small business. For more information, please visit http://www.getSAMSnow.com.
Understanding the only way an organisation can be safe from phishing is to make sure end-users are educated, KnowBe4 is formally bringing its new school security awareness training to Europe.

Understanding the only way an organisation can be safe from phishing is to make sure end-users are educated, KnowBe4 is formally bringing its new school security awareness training to Europe, with an established beach head in the UK. The provider of the worlds most popular platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing attacks, offers its services throughout Europe via a network of security-focused VARs and MSPs.

As attacks such as ransomware and CEO fraud continue to severely disrupt small and large organisations around the globe, KnowBe4 continues to innovate and develop effective ways to turn employees into a human firewall that can recognize and avoid cyber threats, thereby reducing organisational risk and protecting company assets.

Earlier this year KnowBe4 issued the The 2017 Endpoint Protection Ransomware Effectiveness Report, which found that endpoint security products are providing a false sense of security with regard to ransomware. Thirty three percent of respondents had experienced a ransomware attack in the past 12 months, despite the fact that more than half of them (53 percent) had deployed multiple endpoint solutions to protect against the malware. Yet, respondents that combined online security awareness training with frequent phishing attack testing saw the lowest percentage (21 percent) of successful ransomware attacks.

Ransomware is a runaway train for global businesses of all sizes and its only one of many threats that a well-trained and tested organisation can prevent, said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. Were able to expand to Europe because businesses know that our new-school approach to security awareness training can help them educate their users to avoid cyber threats, reducing their corporate risk in the process. We are working with a growing and very talented pool of distributors and managed service providers to bring KnowBe4 to businesses throughout Europe.

KnowBe4 last week announced its Q3 2017 results in which sales were 2.63X greater than Q3 2016. Q3 2017 marked the 18th straight quarter of growth, driven by an increasing enterprise demand for its new-school approach to security awareness training. KnowBe4 is putting an emphasis on growth within the European market, especially the UK, as the European region has grown at 250 percent YoY during calendar year 2017. Within the UK specifically, KnowBe4 plans to triple its number of employees, double its number of partners and count more than 10 percent of overall company revenue coming from the country by the end of 2018.

We know just how daunting a task it can be to keep an organisation secure. The relentless push by cyber criminals and the potential harm from ransomware, phishing attacks, CEO fraud, and other forms of social engineering can be substantial, costing billions of dollars, said Perry Carpenter, Chief Evangelist and Strategy Officer at KnowBe4. We want to help CISOs and IT Managers reduce the human error within their organisation, thus reducing their social engineering attack surface. The tools weve built quickly and easily determine the weakest links within an organisation by providing engaging security awareness training and deploying simulated phishing attacks to their employee base.

Since the start of 2017, KnowBe4 has expanded its partner program by 250 percent, more than doubling its channel partners.

Perimeter security solutions, which used to protect users even when they clicked the wrong link, no longer work on their own. Its critical that employees train and support their entire workforce, which, until now, was a daunting and commonly unsuccessful task, said Ian Kilpatrick, EVP Cyber Security for Nuvias Group, KnowBe4s value-added distributor in the UK KnowBe4 is able to automate the task of training and testing employees so a companys workforce can thwart social engineering-based attacks like phishing and ransomware. KnowBe4 has been a very good partner and one that has helped us serve our client base well.

Ransomware, CEO fraud and other types of attacks are on the increase and are a real risk to the future of businesses, even though they are often preventable. People let these threats in, so we wanted a partner that could help educate users and make these attacks less successful, said Tony Mason, director at Security Software Solutions, a KnowBe4 Premier Solution Delivery Partner. KnowBe4s combination of security awareness training and simulated phishing tests are intuitive, effective and empower our customers to take back control of their biggest security risk  their staff.

For more information about working with KnowBe4 or to inquire about partnering with the company, please visit: https://www.knowbe4.com/partnering.

About KnowBe4

KnowBe4, the provider of the worlds most popular integrated new school security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 13,000 organisations worldwide. Founded by data and IT security expert Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organisations address the human element of security by raising awareness of ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to security awareness training. Kevin Mitnick, internationally recognized computer security expert and KnowBe4s Chief Hacking Officer, helped design KnowBe4s training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Thousands of organisations trust KnowBe4 to mobilize their end-users as the last line of corporate IT defense.

Number 231 on the 2017 Inc. 500 list, #50 on 2016 Deloittes Technology Fast 500 and #6 in Cybersecurity Ventures Cybersecurity 500. KnowBe4 is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida with its European headquarters in London, England. For more information, visit http://www.knowbe4.com and follow Stu on Twitter at @StuAllard.

Contact:

Louise Burke

Origin Communications for KnowBe4

P: +44 (0) 7917 1760905

E: louise(at)origincomms.com
Craig Lieberman and Todd Dutkin This is more than a value based partnership, its a values based partnership. Were excited to continue building our business with a partner who places just as much significance on people, community and healthy growth as we do.

34 Degrees, the category-leading and innovative company behind 34 Crisps, today announced a deepened relationship with Fresca Foods, Inc., its supply chain partner of more than 10 years. Specifically, Fresca has made a $3.4 million investment in 34 Degrees in exchange for a 10 percent share of the company. The expanded partnership and investment will allow 34 Degrees to increase investments in brand-building programs and product innovation to fuel continued growth.

For the past 10 years, Fresca and 34 Degrees have been business partners, with Fresca managing product development, materials purchasing, manufacturing and warehousing functions for 34 Degrees. Fresca and 34 Degrees are both Colorado and entrepreneur-owned companies recognized as leaders in the thriving natural foods industry, one of Colorados fastest growing economic sectors.

By choosing to partner in this way, 34 Degrees is breaking the mold for how an entrepreneurial company decides to fuel its growth in several ways. First, the investment will accelerate the growth for an already healthy and profitable business. Second, this investment partnership was created between two entrepreneur-led, self-financed companies, whereas most growth investments in the natural products industry are funded by financial institutions or large corporations from outside Colorado. Third, the decision to partner in this way was driven by shared values more than financial value; both companies are recognized for their values-driven leadership approach.

Since day one, our team has looked for creative ways to grow our business, from how we produce 34 Crisps to where we chose to sell our product in the store, said Craig Lieberman, founder and president of 34 Degrees. As we considered potential investors, we once again saw the opportunity to do things a bit differently, expanding an existing partnership with our supply chain partner rather than creating a new partnership with a financial institution. For us, it came down to our beliefs and mission. This is more than a value based partnership, its a values based partnership. Were excited to continue building our business with a partner who places just as much significance on people, community and healthy growth as we do.

We at Fresca have a goal to increase accessibility to snack foods that are good for our bodies and the planet, said Todd Dutkin, CEO of Fresca. We chose to partner with Craig years ago because we recognized his energy, passion and commitment to building a successful business that delivered a strongly-differentiated product. Today, 34 Degrees is at the precipice of accelerated growth and by combining the strengths of each of our teams, the potential is boundless.

The expanded partnership will allow 34 Degrees to increase investments in brand-building programs and product innovation. Specifically, this holiday season, 34 Degrees will launch its first-ever comprehensive national consumer marketing campaign. Additionally, through increased access to Frescas operations, management and innovation teams, 34 Degrees will expand its research and development efforts to further leverage its unique product form to create new flavors, products and packaging formats that fit consumer needs and the changing retail environment. 34 Degrees will continue to operate as a Denver-based independent company led by its existing leadership team and with increased access to Frescas operations and management expertise.

ABOUT 34 DEGREES

34 Degrees, the maker of all-natural, wafer-thin crackers, 34 Crisps, was created by people with a profound love of food and is headquartered in Denver. Made from only a handful of natural ingredients, 34 Crisps are a great-tasting and endlessly versatile companion to cheeses, meats, fruits, spreads  and a world of pairings that can turn a snack into a delicious meal. They were created as the perfect companion to the worlds favorite cheeses, but the truth is, fans love them paired with just about anything, and straight from the box, too. The light crisps, inspired by travels and culinary experiences throughout Australia, are available in six savory flavors, including Natural, Sesame, Cracked Pepper, Rosemary, Whole Grain and Toasted Onion, and four sweet flavors, including Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Sweet Lemon. 34 Crisps are available in the deli departments of most grocery retailers throughout North America. To learn about 34 Degrees mission, sustainability efforts, community giving and to find a store near you, visit 34-degrees.com. Or, for real-time conversations and creative recipe ideas, visit Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram.

ABOUT FRESCA FOODS INC.

Fresca Foods, Inc., started as Pasta Fresca in Boulder, Colo., selling all natural foods to retail customers and wholesale accounts more than 24 years ago. Over the past 13 years, Fresca has transformed from a small foodservice manufacturer into a paradigm-shifting natural foods company, operating its own natural food brands and serving as supply chain and innovation partner to category leaders. For more information about Fresca Foods, visit http://www.frescafoodsinc.com.
Bas van Kaam joins Liquidware Northern EMEA I look forward to utilizing my experience to help customers determine the best options with Liquidware solutions. --Bas van Kaam

Liquidware today announced Bas van Kaam has joined the company as Pre-Sales Director, Northern EMEA. van Kaam has authored a book on Citrix, is one of only 50 Citrix Technology Professionals worldwide and is active in technically oriented EUC communities across the globe. He also runs his own blog  http://www.basvankaam.com -- dedicated to end-user computing topics and knowledge sharing.

With demand in EMEA increasingly growing, we are delighted to welcome Bas to the team, stated Chris Akerberg, President and COO, Liquidware. While his focus will be on helping prospective customers to understand the value and benefit of Liquidware solutions, with his vast knowledge of this industry, he will also be a tech evangelist for our product portfolio.

Liquidware has customers across all vertical sectors in EMEA and is seeing a growing trend to move desktop workloads into the clouds with offerings from Amazon Workspaces, Citrix and VMware. As the leading, independent provider of workspace environment management solutions, Liquidware enables organizations to seamlessly migrate to next-generation desktops.

In 2016, Liquidware made a commitment to expand their Northern European operations with a strong local presence in the BeNeLux region. To that end, the company recruited and brought on board Morteza Esteki, former VP of Sales for RES. Since joining Liquidware, Esteki has spearheaded expansion of Liquidwares roster of active local channel partners. In addition, Esteki has fostered stronger relationships with the Dutch Citrix User Group and other local EUC community organizations.

Esteki actively recruited van Kaam to join the company, believing that the industry expert would be in his element with Liquidware, given his track record of mastering emerging desktop technologies.

Joining Liquidware at this very interesting time in desktop evolution is certainly compelling, commented Bas van Kaam, Pre-Sales Director, Northern EMEA, Liquidware. With so many options for customers to choose for their next generation desktop, I look forward to utilizing my experience to help customers determine the best options with Liquidware solutions.

Having worked as a technical SBC/VDI/EUC Pre-Sales Consultant, Management Consultant as well as most recently the CTO for the Detron ICT group, van Kaam has spoken at many industry events, including Citrix Synergy, Citrix User Groups and at the Expert-to-Expert Virtualization Conference (E2EVC). He will continue his community work and blogging at http://www.basvankaam.com. van Kaam adds to Liquidware's well-known EUC team that also includes Peter Von Oven, VMware vExpert and author of eight VMware EUC books.

About Liquidware

Liquidware provides industry leading, platform-agnostic desktop solutions for hybrid Windows desktop environments including Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop, VMware Horizon View, Amazon WorkSpaces and physical Microsoft Windows PCs. The companys Stratusphere UX solution delivers visibility into desktop environments to support assessment, design, monitoring and diagnostics (Health Checks). ProfileUnity provides just in time delivery of User Profiles, application and user rights management and context-aware policies. FlexApp delivers advanced Application Layering. The solutions are available in an extremely cost-effectively priced bundle called Liquidware Essentials. Liquidware products are Citrix Ready, VMware-certified, and are available through a global network of partners. Visit http://www.liquidware.com for further information.
Praeclarus Press Celebrates World Mental Health Day World Mental Health Day recognizes the impact of mental health on women's health throughout the lifespan.

Mental health has a substantial impact on people's physical health, quality of life, and even how long they live. The World Health Organization indicates that 300 million people suffer from depression each year, and that depression is the leading cause of disability, and a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Women are twice as likely as men to become depressed in their lives. Praeclarus Press salutes World Mental Health Day on October 10 by offering a wide range of books, podcasts, webinars, and handouts that specifically address depression, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and other mental health issues for women at all stages of life.

Praeclarus Press is a small press founded by health psychologist, Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett. It is dedicated to publishing high-quality materials on women's health. The goal is changing women's lives. Dr. Kendall-Tackett describes why she founded her company.

"I believe that knowledge is power. So often, women do not recognize the impact of depression or trauma in their lives. Once they do, everything changes. We want to make sure that women have accurate, evidence-based information. Information changes lives. We are dedicated to providing it to women directly and to their healthcare providers."

Praeclarus Press is based in Amarillo Texas. The website is http://www.PraeclarusPress.com.
Adeptus Health, a leading patient-centered healthcare organization expanding access to the highest quality emergency medical care, is pleased to recognize two of its physicians, Dr. Ronak Patel and Dr. Bryan Mills, for the exceptional healthcare they provide patients at First Texas Hospital in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Patel and Dr. Mills are both dedicated to providing the highest level of care to our patients at First Texas Hospital, said Maridel Acosta- Cruz, CEO of First Texas Hospital and Market CEO- Houston Area. We are honored to have them a part of our team as they continue to serve the greater Houston community.

Dr. Ronak J. Patel joined First Texas Hospital in 2016 as a general and bariatric surgeon with specialties in general surgery, laparoscopic surgery, trauma surgery, and bariatric surgery. Dr. Patel has a strong interest and passion for bariatric surgery and the maintenance of weight loss after surgery. He also teaches weight sensitivity courses for medical professions.

Dr. Patel received his medical degree from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas. He completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Texas at Houston, where he served as Chief Resident during his final year. Dr. Patel went on to complete his fellowship in advanced laparoscopy and bariatric surgery at the University of Florida in Tampa, Florida and then completed DaVinci Robotic Surgical Training.

Dr. Patel is also a member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Osteopathic Association, the American Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASBMS), in addition to several other institutions. He is also Fellowship certified by the ASBMS and the fellowship council.

Dr. Bryan Mills has been an Orthopedic Surgeon at First Texas Hospital since last year. He values the importance of the use of hands and wrists in everyday life and therefore decided to specialize in the treatment of hand and wrist injuries and ailments. He typically treats patients with arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fractures, nerve entrapment, and trigger finger.

Dr. Mills earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City before going on to complete his orthopedic surgery residency at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Following the completion of his residency, he obtained a fellowship in hand surgery at the University of Massachusetts.

Dr. Mills is also a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the American Association for Hand Surgery and the Harris County Medical Society.

First Texas Hospital, licensed by the state as a general hospital, includes 50 inpatient beds, three operating rooms and 13 ER treatment rooms that include advanced diagnostic equipment and an on-site laboratory, which allows patients with a broad spectrum of illnesses and injuries requiring immediate medical attention to be treated.

The facility is located at 9922 Louetta Road, Houston, TX, 77070 and open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

About First Texas Hospital

First Texas Hospital is a full service general hospital in Houston, TX. First Texas Hospital is equipped with 50 inpatient beds, three Operating Rooms, an emergency department, onsite laboratories and pharmacy, and an imaging department equipped with the latest in imaging equipment. The hospital is capable of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and is providing the community 24/7 access to emergency medical care. For more information visit https://firsttexashospitalcyfair.com
Protect My Cars Chief Operating Officer, Barbie Vandenheuvel, commented: "Joes long-term vision and ability to translate strategy into action, and ultimately into results, is a key reason for our strong and continued growth. Joes dedication, drive and determination are an inspiration to us all."

Nationwide extended vehicle service contract leader Protect My Car proudly announced that its co-owner and president Joseph (Joe) Rubino has been named on the Tampa Bay Business Journals 2017 Up & Comers List.

Rubino joins 59 other business professionals, all under the age of 40, who represent the next generation of leaders and innovators in the Tampa Bay business community. In total, more than 400 nominations were received and reviewed by an independent panel of judges.

Honorees will be celebrated at a special awards ceremony on October 12, 2017 at TPepin's Hospitality Centre in Tampa. Tickets for the event can be purchased online.

Protect My Cars Chief Operating Officer, Barbie Vandenheuvel, commented: We are proud and thrilled that Joes outstanding leadership skills are being recognized by his peers. Joes long-term vision and ability to translate strategy into action, and ultimately into results, is a key reason for our strong and continued growth. Joes dedication, drive and determination are an inspiration to us all. We congratulate him on this amazing accomplishment and we will be cheering for him on October 12th!

More information on Protect My Car is available at http://www.protectmycar.com.

About Protect My Car

Protect My Car is one of the nations leading providers of extended vehicle service contracts. The companys extended coverage plans are ideal for consumers with cars less than 10 years old and with fewer than 150,000 miles, and whose manufacturers warranty has expired, or will soon expire. Consumers with vehicles older than 10 years, or with more than 150,000 miles, can take advantage of Protect My Cars Ambassador line of policies, which include 24/7 roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement and repair bill savings of at least 50 percent. All of Protect My Cars policies are offered with a Free Look trial period. If a new customer is not completely satisfied, they can contact Protect My Cars Customer Service Department within 30 days and receive a full refund of their down payment.

In addition, Protect My Car has recently introduced an auto and home insurance agency that provides consumers in several states with free, fast and no-obligation quotes from some of the nations largest carriers.
If she hadn't been found, especially by a SCDNR vessel, she may not have survived another week. She's the luckiest unlucky turtle we've ever treated.

A 55-pound Kemps ridley sea turtle rehabilitated by the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center (STCC) following the detrimental effects of human interaction is playing a critical role for science and education. Peach was released Monday morning in a partnership between the South Carolina Aquarium and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) with a satellite transmitter tag attached to her carapace. Peach is the first Kemps ridley rehabilitated at the South Carolina Aquarium to qualify for participation in a SCDNR research project looking at the migration of endangered Kemps ridleys in our coastal waters. She is also the first Kemps ridley to be rescued and satellite tagged in South Carolina.

Crew aboard the SCDNR research vessel Lady Lisa and lead scientist Mike Arendt captured Peach during a routine in-water sea turtle survey at the shipping entrance to the Charleston Harbor on June 1, 2017. The crew immediately noted monofilament line entangling her neck, deeply embedded around her left front flipper, and protruding from her mouth, suggesting Peach had most likely swallowed a hook. After a quick boat transport to the Sea Turtle Care Center, STCC staff gently removed the line, but as triage progressed, they discovered monofilament line protruding from her esophagus.

An endoscopy performed by South Carolina Aquarium Veterinarian Dr. Shane Boylan revealed that the monofilament line extended through her throat and into her stomach. After cutting the line as far down as possible, it was evident the line continued into Peachs intestines. In the first publicly-viewed sea turtle surgery in the McNair Center for Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Surgery Suite, Dr. Boylan and STCC staff successfully removed 120 centimeters of monofilament from Peachs intestines.

If she hadn't been found, especially by a SCDNR vessel, she may not have survived another week. She's the luckiest unlucky turtle we've ever treated.  said Dr. Boylan.

During the surgery, STCC staff confirmed that Peach is a female, and her large size suggested that she was also mature. Reproductive-aged females are very important members of the critically endangered Kemps ridley population. Because of her large size and the timing of her release, Peach was an ideal candidate to help answer an important research question: where do the Kemps ridleys that SCDNR biologists study in the summer travel during the winter? For the past two years, the SCDNR in-water sea turtle research program has focused on learning more about the movement of Kemps ridley sea turtles, placing satellite transmitter tags on 16 of 95 captured off the coast of Brunswick, Georgia. So far, the results have shown that the turtles rely heavily on foraging grounds between north Florida and southern South Carolina.

Peach has gone from being a turtle on the brink of death to our first opportunity to find out where Kemps ridley sea turtles captured in our trawl surveys spend the winter, said SCDNR assistant marine scientist Mike Arendt.

A satellite transmitter tag was applied to Peachs carapace on Monday morning, and she was released back into the Atlantic Ocean from the north end of Folly Beach. Peach will now provide critical information to help scientists learn more about the Kemps ridley population as her journey home continues. The public can learn more about SCDNRs sea turtle research and follow Peachs daily journey via satellite tracking pings here.

Follow the South Carolina Aquarium on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates from the Sea Turtle Care Center.

About the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Marine Resources Division serves as the primary advocate for and steward of the states marine resources. Studying everything from algae to sea turtles and tiger sharks, the divisions biologists, fisheries managers, and educators work to protect and conserve South Carolina's coastal waters and wildlife for future generations. Learn more at DNR.SC.GOV.

About the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center:

In partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center works to rescue, rehabilitate and release sea turtles that strand along the South Carolina coast. Located in the Aquarium, the Care Center admits 20-30 sea turtles each year. Many of these animals are in critical conditions, and some are too sick to save.

According to SCDNR, during the past 10 years, the average number of sea turtle strandings on South Carolina beaches each year is 128. Of these, roughly 10 percent are alive and successfully transported to the Sea Turtle Hospital. To date, the South Carolina Aquarium has successfully rehabilitated and released 236 sea turtles and currently has 12 patients in its care.

About the South Carolina Aquarium:

The South Carolina Aquarium, Charlestons most-visited attraction, features thousands of aquatic animals from river otters and sharks to loggerhead turtles in more than 60 exhibits representing the rich biodiversity of South Carolina from the mountains to the sea. Dedicated to promoting education and conservation, the Aquarium also presents sweeping views of the Charleston harbor along with interactive exhibits and programs for visitors of all ages.

The South Carolina Aquarium is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Aquarium is closed Thanksgiving Day, half day Dec. 24 (open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and Dec. 25. Admission prices are: Toddlers (2 and under) free; Youth (3-12) $22.95; Adults (13+) $29.95. For more information, call (843) 577-FISH (3474), or visit scaquarium.org.
Maui Food Bank and Kauai Food Bank The giving back spirit from our Kama'aina on Maui and Kauai was amazing for this years "We Love Kama'aiana Month" promotion. Mahalo to all who zipped with us and generously donated to the Maui and Kauai food banks. Danny Boren, President

Skyline Eco-Adventures, Hawai'is award-winning zipline tour company and operator of the first zipline course in the United States, launched their 4th annual Skyline Loves Kamaaina resident promotion in September supporting local Food Banks on Maui and Kauai.

In September, Skyline Eco-Adventures offered free Zipline tours to Hawai'i residents with the donation of 10 non-perishable food items per person. Residents were able to experience ziplining on a choice of Skylines two Maui courses, including Skyline Haleakala and Skyline Kaanapali, along with Skyline Poipu on Kaua'i. The promotion zipped over 2900 Kamaaina residents supporting the donation of more than 29,000 individual food items to the Maui Food Bank and Kauai Independent Food Bank On Maui, the Maui Food Bank received 11,787 pounds of food which provides for 9067 meals according to Stephanie Kaplan, Community Relations manager for the Maui Food Bank. The Kauai Independent Food Bank received 7651 pounds of food from the promotion which provides for 5885 meals to those in need on Kauai.

In addition to Skylines local community involvement Skyline Eco-Adventures is committed to giving back and as a member of 1% For The Planet, Skyline donates 1% of annual revenues to local community and conservation causes. For more information on Skylines charitable giving, visit http://www.zipline.com/dogoodhavefun

Skyline Eco-Adventures is Hawaiis most awarded zipline company and operates tours on Maui at Kaanapali and Haleakala, in addition to the Akaka Falls Skyline Adventure on Hawaii Island, and the Poipu Skyline Adventure on Kauai. Call (808) 878-8400 or visit http://www.zipline.com.
For risk management professionals like us who look at supply chain mapping data for a living, the chart presents a very scary picture

A North Korea military conflict that brought violence to South Korea, even using traditional weaponry, would not only bring global supply chains to a grinding halt, but the time to recover back to current levels could take several years. This prediction is based on an analysis of several tiers of the global high-tech electronics industry supply chain.

Resilinc is the global supply chain mapping intelligence organization with a key focus on the High Tech, Automotive, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices industries. The company has amassed vast amounts of supply chain mapping intelligence since 2010, having mapped global supplier locations for over 40,000 suppliers and tracked over 2,000,000 parts across 90,000 factories in more than 130 countries. Most importantly, the data is collected from the companies in the supply chain directly, as they report the sites they use to manufacture, store or distribute their raw materials and parts.

South Korea: The Electronics Supply Chain Hotspot

Over 200 suppliers have reported sites they are dependent on within range of artillery in the area of the North Korean Kaesong base, and over 1300 suppliers have reported dependence on sites within the high-risk zone of a coordinated attack. Further, an analysis of over 1500 High Tech electronics products, their bills of material and parts mapping data shows that almost every product depends on at least one South Korean site, in the direct tier 1 supplier base or indirect tier 2 supplier base. Resilinc highlights multiple failure points in the Seoul and Incheon areas that are vital to the electronics manufacturing.

Our phones, tablets, cars, medical devices, coffee machines, appliances, machines, trains, airplanes, ATMs, ticket machines every product today has electronics in it. Even shoes have chips that sync with the phone and record footsteps.

Understanding Semiconductor Manufacturing

Each of these products have semiconductor devices or integrated circuit (IC) chips. These chips follow Moores Law. Intels Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits would double approximately every 18 months. This law has held true until about the last 5 years, but continues to have tremendous implications for supply chains, and is one reason for the massive capacity constraints Resilinc predicts will be experienced in even a small incident in this area of the world. IC manufacturing is a highly precise and complex process, which begins in a highly controlled, vibration and climate sensitive, clean room environment called a wafer fab. Here, hundreds of ICs are made on a thin slice of silicon and then cut into chips. These chips are then shipped to an assembly and test facility where they are packaged into the black box with pins sticking out we are familiar with.

Because of Moores Law, about every two years, new lines with smaller manufacturing footprints are brought online, and made to scale to produce tens of millions of ICs. Given the complexity of the process, bringing a fab online is billions of dollars in investment and can take several years. And, because of this ubiquitous consumption of electronics components in our products today, each fab today runs at 95% plus capacity. Therefore, one fabrication facilitys capacity being taken off of the market could result in massive impacts on capacity, supply and pricing. This is particularly so given that almost 40% of worldwide wafer capacity is located in South Korea and Japan, the countries most threatened by North Korea.

For risk management professionals like us who look at supply chain mapping data for a living, the chart presents a very scary picture. And even then, it shows only a partial picture of the supply chain. Because by looking at it, we may think that in a Japan and/or South Korea conflict scenario, 37% of the wafer fab capacity could be impacted, said Bindiya Vakil, CEO. What people dont always realize is that the Taiwan wafer capacity could effectively go down. This is because Resilincs part site mapping data shows that almost 75% of parts that are wafer fabricated in Taiwan, are shipped to South Koreas assembly test sites for packaging. This means that almost 50% of IC capacity could be at risk if wafers produced in Taiwan could not be processed.

Resilinc shared two charts which showed data collected directly from operators of wafer fabrication facilities in South Korea and Japan. Wafer fabrication manufacturers estimate times to bring production back up to pre-production volumes to be over 9 months. The names of the suppliers on the X-axis were masked to preserve confidentiality. The data shows that many of the suppliers estimate that it could take them as long as 1 year to resume pre-disruption run rate. In addition, the duration to catch up to unfulfilled demand and get the supply chain back on track could be at least another year, as suppliers would have to allocate supplies to the most critical parts and products only.

How many companies today can afford to survive if the supply of parts used to manufacture their products were to dry out for almost a year? said Joe Carson, Chief Strategy Officer at Resilinc. Many smaller companies could go into severe financial distress if even a full quarter of revenues were to be wiped out, let alone 2-3 quarters. There isnt enough inventory that any one company could hope to buy to cover every single part that needs to be purchased.

Learn More about North Korea Conflict Supply Chain Impact

The web seminar examined the various scenarios associated with the geopolitical dynamics of North Korea and the possible outcomes from the current war of words with the US administration. The company developed the scenarios in collaboration with renowned geopolitical expert, Robert Kyle, Partner at Hogan Lovells who held senior positions in the White House and Congress and sat in Security Briefings for critical issues.

In order to learn more about the various scenarios, and the supply chain impact of each, as well as to understand the interdependencies of these scenarios and their outcomes please watch the detailed webinar. Visit http://www.resilinc.com.

Tags: North Korea Supply Chain Impact, North Korea Military Option, North Korea Military Conflict, South Korea Electronics Industry, South Korea Supply Chain, War North Korea, Supply chain importance South Korea, Japan Supply Chain, North Korea attack on Japan, North Korea Nuclear Test
Viewpoint Chairman & CEO We are working with our clients and partners to transform the business of construction, said Manolis Kotzabasakis, CEO Viewpoint. We have an opportunity like never before to integrate operations across financial and HR systems, project management tools and mobile field solutions.

Viewpoint, the established leader in ERP, project management and mobile solutions for the construction industry, today unveiled its vision for helping contractors increase productivity and profitability through cloud-based software that integrates end-to-end operations across the office, team and field. The company also announced a host of new technology solutions, product enhancements and client benefits at Collaborate 2017the largest construction software conference in North America.

We are working with our clients and partners to transform the business of construction, said Manolis Kotzabasakis, CEO Viewpoint. We have an opportunity like never before to integrate operations across financial and HR systems, project management tools and mobile field solutions. This integration across office, team and field processes is dramatically increasing the efficiency, productivity and profitability for our clients and the entire ecosystem of the industryimpacting owners, general contractors, sub-contractors, project managers, architects, and engineers.

The conference, held Oct. 9-12 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., features four days of in-depth training, educational sessions, presentations from industry experts, networking events and much more. Nearly 2,000 industry professionals representing all facets of construction organization clients, technology providers, trade associations, and media are attending Collaborate 2017.

This also marks the first conference incorporating clients using Spectrum Construction Software, following Viewpoints acquisition of Seattle-based Dexter + Chaney in July of this year. The combination of Viewpoint and Dexter + Chaney brings together more than 75 years of combined experience in construction technology innovation and the largest research and development and service and support organization in the world.

Spectrum clients are excited to be here at Collaborate 2017, said Norbert Orth, President and CEO of Dexter + Chaney. We are working as an integrated organization to not only enhance and expand Spectrum software capabilities, but to deliver innovative new office, team, and field technologies that can help our customers to transform their businesses.

Among the key highlights attendees at Collaborate 2017 will see first-hand:



The new Viewpoint Team project management solution. Launched earlier this year, Viewpoint Team is a cloud-based, collaborative platform to integrate project management workflows and manage documents, RFIs, submittals and more across the entire construction organization

The Viewpoint Field View mobile solution. A cloud-based application designed for use in the field to increase visibility during project delivery, Viewpoint Field View captures site observations, improves quality assurance processes, manages material receipts and more.

Viewpoint Enterprise Cloud (VEC), built on a high-performance, scalable cloud technology that integrates the industrys most comprehensive ERP solutions across the Office, Team, and Field and allows contractors to reduce IT demands, increase security and optimize performance.

Innovative new features in Viewpoints Vista platform, including a new Service Dispatch Board, Accounting Work Center, and improved accounts payable functions to increase speed and accuracy of invoice approval processes.

A number of leading-edge enhancements to recently-acquired Spectrum Construction Software, including the cloud-based Service Tech mobile field service app and a beta version of Spectrum Business Intelligence for data analysis, business modeling and advanced reporting.

Significant updates to Viewpoints ProContractor solution, including a redesigned main project screen, mobile clock-out notifications, and intuitive new project search capabilities.

Our purpose and passion is to transform the construction industry and enable our clients to succeed with modern, innovative software solutions, said Matt Harris, Senior Vice President of Products and Development at Viewpoint. Construction is a difficult industry that requires many complicated workflows and the need for owners and contractors to extend operations and collaboration with project teams that often include hundreds or thousands of people including subcontractors, suppliers, engineers, and architects. At Viewpoint, our purpose-built products are integrating operations across office, team, and field to increase productivity and optimize both project and financial performance.

About Viewpoint Construction Software

Viewpoint provides innovative construction-specific software solutions to the global construction and capital project industries. Viewpoint provides the tools these industries need to improve project profitability through better visibility, risk management and real-time team collaboration. Viewpoint solutions address the full construction life-cycle, from planning/bidding to construction and facilities maintenance. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, and with offices in the UK and Australia, Viewpoint has become the technology partner of choice, with customers located across the globe in more than 28 countries. These customers include more than 40 percent of the ENR 400, and more than 30 percent of the ENR 600. For more information, please visit http://www.viewpoint.com.
Switch Dynamic MaaS a fully flexible mobile service such as Switch helps make current and emerging transportation options more accessible, all while reducing car ownership and congestion

At a time when city planners are working on integrating varied services such as Lyft and Uber to mitigate first, middle, and last mile challenges, a fully flexible mobile service such as Switch helps make current and emerging transportation options more accessible, all while reducing car ownership and congestion, reports retired Air Force General and Managing Partner of Switch Mobility John E. Michel.

Switch Mobility was formed through a joint-venture partnership between DemandTrans, Inc. of Chicago and The Kyyti Group of Helsinki, Finland to develop and launch their Dynamic Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app Switch to provide consumers instant access to virtually every kind of transport service available, from taxis, buses, trains, bike-share, car-share and more. Unlike other apps that attempt to organize an array of urban mobility choices, Switch is the first to integrate real-time, micro-transit ride generation capability to ensure consumers have access to efficient on-demand services anytime, anywhere.

The partnership combines the DemandTrans market leading on-demand technology suite currently in use in Denver, Oakland, Salem, Oregon, and soon, Nashville, and Chicago, with Europes Best Mobile Service award-winning Kyyti Mobility as a service system in use in numerous cities in Finland to create a comprehensive platform that makes the process of getting from A to B simple, quick, and convenient for both public and private transport users.

Switch provides consumers with unparalleled convenience and will change the way people move throughout the US and the world, Michel adds. With increasing mobility choices, we believe it is more important than ever to give people the freedom to choose from a wide array of potential options and routes to enhance the end-to-end public and private transportation experience.

Pekka Motto, Managing Partner of Switch Mobility Global and CEO of the Kyyti Group adds What truly differentiates Switch is that planning, ticketing, and payment are all taken care of in a single app that allows users to go about their trip seamlessly and without added guesswork or unnecessary wait times.

The development of the MaaS app leverages insights gleaned from designing and deploying the worlds largest Demand Response system, Europes Flex Denmark, which provides over 20,000 rides a day sourced from 550 different mobility providers. Switch Mobility Chief Technology Integration Officer and architect of Flex Denmark Niels Larsen highlights how Switch functions as an automated mobility operator, seamlessly integrating legs of a trip together to maximize the user experience, thus helping transit companies focus on delivering value-added services. While everyone talks about multimodality, Switch provides a customized, optimized complete end-to-end mobility solution right to a users smart phone, Larsen adds.

Before joining forces with DemandTrans to form Switch Mobility, the Kyyti Group has conducted several very successful MaaS and micro-transit tests in Finland. The Switch app will be launching in a prominent US City to be announced shortly.

For over two decades, DEMANDTRANS, Inc. has been instrumental in delivering advanced technology and software applications to solve challenging problems in the transit industry. From operations management, resource scheduling, predictive modeling, transportation logistics or smart city solutions, the DEMANDTRANS team works with clients in the U.S. and abroad to design and deliver intelligent transit technology to help make Mobility-As-A-Service (MAAS) an actionable reality in any city of any size.
Intrinsic ID Designers, product managers and entrepreneurs developing products connected to the Internet of Things recognize fully the importance of security, but implementing security is another matter.

Intrinsic ID, the worlds leading provider of digital authentication technology for Internet of Things security and embedded applications, today announced it will host its Fall Security Summit October 23, bringing together thought leaders to discuss recent trends and concerns in security technology, and the implications for IoT product designers and consumers. The summit will be in Mountain View and is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Designers, product managers and entrepreneurs developing products connected to the Internet of Things recognize fully the importance of security, but implementing security is another matter, said Pim Tuyls, CEO of Intrinsic ID. I am once again impressed with the speakers who will appear at our upcoming summit  they represent the most current thinking on security concerns and the technology needed to combat them.

Speakers scheduled to appear include:



Jim Aralis: Chief Technology Officer, Microsemi

Marc Canel: Vice President, Security Technologies, Arm

Lance Dover: Product Architecture Manager, Micron

Tom Katsioulas: Director of New Ventures, Mentor, a Siemens Business

Philip Lundin: Chief Executive Officer, Authentico

Sami Nassar: Vice President, Cyber Security Solutions, NXP Semiconductors

Also speaking will be Brian Finch, a partner with the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Finch is a recognized authority on global security and cybersecurity threats, and can often be heard offering commentary on these subjects via various broadcast media outlets.

Sponsors of the Fall Security Summit include NXP Semiconductors and GlobalSign.

The program will begin at 11:30 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. Technical demonstrations will be conducted during lunch and networking breaks. A hosted beer tasting will follow the conclusion of the formal program at 5 p.m., at which time attendees will be free to speak with presenters and fellow attendees.

The event venue is:

Michaels at Shoreline

2960 N. Shoreline Blvd.

Mountain View, Calif.

Registration is required in advance and space is limited. For more information and to register please visit the Intrinsic ID website.

About Intrinsic ID

Intrinsic ID is the worlds leading digital authentication company for the Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded applications. It is the inventor of SRAM Physical Unclonable Function, or SRAM PUF, leveraging manufacturing variations in semiconductors to create unique IDs and keys to authenticate chips, data, devices and systems. Through its flexibility, scalability and low implementation cost, Intrinsic ID products address the security needs of the fast-growing IoT market. Its solutions are used to validate payment systems, secure connectivity, authenticate sensors, and protect sensitive government and military data and systems. Intrinsic IDs award recognition includes the EU 2016 Innovation Radar Prize, which honors high-potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research. Intrinsic IDs SRAM PUF technology has been proven in millions of devices and in products that have passed certification by Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL6+), EMVCo, Visa and multiple governments. Visit Intrinsic ID online at http://www.Intrinsic-ID.com.

Intrinsic ID and the Intrinsic ID logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intrinsic ID, Inc., and are protected by trademark laws of the United States and other jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Its an honor to be named to the Fast 50 again this year, and we have big plans ahead to continue this momentum in 2018 and beyond.

Movable Ink, the leading provider of intelligent content, was named one of New York Citys fastest growing companies for a second consecutive year by Crains New York Business. Movable Ink ranked No. 40 on this years Fast 50 list, which recognizes the area's best and most innovative companies for their winning business strategies and astronomical revenue growth.

Making this years Fast 50 list comes on the heels of an amazing three quarters for Movable Ink. Earlier this year, the company introduced its new intelligent content platform, the industrys first comprehensive enterprise solution that enables any marketer to personalize email content at the moment of open. Last month, Movable Ink announced the successful migration of all its clients to the new platform.

In September, Movable Ink also held its second Think Summit, where clients including Travelocity, Walgreens, Lenovo, The New York Times, and HotelTonight demonstrated the dramatic results theyre achieving with Movable Inks intelligent content platform. The company also announced at the summit the hiring of marketing technology veteran Bridget Bidlack who will spearhead Movable Inks continued product innovation.

This has been a year of tremendous success, including our new intelligent content platform, continued global expansion, second Think Summit, and an ever-growing roster of clients and Inkers that makes it all possible, said Vivek Sharma, CEO of Movable Ink. Its an honor to be named to the Fast 50 again this year, and we have big plans ahead to continue this momentum in 2018 and beyond.

Over the past three years, Movable Ink experienced 434% revenue growth, signaling true market readiness for innovation in the email channel. With a continued push for international growth, the company surpassed 170 employees and 400 clients worldwide this year, and made its first APAC hire in Sydney, Australia.

About Movable Ink

Movable Ink is the leading provider of intelligent content, which enables marketers to personalize email content at the moment-of-open. Marketers use Movable Ink to provide consumers with engaging on-brand experiences to grow revenues with every customer interaction. Since 2010, consumers have engaged with over 400 billion intelligent content impressions from more than 400 leading brands, including Delta, eBay, Spotify, and The Wall Street Journal. The company is headquartered in New York City with offices in London, San Francisco, and Sydney.
Michael Mirne The second exception to the Freeze Act has drawn significant attention in Monmouth County, New Jersey, since Monmouth Countys Assessment Demonstration Program (ADP) practically mandates annual revaluations or re-assessments.

In a prior article, we discussed N.J.S.A. 54:3-26, which is sometimes referred to as the Freeze Act. That statute sets forth the rule that following a successful real estate tax appeal, the judgment of the County Tax Board shall be binding upon the taxing district for the year of the assessment, and for the next two years. However, two major exceptions to the Freeze Act are the following:

1. If as of October 1 of the pretax year, the property in question has been the subject of an added assessment, a condominium conversion, a subdivision or zoning change, the binding effect of such judgment shall terminate with said pretax year; And

2. In cases in which the municipality conducts a complete revaluation or complete reassessment of all properties, the freeze act will no longer be applicable to any property, starting with the year of the revaluation.

The second exception to the Freeze Act has drawn significant attention in Monmouth County, New Jersey, since Monmouth Countys Assessment Demonstration Program (ADP) practically mandates annual revaluations or re-assessments. While a small percentage of towns have opted out of the ADP, the remainder of Monmouth County towns continues to annually re-assess all of its properties. With the annual revaluations and re-assessments comes the reality that a taxpayer, who just won his or her tax appeal, may have to repeat the tax appeal process again for the following year.

While we would have thought that the removal of the protections of the Freeze Act from the County Tax Boards decisions would have resulted in fewer tax appeals being filed, we have not experienced any diminution in the number of appeals we have filed for Monmouth County properties. In fact, in 2017 we filed more tax appeals for Monmouth County properties than we have filed in any prior year. One major difference with ADP being in effect, however, is that many taxpayers are less eager to retain the services of an appraiser in cases where the anticipated tax savings will only last one year. Instead, some taxpayers are far more willing to rely upon comparable sales, which is far from ideal, since it means that the witness testifying at the trial may be our client, rather than a trained expert. However, with substantial preparation of all our matters, we have come close to approximating the same success rate.

More importantly, taxpayers who are not afforded the protections of the Freeze Act need to be aware that if they won their appeals in prior years, they still must review their new assessments to make sure that they are not worth contesting again. In particular, taxpayers who won their appeals in 2016 or 2017 are the ones who would be affected by the removal of the Freeze Act protections. In addition to Monmouth County residents, several towns outside of Monmouth County will also be affected by revaluations in 2018. These towns include Piscataway, in Middlesex County, which will be undergoing a full re-assessment. In Bergen County, the list of towns is far more extensive, and includes the Boro of Carlstadt, Boro of Closter, Boro of Cresskill, City of Hackensack, Boro of Hasbrouck Heights, Boro of Little Ferry, Boro of Moonachie, Boro of North Arlington, Boro of Oradell, Township of Saddle Brook, Boro of Saddle River, Township of South Hackensack, Boro of Westwood, and the Boro of Woodcliff Lake.

In order to obtain a complete list of revaluation towns, you may contact your County Tax Administrator. In order to find out more about tax appeals, please contact our office.
Rocky Mountain Elite CAPS Elite product development has generated a great deal of excitement both within the company, and within the industry.

Custom Air Products & Services, Inc. (CAPS), a leading commercial and industrial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) company based in Houston, Texas (US) is nearing completion of a project based on its new Elite custom replacement HVAC unit technology. The four 75,000 CFM custom HVAC replacement units were engineered and built for a mission critical project located in Colorado. The project utilizes the latest in EC fan grid technology as well as a strong, light-weight custom configurable aluminum structure.

The Rocky Mountain Elite project posed some challenges for the CAPS engineering team, explained CAPS HVAC Solutions Manager, Ric Luck. The Elite CAPS team definitely came through for the customer by delivering a custom design solution in record time.

Luck then went on to outline the steps taken just to prepare for the project beginning with sending a team out to the site to take precise field measurements.

Our project required us to remove a number of older units and replace them with new, state-of-the-art units, but designed to fit in the same location and utilize the same openings and connections, explained Luck. Within 10 days of returning home from the field trip, the engineering team presented a 3D model for the customers approval.

Shipping and placing this massive rooftop unit became engineerings first task to solve. The solution involved breaking down the RTU in five smaller sections to find the best transportation solutions, component arrangement, and weight configuration to achieve the desired results for this task. The RTU utilizes a number of applicable energy efficient technologies. EC (electronically commutated) fan technology, for example, allows the units to achieve greater efficiency in air-flow, and offer a greater range of operability choices.

CAPS Elite product development has generated a great deal of excitement both within the company, and within the industry. We look forward to discussing some of the solutions outlined here with other potential customers, said Luck. For further information about the Elite products, Ric Luck can be contacted at ric.luck@customairproducts.com.

About Custom Air Products & Services

Custom Air Products & Services, Inc. is a full-service HVAC company that specializes in the design, construction, installation, modification, and servicing of industrial and commercial air conditioning equipment. CAPS employees are committed to providing exceptional custom design and quality workmanship at competitive prices.

Custom Air Products & Services currently occupies six (6) modern facilities, totaling 300,000 square feet in size. These buildings include service shops for fabrication, manufacturing, electrical modifications, a parts and shipping and receiving warehouse, administrative and engineering offices, and a training facility. CAPS services are provided to customers throughout the United States and abroad while their manufactured products have been delivered to sites around the world. Currently CAPS has equipment operating on six (6) continents and in 52 countries.

For more information, contact Custom Air Products at 713.460.9009 or visit them on the web at http://www.customairproducts.com.

###

If youd like more information about this topic, please call Susan Archer at 713.460.9009 or email her at susan.archer@customairproducts.com.
Juliette Kayyem Joins Zemcar as CEO As the convenience of rideshares grow in popularity, we must be diligent about security, especially when it comes to our children.

Zemcar, the family-focused rideshare that makes life easier for busy parents, has announced the appointment of Juliette Kayyem, a national leader in homeland security, former Assistant Secretary at DHS, and the author of The Security Mom, as CEO. Shahid Azim, Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard University and a serial entrepreneur in consumer healthcare startups, also joins as President and Chief Operating Officer. The Company also appointed new Advisors: Donna Levin, co-founder of Care.com, Laura DeBonis, formerly of Google and EF Education First, Cara Natterson, pediatrician and New York Times best-selling author, and Alan Bersin, formerly California's Secretary of Education and Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego. Bilal Khan, formerly Founder and CEO, moves to the role of Board Chairman and will continue to be the head of product and technology.

Kayyem brings to Zemcar decades of experience in business, government, academia and the private sector. Security is her career focus  shes run one of the few female-owned security companies, and she provides insight on national security issues and incidents as a Security Analyst on CNN. She is the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard Kennedy School, where she teaches emerging leaders in emergency management and national security. She also sits on the Trust Advisory Board of AirBnB, and is a Board Member of MassINC and the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. As the security mom, Kayyem will continue to focus Zemcars efforts on delivering on Zemcars animating philosophy: safe drivers, secure riders.

Zemcars innovative model is focused on servicing todays busy families with a safer, more trusted answer to transportation and scheduling hassles, said Kayyem. As a long-time advocate for safety and security, and a mother of three kids, I was drawn to its mission and strongly believe this is a service that every family can benefit from. As the convenience of rideshares grow in popularity, we must be diligent about security, especially when it comes to our children. I am committed to helping bring the Company to its next level  safely servicing families in the Greater Boston area and soon enough, other states with the same need.

The rideshare industry is at a precipice  while the value is now widely understood, the execution from the industrys first-to-market players has caused questions about safety and security for both drivers and riders. At the same time, in a recent survey reported by NBC, 35% of parents have stated that managing their childrens transportation needs is considered more stressful than filing taxes. Zemcar is focused on solving this issue with game-changing safety and service features such as:



The only rideshare in Massachusetts insured for minors under 18

Ride monitoring via three-way communication

Live video feed

Circle of Trusted Drivers based on its patented algorithm

Kayyem brings unmatched security experience that will help to further Zemcars safety-based mission and build trusted relationships with parents. Juliette is one of the most recognizable, trusted and credible leaders in safety and security, and we are very excited to have her leadership as CEO. We have a big vision and excellent, scalable product, and she brings the unique skills required to take it to next level, said Bilal Khan, Founder and Chief Technology Officer. Together, with Shahid Azim as our new President and COO, and the new and illustrious additions to our Board of Advisors, we are building a unique and talented and world class team, and a distinctively innovative and safe rideshare for families.

Learn more about Zemcar and why Kayyem joined the Company in this video: http://bit.ly/JNKVid

Shahid Azim, a former advisor, has also joined Zemcar as President and Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, Shahid will work closely with Juliette and the executive team to ensure successful execution of ideas to market delivery. Shahid has a track record of building world class teams around disruptive innovation and will focus on growth, talent and financing, Currently, he is a Partner at Ripple Ventures and also serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard University, advising campus-wide research labs on commercialization and venture creation.

Zemcar also added four new Advisory Board members:

Donna Levin

Levins experience building Care.com also lends itself well to Zemcars mission, and will guide Zemcars business strategy managing both a supply and demand side business model. Care.com is the world's largest online marketplace for finding and managing family care, with more than 25 million members, spanning 20 countries. Levin also helped build Upromise as Vice President of Operations. Levin is currently a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.

Laura DeBonis

DeBonis brings a strong security background to the Advisory Board, having served on technology advisory boards in the past on security and privacy matters. She serves as co-chair of the Technology Working Group of the Public Interest Declassification Board, to which she was appointed by President Obama in 2015. In the past, she has also held management positions at Google and EF Education First, serving in operational roles and in business development, and has served on project teams for the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Cara Natterson

Cara Natterson is a pediatrician, consultant, and New York Times bestselling author of THE CARE AND KEEPING OF YOU, a 3-book series with over six million copies in print, and GUY STUFF, all published by American Girl. A graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins Medical School, Cara trained in pediatrics at University of California at San Francisco. Cara also travels the country speaking to kids, parents, and companies about the issues and challenges facing tweens and teens.

Alan Bersin

Alan Bersins dedication to public service, education and security aligns well with Zemcars brand promise to families. Alan has served as an Inaugural Fellow in the Homeland Security Project at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C., as Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as Vice President of INTERPOL for the Americas Region and as a member of the INTERPOL Executive Committee. He served through 2016 as Chair of the Advisory Committee for the International Policing Division Steering Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Bersin was also appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California by President Bill Clinton, and he has held numerous other distinguished state and local government positions, including serving as California's Secretary of Education, Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego, and Chairman of the San Diego Airport Authority.

About Zemcar

Zemcar is a mobile app-based transportation company, providing a trusted, insured rideshare for families. Founded in Boston, Zemcar is a unique solution: the only video-enabled rideshare in the world, the only rideshare company in Massachusetts insured for unaccompanied minors, and the worlds first rideshare with live stream video from inside the car to the customers phone. Zemcar provides families with a trusted circle of drivers that they can recommend to other users, and allows one time or recurring, scheduled rides, enabling parents to plan ahead and better meet their familys ongoing transportation needs.

The companys service is currently open to Greater Boston residents. For more information, visit http://www.zemcar.com.
Our world-famous ribs and world-class brand experience have been widely popular in Brazil since the brand launched there in 2014, and its exciting to see the brand continue to grow and bring the one-of-a-kind Tony Romas experience to new fans in Sao Paulo

Romacorp, Inc., the parent company of Tony Romas, announces the opening of its newest restaurant, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The restaurant is in the Morumbi area of Sao Paulo, home to the famous Estadio do Morumbi and the Sao Paulo Futebol Clube. This is the second Tony Romas restaurant in Brazil for franchisees Carlos Alberto Pereira Passos and Carlos Alberto da Silva Miranda, who successfully launched the Tony Romas brand in Brazil during 2014.

We are extremely proud of our franchisees Carlos Alberto Pereira Passos and Carlos Alberto da Silva Miranda for their dedication and the hard work they have put into launching Tony Romas newest location in Brazil, said Bradley Scher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Romacorp, Inc. Our world-famous ribs and world-class brand experience have been widely popular in Brazil since the brand launched there in 2014, and its exciting to see the brand continue to grow and bring the one-of-a-kind Tony Romas experience to new fans in Sao Paulo.

The new Tony Romas restaurant is in Morumbi in the southern region of Sao Paulo next to the Morumbi Shopping Mall, one of the most popular shopping centers in Brazil with more than 480 shops. The restaurant boasts 3,950 square feet, seats more than 180 guests, includes a bar, and has seven large TVs available for guests looking to take a delicious break from a long day of shopping. The location will also offer modern architecture, with a retractable glass ceiling providing guests a pleasant atmosphere and a wide view of the beautiful tree-line scenery of the area.

We are thrilled to expand and grow Tony Romas throughout Brazil, and familiarize the locals and tourists with our world-famous Baby Back Ribs, said Carlos Alberto Pereira Passos, Director Partner of I2C Administracao Participacoes Ltda. Our restaurant is in a convenient hub of Morumbi, giving our guests the perfect meeting location for a business lunch, happy hour with friends, date-night dinners and lunch with family on the weekends.

About Romacorp, Inc.

Romacorp, Inc., is the parent company of Tony Roma's restaurants, the world's largest casual dining concept specializing in ribs. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Romacorp, Inc. has nearly 150 restaurant locations in more than 30 countries and is one of the most globally recognizable names in the industry. The first Tony Roma's restaurant opened 45 years ago in North Miami, Florida. Tony Roma's is also proud to partner with the Make-A-Wish Foundation (http://www.cnfl.wish.org), one of the world's leading children's charities, in an effort to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses across Central and Northern Florida. For more information about Romacorp, Inc. and Tony Roma's, visit http://www.tonyromas.com.

Please visit http://www.tonyromasfranchise.com or call (866) 981-0586 for information about Tony Roma's franchising opportunities.
Mount Horeb, WI Dentist, Dr. Angela Cotey, Honors Dental Hygiene Month

Dr. Angela Cotey, accomplished dentist, honors National Dental Hygiene Month by teaching patients how orthodontics can lead to improved oral health. Patients who have trouble caring for their teeth due to crowding are encouraged to receive Invisalign clear braces in Mount Horeb, WI, to improve their oral health and appearance.

Those interested in receiving braces in Mount Horeb, WI, are encouraged to receive a consultation from Dr. Cotey, a respected dentist, and find out if Invisalign aligners are a good option for them. When teeth are crowded, they can overlap and become crooked making it difficult to clean them properly with at-home care. As a result, plaque can become trapped between crowded teeth and lead to tooth decay or gum disease.

It is important to note that special steps may need to be taken while wearing traditional orthodontics to ensure that the teeth are adequately cleaned. Brackets and wires cover portions of the teeth and make it challenging for patients to floss and brush all surfaces. Dr. Cotey offers Invisalign solutions, which eliminate this common problem by allowing patients to remove them each time they need to brush or floss. Invisible aligners make it much easier for patients to keep their teeth clean and healthy while they receive orthodontic treatments. They are also more comfortable than traditional braces because they do not require metal components that can harm the sensitive inner lips and cheeks.

Patients who want to receive braces in Mount Horeb, WI, are encouraged to consider discreet, comfortable and convenient Invisalign treatment. Those who want to schedule an appointment with a skilled dentist can call Village Smile Care 608-433-2102.

About the Doctor

Dr. Angela Cotey is a general dentist offering personalized dental care to patients in Mount Horeb, WI. Dr. Cotey and her entire team take pride in offering the latest advancements in dentistry and dental technology to ensure each patient enjoys a comfortable experience with long-lasting results. Dr. Cotey combines advanced dentistry with a fun and friendly style. She is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Dental Association, the Wisconsin Dental Association, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry and current President of the Wisconsin Dental Study Club and Madison Dental Progress Forum. To learn more about Dr. Cotey or the services she offers, please visit her website at http://www.villagesmilecare.com or call 608-433-2102 to schedule an appointment.
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (center); Yang Jian (second from right), deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR; Xie Feng (first from left), commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the SAR, are among the 340-plus guests joining China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhou Shuchun (second from left) at China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable luncheon themed "Guangdong-HK-Macao Greater Bay Area from the Belt & Road Perspective: Opportunities and Challenges" held on Monday in Hong Kong, in celebration of China Daily Hong Kong Edition's 20th anniversary. [Edmond Tang, Roy Liu/China Daily]

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor provided glimpses into her vision for Hong Kong's future on Monday during an event held as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations for the China Daily Hong Kong Edition.

Speaking to a gathering of 340 distinguished guests, including diplomats and leaders in the public and private sectors in the special administrative region, Lam talked about how that future links with the Belt and Road Initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping.

In her keynote speech at the China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable luncheon, Lam referred to the theme of the forum, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from the Belt and Road Perspective: Opportunities and Challenges.

Lam said the topic was "a most timely and relevant one" that is "inspiring", bringing together "two critically important national development strategies".

"Much synergy can be derived from interactions of both, particularly in shaping the future of Hong Kong," she said.

Editor-in-Chief of China Daily Group Zhou Shuchun. [Edmond Tang, Roy Liu/China Daily]

China Daily Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Zhou Shuchun told the story of the Hong Kong edition's two-decade journey.

"China Daily Hong Kong Edition was founded to cater to the city's huge community of English-speaking readers  to bring them news, views and in-depth research-based features from across China and beyond.

"Founded immediately after the Hong Kong SAR came into being, China Daily Hong Kong Edition was also tasked with upholding the values of the 'one country, two systems' principle, outlining its scope and clarifying the nuances according to the Basic Law for its Anglophone readers," he said.

While Lam said she couldn't disclose information about her first Policy Address, set for Wednesday, she stressed the importance of upholding 'one country, two systems' to enable the SAR to benefit from its strategic edge and make the most of opportunities that the Belt and Road brings.

Lam's proposed strategy to "minimize adverse competition and duplication of resources" between cities in the Greater Bay Area was echoed by Hong Kong Legislative Council member Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who is also the Maritime Silk Road Society co-chair. Ip advocated relaxing regulations on the movement of people and resources between Hong Kong and the mainland.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. [Edmond Tang, Roy Liu/China Daily]

"In the long term, ultimately, we should explore whether we could build this tremendous area for a population of 66 million and an aggregated GDP of $1.36 trillion into something like a single market," said Ip. "If we want to maximize the potential of the Greater Bay Area, we must work out how to overcome the existing hurdles to the free flow of people, goods, funds, data and services."

Shun Tak Holdings Group Executive Chairman and Managing Director Pansy Ho  whose business interests include Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland  also spoke of "capitalizing on collaborative advantages" between cities in the Greater Bay Area without necessarily sacrificing their "competitive" spirit.

"The governments need to work together, and try to assimilate the efforts so that there could be pooled resources to create what we call one journey multidestination travel," Ho said.
CareOne, a premier family-owned healthcare company with more than 31 centers in New Jersey, is pleased to announce its Executive Vice President, Elizabeth Straus, has been recognized as one of New Jerseys Top 25 Leading Women Intrapreneurs. Ms. Straus is being honored for conquering the many challenges associated with the corporate environment as well as her unwavering commitment to innovation and philanthropy in the elder-care sector. She will be recognized, along with other women executives in this category, at the Top 25 Leading Women Intrapreneurs Event on Monday, October 16, 2017 at the Liberty House in Jersey City.

This recognition comes as Ms. Straus continues her strong leadership and philanthropic vision at CareOne. Her work includes employee-focused campaigns that aim to support CareOne caregivers and patients, and the communities they serve. In addition to her leadership in CareOnes innovative clinical programs, she tirelessly works to further the companys internal culture of philanthropy. This was evident earlier this year when Ms. Straus, along with CareOne President and CEO Daniel Straus, were the joint recipients of the Make-A-Wish New Jersey Foundations 2017 Humanitarian of the Year Award and led CareOne to be honored as the 2017 Corporation of the Year.

Following her recognition at the Top 25 Leading Women Intrapreneurs event on October 16, Ms. Straus will spearhead Starry Night Masquerade, a Puerto Rico relief effort organized by CareOne and InnovaCare, on Thursday, October 19. The fundraising event will be held at the Skylight Clarkson North in New York City and has a goal of raising millions in support of hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

In addition to this most recent accolade, Ms. Straus has been recognized as a NJBiz 40 Under 40 winner, she was a recipient of the Community Resource Council of Northern New Jerseys Harry Brandeis Award, and was a 2015 finalist for the NJBiz Healthcare Heroes Awards program.

To learn more about Elizabeth Straus and CareOnes commitment to quality care and philanthropy, please visit http://www.Care-One.com. For more information or to register for the Top 25 Leading Women Intrapreneurs Event on Monday, October 16, please visit the Leading Women Intrapreneurs EventBrite page.

About CareOne

With services that include post-hospital care, rehabilitation, assisted living, long-term care and a variety of clinical specialty programs, CareOne offers compassionate care in gracious, professionally managed centers and communities. CareOne serves thousands of patients every day and admits and discharges more than 20,000 patients every year. With more than 31 centers in New Jersey, CareOnes outstanding programs and services are conveniently located throughout the state. Interested parties can engage with CareOne on social media by following @CareOneMgt on Twitter,@careonemgt on Instagram, and CareOne Management, LLC on Facebook and LinkedIn. For more information about CareOne, please visit http://www.care-one.com.
American Cruise Lines Named North America's Leading Cruise Line for a 4th Year in a Row.

American Cruise Lines, has been recognized once againas the leader in American cruising winning multiple prestigious travel industry awards. For a 4th year in a row, the Line has been honored by the World Travel Awardsnamed 2017s North Americas Leading Cruise Line, and for a 3rd year in a row, the Line has won Travel Weeklys Gold & Silver Magellan Awards including: the 2017 Gold Magellan Award for Best Overall River Cruise Ship, 2017 Silver Magellan Award for Best Overall Small Cruise Ship, and 2017 Silver Magellan Award for Best Overall River Cruising.

As the largest cruise line in the U.S., American Cruise Lines is honored to win these coveted awards. We are committed to exceeding guests expectations by providing personalized service while elevating the standard of cruising in America through our innovative shipbuilding programs, says Timothy Beebe, Vice President of American Cruise Lines.

American Cruise Lines maintains the largest and newest fleet of fully-stabilized and environmentally-friendly ships in the U.S. Featuring the largest staterooms in the industry with full-sized bathrooms and furnished balconies, the new ships offer guests unobstructed views through floor-to-ceiling, sliding-glass balcony doors. All interior cabin entrances ensure the highest level of privacy.

Specializing in small ship cruising for over 30 years, American Cruise Lines is honored to receive these highly sought-after Awards. It means a great deal to receive these awards, but even more so to be recognized by our colleagues in the Travel industry, says Susan Shultz, Director of Sales for American Cruise Lines.

American Cruise Lines tradition of excellence in small ship cruising will continue into 2018, with the highly anticipated launch of the first ship in a new class of modern riverboats. The Line also plans to launch a new costal cruising ship in 2018, American Constitutionthe sister-ship to American Constellation, which debuted earlier this year. With 10 ships and more in production, the Line is looking forward to another year of smooth sailing.

American Cruise Lines has over 35 itineraries, visits 30 states and explores the rivers and regions of Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, New England, the Southeast, and the Mississippi.

For reservations or to learn more about American Cruise Lines please visit:

Americancruiselines.com or call 1-800-814-6880.

Follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/americancruiselines

Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/American_Cruise.
Zoya Hameed (right), a physician from the United Kingdom, hugs Hanin, a frightened Syrian refugee girl, on a beach near Molyvos, on the Greek island of Lesbos, on October 30, 2015. Photo: Paul Jeffrey Providing hospitality to migrants is something the prophets called us to do; its something Christ called us to do.

Every minute, an average of 20 people worldwide flee their homes because of war, famine and persecution. To prayerfully remember the plight of migrants, Global Migration Sunday has been set for December 3, the first Sunday of Advent. On this date, all United Methodist churches are asked to gather an offering dedicated to responding to human suffering caused by migration.

The facts are staggering, said Thomas Kemper, chief executive, General Board of Global Ministries. There are more than 65.6 million displaced people in the world today, more than at any time since World War II.

The millions of migrants include children and their families fleeing to escape war and persecution, violence and extortion activities associated with criminal and gang organizations, economic hardship and poverty, forced displacement, and a distrust of local government. In most instances, the journey is treacherous as people traverse continents and the world. Thousands have died while crossing oceans and seas in ill-equipped boats; disease and starvation kill others. Those who make it to a new place are not guaranteed that they can stay and many are turned back.

In desperation, millions are leaving their homes in an attempt to escape deplorable situations, said Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the Council of Bishops. Throughout its history, The United Methodist Church has been concerned for migrants. Christ calls us to stand with those who are vulnerable, who have unmet needs, such as safety, food, clothing and shelter, and who are in search of better lives.

The 2016 Book of Resolutions statement Global Migration and the Quest for Justice declares, Global migration as a factor in the quest for justice is a major priority of The United Methodist Church as a denomination that is global in its vision, mission and ministries. This concern is rooted in both a biblical mandate for justice and a commitment to the future of the church.

On Global Migration Sunday, United Methodists will have an opportunity through this appeal to support millions of displaced people throughout the world, as well as deepen the churchs understanding of the biblical call to welcome and care for the displaced.

Global Migration Sunday is a partnership between four general agencies of The United Methodist Church: General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Communications, General Board of Church and Society and Discipleship Ministries.

In addition to the one-time offering to benefit the Advance, churches can engage in Global Migration Sunday through numerous resources, including worship materials, social media images and content, and a webinar to educate leaders about the current plight of migrants and the churchs call to help. The Upper Room has created a bilingual devotional booklet that includes a specially-written Prayer of Illumination, to serve as a teaching tool in the languages of English, Arabic, French and Spanish. The resources, including stories of migrants, will be available at umcmigration.org, beginning in early October.

Offerings in support of Global Migration Sunday should be directed to Advance No. 3022144.

Financial gifts will be used to support migrants around the world, including helping provide safe passage for those with no viable alternative but to leave, and assisting welcoming communities to help with the needs of new arrivals.

"Migration involves challenges, injustices, and hazards but can also be a blessing, Kemper says. The church has a responsibility to respond to the physical and emotional needs of the displaced, and it can recognize and utilize the value of mobility."

Providing hospitality to migrants, he said, is something the prophets called us to do; its something Christ called us to do.
Together, we can promote awareness for this terrible illness, and ultimately save lives.

Capillus, LLC continues to support the fight against breast cancer this year by pledging to donate 3% of sales from all Capillus laser therapy caps purchased on Capillus.com during the month of October to breast cancer research.

Capillus is committed to helping women and men fighting breast cancer.

The Capillus caps use Low Level Laser Therapy technology (LLLT), a medical treatment for hair loss that is both minimally invasive and chemical-free. LLLT treats a myriad of issues, including androgenetic alopeciamore commonly known as male or female-pattern baldness. Physicians sometimes recommend Capillus laser caps to patients who are seeking hair restoration post medically-induced hair loss from chemotherapy. Individuals are advised to consult with their doctor or physician about using Capillus for anything other than its intended purpose as it is only cleared for use by the FDA for the treatment of hereditary hair loss.

According to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), there is a 95% survival rate in men and women, when breast cancer is detected within the first six months. Thanks to modern medicine and early detection, the breast cancer survival rate is very high, but hair loss is still a major concern for chemotherapy patients.

Almost everyone knows someonea spouse, a friend, a relative who has been affected by breast cancer, says Capillus Marketing Director, Frances Pina-Brea. Together, we can promote awareness for this terrible illness, and ultimately save lives.

Capillus currently offers three FDA-Cleared laser caps for direct sale via http://www.capillus.com. Capillus offers a value model in the Capillus82 which includes 82 laser diodes, a mid-range device with the Capillus202 containing 202 laser diodes as well as a premium Capillus272 Pro device with 272 laser diodes. Most recently, Capillus introduced its newest model containing 312 laser diodes for maximum coverage, the CapillusRX, which is exclusively available for sale through the company's physician network.

Capillus will donate 3% of sales from any of the aforementioned devices that are purchased from http://www.capillus.com to breast cancer research throughout the month of October.

About Capillus, LLC

Capillus, LLC offers prescription and over-the-counter hair regrowth products and medical devices for both men and women suffering from hair loss. The Capillus premiere product lines include low-level laser therapy (LLLT) devices that are FDA-cleared and manufactured in the US under the highest-quality certification standard for the medical device industry (ISO13485). Capillus also offers additional non-prescription clinical hair products for hair and scalp health. Capillus products are available directly to the public for at-home use and also to their network of physicians for office use. For more information visit http://www.capillus.com.
North-West College Van Nuys Campus It's exciting to continue our 50-year legacy of educating students for success at this new location in the heart of the San Fernando Valley.

Students interested in pursuing a career in the health care field now have the option to attend North-West College (NWC) in Van Nuys, California. Located at 14540 Haynes Street, the campus opened its doors to new students Monday, September 18, after undergoing extensive renovations to ensure an exceptional learning environment for students and Team Members alike.

The new Van Nuys location demonstrates the Colleges ongoing commitment to serving students throughout Southern California.

"We are thrilled to be able to serve the students and community of Van Nuys and its surrounding cities," explained Chief Strategy Officer Serjik Kesachekian. "It's exciting to continue our 50-year legacy of educating students for success at this new location in the heart of the San Fernando Valley."

Individuals interested in attending the North-West College Van Nuys campus can choose from several different health care programs, including: Vocational Nursing, Dental Assisting, Medical Assisting, Medical Insurance Billing and Coding, Pharmacy Technician and more. Each program follows the College's hands-on training modelgiving students a chance to learn course material in the classroom and then put their knowledge into practice to develop relevant skills for the World of Work.

"We cannot wait to see students enter and thrive in these programs as they experience firsthand the power of quality education," Kesachekian shared.

To learn more about North-West College's Van Nuys Campus or the health care training programs offered at the College, please contact Nancy Aguillon at NancyA@success.edu.

About North-West College

Founded in 1966, North-West College has been committed to training individuals to enter and advance in the health care field for 50 years. A leader in allied health education, the College offers a dozen different health care programs at seven campus locations throughout Southern California, including West Covina, Pomona Valley, Glendale, Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach and Van Nuys. Accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), North-West College offers a supportive educational environment for those ready to start a health care career. To date, the College has graduated more than 45,000 studentsindividuals who have gone on to raise the standard of excellence at health care organizations of all types.

For more information about North-West College and its programs, visit http://www.nw.edu.
The 2017 edition of New York Super Lawyers recognizes 84 attorneys from the New York offices of the global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Of these, 56 are listed as Super Lawyers and 28 are listed as Rising Stars. Additionally, Robert J. Ivanhoe, Kristen J. Lonergan, and Stephen L. Rabinowitz are listed among the Top 100 Lawyers in New York. Lonergan and Barbara T. Kaplan are listed among the Top 50 Women Lawyers in New York.

In addition, Mary Voce is featured in the article Womens Day, which highlights women lawyers who were pioneers in the law profession, particularly women who attended law school before 1980. Voce provides a first-hand account of what it was like to attend a male-dominated law school and enter into a profession with few women lawyers.

According to the Super Lawyers website, the selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations, and evaluations that identify a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Greenberg Traurig attorneys on the New York Super Lawyers list include:



Farah S. Ahmed  Real Estate

Anastasia A. Angelova  Securities Litigation; Antitrust Litigation

Alan I. Annex  Securities & Corporate Finance; Mergers & Acquisitions

Daniel J. Ansell  General Litigation; Real Estate

Dennis J. Block  Mergers & Acquisitions; Business/Corporate

Julie P. Bookbinder  Intellectual Property Litigation; Intellectual Property

Scott J. Bornstein  Intellectual Property Litigation

Deirdre A. Carson  Land Use/Zoning; Real Estate

Philip H. Cohen  Litigation; E-Discovery

Bennett I. Deutsch  Tax

Richard A. Edlin  Securities & Corporate Finance; Intellectual Property Litigation; Securities Litigation

Judith D. Fryer  Securities & Corporate Finance; Mergers & Acquisitions

Kenneth A. Gerasimovich  Mergers & Acquisitions; Securities & Corporate Finance; Business/Corporate

Rudolph W. Giuliani  Litigation

Jerrold F. Goldberg  Employment & Labor: Employer; Employment Litigation: Defense

Caroline J. Heller  General Litigation; Legal Aid/Pro Bono

Michael D. Helsel  Mergers & Acquisitions

Joseph A. Herz  Securities & Corporate Finance; Mergers & Acquisitions

Linda B. Hirschson  Estate Planning & Probate; Nonprofit Organizations; Tax: Business

Robert A. Horowitz  Securities Litigation; General Litigation; Consumer Law

Robert J. Ivanhoe  Real Estate

Barbara T. Kaplan  Tax; Criminal Defense: White Collar

Warren J. Karp  Real Estate; Business/Corporate

W. Michael Kelly  Securities & Corporate Finance; Business/Corporate

Gary S. Kleinman  Real Estate

Kristen J. Lonergan  Real Estate

Obiamaka P. Madubuko  Criminal Defense: White Collar

Jeffrey D. Mamorsky  Employee Benefits

Alan Mansfield General Litigation; Personal Injury  Products: Defense; Criminal Defense  White Collar

John L. Mascialino  Administrative Law; Government Contracts; Government Relations

Steve Mastbaum  Tax

Peter A. Miller  Real Estate

Nancy A. Mitchell Bankruptcy: Business; Banking; Securities & Corporate Finance

Marc L. Mukasey  Criminal Defense: White Collar Crime

Clifford E. Neimeth Mergers & Acquisitions

Michael A. Nicodema  Intellectual Property Litigation; Business Litigation; Appellate; Personal Injury  Products: Defense

David W. Oppenheim Franchise/Dealership

Kenneth A. Philbin General Litigation; Real Estate

Stephen L. Rabinowitz Real Estate

Keith E. Reich Real Estate

Steven C. Russo  Environmental; Environmental Litigation; Government Relations

Paul D. Schindler  Entertainment & Sports

Howard S. Schochet Real Estate

Jay A. Segal Land Use/Zoning

Francis J. Serbaroli Health Care; Nonprofit Organizations

James I. Serota Antitrust Litigation

Howard R. Shapiro Real Estate

Barry E. Shimkin Real Estate

Jeffrey B. Sklaroff Criminal Defense: White Collar; General Litigation

Louis M. Solomon  Business Litigation; Antitrust Litigation; General Litigation; International

Jonathan L. Sulds  Employment & Labor: Employer

Alan N. Sutin  Intellectual Property; Technology Transactions; Media and Advertising

Mary F. Voce Tax

Edward C. Wallace Business/Corporate; Real Estate; State, Local & Municipal

Philip R. Weingold Tax; Business/Corporate

Kenneth Zuckerbrot Tax; Bankruptcy: Business

Greenberg Traurig attorneys on the New York Rising Stars list include:

Ejim Peter Achi  Mergers & Acquisitions

Jordi S. Bayer  Immigration

Hal N. Beerman Real Estate; Business Litigation

L. Minnie Bellomo  Real Estate

William L. Bossin Real Estate

Evelyn Bukchin Securities Litigation

Audry X. Casusol  Employee Benefits

Brandilyn Y. Dumas  Real Estate

Rosanna M. FoxImmigration

David Freylikhman Real Estate; Business/Corporate

Adam M. Goldstein  Real Estate

Lauren C. Harrison  Business Litigation

Shifra Herzberg  Estate Planning & Probate; Nonprofit Organizations

Matthew L. Hinker  Bankruptcy: Business; Business/Corporate

Kate Kalmykov  Immigration

Justin A. MacLean Intellectual Property

John C. Molluzzo, Jr. Business Litigation; Securities Litigation; General Litigation

Leo Muchnik  Bankruptcy: Business

John Ngo  Mergers & Acquisitions; Business/Corporate

Masahiro Noda  Intellectual Property; Intellectual Property Litigation

Pallav Raghuvanshi  Tax

Emily A. Sickelka  Antitrust Litigation

Jamie L. Sinclair  Real Estate

Daniel I.A. Smulian Personal Injury  Products: Defense; Business Litigation

Rosalyn K. Sutton  Real Estate

Andrew J. Towbin Real Estate

Ryan A. Wagner  Bankruptcy: Business

Brian N. Wheaton  Business/Corporate

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GTLaw) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. One firm worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and among the Top 20 on the 2016 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
Luke Sinclair, Director at American Express accepts TheCR Award for Best Community Design Element I am consistently amazed by the innovative community work we see on a daily basis in TheCR Network, said Rachel Happe, Co-Founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable. Leaders in community management are showing the world what the future of work and the future of leadership looks like."

The winners of the second annual TheCR Awards were announced Monday, October 2nd, including innovative community leaders from SAP, McGraw-Hill Education, and City Year. The Community Roundtable, the leading global resource for the community management industry, presented the awards at their annual conference in Boston, TheCR Connect. As the recognized leader in community management research, training and thought leadership, The Community Roundtable is uniquely qualified to evaluate and reward individual and organizational contributions to the industry.

TheCR Awards recognize excellence in community management across four categories including, Outstanding ROI, Best Community Design Element, Winning Welcome Wagon, and Best Recognition & Reward Program. Members of TheCR Network the world's premier resource for community professionals - were recognized in five categories. One additional award, Community MVP was awarded based on peer nominations.

I am consistently amazed by the innovative community work we see on a daily basis in TheCR Network, said Rachel Happe, Co-Founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable. Leaders in community management are showing the world what the future of work and the future of leadership looks like."

The winners of TheCR Awards 2017 are:

TheCR Network Detective: Cassandra Chin, Impact Analytics Operations & Community Specialist, City Year

TheCR Network Detective awards the member who helps source group knowledge and expertise by regularly asking thoughtful and meaningful questions in TheCR Network.

Cassandra Chin drives valuable discussions and resources inside TheCR Network by asking valuable and thoughtful questions weekly. Her inquisitive nature encourages participation and supports others work.

TheCR Network Journaler: Patty McEnaney, Director of Knowledge Management & Social, Envestnet Asset Management

TheCR Network Journaler awards the member who works out loud the most regularly and with the most depth.

Patty McEnaney is an active member of TheCR Network who regularly shares back her work with members of the Network, providing support, behavior-modeling and guidance to her peers. Pattys commitment to working out loud has made a lasting impact in the Network.

TheCR Network Explorer: Heather Ausmus, Director of Community, Ciena

TheCR Network Explorer awards the member who charts new territory in the community management industry. They take best practices, research, and community models to experiment and advance the industry.

Heather Ausmus uses TheCRs models, including the Community Maturity Model and the ROI model, to build and adapt her community programs, providing actionable examples for other members.

TheCR Network Pack Leader: Ted Hopton, Director of Social Business,

McGraw-Hill Education

TheCR Network Pack Leader awards the member who consistently leads the most discussions, online, in-person, and on virtual calls, and shows leadership around a topic or initiative in TheCR Network.

Ted Hopton is a leader in TheCR Network around a variety of topics, and is being specifically recognized this year for his outstanding work planning, managing and ensuring the success of the Enterprise Platform Review Working Group.

TheCR Network Power User: Lori Harrison-Smith, Enterprise Community Manager, Steelcase

TheCR Network Power User awards the most active member in TheCR Network who contributes on a regular basis in a wide variety of ways, from sharing their expertise to supporting and encouraging other members.

Lori Harrison-Smith is an active member in TheCR Network, contributing and collaborating in a wide variety of programs. Her participation supports the success of countless members, and makes TheCR Network a more valuable resource for many community professionals.

Outstanding Community ROI: Carbon Black

The Outstanding Community ROI award recognizes the community that best demonstrates significant ROI for their organization/business unit through innovative community management practices. Carbon Blacks community-based social support provides outstanding ROI for their organization.

Winning Welcome Wagon: Autodesk

The Winning Welcome Wagon award recognizes a new member welcome/onboarding program that increases participation, encourages enthusiasm and incorporates innovative community management ideas. Autodesk provides necessary information to new members following their registration in the community via a series of three concise, visually-appealing, informative and marketing-free welcome emails.

Best Community Design Element: American Express

The Best Community Design Element award recognizes a community program that shows the most impressive and engaging UI or design element. These submissions should show how the element encourages participation, increases engagement and/or contributes to overall community success. American Expresss mobile-responsive community homepage provides their employees with the information they need at their fingertips, connecting them with their colleagues around the world, and enabling them to access the tool on any device, wherever their day may take them.

Best Recognition + Reward Program: Electronic Arts

The Best Recognition + Reward Program award recognizes outstanding community recognition, reward, and gamification programs that increase engagement, drive participation and contribute to the overall positive health of your community. Electronic Arts hosts a gaming network that is home to millions of players, with Answers HQ right in the middle. Answers HQ allows players to be recognized for their efforts by turning community participation into a game. Each action a user takes in the community is validated through a variety of recognition rewards.

Community MVP: Jerry Janda, Manager, Community Communications, SAP

The Community MVP award recognizes excellence in community management  including outstanding efforts, willingness to share with peers, achievements and excellent community results. Although Jerry has only been with the SAP team for a year, he has quickly gained acceptance from even their most vocal critics. Their respect for him is evident in their responses to him, where they thank him for his swift, informative replies and show appreciation for his sense of humor!

His contributions include:



A steady stream of blog posts and conversations written to engage and educate community members.

A sense of humor that can turn negative feedback into a fun conversation which leads to positive change.

"Member of the Month" profiles that earn high praise from the community, helping to build morale and improve overall sentiment.

About The Community Roundtable: The Community Roundtable is the leading, global resource for the community management industry. The Community Roundtable helps organizations from Fortune 500s to start-ups and associations, recognize, define and leverage the power of their communities. Through the industrys only comprehensive community management research, The Community Roundtable provides training, events, and consulting to help companies recognize real ROI from their community programs. TheCR Network  the world's premier resource for community professionals, connects hundreds of community practitioners worldwide for networking, professional development and support. Learn more at communityroundtable.com
Pool Franchise Giveaway for Military Veterans At Americas Swimming Pool Company, the Veteran Program is our way of thanking veterans for their service to this country while providing one qualified veteran per year with the solid support they need to start their own business.

Veterans looking to launch a new career can take advantage of an opportunity to be their own boss and start their own franchise business without paying the franchise fee. Thats right  Americas Swimming Pool Company (ASP) the nations leading swimming pool service franchise, will waive the franchise fee for the winner of the 2017 ASP Veteran Program on Veterans Day (Saturday, November 11th).

The company is accepting applications from qualified veterans throughout October before selecting a winner. The winner will walk away with the rights to a swimming pool service franchise that will provide pool maintenance, repairs and renovations in his or her community. Anyone interested in applying can get started by clicking this link.

This is the third year for Americas Swimming Pool Company (ASP) Veteran Program. Retired Naval officer Miguel Macias of Reno, Nevada was the first winner in 2015. He is 18 months into owning his ASP franchise location and he says it has grown steadily. Ive nearly doubled my business. I started out as my only staff member with one truck, now I have four employees, three trucks and hope to get another vehicle soon, Macias said.

As the winner of the 2015 ASP Veteran Program, Macias franchise fee was waived by the ASP corporate office. His award, based on location, amounted to $30,000. It was a big help, Macias says, the money from the ASP Veteran Program allowed me to invest in getting a good truck and get all of the outfittings right away.

Americas Swimming Pool Company, headquartered in Macon, Georgia, is proud to honor and reward deserving veterans. According to Stewart Vernon, the CEO/Founder of Americas Swimming Pool Company, ASPs franchise development team targets veteran franchise candidates because they possess unique skill sets that make them a perfect fit as ASP franchise owners.

We have franchise owners from just about every branch of the military, said Vernon. Since franchising ASP in 2005, we have discovered that military members are accountable multi-taskers who thrive when following a proven plan. Our veteran franchisees tell us they appreciate our service-based franchise model because it has a structure in place, a set of rules to follow and a need to fulfill a duty  just like the military.

Army veteran Brad Baglio is the 17th veteran to join the ASP family. Hailing from Bell County, Texas, he was the winner of the 2016 ASP Veteran Program. He opened his ASP franchise location nearly five months ago. It is an honor to be a part of a franchise family that supports military veterans, Baglio said. Being selected as the veteran program winner was a dream come true! This opportunity is opening doors for me to build a business that I am passionate about.

Jef Flournoy, Vice President of Sales and Development at ASP Franchising, agrees ASPs franchise model gives veterans the confidence they need to succeed.

At Americas Swimming Pool Company, the Veteran Program is our way of thanking veterans for their service to this country while providing one qualified veteran per year with the solid support they need to start their own business, said Flournoy. Veterans make outstanding ASP franchisees due to their commitment, trustworthiness and unmatched determination.

In addition to the annual Veteran Program, ASP offers 15 percent off the franchise fee to any qualified US military veteran who becomes an ASP franchisee.

For all veterans interested in participating in the 2017 ASP Veteran Program, please visit http://www.aspfranchising.com/veterans to learn more about the program and fill out the entry form. Applications will be accepted until November 1st.

For anyone interested in learning more about ASP franchise opportunities, please visit ASPfranchising.com.

About Americas Swimming Pool Company

Americas Swimming Pool Company is the largest swimming pool cleaning, repair and renovation franchise system in the nation. Founded in 2002 by Stewart C. Vernon, the company is based on the belief that by providing a higher quality pool service at a reasonable price, the brand would raise the industry standards for pool service. In 2005, ASP began franchising and now covers 252 territories across the nation. For more information on ASPs swimming pool franchise opportunities, visit ASPfranchising.com. For more information on ASP-Americas Swimming Pool Company, visit ASPpoolco.com. Visit the corporate Facebook page @asppoolco.
Attorney Brian DiPietro Having an office in Tempe will allow me to better serve those residents in the East Valley charged with a criminal offense. Past News Releases RSS

Brian DiPietro Law, PLLC recently opened a new office in Tempe, AZ, located at 301 West Warner Road, Suite 133. Having an office in Tempe will allow me to better serve those residents in the East Valley charged with a criminal offense, said Brian DiPietro, founder of Brian DiPietro Law, PLLC, a National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers in 2017 for Criminal Defense recipient.

Since its inception, the goal of Brian DiPietro Law, PLLC has been to protect the individual against government action. In fact, the reason DiPietro went to law school was to practice criminal defense.

In school we learn about the founding of this country, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, noted DiPietro, who teaches criminal justice classes at a local community college. My familiarity with these great documents before going to law school, and my knowledge about them, directed me towards criminal defense. The Constitution was made to protect the interests of the minority.

For more than 34 years, DiPietro has consistently used his knowledge of criminal law and experience in the courtroom to provide residents in Phoenix and across Arizona with exceptional criminal defense regardless of how complex their case may be. Because of his background as a former prosecutor, DiPietro knows how the justice system works and what challenges clients may face, making him able to successfully defend clients both inside and outside the courtroom.

In addition to law, DiPietro is passionate about collecting U.S. coins and traveling to places of natural or historic significance. He is also a skilled magician, having performed professionally while in law school.

About Brian Dipietro Law, PLLC

Brian Dipietro has more than 30 years experience defending clients in a wide variety of cases involving DUI, drug charges, weapons, theft, assault, fraud, domestic violence, and other major felonies and misdemeanors. Practice areas of Brian Dipietro Law include DUI/DWI, arson, bribery, forgery, homicide, weapon offenses and more. For more information, please call (623) 242-1636, or visit http://criminallawdui.com/. The law office is located at 301 West Warner Road, Suite 133, Tempe, AZ.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Just as companies do background checks on prospective employee hires, it only makes sense that they conduct similar assessments of any third-party business partners before granting them access to their corporate data.

UpGuard, the company behind the world's first cyber resilience platform, today launched CyberRisk, an integrated risk mitigation platform for security professionals to automate vendor risk management for third parties.

The traditional methods for vendor assessment are time-consuming, manual, and ultimately, ineffective when dealing with dynamic modern environments with billions of risk factors. Security professionals are tasked with manually surveying the risks posed by third parties, an arduous process that involves reviewing lengthy questionnaires with no mechanism for tracking and verifying responses.

CyberRisk streamlines the risk assessment process as the first product to provide customers with a real-time view of the cyber risk associated with every vendor in their portfolio through a single, easy-to-understand score, the Cybersecurity Threat Assessment Rating (CSTAR). With CyberRisk, enterprises are able to evaluate susceptibilities to their internal and external infrastructure, monitor security compliance, and automate vendor risk assessments. UpGuards CyberRisk product actively scans billions of digital assets in real-time  more than a hundredfold the number of targets monitored by other security rating companies.

"Just as companies do background checks on prospective employee hires, it only makes sense that they conduct similar assessments of any third-party business partners before granting them access to their corporate data," said Mike Baukes, co-founder and co-CEO of UpGuard. "Unfortunately, many organizations still lack the processes and tools to conduct a comprehensive audit of internal and external factors affecting vendor risk. This is evidenced by the sheer number of breaches occurring on a daily basis. This is an epidemic. Our CyberRisk product not only integrates both critical aspects, but we take it several steps further by providing our customers with clear remediation guidance to become truly cyber resilient."

UpGuard has an unrivaled track record for identifying enterprise business risk. In the third quarter of 2017 alone, UpGuards Cyber Risk Team has discovered and secured a multitude of third party data exposures from enterprises including Verizon, via technology vendor NICE Systems, the Pentagons National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, via defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, and most recently, Accenture.

Since its inception in 2012, UpGuard has secured hundreds of millions of publicly exposed records and continues to grow more than 300% year over year. Enterprises including NASA, the New York Stock Exchange, RackSpace, ADP and many others rely on the UpGuard Cyber Resilience platform.

For further information about UpGuards Cyber Risk product, visit: http://www.upguard.com

About UpGuard

Businesses depend on trust, but breaches and outages erode that trust. UpGuard is the world's first cyber resilience platform to give business critical insights into 3rd party risks that makeup the digital supply chain for complex businesses. UpGuard gathers complete information across every digital surface, stores it in a single, searchable repository, and provides continuous validation and insightful visualizations so companies can make informed decisions. UpGuard is headquartered in Mountain View, CA with offices in Portland, OR and Sydney, Australia. To see how UpGuard works, or to get your CSTAR rating, visit http://www.upguard.com.
Top discipline watchdog summarizes work for the upcoming Party meeting

A plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection  the Party's top discipline watchdog  approved a work report on Monday to be submitted to the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opens on Oct 18 in Beijing.

The report, summarizing five years of commission work, will also be reviewed by the 18th CPC Central Committee at its seventh plenary meeting, which starts on Wednesday.

A total of 119 CCDI members attended the Eighth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing on Monday, according to a statement.

Wang Qishan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of CCDI, addressed the session.

CCDI members also approved the punishment of two senior officials for discipline violations, the statement said.

Li Gang was placed on one year of probation within the Party and Qu Shuhui was given two years of probation within the Party due to "serious violations of Party discipline", according to the statement.

A decision to remove Liu Shengjie from CCDI membership was also adopted. The statement did not disclose details on the three officials.

Since members of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection were elected in late 2012, the commission has undertaken a massive campaign against corruption and extravagance.

At its seventh plenary session in January, President Xi Jinping concluded that corruption had stopped spreading in China and a "crushing momentum" against graft had taken shape.

Jiang Laiyong, a senior researcher at the China Anti-Corruption Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the campaign has made fruitful progress in the past five years, and it has laid a solid foundation for the country's revival.

"China's anti-corruption drive has played an essential role in consolidating the country's political stability and has boosted people's confidence in sustainable social and economic development," he said. Jiang said the current high level of pressure being applied against graft is expected to last even though a new CCDI is expected to be elected at the 19th CPC National Congress.

More attention also should be paid to low-ranking officials so that more people can feel and share the anti-graft fruits, he suggested.

Xinhua contributed to this story.
Today we are naming the Olivet School of Business in honor of alumnus Mick McGraw. Mr. McGraws generous gifts will significantly strengthen our growing business degree programs. - Dr. John C. Bowling, Olivet Nazarene University president

To honor alumnus Michael Mick McGraw, Olivet Nazarene University president Dr. John C. Bowling announced that the Olivet School of Business would be renamed to the McGraw School of Business at Olivet Nazarene University. Dedicated on October 4th of 2017, the change was made to recognize the success and continued support of Mr. McGraw, CEO of Eastbrook Homes.

Mick McGraw received his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the Olivet School in 1972. After serving as vice president of the Union Bank and Trust for five years, Mr. McGraw joined the Eastbrook Development Company in 1979. He was named president in 1986, after the company experienced years of sustained growth under his leadership.

Recently celebrating its 50th anniversary, Eastbrook Homes has become one of the largest privately held construction companies in the United States. Eastbrooks use of green principles, energy efficient construction, and artfully designed communities has also led to Mick McGraws induction into the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame.

Located in the Weber Center on the Universitys main campus in Bourbonnais, Illinois, The McGraw School of Business offers a variety of degrees in business administration, management, and marketing. Also offered are advanced degrees, such as Master of Business Administration, Master of Organizational Leadership, and Doctor of Education in Ethical Leadership.

Mr. McGraw credits the strong Christian principles and ethics taught by Olivet as the foundation of his success in business, and in life. During the dedication ceremony, Mr. McGraw stated, Im very proud of all that Olivet has accomplished, but Im also proud that there has been no mission drift. The most important things have not changed.

Mick McGraw and his wife, Lucy, live near Grand Rapids, Michigan. His philanthropic efforts for a variety of charities, and his ongoing financial support for the school are an inspiration to Olivet Nazarene University students and faculty, and to the West Michigan community.
logo finding.wine Wine is a sense of community based on a shared passion, thats why we establish relationships with winemakers, producers and negotiates internationally, to expand our knowledge and ultimately deepen our passion for wine" Fabian Vega, Chief Wine Officer

Miamis newest fine wine private retailer and tasting room, finding.wine, has launched its website (http://www.finding.wine) - yes, it is .wine! The website aims to create a unique and full shopping experience for the expert and new wine enthusiast throughout the country and serve locally the Aventura, North Miami and Sunny Isles area.

Finding.wine is a new concept in the wine world that promises to provide a trusting source of exceptional wines at competitive prices. It was created when founders Fabian Vega, Patricio Molina and Alex Taylor observed an important demand in a promising market of newcomers to the wine industry.

Aside from the website, finding.wines secret tasting room creates a playground for the wine enthusiast or newly found wine fanatic by showcasing the stores collection of exquisite wines available online. In this private space, only provided to a chosen few, clients and their guests can sit back, relax and enjoy their passion for fine wine. Finding.wines private cellar inspires clients to discover a vast selection of elegant wines and classic vintages unavailable at other public stores.

Finding.wine specializes in high end quality wines from internationally renowned wineries and small production gems on the market. Clients can enjoy choosing from an extraordinary selection of limited imports from Spain, Italy, France, Hungary, Chile and many fantastic unknown wine regions. The rare bottles finding.wine carries include 100 point wines Robert , Remirez de Ganuza Gran Reserva and Scarecrow Cabernet, Close Erasmus to name a few.

The team at finding.wine assures its clients that they only sell wines they have personally tasted and will never sell a wine they do not love, no matter the price.

Wine is a sense of community, based on a shared passion, thats why we establish relationships with winemakers, producers and negotiates internationally, to expand our knowledge and ultimately deepen our passion for wine. Through our community, we can bring you extraordinary wines at remarkable prices.

The winemaker tastings are held every week and aim to provide clients with a higher level of exposure into the wine world and elevate their passion for this cultural and historical industry. Finding.wine will be hosting a number of events throughout the end of the year including The Magnum Champagne Tasting on October 20th, The Sherries of Gonzalez Byass on October 25th, A Toast to Tuscany 92 + pts on October 27th, Merus Vertical Tasting on Novemebr 2nd and Bodegas Contador with Benjamin Romeo, the most prominent winemaker of the Modern Riojas on Novemebr 13th. For more information, bookings and online shopping visit http://www.finding.wine.
Brian Friedle, VP of Sales, MITS I believe that analytics are essential for sustained growth and am excited to join a team committed to helping distributors and manufacturers use data to make better decisions.

MITS, a leading provider of reporting and analytics solutions for distributors and manufacturers, today announced it has hired Brian Friedle, a former electrical distributor president, as the companys new Vice President of Sales. Friedle will be responsible for growing a sales operation that can meet the demand for next generation business intelligence and analytics solutions.

Analytics are a mission critical tool for every small to medium-size distributor and manufacturer looking to secure their future, said Gary Owen, CEO of MITS. Brians deep understanding of these industries will enhance our ability to develop new product capabilities, content solutions, and adoption strategies that help our customers drive behavior toward their goals.

Friedle joins MITS from Motors and Controls Corporation (MCC), an electrical distributor with a UL508A panel shop. Under his stewardship, MCC tripled the size of its panel shop and started a robotics division while battling through the recession.

I have spent most of my career helping a distribution company be successful, said Brian Friedle, vice president of sales at MITS. MITS offers the opportunity to continue this track record on a larger scale with a comprehensive business intelligence solution. I believe that analytics are essential for sustained growth and am excited to join a team committed to helping distributors and manufacturers use data to make better decisions.

Friedle has a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington and is a long-standing member of Vistage Worldwide.

To learn more about MITS reporting and analytics solutions for distributors and manufacturers, visit our website at mits.com or follow us on Twitter @mitsdistributor.

About MITS

MITS is the comprehensive reporting and analytics solution over 750 distributors and manufacturers rely on to leverage the data in their business systems to make better decisions. By combining flexible, user-friendly business intelligence tools with premade and customizable reports, dashboards, and scorecards, MITS helps our customers quickly realize value from their analytics and business system investments though improvements in cash flow, profitability, and business growth. Learn more at mits.com or follow us on Twitter @mitsdistributor.
We are honored to recognize Soul Fire Farm Institute as a nonprofit that is making a significant impact in the Hudson Valley region. Their work to further equity in the food system is groundbreaking and pivotal

Omega Institute, home of the award-winning Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL), today announced the fifth recipient of their Annual Leadership in Sustainable Education Award. The award recognizes nonprofit peers who exemplify leadership in sustainability education and who share Omegas commitment to building a more just and sustainable world. This year, Omega recognizes Soul Fire Farm Institute (SFFI), an organization working to end racism and injustice in our food system.

SFFI joins a cohort of past award recipients who are leading the way in sustainability education, including, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (2012), Scenic Hudson (2013), Groundwork Hudson Valley (2014), and Poughkeepsie Farm Project (2015).

We are honored to recognize Soul Fire Farm Institute as a nonprofit that is making a significant impact in the Hudson Valley region. Their work to further equity in the food system is groundbreaking and pivotal, said Robert Skip Backus, chief executive officer at Omega and visionary behind the Omega Center for Sustainable Living. Soul Fire Farm Institutes innovative work combines sustainable farming, public education, and strategic development support for grassroots activists.

In addition to the $10,000 award, SFFI will also receive a strategic planning retreat at Omega, to help strengthen organizational development and further its mission.

Food and land have long been used as tools to oppress people of color and the Earth, and are currently being transformed into our platform for liberation. We are thrilled to accept this recognition from Omega and pledge to continue the work to uproot racism, injustice, and exploitation in the food system, said Leah Penniman, codirector of Soul Fire Farm Institute.

SSFI will receive the award on Saturday, October 14th, at 7:30 p.m., during Omegas conference, titled Being Fearless: Action in a Time of Disruption. The evening will include a special panel presentation, titled The Changing Role & Responsibilities of Media, featuring Amy Goodman, Van Jones, Jon Meacham, and moderated by Sarah van Gelder. Omega is live streaming the entire 3-day conference including Saturday nights award ceremony and panel discussion. The live stream can be accessed with a donation of $5 or more. Other presenters featured over the weekend include Cornel West, Paul Hawken, Opal Tometi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sister Joan Chittister, and more.

To learn more, or register for the online conference taking place Friday October 13-15th, visit eOmega.org/BeingFearlessLive or call 800.944.1001.

A limited number of press passes are available, please email ChrissaS@eOmega.org to inquire.

Join the conversation on Facebook.com/Omega.OCSL and on Twitter @omega_institute #OCSL, #BeingFearless.

About Soul Fire Farm Institute

Founded in 2011, Soul Fire Farm Institute (SFFI) is committed to ending disparity, injustice, and racism in the food system. We are a survival and thrival training ground for people of color working to reclaim our ancestral right to belong to land and to have agency in the food system. We are a multiracial, people-of-color-led team of activist-farmers drawing upon the wisdom of our ancestors to uproot oppression. Our programs include sustainable farming and leadership training for people of color, strategic development support for grassroots activists of all backgrounds, a subsidized farm food distribution program for people living under food apartheid, food justice training for youth, and public education and organizing on equity in the food system.

SoulFireFarm.org

About the Omega Center for Sustainable Living

Founded in 2009, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL) originated as the first green building in America to achieve both LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge certificationthe highest standards currently available in sustainable architecture. The OCSL has since evolved into an environmental leader, offering programs that teach the regenerative thinking and environmental practices modeled by the building.

eOmega.org/OCSL

About Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

Founded in 1977, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is the nation's most trusted source for wellness and personal growth. As a nonprofit organization, Omega offers diverse and innovative educational experiences that inspire an integrated approach to personal and social change. Located on 250 acres in the beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega welcomes more than 23,000 people to its workshops, conferences, and retreats in Rhinebeck, New York, and at exceptional locations around the world. eOmega.org

# # #
Attorney Kellee Parker Harris If a driver selects a test and is unable to complete that test then it is required by law that the driver be re-offered the remaining test. Past News Releases RSS DUI Defense Attorney Kellee Parker...

Every person has the unqualified right to due process of the law, even if arrested for DUI. Southern California DUI defense attorney Kellee Parker Harris, founder of Parker Law Center, recently represented a client who was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Due to her advanced age and the fact that she was on blood thinners she was not able to complete a breath test nor a blood test.

Furthermore, attorney Parkers client was not offered a urine sample as the officer did not have one immediately available. Attorney Parkers client was deemed a refusal by the officer and subsequently by the local Driver Safety Office, despite the fact that the client did not refuse to submit to testing; thus, her license was suspended for one year and she was unable to apply for a restricted drivers license.

Attorney Parker appealed the Driver Safety Offices Findings & Decision; ultimately, the action was set aside. The precedent set forth that an officer can choose not to provide a urine sample for a person with a medical condition and have the DMV just deem the person a refusal is a direct violation of California law under Vehicle Code Section 23612 and the United States Constitution, said Parker. Furthermore, its a violation of equal protection of the laws.

To further educate drivers on California law concerning DUI, Parker lists the following two tips:

No. 1: Preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) tests, under most circumstances, are voluntary. If a person is 21 or older and not on probation for a DUI then the preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) test is voluntary. The PAS test is known as the breath test prior to arrest. The results of the PAS test are used in order to help the officer gauge the persons blood alcohol level, and strengthen the officers probable cause to arrest the individual. While not all officers provide the required PAS admonition, which informs an individual the test is voluntary, one should know that he/ she does have the right to decline the PAS testing as long as the person is not under 21 years of age and not on probation for DUI.

No. 2: Following arrest, everyone must submit to a chemical test (breath or blood or under certain circumstances urine) per Vehicle Code Section 23612. Failure to submit to the chemical test deems one a refusal. Should a person refuse to submit to the chemical test, the officer must read the chemical admonition which admonishes the driver of the consequences of refusing. Once the chemical admonition has been provided, the officer is then required to ask the driver if he or she will submit to a breath test and a blood test, or under certain circumstances a urine test. The officer is to record the drivers response to each applicable test. If a driver selects a test and is unable to complete that test then it is required by law that the driver be re-offered the remaining test, concluded Parker.

Should the Driver Safety Office determine that a driver refused to submit to or failed to complete a chemical test, then the driver is prohibited from applying for a restricted drivers license. On a first refusal action the suspension period is one year. On a second action with a refusal designation the suspension period is two years, again with no eligibility to obtain a restricted license.

To hear Attorney Parker discuss DUI law further, please visit: http://thenala.com/north-american-speaker-series/kellee-parker-esq.

About Kellee Parker Harris, Parker Law Center

Kellee Parker Harris is a Southern California DUI defense attorney. She is also a professor with the Criminal Justice Department at California State University, Long Beach where she teaches criminal procedure, constitutional rights, and criminal court processes. Attorney Parker is a member of the California DUI Lawyers Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and National College for DUI Defense. Parker Law Center, APC provides legal services throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. For more information, please call (800) 805-8804, visit http://www.parkerlawcenter.com or https://goo.gl/H6DbmZ.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Squirro Logo Its an exciting period of rapid growth for Squirro, and in many ways Synpulse is the perfect partner for us as we continue our expansion

Squirro, the AI-driven context intelligence and insights solution provider, has announced that Synpulse, a management consulting company, has become a global gold partner.

Synpulse has already worked with Squirro on a number of successful Financial Services (FS) rollouts in countries including the US and Switzerland. The success of the partnership has led Squirro to appoint Synpulse as its first gold partner, recognizing its deep understanding of and commitment to Squirros advanced technology. Synpulse has also initiated the development of new solutions based on Squirros AI-driven products and the launch of a bespoke Squirro tech training academy. Both companies have ambitious plans in place for 2018 and beyond to support global expansion, particularly in Asia, where Synpulse desires to be a strong key partner.

Its an exciting period of rapid growth for Squirro, and in many ways Synpulse is the perfect partner for us as we continue our expansion, said Dr. Dorian Selz, CEO and co-founder of Squirro. With its new tech training academy, Synpulse has already demonstrated a real commitment to Squirro, and it has also shown true understanding of our AI-based proposition and an ability to take that vision to market. With this partnership, we look forward to continued success working together.

Synpulse employs 280 consultants in its nine offices across the US, Asia, and Europe, and is recognized as one the worlds most agile management consultancies. The past few years have seen a move away from a pure consultancy model to one that involves identifying and implementing the right technology solutions, and the partnership with Squirro extends that model even further.

Our strategy is to drive growth  especially in FS  by building an ecosystem that enables us to supply the most innovative and impactful products to our clients, said Konrad Niggli, Partner with Synpulse. Squirro fits that bill perfectly. It is an agile and dynamic company with some of the best AI-driven data insights solutions available, and our clients have already seen huge benefits from its ability to deliver actionable recommendations from unstructured data in particular. We are delighted to be Squirros first global partner and look forward to continued collaboration.

Squirro recently launched its new advanced AI platform TRINITY that places Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) at the heart of the enterprise, and in July 2017 finalized a $10M Series B funding round, with investors including Orange Growth Capital and Salesforce Ventures.

Our technology is rich with potential and we are poised for huge growth over the next four to five years as AI and ML become integral to many enterprises around the world, continued Dr. Dorian Selz. The partners we work with will be a key part of that growth and with Synpulse it is a true partnership of equals.

About Squirro

Squirro is a cognitive insights company, with advanced context intelligence & insights solutions. Powered by proprietary Artificial Intelligence techniques built around the companys core USPs of Concept Detection, Auto-Discovery, and Anomaly & Trend Detection, Squirros cognitive insights engine turns meaningless data into meaningful actionable insights.

Squirro works with global data-driven organizations, predominantly in financial services, insurances, telecoms, and manufacturing industries, such as Brookson, Evalueserve, Investec, Helvetia Insurance, SwissRe, and Wells Fargo. Founded in 2012, Squirro currently has offices in Zurich, Munich, London, and New York.

For more information, please visit: https://squirro.com/

About Synpulse

Synpulse is an internationally established management consulting company and valued partner of many of the worlds largest financial services providers. Since its founding in 1996, Synpulse has been supporting banks and insurers along the entire value chain; from the development of strategies and their operative realization, to technical implementation and hand-over. Synpulse is characterized by in-depth industry knowledge and the passion and commitment of its more than 300 employees, who come from more than 20 countries. Synpulse is represented with locations in Zurich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Singapore, New York, Hong Kong, London, Geneva.

For more information, please visit: https://www.synpulse.com/en_ldn

Contacts

Corporate

Geraldine Teboul (CMO)

geraldine.teboul(at)squirro.com

+41 44 586 98 98 (CET time zone)

US

Brandon Watts

brandon(at)wattsware.com

404-202-3476 (Central time zone)
The Kippah Wed love for Drake to rock one at shul. Or Andy Cohen would look like the mensch he truly is. The Kippah is the perfect expression of Jewish pride at any wedding or bar mitzvah. Its extravagant, and definitely memorable.

Contemporary Judaica store, ModernTribe, is releasing a present for the person who really has everything.

At $36,000 (double chai thousand), The Kippah is the most expensive yarmulke ever created. Hand-crafted with conflict-free diamonds, white gold and supple navy leather, it definitely warrants the price tag.

ModernTribe produces The Kippah with global coordination, starting with navy leather that is sourced from Italy and custom-sewn by an expert kippah-maker in Sydney, Australia. The 14K white gold setting is cast in Mumbai, India, and finishing details completed in Chicago, Illinois by placing fine diamonds into this shimmering yet elegant head-topper. Uniting the world one yarmulke at a time.

Creating a kippah of this caliber is a schlep well worth the effort. It takes more than 40 labor hours to hand place 873 diamonds with a total weight of over 2.75 ct. The circle border is cast in four pieces and then seamlessly welded into one glorious diamond-inlayed ring.

But who is the target market for the five-figure kippah? ModernTribe owner Amy Kritzer has a few suggestions:

Wed love for Drake to rock one at shul. Or Andy Cohen would look like the mensch he truly is. The Kippah is the perfect expression of Jewish pride at any wedding or bar mitzvah. Its extravagant, and definitely memorable.

Sounds like the perfect Hanukkah gift. The Kippah comes with a display case, and can be customized in a variety of leather shades and designs. Watch The Kippah Video here.

ABOUT MODERNTRIBE

Founded in 2007, ModernTribe brings fresh, design-forward and trendy Jewish gifts and Judaica to the new Jewish generation online at ModernTribe.com.

Photos available for media use, credit ModernTribe.

Follow ModernTribe on social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/ModernTribe/

Twitter: twitter.com/moderntribe_jew

Instagram: instagram.com/moderntribe_jew/
Baicells Nova 227 Until today, the idea that one could connect as little as 10 customers with a $50 monthly ARPU and still yield a less than 3 month ROI using LTE was a laughable notion.

Baicells Technologies, a provider of disruptive global LTE solutions, has announced at Wireless Internet Service Providers Associations (WISPA) annual WISPAPALOOZA show the commercial release of a fully-featured LTE base station as a user cost of below $1,400 called the Nova 227. The Nova 227 is in stock at multiple Baicells distribution partners such as Double Radius, ISP Supplies, and WAV, Inc.

It is common for private network operators, as well as commercial operators, to have small clusters of subscribers or devices that need to be connected, but may be isolated or otherwise difficult to economically connect. This often forces even LTE-based operators to use low cost and low performance Wi-Fi repeaters in an attempt to connect these pockets of users profitably. The Nova 227 was designed specifically for such applications, whether it is an apartment complex, cameras at a traffic intersection, RV parks, or a remote light industrial strip complex. Designed using standard PoE power and in a discreet form factor with an integrated panel antenna, the Nova 227 can be installed on a light pole or even another subscriber location for a zero lease cost micropop site.

Until today, the idea that one could connect as little as 10 customers with a $50 monthly ARPU and still yield a less than 3 month ROI using LTE was a laughable notion, Patrick Leary, President of Baicells Technologies remarked, Well, weve done a lot of things no one thought possible with LTE and weve done it again here. Operators  private and commercial  face this challenge routinely, so we asked our development team to build a product our customers could use opportunistically to solve this nagging challenge using LTE. The Nova 227 is the byproduct of that effort and the team is really excited to share it with the market.

The Nova 227 is a 2 port 250 mW (27 dBm) LTE base station operating in the 3.65 GHz and future CBRS (3.55-3.7 GHz) frequencies. It is approximately 10 inches square, uses standard PoE and comes with an integrated panel antenna. The unit ships with everything needed to mount and deploy except power cabling. There are no re-occurring license fees with Baicells and no hidden costs. The Nova 227 and other Baicells products are available from many official Baicells channel partners.

A proud member of WISPA, Baicells solutions are available via several select channels listed on our http://www.na.baicells.com website.

About Baicells

Baicells is a privately-held, high tech company with offices in China and USA. It has introduced some real breakthrough technologies to LTE, like moving a complete LTE system to unlicensed spectrum and building it with an IT based architecture. With Baicells turnkey end-to-end solutions, it becomes much easier to provide standard-based LTE wireless broadband within everyone's reach at a very low cost.

Chinese Press Contact

Eva Wang

PR Manager

Baicells Technologies Co. Ltd.

(+86) 186 8066 8591

North American Press Contact

Savannah Lancaster

Marketing Communications Manager

Baicells Technologies, North America

savannah.lancaster(at)baicells.com

+1 (972) 623-7329
Zhang Ming, China's new ambassador to the EU, presents his copy of a letter of credentials to European Commission's Chief of Protocol Nicolas De La Grandville on Monday in Brussels. [Provided to China Daily]

Replacing his predecessor Yang Yanyi, Chinese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Ming has acted as the head of China's mission to the EU and presented his copy of a letter of credentials to the European Commission's chief of protocol on Monday.

European Commission Chief of Protocol Nicolas De La Grandville received Zhang before the new ambassador presents the letter of credentials to European Council President Donald Tusk. The schedule for the protocol arrangement is still unknown.

Formerly in charge of China's relationship with West Asia, North Africa and Africa, Zhang arrived in Brussels on Oct 7, and Yang left her mandate in late September.

Welcoming Zhang's taking on his new job, De La Grandville vowed to work with the Chinese mission to lift bilateral relations to a new high.

During the meeting, Zhang said that China and the EU will embrace an even more rewarding future in bilateral relations and contribute more to world peace and development.

"China and the EU are two major economies and key players in the world. A healthy and steadily developing China-EU relationship is instrumental to world peace and development," Zhang said.

He said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1975, there has been tremendous progress in China-EU relations, with pragmatic cooperation broadening and deepening in all areas. In 2003, the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership was established.

In 2014, President Xi Jinping paid a historic visit to EU headquarters, and during the visit, the two sides committed to building the partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization, thus chartering the course of future China-EU relations. The Belt and Road Initiative has injected new energy into pragmatic China-EU cooperation.

"The Chinese Mission to the EU is committed to advancing China-EU relations and promoting mutual understanding and exchanges between the peoples," Zhang said.
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The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the opposition research firm Fusion GPS earlier this month for more information about the dossier the firm produced alleging ties between President Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia, according to CNN.

An attorney for Fusion GPS, Joshua A. Levy, said in a statement on Tuesday that "if

unilaterally broke our discussions with committee staff and abruptly demanded that my clients submit to a fresh inquiry."

That claim was bolstered by a Democratic committee source, who told CNN that the subpoenas were issued

In a letter dated September 1 and obtained by CNN, Nunes vented about the pair's "insufficient responsiveness to the committee's numerous Russia-investigation related requests over the past several months."
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Bannon called Corker a "disgrace" after the retiring senator engaged in a war of words with Trump over the weekend.

"If Bob Corker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately," said Bannon, who after leaving the White House returned to his post atop the far-right website Breitbart News.

During a Sunday-morning tweetstorm, Trump criticized Corker and claimed the senator had unsuccessfully sought his endorsement for reelection in 2018. Corker disputed that assertion, saying that Trump had offered his endorsement just last week but that Corker had already decided he would not seek reelection in 2018.

Corker then criticized Trump's social-media ramblings and said the White House was becoming an "adult day-care center," suggesting West Wing aides and Cabinet officials were in an ongoing struggle to contain Trump's impulsive behavior.

Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has ramped up his criticism of Trump since May, when he expressed his dismay at Trump for revealing sensitive information to Russian diplomats during an Oval Office meeting. Corker said at the time that the White House was in a "downward spiral."

The senator admonished Trump again in August for the president's response to a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly, and more recently he decried the way Trump had publicly undermined Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Corker took his criticism of Trump a step further in an interview with The New York Times published Sunday night, in which he voiced concern about Trump's ability to lead and suggested Trump's rhetoric could put the US "on the path to World War III."
Deandre Harris was participating in a counterprotest to the white nationalists' "Unite the Right" rally in August when a clash broke out in a parking garage near the University of Virginia campus.

Video of the incident shows Harris on the ground being violently kicked and beaten with poles by several attackers.

One person involved in the brawl, who has not been identified by authorities, has now accused Harris of injuring him during the exchange. The Charlottesville police department said in a press release on Monday it has issued an arrest warrant for Harris for unlawful wounding.

The video and several images of Harris' beating went viral, triggering a social media crusade to identify the white supremacists responsible for the violence. Harris told media he had suffered injuries from the beating including lacerations to his head, a concussion, a broken wrist, and a chipped tooth.

Fight broke out. Nazis beat... @ ChuckModi

Two men  18-year-old Daniel Borden of Ohio and 33-year-old Michael Ramos of Georgia  were identified, arrested, extradited to Virginia, and charged with malicious wounding in August. At a court hearing for Ramos last month, his attorney reportedly said it may have been Harris who "struck the first blow in that fracas."

Harris' attorney S. Lee Merritt has described the charge against his client as "clearly retaliatory" and said Harris will soon turn himself into police.

"We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but what's more jarring is that he's been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him," Merritt told The Washington Post.

He added that it was "highly unusual" for a warrant to come from the magistrate rather than the police department, and suggested that the alleged victim had previously made an unsuccessful attempt at accusing Harris.

The Charlottesville Police Department, however, said in its press release that the warrant was issued by the police department, at the request of the magistrate.

"The victim went to the Magistrate's office, presented the facts of what occurred and attempted to obtain the warrant. The magistrate requested that a detective respond and verify these facts," the release said. "A Charlottesville Police Department detective did respond, verified the facts and a warrant for Unlawful Wounding (va Code 18.2-51) was issued."

After news broke of the arrest warrant against Harris on Monday, white nationalists openly celebrated on Twitter. One even suggested that a crowdsourced effort to produce evidence against Harris occurred:
Speaking at a press conference in Nairobi ahead of his departure to the United Kingdom,where he is expected to speak at Chatham House, Raila Odinga asked his supporters not to be fazed by the defections.

"We are aware that the Jubilee Party has set up a defectors fund to finance the buying of leaders and losers and create the impression that there is an exodus from NASA" .

Odinga's bid to win the re-run of the Kenyan election scheduled for Ocober 26 has suffered huge hits due to the defections of some of his most visible supporters and allies from the first round of the election.

Ex Bomet governor, Isaac Rutto, former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, former governors John Mruttu (Taita-Taveta), Moses Akaranga (Vihiga), and PNU leader Peter Munya have all agreed to back Uhuru Kenyatta in the run-off.

The buildup to the run-off has been chaotic with NASA supporters still engaged in demonstrations across the country to force the resignation of the CEO of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),Ezra Chiloba and others to resign before the vote.
The drop in the value of sterling following Britain's referendum decision to leave the European Union, coupled with an increase in the number of visitors from China, contributed to a record year for the country's tourism sector, according to the United Kingdom's tourism authority.

From January to July, there were a record 23.1 million visits to the UK from overseas, up 8 percent on the same period last year, according to VisitBritain's annual review.

Visitors spent a total 13.3 billion pounds ($17.5 billion), up 9 percent.

Britons are also taking more holidays at home. From January to June, there was a 7 percent rise in the number of domestic overnight holidays in England, up to a record 20.4 million. These holidaymakers spent 4.6 billion pounds, up 17 percent, which was also a record.

VisitBritain chairman Steve Ridgway said: "Tourism is an economic powerhouse, worth 127 billion pounds annually to the economy and a job creator right across Britain."

Between January and March, visits from China to the UK were up 27 percent to 54,000, when compared to the same time in 2016.

Chinese visitors spent 91 million pounds between January and March, an increase of 27 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

Flight bookings from China to the UK between October and December are up 8 percent compare with the same period last year, higher than the total inbound increase of 7 percent, according to travel consultancy ForwardKeys, suggesting the trend is continuing.

Ridgway said the 16 percent fall in the exchange rate boosted the UK's attractiveness as a destination to both overseas and domestic visitors.

Britain was 10 percent cheaper for Chinese visitors in September compared to the same period in 2015. Chinese tourists have saved as much as 12 percent on holidays to the UK since the pound weakened last summer.

Visitor numbers from China to London are expected to reach 330,000 a year by 2025, up from 160,000 in 2016, according the office of Sadiq Khan, London's mayor, making China the city's fastest-growing major tourism market.

Ridgway said the UK tourism industry needs a long-term strategy in order to maintain its strong growth.

"Tourism is a fiercely competitive global industry and you cannot just build a strong, resilient industry on a weaker currency," Ridgway said. "We must continue to invest in developing world-class tourism products, getting Britain on the wish-list of international and domestic travelers. And we must make it easy for visitors to make that trip."

John Glen, the UK's minister for tourism, said: "Internationally, we are performing strongly in a hugely competitive market and I will continue to work closely with the sector to maintain growth, get the best possible deal as we exit the EU, and retain the UK's position as must-visit destination."

The Tourism Industry Council has outlined plans for a campaign to boost recruitment and job training in the sector. It also wants improved connectivity and the creation of "tourism zones".
The cause of the fires remained under investigation on Monday afternoon. But a weather phenomenon known as the "Diablo winds" is partly responsible for the widespread devastation.

It's peak wildfire season in California, and October is a notoriously challenging month for firefighters. Typically, sea breezes come off the Pacific Ocean and make landfall. In the fall, high pressure builds in the Great Basin  a huge swath of land that spans much of the western US  and causes wind to blow in an opposite direction, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Air descends from high elevations in Nevada and Utah down to sea level in Northern California, compressing and warming in the process. Winds  known as "Diablo winds" form.

In California's wine country, these especially dry winds arrived overnight,

Fires spread from ridge top to ridge top overnight, stretching over eight California counties.

You can see gusts of wind blowing through the vineyard at this Napa Valley winery.

California Governor Jerry Brown issued a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma, and Yuba counties on Monday morning  a declaration that mobilizes the California National Guard.
The rapper said he along with his family members had been evacuated from their homes which is a not far from the explosion site.

M.anifest, who was shaking from the whole incident took to Twitter to report the gas explosion saying theres a raging fire in Madina! to alert people going towards that part of town to turn around.

An hour later, he updated his followers saying Weve evacuated our houses!!! Everyone has. Huge explosion and raging fire. Unbelievable. Madina.

Many social media users were mocking and joking about the incident and this did not sit well with M.anifest.

He posted saying Even in times like this trolls with rotten hearts and empty souls feel the need to be on some BS. SMH.

A filling station in Accra at Atomic Junction experienced a gas explosion caused by a grilled meat seller at the depot according to George Owusu the manager of Mansco Gas Filling Station.
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Speaking on Ultimate 'Inspiration and Gospel Chat' hosted by Winfred Daniel Nii Adjaye, he indicated that Evangelist Diana Asamoah made the song her own and commercialised it after agreeing to pay a fee.

According to Rev Owusu Mensah, he composed the song "Agya Ma Wo Nsa So" years ago but the respected gospel musician stole the song and refused to give him any credit.

He recounted how Diana Asamoah approached him with the prospect of doing a remix of his song. She returned later and said the song was now public so there was no point paying him any money.

He said he willingly gave the song to the Evangelist but spat on his face.

After helping her to re-arrange the song, she recorded the song, but came back only to say the song was in the public domain and that there was no point showing gratitude or giving credit to me the composer, he said.

She said one pastor told her that the song was a public domain, in other words, I didnt write the song, and that I told her a lie, maybe a thief as well, he narrated.

He disclosed to host Winfred Daniel Nii Adjaye, that he was not angry with Evangelist Diana Asamoahs comment.

I didnt feel insulted by her comment. It didnt break me down. She told me she has paid artistes like Prof. Kofi Abraham but she cannot pay mine, shes comfortable like that, he expressed.

Rev. George Owusu Mensah indicated that there are a majority of gospel artistes who have disrespected him by taking his songs for free.

He cited that he called Jane and Bernice when they took one of his songs saying he collected some monies from them after some interventions by some pastors.

She was apologetic, but I told her songs dont drop from heaven, songs are given to men and sometimes the men may be alive and that she should have found out the owner of that song, he stated.

Rev. Owusu Mensah further accused Akwasi Nyarko of taking his song without crediting him.
A disturbing video footage of the execution in Luebo, in the province of Kasai-Occidental, shows the naked woman being shamed in the town's main square by a group claiming allegiance to the Kamuina Nsapu rebel movement.

The video was filmed on April 8, 2017, but the footage recently emerged after circulating on Whatsapp.

The woman being punished was accused of serving forbidden fish to rebels who visited her restaurant.

According to France 24, a resident of Luebo claimed They said she gave them beans that contained pieces of a small, local fish.'

The resident added that Convinced that she had broken their protection charms, the council of rebels led by a man named Kabata compelled both the woman and the son of her husband's second wife to commit incest (have sex) in public.

According to Congolese researcher and consultant Anaclet Tshimbalanga, the Kamuina Nsapu abstains from having sex, washing themselves and eating meat, fish and other items while fighting.

In video of the woman's execution, the leader of the rebel group, Kalamba Kambangoma, is seen grabbing the woman by the hair before she is taken to the stage to be publicly raped.

Rebel leaders force the woman to have sex with the son of her husband's second wife, and another woman is seen whipping the pair with branches.

Following the public rape, rebels executed the woman and the young man, believed to be in his 20s, by beheading them with machetes.

According to France 24, several rebels drank their blood after the execution, and some even posed with the young man's severed head.

Onlookers could be heard applauding and screaming throughout the video. However, witnesses said Luebo residents stayed far from the stage.

The bodies remained on display for two days before they were moved to a local cemetery.

Tshimbalanga, a specialist in Congolese customs, said the woman's death 'goes completely contrary to local customs, which forbid both the death sentence and incest'.
Official figures put the number of casualties to seven with 132 sustaining several degrees of injuries. Some of the injured have been discharged from the hospitals while others are still receiving treatments.

Analysts and experts have attributed the disaster to lack of proper regulation of the petroleum industry and failure of authorities to enforce safety standard rules pertaining to the industry.

Being the eighth of such devastating gas explosions, the government has given a strong indications that it will put in place stringent measures to forestall future recurrence.

However, according to prophet Tawiah, the disasters are as a result of Gods fury on the nation because of the occultism that most politicians in the country are involved in.

Speaking on KOFI TV, the prophet warned that the nation should brace itself up for more of such fire incidents, as long as those politicians continue their evil practices.

Ghana should expect more fire outbreaks and gas explosions. I know innocent lives have been lost as a result but God has revealed to me that there would be more fire because of the wicked political leaders we have in this country. They rob us and use the monies for big mansions and even fuel stations but I can assure you that the fire outbreaks which will soon be experiencing will destroy their properties and mansions and kill these wicked politicians for stealing from us," he said.

Prophet Tawiah however urged Ghanaians to intensify prayers for the nation to avert any such disasters.
The event was held at the Perez Dome, Dzorwulu in Accra.

READ ALSO: Yadah Productions tackle emotional abuse in marriages

The event kicked start with the likes of Honourable Shirley Ayitey, Yolanda Zoleka Cuba CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Christie Doe Tetteh of Solid Rock Ministries, Dr Joyce Aryee of Salt and Light Ministries, Rev. Rita Korankye Ankrah amongst other Female Dignitaries seated to witness the night of absolute worship.

The maiden event brought thousands of Christian women to worship and adore God with leading female gospel musicians.

Some of the artists who led the audience in worship include Naa Mercy, Ohemaa Mercy, Ntokonzo Mbambo of South Africa, Diana Hamilton, Tagoe Sisters, Cynthia McCauley, Becky Bonney and others.
He together with other members was charged to work to ensure that Ghanas small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are well resourced and enabled to play a more impactful role in the national economy.

Sekyere chairs a reconstituted nine-member board which includes the MD of the Venture capital Fund, Yaw Owusu Brempong, the Hon. Fuseini Issah, the Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North constituency, Efua Asabea Asare, Peterson Ekow Afedzie and Dr John Kofi Mensah.

READ ALSO: This new board chair for Ghana Gas is a leading figure in NPP

The others are Franklin Owusu Asafo Adjei, Brian Frimpong and Mrs Efua Apenteng.

A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs. Abena Osei Asare, who administered the oath of office at the inauguration of the new Board recalled that: Over time, various management issues have been cited in the Auditor Generals report from wrongful payments of millions of dollars, wrongful acquisition of a property, gratuity payment to the board without approval, granting huge loans without due diligence and others.

Osei Asare charged the Board to focus on their mandate, clean up the sunken image of the Fund and strengthen the capacity of its management and staff to be more innovative.

READ ALSO: 400 gas stations situated in residential areas

On his part, Sekyere thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the opportunity to serve the country and pledged the Boards commitment to work hard to adequately resource and empower the SMEs.

Personally, I fully appreciate the enormity of the task of steering the Venture Capital Fund in the best direction to enable it to fully actualize those critical objectives for which the fund was set up and as an avowed team-player, I wish to vocalize the collective commitment of this board to work diligently and assiduously to ensure that the mandate before us is executed with precision and without blemish.

The Board Chairman said as it has been evidently proven in developed economies, SMEs are the indisputable engines of growth and that apart from propelling the national economy forward, the empowerment of SMEs and private sector ventures will be highly supportive of the governments vision of One District, One Factory and a sure way of generating employment and upgrading the quality of life of Ghanaians.

He lamented that over the years, access to credit and equity funding for small and medium scale enterprises even for those operating in acknowledged priority sectors of the economy has been a major challenge.

It is this challenge that I and my good colleagues on this Board will set out to rectify and work to enable our SMEs to play that crucial role they should be playing in the growth and development agenda of our dear country, he said.
The nurses lined up to say thank you to the the government for restoring their allowance at the launch of the restoration of the Nurses and Midwife Trainee Allowances at the Brong Ahafo Regional capital, Sunyani.

One nurses trainee who looks overwhelmed said "We thank the President for giving us our allowance. We were hoping, but now we have it.

"I want to say thank you to His Excellency. This is going to lessen the financial burden on our parents, and its going to help in our education as well."

READ ALSO: Nursing trainee allowance restored

The allowance, which were scrapped by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) was met with strong resistance from the nursing trainees who complained bitterly about the difficulties it had brought upon them.

The NDC government insisted the continuous payment of the allowances would threaten the future of Ghanas economy.

Under the allowance scheme, the nurses got at least GH450 every quarter. Government had explained the removal of the allowance was to allow it to admit more students.

The allowances had tied the hands of government because huge numbers had serious financial implications.

Nana Addo addressing over 1,000 trainee nurses, traditional leaders and some state officials at the launch he said a total of GH232 million had been committed by the government for this academic years payment.

"For the 2017/2018 academic year, effective September 2017, 58,000 health trainees comprising nurses and midwives, will be paid GH400 per person for each of the 10 months of the academic year. This means the government will be spending a total of GH 232 million for this academic year," he added.
He made this revelation after the gas explosion which occurred at the Atomic Junction in the Greater Accra Region.

The explosion and fire struck at about 7 pm at the Mansco Gas Filling Station. This caught an adjacent petrol filling station, setting ablaze many vehicles at a nearby taxi and commercial buses terminal.

This led to the death of 7 persons with 132 others injured.

64 of the injured persons were treated and discharged while 68 are still receiving medical treatment in six different health facilities.

Some of the health facilities treating victims of the explosion are the Pentecost Hospital in Madina, the 37 Military Hospital, the Ridge Hospital and the Police Hospital.

Subsequently, business activities in the area have been halted since the explosion site has been cordoned off by security agencies.
Chinese maths teacher Jin Xiangjun takes a lesson at a school in Essex in 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese students outperform learners from all other ethnic groups in the United Kingdom between the ages of 14 and 18, according to a government survey published on Tuesday.

It is a study about the experience of ethnic groups that live in the UK, including Pakistani, Indian, Chinese, Black African, Black Caribbean and white British.

The Ethnicity Facts and Figures survey is designed to show where ethnic inequality exists in the UK, so it can be examined and addressed.

Theresa May, the British prime minister, said she wanted the audit to reveal any uncomfortable truths about the experiences of ethnic groups in Britain's schools, workplaces, hospitals, and its justice system.

Many categories are simply divided into the experiences of Asian, black, and white people, so give a generalized picture.

The survey shows 83 percent of ethnically Chinese students get grades from A to C in math and English at age 14-16, compared to 77 percent of people who originate in India, 63 percent of white British, and 58 percent of people who are ethnically Pakistani.

Among the same age group, 62 percent of Chinese students passed a General Certificate of Secondary Education in eight subjects, compared to 57 percent of Indians, 50 percent of white British, and 49 percent of Pakistanis.

Among children aged 5 to 7, Indian pupils outperform Chinese pupils in most measures but that changes over time. Some 24 percent of Chinese students got three As or better in their Advanced Level exams at age 16-18, compared to 14 percent of Indians, 11 percent of white British, and 7 percent of Pakistanis.

Chinese households were among the richest in the UK. Thirty-five percent of Indian families earned more than 1,000 pounds ($1,318) per week, compared to 30 percent of Chinese families, 24 percent of white British and 17 percent of Pakistani families.

The Chinese did not fare so well in home ownership, with 39 percent owning their own homes, compared to 68 percent of Indians and white British and 64 percent of Pakistanis.
The plaintiff said her life has been exposed to danger by the presence of an Allied Oil filling station near her residence.

She said no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the danger she will be exposed to when the fuel station was constructed.

Nana Akwasi Awuah, lawyer for the plaintiff said the EPA did not consider the safety regulations before issuing permit to Allied Oil adding that the fuel station poses danger to his client.

The lawyer who spoke to Accra-based Joy FM said, "Weve taken all these institutions including the Ghana National Fire Service to court [in order] to look at the laws and regulations governing the construction of fuel stations in this country."

READ MORE: Mahama consoles victims of gas explosion

The suit was filed at an Accra High Court.

Meanwhile, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist church Most Very Reverend Titus Awotwe Pratt is blaming the EPA and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for the recent gas explosions in the country.

He said the country is wasting resources on EPA and NPA who have not lived up to expectations.

READ MORE: UPSA students demonstrate against fuel station

His comment comes on the back of a gas explosion at Atomic junction on Saturday, that claimed seven lives and left several others injured.

The gas station explosion has killed at least 7 persons and injured 132 people.

132 injured persons, 64 of them have been treated and discharged.
This follows a plea by the prosecution to the court praying for it's intervention in other to get the postmortem report.

In his submission lead prosecutor DSP George Amega told the court they hav been chasing the report from the 37 military hospital without success.

READ ALSO: Another suspected killer of Major Mahama arrested

Major Maxwell Mahama of the 5 Battalion of Infantry at Burma Camp in Accra who was on detachment duties at Diaso in the Central Region was lynched to death by the youth of the town.

The officer was on operational duties at the Alaska C&G Mining Company at Amenase Forest, near Diaso in the Central Region.

He was said to be jogging when some residents accused him of being part of a robbery gang that stormed Denkyira-Obuasi the previous day.

Other reports say the assemblyman of the area organised some youth in the town to beat him to death.
The body of a young woman aged 24, who is yet to be identified and that of one Hannah Kobina, who died on admission had been deposited at the morgue of the Komfo Anokye Hospital.

READ MORE: Soldier crashes to death in motorbike accident

About fifty others who sustained various degrees of injuries were treated and discharged at the St. Francis Xavier Polyclinic at Assin Fosu.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the Central Region, ASP Irene Oppong, said a diesel truck with registration number AS 7994-10 loaded with coal was traveling from Takoradi to Kumasi, while the metro mass transit bus with registration number AS 5664-Z was traveling from Kumasi to Takoradi with a set of passengers on board.

According to her, a spot just after a factory called Fruit land, in the Assin North District, both vehicles grazed each other with the drivers side, causing extensive damage to the metro mass.
The Minority claims the figures were picked from a report from the Libyan government through its attorney general.

Speaking to the media Tuesday in Parliament, the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa tasked the government to collaborate with its Libyan counterpart to address the issue before it escalates to Ghana.

READ MORE: New security measures introduced at Airports across the country

He further claimed that the Ghanaian converts are frontline fighters for ISIS, adding the West African country has been paired in same category as Senegal, Gambia, Somalia, Chad, Niger, Eritrea and Mali.

What is more unnerving; the special enquiry found that kidnappings of expatriates were mostly carried out by Islamic State foreign fighters from Ghana, Turkey and Tunisia, he said.

The North Tongu lawmaker told the media that This dreadful report highlights of which was presented to a packed room of international journalists a few days ago must necessarily trigger a number of immediate actions from our government  actions which all Ghanaians must demand in our collective national interest.

The Minority is therefore calling on the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government to publicly react to this enquiry by the Libyan attorney generals office due to its grave ramifications to Ghanas image.

Mr. Ablakwa added that, Government must provide the needed assurances to Ghanaians and our international security partners that this matter is receiving very high-level attention.
The encounter, according to reports occurred when Bugri Naabu called for an emergency meeting involving regional executives.

He was attacked for allegedly removing and replacing members of both the Regional Council of Patrons and Elders without any consultation.

Mr. Haruna Tia was a member of the Council of Patrons and his name was expunged and replaced without any form of communication.

According to reports by Accra-based Starr FM, Haruna Tia reportedly rained insults on Bugri Naabu before striking his chest hard with his hands.

The encounter occurred on Friday night at the Modern City Hotel in Tamale where the meeting was held.

According to Bugri, he was accused by his predecessor of deliberately taking out names of perceived rivals and putting in names of his own supporters.

READ ALSO: Bugri Naabu accused of mobilising people to demonstrate against Nana Addo

He said whiles on his way to address the meeting, Haruna Tia suddenly came up to him and questioned his authority to reconstitute the Elders.

He added: "I was going to address the meeting the President wanted to have with the people so when I was about to go and climb the story building, Harun Bees came to me and said, look, I want to tell you, the selection you made change it, and I said what selectionHe said Council of Patrons and Elders and I asked him why should I change it. I said why? After all, I have done the selection, not only me; we are regional executives so why should change it.

"That I dont like Dagombas and I asked him those people I chose are they not Dagombas, before I realized he has given me blow in my chest. In fact, the young boys who were with me wanted to take action and I said no; if you love me, you love the party, you love Nana, forget it, lets go and I went."

Bugri Naabu explained that "I just asked him is that the way we solve problem, thank you and I walked away. What will I say? because I didnt want it to be seen that there is a problem because so many things were going on."
The national assembly passed the bill by 316 votes to 69.

"France is on an unstoppable path to scrapping fossil fuels," said Nicolas Hulot, the high-profile green activist named by President Emmanuel Macron as his environment minister in May.

No new permits will be granted to extract fossil fuels and no existing licences will be renewed beyond 2040, when all production in mainland France and its overseas territories will stop.

France extracts the equivalent of about 815,000 tonnes of oil per year -- an amount produced in a few hours by Saudi Arabia.

But the centrist Macron has said he wants France to take the lead as a major world economy switching away from fossil fuels -- and the nuclear industry -- into renewable sources.

His government plans to stop the sale of diesel and petrol engine cars by 2040 as well.

Above all the ban will affect companies prospecting for oil in the French territory of Guyana in South America, while also banning the extraction of shale gas by any means -- its extraction by fracking was banned in 2011.

The bill includes a few exceptions to the ban, including the capturing of gas from mines, which is considered desirable for security reasons.
So it seems fitting that US economist Richard Thaler, 72, says he wants to spend his $1 million winnings "as irrationally as possible."

In awarding the prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Thaler for bringing behavioral economics into the mainstream -- exploring the impact of psychological and social factors on individual or group decisions in the economy and financial markets.

Thaler told a press conference at the University of Chicago, where he teaches, he was "very much asleep" when he received the 4 am phone call informing him he had won.

"I had a pretty good idea what that might be," he admitted, joking: "Unlike Bob Dylan, I do plan to go to Stockholm."

Dylan kept silent for weeks after he was awarded last year's Nobel prize for literature, although he eventually did accept the prize in the Swedish capital.

The possession factor

A professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Thaler was described by the Nobel jury as a pioneer in his field.

He is well known for co-founding "nudge" theory -- which demonstrates how people can be persuaded to make decisions that leave them healthier and happier.

His book on the theory -- co-authored with legal scholar Cass Sunstein -- became a bestseller, influencing governments and companies with its original solutions to savings, consumption and public health issues.

Meanwhile, his notion of "paternal libertarianism" also became a point of reference for politicians, particularly under the Obama administration, during which Sunstein was a regulatory tsar.

On Monday, Thaler said 75 groups using the "nudge" or "boost" methods are currently advising governments and businesses.

The theory is based on the idea people make financial decisions by focusing primarily on short-term impact -- and is used to encourage people to, for example, pay for parking spaces or get vaccinated.

Thaler also coined what he called the "possession factor," which shows people have an aversion to loss, prioritizing what they already have -- even if its value has deteriorated.

This results in financial decisions which are not always beneficial, such as putting off saving or investing when prices are rising.

The field of behavioral economics has another Nobel Prize winner in Milton Friedman, who won in 1976 -- having upset classical economic theories arguing individuals act only in their best interests.

And Thaler acknowledged his work, too, has not always been warmly received.

"Economists don't do a lot of embracing," he said Monday, adding he does not believe he "changed anybody's mind in 40 years."

The Nobel economics committee also recognized behavioral economics in rewarding economist and sociologist Herbert Simon.

His work on "bounded rationality" -- the concept that decision-making is affected by information, cognitive and time limitations -- was rewarded in 1978.

Meanwhile in 2002, American-Israeli psychologist Daniel Kahneman -- a colleague and co-author of Thaler -- was awarded the prize for research on behavioral finance.
Just to make it clear that he's smarter than his secretary of state, Trump suggested taking a test to prove it.

"I think it's fake news," Trump told Forbes magazine of Tillerson's reported insult. "But if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

The explosive interview was published hours before the two men were scheduled to meet at the White House for lunch with Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Ahead of that sit-down Trump insisted he still had confidence in the secretary of state, saying "I did not undercut anybody. I don't believe in undercutting people."

But White House insiders said that Tillerson's refusal to directly deny an NBC News report that he labelled Trump a "moron" after a July meeting at the Pentagon, only fueled differences between the men.

Since then White House chief of staff John Kelly has been struggling to keep a lid on the crisis -- an effort that has been consistently thwarted by Trump's tweets and barbed remarks.

After the reports Trump took to Twitter to publicly upbraid the former ExxonMobil CEO for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea.

The Twitter rebuke revived rumors that Tillerson is unhappy at his post, but he insists he has no intention of resigning.

Diplomatically crucial time

In Washington, Tillerson, along with Mattis, Kelly and chairman of the joint chiefs Joseph Dunford are increasingly seen as buffer around Trump that contains an impulsive president.

Kelly has worked to control the flow of information that crosses Trump's desk and imposed a decision-making structure that was absent in the early days of the administration.

"The White House has become an adult day care center," Senator Bob Corker declared at the weekend, in an astonishing public rebuke from a Republican who campaigned for Trump and chairs the Senate foreign relations committee.

Tillerson's departure would be a major blow to those hoping to temper Trump and stop what Corker described as "the path to World War III."

And it could not come at a more sensitive time diplomatically. Trump is poised to confront Iran by questioning a major nuclear deal later this week and appears set on upping tensions with North Korea.

Tillerson is also set to play a major role in preparing Trump's monster trip to Asia next month, that will take in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Still, it remains far from clear how long a secretary of state who has lost the ear of the president can remain in the post.
The report's findings are particularly striking given that one of the coauthors comes from China's central bank, which tends to be fairly mum on potential economic vulnerabilities in the country.

"Our analysis indicates that the momentum of Chinese growth is likely to slow in the near term," Jun Nie, a senior economist at the Kansas City Fed, wrote alongside Yandong Jia, a researcher at the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China.

The latest figures have painted a bright outlook for the world's second-largest economy. China's gross domestic product expanded at a 6.9% annual pace, according to official figures, while manufacturing and services surveys also pointed to renewed strength.

But the Kansas City Fed report suggests the new growth spurt may be more mirage than miracle.

"An analysis of its underlying forces suggests this momentum may not be sustainable," the authors wrote. "In addition, strength in policy-related variables has been waning, creating additional downside risks to near-term growth."

In other words, the government's heavy-handed role in sustaining a recovery in sectors that don't particularly need it, like steel, mining, and construction, has ultimately been economically unproductive.

"As China is transitioning from an investment- and export-driven economy to a more consumption-driven economy, the recent improvement in the manufacturing, investment, and trade group is likely to be temporary," the Kansas City Fed study said.

Other driving forces that may also prove fleeting include an export-boosting depreciation of the Chinese yuan at the end of last year and a rebound in global commodity prices and production, the report said.

Another telling admission for a People's Bank of China researcher: The official data is too opaque to allow for useful forecasting.
Its a useful and necessary question that I - as a scholar who teaches and writes about Shakespeare in a South African context - am often asked. Indeed, its one that I ask myself frequently.

But it is also a clumsy question and it needs rephrasing  or, at least, the terms in which it is couched need further investigation if we are to attempt a nuanced, coherent answer.

Africa is not a country

The first problem is in generalising about the African continent. Education systems and their infrastructural or economic contexts are vastly different. This is not only true from country to country and region to region, but also within each country and region.

Its impossible to speak accurately about Shakespeare in Asia without accommodating the fact that his place in India - with its colonial historyand linguistic environment - is a phenomenon thats almost incomparable to Shakespeare in China or in Japan.

In Europe, national distinctions are equally severe. The history of Shakespeares reception in France is completely unlike that in Germany.

Likewise, theres no singular Shakespeare in Africa.

An obvious division could be made between Francophone and Anglophone countries, but even these categories falter. The engagement of writers such as Frantz Fanon and Aime Cesaire with Shakespearescolonial play The Tempest influenced the Negritude movement associated with Leopold Senghor and, through him, with Senegal. Cesaires Une Tempete was first performed in Tunisia. But this has no purchase in other Francophone African countries like Gabon or Niger.

In Zimbabwe, despite occasional posturing, Shakespeare is a common and largely unproblematic reference point in political speeches, newspaper articles and daily conversation.

This is not the case in neighbouring South Africa, where there are again many different Shakespeares. He was one of Nelson Mandelas favourites and a copy of the Collected Works was circulated among prisoners on Robben Island. Author, journalist and political icon Sol Plaatje translatedseveral of Shakespeares works into Setswana.

But there is also the Shakespeare of white English liberals, and the Shakespeare invoked by the apartheid state as an example of exclusively European high culture. Then there is the Shakespeare associated with former president Thabo Mbeki, who was seen as something of an intellectual elitist and was ultimately recalled by the governing African National Congress.

These examples make it clear that Shakespeare cant be viewed or read  and therefore cant be taught  in an ahistorical or apolitical vacuum. If we are to teach Shakespeare in Africa, we cannot teach the text alone.

We owe it to students to acknowledge, indeed to emphasise, and then to analyse the baggage that Shakespeare brings with him.

Where does Shakespeare fit?

Shakespeare traditionally goes hand in hand with English. In secondary schools, this implies that his work will be studied as a literary text. English at high school is also about the acquisition of the English language, particularly for learners who have English as a second or additional language.

Is the difficulty  sometimes the downright opacity  of Shakespeares Early Modern English helpful to these learners? Probably not. Arguably, without a very skillful and enthusiastic teacher, Shakespeares language remains obscure even to teenagers with mother tongue or first language English competence (this includes many bilingual learners).

Here a case may be made for translation as a vital aspect of teaching and learning Shakespeare. Why cant extracts from Shakespeare, or even entire plays, be studied in translation into Kikuyu or Zulu? From these languages the work could be translated once again, into contemporary English - a much more interesting process of modernising Shakespeare.

Teachers could then draw on the resource of a polyglot classroom, affirming rather their undermining their learners multilingual confidence. At the same time, Shakespeare could be placed in dialogue with African writers like Ngugi wa Thiongo or Mazisi Kunene.

All of this hinges, however, on the awkwardness of should. Making something compulsory usually has the effect of making it resented - and thats anecdotally the case for most learners whove sweated over Shakespeares plays and sonnets.

In the final school year, or the senior years, continuity and consistency across a provincial or state schooling system requires a syllabus that offers individual schools and teachers limited choice. But where possible, it is preferable for curriculum guidelines to present Shakespeare simply as an option: a writer among many other writers.

Learners could encounter Shakespeare productively outside of the classroom environment: on stage, on screen, modernised, translated, without the stigma of being a canonical author. Some might arrive at university without having studied him at all. Would this be a bad thing? Imagine discovering Shakespeare in a political science class, or a philosophy course  or through art history, economics or media studies.

Ultimately, the discipline in which Shakespeare really belongs is drama. Sometimes thats in the context of theatre and performance; it may also be in a field like film study.

Perhaps, then, to return to the clumsy question that got us started, theres only one should when it comes to teaching Shakespeare. Whether its at secondary or tertiary level, as part of a formal curriculum or extra-curricular activity, in Africa or elsewhere in the world, the magic of performance should remain at the core of any assignation with Shakespeare.
China is the fastest growing nation brand in absolute terms, rising in value by $3.1 trillion in a year, according to a new report.

The increase is equal to the entire nation brand value of the United Kingdom, which illustrates just by how much China is outpacing other countries.

Brand Finance, a London-based brand valuation consultancy, has evaluated the 100 most valuable nation brands of 2017.

Its research revealed that China's nation brand value grew by 44 percent, to $10.2 trillion, a rate 20-time faster than that of the United States.

Chinese companies make up 50 of the Global 500 most valuable brands, up from eight in 2008.

Chinese brands had no sector leaders in 2008, but now have four  banks (ICBC), spirits (Moutai), insurance (PingAn), real estate (Dalian Wanda).

Alex Haigh, director of Brand Finance, said Chinese brands and the transformed national image of China as an emerging global power are reinforcing each other.

"They are going from strength to strength due both to government support and a market that is maturing in to a dynamic and innovative one," he said.

In 2012, President Xi Jinping said that China should build its own world-renowned brands.

"The Chinese government has integrated brand-building into government policy with major statements in each of the last 4 years," said Paul Temporal, a global expert on brand creation and an associate fellow at Oxford University's Said Business School.

Temporal said China's aim is to strengthen the national brand image, improve the quality of Chinese products and encourage provinces and companies to help the country move from "Made in China" to "Branded in China".

Courtney Fingar, editor in chief of fDi magazine, a division of the Financial Times, said it was inevitable that China's ascendance as a global power would eventually translate into an enhanced nation brand.

"A new breed of globally minded Chinese companies, led by tech players such as Huawei, have led the charge of international expansion and become prolific generators of greenfield foreign direct investment around the world," Fingar said.

While China's nation brand value is growing faster than that of the US, it is still only half that of the USs and Chinese companies have not succeeded in matching the power of Western brands.

Temporal said while China has a few global businesses, it has no powerful global brands.

"This will change as they master the techniques of strategic brand development and management," he said. "Managers of Chinese brands have to learn how to capture consumer hearts as well as minds."
Trump has been known to casually turn to friends and family before deciding on far-reaching policy measures.

He did just that at Mar-a-Lago in February after North Korea conducted a missile test  the president, several advisors, and visting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gathered around laptops and sensitive national security documents on a terrace as guests and waiters wandered past. One even posted photos of the event on Facebook.

Kelly's latest plan is reportedly very simple  to keep Trump out of the Mar-a-Lago dining room where the majority of the guests will be, as sources who were briefed on Kelly's plan told Vanity Fair. But getting Trump to listen to Kelly has historically not been an easy task, as the two have clashed over the last several months.

And Kelly seems to have his work cut out for him.

Vanity Fair and Politico have reported that Trump's staffers have recently been spending a lot of time trying to temper his erratic behavior on a daily basis.

Ever since July, Kelly has been tasked with micromanaging an unstable White House. Instead of abetting his actions as previous staffers reportedly had, Kelly's staff tries to stop Trump from taking actions based on whims, fits of rage, or advice he heard on Fox News.
A cadre of White House insiders and close associates of President Donald Trump have painted a grim picture of an increasingly volatile Trump, who in the past few weeks has found himself at the center of near-constant battles that have frequently spilled out into the public.

Trump's most recent feuds, social-media spats, and public wars of words have pitted the president against critics including a handful from his own party. And the arguments have become increasingly bitter, a reflection of a volatile and isolated Trump, people interviewed by The Washington Post said in a report published Monday night.

One person close to Trump likened the president to a "pressure cooker," according to The Post.

The report comes at another challenging time for Trump's still-nascent presidency. Repeated failures to pass healthcare legislation have been a consistent source of angst for Trump, and his immigration agenda suffered numerous false starts before the US Supreme Court handed the administration a nominal victory in June on the president's controversial travel ban.

Trump and the Republican-led Congress have now turned their attention to tax legislation, but Trump's behavior in recent days could throw that effort into doubt, partly because of Trump's latest battle with Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican who this past weekend said he was concerned about Trump's ability to lead and the president's penchant for brusquely speaking off-the-cuff on foreign-relations matters and issues of national security.

In an interview with The New York Times, Corker, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump's rhetoric could put the US on the path to World War III. That was after he used Twitter to critique the president's behavior, likening the White House to an "adult day-care center."

Trump has lashed out at Corker, who recently announced he would not seek reelection in 2018. The president targeted Corker much in the same way he has other people who have landed on his bad side: by throwing darts at them on Twitter. Corker was his target Sunday, but in the past nine months of his presidency Trump has also gone after:

Sen. John McCain of Arizona

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Sen. Jeff Flake, of Arizona

players who kneel

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico

The Post on Monday reported that some close associates of Trump said the president's angst stemmed from some lingering open wounds with few people left to soothe his frustrations.

Trump's longtime confidant and head of Oval Office operation, Keith Schiller, recently left the administration and, because of the chief of staff John Kelly's strict oversight in the West Wing, Trump is left with few people with whom he can blow off steam, The Post said.

Trump has been here before.

Less than a month before he won last year's election in a shocking victory over Hillary Clinton, The New York Times wrote of an "increasingly upset and alone Donald Trump," a candidate fuming over near-constant GOP repudiation in the dwindling weeks of an explosive presidential race.

CNN painted a similar picture in late May, weeks after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey ahead of his first foreign trip as president.

The ongoing tirades  covering his displeasure with people he considers disloyal, outrage over media coverage, and more  show no signs of ending.

And that has prompted some of Trump's allies and detractors to question his capacity to fulfill his duties as president.
A rapper, farmer, former rebel fighter to fifth longest serving president in Africa are just a few descriptors one can use to describe the 9th President of Uganda.

What many people may not know is that President Museveni is a pastor too and man can he preach.

During the 19th National Prayer Breakfast held in Kampala organised by the Ugandan Parliament, President Museveni delivered a message to Ugandans.

Museveni delivered a tough wake up sermon on why Ugandans need to spend more time working and not praying as stipulated in the good book.

In 500 years, all Africa has managed to make is fire and iron.Even China has been absent, but of late, they have at least copied those innovations. But Africa nothing! I hate this helpless approach where you only pray and shout as if God is deaf, Museveni said.

The president castigated Africans for abandoning their fundamental mission of dominion over nature.

To drive his point home, Museveni picked up his Bible and read from the Book of Genesis 1:24 before criticising Africans for failure to work and invent ideas and solutions that would help them have dominion over all creatures.

Museveni closed his fiery sermon by quoting from the book of Matthew 7:15; where he cautioned the people in the gathering to be aware of false prophets who come ...in sheep clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves".

Also read: Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine in Kampala where King Mwanga executed 22 Christians
The Carl's Jr. feed started tweeting at 1:30 a.m. Monday, saying it would tweet a new idea every hour of what it could accomplish under Amazon.

Examples include a "Self-driving Restaurant," "Space shakes," a "Cloud-Based Restaurant," and "Carl's Foods Markets" that would be "conveniently located between the kale chips & juice bar!"

The tweets seem to be poking fun at the media hype surrounding Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods.

But Carl's Jr.'s daylong tweetstorm is striking some Twitter users as a little sad. Replies to the many tweets stretch from confusion and bafflement to outright anger.

The joke reveals a sobering truth of how big Amazon has gotten.

Business Insider's Kate Taylor reported earlier this year that small businesses worried that Amazon would put them out of business.

Investors have even coined a new word, "Amazon'd," to describe Amazon moving into a new business aggressively and sending competitors' stock plummeting.

Carl's Jr.'s satirical tweets are an apt commentary on the reality retailers face in the Amazon era.
But, over the years, the Indiana native climbed the managerial ladder. Ultimately, he became CEO of the $80 billion company in 2009.

"When I became the CEO, I never thought of myself as the CEO of Walgreens," he told Business Insider. "I thought of myself as Greg, who happens to be the CEO of Walgreens."

Throughout his rise, he said he strived to stay "grounded" and cultivate a leadership style based on "confident humility and humble confidence." As a leader, Wasson said his goal is to boost his team, not himself.

"Leaders who can remain grounded and continue to have some humility but at the same time confidently lead have the right balance," he said.

"There were may times where I had to make hard decisions," Wasson said. "Those were the times I needed employees to have confidence in me. The best way to accomplish that is to communicate in a transparent and humble style, yet with real determination."

He has a gesture from his father to thank for his leadership style. At the start of Wasson's career, his father handed him his business card.

"He'd written on the back, 'Greg, always stay humble,'" Wasson said. "I always kept that in my wallet and pulled it out every once in a while."

Wasson still has his father's business card tucked in his wallet. He said he's always tried to mirror his own leadership style off of the lesson he learned from his father.

"People want a leader who is down to earth and whom they can relate to, but also have confidence in," Wasson said. "Said another way, they want to be both proud of, and confident in, their leader."

Wasson stayed on at Walgreens until the retail chain completed a merger with Boots Alliance in 2014. He now runs investment office Wasson Enterprise with his family.
1. Russian operatives reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on Google ads during the 2016 presidential election. The ads, which appeared on Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail, were allegedly designed to spread disinformation.

2. Microsoft's dream of Windows on phones is officially dead. The company is looking to augmented reality as the future.

3. Apple's head of design says some people "misuse" iPhones. There is increasing focus on how smartphones can be addictive.

4. YouTube is banning some videos on modifying guns after the Las Vegas shooting, CNET reports. It no longer allows videos that show how to fit "bump stocks," devices that allow guns to fire more quickly.

5. Uber's head of HR says she never met with Susan Fowler, the woman whose blog post exposed the company. Fowler's allegations of sex discrimination set off a chain of scandals that culminated in the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick.

6. Twitter removed a tweet from a US Republican Congresswoman who boasted of stopping "the sale of baby body parts" in a Senate campaign video. Marsha Blackburn's video ad was "deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction."

7. IBM wants US lawmakers to protect "Dreamer" migrants by the end of the year. It is flying its 31 Dreamer employees to Washington DC .

8.Pro basketball player LeBron James will star in the first big advertising push for self-driving cars.The commercial comes from Intel.

9. The 2019 iPad Pro may have the same facial recognition tech as the iPhone X. That's according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as reported by MacRumors.
A series of wildfires ravaging pieces of Northern California's wine country is being called one of the worst firestorms in state history. The largest blazes hit Napa and Sonoma.

The region is an economic powerhouse and a favorite destination for wine-lovers. It's home to hundreds of elite wineries and vineyards, trendy restaurants, and five-star hotels.

Two of the largest fires  Tubbs and Atlas fires  are believed to have begun near Highway 128 in Napa. Strong, dry winds fanned the flames from ridge top to ridge top on Monday.

The wine-lover's paradise looked eerie with clouds of smoke hanging overhead. The extent of the damage is unknown, but here are the wineries we know have been lost.

An inferno called the Tubbs Fire has burned more than 34,000 acres in and around the city of Santa Rosa, according to the Cal Fire website. The Atlas Fire in Napa has devastated an additional 43,000 acres. Firefighters were still battling the wildfires on Thursday morning.

Signorello Estate winery, located on Silverado Trail, has been destroyed. Flames climbed the ivy-covered walls of the winery headquarters on Monday, and it eventually collapsed.

Source:

Here's the entrance to the Signorello Estate winery as seen on Monday.

A photo taken inside a tasting room at Signorello Estate winery shows a circular window.

The window frame was nearly all that was left.

Burned bottles of wine were the only reminder that the structure was once a winery.

Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa  a large city in Sonoma County that saw entire neighborhoods burn to the ground  also turned to rubble during the massive fires.

"Paradise Ridge team is safe  our hearts go out to all who have lost their homes and businesses. We are strong and will rebuild," a post read on the winery's Facebook page.

Source:

Paradise Ridge Winery was a popular wedding destination for its stunning views.

Flames scorched the earth and left the sky hazy and orange.

Wine barrels were charred and fermentation tanks were stained with red wine.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery is one of California's oldest family-run wineries.

The fast-moving flames torched the 100-year-old Bundschu family home, as well as vines on the hillside. Firefighters arrived just in time on Monday night to save the winery.

Source:

The family-run Ancient Oak Cellars has been raising sheep and growing grapes on a hill in Santa Rosa for four generations. It's named for a 200-year-old oak tree on the property.

Source:

Around midnight on Monday, owner Ken Moholt-Siebert watched a small ember from the Tubbs fire pick up in the wind and land nearby. Flames began to swallow the property.

Source:

Ken and his wife, Melissa, narrowly escaped in their cars. A house, two redwood barns, and the tasting counter were reduced to ash and debris, the couple confirmed on Facebook.

Source:

We will update this post when we find verified photos of the ruins at Ancient Oak Cellars.

A singed sign outside William Hill in the Napa Valley caused rumors to swirl that the winery  known for its Chardonnay and Bordeaux varietals  had been lost in the Atlas fire.

Took a tour of the William ... @ Hunter KirkSmoldering remains of Willi... @ DJ Rubiconski

The winery confirmed on its Facebook page that the buildings are intact. It sustained "only minor cosmetic and landscaping damages" and "minimal vineyard damage," the post read.

Source:

Founded in 1893, Stags' Leap Winery on the Silverado Trail changed how wine connoisseurs perceived the young Napa Valley region before it became a globally- known brand.

Several buildings at the winery, known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, have burned.

Source:

We will update this post when we find verified photos of the ruins at Stags' Leap Winery.

Planted at the southern foothills of the Sonoma Valley, Nicholson Ranch winery grows award-winning chardonnay and pinot noir grapes across 40 acres of lush vineyards.

A charred entrance now greets visitors at Nicholson Ranch. "The winery was in the path of the fire but escaped being engulfed by the flames," the winery's Facebook page said.

Source:

Frey Vineyards has been a family-owned and operated business for three generations. The winery, based in Redwood Valley, is known for its organic and biodynamic wines.

"Our winery has burned down, and most of the family homes, though our warehouse is intact," Nathan Frey of Frey Vineyards told Wine Spectator magazine on Tuesday.

Source:

We will update this post when we find verified photos of the ruins at Frey Vineyards.

White Rock Vineyards was established at the foot of the Stag's Leap area in 1871. Chardonnay grapes grow across 14 acres, with some vines dating back 35 years.

Staffers said the winery suffered significant damage and is "likely lost."

Source:

We will update this post when we find verified photos of the ruins at White Rock Vineyards.

Several more wineries are reportedly threatened. Winemakers won't know the impact of the fires until evacuations orders have been lifted and they can return to their properties.
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joined Uber as the new HR boss in January. This was a month after Uber Fowler left the company to work at Stripe and a month before Fowler would write the now-famous blog post detailing the sexual harassment and sexism she alleged she experienced while working at Uber. Fowler's post also described how Uber's HR team allegedly brushed off her formal complaints about the incidents.

Fowler's blog post became a catalyst that sent Uber into a tailspin, complete with an internal investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Uber eventually fired over 20 people and Holder submitted a long list recommendations from mandatory leadership-training sessions to the establishment of an in-house diversity advisory board.

Although Hornsey has no plans to meet Fowler, she described Fowler's impact to the WSJ:

Tracy Chou, another female engineer who has worked to help bring more women to tech, also wasn't pleased.
World Religion News reports that the encouragement comes from Governor Matt Bevin.

Using social media, he told the students that it is their right and they should take advantage of it.

Governor Bevins encouragement coincides with the Bring Your Bible to School Day campaign by students, which is currently on its fifth anniversary this year.

Previously, the campaign was observed by students who simply took their Bibles to school.

Now, the governor is taking things further by encouraging students to put more efforts in following the Biblical standards of living.

His goal is to promote spirituality and encourage Bible-based conversations amongst students. Governor Bevin also declared that 2016 and 2017 would be the years of the Bible.

This campaign does not sit well with everyone. It has been reported that Muslim and Atheist groups are arguing that it is not a good idea.

Their argument is that it violates church and state separation, forces religion into public schools and promotes a doctrine that does not portray them well.
Description

This self-guided art walk includes stops at the galleries and museums in Huntington Village, NY. Enjoy meeting artists, taking in new art exhibits and sampling some tasty treats and refreshments along the way. Meet Holly Gordon at the Huntington Art Center for the debut of her Cuba Libre Light exhibit, along with Marie Sheehy Walker and her paintings and pastels. Also meet comic artist Bunny Hoest at the Heckscher Museum during her book signing, whose work is on view in The Lockhorns Meet Howard Huge. Pamela Waldroup will be at fotofoto gallery alongside her exhibit Obsessed with Details. b.j. spoke gallery presents The Body of Earth a solo exhibition by guest artist Jana Kris Live music by The Toby Tobias Ensemble at 11 Wall St, back patio,weather permitting.
The Abiodun family in their statement pleaded with the public to disregard insinuations being peddled by certain sections of the media in order to allow them to grieve privately. They also said an official autopsy would be conducted and the result would be made available soon.

'Read the full statement below'

"The Abiodun family confirms the tragic and regrettable demise of our beloved son, .

We know there are many questions as to how or why such tragedy would happen to such great individual but still, God is in control.

The past few days have been most trying for the family. We are saddened by his demise but we are comforted by the well wishes and kind thoughts of friends around the world.

Olugbemiga has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life but few had the pleasure of truly knowing him.

He was a down to earth, generous, kind-hearted, idealist and selfless

individual who was extremely inspirational to many.

The family hereby, pleads with the public to disregard insinuations being peddled by certain sections of the media about the actual cause of our sons death.

An official result of the autopsy conducted will be made available as soon as it is ready. Until then, we urge everyone to kindly respect our familys need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately.

We remain humble as parents and a family, among several around the world who are bereaved via the tragic loss of a child.

It is never easy to come to terms with the heart-wrenching and enduring agony that accompanies the death of a loved son.

But our family will forever treasure memories of the extremely joyous days spent with Olugbemiga, prior to his demise. Those precious memories will stay with us forever. We are privileged to have some of his amazing, magic moments captured in our hearts.

To everyone who knew him, Olugbemiga was a son and man of immeasurable talent and promise. To those who knew him more personally, he was a consummate artiste and citizen of humanity. We knew him as a devoted son, a loyal and very generous brother and friend.

We treasure the outpouring of grief, empathy and love from unbelievably wonderful network of close friends in Nigeria and from around the world.

Families rarely experience such stirring warmth, compassion and support as have we, from every corner of the planet.

This has profoundly touched our hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful.

At this moment however, we respectfully request the worldwide media to allow us time to grieve privately, without the intrusions associated with press and photography.

For the family
The original movie was barely revered when it was first released in 1982, but over time, despite its narrative shortcomings and irritating pacing, it slowly gained the status of a sci-fi classic, highly regarded for its extraordinary vision of the future and its outstanding aesthetic.

Blade Runner 2049 operates in the same vicinity as its predecessor as it explores the fundamental rights and humanity of machines that have been programmed as slave labourers by humans.

To its credit, Blade Runner 2049 operates with a more expansive narrative and interesting characters than, perhaps, the original, but it fails to escape its familiar shortcomings.

With tedious pacing and a tone so mournful it demands your introspection, 2049 introduces us to K (Ryan Gosling), a new age bio-engineered replicant who works as a blade runner for the LAPD by hunting down and killing older model replicants that disappeared after a blackout event that occurred in the time lapse between the last movie and this one.

If you thought the visual masterpiece that the technology of 1982 could afford for the original was an impressive feat, the sweeping shots of the world of 2049 might be too much for you to take in.

The gorgeous cinematography is capable of making destitute wastelands look like a holiday resort you'd pay through the nose for just to party with your friends for the weekend.

Director Denis Villeneuve has the perfect eye to improve on the original's depiction of a dystopian Los Angeles with magnificent neon lights and terrific costume designs.

However, with the grim persona of the lead character, you're not allowed to take all of these at more than face value.

Most human jobs have been rendered useless, and everything about this future appears impersonal and sculpted by the whims of greedy corporations.

The movie opens with a listless K tracking down an old farmer who he soon adds to his catalogue of dead runaway replicants before he stumbles upon a disturbing discovery.

This discovery sets him on a course to questioning his whole purpose as a machine and carving out a path for himself that's not guided by the wishes of his human creators and employers.

While his journey of self-realisation is an interesting conundrum to keep the story alive, the narrative motivation behind it creates a plot contrivance that just doesn't completely convince.

After finding out that Rachael, the replicant from the original, had delivered a baby, K's LAPD handler, Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright) asks him to discreetly 'retire' the baby as the realisation that replicants can reproduce could unnerve the public's perception of mass-produced machines.

While it's a little problematic to see how this could be a real issue, the motivation of the movie's villain sinks it a little bit more.

Jared Leto adds another cartoonish villain character to his profile as he stars as Niander Wallace, the creepy founder of the replicant-manufacturing company that took over from the Tyrell Corporation from the original movie.

With his distracting silver eyes and dreary kimono-inspired pyjamas, Wallace is a representation of 2049's pretensions of a nuanced well-rounded narrative.

The knowledge of a reproductive replicant tips him over the edge as he tries to acquire it to improve his production line of soulless human-like machines.

Wallace plans to take over new frontiers for humanity by stretching to other worlds with replicating replicants as, for some reason, he's reached the production zenith of replicating.

The movie makes a demand of you to let this logic slide because "Wallace is just a lunatic, you know?"

He enforces his plans with the help of his own personal killer-bug, Luv(Sylvia Hoeks) who is a formidable adversary for a crisis-ridden K going through an introspective phase of his morbid existence with his girlfriend, Joi(Ana de Armas) who is nothing but a holographic corporation-manufactured app.

With characters like K, Luv and Joi who must have been named by a 12-year-old social media user, 2049 plods along with a painfully deliberate slow pace that requires you to glance at your watch more than a few times.

As the movie drags along, K spends more than a good chunk of it battling with the identity of who he really is until a cruel twist towards the end throws some much-needed verve into his story.

Towards the end of the movie, we get to meet Freysa (Hiam Abbass), the leader of replicant freedom fighters with her own interesting motivations for the miracle replicant baby, and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who was the star of the original movie and an important one in this one.

One of Villeneuve's most pivotal choices that makes 2049 tick is making sure that every conflict has some personal stakes involved for the characters, no matter how misguided.

Gosling's broody K gently humanises a programmed machine with such heart and emotion that the audience could have been fooled into thinking that he was really what he turned out to not be.

Where the movie really excels is with every mesmerising frame of the camera as Villeneuve really takes his time to fashion out an epic that furthers the world of the Blade Runner instead of making the easy mistake of simply retreading it.

Blade Runner 2049 is a legitimate blockbuster without the signature feverish action-packed blockbustring, like a Mad Max: Fury Road for a slightly inebriated audience.
Two years later, Banger's 'next' project is revealed as "Catch.er," a thrilling whodunit. Whodunits are rare in Nollywood, and really good ones even rarer.

The last we saw was "Inspector K," a disappointing web series held back by amateur acting and an uninspiring plot.

This second feature from the director opens in an interrogation room with Tony Bello (Alexx Ekubo), a suspect having a 'friendly conversation' with the police. His wife Abby Bello (Beverly Naya), an ambitious career woman has just been found murdered on their wedding anniversary.

The anniversary celebration had started off as fun for the couple who were lodged in a hotel room. It was however, cut short by Abby's boss (Kiki Omeili) who called to ask that she urgently come in to discuss some irregularities found in the company's yearly report.

Following the series of event that occur that day between Abby and her husband and colleagues, she doesn't end the day alive. The police investigation widens and closes on a reasonable number of people with hidden motives to want her dead.

Shown in flashback, the plot unwinds in both the present and past, presented as a statement to Detective Komolafe (OC Ukeje) and Officer John Okoli (Tope Tedela).

Banger juggles between the past and present, moving his characters from the interrogation room to the Bello residence, the hotel room and Abby's office. And he does this without losing the audience.

He drops clues throughout the film that can be picked up by attentive viewers. These clues give credence to certain events in the movie. For instance, the screen time given to Brume's ring hinted its importance in the murder investigation. Also, the first on-screen meeting/conversation between the killer and Abby had an air that insinuated foul play.

Potential villains are all over the screen, but they all, including the weird and hilarious John Okoli, remain potential culprits right up to the closing scenes. And when the events all come together at the end, it all makes sense.

"Catch.er" is funny, a feature that keeps it going even when its pace falters and requires patience to sit through. Banger skillfully stirs the humour in a delicate situation such as an unfortunate murder without being insensitive about it.

The movie isnt one of those whodunits laced with one heavy shock after another, neither is its plot too dark or intricate like "Momento" or " China Town" that it drains you emotionally.

Nevertheless, this safely played and simple mystery story is presented as if its a real puzzler, and most of the fun comes from trying to work out who the killer is.

The main relationship in the film - and the primary source of humour - is between Detective Komolafe and his suspects as he tries to get them to spill their secrets or uncover their layers of lies.

Catch.er is an ensemble in the best sense: everyone has something to offer, including the minor characters with few lines - like Wofai Fada's role as the secretary, whose statement incriminates her boss and steers the investigation and plot towards a different direction.

The film boasts quite a number of great acting from the cast; good enough for you to overlook the few unconvincing performances.

As Brume, a colleague of Abby who was engaged in a heated argument hours before her death, Blossom Chukwujekwu is simply amazing. He handles the role with expertise, portraying both strength, weakness, anger and violence.

Whether pleading with Abby to keep his dirty dealings a secret, or trying to convince the detective of his innocence, Brume is surprisingly one character that evokes several emotions from the audience.

"Catch.er" also provides an interesting character in Inspector Komolafe, played by OC Ukeje. He displays impressive wit and cunning, while shooting off humorous one-liners that keep the audience going.

As Tony Bello, the husband of the deceased, Alexx Ekubo lacks the seriousness and intensity fitting for the character. For this role, Ekubo wears the same comic look viewers must have seen on him in comedy movies such as "1st Lady." Even when he says something as profound as "you can't believe what I have been through. I just lost my wife," it sounds funny and flippant.

Omowumi Dada is a scene stealer with her effortless sense of humour, facial expressions, mannerism, and dialogue as Ese, Tony's sidechick and commercial sex worker.

As Officer John Okolie, a morally ambiguous police officer, Tedela owns the scenes hes in. He doesn't say much in the movie, but a raised eyebrow is all he needs to grab the attention of the audience.

As Segun Akintola,a lawyer and brother to the deceased, Gbenro Ajibade wears the right suit and attitude to depict the affluence of their family. However, you want more - perhaps the strong feeling that should come with his circumstance or relationship with the deceased.

Beverly Naya does her best to depict a heartbroken, meticulous, betrayed wife and career woman, Abby Bello.

In this age that is mainly about capturing as many angles as possible, "Catch.er" focuses more about putting people in the frame, lighting them to ideal effect, and moving the camera skilfully to tell the story.

Another beautiful part of the film is its use of music. It is uniquely put together that it hits hard enough to suit a scene or elicit laughter. For instance, when Olamide's song comes on while the killer tries to clean up the act. It's as apt as they come.

"Catch.er" is a simple whodunit that moves at an inexorable slow pacing towards a satisfying climax. While the ending is satisfying, one would have expected a more chilling reflection on the dark side of the killer's nature.

Mysteries stay in the memory, not just because of who did what to whom, but why. Probably in a bid to save time, Banger denies viewers a backstory.

For better or worse, this Nolly-Noir as Walter Banger describes it, is essential to the Nigerian industry. It is a step forward towards diversification of genres in Nollywood.

"Catch.er" is not a perfect film but its faults don't in any way intrude on your enjoyment.

The film is still an interesting mystery ensemble that catches and holds your attention until the credits roll.
She said when she was young, she was called ugly, but obviously physical beauty according to the world's standards is not a guarantee of success. Other successful people have been criticized for being "ugly" according to the world's standards, but that hasn't stopped them from winning success after success. An example is Serena Williams. People have called her all sorts of names and even suggested that she was built like a man so she shouldn't be competing against women.

But despite all this, she has kept rising and rising and shaming her critics. Michelle Obama has also been called a man many times, but it hasn't stopped her. Sarah Jessica Parker was called the unsexiest woman alive by Maxim, but she still went on to be one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood. Meryl Streep was also called an ugly thing by Producer, Dino Laurentiis during an audition, but she's now an Oscar winning actress. Chrissy Teigen was told she was too fat for a Forever 21 job, but she's now a super model. What label have people put on you? You can choose to accept it and live a defeated life, or rise above it and determine for yourself who are. Life is not a beauty contest; it's a game of grit, persistence and passion. A pretty or handsome person is not guaranteed a successful existence, but somebody who refuses to give up will always do great things.
The body said the Operation has thwarted the growing spate of crimes like kidnapping, assassination, ritual killings, armed robbery and other life-threatening evil across the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria.

This was disclosed at the public presentation of the midterm report by the IHRCMG in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

The report which was presented by the Team Leader of the group Barr. Zineke Werigbelegha, opined that the achievement of the operation should catalyze strong consideration for retaining it as an annual drill to not only hone troops' skills but to help make the country safer for citizens.

Barr. Werigbelegha noted that the exercise was in the best interest of the public as it has helped to address pressing security issues that the civil police was grappling with even though that was not its original intent.

Part of the report reads:

'The launch of Operation Python Dance II follows from the maiden edition of the drill in 2016, which was widely acclaimed for ridding the South East of Nigeria of crimes like kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes ahead of the Yuletide season.

To revive these crimes, perpetrators brought them under a political cover which manifested as agitations for the re-creation of the erstwhile Republic of Biafra.

While the crime of any nature is against the law, bringing these crimes under a call for secession went on to create a volatile mix.

Since the objective of Operation Python Dance II was to build troops capacity, it went ahead irrespective of the mutations that the crimes in the region are undergoing.

There were instances where the criminal gangs and terrorist groups exploited the peaceful nature of the drill to provoke troops through surprise attacks that were professionally repelled.

From the research conducted, the Nigerian Army significantly complied with the expected rules of engagement. It was found that the exercise would need to be staged annually because of the observed benefit of its capacity to discourage crime even when that is not its original intention.

At the launch of Operation Python Dance II, the states in South-East Nigeria have again slid into a precarious situation with increasing return of insecurity in the intervening period between the completion of the first Operation Python Dance and the launch of the second edition.

In assessing the impact of Operation Python Dance II, the research team of the Independent Human Rights/Crime Monitoring Group in Nigeria visited the five states of the South East  Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra and Abia States and also briefly toured the geographically congruous Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States.

In these states, the researchers randomly interviewed residents using samples that made considerations for sex, age, income level, urban-rural dwellers and religious denomination.

The interviews were offset with content analysis and review of media reportage of crimes before and during Operation Python Dance II while the outcome of this was comparatively assessed with the same period of the previous year.

It was found that Operation Python Dance II was widely but erroneously perceived as a full-scale military operation against the terrorist activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB], even when the Army sufficiently communicated its intention as a training drill for troops familiarize with the operating environment of the country.

This perception was not helped by the propaganda launched by IPOB which was noted as desperate to keep the military out of the South East while its activities gain further grounds.

The decision by IPOB terrorists to deny troops right of way in the course of the operation led to potentially volatile incidents that IPOB publicized as attacks on its operational base in Abia State.

It was however confirmed that troops professionally managed the situation with several arrests made of the terrorists that had launched attacks on troops.

The research, however, found that Operation Python Dance II operated within acceptable rules of engagement for the period under review.

No one came forward to identify themselves as the people in the videos that made the round alleging abuses by the military.

Residents wanted an extension of the one-month duration of the operation with several of them noting that they only began to feel safe with its launch.

They also requested that the operation should be instituted and designated with a year name as opposed to a series name like Operation Python Dance 2017 compared to Operation Python Dance II.

There was an immediate scale down of crimes  robbery, kidnapping, assassination, ritual killings, extortion and criminal groups.

The research revealed that these crimes were not random acts but were centrally coordinated as sources of funding for IPOB.

A determination to protect these sources of its funding was, in part, responsible for its decision to obstruct and attack troops on the exercise.

IPOB enjoys the patronage of the political class and elites in the South East and they exploited this relationship to blackmail the army.

The accusations of human rights abuses against the military were the product of propaganda since those who made the allegations failed to step forward in the course of this research. The allegations of human rights abuses were therefore found to be unfounded and without evidence.

The conduct of Operation Python Dance II met the expected standards for acceptable rules of engagement during military operations in a civilian area.

Those arrested for obstructing and attacking troops should be put on trial as deterrence for recurrence of such.

Those found to be supporting IPOB as a terror group should be isolated from the political space to send a clear message that people cannot precipitate a crisis to get political leverage. Such persons should be put on trial where there is strong enough evidence to arraign them.
What the Onicha Ugbo, Delta State-born publisher of the popular Hints Magazine did not know was that he would have to deal with seasoned politicians who are well versed in the art of wheeling and dealing and getting their ways most of the time.

He must have thought that in Nigerian politics, things are done by the book and as such, all protocols must be followed to the letter.

Even when he was made the Minister of State for the Petroleum Resources, thereby taking away the responsibilities of the day-to-day running of the NNPC away from him, Kachikwu must have believed he will be briefed on what goes on in the Corporation by the new GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru.

But he has been roundly disappointed when he found out that not only has he been sidelined by Baru, he has been made redundant because his role in the running of the NNPC has been reduced to that of a mere Board Chairman without any powers to influence and effect any change.

According to former Aviation Minister and avowed critique of the President Muhammadu Buhari regime, Femi Fani-Kayode, 'Kachikwu has finally come to understand and hopefully accept the fact that no matter how much he tried to be a loyal and true member of Buharis kitchen cabinet and inner circle, and no matter how much he considered himself to be a key and indispensable member of the regime, he remains more of an outsider.'

With Baru running rough-shod at the helms of affairs of the NNPC, Kachikwu is more or less, a mere figurehead who is only seen not heard.

This frustration and alienation must have led him to write the now volatile memo to the President where he raised various issues and accusations against Baru, some of which hinged on high-level corruption, high handedness, awarding contracts running into $25 billion without discussing with the board, sidelining the board, taking decisions on his own and so many other accusations.

In the memo, Kachikwu also vented his frustration at the way he has been shielded from seeing the President by his people and how all his efforts had been frustrated.

The memo was sent to the President sometime in August but after over a month without any action coming out of it, the letter got leaked to the public by God knows who and within a short while, there was a rumble in the nation.

With many Nigerians calling on the President to act to prove his well-acclaimed integrity and not to treat the matter in the way others have gone, Buhari called for a meeting with Kachikwu and Baru where he reportedly told the NNPC GMD to respond to the accusations leveled at him.

Then the chess game began in earnest.

A few days later, Baru came out with a reply, clearly dismissing the corruption allegations, stating that there is no law in the land that required or mandated him to review or discuss contract matters with the Minister of State or the NNPC Board before they are carried out.

Baru went further to state that what the law stipulates is for the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board which does not have Kachikwu as a member as his role ends with the NNPC Board alone.

He added that only the President, in his executive capacity and the substantive Minister of Petroleum is required by law to approve contracts. Or better still, the Federal Executive Council [FEC], has the right to know what goes on in the NNPC in terms of the award of contracts.

To even make the Chess game interesting, Baru fired a shot at Kachikwu:

"The substance of the allegations made by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in a letter to the President dated 30th of August 2017, is that a number of 'major contracts were never reviewed or discussed with me [sic] the NNPC Board.'

It is important to note from the outset that the law and the rules do not require a review or discussion with the Minister of State or the NNPC Board on contractual matters.

What is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the President in his executive capacity or as Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council [FEC], as the case may be."

In clear terms, Baru seems to tell Kachikwu that as far as the NNPC is concerned, he certainly has no roles and should not expect to be taken along in the scheme of things.

Now there are calls for both Kachikwu and Baru to be suspended while many say the Petroleum Minister of State's integrity and political career will take a further dent if he does not resign from the position.

And with the subtle backing of Baru by the Presidency, it seems Kachikwu has lost the power game he was not prepared for and it is checkmate for him.
The young military officer who has been hailed as one of the best officers in the Army actually has a Nigerian mother and an Israeli father but grew up in Nigeria and sees herself more of a Nigerian than an Israelite.

Speaking on the website of IDF, Lt. Cohen said she grew up with stories of her father who served in the IDF as a soldier and had always dreamed of following in his footsteps, a dream which has come to pass today.

Lt. Cohen explained that in her bid to be enlisted in the army, she joined a programme which sends people to Israel when she was just 16.

Beginning her narration, she said:

At age 16, I decided that it was my time to make a change. I joined a programme which sends young people to Israel. After one year, I joined a Mechina [a pre-military programme] and it was there that I started to feel more connected to the army.

The 26-year-old Cohen said she grew up in Kano State with her mother and sisters before taking the bold step to move to Israel and join the Army.

Continuing, she said:

I always wanted to come to Israel ever since I was a small child. I wanted a deeper connection, to understand what Israel is, and not just through stories.

Here in Israel, everyone sees the army as something very ordinary  they simply grow into this reality. For me, it was a far away dream that I wanted to fulfill.

After a few months in the army, I already wanted to become an officer. I know it might sound strange, but I fell in love with the army.

She said that despite the fact that moving to Israel was a dream come true for her, it was still hard to adjust to the life in another country.

New immigrants are often embarrassed and ashamed to speak because they may say something wrong and I was one of them but at some point, I realized that I couldnt go on like this.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way and it was hard, but it was worth it. I learned Hebrew quickly so as to get around and my friends helped me to adjust.

My father was also very happy about my decision to become an officer in the Israeli army since he was also an officer in the Army.

He was just as emotional as I was. For him, it was a dream come true and his being there really helped me. My mother and my entire family attended the officers' graduation ceremony.

It is very touching to be the first woman officer from Nigeria in the IDF. Obviously, I have fallen in love with Israel. This is my home and I see myself continuing my life here."

Before her promotion to the rank of a Lieutenant, Cohen served as an operations sergeant in the Homefront Command and was later accepted into the officers training course.
Kay and his family members have been begging Ireti to forgive him for the sake of their children but will she ever get round to it?

Read her story here:

"My name is Ireti, a 30-year-old married woman with two lovely daughters. I have been married to Kay for seven years now but our marriage is all but over after I found out that he had been sleeping with my younger sister for over a year now.

Bimpe who is the last child of my parents had always been the black sheep of the family and gave my parents so much trouble.

She has also been very wayward, sneaking out of the house to parties and sleeping with different men in our community. When her troubles were getting too much, I had to take her to live with me thinking I would be able to tame her.

Little did I know that bringing her into my own home would be the cause of my agony. How could I have known that my husband would stoop so low to sleep with my own sister? I now believe that most men think with their manhood and not their brains.

Or how else would a man succumb to the temptation of sleeping with his sister's wife and even getting her pregnant in the process?

I got to know what happened when I came back from work one evening and met Bimpe bleeding seriously. I was shocked and asked her what was wrong with her but she could not give me any reasonable answer.

I was so worried and called our family doctor who said I should bring her to the hospital. I got a taxi and took her to the hospital but by the time we got there, she had passed out and had to be taken to the theater immediately for an urgent operation.

I called my husband to come to the hospital but he gave me some flimsy excuses as to why he could not make it.

I did not want to make it an issue of on the phone, so I let it go. I called two of my siblings who live in Lagos and they all rushed to the hospital.

After almost two hours, the doctor came out of the theater and said Bimpe had come out of the coma and would be okay but that her fallopian tube had been destroyed due to a badly done abortion.

I was shocked and wondered how she could have gotten pregnant despite my strict rules at home and not letting her have the kind of freedom she had at home.

I was still in this worried mode when we went in to see her in the ward and when she saw us, Bimpe started crying and asking me to forgive her. My brother told her to shut up and tell us who got her pregnant and why she had an abortion without telling me.

That was when I got the shock of my life as Bimpe confessed that it was my husband that got her pregnant and took her to a quack doctor for the abortion. She also added that he had been sleeping with her since she came to live with us.

I almost passed out when I heard what my sister said and it was by sheer providence that Kay had not come to the hospital because my brother could have killed him.

I had to beg him not to come with me to the house because I know the temper he has. When I got home and confronted Kay, all he could say was that Bimpe seduced him and begged for forgiveness.

Despite myself, I was very calm as I picked some of my things, took my children and moved to my sister's place where I have been for weeks now trying to sort myself out.

Kay has been sending people to beg me and my family but I don't think I can ever go back to a man who could do such a thing to me. I have told him to go ahead and marry my sister and I have filed a divorce suit against him.

Some people are saying I should forgive him for the sake of the children but I don't think I can ever come to terms with living with him again.

Ireti."

The teaser for the was:

Do you think Ireti should forgive Kay for sleeping with her sister?

How Nigeria voted:

Ireti should forgive her husband and go back to him - 56%

Ireti should divorce Kay immediately - 24%

Ireti and her family should make sure Kay marries Bimpe - 2%

Ireti should never go back to Kay no matter the pressure - 18%
The maiden experience held at the exclusive bar & grill The Backyard, in the heart of Victoria Island, Lagos.

The guest experience started at a custom-built whisky bar where World Class Regional Champion bartender, Kelvin Oduntan treated guests to a bespoke tasting experience. The one-on-one exercise started with a quick nosing of the Johnnie Walker Black Label designed to encourage guests to discern the unique characteristics of the whisky.

Guests were immediately seated facing an art installation stage where The Jazz Band, Johnny Drille and Brymo were to soon take the stage. The Jazz Band opened their set with a scene-setting instrumental before wading into their repertoire of original and cover materials.

MAVIN artiste Johnny Drille opened his set in an unapologetically soulful fashion, spreading a sense of an intimate living room performance around the venue. Label Boss, Don Jazzy sat front row encouraging the crooner with every vocal note.

In between performances, guests indulged their palates with the Everest of the whiskies, Johnnie Walker Black Label, perfectly-paired delicious canapes. Each treat was designed to open the taste buds, bringing the flavours and aromas in the whisky to the fore.

Nothing could have prepared the audience for the highlight of the evening  Brymo. The star delivered a high-energy performance singing as if he could never lose his voice and as if hed spent years taking detailed notes on what historys greatest afro jazz performers had done before him.

From the scenery to the music to paired canapes, every moment of Johnnie, Jazz & Whisky was carefully curated to deliver a blissful night under a starry sky and we cant wait for more.
Here are five weird religious beliefs and practices still going on around Africa.

1. Killing Albinos for ritual purposes

In Malawi, Tanzania and Burundi people believe their traditional healers who say that acquiring the body parts of a human with a melanin deficiency, can assist with improving their luck, health or wealth.

2. Women bull jumping ritual, Hamer tribe

This may seem difficult but to Hamer women from the South-western Ethiopia, its more like a normal phase of life.

Before you can be allowed to engage in this ritual, youll first have to go through a series of whipping on both the back and buttocks until there are some scars that will signify that youve already gone through the ritual and youre now a grown woman who is very ready for marriage.

3. Circumcision rites, Zulu tribe

Circumcision is often done on boys but as a baby. This is not the case in South Africa as Zulu teenage boys have to undergo a bizarre circumcision rite to become men.

These boys will be abducted and then taken to a secret place that can only be accessed by elderly women who bring them food and drinks. They are then covered in white dust before being allowed to use sharp blades or rocks to circumcise themselves. They end up having disfigured genitals, and some even die during the process.

The wounds are normally treated and dressed using mad or animal waste and may take four months or more to heal.

4. Magun

The Yoruba ethnic group use Magun for adulterers and most times the outcome is not palatable as the offender could lose his/her life.

The Magun is placed on a woman without her being aware of it either by her husband or his family. If she commits adultery, her lover could end up losing his life or getting stuck while in the act.

5. Reincarnation

The concept of reincarnation is found among many African tribes and is not limited to a country.

Reincarnation refers to the soul of a dead person being reborn in the body of another. There is a close relationship between birth and death in Africa.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy, Health and Nutrition, RMNCAH+N, at the State House, Abuja, on Monday, Mrs. Buhari took on a few persons and institutions.

Here goes:

1. No X-ray machine at Aso Rock clinic.

When Mrs. Buhari took to the clinic inside the State House, she was shocked to find out that the health facility has no X-ray equipment.

According to the First Lady: I called the Aso Rock Clinic to find out if they have an X-Ray machine, they said its not working.

In the end I had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners 100 per cent.

Sad. It is little wonder President Buhari often flies abroad for medical care.

2. Mrs. Buhari wonders where the budget for Aso Rock clinic ends up.

There is a budget for the Hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they dont have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with? Mrs. Buhari asked rhetorically.

No syringe at the State House hospital?

Now, thats a total disaster!

3. Imagine what happens to First Ladies across the States.

Ok, Mrs Buhari had to ask her audience to imagine what happens to Governors wives across the country if as the Presidents wife, she cant find syringes and X-ray machines at the State House hospital.

You can imagine what happens across the States to Governors' wives if this will happen to me in Abuja, she said.

No, thats totally heart-rending.

Our sincere apologies to the wives of all State Governors who are confronted with the indignity of not finding X-ray equipment and syringes in government owned hospitals.

4. Ok, Mrs. Buhari also said when she fell ill recently and was advised to travel to London for treatment, she said no way.

Are you clapping yet?

5. Nnamdi Kanu grew some balls because Buhari was away in London.

According to Mrs. Buhari, IPOB leader and separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, was only able to incite and cause trouble, because Buhari was battling health worries in London.

As a result of the president spending several months outside Nigeria, a 40-year-old man who was still living in his fathers house created a State out of a State and that is a major set back for the country and the health sector did not benefit, she said.

A 40-year-old man still living in his fathers house?

Wawu!
That memo was leaked last week.

In it, Kachikwu accused Baru of humiliating and disrespecting him; and not following due process in the award of contracts at the NNPC.

Kachikwu also accused Baru of complicity in the disappearance of some $25B (N9TR) in crude oil earnings.

We waited all of last week for Baru to respond. Lets just say we waited in vain.

However, President Buhari separately met both men last week and issued a directive to Baru to respond to the allegations levelled by his 'junior' Minister.

The NNPC has just issued a response through its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu.

We reproduce seven talking points from that press statement below.

Look away now, Kachikwu:

1. Baru is only responding because Buhari asked him to.

After the memo was leaked to the press, Baru declined comments wherever he showed up.

However, in responding now, he makes it clear hes only doing so because the president required a response from him.

Heres the opening paragraph from the statement that makes that clear:

Following the publication of alleged lack of adherence to due process in the award of NNPC contracts, the President ordered the Group Managing Director (GMD) and Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to consider and respond expeditiously to the allegations.

2. Baru says Kachikwu shouldnt complain if he isnt carried along in award of contracts.

One of Kachikwus allegations against Baru was that the NNPC GMD awarded contracts without carrying him along.

Baru says the law doesnt say Kachikwu has to be carried along.

It is important to note from the outset that the law and the rules do not require a review or discussion with the Minister of State or the NNPC Board on contractual matters.

"What is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the President in his executive capacity or as Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as the case may be.

There are therefore situations where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tenders Board while, in other cases, based on the threshold, the award must be submitted for presidential approval. Likewise, in some instances it is FEC approval that is required.

Implication of what you just read: As long as Buhari, who is Minister of Petroleum, has been informed, the show can go on. Kachikwu should consider himself lucky if he's even informed.

Sorry, Kach, but thats exactly what Baru is saying.

3. Baru says Kachikwu got his math wrong.

According to this statement, Kachikwu was throwing figures for contracts that hadnt even been awarded.

It should be noted that for both the Crude Term Contract and the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreements, there are no specific values attached to each transaction to warrant the values of $10billion and $5billion respectively placed on them in the claim of Dr. Kachikwu.

It is therefore inappropriate to attach arbitrary values to the shortlists with the aim of classifying the transactions as contracts above NNPC Tenders Board limit. They are merely the shortlisting of prospective off-takers of crude oil and suppliers of petroleum products under agreed terms.

4. The money from crude oil lifting goes straight to the federation account, Baru says.

Heres from the statement: These transactions were not required to be presented as contracts to the Board of NNPC and, of course, the monetary value of any crude oil eventually lifted by any of the companies goes straight into the federation account and not to the company.

5. NNPC GMD calls Kachikwu an unfortunate somebody.

Not our words. Read this:

Furthermore, contrary to the assertion of Dr. Kachikwu that he was never involved in the 2017/2018 contracting process for the Crude Oil Term Contracts, Dr. Kachikwu was in fact expressly consulted by the GMD and his recommendations were taken into account in following through the laid down procedure. Thus, for him to turn around and claim that is most unfortunate to say the least.

Oh boy!

6. Baru says Kachikwus allegations were baseless.

Hear the man:

From the foregoing, the allegations were baseless and due process has been followed in the various activities.

7. Baru says Kachikwu is mischievous.

Again, we return to the statement as we close this:

The NPDC production service contracts have undergone due process, while the AKK (Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano) contract that requires FEC approval has not reached the stage of contract award.

In other words, whats Kachikwu even bitching about?

It is therefore mischievous to classify Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) Contract- valued at over $5bn as contract and attach a value to it that is above Managements limit.
According to a report by The Punch, the report was made by the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 when he met with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

It was reported that governor Ajimobi called the Presidents attention to the face-off between him and the monarch over the recently reviewed Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration.

Ajimobi also said he called the Presidents attention to the fact that the crisis created by the review had been politicised, having been hijacked by a politician (Rashidi Ladoja) who is interested in his office.
Lawal was apparently suspended after the senate indicted him of awarding humanitarian contracts in the Northeast to companies in which he retains considerable interests.

Oke was suspended after the discovery of a certain $50M in an Ikoyi apartmentback in April. The NIA claimed ownership of the cash haul which has since been forfeited to the federation account following a court ruling.

A presidential statement announcing the suspension of the duo had read thus: The President has also directed the suspension of the SGF from office pending the outcome of the investigations.

In a related development, the president has ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has made a claim.

The investigation is also to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.

Committee

A committee to probe Lawal and Oke was immediately set up by the president.

The committee had as members Attorney General Abubakar Malami and National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was named as head of the committee.

The committee was given 14 days to submit its report.

However, Buharis medical vacation abroad meant that the report of the committee wasnt physically submitted to the president until August 23, 2017.

Mum is the word

Since Buhari received the report from Osinbajo, no word has been heard about it; with Lawal and Oke now serving six months of their respective suspensions.

A presidency source told Pulse that the Osinbajo committee recommended the outright firing of the duo and prosecution of one of the indicted, thereafter.

On August 4, 2017, a reliable source in the presidency told Pulse that Osinbajowho was at the time Acting Presidentcouldnt take action on the report because he was a member of the committee that drew up the recommendations in the report.

This top ranking Aso Rock official also told Pulse to await Buharis return to the country for action on the report.

Calls and text messages sent to presidency spokespersons Garba Shehu, Laolu Akande and Femi Adesina on the status of the report and when action will be taken, were ignored.

However, another presidency aide told Pulse on the basis of anonymity that I am as clueless on the report and what Buhari will do, as you are. No one knows what Baba is going to do, trust me.

Swept under a carpet

There are growing concerns across the country that the report may just have been swept under the carpet like those before it.

Nigerians across all social media platforms have been clamouring for action to be taken based on the recommendations of the Osinbajo committee. But the presidency has remained tone deaf through it all.

Prof Itse Sagay who heads Buharis committee on anti-corruption, recently admitted that action on the report has been much too slow.

On the specific issue of the suspended Secretary to the Federal Government and the Director-General of the NIA, I would agree that action has been much too slow and there should be immediate decision on this matter so that we can put it to rest and move on. I agree with that, Sagay said during an appearance on ChannelsTV.

However, Sagay also added that the presidency has no intention of sweeping the recommendations of the report under a carpet.

I have no doubt in my mind that the present government is actually fighting corruption in accordance with its mandate and promises. There is no question about that, he said.
Also charged alongside the men are two companies  Danium Energy Services Ltd and Petrosol Energy Ltd.

They are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 10- count charge bordering on fraud.

The accused, however, denied the charges.

According to the prosecution, the accused conspired to defraud a financial house to the tune of N3.3 billion.

The EFCC said Eliot and Danium Energy Services Ltd had on Jan. 30 or thereabouts conspired to induce the new generation bank to deliver to Danium Energy Services Ltd a sum of N3.3 billion.

The funds were said to be paid on the pretext that Total Nigeria Plc contracted the energy firm to supply 15,000 metric tonnes of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel).

It was also alleged that Eliot and the energy firm on Feb. 3 induced the financial institution to deliver to Danium Energy Services N3.3 billion for the supply.

Besides, the anti-graft agency alleged that the duo on or before Feb. 9 also conspired to commit fraud to the tune of N2.8 billion by making similar false representation.
Nweke made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the side lines of the on-going 23rd Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nweke, who was reacting to the impact of N118 trillion generated from oil proceeds since 1961, said there had been much leakage and mismanagement of Nigerian fiscal resources within government system over the years.

 But the truth is that there is a lot of leakage and mismanagement of Nigerian fiscal resources within Nigerian government system, and are we worse off it.

I was in China and it is incredible what has happened there in just the last 30 years of serious visioning, discipline implementation and ethical disposition to labour practices.

 I will like to say that Nigeria can never develop by accident; no nation can develop by accident; you must envision, you must plan, you must articulate programmes.

 You must find resources and you must be disciplined in the way that you manage those resources to be able to implement what you want to implement.

If you dont, we are going to be worse for it, whether it is power sector, whether it is the road sector, the school system, the airport, it is the same thing.

 If we decide to take the monies meant for public infrastructure and put them in the private pockets, we will continue not to have infrastructure; we will continue not to have quality life and our economy will continue to be stagnant .

On development of the local content in oil and gas sector, Nweke said it was cherry the current government was making some progress in trying to expand the skills set .

He said it was good that government was creating an environment for the local operators to evolve better skills to work with the private sector and the global environment.

He, however, said it was necessary for Nigeria to continue to articulate and implement long term goals to domesticate the local content operations.

If you look at countries that are similar to Nigeria in terms of dependence on oil and gas, they had articulated a long time strategic plan which enabled them to domesticate their operations over a long period.

They started with their foreign partners, foreign expertise, but they deliberately put in place strategic programmes and plans to train their own people to take over.

 Weather you are talking about technical jobs, technical support, or investment in the sector, they made it easier for their own citizens to play in the sector; that is what the Nigerian Local Content Act is meant to address.

He said that there was the need to further drive the implementation of the local content act to ensure the development of skills to usher in bigger Nigerian players into the sector.

We need many more people operating at their highest level in engineering, mining, in exploration to come in to oil and gas sector.
Ekweremadu spoke while delivering a lecture entitled: Constitutionalism and the Challenges of Leadership in Africa:an Evaluation of Tested Models on Tuesday.

The event was organised by the Centre for Media and Peace Initiatives, a New York-based international NGOto mark its 10th anniversary.

A more modest proposal seeks not the abandonment of the presidential system per se but the re-designing of term limits for political chief executives."

This is in order to reduce the acrimonious conflict, divisiveness and instability arising from partisan or factional competition for executive offices in the federation."

I support the proposals to transform the current tenure of two four-year terms into a single term of five or six years."

Among other advertised benefits, single terms would avoid the distractions, manipulations and divisiveness of re-election campaigns while facilitating a more rapid circulation or rotation of power among the various groups.

According to him, a single term of four years is also less costly as it will reduce the cost of conducting general elections every four years.

Ekweremadu urged Nigeria and other African countries to learn from the failures and successes of older democracies, particularly, the Latin American democracies.

He noted that many of the Latin Americans transited from autocratic regimes to democracies, discovering that the politics of succession, including incumbents penchant for self-perpetuation, was overheating the system.

As a solution, they adopted the single term presidency until such a time their respective democracies matured and stabilised, he said.

It is for this reason that the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, which I chair, felt, in 2014, that a single term would serve the ends of our current democracy.

Unfortunately, the recommendation failed because ethnic suspicions and parochial interests prevented reasonable and good faith evaluation of our worthy proposal, he said.

Ekweremadu also suggested a rotational presidency among the ethnic groups or geographical zones, saying it might prove reassuring to ethnic groups and promote loyalty to the nation.

Therefore, it may well be time to re-visit the idea of rotational presidency that was first muted in Nigeria by late military Head of State Sani Abacha.

He suggested a modification of the present presidential system to curtail presidential excesses, and importantly, create greater overlap and affinity between the executive and the legislative arms of government.

To this end, a hybrid of both the presidential and parliamentary systems will go a long way in keeping the presidency in check, while also reaping the benefits inherent in presidential system.

He advocated such modification as the introduction of `Question Time in the parliament to hold the ministers consistently accountable and the replacement of impeachment with a procedure for vote of no-confidence, among others.

He called for measures to check imperial presidency in Africa and the excesses of many leaders who are allegedly tyrannical and abusive as the military and civilian despots they criticised and replaced.

Earlier, Dr Uchenna Ekwo, the President of the centre, said it had fostered more critical journalism devoted to peace building and holding practitioners accountable.

We are building a media system that supports peace, dialogue, non-violence and democracy, Ekwo said.

The representative of the Permanent Observer of AU to the UN, Amb. Omer Mohamed, said Africa should be allowed to adopt a version of democracy peculiar to the continent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bello shared the materials to victims currently quartered in two Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps located at Bassa and Ajaokuta.

The governors wife, who was represented by Hajia Halimat Tanko, wife of the Sole Administrator of Ajaokuta Local Government, in a brief remark, said that the gesture was aimed at mitigating the impact of the disaster on the victims.

She assured the IDPs that her husband, Governor Yahaya Bello, was working with relevant agencies, including the Kogi and National Emergency Management Agencies, toward bringing succour to them.

She advised people living around river banks to relocate to upper lands to avoid being victims of flood disasters in future.

Mrs. Bello urged them to promptly report threats of flooding to relevant agencies, urging them to also draw governments attention to blocked waterways.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) made the pledge in Abuja in a statement by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC Group General Manager Group Public Affairs Division.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu had accused Baru of flouting contractual agreements, creating a fear culture in the corporation and insubordination among others.

Ughamadu, reacting to the allegations on Monday, however, said the Ministers allegations were not true as due process had been followed in the corporations various activities.

Ughamadu said at a solidarity visit to the GMD, the National President of PENGASSAN, Mr Francis Johnson, said the unions and its members considered it appropriate to rally round Baru and the NNPC Management to pledge their support.

The unions support for the GMD was based on his ability to walk his talk since assuming office last year.

The National body of PENGASSAN and all the NNPC in-house unions are here today to show our support for you.

You have brought stability to the NNPC and we are happy today that staff morale is high. You were Chairman of NNPC Anti-Corruption Committee for over five years and that was what informed your appointment as GMD of NNPC.

Today, all the bullets you are taking are on behalf of members of staff. We will continue to pray for you, God will continue to guide and shield you, Ughamadu quoted Johnson.

Ughamadu said the unionist called on Nigerians to be cautious of their comments on the controversy, adding that any wrong information was capable of discouraging investors from the oil and gas industry.

He said the NNPC Group Chairman of PENGASSAN, Mr Sale Abdullahi, who also spoke during the solidarity visit disclosed that part of the unions concern had to do with the need to protect not only the GMD but the NNPC as an institution.

Baru had streamlined the processes and procedures in the Corporation leading to the full restructuring which was beginning to yield positive results.

Today, the GMD and NNPC Management receive inputs from staff and this gesture by Dr Baru has given members of staff a sense of belonging.

Today, our inputs are being implemented and we are highly motivated.

Other union leaders who were at the meeting to lend support were the Group Chairman of NNPC NUPENG, Udofia Benjamin and Chairman of NNPC Corporate Headquarters Chapter of PENGASSAN, Mathew Duru.

Also speaking, Baru described the allegations of award of contracts without regard to due process as unfounded and unfortunate.

He explained that as a former chairman of the NNPC Anti-Corruption Committee, he would be the last person to breach the procurement process by disregarding extant laws and rules.

The GMD said both the NNPC Act and Public Procurement Act vested procurement powers on the NNPC Tenders Board, the President and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) depending on the cost threshold, stressing that the NNPC Board had no role whatsoever in the process.

I know for those of you who are following what we are doing here, you know that theres no money lost and no process has been breached.

Our contracting process is perfect and we will continue to follow the process. The NNPC Board has no role, I repeat, has no role as far as the contracting process is concerned, Baru said.

He said the crude term contract and the DSDP agreements were not contract as such but pre-qualification of off-takers of crude oil.

The case of DSDP, is of those that will take crude and give us products in return.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu had alleged that Baru awarded $25b contracts without following due process.

He also accused him of running an intimidating management and making appointments without consultations.

According to The Nation, Buhari has directed Baru to publicly release the fact-sheet pertaining to the contracts having found that he is not guilty of any corrupt practice.

After learning that the Presidency is behind Baru, Kachikwu is said to be consulting his associates, stakeholders and colleagues on his next move.

It was gathered that his friends have cautioned him to tread carefully and to not be confrontational because of the sensitivity of the matter.

They were said to have cited travails of ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources Prof. Tam David-West's rough path with the military administration of ex-President Ibrahim Babangida.

The minister's friends, therefore, advised him to resign "to preserve his integrity."

Although it was not clear, as at Monday night, what move Kachikwu would make next.

In his reply to the minister's allegations, Baru had described it as "humongous" because "no money was lost and no process has been breached."

It was learnt that Buhari was very disappointed by the scandal but "refused to act on the spur of the moment because his image and the reputation of his administration were involved."

"The Presidency directed the GMD of NNPC to provide facts and figures, which it got from Baru," The Nation quoted a top government source as saying.

"Thereafter, the NNPC Act, the NNPC Handbook and Public Procurement Act were consulted on the responses of Baru to find out if infractions were committed by the corporation.

"Having been convinced that there were no infractions, the Presidency then directed NNPC to lay the cards on the table for Nigerians to see and judge.

"What was uppermost in the responses of the GMD was the fact that 'there was no evidence of sharp practices, bribery, looting of funds and diversion of transaction cash.

"The allegations of Kachikwu were rated as 'wild, intentional and political in nature' against the administration he is serving."

ALSO READ: It's a shame that Kachikwu and NNPC GMD are fighting

Buhari's meeting with Kachikwu last Friday was said to have been a mere formality to "be fair to the Minister and for record purposes".

The newspaper also cited an anonymous Presidency source, who said "The President has not spoken on the next action. No one knows his mindset."

On Kachikwu's fate, a top stakeholder was quoted as saying that "I am aware that the minister has been holding consultations and telling some vital players in the oil sector what transpired.

"Of importance to him is the allegation of alleged plot to sabotage the government of President Buhari with the leakage of the August 20 memo. He has maintained his innocence that he did not leak the letter.

"But it is tragic that no one believes Kachikwu's story anymore in the Presidency."

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have also thrown their weight behind Baru.
VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

2019: Atiku thinks twice about PDP as Makarfi, Lamido dust up preparation

Despite overt attempts by several stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to woo Atiku Abubakar back to the party, the former Vice-President may be restrained upon indications of increasing resistance to him in the top hierarchy of the party.

You lied, exaggerated contract figures, NNPC replies Kachikwu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Monday, has described the allegations of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, against its Group Managing Director, Mr. Maikanti Baru, as baseless and accused the minister of exaggerating and concocting figures to give vent to his claims.

Monkey Pox spreads to 7 states; 2 cases in Lagos

Barely 24 hours after Monkey Pox virus spread to Akwa Ibom State, more suspected cases of the disease have been reported in Lagos and Rivers states, bringing the total number of states affected to seven.

__________________________________________________

THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER

Alleged $25bn contracts: Reactions as Baru says no role for Kachikwu, NNPC board

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, on Monday, declared that it was most unfortunate for the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, to assert that he (Kachikwu) was never involved in the recent Crude Oil Term Contracts.

No single syringe, others in Villa clinic  Aisha Buhari

Aisha, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, publicly upbraided the Chief Medical Director of the State House Medical Centre, Dr. Husain Munir, for the poor state of the health facility established to take care of the President, Vice-President, their families as well as members of staff of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

FG probes 31 suspected monkeypox cases in Lagos, others

The National Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, has said that 31 cases of suspected monkeypox virus cases have been recorded in seven states.

__________________________________________________

THISDAY NEWSPAPER

Osinbajo: I Have No Plan to Contest for Presidency in 2019

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo Monday said he had no plan to contest the 2019 presidential election.

NNPC Response: Kachikwus Board Effectively Redundant

One week after a memo written by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, of not adhering to due process in the award of contracts by the corporation and insubordination was made public, NNPC in its response Monday to the issues raised in Kachikwus letter effectively rendered the corporations board chaired by the minister of state redundant.

Monkey Pox Spreads to Lagos, Rivers, Five Other States

Following the outbreak of the monkey pox virus in Bayelsa State recently, other suspected cases have been reported in six more states in the country, bringing the total number of suspected cases so far to 31.

__________________________________________________

THE BUSINESSDAY NEWSPAPER

External reserves seen heading towards $40bn mark

Nigerias gross external reserves are seen heading towards the $40 billion mark, the level they last touched in February 2014, before the most recent slide in crude oil prices.

NNPC not answerable to minister of state for petroleum on contracts - Baru

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation( NNPC ) yesterday responded to allegations made against Maikanti Baru, its group managing director, saying that by the law establishing the corporation, it is not meant to defer to the minister of state for Petroleum or NNPC Board on contractual matters.

NCC links subscribers SIM card registration to NIMC
The gulf between the two countries is obvious in everything; Nigerians don't listen to Chinese music; except there are deadly fight scenes, the attitude towards movies isn't different. The two countries are so distant, in culture and relation, that you will have a hard time finding a Chinese-Nigerian that isn't named Adesuwa Aighewi.

Yet, as Nigeria tries to work its way to a future where railways actually work and roads are not part-time death-traps, it is our Chinese friends who have extended an olive branch and the password to their ATM card.

Nigerias relationship with China goes back a few years. In 1971, the two countries established diplomatic relations. At the height of the oil boom, Nigerias production helped meet the Chinese demand for oil; and in turn, the Chinese gave political and economic support.

Fast forward by a couple of decades; in 2004 and 2006, the then-Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria. He addressed a joint session of the National Assembly, and more importantly, signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a strategic partnership.

That MOU marked the beginning of the new phase of Chinese-Nigerian relations. While the Nigerian government makes attempts to raise money from recovered loot and other questionable means, China has proved Nigerias most important economic ally.

During the visit of then-Chinese President, Hu Jintao in 2006, China secured four oil drilling licenses and agreed to invest $4 billion in oil and infrastructure development projects in Nigeria.

The same year, China also agreed to grant a loan of $1 billion to Nigeria to help it upgrade and modernize its railway networks.

China has also pledged to invest $267 million to build the Lekki free trade zone near Lagos. The Buhari administration has extended the friendship further, such that loans from the Chinese have funded the most important infrastructure projects in the last two years.

On the surface, it is easy to see this as a favour borne out of love and pity; especially when you remember the early months of 2016 when Nigerias leaders went on a world tour of mercy and compassion, soliciting help from other nations.

However, Chinas friendly dealing with Nigeria is part of an agenda that dates back years before the first world war, before Flora Shaw was inspired to name a country she had little knowledge of.

Even though China has always been a major world power, it was always prone to attacks from foreign nations wary of its expansion and might; by Mongols, Japanese and later, the West.

ALSO READ: Nigeria is one of the global investment destinations for 2018

Following its defeat in the Second World war, the Asian power lost most of its influence and power to the victors, the United States and its European allies.

It spent the next few decades through a hyper-communist regime focused on protecting itself and getting it back to its former glory.

Americas influence spread around the world leading into the 70s and 80s. By the time China was strong enough to spread its influence, there were few willing allies left.

By the end of the cold war, China re-evaluated its foreign policies. The increase in military governments in Africa found few allies in the West, and China presented itself as a non-imperial alternative. It funded projects, assisted with weaponry and gave aid to troubled spots.

That relationship was further elucidated in 1996 when the then-Chinese president, Jiang Zemin visited six African countries and gave a speech at the OAU.

Today, foreign policy and economy experts have touted China to be the worlds next superpower.

With America adopting a more nationalist stance under Trump, the spread of Chinese money, bridges, roads and construction companies is a political decision.

China's Africa Policy Document states, "Sincerity, equality and mutual benefit, solidarity and common development  these are the principles guiding China-Africa exchange and cooperation and the driving force to lasting China-Africa relations.

Due to its own historical suffering from foreign invasions, Chinas foreign policy is hinged on the principles of sovereignty and equality.

As its presence increases in Africa, it is making important allies with African states who still resent the Wests colonialist legacy and the domination of western culture.

China is presenting itself as the friend who will help them develop, without foisting its ideals, beliefs and culture.

On the other hand, however, theres a lot of money leaving Nigeria for China. A lot more than China is giving the country in loans and grants.

Bilateral trade between Nigeria and China rises every year; as its stands, China is Nigerias biggest trade partner. In 2006, trade between the two nations stood at US$3 billion in 2006  up from $384 million in 1998.

This year, the Charge dAffairs of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, Qin Jian revealed that the bilateral trade volume between China and Nigeria from January to July 2016, stood at $6.46 billion.

On the surface, these are impressive numbers, but the details are troubling. China has benefited from the trade relationship in absurd ways; between 2013 and 2015, Nigeria imported 780% more from China than its exports to the Asian nation.

ALSO READ: Maybe the future of Nigeria will be Made in Aba

The situation is so evident that President Muhammadu Buhari addressed it at the opening of a Nigeria-China Business/Investment Forum in Beijing in 2016.

Although the Nigerian and Chinese business communities have recorded tremendous successes in bilateral trade, there is a large trade imbalance in favour of China as Chinese exports represent some 80 percent of the total bilateral trade volumes. This gap needs to be reduced., the President said.

Therefore, I would like to challenge the business communities in both countries to work together to reduce the trade imbalance."

You must also imbibe the spirit of having a mutually beneficial relationship in your business transactions., he emphasised.

You must not see Nigeria as a consumer market alone, but as an investment destination where goods can be manufactured and consumed locally, Buhari said.

A year later, there is nothing to indicate that things have changed.

As some worry about the quantity of trade, the quality of the products that China sells to Nigeria has also come under question.

In 2016, an internet cafe, belonging to Emeka Ezelugha was razed after a fire broke put in a corner of the main room. 30 computers were destroyed; Chinese-made power strips were named as the culprits.

The guy tried to convince me it was from the U.K.  I was surprised when it happened, Mr Ezelugha told the New York Times.

Besides stories like Ezelughas, the substandard quality of Chinese-made products is something that most Nigerians are already familiar with; so much that, Chinko, the informal term for China is also used to refer to substandard products.

That your shoe na Chinko; no be original.

Despite this, most Nigerians still view China in a favourable light. According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 85% of Nigerians view Chinas influence positively, with only 10% expressing a negative view, making Nigeria the most pro-Chinese nation in the world.

That aside, the intricacies of China-Nigeria relations are not in Nigerias favour, as things stand.

Without the countrys assistance, much of Nigerias infrastructure projects would come to a standstill, or die altogether.
He stated this on Tuesday in Abuja in a meeting with Northern leaders and elders of PDP to harmonise the regions position on the zoning arrangement for the 2019 general elections and the partys convention in December.

I want to expatiate that the Supreme Court has also affirmed the supremacy of our convention.

I wish to emphasize that the Supreme Court in affirming the authenticity of our caretaker committee has also reaffirmed the supremacy of decisions of the convention.

One of the decisions taken at the convention is that of the composition of the caretaker committee and that of zoning of presidency and party chairman.

As for the issue of micro zoning, I believe that what is required in both the south and north is consultation.

As for presidency, it is clear that there is no confusion, but I want us to exercise caution so that we will not misinterpret what was said at the convention.

While zoning has been recognized by the convention, micro zoning is not binding on any member.

That is why I am saying consultation is the best way to build consensus on any issue. The party has been promoting consultation and consensus as the way forward, he said.

The chairman called for constructive engagement among the zones on the zoning arrangement in a way that nobody would be denied his fundamental human rights.

Lets engage ourselves; nobody will be forced to vote in a particular manner. I am confident that we will get to a level where we can deepen consensus.

If we have overwhelming consensus, PDP will come out of the convention with less crisis and we will be home and dry.

He further called for unity among PDP members without which the party would find it difficult to regain power in 2019.

In his remark, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, Sen. Walid Jubrin, urged party members to respect the zoning arrangements.

He advised all zones in the North to come together and look inward with a view to agreeing on a credible candidate that could be presented for the presidential ticket.

The North is blessed with so many capable politicians. We must be able to take a decision that will be acceptable to the North and the country.

One of the conveners of the meeting, Prof. Jerry Gana, advised the party to elect the best candidates in accordance with its zoning formula.

Gana urged PDP members to dismiss the recent declaration of a presidential ambition by Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose.

He said that the partys presidential ticket for 2019 had been zoned to the North and it remained sacrosanct.

I want to appeal to you to give to the party the very best in the positions that have been zoned to us.

Let us therefore give to the party, men and women of impeccable integrity.
The Oyo state governor had the meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa where he has been meeting with other governors over the past week.

Yesterday, the president received Yobe state governor, Ibrahim Geidam, Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal and Jigawa state governor, Mohammed Abubakar at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He had also met with Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano, as well as Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, last week at the Villa.

While addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Obiano said the president is a fan of hardworking governors like him regardless of party affiliations.

"He (President Buhari) likes governors like me who are hardworking, who are delivering on what people can see, who are bringing dividends of democracy to their people, that's what the president wants.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read the president's letter to lawmakers during plenary session on Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

In the letter, President Buhari explained that the loan will be sourced through the issuance of Euro and Diaspora bonds and will be used for capital projects in the 2017 budget and refinancing of domestic debts.

The letter read, "Accordingly, the Senate is requested to kindly approve the following external borrowings: Issuance of $2.5bn in International Capital Market through Eurobonds or a combination of Eurobonds and Diaspora bonds for the financing of the Federal Government of Nigerias 2017 Appropriation Act and capital expenditure projects in the Act.

"Issuance of Eurobond in the ICM and/or loans syndication by the banks in the sum of $3bn for refinancing of maturing domestic debts obligations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, while looking forward to the timely approval of the National Assembly to enable Nigerians to take advantage of these opportunities for funding."
Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the APCunseated the PDP backed Jonathan in March of 2015 after running away with majority of the votes.

However, Wike says Jonathan lost that contest unfairly.

The Rivers Governor belongs to the PDP.

He also said he would have reacted differently during the 2015 presidential campaigns.

There were reports that Jonathan was pelted with stones in the countrys north when his campaign train did the rounds in what was an APC controlled region.

God gave every leader his strength and way of doing things. You see, I will not accept that. Let the heavens fall. If Nigeria was going to end on that day, let it end. I will not take what he took. That is why I respect the man a lot. I will not take that, Wike said of the incident during a chat with The Interview magazine.

If Nigeria will come down that day, let it come down. I mean, what is it? He was President and you were throwing stones at him? No single respect for that office? And you tell me to accept it? No, I will clamp down on you,Wike added.

The Governor also wondered why no one was arrested in the wake of the stoning incident. He alleged that prominent northern politicians, including those within the PDP rank, played a role in sabotaging Jonathans re-election dream.

ALSO READ:

During the 2015 result collation process, former Niger Delta minister Godsday Orubebe, staged a one man protest against then INEC chairman Attahiru Jega. Wike says he would have acted the same in Orubebes shoes.

Asked if he supported Orubebes drama and meltdown, Wike said: I did. Of course, why not? You saw clear rigging. I dont like a system where you see something is going wrong and you keep quiet.

Wike also warned that Nigeria will go up in flames if the APC attempts to rig the forthcoming 2019 presidential contest in his home State.

The whole thing boils down to sincerity and commitment. We said if things would not happen, all of us would go down with it. That was the driving spirit for us and that is what we are going to repeat in 2019.
The West African and Caribbean countries, separated by thousands of kilometres (miles) and ocean, share the same history but also the same religion -- voodoo.

Jean Renel Senatus, Jean-Marie Junior Salomon and Ronald Lareche came to Benin late last month on a research trip as part of Haiti's reforms of its 19th-century penal code.

Part of the process is taking advice from countries where their ancestors lived before they were shipped abroad as slaves.

Historically and culturally, "Haiti and Benin are two sides of the same coin," Senatus, a lawyer and president of Haiti's Senate justice commission, told AFP.

"We want to adapt these texts to modern-day life and we're here to see how Benin handles irrational phenomena in law," he said after placing flowers on Louverture's statue.

Benin -- giant Nigeria's tiny western neighbour -- is one of the cradles of voodoo, where it is an official religion and has millions of followers.

The cult of the invisible and natural spirits travelled across the Atlantic Ocean from the 18th century, as millions of West Africans were transported to the New World as slaves.

'Zombification'

The very word "voodoo" typically conjures up a raft of cliches, not least dolls covered in pins.

But certain phenomena are a concern for politicians and has prompted them to wonder: how should a country legislate for crimes linked to the religion?

With zombification, for example, Haitian voodoo priests are said to administer a powder to the victim giving the appearance of clinical death.

The supposed deceased -- exhumed with the help of an undertaker -- can then be exploited in its weakened, semi-conscious state.

Salomon, the vice-president of Haiti's Senate, said zombification "is the fact of being declared dead and openly buried and then 'brought back to life'.

"What's different is that the person 'brought back' then works like a slave."

In working class areas and remote communities in Haiti where there is no confidence in local justice, zombification is a way of settling scores with enemies.

In Benin, the same method exists but for a very different purpose.

"It is used by those initiated in the secret ways of the temples to strengthen their power but they keep an antidote to hand," said Honorat Aguessy, a Beninese sociologist.

In Benin, "voodoo is for good"," he added.

Some people in Benin still use charms to get rid of a rival -- but the weapon stays largely hidden and for lack of evidence, the country has not legislated against occult practices.

Traditional justice, however, still plays a big role in society through the use of traditional rulers.

Voodoo chief

In Allada, the three senators met the traditional monarch, Kpodegbe Djigla. "He told us that he is asked to judge certain cases," said Senatus.

Traditional rulers resolve many land disputes because they know local history. Villages have a council of sages comprising elders, community leaders and a voodoo chief.

"It often deals with complaints linked to custom, for example if a widow who is not supposed to leave her house at a certain time does it anyway," said lawyer Sandrine Aholou.

In her work, Aholou sees a mix of the two legal systems: "On the one hand, the civilian justice system accepts traditional justice on the other.

"Tradition influences modern law."

Most of the time, decisions taken by the elders are respected, to the astonishment of the Haitian senators.

For Salomon, it's a question of culture. "Here, people respect tradition," he said.
The rights watchdog confirmed 104 cases of people being illegally detained and tortured in Rwandan military detention centres between 2010 and 2016, according to the 91-page report, which estimates the true figure is much higher.

It said that systematic torture by the military was often ignored by judges and prosecutors whenever complaints were made.

"Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please," said Ida Sawyer of HRW, a US-based global watchdog.

The group's research found that most victims were detained on suspicion of being members of the FDLR - a predominantly Hutu rebel group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - with some of its members suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide.

Others were suspected of having ties to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition group in exile composed mainly of former members of Rwanda's ruling party, or to the jailed Victoire Ingabire, president of a banned opposition party.

'I was going to die'

One former detainee told HRW how soldiers placed a plastic bag over his head so he could not breathe.

"I accepted (everything they told me to accept) because I was going to die. Then they stopped. I signed a document they put in front of me," he said.

The report comes just two months after a HRW investigation showed security forces, including soldiers, executed at least 37 petty offenders instead of prosecuting them.

A government press conference to address the previous report was due to be held Tuesday, however was cancelled at the last minute.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been in power since 2000 and won a third term in August with nearly 99 percent of the vote, after amending the constitution to remove term limits.

He is hailed for economically transforming Rwanda after a genocide in 1994 that ravaged the country, but is criticised for clamping down on media freedom and the opposition while rights groups accuse his government of ruling through fear.
"Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time" portrays life within Papua New Guinea's Manus Island camp, built as part of Australia's immigration crackdown which has seen asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat taken to an offshore site.

The footage was shot on a smartphone by Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian who has spent four years in the camp since the boat he was trying to reach Australia on was intercepted by the authorities.

"We build the story with footage, really low-quality video, and it took a long time to transfer," said co-director Arash Kamali Sarvestani, who originally contacted Boochani through Facebook asking him to film inside the camp.

The outcome includes playful scenes of children on the other side of the fence and a scrawny cat, shot alongside those of men recounting their treatment and of ambulances arriving to treat detainees.

The film's title is a reference to the camp's solitary confinement cells, nicknamed "Chauka" after a type of bird native to Manus Island.

"We just talked about the ideas and then he found it in his own way because he's living there," Kamali Sarvestani told AFP during the London Film Festival.

Boochani is one of 1,000 people spread between the Manus facility and one on the island of Nauru, many of them from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There has been a push to relocate the detainees to third countries after the country's Supreme Court ruled last year that holding people on the island was unconstitutional and illegal.

A first group of refugees from the Pacific camps was approved for resettlement in the United States in a deal struck with Washington under former president Barack Obama.

The pact has angered President Donald Trump, who has begrudgingly agreed to accept an unspecified number of people who can fulfil rigorously vetted requirements.

But it remains unclear what will happen to those not taken by the US.

'If he can get out...'

Three men held at Manus have died, and the filmmakers hope that seeing the inside view of the camp's conditions -- widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals -- will have an impact on audiences.

"This is the first place that the movie is screening outside Australia, so we can test it if it works or not; if people from other countries become angry or put pressure on Australia," Kamali Sarvestani said.

Boochani had been invited by the British Film Institute to attend the screening of his film, with the festival hosts praising the documentary as "brave, thoughtful and urgent filmmaking".

But despite writing to the British High Commissioner to Australia, Menna Rawlings, requesting help in coming to London, Boochani remains on Manus.

Kamali Sarvestani said his co-director is stuck in limbo, unable to go back to Iran but with no third country willing to accept him.
Alif, a long-time Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh, had hoped -- for the first time in three decades -- to be reunited with his family.

Instead, he was only allowed to bury them.

At least 14 Rohingya fleeing neighbouring Myanmar died Sunday night and dozens are reported missing after their boat sank in the Bay of Bengal.

They were among hundreds of thousands of people from the Muslim minority community to flee a campaign of violence in mainly Buddhist Myanmar which the UN and others have described as ethnic cleansing.

The bodies of seven of the shipwreck victims, wobbling in the back of a pickup truck on a rutted road from Shah Porir Dwip at the southeastern tip of Bangladesh, were brought for burial Monday in a land they never managed to reach during their lifetimes.

The washed bodies, wrapped in white or purple sheets, arrived at the overgrown cemetery.

Volunteers from a local Koranic school carefully unloaded the remains of the children, cradling them delicately in their arms.

The people of Shah Porir Dwip know the procedure. Their district is where boatloads of Rohingya arrive from Myanmar's Rakhine state via the Bay of Bengal and shipwrecks are common.

Jashim Uddin, a professor at the Koranic school, was woken at 5 am by a call to his cellphone from the coastguard.

They asked him to send a team to collect the bodies fished from the water.

For Jashim, it was a tragedy all too reminiscent of three weeks ago when he collected the decomposed bodies of earlier drowning victims.

"No one was looking after them, giving them a dignified funeral. I felt so bad: they are also Muslims, my brothers and sisters," he told AFP.

Praying on the beach

Under a leaden sun, the gravediggers Monday dug three holes: one per adult -- Alif's father and mother -- and one for the children.

A man scooped out water disgorged by the earth which is battered daily by torrential rain.

As the midday call for prayer rose from the surrounding minarets, the remains were lowered one by one into the graves.

A quick prayer was said in a low voice for each of the dead.

Normally a bamboo shield would be placed over the bodies before they were covered up. This time, wild grass torn up at the cemetery had to serve its turn.

On his knees, Alif used his bare hands to heap earth on the shrouds of his parents whom he had not seen for nearly 30 years.

In the face of the latest repression by the Myanmar military, the family fled their village last week for the coast.

"Yesterday they called me at 4 pm, telling me that they were in a very difficult situation, that they had no food, that they did not know how to survive," a sobbing Alif told AFP.

"I told them to try to cross into Bangladesh and that I would take care of the rest."

Thirteen members of Alif's family were on board the boat and only four are known to have survived.

"I feel so helpless, just going to the shore and praying to God that I can find the bodies of my sisters, brothers-in-law and the rest of the family so that at least I can see them last time," he said.

After just half an hour the burials were over. Suddenly, as mourners began to leave, Alif collapsed on the grass, his face distorted with grief and tears coursing down his cheeks.
There was joy among thousands of Puigdemont backers who stood draped in Catalan flags at the foot of Barcelona's triumphal arch as they followed his speech on a giant screen.

When he said Catalans had earned independence with their October 1 referendum, which Madrid has dismissed as illegal, Merce Hernandez, 36, let the tears flow.

"What emotion -- a historic day. I am satisfied," she told AFP.

Pensioner Albert Llorens, said he found Puigdemont's speech "perfect, what I was expecting."

And yet, Puigdemont, having accepted "the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent republic" after the disputed referendum then asked the Catalan parliament to "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to initiate dialogue in the coming weeks."

Sergio Palacios, a waiter in the Nou Barris district of the city whose residents mostly prefer to stick with Spain, was less than enthralled by the speech.

"When I heard Puigdemont talk about the 'republic' I held my head in my hands." he told AFP.

"Until now there was no problem but now the gulf is wider" between secessionists and the pro-Madrid camp.

Labourer Jose Luis Gutierrez said tartly, "it is an illegal referendum, they could apply article 155 (imposing direct rule from Madrid), so the citizens are afraid of what can happen."

Student Marc Cazes said: "I did not expect independence to be declared today because of all the processes that the government of Spain has begun, both with police actions and with threats and the possible application of (article) 155."

Maria Rosa Bertran, an unemployed Barcelona resident, admitted the confusion weighing on her mind.

"I find it even worse because this is prolonging the agony, indecision and uncertainty is the worst thing that can happen to us.

"The companies have left, the banks are gone, we are all going to see what will happen," she said, referring to recent announcements by several major companies they are moving their official headquarters out of the area.

Ambiguity

"Deep down, we are happy -- but we were expecting more", said Pere Valldeneu, 66, who listened to Puigdemont's address with his wife Antonia, 64.

"Nothing will happen as Madrid will not permit it," he complained.

Sheila Ulldemolins, 28, summed up the feelings of many by noting that "that was a very ambiguous speech."

Although an overwhelming majority of those who voted on October 1 backed independence -- many pro-unity Catalans did not participate -- Puigdemont has been under intense pressure from Madrid, which has insisted the referendum process was unconstitutional and illegal.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Feelings have run high on both sides, plunging Spain into its deepest crisis since the 1977 return of democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
Thousands gathered in the capital and the western opposition stronghold Kisumu, while smaller demonstrations took place elsewhere, as the opposition stepped up its protest campaign from two to three days a week.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga reiterated that he would not take part in a re-run of the presidential election on October 26 if his demands are not met.

"We have said and we continue to say that we will not participate in the elections if the environment is not conducive for a free and fair election," he told a press conference.

Kenya's Supreme Court last month overturned the August election of President Uhuru Kenyatta citing "irregularities" in the counting of results.

With just over two weeks to go until the new election, and rival sides hardening rhetoric, uncertainty is growing over whether they will be able to agree on the conduct of the poll in time.

A rights group said Monday it had documented 37 deaths in the days following August's poll, with most victims killed by police.

Odinga has called for protests on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In western Kisumu businesses shut on Monday as large crowds of protesters gathered, before police later fired tear gas and engaged in running battles with some demonstrators.

Protests in the town of Machakos, 60 kilometres (37 miles) outside Nairobi, also turned rowdy. A small demonstration in coastal Mombasa quickly fizzled out.

In the capital itself, some 2,000 people marched through the streets before gathering in a park to hear angry speeches from opposition leaders denouncing the electoral commission.

Odinga accused Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto of paying his supporters to defect, after another high-profile opposition member dropped out.

On Saturday former Mombasa senator Hassan Omar pledged allegiance to the Jubilee ruling party.

Opposition leaders also slammed efforts by ruling party lawmakers to change electoral laws which they say will facilitate poll rigging.
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who also doubled as minister of justice, was replaced by ruling ZANU-PF party loyalist Happyton Bonyongwe. Mnangagwa will stay on as one of Mugabe's two vice presidents.

Mugabe, 93, has tried to enforce strict discipline in his ruling ZANU-PF party for decades and avoided naming a successor even as concerns have grown over his advanced age and failing health.

But the shake-up comes as infighting deepens in the ZANU-PF over who will take over from Mugabe, including allegations from Mnangagwa he was poisoned.

Mnangagwa's supporters allege he was struck down by poison-laced ice cream produced on a farm owned by first lady Grace Mugabe, who is also seen as harbouring ambitions to take over from her ageing husband.

Grace has publicly called on her husband to name a successor, ratcheting up tensions with Mnangagwa, a regime loyalist who has been widely tipped to succeed Mugabe.

But the open warfare between Grace and Mnangagwa has apparently left Mugabe furious.

Mugabe has repeatedly condemned factionalism within the party in thinly veiled rebukes to Mnangagwa and his wife's public posturing.

Mnangagwa's replacement as justice minister, Bonyongwe, is a retired army major general, who was the director general of the country's feared intelligence service.

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, who has been tasked with reviving the country's ailing economy, was replaced by Ignatius Chombo, who was home affairs minister.

Mnangagwa is one of the two ministers who were pushed out, while a total of ten others reshuffled, in a first shake-up since 2015.
Any independence declaration will be rejected by the Spanish government and courts, and by many people even in Catalonia, which polls shows to be almost evenly divided on secession.

So what happens if Catalonia's government declares independence anyway, possibly as early as Tuesday -- or what if it doesn't?

Here are six possible scenarios and tactics to watch out for:

Takeover

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy could suspend the existing autonomous status that Catalonia enjoys under the country's system of regional governments.

Article 155 of Spain's constitution says that if a region's government breaches its constitutional obligations or "acts in a way that seriously threatens the general interest of Spain," Madrid can "take necessary measures to oblige it forcibly to comply or to protect said general interest."

The government side holds a majority in the Senate, the institution charged with enforcing the article.

Separatist leaders have warned that such a move would fuel support for independence.

Negotiations

Instead of immediately declaring independence after an outlawed referendum on October 1, Puigdemont has played for time by saying he is open to negotiations or mediation.

Separatists' roadmap for independence consists of a declaration of independence followed by a series of legislative steps and votes to set up a new state, which could take months.

Rajoy says he would only hold talks with Puigdemont's side if the Catalan separatists abandoned their independence bid in line with the Spanish constitution.

"The ideal thing would be not to seek drastic solutions," he said in an interview published this weekend in El Pais newspaper.

"But in that case rectifications will have to be made."

Arrests

Spain's government insists the independence drive is illegal and the courts ruled that the referendum breached the constitution.

That raises the prospect of Spanish police arresting Puigdemont and other separatist leaders if they declare independence.

Last month, several Catalan officials were arrested and charged over their part in organising the referendum.

The regional police chief and civil leaders are under investigation for alleged sedition and risk jail sentences.

Puigdemont, a former journalist and not a career politician, said he is not afraid of going to jail over independence.

Unrest

Moves by Madrid to impose its authority on Catalonia risk sparking further protests or even unrest in the region.

In a sign of the potential for violence, police beat unarmed voters while trying to close down polling stations during the referendum vote.

That shocked even many Catalans who were opposed to independence and sparked angry demonstrations against the police.

Hundreds of thousands of people also demonstrated during a general strike on October 3.

"Any attempt by the state to entirely disempower the regional government and regional parliament will probably be met by mass mobilizations and more unrest," wrote Federico Santi, an analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group.

EU role

Puigdemont has called for EU mediation, which Rajoy has rejected.

Careful not to undermine Rajoy, the European Union has merely called for dialogue between the sides.

Catalan leaders say they want to remain part of the European Union, but Brussels says that an independent Catalonia would automatically be out and have to reapply to join.

"Other EU governments have little interest in getting involved," analysts at investment group VS Lombard wrote in a note.

"They do not want to get embroiled in a messy confrontation or encourage separatist movements."

Backtrack?

If the Catalans bow to pressure at the last minute and do not declare independence, Puigdemont's political survival would be in doubt. The crisis would drag on but Rajoy's hand would be strengthened.

Without a declaration of independence, Puigdemont risks seeing "the momentum behind Catalan independence fizzle out anticlimactically as he ignores his own referendum," the TS Lombard analysts wrote.
For centuries, people have struggled to make sense of the world through art, and Rock Island's Brandon Carleton is no different.

What is new and different is that the 29-year-old photographer, videographer and designer has launched a quarterly series of discussions -- DIFFRINT -- designed to use the power of storytelling and art to create dialogue about important, difficult issues.

The series was launched in August at Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island, and the next free event -- addressing systemic and institutional racism -- will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11.

"The goal is not to highlight overt acts of racism, like neo-Nazis or the KKK, but instead to look at the more subtle forms of racism and oppression that exist in our country," Mr. Carleton said recently. Wednesday's program will feature a dozen artists who will share their art, including poetry, and their stories.

"A lot of it is just awareness, not necessarily coming up with solutions," he said. "It's just to create dialogue."

Mr. Carleton likened DIFFRINT, a name he created by purposely spelling "different" in an unusual way, to a meeting of a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous. "It's a lot of vulnerability, finding community in our shared humanity," he said.

The first gathering focused on mental health and depression, and the featured art included poetry and videos. One guy performed "noise music, basically to make us understand kind of what it's like in his head all the time," Mr. Carleton said. "I wanted it to be a collective 'me-too,' that I can identify with the person on this."

As a white person with "little affluence and influence, I often struggle to find tangible ways to make a difference," he said. "The best way I've found yet is to share stories and create a space for people to dialogue and learn."

Mr. Carleton -- who rents space at coworkqc in downtown Davenport -- is making a video of coworkqc co-owner Leslie Klipsch reading her poem about being a white mother raising an African-American daughter.

"It's actually a really beautiful way to have difficult conversations through artistic expression," she said, noting she and her husband adopted the 7-year-old from Ethiopia in 2011. They also have two other children, ages 13 and 10.

"In the current climate, these conversations have become more urgent and heightened," Ms. Klipsch said of race relations and social injustice. "What Brandon has provided for me is an opportunity to respond to the world through art, which has been very helpful."

"I think art is very therapeutic when I don't really have words to match my emotion or confusion," she said. "The only way I can make sense of it is through an artistic act or creative act. The poem I am doing for the event, it's kind of an angry poem. The emotion of it is very raw. ... It's a release for me."

Mr. Carleton said another reason he created DIFFRINT was as a reaction to his leaving organized religion and seeking answers in other formats.

"This is a lot like church -- you have a community, they come together, talk about issues, support each other," he said. "For me as a millennial, I kind of bounced around, trying to find something. I wanted a place where more people are like me, too. A lot of millennials left the church, but they still long for that aspect of it."

He calls himself "spiritually a Jesus-leaning mystic," and he hosts Wednesday dinners at his apartment as a "safe space for people to figure out what they believe, even if they land in a place of perpetual uncertainty or atheism. ... We try to find these different expressions, part of bringing people together to experience healing, community."
KINSHASA, Congo (AP)  Two U.N. peacekeepers were killed and several more wounded in an attack Monday in eastern Congo by suspected Ugandan rebels of the ADF group, said a U.N. spokesman.

"Initial reports suggest two peacekeepers are dead and several more have been wounded," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, adding that the injured have been evacuated to Goma.

"The mission deployed attack helicopters as well as the force intervention brigade in support of operations as well as to reinforce presence," he said, adding that mission forces are also deployed to restore order and protect the population.

The suspected rebels attacked early Monday near a U.N. base in Mamundioma, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Beni, U.N. Congo mission spokeswoman Florence Marchal said early Monday. She said about a dozen peacekeepers were wounded.

Some weapons were seized by the rebels in their Monday raid, said Jean-Paul Ngahangondi of a local civil rights group.

A Tanzanian brigade is stationed at the U.N. base there where in an earlier incident in September ADF rebels killed a Tanzanian peacekeeper.

Ten people were killed in fighting in the region Saturday night, said local administrator Amisi Kalonda. At least 22 people are missing, said David Muhaze, the president of a civil society organization. The total of missing and dead could not be confirmed by officials.
The Lithuanian parliamentary vote was 96 in favour with one abstention. This compares with the Estonian Parliament, which was the first to ratify the agreement on June 19, with 63 votes in favour and 20 against, while the Latvian parliament voted unanimously in favour on June 22.

This is a milestone to demonstrate the Baltic interest in the project implementation, relevant to different stakeholders  the general public of the Baltic countries, potential customers, contractors, and last but not least the EU Commission, our main investor, and Finland and Poland, our partners in Rail Baltica implementation, says Ms Baiba Rubesa, CEO and chairperson of the Management Board of the RB Rail joint venture.

The Rail Baltica Intergovernmental agreement, which lays down the principles for developing the new railway covering the route, deadlines, technical parameters, funding conditions and ownership issues, was signed in Tallinn on January 31 by three prime ministers.

For more detailed information on rail projects around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
Construction began in September 2012 and the extension adds five stations to Bogestras already-extensive tram network, which serves the cities of Bochum, Gelsenkirchen and Herne.

Line 302 services from Langendreer operate through to Beur north of Gelsenkirchen via Bochum Main Station and Gelsenkirchen Main Station. Services on the new extension are operated by Variobahn low-floor LRVs supplied by Stadler Pankow.

In the second phase of the project, which is due to be completed in 2019, a 3km link will be constructed between Langendreer Markt and Papenholz, which will enable Line 310 services to operate via Langendreer.

For detailed data on light rail projects around the globe, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
The 850m direct-award contract will start in December 2018 and calls for the operation of 6.9 million train-km per year. In addition to the existing fleet of trains, 15 new EMUs will be ordered to replace the older locomotive-hauled push-pull sets. It has not been specified whether these will be Siemens ML (CityJet) or Bombardier Talent 3 trains.

Notification of the direct award has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
COVER STORY, RAILWAY AGE, OCTOBER 2017: After a very ragged 90 days, CSX seems to be settling down as its CEO gives his Precision Scheduled Railroading one more go.

CSX President and CEO Ewing Hunter Harrisons Precision Scheduled Railroading can be compared to legendary bandleader-pianist-composer-arranger Stan Kentons Progressive Jazz: If youre not anticipating it, you might get run over. The Kenton Orchestras wall of soundfrequently loud, dissonant, polytonal, bombasticevoked extreme reactions, back in the late 1940s and early 1950s. You either loved it or hated it. There was no middle ground. Kenton, a brilliant, complex jazz innovator, passionately believed in what he was doingcritics be damned. And most of the musicians and arrangers who worked with him over the years were fiercely loyal.

Hunter Harrison, arguably among this industrys most heralded operating officers, and this publications two-time Railroader of the Year, has evoked similar feelings. He tells you exactly what he wants done and how its going to be done.

Some people would describe you as a tough guy, this writer told him during his 2015 Railroader of the Year interview. I dont see you that way at all. I see you as someone who is very focused, very determined. You know exactly what you want to do, and you know how to get it done.

Well, its kind of a matter of semantics, Harrison responded. Sometimes, you might call it tough. But I think there are times, when youre trying to lead and motivate people, when they need a kiss on the cheek and a hug, and times when they need a kick in the ass. So people kind of describe that as tough. I think its a case where somebody has to do it. And, you know, some of those things are distasteful. Some are not. I dont know any of us that get pleasure out of doing those things, but they need to be done at times.

Based on what Harrison accomplished at Illinois Central, CN and Canadian Pacific (coming out of retirement to take over and transform a railroad that had been lagging behind its Class I peers), its difficult to argue with his methods, or with his success.

But with CSXthe second railroad where Harrison was installed as CEO largely through the actions of an activist hedge fundthe transition to Precision Scheduled Railroading has not been all that precise. Certainly, it has been tough.

Opinions vary.

Harrisons boisterous March arrival as CEO of CSX put in motion warp-speed, backfiring directives, changing culture, operating practices and marketing practices, wrote Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner in mid-August. The results, so far, threaten to shred a hall-of-fame quality reputation earned at Illinois Central, CN and CPa supernatural ability to mend struggling railroads using a trademark precision scheduled railroading that delivers, through an obsession with efficiency, better, faster and lower-cost operations.

Yet at CSX, service is melting faster than a frozen Daiquiri in the Florida midday summer sun. While a slippery slope of deteriorating service began well before Harrisons arrival, his world-renowned Dr. Fixit ability was a primary reason for his recruitment. Yet here is Harrison at CSX, suffering a well-publicized siege from customers, the Surface Transportation Board, employee labor unions, and even some once-fawning investors. Harrisons anticipated glory days running CSX are mutating into volleys and thunder of cannon firing from all sides.

I think Hunter has made some missteps, but some mistakes are inevitable in a transformational change, says Chip Kraft, Director, Operations Planning at Transportation Economics & Management Systems, Inc., and a Railway Age contributor. Perhaps Hunter has a shoot first, ask questions later mentality, due to his own self-imposed urgency. I believe this is causing him, at times, to proceed without having really thought through or modeled the consequencessort of like running experiments in the real world. The key is, if you do make a mistake, reverse it quickly.

Perhaps Hunter has some well-deserved self-confidencemay I say egoin play, says Kraft. Even if he has special insights, as I believe he does, there are still limits to what anyone can solve in their head. There should still be a place for analytics, modeling and engineering expertise to make their contributions. I call this a reasoned approach, and I wish Hunter had been willing to make greater use of it. He is in such a hurry to proceed that he is, for example, pulling out locomotives before his scheduling discipline is fully in place, with predictable results. As such, he has placed the cart before the horse. He is such a good operator that he gets away with it some of the time, but no one can get away with it all of the time.

Our concerns about service stem primarily from direct channel checks with a number of rail customers as well as our most recent shipper survey, in which shippers expressed some displeasure with CSXs service, with 24% calling it poor, said Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl in late July. No other railroad received a poor rating from more than 6% of shippers.

However, we suspect this view of CSX is related to a reduction in the number of offerings rather than the poor quality of service, given the companys fairly solid productivity metrics. In addition to potentially impacting the companys ability to get price, the service issues could lead to some market share loss. A key point here is that we believe the percentage of the rail network in the east that is peer- and truck-competitive is materially greater than that north of the U.S. border, where Harrison achieved two of his big successes.

By early September, the situation seemed to be improving. Is CSX emerging from what many observers, including customers, say is an operational and service meltdown created by a too much, too soon rush to implement Precision Scheduled Railroading on an arguably complex network? Railway Age asked on Sept. 6. Hunter Harrison says yes.

CSX has made very good progress in the past 60 days in transitioning its operating model to Precision Scheduled Railroading, and Im confident that many of the challenges we and our customers have recently faced are behind us, Harrison said in a statement. The CSX team of dedicated railroaders has worked tirelessly over the past few months to implement our new operating model and moved as quickly as possible to address customer issues when they arose.

Lets set aside, for now, lengthy analysis from experienced observers, and go right to the source: Hunter Harrison himself. Following is a conversation this writer had with him in late September:

RA: How would you characterize CSX at this point?

EHH: The railroad is back to where we were, and probably a little better. At this point, we are ahead of schedule. We had predicted that there would be some bumps, and we wish that we would not have had the problems we experienced, but thats all behind us now. There will be more changes to make. I see a potential for some resistance to those changes, but I am not anticipating any major problems. Change is change.

RA: Do you think you moved too quickly making changesfor example, closing hump yards?

EHH: We didnt forecast correctly, in terms of closing hump yards. Maybe we got a little aggressive with that. But let me tell you where I think we ran into problems. Three key things happened. Number one, the employee cutbacks were not well-received. However, I need to point out that 85% of those cutbacks were from the management and contractor and consultant ranks. The first 1,000 people left before I actually got there. That move was made without consulting with me. Some people couldnt deal with the changes we were making, and some didnt want them to occur.

There was an incident where some officers falsified computer records with car movements that actually never took place. They took them off the delay reports. They didnt want to be criticized. We had to dismiss about nine people because of that incident. They were showing cars moving that actually werent moving.

We experienced two bad derailments. The one that took place in Pennsylvania took us out of service six days on that line. Of course, we had to route traffic around that incident. In some circles, this was interpreted as cars being misrouted. It actually wasnt.

The other derailment, we are reasonably sure, was an act of sabotage. Its currently under investigation. It took place in the Carolinas. A bulldozer was placed on the tracks and covered with pine saplings. Now, its not uncommon to find pine saplings falling on the tracks in this area. But in this case they were hiding a bulldozer. The crew didnt see the bulldozer until it was too late, and they derailed the train.

We had a very ragged 90 days. But weve recovered and are a lot stronger now. Were operating better, with fewer people. In terms of metrics, business is up moderately.

RA: Youve been criticized by some shipper groups. Youve lost some businesssome to truckers, some to Norfolk Southern.

EHH: There are people who dont want to see us do well. The most vocal critics are a shipper coalition that has taken our difficulties and tried to turn them into an opportunity to push their agenda. They never talked to us.

Ive been visiting with a lot of customers personally, and have had some very good dialogue with them. In the long run, we will all be better off, and I think our customers understand that.

In terms of the customers we lost, if they can get a better deal right now, then by all means they should do it. But they all told us, We used you for a reason. Your service and price were the best. I understand that if we have problems, we will be penalized.

Most shippers have said to me, You didnt hurt us; you scared us. We were used to something else. Some of the stories out there have been exaggerated. Ive been very hands-on through this whole thing. For example, a major paper shipper, who I met with personally, was saying that they were experiencing a 54% fill rate on their cars. I checked the numbers myself. The fill rate was actually 88%.

RA: Is CSX operationally more complex than CN or Canadian Pacific or Illinois Central, which geographically are essentially linear systems? CSX is a complex network. Is it more difficult to implement Precision Scheduled Railroading on a railroad like CSX?

EHH: Yes, CSX is more complex, but that is not an excuse for having worse metrics. You get paid for the service you provide. I believe that complexity offers more opportunity. Were operating the railroad today with 26,000 fewer cars and 800 fewer locomotives. Weve gone from 12 hump yards to four. The workforce has been reduced by approximately 3,500. We are consolidating our dispatching into Jacksonville, so we are going from nine dispatch centers to one.

There isnt so much complexity that you cant make changes. Yes, it was easier to operate CP and CN, but you are paid relative to your competition.

RA: The STB has gotten involved. There is a hearing scheduled for Oct. 11. What are you anticipating?

EHH: Im perfectly willing and happy to go and testify before the STB. I have no secrets, and I will be completely transparent. There may be some lobbyists there who are going to be pushing their agenda. And Im going to say to them, tell me where and when and who and Ill guarantee theyll get their problem fixed. I cant deal with anonymity.

STB hearings and vocal shippers notwithstanding, the jury will be out on Hunter Harrison and CSX for a while. Were going to give it a few months, and revisit the railroad and its determined CEO in the April 2018 issue.
TransCanada Corps recent decision to abandon its $12 billion plan to build the Energy East pipeline, combined with delays to other export pipeline projects, may create a resurgence in crude by rail (CBR) from Canada, according to a report from Reuters.

Calgary-based TransCanada said on [Oct. 5] it will abandon Energy East, which would have taken crude from Alberta to the Atlantic Coast, the news agency reported. The move came after Canadas National Energy Board (NEB) on Aug. 23 announced a tougher review process that would consider indirect greenhouse gas emissions.

CBR is more expensive than pipeline for producers dealing with soft global oil prices. In the aftermath of the 2013 Lac-Megantic disaster, and other CBR accidents that followed, the perception remains that CBR is less safe than pipeline. However, oil industry stakeholders say regulations for major energy projects in Canada are now so stringent it is unlikely any company will try to build a new export pipeline, Reuters noted. A global oil market slump has also diminished appetite for building multibillion-dollar pipelines.

As a result, Canadas increasing crude oil production, expected to temporarily exceed pipeline capacity through 2019, could face a longer-term lack of pipeline capacity and subsequent lower prices if crude becomes bottlenecked in Alberta, Reuters said. While pipeline congestion is bad news for producers, it will prove a boon for rail terminal operators who were badly burned when oil prices and CBR volumes crashed in 2014.

Several crude oil producers and energy industry analysts Reuters contacted said that CBR traffic will increase:

 TORQ Transloading expects to move up to 20,000 barrels per day (BPD) of CBR in 2018, a threefold increase over 2017. We have seen a pickup in activity and heightened interest as we move into next year. Some people are signing contracts and theres just more spot movement, CEO Jarrett Zielinski said.

 U.S. Development Partners LP and Gibson Energy, operators of a Hardisty, Alberta, terminal, have signed a three-year contract with a customer to ship 30,000 BPD of Canadian crude to Oklahoma, starting in October, using up idle loading capacity.

 Analysts are expecting a surge in CBR exports later this year as two major oil sands projects in northern Alberta add 270,000 BPD to Canadas current 3.85 million BPD of production. Three export pipeline projects currently under developmentKinder Morgan Canadas Trans Mountain, Enbridge Inc.s Line 3 and TransCanadas Keystone XLhave been delayed by continuing environmental opposition and legal challenges. Analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt estimate Canadian CBR volumes will rise from fewer than 200,000 BPD in early 2018 to a peak of around 550,000 BPD in 2019, when the Trans Mountain and Line 3 expansions are scheduled to begin operating. And even though CBR costs are up to two times that of pipeline, low global crude oil prices mean some producers will have little choice but to deal with higher costs if pipeline delays persist.

If it looks like Trans Mountain could get delayed for years, people will start to reconsider their approach as the cost of rail in the current price environment means it is really hard for producers to make a return, Morningstar analyst Sandy Fielden told Reuters, adding that some producers may shut down production.
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Russian investigation into late ex-MP Voronenkov extended for 3 months

MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI, Yulia Glozman)  Investigation into deceased ex-communist lawmaker Denis Voronenkov has been extended in Russia until January 24, 2018, lawyer Andrey Grivtsov told RAPSI on Tuesday.

Voronenkov has been charged with large scale fraud and organizing falsification of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and put on the international wanted list. On March 3, Moscows Basmanny District Court issued an arrest warrant for Voronenkov. Later, the Moscow City Court upheld the ruling.

Russian investigators claim that the ex-lawmaker was involved in a raid aimed at seizing a two-story building in central Moscow in 2011 owned by Otari Kobakhidze, founder of the company TOMA. The allegations were reportedly based on the testimony of a group of people who had been convicted and sentenced in the case.

After Kobakhidze delegated full control of the company to its CEO Marina Vladimirskaya, she took advantage of the situation. She reportedly decided with her acquaintance, a retired police officer, Vyacheslav Polozkov, to alter the registration documents and sell the building valued at 127 million rubles ($2.1 million). Several other persons including Voronenkov were implicated in the case, according to investigators. The building was sold for 20 million rubles (about $345,000). Customer Vitaly Kachur, the owner of Chance Company, illegally paid Voronenkov $1.2 million, the Investigative Committees press service reported earlier.

Kobakhidze turned to court and managed to regain control of the company and the building. Those involved in the raid pleaded guilty, agreed to cooperate with investigators and testified against Voronenkov.

Voronenkov claimed that the criminal prosecution of him had been politically motivated.

In October 2016, the former member of the Communist Party moved to Ukraine along with his wife Maria Maksakova, also an ex-lawmaker, and received Ukrainian citizenship in December 2016.

On March 23, 2017, Voronenkov was shot dead in the central part of Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Arrest of Russian property in France lifted as part of Yukos case

MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI)  Ex-owners of Yukos have announced withdrawal of all claims seeking enforcement of a ruling issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which means lifting the seizure of Russian property in France, the press-release of the International Centre for Legal Aid reads on Tuesday.

According to the press-release, France is the last country, where arrests of Russian property in relation to Yukos lawsuits were lifted. At the moment all enforcement proceedings against Russia, initiated by the companys former owners were postponed or cancelled. At the same time, the legal dispute in The Hague continues.

In July 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ordered Russia to pay former shareholders of Yukos about $50 billion in compensation. This decision was overruled by the District Court of The Hague in April 2016. Now, the dispute will be reviewed by The Hague Court of Appeal.
Russias Ombudsman pushes for convicts to be confined near relatives residences

MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI)  Russias Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has addressed the State Duma advocating an initiative to adopt legislation permitting convicts to be transferred to penal facilities situated closer to the places their relatives live, RAPSI correspondent reports from the Ombudsmans Office on Tuesday.

This Monday, Moskalkova told a student audience about the work and activities of the Ombudsman. When speaking about the legislative development, she noted that lately she had received a rising number of applications from convicts and their relatives complaining that penal facilities were too remote from the places of residence of family members.

The Ombudsman has explained that currently the Russian Penal Code envisages transfers of convicts only on the grounds of their health and safety. Although the Rights Commissioner Office lacks the power to introduce legislation, Moskalkova said, she nevertheless could realize her right to address the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, presenting an initiative aimed to improve the legal regulations.
With 72 percent turnout and a 93 percent affirmative vote in a referendum on independence in September, there is little doubt that the people of Iraqi Kurdistan seek freedom from the Republic of Iraq. Last weeks vote in the autonomous region was overwhelming and showed that the countrys Kurds are deeply invested in a quest for self-determination reminiscent of our own more than 200 years ago. Yet the U.S. response was terse. The State Department said that Kurdistans independence would impede the effort to defeat ISIS, despite the fact that we are fighting side by side with these same Kurds and that they have proven to be a well-organized, effective force.

Given our own tradition and the recent history of Iraq and Kurdistan, we should at least consider the potential strategic advantages of Kurdish independence.

First consider that a stable and diverse nation in Iraq may be unachievable. Iraq was arbitrarily created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916; British and French diplomats drew its boundaries to serve their own postwar interests with little respect for the history and nature of the peoples they lumped together. The country is therefore comprised of large communities of both of the principal schismatic Islamic sects, Sunnis and Shiites. It also contains a sizable community of Kurds. These groups are in a constant state of enmity and conflict which appears to be intractable.



Asserting that an independent Kurdistan would impede efforts to defeat radical Islam depreciates the Kurds' current contributions to that very cause and seems to excessively defer to the Iraqi government. A strong and independent Kurdistan might actually strengthen our efforts by reinforcing the role of the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force, as a full-fledged participant in the coalition opposing the Islamic State.



In a similar vein, the Kurds might help reconcile Islam with 21st Century values. Contrary to what we see throughout much of the Middle East, Kurds have promoted a secular brand of Islam in which church is separated from state and many different religions flourish. Drawing Muslims into a tolerant and secular interpretation of the Koran is a critical element in reducing radicalization and Islam-inspired violence. Pope Benedict XVI launched this argument in his well-known address at Regensburg in 2006, where he stressed the need for a modern construction of Islam that can peacefully and tolerantly co-exist with the rest of the world.



Furthermore, an independent Kurdistan would establish another countering force to Irans quest for hegemony in the Middle East. An independent Kurdistan securely aligned with the United States would undermine, or at least influence, the Shiite nexus Iran has created among Hezbollah, the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Iraq, and Bashar al-Assad's Syria.



Finally, despite sharp political rhetoric between the two parties, Kurdish trade ties with Turkey have recently increased. Iraqi Kurds built an oil pipeline in 2013 linked to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean and have signed multiple energy deals with Turkish entities. If this strategic linkage developed enough to replace Iraq with Turkey as the Kurds principal economic partner, it might offer more stability. Such a relationship could also be a better conduit for regional U.S. interests than is Washingtons partnership with the ineffective al-Abadi government. The question remains, of course, whether Turkey would allow trade to continue with an independent Kurdistan. There is longstanding enmity within Turkey for the Turkish Kurds. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States, continues to cause violence and disruption within Turkey. Could Ankara be persuaded to distinguish the PKK from an independent former Iraqi Kurdistan? Perhaps not, but it may be worth trying.



The Kurdish situation is analogous to Kosovo. There, an ethnic Albanian culture successfully divorced Slavic Serbia, which expressly did not want to lose it, after the Dayton Accords resolved the conflicts in former Yugoslavia. Kosovo and Serbia have ethnic and cultural differences like the Kurds have with the rest of Iraq. They lack the common values, the history, and the cultural alignment that, for example, Catalonia shares with the other provinces of Spain.



Given how elusive success has been in the Middle East, and the number of American lives and amount of our national patrimony which have been invested there since 2003, it seems that our foreign policy leaders should embrace an open and thorough debate on all of the issues and factors bearing on the question of Kurdish independence before reaching a final conclusion.
Property details:

UP FOR SALE a nice solid home built in 1910 with 7 or more bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, full basement, large deck, 2 car garage. on 1.23 acres of land located in north central Missouri. just off hwy 36 between st. Joe and Hannibal mo. about a hour and 45 min to Kansas city. the home is located in Brookfield mo. a nice quiet and safe place to raise a family or start your own bed and breakfast. the home can be used as one big home or split into a home with a apartment to rent out and live re...

Price: $ 110,000 Seller State of Residence: missouri Property Address: 608 west helm street State/Province: Missouri City: BROOKFIELD Number of Bedrooms: 7 Number of Bathrooms: 3 Zip/Postal Code: 64628 Year Built: 1910 For Sale by: Owner Location: 646**, Brookfield, Missouri

You will be redirected to eBay



Nearby Owner
,



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In the Incoming section of RECOIL Issue 33, we featured Armageddon Gear's Windcheater American Ale. Armageddon Gear's Meat Wagon, which is a 1967 Kaiser Jeep Vietnam Era Ambulance turned marketing mascot, is regularly packed with good gear and free beer for events and matches. But, Tom Fuller, founder of Armageddon Gear, had finally had enough of giving away crappy beer after precision rifle matches.

Fuller decided that if Armageddon Gear was going to continue giving beer away, it may as well be:

A quality product Branded to our market to further the overall AG brand More cost effective than buying at retail And, of course, present a cool, positive image of Armageddon Gear

After linking up with a local brewery, Omaha Brewing Company, Fuller found the perfect beer that would quench the thirst of parched shooters. Windcheater American Ale is a German Kolsch recipe that is best drank when the weather is hot and the beer is very cold. Of the selected brew, Fuller said, It met our criteria for a beer that was light and good for a hot, sweaty day and was not overwhelming in any way so it would be appealing to a wider variety of palates.

And the road trip to CORE Shooting Solutions has begun! Come see us this weekend and the infamous meat wagon to hang out & drink some Windcheater beer, the beer of the PRS  Posted by Armageddon Gear on Friday, September 1, 2017

Following a recent Precision Rifle Series match, Armageddon Gear hosted a dinner and brewery tour at Omaha Brewing Company. We were fortunate enough to indulge in an abundance of excellent beer and meet the man behind Omaha Brewing Company.

Doctor Robert E. Lee, known as Doc, is the brains behind Omaha Brewing Company. Omaha Brewing Company is located south of Columbus, Georgia, on the Alabama line. It is the epitome of a hometown brewery. Doc purchased the building in 2013, it's in the same area where he grew up. The 1940s school building turned industrial plant- and now brewery is open to the public six days a week for tours and tastings. The brewery has a unique feel that sets it apart from a corporate vibe. Family, friends, and quality are at the forefront of Doc's business.

If you find yourself near Omaha, Georgia, a stop at Omaha Brewing Company won't disappoint. To get your hands on Armageddon Gear's Windcheater, you have a few options:

Find Armageddon Gear at an event

Attend a shooting match where Armageddon Gear will have the Meat Wagon

Go to an AAFES store in Georgia or Alabama and pick up a six pack

To learn more about Armageddon Gear, check out the: Website, FaceBook, and Instagram.

To learn more about Omaha Brewing Company, check out the: Website, Facebook, and Instagram.
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October is National LGBTQ+ History Month in the United States, what better way to celebrate than with films? In celebration, here are films that have enticing plots and portray complex gay characters.
'Given the present force levels, India cannot fight and win.'

'India can't hope to terminate the conflict on India's terms and impose the nation's will upon the adversaries,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).

On October 5th, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, the chief of the air staff, said, 'The Indian Air Force is capable of effectively countering any threat from China while engaging in a two-front war also involving Pakistan.'

One month earlier, on September 6, 2017, the army chief, General Bipin Rawat, had said the country must be prepared to fight a two-front war.

The factors that drive such a threat perception and the challenges in facing a two-front situation need to be dispassionately analysed.

China-Pakistan Nexus

With both China and Pakistan, India has unresolved territorial disputes.

India fought a local border war with China in 1962 and has fought with Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971.

In addition, India had to launch military operations to evict Pakistani soldiers who had intruded across the Line of Control in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir in 1999.

China sees India as a strategic competitor and a rival for leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.

As part of its grand strategy, China seeks to confine India to the backwaters of the Indian Ocean as a subaltern State and is using Pakistan as a proxy to keep India embroiled in conflict.

The India-China relationship has been stable at the strategic level, but it is marked by political, diplomatic, and military instability at the tactical level.

While transgressions by China's People's Liberation Army across the undemarcated Line of Actual Control are perennial, for many decades China had supported insurgencies in India's north-eastern states.

Pakistan, the international community now agrees, is a State sponsor of terrorism and has been providing support to militancy and radical extremism in J&K since 1989-90.

On the diplomatic front, China has been particularly assertive in recent years.

China refuses to allow Masood Azhar, the founder of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad -- an UN-designated terrorist group -- to be labelled a terrorist by the UN sanctions committee.

It has blocked India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group as it wants simultaneous entry for Pakistan, one of the world's worst proliferators.

China objects every time an Indian political leader visits Arunachal Pradesh -- an Indian state that it claims -- and had lodged a protest even at the Dalai Lama's visit to a monastery in the state.

The collusive nuclear warhead-ballistic missile-military hardware nexus between China and Pakistan, described by both as an 'all-weather friendship', has grown to menacing proportions.

It has been deepened further with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor beginning to take shape.

The CPEC is part of China's belt and road initiative (BRI) that seeks to extend Chinas strategic outreach deep into the Indo-Pacific region, give a fillip to its flagging economy by generating large-scale construction activity and create new markets for its products.

Passing through disputed territory in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the $54 billion project will link Xingjiang province in China with Gwadar port on the Makran coast, west of Karachi.

Threatening Military Manoeuvres

Though Pakistan is raising an infantry division of approximately 12,000 personnel to provide security for the CPEC against terrorist attacks, eventually PLA soldiers are bound to be inducted for this purpose just like it has already happened in Gilgit-Baltistan, the erstwhile Northern Areas.

The presence of PLA personnel in Pakistan in large numbers will further vitiate the security environment.

The history of military collusion between China and Pakistan goes back over fifty years.

During the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars, China had made some threatening military manoeuvres in Tibet in support of Pakistan.

The aim was to keep Indian military reserves tied down so that additional divisions could not be moved from the eastern theatre to the western front.

It is also noteworthy that during the Kargil conflict in 1999, Chinese military advisors were reported to have been present at Skardu in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

It was in this context that General Deepak Kapoor, then then COAS, had said during the Army Training Command doctrine seminar in late-December 2009 that the Indian army must prepare for a two-front war.

Several armed forces chiefs have repeated this formulation since then and it has become the sine qua non for India's defence preparedness.

In fact, some former chiefs have spoken of the need to prepare for a two-and-a-half front war.

The implication is that the army is already engaged in a 'half-front war' by way of counter-insurgency operations that drain resources in J&K and some of the north-eastern states.

Also, during a future war with either China or Pakistan, given the unstable internal security environment, there will be a requirement to keep the internal lines of communication safe from interdiction and sabotage. The term 'half-front war' was coined by General Shankar Roychowdhury, former COAS.

Two-front War

The conventional wisdom in the policy community in New Delhi is that if there is a war between India and Pakistan, China may not come to Pakistan's aid militarily unless Chinese troops are directly under attack, for example in Gilgit-Baltistan.

China will raise the issue in the United Nations Security Council, provide weapons and defence equipment as well as logistics support and probably demonstrate some military manoeuvres in Tibet to pin down the dual-tasked divisions, as it has done in the past.

However, if there is a war between India and China, Pakistan is certain to take advantage of the situation and open another front against India.

Pakistan's offensive operations will probably begin in J&K, but may not necessarily remain limited to J&K.

Can India fight both China and Pakistan simultaneously?

The armed forces will be stretched to the limit, but, given adequate resources, they could fight a holding action successfully though with large-scale casualties.

However, given the present force levels, they cannot fight and win.

They cannot hope to terminate the conflict on India's terms and impose the nation's will upon the adversaries.

As such, the political and military aims and objectives will have to be kept low.

Ideally, India's strategic partnerships should be of sufficient significance to ensure that India is never required to fight a two-front war.

Though it was not a military alliance, the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, which India had signed with the erstwhile Soviet Union before the 1971 war, had ensured that China refrained from aiding Pakistan militarily during the war.

The Indo-US strategic partnership has been described as India's 'principal' strategic partnership. Its defence cooperation element must be taken to the next higher trajectory -- joint threat assessment, joint contingency planning and the conduct of joint operations when necessary -- so that a situation similar to 1971 obtains in future and India's military adversaries are deterred from ganging up against India.

Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) is Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

IMAGE: An Indian Army's Dhruv transport helicopter takes off after inserting soldiers on the ground during the India-Russian joint military exercise 'INDRA 2013' in the Thar desert, Rajasthan. Photograph: Kind courtesy The Indian Army
'And if you think this is alarmist nonsense, you are helping it happen,' says Mitali Saran.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Tuesday, September 5, was a terrible, difficult night, when news broke that outspoken Kannadiga journalist Gauri Lankesh had been murdered in Bengaluru.

Lankesh was not in a conflict zone, or a riot, or a hostage crisis, or in any of the other dangerous situations that journalists often encounter.

She was doing what working people do -- coming home in the evening, parking, maybe fiddling with keys, maybe looking forward to some food and rest.

It was in this most banal of urban commuter moments that she was executed at point blank range.

The impunity of the act is shocking. Should it have been so easy?

Everyone is at pains to stress that we do not know, yet, who killed this fiercely anti-RSS, anti-Hindutva, secular, liberal journalist-activist, and publisher. This is true.

But we do know that on social media the people who howled with glee and gloated over her death seemed to belong entirely to one side of the political spectrum.

We do know that the BJP has not issued a clear, strong condemnation of it, saying instead that liberals are entitled to be upset, but what about RSS workers in Kerala?

We do know that there is a concerted effort to float the idea that the comrades themselves did it.

BJP MLA Jeevaraj has gone so far as to say that if Lankesh hadn't written about the RSS, she might have been alive -- a pretzel of a statement that both openly threatens dissidence, and takes credit for what the RSS and the BJP are assiduously denying.

We do know that Lankesh's brother Indrajit, who claims both that she was never threatened, and that it was Naxalites who threatened her, reportedly considered joining the BJP.

We do know that this woman fitted, to a tee, the description of those who are constantly vilified by right-wing forces, including by self-declared journalists and media channels who serve as government public relations retainers.

I was grief-stricken and sleepless for much of that Tuesday night, and enraged thereafter -- and I didn't even know Gauri Lankesh.

Her family, friends, and colleagues will bear this trauma forever.

Whether they knew her or not, many journalists and writers, also struggling with shock and grief, feel a coldness on their own neck.

Yet, nothing disperses the chill of fear like the warmth of anger, and Lankesh's murder infuriated the press corps, sparking protests all over the country, and spurring many journalists to rededicate themselves to the integrity and courage that the profession demands.

One only hopes that this anger translates into the kind of united effort that is increasingly going to be necessary to defend freedom of expression and democracy.

There has been much heated argument on the question of 'balance' in these polarised times.

Should firebrand activist Shehla Rashid have asked the Republic reporter to 'get out' at the Press Club protest?

Are protests over Lankesh's death meaningless unless protesters have also spoken for slain RSS workers?

Should the debate be focused on the Karnataka government's pursuit of justice, and not on the long-standing and far-reaching effects of social engineering?

Is shutting down hate-mongering social media handles compatible with free speech?

I submit that this is now a smokescreen of hair-splitting, and that we are long past splitting hairs.

We will, in time, see justice for Gauri Lankesh -- or we won't, as we didn't in the similar execution-style murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, and M M Kalburgi.

There will be more fear, more executions.

There will be endless sickening finessing and justification and deflection to so-called liberal hypocrisy.

There will be more discrediting of the media and more lies popularised on WhatsApp.

I submit that we are not 'in danger of becoming' a Hindu Rashtra, the dearest dream of the RSS-BJP combine. We are there.

Today, right now, we are a baby Hindu Rashtra taking its first messy, unsteady steps. This is what it looks like.

Nurtured by hard-core supporters, but also by fence-sitters, the naive, and the wilfully blind, it will very soon lose its baby dimples to become much bigger, much stronger, and much, much uglier.

The hallmark of this Rashtra is, and will be, impunity -- from top to bottom, from government policy to street murder.

You see it already in the clumsy attempt to force-feed us Aadhaar; in demonetisation; in lynchings; in interference in cultural and personal freedoms.

You see it already in the vilification of minorities, in the brazen rubbish being fed to children as history, in the unabashed propaganda sent out as 'general knowledge', and in the welding together of State and religion.

Here's a prediction: You will see it in changes to the Constitution of India.

Indian democracy is in the fight of its life.

And if you think this is alarmist nonsense, you are helping it happen.
While Jay Shah has warned the media against violating his fundamental right to privacy, Tushar Mehta -- his lawyer in the defamation case -- had opposed the right to privacy in the Supreme Court, points out Dr Gopal Krishna.

IMAGE: Jay Shah, left, with his father, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit A Shah. Photograph: PTI Photo.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the state of Madhya Pradesh in the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12-digit biometric Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar numbers case, will represent Jay Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit A Shah's son, in the criminal defamation case which has been filed against the news portal The Wire over its report that his firm's turnover grew manifold after the BJP came to power.

As an additional solicitor general can appear in a matter between two private parties after taking due permission, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad -- who is also the minister of electronics and information technology, the UIDAI's parent ministry -- has allowed Tushar Mehta to appear for Jay Shah in the matter of the report related to Temple Enterprise Private Ltd whose turnover increased 16,000 times between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

The criminal defamation suit has been filed against seven people including The Wire reporter Rohini Singh, editors Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M K Venu and others in an Ahmedabad court.

In her report, Rohini Singh reproduces what Jay Shah's lawyer Manik Dogra told her: 'In view of the answers and explanations detailed above, the facts are absolutely clear and you are requested not to publish anything in this behalf, which would not only infringe my clients' privacy rights, but would also be libelous and/or defamatory' (Emphasis added).

The invoking of 'privacy rights' by Jay Shah assumes significance in the light of the August 24, 2017 verdict of the Supreme Court upholding the Right to Privacy in the UID/Aadhaar numbers case.

In that case, Tushar Mehta, then appearing for the UIDAI and the state of Madhya Pradesh, had told the Supreme Court's 9-judge Constitution Bench that 'it is neither necessary nor appropriate to recognise privacy as a fundamental right' (page 344 of the 547-page verdict). Justice S A Bobde refers to his submission before rejecting it.

According to Tushar Mehta, 'Privacy is an inherently vague and subjective concept and cannot, therefore, be accorded the status of a fundamental right. Further, codified statutory law in India already confers protection to the individual's right to privacy.'

According to him, no further expansion of the rights contained in Part III of our Constitution is at all warranted (page 344 of the verdict).

Justice R F Nariman refers to this submission before rejecting it.

The Constitution Bench found not an iota of merit in his arguments and rejected Mehta's contention.

In his response to The Wire, Manik Dogra, Jay Shah's lawyer, warned everyone in the print, electronic or digital media saying, 'If you or anyone in the print, electronic or digital media carries and/or broadcasts any defamatory and/or false imputations including those which breach his fundamental right of privacy and/or defame him, Jay Shah reserves the right to prosecute and sue such person/entity including anyone who carries or broadcasts a repetition of such libelous/defamatory statement.'

Dogra further told The Wire, 'Jay Shah is a private citizen doing his legitimate business. His business transactions are honest, legal and bona fide. Your questionnaire indicates that your intention is to drag him into a false and a manufactured controversy.'

'Any slant or imputation which alleges or suggests any impropriety on his part will not only be false but also malicious and defamatory. It will also be a breach of his fundamental right to privacy.'

'He shall, in that event, reserve the right to prosecute you for defamation and also sue you for the civil wrongs.'

Notably, opposing the recognition of 'fundamental right to privacy', Rakesh Dwivedi, the senior counsel appearing for the state of Gujarat, had argued that, 'It is only when individuals disclose certain personal information in order to avail a benefit that it could be said that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy as they have voluntarily and freely parted with such information.'

In the light of Dwivedi's contention which has been recorded in the verdict, did Jay Shah waive his right to 'reasonable expectation of privacy' if he 'voluntarily and freely parted with such information' which is quoted in The Wire report?

Isn't Jay Shah's invocation of violation of fundamental right to privacy 'premature' because the reporter has only brought to light what was already in the public domain -- as filings with the Registrar of Companies?

Dr Gopal Krishna is a public policy and law researcher and convener, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, which is campaigning against surveillance technologies since 2010.

He is editor of www.toxicswatch.org
China's leader will display his grip on the Communist party and chart his plans for his country's future, observes Claude Smadja.

IMAGE: Xi Jinping -- general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, China's president and chairman of China's Military Commission -- arrives at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

This is the high noon of politics in Beijing, with the preparations in top gear for the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party coming up next Wednesday.

This congress promises to be a seminal event not only for China's future, but also for global politics and economics: The implications of what will emerge from the congress will extend far beyond China's borders.

Three key outcomes are expected from the congress: The mapping out of China's strategic goals at the domestic and the international levels over the next five years; an indication on the extent to which President Xi Jinping has further strengthened his grip on power; significant clues about the new architecture of power in Beijing and whether Xi is planning to extend his role after 2022, and if so, how.

In that respect, according to the present party rules, five out of seven members of the politburo standing committee should be replaced, along with 11 of the 25 members of the politburo.

One clue: If one or two new appointees to the politburo are in their mid-fifties this would put them in the right age bracket to be potential heirs to Xi after 2022.

The question then will be whether the roles of head of State and secretary general of the party will be split -- with Xi possibly retaining the party job.

The crescendo at which the Chinese leader has consolidated his power over the past five years has been remarkable.

His ruthless anti-corruption campaign has allowed him to eliminate all potential centres of competing power around retired leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, in the Youth League and in the military.

He has established a tight grip on all the key 'leading small groups' -- the committees that set policy orientations in domains from foreign policy to anti-corruption or national security or economic and financial policies.

He then made the Communist party bestow on him the title of 'core leader', giving him a special stature above all leadership members -- in direct line with Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin.

Last July, Xi ensured the elimination of the Chongqing party chief, Sun Zhengcai, who was seen as a potential next president and is now accused of corruption. Sun has been replaced by Chen Miner, a rising political star close to Xi.

The Chinese leader then highlighted his sole control and authority on the military by presiding alone, in military fatigues, the huge parade and ceremonies for the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Liberation Army, a military that he is restructuring and streamlining into an efficient 21st century fighting force capable of projecting Chinese power.

As the stage is set for the 19th Congress, Xi's actions have to be seen in light of the three objectives he is aiming to achieve during his tenure of power.

The first is to ensure the long-term maintenance and sustainability of the Communist party power.

Xi has followed upon the assessment of his predecessor Hu that corruption is the greatest threat to the survival of the regime and has launched a ruthless anti-corruption campaign with the twin benefit of getting rid of political rivals while improving his and the party's public image.

However, other challenges are looming ahead as the Chinese society becomes ever more complex, with diversified interests and increasing sophistication.

Will the people continue to be satisfied with an extension of their sphere of personal autonomy that remains subject to the whims of the party?

How will the new generation -- and the next -- accommodate itself with a number of constraints that limit the activities of the private sector, and the overwhelming reach of Big Brother watching permanently over their shoulder?

How will the regime maintain a control on the key sectors of the economy through State-owned enterprises while needing the entrepreneurship of the private sector, which is the main source of jobs creation?

And, above all, will the regime continue to be able to deliver the ever higher standards of living from which it derives its legitimacy?

This rests on the success of the difficult restructuring and transformation of the present economy -- with all its imbalances and distortions -- into a knowledge-based, technology-driven economy with domestic consumption as its main engine of growth.

Which leads to Xi's second objective: To be the leader who will have steered China into becoming a 'moderately well-off society by 2021' -- which means the doubling of the country's GDP between 2010 and 2020.

To that aim, the leadership is taking the risk to keep increasing the level of the national debt from 235 per cent of GDP to close to 300 per cent by 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, which noted recently that 'China's credit growth is on a dangerous trajectory'.

The leadership's answer to this challenge has been the launch of the 'Made in China 2025' initiative that aims to boost innovation and technological capabilities in 10 key sectors of the economy of the 21st century, such as automated machine tools and robotics; aerospace and aeronautical equipment; new-energy vehicles; new materials.

The goal is to raise domestic content in these sectors -- now between zero and 25 percent depending on the sector -- to 70 per cent by 2025.

This may put China on a collision course with the US and Europe as its will tend to eliminate US and European corporations operating in China from sectors where Chinese companies will benefit from large government support to achieve this objective.

The third objective of Xi is to install 'a new model of relations between great powers' -- simply put, setting China on a par with the US.

Beijing does not necessarily want to supplant the role of the US -- except in Asia -- but intends from now on to deal with Washington on an equal footing.

The success of this strategy rests on continuing to build the country's power projection capabilities, on asserting China's role and claims in the South China Sea and on the success of the One Belt, One Road initiative -- the ancient Silk Road complemented by a maritime one -- with the aim of building a sphere of co-prosperity with China as its hub and creating a sphere of geopolitical influence.

There is a direct correlation and complementarity among these three objectives. There is no point guessing how Xi will outline them in the 'political report' that he will deliver to the 2,300 delegates at the congress. However, these objectives will be part of the message.

And, they will provide an important element of the overall tone of confidence that Xi will convey at a time when the leadership in Beijing can only be comforted by the chaos in Washington and the overwhelming perception of a US retreating from its global leadership role.

Claude Smadja is president of Smadja & Smadja, a strategic advisory firm.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has likened Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to a child, who refuses to grow old, this time over his tweet on the controversy surrounding the saffron party chief Amit Shahs son, Jay Shah.

Lashing out against the Congress leader, BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said Rahul was a balak (male child), who refuses to step out of his diaper pants.

Singh took to Twitter and uploaded a clip of his press conference with a caption, #RahulGandhi doesnt try to learn before he tweets. It is like a baby who refuses to get out of his diaper. @BJP4India @PMOIndia @UPGovt

Singh can be seen saying, in the video, I want to say this, and this is the biggest misfortune of the Congress that Rahul Gandhi refuses to grow old. He is like a child who doesnt want to step out of his diaper.

Rahul had on Monday tweeted, We finally found the only beneficiary of demonetisation. Its not the Reserve Bank of India, the poor or the farmers. Its the Shah-in-Shah of demo. Jai Amit.

If he had studied, he would have observed that Jay Shah had wound up his business in October, 2016 while demonetisation was rolled out on November 8, 2016, Siddharth Nath Singh added, while addressing the media.

Modiji, Jay Shah zyaada kha gaya. Aap chaukidaar thhe ya bhaagidaar? Kuchh toh boliye [Modiji, Jay Shah took in more than he should have. Were you a watchdog or a participant? Say something, Rahul had tweeted again in the evening.

Jay Shah has filed a defamation suit against author, editor and owner of the news website The Wire in an Ahmedabad court, for alleging huge growth in his firms turnover in a year.

The hearing of the matter is scheduled for October 11.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday seemed to suggest that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh discriminates against women but his poser whether any woman is ever seen in its 'shakas' (assembly) wearing shorts sparked condemnation by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing a gathering of students in Vadodara on the second day of his election campaign in Gujarat, Gandhi said that in contrast, women work at every level in the Congress.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani slammed Gandhi's remark as 'indecent'.

"The BJP's thinking is that till women are silent they are good, when they start speaking up they try to shut them (women) up."

"Their organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS... Have you ever seen any woman in 'shakhas' wearing shorts?. I have never seen," Gandhi said in a sarcastic tone, adding, "In the Congress you will see women at every level in the organisation."

Khakhi shorts were a trademark of RSS volunteers which they used to wear during their drills in the past, before they changed to full pants over an year back.

Gandhi also said that if his party's government comes to power in Gujarat, it will give importance to women and try to resolve their issues.

The Congress leader began his second day of 'Navsarjan Yatra' in central Gujarat region from Vadodara by addressing the students.

"If Rahulji believes that wearing shorts in India is the sign of empowerment, as a woman I want to contradict it," Irani told reporters in Amethi, the home turf of the Gandhi family in Uttar Pradesh.

"Today, an indecent comment has been made on our sisters connected with the Sangh, the Rashtriya Sevika Sangh or the sisters, wives and sisters-in-law of ordinary Sangh workers," Irani added.

IMAGE: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi addressing a gathering during a road show in Padara village in Vadodara on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday complimented the Army for its professionalism in handling the Doklam standoff and other challenges such as containing insurgency in the northeastern region.

In an address to the top commanders of the Army, she said enhancing capacity of the Army was a major focus of the government and promised close monitoring of improving strategic infrastructure.

'She conveyed admiration of the nation for the professionalism of the Indian Army during events like Doklam standoff, response to natural disasters and keeping the situation of insurgency in the North East states fairly under control,' the Army said in a statement.

On the second day of the week-long commanders conference, the top brass of the Army deliberated on a broad range of operational issues, including security challenges along the borders with China and Pakistan.

In her around half-an-hour-long address, the defence minister also referred to her visits to the forward areas and called the meeting with the troops as 'eye-opening'.

Sitharaman said keeping morale of forces at the highest level was among the priorities of the government.

Welcoming Sitharaman, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat told the commanders about the extensive travel undertaken by her to forward posts including Siachen.

'He also expressed pleasure on the fact that Sitharaman had already travelled extensively in border areas of the North-East and also across the border in Tibet,' the Army statement said.

When asked about Rawat's comment about her visit across the border to Tibet, an Army spokesperson later said Sitharaman has extensively travelled in Tibet before taking over as defence minister and the reference was about that.

Sitharaman had visited various forward areas along the Sino-India border, including Nathu La in Sikkim, on Saturday.

The defence minister said modernisation of the Army was a priority for the government and that all the 'deficiencies' will be addressed to strengthen its combat capability.

Sitharaman also assured the Army commanders that all service related matters will be resolved.

In this regard, she talked about long pending force modification requests, welfare of serving army men and their families.

Listing her top priorities, Sitharaman said integration of the armed forces was essential particularly in the domain of training, communication, logistics and cyberspace for preparation for any future conflict.

'She called upon Indian Army to continue leveraging its strength in diplomatic defence cooperation with neighbourhood and in the region,' the Army said.

The Northern Command, the Central Command and the Western Command made presentations today on a range of issues having a bearing on the field formations of the Army.

In its presentation, the Northern Command highlighted the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman said on Tuesday that lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them.

In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister Sitharaman also said that the budgetary allocations should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is 'absolutely necessary', the IAF said.

Inaugurating the three-day conference, she also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be 'fully utilised' in achieving required capabilities of the forces.

'She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade,' the IAF said in a statement.

Currently, the IAF has 33 fighter squadrons against the authorised strength of 42 squadrons. The IAF has been pressing the government to expedite acquisition of combat jets to overcome the shortage.

The IAF is likely to start the process later month to acquire a fleet of single engine fighter jets which are expected to significantly enhance its overall strike capability. It is also looking at procuring various other platforms and weapons systems.

The IAF commanders conference is taking place amid an evolving regional security scenario and growing assertiveness by China in some parts of the Sino-India border.

Last week, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said the IAF is capable of effectively countering any threat from China and Pakistan simultaneously in a two-front war.

Sitharaman said the IAF along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Ordnance Factory Board, a state-run defence equipment maker, should make an assessment about the possible areas of indigenisation under the 'Make-in-India' programme.

In his address, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's air power, and called for continuing the process to enhance capability of the force.

He also reiterated the IAF's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on the 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The IAF said the conference will deliberate on a raft of issues which will decide the future trajectory of the force.

It said deliberations will take place on operations and maintenance issues.

Various administrative initiatives were also expected to be taken at the conclave to enhance the working environment of the IAF.

In sync with the government's digital India initiative, two mobile applications for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones will also be released during the conference, the IAF said. A book titled 'Aero India-Ascent through the ages' was also scheduled to be released during the conference.
A police officer has been shot and killed on the Texas Tech University campus.

The suspected gunman, identified as freshman Hollis A Daniels, 19, was taken custody after fleeing the scene in a silver BMW.

The campus in Lubbock was placed on lockdown until he was apprehended.

University spokesman Chris Cook says campus police found drugs in Daniels dorm. They then brought him back to police headquarters for a standard debriefing.

Then, he allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the cop in the head, killing him.

Last year, Texas enabled people with concealed handgun permits to carry their weapons on public university campuses.

However, you have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit in the state.

Image used for representational purposes. Photograph: Reuters
From Swachh Bharat to spearheading the Make in India campaign, the PMO seems to be at the centre of all policies, writes Nivedita Mookerji.

On the evening of November 8, 2016, the sudden buzz in newsrooms was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to make a major announcement.

About what?

Almost everybody, including many key government functionaries, was kept guessing.

What followed was one of the worlds largest demonetisation exercises in history. But given the fact that many senior cabinet ministers were unaware of the decision until shortly before it was announced, the announcement highlighted the worst-kept secret about this regimes PMO: that the prime minister with his 397-member office is the only power centre.

As one Bharatiya Janata Party leader quipped, There is only one office in the government now. Thats the Prime Ministers Office.

Indeed, anything from formulating economic policies to ushering in administrative reforms, from launching and overseeing the cleanliness drive under Swachh Bharat to spearheading the Make in India movement, from directions for key postings in the government to being the go-to office for business and industry, from setting the tone of the Independence Day speech to hosting marquee start-ups in mega shows, the PMO seems to be at the centre of it all.

If demonetisation had the stamp of the PMO written all over it, so did the decision to roll out the Goods and Services Tax, the biggest indirect tax reform in Indias history, from July 1, 2017, a date that most considered far too early. Demands for deferring the GST to give businesses time to ready their systems were ignored; the directive from the South Block powerhouse was to comply or else.

It is another matter that so many reports of technical glitches in filing GST returns have surfaced that the government has had to set up a committee, naming it group of ministers -- a rare beast in this regime -- to resolve them.

The power that flows from the PMO makes the denizens of this secretariat extremely powerful too.

At its head as principal secretary to the countrys 12th prime minister is Nripendra Misra, a retired civil servant from the Uttar Pradesh cadre and former telecom regulator, the appointment of whom required a speedily passed ordinance (since TRAI rules forbade officer bearers from holding posts in central or state governments after they retired).

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a former intelligence boffin, is another powerful advisor within the PMO.

The other top functionaries are: Additional Principal Secretary PK Mishra; Secretary Bhaskar Khulbe; two Additional Secretaries, Tarun Bajaj and AK Sharma; and five Joint Secretaries, Anurag Jain, Debashree Mukherjee, V Seshadri, Brajendra Navnit, and Gopal Baglay.

Mishra, who was part of the Modi administration in Gujarat, plays a pivotal role in all key issues of governance.

Khulbe, a West Bengal-cadre IAS, came into prominence last year when the PMO revealed the salaries of its staff. Khulbe emerged as the highest-paid PMO man with a monthly salary of Rs 2.01 lakh.

Bajaj, a Haryana-cadre IAS, was brought into PMO from the department of economic affairs, and his work area includes the all-important Aadhaar.

Sharma, a Gujarat-cadre officer, used to be known as the Vibrant Gujarat man for his role in the signature campaign under Modis chief ministership, and is now a point person for many industry issues.

Jain, an IIT-engineer-turned-IAS, is a Madhya Pradesh-cadre officer and seen as confidant of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Known for his IT skills, hes responsible for computerisation of the PMO, besides overseeing communications and skill development.

Mukherjee, an AGMUT-cadre IAS, has been at the helm of Delhi Transport Corporation and Jal Board and her current work areas cover urban development, housing, rural development, among others.

Seshadri, an Andhra-cadre IAS, mainly looks at anti-corruption issues.

Navnit, a Tamil Nadu-cadre officer whos worked in the finance ministry earlier, is responsible for issues linked to finance, corporate affairs and Niti Aayog.

The latest entrant to this club is Baglay, an IFS and former spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, and his responsibilities cover anything from space and defence to foreign affairs.

Modis all-powerful PMO has attracted attention because its uber-secretive and strongly centralised style of policy-making stands in sharp contrast to Manmohan Singhs 10-year stint and, indeed, the first term of the National Democratic Alliance under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Ashok Chawla, former finance secretary (2009-11), points out that in the United Progressive Alliance government, several policies were decided by cabinet committees, groups of ministers and empowered groups of ministers. That system has changed now.

K M Chandrasekhar, cabinet secretary during the UPA (2007-11), said: Manmohan Singh preferred a consensus-based approach.

But, he says, Vajpayee, too, followed a more decentralised style.

I was working abroad then, but I noticed in particular that the ministers I reported to from time to time -- Murasoli Maran, Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley -- had a great deal of freedom to take decisions and this resulted in flexibility on the field, he recalled.

The emergence of the PMO as a power centre has evolved over time, and depended on the proclivities of the incumbent in office.

Yashwant Sinha, who was finance minister and then external affairs minister in Vajpayees government, told Business Standard, Theres no doubt that the PMO has emerged over the years as the most potent and powerful office in the whole government. It has expanded over time, asserting its authority on line ministries in matters of both policy and personnel.

The early signs of the change in the PMO came way back in the '60s.

Although Jawaharlal Nehru had a lightly staffed secretariat with just one joint secretary, the structure started changing when Lal Bahadur Shastri took charge in 1964.

L K Jha, a powerful civil servant of the British era, was appointed secretary to prime minister Shastri and the number of joint secretaries increased to two.

But the real expansion of the PMO and its emergence as a power centre in its own right took place under Indira Gandhi when P N Haksar became the first principal secretary to a PM and the number of joint secretaries increased further.

That was the start of a powerful PMO, coinciding with budgets getting bigger and the government having to deal with complex issues, said an official who was part of the Manmohan Singh-led PMO.

It is primarily a political office, he added. So, if the PM is strong, so is the PMO, he added.

Commenting on the culture of the current PMO, a former minister in the Vajpayee government said, The control over personnel has been an exercise of raw power by the PMO even earlier. But that has increased manifold now. Today, the line ministries have almost no say in any appointment, he said.

But during Vajpayees time, the PM or his office rarely got into economic policy matters, he said.

The PMO was a listener and on no occasion was any proposal made by a minister related to economic matter disregarded, a close aide in the Vajpayee government said.

Foreign affairs, though, was occasionally a different matter.

A BJP leader said a minister accompanying Vajpayee on an official visit to another country had no idea about the speech he would deliver. It was kept under wraps.

On board, Vajpayee asked his minister if he had seen the speech. When the minister said no, Vajpayee stepped in and asked his principal secretary to show it to him. It was then that inputs were taken and the speech was modified.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets secretaries to Government of India soon after assuming office. Photograph: PTI Photo.
Can Congo's new child-free army bring lasting change?

Publisher IRIN Publication Date 10 October 2017 Cite as IRIN, Can Congo's new child-free army bring lasting change?, 10 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcd7af4.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's military has been removed from the UN's 'list of shame' of armed groups that recruit and use child soldiers - only the second ever delisting after Chad in 2014.

It's a hugely positive step. The UN's annual Children and Armed Conflict report, released last week, is a key document in highlighting the militaries and armed groups that recruit and commit grave violations against children. This year, 56 state forces and armed groups from 14 countries were named.

However, the progress made by the Congolese armed forces, the FARDC, has been a long time coming, and serious concerns remain over sexual violence committed by its soldiers.

History of abuse and recruitment

Officially formed in 2003, the current national army has for much of its existence been mired in conflicts with Congo's multiple militias. Violence has long scarred the country, as national and foreign armed groups vie for power and survival in the mineral-rich east.

These conflicts have left a trail of death, sexual abuse, and child recruitment across the region. For many years during the 2000s, FARDC forces were among the perpetrators.

Exact figures on child recruitment by the army since 2003 are not known. But international observers and human rights groups believe it's in the thousands, with minors exploited as fighters alongside less official roles as look-outs, porters, messengers, cooks, and sexual slaves - often referred to as "wives".

One of the most significant enabling factors in the army's use of children has been the fractured and disorganised way it has integrated disparate armed groups into its ranks as part of various peace settlements.

In 2009, 12,000 fighters from the National Congress for the Defence of the People and many local self-defence 'Mai-Mai' groups surrendered and joined the Congolese army.

It was envisaged as a way to stem the deadly conflict - at this point 800,000 civilians had been displaced and thousands more killed in the east. The integration process resulted in hundreds of children being integrated alongside adult fighters. It also led to senior militia commanders maintaining power bases, only now as members of the armed forces, and still continuing to recruit and use children.

A 2012-2013 recruitment campaign by the FARDC targeting 18 to 25 year olds also permitted hundreds more children to enrol due to lack of robust screening procedures.

UN action plan

The signing of a 2012 UN action plan by President Joseph Kabila's government and the UN marked a major step forward.

Between 2009 and 2015, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, and the FARDC assisted with the release of 8,546 children associated with Congo's armed groups, including from within the army itself.

The training of the army and other security forces on child protection issues, and the creation of standard operating procedures on age verification have all helped eliminate the recruitment of children by the armed forces; as has the appointment, in 2014, of Jeanine Mabunda Lioko as special advisor to the president on sexual violence and child recruitment, and the systematic screening and separation of children in the ranks of the armed forces.

Culture of impunity remains

However, an end to the sexual violence committed by the FARDC and others is yet to materialise. Significantly, the UN report still lists the FARDC as committing "rape and other forms of sexual violence against children".

High-ranking officers of the FARDC, the national police, and leaders of armed groups have been arrested and convicted of sexual violence against children. Members of the FARDC have also been charged with child recruitment, but there have been no convictions to date.

Further, in contravention to the action plan and a 2013 Ministry of Defence directive prohibiting the practice, the detention by government forces of children formerly associated with armed groups persists.

MONUSCO has noted incidents where children freed from groups are being detained "for periods ranging from a few days to several months," by the security forces. Eradicating such practices is crucial if the army's reputation is to be restored.

Many Congolese children are still routinely exploited by armed groups in both combat and support roles. And for girls, who account for up to 40 percent of Congo's child soldiers, serious sexual and physical abuse continues, as well as stigma and family rejection of those able to return home.

The scale of the enduring problems is demonstrated by the fact that the latest UN report found that 12 armed groups active in Congo were still using child soldiers.

And worryingly, recent violence in the restive Kasai region has created hundreds more child soldiers. MONUSCO chief Maman Sidikou told IRIN in September that recruitment in the central region "has never been so extensive in DRC".

Previously, when the country has spiralled back into conflict, the use of children by both armed groups and the FARDC has resumed.

The UN's delisting of the Congolese armed forces shows tangible results are possible. To avoid a regression, the government must maintain the progress made within its own ranks and intensify its efforts to stop recruitment by armed groups, while at the same time respecting human rights across the country.

It is paramount that children who are released or escape, and the communities to which they return, receive adequate support if victims are to recover and lead normal lives again. Any assistance given must be holistic and community-based otherwise recruitment and re-recruitment will occur when conflict flares up.

Cementing progress will not only ensure Congo's removal is lasting but also inspire other countries to take concerted action to tackle the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
UN concerned for safety of more than five million displaced in northern Iraq

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN concerned for safety of more than five million displaced in northern Iraq, 9 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcd8244.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

As the Iraqi offensive in and near Hawija in Kirkuk Governorate is drawing to a close, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners expressed deep concern on Monday for the safety of civilian populations in the region.

"Protection remains our overriding concern," said Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, press release.

She said humanitarians are deeply worried about incidents of collective punishment, restrictions on free movement, evictions, forced returns and sexual exploitation and violence, including in emergency sites and camps.

Ms. Grande reported that more than 5.4 million civilians have been displaced since 2014, millions of which have been helped to safety and protected by the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Government.

Humanitarian partners working in Iraq characterize the humanitarian crisis as a protection crisis.

"There are heart-breaking cases of children, the elderly and disabled people being separated from their families. Hundreds of thousands of people, including tens of thousands of very young children, have been exposed to extreme danger, stress, and trauma and will require years of specialized support and care," said Ms. Grande.
Rohingya refugee children perish as boat capsizes off Bangladesh  UN migration agency

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Rohingya refugee children perish as boat capsizes off Bangladesh  UN migration agency, 9 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcd8d94.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

At least 13 Rohingya refugees, 11 of them young children, fleeing violence in Myanmar have drowned when the fishing boat they were on capsized in stormy weather, the United Nations migration agency said.

Among those who perished were seven boys aged between three and 10, and four girls between two-three years old.

Based on accounts from survivors, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that there were approximately 60 refugees from the minority Muslim Rohingya community aboard the 20-metre wooden vessel with a normal capacity of 20 when it left Myanmar under cover of darkness  hoping avoid patrols there as well as in Bangladesh.

The vessel was headed for Shahporir Dwip, an island at the southern tip of Bangladesh, about 78 kilometres south of Cox's Bazar, when it foundered at Golar Para Char when the fisherman at the helm lost control and ran aground.

According to survivors, the fleeing Rohingya had paid the fisherman the equivalent of $30 a head for what should have been a short sea journey, IOM said.

About three hours after the boat initiated its journey from Dongkhalir Char in Buthidaung Township (north Rakhine province, Myanmar) Bangladesh Coast Guard were alerted of the disaster and launched a rescue mission.

Like many of the most recent arrivals in Bangladesh, the refugees caught up in last night's tragedy came from villages well inside Myanmar, they told IOM staff that they walked for eleven days before reaching the coast.

However, even after crossing in Bangladesh, the conditions remain extremely challenging for the refuges  having to in the open or under makeshift tents and shelters using polythene, tarpaulin or pieces of cloth, with limited food, water and sanitation facilities.

This latest tragedy follows on another mass drowning on September 28, when a fishing boat carrying refugees capsized near the same area, killing 23 people.

As of 7 October, 519,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh, including 467,800 identified by IOM assessments in the Cox's Bazar area.

In other news, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners announced the rollout of a

vaccination campaign  the second largest of its kind ever  in Cox's Bazar beginning tomorrow. They aim to deliver cholera vaccinations to 650,000 people initially, followed by a second round to 250,000 children between the ages of one and five.
Fixers - field reporting's unseen facilitators

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Fixers - field reporting's unseen facilitators, 9 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcd9c24.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) endorses the tribute paid to the Iraqi Kurdish journalist and fixer Bakhtiyar Haddad at this year's Bayeux-Calvados War Correspondents awards in France and announces. RSF will henceforth keep a separate log of events involving fixers, who are indispensable for war reporting although they enjoy no official status.

All the French journalists who worked with Bakhtiyar Haddad recall how he would often burst out laughing. Tragically, he and French reporters Veronique Robert and Stephan Villeneuve were fatally injured by another kind of explosion, that of a mine on June 19 in Mosul's old town, which ended up being retaken without them. Haddad's roars of laughter have fallen silent but the impact of his death has served as a reminder of the importance of fixers, a category of journalist that, although not officially recognised, has emerged as essential in the many wars since the end of the Cold War.





References to "fixers" began during the First Gulf War in 1991. They are the specialists who "fix" or arrange all sorts of things for visiting reporters. Without a fixer, a visiting reporter cannot operate quickly or effectively. The fixer's list of contacts opens doors and obtains interviews. Fixers serve as a compass in a chaotic universe in which a violent conflict has rendered all the usual landmarks unrecognizable.





"I provide an orientation service that enables journalist to dive in even before they arrive," said Bitta Bienvenu, a fixer in Central African Republic. The assets of these guides-cum-interpreters-cum-logistics specialists include their local knowledge, their extended family, their ethnic group, their friends and any kind of connection that helps them to guarantee the safety of the journalists who turn to them. Fixers are often also the reporter's guardian angel.





"The homage we must pay to an individual, called Bakhtiyar Haddad, should be accompanied by a thoughtful tribute to his profession, one that has become indispensable in war zones," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.





"Without fixers, a great deal of reporting would not happen. Without them, there would be many more news black holes. To better reflect their role, Reporters Without Borders will henceforth keep a separate record of acts of violence in which fixers are the victims. Operating behind the scenes and often risking their lives, they work for the same goal as reporters, which is to inform."





Paying dearly





Like the journalists they accompany into war zones, fixers take enormous risks - to the point that their names sometimes become forever linked. The Afghan Zabihullah Tamanna and the American David Gilkey, the Ukrainian Andrei Mironov and the Italian Andrea Rocchelli, the Gaza-based Palestinian Ali Shehda Abu Afash and the Italian Simone Camili were all killed together by bombs or artillery shelling between 2011 and 2016.





The dangers for fixers are not however limited to those of war zones. Their asset of being a "local," can also be their biggest weakness. Twice in Afghanistan, when a kidnapped foreign journalist was freed, the accompanying fixer was killed. Ajmal Nashqbandi was beheaded by his abductors in 2007 and Sultan Munadi was fatally shot by the British soldiers who rescued their national Stephen Farrell from his abductors in 2009.





Becoming a fixer means exposing yourself to threats of various kinds, and not only on the war front. Dozens of local journalists have been killed in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan while working as fixers or reporters for foreign media. Working for a foreign media outlet in these countries can make you a target for armed groups that kidnap for ransom or carry out execution-style killings.





Akbar Khan, a member of a leading Pashtun family in Afghanistan, learned this terrible lesson 15 years ago. "I'd received warnings," he said. "Several people told me I was going to pay dearly for working with foreign journalists." But he never imagined that something would happen to his family. He never imagined that his two-year-old son would be kidnapped and then killed as a result.

Salar Salim Saber, Iraki fixer





Journalists leave, fixers stay





Unlike visiting foreign reporters, fixers don't leave the country when the job is done. Central African Republic's Bitta Bienvenu cites the photo of a soldier executing someone on a Bangui street that was taken by a news agency photographer with whom he worked. The soldier called the news agency to say that, if he had a problem because of the photo, he would be gunning for them. All of the staff were threatened, without distinction. "The journalist went home but I stayed there," Bienvenu points out.





Proximity deepens the wounds, and creates invisible scars. "This job can break people because they feel powerless in the face of so much misery and suffering" in their own country," said Salar Salim Saber, a fixer in northern Iraq and Kurdistan. "Journalists chase big stories because it's their job, says Omer Faruk Baran, who has been working with foreign media in the Turkish-Syrian border region for three years. But all "the forgotten sorrows" he has helped them to cover have caused him "indescribable grief," he adds.





Zaher Said, a fixer in Syria, and Abdulalaziz al-Sabri, a fixer in Yemen, today resemble survivors traumatized by over-exposure to war. After frequent brushes with death in the course of gathering information in the field without ever being able to leave the war zone, they have sustained lasting scars and suffer bouts of deep depression.





Suspected of spying





Even crossing a checkpoint between one world and another can be trickier for fixers than the journalists they are with. "The fact that I'm from Donetsk makes both the Ukrainian government and the separatists suspect me," said one fixer, who has been arrested and interrogated by the intelligence services on both sides several times. One compatriot, Anton Skyba, was taken away by gunmen as he escorted a US TV crew towards Donetsk. Thanks to protests by foreign media, he was released five days later, with his head shaved and his face swollen. "I just wanted to forget that nightmare," he said.





The mere act of working with foreigners can raise suspicion. In a tense environment in which any information could be seen as extremely sensitive, the slightest incident can result in a fixer being accused of spying for a real or imaginary enemy. Said Chitour, a fixer for the BBC, France 24 and the Washington Post in Algeria, is suffering the consequences. He has been detained since June 5 on suspicion of providing foreigners with "classified information liable to endanger the country's interests," a charge that carries a possible life sentence.





Abdelaziz Sabri, Yemenite fixer





Forced to flee





From spy to traitor is a just a small step. Both Bitta Bienvenu and Akbar Khan helped to produce reports in which one of the persons interviewed was later killed. In Bienvenu's case, the head of an armed group in Central African Republic was killed a week later in a clash with a patrol of UN peacekeepers and local gendarmes. In Khan's case, a Taliban commander in Afghanistan was killed by a US drone six months later. Both fixers ended up being accused of treachery.





The ensuing threats were such that both men had to go into hiding. After spending weeks or months concealed in their own home or in the home of friends, they finally fled the country. Bienvenu said: "I'm no longer free. I still feel a weight on me." Khan, who now lives in France, said: "Losing both your child and your country is too high a price to pay. I've lost a lot but the journalists I helped have helped me. They've done things for me, and that has given me a lot of strength."









Possible improvements





Despite the profession's problems and hardships, few of the fixers contacted by RSF said they regretted becoming one. This is because most of them are local journalists themselves, or aspire to become journalists, or just wanted to see "the truth emerge" in their troubled countries. It is both instructive and "an honor to work with leading media and experienced foreign journalists," said Abdulaziz al-Sabri, who works as a fixer and cameraman in Yemen. Nonetheless, after being kidnapped by an armed group while out reporting with an Al Jazeera journalist, he has seen that the lack of a press card or ID showing that one works for a foreign media outlet can pose a security problem. As with freelancers, the media need to consider how to provide better protection for their fixers.





Consideration should also be given to insurance, security training and equipment (bullet-proof vests and helmets). "Fixers need the same legal protection as freelance journalists," said Salar Salim Saber, a fixer whose status has improved since he began working regularly for an international news agency in Erbil, Kurdistan. He also thinks the names of the fixers should routinely be included in the credits of TV reports, as the BBC usually does, because "they are often the ones who found the story and organized the interviews." And because the harshness of their profession should not be compounded by a complete lack of recognition. It would give them a deserved visibility.
RSF urges Turkish authorities to protect Syrian journalists

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 5 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF urges Turkish authorities to protect Syrian journalists, 5 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcda574.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Two weeks after a journalist with US and Syrian dual nationality, and her mother, a well-known Syrian dissident and former journalist, were murdered in Istanbul, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Turkish authorities to do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice.

The bodies of Halla Barakat and her mother Orouba were found in their Istanbul apartment on the night of 21 September. A relative was arrested as a suspect shortly afterwards but has not yet been formally questioned or brought before prosecutors.





"At this stage, we urge the Turkish authorities to handle this sensitive case in a transparent manner, to shed all possible light on this double murder and to do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice," said Alexandra El Khazen, the head of RSF's Middle East desk.

"This is not just about rendering justice to the family of the victims but also about more effectively combatting impunity for the crimes of violence against Syrian journalists in Turkey since 2015."





The Syrian community in Turkey is following the case very closely as it has fuelled fears that other members of the community could meet the same fate because of their political or journalistic activities.

Orouba Barakat's sister has said on social networks that the double murder must have been carried out on orders from Damascus. According to Turkish media outlets, her brother, Maen Barakat, told the police that, shortly before her death, Orouba received threatening phone calls from persons claiming to be members of Islamic State.





Halla Barakat worked as journalist for the Syrian opposition TV channel, Orient TV, and its website and was about to start working for Montada Al-Sharq (Al Sharq Forum), a news website. She had also worked for the English-language channel operated by the Turkish public TV broadcaster, TRT.





Her mother, who no longer worked as a journalist, was a well-known Syrian opposition activist and was a member of the Syrian National Council before it joined the Syrian National Coalition it 2012. She had been planning to create a group that would help Syrian women arriving in Turkey who had been the victims of oppression and violence.





At least three other Syrian refugee journalists have been murdered in Turkey in unclear circumstances since 2015. The first was Naji Jerf, who was gunned down in broad daylight in the southeastern city of Gaziantep in December 2015. In June of this year, an Islamic State member was given life sentence for his murder but his family was not able to be represented at the trial.

Ibrahim Abdelqader was murdered together with a friend, Fares Hammadi, in the nearby city of Urfa in October 2015. And Mohamed Zaher al-Sherqat was murdered in Gaziantep in April 2016.





Turkey is ranked 155th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Photographer found dead one day after being abducted

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 6 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Photographer found dead one day after being abducted, 6 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcdab04.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The young Mexican photographer Edgar Daniel Esqueda Castro was abducted yesterday, on October 5th, in his home in the city of San Luis Potosi. His dead body was found this morning, the day after his abduction. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Mexican judicial authorities to quickly identify those responsible for this shocking murder.

The Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) confirmed that Edgar Daniel Esqueda Castro was found dead this morning in San Luis Potosi.







He was abducted yesterday morning by armed men who burst in his home in the city of San Luis Potosi, 400 km north of Mexico city, identified themselves as government agents, and took him away without any explanation.





His wife told RSF that they were asleep when the gunmen broke into their home. "After identifying themselves as government officials, they grabbed Edgar by the neck and threw him to the ground while pointing a gun at me," she said.





"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Mexican judicial authorities to quickly identify those responsible for this shocking murder and urge them to guarantee his family's safety", said Emmanuel Colombie, the head of RSF's Latin America desk.





Esqueda Castro works for the Metropoli San Luis newspaper and for Vox Populi de San Luis Potosi, a website specializing in covering crime. He previously also worked for El Heraldo and Plan Informativo, two other local newspapers, and created his own media outlet, Informate Potosino.





While he was covering a crime scene in June, police officers seized his camera and forced him to delete the photos he had taken. He filed a complaint about this incident with the San Luis Potosi state Human Rights Commission but no action was taken. The Mechanism for Protecting Human Rights Defenders and Journalists was made aware of the case and contacted Edgar Daniel. No protection measures were implemented.





Mexico is ranked 147th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Its northern neighbour, the United States, is ranked 43rd.
Concern about detained Algerian blogger after 25 days on hunger strike

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 7 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Concern about detained Algerian blogger after 25 days on hunger strike, 7 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcdb184.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned about the state of health of Merzoug Touati, an imprisoned Algerian blogger who has been on hunger strike for the past 25 days.

Detained since 17 January pending trial for posting a Skype interview with an Israeli citizen on his blog, Touati is facing a possible 20-year sentence on a charge of complicit relations with a foreign power.

He should have been questioned by an investigating judge on 3 October but his weak condition prevented him from answering the judge's questions. A few weeks ago, the same judge rejected his request for a conditional release. He also refused to interview witnesses who could provide information about the case.





Touati began his hunger strike on 13 September in protest against the judge's refusals and has been getting steadily weaker ever since. According to his family, he has lost more than 10 kilos.





"We fear for Merzoug Touati's life after 25 days on hunger strike, which is 25 days too many," RSF said. "How many more sacrifices will be needed before someone heeds the cry of alarm from this young, 25-year-old blogger, who is being punished for exercising the right to inform?

"We condemn the disproportionate natures of the charges and the possible sentence he is facing and we call on the Algerian authorities to respect international standards regarding due process."





Algeria is ranked 134th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Great Firewall of China closes loopholes

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Great Firewall of China closes loopholes, 9 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcdb5a4.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

In the months prior to the Communist Party of China's 19th Congress, which begins on 18 October, President Xi Jinping has been deploying a major arsenal of repressive measures against online social networks with the aim of perfecting the "Great Firewall" that censors the Internet in China.

Just weeks ahead of the Congress, which is expected to renew Xi's mandate for another five years, the US encrypted messaging app WhatsApp suddenly began malfunctioning in China, in a sign that a new turning-point had been reached in the Party's censorship. Use of WhatsApp had until then been tolerated.





"Control of the Chinese Internet has grown day by day for more than a year," said Cedric Alviani, the head of the East Asia bureau of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). "The president, who likes to call himself the New Helmsman in allusion to Mao Zedong, has established a very sophisticated system of information censorship and surveillance in recent years, one that has gone to a whole new level."





Since becoming president, Xi has proved to be a determined enemy of press freedom, pursuing complete control of the media in order protect China against what he calls the influence of "hostile foreign powers."





He began by "reorienting" journalists, who had cautiously tried to contribute to the social debate under his predecessor. Now their duties are restricted to the thankless task of relaying "the Party's propaganda." He then cracked down hard on bloggers who had taken up the torch of journalism.





Industrial-scale surveillance





Chat forums and social networks, on the other hand, had remained relatively spared. Sina Weibo, whose 340 million regular users exceed Twitter's, and Tencent QQ and WeChat, which seem set to reach 1 billion accounts in the near future, had become spaces for free speech.





The Chinese appreciated being able to chat with relative anonymity, which also allowed them to exchange information that was missing from the media. The evolving technology and inventiveness of its users limited the impact of censorship, which was mainly effectively in blocking foreign media and social networks such as Google and Facebook.





This era may already be over. Under Xi, Internet censorship has reached industrial levels and has been combined with a formidable surveillance apparatus. According to official sources, China's Internet espionage apparatus employs two million people, one mole for every 374 Internet users.





The WeChat social network has rightly acquired a reputation for being a police Trojan horse. Since last year, information gathered from WeChat, including conversation detail, can officially be used as prosecution evidence in trials.





To make matters worse, the Cyberspace Administration of China, an entity personally supervised by the president, has in recent months deployed a range of chilling measures directly targeting China's 750 million Internet users.





End of Internet anonymity





Since last week, the moderators of discussion groups on social networks such as WeChat have been held personally responsible for "unhealthy or illegal information" and any content that "distorts the history of China and the Party, misinterprets policy directives and promotes abnormal values." The definitions are so broad that almost any discussion could be concerned.





Many discussion groups are expected to disband of their own accord. In those that continue, the moderators will undoubtedly be highly vigilant at all times to avoid problems.





This latest provision reinforces already harsh regulations that, since June, have criminalized the "illegal publishing" of content and, since 2013, have exposed anyone posting questionable content that is reposted more than 500 times or is viewed more than 5,000 to the possibility of a three-year jail term.





So, whenever Chinese Internet users are about to "like" or repost content, they will have to ask themselves whether it is compatible with Party doctrine or whether they want to run the risks involved.





Recent changes have also sounded the knell for anonymity on the Chinese Internet. Since the start of the month, online communities are required to verify the identity of their users and to ban comments by unregistered visitors.





Tencent, Sina and Baidu, China's Internet giants, were slow to comply with this requirement, which is costly and complicated to implement, so the Cyberspace Administration of China imposed heavy fines on them to show who is boss.





Suspended VPNs





There have been regular announcements of new Internet restrictions for more than a year now: a ban on streaming video or audio content without a special licence, closure of celebrity news sites regarded as frivolous and incompatible with the party line, a ban on foreign companies posting content online without a permit and a requirement that they store their data on servers in China they are easier to monitor.





The next upcoming measure may be the most drastic one. The government has ordered telecom operators to put a stop to all Virtual Private Network services (VPNs) by next February. Millions of Chinese, including many researchers and businessmen, and most of China's foreign residents use VPNs to bypass website blocking. If the VPN ban proves to be effective, the Great Firewall beloved of Xi will become an enhanced reality.





The People's Republic of China continues to be ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF's World Press Freedom Index. Only Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea have even more disgraceful scores.
Press freedom violations recounted in real time January 2017

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Press freedom violations recounted in real time January 2017, 9 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59dcdbb64.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the suspension of the reformist daily newspaper Mostaghel (Independent) by the Tehran prosecutor's office for culture and media since 5 October. According to Mostaghel's editor, Ali Nazari, it was suspended for publishing former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi's photo. This apparently violated an order by the High Council for National Security and Justice banning any information in the media about the leaders of the protests against former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection in June 2009.

On 4 October, the newspaper published the photos of Iran's five prime ministers from 1979 to 1989 (including Mousavi's) to illustrate an article about the possibility of a return to a parliamentary system. The owner of the now closed newspaper Kalameh Sabaz, Mousavi was prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and ran against Ahmadinejad in the 2009 presidential election. He, his wife (the writer Zahra Rahnavard), and Mehdi Karoubi, a former parliamentary speaker and owner of the now closed newspaper Etemad Melli, have been kept illegally under house arrest and deprived of all their rights since 24 February 2011.

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03.10.2017 - Mehdi Khazali freed

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that Mehdi Khazali, an outspoken blogger who was arrested on a Tehran street by plainclothesmen on 12 August, was freed on 28 September. The editor of the Baran blog, he had been openly critical of the head of the judicial authority in the months prior to his arrest. Arrested many times in the past, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011. The conditions of his latest release have not been revealed. He is the son of Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali, an influential conservative cleric and regime member for 37 years.

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14.09.2017 - Detention of two journalists extended by another month

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns a judicial decision to extend the provisional detention of two journalists - Sasan Aghai, the deputy editor of the newspaper Etemad and Yaghma Fashkhami, a reporter for the news website Dideban e Iran - by another month in violation of both Iranian law and international standards. They are also being denied the right to see a lawyer and to be visited by their families.





Both were arrested last month at their workplace by plainclothesmen from the justice department's intelligence protection section - Aghai on 11 August and Fashkhami on 21 August. The authorities have still not said why they were arrested or where they are being held.

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11.09.2017 - Kurdish journalist freed on completing jail term

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is pleased to learn that Khosro Kurdpour, a Kurdish journalist who edited the Mokeryan news website in the northwestern city of Mahabad, was released on 8 September on completing a sentence of five-year in prison. Ministry of intelligence officials arrested him at his home in Mahabad on 7 March 2013, one day before summoning and then arresting his brother, Masoud Kurdpour, who contributed to the website. The Mahabad revolutionary court that sentenced them both on 9 November 2013 gave Masoud Kurdpour a three and a half years jail term.

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30.08.2017 - Two women journalists freed provisionally

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is relieved to learn that Hengameh Shahidi, a woman journalist who edited the Paineveste blog, and Zeniab Karimian, a woman journalist who hosted a programme on Iran's 3rd TV channel, were both released provisionally yesterday on bail of 900 million toman (810,000 euros).





Arrested on 9 March, Shahidi staged several hunger strikes in protest against her detention and prison conditions, despite being very ill. Karimian was arrested at her home on 23 January 2017 by intelligence ministry plainclothesmen.





Both were held in isolation in different security sections of Tehran's Evin prison, initially under the intelligence ministry's control and then under the control of the justice department's intelligence section. When Shahidi emerged from the prison, she appeared weak and had clearly lost a lot of weight.

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07.08.2017 - Imprisoned citizen-journalist's wife arrested

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the arrest of Nastaran Naimi, the wife of the imprisoned citizen-journalist Soheil Arabi. Plainclothesmen arrested her at her home on 31 July after searching it. Her family has still not been told why she was arrested or where she is being held.





Arabi has been detained for the past three and a half years. Arrested by Revolutionary Guards in December 2013, he was incarcerated in Security Section 2a of Tehran's Evin prison, where he was isolated and mistreated for two months to get him to confess to helping to create a Facebook network that blasphemed Islam and criticized the government.

The confession led to the imposition of a death sentence in August 2014, which - following protests by his lawyer and the intercession of UN special rapporteurs - was eventually overturned. At a retrial in September 2015, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison starting with two years under observation, during which time he must prove he has repented to avoid reimposition of the death sentence.

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02.08.2017 - A journalist and four Telegram group administrators bailed

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that four administrators of a group that used the instant messaging service Telegram to circulate information - Seid Mojtaba Bagheri, Said Naghdi, Javad Jamshidi and Nima Keshvari - were freed on bail of 500 million toman (410,000 euros) on 30 and 31 July.

Held in Tehran's Evin prison after their arrest by Revolutionary Guards on 16 March, they are due to be tried on 12 August. Two other members of the group who were arrested at the same time, Sobhan Jafari Tash and Ali Ahmadinia, will be freed as soon as their bail is paid, their lawyer, Ali Mojtahad Zadeh, said.





RSF has also learned that the journalist and photographer Assal Esmaeilzadeh was freed on bail of 300 million toman (270,000 euros) on 13 July pending trial. She was arrested without charge at the behest of the Tehran prosecutor's office for culture and media on 20 June.

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30.06.2017 - Two months after release, journalist sentenced again

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the six-month jail sentence that was imposed on Issa Saharkhiz, the former editor of several, now-closed reformist newspapers, on 19 June, just two months after his release. His lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaie, said he was convicted of insulting the head of the judicial system.





One of the victims of a wave of arrests in early November 2015, Saharkhiz was sentenced by a Tehran revolutionary court in August 2016 to three years in prison on charges of anti-government propaganda and insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. His lawyer reported at the time that two other charges against Saharkhiz - publishing false news and insulting the head of the judicial system - would be tried separately as political crimes before a court of assizes.





After the latest sentence was passed on 19 June, Alizadeh-Tabatabaie pointed out that the court had accepted that his client's criticism of the head of the judicial system had been personal in nature. It therefore could not be regarded as a political crime meriting a six-month jail sentence, he added, announcing that they planned to appeal.





Saharkhiz was released on 15 April after being deemed to have completed the first sentence. While held, he staged several hunger strikes in protest against his imprisonment and had been serving his sentence in a Tehran hospital since March 2016.

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26.06.2017 - Newspaper journalist freed provisionally

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that, after payment of 300 million toman (270,000 euros) in bail, Borna News social affairs editor Tahereh Riahai was released provisionally on 24 June pending trial. Arrested by plainclothes intelligence officers on 27 December 2016, she had been kept in isolation in Section 209 of Tehran's Evin prison for months.

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23.06.2017 - Ahmadinejad's former press adviser arrested

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that Abdol Reza Davari, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's onetime press adviser, who also once ran the newspaper Shahrvand and the government news agency Irna, was arrested on 31 May in order to serve a three-year jail sentence.

Davari was convicted in September 2013 of "insulting" Supreme Leader AliKhamenei in three comments posted on Facebook and was given a six-year jail sentence that was reduced to three years on appeal. He was arrested two days after posting an open letter criticizing Ebrahim Raisi and Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, two members of a commission that passed death sentences in 1988 on thousands of political prisoners who refused to renounce their beliefs.

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01.06.2017 - Narges Mohammadi back in prison two days after operation

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned about the health of Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned journalist and human rights defender who has been returned to prison just two days after undergoing an operation. Rushed to hospital with severe uterine bleeding on 28 May, Mohammadi was operated on the next day and was taken back to prison yesterday.

Held since May 2015, Mohammadi was deemed to have completed an initial six-year sentence on 17 March and immediately began a second, ten-year one. She has several ailments including muscular paralysis but is being denied the medical care she needs. Her health is in danger and she should not be in prison. We call for her immediate release.

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24.05.2017 - Magazine editor Morad Saghafi released on bail

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that Morad Saghafi, the editor of the magazine Goft o Gu (Dialogue in Persian), was released on payment of bail on 20 May pending trial. He had been arrested at his Tehran home on 16 March.

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18.05.2017 - Hengameh Shahidi suspends hunger strike

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was relieved to learn today that imprisoned

journalist Hengameh Shahidi decided to suspend her hunger strike after receiving a visit from her family in 16 May and a promise from the Tehran prosecutor's office that her appalling prison conditions will be improved and that she will be given complete medical examinations.

According to her family, she is suffering from several heart and respiratory ailments, along with other conditions. She had not been eating any food since 10 May.

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12.05.2017 - Journalist freed after ten years in prison

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is pleased to learn that Mohammad Sedegh Kabodvand, the editor of Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan (a regional newspaper closed by the authorities in 2004), was granted a conditional release today on completing ten years in prison.





Held since July 2007 in Tehran's Evin prison, Kabodvand was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison in connection with his journalistic activities and his creation of a human rights organization in Iranian Kurdistan, the northern region where he lived.





He has been freed provisionally pending a judicial decision on the application of article 134 for the new Islamic criminal code to the rest of his sentence. Under a 2013 amendment to the code, a person convicted on several charges should serve only the most important sentence. By this token, he should have been freed four years ago.

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27.04.2017 - Two journalists freed conditionally

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that two imprisoned journalists, Kaivan Karimi and Issa Saharkhiz, have been released conditionally in the past week.





Karimi, a young documentary filmmaker, was freed on 20 April after completing half of the one-year sentence he received in November 2016 . Saharkhiz, the editor of several reformist newspapers was released on 25 April. His lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaie, said he had completed his sentence.





One of the victims of a wave of arrests in early November 2015, Saharkhiz was sentenced by a Tehran revolutionary court in August 2016 to three years in prison on charges of anti-government propaganda and insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While held, he staged several hunger strikes in protest against his imprisonment and had been hospitalized since March 2016. The sentence was reduced last September.

Ranked 165th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press

Freedom Index, Iran is one of the world's five biggest prisons for

media personnel, with a total of 28 journalists and citizen journalists

detained.



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19.04.2017 - Narges Mohammadi begins serving second jail term

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is outraged by the continuing persecution of journalist and leading human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who has just started serving a ten-year prison sentence on completing a six-year one. She received the ten-year sentence a year after her most recent arrest, on 5 May 2015.





Mohammadi has a long history of persecution by the judicial authorities and has been arrested several times. During her spells out of prison, she has worked closely with Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi at the Centre for Human Rights Defenders.





The six-year sentence followed her arrest at her home on the evening of 10 June 2010. She was convicted two months later on charges of "meeting and plotting against the Islamic Republic," "anti-government publicity:" and "collaborating with the Centre for Human Rights Defenders" and was given an 11-year jail term that was reduced to six years on appeal in March 2011.

Mohammadi suffered muscular paralysis as a consequence of the heavy-handed interrogation sessions to which she was subjected after her arrest in 2010. As a result, she was paroled in July 2012.

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17.03.2017 - More journalists arrested

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yet again condemns the persecution of journalists in Iran after at least three more were arrested in the past week.





The latest victims include Morad Saghafi, the editor of the magazine Goft o Gu ("Dialogue" in Persian), who was arrested at his Tehran home yesterday and was taken to an unknown location. His lawyer, Hamed Zargar, said neither he nor Saghafi's family have been told why he was arrested.





Meanwhile, Ali Motahari, the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, yesterday asked the minister of intelligence to explain why a military unit recently arrested 12 editors of pro-reform information pages on the instant messaging service Telegram.

Motahari also criticized the detention of Ehssan Mazandarani, the former editor of the newspaper Farhikhteghan, on 12 March (see RSF's 13 March release). His wife, Malieh Hossieni, a journalist with the newspaper Farhikhteghana, was fired the day after his arrest.





Although banned, apps and social networks such as Telegram, Facebook and Twitter nowadays play an important role in providing Iranians with news and information. Telegram says it has more than 15 million users in Iran.

According to the Kalameh news website, Ali Ahmadinia, the administrator of the Eslahat News (Reform News) channel on Telegram, was arrested on 14 March and was taken to an unknown location.





RSF is currently very concerned about the health of two journalists who have been on hunger strike since their arrest. One is Mazandarani, who was arrested on 12 March (see above). The other Henghameh Shahidi, who was arrested on 9 March.

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15.03.2017 - Former editor gets six-month jail term

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the six-month prison sentence that has been passed on Hossein Karoubi, the former editor of Etemad Meli (a newspaper closed since August 2009) for circulating the open letter that his father, Mehdi Karoubi, wrote to President Hassan Rohani.

In the April 2016 letter, published in mostly foreign-based media outlets and on social networks, Mehdi Karoubi asks to be tried before a public court "in order to present the evidence I possess about massive fraud during the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections and to show what has happened to young Iranians in the country's legal and illegal detention centres."





Etemad Melli's owner and a former parliamentary speaker, Mehdi Karoubi has been under house arrest since February 2011, a fate he has shared with former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi (the owner of the closed newspaper Kalameh Sabaz) and Mousavi's wife, the writer Zahra Rahnavard. Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who are both former presidential candidates, are being held illegally and are being denied their rights. Their state of health is very worrying.





RSF has meanwhile learned that Samna Safari, a journalist with the monthly Andisher Poya, was released on 11 March after the authorities determined that he had served his two-year jail sentence. Detained along with three other journalists in a wave of arrests in November 2015, he was sentenced by a revolutionary court in March 2016 to five years in prison for "anti-government propaganda activities." This was reduced to two years on appeal.

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28.02.2017 - City of Qom suspends newspaper

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the decision by the city of Qom's public prosecutor to suspend the newspaper Shakheh Sabz on 26 February, a day after it ran a story criticizing the level of violence in one of its poorest districts, which it likened to a "jungle." The suspension was ordered after 136 parliamentarians supported a resolution accusing the daily of "insulting the population of the Holy City of Qom." The newspaper's name means "Green Branch."

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22.02.2017 - Ahmad Montazeri returned to prison

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) firmly condemns progressive cleric Ahmad Montazeri's arrest yesterday. The editor of the website of his late father, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, he was returned to prison after being summoned before a special court for clerics.

Tried behind closed doors and without a defence lawyer on 20 October, Montazeri was sentenced on 27 November to ten years in prison for endangering state security, ten years for publishing a "classified audio recording" and another year for anti-government "propaganda."

He was prosecuted for posting an old recording on the website on 9 August 2016 in which his father could be heard criticizing the wave of executions of political prisoners in the 1980s.

For more information: Ahmad Montazeri gets 21-year jail term as part of bid to suppress history





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17.02.2017 - Editor freed on completing jail term

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that Ehssan Mazndarani - the editor of the newspaper Farhikhteghan and one of the victims of a wave of arrests in November 2015 - was released on 9 February. He had been given a seven-year jail sentence that was reduced to two years on appeal, His lawyer said he was freed as a result of a decision that he had completed his sentence. While in prison, he was hospitalized several times with heart and chest problems after a three-week hunger strike.

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10.01.2017 - Website reporter flogged for getting facts wrong

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled to learn that Hossien Movahedi, a local news website reporter, was flogged last week in Najafabad, a city 450 km south of Tehran, for getting one of his facts wrong in a story about the confiscation of mopeds from female students at a technological secondary school in the city.





Movahedi reported on the Najafabad News website on 14 June 2016 that the police seized 35 mopeds when, according to the police, it was only eight. Although he apologized for his mistake and although the police were allowed to publish their version on the website, the police pressed charges against him and a Najafabad court sentenced him to 40 lashes for "publishing false information." This inhuman and medieval sentence was carried out on 4 January.





Iran has yet to ratify the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

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06.01.2016 - Woman journalist freed on completing one-year jail term

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that Rihaneh Tabatabai, a journalist who has worked for several reformist newspapers, was released yesterday on completing a one-year jail term on charges of endangering national security and anti-government publicity. She was arrested on 12 January 2016 to begin serving the sentence, which was originally imposed in November 2014 and was confirmed by a Tehran appeal court a year later. The sentence also includes two-year ban on political and journalistic activity in the media and online following her release. In all, Tabatabai has been jailed four times since 2010 in connection with her journalistic activities.





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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (January -December 2016)



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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (January -December 2015)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time ( January-December 2014)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time ( January-December 2013)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (January-December 2012)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (January-December 2011)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (July-December 2010)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (January-July 2010)

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time (June-December 2009)
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BRIDGEPORT  Houstatonic Community College is hosting a Commercialization Challenge Launch Weekend, October. 14-15, 2017.

Participants are invited, with advice from industry experts and faculty, to conceptualize applications and marketing plans for underperforming intellectual properties.

Some $3,000 in prize money will be distributed among the teams with winning solutions.

Students who are accountant or finance majors, marketers, researchers, graphic and web designers, engineers and product designers are encouraged to sign up.

Companies participating include Bigelow Tea, ESPN, and Trifecta Aquaponics. The event is organized by Connecticut Consortium of Entrepreneurship Educators, an affiliate of the Entrepreneurship Foundation.

There is a participation fee which covers the cost of an overnight stay.

To register, click here or go to or http://bitly.com/MFG99

The weekend starts at 9 a.m. Saturday and ends with winners announced on Oct. 15. The event is
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At Bannerghatta zoological park, near Bangalore, India, keepers feed the white tigers around 5 p.m., after the last safari vehicle has turned off its engine and all the tourists are gone.

On Saturday night, the task of feeding the park's white tiger cubs fell to a new employee media reports identified as Anjaneya, who had his caretaker job for just a week.

The tiger cubs pounced as the man collected discarded bones from their meal.

The one-and-a-half year old cubs - Vanya and Jhansi Rani - were resting inside with their mother, Soorya, at the same time the new hire was cleaning up.

One of the cubs swiped at the keeper and then bit him on the neck, according to the Times of India, then the second cub joined in.

Anjaneya's screams attracted more tigers, dragging him back into the safari enclosure.

Zookeepers responding to the mauling were unable to get to Anjaneya because of the tigers, which appeared to be acting protectively over what they saw as their prey, officials said.

Anjaneya, who the Times said lived in Hakki Pikki colony, died a short time later of his wounds, sparking a police investigation and outcry from his family, who claim that the park had been negligent.

Their chief question: Why was one of the park's newest employees tasked with one of its most dangerous jobs?

Compounding the concern, Anjaneya's killing was the second tiger-related incident in as many months at the zoo.

Last month, staffers who manage the safari enclosures left the wrong gate open, leading "to a ferocious fight between Royal Bengal tigers and white tigers," according to NDTV.

"It is basically a mishap," forestry official C. Jayaram told the broadcaster, faulting "people who are lethargic" with the error. "While closing the gates there was some lack of coordination. They have entered into the same enclosure, there was a fight."

One white tiger, a nine-year-old named Shreyas, died four days after the attack at the park that bills itself as a sanctuary for endangered lions and tigers.

The zoo that would become Bannerghatta National Park was carved out of the surrounding national forest in the 1970s to provide a place to preserve endangered species such as tigers and elephants.

It is also a tourist destination for people who live in Bangalore, one of India's most populous cities, just a few miles away.

The zoo also serves as a rescue center for lions and tigers that have been saved from European circuses, according to its website.

In total, the park houses nearly 2,000 animals, including collections of Bengal tigers, leopards and lions.

Director Santosh Kumar said police are conducting an investigation into the keeper's death, but he defended the zoo's practices.

He said a senior staffer was around at the time: "In fact, the tigers chased him too. But he was lucky to get to a safe place. We're conducting an inquiry."

Kumar said it appears that Anjaneya didn't operate the holding gates properly.

At 18 months old, the tiger cubs aren't fully grown, but they are sizable. Tiger cubs mature quickly, according to Live Science, and begin learning to hunt when they are eight weeks old. In the wild, they set off on their own after two years.

Kumar said zoo rules only allow experienced staffers to work in the tiger enclosure.

Such incidents raise questions about individual facilities, but also about the dangers of caging apex predators.

In May, a British zookeeper was mauled after being trapped in the Hamerton Park Zoo's tiger enclosure with at least one of the big cats.

The zoo called Rosa King's death a "freak accident" involving a zookeeper who had been employed there for 14 years.

Horrified witnesses said they could see zookeepers sprinting to the edge of the tiger enclosure, throwing pieces of meat at the tigers as a distraction.

In 2016, 38-year-old zookeeper Stacey Konwiser was killed while preparing the "night house" at the Palm Beach Zoo. The house is where the animals are cleaned and fed, then boarded overnight.

And last summer at Beijing Safari World, a woman was injured and her mother killed after the younger woman got out of their car and was dragged off by a tiger.

The mother was attacked and killed by a second tiger.

The incidents illustrate that captive big cats are dangerous animals that can't turn off their predatory instincts, experts say.

"These accidents happen, you know, on some kind of a recurring basis around the world," Doug Cress, CEO of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, told The Post after King's death. "And it's because you're dealing with animals that, at their genetic core, are built differently than we might like them to be. They are designed to be wild animals."

Tigers are dangerous even to people who've been dealing with them for years, said Susan Bass, director of public relations at Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary for more than 80 tigers, lions, bobcats and cougars.

"They're the ultimate predator, and they're hard-wired to go after and eat meat. People are meat," Bass told The Post in May. "And they're bored silly in zoos. They're supposed to be roaming hundreds of miles, so they're constantly looking for ways to get out."
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NORTH HAVEN  Human trafficking is known as an issue overseas, but the issue also is prevalent in Connecticut.

At Quinnipiac University Monday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. gathered with victim advocates, students, attorneys, survivors and hotel representatives to discuss efforts to combat sex trafficking.

Blumenthal seeks to pass legislation that would make it difficult for internet sites to host advertisements for sex trafficking. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, or SESTA, aims to make it illegal, knowingly or with reckless disregard, to assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking, and to amend the section of the Communications Decency Act that protects online platforms from liability caused by user content.

Human trafficking thrives on vulnerability, whether its economic, social or cultural, Blumenthal said. Its among the most pernicious and insidious of criminal actions.

Human trafficking is legally defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation, according to the National Institute of Justice.

It has reached public consciousness in a way it has never done before because people now see it as real and urgent, he said.

Tammy Sneed, director of girls services at the state Department of Children and Families, and a member of the Connecticut anti-trafficking response team, said they received 202 unique referrals of possible victims of human trafficking in the state in 2016 and have predicted referrals in 2017 will surpass last years numbers.

For anyone who thinks its just happening abroad, its right here and its becoming more and more prevalent, Blumenthal said.

Most of youth coercied into sex trafficking in Connecticut are from the state and stay here, said Erin Williamson, U.S. survivor care program director of Love 146, an organization that works to abolish child sex trafficking. The majority of victims here are identified and exploited here and never leave the state.

Theresa Leonard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad and a survivor of child sex trafficking, said some women did not know they were exploited or trafficked, either as a child or an adult.

I remember thinking, every person has taken a piece of me, she said. Every man who has touched me has taken a piece of me. But today through healing, everything has been returned.

Hotels and motels are most often the site of human trafficking and exploitation, Sneed said, and internet sites are most often how victims are sold.

Marriott Hotels has recently mandated a training for their employees that teaches them how to indentify and report human trafficking. Tu Rinsche, director of corporate social responsibility of Marriott International, Inc., said hotels are being exploited for involvement in human trafficking and just providing information on the issue can be critical in discovering trafficking cases.

Second-year law student Taylor Matook is one of 30 law students at Quinnipiac University working on the Human Trafficking Prevention Project, a free training for hotels and motels that teaches employees at all levels how to spot signs of human trafficking and how to report it. The initiative is the same as the training Marriott International has established in all their hotels.

Some signs of human trafficking activity in hotels and motels include people who are not scheduled to be staying there going in and out of a room, guests paying for rooms nightly and with cash, and a Do not disturb sign left on a door for a number of days.

They might be seeing one sign, and see it every day and not think its out of the norm,Matook said. But if more employees report the one sign, and someone else reports another sign, then were building a narrative to identify human trafficking. All the signs are important and one might not be enough but all the signs are enough.

Through the initiative, Matook and others have provided five trainings at the university to various hotels and want to start a conversation about how human trafficking occurs through internet-based house rental or vacation rental services, , she said.

Brian Sibly, lead prosecutor on the prosecutors of human trafficking task force, said fighting the issue requires awareness of it by prosecutors, law enforcement, probation officers, judges, social workers and everyone involved in criminal justice system.

The problem is domestic where every city, every town within Connecticut is experiencing it. he said.

As trafficking is an illegal underground issue that is highly complex and underreported, the issue is difficult to measure. But according to the International Labor Organization, 40.3 million people were in modern slavery in 2016 and an estimated 4.8 million people are victims in sexual exploitation.
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TORRINGTON - U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, came to the Community Health & Wellness Center of Greater Torrington Tuesday to discuss the potential ramifications of Congress failing to extend federal funding for health centers before Sept. 30.

The wellness center, which provides health care in Torrington and Winsted, would lose 70 percent of its funding, or $1.1 million, if the situation is not addressed, CEO Joanne Borduas said.

If this federally qualified health center closes, Connecticut will be much the worse for it. Our health will be sacrificed, people will suffer, and we will lose jobs, said Blumenthal. Congress has failed to act. That is unconscionable. I am going to be fighting to make sure that this federally qualified health center, and every other one in Connecticut is fully funded with the $37 million dollars they need to continue to provide life-saving medicine and care.

The Torrington center provides care for approximately 6,500 patients, Borduas said. It provides a range of treatment options, including medical, dental and behavioral services, and treats patients with a variety of insurances and income levels, including the uninsured and those on Medicare and Medicaid.

Without this funding, the center could have to cut staff and a reduction in services, she said.

Cuts that are anticipated, if this funding cliff does not get fixed, could very devastating for this community, for the patients who come here that need us, said Borduas.

Current center patients would potentially end up in the emergency room and the hospital if the center closed, Borduas said. This would significantly raise the cost and the human impact of providing such services, Blumenthal said.

For Gina Mariano-Bunch, the center has had a significant impact on her life, and that of her family.

She said Tuesday that her husband, Jeffrey Bunch, was diagnosed with an illness during a routine screening there, saving his life. Employees at her business, Daley Moving and Storage, also receive care at the center.

There are other places to seek health care, but the doctors and staff of the center have served her and her family well, she said.

I would never leave after the wonderful treatment we've received here, said Mariano-Bunch, a new member of the center Board of Directors.

The issue has become part of the larger political dissention over the future of health care, Blumenthal said. He urged bipartisan support for restoring funding for health centers  there is enough money available to fund the centers for a few months, but missing the deadline has created uncertainty and confusion.

What we have right now is political gridlock that is interfering with ordinary people having access to health care, said Blumenthal. The victims here of political dysfunction and gridlock in Washington are not the politicians - they're the people with illnesses and children who may become sicker, and people suffering from opioid addiction and abuse.

Borduas said the center is able to treat the whole person through its continuum of care, and people would suffer if this is lost.

We can do that with people - we can make them better, we can change their lives, and we can impact a whole community, said Borduas. And that's what we're here to do.

Reach Ben Lambert at william.lambert@hearstmediact.com.
WINSTED - Jerry Martinez and John Cooney want to jump-start change in town and have announced a run for the Board of Selectmen on the Winsted Independent Party ticket.

Drawn together by their common concern regarding the pace of economic development in town, with a shared background in information technology, they decided to mount a campaign for the board.

Martinez is experienced in town politics - he sits on the Planning and Zoning Commission, ran on the Republican Party slate in 2015 with Independent Party endorsement and previously served as chairman of the Winsted Republican Town Committee. Cooney, on the other hand, is new to both running for office and to the community as a whole - he moved here about a year ago.

Cooney said he recently semi-retired from his job, and as he moved on, decided to get involved in real estate and the politics in his new hometown. While he had not initially intended to run for selectman, the effort with Martinez seemed logical, given their shared professional experience, he said.

We thought (we) would be able to combine that technology expertise and our political desires into one foundation, and bring the politics in Winsted into the future, said Cooney. We're trouble-shooters, problem-solvers and solution-providers. And that's what we do by nature, so it seemed like a natural fit for me.

Martinez and Cooney said they want to spur more rapid economic growth in town, create a "taxpayer-first" plan for the community, and raise falling property values. The Winsted Grand List increased by 2.8 percent between October 2015 and October 2016.

Among a variety of concerns, Martinez noted that Main Street businesses like the Winsted Super Saver have had to close, vacant buildings remain, low-income residents do not have sufficient services and opportunities to shop and nonprofits are taking properties off of the tax rolls.

The town is not economically sustainable, Martinez and Cooney said.

I'm going to touch the third rail of Winsted politics, and I'm actually going to disagree with the establishment, and say that no, I don't think that we are progressing," said Martinez. I think we've stopped the bleeding that we've had, but we're nowhere near getting (to) the point where this town can actually pay for itself, pay for its own funding.

Martinez also wants to work to restore the town's credit rating, which was withdrawn by Moody's in the wake of the Henry Centrella affair. Mayor Althea Perez also noted this as a concern in a recent letter to The Register Citizen.

The current budget includes approximately $600,000 drawn from the town fund balance, which Martinez said is a concern - it was a fake budget, he said.

They basically stole almost $600,000 from the rainy-day fund in order to get to a zero budget. Even though we had an increase in revenues, our costs still outran our revenues. So who's minding the shop here? Martinez said.

Martinez and Cooney also hope to better incorporate technology into the workings of government. Their campaign website http://vote.w-indy.org/

org  features a social media hub where residents can enter into discussions on the issues of the day.

Cooney suggested creating a program with Northwestern Connecticut Community College to link graduates with jobs, something he was a part of when he attended a technical school in Massachusetts. Martinez suggested students be brought in to help catalog town data and make information available online, such as progress on infrastructure projects.

Opening up government is part of their platform as well, they said.

There's a strong enforcement of ideological purity in this town, which is actually quite disturbing, so that people who would want to come out and be on a commission or do something in the town - they're afraid, because they'll be attacked, ridiculed. I know that - I'm on the zoning commission, and I'm going up against basically the Democrat Town Committee, which are basically the other members of the zoning commission, so I know from where that comes, said Martinez.

Cooney and Martinez hope to bring a fresh energy and mindset to town politics.

I think it needs a freshening. I think it needs change, said Cooney. I'm not saying that I know that I'm going to be able to solve everything, not by a long shot, but I do know that I can change it, and I know there's a lot we can bring to it, with technology, trying to attract young people... we want to get people interested. You need something attractive to attract. Let's do something; let's change something.

Winsted resident Brian O'Heron has also been endorsed by the Winsted Independent Party to run for selectman, but is mounting a separate campaign as part of the Trump Winsted Party, Martinez said.

Incumbent Selectman Todd Archelaschi is also running for re-election as a petitioning candidate.

The town Republicans and Democrats have also put forward their respective slates of candidates.

All seven seats on the Board of Selectmen are set to be contested in the upcoming municipal election.

Reach Ben Lambert at william.lambert@hearstmediact.com.
Cambodias Supreme Court has ordered the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to prepare a legal response to complaints lodged by the Ministry of Interior calling for its dissolution, despite increasing concerns over the state of democracy in the country ahead of elections next year.



In an order issued on Oct. 9, a copy of which was obtained by RFAs Khmer Service, Supreme Court Judge Sem Sakkola said the CNRP has 20 days to respond to the complaints initiated last week by two minor parties aligned with Prime Minister Hun Senthe royalist Funcinpec Party and the Cambodian Youth Party.



CNRP chief whip Son Chhay told reporters following a meeting with the partys working group and 25 provincial and municipal executive committees at CNRP headquarters on Tuesday that he had received the order, but had yet to make a decision on how to respond.



We must first consult with our legal team with regard to the court procedures, he said.



As we all know, legal procedures at the Supreme Court require special attention.



Son Chhay said that a number of foreign diplomats had meanwhile told him Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) had guaranteed their embassies that the CNRP would never be dissolved, regardless of the political situation in the country.



The CNRP remains committed to holding talks with the CPP in order to ease tensions, he added, in interest of the nation and the people of Cambodia.



Last weeks petition to dissolve the CNRP follows other government moves to destroy Cambodias most effective political opposition to Hun Sens 32-year rule. The CNRPs performance in local elections in June were seen as pointing to a strong showing in next years general elections.



On Sept. 3, party leader Kem Sokha was arrested without a warrant in the capital Phnom Penh and accused of treason in a move critics say shows Hun Sen is intensifying his attacks on political opponents ahead of national elections scheduled for July 2018.



Almost 20 CNRP lawmakers, along with fellow deputy presidents Mu Sochua and Eng Chhay Eang and a number of party activists, have meanwhile fled Cambodia fearing retaliation by the CPP following important electoral gains by the CNRP in Junes commune ballot.



The CNRP has no plans to replace Kem Sokha as leader of the party, Son Chhay said Tuesday, unless he is convicted of the charges against him in a court of law.



Draft amendments



Son Chhays comments came as CPP lawyers and lawmakers submitted four draft laws to the National Assembly that would see the CNRPs parliamentary seats distributed to other political parties that took part in the countrys 2013 general elections and June vote, should the opposition party be dissolved.



The proposals would amend the Law on the Election of the Members of Parliament; the Law on the Election of the Members of the Senate; the Law on the Election of Provincial, Municipal, and District Councilors; and the Law on the Election of Commune Councilors.



CPP spokesman Sok Eysan denied knowledge of the draft amendments Tuesday, but National Assembly Secretary-General Leng Peng Long confirmed that the General Secretariat had already received the proposals and forwarded them to the Assemblys permanent committee, which plans to review them at an Oct. 12 parliamentary session before submitting them to the legislation commission.



The work of the permanent committee is administrativethey are examining whether such proposed amendment laws are made properly in accordance with legal procedures, Leng Peng Long said.



If correct, it will forward them to the expert commission to conduct a study and advise the permanent committee.



At present, the CNRP holds 55 seats in the National Assembly, around 5,000 councilor positions at the commune level, nearly 800 provincial/municipal level councilor positions, and 11 senator positions through the Sam Rainsy Party, which combined with the former Human Rights Party in 2012 to form the CNRP.



CNRP Vice President Eng Chhay Eang told RFAs Khmer Service Tuesday that opposition lawmakers would boycott the Oct. 12 parliamentary session in protest of the governments relentless clampdown on the opposition, including its arrest of Kem Sokha.



We call on our allied countries and the international community  to ensure that Cambodia respects the principles of democracy and human rightsin particular, upholding a multiparty democracyand to urge the Cambodian government to end its political persecution of the CNRP, Chhay Eang said.



According to Article 78 of Cambodias Constitution, the mandate of the National Assembly is five years and only expires once new members assume power. The National Assembly cannot be dissolved prior to the end of its mandate unless the government has been voted out twice within a period of 12 months.



Head of the legal and investigation team for electoral watchdog the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) Yoeung Sotheara expressed concern over the CPPs proposal.



The way they employ such a mechanism to dissolve the opposition party and redistribute its seats to minor parties, which are the allies of the ruling party, is the gravest injustice to voters, he said, adding that it amounted to dissolving the will of the people who voted for the CNRP.



A lawyer, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said that in countries which properly uphold the law, amendments can only be made in cases where implementation of the law affects national interests and the interests of the people, and provided the amendments serve those interests.



The lawyer said he considered the ruling partys move an act of betraying the will of the people, tantamount to a constitutional coup.



International criticism



Meanwhile, international criticism continued to mount against Cambodia Tuesday, with New York-based Human Rights Watch urging donor countries to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions against Hun Sens government in response to its political clampdown on the CNRP.



In a statement, Human Rights Watch said the governments efforts to dissolve the CNRP will render national elections in July 2018 undemocratic and, if effective, would deny Cambodians the fundamental right to elect a government of their choosing.



The Cambodian governments lawsuit to dissolve the main opposition party ahead of the 2018 elections is a naked grab for total power, said James Ross, Human Rights Watchs legal and policy director.



Governments that still insist Cambodia is democratically ruled should act to reverse this development, or share the blame for democracys demise under Hun Sens autocratic rule.



CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan dismissed the statement, which he said came from an organization that is politically biased in support of the opposition, and said that only the CNRP was to blame for the current situation after becoming involved in treason against the government.



The CPP is not concerned over the possibility of diplomatic or economic sanctions imposed by Western governments, he added.



Human Rights Watch's statement came a day after the European Union expressed concern over the Cambodian government's actions seeking the dissolution of the CNRP, which it labeled "very worrying."



"The enforced removal from the political scene of a party that won more than 40 percent of the popular vote in the recent commune ... elections would be a serious blow to democracy in Cambodia and would undermine the credibility of the current elections process," the EU delegation said in a statement on Monday.



"We urge the Government of Cambodia to reconsider," the statement added.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
China's beleaguered rights activists on Tuesday marked the anniversary of the country's pre-communist revolution amid a nationwide political crackdown in the run-up to the ruling Chinese Communist Party's five-yearly congress.



The "Double Tenth" anniversary marks the beginning of the revolution led by nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen that toppled the last Qing dynasty (1644-1911) emperor, and is marked as National Day on the democratic island of Taiwan.



Official celebrations in mainland China are typically more muted, with Oct. 1 celebrated as National Day marking the proclamation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949.



But activists in China have taken to marking the date spontaneously, in the hope that Beijing will eventually embrace Taiwan-style democracy, human rights and rule of law.



The celebrations aren't without risk, however, as Hunan-based Xie Zhou told RFA on Tuesday at the start of a ceremony with seven other activists.



"They are following us closely," Xie said in a reference to China's state security police. "We are about to begin, and we are gathered together."



"There is one of them following us, and there are plainclothes officers all across the park, which is very small," he said. "There are some of them standing in every corner."



A symbolic date



The 1911 revolution was sparked by an armed uprising in the central city of Wuchang, part of present-day Wuhan, on Oct. 10, resulting in the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) the following year.



It has also become a symbolic date for China's army of petitioners, ordinary people who seek redress for long-running complaints against officials and government departments, often to no avail and at the cost of beatings, detention, and official harassment.



Petitioner Zhang Chunxia said that while petitioners had held a memorial event last year outside the Museum of the Wuchang Uprising, most of them are currently under surveillance, enforced "vacations," or house arrest ahead of the 19th Party Congress on Oct. 18.



"They have all been placed under monitoring or house arrest because of Chinese government policies towards petitioners, and also because of the 19th Party Congress," Zhang told RFA.



"They have always told us that it's OK if we mark [Oct. 10], but in our separate groups," she said. "But they have banned everyone from gathering together in a big group, because that will have an impact on social stability."



Earlier this month, a group of more than 50 rights activists in Shanghai led by Li Ming marked the controversial "Double Tenth" with a five-day event running on from the Golden Week holiday that started on Oct. 1.



There would be no event on Oct. 10 itself, however, Li said.



"If we tried to do it today, we'd be under very tight surveillance and security," Li said. "In previous years, if we held an event, the state security police would be watching, and they might call me in to 'drink tea'."



"We feel as if our country is the Republic of China. We wave the Republic of China flag and the Republic of China is the only country we recognize," Li said. "That is a true expression of our feelings."



Political celebrations



During the centenary year in 2011, Beijing sponsored a series of events to mark the anniversary, including the launch in June of a blockbuster movie celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, "The Beginning of the Great Revival."



The movie, starring some of the biggest names in Chinese movies, including Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, tells a story based on the 1911 revolution and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 31, 1921.



Dissidents and independent commentators say Beijing's celebrations are purely political, and aimed at shoring up its version of history and thereby its hold on power.



China's Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek relocated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists on the mainland.



The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.



Recent opinion polls indicate that there is broad political support for de facto self-rule in Taiwan, where the majority of voters identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese.



But while the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island, Beijing regards it as part of Chinese territory and has threatened to invade if Taiwan seeks formal independence.



A rallying call



In Taiwan, the KMT, which was roundly trounced by the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the last presidential and legislative elections, used the celebration as a political rallying call.



Former president Ma Ying-jeou told supporters that his party had presided over more than six decades of peace across the Taiwan Strait before being relegated to the political opposition.



"Back then, nobody was talking about whether mainland China would attack ... that wasn't a problem then," Ma said. "Now, the situation makes everyone very worried indeed."



"There is an ongoing debate here at home, and then we have online opinion in mainland China, which seems to get less and less friendly to Taiwan every day," Ma said. "Even the United States seems to feel that the Taiwan question isn't going the way they would want it to."



But DPP president Tsai Ing-wen vowed in her National Day speech to defend Taiwans freedom and democracy amid growing pressure from Beijing.



We need to remember democracy and freedom were rights obtained through all of Taiwan peoples countless efforts, Tsai said. Therefore, we need to use all our power to defend Taiwans democratic and freedom values and lifestyle, she said.



Tsai has refused to endorse a 1992 agreement with Beijing that was signed by the KMT pledging not to seek formal statehood, leading China to ramp up military drills and cut off informal diplomatic channels with Taipei, which it regards as a regional government.



Reported by Gao Feng and Hwang Hsiao-hsia for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Chung Kuang-cheng for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




Chinese businesspeople who have invested in marble and granite mining in neighboring North Korea are worried that they may lose money under current United Nations sanctions that restrict the export of certain natural resources.

North Korea is making an effort to attract Chinese investors to its stone mines, though it remains unclear whether the marble and granite are restricted exports under the current U.N. sanctions.

North Korea insists that rock from its quarries is not included on the sanctions list and argues that there should be a clearer explanation of the range of minerals that are prohibited from export, which specifies whether marble and granite are included in the ban.

Some Chinese who invested in North Korean rock-mining activities in the past say that marble and granite stones are not currently restricted items under the latest round of sanctions. Others, however, say they will be restricted, according to a Chinese dealer who recently took a weeklong business trip to mountains where marble and granite stones are quarried near North Koreas capital Pyongyang and in Hwanghae province in the southwestern part of the country.

There is no way to check with the U.N. Security Council, so this concerns me, he said.

The U.N. sanctions, imposed on North Korea in August over its repeated missile and nuclear tests in defiance of a ban on nuclear-related activity, prohibit the country from exporting coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, and seafood.

The sanctions also prohibit countries from increasing their current number of North Korean laborers who work abroad, ban new joint ventures with North Korea, and freeze new investments in current joint ventures.

Though North Korea insists that stones are not an item restricted by the U.N.s sanctions, I am cautious about a possible negative outcome from the investment, said the Chinese dealer who spoke to RFAs Korean Service on condition of anonymity.

North Korea has offered to provide all necessary labor and oversee the stone quarrying in return for Chinese investments in mining machinery and equipment, he said.

They offered to split the processed products 50-50, he said. It is definitely an attractive offer.

Lessons from a worm exporter

A Chinese trader who used to import North Korean lugworms, or sandworms, surmised that marble and granite are included on the list of restricted exports because of his experience with the worms  a natural resource whose export to China is restricted by the countrys maritime customs officials because it is considered a fishery product.

Its a foolish idea to invest in something by accepting North Koreas word since [the country] is in urgent need of foreign currency, said the trader who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Chinese trader also said he had a bad experience investing in quarries in Hwanghae province that contained serpentine rocks, high-quality marble whose texture and color resemble snakeskin, but not on account of export restrictions.

I once invested in the stone mines, but had to close down the business, he told RFA. It was not a matter of restrictions. Investing in stone mines in North Korea requires the utmost circumspection.

There are no investors who have made a profit from North Korean mines, and probably only two out of 10 investors get back the money they invest, he said.

Investing in rock quarries presents unexpected obstacles because of the nature of the resource, which must be extracted from the ground, and a constant need for funding for the investment, he said.

Quite a few businesspeople give up in the middle of mining projects because of funding issues, the source said.

Even if the export of marble and granite are allowed under the sanctions, a recent close-down of Chinese-North Korean joint ventures will likely affect Chinese investments in stone quarries in North Korea, sources said.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce announced on Sept. 28 that such joint ventures in North Korea and elsewhere will be shuttered within 120 days from Sept. 12, based on Chinas enforcement of the U.N. sanctions against the North.

Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
At least 11,000 more refugees from Myanmars Rakhine state arrived in Bangladesh in a single day on Monday, prompting the U.N. to declare it was back in a situation of full alert as it anticipated a new surge in arrivals.

More than half a million Rohingya refugees have crossed the border since late August and, on Tuesday, more were entering southeastern Bangladesh like flashfloods, local officials told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. They added that tens of thousands more had amassed along the frontier.

Those who have come here told us that many others are still waiting to come to Bangladesh, said Md Ali Hossain, the deputy commissioner of Coxs Bazar district.

Zafar Alam, a Rohingya leader at the Kutupalong camp, the largest of the refugee camps and settlements in southeastern Bangladesh, said 11,000 people from nine villages in Buthidaung and Rathedaung  two townships that are further inland inside Rakhine  were among the latest arrivals in Bangladesh.

They crossed the Naf River along with their kids. They have taken shelter in different places in Teknaf [sub-district]. Nearly 50,000 are still waiting to cross the border, he told BenarNews.

In Geneva, the U.N.s refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was preparing to rush relief supplies to Bangladesh in order to deal with a fresh refugee surge.

UNHCR is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit center to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days. This is in view of yesterdays sudden increase in in people arriving from Myanmar, agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told a press briefing Tuesday, according to a news release from UNHCR.

Were back in a situation of full alert as far as influxes are concerned. It is a big increase to see 11,000, Edwards said, according to Reuters.

The number that he cited was based on information provided by Bangladeshi border guards.

The influx since late August, which the United Nations secretary-general has called the worlds fastest-developing refugee emergency, has strained humanitarian resources in southeastern Bangladesh. More than 900,000 Rohingya refugees, including those who fled earlier cycles of violence in Rakhine, are now concentrated on the Bangladeshi side of the border.

[M]any of the new refugees came from the Buthidaung area in Myanmars northern Rakhine state . Some of them said they fled torching and killings back home, Edwards told reporters, referring to the more than 11,000 who arrived on Monday.

Cases of HIV-AIDS reported

U.N. officials have warned that refugees, who include many women and children, are vulnerable to outbreaks of water-borne disease such as cholera, and at least one local physician reported that there were some cases of HIV-AIDS among the new arrivals.

At least 16 Rohingya people have been identified as AIDS patients, Dr. Md Abdus Salam, a doctor in Coxs Bazar, told BenarNews.

Other people were suffering from tuberculosis, hepatitis-B and -C, as well as skin ailments, he said.

Most of the Rohingyas are suffering from different diseases due mainly to malnutrition, Salam said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Tuesday that it and Bangladeshs Health Ministry had kicked off a massive campaign to immunize some 900,000 refugees from cholera, in two stages. More than 200 mobile teams will vaccinate some 650,000 people aged one and older during the first stage. The second stage, starting Oct. 31, will target 250,000 children aged one to five, WHO said in a news release.

The campaign will be the second biggest one against cholera behind an oral vaccination campaign in Haiti last year, WHO officials said.

Emergency vaccination saves lives. The risk of cholera is clear and present, and the need for decisive action apparent, said Dr. N. Paranietharan, WHOs representative to Bangladesh.

Without a state

As of Monday, 521,000 refugees had crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since late August, according to a situation report published Tuesday by the Inter Sector Coordination Group. The ISCG orchestrates the humanitarian response among international agencies and aid groups to the refugee situation in Bangladesh.

The refugees were fleeing from violence that broke out in Rakhine after an insurgent group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked police outposts there on Aug. 25.

This led to a crackdown by the Myanmar military and Buddhist militias, who have been accused of targeting Rohingya civilians in atrocities, such as killings and burnings of Rohingya villages. The Muslim minority group is stateless because Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in the Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar authorities have rejected international criticism that the military targeted Rohingya in ethnic cleansing, and blamed the violence on ARSA insurgents. Half of Rakhines Muslim population, which stood at around 1 million, has fled to Bangladesh since late August.

Pope is coming

In related news on Tuesday, the Vatican released the schedule for the upcoming trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh by Pope Francis, who has addressed the plight of the Rohingya people in recent sermons.

The pontiff will travel to Myanmar from Nov. 27 to 30 and then go to Bangladesh for the next three days, according to a schedule published by Vatican Radio.

Francis is scheduled to meet with government leaders in both countries, but visits to Rakhine state and refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh are not on the program.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
UPDATED at 10:08 A.M. EST on 2017-10-11

The Myanmar government on Tuesday pledged to crack down on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army a day after the Muslim militant group ended a temporary unilateral cease-fire in volatile northern Rakhine state.

The government declared ARSA a terrorist organization and is working on an investigation to find links to the terrorists, Zaw Htay, director general of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis office, told RFAs Myanmar Service, referring to the groups deadly attacks on police outposts on Aug. 25 and the military counteroffensive they triggered.

We are working to secure the region and coordinating with the Bangladeshi government on this issue, but we cant say much about it to the media, he said.

ARSA declared a monthlong cease-fire on Sept. 9 to allow humanitarian aid into the region, but it has accused the government of blocking much of it.

When asked if the government believes that ARSA will carry out other attacks, Zaw Htay said officials are assuming that the group will strike again in the future because it is engaging in terrorism in northern Rakhine.

ARSA is based in the conflict area and has been trying to spread terrorism in the region, he said. After its attacks, people fled from the region because of ARSAs threats and out of concern for their safety.

Zaw Htays statement is at odds with accounts from some of the half-million Rohingya Muslims who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, who say they were pushed out by Myanmar army attacks that included rapes, killings, and the burnings of villages.

A group of foreign diplomats and journalists led by Kyaw Tint Swe, minster of the State Counselors Office, met with Rohingya trying to flee to Bangladesh along the border area and tried to dissuade them from leaving Myanmar, Zaw Htay said.

They [ARSA] want the world to see that a lot of people have to flee, so they are still threatening Muslim people to flee to Bangladesh, Zaw Htay said. These terrorists highlighted this point, so that Myanmar received pressure from the international community.

The group also visited conflict-torn Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships in northern Rakhine on Tuesday on a state-sponsored trip where Kyaw Tint Swe told the residents of a Muslim community in Rathedaung not to flee, but rather to live peacefully where they are.

The minister also said the Myanmar government will give them food support and work diligently on the citizenship verification process for the Rohingya, whom Myanmar considers illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Thein Swe, Myanmars minister of labor, immigration, and population, and Win Myat Aye, minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, accompanied the group on the visit.

Ready to take them back

Zaw Htay said Myanmar is prepared to take back the Rohingya who are living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

We are ready to accept them back, Zaw Htay said. We have been discussing with Bangladesh about accepting these Muslims back according to a 1993 agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh. We have to negotiate with them on the final process of accepting these Muslims back."

The agreement allows Rohingya who can prove residency in Myanmar to return to the country.

Myanmar officials will place the returned Rohingya in internally displaced persons camps in Taung Pyo Let Wae and Nga Khu Ya villages in northern Maungdaw township, and seek advice from international organizations about building houses for those who lost their homes in the recent violence, Zaw Htay said.

When asked about the huge discrepancy between the Myanmar governments recent figure that more than 17,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Sept. 26 and the roughly 520,000 cited by the U.N., Zaw Htay said Myanmar officials based its number on documents of those living in the region.

The U.N. and international media can say 500,000 or 1 million people have fled, but we have documents of the people who lived on our land, he said. We have maps, lists of villages, households in those villages, and numbers of people in each household with each family members photo.

We will check them against these documents, and then we will know the number of people who are eligible to be accepted [back into Myanmar], he said. We will accept people who are on our lists.

Rohingya refugees wait in line during a food distribution at the Thangkhali refugee camp in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar district, in southeastern Bangladesh, Oct. 10, 2017. Credit: AFP Possibility of sanctions

In response to the Aug. 25 attacks, the Myanmar army unleashed a brutal campaign against Rohingya civilians to try to find ARSA militants and those who collaborated with them.

Rights groups, the United Nations, and some of the half-million Rohingya who fled to safety in Bangladesh have accused soldiers of committing atrocities against the minority group amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Myanmar government, however, has denied the allegations and accused ARSA militants of burning down villages and attacking and killing non-Muslim residents.

In the latest move to punish those responsible for the violence, the United States and European Union are considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders, Reuters reported on Monday, citing interviews with more than a dozen diplomats and government officials based in Washington, Myanmars commercial capital Yangon, and Europe.

But Zaw Htay indicated that the possibility of the U.S. and EU imposing the sanctions as punishment for the armys alleged treatment of the Rohingya during the crackdown is not a key concern of officials.

Our state counselor has already said that when you want to see Myanmar, you cant look only at northern Rakhine, he said. You have to look comprehensively at the entire countrys situation.

We have given this message to the international community, he said

We need the international communitys support as a go-ahead to resolve this problem, and we already said Myanmar will work with the international community on it, he said, referring to the Rohingya crisis.

We are currently giving priority to accepting back the Muslims who have fled, to placing them in temporary camps, and to beginning a resettlement process for them, Zaw Htay said. After that, we have to work on not having further problems in this region and on promoting development there for the long term. The international community should see that we are working on the Rakhine problem.

Last December, former U.S. President Barack Obama lifted sanctions on American government aid for the Myanmar government, citing the countrys substantial progress in improving human rights despite another military crackdown in northern Rakhine in response to ARSA attacks on border guard stations in October.



Reported by Khin Khin Ei and Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Authorities in Beijing have shut down a well-known Islamic bookstore and publishing house and detained its founder on "terrorism" charges amid a nationwide security operation ahead of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's five-yearly congress this month.



An employee who answered the phone at the Qingzhen Bookstore in Beijing's Haidian district on Tuesday confirmed the move.



"We, the bookstore, have closed," the former employee said. "We are no longer in operation and I am no longer an employee here."



"I don't know the details of the situation, though."



Store owner Ma Yinglong, a member of the Dongxiang ethnic group from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, is currently being detained on suspicion of "terrorist activities," U.S.-based rights activist Suleiman Gu told RFA.



And a Hui Muslim who asked to remain anonymous said Ma had already been detained for more than a year, before being released under a suspended sentence handed down by the Haidian District People's Court for "illegal business activities."



The owner was already under house arrest when he was taken away on Oct. 6, Gu said.



Online store



The Qingzhen Bookstore publishes books about Islam and related topics, which it sells on its IslamBook.net website.



IslamBook.net, which offers texts in Chinese on topics ranging from Islamic philosophy to the sporting life of ethnic Chinese Hui Muslims, was accessible from outside China on Tuesday.



The online store also offers a number of Islamic religious items including Malaysian-made hijabs and other clothing, Islamic arts and crafts and halal food items.



"I'm not sure what [Ma's] status was before he was detained again on Oct. 6," Gu told RFA. "It could be that he had a suspended sentence."



"His friends said that he was under residential surveillance at the time [of his detention] and that the police detaining him were from Xinjiang," he said.



"His hometown is in Xinjiang, and he was taken away on charges relating to 'terrorism'," Gu said.



He said an employee of the bookstore had told him that they were waiting "for the case to be processed according to the law."



"We are worried too," they said in a recording of the phone conversation with Gu. "It's hard to say what the final outcome will be, but ... don't be too worried. We have faith in the government and in the party."



Religion and 'terrorism'



Rights activist Liu Xinglian, a former head of the Islamic Association in the southern island province of Hainan, said the authorities are now explicitly linking religion and "terrorism," in the hope of preventing more peaceful dissidents like jailed Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti from speaking out against government policy in Xinjiang.



"They will use trumped-up charges to frame people and suppress them, so [Ma's detention] isn't surprising," Liu said.



An outspoken economics professor who regularly highlighted the religious and cultural persecution of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in northwest Chinas Xinjiang region, Tohti was handed a life sentence on Sept. 23, 2014 following a two-day show trial.



The complete version of the ruling has never been made public, but the court decision cited Tohtis interviews with overseas Uyghur, Chinese, and English-language media outlets, his commentaries on events concerning Uyghurs in Xinjiang, his criticism of Beijings ethnic policies, and his work founding and running the Chinese-language website Uighurbiz.net, which was shut down by authorities in 2014.



"This case is similar to that of Ilham Tohti," Liu said. "There are certain issues that they don't want to put out there, so they find an excuse to suppress the person instead."



'Stability maintenance'



The closure of the bookstore comes amid a huge nationwide "stability maintenance" operation that has seen the mass confiscation of Qurans and other religious items from ethnic minority Muslims in Xinjiang, and a ban on ethnic minority Uyghurs from hotels nationwide ahead of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing on Oct. 18.



The government has also stepped up control over religious activities, meting out harsher punishments for unsanctioned religious activities and stepping up supervision of religious groups in a bid to "block extremism" and tackle "terrorism."



New rules ban the use of religion as "a tool to sabotage national security, social order or Chinas education system, or to damage ethnic unity or carry out terrorist activities."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Ng Yik-tung and Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
All government entities in northwest Chinas Xinjiang region were ordered to remain open during the countrys annual Golden Week holiday, officials said, as part of a stability drive ahead of a sensitive ruling Communist Party congress session scheduled for next week.



The Xinjiang government under region chief Chen Quanguo issued an urgent announcement cancelling the Oct. 1-8 National Day holidaya first for the regionat the start of last week for all government offices, universities, and state-owned corporations. The notice ordered employees to work through the period and, in some cases, during the weekend.



While the Oct. 2 announcement was never reported in any official media, it was widely disseminated on social media and confirmed the following day in a report by the South China Morning Post, which also noted that airlines operating in the region were issuing refunds or date changes to government employees who had booked tickets in advance of the holiday.



In addition to being summoned back to work, some employees were even ordered to attend ideology classes, the report said.



No reason was given for the cancellation, although one official source told RFAs Uyghur Service it was made to ensure stability in the regionwhere Muslim ethnic Uyghurs complain of pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese ruleahead of the 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing set for Oct. 18.



The National Day holiday proceeded uninterrupted throughout the rest of China last week.



A nightshift employee at a hospital in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi confirmed that all staff had been on call during the eight-day holiday, but said he was unable to comment on the motive behind the order.



Our hospital staff has been working as normal, said the employee, who spoke to RFA under condition of anonymity.



He referred further questions about the holiday cancellation to the hospitals public relations department, adding that I only deal with evening issues at the facility.



A staff member from a county-level government office, who asked to remain unnamed, told RFA that no employees in any of the townships and villages under his administration were given breaks during the holiday.



We didnt have time off during Golden Week  No organization had a holiday, he said.



An official from a different county-level office, who also spoke to RFA anonymously, confirmed that the holiday cancellation was mandated by the Xinjiang regional government to promote stability.



We received an order [from higher-level authorities] and we were given no time off, he said.



We dont know exactly why  [but] its about stability.



Party congress



The cancellation of the National Day holiday, which celebrates the formation of the Peoples Republic of China by Mao Zedong on Oct. 1, 1949, comes amid a call by Chen Quanguo to stamp out large, medium or small-scale incidents in Xinjiang ahead of the countrys five-yearly Party congress and start to President Xi Jinpings second term in office.



Since Chen was appointed to run the region in August last year, he has initiated several harsh policies targeting the religious freedom of Uyghurs, and observers say the party chief expects his actions will earn him membership in the Politburos elite standing committee as the party reshuffles its leadership next week.



Wang Qing, a U.S.-based Chinese intellectual who lived in Xinjiang for many years, told RFA that while Chen may be serving his own ambitions by instituting tough measures in the region, such policies could never be implemented without Xis approval.



At the moment Xi Jinping is struggling to maintain his authority, so he is pushing people like Chen Quanguo to find a solution [to stability issues in Xinjiang], he said.



But the solution he has found goes entirely against the tide of history, he added, condemning measures that include the confiscation of Qurans and other religious items in Xinjiang, and a ban on Uyghurs from hotels nationwide, as examples of the communist partys anti-progress and backwards mentality.



Wang noted that while Chens policies directly restrict the freedom of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, they also indirectly affect the lives of the Han Chinese who live there, provoking tensions between the two ethnic groups.



I believe that the Han Chinese also disagree with the ongoing policies, because when you live in that kind of environment, you feel the animosity of the Uyghur people directed against you, he said.



When you look into their eyes, see their body language or hear them speak, you will fully understand it  The Chinese people cannot live freely without concern for what might happen and the reality is that the Chinese government created this animosity and hatred.



China regularly conducts strike hard campaigns in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material.



While China blames some Uyghurs for "terrorist" attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009.



In a brief issued at the end of last month, the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation said that despite its short-term successes, Chens policing strategy risks damaging Xinjiangs economy, stoking ethnic tensions, and alienating the local Han Chinese population.



Chen Quanguo may have succeeded in squashing Uyghur resistance for now, but the human and economist costs might prove unsustainable in the long run, the think tank warned.



Reported by RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A Vietnamese land rights activist sentenced to an eight-year prison term on charges of attempting to overthrow the government is in failing health and has not been allowed to speak to her family by phone since being jailed, her brother says.



Tran Thi Thuy, 45, was arrested in 2010 for petitioning for redress for land confiscated by authorities, and was sentenced next year under Article 79 of Vietnams Penal Code for carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the peoples administration.



Her health has steadily declined in prison, her brother Tran Thanh Tuan told RFAs Vietnamese Service on Oct. 10 after visiting her in the An Phuoc Detention Center in southern Vietnams Binh Duong province.



I last saw her on Oct. 5, when she told me that she has tumors as large as cups all over her body, which are causing her severe pain, Tran Thanh Tuan said. I asked the prison supervisor to allow me to see the prison doctor to ask about her medical treatment, but they are trying to avoid me.



Tran Thi Thuy had been sent to a hospital for medical checks in September and was taking paracetamol, which can cause memory loss, Tran Thanh Tuan said, adding that medicine sent by her family had not been administered correctly as prescribed.



She has also been denied the right to speak to her family by phone, he said.



It has been seven years and two months since she was arrested, but she has not been allowed to make any calls home. Prison authorities say this is because she has refused to plead guilty to the charges made against her, he said.



In a March 2017 statement, the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights called on Vietnams government to release all women detained for demanding human rights in the one-party communist state and to revise the vaguely worded laws used to imprison them.



Referring specifically to Tran Thi Thuy, the rights group called the governments denial of adequate medical care to the activist a violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which Vietnam ratified in 2015.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Employees who exhaust their leave under the Family Medical Leave Act will sometimes require additional leave due to a medical condition.

While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and some courts, have held that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that employers grant continuous leave as a reasonable accommodation, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana) recently held that a continuous leave of absence is not a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

In the case Severson vs. Heartland Woodcraft, the employee took leave under the Family Medical Leave Act for a medical condition, which all parties agreed also constituted a disability under the ADA.

On the last day of his eligibility under the FMLA, the employee sought additional leave of two to three months as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA because he needed surgery. The company denied the additional leave, telling him he could reapply when he was medically fit to return to work, and the company terminated his employment when he could not return to work.

The appeals court affirmed the lower courts dismissal of the case, holding, The ADA is an anti-discrimination statute, not a medical-leave entitlement.

It held that the ADA requires that employers provide reasonable accommodation to an individual that will enable that employee to work. An employee who needs long-term medial leave cannot work and thus is not a qualified individual under the ADA, the court wrote.

The appeals court affirmed a decision from 2003 which held, A multimonth leave of absence is beyond the scope of a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

The court also held that the employer was not required to offer a light-duty assignment to the employee which would have enabled the employee to return to work sooner. The court held that the employer did not offer light duty to other employees, so none was required here.

This case makes an already confusing law even more difficult for employers to know what the law requires.

In a bit of irony, the EEOC in Chicago announced a $2 million settlement against UPS to resolve what it described as a nationwide disability discrimination lawsuit.

The lawsuit related to what the EEOC said in a statement was an inflexible leave policy, whereby the company fired disabled employees automatically when they reached 12 months of leave, without engaging in the interactive process required by law, which could have provided additional leave under the ADA as a reasonable accommodation.

Having a multiple-month leave policy alone does not guarantee compliance with the ADA. Such a policy must also include the flexibility to work with employees with disabilities who may simply require a reasonable accommodation [of additional leave] to return to work. UPS has now made changes which will allow more people to keep their jobs," the EEOCs Chicago district director said.

The EEOC believes that the ADA requires continuous leave as a reasonable accommodation, including where the employee may not be eligible for leave under the FMLA or the leave has expired. However, as noted by the 7th Circuit, the law may not require it, and it held the EEOCs guidance on this issue was flawed.

A plain reading of the ADA supports the 7th Circuits legal analysis since the ADA was passed to provide reasonable accommodations so that an employee can perform the job. By not working, the employee is not performing the job.

However, employers should tread lightly here, and use caution before denying leave as a reasonable accommodation. The law is too unsettled to take this type of risk.

Employers should engage in the interactive process and provide the leave if it is reasonable and the leave can be accommodated.

However, the EEOC has consistently said that indefinite leave is not a reasonable accommodation, so employees with an uncertain return to work date are not entitled to leave under the ADA.
Flora has great style. The modern Mexican restaurant has a casual-comfortable feel with warm grays and browns punctuated by colorful art on the walls.

It gazes out onto Lombardy Avenue by way of a huge glass pane across the front of the building. And its website opens with a fabulous full-screen, black-and-white shot of a dusty desert byway in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Makes you want to hop in a beat-up Ranchero and head for the open road.)

The restaurant features the foods of Oaxaca and the Yucatan Peninsula, offering a selection of snacks, small plates, tacos, dinner entrees and desserts. The bar offering  listed on a creative menu with imagery reminiscent of tarot cards  includes wine, beer, spirits, and craft cocktails with fun names, such as Art of the Dill and Bolivia Newton John.

On a recent night, we started with a margarita ($9). It was served in a rocks glass with a fresh round of lime and had just the right amount of bite.

Next came the green salad ($8), which was fresh, colorful and lovely to look at. It was made with a mix of fresh greens, abundant vegetables and fleshy grapefruit slices. Crunchy pumpkin seeds added nuttiness, while guava-grapefruit vinaigrette provided a sweet-tangy finish.

The albondigas (Mexican meatballs) small plate ($13) was served with rice and a tomato-chili sauce that had sweetness and mild heat. The texture of the meatballs was perfect  not too soft, not too hard  but some were cool on the inside.

Grilled mahi mahi on crispy tostadas ($11) featured a nice smokiness, tangy chipotle mayo and a pretty garnish of red cabbage and bright green scallions. The fish  like the meatballs  was also cold in certain bites.

The crispy half-chicken entree ($20) featured a wing, thigh and breast, all moist and tender. The mole Colorado that accompanied the dish sounds good on paper, with ingredients that include dried peppers, almonds, peanuts, allspice, cinnamon, tomatoes and raisins for sweet and smoky flavor. On this night, however, the mole was mostly bitter.

For dessert, we had tres leches rice pudding ($8), a twist on a traditional Mexican dessert made with three forms of milk. It featured textured rice coated with a delicious dark chocolate and with a smear of caramel sauce. Great choice for those who like their desserts seriously sweet.

On a second visit, the fried empanada ($11) was crispy, filled with a mild cheese and dressed with fresh cilantro, which added a nice zing. The empanada was served over a mole Amarillo, which provided sweetness and heat. On the other hand, the black bean tamale served in banana leaves ($7) was uninspired, with lots of breading and no real standout flavor. The refried beans (side for $4) were sweet, earthy and creamy.

I ordered the green salad again because Id enjoyed it so much on my first visit. While it was still tasty, it was surprising to find numerous pieces of browning lettuce in the mix this time.

Flora opened in March in the space previously occupied by Balliceaux restaurant. Its from three established Richmond restaurateurs: Jason Alley, chef and co-owner of Comfort and Pasture; Michele Jones, Alleys business partner in those two restaurants; and Jay Bayer, who owns Saison as well as Saison Market next door. Floras executive chef is Oaxaca native and former Pasture chef Sergio Gomez.

No question, Floras owners have had much success with their Richmond restaurant ventures. Their new one has much to offer as well. Id be inclined, though, to wait for Flora to up its food game a bit before I make a return visit.
A split Richmond City Council on Monday rejected a proposal that would have asked the state legislature to amend the city charter and limit the mayors access to the councils closed meetings.

Under the proposal, put forth by Councilwomen Kimberly Gray and Kristen Larson, the Virginia General Assembly would have been asked to remove from the charter a provision that entitles the Richmond mayor or his or her representative a seat at the table when the council holds its closed meetings in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

The councils Organizational Development Committee last week recommended the proposal for approval. On Monday, five members voted against it: Chris Hilbert, Cynthia Newbille, Ellen Robertson, Michael Jones and Andreas Addison.

Hilbert, the council president, said he supported curtailing the provision, but eliminating it in full could bar the mayor from discussions of import to his administration that he needed to be a part of, such as property deals the city weighs.

The administration should be there for those, he said. Its a joint decision of the city.

Pushing the change were Gray and Larson, who characterized the proposal as necessary for maintaining the separation of powers between the council and the mayor and preserving the privacy of the councils appointees.

Eliminating the provision would not have prevented the council from inviting Mayor Levar Stoney to sit in if it determined his presence would benefit the discussion, Gray said.

A Stoney representative has said the mayor believed that the charter provision promotes coordination and accountability between Stoneys administration and the council.

The council has held seven closed sessions this year. Stoney has not personally attended any of them, but he has sent his chief of staff, Lincoln Saunders, to several, including the session preceding the resignation of City Auditor Umesh Dalal, a council appointee.

I think its an error thats in the charter, and its important that we correct it, said Larson, who represents the 4th District.

Several members who voted against the proposal concurred to the extent that the mayor should not be privy to the councils personnel discussions.

However, some said they were hesitant to cherry-pick a single provision and ask the General Assembly to change it without first examining the charter as a whole.

I simply cannot support opening the charter simply for this, said Robertson, who represents the 6th District.

Robertson has advocated for a more comprehensive, commission-led approach to amending the city charter, an idea that council members on both sides of Mondays vote voiced support for.

The opportunity to look more extensively at the charter as opposed to single items would be my preference, said Newbille, the councils vice president and 7th District representative.

***

The council also approved the creation of a reserve for employee bonuses in which it will deposit money from the citys still-to-be-determined surplus from the fiscal year that ended June 30.

From the fund, the council will at a later date pay one-time, 2.5 percent bonuses to the citys general employees at a cost of about $2.7 million.

Mondays vote did not authorize the payment of bonuses to city employees; that will require a separate vote.

Several council members have said they would prefer to give an across-the-board pay bump to the citys general employees, but the bonuses are a way to provide something during this fiscal year.

The council is under the impression that the citys surplus will total about $7.4 million, a figure derived from a quarterly report its members received in mid-August.

City finance officials have said the exact dollar figure of the surplus will not be available until the city finalizes its 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, due to the state in November.

In May, the council voted to allocate the first $2 million of any surplus to pay down the pension liability in the citys retirement system. Any remaining portion will be deposited into the employee bonus fund reserve, unless council members designate another priority for the one-time dollars.

Another possibility arose Monday: Larson introduced a paper that would devote what funds remain after the retirement system and employee bonus allocations for road and sidewalk improvements.

The councils Finance Committee will consider Larsons proposal at its Oct. 19 meeting.
A Reynolds Metals heir was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging sexual battery, kidnapping and carjacking in an attack on a woman that happened almost 20 years ago in Florida.

Cornelius Francis Florman, 51, was arrested at his home in Low Moor, in Alleghany County, on a fugitive warrant from Lee County, Fla., about 1:30 p.m., said Frank Schermer, supervisor in the western part of Virginia for the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Florman was being held at the Alleghany County Jail on Tuesday.

As reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in July, documents filed seeking an order from Alleghany County Circuit Court for a DNA sample from Florman alleged that DNA linked him to the sexual battery of a woman, then 44, who was abducted and knocked unconscious after leaving a bar in Fort Myers Beach on June 22, 1998.

Flormans lawyer, Melvin S. Black of Miami, said Tuesday that despite requests to the Florida authorities for copies, I have not seen the warrant and the particulars of the charge.

Accordingly, I have no comment about the arrest. We continue to look forward to the opportunity to vigorously defend against any allegations, Black said.

A media release from the Lee County, Fla., Sheriffs Office said Florman was arrested on a warrant charging him with sexual battery, kidnapping and carjacking.

The victim told deputies she was exiting the Reef Bar located at 2601 Estero Boulevard when she was approached by a male known to her as Cody who asked for a ride off the beach, the sheriffs office said. The victim agreed and began to drive with him toward the Matanzas Pass Bridge.

The victim said while she was driving, the male struck her in the face with his fist causing her to lose consciousness. She awoke in a wooded area and discovered she had been sexually assaulted.

Florman will be transported to Lee County to be booked into the county jail, authorities said.

Florman, the great-grandson of the founder of Reynolds Metals, Richard S. Reynolds Sr., was convicted of a 1986 rape in Chesterfield County. He was tried twice, but not convicted, in Henrico County of the 1986 rape of a woman who was attacked in her home.

Authorities in Lee County sent evidence recovered from the 1998 victim to a DNA lab last year as part of a national effort to test backlogged physical evidence kits in sexual assaults.

A search of offender databases produced a hit, matching the Florida suspects DNA to that of Florman, according to a Nov. 23 report from the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. Florida authorities then sought the court order from Alleghany County for a DNA sample from Florman in June to confirm the results.

Florman also was also charged with a 1986 attempted rape in Louisville, Ky., in which he ultimately pleaded guilty to lesser charges of wanton endangerment and burglary and was given a 7-year suspended sentence. In 1992, he was convicted of two misdemeanors in Dallas County, Texas, for assaulting a hotel maid. In 1993 he was convicted of exposing himself inside a Henrico department store.
CHARLOTTESVILLE  Policy, law, criminal prosecutions and other mechanisms could prevent more torch rallies from happening in Charlottesville, but inflammatory public protests against the removal of the citys Confederate statues could continue no matter how reprehensible one might find the white nationalist rhetoric.

On Monday, the Charlottesville commonwealths attorney said he will provide more information Tuesday about whether there will be charges filed against white nationalist torchbearer Richard Spencer, who led a group of no more than 50 others at the Robert E. Lee statue Saturday night and chanted we will be back.

We are reviewing the facts and circumstances of what happened Saturday and what laws might be applicable, if any, said Dave Chapman. Were providing guidance to the city manager that will reach the City Council.

In a news release Sunday afternoon, the city announced that its police department is working with the Commonwealths Attorneys Office to pursue any legal mechanisms necessary to bring about justice for our community. In a statement Saturday, City Councilor Wes Bellamy called upon Chapman to prosecute Spencer and his associates for allegedly violating a state code that prohibits intimidating an individual or group of people by burning an object on a highway or a public place  which is a felony.

As a city, we cannot continue to allow these White Supremacists to continue to act in this manner, Bellamy wrote Saturday night. Our community does not deserve this.

In the news release, Councilor Bob Fenwick said the city is supported by the determination of our community to live our lives in peace, adding: We will prevail.

This is not business as usual or a classroom exercise where every threatening public utterance or assembly is met with Freedom of Speech, Fenwick said. This is a clear and present danger to the community as we have already seen and we need everybody in the effort, the City Council, the business community, citizens, the Commonwealths Attorneys Office, the judicial system up to and including the federal level courts and our state legislature.

On Sunday, the city announced the creation of a City Hall task force that will convene officials from various city departments to draft plans to prevent more torch-lit rallies.

City Attorney Craig Brown said Monday that a Washington, D.C., law firm providing the city pro bono assistance has been working on amending the standard operating procedure for regulating special events and political demonstrations.

And that could raise a host of variables that city staff examine with events, particularly in Emancipation and Justice Park, where statues of Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson are located, said Mayor Mike Signer. That could include conduct, size, insurance and other requirements that go into these events.

Brown will give an update on the process at the City Council meeting Monday.

After the Unite the Right rally on Aug. 12 ended with the deaths of a counter-protester and two state police officers, as well as dozens of severe and minor injuries, the city hired former U.S. District Attorney Tim Heaphy to investigate how the city prepared and handled that event, a July 8 Ku Klux Klan rally and an unexpected May. 13 white nationalist rally led by Spencer.

Heaphys report, which he expects to complete before the end of the year, will include recommendations for ways to prevent violence at future demonstrations.

On May 13 and the night before the Aug. 12 rally, white nationalists from across the country participated in torchlight protests that some organizers have said were meant to evoke Northern European funeral rites that preceded the torchlight parades that became a hallmark of Nazi-era Germany and the Ku Klux Klan about a century ago.

Last weekend was the third nighttime tiki torch rally, eliciting more worry and fear throughout the community.

Despite the public concern and the citys plan to review the options available to stop white nationalists from holding rallies in Charlottesville, Spencer said he thinks the city has no recourse.

Its a joke, Spencer told The Washington Post on Sunday. [Signer] has no authority to prevent lawful protests like what we did last night.  He currently thinks the city of Charlottesville is a sovereign nation or something.

Clay Hansen, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, thinks the city could potentially prohibit open flames from public demonstrations or public spaces, but he said it cant be enforced selectively. For example, the candlelight vigils that followed the first two torch rallies also would be prohibited, he said.

Theres no way the city can pass a law saying Richard Spencer cant carry an open flame in a park, Hansen said.

Restrictions on time, place and manner of speech are permitted by law, but speech cant be stopped unless there is a reason for law enforcement and the justice system to believe it will incite imminent, lawless action, he said.

Signer said the state law prohibiting people from intimidating others by burning objects prevents a certain manner of speech. The theatrics of the brief protest Saturday, he said, are notable because they were shared on social media, extending the impact of the demonstration and message without having to be in the city for too long  Saturdays rally lasted about 10 minutes.

He said its context in recent events  especially in light of the terrorism and death that visited the city on Aug. 12  have to be taken into account.

What we have seen here with the alt-right and these toxic elements is the very real nature of racism and anti-Semitism in todays society. Its come on full display in Charlottesville, Signer said. Its something we need to take very seriously. Its legitimately frightening to a lot of people. We are right as a community to transcend it and keep it in perspective.

Hansen said he thinks itll be very difficult for the city government to bar Spencer and other white nationalist activists from coming to the city.

Based on everything Ive seen, these guys know what they are doing. Theyre smart enough to stay within boundaries of city ordinance. And at this point, theyre just expressing a message, he said. Its a disgusting message, but one that I think is squarely within the boundaries of constitutional protection.

In addition to wanting the express authority to remove the statues of Lee and Jackson, the city is also considering whether to ask the state legislature to sanction certain types of firearms in certain public spaces and gatherings.
A congressional committee is investigating potential misuse of research funds by a former Virginia Tech biological systems engineering professor charged with several fraud crimes last month in federal court.

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology requested a bevy of documents from the university in a letter addressed to Tech President Timothy Sands last week.

Yiheng Percival Zhang, 46, is charged with wire fraud, making criminal false claims and making false statements to the detriment of the United States Governments innovation and development programs, according to a federal affidavit filed in the U.S. Western District Court of Virginia. He's pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A university spokesman said Zhang no longer works at the school. An FBI agent testified that Zhang resigned effective last week, according to federal court documents. He was being held at Roanoke City Jail Tuesday.

Zhang, of Blacksburg, has an expertise in protein engineering, synthetic biology and biofuels. He is accused of defrauding the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and Tech of more than $1.1 million.

Prosecutors allege that he filed grants for research already conducted in China, withheld grant funds from the university and lied on forms filed through federal agencies.

"In light of the highly competitive nature of government funding, the Committee is interested in understanding all the facts surrounding this case, what steps the University has undertaken to uncover the extent of the wrongdoing, and what safeguards Virginia Tech has in place to mitigate similar cases in the future," the letter said.

The letter, signed by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, asks for the university to provide the following documents and communications dating back to August 2005:

Those relating to federal grants or monetary awards to Zhang and his associates.

Those relating to the FBI's criminal investigation of federal grants awarded to Zhang.

Those relating to actions Tech has taken in response to alleged criminal activity by its employees.

Members of Virginia's delegation on the committee requesting the documents, Barbara Comstock, R-Fairfax and Don Beyer, D-Alexandria, were not immediately available for comment.

Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski wrote in an email that the university intends to provide all documents requested to the congressional committee. The committee requested those documents are provided by next Thursday.

Zhang started teaching at Virginia Tech in 2005 and became a U.S. citizen in 2011. He was also paid by the Tianjin Institute in China. He received $50,000 annually from the institution which is part of China's academy of the sciences.

At a detention hearing last month, a transcript of which was later reviewed by The Roanoke Times, prosecutors alleged that Zhang was a flight risk and could have access to substantial financial resources. He has been developing a natural sugar substitute with a market value of $68 billion, authorities said. His salary at Tech was more than $100,000 annually.

Zhang is involved in civil litigation in the same federal court over work he's done with the substitute known as tagatose.

According to information from that transcript, a translator present for a search of his home in September overhead Zhang tell his wife he intended to go to China. Zhang was arrested that day. The wife later testified that after he left the university, he planned to spend five years temporarily living in China continuing his research.

"He's not happy here," Rui Feng, his wife, testified in Roanoke federal court.

Prosecutors opposed bond or release.

"If he managed in some way to get over to China, would there be any way to get him back?" said Stephen Pfleger, an assistant U.S. attorney.

"No," replied FBI agent Craig Hunt.

Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou ruled Zhang would be held without bond.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that he will join a growing list of Democrats giving back donations from embattled Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein by giving an equivalent amount to a Virginia organization that fights sexual assault.

McAuliffe received a total of $57,535 from Weinstein and his company during his successful 2013 campaign for governor, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The sum is made up of a $25,000 cash donation and a $32,535 in-kind contribution to cover travel expenses.

McAuliffes career as a prolific Democratic fundraiser and ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton put him in close contact with Weinstein, who has been accused by multiple women of using his power over aspiring actresses to make unwanted sexual advances. The movie producer and his family have given more than $1.4 million to Democratic causes since 1992, according to The Associated Press.

Crystal Carson, a spokeswoman for McAuliffes Common Good VA political action committee, said Tuesday that the governor will counteract Weinsteins money with an equivalent contribution to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, a Richmond-based advocacy group that runs a statewide hotline for victims of sexual violence and partner abuse.

In a statement, Carson said McAuliffe, who has presented himself as a champion of womens rights and a bulwark against anti-woman bills passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, is deeply troubled and sickened to hear the reports about Harvey Weinsteins horrendous behavior toward women.

His actions are indefensible and cannot be tolerated, Carson said. Governor McAuliffe offers his support to all who have suffered as a result of this abuse and misuse of power, and is grateful to everyone who has come forward. He will continue to fight against sexual assault, harassment and violence against women. No woman should have to tolerate these types of disgraceful offenses.

Republicans have called on Democrats to return Weinsteins money or donate it to charity. Several Democratic U.S. senators have already said they plan to do just that.

On Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia called on McAuliffe to follow suit and return Weinsteins dirty money.

Hillary Clinton addressed the Weinstein situation for the first time Tuesday in a statement.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Clinton said. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.

Writing in his memoir about his rapport with Weinstein, McAuliffe described being berated by Weinstein in a 2001 telephone call to sort out a disagreement over how Bill Clinton should be deployed in the race for New York mayor that year.

Ill rip your b---- off! Weinstein yelled through a phone speaker, according to McAuliffes recollection in his 2007 book, What A Party!

I told him what I thought of his idea in very colorful language, told him to do something with his anatomy, and hung up, McAuliffe wrote.

At the book release party in 2007, McAuliffe referred to Weinstein as a friend and joked about Weinstein turning the book into a movie, according to video archived on C-SPAN.

McAuliffes book also describes the governor attending a Weinstein-organized weekend at Camp David in 1998 for a screening of Good Will Hunting attended by the Clintons and Hollywood figures like Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
A month before the election, legislative Republicans have requested an evaluation of the office of Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring.

The GOP-controlled Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission approved a resolution Tuesday requesting commission staff members conduct a study of the office. That will include how the office spends proceeds from asset forfeiture, an examination of salary increases, and whether Herrings office has properly contracted with outside counsel and reviewed state contracts.

Its going to be a fairly broad study of the AGs office, JLARC Director Hal Greer said.

Legislators first suggested a study of the Attorney Generals Office in July, he said. After the staff at the legislatures watchdog agency created an issue paper in September, commission members asked the staff to draft the resolution that they passed Tuesday, Greer said.

The commissions chairman is Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr., R-Caroline, and its vice chairman is Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. Work on the study is to be completed by December 2019.

The study resolution also said JLARC staff members would examine the Attorney General Offices Medicaid fraud control unit, which has grown over time with relatively little supervision, and has devoted a substantial portion of its resources to national pharmaceutical cases, potentially at the expense of local fraud cases.

Herring spokesman Michael Kelly said by email: The General Assembly ignored this office for 20 years under Republican AGs, and now four weeks before a Democratic attorney general is up for re-election theyre suddenly concerned. What a coincidence!

Instead of using JLARC to study affordable health care access or ways to protect insurance coverage for birth control, Republicans in the legislature are trying to turn it into a partisan political weapon with this obvious political stunt.

Kelly said Herring welcomed the chance to share the good work of his office with the legislature. He also noted that a new review of Herrings office by the State Auditor of Public Accounts found no problems.

Herring, finishing a first term as attorney general, faces Republican John Adams in the November election. He has led Adams in every poll conducted in the race and was ahead 51 percent to 40 percent in a survey of likely voters released Monday by the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

The Adams campaign issued a statement from him that said he was pleased JLARC would review the office.

While he has picked and chosen which of our laws to defend, his office was successfully sued in a pay discrimination case, sanctioned by a judge for discovery violations, and took money from human trafficking programs to give pay raises to his political allies in the office. And the commonwealth pays the price. Virginia desperately needs a new lawyer, Adams said in the statement.

Adams was particularly upset that Herring did not defend the states ban on gay marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court later deemed unconstitutional.

While Adams has attacked Herring throughout the race over his handling of the job, Herring has criticized Adams for his work as a white-collar defense attorney at the powerhouse law firm McGuireWoods. Adams is on leave during the campaign from his position as chair of the government investigations and white-collar litigation department.

He has been part of a powerful Richmond law firm for the last seven years, and he and his team brag about how they specialize in shielding people who are involved in kickbacks, pyramid schemes, embezzlement, money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice. Its astounding, Herring said in their first debate, held in June in Virginia Beach. Its like hes trying to be the anti-attorney general.

The two are scheduled to debate a second time Oct. 20 before the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce.
A warrant has been issued for DeAndre Shakur Harris in relation to an assault that occurred near the Market Street Parking Garage during the chaos caused by the violent white nationalist Unite the Right rally on Aug. 12.

The victim of the alleged attack attempted to obtain a warrant at the magistrates office in person. A Charlottesville police detective verified the victim's story, and a warrant for unlawful wounding was issued.

Police said an update on Harris's case will be provided once the 20-year-old Suffolk man is arrested.

Harris was attacked by a swarm of people in the Market Street Parking Garage, and several individuals have been charged in the beating. The warrant against Harris stems from accusations that he attacked someone, which led to the beating inside the garage.

Last month, a judge denied bond for Alex Michael Ramos, 33, of Jackson, Georgia, who is charged in the felonious assault of Harris, who said he suffered a concussion, a broken ulna and had eight staples to close a scalp wound. He also said he had cuts across his eyebrow, a chipped tooth and abrasions on his knees and elbows.

Daniel Patrick Borden, 18, of Mason, Ohio, also is charged with malicious wounding in the Harris assault. He was arrested in the Cincinnati area on Aug. 25 and held in Ohio, initially indicating he would fight extradition. On Sept. 15, he waived extradition and was sent to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. On Sept. 21, he was denied bond.

At a hearing for Ramos in September, Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Nina Antony said Harris ran into the Market Street garage after a scuffle with white supremacists and was beaten by at least five people.

Ramos's attorney, John Joyce, said Harris had been involved in scuffles during the rally and told a judge it may have been Mr. Harris who struck the first blow in that fracas.

Ramos and Borden are due back in Charlottesville General District Court on Thursday, as is Richard Wilson Preston, a Baltimore Ku Klux Klan leader who is accused of firing a gun during the rally.
The rich must

serve the poor

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

The change in our local climate has the propensity to make the natural disasters that recently occurred in the Caribbean even worse. It has been scientifically proven that CO2 traps heat. Measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere have seen a rise since records began nearly 60 years ago. This increase in CO2, and therefore heat in the atmosphere, has led to several different changes in our global and local climates, including rising sea levels.

In a 2008 study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences at William & Mary, researchers observed the global sea level rose 3.1 mm per year (1.02 feet per century) from 1993 to 2003. The East Coast was double that. Couple that with storm surges and the high amount of rainfall that accompany hurricanes and we have a recipe for severe flooding. As CO2 consumption in the world has continued to rise, sea levels have risen with it. This is of particular concern for our area.

When I lived in Newport News, flooding would come up to our neighbors doorsteps. The direct impact of a hurricane would make Hampton Roads look like Puerto Rico does now.

As a Catholic, I stand with Pope Francis when he calls for us to protect our common home. Each person is endowed with basic human rights and dignity and there is a link between the emissions of the comfortable rich and the destruction now visited upon the poor. The people in Puerto Rico have lost nearly everything. I cannot fathom the disruption of their daily lives, but it is up to us to find ways to serve them. One way we can help is through preventive measures, such as the Climate Solutions Commission Act of 2017 (H.R. 2326), recently endorsed by the Catholic bishops of the United States.

Derek Cook.
Giles Countys board of supervisors continues to oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline, but the county also wants to know what its costs might be for tapping the natural gas pipeline if the project moves forward.

County Administrator Chris McKlarney said in an email Tuesday that the county wants to compare the costs of a tap at the 120-acre Wheatland Eco Park that would be installed either during or after pipeline construction.

Giles County has been, and remains, opposed to the proposed route through our community, McKlarney said. However, the reality of the situation is that if the project is approved, we have to determine the most cost efficient means by which to obtain a connection.

The county filed an online application Sept. 14 with Mountain Valley Pipeline for potential service at the park, he said. Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Mountain Valley, said in an email Tuesday that the company anticipates responding to the countys inquiry by the end of October.

McKlarney said he inquired about the costs so that he could provide information to the board of supervisors and Industrial Development Authority.

Russell Chisholm, an officer with Preserve Giles County, a group opposing the pipeline, issued a statement about McKlarneys query.

We appreciate the county administrator standing firm in opposition to this pipeline and working to protect not only our growing outdoor recreation economy but also taxpayers who are potentially being forced into a deal the county doesnt want, Chisholm said.

It strains credulity that any Giles business, or the county itself, will be able to afford access to gas moving through that line, he said.

But he said it seems that the only way for the county to know the price difference between a tap installed during construction and one added later was to apply to Mountain Valley for potential service.

The Wheatland Eco Park is east of Pembroke and west of Eastern Elementary/Middle School off U.S. 460. NanoSonic, a private company focused on using nanotechnology to create new materials and devices, is currently the parks sole tenant.

As proposed, the pipeline would transport natural gas at high pressure through a buried, 42-inch diameter pipeline. The 303-mile, $3.5 billion project would start in Wetzel County, West Virginia, and end at the Transco pipeline near Chatham.

As an interstate pipeline, the project needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Most observers believe, based on FERCs history, that the agency will grant Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC the certificate of public convenience and necessity required for construction to proceed. Mountain Valley would also need other permits and approvals.

McKlarney said the county feels that inquiring now about the costs of tapping the pipeline is a prudent course. The pipelines proposed route would travel about 20.4 miles through Giles County and about a mile, he said, from the business park.

If this line is constructed, I want to be able to provide our board with the best possible information to make decisions and I believe that if a certificate is issued by FERC, this window will be very small, he said. We believe having a 42-inch diameter gas line installed in our community and then not having access to it due to prohibitively high post-construction costs would be very short-sighted.

NanoSonic CEO Rick Claus said three years ago that the company might someday want to expand its footprint at Wheatland Eco Park. On Tuesday, he said that remains a possibility.

NanoSonic is still considering a production facility and we do not envision a direct need for natural gas, Claus said.

If a tap were installed, Columbia Gas of Virginia is the only company authorized under state law by the Virginia State Corporation Commission to provide local natural gas distribution service in Giles County, said Karl Brack, a spokesman for the company, which supplies natural gas for the Celanese plant in Giles County.

We would have to evaluate any request for service in accordance with prescribed SCC regulations, Brack said.

Roanoke Gas, a subsidiary of Roanoke-based RGC Resources, has said it plans to install two taps on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, one in Montgomery County and one in Franklin County. RGC Midstream, another RGC Resources subsidiary, is a partner in the venture that hopes to build the pipeline.

Project proponents have said the pipeline would boost economic development along its route, help support the shift from coal to natural gas for power generation, and continue the nations progress toward energy independence.

Opponents contend the pipeline isnt necessary and say it would cause lasting environmental damage, affect property values and sustain the countrys continued dependence on fossil fuels during a time when renewable energy costs are dropping.
Roanoke-based Delta Dental of Virginia announced Tuesday that a Wisconsin insurance executive will be its new president and chief executive officer.

Frank Lucia will succeed George Levicki, who is retiring after 36 years.

We are excited to have Frank Lucia as our next president and CEO, Lyn Brooks, board chairman said in a news release. His leadership experience, health and dental plan expertise and business acumen make him a good fit to lead Delta Dental of Virginia into the future.

Levicki will work with Lucia to ensure a smooth transition and will be available as an adviser to the company.

The entire board thanks George for his leadership of Delta Dental of Virginia for more than three decades, Brooks said. He has transformed a fledgling dental insurance company that started in his predecessors garage and created a dynamic, multi-faceted organization that is well poised for the future. We have grown from 58,000 subscribers in 1991 to over a million today.

Lucia, who was president and chief executive officer of Dean Health Plan in Madison, Wisconsin, will begin his new position Nov. 13.

He has also worked for Price Waterhouse, WR Grace Inc. and CIGNA Corp. He received a bachelors degree in accounting from Binghamton University and a masters degree of business administration from the University of Miami.
A congressional committee is investigating potential misuse of research funds by a former Virginia Tech biological systems engineering professor charged with several fraud crimes last month in federal court.

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology requested a bevy of documents from the university in a letter addressed to Tech President Timothy Sands last week.

Yiheng Percival Zhang, 46, is charged with wire fraud, making criminal false claims and making false statements to the detriment of the United States Governments innovation and development programs, according to a federal affidavit filed in the U.S. Western District Court of Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A university spokesman said Zhang no longer works at the school. An FBI agent testified that Zhang resigned effective last week, according to federal court documents. He was being held at Roanoke City Jail on Tuesday.

Zhang, of Blacksburg, has expertise in protein engineering, synthetic biology and biofuels. He is accused of defrauding the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and Virginia Tech of more than $1.1 million.

Prosecutors allege that he filed grants for research already conducted in China, withheld grant funds from the university and lied on forms filed through federal agencies.

In light of the highly competitive nature of government funding, the Committee is interested in understanding all the facts surrounding this case, what steps the University has undertaken to uncover the extent of the wrongdoing, and what safeguards Virginia Tech has in place to mitigate similar cases in the future, the letter said.

The letter, signed by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, asks for the university to provide the following documents and communications dating to August 2005:

Those relating to federal grants or monetary awards to Zhang and his associates.

Those relating to the FBIs criminal investigation of federal grants awarded to Zhang.

Those relating to actions Tech has taken in response to alleged criminal activity by its employees.

Members of Virginias delegation on the committee requesting the documents, Barbara Comstock, R-Fairfax, and Don Beyer, D-Alexandria, were not immediately available for comment.

Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski wrote in an email that the university intends to provide all documents requested to the congressional committee. The committee requested those documents to be provided by next Thursday.

Zhang started teaching at Virginia Tech in 2005 and became a U.S. citizen in 2011. He was also paid by the Tianjin Institute in China. He received $50,000 annually from the institution, which is part of Chinas academy of the sciences.

At a detention hearing last month, a transcript of which was later reviewed by The Roanoke Times, prosecutors alleged that Zhang was a flight risk and could have access to substantial financial resources.

He has been developing a natural sugar substitute with a market value of $68 billion, authorities said. His salary at Tech was more than $100,000 annually.

Zhang is involved in civil litigation in the same federal court over work hes done with the substitute known as tagatose.

According to information from that transcript, a translator present for a search of his home in September overhead Zhang tell his wife he intended to go to China. Zhang was arrested that day. The wife later testified that after he left the university, he planned to spend five years temporarily living in China continuing his research.

Hes not happy here, Rui Feng, his wife, testified in Roanoke federal court.

Prosecutors opposed bond or release.

If he managed in some way to get over to China, would there be any way to get him back? said Stephen Pfleger, an assistant U.S. attorney.

No, replied FBI agent Craig Hunt.

Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou ruled Zhang would be held without bond.

Staff writer Jeff Sturgeon contributed to this report.
CHRISTIANSBURG  Incriminating statements that David Edmond Eisenhauer made about the murder of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell should be thrown out because investigators violated his rights, his attorneys argue in a new court filing.

Eisenhauers arguments echo those of his co-defendant, Natalie Marie Keepers, who objected to how investigators questioned her and eventually gained a confession.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Turk ruled in March that some of Keepers statements would be barred, but that others could be used as evidence, including Keepers admissions that she helped plan Lovells death and aided in hiding her body.

Turk may begin considering Eisenhauers attorneys motions at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning in Montgomery County Circuit Court. However, the motions were filed only last Wednesday and prosecutors have not yet responded to them. Commonwealths Attorney Mary Pettitt had no comment Tuesday on the new motions.

Eisenhauer, 20, of Columbia, Maryland, is scheduled to begin a jury trial on Nov. 2 on charges of first-degree murder, abduction and concealing a body.

Keepers, also 20, of Laurel, Maryland, faces charges of being an accessory before the fact to first-degree murder and concealing a body, and is slated for trial starting Feb. 5.

Eisenhauer and Keepers were engineering students at Virginia Tech on Jan. 27, 2016, when Lovell disappeared from her home in the Lantern Ridge apartment complex in Blacksburg.

Court documents and testimony in hearings have alleged that Eisenhauer met the teen at a party, continued a relationship with her via messages through her cellphone, and convinced her to climb out her bedroom window and meet him.

Eisenhauer is accused of taking Lovell to a wooded area near Craig Creek Road in Montgomery County and stabbing her to death. He and Keepers later moved her body to Surry County, North Carolina, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have said Keepers told investigators that Eisenhauer thought he might have had sex with Lovell, but was not sure because he had blacked out at the party where he met her. He worried that Lovell was pregnant, Keepers told investigators.

In two motions, Eisenhauers five attorneys  John Lichtenstein, Gregory Lyons, Carroll Ching, Tony Anderson and Melissa Friedman, all of Roanoke  say that their client made incriminating statements to investigators, but do not say what those statements were.

The attorneys argue that Eisenhauers statements should be dropped from the case because of how police questioned him.

According to the new court filing, officers kept questioning Eisenhauer after he said Im done. Im calling a lawyer  a statement the attorneys called a clear invoking of Eisenhauers rights against self-incrimination and to have an attorney present as he was questioned.

The new filing gave an account of Eisenhauers interrogation, saying that officers arrived at his Tech dorm room just before midnight on Jan. 29, 2016. A resident adviser unlocked the door and police awakened Eisenhauer and told him to come with them to the Blacksburg Police Department.

There, officers told Eisenhauer that he was not under arrest and read him his Miranda rights  a required statement that tells people they do not have to answer police questions, that what they say can be used against them and that they can have an attorney help them.

Eisenhauer then signed a waiver of his Miranda rights and agreed to talk to officers, the filing said.

But after about 50 minutes of questioning, Eisenhauer said that he was finished. He stood and walked out of the interrogation room but was not allowed to leave the police station, the filing said. Officers continued questioning him for another four hours, the filing said.

Eisenhauers motions ask for all of his statements to be thrown out, saying that officers entry into his dorm room without a search warrant should be seen as an improper arrest.

Similarly, anything he said after saying he was finished and that he was calling an attorney should be disregarded, the motions said.

And information from Eisenhauers cellphone should also be thrown out, the motions said. Eisenhauer gave his phone to a Blacksburg detective who told him to hand it over  but who did not have a search warrant for it, the motions said.

Finally, the motions asked that statements Eisenhauer made to three jail informants be barred from evidence because the informants may have collaborated too much with police. Courts have held that informants cannot be used to get around Miranda requirements for interrogating suspects.

Keepers motions about which of her statements should be allowed as evidence took about four months to decide. Eisenhauers trial is scheduled to begin in three weeks and a day.

Twelve days have been set aside for jurors to hear the case.
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Alice was right when she visited Wonderland: Things do get curiouser and curiouser.

Today, we revisit the case of how a political group was able to obtain the name, address sand cellphone number of students at some Virginia colleges  but not others.

A brief re-cap before we get to the new insight: Students at James Madison University recently started getting text messages from the campaign of a local Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates. When students asked where the campaign got their contact information, they were told from the university.

That was true: The university had turned over their contact information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from NextGen Virginia, an offshoot of NextGen America, a liberal advocacy group. In fact, NextGen was able to use the states open records act to obtain lists of students at 18 state colleges and universities, including Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Community College and Virginia Western Community College.

This was apparently the first time a political group had used the Freedom of Information Act to get a list of students, and thus the first time the practice had drawn attention. However, its not the first time those lists had been given out. At JMU, seven other entities  all property companies  had used FOIA this semester to get lists of students, presumably to pitch rentals, and have been doing so for some time. At Virginia Tech, requests for the list are considered so routine that the school couldnt say who had asked for it.

For us, this raised an awkward privacy question. Were obviously strong advocates of open government, but lists of college students  with their addresses and phone numbers  arent exactly what we think of when we think of the publics business. We also believe that, to some extent, everyone has to police themselves. Conservatives must denounce the alt-right movement that seeks to co-opt its name; liberals must condemn the antifa radicals who use violence to disrupt events, and as open government advocates we should be willing to point out where open records create privacy problems.

Not surprisingly, Republicans took notice that it was a Democratic group that had obtained the students contact information. One of the Democratic candidates to which NextGen has donated staff time is Chris Hurst, who is seeking a House of Delegates seat in the New River Valley. The Republican candidate, Del. Joseph Yost of Giles County, condemned the use of student directories and challenged Hurst to do the same: Will he condemn the use of the students private information by a San Francisco billionaire for personal gain?

A few quibbles: Its true that NextGen was founded by San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer but to say his group obtained students contact info for personal gain is misleading. NextGen isnt using the lists for personal gain. Its using them to push a political agenda. Whether thats a noble one or not depends on your ideological persuasion. The real estate companies that have used the open records act to get student contacts  well, thats for personal gain.

Lets be clear: NextGen isnt doing anything wrong here. The real estate companies arent doing anything wrong. Theyre simply making use of what the law allows.

The real question here is this: Should students names, addresses and phone numbers should be publicly available as shopping lists, be they for political groups or real estate companies or anyone else? One former Tech official even told us that some years ago faculty and staff at the school started receiving e-mail solicitations from a dating service, which had apparently obtained their contact information through FOIA.

NextGen said it was able to obtain these lists at 18 state schools; what about all the others where it didnt? Thats where things get interesting or, as Alice said, curiouser.

Some schools  notably the University of Virginia and George Mason University  said they didnt have to make the lists available, citing the same Freedom of Information Act, plus certain federal law.

How can there be one law but such different interpretations? The answer can be found in that citation of federal law, specifically the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. The U.S. Department of Education says that under that act schools may disclose, without consent, directory information such as a students name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. Students are allowed to opt out of the directory, but often dont understand how.

Notice thats a may and not a shall  so ultimately its up to the schools to decide whether to release the student directory information.

Virginias Freedom of Information Act would appear to give schools an opportunity not to release these records. FOIA excludes mandatory release of scholastic records, which it defines as those records containing information directly related to a student . . . That appears to mean schools dont have to release the information if they dont want to.

So the feds say the schools can release student directories but dont have to. The state seems to say schools can but dont have to. So why do they? The answer may lie in the pre-digital (and pre-cellphone) age, when colleges routinely published phone books for their students use. Outside groups have apparently been using the open records act to get those lists for a while now  at some schools, anyway  but its never really come under scrutiny until now. Nobodys ever used it in the way it was used recently, to send out text messages, says Alan Gernhardt, executive director and senior attorney at the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. He calls the issue complicated.

Interestingly, at least two schools  the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginias College at Wise  simply omit addresses and phone numbers from their student directories, rendering them useless for solicitation purposes. Instead, requestors might only get a campus post office box, which also takes care of the safety concern.

Yost says he will be working with our universities in the next session to introduce legislation to make it abundantly clear that student information is not subject to FOIA requests. Companies  and now, political groups  that want to use student directories as marketing lists probably wont be happy. But at least then things will be less curiouser.
massey energy

Ex-CEOs conviction to be left in place

WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court is leaving in place the conviction of ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship for misdemeanor conspiracy to violate federal safety standards at a West Virginia mine where 29 miners died in 2010.

The court declined Tuesday to take up Blankenships case. Blankenship, who recently finished a one-year prison term, had asked the court to review his conviction, which a federal appeals court upheld in January.

Blankenship had said hes more than 100 percent innocent and the case was colored by emotion and publicity. He says natural gas caused the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine, and the trial judge erred in instructing the jury and limiting cross-examination.

ECONOMY

IMF scales back U.S. growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund is dialing back its expectations for the U.S. economy, according to a report out Tuesday.

The IMF no longer expects President Donald Trumps proposed tax cuts to happen, causing the international organization to cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year and next.

The U.S. economy will still expand, the IMF predicts, just not as quickly as some had hoped. The IMF forecasts 2.2 percent growth in 2017 and 2.3 percent in 2018, a decline from April when the IMF projected 2.3 percent growth this year and 2.5 percent in 2018.
Jean-Arthur Regibeau, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Russian Federation, visited the United Sales Organization (USO) ALROSA, and one of Russias leading diamond cutting facilities  DIAMONDS ALROSA. He met with the heads of subdivisions and got acquainted with the process flow and work principles.

It was a familiarization visit. Belgium has been and remains the largest sales outlet for our products, accounting for about a half of ALROSAs rough diamond sales. Only in the first half of this year, sales to this country by value amounted to almost USD 1.3 billion. We are always ready to demonstrate our technical capabilities, level of expertise and standards of work with diamond products to Belgian partners. We have also shown Mr. Regibeau a collection of unique and personalized stones and a recently mined rare pink diamond weighing 27.85 carats, Evgeny Agureev, director of the USO ALROSA, said following the visit.





During the visit to DIAMONDS ALROSA, the Ambassador of Belgium was shown the work of cutters, equipment facilities, and, of course, polished diamonds manufactured by Russian craftsmen, including the famous Dynasty collection with the most expensive diamond ever polished in Russia.

Belgian jewelers and cutters are well-known all over the world. It is a great honor for us to welcome the Ambassador of this country, who turned out to be a great connoisseur of precious stones. So, we spoke the same language, noted Pavel Vinikhin, Director of Diamonds ALROSA.




Petra Diamonds said it will likely breach a core earnings ratio, which is part of its banking arrangements, due to labour disruption at three of its South African operations and uncertainty around sales volumes at the Williamson mine in Tanzania.

It said its compliance with the two EBITDA related maintenance covenant measurements related to its senior debt facilities for the period ending, and as at, 31 December 2017 were sensitive to changes in diamond prices, exchange rates and expected production from the groups mines, including total carats and mix.

The company experienced labour problems last month at Finsch, Koffiefontein and Kimberley Ekapa Mining JV operations, in South Africa.

However, Petra had since reached an agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to increase salaries at the mines, paving way for employees to resume work.

The company also said that it was uncertain about the final volume of sales for the Williamson mine for the first half of 2018.

Petra Diamonds temporarily suspended operations at its 75 percent-owned Williamson mine, last month for health and safety and security reasons after authorities in Tanzania had blocked a parcel of diamonds (71,654.45 carats) from the mine from export to Antwerp.

Work at the mine had since resumed.

Taking these factors into account, a likely breach of the 31 December 2017 EBITDA covenant measurement ratios has been flagged to the lender group and the Company will remain in regular engagement with them on this matter, it said.

Furthermore, the companys forecasts indicate that the group retains sufficient liquidity from existing cash resources, operating cashflows and existing facilities to meet its liabilities as they fall due under the forecasts and reasonably possible sensitivities.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




(Agencia CMA Latam) - The state-owned airline Aerolineas Argentinas has suspended its weekly flight to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, claiming "operational reasons," according to a statement.

The company informed that the passengers who already have tickets purchased to Caracas would be able to change routes without any extra costs or penalties, as long as they wish to fly to or from Bogota with Aerolineas Argentinas.

Meanwhile, the change of route for places other than Bogota will be allowed without penalties, but passengers will need to pay the difference between the fares.

In August, Aerolineas Argentinas had already canceled two weekly flights to Caracas due to alleged "operational safety issues," mentioning the situation in Venezuela.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - The Peruvian tends to improve as large infrastructure projects kickoff, such as the Gasoducto del Sur and the Chinchero Airport, making room for progress and development, said Peru's president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, also known as PPK.

"I think things are much better, especially because we have been able to gradually unravel these projects," Kuczynski said in an interview with a Peruvian radio station. The president also stressed that these works would boost the national economy and create jobs and opportunities.

"Last year we had bad luck. There was all this Odebrecht thing [corruption scandal], which is not something that we were linked, came the El Nino climate phenomenon, well, a government that starts learning," he said.

by Agencia CMA Latam

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What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Colombia's joint Senate and House Committees will resume voting on the statutory law of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. The session will discuss a measure intend to forbid former guerrillas accused of crimes against humanity of being elected to the Colombian Congress.

Under the peace agreement signed last year by the country's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the former guerrilla, now disarmed and converted into a political party, would have a bench in the Congress.

So far it is given as certain that leaders of the FARC as Rodrigo Londono, Pablo Catatumbo, Ivan Marquez, among others, would arrive at the Congress after next year's elections.

In the bill proposed by the Green Alliance Senator Claudia Lopez, former guerrillas accused of crimes against humanity should first be submitted to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace is the model of transitional justice adopted in the so-called Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition agreed between the Colombian government and the FARC. The system is aimed at investigating, clarifying and sanctioning human rights violations by the parties involved in a conflict that lasted for more than half a century.

by Agencia CMA Latam

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What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Colcap, the main index of the Colombian Stock Exchange, fell 0.50%, closing at 1,484.05 points Monday due to the poor performance of the financial sector.

Andres Fonseca, an analyst at Alianza Valores, said that the financial sector was underperforming after a warning issued by Moody's on modifications of loans rules in Colombia. The rating agency expressed concern after the Colombian Financial Superintendence has announced that it will allow customers to change their loans once in order to prevent insolvency.

Meanwhile. Avianca fell after beginning to operate flights with foreign crew amid a pilots' strike started on September 20.

The shares of Cemex (+1.55%), Cemargos (+0.17%), and Grupo Sura (+0.10%) rose, while Bancolombia (-2.08%), Preferencial Bancolombia (-1.43%), Avianca (-1.40%), Davivienda (-0.48%), Banco de Bogota (-0.17%), and Corficolombiana (-0.14%) fell.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed the day at 2,956.80 Colombian pesos, marking a 0.50% rise amid a holiday in the United States. Wilson Tovar, an analyst at Acciones & Valores, said that the U.S. dollar showed slight variations due to the holiday while market players await developments in Catalonia around the results of the referendum for independence.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
BAE Systems plc (BA.L, BAESY), a defense, aerospace and security company, Tuesday said its trading for the period has been in line with management expectations and that it continues to expect higher earnings for fiscal 2017. Further, the company announced more than 1900 job reductions as part of actions to be taken to reduce its current Typhoon and Hawk production rates.

This will make sure production continuity at competitive costs over the medium term, the company noted. The actions are based on the profile of currently contracted and expected aircraft deliveries.

BAE Systems has announced a proposal to reduce the workforce of the Military Air & Information by up to 1,400 roles. Additionally, and to enhance competitive position, the company plans to cut work force in Maritime Services business of around 375 roles. In the Applied Intelligence business, the company is planning a refocused and more efficient operating model and have announced a proposed workforce reduction of up to 150 roles.

The company said the resultant charges associated with these actions are included in the re-confirmed 2017 earnings guidance.

From January 1, 2018, BAE Systems will implement organisational changes across the firm, other than at its US-managed business, BAE Systems, Inc. In addition, a new role of Chief Technology Officer is being created to enable more effective prioritisation, investment and exploitation of .

For fiscal 2017, the company continues to expect underlying earnings per share to be 5% to 10% higher than last year's underlying earnings per share of 40.3 pence. The company continues to expect a small reduction in net debt compared with December 31, 2016.

In the US, the company sees growth in the medium term as defence market outlook remains positive and the production ramp up on a number of the long term programmes is progressing to plan.

In the UK, the company said it is making good progress working with MoD customer on the Dreadnought and Type 26 programmes.

Further, the company said that effective from November 1, Peter Lynas, Group Finance Director and Executive Board Director, will assume responsibility for UK Shared Services, Procurement and Group Mergers & Acquisitions in addition to his existing responsibilities.

The interim dividend of 8.8 pence per share will be paid on November 30.

BAE Systems will announce its financial results for the year ending 31 December 2017 on February 22, 2018.

In London, BAE Systems shares were trading at 616.50 pence, down 0.32 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
By SA Commercial Prop News

Cradlestone Mall was named the best overall retail development, scooping the coveted 2014 Spectrum Award in the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) annual Retail Development & Design Awards (RDDA). Image gallery



Johannesburgs Cradlestone Mall was named the best overall retail development, scooping the coveted 2014 Spectrum Award in the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) annual Retail Development & Design Awards (RDDA).

Sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, the RDDAs recognise shopping centre and retail development excellence within the South African commercial property industry. New shopping centres and upgrades of existing centres are considered for the awards, in addition to leading edge design of retail stores and restaurants.

The awards were announced recently at the SACSC 18th Annual Congress which took place on the 20th-22nd August in Cape Town in front of more than 1600 delegates attending the shopping centre industrys premier event.

Together with the 76,000sqm Cradlestone Mall as the overall awards winner, the RDDA category winners included:

 The Pavilion Shopping Centre (Durban)  for the best renovation and expansion

 Food Lover's Market at St Georges Mall (Cape Town)  for the best store design

 Remos Restaurant at Waterfall Corner shopping centre (Midrand)  for best restaurant design

 Virgin Active Alice Lane Health Club (Sandton)  special award for leisure and retail interior

Amanda Stops, CEO of the SACSC, says: With this years Congress aptly themed Inspire, we are truly inspired by the winning developments in all categories. Congratulations to the all winners, in particular the overall RDDA Spectrum Award winner Cradlestone Mall. The winners showcase the very best of the South African retail development industry.



Frank Berkeley, Managing Executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, says: As financier to developers in the retail sector, including some of the largest developments seen to date in South Africa, Nedbank Corporate Property Finance is once again proud to play a role in supporting the sector by recognising the exceptional work that goes into the design and aesthetics of such developments.



He adds: Our sponsorship of the 2014 Retail Design and Development Awards is yet another demonstration of our commitment to the industry as it allows us to recognise all aspects of commercial property funding, including design and development. From a personal point of view, it has over the years, been pleasing to witness the innovation that goes into retail design and more especially the realisation of such developments from concept to completion. Congratulations and well done to the finalists and the winners on playing your part in taking the industry to greater heights.

The multiple award-winning Cradlestone Mall is owned jointly by the Sasol Pension Fund, Pivotal Property Fund and Retail Africa. It was designed by architects Bentel Associates International and opened in November last year in Krugersdorp, in the heart of Mogale City and near the Cradle of Humankind UN World Heritage Site.



The finalists in the highly contested best renovation and expansion award category included: the V&A Waterfront; Cresta Shopping Centres Bridgelink project; Waterstone Village; and, The Pavilion. Waterstone Village received a special commendation, but the Pavilion Shopping Centres R228 million expansion undertaken by owners Pareto last year, secured the award.



Together with Food Lover's Market (St Georges Mall) as finalists in the best store design, were the Cotton On store at the V&A Waterfront; Rain Africa at Gateway Theatre of Shopping; and, Hi at Canal Walk Shopping Centre. Finalists Hi and Cotton On also received special commendations.



Remos Restaurant at Waterfall Corner beat other finalists Nandos at Gateway Theatre of Shopping; Doppio Zero at Cradlestone Mall; and, Lucky Bread Company at Brooklyn Mall, to win the best restaurant design award. Lucky Bread Company got a special commendation in the category.



The special award winner for leisure and retail interior, Alice Lane Health Club, is owned and developed by a consortium that includes Standard Bank, Pivotal Property Fund and Abland. It was designed by Dawid Rabie and Philip van der Merwe of Design Line and Tonic. Alice Lane Health Club also received a special commendation from the judges.

The RDDAs are judged by a panel of recognised and respected retail and property professionals. Judges are challenged to select the best-of-the-best from developments of the highest calibre in the South African retail property industry. Key judging criteria include excellence in design; the overall development objective; innovative solutions and sustainability; and, the developments response to environment and market.
Samoa inmates represent the second highest number of foreigners being incarcerated at Tafuna Correctional Facility in American Samoa.

This is according to the Commissioner of Public Safety, Lei Sonny Thompson in response to questions from the Samoa Observer.

As of September 27, 2017, there are 73 Samoa national inmates, over a third of the 193 inmates housed at T.C.F.

According to the Commissioner, the American Samoa Government has appropriated $100,000 for T.C.F. food and supplies through Department of Public Safety.

Private Citizens and lawmakers usually drop off raw produce at T.C.F. to assist with their sustenance throughout the year when they are in season. (i.e. Ulu, Taro, Banana, etc).

The cost of maintenance per inmate regardless of ethnic background is estimated around $35/per day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

However, D.P.S. incurs significant debt from the hospital and other specialized facilities when inmates seek medical assistance, said Thompson.

He told the Samoa Observer the financial burden was placed on the sponsor but there were instances when inmates being housed were overstayers because sponsors withdraw their sponsorship or inmates couldnt be located.

So, the question is who carries the tab?

Well, more often than not they charge Departments of Public Safety - T.C.F.

The same goes for immigration inmates who have court cases pending and seek medical attention.

Its been an ongoing dialogue and were working to streamline these processes so D.P.S. dont get overwhelmed with the financial burden, Lei said.
While people from the Northern Hemisphere are often at a loss to tell you where Samoa is located and struggle to give you any more information about the people, you can be assured that there are a growing number of Americans that have a comprehensive knowledge of our country and people.

And its thanks to the SIT Study Abroad which for 50 years, has offered students from the U.S.A. the chance to learn from local experts: academics, activists, businessmen and women, artists, community leaders, and government officials in around 40 countries around the world.

This access to local perspectives and knowledge gives students a greater understanding of the issues and innovations within their host communities.

Last week in Savaii a group was guided by the renowned geologist Tuapou Warren Jopling to a variety of places on the big island as part of their study of the social, economic, and political impacts of globalization, westernization and climate change in the Pacific islands.

Here are some photographs from their trip.

Additional information from the SIT website
At a time when the world is grappling with the issue of food security, Samoa and most Pacific countries are blessed. You see in as far as critical food sources and crops go, we are well placed.

Trees commonly identified as trees of life grow wildly on these shores. In other words, they are everywhere. Coconut trees for instance are found in abundance all across Samoa. Apart from the issue of the aging coconut population and the high demand for coconuts, all families pretty much have access to the benefits of coconut trees. That includes food, housing and much, much more.

The second tree recently discovered and heralded, as a global solution to poverty and problems created by climate change, is the humble breadfruit tree.

Again this is great news for Samoa. Breadfruit trees are everywhere, they grow wildly and dont require much maintenance like other plants.

In fact, we take them for granted most of the time.

When in season, most of the fruits end up rotting on the ground or become a feeding source for birds and bats because they are available in abundance and just about every family has access to one, two or many trees.

Which is a real blessing because in other parts of the world where food sources and food security have become major issues, they can only dream of getting their hands on them. The world has woken up to its value and now there is a global move to share its benefits.

The good news is that with this demand, there is great potential for countries like Samoa to take advantage of our easy access to breadfruits. Which brings us to an international Summit that is being held in Apia this week.

The 2017 Pacific and Global Breadfruit Summit was officially opened yesterday at the T.A.T.T.E Building (see story page 4). Guided by the theme the Home of the Maafala experts in their respective fields from the countries involved in breadfruit production are in Samoa to brainstorm ideas to mainstream the development of breadfruit so that the benefits can be shared by as many people as possible.

The meeting in Apia is the latest step in a movement that has gained a lot of momentum in the past decade with the first international symposium on breadfruit held in 2007. Ten years later, the Minister of Agriculture, Lopaoo Natanielu Mua, has branded the breadfruit as a tree of life.

All parts of the tree are used to provide food, timber and animal feed; even the male flowers if properly processed can be used as a mosquito repellent, and the latex from the bark has medicinal properties, he said.

In terms of value adding, there has been considerable interest and drive in Hawaii, the Pacific and Caribbean islands to develop the most efficient and economical ways to commercially process the fruit into flour and appropriate products made from the flour, packaged breadfruit chips and frozen breadfruit chunks and slices.

It can be justifiably stated that the breadfruit tree is comparable to the coconut tree in terms of its cultural, social and economic significance to island societies and environments.

The point is further highlighted by the F.A.O Subregional Coordinator for the Pacific Islands, Eriko Hibi, who said the attention on the breadfruit tree couldnt have come at a better time with the commemoration of international World Food Day today.

Because of the potential it offers, breadfruit is seen as a symbol of what F.A.O aims to pursue in the next five years in the Pacific, she said.

First, it is a locally produced plentifully grown food crop with huge potential for domestic consumption.

Secondly, breadfruit can help in the fight against non-communicable disease (N.C.Ds) through improved nutrition. Thirdly, it is also a cash crop with huge potential for export, as flour or in other forms.

Fourthly, promotion of agricultural crops such as breadfruit can be key to increasing job opportunities, reinvigorating the agriculture production and processing sectors, which would lead to increased livelihood opportunities for the youth. With so much potential to offer, breadfruit is a symbol of hope for improved food security and nutrition in Samoa and beyond.

Well we couldnt agree more. If anything, this is a good wake up call for us in Samoa especially because most of the time we take this tree for granted.

There are other important considerations of course.

With the worlds attention zeroing in on the benefits of this plant, our officials involved in the negotiations have got to be alert. With the potential of lucrative deals and money to be made, there is always the opportunity for greed, corruption and exploitation.

Weve got to be alert that our people are not robbed of the benefits of traditional knowledge when it comes to the details of the breadfruit.

Weve also got to be smart that breadfruit production  especially if and when the big corporates become involved  will end up benefitting our people rather than them robbing us of yet another natural resource. It has happened in many similar cases and there is no guarantee that it will not happen to us. We live in a highly competitive world where people are not afraid to hurt others  especially the most vulnerable  to get what they want.

Lastly, if you live in Samoa and you have been neglecting those breadfruit trees, you might want to think again. There are opportunities on the horizon.

So stay tuned. In the meantime, have a wonderful Wednesday Samoa and Happy World Food Day today!
Former Cabinet Minister, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, is facing a total of 161 charges in a hearing that has now been referred to the Supreme Court.

Laauli returned to the District Court yesterday morning, where he appeared with his wife Heather Tupea, and business associates, Apulu Lance Polu, Martin Schwalger and Tuitui Aipulupo.

The defendants face a total of 233 criminal charges, in relation to an on-going dispute over a nonu company involving another senior member of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P) and Associate Minister of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peseta Vaifou Tevaga.

According to the criminal charges document obtained by the Samoa Observer, Laauli is facing one count of forgery; 40 charges of theft; 16 for obtaining by deception; 16 counts of causing loss by deception and 88 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship.

Laaulis wife faces one count of theft, three charges of causing loss by deception and three charges of theft by relationship.

For Apulu, he faces a total of 51 criminal charges, namely one count of using a forged document, one charge of forgery; one charge for theft; 16 charges of obtaining by deception; 16 counts of causing loss by deception and an additional 16 counts of theft by relationship.

Tuitui faces seven charges of causing loss by deception and six criminal counts of theft by a person in a special relationship while Martin Schwalger faces one count of forgery.

Laauli and his co-defendants appeared before District Court Judge Fepuleai Ameperosa Roma.

In the end, the matter was referred to the Supreme Court following an application by Senior Prosecutor, Leone Sua-Mailo, in light of additional charges filed last week Friday.

Lawyer Luatutu Andre Volentras is representing all five defendants.

Sua-Mailo argued before the Court the new charges filed fell under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The additional charges include forgery and theft by a person in a special relationship and those charges of which all five defendants are charged with, said the Prosecutor.

During the status hearing, the defense counsel informed the Court he was not aware of the new charges being filed against his clients.

I think its quite difficult to come today and see these additional charges, said Luatutu.

He asked the Court for more time to go through the new charges.

Your honor we were looking at a special fixture for two weeks, requested Luatutu.

I am asking you how long you need to obtain instructions and enter pleas, one week? asked Judge Fepuleai.

Last week the prosecution filed additional charges and these additional charges include forgery and theft by a person in a special relationship, both of which attracts a maximum penalty of 10 years for each count.

Therefore it is outside of the jurisdiction of the District Court.

The application by the prosecution for all the charges against you will be transferred for mention before the Supreme Court at 10am on 16 October, 2017, said Fepuleai.

During the initial hearing of this matter, Fepuleai ordered all five defendants to hand over their passports and travel documents to the Court as part of their bail conditions.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi remains at the hospital in New Zealand and is likely to stay there until the end of the week.

Thats the latest update from his Office, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinets Press Secretary, last night.

Issued in Samoan, the statement said Prime Minister Tuilaepa is still being monitored in New Zealand following his medical evacuation from the Motootua Hospital last Friday.

The evacuation was a precautionary measure recommended by medical doctors in Samoa. The government has kept his medical condition under wraps.

Last nights statement quoted the Prime Minister as saying the medical tests and checks are progressing well.

He said the doctors expect to find a clearer and broader picture about his condition at the end of the week.

I want to say thank you to the country for your prayers and well wishes, Tuilaepa said.

Last weekend, P.M. Tuilaepa and the government assuaged fears in Samoa and from around the world about the Prime Ministers health.

There is no need for the public to be overly concerned, Tuilaepa was quoted as saying.

As a precautionary measure as highly advised by doctors, I am seeking medical attention in New Zealand. On that note, I am looking forward to returning home with a clean bill of health.

The evacuation to New Zealand followed Prime Minister Tuilaepas unexpected trip to the I.C.U of the Motootua hospital last Wednesday.

One government official told the Samoa Observer the Prime Minister was attending the Parliamentary Seminar at Taumeasina Island Resort when he fell ill. That was when he was taken to the hospital.

The last time Prime Minister Tuilaepa was evacuated for medical reasons was two years ago.

He was in Parliament when he was evacuated and admitted to the Motootua hospital.

Tuilaepa was later flown to New Zealand where he was treated and spent considerable time recovering.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly downplayed concerns about his health, saying he feels as a strong as a young man.
The National University of Samoa (N.U.S) has a new Professor.

Professor Muagututia Ioana Chan Mow was welcomed yesterday, thirteen years after the University welcomed their first Professor.

The announcement was made by the Vice Chancellor and President of the University, Professor Fui Leapai Soo.

Professor Muagututias appointment comes with the appointment of three other women Associate Professors for the Le Papaigalagala Campus.

They are Associate Professor Taema Imo from the Faculty of Science, Associate Professor Safua Akeli Amaama and Associate Professor Tuiloma Susana Tauaa.

Professor Fui said this is an exciting development for N.U.S.

The first time the National University of Samoa had Professors was back in 2004, and its been 13 years now, he said.

But better late than never. Vice Chancellor Fui said the milestone achievement would benefit the National University of Samoa as well as the whole of Samoa.

We grew up and read about Samoan history being written by white men, he said.

Now we have teachers graduating with PhD Doctor of Philosophy and this will enable us to write our own books and prove that what has been written by white men were absolutely wrong.

He added that the three new appointed staff members would also contribute to the development of the University.

According to a press release, Muagututia Ioana Chan Mow was the Associate Professor for the Computing and Computing Education and also a Senior Lecturer for the Computing Department of the faculty of Science for many years.

Associate Professor of Environmental Science Taema Imo is also serving the N.U.S as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Science in the Science Faculty.

Associate Professor Safua Akeli Amaama is a Senior Lecturer for Development Studies in the Centre for Samoan Studies.

Associate Professor Tuiloma Susana Tauaa has been working in the N.U.S for over ten years, and she is a Senior Lecturer for the Department of Social Science for the Faculty of Arts.

Associate Professor Safua Akeli Amaama said her achievement was all about giving back and contributing to the development of Samoa.

I grew up and went to school abroad and one thing our father kept telling us is to get educated and give back to the country.
The humble breadfruit tree has been added to the list of trees identified as trees of life.

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Lopaoo Natanielu Mua, added the ulu tree when he opened the Pacific and Global Breadfruit Summit at the T.A.T.T.E building yesterday.

The two-day Summit brings together Professors, Scientists, Food analysts, Economists and Farmers in Samoa. The theme for this year is Home of the maafala.

The Minister said the meeting is about sharing the benefits of the breadfruit. The Pacific Islands and Caribbean are the major production areas.

Lopaoo said ulu also helped mitigate climate change effects when planted on clear land.

All parts of the tree are used to provide food, timber, animal feed, even the male flower if properly processed can be used as a mosquito repellant, said Lopaoo.

In terms of value adding, there has been considerable interest and drive in Hawaii, Caribbean and Pacific Islands to develop the most efficient economical way to process the fruit into flour and appropriate products made from the flour and to package breadfruit tips and frozen breadfruits chunks and slices.

It can be stated that the breadfruit tree is comparable to the coconut tree in terms of cultural social and economic significant to island societies and environment.

The Minister pointed out the first international symposium on breadfruit research and development was held in April 2007 in Nadi, Fiji where the focus was on issues related to breadfruit conservation research and development and recommendations concerning projects and future priorities.

The second meeting was the two Samoas Ulu Summit held in December 2012, which highlighted the need to join research efforts to improve the utilization of breadfruit.

The summit deliberated on important matters relating to the primary production post-harvest technologies and value added processing for gluten-free flour and other food products, with the desired outcome of establishing a breadfruit flour industry for the two Samoas to tap into markets in the U.S and Japan.

He said in Samoa the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries continued to assist with the mass production of breadfruit planting material and dissemination of information regarding the production and maintenance of the crop.

Scientific Research Organization of Samoa has provided this crop and continues to look for value-added products including the well-known gluten-free flour that is being produced and in the early stage of commercialization.

The reason why we say early stages of commercialization is because we need to change the law that operates SROS, we dont have any interest from the private sector yet to take this product, said the Minister.

Part of the Ulu Summit is the Agricultural Show where there will be demonstration of local Samoan breadfruits. This week the global model breadfruit dehydrator prototype will be showcased. The dehydration systems will be crucial for developing a global market for breadfruit flour as consumers are becoming more health conscious.

In the U.S.A alone there is a multibillion-dollar health market for gluten-free low glycemic food products.

A welcoming cocktail was held at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala last night.

The Subregional Coordinator of F.A.O, Eriko Hibi, spoke about the importance of the summit. This is what she said:

It is significant that the Government of Samoa has chosen this occasion, at the time of the international commemoration of World Food Day, which is tomorrow (today), to remind us of the significance of a crop that has its roots in the history of the Pacific and is potentially a key to future food security and nutrition of people in the Pacific and beyond.

F.A.Os mandate is to achieve food security for all  to make sure people have regular access to enough high quality food to lead active healthy lives. We are playing an increasingly catalytic role in linking the food production sector and health for improved nutrition in general. Our vision of our activities in the Pacific for the next five years is towards ensuring a sustainable increase in production, trade and marketing of domestic agriculture products, and healthy consumption of diverse, safe and nutritious food.

Because of the potential it offers, breadfruit is seen as a symbol of what F.A.O aims to pursue in the next five years in the Pacific.

First, it is a locally produced plentifully grown food crop with huge potential for domestic consumption. It can facilitate import substitution, which would result in an improved trade balance and reduced vulnerability to external shocks such as price fluctuations.

Secondly, breadfruit can help in the fight against non-communicable disease (N.C.Ds) through improved nutrition. It is a safe whole food, supplying key vitamins and minerals, complex carbohydrates, while offering moderate energy free of gluten. In the fight against N.C.Ds, breadfruit and taro and other traditional local crops have a significant role to play in improving nutrition in Samoa and in many other countries.

Thirdly, it is also a cash crop with huge potential for export, as flour or in other forms. The future for developing niche export markets should not be underestimated as globally , consumers are looking towards products that are nutritious and readily available.

Fourthly, promotion of agricultural crops such as breadfruit can be key to increasing job opportunities, reinvigorating the agriculture production and processing sectors, which would lead to increased livelihood opportunities for the youth.

With so much potential to offer, breadfruit is a symbol of hope for improved food security and nutrition in Samoa and beyond. That is why F.A.O has supported the work with the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa and the organization of this important Summit. I wish to raise a toast to the future of this amazing crop!
The Republic of Turkey has a new Ambassador in Samoa.

Ambassador Ahmet Ergin presented his credentials and was welcomed by the Head of State, His Highness Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, yesterday.

Mr. Eregin met the Head of State at his Motootua office.

Turkey might be on the other side of the world but two countries have a strong working relationship.

Regardless of the geographical distance and relative rarity of contact between our people, our hearts and minds share with our Samoan brothers and sisters the fierce spirit of Independence, he said.

He went on to say that Turks always considered the Pacific as a welcoming place with friendly people and a fascinating culture.

I am happy to say that this impression has been reinforced in me since my visit earlier last September within the Framework of the 48th Pacific Islands Forum, he said.

Turkey, he added, wants to increase its engagement with Samoa.

Turkeys opening up to the Pacific region, he said. In this sense, its a testament to the importance we attach to establishing communications directly and working jointly with the people of the region.

In response, His Highness Tuimalealiifano accepted the Letter of Credence from the President of the Republic of Turkey.

We have worked collaboratively to promote issues of mutual concern particularly at the United Nations, said His Highness Tuimalealiifano.

Samoa and Turkey also share a common interest in addressing challenges in the areas of sustainable development, human rights, poverty, terrorism, transnational crime and climate change.

The success of the 48th Pacific Island Forum was due in part to the continuous support and close collaboration Samoa and the region enjoys with its partners.

The meeting highlighted some of the key priorities for Samoa and the region such as the Ocean and its resources, Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals implementation and regional security issues.

As a Pacific Island Forum dialogue Partner, I am pleased to hear of the importance Turkey places in working closely with Samoa and the Pacific region and look forward to the strengthened collaboration to pursue areas of mutual interest.
Compiled by Staff Writer

The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of an application by the Land and Titles Court to strike out the claim by a family against the Court over a land dispute.

The decision was delivered by Justice Fisher, Justice Panckhurst and Justice Hansen on 15 September 2017. The Land and Titles Court was represented by S. Ainuu and T. Peniamina of the Attorney Generals Office during the hearing. The respondents, Talalelei Lofipo Kalevini and Lesili Fife Lofipo Kalavini were represented by Ruby Drake.

According to the ruling obtained by the Samoa Observer, the Land and Titles Court appealed against the refusal of Justice Vaai to strike out the respondents claim against the Court. On 4 September 2015 the respondents entered into a lease of customary land known as Leaena at Matautu Lefaga.

The lessor was the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as trustee for the beneficial owners. He granted the lease under the Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965 on the application of Tuala Tamailelagi Tausaga, a matai of Matautu Lefaga, as agent for the beneficial owners.

Following the grant of the lease the respondents obtained the necessary building permit and began to construct a house on the land. Their intention was to build the house and then a shop and service station.

On 14 October 2015, following complaints by some beneficial owners that they had not been consulted about the proposed lease, the Registrar of the Court with the concurrence of two Samoan Judges made an order under s.50 of the Land and Tiles Act 1981 (the Act) requiring the respondents to stop work and not to enter the land. The respondents subsequently issued proceedings against Tuala Taimalelagi Tausaga as first defendant, the Land and Titles Court as second defendant and the Attorney General for and on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (the Ministry) as third defendant.

The Land and Titles Court was alleged to have acted unreasonably and without lawful justification in issuing the restraining orders. The first and third defendants were claimed to have been in breach of the lease.

The respondents seek to recover losses of $111,874.42 and general and exemplary damages. The Court and the Ministry applied to strike out the claims against them. The respondents subsequently discontinued their claim against the Ministry.

But the Land and Titles Court pursued the application to strike out the claims against them/

The strike out application was brought on the ground that the claim against the Land and Titles Court was frivolous and vexatious, an abuse of process and without prospect of success in that: (a) The Laud and Titles Com is protected by the principle of judicial immunity. (b) The plaintiffs failed to give notice under s.21 of the Limitation Act 1975.

(c) The plaintiffs claim against the Land and Titles Court is defective in that they should have sought an order quashing the interim order instead of claiming damages. According to the Court of Appeals decision, Justice Vaai ruled that the Land and Titles Court had failed to make out either of the remaining grounds.

Citing the decision of Sapolu CJ in Tafililupetiamalie v Attorney General [2015] WSSC 62 (30 June 2015), he accepted that the common law principle of judicial immunity from liability in a civil suit for damages extends to judges of the Land and Titles Court.

However, he found reason to doubt that the principle applied to the actions of the Registrar in this case having regard in particular to the following passage from the judgment of McGrath and William Young JJ in the New Zealand case of Attorney General v Chapman [2011] NZSC 110 at 166:

The principles of judicial immunity are the result of a balancing exercise. On the one hand is the problem of a disappointed litigant with a genuine grievance but no remedy. On the other hand there are the undesirable consequences of permitting claims against Judges. The response of the Courts in cases such as Nakhla and Gazley has been to allow the latter consideration to trump the former.  (The emphasis was added by the Judge).

Vaai J noted the reference in the passage quoted is to a litigant and said the respondents are hardly litigants in the sense used in Chapman. After observing that the evidence showed the Registrar knew the respondents were parties to the lease, he continued: At the same time the plaintiffs were never and still are not litigants to any proceedings either already commenced or yet to commence in the Lands and Titles Court. It is also most likely they can be parties m any proceedings in the Lands and Titles Court in a dispute over land to which their only legal connection to is a lease. The plaintiffs in Chapman and Tafililupetiamalie were both litigants who were parties to legal proceedings which ran their full courses through the relevant court systems before judicial immunity protection was claimed by the judges who presided in the proceedings from which claims for damages was sought. That is hardly the case here.

Vaai J then considered the reference in Chapman to judges, saying:

Second, the Registrar even if he is considered in the circumstances he issued the Interim Order a judicial officer is again hardly a judge in the context of and in the circumstances within which a judge for the purposes of considering judicial immunity protection was seen in the discussions in Chapman and T afililupetiamalie.

Third, the judge found merit in the respondents argument that judicial immunity may not apply where a judge or judicial officer has acted without jurisdiction or unlawfully. He said this issue required further evidence and submissions. On this basis, also, Vaai J was not prepared to find the respondents claim to be defective or an abuse of process.

Preliminary issue

As a preliminary issue, it is necessary to comment on the joinder of the Land and Titles Court itself as a defendant. The acts complained of were those of the Registrar not the Court. He is an officer of the Government as defined in Section 2 of the Government Proceedings Act 1974 and, by s.2 (2), included in any reference to Government in the Act. Section 9 (3) provides that the Government may be joined as a defendant to any civil proceedings by joining the Attorney General. This is how the Registrar of the Land and Titles Court should have been joined. Had it been necessary to do so we would have granted an application to amend to give effect to this requirement

The cause of action

The claim against the Land and Titles Court as pleaded in the statement of claim is: THAT the Second Defendant being aware of the lease in favour of the Plaintiffs has acted unreasonably and without lawful justification in issuing the restraining orders against the Plaintiffs thereby causing loss and damage to the Plaintiffs as particularised hereunder

At the hearing we inquired of Mrs Drake how the pleading could found a claim for damages against the Registrar. She acknowledged that the current pleading did not disclose any cause of action. She also accepted that, there being no suggestion that the Registrar acted maliciously or otherwise in bad faith, no claim could lie for misfeasance in public office. She proffered that, by interfering with the respondents rights to use their land, the Registrar could have trespassed on the land. But that is plainly untenable; trespass requires a physical intrusion onto land.

It became clear in the course of exchanges between Bench and bar that there simply is no legal basis on which the respondents could maintain a claim for damages arising from the making of the interim orders.

The power to make such orders is conferred on the Registrar by s.50 of the Act which provides: 50. Interim orders by Registrar  If the Registrar is satisfied that a dispute has arisen between Samoans which is within the jurisdiction of the Court, and is likely to be the Subject matter of proceedings under this Act, he may, with the concurrence of the President or 2 Samoans Judges before the commencement of proceedings, make an order as he thinks fit to restrain any Samoan from: (a) remaining in possession of or entering upon any land; (b) holding or using any Samoan name or title; or (c) exercising any right or doing any act matter or things concerning or affecting any land or any Samoan name or title.

There is uncontested evidence (filed in support of the strike out application) that The Registrar made the order at the request of Mr Tausaga and five other beneficial owners. In their letter of 7 October 20l5 they complained that a permanent house was being built on the land whereas the land had been leased for the purpose of building a shop. The lease itself provides, more generally, that the land is leased for business purposes. Clause 5.1.1 of the lease requires that the land be used for the stated purpose and no other.

 By section 51 (1) of the Act an order made under section 50 remains in full force and effect until the final judgment of the Court. However, subsections (2) and (3) provide as follows for orders to be modified, varied or rescinded: (2) The President may after the commencement of proceedings, upon the application of any party affected by an order made under section 50, modify, vary or rescind the order. (3) The Registrar may before the commencement of proceedings, upon the application of any person affected by an order made under section 50, modify, vary or rescind the order.

 The respondents took no steps to have the interim orders rescinded. They appear to have accepted that they were not entitled to build a house on the land. According to the affidavit of the Registrar tiled in support of the strike out application, at a meeting prior to the issue of the interim orders and subsequently at a meeting with beneficial owners convened by a mediator, the respondents admitted they were wrong to build a house on the land.

In the circumstances it is clear that there is no conceivable basis on which the respondents could bring a claim arising out of the interim orders. The pleading as it concerns the Land and Titles Court cannot be cured and must be struck out.

Judicial immunity 

Our finding that the claim against the Land and Titles Court is irremediably defective is sufficient to dispose of the appeal. However, in deference to the findings in the Supreme Court on the potential application of the principle of judicial immunity, we will briefly comment on that topic.

As earlier noted, Vaai J doubted that the Registrars acts would be protected by judicial immunity because the respondents were not litigants, the Registrar was not a judge (as those terms were used in the passage cited from Attorney General v Chapman) and because the Registrar may have acted without jurisdiction or unlawfully.

The term litigant was used in Chapman to refer to a person affected or aggrieved by the judicial act in question and who seeks to mount a claim. It is not to be characterised as a prerequisite to the application of judicial immunity. Had the respondents been able to mount a claim arising out of the interim orders, the question whether judicial immunity applied could undoubtedly have been explored.

It is well established that judicial immunity does not apply simply to shield judges from claims for damages but extends to any person exercising judicial functions: soc Chapman at [161] and the discussion in Talilupetiamalie at paras 31 - 43. The broad scope of immunity as it affects claims in tort is enshrined in s.6 (3) of the Government Proceedings Act 1974 which provides:

No proceedings lie against the Government by virtue of this section in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by a person while discharging or purporting to discharge responsibilities of a judicial nature vested in the person, or responsibilities which the person has in connection with the execution of the judicial process.

Mr Ainuu referred us to Crispin v Registrar of the District Court [1986] 2 NZLR 246 as an example of a case in which a Registrar exercising judicial functions was entitled to immunity under the common law and also to the protection available under section 6(5) of the Crown Proceedings Act 1950, the equivalent New Zealand statutory provision to s.6(3) of the Government Proceedings Act. In exercising, with two judges, the responsibility of deciding whether and, if so, in what terms, to make interim orders, the Registrar was demonstrably exercising a judicial function and was entitled to judicial immunity and the protection afforded by the Government Proceedings Act.

The principle of judicial immunity applies even when the judge or judicial officer acts in excess of jurisdiction - sec the discussion in Talilupetiamalie at paras 33-35. That said, for the reasons already discussed, there can be no question in this case of the Registrar not having jurisdiction or otherwise acting unlawfully.

We conclude that Vaai J erred in finding that judicial immunity may not apply to the respondents claim.

The appeal succeeds. The respondents claim against the appellant is struck out. The appellant is entitled to costs in the sum of $5,000.
Retired couple, Richard and Jean Moris, are in Samoa for a special tour.

The couple who contribute to a magazine in Sydney called Luxury Escape caught with Dear Tourist in Apia yesterday while they were enjoying a session on Samoan culture and food at the Samoa Cultural Village.

The couple had seen a promotion at the Taumeasina Island Resort and they thought to come and experience Samoa.

We came here via Fiji and we thought we could extend our holiday a little bit and come to Samoa to see the culture and the people as well, they told Dear Tourist.

We have been to Fiji many times but never to Samoa so we are really enjoying it.

What really impressed us is the Samoan fales that seem to have been everywhere. We were told that this is what people sleep in and I believe that in some families they still use these fales, said Mr. Moris.

But if you think they have only been admiring the lifestyle, think again.

Weve only been here for two days but weve enjoyed snorkeling and listening to Samoan music as well as learning about the culture and how to make Samoan handicraft.

So its just expanding our knowledge about Samoa and its people.

Looking at the bigger picture, Mrs. Moris said Samoa needed to advertise itself as a tourist destination more.

She said many tourists would come to Samoa in a heartbeat if they knew more about this place.

I could say that Samoa would probably increase its tourist by advertising a lot more because not many people know about Samoa, she said.

Another thing is that for Australia the difficulty is getting here. A lot of flights from Australia have stopovers in either Auckland or Fiji.

If Samoa could get direct flights from Australia*, I believe that would make it a lot easier for tourists to come.

Despite this, the couple is enjoying their short trip.

We will be going back this Sunday but if we really enjoy ourselves here then we would be coming back but so far we are enjoying it and we would like to see a lot more, said Mr. Moris.

We know its just a short trip but we want to learn more about Samoa so that we can be able to tell our friends as well as our families of the experience that we had here.

*Virgin Samoa flies directly from Sydney and Brisbane to Faleolo International Airport twice a week.
The growing number of violence-related incidents, especially domestic violence, in Samoa is worrying.

For 45-year-old mother, Rita Pisa, of Seesee, she wants leaders to make it their priority to sort this out once and for all.

To be honest, there are disturbing results about violence in families and our country should no longer be taking it lightly, the mother-of-four told the Village Voice.

Its everyones responsibility, which includes church, government, village council and everyone.

She says addressing family violence needs to start from home.

We should start from the family level up to the church, village council and then the government.

As a mother, strengthening families by embracing Christian and cultural values is one of the solutions that we need to look at.

It is important to start from family because this is where we hear and see the first and primary source of Christian and cultural values.

As the Bible says train your children in the way that they should go and when they grow old they wont depart from it.

She believes the church should lead by example.

Preaching the Word of God should go together with actions, Rita said.

The church should extend its focus beyond physical church building and reach out to members of the community residing in the interior part and marginal areas of the village.

I know that these are families that are most vulnerable to acts of family violence in the country.

She adds village councils and the government are the most effective ones to drive the message to families in the country.

At this time, theres no need to point out whos going to do this and that, we should all work together to avoid this kind of behaviour (violence) in our families.

Family violence has been around for a long time and I know there have been efforts to address family violence but unfortunately to date we are still at it.

Rita added we should also look to introduce family safety in primary and secondary school levels.

In my own honest opinion, this is the next source of knowledge critical to family.

It is important to teach our children the essence of family safety before adulthood.
Before he took his own life in 2005, Todd Kennemer surrounded himself with grace. The 25-year-old musician and artist created a small stencil of the word and spray-painted it on the sidewalks near his favorite places, so wherever he went in his daily travels hed always walk in grace.

Today, his parents  Rex and Connie Kennemer of Rancho Bernardo  are spreading Todds grace in their own way. Through their nonprofit Community Alliance for Healthy Minds, the couple help people with mental illness as well as their family and caregivers to find the strength, services and support to help them heal.

This Saturday at Cal State San Marcos, CAHM will host its 11th annual Forum for Healthy Minds. The free, all-day conference includes national speakers, targeted workshops and a resource fair. It is expected to draw more than 600 people.

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______________________

Forum for Healthy Minds

When: 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14

Where: Cal State San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos

Admission: Free (includes free lunch with online registration)

Registration: cahmsd.org

_________________________________

This years workshops include discussions on thriving in college with mental illness, patient advocacy, caregiver self-compassion and managing mental illness with substance abuse disorders. There are also sessions on faith, grief, suicide prevention and surviving after suicide.

The Kennemers created the organization and conference to give participants the tools and resources that they lacked when Todd was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 11 months before his death. Connie said her ultimate goal is to make people feel less alone in sharing their story.

The greatest outcome for participants is to feel theres a safe community around them, she said. Im not educated in these things, Im just three steps ahead of them. They can hang on to my coattails and follow me.

For the fourth year in a row, the conference keynote speaker is Baltimore psychiatrist Dr. Mark Komrad, author of the bestselling book You Need Help!: A Step-by-Step Plan to Convince a Loved One to Get Counseling.

Komrad speaks at conferences nationwide about 30 times a year. The Forum for Healthy Minds is the only one he attends completely on his own dime.

He said he often prescribes conferences like this to patients because they provide excellent therapy, education and support. But the reason he keeps coming back to the Forum at his own expense isnt the content but the creators themselves. He said the Kennemers are like tribal healers in how they theyve turned their own suffering into a sort of healing magic.

Rex and Connie are like shamans, Komrad said. Theyve been to the darkest possible place that families can go, which is the loss of their only child. That gives them an air of authority and wisdom that they deploy with tremendous efficiency and authenticity. Its magnetic. Theyre the most unique people.

The Kennemers, who are both 65, fell in love while touring on a Christian music tour in 1974. They married later that year and have spent a career together working as music directors for various churches, first in Tucson, where Todd was born, and later in North County, where they moved 31 years ago.

Like his parents, Todd was musical from an early age. He played violin at age 7 and took up guitar in his teens. After graduating from Rancho Bernardo High School in 1998, he moved to Chicago to attend the Moody Bible Institute.

But not long after he started college, Todd was devastated by the death of his best friend in a car accident. Rex Kennemer said the unexpected tragedy seemed to shake something loose in Todd, who decided to withdraw from college and moved home to grieve.

Eventually, the clouds lifted. Todd formed a band with some local friends and he spent a year working with homeless youth in San Francisco. Then when he was 22, Todd and his band buddies moved to Seattle to pursue a music career.

About a year later, in August 2004, Todd began struggling with anxiety and depression. By that December, he suffered a psychotic break and was hospitalized. He was later diagnosed as bipolar.

The Kennemers brought Todd home to Rancho Bernardo to rest, but within a month he insisted on moving back to Seattle, where he lived alone, began self-medicating and descended into despair.

The Kennemers could see their son struggling and were desperate to help, but Todd wanted his independence and had a hard time accepting his illness.

A month before Todd died, Rex flew to Seattle to try to help him but he was shocked at the state his son was in. By that point, Todd was hearing voices and could barely answer yes/no questions.

On the morning of Nov. 17, 2005, Todd turned off his cellphone and wandered away from his work. Friends found his body later that afternoon in his apartment. He had hanged himself.

The Kennemers were devastated, but they were fortunate to have a strong support system at the church where they worked and worship, Pomerado Christian Church in Poway.

Rex said he walled off his grief and kept working for a month. Then, when the church insisted he take a four-month leave, he said he spent the time on the couch, staring out the window, crying and writing in a journal.

But Connie, a poet and songwriter with three albums of music to her credit, grieved more openly. Within months, she was onstage, sharing her familys story at a Moms in Prayer conference.

It empowered me because I knew I had to deal with it, to see how the questions had changed from why to what purpose and what now, she said. I could say to these women, this is where Im going now and this is what I still believe. 

At the same time, Connie was dealing with her own health crisis. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which has since withered her muscles to where she needs a wheelchair. She got a lot of support from friends after her diagnosis, which was in stark contrast to how her sons diagnosis was received.

It showed me the devastating power of stigma, she said. When it comes to mental health, even Todd couldnt address his own condition. I have MS and thats a very responsible disease. So was Todds, but you will bring a casserole to my house. Youre not going to bring one to Todds house.

Rex said his raw grieving broke after about seven months when he followed Connies lead and started sharing Todds story to others. The first time was on Fathers Day 2006.

Five hundred people heard me sob and read from my journal, but then I felt better, he said. It helps us honor Todds memory. The conversation doesnt open old wounds. It puts salve into the wounds.

Ten years ago, the Kennemers began facilitating a monthly grief group for Survivors of Suicide Loss (SOSL). And twice a year they take part in fundraising walks for SOSL and for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

In 2006, the Kennemers hosted their first event in Todds honor, an art and music event that raised money for mental health support. That led to the establishment of the Community Alliance for Healthy Minds and the annual Forum for Healthy Minds.

Rex describes helping others deal with loss as the sweet spot in their lives. He and Connie never plan to give it up.

Its all about how you bring people into the right neighborhood, she said. This neighborhood is the last place youd ever want to live, but well be there waiting for you, and Ill put the muffins on your doorstep.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
Are you a frustrated pizza maker? I think most of us who love to cook have gone through a pizza-making phase, finally giving it up in frustration. Weve lined ovens with tiles, spritzed with water, tried different flours, different methods of dough making. And then threw up our hands and went out to eat.

I think you should give it one more shot, based on an afternoon I spent with Andrea Burrone of Ambrogio15 in Pacific Beach. This very talented young man from Milan, who started out professionally working in banking, has clearly found his calling. And his calling is making traditional Milanese-style thin crust pizza in San Diego, using authentic Italian ingredients and techniques.

Now, Burrone is working with something we dont have: a ginormous Marana Forni oven imported from Italy that reaches temperatures of 700 degrees  something your home oven cant even dream of. But are there any home cooks better than Italian home cooks? If they can do it in their ovens, so can we  if we know what were doing. Find your confidence with Burrone.

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Andrea Burrone makes a margherita pizza at Ambrogio15. (K.C. Alfred / U-T)

In fact, Burrone revamped the proprietary restaurant recipe to work for a home cook. For one thing, while he uses a biga  or starter  at the restaurant, the recipe we have here is for a direct dough, using active yeast, 0 flour, water, sugar and salt.

The other thing we should do to compensate for not having a super hot oven is to bake the crust first, then add the topping. This way it gets nice and crunchy. And the dough should be baked first at the bottom of the oven sans toppings and then in the middle of the oven once its filled.

Burrone demonstrated dough making with a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, using the dough hook. First, he began by activating the yeast, mixing it with room temperature water and sugar, then letting it sit for about 15 minutes.

Once the yeast was bubbling, he placed 0 flour in the bowl of the mixer. He then added the yeast mixture, slowly blending it until incorporated. With that, Burrone added more water and brought up the speed, then olive oil, speeding it up again, then salt. Max out the speed and keep it going until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball. Depending on the weather  both temperature and humidity  you may have to add a bit more flour or oil to get it to that point.

Stop the mixer, pull the bowl out, cover, and let the dough rest until it doubles in size. Then comes the fun. Divide the dough into sections that are 100 grams each (yeah, youll need a kitchen scale to do all this). Each ball will make a 12-inch round paper thin Milano-style pizza. (If you want a thicker pizza, use 150 to 200 grams of dough and add five minutes to the first bake.)

Turn each piece into a ball by pulling the sides out and under until the ball is smooth. Then turn it over and pinch the underside to seal. Do this to each piece, cover, and let rest at least two hours until theyve doubled in volume.

When youre ready to make the pizzas, turn on the oven to 500 degrees F to preheat. Now you have a choice: You can either use a rolling pin to roll out the dough or use the tips of your fingers to gently press it out; the tips of your fingers on your left hand gently hold the dough in place while the tips of your fingers on your right hand press and push and turn the dough. Use flour or semolina to keep the surface from getting sticky when you shape the dough. And when you put the shaped dough on a pan (Burrone uses inexpensive aluminum pans), be sure to put oil topped by a sprinkling of semolina or cooking spray on the pan before placing the dough on it.

Now youll place the pan in the lowest part of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove it and add your topping  whether its the delightful Arugula Pistachio Pesto below or tomato sauce (be sure to use peeled San Marzano tomatoes with basil in the yellow can for what Burrone says is the most authentic margherita-style pizza), topped with cheese. Then put the pizza back in the oven, but on a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake it for another 4 to 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Heres another Burrone tip: If youre using fresh mozzarella on your pizza, make sure that, the night before, you place it in a colander over a bowl so that it will release its water  and you again avoid a soggy pizza crust. And dont, dont, dont use pre-shredded cheese. Just dont.

Finally, if you want to make a calzone, Burrone explained that it can be tricky because youre doubling up on the dough when you fold it over and moisture can get trapped, which risks making the bottom soggy. His suggestion? Make a white calzone  a mix of cheeses  or use ingredients that have similarly low moisture. Place it on the bottom of a 500-degree preheated oven and bake 10 to 15 minutes.

Want another dish to accompany your pizza or calzone? Try this Sicilian Salad composed with thinly sliced fennel and red onion, topped with orange sections, olives and berries and dressed in a very citrusy Citronette Dressing. Is it Milanese? No, but, Burrone said, We like this salad, and why limit the menu just to the Milanese experience?

Golden is a San Diego freelance food writer and blogger.

Arugula Pistachio Pesto Pizza

Most American home cooks are used to measuring by volume, not weight. Here, most of the amounts are indicated by weight using grams. If you have a kitchen scale, this should be no problem  and the measurements will be more accurate, creating a more successful outcome. Use this pizza dough recipe for all three pizzas below.

Pizza dough

Makes five to six 12-inch pizzas

25 grams fresh dry yeast

30 grams water, room temperature

5 grams sugar

575 grams 0 flour (If you cant find it locally at places like Whole Foods or Mona Lisa, its available on Amazon.com)

300 grams water

30 grams extra virgin olive oil

12 grams salt

Arugula Pistachio Pesto

Makes 4 cups

3 cloves garlic

100 grams pistachio nuts, raw and unsalted

150 grams Parmesan cheese

15 grams salt

300 grams fresh arugula

450 grams extra virgin olive oil

1 ball of fresh mozzarella, drained overnight

5 or 6 slices mortadella (optional)

6 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (optional)

To make pizza dough: Combine yeast, water and sugar. Let sit 15 minutes. It should be bubbling.

Insert dough hook in stand mixer. Place flour in the mixers bowl. Add yeast mixer and start blending at the No. 3 speed until incorporated. Slowly add water and bring up speed to blend. Slow it down and add the olive oil and speed it up again. Slow it down to add salt (and, if its too thin, more flour). Bring the mixer to maximum speed (6 to 8) and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball.

Remove bowl from mixer, cover, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 5 to 6 pieces, each weighing 100 grams for a 12-inch pizza. Form balls with each by pulling the sides out and under while turning until the surface is smooth. Pinch the underside to seal. Sprinkle some semolina or flour on the counter or a tray and place the balls on them. Cover and let rest for at least 2 hours until the balls double in volume.

To make the pesto, place all the ingredients except the oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend them together, then slowly add the oil. If its too thick, add a little water. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside.

To cook the pizza, heat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll out the dough by hand, pressing and shaping it in a 12-inch circle with your fingertips, or use a rolling pin. Spread a little oil on a round, flat 12-inch aluminum pan and then sprinkle it lightly with semolina or use a baking spray like Pam. Place the pizza dough on the pan and place on the lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove pizza crust from oven. Spread about 2 tablespoons of pesto on the crust and top with pieces of mozzarella.

Place pizza back in the oven, but on the middle rack. Bake another 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove and top with folded slices of mortadella and fresh cherry tomatoes.

Pizza Margherita

See pizza dough recipe above.

Ingredients for topping

Four 28-ounce cans of San Marzano peeled tomatoes

30 grams salt

30 grams extra virgin olive oil

Fresh basil to taste

One 4-ounce ball of fresh mozzarella for each 12- to 14-inch pizza

Additional fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil to taste

Prepare the pizza dough according to the recipe at left.

To make the sauce, put the tomatoes and juice into a large bowl and break them up roughly. Mix together with the salt, olive oil, and basil leaves. You dont need to cook this.

To cook the pizza, heat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll out the dough by hand, pressing and shaping it in a 12-inch circle with your fingertips, or use a rolling pin. Spread a little oil on a round, flat 12-inch aluminum pan and then sprinkle it lightly with semolina or use a baking spray like Pam. Place the pizza dough on the pan and place on the lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove pizza crust from oven. Ladle about a cup of the tomato sauce onto the center of crust and spread it outward in a circle until it evenly covers the crust. Top with pieces of mozzarella.

Place pizza back in the oven, but on the middle rack. Bake another 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove and top with fresh basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Salsiccia, Cipolle, Pomodorini Secchi pizza, created by chef Andrea Borrone. (K.C. Alfred / U-T)

Salsiccia, Cipolle, Pomodori Secchi Pizza

See pizza dough recipe above. See Margherita sauce recipe above.

Ingredients for topping a 12-inch pizza

60 ounces raw spicy Italian sausage

100 grams red onions, sliced

Spicy extra virgin olive oil to taste (You can find this at specialty Italian markets or olive oil shops)

Six or more sun-dried tomatoes

Fresh basil to taste

Prepare the pizza dough according to the recipe at left.

Prepare the Margherita sauce according to the recipe above.

To cook the pizza, heat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll out the dough by hand, pressing and shaping it in a 12-inch circle with your fingertips, or use a rolling pin. Spread a little oil on a round, flat 12-inch aluminum pan and then sprinkle it lightly with semolina or use a baking spray like Pam. Place the pizza dough on the pan and place on the lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove pizza crust from oven. Ladle about a cup of the tomato sauce onto the center of crust and spread it outward in a circle until it evenly covers the crust. Top with pieces of sausage and red onion slices. Drizzle with the spicy extra virgin olive oil.

Place pizza back in the oven, but on the middle rack. Bake another 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove and top with sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Andrea Borrones Sicilian Salad. (K.C. Alfred / U-T)

Sicilian Salad

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Citronette Dressing

3 oranges, zested and juiced

2 limes, zested and juiced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

 teaspoon salt

 teaspoon white pepper, freshly ground

1 tablespoon sugar

3 cups sunflower oil

Salad components

4 to 5 fennel roots, thinly sliced

1 red onion, thinly sliced and soaked for 10 minutes in ice water to sweeten flavor

2 to 3 oranges, cut into segments without pith

6 or more pitted black olives (preferably Taggiasche) to taste

Seasonal berries or dried fruit to taste

Anchovies to taste (optional)

Crushed black pepper to taste

Arugula or other greens as garnish

Prepare Citronette Dressing by combining all the ingredients except the oil, and then slowly whisking in the oil. If its too thick, add a little water. Taste and adjust seasonings. Pour into a squeeze bottle.

Arrange the fennel slices on a serving dish. Squeeze out about a third of a cup of dressing over the fennel. Top with slices of red onion. Arrange orange segments on top of fennel and red onion. Sprinkle with olives, berries and anchovies (if using). Place arugula leaves strategically and grind a little black pepper over the salad. Squeeze more dressing over the salad and serve.

Recipes from Andrea Burrone of Ambrogio15.
At least 10 people have died and at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed as more than 14 fires ravaged eight counties throughout Northern California on Monday, authorities said.

The Sonoma County Sheriffs Office reported seven fire-related deaths late Monday. In addition, two died because of the Atlas fire in Napa County, said a CalFire spokesperson. One person died as result of the Redwood Valley fire in Mendocino County.

In Sonoma County, the dead were found in the hot spots of the fire, an official said.

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We are a resilient county; we will come back from this, said Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane. But right now we need to grieve.

The vast devastation over just a few hours made this firestorm one of the worst in California history, with Gov. Jerry Brown declaring a state of emergency. Officials said the fires in Northern California have scorched 73,000 acres.

Local hospitals were treating those injured while others are unaccounted for, officials said. Additional fatalities were possible as search efforts continued.

One of the raging fires had Santa Rosa under siege Monday morning, with a large swath of the city north of downtown under an evacuation order.

The area of Fountaingrove appeared to be particularly hard hit, with photos showing numerous homes on fire. The Fountaingrove Inn, a Hilton hotel and a high school also burned. Officials said homes were also lost in the community of Kenwood and at a mobile home park off the 101 Freeway.

Coffey Park, a large Santa Rosa subdivision of dozens of homes, was burned to the ground.

Its fair to say its been destroyed, Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott said of Santa Rosas Fountaingrove neighborhood.

1 / 59 An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 2 / 59 Flames ravage a home in the Napa wine region in California. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 59 A firefighter walks near a pool as a neighboring home burns in the Napa wine region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 59 Firefighters douse flames as a home burns in the Napa wine region, as multiple wind-driven fires whip through the region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 59 Louis Reavis views the burned remains of his classic Oldsmobile at his home in Napa. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 6 / 59 A tent structure built for the 2017 Safeway Open burns in Napa on Monday. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 59 The Estancia Apartment Homes on Old Redwood Hwy. were completely destroyed in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 59 A resident rushes to save his home as a wildfire moves through Glen Ellen, Calif. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 9 / 59 A Fountaingrove Village man surveys the rubble of his home in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 59 Downed power poles and lines block a street in Hidden Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 11 / 59 A fcar burns in the driveway of a destroyed home in Fountaingrove Village. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 59 A wheelchair left abandoned at the evacuated Villa Capri assisted living facility on Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 13 / 59 A resident rushes to save his home as fire moves through the area in Glen Ellen, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 14 / 59 A San Jose firefighter keep flames down at a home in Hidden Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 59 A Fountaingrove Village couple takes in the ruins of their home after fire ripped through the neighborhood. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 59 A home destroyed in the fast moving wildfire that ripped through Glen Ellen. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 59 A swimming pool reflects the damage caused by the wildfires that moved through neighborhoods near Glen Ellen. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 59 Benicia Police Officer Alejandro Maravilla, left, offers resident Gwen Adkins, 84, a soda while patrolling in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 59 Spencer Blackwell, left, and Danielle Tate find Tates fathers gun collection, melted and burned, inside a gun safe at her fathers home in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 20 / 59 An American flag is draped on a burned pickup truck on Camino del Prado in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 21 / 59 Scorched wine barrels at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa after the wildfire burned through. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 59 Fire lights up the night sky framed by a vineyard near Kenwood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 59 Oakland police officers knock on doors as residents of the Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park are told to evacuate in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 59 An aerial view of the Coffey Park neighborhood detroyed by wildfire in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 25 / 59 Contra Costa paramedics help Bill Parras, 96, evacuate his home in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 26 / 59 CHP officers study neighborhood maps before going door to door to tell Sonoma residents to voluntarily evacuate ahead of the wildfire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 59 A home perched on top of a hill sits in the foreground of a fire moving up on Shiloh Ridge near Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 28 / 59 Scorched grapes and vines along the edge of Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 59 John and Jan Pascoe survived the firestorm by running out of their home and into their neighbors swimming pool in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 59 Hundreds of burned wine bottles at the destroyed Helena View Johnston Vineyards near Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 59 A Contra Costa County firefighter breaks a wall with an ax as his crew battles flames inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 59 Atascadero Firefighters try to control flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 in Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 59 Contra Costa firefighters work to put out flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 59 Search teams sift through the debris of mobile homes at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 35 / 59 A worker pulls out a firearm from the burned wreckage as search team members look through the debris at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 59 Search team members sift through debris at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 59 Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey surveys the damage to the Coffey Park neighborhood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 38 / 59 Melted metal is seen on a car in the shadow of a destroyed home in Napa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 59 Lola Cornish, 50, and her daughter Kat Corazza, 18, look over recovered family jewels that survived the fire at Cornishs grandfathers home in Napa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 59 Some residents were allowed to return to their properties Friday in a neighborhood in Napa that was ravaged by the Atlas fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 59 A helicopter prepares to drop water on a fire that threatens the Oakmont community along Highway 12 in Santa Rosa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 59 A helicopter drops water on a fire that threatens the Ledson Winery and Historic Castle Vineyards in Kenwood on Friday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 59 Manuel Mendoza sorts through donated clothing at the Bridge Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 59 Jean Schettler hugs Father Moses Brown after Mass at St. Rose Church on Sunday. Schettlers daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, after losing their house in the fires, have moved into the Santa Rosa home of Jean and Jim Schettler. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 59 Gianna Gathman, 18, hugs her grandfather Jim Schettler during Mass at St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. Gathmans family lost their home in the Fountaingrove neighborhood to the fire. They are now living with the Schettlers. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 59 Kimberly Flinn holds onto the only item that wasnt lost in a fire that destroyed her home in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa. Flynn recovered a ceramic white butterfly that she had made in memory of a boy she used to babysit and was killed in a hit and run accident. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 59 Gerry Miller, 81, tells San Francisco Police Department Officer Gary Loo how grateful she is to find her home still standing. Residents were allowed to return to their homes in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa Sunday night. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 59 Denise Finitz, 61, thanks Torrance Fire Department firefighters Keith Picket, right, and Capt. Mike Salcido on Oct. 16 after they helped her find her mothers wedding ring in the ashes of her home, destroyed by wildfires on Carriage Lane in Wikiup. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 59 A search and rescue crew member gives a cadaver dog some water during the hunt for a possible fire victim in the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on Oct. 15. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 59 Burned cars like this vintage Volkswagen litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 59 A giraffe framed in the smoke filled air at the Safari West preserve. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 59 A Watusi bull looks out through the haze of the recent Tubbs fire at the Safari West preserve. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 59 Peter Lang, 77, owner of the Safari West preserve, stands between a pair of white rhinos against a backdrop of charred hillside in Santa Rosa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 59 Mark Sharp, a resident of Coffey Park, sifts through the remains of his charred home in search of his wifes wedding band. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 59 Flowers were left on the mailbox of Roy Howard Bowman, 87, and his wife, Irma Elsie Bowman, 88 who died at their Fisher Lake Drive home from the Redwood Valley fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 59 Dee Pallesen, left, and her daughter Emily Learn console each as they look over Pallesens home, destroyed by the Redwood Valley fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 59 Jason Miller plants an American flag on the charred remains of his house as residents of Coffey Park return home. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 59 Burned vehicles litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 59 A pickup truck rests beside a row of charred trees in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Late last night starting around 10 oclock you had 50 to 60 mph winds that surfaced  really across the whole northern half of the state, he said. Every spark is going to ignite.

Northern California has seen its share of horrific wildfires  the states second-deadliest is the October 1991 Tunnel fire in the Oakland Hills, in which 25 people died. The Tunnel also ranks as the most destructive, charring 2,900 buildings.

But the combination of high winds, dried-up vegetation and low humidity driving flames into neighborhoods is more typical of Southern California.

This is exactly what you would expect in the Southern California fall fire season, Pimlott said.

Despite a wet winter, he said vegetation still hasnt recovered from Californias punishing drought, and at the end of the summer dry season, was ready to burn.

Firefighters are hopeful the winds will calm Monday afternoon. But red flag weather conditions will persist into Tuesday.

The city of Santa Rosa imposed a curfew starting at 6:45 p.m. Monday until sunrise Tuesday to prevent looting of empty homes in the evacuation zone, said acting Santa Rosa police chief Craig Schwartz.

We have had a number of reports in the evacuation zone and the fire zone of people driving around and suspicious behavior, Schwartz said.

While many evacuation centers were set up, some were filled to capacity due to the large number of people fleeing.

The Tubbs fire near Santa Rosa has burned more than 35,000 acres as of 6:40 a.m., Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon said during a televised news conference Monday morning. Officials said the other large fire in Napa County  Atlas Peak  has reached 25,000 acres.

Schools throughout the Napa and Sonoma valleys were closed for the day, and cellphone service has been affected in Napa County, where residents and businesses are experiencing power outages and trees have been knocked down by the wind, officials said.

More than 50 structures, including homes and barns, have burned in the Atlas Peak fire alone, Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said during the news conference.

Residents described running from the approaching flames early in the morning.

Late Sunday night, Ken Moholt-Siebert noticed the smell of the smoke from his Santa Rosa vineyard just off Highway 101.

It was not until midnight that he spotted the flames: a small red glow growing a couple of ridges to the east, off Fountaingrove Parkway.

He ran up the hill on his property to turn on a water pump to protect the ranch his family has been raising sheep and growing grapes on for four generations.

Before the pump could get the water fully flowing, a small ember from the Tubbs fire landed nearby. With the wind picking up, the ember sparked a spot fire about 50 feet in diameter. Then it was 100 feet in diameter.

There was no wind, then there would be a rush of wind and it would stop. Then there would be another gust from a different direction, Moholt-Siebert, 51, said. The flames wrapped around us.

He ran for cover.

I was just being pelted with all this smoke and embers, he said. It was just really fast.

Moholt-Siebert retreated through a 150-year-old redwood barn on his property  where his sons wedding reception had been held in June. He jumped a fence back toward his house and fell to the ground to catch gulps of less smoke-contaminated air before reaching his home.

As he fled with his wife Melissa in their Ford sedans, the flames reached their vineyard full of Pinot Noir grapes and crept toward a 200-year-old oak tree on the property  the namesake for the family winery, Ancient Oak Cellars.

As he drove through falling embers and smoke he thought about what he left behind. The sheep on his ranch, he thought, would be safe since they were on shortly cut wet grass. He left behind family mementos and furniture from his grandparents.

The property was dotted with old valley and black oak as well as some California ash trees.

That is probably all gone, Moholt-Siebert said. I have a feeling there is not going to be much left.

Smoke from the fires drifted into the Bay Area, into San Francisco and as far south as San Jose.

 Napa County spokeswoman Molly Rattigan spoke of major fires in Calistoga, Atlas Peak and the Carneros area. (Oct. 9, 2017)

The smell of smoke is everywhere throughout the county, Napa County spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan said.

In Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Sutter Hospital were evacuated.

We have safely evacuated the Santa Rosa medical center due to fires burning in the area. Many patients were transported to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael and other local hospitals, Kaiser spokeswoman Jenny Mack said in an email. All scheduled appointments and surgeries have been canceled for the day in Santa Rosa and the Napa medical offices.

The Santa Rosa fire began around 10 p.m. The cause of the fires is still under investigation.

Upward of 300 firefighters are battling the blazes in Napa County, she said. There are three evacuation centers for Napa County residents, though one  the Crosswalk Community Church  is full, she said. The other two are the Calistoga Fairgrounds and at Napa Valley College.

Those who evacuated described a chaotic scene.

Around 2 a.m., the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office ordered evacuations around Kay Drive and Mark West Station Road in Windsor. Jen Ancic, 31, fled with her two young sons and boyfriend.

As the family drove north on U.S. Highway 101, Ancic said she could see buildings and trees burning.

The whole town was on fire, she said. It was crazy.

A Santa Rosa native, Ancic said that fires in the mountains are not uncommon, but nothing like this has happened in Santa Rosa.

She was devastated to learn from online news reports that Coffey Park, where shed played as a child and had recently held a recent birthday party for her son, had burned. Theres nothing left, Ancic said.

Weather conditions  strong winds and high temperatures  made conditions ripe for a major inferno.

We also had really gusty winds and really warm temperatures, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle. This time of year it does happen quite a bit. For the San Francisco Bay Area, our summer is late September to early October; thats when we have our warmest and driest conditions.

The destructiveness of the fires shocked officials. The worst fire in recent California history was the Cedar blaze in San Diego County in 2003, which destroyed more than 2,800 homes. The 2007 Witch fire, also in San Diego County, destroyed more than 1,600. Both of those fires occurred in October.

This time of year is when historically the states largest, most damaging and most deadly fires have occurred, Upton said. Critical fire conditions fanned by high winds act as a fuse for sparks, she said.

A key reason why the fires burning through Napa and Sonoma counties became so devastating was that the ignitions happened at the worst possible moment: extremely dry conditions combined with so-called Diablo winds that fanned flames on the ridgetops with gusts as high as 70 mph.

Its similar to the conditions that caused one of the most destructive blazes in Northern California history, the October 1991 firestorm that struck the Oakland and Berkeley hills that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,300 single-family homes.

The wine country fires so far havent approached that level of catastrophe, with officials reporting at least 1,500 structures lost, in part because the area burned isnt as densely populated as the area that was hit hard in 1991.

Staffers at Safari West, a wildlife preserve in Santa Rosa, fled the property Sunday night, but some employees returned Monday afternoon to find the fire basically jumped over the preserve Sunday night.

There are still a lot of fires all around so the situation is very dynamic at the moment, Safari West executive director Keo Hornbostel wrote in an email.

The 400-acre property is known for its rhinos, giraffes, zebras and other animals. Guests also can stay in tents on site.

Marie Martinez, conservation and outreach manager at Safari West, said that staff and guests left the facility Sunday night, with staffers taking some birds and a tortoise with them.Erin Harrison, director of marketing and communications at Oakland Zoo, said the zoo is willing to coordinate evacuation of the Safari West animals if needed.

Willon reported from Santa Rosa, St. John from Napa.

Los Angeles Times staff writers Nina Agrawal in Santa Rosa, Makeda Easter, Rong-Gong Lin II, Joy Resmovits, Javier Panzar, Dakota Smith and Geoffrey Mohan contributed to this report.

sonali.kohli@latimes.com

@Sonali_Kohli
Los Angeles schools chief Michelle King is recuperating from surgery and has appointed a subordinate to run the school system in her stead.

In an email over the weekend, she told senior staff that Associate Supt. Vivian Ekchian would serve as acting superintendent for the remainder of my absence.

I have the utmost confidence in Mrs. Ekchians leadership and ability to oversee all business matters, and maintain the districts upward trajectory toward 100% graduation, King wrote in the email, which went out at 10:32 a.m. on Saturday.

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Vivian Ekchian is serving as acting L.A. Unified superintendent while Michelle King recuperates. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

Ekchian followed up with an internal email confirming that she had agreed to step in.

The district has not discussed Kings medical problems, but some insiders said she injured herself in an accident while on vacation with her family. Whatever the details, she was apparently suffering from severe leg pain, which ultimately required surgery, said district sources, who could not be named because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

King, 56, had begun using a cane at work and then simply stayed at home, directing the district via phone and email. She hasnt attended a board meeting since Sept. 12, the district confirmed Monday. Her last day in the office was Sept. 15. When contacted last week, a district spokeswoman downplayed the effect of the medical issue.

Dr. King will be back in the office on Monday, said spokeswoman Shannon Haber. She has been in constant contact  and fully involved on all district matters  with staff and board members during her brief time away from the office.

But by the weekend, Kings return date had been set back.

Unexpectedly, my doctor informed me that I am not yet released to return to work, due to my continued need to recover from my medical procedure, King wrote to her senior staff. The doctor will reassess my progress at the end of this month.

King, who attended L.A. Unified schools, became superintendent of the nations second-largest school system in January 2016. She had worked for the district for three decades, starting as a teacher and steadily rising through the ranks. She is the first African American woman to hold the superintendents job.

Ekchian, too, has risen through district ranks, from her job as an elementary school teacher in 1985. She has served as a principal, as a director of instruction, as head of human resources, as chief labor negotiator and as a regional superintendent in the west San Fernando Valley.

howard.blume@latimes.com

@howardblume

UPDATES:

5:45 p.m: This article has been updated with additional details about Kings absence, including how long she has been out of the office.

This article was originally published at 1:55 p.m.
Since President Trump laid out his plan for mass deportations, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has gone out of its way to reassure the public it had strict limits on cooperating with immigration officials.

As the president and others demanded, among other things, that local police work closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to hand over jail inmates suspected of being in the country illegally, the Sheriffs Department took a defiant stand, saying ICE officers had to collect inmate information from a public website.

Behind the scenes, however, things were playing out differently.

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Instead of keeping immigration officers at an arms length, Sheriffs Department jail officials granted them access to the departments inmate processing facility, allowing them to set up an office with computers that provided a constant flow of information regarding prisoners who were soon to be released, according to a report released Monday by the independent watchdog that oversees the Sheriffs Department.

In the report, Inspector General Max Huntsman also noted multiple incidents in which his inspectors observed sheriffs staff providing detailed information directly to ICE officers about inmates who were about to be released.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell acknowledged the discrepancies between his departments public assurances and the reality in the departments Inmate Reception Center in a letter to Huntsman.

We prioritize maintaining and increasing public trust and always endeavor to provide the public with accurate information. With respect to our statements that we were either no longer providing ICE with lists of individuals being released, or that we did not provide release information to ICE, those statements were not accurate, McDonnell wrote.

Huntsmans inquiry stemmed from a letter McDonnell wrote to county supervisors in January, in which he responded to a request for a detailed explanation of how the department shared information about inmates with ICE and how it handled requests from immigration officials to hand over people suspected of being in the country illegally.

Elected officials around the country had been asking such questions of police chiefs and sheriffs since Trump and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions had begun to threaten to withhold funds and other consequences for municipalities that did not honor ICEs requests for help. The cooperation was an important part of Trumps sweeping deportation plan that made nearly all of the estimated 12 million people in the country illegally eligible to be removed.

In particular, ICE wanted local police to hold on to flagged inmates for up to two days past their scheduled release date to allow immigration officers to take custody of them. ICE also wanted advanced notice before inmates suspected of immigration violations were released from custody.

McDonnell and other sheriffs officials emphasized repeatedly in public statements that the department adhered to state laws setting out ground rules for local police cooperating with ICE. The Sheriffs Department refused to hold inmates in custody for ICE, and inmate release information had to be obtained through its website, they said.

In one particularly pointed claim, the department took to Twitter in July in response to a Times article. LASD does NOT provide release info to #ICE. Our public website has ALL inmate release dates. Its up to #ICE to vet the data, officials wrote.

In reality, Huntsman found ICE officers had been allowed to set up five desktop computers in an office in the Inmate Reception Center that was nominally reserved for officers from any outside agency to use. The computers were removed when Huntsman shared his findings with sheriffs officials, according to the report.

Huntsman also cited multiple occasions in which jail personnel gave ICE officers in the reception center printouts from an internal Sheriffs Department computer program that contained the birthdates and other identifying information about inmates who were set to be released from custody. The information, which was not publicly available online, made it easier for ICE officers to determine whether to take custody of the inmates.

That information sharing has since ceased, McDonnell said in his letter to Huntsman.

Through a spokeswoman, the Sheriffs Department did not make anyone available to comment on the report.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

For more news on federal courts in Southern California, follow me on Twitter: @joelrubin
The toll from Northern Californias ranging wildfires continued to grow Tuesday evening as officials said the fires destroyed up to 2,000 structures and killed at least 17 people.

The devastating losses establish firestorms among the most destructive in California history. The estimated losses of homes, businesses and other buildings jumped from 1,500 to 2,000, and officials fear the death toll will also continue to rise.

Sonoma County alone has received about 200 reports of missing people since Sunday night, and sheriffs officials have located 45 of those people, said county spokeswoman Maggie Fleming.

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The majority of the fatalities are from Sonoma County, where huge swaths of the city of Santa Rosa were leveled by the Tubbs fire. Eleven people have died in Sonoma County as of 7 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. Two people have died in Napa County, three in Mendocino County and one in Yuba County, Cal Fire officials said.

1 / 59 An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 2 / 59 Flames ravage a home in the Napa wine region in California. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 59 A firefighter walks near a pool as a neighboring home burns in the Napa wine region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 59 Firefighters douse flames as a home burns in the Napa wine region, as multiple wind-driven fires whip through the region. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 59 Louis Reavis views the burned remains of his classic Oldsmobile at his home in Napa. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 6 / 59 A tent structure built for the 2017 Safeway Open burns in Napa on Monday. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 59 The Estancia Apartment Homes on Old Redwood Hwy. were completely destroyed in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 59 A resident rushes to save his home as a wildfire moves through Glen Ellen, Calif. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 9 / 59 A Fountaingrove Village man surveys the rubble of his home in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 59 Downed power poles and lines block a street in Hidden Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 11 / 59 A fcar burns in the driveway of a destroyed home in Fountaingrove Village. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 59 A wheelchair left abandoned at the evacuated Villa Capri assisted living facility on Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 13 / 59 A resident rushes to save his home as fire moves through the area in Glen Ellen, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 14 / 59 A San Jose firefighter keep flames down at a home in Hidden Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 59 A Fountaingrove Village couple takes in the ruins of their home after fire ripped through the neighborhood. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 59 A home destroyed in the fast moving wildfire that ripped through Glen Ellen. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 59 A swimming pool reflects the damage caused by the wildfires that moved through neighborhoods near Glen Ellen. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 59 Benicia Police Officer Alejandro Maravilla, left, offers resident Gwen Adkins, 84, a soda while patrolling in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 59 Spencer Blackwell, left, and Danielle Tate find Tates fathers gun collection, melted and burned, inside a gun safe at her fathers home in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 20 / 59 An American flag is draped on a burned pickup truck on Camino del Prado in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 21 / 59 Scorched wine barrels at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa after the wildfire burned through. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 59 Fire lights up the night sky framed by a vineyard near Kenwood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 59 Oakland police officers knock on doors as residents of the Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park are told to evacuate in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 59 An aerial view of the Coffey Park neighborhood detroyed by wildfire in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 25 / 59 Contra Costa paramedics help Bill Parras, 96, evacuate his home in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 26 / 59 CHP officers study neighborhood maps before going door to door to tell Sonoma residents to voluntarily evacuate ahead of the wildfire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 59 A home perched on top of a hill sits in the foreground of a fire moving up on Shiloh Ridge near Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 28 / 59 Scorched grapes and vines along the edge of Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 59 John and Jan Pascoe survived the firestorm by running out of their home and into their neighbors swimming pool in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 59 Hundreds of burned wine bottles at the destroyed Helena View Johnston Vineyards near Calistoga. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 59 A Contra Costa County firefighter breaks a wall with an ax as his crew battles flames inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 59 Atascadero Firefighters try to control flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 in Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 59 Contra Costa firefighters work to put out flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 59 Search teams sift through the debris of mobile homes at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 35 / 59 A worker pulls out a firearm from the burned wreckage as search team members look through the debris at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 59 Search team members sift through debris at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 59 Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey surveys the damage to the Coffey Park neighborhood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 38 / 59 Melted metal is seen on a car in the shadow of a destroyed home in Napa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 59 Lola Cornish, 50, and her daughter Kat Corazza, 18, look over recovered family jewels that survived the fire at Cornishs grandfathers home in Napa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 59 Some residents were allowed to return to their properties Friday in a neighborhood in Napa that was ravaged by the Atlas fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 59 A helicopter prepares to drop water on a fire that threatens the Oakmont community along Highway 12 in Santa Rosa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 59 A helicopter drops water on a fire that threatens the Ledson Winery and Historic Castle Vineyards in Kenwood on Friday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 59 Manuel Mendoza sorts through donated clothing at the Bridge Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 59 Jean Schettler hugs Father Moses Brown after Mass at St. Rose Church on Sunday. Schettlers daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, after losing their house in the fires, have moved into the Santa Rosa home of Jean and Jim Schettler. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 59 Gianna Gathman, 18, hugs her grandfather Jim Schettler during Mass at St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. Gathmans family lost their home in the Fountaingrove neighborhood to the fire. They are now living with the Schettlers. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 59 Kimberly Flinn holds onto the only item that wasnt lost in a fire that destroyed her home in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa. Flynn recovered a ceramic white butterfly that she had made in memory of a boy she used to babysit and was killed in a hit and run accident. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 59 Gerry Miller, 81, tells San Francisco Police Department Officer Gary Loo how grateful she is to find her home still standing. Residents were allowed to return to their homes in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa Sunday night. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 59 Denise Finitz, 61, thanks Torrance Fire Department firefighters Keith Picket, right, and Capt. Mike Salcido on Oct. 16 after they helped her find her mothers wedding ring in the ashes of her home, destroyed by wildfires on Carriage Lane in Wikiup. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 59 A search and rescue crew member gives a cadaver dog some water during the hunt for a possible fire victim in the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on Oct. 15. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 59 Burned cars like this vintage Volkswagen litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 59 A giraffe framed in the smoke filled air at the Safari West preserve. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 59 A Watusi bull looks out through the haze of the recent Tubbs fire at the Safari West preserve. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 59 Peter Lang, 77, owner of the Safari West preserve, stands between a pair of white rhinos against a backdrop of charred hillside in Santa Rosa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 59 Mark Sharp, a resident of Coffey Park, sifts through the remains of his charred home in search of his wifes wedding band. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 59 Flowers were left on the mailbox of Roy Howard Bowman, 87, and his wife, Irma Elsie Bowman, 88 who died at their Fisher Lake Drive home from the Redwood Valley fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 59 Dee Pallesen, left, and her daughter Emily Learn console each as they look over Pallesens home, destroyed by the Redwood Valley fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 59 Jason Miller plants an American flag on the charred remains of his house as residents of Coffey Park return home. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 59 Burned vehicles litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 59 A pickup truck rests beside a row of charred trees in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

As firefighters continued to battle one of the worst firestorms in California history, federal officials vowed to help.

Vice President Mike Pence said in a visit to Californias emergency management headquarters that President Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for California. When he spoke, 13 people had been confirmed dead.

Let me first say our hearts and the hearts of every American go out to the families of the 13 whove lost their lives. Its heartbreaking to think that many of the fallen represent our most vulnerable; in some cases senior citizens who simply were not able to escape the flames that overcame their homes, he said. They are in our prayers.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, the two biggest blazes  the Tubbs fire and the Atlas Peak fire in Napa County  had burned 27,000 and 25,000 acres, respectively, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. Both fires were uncontained, he said. Firefighters are hoping that winds will lessen enough Tuesday to allow crews to get a handle on the fires.

Though our containment numbers havent gone up just yet, weve at least been able to hold these fires and keep them at their current acreage, Berlant said. The Tubbs fire grew about 2,000 acres since Monday night.

Some of the smaller fires had some containment as of Monday night, he said: The 2,500-acre Sulphur fire in Lake County was 10% contained, and the 2,000-acre 37 fire in Sonoma County was 15% contained.

About 20,000 people evacuated their homes Sunday night and Monday, and there were additional evacuations in the Tubbs fire area and in Yuba County overnight, Berlant said.

Residents of some areas were allowed to return Tuesday night, including in the Forestville area.

Red flag warnings in effect throughout much of Northern California had expired as of Tuesday morning, Berlant said. Winds of up to 50 mph Sunday night helped spread the flames.

Overnight, the wind that had fanned these fires had really decreased, and that gave us an opportunity to really take a stand against these fires, Berlant said early Tuesday. We are again today hoping to see very little wind compared to Sunday.

But the cool and quiet of night did not stymie the progress of the Atlas fire, which stretched across the hills east of Napa and sparked a chain of more fires to the west.

They continue to move. They were moving all night, burning more structures in their wake, Cal Fire incident commander Kevin Lawson said Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, the Atlas fire was moving down the east side of a ridge into Solano County and threatening residents of Green Valley. The Partrick fire southwest of Napa was pushing toward heavily populated areas, and emergency planners warned that the fire could grow.

A few miles north, the community of Glen Ellen continued to be threatened by the Nuns fire burning in the Mayacamas Mountains.

Fire behavior specialist Jon Heggie told crews heading out at dawn Tuesday to be prepared for the fires to turn north and east into dry brush with 80% to 90% probability of ignition.

As of late Tuesday, the 16 fires in Northern California had destroyed up to 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures, said Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox.

Several thousand firefighters from across the state are battling the blazes, and some strike teams from Southern California have been sent north, Berlant said. The California National Guard has deployed six additional helicopters to aid in firefighting efforts.

And evacuees will not be able to return to their homes for some time, he said.

Many of these fires, its going to take several more days, even potentially more weeks, before we have full containment, Berlant said.

Still, some tried to get back to their houses Tuesday.

It took Brady Harvell almost two hours to find what he was looking for in the rubble of his parents home on the northwest corner of Santa Rosa.

Using a small spade to move ashes aside, Harvell had been searching for the Army dog tags he gave his father in 2013 when he returned from deployment in Iraq. At 12:40 p.m. he reached down and pulled it out of a gray pile. Harvell held it up and shouted: Got it! Oh, my God! Got it!

Marveling over the discolored and misshapen treasure in the palm of his hand, he said: I grew up here, all my memories are from this very spot. Its where I played and learned right from wrong. But the fire destroyed every photograph my mother and father had of me. It took all our memories, except this one.

Harvell reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone and dialed.

Love you, Brady, his father said at the other end of the line.

Love you, Dad, Harvell replied.

Lance Thomspon, 75, returned to his Hidden Valley neighborhood Tuesday to find streets filled with broken utility poles and huge tangles of smoldering power lines. Some streets were blocked by yellow police tape.

Once home to stately two-story brick homes fronting winding, narrow lanes gated by 100-foot pine trees, most of the neighborhood was reduced to ashes, twisted metal and broken water mains splashing onto heaps of blackened beams. The only things left standing were the skeletal trunks and limbs of charred pine trees and dozens of lonesome chimneys.

Thompson was one of the lucky ones. He didnt lose his home.

Leaping from ridge top to ridge top in grass and oak woodlands, flames raced across the heart of the California wine country, claiming houses, hotels, at least one winery and a dairy.

In Santa Rosa, the Tubbs fire leveled an entire neighborhood, burned a Hilton hotel, turned big-box stores into smoking ruins and prompted the evacuation of two hospitals  Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Kaisers Santa Rosa Medical Center.

At the Fountaingrove Inn, the fire left behind only the steel frame, now crooked in many places, and parts of the stone walls. A mess of tangled rebar, broken piping and blackened tree limbs lay strewn above piles of rubble. Water pipes hung askew and broken glass littered the hedges.

Amazingly, at the far side of the inn, a dry fountain, two wooden tables and about a dozen wooden chairs sat intact.

Farther up the hill at the sprawling Hilton site, small fires still smoldered and occasional pieces of debris rained down. On the far end of the property the pool and sitting area around it were untouched.

Though the conditions that fed the blazes  high winds from the interior, dried-up vegetation and low humidity  are more typical of Southern Californias fall fire season, the north has seen its share of horrific autumn wildfires.

The states second-deadliest blaze is the October 1991 Tunnel fire in the Oakland and Berkeley hills, which erupted on a quiet Sunday and killed 25 people.

The Tunnel fire also ranks as the most destructive wildfire in California history, consuming 2,900 structures.

Two years ago the Valley fire roared across Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, killing four people and destroying 1,995 buildings.

Survivors accounts and sheriffs dispatch recordings tell harrowing tales of the chaos that struck Sunday night.

Eric Anderson managed a narrow escape from his home on Mark West Springs Road, where the flames swooped down just before 10 p.m. and exploded into the town below, destroying hundreds of homes.

It just came through there, like a blowtorch, said Anderson, a contractor. I saw fire trucks racing up Martin West and then, five minutes later, I saw them racing down. I said, time to get out of here.

Anderson said residents in the wooded area, which is dotted with million-dollar homes, had little warning. As he loaded the last box of possessions into his car, a flurry of embers flew overhead, setting off spot fires throughout the hillside community.

Meanwhile in Napa County, terror that swept in with the wind-driven fire over those living on Atlas Peak was evident in the chaos that erupted in a span of less than 10 minutes over the Napa County sheriffs dispatch radio late Sunday night.

The distress calls, crackling over the radio since 10 p.m., arrived in rapid fire by 10:42 p.m.

Parents trapped in garage, one officer radioed in to the central dispatcher, giving an Atlas Peak Road address, followed by another warning: The fire is moving quickly through here.

Two minutes later, the dispatcher sent help to a second house on the road: Two people trapped.

Barely a minute later, a call came in for another house on the road: An elderly lady trapped.

At the same time, an officer on scene radioed in the loss of a nearby house. It is on fire now, it looks like they evacuated, he said.

The dispatcher sent out an all-points request for any units in the area.

Two people called, advising their house is on fire, and they need help evacuating.

A minute later, she repeated the call.

Is anybody able to go to 2232 for two people trapped in a house on fire?

Two deaths have been confirmed from the fire that tore through the neighborhood. Charles and Sara Rippey, ages 100 and 99.

One woman died as she was trying to flee the Cascade fire in Yuba County, county spokesman Russ Brown said.

The woman was in a convoy of cars traveling on Lone Tree Way in the town of Loma Rica, Brown said, when her car veered off the road amid heavy smoke.

Smoldering Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Staff reporters Javier Panzar, Joy Resmovits, Hailey Branson-Potts and Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this story.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.

ALSO

Fires strike a blow to the wine industry in Sonoma and Napa counties

Destructive fire turns suburban tracts into burned-out wasteland in Santa Rosa

Heavy smoke and ash from O.C. fire causes unhealthy air quality across region

UPDATES:

11:05 p.m.: This article was updated with a new estimate on structures destroyed and acreage.

7:20 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about deaths.

2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with accounts from people who escaped the fire and officials statements.

11:35 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information about deaths and missing person reports in Sonoma County.

11:30 a.m.: This article was updated with federal emergency order.

10:45 a.m.: This article was updated with details about where the fatalities occurred.

10:15 a.m.: This article was updated with additional fatality confirmations.

9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with details on reports of missing people in Sonoma County.

8:20 a.m.: This article was updated with reports on overnight activity of the Napa and Sonoma counties fires.

7:49 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the Northern California fires and evacuations.

7 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the Anaheim Hills fire.

This article was originally published at 5:55 a.m.
Gov. Jerry Brown approved a measure Monday to increase disclosure on prescription drug prices, the focal point of growing efforts to clamp down on climbing pharmaceutical costs.

Supporters call the law the nations most sweeping effort to make prescription drug pricing more transparent. The measure would require drugmakers to provide notice to health plans and other purchasers 60 days in advance of a planned price hike if the increase exceeds certain thresholds.

The measure, SB 17 by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa), will also require health plans to submit an annual report to the state that details the most frequently prescribed drugs, those that are most expensive and those that have been subject to the greatest year-to-year price increase.

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The essence of this bill is pretty simple, Brown said at a Capitol signing ceremony. Californians have a right to know why their medical costs are out of control, especially when pharmaceutical profits are soaring.

The disclosure, backers say, would help shed light on how prescription drugs are contributing to overall healthcare costs.

SB 17 speaks to the needs of all Californians who have felt the strain of nonstop prescription drug price increases, Charles Bacchi, president and chief executive of the California Assn. of Health Plans, said in a statement. Pharmaceutical prices have long played an outsized role in driving up the cost of health coverage across the board. SB 17 gives us the tools to address the issue by helping us prepare for price hikes and discouraging needless cost increases.

But pharmaceutical companies strongly opposed the measure, arguing the information would paint an inaccurate picture of drug spending, since the disclosure centers on full sticker cost set by manufacturers. Purchasers rarely pay the full list price, either through negotiated discounts or through use of consumer rebates or coupons.

It is disappointing that Gov. Brown has decided to sign a bill that is based on misleading rhetoric instead of whats in the best interest of patients, Priscilla VanderVeer, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. She said the measure ignores the reality that spending on prescription medicines remains a much smaller portion of overall healthcare spending.

VanderVeer said the manufacturers group was ready to work to combat affordability issues but added: Its time to move beyond creating new, costly bureaucratic programs that dont make a dent in patients costs for medicines.

Escalating drug prices inspired a slate of measures from lawmakers this year. Brown on Monday signed an additional measure, AB 265 by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), that will restrict the use of drug rebates or coupons for brand-name drugs when cheaper generic alternatives are available.

The law includes a number of exemptions, including for when patients have gotten authorization from their health insurers for brand-name treatments. But Wood has pitched his measure as a way to stem widespread use of such vouchers, which some researchers have said drive higher overall healthcare costs by giving patients incentive to pick pricier medicines.

Other related bills, including a measure to clamp down on gifts doctors can receive from pharmaceutical companies and a proposal to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, a little-scrutinized part of the drug supply chain, sputtered earlier this year.

The disclosure bill was seen as the centerpiece of the focus on drug prices, setting off a fierce lobbying battle in which the pharmaceutical industry squared off against a coalition of backers that included health plans, labor groups and consumer advocates.

It also garnered support from some Republican lawmakers, who have typically been aligned with drug makers.

Shouldnt we do something to help make this system operate better so we can get better cost savings for our consumers? Thats a conservative principle, said Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).

Now, Hernandez said, he hoped the law would inspire similar action on a national level.

I want to challenge our federal elected officials...to do the same thing at the national level, he said, so that we can make sure that every single person in this country not only has access to healthcare but they can afford their healthcare premium dollars.

In his signing remarks, Brown said the angst over rising drug costs  and manufacturers substantial profits  was symptomatic of the broader gap between the haves and have-nots.

The social and political fabric is being ripped apart, Brown said. The inequities are growing. The rich are getting richer, the powerful are getting more powerful and a growing number of people are getting more desperate, more alienated.

He directed a message to the pharmaceutical industry that opposed the bill: Youve got to join with us. Youre part of America. And if we all dont pull together, were going to pull apart.

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Follow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.

ALSO

Bill to shed more light on prescription drug prices heads to Gov. Jerry Browns desk

Updates from Sacramento

UPDATES:

5:19 p.m.: This article was updated to add information about a second drug pricing bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown and a comment from Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).

1:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with comments from Brown and Hernandez.

This article was originally published at 10 a.m.
The effort to prevent sewage from flowing from Tijuana into San Diego County got a small boost Monday when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation to provide about $2.1 million in funds for the effort.

Senate Bill 507, authored by state Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, and Assembly member Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, reallocates one-time funds previously designated for use by San Diego County under the Wildlife, Coastal and Park Land Conservation Act.

Under the legislation, up to $500,000 of the money will help pay for updating a recovery plan for the Tijuana River Valley, while the remainder of the funds can be used for rehabilitation of the impacted area and an envisioned park.

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It is my continued goal to protect my district from the disastrous effects these sewage spills have on health, water quality and the economy, Hueso said in a statement. I thank the Governor for signing this legislation so that we can begin working on long-term solutions to finally put an end to this issue that has long plagued our communities.

A massive sewage spill in the Tijuana River fouled beaches as far north as Coronado in February and March. Since then, polluted water has continued to regularly flow across the border into the Tijuana River Valley through the river and a system of canyons.

The contamination of the Tijuana River Valley has plagued this region for decades and its negatively impacted the health and quality-of-life for Coronado and Imperial Beach residents. Something has to be done and that is why Im grateful Governor Brown signed SB 507, Gloria said in a statement.

In response, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego filed against the federal government a notice of intent to sue in September. The legal notice alleges violations of the Clean Water Act, as well as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The U.S. side of the International Boundary and Water Commission  which oversees water treaties between Mexico and the United States and facilitates funding for infrastructure projects along the border  has until the end of November to come up with a spending blueprint that satisfied local officials or risk getting hauled into court.

The city of San Diego also recently signaled it will join the legal action as did the county on Tuesday. Coronado has agreed to reimburse cities up to $50,000 for any lawsuits that result.

The local Border Patrol union has said its also considering using the federal government, claiming its members have come down with respiratory problems and other illnesses while tracking down illegal crossers through polluted mud and water in the river valley.

The legal wrangling comes on the heels of a spending package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in September that seeks to eliminate the U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Grant Program, which has helped facilitate upgrades to prevent sewage spills in Tijuana.

An April investigation by the commission found that more than $500 million in repairs are needed in Tijuana to sewage pipes and water collectors. In the past, the cost of such upgrades has been shared by Mexico and the U.S.

Before the two countries spent billions of dollars to construct treatment plants on both sides of the border, around 10 million gallons of raw sewage a day flowed down the Tijuana River and into San Diego County.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
Another death was connected to San Diegos ongoing hepatitis A outbreak Tuesday even as the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations showed their smallest increases in weeks.

The county Health and Human Services Agency released its weekly update on the outbreak, bumping the number of deaths from 17 to 18. The number of confirmed cases grew by nine, reaching 490.

The latest death occurred in September and the public health department had been awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before adding it to the outbreak total.

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Dr. Wilma Wooten, the countys public health officer, said Tuesday that another death has since been reported, starting the multi-week wait for confirmation that the death was caused by one of the 15 strains detected in San Diegos outbreak which has now spread to other locations in California as well as Arizona and Utah.

Wooten went before the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday to request that the local public health emergency she declared on Sept. 1 be renewed for another two weeks. She said the county and local health providers have now delivered 68,500 hepatitis A vaccination doses, including 53,869 to those considered at-risk  homeless residents, drug users and those with liver diseases and compromised immune systems.

As of last Saturday, Wooten said 501 foot team missions have been conducted, taking the vaccination effort to sidewalks, street corners and riverbeds where many who are at risk sleep and socialize.

Dr. Nick Yphantides, the countys chief medical officer, took a moment at Tuesdays meeting to debunk what he said has become belief among some in the public that the outbreak is being caused by tainted water near where homeless are camped.

There (are) absolutely no established cases that are isolated to be associated with any water sources in the outbreak, Yphantides said.

The countys vaccination efforts, which have been bolstered by sanitation improvements from hand washing stations to periodic sidewalk cleaning, are about to enter a new phase.

Dr. Robert Schooley, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UC San Diego School of Medicine, said Tuesday that his organization, and other local health providers, are gearing up for a big outreach effort in San Diegos many single-room-occupancy hotels.

Were trying to figure out how best to configure the teams and to interact with the folks who run these facilities so that were efficient and not intrusive, Schooley said.

The San Diego Housing Commissions current list of single-occupancy hotels in the city includes 101 different properties with 5,068 rooms. Capacity ranges from the seven-room Gibraltar Lodge on Clay Avenue to the 325-room Golden West Hotel on 4th Avenue downtown.

These properties tend to rent one room per individual at prices far below the cost of an apartment. They often have shared bathroom facilities.

It was not clear Tuesday when the additional vaccination efforts might start. County health officials did not respond to requests for more information on the effort or on the overall trend in local case counts.

For the first time in many months, the number of new cases and hospitalizations added to overall totals rose by less than 10. Last week, by comparison, those same counts jumped by more than 20 in a week.

Does this mean that the outbreak is losing steam?

Wooten told the supervisors Tuesday that about 20 new cases per week were reported from May through August but, more recently, the trend has been two to three per day.

If the current new-case rate is closer to two per day than three then that would seem to indicate that the outbreaks spread is slowing a bit. Health department officials did not respond Tuesday to a request for more information.

Schooley, the UC San Diego infectious disease chief, said the outbreak is not currently producing the level of urgency that it did a few months ago.

It does look as if things are not increasing as rapidly as they were in the spring. Over the last number of weeks things seem to be stabilizing, Schooley said.

But he cautioned that, especially with a disease that has a five- to 50-day incubation period, its too soon to make definitive statements about the outbreak.

While the trends weve seen are very good, its too early to say were seeing an end, Schooley said.

UC San Diego hospitals had treated 115 hepatitis A patients, including seven who died, as of Sept. 22.

Wooten told the board that there were still 47 suspected cases under investigation, the same number that a county official cited last week.

Because it takes weeks for the CDC to confirm that each case was caused by the same hepatitis A strains identified in the countys outbreak, the official number of confirmed cases always lags behind preliminary totals.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
Dozens of women, ranging from mothers with young children to seniors with walkers, arrived at the citys first sanctioned homeless camp Monday with a mixture of trepidation, anxiety and hope.

How are you doing? asked one of the workers from the Alpha Project, the nonprofit running the campsite, to a woman who had recently arrived.

Im a little scared, said the woman, who gave her name only as Dawn. The worker gave her a reassuring hug and let her know everything would be all right.

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Others arrived with smiles, with some saying they saw the day as a turning point.

I think its great that I get a second chance in life, said Terrie Woolever, 58, a San Diego native. I thought of suicide a lot. When I came here today, I was surprised. I was happy. Everything changed.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced the opening of the site last week in response to a hepatitis A outbreak that has disproportionately affecting the homeless, leaving 17 dead and hundreds hospitalized.

The encampment also provides some relief from the harsh living conditions for people on the street and the neighborhoods that have seen a growing number of makeshift sidewalk shelters in recent years.

An annual count conducted in January found 9,116 homeless people countywide and 5,619 in the city of San Diego. Of those, 3,231 in the city were unsheltered, with 1,276 on downtown streets.

The asphalt campgrounds is in a public works yard off 20th and B streets and is expected to hold about 200 people. Monday was move-in day for about 65, including some of the most vulnerable on the street.

As the first wave arrived, the condition of some woman who might have been on the streets the night before was alarming. Many appeared to be at least in their 60s. One was severely hunched over and used a walker, one woman had a pronounced limp and a third had braces on both wrists.

A later wave of women were younger and healthier, but likely had other issues. Most of the arrivals Monday were picked up from Rachels Womens Center, a drop-in facility that provides services for women who are homeless, have physical disabilities, are mentally or emotionally disturbed or in recovery.

I can finally exhale, said Hayley Salas, 54, as she relaxed after arriving on the site with her dogs, Bubba and Poopers.

Salas, a San Diego native who has been homeless since 2006, said she is overcoming addiction and hoping to receive donations to help pay for a $35,000 operation she said she needs to correct a neck problem that has caused numbness in three fingers on each hand.

Its been horrible, but its going to make one heck of a last chapter, she said, referring to a book she plans to write about her life.

Salas said she is particularly happy that she can take her beloved pets with her in the encampment.

A lot of places dont take animals, she said. Thank God they did here. I love them. Theyre like my children I couldnt have.

A fenced-off area with 35 tents is reserved for women and children, and men who will arrive this week will be in a larger area that women and children can visit.

Since the opening of the camp was announced, the Alpha Project has been scrambling to get everything in place by the scheduled opening.

Alpha Project President and CEO Bob McElroy spent much of the morning on either a cell phone or walkie-talkie and meeting with staff members on last-minute details.

Dinner is at 5, he said as people began arriving. What do we do about lunch? Get 15 pizzas. Is that enough? Get 20.

The move-in appeared to go smoothly, with portable showers and toilets in place as people arrived. Only about 50 tents were set up in the morning at the 136-space site, but more would be set up by the end of the day after a shipment arrived, McElroy said.

Pauline Bobenrieth, public health manager for San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, was at the site with six nurses to give flu and hepatitis A vaccinations to the arrivals. Almost all already had a hepatitis A vaccination from the countys street outreach teams, and they knew when they were due for a booster shot.

Faulkner stopped by the site and praised the Alpha Project for the quick work in putting the site together and also stressed that the temporary site was just part of a larger effort to end homelessness.

Its not about a temporary bed for a night or a couple of weeks, but getting people into permanent housing, he said.

Next, the city plans to open at least three large industrial tents to serves as temporary shelters with wrap-around services. The first will be run by the Alpha Project and serve 380 to 400 people, and McElroy said he expects it to open in East Village before Thanksgiving.

The encampment that opened Monday will close as people transition into the East Village tent.

Its nice and cozy, said Cheryl Blue, 58, as she moved into her tent. Its not Buckingham Palace, but its comfortable.

A San Diego native, Blue said she became homeless in 2011 after filing for divorce. She usually spent nights with about five other people under a tarp on the corner of 2nd and A streets downtown.

To tell you the truth, most of it I thoroughly enjoyed, she said. Its been fun.

But Blue said she has done some growing up on the street, and her outlook got better two years ago when she began going to church.

She has a vascular condition making mobility difficult, and Blue said she plans to get a small place in the future with money shes receiving from Social Security Supplemental Security Income.

All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air, she sang, bursting into Wouldnt it be Loverly from My Fair Lady.

Dawn, who said she had been gainfully employed in the high-tech industry before losing her job in the 2008 recession, was nervous but optimistic about moving in.

I dont expect it to be fancy schmantzy at all, she said. Its going to be basic living.

Dawn said she has been attending UC San Diego and is one class away from earning a human resources certificate.

What the heck is a girl like me doing in a place like this? she said. But I got into a rut. I dont have any family, so this is it.

Chris Snyder, 38, was the only man at the site Monday morning. He arrived with his wife and two young daughters and was assigned a separate tent.

We came down here and tried to make it work, but its been a lot tougher than we thought, he said, explaining that he and his wife had jobs in the Central Valley before coming to San Diego. Some things fell through, so we ended up staying in Balboa Park.

Shortly after he arrived, McElroy offered Snyder a job helping at the campsite.

Its a big weight off our shoulders, he said. I got to say, we were getting pretty scared and not enjoying spending the nights out in the street.

McElroy said donations of diapers, wipes, childrens toys, socks, milk and hygiene packs are welcome and can be dropped off at the gate at 1484 Caminito Center or donated by calling the Alpha Project at (619) 542-1877.

Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
While those who support tougher border security embraced President Donald Trumps latest list of immigration restrictions, San Diegos dreamers say they are frustrated by the political ping pong match being played with their futures.

With the clock ticking on the time Trump allotted to pass legislation to protect unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, the President sent a letter to Congress Sunday night demanding a hard-line wish list of legislation in exchange for a solution.

Advocacy groups quickly condemned the move that could derail negotiations for a permanent fix for young immigrants who participated in a program that provided temporary work authorization and protection from deportation.

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Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, at the beginning of September and gave Congress six months to act before getting rid of it completely.

Over the course of his campaign and presidency, he has alternately denounced the program and its participants and suggested that he sympathized with them and wanted them to stay in the U.S.

I feel played again, said Ignacio Hernandez, a beneficiary of the program and fourth-year student at San Diego City College. We, DACA recipients, are being used and targeted. If these demands pass, a lot of people will be affected.

If these demands do not pass, DACA recipients will be affected, he said. Either option will have an immense effect on people. Both sides include people who have been great citizen models to others and who have helped our communities.

San Diegans who have supported Trumps immigration policies since the start of his campaign welcomed what was, for them, answers to many problems that have bothered them for years.

Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California who is chairman of the board for an immigration restrictionist think tank, called the letter an exhaustive list of remedies for almost everything that I can think of thats been wrong with our immigration system for decades.

The most important items on Trumps list, he said, were moving to a merit-based immigration system, making E-verify mandatory for employers to check employees work authorization and turning overstaying a visa into a criminal offense.

He recognized that not everything on the list is likely to make it through negotiations in Congress, he said. He was hopeful that politicians on the enforcement side of the debate would stand firm on some of them.

Beyond the list, he wanted legislators to make sure that whatever relief is given to DACA recipients does not encourage more unauthorized migration.

He called the push for a clean DREAM Act, which would provide relief to dreamers without making other changes to immigration law, a terrible idea.

Once the Trump administration or the pro-enforcement side gives up on the dreamer relief, the other side has no reason to negotiate on any of these other issues as they havent since 1986, Nunez said. Its unfortunate that it takes something like the plight of the dreamers to finally get everybody to focus on the issues that demonstrate the weaknesses in our immigration policy, but if thats what it takes to finally get things fixed, so be it.

Itzel Guillen, a DACA recipient, said shes heard concerns like Nunezs before, and she thinks they dont take into account the reasons why people choose to immigrate without authorization, like the decades-long waits for green cards.

She said pushes to include some kind of stipulation like waiting longer to become a citizen or not having the ability to sponsor green cards for family members are hurtful to her.

Thats still creating a distinction between good immigrant and bad immigrant, Guillen said. I dont think anybody should be pitted against our parents because of an immigration status that we hold.

Guillen, who works as an organizer at Alliance San Diego, which advocates for immigrants rights, still believes that a fix could come in time, and shes helping plan a trip for DACA recipients to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C.

I definitely dont think Ive lost hope, she said. Im a little more frustrated and angry than I was before because this is our lives, and were having to wake up again every day not knowing whats going to happen and what theyre going to use our lives for.

Marco Ortiz Sanchez, also a DACA recipient, recently met with members of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Ortiz Sanchez, 18 and a student at UC Irvine, said that the trip made him hopeful because even Republican legislators seemed willing to find a solution.

Hearing about Trumps letter was disheartening, he said.

To be honest, it sucks. You dont know whats going to happen, Ortiz Sanchez said. Weve worked so hard for everything we have. We feel weve contributed to this nation. We feel we should be Americans.

Most San Diego County voters think unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the country as children should be able to get legal status, according to a recent poll commissioned by Alliance San Diego.

The poll found that 82 percent of county voters would support giving them permanent legal status if they graduate high school and have no criminal record, and 66 percent would prioritize protecting dreamers from deportation over increasing border security.

The poll, conducted by a Los Angeles research firm before Trump sent his demand letter to Congress, asked 898 San Diego County voters about their opinions on immigration-related policies. About 39 percent of those voters were registered Democrats, and 36 percent were registered Republicans. The remaining voters had no party preference or were listed as other.

Christian Ramirez, human rights director at Alliance San Diego, said he could accept compromise on some border security measures, like improving technology for tunnel detection or hiring more staff to work at ports of entry, but not on the items in Trumps letter.

To have the White House release these proposals that have nothing to do with trying to find a solution and everything to do with continuing to govern through rhetoric really had me shocked, Ramirez said. Its completely outrageous that the president is playing games with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I believe there are reasonable minds in the Senate who can say, Lets get to work.

He is still hopeful that Congress will reach a bipartisan agreement in time.

Democratic members of Congress, who typically send out statements proactively when Trump takes a hard-line stance on immigration, were quiet Monday. It was not clear whether their silence on the topic was because of the federal holiday or whether they were not taking the list seriously.

Some members of Congress have said theyre hoping for a solution by the end of the year.

Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter
A group of refugee aid organizations and health care providers formed a coalition dedicated to improving mental health support for refugees in San Diego County.

Members of the MIND Coalition, or Matters Involving Neuro-Disorders, gathered at the Nile Sisters Development Initiative headquarters in City Heights on Tuesday, also World Mental Health Day, to announce its official launch.

The need for mental health among refugees is huge, said Elizabeth Lou, CEO of Nile Sisters.

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For many refugees, the reasons that brought them to the U.S. can leave lasting trauma in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder or other conditions, Lou said.

The challenges that refugees face when they come to San Diego, like finding employment and covering housing costs, she said, can trigger or exacerbate mental health conditions.

The organizations realized that they needed to take action, said Rebecca Paida, program manager at Nile Sisters, after three former refugees experiencing mental health crises were fatally shot by police between 2014 and 2016. Advocates also learned about several suicides in the refugee community.

The intent isnt to point fingers, Paida said. Its to say, Together, can we solve it collectively?

People from a variety of organizations, including San Diego Unified School District, branches of county health services and the San Diego Police Department, have offered their expertise to the group, she said.

Many of the coalitions members are also former refugees who understand the particular cultural needs of their communities.

They hope to address some of the stigma that keeps refugees from getting help.

John Kuek, a therapist at La Maestra, said that in many of the countries where refugees come from, those who seek mental health services are looked at as useless.

To the refugee community, its real, Kuek said. We do not want to be seen going to see a therapist.

Justin Mudekereza, executive director of New Neighbor Relief, said that issues like translators used by health providers not speaking the refugees dialect can keep refugees from getting the care they need.

Mudekereza, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, explained that words like numbers and days of the week in his countrys version of Swahili are different from those of Swahili spoken in Tanzania or Kenya.

The coalition is making a toolkit for service providers to help refugees seek culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter
San Diego County supervisors approved almost $500,000 in grants to local nonprofit groups and government offices Tuesday, the latest contributions under a program that allows elected officials to distribute millions of dollars a year to organizations of their own choosing.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to 22 separate grants totaling just over $494,000. The grants were approved without any public discussion as part of whats called the consent agenda.

The Neighborhood Reinvestment Program, which has been criticized as a slush fund that allows politicians to build political support across their districts using public funds, provides each supervisor $2 million a year to distribute to favored charities and government programs.

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On Tuesday, Supervisor Bill Horn requested two grants totaling $105,311. Horn sought $100,000 for Solutions for Change, a Vista charity that seeks to fight homelessness. Horn and board colleague Kristin Gaspar serve on a community leadership group for the agency.

Gaspar proposed 13 awards worth $242,241, with the smallest being $5,300 to the Biocom Institute and the largest grant totaling $40,000 to the Alliance for Quality Education.

The $40,000 to the Alliance for Quality Education is five times the charitys total assets reported as June 30, 2016, the latest year for which the state Attorney Generals Office has records available.

The Alliance for Quality Education was founded by former San Diego schools trustee Mitz Lee and operates a senior center in Mira Mesa. The funds will pay for renovations. Lees husband also serves on the charity board.

Supervisor Greg Cox requested seven grants worth $146,505. Coxs largest grant was $75,000 to the county library. He also directed $38,641 to the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce for office improvements.

Supervisors say the program funds for groups that might otherwise not receive needed funding. Over the years they have put a set of rules in place that prohibit recipient groups from thanking individual supervisors with plaques or other shows of gratitude.

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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
San Diegos first black city councilman and only black county supervisor will be honored with a street name change near his home in Golden Hill, where he was the first African American to move into the whites-only community 70 years ago.

The 3000 block of E Street will be named in honor of Leon Williams, who boosted local transit options, helped create the local public defenders office and helped press for tough smoking regulations.

Williams, 95, was the first African American to be elected to council in 1969 and the only black elected to the County Board of Supervisors in 1982.

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Councilwoman Barbara Bry said Williams set a great example of how to fight peacefully for social change.

You have always been a role model for me for the importance of keeping discourse civil, Bry said.

Williams thanked the council and said it was great to be recognized.

I never wanted to hit anybody, hurt anybody or take anything from anybody and it seems that to me thats the way we all ought to live, Williams said.

A renaming ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 20. Councilman Chris Ward, whose district includes Golden Hill, nominated Williams for the honor and will pay for the signs.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
Road crews will close state Route 125 in both directions tonight at Mission Gorge Road in Santee for pavement repairs, authorities said.

The closure, at the area where northbound SR-125 ends and the southbound lanes begin, will be in effect from 9 p.m. tonight until 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to Caltrans Cathryne Bruce-Johnson.

Northbound motorists will be detoured to eastbound or westbound state Route 52,' Bruce-Johnson said. Motorists on Mission Gorge Road will be detoured to Cuyamaca Street, to westbound SR-52 to southbound SR-125.

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Caltrans reminded drivers to be work-zone alert and slow down when nearing highway work areas.
As flames rip across California, claiming lives and destroying hundreds of structures, local firefighters are among the crews beating back the blazes.

On Monday morning, Lakeside fire Capt. Matthew Buzzell was headed with his crew to Napa, where some of the largest fires are raging, when one closer to home ignited.

The crew was redirected to the Canyon No. 2 fire, which was ripping across Anaheim Hills in Orange County.

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The team  made up of a handful of San Diego County fire agencies  was sent to Gypsum Canyon, near where the fire had sparked. The sky overhead was a smoky sepia as fire crews from across the region battled nearby flames, Buzzell said.

His team got to work right away.

The firefighters worked for 24 hours straight, laying thousands of feet of hose as they put out hot spots in rugged terrain near state Route 91. They were always prepared for the wind to shift, which would have sent the flames their way, Buzzell said.

In its first 12 hours, the Canyon No. 2 fire would char 6,000 acres and destroy 24 structures.

When were thrown into the mix with a job to do, we dont really have time to think about the situation, he said Tuesday. But at the end of the shift, we kind of realized the state of things.

Its disheartening. We never want to see people lose their homes or properties, but thats why were here  to help minimize that from happening.

Firefighters from departments in San Diego, Lakeside, Chula Vista, San Miguel, the Viejas Indian Reservation and the Barona Indian Reservation left throughout the day Monday and Tuesday to help douse the Anaheim Hills fire.

At least one firefighter  from Chula Vista  was sent to help with fires in the Napa area.

Its unclear how long theyll be there, fire officials said.

There are several large fires burning in the Napa and Santa Rosa areas including the Atlas fire, which has charred 25,000 in the area of Lake Berryessa, and the Tubbs fire in Calistoga, which has scorched 27,000 acres.

Nearly two dozen fires are burning across Northern California, according to Cal Fire. At least 15 people have died and hundreds have been reported missing.

As fires rage elsewhere, firefighters in San Diego County spent Monday and Tuesday on high alert. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for mountain and valley areas between 8 a.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Tuesday. The elevated wildfire risk will begin to ease Tuesday evening.

October is a historically dangerous month for devastating wildfires, according to Cal Fire statistics.

Seven of the states 20 deadliest fires have started in October, including the 2003 Cedar fire and the 2007 Harris fire, both of which sparked in San Diego County.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
Californias so-called sanctuary state law, which was signed into law last week, changes how local law enforcement interacts with immigration authorities. What does it mean for San Diego County?

While the measure, which goes into effect Jan. 1, isnt expected to bring major change to the region in terms of law enforcement operations, it still leaves Sheriff Bill Gore  who is responsible for the countys jails  with some lingering concerns about potential public safety consequences.

His top concern: Jail deputies will no longer be able to notify immigration officials prior to the release of non-citizen inmates arrested for lower-level offenses  from simple drug possession to misdemeanor domestic violence to petty theft. That puts potential chronic troublemakers back on the streets and causes immigration authorities to have to hunt them down in the community  at work, home or public places  rather than detain them in the safety of a jail setting, Gore said.

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Instead of taking them into custody in the facility, they will be out in the neighborhoods.  It tends to make us less safe, Gore said in an interview Tuesday.

Senate Bill 54 was Californias reaction to the aggressive immigration enforcement policies of President Donald Trump. The law generally sought to prevent local and state law enforcement from enforcing immigration law and took steps to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The legislation made several revisions in response to an outcry by public safety leaders, with Gov. Jerry Brown signing a final negotiated law that he said balanced efforts to target dangerous criminals while protecting unauthorized immigrants who werent causing trouble.

In San Diego, the county Sheriffs Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have a long history of cooperation in the jails. While a 2013 state law prohibited jailers from holding on to non-citizen inmates past their release date, the county does notify ICE when inmates of interest are going to be released so they can be transferred into federal custody.

That is still the case under the new law, but only when it comes to about 800 specific serious crimes. For crimes not listed, jailers are not allowed to notify ICE about pending releases.

Gore said that even though those crimes might be considered minor offenses  such as offenses recently made misdemeanors under Proposition 47  there is nothing to account for repeat offenders.

Thats what bothers me, repeat offenses of drug use, theft, domestic violence, DUI. Thats OK according to the state legislature. We dont mind (unauthorized immigrants arrested for these crimes) staying in the country, living in the country, Gore said. To me thats problematic.

ICE has already warned that the law will have unintended consequences: forcing immigration authorities to find the released inmates in the community to be arrested and removed from the U.S. And any other unauthorized immigrants nearby might also be caught in the fray, whether they have committed other crimes or not.

ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community, according to a statement by ICE Acting Director Tom Homan last week in response to the governors signing.

Despite the changes, Gore doesnt think Senate Bill 54 will have a major effect on sheriffs operations.

A very small percentage of undocumented people get arrested here. Most are working trying to make a better life for their families, Gore said. Theres this perception of rounding them up in jail so they can be deported. You have to work pretty hard these days to wind up in one of my jails.

One of the main thrusts of the law, prohibiting state and local law enforcement from acting as immigration officers, will not be an issue in San Diego County, Gore said. Law enforcement here have not supported or practiced those tactics for some time and do not inquire about a persons immigration status.

I dont want my deputies enforcing immigration law in San Diego County, Gore said. I dont want undocumented people to be afraid to report crimes or be witnesses to crimes. It makes us all less safe. It is a perspective shared by all other public safety leadership in the county, he added.

The law also limits cooperation with federal law enforcement on task forces that target immigration offenses. Gore said none of the task forces that San Diego agencies participate in are focused on immigration.

Our task forces target human trafficking, gangs, drug-trafficking organizations, Gore explained. If ICE can help in getting rid of people involved in criminal activity, then thats appropriate.

Also, the law prohibits local agencies from using resources to provide immigration authorities dedicated office space inside the jails. While ICE is a common presence inside county jails, ICE officers work out of community spaces that can be shared by all visiting agencies, Gore said, which is OK under the law.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
FLEET UPDATE

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography research vessel Roger Revelle is scheduled to arrive at its permanent home in San Diego Bay on Tuesday after spending an extended period at sea, exploring the massive subduction zone off the Pacific Northwest.

Researchers studied both volcanic and earthquake features in and around the Juan de Fuca plate, which is moving under  or subducting  the North American plate.

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The Revelles sister ship, R/V Sally Ride, is carrying out research in the Channel Islands in association with FLIP, the acronym for the Floating Instrument Platform. The platforms  both operated by UC Sna Diegos Scripps  have been studying the interface between the ocean and lower atmosphere.

Another Scripps vessel, the Robert Gordon Sproul, is located about 200 miles off San Diego, conducting research on phytoplankton.

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gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
An accomplished broadcast journalist admired for his quick wit and thorough reporting, Chris Saunders was the kind of man who didnt have acquaintances. He only had friends.

He was a goofball but also engaging and an incredibly dedicated and a fabulous journalist, Marsha Herman, his wife, says. We met at a party in Baltimore, and I adored him from the very beginning.

Saunders  an Emmy Award-winning journalist and media professional  died Sept. 21 at UCSD Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. The cause was esophageal cancer.

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He was 67.

Saunders had a long history in broadcast news. He began in radio, working for WCBM in Baltimore before switching to television. He worked for WJZ and WBAL in Baltimore. In San Diego, he was an assignment editor and producer at KCST, the early call letters for whats now NBC affiliate KNSD Channel 7. He eventually worked as a reporter, anchor and producer at the CBS affiliate, KFMB Channel 8, where he was an on-air staple for 20 years.

Jody Hammond, a KFMB colleague and friend, says he was a spark in the newsroom, known for his quirky sense of humor and his dedication to his work.

I saw him in the hospital just after he had had surgery, and although he was in pain and frail, he was still making jokes, Hammond recalls. But he was serious about his work. He always found a way to do a story that was memorable, and he was passionate about telling the truth.

Saunders left journalism to become a public affairs officer with the San Diego County Sheriffs Department. He went on to become the media relations and production manager at California Western School of Law and director of news and media relations at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Most recently, he worked as the public relations manager at Palomar Health.

His work with the (Sheriffs Department) was important for him because it gave him the opportunity to train public information officers throughout the state on how to communicate with the media and how to get the best coverage. ... It was a joy for him to work on the other side. He had an immense respect for the media, says Herman, who moved with Saunders from Baltimore to San Diego County in 1978.

Born on Nov. 12, 1949, Saunders was the second of four children. His father was born Joaquin Sardinas but changed his family name to Saunders prior to escaping the Dominican Republic under President Rafael Trujillo. His mother was Anabel Vogler Saunders.

He was always very proud that his dad really was a rocket scientist who immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, says Hammond, who added that Saunders father was the director of operations for Martin Marietta Corp. during the time when it handled the Lunar Excursion Module.

Saunders proudly served on several boards, including the Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Coalition, Trauma Intervention Programs of San Diego and San Diego Padres Hispanic Community Leadership Council.

His father came to U.S. in the 1940s and being Hispanic was a big deal, Herman says. Chris said growing up in his house was a lot like I Love Lucy. He didnt speak Spanish as a child and told me it wasnt accepted in the 1950s to be Latino.

In addition to his on-air talents, Saunders was an accomplished rock and roll musician who sang and played both piano and guitar. Most recently, he performed with a band called the Innocent Bystanders, playing gigs around North County.

One of Saunders most memorable stories was his coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Beatles coming to America.

We got to go to London and Liverpool, recalls Dean Elwood, the news director at KFMB who was Saunders producer during his time at the station. We stayed about a week. We did a bunch of Beatles stories. We happened to run into Johns uncle in a park and hung out and talked with him. We went to Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles actually played. Chris got to play the piano. He played Let It Be. And we walked the famous Abbey Road crosswalk. It was an amazing trip for Beatles fans.

Saunders and his wife, residents of Encinitas for 32 years, were married for 40 years. She credits many things for keeping them close. One ritual shell definitely miss? The New York Times crossword puzzle  they worked on it together every Sunday.

The thing about being married for a really long time is how easy communication is, Herman says. Sitting on the couch and chatting about dinner or whos going to walk the dog. Theres an easiness.

Im going to miss that so much.

Hearing him call me on his way home and the way he said my name, putting my cold feet against him  all the little things. I just dont believe I dont get to have them anymore. He enjoyed life up to the last moment. He was singing with the nurses on the day he died.

He is survived by his wife; daughters Juliet Saunders of Alpine and Hillary Sardinas of Albany, Calif.; and two grandchildren, Nylea Luna, age 2, and Jada Mei, 3 weeks.

A memorial is planned for Oct. 22. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Saunders name to the Anti-Defamation League-San Diego, California Innocence Project or the Esophageal Cancer Action Network.

Sager is a freelance writer.

Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
San Diego is transforming into more than Americas Finest City. Its becoming a culinary hot spot. Previously known for its fish tacos and oceanside cuisine, creative chefs from across the United States and even Mexico are filling the city with everything from exotic flavors to good old American barbecue. Foodies from all over are packing into our local eateries to check out the hype.

Unfortunately for our booming food industry, a decision out of Washington, D.C., is threatening the livelihood of the countrys restaurant and hospitality industry. The National Labor Relations Board in 2015 redefined what it means to be a joint employer, or when two companies share supervision of an employee.

Its no longer clear whether outsourcing the laundry makes a bed-and-breakfast owner liable for workplace safety at the neighboring dry cleaner or if contracting out some renovations puts an authentic Mexican restaurant owner on the hook for construction workers unpaid overtime.

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The wide-ranging uncertainty that is infecting entrepreneurs could have widespread economic impact, too. Despite chefs and restaurant owners flocking to San Diego from all over, our fine city is experiencing a flat unemployment rate and a year-over-year decline in hiring.

How can that be so? No doubt, much can be attributed to an unstable employer environment.

Business owners are now using their limited resources to buy extra liability insurance and invest in legal counsel to protect the businesses they built. This is money that could be used to expand and hire more employees. The consequences of the joint employer ambiguities on the hospitality industry are a big deal in an area where nearly 35 million visitors spent $10.4 billion locally on tourism last year  supporting 184,000 leisure and hospitality jobs. To help invigorate economic momentum and job growth in San Diego, lawmakers must consider a fix to this standard.

Recently, there has been a welcome flurry of activity in our nations capital to try and provide restaurant owners and small businesses with some much-needed clarity. In fact, the Department of Labor moved in June to roll back the controversial decision with an executive order. Both developments prove that policymakers on both sides of the aisle hear the restaurant and small business communitys concerns. But in order to sustain a clear understanding that small business owners can rely upon, Congress must act.

Fortunately, there is already a piece of bipartisan legislation in Congress that would immediately fix this two-year old problem. The Save Local Business Act (House Resolution 3441) would return us to the common-sense definition where a business owner is accountable for his or her own employees, not those of other companies. Additionally, workers would be employed by the companies that hired them, not every other entity they consult for, contract with or provide services to.

Bringing back straightforward employer-employee relationships will make the workplace a less confusing place, where both sides can be confident in the lines of communication and responsibility. This will, in turn, have a positive impact on restaurateurs that are eager to return their focus to making great food.

H.R. 3441 is exactly what San Diego restaurants need. Hopefully, the California congressional delegation will sign onto this bill and continue leading the way for our bustling hospitality community. Our innovative chefs, restaurateurs and best-in-class workers who make this Americas Finest City are counting on it.

Duggan is the director of local government affairs of San Diego, Imperial, Riverside and San Bernadino counties for the California Restaurant Association.
A California senator for 25 years, 84-year-old Dianne Feinstein this week announced shell run for another six-year term in 2018. The former San Francisco mayor, a Democrat, did so despite facing pointed criticism from some prominent figures in progressive politics in recent months.

I am running for reelection to the Senate. Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. Im all in!  Dianne Feinstein (@DianneFeinstein) October 9, 2017

Writing in the Los Angeles Times in July, Harold Meyerson, executive editor of The American Prospect, raised questions about Feinsteins age and said she should give way to a host of younger Democrats more attuned than she to their partys new progressivism. Senate President Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, criticized Feinstein in August for conceding Donald Trump might end up being a good president and again Sunday after apparently perceiving some deficiency in the latest iteration of Feinsteins career-defining support of smart gun control. On Monday, Markos Moulitsas  founder of Daily Kos, an influential Oakland-based blog  said he wants to work with de Leon to beat the most pro-Trump blue-state Dem in the country!

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Hey @kdeleon, lets talk! We share a common interest in this Senate race. Lets beat the most pro-Trump Blue-state Dem in the country! https://t.co/F9K3oVGCxa  Markos Moulitsas (@markos) October 9, 2017

Given her amply evident competence, the idea that Feinstein shouldnt seek re-election because of her age is offensive, especially from progressives who otherwise vigilantly oppose such categorical bias. Its also arguably sexist, given Washingtons history of celebrating aging male senators for their long public service. But the idea that Feinstein shouldnt seek re-election because she is a bad Democrat is downright toxic. She is far from a fan of Trump, and on guns, womens rights, civil rights, gay rights and the environment, she has been a progressive stalwart. On national security and some less partisan issues, she is in the tradition of hard-nosed centrist Senate Democrats like Henry Jackson of Washington and Hillary Clinton of New York.

So let the Senate campaign begin.

Yes, of course, the most liberal elements of the Democratic Party are on the ascent. Millions of Americans love Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist who nearly denied Clinton the Democratic presidential nomination last year. They are so prominent in California that it seems likely that Feinstein will have a primary opponent on her left, and possibly a prominent one, only starting with de Leon and billionaire activist Tom Steyer.

But there are also many millions of Americans, including plenty in California, who dont fit in neat little boxes and who welcome leaders with a centrist streak. Clinton, after all, defeated Sanders by more than 360,000 votes  7 percent  in the states primary last June.

That this happened in deep-blue California is reassuring. It suggests that  at least for now  the purity-demanding tea party that often dominates Republican politics wont face a powerful mirror caucus shaping Democratic politics.

But if both parties embrace purity tests and shun big-tent politics, watch out. That is a recipe for an era that is even more acrimonious  and even less productive  than the one Americans are now suffering through.

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Two commercial truck drivers have been charged under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act after 11 foreign nationals were found inside their truck traveling on the Ambassador Bridge.The Canada Border Services Agency announced Tuesday that Paul Ngoue-Ngameleu, 42, and Henadez Makia Mbeh, 50, both residents of Quebec, were returning to Canada on Sept. 21 with a load of produce and only declared the commercial shipment.The men were away for a week and during the examination of the truck, border officers found 11 foreign nationals hiding behind a curtain in the sleeper area of the truck.The foreign nationals were refused entry to Canada and returned to the United States.Ngoue-Ngameleu and Makia Mbeh were each charged 23 charges by the Canada Border Services Agency, including 11 counts of counseling, 11 counts of misrepresentation and withholding material facts and one count of impeding an officer.Ngoue-Ngameleu and Makia Mbeh were both released on bail and are scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor on Oct. 23, according to a Canada Border Services Agency press release.
Last weeks bombshell report from The New York Times documenting nearly three decades of sexual harassment allegations against famous film producer Harvey Weinstein continues to reverberate through Hollywood as the film industry finds itself publicly confronting how such behavior went unaddressed for so long  and what to do now.

On Sunday Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company , the film studio he and his brother Bob founded after leaving Miramax Films in 2005. Weinsteins popular films include Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love and collectively have garnered hundreds of Oscar nominations, so his fast fall from power is gaining attention everywhere. On Tuesday, more details of his pattern of misconduct emerged in The New Yorker, including allegations of sexual assault.

Now stars  mostly women, but some men  are coming forward to condemn his behavior and call on industry leaders to take responsibility and improve conditions for women in film.

Heres a look at how Hollywood has reacted.

Women in Hollywood

The women who went on the record to share their allegations  which Weinstein has apologized for  are being hailed for their bravery. They include actress Ashley Judd and eight other women, some of whom were his former employees.

Rosanna Arquette, sister to Patricia Arquette shown above, was one of the actresses who came forward with allegations against Weinstein in The New Yorker this week.

Legendary actress Meryl Streep also released a statement. She wrote that not everybody knew, about his conduct and labeled his behavior inexcusable and an abuse of power.

The New York Times has published a statement received from Glenn Close , who called for a new culture of respect respect, equality and empowerment, where bullies and their enablers are no longer allowed to prosper.

Kate Winslet told Variety she finds the reports deeply shocking to hear and Weinsteins actions disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong.

Here are how other women in Hollywood have reacted.

Men in Hollywood

Men in the industry have been much slower to respond. The Guardian contacted 20 actors and directors who have worked with Weinstein and all of them declined to comment or did not respond.

Those following the story have been watching for how actors tied to Weinsteins projects over the years would handle the situation. George Clooney was one of the first to speak up, calling the producers actions indefensible.

Ive known Harvey for 20 years, Clooney told The Daily Beast. He gave me my first big break as an actor in films on From Dusk Till Dawn, he gave me my first big break as a director with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Weve had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behaviorever.

Read a Q&A he did with The Daily Beast on the subject here.

Ben Affleck, whose own career took off after Weinstein produced Good Will Hunting, said he was saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades.

Sharon Waxman, a former reporter for The New York Times who went on to found The Wrap, has written a piece there saying Matt Damon, who co-wrote and co-starred in Good Will Hunting and saw his career soar after the movies success, and Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe called her directly to vouch for someone she was investigating as part of a story on Weinsteins sexual misconduct that was never printed in the Times. Crowe hadn't commented by early Tuesday afternoon, but Damon said he had made a brief phone call back then  to talk about his professional experiences with that person.

As the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night, Damon told Deadline.

He added:

We know this stuff goes on in the world. I did five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this. I think a lot of actors have come out and said, everybodys saying we all knew. Thats not true. This type of predation happens behind closed doors, and out of public view. If there was ever an event that I was at and Harvey was doing this kind of thing and I didnt see it, then I am so deeply sorry, because I would have stopped it. And I will peel my eyes back now, farther than I ever have, to look for this type of behavior. Because we know that it happens. I feel horrible for these women and its wonderful they have this incredible courage and are standing up now.

Director Jame Gunn posted a profanity-laced message on Facebook on Monday promising to do everything I personally can to stop it.

Heres a look at how other men who have worked in the Hollywood system have spoken up about Weinsteins conduct.

Others in the industry have been silent since the first reports, which has not gone unnoticed.

Here we are, days later, waiting for Mr. Weinsteins most powerful collaborators to say something. Anything, she wrote.

Lena Dunham wrote an op-ed for The New York Times on Monday saying ignoring bad behavior remains the signature move of men in Hollywood and calling on them to speak out. Other women are joining Dunham in calling for men to do more, including actresses Jessica Chastain and Mindy Kaling.

UPDATE: Actor Terry Crews might have heard their call, because he took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to allege his own story of sexual assault from an industry executive  not Weinstein  in an effort to deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless.

Read all of his 16 tweets about it here.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, who runs the digital media firm WndrCo and is the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and CEO of DreamWorks Animation is also speaking up. Hes known Weinstein for more than 30 years, and even purchased Miramax on behalf of Disney in 1993, reports The Hollywood Reporter (THR).

Katzenberg shared an email he sent to Weinstein with THR in an effort to show that many in the industry share his disgust with the way his friend has acted over the years.

You have done terrible things to a number of women over a period of years, Katzenberg wrote. I cannot in any way say this is OK with meIts not at all, and I am sickened by it, angry with you and incredibly disappointed in you.

Read the full letter here.

Leonardo DiCaprio shared this statement on Tuesday night.

Well update this post as other prominent people comment.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
A new audit by the Inspector General for Homeland Security says that computers used by border security agencies are slow, prone to outages, and cant be fully relied on to catch potential national security threats.

The Sep. 28 audit of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) technology systems found problems at airports, ports of entry and with the system that Border Patrol agents use to process people who are apprehended.

CBP did not take issue with the findings, and in response said it would use the report to continue to try to improve the systems.

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The three systems used to screen arriving international passengers and cargo at airports are plagued by outages. All three passenger screening applications experienced outages and periods of slow performance that hindered officers ability to effectively screen and process incoming travelers, the audit said.

At the Seattle-Tacoma airport a four-hour outage on March 27 hindered screening 3,391 passengers from 17 different flights. Outages and slowdowns were also a problem at the airport in Miami, where from November 2016 to March 2017 the system crashed for 78 hours total, affecting screening of more than 91,000 passengers the report said.

A computer system called TECS which among other things is used to pre-screen travelers coming to the U.S., is also faulty despite efforts to improve it. The report said that CBP workers who use the system said that the systems performance had greatly diminished over the past year as a result of ongoing efforts to modernize the underlying system architecture.

That modernization has problems though. CBP officers told auditors that the old, legacy system is more efficient. One officer said it takes up to 30 minutes to pre-screen a flight in the modernized system, as opposed to five minutes with the old system.

The audit also said that Border Patrols computer system for processing people they apprehend also has periodic outages and is slow. In some cases the delays prevent agents from processing a case in time to meet deadlines to get information to prosecutors to file cases against unauthorized immigrants.

CBP has a budget of $1.4 billion for information technology  the largest of any agency in Homeland Security.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
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The popularity of Tonkatsu by Ma Maison spread widely through word of mouth in its first month, praising its quality of meat cuts and authenticity of its food preparation. Tonkatsu by Ma Maison exclusively serves up a variety of Tonkatsu dishes; breaded deep-fried pork cutlets that is popular in Japan. Tonkatsu by Ma Maison uses only the highest grade ingredients from the Hire (fillet) to the Rosu (loin) and all prepared to perfection, its juicy and tender meat is the result of Ma Maisons own preparing method.

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Seattle, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/10/2017 -- The report "Food Allergen Testing Market by Source (Peanuts & Soy, Wheat, Milk, Eggs, Tree Nuts, Seafood), Technology (PCR-Based, Immunoassay-Based (Elisa)), Food Tested (Bakery & Confectionery, Infant Food), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022",The food allergen testing market is projected to reach USD 760.7 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2016 to 2022. The market is driven by the implementation of stringent food safety regulations, growing allergic reactions among consumers and international trade of food materials.



Browse 125 market data tables and 53 figures spread through 199 pages and in-depth TOC on "Food Allergen Testing Market - Global Forecast to 2022"



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The peanut & soy segment accounted for the largest share in the food allergen testing market in 2015



The market for peanut & soy among the types of food allergens, accounted for the largest share in 2015. Peanut and soy ingredients have a wide range of applications and are incorporated in various food products. Hence, allergy prevalence due to peanuts & soy has been increasing which is leading to increased demand of allergen testing for safety. Soy is one of the complicated allergens to avoid as it is incorporated with a wide number of processed food and hence it is also known as "hidden allergen". For soy allergic people, Asian cuisine is a high risk zone due to the excess usage of soy as an ingredient and cross contact possibility due to consumption of soy-free items.



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Immunoassay (ELISA)-based segment is projected to be the largest and fastest growing segment, by technology



ELISA is one of the most widely used immunoassays in food allergen testing. Immunoassay (ELISA) technology is the most common and economic technology to detect and quantify allergens in food products. Low detection limits and high analytic selectivity are the key advantages of this technology. It is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2022.



Europe is projected to be the fastest growing region in the food allergen testing market



The European region is projected to be the fastest growing market through 2022 due to the increasing allergic reactions among the consumers and the growing market for processed food. Germany is projected to be fastest growing country in the European region. European countries have recorded many issues related to food allergens; as a result, stringent policies have been established to achieve complete food safety. The food safety authorities in Europe aim at protecting consumer health by ensuring the quality of the food supply chain.



This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as SGS S.A. (Switzerland), Intertek Group plc (U.K.), TUV SUD Psb Pte. Ltd. (Germany), ALS Limited (Australia), Eurofins Scientific SE (Luxembourg), Merieux Nutrisciences Corporation (U.S), AsureQuality Ltd (New Zealand), Microbac Laboratories Inc (U.S.), Romer Labs Diagnostic GmbH (Austria), and Symbio Laboratories (Australia).



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MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/10/2017 -- Torque sensors play an important role in many technological applications. The measurement of torque is paramount in applications such as turbine, engine and transmission testing, pump testing, and measurement of power within propulsion systems. Rotary torque sensor is one of the major types of torque sensors which have wide range of applications n different industries. Rotary torque sensors are rigorously applied in the fastener assembly market to verify the usability and performance of power and hand torque tools. The rotary torque sensor market has been segmented into power and signal transfer method which includes contact and non-contact. The market has been segmented by mounting methods which include fixed and floating. The market for rotary torque sensors has been furthermore segmented into by end use industry which includes industrial, automotive, test & measurement, oil and gas, aerospace & defense and healthcare among others. The market for rotary torque sensor has been segmented geographically into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, South America and Middle East and Africa.



A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=26192



Increasing proliferation of electric vehicles and technological advancement in the field of automotive is fueling the application of rotary torque sensors. Rising demand for better fuel efficient vehicles is another major driving factor for the market. Measuring as well as monitoring torque is a crucial parameter in most of all rotating parts, equipment and machines, which ensures high quality and optimum performance. Increasing demand for upgraded and advanced devices across different industrial setups is acting as a major driving factor for the market. Increasing research activities focusing on technological advancements in signal and power transfer for instance rotary electronics, rotary transformers, digitization, rotary torque sensors have wide range of applications in the hybrid and electrical automobile engines, healthcare device among others. Lack of reliability issues related to the measurement and monitoring along with design complexities are some of the prime restraining factor for the rotary torque sensor market globally. However, increasing research and development in the field of rotary torque sensor and innovation of new technologies related to rotary torque sensors is one of the major opportunities for the market globally.



In 2016, Asia Pacific is leading the market for rotary torque sensor in terms of revenue, followed by North America and Europe globally. Growing development in the automotive sector is driving the market for rotary torque sensor across Asia pacific. China accounted for the largest market share across Asia Pacific, followed by Japan, India, Taiwan and South Korea. The U.S. is dominating the market for rotary torque sensor across North America, followed by Canada and Mexico in 2016. In Europe, Germany, U.K., France and Italy is leading the market for rotary torque sensor. The U.A.E and South Africa along with Brazil and Argentina is contributing in the positive development of the rotary torque sensor market across Middle East and Africa and South America owing to growing technological advancement in different industries. Moreover, growing advancement in the field of oil and gas is also fueling the application of rotary torque sensor across Middle East and Africa.



To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=26192



ABB Group (Switzerland), Applied Measurements (U.K.), Ati Industrial Automation (The U.S.), Crane Electronics (The U.S.), Datum Electronics (The U.S.), Teledyne Technologies International Corporation (The U.S.), Honeywell International Inc. (The U.S.), Futek Advanced Sensor Technology (The U.S), HBM Test and Measurement (Germany) and Kistler Group (Switzerland) among others are some of the major companies operating in the rotary torque sensor market globally. Product innovation in alliance with research activities to keep in pace with the customer demand is one of the prime business strategies of the companies. Geographical expansion by opening new sales offices in different countries to expand business is another major strategies followed by the companies.
Cork, Ireland -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/10/2017 -- Accredited TEFL Courses offer Native English speakers the opportunity to travel, make lifelong friendships and immerse themselves in local culture. TEFL Training Institute of Ireland, https://tefl.ie/ have live teaching opportunities in 7 European destinations these include Romania, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary.



To qualify for a live teaching position applicants must be a Native English speaker that is 18 or over for a junior program, 21 or over for an adult program with a high school diploma. Applicants are required to be flexible, hardworking, mature in good mental and physical health with a clean police record. TEFL Training Institute of Ireland have 1, 2 or 3-week packages available, the packages include food, accommodation in a 3 or 4-star hotel, scholarship certificate, a 120 hour online TEFL course, real-world live teaching experience, a tour of Cities such as Prague, Budapest or Warsaw & lunch before programs.



On their teach English Europe page, https://tefl.ie/teach-english-europe/ TEFL Training Institute of Ireland suggest "mixing it up" and traveling between destinations, making use of the short train journeys and cheap flights connecting all major European cities.



Applicants will need to pay an application fee, the application fee for the 3-week course is just 65 Euros and 50 Euros of it is refunded upon completion of the program. Besides the application fee applicants will also need to arrange their flights, travel insurance, they will need money to cover living essentials and external trips. Anyone interested in the TEFL packages will also need to provide a clean police background check, a visa may be required for some countries.



According to list verse, English is the second most spoken language in the World after Mandarin. English is the official language of New Zealand, the U.S., Australia, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, South Africa and Canada to name a few. English is also an official language of several Unions of States such as the EU. It is no surprise that there is a great demand for English (TEFL) teachers Worldwide, many schools in many countries are struggling to find people to teach English. The only requirement to teach English in many countries is a TEFL Certificate.



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French fries, Ferris wheels ... and physics

Physics day at the fair brings together UofSC faculty, high school students

Its not all corn dogs, blue ribbons and roller coasters at the South Carolina State Fair. Theres some science education going on, too.

For the 21st year, faculty and students at the University of South Carolina will spend a day at the fair with 2,500 high school students from every corner of the state, helping them understand more about physics  while learning to be better teachers themselves.

Dave Tedeschi, a professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, says the confluence of fun, science and teaching is what draws him back each year to the R.L. Childers Midway Physics Day, named for a long-time Carolina physics professor.

Tedeschi will join other physics professors and graduate students on Oct. 17 to serve as guides for high schoolers in the physics tent and on the Midway. He may, for example, ask a graduate student to explain why, if youre twirling on a platform, you spin faster if you pull your hands close to your body, and slower if you stretch out your arms.

I tell our graduate students, Can you explain that to someone with no physics knowledge? Go. And at first, they cant, Tedeschi says. Its not because theyre unable, but theyve never been trained for that. This is a perfect opportunity, a laboratory. This is the out-of-the-classroom training that the university wants to formalize in many ways.

This gives us a megaphone for the day and allows us to give back to the community and talk about science. I love the fair. Dave Tedeschi, professor of physics and astronomy

We give them a little taste of that so they understand teaching takes time and effort. They need to think about, How do I communicate something to someone who doesnt have the same tools as I do at the moment? Thats a teaching exercise, and thats one of the things I really love about the day.

Once the rides open, the high schoolers flee the tent for their first taste of physics fieldwork  aboard the Mega Drop or the Bullet Train roller coaster  measuring and thinking critically about topics like conservation of energy. While the early physics at the fair days featured measurement gadgets and home-made instruments, now data can be captured with a cell phone. Yet students soon learn that experiments done in the field dont mimic the controlled atmosphere of a classroom lab.

You get out and the sun is too bright, and you cant read your computer screen, or you run out of batteries. Who knows whats going to happen in the field? Science is not always perfect like in a textbook; in fact, it usually isn't, Tedeschi says. To get out of the classroom is great. This is a first taste of field work for the high school students. But it should be fun. They should have curly fries and ride the rides to go with the hard work.

For Carolina professors, the connection made with high school teachers is key, and the work begins early, with USC hosting workshops for teachers in the weeks leading up to the fair.

If we affect the teacher who becomes a better teacher or who can have those couple of units of science be more effective because of the way we help, then our reach is broader or deeper, Tedeschi says. Sometimes people think physics is complicated or boring, but in fact its exciting and interesting. And this gives us a megaphone for the day and allows us to give back to the community and talk about science. I love the fair. And this is a wonderful marriage of being in that atmosphere and combining it with teaching. Why would I not go?

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[JAKARTA] Cutting meat consumption is one of three strategies that an international team of scientists recommends to tackle the rising problem of antibiotic resistance stemming from abundant use in animal farming.

In a study published in the journal Science in September, the scientists also recommend caps on antibiotic use and levying user fees on buyers of farm antibiotics which would effectively make it more expensive and discourage excessive use.

While some countries are already making efforts to decrease the use of antibiotics on animal farms, the results are yet to be assessed Ramanan Laxminarayan, Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy

About 80 per cent of all antibiotics are consumed by farm animals. Farmers resort to antibiotics, generally administered through animal feed or low-dose injections, to improve nutrition and hygiene for their livestock. However, the drugs turn farm animals into major sources of antibiotic resistance, according to the study.

In September 2016, the UN General Assembly highlighted the urgency of limiting antibiotic use in animal farms which is the leading cause of drug resistance. The global consumption of antibiotics by food animals, estimated at 131,109 tonnes in 2013, is projected to reach 200,235 tonnes by 2030.

According to Ramanan Laxminarayan, an author of the study and director of the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy, Washington, while some countries are already making efforts to decrease the use of antibiotics on animal farms, the results are yet to be assessed.

China, the largest consumer of farm antibiotics, has advised its citizens to cut meat consumption to 40  70 grams per person per day or about half of the current consumption. For comparison, the United States consume a very high 260 grams of meat per person per day. Europe has enforced capping regulations and the World Bank has proposed a user fee to be imposed on those buying antibiotics for farm animals.

According to the study, limiting per capita meat intake to 40 grams/person/day could result in reduction of antimicrobial use in animal farms by 66 per cent, while enforcing caps on antibiotic usage could result in a 64 per cent reduction. The user-fee strategy could also decrease antibiotic use by 30 per cent.

We find that a combination of these three strategies could decrease the use of antimicrobials in animal farms by 80 per cent, says Laxminarayan. I think that inertia is our biggest challenge  maybe people will adopt these strategies when things get really worse.

Riana Arief, director, Centre for Indonesian Veterinary Analytical Studies, points to the Indonesian agriculture ministrys recent regulation prohibiting the use of antibiotics as feed additives. Controlling antibiotic use is possible through regulation, strong enforcement and good surveillance, she says.

Arief, however, thinks that limiting meat consumption and user-fee strategies may not work in countries with very low per capita meat consumption like Indonesia. Meat consumption in the country is still far below global standards and government policy is to boost meat production. Also, smallholders who rely on costly imported feed will be hit if a user fee is imposed, she says.



This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk.

Per Capita Meat Consumption by Region: Past and Projected (kg/person/year) Region Year/s Beef Sheep Pork Poultry North America 2013-15 24.43 0.44 21.14 44.33 2025 24.80 0.39 22.55 48.25 Brazil 2013-15 25.62 0.40 11.36 38.37 2025 25.73 0.37 13.13 42.88 European Union 2013-15 10.61 1.83 32.17 22.11 2025 10.49 1.86 32.36 23.67 Latin America and Caribbean 2013-15 17.18 0.54 9.50 30.81 2025 17.08 0.55 10.33 33.76 World 2013-15 6.49 1.70 12.53 13.30 2025 6.67 1.89 12.54 14.20 Russia, India, China and South Africa 2013-15 4.35 1.63 16.02 10.22 2025 4.73 1.94 16.96 11.43 Asia and Pacific 2013-15 2.91 1.73 12.81 8.47 2025 3.36 1.99 13.24 9.44 Africa 2013-15 3.90 2.31 0.98 3.90 2025 3.96 2.40 1.07 3.85

Source: OECD/FAO (2016), OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025, Chapter: MEAT, OECD Agriculture statistics (database), http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/agr-outl-data-en.
WAVERLY  Tristin Laue was at the send-off ceremony last month for around 100 Iowa Army National Guard members now deployed to the Middle East.

It wasnt how he planned it.

Laue was in the crowd watching the ceremony, not standing with his fellow soldiers, because he was diagnosed with a rare cancer late last year.

That was a hard day. That was a weird day, said Laues stepmother and caretaker Debbie Nichols. That send-off was very emotional for him. For me, it was mixed.

Nichols would have worried about Laue if he were deployed to a war zone. But his diagnosis of stage four fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma  a rare form of liver cancer  has caused a different kind of heartache.

Nichols said the Guard has been immensely helpful. Laue, 19, of Waverly, is still enlisted, though is expected to be discharged at the end of the year.

At the urging of Drill Sergeant Dan Wegner, the family decided to host a benefit to aid with Laues medical expenses. It started small, but has grown due to Laues father  Mitch Laues  connections to local bands.

Rachelle Hahn, an organizer and good friend of Nichols, said Laue is expected to be discharged from the Guard soon and will lose his health coverage. The family also looking into alternative treatments.

October is liver cancer awareness month. Though the timing is coincidental, Nichols said part of the idea of the benefit is to raise awareness about this rare disease.

Nichols said Laue joined the Guard because he wanted a change in circumstance and enjoyed the camaraderie of a unit. He was on leave after advanced individual training, where he learned the ins and outs of helicopter maintenance, over the Christmas holiday when he thought he had come down with pneumonia.

Instead, it was discovered he had a pulmonary embolism, or blood clots in his lungs. He was airlifted to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he has been having weekly treatments ever since. That included a surgery in July to remove tumors throughout his body, though more have been found.

The family took him to the hospital Dec. 30. He was diagnosed in February, though he earlier learned he likely had cancer, just not the type.

It was quite a blow, because their family was going through a lot, Hahn said.

Laues diagnosis came after Nichols daughter was in a snowmobile accident and Nichols had back surgery.

It was almost surreal to have all of that going on at the same time, let alone having the blow that its  cancer, Hahn said. When you have something like that in your family, you live for the moment; you live with whats going on in your life.  Its hard to think of the big picture.

After the benefit, Laue will return to Mayo on Oct. 17 to check whether his chemotherapy is working.

Everybody is always amazed at how polite and respectful he is, Nichols said. Thats what makes me mad. Hes just such a good kid. And, its like where does this come from?
CLEAR LAKE | Even in her final days, 13-year-old Natasha Bryan, who died Thursday, was thinking of others.

That's why her mother, Christina Gayken, will travel to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn., on Thursday to deliver some of Natasha's toys and other items to children hospitalized there.

"Natasha told us that's what she wanted," said her mother. "She was an amazing kid. She always cared more about others than about herself."

Natasha was diagnosed in January of 2016 with Wilm's Tumor, a form of kidney cancer. She finished chemotherapy sessions earlier this year and even had a positive biopsy in April.

On Monday, the day of her funeral, many staff and students at Clear Lake Middle School wore orange clothing in tribute to Natasha. Orange is the color of kidney cancer awareness.

Some wore T-shirts they purchased earlier this year when the school held an "Orange Out" day in which the T-shirts were sold to raise money for her family to help cover medical expenses.

Natasha was an eighth grader. J. Ham, a school counselor who served as a liaison to the family, said a photo of Natasha, in which she is smiling broadly, is how people will remember her. "The picture says it all," said Ham. "That was Natasha. There wasn't a mean bone in her body. She always made people feel happy."

Ham said she had periodic contact with a social worker at St. Marys in Rochester who interacted with Natasha. The social worker always commented on her great attitude despite her circumstances.

"The social worker said Natasha taught her a lot," said Ham.

As Christina Gayken talked Monday about her daughter's life, about how she loved cats, she loved science, she loved to read and she loved the people around her.
Carnival's decision follows close work its partners in San Juan over the last couple weeks, and is based on an assessment of terminal facilities, support services and local conditions.

Immediately after Maria's passage, Carnival said its San Juan terminal sustained damage that would take several weeks to repair. Carnival Fascination canceled three sailings, through Oct. 8, in tandem with the three Barbados interporting departures that were to call San Juan, through Oct. 11.

'Our teams visit this past week confirmed the Old San Juan area is ready to receive tourists,' Carnival said Monday. 'Many shops and businesses have returned to their normal business operations with more opening up every day.'

The line noted tourism is very important to Puerto Rico's economy and said that with passengers' help, 'we are pleased to play an important role in aiding their recovery efforts in a meaningful way.'

Itineraries have been modified to ensure the best shore experience. On San Juan departures Oct. 15 through Nov. 5, Carnival Fascination will visit Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts. The Nov. 12 sailing will visit Martinique, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts. Cruises Nov. 19 through Nov. 26 will call at Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts.

As for the ship's Barbados embarkations, those Oct. 18 through Nov. 1 will visit St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts, San Juan and Grenada. The Nov. 8 itinerary includes St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts, San Juan and Martinique. The Nov. 15 through Nov. 22 departures will call St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts, San Juan and Grenada.

When it comes to other lines, Royal Caribbean International's Adventure of the Seas resumed its homeport San Juan service on Saturday, with some itinerary changes. Harmony of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Independence of the Seas, though, are not stopping on transit calls for now.

MSC Cruises' Miami-based MSC Divina switched to western Caribbean itineraries in October. Those don't visit San Juan, nor will the ship's seven-night eastern Caribbean cruises on Nov. 11 and Nov. 25.

Norwegian Cruise Line earlier shifted Norwegian Escape, which also sails from Miami, to western Caribbean routes through year's end. Norwegian Dawn is still scheduled to begin a series of seasonal southern Caribbean sailings from San Juan, the first by NCL in some time, on Nov. 12. The ship will also operate 11- and 10-day holiday cruises from San Juan on Dec. 17 and Dec. 28 respectively.
Held in Dubai at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel, this illustrious evening honoured some of maritimes most esteemed and noteworthy figures with more than 700 of the industrys leading personalities in attendance.

In a slight change to previous events, the individual awards were presented during the first part of the evening. First to be announced was Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 winner, Bharat Sheth, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, The Great Eastern Shipping. Unable to attend, his award was collected by Tapas Icot, Executive Director and President  Shipping, The Great Eastern Shipping.

The other deserving individual award winners included:

Newcomer of the Year 2017 - Bahri Data

Enterprise Award - Abu Dhabi Ship Building

Outstanding Achievement Award 2017- DP World UAE Region

A new addition for 2017, the Humanitarian Award was presented in order to honour an outstanding humanitarian effort and recognise an individual who responded to danger through acts of selflessness and courage at sea. The deserving winner was announced as Faiz Al Junaibi, who was presented by guest of honour, His Excellency Dr Abdulla Behaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of UAE Infrastructure and Chairman of the UAE Federal Transport Authority and Dr Paul Burt, Regional Director, The Mission to Seafarers. A fisherman by trade, Faiz Al Junai evacuated all 20 members of a sinking vessel in extremely difficult conditions.

Now in its 14th edition, Seatrade Maritime Awards continues to honour individuals, organisations and companies from across the regional shipping industry. This years event was held under the patronage of His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulaymen, Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation and Chairman of Dubai Maritime City Authority and Chairman of Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) and was hosted by international broadcaster, Tom Urquhart.

According to Chris Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade: The Seatrade Maritime Awards were established to offer a platform to promote significant contribution and pioneering advancements across the maritime and shipping world and along with the Seatrade Awards in London and the Seatrade Maritime Awards in Asia, are now widely regarded as the maritime premier awards globally.

The awards, in time-old tradition, remain a secret until the presentation ceremony and the winners are unveiled to great fanfare and celebration.

A full list of the deserving Seatrade Maritime Award category winners can be found below:

Corporate Social Responsibility Award - ASPIDA

Safety and Quality - Drydocks World Dubai

Education and Training - Abu Dhabi Ports

Green Shipping Award  HullWiper Ltd

Fuel Efficiency Award - Blue Water Trade Winds

Smart Shipping Award - ABS

Contribution to the Development of the Regional Maritime Cluster Award  Emirates Classification Company (Tasneef Maritime)

Shipping Company of the Year - Tristar

Offshore Marine Award for Owners and Operators - SEACOR Offshore Dubai, L.L.C

Ship Repair Innovation Award - NICO International

Ship Agent Award - GAC Group

Port & Terminal Operator Award - Gulftainer

Maritime Logistics Award  Saudi Trade & Export Development Company (Tusdeer)

Africa Infrastructure Award - Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL)

Deal of the Year - Standard Chartered Bank - Bahri
Cristina Decius-Sheppard, director of Downtown Dearborn,, and Dale Tremblay Dulong, owner of Common Grace Coffee, pose for a photo during the International Council of Shopping Centers East Michigan P3 Program tour on Oct. 5. Jessica Strachan

More than 50 people joined along for the International Council of Shopping Centers East Michigan P3 Program tour Oct. 5 that featured several key buildings, businesses, and eateries in West Dearborn.

The tour focused on what public and private partnerships look like in the city. Examples include Ford Lands transformation of the two blocks at Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street for public and private use including retail, restaurants, office and outdoor spaces.

The tour illustrated how public and private partnerships turn projects from plans into realities and who the players are transforming Dearborn.

Heres a look at five takeaways from some of the stops on the tour.



1. West Village Commons shows that Dearborn can weather the storm

Barry Murray, Dearborns economic and community development director, told the group how buildings like West Village Commons can be steeped in history and still relevant today.

Its part of the superblock, says Murray, referring to a multimillion dollar project from the 90s. It was built to have parking, areas for events, public gathering spaces and made to be shopping epicenter.

The superblock survived the 2008 crash where a 38 percent business vacancy followed in downtown West Dearborn. Now, 42 units for residential housing are being constructed and fulfilling a need in the city to bring in next generation, according to Downtown Dearborn Director Cristina Sheppard-Decius.

2. Common Grace Coffee finds success rooted in community.

The West Dearborn coffee shop is one of 28 new businesses to open in downtown Dearborn since 2015. Owner Dale Tremblay Dulong wanted to be a place where everyone can gather, he says, and a business aimed not at certain people but bringing people together.

We wanted to create a space where coffee was being sourced ethically but also bringing together diverse groups of people. What drives us is creating a space to get a good product to you in a good way, he says.

Tremblay Dulong started roasting beans in his house and serving at the local farmers market. He moved to selling online after that and eventually used a crowdfunding site to open his West Dearborn location.

3. Brome Modern Eatery is expanding to Detroit

Zane Makky, the executive chef at Brome Modern Eatery, was born and raised in Dearborn and says he wanted to elevate the culinary vibe" in the city.

Along with owner Sam Abbas, also a Dearborn native, theyve taken a simple concept of burgers and focused on customer service, organic and fresh items and a memorable ambiance, Makky says.

With all its success in West Dearborn, Brome Modern Eatery is expanding to the financial district in Detroit, with another location being planned at Shelby and Congress streets.

Their ambitious plan is to open another 10 stores in the next five years.

4. Mint 29 was an accidental concept

Among the new establishments opening since the the 2015 surge is Mint 29, a two-floor upscale dining locale with an outdoor patio space and seafood and steak on the menu.

General Manager Kamal Salame says the space used to be Dearborn Music and when they removed the drop ceiling in the former store they uncovered embedded coins in the walls. It took four months to reclaim them.

The building was built in 1929 as State Bank and used to make mint coins.

We changed our whole concept of the restaurant to keep the history alive, Salame says.

You can find the coins, with images of bells, ships and Native American chiefs, on the second floor of the restaurant.

5. Dearborn Brewing is proof you can turn a hobby into a career

Another entrepreneur that opened up shop in 2015, Dearborn Brewing owner John Rucinski translated his love of beer into a business.

I love beer. I love making it, he says.

Rucinski got started in his kitchen, moving to the garage and eventually to a storefront on Michigan Avenue.

Every brewer goes through a phase where they think it would be cool to open a brewery, Rucinski says. I got tired of waiting for someone else to open one in Dearborn, so I did it myself.

The company is now focused on distribution.
ALLISON -- The trio of hurricanes -- Harvey, Irma and Maria -- wreaked havoc across Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. They also have had impacts far beyond their immediate path.

That includes in Northeast Iowa, where residents of Butler County are still recovering from the fall floods of 2016.

I think they kind of feel forgotten. Especially with the hurricanes and everything, that weve been forgotten, said Clarksville Mayor Val Swinton. Because were a small town, we kind of feel like were not important. Thats a little frustrating.

Thats a lot frustrating, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, responded.

Ernst, a first-term senator, received an update Monday on Clarksville, Greene and Shell Rock a year after they suffered their second flood to end all floods in eight years.

Ernst assured residents funds set aside for home buyouts would not be rerouted to hurricane recovery. But she could offer little else than her shared frustration that 13 months later no homes had finished the buyout process. Ernst promised to follow up with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to see why the process has been so slow.

Frustration was the theme throughout the hour-long meeting.

About 270 homes were damaged when the Shell Rock River flooded after Butler County received 12 inches of rain in a short period of time in late September 2016. Many areas in Greene, Clarksville and Shell Rock saw worse flooding than in 2008, said Mitch Nordmeyer, Butler County emergency management coordinator.

About 20 homes qualified for buyouts. More than a year later, none of those homeowners has received an offer. It could take another three to four months.

Every disaster starts and ends locally. That may be the case, but we need the federal help in the middle, Nordmeyer said.

Nordmeyer and Brian Schoon, of Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments, told Ernst it's not just the wait that is frustrating. Rules changed since the last major flood eight years ago. And they have to work with new officials every few weeks.

Since the hurricanes, frustration grew. FEMA Region 7 officials were sent to work on recovery in the southeast.

Ernst said after the meeting its important for FEMA to have uniform rules. But she heard from local officials Monday FEMA employees don't always interpret rules the same way. She said she will ask FEMA about that as well.

We saw widespread devastation throughout the Southeast, and I do understand that, but again, we have ongoing recovery efforts right here in Region 7 of FEMA, and we have to make sure these families are getting what was told to them they would get, Ernst said. Its important that they close these actions out before they are jumping into other situations.
Sen. Bam on SC decision on Sen. De Lima's petition

While we respect the decision of the Supreme Court, we are saddened and disappointed that the release of Senator Leila De Lima was not granted.

Still, we remain hopeful that the High Court will allow Sen. Leila to fulfill her duties as a duly elected senator, even under detention.

The minority will continue to throw our support behind Sen. Leila as she exhausts all legal remedies by appealing the Supreme Court's decision.

Umaasa tayo na sa huli, makakamtan din ni Senator De Lima ang patas na pagkakataon at hustisya.
Press Release

October 10, 2017 Transcript of Interview with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon Q: On the decrease in the budget of the housing sector Drilon: Sa kasalukuyan, mga P15.3 billion ang budget ng housing sector. Ito'y binagsak ng 70% sa 2018, naging P4.5 billion na lang. This is a criminal neglect, because the housing sector plays a very important role in our society. First and foremost, it addresses social problem, which is the lack of housing. Sa ngayon sinasabi ng housing agencies na nasa 1.2 million ang kulang na bahay at pagdating ng 2022 ay aabot ito ng six million. With that kind of a backlog, why are we not providing enough resources to our housing sector? Remember, ang sabi nga nila ay may multiplier effect ito. Sa bawat piso na gagastusin sa pabahay, pitong piso ang balik nito sa ekonomiya na ang ibig sabihiin ay maraming na-generate na economic activities. From the social point of view, housing is very important. From the economic point of view, it is very beneficial. That is why we are proposing na ibalik natin sa present 2017 level ang budget. Maraming unproductive portions ang ating budget, halimbawa yung intelligence funds. Ilang billion iyon? Importante ang intelligence gathering, pero ganon ba kalaki ang pangangailangan natin? I repeat, intelligence fund is non-productive item in the budget kasi walang multiplier effect iyan. Q: P2 billion ba yung intel funds? Drilon: I'm just citing possible sources of reinstating. They're saying that the absorptive capacity is very low, pero in turns out na, if we belive what they said, they can even obligate 100%. It takes times to disburse and execute but it's not their fault. It's the fault of the bureaucracy. Kaya I volunteered given my experience with the bureaucracy as an executive secretary, as a senator and as a member of the cabinet for nine years, I would have a working knowledge of how to address the bureaucracy in terms of their ability to react on time. I'm willing to help them on how the process can be hastened. Q: May support na ba ng majority? Drilon: I do not know. That's up to the majority to decide but I will fight for it. Q: 9-6 raw yung decision rejecting Sen. De Lima's petition? Drilon: Nakakalungkot. Ang aking paniwala ay dapat Ombudsman ang mag-hear nito. But I respect the decision of the Supreme Court. I'm a lawyer and former justice secretary, I disagree but I will respect the SC decision. I assume Sen. De Lima will file a motion for reconsideration and I hope the SC can take a close second look at the decision. Q: 9-6, may possibility pa bang ma-reverse iyon? Drilon: Well, 9-6, that means that you only need to convince two, so that it will become 8-7. If it's 9-6, that means if you can convince two from the nine to go to the six. Q: Ibig sabihin Sir hindi pa ito dead-end for Sen. De Lima? Drilon: No. in fact he can file a motion for reconsideration. Maybe some of the justices should inhibit. Q: May resolution ang minority bloc for furlough, paano yun? Drilon: We will not give up. We will keep on requesting. We are not asking for Sen. De Lima to be released, what we are just asking is to allow her to perform her duties as a senator. Q: Given the SC ruling, will it be more difficult for the minority to push for it? Drilon: It doesn't change the picture because the ruling was on the ability to post bail. We are not asking that she be allowed to post bail. We are asking that she be allowed, while she is under detention, to attend to her senatorial duties. Q: So walang impact iyon Sir? Drilon: Yes. Wala.
Press Release

October 10, 2017 Drilon seeks to restore housing sector budget Senate Minority Leader Franklin has proposed to use the "excess fats" in the proposed P3.77 trillion 2018 national budget to address the 1.2 million housing backlog in the country, as he lamented the huge cut in the housing sector's 2018 budget. During the interpellation of the budget of the housing sector on Tuesday, Drilon called the proposed P4.4 billion in 2018, which is 70 percent lower than its P15.3 billion budget in 2017, an "injustice" to the housing sector. Drilon emphasized that budgetary support is crucial in addressing "the poorest sector of our society" and the huge budget cut is the "wrong policy thrust." "This is criminal neglect if we look at the budget of the housing sector," Drilon warned. Senator JV Ejercito, who sponsored the budget of the National Housing Authority, cited the agency's alleged low absorptive capacity as a reason for the decrease, as proposed by the Department of Budget and Management in the 2018 national budget. However, Drilon disagreed with the justification: "The absorptive capacity of the NHA is being blamed for this refusal by the economic managers to provide sufficient budget for the housing sector. We should not let our people suffer from these alleged inefficiencies of a bureaucracy, which is even open to question." Ejercito then placed on record that NHA has obligated 85% of its funds in 2016, contrary to claims that the agency has low absorptive capacity. Drilon said that that "social problems will just continue to worsen if we continue to commit criminal neglect in our treatment of the housing sector." The housing backlog is expected to reach six million by 2022, according to Ejercito. "With that kind of backlog, why are we not providing enough resources to our housing sector?" asked Drilon. The minority leader then asked the committee as well as the chamber to restore the proposed budget of the housing sector for next year to its current level. He said funds could be sourced from the "excess fats" and unproductive items in the proposed 2018 budget, citing, for instance, the budget for intelligence funds, which, he added, amounts to P3.7 billion, has grown tremendously in this administration. The minority leader likewise emphasized the importance of housing as an economic tool, which has the highest multiplier effect on the economy. "Sa bawat piso na gagastusin sa pabahay, pitong piso ang balik nito sa ekonomiya," Drilon said. "From the social point of view, housing is very important. From the economic point of view, it is very beneficial," he concluded. In July 2016, Drilon filed SBN 232 that seeks to create the Department of Housing and Urban Development, envisioned to be a "one stop shop for the homeless."
SEN. PACQUIAO WANTS HIGHER TAX FOR TOBACCO

SENATE - Senator Manny Pacquiao wants a higher tax on tobacco not only to collect more revenues but, above all, to protect the people's health. Senator Pacquiao stressed "Human body is sacred. We should not destroy or desecrate it."

Senator Pacquiao quoted 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, which says "Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."

Senator Pacquiao filed on Oct. 3 Senate Bill 1599, which sought to further increase the excise tax on tobacco products.

Once the bill is approved, the current cigarette tax rate of P30 per pack will increase to P60 per pack. This is aside from the annual increase of 9% from the current 4% increase in excise tax per year.

The implementation of the Sin Tax Reform Act (RA 10351) has been proven effective in minimizing if not totally stopping the smoking habit and in raising funds for public health.

RA 10351 was passed in 2012 primarily to curb cigarette and alcohol addiction, as well as, to raise government funds for the implementation of Universal Health Care (UHC).

The senator from Mindanao had asked Sen. Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, to include Senate Bill 1599 in the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN).

The boxer-lawmaker has earned the admiration of youths and health advocates for taking the lead in passing a measure increasing tax for tobacco products.

Cigarette smoking has been linked to several chronic health problems like obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, hypertension and heart ailment, among others.
MASON CITY | The owners of Southbridge Mall have paid no property taxes since purchasing the mall last year and owe $208,910 in back taxes, according to the Cerro Gordo County treasurer's office.

The mall was purchased for $1.5 million in September 2016 by Kohan Investment Group, Great Neck, New York, doing business as Southbridge Mall Realty Holding LLC.

Mason City's Southbridge Mall sells for $1.5 million MASON CITY  Southbridge Mall has been sold to a New York-based company specializing in mall

Cerro Gordo County Treasurer Patricia Wright said taxes are owed on four parcels that make up the mall property with a taxable value of $4,613,370.

She said the holding company, like all taxpayers, receive five notifications of taxes due, including written notices in July, November (if delinquent) and in May (if still delinquent).

In addition, a list of properties with delinquent taxes is published in June, and if taxes are still not paid, they are subject to a tax sale usually held in the third week of June.

After the tax sale, another notice is mailed to the owners notifying them of the tax sale. The Kohan Investment Group received notification that two of the four parcels were sold at the 2017 tax sale.

"This does not constitute a sale of the property but a lien in the treasurer's office," said Wright. "The other two parcels, not sold at the tax sale, can be pursued through the court system."

Several attempts to contact Kohan Investment Group owner, Mehran Kohansiek, who goes by Mike Kohan, by phone and by email, were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Mall property taxes are significant in the city's River City Renaissance project which includes an ice arena/multipurpose center in the mall.

On Nov. 7, voters will be asked to decide on whether to approve an agreement in which the mall would own the arena and lease it to the city for 20 years.

The mall would then pay property taxes which would provide the city with TIF financing to pay off bonds. Receipt of property taxes is the reason the city chose to lease rather than own the arena.

Kohan has a history of financial and legal problems with other malls he has owned.

A tax sale is pending this month on Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis because of $627,789 in property taxes owed by Kohan Investments. In the past, he was cited for owing back taxes on Northland Mall in Worthington, Minnesota.

In 2015, power was shut off at Rotterdam Square Mall near Schenectady, New York, because an outstanding electric bill. Kohan has since sold that mall.

He has also had legal and financial problems in Effingham, Illinois, and Florissant, Missouri.

He owned Lincoln Mall in Matteson, Illinois, that was cited for many safety violations. A court ordered Kohan to pay $100,000 for repairs as well as a $100,000 fine. Kohan paid the fines and no longer owns the mall.

Woodville Mall in Northwood, Ohio, was ordered closed because of numerous health and safety violations. Its owners, including Kohan, were ordered to pay $1.69 million. Kohan told The Globe Gazette in a September 2016 interview that he was listed as one of the owners but had sold his interest and did not have to pay anything.
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As a flurry of ash began to fall from the sky outside Santa Rosa Memorial hospital Monday afternoon, Elizabeth and Joseph Tito took comfort in controlling what they could: the flow of ambulances, cars and panicked families in and out of the hospitals main parking lot.

The Tito family had evacuated their new home in Fountaingrove, an upscale community north of downtown Santa Rosa, about 3 a.m. Monday after seeing flames licking the tops of nearby hills. They had just moved to the area in August  an attempt to escape East Coast blizzards and bad weather, Elizabeth Tito said.

I guess we traded the blizzards for fire, she said.

San Francisco Chronicle

Elizabeth and Joseph Tito, who work as surgeons at St. Joseph Healths outpatient facility and Healdsburg District Hospital, respectively, said they were happy for the distraction of directing traffic.

It kept them from spending too much time wondering whether their home was still standing.

Santa Rosa Memorial was the northernmost hospital to remain open in the midst of the North Bay fires Monday.

Officials said the hospital opened its command center about 1 a.m. and has since seen a steady stream of people in need of care.

About 60 people arrived at Santa Rosa Memorial throughout Monday morning, including two burn patients in critical condition, 15 people with moderate injuries and 43 with minor injuries, Colleen Flynn, a spokeswoman for the St. Joseph Health group said.

Santa Rosa Memorial, Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa and Petaluma Valley Hospital remained open as of about 3 p.m. None of the medical centers had suffered any structural damage, officials said.

Santa Rosa Memorial also accepted evacuees from our neighboring hospitals  including six transfers from Kaiser Santa Rosa, which was evacuated and shut down, and six from Sutter Medical Center.

Among the patients transferred from Sutter were several mothers with newborns as well as expectant mothers in active labor.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Queen of the Valley, in downtown Napa, treated about 50 patients, the majority of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation, Flynn said. One patient brought to Queen of the Valley was transferred to a burn center due to the severity of the patients injuries. About four people were treated for minor burns and released.

Petaluma Valley Hospital had not treated any burn victims as of late afternoon Monday. Six patients suffered mild to moderate injuries related to the fire and smoke hanging in the air throughout the North Bay, including shortness of breath, dizziness, asthma, and smoke inhalation.

Petaluma Valley took in 28 patients, including several who needed to be evacuated from Sutter Medical Center, Kaiser Santa Rosa and senior living facilities in the area.

Following the early morning rush of burn patients and those suffering injuries directly related to the wildfires, Flynn said, the hospitals began to see waves of patients coming in with injuries related to evacuations, including car crashes and injuries from falling.

We implore the public to take all necessary precautions and be safe; heed all evacuation orders; dont speed; do not venture out unless it is necessary, she said in a statement.

Some people, unsure of where else to go, turned up at area hospitals. Flynn emphasized that those without injuries should seek help at shelters, not medical centers.

But for the Tito family, the hospital has become their temporary refuge. After evacuating Fountaingrove about 3 a.m., the family took shelter in Elizabeth Titos office, where their youngest child, 11, and pets remained Monday afternoon.

We keep running into people out here who say they lost everything, that all they have left is in a backpack or a bag, Elizabeth Tito said. People who forgot their medication and inhalers on their way out. Its surreal.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Chad Krilich, the chief medical officer at Santa Rosa Memorial, said many doctors who reported for duty Monday had lost their homes just hours before.

The hospital was providing on-site accommodations for staff and volunteers who needed a place to sleep.

Krilich was one such doctor, who assumed his home was gone. He said he grabbed two photos  a picture of his wedding day and one of his children  five pairs of underwear and Hip Hop, the familys aquatic turtle, before fleeing his Santa Rosa home about 2 a.m. and heading into work.

By late afternoon Monday, Santa Rosa Memorial had treated 160 people. Krilich said the staff anticipates that number will climb to around 200  a jump from the typical patient load of about 125 a day.

Of those 160 patients, 90 people were admitted with wildfire-related injuries, including 12 with burns. Three remain in the hospital, four were transferred to burn centers due to the severity of their injuries and five were treated and released earlier in the day.

All non-urgent surgeries scheduled for Tuesday at Petaluma Valley and Santa Rosa Memorial have been cancelled to allow the hospitals to focus on the communitys most pressing surgical needs for patients in need of life-saving or time-sensitive procedures, Flynn said.

A walk-in clinic will remain open in Santa Rosa at 510 Doyle Park Drive until 10 p.m. for people who have non-urgent medical needs, the hospital group said.

Santa Rosa Memorial said it had been adequately staffed all day, with at least 10 doctors who arrived from out-of-area hospitals to pitch in.

In coming days, Krilich warned, the hospital may lose manpower as doctors and nurses whose houses were destroyed in the blaze leave to take care of whatever remains of their homes.

Anyone seeking to help is advised to call the labor pool at 707-525-5300, ext. 5105.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
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The wildfires consuming swaths of three Northern California counties have forced major retailers to close stores throughout the region or use emergency power to stay open.

Gap Inc. in San Francisco said the company had to shutter four Gap and Banana Republic stores because of air-quality issues, said company spokeswoman Debbie Felix. None of the stores were directly impacted by the fire.

Our top priority right now is ensuring that all of our employees are safe and getting the support they need, Felix said in an email. Our thoughts are with our employees, their loved ones and our customers who are grappling with this loss and devastation.

Santa Rosa Plaza, a high-end mall located in hard-hit Santa Rosa, is closed until Wednesday morning. A person answering the phone at the mall said the facility was not directly damaged by the fire but there was a great deal of smoke throughout the shopping center.

A spokesman for Simon Property Group, which owns Santa Rosa Plaza, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The mall is home to over 120 retailers, including Apple, Macys, Michael Kors and Lush.

Monica Gubrud, a spokersperson for Macys, said Wednesday that the store in Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa remains closed because of power failure. The company is closely watching 3 additional stores in proximity to the fires, she said.

Gubrud said Macys has yet to conduct an assessment of the damage.

A Kmart store in Santa Rosa was engulfed in flames and suffered major structural damage, Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings Co., said in an e-mail. The company owns Kmart.

Riefs said the retailer is working to find jobs for the stores 44 employees at the companys Sears location in Santa Rosa and at the Kmart store in Petaluma.

Whole Foods Market, owned by online giant Amazon.com, closed its stores in Napa and Coddingtown mall in Santa Rosa because of power outages, said company spokeswoman Erika Dimmler. The companys locations in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma and Petaluma remain open, she said.

Williams-Sonoma in San Francisco operates a store in the town of Sonoma. Founder Chuck Williams opened the companys first cookware shop at that location on Broadway in 1956. The store was closed Monday and Tuesday but may reopen Wednesday if the company can find enough employees.

Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck said all 10 of the big-box retailers locations in the region are open, though some are operating on generator power. She said the company is working to find ways to transport employees to the stores and to restock shelves with basic necessities like water and food.

There was a run on supplies, Reck said. We are working as quickly as possible to get products to the stores.

Thomas Lee is San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee
If you take a bay cruise and notice a deckhand pulling ropes and turning dials with unusual grace, its probably Margaret Cromwell. The accomplished first officer is also a longtime member of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company.

Ive had 135 dancers in my company since 1974, says Jenkins, a modern-dance luminary who trained with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, and theres nobody (else) thats been a boat captain. Its rather extraordinary.

The companys 43rd annual home season, opening Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, marks Cromwells 10th year as a company dancer and a far-from-ordinary seaman.

I love the movement of the boat on the water, says Cromwell, 35. Its that motivation to travel over space, just to move. Shes found joy in moving since her childhood ballet classes in Oklahoma City, and went on to earn an masters degree in fine arts from Mills College and join Oaklands Axis Dance Company. Boating was never in her wheelhouse.

Theres that boat tour that you can take under Niagara Falls. I have clear memories of that as a kid, she says of her only prior shipboard experience. She took her first maritime job, facilitating interments at sea for the Neptune Society, around the time she joined the dance company because it offered flexible scheduling. She didnt expect to fall in love with it.

I was working with a captain who said that boating is this kind of thing that people dont know that theyre into, she says. All of a sudden you get on one, and youre like, Whoa, this is awesome!

As a first officer and deckhand on Hornblower dinner cruises and charter yachts, I start up the engines, I check fluids, I work the lines, she says. I have a very long to-do list, and everythings important. Indeed, tagging along as she sprints between decks and tasks is an exhausting chase.

Cromwells passion for boating led her to become a boat captain, with a 100-ton near-coastal license. No one has ever been anything but encouraging, she says of her male-dominated field. Most people in the maritime community acknowledge that there should be more female captains, and they want it.

To Capt. William Nadauld, Cromwell is special in the one way that really matters. I trust her, he says of his California Spirit deckhand. Ive been at this over 20 years, and she is one of the top two people Ive ever had on a boat.

He recounts a stormy dinner cruise when three 100-pound life rafts blew off the deck. Two of them were in the water, and one was hanging down the side (of the boat), he says. She got those things back in while directing two guys. Shes determined  shes going to do her job.

A lot of deckhands are bigger and stronger than I am, so Ive had to do a lot of problem-solving, says the 5-foot-4 Cromwell. There is a direct tie with the work I do on the boat to the physicality Ive experienced as a dancer. I learn a boat, and I learn how I move around it as part of my personal orientation to it.

Cromwell is just as intense in the studio, says fellow 10-year MJDC member Kelly Del Rosario, 37. If two dancers have to bump each other, shell throw all her weight into it  not just a bump, but a crash, he says. Its not dangerous, but sometimes theres a little bit of pain involved!

Jenkins describes Cromwells movement style as poetic and haunting, qualities that come to the fore in the companys collaborative rehearsals. The groups intensive process of choreographic invention, self-reflection and rigorous analysis informs the works the company will perform in two spaces at the Wilsey Center.

Site Series (Inside Outside) evolved from a portable dance the troupe has presented everywhere from local living rooms to a refugee shelter in Sweden since 2016. The physical environment it gets done in very much shifts how it gets experienced, Jenkins says. San Francisco will see its first iteration in the round, with lighting by David Robertson evoking intimacy.

In contrast, the new Skies Calling Skies Falling takes on the world. All of us really wanted to make a work that felt responsive to this emotional, social, political moment we all find ourselves in, says Jenkins, 74, who grew up in a left-leaning San Francisco family during the McCarthy era.

The art that has been the most meaningful to me, she says, is when someone does cast light on the present. So with a drone-filmed landscape by David and Hi-Jin Hodge as a backdrop, the work abstractly expresses despair (falling) alongside hope (calling).

If you believe in art, Jenkins says, then you believe in a possible future.

For her own future, Cromwell foresees going full maritime when she someday stops dancing. I feel so fortunate that I get to see the changes the bay goes through seasonally, see the wildlife, and notice the weather, the tide, she says. Its its own world out there. A lot of people dont see it.

Claudia Bauer is a Bay Area freelance writer.

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 12-14. Diane B. Wilsey Center, S.F.

To see Margaret Cromwell working on the boat: http://bit.ly/cromwelltour.

Excerpt of Site Series (Inside Outside) performed in a private home: https://vimeo.com/147879408
We hear it every time some appalling man in power is revealed as having a history of sexual abuse, and we heard it again this week with regard to Harvey Weinstein: Why didnt the women say something? Why didnt they all come forward? Why didnt they go to the press? Or scream on street corners?

Implicit in this line of questioning is an unconscious sexism that demands a selflessness in women that is rarely found in human beings, as if everyone in the same position would do the right thing.

But, really? Id like to ask my fellow men to consider the following scenario: Imagine you could have everything youve ever wanted, not only money and power, but great achievements that will be remembered and revered long after youre dead. And imagine that between you and the goal is a powerful and physically unattractive woman, who demands sexual favors from you.

Now you walk out of her office with a choice. You can keep your mouth shut and have a shot at fulfilling your dreams. Or you can risk professional suicide by getting into a she-said-he-said with a powerful woman with half the media in her pocket, a woman who could have you erased and no one would ever know. What would you do?

More by Mick LaSalle Nobody has a distinctive voice these days, right?

I know what I would do. Id keep my head down and save the incident for my memoirs.

In fact, encounters like that rarely happen to young men. Men go into movie careers worrying only about the obstacles innate in making movies. By contrast, women go into movie careers knowing in advance that they will have to worry about the obstacles innate in men. These young, creative women have the same ambitions as men to make something of themselves and build a brilliant body of work. But getting there sometimes means having to weigh what they most want against their distress, outrage and repulsion.

We celebrate men for their ruthlessness, for their willingness to tough it out and do whatever it takes to advance themselves. But when women hold their nose and go after what they want, theyre derided for it, the assumption being theyre somehow weak of character and will.

Oh, no. Theyre strong. Theyre strong enough to be running the whole show.

The weakness, in fact, is in men. Not in all men, but there are enough Harveys in the world to identify him as a gender-specific phenomenon. Ever wonder what happened to the career of Luise Rainer, who won back-to-back Oscars in the 1930s and then disappeared off the face of the earth? She said no to MGM-mogul Louis B. Mayer. Ever hear of Marilyn Monroe? Of course you have. Well, she said no to very few people. Predatory men are all through the history of the movie business, and women have been dealing with it from the beginning.

And were not just talking about movies. Were talking about the entire history of power. Its Donald Trump and Roger Ailes, but its also Bill Clinton. Hormones transcend ideology. And because men have these biological vulnerabilities, outdated caveman mechanisms that dont lend themselves to socialization, it might be a good idea to start looking for gender parity in positions of leadership.

It would result in a better country, dont you think? But lets start small. Lets start with movies.

Consider the case of Weinstein. Heres a man who was rightly considered one of the most artistically significant producers of the past 30 years. According to IMDb.com, he has over 330 producing credits. He made multiple movies with Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell, Michael Moore, Kevin Smith and Lasse Hallstrom. Just in recent years, he had a hand in (or at least a piece of) some of the best movies to be released: Carol, Big Eyes, Fruitvale Station, The Kings Speech and more.

In terms of casting women, he wasnt as bad as most producers. About a quarter of the films he produced featured women in starring or co-starring roles. Most were romantic comedies told mostly from a male point of view, or slashers like the Scream series, but there were some standouts, too, among them Emma (1996), Jane Eyre (1996), Wings of the Dove (1997), Chicago (2002) and Miss Potter (2006).

What is notably lacking is a single female director with whom he had an ongoing creative partnership. In fact, Weinstein worked with very few women directors. If you count feature films, were looking at a bare handful of them, perhaps less than 10.

The point here is not that Weinstein was so bad, but rather that this supposedly artistically minded producer was no better than the big studios when it came to women in the movies. And its hardly as though women dont want to direct. Its just that here its a pretty closed shop (one thats now perhaps opening very slowly, in part following the lead of television), while in Europe a woman directing films is commonplace.

This is the myopia of power, and it results in a cinema most often characterized by a heartlessness and a brutality that form a feedback loop with the heartlessness and brutality in our culture and society. It starts with the repugnant privilege of a man who says, in effect, I dont have to make myself attractive for you. I revel in my repulsiveness, and the burden is on you to please me. I just have to inflict myself on you.

Or maybe the heartless brutality doesnt start there, but merely passes through there, a station in that feedback loop that we live with today, that makes us cringe and recoil, daily, almost hourly.

Well, Hollywood now has a chance to break the cycle. It can use this ghastly Weinstein mess as a teaching moment, as a chance to reform. Lets get some women in there running Hollywood. They certainly couldnt make things any worse. And more than likely, in expressing the fullness of life onscreen, the quality of films will improve.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle
The Republicans in have consistently, over 64 times, voted to defund the Affordable Care Act brought forth by President Barack Obama and Congress. The ACA was signed into law March 23, 2010. Its repeal would cause a loss of coverage for over 32 million people and most certainly death to thousands.

The Republicans have also consistently supported the NRA, taking campaign money from their lobby, supporting the gun lobbys efforts to avoid any assault weapon ban legislation. The Republicans bought by the NRA, have facilitated an unconscionable 432 mass killings over the past two years. The NRA also gave President 45, $30 million to get him elected.

Because of Republican legislative inaction and their happy acceptance of NRA plunder, we have a state like Nevada, a level three regulation state with regard to gun control, that allows the legal sale of machine guns. Machine guns! In 1999, Australia passed gun control legislation, and a buy-back program from owners of assault weapons. Since that legislation became successful, there have been virtually zero incidences of mass killings. But in this country, now even after the 59 dead and over 500 wounded in Las Vegas, the NRA-controlled Republican toadies wont dare allow talk of comprehensive gun control.

Of course, we do not condone violence, but we must condemn violence and also point out what produced it. In 1984, Hollywood invented the tech-enhanced violent action movie, and a decade later, the typical child had seen 10,000 acts of TV mayhem by the age of 18. Now, video games promoting militarism and killing are ubiquitous. Generally, it is not extremists but extreme conditions.

We can ask, who lit the match, but we must discern why there was a fuse attached to the powder keg. Violence needs redefinition. It should mean anything that violates human dignity and human rights. Exploitation is the essence of violence, and its perpetrators can engage in it without ever drawing a knife and squeezing a trigger. After the exploitation becomes public the populace tends to be repelled by the bloodshed, rather than the injustice producing it. The media is of little help, with the tendency to sensationalize rather than analyze. It makes Americans inmates, in the prison houses of their own spirits.

Republicans are part of the patronage system of an evil oligarchy that is trying to divide America from its moral and mental defenses. They see things through the crystal waters of their own purchased delusions, while operating with a vapid solemn conceit of pretending to the publics business. They all operate and facilitate a vainglorious system of conceit, deceit, debt and delusion.

The politically facilitated uphill financial climb of the wealthy, has accelerated the downward spiral of society as a whole, leading to vast widening inequality, heightened estrangement, and the moral amnesia that estrangement requires.

Background checks and the banning of assault weapons, to keep us safe, is one of our civil rights. The high and primary purpose of government, is to secure our inalienable rights. In the minds of our spiritual forebears, all else was secondary.

When the machinery of politics requires you to become an agent of injustice to others, you have forsaken yourself to people you are supposed to represent. Justice is the moral test of spirituality. Republicans dont meet that test in any manner. They must be replaced, to see fulfilled the world around, all hopes for justice, so long and cruelly deferred.
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Nobody seemed to take any notice of the happy couple sitting outside Farleys Coffee on Potrero Hill on a recent afternoon as they cooed over their 3-month-old baby boy and took turns holding him.

What a difference five years make.

Monday marks a half decade since the culmination of the nine-month-long melodrama that consumed San Francisco, City Hall and these very news pages  and which saw this couple, Ross Mirkarimi and Eliana Lopez, at the center of a very public firestorm.

On Oct. 9, 2012, the Board of Supervisors jolted the city by reinstating Mirkarimi as sheriff after Mayor Ed Lee suspended him for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor related to grabbing and bruising his wifes arm during a heated argument.

Mirkarimi reclaimed his job but not his reputation, which was further damaged after his department released an undocumented felon without notifying federal immigration authorities. That man is now on trial for the shooting death of Kate Steinle on Pier 14 in July 2015.

Mirkarimi lost his re-election bid in November 2015 to the current sheriff, Vicki Hennessy, and fell off the publics radar almost entirely. I texted Mirkarimi a couple of weeks ago, asking if hed agree to talk about life five years since the scandal and doubted Id hear back from him.

After all, The Chronicle documented the sagas many twists and turns in a way Mirkarimi made clear he found unfair. Mirkarimi, always a loner at City Hall, alienated much of the city, particularly women, by initially dismissing the domestic violence incident as a private matter, a family matter. After that, he never found his footing and seemed to blame everybody else for his troubles.

But Mirkarimi, also a former city supervisor, persuaded his wife to join him for an interview, and the couple were very candid in our hour-long chat. Theyre still angry about the 2012 witch hunt and shock-and-awe campaign, as they call it, but theyve mostly put it behind them to live a far quieter and seemingly far happier life.

We are great  great! Super happy! said a beaming Lopez, a former telenovela star from Venezuela.

She cradled their baby, Kian, who was born at their Potrero Hill home with the help of a midwife. The couple lit up as they recalled the fast labor.

Ross caught him! Lopez said.

And cut the umbilical cord, Mirkarimi added.

Their older son, Theo, is in third grade in a Spanish immersion program at a public elementary school.

The family declined to be photographed, so let me paint you a picture. Lopez looks just as gorgeous as ever and was dressed in all black except for her red shoes. Mirkarimis hair is longer and grayer than it was at City Hall, and he looked more tan, heftier and relaxed than he did back then.

Mirkarimi is now a consultant for the cannabis and criminal justice industries. He said hes making about as much money as he did as sheriff, which was $199,000 when he was suspended. (I will release my tax returns! he said with a laugh.)

He recently returned from San Luis Obispo, where he is advising the Sheriffs Department on reforms after a mentally ill inmate there died of a blood clot in his lung after being restrained in a chair for 46 hours.

Ive been able to cobble together a work life and life with the family, Mirkarimi said. It was 24/7 in City Hall, which I loved, but probably loved too much.

He said he wishes he were still the citys sheriff. Its a passion that doesnt go away, he said.

Lopez is taking a break from acting to care for Kian after a nationwide tour of her one-woman retelling of the City Hall soap opera called What Is the Scandal? Before becoming pregnant with Kian, she and her brother and sister-in-law started a production company called Tres Lopez, making social media videos to tell the stories of companies.

Lopez, who became an American citizen in 2013, hasnt been back to her native country, which is in political and economic crisis, since last year. She said she refuses to take her baby there to meet her extended family until the country is safer.

Ironically, Lopezs desire to take the couples older son to Venezuela is what set off the entire episode. On New Years Eve 2011, the couple fought over the planned trip, which Mirkarimi adamantly opposed.

He admits he grabbed and bruised his wifes arm in front of their toddler, but both said the violence was a one-time occurrence. Lopez told a neighbor about the incident, which is how it became public. The couple said they both have fiery tempers but are working to control them.

We are a very passionate couple. Im Persian, shes Venezuelan. If we adopted a North Korean kid, it would be the complete axis of evil, Mirkarimi joked.

In March 2012, Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment and was sentenced to three years probation. Three days later, Lee suspended him for official misconduct. The mayor needed nine of the 11 supervisors votes to oust Mirkarimi permanently, but on Oct. 9, four supervisors  David Campos, John Avalos, Jane Kim and Christina Olague  sided with Mirkarimi.

The four disagreed the sheriff had committed official misconduct, because the domestic violence incident happened before he was sworn in as sheriff and not while on the job. Campos, Avalos and Kim told me they still think they made the right call, while Olague didnt return a call for comment.

Of the four, just Kim remains in political office, still serving as a supervisor. She and Campos both lost races for the state Legislature to supervisors who voted to remove Mirkarimi. (They were Scott Wiener and David Chiu, respectively.) Whether the votes made a difference in the races is anybodys guess.

Mirkarimi said he doesnt keep in touch with anybody from City Hall. Asked whether he has any friends from those days, the former sheriff seemed confused.

Friends? I was a comrade, he said. It wasnt about building relationships. That was a deficiency on my part.

In fact, he hasnt spoken to the mayor since the day Lee suspended him. There wasnt to be any exchange between the two for this column either  Lee declined to comment.

Kathy Black is the director of La Casa de las Madres, a shelter for abused women, and spoke in favor of Mirkarimis ouster many times. She said it was never personal, and she wishes the family well.

I still strongly believe that San Franciscans deserve a sheriff who hasnt pleaded guilty to a domestic violence crime, she said, noting she wasnt surprised to hear the couple is still together because many remain married after domestic violence incidents.

Surprisingly, Lopez and Mirkarimi are friendly with District Attorney George Gascon and his wife, Fabiola Kramsky. The district attorney charged Mirkarimi with the crime, but the men made amends after their wives starred in The Vagina Monologues together. Gascon and Kramsky attended a baby shower for Lopez and Mirkarimi a few months ago.

Lopez cried as she recounted the hardships of 2012 and is adamant Lee just wanted a political opponent out of office.

It was not because of concern for me or Theo, she said. The concern was not my family or my safety, never.

Mirkarimi said it doesnt seem like its been a full five years since the scandal.

Nothing as tumultuous as that seems that long ago, he said. It weighs on you. The experience lasts, and there are always lessons to be learned.

But were a move-forward kind of people, he continued. Am I upset? No. But its something that you think about. Not everyday. But a lot.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
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Marika Brussel has gotten used to pushing the red shopping cart from her home near San Francisco General Hospital to the ODC dance studio in the Mission District and back again every day. After all, when youre a choreographer producing a ballet about homelessness, a shopping cart is a must-have prop.

Its a mile each way, and Brussel said shes pretty sure some passersby think shes homeless.

I think so, because people dont look at me, she said.

Its an odd part of human nature, that avoidance of the homeless people who dot the citys sidewalks. Theyre obviously right there in the wide open, but many of us choose to take a nothing-to-see-here attitude and rush past. We may donate to a charity to help them or complain about them among friends, but actually interact with them? Not often.

Homeless people are kind of like ghosts, Brussel said. If you dont want to interact, you pretend theyre not there. I have found its much more human to say, Hello.

This notion inspired Brussel to craft her new ballet, From Shadows, which premieres this week. The 40-something woman has a special insight into the lives of homeless people  her dad was one of them.

Brussel grew up in New York City, and her parents split over her fathers heroin addiction when she was young. By the time she was 11, her dad was homeless, sometimes sleeping in a dressing room of a local theater.

Brussel had an essay about her unusual childhood in last months Street Sheet, the newspaper published by the Coalition on Homelessness and sold by homeless people to raise money.

My father was many things, as all people are, the essay reads. He was an artist. He was a son. He was, for a while, a husband. He was, for a while, a heroin addict. He was, for a while, homeless. But he was always my father.

Sometimes, her dad would show up at her ballet rehearsals smelling bad and wearing layers and layers of dirty clothes  right there for everyone to see, Brussel wrote. She was sure her childhood friends knew the truth about her father, but after reconnecting with them on Facebook years later, she realized none of them did. (They all had their stuff, too, their family secrets, she said.)

Her dad eventually entered rehab and got clean.

It was really like meeting someone for the first time, Brussel said of getting to know her sober dad in her twenties.

Brussel moved to San Francisco in 1994, initially living in the Haight. Her dad visited her sometimes and would stop to talk to the homeless street kids in the neighborhood, kids she would usually rush past and ignore.

Brussel left San Francisco for Santa Fe, N.M., with a then-boyfriend in 1999 and returned without him in 2007. She said homelessness seemed worse then, but its gotten immeasurably more so in the past few years.

It wasnt like this before, she said. The tent cities didnt exist.

Brussel said she learned from her dad the importance of seeing past the trauma and grime and recognizing the humanity in homeless people, which she hopes her ballet will convey. She often throws extra water bottles into that red shopping cart to hand out to homeless people on her way to and from the dance studio.

She said she hopes the production will inspire the audience to have more empathy in whatever small ways they can muster. The program will include information on ways to help homeless people, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Coalition on Homelessness.

The ballets story is loosely based on her dads, and the dancer who plays him is ripped from his family by another dancer who plays addiction. During a recent rehearsal, the group practiced a scene in which Theresa Knudson, 27, plays a mentally ill homeless woman  the stereotypical person youd see in the Civic Center, she said.

She frantically searches for something  what, is not clear  in the red shopping cart, throwing other pieces of clothing and junk into the air.

Dont throw it like youre having a party, Brussel told her. Throw it like youre looking for something.

Knudson said she knows the topic is a polarizing one for a ballet. But she thinks its valuable in a city where residents frustrations and hopelessness about the vexing problem are boiling over. Knudson said she hopes From Shadows inspires the audience to learn about the topic before making their own commentary.

Nina Pearlman, 26, plays Brussel as a teenager in the production. She said performing in the ballet has inspired her to notice the homeless people she previously rushed past.

Its something we see so much, and because of that, its easy to forget about it because its so normal, she said. Every homeless person has their own story and such a unique reason for being in the position theyre in.

Brussel said her mom and stepdad will attend the show this week. Her father wont be there. He died two years ago at age 85, sober for more than 20 years and happily reconnected with his family.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf

Shows

From Shadows: By choreographer Marika Brussel. 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. $25-$40. ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street, San Francisco. www.marikabrussel.com
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Californias top-two primaries are increasingly Democrat-only affairs, and many of the states Republicans say changes have to be made  quickly.

Something has to be done, or we wont have a Republican Party, said Tom Palzer of Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County), an unsuccessful 2016 candidate for U.S. Senate who is pushing an initiative to repeal 2010s Proposition 14, which created the system.

Before Prop. 14, each political party held its own primary, with the winner going on to the general-election ballot. But in the top-two system, the candidates in every race except the one for president all run on a single primary ballot, with only the two leading vote-getters, regardless of party, advancing to November.

In a strongly Democratic state like California, that can be bad news for Republicans. Last November, for example, Attorney General Kamala Harris and Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez, both Democrats, finished on top in the June primary and faced each other in the high-profile race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, which Harris won.

With some big-name Democrats already lined up against some virtually unknown Republicans in next years contest for governor, theres growing concern that the GOP is setting itself up for a disastrous rerun of the 2016 Senate race.

If theres no Republican in the top-of-the-ticket governors race, it could have a tremendous impact on Republican turnout, because a lot of their voters will ask themselves, Why should we show up? said Tony Quinn, a former GOP consultant who is now senior editor of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which analyzes state elections.

A dismal GOP turnout could have repercussions down the ballot, making it harder to re-elect Republican legislators and members of Congress.

The top of the ticket is what drives turnout in any election, said Ron Nehring, former chairman of the California Republican Party. We need to go back to the system where people have a choice of one candidate from every party, voted in by members of that party.

That system came with its own set of problems, which Prop. 14 was designed to overcome.

In the heavily Democratic Bay Area, for example, often the only real contest was the primary. Whatever Democrat finished first then coasted to victory over a token Republican candidate in November. It was a similar situation in reverse in GOP-friendly parts of the state.

But under Prop. 14, which was put on the ballot by moderate Republicans like former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and onetime Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, that changed. That Bay Area Democrat finishing on top in the primary now might face another Democrat in November, with the Republican voters in the district holding the key to victory.

Politicians quickly found out what that could mean. In 2012, 20-term Democratic Rep. Pete Stark of Fremont won his usual solid victory in the primary. But instead of romping past an overmatched GOP challenger in November, he was beaten by fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell, a young Dublin councilman who had finished second in the primary.

Suddenly, veteran politicians faced a new set of election dangers. And party leaders, Republicans and Democrats alike, didnt much like it.

The right wing of the Republican Party has always hated (top two) because it limited their ability to choose candidates, Quinn said. And neither party liked the possibility of someone crossing the aisle and appealing to the other party for votes.

Republican and Democratic party leaders joined the states minor parties in 2010 to oppose Prop. 14, which still passed with 54 percent of the vote.

Despite the apparent advantages the new primary system has given Democrats, the party still has concerns. Eric Bauman was elected head of the California Democratic Party last May after running on a promise to repeal the top-two system.

Last year, for example, there were 20 Democrat-versus-Democrat legislative and congressional races, compared with only four all-Republican contests. Those often-costly internecine battles, all in districts where Democrats already were guaranteed winners, are seen by the party as unnecessary expenses.

The top-two primaries have cost the Democrats tens of millions of dollars in Democrat-versus-Democrat races, Bauman said. How much of that money has been flushed down the toilet?

The new primary system also has slowly been changing the Democratic Party in ways many of its more progressive members havent been happy with.

The business lobby is becoming smart and supporting pro-business Democrats (rather than Republicans) in heavily Democratic districts, said Quinn, the former GOP consultant. Those candidates may lose a low-turnout primary, but attract enough independent and Republican votes to win in November.

In the East Bay last year, for example, Concord Councilman Tim Grayson lost the primary for an open Assembly seat by about 800 votes to Mae Torlakson. But the more moderate Grayson trounced Torlakson in November, taking nearly 62 percent of the vote.

Its a real phenomenon, and one not to be ignored, Bauman said. If were going to change the top two, we need to really look at it carefully and not just jump right in.

But for many Republicans, the issue is much simpler. With the top-two system keeping Republicans off the general election ballot and focusing more voter attention  and campaign cash  on Democrats, they say its past time to dump it.

At the state party convention later this month in Anaheim, Republican delegates will have a chance to support an effort to repeal Prop. 14. Though that resolution doesnt commit the party to spending any money on a repeal, its a start, said Palzer, whose repeal initiative is awaiting approval from the attorney general before he can begin collecting signatures.

We want more representative government, said Palzer. Well, more candidates are more representative than two.

So far, Palzer has raised nowhere near the $2 million to $3 million it typically takes to qualify a measure for the ballot, but hes confident hell get support not only from Republicans, but also from others eager to return Californias primaries to the way they were for so many years.

A system that for many Californians gives them a choice of two people from the same party is more like North Korea than the United States, said Nehring, the former state GOP chair. A choice between vanilla and French vanilla really isnt a choice.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
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Its no easy feat transforming a hospital hallway into a swanky cocktail party. Yet that setting recently drew a bevy of bigwigs celebrating ... a vascular center at St. Marys Medical Center.

The newly named Takahashi-Suzuki Heart & Vascular Center is an $8 million, high-tech wonder  complemented by the Denise and Prentis Cobb Hale Hybrid Suite/OR, replete with a robotic C-arm and a glamorous plaque adorned by a dazzling David Downton illustration of Denise Hale.

The whole shebang is the hospitals largest-ever campaign thanks solely to donor contributions, led by Margine Sako, executive director of the St. Marys Foundation.

That healthy sum ballooned with a $2.9 million bequest from the Takahashi-Suzuki family, longtime S.F. importers of Japanese goods. Their efforts were joined by a $1 million gift from Hale in honor of her late husband and St. Marys Dr. Remo Morelli and Dr. Pamela Lewis.

This year also marks 160 years of compassionate care in San Francisco by St. Marys Sisters of Mercy. And Dignity Health President-CEO Lloyd Dean reminded former Mayor Willie Brown and Board of Supervisors President London Breed the city still owes a tidy sum to the good sisters.

The Sisters of Mercy have a $100,000 bill for services from 1857 when they ran the citys first county hospital, announced Dean, with a laugh. Now fast forward, plus interest, and the sisters would like to collect their $400.74 million dollars. Compound interest is a wonderful thing.

Dean donated a large-scale S.F. General Hospital heart-work by artist Anthony K. Hall Jr. to grace the centers outdoor entrance. And in lieu of a check, Breed presented the Sisters of Mercy with a mayoral proclamation.

Well-heeled: Celebrated shoe designer Christian Louboutin recently touched down on Maiden Lane at his eponymous boutique for a cocktail klatch. He was flocked by his faithful kitted out in his high-altitude, red-soled heels.

His haute couture presence on a random September night felt a bit like a UFO flyby. But as Louboutin missed the 2014 opening of his beauteous jewel-box boutique, this was a sort of do-over.

For Europeans, San Francisco is highly regarded for its taste in food and wine, and of course its architecture, Louboutin relayed later via email. People are very warm and welcoming and our clientele is no exception.

Yet it wasnt all sales talk  Louboutin was feted the night before by Sloan Barnett at her Gold Coast crib, where savvy social media sharers could not resist the sun setting below the Golden Gate Bridge in a blaze of Louboutins signature hue.

Hot stuff: Speaking of four-alarm red, the women of the San Francisco Fire Department recently celebrated a milestone: 30 years of service in a city department that previously did not employ their gender. Today SFFD boasts 272 female firefighters  the largest percentage in the U.S. led by one of the nations first female appointees: Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

To ring in that achievement, this posse gathered at 111 Minna Gallery to benefit the United Fire Service Women, a nonprofit dedicated to the welfare of female firefighters.

And Sen. Dianne Feinstein was on hand to sing the praises for the fetes firefighting honorees: Mary Carder (ret.); Rescue Squad 1s Sara Coe; Frances Focha (ret.); Engine 33 Lt. Shelia Hunter; and ret. Lt. Eileen McCrystle Tellez.

In my years as supervisor and mayor, we had a lot of department dustups, Feinstein said. But the time finally came to accept women in the department. I might tell you, it wasnt popular. Now 16 percent of the San Francisco Fire Department is female.

Deja vu: Its been 10 years since restaurateur Anna Weinberg plunged her steak knife into the EssEff cuisine scene. Amid the roiling restaurant biz, that one decade can feel like forever.

That forever feeling was on display at the recent opening party for Weinbergs latest Parisian-inspired boite, Petit Marlowe on Townsend Street, the fifth designed by Ken Fulk.

Of all the spaces weve created together, Petit Marlowe feels the most nostalgic: like an old film with a strangely familiar setting, Fulk says. If Anna and I do anything extraordinarily well, its creating evocative spaces that feel like theyve existed for ages. Even if its new to you.

Ken is the best editor  hes like my Anna Wintour, quips Weinberg, referring to the longtime Vogue magazine editor.

This is the sixth restaurant shes opened with her business partners James Nicholas and chef Jennifer Puccio under their Big Night Restaurant Group (including Park Tavern, Marlowe, Leos Oyster Bar, the Cavalier and Mariannes).

This is born of a Paris trip James and I took with local chefs, says Weinberg. who also lives in the SoMa hood. In every restaurant we visited, we never once wondered about the owner or chef. What we loved was the neighborhood and cafe culture.

The result: a cozy neighborhood wine bar-and-oysterette with French-inspired fare by chef Henry French for denizens not concerned by the score at nearby AT&T ballpark.

Our goal is reliving that Parisian experience of a lazy afternoon in a lovely bistro, eating beautifully prepared ingredients and drinking interesting wines, the New Zealand blonde says. And, hopefully, a place youre not distracted by your phone.

Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicles society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow
UPDATE (Wednesday, October 11, 1:00 p.m.): Airbnb has expanded the Open Homes program to allow residents in Berkeley and Oakland to now sign up to host evacuees.

Airbnb launched its Open Homes program Monday afternoon to help facilitate housing for those fleeing the fire-ravaged Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa areas. The company is also seeking those in nearby areas willing to offer space in their homes for displaced evacuees.

"Through our program, people in need of temporary accommodations  including survivors displaced, emergency relief workers and volunteers  are able to connect with Airbnb hosts in San Francisco and parts of Marin and Alameda Counties who are opening their homes free of charge from now through October 30," says Kellie Bentz, Airbnb's head of global disaster response and relief in a press release. "We encourage hosts in safe areas to aid in this effort by listing their available rooms or homes on the platform to help the growing number of people evacuating. Our thoughts continue to be with everyone impacted by these fires, and we thank the dedicated government and emergency response agencies who are working to keep our communities safe."

The tech company, based in San Francisco, has operated Open Homes since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and recently launched it in the wake of Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey, and following the earthquake in Mexico and the shooting in Las Vegas.

RELATED: Inferno destroys parts of Santa Rosa  blocks of homes gone

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for Airbnb told SFGATE that it had sent "preparedness messaging" to registered hosts and guests in the impacted areas and gotten in contact with local agencies about potentially deploying the program. "At this time we are in touch with our non-profit and government partners on the ground in the Napa/Sonoma areas to offer support and are closely monitoring the situation," the company wrote in an email.

RELATED: Fire whips through tiny Sonoma County communities of Kenwood and Glen Ellen

With the launch, beginning Monday and running through Oct. 30, volunteer hosts  registered and not  living in demarcated areas in and near San Francisco County, Marin County, Alameda County, North Contra Costa County, and Mendocino County can offer space in their homes for displaced locals and relief workers helping out with the fire.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


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Flames tearing through Napa and Sonoma counties and beyond. Tens of thousands of acres charred. Residents displaced from their homes. Fifty-three years ago, a fire with eerie similarities to this weeks tragedy struck Wine Country.

On Sept. 19, 1964, a hunters discarded cigarette started what became known as the Hanley Fire, named for the ranch on Mount St. Helena where the blaze started. High heat and winds propelled those flames into a half-dozen other brushfires, which went on to burn 83,000 acres.

For a full week, the fires wreaked havoc across five counties.

The Nuns Canyon Fire scarred about 7,000 acres and demolished a score of homes along Route 12 between Kenwood and Sonoma. The Mt. George Fire burned about 5 miles east of Napa and consumed a half-dozen homes and 7,500 acres. The Green Valley Fire was an eastward extension of the Mt. George Fire, dipping into Solano County and threatening several expensive homes  $100,000 mansions in the 1964 real estate market  and the Green Valley Country Club.

The Hanley Fire itself caused the most devastation, burning 53,000 acres and leveling 84 homes, 24 summer cabins and countless farm buildings. More than half of Calistogas 2,500 residents were evacuated to shelters. Eighty structures in Calistoga were destroyed, including the historic Tubbs Mansion.

According to The Chronicles edition from Sept. 23, 1964, a second related string of flames stretched 15 miles from Calistoga and destroyed 40 structures. It was halted on the north perimeter of Santa Rosa.

Chronicle correspondent Charles Peticlerc described the scene at Boyes Hot Springs: At noon yesterday, the fire was suddenly there on the hill, and they moved out in a line against it. ... It was hot and the kids formed a long skirmish line at the Cragmont Ranch, on the hill east of the town they were trying to save. The pickets were standing in the grass with shovels and wet sacks, waiting for the fire to come to them.

Peticlerc then quoted Grant King, chief of the Guerneville Fire Department, about the blazes spread.

This is the craziest fire Ive ever seen, he said. The wind just hangs back, then fire comes in a rush with the wind, and youre dead.

Gov. Edmund G. Brown toured the fire area by plane and declared it a disaster area  as his son, Gov. Jerry Brown did for the Wine Country fires yesterday  and the Federal Small Business Administration followed suit.

More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.

Crews risked their lives and battled back the far-ranging flames over the next week, stopping the spread amid hellish conditions.

The infernos toll, though severe, was much less painful in the rural region than what densely populated Wine Country has experienced this week. Despite the tens of thousands acres burned, no lives were lost in 1964.

Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicles vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay.
It looked like San Francisco fog but smelled like a campfire.

By Tuesday, the air over the Rockville Corners area of Fairfield, where many residents evacuated Monday night, remained smoky from the Atlas Fire to the northwest in Napa County.

It was so smoky that Austun Kessler, a nearby resident, took his dog, who is due to deliver puppies any day, to the vet because he was worried she was inhaling too much smoke.

Im hoping the airs better there, he said.

Kessler and other regulars at La Barista coffee shop across the street from the cordoned-off intersection at Suisun Valley Road and Rockville Road, were going about their day like many other Tuesday mornings, grabbing coffee before heading to work, or meeting friends. They were tired  many slept just a few hours the night before because of evacuations but upbeat and hoping to wait out the fire.

Text me, have a good day, Erika Ferrera said as she kissed Steve Arons goodbye before leaving for her job at a hair salon. Arons dog, Sadie, a Bluetick coonhound, circled his legs, tail wagging.

Its like an adventure for her, said the 55-year-old Arons.

Ferrera and Arons evacuated from their Fairfield homes around midnight and slept in a car in the parking lot of the coffee shop because the evacuation center down the road at Sonoma Community College does not allow pets.

I just want to take a shower, said Ferrera, 47.

Brother and sister Walter and Judy Newell of Fairfield also evacuated Monday night, and on Tuesday morning were loading items from their family-run business, which is on the edge of the cordoned-off zone (Suisun Valley and Rockville), into their cars  just in case theyre not able to return. The Newell family has run property management companies in the area for more than 45 years. They began piling decades worth of personal items, photos, files and office equipment into their cars.

They were told their parents home in the Green Valley Country Club community is safe from the fires, so far, but worry that because the home is on the hillside, it is vulnerable if the fire jumps the ridge.

Uncertainty is the thing, said Walter Newell, 52. We were raised in that house.

Walter Newell tried to get his neighbors cat Monday night before evacuating, even setting a humane trap with anchovies, to no avail.

For now, they echoed a sentiment felt by many of their neighbors, as they wait for any information from law enforcement.

Its just wait and see, said Judy Newell, 54.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: co@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
Construction and renovations at a 1920s-built Historic Alameda High School building on Monday led to a surprising discovery: a few pieces of what officials believe may be human bone.

If confirmed, they would not be the first discovered in the area. In recent years, the repaving of city streets and other construction revealed bones from what was later identified as an American Indian.
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As wildfires swept through and decimated neighborhoods in Northern California, some of the first responders lost their own homes as they were helping to evacuate residents.

One of them was Mill Valley Fire Chief Tom Welch.

Welch, a Santa Rosa resident, lost his home, then went back and helped with the fire response in Napa and Sonoma counties after he and his family evacuated, Linn Walsh, assistant to the Mill Valley city manager, said Tuesday.

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

The chief is fine. His family is fine. Their home is completely gone, Walsh said.

Walsh started a YouCaring page once the city heard the news, and has already raised more than $50,000 for the chief and his family.

About 25 other Mill Valley employees ranging from police officers to building inspectors who live in Napa and Sonoma counties are in limbo. Theyve evacuated but dont know the status of their homes because its not safe to return, Walsh said. If the employees learn theyve lost their homes as well, the funds will be shared among all those affected, Walsh said.

Its been a tricky time to be moving forward through this, she said. When we heard that Chief Welch had lost his home, we thought, lets get this going.

Mill Valley had at least four police officers and one strike team of firefighters working in the wildfires in Napa and Sonoma, she said. Similarly in Sonoma County, 20 sheriffs office employees have lost homes, some while they were helping to evacuate people, officials said.

Our first responders are doing amazing work up there, selfless work, and we honor them, Welch said. The whole Bay Areas on edge, so were just holding firm.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
In the Napa community of Highlands Tuesday afternoon, Charisse Desmarais was holding what she had always called her cup. With a delicate blue pattern over white china, it was the cup she reached for on weekend mornings, when she would sit and have coffee with her 81-year-old mother.

Now it was in pieces. A side was missing. The rim was chipped. It wasnt the same.

We were planning to be up here for Thanksgiving this year, the 50-year-old Desmarais said, her voice cracking. As she spoke, she stood atop a still-smoldering crater where her mothers house of 16 years had stood just two days before. She could still imagine its rooms: the kitchen overlooking the deck and the Napa hills, the den with its book-lined shelves, the suit of armor standing in the corridor.

But by Tuesday afternoon, the walls had collapsed. The staircase was gone. The books had vaporized. It wasnt the same.

So many things had been in our family for so long, she said, taking a steadying breath. Anyway, theyre just things. Desmarais mother, Shelly Turley, was safe in Palo Alto.

The Atlas Fire seemed to have skipped through the neighborhood. Across from perfectly intact rose bushes and grape vines were skeletons of cars and charred homes. The houses on either side of Turleys, on Alta Mesa Circle, remained intact, with hardly a burn on either one. Across the street, a small statue of a rooster remained standing outside the twisted metal of a wrecked structure.

Desmarais said her mother counts herself among the lucky ones. She survived.

Not everyone did.

Two elderly residents were found dead in fire-ravaged Napa County and law enforcement officials said Tuesday they fear there will be others.

Charles and Sara Rippey, 100 and 98, were found dead inside their condominium in the 100 block of Westgate Drive at the Silverado Country Club. Officers found the couple Monday morning after receiving a call from a family member who feared for their safety.

Both people suffered from medical problems that made evacuation impossible, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said following a morning news conference at the county command center Tuesday. Robertson declined to say what those medical issues were.

Though the county has not received reports of any other wildfire-related fatalities, Robertson expects there will be more to come.

I pray that we dont, but my suspicion is that we will find other people, Robertson said in an interview.

While some people know their property has been destroyed, others  still under evacuation orders and nowhere near their homes  were waiting to see what else the fires would destroy and what they would spare.

Part of the challenge still facing emergency responders in Napa County, Robertson said, is the unpredictability of the winds, which forecasters say could be blowing harder Wednesday night and Thursday.

Fires continued to flare around Napa County on Tuesday.

About 2:30 p.m., Ron Downs, 79, watched an ember float over the ridge by his home on Lokya Road at the top of Redwood Road. Within minutes, there was fire along both sides of his home.

He quickly fled, grabbing only some clothes, old pictures of his grandparents and a pen-and-ink drawing his father had done years ago. He drove down Redwood Road, honking the horn of his green Suburu Outback and calling out for people to leave.

I yelled at people all the way down, he said.

By 5:30, the entire street was being evacuated, with fire trucks roaring up the road and police keeping residents from heading back to their homes.

The residents waiting at the bottom of the hill didnt know the fate of their homes, but Downs was certain he at least wouldnt have a place to go back to.

More than 450 firefighters have been dispatched in Napa to battle the flames.

Many people have suffered injuries while attempting to flee the fires, not only from the flames, but also from car crashes and other serious incidents, Robertson said.

Weve seen overturned luxury cars on the sides of these one-lane country roads, because people were trying to get out and couldnt see through the smoke, the sheriff added.

For the thousands of residents waiting to return to their homes, Napa officials pleaded for patience and stressed that rescue efforts were continuing in much of the region. Numerous areas remain under mandatory evacuation orders.

There is no official tally of the number of people forced to flee their homes in Napa County, nor is there a count of the number of structures that have been damaged.

At times when people dont see smoke, its understandable that people would want to get back in, Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said. But its not safe to do that until we can secure the utilities, the gas lines, ensure the trees arent going to fall down on someone.

Between 100 and 125 people have taken temporary refuge in the Napa Valley College gymnasium, which is serving as an emergency shelter. The gyms fan-cooled air provided a welcome reprieve from the hot, choking smoke blanketing the area.

Many waited anxiously for any word of when they might be able to return home. Families with young children in tow did their best to keep the animated youngsters entertained with art supplies, puzzles and impromptu games on the gym floor.

A small army of volunteers from the Red Cross, the college and the Salvation Army bustled around the room. Some made up beds on the blue cots spread across the gym floor. Others tended to supply lines, doling out sandwiches, water, fruit, cookies and coffee. Still more took to organizing supplies  diapers, paper towels, toiletries and masks to filter the ash-choked air.

Napa resident Elisabeth Anderson said she saw plumes of smoke along the highway as she traveled home from Vallejo Sunday evening. When she arrived at her house, she came across a friends Facebook video showing huge flames lapping at a nearby hillside.

You couldnt tell what was happening, she said. It was dark but things were burning.

As she and her family packed up their two ponies, they saw a propane tank several houses over explode in a huge column of flames.

After that, we just started running, she said.

Anderson hasnt seen her house since she fled at around 3 a.m. Monday, but shes cautiously optimistic it will be there when shes allowed to return.

Dominic Fracassa and Marissa Lang are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com, mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DominicFracassa, @Marissa_Jae
Wind gusts up to 50 mph in valleys and 70 mph on mountaintops whipped through California's Wine Country on Sunday night and early Monday morning, sending the flames of multiple wildfires blistering across Sonoma and Mendocino counties and heavy smoke pouring into Bay Area cities.

Though Cal Fire officials have yet to determine the cause of the 14 separate wildfires burning in the North Bay, fierce winds undoubtedly contributed to their swift and unforgiving spread.

"We have no idea what the cause is, but the winds are really severe," said Dave Shew, a staff chief with Cal Fire.

SEE ALSO: At least 10 dead in Wine Country wildfires

Shew, who lives in Napa, said he noted the dangerous wind and temperature conditions Sunday evening, before the fires broke out.

"Even at my house, I said to my wife, 'If we get a fire tonight, it's going to be devastating,'" Shew said. "Then it happened."

On Monday evening, officials confirmed that at least 10 people were dead and 1,5000 structures, including businesses and many prominent wineries, had been destroyed in the fires.

WINE COUNTRY FIRES: What we know, and what we don't

Winds had died down across the North Bay by Monday afternoon, said Anna Schneider with the National Weather Service, though southwest winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph were expected to stir up later in the evening.

For Tuesday, Schneider said to expect southerly winds ranging from 6 to 15 mph around the North Bay.

"Generally, that's fine for the region," she said. "But for fires, that's pretty decent.

Wind and low visibility also hampered the ability of firefighting aircraft in some areas, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

"We have a lot of aircraft ready to go, ready to respond as soon as an incident commander requests them," Berlant said.

The same heaving winds that spread the flames were also responsible for pouring heavy smoke into San Francisco on Monday morning. As city dwellers awoke, many noticed a thin film of ash, carried 60 miles southwest by the winds, covering their windshields and sticking to their windows.

"Ash literally falling on phone right now in #SanFrancisco," wrote Ruth Malone on Twitter.

PHOTOS: San Francisco chokes on smoke from raging wildfires

City fire officials took to Twitter Monday morning to reassure residents that no fires were burning in San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, a smoke advisory was issued for the Bay Area, urging residents to close windows, limit outdoor activities and keep pets inside.

By the time the sun began to set Monday, westerly winds had pushed much of the smoke from the Bay Area, though the skies in San Francisco remained an eerie gray.

On Tuesday, Schneider said residents shouldn't expect to awaken with the stinging sensation of smoke in their throats and eyes.

"It shouldn't be as bad Tuesday as it was this morning," she said. "Still, it won't be good."

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Kimberly Velkerov and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.




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A few days after Hurricane Maria leveled Puerto Rico, John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund manager, boarded his companys 23-seat Bombardier jet and flew to San Juan.

Paulson wanted to check personally on several resorts and a large office building that he and his firm own, two people familiar with the trip said. He traveled when commercial air traffic to the devastated island was limited and most private jets landing in San Juan were required to bring badly needed emergency supplies.

Paulsons quick trip is an indication of just how much big investors have riding on the future of the Caribbean island.

Paulson and his firm, Paulson & Co., have invested hundreds of millions of dollars there as he, along with many of the best-known names on Wall Street, bet big on taking advantage of a long period of depressed prices for luxury properties and other real estate. Their wagers are looking increasingly unlucky, especially after the storm.

Moodys Analytics, an economic forecasting firm, estimates that the hurricane could cost Puerto Rico up to $95 billion in damage and lost economic output. It could take months, even years, for parts of the island and its 3.4 million residents to recover from the storm, which destroyed much of its electrical grid and left millions without running water or reliable mobile phone service.

Paulson, who served as an economic adviser to Donald Trump during the presidential campaign, has been particularly outspoken in his support of the island as an investment opportunity. Other companies that went to Puerto Rico in search of bargains included the Blackstone Group, the Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, the D.E. Shaw Group, Fundamental Advisors, Goldman Sachs, Lone Star Funds and Monarch Alternative Capital. The main attractions have been hotels, condominiums, office buildings and distressed real estate loans.

Few tears will be shed for financial losses borne by wealthy investors who gambled on Puerto Rico, especially those like Paulson, who made billions off the 2008 collapse of the U.S. housing market.

But the interests of these investors and the Puerto Rican economy might be aligned. Tourism supports more than 60,000 jobs in Puerto Rico. Luring deep-pocketed investors from the mainland has the potential to hasten the islands recovery.

At the moment, though, those investors are staring at hard-to-quantify red ink.

We sustained a lot of damage, and were facing very significant losses, said Brian Tenenbaum, regional director for the Morgan Reed Group, which owns or operates several office buildings, commercial buildings and residential complexes on the island.

Samuel Kirschner, chief operating officer with CPG Real Estate, which has been investing in commercial and residential properties in Puerto Rico for nearly 18 years, has struggled to get his properties open because of damage from the storm. After chartering a private plane from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with canned goods, diapers and batteries, CPG managed to partly open an outdoor shopping plaza in San Juan. The idea was to give residents a place to drink, eat and cool down.

Were going to lose a lot of money opening it now, Kirschner said.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Co. lists at least seven hotels closed with no clear reopening date. About two dozen expect to begin taking reservations before the end of October. Some resorts are said to have suffered little structural damage but severe damage to their beaches and grounds. Tourists might balk at returning to the island anytime soon.

The turnaround was set back years, said David Tawil of Maglan Capital, whose firm used to hold Puerto Rican debt.

Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricos economy was ailing, with 45 percent of the population living in poverty. In May, Puerto Rico effectively filed the largest-ever federal bankruptcy proceeding by a local government, and much of Wall Streets attention has focused on the creditors who hold some of Puerto Ricos $74 billion in public debt.

On Oct. 3, the bondholders, including big investment firms such as OppenheimerFunds, the Baupost Group and Tilden Park Capital Management, got a jolt when Trump said some of Puerto Ricos debt might have to be wiped out  a comment that sent the price of those already distressed bonds plunging. Prices stabilized after the White House clarified that the administration was not planning to interfere with the bankruptcy process.

The pool of bond investors  many of which bought Puerto Ricos debt at deeply distressed prices  is different from those that plunged into real estate. But both camps are now betting that insurance payouts and aid from Washington will speed the commonwealths recovery and increase the value of their investments.

I think a lot of money will be spent fixing Puerto Rico, and that should be better for everyone, said Marc Lasry, a founder of the Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund that owns some of Puerto Ricos debt.

Some investors are calling for an ambitious federal rescue package  an initiative that would help both the island and the investors bottom lines.

Matthew Goldstein is a New York Times writer.
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The man behind one of the deadliest attacks in San Francisco history slaughtered five members of the Lei family by bludgeoning each in the head repeatedly, then flooded the house and poured bleach, paint and shampoo over the bodies in an attempt to cover his tracks, a city prosecutor said Tuesday.

In opening statements at the trial of 41-year-old Binh Thai Luc, Assistant District Attorney Eric Fleming said the defendant turned the familys home in the Ingleside neighborhood into a blood-soaked crime scene that was first discovered by a 12-year-old relative on March 23, 2012.

But despite his attempts to contaminate the evidence, investigators were able to find DNA proof that Luc is connected to this crime in many ways, from the beginning, middle and end, Fleming said.

Mark Goldrosen, Lucs attorney, asserted in his opening statement that the evidence against the defendant is circumstantial at best. He said the homicide inspectors who zeroed in on him as a suspect within hours never established a crucial aspect of the case: a motive strong enough to explain why a man would massacre an entire family.

The evidence will show only that Mr. Luc was present around the time of the killings, Goldrosen said, and the people actually responsible were never arrested.

Binh Luc had no reason, no motive to kill, the attorney said.

Luc is accused of killing Hua Shun Lei, 65; his wife, Wan Yi Wu, 62; their daughter, Ying Xue Lei, 37; their son, Vincent Lei, 32; and his wife, Chia Huei Chu, 30.

Prosecutors have previously said that Luc had a gambling problem, and that he murdered the family in order to steal money from their home to clear a debt.

The 12-year-old girl who discovered the carnage in the home was the daughter of Nicole Lei, the sister of victim Vincent Lei. Fleming said the child ran out of the Howth Street home at about 7:45 a.m. screaming, Mommy, bodies! Bodies! According to the prosecutor, a witness then heard Nicole Lei on the phone, saying hysterically, They took the money! The money is gone!

Nicole Lei would later tell investigators she never made that call, despite phone records that allegedly showed otherwise.

Though the killer went to great efforts to obscure the evidence, Fleming said crime scene investigators still found blood belonging to Luc and Vincent Lei in a closed drawer, as well as Lucs fingerprint on an empty Windex bottle.

Inspectors searching Lucs home in Hayes Valley also found a pair of jeans splattered with 18 bloodstains, some of which matched that of the mother and son, Fleming said.

A violent attack like that against five individuals, youre going to leave something behind and youre going to take something with you, he said.

The police began looking at Luc as a suspect after two of Vincent Leis friends approached them the morning the bodies were discovered. The friends told investigators they heard Vincent Lei answer a call the night before from his wife, who told him Luc was looking for him, according to Fleming.

Vincent Lei said, Let me talk to him, the prosecutor said. The friends told investigators they heard him ask a person believed to be Luc, What is it? Is it serious?

Investigators arrested Luc at a San Mateo motel, Fleming said, where they came upon him reading a Chronicle article about the killings.

Goldrosen said Luc had no reason to kill the Lei family, as he had a well-paying job and considered Vincent Lei a friend with whom he would play mah-jongg. The defendant had about $7,000 when he was taken into custody, but Goldrosen said the money was Lucs and that investigators never found anything taken from the Lei family in his possession.

By focusing on Luc so early in the investigation, leads were not followed, Goldrosen said. He said an FBI agent told police that an informant had learned that the head of a Chinatown gang ordered the killings because of a gambling or drug debt involving Vincent Lei, but police never looked into it.

Keep an open mind, Goldrosen told the jury.

Luc was convicted in 1998 of robbing a Chinese restaurant in San Jose at gunpoint. He was released from San Quentin State Prison after serving eight years of his 11-year sentence, and was taken into federal custody for deportation back to his native Vietnam.

But because Vietnamese authorities declined to take him back, he was released under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that undocumented immigrants must be freed within six months in such cases.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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This story was updated on Oct. 9 at 1:30 p.m.:

The immediate need for volunteers at sites in Santa Rosa has been met.

The Red Cross is now asking those interested in helping to sign up online and you'll be contacted in the near future regarding donation and volunteer needs.

The Red Cross issued the following statement Monday afternoon: "Trained Red Cross volunteers are currently staffing shelters and supporting residents. As the disaster continues to evolve, the Red Cross will assess how community volunteers can best support the operation. Those interested in volunteering to support Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino wildfire relief efforts, can sign up online."

***

The City of Santa Rosa is seeking volunteers to help manage local residents who have been evacuated due to multiple fires burning in the area.

The Santa Rosa Police Department issued a tweet Monday at 4:41 a.m. reading: "If you are safe and can lend a hand, please consider volunteering."

The tweet includes a link to the City of Santa Rosa Facebook page offering additional details on the assistance that's needed:

Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle

"Volunteers are needed to assist fire evacuees at Elsie Allan High School and Cook Middle School immediately to assist with check-in and supply distribution and other activities as needed. Both schools are opening as emergency shelter locations."

The post goes on: "Red Cross has exhausted their volunteer pool and many additional hands are now needed during this emergency."

The Red Cross is asking people interested in volunteering to check in online.

The series of fires began to ignite Sunday and multiplied as the night went on, hitting Napa and Sonoma the hardest but impacting at least five counties, according to a prior story on SFGATE.

North Bay fires at a glance: Areas being evacuated.
Nicola Luisotti came of age as a conductor at the San Francisco Opera.

When the Italian maestro arrived in 2009 as the companys new music director, he was an irrepressible ball of energy with an infectious grin and an unbridled, ingratiating way of interacting with colleagues, patrons and interviewers alike. And today, as he prepares to step down from the position hes held for nine seasons, Luisotti is  well, pretty much the same, at least to the casual observer.

But at 55, Luisotti portrays himself as taking a different approach to his work, with a more serious and attentive demeanor that has developed over the course of his time with the company.

My experience here has made me a better conductor and a better man, he said during a recent interview at his office in the War Memorial Opera House. The people here  the orchestra, the audiences  made me a better man. Im calmer, more reflective, more confident.

It isnt that Luisotti is any less excitable, in person or on the podium, than he was when he first hit town. At his best, he brings a passionate energy to his performances that can give an opera  especially in the Italian repertoire that are his specialty  a galvanic charge. The current production of Verdis La Traviata, which marks his final assignment as music director, finds Luisotti operating with a combination of power and emotional lyricism.

But to hear him tell it, a performance like Traviata grows out of a new maturity in the way he undertakes his work, especially as a collaborator. Asked if he had any regrets about his tenure, Luisotti replies, in capable but heavily accented English, that he wishes hed known at the outset what he knows now.

Im less reactive now, and I give more space to my colleagues. I know how to achieve results without forcing people, which I used to do sometimes. Even if I was right, it was the wrong process  now I just ask, or show them what I want.

Luisotti was brought on board by then-general director David Gockley, largely on the strength of a superb 2005 company debut leading Verdis La Forza del Destino. Hed been a chorus director at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and served a year as music director in Salerno before embarking on a series of guest assignments.

Luisottis mandate, both men agreed at the time, was to strengthen the companys execution in the core works of the Italian repertoire.

Over the ensuing seasons, Luisotti has focused closely on that body of music, conducting numerous works by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti and Mozart, as well as occasional outliers like Lohengrin (Wagners most overtly Italianate creation), Bizets Carmen and Richard Strauss Salome. For him, the Italian repertoire is as core as it gets.

Italian people invented the opera, he says with yet another rush of bubbly enthusiasm, and probably we have in our blood a kind of tradition. When you are a child, you grow up with the opera, with your parents and people around you speaking all the time about opera.

I remember when I was young that in the Italian version of the Mickey Mouse stories, Donald Duck used to sing the aria Di quella pira, from Trovatore.

So when you grow up with that kind of music from the beginning, you dont realize its just your tradition. You think its something that everyone knows, like Americans think everyone knows the names of all the presidents.

Even in contemporary music, Luisottis tastes run to the Italianate. It was Luisotti who brought composer Marco Tutino to Gockleys attention, which resulted in the 2015 commissioned world premiere of Two Women (La Ciociara), based on the Albert Moravia novel that became a 1960 film starring Sophia Loren in an Oscar-winning performance.

That opera, composed in an opulently neo-Romantic vein, won the appreciation of many patrons, but also drew criticism for its less-than-modern stylistic outlook  criticism that Luisotti feels he played some role in fostering.

I spoke about composers of the Second Viennese School, about Schoenberg and Berg, and I probably said some things wrong, he says with a deep, rueful sigh. You know, when you talk too much, you let people misunderstand your message.

I love that period and the fact that someone tried to move music forward. I love Wozzeck and Moses und Aron. These are fantastic pieces that have to be performed.

But someone else got the message and used it to create nonsense music, which created large numbers of confusing composers.

I told Marco, Dont try to be modern, just write something for this libretto  something Italian, something neo-traditional. Dont try to show that youre an intelligent composer. Try to move people. I think he did that, and that this opera deserves a future.

In the meantime, Luisotti will be busy pursuing opportunities elsewhere. Hes been named associate director of the Teatro Real in Madrid, and his schedule is chock-full of guest appearances  at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Rome, London and Turin. Matthew Shilvock, the San Francisco Operas current general director, says the search for his successor will be thorough and painstaking, perhaps taking as long as two or three years.

Luisotti and his wife, Rita, share a home in the Tuscan countryside with a cat, Odabella (named for the lead soprano role in Verdis early opera Attila). From his window, he can see the Leaning Tower of Pisa across the hills. There are plentiful opportunities to indulge his passion for mushroom-hunting.

Still, Luisotti says hes leaving San Francisco with a certain sadness. There are things he feels hes left undone  more Wagner and Strauss, a dive into the works of Janacek  and the Bay Area has worked its charms on him.

This is a fantastic city to live in, and Ill always remember my time here. But its the right moment to go. Better to leave when people love you, and not when people are saying behind your back, Oh my God, hes still here? I dont want that.

Besides, Traviata isnt the last opera Luisotti will conduct with the company. Hes been signed to return as a guest conductor in 2019 and 2020, though he wont reveal the repertoire.

But you can be sure Ill be here in October and November  at mushroom time.

Joshua Kosman is The San Francisco Chronicles music critic. Email: jkosman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoshuaKosman

San Francisco Opera: La Traviata. Through Tuesday, Oct. 17. $26-$397. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. (415) 864-3330. www.sfopera.com
Arlington Heights, IL, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jeffrey E. Janis, MD, Columbus, Ohio, professor and executive vice chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, was named president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the world's largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons and foremost authority on cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Janis will take office at Plastic Surgery The Meeting, the Society's annual scientific meeting, in Orlando, Fla. and will serve for one year.

I am proud to lead a global organization that has advocated for patient safety and advanced quality care to plastic surgery patients for more than 80 years, noted Dr. Janis. As ASPS president, I will ensure that the organization continues to provide public education initiatives, educational offerings, advocacy opportunities and resources to support its members in cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. Patient safety is and always will be the chief concern of ASPS, and one of my primary goals over the next year is to focus on physician wellness as a means of reducing the burnout epidemic were seeing across medicine so that plastic surgeons can continue providing high-quality care to their patients.

Dr. Janis completed his undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he graduated magna cum laude from the Olin School of Business with honors in Management and Marketing. Dr. Janis went on to receive his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. He was also the recipient of the William D. Holden Award in Surgery, given to the most outstanding student going into a surgical career. He completed his integrated plastic surgery residency at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Dr. Janis joined the faculty in the Department of Plastic Surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2003. While there, he was appointed to the level of Associate Professor and Program Director for the largest plastic surgery residency training program in the country, and he also served as co-director of the Wound Healing Fellowship at the same location. Furthermore, he served as the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Parkland Health and Hospital System from 2006-2013. During his tenure at UTSW, Dr. Janis was awarded Clinician of the Year, Distinguished Physician of the Year, an Outstanding Leadership Award, and twice awarded Special Achievement Awards for Outstanding Contributions and Dedication to Advances in Plastic Surgery Resident Education. He was also named Teacher of the Year twice. He was inducted into the prestigious Southwest Academy of Teachers as well as named Distinguished Teaching Professor by the University of Texas Academy of Health Sciences Education.

Upon being recruited to Ohio State in 2013, he relinquished his roles as President-Elect of the Dallas County Medical Society, the second-largest medical society in the country with 7,500 members, president-elect of the Medical Staff/Medical Executive Committee at Parkland Health and Hospital System, with 1,400 physicians, and Secretary/Treasurer of the Dallas Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Dr. Janiss current research interests in plastic surgery are predominantly centered on complex abdominal wall reconstruction (hernia), the treatment of migraine headaches (Botox and surgical), pain management and resident education. He also holds adjunct appointments as a Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Surgery.

Dr. Janis has been board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery since 2004, and he has served on numerous committees, both as a member and chair, including chairing the ASPS Annual Scientific meeting and the national Curriculum Committee for ASPS and the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS). He has served for three years as the ASPS Board Vice President of Education, overseeing all education for the largest plastic surgery organization in the world. He has also served as a past president of the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons and is president-elect of the Board of Directors for the Columbus Medical Association (CMA). He sits on the Executive Committee for the Surgical Pain Congress and is a Governor on the Board of Directors of the American Hernia Society.

Dr. Janis currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well as of its sister journal, PRS: Global Open.

Dr. Janis was also part of the team that performed the first full U.S. face transplant at the Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. To date, he has served as a Visiting Professor 32 times, published nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles, 70 book chapters, and four books, with three more books and an app pending publication. He has delivered more than 725 lectures.

Dr. Janis lives in Columbus and is married with two sons and a daughter.

Attachments:

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Attachments:

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Its been nearly two days since the inferno known as the Tubbs Fire ripped through residential neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, leaving behind thousands of destroyed homes and nine fatalities. For the family of Christina Hanson, the fire also left an agonizing question: Where is she?

Hansons relatives had been frantically searching for her since the 27-year-old woman went missing early Monday, when the fire destroyed her home and gravely injured her father. Late Tuesday evening, they learned Hanson had died in the fire.

Her father, Michael Hanson, 55, wasnt able to tell anyone where his daughter had been. Severely burned over more than half his body, he is unconscious and heavily sedated in the burn ward of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

Ive pretty much been in shock and investigation mode, Christina Hansons cousin Brittney Vinculado said in an interview Tuesday before the family learned of the death.

Christina Hanson was one of nearly 200 people who had not yet been located since several powerful fires began ravaging Californias Wine Country.

Finding those missing is a dynamic, desperate endeavor. With phone lines down, homes turned to ash and displaced residents scattered at various shelters, clues can be hard to find, especially as the uncontrolled fires continue to burn across Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties.

Up to 3,000 structures have been destroyed by the fires. The overall death toll from the fires throughout Northern California stood at 17 Tuesday and was certain to rise, officials said.

Now Playing: The remains of the Journey's End mobile home park and Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel after the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Video: Elijah Nouvelage, Special to The Chronicle

But among the tales of heartbreak, there is some hope. Of the 240 people who had been reported missing in Sonoma County, 57 people have been located, officials said.

We are confident that many of these people will be found safe and reunited with loved ones, but unfortunately we are preparing for further fatalities, officials with the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.

The sheer size of the evacuation from the fires makes it difficult to find people. More than two dozen shelters are filled with thousands of residents, including nearly 5,000 people in Sonoma County. Many of them had only seconds to grab a few items as flames engulfed their homes.

In neighboring Napa County, damaged cell phone towers have made it nearly impossible to answer or place calls.

Phone calls are not getting in or out on cell phones, and many landlines are damaged or fuzzy, said Kevin Lemieux, a spokesman working at the Napa County Sheriffs Offices Emergency Operations Center.

He said two cell phone companies planned to set up mobile towers on Tuesday to boost signals, much as they do at concerts and other large events.

Napa County has not released an official total of people reported missing, but officials said theyve received many calls from people looking for relatives and friends.

Lemieux said the workers at the emergency operations center are helping relatives of missing people by looking up home addresses.

If someone is not in the evacuation zone, its likely theyre OK and just cant get in touch, he said.

Officials around the North Bay are encouraging survivors to check in on the Red Cross Safe and Well website (https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php), where people can enter their name, location and condition so family and friends can know they are safe.

One name that hasnt appeared on that list is Karen Aycock. The 54-year-old womans house on Dogwood Drive burned along with the surrounding Coffey Park neighborhood.

On Tuesday afternoon, her niece, Jeanette Scroggins dug through the houses ashes with police officers. From the rubble, she pulled out a charred vinyl record: Beds Are Burning by Midnight Oil.

Officers told her they wouldnt start digging for human remains until the evening.

Several feet away, Aycocks charred blue Ford Mustang lay slumped on the pavement.

I just hope she made it alive, Scroggins said. We want some answers.

Aycock was last heard from on Saturday, when she messaged with friends on Facebook. Scroggins has not been able to locate her at area shelters.

I havent seen or heard from her, Scroggins said. Its really hard to figure out what is what. Im just feeling sadness.

Christina Hansons relatives were hoping for answers, too.

Hanson, who volunteered at local charities and was active in her church, used a wheelchair due to a spinal birth defect. On Tuesday, Vinculado learned that rescuers had been at her cousins address on Wikiup Bridge Way near the Safari West wildlife preserve, where Hanson lived in an apartment behind her fathers house.

Hansons injured father had been outside his home with his dog when someone picked him up and rushed him to the hospital before the flames consumed the neighborhood. He was in Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital before it was evacuated Monday morning and he was taken to San Francisco.

The family was left with lingering questions about Christina Hansons final moments.

We dont know what happened because we cant talk to Michael, Vinculado said.

Evan Sernoffsky and Lizzie Johnson are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky, @lizziejohnsonnn
SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioSolar, Inc. (OTCQB:BSRC) (BioSolar or the Company), a developer of breakthrough energy storage technology and materials, today announced that the Company has relaunched key social channels in its efforts to improve ongoing company communications with potential channel partners and customers, as well as participants in the energy storage industry.



The Companys official online portals hosted on social media channels include Twitter and Facebook. BioSolar aims to fortify its online presence by engaging and informing its followers with company updates and media coverage; industry news related to the high-growth lithium-ion market; and battery manufacturing and development.

"We have always sought to maintain the highest level of communications with our partners and industry participants, said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. By re-launching our social channels, we are providing digital followers with the same information that we digest on a daily basis, much of which is why we consider our technology within this market to hold such potential. In a short time since the re-launch, we have been pleasantly surprised by the constant feedback and engagement from followers, and hope to continue providing value in these communications that go beyond press releases and media coverage.

To follow BioSolars official social media platforms, please find the links below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bio_Solar

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BioSolarInc

About BioSolar, Inc.

BioSolar is developing a breakthrough technology to increase the storage capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries. A battery contains two major parts, a cathode and an anode, that function together as the positive and negative sides. BioSolar initially focused its development effort on high capacity cathode materials since most of today's Li-ion batteries are "cathode limited." With the goal of creating the company's next generation super battery technology, BioSolar is currently investigating high capacity anode materials recognizing the fact that the overall battery capacity is determined by combination of both cathode and anode. By integrating BioSolar's high capacity cathode or anode, battery manufacturers will be able to create a super lithium-ion battery that can double the range of a Tesla, power an iPhone for two days straight, or store daytime solar energy for nighttime use. Founded with the vision of developing breakthrough energy technologies, BioSolar's previous successes include the world's first UL approved bio-based back sheet for use in solar panels.

To learn more about BioSolar, please visit our website at http://www.biosolar.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Investor Relations Contact :

Tom Becker

BioSolar, Inc.

ir@biosolar.com

(877) 904-3733
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RANCHO CORDOVA, Sacramento County  As President Trump approved federal disaster relief funds Tuesday for areas of California destroyed by wildfires, Vice President Mike Pence was in Sacramento promising that the federal government will stand with the state until the job is done.

Trumps order said that federal disaster funding would be available to the state of California, certain private nonprofit organizations, and local governments on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work in the counties of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, and Yuba.

Pence said legislation will be considered in Congress next week to provide $576 million for wildfire suppression to support California. The major disaster declaration Tuesday allows for immediate support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including additional equipment, shelters, food, crisis counseling and supportive services, and personnel, including for search and rescue.

Pence said the federal government has already been working with the state emergency services operation, providing five firefighting crews, four dozers, two Strike Teams (of) Type-III engines, and more assets are on the way.

Mark Ghilarducci, director of the states Office of Emergency Services, said the major disaster declaration also provides a tremendous amount of funding on the reconstruction side. With so many homes lost, Ghilarducci said the federal funding will help with longer-term housing for the displaced.

We may have to put large mobile homes in place in the interim as we get people out of shelters, Ghilarducci said. We have winter around the corner, and they cant stay in shelters for longer than a couple weeks. We are moving at light speed to address that.

FEMA Administrator Brock Long on Tuesday named William Roche, director of the agencys western region recovery division that includes California, as the federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas in the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown asked for the federal disaster declaration on Monday. Brown had declared a state of emergency Monday in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba counties as large fires ripped through neighborhoods. By Tuesday afternoon, 17 large fires across the state had swallowed 115,000 acres in 24 hours, said Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott.

I appreciate the fast response from the president, Brown said Tuesday.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said in a statement that the disaster declaration was an appreciated first step to combat this disaster, but more must be done to help the people of California heal, recover and rebuild. (House Speaker Paul) Ryan and Republicans must work with Democrats to update federal relief estimates and adjust the supplemental disaster package so that we can make available all necessary resources for those devastated by these wildfires.

From the states Office of Emergency Operations in Rancho Cordova, state and federal officials coordinated the emergency response. An estimated 4,000 people are working on the response, including firefighters, law enforcement, public health officials and military, Pimlott said.

Our focus continues to be on life safety, getting people out and then engaging in perimeter control to contain these fires, Pimlott said.

Pence, appearing with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock (Stanislaus County), said all of America is proud of the work being done by the state emergency services agency and all the first responders in the fire areas. He offered his prayers to those that died and pledged that the federal government would support the state until the recovery work was done.

To California, we say through this declaration: We are with you, our prayers are with you, and we will be with you every day until we put the fires out and stand with these families to rebuild these communities, Pence said. Thats our pledge to each one of you today.

Joe Garofoli and Melody Gutierrez are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: Twitter: @joegarofoli @MelodyGutierrez
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. (Standard Lithium or the Company) (TSX-V:SLL) (FRA:S5L) (OTCQX:STLHF) is pleased to provide an update on the exploration and process testing program at the Companys Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project located in the Mojave Desert, California.



Building on the promising results of its recently completed large-scale geophysical surveys, the Company has commenced a resource definition drill program on its approximately 25,000 acre Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project. The objectives of the intrusive exploration program are to establish the lithium grade of the subsurface brine across Standards extensive landholdings within the large salar; to determine depth and lateral extent of the brine; and also to define key geological and hydrogeological data that will be required in order to develop a maiden resource estimate. The Company has received all required permits and approvals from Federal and County regulators to conduct the exploration drilling program. Two drill rigs have commenced work on site and the Companys team of senior geologists and hydrogeologists are supervising all work.

In addition to the geophysical and intrusive exploration programs, the Company has collected and shipped bulk raw brine samples from Bristol Dry Lake to several leading lithium brine assessment and process technology firms across North America. These firms have begun a series of lab-scale process testing studies of the Bristol Dry Lake brine and will begin determining the most efficient and effective process technologies to optimize lithium recovery from this important U.S. mineral brine bearing resource. The Company has also completed preliminary evaporation pond process testing work at the Bristol Dry Lake project site. The initial test work consisted of taking raw brines gathered from near-surface test pits (depth to lithium brine at the project is typically 5-20 ft (1.5-6 m)) and pumping the brine into three shallow plastic-lined ponds that were partially buried to avoid heating effects on the walls of the ponds. Brine samples and field parameters were taken on a weekly schedule, and samples were sent for chemical analysis to a qualified laboratory in Sparks, NV. The data from this first round of evaporation pond testing showed that the raw brine pumped from the near-surface test-pit contained an average concentration of 146 mg/L lithium, and that within a period of 4 weeks, the brine was concentrated by passive solar evaporation to an average lithium concentration of 556 mg/L (max. 717 mg/L). These short-duration evaporation tests will be repeated several times throughout the year, so that seasonal effects can be quantified. Data developed from this short-duration evaporation pond work will be incorporated into the ongoing process-testing work being conducted by leading North American process technology firms.

Standard Lithiums President and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson commented, Standards exploration and process-testing programs are now fully underway and being completed in parallel by our highly experienced resource assessment and chemical engineering teams. The amount of work that weve been able to complete in such a short period of time is evidence of our fast-track development philosophy, and speaks volumes to the constructive relationships that we have in place with the existing fully-permitted brine producers in operation at Bristol Dry Lake. All of the work being completed right now will be used to support the maiden 43-101 resource estimate for the Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project, estimated for the first half of 2018.

Quality Assurance

Raymond Spanjers, Certified Professional Geologist (SME No. 3041730), is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, and has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Spanjers is not independent of the Company as he is an officer in his role as Vice President, Exploration and Development.

About Standard Lithium

Standards value creation strategy encompasses acquiring a diverse and highly prospective portfolio of large-scale domestic brine resources, led by an innovative and results-oriented management team with a strong focus on technical skills. The Company is currently focused on the immediate exploration and development of the Bristol Dry Lake Lithium Project located in the Mojave region of San Bernardino County, California; the location has significant infrastructure in-place, with easy road and rail access, abundant electricity and water sources, and is already permitted for extensive brine extraction and processing activities. The Company is also commencing due diligence and resource evaluation on 33,000 acres of lithium brine leases located in the Smackover Formation.

Standard Lithium is listed on the TSX Venture under the trading symbol SLL; quoted on the OTCQX under the symbol STLHF; and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol S5L. Please visit the Companys website at www.standardlithium.com.

For further information, contact Anthony Alvaro at 604.240.4793.

On behalf of the Board,

Standard Lithium Ltd.

Robert Mintak, CEO & Director

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain certain Forward-Looking Statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, target, plan, forecast, may, schedule and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Neither the Company, nor National Chloride makes any representations as to the value of lease rights associated with National Chlorides Bristol Lake mineral claims (the Property), the availability of any particular resource or minerals on the Property, or the merits of any proposed exploration work to be completed on the Property. National Chloride expressly disclaims any responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of disclosure made by the Company in respect of the Property. Readers are cautioned that a Qualified Person(as that term is defined by National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) has not done sufficient work to specify any mineral resource or reserve on the Property.
When it comes to preparing a succession plan, it's probably not at the top of the typical entrepreneur or business owner's to-do list. Preparing for the next generation of leadership and putting a succession plan in place takes time, planning and thoughtful execution.

Related: Now Is the Time to Think About Your Small-Business Succession Plan

As business leaders and executives, we are typically inundated with the task of the day or the week, so the long-term process of preparing a succession plan often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. In fact, according to a recent survey done by Nationwide, three out of five small businesses do not have a succession plan in place. However, preparing for the transition of leadership is a crucial element in ensuring the future success of a company.

At Westwood Financial, we recently restructured our firm to position it for future succession, and to ensure that we had procedures in place that would allow the company to continue on well after the first generation of leadership.

This is something that entrepreneurs and business owners need to actively pay attention to, especially if the company structure is closely intertwined with its founding leadership -- structurally, financially and emotionally. This was the case with our company, which required a significant restructuring in order for successful operation into the next generation.

Based on our experience during this process, we've put together a list of the top six strategies for entrepreneurs and business owners to execute in order to provide a smooth and successful transition of power:

Step 1: Identify the goals of the founding leadership.

The first step in any successful succession plan is identifying the objectives of the founding leaders. Often, founding leaders have put their blood, sweat and tears into building the company, and it is imperative to carefully outline what a succession plan will need to achieve to meet the objectives of the founders.

Related: Common Succession Planning Mistakes -- and How to Avoid Them

Leadership may need to address and negotiate the generational differences that often occur with the transition of power. The founding leadership and the new leadership may have different views on how the company should operate moving forward. There may be generational issues, family ownership and estate planning issues, and family and non-family employees and executives. Determining clear objectives will help to ensure a smooth transition.

During the restructuring of Westwood Financial, we met regularly with the founding leadership and their advisors to determine what they wanted and how to address their needs, as well as the future of the company. Consultants with experience in family business and business relationships might be useful in identifying and negotiating the various needs, objectives and views of the founding and succession leadership.

To address some of the issues surrounding our investors and decision-making authority, we instituted a board of directors, in which the founding leaders and independent directors would take on a strategic governance role in the firm, yet the new leaders would handle the day-to-day operations, advise on the direction of the company and execute the strategic plan. Outlining these goals, expectations and approach to governance in advance was an essential component in the future success of the succession plan.

Related: How to Ensure Your Business Survives the Next Generation

Step 2: Identify the interested parties.

Once you've determined the objectives of the company's founding leadership, the next step is assessing all of the constituents and individuals that may be impacted by the succession plan.

Succession planning often involves several individuals or parties, and will vary from company to company. It will require looking at the big picture and ultimately determining who this plan will directly and indirectly affect.

Think about the company and who is involved on a regular basis. This will likely include a large list of constituents including shareholders, employees, clients, vendors, investors and founding families, among many others. It is a crucial component of the succession planning process to determine who these individuals are and the level of impact this plan will have on them.

Business owners and entrepreneurs will also need to determine upfront what the rights of these individuals are under contractual agreements and what concerns may arise as they delve deeper into the succession planning process.

Related: 6 Things You Must Know Before Selling Your Business

Step 3: Consult with the experts.

Succession planning, especially in combination with estate planning for closely held companies, is complex. It is essential to identify and incorporate the appropriate experts. The first mistake that business owners or entrepreneurs make is thinking that they can do this on their own. This is a complicated process that takes an entire team.

The consultants and team members needed to complete the succession plan will vary depending on the type of business and needs outlined in the plan. That said, there are a few key parties that should be involved in any succession planning process.

The first is a core group of attorneys that have a deep understanding of the objectives of the business owner's succession plan to address issues of ownership and control, taxation, employment and estate considerations. The second are accountants, including both personal and corporate accountants, depending on how the succession plan is set to be structured.

These parties can work to ensure that everything within the succession plan is in compliance with the law and if there are any tax considerations to address.

For example, when we restructured our firm, we worked with a diverse group of highly experienced lawyers, accountants, capital and valuation consultants, and a title company to get the job done. All of these individuals worked tirelessly alongside the Westwood team and played a critical role in navigating a diverse series of complex details surrounding this restructuring, including corporate and tax structures, securities laws, governance, employment agreements and deferred comp structures.

Related: 3 Reasons I Decided to Leave the Company I Co-Founded

Step 4: Prepare employees.

Once the succession plan is completed, it is time to prepare the company's employees. These staff members are the individuals who carry out the mission of the organization, and effectively communicating the plan to these individuals is critical to its success.

Companies must give employees a clear path of understanding, as well as confidence in the future of the organization. While many of the corporate employees may already be involved in the planning that occurs, the entire company should be well informed of the plans. A transition of power can be a confusing and uncertain time for employees. A clear message will alleviate concerns of the staff members and provide the proper platform for effective leadership of the successors.

Business owners will need to ensure that their employees feel reassured that the company is prepared well for the transition and that it, along with their jobs, will continue on with the new leadership.

Related: It's Not Too Late to Start Thinking About Your Business Legacy

Step 5: Prepare clients.

Preparing clients for a transition of power is never an easy task. They have put their faith and trust in your firm, and will need to clearly understand the changes and benefits to them in the transition.

If cooperation from investment partners and clients is an essential part of the transition, communication must be clear and needs to start early in the process. This was the case with our firm, which required affirmative approval from 67 separate investment partnerships involving over 500 investors to implement the reorganization plan.

Clients must be assured that their needs will be taken care of and that this transition of power will not impact the level of service they have been receiving. Most of these individuals have a lot invested in the company, so it is important that they are informed in the most understanding way possible. Personal communication and conversation in advance of any formal documentation requests can make the process easier for the company and its investors. Client or investor feedback can also be incorporated into the planning process.

Related: Can Your Business Live Without You?

In the real estate industry, much of the trust of clients and investors comes from personal relationships and a confidence in the company's manner of conducting business that are cultivated over many years. With this in mind, appropriate, effective and personal communication with our investors and clients was imperative. This communication started with initial conversations with key investors to inform them of our early stage plans, and the full communication cycle took more than 18 months.

Naturally, we know that notifying clients' in person is not realistic for every company or industry. The key is creating an opportunity for open communication and dialogue with the clients that reassure them everything will continue to move forward and that there will be no surprises when the succession takes place.

Step 6: Prepare succession plan for the next generation.

The final, and often most neglected step in planning, is preparing for the next succession plan. According to Analytics Week, 42 percent of advisors who are within two years of transitioning their business to a successor lack a succession plan.

The future is not premeditated and is hard to predict, so having a back-up plan prepared right away is critical. An effective succession plan not only addresses the immediate shift of ownership or management, but lays the groundwork for smooth future transitions. A strong plan will focus on a scaffolded system of organization, governance, executive training and leadership "bench strength."

No matter the age or health of the new CEO, companies can never be completely sure of what the future may hold. Having a clear plan of action that defines how an organization will run into the next generation helps to guarantee the success and longevity of a company.

Related Video: Putting Off Your Succession Plan? Don't.

Related:

This Company Conducted a $1.2-Billion Restructuring as Part of Succession Planning -- Here's What You Need to Do to Prepare for a Leadership Change

An Emergency Safety Valve: The Case for Entrepreneurial Estate Planning

How to Transition to Employee Ownership



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


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While the nation was justifiably consumed with the awful human ravages of hurricanes and a wealthy, crazed sniper in Nevada, the most important deadline of the young Trump presidency suddenly looms: certifying whether Iran is complying with the leaky nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration.

Every 90 days  next on Sunday  the administration must update Congress on whether Iran is transparently, verifiably and fully implementing the agreement. This is not part of the pact itself, but a congressional edict passed because Obama, knowing the likely fate of the deal, refused to submit the agreement to Capitol Hill for ratification.

If you dont know President Trump despises the deal, you havent been listening these past two years. Most recently, he told everyone at the United Nations: Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States and I dont think youve heard the last of it, believe me.

We believe him this time.

After some leaks, some day this week, probably Thursday, despite opposition from some senior aides, Trump will likely announce he is decertifying Irans compliance. This is the compromise position between:

1) walking away from the whole deal and

2) once again, falsely certifying Irans cooperation for fear of riling the mullahs, who can wait 10 years to restart their warhead construction even if abiding.

As a topping, Trump likely will declare Irans Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization like al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Trumps decertification itself, if thats what he finally decides, is not as big a deal as critics will have you believe. Former President Obama will be upset because the pact was his sole foreign policy legacy, if you dont count turning Libya into a failed state, slapping ineffective sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea and passively dismissing the Islamic State as a JV, allowing it to get a full head of killing steam in Iraq and Syria with wannabe members marauding Europe.

The decertification actually does nothing except start a 60-day clock for Congress to do something  kill the pact, order renegotiation or, more likely, mire itself in yet another embarrassing, paralyzing procedural quagmire.

Does turning the issue over to Congress sound familiar? Thats exactly what Trump did with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, aiming to deport the undocumented children of undocumented immigrants. Both shifts kind of fulfill campaign promises  check those boxes  but leave the heavy political lifting to others.

Largely forgotten in all this are Iran and our European allies, who really dont want the ineffective pact to fail because their businesses have a lot of lucrative deals in Iran. Tehran has no interest in renegotiating, which its made clear. Why bother? Obama front-loaded all of Irans goodies, including unfreezing $150 billion in assets.

What especially bothers Trumps team is the sunset provision, which effectively ends the pact in a decade no matter what. And Trump correctly thinks Iran should stop its funding of terrorism and sedition throughout the region and beyond.

That and Irans development of intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver its future warheads werent part of the agreement. And the American real estate mogul has no leverage yet to force the issues.

But heres where the Iran problem goes global. North Korea is watching. Its weapons and delivery systems are much further along than Irans. Short of nuclear annihilation of Kim Jong Uns rogue regime and millions of its starving subjects, Trump has little leverage there beyond pleading with reluctant China to help.

Whatever gets worked out or not with either North Korea or Iran will set a precedent for the other.

From the viewpoint of Pyongyang or Tehran, why should they trust any negotiated Western promises? After lengthy detailed diplomatic talks, the United States, Britain and Russia promised to honor Ukraines territorial integrity if it would relinquish its nuclear weapons. It did. We didnt.

In 2003 under diplomatic pressure, Libyas Moammar Khadafy gave up his nuclear weapons program. As a reward, eight years later we actively overthrew the dictator, leaving him for a mob to tear apart. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated that with a victorious arm pump.

So, preventive nuclear war? Or once again, allied acquiescence to the deadly development of now two ambitious programs to build weapons of mass destruction and  who knows?  quite possibly launch them?

Maybe if we just give them a few more years.

Andrew Malcolm is an author and veteran national and foreign correspondent covering politics since the 1960s. Follow him @AHMalcolm
Finnish English

Evli Bank Plc will publish its Interim Report for the period January-September 2017 on Thursday October 26, 2017 at approximately 12 p.m. The Interim Report will be available on the company's website at www.evli.com after publishing.

Invitation to investors and analysts

Maunu Lehtimaki, CEO, and Juho Mikola, CFO, will present the result to investors and analysts at Evli Bank (Aleksanterinkatu 19 A, 4 fl, Helsinki) on Thursday October 26, 2017 at 1 p.m. The presentation will be held in Finnish. After the event, the presentation material will be available in English at www.evli.com. To participate in the event, please sign up in advance to ir@evli.com on October 23 at 4 pm at the latest.

Welcome!

EVLI BANK PLC

For additional information, please contact:

Mikaela Herrala, IR and Communications Manager, Evli Bank Plc, tel. +358 (0)9 4766 9823, mikaela.herrala@evli.com

Evli Bank Plc

Evli is a bank specialized in investments that helps institutions, corporations and individuals increase their wealth. The product and service offering includes mutual funds, asset management and capital markets services, alternative investment products, investment research, administration of incentive programs and Corporate Finance services. The company also offers banking services that support clients' investment operations. Evli is the highest ranked and most used institutional asset manager in Finland*.

* TNS Sifo Prospera "External Asset Management Finland 2017"

Distribution: main media, www.evli.com
Finnish English

AFFECTO PLC -- STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE -- 10 OCTOBER 2017 at 17:45 EET

THIS RELEASE MAY NOT BE RELEASED, PUBLISHED OR OTHERWISE DISTRIBUTED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA OR HONG KONG OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE TENDER OFFER WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

CGI NORDIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED INITIATES REDEMPTION PROCEEDINGS REGARDING THE REMAINING MINORITY SHARES IN AFFECTO PLC

CGI Nordic Investments Limited (the "Offeror"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of CGI Group Inc. ("CGI"), commenced a voluntary recommended public tender offer to purchase all the issued and outstanding shares in Affecto Plc ("Affecto") that are not owned by Affecto or any of its subsidiaries (the "Tender Offer") on 30 August 2017. The offer period of the Tender Offer expired on 27 September 2017.

On 2 October 2017, the Offeror announced that it will complete the Tender Offer in accordance with its terms and conditions.

The Offeror has today on 10 October 2017 published a press release, according to which:

On 6 October 2017, title to 94.79 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares in Affecto that are not owned by Affecto or any of its subsidiaries passed to the Offeror in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. As a result thereof, today, the Offeror informed Affecto of its redemption right and obligation pursuant to the provisions of the Finnish Companies Act (624/2006, as amended) in respect of the shares held by any remaining shareholders in Affecto.

In addition, the Offeror also submitted an application to initiate statutory squeeze-out proceedings to the Redemption Board of the Finland Chamber of Commerce in order to complete the redemption of the shares held by any other remaining shareholders in Affecto.

The press release of the Offeror referred to above is attached in its entirety as Appendix 1 to this stock exchange release.

AFFECTO PLC

Board of Directors

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For additional information, please contact:

Affecto

Chairperson of the Board, Magdalena Persson

tel. +46 733 920 508

e-mail magdalena.persson@affecto.com

CEO, Juko Hakala

tel. +358 20 577 7450

e-mail juko.hakala@affecto.com

CGI IN THE NORDICS IN BRIEF

With nearly 8,000 professionals in 55 offices across Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden, CGI has a strong local presence across the Nordic IT services market. With a deep commitment to being the best in its industry across the Nordics and around the world, CGI serves as a market leader in end-to-end IT and business consulting services, solutions and outsourcing services. CGI's Nordic operation serves thousands of clients in public and private organisations to help them achieve operational efficiencies while harnessing innovation to better serve the digital needs of their customers and citizens.

CGI IN BRIEF

Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is the fifth largest independent information technology and business process services firm in the world. Approximately 70,000 professionals serve thousands of global clients from offices and delivery centers across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of services including high-end business and IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance, infrastructure management as well as 150 IP-based services and solutions. With annual revenue in excess of C$10 billion and an order backlog exceeding C$20 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Website: www.cgi.com

AFFECTO IN BRIEF

Affecto is a Northern European full-stack data house with expertise in data intensive technologies. Affecto's expertise ranges from enterprise information management to artificial intelligence. Affecto creates business value for its customers by helping them become data driven, thus transforming their businesses. Affecto has long term, committed customer relationships with a large number of essential Northern European companies as well as public institutions. Affecto has a local presence with 18 offices forming a powerful grid, and is a unique home for its 1000+ employees.

Appendix 1: Press release of CGI Nordic Investments Limited on 10 October 2017

DISCLAIMER

THIS RELEASE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM PART OF ANY OFFER TO PURCHASE, OR ANY SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO SELL OR ANY INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE. INVESTORS MAY ACCEPT THE TENDER OFFER FOR THE SHARES ONLY ON THE BASIS OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN A TENDER OFFER DOCUMENT WHEN AVAILABLE.

THE TENDER OFFER FOR THE SHARES IS NOT BEING AND WILL NOT BE MADE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE EITHER THE MAKING OF SUCH AN OFFER OR PARTICIPATION THEREIN IS PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR WHICH WOULD REQUIRE FURTHER OFFER DOCUMENTS, REGISTRATION OR OTHER MEASURES IN ADDITION TO THOSE REQUIRED UNDER FINNISH LAW.

ACCORDINGLY, WHEN PUBLISHED, THE TENDER OFFER DOCUMENT AND RELATED ACCEPTANCE FORMS WILL NOT AND MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED, FORWARDED OR TRANSMITTED INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR WHICH WOULD REQUIRE FURTHER OFFER DOCUMENTS, REGISTRATION OR OTHER MEASURES IN ADDITION TO THOSE REQUIRED UNDER FINNISH LAW. IN PARTICULAR, THE TENDER OFFER FOR THE SHARES IS NOT BEING AND WILL NOT BE MADE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO, OR BY USE OF THE POSTAL SERVICE OF, OR BY ANY MEANS OR INSTRUMENTALITY (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION, TELEX, TELEPHONE, E-MAIL OR OTHER FORMS OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION) OF INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN COMMERCE OF, OR ANY FACILITIES OF A NATIONAL SECURITIES EXCHANGE OF, THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA OR HONG KONG, AND MAY NOT BE ACCEPTED BY ANY SUCH USE, MEANS, INSTRUMENTALITY OR FACILITY FROM OR WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA OR HONG KONG OR BY PERSONS LOCATED OR RESIDENT THEREIN, OR PERSONS (INCLUDING AGENTS, FIDUCIARIES OR OTHER INTERMEDIARIES) ACTING FOR THE ACCOUNT OR BENEFIT OF PERSONS LOCATED OR RESIDENT THEREIN. ANY PURPORTED ACCEPTANCE OF THE TENDER OFFER FOR THE SHARES RESULTING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY FROM A VIOLATION OF THESE RESTRICTIONS WILL BE INVALID.
OTTAWA, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Focus Graphite Inc. (TSX-V:FMS) (OTCQX:FCSMF) (FSE:FKC) is pleased to announce the introduction of a Superfine Grade of coated spherical graphite product sourced from its Lac Knife Graphite Project at Fermont, Quebec.

The Companys manufacturing accomplishment was achieved under the direction of Dr. Joseph Doninger, Focus Director of Manufacturing and Technology, and follows the Companys original May 27, 2014 announcement of the development of its premium standard (medium) and fine battery grades, and; its subsequent August 8, 2016 announcement of the successful purification of Lac Knifes fine grade material to 99.99% purity which is shown in the following Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) photomicrograph of a flake of purified Lac Knife graphite.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/19dd47dc-41c8-4ce1-b62a-2db97d76a1ae

Focus Graphites new Superfine Grade graphite product development was first presented to the 34th International Battery Symposium (IBS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by Dr. Doninger on March 21, 2017.

Highlights include:

Market introduction of Focus first Superfine coated spherical graphite

Enlarges Companys potential customer base

Expands Focus Graphites value-added product range

Focus Graphites development and introduction of a Superfine Grade to the battery market represents a milestone in the Companys ongoing efforts to continuously improve its products to meet industry demands and are intended for use in various lithium-ion battery applications. The first cycle Galvanostatic curves in Figure 1 show that the new Superfine Grade of spherical graphite has a very high reversible capacity of 360 mAh/g and low first cycle loss of only 1.19%.

An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/16fab8d7-641a-4f69-8050-dd479b12f773

Dr. Doninger said the main benefit of the Superfine Grade is based upon the physical reality of the graphites performance within the anode of a lithium ion battery.

As the particle size decreases, so does the time it takes for the lithium-ion to transfer into the graphite structure during charging and out during discharging, thereby improving charging rates, he said. An SEM photomicrograph of the Superfine Grade of the Lac Knife spherical graphite is shown below.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/494ef0f5-0b43-44e9-8593-6728e2c7b8b9

The particle size distribution curves for the new Superfine Grade of spherical graphite are compared with the Standard and Fine Grade curves in Fig. 2 and show that Focus now offers a wide range of particle sizes to meet the demands of the battery industry.

An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/42ef4124-58ad-4c16-9245-89b15aa59222

Dr. Doninger noted that the high Reversible Capacity of 360 mAh/g, low Irreversible Capacity Loss of 1.19% and low surface area of 0.89 m2/g for the new Superfine Grade of spherical graphite compare very favorably with the Lac Knifes Standard and Fine grades introduced in 2014 as shown in Table 1.

A table accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8a5bd647-8eb4-4700-9f9e-5893dce130f9

The Company knows of no other junior graphite developer today with a deposit capable of competitively converting their fine flake component to battery grade production.

Focus Graphite President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Economo said the Companys ongoing R&D and materials testing aims to position Focus as a commercially competitive and important source of new graphite products for next generation energy storage and production.

Focus is currently engaged in battery testing with more than 20 potential end-users and seven universities and government laboratories.

The key to growth of our value-added products stems from our technology vision of investing in those in-house process developments that meet future demands of the battery manufacturing industry, Mr. Economo said.

In this regard, and as evidenced by the periodic publications of data in support of our progress, Focus remains committed to achieving its long-held goal of unlocking shareholder value from that technology vision, Mr. Economo said.

As a technology graphite developer, Focus is deeply engaged in R&D and development of graphite concentrate and value added products for a low carbon economy.

Focus has established a recent history of technological successes by designing processes leading to superior performing coated spherical graphite for use in battery anodes and high performing expanded graphite for use in Li-Ion battery cathodes.

The Companys proprietary, low temperature process, developed by a Focus Graphite technical team headed by Dr. Doninger, is believed to be more efficient than very high temperature thermal purification and is suitable for the removal of specific types of impurities found in the Lac Knife graphite deposit.

Focus' low temperature process versus conventional very high temperature purification processes obviates the use of large amounts of energy - one of the largest single cost components of graphite purification.

Focus Graphite has acquired an intimate understanding of both the future needs of the battery manufacturing sector and trends in that sector as a long-standing Board Member of Chicago-based NAATBatt International (the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries).

Holding the ability to purify Lac Knife's fine flakes expands the company's potential to sell substantially more of the graphite extracted from Lac Knife into high-value, high-tech applications instead of approximately 30 percent being sold for lower value industrial applications.

The path from graphite product development to the battery manufacturers' testing labs is a lengthy, multi-step process.

Staged R&D testing is a prerequisite to the sale, or offtake, of any manufactured graphite for use in lithium-ion, alkaline and lead-acid batteries in the automobile, consumer, medical equipment, tools, hand-held industrial devices and aviation manufacturing industries or with military equipment suppliers.

Qualified Person

Dr. Joseph Doninger, Focus Graphite's Director of Technology and Manufacturing is the Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects - and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. Dr. Doninger is an internationally recognized graphite processing expert and himself, the inventor of a number of patents and an author of over 27 technical papers and presentations related to graphite processing and the use of graphite in energy storage systems. Dr. Doninger is a co-editor on the NATO Science Series book titled "New Carbon Based Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems." Dr. Doninger is also an Honorary Professor at the Department of Chemistry from the Kiev National University of Technologies and Design.

About Focus Graphite

Focus Graphite Inc. is an advanced exploration and mining company with an objective of producing graphite concentrate at its wholly-owned Lac Knife flake graphite deposit located 27 km south of Fermont, Quebec. In a second stage, to meet Quebec stakeholder interests of transformation within the province and to add shareholder value, Focus is evaluating the feasibility of producing value added graphite products including battery-grade spherical graphite. Focus Graphite is a technology-oriented graphite mining development company with a vision for building long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Focus also holds a significant equity position in graphene applications developer Grafoid Inc.

For more information about Focus Graphite, please visit www.focusgraphite.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This News Release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: (i) volatile stock price; (ii) the general global markets and economic conditions; (iii) the possibility of write-downs and impairments; (iv) the risk associated with exploration, development and operations of mineral deposits; (v) the risk associated with establishing title to mineral properties and assets; (vi) the risks associated with entering into joint ventures; (vii) fluctuations in commodity prices; (viii) the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course of exploration, development and production; (ix) competition faced by the Company in securing experienced personnel and financing; (x) access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities; (xi) the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime governing the Company; (xii) the risks associated with the various environmental regulations the Company is subject to; (xiii) risks related to regulatory and permitting delays; (xiv) risks related to potential conflicts of interest; (xv) the reliance on key personnel; (xvi) liquidity risks; and (xvii) the risk of potential dilution through the issue of common shares.

Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to, continued exploration activities, no material adverse change in metal prices, exploration and development plans proceeding in accordance with plans and such plans achieving their stated expected outcomes, receipt of required regulatory approvals, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information has been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business, operations and exploration plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is made as of the date of this News Release, and the Company does not undertake to update such forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the accuracy of this release.

CONTACT:

Focus Graphite Inc.

Mr. Gary Economo

Chief Executive Officer

+1 613-241-4040

geconomo@focusgraphite.com

www.focusgraphite.com
VICTORIA, British Columbia, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dockside Green Ltd., a subsidiary of Vancity, and Bosa Development today jointly announced the sale of Dockside Green to Bosa, a leading real estate developer and owners of the recently renovated Empress Hotel. The agreement will take effect December 15, 2017, and means Victorias largest master-planned community can be completed by a like-minded developer with more than five decades of experience and a proven commitment to the local community.



Dockside Green is an award-winning project thats led the way in building a dynamic and sustainable local community, says Ryan Bosa, president of Bosa Development. We love what has been created and we feel honoured to be playing a part in helping to write the next chapter.



The mixed-use residential and commercial real estate development in Victoria began more than a decade ago with the vision of transforming 15-acres of former industrial land into a socially vibrant, ecologically restorative and economically sound neighbourhood.

Were thrilled and very excited to have found an organization that shares our vision for the community, says Dockside Green Ltd. president Norm Shearing. Bosa has what it takes to build on this, and to let Dockside Green fulfill its true potential.

Vancity worked closely with Bosa throughout the negotiations and strongly believes they have the expertise to complete Dockside Green. The agreement ensures Bosa will build the project to Docksides LEED-ND (leadership in energy and environmental design  neighbourhood development) Platinum standards and deliver a wide range of public amenities, including greenways, a dog park, a childrens playground and a new central park. Bosa is anticipating the construction of new buildings on the site as early as the summer of 2018.

Were eager to move ahead with the creation of an inclusive, vibrant and walkable neighbourhood where people and local businesses thrive, says Ryan Bosa. We understand the importance of this project and look forward to collaborating with Dockside residents and our neighbours at the shipyard.

Additional information

Backgrounder: Dockside Green and Vancity

For more information:

Vancity and Dockside Green

Brent Shearer

T: 778-837-0394

mediarelations@vancity.com

Bosa Development

Rob Marchand

VP, Sales & Marketing

604-294-0666

www.thinkbosa.com

About Dockside Green

Dockside Green is a mixed-use residential and commercial real estate development in Victoria, British Columbia. The community sits on 15 acres of former industrial land that is being transformed into one of the most innovative green developments in North America. Once completed, it will include 26 buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet, and be home to about 2,500 people in three neighbourhoods.

About Bosa Development

Building on more than half a century of expertise and leadership, we strive to exceed expectations with every home we build and project we undertake. We are bold, forward-looking, and committed to acting with integrity. We pursue urban design excellence and are long-term investors in the communities we build.

We have a distinct approach to development. We focus on placemaking based on where cities are in their growth cycle, crafting communities that respond to how people really live. We design connected communities that promote friendly, social opportunities and interactions among neighbours.

We endeavor to turn big ideas into reality through meticulous planning and construction processes that result in creative, dynamic and well-rounded neighbourhoods. Our communities have become coveted destinations, hotspots for culture, cuisine, socializing and scenery. We aim to exceed expectations in everything we dofrom our architecturally stunning designs to our complete, connected communitiesand we always place livability at the core.

Under the leadership of Ryan Bosa, the company is expanding its pioneering approach to development with smart design. In his words, We have evolved from project builders to city builders, and with that comes a greater responsibility. We pride ourselves on the homes and projects we develop, but we have to think bigger  building sustainable, pedestrian-centric communities that seamlessly integrate public spaces, retail, office and residences. Homes integrated with parks, coffee shops, outdoor plazas, grocery  this is what makes urban living unique and guides our approach to design.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its more than 523,000 member-owners and their communities in the Coast Salish and Kwakwakawakw territories, with 59 branches in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay. With $25.6 billion in assets plus assets under administration, Vancity is Canadas largest community credit union. Vancity uses its assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ExGen Resources Inc. (TSX.V:EXG) (OTC:BXXRF) (ExGen) is pleased to provide an update in respect of Phoenix Global Mining Ltd.s (Phoenix) exploration and development activities at the Empire Mine Project in Idaho, USA. Further to previous ExGen news releases, ExGen owns 20% and Phoenix owns 80% of Konnex Resources, Inc. (Konnex), which holds the leases to the Empire Mine Project. ExGen further has a 2.5% NSR royalty on the Empire Mine Project and owns 11,300,000 Phoenix common shares. ExGen understands that Phoenix has completed its 28-hole drill program on the Empire Mine Project which was intended to fill-in gaps in the existing historical drill-hole block. The drill-hole block is intended to be used as the foundation for a potential NI 43-101 resource calculation and a potential Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS). To date, results from 17 of the 28 holes have been reported in recent news releases (August 2nd, September 13th, 2017).



EMPIRE UPDATE - HIGHLIGHTS

Phoenix reports drill assays from 5 additional holes, with results from the final six holes expected in the coming weeks. Highlights include 32m grading 1.43% copper, 46.28 g/t silver and 1.36 g/t gold in hole KXd17-3 (core), and 6.1m grading 2.10% copper and 132.02 g/t silver in KX17-16 (RC).

Phoenix also reports that it is still on target for completing an NI 43-101-compliant resource calculation in Q4 2017.

Furthermore, Phoenix states that a Preliminary Feasibility Study is still slated for completion by early Q2 2018, subject to completion of the NI 43-101 resource calculation.

In addition, the first of two diamond drill holes targeting the higher grade sulphide mineralization which underlies the near-surface oxide mineralization is underway. The results of these holes targeting the sulphide mineralization are expected by the end of November.

As stated in Phoenixs June 29, 2017 news release, Phoenixs strategy to develop the Empire Mine Project can be split into two concurrently-running phases. Phase 1 is to advance the near-surface copper oxide mineralization in the AP Pit through a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), with a targeted completion date of early Q2-2018. Phase 1 is focused on proving the commercial viability of the oxides and recovering copper cathode by heap leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW). The longer-term Phase 2 strategy is to complete a thorough exploration program of the copper sulphide system at depth and the associated gold, silver, zinc, and tungsten mineralization evidenced in historic exploration programs.

Phase 1: AP Drilling

Phoenix previously reported that its initial 28-hole drill program consisted of 21 reverse circulation holes (1,595 metres) and 4 PQ and 3 HQ diamond drill holes (537 metres). The PQ holes are being treated as metallurgical holes.

Results for KX17-1 to 13 were previously announced by the Company in its news releases dated August 2nd, and September 13th, 2017. All drill hole samples have been shipped to ALS Globals laboratory in Nevada, USA for assaying. Significant assay results from the 5 latest drill holes reported by Phoenix are summarised as follows:

Hole Intersection Metres % g / tonne Number From To Interval T Cu Zn Ag Au 13 KXd17-3 18.3 25.9 7.6 0.76 0.11 28.20 0.17 38.1 70.1 32.0 1.43 0.01 46.28 1.36 including 38.1 50.3 12.2 1.30 0.01 69.00 1.99 including 53.3 62.5 9.2 2.28 44.78 1.95 including 62.5 70.1 7.6 1.09 37.36 0.41 14 KX17-15 61.0 62.5 1.5 0.60 36.2 0.30 15 KX17-16 16.8 25.9 9.1 0.47 0.06 19.45 0.03 44.2 50.3 6.1 2.10 0.15 132.03 0.11 16 KX17-17 0.0 6.1 6.1 1.06 0.48 50.48 0.87 10.7 22.9 12.2 0.37 0.10 13.94 0.93 including 12.2 15.3 3.1 0.83 0.15 40.35 1.12 17 KX17-18 0.0 6.1 6.1 0.58 0.11 12.37 0.32 including 3.1 4.6 1.6 1.25 0.15 20.40 0.67 KX17 Reverse Circulation Holes (RC) KXd17 Diamond Drill Holes (PQ & HQ size)

ExGen understands that the above intercepts are not considered to be true widths. Copper, zinc and silver were determined by the ICP method after four-acid digestion, whereas gold was determined by a 30gm fire assay followed by atomic absorption. The QP for this news release notes that Phoenix inserted industry standards, blanks and duplicates into their sample stream, as standard QA/QC protocol.

Phase 1: Resource report and PFS

A key component of the PFS program is the NI 43-101 compliant resource report which Phoenix confirms is on track to be issued in Q4 2017. Results from the current 28-hole drill program (including metallurgy from the four PQ-sized holes) are to be incorporated into the NI 43-101 resource report.

Phoenix reports that the PFS itself is slated for Q2 2018. As disclosed in a news release dated September 13th, 2017, Phoenix has chosen M3 Engineering & Technology Corp of Tucson Arizona as lead consultant for the PFS.

Phase 2: Sulphide Exploration

In addition to the appointment of a mining contractor to re-open the old portals to allow for sampling and drilling of the sulphide mineralization which underlies the near-surface oxide mineralization (see news September 13th, 2017), Phoenix reports that it has commenced the surface exploration programme on the deeper sulphide mineralization, where grades of up to 11.4% copper were recorded during the underground mining operations. The first of two diamond drill hole to be drilled from surface, targeting the sulphide zone below the old workings, is underway. This first hole is scheduled to be 315 metres in depth.

The reader is referred to ExGens November 14, 2016, January 30, 2017, July 6, 2017, August 2, 2017, and September 13, 2017 news releases for additional technical information on the Empire Mine Project.

Phil van Angeren, P. Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and less than 1% shareholder in both Phoenix Global Mining and ExGen Resources, has reviewed and verified the technical mining information provided in this release.

Mr. Jason Riley, CEO of ExGen commented: ExGen is pleased to see the latest results of the Phase 1 in-fill drilling program. Significant copper intersections including 32m of 1.43% Cu, plus significant gold and silver by products were certainly beyond historical results from the AP Pit. Phoenix continues to make rapid progress and we are encouraged by their decision to fast track exploration on the deeper sulphide zone with the commencement of the two holes from surface. We are looking forward to the significant news cycle for Empire over the next few months as we receive the final results from the AP Pit drilling, assay results from the initial holes into the sulphide zone, and the potential NI 43-101 Resource towards the end of the year.

About ExGen Resources Inc.

ExGen, formerly Boxxer Gold Corp, is a project accelerator that seeks to fund exploration and development of our projects through joint ventures and partnership agreements. This approach significantly reduces the technical and financial risks for ExGen, while maintaining the upside exposure to new discoveries and potential cash flow. The company intends to build a diverse portfolio of projects across exploration stages and various commodity groups. ExGen currently has 6 projects in Canada and the US.

For more information on ExGen please contact ExGen Resources Inc.

Jason Tong

Chief Financial Officer

Email: jason@catapultgroup.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information in relation to: the Empire Mine Project and the exploration and development of the Empire Mine Project; the earning of the Option by Phoenix and the potential transfer back to ExGen of the Konnex shares; the exploration and development strategy of the Empire Mine Project, including the exploration program, drilling, mine development, completion of a potential NI 43-101 resource calculation and a potential pre-feasibility study in compliance with NI 43-101, and the timing for completion of these events; the timing for the completion of exploration drilling and the receipt of exploration information and drill assays; the potential of the underground sulphide mineralization and the potential re-opening of the 700 and 1100 level portals to assist in the analysis of the potential sulphide mineralization. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. There can be no assurance that the development of the Empire Mine Project will be completed, and if development is completed, that such development will result in a producing mine. In the forward looking information contained in this news release, ExGen has made numerous assumptions, based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with the mineral industry. In addition, ExGen has assumed: the continued market acceptance of its joint venture partnership model; the ability of ExGen to raise future equity financing, if needed, at prices acceptable to ExGen; ExGen's current and initial understanding and analysis of the Empire Mine Project; the ability of ExGen or third parties to discover viable exploration targets and the results of exploration on the Empire Mine Project; the ability of Phoenix to explore and develop the Empire Mine Project; the cost of exploration, including sampling, drilling and assaying, on the Empire Mine Project, the costs of developing the Empire Mine Project and the costs and the ability of Phoenix to produce a NI 43-101 compliant resource calculation and pre-feasibility study; the costs and work required to re-open the 700 and 1100 level portals; and ExGen's general and administrative costs remaining constant. While, ExGen considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause ExGen's observations, actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, among others: there is no certainty that the Option will result in significant exploration of the Empire Mine Project or development of the Empire Mine Project into a producing mine; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineralization and uncertainty as to the actual results of exploration and development or operational activities; uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals; ExGen may not be able to comply with its ongoing obligations regarding its properties; the early stage development of ExGen and its projects, and in particular, the Empire Mine Project; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; capital market conditions and market prices for securities, junior market securities and mining exploration company securities; commodity prices; competition; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents and other risks inherent in the mining industry; lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting ExGen; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. A description of additional assumptions and risk factors used to develop such forward-looking information that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in ExGen's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although ExGen has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. ExGen does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Days after a Banana Republic employee expressed her discomfort about how her white male manager called her braids too "urban" and "unkempt," the clothing chain announced the manager was been fired. A spokeswoman said, "This situation was completely unacceptable, counter to our policies, and in no way reflects our company's beliefs and values."

On Wednesday, Destiny Thompkins, 19, wrote a Facebook post after being called into her manager's office at the White Plains Banana Republic, "I came in and he questioned me about the dress code and immediately, I thought there was something wrong with my outfit but he sat me down and questioned my hair instead."

In an interview with WABC 7, the Purchase College student recalled, "He said, 'The district manager came in and she pointed out your hair,'" she said. "I said, 'What is wrong with my hair?' 'It is a little too urban and unkempt for our look and image. We were wondering if you could take them out.'"

Thompkins also explained on Facebook, "He said that if I didnt take them out then he couldnt schedule me for shifts until I did. When I tried to explain to him that it was a protective style for my hair bc it tends to become really brittle in the cold, he recommended that I use shea butter for it instead. I have never been so humiliated and degraded in my life by a white person. In that moment, I felt so uncomfortable and overwhelmed that I didnt even finish my work shift and ended up leaving."

so today I went into work at Banana Republic at the Westchester Mall and after the district manager (a white woman) popped in for a visit, I was told to go to the office to speak with my manager, Michael (Mike), who is a white man. I came in and he questioned me about the dress code and immediately, I thought there was something wrong with my outfit but he sat me down and questioned my hair instead. He told me that my braids were not Banana Republic appropriate and that they were too urban and unkempt for their image. He said that if I didnt take them out then he couldnt schedule me for shifts until I did. When I tried to explain to him that it was a protective style for my hair bc it tends to become really brittle in the cold, he recommended that I use shea butter for it instead. I have never been so humiliated and degraded in my life by a white person. In that moment, I felt so uncomfortable and overwhelmed that I didnt even finish my work shift and ended up leaving. When my friends mom called the store to find out my managers last name (only been working there a month so idk it), he refused to give it to her. Box braids are not a matter of unprofessionalism, they are protective styles black women have used for their hair and to be discriminated against because of it is truly disgusting and unacceptable. Make this public bc they need to be exposed for their blatant racism and discrimination. Theres no reason why a white person should feel allowed to tell me that I cant wear my hair the way that I want bc its too black for their store image.

Thompkins had her hair braided the prior week, and told the Journal News, "I feel that for a white man to tell me, a black woman, how to care for her hair was completely inappropriate."

"This week, one of our store managers questioned an African American employees braided hair style. Our team began an immediate investigation and the manager involved was promptly removed from the store. Today we concluded the investigation and can confirm that the manager has been terminated from the company," Banana Republic spokersperson Sheikina Liverpool said. "Banana Republic has zero tolerance for discrimination. This situation was completely unacceptable, counter to our policies, and in no way reflects our companys beliefs and values."


RIO DE JANEIRO  Every day before work, Liliane Souza says, she and three dozen fellow workers at a Brazilian picture-framing factory affiliated with the Word of Faith Fellowship church were obligated to pray.

When workers made a mistake, such as cutting a frame too short, she says they were screamed at and sometimes even hit to expunge the devil behind the error. And when Stylofino stopped paying its workers for months, Souza said the companys co-owners  members of a Brazilian branch of the U.S.-based church  had a ready explanation.

They said the business was struggling because we were sinners, she said.

The business and its labor practices are under investigation by Brazilian authorities  just one of several inquiries launched into a pair of churches connected to Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical sect based in Spindale, N.C.

The Associated Press has learned that Brazilian prosecutors also are looking into possible improprieties in a land deal involving one of the churches. And education ministries in two Brazilian states said they are investigating allegations that church schools physically and psychologically abused students and redacted textbooks in violation of state policy.

The investigations were spurred by AP stories in July detailing allegations that Word of Faith Fellowship created a pipeline of young congregants who say they were brought to the U.S. from Brazil and forced to work at church-affiliated businesses for little or no pay. The stories also documented how the church steadily took over the two Brazilian congregations, instituting a fundamentalist vision that included verbal and physical abuse aimed at expelling devils.

Pastors at the Word of Faith Fellowship branches  located in the Brazilian cities of Sao Joaquim de Bicas and Franco da Rocha  have issued statements denying the accusations, but did not respond to numerous interview requests.

After the stories about the Brazilian churches were published in July, authorities in both Brazil and the United States launched investigations into the allegations of abuse, forced labor and visa fraud.

On Aug. 3, federal police and labor investigators from Brazils Justice Department raided the church and school in Franco da Rocha, gathering records and beginning a series of interviews, said an official who was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Peter Prengaman is an Associated Press writer.
SEOUL  North Korean hackers stole a vast cache of data, including classified wartime contingency plans jointly drawn by Washington and Seoul, when they breached the computer network of the South Korean military last year, a South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday.

One of the contingency plans contained the South Korean militarys plan to remove the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, referred to as the decapitation plan, should war break out on the Korean Peninsula, the lawmaker, Rhee Cheol-hee, told reporters.

Rhee, a member of the governing Democratic Party who serves on the defense committee of the National Assembly, said he only recently learned of the scale of the North Korean hacking attack, which was first discovered in September last year.

It was not known whether any of the militarys top secrets were leaked, although Rhee said that nearly 300 lower-classification confidential documents were stolen. The military is still unable to catalog nearly 80 percent of the leaked data, he said.

When the hacking attack was found out last year, the Defense Ministry blamed North Korea. But it has acknowledged only that some classified information was stolen, saying that revealing more details would only benefit its enemies.

It remained unclear how much the hacking has undermined the joint preparedness of the South Korean and U.S. militaries, with South Korean officials simply saying that they have been redressing whatever damage was caused by the cyberattack.

As Kim, the North Korean leader, has accelerated his nuclear missile program in recent years, South Korean defense officials have publicly discussed pre-emptive strikes at critical missile and nuclear sites in North Korea and a decapitation operation.

Choe Sang-Hun is a New York Times writer.
Auckland Council's planning committee pressed ahead with plans to scope the next stage for the future of the city's port, shaking off objections the political hot potato might face interference from Wellington.

The committee met today to discuss the next steps in the 2016 consensus working group report into the port's long-term future, which put forward several options to secure the multi-generational viability of the hub, including relocation. The council put off deciding what to do with the report until after last year's local body elections, which installed a new mayor in Phil Goff.

Some committee members today cited the political uncertainty and NZ First leader Winston Peters's bid to shift Auckland's freight service to North Port as a reason for another delay but a proposal by councillor Christine Fletcher to put off the decision until the next committee meeting in a month was narrowly defeated in an eight-nine vote.

The Auckland council committee then backed the resolution to receive the report and direct the chief executive to undertake a scoping process to investigate options for the port, including other alternatives that may come from central government. It also supported an amendment to lobby central government to instigate an upper North Island port strategy, something the Crown has been reluctant to pursue.

"We do need to front this; we do need to start this; the can has been kicked down the road long enough," deputy mayor Bill Cashmore said. "We need to lead and then partner. That's how you work with the Crown - if you wait, you wait forever."

Peters is currently in negotiations with the Labour and National parties to form the next government, setting a deadline for Thursday to make a decision. Among Peters's campaign pledges was relocation of Auckland's container port operations to Northport at Marsden Point by 2027.

Council chief of strategy Jim Quinn, a former Kiwirail chief executive, told the meeting central government will have a role in funding any future relocation because infrastructure such as road and rail connections fall under its umbrella.

"We haven't talked to Wellington in terms of their overt support for this," Quinn said. "I think we know budgets are tight for us and for all, which is why the recommendations are for us to scope the next step."

The future of Auckland's port has been the subject of much debate with industrial operations on the city's waterfront seen as an eyesore by some and a potentially lucrative source of income for the local body, if the land were put to a different use. The consensus working group study looked at a 50-to-100-year timeframe for the port.

The 2016 study put forward several recommendations for the port in the event that demand outstrips its capacity to service the country's biggest city. Still, councillor Mike Lee pointed out at today's meeting the study shows improved efficiency could see the current port cope with a trebling of throughput to 3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalents) per year.

The scoping work signed off today in a 10-seven vote will look to provide indicative costs of any future recommendations and will also take into account what factors might trigger the need for the port to be relocated.

Before the committee discussed the future port study, Shane Vuletich of the Society for the Protection of Auckland Harbours and Julie Stout of Urban Auckland made a submission for the council to include broader factors in triggering a relocation than simply capacity constraints, such as the opportunity cost of the status quo.

(BusinessDesk)

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Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

DONGAN HILLS, GET READY FOR YOUR CLOSE UP.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. If you're driving through Dongan Hills and casually see a car explode in the middle of the street, don't be alarmed. It's all for the sake of Hollywood.

A new Netflix major motion picture -- dubbed "The Irishman"  will be filmed just steps away from the Dongan Hills train station on Wednesday night, thanks to world-famous director Martin Scorsese.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

"The Irishman," starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, is using Lee's Tavern, Karine's Beauty Salon and the streets of Staten Island as the stunt playground for the film.

We are primarily shooting on the corner of Hancock Street and Garretson Avenue, in front of and near Lees Tavern, a notice hung a block away from set reads. Part of our filming is to have our special effects unit simulate a car explosion on the street in front of 58 Hancock Street.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

A NEIGHBORHOOD WARNING

This is a controlled blast and we will practice every measure of safety and have the NYPD with us supervising, the notice continued.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

Cast and crew are slated to start filming in the late afternoon and evening on Wednesday.

BTW: Sorry to say, but you won't catch De Niro or Pacino walking down your block this week. Those two A-listers are filming in upstate, New York at the second location for "The Irishman."

A source with knowledge of the project says tomorrow's shooting is strictly for stunts, no actors will be on set.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

NO PARKING ZONES

Here's a list of Staten Island streets to steer away from tomorrow: North and South sides of Seaview Ave between North Railroad and Magnolia Ave; East and West sides of Hancock Ave between between Liberty and Cromwell Ave; North and South sides of Garretson Ave between N. Railroad Ave and Magnolia Ave.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

NEW NAME, WHO THIS?

Relax, Staten Island. Your favorite pizza place is not going anywhere.

Lee's Tavern has changed their awning to read "Nemo's" for the sake of filming. Lee's will be closed on Wednesday, Oct. 11, all day for filming.

Restaurant reps say they'll be open for business as usual on Thursday.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

"The Irishman," a film directed by Martin Scorsese, is filming outside Lee's Tavern and Karine's Beauty Salon in Dongan Hills on October 11, 2017. Pictures is the outside of Karine's Beauty Salon with a barber pole waiting to be installed.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

SMALL TOWN GUYS, BIG TIME ROLE

Local actors Jeremy Luke and Joseph Russo co-star as the Andretta Brothers, associates of the Genovese crime family and alleged hitman.

"Much love to Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese for watching 'Small Shots' and casting us in their new movie," Luke posted on his Instagram. "Also, much love to everyone who has supported us. This is what I had in mind 20 years ago when I began acting. Pretty overwhelmed with joy right now."

(Photo courtesy of Netflix)

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

Pictured is Joseph Russo, set to be a local face in a major motion picture.

Scorsese, the director behind classics like "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas" is gearing up to tackle the life story of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran (De Niro), a reputed hitman suspected of ties to the disappearance of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa, in his new Netflix film.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Since October is designated Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month, Casa Belvedere: The Italian Cultural Foundation, hosted a Columbus Day Dinner & Casa Cavlieri Designation Ceremony that saw some 200 revelers come out Monday to support the Grymes Hill cultural.

The evening staged at the mansion that once served as home to the Roebling-Stirn family not only celebrated Columbus Day, but a centuries-old culture steeped in rich tradition.

Honored as a "Casa Cavalieri," or "Casa Knights," during the evening's ceremonial presentation were Casa Belvedere founding charter members Frank Aversa, Roy Ranieri, Michael Pucciarelli, William Formica and Sal Calcagno.

"These are our Ambassadors, our champions for the cause who believed in the vision, mission and goals of The ItalIan Cultural Foundation from the beginning," said Gina Biancardi, founder of Casa Belvedere. "Not only that, but they galvanized their circles of friends and family to also embrace the cause."

Congressman Dan Donovan served as emcee for the event. He read a proclamation from President Donald Trump designating the second Monday in October as Christopher Columbus Day, with flags to be raised on all federal buildings in Columbus' honor.

"In today's day and age, the only way for Italian-Americans to keep our parents and grandparents journeys alive, and keep ourselves and our children connected to our heritage in a positive way, is to congregate at places like Casa Belvedere," Gina added. "Our ancestors brought valuable and non-perishable goods to this country that have lasted all these years: faith, family traditions and values, the honor of hard work and the blessing of a Sunday table full of family and friends. That's what we uphold at Casa Belvedere and that's what we are celebrating today. It's not about Christopher Columbus, it's about our past, our present and our future as Italian-Americans."

Musical entertainment was provided by the superb sounds of vocalist/deejay Vito Lombardo.

The special commemorative also served a tribute to the more than 5.4 million Italians who immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 1992. Today there are more than 26 million Americans of Italian descent in the United States -- the fifth largest ethnic group in America.



The Italian Cultural Foundation's mission is, in part, to preserve the above-referenced legacy, and honor those who came before us to pave the way for future generations.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y .-- The court officer found dead of an apparent suicide at a New Dorp cemetery Tuesday morning has been identified as John Hesterhagen, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

The victim was a New York State Court officer and 23-year-veteran who was assigned to Richmond County Criminal Court, according to a source with the Office of Court Administration.

EMS was called to Moravian Cemetery, located on the 2200 block of Richmond Road, at 8:51 a.m., said an FDNY spokesman.

The victim had a gunshot wound to his head, and police recovered a gun at the scene, according to an NYPD spokeswoman.

Police described the victim as a white man in his 50s.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Would you like to comment on this report? Click here to join the conversation.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The 33-year-old man who died after a Friday morning collision was remembered by a family member for his military service, and work ethic.

Ade McGirt, 40, said his cousin Marcus Brown joined the military in 2006, served with the army for three years, and had been serving as a National Guardsman since that time.

"He enjoyed the brotherhood of the military," McGirt said. "But a lot of things that happened there he didn't talk about."

McGirt did know the story of how Brown was awarded the Bronze Star with valor in 2008 during a tour he served in Iraq.

The vehicle Brown was in was hit with a roadside bomb that killed his commanding officer, Capt. Andrew Pearson, and the vehicle's driver, Spc. Ronald Tucker.

An injured Brown opened the rear escape hatch of the vehicle and tried to free Tucker. He then established a perimeter around the vehicle, and managed to prevent a second attack, military officials told the Daily News.

McGirt said that in addition to his ongoing service with the National Guard that Brown also worked several jobs.

"That was him he was always on the go," he said. "He could never sit still."

Brown, a Bulls Head resident, was transported to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze after the accident, according to police; the hospital confirmed on Saturday that he is braindead and is legally deceased.

McGirt, like many of Brown's friends, described Brown as the life of the party, who would always try to make people feel welcome.

"It's hard. You can't sum him in a paragraph. He was everything," McGirt said.

A viewing for Brown will be held Friday from 10-11 a.m. at Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church at 1616 Richmond Ave., with a funeral service to follow.

Brown will be buried at the Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, N.J. following the funeral service, McGirt said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There will be no Catholic school closures in the Archdiocese of New York for at least the next two years, the superintendent said during a recent meeting with the Advance editorial board.

However, there are 12 schools that are struggling in the archdiocese, including one on Staten Island, Dr. Timothy McNiff said.

"We can fix this now ... and that's what we're focusing on," he said, adding that enrollment in a third of the schools increased this school year while another third of the schools had stable enrollment.

"I'm optimistic that we have made this system sustainable."

To address issues in the struggling schools, McNiff said the archdiocese is administering a new three-year plan, "Pathways to Excellence II." Its predecessor, "Pathways to Excellence," was created in 2010 to transition most elementary schools from a parish-based school model to a more sustainable regional one.

The schools in jeopardy have not seen a growth in enrollment, their financial deficits are rising and their academics are not where they need to be competitively, McNiff said.

Another disadvantage in some schools is the lack of after-school programs needed for most families, he added.

"We are discussing in committees how we're going to help those 12 schools among a myriad of other things," McNiff said. "So that one [Staten Island] school is going to be part of that conversation."

McNiff would not disclose the name of the borough school.

Decreased enrollment and tuition costs resulted in the closure of 60 schools over a 20-month period six years ago. On the Island, six schools were closed and one was consolidated.

The first round of school closures in 2011 included four Staten Island elementary schools after they were identified as "at-risk" of losing their archdiocesan subsidies: St. Mary School in Rosebank, St. Roch School in Port Richmond, St. Sylvester School in Concord and St. Margaret Mary School in Midland Beach.

St. Peter-St. Paul Elementary School in New Brighton was created by merging St. Peter Elementary with the former St. Paul School in 2011.

St. Joseph's School in Rosebank and Immaculate Conception School in Stapleton followed, closing their doors in June 2013.

"I recognize some of the tension that came with that, but I will say this that tension really didn't exist within the school families," McNiff said. "That was more of a parish-based issue because, for the family, it was seamless. This was a shift in governance."

Since then, enrollment has stabilized in most of the 22 Staten Island Catholic schools, McNiff said, adding that more than 7,350 students are enrolled for the 2017-2018 school year.

The current average tuition among schools is approximately $4,900, he added.
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08:33 ATAGI does not recommend a fifth dose Health Minister Mark Butler says the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has decided not to recommend a fifth dose...

01:58 Australian Defence Force faces shortage of thousands of staff Defence Minister Richard Marles warns Australias Defence Force faces personnel shortages of over 4,000 staff as it fails to meet targets of...

03:40 NSWs Central West facing devastating flood peaks Townships in NSW's Central West are facing devastating flood peaks today, reaching levels not seen in 70 years.

03:52 Former Vic premier believes Labor can hold west Melbourne Daniel Andrews is attempting to do what former Victorian premiers Steve Bracks and John Cain did and win a third term in office as the Labor...

06:26 Holding up well: Albanese maintains relatively high approval rating Anthony Albanese has sustained a relatively high approval rating among voters since becoming Prime Minister in May.

02:37 Delivery disruption fears as critical workers locked out of major ports There are fears of delivery disruptions ahead of Christmas with critical workers said to be locked out of Australian ports.

Daniel Andrews heading for lame duck leadership thanks to his heavy-handed incompetence It's as if finally, after two years of being locked down and gas lit, Victorians are taking off their COVID goggles and seeing the heavy-handed Andrews regime for what it is.

03:45 It was phenomenal to see: Cowra locals left stunned by flash flooding Sky News Reporter Joel Philp says the town of Cowra in New South Wales has been cut in two by flash flooding.
A recent settlement proposal filed with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission is a major step toward ensuring that adequate funds are allocated for the eventual decommissioning and remediation of the Colstrip Generating Station. The settlement, reached in the Puget Sound Energy rate case, also provides for $10 million in community transition funds to be allocated by Puget, including $5 million from its shareholders.

For decades, Puget ratepayers have not paid toward eventual decommissioning and remediation costs for the Colstrip units and have contributed too little toward capital costs. Knowing now that Units 1 and 2 will close no later than 2022, Puget needed to find alternative funding sources for the cleanup and capital costs of those two units. The proposed settlement offers a solution to ensure funds for these purposes.

In order to ensure that these cleanup costs, as well as capital costs of the plant  namely, the initial investment to build them  are recovered by customers during the lifespan of the units, Puget also agreed to accelerate the depreciation schedule of Units 3 and 4 to December 31, 2027.

Generally speaking, utilities and the commissions that regulate them try to align depreciation - the date when capital costs are paid off  as closely as possible with the end of the life of the unit. This saves customers from paying for something theyre not using. Furthermore, consumers who use the plant should pay for the plant. In this case, the settlement proposes to have Puget customers pay off Units 3 and 4 by the end of 2027.

People can (and will) argue about what that 2027 date means. Meanwhile, there is a lot of work to be done. As proposed by the NW Energy Coalition, Renewable Northwest and NRDC in rate case testimony and agreed to by a diverse set of stakeholders, including Washington industrial customers, the Sierra Club, low-income advocates and the state of Montana, Puget will participate in a community transition stakeholder process while providing $10 million for worker and community transition. Our hope is that other utility owners make similar commitments. Who, where, when and how this process takes place is still yet to be determined, but its an important first step in finding economic development solutions for the people of Colstrip and the state of Montana.

With only a few years until units 1 and 2 are retired, a worker transition plan is sorely needed. We must also address leaking coal ash ponds and Colstrips drinking water. Finally, stakeholders need to develop a long-term plan to ensure Colstrip is ready for the eventual closure of Units 3 and 4, whenever that may be.

We should also seize economic opportunity by developing renewable energy in eastern Montana and across the state. That means making sure the Colstrip transmission line is ready to take Montana renewables to markets. A recent Northern Tier Transmission Group (NTTG) study found that renewable energy replacement on the Colstrip line is indeed feasible and numerous projects, including wind, solar, and even geothermal, are being explored.

The Puget rate case settlement, hopefully to be approved by the Washington UTC soon, certainly provides some direction and clarity on the path forward for Colstrip. Now its our turn here in Montana to truly chart the course. The choice is ours  we can argue or we can get to work. I suggest the latter.

Diego Rivas of Helena is a senior policy associate with the NW Energy Coalition, an alliance of more than 100 environmental, civic, and human service organizations, utilities and businesses in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
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If you believe Senator Steve Daines, the serious forest fires this summer could have been prevented by allowing more logging in the Montana national forests. Senator Daines and many of his Republican compatriots in the U.S. Congress and the Montana State Legislature consistently offer simplistic solutions to complex problems, and this is no exception. During the last century Montana has experienced major booms-busts in the timber industry periodically, devastating local economies in the process. The causes vary from timber supply to new technologies to the importation of cheap Canadian lumber. Senator Daines prefers to blame environmentalists for both this summers fires and the decline of the wood products industry in Montana. However, the devastating 1910 fire occurred after decades of intense logging on national forests and serious drought. Devastating fires occurred eight times between 1914 and 1934 in Region 1, during periods of heavy logging. Forest fires occur during times of serious drought, which is the case this summer and will continue to occur as the climate heats up. While 95 percent of the worlds climate scientists attribute the warming climate to human activity, Senator Daines has chosen to ignore their concerns.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr says he might have confused two blocks at Glebe Park when he signed a document which included an assertion that the casino had rights over a parcel of land bought by the government in controversial circumstances.

Mr Barr was quizzed at a parliamentary inquiry this month about his signature on a confidential briefing paper in November 2015 which updated him on Aquis's redevelopment of the casino.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The paper has been released, heavily redacted, under freedom of information laws. It includes a paragraph that Mr Barr has ticked twice, stressing the importance of consultation with residents of Glebe Park, "in particular concerns by residents affected by Aquis' rights to Block 24 Section 65".

This is the block bought by the government in 2015 from developers Barry Morris, Graham Potts, Richard Tindale and Joe Bisa for $3.8 million plus GST.
The steep discounts on new aircraft are galling customers who paid closer to a full price, said Barry Justice, founder and chief executive officer of Corporate Aviation Analysis & Planning Inc. General Dynamics Corp.'s Gulfstream unit slashed as much as 35 per cent off the price of its G450, which is being phased out as the new G500 aircraft nears arrival, Vincent said. The G450 had a list price of about $US43 million, according to the Business & Commercial Aviation guide. Bombardier has offered discounts of as much as $US7 million on the Challenger 350's list price of about $US26 million as it fends off competitors entering the super midsize space, he said. The weakness across the industry in private-jet sales is adding to the pressure on Bombardier, which is also struggling to sell its C Series commercial planes. The U.S. government slapped import duties of about 300 per cent on the single-aisle jetliner in the last two weeks after a complaint by Boeing Co. For corporate aircraft, the global market hasn't fully recovered from the last U.S. recession, when plunging demand popped a bubble that had flooded the industry with more than 1,000 new jet deliveries in both 2007 and 2008. A nascent recovery in 2013 and 2014 fell apart after the price of oil and other commodities collapsed, drying up sales in emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil. Deliveries fall Deliveries of new private jets are forecast to drop to 630 this year, from 657 last year and 689 in 2015, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The number is forecast to rebound slightly to 640 next year.

The more conservative pace has done little to relieve the glut, creating a buyer's market for used aircraft. A five-year-old jet sold in 2016 was worth only 56 per cent of its original list price, on average. That's down from 64 per cent in 2012, according to a report by Jetcraft, a plane broker that expects to close more than 80 deals this year. The value retention was as high as 91 per cent in 2008. Prices for used aircraft right now are "insane," said Justice. Some companies and wealthy individuals are buying pre-owned aircraft for the first time because the bargains are too good to pass up, he said. "There's a vast overproduction of large-cabin airplanes and there are only so many people in the world who are going to step up and pay $US60 million-plus," he said. "What happens is, people are going to that pre-owned market." New models More new aircraft are on the way. Next year Bombardier will begin selling the Global 7000, which will compete with the Gulfstream G650ER as the largest and longest-range business jet. Textron Inc.'s Cessna unit is close to beginning deliveries on a super midsize plane called the Longitude and is designing its largest-ever aircraft, the Hemisphere.

Cessna, which helps customers sell their used aircraft when purchasing a new one, is able to move those planes more quickly than before, said Rob Scholl, chief of sales and marketing with Textron Aviation. For new aircraft, Cessna is focused on "getting some price back into our products,'' Scholl said. "We're seeing a change in the marketplace,'' he said. "The activity is really, really strong and I'm positive on where it's going.'' Gulfstream will begin selling the G500 early next year and the G600 later in 2018, both of which are large-cabin aircraft. Small planes Smaller aircraft are feeling the pressure as well. Swiss planemaker Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. is set to begin sales of its first business jet -- the PC-24 -- building on the success of its single-engine turboprop. HondaJet began deliveries at the end of 2015, the first-ever business jet for the Japanese carmaker.

Those new models should help boost new aircraft sales because they will offer better performance and newer technology than the pre-owned models, which compete for buyers mostly on price, said Ben Driggs, Honeywell Aerospace's president for the Americas. "We are projecting growth in '18 and growth in '19 and beyond" for new aircraft deliveries, Driggs said. Reaping gains Bombardier pulled back production rates in 2015 after its inventory of new jets began to pile up. The slower pace helped the Canadian company boost operating margins and support pre-owned prices of its planes, spokeswoman Anna Cristofaro said in an email. Bombardier's sales from business jets were more than twice its revenue from commercial planes last year. Gulfstream declined to comment.
The blame for the energy crisis is likely to expand past gas producers to pipelines and beyond, energy analysts believe.

As ongoing energy policy uncertainty hamstrings the industry's growth, analysts have warned against the government undertaking knee-jerk reactions, nationalisation, or finger pointing as a way to reduce culpability.

Pipelines could be next in line for the ongoing fight over the energy crisis. Credit:Andrey Rudakov

"The government started at the top end of the value chain, they then hit a wall with where they can target them," Wood MacKenzie head of oil, gas, energy and renewables for Australasia Saul Kavonic said.

"So they're moving down the value chain, and next they'll hit the pipeline companies," he said.
Australian Unity Office Fund has increased its portfolio with an unconditional agreement to acquire 150 Charlotte Street, Brisbane, for $105.75 million, partly funded through a $50 million equity issue.

The property was part of the Singaporean fund manager TrustCapital Advisors' $700 million sale of its five-asset portfolio. AOF, which was established in 2005 and listed on the ASX in 2016, owns nine office assets in NSW, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland.

150 Charlotte Street, Brisbane. Credit:Nick Lenaghan

The building is in the heart of the Brisbane CBD adjacent to the "Golden Triangle" and is 100 per cent occupied with a 5.7-year weighted average lease expiry. More than 75 per cent of the rental income is derived from tenants Boeing Defence Australia and the federal government.

AOF fund manager Grant Nichols said the purchase was consistent with AOF's acquisition strategy and "will improve the portfolio's position, including increasing its weighted average lease expiry, occupancy and lease expiry profile".
A Sydney family has made their first foray into the Melbourne investment market, snapping up 1 Bowen Crescent for close to $14 million.

It's the latest in a string of deals along the leafy boulevard which is currently bogged down in construction work for the $11 billion Metro Rail works.

1 Bowen Crescent has been snapped up for close to $14 million.

Investors appear to be positioning themselves for life after the works are complete and a new railway station, Domain, opens in the area servicing thousands of residents and workers.

The six-storey glass and concrete office building in the St Kilda Road precinct, close to the Domain interchange, was put on the market by philanthropist and tech entrepreneur Malcolm Freake.
Woolworths will pick up the tab for underpaid trolley collectors where the contractor responsible for ripping off the workers has gone under or disappeared after an investigation found rampant exploitation of workers.

Woolworths agreed to assist in the back pay of its contracted trolley collectors stretching back to July 2014 under a compliance deed it has signed with the workplace regulator.

Woolworths has pledged to stamp out underpayment of workers in its supply chain. Credit:Bloomberg

Fairfax Media can reveal that Woolworths has entered into the compliance partnership with the Fair Work Ombudsman in recent weeks after after a three-year inquiry by the regulator found trolley collectors at Woolworths supermarkets were being paid as little as $10 an hour despite casual rates for that work being $22.51 in 2014.

Under the deed, Woolworths will back-pay any trolley collector employed during the period from July 1, 2014 until the present if the primary contractor has failed to rectify wages within 20 days.
Pizza giant Domino's Enterprises, its network of franchisees, unions and thousands of workers will be itching for the outcome of a Fair Work Commission hearing that relates to more than 26 applications by two unions to terminate various enterprise agreements.

If the agreements are terminated, workers will be put on a modern award  the wages safety net  which would make them instantly better off.

Last year Deutsche Bank estimated the cost of Domino's paying award penalty rates would be more than $30 million a year, a figure the company disputed.

Still the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union secretary Josh Cullinan estimates it would be in the tens of millions of dollars. The RFFWU was set up to challenge the SDA union and has taken action in conjunction with a Domino's delivery driver to terminate the agreement in the commission.
The ACT Government's decision to permit a pill testing trial to go ahead at next month's Spilt Milk Festival, while controversial, is justified, readily defensible and long overdue.

The November trial, a first for Australia, marks a welcome shift towards a harm minimisation approach.

If only one life is saved it will have been very worthwhile. It will be even better if a successful trial paves the way for the introduction of such testing at music events across the country, should that trial prove effective.

The Canberra trial, to be conducted by qualified personnel using state of the art equipment, offers a unique opportunity for medical staff to educate attendees about the risks of drug taking while they are having their pills tested.
In mid-September, Helenas Mayor Jim Smith posted a message that he stands against all forms of violent extremism. This is a curious statement since at the end of March 2016, Mayor Smith addressed ACT! for America. This organization has similar position statements and membership to the White Nationalists who have grown more and more brazen in the past year. As a lifelong politician, he must have known that.

Mayor Smith, 16 years in office, may speak for some Helena residents by appearing before and making promises to a racist group. But I hope a vast majority of Helena rejects this hatred and opts for more progress in our future. Wilmont Collins, a veteran and Liberian refugee, seeks to bring about such good change for us and we should support him.

We should surround him with a council of like-minded people who have led with dignity and honesty, like Andres Haladay, or who understand how to use the budget to bring economic justice for everyone, like Heather OLoughlin. This is the future of our great city. Make your voices heard.

Joshua Manning

Helena
After the inspection you would discuss your observations with the construction management team. I note with interest the comment employers were being lax with scaffolding hazards. In regard to the recent scaffolding inspection, I can only assume inspectors looked at the requirements of the two most common scaffolding standards AS-NZS 4576 and AS-NZS 1576. Most, if not all scaffolding providers employ licenced scaffolders at either Advanced, Intermediate or Basic scaffolding high risk licences. Perhaps statistics can be provided on the actual incidents and/or injuries related to unsafe scaffolding in the ACT. What are the facts of the matter?

I hold an Advanced High Risk Licence in Advanced Scaffolding. I gained this back in the '70s when you had to work in the industry, pass an exam at TAFE, and then provide evidence to the then Department of Labour and Industry (DLI). James Bodsworth, Phillip Tweaks to timetable There have been a number of letters recently complaining about the discontinuation of Action bus Route 5 with the introduction of the new timetables from October 7, 2017. Most of the concern has been directed at the new Route 6 bypassing "Old Narrabundah". As a compromise, may I suggest that the new Route 6 when travelling from the city to Woden, make a small detour from the proposed route off Sturt Street, along Kootara Crescent to the shops on Iluka Street and back along Boolimba Crescent to rejoin Sturt Street.

The reverse route could apply when travelling from Woden to the city. Obviously there would still be some inconvenience to Narrabundah residents compared with the old service, but I believe it would be a significant improvement on what has been proposed and would only add five to seven minutes to the timetable. Steve Whennan, Richardson Marriage debate fallout On Saturday, October 7, at the Jolimont Centre I heard a loud voice coming from a young man across the road from me.

He was sitting with another young man. He was yelling expletives to a group of about 15 men who were walking past. At first I thought the young man was the aggressor and then I observed how distressed he was. I then realised what else I had heard, one of the group of men or maybe two or three had yelled out "faggot" to the two young men. This may or may not have occurred with or without our debate around SSM. Jan Gulliver, Lyneham

For whose benefit? Frances Cornish asks why her Giralang house had to be demolished despite having "the asbestos removed ... and two subsequent inspections detected no fibres anywhere in the building" (Letters, October 6). The answer can be found in another question: cui bono? This Latin phrase literally means "for whose benefit?" Displacing 1000 families from their homes, smashing the houses and replacing them with dual-occupancies is to the benefit of the knockdown/rebuild industry, and its agents. Since this industry appears to have the ear of the ACT Labor government we need look no further for the answer.

Hugh Dakin, Griffith Christmas is coming So Minister Frydenberg says the government intends to make a decision on the clean energy target before the end of the year. It's only taken four years, of course. What are the chances that the announcement will be made on Friday, December 22? Robert Beattie, Queanbeyan, NSW

All fine and dandy Thos Puckett (Letters, October 8) fears mass identity scanning may be used on parking fine non-payers. Bring it on. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars are outstanding? Why should the offenders avoid their responsibilities? Alex Wallensky, Broulee, NSW Lest we forget Further to my request for a poppy to be placed on my relative's name at the AWM, he was James Herman Breur who died on October 12, 1917; not Brewer as originally stated.

Betty Havercroft, Mount Pleasant, WA There are guides to level of better behaviour on dog daze afternoon Neil McMahon ("Whose off-leash dog beach is it, anyway? Answer: not your dog's", canberratimes.com.au, October 9) complains because he was fined $238 when his dog broke the rules on a public beach at Port Melbourne. His article implies that when dog owners are permitted to exercise their animals off-leash they should have exclusive use of the area. Where I have a house on the coast the most reliable beach for body surfing is designated as off-leash from 4pm onwards.

I often swim in that period making sure that I am not bowled over by some boisterous Great Dane on my way to the water. What is Neil suggesting? That I forgo my swim on a hot afternoon because his dog "owns" the beach? Or is he suggesting all people should enter off-leash beaches at their own risk? As a human, I am generally allowed off-leash but I'm aware that I am required to always obey the rules of generally accepted behaviour. I know, for instance, that if I'm at a public beach and choose to defecate in the sand, kick sand on sunbakers, or lick someone's baby I will probably attract the ranger's attention and will be very lucky to escape with just a $238 fine. Maudie, Mr McMahon's English Staffy, is not being picked on. She just has to obey the rules like the rest of us.

Mike Reddy, Curtin Abbott at the margins It is difficult to imagine a more disingenuous way of debating climate change effects than the reported statements of the ex-PM, Tony Abbott, to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London. He uses methods of debate that are textbook cases of how to proceed in arguments if your aim is to deflect from the real issue and to draw opponents into a debate on marginal issues. The debate about climate change detriment is about many, often subtle things, that are not as obvious as a simple death count, although this may be one indicator that might indicate adverse effects of effects from global warming and climate change.

Higher death rates from something referred to as "cold snaps" versus deaths from "heatwave" conditions is a poor and and irrelevant comparison. The asthma-inducing grass pollen cloud created by an unseasonal storm in Victoria last year, which was likely a result, in part, of climate change, might equally be brought into such a comparison. An honest appraisal of the accumulated evidence for, and pointers to, trends in the future on global warming/climate change, would suggest that no such facile comparison as the ex- PM has made could validly be put. People will die, and more will be rendered unhealthy, because of adverse changes. You can add to that armed conflict ultimately founded on increased competition for resources.

Energies would be better spent concentrating on developing modern strategies to ameliorate the already present and still developing changes to the world's meteorology. Dr Frank Ingwersen, Higgins The heat is on Unbearable heat is coming to south-eastern Australia. In just two decades there will be days that will reach 50 degrees. ("Really awful: 50-degree days possible for Sydney, Melbourne, as warming worsens", canberratimes.com.au, October 4). Federal governments haven't taken the required action to prevent this. They need to start planning for these heatwaves.

We know governments can make plans for 2040 and beyond, as they have recently ordered replacement submarines due to gradually enter service from late 2030. But what plans are being made for these coming 50-degree days? Do we need to build heatwave shelters across south-eastern Australia, how many and how large should they be? How will the sick and elderly be transported to these shelters, and will they be able to take their pets? Does airconditioning need to be considered an essential service for all dwellings, and how will this be provided and maintained for those who don't have it?

How will the electricity grid cope? How will our crops fare? What will we eat after widespread crop failures? How will farm animals cope? What economic impact will this have on farmers? How do we deal with worsening bushfires, and will we need to change the way we tackle them?

And lastly, how will we tell the young that this generation has failed to prevent 50-degree days, and they will just need to bear all the consequences? Stuart Walkley, Lyneham A Nick cuts deep In 1996 Pauline Hanson did not know the meaning of xenophobia. She has claimed about 90 to 95 per cent of the public (in particular her own Queensland supporters, I assume) didn't know what that word meant. Of course, they do now.

But moves by Senator Nick Xenophon to leave the Senate and stand for a seat in the SA state government have given the word a new meaning at the other end of our great nation. Both the Liberal-National Coalition and Labor Party in South Australia have suddenly been grasped by a paranoiac fear of the honourable senator, which could well be described as "Xenophonophobia" as far as South Australia is concerned. Adrian van Leest, Campbell Scoring top Marx I voted "yes" before J. Halgren (Letters, October 10) revealed the "heaving, conniving can of worms" behind the innocent-looking question: oppression and Marxism.

This means John Shortis' letter on the same page suggesting we can enjoy the lyrics of both Hammerstein and Macklemore is either a thinly veiled threat to pack us off to the gulag or an attempt to seize the means of production. Peter Robinson, Ainslie Hard facts to face Protesters at the refugee rally in Canberra on Sunday conveyed the message that Rajeev Rajendran "committed suicide on Manus Island after experiencing mental illness as an asylum seeker". Presumably it wouldn't suit the needs of the protesters to recognise that Rajendran was facing charges of raping a local woman. Roger Dace, Reid

TO THE POINT AXE NUCLEAR WEAPONS I call on all people to support a nuclear weapons-free world, and to increase peace initiatives. The sale of weapons, and the reconstruction work needed following their use, is pitiful commerce in need of correcting. Discarding weaponry could be the ultimate achievement. Weapons of mass destruction stalking humanity, handled by lunatics, is unacceptable and an insult to enlightenment. Matt Ford, Crookwell, NSW

NCA STANDS FOR ... I can add another acronym to Dennis Fitzgerald's list (Letters, September10): NCA  Not Caring Anymore. Judith Erskine, Belconnen EVERGREEN OAKS The street in which I live is lined with mature oak trees. It is about one kilometre long. This year, about a dozen of the oaks retained a significant number of the leaves in their lower canopy until the new leaves sprouted. It seems to me that more and more of the oaks do this each year, with more leaves persisting.

This phenomenon is consistent with global warming. Can we therefore expect that at least some oak trees will become evergreen? I'm sure someone out there can put me straight on this. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin SUPERIOR SCEPTIC Good on you Tony. The captain of the Aussie Climate Sceptics Team has shown that the Aussies are just as good, if not better, than the Pommy Sceptics. What he doesn't know is worth knowing.

Alan Parker, Gordon CANADIAN CIVILITY In Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine, he puts the blame largely on guns themselves, but in one section of the film he makes a quick study of a twin town on the border of Canada and the US. Both had the same amount of guns, and yet gun casualties in the US part of the border town were way higher. This was put down to a more civil society on the Canadian side. Nuff said. Gary Frances, Bexley, NSW CHILD PRISONERS

Locking up 10-year-olds without trial for 14 days, eh Australia? This country already locks up children, including newborns, on Manus Island and Nauru indefinitely. First they came for the refugees ... John Passant, Kambah FANTASTIC FLORIADE Congratulations Floriade. In our tense world, it was heartwarming to join a cosmopolitan crowd of all ages last Friday quietly absorbing the fragile beauty of massed flowers in a lakeside setting. This event is irreplaceable. Long may it continue. Elizabeth Teather, Reid
North Korea's ballistic and nuclear weapons programs are illegal and in violation of eight resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

It is vital that the authority of the Security Council is upheld as the custodian of international order and international law in the global system.

The responsibility for defending that authority lies most heavily with the five permanent members, the US, China, Russia, the UK and France.

A failure to enforce the resolutions and check North Korea's ambitions could embolden other nations to act illegally in pursuit of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
Global life expectancy at birth sums it up pretty well. It rose by 5 years between 2000 and 2015 to 71.4 years, the fastest increase since the 1960s.

That doesn't mean everyone is better off, of course, but the positive trend in international wellbeing data since 2000 is striking.

Illustration: Andrew Dyson.

That big improvement reverses the decline in the 1990s, when life expectancy fell in Africa because of the AIDS epidemic, and in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The biggest regional gain since then has been in Africa, where life expectancy has climbed by 9.4 years since 2000 to 60 years.

Australia is part of the trend. Life expectancy at birth here is now close to 83 years and among the highest in the world.

If that's not enough to convince you then consider the prevalence of child deaths, perhaps the most powerful indicator of global progress. Last year six million fewer children under the age of five died compared with 1990.

And the good news doesn't stop there. The share of people living below the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day has been slashed from 35 per cent to 9 per cent; the rate at which women die in childbirth has fallen; the prevalence of stunting due to malnutrition is in decline; and more children are learning to read and write.
It's been over a week, and we seem to be no closer to understanding the motive behind the slaughter of 59 people in Las Vegas.

That's not uncommon. Considering the question 'why?' is the one most profoundly and immediately asked after a massacre, there is often no clarity, and certainly not clarity that presents itself in a hurry.

Glynn Greensmith co-signed a letter calling on the world media to not name of show a mass shooter.

If I asked you to identify the motive of the previous 'record' holder for a US mass random shooting  Pulse nightclub, Orlando, June 12, 2016  would you know?

Speculation after that killing spree went from terrorism to closet homosexuality and all stops in between and beyond.
Golf-ball-sized hail has been recorded south of Logan as a "very dangerous" afternoon storm rolls towards the coast, while similar wild weather has ripped a roof from a home near Maryborough.

"In the past 30 minutes or so it did drop golf-ball-sized hail at Rathdowney," Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Andrew Bufalino said, about 5pm.

The storm coming in at Maaroom, north of Poona near Fraser Island. Credit:Rachel Archer - Higgins Storm Chasing

"And that is when we upgraded its status to being a 'very dangerous' storm."

Mr Bufalino said this storm should continue towards Jimboomba and Logan, possibly Brisbane later tonight in a much weaker position.
In an ideal world, companies would care about people as much as profits.

They would pay and treat their employees and customers fairly, be honest and transparent with them, deliver only products and services that were beneficial to people and the planet, and pay taxes relative to profits.

I did say ideal. As a spate of recent banking and financial planning scandals has proven, far-too-often the reverse is true.

And so when companies claim to be "socially responsible" or "ethically responsible" while simultaneously hurting their staff and customers, the media and public are rightly sceptical.
The Turnbull government has rejected findings of a Senate inquiry into its controversial "robo-debt" system for welfare payments, refusing to suspend data matching and defending procedural fairness in the recovery of payments.

Responding to a June report which slammed the process of issuing debt notices to thousands of Australians based on matching and averaging of income records held by Centrelink and the Tax Office, the government said some third parties' complaints had been "aimed solely at scoring political points".

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has defended the "robo-debt" system. Credit:Kirk Gilmour

The inquiry said debts calculated by averaging of income across a 12-month period should be reassessed, with the system redesigned and effective risk assessment process put in place.

It said the program had caused a "profoundly negative impact on the lives of thousands of Australians" and was responsible for trauma suffered by innocent welfare recipients required to prove they did not owe money demanded by Centrelink.
A Mosman property developer with links to an outlaw motorcycle gang was involved in a $3.5 million north shore money laundering ring, involving 20 separate drops of more than $100,000, police will allege.

Savas Guven, also known as Savas Yucel, was arrested at 6.30am in Mosman on Tuesday not far from his Beauty Point home, as part of a large-scale drug supply investigation involving the NSW Crime Commission and the organised crime squad.

The businessman, who runs the BRP Property Group and the scaffolding company AllRound Access, was later charged with 20 counts of knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime and participation in a criminal group.

He was also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over a separate matter concerning statements in court relating to driving offences.
Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale is facing six fresh charges including official corruption involving an alleged payment from a property developer.

Queenslands Crime and Corruption Commission has charged Mr Pisasale with one count each of official corruption, misconduct in public office, perjury, and possession of a restricted drug as well as two counts of fraud.

The CCC will allege the corruption charge relates to payments made by a property developer.

And the perjury was allegedly committed at a hearing as part of the corruption watchdogs investigation.

He is expected to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on November 7.
About three million Queenslanders have had their licences or passports logged by ID scanners in pubs and clubs in the past three months, with 125 people on banning orders caught trying to enter venues.

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath hailed the policy, aimed at reducing alcohol-fuelled violence, as a success.

Three million Queenslanders have had their IDs scanned in Safe Night Precincts in the past three months.

"Our vibrant nightlife is thriving and clubs and police are reporting that patrons are enjoying safe nights out," Ms D'Ath said.

Over the same period, 125 contraventions were detected, which a spokeswoman for Ms D'Ath said meant there were 125 instances when someone with a banning order had tried to enter a venue but were stopped after they had their ID scanned.
Since moving back to Helena two years ago, I have been grateful for Wilmot Collins' commitment to our city. Wilmot shares his perspective generously, whether hes speaking of his experience as a refugee in Montana, serving on a panel about race and diversity in Helena, or presenting his platform as a Mayoral candidate. Leadership means stepping forward to take part in difficult conversations and Wilmot has proven that he is willing and able to do so gracefully. He is dedicated to improving Helena and will lean in to engage with important dialogue.

Incumbent Mayor Jim Smith is not interested in educating himself about issues that concern many of his constituents. He illustrated this clearly when he was asked to consider signing on to the Paris climate agreement. He initially disengaged, telling the Commission that he didn't understand much about the proposal and that he was "not gonna take the time to learn more about the truth of it."

We all deserve a leader who is committed to understanding and thoughtfully considering each issue that comes before the Commission. Please look to the future as you cast your ballot and support a true leader. Vote Wilmot Collins for Mayor.

Retta Leaphart

Helena
Mark Ellis: The security guard quit, citing abuse and threats to his family - January 2017. Redcliffe John Cox: Removed as the partys candidate for Redcliffe over internal stuff - August 2017. Ipswich Troy Aggett: The Ipswich candidate and former Australian Federal Police officer resigned to run as an independent. Complained about costs - October 2017.

Shan Ju Lin: The Bundamba candidate was dumped after making anti-gay comments on her Facebook page - December 2016. Gold Coast ne Nation's candidate Dianne Happ in the Gold Coast electorate of Mermaid Beach. Andy Semple: The Currumbin candidate was dumped - December 2016. Diane Happ: The Mermaid Beach candidate was dumped after refusing to pay $3500 for campaign printing - May 2016.

Central Queensland Elise Cottam: Dumped for not paying $3400 campaign fund upfront - February 2017. Peter Rogers: The Mulgrave candidate resigned - January 2017. Mr Dickson said the LNP charged pre-selection candidates a $2000 nomination fee. They were also levied $3500 as members each year and then compulsorily charged another $2000 annually for access to a database and then paid printing costs. "Candidates had no control, Mr Dickson told the Sunshine Coast Daily in May 2017.

They would print material where they wanted at whatever cost. You had no cost control. All printed material was centralised." A few months before that controversy, Labor strategists were said to be planning to delay the election to give One Nation time to "implode". One Nation's state campaign director Michael Pucci said all One Nation candidates knew they had to pay about $3500 to cover the costs of printing corflutes, campaign brochures and signs. We do the designs, we do the printing, we do the distribution, we do all that sort of stuff. Its like a $6000, $7000 package and we give it to them for $3400 or $3500, he said. Mr Pucci said that to his knowledge Mr Ashby's printing company was now just "one of a number of printing companies available to candidates".

We have a range of printing companies, I think. Candidates are even asked to find printers to use if they want. They can use whatever printer they want. Pauline Hanson and her advisor James Ashby. Credit:Andrew Meares But he said most candidates used the selected printing firms chosen by One Nation. The printing issue bubbled up again on Tuesday when long-endorsed Ipswich candidate Troy Aggett, a former Australian Federal Policeman, resigned as One Nation candidate, questioning the $3500 he was asked to pay to cover campaign printing. Mr Aggett said the issue was not linked to Mr Ashby, but to "one man in the office".

"I said, 'I'm not paying it until I need to pay it, and I don't need to pay it until there is an election because I don't need the stuff until they're going to make a call'," he said. He said he would run as an independent. Mr Pucci said Mr Aggett had been given 10 months until this week to pay the $3500 needed to begin campaigning in the seat of Ipswich. He was given until October to pay and we asked again and said, Hey Troy, its October, its time to pay,' and he said, 'Ill just resign then'," Mr Pucci said. And we accepted his resignation. And thats the bottom line.

If he isnt ready to be a candidate then we will go and find someone who is. Mr Pucci said it was clear the One Nation party was bigger than individual candidates. It has nothing to do with Troy Aggett, the candidate. It has everything to do with Pauline Hanson, the party," he said. Any candidate under Pauline Hanson will get the same result we believe. Former One Nation candidate Troy Aggett (right) has quit the party, opting to run as an independent. Credit:Facebook
Australia's sleepiest city is Launceston.

With a population of 106,153 (ABS 2010 figures), the riverside city in northern Tasmania has had the best sleep quality for 2017 so far, according to data sought by Fairfax Media from Sleep Cycle, an alarm clock app on smartphones that enables people to track their sleep.

The worst city for sleep quality? Rockingham, the Western Australia city south-west of Perth.

Overall, Australians' mood when waking up ranked 83rd out of the 91 countries tracked, coming in at 57.42 per cent. Mood is tracked by users self-reporting their mood when they wake up.
It's no secret that gas and electricity prices have skyrocketed in recent times. But Wally and Jenny Jacobs' three most recent gas bills left them gobsmacked.

The semi-retired couple, who live in Brisbane for most of the year, say they have only spent a total of about three weeks in their Melbourne three-bedroom unit this year, which remains vacant the remainder of the time.

They have owned the investment property for more than 30 years, and choose to keep it vacant so they can visit Mrs Jacobs' elderly mother in Melbourne when they need to.

However they recently received two enormous bills in one envelope.
A similar scam to the one that caused an eastern states couple to lose out on a fictional $US190,000 prize has made its way to WA, with Consumer Protection warning locals to keep an eye out for fake travel brochures popping up in Perth letterboxes.

The Get It On Holiday travel brochures come delivered in the same envelope as two scratchie cards and at least one of the two cards declares a $US190,000 win.

An example of the brochures provided by Belinda Wrigley, in New South Wales. Credit:Belinda Wrigley

It is understood the scratchie cards are a scam designed to gain personal information from the supposed winners, who will then be asked to pay upfront fees before receiving their prize.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard warned Perth residents to "throw out the brochures and the fake scratchies in the bin".
The McGowan government's plan to fix WA's disastrous finances has been hit with a massive body blow after the Liberals blocked its controversial gold tax in the Upper House.

Labor was hoping to raise gold royalties from 2.5 per cent to 3.75 from January next year in attempt to raise close to $400 million, in a bid to rein in the state's whopping debt which is expect to peak around $43.8 billion by 2020.

There were plenty of placards and messages for the government at the rally. Credit:Brendan Foster

But those plans were scuttled on Tuesday afternoon after the Liberal party unanimously voted against the proposed gold tax.

"The McGowan government did not seek nor receive a mandate to increase gold royalties at the March election," Leader of the Opposition Mike Nahan said.
Manchester: Britain has no plans to conduct deliberate freedom-of-navigation exercises in the South China Sea, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said.

While Sir Michael said Britain would readily fly and sail through the Straits of Malacca, he was urged by a former junior Tory defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth to take a stronger line against China to reinforce the Five Power defence arrangement. That arrangement includes Australia, as well as supporting the UK's principle ally, the US.

Sir Michael Fallon, Britain's Defence Secretary, at a fringe event at the Tory party conference in Manchester. Credit:Latika Bourke

At a fringe event on the sidelines of the Tory party conference in Manchester, Fairfax Media asked if Britain would conduct freedom of navigation exercises. Sir Michael said Britain had flown Typhoon aircraft through the South China Sea last year and would do so again but would not conduct exercises as they are a direct challenge to China's territorial claims.

"We will exercise our right of navigation and the Americans have been carrying out specific exercises throughout some of the disputed islands and we're not, we don't have plans to do that," Sir Michael said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, tries traditional Ukrainian bread after arriving in Kiev, Ukraine for an official visit on Monday. Credit:AP Turkish prosecutors also said on Monday in a vaguely worded statement that they had summoned yet another consulate staffer to testify. The statement mentioned that the staffer's wife and son had been detained on Gulen-related allegations but did not say what charges, if any, the staffer faced. Other than Bass' video, neither the State Department nor the White House made any comment on Monday on the Turkey situation. Erdogan, travelling in Ukraine, called it "saddening". Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen at his compound, in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, in July last year. Credit:AP But the administration's sharp action appeared to mark a turning point in what Soner Cagaptay, a Turkish American political scientist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, called the long-standing idea "that the US would cut some slack for Erdogan and look the other way" in the belief that its relationship with Turkey was bigger than the Turkish President.

The latest argument has exposed divides that began in the Obama administration and become steadily deeper, despite Ankara's initial optimism that Trump would be more to its liking. People chant slogans and wave flags as they wait for official ceremonies to begin on the July 15 Martyrs Bridge on the first anniversary of the 2016 failed coup. Credit:File Former president Barack Obama, Erdogan's government had charged, was weak in executing their joint policy of supporting opposition forces fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and dragged his feet on Turkey's request for Gulen's extradition. Under Obama, Turkey believed, the United States was too supportive of Syrian Kurdish guerrillas fighting the Islamic State in that country. "We have positive opinions of the new administration," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in March, after Trump and Erdogan spoke by telephone during the US President's early weeks in office. During the phone call, Trump was non-committal when Erdogan warned the US not to directly arm the Syrian Kurds, despite American military plans to use the fighters as its main ground force in a major offensive to clear IS from northern Syria, including the de facto militant capital of Raqqa. Turkey, Erdogan said, saw the Kurdish force as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the separatist group both countries have designated as a terrorist organisation.

By the time Erdogan visited Trump in Washington in May, the decision had already gone against him. There was talk that Turkey would retaliate by throwing US forces out of its Incirlik Air Base, a central hub for US attack aircraft operating against IS. Turkey, which had already sent forces into northern Syria to block Kurdish expansion close to its border, also threatened to block the US-backed advance into Raqqa. Neither of those things happened. But the relationship, already unravelling, was reaching a crisis point. Turkish officials have also tried to win the release of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish Iranian gold trader facing US charges of evading sanctions on Iran. Last month, US. federal prosecutors also indicted a former Turkish economy minister for allegedly conspiring with Zarrab. Charges have also been brought in absentia against Erdogan bodyguards who are accused of beating protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's Washington residence during the presidential visit in May. Despite near-constant Turkish appeals, the administration has reported no progress in adjudicating its request to extradite Gulen, a permanent US resident who lives in Pennsylvania. The Justice Department has not yet judged as sufficient evidence presented by Turkey describing a massive anti-government conspiracy, which has led to the arrest of tens of thousands of Gulen followers as well as ordinary critics of the government.

The post-coup sweep has also ensnared a number of US. and European citizens, whose release Erdogan recently tied to progress on Gulen's extradition. In what was read in the United States as a gratuitous slap, Erdogan this month hosted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on an official visit, just as the Trump administration called for other countries to reduce their ties with Maduro's repressive government. Erdogan has also tightened links with both Iran and Russia. As relations between the NATO allies worsen, their long-standing military alliance - vital to the US-led effort to eliminate the Islamic State from the region - has come under threat. About 2700 US troops are based in Turkey, mostly at Incirlik, the air base near the Syrian border. The base also houses dozens of tactical nuclear weapons, said Kingston Reif of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. While instability is unlikely to threaten the weapons' safety, he said, further political pressure from Ankara could restrict the Pentagon's ability to deploy the F-15 and F-16 fighters capable of delivering them. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, who commanded NATO under Obama, described Incirlik as "beyond valuable" and urged the US "do everything we can to ensure we have a balanced, sensible and strategic relationship" with Turkey.
Hurricane Irma has exposed the truth about our parliamentary system. Our parliamentarians, for whom we voted directly, have no say. It has been more than a month, since the passing of the most devastating hurricane ever to hit Sint Maarten, and Parliament has not yet been fully briefed on the post-hurricane disaster management situation and on the recovery plans ensuing Irma. It is sad, when the highest legislative and supervisory body in the country is still unable to get clarity on what transpired in the wake of Irma. Likewise, it is unacceptable that this body has not yet been apprised by Government concerning the financial, economic and social plans to get Sint Maarten back on its feet. According to the looks of it, the agenda is set by the Prime Minister and not by Parliament. Therefore, Parliament must wait until the Prime Ministers agenda is clear and until he has been able to get around to preparing the answers to the questions posed in Parliament. Meanwhile, Parliament, our highest supervisory institution, simply waits and does nothing!

Listening to the two sessions of the Central Committee of Parliament held thus far, one could sense the frustration and dissatisfaction among several Members of Parliament. MP Perry Geerlings has taken his frustration to the media via a letter to the editor. MP Tamara Leonard has directed her letter, posing several questions, to the Prime Minister. And MP Sarah Wescott-Williams expressed her dissatisfaction in a draft motion that was presented to the Central Committee. The motion has received sufficient support to be discussed in the next meeting and hopefully thereafter it will obtain a majority of votes in a meeting of Parliament. Given the manner in which the Irma situation has been handled thus far, it can take weeks before this motion can be passed in Parliament. Then, if it is passed, its execution will depend on whether the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are willing to give it priority. Up to now, with the exception of a motion of non-confidence, Government does not take motions, passed in Parliament, very seriously.

If Parliament passes this motion, will the Government accept the instructions and agree to execute them in a timely manner? Will the Prime Minister agree to update Parliament in a weekly question-and-answer period? Will he agree to open and strengthen the line of communication with the Kingdom? Will the Government follow up immediately with draft legislation to empower the community councils? These and other instructions in the motion, presented by MP Wescot-Williams, are noble but the execution thereof will depend on how seriously Government views the supervisory role of Parliament. Ignoring motions or delaying their execution are common practice for Government and apparently, there is nothing that parliament can do about it. Parliament is helpless and dependent on the goodwill of the Prime Minister and the other Ministers. Currently, Parliamentarians are going through the motion of attending meetings and giving a semblance of working, but in reality, it is accomplishing nothing.

For example, if the Prime Minister informs Parliament that he needs a week or a month to prepare the answers to parliaments questions then Parliament just has to wait. Also, if the Minister informs Parliament that Government needs a year or more to prepare the legislation on the empowerment of the community councils, then Parliament has no other choice than to wait. If the Minister does not care to give further clarity on the issue of the closing of the borders then Parliament can let it slide or it can request a parliamentary investigation. These are but a few examples to indicate how difficult it is for Parliament to move forward if it does not have the support, cooperation and goodwill of the Government.

Parliament has allowed itself to believe that it is totally dependent on Government in the situation of the aftermath of Irma. However, instead of going along with the schedule and timetable of the Prime Minister, Parliament could have convened emergency meetings outside its normal schedule. What is wrong with calling urgent or emergency meetings during the evening hours or in the weekends? Just last Saturday the Parliament of Dominica convened an emergency meeting. If legislation is needed then parliament can also commission the drafting of the ordinance instead of waiting for Government to do so. Given the state of recovery of Sint Maarten, Parliament should be proactive. Parliament should start working on draft laws that it deems necessary to move the country forward. For example, several MPs have voiced their concern regarding tax relief for the business sector. In this case, Parliament need not wait for Government but should commission the drafting of relevant tax amendments and present them to Government.

We often hear the phrase a lame-duck government. But hurricane Irma has clearly exposed our lame-duck parliament. Irma has revealed that our parliamentarians, who we voted for directly, have very little supervisory authority as it relates to the functioning of Government. Our Parliamentarians seem to be helpless and the legislative and supervisory roles of Parliament leave much to be desired.

Parliament, our people need to see how well you are able to represent them, especially in times of crisis. Do not let us down!

Wycliffe Smith

Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Central Committee will meet in a session on October 11, 2017.

The Central Committee meeting has been set for Wednesday at 2.00 pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda points are:

Advice regarding the installation and composition of the Permanent and Ad hoc Committees of Parliament Advice regarding the installation and composition of the Committees of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) Amendment of article 69 and addition several new articles to the Rules of Order

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.sx, via www.sxmparliament.org and the Parliament Facebook page.
GuideSpark Customers Tackle Workforce Engagement Challenges with Internal Multi-Channel Marketing Campaigns

REDWOOD CITY, CA  (Marketwired)  10/10/17  , the leader in employee communication software, today announced increasing momentum for its newest product: GuideSpark Communicate Cloud. Since its announcement on June 26th, the new SaaS solution has been adopted by over 60 customers to communicate Total Rewards and Talent programs. GuideSpark Communicate Cloud provides the software and consumer-grade content experiences HR teams need to deliver engaging employee communication campaigns.

Without compelling employee communications focused on consistent calls-to-action, HR program roll-outs for new consumer-choice healthcare plans, compensation programs, and performance management processes can create confusion, low participation and workforce frustration. A recent study conducted by IDG () found that only 39 percent of the over 1,000 employees surveyed view communications as readily accessible to them and only about one-third (35 percent) found the materials comprehensive enough.

By putting employees at the center of the conversation, GuideSpark Communicate Clouds turnkey solutions empower HR to deliver communications that create a better employee experience and drive program adoption. With GuideSpark Communicate Cloud, organizations can leverage a complete and engaging library of content assets tailored to the companys brand and specific HR program. Comprehensive communication campaigns provide organizations with the ability to deliver key messages over time to inspire, inform, and reinforce calls to action.

Laurie L. Wilburn, director, Total Rewards and HR Operations for Nebraska Medical, named to Beckers Top 100 Great Hospitals list, commented, We were challenged to move from PPO to all consumer-choice plans and needed a communication partner that could help us make this transformation. With our large millennial population, we knew we had to modernize our communications approach. Wilburn added, We selected GuideSpark Communicate Cloud because we needed a way to deliver key messages to employees over time that would drive them to embrace change. With GuideSpark, we launched a 15-week communication campaign that is yielding far greater engagement results than ever before. Our partnership with GuideSpark has exceeded expectations.

Fortune 500 company Windstream needed to develop unified benefits communications that delivered clear answers and an engaging employee experience to its 13,000 employees.

Emily Erkel, director of Benefits at Windstream, said, We chose GuideSpark because we needed to make sure people with different learning styles could access content in their preferred format and channel. GuideSpark translated our benefits plans into videos, charts and other format types that were easy to understand and could be viewed from an employees desktop, laptop or mobile phone. GuideSparks strong benefits and communications acumen gave me confidence that our approach would be successful.

GuideSpark has a deep understanding of the challenges HR teams face when communicating to a diverse workforce. Thats why we introduced GuideSpark Communicate Cloud, said GuideSpark CEO Keith Kitani. We are pleased to see so many forward-thinking companies are adopting GuideSpark Communicate Cloud to provide a foundation for their employee communications.

GuideSpark is the leader in employee communication software, with over 600 customers who use its solutions to effectively engage over 10 million employees and achieve HR program adoption goals. GuideSpark is the only company that blends SaaS technology and innovative, consumer-grade content that inspires, informs and reinforces the employer value proposition. To learn more about how you can transform your employee communication, visit
JSA, the Preeminent PR and Marketing Firm for Tech and Telecom, Appoints Howard Oliver as New Canadian Director of Business Development

TORONTO, ON  (Marketwired)  10/10/17  , a division of , the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries, announces today that PR expert has joined the agency to further develop its growing portfolio of Canadian technology and telecom accounts. Focused on helping Canadian tech companies expand rapidly into the US, Howard brings a wealth of experience in business development and public relations industry, having spent over 17 years running his own successful firm, What If What Next. The addition of Howard to the JSA team comes as JSA Canada celebrates the into the Canadian market.

As JSAs Director of Business Development for Canada, Howard will support the companys ongoing success in providing best-in-class marketing, public relations and event planning services for firms serving the technology and telecommunications industries. I am excited to bring JSAs industry expertise and award-winning public relations approach to companies all across Canada, says Howard. I look forward to representing the company at key industry events and leveraging my market knowledge and connections to build new relationships within Canadas vibrant technology and telecom sector.

We launched JSA Canada a year ago to enhance our services for our Canadian clients by leveraging local talent with expertise in Canadian government processes, media relations and business development, continues , Founder and CEO of JSA. Now, with a seasoned staff in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, we are well-positioned to continue amplifying the marketing efforts of enterprises within the Canadian technology and telecom ecosystems.

Over the past year, JSA Canada has proven its ability to raise the profiles of its Canadian clients, building their brand equity and earning them industry recognition headlines and awards. JSAs service offerings provide extensive value, with a selection of available to meet the marketing needs of organizations of any size.

For more information on JSA Canada, please visit or email . Follow us on Twitter for Canadian tech and telecom news.

Celebrating more than 12 years of success, Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) is the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries. Awarded Most Outstanding Telecoms PR Agency by LiveWire for 2015 & 2016, our success is attributed to our skilled JSA team, innovative tools, and established media and industry relationships, allowing us to deliver the finest outreach and brand awareness services available  with measurable return on investment. Our clients enjoy insider access to the top journalists, bloggers, analysts and thought leaders shaping tech and telecom  as well as critical networking opportunities, including JSAs own industry networking event, Telecom Exchange (TEX).

We also feature client and marketplace news via JSA WalkOuts (new, 3D-like interactive video for lead generation), JSA TV (our video newsroom on YouTube), JSA Radio (our podcast channel on iHeartRadio), Virtual CEO Roundtables (our monthly panel discussions with top industry thought leaders), Tech & Telecom News & Trends (our newsletter) and Tech and Telecom News Now (our industry blog).

To learn more about how JSA can elevate your brand, visit .

Join the conversation: Follow JSA on and .

Embedded Video Available:

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA)

+1 866.695.3629
Virtual Instruments Partners with PlexNet and Expands VAR Program in Australia

SAN JOSE, CA  (Marketwired)  10/10/17  , the leader in application-centric infrastructure performance management, today announced its sales expansion into Australia with the appointment of PlexNet, a specialist in networking, application, infrastructure and security testing and analysis, as its newest value-added reseller (VAR) and professional services partner.

PlexNet specializes in bringing advanced storage and network testing technology from around the globe to the Australian market, and will have full distribution rights for all of Virtual Instruments app-centric infrastructure performance management solutions, including the VirtualWisdom infrastructure performance monitoring platform and the Load DynamiX Enterprise storage performance testing and validation platform. PlexNet will provide its customers the opportunity to more easily measure and guarantee performance-based service level agreements (SLAs) and increase the overall value of their infrastructure.

There is an ongoing global trend of enterprises seeking ways to make more intelligent decisions about their infrastructure in order to better control escalating costs and assure performance. In fact, showed that 94 percent of respondents said their organization ensures performance and availability by using monitoring tools, and 54 percent of those respondents prefer to use vendor-independent monitoring tools.

As we continue to expand globally, our goal is to work with highly regarded regional partners with proven capabilities to help customers make more intelligent deployment decisions and optimize their infrastructure investments, said Sheen Khoury, executive vice president of worldwide sales, Virtual Instruments. Were looking forward to working closely with PlexNet and our other partners across the globe to help them offer highly differentiated products and services that enable them to become vendor-independent trusted advisors to their customers.

We are excited about adding Virtual Instruments app-centric IPM products to our portfolio as they address a critical need for a vendor-agnostic performance monitoring and testing solutions for the emerging hybrid data center, said Dom Fitzgibbon, director of sales and technical services of PlexNet. Our experience is that customers require end to end visibility from the user to the storage systems and control of their digital service delivery. PlexNet has responded to our clients needs by partnering with Virtual Instruments to deliver the outcomes that customers need and expect.

To learn more about Virtual Instruments and its app-centric IPM solutions, please visit:

PlexNet has extensive experience in application, network and infrastructure testing and analysis, utilizing a large range of tools to solve networking, application or infrastructure problems. With major global partners, including Virtual Instruments, Spirent, NETSCOUT and Arbor Networks, PlexNet has an unparalleled solution and skillset.

For more information visit

Follow our social channels:   

Virtual Instruments is the leader in application-centric infrastructure performance management. It provides comprehensive infrastructure instrumentation and performance analytics for enterprise data centers. The companys solutions give IT teams deep workload visibility and actionable insights into their end-to-end systems across the hybrid data center. Virtual Instruments empowers companies to maximize the performance, availability and utilization of their production IT infrastructure. Virtual Instruments has over 500 customers, including enterprise IT, cloud service providers and storage vendors. The privately held company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. For more information, visit .

Louise Roberts

Sphere PR for PlexNet

+61 (0)2 9958 0498 / +61 (0)405 579633

Anne Stanley

10Fold for Virtual Instruments

+1 415 800 5383


The City of Cincinnati is updating its Green Cincinnati Plan, which was first adopted in 2008 and then revised and readopted in 2013. City officials met with residents on Sept. 27 at the Cincinnati Zoo, also known as the greenest zoo in America, to present and take new recommendations to help improve Cincinnatis sustainability.



Mayor John Cranley, who is supporting the plan from his own budget, began his presentation by saying, I believe that climate change is real. He continued to stress the importance of adaption, We owe it to our kids and grandkids to do what we can to combat climate change. We have to do what we can in our corner of the world to live up to our moral responsibility to care for this earth.



With over 250 people in attendance, the meeting was the largest climate change one yet. Three different task teams examined the main aspects of the plan: sustainability and managing and overcoming greenhouse gasses; equity and determining the costs and benefits of different areas of the plan; and resilience to climate change.



The themes will be used to evaluate sustainable improvements on energy, transportation, waste minimization, built environment, food, natural systems, education and outreach and resilience within the city.



Since its inception, the plan has been successful. Oliver Kroner, Cincinnatis sustainability coordinator, explains that because of its success so far, the city is hopeful for the next updates.



Its a high impact plan that focuses on many different areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, transportation, reducing waste, land management, land use, food, water, outdoor recreation and nature awareness and climate adaptation.



The plan will work for the city as a whole, but part of the updates include a neighborhood vulnerability assessment to predict climate change impacts. As storms increase, the city desires to strengthen resilience  water management has been a major issue, and some neighborhoods are more vulnerable than others.



The city has already had to pay $50 million in damages from storms just this year, Kroner explains. The updated plan focuses on resilience planning, recognizing changes and what we need to do to adapt.



Another major update to the plan includes a new solar installation. The goal is to build the largest city-owned solar energy array, Kroner says.



This initiative will take advantage of city-owned properties at Lunken Airport, Greater Cincinnati Water Works and the Center Hill landfill.



According to Cranley, the proposed solar panels are enough to produce 25 mega watts of energy, which is the equivalent of 33 million kilowatt hours per year. That's enough to power 3,400 homes and could cover 20 percent of the citys total energy.



By 2035, the city hopes to convert to 100 percent renewable energy.



Now that the event is over, the City is quantifying impacts and evaluating recommendations in preparation for the next climate change meeting, which will be held the week of Nov. 13.




One local chef is bringing adults of all ages together for a travel-themed potluck dinner once a month in Over-the-Rhine.



Chef and owner of the Tablespoon Cooking Co., Jordan Hamons, came up with the idea for a cookbook club from articles she read on Serious Eats and Food 52. She based her business model on other successful platforms she's read about.



Those that join, as well as the chefs, make dishes from a different cookbook each month and bring their dishes to Revel OTR Urban Winery and share with others.



Chef Jordan HamonsI wanted a space that was welcoming and friendly and promoted conversation, Hamons says.



In September, the theme was French cooking. Everyone made a dish from the cookbook My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz. It was about more than just the food  it was about the conversations that took place.



People started to talk about the book, the recipes they made and their travels to France or their hopes to travel to France. You meet new people and it really encourages that type of conversation, Hamons says.



Last month's 33-member group included adults of all ages with little to very advanced cooking backgrounds. Hamons encourages people of all kinds to cook food from the cookbooks that they would not normally cook from.



It's like a no-risk way to try a lot from the book and find some new foods that maybe you would not have expected to like, she says.



Hamons and some of the other chefs involved provide a few of the main dishes and pair them with tasteful wines. Anyone can sign up on Tablespoon's website and pick a dish to cook, which range from easy to very advanced. The cookbook potlucks are $30, and cover the cost of the main dishes, the rented space at Revel and three glasses of wine. The cookbooks have to be purchased separately.



The cookbook club will meet again on Nov. 7 for a Lebanese themed potluck. This time, the cookbook is Orange Blossoms and Rose Water by Maureen Abood.



She's a friend of mine and it's an amazing book, Hamons says. The food is so good."



The last day to meet for this year will be the potluck on Nov. 7, but after the New Year, the potluck will return once every month. Next year, Hamons will be working on the cookbook club as well as more cooking classes and a series of tasting events with Tablespoon.



To check out what she has in the works, click here.


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Gaval drove a 2021 Ford Expedition through a red traffic signal at about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 21, 2021, crashed into a 2014 Charger and then a 2011 Cadillac CTS driven by Nicholas Newman, who was killed.
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The former head of Chicago's police oversight agency plans to run for state attorney general.

Sharon Fairley announced her bid for the Democratic nomination Tuesday, saying she has the combination of experiences to make her the top candidate.

It's an open contest after Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced last month that she wouldn't seek a fifth term next year.

The 57-year-old Fairley is a former federal prosecutor who resigned this month as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability's chief administrator to run for office. The police group was formed in the wake of the 2014 police-involved shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald to replace a similar organization.

Other Democratic candidates are state Rep. Scott Drury and state Sen. Kwame Raoul. Erika Harold, a lawyer and former Miss America, seeks the Republican nomination.
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Alwan: He preached about tolerance and love. He was also involved in a famous love story with Nizam in Mecca, that we believe left a lasting impact on his life. He was always close to the political elite of any place he went and we never heard of him taking a political position.

SPIEGEL: What was your personal interest in the story?

Alwan: Ibn 'Arabi writes that "existence begins with movement." He himself was a great traveler. Ibn 'Arabi coupled his travel with a great wisdom that he accumulated over time. He traveled across the Islamic world, from Spain to Azerbaijan, passing through dozens of cities and living under the rule of five Islamic states that divided the Islamic world: Almohad in Iberia and Morocco, Ayyubid in Egypt and Syria, Sharifate of Mecca, Abbasid in Iraq and Seljuq in Central Asia. The combination of travel and wisdom is hard for me to resist. I therefore decided to bridge the knowledge gap about his personal life by using my imagination. Only fiction can pick up what history has ignored.
Brussels, Oct 10, 2017 (SPS) - The head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini of Italy, clarified in a response on behalf of the European Commission that "Western Sahara remains a Non-Self-Governing Territory" and that the final status of said territory, "be settled through a process of negotiations sponsored by the United Nations".

In reply to the question posed by Spanish MEP Serna Rodriquez, Mogherini reiterated the "support" of the European Union to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General in his quest for "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution a solution that guarantees the right to self-determination of Western Sahara in accordance with the principles and objectives of the UN Charter ".

Federica Mogherini, decided that the new negotiations between the EU and Morocco are intended to be compatible with the judgment of the European Court of Justice of 21 December 2016, which considers that the Western Sahara and Morocco are two distinct and separate territories.

The European Commission asked the Member States in May to study the EU-Morocco Association Agreement to include products from occupied Western Sahara. This triggered the indignation of the MEPs, considering the renegotiation a clear violation of the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Finally, European lawmakers stressed that Morocco does not have sovereignty over Western Sahara and, therefore, cannot decide on its territory. MEPs also warned the Commission of the risks involved in confusing the people of Western Sahara and the majority of Moroccan settlers. SPS

125/090/TRA
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Connecticut finished 32nd overall in a ranking of the states economic recoveries as it continues to grapple with tepid growth, according to a new report by the state Department of Labor.

The placement still marked Connecticuts best showing in six years in standings that assessed states on their numbers of businesses and workers, average wage earnings and unemployment rates. But the states score of 120.5  equivalent to about 20 percent growth across the categories since 2010  still trailed the national average of 124.5. Colorado came in first, with a score of 145.3.

Connecticuts move up to 32nd place last year is an encouraging sign, the Labor Departments Jungmin Charles Joo and Dana Placzek wrote in this months edition of the agencys Connecticut Economic Digest. However, with the ongoing state budget crisis, it remains to be seen if our states economy will improve by the end of this year.

Among the nine Northeast states, Connecticuts 2016 score ranked seventh, slightly above those of Vermont and Pennsylvania. New Hampshire led the region with a 131.7 mark, followed by Rhode Island at 130.2 and Massachusetts at 129.8.

More Business Study: Fairfield County last for income growth

Connecticuts 5.1 percent unemployment rate last year ranked 34th, compared with a national rate of 4.9 percent. During the past six years, the states jobless rate had dropped from 9.1 percent. In the same period, the national level had fallen from 9.6 percent.

New Hampshire and South Dakota posted the lowest unemployment rate in 2016, both at 2.8 percent. New Mexico produced the highest unemployment rate, 6.7 percent.

Connecticut also struggled with business establishment expansion, which ranked 35th. Idaho, Virginia and Nevada led in the category.

Reflecting the indifferent growth numbers, Connecticut has recovered only 78 percent of the positions it lost in its 2008-2010 recession. In August, it shed 3,900 posts.

Forty-three states posted wage gains in 2016. Connecticut ranked 42th in wage growth, dropping from 34th in 2015.

At the same time, the state perennially records one of the highest wage averages  but it also carries some of the highest costs of living.

The District of Columbia recorded last year the highest annual average pay, $89,472. Connecticuts placed fourth again, with an average of $65,875, following New York at $67,943 and Massachusetts at $67,429.

Only 29 of the 50 states improved their overall scores from 2015 to 2016, compared with 45 that did so between 2014 and 2015.

Given the markedly increased number of states with falling index numbers in 2016, the probability of a further slowdown of the national economy would likely be higher in 2017, the report said.

In a comparison last month of the economic performance of Connecticuts cities and towns  using the same methodology as the state rankings  New Havens score of 126.1 ranked No. 1 among municipalities with populations of more than 100,000. Stamford placed second in the category, with a result of 125.4. Bridgeport, the states most populous city, followed with a tally of 119.8.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott
Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan told Iranian-Armenian business leaders at a reception at Tehrans Ararat Club that they should serve as strong bridges in Armenian-Iranian relations not only for patriotic, but also for profitable business, reasons.

Karapetyan made the offer on the third day of his delegations state visit to Iran, which he described as aimed at restarting relations between our two countries.

I suggest all of you live in two homes, one here, and one in Armenia, Karapetyan told those attending the reception.

Karapetyan informed Armenian community business representatives about his meetings with Iranian officials, stressing that Armenia has great potential with which to expand its economic and trade cooperation with Iran.

We have started reforms in all directions, taking into account the results of our diagnosis. Our aim is to specify what is hindering economic development. Thus, our programs are directed towards raising economic and management efficiency, and simplifying tax and customs procedures, Karapetyan said.

Karapetyan said that he and his Iranian colleagues had also discussed regional cooperation issues, citing the Armenia-Iran-Turkmenistan Trilateral Cooperation Project.
A movie writer once said, Hollywood is the only place where you can die of encouragement.

Attorney and screenwriter Michael Koskoff is alive and well, but he has learned the truth of that Tinsel Town assertion. After nine years of work and several false starts along the way, Koskoff will finally see Marshall, which he co-wrote with his son Jacob Koskoff, open across the country on Oct. 13.

The Westport screenwriter/lawyer knows how lucky he is because it is especially hard to get a serious film made within an industry that is dominated by comic book extravaganzas designed for teens. At one point in his work with director Reginald Hudlin on the film about Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshalls early days, Koskoff joked that maybe he should add a car chase and an explosion to the 1941 courtroom drama.

Wouldnt hurt, the director replied. (He was joking, too.)

Koskoff got away from the biopic formula in Marshall by focusing on a single slice of time in the mans long life and career  one four-week period when the young attorney was defending a Bridgeport African-American on charges of rape and attempted murder. The defendant, Joseph Spell, was accused of the crimes by a Greenwich woman, Eleanor Strubing, who employed him as a chauffeur. Despite the wealth and clout of his accuser, Spell was found not guilty.

The events in Bridgeport are little more than a footnote in Marshalls career, the screenwriter believes, but it illuminates his character and shows the hard work that was done in the days before the civil rights movement was formalized.

Its not a case that has any precedential importance, but it shows many of (Marshalls) character traits  his brilliance and creativity, the writer says of the movies portrait of Marshall. Its from the time in his life when he traveled from city to city defending poor African-Americans accused of crimes because of their race. Its a part of the civil rights movement that has gone completely unnoticed.

Were used to seeing the large crowds and demonstrations (of the 1960s), but thats not how it all began. It began with men (like Marshall) traveling to cities without anyone watching them, he says.

Marshalls work in the 1940s eventually would lead to the formation of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The case in itself wasnt important, but what it represented was important, the screenwriter says. He was a dynamic, big, outgoing, funny, courageous guy.

It was the attempt to show the roots of Marshalls humanity and legal career that caused the justices family to support the project from its earliest stages. Michael and Jacob wrote the script on spec nine years ago, meaning they had no idea of whether or not a producer or director would be interested. They just believed they had a good story to tell.

My son and I decided to do it together, and it all went perfectly, Michael says of getting a viable draft of Marshall down on paper.

Of course, that was just the first step on the long and winding road to this months premiere. Financing is always a problem with movies of substance, so deals came together and fell apart over the years.

I went back to trying cases and my son moved on to other projects, Koskoff says of returning to Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder (which has offices in Bridgeport, New Haven and Danbury). They will spend a gazillion dollars to blow things up, but serious movies scare some (Hollywood) people. ... All kinds of luck is involved in getting any movie made.

Unlike some writers who have complained about what happened with their screenplays, Koskoff has nothing but praise for the director and he is very pleased with the finished film. He took a more active role in the production of the film than is generally the case with screenwriters. Hudlin wanted him on the set every day to make sure the courtroom scenes were accurate.

(Although the story is set in Bridgeport and other Fairfield County communities, the film was shot in Buffalo, N.Y. Last year, producer Paula Wagner told Hearst Connecticut Media the decision was due to Connecticut ending its tax incentives to shoot in the state four years ago.)

One of the attorneys primary goals was to make a movie that didnt distort the legal process. A few years ago, the firm sponsored a series of courtroom films that were screened at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport, and Koskoff says there arent a lot of pictures in that genre that present a trial accurately.

12 Angry Men is wonderful, but that was made a long time ago, he says of the 1957 Sidney Lumet classic with Henry Fonda as the lone holdout in a jury ready to convict a defendant. The Verdict was good, too, but there havent been any recently. Maybe its because people are more cynical now. I dont know that theres ever been one written by a trial lawyer.

The filmmakers hope audiences will come away with a deeper respect for the American justice system and the jury process in particular. Those messages come through, Koskoff hopes, in the context of a mainstream, highly entertaining movie.

I dont think it will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art on a Sunday afternoon, Koskoff says, with a chuckle. But I think it is a film that will appeal to a wide swath of the community.

The lawyer-writer would enjoy working on other movies, but says the nine-year odyssey from script to screen taught him a valuable lesson.

I have not given up my day job, he says, laughing.

jmeyers@hearstmwediact.com;

Twitter: @joesview
STAMFORD  City Representatives have waited months for a meeting with Stamfords only zoning enforcement officer.

Acting on the frustration of their constituents, they want to know why some zoning violations, such as one on Cove Road, go unresolved for years.

But when Jim Lunney attended their committee meeting Wednesday night, he was no less frustrated.

I have tried to get voluntary compliance, because if I bring him to court, it can take two or three years, Lunney said, waving a large stack of paperwork on the Cove case, in which an owner is illegally using his lot for construction storage. Hell move his trucks out, then hell put them back.

Lunney, who said hes been investigating zoning violations in Stamford for 23 years, told representatives what often happens.

If I say Im taking them to court, they know they have a couple of years, so they do what they want. Then, just before the court date, things get cleaned up, Lunney said. I cant bring somebody to court on a violation that used to be. Their lawyer will say, Judge, here are pictures of what it looks like today - wheres the violation? I dont have a case if I dont have a violation.

Theres another problem.

Lunney said he can issue a fine but not enact it. Only judges do that. But even when judges determine that a violation occurred, they often waive the fine.

If the judge doesnt award the money, the city gets zero, Lunney said.

City attorney James Minor said its because state zoning laws, written in the 1950s, have a kind of loophole.

A judge may find a violation of a zoning ordinance but not issue fines and fees because he can find that the violation was not willful, Minor said.

Only the state can rectify it, they said. One solution is to do what New York does  set a mandatory minimum fine for property owners found to violate zoning laws, Lunney said.

That takes away the judges ability to not award the money, he said. To me, thats the only way to fix it.

City Rep. Denis Patterson, D-6, asked whether the city attorney can work with state representatives to draft legislation. The citys chief attorney, Kathryn Emmett, said that decision is up to Mayor David Martin.

The Board of Representatives should ask the mayor to do it, Patterson said. This is not acceptable. It has to stop.

Cove residents have battled the lot owner, John Servidio, for 10 years. Servidio requested a zoning variance that would allow him to use the lot to store trucks, equipment and construction material, but he was denied.

Over the years Lunney issued three cease-and-desist orders, which Servidio followed temporarily. Lunney has not taken the case to court because, he said, he would rather try to resolve it with the owner.

Fed up, Cove residents contacted their representatives, who this year asked Lunney to appear before the Land Use Committee three times before he attended Wednesdays meeting. Lunney said he had to attend other city meetings on two of the dates and let the committee know in advance that he was unable to make the third date requested.

All of it has served to build frustration, and not just in the Cove. Zoning violations, over-development, illegal apartments, parking congestion and related problems are shaping up to be major issues in this years mayoral election.

If Cove Road is a test case, there are, so far, no solutions.

Servidios attorney, John Leydon, has drawn up a proposal that would allow some trucks on the lot and screen them from view. The proposal would have to go before the Zoning Board to request a change in the regulations.

Thats not the way, Patterson said.

This is a tactic Ive seen far too often, he said. We have zoning laws. But we give a little bit more and then a little bit more. To keep making these text changes does not solve the problem.

City Rep. Anabel Figueroa, D-8, asked what it will take for the city to act.

Something needs to be done, she said. Its not just Servidio. There are other similar situations in Stamford.

Lunney told the committee that, in 50 percent of cases, people cited for violating zoning regulations quickly comply. In 45 percent of cases, people resist at first but eventually comply. Five percent are serial violators, he said.

We are very limited in what we can do, Lunney said. I dont know how to address the problem of chronic violators from a zoning standpoint. I get my authority from state statutes.

We have a particular kind of problem here and there just isnt a good way to address it, Emmett said.

City Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, had a suggestion.

We have city cameras at intersections. Can we focus one on that building? Zelinsky said. If we can show the continued abuse of the law, that would be helpful.

Or, the city attorney said, We can sue.

Why havent we sued yet? Figueroa asked.

We drafted a complaint but he cleaned it up and we didnt serve it, Minor replied.

So, despite repeated meetings, its still not clear how the city will address the Cove case or the larger problem.

At least representatives had their talk with Lunney.

Thank you for coming, Patterson said. We are all very glad to see you.

I appreciate your attention and respectful comments, Lunney replied.

angelacarella@stamfordadvocate.com
Descendant of Christopher Columbus Weighs in On Ancestor's Legacy

In USA Today, Christopher Columbus XX refutes unfair attacks on the Italian explorer

Contact: Chris Scalia, CRC Public Relations, 703-683-5004 ex. 1103, cscalia@CRCPublicRelations.com

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 9, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- A descendant of Christopher Columbus and the Aztec emperor Montezuma wrote an opinion piece for USA Today that defends the contributions of his Italian ancestor and advocates a more nuanced understanding of American history.

"Columbus did something incredible reaching the Bahamas on board three small ships," writes Mr. Columbus. "He brought together two continents that didn't know of one another's existence. For the first time in history, the world acquired a truly global perspective."

Other key points from Mr. Columbus's commentary include:

 Anti-Columbus arguments use "Anglo-supremacist propaganda that paints all who sailed under the Spanish flag -- or were Hispanic -- as violent and untrustworthy."

 Spain's kings gave Spanish citizenship to, and restricted enslavement of, Native Americans. Spain also built schools and churches for Native Americans.

 Contrary to anti-Columbus propaganda, "the ample evidence [suggests] that he was a moderating force on his men, and . . . that he sought to keep good manners and friendly relations with Native Americans."

Christopher Columbus XX, a biographer of his namesake, is the 18th Duke of Veragua.

The National Christopher Columbus Association seeks to honor not only the memory of Columbus and his historic achievement but also the higher values that motivated and sustained him in his efforts. Read more at www.christophercolumbus.org
What are your goals?

That question came up during my visit to World Dairy Expo last week. It was one of the questions I was asked as a panelist in Dairy Girl Networks Sharing Wisdom seminar.

My answer, and several of the other panelists answers, pertained to goals weve set for our dairy farms. I wasnt surprised. Many of us have specific goals for improving how we care for our cows, land, and crops. Our cows and our farms mean so much to us that we want nothing more than to see them succeed.

And while I fully agree that improving our dairy farm business is important, theres another question that needs to be asked:

What are your goals for improving yourself?

The importance of setting personal goals (and writing them down) was reinforced for me by my experience in Holstein Associations Young Dairy Leaders Institute.

During one of the sessions at the Young Dairy Leaders Institute, the presenters gave us a neon-colored index card and asked us to write down what wed like to accomplish in the next 5 to 10 years. It had been many, many years since Id taken time to consider my personal goals.

When I was finished, my list included several goals for personal improvement . . . and Im proud to say Ive made considerable progress toward reaching those goals.

I pulled that neon-green index card out of my wallet a couple weeks ago to write down my newest self-improvement goal: becoming fluent in Spanish.

I learned Spanish in high school, but never used it . . . other than asking the housekeeper at a hotel once for more towels.

To revive my Spanish, Ive been using the DuoLingo app. My kids heard me practicing my Spanish one afternoon and my son asked, Are you playing a game?

I told him that DuoLingo was kind of like a game.

Can I play, too? he asked.

Now, my 10-year-old and 8-year-old are learning Spanish with me. They learn new words and phrases in the app and we practice with each other.

Self-improvement is contagious. A couple years ago, when I set a goal of reading one book a month, I noticed shortly after that my kids started reading more, too.

Brazilian author Paulo Coelho summed it up best in these words from his book, The Alchemist:

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.

What are your goals for improving yourself?

The author is a dairy farmer and writer from central Minnesota. She farms with her husband, Glen, and their three children. Sadie grew up on a dairy farm in northern Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in agricultural communications and marketing. She also blogs at Dairy Good Life.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Trish Garner grew up in the air, flying with her dad from their ranch in northwest Nebraska.

I love flying, Garner said. My dad (Lonnie Wilkins) was a pilot.

After college, she found herself putting her aviation business administration degree to good use working for an air ambulance service in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company flew internationally; though she wasnt flying, she began talking with the nurses.

Their job intrigued me, she said.

So Garner packed, moved home and started nursing classes at the University of Nebraska Medical Centers nursing program in Scottsbluff. She moved back to Florida to work at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospitals pediatric emergency room.

I was there for six years, two in the ER and four in the trauma intensive care unit, she said.

She then moved back to the area to work at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff.

After about three years at RWMC, a job opened for a flight nurse.

Some of my colleagues encouraged me to apply, she said.

The minimum requirement for a flight nurse is three years of critical care experience. Once a nurse joins a flight team, the training is ongoing.

She described her first flight as exciting. Going on 10 years, the excitement and challenge is still there.

Its going into the unexpected, she said.

However, Garner and the team never go into the unexpected unprepared.

Safety is key, she said.

The team practices, studies and goes over everything to make sure they have the resources in the helicopter they may need at any time.

It is a small space, Garner said of the room they have to work in on a flight. We go through the helicopter every shift and make sure everything is in there.

The flight nurse and the second team member  either a paramedic or second flight nurse  work in an area measuring 50 inches by 60 inches. Also in this area is their patient.

Its not as constrained as you would think it would be, Garner said. Its actually very comforting to know you have everything you will need and where it will be.

Flights can be a short flight to an emergency or a transport of a patient from one hospital to another.

Ive flown 7 miles out of town, she said.

She has also flown transports to Kearney and Valentine; Laramie and Casper, Wyoming; the Front Range in Colorado; and many different places in between.

I get to meet a ton of people, Garner said. It is very fulfilling.

A lot of them (patients) are very sick, she said. It is a bad time in their life. We give them reassurance. We are here for them.

Her job is not just in the air.

For a flight nurse, there is no down time. If they are not in the air, they are busy preparing. Each team member has other duties.

Garners other duty is the clinical education coordinator.

My duty is to provide them (the other team members) with the education they need to perform their job.

In addition, Garner and the flight team are often requested to help in different departments in the hospital.

We are fortunate to be based in the hospital and can continue our learning experience, she said.

This year, Garner received a special honor. She is the first nurse at Regional West Medical Center to be honored with The Daisy Award.

The Daisy Award was established in 2000 by the not-for-profit Daisy Foundation out of Glen Ellen, California. The award was to honor extraordinary nurses.

This year, for the first time, RWMC joined over 2,500 health care facilities in all 50 states and 14 countries to honor an extraordinary nurse with The Daisy Award.

Its quite an honor, Garner said. I was nominated by a colleague of mine and a group of my peers presented it to me.

The award has Garners name on it but she said, It takes a team. ... It takes everyone in the hospital.

I love my job, she said.

Whether the team is flying out to an emergency or transporting a patient from one hospital to another, it combines two of her passions, flying and nursing, and challenges her on a daily basis, she said.
MINATARE  Minatare High School officials signed off on the paperwork to receive a grant from the Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation on Oct. 3.

The foundation donates instruments to under-served schools with minimal budgets.

Our elementary principal is the one who actually sought that out, her name is Jodi Wolf, Minatare High School Principal Rocky Robbins, said. She kind of just contacted the Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation.

Robbins also shared some of the requirements to receive the grant.

Some of the stipulations are that you have to be a high-poverty district and have a band program that is in need and without the ability to do some substantial funding for the needs, he said.

Several phone interviews were held with Robbins, music teacher Stacey Sailors and Superintendent Tim Cody to determine the schools needs. Sailors also submitted a list of items she thought would best benefit the Minatare music program.

She mentioned to me that she submitted for a pretty significant amount of stuff, Robbins said. Because, like I said, it was similar to a wish list and the grant totals nearly $25,000 worth of equipment. So, its pretty significant.

The school also had to provide documentation about the district regarding the free and reduced lunch rates and approximately how much is annually spent on instruments and such, Robbins said.

Since Sailors became the music teacher in Minatare three years ago, the high school band has steadily grown and improved.

I believe its her third year here and each of the years that shes been here, the band has grown significantly, Robbins said. Not just like two kids, but to where a third of our school is out there.

Robbins said the school asked for 20 instruments including a French horn, trumpets, a xylophone and clarinets.

It was nearly $25,000. Its a pretty significant help to our program, Robbins said. And with it growing how it is, it looks to me like were going to need some more instruments anyway. Consequently, this comes in very handy for us.

Sailors shared her hopes for the new band equipment and how it will affect her students.

With our band program growing, these instruments will help provide musical opportunities for a number of students, she said. New, properly functioning instruments will also enhance the overall musical experience of both individuals and the ensemble as a whole. I am excited to see how the Minatare band students will progress and Im thrilled to see what they will accomplish.
GERING  The instrumental music program at Western Nebraska Community College will present the ninth annual Fall Ball on Oct. 27 at the Gering Civic Center.

The Halloween-themed ball features songs from Beetlejuice, Alfred Hitchcock Show and the popular Broadway musical Wicked, to name a few. The annual event, in conjunction with WNCC Homecoming Week, features instrumental music ensembles that includes student, faculty and community talent.

The timing was perfect to tie this years show in with Halloween, Dr. Nathaniel Johnson, instrumental activities director, said. Well be performing music from spooky movies, music about dressing up in costume and music about autumn in general.

The evening begins with a social hour at 6:15 p.m. The show begins at 7 p.m. with performances by Monumental Rock Combo, Western Nebraska Winds, WNCC Jazz Combo and the Fire-in-the-Pan Swingers.

Along with great music, patrons are encouraged to dress in their best Halloween costumes as a costume contest will be held that night with the winners earning free entrance into instrumental musics annual Jump, Jive & Swing community dance in the spring.

The two best costumes will each get a pair of free tickets, and Im looking forward to seeing what everyone chooses, Johnson said.

Tickets, along with a three-course plated dinner, cost $30.

Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased through the WNCC Foundation. To purchase by phone, call 308-630-6550; purchase online at wncc.edu/performingarts; or to purchase in person, stop by the WNCC Foundation offices, located at the John N. Harms Center. All tickets are reserved. To request specific seats, call the foundation or purchase in person. If purchasing online, best available seating will be assigned.

Memberships are also still available for the Performing Arts Season Pass program, which includes remaining instrumental music, vocal music and theater performances and other benefits. For more information, go to wncc.edu/performingarts, or contact the WNCC Foundation at foundation@wncc.edu or 308-630-6550.
If you drive onto Statesville High School, you might have once been stopped by a security officer posted in a booth at the front of the school.
There was little drama on election night in Iredell County as Republicans won races up and down the ballot.
Night drivers in downtown Winston-Salem will see lanes close on Business 40 and Peters Creek Parkway starting Monday, Oct. 23 as work starts on the massive project to improve Business 40 downtown.

The N.C. Department of Transportation said the inside lanes of Business 40 will be closed nightly at the Peters Creek Parkway interchange from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. so that workers can build the center bridge supports for the new Peters Creek Parkway bridge.

The closures start Oct. 23 and will last nightly until early December.

On the night of Wednesday, Oct. 25, contractors will be getting ready to put in a detour of eastbound Business 40 traffic that goes into effect from midnight to 6 a.m. daily through early December. Motorists on eastbound Business 40 will take the detour by exiting onto the Peters Creek Parkway ramp, crossing over the parkway and re-entering Business 40 using the eastbound on-ramp from the parkway.

Meanwhile, there will be lane closures at the bridge on Peters Creek Parkway during the same time period:

Beginning Oct. 23, workers will close one lane in each direction on Peters Creek Parkway from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. through early December.

Starting in mid-October, there will periodic lane closures on Peters Creek Parkway at the bridge during non-peak hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A new schedule of lane closures goes into effect in early December. At that time, the inside lanes of Business 40 near Peters Creek Parkway will be closed in both directions, both day, and night for 45 days.

Highway officials said there are exceptions to the lane-closure schedules:

 No lane closures will take place on either Business 40 or Peters Creek Parkway from Nov. 21 through Nov. 27 because of the Thanksgiving holiday traffic.

 Rain or bad weather will cause a cancellation of night-time lane closures, although the 45-day closure will be in effect no matter the weather.

 Nighttime lane closures on westbound Business 40 at the interchange will only take place when the work requires it. However, the 45-day closure will be in effect continuously once it is started.

The interchange work involves widening the Peters Creek Parkway bridge from four to seven lanes and improving the on- and off-ramps. The work at the interchange is expected to take a year and should wrap up in late 2018.

After that, Business 40 will close between Peters Creek Parkway and U.S. 52 for a complete rehab of the downtown freeway. Bridges will be torn down and in most cases replaced, some exits will close permanently, and others will be provided with longer ramps. The work will require the complete closure of most of Business 40 downtown through the summer of 2020.
By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com Westover and Smith roads, on the far western edge of the county, will get paving priority for 2023. Country commissioners and Scott Schmieder, county road and bridge foreman, decided at last Thursdays commission meeting to go ahead and seal up that corner of the county. That way, graders will not have
Economy Ministry and Romarm, through the Bucharest Mechanical Plant and the US company General Dynamic have signed on Tuesday an understanding memorandum and a collaboration agreement, with Prime Minister Mihai Tudose attending the ceremony.

General Dynamics owns the Mowag plant, namely the Swiss company which produces armoured vehicles. According to a release of the Gov't sent to Agerpres, by signing the documents, the two parties commit to collaborate, in accordance with the objectives they took on regarding the endowment of Romania's Army, in the prospect of producing and delivering Piranha V Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) for the National Defence Ministry (MApN).

The memorandum establishes the preliminary direction lines of the cooperation and future actions, aimed at building a joint venture between the Bucharest Mechanical Plant and General Dynamic, that will produce armoured vehicles for Romania's Army, the quoted source explains. In the future venture, the Bucharest Mechanical Plant will participate with assets representing manufacturing lines and hired personnel, who will undergo training courses at the US company headquarters. General Dynamics will participate in this joint venture with investments in upgrading production capabilities and integrating the production of armored vehicles, the Government release mentions. "The conclusion of this collaboration between a state company of Romania and US company General Dynamics is an extraordinary moment for the Romanian defence industry," PM Mihai Tudose stated.

The ceremony was also attended by Deputy PM Marcel Ciolacu, Economy Minister Gheorghe Simon, Defence Minister Mihai Fifor and US Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm.
Executive chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Niculae Badalau said at the party headquarters on Tuesday that a Cabinet reshuffle will indeed take place. "The prime minister has a governing programme to carry through, and where he thinks the ministers do not perform well, he normally comes up with requests to renew the ministries by replacing ministers. This is his power and we respect that. As long as Mr [PM] Mihai Tudose says that we have some lagging is certain areas because of ministers, he will come up before the PSD Executive Committee with reasoning and we will make a decision, proposing other names, "said Badalau.

Asked if Tudose came to the meeting at the PSD headquarters "with his tenure on the table," Badalau said that he is a wise man who knows what governing means. "Mr Mihai Tudose is a man; he is a mature, wise man who knows very well what governing a country means and does not play with it. (...) He is a determined man who will definitely develop Romania and make lives better for the Romanians," said Badalau.

Asked if the prime minister requested the resignation of the PSD national leader Liviu Dragnea, Badalau replied: "No, that is excluded. How would he ask for the resignation of the party's chairman?,"

Agerpres.
STURTEVANT  When Hiawatha Bar and Grill owner Tammy Graceffa thinks about Foxconn coming to the area, she has reasons for both happiness and sadness.

On Wednesday, Foxconn Technology Group and area officials publicly announced the Taiwanese company will build its $10 billion manufacturing campus on 1,198 acres between Interstate 94 and highways H, 11 and KR.

The campus, where Foxconn will manufacture liquid crystal display screens and finished products such as televisions, is expected to employ about 3,000 people initially and many thousands more in the future.

A second, 1,073-acre area to the north will be reserved for future expansion, and another 622 acres directly east will be used for construction staging and later, development.

I have a two-sided opinion, Graceffa said. Her family owns land on Braun Road in Foxconns Area 1 and has a house in Area 2, the potential expansion area. Theyve accepted a purchase offer for their 20 acres in Area 1, and she said, This is a big bonus for us.

Then again, its turning all this beautiful farmland into concrete, Graceffa said.

But shes excited about what Foxconn can do for her Hiawatha business.

Everythings just going to boom; its got to, Graceffa said. Gas stations, stores, restaurants. I hope Sturtevant can keep its small-town feel.

Another Sturtevant resident with some mixed emotions is Michelle Nelson, a hair stylist at Partners in Design in Racine.

I feel bad for the people who might have to move, said Nelson, who lives on 97th Street. Other than that, I think its wonderful. The unemployment rate in Racine is terrible. It seems like it will be a good place to work.

The incredible number of jobs and people this will impact is huge.

Other business reactions

Many Sturtevant business people are embracing what Foxconn can bring.

I dont think it could be anything but good, said Kevin Milaeger of Milaegers, which has one of its two stores at 8717 Durand Ave. But how good, its too early to say.

Another Foxconn enthusiast is Mike Aiello, owner-operator of Sturtevant Transmission and Auto Repair, 9800 Durand Ave.

Racine is nothing but a service community now instead of a manufacturing community.  Theres just no money in Racine, and businesses such as his are having to hold down their prices just so customers can afford goods and services, Aiello said.

I think the Racine and Kenosha area is long overdue for something like this, Aiello added.

Martha Rapeta, owner of Annettas Cafe, 8020 Durand Ave., said about the Foxconn impact, I think its going to be busy everywhere  not just my business, but everywhere.

It will be nice if it puts people to work, Rapeta said, but a lot of people dont want to work.

I welcome Foxconn to Racine County, Village President Jayme Hoffman said. The addition of jobs and increased tax base is a benefit to the area. We welcome the opportunity to work with all parties involved with the project to ensure the development would have a positive impact on the community.

Sturtevant village trustee John Johnson said residents hes talked to have been about evenly split on Foxconn, with the doubters opinion being: Taxpayers should not be on the hook, a reference to the states $2.85 billion incentives package.

But Johnson himself is enthusiastic. I think it will be great, he said. The whole area is going to grow beyond what anybody has envisioned, ever.

Most of these people should be able to get back to work who are not working.

The Village Board has a strong desire to see the Highway 11 corridor improved, and Johnson said Foxconn will be a stimulus that will allow us to develop that corridor.

A doubter

One doubter about what Foxconn will bring to the Sturtevant area is Brad Bartel, a mechanic for Roundys, who lives on 97th Street.

Im against it, he said. What is in it for us? There will be more traffic, more crime, more people, more everything.

Ive lived in Sturtevant my whole life, Bartel continued. This is a quiet community. I think with all that coming in, it will be chaotic.

Bliffert Lumber & Hardware could be one of the largest beneficiaries of having Foxconn settle into the area. Eli Bliffert, vice president and majority owner of Bliffert Lumber & Hardware, 10050 Durand Ave., said they expect to get business not just during construction of the manufacturing campus but also from suppliers, warehouses and trucking facilities that will be constructed, and then maintenance supplies.

The main part that will be good for us will be the demand for housing it will create in the Racine and Kenosha area, Bliffert said.

We have been doing very well (in the Sturtevant area), and this should keep that rise in continuing spending for 10 to 15 years, he predicted.

Were sensitive to the fact that it will disrupt the community, Bliffert added. The whole place will never be the same.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Eric Greitens said he is open to considering a proposal to shift officer-involved shooting investigations to the Missouri Highway Patrol.

In comments to reporters Tuesday, the Republican governor said he hadn't previously thought about the concept of taking use-of-force investigations out of the hands of local authorities.

But, he said, I think its really important that we have confidence in our justice system and confidence in our law enforcement officers. Id be happy to sit down and take a look at it.

The proposal was floated in the wake of the 2014 protests in Ferguson after a white police officer killed a black teenager. The topic has been raised again after a judge acquitted a white former St. Louis police officer in the shooting death of a black suspected gang member.

Last week, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner asked for $1.3 million to launch an independent, 11-person team to lead all police shooting investigations in St. Louis, effectively replacing the police departments Force Investigation Unit formed in 2014.

The team would solely investigate police use-of-force incidents in the city, she said.

It is no longer acceptable for police to be investigating themselves, Gardner said.

More than 300 arrests have been made during the protests that have been underway through the metropolitan area since mid-September.

While police have drawn criticism for using force and chemicals in some arrests, Greitens praised the response from law enforcement.

Im very proud of the work our law enforcement officers have done to this point, Greitens said. I think the success that weve had is because of the great work our law enforcement officers have done.

As a candidate for governor in 2016, Greitens criticized his predecessor, Democrat Jay Nixon, and said there could have been peace in Ferguson "by the second night" if he'd been in charge.

Since the protests began, Greitens has campaigned for fellow GOP candidates in Virginia and Nebraska and spent a week on a trade mission in China and South Korea. He is holding two fundraisers this week, one in Kansas City, the other in Clayton.

He described his approach to the protests as setting the rules of engagement and then letting police do their work.

We were very clear from the beginning that people who were out there to peacefully protest would have their rights protected. We also made it very clear that anyone who assaulted a law enforcement officer was going to be arrested, the governor said.

We made it very clear that throwing a brick through a window was not free speech and that people who engaged in violence and vandalism were going to be arrested, he added.

In the days leading up to the protests, Greitens also warned that he was activating the National Guard in order to quell any violence.

On Tuesday, he praised the soldiers for their work.

I thought the National Guard did a fantastic job, Greitens said. One of their critical roles in the early days was to help to support critical infrastructure, including our firehouses.

What I was also so proud of, was that they integrated seamlessly with the St. Louis Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Together they did a fantastic job, he said.

His comments came at a press conference to announce Missouris National Guard ranks would be growing by 800 soldiers as part of an expansion that includes bringing in units that are currently based outside of the state.

Those units include new transportation companies in Farmington and Perryville, a cyber security team in St. Louis and military police units in Lebanon and Rolla.

These are 800 new jobs that are coming into the state of Missouri, said Greitens, a former Navy SEAL.
ST. LOUIS  Brent Cox has filed a lawsuit against St. Ann and its police department after suffering serious injuries in a collision that occurred during a police chase in June.

Cox, 55, was one of at least five people taken to a hospital after a pursuit involving St. Ann police ended in a four-vehicle crash at North Grand Boulevard on June 6.

The incident angered witnesses who said police exercised poor judgment by pursuing one of the vehicles. Now, the police department plans to launch a program using tracking devices to trail suspects fleeing officers instead of chasing them.

Cox, a mechanic, was leaving work, traveling along North Grand Boulevard when he was struck. He said when he arrived at the hospital with a spinal cord injury, staff induced a coma for 10 days.

Cox said he suffered a broken spine and ankle, cracked ribs and a lacerated liver. There is a scar running from his shoulder to his tail bone from the operation, he said.

St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez said he doesnt want to see anyone injured during a chase, but he said officers wont sit by if a suspect does not pull over.

Cox was not the person police were pursing, but rather Shawn Chavell Smith, whom police said they attempted to pull over for an expired license plate.

It would be easy to sit back and not chase anybody and not do police work. But do you feel good letting suspects get away with crime? Jimenez asked rhetorically.

Jimenez said he believed most people who flee the police are trying to escape more than a traffic stop. He believes they are attempting to evade arrest because of warrants or suspended licenses or possession of drugs and weapons.

He said suspects should pull over instead of fleeing.

In some parts of the St. Louis region, police are restricted by their departments policies to pursuing only suspects wanted for felonies and to remaining within the geographical boundaries of their jurisdiction, Jimenez said.

For example, in St. Louis, police policy allows officers to pursue a suspect in a child abduction investigation, a dangerous felony, a crime involving use of deadly force or the theft of a marked or unmarked police vehicle.

But St. Anns policy, comparatively, is broad. There is no limit on officers chasing a suspect, Jimenez said.

We can chase anybody for anything as long as we think the chase is reasonable, he said.

In August, Cox sued St. Ann, the police chief, the officers involved in the chase and the suspects police were pursuing, alleging multiple counts of negligence, including violation of local and state traffic laws.

More than three months after the incident, Cox said he could hardly walk because of nerve pain and injuries to his leg.

Im going to give myself more time to heal, but I know Ill never be the same, he said.

In addition to his physical injuries, Cox said he also has problems eating  noting he has dropped 50 pounds since June.

Good thing I have good friends, he said of a friend who allowed Cox to live with him while he recuperated.

He said he can no longer afford to live on his own. I didnt ask for none of this, Cox said.

The suit claims officers pursued Smith eastbound on St. Charles Rock Road out of St. Ann and into St. Louis traveling above the speed limit, failing to use flashing lights and a siren, and failing to discontinue the chase when it became apparent that chasing the vehicle created a danger to the public.

According to the suit, one officer said he activated his emergency equipment in an attempt to stop Smith.

Tarun Rana, the lawyer representing Cox, doesnt believe the chase was warranted.

This is something that wasnt his (Cox) fault, Rana said, There was really no reason to do this chase.

Rana said he is asking for the maximum amount in damages against a municipality at $414,418. The cap fluctuates and is determined by the state, he said.

But Rana said he plans to petition for more money to cover his clients expenses, which nearly total the requested amount in hospital bills alone.

This guy still needed to work, he said. His quality of life is significantly worse than before.

Immediately after the collision, Jimenez told the Post-Dispatch no one was killed or seriously injured as a result of the pursuit.

Jimenez said he had learned of Coxs injuries after the crash.

He said the department has paid for airfare from Texas and a rental car for Coxs daughter to visit him in St. Louis.

He said the recent suit against the department isnt a first. He added that other cases were settled out of court.

According to Post-Dispatch reports, St. Ann police were involved in a high-speed chase in January and at least two notable pursuits in February, one involving robbery suspects, one that ended in the Metro East and another aided by St. Louis police that involved an injured officer. An August chase in St. Charles County involved two suspects who fled in a stolen vehicle.

The department has trained officers on the new technology that officials believe will decrease the number of chases and expects to start using the devices this week.

The StarChase technology is a GPS tracking device officers can discharge from the police vehicle with a console or remote launch key and that attaches to a suspects car.

That way we can back off, Jimenez said, allowing officers to monitor the vehicle from afar and reduce the potential for accidents.

In recent years the technology has raised questions about whether it violates privacy rights. StarChase maintains that it does not.

Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, said the devices should only be used when a police officer has the equivalent of probable cause of wrongdoing and does not have time to get a warrant.

He said the device should be removed when the police catch up to the person being chased. GPS tracking technology requires a warrant outside of the heat of a chase.

Police in Independence, Mo., launched a StarChase program last year. A 2016 city budget document there reports the system has a less-lethal technology that provides a significant tactical advantage to police. The devices cost Independence around $5,000 each. The department bought a total of 12 StarChase tracking systems last fiscal year, according to a July budget document.
Ferguson-Florissant School District Superintendent Joseph Davis returned to work Tuesday to the applause of more than 70 administrators and community members after a two-month absence.

They were celebrating because on Monday two criminal charges against Davis were dropped in which he was accused of misusing a credit card that belonged to his previous school district.

But there was also frustration at a news conference Tuesday as to why Davis  a Harvard-educated, religious, married man with a son who attends school in the Ferguson-Florissant district  was charged, indicted and arrested over a matter of $139.58 that he says he accidentally charged to an old credit card.

District officials have worried that the news of the charges against Davis would chip away at community trust in the district, which officials say is working hard to improve learning for students.

No district, no person wants this kind of attention brought with them, Davis said at the news conference.

Had I known any of this, I wouldve taken care of it before any of this couldve happened. I dont want to bring any shame on our district or the work were doing.

According to Davis, it all began when he booked a hotel and rental car in January for a trip to speak at a teen peace and social justice summit near Philadelphia, a trip that he said didnt cost the district any money.

Davis says he accidentally chose the wrong credit card on file online with Priceline.com. Instead of using the credit-card number of his personal American Express card, he chose the number of an old American Express card of the school district where he used to be superintendent, Washington County Schools in eastern North Carolina.

The last four digits of the two cards differed by one digit, Davis said. Its unclear why Davis was still kept as an authorized user on the card when he left that district two years ago.

A simple phone call by the finance officer in the district in Washington County, or anyone handling this case, wouldve resolved this matter quickly, Davis said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, members of the school board waited for the name of the man they hired to be cleared, believing that he was innocent but upset at knowing there was little they could do or say to defend Davis or the districts image.

This whole process was extremely frustrating for us, said Rob Chabot, Ferguson-Florissant School Board president, at the news conference. We knew all of these details from the very beginning and it was very difficult for us not to go out to the community and explain this to them.

It was the Washington County schools finance department who first told the Washington County sheriffs office about Davis transaction in March, according to Washington County court authorities. Washington County investigators said they called Davis several times but didnt hear back. Davis, meanwhile, said he didnt receive any calls.

The district attorney for Washington County, Seth Edwards, as well as the Washington County schools chief financial officer, assistant superintendent and board president could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In May, Davis was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of obtaining property by false pretense. But Davis said he wasnt notified of that indictment.

Three months later, on Aug. 16, Davis was arrested by St. Louis County police. It wasnt until after he was released that he found out why he was arrested or that he was indicted, Davis said Tuesday.

Davis was released from jail on Aug. 18. He flew to North Carolina two days later, and on Aug. 21, he went to court. Before he left, the Ferguson-Florissant school board approved Davis request for paid leave while he addressed his charges.

On Monday, Edwards office filed to dismiss the charges against Davis. According to a statement from Edwards office, American Express had previously reimbursed the Washington County school district, and Davis was arranging to reimburse American Express for the $139.58.
JEFFERSON CITY  After attending two campaign events for other Republican governor candidates and trekking across the globe for a trade mission to Asia, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will do some fundraising for his own brand this week.

Against the backdrop of ongoing protests in his states largest metropolitan area over the mid-September acquittal of a white police officer in the killing of a suspected drug dealer who is black, Greitens is scheduled to hold two $1,300 per person fundraisers in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Kansas City event, to be held at the InterContinetal Hotel, and the St. Louis event at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Clayton, will benefit his campaign fund, said campaign adviser Austin Chambers.

The Kansas City event will include a reception costing $5,200 per couple. It is co-hosted by Missouri Republican Party Chairman Todd Graves, businessman Stan Herzog of St. Joseph, Terry Bassham, chairman of the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light and a host of other supporters.

The St. Louis event is hosted by Ameren chairman Warner Baxter, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Dan Mehan, Commerce Bank chairman David Kemper and a number of other supporters, according to an invitation obtained by the Post-Dispatch.

Greitens, who has declined numerous interview requests since the protests began Sept. 15, is promising to tell donors about his activities since being elected last year as a newcomer to the political scene, the invitation notes.

Governor Greitens has been hard at work, and this week hes heading to Kansas City and St. Louis to tell supporters whats hes been doing to improve the lives of families across the Show Me State, it says.

The fundraisers come after Greitens visited Virginia last week on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie and Nebraska on Sunday for an event sponsored by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. He also is slated to be in Iowa this weekend for Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The political events come after Greitens spent a week in Asia on a trade mission to China and South Korea after vowing during the campaign that, had he been in office during the 2014 racial unrest in Ferguson, he would have ended protests within two nights.

Since the acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in the 2011 death of 24-year-old drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith after a vehicle chase, scores of people have been arrested during demonstrations in St. Louis and its suburbs.

Through July, Greitens reported having $2.3 million in his campaign warchest. Fundraising totals through October 1 are scheduled to be released next week.
ST. LOUIS  Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is declining to take sides in the current throw-down between fellow Republican Sen. Robert Corker of Tennessee and President Donald Trump, but says he's "sure it's not helping" the party as it takes on tax reform.

Corker, whose tongue apparently has been loosened by his plans to retire after his current Senate term, said in recent Twitter posts and in an interview with New York Times that the Republican president is treating his office like a reality show, that the White House is "an adult day-care center" and that Trump's handling of foreign relations could set the nation on the path to World War III.

Trump started the conflict by tweeting that Corker "didn't have the guts" to seek re-election," and later referred to the senator as "Liddle' Bob Corker" (he's 5-foot-7). Trump also falsely claimed the Times recorded Corker without telling him, to make him look like a "fool."

Blunt was at an event at the Family Health Care Center in the Carondelet area of south St. Louis Tuesday afternoon, talking about his legislative work promoting mental health treatment, when he was asked about the Trump-Corker tiff.

Blunt paused, then said: "Did I mention this is `mental health day?'," drawing a big laugh from the audience.

"I think both of those individuals, the president and Sen. Corker, have really important jobs to do and I would like to see them spend more time focusing on those important jobs," Blunt said.

He added: "I don't agree with their comments, either one of them, that was made about the other." That's significant because Corker's comments to the Times included a claim that "the vast majority of our caucus (meaning, Senate Republicans) understands ... the volatility that we're dealing with" in Trump.

Blunt, who is conservative in his positions but low-key in tone compared to some of the more vocal Republicans, has long walked a line regarding Trump. He has generally supported the president on policy, while usually declining to either criticize or defend Trump's unorthodox personal behavior.

Trump won Missouri in the 2016 election by almost 20 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Blunt won re-election on that same ballot by less than 3 percentage points over Democratic challenger Jason Kander.
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While the United States continues to suspect Pakistans fight against terrorists, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif says that Islamabad has offered Washington an in-sync operation against the Haqqani network.

US President Donald Trump, while unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August, pilloried Pakistan for harbouring agents of chaos and the very enemy US forces have fighting in Afghanistan for the past 17 years.

US and Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of sheltering the Haqqani network  the deadliest of all the Afghan Taliban factions.

We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani networks safe havens in the country. If they find any activity [of Haqqanis] in the targeted areas, our troops along with the US would destroy them once and for all.

The foreign minister, who recently toured Washington and met top Trump administration officials, went on to say that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month.

Referring to unsavoury criticism from the United States, Asif said, If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side.

He further added that If the US secretary of state and secretary of defence are coming to dictate us, we will refuse to accept their dictatesand now we will do what is in the best interest of our country.

Last week, AFP reported that President Trump will dispatch Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis to Pakistan in the coming weeks on a visit designed to drill home the message that Pakistani state support for jihadi groups has to end.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, in an apparent reference to recent statements by the Sharif family, on Monday said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is trying to "stir a fight between Islamabad and Rawalpindi".

In an interview, the former president said a disqualified individual cannot become a party's president in a democratic system.

He said that following his statement, Sharif, who was then the sitting prime minister, did not hold a meeting with him out of fear.

His statement referred to an instance when Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari were both in London nearly a year ago, where the latter approached the former for a meeting, according to some media reports.

The PPP co-chairman had gone abroad in June 2015 and stayed in Dubai and London for nearly 18 months, following his controversial statement allegedly against the military.

However, reports had suggested that Nawaz had declined to meet the former president. There had been no official word on the matter from either side.

"I do not care about Nawaz Sharif's luncheon; I do not eat 'Paaye'," he said, adding, "I took my own meal along whenever I had a lunch with him."

The PPP co-chairman revealed that he has received "ten messages from Nawaz Sharif since the time he started taking heat, but did not have a word with him."

"This is not a fight between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but Nawaz wants to make it one," he said.

He maintained that sending a politician to prison does not weaken him, however, headded, "Let's see, which jail Nawaz is sent to; in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan or Sindh."

Asif Ali Zardari alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) provincial government has indulged in pre-poll rigging in NA-4 by election as the PML-N did in NA-120 by poll.

Provincial government is using state resources to get the attraction of the voters of NA-4, it is clearly pre-poll rigging and violation of code of conduct he said while chairing party provincial leaders vital meeting at provincial president Hamayun Akhter residence.

The meeting was also attended party cabinet, former party presidents, leaders of women wing and central working committee members.

Talking on the occasion former president said that KP his second home and will have to come there time and again.

Asif Zardari diatribe on Imran and said, He (Imran) had admitted If PTI would have formed government in center it would have collapsed as KP government and I will pray Allah Almighty save the country to fall in Imrans hands.

PPP co-chairman will stay in KP for four days and chair crucial party meetings and visit various cities of the province.
Caire said Wednesday he has been advised to not provide details about any legal action he may be pursuing. Asked whether he would pursue action against the city or Gonzalez personally, Caire said he plans to "pursue whatever is possible."
The main corridor at Tauranga Hospital was turned into a makeshift voting station recently, and it was nothing to do with the general election.

Patients were being asked to vote on their preferred method of contact for appointments as well as their preferred choice of text messages.

The move is part of a wider programme to improve how the Bay of Plenty District Health Board communicates with patients about hospital appointments, making sure those communications are clear.

This is about adapting the way we work and finding out what best suits our patients, says BOPDHB chief operating officer Pete Chandler.

This requires us to evolve from simply sending out appointment letters to ensuring our patients are aware they have an appointment at the hospital, what its for, and have the time to either get there or reschedule.

We all know these days there are multiple means of communication and what works for one person will not work for another. Patients are telling us that overall their preferred method of communication is by text message or email across all age groups and communities.

Well over 6000 appointments are missed each year at Whakatane and Tauranga hospitals. We can reduce this number by ensuring we contact patients in the most appropriate way for them, and by patients keeping us up to date with their contact details.

The new and improved way of coordinating appointments based on the preferred method of contact is set to be running by the end of the year.

Thanks to Z Energy BOP for loaning us its Good in the Hood voting boxes and thanks to all of our patients who have given us feedback through our Facebook page, website or by voting at the information points at both hospitals.
The American Market as Im sure youve been hearing is still strong, explains Bob Denison, President of Denison Yacht Sales and Vice President of the IYBA. Some people say half of the big boat market is influenced by an American buyer while other people say 70 or 80 percent. I think the consensus is around 60 percent of most big boat activity is happening by an American, which is obviously very significant.

The activity surrounding yachting shows no signs of slowing, and with a culture of high-standards on either side of the contract, we turn the conversation to the birth of the governing body behind the brokers.

For thirty years, the Florida Yacht Brokerage Association, (now IYBA) has been promoting professionalism and high-level conduct across the American brokerage community. These ethics and codes have now made it over to Europe, bringing an American touch across the Atlantic.

Its not that were changing our focus, but broadening our horizons, adds Paul Flannery, President of SYS Weve had a great success with creating a standard in the U.S. that we can all do business on equally, and we were approached by some people in the European community when we changed our name with the idea that it would be nice if we could bring that same message to the European yacht brokerage community.

With Paul Flannery then heading to Monaco to discuss the approach of bringing the IYBA, the new European chapter has taken on Hein Velema as Director of European Operations with an exciting view on the future. For more information on the new era of IYBA and the strength behind the American market, watch the full video above.
We founded Bristow Holmes on the basis that we saw a gap in the market where there are a number of clients in a particular size range, where theyre not getting a bespoke broker, explains Harry Bristow-Holmes. We have a lot of bigger houses, but what I find with the bigger houses is that there is a lot of rules and regulations inside them, they have their own way of doing things."

The way the world communicates is constantly changing, and the superyacht community is no exception; even if a traditional mentality is still present. The technological approach of marketing, however, gives even the smallest house a global edge.

I think were different in the way we promote and list our boats for sale, adds Bristow-Holmes. We take a much more technological approach to the way we promote our boats, the industry as a whole, as you know, has been running for a long time and is still stuck a little bit in the past and uses traditional methods and means. I think thats because its worked, and why change it. As a newcomer, we have to do something differently.

The evolution of communication and technology is not the only constant shift in the brokerage market, but with over 15 years of experience in the industry, Bristow-Holmes has an established view on how the ebb and flow of wealth.

Since things have changed economically and financially, adds Bristow-Holmes, theres been a redistribution of wealth across the world as a whole, and as such we different emerging markets coming in and going. We had this influx of Asian buyers a few years ago which is now slowly tapering off. Now its the Americans, which is a good sign. When the Americans start to buy, the rest of the world starts to follow in the next 12-24 months in my experience.

This market view allowed for the young brokerage house to detect a gap, surrounding the sporty option for more daring owners to build a larger yacht and circumnavigate the standard tri-deck option. The result of this gap culminated in the birth of the Gotham Project, something a distinctive and as bold as the Bristow-Holmes brand itself.

For more information on the birth of Project Gotham, the ethos behind Bristow-Holmes and a modern view on the brokerage landscape, watch the full video above.
The Adriatic, at the southern end, stretches right up through the thousand islands of Croatia so really you can enjoy a new anchorage every single day, or every single meal, explains Tony Browne. Its dotted with beautiful medieval walled cities, so it really is a fantastic location all the way up to Venice.

With interest in the West Mediterranean still apparent, the worldview of the yacht owner is nonetheless wandering to find new and interesting cruising grounds; and Porto Montenegro is at the heart of this migration from West to East.

Its the landscape, its the change, its new destinations. Were humans, we love to travel, adds Tony Browne. We love to see new places. You have a yacht so you can explore that freedom with family and friends and its really opening up as the go-to place. Porto Montenegro, right in the heart of it, weve really set up what we think is a the hub for the area. We try and make the life of the Captain and Crew that are operating on charters in and out of the Adriatic as easy as possible.

Its this ease of life, the simplicity through cutting-edge amenities and advanced view of the development, means those docking - be it owner or crew - are looked after from the moment they decide to head East.

This was perfectly showcased at the latest edition of the nascent MYBA Pop-up Superyacht Show in Porto Montenegro, a display that brought together brokers and charter agents to learn more about the world of Montenegro and the islands beyond.

We hosted a MYBA Pop-Up Show, so that was a really good opportunity for us to continue to introduce all the agents and brokers to what is a new region and destination. The Platinum Award which was awarded to us by The Yacht Harbour Association and the Global Marina Institute is the first ever Platinum award to be issued to any marina, so were really proud of that. Ten years ago Porto Montenegro didnt exist.

To find out more about what makes the Porto Montenegro Marina Village worthy of a mold-breaking award, a worlds first and the new answer to cruising, watch the full video above.
Speaking in the Catalan parliament on Tuesday, regional president Carles Puigdemont, said Catalonia would be independent, but that it would wait in the hope that the central government would agree to a period of talks.

He announced a "delayed independence" in order to reach an "agreed solution".

Puigdemont said that there are many "serious proposals" for mediation, "some of them difficult to imagine not long ago".

He said, "Catalonia has earned the right to be independent and to be heard and respected."

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is due to appear in Congreso on Wednesday afternoon to talk of the Catalonia crisis.

Earlier on Tuesday, Catalonia's regional police, the Mossos, closed off the park that surrounds the regional parliament building in Barcelona to the public ahead of the MPs' session, keeping away demonstrators.

The pro-independence supporters who had said that they would march in favour of a unilateral declaration of independence whatever Puigdemont announced, had agreed to move back their protest to the roads around the perimeter of the park and not in front of the building itself.

The Tuesday session had been called by Puigdemont with the promise of a statement on the political effects of the banned referendum a week last Sunday. The regional parliament was meeting one day later than originally expected. The planned Monday session, which was announced as a debate on independence last week, also had a ban placed on it by Spain's constitutional court even before it could be officially convened by the parliament's speaker after a complaint by the regional Socialist party.

In the end the Catalan government opted for a less inflammatory call for the parliament to meet a day later on Tuesday for Puigdemont's political statement.

However this didn't prevent intense speculation leading up to the session over what Puigdemont would say. Some commentators suggested he would make a declaration of independence but not a proclamation, a subtle distinction which would provide more time to organise a future Catalan state or a negotiated settlement with Madrid.

Many moderate elements of the pro-independence ruling coalition in the regional government were calling for a pause in the independence process to ensure a smooth transition and to give time to gain more international support. Calls intensified as more and more Barcelona-based companies, many of which are household names, said they were changing their registered office to another city in Spain to avoid any legal uncertainty affecting their business and their trading relationship with the EU if independence was declared.

However the more left-wing republican element in the ruling coalition plus the radical CUP party, not part of the regional government but a key supporter, insisted that independence should be declared as planned after the banned referendum and promised to force Puigdemont to keep his word.

There were more pleas earlier in the day from Spanish politicians and civic leaders, as well as from European leaders, for the Catalan government not to declare unilateral independence. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council said: Today I ask [Puigdemont] to respect the constitutional order [in Spain] and to not announce a decision that makes that dialogue impossible.

Even as Puigdemont arrived at the regional parliament building close to 6pm with all Spain watching, no commentator was sure what he was going to say. Just as nobody was sure how the Spanish government would react to whichever option for his speech he chose.
More stars are speaking out about film producer Harvey Weinstein, now accused of raping or sexually harassing more than a dozen women.

Gwyneth Paltrow tells The New York Times that Weinstein, who hired her to play the lead in "Emma" at age 22, placed his hands on her and suggested they head to the bedroom together.

"I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified," she told the publication Tuesday. When she told Brad Pitt, her boyfriend at the time, he confronted Weinstein and he allegedly threatened her to not tell anyone else about it.

"I thought he was going to fire me," Paltrow recalled.

Angelina Jolie says the former Miramax and The Weinstein Co. executive also made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room in the late 1990s when she starred in "Playing By Heart," produced by Weinstein.

"I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did," Jolie told the Times. "This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."

New accusations published Tuesday by The New Yorker say Weinstein raped at least three women. Italian actress Asia Argento told the publication that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999, and a former aspiring actress named Lucia Evans says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at the Miramax offices in Tribeca; a third woman spoke anonymously.

"I know he has crushed a lot of people before," Argento told the magazine. "That's why this story -- in my case, it's twenty years old, some of them are older -- has never come out."

Most of the stories involve similar tales of private invitations to discuss films and potential casting. Weinstein then allegedly tried to initiate massages, touched them inappropriately, took off his clothes or offered them explicit work-for-sex deals.

All told, Weinstein is accused of sexually assaulting or harassing at least 13 women between 1990 and 2015. Actresses Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino told The New Yorker that he harassed them.

Weinstein has publicly apologized for pain he had caused, but his representative Sallie Hofmeister told The New Yorker that "any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein."

"Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual," Hofmeister said. "Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."

Weinstein was fired Sunday by the Weinstein Co., the studio he co-founded, three days after The New York Times expose alleged decades of crude sexual behavior on his part toward female employees and actresses, including Ashley Judd. The film studio has dropped his name from upcoming projects and is expected to change the company name altogether.

Hollywood stars like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney have since condemned Weinstein. The Associated Press reports Democratic politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have given charities thousands of dollars in donations they had received from Weinstein.

"I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday. "The behavior described by the women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Ben Affleck, who won an Oscar for co-writing the Miramax-produced film "Good Will Hunting," commented in a new statement released Tuesday.

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," Affleck said. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to others.

"We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters. We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behavior when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power."
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Three women were taken to the hospital after a three-vehicle crash Monday evening at Harrison and South State streets in Syracuse, witnesses said.

Syracuse police and firefighters, and AMR and TLC ambulance crews were called to the intersection at 5:28 p.m.

When emergency crews arrived, they found three damaged vehicles and all three drivers in need of medical care.

Witnesses at the scene said one of the drivers ran a red light on Harrison Street and collided with another car, which then spun around and struck a minivan.

Officers at the scene referred all comment to the Syracuse Police Department's public information officer. Police spokesman Sgt. David Sackett said he could not find the police report with information about the crash Monday night.

As a light mist of rain fell after the crash Monday evening, Freide Pineda said his 31-year-old wife, Alana Pineda, of Nedrow, was driving a red Dodge Caravan on South State Street when her minivan was hit by an oncoming gray Ford Focus, which had been struck by a silver Ford Taurus. Freide Pineda said his wife, who previously had neck surgery, had neck pain after the crash. TLC Ambulance took Alana Pineda to Upstate University Hospital after the crash.

Three people were taken to the hospital Monday after a three-vehicle crash at Harrison and South State streets in Syracuse. In this photo, the mother of a 22-year-old was looking at the damaged car her daughter was driving. Syracuse police and firefighters, and AMR and TLC ambulance crews responded.

The parents of a 22-year-old Syracuse woman driving the Ford Focus said they came to the scene after their daughter called them. While AMR Ambulance crews put her in an ambulance, her mother described how her daughter was driving on South State Street when her car was struck by a silver car on Harrison Street. Her car then spun around and collided with Pineda's minivan.

Both Freide Pineda and the mother of the 22-year-old said the chain reaction crash began when the driver of the silver car ran a red light.

The husband of the woman in the silver car declined to comment about the crash, but said his wife also was taken to a Syracuse hospital.

None of the family members thought their loved ones injuries were life threatening.

"I thank God everybody's fine," Pineda said.

Syracuse police said they will release more information about the crash when the police report becomes available.

Check back for updates.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A teenager fired a stolen gun Monday outside a Syracuse elementary school, police said.

Trejonn Greene, 16, of Syracuse, was arrested by the Syracuse Police Department and charged with reckless endangerment for firing shots near Van Duyn Elementary School, police said.

Gunshots were fired around 5:30 p.m. Monday in the 400 block of Loomis Ave., said Syracuse Detective George Hack. The elementary school is at 401 Loomis Ave.

When police arrived on scene, "alert citizens" gave officers a description of the suspect, Hack said. Officers Cody Nellis, David Craw and Patrick Moore found Greene nearby, he said.

Officers then discovered Greene hid a loaded, stolen handgun in his pants, Hack said.

Greene was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and first-degree reckless endangerment, all felonies.

He is being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The number of Syracuse University students diagnosed with mumps has jumped from two to eight to now 14, officials said.

SU's Office of Health Services emailed students, staff and faculty Sept. 21 to say two SU students had been diagnosed with mumps. At the time, the university said it was working closely with the Onondaga County Health Department to monitor the situation, and expected students to make a full recovery within a few weeks.

Last week, the number of confirmed cases of the mumps reached eight, university officials said.

On Monday, university officials sent another email saying even more SU students have confirmed cases of the mumps.

"Since my last communication, several more mumps cases have been confirmed," Dr. Karen Nardella, of SU's Health Services wrote in an email Monday. "At this time, there are 14 confirmed cases. This is a serious matter and we need your help to prevent the further spread of mumps."

In the email, Nardella asks students, staff and faculty to review several frequently asked questions, including whether they can still get mumps if they have been vaccinated. The answer, she said, is yes.

"Although vaccination is your best protection, it's not 100 percent effective," she wrote. "In fact, every Syracuse student who has contracted mumps has been properly vaccinated."



Here is a list of tips Nardella shared to help prevent mumps from continuing to spread:

* Don't share drinks or eating utensils.

* Cover your mouth/nose when coughing or sneezing.

* Refrain from kissing and other intimate activity.

* Don't share cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

* Wash your hands often with soap and water.

* Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces like sinks, doorknobs and tables.

* At the first sign of symptoms, visit a doctor.

Symptoms of mumps include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides.

SU is advising anyone who isn't feeling well to visit a doctor immediately.

"The quicker you get treated, the less likely your fellow community members will get mumps," Nardella wrote.

"The incubation period is usually 16 to 18 days after exposure, but can be as long as 25 days," she wrote. "That means, during this period you should take extra precaution and most importantly, avoid exchanging body fluids with anyone."

SU asks anyone with questions or concerns to call the Health Services team from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesdays, 8:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays at 315-443-9005.

"Being informed is critical to containing this highly contagious disease," Nardella wrote.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Trailing among African-American voters, Syracuse mayoral candidate Ben Walsh picked up the endorsement today of one of the city's most prominent black elected officials.

Common Councilor-At-Large Helen Hudson was among a trio of women who became the first elected Democrats to break ranks with the party to back Walsh, an unaffiliated candidate.

Onondaga County Legislator Monica Williams and Board of Education member Katie Sojewicz also endorsed Walsh Tuesday morning.

Walsh pulled off a bit of a political coup by landing Hudson's endorsement. The co-founder of Mothers Against Gun Violence, a creator of the city's Trauma Response Team and a citywide Democratic councilor, Hudson has been one of Syracuse's most active civic leaders for years.

Hudson said Walsh has the right temperament for the job.

"We can look at the national level and see with all the theatrics and screaming going on, that that's not where we want to be," she said. "Ben Walsh is a calm, quiet spirit, and for me, that's what we need in a leader."

From left to right: Helen Hudson, Monica Williams and Ben Walsh at a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017.

The announcement comes on the heels of a poll from Syracuse.com, Spectrum News and Siena College that showed Walsh has next to no support from black voters, and significantly trails the leading candidate, Juanita Perez Williams, among female voters.

According to the poll, 3 percent of black voters would choose Walsh and 68 percent would choose Perez Williams if the election were held today. Among women, Perez Williams led 38 percent to 25 percent. The margin of error is 4.6 percent.

Hudson and Williams are African-American.

"I'm standing here today not just for me, but for other women of color...who cannot be here today but are also supporting Ben Walsh," Williams said.

Both Hudson and Williams are running unopposed for positions next month.

Hudson is seeking the Common Council President seat in November. She said she is knocking on doors for her own race and plans to campaign for Walsh as well.

She said she did not seek approval from Democratic Party leaders prior to backing Walsh.

Williams is running for reelection in the county's 16th district, which covers the South Side. She's represented the district for six years.

Sojewicz was elected to the city school board in 2015. She has two years left on her term.

Walsh's campaign has made a concerted effort to attract support from Democratic voters. Tuesday's poll showed he had support from 16 percent of Democrats.

Last month, Walsh's supporters announced the formation of Dems for Ben, a group of local Democrats backing him. While the group included current and former City Hall staff and former elected officials, no current elected Democrats attended the launch event.

The city has had a Democratic mayor for the last 16 years. Approximately 56 percent of voters are registered with that party.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse school board is set to vote this week on whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day.

The school board meets Wednesday at the Syracuse City School District Board Room, 725 Harrison St., Syracuse. Although the meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., the board expects to immediately go into executive session and resume the portion of the meeting open to the public around 5:30 p.m., according to the district's website.

On the agenda is a vote to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day in the Syracuse City School District. If the vote passes, the district's school calendar will no longer acknowledge Columbus Day, starting with the 2018-19 school year.

"All schools in the district are encouraged to support the well-being and growth of Indigenous Peoples and to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Indigenous Peoples," the resolution reads.

Henninger High School teacher Joyce Suslovic told more than 100 people about the upcoming school board vote at a gathering Monday in Columbus Circle in downtown Syracuse.

Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation organized the event to "reclaim" the second Monday in October in honor of indigenous people.

Joyce Suslovic

Suslovic, who teaches Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) public policy at Henninger High School, said her students often write public policy proposals.

Last April, one of her students, Nyshawn Pierce, now a Buffalo State College student, proposed that the Syracuse city school district recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day, Suslovic said.

"We want to make sure this policy is implemented because how we present social justice issues to our students is how we represent ourselves as educators to our students and the community," Suslovic said after Monday's hour-long gathering, which included speeches, poems and music.

The resolution school board members will vote on states "the geographic region that comprises the district, the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County was the original home of the Onondaga Tribe of Haudenosaunee."

It then continues by saying the school board wants to "recognize the contributions to the culture, history and uniqueness of this region."

Andy Mager, an activist who co-organized Monday's indigenous peoples' event with the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation group, said the Syracuse school board is about to take an important step that he hopes the city and county will do, as well.

Dozens of people at the Columbus Circle gathering passed around several clipboards and signed a petition, which asks Syracuse's mayor, the Syracuse Common Council, the county executive and Onondaga County legislators to change the commemoration of the second Monday in October from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day.

The petition also asks the county and city to "issue a statement about this decision, which acknowledges the many varied contributions of indigenous peoples to Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York State, the United States and the global community."

It also asks the city and county to participate in an annual celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day.

"We would love for the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County to follow the lead of the Syracuse City School District," Mager said. "We're here to show there are many hundreds of people in our community who want us to recognize the contributions of our indigenous neighbors and stop honoring someone whose legacy is genocide and oppression."

Columbus Day has been recognized as a federal holiday since 1937, according to the school board resolution.

Indigenous Peoples' Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of indigenous peoples to the United Nations-sponsored International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, the resolution states.

Suslovic said many parents and students have advocated for the public policy proposal her former student drafted, as a way to "make the school district better."

"We want Columbus Day taken off the calendar because of what it represents -- colonialism, imperialism, racism," Suslovic said. "We want to correct history."
Tourists and residents in the Upstate New York hoping to get a glimpse of vibrant fall foliage, typical to the region, may be disappointed this year.

"We are definitely seeing more muted colors this year," Nina Bassuk, a horticulture professor at Cornell University, said.

Environmental triggers that give leaves their bright yellow and red colors in the fall are shortened days and cool nights, in addition to rainfall. Typically, Upstate NY has a cool, wet fall.

This September, however, saw high temperatures and long, dry days. Susheng Gan, professor of plant biology at Cornell University, says the result is delayed fall coloring and less vibrant scenery.

Bassuk said she was surprised over this year's lack of color. She explained that in the middle of this summer, she would have predicted a colorful fall. However, she didn't anticipate September to be as warm.

"It's a sign of a more variable fall," she said. "Maybe even that variability is going to continue for years to come, it's hard to predict."

Leaf-changing is more than just a scenic occurrence. It's a way for trees to rid themselves of leaves and "batten down the hatches for the winter," Bassuk said.

During the leaf-turning process, the cold, wet weather causes the chlorophyll to disintegrate, exposing the yellow pigments underneath. In some cases, further exposure to sunlight pulls up red and purple pigments. When this doesn't happen, the leaves fall off while they are still green.

Bassuk said that it isn't dangerous or unhealthy for a tree to shed its leaves while they are still green, but it is definitely not as visually pleasing.

"It may hurt the tourist industry, but it's not going to hurt the trees themselves," she said.

Hundreds of thousands of people travel to Upstate NY every year to enjoy the fall weather and take in the scenery. A muted fall foliage could impact those numbers.

For those still looking to see fall in bloom, the New York state's fall foliage report states your best bet may be in the Adirondacks region, with Lake Placid foliage at 95-100 percent peak, with "a mix of brown, orange, maroon and yellow shades."

Utica is predicted to have a 60 percent color change this weekend with "a muted color palette of pale green and olive, along with shades of gold and yellow emerging."

Cooperstown and Chenango County will peak with 50-60 percent of its leaves changed this weekend and Fort Hunter will be around 40 percent leaf change, according to the report.

Both Gan and Bassuk wouldn't specifically say that climate change had a direct impact on this year's fall foliage colors, but said variable weather this fall played a big part.

As for years to come, it is "impossible to say," Jason Fridley, associate professor of biology at Syracuse University, said.

"Nobody really knows what controls fall foliage," he said.

Bassuk agreed it's something scientists won't understand completely for years.

"It's something we have to monitor," she said. "These things happen slowly, we will have to wait around five to 10 years before we can determine a trend."
Syracuse's crowded race for mayor enters its final month as a two-person contest between Democrat Juanita Perez Williams and independent Ben Walsh, according to a Syracuse.com/Spectrum News/Siena College poll made public today.

The poll reveals a dissatisfied electorate clamoring for change in the waning five weeks of the campaign. While Perez Williams enjoys a slight lead, the race has narrowed down to two competitors - neither who have ever run for public office -- who are within striking distance of each other.

Perez Williams (35 percent) and Walsh (28 percent) are firmly ahead of Republican Laura Lavine (9 percent) Working Families Party candidate Joe Nicoletti (9 percent) and the Green Party's Howie Hawkins (5 percent), according to the poll of likely Syracuse voters. The poll, the first independent survey to be made public in the general election campaign, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

Lavine, 61, won the Republican Party backing after Walsh, with deep family roots in the GOP, was thwarted in his attempt to be considered for the party's endorsement. Walsh now leads Lavine, even among Republicans, the poll found, and she's tied with a competitor who is no longer campaigning.

Nicoletti, 69, a longtime Syracuse Common Council member, won the Democratic Party endorsement. But he ended up losing September's Democratic primary (52-34 percent) to Perez Williams, a lawyer and Navy veteran.

Even though Nicoletti has the Working Families Party line in the mayor's race, he is not campaigning and has endorsed Perez Williams in the Nov. 7 election.

With almost a month to go before the election, the race will likely come down to the 14 percent of voters in Syracuse who are still undecided, said Steve Greenberg, a Siena College Research Institute spokesman.

"We have a very interesting non-traditional close race for mayor," Greenberg said. "There is still a month until Election Day, and presumably these campaigns are going to spend a lot of money both building themselves up and attacking their opponent."

Nicoletti supporters who change their mind could also play a role in tilting the race, Greenberg said. "One would assume that the lower the Nicoletti vote, the better it is for Perez Williams," he said.

What voters want

The poll shows that Syracuse voters are desperate for change in a city that has struggled to overcome deep financial problems, decades of declining population and one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

Most Syracuse voters (49-43 percent) said they believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. And an overwhelming 63 percent of likely voters said what matters most to them in the mayoral election is "choosing the candidate most willing to make changes here in Syracuse."

A closer look at the poll reveals a deep disconnect between Syracusans. Those who plan to vote for Perez Williams feel the city is headed in the right direction (57-34 percent) and approve of the job done by two-term Democratic Mayor Stephanie Miner. Those who plan to vote for Walsh feel the opposite way, with 59 percent responding that the city is headed in the wrong direction.

"If you think things are good, you tend to support Perez Williams," Greenberg said. "If you think things are bad, you tend to support Walsh or one of the other candidates."

Most voters, however, agreed on the areas where Syracuse is failing: An overwhelming 84 percent rated the conditions of city roads, water pipes and infrastructure as fair or poor. And 68 percent of voters rated the quality of Syracuse public schools as fair or poor.

The poll was conducted Oct. 3 through Oct. 5 by live operators who received responses from 571 likely Syracuse voters reached on landlines and cell phones. The poll represents a snapshot in time following the Democratic mayoral primary by only three weeks, giving an early indication of how voters stand.

If either Perez Williams or Walsh holds on to win the election, it would be an historic victory. Perez Williams, 54, would be the first Latina elected mayor of Syracuse. Walsh, 38, would be Syracuse's first mayor not affiliated with a political party.

Walsh, the son of former 10-term Rep. James Walsh and grandson of the late Syracuse mayor and congressman William Walsh, made it a competitive two-way race by beating Lavine among Republican voters, 37-30 percent, according to the poll.

Walsh is also leading all candidates among independent voters who are not enrolled in a political party, with 45 percent of the vote. The next closest is Perez Williams with 17 percent. Walsh, who is not enrolled in a political party, will appear on the Independence Party and Reform Party ballot lines.

Walsh and Perez Williams surged to their front-runner status on the strength of high approval ratings among voters, and strong name recognition, the poll found.

Walsh is viewed favorably by 52 percent of voters and unfavorably by 13 percent. Perez Williams is viewed favorably by 53 percent of voters, and unfavorably by 23 percent. No other candidate is close to being viewed as favorably as the frontrunners.

Perez Williams was the best known of the candidates, with only 24 percent saying they had not heard of her or did not know enough about her to have an opinion.

Lavine, a former school superintendent in the LaFayette School District, was the least known, with 55 percent of likely voters saying they had not heard of her or did not know enough about her to have an opinion.

What voters think

Even some Republicans who have heard of Lavine say they don't know of any compelling reason to vote for her. Among them is Ian Hunter, 75, who has lived on Candee Avenue on Syracuse's East Side for 48 years.

Hunter, a conservative Republican who serves on the Syracuse Republican Committee and tried unsuccessfully to run for mayor in the past, told Siena pollsters that he will likely vote for Hawkins.

"I don't think she gets what the problems are in the city," Hunter said of Lavine. "To be honest, I feel bad for her. I wish her well, but I just don't think she has captured anybody's imagination."

Carmen Gaglio, a Republican retiree who lives on Syracuse's North Side, said he plans to vote for Walsh instead of the GOP nominee because he likes Walsh's plan to revive the city's economy.

"I think he's a smart man and he knows what he's saying," Gaglio said of Walsh. "I've seen him on TV. He sounds logical."

Gaglio, who worked at Carrier Corp. in DeWitt for more than 20 years before he lost his job when the plant closed, said he also thinks Walsh will do a better job than Miner.

"I think she's a poor mayor," he said of Miner. "The streets are bad and there are potholes all over the place."

But as the poll showed, those with a more favorable opinion of the job done by Miner are planning to vote for Perez Williams. Among them is Syracuse University scientist Daniel Curewitz, 47, who owns a home in the city's Westcott neighborhood and says Miner has been "OK" as mayor.

"I think Juanita Perez Williams has a focus on the right things," Curewitz said. "Everybody talks about crime and education. But when it comes to actually dealing with employment, crime or infrastructure breakdown, the question is how to provide something more than lip service? She's pointing to causes of problems and trying to deal with those problems rather than just pointing to symptoms."

Debates to follow

The poll's publication comes on the same day as the first televised debate of the general election.

Perez Williams, Walsh, Lavine and Hawkins will face each other at 6:30 p.m. today in a debate hosted by Spectrum News Syracuse. The 90-minute, commercial-free debate will be moderated by Capital Tonight host Liz Benjamin and air on channels 1, 10 and 200 in Central and Northern New York.

The four candidates will also participate in a live debate sponsored by Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18. The event will be live-streamed on Syracuse.com, Facebook Live and YouTube from the news outlet's Merchants Commons headquarters.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751

A look inside the 2017 Syracuse mayor's poll by Mark Weiner on Scribd
A black man brutally beaten at a white nationalist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville is now facing a felony charge related to the August attack.

A local magistrate issued an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris on Monday after an accuser, whom police have not identified, claimed to have been wounded by the 20-year-old during the brawl, authorities told local media.

S. Lee Merritt, a civil attorney for Harris, told The Washington Post the charge was "clearly retaliatory" and described the accuser as a member of a white supremacist group. He maintained that Harris did not instigate the fight.

"We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but what's more jarring is that he's been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him," he said.

Merritt added that it was "highly unusual" for the warrant to come from a magistrate rather than police, and suggested that the accuser had previously tried to implicate Harris in the violence without success. He said his client would turn himself into police in the coming days.

In a statement provided to WVIR, the Charlottesville Police Department said the alleged victim went to the magistrate's office in person to explain what happened. After discussing the accuser's story with a detective, the magistrate issued a warrant for unlawful wounding.

Harris was marching in opposition to the rally on Aug. 12 when a scuffle broke out between a group of white supremacists and several counterprotesters at a downtown parking garage.

Earlier in a parking garage in #Charlottesville - white supremacists beat this black kid w/poles. [Photo for by @zdroberts @NationofChange] pic.twitter.com/LLPBPjb8si  Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) August 12, 2017

Videos from the scene showed a white supremacist thrusting a Confederate flag pole at a counterprotester and Harris swinging a flashlight at the man. Six white supremacists then descended on Harris, kicking him and striking him with wooden sticks as he lay curled up on the pavement.

Images of the brawl and Harris's bloodied face went viral, prompting a frenzied campaign on social media to identify his attackers.

Two men were later arrested in the attack on Harris, who said he suffered a concussion, a head laceration that required 10 staples and other injuries. Both were charged with malicious wounding, a felony.

One of them, 33-year-old Alex Michael Ramos of Georgia, was identified after he posted about the incident on Facebook. He said in a television interview that the attack was "defensive" and denied being a white supremacist, as The Post has reported.

"I was there because, pretty much, I'm a conservative," he said. "There were some non-racist members who were going to a free speech rally."

At a court hearing in September, Ramos's attorney said "it may have been Mr. Harris who struck the first blow in that fracas," according to the Daily Progress.

The "Unite the Right" rally was organized by conservative blogger Jason Kessler after Charlottesville officials voted to remove a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park.

The event drew an assortment of white nationalists, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right, as well as throngs of counterprotesters. During the demonstrations, a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring many others.

James Alex Fields Jr., a 20-year-old Nazi sympathizer, was charged with second-degree murder in the hit-and-run. Scores of other people were injured in street skirmishes throughout the day.
New York -- Christie's will auction off the last known painting by Leonardo da Vinci in private hands in November.

The work, "Salvator Mundi" or "Savior of the World," will fetch an estimated $100 million, according to The New York Times. The auction will take place Nov. 15.

Christie's will also sell the final silk-screen by Andy Warhol at the same auction. That work's estimated price is $50 million, the Times said.

The current owners of both works remain anonymous.

There are only about 15 Leonardo da Vinci paintings known to be in existence, according to the Times.

"Salvator Mundi" was thought to be lost or destroyed. It was rediscovered in 2005 and exhibited at London's National Gallery in 2011. It sold privately in 2014.

The work had been painted over, according to Vogue. It sold for about $60 in 1958.

The oil painting dates to around 1500. It shows Christ in flowing blue robes while holding a crystal orb in his left hand and raising his right hand in a blessing, the Times said.

The painting will be shown in Hong Kong, San Francisco and London before it comes to New York, where it will be exhibited before the sale.

The painting originally hung in the collection of King Charles I, according to Vogue. Christie's called the painting the "biggest discovery of the 21st century" and "a bigger deal than discovering a new planet."

Da Vinci's works have been sold for staggering sums in the past. Bill Gates bought a journal of Da Vinci's scientific writings for $31 million in 1994.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Investigators met with the brother of the Las Vegas gunman while friends and relatives of the 58 killed and other concert-goers who survived the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history returned Monday to reclaim baby strollers, shoes, phones, backpacks and purses left behind in the panic as they fled.

The interviews with Stephen Paddock's brother Saturday and Sunday were part of an exhaustive search through the 64-year-old's life in search of clues about why he unleashed gunfire from broken windows in the 32rd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino.

Eric Paddock declined to say what he was asked, but he said he's cooperating with investigators, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

"I'm trying to get them to understand Steve's mindset," Eric Paddock told the newspaper. "I don't want them to chase bad leads."

In a newly revealed court document obtained by CNN, Stephen Paddock described himself as a nocturnal creature who bet up to $1 million each night while gambling at Las Vegas casinos in flip-flops and sweat pants, catching sleep in the day. The description of his lifestyle comes from a deposition filed as part of a civil lawsuit he filed against Cosmopolitan Hotel, where he slipped and fell in 2011.

The personal effects being recovered were strewn across the massive grassy concert venue where 22,000 country music fans attended the Route 91 Harvest festival have become sentimental memories of loved ones for some, and haunting reminders of the night of terror for others.

People left behind thousands of lawn chairs, hats, wallets, souvenirs, cellphones, purses, boots and several other items, Clark County Emergency Manager John Steinbeck said.

People are being allowed to come retrieve their things in groups based on where they were seated, with authorities expanding the offer Monday to include people who were seated west of the stage, he said. As of Monday morning, 99 people who were seated east of the stage or in a VIP tent had sought to recover their belongings.

Authorities are powering up cellphones and asking people to text their full names to the phones to ensure they are returned to the correct owners.

Some of the victims have already been returned home and been memorialized at funerals while many others were in route on Monday ahead of services planned for later dates.

More than 800 people packed into a California church on Saturday to honor the life of Jack Beaton, who died shielding his wife from gunfire. The body of Christopher Roybal, a veteran who served combat during four tours in the Middle East, was set to be flown back to his home in Riverside, California, on Monday.

Eric Paddock said he came to Las Vegas to retrieve his brother's body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said Monday he could not discuss the results of an autopsy done on Stephen Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived at the Las Vegas Strip hotel suite from which he rained gunfire on a concert crowd below.

The coroner didn't say when Paddock's body would be released to his family or how long it will be before autopsy results are made public.

Eric Paddock told the Review-Journal that he plans to put his brother's assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims, he told the newspaper. He has described his brother as a multimillionaire who considered himself a professional gambler and owned real estate.

The family of one of the victims, 56-year-old John Phippen of Santa Clarita, California, has already asked a Nevada judge to appoint a special administrator to take control of the gunman's assets. The attorneys said that's a necessary step to allow lawsuits to be brought against Paddock's estate.

Late Sunday night, when exactly a week has passed since the shooting, casino marquees and other lights on the Las Vegas Strip went dark for about 10 minutes to pay tribute to the victims who spent that much time under fire.

Meanwhile, the makeshift SWAT team of police officers who made it to Paddock's door at the Mandalay Bay hotel casino 12 minutes after the first shots were fired described how they got there and the "gun store" they found inside his room in an appearance on the CBS television program "60 Minutes" on Sunday night.

Officer Dave Newton said they found "so many guns. So many magazines. Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout. All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store."

Also on Sunday, federal investigators returned to do another search of Paddock's three-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada. The home was first searched Monday by Las Vegas police, who said they found 19 guns and several pounds of potentially explosive materials at the house that Paddock bought in early 2015.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Las Vegas and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
The ADC Theatre is to close its doors from April to October next year to allow for "necessary" refurbishment" to take place, according to Victoria Collins, the theatre manager of the ADC, who posted the news on the 'Cambridge Theatre' Facebook group. This was confirmed by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club committee (CUADC) in a later statement.

The theatre, which has seen the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Tilda Swinton, and Emma Thompson tread the boards during their time at the University, will be closed for Easter Term 2018 and over the summer vacation before reopening a year from now.

The refurbishment will include changes to the auditorium temperature controls, repairs to the roof, and the addition of two new lightning bridges. When the work has finished, it will have been 10 years since the last major renovation.

The ADC building houses the 228-seat auditorium, the Larkum Studio, and the ADC bar. The committee said they will announce whether the Larkum Studio and bar will remain open whilst the work is ongoing nearer the time.

Collins in the Facebook post said "We're very sad to be closing one of our venues for this period, but we will still be maintaining an active programme at the Corpus Playroom."

She also announced that three or four productions will be put on at alternative venues across Cambridge during the period of closure, including a dramatic adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

In a statement to The Cambridge Student, the committee wrote the following: "The refurbishment of the theatre is exciting news. It will bring the theatre up to industry standard, allowing students to continue to create drama in a professional environment. While it is sad that the ADC Theatre will be closed for the term, the Corpus Playroom will still be open and there will be several student productions staged at alternate venues around the city. Considering the ADC Theatre usually programmes a shorter season during Easter Term anyway, there will still be plenty of opportunities to get involved with student theatre".

Kate Collins, a second-year student and regular contributor to the Cambridge theatre scene, echoed this last remark, by saying: "I'm hoping it might encourage ore people (especailly non-students) to see theatre at other venues like the Corpus Playroom. The ADC gets a lot of hype as the home of student theatre in Cambridge, and I can't wait to see it done up, but for me the smaller stages have been where I've seen the most varied and exciting work".
Turns out, this kind of hoarding is a good thing.

The Gundersen Medical Foundations storage of more than 35,000 samples of diseased cells and DNA in its Cancer Biobank made it possible to confirm scientifically  for the first time  that a melanoma skin cancer can recur more than three decades after its first appearance.

The discovery, expected to be a boon for cancer research in general, improves the odds of finding a cure, said Paraic Kenny, director of the foundations Kabara Cancer Research Institute in the La Crosse Health Science Center at 1300 Badger St.

Its not quite Jurassic Park, Kenny acknowledged in an interview, but it highlights the ongoing need for patients to have their cancers monitored, even after being declared cancer-free for years.

Skin cancer is a major concern in the United States, with its sun-worshiping culture, and exposure to ultraviolet rays is the main culprit.

The average American has a 1 in 15 chance of developing skin cancers such as basal and squamous cell versions and a 1 in 62 chance of developing a melanoma, said Dr. Jerry Miller, who was a Gundersen dermatology physician when he came across this case.

Melanomas kill the most

Melanomas account for the vast majority of skin cancer deaths, Miller said, and patients with melanomas die at the rate of one every hour.

The breakthrough in this study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, came in late 2015, after Miller called Kenny to discuss a patient Miller had treated for a melanoma in 1985 and developed another melanoma in nearly the same spot where he had removed the previous one.

Melanoma is a very aggressive form of cancer that usually recurs in the first few years, if it is going to, Kenny said.

The fact that this melanoma, after three decades of clean slates for the patient now in his 70s, was so close to the area where the first one was removed in 1985 raised the possibility of a repeat rather than a new lesion, he said. The only way to confirm that was to compare it with the original.

Thats no easy task and is impossible in many cases, Kenny and Miller wrote in their account of the patient, whose recent death was caused by the metastatic melanoma.

Ultra-late melanoma recurrence is infrequent, poorly understood and, in most cases, difficult to unambiguously distinguish from a new primary melanoma, wrote Kenny and Miller, who now practices at Forefront Dermatology in Fond du Lac, Wis.

Although anecdotal evidence and suspicion sometimes suggest a melanoma may be a recurrence, the only way to verify that is to compare news cells with cells from the original case  and those often are long gone.

Regulations of the College of American Pathologists and the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments mandate that hospitals retain pathology tissue samples for at least 10 years. Gundersen not only keeps them for two decades, but then it releases them to the foundations Cancer Biobank for perpetual storage  some preserved as slices on small paraffin slides and others stored in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus-177 degrees C.

Unlike a reality-TV hoarder, Gundersen makes the samples available to researchers from other institutions.

Gundersen secured a $104,000 genome sequencer last summer with part of a $1.5 million donation from Betty Kabara, who continues the support that she and her late husband, Jon, initiated in gratitude for life-saving treatments at the hospital.

Compared 85 sample with 2015s

The combination made it possible for Kenny and his researchers to locate the patients 1985 tissue sample in the Cancer Biobank, isolate his DNA from a blood sample and compare that to DNA from the 85 and 15 tumors.

We sequenced 25,000 genes in each of the samples, Kenny said. By comparing to the blood DNA sequences, we were able to identify the mutation in both of the cancer specimens. We were then able to compare the two cancer specimens to each other and identified over 100 shared mutations.

This proved the two specimens had a lineal relationship spanning 30 years, he said.

I was really excited to deploy the genome sequencer  and keen to try to push the envelope. The more we understand the biology of disease, the better we can determine care, said Kenny, who also occupies the institutes Dr. Jon and Betty Kabara Endowed Chair in Precision Oncology.

The science can be applied to other cancers and diseases and offer insights into treatment, he said.

Being able to determine how a familys genetics affect members predisposition to a disease and how one members genes respond to treatment can influence procedures used for all family members, he said.

It also can exclude the potential of a disease, relieving the terrible burden of uncertainty about whether members are prone to a particular illness, Kenny said.

Case is matter of serendipity

Miller, a 1980 graduate of Central High School, described the case as a matter of serendipity in being able to bridge the 30-year gap to connect the cancers.

In most cases, you wouldnt think they would recur 30 years later, but indeed it did, Miller said. Sometimes melanomas develop deep in the skin, but recurrences (over this long of a time frame) are rare, or it would be a second cancer.

Miller, a dermatologist for 24 years, said, Dr. Kennys research team is just top-notch. Their research is like stepping from one world into another.

As for his own involvement, Miller said, the experience had the added thrill of bringing me from the clinical side to research. Normally, a clinician isnt involved in research.

In this case, we needed to think of it as chronic.  In order to beat cancer, you have to treat the cause, Miller said, adding that the research should help decipher the reasons the disease develops.

Genome sequencers enable clinicians to target specific, minute areas for treatment instead, taking out guesswork that could lead to treatment of areas that are not infected, he said.

This contributes to mounds of data about cancer so someday we might be able to eliminate or control all, Miller said. This constitutes a new wave  for precision medicine and precision oncology.

Studying something rare helps find out more, he said.

We stood on the shoulders of clinicians and researchers to sift out the truth  not because Im a great clinician, he said. But because we were open-eyed and not biased and because of Dr. Kennys lab.
Earth's tectonic plates are weaker than once thought







Philadelphia PA (SPX) Oct 06, 2017





No one can travel inside the earth to study what happens there. So scientists must do their best to replicate real-world conditions inside the lab. "We are interested in large-scale geophysical processes, like how plate tectonics initiates and how plates move underneath one another in subduction zones," said David Goldsby, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "To do that, we need to understand the mechanical behavior of olivine, which is the most common mineral in the upper mantle o ... read more
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette suspended four fraternities in the weeks following the death of an LSU fraternity pledge, according to a report.

UL-Lafayette Dean of Students Margarita Perez confirmed that Theta Xi, Kappa Alpha Order, Sigma Nu and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were each placed on suspension in mid- to late September, according to a report by The Vermilion, the universitys student newspaper.

Perez told The Vermilion that after the Sept. 14 death of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver, which is being investigated as a possible hazing incident, the university began receiving reports of complaints and conducted a preliminary investigation that led the administration to suspend the four fraternities.

We would get allegations from sources, and then we would kind of look into them enough to know that the allegations had some merit  that it was possible that the allegation couldve happened, Perez told the student newspaper.

Perez called the suspensions a pause as the university continues to investigate the allegations. She did not give specific reasons for the ongoing investigations into the fraternities, according to The Vermilion. University administrators have begun to reassess the schools policies on hazing prevention as the investigations continue, she said.

A week after Gruvers death, Gov. John Bel Edwards asked all of the states public colleges and universities to review hazing and substance abuse policies. Two days after the governors letter, UL-Lafayette President E. Joseph Savoie said in an email to students that the university would conduct a comprehensive review of all Greek organizations, according to The Vermilion.

In July, UL-Lafayette expelled the largest fraternity on campus, Kappa Sigma, for participating in activities that are inconsistent with the values of the fraternity, The Vermilion reported.

Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, was found unresponsive at LSU's Phi Delta Theta house after a night of drinking, according to an LSU police report. The investigation into his death has found that he may have been forced to consume alcohol in excess during a drinking game, according to search warrants.

Gruver's death elicited a quick response from LSU officials, with a temporary shut down of all campus Greek life activities and an investigation into hazing's connection to the incident.

Read the full report from The Vermilion here.
In a major step on the way to recovery, wounded East Baton Rouge Deputy Nick Tullier was moved Monday to a rehabilitation center in Galveston, Texas, according to a report by WAFB-TV.

At the Transitional Learning Center, Tullier will continue to work to regain his strength and coordination, the report said, adding that he no longer needs the intensive medical care provided by TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehab Facility in Houston.

Tullier was critically wounded in a targeted ambush on law enforcement in Baton Rouge last year.

For a man whose wounds doctors for weeks feared fatal  physicians in Baton Rouge warned his parents four times in the hours and days after the shooting that death was imminent  Tullier's progress has been remarkable.

Not seeing the video below? Click here.

---

+9 In Houston hospital, wounded deputy Nick Tullier's family gathers to celebrate recovery's daily battles Doctors didn't expect Nick Tullier to survive after a gunman shot him in the head, stomach and shoulder during the July 17, 2016 ambush that killed three other law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge. A year later, the 42-year-old sheriff's deputy is still defying the odds and the grim prognosis issued after the July 17 attack...

Last November, Tullier moved to TIRR Memorial, where he has made great strides. Videos have shown him communicating with others, maneuvering a wheelchair and even taking steps with assistance of a special harness.

"He's got a long path to go before he gets out of the woods, but Nick is a fighter," Tullier's father, James, told WAFB.

See the full WAFB story here.

Regular updates of Tullier's status can be found on the Nick Tullier Strong Facebook page.
PORT ALLEN  West Baton Rouge Parish's efforts to complete a 5-mile recreational trail and bike path along parts of the Mississippi River levee system will most likely end up in court.

The parish is seeking legal action against four residents who own property abutting the levee, claiming the landowners have used locked gates, vehicles and made verbal threats with guns to block contractors crews from accessing their properties.

An 18th Judicial District Court judge last week granted the parish a 10-day temporary restraining order against the property owners so construction on the project's final phase could resume, but parties on both sides are headed to court Oct. 17, when a judge will hear arguments before making a final decision on the parish's request for a permanent restraining order.

"This is a nearly million-dollar project," Parish President Riley "Pee Wee" Berthelot said. "If we don't get it done within a certain amount of time, we could lose the (grant) funding for it and then I'd have to come up with all that money to finish it.

"They're saying it's their property and we're taking their rights away," Berthelot added. "These are just people that are hard to reason with and work something out."

Officials with the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District, the governing authority that oversees the maintenance and upkeep of the levee system within its eight-parish jurisdiction, is staying out of the brewing legal dispute.

Levee Board Chairman John Grezaffi says the parish is having issues now because it didn't properly get consent to do the work from the property owners.

"If they didn't do their homework, that's on them," Grezaffi said. "The landowners are not impeding anything we're doing, so this is between the parish and them."

The rights of landowners with property along the levee system has become a hot-button issue. The Levee Board is currently waiting on a legal opinion from the state's Attorney General Office regarding a dispute in Pointe Coupee Parish where a property owner has installed a locked gate along a levee road routinely traveled by locals.

Named as defendants in West Baton Rouge Parish's levee conflict are Joseph Tullier, Rae Tullier, Barton Tullier and Phillip Debenedetto. The Tulliers did not return phone calls Monday. Efforts by The Advocate to reach Debenedetto were unsuccessful.

The Tullier properties are in the 4200 block of South River Road near the Port Allen/Brusly town limits. Debenedetto's property sits in the 4900 block of South River Road.

The properties fall within the final 4-mile stretch of what is to become the West Baton Rouge Heritage Trailway. This phase includes overlaying concrete across the levee top near the Port Allen city limits into the town of Addis, where bike lanes and sidewalks will link the levee-top trail to Joe MyHand Park in Addis and Alexander Park in Brusly.

+2 West Baton Rouge to start paving levee top soon in trailway project West Baton Rouge Parish is entering the final phases of construction of a 5-mile long recrea

The new trail will connect to the existing bike path and recreation trail the path overlaid in 2015 within Brusly.

In 2012, the parish entered into an agreement with the Levee Board to gain easements allowing the parish to construct the bike path and walking trails along the levee top.

According to that agreement, the parish had to obtain all the required authorizations, permits and permissions from "all necessary persons and agencies" associated with the levee system.

Another stipulation mandates that the parish "make arrangements with existing owners  to make the area compatible for use by all parties."

Berthelot said the parish sent out certified letters to approximately 100 property owners and held public meetings to address any concerns. The four defendants named in the temporary restraining order neither responded to the letters nor attended those meetings, he added.

And Berthelot said the parish interpreted the stipulations requiring agreements that needed to be reached were just with the property owners who were using their land for specific purposes, which commonly means for livestock grazing.

"We think our interpretation is right," Berthelot said. "Maybe we're wrong, but we assumed we had no issues."

Berthelot said the parish did meet Monday with the Levee Board and Debenedetto and the parish president said they might be able to settle Debenedetto's concerns before heading to court. The parish will spend the next few days trying to do the same with the Tullier family, he said.

"We had so many residents who couldn't wait to see this done that we really didn't see this coming," Berthelot said about the legal battle. "We think it's very clear the law is on our side in this."
Compiled from staff reports. To contact a crime reporter at The Advocate, email policereporters@theadvocate.com or call (225) 388-0369.

Compiled from staff reports. To contact a crime reporter at The Advocate, email policereporters@theadvocate.com or call (225) 388-0369.
An early morning fire completely destroyed this home in the 1200 block of S. 18th Street, and caused significant damage to the houses next to it, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Jerome Learson, who lives down the street, looks over the scene. None of the houses were occupied at the time.
A panel of Louisiana House and Senate lawmakers Tuesday heard how the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students fits into the state budget and why costs have risen.

The aid, known as TOPS, accounts for 1 percent of the total state budget and 2.7 percent of Louisiana's general fund, said Sujuan Boutte, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance.

TOPS also accounts for 11 percent of the state's higher education budget and 23.3 percent of the higher education budget funded by the general fund.

The committee studying the issue is the TOPS Task Force.

The state is spending $291 million for TOPS this year.

That includes $233 million from the general fund and $58 million from the tobacco settlement fund.

The task force was set up to study the program, which pays for most college tuition for students who qualify, and to decide whether changes are needed when the Legislature meets in 2018.

Figures provided by Boutte also show that in 2016-17, the LSU system accounted for $79.2 million of the $200 million in TOPS dollars while the University of Louisiana system collected $99.9 million.

The Southern University system accounted for $2.2 million of TOPS dollars that year.

Boutte's figures show that TOPS costs have risen because of increases in tuition, the number of TOPS recipients and the movement of students between award levels and schools.

Since 1998, the state has seen a 115.6 percent hike in the number of TOPS students, a 270.4 percent increase in dollars for the program and a 292.2 percent increase in tuition.

Tuition has risen amid dramatic cuts in state aid for colleges and universities.

Boutte's office also released a list of what officials called misconceptions about TOPS.

"We took the top 10 things people say," she told the task force. "They tend to become urban legends."

It said 16.2 percent of TOPS recipients lost their awards in the first year in 2016-17, down from 41 percent in 2004-05.

Critics often say that thousand of students lose the assistance yearly, costing the state precious dollars during Louisiana's prolonged budget crisis.

The figures show that 31.6 percent of TOPS recipients come from families with incomes of up to $50,000; 30.7 percent from families with incomes of $50,000-$100,000 and 31.3 percent from families with incomes of more than $100,000.

State officials said the figures are a response to criticism that TOPS is top-heavy with students from wealthy families.

The figures also show that the price tag for the program is set to rise by $1.5 million for the 2018-19 school year, or 0.6 percent.

The financial assistance agency figures show that, among high school graduates for 2015-16 school year who were eligible for TOPS, 46 percent also were eligible for federal Pell grants, which aids students from families with modest incomes.
Recovery from the 2017 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will take years, if not decades. Hurricane Katrina taught New Orleanians a lesson that all Americans should recall as recovery workers undertake the hard work to make Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands habitable again.

The George W. Bush administration took a quick and dirty approach to hasten the Hurricane Katrina cleanup and lower costs: It suspended federal regulations that guaranteed environmental, labor and health standards in the disaster zone and ensured competition in federal contracting. In addition, it suspended immigration enforcement. Since many immigrants affected by Hurricane Katrina might have lost their documents in the disaster, employers were not required to ask for proof of employment eligibility. These actions enabled construction contractors to obtain large federal grants and to hire any workers that would accept the standards established by employers.

The post-Katrina suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act meant that employers with federal grants were not required to pay their employees at the wage levels, with benefits and overtime that prevail in a particular region. This means that those hired to perform construction labor on federally funded projects did not have to be paid a fair wage. Other suspensions meant that employers did not need to apply affirmative action in hiring or require workers to prove they were eligible for employment in the United States. Furthermore, by suspending the enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, there was no workplace oversight that ensured workers had the knowledge and equipment that would protect them from health and safety hazards.

Even after these regulations were reinstated, the lack of staffing in the federal agencies charged with enforcing these regulations meant that workers were not protected. Any violation of a workers rights was only enforced on the basis of worker complaints after the fact. Incredibly, the number of investigations of crimes against workers by the Department of Labor in New Orleans dropped from 70 in the year before Hurricane Katrina to only 44 in the 11 months after the disaster largely because the district office was in disarray and no additional support from the federal headquarters was provided. In short, there was no capacity to protect workers from labor abuse during this chaotic time.

In October 2007, more than two years after the Katrina disaster, Congress heard testimony from workers in a hearing that looked at the Department of Labors performance in investigating and prosecuting wage and hour violations and protecting guest workers. These riveting testimonies stand as historical documentation of workers terrible working and living conditions, the abuses they faced and the indifference of the federal government in redressing these abuses.

One worker, Jeffrey Steele, summarized his situation, and foreshadowed our situation now:

I went to New Orleans to help and to be part of history. I did the dirty, hard cleanup work that was needed. But, like a lot of other workers, I was taken advantage of by contractor after contractor. I have been seeking justice, but havent seen it yet ... This is not about (me). Its about the small men and women, like me, who dont have a voice. There may be another disaster like this in some other state and town. Who can tell me how workers will be treated? Can you tell me who will protect us the next time?

The hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are the next time, and we can expect there will be more in coming hurricane seasons. Now is the time to prevent the worker abuses that we saw after Hurricane Katrina. To date, the Trump administrations approach to recovery has been to provide emergency assistance, but we have yet to see how the rebuilding will unfold in each of these places. The lesson learned from New Orleans after Katrina is that the federal government should enforce, rather than suspend, the policies and protections that protect recovery workers.

Elizabeth Fussell is an associate professor of population studies and environmental studies at Brown University and a member of the New Orleans chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network. She lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck and has researched the long-term recovery of the city and its residents  in New Orleans and elsewhere  for the past 12 years.
Voter turnout is expected to be extraordinarily low this weekend, which is just one reason why the only statewide contest for public office is hard to call.

This much isn't, though: Whoever becomes Louisiana's next state treasurer will inherit an office that was dramatically redefined  not in official duties but in public expectations  by its most recent inhabitant, now-U.S. Sen. John Kennedy.

None of the three best-known Republicans vying to replace Kennedy  former Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis, of Baton Rouge; state Sen. Neil Riser, of Columbia; and former state Rep. John Schroder, of Covington  can match his glibness. An attorney with impeccable academic credentials, Kennedy reinvented himself as a down-home bumpkin whose most memorable line during his Senate campaign was that he'd rather drink weedkiller than support Obamacare. (There's one Democrat on the ballot, lawyer Derrick Edwards, but he's barely running a campaign).

+7 Louisiana treasurer candidates debate, offer insight into their views Secretary of State Tom Schedler, the man in charge of elections in Louisiana, now asks a sim

But the three candidates most likely to succeed Kennedy are all campaigning not just to fulfill the technocratic functions of the office. They're also trying to show voters how they'd use its bully pulpit, how they'd fill Kennedy's shoes as a public, and sometimes harshly ideological, critic of others in state government.

Kennedy wasn't the first treasurer with higher ambitions. Mary Landrieu held the job for eight years before running for governor and then Senate, and pointed to her record as evidence that she was a responsible financial steward.

It was Kennedy, though, who used the job to build a brand as an advocate for voters and a watchdog over state government, even if he didn't have to make the same tough budget choices that the governor and legislators did.

It was Kennedy who turned the state's unclaimed property program from a back-office function into a popular, high-profile institution that allows the treasurer to hand out checks to regular people. All three lead candidates have suggested they wouldn't make changes.

It was also Kennedy who regularly second-guessed other politicians, be they fellow Republicans or Democrats like current Gov. John Bel Edwards. He was among the first to criticize former Gov. Bobby Jindal's use of one-time money to meet recurring expenses. And he insisted during the grueling 2016 fiscal showdown that there was plenty of money available to close the gap, although a closer look undermined his claim of easy solutions.

He may not have been a central player in the budget debates, but he was certainly popular, and his possible successors are suggesting they too would use their voice to push the conservative line.

Davis has aggressively linked herself to President Donald Trump. Schroder is running an ad casting himself as the hard-nosed defender of the public purse against partying, spendthrift Louisiana politicians. Riser boasts that he's the only candidate to have voted against the temporary penny sales tax adopted by the Legislature in 2016, which is set to expire next summer. He leaves out the part where his vote wasn't needed to pass the measure in the Senate, while Schroder and other hard-line conservatives in the House reluctantly voted yes to avert massive cuts.

Now that the fiscal cliff lawmakers set up is rapidly approaching, none of these candidates is offering much more in the way of concrete ideas than Kennedy did.

Asked at a recent Baton Rouge Press Club debate whether they'd support either extending those taxes or raising the state's debt limit in order to guarantee that new construction projects can be, all three basically sidestepped the question and insisted that the state should prioritize and learn to live within its limits.

The rub is always where to cut, of course, but that's not the treasurer's problem. In other words, John Kennedy couldn't have handled that question better himself.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  More than a week after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history investigators are stumped about the key question: What led a 64-year-old high-stakes gambler to kill 58 people and wound hundreds of others at a country music concert?

It's an answer they may never find.

The FBI and Las Vegas police have sorted through more than a thousand leads and examined Stephen Paddock's politics, finances, any possible terrorist radicalization and his social behavior. By Monday they had repeatedly searched his homes and interviewed his brother, girlfriend and others he's done business with.

But the typical investigative avenues that have helped uncover the motive in past shootings have yielded few clues about Paddock, a professional gambler who spent nearly every waking hour playing video poker at casinos. That closeted existence has covered the trail for investigators.

"This individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Monday, conceding he's frustrated.

The FBI has brought in behavioral profilers as they continue questioning Paddock's live-in girlfriend, Marilou Danley, about his gun purchases and what she may have noticed about his behavior, Lombardo said.

Paddock had stockpiled 23 guns, a dozen of them modified to fire continuously like an automatic weapon inside his 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay hotel room, where he busted out two windows before opening fire on the crowd.

The sheriff changed the timeline of the shooting Monday, explaining that a security guard in the hotel's hallway responding to a report of an open door heard drilling from Paddock's room. Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security officials.

A few minutes later, Paddock began the 10-minute attack on those on the ground.

Can't see video below? Click here.

Previously the sheriff had said the guard's arrival in the hallway may have caused Paddock to stop firing. He said Monday he didn't know what prompted Paddock to end his deadly gunfire.

The gunman had shot at aviation fuel tanks, stocked his car with explosives and had personal protection gear as part of an escape plan, authorities said Monday.

Paddock's life has remained somewhat of a mystery and most people who have interacted with him said nothing really stood out about him.

"It's his actual normalcy that makes him a fascinating study," said David Gomez, a former FBI profiler.

+2 Las Vegas killer's girlfriend says she had no warning of violence he planned LAS VEGAS (AP)  The girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman said Wednesday that she had no inkli

The small group people who knew Paddock well has said the one-time IRS agent and the son of a notorious bank robber did essentially nothing except gamble, sleep and travel between casinos. Investigators are sifting through every piece of Paddock's life from birth to death, Lombardo has said.

"Every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle," the sheriff said Monday.

Experts say it is extremely unusual to have so few clues more than a week after a mass shooting. In past mass killings or terrorist attacks, killers left notes, social media postings and information on a computer, or even phoned police.

In this case, there was no suicide note, no manifesto, no evidence the gunman was motivated by any ideology and Paddock has no clear presence on social media, police said.

The FBI is working around-the-clock and a "comprehensive picture is being drawn as to the suspect's mental state," the sheriff said. Though at this point, they haven't found any one particular event in Paddock's life that triggered the shooting, he said.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said Monday an autopsy was done but could not discuss results of whether it yielded any clues to Paddocks actions.

But even as investigators work to try to figure out what might've led Paddock to commit the shooting, there may never be a clear answer.

"Sometimes there isn't an understandable explanation for why someone commits a horrific crime," Gomez said.

What has become very clear to investigators is that Paddock meticulously planned the attack. He requested an upper-floor room overlooking the country music festival and set up cameras inside and outside his room to watch for approaching officers.

After the shooting, police found a piece of paper on a nightstand in Paddock's hotel room that contained a series of numbers that helped him calculate a more precise aim, accounting for the trajectory of shots being fired from that height and the distance between his room and the concert, a federal official said. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the details of the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

In not leaving behind an easily accessible manifesto, Paddock defied societal expectations that mass murderers will want their disturbed motives known to the world, said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler and hostage negotiator.

"The reason you want to engage in an attack is you want to be promoting your extremist ideology  you want publicity," said Erroll Southers, director of homegrown violent extremism studies at the University of Southern California. "You want people to be afraid of what you believe and what you do."

But although most killers may want to take credit for their act, Paddock might have reveled in the riddle he's presented for investigators, Van Zandt said.

"He may even find some solace knowing that, 'I've left so few footprints, they're going to have a helluva time figuring out who I am.' And that, in his challenged mind, might bring him a terrible level of satisfaction," he said.

Before shooting, Las Vegas gunman rented rooms overlooking other music festivals LAS VEGAS (AP)  In the days and months before he mowed down concertgoers from his high-rise

Despite the absence of easy answers, investigators may still be able to fill out a portrait of Paddock's mindset in the coming weeks, Van Zandt said.

"Instead of a eureka moment, I think what investigators are doing is they're putting an ounce of information at a time on the scale," he said.

___

Balsamo reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Sadie Gurman in Washington and Regina Garcia-Cano in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
The owner of a Canberra-based online sex shop has taken on two digital payment services that have refused to accept her as a merchant.

The Pleasure Box owner Deborah Avery filed a complaint with the ACT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner after zipPay and Afterpay turned her down because her business is part of the adult industry.

Pleasure Box owner Deborah Avery is taking on Afterpay and zipPay through the Anti-Descrimination Commissioner. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Afterpay told Ms Avery it doesn't offer its services to adult industry products, while zipPay said it wouldn't service any adult business with a turnover lower than $10 million.

Ms Avery said being refused the specialist merchant services, both of which allow customers the option to buy now and pay later, has caused her economic hardship and placed her at a commercial disadvantage.
Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker says Jake Lever chose money over success when he asked for a trade to Melbourne.

Lever, who has been offered a lucrative four-year deal by the Demons, informed the Crows of his decision two days after their grand final defeat to Richmond.

Walker told Adelaide's Triple M he had a blunt conversation with Lever and made it clear he was disappointed with his decision to leave Adelaide after three seasons.

"I did not have a crack at him," Walker told Triple M.
As the Mick McMahon-led Ingham's Group prepares for its first anniversary as a listed stock, he can at least breathe a sigh of relief over the fact that  after a rocky start  the chook stock has flown comfortably above its $3.15 IPO price.

We would hate to think what investors would have made of McMahon's $11.6 million pay packet  unveiled in its annual report late last month  if they had lost money on their investment.

Ingham's chief executive Mick McMahon has done very nicely as Ingham's has flown. Credit:Jesse Marlow

This total remuneration figure included a $6 million cash IPO bonus for the successful completion of the float, and another $1.25 million in short-term cash bonuses.

That was the easy bit. Later this month, Ingham's shareholders will be asked to approve a long-term incentive package, currently worth $1.6 million, subject to performance hurdles.
Mr Hirschhorn said a 5.8 per cent tax gap was was "pretty good on a global scale, but our aim is to significantly reduce that". ATO deputy commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says the tax gap needs to be reduced. Credit:Mick Tsikas But Oxfam Australia's Economic Policy Advisor Joy Kyriacou said $2.5 billion was a conservative estimate. "The ATO can only report on what large companies are bound to tell it, not on taxes which multinationals are dodging through legal tax avoidance," she said. ATO to keep cutting deals Over the past few years, under the leadership of Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan, the ATO has opted to cut deals with big business rather than head to court.

In the 2014-15 year there was a huge $3 billion variance between tax bills initially issued by the ATO to 81 large companies, and the money the agency ended up pocketing after it cut deals with these companies. The ATO has $4 billion worth of disputes going on with big business at the moment, most of which are transfer pricing cases, such as the $1 billion dispute with miner BHP Billiton over its Singapore marketing hub, and some of which date back almost over a decade. BHP Billiton is in dispute with the ATO about the profit margins it attributes to its Singapore hub. Credit:Shutterstock BHP Billiton has said it's willing to head to court to settle the dispute. But speaking generally about the tax gap figures, Mr Hirschhorn, who has much input into what cases the ATO litigates, said the he expects they will settle most of the $4 billion cases under dispute out of court.

There had been higher audit activity under tougher domestic laws like the Multinational Ant-Avoidance Laws which has led to companies like Google restructuring, Diverted Profits Tax and stronger transfer pricing powers, he said. The coming year would be another big year for settlements, he said, but the variance between what the ATO wanted and settled on would slightly shrink, he said. Disputes about margins Mr Hirschhorn said the biggest driver of the tax gap was "primarily transfer mispricing". Of $4 billion in tax bills issued to large corporates and multinationals in the 2016-17 financial year, he said about $1 billion related to transfer mispricing of related party debt (as seen in the case of Chevron), about $1 billion was transfer mispricing of inbound e-commerce and about $500 million was transfer mispricing via commodity trading hubs.

Chevron had abandoned its High Court appeal and cut a deal with the ATO on a dispute about related party debt. Credit:AP He said some corporates had already entered into 50/50 arrangements whereby the pay half the the tax bill in advance of objections. The issue with cases of companies channelling money through low-tax Singapore, wasn't that companies were using marketing and service hubs, but rather the profit margins they are attributing to doing business there. "The issue isn't having a Singapore hub - that's a commercial decision," he said. "What we say is, 'how much profit are you attributing to these people [in Singapore]? "If you were to outsource that function would you give them a ten times profit?' We would say, 'no. You'd give them a good profit - they are smart people working hard for you - but you wouldn't give them all the profit'."

Delay in release While Britain has been publishing tax gap figures for some time, the ATO has been taking its time in releasing numbers - it was supposed to do so in last year's annual report. The agency is yet to release tax gap figures for sectors of the economy where it says black economy activity is prevalent including, the highly wealthy individuals market segment, the small business segment and for other individuals. "Our plan is to progressively review tax gaps for other markets over the next few years," Mr Hirschhorn said. The ATO's corporate tax gap estimate covers a seven-year period between 200809 and 201415. The tax gaps for earlier years were $2.7 billion in 2008-09, $2.3 billion in 2009-10, $2 billion in 2010-11, $2.7 billion in 2011-12, $2.5 billion in 2012-13, and almost $3 billion in 2013-14.

Criticisms of tax gaps One of the expert panelists who helped pull together the figures, tax expert and UNSW Business School adjunct professor, Richard Highfield, said the estimates were in line with those of other revenue agencies such as Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Britain has been releasing tax gap figures for some time, which are also criticised for being too low. Credit:Scott Barbour But the HMRC 214-15 tax gaps figures of 36bn, or 6.5 per cent, have been condemned for ignoring estimated tens of billions lost in profit shifting and tax avoidance by multinationals. Professor Highfield noted for the ATO data, there was some error relating to audit activity or non-audits, but it would be relatively small.
In a kitchen in suburban Melbourne sit two English lawyers who have saved hundreds of convicted criminals from execution.

Parvais Jabbar and Saul Lehrfreund's strike rate of keeping death row clients alive in the Caribbean and Africa is nothing short of extraordinary  more than 90 per cent, they say, much of it done from a cluttered London office smaller than the kitchen we are sitting in.

Indonesian police with drugs seized in 2005 which led to the arrest of the Bali Nine. Credit:Jason Childs

Across the kitchen table is Melbourne barrister Julian McMahon, an intense, quietly spoken criminal defence advocate.

His record is grimmer then his English counterparts, though not from lack of effort. McMahon was recently awarded of Companion of the Order of Australia for his efforts trying to keep Australians on death row alive.
Most patients with incurable cancer battle to the end. They exhaust all evidence-based active treatment options and clinical trials before being told that supportive care measures are now best.

A request to die is uncommon, and is often driven by poorly controlled pain or nausea, as well as fear, loss of function and hopelessness. Usually when pain and other symptoms are under control, good nursing care is on hand, and psychological support has been provided, patients no longer want their death to be hastened.

For family members watching a loved one die, the experience can be agonising. However, with appropriate involvement of palliative care, the preparation and education of family members about the normal processes of dying (such as irregular breathing and fluctuating consciousness), and with the administration of pain relief, there is minimal physical suffering.

When a patient seeks assisted dying, it is often when they are first told they have a limited life expectancy and before they are truly unwell. They are so distressed by such difficult news that they anticipate what is to come and can be consumed with fear and an urge to regain control. They may respond by seeking assisted dying at a time of their choosing. In overseas jurisdictions where this is legal around 80 per cent of those who access it have cancer.
The Turnbull government has moved to turbocharge reform of the family law system by appointing a new chief justice of the Family Court who is just 14 months away from mandatory retirement.

The unorthodox move, which will raise eyebrows in legal circles, comes as Attorney-General George Brandis embarks on the most ambitious reform of the Family Law Act since its inception in 1975.

John Pascoe will become Chief Justice of the Family Court and serve until December 2018. Credit:Rob Homer

John Pascoe, the 68-year-old Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, will take up his new role from Friday and will serve only until December 2018 when he turns 70, the retirement age for judges.

In that time, Judge Pascoe is expected to work "creatively" to drive significant structural reform to the system  the kind of root-and-branch change thought impossible of a judge at the beginning of their 15-year tenure.
Former prime minister John Howard has slammed US President Donald Trump as an "unpredictable" leader and lamented his communication style on Twitter.

Mr Howard, the country's second-longest serving prime minister, took aim on Tuesday at Mr Trump's use of social media to engage with constituents.

"I worry about some of his communication methods," Mr Howard told the International Bar Association Conference in Sydney.

"It's not a communication method I would have adopted. I wish he didn't tweet but he's not going to stop."
Several Sydney clerics are in revolt over the Anglican Church's decision to donate $1 million to the "no" campaign on same-sex marriage, declaring themselves shattered and disappointed.

The church's Sydney diocese, renowned for its conservative bent, drew down its massive Diocesan Endowment about one month ago to support the fight against legalising same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Glenn Davies revealed the donation at the opening of the 51st Synod on Monday, declaring same-sex marriage "unwarranted". "The stakes are high and the cost is high," he said.

Barney Zwartz, spokesman for Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier, confirmed the diocese in the Victorian capital had not and would not make a donation to the Coalition for Marriage.
Has the Coalition really changed since Tony Abbott's day? As frontbencher Dan Tehan was asked at the National Press Club on Tuesday, "is this a different party now or is it just a party with a different leader?"

This identity question arose as Malcolm Turnbull shaped to walk away from his previous attraction to a clean energy target, and as Abbott audaciously stepped further to the right, declaring himself opposed to carbon pricing, renewable energy subsidies, and what he characterises as the politically correct green theology driving it.

Of global warming, he said it was probably doing more good than harm. It's not climate change that is dangerous, but climate change policies.

From "absolute crap" Abbott had travelled to "coal is good for humanity" and now to the extraordinary proposition that global warming is itself good for humanity.
A 40-year-old woman has accepted a caution by British police after trying to gain access into the Thomas' Battersea school attended by Prince George, last month.

Undercover police were alerted to the woman's behaviour, with reports she attempted to break-in at the South London school on September 12. She was arrested the next afternoon, less than a week after George's first day, the Met Police revealed.

Britain's Prince George arrives for his first day of school at Thomas's school in Battersea, London. Credit:RICHARD POHLE/AP

Royal protection officers were alerted when the woman turned up unannounced in the school's lobby, before fleeing when challenged by staff. She then returned to the school vicinity the following day.

While she was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, she accepted the caution for "causing a nuisance on school property" under the Education Act. While there will be no further action or criminal conviction, the incident will still remain on her police file.
Alicia Keir is in her final year of a teaching degree and expects that it will take about two years to find a full-time job once she graduates, but is worried it could take much longer.

"I know people who go up to seven years without finding a permanent position," said Ms Keir, 26, who is studying primary education at the University of Newcastle and lives in Sydney's south-west.

Alicia Keir, who is studying to become a primary school teacher, is worried it could take up to seven years to find a job. Credit:Wolter Peeters

"Each year, I've seen how many teaching graduates come through, it's the luck of the draw whether a spot [in a school is] available."

Across Australia, about 22 university graduates are competing for every new graduate position and many will need to settle for low-paying entry roles "just to get their foot in the jobs market", a new national report has found.
Residents of Sydney's northern beaches will be able to catch new double-decker buses to and from the city centre once the state government opens its $516 million B-Line rapid bus route in the next few weeks.

While the project still faces opposition, Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the B-Line bus services would "be a winner" and came against the backdrop of the government's plans to build a second road tunnel under Sydney Harbour and the Beaches Link between the Warringah Freeway and Balgowlah in the city's north.

"We are looking to get services up and running in the next few weeks. It's a project which is delivering 38 double-decker buses to provide a reliable turn-up-and-go service to the people of the northern beaches," he said.

"The most exciting element of this program is commuters travelling home after seven o'clock are going to have a bus service every 10 minutes."
A Norwegian man accused of stabbing the "love of his life" to death told police he did not usually drink alcohol because "crazy stuff happens", a court has heard.

Thomas Lysgaard, 39, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Aaron Joseph Stewart at their Spring Hill home on April 4, 2015.

Police respond to an alleged stabbing in Spring Hill on April 4, 2015.

The Brisbane Supreme Court has heard Lysgaard and Mr Stewart, 34, still lived together even though they broke up in late 2014.

Lysgaard told police he probably would have figured out Mr Stewart was the "love of my life" after his planned move to Sydney the following week.
A 15-year-old girl has been beaten by a group of people in Warwick overnight, leaving her with serious injuries in hospital.

Police were called to Percy Street about 2am on Tuesday in response to reports that a young girl was being assaulted by a group of people.

The victim was flown to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious condition. Credit:Patrick Hamilton - Nine News

The victim was found with life-threatening injuries and after initially being taken to Warwick Hospital, she was flown by the RACQ Lifeflight Rescue helicopter to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious condition.

Investigations were continuing, with police appealing for witnesses to come forward.
A man has been sentenced for harassing several women, from a teenager to a 74-year-old, in a "bizarre" morning of stalking north of Brisbane.

Melvin Hayes Aleke pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday to charges including unlawful stalking and sexual assault.

The Auckland-born man was sentenced for harassing several women north of Brisbane.

The court heard Aleke harassed seven women - including a teenager who feared for her life after he repeatedly urged her to get into his car - in the Redcliffe area on January 24.

The Auckland-born man also groped a 60-year-old in a park and asked a 74-year-old to come and sit in his car, all on the same morning, the court heard.
A man is under police guard in hospital as detectives continue to investigate the cause of a "suspicious" house fire in Logan on Tuesday morning.

The residence on Fedrick Street in Boronia Heights was significantly damaged and half of the roof collapsed during the fire, which broke out about 6.45am.

The fire was still not under control more than an hour after it broke out. It wasn't extinguished until 9am. Credit:Sarah Greenhalgh - Twitter

The injured man was listed as one of the residents at the property, according to a Queensland Police Service spokesman, and he was described as a "person of interest" in the investigation.

Police closed the street as four fire crews battled the blaze for more than two hours before it was extinguished.
Queenslanders could be asked to limit their use of airconditioning to prevent blackouts on the hottest summer days.

The Palaszczuk government's energy security task force has drawn up a Summer Preparedness Plan to deal with high demand for power during heatwaves.

Under the plan, residents and businesses could be asked to set their air conditioners at 26 degrees on the hottest days, only cool occupied rooms and turn off non-essential lights and pool pumps.

The request to limit the use of air conditioners was considered to be a contingency measure. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The opposition Liberal National Party has hit out at the plan.
The Logan Motorway is flowing smoothly once again, after more than 15 kilometres of westbound delays formed on Tuesday morning.

The cause of the gridlock was a five-vehicle crash, including at least one truck, about 7.20am at Berrinba just after the Kingston Road merge.

The gridlock delays stretched back more than 15 kilometres just over an hour after the crash. Credit:Department of Transport and Main Roads

Paramedics treated four patients at the scene.

Australian Traffic Network reporter Rhys Messenger said at the height of the delays, westbound congestion extended about 17 kilometres along the Logan Motorway onto the M1, where it stretched back to Yatala.
A man who stabbed an off-duty police officer between the eyes after drunkenly storming his Melbourne home has been jailed for more than seven years.

Jade Hunia, 20, was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday to 7 years' jail after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including recklessly causing serious injury and aggravated burglary, over the November home invasion.

Jade Hunia was 19 when he stabbed Senior Constable Daniel Yeoman in the face. Credit:Instagram

Hunia forced his way past Senior Constable Daniel Yeoman's wife, Shereen, in the family's Wantirna South home, demanded Mr Yeoman hand over a set of car keys, then grabbed a kitchen knife and plunged it into the officer's face.

Judge Mark Dean said Mr Yeoman's family was profoundly traumatised and labelled Hunia's actions as "both terrifying and cowardly".
Victoria's independent schools body has hit back at claims from the Catholic sector that its schools are inflating data on students with a disability to gain extra funding.

It follows a Fairfax Media report that revealed Victorian independent schools were set to receive more than half the national funding increase for students with a disability in 2018.

Credit:Erin Jonasson

Catholic Education Melbourne accused wealthy independent schools of "gaming the system", while the Australian Education Union said there appeared to be "gold-plating of the private system at the expense of children in public schools".

Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said the allegations were "unfounded, unfair and false".
Wisconsin got the largest grant in the U.S. this year for charter schools, with the state education head saying the money will go to expanding schools for high school students from low-income families.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a five-year, $95 million grant to the Wisconsin Charter Schools Program earlier this month.

The program will use the grant to support the opening of 80 new or replicated quality charter schools and to expand 27 schools.

"Our federal grant will help us expand charter school access throughout Wisconsin, especially for our high school kids from low-income families," said State Superintendent Tony Evers.

"All kids, regardless of their circumstances, deserve access to innovative opportunities through our public schools," Evers said. "This grant will help us promote more collaborations and partnerships to take the lessons learned in charter schools and apply that success across the state."

Wisconsin currently has 234 charter schools with over 44,000 students.

The grant will allow for sub-grants to quality charter school operators to replicate or expand existing schools, with priority given to schools serving secondary school students.

The grant also supports the new Wisconsin Resource Center for Charter Schools, tasked to provide schools, authorizer agents and governing boards development programs and partnerships and relationships among schools across the state, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said.
Elderly people are being sent in record numbers from nursing homes to be treated in hospitals, prompting Victorian minister Martin Foley to say Australia's aged care system was "broken".

Victorian government figures obtained by Fairfax Media show a dramatic 25 per cent jump in the number of residents being transported from nursing homes to hospital in the past 12 months.

Elderly people are being transferred to hospital in record numbers from nursing homes

More than 14,000 people made the trip in the last financial year, up from 11,200 the previous year.

The bulk of the transfers happen during the week, with the number plunging on weekends, which, according to the nurses' union reflects a serious lack of staff on hand in many nursing homes on Saturdays and Sundays to make clinical decisions.
A woman on trial for the murder of an 18-year-old man with autism told a friend she hoped she had a fatal brain tumour so she could go on a "slaughter fest" and kill people without any consequences for herself.

Jemma Lilley, 26, a former Perth Woolworths supervisor who has been described as obsessed with serial killers, allegedly made the comments to fellow employee Bobbi McGregor.

Jemma Lilley, left, and Trudi Lenon have pleaded not guilty to the murder of 18-year-old Aaron Pajich.

Lilley and her housemate, 43-year-old mother of three Trudi Lenon, are on trial before a jury charged with murdering 18-year-old Aaron Pajich in June last year.

Ms McGregor said in the Supreme Court of WA that she told her then friend Lilley that she should see a doctor about mental "blackouts" she said she had been experiencing.
A fly-in fly-out worker who swapped the identification markings of a commercial fisherman's lobster pots for his own has been fined $10,000, had his boat pulled from the water and had his rock lobster fishing licence suspended.

Jason Keith Knowler launched his boat 'Red Baron' from the Bent Street boat ramp in Safety Bay on December 14 last year and motored to waters around Coventry Reef, the Rockingham Magistrates Court heard on Monday.

Knowler hauled in four rock lobster pots belonging to a commercial fisherman. (file photo)

The Department of Fisheries prosecutor said Knowler hauled in four rock lobster pots belonging to a commercial fisherman and stole a number of lobsters that had been caught inside them.

He then cut loose the commercial fisherman's identification floats before replacing them with his own and resetting the traps in the water.
Tepic, Mexico: Roughly one in three people in Latin America paid a bribe last year to a public employee, from corrupt police to teachers and hospital workers, according to a new report.

Most people in the region say corruption is on the rise, and those most likely to have paid off officials were residents of Mexico and the Dominican Republic, said the study by Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption group, released on Monday.

A police officer stands guard at the gate of Mexico's Attorney-General office where Emilio Lozoya, where a key campaign adviser to President Enrique Pena Nieto, spoke after answering prosecutors' questions about bribes he allegedly took from Brazil's construction firm Odebrecht. Credit:AP

Using results of a survey conducted in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, Transparency International estimates more than 90 million people paid a bribe last year in the region.

But due to the threat of violent retaliation, only one in 10 reported it to authorities, it said.
Los Angeles: California is battling bushfires on at least two major fronts, including a devastating fire in the north of the state that has killed at least 15 people and forced up to 20,000 to evacuate their homes.

As firefighters battled on the northern front, a second fire swept through the Anaheim Hills, east of Los Angeles, coming within just 24 kilometres of the iconic Disneyland theme park and turning the sky above it a disquieting shade of dark orange.

In northern California there are fires raging in approximately 15 locations spread across eight counties, including Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino, the heart of the state's billion-dollar wine industry.

The deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Jane Upton, told US media the fires had already burnt almost 46,000 hectares and consumed up to 1500 buildings, including homes and businesses.
Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...
About two dozen third-graders lined up outside of Madisons Sandburg Elementary School early Monday afternoon, waiting to enter a yellow book bus parked outside.

Inside the bus, hundreds of free books sat on shelves. Outside, drums and chairs sat in a circle for the students to bang on and dance to.

We have a surprise for you ... every single person is going to get on this bus and pick out a book to keep forever and ever, Giving Tree Music founder Steve Turner told the anxious third-graders. I want you to pick out a book. ... make sure its one you love.

The group of third-graders  and other students throughout the morning at the Far East Side school  were allowed to pick out a book before banging on drums and dancing to the sound of their music as part of Bess the Book Bus nationwide tour stop in Madison.

The students, five at a time, stepped into the van and looked through the traveling librarys selection. The students asked adults questions about the selections, including whether there were any Goosebumps books to pick out.

While there were no Goosebumps books on the bus, the collection included long chapter books, shorter books filled with illustrations, books with TV and movie characters, and nonfiction books about famous athletes and caring for pet mice and rats.

After picking out their books, and before the drum circle commenced, many of the third-graders paged through their selections or discussed them with classmates while others gathered around Miss Wisconsin McKenna Collins.

The nonprofit Madison Reading Project partnered with Collins, the book bus and Giving Tree Music on the event.

The bus also stopped at Bloom Bake Shop Monday for a Madison Reading Project book drive fundraiser.

Sandburg Elementary was selected to host the bus because of the high numbers of low-income students at the school that might otherwise have limited access to books outside of the classroom, said Carrie Castree, Madison Reading Project outreach director.

Reading  and having access to books  is important for academic success, she said.

All we really want to do is get books into kids hands, Castree said. Reading is going to take kids to places they may otherwise not be able to escape to.
Larry Field typically uses his drone to takes photos of real estate, but last week he turned his attention to the Texas World Speedway after hearing that the closed race track -- one of the largest in the state -- is now home to cars flooded by Hurricane Harvey.

The thousands of cars on the speedway property are about 10 percent of the Harvey-flooded cars awaiting assessment by insurance companies. Tow trucks have been delivering vehicles to the speedway for weeks, and Field said he was curious to see how the property had transformed.

"I was pretty surprised that they had filled the entire speedway and were starting to fill the outer areas, too," the College Station resident said.

An Eagle reporter was turned away at the track's front gate last month after learning about the activity on the property.

Field was not alone in curiosity. His images were posted Friday and quickly made the rounds on social media. Bill Mather, president and CEO of operations for Texas World Speedway, joked that drones over the speedway were like flies.

The drones have likely captured photos of the Texas World Speedway activity at its peak, Mather said, noting vehicles are leaving the facility every day.

Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas, said the flow of cars to holding facilities like the Texas World Speedway has slowed down, too. The group estimates that owners of 90 percent of the flooded cars with comprehensive coverage already have gotten an insurance check.

Mather said he's unsure how many cars are on the site, but the speedway agreed to hold around 33,000 cars awaiting processing. Based on the ICT estimates, that means just over 10 percent of Harvey-flooded vehicles with comprehensive insurance reside in College Station.

"It's quite crazy if you think about all the cars that were affected -- all the families that were affected," Mather said, adding that the number of vehicles coming through College Station "gives you an idea of the magnitude of the relief efforts that we don't feel the effects of from here."

The cars at Texas World Speedway will likely be gone by the end of February, Mather said. The lease agreement with Copart, the company overseeing operations, was for six months, with an option of a two- to three-month extension.

The space is simply a "cold lot," Mather said. Vehicles are not being scrapped; they are just using the speedway as a pit stop.

From the speedway and other impromptu processing centers, the cars will head to auctions and scrap yards.

Some may even head to Hollywood. Hanna said he had a call from a someone with Sony Pictures looking for stationary cars to appear as extras in a new Marvel movie.

Buying a car? Beware of flood damage As companies set up designated spots -- including in Brazos County -- to store Hurricane Har

"They could look brand new depending on the make and car they buy," he said. "And there is every make and model out there."

While they're in College Station, however, Mather asks that drone owners looking to capture photos ask first -- he says it's private property, after all, although he acknowledges that it's a hard policy to enforce.




Kevin lives on Dartmoor where he takes a keen interest in the conservation of the moor, especially for upland and woodland birds.





Science and nature





Kevin Cox said: Its an enormous privilege to take up the role of chair of RSPB Council. I am a passionate advocate for all aspects of nature conservation and I will do my utmost to support RSPB and spread the word about our vital work.





"During my lifetime we have seen significant declines in the diversity and abundance of much of our wildlife. RSPB is key to reversing that trend and delivering a healthy, thriving environment for people and nature.





Mike Clarke, the RSPBs chief executive, said: I would like to express enormous and sincere gratitude to Professor Steve Ormerod, who has led us through the last five years with passion and enthusiasm, as well as sharing with us his huge knowledge and understanding of science and nature conservation.





As Steve departs we welcome Kevin Cox to the Chair and Im delighted to have him on board. With his background in magazines, Kevin understands how to engage and communicate with a range of audiences, and we know he will help the RSPB to inspire more people to care about nature.





RSPB Medal 2017





Earlier this year the RSPB took the unusual decision to award the RSPB Medal well ahead of its AGM. Eminent wildlife scientist, Dick Potts, was awarded the Medal by RSPB Council shortly before he died in March.

Dick made a sustained contribution to conservation and conservation science from the1970s onwards, particularly through ground breaking studies into the effects of chemicals on farmland birds, especially the grey partridge.





The RSPB Medal is the most prestigious award the wildlife charity gives out, and recognises outstanding contribution to nature conservation.





Conservation action





The RSPB Medal winner is usually decided in June, and presented at the RSPB AGM in October, but Dick had been seriously unwell for some time and so an early decision was made. Dick sadly died on





Thursday 30th March, but fortunately his wife, Olga, was able to tell him of the accolade shortly before he passed away.





Professor Steve Ormerod said: "We have lost a remarkable and visionary figure in Dick Potts - whose foresight inspired crucial scientific work and conservation action.





Legacy lives on





"His contribution to farmland wildlife science has created a legacy for birds like the grey partridge whose very presence in the UK might have been threatened if he hadn't stepped in early, recognised they were in trouble, and identified why.





"The RSPB would like to offer our deepest sympathy to Dick's wife, Olga, and thank her for allowing us to give this award to mark his outstanding work and passion for farmland wildlife."





Olga Potts said: "Dick would have felt truly honoured to have received this award. In true Dick Potts fashion, he would have seen this as not just an award for himself but for all those who, over the years, have worked for the issues he cared so deeply about. We will ensure his legacy lives on."





The RSPB Members Day and AGM took place at the QE11 in London on Saturday 7 October 2017.





This Author





Jack Alexander is a regular contributor to The Ecologist.
WESTPORT  For the first time in its history, the nonprofit Connecticut Against Gun Violence has decided to endorse a candidate for a municipal first selectman race, lending its support to Westport Democrat Melissa Kane.

Its very special to me, Kane said. Ive been very active with them and other gun violence organizations for years. Its something thats been very close to my heart.

The advocacy group, started in 1993, had previously focused only on state and national elections and works to promote legislation designed to enhance gun safety, according to its website. The group announced its endorsement last month.

Connecticut has the second-strongest gun laws in the nation. Weve been very successful at the state level, but we hadnt been paying attention at the municipal level, said Ron Pinciaro, the organizations executive director. We knew Melissa. Shes been active as a supporter of our issue for a number of years, well before she thought about running. When we found out that she was running, we started considering the possibility of giving that endorsement.

Pinciaro said the group would consider endorsing more municipal candidates in the future, though not in this election cycle.

Connecticut Against Gun Violence is not the only state or national organization to become involved in Westports election. Kane was one of six state candidates to receive support from Code Blue, a national organization whose goal is to get progressive candidates into office at local, state and national levels. NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, which advocates for womens reproductive rights, and Womens March Connecticut, which seeks to harness the political power of diverse women, according to its website, have also lent their support to Kanes campaign.

Pinciaro said before making the decision to endorse Kane, the group sent First Selectman James Marpe a questionnaire on gun control issues and Marpes responses were satisfactory to the group. However, the group opted against supporting Marpe, in part because he was slow to sign the Mayors Against Illegal Guns petition started in 2006.

Marpe signed the petition in June and said he holds a firm position on gun control.

I believe my position is as strong as Melissas in terms of the attention Ive given to the issue of gun violence. Ive been working with the Westport police to make sure theyre enforcing gun laws, Marpe said.

He said hes working with the police to encourage safety measures  like digital safety codes and thumbprint safes  to make sure firearms dont fall into the wrong hands, and hes added his name to the Request for Information Initiative sponsored by the social change nonprofit, Do Not Stand Idly By. On a local level, Marpe said its important to ensure police work with gun manufacturers committed to taking gun safety measures, though he said it was somewhat odd for national groups to get involved in local elections.

Generally, national organizations dont focus on local elections like this, Marpe said. And local organizations, unless theyre politically aligned, recognize that they will have to work with whoever wins the election, so I think they tend to stay away from endorsements.

John Suggs, independent candidate for first selectman, also expressed some surprise at the endorsements and said he was never contacted by Connecticut Against Gun Violence to fill out a questionnaire or state his position on gun control.

Local elections rarely receive endorsements regarding gun control precisely because there is such little concrete things that a local elected official can do on the issue, Suggs said, in a statement, though he echoed Marpes point about buying responsibly from gun manufacturers.

According to Pinciaro, because Connecticut does not have preemption laws, ordinances can be passed on a local level that do not align with state statute. Pinciaro said ordinances promoting gun safety  even those not accepted within state statute  are another way in which local governments can affect change.

Our municipalities can do a lot on their own in terms of public safety, Pinciaro said.

Kane  who said shes been passionate about gun control since her children were born and that her first gun-control event was the Million Mom March in 2000  said she believes there is much to be done on a local level.

Municipalities are really sort of the front line when it comes to keeping a community safe. Its important to understand that Westport, as a municipality, can be doing a lot to stem gun violence in the state, Kane said. Gun violence is the scourge of our nation.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1
WILTON  A two-car accident on Wiltons most traveled roadway sent two to the hospital Wednesday afternoon, police said.

Police were dispatched to Danbury Road at the intersection at Old Mill Road around 3 p.m. Wednesday for the accident.
Pieology, a California-based fast-casual pizzeria chain, is expanding its Northeast presence with the upcoming opening of its first Connecticut eatery in Stamford.

No opening date has been announced yet for the 230 Tresser Blvd. site, which will be the region's only Pieology. The company is also planning to open locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but has no plans for the Westchester or Hudson Valley markets; the nearest East Coast locations are in Bethesda and Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Miniature pigs may soon be allowed within the Grand Island city limits if the Grand Island City Council approves an ordinance amending city code.

The City Council will discuss and consider approving an ordinance to amend chapter 5 of the city code to include mini pigs Tuesday.

At its Aug. 29 meeting, the animal advisory board voted 4-2 to recommend the amendment of city code to allow for mini pigs.

In her council agenda memo included in the City Council agenda packet, Assistant City Attorney Stacy Nonhoff outlines the criteria an owner would need to abide by in order to own a mini pig. She writes that they pigs would be limited to purebred animals of the Sus Scrofa Domesticus species.

Under this definition, Nonhoff says only five breeds would be allowed. They are:

 African pygmy (or guinea hog)

 Juliana

 Ossabow Island

 Potbellied

 Vietnamese

 Yucatan

Under the proposed ordinance, citizens would only be allowed to own one miniature pig that is no more than 100 pounds when fully grown and no taller than 22 inches in height at the shoulder. Mini pig owners would be required to have the pig on a leash if it is off the owners property.

Nonhoff says owners would also be required to license their mini pigs, much like is required with cats and dogs. When it is licensed, a mini pig must be spayed or neutered by age 4 and documentation must be shown confirming it is one of the five allowable breeds.

The mini pig would also be required to be vaccinated and blood tested annually. Nonhoff writes in her memo that the owner must provide a veterinarian certification of this to the animal control authority (Central Nebraska Humane Society). Proof of vaccinations must also be provided before a license is given.

Dr. Brad Adrian, staff veterinarian at the Central Nebraska Humane Society, said that just because an ordinance is passed allowing mini pigs within Grand Island city limits, it does not mean that small animal veterinarians would suddenly start seeing them.

Adrian said he is unaware of what veterinary clinics have available or have decided to do in regard to mini pigs. He added two clinics he contacted about the matter responded that, at the time, they did not want to see mini pigs.

The small animal clinics, unless they see swine, are not likely to carry a lot of vaccines, Adrian said. Right now, they do not carry any for mini pigs. So they are looking at it. What numbers are they going to see and is it enough to justify (buying vaccines)? Generally, you cannot buy a single vaccine; you have to buy several doses.

The ordinance is coming before the City Council at the request of Angela Alexander, who had her mini pig, Otis, taken away from her and placed at the Central Nebraska Humane Society and later at a foster home as a result of Alexander being in violation of city code.

The City Council will also consider approving an interlocal agreement with Hall County for snow removal services in and around Grand Island. The item is in the consent agenda. All items in the consent agenda are approved with a single yes or no vote unless they are pulled for discussion by a member of the council.

Streets Superintendent Shannon Callahan said the proposed agreement consists of three components:

 Exchanging snow removal and ice control services on rural cross-section roadways in and around Grand Island.

 Hall County providing additional equipment and operators to the city for residential area snow removal and, if necessary, arterial roadway snow removal.

 Exchanging city mowing services for county snow removal and ice control services in lieu of cash payment.

Callahan added this is the first time an interlocal agreement for snow removal services has been signed between Hall County and the city of Grand Island.

The biggest one is an exchange of services for money, she said. Hall County has agreed, if approved, to take on some extra snow removal. (This includes) some of our snow routes, but more rural routes with slower traffic volumes (and) two-lane roadways in exchange for $500 a mile.

When it comes to Hall County providing additional equipment and operators to the city for snow removal, Callahan said the city will reimburse Hall County for their services at a combined hourly rate comprised of the FEMA equipment hourly rental rate, plus actual hourly operator costs.

What I am picturing we will be able to use that for is once we go into residential areas, and the county is completely done with the stuff they are responsible for, they would come in and help us do residential areas, she said. If we get into a big blizzard situation like we did in February 2016, we would be able to call them to see if they could help do some of our main roads if needed.

Callahan added the agreement also clarifies areas where the city and countys jurisdiction is intermittent.

It is just sort of clarifying some of those sections where the county for sure is going to plow a whole roadway and those sections within the city would be included in those funds paid, she said.  This just makes it easier when we map the routes for the guys so they know where they are supposed to be and where they can go ahead and turn around at.

In other action, the City Council will:

 Hold separate public hearings on and consider approving separate requests for liquor licenses from McKinneys Irish Pub and Whiteys.

 Consider approving a resolution of sale and assignment of rights for the transfer of the Kaneko Sculptures at Railside to the city of Grand Island.

The Grand Island City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
As part of Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 8-14, members of the Grand Island Fire Department are visiting area elementary schools, sharing the importance of fire prevention.

The Fire Department will be making presentations throughout the month due to the large number of schools in the community.

During the visit, firefighters visit with students inside the classroom, offering fire prevention tips and discussing fire escape plans, as well as giving tours of a fire truck, ambulance, and the departments Fire Safety House.

The Fire Prevention Week activities include:

 Children ages pre-kindergarten through first grade will receive fire truck and ambulance tours.

 Third-graders will participate in the annual EDITH program (Exit Drills in the Home) and will receive instruction and visit the Fire Safety House.

 Second-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children will receive safety talks from firefighters.

On Monday, members of the Fire Department were at Wasmer Elementary School.

Capt. Phil Thomas said the firefighters are teaching students how to be safe when theres a fire.

For example, Thomas said the students go in the departments Fire Safety House where firefighters teach them how to get out if their house is on fire.

We also teach about the smoke alarm going off and we have a DVD that they watch about the importance of having a plan to get out if their home is on fire, he said.

Thomas said when working with third-graders, We teach them EDITH, where they actually sit down with their parents and draw out a plan with two ways out. This simulator (Fire Safety House) encompasses all of that. We try to bring this out and run the third-graders through it every year. It is an age where they can learn the most as kindergarten, first and second-graders like to see our red trucks. In the third grade, they are really starting to learn something.

Firefighters from Station One and Station Three were at Wasmer Elementary School on Monday.

Thomas, who has been with the Fire Department for 11 years, said the fire prevention program for elementary students makes a difference.

We have seen fire fatalities way down, he said. We have had a few fire fatalities the last couple of years, but not kids.

Along with being firefighters, Thomas said, they are also educators teaching the public about how to be safe if there is a fire as property can be replaced, but not human lives. He said teaching elementary students about what to do and how to be safe if there is a fire in their home is crucial.

We teach the kids to go home and get the parents involved and how to do their plans and make sure that the smoke detectors are working, he said.

One of the things that we teach here is that when you go to sleep you cant smell anything, Thomas said. People may think that they can smell the smoke, but you dont because as you are sleeping you cannot smell. You need that smoke detector to wake you up.

He said they also teach the students to keep their doors shut in case theres a fire in their home, especially at night when they are in bed.

A lot of kids dont sleep with their doors shut and smoke can go right into their room, Thomas said.

Third-grader Eva Solorzano said she learned that, the reason we have firefighters is to keep us safe and we need to have two exit plans and we need to remember the EDITH escape drill in the house. And we need to stay calm when we hear a smoke detector.

I liked how they made all of the fog when we got to go into the smoke house, Eva said. It was a realistic visual of what you would feel and what you should know.

She said when she gets home from school, Im going to tell them (her parents) that I need to find a way to get out of my window.

Wasmer third-grade teacher Brenda Bartu said the lesson from the firefighters reinforces to the children how to be prepared.

Bartu said they hold fire drills at the school every month to instruct children what to do if there is a fire. The lessons from the firefighters bring that lesson of safety into their homes.

As a followup to the firefighters visit to the school, she said, she will work with the students in making an evacuation plan for their homes.

If this should happen, they are going to know, or hopefully remember something that they learned, on what they should do to be safe, Bartu said. It is at an age when they are old enough to help their little brothers and sisters, also.
The Grand Island Area Council for International Visitors hosted four visitors from Friday to Monday through the International Visitor Leadership Program.

Visiting Grand Island were: Zulfiqaar Adam from the Maldives, head of the International Liaison Unit, Counter Terrorism Department at the Maldives Police Service; Nabinda Aryal of Nepal, superintendent of police and IT support head, Cyber Investigation and Security Unit, Central Investigation Bureau and Nepal Police; Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh of Pakistan, deputy inspector general of police, traffic licensing and training for Sindh; and Nayomi Wickramasekera of Sri Lanka, a senior state counsel at the Attorney Generals Department.

Their visit, organized through the U.S. State Department, focused on combating transnational security threats. They came to the U.S. Sept. 25 and will leave Oct. 13, as they have visited other states and cities. They discussed those issues with local leaders, seeking to gain information they could implement in their home countries.

While in Grand Island, they met with the police chief and some police officers. They said the officers and police chief were very good about explaining specific issues in the city and how theyre handled. The main issues they heard about, Aryal said, are drug and human trafficking, gangs and active shooters.

As a prosecutor in Sri Lanka, Wickramasekera said she deals with many issues. She said it was interesting to hear about human trafficking, how law enforcement handles it and how victims are offered resources to reintegrate into society. She said its not always like that in her country.

Above all else, she said she admired the collaboration between law enforcement and the public that she learned about. She would like to propose starting a trafficking task force in Sri Lanka cities when she returns.

We are amazed at the level of citizen participation, Wickramasekera said.

Shaikh agreed about the community collaboration and support.

Everybody is a policeman here, he said.

Shaikh also said it seemed that law enforcement is respected in the community and that the community is involved. Thats something he would like to try to implement in Pakistan.

Adam said being in America, it was good to see how different agencies, both state and national, work together on issues. He said it was good to see in Grand Island how different agencies work together to solve issues, too, and he wants to figure out new ways to implement that at home.

He and the others agreed that the thing theyd most like to improve is the communication and collaboration between agencies and the public in their respective countries when it comes to solving certain issues.

You have to get your community behind you, Shaikh said.

Aside from the many discussions with local leaders, the visitors were able to experience a taste of Nebraska. Mark Tracy and his wife, whom they were very thankful to, made them a traditional American Thanksgiving meal complete with turkey and pumpkin pie. The Fraternal Order of Police hosted them Sunday night for a meal, and on Monday they ate at Valentinos, which was a hit. They also got to see the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, the Grand Theatre in Grand Island and the Stuhr Museum. They each wanted to thank all of the people they came in contact with and each of the funders of the program, as they appreciated the opportunity.

Adam said he had no words to describe how hospitable everyone theyve met through the program has been. All four visitors said meeting everyone, and each other, has been beneficial and they intend to keep in touch.

Each of the visitors had never visited Nebraska before, and for two of them it was their first time in the U.S.

When we came to Nebraska, it was like coming to our hometown, Wickramasekera said, referring to the kindness and happiness of the people.

Shaikh said Grand Island may seem like a small town to some who come from bigger cities, but the people have big hearts.
Nebraskans have been hearing a lot about the importance of manufacturing to the state this month, and rightfully so.

While agriculture is far and away the main driver of Nebraskas economy, manufacturing also employs a large number of people, particularly in the bigger cities.

As part of National Manufacturing Month, Gov. Pete Ricketts has visited a number of manufacturers throughout the state, including in Grand Island. In addition, the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce is supporting manufacturers by inviting local business leaders and dignitaries to take tours of Dramco Tool Company, Hornady Manufacturing Company and McCain Foods USA.

Manufacturing is Grand Islands number one and Nebraskas number two job sector. Grand Island has over 7,000 jobs in the manufacturing industry. These jobs comprise of a wide variety of careers and make up 24 percent of the Grand Island job market, Grand Island Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Johnson stated in a press release. By providing these tours, we hope to give our community leaders the opportunity to showcase the level of sophistication in the manufacturing environment and equipment being utilized right here in Grand Island.

According to the governors office, 97,000 Nebraskans are employed in the manufacturing industry and Nebraskas manufacturers contribute $13 billion annually toward the states economy.

Manufacturing is crucial to the economy of cities such as Grand Island, where there isnt a large state or federal government presence or a major college.

Manufacturing is where there are jobs, often good-paying jobs, that allow people to make a good living.

It also is an area where the Career Pathways Institute in the Grand Island Public Schools and Central Community College provide excellent training.

And that is part of the purpose of the highlight on manufacturing this month. Manufacturers need a skilled workforce, and officials want young people to consider looking into it.

Exposing young people to careers in our states second largest industry is essential in order to recruit new talent into Nebraskas workforce, said Department of Economic Development Director Courtney Dentlinger.

Manufacturing Month allows students a first-hand opportunity to learn more about what makes our manufacturing businesses successful, such as new technology, growing investment opportunities, and most importantly, the skilled workers and leaders fueling this industry. Its also an important first step in facilitating relationships between students, businesses and educators, which continues to be a top priority among our team at DED.

Nebraskans shouldnt take manufacturing industries for granted. They provide good jobs for a lot of people and can offer a promising future for many young people.
Eagles rally, then get sloppy in 4th quarter as undefeated hopes end

Several observations from the Eagles' Monday night game against the Washington Commanders.
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

By Liza Mundy

Hachette. 416 pp. $28

---

In the past few years, forgotten women of science, from the genteel astronomers who classified the stars at the Harvard Observatory in the 1890s to the African-American mathematicians who staffed NASA in the 1960s, have been rescued and celebrated. If you cheered the recovery of these remarkable pioneers, you will love reading about the women recruited by the Army and the Navy during World War II and trained in secret programs to break Japanese and German military codes. In "Code Girls," journalist Liza Mundy tells the irresistible tale of the female cryptographers who learned to crack these diabolically difficult systems. Being chosen for this mission changed the lives of more than 10,000 young American women, took them out of their familiar surroundings and prescribed destinies, and offered them a thrilling opportunity to do urgent war work at the nation's center.

But they took vows of secrecy, and this vast enterprise has been hidden for almost 70 years. In her research to uncover it, Mundy examined collections in the National Archives in College Park, Md., found dozens of recently declassified and archived oral histories, and tracked down 20 surviving code girls, centering on the intrepid Dot Braden Bruce, a Randolph-Macon Woman's College graduate and high school teacher from Virginia, who is still a firecracker at 96. Mundy skillfully interweaves the history of the war and the evolution of modern military intelligence with the daily lives of the women who were racing to decipher the messages of the enemy, while dealing with bureaucratic rivalries, administrative sexism, romance and heartbreak on the home front.

After Pearl Harbor, the military decided to build up its small intelligence operation by bringing female college graduates to Washington and teaching them cryptanalysis, codes and ciphers. The Army and the Navy competed with each other to find and recruit the most talented. In 1942, only about 4 percent of American women had graduated from a four-year college. The elite Seven Sister colleges had their finest hour as the Navy tapped their presidents, deans and faculty to identify top students in mathematics, science and languages. Bryn Mawr President Katherine E. McBride noted that the war was creating unprecedented opportunities for highly educated women: "There is a new situation for women here, a demand that has never existed for them before."

Once they were settled in their hastily adapted dormitories in Washington and Arlington, Va., the recruits ran early computers, built libraries, translated documents and formed teams to solve the elaborate, ever-changing codes of the Japanese navy. The water-transport codes, which came from the merchant ships going around the Pacific to supply troops, were particularly useful. In 1944, the code-breakers intercepted 30,000 water-transport messages a month, a deluge of numbers that they miraculously managed to solve through an intensive search for patterns and some "golden" guesses. That information enabled the Navy to pinpoint and sink almost every supply ship heading to the Philippines or the South Pacific. Before D-Day, the teams participated in the effort to give the Germans false information and fake radio traffic about the site of the Allied landing.

Initially the women came to Washington as civilians, but in May 1942, the Army accepted them into military service with the WACs - the Women's Auxiliary Corps. The Navy took longer to set up a women's reserve; indeed, as Virginia Gildersleeve, dean of Barnard College, recalled, some of the older officers believed that "admitting women into the Navy would break up homes and amount to a step backward in civilization." But the Navy got a boost when an English professor from Barnard christened its female auxiliary the WAVES: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. The president of Wellesley became its first commander, and the French-American couturier Mainbocher was brought in to design its dashingly fitted uniform, which, some felt, was "the most flattering piece of clothing they ever owned." The Navy's female code-breakers had the opportunity to become commissioned officers; they went to boot camp at Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hunter; cut their hair short; and were subject to harsh naval discipline. But they loved the pride and camaraderie, and in a year there were 4,000 code-breakers at the WAVES Barracks D across New Mexico Avenue, working three shifts a day, marching and singing "I don't need a man to give me sympathy/ Why I needed it before is a mystery."

Not everything was triumphant. A cohort of code girls was still seen by some military administrators as extra secretaries, cute mascots or natural drudges. The code-breaker Ann Caracristi remembered that "it was generally believed that women were good at doing tedious work, and ... the initial stages of cryptanalysis were very tedious, indeed." Moreover, women were subject to stricter sexual and social punishment than their brothers and boyfriends. Lesbianism, abortion, pregnancy - even for married women - meant discharge. And after the war, women were expected to give up their jobs, go home and start having babies again. A few code girls went on to high positions at the National Security Agency, but as a cohort, their postwar job opportunities and their chances for further education under the GI Bill were mixed at best.

Still, they cherished their experience. Ann White reflected that "never in my life since have I felt as challenged as during that period. ... When the needs of society and the needs of an individual come together, we were fulfilled."

We owe Mundy gratitude for rescuing these hidden figures from obscurity. Even more valuable is her challenge to the myth of the eccentric, inspired, solitary male genius, like Alan Turing. As Mundy demonstrates, code-breaking in World War II "was a gigantic team effort," and "genius itself is often a collective phenomenon." Codes were broken by the patient labor of groups of people "trading pieces of things they have learned and noticed and collected." I suspect there are more stories of hidden figures waiting to be told. But in writing this book, Mundy has broken some of the codes that kept them hidden for so long.

---

Showalter is professor emerita of English at Princeton University. Her most recent book is "The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography."
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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 07:56 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23d7820 4 Editorial #Editorial,Supreme-Court,#SupremeCourt,#JudicialReform,#JudicialSystem,judicial-system,judicial-reform,corruption-case Free

The Supreme Court was quick to respond to Manado High Court chief judge Sudiwardonos arrest on Sunday for allegedly accepting bribes. Not only has it moved to dismiss the judge, although he has not been found guilty yet, the court also put in place an inquiry team headed by the assistant to Supreme Court chief Justice Sunarto to delve into flaws in internal supervision mechanisms that might have facilitated corruption.

The swift action is right and understandable as the case has put the judiciarys reputation at stake. When the investigation is completed, the four-member team may hold one or two officials responsible for failing to carry out their oversight jobs and recommend improvements to ensure effective supervision.

But such measures may be too little, too late. The Supreme Court took tough action after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Sudiwardono in a sting operation. The judge will be charged with accepting kickbacks from Golkar Party lawmaker Aditya Anugrah Moha. KPK investigators seized S$64,000 (US$ 46,848) of the $100,000 in cash that the politician had allegedly promised to influence an appellate bench handling a corruption case involving Adityas mother, Marlina Moha Siahaan, a former two-time Bolaang Mongondow regent.

The public has long sniffed corruption within the judiciary, which is why the term judiciary mafia was coined, in the form of verdict-buying practices despite reforms in the judiciary initiated in the early 2000s  partly sponsored by foreign donors. Most of the time the KPK could only ensnare court clerks, but let judges off the hook, unless they caught the judges in the act as in the case of Sudiwardono.

The whistle blowing mechanism, too, has proven ineffective and could backfire on whoever tries to file a report against allegedly corrupt judges as in the case of a lawyer who was found guilty of defamation for stating in public that he had bribed a Supreme Court justice.

The Supreme Court should have revisited its internal reform, which it claimed had been in place, as soon as the KPK arrested a judge for the first time several years ago. That the anti-graft body began its fight against the judiciary mafia should send the Supreme Court a clear message of its defective supervision mechanism.

The flaw was brought to the fore last year when a court clerk, on trial for a bribery case involving subsidiaries of a conglomeration, named then- Supreme Court secretary-general Nurhadi as his partner in crime. Suhardi later resigned, but until today the KPK has yet to fully investigate him. In 2012, another Supreme Court justice, Ahmad Yamani, was dismissed for conspiring with the courts registrar to cut a drug dealers life sentence to 12 years.

Only external control will help the Supreme Court restore its reputation as internal mechanisms have proven to offer no remedy to the pandemonium. As the current law allows the court to resist outside supervision, just let the KPK do the job for the courts own sake.
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Linkedin BKPM (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Mon, October 9, 2017

Bali might be Indonesias best known tourist destination. The archipelagic country, however, still boasts numerous other tourist destinations, across North and West Sumatra as well as East and Central Java and elsewhere, popular among travelers. The potential of these emerging tourist destinations, unfortunately, still remains untapped by investors, who have mainly focused on Bali so far.

This is why Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Lembong is currently inviting foreign and domestic investors alike to invest in the tourist sector, particularly in destinations  other than Bali  which still have great potential to be developed. He referred to these areas as the new Balis of Indonesia, or the next big tourism hubs in Indonesia besides Bali.

Investors investing in Balis tourism 10 years ago by supporting the islands hotels, resorts and villas, must have enjoyed the benefits of the areas already-developed tourist ecosystem by now. Therefore, it is time now to invest in the new Balis of Indonesia, Thomas said on Oct. 9.

New and potential tourist attractions designated by the government to be Indonesias top 10 priority destinations for development include Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Kelayang Cape in Bangka Belitung, Lesung Cape in Banten, Thousand Islands in Jakarta, Borobudur in Central Java, the Bromo  Tengger  Semeru mountains in East Java, as well as two integrated tourist areas in West Sumatra, namely Mandeh Beach and Mount Padang.

To lure investors to channel their funds into these destinations, Thomas will highlight the governments priority destinations mentioned above in the upcoming Regional Investment Forum 2017 (RIF 2017), which will be organized in Padang, West Sumatra, from Oct. 15 to 17.

Initiated by the BKPM in cooperation with the Tourism Ministry, Bank Indonesia and the West Sumatra provincial administration, RIF 2017 seeks to support President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration in its efforts to develop tourism.

The administration has an ambitious target of attracting 20 million foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia per year, with 275 million domestic tourist visits per year. Furthermore, the sector is expected to generate up to Rp 260 trillion in foreign exchange earnings.

The forum will also be an effective platform to place these destinations in foreign investors spotlight: to date, approximately 114 investors from Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States have confirmed their participation in the event.

To make the forum more fruitful, around 66 meetings have been scheduled among investors, local government representatives and entrepreneurs to intensively explore investment opportunities in tourism.

According to Tourism Minister Arief Yahya, participating investors could invest their capital to build facilities in the priority tourist destinations offered in the forum to help boost foreign and domestic tourist arrivals in Indonesia.

Arief emphasized that to meet the needs of tourists for proper infrastructure and facilities, the government needed to partner with the business community to achieve attractive, amenable and accessible tourism in Indonesia.

Speaking about facilities, West Sumatra Governor Irwan Prayitno also took time to promote his province, explaining that Padang  the provinces capital  had actually served as an international trading port since the 16th century.

Therefore, West Sumatra is open wide for business and investment. The beauties of Mount Padang and Mandeh Beach as well as the delicacy of Padang cuisine is ready to welcome foreign and domestic investors, he said.

The minister and the governor are scheduled to speak at the forum. Among high-profile government officials also scheduled to attend the forum are Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar and Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara. Furthermore, Indonesian ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Belgium, Malaysia and Mexico are also scheduled to attend the forum.

For more information on tourist destinations offered during the forum as well as a detailed rundown of its schedule, visit the website regionalinvestmentforum.com.

Lucrative sector

As a whole, Indonesias tourism is a promising industry.

Within the first half of 2017, the tourist sector has grown by more than 35 percent compared to the same period last year. It certainly shows that this sector is growing very well, Thomas said.

Based on BKPM data, investment realization in tourism between the period of 2010 and 2016 had increased by an average of 20 percent per year. Within the same period, the sector absorbed 221,000 workers into the workforce.

Within the first half of 2017, meanwhile, investment realization in tourism amounted to Rp 12.4 trillion (US$929.14 million), recording a growth of 37 percent year-on-year.
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Linkedin Linda Yulisman (The Jakarta Post) Tokyo  Tue, October 10, 2017 09:22 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23dba5f 1 Lifestyle Tokyo,Transportation,public-transportation,Train Free

Everyday Tomoi Nasu, 27, travels by train from her house in Gyotoku in Chiba Prefecture to her office in Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Travelling along the Tozai line, the most packed subway line in Tokyo, and the Ginza line, she spends between 40 and 50 minutes on weekdays to reach her office.

The trains are very punctual. Even though there are sometimes delays, they arrive every 20 minutes at most, said Tomoi, a systems engineer for a private company.

Tomoi is among 1.4 million passengers transported daily on Tokyos busiest line, the Tozai line. In a culture with a high respect for punctuality like Japan, people often get mad with even three- to five-minute delays. Aside from its predictability, passengers may have another reason to opt for trains: affordable fares. Tomoi, for instance, pays only 200 yen (US$1.8) for one trip by train, much cheaper than around 5,600 yen by taxi.

While driving a car may be more convenient, it is not an option because of frequent traffic jams, in addition to expensive parking fees.

Here, in this big city, I dont think its a smart decision to have your own car, said Tomoi, who also takes trains on weekends.

As Tokyo seeks to encourage its inhabitants to use public transport, it has been prepared to meet the massive demands.

Tokyo Metro Co. Ltd., which is owned partly by the Tokyo administration, carried 7.24 million passengers daily last year, said Hideo Saito, the firms manager for international relations.

It now operates nine lines spanning 195.1 kilometers, while another operator, Toei Subway, owned by the Tokyo metropolitan administrations transportation bureau, operates four lines spanning 109 km. While Tokyos subway system is touted as one of the most complex in the world, a closer look reveals its convenience, including for foreigners.

Compared to subways in other mega-cities, like London or Paris, one may find the Japanese subway routes easier to follow, even if they dont understand Japanese or cant remember Japanese names, as each station on the 13 lines comes with a number. So, people just need to remember the line and the station number of where they want to depart and their destination.

A single train comprises 10 cars with a capacity of 2,000 plus passengers during rush hour. Of that figure, 500 passengers can sit, while the others stand.

We dont have a specific number for the density of passengers [per square meter] to guarantee safety, but we think if it is below five passengers per square meter, we can offer a relatively comfortable environment for passengers, Saito said.

To cope with the gradual increase of passengers each year, Tokyo Metro has continued to improve its services. In April last year, it commenced the operation of a learning center that cost 20 billion yen to develop. There, the company instructs drivers before they receive their driving licenses and teaches them to solve a range of technical problems that often occur at train stations.

Tokyo, the first Asian city to build a subway line, remains an inspiration for many countries in the region, including Indonesia, which is now developing a mass rapid transit system in the capital city of Jakarta. To aid the development of the mass transportation project, Tokyo Metro has provided consultation to the Jakarta administration through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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Linkedin Virginie Montet (Agence France-Presse) Washington  Tue, October 10, 2017 12:04 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e60a0 2 People Nobel,#Nobel,Richard-Thaler Free

He was awarded a Nobel prize Monday for his work showing economic and financial decisions are not always rational, but mostly human.

So it seems fitting that US economist Richard Thaler, 72, says he wants to spend his $1 million winnings "as irrationally as possible."

In awarding the prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Thaler for bringing behavioral economics into the mainstream -- exploring the impact of psychological and social factors on individual or group decisions in the economy and financial markets.

Thaler told a press conference at the University of Chicago, where he teaches, he was "very much asleep" when he received the 4 am phone call informing him he had won.

"I had a pretty good idea what that might be," he admitted, joking: "Unlike Bob Dylan, I do plan to go to Stockholm."

Dylan kept silent for weeks after he was awarded last year's Nobel prize for literature, although he eventually did accept the prize in the Swedish capital.

Read also: Richard Thaler of US wins Nobel Economics Prize

The possession factor

A professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Thaler was described by the Nobel jury as a pioneer in his field.

He is well known for co-founding "nudge" theory -- which demonstrates how people can be persuaded to make decisions that leave them healthier and happier.

His book on the theory -- co-authored with legal scholar Cass Sunstein -- became a bestseller, influencing governments and companies with its original solutions to savings, consumption and public health issues.

Meanwhile, his notion of "paternal libertarianism" also became a point of reference for politicians, particularly under the Obama administration, during which Sunstein was a regulatory tsar.

On Monday, Thaler said 75 groups using the "nudge" or "boost" methods are currently advising governments and businesses.

The theory is based on the idea people make financial decisions by focusing primarily on short-term impact -- and is used to encourage people to, for example, pay for parking spaces or get vaccinated.

Thaler also coined what he called the "possession factor," which shows people have an aversion to loss, prioritizing what they already have -- even if its value has deteriorated.

Read also: Kazuo Ishiguro: Social worker turned Nobel Prize Winner

This results in financial decisions which are not always beneficial, such as putting off saving or investing when prices are rising.

The field of behavioral economics has another Nobel Prize winner in Milton Friedman, who won in 1976 -- having upset classical economic theories arguing individuals act only in their best interests.

And Thaler acknowledged his work, too, has not always been warmly received.

"Economists don't do a lot of embracing," he said Monday, adding he does not believe he "changed anybody's mind in 40 years."

The Nobel economics committee also recognized behavioral economics in rewarding economist and sociologist Herbert Simon.

His work on "bounded rationality" -- the concept that decision-making is affected by information, cognitive and time limitations -- was rewarded in 1978.

Meanwhile in 2002, American-Israeli psychologist Daniel Kahneman -- a colleague and co-author of Thaler -- was awarded the prize for research on behavioral finance.

Other economists in the field recognized by the Academy include Angus Deaton, winner in 2015 for his analysis of consumption, poverty and welfare, and Robert Shiller in 2013 for his work on psychology's influence financial markets.
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Linkedin Duncan Graham (The Jakarta Post) Malang  Tue, October 10, 2017 08:51 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23da06e 4 Art & Culture local-artists,Malang,female,gender-equality Free

When Eka Mulya Astuti was in high school, her class had an exercise in drawing. The teenager loved art so she anticipated praise, but instead, she was accused of plagiarism because her work was far superior to her peers efforts.

I was so angry, Astuti recalled, I was also ashamed; I threw it away.

In those days students didnt argue. When I had the chance to select courses I chose natural science, which didnt include art, just to avoid that woman, she said of the teacher.

Eka said she was 15 back then, but now at 48, she still remembers that moment clearly. Eventually I became a teacher so I took great care when criticising students work; I understand the need for positive reinforcement, she said.

Eka quit school and shook off the damning response of a miserly mistress to triumph in her first calling. Shes also discovered another hurdle  being taken seriously. Art in Indonesia is largely mens business.

Moel Soenarko (JP/Erlinawati Graham)

Bandung mixed-media artist and gallery owner Moel Soenarko, 77, reckons creative Indonesian women have a greater struggle than men in getting their work appreciated.

On a recent visit to Malang the veteran campaigner for equality held a soiree where she advised Eka and other female artists to go beyond selling their works privately and mount formal exhibitions.

We have to get out in the public, she said. Why do so many people who dont do anything get in the media while we women are ignored? We need to express ourselves and get noticed.

Ekas portraiture is now being commissioned by collectors like Jim Willey, an American executive at the Paiton power station complex in East Java. His Las Vegas home is adorned with art from Cambodia, Nepal, China, Thailand, India and Indonesia.

Willey describes Ekas work as unique, and totally cool. Each painting includes a narrative (in Javanese) that specifically describes the subject in the painting, which is rare.

Visitors do not often understand who is on the wall. Appreciation is enhanced because the viewer can put the subject in historical perspective. Eka provides a connection to her art, he said.

Eka is obsessed with ancient Javanese history and mythology, particularly stories of strong women; this is no surprise as her mother Mariana raised her alone from the age of two when her father died. She has also been a single mom for the past decade.

More than a love story: The statue of Ken Dedes can be found at the entrance to Malang. (JP/Erlinawati Graham)

Her luminaries include Ken Dedes, the consort of Ken Arok, the first ruler of the Shiva-Buddha kingdom of Singhasari. She is also intrigued by Calonarang  a completely different figure.

According to folklore, Calonarang was a widow possessing powerful black magic who lived in Girah, a village near Kediri in East Java a millennium ago. She allegedly caused pestilence because no man would marry her daughter Ratna Manggali. The plague was lifted only when Calonarangs spellbook was stolen.

The wicked-witch genre also features in medieval European mythology as an eccentric crone or a threat to marriages  certainly a handy scapegoat. She is cursed when crops fail or babies die. However, feminist Indonesian poet Toeti Heraty Noerhadi-Roosseno has another interpretation: She sees Calonarang as a woman victimized by a patriarchal repressive society.

Eka has completed one large portrait of Calonarang, which she wont sell, and is planning others. She is working on a triptych of Pramodhawardhani, the ninth-century queen credited with initiating Borobudur, the worlds largest Buddhist temple.

Because no portraits exist of her subjects, Eka reincarnates them in a semi-abstract style using acrylics. Among her heroines is the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo who also specialised in striking portraits of women.

To get inspiration I meditate, burn incense and play gamelan music. Its difficult to concentrate because friends drop in for long chats; they dont think an artist at home is a worker.

Once I was asked to paint Nyai Loro Kidul, but felt uneasy about the assignment, she said.

In Javanese mythology, Nyai Loro Kidul is the queen of the Southern Sea famous for having shape-shifting abilities, and is said to drown seafarers who wear green.

When the canvas arrived it was mouldy, though the supplier said it was clean and fresh when sent. I saw this as an omen so havent done the picture, Eka said.

Ekas father was an artist but died when she was young. Mariana raised their child alone by making and selling food. Ekas talents went beyond art; she won a university scholarship to study English, has written 18 English texts and worked as an interpreter for international companies.

Sacred spot: The Kidal Temple in Malang, East Java. (JP/Erlinawati Graham)

Eka belongs to Bol Brutu, which started in 2009 when a group of artists visited the Kyai Sadrach historical site in Purworejo, Central Java. The name is an acronym from Gerombolan Pemburu Batu, which translates awkwardly as the Horde Hunters Group. It stages exhibitions and publishes art texts.

Closer to her Malang home is the Hindu Kidal Temple, her source of insights and spiritual connections. The temple was completed in 1260 as a shrine to King Anushapati, son of Ken Dedes.

A Shiva statue believed to be from the Kidal Temple is in Leidens National Museum of Ethnology. Surprisingly, Eka is not advocating its return.

I want Indonesians to appreciate our history and I hope my art helps. But Kidal is no longer the ideal environment. The statue is probably safer, getting better care and being seen by more people where it is, she said.

Just after this interview, an allegedly deranged doctor smashed his car through the gates and crashed into the temple causing minor damage. He was unhurt.
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Linkedin Ainur Rohmah (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 09:01 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23db06c 4 Environment village,tourist-village,yogyakarta-tourism,Yogyakarta,waste-management,waste Free

There is something different about the dykes running through the Singosaren neighborhood of Wukirsari village in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta.

Most dykes, particularly in urban and residential areas on Java, are foul and filled with garbage, but the ones in Singosaren are so clean that even fish live there.

In Wukirsari, local children like to feed the fish in the dykes and a number of adults regularly scrape algae off its walls.

The residents are now engaged part-time in taking care of the fishes and cleaning the dykes, said 29-year-old Ari Ahmad Zulfahmi, who lives there.

Ari said the fish ponds were actually irrigation channels that were once treated as places to dump garbage.

The idea to get rid of the garbage arose in June when members of Komunitas Anak Zaman, a local youth community, learned about proper environmental management methods.

So, we residents agreed to clean the irrigation channels and put young fish in them, Ari said.

The dykes-turned-ponds, which run a length of 100 meters through the neighborhood, are now home to about 8,000 tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The community plans to soon extend the fish ponds to cover a length of 500 m.

Ari hoped the fish farming program would raise residents awareness of maintaining cleanliness and actively involve them in environmental management.

It is also a means of public education because the water [from the dykes] is also used for irrigation and crops, and [its quality] will be affected if they are polluted, he said.

Giving guidance: Ari Ahmad Zulfahmi has worked through the Komunitas Anak Zaman local youth community to clean up the dykes in Singosaren. (JP/Ainur Rohmah)

The dykes upstream source is the Opak River, one of Yogyakartas four major rivers. The other three are the Bedog, Winongo and Code rivers, which flow down to Bantul regency and provide a source of irrigation for about 200,000 hectares of agricultural lands.

Gadjah Mada Universitys (UGM) recent research on industrial technology shows that the rivers had been heavily polluted by waste, mostly household waste.

Through the youth community, Ari has provided the area with garbage cans and posted murals and posters with messages on protecting the environment from waste.

These messages are apparently working in raising the communitys environmental awareness.

People used to dump garbage into the dykes and now no longer do it, said Muthohar, a Singosaren resident.

Other neighborhood units in the area are planning to replicate our program, the 60-year-old added.

The Wukirsari concept has been applied in at least two other locations, in Klaten and Klodran.

In Klaten, Central Java, 76-year-old retiree Joko Sucipto uses the irrigation dyke in front of his house for cultivating a variety of fish species. The dyke is clean because the water comes from Umbul Pluneng spring, located not far from his home.

Klodran villagers in Karanganyar, Central Java, have been breeding fish in their irrigation dykes since 2008, first cleaning the dykes and sowing tilapia spawn. Today, around 20 fish breeders have managed the approximately 600-m dyke-ponds.

Other youth communities like the one in Wukirsari have also been emerging in and around Yogyakarta to mitigate the waste problem that has polluted the local rivers.

One of these emerging communities is the Association of Yogyakarta River Communities (AKSY), with over 16 affiliate communities in the province.

AKSY chairperson Endang Rohjiani said the organization, which was set up in 2015, had been engaged in river education, campaigns and advocacy in its search for solutions.

This is a forum for sharing, motivation and strengthening the grassroots role in solving river issues, she said.

Well conserved: A Wukirsari villager stands by a dyke that was once filled with garbage, but is now home to over 8,000 tilapia. A local waste management initiative has raised the communitys awareness of environmental protection and urged residents to actively care for their water sources. (JP/Ainur Rohmah)

Such issues, said Endang, concerned not only waste management but also mining runoffs and makeshift riverbank settlements, which were interrelated and required a holistic solution. The government, she said, should toughen its legal instruments and existing rules to control public behavior.

Endang also mentioned AKSYs Mundur Munggah Madep Kali (M3K) movement, which advocated that riverbank settlements should move backward at least 3 m from rivers and be located higher than the riverbanks.

We also suggest that their homes face the rivers as a symbol of appreciation for the streams, so that they wont dump garbage there because they face their house yards, she said.

AKSY has also been running its River School program in Yogyakarta since 2015, which has been adopted by nearly all regions across the archipelago.

Through the school we promote student understanding about rivers, waste and water management and pro-environment campaigns in the media, said Endang.

While offering better understanding and environment-friendly solutions, the community river management programs can also provide benefits to local economies.

Nevertheless, implementing the programs on a larger, urban area scale could be a challenge.

Yogyakarta director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), Halik Sandera, said the Wukirsari concept could not be implemented in heavily urbanized zones, which faced various kinds of waste filling their dykes and gutters.

The government, the people and all relevant parties should make improvements and seek breakthrough solutions to resolve the waste issue, he said.

Halik said the waste problem in Yogyakartas urban areas had been increasingly worrying, with heaps of garbage frequently seen in its rivers and sewers. He added that Yogyakartas waste problem was mainly caused by overpopulation as well as increasing public consumption.

No less than 240 tons of waste is produced daily in Yogyakarta alone, a figure that rises to 300 tons at weekends. Of the total waste produced, about 10 to 15 percent are piling up along riverbanks.

Community empowerment is seen as the best way of handling the waste problem, but even this solution has its weaknesses, said Halik.

The empowerment program is among those in the citys overarching 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) waste management campaign.

In practice, not all waste can be recycled, such as liquid waste from households, Halik said.

To tackle liquid waste, he said, the Yogyakarta city government needed to promptly finish the Waste Water Disposal (PAL) installation in Sewon, Bantul.

Since 2012, the government has also accelerated the establishment of waste banks, which were highly expected to solve the problem of solid waste. Waste banks provide a source of income whereby people exchange their waste for money, yet this scheme also has its downsides.

Im afraid this may urge [people] to deposit more and more waste, and consumption will simply soar, Halik said.

Halik stressed that to make a serious effort to combat the waste problem, Yogyakartans needed to shift to a more efficient, practial lifestyle to minimize their consumption of goods.

For instance, the simplest way is to take their own bags when they go out shopping to local markets or department stores, he said.
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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 11:38 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e2b05 1 People Dwi-Hartanto,TU-Delft,The-Netherlands,scientists Free

Dwi Hartanto was among the participants who attended the Visiting World Class Professors event in 2016, a program organized by the Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister and the International Indonesian Scholars Association in which participants were invited to discuss and connect with reputable Indonesian diaspora researchers.

Dubbed The Next Habibie for his achievements in aerospace engineering, Dwi was said to be an assistant professor at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. His team had reportedly successfully launched a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), also known as The Apogee Ranger V7s (TARAV7s).

However, it turns out the popular scientist had fabricated many of his achievements.

On Oct. 7, Dwi released a five-page clarification letter on the official website of the Indonesian Student Association (PPI) in Delft, in which he apologized and admitted his mistakes and also cleared up some of the false information that had been circulated in the public.

Below are some of the facts related to the now infamous Dwi Hartanto:

Educational background

Dwi is currently studying for his doctoral degree at TU Delft's Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. The information about my position as post-doctoral or assistant professor at TU Delft is not true, he stated, adding that he was also not a doctoral candidate in the space technology and rocket development field.

He also did not graduate from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, but instead received his degree from AKPRIND Institute of Science and Technology in Yogyakarta.

Satellite Launch Vehicle

In contrast to what he told the media, Dwi has never built an SLV. He was once a member of a team that designed one of the embedded flight computer subsystems for a Cansat V7s rocket for Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE), which is a rocketry activity for students at TU Delft.

The project was only an amateur project of university students, Dwi stated. It was not a project from the Netherlands' Ministry of Defense, Netherlands Aerospace Center [NLR], Airbus Defense nor Dutch Space.

Read also: Dove sorry for advert branded racist

Lethal weapon in the sky

Dwi has also claimed to be the winner of an inter-space agency technology research competition in Germany this year, thanks to his "Lethal Weapon in the Sky" technology research. He even posted a photo of himself holding a large check with 15,000 euros (US$17,659) written as the prize.

However, he clarified that he never won the competition and that the "Lethal Weapon in the Sky" itself doesn't actually exist. I manipulated the check template and filled it in with my name and the nominal of 15,000 euros, he stated. The photo was published on my social media with my claim I was the winner.

The photo was actually taken when he visited the Space Business Innovation Center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, during his participation in a hackathon competition alongside other students.

Meeting B.J. Habibie

In one media report, Dwi claimed to have received a phone call from someone who was close to Indonesias third president, B.J. Habibie. Dwi said he was later asked to meet with the former president. He also claimed he was offered the chance to change his nationality by the government of the Netherlands.

In reality however, B.J. Habibie never asked Dwi to meet him. It was actually the other way around as Dwi was the one who asked the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) in Den Haag to introduce him to Habibie. His statement about changing his nationality was also not true.

According to his clarification letter, starting from Sept. 25, TU Delft has conducted a series of ethics code trials on Dwi. Up until this clarification is released, TU Delft is still in the process of making a decision, he wrote.

Meanwhile, the PPI Delft also released a statement letter on Oct. 4 regarding the matter. Aside from condemning Dwis actions, they have also coordinated with KBRI Den Haag concerning mediation between Dwi, TU Delf and other related parties. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 14:10 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e9c84 4 Business reclamation,moratorium,revocation,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno Free

Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan has said Jakarta Governor-elect Anies Baswedan and his deputy, Sandiaga Uno, cannot cancel the reclamation project in Jakarta Bay, stressing that the project is under the central government's control.

Dont be noisy in front of the public. If you dont agree, just tell us because we are the ones who conducted the research, said Luhut on Monday as reported by kompas.com.

Last Thursday, Luhut issued a letter to revoke a moratorium on the reclamation project imposed by his predecessor, Rizal Ramli, last year. The letter was issued only days before the inauguration of Anies and Sandiaga, scheduled to be held on Oct. 16.

Read also: Government officially lifts moratorium on Jakarta reclamation project

Sandiaga had met Luhut at the latters office to question the decision to revoke the moratorium.

Sandiaga stressed that Anies and himself, who had promised to stop the reclamation during the election campaign, would maintain their stance. We have decided that the reclamation should be stopped, he said.

Sandiaga said the islets that had already been constructed should be used as tourism areas so that all Jakarta people could benefit from the reclamation.

Luhut argued that the research on the reclamation project had been carried out by related ministries, state-owned electricity company PT PLN, and two state owned energy firms: PT Nusantara Regas and PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE).

Regarding islet G, Luhut said he had demanded the developer find a solution for the undersea cable network of coal-based power plants (PLTU) in Muara Karang, which were affected by the project. (bbn)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 12:39 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e683c 1 Business BlackBerry,Alipay,e-wallet Free

BlackBerry Messenger and Alipay will next month introduce their joint e-wallet called DANA which will allow users to make payments and transfer funds.

The e-wallet will be integrated with and accessible through the messenger, said BlackBerry Messenger CEO Matthew Talbot on Monday while introducing the beta version of DANA on his phone.

Alipay is a third-party mobile and online payment platform, established in Hangzhou, China in February 2004 by Alibaba Group.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry Messenger has evolved into an ecosystem in which users can do various things from reading news, shopping, booking plane tickets to paying electricity bills. In August, ride-hailing application Uber was integrated into the messenger.

"From a simple chatting app, BlackBerry Messenger has evolved into a complete ecosystem," Talbot said.

He added that the BlackBerry Messenger had a long term contract with Indonesian Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek), giving the latter the right to develop and market the messenger.

The content and applications inside the messenger are mostly owned by Emtek such as Bukalapak e-commerce and Reservasi.com online ticket booking. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 17:41 1861 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23f42b2 1 Business BPK,report,president,Jokowi,first-half Free

Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) members met with President Joko Jokowi Widodo to hand over an audit report on the first half of 2017 at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

BPK chairman Moermahadi Soerja Djanegara said the BPK had produced 687 reports and recommended that 14,997 identified problems be followed up by the government.

One identified problem, Moermahadi said, was the inflated $956.04 million cost recovery paid by the government to gas and oil companies.

Another finding was about contractors who had not paid taxes amounting to $209.25 million in 2015, said Moermahadi as reported by tribunnews.com.

While receiving the BPK members, President Jokowi was accompanied by Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung and Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution. (bbn)
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Linkedin Winda A. Charmila (The Jakarta Post) jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 20:43 1861 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23fc406 1 City Supreme-Court,water-privatization Free

The Supreme Court on Tuesday approved a cassation appeal filed by the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ) and annulled a verdict issued by the Jakarta High Court relating to cooperation between city-owned water operator PAM Jaya and two private companies.

Yes, we won the cassation after we filed the appeal last year, said the coalitions lawyer, Matthew Michele Lenggu, on Tuesday.

In 2013, the coalition filed a lawsuit against the city administration demanding that the court annul a 1997 agreement between PAM Jaya and PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra). The deal will end in 2023.

The coalition claimed that the agreement had failed to guarantee an adequate supply of clean, potable water in Jakarta.

In 2015, a panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court approved the lawsuit, saying that the defendants had been negligent in fulfilling the Jakarta residents rights to water and they also breached the law by handing over the water operation in Jakarta to private firms.

However, a year later, the private firms filed an appeal against the Central Jakarta District Courts decision and won.
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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 16:13 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23edb4e 1 National YasonnaLaoly,death-penalty,capital-punishment,human-rights Free

The government is to retain the death penalty, but intends to seek a "middle way" to accommodate those critics who opposed capital punishment as a violation of human rights, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said on Tuesday.

"There are two opposing views on the death penalty, agreeing [and] disagreeing [...] We're seeking a win-win solution," Yasonna said at the House of Representatives on Tuesday. He added that an alternative sentencing scheme was under consideration, including legal provisions to review a death sentence.

For example, a death sentence could be commuted into life imprisonment, "if death-row convicts have spent ten years in prison and have shown good behavior," the minister said.

Read also: Rights groups zero in on migrant workers' plight in Geneva

Yasonna insisted the death penalty was still necessary and maintained that providing such "alternative" sentencing schemes was a "win-win solution".

Monday marked the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty. Indonesia is one country that still applies death sentence, particularly for drug-related crimes.

Indonesia executed 14 drug convicts in 2015 and four in 2016. This year, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to execute 134 death row convicts, according to the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR).

Read also: Jokowi maintains merciless stance on drug dealers

The UN has called on Indonesia to abolish the death penalty and adopt the 75 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recommendations that were issued during May's Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

The government has rejected the call from the world body. (foy/bbs)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10 2017

An intervention effort by the Health Ministry has brought down the number of children under five years old suffering from stunting, from 37 percent in 2013 to 27.5 percent last year.

But the ministry said it could have done better.

We face malnutrition, stunting and obesity among our children. Despite our actions to reduce the level of stunting, it is still not enough, said Anung Sugihantono, the ministrys Public Health director general.

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Blantyre, Malawi  Tue, October 10, 2017 18:04 1861 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23f593d 2 World Malawi,investigation,hysteria,vampire Free

Malawi President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday vowed a thorough investigation after seven people were murdered by vigilantes in a vampire scare that has driven UN staffers out of the affected region.

Since mid-September, vigilantes have slaughtered seven people suspected of trying to obtain and drink human blood as part of magic rituals.

The vampire rumours sweeping the country's southern region have forced authorities to impose a night-time curfew, restricting movement to 10 hours from 7:00am (0500 GMT) until 5:00pm (1500 GMT).

The UN -- which is involved in food aid and agricultural assistance programs -- has pulled its workers out of the area for safety reasons.

Although the attacks are not targeted at UN staff, the UN instructed all its personnel working in the affected areas to temporarily "relocate" to the commercial capital Blantyre, 90 kilometers (55 miles) away.

Four districts in southern parts of the country have been swept by rumors of bloodsucking humans, but Mulanje, which borders Mozambique, is the epicenter of the killings.

In a report last week and obtained by AFP Tuesday, the UN said it had suspended all visits to the affected areas because the "situation is still unstable and volatile".

"We have instituted an intensive investigation for us to get to the bottom of the matter," the president said in a statement.

Police told AFP a seventh person was killed by an angry mob on Monday in Thyolo, the president's home district.

The latest victim, a mentally-retarded man, was found loitering at night in a village and was lynched by vigilantes who suspected he was pretending to be insane, said police spokesman Lloyd Maida.

Rumours of vampires allegedly originated from Mozambique and "spread across" the borders to the Malawian districts of Mulanje and Phalombe, according to the UN.

Malawi, where witchcraft is widely believed and education standards are low, is regularly dogged by rumours of "vampire" activity.

The United States embassy has also temporarily withdrawn its team of Peace Corps volunteers from the districts surrounding Mulanje and has advised its citizens not to visit the affected districts.

Topics : Malawi investigation hysteria vampire
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 19:32 1861 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23fba91 1 City clash,North-Jakarta,ethnic-group Free

A man was killed as two ethnic groups clashed on Jl. Perjuangan Raya in Tugu Selatan subdistrict, Koja, North Jakarta, on Monday.

The clash was triggered by an alleged assault a day earlier on a man, identified as Idhar, 40, while he was playing chess with others from his ethnic group, North Jakarta Police criminal unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Nasriadi said on Tuesday.

"The victim was taken to Koja Hospital for treatment, while his [chess match] partners reported the case to the Koja Police," Nasriadi said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post.

However, according to reports, as they believed the police were slow in handling the case, they retaliated against the ethnic group of Idhars attacker at around 2 p.m. on Monday, directly stabbing Beny, 39, at the scene.

The clash stopped after the police and military personnel arrived at the scene. Members of both groups handed over the bladed weapons they used in the clash. (yon)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Seoul, South Korea  Tue, October 10, 2017 13:44 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e884d 2 World Korea,missile-launch,kim-jong-un,US Free

South Korea said Tuesday it was maintaining full military readiness following intense speculation of a possible ballistic missile test by the North as it marks a key anniversary.

Tensions over North Korea's weapons program have soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions.

North Korea often uses provocative tests to mark key historical commemorations and the country is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean army and maintaining full readiness.

Consistent movements of personnel and equipment were being detected in certain locations in the North, Yonhap news agency reported, suggesting that preparations for another weapons test might be under way.

Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test on the anniversary of the founding day of North Korea last year.

It remains unclear whether North Korea is holding official celebrations for the party anniversary or if its leader Kim Jong-Un is making any public appearances for the occasion.

The North's official media touted the party's byungjin policy -- which pushes for simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy -- and added that military power was "the guarantee for victory".

"We must complete the construction of the national nuclear force by thoroughly upholding the party's byungjin policy," said a front-page editorial carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper to mark the party anniversary.

"We must hold high the banner of the great byungjin policy to accelerate the final victory in the anti-America Armageddon," it said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 13:37 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23e8317 1 City gay,LGBT,spa Free

Following an investigation into an alleged gay spa raided in Harmoni, Central Jakarta, last Friday, the Jakarta Police have said that the venue, called T1, did not provide sex workers.



They didnt provide [sex] therapists. They [customers] engaged with each other on the premises, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said as quoted by kompas.com, adding that the entrance fee was Rp 165,000 (US$12.2) per person.



They can come with their couple or find them there and set the price based on an agreement, Argo said, adding that the spa was also equipped with a swimming pool.



Argo said the police suspected that a website was used to promote sexual activities and investigators were scrutinizing it, without revealing the address of the website.



On Friday night, the police raided the spa and arrested 56 men, seven of whom were foreigners.



The police have charged five individuals -- employees and the owner of the spa -- under the 2008 Pornography Law and the Criminal Code. (fac)

Topics : gay LGBT spa
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Bangkok, Thailand  Tue, October 10, 2017 17:11 1861 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23f15bf 2 SE Asia Thailand,junta-government,election,democracy Free

Thailand's junta chief said Tuesday the country would hold elections in November 2018, more than four years after the military seized power and imposed a blanket ban on politics.

Prayut Chan-O-Cha had promised immediately after his May 2014 coup to return power to civilians within 18 months.

That date has repeatedly slipped, and even after the vote analysts say there will be limits on democracy under the junta's new charter.

"In November 2018 there will be an election. Is it clear?" the often gruff Prayut told reporters, adding that he would announce the exact date next June.

He said he would also "consider the timing for relaxing conditions on political parties at the appropriate time".

All politics and protests have been banned under Prayut's regime, the most autocratic Thailand has seen for a generation.

The election will not restore the same level of democracy that existed before the latest military takeover in Thailand -- a country that has seen more than a dozen coups since it first embraced parliamentary rule in 1932.

After seizing power the generals drafted a new charter that curbs the power of elected politicians and calls for a fully appointed upper house, with several spots reserved for military leaders.

The junta has further enshrined its governmental role by declaring that any future administration must adhere to its "legally binding 20-year-plan" for the country.

Prayut travelled to the US earlier this month for talks with President Donald Trump at the White House -- a meeting he was denied under Barack Obama's administration, which distanced itself from the coup leader.

A joint statement afterwards said Trump welcomed Thailand's commitment to hold "free and fair elections in 2018".
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 15:07 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23eb16d 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,beach,festival,Bali-tourism Free

Bali is slated to host Legian Beach Festival 2017 from Oct. 11 to 15 at Padma Beach, Legian, Bali.

The event is scheduled to hold fun activities such as fun bike ride, fashion show, food festival, wood ball cup, barong and dance performances and free surf training.

The opening ceremony of this event will feature Baleganjur Massal performance, cultural carnival and exhibition by artists from several different countries.

Visitors can also expect to watch a volleyball game between the locals and tourists.

Read also: Meet Indonesias first female longboard surfer

During the festival, the committee is planning to launch Legian Entrepreneurs Community (HI.PEL) as well.

Legian Beach is a popular surfing destination thanks to its challenging waves and white sand beach.

The number of visitors to the annual festival always increases every year. In 2015, it attracted a total of 65,500 visitors and the number later went up to 83,500 visitors in 2016. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, October 10, 2017 16:52 1862 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a23f04f4 1 News pengabdi-setan,Sociotraveler-Indonesia,Mystery-Tour Free

Following the success of Joko Anwars horror film Pengabdi Setan (Satans Slave), a tour of the actual old house where the film was shot has been launched for fans of the movie who seek to challenge themselves.

Organized by travel agent Sociotraveler Indonesia, Tur Misteri (Mystery Tour) invites brave souls to explore the creepy house located in Pengalengan, Bandung in West Java on Oct. 14 from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. The price of the tour starts at Rp 470,000 (US$35) including transportation from Bandung to Pengalengan, a permit to enter the site, as it is located within a tea plantation, food and documentation.

Organizer Septyan Bayu Anggara said the idea came to him after he watched the film. The house itself is already scary. [It made me] curious to find its location, Bayu recently told kompas.com.

Read also: Pengabdi Setan: Right way to respect art and the past

After gathering some information, Bayu found out that photography community Ghost Photography Community had already visited the place. We later collaborated [with them] in putting together this mystery tour, said Bayu, adding that the trip also included photo-hunting activities that would be guided by the community.

Bayu said that if the response was good, they might offer additional dates for the tour.

According to the travel agent's Instagram account, it took three months for the film crew to find the house that became the crucial setting of the movie.

The house is owned by someone in the plantation but has been abandoned, said Joko Anwar during the film's premiere back in September. When we finally found the house, we couldnt even walk on the floor as it was really fragile. We initially decided to find other location, but we eventually came back to that house. (wir/kes)
A 30-year old man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for brutally raping a female jogger in East River Park two years ago.

The ordeal happened in November of 2015 near the East River Park bandshell. Prosecutors said Paul Niles dragged the victim by her hair from the footpath near Jackson Street into the amphitheater and assaulted her. He then stole the womans phone and credit card, and used the credit card to make purchases at a bodega in Brooklyn.

Niles was convicted of first degree rape, second degree robbery, as well as second degree strangulation by a Manhattan jury last month. A judge sentenced him to 40 years, plus 20-years of post-release supervision.

District Attorney Cy Vance said, This was a brutal stranger assault, and I commend the victim for her bravery in bringing her attacker to justice, as well as the prosecutors and members of law enforcement who worked tirelessly on this case. According to a report on runner safety, more than 40 percent of women have experienced harassment while jogging. Female runners should be able to engage in this activity without fear of being threatened, sexually assaulted, or worse.

When the attack happened in 2015, local residents complained about poor lighting in East River Park. Although the city installed new lighting as a result, we just heard from a reader today who said the new fixtures are not working. The reader warned, Its only a matter of time before something bad happens. Well be looking into the issue.
. To do so, first type the original number into the text box. Then click on the "Scientific Notation" option located at the top of the floating window. Finally, click on the "Standard" button found beneath the text box to display your result. This program is useful for scientists and engineers working with decimal-based numbers. It provides easy access to those who need to convert those numbers into more compact forms without having to do heavy math calculations first.

Scientific notation is a way to express very large or very small numbers. It is used in physics, chemistry and other fields where large numbers are common. Those numbers are written as a power of 10 followed by a number with an exponent. For example, 1,000,000 (one million) is written as 1  103. The exponent shows how many zeros are after the first digit. For example, 1,000,001 is written as 1  102. Scientific notation is a useful tool for making calculations easier. You can use it to write down very big or very small numbers in one step instead of writing out both the large and small numbers separately. You can also use it to express large or small numbers in terms of other units like centimeters or millimeters.

Scientific notation solver is an online tool that can be used to convert any number into scientific notation. Simply enter any number to the left of the decimal point and it will automatically convert it into a scientific notation equivalent. This web tool can be very helpful when you need to convert a large number into scientific notation. However, please note that this online tool can only convert numbers that are in scientific format. For example, it cannot convert a non-scientific number like "1,085" into a scientific notation equivalent. It is also important to keep in mind that this web tool only works when converting numbers from one particular format to another. For example, if you want to change a non-scientific number like "1,085" into standard format, then you will have to use another online tool like NumberFormatting.com.
The shortlists for the Royal Society of Biologys (RSB) amateur photography competition have been announced.

Over 600 entries to the annual competition have been narrowed down to 11 contesting for the top prize, and two for the Young Photographer of the Year award.

This years theme is The Hidden World, with photographers capturing those moments not usually visible to the human eye  from the microscopic detail of developing frogspawn, to an Indian Lake viewed from 30,000 feet in the air.

Photographer of the Year

1. Two big eyes by Miao Yong

(Miao Yong)

Yongs exquisitely green piece, taken in China, stars two bulbous-eyed damselflies peaking over a leaf.

2. A world just under our skin by James Patterson

(James Patterson)

Its not a planet. Taken in a lab in London, Pattersons shot is a light micrograph taken through a section of cat skin  showing a hair follicle developing beneath the surface.

3. Ghost crab by Javier Herranz Casellas

(Javier Herranz Casellas)

Casellas image shows the Ocypode Pallidula, or Ghost Crab, in Madagascar. The little goose-eyed crabs can move at speeds of 20kph, but their excellent camouflage allows them to disappear instantly on a sandy beach merely by standing still.

4. The Emerald Lake by Partha Saha

(Partha Saha)

Taken from 30,000ft in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India, Sahas aerial view shows an emerald green glacial lake in the Zanskar mountain range.

5. Out of the darkness by Peter Burkill

(Peter Burkill)

Blakistons Fish Owls are incredibly rare, with few people ever seeing them. Burkills shot, from Hokkaido, Japan uncovers the hidden world of the bird, not only out of obscurity but also their nocturnal existence.

6. Hooks and anchors by Steve Lowry

(Steve Lowry)

Another light micrograph, this time of the skin of the sea cucumber, Synapta. It is though the spikes seen on the anchors may deter predators from eating the slow-moving marine animals.

7. Life in a drop by Anup Deodhar

(Anup Deodhar)

This tiny egg is just four to five millimetres across. Taken in the Western Ghats, India, the photo shows the little froglet inside its transparent home fully developed and ready to meet the outside world.

8. Spawn Development by Amy Bateman

(Amy Bateman)

More fascinating frogs. Taken at Croft Foot farm, in Cumbria, Batemans macro photography reveals the neuro system in common frogspawn.

9. Springtail by Marc Brouwer

(Marc Brouwer)

Springtails are just a millimetre or two in size, but Brouwer was lucky enough to track one of the elusive creatures down in a field in Genemuiden, The Netherlands.

10. Chara antheridia by Chris Carter

(Chris Carter)

This entry from Cornwall shows a microscopic view of algae, the stonewort Chara fragifera. The red spheres are surrounded by a closely-knit collection of shield cells.

11. Welcome to my humble abode by Duncan McNaught

(Duncan McNaught)

McNaught lives in South Scotland, and this shot taken in Galloway shows an insect peering out from its fungi home.

Young Photographer of the Year

1. Coleman on Fire by Dheeraj Nanda

(Dheeraj Nanda)

Taken in Maluku, Indonesia, 17-year-old Nandas photo captures a male and female Coleman shrimp sat in a fire urchin  an organism with which they have a symbiotic relationship.

2. Compact Complexity by Alannah Harding

(Alannah Harding)

Harding, also 17, gives a microscopic view of the heart of a mouse embryo, surrounded by other organs. The image was taken at Queen Alexandra Sixth Form College in North Shields, England.

The Photographer of the Year competition winners will be announced at a ceremony on October 12 at The Hatton in London  with the top prize winning 1,000 and the young winner an award of 500.




Excited to give these a go #primarknails A post shared by Natalie Borrows (@nataliejademua) on Aug 8, 2017 at 11:12am PDT

squareletto

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squareletto

Rogue

The application

The nails went on easily and I felt like it was 2008 and I was fourteen again. They were quite long at first so I simply filed them down to the level I was comfortable with. I am wearing the 'Midnight' shade - I love the shape so much.

The glue dries quickly and you only need a small blob.

Primark nails are no joke A post shared by Joanna (@joannaxiourouppa) on Oct 5, 2017 at 3:15pm PDT

The nails have stayed on which is a great sign. I have had a quite a few compliments from cashiers and even my tutors at university told me that the matte nails were 'tres chic'. Felt good about my nails all day.

Had a shift at the pub where I work today which involved a lot of movement and constant washing and rinsing off my hands. I was sure they'd fly off. They didn't even budge #strongnails

Spoke too soon. Sat down in a lecture and while putting my bag down my index nail pinged off...and I'd left my glue at home.

#primarknails A post shared by Joanna (@joannaxiourouppa) on Oct 6, 2017 at 8:03am PDT

Since my last column, I've been on a bit of a journey of self-discovery and decided it's high time that I started to do more things that I enjoy and begin practising more self-care. Of course, I didn't realise this new found practice would reveal a new obsession...press on nails. I was introduced to these by my wonderful friend Jess, who I'd moaned to about the state of my nails copious times.When she said they lasted ages and only cost 1 I was sceptical, but I decided to give them a go.First, I found that there were so many amazing styles; square, almond, pointed,) the list goes on. I was very impressed also with the colour options which ranged from pretty pastels to holographic claws. I ended up buying two pairs to try; a dark bluenail set called 'Midnight' and a pointed black set called 'Girl'.I've had these nails on for over a week now and overall I'm really enjoying wearing them. They've withstood several busy bars shifts and showers with only a few pinging off along the way. I have stocked up on several other styles and I'm so excited to continue giving myself inexpensive manicures for months to come! Head over to your local Primark and stock up now!
The film tells the emotionally fraught story of Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne's life, and the inspiration behind his most famous stories: his son, christened Christopher Robin, but known as Billy Moon to his family. Macdonald plays Billy's nurse Olive, whom he affectionately calls "Nu," and she discussed with us the surprises and challenges of telling this remarkable true story.
Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has said she hopes the big screen adaptation of Ian McEwans On Chesil Beach inspires young people to talk honestly about sex.

The double Oscar nominee, 23, stars as one half of a couple struggling to communicate on their honeymoon in 1962 in the film version of McEwans 2007 novella.

Arriving at the premiere of the film at the BFI London Film Festival, she told the Press Association: I hope this film gets people talking about sex and not have it be a taboo thing or something they should be ashamed of, so they can let it be something that can be shared between two people and be an honest thing.

I think that is really healthy and I do feel people are starting to get to that stage.

"I haven't done a received pronunciation English accent since Atonement!"  Saoirse Ronan on her part in On Chesil Beach #LFF pic.twitter.com/1dICSDvn19  BFI (@BFI) October 8, 2017

She continued: I do feel, and I dont know if its because I work in films and am around people who are more artistic and more open with their emotions, but I do feel like this generation of men, and women but particularly men, have been allowed to let down that faux-masculinity a little bit, that idea of being macho.

I find the men around my age more open to being vulnerable and sensitive and arent ashamed of it.

It can almost stunt a persons growth if they arent able to have that dialogue, especially with the person they are in a relationship with or their parents and their friends.

The same with women, we are at a point now where we are almost meeting in the middle, I hope.

The last time Ronan appeared in a McEwan adaptation she was just 12, in 2007s Atonement, and the role made her one of the youngest ever Oscar nominees.

Returning to the authors text was a special experience, she said.

Its absolutely lovely because when we made Atonement I hadnt even read the book because I was too young, and so this time to be so familiar with his work and his voice and how he writes and to see that translate into a screenplay and getting the chance to work with him on that a little bit in rehearsals was wonderful.

McEwan on adapting On Chesil Beach: "Because it's so tender and intimate I couldn't bear someone else getting their paw marks on it" #LFF pic.twitter.com/UQECrf1v0N  BFI (@BFI) October 8, 2017

Ian is somebody I have stayed in touch with since I was a child and hes always been incredibly supportive and warm and was when we did Atonement and still is now.

It was quite nice to have someone familiar around too. In a way it was new territory for me, its a very intimate topic and one that hasnt really been told in such a delicate way before and I think that is something with a lot of his work, that he approaches really skilfully.

On Chesil Beach will be released in UK cinemas on January 19th 2018.
Luther star Ruth Wilson has spoken about how important it was for her to give a voice to the victims of sexual assault in her latest film.

The actress stars in British director Clio Barnards movie Dark River as a woman returning to her home village in Yorkshire for the first time in 15 years to claim the tenancy of her family farm, decades after she was abused there.

Arriving at the films premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, she told the Press Association: Its a period of time in recent history where it was happening a lot and people knew about it and werent really voicing it or it was part of the culture.

Ruth Wilson (right) and Esme Creed-Miles attend the premiere of Dark River (Ian West/PA)

It exists in lots of institutions, that we know about, but this is inside the home and Clio said that is where it exists more predominantly than anywhere else, so its really important to tell that story as well.

Its coming out and people are giving voice to those experiences and saying no, its wrong and it should be stopped, and we have to deal with it and society has to deal with it.

We cant just leave it to the individuals, we have to help people to retune the way people think and the way they have been brought up in that way.

Wilson added that the role was a particularly difficult and emotional experience, saying: I was speaking to psychologists about it and the idea of intrusive memory and oppressed memory deep trauma creates in people.

Ruth Wilson (left) and Clio Barnard on the red carpet (Ian West/PA)

It can come out when you are least expecting it, or 30 years later, and that is really fascinating to me, how it imprints on your memory, these deep traumas, and how we could all have imprints of that.

It was really tough and for that character to be in that place the whole time and to be striving to deal with it every day, she is a brave woman, and trying to fight off those demons and also fight her own feeling of responsibility.

That is why its complex. Lots of people who have been abused feel they are in some way responsible for it, so I think that is a major issue that is hard to overcome.
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Africas oldest independent state, Africas chief exporter of rubber, and the home of the only African World Best, are cliches that have filled the ears of Liberians at home and won the impressions of so many others abroad. But the question is: how are these in any way reflected in the development of a country so rich in natural resources, yet underdeveloped and impoverished? As a post-war country, Liberias drive to national reconstruction comes with huge challenges. These challenges cut across corruption, education, health, agriculture, job creation, and the national economy. Statistics show that Liberias patient to doctor ratio is 19,000:1. And Over 60% of our population live on $1 per day, with Only 10% out of 4.5 million people have access to clean water and electricity. There is a deficit of over 16,000 trained and qualified teachers in Liberian schools.

With just two more days to Liberias first peaceful transition of power since seven decades ago, we believe that with a strong political will from the national government, policy-makers in the new government, and an honest investment on the side of interested partners, these challenges can be harnessed if we create smart solutions that will tackle them head-on.

As a historic event, the 2017 elections should focus on policies and issues that can lift our nation and its people out of poverty as we prepare to elect a new breed of leaders to run the country for the next six years. This article, therefore, seeks to bring ten things which, we believe, electorates should look for in the platforms of political parties. This should be done with the hope of making positive and informed decisions in the interest of our country rather than an individual.

Education: The prime driver for every nations development process is education. This is reflected in the development of countries such as China, America, Rwanda, Ghana, etc. According to statistics, 33.2% of Liberias 60% youth population lack access to education. Another 31.1% have had only primary education, while 35.75% have had a secondary and tertiary education. The education system has for years been termed as a mess, especially so by the Commander in Chief of the country-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The annual results of our national exams best reflect the woes in our educational system. In 2013, there were 7,884 failures (29.49%) out of the 26,993 registered candidates. Just last year, 48.46% of the students failed, while this years failure sums up to 41%. Although some of the blame can be attributed to the students, the national government through its ministry of education, whose responsibility is to provide quality education however shares the bigger portion of the blame.

Consequently, Liberia has inherited one of the worlds worst education systems; producing graduates who barely find it possible to compete with their peers in the region. This time must make Liberians select a candidate who not only place education at the top of their agenda but have clear and realistic plans for addressing the frailties in the education system.

The National Economy:

Liberias economic growth is a shrinking horror. The twin shock in the economy back in 2014 has left a steep stain on our economy. The Ebola Virus and the drop down in the prices of our major export commodities have stalled our growth from 8.7 to -1.6 this year. The growth has been projected by the ministry of finance and development planning to rise to 2.6 at the end of 2017. Boosting economic growth for the benefit of our people would require a commitment to expanding government revenues, and cutting wasteful spending by investing in the upliftment drive of our people across the country. The economy of the Liberian people must be given back to the Liberian people and this must be on the mind of every voter when we approach the polls on October 10. When we go to the polls, frailties in the economy and the deplorable living condition of our people must be at the back of our minds. Electorates should, therefore, select a candidate who has relevant economic policies and financial expertise to alternate the growth and development of our country.

Youth Empowerment:

Huge investment in Liberias youth potential is critical to the socio-economic transformation of our country. For the most part of our development drive, youth empowerment remains one of the critical driving indicators towards the countrys quest to progress and sustained economic development. This is because the youth constitute over 60% of the countrys population with the most favorable age group of a workforce. Sadly, youth unemployment rate of the country is estimated at 85%. Though President Sirleaf has made some viable strides (although this issue is still seriously debated) by involving youth in our nation-building process, theres still more to be done. If Liberia is to be effective in her economic development drive and be a major competitor at the regional level, the untapped talents of the huge Liberian youth population must be developed and maximized appropriately. The solution to this problem must equally reflect in the policy documents of political parties that seek to pick up the baton of national power in these elections. Their policies must demonstrate their commitment to forming a partnership with private organizations to empower the Liberian youth with not just skills, but sustainable jobs that can better the lives of young people. The first instance, they could advance that they will allocate resources to sectors that are dominated by youths or sectors that focus primarily on youth development.

The National Health Sector: The national health sector is in dismal decline- evidenced by the Ebola Virus disease that reported more than 10,600 cases and 4,800 deaths (CDC report). The infant mortality rate sums up to 65.8 deaths/ 1,000 live births. The nations referral hospital is in ruins, and can barely meet the demands of the people- majority of whom live on a dollar per day. The next government will have to have a tangible and realistic Health Sector Reform Policy to revamp the health system, increase funding for health workers, and invest in health facilities to bring them up to speed with our neighboring countries. Ask the candidates for their Health Sector reform policies before making a decision.

Clean water and Sanitation: A World Bank Report says that only 25% of Liberians have access to clean water with an estimation of 15% to sanitation. The next government of Liberia will have to make it a priority to provide clean water and sanitation to the vast majority of the Liberian people. That is only possible when there is an effective plan and timely implementation by the government. When we go to the polls on October 10, lets remember that the Liberian people deserve clean water and sanitation. Keep asking the candidates the hard questions concerning the betterment of lives in Liberia after October 10, and their plans for improving the living conditions of our people across towns and villages.

Agricultural Development

Success stories have proven that most countries that have progressed in the world have done so because of their huge investment and honest political will towards the agricultural sector. The history of China and many other developed and developing countries have taught us a key lesson: that more than any other factor, investment in agriculture remains a key foundation to economic growth and development. Future political leaders of our country must demonstrate the willingness to invest in the agricultural sector. As a country, our model of our agricultural production must change from being the usual 90% percent cash crop to a better version. Towards this, political parties' policies should advance that they will, for instance, invest in food crops rather than in the 90% cash crops for local consumption and export purposes. The goal of this production must be to alleviate the vast majority of Liberians from hunger. In the same way, a political partys policy frameworks must highlight how their government/leadership will help introduce other agricultural products that will help to serve the need of the people within, and at the same time having its excesses exported to other countries for the nations growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Fight Against Corruption: According to Transparency International Corruption Index report, Liberia is ranked 90/176 with a score of 37/100. The President on numerous instances has labeled corruption as a vampire and a major public enemy stalling development in Liberia. Though there have been some policies to address the issue of corruption through the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, the commitment to fight corruption remains a national impediment. The enactment of the LACC into law has not been able to yield the desired results and has relatively failed to fulfill the hopes of the Liberian people in terms of minimizing corruption. There can be no better progress without tackling head-on the issue of corruption for any country. The consequence of lack of strengthened integrity institution that should possibly execute corrupt people has led the country losing millions of dollars every year. The countrys drive to progress must stem from the commitment of incoming leadership to put in place a rigid punishment system for those who squander the nations wealth.

Job Creation

As in many African countries, unemployment in Liberia is abysmal. Average Liberian suffers from unemployment amid a huge possibility of job creation. President Sirleaf, in her 2011 elections platform, promised 20, 000 job every year. But there is little achievement in this regard. Over the past 12 years, the current government has not meaningfully addressed the issue of unemployment in Liberia. It has rather heavily relied on export companies to provide jobs for ordinary Liberians and has barely follow up as to how many Liberians are employed in these companies or the quality of jobs given them. The next government will have to find alternative avenues to create jobs for Liberianspreferably in the private sector.

Infrastructure: Liberia is still recovering from the remnants of the 14 years civil war that destroyed much of the little infrastructures the country had. The capital city, Monrovia, is urbanizing not in terms of infrastructural development, but population growth and expansion. In contrast to the eighties and nineties, more rural dwellers are opting for the city. For most of these people, the reality of housing challenge is ever green. Slums like West Point, Clara Town, and New Kru Town are dwelling places for many urbanizing Liberians who cannot afford the rent of the citys expensive housing system. A solution to this challenge could be through a smart alliance between and among the government, private partners, and real-estate developers to invest in the constructing affordable housing system with the ambition of not only providing homes for the poor (to pay rents), but achieving infrastructural development. Cities like Kigali have adopted a master plan to address theirs, and it seems to be working greatly. This could work for Liberia with a government that cares about development and leaving a good legacy.



Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial venture is a driving force for the boom of private sectors economy in countries of the world. In African countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, there is a great achievement of success towards development through entrepreneurship. In these countries, the majority of young people, especially school-leaving youths, invest their time in fresh business venture that achieve a huge level of progress. Here in Liberia, little or nothing is done by the national government and responsible partners to invest in building the capacity of the youth towards promoting entrepreneurship. As a result, average Liberian youth find it difficult to break away from the usual dependency syndrome on political leaders as they turn to regular soon-morning radio talk show callers and Kpakus at various hatayea centers. It is a difficult challenge for the average Liberian to start their own business and or develop plans for the sustainability of such business due to the lack of capacity and knowledge.

As we go to elect our new leaders (legislative and presidential) on Tuesday, we must hold dear to heart the believe that our country can only develop and prosper when there is a huge progress in the areas of education, economy, youth empowerment, health and sanitation, job creation, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship.

What is your take? Please post your comments below:






"Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, Winston Churchill once wrote, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness; an observation which acuity was apparent when local resistance and ECOMOG intervention forced NPFL to seek power through the ballot box, instead of by the barrel of a gun, as originally planned.



But it cost us the lives of about two hundred fifty thousand human beings, about fourteen percent of the Liberia population ninety. It is why the re-emergence of a Charles Taylor agenda proclaimed by his wife, Senator Jewel Taylor and CDCs prospective vice president, has gotten European and American officials concerned about stability in the sub-region.



Of course, the Washington Post, New York Times, or CNN wont be neutral when the national security of the US is perceived to be imperiled, therefore, to expect us to sit on the sideline and wallow in self  pity seemed so silly that it is laughable.

Thus readers would recollect that in our editorial endorsement of the UP ticket, we unequivocally stated that For several years, The Perspective fought against those who launched and perpetuated the senseless Liberian civil war that slaughtered over 250,000 hapless Liberians including women and children. So, it does not make sense for The Perspective to be complacent when it becomes obvious that those who administered those war crimes against our people are now controlling and manipulating the ensuing elections. Well, imagine our disquiet yesterday when unsubstantiated reports reached us from some sources in Monrovia that a plot for NEC to announce the results in favor of CDC is being set in motion, as we go to press, by some propelling invisible hands

Obviously, we dont have enough time to confirm this story, because the polling centers open at home in less than twenty  four hours; however, were appealing to the conscience and patriotism of President Sirleaf for voters choices, as expressed by their ballots, to be the only determining factors for victory tomorrow. If CDC or any political party, for that matter, win the presidency, let that party gets its legitimacy from our people, not through Ellens patronage nor the wishes of foreign interests. Lest we forget, bridging the gulf between any future government and the populace starts tomorrow by the president respecting the mandate of the latter. Often, a handful of elites presume they know better whats good for the marginalized multitudes, ironically, who put them on the pedestal of authority, but the violent reactions to such arrogant miscalculations have been tragically self - evident in West Africa.

It is troubling that the publication of the voter registration enumeration (center by center enumeration) has been delayed, which is contrary to 2011 when President Sirleaf was running. To compound this, there are a plethora of news articles alleging that our president is not supporting her own vice president. While it is mind-boggling to fathom the logic of leaving her party to surreptitiously support another candidate(s) as alleged, we feel it is her pejoration to choose whosoever she wants to support. But, it will be fair for such to be done openly and the reason well-articulated to assist Liberians in making informed decisions in these elections. However, we appeal to Liberian politicians and the public in general to be mindful of the miscalculations and manipulations that led to the senseless Liberian civil war. We also call on the Liberian press to be very objective and meticulous in their, as Donald Trump once put it, "covfefe" or coverage of the elections. The bigger picture is and must be Mother Liberia.



Our final advice is enough is enough, fellow Liberians, hug credible elections for peace!

What is your take? Please post your comments below:


Warning of challenges ahead, the State Bank of Indias new Chairman Rajnish Kumar asked all the 268,705 employees of the countrys largest bank to maintain the highest standards of ethics and provide courteous services to customers.

In a two-and-a-half page long letter to each employee this week, he has said that in its 211-year old history, the SBI has gone from strength to strength and faced various challenges.

But, lets face it, that, right now, banking industry is passing through very tough times. This is happening worldwide. India has also not escaped the tremors, Rajnish Kumar warned.

Despite the grit, fortitude, hard work and resilience, the SBI also could not stay insulated from the unfavourable macro conditions, especially in a highly-interconnected world and economic environment, pointed out the SBI chief who took over the reins of the countrys biggest PSB on Saturday.

To tackle the challenges, Rajnish Kumar asked the staff, especially the frontline people, who are the face of the bank, to be smiling and polite and grow the loyal community of customers.

Customers prefer to bank with the people who treat them well. We may have best of products, technology, ambience, but if we are not courteous and polite to our customers, our business will not endure. We will not progress. Politeness is what builds a Great Bank.

Touching on ethics, he said it (ethics) matters in a fiduciary setting like a commercial bank, which must stick to strong ethical standards.

To do so, our conduct must be absolutely clean. But clean conduct requires that we follow the rules of governance and principles of strong ethics. SBI has always stood for highest ethical standards in the country, Rajnish Kumar said.

Pointing to a severe trust deficit amongst the various stakeholders in the financial eco-system, he said ethics is the only way to bridge the gap and called upon all staffers to unconditionally promote moral and ethical grandeur in their daily actions and decisions.

Stressing on the need for all staff to become tech-savvy, the chairman said bare adoption of digital platforms for delivery will not serve the purpose, and all staffers would have to educate and functionally update themselves on the tech-front continuously to provide and easy to navigate and seamless digital services especially for Millenials and Gen-X customers, to help deliver New Age banking to the country.

About welfare of the staffers who are the backbone of SBI, and their families, he said it was imperative that the employees remained healthy and happy to ensure top productivity and performance which are non-negotiables.

For this, he highlighted initiatives focused towards work-life balance by introducing sabbaticals, work-from-home, and refining some existing schemes, while urging all employees to pay attention to their health.

Dwelling on the importance of on-job training and learning, Rajnish Kumar said each employee would be empowered to tackle future challenges through Saksham, which leverages the power of technology to bring out the best potential of all the banks employees.
For the last three years I was making some profit by selling firecrackers during the Diwali time but the decision of apex court to ban sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR has shattered all my plans this year. It is a black Diwali for me, said Mohinder Kumar, who runs a small kirana shop at Khandsa village in Gurgaon district.

Mohinder had already placed orders for firecrackers worth Rs 4 lakh with the wholesaler and has already paid him Rs 2 lakh in advance.

The district administration issues licences to sell crackers every year. A firecracker mela is organised here in Gurugram, but this decision is stealing the bread of the common man who earns a little profit through these sale melas. To earn more profits I booked the crackers early but I was not aware that such a decision will be made. Now what should I do, said Mohinder.

Traders and wholesalers in Gurugram are trying to find some loopholes in the order. A wholesaler said they havent received any paper or order copy so they will continue to sell crackers.

Business is already reduced in the last two years and many wholesalers have already quit the business. The livelihood of wholesalers like me depends on such occasions and festivals. There will be a huge loss and we are feeling cheated after the verdict, said the wholesaler.

A couple of years ago, cracker traders posted good profits but since pollution awareness campaigns and protests over worsening air quality gathered steam, their business went south with cracker sales hitting a slump. Last year only 200 licences were issued for sale of crackers as compared to 2015 when 500 licences were issued.

There is no firecracker factory in Gurugram. They are manufactured in Jhajjar and Rohtak. The traders are somehow looking for buyers outside NCR to clear their stock this Diwali.

Now, we have no clue what to do with our stock. We are under immense pressure to post sales and have to visit other cities (outside NCR) to sell the stock and that too, cheap, said Ashok Kumar Saini, owner of Star Night Fireworks, Gurgaon.

Residents and environmentalists in Gurugram have, however, welcomed the Supreme Court order. The air quality goes for a toss every Diwali. We have appealed and will inform residents in all sectors again about the SC order. The ban will definitely control air pollution this Diwali, said Col Umed Singh, president of the Sector-22 residents welfare association in Gurugram.
Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested four more men for allegedly tying a Nigerian man to a pole and thrashing him brutally with sticks after he allegedly attempted to burgle a house at Savitri Nagar in Malviya Nagar area of South Delhi on 24 September.

Soon after a video went viral on Monday ~ which showed an African-origin man, identified as Ahmed, 26, tied to a pole and being thrashed with sticks by a group of men, with no local coming for his rescue ~ the police had filed a case under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against his attackers and arrested one of them, Krishan Kumar, in whose house Ahmed had allegedly entered to commit burglary.

Following the alleged burglary incident on 24 September, Ahmed had been arrested and has been in judicial custody since then.

The case took another turn after the disturbing video surfaced on 9 October. Ishwar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Delhi, confirmed the arrest of altogether five accused locals who had allegedly thrashed Ahmed.

He said, After analysing the video, a case was registered for attempt to murder by culpable homicide against the people found assaulting Ahmed. Krishan Kumar, complainant against Ahmed, was arrested first from his house at Savitri Nagar. By midnight others were arrested too.

On Tuesday, the four arrested men were produced in a court and were sent to judicial custody. They were identified as Sanjay, Kamal Kant, Mahavir and Mukesh.

Singh said Ahmed was not cooperating in the police investigation. Ahmed has not confirmed any assault on him. He did not say a word about it. Might be he is in mental trauma or depression. Still, the video shows presence of lot of people around him. We are examining the video and investigating through local intelligence to identify other people who were involved, the DCP said.

He further said : It was through the video that we discovered about this assault. Till then, neither Ahmed nor any local gave any hint about it. We wonder why Ahmed is not revealing about the assault on him. Even today, while questioning, he did not confirm any assault on him. The video also raises serious doubts on the allegation of burglary for which Ahmad was arrested. We will question Ahmed and others to know the truth. As of now, the video has changed the case. Ahmed, who was accused of burglary, is now the victim of assault.
Heavy rains accompanied by squally winds left two persons dead, hit flight and train movements, and disrupted normal life in Kolkata and its surrounding districts on Monday.

The city bore the brunt of the deluge, with a large number of its thoroughfares waterlogged and unending traffic snarls following the formation of a very deep depression over the Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining north Bay of Bengal.

One aged person was electrocuted when he accidentally touched a lamp post while wading through a waterlogged road in Maminpur area of South Kolkata, while a youth perished after a tree got uprooted and fell on him in Syamnagar of North 24 Parganas district.

The rains, which began on Sunday night, continued on Monday, hampering functioning of offices and business establishments on the first working day of the week.

The uprooted trees in many areas of northern and southern Kolkata blocked roads, stalling traffic movement.

According to railway officials, the suburban and long distance train services of both Eastern and South Eastern Railways were affected slightly in the morning due to the rains.

Services were disrupted at citys Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport as arrival of five odd flights and departure of about eight flights was cancelled due the inclement weather.

Landing of 47 in-bound flights and departure of about 35 flights was rescheduled and many flights were delayed, an official said.

Ferry services on river Hooghly had to be stopped due to the rise in the water level following the rains.

A deep depression has formed over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining north Bay of Bengal, an official of the Regional Meteorological Centre here said.

The local weather office forecast more rains in the next 48 hours.

Under the influence of deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal, heavy to very heavy (7-20cm) rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy (over 20cm) fall is likely over Gangetic West Bengal during next 48 hours, it said.

Squally winds speed reaching 45-55 kmph and gusting to 65 kmph would prevail along and off the coast, the centre said, adding fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea during the same period.
Hrithik Roshan finally opened up about the entire incident that happened between Kangana and himself in a recent interview. After watching him say that it was the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Pink that inspired him to take a stand against the injustice being done to him, people have come out in his support.

Reason being the very famous dialogue No means No from the film had a lasting impact on the Bollywood actor.

The interview has created a rage on social media as netizens rose powerfully in support of the actor.

Twitterati came in support of Hrithik in one of the strongest social media trends of the day, recording nearly 7000 tweets encoring #nomeansno.

Hrithik Roshan while talking about the film shared, The movie Pink inspired and affected me so much, he said. But it also got me thinking, why No means No only applies to a woman?

With this, the actor posed a thought-provoking question to the world, if consent is a privilege only of the women.

Social media rose in support to this question directed by the actor, in a day-long Twitter trend, #nomeansno Twitterati came in support for the Superstar in large numbers.

Hrithik Roshan has been receiving humongous support from social media, with fans, netizens and even Bollywood celebrities extending their support to his truth.

The actor who poured his heart into the heartfelt post followed by an interview which garnered immense support from the masses as it reflected on Twitter.

The actor unabashedly presented facts and evidence while exposing his vulnerabilities to the audience.

READ ALSO: Hrithik Roshan: I have never met Kangana Ranaut in private
Actor Aanchal Munjal, who is known for her roles in films like We Are Family and Ghayal Once Again, will be seen in the series Dil Buffering as the happy-go-lucky Abby. Right now, acting seems to be the only thing on the mind of the young actor and she is ready to take on all kinds of challenges and criticism from the industry.

In an exclusive interview to thestatesman.com Aanchal revealed her desire to play every possible character on earth and spoke about the growing digital platform and how as an actor one can face criticism at any point of time.

Aanchal believes there is a degree of distinctiveness in any kind of cinema an actor chooses to be in.

There is a lot of difference in any kind of cinema you go for. I enjoy shooting for films and shows, and your preparations for different roles are different depending on the characters. But as an actor I love to shoot be it films or shows, Aanchal said.

According to the Ghayal Once Again actor, digital platform is not only growing but also creating awareness among people.

Digital platform is growing rapidly. And it is also creating awareness on some social issues that we never speak about. Now these issues are presented by the digital platform and this medium is educating people about the same. the actor said on the growth of digital platforms for cinema.

Aanchal and Abby share love for coffee.

Abby is a fun loving, happy and chirpy soul, but she tries too hard maybe that she turns on the other side and then seeks help. Whereas Aanchal on the other hand is a person who loves to help people. Im a friendly person not too friendly but a person who loves to help others. One common thing between Aanchal and Abby is their love for coffee. I can have coffee at any point of time and Abby is also addicted to coffee, Aanchal said.

The young actor, who started her career as a child artiste, is ready to take on all kinds of challenges despite the stereotypes of the industry.

Im totally up for any character. The only reason I want to be an actor is not just because I want to be in front of the camera, Im up for any kind of challenge that comes in my way. I want to play every possible character there is on earth, Aanchal said.

Aanchals mother is her true critique.

Talking about criticism, it comes your way anyhow and anybody who has been successful should be ready for criticism. But I dont really think about criticism, as my biggest critique is my mother. I believe that whatever she tells me is the best advice for me! She is my true critique as shell tell me what is right and what is wrong, and will never be biased towards my work, the actor said.

The actor loves the direction the industry is going in for women.

Im very happy that women-oriented films are made and the industry is treating women equally, which is bringing a change in the society. Films like Lipstick Under My Burkha was criticised on a lot of levels but from a mass viewpoint it did made a lot of changes.,

I would like to mention that my director is a woman, my DOP is a woman, my production designer is a woman and my creative head is a woman! So the series is being run by women. I was extremely happy to see the women are running the series and it amazed me to see women running here and there on the sets of Dil Buffering. The actor added.

Dil Buffering airs at 7:00 pm on bindass every Friday  linear and digital platforms Facebook and Youtube.
Casting doubts over Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhis ability to count, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched 106 welfare schemes since assuming office and wondered if the Gandhi scion can even count beyond hundred.

Addressing a public rally in Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Rahul Gandhi, Shah said: PM Modi has launched 106 schemes for the welfare and benefit of the poor. I wonder if Rahul can even count till 106.

He further said that Rahul Gandhi should take off his Italian spectacles and only then will he be able to see the development that is happening around him.

Shah also mocked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said: They (Congress) ask us about our achievements since coming to power in 2014? Well, we have given the country a PM who speaks.

The BJP chief assured the crowd that by 2022 Uttar Pradesh will be developed like Gujarat courtesy the hardwork that is being put in by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi.

Modi and Yogi will together ensure a developed UP. This is a fight between Gandhi-Nehru model vs Modi model, he said.
Noting that extreme weather events like floods and cyclones will rise in the future due to climate change, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called for improved disaster preparedness to reduce the loss of lives.

Speaking at the inauguration of the first BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise in New Delhi, Singh said: In terms of number of extreme weather events  floods, droughts, heat waves and cyclones  the future is not going to be any better.

The frequency and intensity of such events is likely to rise in view of the climate change. However, if we make our communities, towns and villages, economic activities resilient, we can reduce the losses, he added.

Singh said that improved disaster preparedness was a corner stone of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation)  an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia.

In the recent monsoon season, floods and landslides have affected millions of people across almost all the BIMSTEC countries. This is yet another reminder of the importance of improving our disaster preparedness, Singh said.

Over the period 1996 to 2015, the BIMSTEC countries have lost 317,000 lives to disasters. In these disasters more than 16 million people in BIMSTEC countries have lost their homes & economic losses are also high and escalating, he added.

Extending his support to all BIMSTEC nations, Singh said in achieving the common goal of reducing disaster losses, India was willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with other BIMSTEC members and explore all possible avenues of collaboration.
On the day Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) implemented its second fare hike came, the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday decided to set up a nine-member committee to look into the rationale behind the increase.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel will nominate members to the committee, which will also look into the financial health of DMRC and other issues.

The decision to appoint the committee was taken at the end of a discussion on the hike.

The revised fare structure of DMRC is: up to 2 km  Rs. 10, 2 to 5 km  Rs. 20, 5 to 12 km  Rs. 30, 12 to 21 km  Rs. 40, 21 to 32 km  Rs. 50 and for journeys beyond 32 km  Rs. 60.

AAP leader and former Delhi Minister Somnath Bharti moved a proposal on the committee in the house, which was agreed to by other members. The ruling AAP has 66 members in the 70-member Assembly, with remaining four members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) put into effect the fare hike  second this year after an increase in May  from Tuesday despite strong opposition from the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.

On 7 October, the central government told Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that it cannot put on hold the proposed Metro fare hike unless state government agrees to pay nearly Rs. 3,000 crore annually to DMRC.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puris letter dated October 6 was a response to a letter from Kejriwal on September 29 asking the central government to put the hike on hold. Puri in his reply to a letter to Kejriwal said that, Metro Act does not allow the central government to put on hold the fare hike.

Puri had informed in his letter, that the alternative to fare hike was to provide DMRC yearly grants-in-aid for the next five years: Rs 3,040 crore, Rs 3,616 crore, Rs 3,318 crore, Rs 3,150 crore and Rs 2,980 crore respectively.

The DMRC was formed in 1995 with equal equity participation of the central government and the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The DMRC defended its decision by saying its input costs had gone up over the years and the increase was at par with Metro rails in other cities.

The Delhi assembly will meet on Monday to discuss the proposed hike.

(With agency inputs)
Over 15 lakh voters will decide the fate of 11 candidates contesting in Gurdaspur parliamentary by-election on Wednesday which is being termed as a litmus test for the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Polling for the by-election will be held at 1,781 polling stations where as many as 15,22,922 voters will cast their votes for candidates of their choice.

The Congress has fielded senior party leader Sunil Jakhar while the BJPs candidate is Swarn Salaria. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the main Opposition party in state Assembly has fielded Major General Suresh Khajuria (retd).

We have made all the elaborate arrangements for the peaceful conduct of by-election. We have identified 83 critical polling stations in the constituency along with 457 vulnerable points, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), VK Singh, told The Statesman.

A total of 30 companies of paramilitary forces and 20 companies of Punjab Armed Police (PAP) has been deployed to keep a round the corner vigil.

The by-election is the first electoral test in Punjab since the Assembly elections in March, which saw the Congress return to power, grabbing 77 of the 117 seats.

The result for the by-election will be announced on 15 October.

The seat fell vacant following the death of BJP lawmaker and movie veteran Vinod Khanna earlier in April this year. For Congress, it is seen as a must win situation as the present state government is facing acute criticism on key issues like farmer loan waiver, employment and compensation for farmers to deal with stubble residues.

However, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh had earlier said that the notification on the farmer loan waiver will be released soon. On the other hand, the contest is also not easy for the BJP, which is relying on the Hindu vote bank in Gurdaspur. The BJP candidate Swaran Salaria is also facing the allegations in connection with a rape case in 2014 in Mumbai.

However, in a boost to the saffron party, the Apna Punjab Party (APP) leader Sucha Singh Chhotepur, having a handful vote bank in the constituency, has decided to support BJP. The main Opposition party in the Assembly, AAP is looking to expand its electoral footprint. The party won four seats from the state in the general elections in 2014 and 20 seats in the assembly elections.
A vehicle of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force was attacked by militants here on Tuesday evening, police said. No trooper was injured but one of the attackers were injured.

Two motorcycle-borne militants fired at a CRPF vehicle in Sant Nagar area and the CRPF troopers retaliated, injuring one of the militants, a police officer said.

The area has been cordoned off and searches started to locate the militants, the officer added.
The city police was on Tuesday granted six days time  till October 16  by a Delhi court to comply with its order issued earlier to de-seal a five-star hotel suite where Congress leader Shashi Tharoors wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead on the night of January 17, 2014, under mysterious circumstances.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh allowed time till October 16 to the city police to comply with its order after an Additional Delhi Police Commissioner submitted that reports from a forensic science laboratory may take a couple of days to be available to it.

The police were earlier criticized by the court for not complying with its order to de-seal the hotel suite.

The court was earlier urged by the hotel management to direct the police to de-seal the room which was sealed for investigation hours after Pushkar was found dead in 2014. The court has also been

directing the police to do so on quite a few occasions.

The police registered an FIR on January 1, 2015, in this connection against some unknown persons under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.

The police was taken to task by the court on September 4 for its lethargic attitude with regard to its probe into the case.

The court summoned the DCP to explain why more time should be granted for de-sealing the hotel suite.

Earlier on August 19, the agency was pulled up by the court for delaying the de-sealing of the room and referred to a court order passed on July 21 asking it to do so within four weeks from then.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed shock over non-release of a large number of undertrial prisoners languishing in Indian prisons in complete violation of fundamental right to protection of life and personal liberty and asked several states to explain.

A division bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta expressed concern as to why undertrials were not released by the states despite the apex courts earlier direction to release them, or even after bail to them or completion of their sentences.

According to the recommendations made in a report filed by the National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) in the court, none of the undertrials who should have been granted bail and released on the basis of illness and mental ill-health have been released.

The bench asked Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh to file affidavits on the number undertrial prisoners, category-wise, languishing in their prisons and why they were not released.

We will be compelled to seek the personal presence of Chief Secretaries of these three states if the affidavits are not filed by October 26, said the bench while posting the matter for October 31.

The court referred the NALSA report to Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and asked: What action the government of India is taking? We have issued necessary direction for the release. It seems the Centre is not taking any steps.

It is a shocking state of affair, it added.

The Attorney General told the bench that the Centre has been issuing advisories to the states from time to time to release such persons but they were not doing so.

We (Centre) can only issue an advisory; we have no power under the Constitution to issue directions to the states. It is for the Supreme Court to direct the states to release the undertrial prisoners, as recommended by the undertrial committee of NALSA, he added.

To this, the bench said: Your submission is very strange. If you think your advisory is not being implemented, then stop issuing any advisory because they are being ignored by the states.

This is not the way the Centre should behave. When people are languishing in jail and their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution are being violated, you say the Centre will do nothing.

Venugopal said the court should summon the state Chief Secretaries and call for reports to indicate why undertrials were not released despite recommendations.

The bench is hearing a 2013 public interest litigation on inhuman conditions prevailing in 1,382 prisons across the country.

Amicus curiae Gaurav Agrawal asked the state government what steps they were taking regarding overcrowding in jails, strengthening and training of prison staff, deaths of jail inmates, and legal aid to prisoners.
See Kolkata during Durga Puja and you will witness a spectacle: massive crowds gush in and out of pandals to view the incredible creativity and craftsmanship of envisioning and presenting the goddess in ever more avantgarde themes.

What is striking isnt just the remarkable ability of neighbourhood clubs to execute such shows, but the indulgence, indeed the celebration of citizens that inspires new projections of what is a sacrosanct religious event.

The intensity of crowds and their venture to experience new formats ~ whether in food, films or in the most cherished religious festival ~ is at the heart of the strength of the city and the state. It is well known that West Bengal lost industrial behemoths over 70 years since independence. However, the state today holds its own in terms of growth (Gross Value Added of the state grew 12 per cent in 2015-16) and Kolkatas economic dynamism compares favourably with other state capitals (it was ranked second after Delhi by Brookings in 2015) despite receiving fewer marquee investments. The statistic invites bewilderment.

A clue as to what drives this growth is what one sees during the Pujas. The golden key for development, once only accessed through large factories, has now become challenging to sustain. The cost of courtship has risen ~ there is a race among states to subsidise land, capital, power and taxes, and the windfalls have depleted ~ while large manufacturing brings productivity and innovation, it cannot generate as much employment as it used to. Thus industrialisation alone does not guarantee a passport to prosperity as a consequence.

Neither does low labour cost provide a sufficient draw for industry. What does act as a magnet for trade and investment are consumers, whose wallets after all make the investments lucrative. If these consumers are densely populated, mitigating logistical and marketing costs, and are venturesome ~ willing to try a new flavour of a snack or a new device, then it is well placed to emerge as a hub of commerce.

West Bengal is yet to get there, but one senses we have the right ingredients. Thus while industrializing well, we must as a region sustain our ability to retain and enhance venturesome, condensed consumption centres.

Consumption has transformed exponentially over the years, giving birth to and extinguishing industries, while swinging the pendulum between different segments of the value chain: the power of manufacturing versus trading or retailing waxed and waned depending on what consumers would want and pay for. It enabled the opportunity to rent or stream assets as needed versus having to buy.

Consumption patterns first caused globalisation, and then localisation, as people progressively spent more on non-tradable services versus traded foodstuff. And it founded hugely successful business models such as those underpinning Google or Facebook where consumption is free and consumers themselves are assets to be leveraged. This consumption-centric environment is the subject of the article.

The decisions around consuming are commonplace. What we eat and wear, how we learn and where we live are essentially decisions around exchange of goods and services. Core elements of this process are evolving. How consumer tastes alter the relative powers of producers, distributors and retailers can be illustrated through staple consumer goods like soap or clothes. Soaps used to be made of tallow at rudimentary sheds and sold through grocery stores. Clothes were stitched and textile woven in looms and purchased through family owned garment stores.

The activity that was arduous and required skill and resources was in moving soap or cloth between consumers and retailers. In this, until the 19th century, the power lay with distributors. The largest trading companies like Hudsons Bay, East India Company and Jardine Matheson were de facto (sometimes de jure) governments while trading in fur, cloth or tea. As production techniques improved, some manufacturers grew.

Lever Brothers differentiated their soap with glycerine and vegetable oils versus tallow. Proctor and Gamble innovated in marketing by promoting soap operas ~ programmes sponsored by their brands ~ on radio. As producers like Lever and P&G expanded, they reduced their cost base and negotiated sweeter deals with distributors, who increasingly became their carrying and forwarding agents, and retailers would sport their commercials on their masthead and display their wares prominently.

The power thus shifted from distributor to the manufacturer. Then, starting with shops like Fortnum and Masons and Harrods in the UK, Marshall Fields in the US, Whiteaway Laidlaw in Kolkata, retail formats in major cities shed their rinkydink avatar.

As cities deepened their purchasing base, large retailers acquired the buying power to sustain or eliminate manufacturers. By the early 20th century, considerable power shifted from the producer to retailers with a loyal customer base. But even after achieving primacy in their value chain, retailers couldnt enjoy a serene life. Department stores that were the hub of the main street first lost white-goods like television sets to suburban discount chains like Walmart, then lost clothing to retailers like Gap and furnishings to stores like Ikea, and finally either died or reincarnated as a magnet for tourists, essentially a concessionaire where luxury brands would rent space to display. Renting valuable assets leads us to an evolving trend.

When supply is limited, ownership is the only way to enjoy its services. However, when demand deepens and new supply emerges, renting becomes an option. In mature markets, the format advanced further into a sharing economy where occasional users of an asset pay a fraction of full rents. Uber, WeWork and Task Rabbit depend on a dense base of such consumers. Some industries grew so rapidly that capable players came to dominate the market.

Today the worlds largest firms ~ Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook ~ are more concentrated than even the 19th century robber barons. When the market is of goods, and a firm is growing through predatory power, the government typically clips their wings. Standard Oil and AT&T were victims of anti-trust regulation and Indias draconian MRTP Act required permission for expansion. However, Google charges nothing from consumers for most of its functions, and restricting them is usually treated as state repression.

Moreover, the ecosystem of Google and Facebook depends on a network of users. If cut to size, eventually one of the diminished entities will again control the format. Governments will need to learn from and control these modern Goliaths. They could learn how to generate revenue from consumption centres, involving fees for the privilege to access consumers, eventually supplementing tax as a revenue generator.

Mobile spectrum fees show the power of this resource. But they need to exert control on these massive entrants if only to enable a level playing field with traditional incumbents. These firms ~ hotels, shopping malls, cinema halls and taxis ~ are highly taxed and regulated and are steadily being eliminated by lightly taxed and unregulated entrants with a better format ~ car sharing, room rental, movie streaming and online retail. In the world of online dominance, stores that adapt are surviving. Some integrate their offline and online presence so seamlessly that they effectively become omni-channel, selling across formats, where the customers buying behaviour online influences physical merchandising. Others are turning experiential ~ the boutique bookstore or the farmers market. Many traditional retailers, however, are challenged.

They pay rents in high street locations, employ an army of salespeople, and carry inventory. The online competitors operate on a fraction of working capital. Manufacturing is forced to mutate in response. Making fast, in small lots in response to fickle customer taste is more relevant than making large volumes cheap.

An unforeseen and paradoxical challenge for multinational companies seeking growth is that the demand for globally traded goods is stuck in a secular rut. Much of this has to do with rising incomes.

In a world where most are poor, income was largely spent on food and clothing. Such commodities are easily traded.

As people earn more, they spend on white-goods. Television and mobile phones can be sold globally but unlike food they need branding and after-sales service. Both food and white-goods are amenable to multinational formats. Now, a richer and older world increasingly spends on housing, education and health.

Housing is necessarily local. Most healthcare and education is also consumed close to home. Though technology can alter delivery, there isnt a global brand in any of these large industries.

What is a challenge for these companies is an opportunity for cities and regions where such consumers reside.

Leveraging the consumption on housing, health and education, benefiting from near-shoring and smart manufacturing, and becoming more of a draw for new residents is a key to this world of new consumers.

(The writer is Chairman, Obetee Limited and Executive Director, Luxmi Tea)
There has been rising discontent within the armed forces on reports of likely degradation in their status as against other central services. There are fears of it being downgraded to Group B, rather than remaining the Group A service it presently is.

Over decades, governments under the influence of a powerful bureaucracy, have been lowering the status of the armed forces who have silently endured it. Now they have decided that enough is enough and began raising their voice. The Equivalence Committee created by erstwhile defence minister Manohar Parrikar is to give its verdict on parity in ranks between the armed forces and civilian employees of the central government.

The committee was set up after the military objected to issue of a letter on 18 October 2016 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), wherein it brought military officers serving in service HQs down by a notch. The threemember committee is headed by Additional Secretary (Defence production) and includes the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) as a member.

The issue of the letter was an internal unilateral action without even seeking concurrence of the MHA, which maintains the warrant of precedence. The service HQs protested, compelling the MoD to act. In addition, the Cabinet recently created additional vacancies for the Armed Forces HQs (AFHQ) civil service by allocating seven posts of Principal Director and thirty-six posts of Director. Hence, they would need to create additional slots or grab some in service HQs, causing further imbalance. This increase could possibly be one of the reasons behind the proposed downgrading.

There are also reports that attempts are being made to ensure the armed forces are not granted Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), allocated to other central services. NFU was being scuttled by the bureaucracy despite service HQs regularly raising it through official channels, compelling a few to approach the Supreme Court for justice.

The court saw merit and the battle is presently in its final stage with the government likely to be forced to comply. The only way the bureaucracy can scuttle the case is by downgrading the military from Grade A to a Grade B service. Such an action, if taken, would impact civil-military relations adversely, which the government must step in to prevent. Hence the importance of the Equivalence Committee report.

Every day there are reports of aged war widows and war- wounded veterans being compelled to approach the apex court for justice, after the MoD refuses to accept the verdict of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in their favour.

The army has been repeatedly approaching the MoD saying that soldiers martyred while handling operational issues on any front, eastern or western, deserve the same terminal benefits but to no avail, forcing many to approach courts. The MoD, supposedly the guardian of the armed forces, is battling its own widows and wounded veterans in court for their legitimate dues, solely because it is in competition with its own subordinate HQs. There are also rumours that the AFHQ cadre is seeking a share of administrative member vacancies in the AFT.

The administrative member is tasked to advice the judicial member on military rules, ethos, service constraints and regulations. An AFHQ cadre with zero experience of matters military would only make the provision of justice from the AFT a mockery. The rising discontent within the military is away from public glare as the servings are compelled to maintain silence knowing that veterans would raise their voices on their behalf. The battle for who controls whom stems from misunderstanding the political versus bureaucratic control over the military. Logically it should be the political class alone but in India, inexperienced politicians, holding multiple responsibilities leave it to the MoD (civilian staffed) to manage daily functioning.

Further, most politicians are exposed to defence for the first time and avoid dealing with beribboned generals. They are more at ease with civilian MoD personnel. MoD staffers only seek to enjoy military perks including canteen and transportation, while aiming to control it without responsibility and accountability. Civilian bureaucrats, who have possibly never visited a military establishment other than on a holiday, and have no understanding of tactics, strategy, equipment profile, capacity and capability development sit on judgement on military matters.

They are always at the receiving end of CAG and parliamentary committee of defence reports, yet refuse to act or respond.

By downgrading, they hope to gain more privileges and add insult to serving military officers, senior in age and service with much more experience. Governments have historically been degrading the military, solely because it lacked a voice, was bound by rules and could never agitate. The OROP agitation shook the government and it conceded this demand in part. Another veterans agitation if the military is downgraded would hit the government hard, especially with elections around the corner.

Governments are aware that the military would stand tall in its responsibility and never let its guard down. It has been at the forefront in all crises and would continue to remain dependable. Hence it ignores military requests and acts on the seemingly illogical advice of the bureaucracy. The armed forces have never demanded to be senior to other services. They have never demanded higher perks and privileges, despite placing life and limb in danger, while those seeking to control it never leave the safety of their plush offices. They have only requested for equivalence with other central services considering their experience and seniority. If equality in status in the Indian system flows through pay, then so be it.

As Chanakya had advised his king, To the soldier, O Rajadhiraja you owe a debt: please therefore, see to it on your own, that he continuously gets his dues in every form and respect, be they his needs or his wants, for he is not likely to ask for them himself. He also warned the king, the day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha.

Will the defence minister fight for the common solider and take a stand against her ministry? Will the government ensure the military gets its due or support the bureaucracy and let it down once again or will the veterans agitate and shake the government?

The nation is watching.

(The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army)
During the 157 years of its existence on the statute book, Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code has undergone the least number of amendments.

Enacted in the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny which shook the very foundations of British colonial rule, it was an instrument designed to curb the freedom struggle. The word sedition does not figure in the text of the code except as a subheading. The law targets exciting or attempt to excite disaffection towards the government established by law. In the Constituent Assembly, KM Munshi moved an amendment for its deletion saying dissent is the sine qua non of democracy and that there was no scope for such a law in independent India.

Munshis amendment was passed and sedition did not besmirch the Indian Constitution. By an oversight Section 124A of the IPC was left untouched when India attained freedom. Mahatma Gandhi once sarcastically described Section 124A as the prince of the IPC. Prime Minister Nehru called for its repeal in one of his public speeches, but Sardar Patel was not enthusiastic.

Sedition law is against the spirit of democracy. The process of building political alternatives will have to be based on holding and propagating views that are contrary to those held by those in power. Quick to take offence and even quicker to launch prosecution, politicians and government authorities have contributed to the alarming misuse of sedition law.

The AIADMK government of the Edappadi Palaniswami-O Panneerselvam duo has sunk to a new low in leveling sedition charges against their own party MLAs and leaders who question their competence to govern.

They themselves moved resolutions in their party general council to the effect they are unfit to lead the party or to rule the state and that they are doing so only as regents of the late J Jayalalitha in whose shadow they got elected to the Assembly. They lack majority in the legislature and have resorted to filing cases against dissident legislators under Section 124A IPC in the hope of creating an artificial majority. No doubt the Supreme Court, protector of the fundamental rights of the citizens, will set the prisoners charged under this colonial-era law free.

According to the judgment of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in the Kedarnath case, a person can be charged with sedition only if he incites violence or intends to create disorder through speech or writing.

As long as this law remains on the statute book politicians will continue to use it for short time gains. It should be scrapped forthwith by Parliament. If the Supreme Court does it, it will have to supersede the Kedarnath judgment which was by a five-judge Bench.

So a seven-judge Bench will have to be constituted which takes a lot of time. The sedition law as it stands is in conflict with the Constitution.
After struggling to sell Windows smartphones for quite some time as Googles Android and Apple iOS Operating Systems (OS) surged way ahead, Microsoft has finally admitted that the software giant will no longer develop new features or hardware for Windows 10 mobiles.

In a series of tweets, Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President in the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, has revealed that the Windows Phone operating system will only help with bug fixes and security updates for the existing users.

Of course well continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates. But building new features/hw [hardware] arent the focus, Belfiore tweeted late on Sunday.

Belfiore, who himself has switched to Android, advised Windows users to move to Android or iOS or any other platform that makes sense for them.

As an individual end-user, I switched platforms for the app/hw diversity. We will support those users too! Choose whats best 4 u, he tweeted.

Bill Gates has already stopped using Windows phone.

The devices that currently use Windows OS are HP Elite x3, Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, Microsoft Lumia 950 and Nokia Lumia 930, among others.

HP Inc is also halting production of its flagship Windows handset. The company recently said it wont add any new handset to its existing Elite Windows smartphone lineup.

Belfiore also admitted that Microsoft will still support Windows 10 customers who want to use Android and iOS on their phones.

We have tried very hard to incent app devs. Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest, Belfiore posted.

According to market research firm Kantar, Windows phones account for just 1.3 per cent of the market  from 2.4 per cent last year  in the US.

Even though Microsoft has reported a fall in Surface PC line and Windows phones revenues, the Redmond-based tech giant is reportedly aiming for new devices called Surface Phones and has made its patent public.

According to media reports, India-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that Microsoft will make more phones, but they will not look like phones that are there today.

It appears that Microsoft is not cut for the smartphone market.

In his recently-launched book Hit Refresh, Nadella revealed that he was against the idea of purchasing Nokia in 2013  a deal that was finally proved wrong.

Microsoft purchased Nokia for $7.9 billion in 2013.

In mid-2016, Microsoft sold its feature phone business and rights to use the Nokia brand to Finnish firm HMD Global  laying off thousands in the process.

Nadella, in his book, said his biggest disappointment was its human cost. In retrospect, what I regret most is the impact these layoffs had on very talented, passionate people in our phone division, Nadella wrote.

Microsoft is set to roll out the Fall Creators update for Windows 10 on October 17 which will include Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) support sans the mobile experience.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 36F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of light snow after midnight. Low 31F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%.


remaining of

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Why this Newfoundland woman ditched the credit card and skips presents at Christmas  and how she celebrates instead

Everyone knows that Christmas isnt about gifts, it's about spending quality time with your loved ones. But many people feel extra stress during Christmas, wondering what they will be able to afford. Vanessa Barnes was one of these people until her ...
Job Title: IT Manager

Organisation: Mercy Corps

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Reports to: Operations

Director

About US:

Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which

implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult

places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and

continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps

is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food

insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and

contributing factors of economic vulnerability. Donors include the United

States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, Mastercard

Foundation, WALMART Foundation, Coca Cola Africa Foundation, US Depart of State

(DOS) /PEPFAR, ECHO and Nike Foundation.

Job Summary: The IT Manager will providing support to the

overall mission of Mercy Corps and will be implementing Information Technology

specific needs. The position will require for one to prioritize the strategic

and tactic ICT demands of both the field and Country Office program.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:



Read and understand Mercy Corps IT Systems

Policy. Orient staff on appropriate use and monitor the usage of IT systems to

ensure adherence to the policies.



Keenly review MC Uganda IT Systems and provide

recommendation on identified bottlenecks or improvements.



Regularly monitor user satisfaction and ensure

ongoing improvement



Work closely with end users in order to

proactively handle all requests passed on by them



Conduct staff training on computer basics and

the use of MS Office applications and networking. Assist, as needed, with

developing databases or other windows application needs for programs and

operational staff;



Maintain strict confidentiality of any

information deem sensitive.



Maintains regularly update of anti-virus

programs in all computers to ensure the entire network and computers are

virus-free;



Establish simple easy to use back-up system for

Mercy Corps field offices and undertake the necessary steps for this activity

including designing a schedule and materials list. Ensure back up and archives

are made and stored as scheduled.



The IT Manager will undertake the repairing and

maintaining of Local Area Networks, internet systems and as well undertake

General IT maintenance including training of MC Field offices staffs  as per

needs outlined by the Heads of Offices.



Troubleshoot and fix computers and any IT

equipments related issue at the field offices and advise when the issue

requires major hardware replacement,  facilitate and advise on best, safest

and most economical IT solutions and best practices.



Manage the IT Administration of Uganda emails

aliases and other activities.



Support MEL staff in development of data

collection forms, databases for various surveys/studies, data entry sheets and

other tools for effective data collection, entry and analysis of surveys



Design training on web-based or offline systems

once systems are in place



Work in liaison with program teams in developing

and establishing information systems i.e. program databases, analysis and

reporting forms, and mobile data collection tools.



Maintain an efficient Local Area Network for

Mercy Corps offices in the field areas.



Identify equipment and accessories required for

the smooth functioning of computers and IT systems in Mercy Corps offices.

Facilitate the purchase of items through the Procurement department by guiding

standard specifications for certain equipment.



Support logistics staff on IT Assets

inventorying tracking and record keeping.



Maintain proper documentation of all IT

equipment including; system profiles, warranties and IT accessories stock.

Organize and maintain IT related documents filing system.



Tasked with identifying specification and

assembly of any equipment not limited to computers, printers, communication

radio and Thuraya phones etc.



Identify and train an IT focal person for each

field office who will easily follow up the small scale IT support during the IT

officers absence.



Conduct himself/herself both professionally and

personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not

jeopardize its humanitarian mission.











Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:



The applicant for the Mercy Corps IT Manager job

opportunity should preferably hold a Masters or a Degree in Computer Science,

IT Engineering, or similar Extensive IT Service Desk Management with a proven

track record of delivering results



At least six years experience in NGO under a

similar role



Previous experience in IT Operations Management



Prior exposure and experience in working with

supporting technologies, including, but not limited to, remote assistance,

Active Directory, internet, proxy, pop mail, TCPIP settings and windows

applications etc



Experience in both hardware and software

required in setting local area networking (LAN); experience in the

configuration of outlook and other email mail client.



Previous exposure and experience for upright

maintenance of all mails account and servers



Excellent organizational time management and

interpersonal skills.



Ability to work independently, with minimum

supervision



Ability to work in remote areas



Demonstrate attention to details, ability to

follow procedures and meet deadlines.



Ability to plan and troubleshoot low maintenance

systems is a must.



Ability to troubleshoot and maintain both

wireless and cable connections is required.



Broad knowledge and understanding of existing

policies on IT equipment use and best practices

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their

E-mail applications including a cover letter clearly stating the salary

requirements, updated CV (with three professional referees), and copies of

academic qualifications/certificates addressed to the Senior HR and Legal

Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda to: ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org

th October 2017 Deadline: 12October 2017



find us on our Facebook page

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline






Job Title: Senior Manager Credit Evaluation

Organisation: Stanbic Bank

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Job ID: 27713

About US:

Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited is a subsidiary of Stanbic Africa Holdings

Limited which is in turn owned by Standard Bank Group Limited (the Group),

Africas leading banking and financial services group. The Standard Bank Group

is the leading banking group focused on emerging markets. It is the largest

African banking group ranked by assets and earnings. Stanbic Bank Uganda

Limited is the largest bank in Uganda by assets and market capitalization. It

offers a full range of banking services through two business units; Personal

and Business Banking (PBB), and Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB).

Job Summary: The Senior

Manager Credit Evaluation will assist Personal and Business Banking in

achieving their asset growth targets by providing effective value adding risk

management, whilst maintaining a quality-lending book, through judicious and

effective management thereof. The

incumbent will be delivering of a professional service to the business units,

by assessing and evaluating credit facilities (new and/or existing) based on

sound credit & financial principles which supports the minimising of risk

to the bank.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Loan Assessment and Approval:



Assess the financial status of a customer or

client to determine if they qualify for a loan based on established parameters

and criteria. Assess the financial status of a customer orclient to determine if they qualify for a loan based on established parametersand criteria.



Evaluates whether proposals meet sound business

criteria and credit risk falls within acceptable parameters, approve and

recommends appropriate credit facilities including terms or conditions of

facilities.



Identifies, quantifies and evaluates sources of

risk in relation to profitability of business proposals and financial viability

of Retail clients as a whole, interrogates/probes.

Asset Based Lending



Knowledge and understanding of the risks and

processes associated with lending using movable assets as security for loans.



Utilizes Industry risk analysis available to

identify and understand contextual threats to existing and potential clients.

Debt Consolidation



Knowledge and application of the requirements

for loan restructuring, amendments to terms and conditions and the calculation

of new repayment amounts.



Review and assess credit criteria against

portfolio performance.



Management of actions on the watch list process

Operating cash flow analysis



Understanding of the elements of a lenders cash

flow and how it will impact the lenders ability to repay the loans granted.



Regular interaction with credit administration

in discussing strategy & action plans to manage irregular accounts and

accounts on damage control reports.



Ensure timely and quality credit assessment and

decision are made.

Financial statement analysis: Review balance sheets, income

statements, cash flow statements and tax returns to determine the credit risk

of the client. Review balance sheets, incomestatements, cash flow statements and tax returns to determine the credit riskof the client.

Evaluating Risk Management Effectiveness



The ability to determine if risk management and

control measures are achieving the desired results and mitigating risks at the

expected level.



Use watch lists in conjunction with the credit

administration to ensure that accounts identified as being high risk are being

managed effectively in terms of agreed action plans.

Risk/ Reward Thinking:



The ability to provide due consideration to

risks, rewards and the cost of control measures in evaluating business

opportunities, process and system changes.



Detects and evaluate shifts or changes in key

risk parameters and evaluate the implications of such changes on continued

banking relationship.



Actively hind sighting lending decisions to

ensure that correct procedure are being followed in the approval of facilities,

which will prevent new NPLs.

Operating cash flow analysis:



Understanding of the elements of a lenders cash

flow and how it will impact the lenders ability to repay the loans granted.



Regular interaction with credit administration

in discussing strategy & action plans to manage irregular accounts and

accounts on damage control reports.



Ensure timely and quality credit assessment and

decision are made.











Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:



The ideal candidate for the Stanbic Bank Senior

Manager Credit Evaluation job opportunity should hold a Degree in Commerce or a

related field



Masters in Finance or a related field is an

added advantage



Professional Banking qualification,



Credit / Risk related professional

qualifications; or



CA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA, CFA



A minimum of two to four years of experience and

application of extensive credit management, preferably in a Corporate and

Investment Banking environment



Good track record of operating in a wholesale

business environment or a proven ability to understand holistic business,

pricing and capital management issues, with exposure to credit derivatives and

structured products environment a strong advantage.



Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of

advances, credit criteria, credit policies, risk and financial analysis, credit

control and the application thereof



Broad understanding of business practices, the

Banks products / forms of security and marketing



Sound understanding of various Industry Sectors



Sound knowledge in subjects such as commercial law,

accounting, economics and marketing



Knowledge of sources of information

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to join the one of Africas biggest Banking

Groups, Stanbic Bank in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to Apply

Online by visiting Link below.

Deadline: 12th

October 2017
But the tribe has a long way to go
Donald Trump has proposed a merit-based immigration system that could benefit highly-skilled Indian workers but prevents them from sponsoring their extended families, as part-of an aggressive plan which the US president said will serve national interest.

However, there was no reference to the H-1B visas, the most sought after by Indian IT professionals, in the proposal which Trump sent to Congress yesterday.

Besides overhauling the country's green-card system, the Trump administration's wish list also includes the funding of a controversial border wall along the US-Mexico border and a crackdown on unaccompanied minors entering the country.

The move to establish a merit-based immigration system could benefit highly-skilled Indian immigrants especially those from the IT sector. However, the new policies would badly impact those thousands of Indian-Americans who want to bring in their family members to the US particularly their aged parents.

The demands were denounced by Democratic leaders in Congress who had hoped to forge a deal with Trump to protect younger immigrants, known as "dreamers", who were brought to the US illegally as children.

Trump last month announced plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme that had provided two-year work permits to the dreamers that Trump called "unconstitutional".

In his letter to the Congress last night, Trump demanded that these principles must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

"Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end," he asserted.

Arguing for a merit-based immigration system, Trump told the Congress that the current immigration system does not serve the national interest as it prioritises extended family-based chain migration over skills-based immigration.

"Decades of low-skilled immigration has suppressed wages, fueled unemployment and strained federal resources," he rued.

The administration proposes establishing a merit-based immigration system that protects US workers and taxpayers, and ending chain migration, to promote financial success and assimilation for newcomers, he said.

Trump proposed ending extended-family chain migration by limiting family-based green cards to spouses and minor children and replace it with a merit-based system that prioritises skills and economic contributions over family connections.

He called for establishing a new point-based system for awarding the green cards (lawful permanent residents) based on factors that allow individuals to successfully assimilate and support themselves financially; eliminate the diversity visa lottery and limit the number of refugees to prevent the abuse of the US Refugee Admissions Programme.

Trump also proposed to increase the number of officials involved in enforcement, hiring an additional 10,000 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and 1,000 attorneys, 370 immigration judges and 300 federal prosecutors.

Trump's list was criticised by Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

"The administration can't be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.

The two said they were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable.

"The list includes the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the negotiations. If the president was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so," the statement said.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, however, said that Trump has put forth a series of proposals that will restore the rule of law to immigration system, prioritise America's safety and security, and end the lawlessness.

"These are reasonable proposals that will build on the early success of President Trump's leadership. This plan will work. If followed it will produce an immigration system with integrity and one in which we can take pride. Perhaps the best result will be that unlawful attempts to enter will continue their dramatic decline, he said.

Leading civil rights group American Civil Liberties Union, opposed the proposals.

Lorella Praeli, director of immigration policy and campaigns at the American Civil Liberties Union, said lawmakers should recognise that these policies are a non-starter.

Beth Werlin, executive director of American Immigration Council said the White House Immigration Principles and Policies are no more than the immigration restrictionists' wish list.

PTI
The BJP has been making every possible attempt to make a big dent in pocket borough of the CongressAmethi and Raebareli. BJP national president Amit Shahs visit to Amethi on Tuesday proved again the fact that the saffron party will leave no stone unturned to make sure that they win these seats in the 2019 general elections.

Six out of 10 assembly constituencies in these two districts are already with the saffron party. The party wants to avenge the defeat of Union minister Smriti Irani who had lost to Rahul Gandhi despite giving a tough fight to him in Amethi.

Amit Shah has been making things difficult for the Congress scion especially after Congress leader Jang Bahadur Singh quit the grand old party to join the BJP. Singh was with the BSP before joining the Congress.

The exit of Singh was a big jolt for the Congress at local level. He had said he made up his mind to quit the Congress because development in the area came to a grinding halt under Congress while it picked up momentum under the BJP.

During this visit to Amethi, Shah was ruthless in his tirade against Rahul Gandhi. The Congress has been asking Modi to give the account of his three-year rule while people of Amethi have been asking what have you done for them in the last three generations, Shah said.

Shah also dedicated public development work worth Rs 47 crore in Amethi. The message he wanted to send out was clearthe Congress failed in ensuring development of people in the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi.

The BJPs strategy is to poach local leaders and consolidate its position for upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Three months ago when Shah visited Lucknow, two MLCs belonging to SPBukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh nd one from BSP  Thakur Jaiveer Singhhad joined the BJP.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and union minister Smriti Irani too targetted the Congress.

Irani said, "the main resentment of those who left the Congress is that party neglected them and the Congress failed to bring development here as promised by its leaders.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls Amethi and Raebareli were the only seats which the Congress could win in the state.

To counter BJPs claim, Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh said the Modi government has stalled many development projects initiated by the UPA government.

District spokesperson of Congress Anil Singh said the BJP is taking credit for those projects which the party did not even begin.
Taking into account massive air pollution in the national capital, the Supreme Court on Monday banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR till November 1. Delhi's pollution levels reach dangerous limits during Diwali celebrations. According to a 2016 National Air Quality Index, Delhi breathed in air polluted with particulate matter of up to 14 to 16 times the acceptable limits on Diwali night.

As usual, Twitter went berserk with comments, debates and memes. While most debates initially were around the idea of banning or regulating use of fireworks during festivities, it took on a religious hue later. Debates on safety of children and pollution soon snowballed into a Hindu-Muslim debate.

Author Chetan Bhagat can very well be credited with triggering the controversy. After the SC ruling, he tweeted: SC bans fireworks on Diwali? A full ban? What's Diwali for children without crackers? Well, that doesn't sound controversial enough. Wait till you see the subsequent tweets. He asked if the Supreme Court would ban Christmas trees on Christmas or goat slaughter on Bakr-Eid.

Can I just ask on cracker ban. Why only guts to do this for Hindu festivals? Banning goat sacrifice and Muharram bloodshed soon too?  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017 Banning crackers on Diwali is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas and goats on Bakr-Eid. Regulate. Dont ban. Respect traditions.  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017

While many joined in to agree that Hindus were being targeted, #CommunalCracker was used widely to argue on the issue.

Now it's a time for 107 crores Hindus stand up for ur rights unless u will be ignored in our own country.

F*ck secularism

#CommunalCracker  Rony Rajput (@rony_rajput123) October 9, 2017 #CommunalCracker horrible decision by SC, cutting the Hindu ties, we are slaves in our own country, cant even celebrate Diwali, is this Curse for India, but other Communities Cherish with no restrictions-why always Hindus made to Suffer in a country of 85% Hindus-foolish Hindues  Jai Hind (@Gautam13878864) October 9, 2017

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor pitched in with a reply to Bhagat, terming firecrackers 'unholy addons'.

And w all respect who decides on what makes a part of a celebration, done for generations, suddenly unholy? And the courts should ban it? https://t.co/YZqzDD8HfB  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017

To which, Chetan replied: "And w all respect who decides on what makes a part of a celebration, done for generations, suddenly unholy? And the courts should ban it?"

Journalist Nidhi Razdan, too, faced flak on Twitter for her comment on the #CommunalCracker debates. She tweeted: "Only in India can a real debate on pollution and health turn into a communal issue. Really incredible."

Madam, are you saying the Supreme Court of India is anti Hindu? Are firecrackers Hindu? Are doctors warning agst crackers all anti Hindu ? https://t.co/yejTiGrpiL  Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) October 9, 2017

Amid all the cacophony, a section of Twitterati urged fellow users not to communalise Diwali.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called terrorism a "curse for the civilised society", and said the NIA will soon choke the foreign fund trail to the terrorists operating in the country.

"Some people say that the National Investigation Agency has partially succeeded in stopping foreign terror funding. But I will say that the NIA will fully choke the foreign funding to terrorists in the country soon," Singh said.

Inaugurating the counter-terror agency's headquarters at Lodi Road here, Singh also said: "The NIA will bring down the morale of the terrorists."

He said terrorism acts as a hindrance to development. Lauding the work of the probe agency for proving its credibility in the last eight-and-half years since its formation in 2008, Singh said the conviction rate of the agency was over 90 per cent.

Singh said investigating terror activities is a tough job. "But with the help of scientific investigation, it has filed perfect chargesheets," the home minister said.

The home minister also hailed the NIA's role in curbing the menace of fake currency which acted as an oxygen for terrorism.
Pakistan once again tried to sneak the Kashmir issue into a UN General Assembly debate with no relevance to the topic, but India took the high road refusing to be drawn into a "distraction" from the agenda set for the meeting.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi devoted a significant part of her speech to Kashmir at the committee dealing with decolonisation on Monday.

The Minister in India's Permanent Mission, Srinivas Prasad, who spoke later said in his scheduled speech, "We reject the efforts of the delegation of Pakistan to bring issues which have never been on the agenda of this committee ever in its history."

"We consider it a diversion from the agenda and as a distraction not worthy of a response," Prasad added.

Kashmir is not considered a colony or a non-self-governing territory by the UN.

"Even as all those who have taken the floor have focused on issues of these non self-governing territories, a solitary member State, as usual, has ventured to plough a lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history," Prasad added.

Lodhi said that UN's decolonisation agenda would remain "incomplete" without resolving the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan came back again after Prasad' speech with Saima Sayed, a counsellor at Pakistan's UN Mission, harking back to the 1948 Security Council resolution on Kashmir while exercising Pakistan's right of reply.

India did not use its right to reply to Sayed.

This was Lodhi's second attempt this month to introduce Kashmir during a debate on topics without any relevance to it.

During a debate last week in the General Assembly on the UN's annual report, she said the surgical strikes carried out last year by India against terrorist hideouts in Pakistani-held territory never happened and asserted that New Delhi was trying to provoke her country by saying it took place.

The surgical strike was in response to an attack on an Indian position in the Uri sector that killed 18 soldiers.

As Prasad pointed out, Pakistan has been "ploughing a lonely furrow" at the UN in trying to raise the Kashmir issue with no other country taking note of it despite Lodhi bringing it up in forums where it has not relevance.

India is adopting a tactic of reacting to Pakistan's taunts over Kashmir by either ridiculing them or ignoring them, rather than getting entangled in a debate giving it importance.

When Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi launched one of the most heated attacks in recent times on India during his address to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly last month, a first secretary in India's Mission, Eenam Gambhir, called Pakistan "Terroristan" in her reply. "The quest for a land of pure has actually produced 'the land of pure terror'."

Again last week, Gambhir dismissed Lodhi's statement on the surgical strike by saying: "My delegation does not wish to waste the precious time of this august assembly in further engaging with such distractions."

Lodhi's response to External Affairs Minister's speech last month at the General Assembly backfired when she held up the picture of an injured Palestinian child claiming she was from Kashmir.

(IANS)
As Spain and Catalonia head towards a constitutional collision over the regions claim to independence, lawmakers on both sides of the crisis are pointing to a way out: north, to Basque Country.

Among the verdant mountains of Basque Country, which borders France, a once-violent campaign for independence has petered out, with generous fiscal autonomy from Madrid helping to keep popular agitation for independence in check.

We dont have that economic resentment, Aitor Esteban, organizer for the Basque National Party in Spains parliament, said in an interview at party headquarters in Bilbao. People dont feel that need to act upon a grievance about money; that makes a big difference.

The Catalan government is not calling for a Basque-style deal, insisting instead on independence after declaring overwhelming support for secession in an October 1 referendum banned by Madrid.

But the most moderate lawmakers in the regions ruling coalition privately say they could drop independence claims if they were given the tax autonomy that Basque Country enjoys.

In Madrid, some socialists have suggested it could serve as a model for a compromise that would defuse Spains biggest political crisis since a failed coup in 1981, although the cost to the central government would be significant.

Basque staged modest protests over Madrids violent crackdown on Catalonias referendum, but the crisis has failed to rekindle secessionist fervour on the streets of Bilbao, the Basque capital nestled on the banks of the Nervion.

Catalan flags hang from balconies alongside the Basque flag in a sign of solidarity, but Bilbao is prosperous and peaceful. Where once unionist politicians needed bodyguards and car bombings were a constant fear, tourists now crowd the taverns of the old town and the world-famous Guggenheim museum.

Just 17 per cent of Basques want independence and less than half would like to hold a referendum on the issue, according to a poll carried out by the university of Deusto.

Basque militant group ETA, which killed more than 850 people in a decades-long campaign to carve out a separate state, effectively ended its armed resistance this year when it surrendered its weapons.

The region now has one of the highest economic outputs per capita and one of the lowest unemployment rates in Spain.

The independence debate is on standby in Basque Country because of great fatigue after years of violence and uncertainty after the economic crisis, said Xabier Barandiaran, professor of sociology at Deusto University.

Basques fiscal autonomy is among the most generous of any region in Europe, dating back to the 19th century and enshrined in Spains 1978 constitution.

If it were to be extended to Catalonia, an economically more powerful region accounting for a fifth of national production, the Spanish state would lose about 16 billion euros, according to a 2014 study by research house CSIC.

That would equal about 13 per cent of next years budget and affect Spains deficit and borrowing costs.

For that reason, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ruled out such generous treatment for Catalonia.

Under Basques accord with Madrid, the region collects nearly all its own taxes, which are forecast to total 13 billion euros ($15 billion) this year.

It is due to return 800 million euros to Madrid in what is known as an annual quota to cover the costs of national expenses such as defence or infrastructure.

Rajoy has sweetened that arrangement since he regained power at the head of a minority government last year, as the price of securing Basque National Party support for his 2017 budget.

It has proved unpopular with other regions who would almost certainly oppose any similar deal for Catalonia, as it would mean cutting their share of state revenue.

Typically, regions pass taxes to Madrid which redistributes money back to them according to a formula that favours the poorer regions.

Former Catalan leader Artur Mas tried to hold talks with Rajoy in 2012 about granting Catalonia powers to raise and spend its own taxes, but the prospect of negotiations in the current climate look bleak.

Catalonia has long said it pays a disproportionate level of taxes to Madrid in relation to the central funding it receives.

A study backed by the budget ministry says Catalonia pays to the state 9.9 billion euros more than it receives. The Catalan economy ministry says this is even higher.

Economists say an overhaul of the fiscal relationship between Madrid and the regions is overdue because the current system has led to intense tax competition between regions. Some autonomous communities have become under-financed, resulting in cuts in public services.

Now the situation is so critical, there might just be the political momentum needed to tackle it, said Antonio Garcia Pascual of Barclays Capital.

Reuters
For Ritesh Rathod, 27, the last few days have not only been about braving the physical injuries he suffered in the stampede on Mumbais Elphinstone Road railway overbridge which claimed 23 lives, but also about dealing with the mental scars.

The stampede, on the morning of September 29, which witnessed a sudden spell of heavy rainfall, was caused by rumours of a short circuit and the possibility of the foot overbridge collapsing. Chaos ensued as the crowd of passengers tried to escape from the narrow overbridge, which links Parel and Elphinstone Road railway stations.

All I remember is hearing many people shouting that the bridge was going to collapse. The next thing I knew, the lower half of my body was trapped under a pile of a dozen people, said Ritesh, a Vasai resident, who was heading to Lower Parel to meet a client. I could not breathe and lost consciousness. His client Tushar repeatedly phoned him till, finally, a stranger answered. Tushar then went looking for Ritesh at the station, found him and took him to King Edward Memorial Hospital.

Of the 39 people who were seriously injured, 19 are in hospital17 men in the orthopaedic ward and two women in a general ward. The doctors said three of them needed surgery.

As the news of the stampede broke, citizens and politicians recalled how they had made several attempts in the past to alert the railways about the narrow staircase leading to the foot overbridge. The overbridge is 32m long and 5m wide, but its two exits are only 2.1m wide. More than a lakh commuters use it every day. Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray tweeted about how Shiv Sena MPs Arvind Sawant and Rahul Shewale had written to the railways about the overbridge in 2014. And, though the railways has assured people that the government was considering the proposal to widen the overbridge, it took 23 deaths for a tender to be floated for the construction of a new overbridge. According to reports, former railway minister Suresh Prabhu had approved the proposal for a new overbridge in 2015.

Said Shishir Joshi, CEO of Mumbai First, a non-profit think tank: While there is no doubt that increased population or migration is stretching the citys resources, the deeper rot is the myopic vision of the administration. The main issue is lack of governance and the absolutely pathetic coordination between various urban local government agencies. Even this tragedy will be another statistic in ten days.
By PTI: police

(Rpting after adding a word in para 3)

Chandigarh, Oct 10 (PTI) The younger maternal uncle of a 10-year-old rape victim has turned out to be the father of her two-month old child, the police said today.

Earlier, it was suspected that her elder uncle had fathered the baby who was delivered in August this year, they said.

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The sordid revelation emerged on the basis of a fresh DNA report, the police officials said adding that the minors elder uncle too had allegedly exploited her and was arrested.

The girls elder uncles DNA sample did not match that of the newborn following which the suspicion fell on his younger brother who too had been accused of rape by the victim, they said.

"The DNA sample of the younger maternal uncle of the girl has matched with that of the baby of the girl," Chandigarh SSP, Jagdale Nilambari Vijay, said this evening.

She maintained that both the girls uncles had sexually exploited her.

"A supplementary charge sheet has been filed before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Poonam R Joshi, here today," the police officer said.

The rape victim, whose abortion plea was turned down by the Supreme Court, had in August delivered a baby through C- section at a government hospital here.

The child was told by her family and the doctors that she had a stone in her stomach that had to be removed. Earlier, police had said the girl was repeatedly raped allegedly by her elder maternal uncle for several months.

The crime came to light when the victim was taken to a hospital after she complained of stomach ache in July where she was found to be over 30 weeks pregnant.

On July 28, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking its nod for terminating the 32-week-old pregnancy of the rape survivor after taking note of a medical report that abortion was neither good for the girl nor for the foetus.

The Supreme Court bench had taken note of the report of the medical board set up by Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, which was set up on the directions of the apex court, to examine the rape survivor and the consequences if the termination of pregnancy was allowed. PTI CHS/SUN VSD ADS

--- ENDS ---

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With quality products at low prices, bargain supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are enjoying increasing popularity in many affluent areas.

And their charm has now even reached the attention of Tatler, as the upmarket magazine has released a list of what to get from each chain for fancy food on a budget.

The magazine's switch of interest from high-end, high-price stores follows blind tests that rated Aldi and Lidl products as better than the likes of Harrods and Fortnum and Mason.

Tatler said it was no longer a question of whether to shop at the German supermarket chains but rather which is better for a high-end bargain.

Tatler Magazine pitted Aldi (right) and Lidl (left) against each other to see which was better value and who's products tasted better. Lidl was victorious with cheaper champagne and smoked salmon

It is the latest move upmarket for the stores that have tried to attract middle and high-income households.

With the likes of sirloin steak and champagne on sale at both chains, it seems everyone can now appreciate buying posh nosh for less.

And after store openings in London areas such as Chelsea, Notting Hill and even Mayfair, Tatler has now pitted the German giants against one another.

Declaring Lidl the winner, the magazine judges praised its 'discount lobster and frozen macaroons'.

Tatler has produced its own guide on where it is best to go for everything from steak and bubbly to crisps and eggs.

It said shoppers can choose between a Scotch beef sirloin steak for 5.45 at Lidl or Aberdeen Angus steak for 4.75 at Aldi.

Other popular items deemed suitable for Tatler readers included Aldi's kiln-roasted salmon for 3.59 and smoked Scottish salmon at Lidl for 2.99.

And with champagne for just 9.99 at Lidl and 10.99 at Aldi, it suggests people can do 'a lot of popping'.

It comes just months after Lidl overtook Waitrose to become Britain's seventh biggest food store  behind the 'big four', Aldi and the Co-op.

Earlier this year figures revealed Aldi and Lidl were growing at their fastest rate in more than two years.

The discount grocers saw takings up 19.2 per cent while Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons saw growth of just 1.6 per cent.

Aldi lost out on the battle of the budget brands. Both them and their rivals Lidl have opened stores in affluent areas around central London

It came as a survey found six in ten shoppers said they had visited one of the discount shops in recent weeks.

Last December Aldi sold more than 69,000 bottles of Prosecco every day over December  reaching a total of 2million.

This drove a 15 per cent rise in December sales and earned the retailer the accolade of a record Christmas.

Meanwhile, a 5.29 Prosecco from Lidl beat a number of upmarket stores, including M&S, to be crowned runner-up for sparkling wine during a blind taste test by Good Housekeeping.

Blind taste tests last Christmas also found the smoked salmon, mince pies and mulled wine were tastier at Lidl and Aldi than at stores such as Fortnum and Mason and Harrods.
Thousands of Monarch passengers owed money for flight delays could miss out on compensation because of the airline's collapse.

Passengers who are awaiting refunds for lost or damaged luggage over the past year are also at risk of losing out.

Under EU law, holidaymakers are entitled to compensation from their airline if their flight is delayed by more than three hours or cancelled.

Figures provided to Money Mail show that passengers who flew on 326 Monarch flights over the past year qualify for a payout.

Grounded: Monarch passengers who are awaiting refunds for lost or damaged luggage over the past year are also at risk of losing out

But with the airline in administration, there is no guarantee that there will be money left to pay these claims once the firm is wound up.

Some passengers may already have received compensation. But experts say that many of those who travelled this year won't have claimed.

Others may not yet have realised they are entitled to these payouts. Claims often take weeks or even months to process  so some customers' details may be left stuck in the system.

And KPMG, the administrator in charge of settling Monarch's accounts, says customers waiting for a response need to submit their claim again. The same applies to anyone claiming for damaged or lost luggage on Monarch flights.

In total up to 53,500 passengers could miss out on 17.7 million in compensation, according to figures from law firm Bott & Co.

Compensation for delays and cancellations under EU regulation 261 can be as much as 600 (536) per person.

What you get depends on how far you are travelling and the length of the delay or, for cancellations, how much notice you were given and the length of your journey. Firms do not have to pay out if the reason for the delay was out of their control, such as bad weather or crew strikes.

BUT YOU CAN CLAIM FOR LOST TRIPS Around 320,000 travellers who had booked holidays with Monarch should receive a refund within 28 days. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says customers who booked an Atol-protected holiday or flight with Monarch will be emailed a claim form. The aviation watchdog has hired claims handlers to speed up processing these forms and aims to refund passengers within 28 days. If additional information is required it could take longer. Customers who were protected by another operator or travel agents Atol licence should contact them. You may be able to get a refund or alternative flight or holiday. Customers who paid through PayPal have been told they can claim a refund under the firms buyer protection policy. This covers cancelled flights because the airline has gone out of business. Customers typically have 180 days from the date of payment to make a claim but PayPal has removed this time limit for Monarch customers.

The law firm says there were an average of 209 seats available on each of the 326 Monarch flights where passengers had a valid claim, so around 68,000 in total.

By looking at the firm's average loading figures  how full each flight was  it estimates that 53,500 people flew on these flights. With the average compensation payout being 330 per person, this works out at 17.7 million, which could be up for grabs.

Bott & Co says its firm alone has 947 Monarch claims outstanding. All compensation claims will now be dealt with by KPMG.

The accountancy firm told Money Mail it has already received claims, but does not yet know how many are outstanding or what the total compensation bill will be.

Customers will be at the bottom of a very large pile of creditors. When a company goes bust, an administration company such as KPMG is brought in to audit the accounts and sell off any assets it can.

Any cash salvaged is then dealt out in order of priority. Banks get their share first, then preferential creditors such as employees and finally unsecured creditors  the customers. This means that any compensation claims will only be paid if there is enough cash left after all the other debts are settled.

Customers should be aware that claims previously submitted to Monarch will not automatically be passed on to KPMG. They will need to submit a new one as their claim is now against the administrators rather than itself.

All claims should be sent to: KPMG, 15 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5GL.

If customers who were overseas when Monarch went bust and experienced a delay on a repatriation flight run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), they will not be entitled to compensation.

The CAA has, however, said it will consider claims for out-of-pocket expenses such as extra accommodation. Any claims for lost or damaged luggage on one of these flights should also be sent to the CAA. Call its helpline for Monarch customers on 0300 303 2800.

Passengers can find more information here.

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
Popular British fashion brand Ted Baker has seen an increase in sales for the first half of the year, posting pre-tax profits of 25.3 million.

Despite 'challenging' conditions, Ted Baker has managed to broaden its appeal and experienced relatively good ecommerce sales.

The retailer boasted an uptick in online spending of 13million compared to last year's numbers.

Ted Baker performed well globally, but US sales slumped slightly compared to 2016.

Lower footfall in stores doesn't appear to have impacted the company, but chief executive Ray Kelvin acknowledged that trading conditions have been challenging.

He said: 'Whilst trading conditions in some of our markets remain challenging, we are confident of making further progress for the full year, in line with our expectations.'

Ted Baker now has more international appeal so the increase in profits is not solely based on UK customers' expenditure.

The sharpest sales growth this year has been through Ted Baker's Asian arm and it looks as though it will continue to rise with new stores opening later this year in Qatar, Malaysia and India.

The origins of the, now worldwide, company can be traced to Glasgow in 1987 where the company was launched as a shirt specialist.

The company choose not to advertise but have still managed to build their brand from a men's shirt shop to an all encompassing brand that sells clothes, accessories and shoes to both sexes.

American sales go against the trend and have suffered this year- down almost ten per cent compared to last year.

The company has hailed 'higher levels of competitor promotional activity' and lower international tourism as the reason for this dip.

Ted Baker is however continuing its North American expansion and has stores opening across the country in both Houston and Los Angeles.

Neil Wilson of ETX Capital was not confident that Ted Baker reflected the wider UK retail market. He said: 'This is more and more a global brand rather than a straight British high street retailer.

'Its push overseas is clearly paying off and the growth looks sustainable and manageable.'

Ted Baker has done well in half-year profits with online shop accounting for 42.7 million sales.

'Its controlled approach to distribution and the focus on brand should continue to put it on a strong footing.'

Following the Brexit vote, retailers have been struggling with rising import costs for goods and rapidly deteriorating consumer confidence.

But Ted Baker appears to have bucked the trend by keeping product prices the same, which could account for the 14 per cent rise in revenue.

In January, Mr Kelvin vowed shoppers would not be subjected to price hikes with the combination of hedging against currency fluctuations and a dollar-denominated income from its US operations helping to mitigate the collapse in sterling.
The South African owner of an upmarket burger chain blamed Brexit for a 11 per cent plunge in its shares yesterday.

Famous Brands, which owns Gourmet Burger Kitchen, repeated a complaint it first made in August that 'uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations' had contributed to 'adverse trading conditions' in the UK.

Despite Gourmet Burger Kitchen posting profits of 4.5million in the year to February, a trading update yesterday said the business swung into a loss of 872,000 in the six months to the end of August.

Shares in the South African parent company, which is listed in Johannesburg, plunged 10.7 per cent as a result.
Vanquis Bank has been fined by the Information Commissioner's Office for sending out a flurry of illegal marketing texts and e-mails.

The firm, based in Bradford, sent 870,849 spam text messages and 620,000 spam e-mails to promote its credit cards.

The ICO says the e-mails and texts broke the law because the recipients had not consented to being sent such messages  and it fined Vanquis, a subsidiary of Provident Financial Group, 75,000.

Vanquis Bank: The firm sent out a flurry of spam texts and e-mails to people

Vanquis came on the This is Money radar last year when we did a round-up of correspondence from firms and asked readers to guess whether it was genuine, or a scam.

We originally thought an e-mail (pictured below) from Vanquis offering a credit card was a scam, given the fact it used comic sans font, came from a strange e-mail address and contained weird characters on the letters of the subject line.

However, we were subsequently contacted and told it was in fact genuine  we wrote about it here: would you have spotted this as a genuine message?

Provident Financial itself was fined 80,000 in July by the ICO in relation to spam texts, sent on its behalf to promote Satsuma Loans.

Steve Eckersley, ICO head of enforcement, said: 'There are rules in place to protect people from the irritation, and in some cases anxiety and distress, spam texts and emails cause.

'People need to be properly informed about what they are consenting to. Telling them their details could be passed to 'similar organisations' or 'selected third parties' cannot be relied upon as specific consent.'

Genuine e-mail: We mentioned this e-mail last year - and discovered it was genuine contact from the bank

Vanquis Bank obtained the marketing lists used to send the messages from other organisations, the ICO  which reports directly to government - says.

It relied on indirect consent rather than checking itself that the correct level of consent had been obtained.

The consent included non-specific, general wording, such as "trusted parties" and "carefully selected third parties"'.

The ICO has also issued a legal notice ordering Vanquis Bank to ensure its practices comply with the law.

A spokesman from Provident said: 'Vanquis Bank is sorry for any irritation this has caused to the individuals concerned.

'Although the ICO found that Vanquis Bank did not deliberately contravene the regulation, Vanquis Bank takes this contravention extremely seriously.

'The bank has reviewed its marketing processes and put in place steps to ensure that contraventions of this nature do not occur again, including no longer working with the third parties concerned.'

In a separate case, London company Xerpla has been fined 50,000 by the ICO.

The firm sent nearly 1.26million spam e-mails promoting products and services as far ranging as dog food, wine, competitions and boilers on behalf of other firms.

Xerpla did not have the right consent needed from people to send the emails.

The spam e-mails sent by Xerpla were sent to people who had subscribed to two websites operated by the firm  www.yousave.co.uk and www.headsyouwin.co.uk.

Mr Eckersley adds: 'People were so exasperated by these messages that they complained to us.

'That sparked two ICO investigations and enabled us to take action and hold the firms behind this nuisance to account.

'These firms should have taken responsibility for ensuring they had obtained clear and specific consent for the sending of the messages. They didn't and that is unacceptable.

'I would encourage anyone troubled by a spam email or text to report it via the ICO's website.'

The public can report a concern to the ICO via telephone on 0303 123 1113 or go to www.ico.org.uk/concerns/
Three-year-old Texas girl was been punished by being made to stand outside her house at three in the morning, all because she had refused to drink her milk.

By India Today Web Desk: Last Saturday, a father in Dallas, Texas, decided to punish his three-year-old daughter for not drinking her milk by making her stand outside the house in the middle of the night. Since then, the child has been missing.

Wesley Mathews, 37, told authorities that he had punished three-year-old Sherin Mathews by sending her off to stand by a tree behind the fence at their home at around 3AM.

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This tree stood across an alley.

When Mathews went to check on her 15 minutes later, Sherin was gone. Sherin suffers from a developmental disability, and on that night, she was wearing pair of leggings, a pink long-sleeved shirt and pink flip-flops.

Mathews told investigators that coyotes have been seen in the alley, but investigators say there is no indication that one might have dragged the girl away.

Sergeant Kevin Perlich said the father did not notify police about Sherin missing until around five hours later, a delay he described as "certainly concerning to us."

"That does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child," Perlich said.

IS THE FATHER GUILTY?

Mathews was arrested on Saturday on the charge of abandoning or endangering a child. He posted bond late Sunday, according to Perlich. A working phone number for Mathews could not be found and it's not clear if he's hired an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Investigators have seized three vehicles, cellphones and laptops from the family in an effort to find out what became of Sherin. Footage from surveillance cameras in the area is also being reviewed.

A four-year-old child has since been removed from Mathews' home by the State Child Protective Services.

Mathews told police that he and his wife had adopted Sherin as a malnourished child, and that it wasn't unusual for the kid to wake up late at night to eat so that her weight would increase.

While this is his excuse of the child being made to drink milk at 3AM, and eventually punished, authorities are casting a broad net in determining what happened to Sherin."We don't have any other indication or evidence that she was forcibly abducted from that area," he said.

Whatever be the reason, a child may now be in danger or dead for an adult's ill-judgement.

--- ENDS ---
MBABANE  The Swaziland Cotton Boards application to commercialise Bt cotton farming in Swaziland has been strongly objected to.



An objection that has been submitted to the Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA) by Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM), which the Business Desk has seen, has a bold recommendation to the effect that the intended project was not ideal.



We recommend that the Swaziland Environment Authority decline the application by the Cotton Board for commercial release of the Bt Cotton. We also recommend that the Cotton Board explore agro-ecological methods of growing non-GM cotton which they can share with the farmers, reads the objection in part.



In the application submitted to SEA by the Swaziland Cotton Board, it had been mentioned that the foreseen product would improve cotton production through increased yield.

The board said they were looking at improved ginnery throughput that would enhance employment both in the ginnery and textile sector. The release was intended for the 2017/18 planting season and planting dates commence on October 1 extending to the last week of December.



The duration will be a period of 10 years depending on the event or variety viability and farmers requirements.

Training of farmers on management of new cotton has been ongoing for the past five seasons.

It has been stated that the 2014 and 2016 field trials and demonstration laid sufficient ground for farmers to adopt the technology.

Swazi nation land and private farms will be utilised for cotton production.



The size of the site is approximately 3 000 hectare of land that would be dependent on technology adoption rate.

All trained farmers will be elegible to grow the cotton.


MBABANE  Their mission has been accomplished.



When they decided to participate in the Methodist Church Choral Music Festival, their mission was to win and fly off to Germany.

Mbabane Methodist Church Choir has achieved its mission after being crowned champions of the festival. This happened last Saturday during the finals of the festival held in Bloemfontein. The trip to Germany is worth over E500 000 and they will be touring different cities and sharing music with different choirs from around the world. The Germany tour is strictly for all Methodist faith choirs across the globe .



The choir competed with 12 choirs from the Southern African region and indeed they managed to become overall winners.

The choir won in all the song categories, impressing the adjudicators.

The choir conducted by Menzi Gule qualified for the finals after becoming the overall winners of the Highveld and Swaziland Methodist Competition held in Thembisa two months ago.

The choir scored an overall mark of 156 which saw them crowned as winners.



In this competition they competed against other countries such as Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa.

Vusi Dlamini, the choirs vice chairperson thanked everyone who supported them as they were preparing for the festival. He said although the competition was tight, what helped them is that they came well prepared as they had been rehearsing daily.



We are finally guaranteed that trip to Germany, to represent Swaziland. The win on Saturday was amazing and our confidence levels have been boosted. All the choristers were eager to win as they all wanted to go to Germany, he said.

He said their focus was now on the Ntjilontjilo Choral Fest to be held on Sunday, and they have already started preparing for it .

While we were preparing for this festival, we were also busy with the preparations of the upcoming music fest this Sunday October 14. This is one competition where we have to prove ourselves.

The choir is still waiting for their full Germany schedule and tour dates.
EZULWINI  The Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade, Jabulani Mabuza, yesterday commissioned a E117 000 Fruit Tree Project sponsorship, courtesy of Illovo, Dups Insurance and Times of Swaziland.

The funds will go towards the purchase of peach and mango fruit trees to benefit selected schools in the Middleveld and Highveld.



Mabuza said the Integrated Tinkhundla Fruit Tree Development Project, sponsored by the above companies, was aimed at addressing food security concerns as well as instilling business attitude among Swazis at homestead level.

The minister said through the fruit trees, government, in collaboration with the business community, was making significant inroads towards the eradication of poverty and creation of wealth and jobs for Swazis.



To the sponsors Mabuza said: It is worth noting that the fruit tree project we are implementing as government is in line with your companies sustainable development focus, rooted on the belief that shared prosperity is the route to ones business success.



He pleaded with other companies to join hands with the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade and government at large to support the worthy cause.

Mabuza said the assistance would go a long way in planting seeds of hope and economic emancipation.



We are all witness to the fact that your companies are indeed promoting enterprise development and entrepreneurship within and beyond their focal value chain, he said.

The minister said companies were demonstrating that they were not just business but were also mindful of the welfare of citizens.



He said the fruit tree programme would prosper and it also went without saying that the companies would also thrive. Times of Swaziland Managing Editor Martin Dlamini said the company was privileged to support the initiative.

Dlamini said the Times of Swaziland believed that such a project had great potential in making a difference in peoples lives which speaks to the nature of their business  that is changing lives for the better.



To change ones life is an individual decision. The extent to which ones life changes is dependent on the degree to which individuals take advantage of the opportunities around them to tap into their unlimited potential, Dlamini said. He said opportunities came in various forms and this was the space in which the Times of Swaziland tapped into their potential to inform and educate in ways that made a difference.



Our fulfilment comes from seeing the joy of a reader who has turned our pages and found the job he or she always wanted thanks to the tips we provide in our jobs section on Tuesdays; or found a health remedy that finally works from our health pages on Wednesdays.

Further, he said they educated people on the best car to buy in the motoring section on Thursday; and how to eat healthy food at affordable costs on the cooking page on Fridays.
LOBAMBA  No ways! This is the response that Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Jabulile Mashwama gave to senators, after being asked if motorists would ever get to be notified at least two weeks before the implementation of a fuel price hike.



The minister gave the response that it would not happen anytime soon during the portfolio committee debate of the ministry at Senate yesterday. Posing the question was Senator Chief Sotunwane Sacolo, who wanted to know if government found it fair that motorists were usually shocked with the price hike and did not have time to prepare themselves. Sacolo mentioned that consumers deserved to be informed on time whenever there were changes that were going to affect them.



You go to sleep with a litre of petrol costing E12 and when you wake up, you discover that it has increased by E1. There must be a way to give us time, he said.

The minister mentioned that it was not advisable to make such a decision and argued that it was a dangerous industry that the senator was talking about.

If we can do that then people would do crazy things like filling up the petrol in drums. When it comes to the price hike there is always an indication of crude oil going up. Giving that information in advance ngeke kulunge, kungasha lelive, she said which means, It cannot work, the country would burn.



The minister was also asked to shed light on why investors were not keen to operate some of the countrys mines, to which she responded by saying there were many applications but that most of the aspiring companies ended up not meeting the requirements.

The senators mentioned that since it was obvious that it was the requirements that chased investors away, there was a need to consider reviewing them so as to make the environment conductive.



As is always the case during the portfolio committee debate of the ministry, the senators also demanded feedback on how far the county had gone in ensuring there was self sustainability in the generation of electricity.

She mentioned that her ministry had a programme which provided that the country should be able to provide at least 50 per cent of its own generated electricity by the year 2022, and do even better in order to avoid problems when the contract with South Africas ESKOM expires in 2025.
MBABANE - Swaziland Christian University (SCU) students and police exchange heated words during a march by SCU staff and students to government ministries yesterday. A placard directed to Minister of Education and Training Phineas Magagula. (Pic: Thembin

MBABANE  Police and students have threatened to kill each other. This comes after threats were at some point the order of the day during a march organised by the Swaziland Christian University staff and students yesterday. The march saw about 150 students and SCU employees walk to the Ministry of Education and Training.



Tensions reached boiling point after a police officer allegedly threatened students with death if they dared march to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. This was after the SCU staff had gone to a brief meeting with the Director of Education Dr Sibongile Mntshali, and Schools Manager Macanjana Motsa.



Where is our safety if police tell us that kutophuma sidvumbu (someone will die)? wondered the SCU Student Representative Council Vice President Thula Mtetwa.

In an interview, Mtetwa narrated that they were ready to pay with their blood to have the institution re-opened. He opined that maybe it was time they mobilised other students to join them to respond to the threats made by the officer. He wondered where they would run to for assistance if law enforcers threatened them.



Njengebafundzi natsi sitokhipha sidvumbu; sesibheje ngengati since the police are walking all over our rights, Mtetwa said.

This can be translated to mean that, it will be an eye for an eye and students would fight to the bitter end.



A verbal showdown ensued by the Swaziland Meteorological Services Department when about 10 police officers blocked students from marching to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The officers told the students that their marching application allowed them to go as far as the Ministry of Education and Training. The students argued that they were not marching but simply going to that ministry to deliver a petition to the minister.



The police heard none of that as they told them that no student would be allowed to take a step further than Swaziland Meteorological Services Department. They ordered the students to return to the Ministry of Education and Training entrance. The irate students ignored the warning and engaged in a heated confrontation with the police, demanding that they be allowed to go to their planned destination.



Why are you not blocking other pedestrians who are walking by; do they also have permits to use the road? the students asked officers.

Students believed that the police were depriving them of their freedom of movement, something which the officers disputed.


MANZINI  The killing of teenagers has once again reared its ugly head as two adolescents were murdered in separate incidents over the weekend.

The first incident involved a pupil who is alleged to have been attacked by bullies.



If only he knew bygones were never left to be, Andile Dlamini would have used another route home.

The 14-year-old boy of Salukazi in Maliyaduma was stabbed in cold blood on Sunday while on his way home from church.



Andiles attackers are said to be three brothers from the same area, separated by a river. The lad was reportedly stabbed once just below the chest with a knife.

The St Josephs Primary School pupil was supposedly attacked by three teenagers, two of whom held his hands to his back while a 15-year-old planted the knife in his body.

The trio is said to be from the same area as Andile and attend Maliyaduma Primary School.



According to his father, Andile left home for church in the morning just like any other Sunday, showing no signs of distress. His father, Thulani Dlamini said at around 3pm, one of Andiles friends came home to ask for him (Andile), only to be told that he had still not returned from church where he was a keyboard player.



Dlamini said he asked the friend to advice Andile not to delay on his return journey from church as he used to come home late. Andiles friend is said to have told Dlamini that Andile was bullied by some of his friends with whom he went to school. As if the bully reports on his son were not troubling enough, hardly 20 minutes later, the minors friend returned to report that Andile was found lying on the ground with a stab wound and appeared to be unconscious.

Dlamini said he hurriedly drove to where his son laid helplessly, less than half a kilometre away from home. Since the incident happened near a homestead where the people witnessed the altercation between the boys, residents were already at the scene.



Blood was oozing from his chest but he was still breathing when I got there, said Dlamini. He added that he rushed him to Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital and while they were near Lugaganeni, Andile shouted, Ye babe!

When he shouted, blood seeped through his wound and as a result, Dlamini advised him not to shout or talk. However, when they reached the hospital, Andile repeated the same call and as soon as he was attended to, doctors certified him dead.
LOBAMBA  Whether it was due to public pressure or not, Sandleni MP James Simelane yesterday withdrew the controversial report on the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill, which called for the scrapping of four core clauses.



Addressing a packed House of Assembly, the MP nervously first stated that he was amending the report by reinstating the clauses. The contentious clauses were Clause 4, 10, 42 and 47 which touch on incest, unlawful stalking, abduction and flashing. Women activists who had crammed the public gallery listened attentively as Simelane stammered through his presentation.

I just want to tell the House that we had a fine-tuning meeting where it was recommended that the clauses which the committee had removed be put back in, said Simelane.

However, the Speaker, Themba Msibi, said the MP could not just say that he was ammending the report on the floor.



He said he must debate it, as it had been presented to the House and perhaps after the members had made their submissions he could then amend it.

At this point, Kwaluseni MP Mkhosi Dlamini asked that the Speaker allows Simelane to withdraw the report as he looked like he was not ready to proceed.

However, the Speaker said the Bill was very important and had been dragging since 2015.



MP Dlamini was supported by Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi, who said Simelane must be allowed to go back and polish the Bill or report and include all the clauses which he wished to.

Manzini North MP Jan Sithole also said he must be allowed to bring a new report which included the clauses. Mbabane East MP Esther Dlamini said she also supported that the report be withdrawn because as a portfolio committee, it was not what they had agreed on. However, the House ruled that Simelane should continue motivating his motion.



At this point, Simelane submitted that they had many stakeholders who had come to make their submissions since June 4, 2015.

He said stakeholders like CANGO and Women and Law in Swaziland had submitted that the four clauses should not be removed from the Bill and be included.

He said they had other submissions from traditionalists who felt that some of the clauses went against the Swazi culture.
At least 30 students have been admitted to a hospital, however, doctors say no child is seriously ill.

At least 30 students have been admitted to a hospital. (Photo: ANI)

By India Today Web Desk: Around 300 students of a private school in Shamli district fell ill today after inhaling toxic gas emitted by a sugar mill, the police said.

Students of Saraswati Shishu Mandir had complained of stomach ache, nausea and burning sensation in their eyes after gas leakage from a neighbouring sugar mill.

At least 30 students have been admitted to a hospital, however, doctors say no child is seriously ill.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the matter by Commissioner Saharanpur. Meanwhile, the sugar mill has been sealed by authorities.

"We have come to know that similar incidents had taken place in the past. A probe is on and strict action will be taken against those responsible," ADG, Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar said.

He said all the children are safe and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

"The CM has ordered a probe into the Shamli incident by Commissioner Saharanpur and directed the district magistrate and all local officers to provide all possible help to the affected children," principal secretary, information, Awanish Awasthi told PTI.

Locals alleged that sugar mill employees used to discharge chemicals in waste dumps leading to emission of harmful gas inhaling which children took ill, with some of them falling unconscious.

In August this year, Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College was in news when around 63 children died within a span of one week due to unavailability of oxygen.

ALSO WATCH | Gorakhpur: Death toll of children reaches 60, BRD Hospital yet again in the eye of storm

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Five to six terrorists are killed by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir everyday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.

Singh said the NDA government has been taking strong action on terrorism and results were showing on the ground.

"Everyday, 5-6 terrorists are neutralised in Jammu and Kashmir due to the sustained efforts of the Army, paramilitary forces and other security agencies. I compliment them," he said while inaugurating the new headquarters of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) here.

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In his address at the function, director general of the NIA Sharad Kumar said since the inception of the organisation in 2009, a total 166 cases have been assigned to the NIA for investigation.

Kumar said these cases cover the entire spectrum of terrorism-related challenges relevant to India and have involved investigative efforts in 26 states and union territories.

Out of the 166 cases, 63 cases pertain to jihadi terrorism, 25 to terrorist acts by North East insurgents, 41 to cases of terror financing and fake currency, 13 to cases involving Left-wing extremism while the remaining 24 cases relate to other miscellaneous terrorist acts or gangs, he said.

Kumar said the investigations conducted by the NIA have helped unearth an entire range of illegal activities involving terror funding to specific incidents of terror, including the killing of innocent persons. PTI ACB ASK ASK

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Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday he had accepted the "mandate of the people" for his region\s independence from Spain but suspended the declaration to allow more time for talks with Madrid.

In a speech to regional lawmakers in Barcelona, Puigdemont stopped short of declaring an outright split but left the door to secession open, leaving some political rivals scratching their heads.

"I assume the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent republic," he said.

But the 54-year-old asked the Catalan parliament to "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to initiate dialogue in the coming weeks."

The central government fired back, with a spokesman rejecting what Madrid termed Catalonia\s "tacit" independence declaration.

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have come out against an independence declaration, concerned over the country\s biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.

EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that Catalan independence could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain\s shock decision to leave.

Police deployed en masse around the regional parliament, blocking public access to a park that houses the building as crowds watched the session on giant screens, waving Catalan flags and some brandishing signs reading "democracy."

Reaction among those who had hoped to witness a historic moment for a region deeply-divided over independence was mixed.

"In essence we\re happy but I was expecting more," said 66-year-old Pere Valldeneu.

Merce Hernandez, a 35-year-old architect, said: "I am very emotional, this is a historic day. I\m satisfied."

Madrid has repeatedly said it would not negotiate on Catalonia\s independence.

"We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration," government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters earlier Thursday.

A source from the central government\s representative office in Catalonia said security had been tightened at Catalan airports and railway stations in anticipation of possible protests at Puigdemont\s possible independence announcement.

At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people deeply divided over independence, one of Spain\s economic powerhouses whose drive to break away has raised concern for stability in the European Union.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to use everything in his power to prevent independence and has even refused to rule out imposing direct rule over the semi-autonomous region  an unprecedented move many fear could lead to unrest.

EU President Donald Tusk also urged Puigdemont against making a decision that would make "dialogue impossible".

But the Catalan president says the independence referendum that took place on October 1 despite a court ban justifies splitting from Madrid.

Around 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted for independence but the poll was poorly monitored and many Catalans opposed to secession boycotted an illegal plebiscite that was witnessed a violent police crackdown.

On Monday, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned that a unilateral declaration of independence would put "social cohesion" at risk.

Pro-unity and pro-independence supporters have staged mass rallies in Barcelona over the past week, highlighting divisions in Catalonia.

Anger over the police violence during the referendum swung some Catalans over to the independence camp.

But both Madrid and the Catalan executive have come under fire for their dogged response to the crisis and a lack of dialogue.

Carolina Palles, a 53-year-old flower vendor in Barcelona\s popular La Ramblas boulevard, said it was "a sad day", almost two months after the seaside city was hit by a deadly terror attack.

Against independence, she was angry at both camps.

"Rajoy\s government handled things very badly," she said, accusing the separatists "of persisting until the very end, like martyrs".

The crisis has also caused deep uncertainty for businesses in one of the wealthiest regions in the eurozone\s fourth largest economy.

Spain\s stock market shed nearly 1.0 percent ahead of Tuesday\s session and a string of companies have already moved their legal headquarters  but not their employees  from Catalonia to other parts of the country.

Demands for independence in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, date back centuries.

But a 2010 move by Spain\s Constitutional Court to water down a statute that gave Catalonia additional powers, combined with a deep economic meltdown in Spain, sparked a surge in support for independence.

SOURCE: AFP
Firefighters encouraged by weakening winds were battling 17 large wildfires on Tuesday in California which have left at least 13 people dead, thousands homeless and ravaged the state\s famed wine country.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in eight counties  including the wine-producing regions of Napa and Sonoma  and said thousands of firefighters had been deployed to fight the blazes.

Seven deaths were reported in Sonoma County, three in Mendocino County, two in Napa County and one in Yuba County and the governor said "emergency responders anticipate the number of fatalities could grow."

Among the dead in Napa were a couple aged 99 and 100 years old who had been married for 75 years, KTVU-TV said. They were unable to evacuate their home in time.

The Sonoma County Sheriff\s Department said on its Facebook page that it had received 150 missing person reports but was "confident that many of these people will be found safe and reunited with loved ones."

About 25,000 people have been evacuated in Sonoma County and 5,000 have sought refuge in shelters, the department said.

The fires have torched more than 115,000 acres (46,500 hectares) and destroyed over 2,000 homes and businesses, according to the authorities.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said 17 large fires were continuing to burn Tuesday.

"The winds that fanned these fires Sunday night and Monday morning have decreased significantly, but local winds and dry conditions continue to pose a challenge," Cal Fire said.

"With the decrease in the winds combined with cooler weather, firefighters made good progress overnight," it added.

Appealing Monday to President Donald Trump for federal aid, Governor Brown said the "devastation and disruption caused by these fires is extraordinary.

"Thousands have been made homeless."

Maureen Fairchild, a nurse, was working at a hospital in Marin County where some of the evacuees were brought.

"I was working in a memory-impaired unit," Fairchild told AFP. "We had all these people who were already confused and now they were in an unfamiliar place with all this frenzy going on around them."

Kris Hammar, who lives in the city of Santa Rosa on the edge of a mandatory evacuation zone, had not yet evacuated but was monitoring maps, wind direction, and fire updates to see if she and her family should bolt.

"The fire is close, very close," Hammer said. "Everything is in the car, and we are checking constantly to see if anything has changed."

"There were times at night when my street was like a freeway," Hammar said. "People evacuating were flying down my street.

"Then, the next day it was deserted."

Troy Newton, 46, a Sonoma County sheriff\s detective, was among those who fled Santa Rosa, a city of around 175,000 people in Sonoma County.

Newton told The Los Angeles Times he was returning to his home in Santa Rosa when he saw a "growing red snake" of fire.

"I ran into my house and told my wife to get our four-year-old boy ready to leave," Newton said, before raising the alarm with around 40 neighbors.

"It was boom, boom, boom. Ring the door bell. Boom, boom  until someone inside got the message," he said.

Many homes in Santa Rosa were razed to the ground and the Hilton Sonoma County Wine Hotel, Fountaingrove Inn and Willi\s Wine Bar reportedly suffered damage.

The Hilton Hotel in Santa Rosa said on Facebook that its staff and guests were all safe.

Among the wineries which were affected were William Hill Estate Winery in Napa, Signorello Vineyards, Stags\ Leap and Chimney Rock.

Coffey Park, a sprawling Santa Rosa neighborhood with dozens of homes, was left in ruins.

Pacific Gas & Electric said more than 196,000 customers had initially lost electricity although half had had their power restored.

Governor Brown in April declared the official end of the state\s drought that lasted more than five years.

But California is still dealing with the Santa Ana winds, a meteorological phenomenon which brings dry winds down from the high mountains east of the coastal areas  a recipe for perfect wildfire conditions.

Forest fires are common in the western United States during dry, hot summer months.

Last month, a massive fire described as the biggest in the history of Los Angeles forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

SOURCE: AFP
Hundreds of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered last week to Kurdish authorities after the jihadist group was driven out of its last stronghold in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security official said on Tuesday.

The suspects were part of a group of men who fled toward Kurdish-held lines when Iraqi government forces captured the Islamic State base in Hawija, the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

The report of the Sunni Muslim militants fleeing, rather than fighting to the finish as in previous battles, suggested their morale may be crumbling, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert on Islamic State affairs.

"They no longer seem to believe in the cause," Hashimi, who met some of those who surrendered in the Dibis camp near Kirkuk, told Reuters.

He said they had fled to the Kurdish-held region to avoid summary executions at the hands of vengeful Sunni Arab tribesmen and Iranian-trained and armed Shi\ite Muslim paramilitaries who assisted the Iraqi army\s offensive on Hawija.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording two weeks ago that indicated he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite setbacks in Iraq and Syria.

"Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last week. Not all, however, are terrorists," said the security official in Erbil, the northern Iraqi base of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government.

They handed themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, east of Hawija, he said. "It\s fair to say hundreds probably are ISIS (Islamic State) members, but that will be clear after the debriefs."

The town of Hawija and surrounding areas fell on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi government Shi\ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation, as well as Sunni tribal combatants.

Islamic State\s last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria, including the border town of al-Qaim.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday this last piece of territory would be recaptured before the end of the year, marking the final defeat of the militants in Iraq.

The militants also hold areas on the Syrian side of the border, but are retreating there in the face of two sets of hostile forces  a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi\ite militias backed by Iran and Russia.

Islamic State\s cross-border "caliphate" effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group\s de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Did you vote in the midterm elections as if your countrys existence depended on it?
Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao were part of a surprise party for his ex-wife Reena Dutta on her 50th birthday.

By India Today Web Desk: Secret Superstar's release is just a couple of days away and Aamir Khan has been engrossed in the promotions of the film. He made a three- day visit to Turkey too, much to the excitement of his fans.

According to reports, he arrived in Mumbai at 6am from Turkey on Monday and dived into the promotions 7am onward. He had lined up several things through the day to promote Secret Superstar, which also stars Dangal actor Zaira Wasim.

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During the day, he got a call from his children from Reena Dutta, Junaid and Ira, and they told him that they would like to celebrate their mother and Aamir's ex-wife's birthday with a surprise party.

Aamir rescheduled all his commitments to be there.

#Exclusive #aamirkhan celebrate #reenadutta 50th birthday A post shared by Aamir_khan_2014 (@aamir_khan_2014) on Oct 8, 2017 at 2:45pm PDT

The surprise party was held at Reena's residence in the evening. Aamir and Kiran Rao were there, along with a couple of family members and friends.

#haappybirthday #reenadutta A post shared by Aamir_khan_2014 (@aamir_khan_2014) on Oct 9, 2017 at 2:31pm PDT

Aamir and Reena ended their 16-year-long marriage in 2002, amicably. Aamir tied the knot with Kiran in 2005 and they have a son together, Azad Rao Khan.

ALSO WATCH: Unforgettables: Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh discuss their acting journey

--- ENDS ---
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Fifteen wildfires in Northern California, many of them in the Wine Country, ravaged homes, businesses, vineyards and farmland Monday. Eleven people were confirmed dead and several others were severely burned. Major highways were shut down, and local officials requested help from around the region as Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.

Information from authorities and residents on the ground was developing throughout Monday. Officials said efforts were focused on saving peoples lives, so many details were not fully known.

What we know:

 Ten people are confirmed dead  seven in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and one in the Mendocino County town of Redwood Valley. More than 110 people were treated at hospitals, many for smoke inhalation but a few for severe burns.

 Sonoma County officials said Monday night they had received up to 50 reports of missing individuals.

 At least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities have been destroyed in the fires, which are burning in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Lake, Nevada, Butte, Calaveras, Shasta, and Yuba counties. A fire station in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa was among the ravaged structures.

 At least 73,000 acres in total have burned.

 Napa County officials said three fires are burning in their jurisdiction: the Tubbs Fire near Calistoga and Santa Rosa at 27,000 acres, the Atlas Peak Fire at 25,000 acres and the Partrick Fire in the Carneros area at 3,000 acres.

 There was zero or extremely limited containment on all of the fires.

 Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for certain residential areas of Santa Rosa, numerous areas elsewhere in Sonoma County, and in and around the city of Napa. People in some neighborhoods in Fairfield were being encouraged to evacuate.

 Emergency dispatch centers in the Bay Area were being overwhelmed by 911 calls. Officials urged people to only call 911 for active, unattended flames or life-threatening emergencies.

 The National Weather Service issued its highest possible alert, a red flag warning, because of extremely dry, windy conditions Monday. The warning will stay in effect through 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Any new fire starts will have the potential for rapid fire growth, forecasters said in a statement. Shifting winds may push ongoing fires in new directions.

 At one point, more than 114,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in the North Bay lost power. Hardest hit was Santa Rosa, with more than 23,460 customers blacked out, and St. Helena, with more than 7,660 losing electricity service. The utility, which mobilized workers from outside the Bay Area to respond to the emergency, managed to restore electricity service to about 12,000 of those customers by midday.

 The California Highway Patrol said it had rescued 44 people, ranging from ages 5 to 91, by helicopter. Five dogs and a cat were also airlifted.

 A number of historic structures and popular destinations, including Santa Rosas luxury Fountaingrove Inn and the Signorello Estates winery in Napa, were destroyed.

Portable classrooms, the library and the main office at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa was destroyed. The Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa was damaged.

 Sonoma County officials said they have received reports of looting, and Santa Rosa police issued a mandatory curfew that will be in effect from 6:45 p.m. Monday until sunrise.

What remains unclear:

 The causes of all the fires remain under investigation. Daniel Berlant, spokesman with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said investigators were in the area to determine the causes and origins of the fires.

 Officials do not yet know how many people were injured in the fires. But a spokeswoman for St. Joseph Health said Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital treated about 60 people for wildfire-related injuries, including two burn patients in critical condition. Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa treated about 40 patients, transferring one person with significant burns to a specialty center.

 The exact number of damaged and destroyed structures was not known, but officials believe there were more than 1,500.

 The exact number of evacuees was not known, but officials believed there were about 20,000.

 How much money and how many resources  including an exact number of firefighters  being devoted to firefighting was not clear. Hundreds of firefighters from as far away as San Diego were assisting in the efforts.

 It wasnt known Monday whether President Trump would approve Browns request for a major disaster declaration and additional federal aid.

 The total number of missing individuals was not known. Those looking for relatives and friends may file a missing-person report with Sonoma County officials at (707) 565-3856.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
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Social media can be great for showing love for one's child, but it can also expose parents to undeserved criticism.

On Instagram, Hollywood actress and mom Olivia Wilde recently shared a picture of herself kissing her son, a sweet gesture which quickly turned controversial.

"We don't kiss on the mouth a child," wrote one commenter. "The kid think 'mum kiss me like she kiss dad' it's not normal."

"Ehhhhh gonna give the kid lip aids," wrote another, presumably referring to herpes.

NOT A CURE: CDC warns parents not to give children antibiotics to treat common cold, flu

Now Playing: Actress Olivia Wilde just got mom-shamed. According to the Huffington Post, the mother of two posted a picture on Instagram on October 3. She was kissing her 3-year-old son, Otis, on the lips, while he was taking a bath. Her caption read, Finding hope in this love Although the post racked up over 112 thousand likes, it also brought the haters out. The Huff Post says that one person commented, "Kissing your kid like your husband. Its not good for him. Video: Wochit

It wasn't long before the disapproving voices were drowned out by people showing support for Wilde.

"Your son is beautiful, your relationship is beautiful," wrote one commenter. "Please do not let anything rob you of that. Fight like a mama bear forever, for him.

Among child psychologists, the jury is still out and little evidence exists for, or against, the smooch, but with so many parents continuing the tradition, its hard to believe any evil will come from it.

See other celebrities who have been mom-shamed above.
When you think of dance, is an image of a ballerina the first thing that pops into your head? Randy James, founding artistic director of the all-male dance company 10 Hairy Legsperforming at the University of Albany Performing Arts Centerwants to offer you a different picture.

"Hopefully we are contributing to the conversation (about dance) by showing people male dancers of all different shapes, sizes and colors," he said in a recent interview. "What I would love is for people to come see a concert and not leave saying, 'Where were the chicks?'"

After running his first company, Randy James Dance Works, for 15 years, James wasn't planning to start another troupe. But nine years ago, his senior class at Rutgers University, where he's been teaching for nearly two decades, inspired him to launch a new project.

"I had an incredibly strong group of male dancers that year, some of whom I'd worked with for four years before that in high school programs," James recalled. "I was choreographing a quartet on four of them, and after every rehearsal, I would go down to my office and start crying, it was so beautiful."

More Information If you go When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12 Where: University at Albany Performing Arts Center Tickets: $20; students, seniors and university faculty and staff, $15 Info: 442-3995 or http://www.albany.edu/pac/ See More Collapse

He founded 10 Hairy Legs in 2012; four of its 11 dancers are from that original Rutgers group. The company's name reflects its makeup, but it's also an indication of James' desire to create dance that is serious but also accessible, humorous and lighthearted.

"I'm all for thoughtful, beautiful (art), I love foreign films, but I also love 'The Terminator,' I love to be entertained," said the 59-year-old choreographer, who has made more than 40 works for his companies over the years. "I've done a million plies, but I've also danced in a G-string at the Playboy Club in Atlantic City."

As a repertory company, 10 Hairy Legs has commissioned two dozen works from a diverse group of choreographers (including women), most of whom had never had the opportunity to make a dance solely for men. (James also creates and commissions works that include female dancers, through 10HL Projects, an arm of the company that he established in 2015.)

The troupe has performed at downtown dance spots in its home base of New York City, like Joe's Pub and the 92nd Street Y; on national and international television, including "The Meredith Vieira Show"; and in 2016 as the only American company at the Ikapa Dance Festival in Cape Town, South Africa. Recently, they visited the middle school in New Jersey that James attended as a boy.

"I was bullied there as a childthrown into showers with my clothes on and had to walk home soaking wet," he recalled. "And there we were, performing at an assembly that, it turned out, was all about bullying. It was quite cathartic. That night, I went home and I felt a lot lighter."

Coming to Albany, James says, is like coming home: His first commission was from Emma Willard School and his first concert was at Skidmore College, where he met the legendary Bessie Schonberg, who became the artistic adviser for his first company.

At UAlbany, the troupe will perform five pieces, showing "a variety of what it is to be a dancer, and what it is to be a male dancer," James said.

In David Parker's "Slapstuck," the dancers' Velcro suits set off an exploration of the ways in which bodies can connect and separate. The action itself produces the score for the piece, made up of rhythmical body percussion and ripping sounds. "Bud," a duet choreographed by Stephen Petronio to Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World," also plays with costuming: One dancer wears half a suit jacket, and his partner wears the other half.

"Quadrivium," by Megan Williams, with music by Steve Reich, highlights the men's strength and partnering ability. Also on the program is Heidi Latsky's "Solo 1," which she originally made for herself and reworked for a company member at James' request.

Doug Elkins' "Trouble Will Find Me" incorporates salsa, hip-hop, capoeira, and floreos (hand gestures characteristic of Spanish dancing)all set to qawwali, Sufi devotional music, as performed by Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

James says he has no political agenda with 10 Hairy Legs, but the company has a social impact nevertheless.

"Seeing two men being intimate on stagenot necessarily kissing but being intimatemight make some people uncomfortable, and then they get over it," he said. "If a couple goes home and has a discussion after a show, and they have more open minds, that's enough for me."

Tresca Weinstein is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.
Albany

Firefighters from across the state gathered at Empire State Plaza on Tuesday to honor fallen comrades during the 20th annual New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony.
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New York

A rainy day may have dampened turnout but not the spirits of those who celebrated Italian-American heritage Monday at the Columbus Day Parade in midtown Manhattan.

The marchers and musicians gamely gave it their all as they paraded up Fifth Avenue. Onlookers waved Italian and American flags, although stretches of the route were empty of spectators.

The annual parade took place as some people across the country question whether Columbus Day should be abolished and replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day.

In New York, the focus has been on a statue of Christopher Columbus that has stood overlooking Columbus Circle. Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat and an Italian-American, put together a commission to review statues of controversial figures on city property and to come up with suggestions for how they should be handled. The notion that the Columbus statue could be part of that prompted backlash from other Italian-Americans, who vowed to defend it.

De Blasio said the Columbus Day event was about the proud history of Italian-Americans. "You can debate the historical figure of Christopher Columbus, but you can't debate the contribution of Italian-Americans to this country. That is beyond question."

Parade spectator Rose Bove, 57, is against changing the name of the day or taking down the statue.

"It's part of history," said Bove, who was raised in New York City and recently moved to Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist protest over the removal of a Confederate statue led to violence. "We grew up with that. I think we should learn from it."
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Jennifer Cardenas, a Guatemalan native who was facing up to a year in federal prison and possible deportation for visa fraud, texted a question to her lawyer:

Did he know if shed be able to bring her 11-month-old son with her if she was sent to prison?

Cardenas, 32, her 34-year-old brother, Mario Cardenas, and their mother, Susana Alarcon Moscoso, were sentenced Tuesday in federal court to time served. They will all also be subject to two years of supervised release and perform 20 hours of community service.

For more than 15 years they had illegally claimed to be from El Salvador, a nationality that gave them special protected status and permission to stay in the United States.

Before U.S. District Court Judge Fredrick Scullin Jr. delivered the first sentence, Jennifer Cardenas broke down in tears, apologizing for what she had done and asking the judge not to take her away from her young son.

Alarcon Moscoso was the last of the three to be sentenced. Speaking through an interpreter, she quietly explained the genesis of the familys legal troubles.

I want to apologize for what I did  but I feared for the future of my kids, she said.

The family fled Guatemala in 1999 to escape Alarcon Moscoso's abusive husband, the father of her two children, she said.

They traveled to California on visitor visas, and Alarcon Moscoso began to look for work. After a difficult first year, a friend in Schenectady invited the family to move there, Jennifer Cardenas said.

The three moved into a single room in a crowded house. In the room next to theirs was a man named Carlos Lemus, a naturalized Guatemalan immigrant. He helped the family get the necessary paperwork and their first jobs at a diner; he began dating Alarcon Moscoso. Eventually, the pair had a child together.

Cardenas' lawyer, Michael D. Jurena, said that when the couple separated several years ago, Lemus began to make threats and demand money from Alarcon Moscoso. In 2014, he reported the family to immigration authorities, and in October 2015 agents raided the familys homes in Schenectady and Niskayuna, Mario Cardenas said. Lawyers involved in the case confirmed Mario Cardenas' description.

They were charged with a total of 24 counts, including visa fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Alarcon Moscoso faced the most serious charges, six counts of aggravated identity theft. That charge, with a minimum sentence of 24 months, would have guaranteed that she would be deported if she was convicted.

She was offered a plea deal three days before the trial began that wiped out those charges, her attorney, Gene Primomo, said Tuesday.

The Cardenas siblings chose to go to trial. In June a jury convicted them on six counts of visa fraud each.

On his way to court Tuesday, Mario Cardenas expressed frustration that his family had worked hard and not broken any other laws but was still facing jail or deportation.

I manage three restaurants, I work 75 hours a week, he said. People complain about immigrants taking away jobs  I dont do that, I help create jobs. Other immigrants send money back home. We dont take government benefits. We invest our money here. We pay our taxes.

Immigration agents took him into custody immediately after his sentencing. His wife, Jacki Cardenas, said he would likely be released on bond between $20,000 and $25,000 on Wednesday.

Before he handed down the sentences Scullin said, I dont think there are too many people in this courtroom who wouldnt have done the same thing. I dont understand why these cases are here before this court.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office did not return a call for comment.
Haunting drone footage of the aftermath of the Tubbs Fire shows widespread damage in Northern California.

Santa Rosa's Journey's End Mobile Home Park and Coddingtown Mobile Estates  were wiped out. Across Highway 101, almost the entire Coffey Park subdivision, single-family homes, built in the 1980s, was gone. Nearby, another newer, upscale subdivision, Fountaingrove, was devastated, too  even a fire station there burned to the ground. The two neighborhoods' combined population was about 8,000.

Related: Santa Rosa Trader Joe's damaged but not destroyed in wildfire

"We barely got out," said Eduardo Flores, 66, who fled the Journey's End Mobile Home Park with his wife, Emily, and his dog, Rosy, ahead of a wall of flame that destroyed his home.

"I got up, smelled smoke in the bedroom, stepped outside and realized it was time to go," he said. "The whole park was on fire. We were driving out over burning branches."
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The deadly lure of opioids is devastating communities across New York and the United States.

Parents, neighbors, elected officials, doctors and police are struggling to find a solution. In the Capital Region, police agencies have been lauded for progressive drug policies and lawmakers have sued prescription medication manufacturers.

"The sad reality is that the opioid crisis hasn't reached a peak yet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, projects that heroin addiction and overdose deaths will continue to rise for five to 10 more years," Assemblyman John McDonald, a Cohoes Democrat who is also a pharmacist, told the Times Union in September. "We still have a lot of pain and suffering to go through."

The grim war against addiction may leave area residents asking, Is it this bad everywhere else too?

New York ranked No. 13 overall in a recent report studying drug use state-by-state. Drug abuse was reportedly most pronounced in Washington, D.C., and least pronounced in Idaho.

New York scored high marks for the percentage of people seeking treatment and the state's maternity drug policy but ranked poorly when it came to the percentage of addicts who needed treatment but did not receive it and the increase in overdose deaths in just a year's time.

Click through the slideshow above to see how different facets of New York's drug epidemic compares to those in other states, according to the financial site WalletHub.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that there were more than 40,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2011, a 118 percent increase since 1999. More than 22,000 people die every year from prescription drug abuse, more than heroin and cocaine combined, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The abuse of and addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and illicit and prescription drugs cost Americans more than $700 billion a year in increased health care costs, crime, and lost productivity, NIDA reports. Every year, drugs and alcohol contribute to the death of more than 90,000 Americans, while tobacco is linked to roughly 480,000 deaths per year.

Decades of tough on crime policies have lead to burgeoning arrests and strict sentencing for drug-related offenses. In 1980, less than 41,00 people were incarcerated for drug convictions. In 2015, nearly 470,000 people were behind bars for committing drug-related crimes, a trend that has disproportionately affected communities of color, according to the Sentencing Project.

"The problem is that we have never treated addiction like the chronic illness it is," Robert Lindsey, former CEO of Friends of Recovery of New York, a grass-roots advocacy group, said in September. "We need to invest in addiction treatment at the level we invest in treating diabetes and heart disease and other chronic illnesses."
"Have you heard of Start Up India? Have you heard about the icon of Start Up India, Jay Shah?" Rahul Gandhi said in a public meeting in poll-bound Gujarat's Vadodara city, attacking the BJP chief's son over the surge in his firm's turnover after the BJP came to power.

By India Today Web Desk: Continuing his frontal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today called Shah's son Jay an icon of Start Up India, a pet scheme of Modi aimed at creating entrepreneurs.

"Have you heard of Start Up India? Have you heard about the icon of Start Up India, Jay Shah?" Rahul Gandhi said in a public meeting in poll-bound Gujarat's Vadodara city.

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In an article published on Sunday, The Wire has claimed that Jay Shah's firm Temple Enterprise's turnover zoomed by around 16,000 times from Rs 50,000 to around Rs 80 crore in 2015-16 after the BJP came to power in 2014. Shah has sued the news website of Rs 100 crore for the report.

In his speech, Rahul also included Modi, accusing him of promoting crony capitalism and maintaining silence over the Jay Shah controversy. "But the chowkidaar of India is quiet, he does not like to comment on these things," Rahul said.

Gandhi was referring to Modi who has often said he is the chowkidar of the nation and will not allow any corruption.

On Monday, addressing enthusiastic crowds in Nadiad in central Gujarat on the second phase of the Congress's Navsarjan Yatra, Rahul had taken similar potshots at the Modi government.

"When it comes to helping, they help only a handful of industrialists. For 10-12 years, Amit Shah's son's company had nothing, but started earning only after 2014. 'Ajeeb duniya hain' (It's a strange world). He (Jay Shah) started with Rs 50,000, and in a year it jumped to Rs 80 crore. This is 'Start Up India', 'Make in India'," he said, mocking the Prime Minister's pet schemes.

At his aggressive best, Gandhi went on an interactive mode while addressing the crowd. "Complete my sentence, 'Na khaunga, Na khaney dunga. Kahan gaya chowkidar? Ye hain Gujarat ki sachchai (I will not indulge in corruption, nor let others indulge in corruption. Where is the gatekeeper? This is the reality of Gujarat)," he said, as the cheering crowds repeated after him.

WATCH VIDEO | Gujarat: Rahul mocks Modi govt over media report on Jay Shah's company

--- ENDS ---
ALBANY  Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer kicks off this year's University at Albany Speaker Series at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at SEFCU Arena on the school's uptown campus.

Spencer won a best supporting actress Oscar for her work in the 2012 film "The Help," and was nominated in the same category last year for another '60s-set social drama, "Hidden Figures."
Two weeks into their Puerto Rican aid mission, New York state troopers are on patrol with local police, unloading helicopters filled with supplies and handing out food, water and medicine to local residents.

Fifty-three state troopers arrived in Puerto Rico Sept. 29 to assist local police as the U.S. territory recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Maria. The group traveled to the island on a flight donated by Delta Airlines, two days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo authorized sending more resources to the hurricane-ravaged island.
DRESDEN  A 53-year-old man from Troy was flown to the hospital with a leg injury Saturday after falling on a Washington County trail, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday.

The man was descending a trail when he slipped and injured his leg, the DEC said.
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TICONDEROGA  Beam him up, Scotty. Set a course for Ticonderoga. And put phasers on . . . stunned?

News that Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, will be visiting the meticulously recreated Star Trek set tour in Essex County May 4-5 inspires all sorts of rhetorical Trek flourishes, but proprietor and superfan James Cawley summed it up in just one syllable: Huge.

This is the star of the franchise. There is nobody bigger than him  and he absolutely is the man. Hes the Captain, Cawley said. It doesnt matter who fills the shoes in subsequent series, he is the star of Star Trek.

The Canadian-born Shatner commanded the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, the 1966-1969 NBC series that promised to boldly go where no man has gone before and became a full-blown phenomenon in syndication that spawned multiple follow-ups.

For him to do this is just amazing. Its really beyond words for him to come up here. . . . He is a national treasure -- a pop-cultural icon, he said Cawley of Shatner, who went on to star in T.J. Hooker and Boston Legal. They dont come any better or bigger.

A room-by-room, prop-by-prop recreation from the original blueprints used by Desilu Productions, the Ticonderoga Trek tour includes all the familiar sets: the bridge, the transporter room, Dr. McCoys sickbay, Captain Kirks quarters, the engine room. Cawley, an Elvis impersonator when he isnt running the Trek tour, built the layout for Star Trek: Phase II, a 2004-2016 fan-created web series set in the Trek universe. He played Captain Kirk. Guest stars included George Takei and Walter Koenig, a.k.a. Sulu and Chekhov.

Shatner hasnt set foot on the set since that show was canceled, Cawley said. So the event next May should be a time warp for him and for all of us, really, to see him in that environment. Itll never happen again, and its a once-in-a-lifetime event. And how cool is it that its happening in upstate New York?

During Shatners visit, hell available for autographs, photos with fans, a meet-and-greet event and a Q&A. Packages run from $85 for a tour and an opportunity to see William Shatner (with a la cart autographs at $80 a pop) to $860 for a Captains Gold ticket that includes a Friday-night reception featuring the man himself. (For more information, see startrektour.com or startrek.com.)

Weve been trying to book him for about a year, and of course hes a busy man  hes got a lot of commitments far ahead of him, Cawley said. But we were finally able to connect with his promoter and get a date that worked for both parties.

With a blessing from current franchise owner CBS, Cawley opened the set up for public tours in July of last year. Since then, the tour has hosted visits from Koenig, Takei, Nichelle Nichols  a.k.a. Uhura  and scads of guest stars well-known in the Trekiverse, such as BarBara Luna (Kirks mirror-universe concubine) and Michael Dante (the tribal leader Maab from That Which Survives).

Other visitors include Bjo Trimble, the Star Trek proto-fan who led the letter-writing campaign that rescued the show from cancellation after its second season. Shes Grandma Trek. She saved the show, Cawley said.

But Shatners visit is the ultimate Trekkie imprimatur, a stamp of approval that turns the old supermarket on Montcalm Street into a holy site for Trekkie pilgrims.

Yeah, for fans of classic Star Trek, this is the Vatican - absolutely, Cawley said. This is the church.
Amitabh Bachchan along with his family has taken off to Maldives to ring in his 75th birthday.

By India Today Web Desk: It's been five years since Amitabh Bachchan had grand celebrations for his birthday. Come October 11, and Bollywood biggest superstar plans to make no change. Big B, along with his family, will ring in his 75th birthday in Maldives. While many were waiting for a big bash on his 75th birthday, the Bachchans decided to keep it a private affair.

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On Tuesday morning, Big B along with Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya Bachchan, was spotted at the Mumbai airport. They were accompanied by Amitabh and Jaya's daughter Shweta Nanda and granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda.

Talking about his birthday plans, Big B wrote on his blog, "NO, there is no celebration of any kind for the 75th and there is no possibility of my presence here in the city."

Aishwarya, who will soon begin shooting for Fanney Khan, was seen with daughter Aaradhya, accompanying Big B for the big day. While the 43-year-old actor teamed a white sweatshirt with black trousers, Aaradhya looked adorable in denims and a pink jacket.

Big B's 70th birthday back in 2012 was a grand affair, and all eyes were set on his 75th birthday. But like the last four years, it seems Big B wants to keep this one also a private affair in the company of only his family.

On the work front, he will be next seen in 102 Not Out. Directed by Umesh Shukla, the film also stars Rishi Kapoor.

(Photos: Yogen Shah)

ALSO WATCH: Amitabh and Ranbir talk acting, cinema and stardom in an intimate conversation

--- ENDS ---
Two further outbreaks of Crayfish Plague, one on the River Lorrha in North Tipperary and a major outbreak on the River Barrow has highlighted the need for continued vigilance.

National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), who are the lead agency in charge of the management of our native white clawed crayfish have conducted a review with the Marine Institute and recommend that the Voluntary Ban on movement between catchments, which is in place on the River Suir be extended for another three months. This effectively extends the Ban until the New Year.

River users are requested to follow biosecurity protocols and not to move equipment such as fishing gear, kayaks or boats from the River Suir to other catchments and avoid bringing in equipment from other infected rivers (plague now confirmed on the River Lorrha, Deel (Rathkeale), Bruskey and the Barrow below Carlow town). It is also important that people do not move between the infected zone (from Knocklofty Bridge downstream to Carrick on Suir and Lower River Anner) and the remainder of the Suir, which appears to still be free from plague.

It is now five months since the Crayfish Plague outbreak, a disease that decimates our native crayfish populations on contact, was first noticed on the River Suir. The plague, which is a mould is not native to this country, attacks our native crayfish causing a 100% mortality. Ireland has Europes most important crayfish populations and the River Suir is extremely important for a variety of reasons. During the first week of the outbreak, all crayfish from Clonmel to Carrick-on-Suir were wiped out. It is estimated that in excess of 400,000 crayfish perished. Subsequent investigations found that crayfish were also killed in the lower reaches of the River Anner which is a tributary of the River Suir, downstream of the N24 crossing, and also along the main River Suir at Sandybanks.

A Voluntary Ban has been in place on the River Suir for the last few months and has been working quite well within the river catchment with good co-operation locally. People have been asked to voluntarily restrict their movements within the river catchment and confine their activities to where they normally operate. The co-operation of the public has been exceptional, with people adhering to the recommended biosecurity protocols. These are to check, clean (disinfect) and thoroughly dry their equipment and gear. Dr. Fran Igoe of the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office was very complimentary of the public support. We have had loads of enquiries from the public and organisers of events to find out what is the best way to prevent the spread of the disease. People are reading the signage along the River catchment which has information on the plague and what people can do, and recent events have prioritised the crayfish plague in their planning. For example, the Clancy Festival, Carrick-on-Suir, took the outbreak into account in planning their Family Funday last June and the excellent Drive for Hope event organised by the Travelling Community in Cahir took steps to ensure that proper biosecurity steps were taken. Tipperary County Council staff were on hand to assist together with the organisers, again showing that it is only through community participation and everybody working together that we can deal with this emergency situation. We know that individual anglers, kayakers, and rowing clubs etc are also being responsible and doing what is necessary and this should be acknowledged.

Regrettably some large events planned for the river have had to be postponed, but this has been necessary considering the circumstances and the risk to not just the rest of the River Suir but also to other river catchments. To date it would appear that the Crayfish plague has been confined to the area in the Suir, where the outbreak originally occurred. Dr. Igoe said We carried out a recent crayfish survey in the River Suir in Golden and found that the crayfish were alive and well there and information coming from Cahir and Ardfinnan suggest that they are ok there too. So the voluntary ban seems to be working on the Suir which is great news.

The reason provided by National Parks and Wildlife Service for the extension of the Voluntary Ban is that the Crayfish Plague is still active within the Suir Catchment and there have been two recent outbreaks in nearby river catchments. A spokesperson for the NPWS says they are monitoring the outbreaks on all five locations. Investigation of the strains involved in each outbreak is underway and until the results of this are known, a precautionary principal should be adopted and all water users should therefore be asked to continue to respect the voluntary ban.

Dr. Igoe from LAWCO stated that this extension is a major inconvenience for people dependent on the river for their livelihood or enjoyment and this needs to be acknowledged. Hopefully the situation will be contained and the ban can be lifted as soon as possible and again we would like to thank everybody for their ongoing cooperation.

We are appealing to people to continue to be careful and follow the recommended biosecurity protocols. More detailed information is available on the National Biodiversity Data Centre website (http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/crayfish-plaque-2017/) and this gives good advice on biosecurity measures that people can take.
Budget 2018: Whats in it for Tipperary people? Templemore Garda College can look forward to a boost from the budget, along with middle earners, rural dwellers, and those on social welfare. Some of the main highlights of Budget 2018 so far are as follows:

*Pack of cigarettes now to cost 12, an increase of 50c. This kicks in at midnight tonight.

*Reduction in prescription charges for all medical card holders under 70 from 2.50 to 2 per item with cap of 20

*A new Sugar Taxof 30c per litre on drinks with over 8 grams of sugar per 100 mls will be introduced. Along with a reduced rate of 20c per litre on drinks with between 5 & 8 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres. Responding to the Budget, Irish Heart head of advocacy, Chris Macey said it's: "the single most important action Government can take."

*Boost for Templemore Garda College. Additional 800 gardai to be recruited during 2018. Another 500 civilians to be hired also.

*Entry point for single earners to increase from 33,800 to 34,550. Changes to USC to reduce rates but do not narrow USC tax base. Entry to USC to remain at 13,000. 2.5% USC rate reduced to 2% with ceiling for the new rate increased from 18,772 to 19,372.5% USC rate to be reduced to 4.75%.

*5 per week increase in weekly social welfare payments, including disability & carers allowance, Jobseekers Allowance & State pension. This will kick in at the end of March 2018. The Christmas bonus payment of 85% will again be paid to all social welfare recipients in 2017. Also from March, payments under the One Parent Family Payment and the JobseekersTransitional Scheme will be increased by 20 per week.

*VAT rate on the use of sunbeds has been increased from 13.5% to 23%

*17m for Renewal Heat Incentive & to incentivise an increase in use of electric vehicles. 0% Benefit-in-Kind rate for electric vehicles

*Threshold for Family Income Supplement will rise 10 per week for families with 3 children. 2 per week rise in rate of qualified child payment

*No increase on fuel, or alcohol. The Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) broadly welcomed the measures announced in 2018 while having reservations about the maintenance of the very high levels of excise on alcohol.

*Small Firms Association (SFA) has welcomed Budget 2018 as "a step in the right direction for small business". SFA welcomes Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP), retention of the 9% VAT rate for tourism sector & a Brexit loan scheme for small businesses

*An extra 500 million will be provided to the direct building programme. An additional 3,000 new build social houses by 2021. Housing Assistance Payment scheme will be increased by 149m. Funding for homeless services increased by a further 18m to over 116m

*The free pre-school programme will be further developed  ensuring entitlement to the full 2-year service from September 2018

Follow us on twitter @tippstar for more updates during the day
[October 10, 2017] DemandTrans and Kyyti Group Announce US Launch of Switch Transit App

CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Switch Mobility, a joint-venture partnership between DemandTrans, Inc. of Chicago and The Kyyti Group of Helsinki, Finland, today announced the launch of its Dynamic Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app "Switch" to provide consumers instant access to virtually every kind of transport service available, from taxis, buses and trains to bike-share, car-share and more. Unlike other apps that attempt to organize an array of urban mobility choices, Switch (www.Switchtransit.com) is the first to integrate real-time, micro-transit ride generation capability to ensure consumers have access to efficient on-demand services anytime, anywhere. "At a time when city planners are working on integrating varied services such as Lyft and Uber to mitigate first, middle, and last mile challenges, a fully flexible mobile service such as Switch helps make current and emerging transportation options more accessible, all while reducing car ownership and congestion," said retired Air Force General and Managing Partner of Switch Mobility US John E. Michel./p>



Europe's "Best Mobile Service" award-winning Kyyti MaaS system. DemandTrans technology is currently in use in in Denver, CO ; Oakland, CA ; Salem, OR ; Chicago, IL (and soon, Nashville, TN ). In Finland Kyyti MaaS has created a comprehensive platform that makes the process of getting from A to B simple, quick, and convenient for both public and private transport users. "Switch provides consumers with unparalleled convenience and will change the way people move throughout the US and the world," continued Michel. "With increasing mobility choices, we believe it is more important than ever to give people the freedom to choose from a wide array of potential options and routes to enhance the end-to-end public and private transportation experience."

Pekka Motto, Managing Partner of Switch Mobility Global and CEO of the Kyyti Group adds "What truly differentiates Switch is that planning, ticketing, and payment are all taken care of in a single app that allows users to go about their trip seamlessly and without added guesswork or unnecessary wait times." The development of the Dynamic MaaS app leverages insights gleaned from designing and deploying the world's largest Demand Response system, Flex Denmark, which provides over 20,000 rides a day sourced from 550 different mobility providers. Switch Chief Technology Officer and architect of Flex Denmark Niels Larsen commented, "Switch functions as an automated mobility operator, seamlessly integrating legs of a trip together to maximize the user experience, thus helping transit companies focus on delivering value-added services. While others talk about multimodality, Switch provides a customized, optimized complete end-to-end mobility solution right to a user's smart phone." Before joining forces with DemandTrans to form Switch Mobility, the Kyyti Group had conducted several very successful MaaS and micro-transit tests in Finland. The Switch app will be launching in a prominent US City to be announced shortly. For more information on Switch, please visit www.Switchtransit.com or reach out by phone at (847) 256-8866. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/demandtrans-and-kyyti-group-announce-us-launch-of-switch-transit-app-300534034.html SOURCE Switch Mobility

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[October 10, 2017] Graybar Celebrates Grand Opening of New Warehouse and Distribution Center in South Florida

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, today announced the opening of a new service center in Ft. Lauderdale that is dedicated to the tri-county area in Southeast Florida. The new service center, located at 3410 SW 30th Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, spans 161,500 square feet and serves as the primary shipping facility for Graybar in southeast Florida. The new fcility will provide access to over $10 million in inventory and more than 14,000 SKUs, as well as product staging, kitting, and customizable consolidated packing service capabilities. The facility represents Graybar's commitment to sustainability and features 100% high efficiency LED lighting, high efficiency HVLS fans, low VOC paints and adhesives and automatic/low flow fixtures to minimize water consumptions. It is equipped with a full back-up generator and hurricane-rated storage yard protection and screening.



"This new service center has been years in the works as we strive to best support our customers' needs across Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties," said Andy Ciccone, Graybar Tampa District Vice President. "We officially opened on September 5, and the facility was quickly put to the test with Hurricane Irma's arrival. We were proud to be back in business the day after the hurricane. This new location will improve the region's access to inventory and enhance the services we offer customers." Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of more than 290 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR.

Media Contact:

Kara Bowlin

(314) 573-2578

[email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/graybar-celebrates-grand-opening-of-new-warehouse-and-distribution-center-in-south-florida-300534213.html SOURCE Graybar

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[October 10, 2017] Middle East Well Completion Equipment & Services Market by Type, by Application & by Country - Analysis and Forecast to 2019

LONDON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In this report, the well completion equipment & services market is segmented on the basis of application, type and country. By country, the well completion equipment and services market has been segmented into countries, such as Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.







Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4167873







The well completion equipment and services market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2014 to 2019. The market segmented based on type includes packers, sand control tools, multi-stage frac, liner hangers, smart wells, safety valves and others. In 2014, the packers segment accounted for the largest share of 33.2% in the Middle Eastern well completion equipment and services market followed by the sand control tools segment.



The report has profiled the leading players in the market along with the strategies (new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, expansions and partnerships, agreements, collaborations and joint ventures) adopted by them to sustain and strengthen their position in the Middle Eastern well completion equipment and services market. Halliburton Co. (U.S.), Weatherford International Plc (Ireland), Schlumberger Ltd. (U.S.), and Baker Hughes Inc. (U.S.) are some of the key players operating in this market.







Reasons to Buy the Report:

From an insight perspective, this research report has focused on various levels of analysesindustry analysis, market share analysis of top players, supply chain analysis, and company profiles, which together comprise anddiscuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, usage patterns, emerging and segments with higher growth rates of the Middle Eastern well completion equipment and services market, countries with higher growth rates and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers and restraints.







The report will enrich both, established firms as well as new entrants/smaller firms to gauge the pulse of the market, which in turn will help in garnering a greater market share. Firms purchasing the report could use any one or a combination of the below mentioned five strategies (market penetration, product development/innovation, market development, market diversification, and competitive assessment) to strengthen their market share.





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-Product Analysis and development: Detailed insights on new and developing technologies, research and development activities and launch of new products in the Middle Eastern well completion equipment and services market. Usage pattern/ penetration rate (in-depth trend analysis) of products (segment wise) and purchasing data.

-Market development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets. The report analyzes the markets for well completion and services across geographies, exploits new distribution channels and new clientele base and different pricing policies

-Market diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments and investment decisions in the well completion equipment and services market. Detailed description about the related and unrelated diversification pertaining to this market

-Competitive assessment: In-depth assessment of market share, company share analysis of the key players forecast to 2019. Development of business strategies and manufacturing capabilities of leading players that enhance the bottom-lines of the companies in the well completion equipment and services market.

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Website: www.reportbuyer.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/middle-east-well-completion-equipment--services-market-by-type-by-application--by-country---analysis-and-forecast-to-2019-300533868.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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[October 10, 2017] Protiviti Expands Global Member Firm Network to Provide Consulting and Internal Audit Services in Colombia

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To further address the needs of its clients, global consulting firm Protiviti has expanded its Member Firm network in Colombia via an agreement with Creinpro Colombia, S. A. S., a business consulting services firm with offices in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. The Protiviti Member Firm network in Latin America also includes offices in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. "Protiviti's expansion of the Member Firm network into Colombia, South America's second largest country by population, reflects the rapidly improving economy of that country," said Joseph Tarantino, president and CEO of Protiviti. "We are pleased to be able to provide this additional support to new and existing clients looking to pursue market opportunities in Colombia and Latin America with the expertise in local regulatory and compliance matters that Protiviti is known for worldwide." The new Protiviti Member Firm office in Colombia offers a range of services, such as digital transformaion, anti-money laundering compliance, technology consulting, including cyber security and data management, and internal audit. The new Member Firm will also give clients access to the Governance Portal, Protiviti's proprietary governance, risk and compliance software solution. The consulting team in Colombia, together with Protiviti's other Latin America Member Firms, serves clients across Latin America, including Central America and the Caribbean. As a Protiviti Member Firm, Creinpro is Protiviti's exclusive representative for Colombia. Managing Director Gamal Perez leads the Bogota office, having served with Protiviti's Venezuela Member Firm since 2006.



Protiviti Member Firms provide local knowledge and expertise to deliver high quality services and solutions in countries around the world. Protiviti Member Firms are separate and independent legal entities, are not agents of Protiviti Inc. or other firms in the Protiviti network, and have no authority to obligate or bind other firms in the Protiviti network. About Protiviti

Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Through its network of more than 70 offices in over 20 countries, Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms provide clients with consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit. Protiviti has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half. Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index. Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services. Editor's note: photos available upon request. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/protiviti-expands-global-member-firm-network-to-provide-consulting-and-internal-audit-services-in-colombia-300533829.html SOURCE Protiviti

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[October 09, 2017] Asuragen CEO to Speak at 2017 World CDx Summit

Asuragen, Inc., a molecular diagnostics products company changing the way patients are treated in genetics and oncology by bringing complex molecular tests to hospital and reference labs, announced that its president and CEO, Matthew McManus, M.D., Ph.D., will participate in a keynote panel during the 2017 World CDx Summit taking place October 17-19 in Boston. The panel will assemble key industry leaders and stakeholders for a holistic discussion about the overarching challenges facing precision medicine and how to better align and collaborate for its success. "There are so many stakeholders involved in shaping precision medicine, from regulatory agencies and payers to pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies," said McManus. "Each has unique considerations that must come together in concert to advance precision medicine as a whole. This is a critical conversation facing our industry today and I'm looking forward to representing the diagnostic point of view on this panel." The keynote panel, titled, "Precision Medicine Under the Microscope: A Frank Look at the Impact of Precision Medicine on Patient Welfare," will take place on Wednesday, October 18 at 10 a.m. Fellow panelists include Adam Berger, senior staff fellow, personalized medicine, FDA; Phillip Lerner, vice president & national medical director, Aetna; Jeff Allen, president &am; CEO, Friends of Cancer Research; and Debra Rasmussen, diagnostics leader & senior director of global regulatory affairs, Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The panel will assess the success of precision medicine efforts past and present and what stands in the way of realizing the full potential of precision medicine.



In addition to this session, Asuragen will moderate a panel discussion titled, "Precision Medicine & Companion Dx - The Evolving Role of In Vitro Diagnostics Guiding Patient Management from Risk Stratification to Outcome," which will take place from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17. The panel will host experts from across the industry providing a variety of perspectives, including: John W. Longshore, Ph.D., director of Molecular Pathology, Carolinas HealthCare System; Hannah Mamuszka, CEO, ALVA10; Peter Hoehn, J.D., global business leader, Janssen Diagnostics at Johnson & Johnson; and Matt McManus, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO, Asuragen, Inc. The discussion will highlight the challenges and opportunities of precision medicine, review when to decentralize versus centralize testing, and will explore how to expand the scope of precision medicine across the entire patient care continuum from predisposition testing to outcomes measurement. About Asuragen

Asuragen is a molecular diagnostic company changing the way patients are treated in genetics and oncology. The quality, simplicity and sensitivity of its products brings precision medicine within reach. Asuragen's diagnostic systems, composed of proprietary chemistry and software, deliver powerful answers using broadly installed instrument platforms. They are simple to adopt and expand the ability to serve patients. Asuragen is a product foundry rapidly and efficiently addressing current and emerging clinical needs, including cancer diagnosis and monitoring, reproductive health and aging, serving laboratories across a patient's lifespan with its best in class diagnostic tests. For more information, visit www.asuragen.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009006068/en/

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[October 09, 2017] The International University of Japan (IUJ) Reunites Over 100 Indonesian Alumni in Jakarta to Celebrate its 35th Anniversary

- The first-ever inter-batches alumni reunion outside of Japan - IUJ unveils the Indonesia's Alumni Advisory Board to provide advice and leadership for IUJ initiatives in Indonesia JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The International University of Japan (IUJ) celebrates its 35th anniversary in Jakarta by hosting the first-ever formal inter-batches alumni reunion outside of Japan at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel Jakarta on Saturday October 7th. The IUJ Alumni Indonesia Reunion 2017 aims to strengthen the collaboration among Alumni members. The event also highlights the launch of Indonesia's Alumni Advisory Board. Indonesia's government institutions such as the National Planning Agency (Bappenas), Ministry of Finance, and the national universities as University of Indonesia , Padjajaran University, and Gajah Mada University.



Considering that only 3.18% of Indonesian civil servants with a Master Degree and only 0.21% who has taken Doctoral Program (Bappenas, 2013), plus the upcoming demographic bonus -- there are still tons of opportunities that IUJ can contribute to the education of young and professional Indonesians. "Through these Senior and Class Representatives Advisory Board, IUJ look forward to gain practical insights on how to spread our messages to the Indonesian, in order to invite more students to our 7 Master and Post-Graduate Program. On the other hand, Alumni can anytime utilize our researches and resources for their professional work", said Gretchen Shinoda, the Director of Alumni Relations (Class of 1989).

In keeping up with the world's current affairs, the IUJ Indonesian Alumni also conducted a discussion on the "Transformation of Public and Private Sectors using Blockchain", by the Alumni who are experts in financial technology, namely Hanafi Guciano -- Founder of Blockchain Indonesia Alliance, Yati Kurniati -- Bank Indonesia's Executive Director of Statistic Department, and Naresh Makhijani -- President Director PT OTI Transformasi Lintas Internasional. The event was closed by a dinner and networking session, with an opening remark by one the most senior IUJ Indonesian Alumni, Gary Yusuf, serves as the Indonesian Ambassador of Fiji. http://www.iuj.ac.jp/ Contact: Emi Sanjo

[email protected]

+81257791539

Office of Admissions and Career Support

International University of Japan (IUJ) Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171009/1961239-1

Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171009/1961239-1LOGO SOURCE International University of Japan (IUJ)

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By PTI: Amaravati, Oct 9 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is embarking on a three-nation tour next week to seek investments into the state.

Accompanied by a high-level delegation, he will travel to the USA, UAE and UK from October 18 to 26. Naidu will leave from here on October 17 and return on October 27, according to an official communique.

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During his visit to the UK, the chief minister is also expected to finalise designs of the two "iconic buildings" (legislature complex and the High Court) to be built in the new capital city Amaravati.

Naidu will receive the Golden Peacock award for corporate governance and sustainability from the Institute of Directors, London.

The chief minister will lead a high-level delegation comprising ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, P Narayana and senior bureaucrats from the state, the release said.

Naidu led a similar delegation to the USA in May this year.

He will be visiting New York City, Chicago and Iowa during the first leg of his visit from October 18 to 20. After visiting the UAE from October 21 to 23, the delegation will be in the UK from October 24 to 26.

During his tour to these three countries, Naidu will hold talks with business leaders and invite them to invest in Andhra Pradesh, the release added.

In London, the CM will inspect the designs prepared by world-renowned architectural firm Fosters+Partners and "finalise" the designs of the iconic structures.

Last month, he rejected the designs submitted by the firm and asked them to prepare the designs afresh by taking "inputs" from film director S S Rajamouli of "Baahubali" fame.

Incidentally, the AP Capital Region Development Authority officials will lead Rajamouli to Fosters in London from October 11 to 13 to give his inputs for the government buildings to be built in Amaravati. PTI DBV RSY BAS

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[October 09, 2017] Brent Diehl Joins Monaco as SVP of International Expansion

HONG KONG, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast-growing Company Strengthens Resources Monaco, the pioneering payments and cryptocurrency platform, today announced that Brent Diehl has joined Monaco as Senior Vice President, International Expansion. Diehl will be based in Monaco's Singapore office and will lead Monaco's global rollout efforts as the company expands further into Asia-Pacific and into Europe and North America. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569856/Brent_Diehl__SVP_of_International_Expansion__Monaco.jpg )

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569858/Monaco_Logo.jpg )

Diehl previously founded and served as Managing Director for the Singapore-based Alliance Payment Solutions, a digital payments consultancy firm with clients throughout Asia-Pacific, urope, United States, and the Middle East. He has over 20 years of experience in payments and international business development, including roles at Visa, where he managed Prepaid Partner Solutions, Visa's prepaid consultancy division, for the AP-CEMEA regions; Western Union, where he led international expansion efforts for their prepaid cards; and Home Depot, where he was responsible for card portfolios outside of the United States. Diehl also served on Monaco's advisory board in a payments capacity.



"Brent's wealth of industry experience and knowledge makes him a key hire as we continue to expand into new markets and bring cryptocurrency to every wallet," said Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and CEO of Monaco. "With his extensive experience, we are confident that Monaco's expansion to Europe and North America will be a smooth and successful process, and we look forward to introducing our Monaco cards to the rest of the world." "I am thrilled to be part of the core team at Monaco and for the opportunity to apply my expertise to lead our rapid growth across the markets," said Diehl. "Having served on Monaco's board, I'm confident and eager to push forward our mission of delivering innovative financial products that make it easier for consumers to transact using cryptocurrency."

For more information on Monaco, please visit Monaco's website at mona.co. The Monaco app is available for download for iOS and Android users. About Monaco Founded in June 2016, Monaco is the pioneering payments and cryptocurrency platform allowing users to buy, exchange, and spend bitcoin and ethereum at perfect interbank exchange rates. Monaco raised over US$26.7 million through one of the most successful Token Sale events to date. The company is headquartered in Switzerland with operations in Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information, please visit mona.co . SOURCE Monaco

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[October 09, 2017] Global Drone Market First Scholarship Program

MOORESTOWN, N.J., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Drone Market is proud to announce their Global Drone Scholarship Program! Every year, one student will be named the recipient of a $2,500 scholarship to advance their education. A qualified entrant must be in high school or college at the time of entry. Global Drone Market understands the importance of minimizing student debt in an era when a university education costs more than ever. In fact, according to Business Insider, college costs rose at more than double the CPI from 1980 to 2014. The rising cost of a university education is just one reason we are going to award the winning entrant a substantial $2,500 stipend to offset educational costs. We also hope to encourage entrants to "think outside the box" in applying drone tech to today's global business challenges. SUBMIT AN ESSAY To apply for the scholarship, an entrant must submit an essay at least 1,000 words in length. Students are free to select from a wide arry of topics as long as the essay focuses in some way on how a business can enhance the customer experience and/or reduce costs through the implementation of currently available drone technology.



Entrants are not limited to writing about any particular kind of drone. An entrant is free to focus on camera quadcopters, fixed-wing drones, mini-drones and even nano-drones. Also, the number of blades is not a concern, so you can write about hexacopters and octocopters as well as quadcopters. Accessories can vary, so you can focus on drones with cameras or those with sensors, like ultrasonic, infrared, thermal, magnetic-field or even chemical sensing devices. Also, there is also no limit on the value of the drone that can help a business somewhere in the world. It can be anything from an inexpensive quadcopter or a five-figure, fixed-wing drone.

BE CREATIVE. We encourage those applying for the scholarship to be creative and innovative in applying commercially available drone technology to cut costs or to create a benefit for the customer. There are many possibilities, including ideas that replace the traditional used of manned aircraft with UAVs. Entries will be judged using relevant criteria, including how unique and unprecedented the idea is. If you have any questions about our Global Drone Scholarship Program, please contact us at [email protected] Related Links Global Drone Market Global Drone Scholarship View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-drone-market-first-scholarship-program-300533547.html SOURCE Global Drone Market

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[October 10, 2017] Harsh Mariwala Launches Mariwala Health Initiative - an Online Platform to Promote Awareness and Encourage Best Practices in the Realm of Mental Health

MUMBAI, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) aims to create a holistic and universally accessible mental health ecosystem in India, by aiding a wide variety of mental health services for people in need across the country, using multiple delivery formats and innovations Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI), a philanthropic initiative founded by Harsh Mariwala, focusing on mental health, has launched its website www.mariwalahealthinitiative.org on World Mental Health Day, today. The MHI website will be an effective portal for sharing information and stories about mental health innovations, services, advocacy, and expertise in India. Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) is a funding agency for innovative and inclusive mental health initiatives, especially those that are committed to making mental well-being accessible to the most marginalized persons and communities. Through prioritization of such projects, MHI aims at creating an understanding of mental health that goes beyond narrow medical definitions and signals a shift towards inclusive, holistic, and empathetic programs. MHI has partnered with organizations that have a comprehensive approach to mental health, and are invested in using methodologies aimed at creating a well-rounded mental health ecosystem.



As an online platform, www.mariwalahealthinitiative.org is envisaged as a space to collaborate with stakeholders, engage with current debates in the field of mental health, and showcase best practices for addressing mental health and well-being by highlighting the work of our grantee-partners. It aspires to be a medium bringing together diverse sections, and linking policy makers with mental health experts, service providers and academics. The website explains MHI's grant-making process for potential partners, while hosting a section for academic and research-based writing aroun mental health. It aims to offer a 'big picture' perspective on mental health in India, using an intersectional approach to address the complexities in social relationships and contexts that affect an individual's mental health and well-being.







MHI's work is grounded in rights-based, progressive and empathetic mental health advocacy that acknowledges and addresses the multiple vulnerabilities wrought by discriminations arising out of gender, class, caste and religious identities, physical and intellectual disabilities, sexual identities and orientations, besides the power structures that prevail in societies, institutions, and families. At present, MHI is the principal funder for iCALL, a psychosocial helpline that offers counselling services by telephone and email to individuals in psychosocial distress, as well as for Bapu Trust's program 'Seher' that links development, disabilities, communities, and mental health concerns. MHI is also a joint funder for Atmiyata, an initiative of the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy of the Indian Law Society, Pune, a community-based mental health intervention focused on promoting wellness and reducing distress through community volunteers in rural India. Among other projects, MHI partially supports the work of Anjali, a mental health rights organization based in West Bengal.

"There is an acute lack of awareness when it comes to mental health in India. The availability of services offered today urgently needs an overhaul, keeping in mind affordability and accessibility. With this in mind, we have launched the Mariwala Health Initiative to support and promote innovative and scalable mental health provisions in order to provide quality services to people across India," - Harsh Mariwala, Founder, Mariwala Health Initiative & Chairman, Marico Ltd. "MHI is a dedicated effort to change conversations around mental health in India. We approach mental health through a rights based perspective, centering the agency and rights of the individual. This also means we support mental health provisions for marginalised populations who cannot access services and are being left out of mainstream mental health narratives," - Rajvi Mariwala, Director, Mariwala Health Initiative. "MHI takes into account the standpoint of the marginalized. The margins provide critical counter-narratives to any dominant norm. The mental health field needs to listen and learn from these counter- narratives," - Shruti Chakravarty, Chief Advisor, Mariwala Health Initiative For more details about Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI), please visit: www.mariwalahealthinitiative.org About Mariwala Health Initiative: Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) is the leading funding agency for innovative and inclusive mental health initiatives, especially those which are committed to making mental well-being accessible to the most marginalized. Through our prioritization of such projects we aim at creating a 'big picture' of mental health, one that expands on narrow medical definitions, and signals a shift towards inclusive, holistic, and empathetic programs. We have partnered with organizations that have a comprehensive approach to mental health, and are invested in using innovative methodologies aimed at creating a well-rounded mental health ecosystem. For media queries, please reach out to:

Parigya Sharma

+91-9582098686

[email protected]



Bhakti Dalal

+91-9819118807

[email protected]

Independent Communications Consultant, BDCC





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[October 10, 2017] Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and TASC Launch Online Learning Tool in Arizona

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, a nonprofit committed to helping families struggling with their son or daughter's substance use, has partnered with the Treatment Assessment Screening Center (TASC) of Arizona to launch a new, online learning tool that will help address the opioid epidemic in the state. TASC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide behavioral health services, substance abuse treatment, education and supportive services in Arizona. The launch of the new, online learning tool, "Heroin + Other Opioids in Arizona: From Understanding to Action," marks the first time the two nonprofits are working together to address the problem of opioid abuse and help parents and families in Arizona. The tool was funded by the TASC Community Grant Initiative and is a collaborative effort to help families and community members gain a better understanding of the opioid issue in Arizona, while empowering them to take action to protect their kids and safeguard their hometowns. The online tool is available in English and Spanish and can be accessed free, online at drugfree.org/opioids-az/. "?Heroin and Other Opioids in Arizona' is a resource that benefits those who are working within their communities to implement effective policies to prevent and respond to the current opioid crisis," said Kevin Collins, Director of Parent and Community Support Services for Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. "We want to provide these community leaders and families with accessible and easy-to-digest content, like videos and local stats that help educate and facilitate action." "Heroin + Other Opioids in Arizona: From Understanding to Action"

The online tool consists of three short videos, "What are Opioids?," "How Big is the Problem?" and "What We Need to Do." Those who access the tool will take away a basic understanding of the nation's opioid crisis, how it is affecting Arizona, and most importantly, what can be done to help parents and civic leaders address the issue in their state. Local law enforcement agencies, schools, governments and others are encouraged to share access to the online tool via their websites and social networks. "There is an urgent need to educate as many Arizona families as possible about the nationwide opiate epidemic, the impact it is having on our communities throughout Arizona, and to provide them with helpful information and useful resources," said Douglas Kramer, CEO of TASC. "These new videos help make that possible, and we are so pleased they are available not only in English, but also for Spanish-language speakers." The first part of the online tool, What are Opioids?," helps educate viewers about opioids, how and why opioids are abused and the dangerous ways in which people mix them with alcohol and other drugs. This section also informs family members about what they can do if a loved one is experiencing an opioid overdose and how they can get them help.



The "How Big is the Problem?" section explores the link between prescription painkillers and heroin, which are both opioids, and explains the scope of the national opioid epidemic compared to its prevalence in Arizona. It illustrates that from 2005-2015, deaths from heroin increased 328 percent nationally, while there was an almost 700 percent increase in heroin overdose deaths in Arizona alone. There was also a 44 percent increase in deaths related to opioid pain relievers in Arizona  a state that is located right in the path of one of the major transportation routes of heroin distribution in the U.S. Finally, the "What We Need to Do" section identifies actions that are currently in place at the community level to help turn the tide in the opioid epidemic. These include distribution of the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone, increased prescriber education and the implementation of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs  and how these can be collectively improved. This section also identifies actions that parents can take, including communicating more effectively with their children about the dangers of opioid and heroin use and addiction. Partnership resources for families are also prominently featured in this section, which includes direct, one-on-one services like the Parent Helpline (855-DRUGFREE) and comprehensive guides like the Partnership's Medication-Assisted Treatment e-book.

Deputy Fire Chief Montgomery is a nationally registered paramedic who has been serving the residents of Arizona for over three decades. As a first responder, Chief Montgomery has seen first-hand the day-to-day impact that opioid and heroin use has had in communities across the state. "Understanding the magnitude of this problem is very important for any Fire or Emergency Medical Service/EMS agency. Paramedics have injected naloxone into patients for decades, but never in these volumes. Sometimes it is even given to more than one patient at a single emergency scene," said Deputy Fire Chief Montgomery. "This is a national epidemic that affects all social classes and is not going away anytime soon. These are our citizens, young and old, and they need our compassion now more than ever." Dr. Bruce Bethancourt, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Dignity Health Medical Group in Arizona urges families to intervene and take immediate action if they suspect a loved one is misusing or abusing opioids. "If you identify a brother, sister, child or friend who is misusing or has become addicted to opioids, I urge you to intervene quickly today  not tomorrow  for tomorrow may never come for them," said Dr. Bethancourt. "Don't worry that you might offend them, but instead think of how you will feel if you waited too long. Please take action to help save their life." For more information, please visit Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. About Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Partnership for Drug-Free Kids is committed to helping families struggling with their son or daughter's substance use. We empower families with information, support and guidance to get the help their loved one needs and deserves. On our website, drugfree.org, and through our toll-free helpline (1-855-DRUGFREE), we provide families with direct support and guidance to help them address teen substance use. Finally, we build healthy communities, advocating for greater understanding and more effective programs to treat the disease of addiction. As a national nonprofit, we depend on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and the public sector and are thankful to SAG-AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity. We are proud to receive a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities, as well as a National Accredited Charity Seal from The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. About Treatment Assessment Screening Center (TASC)

Treatment Assessment Screening Center (TASC) is a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1977, TASC of Arizona is known nationally as an innovator in the development and implementation of drug testing and behavioral health programs and is recognized nationally for creating behavioral health programs that promote positive, life-changing growth. TASC has a full spectrum of services that provide comprehensive treatment, education and rehabilitation for those dealing with substance abuse. By working closely with individuals, families, other nonprofits and the behavioral health system, we help make our communities safer and healthier. TASC is licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services as an outpatient behavioral health clinic, domestic violence offender treatment program, clinical laboratory, and DUI screening, education and treatment provider. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/partnership-for-drug-free-kids-and-tasc-launch-online-learning-tool-in-arizona-300528256.html SOURCE Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

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[October 10, 2017] Home Bay Technologies Brings Florida Home Sellers and Buyers Significant Costs Savings with a No Commission Fee Model

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Bay Technologies Inc., a technology-driven real estate company, expands to Florida. Home Bay offers consumers a new way to buy and sell homes without commission fees, saving its customers an average of $16,000 per transaction. Proprietary technology enables significant cost savings, while automation and efficiencies streamline the real estate transaction. Home Bay passes savings directly to consumers by charging a low flat rate of $2,000 to $3,500 per home sale, in lieu of the standard 3% commission charged by traditiona agents to sell a home.



Buyers who use Home Bay receive 50% of the buyer agent commission upon purchasing a home. For both buyers and sellers, Home Bay employs a centralized team of licensed agents to advise consumers through each step of the transaction. The company is delivering better results than a traditional real estate agent. This season, homes listed with Home Bay sold 23 days faster and for $13,771 more than the industry average. Additionally, 94% of homes sold through Home Bay sold in less than 90 days.

"Consumers using traditional agents are a very dissatisfied group. Even when consumers like the agent, they understandably hate the fees. Intuitively, consumers understand that three to six percent of the price of their home is way too much.," said Tom Owen, co-founder of HomeBay. "Based on our strong adoption and success, we believe consumers are eager for a superior solution at a fraction of the cost." About Home Bay Technologies Inc.

Home Bay Technologies Inc., a San Diego based company, provides consumers a smarter way to buy and sell homes with data-driven intelligence, complete transparency and an on-demand customer experience. Home Bay's sophisticated platform expedites the transaction with efficient, seamless systems that save consumers and real estate agents time and money. For more information, visit HomeBay.com. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/home-bay-technologies-brings-florida-home-sellers-and-buyers-significant-costs-savings-with-a-no-commission-fee-model-300533576.html SOURCE Home Bay Technologies Inc.

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[October 10, 2017] Yellow Pages Limited Announces Proposed Refinancing Transaction and Provides Update on Financial Outlook for 2017 Fiscal Year

MONTREAL, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) ("Yellow Pages" or the "Company") today announces the launch of the marketing of a proposed private placement offering of Senior Secured Notes (the "Notes") by Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited (the "Issuer"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Yellow Pages has mandated BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Markets to act as joint-bookrunners on the potential private placement offering. The Issuer will use the net proceeds from the sale of the Notes to refinance its existing 9.25% Senior Secured Notes due November 30, 2018. The offering is expected to enhance Yellow Pages' credit profile by positioning the Company for further deleveraging and extending its debt maturity. Yellow Pages today also announces that, based on information currently available to management, full year 2017 total revenues are expected to be slightly below the range of $770 million to $780 million that was previously disclosed on August 10, 2017. This revised revenue expectation comes as a result of lower than expected digital revenues in the Agency and YP segments. Despite the expected revenue shortfall, Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow (see Non-IFRS Measures below) are still expected to be within the guidance ranges provided on August 10, 2017 due to ongoing cost containment. The Company currently expects to announce its third quarter 2017 results on November 7, 2017. The Company cautions that the assumptions used to prepare the guidance provided above for full year 2017, although currently reasonable, may prove to be incorrect or inaccurate. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from expectations as set forth above. The guidance provided above should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified by, the section Forward-Looking Information beginning on page 1 of the Company's August 10, 2017 Management's Discussion and Analysis. Please see the section below entitled Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements. Non-IFRS Measures In order to provide a better understanding of the results, the Company uses the term Adjusted EBITDA, defined as income from operations before depreciation and amortization, impairment of intangible assets and restructuring and other charges. Adjusted EBITDA is not a performance measure defined under IFRS and is not considered an alternative to income from operations or net earnings in the context of measuring Yellow Pages' performance. Adjusted EBITDA does not have a standardized meaning and is therefore not likely to be comparable to similar measures used by other publicly traded companies. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the performance of its business as it reflects its ongoing profitability. Management believes that certain investors and analysts use Adjusted EBITDA to easure a company's ability to service debt and to meet other payment obligations or to value companies in the media and marketing solutions industry as well as to evaluate the performance of a business.



As well, free cash flow is a non-IFRS measure generally used as an indicator of financial performance. It should not be seen as a substitute for cash flow from operating activities. Free cash flow is defined as cash flow from operating activities, as reported in accordance with IFRS, less an adjustment for capital expenditures and change in operating assets and liabilities. Free cash flow is not a standardized measure and is not comparable with that of other public companies. Management considers free cash flow to be an important indicator of the performance of its business as it shows how much cash is available to repay debt and to make sound investment decisions. Management believes that certain investors and analysts use free cash flow to value a business and its underlying assets as well as to evaluate a company's performance. Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the objectives, strategies, financial conditions, results of operations and businesses of the Company and the effect of the proposed offering of Notes on the credit profile of the Company. These statements are forward-looking as they are based on our current expectations, as at October 10, 2017, about our business and the markets we operate in, and on various estimates and assumptions. Our actual results could materially differ from our expectations if known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. As a result, there is no assurance that any forward-looking statements will materialize. Risks that could cause our results to differ materially from our current expectations are discussed in section 6 of our August 10, 2017 Management's Discussion and Analysis. In addition, the proposed offering of Notes is subject to general market and other conditions and there are no assurances that the proposed offering will be completed or that the terms of the offering will not be modified. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law, even if new information becomes available, as a result of future events or for any other reason. Securities Law Matters The Notes will not be qualified for sale to the public under applicable Canadian securities laws and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the Notes in Canada will be made on a basis that is exempt from the prospectus requirement of such securities laws. The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The Notes will be offered and sold only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act, and to persons other than U.S. persons in transactions outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell the Notes or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Notes, nor shall there be any sale of the Notes, in any state or jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted. The Notes will be offered only through a preliminary and final offering memorandum and this press release is not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. About Yellow Pages Limited Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) is a Canadian digital media and marketing company that creates local opportunities for buyers and sellers to interact and transact in the local economy. Yellow Pages holds some of Canada's leading local online properties including YP.ca, RedFlagDeals.com, Canada411.ca, 411.ca, Bookenda.com, DuProprio.com, ComFree.com and YP NextHome. The Company also holds the YP, YP Shopwise, YP Dine, RedFlagDeals, Canada411, 411, DuProprio, ComFree and YP NextHome mobile applications and Yellow Pages print directories. In addition, Yellow Pages is a leader in national advertising through its businesses devoted to servicing the marketing needs of large North American brands, including Mediative and JUICE. For more information visit www.corporate.yp.ca. SOURCE Yellow Pages Limited

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[October 10, 2017] ACTT's Complete IoT Solution Now Available on SMIC 55nm eFlash Platform

SHANGHAI, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China, and Chengdu Analog Circuit Technology Inc. (ACTT), a leading Analog IP provider, today jointly announced the availability of ACTT's Analog IP solution on SMIC's 55nm eFlash technology. The combination of ACTT's Analog IPs with SMIC's process technology, both engineered for very low-power applications, is optimized to serve Internet of Things (IoT) applications that require low cost and extended battery life. The global IoT market has continued to grow rapidly in recent years. It may soon become a strong driving force for the semiconductor industry. The Asia-Pacific region has great potential to gain more market shares and become one of the world's most important IoT market. Based on SMIC's 55nm eFlash process, ACTT successfully launched a low-power IoT platform that provides a power saving as well as cost-effective solution to global customers. "Designers demand streamlined solutions with energy-efficient features for IoT products. ACTT has accumulated a wealth of low-power and highly cost effective analog circuit design experience for many years," said JianJun Xiang, CEO at ACTT. "For the IoT product technology evolution, we believe that the 55nm process is a good fit for IoT products because of the low power consumption and lower cost. With the availability of ACTT's IPs on SMIC's 55nm eFlash platform, customers will have access to one of the industry's best platforms dedicated to the unique needs of IoT products." "SMIC's 55nm eFlash platform can offer high-performance and low-power solutions. Through the cooperation with ACTT on this platform, we can support the demands of design houses to develop chips for a range of IoT applications," said TianShen Tang, EVP of Design Service, at SMIC. "SMIC is committed to collaborating with IC ecosystem partners to develop technologies, optimize IP designs and provide comprehensive platform solutions to help customers shorten time to market and seize the opportunities of the emerging intelligent era." About SMIC Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China. SMIC provides integrated circuit (IC) foundry and tecnology services on process nodes from 0.35 micron to 28 nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has an international manufacturing and service base. In China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-fab and a majority-owned 300mm fab for advanced nodes in Beijing; 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen; and a majority-owned joint-venture 300mm bumping facility in Jiangyin; additionally, in Italy SMIC has a majority-owned 200mm fab. SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.smics.com.



Safe Harbor Statements (Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995)

This press release contains, in addition to historical information, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on SMIC's current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. SMIC uses words like "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," "target" and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the best judgment of SMIC's senior management and involve significant risks, both known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SMIC's actual performance, financial condition or results of operations to be materially different from those suggested by the forward-looking statements including, among others, risks associated with cyclicality and market conditions in the semiconductor industry, intense competition in the semiconductor industry, SMIC's reliance on a small number of customers, timely wafer acceptance by SMIC's customers, timely introduction of new technologies, SMIC's ability to ramp new products into volume, supply and demand for semiconductor foundry services, industry overcapacity, shortages in equipment, components and raw materials, availability of manufacturing capacity, financial stability in end markets, orders or judgments from pending litigation, intensive intellectual property litigation in semiconductor industry, general economic conditions and fluctuations in currency exchange rates. In addition to the information contained in this press release, you should also consider the information contained in our other filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on April 27, 2017, especially in the "Risk Factors" section and such other documents that we may file with the SEC or The Hong Kong Stock Exchange Limited ("SEHK") from time to time, including current reports on Form 6-K. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on our future results, performance or achievements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated or, if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release. Except as may be required by law, SMIC undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SMIC Media Contact Terry Ding

+86-21-3861-0000 x16812

[email protected] About ACTT Chengdu Analog Circuit Technology Inc. (ACTT) is a leading company in IP and Turnkey service provider. The major products include very low-power & high cost effective analog IPs and high reliable eNVM solutions (LogicFlashTM). ACTT had successfully enabled several analog platforms in MCU, very low-power IoT applications, security, Interface.etc. In 2016 April, ACTT acquired Chip Memory Technology (CMT) located at Silicon Valley to receive the leading MTP technology ranging from 0.18um to 55nm in mass production. For more information, please visit http://www.analogcircuit.cn/ ACTT Media Contact Nicole Wang

+86-28-61682666

[email protected] SOURCE Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation

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[October 10, 2017] International bar review leader BARBRI partners with the Law Society of England and Wales to deliver Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme preparatory training

DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading legal education provider BARBRI has been selected by the Law Society of England and Wales to jointly deliver preparatory training for international attorneys seeking requalification through the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) to practice in England and Wales. The Law Society serves as the professional and representative body for the solicitor profession in England and Wales, and this new relationship enables the organization to leverage BARBRI's expertise for the benefit of lawyers seeking dual qualification to enhance their careers. BARBRI boasts a 50-year history of supporting law graduates and lawyers in passing their professional bar examinations, and offers specific expertise in tailoring its training programs to meet the needs of foreign lawyers and law graduates seeking requalification in another jurisdiction. Among the 1.3 million BARBRI alumni are thousands of international lawyers and law graduates who have passed a U.S state bar exam. QLTS Prep by BARBRI offers live and online learning taught by specialist U.K. legal academics and solicitors. The course is presented via the unique online Personal Study Plan (PSP). The PSP employs an integrated "Active Adaptive Legal Learning" system that continually monitors a candidate's progress and adapts to his or her unique areas of need to otimize study time for the best results.



"The Law Society of England and Wales plays a vital role in promoting England and Wales as the jurisdiction of choice and highlighting the importance of professional legal services to the U.K. economy," said Law Society President Joe Egan. "It is in the interests of the profession and all our members to ensure that those seeking requalification in our jurisdiction are trained to the highest level and meet our standards of professionalism for practice in England and Wales. Our partnership with BARBRI will enable us to deliver a high-quality preparatory program for those international lawyers seeking requalification here." "QLTS Prep by BARBRI uses the highest quality provision using innovative education technology to achieve high pass rates for those studying with us," added Sarah Hutchinson, managing director of BARBRI International. "We are delighted to partner with the Law Society in delivering an excellent and supportive learning experience to our international lawyers seeking requalification in England and Wales."

The new QLTS Prep by BARBRI will begin in December in preparation for the July 2018 QLTS MCT Exam. Interested lawyers can learn more or register their interest now at BARBRIQLTS.com. About The BARBRI Group The BARBRI Group companies meet the legal education needs of law students and attorneys throughout their careers, and work to improve legal and professional learning by providing superior opportunities for law schools, law firms and law- and finance-related businesses. At the core of The BARBRI Group Companies is BARBRI Bar Review, which has helped more than 1.3 million lawyers around the world pass a U.S. bar exam. The company also provides online J.D., post-J.D. and international programs for U.S. law schools, and specialized ongoing training and certifications in areas such as financial crime prevention, eDiscovery and cyber awareness, security and protection. The BARBRI Group, founded in 1967, is a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company headquartered in Dallas with offices throughout the United States and around the world. About the Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society is the independent professional body that works globally to support and represent solicitors, promoting the highest professional standards, the public interest and the rule of law. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/international-bar-review-leader-barbri-partners-with-the-law-society-of-england-and-wales-to-deliver-qualified-lawyers-transfer-scheme-preparatory-training-300533801.html SOURCE BARBRI Group

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[October 10, 2017] Petuum Closes $93 Million in Series B Funding Led by SoftBank

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Petuum, Inc., a machine learning (ML) infrastructure platform, has closed $93 million in Series B funding led by a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. ("SoftBank"), with participation from previous investor Advantech Capital. Petuum has raised a total of $108 million, making it one of the best-funded early-stage AI startups. Despite all the hype about machine learning's potential to reshape business, there are few examples of ML applications built and deployed at any meaningful scale, except within the walls of a few large technology companies. These technology leaders have been locked in an aggressive arms-race for the best talent, and have also created a range of proprietary frameworks, tools and ecosystems for developing ML applications. This industry dynamic has caused significant fragmentation, complexity and skill shortages for would-be ML developers at companies outside this elite group. As a result, widespread ML development has stalled, and the promise of AI is yet to be realized. Petuum has created a flexible operating system and virtualization interfac that makes it easy for a broad range of users to build any type of machine learning or deep learning application at scale, deploy many applications on a wide range of enterprise hardware  including datacenters and IoT  and manage applications and hardware from a single terminal. Petuum's platform is based on years of fundamental ML and computation research, and transforms what would otherwise be skill-intensive, time-consuming and high-maintenance programming into a friendly and intuitive experience for non-programmers. In addition, Petuum cuts through the fragmentation of current ML frameworks and competing cloud infrastructures, by providing an agnostic and standardized approach to application development and deployment. The result is democratized access to cutting-edge AI technology for companies of all sizes, in all industries.



"Our team is excited to solve the problem of AI's high barrier to entry," said Petuum Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist Dr. Eric Xing. "We believe this technology should be standardized, accessible, and mass-producible, so that all can benefit from AI, ML, and deep learning. We have surmounted many technical challenges as we work toward a standard and universal AI platform, and are grateful to SoftBank for believing in our company's mission to change the future of enterprise AI by providing first-class capabilities at scale to anyone who needs them." Xing, an eminent AI professor and Associate Head of Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning department, founded Petuum in July 2016 with co-founders Qirong Ho, Ph.D., and Ning Li, Ph.D.. Petuum's founders have assembled a team of over 50 world-class researchers and developers in Pittsburgh, PA, the birthplace of AI. Petuum's team has received global recognition for multiple contributions to the field, including the best paper award at the ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing, the AI 100 by CB Insights, and the AI Startup Top 10 by GWC's G-Summit 2017.

With this new round of funding, Petuum will continue to expand its technical and business teams, and focus on deploying PetuumOS in specific industries that have high AI potential, but low adoption, such as manufacturing and healthcare. "We are firm believers in the value that AI can bring to a broad range of industries," said SoftBank Managing Partner Deep Nishar. "Petuum's work will finally help to unlock that value." For more information, visit www.petuum.com. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/petuum-closes-93-million-in-series-b-funding-led-by-softbank-300533771.html SOURCE Petuum, Inc.

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[October 10, 2017] T.J. Rodgers Funds MIT Research Laboratory In Electronics

WOODSIDE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- T.J. Rodgers, founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, today announced an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to fund the "T.J. Rodgers RLE Laboratory" with a $5 million gift. The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) is MIT's leading entrepreneurial interdisciplinary research organization. $3.5 million of Rodgers' $5 million gift derives from the payment received by Rodgers under the Cooperation and Settlement Agreement reached with the Cypress Board of Directors following the election by Cypress shareholders of Rodgers' two nominees to the Cypress Board on June 20, 2017. Rodgers said, "The Research Laboratory in Electronics (RLE) at MIT is a hallowed institution that invented 10-centimeter radar as part of our World War II effort. It is a cross-functional laboratory that applies electronics to fields of science, including quantum computation, biomedical science, atomic physics, photonic materials and energy. I am proud to help MIT redesign and enhance the RLE laboratory with advanced equipment. I strongly believe this laboratory will change our lives." MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Marc Baldo said, "It is a great privilege and responsibility to serve as Director for the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics. We are proud of our origins in the RadLab and proud of our continuing tradition of creatively tackling important problems. Dr. Rodgers' gift will prepare us for the next frontiers. Thi new facility within RLE will demand that we excel, and we are very grateful for the opportunities this new facility will create for generations to come."



MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Steven Leeb said, "America's research universities are our society's gift to itself, the fertile fields that help provide technology to enhance human abilities and enrich all our lives. We are incredibly fortunate to live in a nation that has thrived not only through collective courage, craft and commitment, but also through intellect and invention. Dr. Rodgers' has spent his life as a leader and innovator creating value in and through technology, and making opportunity available for others. I am beside myself with gratitude in recognizing his genius, his generosity, and his grace in repeatedly opening doors for the next generations. This gift will create a new proving ground for our faculty and students and thereby bring new technical miracles to fruition." About T.J. Rodgers

T.J. Rodgers was the founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in 1982 and served as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer until April 2016. He is a former chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and SunPower Corp. and currently sits on the boards of directors of high-technology companies, including Bloom Energy (fuel cells), Enphase (solar energy electronics), WaterBit (precision agriculture), Enovix (silicon lithium-ion batteries), FTC (utility-scale solar power plants) and NexGen Power Systems (gallium nitride power transistors). He has been honored for his foundational support over a 20-year period of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and the California Association of African American Educators. Rodgers received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, graduating as salutatorian with majors in chemistry and physics. He received his master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he invented the VMOS technology, which was licensed by American Microsystems, Inc. About RLE Founded in 1946 as the MIT Radiation Laboratory (RadLab), RLE has played a pivotal role both operationally (during wartime) and in basic research (during peacetime) on multiple fronts on physical electronics, including microwave physics, cathodes, electronic emission, and gaseous conduction. In recent years, RLE researchers have earned the Nobel prize and have been awarded the National Medal of Science. Recent research has included noted advances in ultracold atoms, condensates, haptic signaling, optical coherence tomography for medical imaging, and organic and inorganic nanostructures. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tj-rodgers-funds-mit-research-laboratory-in-electronics-300533905.html SOURCE T.J. Rodgers

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By PTI: Itanagar, Oct 10 (PTI) Suspected militants attacked a Company Operating Base (COB) of the Army at Niausa in Arunachal Pradesh early today, an Army official said.

No casualty or damage to property was reported in the attack, which police sources said was likely to have been carried out by NSCN(K) insurgents.

A group of men fired 5-10 rounds from "ineffective" small firearms and lobbed a Lathode grenade at the COB at Niausa in Longding district at around 1.15 AM, Kohima based Defence spokesman Col Chiranjeet Konwer told PTI.

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The sentries retaliated and the attackers fled, Konwer said.

"There was no human casualty or damage to properties of the COB. The retaliatory fire had to be controlled keeping in mind the safety of the villagers in the vicinity," the spokesman said.

Operations are being launched against the attackers, he said.

Police sources from Longding said the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), which is active in the district, was behind the attack. PTI UPL NN BDS NN DV

--- ENDS ---
[October 10, 2017] Thales selects Canada as new global hub to boost artificial intelligence expertise

MONTREAL, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Thales announced the creation of the Centre of Research and Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx). Led by Thales, cortAIx, in collaboration with the MILA (Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms), the IVADO (Institute of Data Valorization) and the Vector Institute of Toronto, will be located in Montreal, one of the world's leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystems. This investment supports Thales' global strategy of technology leadership. This new centre supports the creation of approximately 50 new world-class jobs of AI researchers and developers. Their mission will be to advance the safe and ethical applications of artificial intelligence across Thales' vast product portfolio. cortAIx will focus on creating solutions to help airlines, satellite operators, air traffic controllers, mainline and light rail operators, armed forces and critical infrastructure managers, make the best decisions in decisive moments  from the bottom of oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace. "With Thales' leadership and the support of our partners, we will leverage Montreal's unique ecosystem of world class talent and creativity to advance the applications of ethical artificial intelligence world-wide." - Patrice Caine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thales cortAIx supports Thales' goal of being a world leader in AI while delivering future economic benefits to Canada. Leveraging the combined expertise of MILA, IVADO and the rich ecosystem of AI universities and laboratories, make Montreal an Canada the perfect place to develop cortAIx.



The biggest challenge faced by AI experts today is to perfect the understanding of the mechanisms behind AI developments, while simultaneously evaluating human behaviors as people interact with these new systems. The key mission of Thales' cortAIx is to build "AI inside" solutions that are safe and ethical while granting full authority to the human decision makers. Building on Thales' recent acquisition of Guavus earlier this year and Vormetric last year, the creation of cortAIx is yet another example of how Thales is strengthening its positioning in one of the key technologies at the heart of global digital transformation.

In the last three years, Thales has invested over 1 billion in key digital technologies and recently announced the launch of its high-tech Digital Factory in Paris. This activity brings together leading technology experts who support the injection of big data and artificial intelligence into Thales solutions, while also ensuring data security  a fundamental requirement of the modern digital economy. Key Points The creation of cortAIx is another building block of our digital strategy, one of the key initiatives for company-wide growth

Investment of 50 new world class experts in AI who will work together to strengthen the use of artificial intelligence in Thales products

With the support of our partners, we will empower our customers with better decision making capabilities About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 64,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 14.9 billion in 2016. With over 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world. About Thales in Canada

Thales employs 1,800 highly-skilled employees in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver working in Defence & Security, Avionics and Transportation. Thales in Canada has annual revenues of over $500 million, with customers in urban rail, civil aviation, defence and security. About Montreal International (www.montrealinternational.com)

Established in 1996, Montreal International is a non-profit organization funded by the private sector, the governments of Canada and Quebec, the Communaute metropolitaine de Montreal and the City of Montreal. Its mission is to attract foreign investment, international organizations and skilled talent to Greater Montreal by providing assistance services tailored to their needs. SOURCE Montreal International

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[October 10, 2017] UPDATE - eMARINE Global Awarded Third Stage of National Anti-Disaster Information System Contract from Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eMARINE Global, Inc. (OTC:EMRN), a leading provider of information and communications technology for the maritime industry, is pleased to announce Koreas Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries awarded the Company a contract to develop a technology solution that predicts red tide, a condition that can produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds.

The contract is the third stage of development of Koreas National Anti-Disaster Information System. eMARINE participated in the two previous stages and believes this contract ideally positions the Company to be awarded the next stage of development in 2018, an estimated $1.5 million project. This contract further demonstrates our unique position as a respected leader in the maritime industry in Korea, stated Ung Gyu Kim, Chairman and CEO of eMARINE Global. Under this same program, we previously developed and implemented a passenger ship remote monitoring system n 2015 and a typhoon tracking system in 2016. As with prior technologies, we believe we will be able to brand the Red-Tide Prediction System for public and commercial markets after successfully completing this stage of the project, paving the way for additional revenues.



Using IoT and big data technology, the Red-Tide System analyzes weather data gathered via smart sensors and real-time mobile inputs to predict the most accurate red tide information and broadcasting the information to all concerned parties. The development of the Red-Tide Prediction System is expected to generate $750,000 in revenue for eMARINE.

About eMARINE Global, Inc. eMARINE is a provider of information and communications technology in the maritime industry. Specifically, eMARINE provides solutions for collection, integration and display of maritime information abroad and ashore by electronic means to enhance berth to berth navigation and related services. These solutions provide the most efficient means to secure the safety of life at sea and to protect the marine environment. All products and services are offered through subscription, installation, updates and/or maintenance contracts. Forward-Looking Statements Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise include the words believe, anticipate, estimate, expect, intend, plan, project, prospects, outlook, and similar words or expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as will, should, would, may, and could are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated results, performance, or achievements. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, a future event, or otherwise. Contact: Dave Gentry

RedChip Companies

407-644-4256, ext. 104

[email protected]

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[October 10, 2017] Mouser Electronics and Grant Imahara Present Final Video of Shaping Smarter Cities Series

Mouser Electronics Inc., a leading global distributor of electronic components, along with celebrity engineer Grant Imahara today released the fifth and final video in the Shaping Smarter Cities series, part of Mouser's award-winning Empowering Innovation Together program. To watch the video, go to https://youtu.be/vDCANm593b0. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006325/en/ In the final video from Mouser Electronics' Shaping Smarter Cities project, celebrity engineer Grant Imahara returns to WIRED Brand Lab to talk about what he's seen and learned after traveling the world to see how technology is shaping smarter cities. To learn more, visit www.mouser.com/empowering-innovation. (Photo: Business Wire) The engaging Shaping Smarter Cities series follows Imahara as he visits engineers on three different continents, exploring the technologies they use to solve pressing problems in their respective cities and understanding how communities worldwide could adopt them. "Though humanity faces some monumental challenges, after seeing these technologies, I'm confident that we can eventually solve these problems and move forward. Worldwide access to electronic parts has truly opened up the opportunity for innovation for engineers of all levels. It's an incredible time to be alive," said Imahara. "The Shaping Smarter Cities series has highlighted inspiring technologies that we can use to solve problems in communities around the world," said Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics. "Small-scale innovation - like we see in these videos - will be the key to tackling large-scale challenges in our dynamic cities." The final ideo of the series looks back at the innovations presented in three previous videos. In Porto, Portugal, Mouser and Imahara documented how buses and city vehicles with connected access points and sensors are forming a mesh network that provides free Wi-Fi and massive amounts of data to help the city run more efficiently with far less street congestion.



In Tokyo, Imahara met with engineers who revolutionized vertical urban farming, devising a system that feeds millions of people using 99 percent less water than traditional farming - a feat that could transform how cities around the world solve fresh water shortages. And in Los Angeles, Imahara learned how implementing augmented reality (AR) technology can make construction projects smarter, increasing workplace safety, enabling more stable structures, and increases overall efficiency.

The Shaping Smarter Cities series is supported by Mouser's valued suppliers Analog Devices, Intel, Microchip Technology and Molex. The series features the latest products from leading suppliers plus exclusive videos, articles, blog posts, and e-books related to the cutting-edge technologies used to create the cities of the future. The Empowering Innovation Together program has been one of the most visible and recognized marketing programs in the electronic component industry, featuring projects ranging from bringing superhero technology to life to 3D printing a semi-autonomous car with drone technology. The focus of this year's program is about solving tough problems that impact humanity as a whole. Visit http://www.mouser.com/empowering-innovation/ for more information. About Mouser Electronics Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor, focused on the rapid introduction of new products and technologies to electronic design engineers and buyers. Mouser.com features more than 4 million products online from more than 600 manufacturers. Mouser publishes multiple catalogs per year providing designers with up-to-date data on the components now available for the next generation of electronic devices. Mouser ships globally to over 550,000 customers in 170 countries from its 750,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.mouser.com. About Grant Imahara Well known in the engineering community, Grant Imahara has paired his engineering expertise with a Hollywood TV and film career. In addition to his roles on MythBusters and BattleBots, Imahara is the inventor behind many famous robotic characters, including the Star Wars prequel-era R2-D2, talking robot sidekick Geoff Peterson from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and the rhythmic arms on the modern-day Energizer (News - Alert) Bunny. Trademarks Mouser and Mouser Electronics are registered trademarks of Mouser Electronics, Inc. All other products, logos, and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Intel (News - Alert) is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006325/en/

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[October 10, 2017] WorkWave Named One Of New Jersey's 2017 Fast 50

HOLMDEL, N.J., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkWave, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for the field service, last-mile delivery and logistics industries, announced today that it has been named one of New Jersey's 2017 Fast 50 by NJBIZ for the second consecutive year. The NJBIZ Fast 50 celebrates New Jersey's most dynamic businesses who progressively contribute to the success of the state's economic growth and stability. WorkWave has seen accelerated growth over the past 3 years in both revenue and employee count. In May, the company relocated its headquarters to Bell Works in Holmdel, N.J., to accommodate its growing team. "WorkWave is honored to be named one of NJBIZ's Fast 50 for the second year in a row," said Chris Sullens, CEO of WorkWave. "I believe WorkWave's steady and consistent growth over the past few years is a direct result of us investing in our people, products and processes to better serve our customers. We look forward to helping field service and last-mile delivery and logistics companies transform the way they operate through our market-leading software solutions and services." The top 50 companies rankings will be revealed during an awards ceremony on Tuesday, November 14 at The Palace at Somerset. To learn more about WorkWave, visit workwave.com. About WorkWave

WorkWave is dedicated to simplifying the complexity of running field service and other fleet-based businesses, large or small - a $45+ billion market worldwide. The company's suite of solutions, which include PestPac, WorkWave Service, ServiceCEO, WorkWave Route Manager, WorkWave GPS, GPS Heroes and ContactUs, allow WorkWave clients to easily attribute and automate sales and marketing activities, improve their back office efficiency and increase their visibility into field operations through a single, easy to use interface. WorkWave's platform provides its 8,000+ clients an unprecedented level of business insight and information, enabling them to increase efficiency, increase revenue and provide a 5-Star customer experience. Founded in 1984, WorkWave has been recognized with multiple awards for its outstanding growth and culture, including the Inc. 5000, SaaS Award, and Best Place to Work by NJBiz & Inc. Magazine. For more information, visitwww.workwave.com. About NJBIZ

NJBIZ, New Jersey's leading business journal, produces a weekly print edition with a circulation of more than 15,000 copies, as well as providing 24/7 business news coverage through its NJBIZ.com website and multiple daily e-newsletters. The publication, founded in 1987 and based in Somerset section of Franklin Lakes, is also well-known throughout the state for its events honoring New Jersey's top business professionals.







Contact Danielle Panichi Email [email protected] Phone 800-792-6067 Website https://www.workwave.com

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workwave-named-one-of-new-jerseys-2017-fast-50-300534012.html SOURCE WorkWave

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[October 10, 2017] Physicians' Education Resource Announces the Miami Breast Cancer Conference: Attendee Tumor Board

Physicians' Education Resource (PER), the leading resource for oncology and hematology continuing medical education (CME), will host the Miami Breast Cancer Conference: Attendee Tumor Board at 2 p.m., Oct. 27, announced Phil Talamo, president, PER. "As one of the largest and most impactful breast cancer meetings in the world, we are excited for this new educational opportunity for our loyal attendees. They will be able to log in and present their own cases in real time and they will hear the experts discuss and provide their perspectives in a virtual video environment," said Talamo. Miami Breast Cancer Conference: Attendee Tumor Board webcast, is an educational extension to the annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, which will discuss the latest in breast cancer research, controversies and other breakthroughs. The webcast is designed to provide medical professionals the newest information on clinical trials, novel agents and evolving treatment strategies, and emerging data. The livestream will feature the following expert faculty from renowned health care institutions: Patrick I. Borgen, M.D., chair, department of surgery, Maimonides Medical Center

chair, department of surgery, Maimonides Medical Center Elizabth A. Mittendorf, M.D., Ph.D. , associate professor, department of breast surgical oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

, associate professor, department of breast surgical oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Debu Tripathy, M.D., professor and chair department of breast medical oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center



Gotoper.com/go/mbcc18atb About PER:

Since 1995, PER has been the leading provider of live, online and print CME activities focusing on oncology and hematology by providing high-quality, evidence-based activities featuring leading experts who focus on the application of practice-changing advances. In 2017, PER will develop and implement 21 historic annual legacy conferences in the Unites States and Europe, along with many world-renowned online learning formats. PER is also the publisher of the monthly peer-reviewed American Journal of Hematology/Oncology, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and California Board of Registered Nurses. PER, and is part of the Cranbury, New Jersey-based Michael J. Hennessy Associates, Inc. family of businesses. Learn more at http://www.gotoper.com and http://www.mjhassoc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006260/en/

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[October 10, 2017] Love's Travel Stops Donates More Than $20 Million to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals in 18-Year History

Love's Travel Stops (Love's) store Employees and Customers raised more than $2.76 million for sick and injured children through its five-week store campaign to raise funds for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and promotion of National Coffee Day. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit during Love's 18th annual campaign, forcing several locations in Texas and Florida to temporarily close. Despite the challenge, Love's Employees surpassed their goal of raising $2.6 million and set a company record for the most money raised during the in-store campaign. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006468/en/ Employees at Love's 677 in West Point, Mississippi, pose with CMN Hospitals Miracle Balloons. (Photo: Business Wire) "Every year, our Employees show passion for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, and this year they also demonstrated perseverance," said Jenny Love Meyer, vice president of communications for Love's. "Other locations stepped up their fundraising efforts so we could still make a difference for kids while Employees in storm-affected areas focused on recovery efforts. We're thankful for the Customers who support this cause every year, and really proud of ur Employees who endured through the challenges."



From Aug. 26-Sept. 30, Love's team members sold Miracle Balloon icons for donations and organized events like 5K runs, bowling tournaments, fishing tournaments, cookouts, and more. Love's showed additional support for CMN Hospitals on National Coffee Day, which took place Sept. 29 during the store campaign. To honor the day, all 24-ounce coffees and cappuccinos were discounted to $1, with all sales going to CMN Hospitals. "We're so grateful that Love's Travel Stops' Employees and Customers helped smash this year's campaign fundraising goals," said John Lauck, president and CEO of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. "The generosity and dedication that everyone has shown to help their local communities and save kids' lives is tremendous. Thank you for helping Children's Miracle Network Hospitals across the country by funding vital treatments, research, equipment and charity care each year."

Of the 170 CMN Hospitals members throughout North America, 101 benefit from Love's annual campaign. Since beginning its partnership with CMN Hospitals in 1999, Love's has raised more than $20 million for the nonprofit organization. About Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Founded in 1964, Love's has more than 430 locations in 41 states. Love's provides professional truck drivers and motorists with 24-hour access to clean and safe places to purchase gasoline, diesel fuel, travel items, electronics, snacks and more, as well as a selection of restaurant offerings. On-site Love's Truck Tire Care centers offer roadside assistance, tire care and light mechanical services for professional truck drivers. Showers, CAT scales and other services for professional truck drivers are also available. Love's, which remains family-owned and operated, employs more than 17,000 people. To learn more, visit www.loves.com. About Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Children's Miracle Network Hospitals raises funds and awareness for 170 member hospitals that provide 32 million treatments each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada. Donations stay local to fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment and charitable care. Since 1983, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity's Miracle Balloon icon. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit's mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible. Find out why children's hospitals need community support, identify your member hospital and learn how you can Put Your Money Where the Miracles Are, at http://CMNHospitals.org and facebook.com/CMNHospitals. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006468/en/

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Skillsoft Delivers 262% ROI for General Motors

The multinational American corporation, General Motors (News - Alert) (GM), achieved 262% ROI addressing the need for more sophisticated training tools. The company selected Skillsoft's solution that delivered a standardized process providing employees with the ability to maintain skillsets while receiving ongoing certifications.

Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, GM manufactures, markets and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts worldwide. The company sought to create a more efficient e-learning program and reduce the redundancies of its various legacy solutions to address the needs of a global workforce. Four primary technical areas were identified in need of extensive certification resources and to support corporate objectives with better ROI including finance, IT, Six Sigma and project management.

"The scope and breadth of GM's business enterprise requires a skilled labor pool and an improvement in ongoing finance and time costs associated with physical learning materials and training time spent away from the workplace, including books and travel expenses. Skillsoft built a learning moel that efficiently spans all technical business lines across all business units," said Barbara Peck, analyst at Nucleus Research.







Automating processes with improved employee access means that not only are career advancement goals and certifications achieved more effectively, but personal development within the company has also improved. This deployment from Skillsoft has provided GM with better cost savings, improved IT, project management and finance manager productivity. As a sub-set of IT productivity, performance improvements within the company's specialized Six Sigma data analysis certification program has driven faster, more precise decision making across the organization.

Nucleus Research quantified the initial and ongoing costs of software subscription fees, personnel time to implement and support the application, employee training time and consulting over a three-year period to calculate GM's total investment in Skillsoft.

See the full report at: https://nucleusresearch.com/research/single/skillsoft-roi-case-study-general-motors/

About Nucleus Research

Nucleus Research is a global provider of investigative, case-based technology research and advisory services. We deliver the numbers that drive business decisions. For more information, visit NucleusResearch.com or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @NucleusResearch.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006492/en/
[October 10, 2017] Parsons Acquires Williams Electric Company

Parsons (News - Alert) today announced the acquisition of Williams Electric Company, a privately owned, value-added company specializing in control system integration, electrical and general contracting, and energy infrastructure solutions. Williams Electric is headquartered in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, with company offices in Virginia and Maryland and employees located at more than 100 customer sites in the United States and abroad. The company's customers include numerous Department of Defense organizations and a wide range of other U.S. government agencies and organizations. "This acquisition should be viewed as the latest investment within Parsons' strategy to grow our leadership position in protecting critical infrastructure assets from threats targeting connected operational technologies, including control systems," said Chuck Harrington, Parsons Chairman and CEO. "Operational technology (OT) is the new IT in terms of where cyber threats are accessing the connected enterprise. Our strategy is simple-integrate our growing control system leadership with Parsons' unmatched cyber capabilities to fulfill our promise of unique, converged OT protection for critical infrastructure assets." Williams Electric and Parsons share several significant customer relationships within the U.S. government, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as numerous classified customer engagements. Parsons is projecting significant U.S. and international growth of its control system business following the Williams Electric acquisition. "Parsons' existing contractual relationships with numerous customers within the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Veterans Affairs and elsewhere are ideal environments for our now expanded control system offering," said Carey Smith, President of Parsons' Federal business unit. "And, certainly in regions such as the Middle East where Parsons has been a tier-one player for decades, Williams Electric will bring new opportunities on both sides of the acquisition." Within the broader OT sector, the control system market alone is a $50 billion market and projected to have a compound annual growth rate of more than 10% in the next 5 years. orward-leaning initiatives such as "smart cities," next-generation automation of manufacturing, and government-mandated cyber standards for critical infrastructure assets will all rely on innovative control system technologies.



"Parsons intends to become the name synonymous with fully converged protection of control systems," said Smith. "Connectivity and the Internet of Things are both necessary and the origin of the evolving threat to critical infrastructure. At the control system level, whether it's a networked surveillance or smart HVAC system, we intend to stay ahead of the threat curve." "Joining forces with Parsons was the right strategic move for both companies," said Dan Rucker, President of Williams Electric Company. "The market for converged critical infrastructure protection technology is evolving quickly, and the integration of our two companies creates a single-source end-to-end solutions provider for integrated physical and cyber protection solutions."

For more information, visit https://www.parsons.com/2017/10/parsons-acquires-williams-electric-company. Parsons is a technology-driven engineering services firm with more than 70 years of experience in the engineering, construction, technical, and professional services industries. The corporation is a leader in many diversified markets with a focus on infrastructure, defense, security, and construction. Parsons delivers design/design-build, program/construction management, systems design/engineering, cyber/converged security, and other professional services packaged in innovative alternative delivery methods to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers worldwide. For more about Parsons, please visit www.parsons.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006656/en/

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[October 10, 2017] Clarocity Corporation Announces Addition of Tom Signorello to Board of Directors

TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Clarocity Corporation (TSXV: CLY OTC: CLRYF) (the "Company" or "Clarocity") is pleased to announce that Tom Signorello has joined the Company's Board of Directors. "We are very happy to add Tom to an already strong Board of Directors," said Shane Copeland, CEO of Clarocity. "His extensive experience in the U.S. Financial Services industry as well as his deep background in enterprise level software deals will be extremely helpful to Clarocity as we accelerate our growth in platform sales and associated technology revenue. His input will be extremely helpful." As a 23-year tech veteran, Tom has a strong track record of creating profitable revenue streams across multiple industry sectors and developing sustainable efficiency to accelerate business objectives. As CEO of Arcserve, a provider of data protection, replication and recovery solutions for enterprises and small to medium businesses, Tom establishes the company's global strategy and is responsible for driving value to achieve worldwide sales goals and setting the strategic direction of its portfolio of solutions. Prior to joining Arcserve in 2017, Tom served as Chief Executive Officer at OnX, a global solutions and services provider, where he dramatically improved both top line and EBITA by integrating people, processes and tools to form a revolutionary digital experience with a business acumen that helped clients capture new opportunities, overcome obstacles and achieve exeptional business outcomes. During his tenure, he led the sales process of the company to strategic buyer, Cincinnati Bell.



About Clarocity Corporation Clarocity Corporation provides real estate valuation solutions and platform technologies designed to address today's dynamic housing market. Our innovative platform is driving the next-generation of valuation solutions such as MarketValue Pro (MVP) and BPOMerge and setting new standards in real estate valuation quality and reliability.

Every day GSE, banking, and investor clients rely on our proprietary solutions to value assets, fund loans, and securitize portfolios. As a fully integrated technology and valuation services company, Clarocity provides a full spectrum of appraisal and alternative valuation solutions. For more information, visit www.clarocity.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements which may include financial and business prospects, as well as statements regarding the Company's future plans, objectives or economic performance and financial outlooks. Such statements are subject to risk factors associated with the real estate industry, the overall economy in both Canada and the United States. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in this news release are reasonable but actual results may be affected by a variety of variables and may be materially different from the results or events predicted in the forward-looking statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. In evaluating forward-looking statements readers should consider the risk factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not intend nor does it undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities of the Company will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. SOURCE Clarocity Corporation

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Former Bihar Congress president, Ashok Choudhary has blamed CP Joshi for hatching a conspiracy along with Akhilesh Prasad Singh to make latter the new Bihar Congress President.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Former Bihar Pradesh Congress President, Ashok Choudhary, who was unceremoniously removed from his post after his term came to an end recently, has lashed out at senior Congress leader and incharge of Bihar Congress, Dr. C.P Joshi for the present crisis within the party.

Choudhary blamed Joshi for hatching a conspiracy along with Akhilesh Prasad Singh to make latter the new Bihar Congress President.

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"Dr C.P Joshi is behind the present crisis in the state Congress and he wants that his nominee Akhilesh Prasad Singh should become the next state President",

Slamming Dr Joshi at a press conference held in Patna today, Ashok Choudhary claimed that the senior Congress leader was trying to throw him out of the party for the last 8 months in order to make Akhilesh Prasad Singh the next President.

Chowdhary also blamed Akhilesh Prasad Singh, formerly with RJD, asserting that Singh, when he was with RJD, abused the Congress and now he was trying to teach people who are originally from the grand old party, the culture and values of Congress.

"These people have always abused the Congress when they were in the other party and now they want to teach us the culture and values of the party", said , Ashok Choudhary, former State President of Congress.

Dismissing any probability of him leaving the Congress and joining the JDU, Choudhary said that he would continue to remain within the party for now and fight the forces who were trying to hijack the party in Bihar.

He also said that he has apprised Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi of the factional fight that erupted at the Congress office in Patna yesterday and said that he would soon meet him to discuss the issue.

There were 4 MLCs and 2 MLAs present in Choudhary's support at the press conference todat, though Choudhary claimed that he has support of more MLAs and MLCs from his party.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) 18 Bahraini artists have cajoled their creative insides to give way to 40 exquisite art works that are manifestations of not the obvious but of what often remains "unsaid".

Curated by Indian artist Alka Raghuvanshi, the works are on display at a new exhibition themed, "The Unsaid", as part of the debut show of Art Bahrain Across Borders artist program in India.

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The paintings and sculptures at the show, underway at Bikaner House here, showcases what is left unsaid and the significant space it occupies in the creative context.

"For artists, landscapes are not mere visual manifestations of a geographical mass but spaces for the creative impulse to blossom more by way of mindscapes that change, remain, expand in the mind.

"In this context what is left unsaid too is of a great deal of import for it engulfs within its space, the sub text of their creative context. This exhibition, The Unsaid, too says more by way of not saying it and yet saying it so beautifully and lyrically," Raghuvanshi said.

ArtBABs artist program, launched in May 2016 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, has been brought to India in association with Rouble Nagi Art Foundation.

The show is going to travel to Mumbai next, and is scheduled to be held between November 30 and December 2.

The participating artists at the exhibition, which opened here yesterday, include Ayman Jaffar, Balqees Fakhro, Dawiya Al Alawiat, Faika Al Hasan, Hamed Al Bosta, Jamal Abdulrahim, Karina El Zu?bi, Lulwa Al Khalifa, Mariam Fakhro, Maryam Nass, Mohammed Taha, Nabeela Al Khayer, Omar Al Rashid, Seema Baqi, Somaya Abdulghani, Taiba Faraj, Zakeya Zada and Mayasa Al Sowaidi.

"We are extremely delighted at this opportunity to showcase Bahraini artworks in New Delhi. India has a long and rich history of art and culture.

"This cultural/artistic interaction will surely have a positive impact not only on the artists that are showcasing but also on the larger art scene in the region," Shaikha Maram Bint Isa Al Khalifa, the director of the office of Her Royal Highness Wife of the King of Bahrain, said.

The exhibition will continue till October 11. PTI TRS TRS

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Our blog community was theto put this musically talented hottie on blast for the news crowd and since that time she made quite an impression on one of those lame TV singing competitions.Casi Joy is back playing smaller venues nowadays but still singing her heart out for her growing number of fans and followers.For our late night local denizens, we found a clip that would've been otherwise noticed that offers a really great interview with this young Kansas City metro rising star . . .There are enough people trolling young women online already . . . And she's already accomplished more with her career than most local politicos could ever hope.Instead, enjoy the tunes and realize the immense hope, faith, talent and work it must take to make a ripple on the American music scene by way of KCMO.Hopefully, more for the morning update . . .
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Police Department needs your help solving a murder. It's been nearly four months since 26-year-old Craig Barksdale was shot to death at a convenience store at 80th and Troost, and now investigators say unless someone steps forward with information, this cold case could go cold.
The political life hasn't been easy on Jackson County Legislative Chair Crystal Williams.Her bid for Missouri Senate was destroyed because she spent more time campaigning against TKC than her opponent. (Lulz)Her participation in divisive Kansas City lady politics was decimated by Prez Trump as the KC Women's Political coven comprised mostly of her acolytes seem to only be effective at wearing vagina hats and crafting funny signs.Meanwhile, she has some culpability in the current Jackson County crisis at the jail and the ongoing feud at the Courthouse.Even worse, Insiders tell us that she WILL face a challenger and even Exec Frank White might want to help dethrone her given that she has joined a legislative alliance against him.And, of course, she's not good at this whole Internets thing as some of the best and brightest of our blog community offer a chuckle at her two competing websites for reelection.To be fair . . .Just like Hillary Clinton, this Legislator seems to find peace in the woods. And a recently shared stream shot (ewwwwww) offers a moment of Zen or more evidence that politicos also lurk barefoot in the woods in order to attain a better perspective . . . Just like Sasquatch.You decide . . .
Greece's balance of travel services rose by 8.5 percent over the January-June 2017 period, compared to the corresponding months of 2016, according to the following figures released on Tuesday by the Bank of Greece (BoG):

Balance of travel services

Based on final data, the balance of travel services in January-June 2017 posted a surplus of 3,147 million, up 8.5% from a surplus of 2,901 million in January-June 2016. This development is attributed primarily to an increase of 236 million or 6.2% in travel receipts and, to a lesser extent, to a decrease of 10 million or 1.1% in travel payments. The rise in travel receipts in January-June 2017 over the same period of 2016 was driven by an increase in average expenditure per trip by about 25 or 5.3% (January-June 2017: 476, January-June 2016: 451), as well as by a 0.8% rise in the number of non-resident inbound visitors.

Specifically, expenditure per overnight stay increased slightly (by 0.8%) to 68, while the average length of stay remained virtually unchanged year-on-year at 7 nights. The number of overnight stays increased by 5.3% to 59,859 thousand in January-June 2017, from 56,868 thousand in January-June 2016.

Travel receipts

In January-June 2017, travel receipts totalled 4,077 million, up 6.2% relative to the same period of 2016. This development was driven by a 6.7% increase in receipts from residents of the EU28, which came to 2,654 million or 65.1% of total travel receipts, and by a rise in receipts from residents outside the EU28 (up 7.2% to 1,276 million).

In particular, receipts from euro area residents increased by 10.6% year-on-year to 1,640 million, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries rose by 1.0% to 1,014 million.

Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 12.7% to 672 million, as did receipts from France, by 4.5% to 247 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased, by 9.7% to 661 million. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia rose by 17.8% to 129 million, while receipts from the United States also increased, by 1.9% to 273 million.

Travel receipts by trip purpose

Looking at the breakdown of non-resident expenditure in Greece by trip purpose, trips for personal reasons represented the bulk of receipts in January-June 2017, with a share of 92.0% in total expenditure, up from 90.6% in the same period of 2016, as the corresponding receipts increased by 7.8%. Within this category, leisure accounted for the largest share of total expenditure (January-June 2017: 80.7%, January-June 2016: 79.0%), with the corresponding receipts increasing by 8.4% to 3,291 million. Trips for the purpose of visiting family accounted for 5.8% (or 238 million). Receipts from trips for health purposes rose by 96.8% to 24 million. Finally, receipts from business trips dropped by 9.6%, lowering their share in total receipts (January-June 2017: 8.0%, January-June 2016: 9.4%).

Inbound traveller flows

As already mentioned, the number of inbound visitors in January-June 2017, increased by 0.8% to 8,574 thousand, from 8,508 thousand in January-June 2016. This development is attributed to an increase, by 494 thousand or 6.6%, in the number of inbound visitors excluding cruise passengers, which was largely offset by a drop in the number of cruise passengers (down 428 thousand or 40.3%). Specifically, visitor flows through airports increased by 11.3%, while visitor flows through road border-crossing points declined by 4.1%. Visitors from within the EU28 accounted for 62.2% of the total number of visitors and visitors from outside the EU28 for 30.4% (1). In January-June 2017, visitors from the EU28 increased by 7.9% relative to the same period of 2016. This development is attributed to an increase in the number of visitors from euro area countries by 18.5% to 2,864 thousand, as visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries decreased by 2.3% to 2,467 thousand. The number of visitors from non-EU28 countries rose by 4.2% to 2,609 thousand.

In particular, visitors from Germany increased by 18.0% to 1,048 thousand, as did visitors from France, by 12.3% to 413 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom also increased, by 3.2% to 958 thousand. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia rose by 15.1% to 187 thousand, whereas the number of visitors from the United States fell by 2.3% to 298 thousand.

Overnight stays

In January-June 2017, the number of overnight stays in Greece totalled 59,859 thousand, up by 5.3% from 56,868 thousand in January-June 2016. This was driven by a 7.5% increase in nights spent by residents of non-EU28 countries, as well as by a 3.9% rise in nights spent by residents of the EU28. The increase in overnight stays by residents of the EU28 is attributed to a 9.2% increase in nights spent by residents of the euro area, as nights spent by residents of non-euro area EU28 countries fell by 3.8%. The number of overnight stays increased by 11.5% for German residents, by 3.8% for French residents and by 10.2% for UK residents. Turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of overnight stays by Russian residents increased by 0.5%, while those by US residents decreased by 0.3%.

Cruises

Since 2012, the Bank of Greece conducts a cruise-specific survey (Cruise Survey) in order to enrich the data collected through its Border Survey. Following a standardised methodology, detailed cruise data for the period January-June 2017 were collected from 16 Greek ports, covering 86.7% of all cruise ship arrivals.

The period under review saw 1,178 cruise ship arrivals (January-June 2016: 1,487) and 1,565 thousand cruise passenger visits (January-June 2016: 1,783 thousand). According to this survey, 90.1% of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of 2.3 stopovers at Greek ports of call (down from 1.6 stopovers in January-June 2016).

In January-June 2017, total receipts from cruise passengers fell by 7.9%, relative to the same period of 2016, to 163 million. Of this amount, 16 million were already captured in the Border Survey data, as they represent receipts from visitors leaving the country through Greek last ports, while the remaining 147 million concern additional receipts data recorded by the Cruise Survey. he fact that the decrease in cruise receipts was significantly lower than the drop in the number of cruise passenger visits is attributed to an increase in the number of cruise passengers with a Greek home port.

Chart 7 shows a breakdown of cruise receipts by port. The port of Piraeus ranks first with a share of 48.6% in total cruise receipts, followed by the port of Corfu with 14.4% and the port of Santorini with 7.7%. The seven most important cruise ship ports account for 91.4% of total cruise receipts and 87.1% of total cruise passenger visits.

Total overnight stays ashore increased year-on-year in the period under review by 24.1% to 1,692 thousand, while the total number of cruise visitors fell sharply (by 38.9%) to an estimated 667 thousand, with a negative impact on cruise receipts.

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 health sector is expected to change significantly in the next 18 months, the managing director of the Athens Medical Group Dr Vassilis Apostolopoulos noted in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) published on Monday.

"The health sector will significantly change. It is time for mergers and acquisitions and our group aspires to play a leading role in these changes. It hopes to become the Greek pole, as foreign investors are also expected to come to the country. Therefore, our group aims to expand and at the same time keep its Greek identity," he stressed.

Furthermore, Apostolopoulos announced the opening of a new medical centre, the group's fifth, in Bucharest in 2017. "It is a market that has faced many problems, like our country," he said, expressing hope that Greece is now at the end of that difficult period. However, he added, Romania has started to develop again and Athens Medical is one of the first foreign companies expanding in the country.

Asked on how the Athens Medical Group handled the crisis, he replied that extroversion was the key. "We have expanded in Greece; new departments were created in each of our hospitals. We offered new medical services while continuing to invest in equipment renewal and biomedical technology. We did not reduce our staff, but in absolute terms there was an increase of 3 pct compared to the beginning of the crisis. And all this effort, I think, was appreciated by Greek society."

Apostolopoulos underlined that the secret of the Group's success is that the 3,000 people who work there are like a big family and this feeling gives the so-called "extra mile".

Asked on how he sees the Greek economy after ten years, he noted: "I will you give an optimistic answer as an entrepreneur. I believe that all these efforts and sacrifices will bear fruit and I think that Greece deserves and can achieve a better future."

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Michael W. Pendergrass License: CC-BY-SA

Source: ANA-MPA
The minister said this in a press conference after a briefing, on Monday afternoon at the State Guest House Padma in Dhaka.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Referring to Bangladesh's diplomatic efforts, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said, Bangladesh will not for a war with Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Ali said, "Bangladesh will not choose the path of war to resolve the Rohingya crisis. Instead, we will ensure acceptable solutions to the crisis through bilateral, multilateral discussions and diplomatic efforts."

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The minister said this in a press conference after a briefing, on Monday afternoon at the State Guest House Padma in Dhaka.

Envoys of Australia, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Sweden, US, UK, Germany, Canada, India, The Netherlands, Vatican, Denmark, Spain, EU, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Switzerland, and Norway attended the briefing.

The Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh was present for the first time in the briefing. The information was released by foreign ministry's press release.

DHAKA SEEKS CONTINUED INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Bangladesh today urged foreign diplomats to continue their engagement in resolving the Rohingya issue peacefully as their forced and continued exodus to Bangladesh created a humanitarian crisis, while the atrocities at their home in Myanmar's Rakhine was still underway.

"Atrocities in the Rakhine state has stopped and Rohingyas are continuing to cross the border," Ali said during the briefing.

He said, according to the latest counting of the UN agencies, the number of forcibly displaced people who crossed into Bangladesh was 5,20,000 since August 25, with nearly 40,000 of them arriving in the past 10 days. Though, Myanmar has expressed its willingness to take them back.

ROHINGYA REPATRIATION: WAITING FOR MYANMAR'S RESPONSE

Abul Hassan Mahmood Al has told diplomats that, Myanmar Union Minister U Kyaw Tint Swe during his visit has expressed his government's willingness to take back the "displaced residents" of Myanmar and proposed to follow the principles and criteria agreed upon in the 1992 joint statement".

According to the foreign office statement, the minister said to diplomats that Myanmar proposed that principle and criteria agreed upon in a 1992 "Joint Statement" be followed for the return of Rohingyas but the current situation was "entirely different" from that of the 1992.

"Around half of the Muslim villages in the Northern Rakhine State have been burned down and is still going on. So, identification of Rohingyas based on their residence in Rakhine would not be practical," Al said.

Bangladesh, he said, therefore, proposed and handed over a new arrangement to the visiting minister outlining the principles and criteria for repatriation and now awaited Myanmar's response while both the sides by now at least agreed to form a joint working group in this regard.

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ENVOYS OF 5 COUNTRIES TO VISIT RAKHINE

Ali said, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, could go to Myanmar from October 20 to 30.

Also, the ambassadors of the remaining five countries beside Myanmar border will visit Rakhine State. The other four countries except Bangladesh are India, Thailand, China and Laos.

Also Watch : RSS chief Bhagwat on Rohingya: Humanitarian view at cost of one's security is not good

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The Dubai Maritime Cluster Office (DMCO) of the Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) has signed MoUs with Germanys Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland and Canadas Vancouver International Maritime Cluster as part of its efforts to develop more strategic partnerships with the world's leading maritime clusters.

These alliances support efforts of Dubai and the entire UAE to position itself as attractive destinations for regional and global shipowners, port operators and maritime investors, remarked Amer Ali, the executive director of DMCA after signing the deal with Stefan Beueros, the general manager of Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland; and Keith Stein, Director General of Vancouver International Maritime Cluster on the sidelines of the Dubai Maritime Agenda 2017 event.

The trio affirmed the importance of strengthening cooperation in areas advancing their common aspiration of driving the growth of the global maritime sector, stated Ali.

"We also agreed to mutually enrich knowledge and share our successful international experiences and best practices in maritime training, technological innovation and other important areas related to the components of the maritime cluster," he added.

The signing ceremony was attended by Hamad Buamim, the director general of Dubai Chamber, which played an active role in the communication between the Hamburg office and the DMCO, and other officials.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the chairman of the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation in Dubai and DMCA said: "We confidently look forward to the influence of these new partnerships on the development of an integrated framework and a clear roadmap for promoting investment opportunities available in the maritime clusters of Dubai, Hamburg and Vancouver."

"It will also enable maritime industry leaders to contribute more to exploring the future of a global maritime sector empowered by innovation and technology as key pillars for developing marine clusters in line with accelerating changes in the global maritime sector," he noted.

Ali pointed out that the international co-operation represents an advanced step towards attracting new investments with the potential to further increase the contributions of the maritime sector to the GDP of Dubai which currently stands at 7 per cent, equivalent to Dh26.9 billion ($7.32 billion).

"It will help create more jobs and drive the economic diversification of Dubai and the UAE on the path to achieving comprehensive and sustainable development," he added.

According to Ali, these new partnerships are very important as they come at a time when Dubai is taking proactive steps to become one of the worlds leading maritime capitals by 2020.

"The agreements will advance the DMCAs promotion of the strengths and competitiveness of the local maritime cluster, which is currently one of the most attractive and comprehensive in the world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
By PTI: Puducherry, Oct 10 (PTI) Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who have been at loggerheads over a host of issues, today launched separate anti-dengue campaigns on the outskirts of Puducherry.

Launching the campaign in Mudaliarpet, Bedi walked through the streets urging people to remove garbage and keep the environment clean.

A release from Raj Nivas said the former IPS officer appealed to residents to ensure that there was no room for mosquitoes to breed.

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She was accompanied by District Collector E Vallavan and other officials.

On the other hand, Narayanasamy launched the campaign in Nellithope to educate the people on the need to eradicate mosquitoes and protect themselves from the vector-borne disease.

He sprayed anti-mosquito repellent in some drains. He was accompanied by Puducherry`s Special representative in New Delhi A John Kumar.

The chief minister appealed to the people to keep their homes and environment clean.

Narayanasamy was elected from the Nellithope assembly constituency in the bypoll last year.

Bedi had recently expressed concern over increase in dengue cases in the Union Territory.

Narayanasamy had, however, said the dengue menace was under control and that anti-mosquito drive had been intensified at all levels and adequate supply of drugs and equipment were available. PTI COR BN RBS

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: A lot has already happened in the new season of Bigg Boss, from fights to friendships, in only one week the house has seen it all. However, the only thing that is missing from the show is the love quotient. And it looks like Bigg Boss 11 contestants Puneesh Sharma and Bandgi Kalra have taken it upon themselves to fill that gap in the show.

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Confused? Well, during last night's episode, the first two minutes of Bigg Boss saw Bandgi and Puneesh lightly flirting with each other. Puneesh was seen resting his head on Bandgi's lap as the two discussed each other's luck. Since Bandgi was nominated in the previous episode, Puneesh offered to save her by giving his share of luck to her. And he even confessed that if Bandgi left the show, he would have a tough time surviving in the house.

Later in the day, Puneesh was seen requesting contestants to save Bandgi from getting evicted. But both Akash and Arshi refused to vote for Bandgi; Arshi further said that she would not do a thing to save Puneesh's girl.

While both Puneesh and Bandgi escaped from getting nominated this week, it remains to be seen whether the two are actually falling for each other, or is it all a part of their strategy to become popular with the audience and save their necks from eviction.

--- ENDS ---
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 9

The Amritsar rural police have arrested a drug peddler and confiscated 255 gm of heroin from his possession. He was identified as Sarabjit Singh, son of Budh Singh of Daoke village near the India-Pakistan border.

He was arrested following the interrogation of Balkar Singh, who was one of the three persons nabbed by the police on October 3 for possessing over 500 gm of heroin.

Balkar Singh, SHO, Kamboh police station, said Sarabjit Singh was held on a tip-off provided by Balkar Singh that he procured drugs from him. The police immediately laid a naka near Wadala Bhitewid village and arrested the accused. His questioning led to the seizure of 255 gm of heroin, which he was yet to sell to his clients.

Sarabjit Singh told the police that as the police had increased vigil and there was an increase in the drug rates, he was finding it difficult to find buyers of contraband. Therefore, he was planning to sell it outside his area. He said he had earlier procured 100 gm of heroin from Balkar Singh, out of which he still had some contraband, which he had failed to sell.

Balkar Singh alias Toor along with Malkeet Singh alias Keetu and Malkeet Singh alias Meeta were arrested by the police on October 3 from the Gaunsabad area. Their two accomplices, Balbir Singh and Dilbagh Singh, both residents of Doake, had managed to escape and were missing since then. Balkar Singh was found in possession of 265 gm of heroin while Meeta had 255 gm of contraband.

Sarabjit Singh was produced in the court today which sent him to one-day police remand.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 9

A drug addict allegedly attacked an elderly man, Shamsher Singh (60), in the Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar area here today, leaving him badly injured. The victim was admitted to a private hospital with bone fractures in his arm and legs.

Amarjit Singh, his son, said they had lodged a complaint with the Sultanwind police station in this regard. Giving details, he alleged his father was coming out of the house after lunch when the assailant attacked him with an iron rod. He hit him on his legs and arms and later fled from the scene.

He said the accused nursed a grudge against his father who had got him admitted to a de-addiction and rehabilitation centre through his links. Shamsher Singh motivated the accuseds parents to get him admitted to the de-addiction centre a couple of months ago. He alleged that the accused fled from the centre and attacked his father.

Neeraj Kumar, SHO, Sultanwind police station, said he had received a complaint and he would get the matter investigated.
Texas, October 10

A three-year-old India-born girl has gone missing in the US state of Texas after her father told her to stand outside their home in the middle of the night as punishment for not drinking her milk, officials said.

Sherin Mathews was last seen by her father Wesley outside the family's backyard in the 900 block of Sunningdale, the Richardson Police Department wrote on Facebook.

The girl went missing around 3 a.m. on Saturday after her father told her to stand by a tree near an alley outside their home in Dallas as punishment for not finishing her milk, Sgt. Kevin Perlich told Chron.com on Monday morning.

When Wesley Mathews went to check on his daughter roughly 15 minutes later, she was gone. Mathews called the police to report about his missing daughter five hours later.

Perlich said that his response was "concerning", adding, "that does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child".

He was arrested on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child on Saturday and was released on bond on Sunday, Perlich said.

Mathews told investigators that coyotes had been seen in the alley, but investigators said there was no indication that one might have dragged the girl away.

Investigators confiscated three vehicles, cellphones and laptops from the family to aid the investigation. Sherin Mathews's older sister was placed in protective custody on Monday as the investigation continued, NBC News reported.

According to a police statement, Sherin suffered from developmental issues and had limited verbal communication skills. She was last seen wearing a pink top, black pyjama bottoms and pink flip flops. The Matthews family adopted the girl from an orphanage in India two years ago.

IANS
London, October 10

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced on Tuesday that he would visit India and Pakistan this year to promote the British capital as a destination of choice for trade and cultural ties.

Khan, whose grandparents were born in India and parents migrated from Pakistan to the UK, said he was very excited to become the first senior British politician in recent times to visit both the countries at the same time during the six-day, six-city tour planned before the end of this year.

As someone whose grandparents were born in India, and whose parents moved to London from Pakistan, I feel a deep affinity for the subcontinent, said Khan.

What excites me most about this trip is that I know it can deliver real benefits for Londoners. Benefits in terms of business and trade, jobs and investment, and in terms of cultural and technological exchange, he said.

While the complete itinerary of the visit is still being finalised, the mayor and his team will cover Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar as part of the India leg of the tour and Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.

The mayor described the visit as an important mission as there are many areas in which London can work with its counterparts across India and Pakistan, in business as well as tackling some of the biggest challenges such as air pollution and climate change on a city-to-city basis.

In London we are a beacon of tolerance, respect and diversity, which I will try my best to demonstrate, he said, when asked if he would intervene on the issue of tensions between India and Pakistan.

On Brexit, the senior Labour Party politician said that just because the UK has voted to leave the 28-member European Union (EU) does not mean that London is closed to talent from around the world.

I am passionate about showing that my city will always be open to engaging with partners from around the world. While the government cannot engage in trade talks until Brexit negotiations are ongoing, there is no reason why we cant work on closer relations with the rest of the world, he said.

Highlighting that India remains the third-largest international student market in London, Khan said that he is keen to give confidence to Indians that the city remains open to their talent.

World leaders like (Mahatma) Gandhi, (Jawaharlal) Nehru, (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah and (Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto have all studied in the UK.

My message will be that the underlying reasons have not changed and that I will continue to lobby the government on getting a good deal for London, he said, pointing out that the capital had not witnessed any lack of investment from India and Pakistan since the Brexit vote last year.  PTI
The Yuva Morcha had sent a legal notice to Guha asking him to apologise and withdraw his statement where he had alleged that the RSS and BJP had a role in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

By Rohini Swamy: Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha today filed a criminal complaint against historian Ramachandra Guha.

The Yuva Morcha had sent a legal notice to Guha asking him to apologise and withdraw his statement where he had alleged that the RSS and BJP had a role in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Guha had said that that the RSS was behind the recent killings of activists and journalists and he brazenly blamed the BJP government for creating an atmosphere of intolerance in the society.

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Since Guha did not reply to the legal notice, the youth wing has filed a complaint with the Malleswaram Police Station saying that criminal proceedings should be initiated against him.

This is what Guha had said soon after Gauri Lankesh's murder:

"It was likely that Gauri's murderers came from the same Sangh Parivar from which the murderers of Pansare, Dabholkar and Kalburgi came. The ruling dispensation in Delhi has created a climate of hate and intolerance."

After the BJP issued a legal notice, Guha took to the social Media and said "Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the answer to a book or article can only be another book or article. But we no longer live in Vajpayee's India."

"In India today, independent writers and journalists are harassed, persecuted, and even killed. But we shall not be silenced."

The Yuva Morcha has accused Guha of making baseless allegations against the party.

"We have begun criminal proceedings against Guha as he has not apologised and made unfounded accusations against us. We will ensure that an FIR is filed an he is taken to court," said Tejaswi Surya, spokesperson of the BJP and state president of Yuva Morcha.

--- ENDS ---
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10

Kurukshetra girl Jasleen Josan who became an Internet sensation after news reports about her being selected for Nasas Mars Mission in 2030 has on Facebook clarified that it isnt the case.

Union Minister Harsimrat Badal in a tweet on September 24 had congratulated Josan for becoming the first Indian Sikh woman to be selected by Nasa to go to Mars.

Jasleen Kaur Josan is the first Indian Sikh woman who has been selected by NASA to go to Mars./1 #WomenAchievers pic.twitter.com/DU8LVx9gwN  Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) September 24, 2017



Many people on social media congratulated Josan. The list included Delhi MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa and RPG Enterprises Harsh Goenka, who posted a congratulatory tweet on October 8.

Well done Jasleen Josan! She is the first Sikh woman to be a part of the two-way Mars mission by NASA which is set to happen in 2030. pic.twitter.com/SZ2XjPAn5k  Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) October 6, 2017

Jasleen Kaur Josan from Haryana has been chosen by NASA to go to the first man mission to Mars in 2030. #ProudIndian pic.twitter.com/GGH82SuDiL  Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) October 8, 2017

In a Facebook post on October 2, Josan wrote, I would like to help media to clarify this misunderstanding that has been showcased about me. I am still an Aspiring Astronaut; undergoing training yet to be called officially as Astronaut (sic).

She further said that Mars 2030 was a long way, almost 13 years, and no one could assure who would be going to Mars by then.

Yes, I am working on few of the Mars-related projects and I will be continuing my research in the same area as I want to be the first Indian Female Astronaut to go to Mars to perform my research there to colonise Mars for the future of human life, but it has nothing to do with selection procedure of Astronauts or my selection by NASA for Mars 2030 (sic), she wrote.
Sonepat, October 11

A court here on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to 75-year-old Abdul Karim Tunda in the 1996 Sonepat bomb blasts case.

The court of Additional District and Sessions judge Dr Sushil Kumar Garg pronounced life sentence to Tunda, a day after it found him guilty, Tunda's counsel Ashish Vats said.

Tunda will now be lodged in the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad as many cases are pending against him in other parts of the country as well, Vats said.

Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him, he said.

"Abdul Karim Tunda was yesterday held guilty under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act (punishment for causing explosion likely to endanger life or property)," he said.

While recording his statement in court in September this year, Tunda had maintained that he was in Pakistan at the time of the bomb blasts.

At least 15 persons were injured in twin blasts in Sonepat in December 1996. One of the blasts took place near a cinema hall and the other near a sweets shop.

The lawyer said 43 witnesses, including those who were injured in the blasts, had recorded their testimony during the trial.

Tunda, suspected LeT bomb expert, was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16, 2013. He is also suspected of involvement in some other blast cases across the country, some of which are still pending.

Tunda was one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.  PTI
Srinagar, October 10

Suspected militants attacked a CRPF vehicle in busy Sanat Nagar area of Srinagar this evening but there were no casualties.

"CRPF personnel reported that their vehicle came under fire at Sanat Nagar chowk here," a police spokesman said.

He said there were no casualties on the CRPF side.

"A police team has rushed to the spot to investigate the incident," he added.  PTI
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 9

Umer Khalid, the chief operations commander of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), was today gunned down in a brief gunfight at Ladoora Baramulla, 60 km from Srinagar. Later in the evening during search operations in Gatipora, Shopian, three Hizbul militants holed up inside a house were shot dead.

Policemen in civvies today laid a naka near Ladoora village, located along the Baramulla-Handwara highway, following intelligence inputs that Khalid was in the area. Intercepted and challenged by the police, Khalid hurled a grenade and opened fire. The police retaliated. Injured, Khalid took refuge in a residential building. Subsequently, a joint operation was launched and the militant was neutralised in a brief gunfight, said a police officer. Sources claimed Khalid was not carrying any rifle.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Khalid had been operating in the area for the past two or three years and was instrumental in arranging recruits for the terror outfit, the police said. He had recently carried out an attack on an SPO and his seven-year-old son at Handwara. An A++ category terrorist, he carried a cash reward of Rs 7 lakh on his head.

Reports had warned of Jaish planning more fidayeen attacks in Kashmir. The police believe Khalid had a role in the two recent attacks  one on the BSF battalion headquarters near the high-security Srinagar airport and the other on the District Police Lines at Pulwama. The attacks were carried out by Jaishs Afzal Guru Squad.

State police chief Shesh Paul Vaid called Khalids killing a big success for the forces. He said more than 160 militants had been killed this year so far.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 10

The Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine celebrated its foundation day with Organ Donation -A gift for Life as its theme at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here today.

College Principal Dr Sandeep Puri emphasised the stark contrast in the number of patients on the transplant waiting lists and in the number of organs available in the state. He said several patients die due to the shortage of organ doners.

He said one cadaveric (brain-dead) donor can live on through several lives by donating his organs.

Critical Care Medicine Department at the DMCH, under the headship of Prof P L Gautam, in association with the ROTTO (Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) organised a seminar on the status of organ donation in Punjab.

Dr Vipin Koushal, Nodal officer for the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), highlighted key facts related to the organ donation, with India standing at 0.05 donors per million population  one of the lowest in the world.

He highlighted the role that our political agencies and bureaucratic agencies were playing in setting the stage for promoting organ donation in the state and putting transparent systems in place for these organs to reach the rightful recipients.

Dr Gagandeep Singh and Dr Rajinder Bansal from the Department of Neurology at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, headed the debate for the need for recognising brain-dead patients who die on a ventilator as they formed the single vital source of viable and utilisable organs. Liver transplant surgeons  Dr Girn and Dr Singla  said it was a difficult decision for the families, but such people were true heroes.
Washington, October 10

Despite "attempts to derail" the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST), the states are adopting the new regime at a fast pace, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

Jaitley was responding to a question on the biggest challenges for GST during a conversation with Dan Schulman, president and CEO of Paypal and Chandrajit Banerjee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

At the event jointly organised by CII and US India Business Council (USIBC) in New York, Jaitley said global integration of Indian economy is happening at a time when other economies are becoming more protectionist.

Asserting that India is now a better place to do business with because of the series of steps being taken by the government in the last three years, Jaitley said procedures have been simplified.

Now as much as 95 per cent of the investments are through automatic route, and foreign investment promotion board has been abolished, he noted.

Today, 99 per cent of tax queries are addressed online, he said.

Now states are being ranked on ease of doing business, he told the audience here.

India is now capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale, the union finance minister said.

As many as 250 highways projects are under construction.

India is now having surplus power and capacity of Indian ports has been expanded, he said.

Responding to a question on digital payments, he said the younger generation is taking on to modern payment methods in a big way.

Further, all government benefits are linked directly to bank accounts. The government has introduced low cost insurance policies to incentivise the bank holders, he said.

Jaitley who arrived early in the day in New York also addressed US investors on recent economic reform initiatives.

He is slated to address the Columbia University students today. The finance minister is here in US to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

But before arriving in Washington DC for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, he would travel to Boston to address the students of the Harvard University and interact with the US business community in Boston.

During his three day stay at Washington, the finance minister will hold a bilateral meeting with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

He will also participate in an interactive seminar organised by FICCI on -- "India Opportunity Conference" and attend the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Working Dinner on October 12. PTI
New Delhi, October 10

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said allegations against BJP president Amit Shahs son had no basis and there was no need for any investigation.

Inaugurating the new headquarters of the National Investigation Agency here, the minister said such allegations were levelled from time to time.

Such allegations have surfaced in the past too. They are levelled from time to time. It has no basis, he told reporters on the sidelines of the function.

News portal The Wire reported that a firm owned by Shahs son Jay Amit Shah saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The charge has been rejected by the BJP and Shahs son, who termed the report false, derogatory and defamatory. PTI
New Delhi, October 10

The government had transitioned from "Beti Bachao" to "Beta Bachao", Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday in another swipe following a report alleging that a firm owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son saw a huge rise in turnover after the party came to power.

Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao



 -''  https://t.co/LjB7VJtkQB  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 10, 2017

Gandhi's remark came after several Union ministers came out in support of Shah's son Jay Amit Shah.

Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao," Gandhi said on Twitter, using the term "Shehzada" to describe Shah's son.

He also tagged a report headlined "Piyush Goyal defends Jay Shah's business dealings for second day" along with his tweet.

Yesterday, Gandhi had pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "say something" on claims in the report in the news portal The Wire.

"Modiji, ...Did you act as a watchman or were you a partner? Please say something," he had said.

The Congress has launched an all-out attack on the BJP chief with several party leaders holding press conferences across the country to hit out at Shah's son over his alleged business dealings while prodding the prime minister to speak on the issue.

The charge has been rejected by the BJP and Shah's son, who termed the report "false, derogatory and defamatory".

The Congress is asking Prime Minister Modi to remove him as BJP chief and order a probe by Supreme Court judges. PTI
Guwahati, October 10

Suspected NSCN-K rebels opened fire at a company operating base (COB) of the Army at Niausa in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh at 1.15 am today. The Army termed the attack ineffective and dismissed the propaganda by the rebels on social media as baseless.

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In Kohima, Defence spokesman Colonel Chiranjeet Konwer said, Just five to 10 rounds of ineffective small arms fire and a Lathode grenade were fired at the post. Alert sentries retaliated. The fire had to be controlled, keeping in view the safety of the villagers in the vicinity. There was no casualty and no damage to property of COB.

The Army officer said operations were being launched against the fleeing cadres. The Army has been maintaining sustained pressure on NSCN-K and other groups.  TNS
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today told the Supreme Court that the BJP-led government has been carrying on a "politically-motivated vendetta" against him and his son.

The apex court was hearing CBIs appeal challenging a Madras High Court order staying the Centres look out circular (LOCs) against Karti and others in an alleged graft case over irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007.

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Chidambaram and his son Karti, facing the criminal probe, have filed separate affidavits in the apex court alleging vendetta.

"Since the NDA government came to power, the central government has been carrying on a politically motivated vendetta against my family and especially my son. The agencies of the central government have not spared the friends of the first respondent (Karti) or even persons remotely connected with him," Chidambaram said.

He also said the FIPB that dealt with the proposal of INX Media Ltd was chaired by D Subba Rao, who later became RBI Governor, and was succeeded by Ashok Chawla who later became Chairman of Competition Commission of India.

"The other members of FIPB, at the relevant time, were equally distinguished civil servants," he said.

"The FIR in the INX Media case is a politically motivated FIR intended to embarrass and humiliate me and the members of my family," Chidambaram added.

On the other hand, Karti Chidambaram today sought permission to travel to the United Kingdom to admit his daughter for higher studies in the Cambridge.

Karti, in his affidavit, responded to CBIs allegation that he has multiple accounts and assets abroad, saying his family owns only one asset abroad which was acquired by transfer of funds through nationalised banks under the RBIs liberalised remittance scheme.

Karti also added that he has got only one account in UKs Metro Bank which was opened in 2016 and has not received any remittance from anyone except him, his wife and daughter.

He also stated that the banks in UK have strict laws for opening bank accounts for Politically Exposed Persons and, because of his fathers political clout, they were subjected to rigorous scrutiny by the international banks.

The CBI FIR, lodged on May 15, had alleged irregularities in FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Kartis father was the Finance Minister.

On October 4, the CBI had alleged in the apex court that Karti had "tampered" with evidence relating to an alleged graft case against him during his visits abroad in the months of May, June and July this year.

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The agency had said that there was a need to issue a LoC against Karti as he had the "potential" to tamper with the evidence and he had done this during his visits abroad.

CBI had last month told the apex court that Karti was prevented from travelling abroad as he was allegedly closing several of his foreign bank accounts.

The CBIs contention was strongly refuted by Kartis counsel.

The top court is hearing CBIs appeal challenging Madras High Court order staying the governments LOC against Karti in the alleged graft case. PTI RRT SJK PKS ABA RKS ARC

--- ENDS ---
Mumbai, October 10

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday announced cuts in Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel, effective from midnight, to bring down fuel prices in the three states.

While BJP-ruled Maharashtra and Gujarat announced a 4 per cent VAT cut, the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh cut VAT by 1 per cent.

The net reduction in petrol and diesel prices will be around Rs 2.33 per litre and Rs 1.25 per litre respectively in Maharashtra, said All India Petrol Dealers Association spokesperson Ali Daruwala.

The move follows a communication from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to all states to consider reducing state-level taxes on petrol and diesel products.

Mumbai Petroleum Dealers Association President Ravi Shinde said the current VAT in the state was around 26 per cent on petrol and 21 per cent on diesel, plus different cess totalling Rs 9 per litre.

This pushed up prices of petrol and diesel by nearly 50 per cent for every litre in the state.

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"Our demand for reduction in cess on petrol and diesel products by the state government was rejected and we were informed that it is utilised to repay farm loans waiver package announced in June," Daruwala said.

With the VAT cut, the Maharashtra government is likely to suffer a loss of around Rs 2,500 crore.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said after the VAT reduction, petrol price would slide by Rs 2.93 a litre and that of diesel by Rs 2.72 a litre.

The reduction comes after the state government cut prices of auto fuel by 60 paise soon after the Centre's decision to reduce basic excise duty by Rs 2 per litre from October 4.

Rupani said the decision would put a burden of Rs 2,316 crore a year on the state exchequer. Gujarat annually earns Rs 12,000 crore by way of VAT on auto fuels.

Himachal Pradesh reduced the VAT by 1 percent. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Himachal charges 27 per cent VAT on petrol and 16 per cent on diesel.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the VAT cut was an eyewash in view of the forthcoming assembly elections.

"You looted people over not just last three-and-a-half years but in the last 22 years by not cutting taxes. Now that elections are near, you are talking of bringing down prices. If the BJP thinks it can fool the people, they are mistaken," he said.  IANS
New Delhi, October 10

An Army mans plea claiming he should not be posted in operational areas to fight the enemy if he has been classified as a non-combatant, has prompted the Supreme Court to seek the government's response.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S K Kaul issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply in four weeks on the petition of Army Service Corps (ASC) Major Amod Kumar against his posting to counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles, a combat unit, when the Army considered him a non-combatant for promotion purpose.

He contended that Army could not be permitted to take a dual stand -- treating an ASC officer as operational for postings, but branding him non-operational for promotion.

His petition said: Services officers are routinely deployed in operational areas despite the Army authorities holding them to be 'non-operational'. The petitioner cannot be compelled to serve in an operational area and to do so is in violation of his fundamental right and principles of natural justice.  PTI
Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9

A day after a train driver was killed at an unmanned crossing in Jalalabad, the Railways today virtually placed the Punjab Government in the dock, claiming its proposals to prevent such incidents had not received a response from the DCs concerned.

This prompted the Punjab and Haryana High Court to ask Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda to step in. A top Railways official from the Ferozepur Division was directed to be present in court on the next date of hearing. There are 269 such crossings in Ferozepur Division alone.

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As the case came up for resumed hearing, the counsel for the Railways sought permission to place on record a communication from the Divisional Railway Manager, Northern Railway, Ferozepur.

He submitted that to prevent such accidents, there was a move by the Railways to undertake safety measures over-bridge, under-bridge, limited height sub-way and diversion or merger with the nearest manned crossing. A communication had been sent to the DCs concerned for no-objection certificates. But no reply had been received.

Nanda submitted that he would apprise the court within two weeks if such communication was pending with the DCs. The order came less than two months after the Bench framed a larger question on steps contemplated by theRailways to avoid accidents at unmanned railway crossings.

Amicus curiae Gaurav Chopra, referring to Sundays accident in Ferozepur, said the Railways was casual and directions must be issued for initiating appropriate steps at the earliest.
AT the suggestion of the Surgeon General of Madras, the Government has sanctioned a good scheme of popularising sanitary knowledge in the villages by means of lectures delivered by Assistant Surgeons whose duty it is to tour through a particular district for several months with this object. During 1916-17 two Civil Assistant Surgeons were deputed to this work as an experiment and they delivered lectures in several villages spending two months in each of the four districts. The reports of local officers show that the lectures aroused widespread interest and were much appreciated by the public. In view of this fact the Madras Government has sanctioned the employment of four Assistant Surgeons during 1917-18 for a period of six months and they are asked to tour in eight districts for three months delivering sanitary lectures, aided with magic lanterns, among the village folk.
Washington, October 10

Donald Trump's current wife Melania slammed the US President's first wife, Ivana who called herself "first lady" as "attention-seeking and self-serving noise", the media reported.

On Monday, Ivana Trump in an ABC interview ahead of the release of her memoir, "Raising Trump", said she was "basically first Trump wife, I'm first lady".

The Czech-American businesswoman also boasted of having a direct line to the White House which she uses to she talk to the President about once every 14 days.

"I have the direct number to White House but I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there and I don't really want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife, OK? I'm first lady, OK?" she told ABC, laughing.

The current First Lady fired back via a sharply-worded statement to CNN from her communications director, Stephanie Grisham later on Monday.

"Mrs. (Melania) Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington D.C., and is honoured by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books," Grisham said in the statement.

"There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise." Ivana and Donald Trump divorced in 1992 after 15 years following his tabloid affair with TV personality Marla Maples, reports CNN.

Ivana Trump, who is the mother of the President's three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, does not refer to Maples, by name in her book, which comes out Tuesday, only calling her "showgirl".

"Donald during the divorce was brutal. He took the divorce as a business deal and he cannot lose, he has to win," Ivana Trump said during the ABC interview, adding that they were now "friends".IANS
Paris, October 10

French security forces believe they have prevented a terror attack being plotted by two inmates in a French jail, casting a new spotlight on Tuesday on the problem of radicalisation in the country's prisons.

Sources close to the investigation said late Monday that the men were accused of discussing a potential hostage-taking or machine gun attack from their cell at the Fresnes prison south of Paris.

One of the suspects is a 28-year-old from Cameroon described by authorities as an Islamic State group sympathiser, while the other is a 22-year-old Frenchman. Both were set to be released this month.

The Cameroonian was believed to have been in contact with a person in Iraq or Syria, where the Islamic State's self- proclaimed "caliphate" has lost swathes of territory.

The two had been considering different potential targets such as police or prison guards, a source said on condition of anonymity.

Both were behind bars for non-terror offences and are suspected of being radicalised while serving their sentences.

They were charged on Friday with being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

The Cameroonian, who was due to be released on Tuesday, confirmed to investigators that he was planning on carrying out an attack, a source said.

The Frenchman was due to be released next week.

Terror investigators moved to arrest them after a 44- year-old man from the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, who was in contact with the pair, indicated he was "planning on heading to the mainland to offer them logistical support".

Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said on Tuesday that France urgently needed to stop prisoners from being radicalised behind bars.

"What was revealed yesterday is testament to the urgency of the situation," she told Europe 1 radio.

In August, a radicalised prisoner attacked two guards at the Osny prison north of the capital in what was seen as France's first jihadist assault within a jail.

The prisoner, who was behind bars for attempting to travel to jihadist-held territory in Syria, told investigators he "wanted to kill a prison guard" in the name of Islamic State.

France has suffered a string of jihadist attacks over the past two years that have left more than 240 people dead.

Some of those responsible were involved in Islamist networks in jail, including Cherif Kouachi, one of the gunmen who attacked satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, and his friend Amedy Coulibaly who killed four at a Jewish supermarket two days later.

Fresnes is one of three French prisons under special watch for radicalisation, where prisoners are assessed for signs of extremism before their arrival.  AFP
Barcelona, October 10

The Spanish government warned Catalonias separatist leader on Tuesday not to do anything irreversible, just hours before a possible declaration of independence that could send shockwaves through Europe.

Whether or not Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will follow through on his threat to announce a full breakawaydefying the central government and Spanish courtsis still a mystery.

But the Spanish government issued a sharp warning to Puigdemont today as it grapples with the nations worst political crisis in a generation.

We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters.

Speaking soon after, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull retorted that the regional executive was completely united, without giving any hint of what Puigdemont may tell Catalan lawmakers in an extraordinary parliamentary session beginning at 1600 GMT.

At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people deeply divided over independence, one of Spains economic powerhouses whose drive to break away has raised concern for stability in the European Union.

Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have urged Puigdemont to stand down and ease the countrys biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.

But the Catalan president says an independence referendum that took place on October 1 despite a court ban ruling it unconstitutional justifies splitting from Madrid.

Around 90 per cent of those who cast ballots voted for independence but the poll was poorly monitored and many Catalans opposed to secession simply stayed at home. Turnout was just over 42 percent.

Spains Economy Minister Luis de Guindos today denounced the independence call as a rebellion against the rule of law.

Catalan police were out in full force around the regions parliament in Barcelona ahead of Puidgemonts address.

The end of the road, said Catalan daily El Periodico on its front page.

Yesterday, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned that a unilateral declaration of independence would put social cohesion at risk.

The results of the referendum cannot be an endorsement to proclaim independence but they constitute the possibility of opening a dialogue and international mediation, she said.

Pressure also came from the street itself, with hundreds of thousands of pro-unity demonstrators marching through Barcelona and Madrid at the weekend.

Their slogan, Basta!, was simple: Enough.

After the disputed referendum Puigdemont vowed he would declare independence in the coming days, but he has a variety of options to choose from.

Short of declaring an outright split, the Catalan leader could play for time and call for dialogue, or back down outright from his secessionist demands.

Madrid insists that any independence declaration would not change the legal reality that Catalonia is one of Spains semi-autonomous regions with laws governed by the national constitution.

But EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that Catalan independence could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britains shock decision to leave.

After talks in Luxembourg with ministers from the European Peoples Party, the EUs right-of-centre political grouping, de Guindos said everyone has supported the position of the Spanish government.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to use everything in his legal power to prevent Catalan independence and has even refused to rule out imposing direct rule over the region from Madrida move many fear could lead to unrest.

The crisis has caused deep uncertainty for businesses in one of Spains wealthiest regions.

A string of companies have already moved their legal headquartersbut not their employeesfrom Catalonia to other parts of the country.

The head of Spains chamber of commerce Jose Luis Bonet told Cadena SER radio that a unilateral independence declaration would be a disaster.

For Spain it would be extraordinarily negative and even for Europe it would mean enormous instability, Bonet said.

Demands for independence in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, date back centuries.

But a 2010 move by Spains Constitutional Court to water down a statute that gave Catalonia additional powers, combined with an economic crisis in Spain, sparked a surge in support for independence.  AFP
Sydney, October 10

Ten million Australians, or 62.5 percent of eligible voters, have cast their votes so far in a postal ballot on whether same-sex marriage should be legalised, the Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

That was up from an estimate of 9.2 million made a week ago.

Australians began voting last month in the non-binding poll to inform the government on whether voters wanted Australia to become the 25th nation to permit same-sex marriage. The results will be announced on Nov. 15.

The response rate already surpasses the 60.5 percent reached in Ireland's same-sex marriage referendum in 2015.  Reuters
Maharashtra environment minister Ramdas Kadam said he will speak to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on a ban on firecrackers in the state on the lines of the Supreme Court for Delhi-NCR.

By India Today Web Desk: A day after the Supreme Court upheld the ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR till November 1, Maharashtra environment minister said a similar step can be considered for the state.

Maharashtra environment minister Ramdas Kadam said he will take up the matter with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "(I) will talk to Chief Minister Fadnavis and request (him) if we can also ban crackers in Maharashtra on lines of the SC order for Delhi," said Ramdas Kadam.

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On Monday, a Supreme Court bench of Justice A K Sikri, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and Justice Ashok Bhushan said that "we should see at least in one Diwali the impact of a cracker-free festivity".

The Supreme Court bench said, "The air quality deteriorates abysmally and alarmingly and the city chokes thereby, it leads to closing the schools and the authorities are compelled to take various measures on emergent basis, when faced with 'health emergency' situation."

This situation, the court said, had occurred on the very next morning after Diwali in 2016 and "resulted in passing the order dated November 11, 2016".

The court, however, said that the September 12, 2017 order lifting the ban on the sale and stocking of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR will be back into effect from November 1.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh said that while the AAP respects the Supreme Court's decision, it should have come up with a decision on how to check pollution rather than banning sale of crackers. The AAP leader said that bursting crackers on Diwali is a part of "culture".

On the arguments by firecracker sellers that the contribution of crackers to the worsening of the air quality was negligible and there were other contributing factors, the Supreme Court said: "On the contrary, we have the direct evidence of deterioration of air quality at alarming levels, which happens every year."

"... , burning of these fire crackers during Diwali in 2016 had shot up PM (particulate matter) levels by three times, making Delhi the worst city in the world, in so far as air pollution is concerned. Direct and immediate cause thereof was burning of crackers during Diwali", the Supreme Court said.

(With inputs from agencies)

ALSO WATCH: Cracker-less Diwali: Supreme Court upholds ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi, NCR

--- ENDS ---
Tulsa Countys drug court has had very positive results from a controversial work-based diversion program, officials said Monday, but the programs continued use will be reviewed after a national news report raised questions about the legality and treatment of people assigned to it.

In light of these revelations, we will reconsider our use of CAAIR, said Heather Hope-Hernandez, communications director of the Community Service Council of Tulsa, which administers the countys drug court program.

CAAIR  Christian Alcoholics and Addicts in Recovery  is a Delaware County-based nonprofit that accepts clients from courts in several states, including Oklahoma.

Reveal, a project of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, reported this weekend that most clients are required to work at chicken processing plants without pay, except for room and board.

One resident of the area told the Tulsa World the CAAIR facility is referred to locally as the slave farm.

Hope-Hernandez said meetings with drug court judges and the program administrator, who is out of the country, are planned within the next few weeks.

Weve had very positive results from people weve sent to CAAIR, Hope-Hernandez said. Until this came up weve had no reasons to suspect there was a problem.

Hope-Hernandez said the Community Service Council has never had a complaint about CAAIR or a report of injury. One of the allegations made in the Reveal story is that clients hurt on the job were denied adequate medical care while CAAIR kept their workers compensation payments.

In Oklahoma, county drug courts and other diversionary courts operate under provisions of state law. Not all counties have such courts, though, and each county that does operates its court more or less autonomously.

Hope-Hernandez and Tulsa County courts administrator Vicki Cox said no one is required to enter the CAAIR program or to remain in it.

Cox said people under Tulsa County drug court supervision are only referred to CAAIR because of compliance issues  meaning they have failed to comply with an aspect of their performance contract not directly related to drug treatment.

Cox and Hope-Hernandez said the CAAIR program is supposed to teach discipline and job training.

CAAIR is for compliance, not treatment, Hope-Hernandez said.

This is a point of contention because Oklahoma law requires drug court-supervised treatment be carried out by licensed therapists.

CAAIR is not licensed and offers no drug treatment programs beside 12-step program meetings and Bible study.

Hope-Hernandez said Tulsa County does not send anyone with an active addiction or mental health diagnosis to the program, and that those who do go must agree to the assignment.

Those in the program can ask for a reassignment if they dont like it, she said.

But, Hope-Hernandez added, Tulsa County has more resources and options than most of Oklahomas 77 counties.

CAAIR does not charge for its services  the reason, CAAIR says, it retains clients pay from the chicken processing plants  which may make it attractive to cash-strapped courts.
Andrea Haddox stood in front of a Picasso painting at a museum during a study abroad program in Spain and sobbed.

I thought, I shouldnt be here. This is insane. People like me dont get to do this,  she said. I have such a sense of gratitude anytime I get to go somewhere like that. People like me dont usually make it to be able to experience those things and be in these places.

Haddox  a top graduate of Tulsa Community College, honors student at Northeastern State University and winner of multiple scholarships  is talking about the 17 years she spent in an endless cycle of substance abuse and addiction.

Moving to Tulsa from the St. Louis area four years ago with the assistance of a womens sobriety program gave her the break she needed. Within six months, she received word that six of her friends died from drug overdoses.

Most of my friends from my past have died. People like me dont usually make it to get to do those things  thats what I meant, she said.

Haddox enrolled at TCC within a month of arriving in Tulsa. Now 39, she has been on an honor roll every semester, completed internships, held several leadership positions on campus, worked a side job as a waitress and traveled to Ireland, Scotland, London and Spain for study abroad programs.

Yeah, I like to be involved, Haddox said. After what Ive been through, I have a drive that pushes me to do better. I feel like maybe I have a wider perspective of whats going on around me.

Haddox will be among the speakers during workshops Thursday for the nonprofit Women in Transition, which was established in 2002 by professional women with the goal to help women complete their college educations. The focus is on women who have undergone major changes in their lives, including trauma, and need support. The sessions will be held at the OSU-Tulsa campus in the morning, 700 N. Greenwood Ave. and on the TCC Southeast Campus, 10300 E. 81st St.

You can do this, Haddox said. There is enough help out there. You have to be willing to ask for it and get it. Do it. Just do it, man. Fear keeps us from so much in our lives.

Getting to a healthy place: Haddox describes growing up as an awkward, uncomfortable teenager. That low self-esteem, she said, kept her from school success.

Her addiction started out with drinking and escalated into drugs, which then became all-consuming. She went into at least three rehabilitation programs to stop using.

The week before moving to Tulsa, Haddox overdosed and landed in the hospital. She had been sober for 19 months. But when she relapsed, she overdosed three times in seven days, with the last one being the most serious.

Death was knocking on my door and coming for me, she said. In addiction, this doesnt matter  living doesnt keep you sober. Youre out there on the streets thinking you are going to die. Thats not my motivation. My motivation now is a lot of things.

Upon release, Haddox decided to move far away from temptations of friends and lifestyle but close enough to see family. With the help of a sober living program, she chose Tulsa. She had a job waiting tables within two days. Within weeks, she was thinking about college.

For me, I had to get out and away from all those people and all those places, Haddox said. It was too easy to run back. For me, that was key to my recovery.

Tulsa has been amazing, and I have such a community of people around me, and great friends. So many great opportunities.

Addicted to getting As: It had been 17 years since Haddox dropped out of junior college. Navigating the application process, applying for financial aid, declaring a major and figuring out class schedules was overwhelming, especially with most of it being online.

Haddox walked out of a TCC building in tears, called her mother and said she couldnt do it. Then a new friend in Tulsa gave her some advice: If it feels this difficult, the outcome is going to be amazing.

She was completely right, Haddox said It has been amazing.

Haddox found mentors and received a scholarship from Women in Transition, which supports women of all backgrounds. She started with just two classes, a writing course and psychology.

Taking my first test and getting a good grade  my first A  that was so addictive, she said. After first semester, I knew I could do it.

Haddox dove into student life: joining groups to become an elected officer, going on study abroad trips and working on campus to help fellow students in enrollment. She racked up at least 10 scholarships from different sources.

I tried to do everything I could because I didnt think I could do those things before, she said. It was amazing to me that I could, that I had it in me. There are teachers who are going to help you. I met so many good teachers along the way.

Haddox will be graduating from NSU in May with a bachelors degree in social work. She is deciding whether to go directly into a masters program or get a year of experience before completing a graduate degree.

Because of what Ive been through, I know what its like to be on the other side of the desk and ask for help, Haddox said.

In addition to her background influencing her career choice, Haddox said Tulsa itself played a role.

There is so much philanthropy here, she said. I started looking at Tulsa a couple of years ago when thinking about social work. Our government doesnt want to help in that area, but the people here in Tulsa do. I love that about Tulsa. The people are so giving. I feel lucky to be here.
Twenty-eight of the 36 potential jurors questioned Monday in former Tulsa Police Officer Shannon Keplers fourth murder trial told a judge they had some previous knowledge of Keplers case and its three previous jury trials, setting the stage for a full day of questioning from prosecutors and defense attorneys.

District Judge Sharon Holmes swore in 60 prospective jurors for Keplers fourth first-degree murder trial in just under a year, but she is questioning only 36 about such topics as pretrial publicity, connections to law enforcement and opinions that could affect their ability to be impartial jurors. The other 24 potential jurors remained in the gallery of Holmes courtroom and will replace any of the initial 36 in the event Holmes excuses anyone.

No potential jurors were excused Monday. Proceedings were set to resume Tuesday morning.

Kepler, 57, likely will be on trial for the next two weeks in the Aug. 5, 2014, shooting of 19-year-old Jeremey Lake outside the home of Lakes aunt in the 200 block of North Maybelle Avenue. Lake had just begun dating Keplers estranged daughter, Lisa Kepler, who announced their relationship on Facebook on the afternoon of his death.

He was also charged with two counts of shooting with intent to kill related to claims that he also shot at his daughter and at Lakes younger brother, Michael Hamilton, but was instead found guilty at the conclusion of his first trial of lesser-included counts of reckless conduct with a firearm. He is appealing those convictions and the subsequent one-year sentence.

Keplers case went before a jury in November 2016, in February and in late June, but the jurors in each trial could not reach a unanimous decision on the murder count.

Lake was biracial but identified as black, and Kepler is white and also has Muscogee (Creek) Nation heritage. Each of the previous juries had one black person among the 12 who deliberated, and the case has drawn national attention in recent months because of scrutiny over shootings of people of color by law enforcement officers.

Kepler was off duty at the time of the shooting.

The first jury was hung 11-1 in favor of guilt, while the second and third were hung 10-2 and 6-6, respectively. Keplers attorneys argued unsuccessfully to have the case removed from state court based on his Native American background and the location of the shooting, which is near the northern boundary of the Creek Nation jurisdiction.

Jurors in the third trial were allowed to consider first-degree manslaughter as a lesser-included offense. Holmes has previously overruled a defense request to bar the state from attempting to add manslaughter in the jury instructions.

Before beginning her line of questioning, Holmes said it was important that the case have jurors who can view the case without bias or prejudice, especially because this has had a lot of press. One juror told her that he already had an opinion about how the case should end.

In a hearing ahead of jury selection, Holmes said she would allow prosecutors to again introduce evidence about Lisa Kepler and Lakes meeting at a homeless shelter where Shannon Kepler and his wife had left her amid a family dispute. Lead defense attorney Richard OCarroll has argued that the information is overly prejudicial against Shannon Kepler, but Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray said its germane to the conversation both for how Lisa Kepler met Lake and how she came to be a witness to his homicide.

OCarroll also expressed frustration with what he suggested were excessive attempts to disparage Shannon Keplers character through repeatedly mentioning how he obtained information about Lakes living situation. A key piece of evidence in each trial has been a copy of a Tulsa police arrest report from an old case in which Lake was accused of physically assaulting a Department of Human Services worker. Kepler had written Lakes most recent address on the back of the report.

Gray and District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler have pointed out that it was a violation of Tulsa Police Department policy for Kepler to have used the information in that report because Lake was neither a witness to a crime nor a suspect Kepler was investigating.

Additionally, Holmes ruled Monday that evidence collected from the porch at the home of Lakes aunt is relevant to the case and can be presented to jurors, although neither side is allowed to mention the phrase shooting with intent to kill. Authorities found items there that the state says are consistent with Lisa Keplers and Hamiltons testimony about where Shannon Kepler fired his revolver.

Josh Mills, a witness to the shooting, is expected to testify for the first time after being successfully served with a subpoena by the District Attorneys Office. Prosecutors did not know that Mills, who is transient, was in the area until receiving information from an investigator shortly before the third trial, records show.

OCarroll raised questions about Mills credibility, noting that he was referenced in a protective order case filed by Lakes aunt in the months after Lakes death. Mills was staying on Lakes familys property and was a friend of Lakes at the time of the shooting.

Hamilton previously testified that Mills took cover inside the home while the shots were fired.
Oklahoma will continue its annual testing of public school students with the same vendor.

On Monday, it was announced that the Oklahoma State Department of Education has awarded Measured Progress a potential six-year contract for its testing program. According to state education officials, the amount awarded for 2017-18 is nearly $7.7 million, with the potential six-year total value of the contract at $46.9 million.

At its monthly meeting in July, the state board of education voted to approve a bidder selected by education administrators in a blind recommendation  without bidders identified  for a new contract worth tens of millions of dollars for English/language arts, math and science tests for public school students in grades three through eight.

Jeanene Barnett, deputy superintendent of assessment and accountability at the state Department of Education, said: We had a competitive bidding process for this contract, and Measured Progress presented the best solution to meet Oklahomas needs. Were very happy to be able to continue working with them on high-quality assessments that will support our goals for continually improving student learning in our state.

Measured Progress, a New Hampshire-based nonprofit company, took over the states testing contract in 2014. The new contract is a six-year deal with one-year renewals, designed to test students proficiency according to newly adopted state academic standards.

Our relationship with the Oklahoma education department has been one of respect and openness from the beginning, said Martin Borg, president and chief executive officer of Measured Progress. We share strong convictions about creating opportunities for students, and about improving teaching and learning through meaningful assessments.
From San Francisco to Havana to Paris, people are using websites like Airbnb and VRBO to make money renting their extra rooms or empty homes to visitors.

Its even happening in Tulsa, where the city Board of Adjustment has approved six applications in the past four months from people wishing to become part of the Airbnb network.

The number pales in comparison to a city like San Francisco, where Airbnb customers can choose from thousands of listings. But city officials know the emerging home-share business is only going to get larger, and Tulsa doesnt have regulations on the books to address it. Thats about to change, however.

City Councilors Blake Ewing and Ben Kimbro will hold public meetings on the issue Tuesday and Wednesday. City leaders, Ewing said, need to hear from the public before they start crafting regulations.

I hope that no matter where people are on the issue, that they will come out and hear from their neighbors (and) let their voices be heard, Ewing said. Councilor Kimbro and I dont have an agenda on this other than to update our citys ordinances to reflect this emerging trend and this emerging technology.

That said, Ewing figures a couple of issues will surely be addressed in the new ordinance. The first is taxes.

There are several areas where the playing field is not level, if you will. The hoteliers in our community are required to have health inspections and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility and pay hotel/motel taxes and do all kinds of things that now a new, emerging competition is not required to do, Ewing said. I am not suggesting that we do all of those things in home-sharing by any means, but I do think that the tax part of that has to be addressed.

The city charges a 5 percent hotel/motel tax on each room stay, with about 93 percent going to tourism and convention funds. The remainder goes to the citys general fund and the Economic Development Commission fund, city records show.

In fiscal year 2017, the tax raised approximately $7.2 million. Collecting the hotel/motel tax from the citys nascent home-share businesses would add about $100,000 a year to that figure, according to the citys Fiscal Office.

Neighborhood concerns must also be taken into account when crafting the home-share ordinance, Ewing said. City officials have already heard from people troubled by the thought of strangers coming and going from their neighbors homes, or the possibility of those strangers holding large, loud gatherings at the rented properties.

Other cities have addressed those issues by limiting the number of days a property can be rented or by requiring that the home-share operator post a sign on the property notifying neighbors when the home is being rented, Ewing said

I do think there will be a proposed limitation on the number of days when the owner is not on site, he said.

The city has no ordinance that explicitly covers Airbnbs and other home-share services, so the Board of Adjustment has treated them like a similar service that is addressed in the zoning code: bed and breakfasts.

Susan Miller of the Indian Nations Council of Governments said Airbnb applicants must show that the proposed home-share site would be in harmony with the spirit and intent of the zoning code and not be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.

Ewing said he hopes the new ordinance will remove the need for home-share operators to appear before the BOA.

What Tulsans are unlikely to see in the new ordinance is a one-size-fits all policy. Ewing sees three distinct home-share scenarios, each requiring a slightly different policy approach: the single-room rental, the occasional home rental and homes available for rent year-round.

There should be a pathway to accomplish that in our city ordinances, but we shouldnt treat them all like the same thing, Ewing said. These are the kind of conversations I want to have with the community, to say: If its this, what is your level of concern? If its this, what is your level of concern? Tell us the things were not thinking about. 

The hope, Ewing said, is that at the end of the process the city will have an ordinance in place that not only levels the playing field and addresses neighborhood concerns, but also facilitates the kind of business activity the sharing economy is designed to encourage.

We dont want it to be a cumbersome process, treating every Airbnb home like theyre their own entrepreneur, Ewing said. That is the value of these apps or these programs, is that they let people kind of engage in a business practice without having to do all the work of starting a business.
An analytical study by doctors showed that majority of the new patients fall under the 30 to 45 age group.

By Priyanka Sharma: Doctors have noted an alarming rise in the number of nonsmokers falling prey to lung cancer in Delhi, a city that the high court described as a "gas chamber" two years ago. Leading pulmonologists blame the worrisome trend on poor air quality and claim there is a tectonic shift in patient profile as the number of non-smokers getting infected by the deadly disease has gone up to 40 per cent from about 10 per cent 15 years ago.

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Consequently, while smokers constituted 90 per cent of lung cancer patients at the start of this millennium, the figure has dropped to 60 per cent, say the experts. The Capital's air quality has been rated one of the worst in the world by international agencies including WHO, with millions of vehicles, factories, construction sites as well as burning crop stubble from neighbouring states belching out clouds of tiny PM2.5 particles that can be most harmful to health. Studies by city doctors show a majority of new lung cancer patients fall in the 30-45 age group.

Another cause of concern is that the number of teenagers falling prey to the disease is also going up. Heath experts called air pollution in the city a health emergency, maintaining that the situation significantly worsens during Diwali. Doctors endorse ecofriendly celebration of the festival, saying that the OPD rush around the time goes up by about 20-30 per cent.

"Earlier, patients were mostly smokers and over 50 years of age. At present, the situation is serious as we have started seeing an upsurge of at least 20-30 per cent of respiratory cases," said Dr Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, adding that respiratory illness cases have gone up by at least five to six times over the past 15 years.

Pulmonologists whom Mail Today spoke to listed crop burning, bursting of crackers, fumes from cigarettes, industries, factories and vehicles, as well as indoor pollution as key triggers of lung diseases. "Every year, just after Diwali celebrations, cases of respiratory diseases double. Not only patients with pre-existing respiratory complications, we see a number of 'normal' people complaining of breathlessness," said Dr Raj Kumar, head of department of pulmonary medicine at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute. Dr Kumar explained that lung disease cases are rising because of passive smoking and toxic air.

Children and the elderly with low immunity and adults who smoke are at the greatest risk. "Around 15 years ago, at least 90 per cent lung cancer patients had a history of smoking and only 10 per cent patients were found to be non-smokers," said Dr Arvind Kumar, chairman of the centre for chest surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. "But today, the figures are different.

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The number of patients diagnosed with lung cancer with no previous history of smoking has shot up to at least 40 per cent and there are about 60 per cent smokers suffering with lung cancer." Experts say humans inhale about 25,000 times a day and every breath deposits toxins in our lungs. "We are born with healthy pink lungs and over the years smoking and continuous breathing in the city's toxic air turns our lungs black. Once toxins get deposited in our lungs, they cannot be cleaned," said Dr Arvind.

Dr Vikas Maurya, head of the respiratory medicine department at Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh said patients with pre-existing respiratory illnesses have already started visiting the OPDs.

"Patient rush has gone up by 10-20 per cent, which is likely to worsen in the coming days if precautionary measures are not taken," he warned.

--- ENDS ---
After Fred Barbee broke his ankle while working at a chicken processing plant in Arkansas, he expected time off to heal.

But he wasnt in a normal workplace. A drug court judge in Tulsa had sent Barbee to a drug rehabilitation program called Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery, or CAAIR. The program makes men work without pay at plants owned by Simmons Foods Inc.

Because Barbee couldnt work, the rehab kicked him out. It filed a workers compensation claim and collected the $7,100 payout. Barbee got none of it.

By law, workers compensation is required to go to the injured workers. But CAAIR routinely files workers comp claims for men injured in the chicken plants and collects the payments, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found. CAAIRs founders acknowledged its their standard practice.

Thats the way it works, said Janet Wilkerson, CAAIRs founder. She said they keep the workers comp payments intended for the men to pay for the programs food, housing and counseling costs.

Yes, we did keep that, she said. Right, wrong or indifferent, thats what happened.

Workers comp experts said thats wrong and illegal.

If they (the workers) never received those benefits, that is insurance fraud, said Philip Hood, commissioner of the Arkansas Workers Compensation Commission. He has opened an investigation into CAAIR in response to Reveals report, which he said could lead to criminal charges.

That sounds like something from the early 1900s. And this is going on right now? And how is it legal? he said. Them being ordered to work for free is nothing short of slavery.

A former judge with the commission was shocked by what CAAIR was doing.

Thats fraudulent behavior, said Eddie Walker. Whats being done is clearly inappropriate.

A Reveal investigation published Wednesday showed judges are steering men and women from drug and other diversion courts into rehabs that are little more than lucrative work camps for private industry. Experts said it could violate the 13th Amendment and state drug court law.

The potential workers comp fraud raises a third legal issue for CAAIR, which is based in northeastern Oklahoma and sends workers to plants in Arkansas and Missouri.

Many defendants in the rehab program are unaware theyre entitled to the payments. Thats because CAAIR requires the men to sign forms stating they are clients, not employees, and therefore have no right to compensation for injuries.

Poultry plants are notoriously dangerous, with one of the highest workplace injury rates in the nation. Men in the CAAIR program said workers routinely were injured in the plants and fired when they couldnt work. Nine compensation cases have been filed for participants in the program. They were sprayed with acid, maimed by machines or threw out their backs on the job. After they left the drug rehab, the injuries often made their lives more difficult.

Jeffery Weaver got a hernia from hauling bags of chicken products at a plant in 2014. CAAIR filed for workers comp and collected more than $2,500. He got nothing, according to his family.

He got kicked out of the rehab a month later, court records show, and found himself back in front of a judge. The judge sentenced Weaver to seven years in prison. His mother, Lisa, said hes expected to be released later this month.

Thats not right at all, she said. If I got hurt, Id sure want my workers comp. Goodness gracious, it doesnt sound right.

Brandon Spurgin was working at the plant when a metal door crashed down on his head one night in 2014, damaging his spine.

Doctors put more than a dozen staples in his head. He thought he needed more medical attention, but he was scared to leave CAAIR. If he had, the drug court in Stephens County could have sentenced him to 15 years in prison, court records show.

Theyre just like, Heres some Tylenol. Can you get back to work yet? Can you go back to work?  he recalled. They dont care. Youre just there to work, make them money.

Spurgin continued working. CAAIR filed the workers comp claim on his behalf and collected more than $4,500 in compensation payouts. Spurgin never received any of the money. He eventually had surgery, remains in constant pain and cant hold a full-time job.

After Fred Barbee broke his ankle in 2014 and left the program, CAAIR continued collecting his workers comp for four months, court records show. The program told its insurance provider that Barbee had returned to work at the Simmons plant, according to the filings with the Arkansas Workers Compensation Commission. That wasnt true.

Court officials in Tulsa gave Barbee one more try. But injured and still in the throes of meth addiction, Barbee failed. Drug court Judge Dawn Moody sentenced him to two years in state prison. He was released in July.

Three years later, Barbee still has pain in his ankle and walks with a limp, according to his mother, Marguerite. She said her son still struggles to live a stable life.

Everybody makes mistakes. They need to know somebody cares, she said. As long as I get my I love you and Im OK  even though sometimes I dont think he is  thats all I could ask for.
Geoffrey Standing Bear, chief of the Osage Nation, has been fighting the same battle in different arenas for three decades, carrying on a tradition of tribal sovereignty far older than himself.

We will fight  we will always fight  to defend our land, he said.

Standing Bears latest skirmish began Sept. 29, when a New Mexico attorney, Maria OBrien, sent him a letter on behalf of the Oklahoma Attorney Generals Office.

OBrien wrote that a recent water well permit granted by the Osage Nations Environmental and Natural Resources Department was unlawful because the tribe doesnt own the water of Osage County.
Hundreds of Oklahoma teachers are leaving the state, driven away by low pay, lack of respect and despair.

University of Oklahoma Associate Education Professor Theresa Cullen says more than 250 former Oklahoma teachers she has contacted online have told her that they are making much more  $19,000 more on average  when they leave, and they are happier.

When Tulsa World reporter Sam Hardiman reported on Cullens work, former Oklahoma teachers chimed in that its not just about money. One former Oklahoma teacher commented that she left the state for three reasons: higher salary opportunities in other states, the lack of respect for teachers in Oklahoma and the sense of hopelessness in the state.

I do not regret leaving the educational institutes of Oklahoma, she wrote.

Another teacher commented that she and her husband left after 15 years in the Norman public school system.

We struggled to keep our heads above water the entire 15 years, and it seemed to get worse there at the end, she wrote.

Since leaving the state, she earns $16,000 a year more and her husband is making $25,000 more. Her class sizes went from 30 or more to no more than 18, and she no longer has to struggle with district limits on school supplies.

There is no real argument to be made here, she wrote. Oklahoma has got to wake up. Id love to be back there with my family but theres just no way we could justify that decision.

Others, who didnt appear to be teachers, argued that salary comparisons arent valid because the cost of living is higher in other states, but the commenting teachers said that is hogwash.

My living expenses are lower than they were in Oklahoma, one former teacher commented. In five years (maybe fewer), Ill be making more than double my (Oklahoma City Public Schools) salary.

Its anecdotal evidence, but its convincing because it fits what we know: Oklahoma teachers are underpaid, the lowest in the region and close to the lowest in the nation. Class sizes are creeping up and schools are increasingly unable to pay for the basic supplies needed in classrooms.

And too many of those teachers who can leave, do, only to be replaced by a growing number of unqualified placeholders with emergency certifications.

We hope the people in the state Capitol are paying attention. Theyre being offered an important lesson on why things are the way they are, and what they can do to make them better.
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Smoke rises on the Myanmar side of the border, as seen from Palangkhali in Bangladesh on 5 October 2017  four days before a fresh influx of refugees arrived via the nearby Anjumanpara border crossing.  UNHCR/Roger Arnold

The UN Refugee Agency is rushing relief supplies to the border areas amid reports that an estimated 10,000 Rohingya refugees crossed into Bangladesh on Monday.

This sudden influx follows the recent slowing arrivals. However, in recent days local people in the Anjumanpara area of south-eastern Bangladesh have reported hearing gunfire in Myanmar.

According to Bangladesh border guards, the influx through the Anjumanpara border crossing point started on Sunday night and had passed the 6,000 mark by Monday afternoon. Thousands more are said to be on their way.

Among those who made it across to Bangladesh, many said they fled from Buthidaung in Myanmars northern Rakhine state, walking for 12 to 14 days to reach the border.

Many of the new arrivals were taken by the authorities to the Kutupalong and Balukhali areas about 20 km away, where refugee camps and settlements already exist.

Several thousand new arrivals were also reported at other entry points south of Anjumanpara, including Shahporidwip.

UNHCR has loaded trucks with plastic sheets for immediate delivery once our teams verify their locations. The UN Refugee Agency has also asked partner agencies to pre-position food, water and other life-saving supplies for the new refugees, many of whom are exhausted from the long and treacherous journey.

In Shahporidwip near the southern tip of Bangladesh, UNHCR is already supporting the authorities at a transit centre for boat arrivals.

The series of drownings reported since late September underscore the importance of rescue operations for those fleeing by boat from Myanmar. In the most recent incident over the weekend more than a dozen refugees drowned, including children and women.

Since the violence started in northern Rakhine state in late August, nearly 520,000 refugees have sought safety in Bangladesh, joining an estimated 300,000 Rohingya refugees who have been hosted here since the 1990s.

The UN Refugee Agency is coordinating its response with the Bangladesh government and partners to enhance preparedness for potential influxes and pre-position relief supplies close to the reception areas.

For more information, please contact:
Earlier in the day, the fight between AAP government and the Centre over the fare hike intensified as the Delhi assembly passed a resolution against the proposed hike.

By Arpan Rai: The second phase of Delhi Metro fare revision, despite objections from state government, will come into effect from today. The decision was taken after DMRC called for an emergency meeting on Monday to deliberate over resolution passed against fare hike by Delhi government in Delhi Assembly.

The maximum fares for smart card users will be Rs 54 during the peak hours and Rs 48 during non-peak hours. 70 percent of the metro users are smart card users. "BJP government was adamant to increase the fare. Five Delhi government members opposed but 11 Central government members rejected Delhi's proposal to defer hike," said Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

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Earlier in the day, the fight between AAP government and the Centre over the fare hike intensified as the Delhi assembly passed a resolution against the proposed hike. AAP MLAs and Sisodia called the rate revision a move to 'benefit' app-based cab aggregators.

Citing the resolution, assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel also wrote to Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri, urging him to withhold the hike. This came a day after Centre informed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal that it cannot put on hold the proposed hike unless his government provide Rs 3,000 crore annually to DMRC as grant-in-aid for the next five years. Alleging that people of Delhi are in dire need of effective mobility solutions, union minister Hardeep Singh Puri responded to Kejriwal on Monday, saying the DMRC has offered one such solution and people are asking for more of it. "It is clear that the Board of DMRC has no power to alter the recommendations of the FFC. I have suggested to the secretary in this ministry, who is also the chairman of DMRC Board, to reconsider the position in this regard and to convene a meeting of the Board," Puri said.

Puri said the proposed suggestions of postponing the hike for a few months is not in conformity with the relevant Act of Parliament.

"Your suggestion amounts to a clear violation of this Act, which is completely unacceptable in our democracy," he contended. The drama in Assembly heightened as Sisodia claimed the move was for the benefit of cab operators like Ola and Uber. "This is world's first assembly where government in power is asking for reduction in fare and opposition is demanding the hike," Sisodia said. Taking a dig at Delhi government, opposition leader Vijendra Gupta said that the issue is being politicised.

"Metro has incurred operational losses and the state government should help by compensating DMRC for the losses," Gupta said.

--- ENDS ---
For four days, Milly Lagu listened to the terrifying sound of gunfire and watched flames rising from neighbouring villages. On the fifth day, the fear was too much to bear.

Knowing soldiers could soon come and take away her two eldest sons, Milly and her children fled the village of Opari, South Sudan, in December 2013, with the screams of neighbours and sounds of gunfire still ringing in their ears.

I thought they would either abduct them or, if I resisted, kill them, she recalls. To her horror, she became separated from them as they left.

Milly, 47, who gave a moving speech at the Executive Committee meeting of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Geneva meeting last week (Oct 2-6) on the urgent need for an end to the conflict in South Sudan, found herself leading a group of 30 women and children away from the violence, towards the Ugandan border.

Together, they trekked for days. At every turn, Milly  a mother of six  prayed for the safety of her two eldest boys. On the fourth day, in the evening, I found them. They arrived with swollen legs, having walked and ran everywhere. I cried because I did not imagine that I would see them alive again.

"I cried because I did not imagine that I would see them alive again.

Finally, with their group growing ever larger, Milly and her children crossed the border into Uganda, where the driver of a garbage truck offered to take them to Kiriandongu reception centre in the west. By then, they were so hungry and desperate to rest, they had little choice. It was filthy, but what can one do? says Milly.

In Kiriandongu, Milly and her children were registered as refugees and given a plot of land to farm and live on. Even now, their worries are far from over. When it rains, their hut leaks and mud seeps through the cracks. Her two eldest children cannot attend school, because Milly cannot afford the fees of 300,000 UGX (about US$80) per term. Just making sure her young children have enough to eat is a daily struggle.

Life is not easy, its hard, she says, with tears in her eyes. Because the number of refugees has increased drastically, food rations and land have been halved. But all of them are refugees and human beings, so they must also eat. They did not come because they wanted to, they fled war the same way we did.

To add to her heartache, in 2014, a friend broke the painful news that her husband, a military man who was conscripted, had been shot in fighting between rival forces.

Enough is enough."

Arnauld Akodjenou, UNHCR's Regional Refugee Coordinator for the South Sudan Situation and Special Adviser to the High Commissioner, called for safety and dignity for millions like Milly in a Facebook Live discussion yesterday. Enough is enough, he said. First, for the population inside South Sudan. Enough is enough for those who fled and became refugees. And enough is enough for those in six host countries who have received refugees from South Sudan and are not receiving international support.

Fighting in South Sudan has cost thousands of lives and driven four million people from their homes. There are more than one million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda alone and over 85 per cent of those are women and children. However, UNHCR has received just 21 per cent of the US$674 million needed to support them for 2017.

We must focus on conflict prevention and make sure that all ways and means have been put in place to have an inclusive dialogue, which is critical in South Sudan today, said Akodjenou. It should not become a forgotten crisis.

Milly is so determined to improve the lives of women and children from South Sudan that, as president of the child protection committee and womens affairs representative, she travels from village to village counselling women and children suffering from depression and trauma. She also attends inter-agency meetings.

Women and children are suffering, and I think they will continue to suffer without the help of the international community, she says. The status of being a refugee is not permanent. At some point we shall go back home. They have to remain themselves because they are the future of our country.

Milly hopes that, one day, she and her family will return home.

My only dream is if peace could return to South Sudan and we could go back home. You know, there is no place like home.
Thousands of new Rohingya refugee arrivals cross the border near Anzuman Para village, Palong Khali, Bangladesh.  UNHCR/Roger Arnold

UNHCR is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit centre to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days. This is in view of yesterdays sudden increase in in people arriving from Myanmar.

Bangladesh border guards say that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land on Monday into south-eastern Bangladesh through several points.

UNHCR sources say that many of the new refugees came from the Buthidaung area in Myanmars northern Rakhine state. Buthidaung town is some 25 kilometres east of Maungdaw. Some said they fled torching and killings back home; one boy was seen with a big gash across his neck. Others said they left in fear ahead of anticipated violence.

To reach Bangladesh, they walked for up to 14 days. Many were carrying children and baskets containing whatever they could pack at short notice. They waded through marshland before swimming across the Naf river that divides the two countries. Many women and children could not swim and had to ride piggyback on volunteer swimmers. Some used inflated plastic bags and UNHCR tarpaulins as makeshift flotation devices.

The new arrivals have now been moved away from the border areas into established camps and settlements in the Kutupalong and Balukhali area. UNHCR has trucked in plastic sheets and jerry cans for water. We are also coordinating with the government and partners to provide urgent services  food, water and healthcare  to these new refugees.

To prepare for possible further new arrivals, UNHCRs government counterpart, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), has agreed to set up small first aid stations at entry points to provide water and attention for major medical emergencies among the fresh arrivals.

In addition, we are working with the authorities to identify a suitable site for a transit centre in the area. RRRC and UNHCR will lead preparedness activities with partner agencies.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
PARIS  UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Monday that France has a leading role to play in resettling refugees and managing migration flows in Europe.

During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Grandi added that the UNHCR supports France in its efforts to lead Europe towards a more supportive approach to manage refugees who are at Europes external borders.

He welcomed the French governments plan to guarantee the right of asylum and better deal with refugees arrivals.

In regard to Frances asylum reform, Grandi said he hoped that it would contribute towards fostering a protective, effective and credible asylum system faithful to French tradition.

He suggested that UNHCR assists the French government and quickly provides technical advice on the draft law.

The High Commissioner also congratulated President Macron for widening the scope of Frances resettlement programme by increasing the number of resettlement places and including refugees from Niger and Chad.

He called again for the creation of 40,000 additional resettlement places for refugees who are in asylum and transit countries along the Central Mediterranean route.

Offering resettlement places for refugees along this route is also a display of solidarity with the countries that host so many of them, the High Commissioner stressed.

In addition, UNHCR chief underlined the urgent need for solidarity among European states and for harmonizing asylum procedures.

The country-based approach does not work. Only a common approach at the European Union level can make a real difference and make the management of refugees fairer and more effective, he added.

Increasing help where refugees are  in countries close to crisis zones  is important but this does not mean that Europe should not maintain its standards of excellence in terms of directly accessing its territory, welcoming and integrating refugees, the UNHCR chief added.

He said the need to set up strong compacts for refugees and migrants was more urgent than ever, adding that the international community was faced with record numbers of people displaced by conflict and persecution and the increasing complexity of international migration.

In this regard, Grandi stressed the importance of UNHCR's presence in countries bordering crisis zones in order to offer support and assistance to countries hosting refugees and to provide local and global solutions to those in need of international protection.

We need to strengthen our operations in Libya and in asylum and transit countries, such as Niger, to help refugees travelling to Libya and to Europe, but also to help states deal with these situations, he explained.

Grandi also referred to the Rohingya refugees, one of the fastest growing humanitarian crises of our time. He pointed to the need to boost aid to an estimated 500,000 refugees who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 25, 2017.

We are deeply worried about the sudden arrival of half a million refugees, who are also stateless, in Bangladesh, a country with very limited resources, said Grandi, who visited the country at the end of September 2017 to get a sense of the situation on the ground.

It is critical to keep pressuring the Myanmar government to stop violence in the region immediately, he said, stressing that it was key to grant citizenship to Rohingya stateless people. He added that UNHCR provided assistance to the Rohingyas on the ground.
Delhi Vidhan Sabha formulated a nine-member house committee to look into the rationale behind the fare hike and the financial health of the DMRC.

By Ilma Hasan: Opposition against Delhi Metro fare hike continues to grow in the national capital. After a power tussle between the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Delhi government on Monday, fare were increased as much as by Rs 10 for local commuters on Tuesday.

Following the hike, Delhi Vidhan Sabha formulated a nine-member house committee to look into the rationale behind the fare hike and also at the financial health of the DMRC.

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Aam Aadmi Party leader Alka Lamba said, "If DMRC says they are bearing losses they should reveal to the public how are they in losses. This is just a deliberate attempt to hurt the people of Delhi."

Even the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has objected to the move. In a statement to the press, DCW has stated that the fare hike was anti-women safety, asking the centre to roll back it.

WOMEN FORCED TO TAKE UNSAFE MODES OF TRANSPORT

DCW claimed in a survey conducted by them that out of 2,516 women, 68.68 per cent women stated that they would be forced to adopt less safer modes of transportation. The survey further concluded that 61.57 per cent women claimed they would face severe issues managing household expenses after the hike.

After NSUI blocked a metro track on Monday, even ABVP protested the hike on Tuesday. Students staged a protest outside the Delhi Metro headquarters on Barakhamba Road demanding immediate withdrawal of the fare hike. The student outfit also demanded special rebate for students of Delhi.

Asked why the ABVP was protesting the move backed by the BJP, its Delhi state secretary Bharat Khatana said, "We feel the Centre did not assess the ground reality. It is pinching the pockets of the common man and students."

FARE HIKE HURTS POCKETS

On ground as well, citizens have taken a serious hit because of the hike. This fare revision was the second one in the year, and has hurt pockets of those who travel daily by the Delhi Metro.

Latika, a student in Delhi University said, "This sets off my budget completely, I get a specific amount of pocket money from my parents. I can't ask for more, I might have to switch to using DTC buses"

Another commuter said, "This public transport is meant for the public, why do they keep increasing prices making it difficult for us to travel?"

Also Watch : AAP govt's role in Metro fare hike exposed

--- ENDS ---

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For information only - not an official document

UNIS/OS/486

10 October 2017

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs celebrates 50th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty

VIENNA, 10 October (UN Information Service) - The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the international community are celebrating fifty years since the Outer Space Treaty entered into force on 10 October 1967.

The Outer Space Treaty, officially entitled the Treaty of Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is the foundation of international space law. Twenty-four countries ratified the Treaty in 1967, and now 105 countries are party to the Treaty.

The Outer Space Treaty has helped maintain peaceful and orderly exploration and use of outer space. Among its articles, the Outer Space Treaty makes countries liable for damage caused by objects they launch into space and countries that are party of the treaty have to take responsibility for their activities in space. It also prohibits nations from placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space. The exploration and use of outer space is for all humankind, it states in the treaty, and no country can lay claim to the Moon or any other celestial body.

"The Treaty facilitates international cooperation in space matters. Nations that have political differences work together for scientific progress and to better understand the universe around us. While we may disagree on Earth, what we can achieve together in space is inspiring. Space unites us towards common goals. This is what we call space diplomacy," said UNOOSA Director Simonetta Di Pippo.

"As we look back on 50 years of the Outer Space Treaty, we remember its historical origins, celebrate the international cooperation and achievements it has facilitated, as well as to look ahead to an exciting future of space activities from exploring our solar system to developing better technology for improving lives on Earth. The Treaty is a commitment from the international community to preserve space peacefully, for all of us, and the generations to come," said Ms. Di Pippo.

***

Information about the Outer Space Treaty, as well as the other space law treaties and principles, is available at http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties.html

* *** *

For further information, please contact:

Daria Brankin

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

Telephone: (+43-699) 1459 8718

Email: daria.brankin[at]unoosa.org
DMRC said the raise in metro fare was necessary to meet the input costs and to keep providing world class service to the passengers commuting through it.

By India Today Web Desk: Amidst protests by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC ) hiked the fare of Delhi Metro services today. DMRC said the raise in metro fare was necessary to meet the input costs and to keep providing world class service to the passengers commuting through it.

However, AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwa l asked DMRC not to increase the fare. Instead, Kejriwal demanded that metro be handed over to the Delhi government.

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Amidst the tug of war between the two, the DMRC hiked the fare without any strong protests from the commuters.

DMRC, which was registered on May 3, 1995 under the Companies Act, has equal equity participation from the centre and the Delhi government.

AAP may have political compulsions to oppose the fare hike. It may want to present itself as the well-wisher of the Delhi residents. Conversely, it may like the BJP-led NDA government at the centre to be seen as anti-people.

But DMRC has its own reasons to increase the fare.

1. Since 2009, there has been no increase in fare whereas the input cost for metro service has increased by over 105 per cent in energy, 139 per cent in staff cost and by 213 per cent for repair and maintenance.

2. The DMRC has taken a huge loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and a payment of Rs 26,760 crore is still outstanding.

3. The DMRC has to provide for depreciation and replacement of various assets such as the trains (rolling stock) which have a life of 30 years and will have to be replaced subsequently. Provision has to be kept for this.

4. As the metro system is getting older, more maintenance procedures, preventive and corrective checks, safety and reliability checks, replacement of electrical fittings (such as insulators), base plates, rail testing and the likes are required. These are essential for providing a world class service, and which also leads to increased cost in overall operations and maintenance.

5. In spite of operating efficiently, the metro service is making a net loss of Rs 378 crore.

6. DMRC is consistently increasing number of trains, AFC gates, lifts, escalators and other passenger services which also result in the increase of input cost but are essential for providing a world class service.

7. Once Phase-III of the Delhi Metro is fully operational, commuters on many routes will have to travel shorter distances and they will be paying lesser fares. DMRC will have to keep that also in view.

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8. A comparison of metro fares of many Metros in India shows that the DMRC's maximum fare level is either less or comparable with other metros which are operating in the country in spite of a higher per capita income in Delhi.

Also Watch : CISF jawan fires in air at Delhi Metro station to control violent crowd

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By PTI: (Eds: With minor edits)

Chennai, Oct 10 (PTI) France has become the top tourist destination for Indian travellers with a 50 per cent increase in the number of those visiting the country in the last two years, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler said here today.

Inaugurating a branch office of the Consulate General of France based at Puducherry, he told reporters here, "France has now become the first tourist destination for Indians."

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"The total number of Indian tourists who visited France last year was 6,00,000, a sharp rise from around 3,00,000 in 2014," Ziegler said.

Asserting that there has been "more then 50 per cent," increase in the number of visa applications, mostly seeking tourist visas, he said in the first six months of this year, the growth in the number of applications was around 35 per cent.

Ziegler said the processing time for visas will be two working days.

To a question on student visas, he said, "We have set a target of 10,000 students visas (to be) issued by 2020... from 4,000 last year...and 5,500 this year."

Asked if Indian students choose France for any specific course the way they opt China for studies in medicine, Ziegler said his country offered a whole lot of programmes with management schools being very popular.

He also said, "We are increasing the number of scholarships."

On Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy requesting that French President Emmanuel Macron visit the union territory during his proposed visit to the country in December, he said it has not been decided yet and the request would be communicated to his government.

Addressing the gathering at the inauguration of the branch, Ziegler said the new office will offer consular services, issuance of visas and services to French community in Chennai, which was growing steadily.

The Consul General based in Puducherry would be available at least two days a week in Chennai, the envoy said.

Economic facilitation and fostering people to people exchanges through academic and cultural cooperation would be among the other activities of the branch office, he noted.

It will provide "proximity and accessibility" to the public and the inauguration is, once again, a "testimony of the very strong momentum that our (Indo-French) relation is experiencing," Ziegler said. PTI VGN APR NSD

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Japanese researchers have invented a way to breed hens that can lay cancer-fighting eggs with the help of genome-editing.

By India Today Web Desk: Just imagine if you could just eat something as regular as an egg to fight the deadly cancer?

As weird as it sounds, it is now possible to fight cancer-causing cells by eating medicated and genetically-edited eggs.

Japanese researchers have genetically modified chicken sperm that can help in breeding a generation of hens that can lay cancer-fighting eggs.

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Researchers from National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan's Kansai have use genome-editing by introducing genes that can produce interferon beta into the precursors of chicken sperm.

The researchers have altered the chicken DNA to achieve cancer-fighting eggs.

FYI: What is Interferon beta?

Interferon beta is a type of protein used in treatments for a multitude of diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), certain types of cancer and even hepatitis.

"This is a result that we hope leads to the development of cheap drugs," Professor Hironobu Hojo at Osaka University told Japan times.

Just a few micrograms of interferon beta can cost up to 100,000 yen (888 USD), but the team eventually hopes to harvest up to 100 milligrams from just one egg.

"In the future, it will be necessary to closely examine the characteristics of the agents contained in the eggs and determine their safety as pharmaceutical products," Hojo added.

The scientists have already developed three hens which can produce medicated cancer-fighting eggs, regularly.

For cost cutting and development, the researchers plan to sell the interferon beta to pharmaceutical companies which will eventually reduce it to 10 per cent of its current cost.

However, Japan has strict regulatory processes when it comes to development of new pharmaceutical drugs so Japanese might have to wait a little longer for this revolutionary product to come out in the market.

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The RiSE Lantern Festival returned to Nevada for a fourth year at the Mojave Desert October 6 and 7, 2017. Created to celebrate the collection of participants hopes, dreams and wishes, this years festival was particularly special, as many were able to honor those in the wake of the Las Vegas tragedy on Oct.1 (Photo courtesy of RiSE).

The simultaneous release of thousands of lanterns created a breathtaking moment, that for some served as a floating vigil in the sky, welcoming over guests from across the country. Festival organizers and attendees extended heartfelt condolences to loved ones of the fallen victims while other participants also embraced the prayers and wishes of others through the Still I Rise social media campaign launched earlier this year, giving non-attendees an opportunity to share their messages.

To complement the event, guests were welcomed to live music, in addition to a selection of food and beverage offerings enjoyed in the newly added lounge areas. At sundown, the first release of lanterns allowed for an astronomical feeling  filling the Mojave Desert sky with a multitude of sky lanterns each night. After the second release, the event concluded with a collection of fireworks.


Its time to get runway ready and go all out in the name of fashion at the 8th Annual Fashion for Autism Gala on Friday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Featuring an evening of fundraising, in addition to mens and womens fashion from Neiman Marcus, the annual fashion event celebrates community members leading the fight against autism and benefits Grant a Gift Autism Foundation and UNLV Medicine Ackerman Autism Center.

Attendees of Fashion for Autism will sip champagne while bidding on lavish and luxurious items at an exclusive silent auction beginning at 6 p.m. For those individuals who cannot attend or guests who want to get a jump start on the silent auction, online bidding will start Oct. 20 on select items at https://fashionforautism2017.auction-bid.org/.

Following the reception, Monica Jackson from Fox News This Morning, will host evening featuring live fashion show sponsored by Neiman Marcus. The luxury department store will showcase the hottest trends for both fashion-forward men and women. Guests will also enjoy an incredible live auction followed by the awards ceremony honoring three outstanding community leaders who have worked tirelessly to ensure that families dealing with autism receive the help and support needed.

International star and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Pia Zadora will be honored with the Ambassador for Autism Award; Julie Foutz Beasley, Ph.D., Child Neuropsychologist and UNLV Medicine Ackerman Autism Center Director will receive the Autism Community Care Award; and John Guedry, CEO of Bank of Nevada will receive the Autism Community Partner Award along with Grant a Gift board members Flossie Christensen and Sarah Guindy. Former Grant a Gift program clients Haley Daniels and Jonas Martin will both be awarded the Self-Advocate Community Achievement Award, for making significant accomplishments within the community. A special Autism Advocacy recognition will be presented to Assemblyman James Oscarson.

With autism affecting 1 in 68 kids in our community, the need outweighs the services available in Southern Nevada. Proceeds from this event will help supply center diagnostics services, speech therapy, sibling support workshops, local operations, and scholarships to effectively serve families living with autism spectrum disorder and give children the opportunity to live a life of maximum independence.
Up to 1,400 Air Berlin employees could be out of a job by the end of October AFP/Roland Weihrauch

Up to 1,400 Air Berlin employees could be out of a job by the end of October AFP/Roland Weihrauch

Flights "will as far as we know no longer be possible after October 28 at the latest" because of insolvency rules, chief executive Thomas Winkelmann wrote in a letter to employees.

Air Berlin triggered bankruptcy proceedings in August after losing a cash lifeline from its biggest shareholder Etihad Airways.

Its aircraft have been kept aloft by an emergency loan from the German government.

Subsidiaries Niki in Austria and LGW in Germany are not themselves bankrupt and will be able to continue flying after the late October cut-off.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa and British carrier Easyjet's exclusive deal for talks to buy up chunks of the stricken airline ends Thursday, and any agreement will need a green light from European authorities - a process that could take "several weeks or months," the firm expects.

"We will know more in a few days" about any agreement, Winkelmann said, adding that negotiations had been "intense".

Unions have criticised management for not keeping some 8,000 employees informed of the progress of discussions.

Also on Monday, executives and worker representatives opened discussion of a redundancy programme.

Many Air Berlin workers are expected to find new jobs at the prospective buyers, and Lufthansa has already advertised around 1,000 new jobs at low-cost subsidiary Eurowings, expected to buy up many of the smaller airline's planes.

Nevertheless, "we strongly encourage you to actively take a look at the job market yourselves," Winkelmann told staff.

A union document seen by AFP Saturday suggested up to 1,400 Air Berlin employees could be out of a job as soon as the end of October, with cuts falling especially heavily among ground crew and administrative staff.
Viet Nams market will have over 300,000 card readers installed at POS to process around 200 million transactions per year. - Photo cafef.vn

The plan is aimed at boosting the non-cash payment in Viet Nam, as approved in Decision 2545/QD-TTg dated December 30, 2016, by the Prime Minister.

Accordingly, the ratio of cash to total payment instruments will be below 10 per cent by the end of 2020.

The plan sets a target of gradually increasing the number and value of card payment transactions using card readers. By 2020, the whole market will have over 300,000 card readers installed at POS to process around 200 million transactions per year.

E-payment in e-commerce will be also promoted to achieve the targets of having 100 per cent modern supermarkets, shopping malls and distribution centres installed with card readers by 2020, which would enable consumers to make non-cash payments when purchasing goods.

By 2020, 70 per cent of electricity, water, telecommunications and communications service providers will accept non-cash payment of charges, while 50 per cent of individuals and households in major cities will use non-cash payment instruments in their shopping and consuming activities.

The percentage of people aged over 15 years having bank accounts will be also targeted to increase to at least 70 per cent by the end of 2020.
The euro meanwhile held firm in the face of mounting pressure against Catalonia's push to break away from Spain.

In Britain, May was expected to tell the European Union that "the ball is in their court", as her divided government resumed Brexit negotiations in Brussels.

But the European Commission roundly rejected May's assertion that it was up to Brussels to take the initiative to advance the stalled talks, amid fears that her domestic political woes were threatening the negotiations.

The pound was in recovery mode Monday, making good some of the heavy losses it had sustained last week on rumours of a plot to oust May as Conservative party leader amid bitter divisions over how the UK should plan its EU departure.

"The FTSE 100 came under pressure as sterling rallied on the back of the speculation that Theresa May will reshuffle her cabinet in order to reassert her authority on the party," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.

Meanwhile, Madrid stocks pushed higher although Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont could still declare the region independent as promised, possibly by Tuesday.

"The IBEX 35 has bounced back today as tensions have cooled in comparison with early last week, but the market is regaining the ground it lost at the start of the month," said Madden.

The DAX 30 in Frankfurt struck a new record high after industrial output grew faster than expected in August, just short of breaching the 13,000 points level.

In Asia meanwhile, most stock markets started the week on a positive note, with Shanghai returning from a week-long break with healthy gains as traders looked past a surprise drop in US jobs.

GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS

Nevertheless, geopolitical tensions returned with another feared North Korea long-range missile test reportedly in the planning and US President Donald Trump suggesting that talking to Kim Jong-Un's regime was a waste of time and "only one thing will work", although he did not say what that "thing" was.

"Whether it's fears of another North Korean missile, Catalan secession, a US-Turkey visa spat, German coalition talks or Brexit ... there's plenty to keep markets amused," said Accendo Markets analyst, Michael van Dulken.

With the Columbus Day holiday in the United States, trading on Wall Street was expected remain quiet, van Dulken said. The Dow was drifting higher approaching midday.

At the end of last week, the Dow and S&P 500 had retreated from earlier record highs as data showed the US economy lost 33,000 posts in September - the first drop since 2010.

Analysts noted that the drop was not as steep as expected and pointed to improving wage growth and a further dip in the overall unemployment rate, suggesting that the data were likely distorted by factors related to the recent hurricanes that hit Florida and Texas.

Meanwhile on Monday, Shanghai ended higher as investors returned from the week-long Golden Week celebrations and reacted for the first time to the Chinese central bank's decision to cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve as part of a push to help small businesses.

Hong Kong retreated on profit-taking after ending Friday at a 10-year high. Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei were closed for public holidays.

Key figures around 1530 GMT:

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 per cent at 7,507.89 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.2 per cent at 12,976.40 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 per cent at 5,635.83 (close)

Madrid - IBEX 35: UP 0.5 per cent at 10,236.00

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.2 per cent at 3,610.21

New York - DOW: UP 0.04 per cent at 22,782.84

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 per cent at 3,374.38 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 per cent at 28,326.59 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for public holiday

Euro/dollar: UP at US$1.1739 from US$1.1736 at 2100 GMT on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at US$1.3128 from US$1.3069

Dollar/yen: FLAT at 112.65 yen

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN one cent at US$55.61 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 10 cents at US$49.39.
Fridtjof Nansen was a legendary adventurer who explored the world's unknown terrain and broke new grounds as an international humanitarian.

By India Today Web Desk: Google today marks the 156th birthday of the pioneering Norwegian, who was born in Oslo on October 10, 1861.

Fridtjof Nansen was a legendary adventurer who explored the world's unknown terrains and broke new grounds as an international humanitarian.

From his school days, Fridtjof Nansen excelled in science and drawing, and upon entering university, he decided to do his majors in zoology.

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Nansen mixed his scientific interests with his exploratory instincts to draw in a series of achievements that brought him international fame.

He was an exemplary skier and ice skater and led the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888. He traversed the island on cross-country skis.

Photo: Facebook/europeanhistoryandgods

During his North Pole expedition undertaken in 1893-96, he won international fame as he reached the northern latitude of 86 degrees 14' which was a record in itself.

His techniques of polar travel and innovations in clothing made him a pioneer and influenced several generations of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.

Apart from being an explorer, Nansen was a scientist, diplomat and political activist.

In 1905, Fridtjof Nansen struggled for the independence of Norway from Sweden, and after the Union dissolved, served as the country's minister to Britain.

He started another chapter in his life in 1914, when World War I started. Explorations had stopped and Nansen started taking an interest in international politics.

In 1919, Nansen became the president of the Norwegian Union for the League of Nations and influenced the adoption of the League Covenant for recognition of the rights of small nations.

In 1920, the League of Nations tasked him with repatriating the prisoners of war. Nansen succeeded in his task brilliantly, and repatriated 450,000 prisoners in the next year and a half, despite restricted funds.

In 1921, when the League of Nations instituted its High Commission for Refugees, he was the first High Commissioner for Refugees and came up with the "Nansen passports", a travel document for stateless refugees that became recognised by 52 governments around the world and allowed those who were displaced to emigrate and resettle. He was eventually awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work helping those without a voice and searching for a home.

Fridtjof Nansen died on May 13, 1930.

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uong Lam Village in Ha Nois Son Tay City retains most of the characteristics of a typical Vietnamese village: a village gate, banyan trees, a wharf, a communal yard, pagodas, a well and rice fields. - VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan

According to the department, tourism is a key industry in Ha Nois economy. The city boasts more than 1,300 craft villages, over 600 cultural and historical sites and about 1,000 annual festivals. Last year, about 22 million visitors arrived Ha Noi, an 11 per cent increase from 2015. The city expects to get 23.6 million visitors this year, including 4.3 million foreigners. But serving visitors to help make sure they want to make a return visit to Ha Noi is an art and a skill that can be difficult to master.

Last year, to address this need for training, the tourism department opened three tourism-related classes for people in the communes of Ba Trai, Van Hoa and Ba Vi in the suburban district of Ba Vi.

In August 2017, another class was opened for people in Quang An Ward in Tay Ho District. Last month, nearly 100 people in Thuy Lam Commune of ong Anh District participated in a similar class.

During these classes, people receive information about the benefits of tourism, skills to communicate and serve tourists and instructions on the need to keep the environment clean and green.

Pham Hung Son, head of uong Lam Ancient Village Relic Management Board, said that uong Lam villagers understand the benefits of tourism. More than 120 families in the village participate in the tourism industry, including by offering homestay services or other tourism products.

Nguyen Manh Truong, vice chairman of Quang An Ward Peoples Committee in Tay Ho District, said that the ward was famous for decorative plants, lotus ponds and lotus-scented-tea as well as religious sites like Tay Ho Temple and Kim Lien Pagoda.

More than 700 families in the ward rent houses to foreigners. During peak times, he said, the ward hosts up to 3,000 foreign visitors.

With such advantages, Quang An residents are excited to join tourism activities, particularly because of the economic benefits to families and localities, Truong said.

Chu Thi Minh Tam, head of Tay Ho Districts Culture Division, said that in order to engage the local community in tourism development, it was necessary to facilitate opportunities for them to participate in tourism planning and then supervise the implementation of the plans.

This will help to produce more practical planning and help local residents properly know about changes to the land they are living in, Tam said. Improvement of public awareness of the need to preserve natural and cultural values of the locality also helps ensure stability in their lives.

Vu An Dan, head of Tourism Department under Ha Noi Open University, said that human resources should be the first area of focus in any effort to speed up tourism development.

Poor human resources, poor service quality means visitors will not return, Dan said.

He said that such tourism training classes for local communities were very helpful, particularly if they addressed two widespread weaknesses among tourism industry employees: maintaining industry standards of professionalism and foreign language competence.
A tropical low-pressure system may gain strength and develop into a tropical storm when making landfall in Viet Nam today, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said yesterday. - Photo vietnamnet.vn

Hoang uc Cuong, the centres director, said according to forecasts by the US and Japan the tropical low-pressure system, which has been affecting Viet Nam for several days, will likely be upgraded to a tropical storm level 8, the lowest level out of 18. It is predicted to make landfall early this morning and hit central provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Binh.

Provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai are forecast to experience heavy rain. In particular, four provinces from Nghe An to Quang Binh can expect very heavy rains of up to 200-400mm, Cuong said.

Southern parts of the northwest region and the northern Central Highlands are expecting average rain.

The centre said water levels of rivers in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh were rising. Flooding was forecast for rivers in Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai provinces at midnight yesterday.



Light flooding was also expected to hit the rivers of Thao, Lo and Thai Binh in the north between today and tomorrow.

Northern mountainous provinces and central provinces have been put on high alert due to the possibility of landslides and flash floods, the centre said.



The urban areas of large cities which are prone to be inundated needed to prepare carefully to prevent damage to property and lives, it said.



At an urgent meeting of the National Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Control to prepare for the tropical low-pressure system, the committee asked coastal provinces in the affected area to inform all offshore vessels about the latest developments of the system so that they could find safe anchorage.



The localities administrations were told to evacuate locals in low-lying areas and along riverbanks to higher locations and re-check reservoirs to ensure safety during heavy rains, it added.



Colonel Tran Duong Kien from the High Command of Border Guard said by yesterday morning, about 70,000 offshore vessels had been informed about the situation.
An Indian farmer uses pesticide on his fields in 2015: some 20 farmers have died in Maharashtra from poisonous spray AFP/NOAH SEELAM

An Indian farmer uses pesticide on his fields in 2015: some 20 farmers have died in Maharashtra from poisonous spray AFP/NOAH SEELAM

The farmers in the western state of Maharashtra, one of India's most important agricultural regions, died after using the dangerous pesticides without wearing protective gear.

"Twenty farmers are dead and hundreds are undergoing medical treatment. Fifty are critical with damage to their eyesight," Kishore Tewari, the spokesman for a state government task force that helps farmers in distress, told AFP.

The first death was reported in August and the number of fatalities increased throughout September, according to local news reports.

They occurred in the Yavatmal region, around 670km from the financial capital Mumbai.

Activists blame a lack of regulations covering pesticides and a failure to provide poor farmers with proper safety equipment.

Tewari said the victims had not worn boots, masks or gloves. Victims reported experiencing blurred vision and excruciating headaches, he added.

"I don't have the money to buy protective gear and we spray pesticides without any safety kits," broadcaster NDTV quoted one farmer as saying.

Last week the Bombay High Court called on the Maharashtra government to ban the sale of pesticides in the affected areas.

Yavatmal police superintendent M Rajkumar told AFP that several cases had been filed against a local agricultural centre which sells pesticides to farmers.

India has nearly 260 million farmers and farm labourers eking out a meagre living.

Their livelihoods are regularly destroyed by drought and 1,417 farmers killed themselves in Maharashtra in 2016, according to official figures.

In June the state government agreed to write off loans to farmers estimated to be worth nearly US$5 billion.
The decree will make sure less buyers get their fingers burnt

Among the big projects to be launched is An Khanh New City Developments sale of its first phase this quarter. The mega $2 billion project is developed by South Koreas Posco E&C and Vietnams Vinaconex, located in Hanois Hoai Duc district, along the Thang Long Boulevard.

Scheduled for completion in 2013, the city is expected to supply 6,440 apartments, equivalent to 392,319 square metres of accommodation, enough for 30,000 people.

Even though Hoa Phat Group, the investor in a more than 1,000 apartment Mandarin Garden in Cau Giay districts Tran Duy Hung road, refused to release its launching time, real estate experts predicted the project would be soon launched.

At the beginning of this month the CT7D, located in Le Van Luong street and invested by Nam Cuong Group and the FLC Landmark Tower of FLC Group will also be launched, with a total of 200 units and prices ranging from VND23 million ($1,200) to VND28 million ($1,470) per square metre.

In Gia Lam district, over the Red River, the second lot of Rung Co Residentials belonging to the Eco Park is also being launched, with around 1,500 apartment units.

In addition, Victoria Van Phu, Star City, Diamond Tower and Song Da City View will also add apartments to the mix.

Real estate consultant CBRE Vietnam expected that there would be 3,000 units in Hanoi launched this quarter, compared to 1,950 units in the third quarter. There were more than 4,600 units launched in the second quarter.

This decline, according to CBRE Vietnam, could be due to the Decree 71, effective on August 8, 2010 providing guidance on the Housing Law, which caps the proportion of units sold via capital contribution contracts at 20 per cent with the remaining 80 per cent sold on transaction floors.

This decree, CBRE Vietnam said, had put a pressure on developers with low financial capabilities and enhanced market transparency.

However, CBRE Vietnam executive director Richard Leech said new project launches would continue trending towards more affordable options.

With the opening and improvement of major infrastructure routes, the capitals western and southern districts are attracting new residents with easier access for commuting into the core urban districts, Leech said.

He said that the Decree 71 was expected to benefit the market by enhancing transparency, placing pressures on developers with low financial capabilities, lessening the threat of price bubbles and limiting speculative forces.

Tran Nhu Trung, Savills Vietnam associate director, said the Decree 71 had showed off its advantages to clearly regulate five types of mobilising capital investment. However, Trung said the procedures to implement Decree 71 were still complicated and wasted customers time and energy.

The more simple it [decree] regulates, the more it is practical in the real life, Trung said.
The Ministry for Heritage has announced that three new interpretation panels have been placed within our Old Town in order to provide information on our Medieval History, namely our Islamic and Spanish Periods.
Convent Christmas Fair 2017

The Convent have announced it will be holding its Christmas Fair on Thursday 30th November. This annual event held in the historical setting of the Convent raises money for locally registered Charities.

This year, it has been decided to support Gib Sams in order to assist them with the setting up of their much needed services, and Girl Guiding Gibraltar in order to assist in the furnishing and equipping of their new premises.

Doors open at 12.00 noon. Once inside, the public will find 40 seasonal stalls, many run by local Charities as part of their own fund raising effort, offering an array of crafts, gifts, Christmas cards and decorations. The Cloister will have a cafe offering cakes, scones, coffee and tea.

Between 4 and 6 pm the public will be serenaded by Jazz Friends once again this year and the choir of St. Joseph's School will be singing Christmas carols at 6 pm in the King's Chapel. Mulled wine and mince pies will be provided by the Red Cross Committee. Santa will be in his Grotto as from 2pm, offering gifts to the children.

The Fair will host two raffles. The first, a Honda SH Mode 125cc motorcycle kindly donated by Bassadone Motors. Tickets are priced at 2 each and will be available at the Fair and at The Piazza on Thursday 16th November between 09.00 and 15.00. The second raffle will offer a number of prizes donated by local businesses. Both raffles will be drawn at 6.30 pm on the day.

The Convent is urging the public to join in the festivities whilst supporting local Charities.

Entrance is 2 for adults and children 12 years and under will get in free.
Cultural Development - Fitness Gallery

Gibraltar Cultural Services on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, as part of its cultural development programme, launched this past weekend, a Fitness Gallery initiative, working alongside personal trainer Kezia Lopez.

The event took place at the Gibraltar Exhibition of Modern Art (GEMA), Montagu Bastion in Line Wall Road, on Saturday 7th October 2017.

The idea was to bring together fitness and art in the same space, in the same vein as similar events happening in cities across the world, such as recently seen at the New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The event saw GCS heritage art experts giving presentations before the fitness class led by Kezia. The event also featured fitness, nutrition and beauty pop ups. The session was very well attended and an enjoyable and informative morning was appreciated by all.

GCS looks forward to providing more Fitness Gallery platforms in the future.
Eurafrica Trail 2017 Starts from Europa Point Tomorrow

The Eurafrica Trail 2017 will start from Europa Point at approximately 3pm tomorrow afternoon. The event is the first mountain race in the world to be held between two continents and three countries, with Gibraltar now forming part of the races third edition.

The two previous editions have had over 200 volunteers and 1,000 participants from 9 different countries. Participants will face a new challenge tomorrow as added to the already established stages of the 25 or 50 kms leg in the Alcornocales Natural Park and the final 40kms leg in Chefchaouen, Morocco, participants will now have a 4km vertical climb from Europa Point to O Haras Battery (via Mediterranean Steps) to contend with. The Gibraltar Vertical Climb will be the starting point of an unprecedented race which will start tomorrow and be completed over five days, finishing on Sunday the 15th October in Chefchaoeun.

The Minister for Sport will start the first participant off, with subsequent runners leaving at regular intervals. Minister Cortes will present prizes at the spectacular St Michaels Cave to those who excel in this gruelling start to this years edition.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has won 5 of 7 municipality seats across 7 municipalities in the Gujarat by-poll results declared today. These 7 municipalities were spread across 7 districts of the state.

By India Today Web Desk: The Bharatiya Janata Party has won 5 of 7 municipality seats across 7 municipalities in the Gujarat by-poll results declared today. These 7 municipalities were spread across 7 districts of the state.

The BJP also won one taluka panchayat seat. Among all the 8 seats, BJP had won 2 seats previously. The party has now increased its number to 6, which is a 3-fold rise from its showing in the last by-election in the state. The Congress' count came down to half, compared to previous position.

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BJP won seats in Boriavi (Anand), Mahudha (Kheda), Vijapur (Mahesana), Patan (Patan) and Talala (Gir Somnath) municipalities. The party also won Randheja taluka panchayat seat in Gandhinagar district.

NANDED CIVIC POLLS ON OCTOBER 11

Meanwhile, the Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation polls in Maharashtra will be held on October 11.

The Nanded civic polls is being seen as a litmus test for former chief minister and current state Congress unit president Ashok Chavan, whose father late Shankarrao Chavan, a former defence minister, had nurtured the constituency over the years.

The 81-member civic body is currently controlled by the Congress. In the 2012 polls, the Congress had won 41 seats, Sena 14, BJP 2, NCP 10, MIM 11, Others (2) and Independent 1. Out of 81 seats, 41 seats are reserved for women candidates, 15 seats for SC candidates, 2 for ST and 22 seats for Backward Class communities.

The counting of votes will be done on October 12 and results will be declared on the same day. A total of 578 candidates are in the poll fray.

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Photo: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

A New Yorker report has added three allegations of nonconsensual sex to last weeks allegations of Harvey Weinsteins decades-long history of sexually harassing women and reaching multiple secret settlements. In a story reported by Ronan Farrow, 13 women told The New Yorker that the former Weinstein Company boss sexually harassed or assaulted them, between the 1990s and 2015. Three women said that Weinstein raped them, and four said they experienced unwanted touching that could be classified as an assault. Four actresses  including Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette  said they felt that after they rebuffed Weinsteins advances or complained about him that their careers suffered because of it. Sixteen former and current Weinstein employees said Weinsteins behavior was well known within the Weinstein Company and Miramax, recounting a culture of complicity at Weinsteins places of business, with numerous people throughout the companies fully aware of his behavior but either abetting it or looking the other way.

7 High-Profile Men Accused of Sexual Harassment Over The Past Year

Italian actress Asia Argento said she was invited to a party thrown by Weinstein in 1997. When she arrived to the hotel for the party, a producer took her to Weinsteins hotel room where she says Weinstein performed oral sex on her. (Argento told The New Yorker she later felt obliged to submit to his advances, and that they later had a friendship over the following five years with multiple consensual sexual encounters.) Another woman, Lucia Stoller, told The New Yorker that in 2004, the summer before her senior year at Middlebury, she met with Weinstein and a female casting executive during the day at his Tribeca offices. Stoller said Weinstein dismissed the exec and talked to her about a few scripts before assaulting her. He forced me to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont, she told The New Yorker. Hes a big guy. He overpowered me.

Sorvino, Arquette, and other women describe identical harassment: The women agreed to meet with Weinstein to discuss upcoming roles or their career, and their meeting was then moved to his personal hotel room where he asked them to massage him or watch him shower. The women say Weinstein bragged about other young models or actresses who submitted to him, and that they didnt speak out earlier because they were afraid of his professional wrath. Female executives said they were often asked to join the beginning of these meetings to make the younger women feel comfortable, and then were asked to leave. Sorvino said she is friends with Harvey Weinsteins brother and business partner Bob, but never told him about the harassment. Current and former Weinstein employees said that there was a culture of silence about sexual assault inside Miramax and the Weinstein Company.

In a statement to The New Yorker, Sallie Hofmeister, a spokesperson for Weinstein, said: Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously cant speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Ben Affleck, whose career began when he and Matt Damon made Miramaxs Good Will Hunting in 1997, has released a statement addressing news of over a dozen allegations of sexual harassment and assault by former Weinstein Company boss Harvey Weinstein. I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades, he wrote. The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. Afflecks statement comes on the heels of a report by exNew York Times reporter Sharon Waxman that Damon (and, separately, Russell Crowe) personally called her about a story she was reporting about Miramaxs Italian head Fabrizio Lombardo, whom was allegedly hired to take care of Weinsteins women needs.

George Clooney is the only other major Hollywood actor to denounce Weinstein, in an interview with the Daily Beast.
Clinton. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

After the New York Times published a bombshell story accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting or harassing women for decades, many public figures connected to the superproducer have condemned his alleged actions. Besides fellow Hollywood professionals, politicians who had received financial support from Weinstein over the years renounced him, with the Democratic National Committee and some individuals pledging to donate the equivalent of funds he donated to charity. Hillary Clinton, however, was not one of those issuing a statement about Weinstein, despite his being a high-dollar contributor to her political endeavors and a longtime friend of the Clintons. Today, however, Clinton issued a statement through her communications director, Nick Merrill, via Twitter.

Statement from Secretary Clinton on Harvey Weinstein: pic.twitter.com/L1l2wl9l0I  Nick Merrill (@NickMerrill) October 10, 2017

According to CNN, Weinstein has given more money to Clinton over the years than any other politician, and he has organized and hosted events on her behalf. In an op-ed for the Times yesterday, Lena Dunham even mentioned one of those events, saying she appeared despite reservations about Weinstein because she wanted to support Clintons presidential campaign. The statement arrives shortly after new reports in both The New Yorker and the New York Times have more women going on the record with more allegations of harassment, assault, and now rape against Weinstein.

7 High-Profile Men Accused of Sexual Harassment Over The Past Year
George Clooney. Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage

Following in the footsteps of Meryl Streep, who decried Harvey Weinsteins appalling and disgusting history of alleged sexual harassment to the Huffington Post Monday, Kate Winslet, Glenn Close, and Judi Dench have joined the growing cadre of A-listers speaking out against the now-former studio head. In a statement to Variety (you can read the full text here), Winslet admitted to having heard about Weinsteins alleged pattern of coercive sexual behavior, but chalked it up as gossip she now feels naive to have dismissed. His behaviour is without question disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong, she says in part. I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naive. And it makes me so angry. There must be no tolerance of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.

7 High-Profile Men Accused of Sexual Harassment Over The Past Year

In her statement made Monday to the New York Times, Glenn Close expressed a similar anger at Weinstein over the allegations made against him, while also admitting that, yes, she too had heard the exact same stories about the studio head. Im sitting here, deeply upset, acknowledging to myself that, yes, for many years, I have been aware of the vague rumors that Harvey Weinstein had a pattern of behaving inappropriately around women, the actress admits. Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumors are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad. Close concludes her statement, available here in full, with the hope that Weinsteins scandal will inspire everyone to appraise their attitudes toward sexual harassment in Hollywood. She writes, I feel the time is long and tragically overdue for all of us in the industry, women and men, to unite  calmly and dispassionately  and create a new culture of respect, equality and empowerment, where bullies and their enablers are no longer allowed to prosper.

Dame Judi Dench, meanwhile, told Newsweek that she, like Meryl Streep, had been in the dark about the mounting accusations leveled against Weinstein until last week. Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying, and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out, she said in a statement. Dench and Weinstein have had a close working relationship for years, from the actresss turn in Miramaxs 1997 period drama Mrs. Brown to her appearance in this years Tulip Fever. Their professional partnership is so important to her, Dench jokingly told the New York Times last month, that she had a temporary tattoo drawn on her bum to show her love for the now-disgraced producer. The faux-tattoo read JD Loves HW.

Update, October 10, 2017, at 9:55 a.m.: George Clooney has now spoken out against Weinstein, saying that hed heard rumors of actresses sleeping with the studio boss for roles, but dismissed them as campaigns to discredit the talent of young stars. Clooney described the new allegations as indefensible. Thats the only word you can start with. Harveys admitted to it, and its indefensible, Clooney told the Daily Beast Monday night. Ive known Harvey for 20 years. He gave me my first big break as an actor in films on From Dusk Till Dawn, he gave me my first big break as a director with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Weve had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behavior  ever.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has a film adaptation of In the Heights in the works with the Weinstein Company, has also said hes appalled and repulsed by the news:

Forgive me.

Just woke up to this--I'd asked my reps to keep any press non-relief-related off my desk.

That's my fault. https://t.co/0bvwPFpBnh  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 10, 2017

I'm as appalled and repulsed by the Weinstein news as anyone with a beating heart. And forever in awe of the bravery of those who spoke out.  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 10, 2017

Update, October 10, 2017 at 12:33 p.m.: Ben Affleck worked with Weinstein at the beginning of his career on Goodwill Hunting, the movie for which he won his first Oscar. He issued his own statement on the producer via Twitter, saying, We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behavior when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power.

Update, October 10, 2017 at 1:20 p.m.: Following this mornings extensive New Yorker report detailing more accusations of sexual assault against Weinstein, the New York Times has reported more accusations from high-profile actresses who worked with Weinstein. Gwyneth Paltrow said that after signing her on for a role at 22, Weinstein brought her in for one of his hotel room meetings and attempted to give her a massage, as well as invite her into his bedroom. She told her boyfriend at the time, Brad Pitt, who confirmed through a representative that he confronted Weinstein about the incident and told him to stay away from Paltrow, but she never reported the harassment and said she was expected to keep the secret.

Angelina Jolie also said she had her own bad experience with Weinstein  also in a hotel room  during the release of the 1998 movie Playing By Heart, and decided to never work with him again. Rosanna Arquette added her name to the list of Weinstein hotel room encounters, telling the Times that Weinstein greeted her in a bathrobe, asked her for a massage after complaining about neck pain, and then grabbed her hand and put it on his crotch after she deflected his request for the massage. Arquette says she pulled away and then left the room.

In addition to Paltrow, Jolie, and Arquette, actresses Katherine Kendall, Tomi-Ann Roberts, and Judith Godreche shared their stories to the Times. Roberts, who said she found Weinstein nude in a bathtub upon arriving for a scheduled meeting, said her incident took place in 1984 when she was a 20-year-old college junior.

Update, October 10, 2017, at 2:33 p.m.: Actress Rebecca Hall has appeared in two movies distributed by the Weinstein Company, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Lay the Favorite, and she tells Indiewire in a new interview that while she was never personally harassed by Harvey Weinstein, she was aware of his reputation and protected from him by her team. The truth is, there have been rumors circulating forever, Ive known about them, Hall told Indiewire. Ive certainly been quietly protected, without really ever being told why. I certainly was never allowed near a meeting with him on my own, and anything like that. In retrospect, I understand why, even if my representatives werent explicitly telling me.

Update: October 10, 2017, at 4:50 p.m.: In a new statement provided to The Guardian, Colin Firth has given his support to the women coming forward with allegations of abuse. The actor worked with Weinstein on the Oscar-winning movie The Kings Speech. Its with a feeling of nausea that I read what was going on while I was benefiting from Harvey Weinsteins support, he told The Guardian. He was a powerful and frightening man to stand up to. It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out. And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage. By coming forward theyve provided a jolting wake up throughout our industry. I hope its going to be a help to others, both in our own industry and elsewhere.

Update: October 10, 2017, at 6:10 p.m.: Benedict Cumberbatch, who is starring in the Weinstein Company-produced The Current War, has provided a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about the allegations being leveled at Weinstein. I am utterly disgusted by the continuing revelations of Harvey Weinsteins horrifying and unforgivable actions, said the statement. We need to collectively stand up and support victims of abuse such as the brave and inspiring women who have spoken out against him and say we hear you and believe you. That way others may be emboldened by our support to come forward and speak. But we shouldnt wait until there are any more stories like this. We, as an industry and as a society at large need to play our part. There has to be zero tolerance of any such behavior in any walk of life. We owe that to these womens bravery in coming forward.
Weinstein. Photo: Melmedia/GC Images

Harvey Weinstein has been removed as the head of the Weinstein Company following a bombshell investigation that uncovered decades of allegations of sexual harassment against him, and now The New Yorker has obtained audio of Weinstein confessing to groping a woman. In a confrontation recorded by the NYPD of Weinstein and Filipina-Italian model and aspiring actress Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, Weinstein is heard instructing Gutierrez to come into his hotel room and sit in the bathroom for five minutes and drink water while he showers. Gutierrez repeatedly tells Weinstein that she does not feel comfortable and asks him why he touched her breast the previous day. Oh, please, Im sorry, just come on in, Im used to that, he tells her. I wont do it again  I swear on my children. Please come in. On everything, Im a famous guy. Dont ruin your friendship with me for five minutes. Gutierrez is heard asking to leave before the conversation appears to end.

An NYPD commander tells the Daily Beast that Weinstein was nearly arrested in 2015 for this alleged groping. According to police, and as outlined in the original New York Times report, Gutierrez notified authorities that, in March 2015, Weinstein allegedly grabbed her breasts and put his hand up her skirt at his Tribeca office. She fled right after. The NYPD now says they put Weinstein under surveillance with the help of Gutierrez, arranging a meeting between the two at the Tribeca Grand Hotel later that month, at which the actress recorded her conversation with Weinstein (parts of which are heard above). During that meeting, which the NYPD scoped out from a different room, police say Weinstein basically apologized for what he did, but then told Gutierrez, Listen, come up to my room. The commander describes that exchange as evidence of how incorrigible the guy is.

Gutierrez coordinated with police, who guaranteed her safety and intended to catch Weinstein in the act should he attempt to grope her again. Officers say she agreed to go upstairs with him but then suddenly backed away and departed out of fear. The police took Weinstein in for questioning when he came back downstairs, but were forced to hold off when they say the mogul asked for lawyers connected to Rudy Giuliani. (Weinstein denied the allegations.) The police say they presented a strong case against Weinstein to the Manhattan district attorneys office for his arrest, but the DA declined to charge him after a week of debating it, citing lack of evidence. The NYPD commander suggests that the DAs office was hesitant to prosecute after considering other factors: the failed Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, Gutierrezs testimony in the Silvio Berlusconi case, and her previous abuse allegation against a boyfriend. When you say no after a week, its not usually over the facts, the commander tells the Daily Beast. A source told the Daily Beast that Weinstein ultimately paid Gutierrez off and she left New York, with a movie about her life now in the works (not connected to the Weinstein Company).

7 High-Profile Men Accused of Sexual Harassment Over The Past Year

Following the latest allegations against Weinstein, it was reported that his lawyer, David Boies, donated $10,000 to Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in 2015 not long after Vance declined to prosecute Weinstein for allegedly groping Gutierrez. In a statement on Tuesday, the DAs office said the case against Weinstein did not proceed because NYPD investigators failed to consult with SVU prosecutors prior to the sting, and that the audio obtained did not establish criminal intent, which is required to prove a crime under New York law.

This post has been updated throughout.
By India Today Web Desk: Rekha is one heroine who is known to be a recluse, but at the same time, her personal life has made some sensational headlines in the past. Be it her rumoured affair with Amitabh Bachchan or the suicide of her late husband Mukesh Agarwal, Rekha's volatile personal life has always been in the eye of the storm.

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However, Rekha's life will always be a mystery, especially because she is so reluctant to give interviews to the press.

On Rekha's 63rd birthday, we take a look at a few episodes in her life that almost made her Bollywood's controversy queen at different points in her life.

The mysterious case of sindoor

Rekha took everyone by surprise at Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh's wedding in 1980. Rekha, who was close friends with Neetu back in the day, made a 'sensational entry' to the wedding. Well, it wasn't her aura that made many heads turn, but the presence of red sindoor on her head that took everyone by surprise.

It was during the same time that rumours of Rekha's relationship with Amitabh Bachchan were in full swing. Interestingly, Amitabh along with wife Jaya Bachchan, was also present at the wedding. The cameras soon moved away from Rishi-Neetu and focused on her.

Her rumoured affair with Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha elusive relationship have held their fans' imagination captive for decades now. Back in the late-seventies, Big B and Rekha's rumoured affair provided enough fodder to the gossip mills. While Rekha has gone on record to profess her love for Amitabh time and again, Big B and Jaya have mostly maintained a stoic silence, for decades now. It was in 1976 that Rekha and Big B were seen together on the big screen for the first time. But years later, it was filmmaker Yash Chopra who added fuel to the fire by pulling off a casting coup of sorts for his film Silsila. The film went on to become almost symbolic of what was supposedly happening in Amitabh, his wife Jaya Bachchan and Rekha's lives.

It was on Rendezvous with Simi Grewal that Rekha bared her heart on national television for the first time. When Simi asked if Rekha fell in love in Amitabh, she said, "Absolutely! Duh, that's a dumb question! (Did Rekha fall in love with Amitabh in the process of working together?) I'm yet to come across a man, woman, child, who can't help but fall completely, passionately, insanely, desperately and especially, hopelessly, in love with him. So why should I be singled out?" She added, "You want to know the truth? There was never a personal connection with him. That's the truth. What do I deny? I'm not in love with him? Of course I am. Duniya bhar ka love aap le lijiyega and add some more - I feel that for that person. Bottomline."

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Marriage to Mukesh Agarwal gone wrong

Rekha, whose love was not equally reciprocated by Amitabh Bachchan, went on to tie the knot with Mukesh Agarwal, a Delhi-based businessman. It all began with a phone call, and after a month of knowing each other, the two got married. The sudden news of her marriage to Mukesh spread like wildfire.

Just a few weeks after her marriage, Rekha got to know about Mukesh's battle with chronic depression, which ran in his family. Soon, cracks appeared in the marriage as Mukesh began exhibiting erratic behaviour. And seven months after their wedding, Mukesh committed suicide. A nationwide witch-hunt followed. People all over the country started hating and shaming her as a cold-hearted man-eater.

Forced smooch at the age of 15

New to the business of lights, camera and action, Rekha had no idea that her first film will scar her for life. She was only 15 when she began shooting for Anjana Safar, and little did she know that it would be a harrowing experience as the actor, then a minor, was molested at the hands of the film's director Raja Nawathe and its star Biswajeet Chatterjee.

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The scene that was to be shot was a romantic scene. According to an excerpt from her biography, Rekha: The Untold Story, the moment Raja said 'action', Biswajeet grabbed Rekha and pressed his lips on her mouth. Anything about the kiss had not been mentioned to Rekha. While the camera kept rolling and the entire crew kept whistling and cheering, the director did yell 'cut' for five minutes, as Biswajeet kept kissing an unsuspecting Rekha for full five minutes. Rekha had tightly closed her eyes but they were full of tears.

Rekha-Sanjay Dutt's secret wedding?

Back in the 80s, there were rumours of Rekha and Sanjay Dutt's secret wedding. Not too long ago, there were reports that Rekha still applies sindoor in the Munna Bhai MBBS actor's name. However, Yasser Usman, who penned her biography Rekha: The Untold Story, had denied these reports. He had said, "Rekha and Sanjay Dutt were working in a film together, probably Zameen Aasmaan (1984). The rumours of their affair surfaced at that time. In fact, some went on to say that they got married. These rumours became so strong that Sanjay Dutt had to deny the allegations in a magazine. It was an official denial."

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ALSO WATCH: 33 years on, Amitabh, Jaya Bachchan greet Rekha at Screen Awards

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Top Dera functionaries were given the responsibility to incite violence, there was a formal deployment plan.

By Manjeet Sehgal: The Haryana police SIT team probing the August 25 Panchkula violence has got important leads from Honeypreet Insan during her 6 day interrogation, police officials told Panchkula Court on Tuesday.

Investigations have confirmed that a blueprint of August 25 Panchkula violence was prepared in a meeting held in Sirsa on August 17.

The alleged mastermind of the mayhem Honeypreet, told SIT that she prepared the guide maps of Panchkula, where the violence was perpetrated.

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Dera functionaries were given the responsibility to organise and fund the violence. Police have told the court that guide maps and deployment chart are saved in a laptop, and they want to recover this laptop to get the maps and other incriminating documents.

HONEYPREET'S MOBILE AND LAPTOP HOLD THE LEAD

According to the sources, Honeypreet's laptop besides the deployment plan and guide maps can also contain details of financial transactions as she was handling Dera's finances. Police also say that Honeypreet is also aware about the unaccounted cash which was allegedly taken to a secret location after Gurmeet Ram Rahim was jailed.

Honeypreet had also misled Haryana police about her mobile phone which was lost somewhere. Honeypreet's accomplice Sukhdeep Kaur, who is the wife of Gurmeet Ram Rahim's driver Iqbal Singh, told police that the mobile was either hidden in a Tarn Taran, village in Punjab, or was in Bijnor Uttar Pradesh.

LEADS ABOUT DERA'S THREE MOST WANTED

The SIT investigating the violence incidents has so far failed to arrest the fugitive Dera functionaries including Dr Aditya Insan, Pawan Insan and Gobi Ram as Honeypreet Insan not only concealed information about their whereabouts but also did not answer the questions being put up.

The police while getting extended Honeypreet's police remand has also informed the court that Honeypreet has now given some leads about the places where Aditya Insan, Pawan Insaan and Gobi Ram could be hiding. Police now on the basis of the lead provided by Honeypreet Insan want to arrest Dera functionaries.

Meanwhile, the police has also slapped sedition case against Rakesh Kumar Arora, Private Secretary of Honeypreet Insan and her accomplice Sukhdeep Kaur.

Those who have already been made an accused include Surender Dhiman Insaan, Chamkaur Singh Govindram, Pradeep Goyal, and Khraitee Lal. They have been booked under IPC sections 121, 121A , 216,145,150,151,152,153 and 130B.

ALSO WATCH: Honeypreet used 17 SIM cards to evade arrest

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A third Democrat has entered the race for Texas 17th Congressional District, hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan.

Rick Kennedy, 55, of Round Rock, said he wants to be part of an incoming class of representatives set on restoring political process on a Capitol Hill fraught with divisiveness.

This cant be the blue version of a tea party election, Kennedy said. Its got to be, were bringing this thing back to a functioning government that is going to be able to make progress the old fashioned way with principled compromise when its necessary.

Kennedy lives about five miles outside District 17. A Massachusetts native, he has lived in Round Rock since 2006 and has spent more than 30 years working in software development and information technology. He has never run for political office before, nor have his March primary opponents: Dale Mantey, of Rockdale, and Scott Sturm, of New Braunfels.

District 17 includes all or parts of McLennan, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Falls, Freestone, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Milam, Robertson and Travis counties.

Kennedy supports universal healthcare for the United States, though he expects that step, an increasingly popular policy goal among progressive lawmakers, will not be taken for decades. His other platforms focus on immigration reform and research on gun violence.

These guys have run on repeal and replace for four election cycles, he said, referring to Republicans plans for the Affordable Care Act. And now theyre in, and they cant get anything done. So I think a lot of that frustration is going to bubble over to, hopefully, a more rational look at things. Anger wins elections, but anger doesnt govern very well.

Flores, the former chairman of the influential Republican Study Committee, has criticized GOP senators for not considering legislation, including a health plan, passed by the House.

Toeing traditional party stances in recent months, Flores has called for a ban on bump stocks, the removal of President Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump from their White House positions, and a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

Kennedy sees Flores immigration position as a convenient political position and said the four-term congressman could be vulnerable among Republican voters frustrated by inaction.

He said he wants a Congress that would stop leveraging the divisions in our society to win elections and actually put people before party and country before party.

Democrats announce bids for Flores' House seat U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, will face a challenger from the Democratic Party when he see
Authorities worked over the weekend to tighten security measures around the McLennan County Courthouse for the first trial of a May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout defendant.

A temporary, metal fence was placed around the perimeter of the 115-year-old building and officials have blocked access to curbside parking spots on three sides of the courthouse.

Black curtains have been placed over windows in areas where the jury or those involved in the trial could be viewed walking from the outside of the courthouse and a canvas tent was erected in the alley between the courthouse and the annex to shield the jury as they walk between the buildings.

After filling out questionnaires Monday, prospective jurors were told to report at 9 a.m. Tuesday for the beginning of jury selection in the trial of Jacob Carrizal, 36. Court officials expect the trial to last about two weeks.
Remember to carry a helmet in your car from next time, especially, if you drive a car in Karnataka.

By India Today Web Desk: Not wearing a helmet is an offence as we all know it but not always. Especially, when you're driving a car.

Yes, a cab driver in Karnataka was fined for not wearing a 'helmet'. Naveen, a cab driver in Hubballi, was traveling from city to Gokul Road for his usual business when he was stopped by a cop around 10 pm.

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Naveen showed his documents to the cop as well as his license. But, he was presented a penalty of Rs 100 for driving without a helmet.

When Naveen questioned the cop, the cop started abusing him.

"The policeman started abusing me and insisted that I pay the fine. I told him that I had all the documents and that I drive for an app-based cab company which ensures all the documents are in place."

According to a New Indian Express report, Naveen was asked to pay Rs 500 initially but when he refused to pay the amount, they slapped a fine of Rs 100 at him. He was given a proper challan for not wearing helmet with a car number (KA 25 D 2271) on it.

The incident took place on October 7 on Chennamma Circle. In the past too, many car drivers were fined for not wearing helmets due to CCTV camera's technical errors. But, getting fined by a cop who can differentiate easily between a car and two-wheeler is really something.

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Childrens advocate and award-winning author Trudy Ludwig will be presenting at Ceresco Elementary tomorrow, Oct. 11, to give her nationally acclaimed presentations to students and staff on relational aggression (emotional bullying by intentionally manipulating or hurting peer relationships).

During her visit, Ludwig will be presenting two student assemblies (K-2 and grades 3-5, respectively) to empower children with healthy friendship skills. In addition, Ludwig will provide to educators after school an in-service presentation,, Creating a Safer Social-Emotional Learning Environment at School. This after-school talk, open to school district educators staff will take place from 3:30 -5:00 p.m. at the Ceresco site.

Were excited to have Trudy Ludwig share her books and expertise with our students and staff, said Shelly Dostal, Valparaiso Elementarys principal, in a press release. We want to stay on top of the latest research, resources, and tools to help us in our ongoing, proactive efforts to provide a safer social-emotional learning environment for our school community.

Ludwig has received rave reviews around the country for her passion and compassion in addressing bullying and friendship issues. She has been featured on ABCs Good Morning America, PBSs nationally syndicated show, Keeping Kids Healthy, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Reading Rainbow, the National Crime Prevention Councils Circle of Respect program, and served as an expert panel member on Sesame Street Workshops video series addressing bullying. Her books (My Secret Bully, Just Kidding, Sorry!, Trouble Talk, Too Perfect, Confessions of a Former Bully, Better Than You, The Invisible Boy, and Gifts from the Enemy) have received national praise for helping children in grades K- 8 cope with and thrive in their social world.

Ludwig presents at schools and conferences throughout the US to raise awareness of relational aggression among children and what adults can do to help. She also collaborates with leading bullying prevention experts and key organizations around the country. For more information about Ludwig and her work, visit www.trudyludwig.com.
The International Monetary Fund said the global growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 is -- 3.6 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

By Press Trust of India: The IMF today said the global economic recovery is continuing at a faster pace as it upgraded its growth projection to 3.6 per cent for this year, citing an upswing in countries like China, Japan, Russia, and some emerging economies in Europe.

Releasing its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), the International Monetary Fund said the global growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 -- 3.6 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively -- is 0.1 percentage point higher in both years than in the April and July forecasts.

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Notable pickups in investment, trade, and industrial production, coupled with strengthening business and consumer confidence, are supporting the recovery.

With growth outcomes in the first half of 2017 generally stronger than expected, upward revisions to growth are broad based, including for the eurozone, Japan, China, emerging Europe, and Russia.

"These more than offset downward revisions for the United States, the United Kingdom, and India," the report said.

"The global recovery is continuing, and at a faster pace," Maurice Obstfeld, the IMFs Economic Counsellor and Director of Research, told reporters at a news conference held at the IMF headquarters ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank here.

Obstfeld said for 2017, most of the upgrade owes to brighter prospects for the advanced economies, whereas for 2018s positive revision, emerging markets and developing economies play a relatively bigger role.

"Notably, we expect sub-Saharan Africa, where growth in per capita incomes has on average stalled for the past two years, to improve overall in 2018," he said.

According to the IMF official, the current global acceleration is also notable because it is broad-based - more so than at any time since the start of this decade.

This breadth offers a global environment of opportunity for ambitious policies that will support growth and raise economic resilience in the future.

Policymakers should seize the moment as the recovery is still incomplete in important respects, and the window for action the current cyclical upswing offers will not be open forever, he said.

Of the view that global recovery is still incomplete, Obstfeld argued that the action to make necessary changes should take place now as these are the good times.

"Success requires a three-pronged approach in the context of completing and refining the important financial stability reforms undertaken since the global crisis, without weakening them," he said.

In line with stronger-than-expected momentum in the first half of 2017, the IMF forecast sees a stronger rebound in advanced economies in 2017 (to 2.2 per cent versus 2 per cent foreseen in April), driven by stronger growth in the eurozone, Japan, and Canada.

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In contrast, compared with the April 2017 WEO forecast, growth has been marked down for 2017 in the UK and for both 2017 and 2018 in the US, implying a 0.1 percentage-point aggregate growth downgrade for advanced economies in 2018.

Activity in the UK slowed more than anticipated in the first half of 2017; as for the US, given the significant policy uncertainty, the forecast now uses a baseline assumption of unchanged policies, whereas in April it assumed a fiscal stimulus driven by then-anticipated tax cuts.

Growth prospects for emerging and developing economies are marked up by 0.1 percentage point for both 2017 and 2018 relative to April, primarily owing to a stronger growth projection for China, the report said.

The country's 2017 forecast (6.8 per cent, against 6.6 per cent in April) reflects stronger growth out-turns in the first half of 2017 as well as more buoyant external demand.

For 2018, the revision mainly reflects an expectation that the authorities will maintain a sufficiently expansionary policy mix to meet their target of doubling real GDP between 2010 and 2020, it said.

--- ENDS ---

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Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Will you buy the cow if there's a milk substitute on the market? Is buying even a good idea or will a lease do? And what does the cow think about all of this?

Happily for those who prefer not to equate women with farmyard animals, that particular metaphor has largely fallen out of use. But the questions underlying it endure. Mark Regnerus, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, sets out to address them in his alarmingly titled new book, Cheap Sex: The Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy.

Why, when women have gained so much power, are we so often at impasse in our romantic relationships?

The "cheap sex" of the book's title refers to the way that sexual acts have become radically less costly over the past half century, in economic and social terms. Widespread contraception makes sex less risky, and online dating makes it more accessible.

But such radical change is rarely without consequence. To measure it in the realm of our relationships, Regnerus relies on the concept of sexual economics, in which mating is seen as a marketplace. In this view, women are gatekeepers to a limited, highly desired product: sex. In exchange for access to this product, men proffer commitment, fidelity and resources.
The Berejiklian government has defended moves to rush through legislation to keep open a coal mine in Sydney's catchment despite impacts on water quality, with one minister declaring, "if you want a friend, get yourself a piece of coal".

The legislation, aimed at nullifying a Court of Appeal ruling in August that declared the extension of the Springvale coal mine invalid, was expected to pass the lower house on Tuesday and be voted on in the upper house on Wednesday.

Chris Jonkers of the Lithgow Environment Group at East Wolgan swamp, which has been extensively damaged by subsidence from the underground coal mine. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Planning minister Anthony Roberts lugged a large lump of coal into question time and placed it on the dispatch box while answering a question about the bill that aims to ensure coal supplies to the nearby Mount Piper power plant are not disrupted.

"This amazing piece of black rock keeps you cool in summer, warm in winter, it produces power to power electric motor vehicles," Mr Roberts said, echoing theatrics by the Turnbull government in February.
When I was being treated for cancer, a friend used to say to me, "You know you look pretty good  you look like a Facebook cancer fake."

It was a backhanded compliment that always made me smile. Bowel cancer is no laughing matter and neither was the treatment: radiotherapy and chemo, then surgery, then more chemo, then more surgery. It seems this worked and three years later I'm one of the lucky ones: in remission.

So for me, the tawdry story of Belle Gibson and her lies are a bitter pill to swallow. She got off lightly.

Gibson claimed to have had only months from live due to brain cancer, which was cured after she gave up conventional treatment and used natural remedies.
By PTI: By Lalit K Jha

United Nations, Oct 10 (PTI) India today slammed Pakistan at the UN for repeatedly raising the Kashmir issue on platforms where it has not been part of the agenda, saying the neighbouring country has ventured to plough a "lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history".

Indias response came after Pakistans Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said that the decolonisation agenda of the UN will "remain incomplete" without resolution of the "long festering dispute" of Jammu and Kashmir.

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The issues was raised by Pakistan during a debate on decolonisation in the fourth committee of the UN General Assembly.

Srinivas Prasad, minister at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, said India "rejects the efforts of the delegation of Pakistan to bring issues which have never been on the agenda of this Committee ever in its history."

He said India considered it a diversion from the agenda and as a distraction not worthy of a response.

"Even as all those who have taken the floor have focused on issues of Non Self-Governing Territories, a solitary member State, as usual, has ventured to plough a lonely furrow contrary to the onward march of history," said the Indian diplomat.

However, exercising its right to reply, Pakistan said that Kashmir remained a "dispute under any definition", and that there was an "explicit obligation" for the UN and the parties to work to resolve it.

Earlier, Lodhi continued with her anti-India tirade at the UN.

"Contrary to Indian claims, Jammu and Kashmir never was and never can be an integral part of India. It is disputed territory, the final status of which has yet to be determined in accordance with several resolutions of the UN Security Council," she said. PTI LKJ NSA

--- ENDS ---
By Sneha Agrawal: Ranjith KK was "a simple man with little dreams". But he was also a Leading Aircraftman (LAC) in the Indian Air Force and hated the job. The disgruntled Ranjith became an easy prey for a honeytrap set by Pakistani spy agency ISI and is now facing trial for allegedly leaking secret information.

Mail Today has accessed transcripts of conversations between the airman and the fake Facebook account McNaught Damini. Ranjith was posted at the Bathinda base before he was dismissed and arrested in 2015 following a joint operation by Delhi Police's crime branch, military intelligence and the air force liasoning unit.

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Damini, pretending to be working in the defence analysis sector, offered him the job of alerting about the movement of squadrons to different air force stations along with information about fighter aircraft being used and their number, location of transportable radar units and their identification. He was also asked to update on live air exercises as and when they were held in the western and northern air commands, the INDRA India-Russia military exercises and movements to the Jammu and Kashmir base.

The conversations between the two took place on Facebook, Skype as well as WhatsApp. Details reveal the secrets shared with Damini, the payment plan offered and what compelled Ranjith to divulge information. The airman disclosed the exact number of aircraft such as Jaguar, Sukhoi 30 and AWACS participating in an exercise. He also reported the movement of squadrons to Bathinda from Pathankot, Amritsar, Agra, Ambala, Srinagar, etc.

Ranjith was in service since 2010. He told Damini that joining the force was a necessity and not his choice. It was the sudden death of his father that left his family without any earning member. "It is just me and my mother who live in Kerala. My sister is married and father passed away. When father died I just wanted a job immediately; that is why I joined the force," he told Damini.

He also wrote that he was not happy as the salary he was getting in service was too little and asked her to look out for job opportunities in London. "I am a little fed up here. Here it is not sufficient. I cannot even complete the work of the house. My father had a dream of owning a house. It will take years to complete," he said. There were moments when the airman grew suspicious but he soon forgot this.

During his interview process, he was told that a person named Mangeet would speak to him on Skype, which showed that the country registered was Pakistan. "He (Mangeet) demands me to join on Skype. But the problem is that it is showing he belongs to Pakistan. I think he is from Pakistan," he told Damini. "Do not get me in trouble. I am a simple man with little dreams."

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Damini responded, "He is not from Pakistan and one thing you should keep in mind is that there is no one in our office from Pakistan." The code "marriage plan" was used to confirm if Ranjith wanted to work for the Pakistani intelligence. Damini described to him the payment plan.

"Initially the payment slab ranges from 550 USD to 600 USD. But additional payments would be made for some other tasks for which the payment would vary from at least 5000 USD to 10,000 USD," he was told. Ranjith was advised to give the bank details in the name of a relative. "This is your salary account and should be separate from the present one so that nobody suspects," Damini said.

--- ENDS ---
Under the auspices of the WCO/JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Joint Project, to support trade facilitation in Africa, a regional workshop for Master Trainers on Intelligence Analysis in East Africa was held in Mombasa, Kenya, from 2 to 6 October 2017. This is the last workshop in a series of 4 activities on Intelligence Analysis, jointly supported by JICA and the WCO, which aims at developing (i) a pool of well-experienced trainers and (ii) training materials to be used by those trainers. The Master Trainers, as they are known under the Project, have already been actively contributing to the capacity building of Customs administrations in East Africa. However, their contribution is expected to be further expanded to enhance intelligence-driven risk management and, for this purpose, they developed a training material on Post Seizure Analysis (PSA) which reflects the challenges and concerns faced by the Customs administrations in East Africa.

Twenty-five (25) Customs officials from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda participated in this workshop and worked intensively to review the training material developed under this Master Trainer Programme with the advice of experts from the WCO and Japan Customs.All the participants exchanged their views, experiences, and ideas for the improvement of the training material and completed their work during the first half of the workshop.

The second part of the workshop included a 3-day training delivery sessions to which 20 Customs officials from Kenya Revenue Authority were invited to attend as trainees. All 25 Master Trainers took responsibility to act as trainers and facilitators during those sessions. The training material on PSA finalized during the first half of the workshop was immediately utilized in the training sessions and contributed significantly to improving the understanding of invited trainees.The positive outcome of this training demonstrated the great value of the materials, as well as the value of WCO/JICA collaboration on this matter. At the end of the workshop, the Master trainers also developed a delivery plan of training on Intelligence Analysis for their respective Administrations.

Throughout the 5-day workshop, the Master Trainers successfully demonstrated their ability and knowledge to act as trainers. Both WCO and JICA welcomed their strong ownership and commitment clearly demonstrated during the workshop which will improve their training delivery capacity through the Master Trainer Programme.

It is expected that the developed training materials will contribute further to the improvement of intelligence-driven risk management in East Africa.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) conducted the first national support mission to Mali under the C-RED Project. The mission was held in Bamako on 18-21 September 2017.

The overall goal of the C-RED project, which is funded by the Government of the Netherlands, is to assist Customs administrations in West Africa to be better prepared to contain the effects of regional epidemics and natural disasters.

The objective of the mission was threefold:

to assess the needs in terms of required national support and capacity building in the area of Customs clearance of relief goods,

to strengthen national coordination between all stakeholders that play a role in clearance of relief goods,

to draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for receiving international emergency relief consignments and equipment imported for humanitarian purposes.

During the mission, the WCO and UN-OCHA experts moderated a 4-day programme that was opened by the Deputy Director General of the Customs Authority of Mali. The workshop benefitted from the active participation of a broad range of Customs officials, representatives of a number of government bodies (among those the Ministry of Health, the Police, and the Civil Protection) - as well as a representative of OCHA-Mali and humanitarian actors such as the CICR.

In highly interactive sessions, the WCO and OCHA presented the C-RED Project, Customs challenges and the international tools to be used in the fight against regional epidemics or natural disasters

The whole group also visited the Airport President Modibo Keita where the Airport services gave an insight on how consignments are received and cleared at the airport premises. In the afternoon, Mali officials presented the current legal framework and existing procedures related to clearance of relief goods.

After this visit, the participants worked in break-out groups on a template, provided and thoroughly explained by the mission team, on the various sections of the SOPs. Upon completion of the sections assigned to the groups, the texts were compiled to form a consolidated draft. It is now up to Mali Customs Services to coordinate the finalization and the adoption of the SOPs.

During the workshop a list of recommendations and actions was set up to be followed for enhancing and facilitating the implementation of the SOPs. Deadlines have been assigned to each of recommended actions.

The mission was seen as a valuable opportunity for enhancing the cooperation between the government agencies and the humanitarian actors who attended the meetings. Following this success, it was agreed that a second mission with the same stakeholders and new identified ones would be hosted in Mali, next year at the latest.

More information about the C-RED project
The WCO Harmonized System Committee (HSC) held its 60th Session from 27 September to 6 October 2017 at WCO Headquarters in Brussels. The session was attended by 169 participants representing 78 Contracting Parties to the HS Convention, one WCO Member administration and three international organizations.

During his opening address Mr. Ping LIU, Director of Tariff and Trade Affairs, referred to the symbolic and historic importance of this gathering; the Harmonized System Committee was now celebrating its 60th Session, thus exceeding the number of sessions held by its predecessor, the old Nomenclature Committee. Since its first session, held in April 1988, the Harmonized System Committee had examined 4,144 Agenda items and taken 2,230 decisions.

Over the years, the number of Contracting Parties to the Harmonized System Committee had grown from 4 in 1985 to 156 today, and the number of countries and Economic and/or Customs Unions that used the HS now stood at 209.

In the course of its recent sessions, the Committee had adopted innovative approaches for dealing with a number of challenges, including how to take account of technological developments and requests related to environmental issues, all of which were assuming increasing importance.

The Director also highlighted the tasks that lay in store for the Committee, saying he was confident that it would be able to step up the pace of its decisions thanks to a speedier decision-making process.

During the 60th Session, the HSC took some 50 classification decisions related to products covered by the HS Nomenclature, in at least seven different areas. The Committee adopted 18 sets of amendments to the Explanatory Notes and approved 21 new Classification Opinions.

As part of the work to prepare the Seventh Edition of the HS (HS 2022), six sets of amendments to the Nomenclature were provisionally adopted, and some decisions on the classification of goods were submitted to the HS Review Sub-Committee for consideration of possible amendments to the Nomenclature to facilitate the classification of various products, such as 3D printers for example, and motor vehicle windscreens.

Productive discussions were held on how to classify products newly released on to the world market, in areas which included cutting-edge technology (for example, equipment for manufacturing LCD modules), the food industry (for example, blanched green shell mussels), and the tobacco industry, with a useful exchange on how to classify new tobacco products.

Another notable aspect of the Committees work was an intervention made by Mexico to withdraw a reservation it had entered in respect of the classification of a commodity, in keeping with the approach adopted by the Council at its 129th/130th Sessions to limit the number of reservations entered by administrations in respect of decisions taken by the Committee.
By PTI: finishing milk

Houston, Oct 10 (PTI) A three-year-old Indian girl with developmental issues has been missing in the US state of Texas after her foster father allegedly told her to stand outside alone late in the night as punishment for not finishing her milk, media reports said.

Sherin Mathews, adopted two years ago by Wesley Mathews at an orphanage in India, has not been seen since around 3 AM on Saturday morning, NBC reported.

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On Saturday night, Wesley was arrested by Richardson police and charged with abandoning or endangering a child. He was released on USD 250,000 bond late Sunday night, Sgt. Kevin Perlich said.

Sherin went missing after her father allegedly told her to stand by a tree near an alley outside their home in Richardson as punishment for not finishing her milk, Perlich was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle.

When her father went to check on Sherin roughly 15 minutes later, she was gone.

The father did not notify the police that his daughter was missing until about five hours later, police said, adding that the delay in reporting the matter "is certainly concerning to us."

"That does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child," Perlich said.

The girl has "developmental issues and has limited verbal communication skills, police said.

The father at one point told the investigators that coyotes have been seen in the alley, but investigators say theres no indication one may have dragged the girl away. PTI AMS AKJ AMS

--- ENDS ---
A naval sailor was discharged from service after he went through a sex-reassignment surgery a few months ago.

By India Today Web Desk: An Indian Navy sailor who underwent a sex reassignment surgery has been discharged from service recently. Ever since the news came out in the open, it has triggered a debate over naval rules and transgender rights in India.

A press release by the Indian Navy said that the sailor, who now goes by the name Sabi, decided to undergo the surgery "on his [her] own accord, whilst on leave willfully altering his [her] gender status".

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WHY WAS SABI DISCHARGED?

The current rules and regulations of the Indian Naval Services do not permit the sailor to continue her services due to the altered gender status.

The decision of the Indian Navy received a lot of flak when the matter came into public arena, as armed forces were being questioned about the induction of women in armed forces.

"We have asked the government on the action to be taken by us regarding the sailor as she has spent her own money to change sex," a Navy source told Mail Today.

SABI's STORY

Born as Manish Kumar Giri, Sabi joined the Marine Engineering department of the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam some seven years ago.

A few months ago, she underwent a sex re-assignment operation in Delhi.The Navy was not aware of her surgery, until she returned after a 22-day long vacation and fell ill with a urinary track infection.

In August, the process for her discharge from service was initiated, and the case has now been taken up with the Ministry of Defence.

''When they (the Navy) found out about my sex reassignment surgery, no one objected or discriminated against me," Sabi told India Today.

However, she did point out that it is "sad and worrying that a 'man' the Indian Navy deemed fit for the job of being a sailor has suddenly been declared unfit because of an organ change,".

Sabi had earlier hailed the Indian Navy and its "liberal policy" giving her an alternative deployment in the service.

"I used to work as an engineer and it required me to be on the ship. But my new identity of a woman has forced me to stay away from ship and work at the base," she said.

Sabi, who was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, said that she had tried to seek help from the naval doctors, but they had turned her away. Eventually, she consulted civil doctors in Visakhapatnam.

She has also alleged that she was "mentally harassed and kept in a psychiatric ward for six months. They tried to prove me mentally unfit but they failed,".

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The Indian Navy has forwarded her case to the Ministry of Defence, seeking advice on the future course of action.

"I am as much a citizen of India as any other male or female citizen of the country. I have the same rights as other enjoys. I can still pull the trigger of a gun and shoot the enemy, why am I not fit enough to serve my country? I will go to the Supreme Court if I have to and fight for my rights,'' Sabi told India Today.

She is also considering writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking justice.

(With inputs from Ashish Pandey)

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Ranchi, Oct 10 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today visited Zdas, a renowned engineering company in Czech Republic, an official release said here.

Das urged senior officials of the company to explore investment prospects -- independent investments or JVs, the release said.

Das also urged the companys management to send master trainers who could train workers of factories and manufacturing units in Jharkhand, the release added.

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Jharkhand Additional Chief Secretary Amit Khare and CM?s Secretary Sunil Barnwal were present during the meeting, the release said. PTI PVR SBN

--- ENDS ---
An infamous serial knifeman in Karachi has attacked and injured more than 10 women in two weeks. Women are now running scared as the knifeman remains on the run.

By India Today Web Desk: A sereal kinefman in Karachi has women on his list as he unleashes fear.

The Karachi knifeman has attacked and injured more than 10 women in two weeks and of course, his tool is a knife. He remains on the run.

Police officers and hospitals say almost all women suffered injuries on their right side and were attacked from behind.

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"He is attacking women, young and old alike. He hasn't shown any preference for women dressed in particular attire," the Dawn quoted an unnamed officer as saying.

KNIFE ATTACKS IN KARACHI

The knife attacks have created unease and anger among Karachi residents.

"Working women acknowledged feeling overwhelmed and scared, many opting for rickshaws and cab services and not walking to bus stops," the daily said.

"Female students of Karachi University and Habib University are avoiding walking alone."

One of the latest victims was a housewife and a mother of three who told police that a lean man wearing a red and black helmet and off-white salwar-kameez on a motorbike came behind her and attacked her. He then sped away.

"I was wearing a big, thick shawl that night and it saved me from severe injuries," she added.

"My nine-year-old daughter is so traumatised."

Karachi serial knifeman's latest victim has however turned out to be a hoax.

According to the police, the latest victim -- Noman -- slashed himself across the arm to lend credence to his fake story that he was attacked by the Karachi knifeman, according to news agency Samaa..

After police questioned Noman, the boy changed his statement multiple times and was in panic.

Finally, he admitted that he was not attacked by the notorious knifeman but had cut himself in order to secure a leave of absence from office.

Noman had attacked himself on Saturday and blamed the Karachi knife attacker, who has been targeting women in the city's Gulistan-e-Johar area since the past two weeks.

PAKISTAN AND SERIAL ATTACKERS

Pakistan has had its share of serial attackers. The infamous Hathora group and Chhalawa gang terrorized Karachiites in the '80s and '90s, smashing the skulls of their victims.

In the late '90s, there were reports of men with blade slashing the arms of women wearing short-sleeved shirts outside a major Karachi shopping mall.

In 2007, Punjab minister Zille Huma was killed because her killer was not happy with her clothing.

In 2012, a rickshaw driver in Karachi used to pick up women passengers, disembody them and throw away their body parts. In 2016, news reports surfaced that a man was stabbing women in Rawalpindi, the Dawn said.

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Similar knife attacks were reported between 2013 and 2016 in Punjab's Sahiwal district.

Police officers admit it is not easy to catch the Karachi culprit.

"In a city of 20 million, you can't stop every single person on a bike and check for a weapon. That is the challenge," the officer said.

--- ENDS ---
Weapons including a sword and steel bombs have been recovered from the BJP office in Kerala's Kannur.

By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: In a recent development in Kannur the local police have seized lethal wepons from Panoor area in Kannur. The police team recovered the wepons from an uninhabited ground behind the BJP office.

Kannur SP told India Today that they have recovered 2 swords, 4 iron rods and one knife.

The search operation was carried out based on the information given by municipality cleaning staff who were cleaning the bushes. The investigation is underway to track the owners of these weapons he said.

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Responding to the serious allegation, BJP district president Sathyaprakash said that BJP have no role behind the incident.

The weapons were seized from a ground behind their office. In the morning they have spotted a certain group of municipality workers pretending as cleaning the area. They might have conspired to put the blame on BJP, he said CPIM has lashed out the BJP alleging that they are the ones who are attempting to incite violence in the state.

October 3, BJP chief Amit Shah flagged off the Janaraksha Yathra in Kannur. The two-week rally would travel through 11 districts before finally culminating in Trivandrum on the 17th of this month.

The high profile event which was expected to be a boost for the party in the state has turned to be a burden for them. The second day of Yathra witnessed scenes were scores of migrant labours taking part in the Yathra.

This led to the allegation that the party has not yet been able to reach out to the people of the state.

On the third day BJP former state president and senior leader V Muraleedharan did a Facebook live of the Yathra which apparently showed their cadres shouting provocative slogans against CPIM leaders and threatening to attack them.

Following this on October 8 a day after the Yathra left Kannur, a CPIM rally came under attack in Panoor area.

Five CPIM workers and four policemen were attacked with country made bombs and stones at the rally. Nine BJP workers have been arrested in connection with the attack. BJP national leadership came down to Kerla with the Jan Raksha Yathra making serious allegations against the ruling Left front. They accused the CPIM of inciting violence in the state.

However the 7 days of Jan Raksha Yathra tells an entirely different story.

ALSO WATCH VIDEO | Why doesn't Kerala govt put RSS, BJP outlaws behind bars? Yechury answers on red v/s saffron divide

--- ENDS ---
Many major retailers will be closed on Thanksgiving Day
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Oct. 10, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 10, 2017 | 12:05 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A local business owner has announced her candidacy for election to the Kentucky State Legislature.



Joni Hogancamp, owner of home care provider Caring People Services, LLC in McCracken County, says she has filed her letter of intent to seek election to the Kentucky House of Representatives, Third District. The seat is currently held by Gerald Watkins, who is not seeking re-election in 2018.



Hogancamp serves as president of the McCracken County Republicans Womens Club. She is active in the United Way Reading PALS program, and is a member of the Paducah Rotary Club. She has been member of Broadway United Methodist Church in Paducah for more than 20 years, and has served as the churchs Finance Committee Chair for two years.



Kentucky has fallen behind. We need to work with our new leadership in the State House. I will bring my experience and ideas as a small businesswoman to Frankfort, and use my voice to move Kentucky forward, Hogancamp said in a press release. "As a business owner who serves the Jackson Purchase Area residents in their homes, I have seen how our government policies and regulations are costing us jobs, while the living costs continue to rise, said Hogancamp. When elected, I will work with our legislators to pass pro-growth policies that expand opportunities for struggling Kentuckians."



Hogancamp lives in Paducah with her husband, Ben. They have four children between them, with three grandchildren.
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Ben Murphy aged one bounces back from year of surgeries and heartbreak as his mother is named Wexford Carer of the Year
The man, Suresh, suffered injuries to his head, and a leg. He's been taken to the Thalassery co-operative hospital.

By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: An RSS worker was pulled out of an autorickshaw in Kerala's Thalassery, and attacked with iron rods.

The man, Suresh, suffered injuries to his head, and a leg. He's been taken to the Thalassery co-operative hospital.

Police have begun investigating the attack, suspected to be a case of political violence.

The attack on Suresh was reported a day after BJP leaders and workers, including Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and VK Singh, protested against political killings in Kerala.

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The Communist Party - Marxist (CPM) countered the move with a protest of its own.

On Sunday, NDTV reported that another RSS worker, AV Biju, had been forced out of an autorickshaw and stabbed in front of children.

WATCH | Battle of protests in Delhi: Red versus Saffron fight in Kerala reaches Capital

--- ENDS ---
Updated: October 11, 2017, 1:15

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- The Latest on wildfires in California (all times local):

10:35 a.m.

Sonoma County officials say 670 people are still listed as missing from fires in California wine country.

But Sheriff Robert Giordano said Wednesday that many of those people may have been found but have not yet updated a registry of missing people.

Desperate family members and friends are turning to social media with pleas for help finding loved ones missing from the 22 fires in Northern California.

It's unclear if some of those people are actually OK.

Authorities pleaded with previously missing people to mark themselves as safe on the registry and alert authorities.

Napa County Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht says many people are staying with somebody else and haven't checked in.

------

9:30 a.m.

A California fire official says at least 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by wildfires burning in Northern California wine country.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says fire activity increased significantly overnight, destroying more buildings and leading to new mandatory evacuations in several areas.

Berlant said Wednesday that 22 wildfires are burning in Northern California, up from 17 on Tuesday.

Officials in Napa County say almost half of the population of Calistoga, a town of 5,000 people, has been ordered to evacuate. New evacuation orders are also in place for Green Valley in Solano County.

After a day of cooler weather and calmer winds, officials say low moisture and dangerous gusty winds will return to the region Wednesday afternoon, complicating firefighters' efforts.

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8:10 a.m.

The return of cooler weather and moist ocean air is helping an army of firefighters gain ground against a wildfire that has scorched more than a dozen square miles in Southern California.

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi says the fire has laid down significantly Wednesday due to the marine layer and the work of more than 1,600 firefighters and a fleet of aircraft.

Concialdi says the blaze is 45 percent surrounded and full containment is expected by Saturday, but commanders are holding onto resources because of forecasts for another round of gusty winds and low humidity levels starting Thursday night.

Incomplete damage assessments have now tallied 15 structures destroyed and 12 damaged, including homes and outbuildings.

All evacuations have been lifted except for certain homes in the city of Orange.

The fire erupted Monday about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles as warm, dry Santa Ana winds swept the region. The cause remains under investigation.

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6:45 a.m.

Animals from the Orange County Zoo are among evacuees returning home as crews get a handle on a Southern California wildfire that destroyed 14 buildings and damaged 22 others.

Evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday for thousands of people in Anaheim, Orange and Tustin. And more than 100 animals -- including small birds, mammals and reptiles -- were returned to the zoo within Irvine Regional Park, where flames roared on Monday.

Zoo officials tell the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/2gcnFiK) that the remaining animals including bears and mountain lions will be brought back in the coming days.

The newspaper says the zoo had undergone an emergency drill a week before the fire, which helped the evacuation run as smoothly as possible.

Cooler, more humid air is helping firefighters tame that blaze in northern Orange County.

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6:30 a.m.

A wildfire tearing through California's wine country continues to expand unabated, prompting authorities to order more evacuations.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday it ordered mandatory evacuations for several areas of Sonoma Valley after a blaze grew to 44 square miles (113 square kilometers).

After a day of cooler weather and calmer winds, officials say dangerous gusty winds will return to the region Wednesday afternoon, complicating firefighters' efforts.

The blaze in Sonoma County is one of a series of fires that flared up north of San Francisco on Sunday night and continue to burn with little to no containment. Seventeen people have died in the blazes, 11 of them in Sonoma County.

The fires have also left at least 180 people injured and have destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses.

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12:00 a.m.

Jose Garnica worked for more than two decades to build up his dream home that was reduced to ashes in a matter of minutes by the deadly firestorm striking Northern California.

Garnica's house was among more than 2,000 homes and business destroyed by the fires that have also killed 17 people.

He moved to the U.S. from Mexico more than 20 years ago, and after saving money from his steady job with a garbage company he fixed up his Santa Rosa house with new flooring and stainless steel appliances.

All of it burned early Monday when the fires broke out. But Garnica says he's still better off than when he came to America.

The fires have scorched large sections of the state's wine country.

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SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) -- The Latest on wildfires in California (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

A Northern California county is reporting two more people were killed by a blaze in their area, raising the total number of fatalities in the region's wildfires to at least 13.

Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas Allman said Tuesday the victims died in Redwood Valley, a town of 2,000 people. A person was reported killed in the same town on Monday.

Allman says some people refused to leave their homes in communities that were destroyed by a wildfire.

He says the sheriff's office and other law enforcement officials well go check those communities later Tuesday to hopefully find people who are safe.

Wildfires are burning in several areas in Northern California.

Authorities say at least 100 people have been injured, and as many as 1,500 homes and businesses destroyed.

------

9:50 a.m.

A Northern California wildfire has destroyed about half of a Catholic high school and left some 620 students without school for the rest of the week.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/2xsJF0k) that the library, main office and portable classrooms of Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa are burned.

Principal Graham Rutherford estimated that up to 18 of the school's 35 classrooms are likely destroyed. He said the challenge now is to determine how to use the classroom space that remains.

Other schools in the area were also heavily damaged or destroyed.

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9:25 a.m.

An official has identified a couple killed when a blaze destroyed their Napa County home.

Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said Tuesday that 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his wife, 98-year-old Sara Rippey, died inside their home.

The couple's granddaughter, Ruby Gibney, told Oakland television station KTVU (http://bit.ly/2kCV4Vz ) on Monday that their home was quickly ravaged by the fire and they were unable to get out.

Gibney says they had recently celebrated 75 years of marriage.

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8:40 a.m.

State authorities are deploying more firefighters and law enforcement officials to areas devastated by wildfires raging in Northern California.

Brad Alexander, a spokesman of the governor's Office of Emergency Services, says hundreds more firefighters from throughout the state will join the fight Tuesday. He says California has also asked for fire crews from the U.S. Forest Service in Nevada.

The blazes burning in several counties were at zero percent containment Tuesday.

Alexander says more law enforcement officials will be sent to help with evacuations and guard against looting.

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7:30 a.m.

A Northern California official has confirmed that a person died trying to flee a blaze in Yuba County, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11.

Yuba County spokesman Russ Brown said Tuesday that the unidentified person was in a vehicle fleeing from the town of Loma Rica, ran off a back road and became trapped in the blaze.

Brown tells the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2yduVRG ) that the person died early Monday.

Authorities on Monday confirmed seven fire-related deaths in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and one in Mendocino County.

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7:03 a.m.

A wildfire that has burned nearly a dozen square miles among Southern California suburbs is still just 5 percent contained and authorities say the thousands of people who evacuated will not be going home soon.

Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt says the fire remains a threat to about 3,500 Orange County homes Tuesday morning and neighborhoods might not open until Wednesday.

There's concern that the fire could spread into Cleveland National Forest.

The fire began Monday morning in the Anaheim Hills about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles and was rapidly spread by the region's notorious warm, dry and gusty Santa Ana winds.

The National Weather Service says those conditions should ease through the day.

The Orange County fire has destroyed two dozen structures, including homes and outbuildings.

------

6:20 a.m.

Authorities say a new blaze is threatening homes near a Northern California city already battling unforgiving wildfires.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Summer Black says flames began coming over a ridge shortly after 11 p.m. Monday in an area bordering Santa Rosa's Oakmont neighborhood and Trione-Annadel State Park.

Black tells the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (http://bit.ly/2wLgBge ) that most of the Oakmont area was evacuated earlier in the day due to rampant wildfires.

Officials are asking anyone remaining to leave the area.

Firefighters are battling an onslaught of wildfires in Northern California that has ravaged wineries, rural towns and whole neighborhoods.

The city of Santa Rosa and its 175,000 residents felt much of the damage, with strip malls, business parks, hotels and subdivisions swallowed up by the fire.

------

12:14 a.m.

A relentless onslaught of wildfires in Northern California is ravaging wineries, rural towns, and whole neighborhoods.

Authorities say at least 10 are dead, at least 100 are injured and at least 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. All three figures were expected to surge in the coming days as more information is reported.

The city of Santa Rosa and its 175,000 residents felt much of the damage, with strip malls, business parks, hotels and subdivisions swallowed up by the fire.

Smaller towns and vineyards in wine country were also hard hit, their residents forced to flee.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.
By PTI: Kolkata, Oct 10 (PTI) A day after torrential rain that battered the city, the deep depression that had triggered it moved to the western part of West Bengal today and Kolkata sprang back to normal life.

The rain in the city, that had hit flights, trains and road transportation yesterday, relented since last night.

With the depression moving to the western districts heavy rain lashed them since early this morning.

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The weatherman said the depression over Jharkhand and adjoining West Bengal has moved northwards and lies centred 50 km northeast of Dhanbad.

The system is very likely to continue to move northwards and weaken into a well-marked low pressure area, the Met department said.

Asansol town in West Burdwan district was the most affected today, recording 95.5 mm precipitation in nine hours till 5.30 PM, it said.

Asansol, Raniganj and Durgapur experienced heavy rain and squally winds, which have led to many trees being uprooted and waterlogging at some places.

People who ventured out of their homes had a tough time as road transportation was hit. Students had a holiday.

Train services were also disrupted as railway tracks were submerged and tree branches broke and fell on overhead wires.

"Due to heavy rain and strong wind in Panagarh-Asansol-Sitarampur section of Eastern Railway?s Asansol Division, train services in the section were affected today," Eastern Railway spokesman R N Mahapatra said.

Owing to the inclement weather up and down Asansol-Tata Express, Andal-Jasidih Passenger and Jasidih-Banka Passenger had to be cancelled and some mail/express trains were delayed enroute, he said.

The depression will cause heavy rain and strong wind in Purulia, West Burdwan, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Malda and parts of Jharkhand and Bihar till tomorrow, Regional Met director G K Das said.

Squally wind speed reaching upto 3040 kmph and gusting to 50 km per hour is very likely to prevail over northern parts of Gangetic West Bengal, eastern and central Bihar, northeastern parts of Jharkhand and subHimalayan West Bengal till late in the evening and decrease thereafter, he added. PTI AMR KK KK

--- ENDS ---
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Welcome to The Independent Herald E-Edition! Check back each week on Tuesday to see our[Read More]
Authorities say a trench collapse in western Michigan has left one worker dead and one rescued.

Wyoming Fire Chief Chuck Lark said firefighters were called about 2 p.m. Monday to a residence where the collapse occurred. He tells The Grand Rapids Press that when they arrived, one man was waist-deep in dirt, rescued and transported to a hospital while the other was completely covered. First responders were working Monday afternoon to recover the body.

Lark said it appeared the workers were digging a sewer line as deep as 20 feet from a home.

The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent investigators to the scene south of Grand Rapids.
By PTI: court judges

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) Judges of lower courts across the country are set to get a pay hike in the coming months with the law ministry finalising the appointment of a panel to recommend new salary structure for them and the proposal awaiting the Cabinets nod.

The proposal to appoint the Second National Judicial Pay Commission to recommend salary hikes for the 21,000 lower court judges is set to be taken up by the union cabinet in the coming days.

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The judges and judicial officers got the last pay hike in 2010, a three-fold jump, from their salaries decided in 1999.

The 2010 hike was applied retrospectively from January 1, 2006.

The proposed commission will be headed by former Supreme Court judge PV Reddi.

The current entry level salary for a junior civil judge is Rs 45000 while a senior judge gets nearly Rs 80,000.

The commission will submit its recommendations in early 2019 and the hike again is expected to be given with retrospective effect.

The move comes after directions from the Supreme Court in May. The first judicial pay commission, headed by Justice Jagannatha Shetty, was set up in March 1996 and it submitted its report in November 1999.

The Supreme Court had appointed a one-member committee under Justice E Padhmanabhan, a retired high court judge, who submitted his report in July 2009 recommending the three-fold hike. PTI NAB ZMN

--- ENDS ---
The Madhya Pradesh Congress has demanded an inquiry into the business firm of BJP national president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah by a special commission comprising two sitting Supreme Court judges.

By Hemender Sharma: The Madhya Pradesh Congress has demanded an inquiry into the business firm of BJP national president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah by a special commission comprising two sitting Supreme Court judges.

Addressing a press conference in Bhopal, AICC general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Babaria said, "The country is watching. The Prime Minister has to decide. Will he side with his friend or rise above party politics. The need of the hour is for a speedy inquiry by a special commission comprising two sitting Supreme Court judges."

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The Congress party also raised the following list of seven questions on the issue, saying the common man was seeking answers to the same.

LIST OF QUESTIONS What is the business of Temple Enterprises, which is owned by the wife of BJP chief Amit Shah, his daughter-in-law and son Jay Shah that it increased its turnover by 16,000 times in one year? What were the properties that they owned? How many employees were working for the company and where and how was the money being transacted? What was the magic wand that helped a company that made losses in 2013 and 2014 expand its business by 16,000 times within a year of the Modi government's assuming office? What were the reasons that forced the closure of Temple Enterprises in 2016 despite the fact that it expanded its business by 16,000 times. What was there in the one room office of Temple Enterprises that its rent was shown as Rs 80 lakh? The accounts of Temple Enterprises have shown receiving 51 crores from outside the country. What was this business and why did no enforcement agency question it? Had this money come into the account of a common man whose turnover was just 50,000 until a year ago, what would have the ED, CBI and income tax department done? What was the reason that Jay Shah's company got an unsecured loan of Rs 15.78 crore from KISF financial services? On what basis did the Kalupur commercial cooperative bank give a loan of Rs 25 crore to Jay Shah's company when only two properties worth Rs 6.20 crore were mortgaged? Jay Shah's company Kusum Finserv is into trading and business of import-export but it was given the work of setting up a wind energy plant of 2.1 megawatt in Madhya Pradesh for which it got a loan of 10.35 crore from IREDA. The country wants to know the criteria which makes a company with zero experience in power generation eligible for a low-interest loan. Union Minister Piyush Goyal held a press conference to defend Jay Shah. His ministry helped him secure a low-interest loan. Is Jay Shah a minister in the Modi government or is he an office-bearer of the BJP? How many other beneficiaries have been openly defended by the BJP ministers?

ALSO WATCH VIDEO | Gujarat: Rahul mocks Modi govt over media report on Jay Shah's company

--- ENDS ---
A local charity group is making sure Baraboo students will continue to have healthy snacks.

Following the announcement that Al Behrman Elementary School would no longer receive funding to purchase nutritional snacks through the U.S. Department of Agricultures Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Grant Program, the Greater Sauk County Community Foundation offered to help.

With funding from several community donors, the organization will provide a $9,200 grant to purchase low-fat and low-sugar snacks for Al Behrman students. Representatives from the Community Foundation were recognized by the district at Mondays school board meeting.

This is what makes this community so special, said District Administrator Lori Mueller. There are so many kids that show up who arent ready to learn because theyre hungry, so this makes a huge impact on them in ways that we wont ever be able to measure.

The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program provides children with fresh fruits and vegetables in participating elementary schools in which more than half of students receive free or reduced-price lunches. Al Behrman had received funding through the program for about 10 years, but lost the grant this year because other districts throughout the state showed more need, Mueller said.

After hearing that Al Behrman could not afford to keep the healthy snack program afloat, Sauk County Community Foundation Director Robin Whyte said she reached out to district administrators, and the organization sought out donors to revive the snack program.

In this case, we knew we had a number of donors who were particularly passionate about any projects involving childrens needs, she said.

The organization then connected with representatives from Sysco, who put together a list of affordable, healthy snacks with the districts food service director. Whyte said the grant will expand Al Behrmans snack program from three days each week to five, and ensure the program is funded until the end of the school year.

The Sauk County Community Foundation has distributed more than $2 million in charitable grants to local nonprofits since its founding in 1998, according to its website. The Foundation is a public charity that was established to promote philanthropy, encouraging local gifts to serve local needs.

Were so grateful for the generosity that these donors show and when they became aware of the need, they stepped up immediately, Whyte said.

In other business, the board:

approved East Elementary School for thesite of its annual meeting Oct. 23;

approved a field trip to Chicago for the Model United Nations student group;

approved temporary borrowing of $4 million and issuance of tax and revenue anticipation promissory notes;

approved the Kid Stop parent handbook;

approved spring 2018 Youth Options requests;

and approved additional 2017-2018 teacher overload compensation.
MADISON  Badger Honor Flight wrapped up its 2017 flight season on Saturday night at the Dane County Regional Airport, where a crowd of more than 4,000 was on hand to celebrate the organizations 29th flight and to greet veterans returning home from a day in Washington, D.C.

A hub in the national Honor Flight Network, Badger Honor Flight primarily serves veterans in Columbia, Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Lafayette, Richland, Rock, Sauk and parts of Dodge counties. The nonprofit organization takes area veterans to see memorials in the nations capital at no cost to them.

Badger Honor Flight Event Coordinator Diane Rabehl of Beaver Dam said 89 veterans and 77 guardians left Madison Saturday morning. The passengers included four veterans of World War II, 18 of Korea and 67 of Vietnam. The veterans toured various sites including Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Iwo Jima, World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Air Force monuments.

Kelly McMillan, who is also a volunteer event coordinator from Beaver Dam, said the veterans arrive at the airport around 4 a.m. and return at 9:15 p.m. the same day.

Its a long day for them, but one they will never forget, McMillan said. The trip honors those who served for us.

McMillan said since the first Badger Honor Flight departed for Washington 7 years ago, 2,500 veterans have traveled to see their monuments through the program.

Veterans are selected for flights on a first-come, first-served basis. World War II veterans are given priority, followed by Korean War veterans. Exceptions are made for terminally ill veterans from any conflict. There are four flights each year.

The homecoming ceremony is electric, Rabehl said. Ladies Must Swing plays big band music and patriotic tunes, Bucky Badger gets the crowd fired up, there is an honor guard and Uncle Sam  they are all ready to welcome our vets back.

Bill Linke is the commander of American Legion Post 521 in Fox Lake. He was seated with his wife, Dawn, in the Honor Flight alumni area at the airport. The alumni are the first people the returning veterans see when they come down the escalator or elevator when they return to Madison.

Linke, a Vietnam veteran, went on the Honor Flight in September. He said the trip is well-organized and seeing Washington, D.C., with his fellow veterans is what meant the most to him.

Mail call is mentioned as a favorite part of many veterans who make the trip, according to McMillan. Every veteran receives mail on the flight back.

My daughter and my wife coordinated with a day care and contacted some of my friends I was in the military with from other states, Linke said. I received letters telling me theyre glad I got the opportunity to go on the Honor Flight and thanked me for serving.

Roger DeYoung was another one of the 44 Dodge County veterans that flew on the Sept. 16 Badger Honor Flight. He took a bus that was sponsored from Beaver Dam to the airport Saturday to welcome back his fellow veterans. Although he didnt personally know anyone on Saturdays flight, he felt it was important to be at the homecoming.

Not all servicemen we welcomed home when their conflict ended years ago, he said. They treated us really well when we got home from the Honor Flight.

DeYoung said he liked the World War II memorial the best and he also greatly enjoyed mail call. His guardian was from Virginia and he has been corresponding with her since the trip.

Cheryl Feucht of Beaver Dam also rode the bus to the airport. The proud military mom has been attending the welcome-home celebrations of the Badger Honor Flight for the past five years and plans to keep attending as long as she can.

Seeing the smiles on the veterans faces when they first see the crowd is addicting, she said.

Badger Honor Flight will resume trips in the spring. There are more than 900 veterans currently on the waiting list, including three from World War II.
Moraine Park Technical College is actively seeking applicants for a new initiative that will offer five consecutive semesters of free college tuition for 2018 high school graduates from low-income families.

The Promise Program was announced by the school in April and is open to students in the MPTC district who are struggling with finances.

We want to help create a talented pool of skilled workers for the local economy, said MPTC recruitment specialist Erin Wierenga, who is working with districts in Dodge County.

Students will not need to reapply after being accepted and most should be able to complete associate or technical programs at the school during the 2 years of free tuition.

Wierenga said MPTC is projecting to have more than 300 new students take advantage of the program.

This program came out of us looking at the district profile, Wierenga said. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the area will require some post-secondary education or training. We also know that 50 percent of the workers will be retiring in the next 15 years, and the projected population in the four counties we serve will fluctuate a bit.

Students who wish to participate in the program have until Jan. 15 to submit an application. Among the eligibility requirements, applicants must:

Graduate on time from an accredited or home high school.

Reside within the Moraine Park Technical College District.

Earn a cumulative high school GPA of 2.5 or higher.

Earn a minimum composite score of 16 on the ACT.

Have a 90 percent attendance rate during their senior year of high school.

To qualify for Promise funding, students must also complete their FAFSA by Jan. 15. Wierenga said Moraine Park will host FAFSA filing workshops for all students seeking assistance with the application; however, there is a great opportunity for prospective students on the Beaver Dam campus Oct. 18 from 4-6 p.m. Those attending will get to tour the campus, learn about Moraine Park and can participate in a financial aid workshop. Attendees will also receive a $30 application voucher.

The program is funded with scholarship dollars raised through the Moraine Park Foundation. The application for the Promise Program, along with a full list of eligibility requirements, is located at morainepark.edu/promise.

To find out more about the program, contact Wierenga at ewierenga@morainepark.edu.
Vision is something that most of us take for granted, but imagine for a moment that your vision was failing, you would want someone to do something.

The Columbus Lions Club has been participating in the Cornea Express for much of the clubs 31-year history. Two months out of the Year, October and May, Columbus Lions Club volunteers give the Gift of Sight by helping to transport donor eye tissue via the Cornea Express to The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin.

If you havent heard about the Cornea Express it is a statewide relay of Lions Club members who transport donor eye tissue throughout the state of Wisconsin. The cost savings benefit that this unique process of transporting donor eye tissue provides a huge impact on the cost for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin. How it works is when a donation occurs, local Lions Clubs are called upon to transport the corneal tissue to the Lion Eye Bank of Wisconsin via a relay system. Volunteers use their own vehicles to transport the donor tissue. The Columbus Lions have used the same routes transporting tissue from Beaver Dam to Fond du Lac or from either of those locations to the Eye Bank in Madison. Lions Linda Madsen and Bob Groh are the Columbus Lions eye coordinators. Many of the clubs members and their family and friends drop what they are doing to transport eye tissue when they receive a call from Madsen or Groh, to ensure that the donor eye tissue is delivered in a timely manner.

Lion Bill Kirchberg is one of the Lions who volunteers to transport donor tissue; this is important to him, as his wife was given the gift of restored sight after receiving a corneal transplant several years ago.

The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin needs eye and corneal tissue from donors of most ages. The eye tissue is used for more than just restoring vision; it can also be used to further research for certain diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. The Lions Club has a focus of helping people prevent blindness and this is just one of the examples of what Lions do to serve their communities.

Go online to http://tinyurl.com/yb3uv8l7 to read donor stories and learn more about the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin.
By PTI: Jaisalmer, Oct 10 (PTI) An Indian national, who crossed over to Pakistan in 1990, has been detained here for illegally crossing back to India, the police said today.

Hasan Khan crossed over to Pakistan in 1990 from Jaisalmer and stayed in Umerkot with his sister and brother- in-law.

In April this year, he entered India and started living in his village Siyalo Ki Dhani in Jaisalmer.

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Following a tip off, a team of CID of the state police caught him yesterday.

?The accused, who is an Indian citizen, is under detention and being jointly interrogated by intelligence agencies,? Additional SP CID (Jaisalmer) Rajeev Dutta said. PTI CORR SDA DV

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Despite bizarre and extreme weather events signalling the dangers of climate change, President Donald Trump has instructed his chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, to role back the Clean Power Plan. That Obama-era regulation set limits on green house gas emission which made dirty coal plants less viable.
The Columbia County Sheriffs Office has been given the green light from the countys public safety committee to make the first payment on a new communications system.

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee unanimously passed a resolution Monday morning approving $120,220 for a new 911 answering service and giving a path toward an additional $429,780.

The 911 answering software simply takes phone calls from the public, whether it is from a landline, a cellphone, or a voice over IP and soon, according to the federal government, texts, so it takes that call and brings it to our dispatch, Columbia County Chief Deputy Darrel Kuhl said Monday.

Frontier Communications, the countys phone and internet service provider, no longer will support the countys 911 software beginning in 2018, making software replacement a priority.

In the committees monthly meeting at the Columbia County Law Enforcement Center, County Comptroller Lois Schepp said the software would be purchased with money available from the $1.9 million payment by American Transmission Co. to Columbia County for environmental impact of the Badger Coulee power line. The funds are earmarked for a 911 system.

Another $439,780 would be funded through bonding in 2019 as part of Columbia Countys debt restructuring.

If the board says, Were only going to fund you $500,000, were going to have to go back to the companies and say, This is all we have, what can you offer at that cost? Kuhl said of the two companies competing to replace the communications system. So we really cant make a selection until the money is approved.

The search has come down to Spillman Technologies and Zuercher Technologies. In September, Spillman was chosen as the company to replace equipment for the Juneau County Sheriffs Offices records, jail management and dispatch center.

Public Safety Committee member Supervisor Adam Field asked whether the committee should dictate bonding, or leave that to the full Board of Supervisors.

This doesnt bind the County Board  it cant  likely this will come up in a future County Board, Columbia County Corporation Counsel Joseph Ruf said. It puts the County Board on notice that the plan, at this point, is to pay this part down out of ATC funds and the rest will come out of bond fund  or it may not.

The funding mechanism is not relevant to the chosen firm and the contract only will note the balance will be due in March 2019, Schepp said.

Frontier policy spurring the need for a new 911 program also has moved up the timetable for a larger system, which has a replacement deadline of 2020 when a Windows update will make the software no longer subject to updates.

There are so many things happening  your mapping has to talk to your 911 answering software and your mapping and your 911 answering software has to talk to your computer-aided dispatch software and your computer-aided software has to be able to talk to all your other software, Kuhl said. You had different modules you could purchase (in years prior), and nowadays it is a system and you can add on to it, which is better, but you cant just go and update one piece.
The DRI sleuths said that the notes were printed in Bangladesh and supplied via North-Eastern region in India.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized fake currency notes worth Rs 8.9 lakh from a local politician in Mumbai.

The DRI sleuths said that the notes were printed in Bangladesh and supplied via North-Eastern region in India.

According to the officials the fakes notes replicated security feature of original notes and were very difficult to identify.

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The seized currency notes were in Rs 500 denomination. "Out of 27 high security features in the original currency notes, the seized fake notes had about 15 features printed by RBI.

Earlier fake notes were found with about 7 security features," said a source from DRI.

The agency is presently awaiting a forensic report on the notes from the Nashik Printing Press.

Incidentally, a Imran Alam Sheikh from the Congress party and two others were arrested by the DRI for running a fake currency racket in Mumbai. Sheikh is reportedly the general secretary of the Congress party's district committee.

"During interrogation, Sheikh began crying and spilled the beans about his involvement. However, he did not have any criminal background and is not the mastermind behind the racket. His brother, who is with Shiv Sena Party, has no trace of involvement," said a source from DRI.

In a similar development, another member of the racket identified as Shivajirao Khedekar was apprehended by the Pune Police. The DRI will visit Pune to interrogate him and to track the remaining consignment of fake currency.

Primary investigations revealed that Khedekar was the main supplier and key distributor who was sourcing fake notes from India-Bangladesh border. Khedekar took about 10 per cent commission for his work.

The agency believes that apart from 8.9 lakh notes, there is a possibility that around 30 lakh such notes are presently in circulation. The agency is expecting few more seizures and arrest in one or two days.

In last two months, this is third case of fake currency in Mumbai and adjoining regions. However, in earlier two cases, the DRI officials seized FICN of Rs 2,000 denomination in large number and few notes of Rs 500.

--- ENDS ---
School of Agriculture's Student Organizations

Agricultural Council

The Agricultural Council supervises and coordinates the activities of the agricultural clubs within the School of Agriculture.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Andrew Baker  (309) 298-1080  AJ-Baker@wiu.edu

Agricultural Education Club

The Agriculture Education Club at Western Illinois University strives to educate the future of our society about the agricultural industry, while also constantly striving to enhance our own personal knowledge of agriculture in business, production, and technology.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 5:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Andrew Baker  (309) 298-1080  AJ-Baker@wiu.edu

Agribusiness Club

The Agribusiness Club is an organization within the School of Agriculture that strives to connect students with industry professionals. Students have the opportunity to learn from agribusiness men and women about how to be successful within the industry.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 308.

Faculty Advisors: Jason Franken  (309) 298-1179  JR-Franken@wiu.edu

Graciela Andrango  (309) 298-4688  GC-Andrango@wiu.edu

Agricultural Mechanization Club

We are the Western Illinois Ag. Mech. Club. The group hosts the Farm Machinery Show held in Western Hall every Spring, which is the largest student run show in the United States.

Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 307.

Faculty Advisors:

Dan Atherton  (309) 298-2395  DL-Atherton@wiu.edu

Jana Knupp  JM-Knupp@wiu.edu

Agronomy Club

Agronomy Club gives leadership and involvement opportunities to WIU students from all majors who are interested in crop production and soil sciences.

Meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 5:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 226.

Faculty Advisor: Mark Bernards  (309) 298-1569  ML-Bernards@wiu.edu

AgVocators

AgVocators is a team of agriculture students who promote agriculture and WIU to high school and post-secondary students. We travel to many conferences, career fairs, high schools/junior colleges, conventions and host an Ag Open House each semester.

Meetings are held on Tuesdays at 7:00 a.m. in the University Board Room.

Faculty Advisor: Jana Knupp  JM-Knupp@wiu.edu

Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity

Enhances professionalism, scholarship, ethics, community service, and brotherhood among men in agriculture.

Meetings are held each Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the AGR house.

Faculty Advisor: Kevin Bacon  (309) 298-1084  KJ-Bacon@wiu.edu

Faculty Advisor: Mark Hoge  (309) 298-2537  MD-Hoge@wiu.edu

Alpha Gamma Sigma Fraternity

Professional/social national fraternity founded in 1971 with agriculture heritage that takes pride in high standards and developing a meaningful brotherhood. Our common background and value system help us to quickly build relationships that last a lifetime.

Meetings are held each Monday at 7:00 p.m. at the chapter house.

Faculty Advisor: Joel Gruver  (309) 298-1215  J-Gruver@wiu.edu

Alpha Zeta

Alpha Zeta is an honorary, professional fraternity for students studying agriculture or natural resources and dedicated to academic excellence, leadership, integrity and service. To be invited to join Alpha Zeta students must have sophomore or above standing and be in the top 40% academically within their college or School of Agriculture. Graduate and transfer students are eligible.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Jason Franken  (309) 298-1179  JR-Franken@wiu.edu
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency has arrested a man wanted in the 2013 Kannur terror module case, an official statement said today.

Azharudheen alias Azhar, a resident of Kannur district in Kerala, was arrested yesterday. The Kerala Police had booked 24 youths allegedly belonging to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) for organising a terror camp in Kannur in 2013, the NIA said in the statement.

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It is alleged that the accused entered into criminal conspiracy to impart training to youths by using explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities and commit acts endangering the unity and integrity of the nation, the agency said.

On January 20 last, the Special Court for NIA cases, Ernakulam, had completed the trial against 22 accused in the case and pronounced 21 out of them guilty of various offences, including those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. PTI SKL ABS SRY

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W&Ms first tenured African-American professor honored

Honoring Harris: (From left) Hermine Pinson, Trudier Harris, Jacqui McLendon, Chon Glover and Leah Glenn pose for a photo together after the members of the 50th anniversary committee presented Harris with an award in recognition of her role as the first tenured African-American at W&M. Photo courtesy of Chon Glover Photo - of - Hide Caption

Trudier Harris was recently honored for her groundbreaking role as William & Marys first tenured African-American faculty member.

Harris was a member of the English departments faculty in the 1970s. Now a University Distinguished Research Professor of English at the University of Alabama and formerly J. Carlyle Sitterson Distinguished Professor of English at UNC Chapel Hill, she returned to W&Ms campus as the Department of Englishs Sara and Jess Cloud Distinguished Lecturer.

Following her lecture on Sept. 28, Harris was presented with an award in honor of her historic role at W&M by members of the committee for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the universitys first African-American residential students.

In the 2017-2018 academic year, W&M is hosting a series of events as part of the Building the Legacy commemoration, which seeks to honor the African-American community at the university, past and present.

When I taught at the College of William & Mary between 1973 and 1979, I was 100 percent of the African-American faculty, Harris said. Though I was welcomed warmly, clearly that situation needed to change.

It is a testament to the tireless efforts of many good people that, at this 50th anniversary marker of African-American student presence at William & Mary, African-Americans now constitute a significant percentage of faculty, students and staff.

Harris received her undergraduate degree from Stillman College and her masters and doctoral degrees from the Ohio State University.

She has written or edited nearly two dozen books, including The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, and she has received multiple honors and awards for her scholarly work and teaching.

Dr. Harris is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of African-American literary history and culture, said Jacqui McLendon, chair of the 50th anniversary committee and professor of English, emerita. Her return to the university where she began her career was an honor for us and greatly significant during this commemoration of firsts  a truly historical moment for William & Mary.

The 50th anniversary commemoration began in August when a mural was unveiled in Swem Library in honor of the universitys first African-American residential students  Lynn Briley, Janet Brown Strafer and Karen Ely  who arrived at William & Mary as freshmen in 1967.

The three alumnae participated in this years Opening Convocation ceremony and will be back on campus during Homecoming when they will serve as the parades grand marshals.

More information about the 50anniversary commemoration is available online
Accusing the police of arriving at the crime scene hours after being informed, angry villagers sat on the streets with the bodies of the two brothers.

One of the brothers who was found murdered in Sector-49 of Noida.

By Arvind Ojha: The murder of two brothers has rocked Noida's Sector-49. The brothers, identified as Yogesh and Umesh, were killed allegedly by neighbourhood youths in Barola village of Noida.

Villagers accused the police of reaching the crime spot late and sat with the bodies of the two brothers on the streets as a mark of protest.

As per the information accessed so far, brothers Yogesh and Umesh were studying at their house in Barola village of Sector-49 in Noida. Elder brother Yogesh was an undergraduate student while the younger one, Umesh, was still in school.

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On Monday evening, two neighbouhood youths Golu and Jeetu called Umesh on false pretext and locked him up. Through Umesh, the duo allegedly called Yogesh to the same location. According to sources, Golu and Jeetu had an old rivalry with Umesh.

By the time Yogesh reached the spot, Umesh was allegedly strangled to death. Yogesh was allegedly stabbed to death at the same place. The accused dumped both the brothers near a canal in the neighbourhood and fled the spot.

Villagers, on seeing the two brothers lying unconscious near the canal, rushed them to the local Prayag Hospital where both of them were declared brought dead. Villagers immediately informed police about the incident. Accusing the police of arriving at the crime scene hours after being informed, angry villagers sat on the streets with the bodies of the two brothers.

The situation was brought under control after senior officers reached the spot and assured villagers of swift action in the case. A case has been registered and a search for the accused is on.

ALSO WATCH: 5 murdered in Delhi house while 40 family members were sleeping

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By PTI: Singapore, Oct 10 (PTI) A technology start-up in Singapore has designed a robot masseuse that specialises in back and knee massages.

Named Emma, short for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, the robot mimics the human palm and thumb to replicate therapeutic massages such as shiatsu and physiotherapy.

Emma started work on patients this week at the NovaHealth Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic, working alongside its human colleagues - a physician and a massage therapist.

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Emma 3.0 - the first to go into public service is more compact than the first prototype unveiled last year.

It uses advanced sensors to measure tendon and muscle stiffness, together with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud-based computing to calculate the optimal massage and to track a patients recovery over a course of treatments.

Emma has been developed by AiTreat, a technology start-up incubated at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).

The technology aims to address workforce shortages and quality consistency challenges in the healthcare industry, said Albert Zhang, an alumnus of NTU Singapore who led the development of Emma.

Using Emma in chronic pain management has the potential of creating low-cost treatment alternatives in countries where healthcare costs are high, and where ageing populations have a growing demand for such treatment.

Zhang said that Emma was designed to deliver a clinically precise massage according to the prescription of a qualified traditional Chinese medicine physician or physiotherapist, without the fatigue faced by a human therapist.

"By using Emma to do the labour intensive massages, we can now offer a longer therapy session for patients while reducing the cost of treatment," said Zhang.

"The human therapist is then free to focus on other areas such as the neck and limb joints which Emma cant massage at the moment," said Zhang.

Emma has a touch screen with a fully articulated robotic limb with six degrees of freedom. Mounted at the end of the limb are two soft massage tips made from silicon, which can be warmed for comfort.

Emma also has advanced sensors and diagnostic functions which can measure the exact stiffness of a particular muscle or tendon.

The data collected of each patient is then sent to a server in a cloud, where AI computes the exact pressure to be delivered during the massage procedure.

The AI can also track and analyse the progress of the patient, generating a performance report that will allow a physician to measure a patients recovery using precise empirical data. PTI SAR SAR

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Julio Medina, 16, of Central Falls, casts his line as he, and about a hundred others, fishes for golden rainbow trout at Stephen Olney Pond at Lincoln Woods.
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Robot deployed into Magnox Swarf Storage Silo

10 October 2017

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A robot has been sent into Sellafield's most hazardous nuclear waste store for the first time. The Avexis will help dislodge and clear waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, Sellafield Sites announced today.

The Avexis robot is lowered into a compartment at the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (Image: Sellafield Ltd )



The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo was built in Cumbria, England in the 1960s to store waste from the UK's earliest nuclear reactors. It closed in 2000 and has now been prioritised for clean-up by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It is the first time a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has been deployed inside the building. Sellafield Sites said.

The robot - which can 'see' inside the silo via cameras attached to its body and also clear away small bits of waste clinging to the silo wall - was developed by Cumbrian firm Forth Engineering with support from the University of Manchester. Maryport-based Forth Engineering specialises in remote tooling, deployment methods, and sensor systems.

The company's founder, Mark Telford, said: "The site needs innovative methods for undertaking engineering tasks in harsh environments underwater. Other industries like marine and oil and gas are also looking for similar products. Successfully deploying our technology at Sellafield means we can transfer it to these other industries and grow our customer base."

Rebecca Weston, strategy and technical director for Sellafield Ltd, said the Avexis shows how the supply chain can help reduce the UK's nuclear hazard "faster, cheaper and more safely". It also shows how companies can use Sellafield as a "springboard into international export markets", she added.

The Avexis, which is small enough to fit through spaces of 150mm, is the first robot of its kind "to go from concept to market" within five years, Sellafield Sites said. And, at 10,000 ($13,177), it is also the cheapest of its kind, it added.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
The Dervish State was a territory established in the early 20th century and lasted between 1988-1920. The state was established by a Muslim religious leader known as Mohammed Abdullah Hassan. The occupants of the state were referred to as Dervishes. Mohammed brought together soldiers across the horn of Africa, that is, the current country of Somali. He led the state in resisting Europeans who wanted to invade, conquer, and colonize Africans.

Mohammed Abdulla Hassan

Mohammed Abdulla Hassan was a prominent Islamic Sheikh who thoroughly studied and practiced the Quran. He was born In Ogadeen. Though he had a humble beginning as a nomadic herds boy, he rose to lead a strong army through his managerial and oratory skills. He was also a great mobilizer. He was often referred to as The father of a nation, though the British referred to him as mad Mullah.

The Dervish Economic Activity

The robust trading activity took place in the Dervish State. The main business was centered on the importation of firearms, horses, and material that were used to build houses and fortresses. This was evidenced by the numerous buildings and fortresses in that part of Africa. They also traded in livestock with the port cities such as Las Khorey.

Well Organized Defense Forces

The soldiers in the Dervish State had superior weapons that aided in the resistance against the external aggressors. The military was divided into seven units of 1,000 to 4,000 strong men, each under a commander. Most of the soldiers were drawn from the nomadic pastoralists. Before embarking in warfare they would engage in a dance called Dhaato that motivated and inspired the soldiers. Noticeably, there are four instances whereby the Dervishes fought back and expelled the British soldiers. In 1900 they were also able to recover livestock stolen by Ethiopians thereby gaining authority in Ogaden. The state had a centrally build city with permanent military fortresses that were purposely build to defend the territory against attackers. Such a military stronghold was built in Taleh. They also built high walls with the most notable one being Silsilat. Inside the city, Mohammed lived with his family and commanded the state from there.

The Impact of the Dervish State

The legacy can be seen long after the state ceased to exist, evidenced by the many fortresses, castles and other artifacts held in the archives and museum. These were well preserved under president Mohammed Said Barre. Poetry and literature, relating to both war and peace, also borrowed highly from the states culture and are taught in learning institutions with many books written on the Dervish State. Many films have also been developed to commemorate that state. The Dervish State was one of the greatest states that ever existed. It will be remembered for resistance to external attacks, well-organized army and its impact on current Somali culture. However, the state came to an end in 1920 after bombing from the British. Mohammed escaped with remnants of his family and later died in 1921.
By PTI: Islamabad, Oct 10 (PTI) Pakistan Army today handed over an Indian woman, who had inadvertently crossed into the country through the Line of Control, to the Indian security forces.

The Army, in a statement, said the woman was handed over to the Indian security forces in Kashmir in a goodwill gesture and in continuation of its efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LoC.

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The woman, Azmat Jan, who hails from Kashmir inadvertently crossed over the LoC at Chirikot Sector, the Army said.

However, it was not clear when she crossed the border.

She has been returned to Kashmir at Rawala-Poonch crossing point on humanitarian grounds, it said.

Civil and military officials of both the sides were present on the occasion, the statement said. PTI PMS AKJ PMS

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The United Nations Refugee Agency is the agency of the United Nations tasked with looking into the needs of refugees all over the world. Like most agencies of the UN, the UN Refugee Agency relies on donors to meets its financial obligations. Most of the contributions to the UNHCR are from governmental donors around the world and private contributors making up the remainder. The United States has been the largest contributor to the UN Refugee Agency, with the European Union coming at second place.

North America

The United States is North Americas largest donor to the UN Refugee Agency. The United States has contributed more than $1.443 billion to the UNHCR between January 1st and October 7th, 2017, the largest of any country in the world. In 2016, the United States released about $122 million towards the UNHCRs Syria Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan. However, based on contribution per capita, the United States is ranked as the sixth largest contributor, with the countrys contribution per capita being $4. Private contributions from the United States to the UNHCR were an estimated $23.181 million in 2017, the largest of all private contributors. Canada is North Americas second largest donor to the UNHCR with the countrys contribution between January 1st and October 7th, 2017 being more than $79.63 million, a decrease from the total $116.25 million contributed by Canada in 2016. Based on contribution per capita, Canada is ranked as the 13th largest contributor to the UNHCR in the world.

Europe

The European Union is the second largest contributor the UN Refugee Agency, with the bloc contributing more than $427.37 million in the first nine months of 2017. Germany has the largest contribution to the UNHCR of any European country. Records from the UNHCR show that Germany contributed totaling $305 million between January 1st and October 7th, 2017. Norway and Luxembourg have a contribution per capita of $16 to the UNHCR, the largest of any country in the world.

Financial Constraints Of The UNHCR

Recent events around the world have caused global refugee numbers to reach unprecedented levels. In 2015, the UNHCR reported that more than 65 million people around the world were forcibly displaced from their countries, the highest figure in the agencys history. The ongoing Syrian War has forced millions of Syrians to flee to neighboring countries, hundreds of thousands of them seeking refuge in Europe where they have caused a refugee crisis. Rohingya Muslim refugees have created a humanitarian crisis throughout Southeast Asia, as they flee from the persecution and killings propagated by Myanmar authorities. Kenya has also recorded a great increase in refugee numbers who seek refuge in the East African country from the ongoing conflicts in neighboring South Sudan and Somalia. As the main global organization tasked with protecting and providing basic amenities to refugees, the UNHCR has been experiencing financial constraints to cater for the needs of the ballooning refugee numbers around the world. International donors are required to meet an annual financial target of $19.52 billion, but the international donors have only managed to raise about less than half of the target ($7.15 billion). The financial deficit has significantly hindered the UNHCR from discharging its duties. In Syria, the agency was only able to fund 35% of the $1.3 billion required to cater for the refugees.
The Huguenots refer to the French Protestants who followed John Calvins teachings in the 16th and 17th century. They suffered religious persecution because of their faith. A French martyr named Jean Valliere was burned in Paris in 1523. Due to the persecutions, most of the Protestants fled from France to Protestant countries such as Switzerland, Wales, Denmark, Sweden, and England among other states. However some of them remained in France, but quietly practiced their faith.

History of the Huguenots

The rising of the Huguenots can be traced to Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a theology professor at University of Wittenberg. He was also a Catholic monk. During his preparation for one of his lectures, he came across the Biblical scripture in Romans 1:17 which states the just shall live by faith. His eyes were opened to realize that contrary to the Roman Catholic doctrine, Christians be forgiven their sins by having faith in God and being saved. He also started reading scriptures for himself unlike most Catholics who let the priests read and interpret the Bible for them. Subsequently, Martin Luther gained religious enlightenment. He challenged the teachings and doctrines of the papacy leading to his excommunication from the church. While in hiding at Wartburg Castle, Martin Luther translated the New Testament part of the Bible into the German language to enable the ordinary people to read Gods word. Hence, Martin Luther pioneered the Church Reformation in 1517 and formed the Lutheran church.

The Protestant Reformation spread from Germany to France. The name Huguenots referred to the French Reformers. Rather than following the General Lutheranism associated with Martin Luther, they followed the teachings of John Calvin giving rise to Calvinism. Similar to the Lutheranism, the doctrine of Calvinism also encouraged individual salvation and individual reading and interpretation of scripture. Before long, many French people from northern France abandoned the Roman Catholic to become Protestants. In turn the Roman Catholic accused Protestants of heresy and pronounced an edict for their extermination. In spite of the decree, Protestanism grew with many people adding to their numbers. By 1952 there were about two million Huguenots. In 1562, the French Wars of Religion began as a result of the slaying of 1200 Huguenots. Many years afterwards in 1598, by the Edict of Nantes the Wars of Religion ended. The edict gave the Huguenots some religious freedom.

Modern Time Huguenots

Today, about 2% of the French population is made up of Protestants. Those who live in Alsace (northeast France) and the Cevennes (south France) still consider themselves Huguenots. In Australia, some French Australians also call themselves Huguenots. There is a body known as Huguenot Society of Australia that encourages them to keep practicing their culture and beliefs. There also exists a community of Huguenots in the United States. They have headquarters in New York and a broad membership across the nation. One of the most active Huguenot congregations gathers in Charleston, South Carolina. They conduct their services in English. However, once every year, there is an Annual French Service conducted entirely in French. The service takes place on the 2nd or 3rd Sunday after Easter to commemorate the Edict of Nantes. In 1985, President Francois Miterrand extended an apology to the Huguenots for the massacres that happened in the French history.
12 hour waits in Maelor A&E due to high demand  Health Board offer apologies

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have apologised for longer waiting times than usual at the Wrexham Maelor Hospitals A&E department following complaints that some people were waiting over 12 hours to be seen.

Yesterday saw the hospitals emergency department experience high demand, with the health board today stating that there were high numbers of people attending during both the day and evening.

One person contacted us to say that a woman had been waiting to be seen for 12 hours. Another told us that some people had been waiting over 17 hours to be seen, while they had been waiting nine hours to see a doctor.

We contacted the health board to ask what caused the delays and increased demand last night. We also asked if it was possible to confirm what the longest waiting time was and if indeed some people had been waiting for 17 hours.

A spokesperson for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: We apologise for longer waiting times than usual at Wrexham Maelor Hospitals emergency department yesterday.

We experienced exceptionally high demand in service and very high numbers of attendances at the Emergency Department during the day and the evening.

We always prioritise the treatment of patients according to their clinical need. To ensure patient safety, prioritisation took place which ensured that patients who have a higher clinical risk were treated and moved into appropriate departments in a timely way.

This means that, at times, some patients whose needs are less urgent can experience extended waits in our department, despite the best efforts of nursing and medical staff.

Many patients who do not need full emergency hospital treatment may find that they can get appropriate advice and care from other NHS services, including our minor injuries units, local pharmacists or by calling NHS Direct Wales on 0845 46 47.

Tomorrow health board representatives will meet with councillors to take questions on a series of topics, including the performance of the Wrexham Maelors emergency department. Our report on tomorrows meeting can be found here.
Appeal to trace man who burgled a property while the occupants were inside

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017

A witness appeal has been launched after a man broke into a house and burgled the property while the occupants were inside.

The theft took place between 8:30pm and 8:45pm on Monday 9th October at a property on Kingsmills Road in Hightown.

Police say a lone male suspect used a weapon to force entry into the property and had it with him at the time of the incident.

He was then seen leaving onto Kingsmills Road.

The male is described as being 5ft 9, wearing a dark anorak coat with the hood up, fur around the hood and holding the weapon.

Anyone who was in the area and may have witnessed the incident is urged to call North Wales Police on 101 quoting crime reference number RC17153774.
On July 15 in central jail, after an enquiry it has been found that there was a violation by the jail officials.

When DIG prisons at that Roopa enquiries about the parole and release of prisoners, it was observed that the jail superintendent has been giving differential treatment.

As per the manual the prisoners could be used as night watchman and in the kitchen, there also it was found that they were treated with favoritism. When the prisoners objected this treatment, there was a heated debate between two groups.

The CCTV shows the argument between the groups and that time the DIG left the place. Soon after DIG Roopa left there as a clampdown on prisoners.

The kitchen CCTV camera captures all this action. The slogan shouting and the protesting prisoners were caught on camera.

As per the jail manual, the prison officials cannot use force on prisoners, it can be done only for self defense.

Normal prisoners are sent back to the barracks in a line, if there is resistance, only the do the police use force to push them inside.

On July 15, when DIG Roopa left the jail premises, there was palapable tension and the authorities Lathicharged and several injured in the process.

The CCTV reveal this and later the medical reports and statements from other prisoners endorse the fact that the prisoners were lathi charged Which is a violation of the Karnataka prisons act.

As prisoners come into jail, there are subjected to medical examination. It after this procedure that a person gets a tag of a prisoner in jail. but on July 16, there were many prisoners who were shifted to the prisons in Kalburgi and Dharwad. No medical check was done.

It was only on July 18 and July 19 that the medical examination was conducted. According to the Karnataka Prisons Act, when a prisoner is shifted from one prison to another, they should undergo medical examination, but it was not done. This indicates a violation again.

As per the jail manual, the prisoners were not transferred on Sunday. But it was on July 16, 20 prisoners were transferred between 1 am and 2 am. This is also a violation of the prison manual.

When they are transferred to the other jail, the medical report showed that, among the 20 prisoners, Ananth Murthy GR, Arvind, Babu Ali Aslam Babu had been injured.

When the prisoners were being shifted, Ananth Murthy was unconscious and was not administered medication despite his condition. They shifted him on a wheelchair and he was shifted to Belagavi and the medical officers at that jail also confirmed about the state on which the prisoner was brought in.

On July 25, the jail authorities send a behavior report which stated that the 20 prisoners were ill-behaved. The prisoners who were shifted had spent close to six years. The report said that all the 20 prisoners who had been shifted to other jails after the protest within jail had recorded good behavior in jail all these years.

After they registered their observations on what they thought were violations, the SHRC has also recommended the following procedural changes.

They should have a board which indicates the prisoners details such as crime, reason for appeal and how many times the prisoner's appeal was rejected and for what reason.

Parole should be awarded in a just manner to all prisoners.The job of the night watchman should be allotted equally based on their behaviour in jail.
Further 0.3% cut on the cards for Wrexham Council as Welsh Government unveil provisional settlement

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017

The Welsh Government have today set out details of the provisional distribution of 4.2 billion of public funds to the 22 Welsh local authorities, with Wrexham Council getting the 8th best settlement.

The settlement table is below, with Wrexham due to see a -0.3% cut in the 2018-19 settlement figure. All local authorities in Wales have seen a cut, aside from Cardiff.

The 0.3% cut means the settlement is down from the current 174,049,000 to 173,485,000  a drop of 564,000.

Looking ahead Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford has trailed that the indicative settlement for 2019-20 shows a likely reduction of 1.5% is on the cards  which based on todays figures would be a hefty 2,602,272 .

Wrexham Council Leader Mark Pritchard has said, I am disappointed that the Welsh Government has reduced the resources available for essential Local Government services. In Wrexham, this settlement will require the Council to make around 6m of cuts. Wrexham has the 18th lowest funding per head of population.

The Council will continue to work hard to reduce the impact of these savings on the people of Wrexham County Borough and will continue to prioritise the most vulnerable.

I will be responding to this Welsh Government provisional settlement during the formal consultation period which ends on 21 November 2017.

Lesley Griffiths, Wrexhams AM said: As long as the Tory UK Government continue to pursue their failed austerity agenda, difficult decisions will have to be made by both the Welsh Government and local authorities throughout Wales. Since 2010, 1.2bn has been cut from Welsh budget by the UK Government and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has outlined further unallocated cuts of 3.5bn in 2019-20, which will undoubtedly impact upon Wales.

In spite of the challenging circumstances, I believe many will recognise the Welsh Government has delivered a pragmatic provisional settlement, aiming to provide stability and protect key public services from Tory austerity.

Wrexham Councils 0.3% cut is far from ideal but remains the eighth best settlement out of Wales 22 local authorities and could certainly have been a great deal worse. The announcement enables the Council to plan for the future and focus on delivering fundamental public services for local residents.

Announcing the provisional settlement, Mark Drakeford said: Last year I told local authorities to prepare for the tougher times and harder choices that lay ahead as the flawed and failed policy of austerity continues to hit Wales hard.

My priority, using a formula we have agreed with local government, is to try and protect councils from the worst of the cuts passed on to us by the UK Government. I think this is reflected in the settlement for 2018-19.

We have acted to protect funding for key public services such as schools and social care while also recognising the pressures that exist in areas such as homelessness prevention.

If the Chancellor of the Exchequer follows our advice and does not proceed with cuts in the Autumn Budget then my first priority will be to look again at the cuts we have been forced to make in 2019-20.

Next years settlement might be difficult. We have done all we can to make it manageable.Councils must now use this time to plan ahead and ensure that funding goes to the services and people who need it the most.

the War of Attrition continues says WLGA

The Welsh Local Government Association has commented on the settlement figures saying: The local government settlement announced by Welsh Government continues an eight-year run of real terms reductions to local government funding.

In the context of ongoing and prolonged austerity, councils will view this as a very difficult and challenging settlement for supporting vital services that contribute to the education, health and well- being of our communities. Leaders across Wales have pushed for parity of funding and particularly sought new investment in a range of services, such as economic development, environmental health and transport, which have been pummeled by cuts.

The headline reduction of 0.5% fails to recognise the full story; with service pressures that amount to 212m in 2018-19 alone, the sector will have to look for savings of nearly 4.5% of net budgets in the next financial year. This comes on top of cuts of over 1bn that have been made to date and 25,000 job losses across the sector. While the reduction is within the range predicted by the WLGA, local government is still bearing the heaviest burden of austerity.

Commenting on the draft settlement, Councillor Debbie Wilcox (Newport), WLGA Leader said: I have gone on record on a number of occasions to express my frustrations with the UK Governments austerity agenda; it clearly isnt working. The competing demands on the Welsh Governments own funding presents the Cabinet Secretary with difficult choices and we recognize his efforts to try to protect local services. The problem for local government is that we are now in a war of attrition. Services are wearing down to the point of collapse and the public are rightly growing frustrated in terms of paying council tax and yet seeing key community functions cut or closed.
GP provision and Maelors A&E Department up for debate as councillors and health board meet

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017

Senior members of the local health board will be grilled by councillors tomorrow on GP provision in Wrexham, infection rates and the performance of the Wrexham Maelor Emergency Department.

Members of the Safeguarding Communities & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee will meet with representatives of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to debate a number of issues facing Wrexham, and hopefully recognise where progress has been made.

During the meeting Health Board representatives will provide an update on the remodelling of primary care services and the special measures programme.

One of the more topical issues facing Wrexham at the moment will also be discussed, with representatives set to discuss GP recruitment (including early warning indicators for GP practices, how risks are being managed and a map of surgeries in Wrexham highlighting vacancies).

A series of questions on topics including infection rates at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, GP out of Hours Services and the performance of Wrexham Maelors Emergency Department, will also be discussed by councillors.

Pre-submitted questions have also asked about if there is a discharge policy for patients who are identified as being either homeless or substance misusers, and how the Maelor Hospital works with its health teams and other agencies to ensure that patients health is supported after discharge.

In documents before the meeting, that details some questions being posed, there is some graphical representations of related A&E data.

The top image of this article shows a map from tomorrows report, detailing the apparent geographical source of patients who left prior to treatment.

In April 841 people left prior to treatment, May seeing 864, June 780, July the highest in the data set at 875 people, with August dropping to 652 and September 670 people.

Below shows data, again April through September, splitting attendees into triage category.

The meeting is also due to be webcast live on the Wrexham Council website  so those who cant attend can tune in from 10:30am to watch the action  and perhaps listen depending on the quality of the audio.

Wrexham.com has created a twitter wait bot that scrapes the public data on wait times outputting it to the below twitter account.

This data was capped at four hours shortly after we created the wait bot app and started tweeting about its existence. As we wrote at the time the data used to give uncapped information, however the NHS denied this was ever the case, but then later clarified an adjustment had taken place.

The bot can be found @WrexMaelorBot with the latest output below:

Tweets by WrexMaelorBot
Out the Door Forecast: Partly sunny today with a chance of scattered showers in the south later this afternoon. Temps will be in the mid-upper 50's.

Here are the 7 Things You Need to Know for this Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

1. At least 15 wildfires continue to burn throughout California. The fires are blamed for at least 10 deaths, 100 injuries, and the destruction of at least 1,500 homes. Firefighters are still trying to figure out what sparked the flames. Vice President Mike Pence, on an unrelated visit to the region, promised federal support.

2. As the Republican Party aims to pass tax reform, a war of words between President Trump and Republican Tennessee Senator Bob Corker. Corker and Trump were once allies, the Senator was considered a possible V.P. pick. But now, Corker, who has announced he will not seek a third term in office, is openly expressing concern about Trump, even suggesting he needs to be controlled.

3. Kewaunee County prosecutors will release their findings of a deadly shooting involving a sheriff's deputy. The district attorney will determine whether Jamie Tlachac was justified in his use of deadly force. In August, he and three other officers were put on paid administrative leave after Tlachac shot and killed a 21-year old suspect that was threatening a woman with a knife.

4. This week, a proposal targeting sanctuary cities in Wisconsin offering protections for immigrants living in the country illegally is up for a public hearing in the Legislature. The bill introduced by Republican Sen. Steve Nass is scheduled for a hearing Thursday before the Senate's labor and regulatory reform committee. Immigrant rights advocates and others are expected to come out in force against the measure yet again.

5. Monday was "Foxconn Day" at Marquette University. It's a networking event where students can check out products, meet with employees, and apply for jobs. There's another recruitment event at Marquette on October 23. Foxconn says it will hold other "Foxconn Day" events at universities and technical colleges across Wisconsin.

6. More than 100 people waited an extra couple hours to give a heroes' welcome to veterans at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee last night. More than 100 veterans flew on the 30th mission of the Never Forgotten Honor Flight, most serving in Vietnam. Organizer Mike Thompson says one of the primary missions of the Never Forgotten Honor Flight is to give the veterans the thank you they deserved.

7. October is breast cancer awareness month. Tomorrow, NewsChannel 7 is hosting a special. Buddy Check 7 phone bank. You can call in from 4-7 pm. A panel of experts from Marshfield Clinic will be on hand to listen to your breast health concerns and questions. All information is confidential and free. The number you can call is 715-203-8285 and on WSAW.com.
Actor Prakash Raj was conferred with the Shivaram Karanth Award in Bengaluru recently, but had to face protests by BJP supporters who raised black flags. Union Minister Gowda said that the actor's ideologies are not in line with what people think today.

By Rohini Swamy: BJP supporters raised back flags against actor Prakash Raj who was in the city to accept the Shivaram Karanth award.

The BJP said that Prakash Raj's comments against the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath calling him an "actor" who should be given an award.

The protests which spilled into the streets was controlled by the local police.

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Every year the award is conferred on people who have achieved success in literature, journalism, education, environment, and Yakshagana. This time the Kotatattu Gram Panchayat decided to confer it on Prakash Raj.

But this move was met with a lot of opposition especially after Union Minister Sadanand Gowda said that Prakash raj should not accept the award because of his ideologies.

"He is very good actor...but now a days his ideologies support the Left and that is not in line with what people think today. An actor who says he wants to return his award, should not also accept an award, this is my personal opinion," said Gowda.

--- ENDS ---
Workers at General Motors and Ford plants in Canada who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter expressed their support for striking workers at GMs CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario and warned the embattled workers about the treacherous role of the auto union, Unifor.

Autoworkers also denounced the physical assault on a WSWS reporter by a Unifor thug during last Fridays solidarity rally outside the CAMI plant.

Last year, the more than 20,000 GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler workers in Canada, who work under a separate contract from the 2,800 workers at CAMI, cast the largest no vote for a union-backed contract since the Canadian Auto Workers, the predecessor of Unifor, broke with the United Auto Workers in 1986. There was widespread opposition, particularly from workers at Fords plant in Oakville and GMs Oshawa plant, over Unifors effort to ram though the sellout deal without revealing its entire content to workers.

Addressing the CAMI workers a tier-two worker from the Oakville plant said, My advice is to stay strong and fight. You need to have full information before you vote on any contract.

We struggle with our union here in Oakville. We dont have the protection we need. Unifor is not doing its job. The opinion across the board is that Unifor is paid off and not for the workers.

I voted no on our last contract. We talked to the Ford workers in Windsor, and it turns out that they were not fully informed. They didnt gain anything with the agreement. They are now angry.

Commenting on the revelations of corruption on the part of United Auto Workers officials in the US, she added, It is disgusting. She continued, We are not getting the support we need. We are lied to all the time.

Speaking of the specific conditions at her plant she added, The company doesnt allow us time off. It is a fight. I give them six months notice, and they still say no.

Workers who transferred from the Windsor plant to Oakville say this is the worst plant theyve ever worked in with the way they are treated. If you talk to the union, they are buddy-buddy with management.

A retired GM worker from St. Catharines, Ontario spoke to the WSWS on the CAMI strike and the role of Unifor. It is a pretty bleak picture for the workers. We have done nothing but give concessions. We have given so much ground. It seems unionized workers in the US and Canada have taken a kicking. The workers seem to concede everything.

Speaking on the experiences of the GM retirees, he said, We got nothing in 2016. We just go backwards.

He said he strongly agreed with uniting autoworkers internationally. We should all be together. We should be together with the US and Mexican workers. That would take away their ability to undercut.

He was critical of the role of Unifor. Ive tried to call our local union hall, but all you ever get is an answering machine. Something is wrong here. With all the money they are taking in they could put someone on the phone. It doesnt matter what time you call, you dont get an answer.

I try to call the benefit rep. I want to know if I can get a leg brace. Its please leave a message. Are they ever there?

The first concessions started in the 1980s. Then it was you started at 85 percent of base pay and you got to full pay after 18 months. Then they started eating away. Now with the two-tier, you take a guy who is trying to raise kids, it's criminal.

Remarking on the assault on the WSWS reporter by Unifor goon he remarked, Thats too bad the Unifor guys roughed you up. They are trying to silence you.

I dont have a lot of faith in [Unifor President Jerry] Dias. And from Detroit, you hear about the union officials being bought off. Can you blame GM for hiring a thug like [former Fiat Chrysler executive Alphons] Iacobelli? We just seem to be peddling backward.

Bruce Allen, a veteran worker from the St. Catharines GM plant said the following about the assault on the WSWS reporter: The violence and intimidation directed against persons associated with the WSWS at the CAMI strike support rally on Friday was totally indefensible but not surprising. The leadership of Unifor has a long history of absolute intolerance for anyone who questions their policies and actions. This is not a democratic organization, contrary to the claims of its spokespersons and anyone who is courageous enough to openly say so risks being relentlessly vilified by a Unifor nomenklatura who stifle democratic debate. In the face of this kind of behavior the words of a true internationalist Rosa Luxemburg are well worth recalling: Freedom is always freedom for those who think differently.

A second-tier worker at CAMI also defended the WSWS and denounced the attack.

I find your newsletter to be incredibly accurate. Unifors intent to silence the WSWS is just another example of their undemocratic, dictator ways.

The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter encourages workers to assemble rank and file committees and for workers to abandon the undemocratic operations of UNIFOR and the UAW, so they can unite themselves for workers interests instead of Unifors corporate business interests, which come off our backs. Bullying WSWS reporters is just another example of their dictatorial ways.
At least 10 people have died and more than 20,000 evacuated, in what authorities are calling one of the most destructive fire emergencies in Californias history. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, an estimated 1,500 structures have been destroyed and 73,000 acres burned.

Firefighters are battling at least 15 different fires spread across eight countiesNapa, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Yuba, Nevada, Calaveras, and Butte.

The largest of the blazes began around 10 p.m. Sunday night and spread rapidly due to 50 mph winds and dry conditions in Napa and Sonoma counties, a region known for its vineyards and wineries. The fires sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away.

The fire spread so quickly that some residents received an official evacuation notice three hours after they had already evacuated in the face of the advancing flames.

A large section of Santa Rosa, a city with about 175,000 in Sonoma County, has been ordered to evacuate. Over 200 patients were forced to evacuate from Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Sutter Hospital, including expectant mothers. At Kaiser Permanente, nurses had to race patients away from the area in their own personal vehicles.

Over 100 patients have been treated at local Napa and Sonoma county hospitals for fire-related illnessesincluding burns, smoke inhalation and shortness of breath.

The immediate cause of the fire is unknown but authorities noted that dry conditions made it easy for the fires to spread. Janet Upton, a deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told the New York Times that October is typically the busiest month for wildfires in California. Low humidity, dry conditions, a buildup of vegetation, and heavy winds known as diablo winds create prime conditions for wildfires to spread rapidly. Combined, thats a recipe for disaster, she noted.

Ive been with the department for 31 years, and some years are notorious, Upton said, concluding, Im afraid that 2017 is going to be added to that list now.

Governor Jerry Brown issued an emergency proclamation for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties. These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents, his emergency proclamation stated.

This is really serious. Its moving fast. The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse, Brown said at a news conference. Its not under control by any means. But were on it in the best way we know how.

Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann pointed to a lack of resources that exacerbates the danger posed by wildfires and limits the ability to contain fires when they break out. As of right now, with these conditions, we cant get in front of this fire and do anything about the forward progress, he said. Firefighters have been forced to focus on evacuation efforts.

Because fires are blazing in more than one part of California, firefighters are not able to focus their efforts on properly combating the flames.

Additionally, state and federal budgets have not kept up with the increasing scope and intensity of wildfires. At the beginning of this month, before the latest fires, Cal Fire had used $250 million of its $426.9 million emergency fund which was expected to last until June of next year.

On federal lands, which account for one-third of the state, there is no emergency fund for fighting wildfires, meaning that money is taken from fire prevention and forest health budgets, only exacerbating the dangers.

So real work on the ground to reduce the intensity of fires isnt getting done or is being delayed, the director of Cal Fire, Ken Pimlott, told KQED news earlier this month. It really just further exacerbates the intensity of fires because we cant get on the federal ground in particular to get the fuels treated.

Recent budget cuts have also hampered efforts to prevent and battle wildfires. Californias proposed 2017-18 budget cut funds for local efforts to remove dead trees to just $2 million. Acres of dead trees are a central problem fueling wildfires.

Cal Fire saw funding slashed nearly in half from $91 million to $41.7 million for the extended fire season, increased firefighter surge capacity, Conservation Corps fire suppression crews, and aerial assets.

Active wildfires were reported across the state this weekend. A fire burning through Orange County in Southern California burned multiple structures and forced residents of about 1,000 homes to evacuate. The wildfire spread over more than 4,000 acres and has burned at least six buildings in Anaheim.
The Trump White House sent a document to Congress Sunday night outlining its demands on immigration policy, calling for a further build-up of the federal police agencies that target undocumented immigrants, a legal witch-hunt against cities and states that are reluctant to cooperate in mass arrests and detentions, and a sharp reduction in legal immigration as well.

The document was reportedly compiled by Trumps fascistic policy adviser Stephen Miller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, based on input from federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Border Patrol, as well as ultra-right anti-immigrant lobbies in Washington.

It follows by two days the issuance of a letter by Tom Homan, acting director of ICE, threatening mass anti-immigrant raids in California neighborhoods and workplaces, in response to the enactment of a state law, signed by the governor Thursday, which makes California a sanctuary state, limiting cooperation by state and local police with ICE and other federal agencies.

Under the title Immigration Principles & Policies, the White House document spells out the framework for an American police state, directed initially against immigrants, but with the potential for targeting far broader layers of the working class. It deepens the attack on such longstanding democratic principles as the presumption of innocence, due process, reasonable bail, and the right to an attorney.

The Trump administration calls for attacks on democratic rights in three major areas:

* A crackdown along the US-Mexico border: this involves not only completing construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States, but changes in processing of undocumented immigrants and refugees to ensure that most refugee claims are denied and most claimants removed from the country quickly. This includes hiring thousands more immigration judges and prosecutors, increasing the burden of proof for refugees claiming they are fleeing persecution, and expanding the categories of immigrants who will be considered criminals, by including offenses like using a false Social Security number, which would apply to millions of undocumented workers.

* Stepped-up anti-immigrant activity throughout the interior of the United States, partly by greatly expanding ICE through the hiring of an additional 10,000 agents, and partly by mobilizing state and local police to act as the instruments of federal immigration enforcement. This would increase the size of the force devoted to persecuting immigrants into the millions. Local governments that resist such an effort would be targeted for cutoff of federal aid and threatened with legal action to compel them to provide information and manpower.

* A sharp reduction in legal immigration, by revoking the present system which promotes family reunification, allowing US citizens and legal residents to sponsor parents, children, spouses and other close relatives, in favor of an employment-based system that would cater primarily to the needs of high-tech companies seeking skilled workers and agribusiness interests seeking seasonal labor in the fields. The number of refugees permitted to enter the US would also be sharply reduced.

The Trump immigration document is written in the language of right-wing populism, identified with Miller and with departed White House counselor Stephen Bannon. It demonizes immigrants as threats to US national security (i.e., potential terrorists) and as threats to the jobs and living standards of American workers (the document claims that legal immigration has suppressed wages, fueled unemployment and strained federal resources).

This declaration of war against a substantial section of the working classan estimated 12 million undocumented workers and an even larger number of legal immigrants, green card holders, refugees and naturalized citizensis the real face of the Trump administration, the most right-wing and anti-democratic in American history.

The Trump immigration document exposes the role of the Democratic Party in providing political cover for the White House, most notably in the gushing response of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after a meeting with Trump last month to discuss the status of the 800,000 young undocumented immigrants covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Schumer and Pelosi emerged from a White House dinner with Trump declaring that the president was genuinely sympathetic to the plight of these young people, who have grown up in the United States after being brought here by their parents when they were children. They claimed to have at least the broad outlines of a deal that would prevent deportation of Dreamers, in return for some strengthening of border security, but not including Trumps wall.

Since Trump took officeand even beforethe Democratic Party has focused its opposition to the new administration on Trumps alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election campaign, not on the monstrous and anti-democratic attacks on immigrants, or the entire range of ultra-right social policies and militarism to which Trump is committed. The main purpose of this campaign has been to pressure Trump to adopt a more hardline policy towards Moscow, both in the Syrian war and more broadly, across eastern Europe and the Baltic.

Since Schumer and Pelosis deal with Trump last month to extend the federal budget authorization and the debt ceiling until mid-December, the Democrats have speculated endlessly on a possible move by Trump to the center, i.e., to cutting deals with the Democratic minority in Congress on a range of issues, including immigration, trade, corporate tax cuts and infrastructure, where both capitalist parties share a common right-wing agenda.

Now Schumer and Pelosi profess to be shocked that the White House has issued a list of draconian immigration policies with no mention of legalization or even leniency toward those covered by DACAlet alone lifting the fear of detention and deportation from the other 11 million undocumented. We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures, they said in a joint statement, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable. This proposal fails to represent any attempt at compromise.

A cynical fraud! In fact, any agreement between the Democrats and the Trump administration would involve a further assault on immigrant workers, going beyond the measures enacted by the Obama administration, which included mass deportations and the militarization of the US-Mexico border. Moreover, the purpose of the Democrats maneuvers with Trump over DACA was not to protect immigrant workers, but to prop-up a crisis-ridden government and prevent what the Democrats above all fear: the independent intervention of the working class.

While the immediate targets of the White House proposal are immigrant workers, the entire working class is in the crosshairs. The Trump administration is seeking to massively escalate the bipartisan assault on health care, public education, and other social services, while overseeing another historic transfer of wealth from the working class to the rich. The scapegoating of immigrant workers is aimed at dividing the working class, while the police-state mechanisms will be used to suppress all domestic opposition.

Whatever their internal differences, including over immigration policy, the Democrats and Republicans are united on this basic class strategy.

The working class must reject the entire reactionary framework. The defense of immigrant workers and fight for the right of everyone to live and work where they choosea socialist policy of open bordersmust be connected to a program that defends the interests of the entire working class. The resources exist to ensure that all workers have the right to a decent job, health care, public education, and a quality retirement, but these rights are not compatible with the capitalist profit system.
The Supreme Court in Wellington heard an appeal on October 5 by family members of some of the 29 men who died in the 2010 explosion at the remote Pike River Coal (PRC) mine. The families sought a judicial review of the government regulator WorkSafes decision in 2013 to drop charges against PRC chief executive Peter Whittall.

In February, the Court of Appeal rejected the families case. The five Supreme Court judges have not said when they will make a decision.

No one has been held accountable for the disaster despite a 2012 Royal Commission finding that it was entirely preventable and that PRC had prioritised production over safety. Government regulators allowed PRC to operate despite flagrant safety breaches, including no adequate emergency exit, and inadequate ventilation and methane gas monitoring.

In 2013, PRC was found guilty of safety breaches and ordered to pay $3.41 million in reparations, but the company was bankrupt and refused to pay. In December that year, WorkSafe reached a back-room deal with Whittalls lawyers to drop 12 health and safety charges against him in exchange for payment to the families by Whittall and other company directors of the $3.41 million.

Police also decided in July 2013 not to press any charges over the disaster. Earlier this year it emerged that police had suppressed video footage taken inside the mine, which proved it could be re-entered safely to gather evidence. The mine has never been re-entered and the 29 bodies have not been recovered (see: New Zealand: Police suppressed images of bodies in Pike River mine).

The families lawyer Nigel Hampton argued in the Supreme Court that the bargain, made by WorkSafe and Whittall without the approval of the families, was unprecedented, unprincipled and unlawful. He said it sets a dangerous precedent for wealthy individuals to be able to buy themselves out of prosecutions.

In response, WorkSafes lawyer Aaron Martin declared there was no improper bargain because WorkSafe was not benefiting from the non-prosecution of Whittall. In fact, any trial would inevitably have exposed the regulators failure to prevent the explosion and the role played by successive governments in deregulating safety in the mining industry.

Martin descended into semantic sophistry. He admitted there was an understanding that WorkSafe would drop charges against Whittall in exchange for the payment to the families, but then added, that doesnt mean there was a deal.

The lawyer said WorkSafe decided a prosecution of Whittall was not in the public interest because of a range of factors, including the probability of a long, costly trial, which would have covered material already examined by the Royal Commission. Under questioning, Martin admitted there was no evidence WorkSafe had considered dropping the charges prior to the offer of payment.

Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died in Pike River, told the World Socialist Web Site that the regulators defence was absolute nonsense. She described the Royal Commission as a farce, adding, I think it was done way too early. What came out of it was best guesses as to what happened and weve got no real answers and still no accountability. What Id like to see is an independent inquiry to properly get to the bottom of it all.

Sonya Rockhouse, who lost her son Ben, said if the families succeed in their application for a judicial review it would be a moral victory against the government. She added, Theres a lot more we would like to happen. Wed like Whittall to be brought back; wed like the charges to be reinstated. None of that realistically is going to happen.

Rockhouse said the families would continue to demand justice because no ones been held to account, not one person. She pointed out that after 96 people were crushed to death in 1989 at the Hillsborough stadium in Britain, it took 28 years before any of the police officers whose actions led to the disaster were charged.

The families hope the next government will organise a manned re-entry of the drift tunnel that leads into the mine. Seven years after the disaster, the opposition Labour, Green and New Zealand First Parties have promised to carry out a re-entry. Following the inconclusive election result on September 23, NZ First is currently deciding whether to form a coalition government with the National Party or the Labour-Greens bloc.

The government-owned company Solid Energy had wanted to permanently seal the mine entrance and only backed down earlier this year after months of protests by the families, which gained widespread public support.

Bernie Monk, whose son Michael died in the mine, told the WSWS that former Prime Minister John Key had made empty promises to re-enter the mine and retrieve the bodies. He said although many people were excited by the opposition parties promises, Ill never be excited till the job is finished.

Monk said the Pike River case needs to be reopened, thats pretty obvious, and a re-entry of the mine will bring a lot of evidence. He added that the families were still trying to obtain more information held by the police about the mine. Were fighting for justice and accountability in New Zealand, he said.

None of the political parties has committed to reinstating charges or called for reopening the criminal investigation.

Monk said he had heard of recent attempts to cut staff at WorkSafes specialist mining inspectorate, which was boosted following the Pike River disaster. He said a WorkSafe employee came to me personally and asked me to do something about it. The disasters are going to start all over again.

Monk listed those he held responsible for the disaster in addition to the company: The Department of Labour [now WorkSafe] cut back the inspectorate in 1992 under the National Party. The Labour Party didnt do anything [to reverse the cuts]; they were in power for three terms. They have honestly come forward and told us that.

He continued: Mines Rescue did work at Pike River; they knew that that mine was unsafe. And number four is the unions, because they did not do their job.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, now called E Tu, represented about half the workforce at Pike River. It worked hand-in-hand with the company. The union knew about safety breaches at the mine, which had prompted one walkout by workers in protest, but it never organised industrial action to ensure the mine was safe.

The union made no public statement about the unsafe conditions. Immediately after the explosion EPMU leader Andrew Little, who later became the Labour Party leader, defended Pike River Coal. He told the media there was nothing unusual about the mine and nothing that the union had been concerned about.

The author also recommends:

Families demand investigation into New Zealand mine disaster

[17 February 2017]

Families of New Zealand mine disaster victims seek justice

[15 August 2016]

Labour MP blames workers for New Zealand mine disaster

[16 November 2012]
A single mother of two who was fired by Amazon when she was unable to work forced overtime was rehired after workers at the Pittsburgh plant united against the firing and reported it to the International Amazon Workers Voice.

Workers report that the woman, a mother of two young daughters, was coming off a Sunday 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift when her supervisor announced that there was going to be forced overtime, or what Amazon refers to as flexing-up.

She explained to her supervisor that she would miss her ride home and buses dont run very often on Sunday. The supervisor told her it was OK to leave, but later that day she received an email telling her she had used up all her Unpaid time off and that she was fired. The International Amazon Workers Voice (IAWV) exposed this act of corporate abuse in an article published on September 1 that was read by thousands of Amazon workers worldwide.

Workers shared the story of her firing and demanded that the company reinstate her. The corporation then did so. The re-hiring may seem like a small victory, but it is a powerful indication of the strength Amazon workers have when they unite to protect one anothers rights.

The worker who first reported the firing to the IAWV said, This shows that we can speak out and stand up for our rights, adding, People have to stick together. We have to realize that Bezos only gets his money because we are doing all the work. If we stopped working, the packages wouldn't get delivered. These people who make all the money dont know how to get the packages out to the customers and they couldnt do it. People have to see that we really have the strength if we all stick together and speak up.

Amazon is aware of the immense potential power of the hundreds of thousands of workers who make the company run but whose labor is exploited for corporate profit.

Many workers report that Amazon prevents workers from even talking to one another, out of fear that they will share one anothers stories of Amazons exploitation. If workers are seen talking, they are first told to stop but will then be transferred to different jobs and kept separated. Workers who continue to talk with others are soon fired, workers report.

People have to speak up, said the worker who reported the firing. Everyone is afraid to talk up because there are so few jobs and they dont want to get fired. This is happening to too many other people who we dont even know about.

The International Amazon Workers Voice is fighting to break through the fear caused by dictatorial conditions and to provide Amazon workers with a platform to share their stories of abuse with their coworkers internationally. Workers not only confront the same problems as fellow workers at their own warehouses, they face the same issues as their coworkers across the world, in the UK, France, China, India, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere.

Many of Amazon workers at the Pittsburgh warehouse are part-time and oppose the lack of flexibility on taking time off. They work a four-hour shift, but are routinely forced to work overtime if there are still more packages that need shipped out. Workers who are unable to stay the extra hours are penalized and then fired.

As part-time workers, they dont get any vacation time, sick days or even personal time. Instead they are granted a block of hours, called Unpaid Time Off, or UPT. Each worker is granted 30 hours of UPT when they are first hired and another 20 hours each three months, for a total of just 80 hours a year.

When they are sick, need to go to a doctor, take care of a family member, meet with their childrens teacher or just want a day off, they have to use their UPT for it. Even if a worker is injured on the job--and many suffer from back and other joint problems, caused by the constant walking, bending and lifting--unless they can prove that it is Amazons fault and open a Workmens Compensation claim, they have to use their UPT hours.

The worker involved in the rehiring of the fired Amazon worker said it is just the beginning of a fight to address the legitimate grievances of Amazon workers across the world:

The company fires people for stuff like this all the time. How many other people have been fired that we dont know about? And she still didnt get paid for the time she was off!

This victory at the Pittsburgh warehouse shows that workers can fight back against this giant corporation when they expose the corporate dictatorship and explain to other workers that the entire workforce faces the same conditions.

Especially at a time when every local government is fighting to bribe Amazon with billions of dollars in giveaways in exchange for constructing their second headquarters in their area, no one but the workers themselves is going to stand up to corporate abuse. The government, the media, the trade unions, and the political parties are bought and sold tools of corporations like Amazon. Workers must build their own independent organizationsworkplace committeesto fight corporate exploitation, on the principle that the interests of the working class are antagonistic to those of the companies and the pro-corporate trade unions.

Share your story of corporate abuse with the IAWV and launch a fight among your coworkers to defend the rights of Amazon workers worldwide.
As news continues to surface of the continuing environmental and social disaster that Puerto Rico has been in since it was pummeled by Hurricane Maria on September 20 and 21, there is a concerted campaign by the Trump administration and local government authorities to conceal the full scope of the disaster.

While the official death toll was raised from 36 to 39 on Sunday, the real number of fatalities is still unknown. More than 40 percent of the islands residents still do not have drinking water and only 11.7 percent have electricity, leaving nearly 3 million residents powerless.

President Trump continues to praise his administrations response and denounce critics, including San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz who tweeted Saturday that FEMA had ignored a request for help from one of the capitals hospitals, which had lost power and was forced to transfer patients. The Hospital had requested support from FEMA and no response. Oh sorry they are collecting data... she tweeted.

Trump posted a self-aggrandizing tweet Sunday evening, saying, Nobody could have done what Ive done for Puerto Rico with so little appreciation. So much work! His post included a video entitled, What the fake news media will not show you in Puerto Rico, which showed him looking presidential during his four-hour visit to the island last week.

Similarly, many of Monday mornings announcements from the US Government Control Center in San Juan were feel-good messages. The US Army Corp of Engineers announced it contracted with the US company Weston Solutions to restore Puerto Ricos electric grid, as part of a series of contracts with private industry.

NBC News hailed new money-making schemes being contemplated by billionaire Elon Musk, Google and Amazon with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello who talked about the opportunity the disaster had opened up to restructure the publicly owned electrical utility. Lt. General Jeffrey Buchanan, who is leading the US militarys hurricane relief efforts, said, The power of America is not the federal government, it is local governments, private organizations all coming together.

On Friday the Puerto Rican Center for Informative Journalism (Centro de Periodismo Informativo, CPI) revealed that when Governor Ricardo Rosello announced last week that 63 of the islands 69 hospitals were fully operational, he declined to explain how that statistic had, in a matter of a few days, jumped from 56 shuttered hospitals, to practically all of them being open and functioning.

In addition the CPI questioned what Rossello meant by the phrase operational. The investigators contacted several hospitals on the governors list and found that they were in no condition to receive patients.

Puerto Ricos largest hospital, the Rio Piedras Medical Center in San Juan, has had to absorb an extraordinary patient load and set up tent clinics to try to accommodate a very large number of patients who cannot find help elsewhere.

The CPI also has shown the low official casualty count has been based on gross statistical calculations on how many would have died anyway during the same two days as the storm. In fact, according to CPI calculations, the final number may turn out to be in the hundreds just in the region surrounding San Juan. There is yet to be a similar rough estimate based on the possible number of deaths in other parts of the island.

CPI investigators have also discovered that, absent a full count, there are at least 30 missing people since Hurricane Maria who had not been previously identified.

On Sunday night in the San Juan Metropolitan area, families were trapped in flash floods, produced by a tropical depression that drove torrential rains into the area. The weekend rains not only flooded San Juan but also caused flooding in western Puerto Rico and inland from the coast.

Rains that on other occasions would cause little damage are provoking floods and landslides due to the fact that the ground is still saturated from the hurricane that hit nearly three weeks ago, and that parts of Puerto Rico have been stripped of all vegetation. Alongside San Juan, flood watches and mudslide warnings have been issued for 78 other municipalities along the northeastern coast and in the islands interior.

At the same time, mayors of cities across Puerto Rico continue to plead for help. On Monday afternoon, Jose Gerena, the mayor of Florida (population 13,000), an inland city west of San Juan, urgently begged for help from local and federal authorities as waters from flooded sewers were inundating parts of the city. Gerena announced that he had received no response, despite the fact that such sewage lakes greatly increase the danger of infections and epidemics.
British Home Secretary Amber Rudds speech at last weeks Conservative Party conference elaborated on the governments proposal for a Commission on Countering Extremism, announced in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing in May.

The measures being put together to expose extremism and division amount to a fundamental attack on democratic rights, free speech and privacy.

Rudd described extremism in sweeping terms, underscoring that the government is seizing on recent attacks as the pretext for all-embracing Internet censorship and the criminalisation of free speech. Besides warped Islamist ideologies, Rudd insisted, violent and non-violent extremism in all its formsanti-Semitism, neo-Nazism, Islamophobia, intolerance of womens rightsthese, and others, cannot be permitted to fester.

Rudd and her governments view of extremism could be extended ad infinitum to all forms of political dissent and criticism . The safer Britain I want to build is a united one, she said.

The home secretary asserted that recent attacks include an element of online radicalisation. She complained that extremist and terrorist material can still be published online, and is then too easily accessible on some devices within seconds.

Following last months bombing at Parsons Green Underground station in London, calls for further Internet censorship were being made before the bombers identity had even been established.

Contrary to Rudds assertions, the main and only proven common element between the recent terroristic attacks on innocent concertgoers and tube travellers is that the perpetrators have been known to the police and security forces for an extended period.

Nevertheless, the government intends to change the law so that people who repeatedly view content deemed terroristic online could face up to 15 years in prison.

Currently, material falling foul of section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 has to be saved locally to a computer drive or printed to be deemed criminal. In future, if the government gets its way, the mere act of repeatedly viewing a video stream of a site deemed extremist without reasonable excuse could be enough to merit a jail sentence. According to the Home Office, reasonable excuse will be restricted to academics, journalists and others who may have what the Home Office view as a legitimate reason.

Rudd also harangued the giants of social media, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft, with whom she is already collaborating closely, to bring forward technology solutions to rid your platforms of this vile terrorist material. Act now, Rudd went on. Honour your moral obligations.

Under the guise of clamping down on images of child abuse, Rudd made clear that she wanted widespread deployment of crawler technology, described as Project Arachnid, to rapidly identify offensive images and automate their instant removal. Our investment, Rudd continued, will also enable internet companies to proactively search for, and destroy, illegal images in their systems.

A technology that can identify images of child abuse can target images of anything else and, in the hands of the Home Office and the Web giants, would be used to suppress alternative opinions, and consolidate the immense worldwide program of Web censorship already being developed.

Rudd used the same hysterical technique to propagandise for the governments attack on encryption, the basis of most secure data transmission on the Internet. We also know that end to end encryption services like Whatsapp, are being used by paedophiles.  I do not accept it is right to allow them and other criminals to operate beyond the reach of law enforcement.

According to this logic, all means of communication and transport, not to mention public utilities, should be suppressed because paedophiles and other criminals use them.

Under powers contained in the Investigatory Powers Act, which came into force last year, Rudd can already issue a technical capability notice (TCN) to demand companies undermine the security of their own technology. Any organisation with over 10,000 users in the UK can be instructed to alter their product to allow interception of communications and metadata collection.

In practice, the government confronts major problems in pushing through its attack on encryption because so much of modern finance and industry depends on it. Moreover, by the nature of encryption, which involves the exchange of keys generated at each end of a communication session, and which are then used to encrypt traffic during that session, the very notion of a back door is fraudulent.

Encryption either works, or it has been broken. Once an exploit exists, it is only a matter of time before its use becomes widespread, with potentially catastrophic consequences, as was shown with the Wannacrypt ransomware outbreak earlier this year, which brought much of the National Health Service to a standstill but was based on the Eternal Blue exploit developed by the US governments National Security Agency (NSA).

Rudd has been repeatedly advised, including by industrial and technical commentators by no means otherwise hostile to her governments agenda, where this might lead. Speaking in the House of Lords last month, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, founder of LastMinute.com, criticised earlier comments from Rudd banging the drum against encryption. Fox described Rudds approach as asinine and alarmist and a disservice to the people we serve.

None of this bothers Rudd, however, who is one of the candidates to replace Theresa May when her premiership finally disintegrates. Rudd declared that she doesnt need to understand how encryption works to understand how its helping the criminals.

More than mere ignorance is on ostentatious show here. Nor should one rely on a scenario where the voice of sanity within ruling circles somehow acts as a counter to the sharp turn to state repression. For Rudd, the target is neither potential terrorists nor sex criminals but the entire working population at a time of acute and growing social and political tensions.

Rudds initial focus is on clamping down on opposition to British imperialisms predatory wars in the Middle East, but this will inevitably be extended to cover all anti-war sentiment and commentary at a time when Britain and its major ally, US imperialism, are threatening North Korea with military intervention as part of a general patter of threats and aggression against Both China and Russia.

The same concerns inform proposals for a new Espionage Act to replace the Official Secrets Acts of 1911, 1929 and 1939. Still at the level of proposals with the Law Commission, the statutory body that reviews and updates legislation in line with government demands, the Espionage Act proposals, Protection of Official Data: A Consultation Paper, include measures that would, according to the British-based Open Rights Group (ORG):

 Make persons who are not British subjects or citizens, and who have never been on British territory, potentially chargeable and subject to extradition;

 Eliminate the requirement to prove that any alleged release of information actually caused damage;

 Prohibit a defence of prior disclosure unless information was already lawfully in the public domain;

 Include economic information as a punishable disclosure;

 Prohibit any form of public interest defence.

The ORG noted that the proposals are in part a reaction to the efforts by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and former NSA agent turned whistle-blower Edward Snowden to expose imperialist war crimes and secret electronic surveillance of the population, although neither Assange nor Snowden is mentioned in the Law Commission documents.

In 2013, Snowden exposed the extent of Internet surveillance organised by the British and US intelligence agencies. WikiLeaks continues to reveal numerous vast data troves exposing the machinations of the rich and powerful to the worlds working population, despite Assanges incarceration in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Seeking to guard against future such exposures, the Law Commission insists it is necessary to ensure sensitive information is safeguarded against those whose goal is to obtain it contrary to the national interest.
On October 8, both the USA and Turkey mutually suspended all non-migrant visa services, amid an accelerating deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies and the Trump administrations escalating war threats against North Korea and Iran.

In a statement issued on Twitter, the US Embassy in Ankara announced the suspension of all non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic facilities in Turkey: Recent events have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of US Mission facilities and personnel. In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey.

Immediately afterwards, the Turkish Embassy in Washington responded in kind, declaring that it had suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all Turkish diplomatic facilities in the US.

This came after the chief prosecutor in Istanbul issued a detention warrant for a local employee of the US Consulate. The employee has reportedly not yet been apprehended.

On September 25, Metin Topuz, another locally-employed staff member of the US Consulate General in Istanbul, was arrested for spying and attempting to overthrow the government, i.e. his links with the FETO (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization). Named after Fethullah Gulen, a pro-American Turkish Islamic cleric living in Pennsylvania in a self-imposed exile, who leads an international work of schools, firms and foundations backed by the CIA, the FETO has been accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

In a statement issued Thursday, the US Embassy said that it was deeply disturbed at the arrest of Topuz, adding, We believe these allegations to be wholly without merit. The Turkish foreign ministry replied that Topuz was neither a staff member of the American Consulate nor entitled to diplomatic or consular immunity.

In addition to these two employees, a dozen Americans, including another consulate staff and an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, are behind bars and facing long prison sentences on charges of having played a part in the failed, US-backed coup attempt of last year.

At a meeting with reporters in Istanbul on October 6, the US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said: I am deeply disturbed that some people in the Turkish government prefer to try this case through media outlets rather than properly pursuing the case in a court of law before a judge. That does not strike me as pursuing justice, it seems to me more a pursuit of vengeance.

Ankara intends to use the detainees as bargaining chips with Washington. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Turkish Police Academy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his government would hand over Brunson to the USA in exchange for Fethullah Gulen. You have another pastor in your hands. Give him to us and we will give him to you, he said.

Lying behind the crisis in US-Turkish relations are deepening strategic conflicts between the two countries as Ankara improves ties with Russia and Iran, two of the main targets of US war planning.

Over the weekend, the Turkish army launched its latest military operation in Syrias Idlib province, reportedly in close cooperation with Russian forces. In Idlib, the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army militia is fighting the jihadist Tahrir al-Shama group spearheaded by the former Al Nusra Front, the Syrian wing of Al Qaeda.

The Turkish army is mounting its operation under an agreement reached in Astana, Kazakhstan last month and backed by Russia and Iran, which support Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime. On September 14, Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as the Syrian government and opposition groups, came together to implement a cease-fire in so-called de-escalation zones in Syria. According to the agreement, Turkish troops will be stationed in Idlib, while Russia and Iran will hold the surrounding territory to suspend attacks.

In justifying the Turkish invasion in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that bombs would fall on our cities, if we didnt take measures, adding, When we dont go to Syria, Syria comes to us.

Turkeys main concern, however, is the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) militia, the main proxy force of the US imperialism and its European partners in Syria. Ankara regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decades-long guerrilla war inside Turkey.

We will never allow a terror corridor that begins in Afrin and goes to the Mediterranean, Erdogan said, referring to the Syrian side of Turkeys southern border controlled by US-backed Kurdish forces.

Turkey was initially one of the major supporters of rebels fighting the Assad regime during the now six-and-a-half-year war. However, its focus has moved from ousting Assad to securing its own border against Kurdish groups, pitting Ankara in a conflict with its NATO imperialist allies.

While declaring its support for Ankaras current military operation in Idlib to ensure the de-escalation regime in the region, the Pentagon is, in fact, deeply concerned about a possible conflict between Turkish troops and YPG fighters located around the city.

Moreover, Turkish military operation come amid media reports of the alleged preparation of a US-backed military offensive on Idlib. Speaking at a panel on July 30, Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for global coalition to counter the Islamic State, said, Idlib has turned into a safe zone for al-Qaida terrorists on the Turkish border. This was interpreted by Ankara, Moscow and Tehran as the sign of an imminent US offensive in Syria.

Along with close cooperation in Idlib, Ankara and Tehran also took sides with the Iraqi central government against the Kurdistan Regional Governments (KRG) independence referendum on September 25. They imposed sanctions against the KRG that could be followed by a possible military action to seize external border posts held by the KRG from the Iranian and Turkish side. Ankara is also prepared to send its troops to Kirkuk and other disputed territories occupied by the KRG during the fight against the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, Irans foreign ministry spokesman sharply responded to new US threats, including to designate Irans Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. According to Irans Tasnim news agency, Bahram Qasemi described such a move as a strategic mistake, adding: Irans reaction would be firm, decisive and crushing.
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Latin America

One-day general strike by Argentine state workers

Workers in Argentinas State Workers Association (ATE) held a one-day general strike October 4 to protest the proposed austerity measures in the 2018 budget President Mauricio Macri has sent to the Congress, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a five-point plan to further unload the nations economic crisis on the working class.

Thousands of teachers, health care professionals and other public employees gathered at city plazas and marched to their provincial and local legislatures, where they condemned the budget, which would raise fees for utilities, transportation and other services, cut pensions, increase indebtedness, undermine labor rights, lower wages and consign more workers to precarious employment.

Mexican university professors vote to strike over unpaid wages

A meeting of delegates from the 3,000-member Autonomous University of Zacatecas Academic Personnel Syndicate (SPAUAZ) voted October 5 to strike at the end of October over nonpayment of wages and other violations of labor rights. The university administration owes about 150 million pesos (US$8.09 million) in seniority bonuses for the last three months.

Public hospital doctors in the Dominican Republic stage 24-hour walkout

Doctors in public hospitals, members of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD), held a one-day strike October 4 to demand the government fulfill its promise to raise salaries, and to oppose delays in unpaid wages and high levels of unemployment hitting medical professionals.

In addition to the governments failure to comply with the salary agreement reached in November 2016, pay for first-year medical residents has been delayed up to three months. CMD resolved to carry out a 48-our stoppage starting October 11 if there is no positive response from the authorities.

Colombian pilots defy strikebreaking edict

On October 6, the Superior Tribunal of Bogota (STB) ruled that the strike by the pilots at Avianca, Colombias largest airline, is illegal. The court claimed that airline travel is an essential public service that affects the entire nation, so pilots have no right to strike. So far, about 3,000 flights have been canceled since the 700 pilotsmore than half of the 1,300 who work for Avianca walked off the job September 20.

The pilots, members of the Colombian Civil Aviators Association (Acdac), voted in mid-September to take industrial action to press their demands for pay parity with Avianca pilots in other Latin American countries, and to win hours that conform to international norms and security improvements.

Acdac lawyers immediately appealed the STB ruling, a legal maneuver that, according to Colombian labor law, allows the pilots to remain on strike while the case makes its way to the Supreme Court, a process that could take months. The STB also ruled that Avianca could hire pilots from outside Colombia to replace the striking aviators, which the airline has reportedly begun to do.

United States

Kentucky packing workers rally at the end of first week on strike

Workers at the Oracle Packaging plant in Louisville, Kentucky held a rally October 6 to mark their first week on strike. United Steelworkers Local 1693-18 called the strike after the old five-year labor agreement for 70 workers expired August 31 and the union announced an impasse in talks with Oracle.

Oracle, which was acquired in 2012 by the New York-based private investment firm Centre Lane Partners in a strategy to merge Oracle with another of its acquisitions, LLFlex, wants to slash hours, quadruple employee health care costs and eliminate the companys matching contribution to the 401(k) pension plan. Oracle workers currently make between $18-$20 an hour.

Nurses end 48-hour strike in Michigans upper peninsula

Nurses at the Marquette General Hospital in Marquette, Michigan ended their 48-hour strike October 7 over safe staffing ratios. When nurses, members of the Michigan Nurses Association, attempted to report to work, they were turned away by hospital management until Tuesday, when the five-day contract with replacement nurses ends. The hospitals owner, Duke Lifepoint, has refused to ensure safe nursing levels for patients. Duke Lifepoint, a Fortune 500 corporation, purchased Marquette General in 2012.

Steelworkers strike HarbisonWalker International plant in Ohio

Some 90 workers, members of United Steelworkers Local 8565-03, have struck HarbisonWalker International in Windham, Ohio after rejecting managements final offer. The company manufactures refractory products such as ceramics used in steel and other industries that can withstand high temperatures.

The company operates 19 manufacturing plants globally and is the largest supplier of refractory services in the US. The contract with the United Steelworkers expired September 15. The factory lies halfway between Cleveland and Youngstown, in an area devastated by steel mill closures and deindustrialization, which has been aided and abetted by the USW.

Canada

Medical lab workers strike in Windsor

Ninety medical lab assistants and technologists walked out on strike at eight Medical Laboratories of Windsor locations on October 2. The workers, who are members of Unifor Local 2458, are fighting for improved wages and benefits at the company, one of the many for-profit contractors used by the government-run health system, which used to do its own testing.

According to Unifor the skilled workers make half of the wages of those doing the same work in a hospital. For the first five years Medical Lab Technologists earn CAN $22.00 (US $17.55) an hour while Medical Lab Assistants only get CAN $13.50 (US $10.77).

Winsdor, which has been devastated by auto factory closings and mass layoffs, is the most economically polarized urban area in Canada, with a third of the residents in the citys core neighborhoods living far below the poverty line. While there is growing opposition among workers to government attacks, Unifor is politically aligned with the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which is accelerating the privatization of public services and imposing austerity to fund a 70 percent increase in military spending by 2026.
By Press Trust of India: Kerala Police on Monday arrested a 65-year-old priest from Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old school girl inside a church.

The incident took place when the victim had gone to a church for taking Bible lessons, the police said.

The accused Father Devaraj of Kandanthitta CSI church has been booked under POSCO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Section 376 of the IPC (rape).

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The girl's father alleged that he saw his daughter being abused by the accused when he came to pick her up, and immediately informed the police.

The accused was working as priest in the church for the past one year, according to the police.

(WITH INPUTS FROM PTI)

--- ENDS ---
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - As Florida A&M University continues its homecoming activities this week, the family of Quinton Langford is still grieving after he was killed during last year's homecoming.

This week, thousands of Rattlers, past and present, return to campus to celebrate homecoming. But this year, a well-loved student won't be there.

Quinton Langford was shot and killed on October 22, 2016 during last year's homecoming. His friend Landsey Ellison was shot, too, but survived.

"Yeah, it's crazy, man," said Allen Langford. "I mean, sometimes, I don't even believe it's real."

Allen Langford is Quinton's dad. He said his 20-year-old son would be anyone's friend and had a loving and caring heart.

"Just a great young man," said Langford. "Had his head on his shoulders. Knew what he wanted."

Tallahassee Police are still looking into what happened. No suspects yet but this surveillance video could shed some light.

"It shows a sedan-type vehicle -- so, maybe a four-door vehicle -- greenish in color...and it's seen leaving from the area," said Officer David Northway with Tallahassee Police Department. "Investigators believe that car is connected to the homicide."

Quinton and his friend were shot near this intersection. Quinton's family says whoever is behind this shooting has no idea the devastation and grief they've caused.

"Put yourself in my shoes. Put yourself in anybody else's shoes," said Langford. Nobody wants to say nothing until it happens to them."

"You may be the one sitting at home right now with a little piece of the puzzle that we need to finish the big picture," said Officer Northway.

The Big Bend Crime Stoppers is offering up to $8,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anyone can submit an anonymous tip by calling 850-574-tips.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Troopers are reporting multiple crashes on I-10 westbound and eastbound.

The Florida Highway Patrol is reporting a crash with a road block on I-10 EB near the Thomasville Road exit.

Troopers say that the crash happened around 5:15 p.m. at mile marker 201 which is near the Thomasville Road exit. They say that the roadway has since been cleared.

FHP is also reporting another crash on westbound I-10 near mile marker 199 (Monroe Street exit) that happened about 10 minutes earlier. The road has since been cleared of this crash.

Multiple cars were involved in both accidents.

There's no word yet of any injuries.
GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Gadsden County residents voiced their opinions to local legislators.

Sen. Bill Montford and Rep. Ramon Alexander held a Legislative Delegation Meeting on Monday night.

It's a chance for the citizens of Gadsden County to discuss concerns, ask questions and offer comments with their Democratic leaders before the upcoming legislative session.

Topics like health care, immigration and education were top of mind for those at the meeting and lawmakers.

If you couldn't make it to the meeting, Montford and Alexander say constituents are still welcome to give their input by calling their offices.

The 2018 legislative session is scheduled to begin January 9.

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The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday disposed off a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by High Court Advocate HC Arora.

By Manjeet Sehgal: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday disposed off a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by High Court Advocate HC Arora.

The petitioner had said that Navjot Singh Sidhu's participation showed a conflict of interest besides a proprietary issue as Sidhu was a public representative.

The court has disposed off the petition, terming it infructous after the petitioner informed the court that The Kapil Sharma Show was off air w.e.f September 2.

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The petitioner H C Arora had earlier moved the court saying that Sidhu's television stint was a clear conflict of interest as he may not be able to do justice to his department as a cabinet minister.

The Advocate General of Punjab had, however, made it clear that Sidhu was not a civil servant and hence the government could not enforce a code of conduct on him.

--- ENDS ---
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Leon County Jail will become the Leon County Detention Facility on Tuesday to better reflect the services it provides.

Sheriff Walt McNeil says the facility does much more than housing inmates.

"...We are providing criticalmental health servics as well as working to equip inmates with the tools necessary to successfully reenter society," he said in a news release. "Therefore, our name needs to be reflective of those practices."

He said 400 inmates are receiving mental health services, with 304 on psychotropic medications.

The facility provides resources for veterans and juveniles. Inmates are screened for qualification of veteran services. Through the facility's partnership with Leon County Schools, juvenile inmates are mandated to attend GED classes at the facility Monday through Friday.

The facility currently houses 38 veterans and seven juveniles.

McNeil says the facility offers inmates programs to help their successful reentry into society. Last month, for example, the facility held its first quarterly rentry fair through which vendors offered inmates information on employment possibilities, social services and other community resources.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Leon County commissioners working with local law enforcement leaders met Tuesday to discuss concerning crime statistics.

The workshop focused on how best to use the resources from Tallahassee and the university police forces.

The group has been meeting for months to identify high crime areas and recommended strategies for public safety.

Tallahassee has the highest crime rate in Florida for three years running.The importance of enhanced communications and outreach within the community, especially in neighborhood hot spots, is part of an All-In initiative by the Sheriff's Office.

The uniform crime report is the primary source of data that is used to measure crime and how it changes over the years. The data it provides helps to understand the trends and make decisions based on what is happening in each jurisdiction.

Of the 7 crime categories, property crime has the highest number of occurrences in Tallahassee.

"It's our job as local elected officials to really try to jump in head first, look at the public policy, see what we can do," said John Dailey, the chairmen for Leon County Commission District 3. "This isn't going to happen over night, we get that, but we need to come together as a community and really talk facts and statistics about what's going on."

Statistics show cities with a high volume of transient workers tend to have increased crime rates and this is true in Tallahassee. Thirty percent of people working in town live outside of Leon County.

The Sheriff's Office is hoping to empower the community to better protect themselves and their neighbors by increasing their community outreach and promoting watch participation.

There is some good news however: there has been an overall decrease in total crimes in Tallahassee by 6 percent since programs were created to raise awareness in the community.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Havana man was arrested for the transmission of child pornography and cyberstalking after the victim made a report to the Tallahassee Police Department.

Eric Matthew Anderson, 39, booked into the Leon County Jail on Monday, was accused in a probable cause affidavit of often touching the victim but not inappropriately when the victim lived in a household with him and an adult female.

After the victim left the house in January 2017, Anderson used an old phone the victim left behind to send the victim a nude selfie the victim took when the victim was 15 or 16 years old and sent to a friend, according to the court document.

Anderson was said to have repeatedly asked the victim for more pictures like the one he sent the victim

In March 2017, Anderson denied to investigators that he had sent the victim nude pictures.

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The sheriff said he had gleaned insight from the trip to Mumbai, and his department now reacts faster to such shootings, quickly forming a team to cease the action of the assailant on their own.

Police officers stand at the scene of mass shooting near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas. (Photo: AP)

By Press Trust of India: A handful of quick-thinking Las Vegas police officers may have prevented a thousand deaths after they stormed a hotel and killed the lone shooter, the Sheriff of America's gambling hub, who had visited Mumbai to study the 2008 terror attack, has said.

Stephen Paddock, 64-year-old wealthy former accountant and high-stakes gambler has been identified by police as the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history when he opened fire from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on October 1, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others, before turning the gun on himself as police closed in.

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Recalling the dreadful night, Joseph Lombardo, Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Paddock was firing into a crowd of 22,000 concert-goers using powerful guns.

Lombardo said a small team of Las Vegas police officers - two K-9 officers, a detective and a SWAT team member - converged on the Mandalay Bay Hotel and minutes later, they breached the gunman's hotel room door on the 32nd floor.

It was specialised training that allowed them to act so quickly, Lombardo told CBS 60 Minutes.

"I think they prevented a thousand deaths, and I think its important for the American public to understand that," Lombardo said yesterday.

WATCH | Las Vegas shooting: 11 horrific videos that show what's happening at Mandalay Bay Casino

Lombardo had traveled to Mumbai after the November 2008 terrorist attacks on hotels and other sites by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants that left 164 people dead, including some American nationals.

The sheriff said he had gleaned insight from the trip to Mumbai, and his department now reacts faster to such shootings, quickly forming a team to cease the action of the assailant on their own.

"Before we were trained to form a perimeter and hope for the best," Lombardo said. "Now we are trained to gather up and go get it."

Sergeant Joshua Bitsko and Officer Dave Newton of the K9- unit had been training dogs when they heard the message over police radio about an active shooter.

Newton said he saw so many guns. So many magazines.

Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival killing at least 59 people and injuring over 500. (Photo: AP)

"Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout. All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store," he said.Joshua said he saw shell casings all over the floor where Paddock stayed.

"I could smell the- gun powder that- that had went off in the room. We were trippin' over guns. Trippin' over long guns inside. There was so many," he said.

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At least 23 guns - 12 of which were equipped with bump- stocks, or rapid fire devices - were found inside Paddock's hotel room.

Meanwhile, US authorities have received more than 1,000 tips, but are still struggling to determine what motivated Paddock, who did not have a criminal record, to carry out the carefully planned attack.

No one knows when Paddock committed suicide, but the shooting stopped shortly after hotel security guard Jesus Campos and the first of Sheriff Lombardos officers arrived on the 32nd floor.

ALSO WATCH | The Harrowing Moment Las Vegas Gunman Shoots Into Crowd

--- ENDS ---
Yakima resident Griselda Rosales is scrambling to come up with the nearly $500 an attorney s
Rahul Gandhi's offensive stance against BJP may help him win the party President's election but winning Amethi in the 2019 General election might be a task for the Congress scion.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: Ever since he has returned from the recent US trip, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is on the offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's ruling at the centre and in Gujarat. The Nehru-Gandhi scion is seen in a different avatar after having spoken at places like Princeton, California and Berkeley universities in the US last month.

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Rahul has launched the second leg of his campaign in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections in the state which the BJP has been ruling since 1998. He has lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, both hailing from Gujarat, and mocked the claims of development made by the ruling dispensation.

Not very far away from Gujarat, two major developments concerning Rahul are taking place at different places. One is the Congress' ongoing organisational elections to 'elect' Rahul as the party president by end of this month. The other is the BJP's aggressive campaign against him in his Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

ORGANISATIONAL ELECTIONS

Organisational elections in the Congress are underway to elect a new president. Rahul Gandhi is all set to replace his mother Sonia Gandhi on the post. Having taken over as the Congress president from Sitaram Kesri on March 14, 1998, Sonia Gandhi holds the record of being on the post for the longest period of time in the party's 131-year-old history.

At present, elections at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) level are being held and are in the final stages. Barring a few, most of the states have completed the process and authorised Sonia and Rahul to nominate respective PCC presidents.

According to the original plan, elections would have taken place between September 16 and October 15. From today, the process of filing of nomination papers for the Congress president's post should have started.

However, the election process is running a few days behind schedule. Despite the slight delay, Rahul's elevation to the Congress president's post is a foregone conclusion whether or not he faces an opponent. It would be a cake walk. But the senior Congress leader has reasons to worry on another electoral front.

AMETHI

On a day when Rahul is touring Gujarat and also when Congress organisation elections are nearing completion, the BJP moved one step closer to cornering him in his Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

BJP president Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani were in Amethi today to attack Rahul. Incidentally, while Shah is a Gujarati, Irani is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat.

In his speech, Shah said, "Amidst the ongoing transformation all around, Amethi would also witness changes. We will not only make hollow promises ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. We will present the account of works we would have accomplished by then," he said.

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Appealing to the residents of Amethi to give the BJP and Modi a chance, the party president reminded them that they had always elected members of just one family for 60 long years. "You will never repent," he promised.

Irani's presence in the programme indicated that she would take on Rahul once again in the 2019 general elections. Though she lost, Rahul's victory margin got drastically reduced from 3.70 lakh votes in 2009 to just 1.07 lakh votes in 2014.

Lashing out at her rival, Irani said Rahul's lip service to development had failed Amethi. The BJP is trying to create the perception among the voters that despite Amethi being a VIP constituency, very little development has taken place there.

This has posed a serious threat to Rahul in the next general elections. The BJP's aggressive mode may even force the Congress leader to shift constituency to contest from one more seat.

--- ENDS ---
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The Iron Dome missile defense system has been installed in Washington DC as part of a presentation during the annual meeting of the Association of the US Army (AUSA) showcasing the latest radar technology and operational launchers.

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The three-day meeting, which opened on Monday, is designed to deliver the Armys message by highlighting the capabilities of its organizations and presenting a wide range of industry products and services.

Designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (RADS) and Israel Aircraft Industries, the Israeli rocket interceptor has attracted the attention of the US Department of Defense which has begun showing interest in purchasing it for the use of its forces stationed in Europe and other locations dotted across the globe.

Iron Dome in action

Currently, the US Army does not possess a similar unmanned system capable of shooting down incoming rockets, planes, helicopters and drones.

One year ago, the Americans successfully conducted tests with the Iron Dome which managed to intercept a drone using a missile nicknamed the Tamir.

The AUSA meeting is expected to be attended by high-ranking government officials who will be given the opportunity to inspect the system up close.

Photo: Defense Ministry

The Iron Dome battery is installed on the premises of the major US defense contractor Raytheon Company which collaborated with its Israeli counterparts in its design, development and production.

Since the Americans and the Israelis got to work on creating the technological feat, which began in earnest under the Obama administration, the US government continues to invest more than $1.4 million in the system to finance the completion of its development, manufacturing and in creating ten batteries and more missile stockpiles.

Almost two months ago, a first-of-its-kind Iron Dome test took place, which used interceptor components produced by American manufacturers.

The new system assemblement was part of a collaborative manufacturing agreement inked on the condition Israel would receive substantial financial assistance for the system while Raytheon would be tasked with manufacturing 50 percent of its components on American soil.

Photo: Defense Ministry

Cooperation with Raytheon is intended to promote the sale of the Iron Dome to the US Army, which does not usually acquire weapons systems directly from foreign companies unless products are developed in conjunction with American companies.

Nevertheless, the Israeli company will have to compete with other weapons-manufacturing giants recommending their innovation to the Pentagon such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

On September 4, the US Army began a series of tests in new Mexico using missile defense systems, including Iron Dome, intended to provide cover for it soldiers.

So far, the system has already demonstrated its military worth, registering 1,500 interceptions of various types of rockets fired at Israel, with an impressive direct hit rate of 90 percent.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking to shut down operations by the Israeli-made mobile navigation app Waze, Azernews reported quoting Iranian media.

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Iran temporarily blocked the popular app as far back as last March, rendering it unusable in the country, which was lifted last month.

Navigation app Waze to soon be permanently blocked in Iran

The committee supervising online criminal content demanded the Iranian Ministry of Communications block Waze once more, this time permanently.

The team intended to Iranians' honeymoon with the Israeli innovation has already been put together, the report added. Nevertheless, a total and permanent block may take some time given the complexity of its technological workings.

The reason for the all-out war waged by the Islamic republic on the shared navigation app is its Israeli roots. Waze is an Israeli company purchased by Google in 2013, whose officesand most of its operationsare in Tel Aviv.

Relying on user intelligence, the app enables drivers to take the quickest possible route to their destination.

Justifying its previous attempt to obstruct access to the app, Iran claimed, "Waze was invented by Zionist developers."

Waze's Israeli, or 'Zionist,' founders (Photo: Zvika Tishler)

In the meantime, a local Iranian app store already totally removed the option to download the Israeli innovation.

Waze declined to comment on the move and the company also refused to divulge how many users the app currently has in Iran. Despite the silence, it appears the app has a hardcore and loyal fan base.

Many users recount using the app on Twitter, for example, with one even petitioning the company for Persian language support due its "thousands of users" in the country.

Rouhani's regime is cracking down on popular internet social networks, and has placed Waze in its sights next (Photo: AP)

"I used Waze on my way to work today. Iran has already blocked the app, but it seems they found a way to circumvent the blockage. An official committed to blocking it again," Ali Noorani, a journalist residing in Tehran, wrote on his Twitter account Sunday.

Should the attempt to block access to it be successful, Waze would find itself among many targets of the Iranian regime, as the Islamic country enacts rigid censorship and supervision on online content.

A number of popular internet services, in fact, are completely unavailable to Iranian users, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, although tools enabling users to bypass the blockages do exist.
Thirty three farmers, including 11 women, have begun hunger strike after the fourth round of talks with the state administration remained inconclusive on Monday.

By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: The protesting farmers of Jaipur's Neendar village have gone on hunger strike after failing to make the Vasundhara Raje government listen to its pleas.

Neendar farmers had buried themselves neck-deep to protest against the Jaipur Development Agency (JDA)'s decision to acquire land.

"We will not give land because we do not have any to give. We will bury ourselves in this land but will not give an inch of the land to the government," a protesting farmer told India Today.

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Thirty three farmers, including 11 women, have renounced food at the protest site. Agitating farmers claimed their protests will continue in the face of an adamant state administration unresponsive to their pleas of not acquiring their land.

"There will be massive effect (if the government acquires land and builds housing society). There is no job for the youth in the country, similarly, for us there is nothing bigger than land," another protesting farmer, who had renounced food, said.

The fourth round of talks between farmers' representatives and the state administration remained inconclusive today. Dr Nagendra Singh Shekhawat, convenor of the farmers' committee, was part of the discussions.

"We have continuously protested in a democratic fashion and tried to put across our point to the government. After the social satyagraha, and later due to media or intelligence pressure, the government called us for discussions. We have had at least four rounds of talks and now I feel the government is engaging in the discussions only for the sake of it," said Dr Shekhawat.

"The government is completely adamant to take over the land. It wants to conduct the survey on its own conditions and also wants to say that during the survey, the JDA will continue with its work here. The manner in which the government is putting forth its point, I don't think it is bothered about any solution," Dr Shekhawat told India Today.

The protesting farmers said that if the government does not accede to its demands, then it will continue and intensify its protests.

"We will decide on the future course of action based on the government's action. If it does not agree to the demand in our sangharsh samiti, our agitation will continue," said Dr Shekhawat.

--- ENDS ---
ISTANBUL  Turkish police launched an operation on Tuesday to arrest 70 soldiers accused of links to the US-based Islamic preacher alleged to have orchestrated last year's attempted coup, the private Dogan news agency reported.

Operations targeting supporters of cleric Fethullah Gulen are continuing on a daily basis some 15 months after the failed putsch. Gulen has denied involvement. In the last week alone, around 800 people were held over alleged ties to him.

Among those targeted in the police raids, focused in the central Turkish city of Konya but launched simultaneously across seven provinces, were two colonels, seven captains and 36 lieutenants, Dogan said.

Sixty-two of the suspects were in the air force, some of them pilots, it added. Police were conducting searches of their homes and places of work.
TUNIS  Tunisia's navy rescued almost 100 migrants from a sinking boat off its southeast coast late on Monday, authorities said, hours after eight people being smuggled to Europe drowned in the same stretch of water.

The incidents coincided with the launch of joint patrols by the Tunisian and Italian navies to stem migrant flows and carry out search and rescue operations in the area, the Tunisian Defense Ministry said.

Tunisia's coast has become the launch pad of choice for traffickers transporting migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean.
Russia accused the United States on Tuesday of pretending to fight Islamic State and of deliberately reducing its air strikes in Iraq to allow the groups militants to stream into Syria to slow the Russian-backed advance of the Syrian army.

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In the latest sign of rising tensions between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the US-led coalition had sharply reduced its air strikes in Iraq in September when Syrian forces, backed by Russian air power, had started to retake Deir al-Zor Province.

President Putin and President Trump (Photo: AFP)

Everyone sees that the US-led coalition is pretending to fight Islamic State, above all in Iraq, but continuing to allegedly fight Islamic State in Syria actively for some reason, said Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russias defense ministry.

Syrian rebel fighting with the US (Photo: EPA)

The result, he said, had been that militants had moved in large numbers from Iraqi border areas to Deir al-Zor where they were trying to dig in on the left bank of the River Euphrates.

The actions of the Pentagon and the coalition demand an explanation. Is their change of tack a desire to complicate as much as they can the Syrian armys operation, backed by the Russian air force, to take back Syrian territory to the east of the Euphrates?, asked Konashenkov.

American jet in Syria (Photo: AFP/ US Navy)

Or is it an artful move to drive Islamic State terrorists out of Iraq by forcing them into Syria and into the path of the Russian air forces pinpoint bombing?

He said Syrian troops were in the midst of trying to push Islamic State out of the city of al-Mayadin, southeast of Deir al-Zor, but that IS tried daily to reinforce its ranks there with foreign mercenaries pouring in from Iraq.
Iran attempted to procure technology related to its nuclear missile capabilities 32 times during 2016, Fox News quoted German intelligence agencies as saying Tuesday, despite the fact that the 2015 nuclear agreement it had reached with the West prohibited Iran from doing so.

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Report of Iran's alleged infractions of the deal came mere days before US President Donald Trump announces whether he'll continue to certify Iran's compliance with the deal to Congress, while the latter cautioned against making any changes to the agreement.

Iran's recently unveiled Khorramshahr missile (Photo: AFP, IRIB TV)

Apart from the 32 alleged breaches reported by Fox News, Iran was also said to have committed 141 such attempts in the previous year, before the agreement was put into effect.

Iran attempted to obtain technology for its ballistic missile programs defined as prohibited under the agreement, as the missiles would be capable of carrying nuclear payloads, the agencies said.

President Rouhani speaking on the nuclear deal

X

The new information, drawn from reports made September and October, disclosed Iran made "32 procurement attemptsthat definitely or with high likelihood were undertaken for the benefit of proliferation programs."

The reported attempts were carried out in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the report described Iran as engaged in proliferation, defined as "Spreading atomic, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction."

Iranian President Rouhani cautioned against any changes to the deal (Photo: AP)

North Rhine-Westphalia's intelligence agency alleged Iran used shell companies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China to go around restrictions placed on the country and its nuclear and missile programs.

Most of Iran's 2016 attempts to procure technology in that German state, Fox New reported, were mostly related to the regime's missile program. Others reports added Iran has been working non-stop on the program.

On the American side, Trump is expected to announce Iran violated the "spirit" of the agreement, following information he claimed to have received from informed sources.

Current US law stipulates the president has to certify Iran's compliance with the agreement every three months. Should he choose to stop such certification, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to impose sanctions on the renegade regime once again.

In his UN speech, Trump said the deal was 'one of the worst' the US had ever done (Photo: AFP)

Trump's administration is already in talks, congressional aides and other sources said, on potential legislation "strengthening" Iran's agreement with the P5+1 group.

Two weeks ago, while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said, "The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't think you've heard the last of it.

"The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want change," the president added ominously.

ICAN Director Fihn said the Iran deal should be maintained to avoid 'further conflict; (Photo: AP)

Monday, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Beatrice Fihn said the Iran deal should be upheld to "avoid causing any more conflict."

"This is not really what the world needs right now () We see no evidence that Iran is not complying with it," added the director of the organization just recently bestowed with the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
BRUSSELS  The European Commission repeated its call for dialogue in Spain to end the crisis in Catalonia amid concerns that the Catalan regional authorities could declare independence on Tuesday.

"We called on all those concerned to get of this confrontation as quickly as possible and to start dialogue," a spokesman for the EU executive said in answer to a question on how the Commission might respond to such a declaration.

"Violence, as we said, can never be a political tool," he told reporters, recalling a statement made last week. "And we expressed our confidence in the capacity of Prime Minister (Mariano) Rajoy to manage this delicate process in full respect of the Spanish constitution and the basic fundamental rights of the citizens."
The Lebanese military has become inextricably linked to the Hezbollah terror group operating on the countrys soil, according to statement made on Tuesday by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman

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Addressing IDF soldiers during a celebratory event marking the festival of Sukkot at his sukkah in the Kirya IDF headquarters based in Tel Aviv, Lieberman told his listeners that preparation for the next round of hostilities was of paramount importance, highlighting that the lines between countries and regions were rapidly disappearing.

We have to prepare for every scenario. The new reality poses new challenges for us. If we once spoke about the Lebanese area, now there is no longer such an area. Theres only the northern area, Lieberman said.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman with IDF soldiers on Sukkot (Photo: Defense Ministry)

In any development that takes place, it will be one areaSyria and Lebanon together, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and all collaborators of the Assad regime. Regarding the Lebanese region, were no longer talking solely about Hezbollah, he continued as he delineated, not for the first time, his description of the New Middle East.

Were talking about Hezbollah and about the Lebanese military, and unfortunately this is the reality, he stated gloomily. The Lebanese army has become an integral part of Hezbollahs campaign under its command. The Lebanese army has lost its independence, and has become inextricably linked to Hezbollah.

The next outbreak of violence, he warned, would require the mobilization of the IDF on multiple fronts, unlike the last few wars it has fought.

Joint Hezbollah-Lebanese army celebration (Photo: AP)

Also if the next campaign developsand it doesnt matter where it developsin the north or the south, it will immediately become a campaign on two fronts. There is no longer a campaign in one area, and this is our fundamental premise. We are preparing the army for this, the soldiers were told.

In an apparent U-turn, Lieberman's remarks come at a time when the defense establishment has been seeking the retention of the Lebanese militarys independence.

Moreover, Israel has endeavored to develop the Lebanese army and nudge the government in Beirut into reasserting its sovereignty over the country's southern region and its authority over Hezbollah which has for years been given free rein to act as a state within a state.

Alluding to the Latin proverb Si vis pacem, para bellum Lieberman set out his guiding principle which he said he believed served the best chances to avert war.

My basic tenet is if you want peace, prepare for war. Whoever wants peace must prepare for war, and I hope that our enemies on the other side will think carefully about each and every step they take against the State of Israel, so we wont need to illustrate the strength and abilities of the IDF, Lieberman warned.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and President Assad (Photo: AFP, HO / SANA)

The old prism through which Israel conducted its military business and made its evaluations were now a thing of the past, the defense minister insisted.

All our efforts are to prevent the next war but in the new Middle East, the same assumptions we previously drew about low probability are simply irrelevant presumptions. The reality is fragile. It could happen at any moment, from one day to the next, he claimed.

Everything is based on the fact that we must ready ourselves for a serious maneuver, and there is no maneuver without serious firepower, Lieberman concluded. The armor and artillery are supposed to supply that firepower. Exactly like the air defense is supposed to thwart a significant portion of the damage to Israel.
Swiss police have detained two Tunisians wanted in connection with a deadly knife attack at Marseille train station in France on October 1, a source close to the investigation said on Tuesday.

The knifeman, 29-year old Ahmed Hannachi, was shot dead by a French soldier after killing two young women outside the station in southern France. Authorities are investigating the attack as a "probable" terrorist act.

The two Tunisians were arrested in Chiasso, near the Swiss-Italian border, the source said, adding that one of them was the subject of an international arrest warrant.

Hannachi's younger brother, Anis, was arrested in Italy earlier this month.

More than 240 people have been killed in France since 2015 in attacks by assailants who pledged allegiance to, or said they were inspired by, the Islamic State group.

Earlier this month, the French parliament adopted counter-terrorism legislation to increase police surveillance powers and make it easier to close mosques suspected of preaching hatreda law which civil rights groups said would infringe on personal freedoms.
Russia's foreign ministry takes a critical view of US President Donald Trump's plans to designate Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, Russia's Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.

Russia's foreign ministry does not consider Iran's revolutionary guards as a terrorist organisation, the agency cited the ministry as saying.

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce this week his final decision on how he wants to contain Iran's regional influence.
Catalan president Carles Puigdemont stated on Tuesday that he has a mandate to declare independence for the northeastern region, but proposes waiting "a few weeks" in order to facilitate a dialogue with the Spanish government.

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Puigdemont spoke of a "need to de-escalate tension and not contribute to increase it with words or actions, adding that he is not planning any acts of aggression, as Spanish security awaited a call to action in the region's airports.

I assume the mandate that Catalonia should become an independent state in the form of a republic (...) I propose suspending the effects of the declaration of independence to undertake talks to reach an agreed solution," Puigdemont told the regional parliament in Barcelona.

Puigdemont speaks before parliament (Photo: AFP)

Known to be Spain's wealthiest region, Catalonia has historically kept its independence from the Spain in such matters as education and its police force. On Oct. 1, Puigdemont opened the door to a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain on Sunday, after voters defied a violent police crackdown and, according to regional officials, voted 90 percent in favor of breaking away.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Despite Spanish police using batons and rubber bullets to disrupt the banned referendum, which was declared unconstitutional by Madrid, the Catalan government said 2.26 million people had cast ballots, a turnout of about 42 percent.





Though Puigdemont stopped short of seeking the explicit support of the chamber for the declaration of independence in a vote, a move that would have closed the door to any negotiated solution, the declaration plunges Spain into the unknown.

Despite renewed calls for dialogue with Madrid, the Spanish government has said any unilateral declaration of independence would be illegal and has promised action "to restore law and democracy" if the parliament of the autonomous and affluent northeastern region presses ahead.

Pro-independence Catalonia rally (Photo: Reuters)

Theoretically, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy could take the unprecedented step of dissolving the Catalan parliament and triggering new regional elections, the so-called "nuclear option."

The Madrid government could also ask the courts to strike down a declaration of independence as unconstitutional.

Security outside Catalonia Parliament in Barcelona (Photo: EPA)

Rajoy, who has accused separatists of trying to "blackmail (...) the whole nation," said last Saturday that he would not rule out removing Catalonia's government and calling a fresh local election if it claimed independence, as well as suspending the region's existing autonomous status.

"Spain will not be divided and the national unity will be preserved. We will do everything that legislation allows us to ensure this," Rajoy told the German newspaper Die Welt. "We will prevent this independence from taking place."



Spanish national police, denounced by separatists for their use of force to hinder the region's referendum, were not to be seen. However, the Spanish government was reinforcing security at airports and rail stations in Catalonia.



Over 800 people were reported by Catalan officials to have been injured in clashes with Spanish riot police during the referendum, which has pitched the country into its deepest constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a rift between Madrid and Barcelona.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Not all Catalonians, are in favor of independence, as was itnessed on Sunday, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia's capital of Barcelona to express their opposition to any declaration of independence from Spain.

Puigdemont prior to his speech (Photo: AP)

The protesters against Catalonian independence rallied in central Barcelona, waving Spanish and Catalan flags and banners saying "Catalonia is Spain" and "Together we are stronger," as politicians on both sides hardened their positions.





European Council President Donald Tusk also appealed to Puigdemont not to proclaim independence.





"I ask you to respect, in your intentions, the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible. Diversity should not, and need not, lead to conflict, whose consequences would obviously be bad for the Catalans, for Spain and for the whole of Europe," Tusk said in a speech in Brussels.









"On this day of hope and suffering, Catalonia's citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic," Puigdemont had said in a televised address following the referendum.

Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont (Photo: AP)

He added that "my government in the next few days will send the results of today's vote to the Catalan Parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum."
By Shreya Goswami: She might not have appeared in any films recently, but Rani Mukerji still manages to grab our attention, and for all the right reasons. The charming actress, however, rarely makes a fashion-forward appearance. But when she gets it right, she makes us swoon over her beauty and elegance.

And that's precisely what Rani has managed to do recently. The attire she donned while attending the Mauritius Cinema Week wasn't just a success, but also managed to give us major Diwali-dressing goals.

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Also Read: Rani Mukerji is trying really hard to up her fashion game

Rani was at the event to receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema, and her mint-green outfit was the perfect fit for the occasion. The long kurta with elbow-length sleeves was paired with a matching, flared sharara, which gave Rani a festive look.

Picture courtesy: Instagram/ignatiaariossinaga

The embellished, sheer dupatta goes perfectly with the rest of the attire, giving it a regal appeal. The little tint of gold in the kurta and sharara, and the plain gold border of the dupatta, make the outfit look plush without even a hint of gaudiness--which is so difficult to pull off during the festive season, with so much glitter and sparkle all around.

Picture courtesy: Instagram/ignatiaariossinaga

Also Read: Rani Mukerji's outfit is making us wonder if she has forgotten that it's 2017

The big, gold earrings, the simple nose-stud, a few golden bangles and a ring on her right hand--these are the accessories which Rani pulled off with the outfit. Despite so much jewellery, Rani looked quite simple and sophisticated--the epitome of ethnic grace--and it was partially thanks to her minimal makeup and simple hairdo.

Picture courtesy: Instagram/ranimukerjiworld

Rani's whole appearance celebrated India with panache. While representing the nation with such elegance and understated beauty, Rani proves that dressing up for an occasion--be it a film fest or a religious fest--can be done right if you make the right choices.

Picture courtesy: Instagram/ranimukerjiworld

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Swiss police say they have detained a brother of the Tunisian man who allegedly stabbed to death two women in southeast France last week.

Fedpol national police said the man was a brother of terror suspect Ahmed Hanachi, who French officials say killed two women in Marseille on Oct. 1. The man was detained with a female companion.

A Fedpol statement said the brother was "known to foreign police services for his links to the jihadist terrorist movement." However, it added: "For now, his role, if any, in the Marseille attack is not clear."

Police have ordered the expulsion of the brother and the woman to Tunisia for security and administrative reasons. No international arrest warrant was outstanding for either of them. They were being held in custody pending possible appeals.

The two, who were not identified, were arrested Sunday at a center for asylum-seekers in the southern town of Chiasso.
The Egyptian police arrested Nir Itach, a 24-year-old from Rehovot, in Sinai after examining his bag and finding rifle bullets that had apparently been forgotten there from his days in the military.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed that he is being held in Nuweiba and that the Israeli consul is working for his release.
Former German spy Werner Mauss was given a two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion earlier this month, after a mysterious Mossad agent he claimed could provide him with an alibi failed to appear for his testimony, which the court refused to take from afar.

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Mauss, 77, also known as the "German James Bond," worked as a rogue operative for at least three decades, and is attributed with, among other things, the capture of a German terrorist from the Red Army Faction in Athens, the rescue of Pope Benedict XVI from the Sicilian mafia, being involved in hostage releases in Lebanon and Colombia and even working against ISIS.

He says on his website that he was involved in smashing more than 100 criminal gangs and in the arrests of around 2,000 individuals.

Werner Mauss at court, Oct. 10 (Photo: Getty Images)

In a trial that has been going on for about a year, Mauss was accused of concealing millions of euros from German tax authorities in offshore accounts between 2002 and 2011.

Mauss argued the offshore accounts were set up by third partiesincluding by the Mossadto pay for undercover missions, such as the freeing of hostages.

It was the secrecy surrounding the missions that forced the founders of the accounts to avoid any documentation of its real goals, and even to dedicate it after his death to the establishment of the Werner Mauss Museum, he claimed.

His lawyers announced that his testimony could be affirmed by a special witness speaking on behalf of the founders of the accounts.

"The interrogation of this witness will close the gaps in the case," they said.

A Mossad agent named 'Adam'

According to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, a 66-year-old Israeli Mossad operative known as "Adam" agreed to testify in court in the German city of Bochum on the condition that his interrogation be held behind closed doors or at least behind a screen.

Adam, according to the newspaper, has been working for the Mossad since 1981 and was one of Mauss' operators at the end of the 1980s.

Adam then progressed to the position of department head and was responsible for running and budgeting agents.

Mauss' lawyers claimed that their client was not merely "another agent among many" for the Mossad, but that he had connections with the organization that were "among the longest and most successful managed with an agent."

The testimony of Adam was supposed to shed light on the nature of the accounts, since the money accumulated there reportedly also came from the Israeli intelligence agency.

But Adam did not arrive at court to give his testimony, which was scheduled for last July.

According to reports in the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung, Mauss' lawyers claimed that Adam refused to travel to Bochum out of fear of being arrested.

In an email sent to the court from a private email address, the agent claimed that his identity had been compromised by one of the German security authorities.

After the court rejected a proposal to investigate "Adam" from afar or by a judge in Israel, the hope of Mauss' lawyers to prove their client's testimony was lost.

Not his only connection to Israeli authorities

It is not known exactly what services Mauss provided to the Mossad, but whis is not his only connection to Israeli authorities.

Last year, Haaretz journalist Uri Blau revealed that additional material submitted to the court included Hebrew letters from Knesset Member Amir Peretz.

In the letters, Peretz testified that he knew Mauss, mentioned some of the names he used, and claimed that he was responsible "secret and sensitive security operations for the State of Israel and for other entities around the world."

Peretz revealed to Haaretz that he had in the past connected Mauss with Israeli authorities for the purpose of "transferring sensitive information on security matters."

The documents submitted to the court also alleged that Mauss mediated between Israel and Hamas for the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers from Gaza and also helped in contacts with the Palestinian Authority.

Mauss and his lawyers (Photo: Getty Images)

Nevertheless, Mauss was convicted on October 5, given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to donate 200,000 (180,000) to charity.

The former agent was unable to mount a "proper defense" because he was still bound by confidentiality agreements linked to his decades of undercover work, his lawyers said.

Ultimately, the extent of the damage is only one aspect to consider (in determining the sentence), said Volker Talarowski, a spokesman of the court in Bochum.

All aspects have to be considered, among them the age of the defendant. The defendant is 77 years old and he has never been sentenced, and he has achieved a special lifes work.

A veil of secrecy

Though German authorities have said nothing about Mauss, German media credit him with being one of Germanys most distinguished undercover agents. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said he had had 100 different identities and a line to the chancellors office.

The charges were raised after the Sueddeutsche Zeitung named him as being involved with shell companies exposed by the Panama Papers, documents leaked by law firm Mossack Fonseca.

He is one of the most mysterious figures in post-war German history. He was used by countries, companies and individuals as a private agent, the newspaper said at the time. He worked for the German foreign and domestic intelligence agencies and the police. They named him the Institution M.
The Egyptian police on Tuesday arrested Nir Itach, a 24-year-old from Rehovot, in Sinai after examining his bag and finding M16 rifle bullets that had apparently been forgotten there from his days in the military.

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The Foreign Ministry confirmed that he is being held in Nuweiba and that the Israeli consul is working on his release.

Itach left for Sinai Tuesday morning for a vacation.

Nir Itach

His brother Almog told Ynet that "he took with him a bag from his military service that has not been used in a very long time. He did not check the bag very well and is currently under arrest. I will not let him stay there alone."

Itach's family left Tuesday afternoon for Sinai to support him.

Attorney Boaz Kenig, who is representing the family along with Attorney Mor Atia, stated that Itach is held due to a "simple mistake by a young Israeli," adding that they "hope and demand that the Foreign Ministry does everything so that Nir returns to his home in Israel as soon as possible."

This is the third time this year that an Israeli ex-soldier on vacation has been detained after M16 rounds were found in his luggage.

In March, a young Israeli man arrested in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent and detained for 12 days before finally being released.

In January, a young Israeli woman was arrested at the airport in Mumbai, India, and released shortly after following a speedy intervention of the Israeli Consul in Mumbai.

Such arrests have in fact become so frequent as to prompt the Foreign Ministry to caution Israelis to check their bags before traveling abroad.
An Egyptian activist who is under criminal investigation for his human rights work and is banned from travelling abroad has won an international rights award, organisers said on Tuesday.

Mohamed Zaree, 37, the Egypt office director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, won the Martin Ennals Award, a prize given each year by a jury of 10 global rights groups.

He was unable to travel to Geneva to pick up the award at a ceremony on Tuesday as he has been banned from travel since May 2016 and faces charges that could carry a life in prison sentence for "receiving funds from foreign entities to harm national security".
Catalonia's parliament has opened a highly anticipated session that could spell the birth of a new republic, marking a critical point in a decade-long standoff between Catalan separatists and Spain's central authorities.

Security is tight in Barcelona and police cordoned off a park surrounding the legislative building, where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is expected to walk a fine line during an address to regional lawmakers.

The speech will need to appease the most radical separatist-minded supporters of his ruling coalition -- but Puigdemont could shut down any possibility of negotiating with Spain if he adopts a hard line.

The Catalan leader hasn't revealed the precise message he will deliver, but separatist lawmakers and activists have said they won't be satisfied with anything short of an independence declaration.

Opening his speech, Catalonia's president stressed the 'need to de-escalate tension and not contribute to increase it with words or actions.'
With Palestinian reconciliation talks taking place in Egypt between Hamas and Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) representatives, an Israeli delegation has also arrived in Cairo. This according to reports by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, as well as other, Egyptian news outlets.

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According to the newspaper, the Israeli delegation arrived by plane for a few hours with the intent of meeting with senior members of the Egyptian intelligence apparatus.

Egyptian President Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi linked current, internal Palestinian reconciliations talks to the progression of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, during an Egyptian cabinet meeting this week; specifically, el-Sisi said that Egypt's aim in the Hamas-Fatah reconiliation process would prepare the ground for the establishment of peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas officially began on Tuesday, as the parties involved sat down to work on renewing relations between the Fatah-led West Bank and the Hamas-held Gaza Strip.

Last week, PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was greeted by Gaza residents and Hamas officials as he entered for a historic visit of the Gaza Strip.

Hamdallah began his visit with a message of reconciliation, shortly after arriving in a 30-vehicle motorcade through the Erez border crossing separating Israel and Gaza. He was accompanied by a large delegation of Fatah officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, dozens of aides and armed bodyguards.

"The only way to statehood is through unity," Hamdallah said, speaking at a welcome ceremony attended by Fatah and Hamas officials. "We are coming to Gaza again to deepen the reconciliation and end the split."

Hamas' delegation in Cairo is represented by top ranking officials from Gaza and abroad, such Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and its military commander of the West Bank Salah al-Arouri.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the talks with Egypt will focus on alleviating the blockade and mending a longstanding rift with rival group Fatah, headed by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad, and the head of Palestinian intelligence Service and a close confidant of Abbas', Majed Faraj.

The split between the two Palestinian factions was the result of Hamas' violent coup in the Gaza Strip in 2007. Extreme sanctions recently imposed by Abbas on Gaza, though, have forced Hamas to consider a reconciliation.
A Spanish official says the government of Spain doesn't accept what he called an "implicit" declaration of independence by the Catalonia region's president.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with Spanish government policy.

He was responding to a speech by Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont.

Puidgemont says an Oct. 1 referendum, which Spain considered illegal, gave him a mandate to declare independence from the rest of the country. Those who voted were overwhelmingly in favor of seceding from Spain, but more than half of those eligible didn't cast ballots.

Puidgemont has asked the Catalan parliament to suspend any independence declaration for a few weeks to allow time for dialogue.

The Spanish official says the results of the referendum cannot be considered valid.
The United States offered multimillion-dollar rewards for two Hezbollah officials on Tuesday as it stepped up a pressure campaign against the Iranian-backed Lebanese group that it has long designated an international terrorist organization.

The US State Department said the government was offering up to $7 million for information leading to the arrest of Talal Hamiyah, head of Hezbollah's external security organization, and up to $5 million for Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military operative.

US counterterrorism officials told a State Department briefing they believe Hezbollah wants to develop the capacity to strike inside the United States and they continue to see activity on behalf of the group in America.
Catalan lawmakers are signing a document they are calling a declaration of independence from Spain, but are delaying its implementation.

Regional president Carles Puigdemont was the first to sign the document titled "Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia." After him, dozens of other lawmakers signed it.

The signing ceremony came a few hours after Puigdemont addressed the regional parliament, saying Catalans had earned the right to independence from Spain after a referendum on Oct. 1. But he called for dialogue with Spain's government, which has condemned the referendum as illegal and unconstitutional.
By PTI: By Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Oct 10 (PTI) Bangladesh said today the Rohingya crisis was no longer Myanmars internal issue and had become a "regional catastrophe" as it appealed to the international community to take "crucial decisions" to press Naypyitaw to take back about 500,000 refugees living in the country.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said about 500,000 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh out of the total 900,000 that have left Myanmar after an army crackdown on the minority community in the Rakhine State on August 25 following a terrorist attack on the countrys security outposts.

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He said a total of 3,000 Rohinya Muslims had been killed so far since the army crackdown was launched and Human Rights Watch has got evidence of 284 villages of having been bulldozed.

Ali said Rohingya crisis was no longer an internal issue of Myanmars and has become a "regional catastrophe".

"Its (also) not a bilateral problem of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh didnt play any role in creating this crisis. The center of the crisis is in Myanmar and the solution lies with Myanmar as well," he said.

"Even the international pressure has so far failed to refrain Myanmar military from implementing its long term depopulation plan for Rohingyas," he said.

Ali said, for the first time in history, a majority of Rohingyas had come to Bangladesh.

"Virtually only 400,000 to 500,000 of them out of some 1,800,000 Rohingyas now remain in Myanmar," Ali said.

He said Myanmar had launched a large-scale military operation codenamed "Area Clearance" to confront "terrorists", but under the cover of anti-terrorism campaign continued to carryout ruthless atrocities on Rohingyas by mobilising the troops one month ahead of the crackdown.

Alis comments came as fresh influx of Rohingyas hit Bangladesh, a week after Myanmar agreed to take back their forcibly displaced people and sent a senior minister to Dhaka to open talks amid mounting global outrage against the countrys treatment of the minority population.

Ali, however, said the Myanmars proposal was actually a tactic to defuse the mounting international pressure, which he said should be kept on to force the country to revise its approach towards Rohingyas.

He said Bangladesh expected European Union foreign ministers meeting to take "some crucial decisions against the Myanmar Military" as they are scheduled to meet on October 16 in Brussels to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

Bangladesh disagreed with Maynmars proposal for Rohingya repatriation under a verification system set out in 1992 in view of changed scenario and reality and rather proposed a joint Bangladesh-Myanmar verification strategy, he said.

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"We proposed Myanmar to take back all Rohingyas without considering their arrival date into Bangladesh as well as to involve UN and international agencies at every level of repatriation," Ali said.

On October 2, Bangladesh proposed a bilateral agreement to facilitate the repatriation process and handed over a draft of the proposed deal to Myanmars visiting minister in Dhaka.

Ali also criticised Myanmars government-sponsored media for portraying the entire issue as "Islamist terrorism" or "radical Bangali terrorism".

He said the media did it to confuse some of the neighbouring countries despite repeated requests from Bangladesh not to use the term "Bangali" to refer to the Rohingyas. AR MRJ AKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---
A Turkish court has sentenced a journalist from the Wall Street Journal to two years and one month in prison in absentia on charges of carrying out propaganda for Kurdish militants, the newspaper said on Tuesday.

Ayla Albayrak, a Wall Street Journal reporter with dual Turkish and Finnish citizenship, was sentenced over a 2015 story about ongoing clashes between Turkish security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey.

"This was an unfounded criminal charge and wildly inappropriate conviction that wrongly singled out a balanced Wall Street Journal report," the paper quoted its editor-in-chief Gerard Baker as saying.

Albayrak, who is currently in the United States, will appeal against the conviction, the Wall Street Journal said.

The court decision coincides with an escalating row between Turkey and the United States after the NATO allies mutually suspended visa services on Sunday, plunging already strained relations to a new low.
Not long ago I visited with Jim Campbell of Kearney at his farm. Motioning outside to his cattle and fields he said, Its Gods farm. A few years back, Campbell reached his whits end on his farm and told me he got down on his knees in the pasture and said, God, I cannot do this anymore without you.

Today, Campbell believes other farmers can relate to those prayers. We have to work together if this farming deal is going to work at all. The little guys are going to lose . . . In fact, were all going to lose. You need the right people around you to make it work, who want to do things for the right reasons. I am starting to find those people and its because of God. Thats it.

Campbell considers himself a small farmer and cattleman with his roughly 560 acres of crop and pastureland. He lived his entire life working in other agricultural positions, hoping to one day have the opportunity to run the farm that shaped his youth. Today, Campbell is doing what he dreamed about and is beginning to transform his farm with cover crops (with help and inspiration from friend Joe Roberts of Roberts Seed), inter-seeding corn with cover crops, growing peas as a cash crop and changing his grazing patterns with his roughly 80-head of composite and Aubrac cattle.

Campbell simply wants to get the word out about some of his initial experiences with all the subjects above. Everything I am trying to do is to help my fellow farmers, Campbell said adamantly, noting that one of his contacts at his local Farm Service Agency office said, Its ugly right now (in terms of the farm economy) and its going to get way, way uglier.

With all the complexity and financial strain in agriculture today, I thought I would help Campbell spread the word  especially in the area of peas as a cash crop. On September 20, Campbell and his wife Teola held a Cover Crop Field Day where numerous speakers spoke about the benefits of field peas, cover crops and intensified grazing. Campbell initially started his peas experiment with 40 acres. He said the results were positive, I saw my ground compaction getting broken up and my cows got fat.

Most recently, he has also seen some financial gain. Campbell noted that while some of his farming peers are losing significant money/acre, this year, on his 125 acres of peas alone after spraying, irrigation and seed costs he made $12,000.

For the field day, Campbell invited Strahinja Stepanovic, a Nebraska Extension educator who is an expert on field peas, to speak about other opportunities out there for this up and coming cash crop making its way into Nebraska. Stepanovic said with just 10 inches of moisture, farmers can grow 35 bushel peas (this is with soil moisture or precipitation). He said there are many benefits to growing peas, noting that farmers he has spoken to say it is great to drill in the next crop after harvesting peas. In some areas, Stephanovic said they are reporting twice the water infiltration where peas have been planted.

Currently, Stepanovic added that Montana and North Dakota are the biggest producers of field peas; however, there are acres expanding in Nebraska and other areas. Stephanovic shared the following contact information for five field pea buyers purchasing in Nebraska: Montana Integrity in Galata, Mont.  contact Dan Bagnell at (402) 460-1057 or 406-460-1411; Gavilon Grain in Hastings, Neb.  contact Mason Nicklaus at (308) 708-6000 or (806) 282-5328; AGT in Brookings, S.D.  contact Ryan Edinger and/or Mike Strand at (701)-751-1623; SD Pulse and Processors LLC in Harrold, S.D.  contact Andrew Baus at (605) 875-3535 or (605) 870-1922 and The Redwood Group out of Mission, Kan.  contact Mat Kiefer at (816) 925-0362 or (816) 838-6005.

Campbell is beginning to find success on his farm by adopting some new practices and introducing new crops such as field peas. He is also starting to see some success at the bank with the changes he has made. Campbell said, Not all farm operations need to be the same. But, if youre interested, there are some opportunities out there that can be profitable you may have never thought about before. Dont be afraid to try. Farmers like me want to share what they have learned. I encourage you to explore some new options because when the auction company pulls in, thats it.

Here is also Stepanovics contact information: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/author/strahinja-stepanovic-extension-educator
YORK  Little Annie is in desperate need of surgery and Jenice Epp will make it happen  one way or the other.

The story begins in Bolivia, the country in which Annie (not the childs real name) lives and to which Epp travels to serve children in a special orphanage twice each year.

The orphanage, she explained, is the only one in the country that accepts kids with such profound special needs as Annie.

A boy from there will have heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., however the remaining cost of his procedure has been covered. Mayo, she said, takes in five kids worldwide for heart surgery each year. The boy from Bolivia, who has only one working chamber in his heart, is among the fortunate five.

Not so lucky, though, when it comes to Annies surgery for craniostenosis. Childrens Hospital in Omaha has agreed to do it for $68,426.25 in cash. When surgeon, medication, anesthesia costs are added the overall bill is projected to be approximately $150,000.

Epp said Annies problem is that her newborn soft spot has not filled as it should. As a result her growing brain is pushing outside her skull. The child came to the orphanage at age 4 and is now 6.

Epp last saw her in May, When I opened my mouth and said I would make (the surgery) happen.

The present fundraising effort is a result of that commitment to Annies future.

She will see Annie again when she makes her second 2017 visit to the orphanage next month.

Dollars collected so far will not cover the amount needed; however Epps faith is unwavering.

God usually waits till the last minute, she said with a smile and a shrug.

Clearly, however, Epp was absolutely serious moments later when she said, I will take out a loan or sell my only home to complete the payment of her medical bills in the United States, if thats what it takes. The only way this surgery wont happen is if she dies before we can do it or if the U.S. wont let her into the country.

Those who wish to donate to Annies surgery are invited to do so through the United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 86, McCool Junction 68401. If the surgery does not happen all checks will be returned.

If everybody Ive talked to gave me $10, she said, I would have what I need already.

Epp said Annie will go to a facial/cranial clinic on a Tuesday with surgery scheduled late the following week. She will be required to spend at least a month in Nebraska post-surgery, most likely living with either Epp or her niece.
YORK  Anwar J. Khalil, 25, of San Francisco, Calif., has pleaded no contest to a Class 4 felony related to marijuana possession.

Her change of plea was entered in York County District Court this week.

She is now facing a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison and 12 months of post-release supervision if prison is ordered. She could also be fined up to $10,000.

According to court documents, Khalils vehicle was stopped in the vicinity of a ruse check point on Interstate 80, in York County, by troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol. Investigators said she was stopped for failure to signal.

During a subsequent search of the vehicle, to which Khalil consented, they found several pounds of marijuana.

Sentencing has been set for Dec. 27.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.

Happy shootin' my friends!

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Accusing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of being anti-women, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today asked if one has seen a woman in shorts at their shakhas (or meetings).

By India Today Web Desk: Accusing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of being anti-women, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today asked if one has seen a woman in shorts at their shakhas (or meetings).

"Inka (BJP's) main sangathan RSS hai. Kitni mahilayan hain usme? Kabhi shaakha mein mahilaon ko dekha hai shorts mein? Maine to nahi dekha (Their main organisation is the RSS. How many women members does it have? Have you seen a woman in shorts at their shakhas? I haven't seen any)", Rahul said at a public meeting in poll-bound Gujarat's Vadodara.

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The RSS, which is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, is a men-only organisation known for its patriarchal and misogynist views on women. Its male members used to wear khaki shorts, which has now been replaced by trousers .

"Inki thinking hai jab tak mahilayen chup rahen, kuchh bolein na, tab tak mahilayen theek hain. Jaise hi mahila ne munh khola, usko chup karvao (Their thinking is that as long as women are silent, they are okay. As soon as a woman speaks out, they silence her)", the 47-yea-old leader added.

Rahul said if the Congress is voted to power in Gujarat, the party will focus on women's empowerment. "Our focus will also be on education, health care system. Has Modi ever interacted with you to know what you need?" he asked.

ALSO WATCH VIDEO | Gujarat: Rahul mocks Modi govt over media report on Jay Shah's company

--- ENDS ---
News

Washington, DC - The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to National Institutes of Health grantee Joachim Frank, Ph.D., of Columbia University, New York City. Frank shares the award jointly with Jacques Dubochet, Ph.D., of the University of Geneva and University of Basel, Switzerland, and Richard Henderson, Ph.D., of Cambridge University, for the development of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, This method has moved biochemistry into a new era.

Knowing the structure of a molecule reveals important information about how it functions and can provide insight into potential drug targets for fighting disease. Cryo-EM is a method used to image frozen biological molecules without the use of structure-altering dyes or fixatives or the need to coax the molecules into crystalline form, providing a simpler way to generate pictures of the molecules in their normal states and greater understanding of biological function. With cryo-EM, researchers can advance understanding of lifes chemistry and develop pharmaceuticals.

The work of these Nobel laureates has been game-changing in our understanding of lifes processes and identifying molecular targets for drug development, said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. NIH is investing heavily in the further development of this technology through the NIH Common Funds Transformative High Resolution cryo-EM Program, which aims to improve access for researchers through the creation of national service centers, continued advancement of the technology, and developing the skills that researchers need to use this technology. NIH is proud to have supported this groundbreaking research.

Dr. Frank has received continuous funding from NIHs National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) since 1978, having received more than $25 million in funding to date.

One of the beauties of this Prize is that it isnt just looking backward at what happened in the past, its also looking to the future, said NIGMS Director Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D. Recent advances in cryo-EM  made possible by the three winners  are allowing us to make unprecedented advances in areas from our basic understanding of cellular processes to the development of new vaccines.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey has proclaimed October the fifth annual Arizona Manufacturers Month to celebrate the more than 4,600 Arizona manufacturers whose success has made Arizona into a leading hub in the U.S.

In 2016, manufacturing accounted for 158,652 jobs in Arizona and an output of $24.4 billion. Manufacturing in Arizona creates high-quality, high-wage jobs, with an average annual salary of $72,419. The vast majority of the 4,600 manufacturing establishments in Arizona are small and medium-sized businesses. These companies are advancing new technologies and products that are improving lives and enhancing Arizonas economic prosperity.

Arizona has a great diversity of manufacturing talent, said Governor Ducey. These businesses contribute significantly to our economy and also play a vital role in supporting the supply chain for large manufacturers. Arizona Manufacturers Month is an opportunity to celebrate the impact these businesses have in our state and the men and women working to make them successful.

Arizona is home to RevAZ, a program of the Arizona Commerce Authority that is specifically designed to support the growth and success of manufacturers in the state. Arizona also is part of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a national network that helps manufucters compete in the global marketplace.

This month of events is dedicated to highlighting the success of Arizonas manufacturers, said Sandra Watson, President & CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. Arizonas top talent and commitment to embracing innovation have allowed our manufacturers to thrive in a wide range of fields, including aerospace and defense, semiconductors, bioscience, and medical equipment and supplies.

There are many opportunities throughout the month to celebrate our states manufacturers, including workshops designed to help manufacturers scale their businesses and open houses of manufacturing facilities, as well as other public events.
Living Section

Yuma, Arizona - Little Bella Miller of Plainwell, MI told her family she wanted teddy bears for her sixth birthday- lots of them, reports the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC]. She wanted enough of the stuffed animals to hand out to fire, police and Emergency Medical Service personnel in her community. It seems they were running low on the cuddly bears they used to comfort kids in trouble. She received more than 300 of them.

"She gave all her presents to kids who don't have anyone to hug when they're feeling sad, so she gave up her birthday just for them," her friend and classmate Autumn Gravelyn told reporters.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - The Yuma Fire Department began training area citizens in Compression Only CPR (COCPR) in early 2009. In September we passed the 10,000th person trained in this critical treatment for cardiac arrest. Although we could not specify a particular person being the 10,000th student, we do know it took place on September 15th during classes at Gila Vista Jr. High School. Nearly 300 Gila Vista students took part in the 6 classes given that day during the Physical Education periods.

YFD appreciates Gila Vista allowing us the opportunity to pass on this lifesaving information!

According to the American Red Cross, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur each year in the U.S. A person in cardiac arrest has a greatly reduced chance of survival unless a bystander takes immediate action until the paramedics arrive. The heart has stopped pumping blood through their body and that circulation is essential to sustain life.

The University of Arizonas Sarver Heart Center (where the Compression Only method was pioneered) says that for every minute a person in cardiac arrest is not getting CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation) their chance of survival drops by 10%. COCPR is easy to learn and easy to use. It also does not involve mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. Studies have shown this method is not only more likely to be used, but also is more effective than traditional CPR.

For more information about COCPR classes, or other fire and injury prevention classes, contact the Yuma Fire Department Public Information Office at 928-373-4855.
Washington: A Texas Tech University student fatally shot a campus police officer in the head, according to varsity authorities.

The incident took place on Monday night when campus police were making a student welfare check, CBS News reported.

Upon entering the suspect's room, officers found drug paraphernalia, according to a university statement.

The suspect was then brought into a police station for questioning. But he pulled out a gun and fatally shot the officer in the head.

The suspect fled on foot and was caught after at least an hour of intense search by the officials.

The campus was shut until he was caught, the statement added.
Beijing: China's official media on Tuesday welcomed Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's greeting PLA soldiers at the Sikkim border, saying her "charm offensive" might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion following the Dokalam standoff.

Sitharaman had a brief conversation with People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops during her maiden visit to the Nathu La border post in Sikkim on Sunday and was even seen teaching them how to say 'Namaste'.

"China welcomes Sitharaman's greeting and hopes this friendly gesture is also welcomed by Indians. Sitharaman's charm offensive might help break the ice between Chinese and Indian public opinion," state-run daily Global Times said in a much more toned down editorial, compared to the one on the same topic on Monday.

Sitharaman's visit to the border regions as Defence Minister can be easily interpreted as New Delhi's push to intensify combat readiness against Beijing, the report said.

"But Sitharaman's traditional Namaste greeting to the Chinese soldiers sent another signal to the public that might not erase the first impression but may at least balance things out," it said.

The tabloid, which has been carrying stridently anti- India rhetoric for past several months, said in its editorial on Monday that, "some Indian nationalists over-estimate India's strength and rights, assuming New Delhi can bark orders across the border at Beijing".

"India's concerns about the Siliguri Corridor's security are understandable, but New Delhi cannot mess around", it said, adding that China is also concerned about the transport route security across the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca, but Beijing has not taken "coercive measures to achieve its aims".

In Tuesday's editorial it said, "Indians must overcome the paranoia that suggests their country is strategically thwarted and threatened by Beijing".

The report said India also needs to give up its pursuit of support from the US and Japan to deploy "as a bargaining chip against Beijing".

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Dokalam since June 16 after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The standoff ended on August 28.
Patna: Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's reported remark about Biharis "crowding" AIIMS, Delhi even for "minor ailments" on Tuesday drew criticism from rivals and ally JD(U), with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying it is the duty of MPs to take care of their constituents going there for treatment.

"People of Bihar are unnecessarily crowding AIIMS, Delhi even for minor ailments which can be treated at home," media reports quoted Choubey as having told a function here last Sunday.

The Union Minister of State for Health had also reportedly said he had instructed the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to turn away such patients.

Choubey's reported remark kicked up a controversy back home.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, without naming Choubey or referring to his statement, said it has been the duty of every MP from Bihar to take care of people from their constituency visiting the national capital for treatment at the hospital.

"This has been a basic responsibility of every MP from Bihar to attend to people coming from their constituency for treatment at AIIMS," Kumar told a health department function.

He said he used to keep an assistant who would accompany patients to AIIMS so that they were not inconvenienced. Kumar, a former Union minister, represented Barh and Nalanda Lok Sabha constituencies four times in the past.

"If a patient was serious, I would myself talk to the doctor concerned or visit AIIMS to see him. During such visits I used to see a large number of people from Bihar thronging AIIMS for treatment," Kumar said.

The chief minister said health facilities have improved in Bihar and now people are going to AIIMS, Delhi "out of choice" and not compulsion.

Choubey's remarks had prompted Tamanna Hashmi, a Muzaffarpur-based social activist, to file a complaint against Chaubey in chief judicial magistrate's court yesterday.

The RJD and Congress latched on to the minister's reported remarks to attack the BJP.

"Citizens of Bihar feel insulted by the minister's remarks," senior Congress leader and AICC member Prem Chand Mishra said.

RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari said the minister was talking "rubbish".

However, Choubey's party BJP came to his defence, with Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi saying his comments were misinterpreted.

"What he (Choubey) intended to say is that efforts are being made to improve the facilities available in Bihar to such an extent that the necessity to rush to other places for better medical treatment was minimised," he said of the Union minister, who represents Buxar seat in the Lok Sabha.
The United Nations warm invite to jailed self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh would have also taken him by surprise, assuming that he doesn't know it yet.

The invitation to World Toilet Day, though it was by mistake, and the timing was such, that it raised quite a few eyebrows. Had it come from an ordinary office, the brouhaha might have been less because it is a common knowledge many such offices here seldom update their mailing list.

A case in point is my next door neighbour who still receives electricity bills in the name of the previous house owner despite her sending a notarized letter and numerous reminders. But, whatever may be the reason, the UNs impromptu tweet invite did grab the headlines and twitterati had a field day trolling the UN.

Ram Rahim surely must have done something special to earn an invite from the world body. From his bhakts in interviews, we do know now that he ran a green campaign.

However, the row over inviting a rape convict should not divert our attention from the more serious subject of open defecation, which the UN wants to highlight. Besides health risk, it is also a major public nuisance. The problem is so widespread and serious that it can suck your breath out, i.e. figuratively speaking!

I can tell you that from my own experience. An empty plot next to our apartment blocks in West Delhi has turned into a massive lavatory because people at a nearby resettlement colony dumps their bowel discharge twice daily.

The strong pungent smell of the poop fills the air and it becomes a virtual no-go zone. The MCD has installed poop booths but nobody uses them. This is one of the moments that make you think no amount of campaign would convince them to stop defecating in the open. It is their habit and not lack of awareness that seemed to be holding them back.

Ram Rahim, now incarcerated in Haryanas Sunaria jail, surely paid for what he did. He may have been an ardent supporter of this UN campaign, but today he has been rechristened as a notorious sex-maniac who is not fit to live in our world.

World Toilet Day, observed on Nov 19, seeks to achieve the same objective as our Swachh Bharat Campaign, but on a larger platform. Hopefully, both reach their milestones sooner than later and spare those who had to endure this smell of the digestive fluids while commuting every day to work.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)
New Delhi: India`s Tata conglomerate is interested in bidding for state-owned Air India as the group needs to increase the sizes of its aviation business, its boss told television channel CNBC TV18 in an interview on Monday.

Tata would "definitely look" at Air India once the government finalised the privatisation process, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata groups holding company Tata Sons, told the channel.

He said Tata, which already has two small airline joint ventures in India, one with Singapore Airlines and the other with Malaysia`s AirAsia Bhd, was still not clear about what a sale would look like.

The government has not said whether it will sell all or parts of Air India and what it might do about the loss-making airline`s debt burden of $8.5 billion.

"We still don`t have all the details," Chandrasekaran said. "We have two airlines, both are subscale. I feel scale is important."

When asked whether Tata had spoken to Singapore Airlines about its interest in bidding for Air India, Chandrasekaran said: "Do you think I would have not?"

Tata`s interest in Air India has been reported but Chandrasekaran had not spoken publicly about a possible bid.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s cabinet in June gave the go-ahead to sell Air India, which has received $3.6 billion since 2012 in state aid.

Last month the government invited bids to appoint financial and legal advisors for the sale process.

Some companies including low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, ground handling company Bird Group and Turkey`s Celebi Aviation Holdings have expressed an interest in buying some of Air India`s various businesses.

Air India, founded in 1930s by the Tata Group, is saddled with debts and a bloated cost structure.

Once the nation`s largest carrier, its market share in the booming domestic market has slumped to 13 percent as private carriers expanded.

TATA TELESERVICES, TATA MOTORS

In Monday`s interview, Chandrasekaran also said "all options are on the table" when asked about the future of its struggling telecoms unit Tata Teleservices.

The Economic Times said earlier this month that Tata had told the government it intended to shut down Tata Teleservices.

"I will have to take a tough call and I will," Chandrasekaran said, adding that a solution would be found this financial year because Tata could not continue to pump in cash to fund the company.

Chandrasekaran also said the group was focusing on improving returns at Tata Motors and ending production of its loss-making Nano car would make little difference to the firm`s profitability.

British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has long been the main source of revenues and profits at Tata Motors.

The company has said it will invest more than 40 billion rupees ($612 million) to boost sales of its passenger and commercial vehicles and return to profit in its domestic business.
By PTI: (Eds: With details of deliberations)

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) The Supreme Court today referred to a five-judge constitution bench the legal question whether a Parsi woman loses her religious identity after marrying a man of different religion under the Special Marriage Act.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the larger bench would also consider the scope and width of the triple talaq verdict in the present case.

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A woman has challenged the Parsi law, upheld by the Gujarat High Court in 2010, that a Parsi female marrying a Hindu loses her religious rights in the Parsi community.

"We are referring it to five-judge constitution bench," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The decision came after senior lawyer Indira Jaising, appearing for Goolrokh M Gupta, said that the doctrine of custom, that a woman automatically assumes the religion of her husband, no more held good.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by Gupta challenging the High Court judgement that had held that under the Special Marriage Act, a Parsi woman is deemed to be converted to Hinduism after she married a Hindu man.

The woman, in her appeal filed in 2012, said she had married a Hindu under the Special Marriage Act and be allowed to retain her place in Parsi community. She had assailed the HC finding that a woman universally loses her paternal identity just because of her marriage with a man practising the Hindu religion.

She had also sought the right to visit the Tower of Silence in the event of her fathers death to perform last rites.

The Tower is used for funerary purposes by the adherents of the Zoroastrian faith, in which the traditional practice for disposal of the dead involves the exposure of the corpse to the sun and vultures.

The High Court had also held that she would be deemed to have acquired the religious status of her husband unless a declaration is made by a court for continuation of her Parsi status.

The woman had approached the high court contending that even after her marriage with a Hindu man, she has continued tofollowZoroastrianreligion and thus had the right to enjoy all privileges under the Parsi religion, including right to offer prayers at Agiari, a Parsi temple having the holy fire and the Tower of Silence.

She contended that her rights as a ParsiZoroastrian cannot be denied on the ground that she has married a non- Parsi man.

She had also argued that a male Parsi Zoroastrian continued to enjoy all rights available to a born Parsi, even if he is married to a non-ParsiZoroastrianwoman. PTI SJK PKS ABA RKS ARC

--- ENDS ---

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New Delhi: A Patiala House court on Tuesday directed Delhi Police handover the room of Hotel Leela Palace where former union minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in January 2014.

During the last hearing Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh had asked the police why, despite the court's order, it has not unsealed a room in Hotel Leela Palace

The court had also asked a senior police officer to appear before it and explain why its order to unseal room number 345 that has remained locked since January 17, 2014, has not been followed.

On September 4, the court had cracked down on the Delhi Police for delaying the de-sealing of the room.

The hotel had claimed that due to the sealing of the suite, which costs between Rs 55,000 and Rs 61,000 a night, it has suffered a loss of over Rs 50 lakh in the last three years.

Sunanda Pushkar, 52, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Delhi's Hotel Leela Palace on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed henceforth.

A FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015, against unknown persons under Section 302 (murder).

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead on the night of January 17, 2014.
New Delhi: The newly constituted Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) will hold its first meeting on Wednesday.

The Council held a brainstorming session with stakeholders yesterday in the run up to its first meeting on Wednesday, an official statement said today.

The Council will address all issues of emergent importance, will engage with a broad spectrum of stakeholders and formulate advice accordingly, the statement said.

The Council has been set up with the approval of the Prime Minister on September 26, 2017. Its members include NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy as Chairman, Principal Adviser to NITI Aayog Ratan P Watal as member secretary and Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy and Ashima Goyal as part time members.

According to the statement, with the constitution of the Council, the government has set up a unique independent institutional mechanism.

It further said that the Council is mandated to analyse all critical issues, economic or otherwise referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon.

It is also required to address issues of macro-economic importance and presenting views thereon, the statement pointed out.
Catalonia: A Catalan parliamentary session that could see regional president Carles Puigdemont declare independence opened on Tuesday, under intense scrutiny from the rest of Spain and Europe.

"The session begins," regional parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell said, with all eyes on a speech by Puigdemont in which he may announce a full breakaway from Spain in defiance of the central government and national courts.
New Delhi: Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has forayed into the premium handset market in India, a segment dominated by Samsung and Apple, with the launch of Mi Mix 2 smartphone that will retail for Rs 35,999.

The Mi Mix 2, which features a full-screen display and a ceramic back, is the most expensive phone in Xiaomi's India portfolio of smartphones.

"This is our most premium offering in India and an amalgamation of art and technology. It competes with the flagship devices of many players in terms of specifications," Xiaomi Vice President and India Managing Director Manu Jain told PTI.

He added that with Mi Mix 2, Xiaomi has ensured that it delivers on its philosophy of making the best technology available at affordable prices.

Apart from giants like Samsung and Apple, the premium smartphone category also includes devices from the stables of OnePlus, LG, Sony and HTC.

The premium smartphone segment in the country is still small with low sales volumes. However, various market reports suggest that the segment is growing in double digits.

The Mi Mix 2 features a 5.99-inch (18:9) display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, 12MP rear and 5MP front camera, and 3,400 mAh battery.
MP Sanjay Raut claimed that ban on firecrackers not a solution on pollution; asks whether River Ganga polluted because of firecrackers.

By Kiran Tare: The infighting in Shiv Sena came to forth on Tuesday after the Bombay High Court's directions to the Maharashtra government over enforcing the Supreme Court's ban on firecrackers stalls in residential areas.

Environment Minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam announced that they will consult Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis before taking a call on the SC's ruling.

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His colleague in the party Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, reacted sharply saying that the party would oppose any such ban.

Raut claimed that the ban on firecrackers sell would affect the livelihood of poor youths. "What great effort is there in snatching the livelihood when you can't give them employment?" he asked.

The Executive Editor of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna pointed that firecrackers are burst in 199 countries around the world and it is not the only reason for pollution.

"Why are you dousing the kitchen fires of the poor. Ban on firecrackers is not a solution to stop environment pollution. River Ganga didn't get polluted because of firecrackers. This business gives thousands of people a source of employment. Why are you trying to kick at their only source of livelihood?" he said.

Joining the bandwagon against the SC's ban, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray asked why there is a ban on the Hindu festivals only.

"Should people burst firecrackers on WhatsApp or what? People should celebrate Diwali festival as they have been doing so all these years. Why is there ban imposed on celebrating Hindu festivals only?" he asked.

The Bombay High Court has imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers in residential areas in Maharashtra.

The HC said that the licenses given to shopkeepers who sell crackers in residential areas should be cancelled. The license limit for crackers has been reduced to 50 percent to sell in non-residential areas.

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the Congress is on the wane throughout the country and advised its Vice President Rahul Gandhi to give up Twitter politics and work on the ground.



Referring to BJP's success in the first phase of Maharashtra Gram Panchayat polls, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the party's performance showed it was the choice of the poor.



"The whole country is supporting Modiji and the BJP for development and the Congress is shrinking in every part of the country. It is going in reverse direction. Even in the meetings of Congress, people chant Modi-Modi. We saw it yesterday (Monday) in Bihar," Javadekar told reporters here.



Referring to the reported resentment in various state units of the Congress, he said the Congress got divided in Gujarat after Shankar Singh Vaghela left the party but Rahul Gandhi was not paying attention to it.



"Even in Amethi, many Congress workers joined the BJP today (Tuesday). In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there is no chance of Congress' revival," he said.



In the first phase of Gram Panchayat polls in Maharashtra, out of 2,974 panchayats for which the results were declared on Monday, the BJP won 1,457, followed by the Congress that won 301, Shiv Sena 222 and the Nationalist Congress Party 194 panchayat bodies.



Slamming Rahul for Congress' poor performance, Javadekar said: "Rahul Gandhi is on Twitter only. Your strength shows when you have the ground and then you tweet. It is (political) bankruptcy if you are only depending on tweets and do not have the ground force. Social media can only be addition to the ground force, which BJP follows."



On Rahul's comment on women in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas, Javadekar said: "He (Rahul) has never seen the shakhas. In Rashtriya Sevika Samiti (the women wing of RSS) women hold separate shakhas. But Rahul Gandhi never tried to know about it. He only tweets and that too dictated content."


New Delhi: The government on Tuesday opposed granting recognition to "living will" in cases of passive euthanasia, telling the Supreme Court that it could be misused and may not be viable as a public policy.

The Centre told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that a draft bill based on the guidelines for passive euthanasia made by the top court in the Aruna Shanbaug's case and recommendations of the Law Commission were under its consideration.

Passive euthanasia is a condition where there is withdrawal of medical treatment with the deliberate intention to hasten the death of a terminally ill-patient.

"We have been following the guidelines laid down by this court in Aruna Shanbaug's case and a medical board is the final authority to decide on passive euthanasia, not the living will created by a person," Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, said.

He said if "living will" is created by a person and is recognised, then there are possibilities of it being misused and this would not be viable as public policy.

"If a person is not of sound mind, then he is a not a competent person to make a living will and in that case, it is a medical board which will have to look into the affairs and not the individual. Safeguards have to be there and nothing more could be done," he said.

The ASG said the court can work out modalities about the safeguards as the living will to dilute the treatment could be misused.

The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, questioned whether any medical board is permanently constituted to take a call on passive euthanasia.

"No, the medical board is not permanently constituted and is set up on case-to-case basis," Narasimha said.

The bench then asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO 'Common Cause' which is seeking recognition to living will, whether an individual has a right to refuse medical treatment or can the State interfere to safeguard life.

Bhushan said various countries recognise living will made by persons. In India, where resources are so limited, it should be legally acceptable in order to avoid creating a hopeless situation for the middle-class, he said.

"Under Article 21 of Constitution, person has the right to die peacefully without any suffering and therefore he has right to create a living will that when he can't recover from illness, his life should not be prolonged," Bhushan said.

He said it is contradictory that the court allows passive euthanasia but does not recognise execution of living will.

Justice Chandrachud then expressed concern over elderly people being treated as a burden by some people and said that safeguards need to be created to avoid misuse, if the living will is recognised.

Bhushan said that forcing prolonged medical treatment on someone who does not want it, amounts to assault and added that passive euthanasia in the Aruna Shanbaug's case was distinct from living wills.

The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.

The bench also asked senior advocate Arvind Datar to assist in the matter as senior lawyer and former Solicitor General T R Andhyarujina who was appointed as an amicus curiae in the case in 2016, had passed away.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed in 2005 by the NGO, which said when a medical expert opines that the person afflicted with a terminal disease has reached a point of no return, he should be given the right to refuse life support system.

In 2014, the apex court had referred the petition to a five-judge constitution bench which sought to recognise the execution of a 'living will' of persons suffering from chronic terminal diseases and likely to go into a permanent vegetative state.

On January, 15, 2016, the Centre had told the court about the 241st report of the Law Commission which stated that passive euthanasia should be allowed with certain safeguards and there was also a proposed law --Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill Patient (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill, 2006.

The government had said that its stand will also be based on 6.7 regulation of 2002 under Medical Council of India Act which says that practicing euthanasia shall constitute unethical conduct.

It had said that on specific occasions, the question of withdrawing supporting devices to sustain cardio-pulmonary function even after brain death, shall be decided only by a doctors' team and not merely by the treating physician alone.

The apex court had said its verdict of 2011 allowing passive euthanasia was delivered on a "wrong premise".

It had said that its earlier Constitution Bench verdict, which was wrongly relied in Aruna Shanbaug case, had held that the right to live with dignity will be inclusive of the right to die with dignity, but the judgement did not arrive at a conclusion on validity of euthanasia.
JAISALMER: A 55-year-old Indian man, who had crossed the border to enter Pakistan nearly 27 years ago, has come back to India through illegal route. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has taken the man in custody.

Hasan Khan came back to India six months ago in April.

Avoiding authorities, he kept hiding in several places including Gujarat and Maharashtra, before being arrested.

Hasan allegedly paid Pakistani Rupees 5,000 to illegal agents to cross the India-Pakistan border in 1990 to meet his ailing brother-in-law in Kharado village in Amarkot district.

He is currently being interrogated by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
New Delhi: Lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister Sitharaman also said that the budgetary allocations should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is "absolutely necessary," the IAF said.

Inaugurating the three-day conference, she also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be "fully utilised" in achieving required capabilities of the forces.

"She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade," the IAF said in a statement.

Currently, the IAF has 33 fighter squadrons against the authorised strength of 42 squadrons. The IAF has been pressing the government to expedite acquisition of combat jets to overcome the shortage.

The IAF is likely to start the process later month to acquire a fleet of single engine fighter jets which are expected to significantly enhance its overall strike capability. It is also looking at procuring various other platforms and weapons systems.

The IAF commanders conference is taking place amid an evolving regional security scenario and growing assertiveness by China in some parts of the Sino-India border.

Last week, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said the IAF is capable of effectively countering any threat from China and Pakistan simultaneously in a two- front war.

Sitharaman said the IAF along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Ordnance Factory Board, a state-run defence equipment maker, should make an assessment about the possible areas of indigenisation under the 'Make-in-India' programme.

In his address, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's air power, and called for continuing the process to enhance capability of the force.

He also reiterated the IAF's role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the government's thrust on the 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The IAF said the conference will deliberate on a raft of issues which will decide the future trajectory of the force.

It said deliberations will take place on operations and maintenance issues.

Various administrative initiatives were also expected to be taken at the conclave to enhance the working environment of the IAF.

In sync with the government's digital India initiative, two mobile applications for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones will also be released during the conference, the IAF said.

A book titled 'Aero India- Ascent through the ages' was also scheduled to be released during the conference.
NEW DELHI: The Navy has discharged the services of a sailor who underwent gender reassignment surgery to become a woman.

Manish Giri, the sailor, underwent surgery in Mumbai last year after he felt like "a woman trapped in a man's body". He now goes by the name "Sabi" and started dressing up like a woman.

Post surgery, the sailor returned to the INS Eksila base in Visakhapatnam, when the issues cropped up.

The sailor was allegedly kept in a psychiatric ward for six months by the maritime force.

This is the first ever case of gender transformation in the Indian Navy, which claimed that it recruited Giri under the Indian male citizen" clause seven years ago.

The Navy does induct women officers but recruits only men as sailors, soldiers, and airmen in entry-level or lower ranks. Currently, transgenders or transsexual people are not allowed to join the armed forces.

The maritime force served the discharge letter on Friday, dismissing Giri by invoking the clause of 'Service No Longer Required' under the Navy Regulations", post-approval from the defense ministry.

The sailor is also not eligible for any pension because of mandatory service clause of 15 years in the armed forces.

In its official statement, the Indian maritime force said, "The serving sailor, who underwent sex reassignment surgery at a private facility whilst on leave, was administratively discharged from the service," the statement said.

"The individual chose to undergo irreversible gender re-assignment on his own accord whilst on leave, wilfully altering his gender status from the one he was recruited for at the time of his induction," it said.

"He has, therefore, breached the Recruitment Regulations and eligibility criteria for his employment as a sailor in the Indian Navy. The existing service rules and regulations do not permit the sailor's continued employment owing to his altered gender status, medical condition and resultant employability restrictions," it added.

Giri has vowed to fight for justice.
FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar: Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, stars likely to play their last WC
Family of the man said that he was kidnapped about five months ago in Greece.

By India Today Web Desk: A woman from Kurukshetra, Haryana has come forward and requested External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to help free her brother who was allegedly kidnapped in Greece.

The incident according to Balwinder Kaur took place some five months ago.

Kaur said that her brother Malkeet was kidnapped by about four youths in Greece.

She added that the kidnappers had also sent her video clips were her brother was seen being roughed up by the youths.

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"They are constantly threatening to kill him if demand for ransom is not met," said Kaur.

"We appeal to the government, EAM Sushma Swaraj to help us and ensure his safety there and that he is released by the kidnappers," said Kaur.

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Diaspora minister of Armenia Hranush Hakobyan says majority of Syrian-Armenians who relocated to Armenia due to the Syrian war will continue living in Armenia.

The minister told ARMENPRESS that Syrian-Armenians establish businesses in Armenia from nothing which shows that they are hard working, try to do something and mainly achieve success.

I talk to a lot of Syrian-Armenians, most of them do not want to return, but you know no one can state whether their approaches are final and permanent. Our beloved, modest, smart, organized and literate Syrian-Armenians left their homes, businesses, cars, history, cultural and historical heritage in Syria. This is a fact. It is also a fact that their gaze is towards Syria. One day they will go to receive final assessment of their properties, sell it to see what remained from their properties. These issues are still questionable for them. Therefore, they are not psychologically calm yet. I think this will happen when final peace is established in Syria. Now the situation is relatively calm there, let God maintain it, but as long as the peace agreement is not signed, there is still tension, and the Syrian-Armenians are also in tension, Hranush Hakobyan said.

The minister said one of the topics of the 2017 Armenia-Diaspora forum was dedicated to the Syrian-Armenians, adding that a similar discussion was also held during the 2014 forum. You know, these discussions were different to a great extent. If there was a nervous situation in 2014, tension, demand, complaints that some questions have not been solved, during this forum everything was calm since 6 aircrafts carrying humanitarian aid have arrived in Syria under the auspices of the Armenian President, we sponsor the nursing home, the orphanage, try to help Syrian-Armenians with all possible measures. Syrian-Armenians have been adapted and integrated to here. If previously they wanted a Syrian school here to study with their program, today they record significant results in our Armenian schools. They also record perfect results in culture, economy and business fields. At the moment we almost have no Syrian-Armenian who faces problems that are not being solved, the minister said.

She said Syrian-Armenians also face difficulties in Armenia since they dont earn as much as they earned in Syria. But the minister said they have already been adapted to Armenias conditions and are working hard.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. While on an official visit to Iran, Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan met with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh and Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi, press service of the Armenian Government told Armenpress.

During the meetings the officials expressed satisfaction over the level of bilateral cooperation in energy field and stated that the two states have great opportunities for the development of mutual cooperation. The sides expressed confidence that the Armenian PMs official visit will give new impetus to the bilateral mutually beneficial ties. The Iranian side said they are interested in expanding and deepening the relations with Armenia.

The meeting touched upon expanding the gas for electricity program, the issues to be discussed at the upcoming intergovernmental commission, Meghri HPP project, Armenia-Iran-Turkmenistan trilateral cooperation.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The increase of number of signatures within the frames of We Want Europe in Artsakh campaign launched by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) will force the EU political figures to show more concrete approach on the Artsakh political and economic issues, Tatev Manukyan  foreign affairs officer at the AGBU Europe, told Armenpress.

At the initial stage of the launch of petition we have attracted more than 60 European political and non-political famous figures, including MEPs, lawyers, publicists, writers and etc. This means that the priority goal of the petition is information directed to the EU officials through which we call on the EU to engage in Artsakh, provide financial assistance since unlike the remaining internationally unrecognized territories  South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Northern Cyprus, Artsakh is the only one which doesnt receive financial assistance from the European Union, Tatev Manukyan said.

She said they have also engaged EU officials who were unaware of Artsakh and its issues.

In other words, in terms of practical steps I can state that through a petition we increase the engagement and awareness of EU political figures, decision-makers about Artsakh by trying to put an end to its political and economic isolation since we understand that we deal with a neighbor which invests significant political and diplomatic resources to intensify Artsakhs blockade. Some of the European officials, to whom we applied for the petition, were already interested in and were informed about Artsakhs issues, but our team made and makes great efforts to attract certain European high-ranking officials who didnt deal with the Artsakh and regional issues during their activities, Tatev Manukyan said.

She said it is still unrealistic to talk about the concrete final result since this initiative is still the beginning of a lobbyist campaign which should have a domino effect.

Since the end of the Artsakh war in 1994 the EU has not established any link with Artsakh and has not provided any assistance. The international human rights and humanitarian organizations simply do not exist in this territory. The EUs only program with Artsakh is the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno Karabakh which promotes dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but it doesnt provide any assistance to the Artsakh people. Each signature is important for increasing that domino effect, thus we call on everyone to join the petition, she said, adding that ensuring peace in the region more than derives from the EUs humanitarian principles and policy, and based on these principles the EU has many reasons to put an end to Artsakh peoples isolation.

The petition launched in July. 2702 people already joined it.

Syuzi Muradyan




YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Several agreements were signed on October 9 on the sidelines of Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyans official visit to Iran.

The MoU titled On Cooperation in the Science and Technology Sector between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was signed by Armenias minister of economic development and investments Suren Karayan and Irans deputy minister for science and technology affairs Surena Satari. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the Armenian PM and Irans first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri.

The document mentions that the sides will contribute and assist bilateral cooperation in the science and technology area and exchange of experience in various nanotechnology fields, the ministry of economic development and investments told ARMENPRESS.

The sides will also cooperate in organizing joint educational events, conferences and seminars, as well as exchange of scientists in the nanotechnology area.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting October 10 with Hollywwod actor, scriptwriter and producer John Malkovich, who arrived in Armenia to participate in the grand opening of the 5th International Aram Khachaturyan Festival.

During the meeting the President welcomed John Malkovich in Armenia, and mentioned that it is a great pleasure to host the talented artist in Armenia, where the power of art is greatly valued, and the people of which were able to create great cultural heritage during centuries and to have its unique contribution in the development of global civilization.

I know that the Armenian audience will have the chance to savor a unique manifestation of your art and your talent, where music and literature get intertwined. I am convinced that your participation in the grand opening of the 5th International Aram Khachaturyan festival will forever remain in the memory of the Armenian audience, the Armenian President said, adding that he is hopeful that despite the short-term visit, John Malkovich will have the chance to get to know Armenia with its rich cultural-historical legacy and the hospitable Armenian people, who always treat talented people with admiration.

John Malkovich thanked the President for the warm words, hospitality, as well as for the assistance and attention which the President draws for the development of culture, including the Armenian State Youth Orchestra, with which he will cooperate during his visit.

Malkovich mentioned that he is impatient to present the joint initiative of him and Sergey Smbatyan, the artistic director and chief conduction of the orchestra, in Yerevan, and expressed hope that it will be well received by the Armenian audience.
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Shares of Suven Life Sciences soared 5.5 per cent today after the company received a patent from New Zealand for a drug used for treatment of neuro- degenerative diseases.

The stock climbed 5.50 per cent to settle at Rs 190.95 on BSE. During the day, it jumped 9.83 per cent to Rs 198.80. On NSE, shares of the company advanced by 5.44 per cent to close at Rs 190.75. In terms of equity volume, 3.29 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 21 lakh shares changed hands on NSE during the day. In a BSE filing today, Suven Life said it has been granted "one product patent from New Zealand corresponding to the New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with neuro-degenerative diseases".

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The patents are valid till 2034, the company added. Suven Life CEO Venkat Jasti said: "We are very pleased by the grant of these patents to Suven for our pipeline of molecules in the CNS arena, which are being developed for cognitive disorders with high unmet medical need with a huge market potential globally." PTI SUM MKJ

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Everyone is well aware that the Azerbaijani leadership undertakes provocations ahead of high level meetings, in an attempt to roil the atmosphere. However, not once have the boastings of various Azerbaijani presidents vanished by facing the irrevocable will of the people of Artsakh and the reality of the established Republic of Artsakh - Vladimir Hakobyan, press secretary of Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan said in response to News.am ,which asked the speaker to comment how the Presidents Office assesses Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs statements on the NK conflict during the October 9 session of Azerbaijans ministerial council.

The latest statements were from this series  with one difference, that this provocation was done in central Baku, and not in the line of contact with Artsakh or the border with Armenia.

Ahead of the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, at the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries, Azerbaijan is attempting to create an illusion that it is proceeding from the positions of dictating the course of negotiations. The calculations of Baku are simple  to avoid the responsibility of not implementing the agreements reached at the previous summits  first of all before the people of Azerbaijan.

Our and Bakus understandings on embarrassment differ a lot. Perhaps in Azerbaijan they dont know, but in our region since ancient times, distancing oneself from agreements is considered an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment when what youve said at the presence of the leaders of other countries in international arenas and what youve said within your own walls dont comply with each other. It is an embarrassment, when they try to deceive the international community and their own people.

The Armenian sides agreement to go to the negotiations doesnt whatsoever mean a change in our stance in the NK settlement issue or a step back from the imperative of implementing the Vienna and St. Petersburg summit agreements.

If Azerbaijan is considering the implementation of these international agreements to be our precondition, then everyone knows what the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries have numerously stated in this regard, and surely they still have more to say.

It is ridiculous that a country is speaking about embarrassment before the international community, whereas the facts on their so called charity fund on bribing international officials are still on international headlines.

There is no other way to conceal this embarrassment of Azerbaijan, than to boast about some made up victories. Not once have the boastings of various Azerbaijani presidents vanished by facing the irrevocable will of the people of Artsakh and the reality of the established Republic of Artsakh. It is clear that attempts to anger us are failed from the beginning. We are committed to settle the NK conflict exclusively by peaceful means, Hakobyan said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Strengthening Armenian-French relations, raising Armenian issues, intensifying the works over Artsakh  ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the French National Assembly Daniel Cazarian presented the agenda issues during a press conference in ARMENPRESS.

Armenia and France have always been distinguished by firm ties, warm relations traditionally. At the moment there are three ethnic Armenian lawmakers in the French Parliament. We will contribute to further developing the political, economic, cultural ties of our countries with our activity. In this context I attach a great importance to the Artsakh issue. France is a Minsk Group Co-Chairing country, it has always been active, I think President Emmanuel Macron will also continue making efforts for establishing peace in Artsakh, Daniel Cazarian said.

As there have been changes in lawmakers of the French Parliament after the elections, at the moment works are being carried out to form a new Armenian-French parliamentary group.

There was a parliamentary friendship group under the presidency of Francois Hollande which was quite actively working. It included 60 MPs from different political forces. After the elections the staff changed. Currently works are being done to reestablish this group which will involve much more representatives, the lawmaker said, adding that the registration on forming the group is already launched.

As for the ongoing works over Artsakh, Daniel Cazarian said it is necessary to intensify the works within the frames of France-Artsakh friendship group. According to her, works should continue in the format of sister cities, especially when Artsakh is quite dynamic in its contacts.

Daniel Cazarian said the role of the Armenian community of France is very important in the context of these works. She said there is a quite strong Armenian community in France with firm infrastructures. It quite dynamically works, Armenians are mainly populated in big cities - Lyon, Marseille Paris.

As you know, both countries have always had strong cultural ties, but we would like to see further development of economic relations. The independent Republic of Armenia is young  26 years old, every time I visit Yerevan, I see changes which is very welcoming. I hope Armenia-France ties will further strengthen in future. Armenia needs economic development, the new opportunities will enable the youth to stay in their home country, she said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Transparency International is calling for tough anti-corruption measures, including sanctions on corrupt members, to restore trust in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the face of a series of corruption allegations and the resignation of its president, Armenpress reports citing the Transparency International official website.

Transparency International welcomes this weeks scheduled vote by PACE to pass a resolution to strengthen its anti-corruption rules. But it calls on the organisation to move swiftly on current allegations.

The Council of Europes mandate is to uphold and strengthen democracy and human rights across its 47 member states. On 4 September, investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and its partners revealed that current and former members of PACE allegedly received payments to launder the image of Azerbaijan abroad, the organization said in a statement, reminding that on 6 October, the president of PACE, Pedro Agramunt resigned before facing a motion to remove him.

Patricia Moreira, managing director of Transparency International, said the new president of PACE must act fast against wrongdoing, stating that it dragged its feet in the past when this issue first surfaced in 2012.

Members and former members of the parliamentary assembly who are proven to have received questionable financial benefits from Azerbaijan should be investigated and eventually prosecuted by their national authorities. Politicians have been implicated in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Slovenia, while reports of reputational laundering touch Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Rather than wait for the independent external body appointed by the Council of Europe to finish its investigation into the wrongdoing, authorities in these countries should launch their own probes into the reports of political corruption, in addition to cooperating fully and effectively with this Council of Europe investigation and other such future investigations. The member states of the Council of Europe should ensure that investigators can access all the information and documents they need, and have the authority to conduct on-the-spot checks and inspections, Patricia Moreira said.

Transparency International also calls upon the Council of Europe to establish a permanent investigative office as an effective mechanism to uncover future reputational laundering and bribery.

The Council of Europe and its member states must also adopt procedures that allow it to expel member who flout integrity rules and take bribes.
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. The France-Artsakh friendship circle has welcomed the adoption of the resolution by the US Michigan Senate on supporting the independence of Artsakh, the friendship circle said in a statement.

The adoption of the resolution is particularly highlighted in terms of it clearly linking the legal recognition of the people and its democratic institutions with ensuring peace and stability in the region.

The friendship circle appreciated the decisive contribution of the Senate of Michigan, particularly Senator Knezek, in advancing the international recognition process of Artsakh.

Francois Rochebloine, president of the France-Artsakh friendship circle, said that this recognition proves the irreversibility of the independence of Artsakh and paves way for the international recognition.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The meeting of Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Irans President Hassan Rouhani was held on October 10 in the Iranian Presidential Palace, press service of the Armenian government told Armenpress.

The Armenian PM thanked for the reception and conveyed the greetings and wishes of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Armenia attaches great importance to the warm and friendly relations with Iran which have serious historical grounds of centuries and are based on mutual interests. I can state with satisfaction that these relations are at the high level, and the bilateral cooperation continues developing in the atmosphere of mutual understanding, PM Karapetyan said.

Welcoming the Armenian PM in Iran, President Rouhani expressed confidence that his visit will contribute to further deepening the Armenian-Iranian friendly ties in different spheres. The Iranian President added that he is ready to assist the initiative of the governments of the two countries, as well as the implementation of joint programs.

The sides highlighted deepening and expanding the cooperation in a number fields, in particular, in energy, agriculture, IT, tourism, Syunik and Aras free economic zones, as well as increasing the trade turnover volumes between the two countries.

The Armenian PM highlighted the Armenian-Iranian high level political dialogue. The sides also discussed the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and regional affairs. Karen Karapetyan said Armenia highly appreciates Irans balanced stance on the NK conflict which is an important guarantee of ensuring regional peace and security.

The Iranian President conveyed his warm greetings to the Armenian President and the Armenian people and highly appreciated the role of the Armenian community in development of different spheres of Iran.




YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. At the completion of the official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan visited St. Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran, where he was met by the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran, Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian and the representatives of the Armenian community who welcomed the visit of Karen Karapetyan to Iran expressing conviction that it will foster the future development and strengthening of Armenian-Iranian relations.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Government of Armenia, summing up the results of the visit, Premier Karapetyan noted that productive and constructive talks were held with the authorities of Iran that can give new impetus to bilateral economic cooperation and boost the volume of trade turnover. We had sincere dialogue and productive talks. We are convinced there is great potential to develop bilateral economic cooperation. Today Iran imports numerous goods from different countries that are produced also in Armenia. We can give new impetus to mutually beneficial relations by putting into operation the free trade zone in Meghri, the Head of the Executive said. Referring to the Armenian community, the Premier highlighted the cooperation and first of all their involvement in various spheres  management culture, exchange of experience and also investment projects.

The Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran, Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian wished the Government of Armenia productive activities.
YEREVAN, 10 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 10 October, USD exchange rate is up by 0.61 drams to 479.56 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 3.59 drams to 566.07 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is up by 0.07 drams to 8.28 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 3.40 drams to 633.12 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price is up by 286.09 drams to 19716.04 drams. Silver price is up by 4.88 drams to 260.88 drams. Platinum price is up by 64.12 drams to 14092.24 drams.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. In the second stage of the UNESCO Director-Generals election the candidate from Azerbaijan, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu stopped the struggle for that position withdrawing his candidacy.

Receiving 20 out of the 58 votes Qatars candidate Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari leads the list. ARMENPRESS reports, citing the official website of the UNESCO, Al-Kawari led the list of the candidates also in the first stage. Only 6 candidates competed in the second stage. The next stage will be held tomorrow and if none of the candidates receives majority of votes, 4th stage and final 5th stage will be held.

The final results of the elections will be known on October 13.
NETHERLANDSTrafficPartner.com is extending its roster of monetizing services for adult and mainstream traffic, announcing a new partnership with DatingCash/MAD Offers.

The move makes the traffic conglomerate even more alluring for publishers, networks or advertisers with an adult or mainstream focus, TrafficPartner said.



It seems the TrafficPartner.com mantra Vollgas is shared already. Optimization for new European countries comes first and DatingCash/Mad Offers are already on it.

A short-term goal on our end is to further optimize the products and expand services to new countries fast, said Bram Bolt, co-founder and managing director of DatingCash/MAD Offers. At the moment were targeting France, Switzerland, Austria and the UK specifically, while the Netherlands and Belgium naturally remain our strongest markets. Before were headed to new regions though, we simply want to ensure a top-notch service delivered to the new audience. Of course, were already stellar in this regard, but we feel with TrafficPartner.com on our side, well be able to push our tech even further.

They are professionals when it comes to ROI maximization for mainstream, gaming and dating traffic in Europe, said Michael Reul, CEO TrafficPartner.com. Earlier this year weve welcomed Grand Slam Media/Adnium to the TrafficPartner family, just a couple of weeks ago we could happily announce VR Bangers on board with us and now DatingCash/MAD Offers will allow to fortify and diversify our European offers, while keeping our global growth going at the same time. Shortly put, theres a sensational amount of power in the house of TrafficPartner.com and anybody is welcome to benefit from our expertise. That is, if you are an affiliate or advertiser looking for the best ways to increase revenue, highest payouts and other lucrative facets.



Even though the companies had not been involved businesswise before, there were plenty occasions where contact was made and maintained.



Generally speaking, it was very important for me to know Michael [Reul] and Andy [Wullmer], Bolt continued. You know? A good personal connection. So, when negotiations really started, obviously the existing synergies made for high interest from our end. Although, we also wanted to become part of the family, because we already knew of the extensive knowledge and power behind TrafficPartner.com! We couldnt wish for a better partner when it comes to dating products for example or analytics that help achieve the next level.



While both companies are focused on preparing next steps together, interested parties and existing customers can already look out for offers from the Netherlands and Belgium at this stage.

Naturally, TrafficPartner.com clients can push DatingCashs great converting NL and BE offers, like Cheatnow.com or Secretdate.com to name a few, within the TrafficPartner Performance Network, Bolt explained. Meanwhile Digital Performance will handle media buying for our brands. In the best-case scenario, this will make for better converting products and the desired extension for new geographical areas. If youre not already signed up with DatingCash, now is the best time to give our Affiliate program a look. Optimizations are being rolled out gradually as were talking here and anyone who becomes a partner will feel our improvements soon! Were taking big steps considering Usability and conversion optimization. Look out for our new WL editor with full SEO support and some interesting suprises! 



MAD Offers are said to be delivering offers from the biggest advertisers for the dating, gambling and mobile space combined with best converting landers and flows with high payouts on PPL and PPS. The company also contributes PPL and Rev-share for the gaming vertical.



DatingCash provides several promo tools and a wide range of landing pages which maximize conversion of their customers traffic. DatingCash also has the option to promote their brands or create a white-label. Besides CPL, the company gives out 45 percent on lifelong revenue share.



For more information, please get in contact with TrafficPartner.com via [email protected]
Finsbury has reduced the sugar across its licensed Disney celebration cakes by 40%.

The new range  which includes Star Wars, Marvel Avengers, Spider-Man, Disney Pixar Cars, Disney Princess and Frozen cakes  also contains 40% less sugar than similar rival products, said the firm.

Finsbury collaborated with Mumsnet, submitting the cakes for testing to its independent panel, which gave its approval. This makes the reduced-sugar cakes the first collection of bakery products to have this endorsement, according to the manufacturer.

We have worked extremely hard, using our knowledge in licensed cakes and the expertise of our chefs to successfully reformulate the recipe in line with the guidelines set by Disney, said Daryl Newlands, marketing manager at Finsbury Food Group.

As one of the largest cake manufacturers in the UK, we believe its important we are giving our customers choice. Although cake will always be a treat, we want to ensure that people of all ages have a choice thats right for them and their lifestyle, he added.

The new range will also feature Finsburys first chocolate character cake, featuring a chocolate sponge with chocolate flavour filling, topped with icing and an edible decoration.
Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station on Monday night.

By AP: Police apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station on Monday night.

University officials issued an alert, saying the suspect was taken into custody and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted.

In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels.

University spokesman Chris Cook said that campus police made a student welfare check on Monday evening and, upon entering the room, found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing.

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While at the station, Cook said the suspect pulled out a gun and shot an officer in the head, killing him. The suspect then fled on foot before being apprehended a short time later.

Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus "to take shelter in a safe location."

Additional information was not immediately available.

A SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team responded to support clearing buildings.

Earlier this month, around 60 people were killed in a mass shooting incident near the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. Sheriff of Las Vegas Police said that he was able to prevent several deaths in that mass shooting incident due to insight from the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks .

ALSO WATCH VIDEO | Las Vegas shooting eyewitness recounts 'running over bodies' to survive

--- ENDS ---
The last train is nearly due

The underground is closing soon

And in the dark deserted station

Restless in anticipation

A man waits in the shadows

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,

We write to inform you of a recent report of a bias-related incident and to reiterate our commitment to diversity and civility as we commence the school year.

Last night, a swastika was found carved onto the interior of an elevator in one of our residence halls on campus, Village C West. If you have any information about this incident, please contact the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) at . . .

As a community, we condemn all acts of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and any form of hate. These acts are antithetical to our values as a Catholic and Jesuit university and our commitment to be inclusive and welcoming to people of all faiths and racial and ethnic backgrounds. The Code of Student Conduct defines "bias-related conduct" as "language and/or behaviors which demonstrate bias against persons because of, but not limited to, others' actual or perceived: color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, national origin, race, religion, and/or sexual orientation."

This incident, and last month's violence in Charlottesville, remind us of the need to combat hate and harassment in all forms. Georgetown's Bias Reporting System is a university initiative to improve the awareness of and response to acts of intolerance, bias, and hate.

If you observe an incident you believe to be motivated by bias or hate, you should file a report through the online Bias Related Incident Reporting form, or by calling GUPD at . . . Through the reporting system, the university is able to track and review bias-related incidents. Reporting the incident may lead to an investigation by members of the Bias Reporting Team, comprised of trained professionals in Student Affairs, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action, Campus Ministry, GUPD and other University offices.

As always, counseling and Campus Ministry staff members are available, and we encourage anyone who may be in need of these services to utilize them:

 To schedule an appointment with Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS), students may call...

Acts of hate and intolerance have no place at Georgetown. The University is committed to investigating this incident of bias, and those found responsible for violations of university policy will be held accountable for their actions. It is our duty to report evidence of bias and to ensure Georgetown is an inclusive, welcoming community.

And the train is gone suddenly

On wheels clicking silently

Like a gently tapping litany

And he holds his crayon rosary

Tighter in his hand

Now from his pocket quick he flashes

The crayon on the wall he slashes

Deep upon the advertising

A single-worded poem comprised of four letters

And his heart is laughing, screaming, pounding

The poem across the tracks rebounding

Shadowed by the exit light

His legs take their ascending flight

To seek the breast of darkness and be suckled by the night.

On my return to Georgetown's campus this fall, I was greeted with the following broadcast e-mail message dated September 6:Upon reading this, I wondered: Is this the proper institutional response to such an event?Perhaps I am not the right person to render a judgment on this question. I may have aged to a point at which I am incapable of seeing the world through the eyes of today's youth. I can only say that from my perspective, the University's response strikes me as an ill-advised and dangerous overreaction.His restless eyes leap and scratchAt all that they can touch or catchAnd hidden deep within his pocketSafe within its silent socketHe holds a colored crayonIn 1966, Simon and Garfunkel released the album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme containing the song A Poem on the Underground Wall. It told the story of a man waiting to be alone in the subway in order to scrawl profanity across an advertisement, and the joy he realized from doing so. The song was darkly amusing because its pathetic but relatively harmless protagonist represented a perfectly familiar personality type.We all know that some people get a thrill out of violating social norms. The thought of doing something against the rules that offends others give such people a feeling of pleasure. We know this because, for most of us, we had the same feeling at least once or twice during our teenage years.Some of the people with this personality trait will indulge it when no one is looking. They will write or draw offensive words or images on surfaces that are open to public view. For such people, the pleasure arises from the violation of social norms-from the offensiveness of the action-not from the content of the message. The content is essentially irrelevant.In 1966, the four-letter profanity that is the subject of A Poem on the Underground Wall was shocking to conventional sensibilities in a way it no longer is due to its common usage. Its present-day analog is the swastika or KKK symbol. But whether profanity or swastika, the motivation for defacing public property is the same; the pleasure the individual derives from transgressing one of society's moral norms.Now from the tunnel's stony wombThe carriage rides to meet the groomAnd opens wide and welcome doorsBut he hesitates, then withdrawsDeeper in the shadowsThere is little that we can do to eliminate this sort of behavior short of having 1984 style surveillance of all public spaces. There is much that we can do to increase the incidence of such behavior, however.Instead of merely painting over the swastika, we can publicize its existence, greatly magnifying the number of people offended by it. We can invest the event with great significance, calling it a bias-related incident and condemning it as an act that is "antithetical to our values as a Catholic and Jesuit university and our commitment to be inclusive and welcoming to people of all faiths and racial and ethnic backgrounds."We can spread alarm by analogizing it to "last month's violence in Charlottesville." We can exaggerate its potential effect by suggesting that members of the University community may need counseling to deal with it.We can do all the things that will increase the emotional payoff the perpetrator receives from his or her transgressive act, and make it more likely that he or she will seek to repeat it or others with the same personality trait will seek to copy it.We can do all the things that make it unsurprising to receive an almost identical second broadcast e-mail from Georgetown's administration dated September 7 informing us that:Yesterday we wrote to inform you of a bias-related incident in one of the residence halls on campus. Today, we are disheartened to follow up our message with news of another incident in the LXR residence hall. Last night, two swastikas were found painted on the inside of an LXR Hall elevator.And another on September 20 stating,But perhaps I am misunderstanding the purpose of the University's e-mail. Perhaps it is not intended to actually address any underlying problem. Perhaps it is merely an exercise in virtue signalling.Virtue signalling is defined as the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing one's standing within a social group. Or more informally, it's saying thatSomeone etched a swastika on an elevator wall. The University is using this occurrence as an opportunity to trumpet how strongly it condemns hatred, how committed it is to inclusiveness, how rigorous its Code of Student Conduct is, how accessible its Bias Reporting System and how professional its Bias Reporting Team is, how concerned with its students' psychological well-being its Counseling and Psychiatric Services is, and generally how committed it is to all things good and noble. It is not clear how sending a broadcast e-mail to the entire University addresses the actual problem, but that does not seem to be the point of the exercise.The point seems to be for the University to show off what a virtuous institution it is.Virtue signalling would not be a problem if it were harmless. But in this case, it is not.Had the University simply painted over the swastika and remained silent, the total harm done would have been that a small number of students would have been exposed to a hateful symbol.Instead, by broadcasting the incident across campus in order to tout its virtue, the University multiplied the number of people offended, frightened, or dismayed by the event exponentially. Further, by continually sending similar messages whenever there are similar incidents (there have been at least six over the last six months, e.g., anti-Semitic graffiti in a public restroom, Muslim and Hindu flyers ripped off bulletin boards, a swastika in an elevator, a flyer for a non-existent Frito Bandito party), the University so magnifies the significance of each that one may get the impression that under the surface, Georgetown is seething with hatred and bigotry.Although I originally regarded the University's suggestion that students may be so traumatized by seeing a swastika that they might need psychological counseling as inappropriately patronizing, I can see how after receiving enough of these broadcast messages, some students could be rattled.I recommend that those too young to have encountered A Poem on the Underground Wall find it online and listen to it. Besides hearing a beautiful and intriguing piece of music, they may also learn some useful lessons from it.One is that people sometimes get a thrill out of secretly doing something "bad"-something they know to be prohibited or something they know will shock or offend others. Another is that such actions are not necessarily motivated by hatred and are usually not intended as and do not constitute threats.With this insight, one might deduce that to treat such actions as threats or evidence of widespread bigotry is to invest them with a dignity and importance that they do not deserve, and worse, that by calling attention to them we merely gratify the perverse desire that motivated them in the first place.We have heard the message that Georgetown University is opposed to hatred in all its forms and is inclusive and welcoming to people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds loud and clear. We heard it on September 6. We heard it on September 7 and 20. We heard it on the previous six occasions when the administration send out broadcast messages.We get it.So how about the next time someone etches a swastika in an elevator or writes a hateful or profane poem on a bathroom wall, we just quietly paint over it and go about our business?
Democrats, progressive activists, and left-leaning editorialists haven't liked past ideas from Republicans to change the way North Carolina's elections are run. They haven't liked voter-identification laws, they haven't liked reattaching partisan labels to judicial elections, and they don't like a new set of judicial districts proposed by House Republicans.GOP majorities in both chambers have just passed a set of voting changes , however, that I think Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his partisan and ideological allies ought to like. Could we be dangerously close to bipartisan consensus? I hope so.Earlier this year, then-Sen. Andrew Brock of Davie County introduced legislation, Senate Bill 656, that sought to make it easier for third parties and unaffiliated candidates to get listed on North Carolina ballots. In June, Brock resigned from the state Senate to accept appointment to the state panel that reviews unemployment claims. But other lawmakers continued to champion his ballot-reform measure.During a recent special session, both legislative chambers passed a modified version of S.B. 656 . While not quite as accommodating to third parties and unaffiliated candidates as before, it still lowers the threshold - the number of signatures they must obtain or votes they must earn in past elections - in order to acquire or maintain a position on future ballots. I think it's remarkable and praiseworthy that Republican lawmakers would support these ballot-access changes, which are unlikely to advance their partisan interests.Another change in the bill, likely a more consequential one, reduces the threshold for winning an electoral primary in North Carolina to 30 percent of the vote, down from 40 percent. At first glance, you may think this change is less praiseworthy, or even alarming. But please think again. Only 10 states require candidates to receive more than a plurality of the vote in order to win a primary . Does that mean a candidate can win a Democratic or Republican nomination in those states with, say, 35 percent of the vote? Yes. That's the rule in most of the country. It's hardly a novel idea.Moreover, the history of runoff-primary requirements isn't a pretty one. Most of the states that have them are in the South, and adopted their rules in the early 20th century, when the Democrats were overwhelmingly the majority. This was the Democratic Party of the past, of segregation. Establishment white Democrats were happy to accept the votes of blacks or white populists, but did not relish the idea that blacks or populists might win Democratic primaries.So Democratic lawmakers instituted the requirement that a primary candidate get 50 percent plus one vote in order to avoid a runoff. Its primary purpose was to exclude blacks from the general-election ballot. It usually worked.In 1989, North Carolina actually took a step in the right direction by lowering its runoff-primary threshold to 40 percent. Lowering it further today is a good idea.Is it troubling that candidates can qualify for the general election with less than a majority in the primary? Perhaps. But the alternatives are worse. Runoff primaries are expensive, low-turnout affairs. Most of the time, the top vote-getter the first time wins the second time. And in cases where the initial second-place finisher ends up winning the runoff, it's not so obvious that's a more "democratic" outcome, given that the runoff turnout is often tiny. The "winner" may end up with many fewer total votes, first and second primaries combined, than the "loser" gets.Another alternative, a ranked-choice or "instant runoff" primary, would address the turnout problem. Primary voters indicate which candidate they'd prefer if their top choice was mathematically excluded from winning. Such a system makes sense conceptually but can be confusing. North Carolina has already dabbled with it. Many voters didn't like it.The bill in question also modifies filing and eliminates primaries for judicial candidates in 2018, possibly in advance of a proposed change in North Carolina's judicial-selection process, so Gov. Cooper may decide to veto it. Still, increasing ballot access and discouraging runoffs are worthy reforms.
President Donald J. Trump is Taking a Responsible and Humanitarian Approach on Refugees

News Release:



"Maintaining strong borders is a vital component of any security policy, and a responsible approach to refugees is one that seeks the eventual return of refugees to their home countries so that they can help to rebuild their own nations." - President Donald J. Trump



AMERICA FIRST REFUGEE PROGRAM: President Donald J. Trump has established the annual cap for refugees coming into the United States at a level that upholds the safety of the American people.



 President Trump has determined that up to 45,000 refugees may be admitted into the United States in Fiscal Year 2018.



 This decision, which is made annually, is determined after consulting with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the national security team.



 With this new ceiling, the United States will continue to permanently resettle more refugees than any other country and we will continue to offer protection to the most vulnerable, including those who have been persecuted because of race, political opinion, nationality, religion, or membership in a particular social group.



 The new ceiling is designed to accommodate additional vetting procedures now under review that will enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Counter Terrorism Center, and other agencies to thoroughly and safely process applicants for potential threats to public safety and national security.



 The decision reflects the need to concentrate limited resources on the approximately 270,000 aliens who have applied for asylum but have not been properly vetted, and are already present in the United States.



 Pursuant to section 6 of Executive Order 13780, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," the United States Government is taking additional steps to enhance the screening of individuals seeking admission as refugees in order to improve the safety and security of the United States. Although the review required by section 6 of Executive Order 13780 is still underway, relevant agencies have already started strengthening the vetting process used in the Refugee Admissions Program.



STRENGTHENING NATIONAL SECURITY: President Donald J. Trump is taking the responsible approach to promote the safety of the American people.



 Some refugees who have been admitted to the United States have posed threats to national security and public safety.



 As of February 2017, more than 300 individuals who were initially admitted to the United States as refugees were under FBI investigation for potential ties to suspected terrorists.



 there have been at least 20 admitted refugees who have been arrested or removed from the United States based on terrorism investigations.



 In 2016, a Somali refugee attacked 11 Americans at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.



 Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, approximately two dozen individuals who had been admitted to the United States as refugees have been removed or arrested and convicted of terrorism-related offenses. In February, the President met with local sheriffs at the White House to hear their concerns, including those about refugees who were resettled in their communities without local input.



 President Trump believes in enhancing existing efforts to work closely with State and local leaders to help build community trust in refugee resettlement efforts while also determining the best placement of resettled refugees in the United States.



FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Increasing refugee resettlement increases financial strain on Americans, when the best policy is to keep refugees in their region of origin whenever possible.



 One primary goal of United States refugee policy is to enable refugees to ultimately return home, where they can be reunited with friends and family and help rebuild their communities.



 For the cost of permanently resettling one refugee in the United States, the Government could resettle 12 refugees in safe zones overseas, closer to their home countries, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.



 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent more than $96 billion on programs supporting or benefitting refugees between 2005 and 2014.



 HHS surveys from the Obama Administration show that 45% of refugees arriving between 2011 and 2015 were receiving cash assistance, 49% were receiving Medicaid, and that nearly 75% were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.



 Under current law, once a person is admitted to the United States as a refugee, he or she is immediately authorized to work in the United States.



WORLD LEADER IN HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS: America continues to lead the way in worldwide refugee efforts, both in financial contributions and resettlement.



 As stated in the G20 Leaders' Declaration, "we commit to addressing the distinct needs of refugees and migrants, in particular close to their region of origin and, when applicable, to enable them to return home safely."



 is the number one contributor to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, giving some $1.2 billion this year. And we continue to be the leading donor to other agencies that provide life-saving support to refugees and conflict victims, including the World Food Program, the Red Cross Movement and UNICEF.



 Since 1975, the United States has welcomed more than 3 million refugees from all over the world, and each year typically admits nearly two-thirds of the world's refugees that are resettled in a third country, more than all other countries combined.



 Every year, the United States provides more than one million immigrants from more than 150 countries with permanent residency and grants citizenship to half of one million individuals.



 The primary objective of the United States refugee policy is to help protect refugees and help support durable solutions for refugees, including by safely returning them home.



Contact: White House  whitehouse.gov/the-press-office


5 Causes of Nursing Home Resident Anxiety Unfortunately, for many reasons anxiety happens more often by long-term care residents than by those who live in
DeAndre Harris is a 20 year old black man who was subjected to a vicious armed beat-down by Nazis who marched in Charlottesville on August 12. Two of the men who beat him have been charged with "malicious wounding" and are being held without bail; two others have not been arrested yet.



One of the men who beat Harris tried to get the Charlottesville police to arrest Harris as well. When the Charlottesville police declined, the Nazi found a sympathetic magistrate judge (the clowns of the US judicial system) to issue a warrant for Harris's arrest.

Harris's attorney is making arrangements for Harris to surrender himself.



Harris' attorney, S. Lee Merritt, said in a phone interview Monday night that Harris was left with a concussion, abrasions and contusions across his body, as well as a head laceration that required staples, a knee injury and a fractured wrist after the clash. Lt. Stephen Upman says the alleged victim told the magistrate's office, a judicial office in Virginia, what happened. The magistrate contacted police, Upman said, who verified facts and issued the warrant.

The Charlottesville Police just told me that they did NOT issue an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris. What happened is very nefarious

[Sean King/Twitter]



Police issue warrant for black man beaten at Virginia rally

[Kasey Jones/LA Times]
After five days of silence, Hillary Clinton finally weighs in on the Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein sex scandal. Through her spokesperson Nick Merrill, she said:

"I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Weinstein, who has donated heavily to the Democratic Party, has had ties with the Clintons since Bill Clinton's presidency. According to CNN:

Weinstein is a longtime associate of the Clintons and a major Democratic Party donor who bundled funds for their political campaigns. Many Democratic office holders quickly repudiated Weinstein, with some going so far as to send donations given by Weinstein to charity. But Clinton's statement makes no mention of Weinstein's sizable donations to her own war chest In 2015, the Clintons rented a home next to Weinstein in the Hamptons, and Weinstein served as a connector between Hollywood stars and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Image: Gage Skidmore
A Michigan repeat rapist was awarded joint custody of the child he impregnated one of his victims with 8 years ago.

Via Patch Michigan:

A Michigan man accused of raping a 12-year-old nine years ago has been awarded joint custody of the child he fathered in the attack, according to media reports. The victim's attorney is fighting the decision by Sanilac County Circuit Judge Gregory S. Ross under the federal Rape Survivor Custody Act. The case is believed to be the first of its kind in Michigan and perhaps the nation.

In a new development Tuesday, Ross stayed the controversial order in the case against Christopher Mirasolo, 27, of Brown City, after widespread outrage, The Detroit News reported. A hearing will be held Tuesday, Oct. 17.

The case has been poorly handled from the beginning, Rebecca Kiessling, the attorney for the now 21-year-old woman has said. Mirasolo was arrested about a month after the incident when the girl found out she was pregnant, but he took a plea deal for a lesser charge: third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

A rape conviction would have put Mirasolo behind bars for anywhere from 25 years to life. Instead, Mirasolo served only six-and-a-half months in the county jail. The girl and her family were told the plea deal was offered and that first-time sex offenders don't get prison time "because people come out worse after they go there," Kiessling told The Detroit News.



After Mirasolo was released from jail, he raped again and served four years in prison, according to "The Steve Gruber Show," a Lansing-area radio program that initially reported the judge's decision.

"This is insane," Kiessling told The Detroit News of the decision to give Mirasola joint custody of the child fathered in the alleged assault. "Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated. He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimizing my client, who was a child herself when this all happened."

The woman raped by Mirasolo in the second incident told The Detroit News Monday that she was "disgusted" when she read the newspaper account of the judge's order, and said there is "no way he should have custody."

"And I don't think he should even be allowed around any children without supervision," the woman said.

The judge granted Mirasolo joint legal custody and visitation after a DNA test established he had fathered the child. The DNA test was ordered after county officials in Florida, where the woman now lives with her eight-year-old son, surveyed family assistance recipients about what kind of child support they receive. The woman told The Detroit News she has been receiving about $260 a month in food stamps, as well as health insurance for her son.

Mirasolo initiated no actions to establish parentage, his attorney told The Detroit News, and it's unclear if he will have any involvement with the child, the attorney said.

The judge ordered the woman and her son to return to Michigan so Mirasolo can develop a relationship with the boy. According to the order, she is "not allowed to move 100 miles from where she had been living when the case was filed, without court consent," Kiessling told the Detroit newspaper.
The UK has been rocked by a series of "historic sex scandals" in which beloved cultural and political figures  Clement Freud, Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris and many others  have been revealed to have been sexual predators since the earliest days, using their money and respectability to rape children for decades with impunity. When each new horror surfaces, one of the first questions the public asks is, "Who knew about this and helped to cover it up?"

Margaret Thatcher knew.





Cyril Smith was an MP for Rochdale when in 1988 when Margaret Thatcher recommended that he be knighted. She had been warned by MI5 that Smith was suspected to have raped at least eight boys. After Thatcher knighted Smith, he went on raping children, because his knighthood opened doors for him, getting him inside organisations that supported vulnerable children. He died in 2010, at the age of 82, without ever facing charges.



The initial 1970 Lancashire Police inquiry into Smith concluded he had used a "veneer of respectability" in order to abuse young boys in the 1960s. The report said: "It seems impossible to excuse his conduct over a considerable period of time whilst sheltering behind a veneer of respectability. "He has used his unique position to indulge in a sordid series of indecent episodes with young boys towards whom he had a special responsibility."

Margaret Thatcher gave MP knighthood despite knowing child sex abuse claims against him, inquiry hears

[Ben Kentish/The Independent]



(Images: Mattbuck, CC-BY-SA; Rodhullandemu, CC-BY)
The Thane cyber police has arrested an engineering student for allegedly impersonating NCP MLA and senior leader Jitendra Awhad on social media. After the accused was taken into custody, he confessed to the crime and said that he got a huge response from women and was enjoying it.

By Divyesh Singh: The Thane cyber police has arrested an engineering student for allegedly impersonating NCP MLA and senior leader Jitendra Awhad on social media and sending messages to various women.

The accused created a Facebook account using Awhad's name. He used to send messages to several women who thought it was the NCP MLA who was sending them messages.

advertisement

He went on to even extend invitations to these women for dinners and meetings after talking to them for several hours while posing as Awhad.

Some of these women who the accused chatted with contacted Awhad as they turned up at his office when called for a meeting. It was then that the MLA realised someone had created a Facebook account using his name.

Jitendera Awhad approached the Thane police and then the cyber crime team started tracing the student.

Meanwhile, the accused got alert and discontinued the account. But not for long. After a few days he again created another account in Awhad's name and started chatting with several women.

The cyber crime officials then traced the IP address of the system used with the help of Facebook. They also laid a trap and lured the accused but failed initially.

Soon, an Instagram account too cropped up and the accused started sending messaged to women using Jitender Awhad's name.

Finally the cyber crime officials traced the IP address to a mobile phone and got hold of the accused involved.

He was taken into custody and questioned where he confessed to the crime and revealed that he was doing it in the name of Awhad. He said that he got a huge response from women and was enjoying it.

The accused is presently in custody of Thane police and they found that he is a student of a reputed engineering college in Mumbai. His parents stay overseas while he stays here with his relatives.

--- ENDS ---
Guy's Alleged 'Pull-A-Pig' Prank Goes Viral

Trending News: This Cruel 'Pull-A-Pig' Dating Prank Is Awful And Shameless

Long Story Short

A Dutch guy has been accused of inviting a British girl to meet him 400 miles away, only to tell her when she arrived that it was a prank called 'pigging.' The guy denies the claims and we really hope the allegations aren't true cause this stunt has to be one of the most abhorrent dating behaviors we've heard.

Long Story

British 24-year-old Sophie Stephenson met 21-year-old Dutch dude Jesse Mateman in Barcelona and had a great time together. They wanted to see each other again and, as Stephenson claims according to The Daily Mail, Mateman convinced her to visit him in Holland.

So, she paid 350 ($462 USD) to fly to Amsterdam and meet the guy  but when she arrived he wasn't there to pick her up. She got a free shuttle to the hotel and six hours later she said she got a message on Snapchat: "You were pigged. It was a joke."

Here's how Stephenson expained her reaction to MailOnline:

''Pulling a pig' is where a guy tries to pull the fat ugly girl. When I saw that message, I wanted to be sick... "I was in a foreign country, on my own and the guy that I liked had just abandoned me. I replied and said 'how could you be so cruel' and all he did was block me. I just couldn't believe it. I had no way of contacting him. I was petrified being in Amsterdam all on my own. I was so upset about what happened that I changed my flights so I could head home the next morning. I am furious that this happened and it's so dangerous. I want people to know what happened to me so that this never happens to anyone else."

The dating horror story has gone viral worldwide and Stephenson's parents are straight up pissed (as they should be), with his mother telling The Sun that she wanted to "kill" Mateman.

"As soon as I heard I wanted to go over there and find him," said Andrew Stephenson, Sophie's dad. "It would be awful for it to happen to anybody, but for it to happen to my daughter is disgusting. Its awful to think of. She is a beautiful, confident, gorgeous girl and how dare that b*****d do anything like this."

For Mateman's part, he denies the whole thing. He told a Dutch website that the story was "fully invented."

Mateman's lawyer released this statement today on Twitter:

The statement on behalve of Jesse Mateman: pic.twitter.com/scNeJsFK5K  Yehudi Moszkowicz (@Moszkowicz) October 10, 2017



If the story is made up, this is extremely serious as it has very clearly been damaging to Mateman's reputation. On the other hand, if it isn't, and pigging is, in fact, a cruel dating trend, as some sites are alleging without any further evidence, then this is disgusting and definitely needs to stop. Like, yesterday.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is pigging really a trend?

Drop This Fact

There once was a dating site called 'Pull the Pig' (doesn't exist anymore) for "achievable-looking women."
Style By Significant Other: Justin Annacone and Maureen Sheen

Here's What Happens When A Guy Lets His Beauty Editor Girlfriend Dress Him

Welcome to Style By Significant Other, where were giving partners the power to completely choose their significant other's clothes for one week  and the results will always be interesting. From guys who dont know the first thing about fashion to pairs with totally different styles, expect the unexpected with these couples. And, get a little inspiration in the process.

Justin Annacone  a seasoned CPA (and pro pasta sauce maker) working at The Siegfried Group LLP in New York City  admits he can be a bit predictable when it comes to his style, but thats where his girlfriend comes in. Maureen Sheen  the senior beauty editor of American Salon magazine  comes from a beauty and style background, styling editorial photo shoots and reporting on trends straight from backstage at New York Fashion Week. So what happens when a fashion-lover gets to play dress up with her boyfriend?

Justins Initial Thoughts

How would you describe your style? Efficient but effective; neat and clean. Ill kick it up a notch for the right occasion.

Efficient but effective; neat and clean. Ill kick it up a notch for the right occasion. Is there anything you want to change about your style? Maybe Id like to be less predictable at times, but when I find pieces or brands that really work for me, its hard to not keep going back to them.

Maybe Id like to be less predictable at times, but when I find pieces or brands that really work for me, its hard to not keep going back to them. Whats one item of clothing you wear that drives your girlfriend crazy? My Phillies T-shirt. I wore it during our 2008 World Series win and I cant let it go.

My Phillies T-shirt. I wore it during our 2008 World Series win and I cant let it go. What do you wear too much? Navy blue anything.

Navy blue anything. What should you wear more often? I dont know.

I dont know. Is there a clothing item you absolutely dont want to have to wear this week? I dont want to wear skinny jeans.

Maureens Initial Thoughts

What do you like your boyfriend to wear? I love seeing Justin suited up  he looks so handsome and sexy; very Don Draper. Looking sharp and classic never goes out of style.

I love seeing Justin suited up  he looks so handsome and sexy; very Don Draper. Looking sharp and classic never goes out of style. How would you describe his style? Justin has a great sense of style. Hes very conscious of his proportions, and knows what does and doesnt work for him. Id call it classic with a modern twist.

Justin has a great sense of style. Hes very conscious of his proportions, and knows what does and doesnt work for him. Id call it classic with a modern twist. What would you change about his style? There isnt much to change because hes on it without being overly trend focused. His work wear is on point  its very sharp and clean. But it would be fun to see him embrace trends like athleisure or the white sneaker trend in his off-duty look. His default is usually jeans and loafers.

There isnt much to change because hes on it without being overly trend focused. His work wear is on point  its very sharp and clean. But it would be fun to see him embrace trends like athleisure or the white sneaker trend in his off-duty look. His default is usually jeans and loafers. What item of clothing would you get rid of if you could? Its not a deal-breaker, but if I had to say something, it would be the giant oversized brown t-shirt he wears when he goes to South Jersey to help his parents on their farm. I know its not practical to wear a white tee when youre working the farm  Im just not a fan of brown shirts. Camel, taupe, and tan are all good, but its a hard no for me on brown.

Its not a deal-breaker, but if I had to say something, it would be the giant oversized brown t-shirt he wears when he goes to South Jersey to help his parents on their farm. I know its not practical to wear a white tee when youre working the farm  Im just not a fan of brown shirts. Camel, taupe, and tan are all good, but its a hard no for me on brown. What does he wear too much  or not enough? Banana Republic. But its because their pieces fit him so well. And not enough of? Leather and suede. I think he would look amazing in a distressed chocolate brown leather jacket. Very James Dean.

Heres what happened when Maureen chose Justins clothes for a week.

 Day 1 

The Details: Topman blazer, Todd Snyder tee, Banana Republic denim, Shinola belt, Adidas shoes

Maureens Thoughts: Justin and I are total foodies. So for date nights, hell make plans for a splurge-worthy meal at places like Carbone, Babbo, or Quality Meats. And while theyre fine-dining establishments, theyre not the stuffy, jacket-and-tie-required sort, so something like this fitted blazer and dark denim look works. Its stylish and laidback at the same time and feels very David Beckham to me. When in doubt, ask what would Becks do?

Justins Thoughts: I was slightly skeptical about the blazer, jeans, and sneaker look, as this was a first for me. But I guess it works!

Would He Wear It Again?: Eventually. But Im still warming up to the all-white sneaker trend.a

RELATED: Keep Your Sneakers Looking Brand New With These Genius Hacks

 Day 2 

The Details: Ted Baker shirt, Banana Republic chino, Cole Haan shoes, Warby Parker sunglasses, Seiko watch, Ted Baker bag

Maureens Thoughts: Casual Fridays usually mean trading in the suit and tie for jeans and an oversized button-down in corporate. But I felt colored chinos and a fitted button-down was a more put-together business casual option that would keep him from looking like every other drone in the office. Plus, the blue on blue brings out his eyes.

Justins Thoughts: I loved it. Its one of my favorite shirts.

Would He Wear It Again?: Yes  every day if I could.

 Day 3 

The Details: Banana Republic shirt, Club Monaco chino, Adidas shoes, Seiko watch

Maureens Thoughts: aIm calling this his #SaturdaysAreForTheBoys look. Its clean and smart, but casual and lived-in. The white Adidas Stan Smiths really pull this look together. Its perfect for knocking back a few with the guys or hanging with them in the park.

Justins Thoughts: Relaxed and confident. I hate the idea of overthinking my look and this simple style is right up my alley.

Would He Wear It Again?: For sure. I might just have to get my first pair of white sneakers.

 Day 4 

The Details: Club Monaco bomber, Banana Republic striped tee, Club Monaco sweatpants

Maureens Thoughts: For Sunday brunch, I wanted him to feel comfy but still rack up the style points. This was my chance to inject a little athleisure into his look with the bomber and slim-fit joggers.

Justins Thoughts: Like my girlfriend dressed me

Would He Wear It Again?: I havent jumped on the jogger bandwagon, and I dont intend to anytime soon. The bomber was cool though.

RELATED: Sweatpants Aren't Just For The Gym - Here Are The Best All-Around Joggers

 Day 5 

The Details: Calvin Klein suit, Charles Tyrwhitt shirt, Charles Tyrwhitt tie, BOSS Hugo Boss belt, Cole Haan shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses

Maureens Thoughts: Justins suit game is 1000. This is his typical work aesthetic. I tried to punch it up with the blue floral-print tie to play off the navy in his suit and his baby blues. He looks so boss.

Justins Thoughts: Im always happy to attempt my best Matt Bomer (White Collar) look. He will forever be my suited-up inspiration. I dont quite have the hair, but I hope hed approve.

Would He Wear It Again?: Not even a question.

 The Takeaway 

Justin: Athleisure is not for me.

Maureen: Men really are creatures of habit. Justin has his style formula down and doesn't really stray from it. Why fix it if it isn't broke, right? It took a little whining to get him in the joggers.
'Thank you, Lord': Father grounds son, spares him joyride that killed 2, injured 2 others

When Isaac Lemay got the message Sunday night inviting him to join five friends for a drive, his father ordered him to bed instead.

It turned out to be a move that might have saved the 13-year-old's life.

Around 2 a.m. Monday, the 15-year-old behind the wheel of the car lost control on a curve along Base-de-Roc Boulevard near Joliette, north of Montreal, and crashed into a tree.

Two passengers, a 14-year-old and 17-year-old, died. The other two passengers, aged 13 and 16, were taken to hospital in critical condition.

"If I had been in the car, I may not be here talking right now," Isaac told CBC News on Monday.

'It's a trip for young people'

His father Alain Lemay said he had grounded Isaac after catching him trying to sneak out Saturday night. When the invitation came from his friends on Sunday, Lemay decided to extend his son's punishment.

"He was supposed to go, but given that I'd caught him Saturday night, he wasn't there," Lemay said.

Looking upward, Lemay then said "Thank you, Lord."

After learning of the crash, Isaac admitted to his father that he'd been on a similar high-speed ride just last week.

"It's that feeling of freedom," Isaac explained to reporters Monday. "It's a trip for young people, and it can often turn out wrong."

"You can't fool yourself into thinking it only happens to other people. I've now got the proof  two of my friends are dead."

Isaac and Alain Lemay visited the crash site Monday to pay their respects. The father also spoke with the parents of the 14-year-old who died.

"I just took them in my arms," Lemay said.

Possibility of charges

The driver, who was too young to be legally allowed to drive, sustained minor injuries, and has been released from hospital.

Alcohol was ruled out as a factor in the crash, but Quebec provincial police are looking into the possibility the driver was speeding.

The driver could face criminal charges, including dangerous driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death.

He was released from police custody and is due back in Joliette youth court Nov. 22.
A ceremony last week unveiled a plaque honouring Capt. Nichola Goddard on the Highway of Heroes in Ontario.

Goddard, who has family on P.E.I., was the first Canadian female soldier to be killed on the front lines. She died in Afghanistan in May 2006 in an operation against Taliban insurgents near Kandahar.

The bridge named for her is one of 12 set aside for commemoration by the True Patriot Love Foundation along the 170-kilometre stretch of highway. The highway is the final journey for fallen Canadian soldiers, running from the air force base at Trenton to the coroner's office in Toronto.

"It's ongoing recognition not just of Nichola but a variety of people who have given their lives to make what we have today," said Sally Goddard, Nichola's mother, who attended the ceremony Thursday along with other family members.

"It was steeped in all kinds of tradition and making new tradition, but it was a lovely ceremony, very poignant."

One of several memorials

The bridge named for Goddard is on Ontario Street in Cobourg.

The plaque was sponsored by Canso Investment Counsel. Employees at the company are graduates of Royal Military College, where Goddard went to school, and one of them was in the same class.

Goddard has previously had a school and a coast guard ship named for her. The Nichola Goddard Foundation raises money for health-care facilities in Papua New Guinea and for scholarships at the University of Calgary and the University of Prince Edward Island.

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Mother whose sons were taken by husband hoping to see them for the first time in years

Jolly Bimbachi kissed her two sons goodbye as they set out for a month-long trip to Lebanon with their father, back in 2015.

She gave each of her boys a watch with a note attached, saying: "I love you. We'll be back together in time."

The family vacation turned into a nightmare for Bimbachi shortly after the plane flew out of Pearson Airport in Toronto.

Within days, she got a call from her husband Ali Ahmad  he had no intention of returning with their children.

Omar Ahmad was six years old at the time. His brother, Abdal-Geniy, was four. It's now been two-and-a-half years since Bimbachi, who grew up in Chatham, Ont.and met her husband during a visit to Lebanon, has seen her children.

She is in the midst of a protracted legal battle that has inched along one painstaking day after another. Even though she has since won legal custody of her children from Canadian courts, and has divorced her husband, her fight is not nearly over. International child abduction cases can take years to resolve.

"I'm pleading with the Canadian government and the Lebanese government to come together  to try to solve this," Bimbachi said as tears stream down her face. "Already, my sons sometimes think I don't want to be with them, or that I don't want them, or I don't even love them. I want them to know I would do anything for them."

Attempts to reach Ahmad for comment were unsuccessful.

100 new cases a year

Officials from Global Affairs Canada, which receives about 100 new reports of international child abductions a year, confirmed they are working with Bimbachi, but would not speak to details of her file.

The bulk of Global Affairs cases are reported in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., according to spokesperson Brianne Maxwell, who said getting a child returned to their parents can vary in difficulty depending on the country.

"Each jurisdiction has its own laws with respect to the rights and responsibilities of minors and their parents, and in many cases dual citizenship is also a relevant factor," she wrote in an email to CBC News. "Many countries do not consider parental child abduction to be a criminal offence."

Story continues

These types of cases can take years to complete, with legal costs often escalating above $100,000, according to James Marks, a Toronto based lawyer who specializes in international child abduction.

"My heart goes out to the mother and the two children, who've been separated from one another for  two years," he said. "That's just lost time for these children, who effectively have been abducted to another country."

Expensive custody battle

Bimbachi nearly collapsed when her then husband told her over the phone he was keeping her boys. The devastated mother frantically went to a filing cabinet where she kept her children's birth certificates and other identification. They were gone.

"I'll probably never see my kids again," Bimbachi recalls thinking at the time. "I didn't know how to go on. I didn't know how to do anything anymore."

She would soon realize her husband cleaned out their joint bank account as well.

Taking her fight to the courts was a financial disaster for Bimbachi, who teaches part time at St. Clair College and who also works at a craft store in Chatham. She worked with legal aid to gain custody of her two sons in Canada, but that decision carries little weight in Lebanon, where the children remain.

In March, she was finally able to divorce her husband. She also has another lawyer in Lebanon, who's been working the system overseas, trying to get a date for a custody hearing.

Having her children in Lebanon is another significant challenge. The country is not part of the 1980 Hague Convention, which is a treaty agreed upon by more than 100 countries for the speedy return of a child who is internationally abducted.

Many of the countries have similar parental laws that support having the children live in their home state. In Bimbachi's case, her two boys are Canadian citizens.

"But  Middle Eastern countries, they don't see it that way, they haven't signed up (to the Hague Convention). It's extremely difficult to apply any pressure on them," Marks said. "Even if she does get custody, the court in Lebanon may not order the children to go back to Ontario."

Bimbachi knows the risks of going to Lebanon to regain custody of her children, but she plans to go there in the coming months, just as soon as she can get a hearing before the courts.
A Nova Scotia hospital has rewritten wait-time rules and end-of-life protocols in response to the disturbing story of how a 68-year-old man dying from pancreatic cancer languished for six hours in an ER hallway.

A report on the death of Jack Webb says that as of July 1, the Halifax Infirmary requires internal medicine specialists to meet their patients within two hours when transferred to the hospital after being seen by another facility.

Webb's widow, Kim D'Arcy, provided the internal report to The Canadian Press. It outlines changes made by the Nova Scotia Health Authority after the saga of his treatment emerged in late April.

The review that followed a public outcry over his case has also brought changes to training of medical students and some procedures for treating dying patients.

It also says that "unstable" patients in ER are to be admitted to the hospital "after a direct conversation" between emergency and the senior internist.

Webb's ordeal

Webb was supposed to have been seen by an internal medicine specialist upon arrival at the Halifax hospital when he was transferred there from a suburban ER.

Instead, nobody was waiting and he lay shivering in a crowded emergency room hallway lineup with his paramedics.

D'Arcy said after his wait, Webb spent time in ER with an intravenous that couldn't pump fluid, and he was later bumped from his private room by another dying patient into a medical teaching unit.

He was also repeatedly asked by various staff if he would agree to a do-not-resuscitate order, even though he hadn't been given any clear information on how long he had to live.

On the last day of his life, after being sent for a scope test, Webb lay in a recovery room and overheard staff yell, "If he stops breathing, don't resuscitate," D'Arcy said.

Under the changes, medical students will be guided in simulated conversations on how to talk to dying patients like Webb about their prognosis. In addition, a written "goals of care" form is being introduced that documents the varying types of care patients with terminal diseases want to receive.

Story continues

'Wouldn't you think that's the way it should be?'

Jason MacLean, the president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said the reforms are useful steps, but added: "Wouldn't you think that's the way it should be?  They are telling you something that should have been [in place]."

Public records indicate the underlying issues of crowded ERs and proposed solutions have been raised for years before Webb's case highlighted the problems.

For example, the former provincial adviser on emergency care, Dr. John Ross, said in a 2010 report that, "the emergency department CANNOT be used for  holding areas for in-patients transferred from other hospitals."

This is precisely what occurred in Webb's case.

There were also recommendations at the time, accepted by the medical advisory committee of the health authority, that specialists take over care of ER patients within two hours of a consultation showing they needed to be admitted.

Widow's reaction

Still, D'Arcy said she's pleased some measures are being taken as a result of her husband's death. "They're putting it in writing and they have people assigned to it now  so now someone's accountable."

She first raised the issue of Webb's care just prior to the recent provincial election campaign, helping draw attention to the problems of hospital crowding in the Nova Scotia Health Authority.

His story began weeks before his Feb. 1 death, when the couple wasn't informed he had just weeks to live after a diagnosis of rapidly spreading pancreatic cancer, and nobody discussed the possibility of palliative care with him.

By mid-January, Webb was struggling to breath, leading to his visit to the Cobequid emergency department on the outskirts of Halifax and his transfer to the Halifax Infirmary.

The infirmary was in the midst of daily special alerts known as "code census" where the ER declares it's overcrowded and sends patients into regular wards that may already be struggling to cope.

In the quality review, Webb's case has been formally acknowledged as relevant to a wider "right care, right place initiative" that is currently examining the issue of hospital crowding.

'A step in the right direction'

Dr. Mark Taylor, a medical director at the health authority, said in a telephone interview that he's pleased with the steps taken to date as a result of the review in Webb's case.

"It's certainly a step in the right direction," he said in a telephone interview.

"I think it is in everyone's best interest, that there be a common understanding of what the expectations are and hopefully that can lead to improved standardized care for a patient."

A spokesperson for the health authority said the numbers of people coming to the hospital's emergency over the summer were roughly the same as last year, though in July they reached an average of 218 people daily at the Halifax Infirmary.

Meanwhile, there has been an increase in bed capacity, he said.

"There was an increase of eight beds for internal medicine in the fall of 2016, to bring the total to 94, but no other changes since," wrote John Gillis in an email.

Beds at the Camp Hill hospital that are unused by veterans have been used when required for patients from other Halifax-area hospitals, he said.

Gillis said the changes to internal medicine admissions resulting from the Webb case, along with the return of beds at the Dartmouth General Hospital that were closed due to renovations last year, should improve the flow of patients through the hospital this winter and increase its capacity.

However, MacLean said he remains concerned, as health staff are telling him volumes of patients remain similar, and there are still days when the ERs are overcrowded.

"There's no indication things are getting lighter that we see," he said. "I talked to my members in ER and they say nothing has changed."
Rodney Buffett entered the woods on the weekend as the hunter, but emerged hours later on a medevac chopper as the hunted.

Buffett survived a five-minute battle with a wounded moose near Grand Bank on Newfoundland's south coast.

He was released from hospital on Monday morning without any broken bones, or bottles of moose meat, but did return home to Fortune with a souvenir.

"I've got hoof prints in my forehead," he told the St. John's Morning Show.

Moose fights back after being shot

The moose-mauling began when Buffett spotted the animal on Saturday morning. He sized up the 14-point bull before taking two shots, both of which hit the animal, he said.

The moose went down quickly and put its four legs in the air. An experienced hunter, Buffet began to approach the animal, as he has done many times before.

"I thought he was dead. I laid my gun down and turned back to my fiancee and told her to bring down my knives. When I turned around again he was up."

The moose lunged toward the hunter and drilled him with its antlers. Buffett said the moose tossed its head back and flicked him up in the air before he crashed to the ground.

The moose began stomping on him as Buffett tried to grab hold of it.

"I held onto his antlers and tried to steer him away," he said. "But it seemed like forever."

Buffett's fiancee watched helplessly from a hill above him, binoculars pressed to her eyes.

Airlifted to hospital in St. John's

After Buffett landed some kicks to the moose's forehead, the animal let him go and trotted off into the woods.

"I couldn't move after that," he said.

Paramedics made a three-kilometre trek through the bush to find Buffett. They called for help and a medevac helicopter came from St. John's to airlift him to hospital.

Buffett received stitches and staples to his head, hands and chest, but was otherwise intact. He was held in hospital for extensive testing over the weekend, but said he did not suffer a concussion or internal injuries.

Story continues

"They tells me I'm hard-headed," he said.

Despite the terrifying experience, Buffett plans to head back into the woods as soon as possible. An avid hunter since he was old enough to shoot a gun, he won't be deterred by one bad day in the woods.

"I'm hoping to be back moose hunting again about Friday or Saturday with any luck at all," he said. "I'd go today, but no, [the doctor] wouldn't let me."

While he can joke about the experience now, Buffett was too shaken up to sleep on Saturday night.

"Every time I closed my eyes I could see the moose coming after me. It's something I'll never forget."
Prince Philip of Serbia and his fiancee Danica Marinkovic tied the knot in a spectacular wedding at the White Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, with a host of European royals in attendance. Philip, 35, and his new wife Danica, 31, were the picture of happiness as they said "I do" at the Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel on Saturday.

Danica was the modern bride in a full-length silk gown that featured billowy sheer long sleeves, a thick belt and a sweeping train. Her hair was styled into an elegant low chignon and decorated with pearls. The graphic designer accessorized with emerald diamond drop earrings, a matching pendant necklace and her new wedding band.

TAP TO VIEW GALLERY Princess Victoria of Sweden (right) acted as maid of honour

Prince Philip of Serbia and Princess Victoria of Sweden during their wedding ceremony

During the traditional church wedding, the Prince and his new wife wore red crowns. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden acted as maid of honour and looked lovely in a blush pink gown and white shawl. She was accompanied down the aisle by the groom's older brother, Prince Peter. Queen Sofia of Spain was another notable royal in the crowd, as was the groom's younger twin brother Prince Alexander, and their parents Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria.

Prince Philip of Serbia and Danica said "I do" in Belgrade

Prince Philip of Serbia and Princess Victoria of Sweden are showered in flower petals during their wedding ceremony

After the ceremony, the royal couple were showered with rose petals as they left the cathedral, and chauffeured back to the White Palace for their lavish reception. Guests were treated to traditional dance performances, live music and speeches, and gathered around to watch Philip and Danica cut their six-tiered wedding cake. Other special moments were captured on film, including the bride and groom's first dance and the throwing of the bouquet.

The reception took place at the White Palace

Prince Philip of Serbia and Princess Victoria of Sweden cut the cake during their wedding ceremony

Philip and Danica's engagement was announced in July. The official statement read: "Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander, Crown Princess Katherine and Princess Maria da Gloria Orleans-Braganza have great pleasure to announce that HRH Prince Philip is engaged to Ms Danica Marinkovic, daughter of Mr Milan Marinkovic  Cile and Mrs Beba Marinkovic."

Story continues

The couple pose for their first dance

Prince Philip of Serbia and Princess Victoria of Sweden share a sweet dance during their wedding ceremony

Catch up with all the latest royal news!
TUESDAY, Oct. 10, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Epidurals are a popular form of pain control for women during labor, but they've long been blamed for hindering progress in the delivery room.

However, new research challenges this widely held belief, suggesting that epidurals have no effect on how long labor lasts -- or when babies are born.

"We found that exchanging the epidural anesthetic with a [non-drug] saline placebo made no difference in the duration of the second stage of labor," said study lead researcher Dr. Philip Hess. He directs obstetric anesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Dr. Jennifer Wu, an ob/gyn who reviewed the new findings, said there are "important aspects to this study."

Use of "low-dose epidurals versus placebos during the pushing stage of labor did not increase duration of pushing" or the need for a C-section, said Wu, who works at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

As the study authors explained, epidurals involve a combination of strong painkillers and anesthetics delivered through a tube placed near the nerves of the spine. But since their introduction in the 1970s, epidurals have been thought by some to slow labor once the cervix is completely dilated -- a period known as the second stage of labor.

When this stage of labor is prolonged and the birth of a baby is delayed, the risk for complications also rises. As a result, some doctors may reduce or cease epidural pain management in an attempt to speed up delivery.

But do epidurals really prolong labor? Wu said that sometimes it can seem that way to patients.

"Patients often cite longer pushing as a reason they are trying to avoid epidural," she explained. "The difficulty for these patients is that there may be many hours of contractions -- and lack of sleep -- before they even get to the second stage or the 'pushing' stage. So, when patients are too numb to push effectively, doctors often cite this as a reason to turn down epidural."

But, of course, reductions in epidural pain relief can mean more discomfort for the woman, Wu noted. It's a "delicate balance," she said.

In the new study, the Boston team compared the effects of low-dose epidural to an ineffective saline solution placebo, both of which were delivered through a catheter.

The study involved 400 healthy women delivering their first baby. These first-time mothers received epidurals during the early stage of labor. But once they reached the second stage, they were randomly assigned to receive either the epidural or the placebo, Hess explained.

The study was double-blinded, meaning that neither the women nor the doctors knew whether they received the epidural or the saline solution. However, women in extreme, excessive pain were knowingly given pain medication as directed by their doctors. The doctors could also stop epidural pain control at any time.

During the study, the researchers tracked the duration of labor as well as the health and well-being of the women's babies, such as birth weight and blood oxygen levels. The investigators also compared the women's reports of pain and satisfaction with their pain management.

The study, published Oct. 10 in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found epidurals had no effect on the duration of the second stage of labor. The anesthesia also had no impact on the rate of normal vaginal deliveries, the number of episiotomies [surgical cuts to ease delivery], the position of the fetus at birth or any other measure used to assess the well-being of a baby during delivery.

The duration and outcomes of labor were similar for both groups of women. The second stage of labor was about 52 minutes for women given active pain medication compared to about 51 minutes for women who received saline, the research team noted.

Citing slow progression of labor, doctors were requested to stop epidural pain control for 38 patients. But the researchers found that this occurred at about the same rate for women receiving the epidural as for women who received the saline.

On the other hand, "twice as many women given the placebo reported lower satisfaction with their pain relief compared to those provided the [epidural] anesthetic," Hess said.

Dr. Mitchell Kramer is chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y. Reviewing the new study, he said its findings are in line with those of prior studies. But he also agreed with Wu that it's often tough to balance pain relief with the need to avoid numbness during labor.

"If there is significant pain block, whereby the patient cannot feel contractions at all or cannot move their legs to assist in the pushing process during the second stage of labor, this may pose a problem during this stage," Kramer explained.

"Frequently, the amount of anesthetic medication being infused will be decreased, not turned off, to allow some feeling and/or movement to assist in the pushing efforts," he said.

According to Kramer, the Boston study shows that epidurals are largely beneficial, so "we can reassure our patients that we can keep them comfortable and yet not jeopardize or prolong the labor."

More information

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has more about epidurals.
By PTI: Patna, Oct 10 (PTI) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the state government has resolved to make Bihar rank among the top five states in providing healthcare services.

The Bihar government has started the second round of reforms in the healthcare sector, an official release quoted Kumar as saying.

Various medical facilities like treatment of cancer, and liver and kidney transplant are available in the state now, he said.

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Stating the difficulties MPs used to face in getting people from Bihar treated at AIIMS, Delhi, Kumar said, "Now the dream (of getting treated at Patna AIIMS) is going to be fulfilled. The people of the state will not be forced to go outside the state for treatment."

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, where only some sections were operational, is now set to provide full-fledged healthcare services.

The state government will try to make Patna Medical College and Hospital a hospital of international repute, Kumar said, adding, there is a need to remodel the hospital afresh.

Facilities at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital here will be enhanced, the release said.

The chief minister said emphasis has also been given to primary health centres (PHCs) to improve healthcare facilities, including appointment of doctors, para-medical staff and provision for free medicines.

According to a government-conducted survey, the number of patients visiting a PHC increased from 1,500-2,000 per month in October 2006 to 10,500 at present, he said.

The percentage of institutional delivery has gone up from a meagre four per cent to 52 per cent, Kumar said, adding, the percentage of regular immunisation has also increased to 84 per cent from 16 per cent.

The chief minister today inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 113 various schemes of the state health department worth Rs 866 crore. PTI AR RBT KKB

--- ENDS ---
First BIMSTEC Disaster Management exercise held in New Delhi

Published: October 10, 2017

The first BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise-2017 (DMEx-2017) was held in New Delhi, India from October 10-13, 2017. It was conducted by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The mandate of exercise was to provide platform for sharing best practices on all aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), strengthening regional response and coordination for Disaster Management among BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) member countries.

Key Facts

The main focus of BIMSTEC DMEx-2017 was to create synergy and synchronize efforts to institutionalize regional cooperation and inter-governmental coordination efforts on disaster response among Member States. About 135 delegates from all BIMSTEC member States participated in the exercise.

The exercise also aimed to test regions preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of inter-Governmental interaction and agreements for immediate deployment of regional resources for disaster response.

BIMSTEC DMEx-2017 objective was to help strengthen effective utilisation of Search & Rescue Teams for Disaster Relief & Emergency Response, including Emergency Rapid Assessment Teams and Management of mass casualties, especially in situations involving breakdown of communication and infrastructure.

During the exercise simulated scenarios in areas of flood management and building collapse search and rescue including Table Top Exercise (TTX), Field Training Exercise (FTX) and After Action Review (AAR) were undertaken.

BIMSTEC

The BIMSTEC is sub-regional grouping comprising of seven countries of South Asia- India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and South East Asia- Myanmar, Thailand. It is home to around 1.5 billion people, constituting around 22% of global population with a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion economy. Majority of the BIMSTEC countries are situated in South Asian Region (SAR) prone to natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, avalanches and drought.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2017

Topics: BIMSTEC  BIMSTEC DMEx-2017  Disaster Management  Disaster Management Exercise  National  NDRF  New Delhi

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Today, on 10th October the European Union (EU) joins many partners across the world to commemorate the 15th World Day against the Death Penalty.





Despite a positive trend towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries, we have seen worrying evidence of serious violations of international norms and standards where it's applied including the non-limitation of execution to the most serious crimes, the non-exclusion of juvenile offenders, the execution of mentally ill persons and the lack of guarantees for access to justice and a fair trial for all.





While the death penalty is still considered constitutional in Pakistan, it is very encouraging and promising to see a decline in executions from 333 in 2015 to 87 in 2016, and 44 until today in 2017.





However it is still too many.





Indeed, arguments can be made of the difficult security situation and the brutal and cowardly attack on the Army School in Peshawar, which led to the decision to lift the moratorium.





I can appreciate and understand the strong call for retribution which it prompted.





In the European Union we are also facing terrorist attacks; however, people are keeping their commitment against the death penalty.





Evidence around the world continues to highlight that death penalty is a discriminatory practice and that at every stage of criminal proceedings, social and economic inequalities affect access to justice for those who face the death penalty.





Lawmakers and practices still have not taken adequate steps to ensure that the death penalty is applied evenly across a society, or to guard against wrongful convictions based on errant identifications of witnesses or mistakes at forensic laboratories.





False testimonies or forced confessions and prosecutorial missteps are still alarmingly common.





Taking of a human life is irreversible and it does not make any society safer.





Evidences around the world conclusively show that death penalty does not deter crime more effectively than other punishments.





The European Union is firmly committed to the eradication of death penalty, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and remains among the strongest advocates for worldwide abolition of the death penalty.





As a sign of its strong commitment against the death penalty, the EU and Belgium have agreed to co-host the 7th World congress against the death penalty, in Brussels from 27 February to March 2019.





This commitment also includes the regional congress, which will take place in the Ivory Coast, in April 2018.





The World Congress is a major triennial event drawing together over 1500 high level participants from around the world.





I sincerely hope that Pakistan will be in position to attend as a country having reinstated the moratorium on death penalty.





At these conferences we will reiterate our strong opposition to the death penalty.





There, we will also reiterate that we have since long done away with the capital punishment on our territory.





Because we believe that it can never be morally justified for any state to take a life.





Because there is no evidence that capital punishment has any deterrent effects on the level of violent crime in a society.





Because no justice system is immune of mistakes, and executions make it impossible to reverse miscarriages of justice.





And finally, because experiences show that death penalty is deeply socially biased, affecting mostly the poor.





A true search of justice implies the abolition of death penalty.

Source: The Nation, Jean-Francois Cautain, October 10, 2017. The writer is the ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan.

 | 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
While North Korea continues to threaten its neighbors and the world with missile tests, the regime of Kim Jong Un continues to exploit and repress its own people through a vast prison camp system.

Indeed, the State Department recently exposed details about one type of prison camp known as kwan-li-so, or political prison camps, inside the repressive nation. Kwanliso prisoners are forced to work in terrible conditions in mines or other facilities for the benefit the regime. In general, prisoners are not expected to survive the brutal conditions in these camps.

Kaechon political prison camp is said to hold 15,000 prisoners, all serving life sentences. Like all kwanliso in North Korea, Kaechon is designed to segregate from the general prison population those considered enemies of the State and to punish them for political crimes through unending hard labor.

Some Kaechon prisoners are victims of the regimes three generations of punishment, in which three generations of a prisoners family are also sent to the camp without having committed a crime themselves. Induced starvation is common among prisoners, who are driven to catch and eat rodents, frogs, and snakes.

Hwasong is reported to be a total control zone divided into three sections for prisoners whose crimes differ in severity.The National Human Rights Commission of South Korea has estimated there are approximately 20,000 prisoners in Hwasong. Unconfirmed reports suggest prisoners may be used in the construction of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

The Chongjin political prison camp has an estimated population of 5,000 prisoners. Some NGO reports indicate enhanced levels of economic interaction between the camp and adjacent areas, possibly indicating the increased economic importance of prison camp labor.

According to the State Departments Annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices, defectors reported deaths were commonplace in the kwanliso as the result of summary executions, torture, lack of adequate medical care, and starvation. The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry report cited extremely high rate of deaths in custody, due to starvation and neglect, arduous forced labor, disease, and executions.

It is more important than ever to speak out on behalf of the suffering North Korean people.

"Promoting human rights and democratic governance is a core element of U.S. foreign policy, said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The United States will continue to speak out for the fundamental human rights of the North Korean people.
On September 21st, Samoa deposited its instrument of accession to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention with the United States. In other words, it agreed to be legally bound by the terms of this treaty. Samoas accession brings total membership in the Biological Weapons Convention to 179 States Parties.

International efforts to restrict bioweapons go back a long way. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibits the use, but not possession or development of, chemical and biological weapons. In 1975, 22 governments, including the United States and the Soviet Union, signed the Biological Weapons Convention, a treaty meant to supplement the Geneva Protocol. The new treaty forbids its Parties from developing or retaining biological weapons and related equipment, and obligates them to destroy or divert to peaceful purposes any weapons and related equipment they may already have and to take measures to prevent the development and retention of such items. The latter is particularly valuable in reducing threats from non-State actors.

Not every country is a member of the Biological Weapons Convention. Nonetheless, no state claims that biological weapons are a legitimate instrument of state power. General agreement exists globally that no disease should ever be used as a means of warfare.

Thats because bioweapons are indiscriminate, are difficult to control, and cause terrible suffering. While todays genome editing technologies are enabling advances in medicine and biotechnology, they also have the potential to make biological weapons easier to produce, and harder to detect and treat. Imagine the damage that could result from the release in a densely populated area, of a lethal bacterium that is immune to antibiotics, or a long-lived virus that is capable of traveling long distances in the air.

The Biological Weapons Convention is critical to international efforts to address the threat posed by biological weapons, whether in the hands of State or non-State actors. Maximizing its effectiveness requires that all States become Parties and fully implement its obligations. The United States strongly urges all States not party to the Biological Weapons Convention, to join the Convention without delay.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority population in Burmas Rakhine State. However, the Burmese government claims they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has made the Rohingya the worlds largest stateless population. For decades, the Rohingya people have suffered severe human rights abuses, including restrictions on freedom of movement and freedom of religion, curfews, forced labor, restrictions on reproductive rights and marriage, and heavy security presence in their villages. Without official authorization, which can be nearly impossible to obtain, they cannot travel between villages  not even to seek education or medical treatment.

On August 25th, a group of Rohingya militants attacked dozens of police posts and an army base in what they said was an effort to protect their people from persecution. This resulted in the deaths of 12 Burmese personnel.

According to the United Nations, the response of Burmas security forces was disproportionately severe, and included shelling of civilians, arson and widespread extrajudicial killings. Over five hundred thousand Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, a country already overpopulated and struggling to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The rapid influx has strained resources and overwhelmed humanitarian agencies and local authorities. To address the urgent needs resulting from this crisis, the United States provided nearly 40 million dollars in humanitarian aid for refugees, host communities, and persons internally displaced in Rakhine State, Burma.

This contribution brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons within Burma, and refugees from Burma in the region, to nearly 104 million dollars in fiscal year 2017. The funds will help provide emergency shelter, food and nutritional assistance, health care, psychosocial support, clean water, sanitation and hygiene. They will assist with disaster and crisis risk reduction, help restore family links, and provide protection to displaced persons in Burma, Bangladesh, and in the region.

The United States calls upon Burmese authorities to bring an immediate end to violence in Rakhine State and allow for unfettered humanitarian access to all people there. The United States further calls on Burmese authorities to grant full media access to affected areas, hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations, and enact policies that ensure any returns are voluntary and conducted in conditions of safety and dignity. We ask that others join us and donate generously toward humanitarian assistance for those affected by the crisis.
The United States will continue its long tradition of welcoming and caring for refugees. During fiscal year 2018, the U.S. government has proposed admitting up to 45,000 refugees: from Africa, 19,000; East Asia, 5000; Europe and Central Asia, 2000; Latin America and Caribbean, 1500; Near East and South Asia 17,500.

The new limit of 45,000 refugees is lower than in recent years. It takes into account a number of factors: the security of the American people; the governments capacity to properly vet the refugees according to its enhanced security procedures; and the backlog of hundreds of thousands of asylum cases the Department of Homeland Security currently faces from people who have already come into the United States and are seeking protection.

Since 1975, the U.S. has welcomed more than 3 million refugees. With the new ceiling limit, the United States will continue to permanently resettle more refugees than any other country, and will keep offering protection to the most vulnerable of those who have been persecuted because of race, ethnicity, political opinion, nationality, religion, or membership in a particular social group.

It is also important to note that refugee resettlement is only one part of the U.S.s response to the global crisis of forced displacement. The U.S. remains the worlds leading donor of humanitarian assistance, providing over $7 billion dollars last year. During the 2017 fiscal year, the U.S. provided more than $1.4 billion dollars in humanitarian assistance for the Syria crisis, and more than $581 million for Iraq. In addition, the U.S. has given nearly $2.5 billion for people from countries facing famine, and nearly $104 million for displaced persons in Burma and the region. We are also the number-one contributor to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and continue to be the leading donor to other agencies to provide life-saving support for refugees and conflict victims, including the Red Cross, Movement, the World Food Program, UNICEF and a wide range of nongovernmental humanitarian organizations.

This support provides vital assistance to refugees and conflict victims close to their home countries with a view to enabling refugees to return to their homes voluntarily and in safety, when conditions permit.

The United States takes pride in its humanitarian efforts and goals, and will continue to care for people around the world who are fleeing violence and persecution.
Minister of Catalan Education Clara Ponsati at the regional government headquarters. M. Minocri

Over the years, people have sought to legitimize Catalan independence not only in Europe, but also in the United States. They have accomplished this by taking advantage of the concept of self-determination that is popular in the United States and by drawing parallels to the secessionist origin of the first world power that came about after the colonys armed revolt held 5,000 kilometers away from the mother country.

Catalan sovereignty has managed to garner support from Catalan academics and researchers located in strategic universities. Some Americans, such as Noam Chomsky, also support the idea, and recently spearheaded a manifesto in favor of a referendum. In an arena where Spanish diplomacy has failed to reach, scholars have been able to frame Catalonias independence as a possibility.

A group of Catalan professors at prestigious universities in the United States has become a crucial pillar of the independence drive. Their defense of a referendum and independence has helped to project an image of academic support. Some of these academics now strongly and forcefully defend a unilateral declaration of independence following the October 1 referendum, which was outlawed by the Constitutional Court.

Scholars have been able to frame Catalonias independence as a possibility, something that has yet to happen in Spanish diplomacy

Three Catalan academics based in the United States are among the promoters and signatories of a manifesto, released last Thursday, in favor of the unilateral declaration of independence. The most widely recognized is Xavier Sala-i-Martin, professor of economic development at Columbia University, who also has a show on Catalan public television channel TV3. In 2016, Sala-i-Martin charged 7,500 per appearance on his show Economy in Color, pocketing a total of 60,000 as a screenwriter and presenter for eight broadcasts, according to the Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media. It has been picked up for a second season.

The other two signatories are Carles Boix, politics professor at Princeton University and member of the Advisory Council for the National Transition of the Catalan Regional Government, and Jordi Graupera, who also works at Princeton as a researcher of self-determination.

The international community will only react if the Parliament fulfills their commitments, says the manifesto. Among the public list of signatories is another professor based abroad: Antoni Abat, professor of constitutional law at the University of Copenhagen. The manifesto maintains that the only negotiation possible with the Spanish government would be after the proclamation of the Catalan Republic and only in relation to its recognition. The signatories argue that this is the only way for the Catalan institutions to survive.

These academics urge Catalan leaders to proclaim independence by following the results of a referendum that was carried out without guarantees or regulations. According to the regional government, 90% of votes were in favor of independence, with a participation of 43% of the census.

Xavier Sala-i-Martin once called the flight of companies from Catalonia a a bluff but now it is a political operation by the Spanish state

The academics are very active in Catalan media promoting independence. Sala-i-Martin said in an article in the newspaper Ara in 2015 that the supposed flight of companies from Catalonia was a bluff. To date, Sabadell, CaixaBank, Gas Natural and Agbar have changed their corporate headquarters, among others. He now attributes it to a fear strategy created by the central government. We all have to understand that it is a political operation, says Sala-i-Martin.

In the run-up to the referendum, another document, entitled Open Letter on Political Repression in Catalonia, emerged. It was signed by 49 American and Catalan university professors based in the US, Mexico and Canada. The best-known were Noam Chomsky of MIT and Vicenc Navarro of Johns Hopkins. We are concerned that the level of political repression in Catalonia is of a harsh and arbitrary nature that has not been experienced since Francos dictatorship, said the document.

Two weeks before the referendum, another manifesto was circulated, signed by more than 1,400 professors, researchers and university workers from around the world in support of the vote. The text defended the possibility of participating in the construction of a new state and argued that the alternative was to follow the a state that is mostly hostile. The manifesto did not disclose the identity of its signatories, although Boix confirmed that he signed.

On Twitter, Boix has defended a declaration of independence. He emphasizes the importance of international mediation, but with stipulations. If the mediation comes after the declaration, Catalonia could waive some measures to enforce the declaration of independence but never waiving the statement itself. Graupera has also claimed that the unilateral declaration is the only thing that protects citizens and institutions from repression.

This level of political repression in Catalonia has not been experienced since Francos dictatorship Open Letter on Political Repression in Catalonia

At Georgetown University in Washington D.C., the sovereignty agenda created a conflict in 2013. Clara Ponsati, that is now the Minister of Education for the regional government of Catalonia, occupied the Prince of Asturias Chair at Georgetown. From that position, she appeared in a video where she denounced Spains fiscal plundering and defended a referendum. She left before her contract was terminated, according to her, because of pressure from the Spanish government. The then-foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, denied that the central government intervened, but stressed: I do not believe that a chair that bears the name of the Prince of Asturias should encourage secessionist processes contrary to the Constitution.

In the last five years, the Catalan sovereignty movement has tried to make a dent in American debate circles. So far, the issue has barely been addressed in think tanks, but it has been addressed at several prestigious universities. Artur Mas, the former Catalan regional premier, spoke at a conference at Columbia University in 2015, where Sala i Martin was present. Mas and his successor, Carles Puigdemont, also spoke this year at Harvard University.

Catalan leaders visits to the US have been a constant in recent years. A small group of congressmen have sympathized with their cause, but the US government has turned its back on them. After repeating for three years that it was a Spanish internal matter, Washington supported the Spanish central government in 2015. A few days before October 1, President Donald Trump defended the permanence of Catalonia in Spain, although he did not address the debate on the legality of the referendum.

English version by Debora Almeida.
A Catalan Pro-Independence flag. David Ramos (Getty Images)

After a standoff that has now been going on for five years, the Catalan regional premier declared independence in a speech to the regional parliament, temporarily suspending its effects. Its a moment to which those in favor of the separation of Catalonia from the rest of Spain want to give a historic solemnity. But no one should be fooled: that declaration has absolutely no validity. It is coming after a referendum that the justice system declared to be illegal and was carried out with no guarantees. It is preceded by a massive flight of companies and capital from Catalonia. And before today it has been received by an unshakeable rejection on the part of the opposition in Catalonia, all of the parties in Spain  whether on the left or the right  and the entire European Union.

Firstly, the Catalan premier will today declare independence in spite of the strong divisions that exist in Catalan society. He is doing so two days after a massive demonstration in Barcelona of Catalan and Spanish citizens against independence. Until Sunday, protests in Catalonia had belonged to the pro-independence sector, which since 2012, has brought together hundreds of thousands of people every September 11, Catalonia Day, to call for the breakup of Spain. But the supporters of the Spanish Constitution, which protects the unity of Spain, demonstrated a call for a return to common sense and for Catalan leaders to return to the law, something that they have refused to do.

That demonstration counted on the participation of the 2010 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas Llosa, who stated that the Catalan leaders are behaving like the proponents of a coup, and are acting in the name of a nationalism that has filled history with wars, blood and bodies.

Pro Spain demonstration in Catalonia on Sunday. Joan Sanchez (EL PAIS)

Since the October 1 vote, Catalonia has been living through a situation of economic emergency. Nearly all of the major companies there have changed their legal headquarters to other cities in Spain, in the face of the instability that could be caused by a declaration of independence. For example, six of the seven Catalan companies that are listed on the Spanish stock exchange have left, including two of the countrys biggest banks, Caixabank and Sabadell. Two cava producers who are closely linked to Catalonia, Freixenet and Codorniu, are even thinking of going.

The basis for declaring independence is the referendum that was held on October 1. The justice system had declared it to be illegal and the police tried to stop it from going ahead, with charges against a number of voting points, causing injuries. The organizers changed the voting regulations 45 minutes before the polls opened, allowing anyone to vote wherever they wanted to. As there was no computerized voting census, there were people who were able to vote two or more times, given that the register was being kept on papers that were being filled out by hand.

Despite these irregularities, the pro-independence leaders published these results on October 6: 90.18% yes votes. If these figures were real, that would mean 2,044,038 Catalans, just 38% of the total census of those with the right to vote. All of the opposition to independence, from the left to the right, boycotted the referendum and refused to take part. A total of 7.52 million people live in Catalonia.

The current leader of the independence movement is Carles Puigdemont, who has been Catalan premier since 2015. Before then he was the mayor of Girona. His party, Junts pel Si, ran at the last regional elections proposing the breakup of Spain, but failed to win a majority to form a government: 61 seats out of 135. He had to form an alliance with the least-voted party in the parliament, the radical left-wing CUP (10 seats), in order to push forward with his plans. Since that moment, the path toward independence has been rushed and has become radicalized.

The Spanish police intercepted on September 20 a document from a member of the Catalan government, Josep Maria Jove, with the steps to take to declare independence unilaterally, which was published by EL PAIS. In it, he says that the pro-independence forces are seeking a democratic conflict with wide citizen support, oriented toward generating political and economic instability that will force the [Spanish] state to accept the negotiation of the separation or a forced referendum. This is the behavior of an anti-establishment party, not of the party of a government with responsibility for all Catalans, not just a section of society.

Meanwhile, all of the European leaders have criticized these plans, stressing that in the improbable case that Catalonia separates from Spain it would be left out of the European Union and the euro. The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has received the support of the heads of government in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as well as the president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker. All of them have stated that they will only have one interlocutor in this crisis: the Spanish government.

And what is the government of Spain planning to do? In an interview with EL PAIS, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday: We are going to stop independence from happening. As such I can say to you with complete frankness that it is not going to happen. It is evident that we will take any of the decisions that the law allows us to in view of how events progress.

The clearest option available to Rajoy is to apply Article 155 of the Constitution, which literally states that if a region does not obey the law, the government can adopt the necessary measures to force it to comply with those obligations. Thats to say: Rajoy could suspend the autonomy of Catalonia and, from the central government, take control of the entire region or part of it, something that would happen in the coming hours.

Since the vote on October 1, which was declared illegal by the Spanish justice system, the pro-independence forces have tried to make the Spanish government accept international mediation, something that would give its plans legitimacy: the Spanish and Catalan governments would then be on equal terms in the international sphere. For that reason, Rajoy has refused such mediation and has called on the pro-independence forces to return to the law.

At this stage of the crisis, and given all of these antecedents, there is consensus in Spain and in Europe that a declaration of independence would have no validity. There is no Catalan state, because it has no institutions or borders. It cannot collect taxes nor make investments. There is not nor will there be European governments that recognize it. What there is is a group of leaders who have continued with an independence plan without respecting the law and the feelings of the majority, something that has seriously affected the Catalan economy and that will now surely see the region lose more autonomy.

English version by Simon Hunter.
Hardly a day after the new round of saber rattling between the Islamic Republics judiciary head and President Hassan Rouhani, the outspoken deputy speaker of Irans parliament, Ali Motahari has also stepped into the ring.

In the new round of muscle flexing, Irans head of the judiciary bombarded the president with sarcastic comments, without naming him directly.

Responding to President Hassan Rouhanis recent remarks, the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadiq Amoli Larijani, insisted on Monday that people are not summoned to courts because the justice department suffers from "idleness" and has nothing better to do.

Defending Rouhanis remarks, Ali Motahari reminded Amoli Larijani, Its not merely the question of summoning people to the courts, the question is rather what happens to the people after being summoned adding, Basically, thats what President Rouhani meant when he criticized the judiciary for summoning some people to the courts of law.

Motaharis counterattack appeared in a note that was published in pro-government daily Etemad on Tuesday, October 10.

Three days earlier, at a meeting with Tehran university students, Rouhani had sarcastically commented, Theres a chance that some entities are idle and have nothing to do; therefore, to create work for themselves, they summon a number of people [to the courts].

It took two days for the head of the Judiciary, ayatollah Amoli Larijani to fire back.

Dismissing Rouhanis comment by labeling it as unfair, Amoli Larijani growled on Monday, October 10, It is not out of idleness that the justice department summons people to [the courts]. It does it on the basis of its principal and intrinsic duty and for the sake of applying justice.

Reciprocating the attack, Motahari has reminded, The main question is what happens to, lets say a journalist after being improperly summoned to the media court. Long after being detained, even the family of the journalist remains unaware of his whereabouts, while according to the [Islamic Republic] Constitution; whoever is detained should be charged within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Motahari has further lamented, In violation of the law, the judiciary keeps the detained journalist, for a long time, in solitary confinement, hoping that under physical and mental pressure, they will give in and admit to what is compatible with their imagined crime.

The law explicitly stipulates, Motahari has argued in his note, People may be detained only after the collection of evidence on what they are accused of.

Furthermore, Motahari has referred to the case of two young journalists as an example of injustice done by the judiciary, Its more than a month that Sassan Aghaei is behind bars and the second journalist, Ms. Hengameh Shahidi was released after going on hunger strike, and that was without presenting any evidence against her.

Meanwhile, the deputy speaker of parliament has admitted that MPs do not have much power to address this kind of injustice, How long the MPs, particularly Tehran MPs are supposed to be the only point of reference for the families of people unjustly detained? They constantly come to us, whereas we cannot do much for them, Motahari has said.

Without directly naming ayatollah Amoli Larijani, the deputy speaker of parliament has sarcastically noted, From time to time, he [the head of the judiciary] comments on the regional and international affairs, as well as on JCPOA [or Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers] --Its better for him to personally attend student gatherings and respond to their various questions, from time to time.

However, Rouhanis attacks against the judiciary have intensified since his first deputys brother was detained and new restrictions were imposed on reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami.

The other bone of contention between the two is the situation of the Green Movement leaders who have been under house arrest since February 2011.

While Rouhani has repeatedly promised to help lift the house arrests, the judiciary has always defended the extrajudicial decision.
In a new round of muscle flexing, Irans head of the judiciary has bombarded the president with sarcastic comments, yet once again without naming names.

Responding to President Hassan Rouhanis recent remarks, the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadiq Amoli Larijani, has insisted that people are not summoned to court because the justice department suffers from "idleness" and has nothing better to do.

Addressing a high-level meeting of judiciary officials in Tehran on October 9, Larijani slammed Rouhani and derided his achievements, reported the Iran Students News Agency (ISNA).

Hardliners have gone on the offensive in recent days, by imposing more restrictions on former President Mohammad Khatami and also arresting the brother of Rouhani's vice president, Eshaq Jahangairi's brother.

Two days earlier, at a meeting with Tehran university students, Rouhani had sarcastically commented, Theres a chance that some entities have nothing to do; therefore, to create work for themselves, they summon a number of people [to the courts].

While criticizing what he branded unhealthy political competition, Rouhani also disapproved that after elections, one is rewarded and the other faction is punished.

Still without naming names, Rouhani referred to new restrictions imposed on reformist former President Mohammad Khatami and said he was someone who had an impact on society.

Larijani, for his part, dismissed Rouhanis comments as unfair, adding, It is not out of idleness that the justice department summons people to [the courts]. It does it on the basis of its principal and intrinsic duty and for applying justice.

The judiciary head went further, lambasting Rouhanis record by insisting, If there is idleness and unemployment [in Iran], it is because of you who dropped all of the countrys affairs for the sake of beating your chest in praise of JCPOA. [You were so busy celebrating the nuclear deal] as if there were nothing else to do for the country.

Larijani, cautioned, We are not only busy but we are also firmly standing on our legal path.

Reminding Rouhani of his duty as president, he asserted, You are dutybound to support the judiciary as it is one of the pillars of the [Iranian ruling] system, as the judiciary has also supported the government in its totality through past years.

Furthermore, Larijani explicitly threatened unnamed individuals, maintaining, It is a crime to charge and insult the judiciary and put obstacles in its way. I warn those who commit such crimes and remind them that the judiciarys tolerance is not limitless.

This is not the first time Larijani and Rouhani have traded barbs.

The judiciary is particularly unhappy with Rouhanis initiative labeled as the Citizens Charter.

The Citizens Rights Headquarters creates a national institution parallel to the [already existing] High Council for Human Rights affiliated with the judiciary, Larijani said on July 2. This is an unlawful move, and it is against sharia (religious law).

The other bone of contention between the two is the situation of the Green Movement leaders who have been under house arrest since February 2011.

While Rouhani has repeatedly promised to help lifting the house arrests, the judiciary has always defended the sentence.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have always sided with the judiciary against Rouhani.

However, Rouhanis attacks against the judiciary have intensified since his first deputys brother was detained and new restrictions were imposed on Khatami.
The Yogi Adityanath government has proposed to build a grand 100-metre statue of Lord Ram on the Saryu river along the temple town of Ayodhya as part of its reported plan to showcase 'Navya (or New) Ayodhya'.

By India Today Web Desk: The Yogi Adityanath government has proposed to build a grand 100-metre statue of Lord Ram on the Saryu river along the temple town of Ayodhya as part of its reported plan to showcase 'Navya (or New) Ayodhya'.

The proposal that is aimed at promoting religious tourism in Uttar Pradesh and prepared by the state's tourism department has been submitted before Governor Ram Naik.

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State officials have told The Indian Express that the statue is proposed at a height of 100 metres, but it is not final and will depend on approval from the National Green Tribunal.

A grand Diwali celebration in Ayodhya to be attended by Naik, Adityanath, Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma is also planned on October 18.

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh tourism department's erasure of the iconic Mughal monument, the Taj Mahal, from its brochure had made major headlines in India and abroad.

WATCH VIDEO | Temperatures rise as truckloads of stones arrive in Ayodhya for Ram Mandir

--- ENDS ---
As the deadline approaches for President Donald Trump to announce his administrations position regarding Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal, the rhetoric from the Islamic Republic becomes louder.

On Tuesday, the senior spokesman for Irans armed forces warned the U.S. not to threaten the Islamic Republic and declared that Iranian forces would teach the U.S. new lessons.

Masoud Jazayeri added, "It seems the Trump administration only understands swear words, and needs some shocks to understand the new meaning of power in the world".

Two days earlier, the commander of the IRGC threatened U.S. forces with missile attacks, if his army is listed as a terrorist organization.

Another powerful Iranian official said that Iran will keep all options on table if president Trump designates the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC, as a terrorist organization.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, also said, "The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards".

The chief of Irans nuclear agency, Ali Akbar Salehi also warned the U.S. against undermining the nuclear agreement, saying that Washingtons global standing will suffer. He called the Trumps position as delusionary negative posturing.

The IRGC is already under unilateral American sanctions, but recent reports indicate president Trump intends to designate the elite army as a terrorist organization, which would have implication in Syria and Iraq, where both the U.S. armed forces and the IRGC are operating.

While harsh words continued by military and national security officials in Iran, Javad Zarif, Irans foreign minister assured that the world has nothing to worry about Irans armed forces.

In an article published in the Atlantic on Monday, Zarif said: "No party or country need fear our missiles  unless it intends to attack our territory."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, Iranian agencies
(Reuters) - Hundreds of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered last week to Kurdish authorities after the jihadist group was driven out of its last stronghold in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security official said on Tuesday.

The suspects were part of a group of men who fled toward Kurdish-held lines when Iraqi government forces captured the Islamic State base in Hawija, the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

The report of the Sunni Muslim militants fleeing, rather than fighting to the finish as in previous battles, suggested their morale may be crumbling, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert on Islamic State affairs.

"They no longer seem to believe in the cause," Hashimi, who met some of those who surrendered in the Dibis camp near Kirkuk, told Reuters. He said they had fled to the Kurdish-held region to avoid summary executions at the hands of vengeful Sunni Arab tribesmen and Iranian-trained and armed Shi'ite Muslim paramilitaries who assisted the Iraqi army's offensive on Hawija.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording two weeks ago that indicated he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite setbacks in Iraq and Syria.

"Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last week. Not all, however, are terrorists," said the security official in Erbil, the northern Iraqi base of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. They handed themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, east of Hawija, he said. "It's fair to say hundreds probably are ISIS (Islamic State) members, but that will be clear after the debriefs."

FINAL DEFEAT IN SIGHT?

The town of Hawija and surrounding areas fell on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi government Shi'ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation, as well as Sunni tribal combatants.

Islamic State's last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria, including the border town of al-Qaim.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday this last piece of territory would be recaptured before the end of the year, marking the final defeat of the militants in Iraq.

The militants also hold areas on the Syrian side of the border, but are retreating there in the face of two sets of hostile forces - a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi'ite militias backed by Iran and Russia.

Islamic State's cross-border "caliphate" effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

Trend:

TravelBiz published an article by Indian journalist Anurag Tiwari entitled " Azerbaijan ventures in to the Indian market".

The article says that Azerbaijan, a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe, with the sole aim to establish its presence in the Indian travel market opted for organising the 3-city India Discover Azerbaijan Roadshow in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad respectively from September 18 to 20, 2017: "The Mumbai roadshow held on September 18 saw participation from around 40 members of Mumbai travel trade who interacted with eight exhibitors which included Air Arabia, DMCs and hotels from Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. The Mumbai roadshow saw participation from Boulevard Hotel Baku, Fairmont Hotel Baku, Gilan Hospitality, Millennium Tourism, Pasha Travel, Premium Tours and Sky Star Travel".

Then the author tells about the opinions of the Regional General Manager:Sachin Nene, Regional General Manager - Air Arabia, India, said, Azerbaijan is relatively new to Indians as a tourist destination. Through these roadshows our efforts have been centred towards reaching out to the best performing travel agents and tour operators across three cities and grow their knowledge about Azerbaijan. The destination needs a lot of promotional efforts like this to get itself acquainted with the Indian travel trade fraternity and thereby witness good number of Indian tourist.Ildirim Ganbarov, Business Development Manager, Pasha Travels, said, Exhibitors from Azerbaijan focused on targeting not only the MICE traveller segment but also the leisure segment though MICE has been till now the best performing sectors from India. The exhibitors present at the roadshow not only showcased their product offerings in Baku, but also exhibited other destinations like Shabran, Guba, Shahdag, Shamakha, Qabala, Sheki, Ganja, Lankaran, Nakhichivan and Naftalan.

The Indian market has been performing significantly well for Air Arabia as the airline is recording approximately 95% passenger load factor from this market across all 13 Indian cities from where the airline operates. Between April and August this year, Air Arabia recorded 850 passengers from India to Azerbaijan. Nene said that till now word of mouth publicity helped Air Arabia to record good number of passengers from the Indian market, and now with these roadshows we expect three to four fold increase in Indian passengers to Azerbaijan.

Nene said that for Air Arabia, 80% of the Indian travellers to Azerbaijan are from the MICE segment. These travellers also prefer to add sightseeing and nightlife in their itinerary when visiting Azerbaijan. Baku alone has around 14 hotels capable of hosting large MICE groups, some of them accommodating more than 1,000 guests and organising big conventions all year round. The capital city of Azerbaijan also has five Indian restaurants. Azerbaijan Tourism Authorities are working towards engagement with members of travel trade and media through FAM trips and is also looking at attracting the film producers to the destination. For 94 nationalities including India e-visa is issued which is valid for 90 days. Also, the destination is working with other neighbouring countries like Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Kazakhstan to jointly promote the destinations across the globe.

Baku has a lot to offer to Indians in terms of MICE and also leisure. We are concentrating our efforts on promoting destinations in Azerbaijan as well but our prime focus remains on Baku. We are working towards tie-ups with Cox & Kings, SOTC, Thomas Cook, etc., to target the leisure traveller segment from the Indian market next year. India is an emerging market for Azerbaijan and we are hopeful that our promotional efforts will help us establish Azerbaijan as a prominent destination for the Indian travellers, Nene concluded.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

Trend:

Another group of Azerbaijani peacekeepers departed for Afghanistan.

The group of 50 servicemen, who will serve under the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, departed for Afghanistan to serve there on a rotating basis, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said in a message Oct. 10.

A peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan since Nov. 20, 2002.

Currently, 90 servicemen, 2 medical officers and 2 engineer officers of Azerbaijani Armed Forces are participating in the mission in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Azerbaijan Nikolaos Kanellos visited Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) and met with BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov. Having welcomed the honorable guest, the Rector told him about history, achievements, activities and international ties of the Higher School. He emphasized the importance of BHOS cooperation with transnational companies operating in the country and leading universities around the world. Elmar Gasimov also informed that five fourth-year Process Automation Engineering undergraduates of the Higher School would study during an autumn term of 2017/2018 academic year at Piraeus Technology University (PUAS) in Athens within Erasmus+ program. The Rector expressed his confidence that bilateral relations between two higher educational institutions, which signed a Cooperation Agreement in 2016, would continue to develop effectively.

The Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan Nikolaos Kanellos extended his gratitude to BHOS Rector for a warm reception. He emphasized that Greece places development of successful cooperation with Azerbaijan in many fields, including science and education, as a high priority. The meeting participants also discussed prospects of enhancing partnership relations of BHOS with Greek universities, conducting joint scientific and research activities and exchange programs, and other issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Twice more people arrived in Azerbaijan for permanent residence compared to the number of those who left the country in 2016, according to Azerbaijans State Statistics Committee.

As many as 3,233 people arrived in Azerbaijan for permanent residence, and 1,711 people left the country in 2016, the committee said.

Majority of those who arrived in Azerbaijan for permanent residence are people aged 30-39 years. Thus, in 2016, 474 people aged 30-34 years and 445 people aged 35-39 years arrived in Azerbaijan for permanent residence.

This is while mostly young people aged 20-29 years were among those who left the country. In 2016, 364 people aged 20-24 years and 357 people aged 25-29 years left Azerbaijan for permanent residence in another country.

In January-June 2017, the relevant agencies of Azerbaijans Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Migration Service registered 1,078 people who arrived in Azerbaijan for permanent residence, and 607 people who left Azerbaijan. Thus, positive net migration rate was 471 people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

E-money will help stimulate purchasing power and support the development of the economies of the post-Soviet countries, Ruslan Makarov, Russian professor, cryptocurrency and e-money expert, said.

Makarov made the remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani scholars, representatives of financial and IT sectors in Baku.

The visit was organized by the UNEC Research Foundation (UNEC - brand of the Azerbaijan State University of Economics). As part of his visit to Baku, Makarov held a number of meetings. One of such meetings was organized by the Azerbaijan Accountants and Risk Professionals Association (ARPA).

During the meeting, the expert spoke about the recent trends in the digital economy, shared his opinion about the future of cryptocurrencies and e-money, as well as prospects and opportunities for their use in CIS.

Speaking of cryptocurrencies, Makarov added that cryptocurrencies can be considered a confidential component, which is based on nothing but trust.

Moreover, the cryptocurrency itself is speculative and volatile, the expert said. As for e-money, it can be divided into three types, namely, regional, national and corporate. According to various research, e-money stimulates consumer demand.

In his turn, speaking about the Azerbaijani realities at the meeting, Farhad Amirbayov, president of the UNEC foundation, stressed that Azerbaijan has great potential for the development of the digital economy.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC (AZAL) plans to sign a contract by the end of 2017 to buy four Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, AZAL President Jahangir Asgarov told the 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit in Baku Oct. 10.

Two more Boeing 747-8 F aircraft will be acquired for the Silk Way Airlines company, according to him.

Preparatory work is currently underway for the purchase of these aircraft, Asgarov noted.

He said at the moment, Azerbaijan has Boeing 747, Boeing 787, Boeing 767, Airbus 340, Airbus 320, Airbus 319 and Embraer 190 aircraft.

I also want to remind that we signed a contract for the purchase of 10 modern Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the AZAL president said, adding they will be put into operation in 2018.

Another 10 Boeing 747 aircraft, including five Boeing 747-8 F, belong to Silk Way Airlines, according to him.

Today, Silk Way Airlines operates flights to 60 countries, including 37 regular routes. I should note that over the past year, the airline opened 11 new routes which include Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, as well as Hong Kong-Singapore flights carried out over the Pacific Ocean, Asgarov noted.

He pointed out that thanks to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, great success was achieved in the field of civil aviation.

In Azerbaijan, there are six international airports  in Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gabala, Lankaran and Zagatala. These airports can receive all types of civil aircraft.

The 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit started on Oct. 9 and will last until Oct. 12. About 250 representatives of civil aviation, freight traffic and logistics spheres are taking part in the event.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.10

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

The Central Bank of Iran has signed a cooperation agreement with ECO Trade and Development Bank for expansion of cooperation in the banking sector.

The agreement is expected to device regulations of the activity of the representative of ECO bank in Iran, Iranian media outlets reported.

Senior Iranian bankers and officials from the ECO bank inked the agreement on Monday in Ankara as part of the recent visit by Valliolah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, to Turkey.

The secretary-general for international affairs of the Central Bank of Iran, Hossein Yaqoubi, and Burhanettin Aktas, Vice President of ECO Bank were the signatories of the agreement.

The agreement is expected to facilitate allocating finances to development projects in Iran.

Cooperation with ECO Bank is also capable of boosting trade ties with the member states of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Silk Way West Airlines LLC transported 220,000 tons of cargo in January-August 2017, said President of Silk Way Holding Zaur Akhundov at the 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit in Baku Oct. 10.

According to him, the company transported 170,000 tons of cargo in 2016.

Nowadays, Silk Way West Airlines operates regular flights to 37 destinations using 12 Boeing 747 aircraft. From these destinations 11 were opened last year and first half of this year. Among the destinations are Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, said Akhundov.

There were high volumes of transportation in order to ensure successful holding of the First European Games, Islamic Solidarity Games, Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he noted.

Currently, we see that the increasing air transportation of cargo includes pharmaceuticals, perishable goods, mail, e-commerce goods, high-tech equipment, and electronics, added the companys president.

Speaking about the passenger transportation, Akhundov said the Heydar Aliyev International Airport connects countries and continents, and it has become a hub not only for international cargo traffic, but also for passenger transportation.

For instance, through Baku, Europe connects to China, as well as Israel and Georgia to America, he added. Direct flights to Bangkok and Jeddah will be opened soon.

Silk Way Holdings president also noted that Azerbaijan continues developing the sphere of cargo and passenger transportations.

Currently a large number of flights transporting humanitarian and military cargo are requested by the Ministry of Defense of Germany, the US, Canada, Spain, Italy, Israel, and France. NATO and other international organizations are among our customers, added Akhundov.

The 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit started Oct. 9 and will last until Oct. 12. About 250 representatives of civil aviation, freight transportation and logistics are taking part in the event.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

This year, the number of participants and the volume of exhibited products at honey fair in Baku have exceeded the figures of the previous year, Azerbaijans Deputy Minister of Agriculture Seyfaddin Talibov told reporters in Baku Oct. 10.

This year, 332 beekeepers exhibited their products at the fair, and this is by 78 people more than last year, Talibov said. In general, 107.5 tons of liquid honey, 5.5 tons of comb honey and more than 1.2 tons of other products of beekeeping have been exhibited at the fair. For comparison, last year only 75 tons of liquid honey were exhibited at the fair.

He noted that this year, 22.5 tons of honey didnt pass quality control, adding that last year, about 23.5 tons of honey didnt pass it.

The 18th annual honey fair started in Baku Oct. 10. The honey fair will last until Nov. 5. The fair is being held in the Amay shopping center.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The Traditional Baku Honey Fair has today kicked off in Baku, brining together honey producers from throughout the country.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Seyfaddin Talibov told reporters that the largest number of beekeepers is represented by the Lankaran economic region.

"We have 106 beekeepers from the Lankaran economic region, followed by Shaki-Zagatala economic region - 91 people, and Ganja-Gazakh economic region, which is represented by 70 beekeepers, " Talibov said.

A total of 332 beekeepers take part in the fair, which will last until Nov. 5.

The Honey Fair, first held in 2008, is one of the largest fairs organized in the capital city, with hundreds of bee keepers offering their honey to guests of the event. Last year, only 256 beekeepers participated in the fair

The month-long honey fair will run at the Amay Trade Center (address is Novel Avenue, 23).

Widespread in the mountainous regions and adored for the nutritional and therapeutic qualities of honey, apiculture is a rapidly developing sector of the Azerbaijani economy. Domestically produced honey is renowned for its high quality and unique taste.

The country is home to one the most famous bee species in the world  the Mountain Grey Caucasian Bee  which can fly at 6 degrees below zero C and has the longest proboscis for sucking up nectar.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

In January-September 2017, Azerbaijans non-oil export value amounted to $1.07 billion, Vusal Gasimli, executive director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication, said.

He was speaking at an event in the Azerbaijan State University of Economics (ASUE), according to a message of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication.

In the first nine months of 2017, the non-oil sector grew 2.5 percent, non-oil industry - 3.1 percent, agriculture - 2.8 percent, trade turnover  7 percent, said Gasimli.

He added that economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, the created industrial, agricultural and technological parks point to the non-oil sectors boom the next year.

Commercial banks are also expanding their participation in lending to the real sector of the economy, Gasimli said. A state investment program will also support economic development and a rapid development of the non-oil sector will be ensured in 2018.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

In January-September 2017, investment company Unicapital led the ranking of brokers in the Azerbaijani market of public and corporate securities, said the Association of Azerbaijan Stock Market Participants.

The investment company provided brokerage services worth 3.33 billion manats during the reporting period.

PASHA Capital took second place with the rendered services worth 2.52 billion manats.

PASHA Capital is followed by InvestAZ, which rendered services worth 1.84 billion manats in January-September 2017.

Below is the ranking of brokers in Azerbaijans securities market in terms of services rendered in January-September 2017:

Brokers name Value of brokerage services (AZN) Brokers current place in terms of services volume Unicapital 3,331,292,116.7 1 PASHA Kapital 2,524,087,798.75 2 Invest-AZ 1,843,831,739.18 3 AzFinance 1,418,354,635.01 4 PSG Kapital 180,495,347.35 5 Xalq Kapital 178,888,038.29 6 Kapital Menecment 53,258,857.95 7

(1.7002 AZN = 1 USD on Oct. 10)
Russias largest oil producer Rosneft wants to boost its supplies of oil to China through Kazakhstan to as much as 18 million tonnes (360,000 bpd) per year from around 10 million tonnes in 2017, industry sources told Reuters.

Such a big increase may significantly drain flows of Urals blend to Europe at a time when Russian oil output has been reduced as part of a global pact to support prices.

(Rosnefts head Igor) Sechin would like to boost oil supplies to China to 13 million tonnes per year with a possibility of further increase to 18 million tonnes, a source familiar with Rosnefts plans said, adding that there has been no decision yet at government level.

He didnt specify when the increase was likely to happen. This would mean significant oil supplies cuts to Europe, the source added.

Two other oil industry sources confirmed the plans.

The bulk of oil supplies to China by Rosneft go via the Pacific port of Kozmino at the end of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, some via the pipelines special spur to China and the remains via Kazakhstan and railway.

Kazakhstans energy ministry said Rosneft has not officially applied for an increase in transit volumes to China.

Currently, the supplies are made through Atasu - Alashankou pipeline, the capacity of which has already been upgraded to 20 million tonnes, according to the ministry, while between 2 and 3 million tonnes are used for Kazakstans own exports to China.

The necessity of further pipeline expansion would also depend on the level of volumes as well as the time frame of guaranteed supplies, oil transportation tariff, etc, the ministry said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Possible end of the Iranian nuclear deal can push the oil prices up, Cyril Widdershoven, a Middle East geopolitical specialist and energy analyst, a partner at Dutch risk consultancy VEROCY and SVP MEA-Risk, told Trend.

It was earlier reported that the US President Donald Trump is expected to announce soon he will decertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"The unilateral end to the JCPOA by Washington is partly already figured into oil prices at present. However, the oil market is too optimistic about the possibilities that it will happen. Washington will be putting some new sanctions for sure, and in principle end the deal," said the expert. "Western companies will be feeling the heat of this, leaving less room for investments and operations in Iran."

Iran could really be hit if Washington would put sanctions on all companies worldwide if they act or work with Iran, the expert believes.

"It also could put sanctions on imports of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas. This would not only hit Iran, but also take out a vast part of Iran's oil exports to the global market. If this would also be feasible for Iranian oil swaps with other countries, the prices will shoot up," noted Widdershoven.

He went on to add that any new disturbance in the region will have a direct effect.

"Oil prices are at present still showing very much movement upwards, new instability and possible war/sanctions will only increase the push for higher prices," added the expert.

As for the possibility of abandoning the nuclear deal, Widdershoven said there is a real chance that the US will end the nuclear deal.

"Most probably, the US will set up a strategy in which it will partly abandon the deal, with specific demands on Iran to comply. First main issue will be that Washington will be demanding a full stop to the development of ballistic missiles," he said.

Another demand will be full openness to Iranian nuclear technology developments, said the expert, adding that at present, the deal is also asking openness, but this only in cooperation with Iran.

"Trump's position would be detrimentally hit if he would now not put something very hard in place. For Iran, the direct effects can be minimal, as the deal is not with the US but with a long list of other countries too. It will not end the cooperation with Russia, and several European countries. However, if Washington not only end its part of the deal, but increases severely the US sanctions on doing business with Iran, Tehran could be and will be hit," said Widdershoven.

A full scale sanctions regime on not only oil and gas projects but also others would be very bad for Tehran, according to the expert.

"The latter could escalate, looking at the statements made by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC) of Iran. If Tehran's military would act or even provoke the US at present, a full scale military action is not infeasible. Hardliners in Washington, but also Europe, will be waiting for a reaction of Iran, if negative, the country will be facing possible military action. Saudi Arabia, UAE and others will be taking part if necessary, while Egypt could be also assisting," he said.

A military action in the Gulf region will only be another reason for a price hike, concluded the expert.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany signed the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the agreement, limits were put on Irans nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

Azerbaijani mobile operator Azercell Telecom LLC is eliminating technical problems in its network, which have occurred Oct. 10 morning.

As a result of a technical malfunction, some subscribers had problems with voice services, Azercell told Trend.

"The technical problems are temporary and observed only in Baku, the company said. Our engineers are working to resolve the problems and the network will be restored soon.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Digital technologies will gradually cover all aspects of the daily life, and this applies to businesses as much as to individuals, Taleh Kazimov, chairman of the Executive Board at Azerbaijans PASHA Bank, said in an interview with the World Finance magazine.

In this context, the global transition to digital banking is inevitable, according to him.

Even though Azerbaijan has a relatively small economy, the country proactively participates in global processes and is a key player in the region. In light of this, modern technology will not pass us by, Kazimov said.

As a leading corporate bank in Azerbaijan, we will work on the digital component of our strategy, which will enable us to offer our customers a new level of service. Since July, we have been able to ensure that 65 to 70 percent of the total volume of our customer operations is processed through internet banking services.

He noted that PASHA Bank will proactively support its customers during the transition to new technologies.

The forthcoming innovations and changes will undoubtedly fall outside of some customers comfort zones. That said, these same changes will greatly benefit them too. Operational costs will be reduced, and local branch customers will waste less time in queues and processing paper-based transactions.

Still, some customers may prefer not to work with new technologies. To prevent such cases, as the leading corporate bank in the country, PASHA Bank will proactively support its customers during the transition period, and will provide the most relevant banking services to each individual, Kazimov added.

PASHA Bank, founded in 2007, renders a range of corporate banking services, including issuance of loans, operations in the securities market, assets management, and treasury services.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Huseyn Veliyev  Trend:

Azerbaijan has submitted the results of work held within the countrys coordinated ICT Innovation & Startup Ecosystems direction to the European Commission, a source in Azerbaijans Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies told Trend Oct. 10.

The report of Azerbaijan was submitted by the countrys Deputy Minister of Transport of Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizade within the framework of the second meeting of ministers for digital economy issues, which took place last week in Estonia within the EUs Eastern Partnership program.

Following the meeting of the ministers, the Declaration on the Digital Economy was adopted, which indicates the main work in the digital economys development jointly with the Eastern Partnership countries until 2020.

The projects presented by Azerbaijan are leading among the projects selected according to the requirements of the ICT Innovate concept. Innovative centers and communication agencies of the Eastern Partnership countries have already agreed on the inclusion of issues of eligibility for participation in the EU grant competitions and start-up conference conducted by the EU.

The ICT Innovate concept is a working group which brings together technological parks, innovation centers and start-up communities from different countries. The working group is headed by Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Huseyn Veliyev  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Russia have agreed on the procedure for using frequency resources in the border areas, a source in Azerbaijans telecommunications market told Trend.

The sides monitored channels used in the border areas and signed a protocol on the equal use of the frequency spectrum of mobile communication, as well as TV and radio broadcasting.

The agreement provides for streamlining the use of the radio frequency spectrum and reducing the likelihood of interference by radio-electronic means in the border areas.

A similar agreement was signed in early 2017 with Georgia, and in 2016 with Iran.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

The limit set on sale of fuel oil from gas stations of the Kazakh energy giant KazMunaiGaz will be withdrawn at the end of the week.

Azamat Zhangulov, Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing at KazMunaiGaz said that as soon as the situation over import is fully resolved, the entire restriction will be removed.

"This will happen at the end of this week, maybe a little earlier, and we are taking all measures to provide our businessmen with fuel," Kazpravda.kz cited Zhangulov as saying.

He noted that currently the main task is to ensure a uniform supply of fuel.

In gas stations of KazMunaiGaz, gasoline is sold at 152 tenge per liter. But there is a limit on the sale of up to 20 liters.

Deputy Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Aset Magauov, in turn, said in October gasoline consumption is expected to be around 288,000 tons.

"We had an initial production forecast of 140,000 tons, and we took measures to adjust the refinery, and it is expected that the total output will amount to 160,000 tons of AI-92," he said.

Magauov previously said that Kazakhstan doubles the import of gasoline from Russia.

Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev fired on Tuesday Deputy Energy Minister Aset Magauov and deputy chief executive of state energy firm KazMunayGaz, Daniyar Berlibayev, blaming the ministry and the company for failing to ensure stable supplies.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev dismissed Aset Magauov as the deputy energy minister and issued reprimand to Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev during a government meeting on Tuesday, Financial One (fomag.ru) reports.

The reason for the severe measures was the shortage of fuel and lubricants in the countrys market.

Despite the availability of three oil refineries, Kazakhstan depends on supply of Russian oil products.

A reprimand for improper performance of duties was also issued to Sauat Mynbayev, the chief executive of the state company KazMunaiGas.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 10

Trend:

Turkmenistans President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed the countrys Law On Free Economic Zones on Oct. 10, a source in the Turkmen government said.

The country is implementing program measures to modernize, diversify and strengthen the export potential of the national economy.

Big investments are allocated for the development of oil and gas sector, agro-industrial complex, high-tech industries that produce competitive goods for world markets, and the formation of developed transport, information and communications infrastructure.

The Turkmen state supports the development of small and medium businesses.

Important aspects of the state economic policy are international cooperation, large-scale financing of the most important national and international projects by domestic resources, as well as attraction of foreign investments to the country, establishment of long-term mutually beneficial relations with business circles of the world, including the introduction of innovative resource-saving technologies, advanced achievements of management and marketing.

The new law determines the legal, organizational and economic basis for the creation, functioning and liquidation of free economic zones in Turkmenistan.

The new law will give a new momentum to the development of national economy, help to increase the investment attractiveness of Turkmenistan, reported the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news agency.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Kamila Aliyeva  Trend:

The National Air Company Uzbekistan Airways (Uzbekiston Havo Yullari) was warded at the 12th KLIA Awards 2016 ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

Uzbekistan Airways was recognized as the best in the nomination "The Best Foreign Airline of the Year in Central Asia for Passenger Transport".

The award was handed to the representative office of Uzbekistan Airways in Kuala Lumpur by Managing Director of the Association of Malaysian Airports Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

He underlined that Uzbekistan Airways was one of the first in Central Asia to launch regular flights to the international airport KLIA on the "dream liners" - Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

KLIA Awards is an annual event held by the Malaysian Airports Authority Berhad administration, which honors its partners for their fruitful activities and services. Winners of the award are selected on the basis of annual achievements in such areas as passenger transportation, growth factor, sales figures, international recognition and excellence in service.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Kamila Aliyeva  Trend:

Self-sufficiency in domestic market and food security are priority directions of development of agricultural sector, a centerpiece of Uzbekistans economy.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the government to develop a number of key programs for the development of the agrarian sector in the next few months, podrobno.uz reported.

Until mid-December, the Cabinet is expected to prepare regulatory and legal acts aimed at further development of animal husbandry, poultry farming, fish farming, fruit and vegetable growing, beekeeping and other important areas of agriculture, coordination of activities of farms in this area and increasing its efficiency.

Also, the government will present a program of comprehensive measures to widely implement market infrastructures, innovations, scientific achievements and modern information and communication technologies. Its main goal is to increase the efficiency and profitability of agriculture, especially in mechanizing the collection of cotton and further improvement of labor relations in the area.

Ensuring food security is another important area. In this regard, the head of state instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to develop a comprehensive program of measures to ensure the country's food security until 2020.

The country's economy depends heavily on agricultural production. Last year the volume of gross agricultural production in Uzbekistan reached 47.4 trillion soums. As of January 1, 2017, the number of operating farms exceeded 132,000 and dekhkan farms - 4.7 million.

In total, 8.2 million tons of grain, 2.9 million tons of potatoes, 11.2 million tons of vegetables, over 3 million tons of fruits and berries, 1.7 million tons of grapes, 2 million tons of melons and 2.9 million tons of raw cotton were produced in the country last year.

Because of the risks associated with a one-crop economy as well as from considerations of food security for the population, Uzbekistan has been trying to diversify its production of other agricultural products, while reducing cotton production.

The Central Asian nation intends to decrease production and public procurement of raw cotton up to 3 million tons by 2020.

Thus, Uzbekistan aims to increase production of grain crops up to 8.5 million tons with the growth rate of 16.4 percent by 2020 due to optimization of lands and introduction of modern agriculture technologies. It is also planned to increase production of potatoes by 35 percent, other vegetables by 30 percent, fruits and grapes 21.5 percent, meat by 26.2 percent, milk by 47.3 percent, eggs by 74.5 percent and fish by 2.5 times.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Diana Aliyeva  Trend:

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan agreed to contribute to the promotion of joint tourism routes and brands, such as the Great Silk Road.

This is envisaged in the two countries bilateral agreement on development of cooperation in the field of tourism. The document was signed on October 5 during the state visit of Kyrgyzstans president to Uzbekistan.

The agreement was signed by the State Committee for Tourism Development and the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan.

According to the Uzbek Committee for Tourism Development, the agreement covers a number of important areas of cooperation in the field of tourism.

As for the partnership in promoting the Great Silk Road brand and others, there are plans to organize international conferences, forums, seminars, exhibitions and publications in the media.

Moreover, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan want to jointly create and promote combined tourism routes and tourism products.
Tehran, Iran, October 9

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

An Iranian producer of gauze bandages has started using atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) technology to produce more effective products.

Kaveh Bandage, Gauze, and Cotton Co. has been provided with ACP machines built by Iranian company ADY Co., a source told Trend October 9.

By using these high-tech machines, the company would be able to create gauze bandages with two times liquid absorption capability as regular bandages.

"Not only that, these new bandages will be quicker in absorbing liquids, which would help heal wounds faster," the source said.

"Another benefit gained here is that there would no more need to use chemicals in producing gauze bandages, which both cuts on production cost and is more environment-friendly," said the source.

According to a contract between Kaveh and ADY, 14,400 square meters per year of gauze will be treated with ACP technology, with a total value of 150 billion rials (1USD worth 33,850 rials). The contract is also expected to contribute to the emergence of a 500-billion-rial nano-market in Iran.
Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

Iran and Italy have signed an agreement according to which Italian professors will teach Iranian students science related to rail transportation.

The agreement was signed between the Italian Railways Group, Islamic Republic Railways (RAI), and the Iranian University of Science and Technology, RAI public relations office told Trend October 10.

According to Said Fazel, the dean of engineering school at Iran University of Science and Technology, who was addressing a joint press conference about the agreement, 700 applying students have been selected to take the course.

Nurollah Beiranvand, deputy head of RAI for planning and economy, who also spoke during the press conference, hoped that the academic cooperation will provide Iran with great human resources.

He noted that according to policies of the RAI, railways should be responsible for 30 percent of cargo transportation as well as 20 percent of passenger transportation in Iran.

Iran has 3,500 kilometers of railroads under construction. The countrys 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25) stipulates that the number of passengers using rail transportation in the country will increase from the current 25 million to 65 million per year.
Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

If the United States walks out of the Iran deal, it will not amount to a legal dismantling of the agreement, however, Iran would be able to grasp that situation and adopt some measures, an expert says.

The deal, aka Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will be violated if the US quits, but the US is only one of the six international signatories, Abolfazl Shakouri, a political analyst, told Trend Oct. 10.

US President Donald Trump is a stern critic of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed in 2015 between Iran and six world powers  the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany.

Under the agreement, nuclear-related sanctions put in place against Iran were lifted in exchange for curbs on Tehrans nuclear program. Trump has said he will decertify the deal on Oct. 15, paving the way for the US to quit it.

During his speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 19, the US president described the JCPOA as the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into, a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign.

Decertifying the deal will open the way for Congress to possibly authorize more restrictive measures against Iran. Congress requires the president to certify Iranian compliance with the deal every 90 days. The next certification date is Oct. 15.

Since the historic deal went into effect, the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republics compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA.

Iran has said if the deal is violated, the country will cease to comply with it and start enriching uranium above the level authorized by the deal.

Even in that case, the JCPOA would be legally viable, but the United States would be cornered among the superpowers that have the role of preserving the deal, Shakouri said.

If the US walks out, it will give Iran some right to adopt certain actions, such as returning to the status it had before the deal, without having to pay any international prices, the expert noted.

High-ranking European officials have cautioned against Donald Trumps vows to decertify Irans compliance with the nuclear agreement this week.

The strongest warning was made by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who on Monday said "the world will change" if Trump kills the international agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a possible US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal would have negative consequences.

On Monday, the UN atomic agency chief reaffirmed Irans commitment to the nuclear deal.

I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the [nuclear agreement] are being implemented, Yukiya Amano said during a conference in Rome.
Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10

By Mohammad Jafari  Trend:

Iran has no way out but to rely on domestic capacities as it seems the US President Donald Trump is successfully managing to persuade the Congress to re-impose sanctions on Tehran's energy sector, an expert said.

"Iran must face any fresh round of sanctions only via relying on its internal capacities, including talented human resources and internal wealth," Hossein Raghfar, a well-known economist and university professor told Trend.

He further said that if Iran's economy was strong enough in 2012, no international coalition against Tehran would take shape and no sanctions would've been imposed on the country's oil and gas sectors at that time.

Raghfar believes Trump's plan on Iran will get approval from the US Congress, adding that European countries may follow the Trump's attitude towards Iran, regardless of their current opposing views to the plan.

"The Europe will surely prefer relations with the US to the ones with Iran," Raghfar added.

China and Russia will do the same as they have their own considerations, he believes.

None of the members of The Group P5+1 [US, Russia, China, France and the UK plus Germany] will adhere to their obligations to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the expert said, adding that Iran, therefore, will find no way out but utilizing internal capabilities and capacities to promote domestic production.

It should be noted that the world economy will also suffer a great deal if the US walks away from the JCPOA and re-impose sanctions on Tehran because so many countries and international companies will lose Iran's great market and its eye-catching economic opportunities, the expert concluded.

President Donald Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the landmark international deal to curb Irans nuclear program, a senior administration official said on Thursday, Reuters reported earlier.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The reason for the crisis in US-Turkish relations is linked to Ankaras independent policy in the region, in particular, regarding the settlement of the Syrian issue, Naciye Selin Senocak, a holder of Istanbul Aydin Universitys UNESCO Chair in Cultural Diplomacy, Governance and Education (CDGE), director of the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies (CEDS) in Paris, told Trend.

She was commenting on the recent crisis in relations between Washington and Ankara.

She said that Turkey is embarking on new military operations in the Syrian city of Idlib jointly with Iran and Russia, and Ankara didnt take into account US interests in this issue.

The new military operations of Turkey in Syria jointly with Iran and Russia are very irritating to the US, she added.

Despite that the US authorities officially opposed creation of a new state in the north of Iraq, actually, Washington and its policy in the region are evidence of completely different approaches, she noted.

Senocak doesnt exclude that today the US will find it difficult to initiate military conflicts and arm various militant and terrorist groups by creating internal problems for the states of the region.

The US should completely reconsider its policy, which remains since the Cold War, the expert said. Otherwise, the US will lose all its capital and capabilities when faced by force represented by Russia, Turkey and China.

The expert also believes that Turkeys successful policy in the region is perceived in the US as a threat.

According to the NATO Charter, the US as an ally of Turkey is obliged to support the country against terrorist threats, and not to assist the terrorists, said Senocak.

She added that the military coup attempt in Turkey, the US arming of the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) (YPG, Peoples Protection Units/PYD, Democratic Union Party), accusations against bodyguards of the Turkish president, as well as the contract signed by Ankara and Moscow for the purchase of S-400 air defense system, joint military operations of Turkey, Iran and Russia in the Syrian Idlib, and, finally, the recent arrest of an employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul are clear evidence of cooling in relations between the US and Turkey.

In this regard, Senocak noted that the latest crisis in the relations between Turkey and the US may become more extensive.

On Oct. 8, 2017, the US suspended issuance of non-immigrant visas to Turkish citizens. The US suspended issuance of non-immigrant visas to Turkish citizens due to the arrest of an employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul.

The Turkish authorities, commenting on the arrest of the employee, noted that he had links with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of being involved in a military coup attempt in Turkey in 2016.

Turkey, in turn, also suspended the issuance of visas to US citizens.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.10

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Recent visits of Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Oman and Qatar and his further comments can be interpreted in different ways, depending on what one wants to hear.

Some say it was a useful step aimed at building better relations with neighboring states, others claim that Iran is trying to divide the unity of GCC members.

Sincere steps to improve relationship?

Last week Mohammad Javad Zarif, mentioning his substantive meetings held in Oman and Qatar and a successful Iran-Turkey summit in Tehran, noted that the Islamic Republic would give priority to neighboring counties in its foreign policy.

His comments concern Saudi Arabia as well, as the latter is the closest neighbor, with which Iran has a number of unresolved and painful issues. This can be interpreted as Tehrans invitation for Riyadh to revise bilateral relations accordingly and reduce tensions in the whole region.

Is there rationale for rapprochement of the two nations?

There are millions of contradictions among people or countries over a million different cases but not all of them are necessary to turn into confrontation and hostility. On the contrary, majority of contradictions remain frozen, thanks to good will and ability for compromise.

First of all, Iran and Saudi Arabia are, to a great extent, responsible for energy stability and security in the Gulf as a crucial region of global hydrocarbons supply. This factor alone should push them towards each other.

Historically Iranians and Saudis share many common values, the key one being religion.

If Iran managed to come to terms with the West, cant it find common ground with its Muslim co-religionists, even if having sectarian differences? Both are among the most significant Muslim states in the Islamic world, and have shrines that are honored by all Muslims. Islam, by all means, is rather uniting than a dividing factor.

Considering this, the two sides could put an end to the Yemeni war.

Another concern is reciprocal blames in terrorism. Here it is necessary to remind that in spite of antipodal positions over Syria, Tehran and Doha restrained themselves from issuing ultimatums and displayed preparedness to hear each other. Then, it can work with Saudi Arabia too.

Iran demonstrates signs of readiness to improve relationship or at least to turn from open confrontation back to the mode of moderate contradictions. As for the UAE and Bahrain, it seems that after building the first bridge between Iran and Saudi Arabia they will not object to follow the latter.

Fight for regional supremacy?

If proceeding from the paradigm that what weakens the opponents position is good for me, then a widening gap among some of the Gulf States could play into Tehrans hand.

The Gulf crisis has had a reverse effect over ties between Iran and Qatar. After a few hours since the economic blockade initiated by Saudi Arabia, was deployed, Iran opened air corridor through its territory to provide Doha with necessary goods.

Both nations stated that they were going to fully restore diplomatic relations broken off in January 2016. In August 26, 2017 Qatari Embassy officially resumed its activities in Tehran.

Zarif visited Qatar in the heat of the Qatar-GCC dispute which means that Iran is not content to play the role of a driven side but makes its presence felt.

Meanwhile, some contradictory actions among the GCC members strike the eye.

Only three member states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. GCC citizens have the right to live in any GCC member country. After the diplomatic crisis occurred, Qataris have been banned from living in Bahrain, Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, but the change has not been supported by Kuwait and Oman.

The UAE blames Qatar for its close relations with Iran whereas Emirates themselves keep on having diplomatic and full value trade relations with Tehran. Also, Emirates keep getting gas from Qatar, despite the cut of diplomatic relations.

What is it - lack of unified policy towards Iran? Or, maybe the political rift between Arab states is to Tehrans credit?

Up to date, the diplomatic crisis round Qatar has looked as a scenic one, as the opposite sides of the dispute in fact are in close communication. But who knows how things are going tomorrow if, for instance, political axis Iran-Qatar-Oman-Yemen will begin to take distinct shape, or Iranian military aides will appear in Qatari military command.

So, official Tehran looks quite sincere in its statements that neighbors are permanent; geography can't be changed, but further political developments in the Gulf region will depend not on words but on practical deeds.
The US Ambassador to Turkey, John Bass, has the support of the White House and State Department in his decision to suspend visa services over the arrest of a local Turkish employee last week, a move that quickly escalated into a crisis between the two countries, Bloomberg reports.

The US is very concerned about the situation in Turkey, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Tuesday. She said the US has seen no evidence that the detained employee, or another who was arrested previously, were supporters of an exiled cleric that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for a failed 2016 coup.

Earlier, Erdogan seemed to put the blame for the visa suspension controversy solely on Bass, a career diplomat scheduled to leave the country soon after being tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as ambassador to Afghanistan.

If the ambassador acted on his own, then the US administration should not keep him there for a minute, Erdogan said.

Nauert also disclosed Tuesday that a third US employee in Turkey was taken in for questioning but wasnt arrested.
Think space travel is just for skilled astronauts and fictional characters from your favorite "Star Wars" films? Think again. You don't have to be a professional scientist to fly into suborbital space, but you will have to pay a steep price.

[See: The 10 Top Places for Stargazing.]

With a variety of pioneering companies competing to launch humans into space, lunar exploration is taking off. Take SpaceX, the brainchild of Elon Musk, which plans to transport two passengers aboard its SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to cross over the moon and back in 2018. Or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket company, which aspires to launch six lucky tourists into space via a capsule, and that's testing its New Shepard rocket ahead of plans for commercial suborbital journeys in 2018. For those more inclined to board a spaceship, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic aims to send tourists -- including world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking -- aboard the SpaceShipTwo (a six-passenger aircraft) into space this year.

If you're not interested in gliding into deep or suborbital space -- or you lack the funds to support a $250,000 journey aboard the Virgin Galactic -- you can enjoy epic space events from Earth this year, including watching the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, stargazing in prized national parks or even checking out the northern lights.

Thanks to groundbreaking technological advancements, space tourism is no longer a pipe dream. Here are leading astro-tourism trends to watch in 2017 and beyond.

The 21st-Century Space Race Is Heating Up

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and Blue Origin's New Shepard are carving the path for space tourism by utilizing "reusable space vehicles," explains Bill Gutman, vice president of aerospace operations at Spaceport America, a commercial space complex that aims to unlock the future of space exploration. While refurbishing rockets can be costly, reusing rockets, shuttle space engines and space vehicle parts can significantly reduce costs for space entrepreneurs and ultimately space tourists. "These vehicles have the potential to open the space experience to vastly more people than has been possible heretofore," he says. Plus, reusable technology could trim the launch costs, advance technology breakthroughs for future exploration and enable a greater volume of launches, making space travel more accessible to tourists, he adds. "It is anticipated that Virgin Galactic will take more people to space in the first few years of operations than have experienced space from the beginning of the Space Age until present," Gutman explains.

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Orbital space travel will also be available to tourists in the near future, he adds. Gutman points to Bigelow Aerospace, which is working to build sophisticated space equipment like the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module for the International Space Station. "Bigelow Aerospace is well along with developing space habitat modules that will enable longer space tourism stays perhaps akin the 'Orbital Hilton' as seen in the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey,'" he says.

Boeing, in partnership with NASA, also has developed technology that will enable astronauts to experience low-orbit earth journeys aboard the Crew Space Transportation-100 Starliner. While other companies are offering suborbital journeys, the Starliner aims to carry up to seven people per trip to low-earth orbit. Though Starliner's technology is specifically designed for astronauts to advance space exploration, a future commercial airline is already being tested at Kennedy Space Center and is slated to launch in 2019, explains Kelly Kaplan, communications lead at Boeing Space Exploration.

Private commercial space tour company Space Adventures has partnered with Boeing to market seats on the Starliner, but it had not yet released information on what the experience will entail. "Our clients have traveled over 36 million miles and have spent a total of approximately three months in space. We also have plans to fly two clients around the far side of the moon on a modified Russian Soyuz spacecraft," says Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures.

[See: 10 Best Trips for Adventure Junkies.]

Commercial Space Stations May Become a Reality in the Near Future

Getting materials and supplies transported from Earth to commercial space stations or settlements will have a high initial cost, but in the future, "it is likely that technologies will be developed to recycle materials, to grow food in space and to utilize lunar materials to build and to provide oxygen and water," Gutman says, enabling costs to go down. To accomplish this, commercial space lines will be vital, he adds. But first, operators must "demonstrate to the FAA that risk to the uninvolved public does not exceed a threshold level," he explains. In the future, the FAA may license space adventures, he says, noting that the process "will be complex because international law and treaties must be considered."

Boeing and NASA are also teaming up to help astronauts expand research with a deep space gateway and transport system that will create an environment, similar to the International Space Station, complete with a docking system and technology to shield astronauts from the harsh conditions, enabling an ideal jumping-off point for journeys from the moon to Mars, Kaplan adds.

In the Near-Term, Space Travel Will Cost You

Launching into suborbital space is possible, but it won't be cheap. While you can purchase tickets to board the Virgin Galactic, prices and ticket reservations for Blue Origin's New Shepard have not yet been revealed. "As with all new enterprises, we would certainly expect that as more providers enter the market, the price for a space tourism experience will trend lower. The ultimate price point will be determined by supply and demand and by the success of providers in bringing cost-lowering technologies to the market," Gutman adds.

If you're interested in visiting the International Space Station with an outfitter like Space Adventures, you can book tickets now. Pricing is contingent on the mission, timing and vehicle, Shelley explains. The cost for a flight to the ISS is roughly $50 million; flights orbiting the moon are priced at $150 million per person, he explains.

You Can Embrace Your Inner Astronaut on Earth

If you don't have the funds to support a moon mission, you can still enjoy otherworldly experiences on terra firma. "Space Adventures is able to arrange on-the-ground space-related experiences, such as tours to watch rocket launches from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, or the ability for clients to experience elements of the same training required for our private astronaut clients in Star City, Russia," Shelley explains. Space Adventures also offers zero-gravity flights for roughly $5,000, Shelley adds.

[See: Where to See 2017's Total Solar Eclipse.]

Meanwhile, Spaceport America offers programs such as interactive exhibits, a g-force simulator and launch videos for enthusiasts.





More From US News & World Report


President Donald Trump still calls it "fake news" to say his secretary of State called him a "moron." But if Rex Tillerson did make the jab, the president has a way to settle it. "I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump told Forbes of the "moron" comment. Trump often boasts about his intelligence and achievements. Despite the remarks, Trump told reporters Tuesday that he still has confidence in Tillerson. He also said "I didn't undercut anybody" with the IQ test comment.

Asked about Tillerson's IQ later Tuesday, a State Department spokeswoman responded that he had a "high" IQ. Tensions between Trump and Tillerson appeared to escalate last week when NBC News reported that Tillerson considered resigning this summer. It said Tillerson also called the president a "moron" following a July meeting with members of the president's national security team and Cabinet. At a hastily scheduled news conference after the report, Tillerson said he never considered leaving his job but did not deny calling the president the derogatory name. NBC later reported that Tillerson's refusal to deny calling Trump a moron angered the president further. NBC, which shares a parent company with CNBC, stands by its reporting. Read the full Forbes story here. Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.



More From CNBC


Where do you draw the line when trying to catch child abusers? That's what authorities have to decide when they run sting operations on the dark web. When Norwegian newspaper VG investigated one of the biggest child exploitation sites on the dark web, Child's Play, they found that it had been run by Australian police for three months. The special unit out of Brisbane, dubbed Argos, had undercover detectives posting and sharing abuse materials on the site. The newspaper held off on reporting until now, a year later, to allow the police to finish its investigation.

According to a report in The Guardian, the abuse site was created in April of 2016 and had more than 1 million user registrations when police finally took it down last month; more than 3,000 of those users were active. The Guardian reports that the Argos investigation led to rescues of children around the globe and the arrest of criminal sex offenders. The website was founded by a Canadian and an American; the former is serving a life sentence for the sexual assault of a four-year-old in Virginia last year. The Australian police took over his identity to keep the site running. Members of the site expected a monthly post from its founder, which had to include images of child exploitation. There are no laws in Australia, says The Guardian, to prevent this.

While allowing such a site to continue operating may seem scandalous, the authorities and their supporters feel as if it was a necessary evil. "I think it's a tough question for everyone involved, and I know it's a tough question for police," Hetty Johnston -- founder of Australian advocacy group Bravehearts -- told The Guardian. "But I support this 100 percent because the images that police would use would not be images that they create, they would be existing images. And the idea is to get to people who are currently sexually offending against children. This is a war, and we have to engage in the war. We have to engage in it."
Screen Shot 2017 10 10 at 2.31.19 PM

Bitcoin broke through a new ceiling on Tuesday amid regulatory uncertainty and mounting criticism.

The price of the red-hot cryptocurrency soared passed $4,900 Tuesday afternoon to $4,926, an all-time high for the cryptocurrency, according to data from Bloomberg.

Other estimates put bitcoin's all-time high over $5,000, such as CoinDesk's index.

Bitcoin hit a record high of $4,921, according to data from Bloomberg, at the beginning of September, but quickly saw its price decline amid news of a crackdown in China and regulatory uncertainty around initial coin offerings, a cryptocurrency-based fundraising method. After bottoming out near $2,900 per coin on September 15, it has since rallied.

On Tuesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin added to the uncertainty, hinting at a possible cryptocurrency crackdown in Russia.

Putin's comments follow mounting criticism from some of Wall Street's most powerful players.

On September 12 JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin "a fraud" and said it was "worse than tulips bulbs" in the 1600s.

Then, in a recent interview with Bloomberg News, Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock, the world's largest investor with $5.7 trillion under management, said he thinks the explosive growth of bitcoin points to nefarious behavior.

"It just identifies how much money laundering there is being done in the world," Fink said. "How much people are trying to move currencies from one place to another."

Kenneth Rogoff, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, weighed in on bitcoin Monday, saying that "in the long run, the technology will thrive, but that the price of bitcoin will collapse."

NOW WATCH: A $1 trillion money manager says the Trump Trade is back





More From Business Insider


bob corker

Republican Sen. Bob Corker stepped up his criticism of President Donald Trump late Sunday, saying the president was running the country like a "reality show" and, through his rhetoric, could set the US "on the path to World War III."

The comments, appearing in an interview with The New York Times, were an escalation of the testy back-and-forth between Corker and Trump that began last week after the Tennessee senator announced he would not seek reelection in 2018.

"He concerns me," Corker said, according to The Times. "He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation."

Corker also suggested that Trump may not completely grasp the power of the presidency.

"I don't think he appreciates that when the president of the United States speaks and says the things that he does, the impact that it has around the world, especially in the region that he's addressing," he told The Times. "And so, yeah, it's concerning to me."

Earlier Sunday, Trump blasted Corker in an early-morning tweetstorm, claiming he denied the senator his endorsement and rejected him as a candidate for secretary of state. Trump also blamed Corker for what he called the "horrible Iran Deal" and said the senator "didn't have the guts" to run for reelection.

Corker quickly fired back, tweeting that it was a "shame the White House has become an adult day care center." He also denied the president's claims in his interview with The Times, saying it was Trump who encouraged Corker to run for reelection and preemptively offered his endorsement, only for Corker to say he had decided not to run again.

"I don't know why the president tweets out things that are not true," he told The Times. "You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does."

The public quarrel between Corker and Trump began Wednesday when Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sharply criticized the president for undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's efforts to establish diplomatic channels with North Korea amid heightening nuclear tensions. Corker described Tillerson as being among "those people that help separate our country from chaos."

Story continues

Corker was also vocally critical of the Republican tax plan, saying last Monday that it could balloon the federal deficit.

With Republicans holding a slim 52-seat majority in the Senate, Trump can ill afford to lose Corker's vote on his proposed tax overhaul.

NOW WATCH: 'Rocket man is on a suicide mission': Trump threatens to 'totally destroy North Korea' in major UN speech





More From Business Insider


The ongoing political instability in Spain is raising eyebrows across the entire euro zone, Portugal's deputy finance minister told CNBC Monday."It's not only a problem for Portugal, it's an issue for the euro area and Europe as a whole," Ricardo Mourinho Felix, secretary of state for the finance ministry, told CNBC exclusively on the sidelines of a key euro zone meeting in Luxembourg."We are also concerned about the situation as devoted Europeans that believe in the European project and it's very important to have a close monitoring," he added.Portugal has been following the situation closely given that Spain is its biggest trading partner and political uncertainty there could impact business. Mourinho Felix told CNBC that it is time to speak, to discuss and to find an orderly solution to Catalonia's wish to become independent. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he will address the regional parliament Tuesday evening, though it's unclear if he will declare independence then. The ongoing political instability in Spain is raising eyebrows across the entire euro zone, Portugal's deputy finance minister told CNBC Monday. "It's not only a problem for Portugal, it's an issue for the euro area and Europe as a whole," Ricardo Mourinho Felix, secretary of state for the finance ministry, told CNBC exclusively on the sidelines of a key euro zone meeting in Luxembourg. "We are also concerned about the situation as devoted Europeans that believe in the European project and it's very important to have a close monitoring," he added. Portugal has been following the situation closely given that Spain is its biggest trading partner and political uncertainty there could impact business. Mourinho Felix told CNBC that it is time to speak, to discuss and to find an orderly solution to Catalonia's wish to become independent. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he will address the regional parliament Tuesday evening, though it's unclear if he will declare independence then.



More From CNBC


China claims it wasn't behind the hacking of a US think tank that was set to host exiled Chinese tycoon-turned-activist Guo Wengui. The Hudson Institute abruptly canceled its event with Guo last week, claiming it had detected a Shanghai-based attack aimed at crippling its website.The incident was raised by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in his meeting with Chinese government officials on Wednesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Guo himself also claimed that the law firm representing his US political asylum bid backed out after it was targeted by Chinese hackers. In a statement, China's Ministry of Public Security told Reuters it had found "no evidence" of government involvement in the alleged cyberattacks.

Guo, who left China in 2014, is an outspoken critic of the country's Communist Party. The New York-based tycoon's unsubstantiated accusations against top-tier Chinese officials on Twitter and YouTube have garnered him quite the social media following. For its part, China has issued a global "red notice" through Interpol for Guo's arrest. Although the exact charges against him remain unclear, the country's state-run media has previously accused him of bribing a vice-minister. And, in August, Chinese police opened a new investigation against the billionaire on rape charges. Guo is also facing a series of defamation lawsuits in the US from various Chinese individuals and companies. He denies all the allegations against him.

China is no stranger to charges of state-sponsored hacking. Last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation pointed the finger at the Chinese military for a spate of cyberattacks launched against it since 2010. And, in August, the FBI said it had arrested a Chinese national linked to the massive data breach that struck the Office of Personnel Management back in 2014 to 2015.
Chinese markets witnessed great buying on Oct 9 after a week-long Golden Week holiday, despite a 21-month low figure for the Caixin services purchasing managers' index. The Caixin Services PMI declined to 50.6 in September compared with 52.7 in August.



Factors Driving Markets



Markets shrugged off the weakness in services PMI. Buying activity surged primarily owing to a pre-holiday announcement by the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), relating to the amount of reserves banks must hold.



Financials saw maximum gains as the move is expected to increase the amount of funds in the financial system by approximately $45.15 billion (300 billion yuan), per a fox business article. The reserve requirement will be cut in order to free up funds so that banks can lend more to small businesses.



Per a Bloomberg article, the range of cuts will vary from 0.5-1.5% depending on the relationship of the banks with small businesses.



Moreover, delegates are all set for the once in five years meeting of the Communist Party Congress on Oct 18. The markets will be closely watching this meeting as party members are expected to meet and confirm President Xi Jinpings term as party chief.



Rating Downgrade



S&P Global ratings downgraded Chinas sovereign rating by one notch to A+ from AA- and revised its outlook to stable from negative. This introduces massive uncertainty for the Chinese economy which is just days away from a leadership reshuffle. Although the S&P forecasts the debt level to grow in the near term, it expects Chinas policies on reining in debt to play out in the medium term (read: China Credit Rating Downgraded: ETFs in Focus).



Geopolitical Risks



China is also subject to geopolitical risks as Asian markets suffer from massive volatility due to North Koreas actions. Per the latest report by a Russian news agency, the RIA, a Russian lawmakers recent visit to Pyongyang revealed that North Koreans are prepping another long-range missile test that has the capability to reach the west coast of the United States.

Story continues



United States imposed harsh fresh financial sanctions on North Korea on Sep 21. Per Reuters, People's Bank of China informed Chinese banks to adhere to UN sanctions against North Korea. Since 90% of North Koreas trade is with China, these sanctions are expected to greatly impact the latter (read: ETFs to Lose If Trump Bans Trade With North Korean Partners).



Let us now discuss a few ETFs focused on providing exposure to the Chinese economy (see all Asia-Pacific Emerging ETFs here).



iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI



This fund seeks to provide exposure to Chinese equities, serving as a pure play on the economy.



It has AUM of $3.6 billion and is a relatively expensive bet as it charges a fee of 74 basis points a year. From a sector look, Financials, Energy and Telecommunication Services are the top three allocations of the fund, with 52.4%, 11.0% and 9.4% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). From an individual holding perspective, Tencent Holdings Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are the top three allocations of the fund, with 9.3%, 8.8% and 8.0% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). The fund has returned 32% year to date and 17.4% in a year (as of Oct 6, 2017). FXI currently has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold) with a Medium risk outlook.



iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI



This ETF is another such option to play the BRIC nation.



It has AUM of $2.6 billion and charges a fee of 64 basis points a year. From a sector look, Information Technology, Financials and Consumer Discretionary are the top three allocations of the fund, with 39.9%, 22.6% and 10.1% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). From an individual holding perspective, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding ADR and China Construction Bank Corp. are the top three allocations of the fund, with 16.5%, 13.2% and 4.8% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). The fund has returned 49.4% year to date and 31.3% in a year (as of Oct 6, 2017). MCHI currently has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 with a Medium risk outlook.



SPDR S&P China ETF GXC



This fund has AUM of $1.1 billion and charges a fee of 59 basis points a year. From a sector look, Information Technology, Financials and Consumer Discretionary are the top three allocations of the fund, with 35.6%, 22.2% and 11.0% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). From an individual holding perspective, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding ADR and China Construction Bank Corporation are the top three allocations of the fund, with 13.6%, 11.3%, and 5.2% exposure, respectively (as of Oct 5, 2017). The fund has returned 47.0% year to date and 29.6% in a year (as of Oct 6, 2017). GXC currently has a Zacks ETF Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with a Medium risk outlook.



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Crude gains in Asia

Investing.com - Crude oil prices rose in Asia on Tuesday with sentiment improving with China back from a week-long holiday and as investors look ahead to supply an demand figures due this week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for November delivery rose 0.24% to $49.70 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent gained 0.36% to $55.88 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute releases its estimates of crude and refined stocks in the U.S. to be followed by official data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday, with both sets of data a day later than usual because of a public holiday in the U.s. on Monday.

Overnight, crude oil prices settled higher on Monday after oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexican began returning to service as Storm Nate had little impact on oil infrastructure while bullish comments from Opec lifted sentiment.

In what was a volatile session, oil prices made a positive start to the week as oil infrastructure shut down in the Gulf of Mexico in preparation for Hurricane Nate started returning to service as Hurricane Nate weakened and moved inland.

More than 90% percent of crude oil production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico was shut in, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Opec Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo stoked expectations of an extension to the output-cut agreement deal beyond the March 2018 deadline, assuring market participants that talks concerning a possible extension were underway.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is due to meet in Vienna on Nov. 30, when it will discuss the impact of its global deal to rein in output.

Oil prices have come under pressure, dropping below $50 a barrel, as investors questioned whether the recent rally has been justified.

There appears to be growing doubt among market participants as to whether the price rise of recent weeks is justified, said Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) (DE:CBKG) analysts in a recent note. Among other things, this was due to the possible extension of the production cuts until the end of 2018.

Story continues

A monthly report from both Opec and the International Energy Agency (IEA) later in the week, however, is expected to provide traders with fresh insight into global demand and supply in oil markets.

Related Articles

Crude Oil Gains In Asia As Market Looks To Supply/Demand Data

Oil prices stable as OPEC says market is rebalancing

Crude Oil Prices Settle Higher Ahead of Busy Week
By Silvia Aloisi

MILAN (Reuters) - The head of the European parliament has challenged the European Central Bank over how new guidelines for bank bad loans are being set, escalating a row between Italy and the ECB over the proposed measures.

The ECB last week issued new proposals that will force banks from 2018 to set aside more cash against newly classified bad loans and said it may also present additional measures to tackle the sector's huge stock of bad debts.

Italy - whose banks hold nearly 30 percent of the bloc's 915 billion euros (817 billion) in bad loans - has reacted angrily to the proposals, asking the ECB to soften them following a public consultation that runs until Dec. 8. Italian bank shares fell for a fifth straight day on Tuesday following a string of analyst reports warning the country's lenders would be hit by the new measures.

EU parliament speaker Antonio Tajani, an Italian national, said in a letter to ECB President Mario Draghi, also Italian, that he was "deeply concerned" about how the new policies were being set.

Tajani urged Draghi to involve the European parliament in the process to avert an institutional clash.

"I seriously wonder whether specific additional obligations... can be imposed on supervised entities without appropriately involving the co-legislators in the decision-making process," Tajani said in the letter, seen by Reuters and reprinted in the Italian press.

"I would urge you to take all steps in order to ensure that parliament's prerogatives as co-legislator are duly respected, so as to avoid an inter-institutional dispute about this issue."

The ECB declined to comment.

The letter is an unusual challenge to the ECB by a mainstream European lawmaker such as Tajani, an ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who was elected president of the European parliament in January.

The European parliament does not have a role in banking supervision decisions, although it can ask the ECB for information.

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The ECB's banking supervisory functions are legally separated from monetary policy and are carried out by the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), chaired by Daniele Nouy. Draghi, who like Nouy often appears before the European Parliament, regularly invokes the separation principle when asked about SSM matters.

Draghi tends to reply to letters from European lawmakers within days and his responses are published by the ECB.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt, Stefano Bernabei in Rome Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) - France said on Monday it was worried that designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group could exacerbate tensions in the region, and appeared to urge Tehran to show restraint.

Iran's foreign ministry promised on Monday to give a "crushing" response if the United States' President Donald Trump designated the country's most powerful security force as a terrorist organisation, part of a broader U.S. strategy on Iran.

"In the context of regional instability, France is vigilant on any actions that could exacerbate the current crises," foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told a daily briefing, when asked if Paris backed putting the IRGC on a terrorism list.

"With this in mind, regional states have a specific role to play and must show restraint and a sense of responsibility," she said.

Trump is to unveil his strategy on how he wants to contain Tehran in the region next week and is expected to decertify a landmark 2015 international deal to curb Irans nuclear programme, in a step that potentially could cause the accord to unravel. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
Unstable loans and escalating levels of global debt could plunge the world into another financial crisis, departing German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday. "Economists all over the world are concerned about the increased risks arising from the accumulation of more and more liquidity and the growth of public and private debt ... I myself am concerned about this, too," he said.Schaeuble, who is poised to become speaker of the Bundestag in Germany's new government, warned that "new bubbles" could soon emerge after central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets.The German finance minister also said he was concerned about the potential weakness in the euro zone as banks attempted to cope with the post-crisis legacy of underperforming loans. Schaeuble has long been the most pro-European politician in Chancellor Angela Merkel 's cabinet and was a key influence to the continent's policy response to the euro zone debt crisis. While the proponent of Europe has guided one of the world's largest economies for the past eight years, he has also been pilloried in countries such as Greece for being an architect of austerity. Schaeuble raised his concerns for the global economy ahead of his final Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, where finance chiefs from all euro zone nations are set to meet. Click here to read more at the Financial Times . Unstable loans and escalating levels of global debt could plunge the world into another financial crisis, departing German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday. "Economists all over the world are concerned about the increased risks arising from the accumulation of more and more liquidity and the growth of public and private debt ... I myself am concerned about this, too," he said. Schaeuble, who is poised to become speaker of the Bundestag in Germany's new government, warned that "new bubbles" could soon emerge after central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets. The German finance minister also said he was concerned about the potential weakness in the euro zone as banks attempted to cope with the post-crisis legacy of underperforming loans. Schaeuble has long been the most pro-European politician in Chancellor Angela Merkel 's cabinet and was a key influence to the continent's policy response to the euro zone debt crisis. While the proponent of Europe has guided one of the world's largest economies for the past eight years, he has also been pilloried in countries such as Greece for being an architect of austerity. Schaeuble raised his concerns for the global economy ahead of his final Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, where finance chiefs from all euro zone nations are set to meet. Click here to read more at the Financial Times .



More From CNBC


By Patturaja Murugaboopathy

REUTERS - Foreign investors sold Asian equities for the third straight month in September as a rising U.S. dollar and the appeal of rallying U.S. stocks spurred them to lighten portfolios in the region.

Data from seven Asian exchanges showed foreign investors sold about $4.9 billion in total in September, the highest since November.

India, Taiwan and South Korea, which have led Asia's equity inflows for the year, faced the biggest hit as U.S. equities and U.S. Treasury yields started to look more attractive to investors. Driving these flows to the U.S. are President Donald Trump's new tax proposals and the Federal Reserve's plans to begin trimming its $4.5-trillion portfolio of assets this month.

The Fed raised rates in March and June this year and market participants expect it to raise rates again in December.

"The strengthening U.S. dollar remains a very plausible risk for Asian equities in the near-term with a U.S. Fed hike and tax reform expectations, and this could cause outflows to sustain for some of the more vulnerable markets into the year-end," said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG markets in Singapore.

"Nevertheless, the latest set of PMI numbers in Asia has shown resilient economic conditions and could provide moderate support for regional markets."

Last month, the World Trade Organization (WTO) revised the growth in global trade to 3.7 percent in 2017, well above last year's 1.3 percent, saying trade growth was becoming more synchronised across regions than it had been for many years.

Economists said reviving global trade augurs well for trade-dependent Asian economies and would boost corporate profits.

South Korea's exports surged to record $55.1 billion in September on rising demand for its memory chips and steel products, while Japan's export growth accelerated to the fastest pace in four years in August.

Thomson Reuters data showed Asia Pacific companies are expected to post the highest profit growth of 32 percent in 2017, followed by Europe's 22 percent and the United States' 10 percent.

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Valuations are also favourable for the region with Asia Pacific's price-to-book ratio last week at 1.7, compared with the United States' 2.9 and Europe's 1.9.

For international investors, Asian equities provide both growth prospects and low valuations, analysts say.

MSCI's 47-country All-World index, which contains more than 2,400 firms, hit a record high last week.

"In the current environment where investors are clamouring for potential upside when most asset classes look quite expensive, Asian equities do look attractive," said Oliver Lee, investment director in Hong Kong at Old Mutual Global Investors.

"Over the next 6-12 months, we would expect to see positive flows into Asian equities from international investors."

(Additional Reporting by Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)
A worker is seen building an aircraft engine at Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on September 6, 2016. Picture taken on September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Alwyn Scott

By Alwyn Scott and Arunima Banerjee

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc said Tuesday it will pare its focus to four business lines, including aerospace, and spin off two businesses with $7.5 billion in revenue to help fund acquisitions.

The reorganization, which reduces revenue by about 18 percent, will simplify Honeywell's broad portfolio, boost growth and give shareholders a tax-free benefit from the new companies, Honeywell Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk said on a conference call on Tuesday.

It also gives the diversified manufacturer scope to change its remaining portfolio along the lines sought by hedge fund Third Point Capital, which agitated for a spin-off of aerospace. Third Point said on Tuesday it was pleased with the changes and backed Adamczyk's leadership, though it wants him to keep improving the portfolio.

Adamczyk hinted at more to come, saying the two new businesses "can grow at an accelerated rate."

The remaining businesses - aerospace, commercial building products, performance materials and safety products - are candidates for more acquisitions, he added.

"I'm very excited about M&A in all four of our businesses. And I think these two spins ... give me a lot of different levers to invest our M&A dollars."

Analysts praised the moves, but said Honeywell had more changes to make, and warned that aerospace, with products ranging from jet engines to airplane WiFi systems, may need to merge to gain the size to compete with larger rivals.

A spin-off or merger with General Electric Co's aerospace unit would make Honeywell a stronger competitor to United Technologies and a "more powerful supplier to Boeing Co and Airbus SE," Scott Davis, analyst at Melius Research, wrote in a note. "That's a deal worth thinking about."

Adamczyk played down such speculation in a later interview with Reuters. "The way we compete in aerospace is not through scale," he said. "We are going to compete through technology differentiation."

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Though his comments pointed away from a big deal, Honeywell sought to gain size last year with a $90.7-billion bid for United Technologies Corp under prior CEO David Cote. Industry experts say Honeywell's poor record on aerospace parts quality and delivery could hamper its ability to win new orders.

Honeywell shares ended the day down 0.2 percent in New York trading, after falling 2.3 percent initially.

REVAMPED PORTFOLIO

Adamczyk, like his peers at other industrial conglomerates, has been under pressure to reorder a portfolio of disparate businesses that includes automotive turbo chargers, burglar alarms and Xtratuf boots popular in Alaska's fishing industry.

Third Point had argued since April that a spin-off of aerospace, which accounted for about 38 percent of revenue in 2016, could generate $20 billion in shareholder value.

But Adamczyk took a different route, splitting off the home and ADI global distribution businesses, wholesale distributors of security, fire and environmental systems for homes and commercial buildings, into a public company that will absorb some of $554 million in environmental liabilities.

Honeywell will also spin off a transportation business that makes automotive turbo chargers into a second company that will absorb some of $1.54 billion in old asbestos liabilities. The amounts will be determined later, Adamczyk said.

The auto parts move follows other companies, including auto supplier Delphi Automotive Plc, that are shedding technology tied to the internal combustion engine as regulators around the world crack down on emissions and talk of mandating a switch to battery-electric vehicles over the next two decades.

With about $16 billion in debt, or 2.5 times operating earnings, Honeywell has limited scope for additional borrowing, said Dave Berge, analyst at Moody's Investors Service.

Honeywell expects to receive about $3 billion in dividends from the spin-offs, adding to its nearly $10 billion in cash.

That "positions the company to do meaningful acquisitions," said Harsh Acharya, analyst at Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc in Ohio.

The spin-offs are not due to close until the end of 2018, giving time to work out details - and, as Adamczyk noted, to consider other offers.

"We are leaning towards the spin route," he told Reuters. "But if we get compelling offers, we would of course consider them."

(Additional reporting by Greg Romouleotis in New York and Ankit Ajmera and Arunima Banerjee in Bangalore; editing by Patrick Graham and Nick Zieminski)
Oct 8 (Reuters) - The business jet market is expected to get a tailwind from the global economy's steady pace of growth and as Corporate America upgrades to newer aircraft.

Aero parts maker Honeywell International Inc said on Sunday that it expected deliveries of 8,300 aircraft worth about $249 billion between 2017 and 2027, assuming that the world economy grows at 3.1 percent on average over the next 10 years.

The company said starting in 2019, business jet sales are likely to see a steady growth of 3 to 4 percent for about eight to nine years.

However, Honeywell said it expected 2017 deliveries to fall by about 30 aircraft, compared with a year earlier.

Business jet shipments have struggled to recover after the financial crisis, having been cut in half from their peak of 1,317 in 2008 to 661 in 2016, according to General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

Aircraft sales fell in 2016 as economies sputtered, companies slashed their spending and oil tycoons retrenched due to weak oil prices.

Honeywell said it was expecting much of the growth in business jet sales in the coming decade to be fueled by introduction of new aircraft.

"There are several new and exciting aircraft models coming to market, which will drive solid growth in new business jet purchases in the midterm and long term," said Ben Driggs, president, Americas aftermarket, Honeywell Aerospace.

More than 60 percent of business jet sales are replacement aircraft for current owners.

The company said business jet operators continued to focus on larger-cabin aircraft - ranging from the super mid-size through ultralong range - which are expected to account for more than 85 percent of new business jet sales in the next five years. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
After witnessing sluggish growth in the second quarter, Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. HVT reported dismal sales results in the third quarter fiscal 2017 (ending Sep 30, 2017), following which shares eventually lost 10.4%. The decline was attributed to a decline in comparable store sales as well as written comparable sales, which were mainly impacted by Hurricane Irma. Haverty is scheduled to release its third-quarter results on Oct 31 after the market closes.

If we look into the third quarter of fiscal 2017 sales report, we note that sales declined 1.9% year over year to $207.6 million against 1.1% growth witnessed in the preceding quarter. Notably, positive sales growth in September was offset by negative written business, due to Irma.

Comparable store sales declined 2.9% for the third quarter, weaker than 0.2% decline witnessed in the second quarter and 1.6% in the first quarter. Total written sales for the third quarter were down 3.5% and written comparable store sales decreased 4.2% year over year, due to Irma which led to store closures. In fact, the company closed 55 stores at least for one day and ceased home deliveries in anticipation of Irma. The company had to shut 14 stores for three or more days due to power outages. Unfortunately, Haverty had to close its Florida and Eastern distribution centers and corporate offices due to disruptions caused by the hurricane.

The negative impact on third quarter total written sales and written comparable store sales because of these closures is estimated to be 1.2%.

In fact, shares of this retailer of full-service home furnishings have been underperforming the industry and the broader Retail-Wholesale sector for the last six months. The stock grew only 1.7% against the industrys growth of 10.8% and sectors improvement of 10.4%.

Despite sluggish written comparable sales, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company, remains encouraged by new merchandises that are expected to flourish stores in the coming months. The company believes that business will benefit as housing strengthens in the region and the general economy improves. We also remain encouraged by the solid fundamentals of the company and its solid store expansion plans to strengthen its presence in key markets with additional or repositioned stores. Moreover, the company is making innovations with respect to its technology developments. Also, its shareholder-friendly moves are noteworthy.

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Also, the stock exhibits a VGM Score of B, instilling confidence about its momentum. Moreover, the company has posted an average earnings surprise of 24.0% in the trailing four quarters.

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. Quote

Key Picks

Investors interested in the broader retail space may consider Burlington Stores Inc. BURL, Canada Goose Holdings, Inc. GOOS andThe Children's Place, Inc. PLCE. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

While Burlington has long-term earnings growth of 16.2%, Childrens Place and Canada Goose have long-term growth rates of 34.1% and 9.0%, respectively.

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FILE PHOTO - Italy's Minister of Economic Development, Carlo Calenda, speaks during a news conference hosted by Israel's Energy minister Yuval Steinitz with his European counterparts, in Tel Aviv, Israel April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said on Monday Italy would fight new proposals by the European Central Bank to force banks in the euro zone to set aside more cash to cover bad loans.

"We will fight this in the European Union, it's a political, not a technical matter," Calenda said in a television interview to be broadcast later on Monday.

Calenda is the latest of several Italian politicians to react angrily to the ECB's proposals last week to force banks from 2018 to set aside more cash against newly classified bad loans.

Italian banks have been hit by concerns the ECB may extend the new rules also to the bloc's huge stock of bad debts, of which they hold nearly 30 percent. ECB's Executive Board Member Yves Mersch said on Monday a solution had to be found to deal with existing bad loans now that an accord had been reached over how to treat new ones.

Calenda said if the ECB's proposals were adopted Italy would risk a credit crunch that would hurt its small and medium sized companies particularly hard.

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by Gavin Jones, editing by Valentina Za)
Moscow, Russia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2017) - MTS (NYSE: MBT) (MOEX: MTSS) has successfully transferred British American Tobacco Russia's (BAT Russia) IT systems to the MTS cloud.

The operator implemented a comprehensive project to provide a cloud-based IT infrastructure (Infrastructure as a Service). The project involved reallocation of the BAT Russia key IT systems to the cloud platform #CloudMTS in Moscow as well as organization of the secure network access to these resources. In addition, MTS provided a disaster-proof configuration of IT system using the backup site in the MTS data center in St. Petersburg.

Dariya Grishina, Director, Information Technology, BAT Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus and Central Asia region, commented:

"Migration to the cloud will help BAT Russia improve the economic efficiency and transparency of its IT infrastructure management, creating a platform for further expansion and growth. This project allowed us to reduce the time required to deploy infrastructure for new projects from a few months to two weeks."

According to Dariya, MTS successfully responded to all of the challenges and risks during the implementation of the project: MTS offered competitive prices, optimized licensing, adapted the backup / restore functionality as well as smoothly migrated resources with minimal downtime and technological changes in the customer's environment.

Vladimir Khrenkov, Director, Innovation Development, MTS, commented:

"Moving to a cloud computing model allows companies to achieve a threefold reduction in its IT infrastructure costs by the end of the first year. With such obvious economic efficiency combined with flexibility and ease of management, more businesses are set to take advantage of the opportunity cloud brings. MTS offers its clients complex all-in-one solutions combining IT and telecom services. We also guarantee the maximum level of security due to the availability of data centers in various regions of the country and a large-scale own backbone network."

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MTS provides cloud computing services #CloudMTS in all regions of Russia. In September 2017, the company launched a Big-Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS) product, which allows MTS customers to organize quickly and efficiently the processing of large data without creating their own computing capacities. Further development of the product will be connected with both the geographic expansion of the resource allocation and an increase in their number as well as the further creation of innovative solutions in the sphere of cloud services.

The MTS cloud platform is built on the base of VMware solution and the equipment of leading enterprise-level vendors. This, combined with the geographical distribution of TIER-III data centers and a branched MTS backbone network and city communication channels, allows the operator to provide a comprehensive, completely disaster-proof service.

BAT Russia is one of the leaders of the Russian tobacco market with a 22.52% market share in 2016. The company's portfolio includes such well-known international and Russian brands such as Dunhill, Kent, Vogue, Rothmans, Lucky Strike, Alliance and Java.

For further information, please contact in Moscow:



Joshua B. Tulgan

Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations

Mobile TeleSystems PJSC

Tel: +7 495 223 2025

E-mail: ir@mts.ru



Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at www.mtsgsm.com/blog/.
A TV grab from the Iranian Republic Islamic Broadcasting in September shows a Khoramshahr missile being launched from an undisclosed location in Iran (AFP Photo/Handout) (IRIB TV/AFP/File)

Moscow (AFP) - Moscow warned on Monday there would be "negative consequences" if US President Donald Trump fails to uphold the landmark Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor.

Trump is a fierce critic of the 2015 accord, which he has called "the worst deal ever", and US officials say he intends to tell Congress next week that Tehran is not honouring its side of the bargain.

"Obviously if one country leaves the deal, especially such a key country as the US, then that will have negative consequences," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said.

"We can only try to predict the nature of these consequences, which we are doing now," Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Putin has repeatedly hailed the importance of the existing deal, he added.

Trump is expected to announce that he is "decertifying" Iran's compliance with the agreement it signed to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

US officials insist this will not sink the deal itself but open the way for Congress to possibly develop new measures to punish other aspects of Iran's behaviour.

Resumed sanctions could derail the accord negotiated with Tehran by former president Barack Obama and other major world powers.

Congress requires the president to certify Iranian compliance with the deal every 90 days. The next certification date is October 15.

Under the law, Congress would then have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions lifted by the deal.
Faced with international sanctions and the potential threat of armed confrontation with the U.S. , North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un consolidated power over the weekend by elevating his younger sister to a top political post. On Saturday, Kim used a meeting of the ruling party's key policy-making body, known as the Central Committee, to comment on ongoing tensions with Washington and announce several personnel changes, the KCNA news agency reported. The communist Workers' Party is North Korea's primary political faction and has been in power ever since the state's creation in 1948.KCNA, Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, said in an English report that Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korea's ruler, was named as one of four elected alternate members of the politburo. Other promotions included Kim Jong Sik and Ri Pyong Chol, two key figures behind the country's weapons program.Kim Yo Jong and her brother are now the only millennials in the influential body; she is believed to have replaced her aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who was a key decision maker during Kim Jong Il's administration, Reuters said. Kim Jong Il is the father of Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong.Saturday's appointment was a move by the current leader to ensure that his inner circle is full of trusted people, said Harry Kazanis, director of defense studies at the Center For the National Interest, an American think tank. "Tensions with the United States are running as close to as an all time high, as you can imagine, so he's going to want to continue consolidating power," Kazanis told CNBC's " The Rundown " on Monday. "He doesn't want any danger of a coup or internal instability." Prior to the announcement of Kim's appointment on Saturday, President Donald Trump issued yet another threat to the nuclear-armed nation. Years of diplomacy and financial incentives failed to sway the regime but "only one thing will work," Trump said on Twitter, hinting at the prospect of military action. Kim Yo Jong, believed to be in her late twenties, has long held senior positions in the Workers' Party, with media reports previously referring to her as vice director of the propaganda department. The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted her, alongside six other North Korean individuals, in January for supporting human rights abuses and censorship activities in the isolated state.Her promotion is "part of a continual shake-up Kim Jong Un is doing," Kazanis continued. "He doesn't want to keep the same people his father had in place."Recently, some immediate family members who might have been deemed threatening to the regime have been killed. Kim Jong Un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who had publicly spoken out against the Kim family's dynastic control, was assassinated in dramatic fashion this year , while the ruler's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was executed in 2013. Faced with international sanctions and the potential threat of armed confrontation with the U.S. , North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un consolidated power over the weekend by elevating his younger sister to a top political post. On Saturday, Kim used a meeting of the ruling party's key policy-making body, known as the Central Committee, to comment on ongoing tensions with Washington and announce several personnel changes, the KCNA news agency reported. The communist Workers' Party is North Korea's primary political faction and has been in power ever since the state's creation in 1948. KCNA, Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, said in an English report that Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korea's ruler, was named as one of four elected alternate members of the politburo. Other promotions included Kim Jong Sik and Ri Pyong Chol, two key figures behind the country's weapons program. Kim Yo Jong and her brother are now the only millennials in the influential body; she is believed to have replaced her aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who was a key decision maker during Kim Jong Il's administration, Reuters said. Kim Jong Il is the father of Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong. Saturday's appointment was a move by the current leader to ensure that his inner circle is full of trusted people, said Harry Kazanis, director of defense studies at the Center For the National Interest, an American think tank. "Tensions with the United States are running as close to as an all time high, as you can imagine, so he's going to want to continue consolidating power," Kazanis told CNBC's " The Rundown " on Monday. "He doesn't want any danger of a coup or internal instability." Prior to the announcement of Kim's appointment on Saturday, President Donald Trump issued yet another threat to the nuclear-armed nation. Years of diplomacy and financial incentives failed to sway the regime but "only one thing will work," Trump said on Twitter, hinting at the prospect of military action. Kim Yo Jong, believed to be in her late twenties, has long held senior positions in the Workers' Party, with media reports previously referring to her as vice director of the propaganda department. The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted her, alongside six other North Korean individuals, in January for supporting human rights abuses and censorship activities in the isolated state. Her promotion is "part of a continual shake-up Kim Jong Un is doing," Kazanis continued. "He doesn't want to keep the same people his father had in place." Recently, some immediate family members who might have been deemed threatening to the regime have been killed. Kim Jong Un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who had publicly spoken out against the Kim family's dynastic control, was assassinated in dramatic fashion this year , while the ruler's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was executed in 2013.



More From CNBC


Crude oil prices stabilized after breaking down last week, despite larger than expected draws in U.S. inventories reported by the Department of Energy on Wednesday. Prices were buoyed following comments over the weekend from OPECs Secretary General which referred to some extraordinary measures which OPEC might need to take to stabilize the markets. Later than week, President Trump will likely announce a new landmark Iranian nuclear deal which could reduce Iranian exports significantly and disrupt the crude oil markets.

Technicals

Oil prices rebounded on Monday, recapturing some of the losses experienced in the later part of last week. Prices rebounded after breaking down through trendline support last week. Resistance is seen near the 10-day moving average at 50.80, while support is seen near the August lows at 47. Momentum remains negative as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index recently generated a crossover sell signal. The MACD histogram is printing in the red with a downward sloping trajectory which points to lower prices.

cl-100917d

Gains on Monday followed a statement from OPECs Secretary General, Mohammed Barkindo, who said the cartel may have to take some extraordinary measures to restore the oil market stability. The jump follows a 3.3% decline last week, the sharpest weekly fall in four months.

The OPEC agreement with Russia and 10 other producers to take off 1.8 million barrels from the global oil market was originally supposed to last for six months, but in May this year the partners decided to extend it until the end of March 2018. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the cut might be extended further, to the end of 2018.

Iranian Oil Exports Might Slow

President Trump is poised to announce a landmark Iran nuclear agreement is no longer in the national interest of the United States. While the so-called decertification would not be the fatal blow to the Iran deal that Trump promised on the campaign trail, it would kick the issue back to Congress, which could potentially pull out of the deal entirely.

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The Americans should know that the Trump governments stupid behavior with the nuclear deal will be used by the Islamic Republic as an opportunity to move ahead with its missile, regional and conventional defense program, Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, quoted by Reuters. He then explicitly threatened U.S. presence in the region, warning that if Americas new law for sanctions is passed, this country will have to move their regional bases outside the 2,000-km range of Irans missiles.

But even if no hostile actions follow, a major risk is that the fallout from the Irans decertification, the return of sanctions could have a vast impact on the Iranian, and global, oil market. A decertification by Trump would put at risk the lifting of Western sanctions that have allowed 1 million barrels of Iranian oil to return to the market. Still, other signatories of the deal have however continued to voice their support of the deal (Reuters), with Iran further stating today that it was open to talks about its ballistic missile arsenal, seeking to reduce tension over the disputed program.

In other words, the question over Irans crude oil output should full sanctions return is whether Europe would follow the U.S. in resuming the embargo on Iranian oil exports, and whether Iran can find enough Asian market to offset the drop in European demand.

Iran back in the forefront of oil geopolitical risks

Beyond the uncertainty of what the U.S. administration will announce, we believe the lack of international support for renewed sanctions exacerbates the uncertainty on any potential impact on oil exports. European buyers, which account for 25 percent of Irans 2.2 mb/d crude exports, could potentially stop their purchases to avoid falling foul of U.S. secondary sanctions if those sanctions are unilaterally reimposed. We believe the key to the global oil market is whether these flows will be curtailed rather than simply redirected to Asia with the potential impact of eventual U.S. sanctions on international insurance and shipping key to this outcome.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
One-third of those who retire actually come back to the labor market and take another full-time job, according to Deutsche Banks Torsten Slk.

This reverse retirement rate is higher for workers in the highest and lowest income quintiles, as shown in the chart below.

Retirees either come back because they need more income (lowest income quintile) or they come back because the opportunity costs of staying at home are too high (highest income quintile), Slk explained.

In addition, half of all retirees are working part-time, according to the economic data from the Federal Reserve.

We suspect they either do not think of retirement as the state of no longer working or they find that, unexpectedly, they do not like not working and would rather return to work, according to the study.

This complicates one of the commonly-cited reasons behind the still-low labor force participation rate (LFPR), which stands at just over 63% versus 67% two decades ago. The LFPR, or the percentage of working-age people either working or actively looking for work, is seen as an important barometer of the health of the labor market.

With the global share of people over 65 years old doubling by 2050 to 16%, some economists suggest that the aging population is contributing to the lower participation rate. But Slk explained that more older individuals looking for work could push up the overall participation rate for the entire economy. The participation rate for those 65 and over has increased significantly in the last 30 years, up from just over 10% to 20%, according to Slk.

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By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - The oil market is rebalancing fast and has almost entirely erased the glut of refined products as OPEC sticks to its supply pact, OPEC's secretary general said on Monday. OPEC's Mohammad Barkindo also said growth in U.S. shale oil output had slowed compared to the first half of 2017 and growth in global demand may show further upward revisions, giving the supply cut effort tailwind. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other non-member producers are cutting output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until next March to get rid of a price-sapping supply glut. The aim of the OPEC-led cut is to trim the level of oil in OECD industrialised countries to the five-year average. OPEC and its allies agreed the deal last year after prices collapsed due to oversupply, hurting the income of producing countries. "There is clear evidence that the market is rebalancing," Barkindo said in a recorded speech provided for the Reuters Global Commodities Summit taking place this week. "The process of global destocking continues, both onshore and offshore with positive developments in recent months showing not only a quickening of the process but a massive drainage of oil tanks across all regions." Oil prices have gained support and in late September reached almost $60 a barrel, the highest in more than two years. But Brent crude, trading at $55 on Monday, is still half its level of mid-2014. OPEC has said that OECD oil stocks, as of August, had fallen to 170 million barrels above the five-year average, down from 340 million barrels in January. Barkindo said in the speech that 145 million barrels of the remaining 170 million-barrel surplus was crude, but inventories of refined products were approaching the desired level. "Just a mere 25 million barrels are products, almost converging with the five year average," he said. BRENT BACKWARDATION HELPS Barkindo said oil volumes in floating storage were also falling and Brent's move into backwardation, a market structure in which oil for prompt delivery costs more than future supply, made storing crude uneconomic. "Crude in floating storage is down by an estimated 40 million barrels since the start of the year with help of a narrowing contango since June and then Brent flipping into a clear backwardation from the second week of September," he said. "This trend will obviously make it unprofitable to continue to store crude." Oil demand has surprised forecasters to the upside. OPEC in its last monthly report raised its projections for oil consumption this year and next, and this development could have further to run. "These upward demand revisions are most likely to be an ongoing trend," Barkindo said. OPEC is also seeing a decline in growth in U.S. shale oil output, whose increasing volumes helped bring about the slide in prices three years ago. "We have recently seen a deceleration in U.S. tight oil growth compared to the first half of the year, evidenced recently by falling productivity of wells particularly in the Permian basin as well as growing concerns from the investment community," Barkindo said. OPEC and its allies are considering extending the supply cutting deal beyond its March expiry. They hold their next policy-setting meeting on Nov. 30 in Vienna. (Editing by David Evans)
OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo speaks to the media during his visit in Abuja, Nigeria Febuary 27, 2017. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - OPEC's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo on Tuesday called on U.S. shale oil producers to help curtail global oil supply, warning extraordinary measures might be needed next year to sustain the rebalanced market in the medium to long term.

"We urge our friends, in the shale basins of North America to take this shared responsibility with all seriousness it deserves, as one of the key lessons learnt from the current unique supply-driven cycle," said Barkindo.

The comments by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries official came during a speech delivered at the India Energy Forum organized by CERAWeek in New Delhi.

"At the moment we (OPEC and independent U.S. producers) both agreed that we have a shared responsibility in maintaining stability because they are also not insulated from the impact of this downturn," Barkindo said, referring to a slide in oil prices that spurred OPEC to agree production cuts late last year.

"The call by independents themselves (is) that we need to continue this interaction," he said.

While OPEC and some other producers, including Russia have cut supplies this year in order to prop up prices, U.S. production has soared by almost 10 percent this year, driven largely by shale drillers. Barkindo said he hoped that new producers, not just U.S. shale drillers, would join production cuts.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia cut crude oil allocations for November by 560,000 barrels per day (bpd), in line with the kingdom's commitment to the supply reduction pact.

"Demand-supply is returning to rebalance through massive destocking that we have been witnessing of stocks in OECD across regions in a very massive way," Barkindo said later, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

"In the past four months alone, we have seen destocking to the tune of 130 million bpd," he said.

The aim of the OPEC-led cut is to trim the level of oil in OECD industrialized countries compared with the five-year supply average. Barkindo said the stock overhang to the five-year average stood at 171 million barrels in August, against 338 million at the start of the year.

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"The speed and pace (of destocking) has accelerated as a result of anticipated and projected demand growth in the second half of 2017 to the tune of 2 million bpd. We are witnessing a fast return to a balanced market," Barkindo said.

Still, on Sunday Barkindo said OPEC and other oil producers might need to take "some extraordinary measures" next year to rebalance the oil market.

World oil demand growth in 2017 is expected at 1.45 million barrels per day (BPD) and it should stay around 1.4 million bpd in 2018, Barkindo said. He said India's share of global oil demand is expected to rise to over 9 percent by 2040, up from 4 percent now.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Promit Mukherjee and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Wolfgang Schaeuble, greeting colleagues after his final meeting of EU finance ministers, said the eurozone had come through a difficult period but was now "in a good position economically" (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS) (AFP)

Luxembourg (AFP) - Eurozone finance ministers deluged German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble with farewell gifts on Monday as the man who inspired Europe's austerity answer to the debt crisis attended his last meeting with them.

Schaeuble received a blue and gold EU flag autographed by each of his 18 colleagues, as well as a bundle of one-hundred euro notes especially made with a picture of his face, given by Slovakia.

"Nothing will be quite the same," Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, whose country suffered through three Schaeuble-inspired bailouts, wrote on the flag with a big grey marker.

France meanwhile handed over a 2004 bottle of Bordeaux Grand Cru from the finance ministry's special wine reserve in Paris.

"I imagine it will be very emotional for him and for us because he has had a very special position among us. He's a really fantastic guy," said Pierre Moscovici, the EU's Economic Affairs Commissioner, and former French finance minister.

Over eight years of financial turmoil in Europe, Schaeuble imposed Germany's tough-love solutions for countries hit by crisis, most famously Greece.

One of Germany's most popular politicians, Schaeuble steps down to become speaker of the new parliament following German elections that saw big gains by far right nationalists.

"It's not easy, but after eight years, that's enough. It's a good moment to move on to another task," said Schaeuble, 75, as he arrived for a regular meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg.

"Over eight years, we succeeded in a difficult period," he said, adding that the eurozone was now "in a good position economically."

Though his austerity cures reviled many Europeans, ministers hailed Schaeubles leadership, humour and passion for Europe.

"He will be missed (for) his experience, his wisdom, his sternness sometimes, but also personally as a friend," said Eurogroup head and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

"He's been a great colleague to all of us, given us advice, sometimes asked, sometimes unasked, (but) always welcome," he added
Hundreds of racers from China and abroad gather in Alshaa League to take part in the 126-kilometer-long desert off-road racing, one of the highlights for the tourists during the National Day holiday.

Racer Han Jianqiang drives an off-road vehicle during a desert cross-country challenge in Alshaa (Alxa) Left Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Oct 5. [Photo/Xinhua]
By Manas Mishra and Ben Hirschler

(Reuters) - Pfizer (PFE.N) said on Tuesday it was considering the sale or spin-off of its consumer healthcare business, shaking up the industry and potentially putting a headache pill to lip balm operation worth some $15 billion (11.37 billion pounds) up for grabs.

The move comes as Germany's Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) is also looking to divest its non-prescription products, including brands such as Seven Seas vitamins, which could be worth around $4.5 billion.

As ageing populations and health-conscious consumers drive demand for self-medication, the fragmented consumer health sector has proved a fertile ground for deal-making in recent years.

Although consumer remedies sold over the counter have lower margins than prescription drugs, they are typically very long-lasting brands with loyal customers.

Pfizer's consumer healthcare business, whose brands include painkiller Advil and lip balm Chapstick, had revenue of about $3.4 billion in 2016.

Industry experts said it could fetch some four times sales, implying a potential value of just under $14 billion, although two healthcare sector bankers said Pfizer was aiming for at least $15 billion.

People familiar with the matter said Swiss food giant Nestle (NESN.S) could be among those interested, along with existing manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) treatments and private equity firms.

Pfizer, whose shares were little changed on Tuesday, said it would decide on the future of its consumer unit during 2018. Reuters first reported last November that a divestment of the business was under consideration.

Established consumer health companies that may be interested in the Pfizer assets include Reckitt Benckiser (RB.L), Procter & Gamble (PG.N), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Abbott (ABT.N).

They could be joined by Nestle, which is exploring the boundaries between food and healthcare. Nestle's new CEO Mark Schneider told investors last month it would keep identifying new opportunities and that 10 percent of group sales could be ripe for portfolio adjustment.

Story continues

A second person familiar with the matter said Pfizer expected a "broadening" of buyer interest to include Nestle.

Bayer (BAYGn.DE) and Sanofi (SASY.PA) may be less likely to bid, despite their consumer health presence, given they are busy absorbing Monsanto (MON.N) and Boehringer Ingelheim's consumer business respectively.

In explaining the thinking behind the review, Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read said consumer healthcare was connected but not integral to its core prescription drug business.

"Although there is a strong connection between consumer healthcare and elements of our core biopharmaceutical businesses, it is also distinct enough from our core business that there is potential for its value to be more fully realized outside the company," he said.

Options to be considered include a full or partial separation through a spin-off, sale or other transaction. Pfizer may also ultimately decide to keep the business.

The Pfizer business includes two of the 10 top-selling consumer healthcare brands globally in Advil and the multivitamin line Centrum. It also has 10 brands that each exceeded $100 million in 2016 sales.

'IRRELEVANT' TO POTENTIAL BRISTOL BID

A Pfizer exit from the consumer health business would be one of its biggest corporate moves since abandoning a $160 billion deal to buy Allergan (AGN.N) last year. It also tried and failed to buy AstraZeneca (AZN.L) in 2014.

Since then there has been persistent speculation that Pfizer is scouting for another major deal, with a bid for cancer specialist Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N) widely tipped as an option.

However, the first source said the consumer healthcare review and the amount of cash it would raise was "irrelevant" to a possible takeover of Bristol-Myers, which has a market value of $105 billion.

Pfizer has hired Centerview Partners, Guggenheim Securities and Morgan Stanley as financial advisers for the review,

Germany's Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) had hired JP Morgan to sell its consumer health business.

(Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Bernard Orr, Louise Heavens, Greg Mahlich)
With the Supreme Court expected to hear the lawsuit by the Sandy Hook families against the makers of the AR-15 rifle in the next several months, the attorney for the families is seeking to have the hearing held en banc, or in front of the full contingent of seven justices.

As the Connecticut Supreme Court prepares to welcome two new justices, the attorney for the Sandy Hook families in their lawsuit against gun manufacturers is requesting the full court hear arguments.

Josh Koskoff of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder in Bridgeport, filed a motion Friday for an en banc hearing. He represents several families who were affected by the December 2012 shooting that left 20 students and six educators dead. He wrote in his motion that an en banc hearing "affords the people of the state of Connecticut the benefits of the views of all of our justices."

The court has yet to set a date to hear the families' lawsuit, which in essence says the gun makers should be held responsible because the AR-15 rifle used in the shooting should be restricted to the military and law enforcement.

Koskoff declined to elaborate on the motion Tuesday, but attorneys familiar with the case and the Connecticut Supreme Court said it could be beneficial to Koskoff to have seven justices hear the case. Currently, the high court is short two justices, as two nominees are awaiting confirmation.

Last week, Gov. Dannel Malloy nominated Appellate Judges Maria Kahn and Raheem Mullins to fill the vacancies left by Justice Carmen Espinosa, who volunteered for senior status in July, and Justice Dennis Eveleigh, who recently reached the court's mandatory retirement age of 70. The court could have appellate justices fill in to hear cases while waiting for the Legislature to sign off on the two nominations. But all 15 Supreme Court cases to be heard in the second session from Oct. 10 to Oct. 20 are currently scheduled to be heard by only five justices.

Experts watching Connecticut's courts gather that Koskoff would want the case to be heard in front of a full court. "I would speculate that he [Koskoff] may have concerns over the current composition of the court and how they are likely to rule, and believes that a new justice could be beneficial," said Patrick Tomasiewicz, adjunct paralegal studies professor at the University of Hartford and a partner in Hartford's Fazzano & Tomasiewicz. "Josh is a brilliant lawyer and I surmise he hopes the two new justices might be amenable to his argument."

Story continues

Tomasiewicz said a full contingent of seven justices hearing a case is beneficial to all sides.

"When something is in front of the court that can affect the welfare of our entire state and the rights of many victims and the rights of gun manufacturers, you want all justices there to make sure that the issues are carefully and fully examined," Tomasiewicz said.

Ken Bartschi, a partner with Horton, Dowd, Bartschi & Levesque in Hartford, said Tuesday that he suspects the court would hear the Sandy Hook case en banc even without Koskoff's request. "I'd think they'd do it anyway because of the magnitude of the case," Bartschi said.

Beginning with its September 2009 term, the high court voted to change its policy regarding how it hears cases. Before that, most cases were heard by a panel of five. The court now sits en banc with a panel of seven, barring vacancies and the disqualification of a judge from a particular case.
Donald Trump Tim Cook

Trump and Congressional Republicans have set their sights on tax reform. They hope to simplify the tax code to benefit corporate America and the middle class, but the details have yet to be decided.

What looks to be clear though, is that Apple would benefit greatly if the proposed plans end up becoming a law. RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said that in his mind, Apple is "one of the biggest beneficiaries" of the proposed plan.

"While details are far from finalized, we think that potential provisions could add $4.00-$4.50 to our FY18 EPS estimate under a relatively conservative set of assumptions,' Daryanani said in a recent note to clients. That would boost fiscal year 2018 earnings to $14.69 per share.

A few main areas of the proposed tax plan could greatly benefit Apple, according to Daryanani. They are as follows:

"Deduction of capital investments" "Reduction in Federal corporate tax rate, which should bring effective tax rate to below 20%" "Repatriation of offshore cash at a low tax rate"

Deducting capital expenses is a bit complicated, but would essentially allow Apple to take the money it invests in itself (its massive multi-billion dollar campus excluded because it is a "structure") and expense it. Details of exactly how much Apple could deduct are unclear, but Daryanani estimates it to be about $8 billion for 2018.

A reduction in the corporate tax rate is pretty self-explanatory. Paying fewer taxes is good for anyone's bottom line.

Finally, Daryanani expects Apple to earn $70.37 billion before taxes in 2018. After deducting $8 billion of capital expenses, and paying a reduced tax rate of 20%, Apple could save as much as $5.34 billion and add as much as $1.08 per share to its earnings, compared to its current tax code.

Apple holds about $219 billion of cash overseas that it could move back to the US according to Daryanani. The GOP's tax plan does not specify a specific tax rate for repatriated earnings, but Daryanani expects it to be close to 10%. If Apple uses that repatriated money to purchase stocks, it could add an additional $3.25 per share to current earnings expectations.

Story continues

Combining the savings from deductions and a lower tax rate ($1.08 per share) with the earnings boost from repatriated cash ($3.25 per share) could add about $4.33 to Apple's 2018 fiscal year, according to Daryanani.

He believes if tax reform passes in Apple's favor, it could send the company across the fabled $1 trillion market cap number, a first for a US company. Apple's market cap currently sits at about a $801 billion.

The tax-based boost could be nullified by adverse decisions by the European Commission, however. The commission recently ruled that Ireland would have to accept about $15 billion in back taxes from Apple after an arrangement between the two entities was ruled illegal.

Apple shares are up 34.08% this year.

apple stock price

NOW WATCH: The secret to Steve Jobs' and Elon Musk's success, according to a former Apple and Tesla executive





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A representative with the Federal Trade Commission, home of the Do Not Call list, appeared in front of Congress to give a progress report on the fight against horrible spam robocallers  a modern-day battle of good and evil.

Lois Greisman, associate director of the FTCs Division of Marketing Practices, told a Senate Special Committee that the problem is intensifying, noting that consumers are justifiably frustrated.

In 2016 the FTC received more than 3.4 million robocall complaints, she said. In 2017 the

FTC received more than 3.5 million robocall complaints just between January and August.

With the problem getting worse, pressure is mounting on various government agencies  mainly the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission  to fight robocalls. (The problem, however, remains a partisan issue.) The aggravation stemming from these calls goes past mere annoyance. Many of these robocalls arent simply illegal marketing tactics but rather scams that cost the American public hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to Consumer Reports.

Automation causing more problems thanks to robocalls. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

What the FTC is doing to fight these calls

In front of the committee, Greisman outlined the agencys progress thus far. The FTC has been slapping the wrists of various offenders, most notably DISH Network (DISH) which was hit with a $280 million penalty after making tens of millions of calls to customers.

But the bad news is the problem doesnt stem from legitimate companies like DISH, but rather scam artists who are much more difficult to track. Thanks to VoIP technology and computer automatic dialing, millions of calls can cheaply and easily go out to consumers, often from foreign countries that are out of the FTCs jurisdiction.

To combat this, the FTC has had some luck cooperating with some foreign agencies, and the agency has strategically targeted U.S.-based enablers. But its a tough process. These companies are operated through a tangle of related individuals and entities to avoid detection by law enforcement, Greisman said.

Story continues

The amount of effort it takes to untangle the global web of calls is immense, and many communication companies do not have the records to track the offenders. Enforcement is downright sisyphean: With every head cut off, many take their place, to mix Greek metaphors.

Tech solutions are the key

The agency understands the limits of enforcement, and has tried to solve the problem by sponsoring tech solutions and apps to improve things. Technology hasnt, however, made much of a dent yet.

From the phone side, device companies like Apple and Google may be able to provide a solution  they told Yahoo Finance they are addressing the problem though didnt specify the means.

The most help may come from carriers themselves, the networks that facilitate these and send the spoofed caller ID information to phones. After the FTC and an industry-led Robocall Strike Force looked into the situation and found no widespread means to block robocallers, the Strike Force asked the FCC to clarify what calls carriers are currently allowed to block.

In response, the FCC announced that it would be looking into new rules to broaden what carriers can block, a potentially massive blow to robocallers that might not be able to continue their robocalls should call authentication standards improve.

There has been some success with this, in certain cases. The FTC outlined one positive result in its testimony: It has managed to crack down on fake Internal Revenue Service calls.

Fake IRS calls are extremely common and harmful, and the tax collectors are constantly warning consumers that they never initiate contact via phone. The FTC and the Robocall Strike Force worked with a major (unnamed) carrier and various federal law enforcement agencies to help block IRS scams. Many of these scams had taken the IRS impersonation to a new level, using advanced spoofing to put the agencys well-known phone numbers on a recipients caller ID. The Strike Force expanded this effort and it contributed to a decline in IRS scam calls at the end of 2016, Greisman said.

By and large, however, the FTC during its testimony painted a picture of a small group fighting a shape-shifting enemy on a global scale. Greismans progress report left no clear answers, nor revealed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Confidential tip line: emann[at]oath[.com].

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An official from Russia's central bank has said his institution will back efforts to block access to websites selling cryptocurrencies in the country.

The first deputy governor of Russia's central bank, Sergei Shvetsov, has said that his institution will support efforts to block access to external websites selling cryptocurrencies in the country.

Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, Reuters reports that Shvetsov cited the "unreasonably high risks" involved in cryptocurrency investment as a reason for the proposed measure, adding: "We cannot give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail (investors)."

As such, the Bank of Russia will be working alongside the judiciary to ensure the closure of websites offering these services  a crackdown that he indicated will extend to "all cryptocurrency derivatives."

Russian news agency TASS quotes Shvetsov as stating:

"We consider all cryptocurrency derivatives to be a negative development on the Russian market and do not consider it possible to support it, and will even assume measures to restrict potential operations with such instruments made by the regulated part of the Russian market. Meanwhile, we assume efforts aimed at closing external websites that allow Russian citizens to acquire such assets together with the General Prosecutor's Office."

Shvetsov further added that, with bitcoin being an asset that can generate high returns very quickly, it shows signs of being a pyramid scheme.

The move to block access to cryptocurrency trading websites follows a number of warnings from Russian authorities in the past few months.

Alexey Moiseev, the country's deputy finance minister, said in September that he expects upcoming legislation to feature a flat-out ban on payments made in cryptocurrency. Earlier the same month, deputy governor of the Bank of Russia Dmitry Skobelkin told Bloomberg: "China doesn't recognize cryptocurrency as payment and forbids ICOs. Our views are absolutely similar."

Shvetsov image via Shutterstock

Related Stories
When hackers steal consumer data from a major company, the fallout is depressingly familiar: The corporation comes to a settlement with class action lawyers, who get paid nicely, while most of the victims of the breach get credit monitoring or nothing at all.

Equifax, which recently presided over one of the worst data breaches in history, is likely to be a different story.

Unlike like other high profile data breaches, such as those at and , the credit bureau will probably have to pay actual money to consumers as compensation for its sloppy security practices.

According to Chicago attorney Jay Edelson, the lawsuits if done right will see Equifax pay more than $1 billion with much of that cash going directly to the over 143 million consumers who had personal data like their birthdates and Social Security numbers stolen. He predicts the lawsuits will be settled in less than two years, meaning many consumers would be in line to get at least a small check.

There are several reasons why the fallout will be different this time around. A big one is a new reluctance among judges to sign off on class action settlements that include only free credit monitoring services--which, as security experts have pointed out, often serve as a way for companies like Equifax to push consumers into a paid subscription service.

Meanwhile, courts today are more willing to treat data theft as a harm in its own right, rather than requiring consumers to show actual economic database from a credit breach. This change, spurred on in part by a seminal Supreme Court ruling in 2016, sets the stage for a departure from past settlements like those shown in the chart below.

The chart depicts how companies like Michaels and Home Depot, which incurred massive breaches, paid a relative pittance, and only to a small percentage of the affected customers:

Another reason the Equifax case is shaping up to be different is the involvement of state Attorneys General, and cities like Chicago and San Francisco, which are in the process of bringing lawsuits of their own.

Story continues

According to Edelson, the state and city governments ratcheted up their legal response following reports that Equifax, shortly after the breach, attempted to induce consumers to waive their right to sue in exchange for credit monitoring.

How Much Will Consumers Collect?

Consumers will no doubt be pleased if a class action settlement produces a check from Equifax rather than, as is typically the case, a congratulatory press release and an offer of credit monitoring. A related question, of course, is How much?

Edelson said its soon to speculate on individual payouts but, if his overall settlement estimate of $1 billion is correct, that would translate to roughly $7 for each of the over 143 million affected consumers. Thats hardly a princely sum, especially if at amount comes before lawyers take their cut. But it could also be higher if many of the Equifax victims (as often happens) fail to put in a claim, and their share is divided among those who do.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter.

Meanwhile, consumers will be eligible to collect different amounts based on where they live. This is because the lawsuits brought by cities and Attorneys General will be based on the data breach laws of individual states, which provide a range of different penalties, and those settlements will be distributed on a local, not national basis.

A further means of evaluating Equifaxs potential liability is by looking at its share price. Initial reports of the breach saw Equifax stock fall 35% and the company lose nearly $6 billion in market cap, though today shares are trading at only 21% lower than before news of the hacking.

This suggests the market believes Equifax will survive the current legal and regulatory gauntlet it is facing, though Edelson suggested some investors may have failed to price in courts harsher views of data breaches--meaning the stock may be trading higher than it should be.

For its part, Equifax is saying little about how much all this will cost.

We cannot comment on pending litigation, but want to reassure consumers that we are remaining focused on helping them to navigate this situation and providing the best customer support possible, said a company spokesperson.

Related:

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See original article on Fortune.com

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TOTAL S.A. TOT announced that it has entered into a Technical Evaluation agreement with National Office of Petroleum of Guinea to explore deepwater of Guinea. The offshore area, designated for exploration, is located off the coast of Guinea Conakry, covering nearly 21,236 square miles (55,000 sq. kilometers).



TOTAL has been operating in Guinea since 1992, involved in marketing petroleum products and refining & chemical operation. The additions of exploration rights adds new dimension to its existing operation in Guinea.



Strategy to Explore Africans Deepwater



TOTAL is currently working on its strategy to further expand its operation in Africa. The company is entering into agreement with state-run oil companies to acquire exploration rights in unexplored deepwater offshore basins.



In May, the company acquired offshore exploration rights of nearly 4,000 square miles (10,357 sq. Km.) and 2,819 square miles (7,300 sq. km.) in Republic of Senegal and Mauritania, respectively. Since these offshore locations are situated beside the new exploration of Guinea, it will enable TOTAL to explore an area in excess of 28,000 square miles in West Africa.



Some of the acquired offshore exploration rights are located near areas that already have proved reserves. This increases the possibility of commercially viable findings in new exploration areas as well.



Growth Drivers



Owing to its high quality exploration and drilling activities in 2016, the company was able to achieve a reserve replacement rate of 136%.



The company has one of the best production growth profiles among the oil super majors, characterized by an upstream portfolio with above industry-average exposure to the faster growing hydrocarbon producing regions of the world.



In August 2017, TOTAL announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Maersk Oil & Gas A/S (Maersk Oil) in a share and debt deal. This acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018. We believe the deal will expand TOTALs operation globally and create tougher competition for the super majors like Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM, Chevron Corporation CVX and BP p.l.c. BP.



Zacks Rank



TOTAL S.A. currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Price Movement



TOTALs shares have rallied 11.1% in the last 12 months, outperforming the industrys gain of 6.8%.

Story continues





The companys strong production portfolio, initiatives to lower operating costs and new projects will further boost its performance.



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By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Siddharth Cavale (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co said on Tuesday activist hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz lost his fight to win a seat on the company's board, according to a preliminary tally of shareholder votes in the biggest and most expensive proxy contest ever. Peltz, whose Trian Fund Management LP owns a $3.5 billion stake in the world's largest consumer products maker by market capitalisation, refused to concede defeat, saying the vote was too close to call before the certified results are released. Sources said the difference in for and against votes for Peltz's board director nomination was well within one percentage point. An independent inspector is expected to review and certify the votes this month and Trian could then legally challenge the result. "We anticipate Peltz, who has taken issue with the firm's organizational structure, corporate governance, and recent financial performance, to contest the vote," Morningstar analyst Erin Lash said. If the outcome is confirmed, it would be a bruising loss for Peltz, given that P&G sought to turn the proxy contest into a referendum on his credentials as a seasoned executive in the consumer sector, with board director experience at Kraft Heinz Co and Mondelez International Inc . Peltz had called for the maker of Pampers diapers, Gillette razors and Tide laundry detergent to reorganize into three business units: beauty, grooming and healthcare; fabric and home care and baby, feminine and family care. P&G, led by Chief Executive David Taylor, countered that management is already working on several operational changes, and that Peltz does not have the relevant experience to be helpful in the process. "I shook (Peltz's) hand, he shook my hand, and we said that just like we have through this proxy contest... folks want to make it a fight, but it is about ideas and the future. I told Nelson I will continue to listen to him as I have throughout this," Taylor told a news conference after the shareholder meeting. P&G shares were down 1 percent at $91.12 in afternoon trading in New York, giving the company a market capitalisation of $232 billion. Its shares have risen 8.3 percent year-to-date, roughly in line with the S&P 500 Household Products Index <.SPLRCPROD>, which is up 8.5 percent. RETAIL INVESTORS Peltz was widely seen as the favourite to win the contest, because he had the backing of all three top shareholder advisory firms, which recommend how mutual funds should cast their vote, and was only seeking one board seat on P&G's 11-member board. "Win or lose, Nelson Peltz has taken the activist campaign to the largest companies, which have previously been able to inoculate themselves from these kind of experiences by spending enough money to keep activists at bay," said Bruce Goldfarb, founder of Okapi Partners, which advises on proxy contests. Several activist shareholders have won a seat on the boards of companies over the years by arguing there was no harm in them bringing onboard a fresh perspective. Trian's defeat could embolden corporate America to push back more against activists. The two sides collectively spent more than an estimated $100 million on mailings, phone calls and advertisements to woo investors. Vanguard Group Inc, State Street Global Advisors and BlackRock Inc are P&G's top three shareholders. State Street and BlackRock sided with Peltz, but Vanguard backed P&G, according to sources familiar with the matter. Individual stock owners, such as retirees and amateur stock pickers, collectively hold about 40 percent of the company's stock, a much higher proportion than at most big companies. P&G's large retail base is due, in part, to long-running stock-based incentive plans for employees and the attraction of its well-known brand names for "mom and pop" investors. Analysts said this large pool of individual stock owners played a big part in Trian's apparent defeat. They comprise mostly of P&G employees and retirees, who are loyal to management and can be wary of Wall Street's intentions. "At P&G, the proxy advisers are not going to have the same sway over retail investors," said Jill Fisch, a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor who follows corporate governance. This is only the third time Trian has waged a proxy contest in its 12-year history. Two years ago it narrowly lost a fight with DuPont, although within a year the company's CEO was out a job and a faster cost cutting was underway. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio and Susan Thomas)
trump bob corker

President Donald Trump's latest ugly fight with a lawmaker from his own party could hurt and ultimately doom his push to reform the tax code, analysts say.

Trump and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is retiring after the 2018 election cycle, launched into a war or words over the weekend.

Trump tweeted that Corker is a "negative force," claiming he rejected an endorsement when the senator asked.

Corker responded by charging that "the White House has become an adult day care center." Then, in an interview with The New York Times, he suggested Trump could drive the US into World War III.

The spat could have negative consequences for the tax reform push. Corker was already wavering on his support for the plan Trump and Republican leaders released on September 27, suggesting reservations about its potential to balloon the federal deficit.

Trump administration officials have doubled down on the plan to increase the deficit, said Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments, putting deficit hawks like Corker in a bind over the plan before it even really gets off the ground. He pointed to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney's interview on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Mulvaney "said running higher deficits  at least $1.5 trillion of red ink over 10 years  is acceptable if it eventually jump-starts economic growth," Valliere wrote in a note to clients Monday. "This Keynesian dogma, coming from a former hard-line deficit hawk, has bewildered many Republicans like Corker, while supply-side Republicans are dismayed that abolition of the estate tax looks less likely. There's no margin for error on a tax bill, as Republicans waver and Democrats reject any compromise."

Issac Boltansky, an analyst at the research firm Compass Point, said the added friction between himself and Trump argument could endanger the tax effort, given the already slim majority for Republicans in the Senate.

Story continues

"The margin for error in the Senate is already perilously slim for tax reform and the presidents comments undoubtedly hurt that push," Boltansky wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

The tax bill is likely to go through the budget reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to avoid a filibuster by Democrats. But the GOP only holds a 52-seat majority in the chamber, meaning leaders can only survive two defections.

Chris Krueger, an analyst at Cowen Washington Research Group, said that Trump is either Trump taking his frustrations out on Corker for endangering the agenda or unknowingly making it worse for himself. Either way, it's not good for the tax plan, he said.

"Either Trump realizes that Corker can sink the remainder of the Trump/GOP legislative effort and is upset by that reality, or he didn't/doesn't know and just made it a reality," Krueger said in a note to clients. "Either way, we see ZERO upside for the budget process/tax reform in this Twitter-tantrum with the policy downside limit-down."

This isn't the first time that Trump attacked a Republican via Twitter in the midst of an important legislative push. Sens. John McCain, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins were all targets of Trump's Twitter fury during the GOP's push to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Trump's tweets on that subject did little to change the eventual defeat of the healthcare measures.

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The ride-hailing app Uber has been plagued by allegations of gross mismanagement and sexual harassment, but those arent its only problems. Its been having trouble in overseas markets, first in China and now in Russia.

One year after the San Francisco-based company sold its Chinese business to the domestic rival Didi Chuxing, Uber announced on Thursday that it would merge its arm in Russia with Yandex (YNDX), the local internet giant. Uber entered the Russian market in early 2014, three years after Yandex launched its own ride-hailing business Yandex.taxi.

As the worlds dominant ride-hailing company, Uber operates in more than 600 cities across the globe. The business faces stiff competition from local players when it comes to price wars, cultural differences and regulatory limitations.

Ubers close races with local rivals

Uber taxi in Moscow. (Wikimedia)

Uber and its local rivals have invested enormous resources into the price war to fight for market share. In the ride-hailing industry, customers and drivers easily switch apps for either lower cost and higher pay. Moreover, the sharing economy turns out to involve not only sharing cars, but also customers and drivers. About 20% drivers work for Uber and Yandex at the same time, Yandex said on a conference call on Friday morning.

Price competition in international markets can be fierce. Last September, Yandex cut its minimum base fares from 199 to 99 Rubles ($1.60) to compete with Ubers 50 rubles and lowered the cost for every kilometer to 9 rubles compared Ubers 8. This April, Uber announced that trips to and from Moscow airports would begin at a fixed rate of only 700 rubles ($11), about a third lower than its competitor.

Since entered the price war, Yandex.taxi reported an operating loss of 2 billion rubles (about $330 million). Yandex, which has a market cap of nearly $10.3 billion, dominates the search space in Russia and operates various businesses from email to music. It has much more financial flexibility in capturing market share by spending than Uber, which has so far invested $170 million in its Russian unit.

Story continues

Those financial limitations may have also explained why Uber would give way to its Chinese competitor Didi months after its former CEO Travis Kalanick said the company burned more than $1 billion a year in China. The red-hot competition once made fares even cheaper than public transportation, according to my experience of living in Beijing in 2015.

Backed by Chinas two largest internet giants, Alibaba (BABA) and Tencent, Didi acquired Ubers operations in China in last August, leaving Uber more resources to explore other emerging markets like India and Brazil.

Cultural barriers and government regulation

People walk out of the headquarters of Didi Chuxing in Beijing, China, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Money may be not the whole story, though. Entering markets like Russia and China is never easy for US companies, given the language barriers and government regulations and the fact that local governments often favor domestic players. Thats why you can see the growth of Google of Russia, Yandex and the Google of China, Baidu.

China, for example, applies extra scrutiny to US tech companies like Apple (AAPL), The New York Times reported last year. Russia is even explicit in supporting its domestic technology companies. Last July, President Vladimir Putin signed a law to put 18% value-added tax on electronic goods and services provided by foreign tech companies. Uber passed the cost of that tax on to its drivers, which caused some of them quit and turn to Yandex, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to having a home-field advantage with the government, Yandexs brand may also have more cachet in Russia.

Yandex is more trusted by people in Russia, Aleksey Kuleshov, a 32-year-old customer of Yandex.taxi in Moscow, told Yahoo Finance. Its big native company. The existing authority of Yandex is very high.

In light of all of these hurdles, Uber may think twice about fighting with domestic competitors in the global battlefield.

Krystal Hu is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

Read More:

Meet the Harvard Business School professor whos going to try to fix Uber

Think youre buying on Amazon? Its actually from Alibaba

Amazon: We hire no extra workers for Prime Day, its just like any summer sale
By Sruthi Ramakrishnan

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday it would speed up the process for in-store returns of items bought on its website, just ahead of the busy holiday season, as it looks to steal a march on e-commerce giant Amazon.com.

Wal-Mart has been increasingly using its more than 4,700 stores to provide hassle-free shopping on its website - by offering services that allow customers to pick up products ordered online as well as make returns in store.

The new service aims to drastically reduce the time taken to return an item bought online, as the company battles Amazon's aggressive moves to establish its own brick-and-mortar presence.

Under Wal-Mart's Mobile Express Returns, starting in early November, customers can, for the first time, use the retailer's app to initiate a return.

The process can then be completed at "express" lanes in a store by scanning a QR code and handing over the item, eliminating the need to wait in queues.

The new process reduces the time taken for returning products at stores to as little as 30 seconds from five minutes previously, said Daniel Eckert, head of Wal-Mart's U.S. services and digital acceleration business.

The new returns process also allows customers to get refunds as soon as the next day. Some items, including shampoo and color cosmetics, will be eligible for instant refunds even without the products being returned in store, then company said.

Wal-Mart said it planned to extend the new process to items bought in its stores by early next year, and is working on a similar returns policy for items bought from third-party sellers on Walmart.com.

Wal-Mart is investing $2 billion into its online business and has snapped up a number of popular online retailers since last year, including Jet.com.

The retailer's shares were up 1.3 percent at $80.02 on Monday.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
BlackRock, Inc. BLK is slated to report third-quarter 2017 results on Oct 11, before the opening bell. Its revenues and earnings are projected to grow year over year.



The companys second-quarter earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results were hurt by higher expenses and lower investment advisory performance fees. However, growth in assets under management (AUM) acted as a tailwind.



Nevertheless, the company boasts a decent earnings surprise history. Its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 1.9%.



Moreover, BlackRocks business activities and prospects encouraged analysts to revise earnings estimates recently. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.58 for the just-concluded quarter has increased 1.1% over the last 30 days.



Shares of the company have gained 21.7% so far this year, underperforming the 24.6% growth for the industry it belongs to. However, we believe the positive trend in estimate revisions will translate into a better price performance in the near term.

BlackRock, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise



BlackRock, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | BlackRock, Inc. Quote

Before we discuss the driving factors in detail, lets look at what our quantitative model predicts.



A Positive Surprise in Store?



According to our quantitative model, chances of BlackRock beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the to-be-reported quarter are high. This is because it has the right combination of the two key ingredients  a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better  which is required to be confident of an earnings surprise call.



You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.



Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for BlackRock is +0.40%.



Zacks Rank: BlackRock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which when combined with a positive ESP, increases the chances of an earnings beat.



Factors to Influence Q3 Results



BlackRock continues to dominate the ETF market with its continued investments in its U.S. iShare core ETFs. Moreover, as investors are increasing their allocations toward ETFs rather than alternative investments with an aim to reduce management costs, the companys iShares inflows are expected to remain strong in the quarter. This will likely further boost its AUM, which witnessed 16% year-over-year growth last quarter.



The New York-based asset manager remains well diversified geographically. As a result, the average fee rate is likely to rise on the back of higher international flows amid recovering global economic conditions.



However, BlackRock might witness an increase in costs in the to-be-reported quarter. BlackRocks expenses have remained elevated over the last few years. Moreover, its plans of restructuring the traditional actively managed equities business and improving product offerings are expected to lead to a further increase in expenses.



Other Stocks Worth a Look



Here are a few other finance stocks that you may want to consider, as these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter, according to our model.



Comerica Incorporated CMA is slated to release results on Oct 17. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.16% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation BK has an Earnings ESP of +0.32% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is slated to release results on Oct 19.



Associated Banc-Corp ASB is also scheduled to release results on Oct 19. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.12% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3.



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I spent part of last week in Yokohama, Japan where Chinese tech firm Lenovo held a 25th anniversary party for their popular ThinkPad laptops. The ThinkPad was the first real portable computing product in which industrial design was critical to its form, function and branding. The ThinkPad began life at IBM, but in 2005, Lenovo bought IBMs PC business and has continued to evolve the line. Since the first ThinkPads were introduced in 1992, theyve collectively sold over 130 million units worldwide.

As an IBM product, the ThinkPad helped the company gain serious traction in the laptop market, especially in enterprise sales. While IBMs original PC essentially created the personal computing platform, it was the companys ThinkPad laptops that helped spread mobile computing to a broader business and consumer audience in the 1990s. Up to that point, most clamshell laptops were the same color, had monochrome screens, and were otherwise barely distinguishable from each other.

The person behind the ThinkPads inception was Richard Sapper, a famed German designer best known for creating the Tizio Lamp in 1972. (The lamp is showcased today in art displays and museums as a masterclass of function embracing form.) Mr. Sapper was hired by IBM to do something no other PC company had: to create a laptop that was both a beautiful object and a fully functional PC. Today companies like Apple have underscored the importance of design in their products. But when the ThinkPad was on the design table, most of the creative work on laptops was handled by engineers, who were focused on functionality.

According to David Hill, who until his recent retirement led ThinkPad design for over 20 years, the first ThinkPad wasnt a clamshell at all  its original design involved a tablet with a stylus. If you know your PC history, Microsoft became a big fan of tablets and pen-based computing in the early 1990s, and was trying to influence their partners to back this idea. But Sapper, Hill and their team questioned the idea of a tablet with a pen as viable, shifting their design work to a laptop: thus the Thinkpad 700C was born, and introduced to the world in 1992.

Story continues

Part of Richard Sappers inspiration for the original ThinkPad came from a Bento box. If you know Japanese food, youre aware that a Bento box is a square container, but with multiple mini-boxes inside to hold various types of food. Sapper took this idea and translated it into what we now know as the ThinkPads iconic design, with its charcoal tone and discrete sections optimized for various computing tasks.

David Hill shared another interesting design tidbit at the 25th anniversary event. One of the ThinkPads more distinctive design elements is its red TrackPoint, located in the middle of the keyboard. When IBM saw this red button, it told Sapper that he couldnt use red, since that was the color of the emergency off button on IBMs mainframe computers.

Sapper argued that a laptop is very different, and that theres obviously no relationship between a nub designed to maneuver a mouse pointer and a kill switch. But IBM legal prevailed and he was forced to skew the color a bit. He called it magenta, and IBM said that was acceptable. The engineering team quietly shifted the color back to something more red than magenta, and when the first ThinkPad shipped, it was with a TrackPoint color more in line with Sappers original vision. (IBM legal opted to give Sapper no further grief.)

On the engineering side, the father of the Thinkpad is Arimasa Naitoh, who joined IBM in the 1970s. Hes been involved with the ThinkPad from the beginning, setting up the Yamato Development Labs (in Yamato City, Japan) and its vital engineering teams. At the event, he and his team introduced a 25th anniversary model ThinkPad that resembles earlier versions of the ThinkPad, but with all of the cutting-edge technologies youd expect from a modern laptop.

When I spoke with Naitoh-san at the event, he pointed out that once IBM (and thereafter, Lenovo) grasped the importance of marrying aesthetic appeal with industrial design  that it could become a key element of a whole host of products and services tied to the ThinkPad  both companies became obsessed with advancing the approach year after year.

And when I asked him what future technology excited him most, he said hes fascinated by the concept of a folding laptop, something that could perhaps fit in your pocket, but when unfolded, would become a fully functional computing device. I share his interest in the idea, and imagine that if he and his team ever managed to create such a thing, it could impact just about every mobile user on the planet.

IBM and Lenovos application of the iconic Bento box concept to portable computing changed the world, illustrating how spatial design principles could map to industrial enhancements that have yielded successively thinner, lighter and less power-hungry devices. 25 years on, what will Lenovo do next? Continue their attempts at innovating in the space, of course, but my bet is that whatever comes next, it will be guided by Richard Sappers original design parameters: that signature amalgam of industrial cleverness, functional scope and stark beauty.

Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists, covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin is the President of Creative Strategies, Inc and has been with the company since 1981 where he has served as a consultant providing analysis to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry.
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan -- The residents of a beleaguered province in northeastern Afghanistan fear losing essential services and key aid after the departure of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Activists, civilians, patients, and aid recipients for the global emergency relief organization in Kunduz say the ICRCs departure will have a negative effect on their lives as many vulnerable residents already struggle with insecurity, displacement, and poverty.

Sanga, a 30-year-old women who goes by one name only, says the ICRC helped them survive displacement. Last year, intense fighting forced her family to move to the provincial capital, also called Kunduz, from the neighboring district of Aliabad.

We are now bound to face many more hardships after the ICRC ceases operations, Sanga told Radio Free Afghanistan. They were doing a great job here. They were providing us with oil, food, tea, and other essentials.

On October 9, Monica Zanarelli, head of the ICRC in Afghanistan, said her organization was shutting down operations in Kunduz and neighboring Balkh Province. The closures are part of the ICRCs decision to "drastically" downsize its operations in Afghanistan after seven of its staff members were killed in attacks this year.

"Exposure to risk has become our greatest challenge and concern," Zanarelli said. "We have no choice but to drastically reduce our presence in Afghanistan.

She said the ICRC has been directly targeted in northern Afghanistan three times since last December. These incidents have affected not only the ICRC in Afghanistan but the organization as a whole," Zanarelli said.

Rafiullah Hidayat, an activist in Kunduz, says few nongovernmental organizations are capable of replacing the ICRCs role.

The departure of the ICRC is a major loss for Kunduz residents, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. The government must ensure their [the ICRCs] security so they can continue their important work.

Currently, Afghanistan is the ICRCs fourth-largest humanitarian program. The organization has operated in the country for more than 30 years. In addition to humanitarian assistance, the ICRC provides access to clean drinking water, physical rehabilitation of those wounded in war, and health care.

Kunduz resident Sayed Jamaluddin Frutun hopes the ICRC will reconsider its decision.

We want the ICRC to prioritize or problems and resume its operations in our region, he said.

Kunduz police chief General Hamidullah Hamidi, however, says he had offered improved security to the ICRC.

We had assured their employees here about security, and we still do not see any major security threat for them, he said.

But an ICRC statement on October 9 painted a different picture. It said that in December an ICRC staff member was abducted in Kunduz for four weeks.

The statement said the incident was followed by the brutal killing of six staff and the abduction of two others in [northern] Jawzjan Province.

While the abducted ICRC staff were released on September 5, a wheelchair-bound patient shot a physiotherapist dead inside an ICRC rehabilitation center in Mazar-e Sharif six days later.

Lorena Enebral Perez, 38, was Spanish. She helped disabled children and adults including amputees, the ICRC said.

[Perez was] the heart of our office in Mazar, Zanarelli said after her murder on September 11.

Abubakar Siddique wrote this story based on Ajmal Aryans reporting from Kunduz, Afghanistan.
For decades, Pashtun tribal people from the villages along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan have ignored the invisible line that demarcates the two countries. But now they are bracing for the prospect of a Berlin Wall-style divide.

In response to the threat of Islamist attacks, Pakistan is constructing a fence to keep militants from easily crossing the porous frontier, more than 2,500 kilometers long, which runs along the disputed colonial-era Durand Line drawn up in 1893 by the British.

The Afghan capital, Kabul, for its part, opposes the fence, which will bisect so-called divided villages where few residents hold passports and loyalty to the Pashtun tribe often trumps national allegiance.

Chaman district is home to seven such villages, as well as the bustling border-crossing hub of Chaman in Pakistans Balochistan Province in the southwest. Further north in the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), there are believed to be other divided villages.

Balochistan officials are attempting to ensure Pakistani citizens in these villages remain on their side. Security concerns, they maintain, override any worries about broken communities.

"(A border wall) was there in Germany, it is in Mexico. It is all over the world -- why not in Afghanistan and Pakistan?" said Muhammad Usman, commander of Pakistan's Frontier Corps paramilitary force in Chaman. "These tribals have to understand that this is Pakistan and that place is Afghanistan."

But many remain skeptical about the fence. Previous attempts by Pakistan to build such a barrier a decade ago floundered, and many have questioned whether it would be possible to secure such a long border.

In recent years, several populist world leaders have spoken out in favor of building walls to curb the inflow of foreigners, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump, who envisions a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Hungarian right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently put up a fence along the border with Serbia to prevent Syrian refugees and other Muslim migrants from entering the East European country, which serves as a gateway to the European Union.

In anticipation of the project, Pakistan is planning to build more than 100 new border posts, and Islamabad is seeking to recruit more than 30,000 soldiers to man them, according to a senior military source.

"Trump is doing as per requirements of America; we are doing as per requirements of Pakistan," Usman said.

During Pakistans census survey this past May, tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan boiled over in two divided villages. Afghan border troops, objecting to the census, clashed with the Frontier Corps in Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman villages near Chaman, leaving more than 10 people dead.

Kabul and Islamabad have traded accusations of sheltering militants and providing safe havens for Islamist groups carrying out cross-border attacks.

Many residents in Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman say they welcome the fence in the hope it will prevent bloodshed. But others worry it will hurt businesses and separate them from friends and family.

"There will be no infiltration of terrorists or suspects from Afghan areas  but my own small business, which I was doing with Afghan people, will be affected," said Abdul Jabbar, a Pakistani owner of a small enterprise in Killi Jahangir.

The Pashtun tribal heartland has long posed a security challenge for Pakistani officials. Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, with rugged mountainous terrain, the region has for decades been a hotbed of arms and heroin smuggling. U.S drone strikes have also targeted militants from al Qaeda and other groups in the region.

For the likes of taxi driver Abdul Razzaq, though, having peace of mind offsets the loss of business due to the fence.

"Now I can sleep in my home without any fear," he said.

With reporting by Drazen Jorgic and Gul Yousafzai for Reuters
Farangis, a 22-year-old actress and dancer from Dushanbe, was horrified to see images of herself being billed online as a "Tajik hooker."

She had clicked onto the obscure Instagram account after a friend recognized her among the photos of nude or semi-nude women. They appeared carefully selected to give the impression that all were of the same person.

Farangis, who asked RFE/RL's Tajik Service not to use her full name, says her photos had been taken from social media and reposted alongside images of a naked woman with a similar build.

Tajik police confirm Farangiss account and say they have launched an investigation.

The Interior Ministry says more than 10 women have complained of being similarly targeted, and some have reportedly paid off blackmailers in an effort to have their images removed.

A self-described independent career woman, Farangis fears for her reputation in conservative Tajik society. Already, she says, some people refuse to believe she didn't post the photos herself.

She also appealed to other young women whose images and details she found alongside her own, albeit with little success.

"One of the [other] victims refused to come with me to the police to file a complaint, telling me that I looked suspicious," Farangis says, referring to her European-style clothing and hairstyle. Others dont complain in order to avoid drawing attention to the photos.

Abdurahmon Sharifov, a lawyer for Tajikistans Human Rights Center in the capital, says many families try to settle such problems in private, believing complaining about it to authorities might simply exacerbate the problem publicly.

Sharifov urges victims not to give in to blackmail and instead to report similar incidents to law enforcement agencies.

Police say some of the victims were befriended online before being persuaded to provide private photos, while others simply discovered that their selfies and other images had been taken from social media outlets like Facebook or VK (formerly VKontakte), the leading Russian-language social network.

Many of the photos appeared on Instagram accounts along with the victims real names and, in some cases, correct phone numbers.

Some of the offending accounts -- including one with thousands of followers and hundreds of posts -- have been deleted, apparently after they were reported by the victims and authorities.

The authorities have not publicly identified any suspects, but Interior Ministry spokesman Umarjon Emomali says most of them are Tajik citizens.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. (TSX-V:STMP) (FSE:TMP2) (OTCQB:STMGF) (Stamper or the Company), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (the MOU) with State Oil Corporation (State) to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of State. State is a closely held private corporation.



State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sudapet Company Ltd. (Sudapet), the national oil company of Sudan, pursuant to which State will farm-in to acquire a 50% interest and rights in a certain Sudapet exploration and production project in Sudan.

The project area is comprised of 26,000 sq. km. The previous operator successfully drilled 3 discovery wells and 7 development wells. Over 6,700 km of 2D seismic and 432 sq. km of 3D seismic have been completed in the project area. The seismic data indicates a number of new locations for drilling. The export oil pipeline to Port Sudan runs through the project area.

A third party analysis report concludes: based on the TOC/Rock Eval data at disposal, excellent oil prone lacustrine source rocks (Type I) were penetrated in the two discovery wells located in the Central Sub-basin. In the Eastern Sub-basin, a source rock was encountered near TD in the lower oil prone formation, Campanian in age.

The MOU is non-binding. Completion of Stampers acquisition of State is subject to State signing final agreements with Sudapet and approval of the acquisition by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Prior to completion of the acquisition Stamper intends to raise capital through private placements (which will be detailed in separate news releases and will also be subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange). Stamper expects the work required in first 3 to 6 months post-acquisition to require expenditures between $50,000 and $100,000 for further study of seismic data and preparation of development plans for the project.

Terms of the MOU with State

State will complete farm-in agreement with Sudapet. Successful completion of the farm-in will result in a production sharing agreement between State and Sudapet; and Stamper will issue 25,000,000 shares out of treasury in exchange for 100% of the shares of State (subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange); and Stamper will be responsible for carrying out its own due diligence and preparation of any reports required for completion of the contemplated transactions.

This transaction is non-arms length as Stamper and State have common directors. Further, the contemplated issuance of the Stamper shares to the shareholders of State will not result in a new control person of Stamper or in new shareholders of Stamper holding more than 50% of Stampers issued and outstanding securities.

State has provided all technical data received from Sudapet to Stamper and will work together with Stamper to ensure that a National Instrument 51-101-compliant report is prepared for regulatory approval.

David Greenway, President of Stamper, commented, This is a momentous development partnership for both Stamper and State. We are very pleased to have signed the MOU which presents a significant opportunity to move forward on oil projects in Sudan. State has acquired extensive 2D and 3D seismic high-quality data that will allow for cost effective further exploration.

About Stamper Oil & Gas

Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. is a publicly traded junior development stage international oil and gas company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and evaluation of conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas properties with the current focus on Africa and Latin America. The Companys strategy is centred on generating sustainable long term shareholder value by exploring and developing cost effective growth of light oil reserves.

For further information on Stamper Oil & Gas please visit www.stamperoilandgas.com.

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Qamar M. Malik, MSc., Ph.D., Petroleum Engineering, who is a "Qualified Person" as such term is defined under National Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101") and Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation (COGE) Handbook.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

David C. Greenway

President & Director

For further information, please contact:

Stamper Investor Relations

Phone: (604) 684-2401

Email: info@stamperoilandgas.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Stamper Oil & Gas Corp undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
harshalc4 wrote:

Since 1990 the percentage of bacterial sinus infections in AQADESTAN that are resistant to the antibiotic perxicillin has increased substantially. Bacteria can quickly develop resistance to an antibiotic when it is prescribed indiscriminately or when patients fail to take it as prescribed. Since perxicillin has not been indiscriminately prescribed, health officials hypothesize that the increase in perxicillin resistant sinus infections is largely due to patients failure to take his medication as prescribed.



Which of the following, it true of Aqadestan, provides most support for the health officials' hypothesis:



A) Resistance to several other commonly prescribed antibiotics has not increased since 1990 in Aqadestan



B) A large number of Aqadestanis never seek medical help when they have a sinus infection.



C) When it first became available, perxicillin was much more effective in treating bacterial sinus infections than any other antibiotic used for such infections at the time.



D) Many patients who take perxicillin experience severe side effects within the rst few days of their prescribed regimen



E) Aqadestani health clinics provide antibiotics to their patients at cost







Owner of Angles and Arguments





Check out my Blog Posts here: Blog

For Individual GMAT Study Modules, check

For Private Tutoring, check KarishmaOwner of Angles and ArgumentsFor Individual GMAT Study Modules, check Study Modules For Private Tutoring, check Private Tutoring Signature Read More

- Percentage of infections that are resistant to perxicillin has increased substantially.- This can happen when it is prescribed indiscriminately or when patients fail to take it as prescribed.- perxicillin has not been indiscriminately prescribed,Conclusion: Patients do not to take this medication as prescribed.We need to strengthen the conclusion. Something that says that patients who are prescribed this medicine do not take it properly. That this is the reason for increased resistance. Note that there could be a 100 other reasons so eliminating one other would barely strengthen this but that is a call we will take as per our options.A) Resistance to several other commonly prescribed antibiotics has not increased since 1990 in AqadestanOne way to look at it is that there doesn't exist one other common reason because of which resistance is developing against all antibiotics but that barely strengthens our argument. Another way to look at it is that people are taking other antibiotics as prescribed since resistance to them is not increasing. Then it is unlikely that they are not taking perxicillin as prescribed. This actually weakens our argument.B) A large number of Aqadestanis never seek medical help when they have a sinus infection.People who are not prescribed perxicillin are irrelevant.C) When it first became available, perxicillin was much more effective in treating bacterial sinus infections than any other antibiotic used for such infections at the time.Tells us that perxcillin was the best at one time. Doesn't impact our argument.D) Many patients who take perxicillin experience severe side effects within the rst few days of their prescribed regimenThis provides a good reason why people may not be taking perxicillin as prescribed. Then it certainly strengthens the conclusion that patients not taking the medicine as prescribed is the reason for increased resistance.E) Aqadestani health clinics provide antibiotics to their patients at costIrrelevant.Answer (D)_________________
Fictional California senator "Joe Burkschmidt" was accused of being a KKK member by fake/satire website Freedum Junkshun in an article titled "BREAKING: Powerful CA Democrat Outed As Grand Wizard Of The KKK" that began:

Liberals laugh when we point out that Democrats are the party of the Ku Klux Klan, but yet another DemoKKKrat has been caught following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton idol Robert Byrd. While he never attained Byrd's rank of Exalted Cyclops, California Senator Joe Burkschmidt's white hood and robe just got yanked out of the closet by one of his own - a disgruntled staffer who posted a photo of the state senator on Facebook. The photo was removed within a minute:

There is no senator Joe Burkschmidt, not in California nor anywhere else, as a quick Google search will confirm. And the image used with the story is actually Bill Wilkinson, a real-life KKK Imperial Wizard who fled to Belize in 1984.

And in any case Freedum Junkshun carries an explicit satire disclaimer at the bottom of the page which reads:

We believe that there is nothing more precious than the mind of an aging conservative. Here we gather a boatload of bullhonkey, works of pure satirical fiction, to give the fist-shakers of the world a reason to hate. Reality is often in the eye of the beholder. You won't find any of it here.

Join the fun in the comments on our Facebook page where you too can watch David Hasselhoff running over someone's poodle magically transformed into a crime against humanity by Barack Obama or yet another murder the Clintons got away with.

The owner and main writer of the site is the well-known liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who seems to have made it his full time job to troll conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his satirical articles. He runs several other websites such as asamericanasapplepie.org, ourlandofthefree.com and nunadisbereel.com. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". He has at least one other accomplice who writes under the pen names "Freedom", "Captain Jellypants", "Butch Mannington" or "Captain Buck Atlantis".

Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer most of the time and who delete any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past with some succes but new ones keep cropping up all the time.

If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, it is safe to assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.
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Trump is expected to announce his latest decision on this topic later this week, and it is still not certain what course of action he will take. He has previously stated that Iran would likely be found non-compliant this time around, but he also said as recently as last week that he would not reveal his decision ahead of time, even though he claims to have already made it. This claim was contradicted, however, by an unnamed White House official who spoke to the Financial Times.

The official said that as of Monday the president had not yet made an absolute decision and also that despite previous promises about tearing up or renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, he may now be looking for ways to fix the deal without ending it. The White House has already arguably set the stage for such a course of action, with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley emphasizing that even if Trump decertifies Iranian compliance before Sunday it would not necessarily mean an American exit from the seven-party accord.

In fact, the Financial Times article notes that even Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, arguably the strongest voice of congressional opposition to the nuclear deal, is not pushing for the immediate re-imposition of economic sanctions after the potential decertification. Instead, Cotton has put forward a plan that would take advantage of the 60-day period during which Congress can vote on such a measure, so that the White House could build consensus among American allies regarding the need for stronger action on Irans nuclear ambitions and other behaviors.

Reference to these other behaviors is apparently important for the president as well, seeing as he is expected to release the results of a comprehensive review of Iran policy around the same time that he announces his decision on the nuclear accord. The Financial Times suggests that Trump may be working to minimize the political embarrassment that would come of once again backpedaling on his promise to undermine the JCPOA, and one way of doing this could be to refocus foreign policy on issues of Iranian behavior that fall outside the explicit scope of the nuclear deal.

Virtually from the beginning of his presidency, and especially in the run-up to the latest deadline, Trump has been emphasizing Tehrans alleged non-compliance with the spirit of the agreement. This has certainly been intended to reference ballistic missile tests that flout a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Iran to avoid work on weapons capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It may also refer to such things as Iranian threats against US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf, as well as arrests of Western nationals and other activities that show an aversion to cooperation or de-escalation with traditional Western adversaries.

On Monday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran release a report on Iranian activity subsequent to the nuclear negotiations which focused on issues such as ballistic missile tests and support of terrorism in the broader Middle East. The report endorsed the argument that these activities constitute violations of the spirit of the JCPOA, and it added that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had explicitly escalated some such activities in order to compensate for the appearance of compromise with the United States and the European Union.

But despite the continued Iranian antagonism toward the Western world in general, the EU and its member states continue to defend the deal, including JCPOA signatories Germany and France, along with the United Kingdom. And this is to say nothing of Russia and China, both of which are also signatories and permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as increasingly close allies of the Islamic Republic. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials have repeatedly reaffirmed their support of Irans position in recent weeks, and Agence-France Presse quoted a spokesperson for Putin as saying on Monday that Moscow was trying to anticipate the negative consequences of Trumps potential decertification.

Additionally, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is tasked with enforcing the JCPOA and monitoring Irans nuclear activities, has repeatedly stated that Iran has remained in compliance with its strict obligations under the deal. According to France 24, the agencys Director General Yukiya Amano reiterated this claim again on Monday. It is worth noting, however, that this came only about two weeks after Amano spoke out about the JCPOAs lack of verification methods of Section T, which identifies across-the-board restrictions on Iranian activities that could lead to the development of a nuclear weapon.

Section T had previously been highlighted by another report from the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and statements like Amanos have been cited to suggest that international attitudes toward Tehran and the nuclear deal may be shifting in a way that lends credence to Trumps concerns. This may in turn point to the possible efficacy of Cottons plan to build international consensus in the weeks after decertification.

For the time being, however, the strong international support for the agreement is presumably a leading reason why even Cotton will not advocate for immediate re-imposition of sanctions. As such, it is also a reason why Trumps actions this week cannot be definitively predicted. The uncertainty is amplified by certain domestic considerations, including the dispute between the president and Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Reuters described this situation in a report on Monday.

Although a leading Republican and a longstanding critic of the nuclear agreement, Corker has also been critical of Mr. Trumps foreign policy since announcing he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat. Lack of backing from Corker, a major player on Iran policy, would further tighten the presidents already narrow margin of support in a Senate that is comprised of 53 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

Although Democrats have been overwhelmingly supportive of the JCPOA since its implementation, Congress as a whole is prone to fairly hardline views on the Islamic Republic as a whole. With this in mind, a shift toward issues of Iran policy other than the nuclear deal may allow the president to win much broader support, especially if the White House can effectively highlight instances of ongoing and even worsening malign behavior by the Iranian regime.

This may be a fairly simple task in light of the rhetorical responses given to the US and its allies by various Iranian officials in the wake of new enforcement measures or even hints of the same. For instance, the Associated Press reported on Monday that General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that the United States should move its regional military bases beyond the supposed range of Iranian missiles if it has any intention of imposing new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

In the wake of his administrations comprehensive review of Iran policy, Trump may designate the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization  a move for which he ordered a State Department review within the first month of his presidency. Jafari said that such a move would eliminate any chance for engagement forever, but the IRGC has already reportedly been a leading opponent of all forms of engagement, including the nuclear deal.
Suzan stood before Immigration Judge John. M. Bryant last month at a courthouse in the American state of Virginia.

The El Salvadoran national asked the judge for more time in her case, which is already more than a few years old.

Immigration officials say Suzan entered the United States illegally. The government wants to send her back to El Salvador.

Suzan, a transgender woman, does not want to be identified in this story by her real name. She says she came to the United States as a teenager 20 years ago to flee oppression. She was immediately detained at the border, but later released.

Suzan avoided deportation. For a while, she was homeless and sleeping on the streets. Six years ago, she was at a nightclub when people started fighting. She was not charged, but the police called immigration enforcement.

They were about to deport her when her boyfriend called me and said, look weve got this situation, Suzans lawyer Xavier Racine told VOA.

Suzan has since married her boyfriend, an American, and is asking for time to prepare documents requesting a legal pardon. The lawyer claims that if she returns to her home country, she faces the risk of punishment or death.

Judge Bryant hears the argument and gives Suzan a new court date. Her lawyer has until February 2018 to make the appeal.

This was one of the 233 cases planned for September 19 at the immigration court in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington D.C.

Case Backlog

Outside the courtrooms hang eight lists where defendants must search for their names to find the number of the room where their case will be heard.

Each courtroom has white walls, no windows and 10 wooden benches that can seat about 40 people. If no seating is available, a person must wait outside the room.

The legal motions are settled quickly. Each one is settled in five to ten minutes.

Because immigration cases are civil actions, and not criminal, immigrants facing deportation do not have a right to a fast trial or free legal advice. If immigrants cannot find a lawyer willing to work for free, they are advised by the judge to hire an attorney.

In Arlington, judges were setting trial dates or hearings from 2018 to 2020.

The immigration data tracker website TRAC reports the backlog in immigration cases has risen to 632,000 nationwide.

Cost of Delay

Dana Leigh Marks is president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. She told VOA the organization has been critical of the immigration policies of both President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama.

Delays can have harmful effects, Marks said. What do you do if something happened to that persons life, or the evidence becomes stale (and) it has to be done again? Their attorney could retire or become ill or no longer be able to take cases and they may have to get a new attorney.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) says the United States has 334 immigration judges. In August, EOIR swore-in nine judges to fill positions in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Texas. President Trumps 2018 budget called for hiring 75 more EOIR judges. It takes two years to hire an immigration judge, according to a Government Accounting Office report.

The Land of ZAR

Asylum seekers from a number of countries were among those appearing in Arlington immigration court on September 19. They came from Central America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Immigration lawyer Lysandra Pachuta was representing a 16-year-old. Federal law gives immigration officers primary jurisdiction over asylum claims that come from young people without a guardian. That is because it seems less frightening for a child to sit down and tell his or her story to an officer in a small office than to present a case in a courtroom.

ZAR is a term for the Arlington Asylum Office. Judge Bryant called it Land of ZAR as a way to make children less afraid. He is firm with his rulings, but respectful with each person.

Bryant asked each child how they are doing in school and wished them the best in life.

Senorita Verde

Bryant set aside the last two hours of the day for children who were having their first hearing that day.

The courts clerk began to call cases. About six children were in the room, some with parents and others with legal guardians and attorneys.

An eight-year-old girl, wearing bright green clothing, stood up and walked to the respondents chair. She was with her mother and her younger brother.

Judge Bryant remembered that the Spanish word for green is verde.

Senorita Verde, how are you today? he asked.

The girl said that she was fine.

Judge Bryant got the most recent information on her case and set a new court date. He wished the girl and her brother a great school year.

The family will return to court in 2018.

Alice Barros reported this story for VOANews.com. Susan Shand adapted her report for Learning English. The editor was George Grow.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

transgender  adj. of or relating to people whose gender identify differs from the sex the person had at birth

gender  n. the behavioral or cultural qualities normally connected with one sex

deportation  n. the removal of expulsion of someone from a country

nightclub  n. a business providing music and space for dancing

hire  v. to employ the services of someone

backlog  n. unfinished or incomplete work

stale  adj. no longer new; getting old

jurisdiction  n. the power or right to govern something
Would you buy a car that released calming smells into the air when you are stuck in heavy traffic?

Would you buy a robot that smells like a human being?

Scientists suggest that new technology means people will soon be using devices like these in their daily lives.

The British Science Festival took place recently in Brighton, England. At the event, researchers from the University of Sussex demonstrated some of the technology that might be coming soon.

Many people have seen the three-dimensional computer-made environments of virtual reality, known as VR. Now these virtual worlds will not just look and sound real. Researchers have created VR environments that even smell like the real thing.

With the new technology, users open a virtual door and step into a new environment, like a rainforest. After they enter this virtual world, special equipment releases forest-like smells into the air to make the experience seem more real.

Suzanne Fisher-Murray saw the technology being demonstrated at the British Science Festival. She told VOA, It is a really immersive experience that you have because youre exploring this environment and you have smells  with it.

Smell technology has been tried in the past. In the United States, Smell-O-Vision was designed to provide smells during the showing of a movie. The Smell-O-Vision system was briefly popular in the 1960s. Now, University of Sussex researcher Emanuela Maggioni says it is close to becoming popular again.

The connection with emotions, memories, and  the sense of smell, Maggioni said. It is incredible what we can do with technology.

The uses for smell technology are not just limited to films and the performing arts. Researchers also demonstrated a computer program where users could imagine themselves driving a car.

The system included a special smell-spraying device. Dmitrijs Dmitrenko is one of the researchers working on this project.

In this demonstration, he said, we wanted to deliver the smell of lavender every time the driver exceeds the speed limit. We chose lavender because its a very calming smell.

Scientists are experimenting with using smell instead of sounds or image-based alerts on telecommunications equipment. And businesses are already using smell to influence peoples behavior.

Not only  in stores ... But on the other side, you can create and stimulate impulse buying, Maggioni said. So youre in a library and you smell coffee and actually you are unconsciously having the need to drink a coffee.

She adds that the sense of smell is important in human communication and relationships. For example, when men smell tears, it reduces levels of testosterone, a natural hormone in their bodies. Men then show greater feelings of understanding with other people.

That natural process has uses in new technology, Maggioni says. For example, she believes it could help people trust robots more if the robots smelled like humans.

Im Pete Musto.

Henry Ridgwell reported this story for VOA News. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. What other new technologies which include smell do you think the world will see in the near future? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

three-dimensional  adj. having or seeming to have length, width, and depth

virtual  adj. existing or occurring on computers or on the Internet

lavender  n. a plant with narrow leaves and small purple flowers that have a sweet smell

exceed(s)  v. to go beyond the limit of something

alert(s)  n. something, such as a message or loud sound, that tells people something is happening

stimulate  v. to cause or encourage something to happen or develop

impulse buying  v. the act or practice of buying things after feeling a sudden strong desire to do so

unconsciously  adv. doing something in a way where the person does not know they are doing it

tear(s)  n. a drop of liquid that comes from your eyes especially when you cry


Around the year 2000, a Bangladeshi immigrant named Shaker Sadeak left New York City.

Sadeak moved west to the American state of Michigan. He told VOA that Michigan gave him the chance to hold a job while going to school.

In 2007, he opened his own retail store in Hamtramck, Michigan -- a town with many immigrants from Bangladesh. The store, specializing in cloth, is next to Bengali restaurants and food stores. His business has grown over the years.

This past summer, new and established stores were replacing empty spaces along Conant Street, the main commercial street in Hamtramck.

Sadeak told VOA Back in 2000, you used to see one car in two minutes. Now we have thousands of cars driving on the streets. All the immigrants came into this town and rebuilt the whole thing, he said.

In old industrial areas across the United States, immigration is the basis for economic growth, says Steve Tobocman, Executive Director of Global Detroit. His nonprofit group works to bring international investment and business to southeast Michigan.

Tobocman told VOA that the immigration issues are real and important to the community.

They have a real impact on family budgets, and jobs, and incomes, he said.

Damage to Americas brand

New research shows that after the 2008 Great Recession, a growth in Detroits immigrant population helped to fight population decline and energize the economy. Global Detroit reported the findings.

Tobocman said that since the beginning of Donald Trumps presidency, anti-immigrant language and policies have been costly for Michigan.

We have done some damage to Americas brand as the worlds most welcoming economy, most innovative economy, and a place where anybody can come and contribute to our growth and prosperity and live the American Dream, he said.

Trumps top advisor for policy, Stephen Miller, told reporters in August that the presidents policies will prevent an increase in low-wage labor and protect American workers.

Miller believes that unskilled immigrants hurt the economy, and are partly to blame for unemployment in the country.

The U.S. Labor Department reported in early September that the jobless rate was 4.4 percent.

Comparing Michigan with nine other industrial states, Global Detroit estimated the economic loss that resulted from decreases in international travel and international students. The study also considered effects from Trumps cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and losses in agricultural production.

The group predicted a combined $1.157 billion in yearly losses in statewide economic activity. It estimated $418 million of that amount coming from the announced cancellation of DACA.

About $261 million in losses were tied to an estimated 16 percent drop in foreign visitors to the United States.

Weighing costs and benefits

In areas of the U.S. where population is falling, immigrants are part of what is keeping those communities vibrant and growing, says Kim Rueben, a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute.

Rueben was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel that wrote a report on the effect of immigration on American workers and economic growth. The group reported its findings in 2016.

Rueben noted that there are costs to state and local governments, such as educating the children of immigrants. But, she said, those same children become adults who end up paying the most in taxes and using the least in services.

Any decision to cut immigration numbers and the overturning of DACA will hurt the economy, Reuben said.

She noted that the children of lower-wage, first generation immigrants have shown an ability to exceed education level expectations.

A recent opinion study found that 38 percent of voting Americans approve of President Trumps immigration policies, while 59 percent disapprove. The Quinnipiac University poll was released last month.

Im Bryan Lynn. And I'm Alice Bryant.

Ramon Taylor reported this story for VOANews.com. Susan Shand adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

retail - n. the business of selling things directly to customers

income  n. a gain, usually measured in terms of money

commercial  adj. related to the buying and selling of goods and services

retail  adj. selling products directly to buyers for their own use

decline - v. to become lower in amount or less in number

innovative - adj. introducing or using new ideas or methods

prosperity - n. being successful usually by making a lot of money

vibrant - adj. having or showing great life, activity, and energy

exceed  v. to be greater than
The Philippines appears to be seeking a return to stronger economic relations with the United States. Experts say the change may be designed to balance the Philippines increasing dependence on China.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it is seeking to intensify economic cooperation in an effort to improve relations with the U.S. The department posted the message on its website. It also said stronger economic ties would go beyond security issues.

The two nations have been strong allies since the Philippines became independent in 1946. But relations have worsened since Rodrigo Duterte became Philippine president last year. Duterte has reacted strongly to American criticism of his deadly anti-drug campaign. One example: He reduced the number of joint naval guard activities.

The Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Peter Cayetano met in Washington with U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. He leads the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia. Cayetano suggested deepening the economic relationship between the two countries.

President Duterte has made major changes to his countrys foreign policy. These include searching for economic aid from China although the countries dispute territorial rights in the South China Sea. Duterte has also sought help from Russia and Japan. Japan and China are helping the Philippines with its $167 billion, five-year plan to improve public works.

Dexter Feliciano is a Filipino and founder of a new company in Manila. He says we wont want to distance ourselves (from) the U.S. because we are really trade partners and culturally we are connected.

The United States has long permitted Filipinos to work in the U.S. as teachers and nurses. About 3.4 million do so. More work in the U.S. than in any other foreign country. These workers then send money to their families in the Philippines.

About 10 million Filipinos work in other foreign countries.

The United States is among the top foreign investors in the Philippines. A U.S. embassy official in Manila says the United States has made more than $4.5 billion in direct investment in the country. It is also a top trading partner, she said: the two sides exchanged more than $17 billion in goods last year.

Americans own Convergys, the Philippines largest private employer. The embassy says the information management company employs more than 60,000 Filipinos.

Duterte and some Filipinos have complained that the U.S. economic aid comes with conditions. For example, last year the U.S. government stopped planned sales of 26,000 firearms to the Philippines. The U.S. also said it would redirect $9 million in aid away from the Philippine anti-drug training.

The American government criticized Dutertes anti-drug campaign, which included killing drug crime suspects without trial.

Businessman Feliciano says, Aid given by the U.S has strings attached. We have to do this, we have to do that. But what if the government doesnt want to do it?

Experts say military and public pressure may have pushed Duterte to try to strengthen the Philippines relationship with the United States. Early this year, a research company in Manila, the Social Weather Stations, found that about 70 percent of Filipinos place much trust in the United States.

Carl Thayer is a retired professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He has studied Southeast Asia for many years. He says Dutertes position as chairman of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations could be influencing his actions as well. Thayer says much of Southeast Asia depends upon the United States for trade and defense support.

Experts note that Chinese aid also has limits.

Thayer says, You get an impression that the leaning to China has had its limits and constraints. Its resulted in a lot of promises and some delivery, he said, but not completely.

Thayer says a return to close ties with the United States shows that the Philippine government is becoming more realistic.

Im Anne Ball.

Ralph Jennings reported this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted his report for VOA Learning English. Caty was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

access  n. permission or ability to enter something; freedom to make use of something

complain  v. to criticize; to accuse a person of something

strings attached  expression something with special demands or restrictions

impression  n. an effect, influence or improvement of something

constraint  n. control that restricts or limits
Dril-Quip, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and services engineered drilling and production equipment for use in deepwater, harsh environment, and severe service applications worldwide. The company's principal products include subsea and surface wellheads, subsea and surface production trees, mudline hanger systems, specialty connectors and associated pipes, drilling and production riser systems, liner hangers, wellhead connectors, diverters, and safety valves, as well as downhole tools. It also provides technical advisory services, and rework and reconditioning services, as well as rental and purchase of running tools for use in the installation and retrieval of its products; and downhole tools comprise of liner hangers, production packers, safety valves, and specialty downhole tools that are used to hang-off and seal casing into a previously installed casing string in the well bore. The company's products are used to explore for oil and gas from offshore drilling rigs, such as floating rigs and jack-up rigs; and for drilling and production of oil and gas wells on offshore platforms, tension leg platforms, and Spars, as well as moored vessels, such as floating production, storage, and offloading monohull moored vessels. It sells its products directly through its sales personnel, independent sales agents, and representatives to integrated, independent, and foreign national oil and gas companies, as well as drilling contractors, and engineering and construction companies. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
For Columbus Day, Trump Honors History of the Skilled Navigator and Man of Faith

At a time when far-left extremists are vandalizing statues of Christopher Columbus, and when even politicians such as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio have considered tearing down statues of the man who discovered America for Europe, President Donald Trump reminded Americans why we celebrate Columbus Day.

In 1492, 525 years ago, Christopher Columbus took a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Trump noted in an Oct. 6 proclamation for Columbus Day that The voyage was a remarkable and then-unparalleled feat that helped launch the age of exploration and discovery.

The discovery by Columbus brought the permanent arrival of Europeans to the Americas, which Trump noted was a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation.

The event is celebrated in many parts of the world. In Latin America its the Dia de la Hispanidad, in Spain its the Fiesta Nacional, in Belize and Uruguay it is celebrated as a day to respect cultural diversity on Dia del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural, and in the United States its celebrated as Columbus Day.

In his proclamation recognizing the U.S. holiday on Oct. 9, Trump said, on Columbus Day, we honor the skilled navigator and man of faith, whose courageous feat brought together continents and has inspired countless others to pursue their dreams and convictionseven in the face of extreme doubt and tremendous adversity.

He said that even five centuries after the voyage, we remember the Admiral of the Ocean Sea for building the critical first link in the strong and enduring bond between the United States and Europe.

Columbus was a native of the City of Genoa, in present-day Italy, and his voyage was sponsored by Isabella I and Ferdinand II of Spain.

Trump said the holiday represents the rich history of important Italian American contributions to our great Nation, and noted, There can be no doubt that American culture, business, and civic life would all be much less vibrant in the absence of the Italian American community.

Trump also paid his respects to Italy, and took the opportunity to reaffirm our close ties to Columbuss country of birth, noting that Italy is a strong ally and a valued partner in promoting peace and promoting prosperity around the world.

To commemorate Columbuss historic voyage, Congress passed a joint resolution on April 30, 1934, which was modified in 1968, to recognize Columbus Day. And Trump again took the opportunity to proclaim the second Monday of October each year as Columbus Day.

Trump said that as President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2017, as Columbus Day.

I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, Trump said. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and all who have contributed to shaping this Nation.
A view from a Customs and Border Protection helicopter, shows Texas Border Patrol agents and Texas State Troopers detaining aliens who were trying to remain hidden after illegally crossing the border from Mexico, near Hidalgo, Texas, on May 30, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Trump Outlines Sweeping Immigration Reform in DACA Deal

Priorities include border security, interior enforcement, and a merit-based immigration system

WASHINGTONThe deal is on the table.

President Donald Trump, on Sunday night, sent his immigration priorities to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Trump said his reforms must be included in any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Trump rescinded the DACA program on Sept. 5 and gave Congress six months to figure out a permanent fix. DACA was introduced through an executive order by President Barack Obama in 2012 as a temporary measure that gave recipients renewable, two-year work authorization and deportation immunity.

Now, lets be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity, this is not a path to citizenshipits not a permanent fix, Obama said at the time.

In return for granting some type of legal status to the nearly 700,000 DACA recipients, Trump has outlined his priorities for border security and interior enforcement, as well as the introduction of a merit-based immigration system.

These priorities are essential to mitigate the legal and economic consequences of grants of status to DACA recipients, said Marc Short, executive legislative director, on an Oct. 8 press call. They fulfill the presidents promise to advance immigration reform that puts the needs of American workers first.

Related Coverage With DACA Ending, Pressure Turns to Congress

Schumer and Pelosi were quick to respond after receiving the priorities, saying in a joint statement that the proposal failed to make any compromises, and the wall was explicitly ruled out of negotiations during their meeting with Trump on Sept. 13.

We told the president at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable, the statement said. If the president was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so.

Trump said the following reforms are needed to fix the problems identified by law enforcement and officials within the immigration system. They identified dangerous loopholes, outdated laws, and easily exploited vulnerabilities in our immigration systemcurrent policies that are harming our country and our communities, he said.

Border Fencing

The 1,997-mile southwest border dominates most conversation about border security. Trump is adamant that a wall be built and has included it as a central tenet of his proposed reform.

We are recommending the construction of a border wall along the southern border, which will be an invaluable tool to deter human trafficking, drug trafficking, and the spread of deadly cartel violence, said Ron Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, on Oct. 8. The success of border walls are undeniable from the perspective of the operators.

Yuma, Arizona, shares a 126-mile border with Mexico, and in 2005, it was besieged with illicit border crossings.

For three years, Yuma battled entrenched smuggling groups for control of the border, says a Border Patrol video on YouTube. Mass incursions often left agents outnumbered 50 to 1. Agents were assaulted with rocks and weapons daily.

In 2005, more than 2,700 vehicles, loaded with migrants and drugs, crossed the Colorado River and open deserts, according to the video. Apprehensions increased to more than 138,000.

Following the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Yuma tripled manpower and added mobile surveillance, as well as fencing and vehicle barriers.

Yuma went from 5.2 miles of fencing prior to 2006, to 63 miles, and has subsequently seen an 83 percent decrease in border apprehensions. By 2009, Yuma sector apprehensions fell to about 7,000 and have remained steady since.

The Secure Fence Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006 and, in part, directed that about 700 miles of double-layer fencing be constructed along the southwest border, along with sensors, lighting, and other tactical tools.

Notably, Schumer voted in support of the act, as did then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Unaccompanied Minors

Nationwide, the number of apprehensions of illegal border crossers on the southwest border have decreased 54 percent (to 153,117 individuals) between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31, year over year.

While we saw a historic drop in illegal immigration in the early months of this administration, weve also seen a troubling trend in the increase of unaccompanied alien children exploiting legal loopholes to gain entry and automatically released into the country, Vitiello said.

Currently, unaccompanied minorschildren under 18cross the border illegally and seek out Border Patrol so that they can get processed and sent to the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for resettlement in the United States.

If the children are from Mexico, Border Patrol has the authority to turn them straight back to their home country. However, the vast majority of minors are from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and Border Patrol cannot turn them back to Mexicoeven if they admit to being a member of a violent gang like MS-13.

Related Coverage As Illegal Crossings Decline, New Focus for Border Patrol

Border Patrol has to allow them into the United States and must process them through ORR and the court system (which has its own problemsmost notably, a backlog of almost 600,000 cases). It takes an average of 682 days to complete a single immigration case.

Trump is asking for Congress to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a Clinton-era settlement of a class-action lawsuit that requires the release of unaccompanied minors into American communities instead of detention, pending removal.

Legislation must include reforms to allow for the quick and safe return of illegal alien minors to their home country, Vitiello said.

Instead, the ORR places the unaccompanied minor with a sponsor, who is often a parent or relative who is in the country illegally. There is no follow-up to ensure the minor attends their obligatory court hearing that will determine their immigration statuswhether they can stay in the United States, qualify as a refugee, or be granted some other legal status.

In the two-year period ending September 2016, only 24 percent out of the 35,713 completed cases resulted in the minor being given a legal status, such as asylum or a special green card for juveniles, according to a study by Center for Immigration Studies fellow Joseph Kolb.

Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan said a review of recent numbers shows that more than half of families that are ordered to immigration court dont show upwhich means they receive an order of removal in absentia.

Even those that are there and receive orders in person, most become immigration fugitives and fail to comply with those ordersmore than 85 percent, Homan said.

Currently, there are nearly 1 million aliens with final orders of removal across the country, according to the administration.

Homan expressed his frustration at the lack of integrity in the immigration system. There are no consequences for sneaking past the border, overstaying a visa, skipping immigration court, or even committing additional crimes while in the country illegally, he said.

Asylum Program

Vitiello said the asylum program is a magnet for illegal immigration and is also in dire need of reform.

Many Americans would be surprised to know that being released into the interior of the country as an illegal immigrant is as simple as filing an asylum petition, Vitiello said.

Having more immigration judges, more detention space, and more ICE attorneys would begin to solve the problem, he said.

We need to make sure were swiftly removing illegal immigrants apprehended at both the northern and southern borders, Vitiello said.

Sanctuary Cities

The administration is taking steps to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, but wants Congress to legislate against them.

Sanctuary policies shield criminal aliens from immigration officials by disallowing local and state law enforcement from communicating with ICE, and local jails from holding an inmate for up to 48 hours longer in order to transfer them to ICE custody. Instead, in many jurisdictions with sanctuary policies, jails release them back into communities.

Sanctuary policies  are also attracting more people to come here illegallyall at the expense of public safety, Homan said. There is absolutely no justification for releasing a public safety threat back into the public when they are in the U.S. in violation of federal law.

Homan said the recidivism rate is as high as 75 percent, with more than half reoffending within the first year of being released from prison.

Last week, Homan slammed Californias new sanctuary bill, warning it will force ICE to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites.

Homan said the billsigned by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 5will hamper ICE operations in California by nearly eliminating all cooperation and communication with our law enforcement partners in the state.

[This] will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community, Homan said in a statement on Oct. 6.

California is the first state to pass such sweeping legislation that shields illegal aliens from immigration enforcement, although at least 300 cities and counties across the country have similar policies.

High-profile murders committed by illegal aliens have not convinced state politicians to do away with sanctuary policies.

Kate Steinle, 32, was fatally shot in San Francisco in 2015 by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times.

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez was detained for an outstanding drug warrant in March 2015. An ICE detainer request to local authorities was refused, and Lopez-Sanchez was released. He killed Steinle with a stolen gun in July 2015.

In 2008, 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw II was shot and killed in Los Angeles by an illegal immigrant who had just been released from jail.

Proponents for sanctuary policies say that the policies promote trust in immigrant communities and, therefore, immigrants will come forward to report crimespurportedly making the community safer.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions countered that view, saying in Miami recently that no evidence supports the claim.

To the contrary, Chicago has consistently had one of the lowest murder investigation clearance rates in the country, Sessions said, adding that a suspect is identified in only one of every four murders.

Far from making Chicago safer, these policies likely make cooperation with law enforcement more difficult. If there are no real consequences for the criminal, no witness will risk their life to report the crime. That means criminals walk free and victims suffer in silence, he said on Aug. 16.

Repatriation

Some countries refuse or delay the return of their own citizens, and several take close to a year to issue travel documents for the repatriation of a criminal, according to a 2011 ICE document.

Some of the most difficult countries for repatriating criminals include Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, and China.

While we have made significant progress this year on reducing the number of countries that refuse to take their citizens back, we also need to fix our laws to detain dangerous criminals whose home countries wont take them back, Homan said.

Related Coverage Trump Inherits Immigration Turmoil

ICE has the power to detain a removable alien indefinitely if they are specially dangerous, according to a 2001 directive from DHS. But many have to be released after six months, in accordance with the earlier Supreme Court ruling in the 2001 case Zadvydas v. Davis.

Homan gave an example of a Somali national who had been ordered removed from the United States to Somalia by an immigration judge in 2011. But, because of the Zadvydas ruling, ICE was forced to release him from custody, due to the unlikelihood he could be removed from the country within a reasonable amount of time.

The Somali was recently charged with attacking a policeman and pedestrians in Edmonton, Canada.

In fiscal year 2017, 1,666 criminal illegal aliens have been released from ICE custody because of the Zadvydas ruling, according to the administration.

Trumps reform asks Congress to fix the Zadvydas loophole and to allow ICE to retain custody of illegal aliens whose home countries will not accept their repatriation.

Visa Overstays

Visa overstays account for roughly 40 percent of all illegal immigration in the United States. In fiscal year 2016, 628,000 aliens overstayed their visas, according to the administration.

The presidents request for more ICE officers is absolutely essential to cracking down on these overstaysthe driving force behind illegal immigration, Homan said.

Trumps plan asks to strengthen the removal process and impose tougher penalties on overstayers.

In fiscal year 2017, ICE received approximately 1.4 million leads on potential nonimmigrant visa violators, according to Homan. Only 4,023 of those were removed.

Mandatory E-Verify

Almost 750,000 employers have enrolled in e-verify, said USCIS chief Lee Francis Cissna, but the program should be mandatory.

The failure to enforce our immigration laws has produced lower wages and higher unemployment for American workers, the proposed reform states.

Merit-Based System

Trump wants Congress to change the current priority of extended family-based chain migration to skills-based immigration.

In his proposal, Trump says chain migration does not serve the national interest.

Decades of low-skilled immigration has suppressed wages, fueled unemployment, and strained federal resources, the proposal states.

Trump wants to limit family migration to spouses and minor children, and eliminate the visa lottery.

His proposal suggests introducing a points-based system for the awarding of green cards (lawful permanent residency) based on factors that allow individuals to successfully assimilate and support themselves financially, including education level, English ability, and job skills.

Hiring

Trumps plan seeks to hire an additional 370 immigration judges, 1,000 ICE attorneys, 10,000 ICE officers, and 300 federal prosecutors.

Immigration reform must create more jobs, higher wages, and greater security for Americansnow and for future generations, Trump said. Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end.
Surgical patients who receive antibiotics before certain types of low-risk operations are not at an increased risk for antibiotic-resistant infections immediately after their procedures, according to results from a large-scale study conducted by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, New York City. These findings may reassure surgeons who refrain from ordering a short-course of antibiotics prior to patients' surgical procedures because of concerns about breeding antibiotic resistance. Study results appear as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print.

Surgical, infectious disease, epidemiological, and pharmacy specialty societies have clear guidelines about the use of prophylactic antibiotics to prevent surgical site infections. These guidelines cover major operations of all types, including cardiothoracic, abdominal, head and neck, neurological, obstetric, orthopedic, transplantation, and ophthalmic procedures, and make recommendations about timing, selection, dosing, and duration of antibiotic administration.

However, the administration of prophylactic antibiotics is left to the discretion of the surgeon before performing other types of operations. "Guidelines don't comment on relatively straightforward procedures, including some general surgical procedures, simple or diagnostic laparoscopy, or elective orthopedic, gynecologic, and urologic procedures because there has not been enough evidence about their benefit. So some surgeons feel strongly that antibiotics are beneficial and always give them. Others never give them because of concern about the use of antibiotics and the later development of antibiotic resistance and bacterial infections that have no or almost no treatment options," said Daniel Freedberg, MD, MS, principal author of the study and a specialist in internal medicine.

Dr. Freedberg and his associates at Columbia University Medical Center assessed the relationship between the use of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis and the development of postoperative antibiotic resistant infections across a wide range of operations for which there are no specialty society guidelines.

The researchers reviewed all 22,138 patients over the age of 18 who had one of these operations between 2008 and 2016. From this overall population, the investigators selected for study those patients who developed an infection within 30 days of the operation. Patients were included in this study if they had a positive bacterial culture from any surgical site or fluid specimen. The cut-off time was set at 30 days assuming that the effect of antibiotics on resistance would wane over time.

The researchers then determined how many patients with an infection had received prophylactic antibiotics. Their assessment included patients who received any class of antibiotic at any dose, any time, from one hour before the first surgical incision until the end of the operation.

Patients were considered to have an antibiotic-resistant infection if bacteria isolated in culture were only moderately susceptible or not at all susceptible to treatment within one or more major antibiotic classes.

In this study, a total of 689 patients (3.1 percent) developed an infection within 30 days, and within that group 550 (80 percent) had received antibiotic prophylaxis, and 338 (49 percent) had an infection resistant to antibiotics.

According to study findings, patients had the same risk for developing an antibiotic-resistant infection whether they received prophylactic antibiotics or not. Forty-seven percent of patients with a resistant infection had no antibiotic prophylaxis compared with 49 percent of those who did have prophylaxis.

The risk was the same regardless of other factors: whether antibiotics were given as soon as one hour or as long as four hours before procedures, whether the follow-up period was shortened from 30 to 14 days after procedures, and whether patients had prior exposure to antibiotics or a prior culture-proven infection.

The only factor associated with a higher risk for postoperative antibiotic-resistant infection was a previous antibiotic-resistant infection.

"If you're trying to figure out as a surgeon whether your patients may later develop a resistant infection in the postoperative period, the best clue is past history of resistant infection," Dr. Freedberg explained.

"The results of this study should be reassuring for those surgeons who choose to use antibiotic prophylaxis believing that antibiotics decrease the overall risk for infection following surgery. The study shows that even if patients develop an infection, they will not be worse off because they received a single dose of an antibiotic," concluded Dr. Freedberg.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Low-cost approaches that nudge physicians to reduce unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics could have a significant impact if clinics adopt them for the long term, a USC-led study finds.

Unnecessary antibiotics can harm patients and have contributed to the rise of drug-resistant "superbugs." Initial efforts to curb unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics have relied on traditional approaches including education, reminders and alertsnone of which were very successful. So for a study published last year, researchers at USC and other institutions studied three evidence-based psychological approaches known as "nudges" on 248 physicians in Boston and Los Angeles.

Results of the initial study revealed two interventions significantly reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing compared to the control group. One intervention was "peer comparison," in which physicians were updated via a monthly email about their rate of inappropriate prescribing and informed whether they were a "top performer" in comparison to their peers. The other, "accountable justification," required clinicians to report the reason for prescribing antibiotics in the patient's record.

The two interventions collectively prevented on average one inappropriate prescription for every eight patients seen.

Months later, researchers from USC, RAND Corp., Northwestern University and other partner institutions evaluated what would happen when the interventions were removed: Would bad habits return or would physicians continue to thrive as better prescribers?

Their follow-up study, published on Oct. 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that indeed, some clinicians may slip into bad prescription habits without a strategic nudge to motivate them. However, their latest findings also indicate that "nudging" interventions could continue to work if adopted long term.

"These interventions are low-cost and allow the prescribing clinician to retain their decision-making authority while nudging them toward better practices," said Jason Doctor, director of informatics at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and corresponding author of the recent study.

Their research is part of a growing field in which researchers consider how human behaviors may factor into economics. The research area received its due this week when the Nobel Memorial Prize of Economic Sciences was awarded to economist Richard D. Thaler, a University of Chicago professor and author of the economics book "Nudge."

The new study shows that 12 months after the peer comparison intervention had ended, clinicians increased their antibiotic prescription rate from 4.8 to 6.3 percent. The rate also increased among clinicians who were the subject of the "accountable justification" intervention, from 6.1 to 10.2 percent.

In contrast, the overall rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing decreased in control clinics by about 2 percentage points, from 14 to 12 percent.

"Given the impact during the study period and the relatively low cost of the interventions, it may make sense for clinics to permanently retain the interventions," said Jeffrey Linder, the latest study's lead author and a professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The authors suggested that this enduring effect from peer comparison may be because this intervention did not rely on electronic medical record prompts. Further, the authors said that physicians may have made "judicious prescribing part of their professional self-image" after the study.

However, they also noted that the persistence of the peer comparison intervention could further diminish as time passes.

The initial study, published in JAMA in 2016, followed 248 primary care clinicians in Boston and Los Angeles, evaluating whether the three research-based "nudging" interventions impacted physician prescribing. The interventions included:

Peer Comparison, in which, based on their rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions, clinicians were told in a monthly email either "you are a top performer" or "you are not a top performer."

Accountable Justification, in which a prompt requested the clinician to justify a prescription as it is being entered in a patient's electronic record. The written justification was added to the chart, unless the clinician cancelled the prescription.

Suggested Alternative, in which a pop-up box encouraged alternative, non-antibiotic treatments whenever a clinician ordered an antibiotic for acute respiratory infection in a patient chart.

During the active phase, each physician received none or some combination of the nudging interventions. The researchers found peer comparison and accountable justification each significantly reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in comparison to the control group by 16 to 18 percentage points. The third nudge, suggested alternative, had no statistically significant effect.

Provided by University of Southern California
This image shows how NSCLC adenocarcinoma cells can be grown as a tumor cell colony (yellow) next to normal human lung small airway cells (red) in the lung epithelial channel of the Lung Cancer Chip. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Cancer researchers have come to understand that generating human tumors in mice by injecting cancer cell lines under the skin does not recapitulate how tumors normally emerge and spread to specific organs in the human body, nor how they respond to anti-cancer drugs. So, they turned to injecting tumor cells at the organ sites where they originated from in humans, so-called 'orthotopic' sites. Orthotopic tumors, such as those created by injecting breast cancers into the mammary fat pads of mice, exhibit growth and metastatic behaviors more like those seen in patients, however, these organ environments are still not human. It is also not possible to visualize how tumor cells grow, move and respond to therapeutics in these orthotopic animal models, which restricts our ability to understand how different organ microenvironments influence tumor behavior and thereby develop better drugs.

As reported in Cell Reports, a team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering led by Founding Director and Wyss Core Faculty member Donald Ingber now has leveraged its human Organs-on-Chips technology to confront this challenge. In previous work, the team successfully modelled two different regions of the lungthe air-conducting small airway and the oxygen and carbon dioxide-exchanging alveoli at the tips of the small airwaysin microfluidic devices that are created with microchip manufacturing methods. The different lung cells inhabit one of two microchannels that run parallel through the chip, separated by a thin porous membrane from a microvessel lined by human lung endothelium in the second channel.

Like in the human lung, the resulting small airway epithelium is thicker, stiffer and covered with moving cilia, while the thinner alveolar epithelium is more permeable to enable efficient gas exchange and it is exposed to cyclic mechanical deformations to mimic breathing motions in the chip. The researchers continuously stream cell culture medium through the vascular channel to support the epithelial and endothelial cell layers over many weeks as occurs with blood-flow in living lung. In addition to having engineered the basic tissue architecture and functionalities of these two lung regions on chips, the team previously showed that they can successfully model lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and pulmonary edema.

In this new study, the team developed human orthotopic lung cancer models using these two lung chips. Approximately 85% of all lung cancers are diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the team focused on the adenocarcinoma form of this cancer which roughly accounts for 40% of all NSCLCs. In the human body, NSCLC adenocarcinoma cells are known to arise at the interface between the human lung's small airways and alveoli. But the tumor then primarily grows within the alveolar structures.

Ingber's team showed that when NSCLC adenocarcinoma cells are grown in the Lung Airway and Alveolus Chips, the tumor cells grow rampantly in the microengineered alveolar microenvironment whereas they remain quiescent in the Airway Chip, just as is observed in human patients. "Our lung cancer-on-chip platforms can model central aspects of orthotopic NSCLC in real time and high-resolution, and much more closely than other in vivo and in vitro approaches. They offer a literal window on the biological tumor complexities," said Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. Ingber also is the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at HMS and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

To achieve this, the researchers developed co-plating and injection strategies that enabled them to stably integrate a small number of NSCLC cells into the two lung chips. "This approach allows us to recreate key hallmarks of this cancer, including its growth and invasion patterns, and to determine how they are influenced by cues from surrounding normal cells. In the Airway Cancer Chips, cancer cells remain dormant for up to 12 days before they started to grow, while in Alveolar Cancer Chips they commence their growth much more rapidly, and once they reach a critical mass, they separate themselves and invade the endothelium as part of their metastatic process," said first author Bryan Hassell, Ph.D., who as a SEAS Graduate Student on Ingber's team developed the lung cancer-on-a-chip platform.

The team next asked whether physiological breathing motions within alveoli might affect cancer cell behaviors. Suprisingly, they discovered that when cyclic mechanical forces are applied to the lung epithelial channel to mimic breathing motions, both cancer cell growth and invasion were potently inhibited. "This is the first time that a clear impact of cyclical breathing motions on cancer cell growth and invasion has been demonstrated in any in vitro system modeling NCSLC behaviors," said Hassell. The researchers think that when lung cancer cells grow and fill patients' lung alveoli, this interferes with their natural motions, which in turn could speed up tumor growth and facilitate invasive behavior.

Finally, they took their approach another step further by investigating whether breathing mechanics could affect the sensitivity of NSCLC cells to a clinically used anti-cancer drug, known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). TKIs target frequently mutated enzymes, like the so-called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which unleashes unfettered growth in NSCLC and other cancers. Because early-generation TKIs can lose their efficiencies when cancer cells become resistant to them by producing new EGFR variants, cancer researchers are trying to design ever smarter TKIs. However, the constantly morphing cancer cells learn to deal even with those, by genetically rewiring themselves so that they can activate alternative cancer mechanisms.

Importantly, Ingber's team found, that in the Alveolar Cancer Chip, NSCLC cells that are already resistant against a first-generation TKI, can still be stopped cold in their tracks by a third-generation TKI in the absence of breathing motions, as might occur within large tumors that fill the lung's alveoli and stops their motion. However, in breathing mode, they become impervious to the drug and continue to survive and grow slowly, essentially creating cancer 'persister' cells that are known to be the nemesis of cancer therapy.

The researchers also observed that the levels of cytokines, proteins involved in cell communication that are produced by epithelial and endothelial cells, as well as cancer cells, and known to be important prognostic indicators for NSCLC, reflect cancer growth in the Alveolus Cancer Chip and are modulated by breathing motions and drug treatment. "The effects of breathing motions on cancer cell behavior in our models could explain how tumor cells, which remain from a shrinking tumor after therapy, could become persister cells, able to defy drug therapy, linger and eventually cause the cancer to relapse. Our orthotopic in vitro platform thus could be well-suited for dissecting how these persister cells arise, and they may be a useful tool in future drug development efforts that aim to eradicate them," said Ingber.
One of the images taken from the Kids'Cam cameras showing the alcohol advertising children are exposed to in supermarkets. Credit: University of Otago

New Zealand children are exposed to alcohol marketing on nearly every visit to the supermarket, innovative camera research from Otago and Auckland Universities reveals.

The research found children were exposed to alcohol marketing on 85 per cent of their visits to supermarkets, often near bread and milk or near the entrance.

Lead researcher Tim Chambers says the study provides further evidence of the need to ban alcohol sales in supermarkets. This is feasible given we have prohibited alcohol sales in supermarkets in the past and other countries, such as Australia, currently do. Moreover, supermarkets make up only three per cent of alcohol retailers but sell 30 per cent of all beer and 60 per cent of all wine.

"Children in the study were exposed to alcohol marketing almost every time they entered a supermarket, often the exposure occurred near everyday products, like bread and milk," says Tim Chambers, research fellow at Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington.

"This suggests alcohol is just another ordinary commodity, just another product on the shelves - a 'normal' part of the grocery shop," he says. This research was published in the journal Health & Place and reports on an auxiliary study of the Kids'Cam Study, which examined the frequency and nature of children's exposure to food and beverage marketing.

The exposure occurred despite a law change to reduce alcohol marketing exposure within supermarkets," says Chambers.

Diagram showing alcohol placement in a typical NZ supermarket, supplied by Kids'Cam. Credit: University of Otago

Children's exposure to alcohol marketing in a setting frequented regularly by children highlights the need for further restrictions. The researchers are calling for urgent Government action to restrict alcohol marketing surrounding children to reduce alcohol-related harm.

"The findings are a real concern given exposure to alcohol marketing increases children's alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm. In particular, research has shown exposure to alcohol marketing within supermarkets increases children's consumption, including starting to drink at earlier ages," Chambers says.

The study, Kids'Cam, is a world first. The researchers used automated wearable cameras and GPS units to study the children's world. 168 children between the ages of 11 and 13 took part in the study, wearing the devices which recorded photos every seven seconds and locations every five seconds over four days.

The children were randomly selected and recruited from 16 randomly selected schools in the Wellington region. Alcohol marketing contributes to the worldwide burden of alcohol-related harm.

In New Zealand, alcohol contributes to 800 deaths and costs the country over $5 billion per year. Moreover, alcohol is linked to over 200 medical conditions and causes a number of cancers. World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alcohol Strategy recommends restrictions on alcohol marketing as a 'best buy' for reducing alcohol-related harm. New Zealand supermarkets have some responsibility for the burden of alcohol-related harm due to their provision of convenient, low-cost alcohol as well as their market share of alcohol sales.

In New Zealand, supermarkets were not permitted to sell alcohol until the liberalisation of the alcohol laws in 1989. The researchers say that improving the supermarket promotional environment, by repealing the section of the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act that permits supermarket alcohol sales, would both significantly reduce children's overall exposure to alcohol marketing, and reduce the prevalence of other supermarket related infractions such as underage sales, loss-leading alcohol sales and cross-promotional activity. Further, it would save councils millions of dollars from the judicial challenges by supermarkets against Local Alcohol Policies.

"Our research shows the legislation is not working. It is time for government to take alcohol sales out of supermarkets," says Chambers.
Health officials in Nigeria have called for calm after dozens of suspected cases of monkeypox were reported in seven states across the south of the country.

Thirty-one suspected cases of the viral disease have been identified since the first was reported in Bayelsa State on September 22, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

States affected include Lagos, whose mega-city capital of about 20 million people is sub-Saharan Africa's largest.

The national coordinator of the NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said in a statement on Monday that samples had been sent to laboratories and that so far no case had been confirmed.

It is "unlikely" that many of the suspected cases are monkeypox, he added, but investigations are necessary.

"Nigerians are advised to remain calm, avoid self-medication and report any suspected case to the nearest health facility," he said.

The NCDC has set up an emergency operation centre to help states control and limit any outbreak. Affected patients were all "improving" at medical facilities, Ihekweazu added.

According to the World Health Organization, monkeypox is a rare disease that occurs mainly in remote areas of central and west Africa near tropical rainforests.

Symptoms are similar to those found in human smallpox patients but much less severe, and the disease has a low fatality rate.

The symptoms include aches, body pain and fever as well as a bumpy localised rash on the skin.

The WHO said the virus is transmitted from monkeys, African squirrels and other wild animals. Human-to-human transmission is also possible but the chances of catching it are slim.

In September, at least 10 people in the Central African Republic died in a monkeypox outbreak. There have also been fatalities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nigeria has issued public health messages calling on people to wash hands frequently and avoid eating bushmeat.

 2017 AFP
(HealthDay)How to keep from developing skin cancer should be something all doctors discuss with the parents of their young, fair-skinned patients, suggests the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Those conversations should begin much earlier than previously recommendedstarting when a child is just 6 months old, according to new recommendations from the task force.

"Providing behavioral counseling to children, their parents and young adults encourages sun-protective behaviors," said Karina Davidson, a U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) member.

"These actionssuch as using sunscreen, wearing sun-protective clothing and avoiding indoor tanningcan help prevent skin cancer later in life," Davidson explained in a USPSTF news release.

She is vice dean at Columbia University Medical Center's departments of medicine, cardiology and psychiatry and director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, in New York City.

The task force recommends that doctors with fair-skinned patients aged 6 months to 24 years of age should talk with them, or their parents, about ways to protect skin from sun exposure to reduce the risk for skin cancer.

For patients older than 24, the task force suggests that doctors decide case-by-case whether counseling on skin cancer prevention would be appropriate.

According to another task force member, Dr. John Epling, "Now, there is more evidence that counseling people to practice sun-protective behaviors can benefit some adults with fair skin." Epling is a professor of family and community medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke.

At this point, the recommendation by the task force, an independent panel of national experts, is considered a draft. It expands on guidelines issued in 2012 that advised doctors to counsel fair-skinned patients aged 10 to 24 years on skin cancer protection. Public comment on the draft will be accepted until Nov. 6, and a final, updated guideline will be issued after that.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Children and teens exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays are at greater risk for skin cancer later in life, especially those with light skin and freckles who easily burn in the sun, the task force noted. People who've had sunburns in the past, used tanning beds or have had skin cancer also are at greater risk for the disease.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
A group of neurons called CA3 react differently to stress in male and female mice. Credit: Rockefeller University

"Remarkable" is not a word you encounter very often in the scientific literature, where the unadorned description of experiments and their outcomes is the rule. But the adjective makes a bold appearance in a new report from the Rockefeller University, and with good reason.

Published this week in Nature Communications, the paper describes "remarkable" differences in the way the brains of males and females respond to stress. The findings, based on experiments with mice, are doubly notable because they occur in a part of the brain not normally associated with sex differences. They also have implications for the treatment of stress-related illnesses, including mood disorders.

"There is a need to include sex differences in neuropsychiatric research and endocrinology because men and women do respond differently to drugs," says first author Jordan Marrocco, a postdoctoral associate in the neuroendocrinology lab of Bruce S. McEwen, Rockefeller's Alfred E. Mirsky Professor.

That is especially important, notes McEwen, as scientists increasingly seek to tailor new medicines to individual patients. "Broadly speaking," he says, "the pharmaceutical industry has followed a one-size-fits-all philosophy and tested drugs predominantly in males. Some drugs have undergone little testing in women when they go into actual clinical use."

This can create serious problems, he says, citing the sleep drug Ambien, which was discovered to have a much stronger effect on women than men after it reached the market.

A gender divide

To investigate possible sex differences in the brain, the scientists focused on a region of the hippocampus known as CA3, which plays a crucial role in the stress response and is also involved in memory, the regulation of mood, and information processing. Specifically, they subjected male and female mice to a stressful task (a six-minute forced swim) and then used a method called TRAP, developed in the Rockefeller lab of Nathaniel Heintz, to look at how genes in their CA3 neurons responded.

What they found was, as they write, remarkable.

Many more genes (6,472) were altered by acute stress in CA3 in females than in males (2,474), when compared to unstressed controls. This large difference suggests, according to the study, that there is a clear genetic component in the response to stress. The scientists propose that genes in the parts of the brain that react to environmental stressors, such as the forced swim, may do so in female mice at a much greater rate than in males.

An additional finding underscores just how huge the differences in stress responses are between genders. The scientists identified 1,842 genes affected by stress in both sexes, however the vast majority of these "overlapping" genes responded in opposite ways in females and males- genes that were activated by stress in males were suppressed by stress in females, and vice versa.

Stress-induced diseases

McEwen's group also experimented with mice engineered to carry a variant of the BDNF gene that, in humans, is known to increase the risk of developing stress-induced neuropsychiatric disorders. The researchers subjected these mice to cognitive testsa common way to determine the impact of stressand found that females with the gene variant had impaired spatial memory, even without being stressed. Males with the mutation, also unstressed, did not show such deficits.

The findings suggest that ovarian hormones may interact with the mutated gene in a way that increases the females' stress-related memory impairment. Marrocco is investigating that possibility in a follow-up study.

The research in BDNF-impaired mice also sheds new light on the intricate relationship between genes and the environment, which can have the same effects on an organism through completely different mechanisms. "What we show," Marrocco says, "is that gene expression in the brain of an unstressed mouse carrying this genetic variant is similar to that in a normal mouse who experiences acute stress."

He adds that more research is needed into the biological differences known to exist between male and female stress responses. By identifying the genetic basis of these differences, and beginning to determine their location in the brain, McEwen and his team have taken a critical step in this direction.

More information: Jordan Marrocco et al. A sexually dimorphic pre-stressed translational signature in CA3 pyramidal neurons of BDNF Val66Met mice, Nature Communications (2017). Journal information: Nature Communications Jordan Marrocco et al. A sexually dimorphic pre-stressed translational signature in CA3 pyramidal neurons of BDNF Val66Met mice,(2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01014-4
Credit: Newcastle University

Indian government needs to do more to tackle rising sale of unapproved antibiotics, according to an analysis by researchers at Newcastle University and Queen Mary University of London.

In India, the sale of antibiotics requiring the tightest control and regulation is rising the fastest, warn the researchers. The correspondence published in The Lancet Global Health highlights serious hurdles for controlling antimicrobial resistance in the country.

In June 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a new classification for antibiotics, to combat rising antimicrobial resistance and preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are a 'last resort'.

The new model comprised three categories: 'Key Access' antibiotics that should be widely available, 'Watch Group' that includes critically important antimicrobials which should only be used for certain infections, and 'Reserve Group' antibiotics for severe circumstances when all alternatives have failed.

Ensuring rational medicine prescribing and use

Professor Allyson Pollock, Director of the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, said: "In India, rational use of antibiotics is imperative to limit antimicrobial resistance. It is of concern that sales of irrational and unsafe combinations are increasing and many have never been approved by the government. There are many calls from within the country for a new medicines Act and effective implementation of regulation to ensure rational medicine prescribing and use."

Dr Patricia McGettigan from Queen Mary University of London said: "In India, total sales of antibiotics are increasing, and for the antibiotics that require the most careful control and regulation, their sales are increasing at the fastest rate. The increases are driven by sales of fixed dose formulations, many of them indiscriminately combining two antibiotics together. Even worse, most of these formulations were never approved by India's national drugs regulator so their sale is illegal. The government has done nothing effective to stop the sales."

India is a major drug producer with some of the highest sales of antibiotics globally and the highest levels of antimicrobial resistance. Contributing factors include failures of India's drug regulatory system which have been identified in government reports, the sale of antibiotics without prescription, and the use of fixed-dose combination (FDC) antibiotics - formulations composed of two or more drugs in a single pill.

Scale of the problem

The team analysed antibiotic sales in India between 2007 and 2012, and found that total antibiotic sales increased by 26 per cent, with the increase mainly due to the growth in sales of FDCs, which rose by 38 per cent. By 201112, FDCs comprised a third of total sales in India.

When taking into account the new WHO categories, sales of FDCs with Key Access antibiotics had risen by 20 per cent in five years, but those with Watch Group or Reserve Group antibiotics had risen more steeply, by 73 per cent and 174 per cent, respectively.

Of 118 different formulations of FDCs being sold, only 43 were approved by India's national regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), even though the sale of unapproved new medicines is illegal in India. Only five of the formulations were approved in the UK or US.

Looking at single drug formulations (SDFs) which are composed of a single drug on its own, the majority (58 per cent) of the 2011-12 sales were either Watch Group or Reserve Group antibiotics. Over five years, sales of Key Access antibiotics had risen by 13 per cent, Watch Group by 24 per cent, and Reserve Group by 69 per cent. Unlike FDCs, most of the 86 SDFs on the market in India were approved by the national regulator and were also approved in the UK and US.

Good use of antibiotics

The researchers say that the changes needed to achieve the WHO vision of good use of antibiotics include banning the sale of unapproved FDC antibiotics and enforcing existing regulations to prevent unapproved and illegal drugs reaching the market.

Improved access to health care to reduce non-prescription sales is also needed, alongside research to understand why doctors complicate problems by prescribing unapproved antibiotics.
Credit: University of Warwick

Experts from the University of Warwick have contributed to new guidance on promoting positive mental health at work.

Erika Kispeter and Sally Wright from the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) examined how Suffolk County Council has responded to the challenge of managing mental health at work. The case study is published today [10] alongside new Acas guidance to mark World Mental Health Day.

The new Acas guidance aims to help employers promote positive mental health in their workplaces. Employers are encouraged to read the materials and develop practices and policies for their own workplaces.

The case study concluded that:

Senior management support is essential to the success of mental health training programmes

Training should be part of a broader organisational strategy and be reflected in business objectives

Training materials need to be tailored to an organisation's unique needs

The 'train the trainer' model can be effective but staff volunteers need support and time allocated to conduct training separate to their day-to-day responsibilities

Many employers recognise that there is a strong business case for supporting the mental health of their staff  healthier staff are more productive and take less time off work due to sickness.

The researchers found that there is also a need to take an equalities-based approach, and to consider how broader social issues including job insecurity, outsourcing of work, and severe income inequalities increase UK workers' vulnerability to mental ill-health.

Dr Kispeter said: "Steps taken by employers to improve mental health at work typically focus on individual workers' and line managers' ability to respond to workers' mental health issues, overlooking the need to take broader structural issues into account.

"Our case study highlighted the need to also think about quality of work, job security, and employment relations when managing mental health at work."

Tom Neil, Head of Acas guidance, added: "Most managers are used to dealing with physical ill health but can be less confident on the best approach for handling mental ill health.

"With one in six workers experiencing mental health issues it makes sense for managers to have an understanding of the signs and approaches that can be taken.

"Acas' new guidance can help managers develop the rights skills to support individuals as well as creating a culture of wellbeing in their workplace."

More information: Promoting positive mental health at work by creating a sense of shared responsibility, Promoting positive mental health at work by creating a sense of shared responsibility, www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/6/h/  -work-case-study.pdf
Spain awaits possible unilateral declaration of Catalan independence



ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Carles Puigdemont prepares for his appearance in the Catalan parliament

The whole of Spain is holding its breath this Tuesday, anxiously awaiting the appearance of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in the regional parliament at 6 p.m. and keeping their fingers crossed regarding what he will say on the issue of independence.

It is the presidents stated intention to abide by the transition law which his government passed last month, and which was annulled the following day by Spains Constitutional Court, and interpret the results of the referendum which partially went ahead on 1st October as giving him a mandate to declare independence from Spain. Only 43 per cent of the electorate registered a vote in the referendum, but among them 90 per cent were in favour of secession from Spain.

But since the vote the pressure on Sr Puigdemont to refrain from declaring an independent republic of Catalunya has been building from practically all sides, particularly the business community. On Monday the tally of major companies altering their registered addresses to other regions of Spain passed 30, with the latest additions including Fundacion La Caixa and Abertis, and each time another business follows suit this implies less tax revenue for the government of an independent Catalunya: the amount concerned is already reported to be around 1.5 billion euros per year.

But the division of opinion among the general public is also becoming more visible, and if the results of the referendum showed that only 177,000 people voted against independence it would appear from the mass demonstration in favour of a unified Spain on Sunday in Barcelona that many more anti-separatists chose to stay at home. It is reported that the march was attended by between 350,000 and a million people, and although many travelled to the Catalan capital from elsewhere in Spain it is clear that the majority of those Catalans present probably expressed their opinion on 1st October by refusing to take part in a referendum which had been declared illegal.

And on Monday another voice was added to the many clamouring for Sr Puigdemont and the government to put his foot on the brake, or at least to take it off the accelerator. Ada Colau, the Mayoress of Barcelona, warned that the results obtained in the voting on 1st October cannot be a guarantee for independence. She urged the president to hold back from pushing Catalunya over the brink into the unknown, while at the same time pleading with Mariano Rajoy, the President of the national government of Spain, not to implement Article 155 of the Constitution and effectively take over the regional government.

This is not time to blow up bridges and to eliminate any chance of dialogue, she added, and called on both men to assume their political responsibilities, begin negotiations and imagine new paths.

But Carles Puigdemont is also under pressure from those within his government to go ahead and make a unilateral declaration of independence this Tuesday evening. It is reported that there are doubts within his own PDeCAT party, but representatives of the CUP, without whose support he would not have been able to form a government, are planning to stage a demonstration outside the regional parliament before he begins his address to demand immediate secession.

The question, then, is this: will he or wont he? By early evening on Tuesday his decision will be known, and the consequences of whatever course of action he chooses will begin to unfold.

Image: Carles Puigdemont (centre) accompanied by regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras (left) and Jordi Turull on his way to a meeting of his chief advisers on Tuesday morning.

Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Murcia region: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/
Bilibili, Chinas top online platform for streaming Japanese animation, is planning a U.S. initial public offering that could raise at least $200 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The website operator aims to list in New York as soon as next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Bilibili hosts anime titles including Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, based on a sequel to the New York Times bestselling manga series about ninjas that teleport across dimensions.

U.S. first-time share sales from Chinese companies have already raised $1.3 billion this year, nearly triple the same period in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Four of the five such deals this year over $100 million are trading above offer price, including last months IPO from Zai Lab Ltd., which has risen 71 percent, the data show.

Baidu Inc.s iQiyi unit is targeting a U.S. offering as soon as next year in a deal that could value the online video service at more than $8 billion, people familiar with the matter said last month.

Bilibili has acquired more new Japanese anime titles than any other platform in China, beating Tencent Holdings Ltd. and iQiyi, according to a report from consultancy IResearch. The site has licensed more than 300 new Japanese titles from January 2015 through July this year, the report shows.

The size and timing of any offering could change, the people said. A representative for Bilibili declined to comment.

Chen Rui, a founder of Chinese smartphone software developer Cheetah Mobile Inc., invested in Bilibili and has been its chairman since 2014. Bilibili owns a license to show popular Japanese animated drama Your Name in China. The cartoon about a boy and a girl who swap bodies in their sleep was Japans top-grossing film last year, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Bilibili has invested in about 20 Japanese anime productions since 2015, the company said in an emailed statement. Its site also shows Chinese-produced animation and hosts user-uploaded content. The companys revenue model includes advertising and pay-per-view subscriptions.

Now read: Telkom suspends new business with KPMG South Africa
The DA Youth is demanding a monthly 500MB mobile data allowance for qualifying citizens.

An allowance of 500MB will allow poor students, matrics, and jobseekers to access the Internet for study purposes and to find work, said the DA Youths Yusuf Cassim.

How can we call ourselves free when half of the South African population have no access to the Internet. It is an economic necessity.

Cassim said even the SABC announced it would no longer advertise jobs in the newspaper and instead direct people to its website.

This fight didnt start with #DataMustFall as some would like you to believe. The DA has been fighting this for years.

The DA wants a mobile data allowance for:

Poor and missing-middle students.

Matric learners registered at government schools.

Jobseekers registered on the jobseekers database.

The government must fund this allowance, said Cassim.

He added that the funding will be achieved by deducting the price of the free mobile data allowance from each mobile operators monthly tax bill.

The release of additional frequency spectrum will also bring competition to the market, he said. This will naturally drive prices down.
Microsoft has announced a new wind energy agreement in Ireland, which sees the company entering a 15-year power purchase agreement with GE.

Microsoft will purchase 100% of the wind energy from its new 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry.

Microsoft has also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute, which will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.

In addition to producing energy, the project will provide valuable data on energy storage.

Each turbine has an integrated battery, and Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy.

This provides more predictable power to the grid by smoothing out peaks in wind production. It is the first deployment of battery integration in wind turbines in Europe.

Now read: South African renewable energy myths dispelled
Biden and Erdogan back extension of grain deal

Macron and Erdogan meet on G20 margins

UN: Earth's population is 8 billion people

Indian PM urges G20 countries to find peaceful solution to Ukraine

Erdogan and Biden hold talks in Bali

Media: Macron asks Xi Jinping to 'pressure' Putin to return to negotiations

UN: Armenia's population will decrease by 2050

Zelenskyy states that only realistic model of POW exchange is all for all

Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia

Argentine President Fernandez feels ill at G20 summit

Ruben Vardanyan receives head of ICRC mission: We must ensure a peaceful childhood for children living in Artsakh

Copper rises in price

Newspaper: Armenian Prime Minister wants to hold referendum on constitutional amendments in spring

Ardshinbank showcases the Google Pay for Android fans in Armenia

Zelenskyy calls not to offer Ukraine compromise with territory and independence

Secretary of State: U.S. stands ready to continue support for Karabakh settlement

Google Pay is a new contactless payment option for Converse Bank customers

French Senate to consider resolution on sanctions against Azerbaijan

Zelenskyy addresses G20 leaders: It's time to stop Russia's war

Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases

Another four-day parliamentary session begins in Yerevan

Gold declines in value

World oil prices go down

Plans to build 'death pyramid' in London that will hold millions of bodies

Armenian and Georgian Foreign Ministries hold consultations in Tbilisi

Azerbaijani and Iranian FMs hold phone conversation

Steve Jobs' sandals sold for more than $200,000

Armenian PM accuses Azerbaijani leader of terrorizing Armenian civilians

Azerbaijan shells Armenian positions on border again

OPEC downgrades its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2022

White House: Biden and Xi Jinping agree on Blinken's visit to China

CNN: CIA chief Burns meets with SVR director Naryshkin in Ankara

Turkish FM Cavusoglu thanks Ararat Mirzoyan for condolences

Putin signs decree allowing stateless persons to serve in Russian army

Airbus CEO: There is no question of them breaking off trade ties

Armen Grigoryan receives Igor Khovayev

Britain and France sign agreement on strengthening cooperation on illegal migration

US updates its sanctions list for Russia: Milur Electronics LLC, an Armenian company listed

Potatoes prices grow by 20%: expert claims agriculture collapse in Armenia

Peskov says Russian-American talks in Ankara initiated by Washington

Morgan Stanley: UK and euro zone economies are likely to face recession

Xi Jinping hopes for comprehensive dialogue between NATO, the EU and the US and Russia

Japan proposes to deploy Australian nuclear submarines

Biden calls talks with Xi Jinping at G20 summit frank

WB: Debt levels among low- and middle-income countries soared in 2021

Xi Jinping: China does not intend to challenge the U.S.

Scholz: Adopting a joint G20 summit statement is a tough task

Biden and Xi Jinping oppose use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Nikol Pashinyan receives Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group

IMF head warns of risks for world economy because of rivalry between China and US

Irakli Garibashvili: Georgia is ready to promote in every possible way the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Red Wings airline launches direct flights from Makhachkala to Yerevan

Olaf Scholz: EU should expand its cooperation with Southeast Asian countries

Global Leadership Foundation will visit Armenia

Kurdistan Workers' Party denies its involvement in Istanbul terrorist attack

NATO Secretary General says they must not make mistake of underestimating Russia

IRGC resumes strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan

French and German central bank heads call for speeding up EU capital markets union

Control of U.S. House of Representatives depends on several tight races

Artsakh FM speaks with his Transnistria counterpart

Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus say they cannot accept migrants

Cavusoglu thanks Mirzoyan for condolences on terrorist attack in Istanbul

Xi Jinping and Joe Biden begin first face-to-face meeting in Bali

Zelenskyy arrives in Kherson

Armenian Defense Minister: After expiration of contract service 5 million drams will be provided to servicemen

Turkey refuses to accept U.S. condolences after terrorist attack in Istanbul

Defense Ministers of Georgia and Azerbaijan sign military cooperation plan for 2023

Russian Foreign Ministry denies reports about Lavrov's hospitalization in Bali

Yellen hopes Biden and Jinping meeting leads to engagement on macroeconomic issues

Russian Defense Ministry confirms violation of ceasefire in Artsakh by Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Artsakh MOD denies accusations of Azerbaijani MOD

Azerbaijani Defense Minister holds talks in Georgia

Armenian MOD denies another lie of Azerbaijani MOD

Germany warns its delegation about Egyptian spies at COP27

NSS of Armenia reveals channel of illegal migration

Azerbaijani State Security Service announces disclosure of 'Iranian spy network'

Politico: Indonesia, hosting G20, lobbies West to soften criticism of Russia in final communique

Ararat Mirzoyan expresses condolences to Mevlut Cavusoglu over Istanbul explosion

Iranian lawmakers sharply criticize Aliyev

Ambassador-at-Large: Azerbaijan's attacks on Armenia are a terrorist attack

Germany needs to diversify its business interests in Asia to reduce dependence on China

Head of U.S. Treasury Department says sanctions against Russia should remain in force even after war in Ukraine

Natasa Pirc Musar to become Slovenia's first woman president

IMF: World economic outlook even bleaker than predicted

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan calls Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh 'our citizens' and at the same time shoots at them

Turkish Interior Minister announces arrest of suspect in attack on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul

Alpine to make 3 electric crossovers

Number of injured in Istanbul blast rises to 81

Paul McCartney sells guitar for $77,000 to support Ukraine

Erdogan says preliminary findings after Istanbul bombing point to terrorist attack

Erdogan says number of victims of Istanbul bombing rises to six

Authorities forbid TV channels to broadcast from Istanbul bombing site

Istanbul blast: Governor reports 4 dead and 38 wounded

Media: Terrorist attack considered as one of versions of bombing in Istanbul

Blast in Istanbul: victims reported

Reuters: National Bank of Ukraine prepares banking system for power outages

Explosion hits pedestrian street in Istanbul

Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin calls for Turkey to be recognized as sponsor of terrorism

Bloomberg columnist says Japan may be preparing for war with China

Reuters: U.S. to demand EU colleagues to continue aid to Kyiv at G20
YEREVAN.  The Azerbaijani president has made yet another statement that has nothing to do with reality.

Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and spokesperson of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He noted this commenting on Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyevs remarks during Mondays meeting of the cabinet of ministers of this country.

The events in April last year, the aggression which Azerbaijan carried out toward the freedom-loving and independent people of Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)], once again proves that Azerbaijan will do everything so that the [peace] negotiations fail, he said.

Sharmazanov added that he has not heard any constructive statement from Aliyev ever since the escalation of tension last April.

In the Armenian NA deputy speaker and RPA spokespersons words, the latest statement by the Azerbaijani president once again shows that Baku is not ready for any progress in the Karabakh peace talks.
YEREVAN.  I am confident that this trilateral cooperation will greatly contribute to increasing trade.

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Karen Karapetyan, on Monday noted the aforesaid during his talk with the representatives of the Iranian Armenian community, and within the framework of his current official visit to Iran, press office of the government of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

First, Karapetyan presented the details and results of his talks during this official visit.

I propose to you all to become a solid bridgewith your stepsbetween Armenian-Iranian relations, he told, in particular, to the Iranian Armenian community members in attendance. I propose to you all to live in two homes: one here [in Iran] and the other in Armenia.

Subsequently, the PM presented the Armenian government-initiated reforms, and stressed that the respective measures being taken especially in the economic domain are aimed at the creation of equal and favorable conditions for conducting business in Armenia.

Afterward, Karen Karapetyan responded to the questions posed by Iranian Armenians.
Two half-destroyed Armenian churches in Turkey are planned to be restored in the coming months.

The governor of Turkeys Gumushane Province invited a group of researchers from Istanbul Technical University to Gumushane town to conduct a study of the two Armenian churches that are located in the Suleymaniye neighborhood, according to Milliyet (Nationality) daily of Turkey.

The Gumushane Provincial Hall has prepared a plan for the restoration of these churches in order to increase tourism potential in the province.

Stones and icons with Armenian inscriptions were discovered during preliminary excavations around one of these Armenian churches.
It is essential that Armenia and Azerbaijan abide by the commitment to the Council of Europe to settle the Karabakh conflict by peaceful means, Czech Foreign Minister and chairman of the CoE Committee of Ministers Lubomir Zaoralek said during the PACE autumn session in Strasbourg.

Our ongoing efforts under the aegis of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group towards a negotiated solution have my full support. I fully support also the call by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to the parties last June to consider measures that would reduce tensions and to re-engage in negotiations on substance in good faith and with political will, Zoaralek said responding to Azerbaijani delegate.

The Minister expressed hope that the upcoming meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will result in tangible progress towards a negotiated solution to the conflict. The Council of Europe can help to establish conditions conducive to a peace agreement by encouraging confidence-building measures, he added.
The European Union decided to expand sanctions against North Korea in accordance with by UN Security Council resolution.

That resolution was adopted on 11 September 2017 in response to the DPRK's ongoing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles-development activities, in violation and flagrant disregard of previous UN Security Council resolutions.

The measures introduced by UNSC resolution include a ban on the sale of natural gas liquids to the DPRK, and on the importation of its textiles. The new measures also include limitations on the sale of refined petroleum products and crude oil to the DPRK, EU Council said in a statement.

In addition, member states will not provide new work authorisations to DPRK nationals to enter and work in their territory as they are suspected of generating revenue which is used to support the country's illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
YEREVAN.  President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia believes that it has long been known to everyone that before high-level meetings, Azerbaijani authorities resort to provocations in an attempt to pollute the environment.

Vladimir Hakobyan, Press Secretary of the President of Armenia, stated the aforesaid when asked by Armenian News-NEWS.am as to how the Presidents Office assesses the Azerbaijani presidents statements during Mondays meeting of the Azerbaijani cabinet of ministers, and regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh; NK) peace process.

The latest statements were from that series, with the only difference is that this provocation was carried out in the center of [the Azerbaijani capital city of] Baku, and not on the line of contact with Artsakh, or at the border with Armenia, Hakobyan noted. Days before the meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan is attempting to create an illusion that it is in the dictators position in the [peace] talks. Bakus calculations are primitive: to avoid accountability for not implementing the agreements that were reached at previous summits.

It is a shame when what is said on the international arena in the presence of other heads of states, and what is said inside ones own walls do not match each other. It is a shame when they are attempting to deceive the international community and their own people.

Armenian sides consent to go to negotiations does not at all mean a change of our position in the NK [conflict] settlement, or a step back from the imperative of the implementation of the agreements of the Vienna [(Austria)] and the Saint Petersburg [(Russia)]summits.

If Azerbaijan considers the implementing of those international agreements as a precondition posited by us, everyone knows what the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries [Russia, US, and France] have repeatedly stated in this connection, and they surely still have something to say.

 It is funny that a country is speaking about being disgraced before the international community, whereas the facts about a so-called charitable foundation created by whose initiative to bribe international officials do not go down from the front pages of the international press. Perhaps, there is no other way left to coverup that disgrace of Azerbaijan than boasting about some imaginary victories. It is not the first time that the boasting by various presidents of Azerbaijan has faded by colliding with the irrevocable will of the people of Artsakh and the reality of the established Republic of Artsakh.

It is clear that the attempts to infuriate us are failed from the beginning. We are committed to settle the Karabakh conflict solely through pacific means.
YEREVAN.  Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan, who is in Iran on an official visit, on Tuesday was received by President Hassan Rouhani.

Armenia attaches great importance to the warm and friendly relations it has with neighboring Iran, the PM said, in particular, press office of the government of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. And bilateral cooperation continues to develop in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.

Rouhani, for his part, expressed a conviction that the Armenian Premiers visit to Iran will contribute to making Armenian-Iranian friendship relations grow deeper. Also, the Iranian president stressed that he stands ready to assist in the initiatives of the governments of the two countries as well as in the implementation of joint projects.

In addition, the interlocutors underscored the deepening and expanding of cooperation and increasing of trade between Armenia and Iran.

Also, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and President Hassan Rouhani reflected on the avenues for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and on several other regional matters.
Transparency International is calling for tough anti-corruption measures, including sanctions on corrupt members, to restore trust in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the face of a series of corruption allegations and the resignation of its president, the organization said in a statement.

Transparency International welcomes this weeks scheduled vote by PACE to pass a resolution to strengthen its anti-corruption rules. But it calls on the organisation to move swiftly on current allegations.

On 4 September, investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and its partners revealed that current and former members of PACE allegedly received payments to launder the image of Azerbaijan abroad. On 6 October, the president of PACE, Pedro Agramunt resigned before facing a motion to remove him.

The new president of PACE must act fast against wrongdoing. It dragged its feet in the past when this issue first surfaced in 2012. It must not make the same mistake again, said Patricia Moreira, managing director of Transparency International. Members and former members of the parliamentary assembly who are proven to have received questionable financial benefits from Azerbaijan should be investigated and eventually prosecuted by their national authorities.

Politicians have been implicated in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Slovenia, while reports of reputational laundering touch Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Rather than wait for the independent external body appointed by the Council of Europe to finish its investigation into the wrongdoing, authorities in these countries should launch their own probes into the reports of political corruption, in addition to cooperating fully and effectively with this Council of Europe investigation and other such future investigations.

The member states of the Council of Europe should ensure that investigators can access all the information and documents they need, and have the authority to conduct on-the-spot checks and inspections.

Transparency International also calls upon the Council of Europe to establish a permanent investigative office as an effective mechanism to uncover future reputational laundering and bribery.

The Council of Europe and its member states must also adopt procedures that allow it to expel member who flout integrity rules and take bribes.
Iran and Armenia can develop close cooperation to address the conflicts and crises that have engulfed the region, Iranian President Rouhani said in a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan in Tehran on Tuesday, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Touching on the worrying situation in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the Iranian president said settlement of those conflicts would serve the interests of the entire region.

Wars and escalation of regional discord are not in the interests of any country, and all regional governments should push for the establishment of sustainable peace and calm, Rouhani added.

He further stressed the need for the expansion of political and economic relations between Tehran and Yerevan.

Voicing Irans readiness to provide Armenia with technical and engineering services, President Rouhani said his administration would encourage the private sector to invest in various fields in Armenia, such as road, housing, dam and power plant construction.
Didn't we use to have a "men are weak" tag? We need it now more than ever.

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lol @ us being able to have "this bitch" but not "men are weak"



Men. Are. Weak.

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lol the irony of it all

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The fact that it got taken away only proves it even more tbh

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wow this thread is so educational bc I literally did not know we had that tag.

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Yesssss

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im a man and ia

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u will be missed

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thank you for saying it. I wish death upon all men daily but I know it's not how I really want this world. I just want the evil men to stop.

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She didn't lie

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As a man who's been a victim of abuse by another men, I have to concur. I wish I'm not attracted to them.

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lin-manuel-mirandas-heights-gets-898351 The Weinstein Company was supposed to produce the film version of In the Heights:

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He's quite active on such things, maybe that's why

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The Weinstein Company's producing the In the Heights movie

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Forgive me.

Just woke up to this--I'd asked my reps to keep any press non-relief-related off my desk.

That's my fault. https://t.co/0bvwPFpBnh  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 10, 2017





I'm as appalled and repulsed by the Weinstein news as anyone with a beating heart. And forever in awe of the bravery of those who spoke out.  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 10, 2017



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I think it's a little too late to make a statement now without looking calculating. Their silence spoke for itself, no PR bandaid can help them now.

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They won't even need a bandaid. They're men, their male fans and plenty of women too will continue to go see all their films and they probably won't suffer at all from this apathy. They're pathetic and weak.

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The sad thing is, imo, is that they won't even hurt their careers by speaking out.

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as if leonardo's bloated, creepy, predatory ass would care

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he's a 42 year old man dating 22 year old models

so i wouldnt put anything past him

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LOL yep. Remember him on that yacht with Jonah Hill? Basically all women with his "posse"

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ugh...he would tho.

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yeah i expect 0 from him, giving his dating history.

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men remain trash

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I'm disgusted at all the pressure "woke" people are putting on women to say something. I really am.

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Same. Disgusted, but not surprised.

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Transparent as fuck. Shine the light on women so men can hide in the darkness unquestioned.

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It's up to the women to call out a man's horrible behavior. Always.

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And yet these dudes will face no consequences 

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It's really telling. A woman says she's appalled and had never known, but now that she does she's horrified... etc. and ONTD calls her a filthy liar. A woman says she heard rumours and is outraged that they turned out to be true, and wants the guy to pay severely, and ONTD calls her a silent idiot, a too little too late fool. A woman says he treated her fine but believes the women coming forward 100%, and she's called a pathetic fake.



Unless she was fighting against that particular man since day 1, 20-30 years ago, she's a nasty liar that should shut the fuck up.



It's like ONTD is completely unaware of how the industry works. And worse, they're continuing to judge these women. Idk the whole attitude the majority of ONTD has towards women in Hollywood is super gross.



Meanwhile the few men who speak out about it are praised and worshipped.



Edited at 2017-10-10 03:05 am (UTC)

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Oh my gosh! SO MUCH THIS! People here were really nasty towards the women that have worked with Weinstein before. We don't really know their entire situation. Meanwhile we never hold men accountable. :(

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This so much. Once again, ONTD is hypocritical as hell.

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mte, I'm fucking disgusted at some of the comments I've seen here lately.

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it's always the same story, different day

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MTE

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same

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yup. even the comments here people were like what about jennifer lawrence??? from the first post on about this.



Edited at 2017-10-10 05:23 am (UTC)

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Its ridiculous to put them in that situation especially since we dont know if they werent a victim and arent ready to speak upon it. Even if they werent, a woman speaking up on mens sexual harassment could completely ruin their career where if a man spoke up nothing would happen tbh.

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men were definitely a mistake

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both evolution and creationism both support this.

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fuck them all.

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Probably 'cause they've all done similar things

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...is this a troll comment

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I'm surprised people aren't catching on lmao

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you've been here long enough to know about carmen, sis

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#ontddoesntread



A few exceptions: men like Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Paul Feig, Mark Ruffalo and James Gunn who have issued pro-victim statements or tweets.

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destroy them!

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ughhh men are fucking TRASH 2k17 and forever

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as my sister says, 2k5ever

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Of course they are. I hope this tanks Damon and Crowes careers for being obvious POS but it won't.

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I had never heard of that Demon/Crow story until a couple of days ago and it was just so disgusting. But why should I be surprised considering Matt Demon pretty much all the campaigning for Mumbling by the Sea to cover for Casey.



Also, I'm really irritated that I keep seeing statement after statement from a woman, like why do we have to speak up about men and their injustices against us constantly and still get hurled with criticism when mostly women are the ones being assaulted and harassed? If men think they're not predatory, let them fucking say something and more than just a tweet.

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omg *mumbling by the sea* IS RIGHT



not only was C Affleck's toxic self in it, but the movie overall was drab and boring. just like...soullessly bleak. (Should have pushed to see Lion that weekend instead.....)

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lion was a harvey movie though

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"Mumbling by the Sea" lmao

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Edited at 2017-10-10 03:57 am (UTC) Lol. I'm sure he knew, but I hope this starts a trend of men speaking out about it. #AskMen

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Why do you think he knew? You think he was pulling that shit around people like George and Meryl? He was doing it to low level nobodies because he knew he could get away with those ones.

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you really don't think men discuss women and brag about this shit in private?

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he wasn't going to flaunt that kind of stuff around power players like them (moreso meryl than george to be honest since 'boys will be boys' but i guess there's the chance they weren't close enough to each other to swap prowling stories) but if random people on the internet in bumfuck, iowa knew that harvey was a lecherous creep, i'm sure it's come up in conversations at parties and dinner tables.



Edited at 2017-10-10 04:33 am (UTC)

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This is exactly what Im thinking. I hate to say it but I believe all the celebs saying they didnt know. Just because this nasty ass pig knew exactly who he could and couldnt get away with being his true despicable self around.



Edited at 2017-10-10 06:17 am (UTC)

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Np, but these rumors weren't the kind that you'd only know if you read Lainey's blinds; it was an open secret that Hollywood has been hiding for decades. He knew and turned a blind eye. He probably told himself that if he didn't see it happen directly in front of him then it must not be happening.

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I think Weinstein knew that what he was doing was fucked up and evil. He wasn't going to flaunt what a fucked up asshole he was to Mr Sexy Cool Man Clooney. He was a savvy businessman and kept his window display ~liberal~.

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COLIN FIRTH AND EWAN MCGREGOR HAVE WORKED WITH WOODY ALLEN. THEY ARE NOT SHIT

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And Ewan worked with Polanski so same for him

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omg i totally misread this and thought you were saying "they're not shit" as in "they're not bad" and i was about to be like bitch why you clapping and yelling this dumb shit @ us lol

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ohhh so now that someone reputable has come out and said "EVERYONE KNEW" (CHASTAIN), now their new thing is "well we knew but we didnt believe it or think it was THAT bad..."



Edited at 2017-10-10 03:58 am (UTC)

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I dont think you meant to say "very few men have chosen to remain silent"...

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omg my bad! I've had a long ass day

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beyond being trash, men cannot and are unwilling to put 2 and 2 together in these situations

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Ia. Clooney admits he knew that Harvey was a powerful man "who liked to hit on young, beautiful women", but apparently never made the connection to the casting couch rumours he also admits to hearing about for decades? And then to say "well I didn't know he paid off 8 women and jerked off in a potted plant", well bro, not specifically, but you knew about the general stuff. smh

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a powerful man "who liked to hit on young, beautiful women"



so was George Clooney until like two years ago. somehow his track record really doesn't fill me with confidence.



Edited at 2017-10-10 09:11 am (UTC)

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I think a lot of men happily accept the concept of women's bodies being used as some sort of currency/bartering tool to get ahead either financially or in their careers and never question how abusive that actually is, let alone that women might actually be being hurt. So they can just turn a blind eye.



They'll just think to themselves that this is something WOMEN do before they'll open their pea brains up to the idea that women are being abused and men are abusing their power. I.e. The Harvey's girls thing or "fucking for tracks."

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yeah omg I'm sorry! I've had such a long day

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ONTD has been intense all day today. I hope tomorrow is all Bella Thorne and Speidi posts.

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IA, this is exhausting and it's only been Monday, lol

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Yeah I had a long day at work, this needs to be discussed but I just want some fluff pieces before I go to sleep.

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What has speidi done in the last 10 years to make ONTD? I must have missed something

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They just had a baby.

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Bella posts usually get snotty. but i hear you on wanting some happy, funny, fluffy, people are angry and down each others throats, posts.

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The Avengers post that took a left turn was a fun read

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We need a Trace Cyrus post. ONTD always come together to mock him.

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ok george

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IA

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They're saving their own asses tbh

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yep. i'd be more impressed if they decided to out someone else. one woman i know posted about a high profile manager and a director she met at an a/b-list director's house by name who are both still working today. even though it was friends only i still applaud her so much for her bravery and hope to see more names come forward. i'm not holding my breath though. :(

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Name the director she named

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It's one thing for a victim to tell their truth but someone not involved who it heard it through the grapevine can't just start naming people. That's a good way to get sued

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Or if anything to dismantle the system that allows this to happen.

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Yep these people are transparent af

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ia. perfectly put

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MTE

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I want all of these ugly ass journalists like Justin Miller to call up famous men who have worked with Weinstein and ask them about him.

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I want to see more of these assholes being exposed. No way is Harvey the worst. Keep going, people.

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hollywood is where predators come out to play

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The issue is not that he didn't see any bad behavior in front of him, I believe it. The problem is that most of these dudes talked between each other about women in a very sexist and disgusting way, but that's just ~boys being boys~ so most of these men don't consider trash-talking a woman as a bad thing.

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it's just locker room talk

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i was surrounded by dudes until i went to college, and i never knew how disgusting men really were until after i got real girlfriends and could compare them.



my male friends talked about women in front of me all the time (because i was 'one of the boys') in a nasty way and if someone decided to call them out it was shunned out with `we're joking' or 'who cares'. a lot of those boys in high school who are now men with families destroyed several girls' reputations and created tons of awful rumors.



i never ever heard or witness this behavior with my girlfriends. yes, we gossiped a lot but we never created fake rumors that could harm or destroy someone's reputation.

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I love that SureJan.gif note lol

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Idk why the fuck people feel the need to say, "I've known this man for X amount of time and I've N E V A H seen any sort of behavior like this from him!"



Save the pearl-clutching for Iyanla and go fuck yourself, George

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Jesus Christ the audio in the New Yorker article is FUCKED UP

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I just listened to it. God, he's so terrifying.



I hope every survivor can speak out against him.

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What is it about, just to be forewarned before listening to it.

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Police got audio of him trying to coerce a woman, threatening her and admitting to groping her.

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it's him trying to manipulate and pressure a woman into entering his hotel room. she says she doesn't want to and that she feels uncomfortable over and over again, he keeps insisting, says she's embarrassing him, making a scene, throwing away his friendship, etc. it's really triggering so please be forewarned!

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I know it's super disturbing and honestly should come with some kind of trigger warning

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It's so, so gross

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Holy shit...that is so scary. "I'm used to that" ?! What the mother fuck! Die!

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Fuck. That audio is disturbing.

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and the fact that ronan farrow wrote it, wow

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and that fact that Ronan (who works for NBC) had to go to the New Yorker with the story... hmmmm



After this, the SNL fuckup, and others.... NBC cancelled

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The SNL fuckup?

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I love Ronan, he's great

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Ikr. He's amazing 

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mte. bless him.

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has Ronan or Mia for that matter ever said anything about how gross Frank Sinatra was jw

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So many people have so much to lose by continuing to associate with him -- that's the difference. He set up the parties, provided the hookers, etc. etc. Whereas Woody Allen and Roman Polansky raped people "on their own time."

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Nah. He'll probably still produce films as a money man through a shell company or a surrogate

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his brother doesn't have the same rep? I'm skeptical

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Yeah I think he's out too. Far too many are speaking up and loudly. big names that he harassed. raped.



i think he's done as a producer. he might try and put a flick out here and there, but mostly i think he'll try and rehab his image with charity and keep quiet.

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Nah. I feel like we've officially crossed the Rubicon into Cosby territory with this story. Dude is cooked.

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I think the audio of him actually threatening and coercing a scared woman might be the nail in the coffin

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Yeah, give it 5 years and he'll be back,sadly.

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this is so heartbreaking. hope justice finds him in some way or another, and that all other hollywood creeps are exposed

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I'm just finishing part one because after that recording I need to see some puppies and kittens playing, it's fucking disgusting

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I just finished reading the whole thing and I'm crying. He's truly a monster, I hope he rots.



All the brave women who shared their stories and the ones that haven't come forward are so brave and deserve justice. All the strenght to them <3

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There are so many depressing details in this including the fact that Mira Sorvino didn't want to speak out because she was assaulted or raped so she thought her story was "minor".



Asia Argento's whole story is heartbreaking because her reaction to being raped is very common and it's used to blame women all the time. I am glad she is finally able to talk about this, I hope it helps her heal in some way.

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And the fact that these two come from well connected film making families didn't stop him which just disproves that myth that powerful men won't go after daughters of other powerful people

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http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/85109808.html



https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/13143458.html



And poor venus_orbiting being near him once 0_0



https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/105282896.html?thread=18142329680#t18142329680



Edited at 2017-10-10 03:51 pm (UTC) After rereading some old threads, you just wonder if Harvey went after Nicole Kidman & Renee Zellwegger :/And poor venus_orbiting being near him once 0_0

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Noooooooooooooo :(

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Well, if it explains the postponement of "Grace" it would also explain the endless delay of "Tulip Fever".

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Yeah, I thought some of the official "I haven't even seen it" reviews were pretty strange, with remarks about ~just knowing~ it must be stupid & "who wants to watch a movie about flowers" (paraphrased)

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Since Gwyneth Paltow came into celebrity, there's always been rumors about blow-jobs to Weinstein for Shakespeare in Love.

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Can we please not speculate about the identity of victims like it's a game of Cluedo?

Can't you honestly see how gross that is?

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oh shit

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trying to guess if women have been raped or not is really, really fucking gross. rape takes away your agency. the only power you have is the power over your own narrative. this kind of shit takes even that away

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just finished reading and i'm devastated, i'm just sick

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so, so sad :(

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In a 10 month investigation, 13 women told me Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them. 3 allege rape: https://t.co/7XKS6CotVP  Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) October 10, 2017

"Sixteen former and current executives and assistants at Weinsteins companies told me that they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinsteins films and in the workplace. They and others describe a pattern of professional meetings that were little more than thin pretexts for sexual advances on young actresses and models. All sixteen said that the behavior was widely known within both Miramax and the Weinstein Company. Messages sent by Irwin Reiter, a senior company executive, to Emily Nestor, one of the women who alleged that she was harassed at the company, described the mistreatment of women as a serial problem that the Weinstein Company was struggling with in recent years. Other employees described what was, in essence, a culture of complicity at Weinsteins places of business, with numerous people throughout the companies fully aware of his behavior but either abetting it or looking the other way. Some employees said that they were enlisted in subterfuge to make the victims feel safe. A female executive with the company described how Weinstein assistants and others served as a honeypotthey would initially join a meeting, but then Weinstein would dismiss them, leaving him alone with the woman."

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yes I just dont believe it at all.

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Idk.



I've read pretty convincing convos explaining exactly how someone with Meryl's status could genuinely be sheltered from ugly realities people like us could find out on the Internet.



Hollywood is a highly stratified place and fame is isolating. Weinstein wouldn't have shown his true in front of her and who would gossip about sleazy stuff like that with her really?

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I agree. This article makes it clear that EVERYONE knew

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I actually believe that women like Meryl were not aware. They are in such a bubble. I think if she did hear anything it was in the way George Clooney described it, i.e. women as willing participants who slept with him for jobs. That is not the same as rape and abuse.

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The part about the honey pot...my god these people are truly sociopathic

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this quote from Emma de Caunes needs to be part of every post about this bc ppl are still buying that "but George / Meryl didn't KNOW!" bullshit



Over the years, she said, shes heard similar accounts from friends. I know that everybodyI mean everybodyin Hollywood knows that its happening, de Caunes said. Hes not even really hiding. I mean, the way he does it, so many people are involved and see whats happening. But everyones too scared to say anything.

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Can we use the word rapist now? #Weinstein  Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 10, 2017



I think I might need to wait till after work to read this article. I think I might need to wait till after work to read this article.

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<3 to both Anthony and Asia, I cannot imagine :(

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for real. bless them. it must be simultaneously comforting AND agonizing to be there for each other right now. ugh. this whole thing is so fucked up.

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Hes so not who I would have expected to be vocal on this subject but good on him for speaking up.

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jesus

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For her just to record and post the video.. My goodness, I just want to give her a hug..

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man that's rough X((

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I'm confused...is she saying that THIS happened to her? JFC he needs to got to jail.

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Heartbreaking :(

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Rosanna Arquette.......god. 

I'm still wondering if he tried messing with Uma...

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did anyone manage to listen to the recording? his voice literally makes my skin crawl.

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Yes and I want to throw up

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Where can you listen?

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http://variety.com/2017/film/news/harvey-weinstein-scandal-new-yorker-ronan-farrow-1202585552/



Scroll to the bottom, it's in the tweet Scroll to the bottom, it's in the tweet

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Yep and the whole thing sounded so damn familiar to me, both from my experiences and the stories of others, that I wanted to hurl.

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Yep. I need everybody to pile on him, but I need especially the Obamas to say the right thing.

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Most importantly, what will Democrats do about their Manhattan D.A. running unopposed even though it was revealed he accepted a check to halt Weinstein's investigation after he caught Harvey admitting to grope a model on tape? (Reminder: he also accepted money to end an investigation on Ivanka/Jared).



My hunch is that they won't do anything because they're corrupt and spineless but I am hoping to be positively surprised.



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I doubt they'll do anything unless more attention is drawn to it. :(

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The whole Manhattan court system is corrupt; like you said, don't expect anything from the D.A.

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Audio? We need a roundup for this shit.

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Donald has said things tho. he is not surprised. of course.

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Ofc not, they probably compare stories like the sentient semen stains they are

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this aint a party thing - its a rape and assault thing.



I agree, they should speak out... but why is this one sided

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Birds of a feather.

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Uh yeah man... we been know these people are trash... but how does that excuse the Clinton and Obama silence???

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DRAG THEM

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you know these two are BFFs

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can't believe they allowed their daughter to intern with him. I know she had secret service at all time, but still..

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Mte. There's no way they can claim they didn't know.

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Why the hell would they let her go if they did know??

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where

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I've been seeing that everywhere. It's disgusting.

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rme

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mte

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Bill and Hillary 'haven't been speaking for months after he tossed her hand-wringing election book in the TRASH https://t.co/8E8mXOeLBn  Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) October 10, 2017 great post, OP!

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Oh @ you hijacking a post about a serial rapist to post some completely unrelated petty shit about Hillary Clinton



Go play in traffic

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first of all, how is this unrelated? bill clinton is also a serial rapist.



second of all, traffic is currently bumper to bumper, so idk what youre trying to say with your traffic comment.

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Agreed. I'm reading the book now and this just seems like fake news, tbh.

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The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and published in London. Has a strong conservative bias and has a poor track record with fact checkers.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/ The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and published in London. Has a strong conservative bias and has a poor track record with fact checkers.

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not shocking whatsoever

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The fact that not a single person in the industry or among their many friends in Hollywood informed the Obamas about Harvey's WELL KNOWN history before they sent they're beautiful teenage daughter to work with him is unbelievable to me.... just totally doesn't make any sense???

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idk i can buy that people in politics didnt necessarily know and were just schmoozing for $$$



i mean he has north korea and afghanistan and a whole fucking country to deal with. it's believable to me that he was just in and out of these fundraisers perfunctorily and didnt pay attention to gossip. how much time do ppl think the president has?

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We know he was a semi-frequent visitor to the WH - and obviously Barack might have been overwhelmed with his job, but at the very least Michelle or an aide or someone could have just dropped a hint???

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I can buy politicians being less aware than Hollywood people. How well do politicians vet their donors?

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Bullshit. The Clintons' vacation home was next door to Harvey's. And he threw Nathan Lane against a wall at Hillary's birthday party.

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Probably because she had secret service with her

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I mean, was she really working *with* him? Or was she an intern in his huge company where she wouldn't be likely to meet him at all? Also he was not gonna molest the president's daughter...

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I mean, she had the Secret Service with her so it's not like she was in personal danger.

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You REALLY think they served up their daughter to him as some kind of offering?

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America really hates Hillary, I just don't get it.

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statement posted after the CNN article

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Meanwhile the GOP literally is represented by an actual sexual predator. Like, not just taking a few bucks from one. He is their elected president in RL. And he's a serial sexual predator who has never apologized.



The mind boggles that they still think they have any moral ground to stand on when criticizing Hillary. I'm so DONE.

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The only likable thing about her is that she isnt Donald Trump.

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Hillary Clinton is no victim

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it already is.

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It is political tho.... Harvey ingratiated himself into politics, it was a HUGE aspect of his power



Why are people not getting this???

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Yep. Just because one side is trash doesn't mean that liberals are free from blame. Political donations make it political.

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lmao chris cillizza is such a hack



trump is an actual sexual assaulter and he's the president but this is the scandal? gtfo

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i'm sooo sick of the whole cycle of a powerful man being revealed to be a predator who has caused untold harm to the lives of dozens of women and we talk about that for three seconds and then it's suddenly, "when will *powerful woman somewhat affiliated with him* speak out?" why is a woman's lack of speech a crime that deserves as much discussion and condemnation as a man's pattern of violent assault and abuse?



Edited at 2017-10-10 06:31 pm (UTC)

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I'm so sick of other folks being held to a higher standard than the current POTUS

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this is a scandal, Trump being an actual sexual assaulter is a scandal, Bill Clinton being a predator and being protected by the Democrats up to this day is also a scandal.

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cillizza is such a hack.



but yes, they should say something. i see hill already said something.



Edited at 2017-10-10 05:30 pm (UTC)

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deafening? idk why people are demanding an immediate response, i prefer good responses.

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I agree

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Looks like we didn't get either here :/

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it's been 5 days, he's already been fired, and the response wasn't good.

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idk, people went mad against LLM and he was busy with PR. Now he answered. 5 days can feel like all the time for some and not enough for others.



and yes, the answer was short and a little late from HC but is better than your president, so i'm neutral in this regard.



idk if the obamas responded already tho



Edited at 2017-10-10 06:03 pm (UTC)

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Chris Cilllizza takes should be considered war crimes.

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Seriously, when did he become the star of cnn.com and who the fuck even is he?

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That's a dumb as fuck take and all the Clinton/Obama fans thinking this is funny -- when they're the first ones to look the other way regarding actual war crimes -- are trash. Although not surprised at ONTD liberals showing their racist colors.

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i don't watch- but i've checked out your posts just to keep up a bit lol



was this a good winner?

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thank you for checking <3



it was! he was one of the two contestants i was rooting for since the beginning. he had a great social game, great alliance, great at immunity challenges (even with winning only two of them). his biggest problem was his FTC speech. he sounded kinda arrogant. but he was the better player out of the two anyway

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I'm sad we were robbed of a jury speech from Tessa. But I'm pretty happy with Jericho as a winner, especially since his FTC was kind of a disaster imo. I can't believe I liked him and Luke but I'll be damned if those two dumbasses weren't super endearing.

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This was a really great season! I was happy with Tara or Jericho winning. My preference was Jericho though.



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Great season overall & thanks OP for your posts!

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Honestly, I would have been happy with a lot of the people who made merge winning. Peter was criminally under-edited for making F3 so I knew he didn't have a shot in hell. This is easily a top tier season even amongst the best US seasons

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or maybe the peter we saw was a beefed up version of a terrible player

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It's a BOP!



Jack Antonoff's sound is everywhere on Taylors shit, but it's not nearly as obvious and in your face with St. Vincent and Lorde.

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ia re: it being a bop but i think it sounds very antonoff (tho i love him so that's not a bad thing)

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it's PERFECT.



also you should add that she just announced more tour dates!!

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She didn't announce any near me, so I'm bitter and pretending she isn't touring.

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I like this and cara doesn't sound too bad tbh

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which part is cara? help i'm dumb this all sounds like the same beautiful robot voice

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are annie and cara back together?

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no bc the gay god isn't real :(

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no but they both speak very kindly of each other

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I'm really digging her stuff this era

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I'll keep saying it until she gives it up, but her look for this album is truly fucking ugly.

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Her makeup and stuff? I think she looks gorgeous. :(

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I hate it.

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lol me too. I hated New York even more though. Los Ageless has grown on me a lot.

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Out out the 3 I'd say LA is the best out of those. idk I'm just not feeling the music or the aesthetic

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I'm not feeling her new stuff at all this time around. :(

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it's terrible

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i just realized that this album is all about how shes a transplant living in echo park lmao

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she always sounds vaguely dead inside but i like it

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Wow, deep

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i feel like this song's been written 50x before

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so far i've felt really meh about everything she's released this era. it all sounds familiar and kind of stale.

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I know nothing about St. Vincent tbh but this is really catchy.

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this was mediocre, yet ultimately boring. Uninspired & overproduced.

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Bangkok, 10 October 2017  ONYX Hospitality Group has entered an agreement with UK-based YOO Hotels & Resorts to manage and further develop YOO Collection and Yoo2 hotels across Asia.

As a result, ONYX Hospitality Group will expand the presence of the two YOO brands across key city and resort destinations in the Asia Pacific region, contributing to further growth of the YOO Collection and Yoo2 brands. The first YOO Asia hotels to be developed will be in Phuket and Bali, both scheduled to open in 2019.

Douglas Martell, President & CEO, ONYX Hospitality Group, said: As we continue expanding the reach of the ONYX Hospitality Group portfolio and entering new market segments and new destinations, we are excited to be in partnership with YOO Hotels & Resorts to grow our footprint in the lifestyle hotels segment. We look forward to a mutual exchange of unique strengths, including YOOs design-led philosophy and

our regional management expertise.

John Hitchcox, Chairman of the YOO Group, said: We are very excited about this partnership between YOO Hotels and Resorts and ONYX Hospitality Group as it has created the perfect platform for operational excellence and growth of the YOO brands across Asia Pacific. This expansion opportunity in some of the worlds fastest growing hotel markets will ensure that even more travellers will soon be able to experience YOOs unique designs and guest experiences.

YOO is a global design brand specialising in design-led property and hotel developments around the world. The YOO brand was created by leading property developer John Hitchcox and international designer Philippe Starck with a vision to enrich lives with extraordinary living spaces. YOO Hotels & Resorts is inspired by YOO Groups vision and offers two lifestyle brands: YOO Collection, luxury hotels which blend creative input by some of the worlds most renowned designers with sublime locations and personalised service; and Yoo2, upscale lifestyle hotels which provide unique interpretations of local influences, location and living space.
The golden color of the anemones is due to the microalgae present in their tentacles.During high temperature episodes, the microalgae living in symbiosis with the corals are expulsed, which causes the corals to bleach. Credit: Suzanne C. Mills

Coral bleaching is a well-known consequence of climate change. What is less widely known is that sea anemones suffer the same fate, and this reduces the fertility of clownfish living in these anemones, as researchers from the CRIOBE, a laboratory jointly managed by the CNRS, the EPHE and Universite de Perpignan Via Domitia, have just demonstrated in French Polynesia. Following a 14-month study, they are publishing their results in Nature Communications on Oct. 10, 2017.

Like corals, sea anemones live in symbiosis with microscopic algae, which gives them their color. Symbiotic clownfish protect themselves from predators by sheltering among the anemones' tentacles, and each month, lay eggs at their base. The anemones are also protected by the clownfish that they host.

Every other day, from October 2015 to December 2016, researchers and students visited 13 pairs of clownfish and their host anemones in the coral reefs of Moorea Island (French Polynesia). This monitoring was conducted before, during and after the 2016 El Nino event that triggered a warming of the Pacific Ocean (+2C on Moorea Island compared to the 2007-2015 averagea combined effect of ongoing global warming and the El Nino episode) and a worldwide coral bleaching episode. Half of the anemones monitored in this study bleached as they lost their microalgae. Among the clownfish living in the bleached anemones, the scientists observed a drastic reduction in the number of viable eggs (-73 percent). These fish were laying eggs less frequently and they were also laying fewer and less viable eggs, while these parameters remained unchanged among fish hosted by unbleached anemones.

Blood samples taken from 52 pairs of clownfish (including the 13 previously mentioned) showed a sharp increase in the level of stress hormone cortisol, and a significant drop in concentrations of sex hormones (the equivalents of testosterone and oestrogen). The bleaching of the anemones due to increased sea surface temperatures is thus a stressor that reduces the levels of sex hormones and thus the fertility of the fish. These links have been found for the first time in the natural environment in which the fish live.

The health of the anemones and the fish improved between three and four months after the end of the warming event, long after temperatures had returned to normal. But would this have been the case had the warming episode been more intense, or longer? And faced with a new warming episode, will the clownfish that have already suffered this initial stress be better acclimatized, or more fragile? To provide some answers to these questions, the team will monitor each individual during the next El Nino episode. Such monitoring is possible due to the fact that clownfish have a fairly long life expectancy and are sedentary, seldom moving from their host anemone.

The clownfish are not an isolated case. Twelve percent of the coastal fish in French Polynesia depend on anemones or corals to feed or to find protection from predators. In cases of prolonged bleaching, like that of the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, the renewal of all of these populations could be affected, and with them, the stability of the ecosystems.

More information: Ricardo Beldade et al, Cascading effects of thermally-induced anemone bleaching on associated anemonefish hormonal stress response and reproduction, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00565-w Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by CNRS
Credit: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

In 2008, New York City mandated all chain restaurants to post the calories of items on their menus. The intent was to induce consumers to choose healthier items in the restaurant.

A forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, a leading scholarly marketing publication, investigated whether the calorie posting on menus has broader spillovers by impacting consumer evaluations of the restaurant. The study finds that health mentions about the foods increased significantly in online reviews after the calorie posting regulation. The result suggests that calorie posting can not only shift consumers towards healthier alternatives when inside a restaurant, but can also have spillovers on other customers reading the reviews by potentially redirecting them towards healthier restaurants and food items.

The study, "The Effect of Calorie Posting Regulation on Consumer Opinion: A Flexible Latent Dirichlet Allocation Model with Informative Priors," is co-authored by Dinesh Puranam of the University of Southern California, Vishal Narayan of the National University of Singapore, and Vrinda Kadiyali of Cornell University.

The authors analyzed 761,962 restaurant reviews across 9,805 restaurants on an online restaurant review website in New York City from 2004 to 2012. Using text-mining methods, the authors examined the change in the mentions of health in reviews over time before and after the calorie posting rule went into effect. To rule out the possibility that the health mentions increase was simply due to increased public interest in health issues over time, they compared the change in topics discussed for chain restaurants, relative to non-chain restaurants which were not mandated by the rule to post calorie information. The authors found a significant increase in the proportion of reviews that discussed health for chain restaurants, relative to non-chain restaurants.

The authors also explored in greater detail the source of the increase in health topics. They found that it was largely driven by new reviewers who were previously not active in posting reviews, but began to post more reviews after the mandate. Puranam noted that "interestingly, the increase in health discussion in opinions was not confined to restaurants in more affluent localities, commonly associated with more health-conscious consumers. This is an encouraging sign of the success of the rule across the socioeconomic divide - especially given the greater incidence of obesity among lower socio economic classes."

New York City recently expanded the rule to beyond chain restaurants to also include fine dining restaurants. Narayan noted that, "our result that calorie posting on menus impact online reviews is significant for this rule expansion since consumers are even more likely to consult reviews for fine dining restaurants than for chain restaurants that they habitually visit. Whether this will have an impact on calorific content of items on fine dining restaurant menus of restaurants of course remains to be seen."

Kadiyali cautioned that more work is needed to study whether the increased discussion of health topics actually do lead to greater choice of healthier restaurants. "It is possible that the health conscious consumers may choose healthier restaurants while the less health conscious may avoid them. In this case, health benefits across the population may be ambiguous. Nevertheless, our study suggests that online reviews are a useful place to look for potential changes in consumer behavior due to this rule," she said.

More information: Dinesh Puranam et al. The Effect of Calorie Posting Regulation on Consumer Opinion: A Flexible Latent Dirichlet Allocation Model with Informative Priors, Marketing Science (2017). DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2017.1048 Journal information: Marketing Science
Credit: Francisco Farias Jr/public domain

How people respond to the same situation can - at least in part - be explained by their cultural background. An often used framework to understand cross-cultural differences in how people feel, think and behave in social situations is that of individualism-collectivism (IC). Sylvia Huwae shows in her PhD thesis that people's responses depend also upon how close they were with those who were present or involved. The IC framework is not as absolute as it is sometimes thought to be. The defense is on the 11th of October.

Individualism involves cultures in which ties between individuals are relatively loose and the interests of the individual often prevail over the interests of the group. Collectivism, by contrast, refers to cultures in which people are integrated into strong cohesive groups and the interests of the groups generally prevail over the interests of the individual. Yet, many researchers have challenged some of this framework's prime assumptions and its usefulness as a universal model.

Dutch, Moluccan, Chinese and Indonesian participants

This dissertation examined how people from individualistic and collectivistic cultures regulate their emotions during social interactions and respond to transgressions in various settings with various people. For this, we used a combination of methods (daily diary, experiment, recall, scenario) with participants with more individualistic backgrounds (Dutch) and more collectivistic backgrounds (Chinese, Indonesian). We also conducted two studies with descendants from Indonesian immigrants (Moluccans) in the Netherlands.

This dissertation showed that, even though participants from individualistic and collectivistic cultures differed in how they suppressed emotions and responded to transgressions, their responses also depended upon how close they were with those who were present or involved. We also found that personal concerns can be important too in collectivistic cultures and that in individualistic cultures relational concerns can also matter when forgiving someone. In addition, our findings showed that group interest did not prevail over personal interest among participants with collectivistic backgrounds following transgressions.

Immigrants living in individualistic societies

As such, our findings present a nuanced view on characterizing cultures as either individualistic or collectivistic. Furthermore, our findings with regard to the Moluccans in the Netherlands suggest that the longer immigrants with collectivistic backgrounds live in an individualistic society, the more their responses may become similar to members of the host society.
The Signorello Estate winery burns in California's Napa wine region

Firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires Tuesday in California which have left at least 11 people dead, thousands homeless and ravaged the state's famed wine country.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in three northern countiesNapa, Sonoma, and Yubaand said thousands of firefighters had been deployed to fight the blazes.

Seven deaths were reported in Sonoma County, two in Napa County, one in Yuba County and one in Mendocino County and the governor said "emergency responders anticipate the number of fatalities could grow."

Among the dead in Napa were a couple aged 99 and 100 years old who had been married for 75 years, KTVU-TV said. They were unable to evacuate their home in time.

The fires have burned more than 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares), forced the evacuation of more than 20,000 people and destroyed over 2,000 homes and businesses, according to the authorities.

Appealing Monday to President Donald Trump for federal aid, Brown said at least 18 fires had broken out in seven counties.

"These fires have been extremely difficult to contain and many remain at zero percent containment," he said. "The devastation and disruption caused by these fires is extraordinary.

"Thousands have been made homeless."

'Boom, boom, boom'

Troy Newton, 46, a Sonoma County sheriff's detective, told The Los Angeles Times he was returning to his home in the Santa Rosa neighborhood when he saw a "growing red snake" of fire.

"I ran into my house and told my wife to get our four-year-old boy ready to leave," Newton said, before raising the alarm with around 40 neighbors.

"It was boom, boom, boom. Ring the door bell. Boom, boomuntil someone inside got the message," he said.

Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), said the fires were being spread by 50- to 60-mile per hour (80-100 kilometer per hour) winds.

Many homes in Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma, were razed to the ground and the Hilton Sonoma County Wine Hotel, Fountaingrove Inn and Willi's Wine Bar reportedly suffered damage.

The Hilton Hotel in Santa Rosa said on Facebook that its staff and guests were all safe. The Los Angeles Times said hundreds of patients at two Santa Rosa hospitals had also been evacuated safely.

Among the wineries which reportedly suffered damage were William Hill Estate Winery in Napa, Signorello Vineyards, Stags' Leap and Chimney Rock.

Coffey Park, a sprawling Santa Rosa neighborhood with dozens of homes, was left in ruins.

Cheri Sharp told Oregon-based TV news channel KOBI her home of 26 years in Santa Rosa was among those destroyed.

"All our pictures are gone. Everything, everything is gone," she said.

"We're all healthy and safe, and we have to try and be grateful for that. But it's pretty awful."

Drought declared over in April

Pacific Gas & Electric said more than 196,000 customers had initially lost electricity although half had had their power restored.

Marian Williams of Kenwood, in Sonoma County, told NBC Bay Area she joined a convoy of neighbors driving through the flames before dawn as one of the fires reached the area's vineyards.

"It was an inferno like you've never seen before," Williams told the station.

Governor Brown in April declared the official end of the state's drought that lasted more than five years.

But California is still dealing with the Santa Ana winds, a meteorological phenomenon which brings dry winds down from the high mountains east of the coastal areasa recipe for perfect wildfire conditions.

Forest fires are common in the western United States during dry, hot summer months.

Last month, a massive fire described as the biggest in the history of Los Angeles forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

 2017 AFP
Threatening

Unjustified threats? Things have just changed in the UK, as former IPKat contributor Ellie Wilson explains. Ellie Wilson is a former InternKat, currently a research assistant at the Law Commission and visiting tutor of intellectual property law at Kings College London.





This post is some basic dos and donts for users of the new Act. It does not constitute legal advice, nor is it representative of the official view of the Law Commission  all views are Ellies own.





Heres what Ellie writes:





st  in 1935 Dame Julie Andrews was born, in 1969 Concorde broke the sound barrier, and in 1971 Walt Disney World opened its doors for the first time. On October 1st 2017, the came into force. October 1 in 1935 Dame Julie Andrews was born, in 1969 Concorde broke the sound barrier, and in 1971 Walt Disney World opened its doors for the first time. On October 12017, the Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017 came into force.





The new law applies to communications sent after that date. For threats made before 1st October, the old law relating to groundless threats still applies.





The new threats provisions are designed to create a clearer framework for threats and to make the law consistent across rights. Reforms that were made for patents in 2004 have been adapted and introduced for trade marks and designs





Copyright is not within the scope of the new law. There are various reasons for this. First, there are no existing threats provisions for copyright. Also, the current provisions for registered rights allow the recipient of a communication to check a register for the right claimed to have been infringed; unregistered design rights are included to prevent the abuse of allowing threats to be made in respect of unregistered designs, when the true issue is registered designs. This was decided on the basis of consultation with those dealing with IP rights in practice.





Here are some basic dos and donts for users of the new Act.





If you want to communicate an express or implied threat of IP litigation

DO: Feel free to talk to a lawyer, or trade mark or patent attorney

The new exemption prevents a personal action from being brought against a professional adviser. Previously they could be sued by anyone affected by the threat, which could easily drive a wedge between the client and advisor.

DO: Seek out a primary actor

Is the person you want to write to an importer or a manufacturer of alleged infringing products?



If so, the threat would not be actionable  but threats to retailers, stockists are generally not allowed. These actors in the supply chain are likely to be the most harmed and the least harmful in terms of IP infringement.



If the trade source really cant be found after taking reasonable steps to identify them, but (for example) a retailer can be, only then may the retailer be threatened with litigation for infringement.

DO: Send communications which give notice of an IP rights existence. Or a persons interest under the right. Or for the purpose of finding out whether (and by whom) a right has been infringed.

Threat These are examples of permitted purposes, a new concept in the Act which builds on the previous exempted communication. It introduces some clarity into what can be safely sent without triggering a threats action.



As long as there is no express threat, and all of the information relating to any implied threat is necessary for the permitted purpose and reasonably believed to be true, the communication will not be actionable.



Historically it has been the risk of inadvertently making an implied threat that has either discouraged IP rights owners from enforcing their rights, or led to a sue first, talk later scenario. These are examples of permitted purposes, a new concept in the Act which builds on the previous exempted communication. It introduces some clarity into what can be safely sent without triggering a threats action.As long as there is no express threat, and all of the information relating to anythreat is necessary for the permitted purpose and reasonably believed to be true, the communication will not be actionable.Historically it has been the risk of inadvertently making an implied threat that has either discouraged IP rights owners from enforcing their rights, or led to a sue first, talk later scenario.

DONT: Issue threats in respect of an invalid patent, or where no infringement is taking place.

This is an example of an unjustified threat (as well as being an unconventional litigation tactic).

DONT: Threaten your competitors customers or retailers with litigation

First, look for the manufacturers and importers of infringing products, that is, for the sources of the infringement in the UK. It would also be sensible to keep a record of the reasonable steps taken to trace primary actors, as this provides a defence to an action for unjustified threats.

DONT: Be afraid to assert your rights!

It is a defence to an action for unjustified threats that a right has been infringed, or that it would be infringed by intended acts.





And if you receive a threat

DO: Read carefully.

Letterheads can make any letter seem intimidating, but is there actually an express or implied threat? To be actionable under the new Act, a threat is defined as a communication from which a reasonable person would understand that :





o (1) a patent, trade mark or design right exists and

o (2) a person intends to bring proceedings against another person for infringement of that right, by acts done in the UK (or which, if done, would be done in the UK).





The threat no longer needs to refer to proceedings in the UK only, but to where the (alleged) infringements take place.



This is a departure from the previous law which applied to threats to sue in a UK court and hampered the Best Buy and NVIDIA threats actions. It also will allow of the threats regime to apply properly to unitary patents (if necessary) in the UK, without encroaching on the Unified Patent Courts jurisdiction.

DO: Think - are you a manufacturer or importer (or intending to be one)?

If so, you will not be able to sue for a threats action, but this does not remove any methods of dispute resolution from the options available.



On the other hand, if you are a retailer, stockist or customer, or other person aggrieved by threats of infringement proceedings, you or in all likelihood, whoever suffers loss should you stop taking their product  may be able to bring an action for unjustified threats.

DONT Panic!

The unjustified threats provisions have been clarified and made more consistent between rights. The new legislation sets out in which circumstances a threat of litigation is unjustified.

DONT: Sue a professional adviser (such as a patent or trade mark attorney) in a personal capacity if they sent the threat on behalf of another.
Credit: Pixabay

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to creating a device that allowed the company's vehicles to cheat emissions tests in the United States. The following year, Wells Fargo revealed that 5,300 employees had secretly opened millions of phony accounts in an attempt to hit sales targets and receive bonuses. More and more, employees are bending the rules at work to get ahead.

Michael Baer, Lincoln Fellow in Arizona State University's Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics and assistant professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business, recently completed a study on workplace cheating that explores why employees cheat and what companies are doing to encourage, perhaps unknowingly, unethical behavior.

Baer and the research team surveyed more than 1,000 employees to better understand the types of cheating behavior exhibited in workplaces. Using these findings, the team surveyed two additional employee groups about their own behaviors in the workplace. Over the course of several months, employees responded to questions about workplace pressure, anger, self-interested concerns and cheating.

Question: What causes employees to cheat at work?

Answer: There are many factors that might cause employees to cheat. One of those factors is the extent to which organizations pressure their employees to perform at a high level, which we examined in a recent study. We found that as the pressure to raise performance levels increased, employees became focused on protecting themselves from getting in trouble. Rather than inducing employees to focus on the organization's interests, performance pressure angered employees and caused them to think about their own interests. As a result, they ended up lying about and overinflating their performance. In other words, they cheated.

We see these dynamics repeated in the news far too frequently. Indeed, investigations of the scandals within Volkswagen and Wells Fargo have revealed that these employees felt tremendous pressure to perform at high levels. Our research suggests that many of those employees undoubtedly felt threatened and ultimately decided that cheating was one way to meet the performance demands.

Q: Corporate cheating scandals seem to be all over the news in recent years. Is cheating in the workplace becoming more common?

A: Some recent research does indicate that cheating is on the rise. One of the reasons behind that rise may be an increase in performance standards.

For example, at Wells Fargo the goals that employees were asked to reach were unbelievably high. Former managers explained that the organization contacted them multiple times per day to check on their progress toward opening the allotted number of new accounts. Many of those managers, and their employees, ultimately decided that they could not reach those goals using legitimate means. The same was true at Volkswagen. Engineers were asked to create an affordable, clean diesel engine with good fuel economy. It was a dauntingif not impossibletask.

Q: How can companies set high expectations and goals while maintaining an environment that doesn't encourage cheating?

A: One solution is to be careful with how performance demands are relayed to employees. If employees feel that companies prioritize performance over doing things "the right way," they are more likely to cut corners. Companies may be implicitly conveying to employees that reaching goals is more important than adhering to ethical standards. Therefore, companies should more explicitly convey that the pursuit of performance goals must always be "within the rules."

Companies also need to be more realistic about the goals they set for employees. At Wells Fargo, for example, the goals were unreachable for almost all employees. They created a situation in which many employees felt that cheating was the only option. Setting high goals is beneficial for companies and their employees. Setting impossible goals is a recipe for cheating. Instead of randomly picking a performance goal out of the air (which happened at Wells Fargo), managers might perform test scenarios for a limited time to determine what is a reasonable goal. This could lead to more attainable performance standards and, ultimately, to less cheating.
Pterygornis. Credit: W. Gao (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing).

(Phys.org)A trio of researchers with the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences has found evidence that pushes back the earliest example of fused bones in birds by approximately 40 million years. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Min Wang, Zhiheng Li and Zhonghe Zhou describe their study of the fossilized remains of a bird dated to approximately 120 million years ago.

In order for birds to evolve from land or tree dwelling animals into creatures that can fly, many changes had to occurthey had to become lighter while maintaining a strong skeleton. One of the ways this occurred was through fusion of bones, such as fingers into wingtips, while many other bones were simply lost to evolution. Until now, the consensus among scientists has been that such changes did not occur until just before land-based dinosaurs became extinct. But now, new evidence by the team in China suggests that the time frame will have to be pushed back approximately 40 million yearsthe bird now represents the oldest known example of fossilized remains showing bone fusion of its major parts.

The skeletal remains they were studying were of a bird, Pterygornis dapingfangensi (an Enantiornithe) that once lived in what is now northeastern China. It represents only the second one of its kind ever found. The researchers report that it was in very good condition, so studying it was easy. They report also that the bird very clearly had fused hands and pelvic girdle. More specifically, the fusion was seen in the ilium, the alular-major metacarpals, the ischium and in the pubis pelvis bones. They note that such fusions have rarely been reported with birds of the Early Cretaceous and that the birds appeared to have followed a growth pattern similar to that of modern birds.

The finding fills in some of the blanks that have made it difficult to follow the transition of land animals to birds due to a dearth of fossilized evidence. With the finding of the new specimen, more details about bone fusion and the evolutionary history of flight in animals are emerging.

More information: Min Wang et al. Insight into the growth pattern and bone fusion of basal birds from an Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707237114 Abstract

Bird skeletons exhibit remarkable modifications that allow for flight. The most distinguishable features are the fusion of the bones in the hand, feet, and pelvis into composite rigid and bony structures. However, the historical origins of these avian bone fusions remain elusive because of the rarity of transitional fossils and developmental studies on modern birds. Here, we describe an Early Cretaceous bird (120 Mya) that has fully fused alular-major metacarpals and pelvis. We discuss the manus and pelvis fusions across Paravian phylogeny and demonstrate that these features evolved independently across nonavian theropods, Enantiornithes, and Ornithuromorpha. The fusions of these bones are rare in known nonavian theropods and Early Cretaceous birds but are well established among Late Cretaceous and modern birds, revealing a complicated evolution pattern unrecognized previously. We posit that the developments of bone fusion were polymorphic close to the origin of birds, resulting in the varying degrees of fusion in Paraves. However, that development polymorphism appears to be fundamentally restricted along the line to modern birds by the Late Cretaceous, where all birds have a completely fused manus and pelvis. Such changes likely correspond to a refinement of flight capability. Alternatively, the degree of bone fusion in this primitive bird may have been related to modifications in genes or developmental paths. Future studies and fossil discoveries are required to clarify these hypotheses and pinpoint the developmental pathways involving the bone fusions in early avian evolution through to their modern pattern. Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

 2017 Phys.org
Scientists have designed gold nanoparticles, no bigger than 100 nanometres, which can be coated and used to track blood flow in the smallest blood vessels in the body.

By improving our understanding of blood flow in vivo the nanoprobes represent an opportunity to help in the early diagnosis of disease.

Light microscopy is a rapidly evolving field for understanding in vivo systems where high resolution is required. It is particularly crucial for cardiovascular research, where clinical studies are based on ultrasound technologies which inherently have lower resolution and provide limited information.

The ability to monitor blood flow in the sophisticated vascular tree (notably in the smallest elements of the microvasculature - capillaries) can provide invaluable information to understand disease processes such as thrombosis and vascular inflammation. There are further applications for the improved delivery of therapeutics, such as targeting tumours.

Currently, blood flow in the microvasculature is poorly understood. Nanoscience is uniquely placed to help understand the processes happening in the micron-dimensioned vessels.

Designing probes to monitor blood flow is challenging because of the environment; the high protein levels in plasma and the high red blood cell concentrations are detrimental to optical imaging.

Conventional techniques rely on staining red blood cells, using organic dyes with short-lived usage due to photobleaching, as the tracking motif. The relatively large size of the red blood cells (7-8 micrometres), which are effectively the probes, limits the resolution in imaging and analysis of flow dynamics of the smallest vessels which are of a similar width.

Gold nanoparticles in blood flow. Credit: University of Birmingham

Therefore, to have more detailed resolution and information about the blood flow in the microvasculature, even smaller probes are required.

This paper, published in Nanomedicine, reports a method for the preparation of iridium-coated gold nanoparticles as luminescent probes for optical imaging in blood.

Professor Zoe Pikramenou, from the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, explained, "The key to these iridium-coated nanoparticles lies in both their small size, and in the characteristic luminescent properties. The iridium gives a luminescent signal in the visible spectrum, providing an optical window which can be detected in blood. It is also long-lived compared to organic fluorophores, while the tiny gold particles are shown to be ideal for tracking flow and be detected clearly in tissues."

The team was able to stabilize water-soluble gold nanoparticles, coated with the iridium luminescent probes - at up to 100 nanometres in size using a surfactant coating.

Professor Gerard Nash, from the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Birmingham, added, "The size of 100 nanometres is ideal for not disturbing the flow, yet still being detectable by high resolution imaging using conventional microscopes. These nanoparticles can be used as trackers for detection in sub-millimeter channels of dimensions similar to many microvessels with higher resolution than fluorescently-stained blood cells."

Professor Stuart Egginton commented, "The nanoparticles enter blood circulation and can be clearly imaged by fluorescence in different organs, while the gold signal can be easily quantified by other techniques."

The team will now look to develop the nanoparticles to allow for targeted delivery within the body, and investigate the potential for in vivo imaging using near infrared probes.

More information: Nicola J Rogers et al, Tailoring iridium luminescence and gold nanoparticle size for imaging of microvascular blood flow, Nanomedicine (2017). DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2017-0211 Journal information: Nanomedicine
(L-R) Bill Wahl, Prof Judy Massare, Dr David Large and Dean Lomax Credit: The University of Nottingham

A new species of ichthyosaur has been identified from a fossil that has been in the University of Nottingham's engineering collection for over half a century.

The University's specimen, announced today as Protoichthyosaurus applebyi, is a holotype - the valuable original specimen that describes a new species. It is the first known fossil of its kind anywhere in the world, which makes it even more scientifically significant.

Dr David Large, a geologist and Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, who joined the University in 1995, had used the specimen for teaching and outreach work while visiting primary schools to encourage children to explore science and engineering. The fossil, which was a hit with children, had faded into obscurity and was forgotten about for years. However, it was rediscovered not long ago, sitting on a shelf in a storeroom. Recognising its rarity and uniqueness, Dr Large retrieved the fossil and his effort enabled palaeontologists and scientists to study the specimen in greater detail.

Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist and Visiting Scientist at The University of Manchester, contacted Dr Large in 2014 while searching for another ichthyosaur fossil and was unaware that the newly-found specimen even existed as it had not been scientifically examined before. Eventually it was determined that this specimen is of a species new to science. It has been hailed as a major step in uncovering Britain's early fossil past and understanding ichthyosaur evolution.

Dean recently published his findings on the fossil in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology in collaboration with Professor Judy Massare of State University of New York, USA, and Rashmi Mistry, a former student at the University of Reading.

He said, "This ichthyosaur is an essential part of Nottingham's scientific collection and I'd like to thank David for bringing it to my attention. As part of our study we have identified over 20 specimens of Protoichthyosaurus, but only one example of P. applebyi, making this the only known specimen recorded so far. I'm confident that there will be more out there. This particular ichthyosaur dates back to the Early Jurassic period and lived around 200 million years ago. As part of the wider study, Protoichthyosaurus has improved our understanding of the evolutionary changes in the forefins of ichthyosaurs, which set it apart from other species. This small- to medium-sized species would have probably been less than 2m in length, swimming in large numbers in the seas around Britain when the dinosaurs roamed the land."

Professor Andy Long, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Engineering said, "I am delighted with today's announcement that a new species of ichthyosaur has been discovered in the University's collections. This is not the kind of thing that engineering faculties report every day and it's the first time that our Faculty can claim to have discovered a new species. David's passion for geology helped him to recognise the fossil's importance. The Faculty has carefully restored the fossil and categorised it with information on what it is, where it came from and how it lived.

"We get visiting researchers from all over the world to share their expertise with our staff and students, including Dean and Judy who came to examine, photograph and document the specimen in greater detail. All these studies form the basis of a constantly growing research effort here at Nottingham."

Dr Large added, "When I first saw the fossil, I knew it was special and I am delighted that Dean has confirmed just how special it is. A new species of ichthyosaur is exciting and this particular one is a unique example of its kind. The fossil was a great way to introduce a young audience to science and it got many children asking the right questions about palaeontology. I'm delighted that we saved the fossil and it's been great to have the faculty's support in bringing this specimen to a wider audience. We're now using the latest technology to find out more about this unique animal."

The University's fossil is named after Dr Robert Appleby, the palaeontologist who first announced the discovery of the genus Protoichthyosaurus in 1979.

This ichthyosaur is now on display as part of the one-time only world exclusive Dinosaurs of China exhibition at Lakeside Arts. The exhibition emerged from the research carried out by Dr Wang Qi, an Assistant Professor in Architecture who specialises in exhibition and museum design.

There are plans for the fossil to undergo CT scanning to create detailed images which can be studied further in addition to casting and 3D printing to fill in the missing parts.
The caterpillar pest Helicoverpa zea (also known as cotton bollworm and corn earworm) has evolved resistance to four Bt proteins produced by biotech crops. Credit: Alex Yelich/University of Arizona

In 2016, farmers worldwide planted more than 240 million acres (98 million hectares) of genetically modified corn, cotton and soybeans that produce insect-killing proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. These Bt proteins kill some voracious caterpillar and beetle pests, but are harmless to people and considered environmentally friendly. While organic farmers have used Bt proteins in sprays successfully for more than half a century, some scientists feared that widespread use of Bt proteins in genetically engineered crops would spur rapid evolution of resistance in pests.

Researchers at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona have taken stock to address this concern and to discover why pests adapted quickly in some cases but not others. To test predictions about resistance, Bruce Tabashnik and Yves Carriere in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences analyzed the global data on Bt crop use and pest responses. Their results are published in the current issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

"When Bt crops were first introduced in 1996, no one knew how quickly the pests would adapt," said Tabashnik, a Regents' Professor and head of the UA Department of Entomology. "Now we have a cumulative total of over 2 billion acres of these crops planted during the past two decades and extensive monitoring data, so we can build a scientific understanding of how fast the pests evolve resistance and why."

The researchers analyzed published data for 36 cases representing responses of 15 pest species in 10 countries on every continent except Antarctica. They discovered resistance that substantially reduced the efficacy of the Bt crops in the field in 16 cases as of 2016, compared with only three such cases by 2005. In these 16 cases, pests evolved resistance in an average time of just over five years.

"A silver lining is that in 17 other cases, pests have not evolved resistance to Bt crops," Tabashnik said, adding that some crops continue to remain effective after 20 years. The remaining three cases are classified as "early warning of resistance," where the resistance is statistically significant, but not severe enough to have practical consequences.

Fred Gould, Distinguished Professor of Entomology at North Carolina State University and leader of the 2016 National Academy of Sciences study on genetically engineered crops, commented, "This paper provides us with strong evidence that the high-dose/refuge strategy for delaying resistance to Bt crops is really working. This will be critically important information as more crops are engineered to produce Bt toxins."

According to the paper, both the best and worst outcomes support predictions from evolutionary principles.

"As expected from evolutionary theory, factors favoring sustained efficacy of Bt crops were recessive inheritance of resistance in pests and abundant refuges," Carriere said.

Refuges consist of standard, non-Bt plants that pests can eat without exposure to Bt toxins. Planting refuges near Bt crops reduces the chances that two resistant insects will mate with each other, making it more likely they will breed with a susceptible mate. With recessive inheritance, matings between a resistant parent and a susceptible parent yield offspring that are killed by the Bt crop.

"Computer models showed that refuges should be especially good for delaying resistance when inheritance of resistance in the pest is recessive," Carriere explained. The value of refuges has been controversial, and the Environmental Protection Agency has relaxed its requirements for planting refuges in the U.S.

The pink bollworm, a voracious caterpillar pest, quickly evolved resistance to two Bt proteins produced by biotech cotton in India, but continues to be suppressed in Arizona after more than 20 years. Credit: Alex Yelich/University of Arizona.

"Perhaps the most compelling evidence that refuges work comes from the pink bollworm, which evolved resistance rapidly to Bt cotton in India, but not in the U.S.," Tabashnik said.

In the southwestern U.S., farmers collaborated with academia, industry, EPA scientists, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement an effective refuge strategy. Although India similarly required a refuge strategy, farmer compliance was low.

"Same pest, same crop, same Bt proteins, but very different outcomes," said Tabashnik.

The new study revealed that pest resistance to Bt crops is evolving faster now than before, primarily because resistance to some Bt proteins causes cross-resistance to related Bt proteins produced by subsequently introduced crops.

An encouraging development is the recent commercialization of biotech crops producing a novel type of Bt protein called a vegetative insecticidal protein, or Vip. All other Bt proteins in genetically engineered crops are in another group, called crystalline, or Cry, proteins. Because these two groups of Bt proteins are so different, cross-resistance between them is low or nil, according to the authors of the study.

Yidong Wu, Distinguished Professor in the College of Plant Protection at Nanjing Agricultural University in China, said, "This review provides a timely update on the global status of resistance to Bt crops and unique insights that will help to improve resistance management strategies for more sustainable use of Bt crops."

Although the new report is the most comprehensive evaluation of pest resistance to Bt crops so far, Tabashnik indicated it represents only the beginning of using systematic data analyses to enhance understanding and management of resistance.

"These plants have been remarkably useful, and resistance has generally evolved slower than most people expected," he said. "I see these crops as an increasingly important part of the future of agriculture. The progress made provides motivation to collect more data and to incorporate it in planning future crop deployments."

"We've also started exchanging ideas and information with scientists facing related challenges, such as resistance to herbicides in weeds and resistance to drugs in cancer cells," Tabashnik said.

But will farmers ever be able to prevent resistance altogether? Tabashnik doesn't think so.

"We always expect the pests to adapt. However, if we can delay resistance from a few years to a few decades, that's a big win."

More information: "Insect Resistance to Transgenic Crops: Second Decade Surge and Future Prospects," Oct. 10, 2017 Nature Biotechnology. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3974 Journal information: Nature Biotechnology
Image and lightcurves of the HXR and SXR emissions. a, HXR (above ~3 keV) emission observed by FOXSI-2 on 11 December 2014, 19:13:4719:14:25 ut (cyan contours) overlaid on SXR (below ~3 keV) images (see colour scale) of two active regions taken with Hinode/XRT (sensitive to >2 MK). Active region 12234, shown in the yellow box, exhibited no individual flaring activity during the time interval, and was selected for the analysis. b, GOES/XRS (top), Hinode/XRT (middle) and FOXSI-2 (bottom) lightcurves. The GOES lightcurve is for the full Sun, and the XRT and FOXSI lightcurves are for 12234. The error bars in the FOXSI-2 lightcurve show 1 standard deviation statistical errors. The gaps in the FOXSI-2 lightcurve show the intervals for pointing changes. The blue box shows the integration time for the FOXSI-2 image in a. Credit: Nature Astronomy (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0269-z

(Phys.org)A team of researchers from the U.S., Japan and Switzerland has found possible evidence of a source of energy that could be responsible for heating the sun's corona. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the researchers describe studying data from the FOXSI-2 sounding rocket and what it revealed.

One of the interesting problems in space research is explaining why the sun's atmosphere (its corona) is so much hotter than its surface. The chief problem standing in the way of an answer is the lack of suitable instruments for measuring what occurs on the sun's surface and its atmosphere. In this new effort, the researchers used data from the FOXSI-2 sounding rocket (a rocket payload carrying seven telescopes designed to study the sun) to test a theory that suggests heat is injected into the atmosphere by multiple tiny explosions (very small solar flares) on the surface of the sun. Such flares are too small to see with most observational equipment, so the idea has remained just a theory. But now, the new data offers some evidence suggesting the theory is correct.

To test the theory, the researchers looked at X-ray emissions from the corona and found some that were very energetic. This is significant, because solar flares emit X-rays. But the team was studying a part of the sun that had no visible solar flares occurring at the time. This, of course, hinted at another source. The research team suggests the only likely source is superheated plasma that could only have occurred due to nanoflares.

The researchers acknowledge that their findings do not yet solve the coronal heating problem, but they believe they might be getting close. They note that much more research is requirednext year, they point out, another sounding rocket will be launched with equipment even more sensitive than that used in the last round, offering better detection of faint X-rays. Also, plans are underway to launch a satellite capable of detecting nanoflares. If future tests can clearly identify the source of the X-rays, the coronal problem may soon be resolved.

More information: Shin-nosuke Ishikawa et al. Detection of nanoflare-heated plasma in the solar corona by the FOXSI-2 sounding rocket, Nature Astronomy (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0269-z Abstract

The processes that heat the solar and stellar coronae to several million kelvins, compared with the much cooler photosphere (5,800 K for the Sun), are still not well known1. One proposed mechanism is heating via a large number of small, unresolved, impulsive heating events called nanoflares2. Each event would heat and cool quickly, and the average effect would be a broad range of temperatures including a small amount of extremely hot plasma. However, detecting these faint, hot traces in the presence of brighter, cooler emission is observationally challenging. Here we present hard X-ray data from the second flight of the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI-2), which detected emission above 7 keV from an active region of the Sun with no obvious individual X-ray flare emission. Through differential emission measure computations, we ascribe this emission to plasma heated above 10 MK, providing evidence for the existence of solar nanoflares. The quantitative evaluation of the hot plasma strongly constrains the coronal heating models. Journal information: Nature Astronomy

 2017 Phys.org
Leftover straw from wheat harvests could be the building blocks for greener chemicals. Credit: Pixabay/ ArnoBeauvois

The straw leftover from harvested wheat could be turned into bio-based chemicals that offer high greenhouse gas savings and do not compete with food supplies or damage ecosystems.

Researchers are hoping to use the huge amounts of wheat straw currently left to rot on European farms to develop the building blocks for greener biochemicals.

The wheat stalks left behind after harvesting cannot be eaten by animals so are normally used as bedding for livestock or left on fields as a way to enrich the soil.

But the OPTISOCHEM project, funded by the EU's Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking Programme, is hoping to transform this excess material into something more usefula gas called bio-isobutene.

'Wheat straw is the most important type of agriculture residue in the EU  about 144 million tonnes accumulate each year,' said Bernard Chaud, director of industrial strategy at Global Bioenergies, in France.

Sugars found in the wheat straw are fermented and turned into a gas at a biorefinery, where bio-isobutene can then be extracted and in turn can be used to create biochemicals. These can then replace fossil fuel-based chemicals that are used to make many plastics, paints, tyres, lubricants, adhesives and sealants.

It could offer a new carbon-neutral energy source called biofuelone that sucks carbon out of the atmosphere as the plants grow and does not release additional emissions when it is burnt, unlike coal, oil or gas.

Biofuels are considered to be one of the most realistic alternatives to fossil fuels for the transport sector, in particular for the aviation and maritime industries.

But biofuels have come under intense scrutiny as they compete with food crops for land, often in parts of the world where food security is already threatened.

Their carbon emission reductions have also been questioned due to the amount of land and infrastructure needed to produce them.

'We are facing a challengewe need more produce for a growing population but we have limited resources,' said Chaud, who is the coordinator of OPTISOCHEM. 'At the same time we want to protect the environment and reduce fossil fuel use. With bio-isobutene from wheat straw, we can use a feedstock already available (for biochemicals).'

According to analysis conducted by Chaud, if just 48 million of the 144 million tonnes of wheat straw waste produced in the EU annually was collected, it could produce 21 million tonnes of sugar that could feed 100 commercial biorefinery plants to produce steady supply of biochemicals for use by different industries, including biofuels, and substitute the equivalent of 35 million barrels of fossil fuel per year.

These plants could be built in rural regions where most wheat farms in Europe are often located, bringing new jobs to the countryside during construction and operation.

'It offers an additional revenue stream,' said Chaud. '(Farmers) will not only sell the grain, but also the straw.'

By the end of the project, Chaud hopes they will have the plans for the first commercial biorefinery, which he said could start paying farmers for their wheat straw in under a decade.

But if plant owners and farmers both have an incentive to collect wheat straw, could too much organic material be taken off the fields, exposing the soil to erosion and degradation?

'In sustainable farming a fraction of this (wheat straw) residue should remain in the field to reduce erosion and protect the organic carbon and nutrients in the soil,' said Chaud. 'But you can export up to 30-60 % without endangering soil quality.'

The project is also taking a conservative approach and only considers one third of the available wheat straw to be available for biofuel and biochemical production in their calculations of the potential future market.

Meanwhile, the leftover materials from the processed wheat straw can be used as an alternative to fossil fuel-based fertilisers, a by-product that would support, rather than hinder, sustainable agriculture.

Green buildings

Additionally, wheat straw waste can be used to support a greener construction industry too.

The EU-funded REHAP project is attempting to transform wheat straw waste into new products that can be used to make eco-friendly resins for wood and biochemicals for greener cement.

'We are extracting sugars and lignin from wheat straw waste,' said Dr Miriam Garcia, a materials scientist at Tecnalia Research and Innovation centre in Gipuzkoa, Spain, who helps coordinate REHAP. The project is nearing the end of its first year where the researchers have been developing the processes to extract these biochemicals.

From this material, the team aims to develop bio-resins that can be used to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used to develop artificial chemicals currently used when making wooden planks and boards.

Their biochemicals could also act as an improved binding agent in concrete, helping to reduce the amount of water needed during construction.

They are also extracting sugars and tannins from forestry waste, which will be used to develop wooden boards as well as sustainable polyurethanes, a type of polymer used in home insulation, furniture and bedding.

'We are demonstrating the viability of using this waste in such a massive sector like construction,' said Dr Garcia.

By combining biochemicals from wheat straw and wood waste, Dr Garcia believes they could have a big impact on the fossil fuel emissions of the construction industry.

'We expect to reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly,' she said. 'We think we can reduce fossil fuel resources used by 80-100 %, depending on the material (replaced with a REHAP alternative).'

Currently most wood waste is burned, but by locking it into buildings, carbon can be captured rather than released once again into the atmosphere.

'We add value to this waste, not only by creating products that save energy or store carbon, but through products that have a higher economic value,' said Dr Garcia.
Work in America has changed dramatically in the last century from Henry Ford's moving assembly line to automation today, but arguably the largest change is women. Women's participation in the labor force has nearly doubled from less than 34% in 1950 to 57% today (Federal Reserve Economic Data as of August, 2017). Working women became the norm in the U.S. in 1978 when it became more common to see women in the workplace than in the home (when the female labor force participation rate crossed the 50% line). This has fundamentally changed our homes as well as our workplaces and society. University of Akron Professor Amanda Weinstein finds that this change has benefitted everyone. Average wages for all workers, men and women, have increased as a result of women joining the workforce.

Economic studies abound trying to answer what exactly caused this change. For example, they have looked at the impact household appliances like the dishwasher had on freeing up women's time in the house (and reducing the cost of working outside the home) allowing women to enter the workforce. They have also looked at, for example, the impact of gender discrimination laws increasing wages for women (and the shrinking gender wage gap) that increased the benefit of women working outside the home. Economists are continually examining the effect of the economy on women, but this male-dominated field seems to be failing to ask what impact women in turn have on the economy? How have women changed work in America?

This is the very question that Weinstein has set out to answer in her new paper, "Working Women in the City and Urban Wage Growth in the United States," published in the September issue of the Journal of Regional Science. Specifically, Weinstein examines how women's participation in the workforce has affected economic growth and productivity in cities across the U.S. Weinstein estimates that every 10% increase in female labor force participation rates increases average real wage growth in cities by approximately 5%.

What this means is that for cities like Akron, OH where Weinstein works, average real wages would be nearly 7% lower had women in Akron not increased their participation in the labor force from below the national average in 1980 to above the national average (at 60.6%) in 2010. All else equal, higher real wages are generally indicative of workers that are better off and firms that are willing to pay those higher wages to employ workers they view as more productive. Women seem to be making Akron and cities around the U.S. more productive.

Why? Weinstein says that we can't have a competitive economy and firms that can compete in global markets when we ignore or discount half the population. When businesses are able to draw upon a larger pool of labor and hire the most productive worker (man or woman), they become more competitive and productive. Weinstein further suggests that it's not just the size of the labor pool but the demographics itself and the skills that women bring to businesses. One of the best predictors of a city's long run economic success is having a highly skilled workforce and women now earn 60% of the bachelor's degrees.

Furthermore, previous research suggests that the skill level of the workforce though important for all cities is even more important for cities like Akron in the rustbelt of the Midwest, cities looking for new ideas and looking for a change that can bring them into this new global economy. Thus, women provide important perspective for cities like Akron looking to make a comeback. This is why organizations such as Detroit's Kresge Foundation and managing director Wendy Lewis Jackson work to make cities a place where women can fully participate in all aspects of life.

Weinstein further suggests that it is not just the skill level but the specific skills women bring to a firm, because they are women. Women may bring to the table certain skills and assets that firms so desperately need in this ever-changing economy, an economy that some have started calling the "she-economy." Research suggests that women make about 75% of all household consumption decisions. So if businesses want to sell their products, they'd better be thinking about the female consumer. And who better to answer what women want than women? That dishwasher that made it easier for women to work outside the home, that is now so ubiquitous that most of us can't imagine life without it, was invented by a woman (Josephine Cochrane born in Ashtabula County, Ohio) when virtually no man saw the point.

When the best person gets the job, man or woman, firms and cities can thrive.

More information: Amanda L. Weinstein, Working women in the city and urban wage growth in the United States, Journal of Regional Science (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jors.12336
[October 10, 2017] Avi Networks Unveils Intelligent Web Application Firewall With Industry's Highest Performance

Avi Networks, the leader in next-gen load balancing and application services, today announced the upcoming release of its Intelligent Web Application Firewall (iWAF). As a software-only solution, iWAF operates as a centrally managed fabric across data centers, private clouds, and public clouds. With iWAF's scale-out architecture, enterprises are no longer constrained by the operational and performance limitations of traditional appliance-based web application firewalls. Additionally, iWAF's integrated analytics engine offers IT organizations real-time security and operational intelligence through machine learning. Traditional web application firewalls suffer from poor performance and "wall-of-knobs" complexity, operating as black boxes that provide little to no visibility. Avi's elastic scale-out platform enables iWAF to perform 50X faster than legacy appliances, processing hundreds of Gbps of throughput and over a million transactions per second. In addition to improved performance, Avi iWAF provides powerful application intelligence. iWAF protects web applications from common vulnerabilities identified by Open Web Application Security (News - Alert) Project (OWASP), such as SQL Injection and Cross-site Scripting, while providing the ability to customize the rule set for each application. iWAF analyzes the security rules that match a particular transaction, providing this insight in real-time as applications and attack patterns evolve. With the Avi Networks iWAF, IT teams no longer need to fly blind when writing and enforcing security policies. Based on this intelligence, one-click customization of rules and exceptions helps sharply reduce the problem of alse-positive fatigue.



"Security and operations personnel need intuitive and scalable WAF solutions to effectively address their requirements in modern data center or cloud environments," said Jim Duffy, Senior Analyst, Networking, at 451 Research (News - Alert). "With centralized management, elastic scale, and closed-loop security analytics, the Avi iWAF delivers a compelling model to secure web applications." The unique capabilities of Avi Networks' iWAF include:

Highest-performance web application security Elastic, automatic scale-out across data centers and clouds

Scalable per-application deployments allow each mission-critical app to get its own WAF Analytics-driven, accurate security policies Real-time security insights eliminate false positives

Visual policy checks prior to enforcement Central, simplified policy management Central management and automation of all distributed iWAF instances

Point-and-click policy configurations, with pre-defined templates for OWASP Core Rule Set, customizable for each application "Appliance-based products weren't meeting our needs, and as we evaluated alternatives, web application firewalling was our number-one consideration," said Joris Vuffray, Head of Network and System Management at Swisslos, a Swiss lottery based in Basel. "We were pleasantly surprised by the Avi iWAF's simple deployment, impressive ease-of-use, and intelligent security analytics, as well as the responsiveness of the Avi team." "In the face of ever-increasing cyber threats, enterprises need to protect their most important revenue-generating assets: their web applications. We designed iWAF to be robust and secure for any application, traditional or cloud-native, under any amount of traffic," said Guru Chahal, Vice President of Product at Avi Networks. "By reimagining what a WAF could be for modern applications and hybrid environments, we were able to deliver better performance, intelligence, and price, all with the ease-of-use our customers have come to expect." The Avi Networks iWAF is the latest component of the Avi Vantage Platform, which features a Smart Load Balancer and an Application Service Mesh. Avi Networks recorded 440% growth in year-over-year bookings and 270% customer growth over the last four quarters. Avi is taking orders for iWAF, and the solution will be generally available by October 31, 2017. For more detail on iWAF, visit Avi Networks' website here. About Avi Networks Avi Networks completes enterprises' digital transformation with its smart load balancer and modern application services. Avi's Vantage Platform can be deployed across data centers and clouds, delivering better elasticity, intelligence, and cost savings by providing granular per-tenant and per-app services. Customers enjoy 5X faster application rollouts, actionable analytics and 70% lower cost. Avi is backed by leading investors including Greylock, Lightspeed, Menlo, and DAG Ventures. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009006044/en/

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A model shows off the 1109 carat Lesedi La Rona, the largest gem quality rough diamond discovered in over 100 years. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo

When it comes to havens, investors usually think of gold or Treasuries. Now an exchange in Singapore is starting to trade a credit card-sized package of diamonds for those seeking a shelter from global risks.

While bullion trades in standard weights and purities, diamonds vary according to cut, clarity, color and carat, making them generally harder to buy and sell as an investment. To overcome this, the Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange is listing a product called Diamond Bullion, or sets of investment-grade polished gems, in denominations of about $100,000 and $200,000 each.

Until now, there was no way people could invest in diamonds in the form which is equivalent to investing in gold, said Alain Vandenborre, executive chairman and founder of the exchange. A diamond has absolutely zero correlation with any other asset class, whether its commodities, bonds, equities. Its a store of wealth, its a hedge against volatility and you need that in your portfolio.

The products are issued by the Singapore Diamond Mint Co. The gems are sourced from the wholesale market through De Beers sightholders and Alrosa PJSC, and must be in the top five levels of color and clarity, Vandenborre said in an interview in Singapore on Oct. 4.

The exchange plans to list other Diamond Bullion denominations in future, and the interest they attract could boost trading volumes and global prices, he said.

Still, diamonds are down more than 30 percent from a 2011 high, data from PolishedPrices.com show, as the Chinese market softens and young consumers spend more on smartphones and gadgets. Golds lost a similar amount from its peak that year as stock markets climbed and the global economy recovered.

The bourse, which says its the worlds only electronic exchange for trading investment-grade diamonds, has dealt about $165 million of the gemstones since starting in May last year. Temasek Holdings Pte is backing the exchange through its venture-capital unit Vertex Venture Holdings, which has a 20.75 percent stake

To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Singapore at rpakiam@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net James Poole
[October 10, 2017] Advancing Business Aviation: UTC Aerospace Systems Unveils Innovative New Solutions For Biz Jet Market

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the National Business Aviation Association's annual exhibition today, UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), unveiled a pair of innovative new solutions for the business jet market. The company's new proprietary microbiological water purifier consists of multiple layers to trap pathogens, remove odors and neutralize microbes. Compared to existing water purifiers that use ultraviolet or fine micron rating methods of sterilization, UTC Aerospace Systems' purifier is extremely lightweight at just over 4 pounds and requires minimal water pressure. In addition, the unit requires no electrical power or wiring, has the capacity to purify 4,000 gallons over its lifetime, and meets bacteria, virus and cyst reduction per National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) P231 purifier requirements. Currently undergoing prototype and lab testing, the new purifier is expected to be fully qualified in early 2018. It is designed for use in aircraft galleys, lavatories, potable water tank outlets and service panel fills, and can be scaled in size to meet specific customer and platform requirements. Also at NBAA today, UTC Aerospace Systems launched its Kidde Halotron BrX handheld cabin fire extinguisher, which uses a non-Halon, environmentally friendly fire suppression agent. The new extinguisher meets the ICAO recommendations and EASA regulations restricting and replacing the useof Halon 1211 on aircraft, and is designed as a drop-in replacement for existing Kidde 1211 extinguishers. Halotron BrX has passed UL 711 5B, 2B cold temperature and FAA Minimum Performance Standard (MPS) tests.



"The business aviation sector is a key focus area for us, and UTC Aerospace Systems is committed to meeting the needs of our customer in it," said Mark Skarohlid, vice president of business development for the company's Sensors & Integrated Systems division. "Whether it's through products that are lighter and more efficientlike our new water purifieror products that are more environmentally friendlylike our new handheld extinguisherbusiness jet owners and operators know they can count on cutting-edge technologies from UTC Aerospace Systems to meet their evolving needs." For more information on these UTC Aerospace Systems solutions, stop by the company's booth at NBAA, N9204, or visit http://utcaerospacesystems.com/cap/systems/Pages/sensors-integrated-systems-business.aspx.

About UTC Aerospace Systems

UTC Aerospace Systems is one of the world's largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and defense products. UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries, supporting a global customer base with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utcaerospacesystems.com or follow us on Twitter: @utcaerosystems About United Technologies Corporation

United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. By combining a passion for science with precision engineering, the company is creating smart, sustainable solutions the world needs. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utc.com or follow us on Twitter: @UTC View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advancing-business-aviation-utc-aerospace-systems-unveils-innovative-new-solutions-for-biz-jet-market-300533691.html SOURCE UTC Aerospace Systems

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By Tom Allard COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) began distributing 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine on Tuesday in Bangladeshs camps for Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar, as authorities rush to prevent a major outbreak of the deadly disease. More than 10,000 cases of diarrhoea have been reported in the past week alone, the WHO said. Doctors in two clinics have told Reuters that there have been several cases of patients with the symptoms of cholera, a virulent diarrhoea that kills within 36 hours if not treated. Cholera has not been identified in testing of patient samples by Bangladesh's health ministry, although clinics say they are waiting for results for some samples sent last week. "There is a clear risk for cholera," said Dr N. Paranietharan, the WHO's representative in Bangladesh. "Sporadic cases are inevitable (but) we are not expecting a major outbreak like Yemen," he said. War-torn Yemen is in the grip of a cholera crisis, with more than 750,000 sufferers afflicted by the bacteria, which is spread when contaminated faeces is ingested by humans, usually through the water supply. The cholera vaccination campaign in Bangladesh, the second largest in history, will be crucial to containing any outbreak, said Paranietharan. More than 1,000 people will fan out across the sprawling camps on the southern tip of Bangladesh that are home to more than 519,000 Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar when government forces launched a ferocious offensive, denounced by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing, in response to a series of Rohingya militant attacks on security posts on Aug. 25. In pounding heat and stifling humidity, traumatized and malnourished refugees are crammed into bamboo and canvas huts packed across muddy hillsides. Faeces lies in lanes that flood in the pouring rain. More than 3,000 latrines have been installed but many overflow and sit above pools and creeks where refugees bathe. Many new wells for drinking water are shallow and have become contaminated by sewage, said Paranietharan. "While we are doing this vaccination, it is not an alternative to fixing the water, sanitation and hygiene intervention, it just buys us time," he said. "Sanitary facilities and hygiene promotion have still not met the standards. They need to be improved quickly." 'FACING A TSUNAMI' In a dysentery clinic in Kutupalong camp run by the Medical Teams International group, patients with severe diarrhoea lie motionless, moaning as intravenous fluid flows into them. "I believe we are facing a tsunami. We just don't know if it's going to be 10 feet or 50 feet," said Bruce Murray, a physician at the clinic. "Cholera is known to be endemic in Bangladesh and now we are bringing in half a million people in squalid conditions and it's got to be inevitable. It's a matter of when it hits, rather than if," he said. Murray said there could be "tens of thousands" of victims in an outbreak. Paranietharan said his organisation had the capacity to handle 70,000 cholera cases. As well as a handful of clinics, mobile teams are ready to go to inaccessible parts of the camps with oral rehydration salts that can save cholera patients if they can't get access to intravenous fluids. Aid workers worry they lack the staff to get the vaccines out quickly, while the WHO says it urgently needs $10.2 million to do the job properly. The first round of the vaccination campaign will cover 650,000 people aged one year and older. A second round will target 250,000 children aged between one and five with an additional dose for extra protection. (Editing by Robert Birsel and Paul Tait)
If you are working, there is a good chance you are part of the up to 56 million meetings taking place today. And as the new infographic from Cincinnati Bell Inc. (CBTS) indicates, you also might be part of the 76 percent that thinks they are unnecessary meetings.

This brings us to the title of the CBTS infographic, How to Master Meetings. Being able to master meetings in todays collaborative workforce is extremely important. Small and large businesses alike are holding more meetings because of the readily available technology, remote work, and easy access to global resources. But how do you master meetings?

First, lets take a look at some of the problems CBTS pointed out.

With 11.8 hours spent in preparing and attending status meetings in a 40 hour week, there is a lot of room for improvement. Because as it stands now, the yearly cost of ineffective meetings to the US economy is $70 to $283 billion.

So what makes an ineffective meeting? When it comes to in-person meetings, pet peeves such as not staying on topic, repetition, and people taking calls irks 59, 58, and 51 percent of participants respectively. And if the people attending the meeting are peeved, it wont go well, making it less effective.

Other behaviors that are just as bothersome are eating lunch, check personal emails, responding to work emails, and performing other tasks while on mute in conference calls.

This, of course, can lead to ineffective communication, and the infographic points that out too. Only nine percent of employees leave a meeting with a clear understanding of what to do next all the time. More than a third or 34 percent say some of the time, 10 percent rarely, and two percent never. If two percent of the people attending a meeting leave completely clueless, it is a big problem

What Can You Do for More Effective Meetings?

Getting the right technology is a start because 83 percent depend on it to collaborate. Meetings can be more engaging. Plus the right technology will lower the stress associated with connectivity problems, incompatibility, technology failure and unnecessary complication.

Some of the other recommendations CBTS makes are to make the best of the resources you have, upgrade your technology (if possible) and train your employees to use the same program and tools.

You can take a look at the rest of the data on the CBTS infographic below.
The temperature in Slovakia has increased by 1.73 degrees Celsius on average since 1881

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Meteorologists are evaluating this summer in Slovakia as highly above normal. The average aberration from the norm for the years 1961-1990 was 2.6 degrees Celsius.

Relatively speaking, the summer was hottest in the western part of the country, where the aberration from the norm exceeded 3 degrees Celsius. It was the coolest in the far north-eastern part of Slovakia.

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This years summer ended up as the second to fourth hottest summer since 1951 from most of the analysed meteorological stations, wrote the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU) as cited by the TASR newswire.

August was the hottest summer month while this years June was the second hottest June in the history of meteorological measurement in Slovakia.

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Slovak meteorologists registered a total of 62 tropical days, this summer, i.e. days when the temperature exceeded 30 degrees Celsius as well as 29 tropical nights, i.e. nights when the temperature did not decrease below 20 degrees Celsius.

There were five heat waves with two of them lasting for seven days at least.

The highest temperature of this summer was registered in Senec in early August  38.8 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature was measured, excluding mountain regions, in Vernar in mid July  0.5 degrees Celsius.

This summer in Europe was exceptionally hot and in some regions also dry. Based on data from NASA, the June-August period this year was globally the second and on the northern hemisphere the third hottest since 1880 at least. Europe also ranged among the regions with the biggest aberrations of air temperature. Here the summer in 2017 was the fifth hottest since the beginning of meteorological observations.

Temperature is going up

During the years 1881-2017 the temperature in Slovakia has increased by 1.73 degrees Celsius, the aggregate precipitation decreased by about 0.5 percent and in the south of the country by more than 10 percent. The air humidity and snow cover decreased too. The Environment Ministry concludes this in an up-date to the document, Strategy for Adaptation of the Slovak Republic to Unfavourable Consequences of Climatic Change, on which the ministry is currently working. The Slovak government will discuss the up-date in the spring, the SITA newswire reported.

The ministry estimates that the average temperature in Slovakia will increase by 2-4 degrees Celsius compared with the average of the years 1951-1980, until the middle of the 21st century.
"We need to abandon large scale IT projects which are too big to fail and too big to succeed. Those days in IT are gone." Jan Hargas of Slovensko.Digital explains why a reform of the state IT sector is more than needed.

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The Slovak IT community has recently become more vocal and integrated in calling for better government IT services. Besides openly pointing out and criticizing several overpriced IT projects, the IT community started coming up with specific proposals on how to deliver better services and how to improve the eGovernment strategy. Slovensko.Digital is the platform which managed to unite IT experts, establish communication with the government and gain the support of the public. We talked to its Chief Executive Officer Jan Hargas.

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What is the main mission of Slovensko.Digital?

In short, our mission is to improve the quality of government digital services for citizens and businesses so that they meet and exceed the quality criteria from private sector. We all know how convenient it is to use internet banking, order goods online or receive personalized customer service in a commercial online world. It is time for the government to catch up and offer the same level of services to citizens. We in Slovensko.Digital are here to contribute to that change.

Secondly, Slovensko.Digital was established as a community organization. In that regard  our mission is to represent the views of the Slovak IT community and specifically the views of our members and work with both the public administration as well as IT companies to achieve the reform that Slovak government IT needs.

How has the relationship with the state administration developed over the past year and a half?

We clearly started more on the watchdog side  publically criticizing problematic IT projects and the state of affairs in the Government IT in general. But we also understood that we needed to come up with solutions to these problems, not just criticism. Thats why we developed and presented 20 measures aiming to reform the Slovak eGovernment program.

I think the administration then realized that government IT has serious problems and in order to solve these, they need to look beyond their usual landscape. Im glad that this manifested in the fact that the new eGovernment strategy was co-developed also in cooperation with Slovensko.Digital. Unfortunately, after a very promising start, we have seen many deadlines were missed. The Deputy Prime Ministers Office for Investments and Informatization needs to improve their delivery track record. Today, we are at the turning point. We can either continue tweaking the system here and there, or go for a real deep reform of the Government IT. I believe the Deputy Prime Ministers Office needs to show which scenario are they up for.

Is it difficult to perform the function of a useful partner and at the same time of a watchdog? Where do you see your role in the future?

Yes, it is a difficult role, because one has to over-communicate with all stakeholders. On the other hand, I deeply believe that change only happens when there is a demand for it (hence the watchdog / critic role) and at the same time, there are solutions to problems (hence the constructive part of our activities). Creating demand without solutions often ends up as noise but without a sustainable effect. Going forward, we might need to tweak our focus on these elements, but I still believe that both demand and solutions will be present.

Moreover, Im glad that Slovensko.Digital is unique through its third stream of activities  real life examples and services that make the lives of citizens and businesses easier. This was the case with the application Volby.Digital or the recently launched GovBox service, through which businesses can access their electronic mailbox on Slovensko.sk even without the electronic ID card and conveniently receive their electronic communication from the government via email. It is proof that we dont just talk about better government services. We show that this is really possible.

If you were to name the main problems with state IT projects in Slovakia, what would top the list?

I see three key problems. Number one  limited added value of digital services for citizens and a lack of citizen insight in the design of these services. Many services just copy the cumbersome legislation and dont really make your life much easier. That needs to change. Number two  a lack of transparency in the whole eGovernment sector and the related corruption. We can have good ideas based on high technical expertise. But if the IT sector lacks basic motivation in the form of healthy competition, the delivery quality will always suffer. Number three  lacking quality of human capital predominantly on the government side. The government needs to do much more in attracting and retaining talent to its ICT departments. I like to give the Value for Money initiative as an example of systematic work not just on the policy side but also in the development of strong analytical units across the government. We need to do the same in IT.

Your initiative managed to attract more attention to the topic of overpriced and problematic state IT projects both from the media and the public. Have you observed any optimistic signs that the situation in Slovakia might be changing for the better?

I think that certain behaviors that were common in the past, are not so common now. There is much more public oversight, a higher demand for quality and, one could argue, even more transparency as well. And this creates healthy pressure on all stakeholders  be it the public administration or the IT companies. One area which still lags behind are the relationships in the IT sector, i.e. amongst the IT companies. There are still suspicions of cartels and unhealthy relationships in the background. This resulted in the recent changes in the IT Association of Slovakia but Im not sure it is for the better. The IT sector needs case studies similar to SKANSKA in the construction sector. We in Slovensko.Digital are actively working with IT companies to achieve that. We want to show that there is a better way of doing business and promote companies that care enough to express that openly. Building an alliance of honest and fair digital companies is one of our main goals for the upcoming months.

In an ideal scenario, how should state provided e-services be implemented? How to incorporate feedback from the general public as well as independent experts in order to increase transparency and trust?

Based on what we have seen in countries that managed the digital reform well, it comes down to bringing agility to the government. We need to abandon large scale IT projects which are too big to fail and too big to succeed. Those days in IT are gone. Instead, the government should encourage smaller, agile projects with shorter feedback cycles, so that the service really meets the needs of its future users.

Secondly, I think there needs to be a stronger focus on bringing and retaining high quality professionals to the civil service. We already see enthusiasts in certain departments. But in order to achieve deep change, the government IT HR agenda needs to be more strategic and with adequate political backing. I understand it is difficult and it might not be very popular to explain to the public why we need expensive IT professionals in the civil service. But looking at countries such as UK or USA  this made the real difference between just tweaking the system and a proper reform. I believe that the courage to strategically reform the human capital in government IT could be the true test of Mr. Pellegrinis willingness to reform the sector.

Are lessons from countries which have been very successful in implementing the e-government agenda also applicable in Slovakia or are they too country-specific?

I think there is a great deal of knowledge that we could and should acquire from countries like Estonia, UK or USA. UK is the closest to me, since Ive worked and lived there for two years, and many of our solutions that we are proposing in Slovakia are inspired by their journey. Of course, there would be local specifics, but general trends such as the increased use of open source software, smaller projects, more agile development, etc. are transferrable. Also, we can find inspiration in the strategic approach that these countries took. In this regard, is very positive that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Investment and Informatization was established. Such high political backing was one of the key success factors also abroad and we are happy that our suggestions to create such office after the parliamentary elections were implemented.

What are the main factors behind the most often cited success story  Estonia?

Based on my understanding, one of the main factors was the strong backing from the political leaders in Estonia. This enabled and empowered the key people in the administration to be brave and come up with ideas that were innovative. Also, the legislation was adjusted to the possibilities opened by IT, not the other way around.

Secondly, several initiatives in Estonia were driven in close cooperation with the private sector, e.g. banks. This enabled the government to innovate faster and supported better penetration of eGovernment solutions in the population as well. This only shows how important IT companies are for the success of any government digital initiative. And thats the reason why we are now actively building a strong alliance of honest and fair IT companies in Slovensko.Digital, to show that there is a critical mass of companies that want Slovakia to succeed. And they want to do it in a fair way.

Does Slovakia have the potential to embark on a similar path? If so, what should be the top priorities for the near future?

I like to remind everyone in the government IT sector that there has never been a higher demand for a reform in this area. The public wants it, the IT community wants it, and even the IT companies want to reform unhealthy relationships in the sector. So the question is how do we use that potential. Im optimistic and I hope that there is a critical mass of people who want the change to happen. In order to achieve that, I think we need to be very honest with ourselves. We have a good strategy in place  we just need to execute on it. In terms of priorities, I think we firstly need to come back on track with the delivery plan set out in the strategy; secondly to set out a clear plan for the development of human capital in the government ICT; and thirdly, to come up with a few inspirational case studies of digital services that will show the way forward to the rest of the administration and maintain the publics support for the reform. There are projects which could become such case studies, for example the new business register system currently being developed at the Ministry of Justice.

Jan Hargas is chief executive officer at Slovensko.Digital

Originally published in Connection, the magazine published by AmCham Slovakia
Slovakias foreign trade deficit in August was due to strong imports and the summer shutdowns of factories, according to analysts.

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The countrys foreign trade posted a deficit of 50.7 million in August 2017, the Slovak Statistics Office (SU) reported. Total exports amounted to 5.982 billion in August, which represented an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year. Imports grew by 10.5 percent to 6.032 billion.

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Meanwhile, the first eight months of 2017 saw foreign trade generate a surplus of 1.827 billion, which was 655.2 million lower than the surplus posted for the same period of 2016. Total exports rose by 7 percent y-o-y to 48.270 billion, while total imports went up by 8.9 percent to 46.443 billion.

The highest surplus between January and July was recorded with Germany, followed by those with the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the US and Spain.

The biggest deficits in the first seven months were in foreign trade with China, South Korea, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, India and Ukraine.

Slovakias surprising foreign trade deficit in August was due to strong imports, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia analyst Lubomir Korsnak informed the TASR newswire.

Analyst comments

Foreign trade in August surprised us with a negative balance, Korsnak noted. Slovakia usually posts foreign trade deficits only in the final month of each year due to Christmas imports and industrial production breaks. This is the first time since 2011 that a deficit has been seen in a month other than December.

Nonetheless, the structure and growth of Slovakias industry are both rather positive, with turnover in foreign trade recovering after the relatively weaker months of June and July. After seasonal adjustments both sides of the balance saw record values in August, the analyst stated.

The growing volumes of imports were due to boosted domestic consumption and increased oil prices, while it cannot be ruled out that investments could also have increased August imports, according to Korsnak.

We expect foreign trade surpluses to continue to slacken, mainly towards the end of the year, he said, as quoted by TASR. This should be only a temporary dip, however, related to the imports of technologies for major investments in the automotive industry. After production is launched we expect foreign trade surpluses to become more pronounced again in the second half of 2018 and 2019.

Foreign trade lags behind but improves

The overall balance of foreign trade was passive, which made it lag behind expectations, Katarina Muchova, market analyst of Slovenska Sporitelna bank, wrote in a memo. However, both exports and imports recorded month-on-month improvement against a slow-down in July. The summer months are usually impacted by temporary shutdowns, especially with carmakers. In total, however, the combined July and August average was better than last year. The resolute growth of imports we witnessed this year is connected with renewed household consumption

Generally, the main trading partners of the country, especially Germany, are doing well, and the outlook is also favourable. Thus, the net foreign trade (stripped of imports) should help boost economic growth, but it will not exceed the primacy of domestic consumption. We expect economic growth at a level of 3.3 percent this year, Muchova summed up.
Small businessmen spend about one month per year on red tape. This costs them 1,651.

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An almost 250-metre long snake made from about 700 sheets of forms and documents small and medium-sized companies need to fill in and deliver to state bodies each year meandered via the streets of the Old Town on September 29. Representatives of the economic think tank INESS made the snake to demonstrate visually what a burden existing legislation puts on small and medium businesses (SMEs).

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Based on the INESSs Bureaucratic Index, a small entrepreneur in Slovakia spends on average 164 hours per year in order to meet 78 obligations. Compared with the previous year, the index did not change significantly when it decreased by only one hour and one duty.

This is not a completely gratifying result, said INESS analyst Martin Vlachynsky when introducing the index for 2017, adding that they have registered an increased interest from the side of the Economy Ministry to actively solve some problems of entrepreneurs.

The Economy Ministry responded to the index by saying that there are issues that can be solved by changing the systems, but that such changes require more time while these pertain not only the Economy Ministry but also other ministries, for example the Environment Ministry.

I reiterate that there are things that can be improved and we are heavily working on them, said Economy Minister Peter Ziga.

International Bureaucracy Day

INESS choose to present the latest index on September 29, the birthdate of economist Ludwig von Mises, author of the book Bureaucracy.

This is why we, along with foreign partners, choose this day to be International Bureaucracy Day, said INESS analyst Richard Durana. It should remind people of the time lost by paper work.
[October 10, 2017] Zoho Announces Agreement with Spiceworks to Provide Free Cloud-based, On-Demand Remote Support for IT Professionals

Zoho today announced it has entered into an agreement with Spiceworks (News - Alert) to provide Zoho Assist, its free, online remote support application, to the millions of IT professionals who use Spiceworks to do their jobs. Powered by Zoho (News - Alert) Assist, Spiceworks Remote Support complements a collection of free tools and experiences provided by Spiceworks to help IT professionals connect with their peers, learn new skills and technologies, find and buy the solutions that are right for them, and manage their IT environment. The cloud-based tool enables IT professionals to remotely connect to end user workstations without a limit on the number of users or sessions. Using an encrypted internet connection, IT professionals can securely access workstations and troubleshoot IT issues without reconfiguring their VPN or firewall. Highlights of Spiceworks Remote Support Powered by Zoho Assist No Signup or login involved. A single click will start a remote session.

No complex steps necessary for end users to join the session.

Completely free for both personal and business use.

Unlimited end-points. Works across devices. IT help desks, outsourced IT and MSPs, and customer support teams across the world rely on Zoho Assist to support remote customers located anywhere. It's web-based, secure, works well with firewalls, and doesn't require any prior installation to start or join a remote support session. Spiceworks Remote Support will enable IT professionals to better support a mobile workforce by remotely resolving issues with employees' hardware, software, and cloud services at no cost. "IT professionals are challenged to support an increasingly mobile workforce that is constantly on the go," said Francois Caron, Executive Director of Spiceworks IT Product Management. "By enabling IT professionals to remotely access workstations over the internet, Spiceworks Remote Support will make it much easier to see what's really happening in a user's environment and quickly resolve any issues without being physically present." "Remote support has become indispensable considering the distribution of teams/customers across countries. At the same time, IT pros need simple and free tools to support their customers. It'll be ideal if all essential applicatons are available at a single place and for free, like Spiceworks. We're glad to add remote support functionality to the toolkit as it would benefit IT pros a lot," said Raju Vegesna (News - Alert), Chief Evangelist at Zoho. "We hope it should add significant value as supporting remote customers no more means buying exorbitant software."



Additional Resources Zoho news coverage: https://www.zoho.com/inthenews.html

Zoho press releases: https://www.zoho.com/press.html Zoho videos: http://youtube.com/zoho Zoho blogs: http://blogs.zoho.com Zoho on Twitter (News - Alert): http://www.twitter.com/zoho Zoho on Facebook (News - Alert): http://www.facebook.com/zoho About Spiceworks Spiceworks is the professional network millions of IT professionals use to connect with one another and thousands of technology brands. The company simplifies how IT professionals in the $3 trillion IT industry discover, buy, and manage technology products and services each year. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks is backed by Adams Street Partners, Austin Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Goldman Sachs, Shasta Ventures, and Tenaya Capital. For more information, visit http://www.spiceworks.com. About Zoho Zoho is the operating system for business-a single platform with all the applications needed to run a business entirely from the cloud. Businesses can acquire and manage customers using Zoho's marketing, sales and customer support applications like Campaigns, CRM, Desk and Assist; empower employees to create, store and distribute content on the cloud with Zoho's productivity and collaboration applications like Office, Mail, and Docs. Businesses can run their operations on Zoho's finance and HR applications like Books, People, and Recruit. More than 30 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses-including Zoho itself. Each business can choose to run the entire Zoho suite or just a single application. Zoho applications are available directly through zoho.com, or through an ecosystem of hundreds of worldwide Zoho partners. Zoho is a division of Zoho Corp., a privately held and consistently profitable company with more than 5,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, with international headquarters in Chennai, India, and offices in Austin, Texas; London, U.K.; Yokohama, Japan; and Beijing, China. For more information, please visit https://www.zoho.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006289/en/

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While one investigation for the alleged violation of bank privacy was stopped, the other may result in laying charges.

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Unlike opposition OLaNO party leader Igor Matovic, who is already supposed to be charged, the investigator suspended the investigation of Prime Minister Robert Fico for violating the bank privacy of Matovic, the latters lawyer Daniel Lipsic claims. Behind this step may also be timing: shortly before the regional elections, the Dennik N daily wrote on October 10.

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The investigator allegedly said that though the deed meets the criteria of a crime, freedom of speech is more important in this case, as Matovic and Lipsic (also an ex-politician) said, as cited by the Sme daily.

If the police wanted to prosecute Fico, they would have to prosecute the journalists who reported about the case.

There are different rules in effect for representatives of the opposition and coalition, Lipsic claims, reacting to the proposal by the prosecutor of charging Matovic with slander. He points to the fact that the prosecution of Fico has been stopped.

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Read also: Matovic charged with slander Read more

Prosecutor's decision

Lipsic cited the decision of the Regional Presidium of Police Corps investigator in Bratislava concerning criminal prosecution for the crime of violating bank, postal, telecom and tax secrecy, in which Fico was one of the suspects. Before the 2016 election, the PM revealed tax information on Matovic. His deed corresponds with the crime of violating secrecy, according to Lipsic.

But as the issue is of public interest, and as freedom of speech in politics must be very broad, the so-called material sign, i.e. the gravity of the crime has not been fulfilled, and thus, the prosecution has been halted, Lipsic said, as quoted by Sme.

Fico claims that he was given the given documents at a meeting with citizens but no one has ever confirmed this, no evidence to support his claim.

On the contrary, all evidence disproves it, according to Lipsic.

When Matovic  who claimed Fico and his wife have a tax haven account in Belize  was involved, there was no issue of freedom of speech.

There has never been such a double standard in Slovakia, Lipsic stressed, as quoted by Sme, adding that there seems to be two criminal laws in Slovakia: one for the opposition and one for the coalition. This is devastating for the state, according to the lawyer and ex-politician.

Opposition asks PM's head

Fico should resign, opposition parties SaS, OLaNO and Sme rodina suggest, as reported by the SITA newswire. They argue that it is his position of prime minster obstructing the course of justice in Slovakia.
Two suspects have been charged: one for murder, the other one for robbery.

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After seven years, the police have found the murderer of prominent lawyer Ernest Valko who was shot dead in his house in Limbach, near Bratislava, in November 2010. He was allegedly murdered by a thief identified as Jozef R., two sources from the criminal prosecution bodies confirmed for the Dennik N daily.

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The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) is preparing to lay charges against the man. He was reportedly accused by his accomplices who decided to testify against him. They are being prosecuted for other crimes.

Robbery as motive

The motive behind Valkos murder was robbery, police confirmed on October 11, while also specifying some new findings in the case.

Two suspects have been charged: one for murder, the other one for robbery, General Prosecutor Jaromir Ciznar said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

His deputy for criminal department, Peter Sufliarsky, specified that the defendant Jozef R., currently serving a prison sentence for other crimes, is facing charges of robbery, murder, home invasion and the unlawful possession of arms. He is also charged with another murder connected with this case: the police accuse him of killing his accomplice in criminal activities, Anton H.

The other defendant, Jaroslav K., who is in custody for an unrelated case, is facing the charge of robbery in the Valko case.

Read also:

Read also: Lawyer's murder still unsolved Read more

This accomplice is also considered a key witness by the police. Jaroslav K. asked ex-politician and current lawyer Daniel Lipsic to represent him, as he stated this on his Facebook account.

Lipsic decided to represent him after having consulted and agreed to this with Valkos bereft relatives. He explained, as cited by the TASR newswire, that he did so in the hope that the murder can be investigated and the murderer punished.

The witness claims that in autumn 2010, the murderer agreed with his accomplice on robbing a house in the village of Limbach. The owner allegedly used to have a large amount of cash on him. After several weeks of staking out the house, they broke inside in early November, hoping to steal a lot of cash. The robbers applied gas from a pistol through the window frames, opening all the doors to the terrace. The robbers entered the house individually, through different entrances.

The witness claims to have heard a shot after Valko entered the house but he did not see the murder itself, which probably ensued from a confrontation between the murderer and the lawyer.

Lawyers friends have some doubts

Valko, who played a central role in framing several crucial post-communist laws which set the course for Czechoslovakia and then Slovakia after the Velvet Revolution and who was involved in several sensitive cases, died after receiving only one shot.

The possibility that the main motive for the murder was a robbery and that he died after surprising the thieves has already been mentioned by former Police Corps president Jaroslav Spisiak. At the time, several robberies had taken place in nearby villages. As he told the daily, the robbery has been the most probable reason for killing the lawyer all along. He also welcomed the fact that investigators have managed to solve the case.

Valkos friend Ivan Trimaj, however, doubts both the motive and the culprits. Former presidents of the Constitutional Court, who are the fourth most powerful people in the country, are not killed for several thousands of euros, he opines.

People in jail do not talk to help find the truth, but to improve their own situations, Trimaj, who is also a lawyer and helped Valko found the Federal Constitutional Court, told the Dennik N.

Another of Valkos friend, lawyer Jozef Vozar, says there is always the possibility that the murder has been solved after such a long time.

I want to believe this happened in Ernest Valkos case, but I still have doubts, he told the Dennik N.
The firms will have to pay thousands of euros for signing two cartel agreements.

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The council of the Antimonopoly Office (PMU) confirmed that fines have been raised against five companies issuing, distributing and selling meal vouchers. They were sanctioned for signing two cartel agreements.

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Based on the first deal, the companies divided up the market among themselves, while the second helped them cap the number of meal vouchers accepted by retail chains, the PMUs spokesperson Adriana Olsavska informed the SITA newswire.

Read also:

Read also: Antimonopoly Office fines meal voucher providers Read more

The company DOXX  Stravne Listky now has to pay 486,158, Edenred Slovakia, 845,237, Le Cheque Dejeuner 1,127,401, Sodexo Pass SR, 20,307, and VASA Slovensko, 503,248.

Moreover, they cannot attend public procurement for three years.

The participants in the proceeding can turn to the court to appeal the decision, Olsavska said, as quoted by SITA.
In the much disputed case concerning the reward to be paid by the state to the law firm for its services in the dispute over the Gabcikovo Hydro-power Plant, the final sum will be reduced to only 2.5 percent.

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The state joint-stock company MH Manazment's head Branislav Bacik has agreed with Radomir Bzan's law firm to reduce the amount the state should pay to the company for its legal services in the dispute over the Gabcikovo Hydro-power Power Plant (VEG) from the original 11 percent to 2.5 percent.

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In the legal dispute over Gabcikovo, Slovakia seemed to be forced to pay 700 million, but Bzan won the lawsuit against Enel, the Italian co-owner of electric-power utility Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) and, according to the terms of the contract, was to be paid a fee of 64 million.

Read also:

Read also: Lawyer to get dream pay-out from state Read more

We held negotiations on Monday [October 9] based on a request from the law firm which wanted to prevent society from being traumatised by the issue sinking to the tabloid level, as well as a media hunt against the person of the lawyer and his family, Bacik said on October 10, as quoted by the TASR newswire. With regard to the fact that the international arbitration has not yet decided on the amount of legal charges, we've agreed to set the maximum sum of remuneration for the lawyer. The sum will then be reduced by the amount that has already been paid to the lawyer, as well as accepted legal charges. The cap ... has been set at 2.5 percent,

He added that this sum is the result of a mutual agreement, and noted that 2.5 percent of 705.6 million is 17.64 million. The amount that has already been paid to the lawyer (4.9 million) will be deducted from this, along with legal charges amounting to 12.7 million.

State will not pay whole costs

This means that if we are 100-percent successful with the legal charges, all the remaining costs of paying the lawyer will have practically been covered by SE, said Bacik, as quoted by TASR. I've notified the Economy Ministry's leadership about this agreement, and the ministry has acknowledged it.

MH Manazment views the agreement as advantageous not only for itself but also for the whole of Slovakia, he added.

As MH Manazment won a 705.6-million case for Slovakia, despite the fact that the other side was represented by a global law firm employing thousands of lawyers, Bacik views the agreed sum as reasonable.

Ministerial reaction

Economy Minister Peter Ziga acknowledged the more than four-fold reduction in royalties for Bzan's law firm. However, the minister expected an agreement on remuneration amounting to 1-2 percent, as reported by TASR.

The ministry is now waiting for the Slovak Bar Association's position on the payment, as well as the results of a ministerial inspection. It will then decide on further steps, according to its spokesperson Maros Stano.

About two weeks ago, the opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party began collecting signatures to convene an extraordinary parliamentary meeting to hold a no-confidence vote in Ziga, as they believe that it is he who should bear the primary responsibility in this case. This is mere election campaigning by OlaNO, the ministry reacted.

MPs from the strongest opposition party Freedom and Solidarity SaS) had not signed the petition to recall minister Ziga by October 6, the SITA newswire wrote. Its chairman Richard Sulik said they were negotiating another possibility: instead of the extraordinary parliamentary session to recall the minister, another extraordinary parliamentary meeting to deal exclusively with this case itself should be convened.

Reward may still be too high

Even after the reduction, the reward for Bzan and his firm is too high for Slovak consumption, the Sme daily wrote, adding that his law company had an annual turnover of around one million euros until 2015 and that this changed only after it received a contract with the National Property Fund (predecessor of MH Manazment). Then, its revenues doubled. To compare: 17.6 million is almost double the annual revenue of the Allen & Overy law firm, the biggest on the market according to economic results.

And the public has little chance to assess whether the reward is too high or adequate, as the information is too sparse, according to Sme. Ziga refuses to publish the verdict which might help to assess Bzan's role and contribution to the whole legal dispute.
YEREVAN.  As reported earlier, Hollywood legend John Malkovich on Tuesday paid a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia.

He put flowers at the Eternal Flame, and paid tribute to the victims of this tragedy.

And after touring the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Malkovich signed its guestbook and wrote, A painful lesson.

Speaking to reporters, the Hollywood star noted that he is shocked by what he has heard today. He said Armenian Genocide was a painful lesson and a terrible story as to people can do such things just for foolish reasons.

John Malkovich added that everything was very moving and he cannot pinpoint any part of the museum which moved him the most.

The Hollywood star is in Yerevan along the lines of Wednesdays opening ceremony of the 5th Aram Khachaturian International Festival.



By Shushan Shatikyan

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan

Video by Artur Ghahramanyan



















































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Cheryl and Simon Cowell have been filming X Factor 2017 judges houses in France.

Simon and new mum Cheryl are currently in Nice, south of France, with Simons potential finalists in the Groups category.

A source said last month: Simon is ecstatic at getting Cheryl back working with him again.

Theyve had their ups and downs to say the least but he hugely respects her opinion, the insider told the Daily Mail. He has been working on it for a while. He and Cheryl have been talking a lot over the last months

For Cheryl, this felt like the right way for her to make a return to the limelight after having Bear. She has the tough task of picking Simons final acts so the pressure is on and he is very much looking forward to the banter.

Filming with Cheryl and Simon was apparently thrown into chaos last week when a farmer began shooting rabbits on set.

Everyone was terrified. Several gunshots were heard in quick succession, a source told The Sun newspaper. There was already tight security because of the current climate.

It turned out the shots had come from a farmer who was shooting rabbits in a field rather than anything more sinister.

Meanwhile, Nicole Scherzinger will be joined by Stormzy at judges houses in South Africa, Louis Walsh will team up with Mika in Turkey and Sharon Osbourne will be joined by daughter Kelly in San Francisco.

The X Factor judges houses stages will air later this month on ITV.

For now, The X Factor continues Saturday and Sunday night with the six chair challenge.
Our Girl Season 3 is back tonight  from the cast to first spoilers, heres all you need to know.

The second part of Series 3 of Our Girls will continue tonight on Wednesday 17 July at 9pm on BBC One with the latest new episodes part of a 12 episode commission.

Our Girl series three is comprise of three separate tours. This first tour of four episodes aired last year and saw Georgie on a relief mission in Nepal following a devastating series of earthquakes.

Our Girl Series 3 cast

Corporal Georgie Lane (Michelle Keegan)  Gutsy, passionate and unstoppable, Georgie is an army medic from Stockport who relishes the adrenaline that comes with the adventures of her work.

Captain James (Ben Aldridge)  A charismatic leader and brilliant officer, Captain James is an army man to the core and well respected by the men who fight alongside him.

Private Maisie Richards (Shalom Brune-Franklin)  Brash and fearless, Maisie has always been front and centre of any group within which she finds herself. A free spirit, she often pokes fun at Georgies traditional ideas of love and romance.

Private Rab Kalil (Harki Bhambra)

Elvis Harte (Luke Pasqualino)  (Part 1) Elvis is a cheeky Londoner who has grown into a remarkable leader, joining the SAS selection after a number of tours with the army.

Our Girl spoilers

In tonights episode, as the camp is hit by a dangerous cholera epidemic, 2 Section are tasked with protecting Inspector Chowdhrey (Navin Chowdhry) who is now a key witness in bringing down the leaders of the drug gang. Horrified when a particularly gruesome message is sent demanding his silence, the Inspector fears for his familys safety and refuses to cooperate.

When Georgie (Michelle Keegan) suspects that Barsha knows more than she has previously let on, she hatches a plan to persuade Inspector Chowdhrey to make a full statement. However disaster strikes when the couples young son, Sumon, (Imran Khan) is kidnapped by the gang and it falls to Georgie to get the child back.

Meanwhile, fellow medic Ruby (Patrick McNamee) catches cholera whilst treating patients in the camp.
The tiny island of Coron off the north end of Palawan might seem quite remote and hard to get to. However, for such a small and unassuming place, the sheer beauty that can be found here means many flock to its turquoise waters and powder white sand beaches for a slice of paradise! However, depending on where you find yourself in either The Philippines or indeed the world there is a range of options available to you for getting here, some more adventurous than others! Heres our El Nido to Coron ferry guide so you can experience this paradise island too and the Coron to El Nido ferry for the return trip.

The El Nido to Coron trip is a lovely boat journey.

Quick Answers:

 Looking to get there quickly:

Jump on the fast ferry

 Looking to get there cheaply:

Have a chilled day on the slow boat.

 Dont fancy a boat trip:

Then why not book flights instead!

 Want to make it an experience?

Take the Combination Tour

 Feeling fancy?

Why not hire a private boat instead

Why You Should Head to Coron!?

Firstly, why even head over to this tiny island that seems a little out of the way to get to? You might be wondering how to get from El Nido to Coron and whether the long ferry ride is worthwhile? Theres also no need to compare Coron vs El Nido either when it is so easy to take the boat from El Nido to Coron and experience both. Dont choose between Coron or El Nido, go and see them both!

Well, really what the question should be is why should you NOT come here. If you look the word Paradise up in the dictionary it should just say Coron next to it!! From the stunning white-sand beaches lined with palm trees and little wooden shacks to the traditional little boats bobbing up and down on the most stunning turquoise water, youve ever seen.

There are hundreds of reasons to hop on that Coron to El Nido ferry and one of them is to do the incredible Combination Tour where you can see all the highlights including Kayangan Lake. It is also easy to then pop back from Coron to El Nido or move onwards to other areas of the country too. If youre wondering how to get to Coron from El Nido too then this article will cover all options.

El Nido, Coron: Worthwhile places to visit! Jump on the Coron to El Nido boat to see them both!

Head over to the beautiful Kayangan Lake, owned by the indigenous people of this island and who still live here, and take in one of the most jaw-dropping places in the world. Add to this the world-class wreck diving and a rainbow of corals and marine life just a few ft below the surface of the warm crystal clear water and you know you have to make the effort to take the Coron to El Nido boat or even fly direct from the mainland.

Read on for information on how to get to Coron.

BTW, if youre wondering, how far is El Nido to Coron? The Coron to El Nido distance is only around 127 km!

 READ MORE: See Our Guide To Coron Island Here

Coron, El Nido: Two of the most stunning places in The Philippines.

How To Get To From El Nido to Coron: Taking The El Nido to Coron Ferry

So, here we are!! There are a few options to consider when youre planning this trip and it all depends on your time, budget, sea legs and propensity for propeller planes too!! Not gonna lie, Ill happily spend 8 hrs on a rickety old boat than one of those planes. Dumb maybe but thats just me!!

How to get from El Nido to Coron? Lets gooooooo!

El Nido to Coron Ferry/ Coron to El Nido Ferry:

The best way in our opinion is to take the El Nido to Coron ferry, this means you can lay back and relax and enjoy the stunning scenery on the way to Coron. From El Nido, this is easy to organise the trip and relatively cheap too.

There are also many options in the opposite direction so getting from El Nido to Coron is really easy!

There are three options for the ferry from El Nido to Coron, the fast, the slow boat and the cargo ferry and each has a different price and timetable.

You also will have to pay 20 PHP (each) harbour tax when you leave from El Nido to Coron or Coron to El Nido.

How far is Coron to El Nido?

Its 127 km meaning the El Nido ferry/ Coron ferry can take between 4-8 hrs depending on which method you take.

Buying a ferry ticket in El Nido or Coron is easy as many of the tour operators can book you there. Be sure to ask for a discount if you book at the same time as an island-hopping trip.

You can book online beforehand using 12Go which takes the hassle out of the process and means you can book well in advance before you even arrive! Travelling in the Philippines does sometimes require a little bit more pre-planning due to its island nature so the ability to book online really helps with that.

If youre wondering how to travel from El Nido to Coron with the least amount of stress, then booking in advance online is the ideal way.

READ MORE: See Our Guide To Island Hopping in Stunning El Nido Here

The ferry El Nido to Coron. Great views along the way! A great option for how to get to El Nido Philippines.

How to go to Coron from El Nido and Vice Versa:

Regular Option: The Slow Ride For the Coron to El Nido Ferry:

1400 PHP (20.40 / $26.30)

Two boat companies: Bunso and MBCA Jessabel 2 run the ferry from El Nido to Coron.

El Nido to Coron boat:

Bunso leaves at 8:30 am every day of the week, Jessabel leaves at 7:30 am on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

Getting From Coron to El Nido:

Bunso leaves at 8:30 am every day of the week, Jessabel leaves at 7:30 am on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

This takes around 8 hours (They will tell you 5!)

If you are on a super tight budget and dont mind the 8 hours then this is a great option when considering how to go from Coron to El Nido

.

TOP PICK: Fast Ferry: Quick Option for the El Nido to Coron Ferry:

Our top pick of our How to get to Coron guide: El Nido to Coron ferry

1760 PHP (25.60 / $33.00)

Ran by Montenegro Lines.

The ferry leaves at 6:30 am every day from El Nido to Coron and 12 noon from Coron to El Nido

The El Nido to Coron fast ferry takes around 3.5  4 hours.

For us, the Coron to El Nido fast ferry is the best choice all around for time, money and views!

Coron to El Nido Ferry: The Passenger Cargo Ship Options:

1150 PHP for air-conditioned seats / 1000 PHP for non air-conditioned

Run by MV May Lillies (Atienza Shipping).

This only leaves on Wednesdays at 7:30 am to Coron from El Nido and 7:00 am on Monday from Coron to El Nido.

This takes around 8 hours for the boat from Coron to El Nido and vice versa.

Booking this option is a little harder and must be done locally.

Alternative Options: Private boat option and tours for the El Nido to Coron Ferry:

Another option to consider is taking a private boat between El Nido and Coron.

You can take many different private boats and tours from El Nido to Coron or Coron to El Nido, some of these are simply a more convenient, private and quicker transfer meaning you can set off when it suits you and arrive at a better time.

Other options include single and multi-day options where you can stop off at some of the more isolated islands and beaches along the way and break the journey up. If you are wondering how to travel from Coron to El Nido in a more comfortable fashion then this is it.

You can also take tours back from Coron island to El Nido to add more to your experience if you are retracing your steps.

.

The journey to Coron, Palawan

The Reality of Taking the 8 Hour El Nido to Coron Ferry!

Now here comes the truth about how to get to El Nido from Coron or vice versa! Its a long journey to be on one of those little wooden traditional boats, theyre not the most reliable (we broke down on the way back from Coron to El Nido!) and they do move around a bit in bad weather!

The seating arrangement isnt the best either. There are large plastic chairs in the middle and wooden benches at the sides. Usually, it is quiet enough to spread out and use the life jackets as a pillow/ rest despite the signs telling you not to!

It can be quite a draining journey in all honesty and doing it there and back is at least 16 hrs spent on this rickety boat alongside some pretty pissed off cockerels and fed up kids!

If your budget allows then the fast boat might be more suited to you and would probably be our number 1 recommendation to anyone who asks how to get from Coron to El Nido!

.

A long trip on the ferry: El Nido to Coron

The journey on the El Nido to Coron ferry wasnt too bad all things considered. The landscape we passed through was continually stunning and we were always in sight of land which both made for amazing views and also a sense of additional safety on this rickety craft!

We did actually manage to get some decent sleep too and the benches on the sides are actually more comfortable than they look. In terms of how to go to El Nido from Coron, its certainly peaceful and picturesque but it can drag.

A simple lunch was provided along with some fruit and water, though the vegetarian option was just plain rice! We did however stock up on snacks so we were prepared for the long haul! There is nothing for sale on the boat so bring supplies for your Coron to El Nido trip!

Coron to El Nido is a long journey on an uncomfortable boat!

Overall it was an interesting journey. The boat was occupied by either fellow frugal backpackers or locals who couldnt afford the more expensive and faster Coron to El Nido option. It meant a real look into the locals lives, for better or for worse there was a live cockerel in a bag on the return journey!!

But it was an experience and quite an adventure, so this would be a great option for those wondering how to get to Coron and the best option for El Nido to Coron transport for the experience, view and cost but not maybe for comfort.

The Coron to El Nido travel time on the slow boat is AT LEAST 8 hours with many taking longer as we did on the return trip as we broke down!

For those asking how to get to El Nido from Coron in the best way, that might be the fast boat!

Information for When You Arrive: Where to Stay On Coron:

Coron can be relatively expensive compared to The Philippines as a whole given how small it is. There is still a lot of different options available for different budgets but do be aware that it will be more expensive than El Nido and a lot more expensive than places like Puerto Princesa. Heres a little guide to where to stay in Coron so you can book before you arrive as they usually sell out fast.

The Best Backpacker Option: Hop Hostel

For backpackers willing to pay a little more for a hostel the best on the island has to be Hop Hostel. With great facilities, a clean and modern design with curtains on each bunk its the perfect place to base yourself. It even had private rooms and a rooftop bar and for us one of the most important things: good lockers and a kitchen!

Best Budget Hotel: Ricardo Valley Inn

If you dont fancy a hostel then the Ricardo Valley Inn on the slopes of Mt. Tapyas is a great budget option with double, twin rooms and family rooms available in a nice quiet area of the island.

Fancy a Treat Whilst Staying on Coron: Bacau Bay Resort Coron

We all want some comfort and luxury every now and then and Coron is an ideal place to do that our recommendation would be Bacau Bay Resort. With a pool, gym, spa, wellness centre, restaurant and incredibly laid out and comfortable rooms its probably the best place to stay on the entire island if your budget allows!

Book Your Accommodation For Coron Here:

Booking.com

Just chillin!

Information for When You Arrive: Where to Stay In El Nido:

The Best Backpacker Option: Spin Designer Hostel

For backpackers visiting El Nido, there are a lot of hostels to stay in and one of the best in the town is the Spin Designer Hostel. It is one of those fantastic hostels that are just so well designed and arranged with an amazing vibe. The hostel has BBQ nights, pub crawls, movie nights and most importantly comfortable beds and clean bathrooms! Its also close to the beach and has private rooms too.

Mega Cheap Hostel: Big Mike Hostel

For those on a proper backpacker budget, the basic Big Mike Hostel is the best offering for the low end of the market in El Nido. Dont expect anything fancy but it does offer breakfast, clean rooms and friendly staff at rock bottom prices. It is also ideally located and one of the best-rated hostels in El Nido.

Best Budget Hotel: Neela Tourist Lodge

If youre still on a budget but want a nice hotel for the price then the Neela Tourist Lodge offers a tidy, well kept and comfortable place right near the beach and close enough to town too. Many of the rooms also either have terraces or balconies which makes it a lovely place for couples.

Fancy a Treat Whilst Staying in El Nido: Playa Encantada Beach Resort

For those on a holiday or backpackers looking to splash out a little and treat themselves to a couple of nights somewhere incredible then the Playa Encantada Beach Resort offers luxury for a comparatively affordable price. The tranquil and serene setting is right on the beach and offers private traditional style bamboo cottages and bungalows.

Book Your Accommodation For El Nido Here:



Booking.com





Coron Palawan to El Nido!

Other Alternative Routes & Methods of Transport: From Puerto Princesa, Manila and Flying Options:

Our suggested route would be to fly into Puerto Princesa and take a bus over to El Nido or via Port Barton to El Nido. You can spend a few days in each place before heading over to Coron on the ferry. You can either fly onwards from Coron to Manila or Cebu or retrace your steps back to Puerto Princesa.

Note that there is no Manila to El Nido ferry/ El Nido to Manila ferry, you can also fly direct from Manila to El Nido but the flights are much more expensive and less frequent as the airport is privately owned and quite small. It means getting to El Nido from Manila can be a little convoluted but its worth it!

It also goes without saying that you cant take an El Nido to Coron flight as they are just too close together and if you are already in one of the towns the ferry from Coron to El Nido is of course the best option. Though Im sure if you are a millionaire then you could probably charter flights from El Nido to Coron on a helicopter!

Taking the Bus or Ferry From Puerto Princesa to El Nido:

It is also possible to get the ferry from down in the capital of Palawan, Puerto Princesa. This is a long ferry taking around 15 hours as it has to essentially sail the whole length of Palawan. There are ferries on Saturday and Wednesday that run Puerto Princesa to Coron that leave at 11:59 pm and arrive at 3:00 pm the day after. Then on the way back, ferries leave on Saturday and Wednesday at 6:00 am arriving at 9:00 pm the same day.

There is no direct Puerto Princesa to Coron transport, you must go through El Nido first. The Puerto Princesa to El Nido transportation option is a bus or ferry.

Instead, we recommend taking a bus/ minivan to El Nido first which takes around 5 hours and spending some time there first before taking the El Nido to Coron ferry. You can then fly to the mainland from Coron or take the Coron to El Nido ferry back and the bus back down to Puerto Princesa.

Taking the Bus From Puerto Princesa to Port Barton before continuing on to El Nido:

Another alternative way to get down to El Nido from Puerto Princesa is to call in for a few days at the sleepy backpacker town of Port Barton. The Bus from Puerto Princesa to El Nido isnt too bad as its only 5 hours but its always nice to be able to break journeys up and Port Barton is well worth a stopover for at least a day or two.

.

Take the El Nido  Coron ferry!

Getting to Coron From Manila:

Taking a Ferry:

It is possible to take the boat over from Manila to Coron, however, this is a long and tiring journey as it takes around 15 hours!

2Go operate this service on a much larger ferry rather than one of the smaller boats at least. The Coron to Manila ferry is a long one but it does cut out a lot of travel for those wanting to brave it! If you are going to do a Manila to Palawan ferry then this does cut out some messing about as well as avoiding flying!

It goes every Tuesday and Friday from Manila to Coron at 1:30 pm arriving at 4:30 am.

From Coron to Manila it leaves every Sunday and Thursday at 4:30 pm arriving at 7:30 am.

This is probably the bottom of our favourite ways to get to Coron as you can fly over in less than an hour for a similar price and its much less scenic than the El Nido to Coron ferry!

Flying from Manila to Coron/ Coron to Manila:

You can fly with a couple of airlines from Manila to Coron, the one we recommend is Cebu Pacific. The flight takes about 1 hour and you will be on a propeller plane!! Then, how to get from Coron to El Nido? Take either the express or local ferry.

.

The El Nido to Coron trip is a beautiful one.

How to get to Coron: Flying in from Manila to Coron/ Cebu to Coron

Yes, it is possible to fly into this tiny island. However, if you are not a keen flyer you will want to be aware that the flights over here are small propeller planes! Cebu Pacific are the only decent operator that flies here and you can fly from Manila to Coron and Cebu to Coron easily and cheaply, however, be sure to book in advance. If you are in any other areas of The Philippines than Palawan itself then it makes the most sense to fly over to Coron, even if you have to connect. You are sure to get great views either way!

.

Tips and Info For the El Nido to Coron Ferry

The El Nido to Coron travel time on the slow boat is at least 8 hours and is 4 hours on the fast boat.

Book the ferry as early as you can as they sell out!

How far is Coron from El Nido? The distance from El Nido to Coron island is around 127 km.

Book your accommodation in Coron as soon as you can too as it is much more limited and expensive than El Nido.

Get to the port early. Even if you have a ticket there will be a lot of people queuing and it takes a while as bags are often searched by sniffer dogs and port fees need to be paid. You also want to get a good seat on the sides of the boar rather than in the middle.

Take food and drink. There is lunch provided on board but if you are veggies like us then it ends up just being plain rice, a banana and some water. For the 8 hours on the Coron to El Nido ferry, youll probably want something more! There is also nothing for sale on the boat either if you run out!

Bring along a book or a movie or your kindle as the journey is long!

Bring a travel pillow so you can get comfy and get some rest

Bring a power pack for your phone as there are no powerpoints on board.

Wear sun cream! You can sit out of the sides or on top of the boat but be sure to wear sun cream, often when the wind is in your hair you dont feel yourself burning on the spectacular journey from Coron to El Nido.

You will likely be ok but its best to bring along a dry bag for your valuables in case it gets a bit choppy as the waves do sometimes come over the side!

Our Recommended Route: Travelling to and From Coron and El Nido:

So, which way is best to travel between Coron and El Nido? Do you take a ferry, fly or take a long tour stopping off along the way?

Well it all depends on how much time and resources you have but this is our recommended plan:

Fly from Manila to Puerto Princesa > Spend a few days exploring the authentic Palawan capital of Puerto Princesa and visit the Underground River.

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Puerto Princesa is a really lovely authentic place to spend some time in Palawan and very different to El Nido or Coron.

Take a bus from Puerto Princesa to Port Barton > Hang out in this backpacker paradise for a few days, stay in a shack and live on the beach!

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Port Barton is pretty much heaven!

Take another bus from Port Barton to El Nido > Take the short trip over to El Nido. You will need a few days here to take all the amazing boat trips over to places like the Big Lagoon and CYC beach!

If you want to know how to get to El Nido then you should first make your way from Puerto Princesa.

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The Big Lagoon in El Nido

Take the ferry over to Coron > Spend a few hours watching the world go by on the beautiful ferry trip as you travel from El Nido to Coron.

Then take a good few days to explore all Coron has to offer including SCUBA diving and the many boat tours available. The El Nido, Palawan to Coron ferry is a beautiful journey in itself.

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How to get to Coron Palawan? Taking the ferry is the ideal way to see this incredible place.

Fly from Coron to Manila or Cebu > Carry on your adventure by heading over to Cebu or head somewhere else from the capital of Manila. You can also travel from Coron to El Nido and then retrace your steps back to Manila.

Of course, if youre coming in the opposite direction then you can do the same but in reverse!

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Manila is one hell of a concrete jungle to explore! Taking the ferry Coron to El Nido is a welcome break!

Coron to El Nido Ferry: Related Content

READ MORE: See Our Guide To Island Hopping in Stunning El Nido Here

READ MORE: See Our Guide To Coron Island Here

Final Thoughts

The journey between El Nido and Coron is a stunning and beautiful one but it can also be painfully slow and uncomfortable. For us, the best way to do the trip is on the fast ferry, this way youll be sipping coconuts in no time and youll still get to take in those views!

Getting to Coron from El Nido: Be sure to see these incredible scenes!

Hey, Youve Got Your Travel Insurance Sorted Havent You?

Travelling and especially backpacking is a wild adventure, but make sure you are covered just in case something goes wrong, which if youre living it up to the fullest its always a possibility!

Check travel insurance prices with World Nomads here!

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(Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

If you think that Theresa Mays speech in Florence was enough to stop banks and businesses activating contingency plans to relocate operations in the EU, then think again.

Despite talks for the two-year transition period that Conservatives are still fighting over, big investment banks are forging ahead with plans to create new hubs elsewhere in the EU.

For instance, while Goldman Sachs is actively searching for office space for up to 1,000 staff in Frankfurt, Bank of America is in talks to secure offices in central Paris for an initial move of about 300 employees.

MORE: Energy bills could rise even further after Brexit  Warwick Business School

Perhaps, if Theresa May had campaigned for a transition period from the start it would have been more helpful, but given that most banks contingency plans are now being executed the speech in Florence looks like a late call.

Indeed, it takes about 18 months to set up a fully-licensed subsidiary inside the EU, and given negotiations have been in a deadlock for months, the Prime Ministers proposal sounds like too little too late.

If anything, Mays cabinet is already contradicting such conciliatory tone. Brexit Secretary David Davis allegedly said that there wont be any role for the European Court of Justice after March 2019.

Similarly, The Guardian reported that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson dismissed the prospect of having the UK subject to the EUs laws of freedom of movement once it leaves, a well-known red line for the European Union. In such political landscape, it is hard to think that the EU is eager to speed up further negotiations.

MORE: 5 reasons why the UK needs to remain in the single market post-Brexit

Early last week, a top official at the Bank of England warned that the UK has less than three months to agree on a transition deal with the EU before re-locations to the continent accelerate.

Sam Wood, Bank of England deputy governor for prudential regulation, made clear that if a concrete transition deal is not agreed before Christmas, City firms would start activating contingency plans to move staff and business out of the UK.

Story continues

Truth is, banks are already planning to do so; Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Chairman Howard Davies said that if there are no details early next year, the number of moves of people out of London will likely to accelerate.

The clock is ticking, and the evident chaos in the British cabinet is only making things worse. Ironically, even a two-year transition period may not be enough for British businesses to avoid a cliff edge.

As a matter of fact, it is far from clear if any transitional period would make any agreement between the UK and the EU binding.

MORE: Business lobbying over Brexit isnt working

This just adds further uncertainty for banks and businesses which are already facing the cost of persuading staff to move abroad and reckon with a shortage of experienced staff in places like Paris, Frankfurt, and Dublin.

In this respect, investments to relocate are almost sunk costs, ie once taken they are hard to reverse. This makes the decision to ship jobs and operations in the EU almost unaffected by Mays proposal of a two-year transition after March 2019.

According to the think tank Bruegel London could lose 10,000 banking jobs and about 20,000 roles in financial services due to Brexit.

MORE: Three threats (and three opportunities) Brexit will bring to Britains businesses

But the gap with the rest of the EUs financial centres is so big that London will likely keep its leading role in the financial industry for the foreseeable future.

However, the question is not what London will be like after Brexit, but rather what London would have been without it. I think that banks and businesses are already giving their answer.

Daniele Bianchi is assistant professor of finance at Warwick Business School. He tweets from @WhitesPhD.
By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union's banking watchdog will publish guidance on new EU hubs and trading risks for lenders from Britain seeking a post-Brexit base in the bloc, its chairman said on Monday. Banks in London are looking to open or expand hubs in the EU to ensure they can continue serving customers there after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019. The guidance will support a smooth relocation process and avoid regulatory competition, EBA Chairman Andrea Enria told a European Parliament hearing. "These include authorisations, approval of internal models, treatment of outsourcing, back-to-back operations and risk transfers, matters related to resolution and deposit guarantee schemes," Enria said. Thousands of banking jobs are expected to shift from London to the EU in the coming years to staff new hubs because future UK-EU trading relations remain unclear. International investment banking is largely based on "back-to-back" operations in which market risks from trades with customers in several countries are handled centrally in a single financial centre such as London. Investment banks in London want to continue using the UK capital to manage risks centrally to avoid costly duplication, but this has raised concerns among regulators that new EU hubs will be "letter boxes" devoid of senior staff. "We don't want to disrupt this mechanism, but at the same time you want to avoid empty shells," Enria said. The EBA guidance will say that risks from customers should be managed locally, while market risk can still be dealt with at the parent in London, Enria said, adding that EU supervisors must have access to "relevant information" on how market risks were being handled in London. EU regulators should also insist on market risks being managed locally if market shocks loom, Enria said. It marks a more accommodative tone than comments from the European Central Bank, which will actually license the new hubs in the euro zone. The guidance will be published in the coming days. Similar guidance from the bloc's securities watchdog ESMA has already rung alarm bells at asset managers in London, who fear they won't be able continue managing funds in the EU after Brexit but will be forced to have many senior managers based in new hubs in the bloc as well as back home. ESMA Chairman Steven Maijoor told the same hearing that its guidance on "delegation" was justified given that some national supervisors appeared more concerned with attracting new fund hubs than ensuring that their supervision is adequate. "This is about a request to have three people located in the place that is the formal registration of that fund. I find it difficult to see this as an onerous requirement," Maijoor said. (Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and David Goodman)
CHARLESTON -- Communication has become a major commodity to those in and outside the Caribbean island, Dominica, as the country continues to recover from the devastation that Hurricane Maria left weeks ago.

This is especially true for Catherine Polydore, an Eastern Illinois University professor who was born and raised in the small island country.

Most of Polydores family including three brothers and numerous cousins still reside on the island. So, when Maria hit, getting in touch her family became a seemingly insurmountable task immediately following damage done by the storm.

The storm ravaged the island. Outside of ripping off roofs and flattening trees, the storm winds also took down and power lines and local stations on the island. This left Polydore in the dark for a while, an uneasy feeling she said she would likely not forget.

I was freaking out, Polydore said. I could not sleep. I was following it the whole time just trying to get information. I figured that the more information that I could get, the better at ease I would be.

Normally, these storms would not worry her too much. Hurricanes were simply just a fact of life for her and her family when she was younger living in Dominica.

It was always something that you kind of know there is a probability of it happening, Polydore said.

She recalled witnessing Hurricane David in 1979 when it hit land in Dominica. Like with any hurricane, the rainfall and the winds were intense, but overall, the storm was manageable. So, when it was broadcasted that Hurricane Maria would be making landfall Sept. 18, she wasnt too concerned about her familys ability to stick it out.

It was a couple days out, and Hurricane Maria was projected to be a category-three storm.

It is still a hurricane, but we were like Ok, we can do that, Polydore thought at the time.

But the day it hit, Maria grew, and with that, Polydore stress levels grew also. Maria had expanded to become a category-five hurricane and would soon be known as one of the biggest storms to hit the forest-covered island.

There is a lot of guilt and helplessness, she said thinking about her time.

It would be a couple of days before information would spill out of the country. The local stations got back online. Polydore said once they went online, numerous calls came in from people abroad seeing if they are alive and OK. Later, those that could walk to the station, flocked there to notify family members on-air that they were alive and well all things considered.

Polydore said it was uplifting hearing these stories even if it was not from her family specifically. Five days passed before she was actually able to contact her brother, Curt Lewis, who has since given her periodic updates on their situation.

Her familys homes have been ruined by the storm ripping off most of their roofs. This forced one of her brothers and his family to take shelter with a friend on the island. By the time the storm rolled out, many were left without proper shelter, Polydore said.

Despite the depictions she was hearing, Polydore said it was a relief getting word of how her family was doing. Even still, communication is a challenge. Talking through a prepaid phone, Lewis relayed to Polydore that many are without proper means to contact one another within the country.

For instance, some of her family does not own radios so details on relief supplies and efforts go unheard by some in the country. Polydore has had to serve as a conduit for her family still weeks after to inform them of relief efforts.

Weeks after the situation for many including those in her family are less than favorable. Lewis accounted that even now, there is still need for relief drives and supplies. Polydore said especially in more remote parts of the island, the relief has been a slow crawl.

New problems are also surfacing in the hurricanes wake. Polydore said standing water has bred an abundance of mosquitos. She also noted that debris from the roads has started to leave a wretched smell across the streets of the country.

For Polydore and her family, they are trying to keep the mood light and hopeful, though. She said she finds herself laughing with her brother looking back at some of the events that took place. She noted Dominica will recover.

We did it in 79 with hurricane David and we will do it again, Polydore said. We will recover again. It will just be a different kind of recovery.

Polydore recently organized a relief drive at the university. In a week, she collected boxes of supplies ranging from baby food to batteries that were sent off after the week was up last week.

Polydore said her next goal is to specifically send supplies to her brothers.
Heavy rains accompanied a deadly storm sweeping KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, on Tuesday, October 10. The storms flooded streets and yards near Durban, including Kingsburgh, seen in this video, south of the city.

News reports said at least three people had been killed in the flooding. Credit: Instagram/Cari-Anne Paul via Storyful
Hillary Clinton believes the world should be concerned by Donald Trump (Rex)

Hillary Clinton has launched an astonishing attack on Donald Trump, declaring him to be the most dangerous President in US history.

The one-time presidential hopeful said that the whole world should be concerned by Trump, who pulled off a shock win against her in the US election last year.

Mrs Clinton was asked whether she stood by her comments made during the election campaign, when she described Trump as the most dangerous White House candidate to ever make a run for the presidency.

Mrs Clinton was beaten to the presidency in a shock election result (Rex)

She told the Australia Broadcasting Corporations Four Seasons programme: I think he is, because he is impulsive, he lacks self-control, he is totally consumed with how he is viewed, with how people think of him. He is vindictive.

Asked if Australia should be worried about Trump being the President, she added: I think the whole world should be concerned.

MORE: North Korea claims the CIA tried to assassinate Kim Jong-un this year

MORE: Donald Trump doesnt want the world to see his double chin

The former First Lady is currently on a book tour promoting What Happened where she recounts how she lost the election to Trump, despite being the overwhelming favourite.

She has so far yet to speak out on accusations that Harvey Weinstein  a supporter and contributor to both her campaign and the Democratic party  sexually harassed a number of women.
By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Hundreds of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered last week to Kurdish authorities after the jihadist group was driven out of its last stronghold in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security official said on Tuesday. The suspects were part of a group of men who fled towards Kurdish-held lines when Iraqi government forces captured the Islamic State base in Hawija, the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified. The report of the Sunni Muslim militants fleeing, rather than fighting to the finish as in previous battles, suggested their morale may be crumbling, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert on Islamic State affairs. "They no longer seem to believe in the cause," Hashimi, who met some of those who surrendered in the Dibis camp near Kirkuk, told Reuters. He said they had fled to the Kurdish-held region to avoid summary executions at the hands of vengeful Sunni Arab tribesmen and Iranian-trained and armed Shi'ite Muslim paramilitaries who assisted the Iraqi army's offensive on Hawija. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording two weeks ago that indicated he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite setbacks in Iraq and Syria. [nL8N1M95JY] "Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last week. Not all, however, are terrorists," said the security official in Erbil, the northern Iraqi base of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. They handed themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, east of Hawija, he said. "It's fair to say hundreds probably are ISIS (Islamic State) members, but that will be clear after the debriefs." FINAL DEFEAT IN SIGHT? The town of Hawija and surrounding areas fell on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi government Shi'ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation, as well as Sunni tribal combatants. [nL8N1MG3E5] Islamic State's last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria, including the border town of al-Qaim. [nL8N1ML5K0] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday this last piece of territory would be recaptured before the end of the year, marking the final defeat of the militants in Iraq. The militants also hold areas on the Syrian side of the border, but are retreating there in the face of two sets of hostile forces - a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi'ite militias backed by Iran and Russia. Islamic State's cross-border "caliphate" effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle. (Editing by Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones)
By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary said on Tuesday it would ask the European Union to review its ties with Ukraine over Kiev's decision to stop secondary schools teaching in ethnic minority languages, including Hungarian. Ukraine's foreign minister said he was surprised by the threat to its growing relationship with the European Union - its main trading partner and biggest political ally - and offered talks to end the standoff. Ukraine passed a law on Sept. 5 obliging teachers to use only Ukrainian in secondary schools, saying it wanted to help minorities integrate and get public sector jobs. But the move triggered protests from neighbouring Russia and Hungary in a region where language and ethnic identity are particularly highly sensitive subjects after decades of political turmoil. Hungary, Russia and Romania have all said the law discriminates against the large minorities in Ukraine speaking their languages. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he would raise the issue at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg next week. "The education law violates the association agreement sealed between the EU and Ukraine, therefore ... I will propose that the association agreement be reviewed," Szijjarto said late on Monday. In response, Szijjarto's Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin tweeted: "For us, a review of the association agreement is possible only in the context of guaranteeing clear European prospects for Ukraine. I confirm my readiness for dialogue with Hungary on all levels." He said he would bring the matter up in a visit to Hungary on Thursday. Ukraine, a former Soviet state, has sought greater integration with Europe since the ouster of a Moscow-backed president by mass protests in 2014 and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern regions. In July, the European Union confirmed an association agreement for closer political and trade ties with Ukraine - a move heralded by the authorities in Kiev as a landmark moment in the country's bid to move out of Russia's orbit. Ukraine's ambassador in Budapest, Ljubov Nepop, told website hvg.hu that the new law did not fully scrap teaching in Hungarian, only increased the number of subjects taught in Ukrainian. She said the law would not target minorities. (Reporting by Krisztina Than, Additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice in Kiev; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said on Monday that corruption allegations surrounding three ministers had created problems for the country and his Social Democrat government, adding he was considering a Cabinet reshuffle. Transparency International ranks Romania among the European Union's most corrupt states and Brussels is keeping its justice system under special monitoring. "There are three ministers with problems who are indeed causing difficulties in terms of public perception and in some situations with the European Commission," Tudose told private television station Antena3. He said he was considering asking the ministers to resign in a "mini-reshuffle." "I will make the announcement this week, first to the party, obviously. I will take responsibility for my proposals and I will ask the (ruling) coalition's vote on them." Anti-corruption prosecutors said in September they were investigating Deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh for suspected abuse of office in a land transfer case, and have asked parliament to approve an investigation into European Funds Minister Rovana Plumb linked to the same case. Shhaideh, also a minister for regional development, is a close ally of Social Democrat Party leader Liviu Dragnea, who has received a suspended sentence for vote rigging and is on trial in a separate abuse-of-office case. Prosecutors also asked parliament to approve an investigation into Viorel Ilie, minister in charge of the relationship between the Cabinet and lawmakers, in a case involving allegations of rigging a job contest for clerks at his ministry. Parliament rejected the request earlier this month. Under Romanian legislation, parliament must approve investigations against sitting lawmakers. All three ministers have denied wrongdoing. Tudose also said his relationship with Dragnea was not in a "happy moment". Dragnea holds a tight grip over the party and earlier this year pushed out former Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu in a non-confidence vote. At the start of the year, government attempts to weaken the crackdown on high-level graft triggered Romania's largest street protests in decades. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Peter Cooney)
MATTOON -- The Lake Land College Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to maintain the colleges current tuition and fee structure for the upcoming spring semester.

Lake Land will maintain the tuition structure at $102.50 per credit hour for students from the colleges district, $229.96 for out of district, and $423.36 for out of state. The college originally set the tuition rates at these levels in fall 2016, and then kept them in place for spring 2017 and fall 2017.

In addition, Lake Land will maintain the current activity fee at $2.50 per credit hour and the service fee at $28 per credit hour. A full-time student would take 15 credit hours in the fall or spring.

Trustee Doris Reynolds of Mattoon thanked Lake Land's administration for keeping the tuition and fees structure at a level that is attractive to prospective students and their parents.

"We have a quality institution at a very affordable price," Reynolds said.

In other matters, the board approved an updated version of Lake Land's Facilities Master Plan. The Illinois Community College Board requires periodic updating of such plans.

Gleckler said the updated plan gives an overview of campus improvements, such as the Vo-Tech Building renovation, that have been since the last update in 2008. He said the plan also provides a nonbinding "road map" for improvements in the near future.

One of these improvements is Lake Land's planned expansion of the Kluthe Center in Effingham, when funding is available. Trustee Ann Deters asked if the expansion will involve a building addition or a separate structure.

President Josh Bullock responded that the expansion design will depend on the architect's recommendation, but his preference would be for a detached, adjacent building. He said the new structure would serve different educational purposes than the existing building.

At press time Monday night, the board had not yet approved a trustee candidate to fill a vacant seat on the board. The candidates are Matt Forcum, Sullivan; Jere Schuler, Effingham; Meg Steward, Marshall; Michael Stopka, Mattoon; and Denise Walk, Teutopolis.

Other actions taken by the board included:

-- Purchasing a 2017 Ford Fusion from Dan Pilson Auto Centers of Mattoon for $33,621.

-- Certifying the Sept. 13-14 Student Government Association election results. Those elected were Macy Davidson, Casey; Taylor Davidson, Marshall; Christian Dolan, Herrick; Grace Mauck, Sullivan; Grace Zeller, Effingham; Mazi Walker, Winchester; Grace Goddard, Sandwich; and Jodie Harris, Windsor.

-- Naming of Northwest Building Room 114 as the Heartland DentalDental Hygiene Lab and the park area on the campus main grounds as Dr. William L. and Margaret Podesta Park.

-- Increasing the current Perkins grant program specialist position from part time to a full-time, grant-funded post.

-- Creating a director of Foundation operations position to support fundraising efforts for Lake Land. The nonprofit Lake Land College Foundation will provide 100 percent of the funding for this new position.
By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged gas, investment and support for the Balkans on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to expand influence in a region frustrated by the slow pace of EU accession. His two-day trip to Serbia - a mainly Orthodox Christian country at fierce odds with Turkey during Yugoslavia's bloody collapse - could help grow Turkey's role in a region that spent centuries under Ottoman rule and remains susceptible to big-power rivalries. Turkish influence is already strong among fellow Muslims in Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo. Serbia is Russia's closest ally in the Balkans. "Together with Serbia and with the entire Balkans, we want to make steps to resolve all the problems," Erdogan told reporters in Belgrade, saying Ankara planned to build a road between Serbia and Bosnia. Erdogan and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, signed a political declaration to create a cooperation body that would meet annually to coordinate joint projects. Erdogan expressed confidence that Russia would not object to a Turkish plan to transfer natural gas from its TurkStream project to Serbia. "We do not want any division of the Balkans or that someone might see those countries as their sphere of influence. We oppose all those who want that," Erdogan told a business forum. The visit, and Erdogan's thanks to Vucic for his support during a failed coup in 2016, will not go unnoticed in the European Union, where some diplomats are concerned about deepening authoritarianism among some Balkan leaders in the absence of tangible progress towards EU accession. Serbia has to balance its ambition of joining the EU with an affinity felt by many Serbs for fellow Orthodox Russia. It also badly needs investment to grow an economy still in transition from communism and recovering from the demise of Yugoslavia. "(Turkish) relations with the EU are not that great at the moment; the Balkans is the closest they (Turks) can get to Europe," Mahmud Busatlija, a foreign investment consultant in Belgrade, told Reuters of Erdogan's first to Serbia since 2010 when he was prime minister. "This visit is meant to build up political ties between the two countries. Whether that political cooperation will result in investment depends to a great extent on Serbia and what it can offer to Turkish companies." Some 70 Turkish companies do business in Serbia and trade exchanges are expected to reach $1 billion (757.98 million) this year. Erdogan said they should target $5 billion and signed deals with Vucic to expand a free trade agreement to include sunflower oil and beef. Erdogan was due to visit an Ottoman-era fortress in Belgrade later on Tuesday before travelling south on Wednesday to Novi Pazar, centre of the Muslim-majority region of Sandzak that has witnessed large-scale emigration to Turkey since the wars of the 1990s. (Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Matt Robinson and Robin Pomeroy)
UN special envoy Stephen Lewis addresses a community outside St Gabriel hospital, in Lilongwe in 2006. (AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

At least five people have been killed in the African state of Malawi after being accused of being vampires.

Vigilante violence has sprung up in the Phalombe and Mulanje districts in the south of the country after rumours of a vampire in the region alarmed locals.

United Nations officials have even been pulled out of are following the spate of killings.

Rural areas in the country have a widespread belief in witchcraft and lynch mobs have killed five people accused of vampirism since September.

The United Nations have pulled out staff over security concerns (Rex)

The UN Department on Safety and Security (UNDSS) said in a security report: These districts have severely been affected by the ongoing stories of blood sucking and possible existence of vampires.

Acting UN Resident Coordinator, Florence Rolle, added: UNDSS is continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure all affected UN staff are back in the field as soon as possible.

Vigilantes in the area have been setting up road blocks in the wake of the vampire rumours, raising security concerns for the UN staff.

MORE: North Korea claims the CIA tried to assassinate Kim Jong-un this year

MORE: Asteroid will fly past Earth in damn close shave this week, scientists warn

Malawian President Peter Mutharika described the reports as distressing and agonising.

The rumours of vampires originated in neighbouring Mozambique, although it was not made clear how they started.
MATTOON -- Local area people were fired up to demonstrate Sunday against bullying and what they consider an apathetic school administration in the wake of the Mattoon High School shooting.

We are just ready for zero tolerance to be zero tolerance, Tina Lee, a demonstration organizer said.

Lee and Jessye Lawrence, another organizer, were inspired to set up the gathering calling out what they considered a lack of support both in schools and at home to combat bullying, especially after the most recent school shooting.

They both saw it as an issue that is not given enough attention by adults who can make a difference. Lee was particularly disappointed in the school districts responses to the shooting.

(Mattoon school district) put out their response that they couldn't find that any of this (the shooting) was due to bullying, she said. I think it is important for the school district to know that we don't believe them at all."

We know it was due to bullying because it is swept under the rug all of the time, she continued. Half of us here have students or kids that have been bullied in the school district.

As previously reported, some sources have indicated that bullying might have been the motivation for the Sept. 20 shooting in the school's cafeteria.

In a statement made Sept. 29, school administrators and local police leaders cautioned the public about the medias or communitys assumptions or rumors, including bullying, that led to the shooting.

No one in an official capacity who is involved in the investigation has confirmed any motives or specific situations that led to the shooting.

School officials could not be reached because local schools had an extended weekend for Columbus Day.

The group of about 10 demonstrators stood near the entrance to the high school on Marshall Avenue carrying signs calling for bullying to stop.

One of those that showed, Rachel Hill, said she had her son in mind as she stood with the others.

My son, Trenton, has been bullied since the fourth grade and his teacher told him that he would not help him anymore, she said.

Hill said the bullying from students and the apathy from teachers just escalated when he got into middle school.

They would just nag on him about talking about it, she said.

Trenton is now in the Bridges Regional Safe School and Beacons Programs where the first time ever he said school was fun, Rachel noted.

For Rachel, her sons experience was reason enough to demonstrate.

That was a similar case to others at the rally many of whom were parents or relatives of someone who was bullied. The group started waving their signs as cars went by following a prayer by retired minister Joe Techau.
MATTOON (JG-TC) -- The school district is planning to move forward with consolidating the special education programs located in the district.

The school district board is slated to vote on a merger between the Neil Armstrong Special Education Program with the Eastern Illinois Area of Special Education Diagnostic and Developmental Center Program at their meeting tonight.

The merge was addressed at a previous meeting. As previously reported, the Armstrong program based out of Hawthorne School and EIASE based out of Franklin School have served some of the same functions and people in the region, and the school leaders have been considering they consolidate.

This merged program, which would start at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, would be facilitated by EIASE. Because of this, a few other measures on tonights docket tie into transferring employment and facilities over to EIASE for operating use.

The new program would serve the 120 3- to 21-year-old students covered under these programs. With the merger, educators would build upon services in these programs like the community-based activities, as previously reported.

The curriculum would also be expanded to the combined program.

Details on what roles teachers and paraprofessionals will play in the new program were being worked out when the topic was addressed at a previous board meeting.

Tied to the merger, the school board members will also be voting to have operate Franklin School as a pre-school in the next school year.

The board is also scheduled to vote to potentially award the high bid for the 2017-18 building trades house located at 2013 Evergreen Court.
The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education is likely to join a growing chorus of resistance to the state Public Education Departments proposed science standards, which have ignited controversy for excluding references to evolution, rising global temperatures and the age of Earth.

On Tuesday, the APS board policy committee will discuss and vote on a draft letter of protest addressed to PED.

The one-page document lays out four objections to PEDs proposed additions and deletions to the Next Generation Science Standards, a curriculum created by a consortium of 26 states in 2013.

The letter argues:

 The NGSS is based on research and evidence-informed science practices that represent a valid K-12 science education pathway, with flexibility for local implementation practices.

 PEDs proposed changes are in conflict with the principles of inquiry science and with the research and scientific evidence referenced in the NGSS.

 The changes reflect negatively on the strong science community that is embedded in New Mexico culture, such as Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

 New Mexicos science curriculum would be unique to the state, which negates the benefit of leveraging the extensive research and evidence that was the basis for development of the NGSS.

APS board president Dave Peercy, a Sandia National Lab senior scientist, told the Journal the NGSS were created by an august set of people, and there is no reason to change them.

I have been in the science world for a long time, Peercy said. I find it kind of disturbing that Public Education Department would try to modify these standards.

Under the states plan, a reference to Earths 4.6 billion year history was replaced with geologic history in the middle school curriculum.

The proposal also omits a reference to a rise in global temperatures and replaces it with fluctuations in temperature.

APS board member Candy Patterson said she is happy to speak out against PEDs outrageous proposal.

Im really concerned about what New Mexico PED is asking us to do, Patterson said. These changes are drastic.  Why are we making these changes? It sounds like a religious group, a small group of people, is making these changes.

PED spokeswoman Lida Alikhani responded to the APS boards plans with a statement: We are continuing to listen to feedback from all New Mexicans and working collaboratively with those who have a proven track record of putting kids first and improving student outcomes.

School districts across the state, including Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Las Cruces, have already submitted protest letters to PED.

Santa Fe Public Schools board has endorsed a science teach-in at PEDs headquarters on Oct. 13  three days before an Oct. 16 public hearing on the proposed curriculum changes.

The Sierra Club, National Center for Science Education, LANL Foundation, National Association of Biology Teachers, American Federation of Teachers of New Mexico, National Education Association of New Mexico and other groups have also voiced their opposition.

Ellen Loehman, a retired APS science teacher and a member of the New Mexico Science Teachers Association, said the statewide organization wrote a letter to PED in 2013 urging the agency to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards as they were proposed that year.

The standards were developed by a consortium of states and the National Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit comprised of leading science researchers, said Loehman, who taught science for 20 years at Monzano High School and Jefferson Middle School.

We should use this set of standards because they are better than we could possibly develop ourselves, Loehman said in a recent interview. We urged the governor to adopt them.

Using the standards as proposed by the consortium also would allow New Mexico to adopt curriculum materials developed for a growing number of states that have adopted them, she said. At least 17 states have adopted the standards since they were proposed in 2013.

Christopher Ruszkowski, secretary-designate for the Public Education Department, previously told the Journal the proposal gives New Mexico an opportunity to update its science curriculum in a way that reflects the diversity of perspectives in New Mexico.

What we have proposed is a reflection of the diversity of New Mexico, Ruszkowski said. Right now, New Mexico has the ability to control its own destiny.

The Journal has requested copies of all public comments submitted on the science standards, but a PED spokeswoman said the comments will not be available until after the Oct. 16 public hearing.

The Journal submitted a formal request Sept. 27 for the public comments under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. As of Monday, PED had not provided the Journal with access to the comments. Under the law, PED has 15 calendar days to provide the requested records or explain why the request is denied.

Journal Staff Writer Olivier Uyttebrouck contributed to this report.

APS BOARD POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

The APS board policy committee will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the DeLayo Martin Community Room in APS Central Office, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE. For more information, go to www.aps.edu.

PED PUBLIC HEARING

PED will hold a public hearing on the proposed standards at 9 a.m. Oct. 16 at the Jerry Apodaca Education Building, 300 Don Gasper Ave. in Santa Fe.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Dr. David Brenner has a high-ranking position at one of the countrys most prestigious public universities.

He works in San Diego and makes more in one year than the University of New Mexico paid its past president for two.

But Brenner said hes willing to give that up to be UNMs next president, and hes now one of five finalists for the job.

I have never picked a position based on the salary, he said, walking briskly between meetings on the Albuquerque campus Monday. Ive only picked positions if I thought I could do good and I thought I could have fun.

University of California-San Diegos vice chancellor for health sciences, Brenner on Monday became the first of the presidential finalists to conduct a town hall-style forum with the campus community. The second forum, with Anny Morrobel-Sosa, is scheduled for this afternoon. The other three candidates, Chuck Staben, Garnett Stokes and Kenneth Kaushansky, will visit the campus over the next two weeks.

Brenner acknowledged to the approximately 120 people who attended his forum that he was attempting a somewhat unusual leap, but he said he sees parallels between managing UCSDs health sciences system and UNM, citing his experience with large budgets, teaching, capital projects, research, philanthropy and government relations.

I think the skill set for the vice chancellor, the job Ive had for the last 10 years, is very similar to the skill set required to run a great university, he said.

He described a vision for UNMs future that includes making it a leader in modern educational practices and fostering better multidisciplinary collaboration, further bridging the gulf between health sciences and the main campus.

At UCSD, where he is also dean of the medical school, he said he is in regular  sometimes daily  contact with his peers from the business and engineering schools.

He said UNM can leverage its status as a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution to forge partnerships with other universities and that it also could be the world center for Native American research and education.

Brenner fielded questions from faculty, staff, students and others who attended, addressing matters like finances, diversity, university governance and student engagement.

UNM has suffered amid the states budget crisis, losing 8 percent of its state funding in the past two years. The University of California system has also weathered funding cuts, and while some money has returned, Brenner urged UNM not to rely on a full restoration and instead focus on luring more research dollars and boosting philanthropy.

Within UC, enrolling more students  especially higher-paying out-of-state students  has helped fill some of the funding gap, he said.

UNM biology professor Richard Cripps asked Brenner how he has handled cuts when they needed to be made.

The overwhelming philosophy on this is that academics are protected against everything else, Brenner responded. He adding that UCSD did not cut faculty or faculty salaries amid waning state funding because thats the lifeblood of the university.

Asked by Noah Brooks, president of UNMs undergraduate student government, about his experience working with undergraduates, Brenner said he has always had undergraduate students in his own research labs and has taught them through an introduction to biomedical research lecture course he established at UCSD.

Brenner also addressed his efforts at UCSD to hire and promote women and minorities, which involves taking stock after each search to ensure it encompassed a diverse pool  and restarting if it didnt. He said UCSC health sciences had one female dean and one female department chair when he started; it now has five and three, respectively.

The subject of governance, including UNMs seven-member Board of Regents, came up several times Monday, with one student saying that many of his peers view the board and upper administration as a shadowy ominous figure.

Brenner said he has little interaction with the board that governs all the UC schools and was surprised during his research into UNM to find that the relationship between the president and the regents was a recurring theme. UNMs most recent president, Bob Frank, left before his contract ended amid acrimony with the board.

Brenner said he wants to make sure the regents and president are in alignment and communication is regular.

I want the regents to have a sense of ownership, but I want them to understand were here for education; were trying to create the best possible education system we can, he said. I think what I would do differently would be to try to get more student engagement with the regents and more faculty input with the regents.
Nearly all of the balloons competing in the 2017 Americas Challenge Gas Balloon Race eclipsed the distance traveled by last years winning team, Peter Cuneo and Barbara Fricke  including Cuneo and Fricke.

Last year, the team traveled 866 miles, setting down west of Hannibal, Mo., after a flight of 54 hours and 39 minutes.

All of the teams this year generally were headed in a northeasterly direction, with many on course to cross the Great Lakes and continue into Canada. All but one had exceeded 1,000 miles by Monday evening.

Winners of the Americas Challenge are determined solely by the distance traveled. The distance record of 1,998 miles was set in 2000 by David and Alan Leven of the United States, said race spokeswoman Kim Vesely.

There are no cash prizes associated with the Americas Challenge Gas Balloon Race; the top three teams from the United States, however, qualify to participate in the Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett, the worlds premier gas balloon distance race. It will be held next year in Switzerland, Vesely said.

Balloons in the Americas Challenge race contain about 37,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas, about half the volume of a small hot air balloon. They can fly up to 18,000 feet in altitude, according to race rules. Pilots adjust for altitude by releasing ballast  sand from sandbags or water from containers  in order to ascend; they descend by venting gas from the balloon.

The teams sit in open baskets, which do not have to be made from wicker but generally are. They carry enough food and water for the race duration, as well as protective clothing, a camping toilet, a night vision scope, a range finder to determine altitude in the dark, lights, a satellite phone and an emergency locator beacon.

As of 7 p.m. Monday, according to the official Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta tracking map, the Swiss team of Nicolas Tieche and Laurent Sciboz in the balloon Fribourg-Freiburg Challenge held the lead with a distance of 1,618 miles. They had crossed Lake Superior and were heading for the eastern border of the province of Ontario.

In second place was the American team of Cuneo and Fricke, whose Foxtrot Charlie balloon had traveled 1,441 miles. They had crossed Lake Michigan as well as Lake Huron.

In third place was Krzysztof Zapart of Poland and Andy Cayton of the United States. Their balloon, Misia, flying under the flag of Poland, had traveled 1,276 miles. They were flying over the Hiawatha National Forest in upper Michigan.

In fourth place was the American team of Mark Sullivan and Cheri White, whose Delta Goodie balloon had traveled 1,212 miles and was northwest of Fort Wayne, Ind.

In fifth place, the French team of Benoit Pelard and Benoit Peterle had flown 1,104 miles in their balloon Marie Marvingt and were west of Indianapolis, Ind.

In sixth place was the American team of Phil Bryant and Mike Emich. Their balloon, Air Apparent II, had traveled 1,102 miles when they landed south and west of Bloomington, Ind., about 3:20 p.m. They had been aloft for 44 hours and 8 minutes.

In seventh place German team of Wilhelm and Sebastian Eimers flew their balloon, Russian Record Factory, 1,094 miles when they landed south and west of Wasusau, Wis., after a flight of 47 hours and 3 minutes.

In last place was Bert Padelt and Noah Forden of the United States. They were the first team to drop out. Their balloon, Across the Universe, set down just before 7 a.m., Monday, about 38 miles northwest of Des Moines. They had been aloft for 36 hours and 16 minutes and had gone 821 miles.

We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com.
An Albuquerque City Council committee tapped the brakes on a resolution calling for congressional hearings and a full accounting of an ATF operation that one councilor says disproportionately targeted the homeless, poor and minorities in Southeast Albuquerque.

The resolution also would have called on the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to abstain from conducting similar operations in Albuquerque in the future.

The councils Finance and Government Operations Committee voted 4-1 Monday to defer the resolution for 90 days. Councilor Pat Davis, chairman of the committee and the sponsor of the resolution, was the only committee member to vote against the deferral. Voting for the deferral were Ken Sanchez, Don Harris, Klarissa Pena and Brad Winter.

Several city councilors raised concerns about the resolution.

Im not sure why our congressional delegation cant just do this on its own, Sanchez said.

Davis, who is running for New Mexicos 1st Congressional District seat in 2018, countered that members of the community have been trying to get answers from the federal government for some time. Davis, citing reporting by New Mexico In Depth and court records, said that while the 2015 operation was supposed to have targeted the worst of the worst offenders, it actually appears that most of the 103 people arrested were low-hanging fruit, many of whom had substance abuse problems and were enticed to break the law by informers. Harris, who made the motion for the 90-day deferral, suggested that the city write a letter to U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., seeking answers.

Earlier in the day, several people expressed support for Davis resolution.

Were very concerned about how the operation was conducted, said Harold Bailey, president of the Albuquerque branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  We support your bill.

Denise Sullivan said her daughter, Jennifer Padilla, a heroin addict, had a job, was undergoing treatment and was clean when one of the federal informers zeroed in on her, gained her trust and got her back into drugs. Sullivan said that informer also persuaded Padilla to make two calls for him to a drug supplier. She was arrested and charged. Sullivan said she knows her daughter isnt completely innocent, but she questioned the tactics used.

The U.S. Attorneys Office and ATF were also invited to take part in the information-gathering session, but they declined.

In a letter to the city, acting U.S. Attorney James D. Tierney said Department of Justice policy generally prohibits its agencies from commenting on pending matters.

Although 79 defendants have entered guilty pleas and 44 of these defendants have been sentenced, 21 defendants are still pending trial, Tierney said. The U.S. Attorneys Office will not be in a position to discuss the investigation in a public forum until all of these prosecutions have been resolved.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court has turned away a free-speech appeal from a former school lunch server in Minnesota who was charged with sexting a 15-year-old student.

The justices did not comment Tuesday in allowing the criminal case against Krista Muccio to proceed.

Muccio was charged with sending words and photos of a sexual nature to the student. The teens father found them on his sons Instagram account.

A Minnesota appeals court had struck down a state law aimed at adults who use social media to lure children into sexual encounters. The states Supreme Court overruled the lower court.
The New Mexico State Investment Council has hooked a big fish in the venture industry with a $15 million commitment to Silicon Valley-based Crosslink Capitals latest venture fund.

Crosslink is an industry veteran with about $2 billion in assets and investments in more than 100 companies over nearly 30 years. By committing $15 million to a new $300 million fund that Crosslink is now raising, the SICs private equity program has reeled a venture shark into New Mexicos startup ecosystem, said SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann.

Under the SIC program, Crosslink must agree to invest in local companies, or encourage others to invest, at least as much as SICs commitment to the fund.

Crosslink has a reputation nationally as a leading venture capitalist, Wollmann said. Were excited that theyll be in New Mexico looking at deals in companies here.

Crosslink will likely generate a lot more than $15 million for local startups, given its history of follow-on investments in companies it targets, plus its ability to attract co-investments in companies from other venture firms, said Brian Birk, managing partner at Sun Mountain Capital in Santa Fe, which advises the SIC on private equity commitments.

In fact, Crosslink is already a player in the local startup scene. Its one of the original investors in Descartes Labs Inc. in Santa Fe, which closed on a $30 million round of funding in August to continue building and marketing advanced image-recognition software for satellite imagery analysis. Crosslink committed $3 million to Descartes last year and then joined this summers follow-on investment.

Their model is to first focus on a high number of seed and early-stage investments in companies, Birk said. They have a bigger fund that they then tap into to pump $10, $15 or $20 million more into startups that are successful.

Crosslink also has a huge national network of experienced entrepreneurs and investors it calls the Alpha Club. They help Crosslink explore investment opportunities nationwide and provide veteran business leaders to run startups, Birk said.

Descartes founder and CEO Mark Johnson is an Alpha Club member.

SICs $15 million commitment to Crosslink is substantially more than the $10 million-and-below commitments made to other venture funds in recent years through the private equity program, Wollmann said.

We approved a sizable commitment given Crosslinks long track record and history of successful investments, Wollmann said.

Crosslinks is already actively seeking more deals here. It met this month with University of New Mexico and Air Force Research Laboratory leaders at the new Innovate ABQ Lobo Rainforest building Downtown to learn about Albuquerques emerging innovation district and potential investment opportunities.

Theyre a great addition to our ecosystem, said UNM Chief Economic Development Officer Lisa Kuuttila. They bring a lot of expertise and experience in commercializing new technology.
SANTA FE  A coalition of left-leaning advocacy groups has launched an advertising campaign targeting U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican candidate for governor.

The Step Up Steve campaign slams Pearce for supporting a reduction in the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and urges him to step up to protect public lands.

Pearce contends the monument is larger than it needs to be, stifling economic opportunities in southern New Mexico. Supporters of the monument say its status provides important protections for public land, drawing visitors and boosting the economy.

As part of the new campaign, the OLE Education Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group, paid for ads calling on Pearce to keep our public lands in public hands.

Now theres a counterattack by Republican state Rep. Candy Ezzell, a rancher from Roswell.

In a news release, she asked the state attorney general and state auditor to investigate whether the OLE Education Fund has committed a serious violation of its nonprofit status.

The organized effort by left-wing attack groups is a concerted effort to tip the scales of the governors race for Democrats, Ezzell said.

Nonprofits generally arent allowed to endorse or oppose candidates in elections, but theyre free to educate the public about officials voting records.

Matthew Henderson, executive director of the OLE Education Fund, said the Internal Revenue Service has made it clear that nonprofit groups like his can take positions on public policy issues.

We wont be intimidated by Rep. Ezzells bogus attack, Henderson said.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has issued new rules aimed at shedding light on nonprofit money spent to influence elections. But the rules dont come into play unless the spending comes close to a primary or general election, among other requirements.

A spokesman for Attorney General Hector Balderas, a Democrat, said his office had received Ezzells compliant and would review it. A spokeswoman for Democratic State Auditor Tim Keller said the office doesnt have jurisdiction over nonprofit groups.
North Korea is being handled poorly. We spend 60% of our federal taxes on military something that President Trump seems to want to raise. Every country has a right to defend themselves and have weapons. Now we can equally agree that Kim Jong seems to be a "psychopath" but we're not talking about regime change President Trump is talking about wiping a nation off the map. I guess he thinks all North Korean people deserve to pay for their leaders errors. Do we pay for our leaders errors? Sometimes we do and we might again if this situation isn't handled delicately. Trump said make America great again so why not focus on that? What about the 35% business tax and taxing companies we import from that use to manufacture right here in America? That is the real problem; fix that and eventually employment comes back and less people need government assistance especially if we pay them fair wages for back breaking labor that use to start folks out at twelve or so dollars an hour. If we continue policing the world America will only further suffer. We need to gain self sufficiency and handle this economic crisis that a five year old could solve. The President acts like a 5 year old with his war of words and it's getting to be too much and again they fail to do all the things they promised us while campaigning. Leave North Korea be because the more they stir Trump up the more they win and the more we pretend to own the world the more we lose. Let's get back to making America great by making sure every American that wants to work has a job. We want our cake we just expect someone else in another country to bake it.
The Advertising Club (TAC) India is all set for the 2017 edition of the much sought-after EMVIES. There renowned and respected awards have been adjudged by a distinguished jury of around 211 industry leaders from across the country, establishing it as an award with one of the broadest an inclusive jury process. The awards have thus continued to grow in scale and strength, emerging as the gold standard amongst media awards recognizing path breaking brand campaigns and innovations. The awards are to be held on 13th October 2017 @ The St. Regis Mumbai, Mumbai with thought leaders from across the advertising and media fraternity expected to be attending the apex industry event.

Speaking about the changing dynamics of campaigns and the importance of being relevant Punitha Arumugam, 2017 Awards Chairman for EMVIES said One of the most trusted and coveted Awards in the category, the response to EMVIES continues to scale with increased participation and representation from all industry stakeholders. India has been at the forefront to creating some ingenious campaigns that have showcased high effectiveness and fueled behavioral change. EMVIES continues to be committed to lauding and recognizing such pioneering communication stories that his delivered on its business and brand objectives.

Elaborating further on the entries Partha Sinha, 2017 Awards Co-Chairman for EMVIES said The EMVIES 2017 will once again celebrate ground breaking and high impact media campaigns that have successfully contributed towards driving resonance for the brands.

Speaking of the awards in his first year as President of the Advertising Club, Vikram Sakhuja said The Ad Club believes in promoting Excellence in the field of Advertising & Marketing, and the EMVIES are and remain the Gold Standard of Media Excellence. I would like to commend the jury comprising Agencies, Media and Advertisers in selecting the transformational work.
Indias leading eyewear company  Lenskart, today announced notable Bollywood star  Katrina Kaif, as its first ever brand ambassador. Katrina will be the face of Lenskart for the next two years and would also feature in the brands new campaign.

Commenting on the new campaign launch, Peyush Bansal, Founder and CEO, Lenskart.com said Lenskart as a brand is all about fun, fashion, playfulness and friendliness. Katrina, we feel, is all of this too naturally, hence a perfect fit and not a forced fit.He further added: We were looking for someone who naturally fits the Lenskart brand proposition of Addictive Playfulness. Katrina fits this the most. Her song Kala chashma was a phenomenal success and we think she will be really successful with the actual chashma (spectacles) as well.

On becoming the brand ambassador, Katrina Kaif stated:I am delighted to be associated with Lenskart which is one of the most loved eyewear brands in India. Its very important for me to find synergies with my brand associations and I believe Lenskart resonates the same. Lenskart is a brand loved by Indian youth and this is a conscious effort to connect with the fashion savvy Indians.

Stay tuned for the first look of the campaign very soon!
LIA has announced the shortlists for 2017 Pharmaceuticals and Health & Wellness Awards. The winners will be announced on November 1, 2017.

The LIA judging process is unique in that each Juror sees every piece of work entered within the media they are judging. The LIA Jury is comprised of the most talented, recognized and awarded individuals in the industry.

LIAs Global Of The Year Awards and Regional Of The Year Awards are calculated based on what is input into the Company credit fields. Company City must be input when relevant. The fields that are used to calculate the Of The Year Awards include, but are not exclusive to Advertising Agency, Production Company, Design Company, Post-Production Company etc, regardless of Entering Company or category.

In Health & Wellness, McCann Health Delhi has secured three shortlists for its work The Immunity Charm done for the Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan. The categories in which the agency has been shortlisted are: Education and Services; Innovation; and Social Responsibility/ Awareness.

In Pharmaceuticals, McCann Health Delhi and Medulla Communications are the two agencies from India that have shortlisted entries.

McCann Health Delhis The Immunity Charm done for the Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan, once again impressed the judges in Pharma in 4 categories  Art Direction, Devices and Diagnostics, Education and Services, Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines  Unbranded.

Medulla Communications has secured two shortlists for its work Last Laugh done for Palliative Care in the Multi-platform Campaign and Social Responsibility/ Awareness categories.
Blue Earth Diagnostics, a molecular imaging diagnostics company, and Seibersdorf Laboratories, a leading developer and manufacturer of radiopharmaceuticals, today announced that they have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement and a non-exclusive manufacturing agreement for the supply of Blue Earth Diagnostics Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging product Axumin (fluciclovine (18F)) in certain European countries. Under the terms of the agreements, Seibersdorf Laboratories will become the exclusive distributor of Axumin in Austria, and will manufacture for the supply of Axumin to Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Axumin is indicated in Europe for use in PET imaging to detect recurrence of prostate cancer in adult men with a suspected recurrence based on elevated blood prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels after primary curative treatment.*

Axumin is the first and only PET imaging agent approved by the European Commission for use in men with suspected recurrent prostate cancer in all European Union member states as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Following receipt of marketing authorization for Axumin from the European Commission on May 22, 2017, Blue Earth Diagnostics is working to build a network of authorized and approved manufacturing locations across Europe.

Jonathan Allis, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Earth Diagnostics said, Were delighted to announce these agreements, which mark another significant step towards our goal of making Axumin commercially available right across Europe. Detection and localization of recurrent prostate cancer is a significant unmet medical need, and Blue Earth Diagnostics is committed to maximizing access to Axumin for clinicians and their patients. The central European location of Seibersdorf will enable us to serve imaging centres and hospitals in seven additional countries, bringing the potential benefits of Axumin to clinicians and their patients over a greatly increased geographical area. We look forward to working with the team at Seibersdorf.

Dr. Martina Schwaiger, General Manager of Seibersdorf Laboratories said, We are very proud that our team will be a partner in the European network for production and distribution of Axumin, which is a valuable contribution to the healthcare. Our co-operation with Blue Earth is a future-oriented project and we are looking forward with confidence to develop an excellent partnership.

About Blue Earth Diagnostics

Blue Earth Diagnostics is a molecular imaging diagnostics company focused on the development and commercialization of novel PET imaging agents to inform clinical management and guide care for cancer patients in areas of unmet medical need. Formed in 2014, Blue Earth Diagnostics is led by recognized experts in the clinical development and commercialization of innovative nuclear medicine products. The Companys first approved and commercially available product is Axumin (fluciclovine F 18), a novel molecular imaging agent approved in the United States and the European Union for use in PET imaging to detect and localize prostate cancer in men experiencing suspected biochemical recurrence. The Company is backed by Syncona Limited, an investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LON: SYNC). For more information, visit: www.blueearthdiagnostics.com.

About Seibersdorf Laboratories

Seibersdorf Laboratories is specialized in high quality laboratory and analysis work, application-oriented research and development as well as consulting and training. The teams of Seibersdorf Laboratories are service, know-how and technology providers and cover a broad area of scientific expertise: development, production and quality control of radiopharmaceuticals, anti-doping and forensic analysis, radiation protection, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, radio frequency engineering and electromagnetic compatibility. The experts of Seibersdorf Laboratories represent Austria on various international committees. For more information, visit: www.seibersdorf-laboratories.at

*This press release is intended to provide information about Blue Earth Diagnostics business in Europe. Please be aware that the approval status and product label for Axumin varies by country worldwide. Refer to the individual country product label for complete information or contact Blue Earth Diagnostics.

ABBREVIATED PRESCRIBING INFORMATION FOR AXUMIN IN EUROPE

Axumin 1600 MBq/ml solution for injection / Axumin 3200 MBq/ml solution for injection (fluciclovine, 18F)

Indication: For Positron Emission Tomography imaging to detect recurrence of prostate cancer in adult men with a suspected recurrence based on elevated blood prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels after primary curative treatment.

Dose: 370 MBq fluciclovine (18F) by IV injection. Diagnostic use only.

Contraindications: Hypersensitivity to active substance or excipients.

Common Adverse Reactions: Injection site reactions, dysgeusia and parosmia.

Special Warnings and Precautions: Consider radiation exposure risk especially in those with renal impairment. PSA value may affect diagnostic performance.

Patients: Avoid exercise for at least a day before; do not eat or drink for at least 4 hours prior to dosing. Afterwards, drink water and void frequently during first hours to reduce radiation exposure of the bladder. Restrict close contact with infants and pregnant women for 12 hours post dose.

Interpretation of images: Appropriately trained personnel to interpret images visually. Suspicion of cancer is based on fluciclovine (18F) uptake in comparison with tissue background. Image interpretation errors can occur; fluciclovine (18F) uptake may occur with other types of cancer, prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia. False-positive cases have been described. Consider clinical correlation where appropriate.

Contains up to 39 mg sodium per dose. Not indicated for use in women or children.

Consult the SmPC for further information relating to adverse reactions, warnings and precautions.

MA Number: EU/1/17/1186/001-002

MA Holder: Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd, 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE UK.

POM

Date of Preparation: September 2017

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010005157/en/

Blue Earth Diagnostics (Europe)

Dr. Val Jones

Val Jones PR Ltd

Tel: +44 (0) 7917 175 192

v.jones@blueearthdx.com

or

Blue Earth Diagnostics (USA)

Priscilla Harlan

Vice President, Corporate Communications

Tel: +1 781-799-7917

p.harlan@blueearthdx.com

or

Seibersdorf Laboratories

Gerd-Peter Mitterecker

Communications

Tel: +43 50 550 2500

gerd-peter.mitterecker@seibersdorf-laboratories.at
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The global liquid biopsy market should reach $4.5 billion by 2022 from $1.5 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.2%, from 2017 to 2022.





Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03596607





 The global noncancer market is expected to grow from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2.6 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 15.2% for the period 2017-2022.

 The global cancer market is expected to grow from $229.3 million in 2017 to $1.9 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 52.4% for the period 2017-2022.



Chapter 1: Introduction

Study Goals and Objectives

BCC Research's goal for this study is to provide an in-depth update study of the liquid biopsy diagnostics industry, an emerging industry with high market potential. The global market is analyzed by application, biomarker type, analysis platform, analysis purpose and geography. The market sizes are given for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).



Market segments that provide exceptional growth opportunities include cancer therapy guidance and monitoring and organ transplant surveillance.



The report provides a comprehensive discussion of liquid biopsy technologies, clinical applications, industry structure, liquid biopsy funding initiatives, global markets, patent status and companies. The report is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of the industry and markets and aid companies in their strategic planning efforts relating to life science tools and diagnostics.



Reasons for Doing This Study

Traditional biopsy methods are often invasive, uncomfortable and carry risks of side effects. Liquid biopsy addresses these issues because it is noninvasive and carries little, if any, side effect risks.



In the age of genomics and personalized medicine, it is critical for clinicians to have diagnostic tools that can be used on a regular basis to screen, monitor, conduct surveillance, guide treatment or otherwise give valuable genomic information about a disease. Liquid biopsy provides this capability and thus is of high interest to the medical community.



Liquid-biopsy-enabling technologies are coming to the forefront and provide significant market growth momentum to the industry. Downstream analysis technologies like next-generation sequencing and digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are progressing in capabilities, efficiency, and costs. Upstream technologies like microfluidics, cell-free deoxyribo nucleic acid (DNA) capture and isolation, cell capture, and DNA amplification are also making significant progress.



Liquid biopsy is also gaining significant traction with key opinion leaders, medical societies and insurance payors.



As a result, liquid biopsy is penetrating into attractive clinical applications, including average-risk noninvasive prenatal testing and cancer therapy guidance and monitoring.



Based on these trends, liquid biopsy markets are rapidly emerging and the need for industry and market characterization is great.



The outstanding growth potential for liquid biopsy diagnostics makes it particularly timely for preparing this updated report.



Scope of Report

The scope of the report includes liquid biopsy technologies, applications, industry subsegments, biomarker technologies, major funding initiatives, patents and companies. The market sizes for liquid biopsy diagnostics are given for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).



This report reviews liquid biopsy biomarkers and technologies and provides background on why liquid biopsy is increasingly viewed as a replacement for, or a companion to, tissue biopsy. It then discusses several of the significant large-scale research initiatives that are contributing to liquid biopsy development. Market driving forces are also discussed.



The structure of several important industry subsectors is reviewed, as well as major industry acquisitions and strategic alliances from January 2016 through July 2017. Industry subsectors analyzed include next- generation sequencing (NGS) instruments, droplet digital PCR, target enrichment and amplification, single-cell DNA polymerase, prenatal screening, liquid biopsy, direct to consumer, and clinical laboratory.



The market for liquid biopsy diagnostics is analyzed in depth. The market is analyzed by application (cancer, reproductive health, transplant), biomarker type (nucleic acids, cells, extracellular vesicles, proteins), analysis platform (microarray, NGS, PCR, proteomics and other), analysis purpose (screening/early detection, diagnosis, therapy guidance, monitoring) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest of World). Market data cover the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (estimated) and 2022 (forecasted).

More than 165 companies in the liquid biopsy industry are profiled in this report.



BCC Research provides a summary of the main industry acquisitions and strategic alliances from January 2016 through July 2017, including key alliance trends.



Information Sources

BCC Research performed both primary and secondary research for this report. Primary sources included industry companies and leading research institutions and secondary sources included company websites and industry, trade and government publications.



Methodology

Both primary and secondary sources were consulted for this report, and a study of the industry trends was performed. BCC Research examined each of the key enduser market segments that will be commercially important during the forecast period: cancer, transplant medicine and reproductive health.



Based on this analysis, the current and future applications of liquid biopsy products are evaluated in each of the major clinical market segments and historical sales revenues are given for 2015 and 2016, estimated revenues are given for 2017, and forecast revenues are given for 2022.



Geographic Breakdown

In this report, the geographic regions considered for market analysis include, and only include:



North America

 U.S.

 Mexico.

 Canada.



Europe

 Austria.

 Belgium.

 Czech Republic.

 Denmark.

 Estonia.

 France.

 Finland.

 Germany.

 Greece.

 Hungary.

 Iceland.

 Italy.

 Ireland.

 Luxembourg.

 Netherlands.

 Norway.

 Poland.

 Portugal.

 Romania.

 Spain.

 Sweden.

 Switzerland.

 Turkey.

 U.K.



Asia-Pacific

 Australia.

 China.

 Hong Kong.

 India.

 Japan.

 Malaysia.

 New Zealand.

 Philippines.

 Singapore.

 South Korea.



 Taiwan.

 Thailand.



Rest of World

 Argentina.

 Brazil.

 Chile.

 Israel.

 Kuwait.

 Russia.

 Saudi Arabia.

 South Africa.

 United Arab Emirates.



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Application

Cancer

Reproductive Health

Transplant Medicine



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Biomarker Type

Nucleic Acids

Cells

Extracellular Vesicles

Proteins



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Analysis Platform

Microarray

NGS

PCR

Proteomics

Other



Liquid Biopsy Market, by Analysis Purpose

Screening/Early Detection

Diagnosis

Therapy Guidance

Monitoring



Chapter 2: Summary and Highlights

Liquid biopsy is rapidly gaining traction as a supplement or alternative to doing a tissue biopsy for applications in reproductive health, cancer and transplant medicine. The liquid biopsy captures and analyzes biomarkers, mostly cell-free DNA, found in body fluids, most often in blood.



In the noninvasive prenatal testing market, liquid biopsy has achieved significant penetration in the high-risk pregnancy segment and is moving into the low-risk sector.



In cancer, liquid biopsy is gaining significant market traction. Two trends stand ou agnostic labeling strategy for cancer drugs is driving the use of liquid biopsy companion diagnostics. An example of the former trend is the agreement in June 2017 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a liquid biopsy test, PlasmaSelect 64, to advanced cancer patients being treated at its facilities.



An example of the latter trend is the expanded approval in May 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the checkpoint inhibitor drug Keytruda (Merck, pembrolizumab) for advanced cancer patients with microsatellite instability or mismatch repair deficiency. This approval highlighted a new paradigm in cancer care, where the patient is treated based on specific genomic defects rather than on the organ of origin. This will boost the market for molecular diagnostics that can detect these genomic markers and be used to guide treatment decisions associated with these drugs.



The global liquid biopsy market is estimated to be $1.5 billion in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate 24.2% to reach a forecast size of $4.5 billion by the year 2022.



The two main applications for liquid biopsy are cancer and noncancer (reproductive health and organ transplant diagnostics).



The global cancer market is estimated to be $229.3 million in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 52.4% to reach a forecast size of almost $1.9 billion by 2022.



Key growth sectors in the liquid biopsy cancer market include tests for lung cancer, pan-cancer tests that can detect cancer recurrence, and tests that can provide real-time assessment of disease progression or drug response. Liquid biopsy gives physicians a key tool for assessing whether a patient is taking the right drug in light of a wider choice of therapies coming onto the market.



The global noncancer market is estimated at nearly $1.3 billion in 2017 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.2% to reach a forecast size of $2.6 billion by 2022.



Driving this market has been the success of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for high-risk pregnancies.

Test providers are focusing on the low-risk sector as well as on test differentiation as strategies to maintain growth.



A third high-potential market sector for liquid biopsy is for organ transplantation diagnostics. In this market, there is a strong need for noninvasive diagnostics that can detect the early onset of organ rejection so that immunosuppression can be optimized.



Circulating cell-free DNA is fast emerging as the predominant biomarker for liquid biopsy for all market segments. This creates a market opportunity for companies who have or can develop proprietary technologies for improving the workflow for capturing, detecting and analyzing this biomarker type.



The liquid biopsy industry is dynamic and gaining substantial traction in its three main clinical market segments. This report provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of this industry, which is undergoing exceptional growth and promises to transform medical treatment and surveillance strategies.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03596607



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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SOURCE Reportlinker
LANCASTER, Pa., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The PA Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) is proud to partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to bring its photo exhibit, 67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. A free reception will be held Thursday, October 12 at 6:00 p.m.

This one-of-a-kind exhibit features women from each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, along with photos and quotes about how their lives have been impacted by breast cancer. These survivors share their messages and show how breast cancer has not only affected them, but the lives of families and communities statewide. The exhibit also promotes the importance for women to have screenings and early detection.

PBCC President and Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy encourages residents of Lancaster County to attend this empowering exhibit. "Those featured in the photo exhibit demonstrate the courage and bravery needed to fight this disease. They are more than just women; they are mothers, wives, aunts, sisters, daughters and friends," said Halpin-Murphy. "We are excited to bring this powerful message to Lancaster as we honor all of the women and families who are facing breast cancer in Pennsylvania."

Partnering with Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences to host this exhibit in Lancaster was an easy decision. "At PA College, we are committed to our community and what this exhibit stands for," said Dr. Mary Grace Simcox, College President. "By preparing outstanding health care professionals, many of which will remain in Lancaster County to work, we are directly investing in the care received by the numerous lives affected by breast cancer. We are honored to have been chosen to partner with the PBCC and look forward championing this cause and sharing this exhibit with our community."

The opening reception featuring breast cancer survivors, local legislators and representatives from the PA Breast Cancer Coalition and Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences will be held on Thursday, October 12 at 6:00 p.m. with light refreshments provided. The exhibit will be on display Monday, October 9 through Friday, October 20, weekdays 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. To RSVP for the reception, please call 800-377-8828 x3050 or visit pbcc.me/PACollege.

The PA Breast Cancer Coalition is a 501(c)3 organization that represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors and their families in Pennsylvania through educational programming, legislative advocacy and breast cancer research grants. The PBCC is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure nowso our daughters won't have to. For more information, please call 800-377-8828 or visit www.PABreastCancer.org.

Abigail Piskel

Outreach and Communications Coordinator

(717) 769-2307

Abby@PABreastCancer.org

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pennsylvania-college-of-health-sciences-to-host-photo-exhibit-featuring-faces-of-breast-cancer-in-pennsylvania-300533937.html

SOURCE PA Breast Cancer Coalition
Speedcast to Provide O3b MEO Ka-band Services for Land-Based Production Platform in West Africa

Speedcast International Limited (ASX: SDA), the worlds most trusted provider of highly reliable, fully managed, remote communication and IT solutions, today announced that the company has been selected to provide Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) Ka-band managed communications services to a production asset owned and operated by a major U.S.-based operator in Equatorial Guinea on Bioko Island, off the coast of West Africa.

Speedcast will leverage satellite Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) connectivity to deliver communications between the production asset and the customers corporate network. The new MEO Ka-band service will be delivered in partnership with O3b, and will replace the companys existing backup VSAT service, delivering low latency communications and improving operational efficiency. The network will be supported by Speedcasts 24/7 year-round global customer service centers, with local field engineers in the region to provide fast, reliable support at all times. Speedcast is currently supporting this site by providing manpower services for VSAT service and microwave link maintenance as well as IT desktop and LAN support, and will continue to do so for the new contract as well.

Adding a new high-speed Ka-band solution that meets the customers low-latency requirements in Equatorial Guinea demonstrates Speedcasts scale and value proposition to the energy market, said Keith Johnson, EVP of Energy, Speedcast. We are proud that our customers trust our ability to develop innovative solutions using the newest available technologies and partnerships to help provide the network they need, even in remote locations with stringent regulations.

Speedcast holds a leadership position as an end-to-end communications and IT solutions provider for the energy market with more than 30 years experience serving customers both onshore and offshore. Supporting nine of the top 10 global drilling contractors, Speedcast leverages the largest and most robust global network in the mobile satellite industry to design, install, optimize and support solutions for critical applications anywhere in the world. The companys extensive infrastructure promotes flexibility and operational efficiency, allowing customers to scale their networks to current requirements and business needs while also receiving world-class 24/7 support.

For more information about Speedcast, visit www.Speedcast.com.

About Speedcast International Limited

Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) is the worlds most trusted provider of highly-reliable, fully-managed, end-to-end remote communication and IT solutions. The company utilizes an extensive worldwide footprint of local support, infrastructure and coverage to design, integrate, secure and optimize networks tailored to customer needs. With differentiated technology, an intense customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 2,000 customers in over 140 countries via 39 teleports, including offshore rigs and cruise ships, 10,000+ maritime vessels and 4,500+ terrestrial sites. Speedcast supports mission-critical applications in industries such as maritime, oil and gas, enterprise, media, cruise and government. Learn more at www.Speedcast.com.

Social Media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

Speedcast is a trademark and registered trademark of Speedcast International Limited. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective owners.

 2017 Speedcast International Limited. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010006227/en/

Speedcast International Ltd

Toni Lee Rudnicki, +1-832-668-2634

Vice President, Global Marketing

ToniLee.Rudnicki@Speedcast.com
October 7, 2017

A festive ceremony on an Israeli Air Defense Command base drew no special attention. The Sept. 18 ceremony in the Negev desert dedicated a first of its kind in Israels history: a permanent American military base, to be staffed with dozens of uniformed American soldiers, within an Israeli air force base. Its an open secret that the Americans have warehouses for ammunition and strategic equipment in Israel for emergency situations, but until now there were no real military bases. For the first time, the American military will have a physical foothold within Israeli territory.

This is a historic day when we dedicate a base with our most important ally, the United States, here in the Negev, said the commander of Israel's aerial defense at the ceremony, which was attended by American generals as well. Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovich went on, This is the first time a permanent American base is situated within one of our bases, and it proves the strategic commitment of the two militaries and two air defense commands. It is an important moment in the State of Israels air defense against high-trajectory fire that would attack us from far and near. And it adds to the capability that is growing year by year.

This coming February, Israel and the United States will cooperate in the Juniper Cobra exercise, which takes place every two years  a strategic exercise of the two countries' joint air defense capabilities as well as radar systems and the identification and interception of ballistic and high-trajectory threats to Israel.

It all started at the end of the past decade: Sen. Mark Kirk, one of Israels biggest supporters in the US Congress, suggested situating in Israel the sophisticated X Band Radar, a defensive system that gives early warnings of missile strikes. To the surprise of decision-makers in Jerusalem, the US administration's Secretary of Defense Robert Gates quickly authorized the exceptional request and within two months, by September 2008, the huge radar system was built in the Negev. It includes two towers of sophisticated sensors, the tallest of their kind in the world.

The radar is operated by the United States, and the base is considered an American extraterritorial location in Israeli territory. Essentially, Israel receives the intelligence collected by the radar in real time from the Americans, and not from the facility itself. The system was tested in special exercises in Europe in the presence of Israeli staff and senior officials before it was brought to Israel.

The Israeli security establishment very gladly accepted the reinforcement. The Americans did not grant, sell or transfer the system to Israel, but only placed it in its territory. In the first years, the radar was operated by American civilians working for the US military. Now the US military has changed its policy and decided to replace those civilians with regular uniformed soldiers. To that end, the US base was established within the Israeli base.

This is a radar system that consists of the best American technological capabilities, a senior source in the security establishment told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. It allows us to identify threats to the state even from the longest ranges. It allows us to identify rocket salvos precisely and quickly, and it can determine exactly where the ballistic threat would hit before its too late. According to various reports, the radar can identify a threat from a distance of 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) away and offer Israel a relatively long warning period (around eight minutes), enabling effective civilian defense and the use of various means of interception such as Israel's Arrow missile.

This cooperation works with great efficiency, reported a senior Israeli security source in a private conversation with Al-Monitor. The capabilities of this radar are amazing. It opens before us the whole map of the Middle East and identifies all the threats. Its connected and synchronized with additional systems, Israeli and American, and it dramatically enhances our capacity to defend ourselves. The cooperation between the air force, its supervision system and air defense units  and the radar and its American staff  has proven to be perfect.

The placement of the American radar in Israel is perhaps the most interesting testament to the depth of the security relationship between Israel and the United States, to the American commitment to Israels security and to the willingness of Washington to strategically partner with Israel.

We must remember that the Americans could take this radar from here and bring it somewhere else tomorrow morning in a simple operational decision, said a senior Israeli security source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. As far as we know, they havent considered it. Even in the worst days of the relationship between President [Barack] Obama and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, it was clear to all sides that when it comes to the security of Israel there are no conflicts and no rivalries.

The radar is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It is indirectly connected to the Israeli air forces monitoring systems. The US staff transmits any threats detected in real time to the Israeli air force, which is synchronized and connected to the various parts of the Magic Wand system (also nicknamed the "Davids Sling" missile defense system), which is intended to intercept ballistic missiles and high-trajectory threats to Israel. According to estimates, it would take mere seconds between the identification of the threat and the launch of the means of its interception, providing precise forecasting of the missile's point of impact.

Without a doubt, this is an exceptional gesture, a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. With such a radar system at our service, we can sleep a little bit better at night.
October 6, 2017

TRIPOLI, Libya  Libya woke up to the news Sept. 29 of a heinous crime in which four men from the countrys largest tribe had been murdered as they were driving back home from the town of Mizda, south of Tripoli, to Bani Walid in the west of the country. Two of the victims were prominent members of the Social Council of Warfalla Tribes (SCWT): Abdulla Antat, the head of the reconciliation committee that has been leading social reconciliation sessions among different tribes in the war-ravaged country, and Khamis Sabaka, a member of the same committee. The two other victims are Adil Milad, a policeman, and Musa Mansali, a driver.

The four men had just finished their latest successful mission of peacemaking that saw them kick-start another round of reconciliation between the Mashashia and Zintan tribes in Libyas western mountain region. The two tribes have been at odds, resulting in deaths and displacements of large numbers of Mashashia tribe members at the hands of their neighbors, the Zintan, in the aftermath of the civil war of 2011, with the Zintan revolting against the regime of former President Moammar Gadhafi and the Mashashia supporting the regime.

Mashashias local council chairman Taher Daw released a statement Sept. 30, offering the council's condolences to the Warfalla tribe, saying, The murder had a criminal motive and not a political one [as initially thought]. We identified the perpetrator, and we are now working on handing him over to the office of the prosecutor general in Tripoli.

The statement did not name the suspect, who "confessed to his crime and said that he acted alone."

The murder brought condemnation from almost all tribes, both governments, the parliament as well as the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. They all paid tribute to the slain men, calling them peacemakers and demanding that the suspect be brought to justice.

In a Sept. 29 statement, the SCWT condemned the murder and promised to continue its efforts for national reconciliation all over Libya.

Al-Monitor attended the massive funeral of the victims in Bani Walid, southwest of Tripoli, on Sept. 30, in which SCWTs chairman, Muftah Aftas, paid tribute to the victims, promising that "the SCWT will not be deterred by the murder of two of its best men but will continue its efforts for national reconciliation across Libya to end this division of the homeland and bring about stability and peace.

Aftas called for calm and asked his tribe not to seek revenge since the suspect has been apprehended, emphasizing the longstanding tribal bond between us and our brothers, the Mashashia. The two tribes have long been allies, and in the civil war of 2011 they both were supporting the Gadhafi regime.

Since the civil war in 2011, Libya has witnessed a bitter political divide and tribal tensions. It has two quarreling governments: the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, recognized by the United Nations and headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, and the government based in Tobruk, in eastern Libya, that is not recognized by the international community. Without an effective central government and in light of the Islamic States (IS) infiltration, the country is lacking security and organized law enforcement agencies with an ineffective police force that faces hundreds of armed militias who control many parts of the country. This, along with easily available arms, has caused an increase in all kinds of criminal activities.

During a rare Sept. 28 press conference in Tripoli, the spokesman for Libya's prosecutor general spoke about the security situation in the country and warned that different terror groups, including IS and al-Qaeda, are taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the country and will continue to do so unless Libya stabilizes under one strong central government.

Without giving exact figures, the spokesman said, Unusual criminal activities including murder, extortion and kidnapping are on the rise.

The ongoing fighting by forces loyal to Tripolis government against IS in Sabratha, west of Tripoli, is only further proof of what the prosecutor general referred to in regard to the security situation. Forces loyal to the GNA along with loyal militias have been battling IS inside the city since Sept. 19.

In Sabratha, IS fighters are enjoying some support and sympathy from local tribes, particularly those that are linked to human traffickers, as Sabratha has long been the main departure point for migrants making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe. The city has also been a kind of safe house for IS fighters smuggled from Tunisia, less than 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the west. On Feb. 19, 2016, the US Air Force had targeted what it called a training camp for IS fighters, killing 43 people.

Meanwhile, a new round of talks brokered by UN special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame took place in Tunisia Sept. 26, focusing on the amendment of the Libyan Political Agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, on Dec. 17, 2015.

Parties to the talks are the GNA and its Tobruk-based rival aimed at reaching a political compromise to unite the country and establish an effective government with united security forces capable of securing the country.

The statement by the SCWT did not mention the talks directly but instead referred to them as the worthless mediations abroad that will always fail. Instead, the statement called on all Libyan tribes to meet in Bani Walid in November to honor the martyrs who paid with their lives for peace by starting a national reconciliation that will unite the country and its people.
Lincoln's first Costco store will open its doors later this month.

The Washington-based warehouse chain has announced it will open the Lincoln store to members Oct. 28 at 8 a.m.

The 156,000-square-foot store is at 1620 Pine Lake Road, just east of the northeast corner of 14th Street and Pine Lake Road.

We are thrilled to be bringing Costcos low warehouse prices to the residents of Lincoln, manager Clay Bradshaw said in a news release. They have been asking us to open here for a long time, and we already have made an impact on the local job market. We look forward to contributing to the community in many ways.

Costco spent years looking for a site in Lincoln before deciding on the 16th and Pine Lake location last year.

Despite Costco's popularity, the store faced stiff opposition because of its location just blocks from two schools and concerns about traffic. Nonetheless, the City Council approved the plan in January.

The Lincoln Costco will have a bakery, deli, food court, pharmacy, optical center, hearing aid center and a tire center. The store also has a separate gas station with 16 fueling stations.

The Lincoln warehouse is the third location in Nebraska, joining two in the Omaha area.
Essential Products has organized an AMA event on Reddit last week where several employees answered questions regarding its flagship handset, the Essential PH-1. The team discussed matters regarding future features, software updates, and bug fixes. In the AMA, the team stated that the manufacturer is currently testing Android 8.0 Oreo and this test build is currently available as a closed beta for the firms staff. A public beta will likely be available within the next few weeks. The upcoming OS update will bring night mode to the device and there are indications, based on the early Oreo builds, that this software upgrade will fix the recurring problem with Samsung Gear, which commonly detects the Essential PH-1 as rooted even though it is not. Employees of the company have attempted to resolve the issue in the current operating system version, Android Nougat, but they were unable to pinpoint the cause of the issue.

The company also talked about the upcoming features and bug fixes that may appear in future over the air software upgrades. Among the new features is the fingerprint reader gestures, which the company is currently working on and will be released in a later update. Live streaming will also come in an OTA software package this fall, and the feature is already being tested with Facebook and Periscope. The touch issues, including the slow scrolling jitters, will likely be fixed in a future update too, as the company has already received a patch from Qualcomm that should alleviate the issue.

There were also questions regarding the manufacturers 360 camera. It seems that the camera can not work when skins are installed on the handset since these peripherals reflect the 60GHz signal that the camera uses to transmit its video. The staff also mentioned that the company is working to improve the compression in the 360-degree photos produced by the camera after some users complained that the images were heavily compressed. More information on when the white model of the Essential PH-1 will start shipping will be made available early next week, according to the firms employees. The AMA events organized by the staff of Essential Products occurs every two weeks, as a way for the firm to communicate with its customers and fans.
On October 4 Google introduced its latest made by Google phone, the Google Pixel 2. In fact, and in accordance with expectations, Google unveiled two Pixel 2 models, the standard Pixel 2 and a new Pixel 2 XL. Both of which follow-on from last years Pixel and Pixel XL models, although that does not mean they as alike as their predecessors were. If anything, the differences between the Pixel 2 and 2 XL are now far more apparent and in many ways highlights what is good and what is bad about the Pixel line in general.

The Good

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When it comes down to it, the Pixel 2 XL is good. It really is, and really does look like an evolutionary step compared to last years model. One of the most notable design changes with the new Pixel 2 XL is that Google has opted for a bezel-less display. Arguably this is not quite as bezel-less as some devices from other manufacturers, but is still enough and certainly when compared to the rather thick top and bottom potions included with last years model. Adding to that is the inclusion of an 18:9 aspect ratio which has quickly become one of the go-to features for smartphone manufacturers this year and it is good to see Google keeping up with its contemporaries on design  something the company has been criticized on when it comes to the Pixel and Nexus lines in general.

Speaking of which, another good point with the Pixel 2 line is that they now come with some OTT features. Most manufacturers are now looking for ways in which they can distinguish their smartphones from the rest of the pack and up until now, whether it be Pixel or Nexus, Google-affiliated phones have been a little lacking when it comes to additional features and functionality. Yes, you get the latest version of Android and everything that comes with it (although that also rolls out to most other flagships in due course), but in general, Pixel and Nexus phones have been a little too stock when it comes to additional features. That has now changed however as in addition to the already mentioned 18:9 aspect ratio on offer with the 2 XL, both models also feature Active Edge. While this is not exactly a new new feature (HTC U11), it is still one that you wont find on (most) other phones and one that not only adds to the software experience on offer, but also the value associated with the Pixel 2 and 2 XL.

Continuing with the experience, and the original Pixel and Pixel XL phones were all about the camera and while it may be a little early to return a verdict on the cameras on these latest models, the early indications is that the camera experience is second to none. This is something that already seems evident based on the announced DxOMark scoring as the Pixel 2 has seemingly crushed the competition, and by a wide margin. Something which is even more impressive when you consider the Pixel 2 and 2 XL only makes use of one rear camera  compared to the likes of the Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (the nearest rivals on DxOMark) who employ the help of dual rear cameras  offering consumers a dual camera experience without actually providing the dual rear cameras. So it is clear that Google has placed a good deal of focus this year on the software experience and this is without even taking into consideration the likes of Google Lens (debuting on the two Pixel 2s), the advancements of Google Assistant, the various other Pixel-specific launcher tweaks, free full quality photo back ups, and of course, three years worth of OS updates. All selling points in their own right, and all ones which further highlight the user experience.

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Last but not least, another very good thing is that even though there are two models available, beneath the surface they are almost identical. This was the case last year and it is good to see Google continuing that approach this year. As regardless of which model you opt for (and barring the likes of screen size, resolution, and battery capacity), the experience on offer should be very much the same. Meaning the only real decision is which device size is better suited to your needs. Are you more of a 5-inch or a 6-inch person?

The Bad

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One of the good points already noted is that there are two models with one of them adopting a premium stance, however, this is also one of the bad aspects. As while Google is offering consumers a choice of size, they are also by default forcing that choice to be about the quality of the display in general. One of the best aspects of the two new Pixels is that underneath they offer a same experience, however the same cannot be said for the exterior. Not only is the Pixel 2 XL better on paper, but it looks better  and again, by some margin.

While the Pixel 2 XL comes with all the 2017 trending display features, the standard Pixel 2 looks like it uses the exact same shell as the original Pixel smartphone. Yes, the sides of the device now include Active Edge functionality and the back of the device looks the same as the 2 XL, but the front of the device not only looks like the original model, but looks far too dated. This means that those who prefer a smaller phone are forced to compensate by having a dated looking phone. If anything, it could be argued that of the two new devices, if only one of them was going to feature a larger display within a smaller body, then it should have been the smaller phone. As not only are Pixel 2 buyers getting a smaller 5-inch display, but they are having to make use of that display within a body that does not differ in size as much as you might expect. For example, the 6-inch display on the Pixel 2 XL results in a device that is 6.2-inches tall and 3-inches wide. By comparison, the significantly smaller 5-inch display on the Pixel 2 is housed within a body that is 5.7-inches tall and 2.7-inches wide. So the sizes of these two phones are far more similar than the display sizes would lead you to believe. And this is before getting into the benefits of the 18:9 aspect ratio, or the fact that the Pixel 2 XLs display uses a QHD-quality resolution compared to the FHD resolution on offer with the smaller display, but not so smaller body, standard Pixel 2.

So to sum up, while it is not bad that Google is offering two variants of the the new Pixel 2, it is bad that those variants differ more than Google suggested during the Pixel 2 announcement. Yes, underneath they are the same and should offer a similar experience but that is only half of the selling battle. The aesthetics of a smartphone has become a big deal in the last couple of years and phones are now quickly becoming very dated (sometimes in a matter of months) in terms of their looks. Unfortunately for the standard Pixel 2, this one was dated before it even arrived.

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The Ugly

What is ugly is the price and certainly if you want the more appealing Pixel 2 XL model. The original Pixel(s) were not exactly cheap when they were released (for example, the original Pixel launched for exactly the same price the Pixel 2 has), but that is not a good thing. The market has changed a lot over the last couple of years (and exponentially over the past 12 months) and now trying to get someone to pay $650 or $850 (as a minimum) for a new smartphone is a hard sell. Yes, some will be happy to pay that for a new device but when you compare what you can now get for half that price (and even a third of the $850) it starts to put the value of the Pixel 2 phones into perspective. With two models on the go it may have been nicer to see Google more aggressively challenge the mid-range price spectrum as well as the high-end, instead of asking an entry-level high-end price and a premium-level high-end price for the two phones. Something which is even more apparent when you consider Google has once again partnered up with Verizon as the exclusive Pixel carrier. While in real terms this might not mean that much  as you can buy a Pixel 2 and use it on any network  it does matter if you are not looking to shell out the full cost of the smartphone in one go, and without having to go through Verizon. This is quite likely why Google this year started up a trade-in program while also affording buyers the option to finance the new Pixels. Although even with these additional payment measures and subsidies it is still not great to see such exclusivity at the price point, and especially when companies seem to be turning away from exclusives in general.

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While it may be a little too early to say this, another ugly looks likely to be stock. The original Pixel and Pixel XL became notorious for being out of stock last year and while the expectation is that Google has learned from those mistakes, the reality is Google might not have. The two phones have yet to become generally available and signs are already showing up that stock is going to be an issue again this year. At least, with some models. As of right now, the standard Pixel 2 is available to buy in three color options although the Kinda Blue version is already listed as out of stock. More worryingly is the Pixel 2 XL, as this model is only available in two color options and at present the Black and White model is also out of stock. Adding to that, the 64GB version of the Just Black model of the Pixel 2 XL also seems to be continually popping in and out of stock. So in spite of the phone having yet made it to a general sale status (and when keeping in mind that Google is not expected to be selling in the kinda numbers that Apple and Samsung sell in), at present the Pixel 2 XL is only definitely available in Just Black and as a 128GB model  which coincidentally pushes the price up another $100, to $949 before tax  ugly.

Wrap up

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The Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL do have a lot going for them, and arguably are two of the best phones you can currently buy. Well, one of them is for sure. However, as is the case with Google in general, where the Pixel 2 and 2 XL may come undone is in their ability to actually end up in the hands of buyers. It is one thing to try and sell a high priced smartphone in 2017, but it is quite another to try and sell a high priced smartphone in 2017 when there is recurring stock issues. And lets face it, the Pixel phone brand is no longer the debut brand that it was last year  it is now time for Google to start selling in real numbers.
Qualcomm suggested a partial acquisition of NXP Semiconductors to the European Union as part of its latest concessions proposal filed last week, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the companys initiative. The San Diego, California-based tech giant announced its intentions to acquire the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer in late 2016 but has yet to complete the deal as its still lacking the approval from the main competition watchdog on the Old Continent, having previously acquired the consent from the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. The European Commission suspended its deadline for a decision on the matter two times by now, citing a lack of necessary information on both occasions. The Commission is hence still investigating the deal as part of a probe started in June and is waiting for Qualcomm to provide it with more details on the transaction and certain assurances.

The latest proposal from Qualcomm would see the company acquire an incomplete patent portfolio of NXP and pass on the Eindhoven-based firms standard-essential patents. Such a move would likely alleviate some previously raised concerns about Qualcomm possibly raising the licensing fees of NXPs patents or trying to use them as leverage to force competitors into buying its other products, which is something that the tech giant was previously accused of doing in regards to its existing portfolio of standard-essential patents. Several cases on the matter including a high-profile one initiated by Apple are currently being led all over the world, with that state of affairs not helping Qualcomms efforts to acquire NXP as part of the largest deal in the history of the semiconductor industry valued at approximately $38 billion.

The standard-essential patents from NXP would presumably be sold to another suitor before or after Qualcomms acquisition of the rest of the companys assets, as suggested by its supposed proposal. The U.S. conglomerate also vowed to refrain from any proactive legal action in regards to NFC patents held by NXP, sources said. The official proposal filed on Thursday didnt contain any specific details on the matter and is still being reviewed by the Commission. Samsungs rivals and clients will be asked for input on the suggested concessions before the regulator decides how to proceed with the takeover that would allow Qualcomm to become the worlds largest supplier of automotive chips, a market segment thats likely to grow in a rapid manner alongside various self-driving and Internet of Things advancements.
Google has revealed that a number of Russian agents have purchased online ads worth less than $100,000 that were served on a variety of its services including YouTube, Gmail and Search, according to a new report by Reuters. According to the report, which cites an industry source familiar with Googles investigation on the matter, the broader goal of the alleged Russian-backed ads was to influence the outcome of the presidential elections in the United States last year by trying to sway US citizens choice through online propaganda, most of which were meant to spread false information.

It remains unclear, however, whether the Russian operatives responsible for the Google ads were the same people linked to Kremlin who reportedly purchased ads on Facebook with the same objective to interfere in the 2016 US elections result. The social networking giant has been believed to have served Russian-backed ads in the days prior to the US presidential elections last year. Late last month, the US Congress asked Facebook, along with Google and Twitter, to testify on the role of its ad-serving platform during the 2016 presidential elections as part of a wider probe on Kremlins alleged intervention with the US 2016 polls using several digital means. Facebook also recently agreed to submit information about 3,000 ad campaigns allegedly purchased by Russian operatives in late 2016 to US authorities. Earlier this month, the Menlo Park, California-based company responded to general questions about its role in serving Russian-financed ads last year, stating that a single group maliciously took advantage of Facebooks ad targeting service to deliver propaganda content to the US voters. The malicious ads contained supposedly divisive content that touches humanitarian, social, and political issues.

While it is not clear as of this time whether Kremlin has a direct role in the purchase of Google ads by the unidentified Russian agents, it suggests a widespread propaganda effort on the part of Russia as a whole to disseminate fake news online in the lead-up to the US elections in 2016. More details about this incident are likely to follow shortly as officials from the Internet giants are set to answer congressional queries on November 1 during a public hearing.
In a recent Facebook post, an employee of a business process outsourcing (BPO) company who claims to be working on logistics of HMD Global has stated that the manufacturer will launch three Android handsets early next year. The three devices were identified as the Nokia 2, Nokia 7, and the Nokia 9, and the staff member insists that they have received the product codes for the smartphones, though their post has since been deleted.

The design and specifications of the Nokia 2 and Nokia 9 have been detailed in previous leaks and benchmark results which suggest that the Nokia 2 will be powered by the Snapdragon 210 processor which is comprised of four ARM Cortex A7 32-bit cores clocked at up to 1.27 GHz and the Adreno 304 GPU. The SoC is capable of connecting to 4G LTE networks and can attain maximum download speeds of 150Mbps. Previous reports also mention that the device will sport a 4.7-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1,280 by 720 pixels. It is also rumored to include 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal flash storage that could possibly be expanded with a microSD card. The Nokia 2 is expected to cost less than the Nokia 3 and its availability will likely be limited to developing countries.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 9 is rumored to be another high-end smartphone offering from HMD Global. This device will likely sport the Snapdragon 835 chipset from Qualcomm which contains an octa-core Kryo 280 processor and the Adreno 540 GPU. The handset is expected to feature 6GB of RAM, although another variant containing 8GB of RAM is also said to be in the works. Other rumored specifications include two rear cameras equipped with Zeiss optics and an IP68 water and dust resistance rating. However, what could possibly be a key differentiating feature of the Nokia 9 is its curved display similar to the edge screens present on recent Samsung flagships. Unlike the other two smartphones, there is little information available about the Nokia 7. However, previous statements made by a Nokia executive indicated that the Nokia 7 will be announced around the same time as the Nokia 2 and Nokia 8, though the firm has already launched the latter device.
Microsofts Cortana virtual assistant is widening its reach and is now ready to improve conversations on Skype, arriving with the latest app update for Android and iOS. With support for Cortana, the new Skype app now aims to make things easier and more convenient for users by offering a number of benefits, including in-chat assistance. The assistant can offer directions, answer questions, set up reminders, and perform other such tasks, without requiring users to leave the conversation. For instance, if the chat is about going out for dinner at some restaurant, Cortana could pull up relevant results based on the conversation like the address of the restaurant in question or reviews of the place, or offer to set up a dinner reminder.

The concept is not new since the Google Assistant has already been offering similar functionality on Android. With Cortana baked into Skype, Microsoft is basically offering similar in-chat assistance as Google does in the Google Allo messaging app, but its nonetheless something new for Skype. Cortana will be able to detect when it might be of use based on the contents of a Skype conversation and will offer contextual options next to the blue ring above the chat box. Cortanas full set of features, including setting calendar events, creating a reminder, bringing up web results, and more, could significantly improve the appeal of the Skype app for iOS and Android.

In addition to the in-chat assistance, Cortana will also be available as a contact in the address book, ready for one-on-one chats, which is again similar to how the Google Assistant is integrated into Allo. For instance, users could chat up Cortana on Skype to learn about the weather forecast, stocks, flights, or other such details. By baking Cortana into the Skype app, Microsoft aims to boost productivity and make things easier for end users. Cortana has already started rolling out to Skype on Android and iOS, but the rollout is gradual and only encompasses the United States for now. Microsoft has yet to mention when it plans to roll out the functionality to more regions around the world but it will likely expand its availability in the near future.
A group of developers managed to find a method for rooting the Galaxy Note 8 variant powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC without tripping Samsungs Knox protection and have detailed their findings on the boards of XDA Developers. The technique is called SamFAIL, with its name being indicative of some ommissions on the South Korean original equipment manufacturers part in regards to preventing the Galaxy Note 8 from being rooted. While many of Samsungs previous high-end models proved to be relatively difficult to root and the indie dev scene took months to crack them, the Galaxy Note 8 seemingly isnt one of them, at least as far as the SM-N950U model is concerned, and the same should hold true for other variants of the phablet sporting Qualcomms premium silicon.

The technique itself will require you to flash a modified system image containing a custom boot image using Samsungs own ODIN tool. Given how the actual software is getting installed on the device using the companys first-party program, reversing the process is as easy as just flashing a stock image from Samsung and since the method doesnt trip Knox, it also wont void your warranty. On the downside, SafetyNet will still be broken by flashing the image and seeing how obtaining root requires a secure boot image in the first place, you wont be able to get Magisk on the device which prevents you from restoring SafetyNet and using services like Android Pay. Finally, the rooted Galaxy Note 8 will only be able to charge to 80 percent running the modified system image for unknown reasons which are likely related to battery safety. Samsung Pay also wont work following the rooting process due to the two security switches it utilizes, though flashing the stock image back will restore its functionality.

The technique itself also wont unlock your bootloader and is relatively straightforward, albeit time-consuming; refer to the banner below for a step-by-step guide on how to utilize SamFAIL. Following this breakthrough, a more stable rooting method with fewer caveats is to be expected in the near future, though it remains to be seen how long the indie dev scene takes to come up with it.
A 54-year-old prison inmate died early Tuesday at a Lincoln hospital.

Donald Krisor died at 4:17 a.m. at a Bryan hospital, according to a release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

Krisor was serving a 30-year sentence for manslaughter and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony from Douglas County.

He had been an inmate at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. His sentence began in 2016 and his tentative release date was in 2032.

The cause of death is not known, the release said, but Krisor was being treated for complications related to a medical procedure.

As is the case whenever an inmate dies in custody, a grand jury will conduct an investigation.
Teenage drivers are encouraged to register for a nationally acclaimed driver-education program coming to Lincoln this month.

Ford Driving Skills for Life, sponsored locally by the Nebraska Safety Council, is open to drivers ages 16 to 18 who already have a permit or license. It focuses on skills beyond those taught in traditional driver education courses.

In particular, the hands-on training will address areas that are considered critical factors in more than 60 percent of crashes: hazard recognition, vehicle handling, speed and space management. There is also a comprehensive section on distracted and impaired driving.

The half-day course will be at Haymarket Park on Oct. 18, and will visit the Nebraska Safety Center Driving Range in Kearney on Oct. 17 and Werner Park in Papillion on Oct. 19. All events run from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch is provided.

Participants are eligible for a $250 scholarship or $100 Visa gift card.
Attorney-General George Brandis is calling on the legal community to protect the rule of law, amidst the emergence of extremism and the willingness of some states to defy international rules-based order.During a speech on Saturday, Brandis said the professional obligation of lawyers also extends to upholding and defending the legal system itself, and paramount among them is the rule of law, and the values implicit within it.For the attorney-general, this often means standing up to the powerful or defending the vulnerable and the marginalised.He cited several cases around the world, such as the work of South American lawyers fighting corruption in the Car Wash money laundering case in Brazil. It has been described as the largest anti-corruption case in history.Brandis also mentioned the work of South Africas Constitutional Court, which upheld last year a suit brought against President Jacob Zuma alleging the improper expenditure of public funds for his personal benefit.One thing they have in common is the courage of lawyers and investigators in their willingness to confront  and bring down  the powerful and, in doing so, asserting the primacy of the rule of law, Brandis said.This doesnt mean lawyers should confine themselves within a specific philosophical view, he said. Rather, the concept of the rule of law is a neutral set of principles based upon rationality, which include generality, transparency, consistency, and practicability.While he granted that lawyers are in the business of law, Brandis said they should also think of themselves as custodians of the law. This means that the decisions of government officials must always be subject to appropriate legal scrutiny, and that their decisions are contestable not merely from a policy point of view, in the legislatures, but from a legal point of view, in the courts.[T]hose who exercise executive power must always accept that they are subject to, and must always be respectful of, the supremacy of the law, he said.
A 24/7 digital legal service has been launched in South Australia to help its residents receive free legal aid outside business hours.24Legal of the Legal Services Commission of South Australia (LSC SA) gives users access to legal information relating to their quandaries, and covers over 60 legal areas, according to a statement from the commission.Legal problems are often like plumbing problems: if something can go wrong, it will go wrong  and itll probably happen on a weekend, said Legal Services Commission Director Gabrielle Canny.The platform was developed with seed funding from the Law Foundation of SA. During its testing phase, the commission found that the most common enquiries related to family law issues, intervention orders, mortgage repayments, traffic matters, fencing disputes and wills.Canny said more Australians are seeking legal information outside of business hours, and they want digital tools to help them access it. Legal need doesnt stop when law firms close their doors at the end of the working day, she said.The service came as a result of a happy accident in the commissions website. Because of a technical glitch one night, the team couldnt remove the icon for its Legal Chat webchat service that allows people to communicate online with our lawyers during business hours. Even though that webchat service wasnt available in the evening, large numbers of users continued to click the icon in an effort to get tailored information from our lawyers, said Canny.While the service doesnt replace one-on-one legal advice, Canny likened it to a cup of instant coffee. Its not fancy but its very quick, easy and convenient.  It can help a person, at any hour, to swiftly clarify their legal issue and consider their options.
NBAA-BACE opens Tuesday with delegates in a fighting mood as they collectively tackle what President Ed Bolen says is the biggest challenge to ever face business aviation. Hes of course talking about a bill, now treading water in Congress, that would turn the air traffic control system over to an unelected board of directors with membership weighted toward airline representatives. We will be asking the entire general aviation community to rally around each other, around the legends and leaders who have put out the call for us to contact our members of Congress, Bolen said in a podcast interview.

As we reported Monday, a video will be unveiled Tuesday featuring celebrity pilots, including Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, Flight 1549 Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, aerobatics legend Sean Tucker and country artist Dierks Bentley with messages of opposition to ATC privatization. Bolen said they all volunteered to join the cause and the new website created to battle the bill makes it easy for pilots to contact their representatives.


Gulfstreams latest aircraft, the G500 and G600, are performing well in certification flight testing. At a news conference at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas on Monday President Mark Burns said the simultaneous development of two new airframes is an example of the companys maturity after 50 years of business jet manufacturing in Savannah. Its part of our culture of continuous improvement, Burns said. He said performance projections for the aircraft have improved since their introduction a couple of years ago and will continue to be tweaked upward as more testing is done.

The G500 is nearing certification and is planned to achievethe steep approach (6 percent) approval needed to serve London City Centre Airport, which has become a benchmark for business jet development. First deliveries of the 500 are expected by mid 2018. The G600 first flew 10 months ago and there are now five test articles in the air. One of the G600s was flown to Henderson Executive Airport for the NBAA static display.

An earlier story incorrectly reported the delivery schedule and steep approach certification plans for the G500.
Horizon Pilots sent a letter over the weekend to the board of directors of the Alaska Air Group, and members of the media, challenging the companys version of how the pilot shortage came to pass. Horizon Airlines is a regional feeder owned by the Alaska Air Group, and all its flights are marketed and sold by Alaska Airlines. Horizon has been among the regional carriers most visibly affected by a shortage of pilots, cancelling 700 flights per month after giving up some routes to be flown by SkyWest. In a feature by the Seattle Times last month, Horizon CEO Dave Campbell portrays the pilot hiring problems confronted by the company as emblematic of the challenges facing the regional airline industry broadly. The companys pilot union disagrees and sees the problem as a result of poor management. The Delta invasion, the Virgin acquisition  and also the pilot shortage  prove conclusively that Alaska Air Group is strategically adrift and unable to accurately size up the future, much less act on those same conclusions, they say.

The pilots take special objection to the pay cut demanded by the company in 2016 to compete with other regional carriers for work from Alaska Airlines, which they say hit Horizons ability to recruit and retain especially hard. In return for our concessions, Horizon and Alaska Air Group guaranteed to us, by signed agreement, that Horizon would become the exclusive operator for 30+ new regional jets. By late 2016, with the ink on the contract barely dry, Horizon became unable to adequately staff and operate the airline, say the pilots. SkyWest was contracted by Alaska Airlines to fly the new Embraer 175s.

CEO Campbell, for his part, told the Seattle Times and employees that the buck stops with me, promising to solve the problem by keeping pay for Horizon pilots at the top of the industry. Campbell told the Seattle Times that Horizon has 33 E175s on order with options for 30 more. He wants to hire enough pilots to keep all 63 jets flying.
The sun shines above behind a burning building at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa Monday. Photo: Jeff Chiu / AP

Since more than a dozen wildfires started ripping northern California Sunday night, at least 15 people have died, more than 20,000 have evacuated, and at least 2,000 homes have been destroyed, according to the Washington Post. According to CNN, 20,000 acres of land were torched in 12 hours, putting the fires' advancement "at a rate of more than a football field every 3 seconds." President Trump approved Gov. Jerry Brown's request for federal assistance.

Why the blazes are spreading so quickly: Dry conditions, low humidity, and high winds, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The California winter was fairly wet, but vegetation still hasn't bounced back entirely from the drought. Part of the problem is the winds, which have gone up to 50-70mph in the blazes, are causing spot fires ahead of the fire line, per the LA Times.

Up next: VP Mike Pence, in California since Sunday to raise funds for House Republicans, said "the government stands ready to provide any and all assistance to the state of California." Pence said a request is in to Congress provide an additional "$576 million for wildfire suppression expenses."

This will be updated as we learn more:

Residents have been pouring buckets of water over burning embers of ruined homes and gas lines in some areas.

Missing persons, death toll, and injuries

Sonoma County's missing persons hotline has received more than 100 phone calls, according to the county, although the number of people actually missing is uncertain. (Those trying to report a missing person or get more information can call (707) 565-3856.)

The current death toll of 13 will likely rise as more bodies are found, according to Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano.

100 are injured, per Fox News Research.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa evacuated, transporting patients to San Rafael and other local hospitals. At least one evacuation center has been turned into a makeshift hospital, where nurses and doctors have been providing treatment for patients with asthma and trying to get prescription refills for patients. (Those trying to get information on Santa Rosa hospital patients can call 855-599-0033.)

An eye inside the moments the fire hit

An off-duty Sonoma County sheriff's detective, Troy Newton, smelled smoke near his Santa Rosa home and saw a "growing red snake" of fire coming at him, the LA Times reports. Newton alerted his wife, and then ran down the street banging on 40 doors to get people to leave.

Many residents have reported losing nearly everything, per the LA Times, since the fires were spreading so rapidly.

Videos of Santa Rosa:

The blaze:

The destruction:

LA Times' front page:
10 October 2017 10:02 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 121 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on October 10.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 October 2017 10:15 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

The French company Alstom introduced its first passenger locomotive Prima M4 for Azerbaijan Railways CJSC in Belfort, France.

At the plant in Belfort, 10 passenger locomotives Prima M4 (AZ4A) are manufactured in the framework of the contract for delivery of locomotives concluded with Azerbaijan Railways in 2016.

The AZ4A passenger locomotive is based on the Alstom Prima modular platform designed to provide operators with the most suitable solutions for passenger and freight services. It is one of the most versatile, in terms of applications, electric locomotive in the world. Prima AZ4A is able to run at 160km/h in passenger service with longer runs between maintenance and repair, reduced power consumption as well as reduced locomotive maintenance costs and enhanced fleet management efficiency.

"We are very pleased to supply our first multi-functional Prima locomotive to Azerbaijan and to become part of ambitious projects to expand the communication routes between the Black and Caspian Seas and between Russia and Iran, said managing director for the Western and Central Asia cluster in Alstom, Bernard Peille

He went on to say that this technologically tailor-made product is the result of a solid relationship of trust between Alstom's and Azerbaijan Railways project teams.

The delivery of the locomotive will begin within the next few days. It will be delivered to the Belgian port of Antwerp, from where a cargo vessel across the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and Black Seas will be delivered to the Georgian port of Poti, and then by rail in early December will arrive in Baku.

The locomotives will operate under both 25 kV AC, 50 Hz for the East-West corridor and under 3 kV DC for the North-South corridor.

With around 3,000 km of track, the Azerbaijani railway network is an important link between the Black and Caspian Seas and between Russia and Iran.

Today, Azerbaijan participates in such large-scale railway projects as the International North-South Transportation Corridor and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK).

The transport corridor "North-South" is designed to connect Northern Europe with South-East Asia, including the unification of the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. At the first stage, along the corridor, it is planned to transport five million tons of cargo per year, increasing later to more than 10 million tons of cargo.

The BTK railway is constructed on the basis of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey intergovernmental agreement. The main purpose of the project is to improve economic relations between the three countries and gain foreign direct investment by connecting Europe and Asia.

The line is intended to transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage. This capacity will then reach 3 million passengers and 17 million tons of cargo.

The first test train on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) route left Turkey for Georgia on July 2

France and Azerbaijan enjoy excellent bilateral relations and, in addition to political dialogue and economic exchanges, the relationship is highly diverse, notably in the cultural and scientific fields.

While French imports from Azerbaijan consist exclusively of energy products, French exports to Azerbaijan are more diverse with transport equipment posting significant growth.

In terms of investment and big contracts, French firms have a strong position in the oil and oil-related sector, as well as in the banking, telecommunication, transport and tourism sectors.

The trade turnover between the countries amounted to $199.61 million in January-June 2017, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The property tax rate in Lincoln is going down slightly -- about a penny per $100 in valuation -- based on tax rates expected to be approved by the Lancaster County Board on Tuesday.

So if your assessed property value stayed the same on the county's tax rolls, you will be paying less in taxes -- about $16.50 less on a home valued at $165,000.

But most Lincoln homeowners will be paying more next year in property taxes that pay for local services because of increased home values.

The assessed values for most Lincoln homes went up, an average increase of 10.5 percent, as the county assessor tried to keep assessed values for tax purposes similar to the rising market values, a state requirement.

So, for most homeowners, that penny drop in the tax rate wont be enough to offset their increase in assessed value.

In addition, the state property tax credit, intended to take the edge off property taxes, went down slightly for commercial and residential property.

This year, the state split the property tax credit for the first time, giving agricultural land across the state a higher tax credit than residential and commercial property.

For agland, the tax credit rate is $105.56 per $100,000 of taxable valuation. For all other property the tax credit rate is $87.95 per $100,000 of taxable valuation for tax year 2017.

The result will mean higher property taxes for most Lincoln homeowners.

The owner of an average home in 2016 -- valued at $165,000 -- paid $3,212.86 in property taxes this year, after taking into account the state tax credit.

Next year the owner of an average home -- now $182,400 -- will be paying $3,533.37 in taxes, an increase of $320.

The experience of individual property owners will differ, depending on how much their assessed value went up or down.

Several conservative political groups, including the Lincoln Independent Business Association, encouraged local governmental units to reduce their tax rates substantially and avoid taking advantage of what they called the "windfall," the increase in total property values across the city and county.

But none of the governments reduced their tax rate by enough to offset the 8.7 percent average increase in total valuation countywide.

A coalition of agriculture and business leaders unsuccessfully encouraged Southeast Community College to reduce its planed 20.6 percent increase in the tax rate.

All three of the major governments reduced their tax rates: the school district (down .06 percent), the city (down 5.15 percent) and the county (down 3.17 percent).

Lincoln raised its property tax rate in 2016 by about a cent, but the new 2017 tax rate is still slightly less than the 2015 rate.

Local governments that provide services ranging from city streets, parks and police to public schools and flood control rely on the property tax for much of their funding.

The tax rate for major local governments are set by boards of elected officials -- the school board for the Lincoln Public Schools; the City Council and mayor for Lincoln; the county commissioners for Lancaster County.

Rates for some jurisdictions are set by boards made up of elected officials and sometimes private citizens. These include the Public Building Commission, the Railroad Transportation Safety District and the Lancaster County Correctional JPA, which is paying off the bonds for the new jail.
10 October 2017 12:28 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

Since the beginning of its cooperation with Azerbaijan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has financed four loan projects in the country in the amount of $900 million in the sectors of energy, water supply and sewerage.

"Moreover JICA has allocated $64 million for grant projects in the sectors of agriculture, health, energy, irrigation and road administration," the Agency told Trend.

JICA has also accepted more than 600 Azerbaijani government officials for participating in various trainings in Japan.

"JICA believes that development of human resources is the key for Azerbaijan to further support economic and social growth," the Agency said. "In this sense, JICA has dispatched experts for Azerbaijan and accepted trainees to Japan to transfer knowledge that the Japanese government and societies possess."

JICA launched its activity in Azerbaijan in 1993.

Since its foundation in 1974, JICA, being one of the executive agencies of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the Government of Japan, assists in the socio-economic development and development of human resources in order to promote the independent and sustainable development of the developing countries.

Japan was one of the first countries to support Azerbaijan's forward-looking oil strategy. Today two major Japanese companies Itochu and Impex are involved in the Contract of the Century [signed on September 20, 1994 in Baku, a large-scale international contract on the joint development of three oil fields - Azeri, Chirag, Gunashli in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea].

Leaders of Japanese business, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sojits are involved in energy and infrastructure projects in the country.

Cross Border Club organized a business forum on Azerbaijan for local businessmen in early August in Fukuoka, Japan.

General Manager of Cross Border Club Kazuyasu Ishida informed the participants of the forum about Azerbaijans business climate, adding that recently, interest of Japanese businessmen to Azerbaijan has increased.

Next such exhibition is scheduled for October 27-28.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Japan amounted to $49.59 million in January-June of 2017, according to the Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 October 2017 14:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plans to sign a contract by the end of 2017 to buy four Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, AZAL President Jahangir Asgarov said at the 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit in Baku on October 10.

He added that two more Boeing 747-8 F aircraft will be acquired for the Silk Way Airlines company.

Preparatory work for the purchase of these aircraft is currently underway, Asgarov said.

AZAL President informed that at the moment, Azerbaijan has Boeing 747, Boeing 787, Boeing 767, Airbus 340, Airbus 320, Airbus 319 and Embraer 190 aircraft.

I also want to remind that we signed a contract for the purchase of 10 modern Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, Asgarov said, adding that they will be put into operation in 2018.

Other 10 Boeing 747 aircraft, including five Boeing 747-8 F, belong to Silk Way Airlines, he noted.

AZAL President further said that today, Silk Way Airlines operates flights to 60 countries, including 37 regular routes. Over the past year, the airline opened 11 new routes which include Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, as well as Hong Kong-Singapore flights carried out over the Pacific Ocean, he noted.

Asgarov also said that great success was achieved in the country in the field of civil aviation.

In Azerbaijan, there are six international airports  in Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gabala, Lankaran and Zagatala. These airports can receive all types of civil aircraft, he noted.

The 7th Caspian Air Cargo Summit started on October 9 and will last until October 12. About 250 representatives of civil aviation, freight traffic and logistics spheres participate in the event.

Asgarov also declared in his speech at the summit that Azerbaijan Airlines plans to create a free economic zone on the territory of the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku in the near future.

The legislative base necessary for the projects implementation has already been approved and an action plan is being prepared, he noted.

Speaking about the implementation of measures reflected in Azerbaijans strategic road maps, Asgarov said that AZAL has already implemented about 80 percent of activities attributable to the company.

AZAL, a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of CIS countries, is one of the major companies not only in the region but also across the globe.

Total route network of the airline is 40 destinations in 25 countries. In 2016, Azerbaijan Airlines carried over 2 million passengers, and the number of its flights is increasing. Currently, more than 16,000 scheduled international flights, destined for over 38 cities all over the world, depart Azerbaijan annually, while over 1,300 flights destined for local airports are available to passengers.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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10 October 2017 18:40 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

A short feature movie "Voice", co-produced by Azerbaijani and Iranian filmmakers will be presented at the 34th Tehran International Short Film Festival.

This years festival will run from October 17-22 in Tehran, Trend Life reported.

Tehran Short Film Festival is a member of International Short Film Conference (ISFC) enabling different players in the short film world to work together and share their experience.

The jury received 7,444 short movies from 117 countries.

About 1485 movies will compete in the national section of the event.

The short film programme will feature 50 movies, including "Voice".

The winner will get a cash prize 2,000-1,000 AZN.

The movie's director is a graduate of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts Dariusz Najafi Gel (Erturan Najafi), producer-Fariz Akhmedov.

The movie was filmed with the assistance of the Iranian Union of Young Cinematographers and the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. The shootings took place in Iran.

Azerbaijani movie was named the best at the 13th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival held on September 5-11.

"Voice" movie also won a special award at the International Short Film Festival in Baalbek (Lebanon), the first Golden Maple award at Jahorina Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the category "Short Feature Film."

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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10 October 2017 12:50 (UTC+04:00)

In accordance with the annual military cooperation plan signed between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a training course was launched at the base of the Naval Forces in Baku.

A group of British naval sailors arrived in Azerbaijan to participate as an instructor in the "Marine Security Planning Course", organized by the Royal Navy of Great Britain, Azertac reported.

The opening ceremony was attended by acting commander of the Naval Forces of Azerbaijan, Captain 1st rank Zaur Hummatov and British Ambassador in Baku Mrs. Carole Mary Crofts.

--

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10 October 2017 12:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Belarus signed a plan of bilateral cooperation for 2018, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on October 9.

The document was signed following a meeting between Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, who is on a visit to Belarus, and his Belarusian counterpart Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov.

During the meetings, the sides noted the importance of developing bilateral relations, particularly, the cooperation in military, military-technical fields and military education.

Hasanov and Ravkov also exchanged views on a wide range of international and regional security issues, organization of visits of military experts, as well as issues of mutual interest.

Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with Belarus in all fields, particularly in military one. At relevant meetings, the sides highlight huge opportunities for expanding cooperation in military-technical and military education fields.

Earlier in the day, Hasanov met with the Belarusian President, where the parties discussed the prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Belarus in the military-technical sphere.

A day earlier, Zakir Hasanov visited the defense industry enterprise and the firing range of Belarus. The Azerbaijani delegation got acquainted with military equipment and other military products manufactured by Belarusian defense industry, and inquired about armament and military equipment capable to increase the military power of the Azerbaijani Army.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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10 October 2017 13:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The progress of negotiations on the draft agreement on strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU, as well as the development of cooperation have been discussed in Baku on October 9.

The topics were discussed at the meeting of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov with a delegation headed by the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs - Political Director for the European External Action Service (EEAS) Jean-Christophe Belliard.

Mammadyarov said that the new agreement covers political, economic, trade, transport, energy, humanitarian and other spheres, and noted that Azerbaijan has created an important framework for the comprehensive development of relations. The parties also noted the successful continuation of negotiations on the agreement on open skies between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The meeting further discussed the visit to Azerbaijan of the delegation headed by the Chairman of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, including the EUs ambassadors accredited in Brussels, the delegations meeting with the Azerbaijani President and the extensive discussion held at the meeting. It was noted that this visit will make an important contribution to the development of dialogue between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Elmar Mammadyarov further informed Jean-Christophe Belliard about the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He noted that the Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions in order to achieve the soonest settlement of the conflict and change of the unacceptable status quo.

The parties also exchanged views on topical issues of the international agenda and on the upcoming summit of the Eastern Partnership.

In February 2017, the EU and Azerbaijan launched negotiations on a new strategic agreement that will replace the old one - the partnership and cooperation agreement signed in 1996. The new agreement must more take into account the common goals and challenges facing the EU and Azerbaijan today.

Currently, the EU is Azerbaijan's first trading partner representing 51 percent of Azerbaijan's total trade. The EU's exports to Azerbaijan consist primarily of machinery and transport equipment whereas EU imports from Azerbaijan cover mainly oil and gas (98 percent of total imports).

Azerbaijan's trade turnover with the EU amounted to $4.33 billion in January-August 2017, some $3.18 billion out of which accounted for the export to EU countries.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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10 October 2017 11:09 (UTC+04:00)

The construction progress of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was presented by TAPs Country Manager for Greece, Katerina Papalexandri, at the 2nd Thessaloniki Summit held on 5-6 October at the Ioannis Vellidis Congress Centre, according to the official website of TAP.

In the context of "The new energy map in the region" panel, Katerina Papalexandri noted the importance of the project for Greece, the wider area of Southeast Europe, as well as the continent as a whole. She also referred to the steady progress well within schedule and on track of works in all three Northern Greek Prefectures traversed by the pipeline.

About one-and-a-half years after construction began:

441km of pipeline have been cleared and graded  more than 80% of the entire Greek route

404km have been strung and 371km welded

276km of pipeline have been placed in the ground and backfilled (over 50% of TAPs route in Greece), and 180km of land are being reinstated.

Additionally, more than 95% of the line-pipes for the Greek section have been delivered to the ports of Kavala, Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis, while hydrotests are also being conducted  one of the final stages of construction.

TAPs Country Manager for Greece also referred to the critical importance of collaboration between TAP and local communities, not only for the construction of the project, but also for the design and execution of the extensive 32 million Social and Environmental Investments Programme that TAP is voluntarily implementing across the project-affected areas.

In conclusion, Papalexandri cited the benefits that TAP brings to Greece and its legacy to the country, "to the economy, society and culture"; on an energy, strategic and geopolitical level; in technology and infrastructure."

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 878km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

TAPs routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAPs landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

TAP will promote the economic development and job creation along the pipeline route; it will be a major source of foreign direct investment and it is not dependent on grants or subsidies. With first gas sales to Georgia and Turkey targeted for late 2018, first deliveries to Europe will follow in 2020.

TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam S.p.A. (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%).

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10 October 2017 12:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The number of deals for the purchase and sale of housing in Kazakhstan in January-September 2017 amounted to 177,308.

The amount of deals increased by 28.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the press service of the Kazakh National Economy Ministry of Kazakhstan.

September 2017 registered 21,778 deals for the purchase and sale of apartments and compared to the previous month the amount decreased by 10 percent.

The average cost of 1 square meter of new housing in Kazakhstan amounted to 253,717 tenge in September 2017, thus showing an increase of 0.4 percent compared to the previous month. The average resale price of 1 square meter of well-maintained housing in September stood at the level of 187,236 tenge that is 0.4 percent less than in the previous month. The resale price of 1 square meter of ill-equipped housing averaged to 114,345 tenge that is 0.1 percent higher than in August.

Previously, Kazakhstan has experienced a sharp decline of the real estate market due to adverse external conditions. Devaluation of the national currency, along with a decrease in real wages and purchasing power affected the demand side, while slight overinvestment and high exposure to currency risks shocked the supply.

Due to the fall in prices the number of deals for apartment purchase and sale in Kazakhstan has grown by 30 percent this year.

The Kazakh government is committed to resolving current issues on the real estate market with massive programs, which aim to provide affordable housing, including rental, refinancing foreign currency mortgages and stimulating construction of infrastructure for individual housing construction.

Cost of living in Kazakhstan is 4.24 percent higher than in Azerbaijan while rent is 2.43 percent higher than in Azerbaijan.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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10 October 2017 17:12 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbekistan's automakers seek to enter foreign markets.

Presentation of the Uzbek automobile brand Ravon took place at the Uzbek Embassy in Ukraine.

The Uzbek brand Ravon (formerly UZ Daewoo) is already well known in Ukraine. This is the fruit of a joint venture between General Motors and Uzbek state firm UzAvtosanoat - GM Uzbekistan.

Ravon cars are already among the top ten most popular brands in Ukraine and have outstripped not only Russian AvtoVAZ, but also ZAZ, according to AUTO-Consulting.

Over 50,000 Uzbek cars have already been sold in Ukraine while since the beginning of this year more than 1,500 cars have been sold, according to the general director of UkrUzAvto.

Chief of strategic planning of UzAvtosanoat Sardor Tadjiev informed that for today the company has 183 dealer enterprises in 11 foreign countries with 60 of them in Ukraine. Moreover, the company intends to further increase this figure in Ukraine.

Currently, Uzbekistan develops a compact crossover Ravon, which will be equipped with a General Motors engine and is set to become a sales leader, noted Tadjiev. To stimulate the sale of Uzbek cars in Ukraine, UzAvtosanoat is currently working on special leasing and lending programs for Ravon.

At the presentation, Uzbek ambassador to Ukraine Alisher Abdulaliyev also noted that the automobile industry one of the main achievements of Uzbekistan's independence.

GM Uzbekistan, formerly known as UzDaewooAuto, was created in 1996 on a parity basis by Uzbekistan and South Korean Daewoo Motors.

In 2005, Uzbekistan acquired Daewoo's shares in UzDaewooAuto. In 2007, Uzavtoprom (Uzbek Association of Automotive Industry Enterprises) and the U.S.-based General Motors signed an agreement to establish the GM Uzbekistan with an authorized capital of $266.7 million.

General Motors owns 25 percent shares in the GM Uzbekistan plus one share with a possibility of increasing it to 40 percent. At the moment, 75 percent of the shares belong to the UzAvtosanoat.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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10 October 2017 15:52 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev promised that in November the agency will try to exert a greater influence on the cost of gasoline.

By this time more tools for managing prices will appear, Kazinform quoted the minister as saying.

"High prices are not surprising as Russian gasoline is expensive -- 220-225 tenge per liter while it costs 190 tenge per liter in Kazakhstan. Its share [Russian gasoline] will decrease from 40 to 20 percent next month and we will have more leverage to influence prices in November," he said.

He also stressed that the tankers, including in the regions, have been warned that it is unacceptable to hold, and then sell gasoline at more expensive prices.

"Measures will be taken against them. In Astana, only two large chains sell gasoline with a restriction - KazMunayGas and one more private network. We are working with them. In order to fill this difference in more than 100,000 tons, which was formed in October due to the suspension of the activities of the Pavlodar refinery, it is necessary to wait for the completion of the final stage of upgrade of the plant," Bozumbayev said.

During 1.5 years, all the processes were accelerated and this year the modernization at the Pavlodar petrochemical plant is expected to finish, according to the minister.

In Atyrau refinery, the modernization is almost over. In the beginning of the year there will already be 100 percent provision of own high-active types of gasoline. In addition, the production of aviation fuel will begin in Pavlodar and Atyrau refineries," he added.

Currently, modernization work is underway in all three large refineries of Kazakhstan (Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar).

The refining capacity of all the three plants will increase from 13.8 to 16.5 million tons after modernization of the refinery completes. Production of all types of light oil products, gasoline, diesel fuel and aviation kerosene will increase. All plants will produce gasoline for 2.3 million tons more. The production of diesel fuel will increase for 917,000 tons and aviation kerosene for 539,000 tons

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Regent Surgical Health named Bob Ryan COO.

"Since joining Regent, Bob has proven his leadership abilities and has been instrumental in strategically moving our business forward," said CEO Chris Bishop. "This promotion is a well-deserved recognition of his strengths in driving value to both physician partners and hospital partners, while ensuring each and every team member delivers the highest quality care."

Here are five things to know:

1. Mr. Ryan joined Regent in 2016 as vice president of operations for the northeast. He arrived with 25 years-plus of experience working with physician partnerships in multisite healthcare facilities and managing joint venture ASC partnerships.

2. As COO, Mr. Ryan will oversee Regent operations in the U.S. and abroad for the company's 25 partner centers, which includes 18 joint venture centers and multiple ASCs under development. He'll bring clinical and business expertise to his new role, elevating Regent's operating model to serve partnering facilities through changing market conditions.

"The transition to value-based care is evolving rapidly, making a strong ambulatory platform an increasingly powerful strategy for health systems nationwide," said Mr. Ryan. "I look forward to contributing to Regent's continued success in this dynamic industry."

3. While vice president of operations for the northeast, Mr. Ryan oversaw the daily operations for multiple Regent ASCs and collaborated with center administrators to ensure clinical readiness. He also led the company's relationships with partnering health systems, including Christiana Health in Delaware and Catholic Health of Long Island (N.Y.).

4. Prior to joining Regent, Mr. Ryan was senior vice president at TLC Vision.

5. He holds a bachelor of science in pharmacy from Rutgers University, Ernest Mario College of Pharmacy in Piscataway Township, N.J.
Utah's Public Employees Health Plan issued a positive coverage policy for SI joint fusions using SI-Bone's iFuse Implant System.

Here are six things to know:

1. The policy specifies coverage for minimally invasive SI joint fusions using iFuse with prior authorization for current procedure terminology code 27279.

2. Utah's Public Employees Health Plan now considers open SI joint fusions, CPT code 27280, experimental and investigation.

3. Additionally, the policy considers SI joint percutaneous radiofrequency ablations and denervations experimental and investigational.

4. iFuse is a minimally invasive surgical implant system designed to fuse the sacroiliac joint to treat common disorders of the joint that can cause lower back pain.

5. iFuse Implant System has been used in over 28,000 procedures and included in 54 peer reviewed publications. The implant's six-year study was published in Neurosurgery.

6. Utah's Public Employees Health Plan provides coverage for more than 1 million residents in both the private and public sector.
Cigna became the third commercial insurer to join Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance, the accountable care organization affiliated with Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas.

There are approximately 40,000 members covered by the Bloomfield, Conn.-based insurer and cared for by BSWQA physicians. As part of the ACO, Cigna will compensate physicians providing care to its members based on medical and care coordination. It may also reward physicians meeting targets for lowering expenses while improving care.

Launched in 2013, BSWQA comprises 5,000-plus physicians, 48 hospitals, post-acute care facilities and other healthcare stakeholders. Cigna follows Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and UnitedHealthcare in Minnetonka, Minn., who joined the ACO in 2014 and 2015, respectively.



Cigna joined the ACO Aug. 31.



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Tulare (Calif.) Regional Medical Center, which filed for bankruptcy Sept. 30, is taking steps to boot its management company, Tulare-based HealthCare Conglomerate Associates, according to the Valley Voice.

The Tulare Local Healthcare District, which operates the 112-bed hospital, held an emergency board meeting Monday to initiate the process of severing ties with HCCA. The board unanimously voted to reject the district's contracts with HCCA.

Kevin Northcraft, the board's president, told the Valley Voice the board authorized lawyers handling the bankruptcy case "to do whatever is necessary to effectuate the rejection of the contracts and ensure the ongoing and continuous operation of the healthcare facilities."

The judge in the bankruptcy case will now decide whether to approve the rejection of the contracts.

The hospital's bankruptcy petition revealed it has zero cash in its bank accounts. The hospital faces "imminent risk of closure," according to bankruptcy documents signed by Mr. Northcraft.

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Bryan Merrick, MD, a physician at McKenzie (Tenn.) Medical Center who has been practicing medicine for more than three decades, says CMS is pulling his Medicare billing privileges due to clerical errors, according to The Jackson Sun.

Dr. Merrick said CMS revoked his Medicare billing privileges for three years in April.

He claims he is being dropped from the Medicare program because he billed Medicare for 10 patients he didn't see. However, he argues the billing mistakes were clerical errors. For example, he said in one case a staff member mixed up two patients with similar names.

"I didn't do anything personally wrong, professionally wrong or unethical," Dr. Merrick told WBBJ.

He said CMS is questioning $670 billed over a 20-month period. The federal government reviewed 30,000 claims submitted by Dr. Merrick and only 30 billings for 10 patients were identified as improper.

Dr. Merrick appealed CMS' decision, but his appeal was denied in August. He plans to take his case before an administrative law judge, but there is not a set timeline for that process, according to The Jackson Sun. He has also enlisted the help of former Tennessee Sen. Roy Herron, who is asking Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to review the case.

Commenting on Dr. Merrick's situation, Mr. Herron said, "This is the worst and most egregious abuse of an individual by government that I have seen in over a quarter-century of dealing with the government."

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Long-term funding is uncertain for teaching health centers aimed at providing primary care physicians in medically underserved areas, according to a California Healthline report.

Here are five things to know.

1. Teaching health centers were created by the ACA and offer community-based primary care training.

2. Currently, there are 57 funded THCs with 722 primary care residents nationwide, according to the American Association of Teaching Health Centers. The THCs are across 27 states and the District of Columbia.

3. Experts argue THCs have produced positive results, as their residents generally stay in medically underserved areas, according to the report.

4. Short-term funding for THCs was secured when President Donald Trump recently signed a temporary extension to fund them through the end of 2017, reports California Healthline.

5. The federal government has not taken action regarding long-term funding. However, U.S. lawmakers are likely to take up a proposed funding measure this week, according to the report. The proposal would extend funding for THCs three more years and up the annual funding cost per student by 65 percent compared to current funding, the report states.

Read the full report here.

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New York City Health + Hospitals plans to sue state officials over $380 million in disproportionate share hospital payments it claims the state is unlawfully withholding, according to The New York Times.

The state typically dispersed the federal DSH funds to NYC Health + Hospitals in the summer or early fall. However, Stanley Brezenoff, the public health system's interim president and CEO, said the state has yet to hand out the funds this year. Mr. Brezenoff said the $380 million is for services provided to about 1.2 million patients.

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told The New York Times the city was still trying to decide which parts of the state government the lawsuit will target.

Adding further stress to New York City's public hospitals, federal cuts to DSH payments kicked in Oct. 1.

The ACA calls for aggregate reductions to DSH payments annually from fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2020. Subsequent legislation delayed the start of the reductions until fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1, and pushed the end date back to fiscal year 2025. DSH payments would be gradually reduced by a total of $43 billion over the eight-year period.

Lawmakers are working on a solution to the funding issue. On Oct. 1, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told The New York Times he is optimistic the cuts will be reversed before the end of 2017.

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After she finished her Air Force career in 2000, Denise Webb, CIO of Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System and CEO of Marshfield Clinic Information Systems, moved to Wisconsin and joined the state's Department of Health Services.

As lead on Wisconsin's eHealth program, Ms. Webb worked with all the state's health systems and providers on EHR adoption and health information exchange development. In this role, she was introduced to MCHS.

"My passion for improving the health and well-being of the people of Wisconsin and the opportunity to work with and support a group of premier healthcare providers who are enriching the lives of the patients they care for every day is what brought me to Marshfield Clinic," Ms. Webb says.

She has been CIO of MCHS since June 2016. The health system encompasses four hospitals, four ambulatory surgery centers, the 700-physician Marshfield Clinic medical group, more than 55 clinic sites, a family health center, Marshfield Clinic Lab, a health plan, a research institute and the Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation.

In August, Ms. Webb was one of 15 appointed to the Health IT Advisory Committee, which was established by the ONC as part of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Ms. Webb recently spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about her hopes for the committee, MCHS's IT goals and the prospect of interoperability.

Editor's Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Question: What do you hope to accomplish while serving on the Health IT Advisory Committee?

Denise Webb: I expect to work with my fellow committee members and advise the ONC head, Don Rucker, MD, on how we can remove barriers impeding nationwide interoperability and create the environment for seamless and frictionless flow of health information for patients and their caregivers. My own personal experiences with electronic HIE as a patient and a caregiver for my family members has not been positive. I have been diligently working on this since 2006. We need our health IT systems to be interoperable, so our health information is available electronically when and where we need it.

Q: Marshfield has quite the history when it comes to health IT innovation. Can you tell me about the Marshfield Clinic's EHR?

DW: Over the last 30 years, the clinic custom developed all of its health IT solutions, including integrating the EHR with the prescription drug monitoring system for opioid prescriptions. The most important benefit of this integration with the PDMP is we are proactively able to address and prevent opioid misuse or overuse and ultimately save lives. Across the system, MCHS has reduced its opioid prescribing by 29 percent since 2012 and by 14 percent from 2015 to 2016.



Q: What is one of your main IT goals for MCHS this year?



DW: We have some major health IT initiatives underway. In July, we acquired Saint Joseph's Hospital [in Marshfield], now called Marshfield Medical Center, and we are building a hospital in Eau Claire (Wis.), which is due to open next summer. One of my main goals is to align these hospital EHRs and convert our revenue cycle management for patient billing. These are substantial projects. We are also in the process of re-platforming our homegrown EHR, CattailsMD. I want to ensure we successfully integrate these systems to support our patients, no matter where they are in the care delivery spectrum.

Q: How have you seen the health IT landscape change over the past five years and how do you imagine it will change over the next five years?

DW: I have seen tremendous growth in digital healthcare and an uptick in EHR adoption and use brought about by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the Medicare and Medicaid meaningful use incentive program. We have not solved the interoperability issues in healthcare, and I think we will see improvements and progress over the next five years or more. The other aspect that is prevalent and will become more so is healthcare consumerism. Consumers are demanding transparency on costs and are beginning to demand electronic access to all their healthcare data. I think we will see more emphasis and traction on technical capabilities and policies to support the consumer-directed exchange of health information.

Q: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to other CIOs about IT or health technology?

DW: It is important to have an effective, integrated digital strategy to support and manage healthcare delivery. Health IT is a tool to assist our providers in delivering safe, effective healthcare to our patients. What is really important at the end of the day as a healthcare CIO is making a positive impact on the lives of the patients and communities your health system or organization serves.

Editor's Note: This article was updated Oct. 18 at 12:13 p.m.

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Michael Cheatham, MD, trauma surgeon and chief surgical quality officer at Orlando (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, is all too familiar with what Las Vegas hospitals are experiencing in the aftermath of the Oct. 1 mass shooting.

On June 12, 2016  the day of the Pulse nightclub tragedy in Orlando  Dr. Cheatham was brought in by the trauma surgeon on call to help. After working as a trauma surgeon for about an hour, he took on his more administrative role as chief surgical quality officer and helped with response efforts. Overall, ORMC treated 44 shooting victims.

Becker's Hospital Review caught up with Dr. Cheatham to discuss how Orlando Regional Medical Center responded to the mass shooting and lessons learned from the experience.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

Question: What was it like in the aftermath of the Pulse shooting?

Dr. Michael Cheatham: It was a very kind of a surreal experience. We had trained for years and years for mass casualty events, but we had not anticipated that the event would occur [so close to] the hospital. So my first experience was trying to drive to the hospital past the Pulse nightclub because we didn't know at the time of the event where the shooting had occurred. So my first obstacle if you will was just to get to the hospital because I normally would drive right by the club to the trauma center.

Q: What types of injuries were involved and how did you approach treating various injuries?

MC: The first thing you do in a mass casualty situation is you triage patients. You determine who needs care immediately to survive. You determine which patients can wait to receive care because they're stable. We had numerous patients with gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, which are the life-threatening injuries, and we had a number of patients who had extremity gunshot wounds, which might not be as life-threatening. So we initially focused on those patients who were at risk of death imminently and provided them with operative care first. Then as our resources increased we started scanning the number of operating rooms we had available, and we were able to bring in orthopedic surgeons and vascular surgeons who are not in the hospital around the clock.

Q: What lessons did you take away from the experience?

MC: I think the biggest take-home lessons from the tragedy really don't have anything to do with providing patient care. We take care of a lot of patients. We're the busiest Level I trauma center in the state. We're used to taking care of gunshot wounds. We don't normally take care of 44 gunshot wounds in a matter of three hours, but the take-home lessons really have to do with nonmedical issues. No. 1 is we really have to practice and prepare. I think the trauma and disaster exercises and drills that we do on a regular basis definitely helped prepare us for how to take care of that large number of victims in a short period of time. I think the second take home point is you have to prepare to handle the large number of family members and friends who are clamoring for information. That is a part of disaster drills that few hospitals practice.

I think the third take-home point is you have to be prepared for your team members to be significantly impacted emotionally and psychologically by this type of event. At one point we thought there was an active shooter inside the hospital. We thought there had been gunshots fired in our emergency department. And that had a tremendous impact on our team members. Nobody comes to work each day at a hospital expecting their life [to] be put at risk.

The fourth take home point is you have to be prepared to interact and work with the media. Our hospital was thrust into the limelight with the local, national [and] international press. So you have to have a plan of how you are going to provide the information the media needs but at the same time preserve patient privacy.

The fifth take home point is you have to establish relationships with local government and law enforcement during your drills and not be introducing yourselves to them at the time of a mass casualty event. You really want to establish those relationships ahead of time. Involve them in hospital drills so as a hospital you understand how they work so in a mass casualty situation you have those relationships in place.

Q: How can Las Vegas hospitals or other hospitals dealing with a mass casualty event use these lessons?

MC: The five lessons learned really are things a vast majority of hospitals don't really consider in their disaster drills. Most disaster drills, mass casualty plans focus on how you're going to provide patient care. And really unless the hospital is absolutely overwhelmed and does not have the resources, you're actually going to do exactly what you do on a daily basis. If you try and use plans and patient care protocols that are solely used in disaster situations, nobody's going to be familiar with them, and you're not going to provide effective care. So it's much better to maintain the standard of care if you possibly can because that's what all of our team members  in the emergency department and the operating room and the lab  [are] familiar with.

Don't try and change your plan in a disaster unless you're absolutely forced to. Most hospitals focus solely on how they're going to provide patient care. They don't consider these other issues and they really ought to be practicing those in drills because in our experience that was what really required our time and effort and had a longstanding impact on the hospital. It wasn't how we cared for patients because the patients were cared for in a matter of hours. But, for example, the emotional and psychological effects on our team members  that has gone on up until present day. And if you talk with other hospitals that have had these events such as [those in] Aurora, Colo., they'll tell you even five years after the event their team members are still suffering emotionally from what they experienced that day.

Q: Any other general thoughts?

MC: With the increasing frequency of these mass casualty events, it's not a question of if a hospital is going to be subjected to some mass casualty event, it's just a question of when. So it's inappropriate for a hospital to adopt a plan they would send victims to another hospital. All hospitals need to be prepared. All hospitals need to practice and drill and maintain an up-to-date disaster plan so they can respond.

Editor's note: ORMC is in the process of writing a book on how each hospital department responded to the Pulse tragedy. The book is expected to be completed next year.
President Donald Trump reached out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Friday to discuss healthcare alternatives.

Here are five things to know about the exchange.

1. President Trump expressed optimism on Twitter about reaching a potential deal. He tweeted Saturday: "I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill. ObamaCare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!"

2. Mr. Schumer said Democrats would be willing to work on improving the healthcare system, but are not willing to compromise on another ACA repeal and replace plan. "The president wanted to make another run at repeal and replace, and I told the president that's off the table," Mr. Schumer said in a statement, according to The New York Times. "If he wants to work together to improve the existing healthcare system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions. A good place to start might be the Alexander-Murray negotiations that would stabilize the system and lower costs," he said, referring to negotiations between Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash.

3. President Trump has worked with Mr. Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to negotiate other deals. For example, in September, President Trump brokered a deal with Mr. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi to raise the debt ceiling, according to The Washington Post.

4. Mr. Schumer has indicated in the past he is willing to work with President Trump on healthcare. In June, he extended an olive branch to work on a bipartisan healthcare plan, according to a report from The Hill. "I repeat the offer I made to President Trump and my Republican friends yesterday: Let's start over. Drop this fundamentally flawed approach ... and we can discuss the problems that our Americans are actually concerned about: the cost, the quality and availability on healthcare," Mr. Schumer said, according to The Hill.

5. However, President Trump's attempt to negotiate comes amid the administration's move to dismantle parts of the ACA, which could jeopardize a potential compromise. On Friday, the Trump administration ended the ACA's birth control mandate, allowing employers to opt out of covering contraception based on religious belief or moral conviction. This move was unpopular among Democrats. Mr. Schumer tweeted the rules were "the latest in a series of moves the Trump Admin has made to sabotage our healthcare system."

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At least 160 medical personnel from New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System are among the first U.S. healthcare professionals to take part in an "audio-based artwork" to understand what it feels like to have a brain injury and be immobilized in a hospital's intensive care unit for weeks at a time, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The project, titled "Reassembled, Slightly Askew," was created by playwright and producer Shannon Yee. Ms. Yee told The Wall Street Journal the artwork is based on her experience of getting a sinus infection that caused a subdural empyema, or infection of the skull, when she was 30 years old. The illness caused her to go into a coma and temporary paralysis, and required extensive rehabilitation.

The project reportedly took five years to research and produce and has been on tour in the U.K., Ireland and Canada since 2015.

WSJ reporter Sumathi Reddy joined seven Mount Sinai staff to take part in the audio project last week at New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital. For 48 minutes, the eight individuals experienced the sounds and sensations Ms. Yee heard and felt during the first 18 months of her injury while she was unconscious and as she underwent rehabilitation, including "the voices of doctors and nurses and her partner  the sounds of [Ms. Yee] getting washed by a nurse removing staples from her head ... [being] incessantly picked and prodded with needles and learning to walk again," the report states.

Some participants during the session attended by Ms. Reddy were surprised by how much information Ms. Yee absorbed while she was unconscious.

"Even though we have such good medicines and such good therapies to keep [patients] completely asleep, there's a lot happening  We're taught that and know that but to experience that is completely different," Steven Yung, MD, a pediatric critical care physician at Mount Sinai Hospital told The Wall Street Journal. "I think we [also] really need to work on what is constructive sound, what is therapeutic sound and what is not."

Mount Sinai was the first U.S. health system to participate in the project. Ms. Yee said she hopes to bring the production to other U.S. hospitals as well.

To read the full report, click here.
While 9 in 10 patients believe the patient-physician relationship is the most essential component of high-quality healthcare, just 1 in 10 patients feel they get enough face time with their physicians, according to a survey commissioned by The Physicians Foundation.

The survey, conducted by Regina Corso Consulting, polled nearly 1,750 American adults ages 27 to 75 in June 2017. Participants had at least two visits with the same physician in the past year.

The survey indicated patients are overall extremely satisfied with their primary care physicians (95 percent), but the majority (65 percent) said time is always or often short during visits. Just over half of patients (53 percent) believed physicians were at capacity in terms of workload.

The results also indicated patients want their physicians to take a greater role in their care and in healthcare reform in general. Most patients (87 percent) said they felt physicians should have the most influence over their care, but 69 percent said payers actually had the most influence. Meanwhile, 90 percent of patients wanted to see physicians at the forefront of discussions on healthcare quality, cost and access.

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Becker's Hospital Review reported on the following events related to hospital-union relationships  including rallies, strikes and contracts  so far in October.

1. UPHS-Marquette nurses allegedly 'locked out' of hospital after 2-day strike

Following their two-day strike, several dozen Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette (Mich.) nurses were allegedly locked out of the facility, according to Crain's Detroit Business.

2. Berkshire Medical Center nurses rally after strike

Nearly 100 nurses at Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center and their supporters rallied outside BMC's satellite campus in North Adams, Mass., over what they deem as unsafe staffing, according to iBerkshires.

3. University of Rochester service workers ratify labor deal

University of Rochester (N.Y.) service workers represented by two Service Employees International Union groups agreed to a three-year contract.

4. UPHS-Marquette nurses begin 2-day strike

Nurses at Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette (Mich.) began a two-day strike Oct. 5 after the latest negotiations between the hospital and the Michigan Nurses Association proved unsuccessful, according to a WLUC report.

5. Unionized California workers file ballot initiative designed to limit prices at Watsonville Community Hospital

Healthcare workers at Watsonville (Calif.) Community Hospital filed a ballot initiative Tuesday that would limit how much the hospital can charge patients.

6. Nearly 800 MNA-backed nurses begin strike at Berkshire Medical Center

Nearly 800 nurses at Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center began a 24-hour strike Oct. 3.
After ending their two-day strike, several dozen Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette (Mich.) nurses were allegedly locked out of the facility and not allowed to report for work Saturday, according to Crain's Detroit Business.

Stephanie DePetro, RN, a nurse at UPHS-Marquette who participated in the strike, said nurses who were scheduled to report to work at 7 a.m. Oct. 7 were reportedly greeted with a sign informing people to notify security if the door the nurses typically enter through was found open, the report states.

"I never saw a sign like that before. ... Nurses who tried to report for work were turned away," Ms. DePetro told Crain's Detroit Business. "We could see ... hospital officials inside trying to hide from us. We were standing outside and they could see us."

In a statement to Becker's Hospital Review on behalf of UPHS-Marquette, the hospital's parent company Brentwood, Tenn.-based Duke LifePoint Healthcare said: "UPHS-Marquette has been made aware of rumors regarding a 'lock out' at the hospital. This is inaccurate and we would like to clarify with the community. A 'lock out' is a situation that occurs when an employer takes preemptive action to prevent employees from working. This is not happening at UPHS-Marquette."

The statement continued: "As previously shared, [UPHS-Marquette] retained a nationally respected staffing agency to secure highly qualified replacement nurses during the [Michigan Nurses Association's] declared two-day work stoppage. A minimum commitment of five days is required to secure this level of nursing coverage, which therefore means we expect to be fully staffed with replacement nurses Saturday, Sunday and Monday  Oct. 7, 8 and 9. After these dates, our regular nursing staff will be back at work as usual."

The hospital's 400 nurses have been negotiating a contract with the UPHS officials for more than six months, according to the report. Some of the nurses' stipulations include hiring additional nurses and ending mandatory overtime.

Ms. DePetro said the legal counsel for the MNA, which represents the UPHS-Marquette nurses, has reached out to hospital officials to schedule more negotiating sessions, but that the MNA's calls "are not returned," the report states.

In a seperate statement to Becker's, a spokesperson for Duke LifePoint said: "Duke LifePoint is confident the hospital managed the recent work stoppage related to contract negotiations with the Michigan Nurses Association appropriately and with the continuation of quality patient care as its top priority. We know and trust that all parties involved in this process will strive to find the common ground necessary to negotiate a mutually acceptable labor agreement in Marquette."
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is challenging the current administration's decision to end the ACA's birth control mandate.

"Donald Trump wants businesses and corporations to control family planning decisions rather than a woman in consultation with her doctor. These anti-women's health regulations prove once again that the Trump Administration is willing to trample on people's rights," Mr. Becerra said in announcing his challenge. "What group of Americans will they target next? Will they allow businesses to deny you cancer treatment? Will they exclude you from insurance coverage because of a pre-existing health condition? The California Department of Justice will fight to protect every woman's right to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare. We'll see the Trump Administration in court."

Earlier this month, the Trump administration filed two rules in the Federal Register, immediately rolling back the ACA's birth control mandate, allowing employers to opt out of covering contraception as part of preventive health benefits based on religious belief or moral conviction. Mr. Becerra, who filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks an injunction to prevent implementation of the rules.

Read the full complaint here.

Editor's note: Emily Rappleye contributed to this piece.
A federal judge rejected a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice alleging UnitedHealth Group inflated government reimbursement by submitting information that made Medicare Advantage members appear sicker than they were, Reuters reports.

U.S. District Judge John Walter in Los Angeles ruled Thursday the DOJ's lawsuit failed to name corporate officials of the Minnetonka, Minn.-based insurer who signed documents confirming the accuracy of information submitted to the government. Judge Walter also ruled the lawsuit did not allege any individuals knew the information was inaccurate, and the claims were material in a "conclusory" manner. In other words, the lawsuit failed to show the government would not have paid UnitedHealth if federal officials knew about the inaccuracies.



Earlier this year, the DOJ intervened in two whistle-blower lawsuits against UnitedHealth over Medicare Advantage reimbursement under the False Claims Act. The lawsuit Judge Walter rejected Thursday, which the DOJ filed in May, concerned a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in 2009 by James Swoben, a former employee of a California-based managed care plan. Mr. Swoben's lawsuit claimed UnitedHealth purposefully submitted incorrect health status data to Medicare since at least 2005 to inflate payments.



While Judge Walter tossed the DOJ's case, he said the department could amend its claims to address shortcomings cited in his ruling. The DOJ has until Oct. 13 to modify its lawsuit.



UnitedHealth and the DOJ declined Reuters' request for comment.



For the full report, click here.
The former executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the development and commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic, has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to defraud the hospital system out of more than $2.7 million, according to cleveland.com.

Federal prosecutors brought charges in September against the former executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Gary Fingerhut.

Prosecutors alleged Mr. Fingerhut hired a person identified in court documents as "W.R." to serve as a consultant and then chief technology officer at Interactive Visual Health Records, which Cleveland Clinic Innovations formed in 2012 to develop a visual medical charting concept into a marketplace product. Mr. Fingerhut and W.R. were prohibited from receiving financial benefit or having financial interests in the companies Cleveland Clinic did business with, unless expressly approved by the Clinic.

According to the Department of Justice, W.R. worked with others to incorporate a shell company, known as iStarFZE, and used the shell company to submit a bid to Cleveland Clinic to design and develop IVHR's software. W.R. did not disclose his financial interest in iStarFZE to Cleveland Clinic, and he rewarded Mr. Fingerhut financially for not disclosing the fraud scheme. Between August 2012 and November 2014, Mr. Fingerhut accepted about $130,000 in payments from W.R, according to the DOJ.

Through the scheme, W.R. and others defrauded Cleveland Clinic of more than $2.7 million.

Prosecutors charged Mr. Fingerhut, who was fired by CCI in June 2015 following a report from the FBI stating he made financial transactions that violated the health system's policies, with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, and one count of making false statements.

Mr. Fingerhut formalized his plea agreement Tuesday. Under the deal, he pleaded guilty to the charges, and prosecutors will seek a prison sentence of between 41 and 51 months. Prosecutors will also seek a court order requiring Mr. Fingerhut to pay the total amount Cleveland Clinic lost in the scheme, according to cleveland.com.

Mr. Fingerhut is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30.

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Police arrested a man accused of stealing and crashing an ambulance from a Michigan hospital Saturday, The Detroit News reports.

The 21-year-old suspect faces a felony charge for allegedly stealing a MedStar ambulance from a Macomb County hospital parking lot. Authorities claim while emergency medical technicians entered the hospital to drop off a patient, the man left the hospital and drove away in the ambulance.



After police were informed of the stolen vehicle, officers chased the ambulance through Mount Clemens, Mich., before the ambulance crashed into an embankment. Officers then arrested the driver, the report states.

The suspect was not a patient at the hospital. He is being held on bond in the Macomb County Jail with arraignment scheduled for Tuesday.



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KentuckyOne Health transfers ownership of clinic for $0
Oklahoma City-based Integris Health is planning to open Integris Arcadia Trails Center for Addiction Recovery in Edmond, Okla., which will provide treatment for addiction, mental illness and trauma.

Integris is building the facility amid a state need for treatment options.

"There are nearly 600 Oklahomans on a statewide waiting list for residential substance abuse treatment services, on any given day," said Terri White, Oklahoma Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. "These are individuals who have asked for help and have been assessed to need this level of care, but we simply do not have the resources to respond. And, we know, that when appropriate services are not available, other negative consequences occur that further compound the problem and cost more to address. Oklahoma's death rate due to alcohol and drug poisonings has more than tripled over the past 15 years."

Funding for Arcadia will primarily come through a $35 million campaign led by community members, according to Integris. A total of $23.1 million has already been secured for the facility, which is expected to open in early 2019.

Oklahoma City Psychiatrist R. Murali Krishna, MD, who co-founded the James L. Hall Center for Mind Body and Spirit at Integris and is heavily involved with the project, recently spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about planned care at Arcadia and the goals with the facility.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Question: What prompted the idea for the Integris Arcadia Trails Center for Addiction Recovery?

Dr. R. Murali Krishna: Six years ago in August I invited three community leaders to my home. Something that's common to all of us is we have enormous suffering from a family member that has a brain disorder addiction or mental illness or a combination of both that devastated them and their families. Kelly Dyer Fry is editor of The Oklahoman, whose son Eric [began] suffering from severe addiction from a very early age. She has taken him to many centers around the country and no treatment has been successful for him. He's still suffering. Meanwhile, she's exhausted a lot of her resources both emotional and financial. Reggie Whitten is a respected attorney in Oklahoma, and his son Brandon developed addiction to pain drugs while he was in college. [The drugs were] given to him by his colleagues. Then he became addicted to them and then eventually that killed him. Reggie did not think these types of problems happened in good families like ours so he was devastated. He decided to dedicate his life to educating people about addiction. Terri White is Oklahoma's commissioner of mental health [and substance abuse], and she's been very concerned about lack of adequate resources for Oklahomans.

[As for me], my life was a very happy life until nine years of age. I was just a regular good boy growing up in India in a happy family, and my mother was the glue that kept our family happy. She is the one that with minimal education kept us very well-educated, very well-fed and happy. So we were really good until when I was nine, she suddenly became ill  some mysterious illness, we didn't know what it was. Our neighbors thought she was possessed by an evil spirit so they ostracized her. We took her to the doctor, exhausted everything we had financially, emotionally, spiritually, and she made two serious suicide attempts. Until that time, I was wanting to be an engineer, but from that moment onward I decided to become a doctor. I thought by becoming a doctor I would know what my mom had and get her the proper treatment.

So the four of us decided to meet together at my home, and by the end of the day we were determined to do something [to] convert our suffering into healing and hope and create help for the many Oklahomans and others in surrounding states who don't have hope right now. We decided to create a world-class center for addiction recovery that would treat addiction, mental illness and trauma simultaneously. [Eventually], we decided we needed some practical guidance  somebody who can make business sense out of what we're doing. So we invited [Integris President and CEO] Bruce Lawrence to meet. Bruce felt our determination and our knowledge and passion. He said Integris Health would become our partner  and help us get where we want to go.

Q: What will the facility entail?

RK: There will be a treatment wing where patients will receive their evaluations and therapies. Then there will be 20 patient residential suites  20 men and 20 women in separate wings.

Additionally, it will be located on a 44-acre tract of land right next to Integris Health Edmond. These facilities are next to Interstate 35 where [thousands of] cars go by each day. We want to send a strong message that this is a brain disease, that we are treating a medical illness. We want residents to be proud to receive treatment there, not be somewhere they have to travel to incognito.

The facility will [also house an] education center and conference room. We will have community outreach and a tremendous amount of educational activities connecting with our community [and] our providers. [We'll] provide them with the latest available knowledge [by] bringing in national speakers and also helping prevention efforts in our state. So that's going to be a center that's going to have a tremendous impact in a major way on the community for years to come.

Q: What will the facility mean in terms of the opioid epidemic?

RK: Opioid addiction is devastating our nation and the underlying disease is addiction. If you ask most people, they feel that addiction is a moral failure  only weak people take those drugs. But most people don't understand it's a brain disease. What's common to all addictions is loss of control. If you give opioids [or] pain medicine to 100 people, 75 people take the pain medicine and will have the desired effect of numbing the pain for a few days and tend to stop the medicine. But 25 will have a genetic predisposition and will have changes happen in their brain. They start feeling like they are a square peg in a round hole until they get their drug. So they seek the drug. Without the drug they don't feel comfortable, they don't feel normal. So it's a genetically predisposed disease. Then the vicious cycle starts. They need the drug to feel normal, then the drug destroys them gradually.

With the opioid crisis we have right now, we can't solve the whole crisis of the whole nation. But we decided to do something the right way right here in Oklahoma. We are going to treat adult patients and give them a comprehensive evaluation  a complete evaluation physically, from a mental health standpoint, from a trauma standpoint and a very thorough medical examination also. We [will] also give psychological testing and then the treatment. We're expecting the average stay to be 45 to 90 days.

Q: What are the next steps?

RK: We will start the fundraising for the $12 million dollars we would like to raise in the next 12 months. We are in the process of hiring a medical director with specialty training and experience with addiction, medicine and psychiatry. We [are] also [in the process of] hiring a psychologist with an addiction background and experience, and hiring an executive director. We'll [also] be hiring, in the next 12 months, the respective therapists and counselors and other staff we need. By the time we open, we'll have at least 25 staff members.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina subsidiary PGBA, a Columbia, S.C.-based claims processing provider, is eliminating an unspecified number of positions, ABC 15 News reports.

Employees in South Carolina's Florence, Surfside, Camden and Columbia divisions will be affected, Shawn Skillman, senior media relations strategist with BCBS of South Carolina, said. While Mr. Skillman did not provide an exact number of eliminated positions, employees told the publication around 300 employees may be affected.



"In an effort to minimize disruption, PGBA continues to aggressively pursue new business opportunities," BCBS said in a release to ABC 15 News. "Final numbers are not yet available, as some staff is relocating to other positions within its parent company, and some positions are being vacated by attrition and retirement."

The layoffs are part of PGBA's anticipated workforce reduction, which it announced last week after losing a Tricare military contract.



The job cuts are slated to begin in January and continue through the first quarter, the report states.



Becker's Hospital Review reached out to BCBS for comment. This article will be updated should more information become available.



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A parade of entrepreneurs, sharing struggles theyve encountered trying to start their businesses, have become the faces of occupational licensure reform in Nebraska.

The masseuse who chose to locate her practice in Council Bluffs, Iowa, rather than Omaha because Nebraska required hundreds more hours of training before she could get her license. The reflexologist who received a cease-and-desist letter from the state after 12 years of working from home.

The list goes on, as these individuals are among the many who have spoken out against what they feel are excessively onerous hurdles to clear in pursuit of their chosen career. Their testimony, alongside a growing body of research, indicates Nebraska has room to ease such regulations.

Occupational licenses are important in many businesses, and consumers must be protected from potentially fraudulent or dangerous situations. But the regulations governing these licenses must do so in a way that doesnt unduly hinder new people or businesses from entering the field, thereby stifling competition or innovation to protect existing industry.

People with lower incomes, minorities and those who have served time in prison tend to be disproportionately affected by occupational-licensing requirements. The libertarian Institute for Justices national report on the topic found vast differences in the number of jobs requiring licenses and whats needed to obtain a license, varying widely from state to state.

The Nebraska Legislature has recently come out strongly in favor of examining and reducing these burdens. Roughly 200 jobs require occupational licenses, according to the Platte Institute; some of the standards reside in state code, while others are written and governed by industry and trade groups.

This session alone, senators introduced 23 bills that would have at least some effect on licensure reform or reciprocity agreements with other states. Three have already been signed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, while several others remain alive. The Legislature has also approved eight interim studies on licensing reform to be completed by years end, according to The Associated Press.

Such efforts appear to have bipartisan support in Nebraska, too.

The Platte Institute and American Civil Liberties Union are set to soon kick off a joint tour of the state to promote occupational licensure reform. Their partnership illustrates that not all legislation is monolithic and that disparate groups can work together toward a goal that benefits all parties.

Nebraska finds itself in strong position to make meaningful reform to improve the lots of its residents when lawmakers return in January. The political will certainly exists on both sides of the aisle, and reducing the burden for license-seekers  within reason  makes sense for the state.

In this case, less truly is more for Nebraska.
The American College of Radiology, a Reston, Va.-based professional medical society, argued Anthem's new imaging policy for hospital-based MRI and CT scans is "arbitrary and unwise," according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report.

Here are five takeaways.

1. On July 1, Indianapolis-based Anthem ended coverage of hospital-based MRIs and CT scans without prior approval in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin, and expanded the policy to Ohio Sept. 1. Hospitals will need to submit a precertification request for any patient receiving an MRI or CT scan at the facility, and in most cases the imaging service will only be covered at the hospital if Anthem deems the request medically necessary, among other factors.

2. The payer will expand the policy to California, Connecticut, Maine and Virginia March 1, according to the report. The widespread policy change aims to incentivize the use of cheaper alternatives at freestanding facilities.

3. Virginia Health Information, a nonprofit organization providing health information to businesses and consumers, said an MRI of a knee provided at a physician's office cost $597 in 2015. Comparatively, the same scan cost $1,678 at a hospital the same year.

4. While costs for MRIs and CT scans are generally higher in hospital settings, Julian Walker, a spokesperson for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, told Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Decisions about advanced imaging tests that patients need to diagnose and treat an illness or injury should be made with patient interests in mind. Decisions by insurers to restrict where patients are permitted to receive a necessary medical procedure fail to meet that standard."

5. A Bon Secours Richmond (Va.) Health System spokesperson told the publication the system is talking with Anthem to understand possible implications of the policy. The spokesperson added, "Bon Secours firmly believes the selection of the proper setting for imaging services should be a medical decision, rather than a business decision."

To learn more about the policy change, read Anthem's FAQ.



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Medtronic expects supply chain disruptions caused by Hurricane Maria to cost the company up to $250 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, which ends Oct. 27.

Here are four things to know.

1. Medtronic's four business groups all have manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico, which were damaged by the hurricane.

2. Medtronic's Puerto Rico manufacturing sites returned to limited production Oct. 2. The company will gradually increase manufacturing capacity over the next few weeks.

3. The devicemaker is relying on existing inventory levels and increased manufacturing capacity at sites outside of Puerto Rico to supply many of its products.

4. Medtronic said it is too early to determine whether Hurricane Maria will impact the company's fiscal health beyond the second quarter.

"We are extremely focused on restoring our manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico as quickly as possible, as well as prioritizing our available inventory to patient surgeries over large volume orders from customers," said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and CEO. "While we are expecting a temporary impact to our financial results from Hurricane Maria, we are pleased with the early reception of our new product launches, which are contributing to the underlying strength and fundamentals of our business."
As Congress debates what action to take regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, I am deeply concerned about the 800,000 individuals living in fear.

Unless Congress acts within the next few months, those who were protected from deportation under DACA will lose that security. These people have done nothing wrong.

Dreamers were children when moving to the U.S. with their families. All Dreamers had to undergo thorough background checks, pay a fee and meet strict age and residency guidelines. There are 3,000 Dreamers living and working in Nebraska who care deeply about their community, many of whom know the United States as their only home.

We must not endorse dehumanization of our fellow Nebraskans. However, we must advance in protecting them. One proposed bipartisan solution is the BRIDGE Act, S. 128, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The House also has a proposed companion bill, HR 496.

These bills would allow Dreamers to continue contributing to our economy and living their version of the American dream. I strongly urge our elected officials to work for passage of the BRIDGE Act. The clock is ticking.

Jasmine Sheetz, Lincoln
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The parents and sister of a former Brandon resident killed in the Las Vegas shootings say their hearts are broken and they are struggling with how to go on.

But they have also found comfort in the support of others, said a statement from Tara Roes parents, Mark and Brenda Smith, and her sister, Tami Spiropoulos, in which they expressed their heartfelt gratitude.

As in any tragedy, with something as evil as this, some goodness always somehow seems to come through, they said in a statement provided to The Canadian Press. The outpouring of support from great family and friends, but also complete strangers, has helped this to be even bearable.

Photo courtesy Sophia Models International Former Brandon resident Tara Roe was one of four Canadians who died in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.

They also commended the wonderful people of WestJet, who have not once left our side and have treated us like family.

Roe, 34, of Okotoks, Alta., and originally from Brandon, was at a country music festival with her husband, Zach, and another couple for a weekend getaway. They became separated in the commotion after the shooting. It was later determined Roe was among the 58 people who were killed by an unseen gunman.

Three other Canadians lost their lives, and several were wounded.

Roes husband released a statement Friday remarking on the outpouring of love he and his two sons have received both from those near to the family and complete strangers.

I am so incredibly touched by everyones support, which has included everything from financial donations, meals for my family, to the generosity of the Calgary Flames who are bringing my boys to a game and a practice so they can meet the team, said Zach Roe.

You honestly have no idea how much this all means to me, to my boys, and most importantly, what it would have meant to Tara. Our heartbreak is deep, and these incredible expressions of love and support are helping us get through this senseless tragedy.

In a brief obituary in The Brandon Sun on Saturday, the family shared that arrangements for a celebration of life are pending.

Flowers are gratefully declined, but donations in memory of Tara may be made through gofundme.com by searching Zach and the kids. Donations can also be made to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

As of Monday afternoon, more than $156,000 was raised for the family through GoFundMe.

In Taras Brandon neighbourhood of Kirkcaldy Heights, neighbours of her parents gathered for a private vigil outside her childhood home on Oct. 3.

A wreath, flowers and candles were set up outside the front door. A handful of neighbours took to raking leaves from their lawn.

Although Roe had relocated to Alberta, neighbour Loretta Hamilton told The Sun last week the former Brandonite returned home every summer and Christmas.

Taras heart was here, she said.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (1862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As a direct result of two fatal collisions in a matter of days this summer, the province installed speed reader boards as motorists approach the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 16 near Portage la Prairie.

The signs, which display a vehicles speed, resulted in a tremendous reduction in speeding offences, RCMP said in a statement.

At the request of police, Manitoba Infrastructure put radars in both directions on the Trans-Canada, beginning Sept. 1. The signs are meant to encourage motorists to slow down.

(John Woods/Winnipeg Free Press) A memorial is seen at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 16 in late August. The province installed speed reader boards at the highway junction after two deadly collisions earlier in August.

The RCMP was concerned by recent tragic collisions at the intersection west of Portage, where two of Westmans busiest highways meet.

This worry extends to the public. Municipal politicians have asked governments to re-commit to the interchange they promised to build a decade ago.

On Aug. 19, three passengers in a van  a father and two children from a Carberry family  were killed when a semi-trailer hit their vehicle, trying to turn north onto Highway 16. Two other occupants in the van were taken to hospital in critical but stable collision.

Then, on Aug. 27, the driver of a semi-truck on the Trans-Canada ran a red light at the intersection and struck a southbound car.

A 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, in the car, died at the scene. The semi driver faces criminal charges.

It was widely reported a fatal incident on Aug. 26, where a semi hit a pedestrian, occurred at the same intersection, but RCMP confirmed that crash was one kilometre east.

Pleas for infrastructure upgrades were answered in 2007 when an interchange was promised, but those plans, which required federal and provincial money, fell through.

In September, the federal government told The Brandon Sun the project was cancelled at the provinces request in 2012. The provincial NDP, in power at the time, scoffed last month at that characterization. A spokesperson for the party told the newspaper the project was likely deferred when hundreds of millions were spent fixing infrastructure after the 2011 flood.

The current Progressive Conservative government has not promised an interchange. It has pledged to keep monitoring all roadways and intersections to identify those that may require enhanced safety measures, said a statement attributed to Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler in August.

The placement of speed reader boards is short-term, as a province spokesperson wrote they lose effectiveness after time, so they will be relocated in the next while.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre was unable to discuss the time frame of the radars, framing it as a Manitoba Infrastructure decision.

However the RCMP is fully on board with any initiatives that directly result in the reduction in speeds at this location, which ultimately reduces the amount of collisions and saves lives.

In addition to installing speed reader boards, RCMP has increased the number of patrols in the area.

In a Sept. 6 tweet, the RCMP indicated they wrote 199 tickets after 70 hours enforcing speeds at the corner.

The controlled intersection has traffic lights and a warning on three of the four approaches of lights ahead.

Signage tells drivers on the Trans-Canada to slow down to 80 km/h as they pass through. The speed radar board serves as an additional reminder afterwards of the posted speed.

RCMP has recorded eight deaths at the intersection in the last decade.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Strata values in Melbourne's CBD are doubling up within two years as small business owners push to secure their property needs with cheap debt. Bank Place strata office buying has paid off for investors. A NSW-based business looking to relocate headquarters to Melbourne paid $2.3 million for a half floor in popular Bank Place, a heritage laneway and courtyard in the heat of the city. The property on level four of 11-19 Bank Place exchanged with vacant possession on a building rate of $8042 per square metre, a 50 per cent increase in one year.

Last year a whole floor on level five of the same building sold for a rate around $5300 per sq m. Colliers International's Chris Ling, who handled the deal with colleague Anthony Kirwan, said the rise was "consistent with the growth that we have seen over the past six months". Another whole floor on level five of 271 William Street exchanged hands for $2.5 million on a yield of 5.1 per cent. The same property had sold in 2014 for $1.3 million, giving the vendor a 92 per cent uplift. The property was leased to Blackstone Legal Costings on a five-by-five-year lease for $128,000 per annum. It was purchased by a syndicate of investors.
Somerville House principal Florence Kearney announced her resignation on October 10

The principal of one of Brisbanes most prestigious private schools has resigned after seven years in the role.

Somerville House principal Florence Kearney had told the schools council and The Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association (PMSA) she would leave the South Brisbane school at the end of 2017, it was announced on Tuesday.

Calls to Somerville House's director of communications on Tuesday afternoon were not returned.

A statement from Mrs Kearney, released by the PMSA on October 10, included her thanks to staff, students, parents and the wider school community for their support over the past seven years.
A Queensland court has ruled an unsent text message written by a man shortly before he took his own life was a valid will.

But experts have warned against people relying on phones and iPads to draft their wills, saying the risk and cost of proving their legitimacy in the courts is still too high.

The text was still in drafts on a phone.

The recent case in the Supreme Court in Brisbane hinged on a message saved on a phone by a 55-year-old man who took his own life.

It was addressed to his brother, telling him he and his nephew should "keep all that I have".
A woman and a girl have been charged over the alleged bashing of a teenage girl who was set upon by a group of people at Warwick, south-west of Brisbane.

The 15-year-old girl was airlifted from Warwick Base Hospital to Brisbane after she was allegedly assaulted by a group of people at Percy Street in the early hours of Tuesday.

The victim was flown to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious condition. Credit:Patrick Hamilton - Nine News

Reporters suggested the girl had been walking home from a party.

Detective Sergeant Darren Tamblyn told Nine News it was a "cowardly act".
Former Fremantle and Melbourne AFL player Colin Sylvia has fronted court after he allegedly secretly filmed his ex-girlfriend while she slept.

Victoria Police confirmed Sylvia, 31, was arrested over an incident on High Street, Windsor about 4pm on Sunday.

He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday on assault-related charges where he was granted bail to reappear on November 28.

Police allege Sylvia sent his ex-girlfriend abusive messages after the end of their seven-year relationship before he climbed her balcony and confronted her on Sunday, Channel Seven reported.
With its sandy shores, deep water and shade-giving red gums, Lake Meran in Victoria's sunbaked Loddon-Mallee is a treasured swimming and fishing spot for those who know about it.

But last summer's biblically proportioned haul of fish was not the kind of experience any of the lake's visitors had in mind.

There has been a series of 'black water' events in the Murray-Darling in recent years. Credit:Peter Braig

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the lake's grassy beaches one January weekend  mostly loathed European carp but also redfin, native Murray cod and yellowbelly.

It forced a huge community clean-up in the intense mid-summer heat and the stench of rotting fish put paid to holiday activities for several days, locals say.
4. "Contrary to the breathless assertions that climate change is behind every weather event, in Australia the floods are not bigger, the bushfires are not worse, the droughts are not deeper or longer, and the cyclones are not more severe than they were in the 1800s. Sometimes, they do more damage but that's because there's more to destroy, not because their intensity has increased. More than 100 years of photography at Manly Beach in my electorate does not suggest that sea levels have risen despite frequent reports from climate alarmists that this is imminent."

5. "In what might be described as Ridley's paradox, after the distinguished British commentator: at least so far, it's climate change policy that's doing harm; climate change itself is probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm."

6. "There's the evidence that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide (which is a plant food after all) are actually greening the planet and helping to lift agricultural yields. In most countries, far more people die in cold snaps than in heat waves, so a gradual lift in global temperatures, especially if it's accompanied by more prosperity and more capacity to adapt to change, might even be beneficial."

7. "There's a veneer of rational calculation to emissions reduction but underneath it's about 'doing the right thing'. Environmentalism has managed to combine a post-socialist instinct for big government with a post-Christian nostalgia for making sacrifices in a good cause. Primitive people once killed goats to appease the volcano gods. We're more sophisticated now but are still sacrificing our industries and our living standards to the climate gods to little more effect."

8. "Unsurprisingly, the recipients of climate change subsidies and climate change research grants think action is very urgent indeed. As for the general public, of course saving the planet counts  until the bills come in and then the humbug detector is switched on."
London: Tony Abbott's speech to the Global Warming Policy foundation, which the opposition has labelled "loopy", was privately funded, his office has said.

Asked by Fairfax Media if the speech was taxpayer funded, a spokesman said the trip would be declared "in the usual way".

On Monday, Mr Abbott addressed the Global Warming Policy foundation, which was set up by the Thatcher-era Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, a climate sceptic, in the lead up to the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009.

Mr Abbott told the gathering that even if climate change is real, it could be good because more people die in cold snaps. He also said that after looking at photographs of Manly beach, which is in his electorate of Warringah on Sydney's northern beaches, he could see no evidence of climate change.
A smart speaker showdown is brewing as Google takes centre stage in a battle with Sonos, the king of multi-room audio.

For 15 years Sonos has set the gold standard for multi-room audio, offering impressive wireless speakers which make it easy to fling music to the far corners of your home. You can tap into your home music library or a wide range of subscription music services, controlling everything from your computer, smartphone or tablet.

Google Home Max is ready to strut its stuff, vying with Sonos for centre stage in our homes. Credit:AP

While smart speakers from the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple might be easier to use  responding to spoken requests such as "Okay Google, play The Rolling Stones"  so far these smart rivals have posed little threat to Sonos in terms of sound quality.

Sonos has a loyal fan base and anyone with an ear for quality would never abandon even a pint-sized Sonos Play:1 speaker in favour of a Google Home or an Amazon Echo, with the latter likely to appear in Australia soon when Amazon finally plays its hand.
Las Vegas: Police have dramatically changed their account of how the Las Vegas massacre began on October 1, revealing on Monday that the gunman shot a hotel security guard six minutes before opening fire on a country music concert. The change raises new questions about why police weren't able to pinpoint the gunman's location sooner.

Officials had previously said that gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, shot Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos after Paddock had unleashed his deadly volley at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, an assault that began at 10.05 pm.

Officials had previously credited Campos, who was shot in the leg, with stopping the 10-minute assault on the concert crowd by turning the gunman's attention to the hotel hallway, where Campos was checking an alert for an open door in another guest's room.

But Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said on Monday that Paddock shot Campos before his mass shooting - at 9:59pm - and they now don't know why Paddock stopped his attack on the crowd.
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These youngsters are pedaling change!

Kings County kids strapped on helmets and hopped on bikes for a ride through Prospect Parks meager rush-hour traffic on Monday, dedicating the morning of their Columbus-Day holiday to advocate for a ban of cars from Brooklyns Backyard. But the pint-sized progressives, who parents claim loathe sharing the park with drivers, still fell victim to an age-old political maneuver in making their statement, according to a mom.

There was a little bribe involved, said Hilda Cohen, a Fort Greene mom of two who promised breakfast burritos as a reward. But thats kids.

Some 25 children, parents, and transit advocates joined Councilman Brad Lander (DPark Slope) to pedal along the meadows East and West drives to push for the vehicular prohibition. This summer, Mayor DeBlasio enacted a temporary ban on cars from the East Drive following their permanent exile from the West Drive in 2015, but the road reopened to early-morning, Downtown-bound traffic last month while the city studies the potential impact of an indefinite ban.

Anti-car proponents and park lovers argue that the vehicles put cyclists and pedestrians at risk and for little benefit, according to a transit advocate, who said the recent East-Drive closure minimally affected surrounding traffic.

There werent really any issues with the trial closing, said Eric McClure, executive director of political action committee, StreetsPAC. There are not a lot of people driving through the park at this point, and theyll be able to find other ways to get around when the road closes.

Most tots 12 and under may not be jumping out of bed to push for legislative change, but kids can feel their parents frustration over pedaling beside motorists in the park, Cohen said, and know the lawn would be safer without moving vehicles in it.

I get really crazy and scared when there are cars in the park, and theyre thinking about that. They said the park was much better as there was no traffic in it, she said.  You dont yell as much, mom, they said. Kids totally get it.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.
It was announced yesterday that Ornua, the owner of Irelands dairy brand Kerrygold, is looking for graduates to join their team.

The Ornua Graduate Programme is an 18-month programme which will offer graduates a chance to build a range of business skills, gaining valuable experience in one of Irelands most vibrant businesses.

Candidates will undertake two placements as part of the programme, which includes time overseas for most participants.

Headquartered in Dublin, Ornua is Irelands largest exporter of Irish dairy products, exporting to over 110 countries worldwide. It operates from 20 plants, including the new-state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kerrygold Park, and has sales and marketing teams in all corners of the globe.



In 2016, 18 graduates joined the company and, this year, 14 new trainees will form the intake for 2017. Candidates on the Ornua Graduate Programme will receive formal training from the Irish Management Institute (IMI). Every graduate will be individually mentored by a member of Ornuas senior management team.



Applications for the 2018 Ornua Graduate Programme are open and will close on October 19th 2017. Successful candidates will start in September 2018.



Commenting on the Ornua Graduate Programme, Group HR Director at Ornua, Majella Darcy said, "This is a great opportunity for those who are looking to experience life in a global business, working and living in a new environment. We look after our graduates well and provide best in class development, particularly when it comes to providing support, skills, and experience. In return, we expect graduates to perform to a high standard."



Source: www.businessworld.ie
Britain and its European Union partners clashed on Monday over which side should make the next move to unblock Brexit talks, despite concerns they will miss a deadline for a divorce deal and that London is heading for a chaotic departure.

Prime Minister Theresa May made clear in a speech she delivered to parliament that she hoped her EU partners would make proposals at a new round of talks opening the way to the next stage of negotiations, saying "the ball is in their court."

But even before she had delivered her address, an EU spokesman hit back in Brussels, saying "the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen."

May is desperate to try to regain some of her authority and refocus on talks to unravel 40 years of union after a speech at her party conference last week, marred by a repetitive cough, a prankster and a stage malfunction, left her weaker than ever.

She has so far fought off attempts to unseat her by critics already angry over an ill-judged election when she lost her governing Conservatives' majority. But her weakness has opened the door for many in the party to challenge her Brexit strategy with just 18 months to go before Britain leaves the EU.

With Brussels quietly preparing for a collapse in the talks and Britain getting ready for what May calls "every eventuality," some officials and business chiefs worry the country will crash out of the EU without a deal.

Speaking in parliament, May said her negotiators had made progress on the first phase of talks, tackling the rights of expatriates and the border with EU-member Ireland, and that she was determined to secure a new partnership with the other 27 members of the wealthy political and trade bloc.

"Achieving that partnership will require leadership and flexibility, not just from us but from our friends, the 27 nations of the EU," she told a raucous session of parliament.

"And as we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response."

But the EU stuck to its terms: "There is a clear sequencing to these talks and there has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular briefing. "So the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen."

May, who hosted businesses on Monday to listen to their Brexit concerns, is keen to push the talks beyond a discussion of the divorce to try to offer firms some certainty about future trading conditions.

According to a source familiar with the matter, May told business leaders that for her, a roughly two-year transitional agreement was non-negotiable. "It will happen," the source said when asked what May had spoken about.

She also said her government had no intention of revoking Article 50, which triggered the Brexit talks in March this year, and stopping Britain's departure.

But a lack of progress in talks some 15 months after Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum has added pressure on May, who was criticized by the opposition for failing to offer any clarity on what the future relationship will look like.

"Now the reality for this Tory (Conservative) government is beginning to bite, but if things do not improve, the reality may soon begin to bite for the jobs and living standards of the people of this country," said Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

A report that aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems is planning to cut more than 1,000 jobs did little to ease those concerns that without progress in the talks, firms will start to make staffing and relocation decisions.

EU negotiators say that while they see no big breakthrough at the summit next week, they may offer May a hand by offering hope of a shift at the next scheduled meeting in mid-December.

Aides to May have signaled that the prime minister has accepted that her October deadline will not be met despite a speech in Italy last month which attempted to reset the tone of the difficult negotiations.

But some pro-Brexit campaigners are calling on the prime minister to get ready to step away from the talks - underlining the deep divisions in the Conservative Party.

Those differences were aired again on Monday with negative briefings in the local media against finance minister Philip Hammond, who supports prolonging the status quo with the EU for as long as possible, and foreign minister Boris Johnson, who angered some Conservatives for setting his own Brexit red lines.

Some have suggested that May will reshuffle her cabinet, but her spokesman said she had full confidence in both ministers.

"We are fast reaching the point when the prime minister should assert the authority of her office over the negotiations and call time," Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker, wrote in the Guardian newspaper.

John Baron, another pro-Brexit campaigner, called on the government to "prepare more thoroughly for a 'no deal'."

"I have long believed that the EU Commission primarily wants to punish Britain for daring to leave the organization," he said. "We should have no fears about a 'no deal' scenario." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has today welcomed the retention of the 9% tourism VAT rate announced by Minister Donohoe as part of Budget 2018.



The IHF claims the rate has been instrumental in the recovery of the tourism industry, which has created approximately 60,000 new jobs since the measure was introduced in 2011.



Spreaking today, President of the IHF, Joe Dolan said, "Tourism is one of Irelands largest employers. It currently supports some 230,000 jobs and is on-track to create a further 40,000 new jobs by 2021. Direct actions by the government including the 9% VAT rate [and the zero rate travel tax] have helped level the playing field for tourism businesses to compete for visitors with other European destinations and are vital in underpinning and sustaining that growth."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced today that Bank of Ireland has launched a new Brexit Portal which will provide guidance and expertise for domestic and international businesses while supporting a series of free Prepare for Brexit events across the country.

Bringing together insights, practical information and useful tools from Bank of Ireland and other partners, the Portal is aimed both at Irish businesses requiring support on how Brexit may affect them and FDI companies who may be considering Ireland as a potential base for their business.



Furthermore, visitors to the Brexit Portal can register for one of Bank of Irelands 35 Prepare for Brexit events across the country before the end of the year. Featuring speakers from leading Irish companies sharing their stories on how they are preparing their business for Brexit, the events also provide insights, practical information and useful tools from Bank of Ireland and industry experts.



Industry organisations and firms addressing the Brexit events are Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, IBEC, British Irish Chamber of Commerce, Thinkbusiness.ie, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, PWC, Grant Thornton, BDO and Mazars.



Speaking this week, Head of Brexit Group at Bank of Ireland, Barry McLoughlin said, "Bank of Ireland is the number one corporate and SME bank in Ireland, and more than 60% of FDI businesses have chosen to work with us. We are also the number one bank for Irish businesses trading internationally. We have the largest branch network in Ireland and our sector specialists, business banking advisors and nationwide team of treasury managers have been supporting domestic businesses to understand and manage the risks to their businesses."

He added, "The launch of our new Brexit Portal underlines our commitment to supporting businesses throughout this period of uncertainty, and I would encourage everybody with an interest to attend our Brexit seminars taking place over the next few weeks."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The Small Firms Association (SFA) has today welcomed Budget 2018 as a step in the right direction for small business.

The Association believes that the introduction of a tailored employee share options scheme (KEEP) for small business is an important initiative, which has the potential to deliver improved management capacity, staff retention and productivity.

Currently, only 6% of employees in Ireland are shareholders in the company where they work, compared to the EU average of 22%. SFA claims its members are keen to see the detail of the scheme and to start using it to help their businesses to grow and reward their key employees.

However, the SFA also warned that there are aspects of todays announcement which will pose challenges for small firms. Chief among these are confirmation of the 30c increase in the minimum wage and the risk of increased business costs through the rise in commercial stamp duty.

Speaking today, SFA Director, Sven Spollen-Behrens said, "Budget 2018 is a signal of support for the small businesses of Ireland. These businesses, which employ half the private sector workforce, welcome in particular the announcement of the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP), the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the tourism sector and the introduction of a Brexit loan scheme for small businesses."

He added, "Businesses know first-hand that the infrastructure challenge facing the country is acute, following a decade of under-investment. There were strong signs today that the quantum of spending is increasing and specific projects of strategic importance will receive funding. These projects must be progressed without delay, in order to enhance the capacity of the economy."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
In order to reduce the drop out rate of girl students in schools, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India has released a scholarship scheme.

Scholarship reward

According to the scheme, a sum of Rs.3,000/- is deposited in the name of eligible unmarried girls as fixed deposit on enrolment in class IX, who are entitled to withdraw it along with interest thereon on passing X Class and attaining 18 years of age.

Eligibility

The following are eligible to be the recipient of the scholarship:

All girls belonging to SC/ST communities who pass class VIII

All girls who pass VIII examination from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (irrespective of whether they belong to SC/ST) and enroll in class IX in State Government, Government-aided and Local Body schools

The girl should be unmarried and should be below 16 years of age (as on 31st March) on joining class IX

Banks delivering the scholarship

Union Bank of India /Indian Bank are the implementing Banks

On maturity, the incentive amount along with interest is transferred directly into bank accounts of students following DBT mode by implementing banks through PFMS platform.

Obama Foundation Offers Fellowship for Various Categories: Apply Now!

Deadline

The last date for submission of applications on Portal is 31.10.2017.

How to apply for girl student scholarship?

In order to apply for the government girl student scholarship, follow the steps given here:

Log on to the government scholarships website

Click on the link National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education(NSIGSE)

A registration page opens

Fill in your details

Click to submit

Complete the registration process

Download the application form

Fill it up and send it to the Principal or DEO of the school

The District Education Officer (DEO) will log in with user ID and Password generated by the State Nodal Officer and sent to a registered mobile number of DEO.

The mobile number can be given either of the student or parent/guardian/neighbor/friend etc.

The use of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) for data submission will be done by the State Nodal Officer only while submitting the data from State to this Department on NSP

Also Read: AIIMS Fellowship 2018: 45 Fellowships Available in Various Departments, Apply Now!
The first past the post voting system that Canada currently uses results in bogus majorities and bogus mandates.

Since World War 1, Canada has had 17 majority governments. In all 17 elections, one party held a majority of seats and exercised 100 percent of the power. But just four of these 17 actually won a majority of the popular vote. It is getting much worse, since the mid 1960s, Canada has had 8 majority governments, with only one supported by a majority of the voters. In 1997, the Liberals formed a majority government with just 38 percent of the popular vote. In 2011, the Conservatives formed a majority government with only 39.6 percent of the popular vote.

Isnt it time we switched to a form of proportional representation so all Canadian citizens are represented in government? Isnt it time we adopted a voting system that gives voters equal rights and creates legitimate majority governments?

Isnt it time to get rid of first past the post and adopt proportional representation so that politicians are accountable to voters?

Jane Weixl
Geraldine Picaud appointed new LafargeHolcim CFO

ICR Newsroom By 10 October 2017

LafargeHolcim announces the appointment of Geraldine Picaud as Chief Financial Officer of LafargeHolcim and member of the Executive Committee with effect from 1 February 2018. Ron Wirahadiraksa, the current CFO, has decided to pursue opportunities outside the Group. He will remain in his role and provide a smooth handover to Geraldine in due course.



Geraldine Picaud, a French national, joins the Group from Essilor International, the worlds leading ophthalmic optics company listed on the French CAC 40, where she has been Group Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee since 2011. Trained as an auditor, Geraldine Picaud brings to the Group 20 years of experience leading and transforminggFinance teams in complex, multinational companies. Prior to joining Essilor, she spent four years working for the ED&F Man group in Winterthur, Switzerland, a key player in the international commodity market, following 13 years as CFO at international specialty chemicals group, Safic Alcan.



Jan Jenisch, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said: "I am excited to welcome Geraldine to LafargeHolcim. She is an agile and successful CFO who has worked in the UK, US, France and Switzerland. With a track record in delivering business results and restructuring within complex global business environments, she is the ideal person to join our executive team and drive the next phase of growth in the company."





Published under
Vikram Cement recognised with water management award

10 October 2017

UltraTech Cement Ltd (UTCL) has been recognised at the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) National Awards for Excellence in Water Management 2017.



Vikram Cement Works, an integrated cement manufacturing unit of UTCL, won the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) National Awards for Excellence in Water Management 2017 in the outside the fence category. This award is a recognition for the Sustainable Livelihood through Watershed Managements corporate social responsibility (CSR) project undertaken by the unit.



The project was launched in 2010 in partnership with Integrated Watershed Mission, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The project covered 18 villages in Neemuch district, Madhya Pradesh. Given the large scope of the project, it was implemented in a phased manner over a period of five years. Sixty five check dams, one farm pond and 1400 contour trenches were built covering a total area of 804ha to improve water conservation and reduce soil erosion.





Published under
Benghazi Cement takes initial steps to reopen

10 October 2017

Benghazis Hawari cement factories, in Libya, is being helped to reopen. British consultants met with the city's Mayor Abdelrahman Al-Abaar last week in talks on restarting the stalled factories, reports Libya Herald.



Work is to start on demining work on the premises and its surroundings together with an assessment of the huge damage caused by the extensive fighting that took place in and around the factory.



Plans to rebuild and reopen the two cement factories in Benghazis Hawari district had been announced by owners, the Libya Cement Company (LCC), in May this year. The plants had closed in mid-2014 when fighting in the area between Hafters Libyan National Army and militants started. For almost two years, the militants effectively controlled the area and it was not until April last year that the cement works were finally recaptured.



It is estimated that it will take at least a year before they can return to production, during which time the sites will have to be made safe, new machinery and parts brought in, new skilled construction workers found and necessary utilities such as electricity and gas restored.



LCC is 90 per cent owned by the Joint Libyan Cement Company (JLCC), itself a joint venture between Asamar Libya and the Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF).

Published under
Bannon Wants to Take Out the Establishment and Weve Got His Hit List

When President Donald Trumps former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon left the White House, we knew we hadnt heard the last from him. According to CNN and Politico, Bannon has all but declared war on the GOP establishment.

According to Politico, Bannon and conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer are preparing to throw millions of dollars into attacks on incumbents. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed concern at the agenda, worried it will distract both attention and dollars from unseating Democrats in the next election. Why has Bannon decided to do that?

Bannons creating an anti-McConnell machine

Bloomberg reported that Bannon plans to support as many as 15 Republican Senate candidates in 2018, including several challengers to incumbents for two reasons. He pledged support for candidates who agree to vote against McConnell as majority leader, and vote to end senators ability to block legislation by filibustering.

Bannons long game includes a bid to change Senate rules that currently require a 60-vote super-majority to end debate on most issues. That allows members to block votes by filibustering. It limits the power of the GOPs current 52-vote majority in the chamber and has had real consequences for the party. In the past, it complicated the Senates ability to repeal Obamacare and legislators expect a similar effect on plans for tax legislation this year. Trump has repeatedly called for the Senate to change the rule.

At a September campaign rally in Alabama, Bannon signaled his intention to take on the Republican establishment. Mitch McConnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country, he said. He promised a day of reckoning.

Heres everyone Bannon has targeted so far, and why.

Trump pissed at Judge Roy Moores win

CNN reported that Bannon-backed former judge Roy Moore defeated Sen. Luther Strange in Alabamas Republican primary in a surprising upset. Emboldened by that victory, Bannon expanded his map of targets in the 2018 midterms and intensified his efforts to establish a donor network funding his slate of insurgent candidates.

Shortly after the win, Bannon started spreading rumors that GOP campaign strategist Jeff Roe used dirty tactics against Moore. He alleged that Roe worked with Trumps son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner to mislead Trump about the state of the race in Alabama in and around Trumps endorsement of Strange.

Trump, who vocally backed Luther, felt misled and pissed by what he saw as a betrayal by Bannon. He later deleted a series of tweets supporting the losing candidate, replacing them with congratulations for Moore.

The next senator showed the gall to defy Trump.

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake published an anti-Trump book

Bannon backed conservative former state senator Kelli Ward early on, Politico said. Strategists saw Mercers $300,000 contribution to a pro-Ward super PAC this summer as an indication of anti-establishment support for her campaign.

Flake, an outspoken critic of the president, recently published a book lamenting the rise of Trump. According to Slate, Flake, in between voting for anything that Donald Trump wants, sometimes criticizes Trumps tone. NPR said Flake was on shaky ground with Trump even before he published his book. Comments like ones accusing GOP leaders of making a Faustian bargain with Trump and abandoning their conservative principles, didnt help.

It might be that Bannon, an immigration hawk [to put it gently], is trying to exact revenge against Flake  for supporting the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill that included amnesty, Slate posited.

The Senate leadership should take note of what has transpired in Alabama and end their dishonest attacks against me, Ward said in a statement. Our campaign has built incredible momentum and broad support across the state, and I am confident that any false personal attacks by forces in DC will be rejected by the citizens of Arizona.

Youll never believe who Bannon wants to elect in Wyoming.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso could fall to Blackwater founder

In Wyoming, Bannon has his eye on Erik Prince, according to The New York Times. The founder of security contractor Blackwater and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos traveled to Wyoming recently to look into establishing residency there.

Prince founded the private military company Blackwater in 1997. It fell under scrutiny when four of its members were convicted in 2007 of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. Salon reported that the government has investigated Prince for money laundering and attempts to broker his mercenary services to foreign governments. According to the Intercept, he has been working with a small cadre of loyalists  including a former South African commando, a former Australian air force pilot, and a lawyer with dual citizenship in the U.S. and Israel  to secretly rebuild his private CIA and special operations enterprise by setting up foreign shell companies and offering paramilitary services.

Why Barasso? Taking on someone like Barrasso could be seen as Bannons test case  taking a shot at a random conservative with whom he and Trump have no particular beef, just to prove he can, Salon said. Installing an unstable radical in office is [Bannons] specialty, so he might just do it.

The next senator failed a test no one should have to take.

Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer failed the October 8 test

A source close to Bannon told The Daily Beast that he intends to challenge Fisher. While the Bannon machine havent found [a challenger] yet, Fisher broke with the Trump camp at a crucial time. Fischer briefly un-endorsed Trump for president after the pussy tape emerged.

The day the Access Hollywood tape leaked became a longstanding loyalty test in Trumps political orbit. It became known internally as the Access Hollywood test or the October 8 test, referring to the day The Washington Post first revealed the now infamous tape, on which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women because hes a star.

Bannon anointed those who stuck by Trump during the recriminations. Those who broke rank ended up on his chopping block, which Fisher did. In the case, Bannon wants the seat more than the senator.

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch sits in a coveted spot

Hatch may seem an odd choice, given his past defense of Trump. Hatch said of Trump, following the Charlottesville protests, I know Donald Trump. I dont think theres a racist bone in his body.

Hatch also defended Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals, or the Dreamer program, The Hill noted. Ive urged the president not to rescind DACA, an action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution, he said. A Catholic, Bannon also defended the program, on the curious platform that the church needs illegal aliens to fill pews.

Like the president, Ive long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here, he continued, adding, That solution must come from Congress.

The aim in Utah seems to rest not with Hatch himself, but with the seat. A source close to Bannon told CNN that even if Hatch retires and Mitt Romney runs for his seat instead, Romney would become the top target in a primary. The next target seems like a good ol boy, at first.

Chris McDaniel may challenge this gentleman

Slate called Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker a nice Southern gentleman who  has never said a cross word against the president or challenged him in anything approaching a meaningful way. Slate suspects Wicker made the list because of Chris McDaniel, who wants another shot at governance. McDaniel, a far-right candidate who challenged Mississippis other senator, Thad Cochran, in 2014.

While McDaniel said A definite decision has not been made, he has kept in touch with Bannon. But [what] we do know is that were preparing for anything at this stage. And we have a lot of good friends out there in Mississippi and our base from 2014. They still feel like that race was stolen from us.

The next politician filed one wrong vote that may cost him his career.

Nevada Senator Dean Heller might get repealed and replaced

Bannon recently met with Danny Tarkanian, the Republican opposing Heller in Nevada. That incumbent faces a stiff Democratic challenge in next years primary. An August poll showed Heller already trailing Tarkanian, with more than half of primary voters saying they wanted someone other than the incumbent. Tarkanian has pointed out Hellers decision not to endorse Trump last year. He told McClatchy he thinks that cost the president a victory in Nevada.

Heller tried to stop the bleeding with the conservative base after coming out against the GOPs first plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, NPR reported. He has vocally supported subsequent efforts to repeal Obamacare.

Politico confirmed a 30-minute meeting in which Bannon made it clear that Tarkanian had his full backing. Thats not the only meeting Bannon scheduled recently.

But wait, theres more

In many open races or contests to choose challengers to incumbent Democrats, Bannon apparently intends to identify a true conservative or populist favorite. Those may include Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee, and if John McCain has to leave his seat before 2018, Paul Gosar in Arizona, according to New York Magazine. Bannon also plans to get involved in the primaries in West Virginia and Missouri, two of Republicans top opportunities to pick off Democratic-held seats next year. While those races could take time to develop, Bannon has his eye on them.

Whatever happens, Bannon plans to go into primary season guns blazing. Were going to war, Bannon told Politico. This is not a pillow fight, this is a fight fight.
Australia's same-sex marriage referendum: Sydney clergy blast 'extraordinary use of church money' after diocese's $1m donation to 'no' camp

Some of Sydney's Anglican clergy are in open rebellion against their diocese's decision to donate $1 million to the campaign against same-sex marriage.

The Archbishop of Sydney announced the move on Monday, adding he made 'no apology' for backing the 'no' campaign in the country's upcoming postal poll to advise the government on whether to legalise gay marriage.

'The stakes are high and the cost is high,' Glenn Davies told a Sydney synod of churches on Monday. 'Yet the cause is just and it is a consequence of our discipleship to uphold the gift of marriage as God has designed it  a creation ordinance for all people.'

The funds came out of the largely conservative area's Diocesan Endowment fund.

But Anglican clergy are furious at the decision with several highlighting the variety of views on the controversial topic within the Church and saying the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Rev Dave Smith, parish priest at Holy Trinity in Dulwich Hill, said he was 'shattered' by the decision.

'I think there's a degree of shock [among the congregation]. I think they are taking it pretty hard,' he said according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Father Andrew Sempell of St James' said he was 'surprised' by the announcement.

'There was no consultation, there was no open debate  and therefore no transparency in the decision,' he told Fairfax Media.

'We haven't let go of Christendom all that much. We still think that we have a right to tell people what to do. This is one of the reasons we're on the nose.'

He accused the diocese of poor financial management in the past, saying 'they did everything wrong that you could possibly do', adding: 'Which sort of begs the question: why are they throwing money around like this?'

Even conservative ministers who back the 'no' campaign criticised the scale of the donation.

Rev Michael Paget of St Barnabas on Broadway described the donation as 'out of proportion' amounting to 'poor financial stewardship' and was close to 'indefensible'.

Melbourne journalist and author Dr Muriel Porter, who has served on the Anglican Church of Australia's national General Synod for 30 years, said she was 'not surprised, but I am shocked' by the donation, describing it as 'an extraordinary use of church money'.

'People will just think, for heaven's sake, that they are out of touch,' she told Buzzfeed. 'It's the way the church has treated women. The Anglican Church's opposition to the full equality of women; their decades-long opposition to divorce and remarriage. That did huge damage to people.

'It hadn't just been the sex abuse crisis that damaged the churches, it's their attitudes to ordinary people and their ordinary lives.'

Both sides in Australia's increasingly toxic debate over gay marriage claim to have been outspent by their opponents.

Executive director of the Equality Campaign, Tiernan Brady, said the donation was evidence that 'opponents of equality have radically outspent the Yes side'.

He told The Australian: 'But what they have in buckets of cash, we make up with in hundreds of thousands of Australians making the case for a fairer, more just and inclusive society.'

However despite repeated claims from the Yes side they were being outspent, it emerged last month Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce also personally donated $1 million to the campaign in support of same sex marriage.
Disney star Tiffany Thornton defends marrying church worship leader after death of first husband

Disney star Tiffany Thornton has been fending off some flak from critics after marrying church worship leader Josiah Capaci.

She looked radiant in a strapless white dress as she tied the knot on Saturday with Capaci, worship pastor at Gospel Light Church and Teen Revolution in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

She was more than happy to share photos of her joyous day with her Instagram followers but some didn't take so well to the news, accusing her of moving on too soon after the death of first husband Christopher Carney.

Carney tragically passed away in a car crash in December 2015 after they had been married for just three years. He was survived by Thornton and their two little boys, Kenneth James, 5, and Bentley Cash, 3, who were among the guests at their mom's wedding to Josiah.

But the Sonny With a Chance star Thornton wrote in a heartfelt message on Instagram that her union with Josiah was a 'gift from God' and that her first husband would approve of the choice she made for her and their children.

Defending her second marriage, she said the 'near perfect love' she and Josiah felt for one another 'trumps my need to snap back at people who have the audacity to comment on my Instagram about whether I loved my first husband or not.'

'There is no timeline for grief or for when God moves in your life in undeniable ways,' she wrote.

She continued her post saying she needed to be honest with her critics because she felt it's what God wanted her to do.

'I was a mess yesterday during our wedding ceremony. So many emotions flooded my heart as I walked down those balcony steps to the arms of my gift from God. I thought of Chris watching us and knowing he would have loved the choice I made, for me and for the boys.'

She added that Chris' parents were even sitting in the front row as she and Josiah exchanged vows and explained that she hadn't planned to fall in love so quickly after Chris' passing, but she felt it was God taking care of her because He knew it would be difficult for her to submit to the authority of a husband if she went too long without one.

Best day of my life 10/7/17 A post shared by Tiffany Thornton (@tiffthornton) on Oct 7, 2017 at 8:44pm PDT

'Jo came along EXACTLY when God knew I needed him,' she said, adding, 'God's timing is not our own. And I praise Him for that. You should too.'

Thornton even received some kind words of encouragement for her big day from former Sonny With a Chance co-star Demi Lovato.

'Couldn't be happier for you T. Love you so much and so sorry I couldn't be there yesterday!!!' she wrote.
This Iraqi Christian refugee family prayed and were rescued from drowning

Saad takes out his phone. 'I have photos,' he says. Normally, when someone shows you the photos on their phone, they are of their children, grandchildren, pets or holiday.

Not so with Saad. In these photos, he's pictured with his two young daughters on a small boat on the Mediterranean. They're all wearing life jackets. The girls are looking a bit tired. But the sun is shining and it's a lovely day.

Only it isn't. Saad (38) and his two daughters were being trafficked across the Mediterranean. It was their second attempt. The first time, the boat that arrived looked too small and Saad 'didn't dare risk it'. This is a man who had just fled ISIS in Iraq. So it must have been bad.

It could be a tourist boat  but things were about to go very wrong.

The second time, he and the girls went aboard. Their journey began on August 6, 2014, in Iraq. This was the day that ISIS came to the city of Mosul. An estimated 500,000 people fled. Saad and his daughters were among them.

Talk to enough Iraqi refugees and you'll hear this date over and over again. At the time, fleeing Yazidis stuck on a mountain got all the headlines in the UK. But in the US, The New Yorker reported 'a humanitarian crisis that could turn into a genocide'.

For Christians it certainly was, and the Mosul area was largely ethnically Christian.

'We were forced to leave,' says Saad. 'If we stayed, there would be so much trouble and we would be forced to convert to Islam.' They left on foot, carrying nothing.

It costs money to be trafficked in a too-small boat. So Saad's wife, Fida, stayed in the city of Irbil. She was a teacher and could earn a salary which she split, sending some on to Saad and the children, to help them flee, and keeping some behind to look after herself and Saad's grandmother.

They'd made one, unsuccessful attempt, to travel as a family to neighbouring Turkey. But, the cost of staying alive had forced them back to war-torn Iraq. That was when the decision was made for Saad and the girls to travel and for Fida to fund the enterprise.

After two hours in the small boat in the dark of a Mediterranean night, things started to go wrong. The engine stopped.

'The water started coming inside the boat,' says Saad. 'We were wearing life jackets but we didn't have hope. People were trying to bail out the water, but it wasn't working. We thought we would die here. I had internet connection, so I called Fida.'

That phone call is etched on Fida's memory. 'He called me and told me to take care of his grandmother, to forgive him and say hi to everyone,' she says. 'I told him, "God will be with you. God will save you."

'I started praying for them and asking God to save and help them. Then I put their pictures on Facebook and people started praying for them. I lost the phone connection with them. I was only praying to God.'

By then Saad and the children were in the Mediterranean. 'At this moment God made a miracle for me,' says Saad, a former taxi driver who now works illegally as a cleaner. 'I heard him telling me that I shouldn't be scared, he was with me.

'I didn't care about what I heard. I thought, "What do you mean you are with me, when I am in this bad situation?"

'After an hour, the police came and rescued us.'

He rang Fida to say they were alive.

In 2015, some 1 million refugees crossed into Europe. The vast majority of them arrived by sea. The majority were Syrian, like Saad.

Today, the family live in a small town in Jordan. The children go to school. The whole family are members of a nearby church. Fida has trained with Bible Society as one of its trauma counsellors. She works with fellow refugees, helping them to be able to address some of the horrors that have happened to them, through biblical texts.

Already trained in psychology before arriving in Jordan, she says, 'The word of God works better than any other kind of healing. It is powerful. There is hope from the Bible's words which gives strength.'

For this couple, their faith is vital and the Bible life-changing. Fida says that her favourite verse in the Bible comes from Matthew 28:29: 'I will be with you always, even to the end of the world'.

'I believe in this,' she says simply. 'I know that God answered my prayers, especially when my husband and daughters were in the middle of the ocean. Even when we left our city he protected us. Nobody abused us. He even helped us when we came here. We found a place to stay and schools for the girls. He has fulfilled all our needs.'

Saad's reflections are different. 'When I heard Jesus' voice saying, "I am with you",' he says, 'it encouraged me for a moment. But I thought it was impossible for me to be saved when I was in the ocean.

'Thank God that he gave me the chance to live again with my daughters and tell people that Jesus is still making miracles.' And with that, he drinks a quick cup of mint tea, hugs the girls and heads back to his illegal job and an uncertain future.
It would be very dangerous for legacy fundraising if charities were to adopt consent-only fundraising strategies under GDPR, fundraisers were warned yesterday.

Speaking at the Institute of Fundraisings Legacy Conference in London yesterday, Colin Kemp, a strategic fundraising consultant and former legacy fundraiser, said that despite the dangers, many charities are not including legacy fundraisers in the conversation.

"Consent versus legitimate interest is at the heart of this," he said. "A consent-only fundraising model, which many organisations have gone for, for well documented reasons, does feel very dangerous for legacy fundraising. Especially when you layer into it the idea that consent is only for a limited time frame and the discussions about how long consent may last."

Kemp was speaking on a panel along with Daniel Fluskey, head of policy and research at the IoF, and Hannah Lyons, a solicitor and data protection expert with Bates Wells Brathwaite, about the possible effects of GDPR on legacy fundraising.

He also said he was concerned that legacy fundraisers are not going to be writing the answers for how the sector responds to the incoming legislation.

We as legacy fundraisers are probably not going to be writing the answers for how we respond to GDPR for our organisations. But we need to make sure that are particular needs and concerns are heard by those making the decisions, he said.

In Fundraising Magazine

Kemp said that most gifts in wills come many years after a donor has stopped giving or even being contacted by a charity. He said that legacy teams need to hang on to donors information in case they do leave a legacy which is subsequently contested.

He urged legacy fundraisers to ensure that they are a part of any wider strategic conversations being held within their individual organisations regarding the future of GDPR.

We know as legacy fundraisers, as people move through their donor journey that people may talk to us less as they get into older age. Actually, fundamentally, they dont need to talk us at all about legacies, they can have made a decision and be very interested in our legacy proposition, but they dont need to talk to us. So we dont necessarily have evidence of continuing engagement, so theres something there for legacy fundraisers to communicate when wider organisational policies are being set.
The Disasters Emergency Committees emergency fundraising appeal to support people fleeing Myanmar has now raised 7m since it launched a week ago.

The DEC, a collaborative group made up of 13 humanitarian charities including the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Islamic Relief, launched the emergency fundraising appeal for the 500,000 Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar on 3 October.

Donations are being doubled by the Department for International Development.

The 7m raised by the appeal is unusually low, compared to other recent appeals such as the Nepal earthquake appeal, which raised 19m on the first day. DEC members have previously said that the public are more ready to donate to appeals following natural disasters rather than those following human conflict.

The Rohingya people have been fleeing Myanmars Rakhine state for the neighbouring country of Bangladesh since 25 August, following a military offensive in the region. The United Nations have since described Myanmars military operations in the region as ethnic cleansing, accusations Myanmar has rejected.

DEC Chief Executive, Saleh Saeed, said on the launch of the emergency appeal: People are arriving exhausted and traumatised into already overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. This is one of the fastest movements of people we have seen in recent decades.

Families are living in makeshift shelters or by the side of the road with no clean drinking water, toilets or washing facilities. This humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in a country that is already reeling from the worst floods in decades.

Without urgent support, the risk of disease and further misery is alarmingly high.

The appeal includes direct TV adverts which will be shown across all major UK broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

Civil Society Media is hosting its NGO Insight 2017 conference on 28 November 2017. For more information, and to book, click here.
About 3,000 journalists gathered in Washington, DC this weekend to contemplate the future of journalism. A $989 ticket for non-members of the Online News Association, or $659 for members, bought you access to a Google News espresso bar and three days of panel discussions on technology and journalism.

The annual conference was blissfully free of the same old Trump talk, and instead focused on the ripples the political climate is making in the press: on trust, revenue, and bias. But many of the conversations showed that journalists, especially in smaller newsrooms, are looking for short-term solutions to declining business models rather than viable long-term strategies. At times, the prevailing mood was desperation; one session was titled, Getting the Most Out of Your Content: Maximizing the Value of Your Journalism with Fewer Resources in a Multi-Platform World. Here are some key takeaways from the conference:

Developing new metrics. What if, instead of assessing an articles performance based on clicks, search engines, social platforms, and news organizations could take into account quality, relevance, and attention? The hope of some of the most innovative journalism-adjacent companies is to realign revenue strategies with what makes the best journalism.

ICYMI: There are three kinds of journalists. Which one are you?

At a fireside chat, Ev Williams, one of Twitters co-founders and the founder and CEO of Medium, discussed Mediums ambitions to support quality journalism. Early this year, Medium laid off staff and stopped supporting ad sales on its sites, prompting some, like The Awl, to leave the platform. In place of ads, Medium introduced a monthly subscription model that allocates reader money based on the number of claps they give an article. Williams sees Medium as, potentially, the cable TV of the internet. Im optimistic, said Williams, because, in every industry, there are higher-end products that people will pay for If theres something better available, people will pay for it.

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Tony Haile, who CJR wrote about in 2015 for his work on Chartbeat, demoed his new venture, Scroll, for the first time. For $5 per month, Scroll gives news consumers a smoother experience on a number of news siteseliminating ads and popups and speeding up the sites. Haile plans to return 70 percent of subscription revenue from Scroll to the news organizations themselves, which will provide a higher return per user than what they receive on digital ads.

A more lenient wall between editorial and funding? A panel on local journalism (sponsored by Google) repeated the now-common wisdom about engaging with local communities as a way to build trust in journalism and overcome polarization. On top of that, its also supposed to help news organizations convert readers into subscribers, by making them more invested in the work.

But more subscribers alone wont solve the decline in funding for local journalism. Bill Church, senior vice president of news at Gatehouse Media, questioned whether partnerships with organizations in other markets who share a common mission are the way forwardthough such a move, he acknowledged, would necessitate a change in culture. Similarly, moderator Kristen Hare, who covers local news innovation for Poynter, wondered whether new funding opportunities might renew local journalism. Ashley Alvarado of KPCC, a public radio station in Southern California, also suggested that ideas without a budget might prompt a trip to your organizations underwriting committee.

Understanding the future of news means understanding the future of tech. For the 10th edition of her annual, notoriously epic presentations, quantitative futurist Amy Webb distilled 75 emerging tech trends. By 2027, the world will be a very different place, with wearable computers and advanced AI, she predicted. She encouraged newsrooms to become familiar with terms and trends they may have been ignoring so far, like machine learning and generative adversarial networks. In a global survey of newsrooms, Webbs organization, the Future Today Institute, finds that most journalists they spoke to are not planning for the future, or reporting on it. Luckily, she has made her research available in a 91-page PDF. Webb acknowledges resource issues; journalists are not focused on the future because they cant be. Shoestring budgets, a shortening news cycle, and a necessity to feed the social platforms all contribute to an inability to look ahead.

Were better at covering government than covering tech. Obviously, reporters (and the public) have access to far more data about the government than about tech. Some of the best financial investigative reporting is derived from campaign finance disclosure, for instance; because tech companies are private, no such transparency is required of them. Now that Silicon Valley companies are subject to large questions about their relationship to democracy, the difference is all the more stark.

At this point, we need big thoughts, not small solutions. ONAs focus is on tools and practices for working journalists. As a result, it was disappointing that the wide-ranging conversations in journalism were passed over in favor of the micro-level fixes. Notably absent were the larger conversations happening in other sectors, such as the role of social media in the election, the future of free speech online, and how to report on tech companies. As Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, said, now that some of the biggest issues of our age are central to the practice of journalism in a digital environment, one might argue that the conference could benefit from focusing on connecting the conversation about much broader areas of policy and practice.

ICYMI: I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Megyn Kelly asking her to not run that show

Correction: Amy Webb lists 75 tech trends, not 78. The piece has also been updated to more accurately describe her comments on resources and the local news panel.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Nausicaa Renner is digital editor of CJR.
It was a sweltering July afternoon in the swamp, and a small group of well-dressed, conservative college students from across the countrythe next generation of Megyn Kellys, George Wills, and Tucker Carlsonswas filing into an auditorium at the Heritage Foundations Washington, DC, headquarters. They had come to study at the feet of Breitbart News Washington editor Matt Boyle, a zealous prophet of the new right-wing media. Boyles sermon was not about how to break into the mainstream media and steer the national news agenda toward conservative aimsit was about the end days of journalism itself. And he was not about to skimp on the fire and brimstone.

Journalistic integrity is dead, he declared. There is no such thing anymore. So everything is about weaponization of information. Standing behind a mahogany podium in a baggy dark suit, Boyle preached with the confidence of a true believer. In a stuttering staccato, he condemned the nations preeminent news outlets as corrupted institutions, built on a lie, and a criminal syndicate that needs to be dismantled. Boyle and his compatriots were laboring to usher in an imminentand gloriousjournalistic apocalypse. We envision a day when CNN is no longer in business. We envision a day when The New York Times closes its doors. I think that day is possible.

Squint at the Trump era, and its easy to see a conservative media in crisis. Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed the fall of Bill OReilly, the ouster (and death) of Roger Ailes, prominent conservative outlets from Fox News to Breitbart to The Wall Street Journal op-ed page erupt in upheaval and infighting, Milo Yiannopoulos lose his book deal, and Tomi Lahren lose her job at The Blaze (only to land at Fox). Look closer, though, and youll see that much of that drama was simply a function of the outlets increased political power (and the heightened scrutiny thats followed)a bit of routine turbulence accompanying the unprecedented ascent of the right-wing media.

ICYMI: You mightve seen the Timess Weinstein story. But did you miss the bombshell published days after?

While Donald Trumps rise may have, as Politicos Eliana Johnson recently wrote, scrambled the pecking order on the rightelevating Breitbartesque populists over the conservative intellectuals at the Journal and The Weekly Standardthe conservative media complex as a whole is bigger, stronger, and more influential today than its ever been. And with so many of its most powerful members now pursuing a scorched-earth assault on Americas journalistic institutions, its worth considering what they hope it will look like once theyre done burning down our villages, desecrating our temples, and howling at our lamentations.

Boyle said his goal was simple: The full destruction and elimination of the entire mainstream media. Breitbart played up his speech on its homepage that day, but the remarks barely registered in broader media circles. The site and its staff have become known for this kind of bluster, and most journalists have taught themselves to tune it out. Maybe we ought to be paying closer attention.

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There is a long tradition in Republican politics of seeking to discredit journalism. During the 1964 presidential campaign, Barry Goldwaters press secretary distributed gold pins to reporters that read Eastern Liberal Press. Richard Nixons vice president, Spiro Agnew, in 1969 railed against the closed fraternity of privileged men who ran the national news broadcasts. Nixons presidency was ultimately felled by reporters, but the critique lived on.

In the decades since, charges of liberal bias (some of them valid, others less so) have practically become an official plank of the GOP platform. The subject has inspired scores of books, countless talk-radio rants, and the creation of an entire cable news empire whose sloganFair and Balancedwas coined as a condemnation of its competitors.

Crucially, though, for most of that period conservatives maintained a civic-minded rationale for their project. They said they believed in the importance of nonpartisan journalism; in the necessity of a strong, independent press that provided the citizenry with an accurate account of the days events. Ultimately, they claimed, they were practicing tough loveoffering their criticisms in the spirit of reform. Bernard Goldberga CBS News veteran whose tell-all book Bias entered the conservative canon as soon as it was published in 2001captured this sentiment during a segment on The OReilly Factor. We all know that you cant live in a free country without a free press, Goldberg told host OReilly. But you know what else? You cant live in a free country for long without a fair press. We need a strong mainstream media. Thats why you and I criticize it.

Of course, some of this stated concern for the Fourth Estate and its lack of objectivity has been disingenuous. But there was value even in the playacting. By paying lip service to the ideal of fair and balanced news, conservatives helped sustain the post-WWII consensus that our modern democracy works best with a robust nonpartisan press functioning as the common denominator.

It was Donald Trump who dropped this pretense. Rather than conceal his true meaning with earnest pleas for a fairer press, he fired off tweets casting the media as enemy of the American people. Rather than feign reverence for the First Amendment, he promised to open up our libel laws to make suing journalists easier. At campaign rallies, he would keep reporters confined to metal press pens, and lead his crowds in a ritualistic booing. As someone who covered dozens of those events, I always thought I could tell when he was going through the motions with his press-bashing, and when he really meant it. During particularly bad news cycles, his voice would take on a growling quality, and hed punctuate his standard stump-speech line with an extra exclamation: Absolute scum. Remember that. Scum. Scum. Totally dishonest people.

Trumps histrionics were always strategic. He was able to successfully undermine months of critical coverage and dutiful fact-checking by casting reporters as villains. Each time his campaign was in trouble, the candidate escalated the culture war on the press. By the end of the election, we were not just biased or corruptwe were dangerous, conspiratorial, part of a shadowy globalist cabal. Just days after Trump was sworn into office, chief White House strategist Steve Bannon told The New York Times, Youre the opposition party. Not the Democratic Party . . . . The medias the opposition party.

Bannons first move after being dismissed from his White House posting was to huddle with the billionaire Republican donor Robert Mercer who has backed his right-wing populist media crusade. On the afternoon of his firing, he said in a statement to Joshua Green, author of Devils Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency, If theres any confusion out there, let me clear it up: Im leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponentson Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America.

It doesnt require an overly active imagination to picture the post-apocalyptic news landscape that so many conservatives seem to be working toward. Media fragmentation accelerates to warp speed. Agenda-driven publishersbe they professionally staffed websites or one-man YouTube channelschurn out narrowly tailored news for increasingly niche audiences. Theres still plenty of factual reporting to turn to when you want hurricane updates or celebrity news, and adversarial investigative journalism doesnt quite go out of style. But its easier than ever for news consumers to ensconce themselves in hermetically sealed information bubbles and ignore revelations that challenge their worldviews. For most people, news ceases to function as a means of enlightenment, and becomes fodder for vitriolic political debates that play out endlessly on social media. (Like I said, its not hard to imagine.) Inevitably, the rich and powerfulthose who can afford to buy and bankroll their own personal Pravdasbenefit most in this brave new world.

This is, of course, a worst-case scenario. But is it really so far-fetched? Already, many of the nations most important outletsthe publications and networks that comprise the core of American journalismhave seen their audience shrink and splinter; their credibility plummet among vast swathes of the public; and their financial futures turn bleak. If The New York Times and ABC News were to shut down or, more likely, dwindle into shells of their former selves, would they be replaced with new mega-outlets that share their resources, their reach, and their editorial values? Its possible. But it seems just as likely that they wouldnt be replaced at all.

This whole idea of media objectivity is relatively new, says Ben Shapiro, a former Breitbart editor at large who founded and runs the right-wing website Daily Wire. Like other conservatives I talked to, he envisions a return to the media conventions of centuries past, when news was delivered largely by the organs of parties and ideological movements. At the founding, it was a bunch of partisan press going after each other. If Shapiro had his way, the news would be a polemical free-for-all and media outlets would give up any pretense of non-partisanship. He dismissed the Pulitzer-winning fact-check site PolitiFact as a leftist outlet, and generally rejected the idea that any news organizations should be held up as grand arbiters of truth and falsity. The very notion, he says, is anti-democratic.

Basically, I think we ought to get away from drawing strict boundaries around journalism, Shapiro told me. He pointed to James OKeefe, a conservative activist who is famous for producing secretly recorded (and often selectively edited) videos that purport to expose the sins of academia, the media, and the government. Is he an activist? Shapiro asks. Yes. Does he commit journalism? Yes. Is he a journalist? Well, it depends on whether hes committing acts of journalism in that moment.

Ann Coulter, the vociferously pro-Trump pundit and author, echoed these sentiments in our email exchange. She told me that virtually all news coverage of the president by the elite mediaa group she says includes not just The Washington Post and NBC, but also many old-line conservative publicationshas been dishonest, frivolous, and pack-like. Chuck Todd agreeing with Jeff Flake about what a barbarian Trump is isnt news! Coulter says. I guess what Id like, in my ideal world, is that we all start arguing about issues and ideas.

I asked her if there was any room in that vision for news outlets that play a neutral, referee-like rolecontributing to the debate only by adding facts and debunking falsehoods. Coulter seemed uninterested in the question. The publications that have tried to serve that function, she contends, have become too screechy and inaccurate, and have rightly lost the publics trust. No serious person would trust either the NYT or WaPos FACT CHECK!

ICYMI: Former gossip columnist says theres one fact about his past relationship with Trump thats tough to admit

The concept of an obstinately objective press has been under assault in America for some time now, of course, and not just from the right. Critics like NYUs Jay Rosen argue persuasively that news outlets do a disservice to their audiences when they coat their journalism in a sheen of artificial neutrality. Better to aim for transparency, the argument goesto be honest about where youre coming from, and to then strive for fairness and open-minded engagement. But there is a considerable difference between the proponents of this theory and those who cynically celebrate the weaponization of information and the rise of alternative facts.

The so-called marketplace of ideas only works when reality serves as a regulating force. For constructive debates to take place in a society like oursand for national consensus to emerge on any given questionits essential we start from a broadly agreed-upon set of basic facts. Who will provide them if the mainstream media collapses into a melee of warring partisan publications?

Late one afternoon in July, I met with Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon, in a pizzeria on the ground floor of the Watergatethe DC office complex that stands today as a concrete brutalist monument to the most iconic journalistic triumph of the 20th century. Continetti is not a bomb-thrower by nature. He is polite and cerebral and meticulous about his dictionoften pausing for several seconds to consider his words before answering a question. On the day we met, he had just come from George Washington University, where he teaches a class on the history of the intellectual conservative movement.

Continetti grew up in the middle-class suburbs of northern Virginia with parents whom he describes as not particularly political. His conversion to conservatism came at Columbia University, while studying Platos Republic during an undergrad class on political philosophy. It was around this same time that he decided to pursue journalism, writing articles for the student newspaper as well as for a conservative national magazine called Campus. Aspiring journalists who lean to the right often face a choice as they prepare to enter the industry: try to carve out a career in the mainstream press, or follow the well-trod path into conservative media? Continetti opted for the latterworking as an intern at National Review while he was attending Columbia, and becoming a star writer at The Weekly Standard after graduating. (In 2012, he married Anne Kristol, the daughter of Bill Kristol, the magazines founder.)

The site Continetti edits today contains a fair amount of trollinga running series of Kate Upton clickbait; winking headlines like Greatest Living President Is Also Fantastic Painterbut it has also earned a reputation for real-deal journalism. Its reporters run down leads, work their sources, call for comment, and issue corrections when necessary. If a partisan press really is the future, we could do worse than the Free Beacon.

I hoped Continetti might have a more optimistic outlook on the world after the mainstream medias demise. But as we spoke, he was unremittingly bearish on the prospect that any 21st-century outlet could win the trust of a broad, diverse cross-section of news consumers. One of the reasons theres no common denominator in media is theres really no common denominator in American life, he told me. As a general rule, we are a divided society. We have very real disagreements about values, about whats important.

I couldnt help but interject: Shouldnt facts be the common denominator? I asked, painfully aware that I was exhibiting the kind of journalistic sanctimony that the Free Beacon regularly ridicules.

Continetti exhaled, patiently, and shook his head. I think the problem you describe is unsolvable, he told me. People are going to believe what they want. Its not my job to tell them what to believe. Its my job to edit a site that provides new information and adds value every day. Certainly, there are many people, like Howard Dean, who say its fake news. But OK, Im not going to control what Howard Dean thinks. He has every right. A smirk appeared on Continettis face. And I dont believe a word he says, either.

In many ways, Donald Trump was the perfect candidate to channel the conservative mediathe talk radio id personified and plopped onto a debate stage. As someone whose status as a perpetually aggrieved media critic long predated his conversion to conservatism, Trump quickly discovered that rank-and-file Republican voters were an enthusiastic audience for his gripes about the press. And as Trump worked to reinvent himself as a Republican political celebrity, he naturally took his cues from the popular right-wing media. His first major foray into conservative politics was as the worlds most famous birther, championing a conspiracy theory that was gaining steam on talk radio and right-wing blogs. Later, as a candidate, he punctuated his stump speeches with stories hed read on Breitbart and parroted the talking points hed picked up watching Fox & Friends.

Trump did face real opposition in the primaries from the conservative intelligentsia. Kristol and New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat were early and outspoken critics, while National Review published an entire anti-Trump issue in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. But those with the loudest megaphonespeople like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannitysaw Trumps affection for them and their tribe, and rewarded it by providing the kind of boosterism that Mitt Romney would have sold one of his sons for.

And so, when Trump won in 2016, it wasnt just a victory for him and his campaign. It was a coup for the conservative media, whose destructionist attitude toward the mainstream press can now be found at virtually every levelfrom the hosts of Fox News, to the ascendant internet personalities of the alt-right. Nothing is grander, nothing is more glorious, nothing is more satisfying, nothing is sweeter, nothing is more validating, nothing is better for America than the death of the mainstream medias political power, John Nolte crowed in the Daily Wire the day after the election.

The Gateway Pundit flatly declared, The mainstream media is your enemy. And Infowars captured the sentiment by featuring an editorial cartoon depicting right-wing media figures as asteroids hurtling toward earth where news-network dinosaurs await their extinction.

In a decidedly dystopian spin on service journalism, some in the conservative media have begun providing their audiences with how-to guides for finishing off the journalistic establishment. Limbaugh told his listeners they should stop consuming news from the mainstream press altogether. Ill let you know what theyre up to, he assured them. And as a bonus, Ill nuke it! Hannity urged his viewers to start targeting individual journalistsand their bosseson social media. And the alt-right blogger Roosh Valizadeh has called for a coordinated campaign of bullying aimed at reporters. Make them appear as uncool salarymen in the eyes of the public, he wrote. Mock their appearance, their mannerisms, and their weaknesses.

It would be easy to dismiss all this as performative, and ultimately harmless, trolling. But if the Trump era has taught us anything, it should be that these elements of the conservative media are not to be underestimated. In 2016, they conquered the Republican Party. Now theyre coming for the press.

Mainstreams right turn

Todays right-wing media world didnt surface overnight. Below, a timeline of its development.

Pete Vernon

1947

Henry Regnery founds conservative book and magazine company Regnery Publishing. William F. Buckley Jr. later advises him: I would recommend that you state that in your opinion an objective reading of the facts tends to make one conservative and Christian; that therefore your firm is both objective and partisan in behalf of these values.

1954

Clarence Manion begins the Manion Forum radio show, of which he bragged, Every speaker over our network has been 100 percent Right Wing . . . . You may rest assured, no Left Winger, no international Socialist, no One-Worlder, no Communist will ever be heard over the 110 stations of the Manion Forum network.

1964

So frequently does Barry Goldwaters presidential campaign complain about bias in the coverage of his candidacy that his press secretary jovially hands out pins that read Eastern Liberal Press to the reporters on the campaign plane.

1969

Vice President Spiro Agnew gives a televised speech complaining about how President Richard Nixons Vietnam War policies are covered by the press. Perhaps the place to start looking for a credibility gap is not in the offices of the Government in Washington, he says, but in the studios of the networks in New York.

1973

Nixon supporters dismiss the Watergate scandal as a witch hunt by a liberal media. Watergate, says Senator Jesse Helms, became the lever by which embittered liberal pundits have sought to reverse the 1972 conservative judgment of the people.

1988

The Rush Limbaugh Show quickly becomes one of the countrys most popular syndicated radio programs. In those days the mainstream liberals had a media monopoly, Limbaugh later says. Nobody did political talk, let alone conservative political talk.

1996

Announcing the Fox News Channel, its chief executive Roger Ailes says the 24-hour news network would like to restore objectivity where we find it lacking . . . . We just expect to do fine, balanced journalism.

2004

Dan Rather steps down as CBS Evening News anchor after memos in a CBS report alleging George W. Bush received preferential treatment while serving in the Texas Air National Guard are revealed by conservative bloggers as fakes.

2009

Andrew Breitbart announces that his eponymous website will launch a Big Journalism vertical with the intention to fight the mainstream media . . . who have repeatedly, and under the guise of objectivity and political neutrality, promoted a blatantly left-of-center, pro-Democratic Party agenda.

2016

Donald Trump makes attacks against journalists a hallmark of his presidential campaign. He bans a number of outlets from attending his rallies and events. Less than a month after taking office, Trump refers to the media in a tweet as the enemy of the American People!

ICYMI: The first reporter to arrive at Vegas gunmans house has covered the story in many waysexcept one

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

McKay Coppins is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He was previously a reporter for BuzzFeed News, where he covered two presidential campaigns, and before that he wrote for Newsweek. He is the author of The Wilderness, a book about the battle over the future of the Republican Party.
As Delaware lawmakers consider legalizing recreational marijuana they should take a go-slow approach and address a wide range of health and safety concerns, members of a special task force were told Wednesday.

Keep it simple. Keep it restricted, John Yeomans, director of the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, told members of the Adult Use Cannabis Task Force as he outlined a host of law enforcement concerns, including the need to prevent driving under the influence and distribution of marijuana to minors.

The panel also heard from a representative of the state Chamber of Commerce, which wants employers to be immune from liability for pot-related workplace injuries, and to be allowed to adopt zero-tolerance policies if Delaware were to legalize marijuana.

Tim Holly, an attorney who co-chairs the chambers employer advocacy and education committee, also said the terms under the influence and impaired need to be clearly defined by statute before any legalization scheme is implemented. He also said employers should not be required to pay unemployment benefits for workers who are dismissed for marijuana use.

Meanwhile, Kim Robbins, representing the Delaware Pharmacist Society, warned that marijuana can react negatively with several types of prescription medications, including antibiotics, diabetes medicines, and drugs used to control cholesterol levels.

Robbins said that while pharmacists could lose their licenses if they were to distribute marijuana, they perform an important role in educating the public. She suggested that any marijuana dispensary have a pharmacist on site to serve in a consulting role. Robbins also said the state should consider setting up a monitoring system to ensure that marijuana buyers arent going from dispensary to dispensary to stockpile large amounts of weed.

Jamie Mack, a policy leader with the Division of Public Health, said that, for food safety reasons, any marijuana edibles should be limited initially to shelf-stable products that do not require refrigeration or heating.

Given that this is a new market, we feel its better to start simple, he said. If things go well, you can expand later.

While eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational use of marijuana, each has done so through referendum, which Delaware does not allow. That leaves the possibility that Delaware could be the first state to implement legalization through the legislative process.

A legalization bill introduced by Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington, stalled in the legislature earlier this year, prompting her to introduce a resolution establishing the task force, which she co-chairs.

I think theres a lot of fear out there that Delawares going to fall off the East Coast if we do this, but I dont believe that to be true, she said. But if we can make individual citizens in the state of Delaware more comfortable with the idea and roll it out maybe more slowly, then thats something as a task force we have to look at.

The task force faces a Jan. 31 deadline for reporting to the governor and General Assembly, but Keeley said that deadline may be pushed back to allow for more input by interested parties.

At its next meeting in November, the panel will consider banking, economic and tax issues related to marijuana legalization.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hawaii officials are working to raise awareness of the top cause of drowning for people visiting Hawaii: snorkeling.

Out of 650 ocean drownings from 2007 to 2016, the state Department of Health has recorded 169 as related to the common ocean activity, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on Saturday. A total of 156 of those deaths were of tourists to the islands.

Motor vehicle crashes were the next highest cause of visitor deaths, with 85 recorded during the same period.

The numbers have prompted a state committee to explore ways to help prevent the deaths. Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services have teamed up with a major visitor television channel to air public service announcements on snorkeling safety in 25,000 hotel rooms on the island of Oahu.

On Oahu so far this year, 16 ocean drownings have occurred. Hanauma Bay, a popular snorkeling spot on Oahu that hosts about 1 million visitors each year, had 16 snorkeling-related drownings during the nine-year period.

Lifeguards rescue about four to five people every day at the bay, Ocean Safety Lt. Kawika Eckart said.

More novice swimmers or people without any kind of ocean skills tend to go snorkeling because its looked on as a really safe activity, Eckart said. Youre not getting into the surf. Youve got fins, a mask and snorkel on, so theres a false sense of security.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
RACINE  The citys transit system kicked off RYDE To Work Week with free coffee and snacks for people filtering through the Corinne Reed Owens Transit Center on Monday morning.

The weeklong event is the latest effort to promote a new brand, RYDE, for the citys transit system, formerly known as the Belle Urban System or the BUS. On Monday Mike Maierle, the citys transit and parking system manager, also made it clear that while the city is focused on promoting its new brand, it has an eye on the progress on Mount Pleasants Foxconn development.

In June, the city and then-Mayor John Dickert unveiled the RYDE branding after working with Milwaukee-based firm 2 Story. RYDE Manager Willie MacDonald said on Monday that he hopes the week will continue to combat any negative perception surrounding the transit system.

We want to change the look and the thought process about what the bus system offers, he said.

As part of the week, MacDonald said the transit system offered 50 RYDE passes to any local business that wanted to participate in the week and added that passes are still available. Maierle added that the week will help remind Racinians that the public transportation is an important part of the local economy.

We transport 1,700 people a day, to their jobs, to school, Maierle said. Without that, those people would be in rough shape.

The rebrand, spearheaded by 2 Story owner and president Ellen Homb, also is about appealing to a younger audience with more dynamic graphics, according to Maierle. Homb said shes heard of walk to work week and bike to work week, but that according to her research, the idea of riding the bus to work for a week is an original thing.

We would like to promote awareness about what transit has to offer for folks, Homb said. Its more of an awareness campaign to get the people in the area who might not ride the bus to give it a shot.

Foxconn spectre looming

Homb said the timing of the campaign is improved significantly by the recent announcement of Foxconns arrival in Mount Pleasant. Since RYDE extends into Mount Pleasant, Caledonia, Sturtevant and Yorkville, Maierle believes the transit system could be significantly impacted by the Taiwanese technology giant.

Its all about partnerships, Maierle said. We are not really just the Racine transit system. We are the Racine-area transit system. We have so far been able to ignore physical boundaries, and thats because of the cooperation.

Maierle anticipates that those relationships would continue. While he doesnt necessarily think Foxconn will hit its lofty 13,000-job goal, he put that number into perspective.

Even 2 percent of 13,000 jobs is 260 people, he said. Thats a lot of buses right there, even if we were just moving 2 percent. We would be looking at increasing our capacity. Wed have to get some buses and that would be an expansion of our service.

Whats next for RYDE

Homb hopes that down the road, RYDE can partner with local organizations such as the Racine Public Library to promote more integrated weeks, such as a Read and RYDE week. Additionally, while many of the citys buses have been outfitted with the RYDE design, 2 Story is still working on updating the citys route signs and shelters with the new look.

Well work on a plan for moving forward for next year based on budget and see what we can do from an awareness campaign point of view, Homb added.
watch now

North Korea is widely expected to conduct another missile test within the next ten days to mark two major political events. Some kind of provocation could arrive as early as Tuesday, Oct. 10, as the rogue nation celebrates the 72nd anniversary of its ruling Workers Party, experts said. Oct. 18, which marks the beginning of China's 19th Party Congress, could be another ideal opportunity for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to act out against stinging sanctions. Both events are "good opportunities for Kim to make headlines, and intelligence suggests that Pyongyang is moving missiles to prepare for another test," said Scott Seaman, Asia director at political consultancy Eurasia, in a recent note.

Oct 10: Party Foundation Day

Oct. 10, or Party Foundation Day, is an annual public holiday in the secretive state. It's typically celebrated by military parades, speeches and performances. This year, a ballistic missile test could be on the docket too. "The North Koreans love to fire off their missiles or have their nuclear tests coincide with a big anniversary. That's the way they operate....On the 10th, there might be some kind of missile fired," Evelyn Farkas, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. On Oct. 15 last year, Pyongyang carried out its seventh test of the intermediate-range ballistic missile known as Musudan and followed up with another test on Oct 19. Russian lawmaker Anton Morozov, fresh from a visit to the nuclear-armed state, said he believes Kim "intends to launch one more long-range missile in the near future," Russia's RIA news agency reported last week. "They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the West Coast of the United States," RIA quoted him as saying.

watch now

President Donald Trump's inflammatory language could also motivate Pyongyang to stage further provocations. On Saturday, Trump said on Twitter that years of diplomacy and financial incentives had failed to sway the communist regime and that "only one thing will work," hinting at the prospect of armed conflict. Trump's remarks could "further dampen Pyongyang's already minimal desire to pursue a diplomatic settlement before it acquires the nuclear-capable ICBM that Kim believes would allow him to engage in talks from a position of strength," said Eurasia's Seaman.

Oct 18: China's biggest political event
Nvidia on Tuesday unveiled what it says is the world's first artificial intelligence computer system designed to drive fully autonomous robotaxis, and said it plans to make a fleet of autonomous trucks.

The company claims the new system, code named Pegasus, will handle Level 5 driverless vehicles  vehicles that can be operated entirely by sensors and computers, with no human interaction.

Nvidia shares jumped more than 3 percent on the news after the market opened Tuesday.

The system will include several chips, including Nvidia's next-generation GPU, which is due out next year, plus artificial intelligence software, in a package that the company boasts is the "size of a license plate"  a huge reduction from the massive racks of computers required today. The system's capabilities represent more than a tenfold increase over the current system, Nvidia said in a news release.

"It is designed for truly level 5 driving," meaning no steering wheel, no gas or brake pedal, Nvidia automotive senior director said Danny Shapiro on a call with reporters on Monday. Nvidia said it is working with several companies on developing robotaxis, but Shapiro declined to name them.

Pegasus will be available to Nvidia automotive partners in the second half of 2018. Pricing was not disclosed.

The company also announced it will partner with automotive supplier ZF to make a test fleet of autonomous delivery trucks for Deutsche Post DHL Group by 2018. DPDHL is the world's largest mail and package delivery service, Shapiro said.

The fleet will combine sensors, cameras, radar and lidar, and the ZF ProAI self-driving system, which is based on Drive PX.

The technology is expected to improve DPDHL's efficiency considerably by enabling 24/7 hour package delivery.

The company is also allowing some designers and developers access to its Holodeck virtual reality development platform, which lets designers test ideas in a realistic 3-D world.
More than 56 percent of Americans think college debt poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than the North Korean leader, based on a survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older, taken in September.

There is no question that student debt is on the rise. More than 44 million Americans have taken out loans to pay for college and their debt totals $1.4 trillion. For those in their 20s, the average debt is $22,135. For those in their 30s, it's $34,033.

"Kim Jong Un is a rogue dictator that will soon have the ability to attack the U.S. with a nuclear missile, which sounds a bit more pressing than student loan debt," said David Chen, the founder of Millennial Personal Finance.
Dr. Atul Gawande, CEO of Haven, a joint venture between Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway to figure out how to bring down the costs of health care and insurance.

Surgeon, bestselling author and MacArthur Foundation "genius" Atul Gawande took the stage at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday to say that seeing a primary care physician on a regular basis is relatively cheap and easy, yet it can save your life. But Medicaid cuts, he warned, may strip you of that opportunity. Gawande echoed a key point he has also made in writing: "Incremental care  regular, ongoing care as opposed to heroic, emergency care  is the greatest source of value in modern medicine." In June, when Senate Republicans first unveiled their plan to cut Medicaid and end the mandate that guarantees Americans health insurance, he explained why that posed such a danger: "There is clear evidence that people who get sufficient incremental care enjoy better prevention, earlier diagnosis and management of urgent conditions, better control of chronic illnesses, and longer life spans." Getting a regular physical is vital, in other words. Even life-saving.

Some people who don't realize this assume primary care physicians are dispensable. After all, compared to a specialist, they seem less knowledgeable. On the festival stage, Gawande told the story of a surgeon friend of his who spoke on the phone with a primary care physician about a patient. The surgeon told the physician that the patient had a glioma, a brain tumor, and the physician responded, "What's a glioma?"  a term anyone with a Bachelor's of Science degree should know. Sometimes "there's just too much to know," conceded Gawande, who is himself an endocrine specialist. So how can it be that the physician providing incremental care offers the most valuable service in health care? For one, Gawande explained, your regular doctor offers something unique: long-term relationships. If you see the same doctor over the course of many years and need a diagnosis, that doctor will be able to integrate all of the information she knows about you from throughout the years you've visited her. Additionally, when you get to know your doctor and grow comfortable with her, you have a "lower threshold for seeking attention." If you think something might be wrong, you'll be more inclined to go in for a visit and, in many cases, address the issue before it becomes more serious. This is called the Primary Care Paradox. "For any given situation, specialists are better," said Gawande, "yet having a primary care physician is better for long-term life." Cuts to Medicaid threaten access to this type of incremental care.

The Senators wary of signing the Graham-Cassidy Bill, the Republicans' recent effort to repeal Obamacare that collapsed late in September, criticized how it rolled back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and also how it proposed deep cuts to Medicaid. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the repeal would've left millions more Americans without coverage  which would have meant millions more unable to afford incremental care. Some reform of America's health care system is needed, Gawande agreed. In its current state, it's flawed. For one, its poor performance doesn't justify its enormous expense. In an analysis of the health systems of 11 Western high-income countries, the Commonwealth Fund ranked America 11th. "These results are troubling because the U.S. has the highest per capita health expenditures of any country and devotes a larger percentage of its GDP to health care than any other country," the report notes.
BAE Systems will shed 2,000 jobs as new chief executive Charles Woodburn tries to shake up Britain's biggest defense contractor in the face of dwindling orders for the Typhoon fighter jet.

The Eurofighter Typhoon has won fewer orders this year than the rival Rafale built by France's Dassault Aviation, as a major order expected from Saudi Arabia has not materialized, although Qatar agreed to buy 24 Typhoon and six Hawk trainer jets in September.

Woodburn, who took over as chief executive in July, plans a major overhaul of the non-U.S. operations of Britain's preeminent defense supplier, including revamping its air and maritime operations and simplifying management structures.

"These changes will drive competitiveness; accelerate technology innovation; and deliver continued improvements in efficiency and operational excellence," the company said in a statement.

Britain's Unite union vowed to fight the "devastatingly short sighted" job losses that it said would undermine the sovereign defense capability of one of the European Union's top two military powers.

BAE, which has been the backbone of Britain's defense industry for decades, employs 34,600 people in the country out of a global workforce of 83,100.

Britain will look to support BAE and its workers, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said. BAE said it will also cut around 375 jobs at its maritime operations, which design the Britain new Dreadnought class of nuclear submarine. Maritime accounted for a quarter of its sales, while its land unit, which builds combat vehicles, accounts for 16 percent.

It will also cut 150 jobs at its Applied Intelligence unit that helps companies and governments fight cyber-warfare.

Defence analyst Howard Wheeldon said the cuts were essentially due to a gap in orders emerging in key programs such as Typhoon and Hawk, and other programs, such as support work for the Tornado jet, also ending soon.

"It is the stamp of a new CEO who has looked across the group and decided where it needs to be heading," he said.

"It takes out a management layer and lays out a new structure and the people for the years ahead."
Rep. James Clyburn (R) (D-SC) looks on as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks about health care on Capitol Hill, June 26, 2017 in Washington, DC.

In an opinion piece for Vice Impact, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) discusses what he believes America actually needs to become "great": High-quality higher education delivered to citizens for free. What would help is "not spending tens of billions more on or providing trillions in tax breaks for the rich," he writes. "It is having a well-educated population that can compete in the global economy, and making it possible that every American, regardless of income, has the opportunity to get the education they need to thrive." However, he writes, "we are moving further and further away from that goal," thanks to the high cost of college. have taken out student loans to pay for school, with their debt totaling $1.4 trillion. The for 20-year-olds is $22,135. For 30-year-olds, it's $34,033. And while wages aren't rising much, . That could explain why the number of loan defaults .

"Our system of higher education is in a state of crisis," Sanders writes. "As tuition and fees rise and states cut funding for colleges and universities, American families are finding it difficult to afford college. "Millions of graduates have had to take on life-long debt for the 'crime' of getting the education they need," he says. "For most, this debt will take many years to repay, which not only impacts their career choices, but also their ability to get married, have kids or buy a home." Nearly 60 percent of borrowers don't expect to finish paying their loans , and less than 20 percent of Americans say they're living the American Dream because . What's more, a survey of 1,000 Americans found nearly half said high costs were a factor in their decision not to pursue an education after high school. Of those who started but didn't complete a post-secondary program, 59 percent said the price was a factor. For these reasons, Sanders wants to make college free. "In the richest country in the history of the world," he writes, "everyone who has the desire and the ability should be able to get a college education regardless of their background and ability to pay."

This is not a radical idea. Many nations around the world invest in an educated workforce that isn't burdened with enormous student debt. Bernie Sanders U.S. Senator, I-Vt.

He adds, "This is not a radical idea. Many nations around the world invest in an educated workforce that isn't burdened with enormous student debt." In Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, for instance, Sanders points out that public colleges and universities are free. In Germany, public colleges are free to both native and international students. Some officials are working toward a similar system in the United States. This year, Sanders introduced the College for All Act, which aims to make colleges and universities tuition-free for families that earn $125,000 per year or less. That, he notes, covers 86 percent of the population. The City College San Francisco has begun , and, in New York, students can now have the chance to . Similar programs have been launched in Tennessee, Oregon, Detroit and Chicago.
More Americans are going to college than ever before, but students face unprecedented challenges. Over 44 million Americans collectively hold more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt and only 54.8 percent of students graduate in six years. This means that millions of Americans are taking on thousands of dollars in debt without a diploma to show for it. Even though he dropped out of college himself, Bill Gates says that college dropout rates need to be addressed. He told students, "The U.S. has the highest college dropout rate. We're number one in terms of the number of people who start college but we're like number 20 in terms of the number of people who finish college."

Gates says that while it's great that more than 2 million American students will start college this fall, high dropout rates are cause for concern. He writes on his blog, "Based on the latest college completion trends, only about half of all those students (54.8 percent) will leave college with a diploma. The rest  most of them low-income, first-generation, and minority students  will not finish a degree. They'll drop out." "This is tragic," he says. "Not just for the students and their families, but for our nation. Without more graduates, our country will face a shortage of skilled workers and fewer low-income families will get the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty."
Bitcoin appeared to have a flash crash on Tuesday morning after falling over $600 in a few minutes, but only one index logged the price move.

The digital currency had hit a high of $4,867 early on Monday, according to industry website CoinDesk, its highest since September 2. But the same index showed that it dropped by over $600 to a low of $4,200 at roughly 9:00 a.m. London time.

It was down some 12 percent for the session but quickly recovered within moments and was trading at $4,787 by 9:10 a.m. London time.

The CoinDesk bitcoin price index is made up of the average price from four exchanges: Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit, and OKCoin. Other indexes like Brave New Coin's bitcoin liquid index showed no flash crash. Nor did CryptoCompare.com.

CNBC checked the four exchanges that make up the CoinDesk bitcoin price index, but none showed any sign of a flash crash. CNBC has reached out to CoinDesk to see whether it may have been a problem with its own index.

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At around the same time as the crash, the Russian central bank proposed fresh restrictions on exchanges selling the cryptocurrency.

Sergei Shvetsov, the first deputy governor at the Russian central bank, described the currency as "dubious" on Tuesday morning, according to Reuters.

"We can not stand apart. We can not give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail (investors)," Shetsov said, according to the news agency.

Shvetsov, speaking at a conference in Moscow, said that Russia will block access to the websites of exchanges that offer cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

But it's thought unlikely that any regulatory change in Russia would move the price that much given that the country accounts for a very tiny portion of the entire bitcoin market.
All eyes are on Catalonia to see whether the region's leader and its parliament could declare a unilateral declaration of independence when it meets on Tuesday afternoon.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is set to address the regional parliament in Barcelona at 5:00 p.m. London time and speculation is mounting that he could declare independence, despite increasing political and economic pressure being placed on the wealthy northeastern region of Spain.

Puigdemont has been threatened with arrest if he does declare independence, as he has previously said he would do once all the results from the symbolic referendum vote, held a week ago on Sunday, were counted and the results presented to parliament. This assembly was meant to take place on Monday but Spain's Constitutional Court suspended the session.

The potential risks of such a move are great with political and economic isolation a big threat to the prosperous region. A number of high-profile businesses and banks Caixabank and Sabadell have said they would relocate their headquarters out of Catalonia, fearing that any declaration of independence would leave the region isolated, outside of both Spain and the European Union.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of anti-independence protesters marched through Barcelona at the weekend, showing strong support for remaining a part of Spain. Meanwhile on Monday, France said it would not recognize an independent Catalonia and Germany has stressed its support for Spanish unity, adding to criticism of the separatists from other European leaders.

For its part, the EU has said an independent Catalonia would find itself outside the economic and political bloc and has so far declined to mediate in the dispute.
The leader of Catalonia has stopped short of declaring independence from Spain, calling instead for international mediation in a dispute that threatens to fracture Europe's fifth-largest economy.

Carles Puigdemont, in a speech on Tuesday to the breakaway region's parliament in Barcelona, said the people of Catalonia had won the right to independence. The current relationship between Catalonia and the Spanish government is unsustainable, Puigdemont said.

But the Catalan leader asked Calatonia's parliament to suspend the effects of the region voting "yes" for independence and called for dialogue with the Spanish government. Puigdemont said it is worth exploring international mediation between Catalonia and Spain.

The current crisis in relations between Catalonia and Spain comes after pro-separatist sentiment in the wealthy northeast region came to a head with a symbolic referendum on independence on October 1. Then, around 90 percent of the 2.26 million voters who went to the polls said they wanted independence, although turnout was low at 42 percent.

Since the vote, which was marred by a police crackdown on voters, relations between the Spanish government and separatists have reached a low point with little, if any, communication between the two sides.

France and Germany, the two most powerful countries in the European Union, oppose Catalonia's bid for independence. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that the European Union should not mediate in the crisis. Spain's government is able to handle the situation on its own, Macron said.
A young man shouts slogans at the head of the demonstration. Massive demonstration in Barcelona in defense of the unity of Spain. Nearly a million people have joined the call of Cata

"(Puigdemont) will probably not say anything directly but will say (something like) it's the first step to a Catalan republic and we are against that," she told CNBC Tuesday.

Esther Niubo, a member of the Socialists Party of Catalonia (PSC), which opposes independence but is pro-reform, told CNBC that she expected an "indirect" declaration of independence but her party remained hopeful for a last-minute change of heart.

Most political analysts believe that Puigdemont  who has been threatened with arrest if he does makes a unilateral declaration of independence in parliament  will make a more veiled statement to lawmakers and could allude to an eventual, rather than immediate, separation from Spain.

The clock is ticking down towards a meeting of the Catalan parliament Tuesday afternoon at which regional leader Carles Puigdemont is widely expected to make some kind of declaration of independence.

"And one of the reasons is that we don't have a social majority for that so this is why our party is saying 'please don't do this,' because the consequences of (independence) will be very negative for all Catalans and all Spanish."

The current crisis in relations between Catalonia and Spain comes after pro-separatist sentiment in the wealthy northeast region came to a head with a symbolic referendum on independence on October 1. Then, around 90 percent of the 2.26 million voters who went to the polls said they wanted independence, although turnout was low at 42 percent.

Since the vote, which was marred by a police crackdown on voters, relations between the Spanish government and separatists have reached a low point with little, if any, communication between the two sides. Niubo said that dialog was necessary and hoped that reform of the Spanish constitution could follow in order to recognize Catalonia's distinct identity.

"We have presented a proposal to reform the Spanish constitution because we believe that Catalans needs better recognition of their cultural identity, that Spain is a nation of nations we think that a reform would serve to improve and to give an answer to the political situation that we have in Catalonia today," she said, adding that such reforms and a new deal on autonomy could then be put to the public in a referendum.

"We are not for independence but we don't want the status quo, we need a reform of the Spanish constitution because the situation cannot remain like this," she added.

If Puigdemont does make an unequivocal declaration of independence, the Spanish government is expected to invoke Article 155 of the Constitution, allowing it to revoke the Catalan government's powers.

Businesses are already worried about the political uncertainty with several big firms stating that they will relocate their headquarters outside of Catalonia, moves that could damage the Catalan economy.

The president of cava-maker Freixenet  one of those firms saying it is considering a move if Catalonia becomes independent  told CNBC on Tuesday that both Spain and Catalonia had made "great strides in recovering from financial crisis" and that independence could ruin that.

"(Any) independence of Catalonia would not only impact the region, it would be catastrophic to the Spanish and even European economy," Josep Lluis Bonet, the president of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce and Freixenet, told CNBC.

"Everyone has responsibility for this situation but some more than others," he said, adding to calls for negotiations between Catalonia and Spain.

"This is a situation that needs a solution through dialogue, but dialogue done within the law, through a constitutional framework. Not dialogue outside of the law," he said.
Outgoing German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Tuesday that he had not "decisively shaped" Europe's future during the last eight years, despite having helped to make progress to reduce economic risk.

Schaeuble has served as Germany's federal minister of finance since 2009, in the second and third Angela Merkel-led governments. The current Eurogroup and Ecofin meeting in Brussels will be his last before he steps down.

When asked by CNBC Tuesday about his own contribution to the European project, Schaeuble said he understood that others would disagree with him.

"If you think you have done everything right in any time of your political life, then you didn't understand it correctly and that is also what I try to make clear to myself," he said. "You always tend to think everything you do is correct, but naturally freedom is based on the principle that there are different opinions and that other opinions are just as legitimate as your own."

The advocate of austerity further played down the importance of his contribution.

"There is little sense to analyze your past when you take a new step in your life," Schaeuble said. "After all, it is not the case that in the past eight years the world's history has been decisively shaped by the fact that some person was finance minister in some country. You should not overrate it."

Schaeuble added that politicians had made great progress in the stabilization of the European economy but high levels of debt meant that vigilance needed to be maintained.

"That is precisely the reason why the central banks and us  central bank governors and finance ministers are having regular debates during the G20 process  work on how we can minimize potential risks resulting from this situation. That is what I have worked for in the past eight years, and I think we have made good progress," he said.

Following the German elections in September, Schaeuble was nominated by the majority CDU/CSU parliamentary group to be the next president of the Bundestag.
Airline stocks surged on Tuesday after American Airlines slightly raised its estimate for a key revenue metric and United forecast better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter.

Delta's competitors are facing profit declines too, analysts said. Forecasts showed a 36 percent year-over-year decline to $1.99 a share for United Continental Holdings , which reports Oct. 18, while July-September profits at American Airlines will likely come in 24 percent lower than the year-earlier quarter at $1.34 a share, according to analysts. Estimates for domestic behemoth Southwest's earnings per share will likely drop 6.1 percent to 0.87 cents, analysts said.

The airline last week warned investors that Hurricane Irma cost it $120 million and trimmed its operating margin forecast to a range of 15.5 percent to 16.5 percent, from its estimate in July of a margin as high as 20 percent for the third quarter.

Delta Air Lines , the second-largest U.S. carrier by traffic and the largest by market capitalization, will likely post earnings per share of $1.53, a decline of 10.1 percent, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Delta reports before the market opens on Wednesday. Analysts forecast Delta's quarterly revenue at $11.03 billion, a 5.2 percent increase over the July-September quarter of 2016.

But analysts expect the largest U.S. airlines to post lower third-quarter profits, after carriers faced higher costs, hurricanes and competition during what is usually a busy quarter for travel.

Air travel demand worldwide rose more than 7 percent in August alone from a year earlier, and airlines worldwide carried a record 3.8 billion passengers last year, according to the International Air Transport Association industry group.

Consumers have the travel bug but airlines are struggling to increase profits.

These are some of the topics airlines will likely address on earnings calls as investors question whether they can turn more travelers into bigger profits:

Labor and fuel

Fuel prices rose around 25 percent in the third quarter and costs spiked after Hurricane Harvey slammed into Houston in August, temporarily knocking out refinery operations. The cost of jet fuel, often airlines' second-biggest expense after labor, was about 20 percent more costly in the third quarter than in the year-earlier period, according to S&P Global Platts.

Investors will also look for updates on labor costs. American earlier this year announced mid-contract raises for pilots and flight attendants, and its stock plunged. Delta earlier this year announced a change to its profit-sharing regime that would pay all employees 10 percent of pretax income up to $2.5 billion and 20 percent above that amount.

Cabin segmentation and fare increases

Airlines have introduced new cabin classes as they face competition from low-cost airlines.

American and United this year followed Delta in offering basic economy, the offering formerly known as economy, but without perks like overhead bin access, the ability to select a seat and change your flight. American Airlines' president, Robert Isom, said in late September that half of travelers book the higher regular economy fare when considering no-frills basic economy.

Airlines are also rolling out premium economy class, which offers passengers more legroom and other perks like amenities kits and sometimes, better meals, in exchange for a higher fare.

Pay special attention to a key revenue metric known as the revenue per available seat mile, which measures how much money airlines make from every seat it flies a mile.

Raising fares is like walking a tightrope for airlines because if they fail to increase prices, investors may become impatient with low revenue growth, but carriers risk losing customers if they raise prices too much.

Storms

Powerful storms struck hubs of large U.S. airlines. Delta said it had to cancel 2,200 flights due to Hurricane Irma, while American called off more than 8,000 flights because of hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria.

Airlines will likely update investors on their outlook for demand for travel to the Caribbean in the coming peak travel season for the region, after successive, deadly storms caused billions of dollars in damage to islands including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Trade and the 'America First' welcome mat

Airlines will likely provide some insight into demand in the international and domestic markets, and shed some light on demand not just of U.S. travelers but of visitors traveling to the U.S.

On trade, Delta was seeking a leg up on regional competitors when it inked a deal in April 2016 with Bombardier for 75 C-Series jets. A year-and-a-half later, Delta is caught in a trade war between the Canadian aircraft maker and Boeing . The U.S. Commerce Department most recently ruled the airline must pay a significant tariff, but the final International Trade Commission ruling will not come until February of next year.
Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she is "shocked and appalled" by sexual assault and harassment allegations against movie mogul-Democratic donor Harvey Weinstein.

"The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated," the former secretary of State said in a statement. "Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

In the statement, Clinton did not say whether her campaign would donate contributions she had received from Weinstein. A spokesman for Clinton did not immediately respond to questions from CNBC about the donations.

Prominent Democrats have faced pressure to disavow Weinstein and donate his campaign contributions to charity since reports this month in The New York Times and New Yorker detailed numerous sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein over decades. The Weinstein Company, the production firm he co-founded, fired him on Sunday.

Later Tuesday, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama released a statement voicing their disgust with recent reports about Weinstein:

Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein. Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture  including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect - so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future.

Earlier this year, Obama daughter Malia landed an internship at the Weinstein Company.

Democratic senators including Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have said they will transfer the amounts they received from Weinstein to charity.

Weinstein donated to Clinton's presidential campaign last year and contributed to her Senate runs in 2006 and 2000, according to Federal Election Commission records. He gave more than $30,000 to the Clinton's joint fundraising committee with the Democratic Party.

Weinstein also contributed $5,400 to her campaign committee.

Weinstein's spokeswoman responded to the latest allegations in a statement to the Times on Tuesday.

"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. He will not be available for further comments, as he is taking the time to focus on his family, on getting counseling and rebuilding his life," she said.

--CNBC's Mike Calia contributed to this report.
Allergan CEO Brent Saunders is interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

A coalition of 10 groups spanning hospitals, health insurers and generic-drug makers sent a letter to Congressional leaders Tuesday asking it to examine Allergan's controversial patent deal with a Native American tribe, adding voices to a growing chorus denouncing the arrangement.

"This issue deserves the prompt attention of Congress, and we encourage you to vigorously apply your oversight authority," wrote the group, which included America's Health Insurance Plans, American Hospital Association and the Association for Accessible Medicines.

The letter was addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer.

The letter came after at least nine congressmen already raised objections to the deal, in which Allergan transferred patents to its $1.4 billion eye drug Restasis to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, whose sovereign immunity could shield it from certain patent challenges from generic-drug makers. The industry groups, in their letter, argued more companies will follow suit if Allergan is successful.

"Allergan's transfer of patent ownership rights to the Saint Regis tribe is a brazen attempt to circumvent U.S. law and engineer a mechanism to maintain monopolistic high drug prices," the group wrote.
Impossible Objects has developed commercial 3-D printers that can churn out parts that are ready to use in cars, planes, computers and more.

Many 3-D printers can form prototypes but not components that are structurally sound enough to be used in final products, especially if those products need to fly or drive.

According to Impossible Objects CEO Larry Kaplan, the company's technology works something like a laminator on steroids:

"You feed a stack of sheets into our printers that are made of non-woven textiles like carbon fiber, Kevlar or what have you. Then, something like an ink jet head prints a water-based solution on those to draw a cross-section of the object you want to produce. Each sheet goes into a system that drops plastic powder where the 'ink' is wet. You then heat and press the stack of sheets together. As the stack is pressed, the plastic powder forms into the shape you created, capturing the fiber."

Impossible Objects' Model One printers are already being used by major manufacturers in the U.S., chairman and founder Bob Swartz told CNBC. These include Jabil and Aurora Flight Sciences, the aerospace company recently acquired by Boeing .

Swartz said his start-up, based in Northbrook, Illinois, has newly closed a $6.4 million round of venture funding to make and distribute its printers and the materials that go in them. Investors included OCA Ventures and IDEA Fund Partners.

Impossible Objects' technology appeals to manufacturers because it works with composites including carbon fiber, Kevlar and fiberglass, Swartz said. These materials are both strong and lightweight, unlike metal and most plastics used with injection molding techniques or other 3-D printers.

The growing industry of 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, generated $6.06 billion in revenue in 2016, according to the Wohlers 2017 report. Impossible Objects is not alone in the quest to make 3-D printers the new standard in manufacturing.

One competitor, Carbon, makes 3-D printers that can make a range of objects, including Adidas sneakers, from pooled resin and elastomers. Another, Desktop Metal, developed printers that make objects from any alloy. Both companies are backed by GE Ventures and Google's venture arm, GV.

Correction: Bob Swartz was not affiliated with mapping firm Navteq. Larry Kaplan was previously the CEO of that company.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at 2.354 percent at 4:39 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was down at 2.887 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

U.S. government debt yields were lower Tuesday, as investors switched focus to the next batch of speeches set to be delivered by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Following the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest nonfarm payrolls report, which revealed that the U.S. saw a , investors will be paying close attention as to what leading members of the U.S. central bank will say Tuesday.

Later on in the day, investors turned their attention to Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, who spoke in California, where he participated in a Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research associates meeting.

The Fed will also be of key importance when it comes to U.S. politics. In the final week of September, President Donald Trump stated that the person who would lead the U.S. central bank from 2018 would be announced in the coming weeks.

, oil prices rose, with investors digesting the latest comments from a leading oil cartel. On Monday, OPEC's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told Reuters that there was "clear evidence" that the oil market was showing signs of rebalancing.
Luxembourg is assessing whether to appeal against the European Union's order to reclaim nearly $300 million in unpaid taxes from Amazon, the country's finance minister has told CNBC.

"We do not seem to agree, we considered that there was no state aid on our side, there was no selective advantage that was given to the company we are talking about," Pierre Gramegna said Monday at the sidelines of a European meeting.

"We are going to review all our possibilities and eventually appeal. The decision has not been taken," he said.

Brussels announced last week that Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon between 2006 and 2014 without any "valid justification." As a result, the country has to recover the unpaid taxes.
When Eric Gundersen, the chief executive of a mapping start-up called Mapbox, met Masayoshi Son, the head of Japanese conglomerate , in late July, he expected to have to sell Mr. Son on what made Mapbox important.

But Mr. Son, 60, did not need to be convinced that Mapboxs technology  which powers Lyft drivers and companies like and  had value. After a whirlwind courtship, Mr. Sons nearly $100 billion Vision Fund, which SoftBank unveiled last October with money from Saudi Arabia and others, led a $164 million investment in Mapbox that was announced on Tuesday.

In the process, Mr. Son also explained his grand plan for deploying the Vision Fund to Mr. Gundersen. The Japanese billionaire said he believed robots would inexorably change the work force and machines would become more intelligent than people, an event referred to as the Singularity. As a result, Mr. Son told Mr. Gundersen, he is on a mission to own pieces of all the companies that may underpin the global shifts brought on by artificial intelligence to transportation, food, work, medicine and finance.

For Masa, his vision is not just about predictions like the Singularity, which has gotten a lot of hype, Mr. Gundersen said. He understands that well need a massive amount of data to get us to a future thats more dependent on machines and robotics.

What Mr. Son laid out for Mr. Gundersen helps explain why SoftBank and its Vision Fund has invested hundreds billions of dollars in a seemingly random sample of more than two dozen companies since the fund was announced. The investments span robotics software start-ups like Brain Corp. and the indoor farming business Plenty, as well as more prominent companies like the business software maker Slack. The deals have run the gamut from smaller investments in start-ups to larger deals with public companies.

Yet the companies all have something in common: They are involved in collecting enormous amounts of data, which are crucial to creating the brains for the machines that, in the future, will do more of our jobs and creating tools that allow people to better coexist.

Most recently, SoftBank has been involved in a plan to buy nearly a fifth of the existing stock of Uber, the worlds biggest ride-hailing company and one that has changed the transportation industry. SoftBank is aiming to accumulate Ubers stock through a tender offer that could value the company at a discount to its current valuation of $68.5 billion, according to people briefed on the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details were confidential. The tender offer could still fall apart, one of the people said.

If it ends up being completed, Mr. Son would own significant chunks of ride-hailing companies globally because SoftBank already owns stakes in Ubers rivals like Didi Chuxing in China and Ola in India. Altogether, SoftBank would have a network of companies that gather valuable logistics data and operate large, connected fleets that could work well with self-driving car technology.

Location data is central and mission critical to the development of the worlds most exciting technologies, Rajeev Misra, who helps oversee SoftBanks Vision Fund, said about Mapbox in a statement on Tuesday. He added that the investment was part of SoftBanks plan to put money into the foundational infrastructure for the next stage of the Information Revolution.

SoftBank declined to comment further for this article.

For more than three decades, Mr. Son has consistently made over SoftBank with acquisitions and investments to keep it on the cutting edge. The company began in 1981 as a PC software distributor in Japan and expanded to the United States in 1994 with the acquisition of the PC trade show operator Comdex.

Mr. Son later became the largest shareholder of Yahoo, started Yahoo Japan, and in the last decade, invested in broadband and telecommunications companies  SoftBank agreed to buy the majority of for $21.6 billion in 2012  anticipating the need for high-speed connectivity. He has also invested in e-commerce companies, including the Group of China and Gilt Groupe, as well as video game businesses like Supercell and media like HuffPost and BuzzFeed.

In a speech last month in New York, Mr. Son declared that in 30 years, there would be as many sentient robots on Earth as humans and those robots, which he called metal collar workers, would fundamentally change the labor market.

Every industry that mankind ever defined and created, even agriculture, will be redefined, Mr. Son said. Because the tools that we created were inferior to mankinds brain in the past. Now, the tools have become smarter than mankind ourselves.

Mr. Son is having many of the same conversations with entrepreneurs these days as he looks to spread investments from the Vision Fund. Many entrepreneurs said Mr. Sons conversations jumped from philosophical discussions about technologys impact on humanity to the minutiae of a technical problem.

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Mr. Son recently told Matt Barnard, the chief executive of Plenty, that computers were ushering in a revolution in agriculture not seen since the invention of the plow. Mr. Son led a $200 million investment in Plenty in July, part of an effort to make it a global leader in indoor farms. Plenty, which has no farms operating at scale, is now planning its first farm in South San Francisco that will open by the end of the year.

I really do like to believe he likes us a lot, Mr. Barnard said of Mr. Son. Id say the thing we have in common with his other investments is that they are all part of some of the largest systems on the planet: energy, transportation, the internet and food.

Some entrepreneurs travel the globe to spend time with Mr. Son at his palatial home in Woodside., Calif., and his offices in India, San Francisco and Tokyo. The SoftBank chief is known for almost always smiling and speaking slowly. He rarely picks up phone calls and his email signature includes the whirring fan icon that shows a computer is booting up, or thinking.

Many of the entrepreneurs speak of Mr. Son with reverence.

Only people close to him know how huge his vision is, said Eugene Izhikevich, the chief executive of Brain Corp., a company based in San Diego that makes the software that controls autonomous robots.

Mr. Sons engineers stumbled on Brain Corp. when they were looking for self-driving car technology. Mr. Izhikevich was soon seated across from Mr. Son, talking about robotics as well as how Britain operated 200 years ago when the landed gentry did not work, but came up with new inventions and business improvements.

Like many other entrepreneurs, Mr. Izhikevich said SoftBank moved scary fast to sew up its investment. Mr. Sons team swarmed Brain Corp.s businesses and spent hundreds of hours on due diligence, wrapping up in a few months.

Unlike other investors, Mr. Son, who is already talking about a second Vision Fund, does not insert himself into the day-to-day operations of most of the companies he has invested in. His Sprint deal has yet to pan out and may be dependent on merging with another company. When other investments have lagged, as did his investment in Snapdeal, an online retailer in India, he has invested in competitors, leading a $2.5 billion investment into Flipkart, a rival Indian e-commerce company.

Some entrepreneurs said Mr. Sons breakneck investing pace with the Vision Fund was unlikely to slow.

Masa is in a hurry, said Vijay Sharma, the chief executive of Indian digital payments start-up Paytm, which SoftBank put $1.4 billion into in May. He sees this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where everything we touch can become a market, where were at the opening up of a new industrial revolution.

Mike Isaac contributed reporting.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has reportedly said he would be prepared to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in an attempt to bring "permanent peace" to the Korean Peninsula.

"Should former President Carter be able to visit North Korea, he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discuss a peace treaty between the United States and the North, and a complete denuclearization of North Korea," Park Han-shik, professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, said in an interview published by South Korea's JoongAng Daily on Tuesday.

Park claimed that Carter visited his home at the end of September and told him that he wanted to "contribute toward establishing a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."

Carter's comments could further aggravate President Donald Trump after media reports surfaced last month which said a senior U.S. state department official had been sent by the White House to ask Carter not to speak publicly about the geopolitical crisis.

Click here to read more at the JoongAng Daily.
Oil prices were on pace to post their best day in two weeks on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia said it would cut oil exports in November, while a big chunk of U.S. offshore production remained offline.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude surged $1.34, or 2.7 percent, to $50.92, marking the biggest one-day run-up since Sept. 25. It touched a session high of $51.06 on Tuesday.

Factoring in Monday's 29-cents jump, WTI had wiped out much of last week's 4.6 percent decline.

International benchmark also rallied, jumping 73 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $56.52 by 2:26 p.m. ET, for its best daily performance since Thursday.

WTI intraday price, source: Factset

Traders were focused on news that Saudi Arabia will cut its November crude oil allocations to customers by 560,000 barrels a day, according to Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

The Saudis have sought to expedite OPEC's effort to drain a global glut of crude oil by capping exports in addition to making voluntary production cuts. OPEC and other crude exporters led by Russia are keeping 1.8 million barrels a day off the market.

Some analysts were wary of the Saudi export cuts. Roberto Friedlander, head of energy trading at Seaport Global Securities, said requests for Saudi oil from Chinese refiners are lower due to scheduled refinery maintenance and government restrictions on imports.

"China and India are cutting their imports and more is coming from the U.S. export machine," he said in a note on Monday. The Saudis "are spinning it as they are doing 'more' but it is just a fall in demand that is driving it."

Lipow acknowledged the potential impact of maintenance season on demand for Saudi supplies, but said any drop in exports from OPEC's biggest producer is bullish to the extent it takes oil off the market.
OPEC General Secretary, Mohammed Barkindo, called on U.S. shale oil producers to help support plans to curb global oil supply on Tuesday, warning that unprecedented measures may be necessary next year in order to rebalance the oil market.

"We urge our friends, in the shale basins of North America to take this shared responsibility with all seriousness it deserves, as one of the key lessons learnt from the current unique supply-driven cycle," Barkindo said.

North American shale drillers have helped production soar by nearly 10 percent in the U.S. this year, according to Reuters, despite OPEC and some other producers  including Russia  cutting supplies in a bid to prop up prices.



Speaking at the India Energy Forum in New Delhi, Barkindo added that the U.S. and OPEC had agreed they must find a joint solution in order to ensure stability in the oil market.
Bibeksheel Sajha Party announces candidates

The newly united Bibeksheel Sajha Party, which aspires to win enough seats to become a national party, on Monday announced six of its candidates for the upcoming federal elections.
To hear Wagner tell it, that's because he's not like other Pennsylvania politicians. Specifically, he'll have you know he's not like incumbent governor Tom Wolf, whom he's running to unseat in 2018. When Wagner says that Wolf, a Democrat, "grew up on the other side of the railroad tracks," he isn't just speaking in cliches. Both Wolf and Wagner hail from York County, in the south-central part of the state. York is the county's anchor city, a working-class burg whose major attempt to lure visitors is factory tours of potato-chip plants. During World War II, the York Plan showed factories how to shift from peacetime to wartime production. It's an industrial city, surrounded by farms like the one Wagner was raised on. Wolf, meanwhile, hails from nearby Mount Wolf, named after his well-to-do family, which settled in the area in the 19th century. The contrasts between the two write themselves. Wagner went to the public Dallastown Area High School; Wolf attended the prestigious private Hill School. Wagner dropped out of community college to start his own business; Wolf went to Dartmouth, joined the Peace Corps, and got his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Both Wolf and Wagner have run their own businesses, but Wagner's is a waste-management company that he started in 2000, while Wolf was the sixth-generation owner of his family's conglomerate, The Wolf Organization.

"This is one of my slogans," Wagner says. "Align your expectations with reality. If you go from this regulatory environment," he says, gesturing to the manila folder, which contains state regulations on waste-management companies circa 1985, "to that"  he now gestures to the binder, which contains the present day waste-management regulations  "businesses are going to move. What did we expect?" Sure, it's manager-speak, but Wagner is a manager. "The Bethlehem Steel plant is close to 100 years old," he continues. "There's no longer a need for buggy whips: Someone invented the bicycle." His take on what's gone wrong with Pennsylvania's economy shows a businesslike candor, something utterly lacking from politicians who promise magical growth based on the fantasy of renewed coal and steel production. More from National Review: The great regulatory rollback A vicious virtue Corker's criticism of Trump isn't completely correct

Class differences do not an election make, and Wolf's persona is more calm and quiet than to-the-manor-born. He was elected in 2014, running a steady campaign against Republican Tom Corbett, who fell prey to his own controversial plans for reforming the state lottery, liquor-sales system, and budgetary process, and to a series of gaffes. Wolf kept his cool and sailed to a comfortable win.



Wagner and Wolf have sparred over more than just pedigrees. In 2015, Wagner led the charge against a $29 billion budget that his political-action committee said would "be sticking it to struggling taxpayers." A spokesman for Wolf shot back that, "Until [Wagner] has serious solutions . . . everything he says is just hyperbole." Two years later, the state budget ballooned to $32 billion. Wagner was one of few state legislators to vote against it back in June, while Wolf approved it despite lacking a plan to pay for it.



Fights between Republicans and Democrats over budgets are nothing new, but the stakes for this one go beyond ideological posturing. Two weeks ago, Standard and Poor's downgraded Pennsylvania's credit rating to A+, fourth-worst in the country. That makes it more costly for the state to borrow, which, with a deficit in excess of $2 billion, means financing the state budget by issuing more debt just became a less attractive option. Last Thursday, as the budget debate raged, Wolf announced that he was "taking action to manage our state's finances."



"Three years into the job! I mean, come on. Cut me a break," Wagner says. "The state doesn't need another governor who walks around with his coat buttoned. We need somebody who understands what it's like to work in the trenches." His signature initiative as governor on this front would be to institute zero-based budgeting, in which each agency starts from scratch and justifies all of its costs. State Democrats, meanwhile, have pursued their own solution: a tax on shale drillers. That could hurt growth in the state, which is home to the Marcellus Shale. "We're bankrupt, and people aren't willing to look in the mirror," Wagner says. It's not quite true that the state is bankrupt  it can still pay its bills, for now  but the contrast between Wagner's approach and Wolf's tax-and-spend impulses is clear enough.



Wagner sees a lack of accountability everywhere. Politicians in Harrisburg can't envision cutting spending, he complains. The managers of the state's Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS)  the pension fund for teachers and administrators  have an annual returns target of 7.5 percent, but couldn't crack 2 percent in 2016. PSERS is grossly underfunded, Wagner points out, and the solution he proposes is simple: "The people managing the money should be fired." Yet generating high returns while staying within the constraints of a pension fund is hard, and low returns are not a problem unique to PSERS: Hedge fund Bridgewater Associates said in 2014 that more than 80 percent of public pension funds could fail over the next three decades. In a state whose demographics trend gray, those are frightening words. Hiring new money managers won't solve the problem on its own. Still, Wagner is right to point out the looming crisis, and he offers a more credible solution  putting new entrants in a defined-contribution plan  on his campaign website.



Wagner understands that Pennsylvania faces more problems than a political bog in Harrisburg or a spate of excessive regulation. "I have a reading addiction: I read Forbes, Fortune, Businessweek, Barron's," he says. "We have to educate people that we're in a changing world." His eagerness to do just that in his home state is palpable. He says that "the students coming out of schools are misaligned with the needs of industry today," and floats charter schools and more vocational-technology programs as solutions. His is a welcome approach for Pennsylvania, where the collapse of the coal and steel industries has led politicians to promise a return to bygone days that is never coming.



His senses are similarly keen when it comes to the opioid crisis, which has hit Pennsylvania hard. Wagner knew something was wrong before the plague was national news, and started the York County Heroin Task Force in July 2014. Since then, he's run over 100 town-hall meetings, worked with the district attorney's office, and chided school superintendents who were lax on the issue. He's seen addiction and death shatter families hoping to be part of the state's renewal. "We need better drug education," he says. "We need to be telling our kids from kindergarten to twelfth grade, Drugs are bad, needles are bad, drug dealers are bad."



This is still a polarized state. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh look askance at President Trump, while plenty of red hats are still proudly worn in the vast expanse between those cities. Wagner has thrown his lot in with the latter group, expressing an affinity for the president and his policies which isn't escaping Wolf's attention. After Trump's equivocation on the white-supremacist murder in Charlottesville, Wolf insinuated that Wagner's slow response meant something dark, sinister. Wagner hit back with a fiery op-ed in Pennlive, writing that "Neo-Nazis and white supremacists have no place in our society, and their ideas and beliefs are so beneath the dignity of this country that the more they talk the less anyone should pay attention to them." A week ago, though, he flew to an event in St. Louis with Steve Bannon, telling reporters that the plane ride made him "500 percent more emboldened."



It's a tricky tightrope to walk  taking pains not to alienate Trump's supporters while distancing himself from the bigotry many associate with the president  but his record should help. His Pennlive essay cites several initiatives he's undertaken in Philadelphia's black community. Though Republicans never win the City of Brotherly Love  Wagner, of course, assures me he will be the exception  he's devoted an unusual amount of time to learning about the problems that plague it, developing a relationship with Tracey Fisher, an ex-convict and the founder of Gateway to Re-entry, a non-profit organization which aims to prevent incarceration and help recent inmates transition back into society. "My goal is to convince the people in Philadelphia living in poverty to take a chance on me," Wagner says.



His concern for helping inmates reenter society is no mere talking point. On the policy front, he has been a champion of criminal-justice reform. Along with a Democratic colleague from Philadelphia, Wagner co-sponsored a "clean slate" bill that would seal the criminal records of non-violent criminals who maintain a clean record for ten years. "There are a lot of people out there who would love to move up the career ladder," Wagner explains. "But there are a lot of companies that disqualify you when you check the box." That's not his policy at Penn Waste, where applicants with a criminal record have the chance to discuss it in their interviews. Wagner wants to give reformed criminals a chance to get jobs elsewhere, too.



Late in our interview, Wagner gets a bit off track. "What if," he muses, "we went one step deeper? What if we helped people on welfare get skills training?" It's a smart proposal, but it's also instructive in what it says about his priorities. "There's an opportunity for a domino effect here, to help people better their lives," he says. "That's what I'll be about when I become governor." With strong polling numbers in the Republican primary  Wagner is outpacing his closest competitor at a clip of 4516 percent  and solid fundamentals against the incumbent, it seems Wagner has aligned his own expectations to reality.



Pennsylvania's next gubernatorial race might surprise a few people.

Commentary by Theodore Kupfer, a William F. Buckley fellow at National Review. Follow him on Twitter @theodorekupfer.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.

2017 National Review. Used with permission.
President Donald Trump, as he breaks one precedent after another in Washington, threatens to break prospects for tax cuts, too.

An all-Republican government has already proven, in its summer health-care debacle, that even modest intraparty dissent can sink a legislative mission that once appeared a sure thing. Now, before his tax bill has even gotten off the ground, Trump and his allies are fueling more dissent.

His former chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon, has announced an effort to mount primary challenges against a wide array of Republican Senate incumbents with the goal of ousting Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "and the entire establishment, globalist clique." Bannon has already helped defeat Alabama GOP Sen. Luther Strange by backing the successful primary challenge of conservative Christian extremist Roy Moore.

And Trump himself keeps spraying fire within his party, in all directions.

He threatens to shove aside Republican leaders to make deals with congressional Democrats.

He challenges his own secretary of State, who last week declined to deny that he had disparaged the president as a "moron," to an IQ contest.

And he took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to mock the physical stature of "Liddle Bob Corker," the Tennessee senator he had earlier accused of lacking "the guts" to seek re-election. That Corker enjoys wide respect within the GOP caucus only magnifies the hazard for the White House in alienating him.

Tweet

To pass the tax-cut framework the White House and GOP leaders have laid out, McConnell will need the votes of at least 50 of his 52 members to go with Speaker Paul Ryan's 218 in the House. There are growing reasons to doubt they will have them.

Despite administration claims to the contrary, the framework would substantially increase federal deficits and debt. Corker, reflecting the views of a still-unknown number of deficit hawks, has already declared he won't back a bill that increases the deficit.

Despite administration claims to the contrary, the framework would give a substantial tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. Signs of intraparty resistance to repealing the estate tax have already appeared. Analysis so far suggests the framework would actually raise taxes on many upper-middle-class Republicans, while giving only modest cuts to Trump's working-class base.

The administration claims the tax bill will spur so much economic growth that it will actually help pay down the federal debt. Goldman Sachs , the Wall Street giant where Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn made his career and reputation, forecasts only modest growth that will cover just one-fifth of the cost of the tax cuts.

The deficit increase will only get larger if the White House backs off the plan to eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes. House Republicans from high-tax states such as New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California object.

Such objections are why the framework doesn't spell out other deductions to be eliminated. Delay raises the chance that such loophole-closers will never materialize, driving the cost of the bill even higher.

At the same time, Trump keeps boasting about record highs on Wall Street, declining unemployment, and robust corporate profits. That helps him claim his presidency has been a confidence-boosting success  but does not demonstrate an urgent need for tax cuts.

Currently, the strongest engine for passing tax-cut legislation is the argument that failure would expose Republicans to catastrophe in 2018 mid-term elections. That was also the strongest engine propelling the repeal-and-replacement of Obamacare. Given the real-world stakes, and broad public opposition, it wasn't strong enough.

On tax cuts, lawmakers have multiple reasons to choose from in opposing the White House if they privately want to. Trumpist attacks on Corker and his Republican Senate colleagues can only make more of them want to.
A recovery is not the top item on many Puerto Ricans' minds after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory nearly three weeks ago, a private equity investor who pledged $10 million to aid efforts said Tuesday.

"It is way too early to even think about recovery. Right now, it's about survival," said Orlando Bravo, a Puerto Rico native and co-founder of private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

"You have shelters, towns, rural communities that are running extremely low to this day  almost three weeks after the hurricane hit  on food and water," Bravo told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

The Bravo Family Foundation has committed $2 million initially and $8 million over time to hurricane relief efforts. Bravo has been flying planes to the U.S. territory with supplies and has traveled to areas in western Puerto Rico that had still not received aid.

Supplies included 800 pounds of water, food, diapers and baby formula. The foundation has also partnered with paint retailer Sherwin-Williams to directly distribute supplies.

About a week after the hurricane hit, Bravo said he spoke with high school friends and family members and noticed areas that hadn't received government aid.

"So, we stepped up and said, 'Look, we not only have to make a financial pledge in the short term, but we have to set up our own delivery network to go directly to those towns that are in need,'" Bravo said.

Puerto Rico's Gov. Ricardo Rossello has asked Congress to consider about $1.4 billion in funding to help with recovery.

The Trump administration submitted a request to Congress to approve $29 billion in disaster relief funds to assist victims of recent hurricanes that hit Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

Other companies have stepped in to help. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he will speak with Rossello about helping get the island's devastated power grid back online.
Billionaire and iconic entrepreneur Richard Branson says the extreme wealth that will be generated by the artificial intelligence industry should be partly redistributed as a universal basic income, or cash handouts.

"Basic income is going to be all the more important. If a lot more wealth is created by AI, the least that the country should be able to do is that a lot of that wealth that is created by AI goes back into making sure that everybody has a safety net," says Branson, speaking with Business Insider Nordic while in Helsinki for the Nordic Business Forum recently.

"Obviously AI is a challenge to the world in that there's a possibility that it will take a lot of jobs away. ... It's up to all of us to be entrepreneurially minded enough to create those new jobs."

It's not the first time the 67-year-old entrepreneur has talked about the potential benefit of universal basic income.

"A lot of exciting new innovations are going to be created, which will generate a lot of opportunities and a lot of wealth, but there is a real danger it could also reduce the amount of jobs," says Branson in a blog post he published in August. "This will make experimenting with ideas like basic income even more important in the years to come."

Other tech leaders who have raised the idea of cash handouts include SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield and Y Combinator President Sam Altman.
A customer uses the Yandex.Taxi online app on a smartphone to scan for available taxi cabs in Moscow, Russia

The Russian technology company Yandex has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant called "Alice".

Yandex, Russia's largest search engine, said in a press release Tuesday that Alice is the first conversational online assistant, possessing "near-human levels of speech."

"We wanted Alice to interact with users more like a human, so that users don't need to adapt their requests," said Denis Filippov, head of speech technologies at Yandex.

"In developing Alice, we leveraged our speech technologies, which currently provide the world's most accurate Russian language recognition. Based on word error rate (WER) measurements, Alice demonstrates near-human levels of speech recognition accuracy," Filippov added.

Yandex claimed in a blog post Tuesday that the digital assistant's advanced level of context allows users to carry out a more relaxed style of conversation.

"For instance, when a user asks Alice, 'What's the weather in Moscow?' and then follows with a question in slang asking, 'And what about Peter?', Alice understands the intent and provides the weather forecast for St. Petersburg," the post read.

Alice's voice recognition and synthesis rely on SpeechKit, Yandex's proprietary speech recognition software.

Alice will lift its information from Yandex's suite of services that includes taxis, shopping, payments, music, news, weather, maps and education.
"Dramatic and immediate changes in the way America conducts foreign policy must be made."

Given recent history, they believe they must possess a credible, deliverable nuclear weapon to prevent the U.S. from ever invading or trying to change the regime by force. We don't have to wonder what North Korea's foreign policy objectives are in this current standoff, as their official news agency has plainly stated: "Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK."

Perhaps the biggest impediment to solving this predicament with North Korea is not President Trump's decidedly undiplomatic behaviorthough this clearly narrows our available policy optionsbut on the myopic foreign policy actions U.S. leaders have taken generally over the past several decades, and in the past few years in particular. One of the drivers of North Korean fears is their assessment of U.S. foreign policy practiced on Libya.

In December 2003, the Bush administration negotiated a deal with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to disband its nuclear weapons program in exchange for various economic and security promises. The process was effectively completed in 2009but two years later, the international community, aided by President Obama, deemed Gaddafi a menace and ordered airstrikes that brought his regime down, and the Libyan leader was later killed in the streets.

This decision continues to hamstring American efforts abroad to this day.

Kim is convinced that should he ever give up his nuclear deterrent, a day will come when we decide to attack himand without nuclear weapons to deter us, he'll be vulnerable.

If Washington policymakers believe that making life harder for the North Koreans is going to force them to submit to U.S. pressure and give up the only deterrent they believe can ensure their survival, we doom our policy to failure before it even beginsan increasingly recurrent theme.

If the administration doesn't change course, the best outcome we could hope for regarding North Korean is perpetual frustration at our inability to accomplish security objectives; the worst case is a nuclear war leading to the deaths of millions of South Koreans, Japanese, and Americans in the region.

Dramatic and immediate changes in the way America conducts foreign policy must be made. We have to examine and understand the viewpoint of our friends and adversaries and then propose and pursue policy solutions that can rationally be accomplishedand then hold true to our word. Neglecting to do so puts us on a path to long-term failure.

Commentary by Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who retired in 2015 after 21 years, including four combat deployments. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
A number of big companies have recently announced spinoffs, a corporate action that typically occurs at the top of bull markets as executives grasp for ways to keep shareholders happy.

On Tuesday, Honeywell International and Pfizer both announced plans to shed or consider spinning off certain business units.



The number of completed U.S. spinoffs tracked by Dealogic increased to near-term peaks in 1999 and 2008, just before or around the last two major market tops. A bear market begins when stocks fall 20 percent or more from a recent high. Stocks haven't dropped that much since this bull market, the second longest on record, began in March 2009.

"From a bull market perspective, when equities are highly valued and growth is hard to come by, [completing a merger or acquisition] is difficult," said Decker Walker, a Chicago-based partner at The Boston Consulting Group. "The current high valuations support spinning off assets or divesting assets."

Number of completed spinoffs by year

Source: Dealogic. 2017 figures as of Oct. 10, 2017.

Completed spinoffs in the U.S. rose to 88 in 1999 and dropped off to 80 in 2000, when the dot-com bubble burst, and fell to 55 in 2001, the data showed. The number of completed U.S. spinoffs rose from 24 in 2007 to 30 in 2008, before dropping to 17 in 2009, when stocks hit their lowest point during the financial crisis.

The total value of completed U.S. spinoffs by year has also tended to climb just around the time of the market crashes, the Dealogic data showed.

The value of U.S. spinoffs completed in 2000 nearly tripled from the prior year to $97.2 billion, and roughly doubled from 2006's level to $170 billion in 2007, just ahead of the financial crisis, according to Dealogic data. In 2008, the total value edged lower to about $166 billion, before dropping to $54 billion in 2009.

Value of completed spinoffs by year

Source: Dealogic. 2017 figures as of Oct. 10, 2017.

After a lull between 2009 and 2012, the Dealogic data showed the number and total value of completed deals has picked up, reaching a recent high of $177 billion for 43 completed U.S. spinoffs in 2015. That year, the fell 0.73 percent.

The stock index leaped 9.5 percent in 2016 to record highs and has climbed another 13.8 percent this year.
India's land ownership system is apparently fraught with fraud  so one state is exploring the application of blockchain technology to make it more transparent.

The government of Andhra Pradesh has partnered with Swedish start-up ChromaWay to build its blockchain-based solution.

Distributed ledger technology allows data to be stored in vast groupings, which are encrypted and tamper-proof. It is maintained across a network of computers around the world and has no central authority to oversee it.

"The current system is rife with corruption," J. A. Chowdary, special chief secretary & IT advisor to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, told CNBC in an email Sunday.

It is estimated that $700 million is being paid in bribes at land registrars across India, Chowdary said.

"Fraud is rampant and disputes over titles often end up in court. Matters related to land and property make up about two-thirds of all civil cases in the country."

ChromaWay has already piloted a blockchain project in Sweden focused on the process of buying and selling real-estate. This time it wants to combine the features of a traditional land registry database with that of blockchain technology.
President Donald Trump "likely obstructed justice" when he fired FBI Director James Comey and could face impeachment, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution.

The liberal-leaning think tank released a 108-page report on the issue Tuesday.

In the analysis, Brookings concludes that even though Trump had the authority to fire Comey, he could not do so if the intention was to get in the way of an ongoing investigation.

"Attempts to stop an investigation represent a common form of obstruction. Demanding the loyalty of an individual involved in an investigation, requesting that individual's help to end the investigation, and then ultimately firing that person to accomplish that goal are the type of acts that have frequently resulted in obstruction convictions," Brookings analysts Barry Berke, Noah Bookbinder and Norman Eisen wrote.

The analysis concludes that if special counsel Robert Mueller comes to the same conclusion, legitimate articles of impeachment could be drawn up.

Mueller is investigating whether the Trump presidential campaign may have colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Brookings paper does not contain an outright recommendation for impeachment but says that will be a viable option should Mueller conclude that Trump obstructed justice.

Public statements have indicated that while Trump never specifically instructed Comey to drop the Russia investigation, he did express "hope" that it would end. Trump fired Comey in early May.

The authors say that while the president has the authority to fire the FBI chief, the reasons behind doing so are important.

"The fact that the president has lawful authority to take a particular course of action does not immunize him if he takes that action with the unlawful intent of obstructing a proceeding for an improper purpose," they wrote. "There is already evidence that his acts may have been done with an improper intent to prevent the investigation from uncovering damaging information about Trump, his campaign, his family, or his top aides."

Should Mueller find that Trump did indeed obstruct justice, he either could refer the issue to Congress, as was done with the Nixon-Watergate scandal, or pursue an indictment against Trump and prosecute, according to the report.

Articles of impeachment against former presidents Richard Nixon, who ultimately resigned to avoid impeachment, and Bill Clinton, who was impeached but not convicted, "show that obstruction, conspiracy, and conviction of a federal crime have previously been considered by Congress to be valid reasons to remove a duly elected president from office."

Correction: An earlier version misstated the day Brookings issued the report. It was released Tuesday. Also, the proper name is the Brookings Institution.
President Donald Trump still calls it "fake news" to say his secretary of State called him a "moron." But if Rex Tillerson did make the jab, the president has a way to settle it.

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump told Forbes of the "moron" comment.

Trump often boasts about his intelligence and achievements.

Despite the remarks, Trump told reporters Tuesday that he still has confidence in Tillerson. He also said "I didn't undercut anybody" with the IQ test comment.
BPKIHS docs on strike

Health services at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) have been affected as junior resident doctors have halted their works, protesting the attack on medical staff on Sunday night.
President Donald Trump's approval ratings have dropped in every state since he took office, according to a large new poll released Tuesday by Morning Consult.

The poll, which surveyed 472,000 registered voters between January and September, also found a 19-point drop in Trump's net approval ratings nationwide.

Trump has failed to improve his standing among voters anywhere, the poll found, even in the states where he won by large margins in the 2016 presidential election.

The results paint a worrisome picture for Senate Republicans next year, who will be defending eight seats. Democrats, however, will be fighting to hold on to 25 seats, making the overall risk of Republicans losing their Senate majority relatively small.

In Tennessee, Trump's net approval rating is down 23 points. Indiana saw a negative swing of 17 points. Both states have Senate races in 2018.

The number of voters who disapprove of Trump's job performance nationwide has also climbed by double digits: In January, the president's disapproval rating was 39 percent  by September that figure had climbed 13 points, to 52 percent.

In Nevada and Arizona, two states where vulnerable Republican senators are running for re-election next year, 51 percent of voters statewide said they disapproved of Trump's job performance.

The sheer size of the president's negative approval swings also suggests that in some states, independents and Democrats may be starting to coalesce into one voting bloc.

And in Washington, where positive approval ratings often translate into political clout on Capitol Hill, the poll bodes poorly for the White House.

As the Trump administration prepares to push a tax overhaul bill and possible immigration reform, the numbers suggest that the president's leverage could be diminished in these and future fights.

The poll's margin of error ranged from 2 to 6 percentage points, with lower error margins in more populous states.

Click here to see a state-by-state breakdown of the poll results.
An Iranian woman and her son walk past Shahab-2 (L) and Shahab-3 missiles on display in front of a large portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a square in south Tehran. Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump has made up his mind about how he will seek to toughen a historic international accord to limit Iran's nuclear program, according to the White House. "The president's reached a decision on an overall Iran strategy. He wants to make sure that we have a broad policy to deal with that, not just one part of it," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Tuesday. Trump will elaborate on details of the plan later this week, Sanders added. The Washington Post previously reported the president will deliver his decision on Thursday. According to multiple reports, Trump will refuse to certify to Congress that the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal remains in the U.S. national security interest. Yet he is expected to stop short of encouraging lawmakers to immediately reimpose sanctions, and instead try to coerce Europeans and Iranians back to the negotiating table.

There's a combination of hubris and ignorance that is pushing advocates of the strategy to believe we left things on the table, and the Iranians are waiting to give it up if we apply pressure. Richard Nephew Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy research scholar

That will require the Trump administration to apply enough pressure to bring reluctant partners and a hostile adversary in line. But it must also exercise enough restraint to avoid pushing either beyond the breaking point. Some analysts see a straight line to a stronger accord, while others warn there is only a narrow path for success that runs through a minefield. The United States worked with China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. from 2013 to 2015 to stop Iran's progress toward building a nuclear weapon. The resulting deal, named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, lifted sanctions that had hobbled Iran's economy in exchange for limits on the country's nuclear program and inspections of Iranian facilities. That has allowed Iran to rebuild its oil export business and line up companies eager to invest in its energy industry. The deal also carved out an exception to allow American aircraft maker Boeing to sell planes to Iran. Trump and foreign policy hawks are now seeking additional concessions from Iran on key parts of the deal. They are also trying to curb Iran's support of U.S.-designated terrorists, its ballistic missile program and its intervention in regional conflicts  issues that were not directly addressed by the JCPOA.

'Major American pressure campaign'

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says he expects the administration to pursue a multistage strategy that begins with decertification by the Oct. 15 deadline. Trump would then seek to bring Congress and European leaders on board with measures to pressure Iran, according to Dubowitz, a long-time critic of the JCPOA who is familiar with the administration's thinking. "What Iran is going to face now is the roll out of a major American pressure campaign using all instruments of national power to neutralize and roll back Iranian aggression," he told CNBC. That may include economic and financial power, covert actions and political warfare, he said. In his view, the administration will seek to address three major issues: the expiration of key aspects of the deal, obtaining access to military sites and reining in Iran's ballistic missile program. It will also likely target Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a hard-line military group, with sanctions for the first time.



But some say the gap between what Iran is willing to concede and what the Trump administration aims to achieve is simply too wide.

watch now

The likelihood that the Iranians give any ground is "pretty low," while the odds that they budge on anything meaningful is "almost infinitesimal," according to Richard Nephew, a research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy who served as lead sanctions expert for the U.S. team that negotiated the deal. Nephew says it's possible that international negotiators could have secured a slightly tougher deal, but he rejects the notion that the Obama administration made an agreement out of desperation. He asserts that U.S. negotiators pushed for the most stringent measures in the opening months of negotiations. "There's a combination of hubris and ignorance that is pushing advocates of the strategy to believe we left things on the table, and the Iranians are waiting to give it up if we apply pressure," he said. Nephew said Trump cannot exert much more pressure on Iran, in part because Europeans do not back the administration's strategy. "Pressure is the currency of diplomacy, so if you don't bring more, you're not going to be able to buy more concessions."

Bringing Europe to the table

To be sure, French President Emmanuel Macron has floated sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile test, as well as talks over Iran's regional provocations and how to proceed once certain provisions of the nuclear deal expire. The threat that Trump would undercut the deal by signaling the United States might pull out initially gave the administration some leverage over Europeans, according to Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. Some European leaders and diplomats had hoped to reduce that threat by offering to do more to counter Iran's behavior in the Middle East, she said. Decertifying is not a major step, she said, but it opens the possibility that Iran will respond in kind to U.S. pressure and ultimately jeopardize the accord. "I think it creates a set of circumstances in which the Europeans are that much less likely to try to placate the administration because this is the eventuality they were hoping to forestall," said Maloney, who served in President George W. Bush's State Department and advised senior Obama officials on Iran.

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If Congress imposes new sanctions that look suspiciously like those the United States lifted under the JCPOA, Iran could walk away from the deal, Maloney warned. "In effect we just begin a process that has real unintended consequences in terms of potentially driving the Iranians out of the deal and creating the conditions for its slow erosion over time," she said. Dubowitz rejects the notion that Europeans are focused on decertification, or that it diminishes U.S. leverage over the Continent. "It's all a diplomatic dance, but the reality on the ground is the Europeans want above all to preserve the deal, and the fear that Trump or Republicans will walk away from the deal has motivated them to now look at ways to fix it," he said. What Europeans fear most, he says, is the prospect of a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, so-called secondary sanctions that can lock European firms out of the U.S. market and dollar transactions, and the type of multibillion-dollar fines slapped on European banks by U.S. regulators in recent years. "All of those fears have been heightened under a president they believe is much more willing to use coercive American power," he said.

WATCH: Iran TV says it will strengthen its missile capabilities
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With new trade talks set to begin, analysts say you can't rule out a failure by the U.S., Canada and Mexico to agree to terms on a replacement for the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. Negotiators meet in Washington Wednesday to start a fourth round of talks aimed at revamping NAFTA. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also to be in Washington Wednesday, as the talks kick off, and he was expected to meet with members of the House Ways and Means committee before heading to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. Sources told CNBC that the U.S. is expected to come to the table with a new proposal on origination of content, which would require, for instance, an automobile made in Mexico and sold in the U.S. to have 85 percent NAFTA content in order to be tariff free. The current rule requires 62.5 percent of NAFTA content. The U.S. may also propose 50 percent of content be made in the U.S. The "rules of origin" proposal is just one of the controversial demands the U.S. is planning to make this week that could alienate not just its trading partners  but also U.S. lawmakers and businesses. Others that are bound to draw ire: a "sunset provision" that would require any new agreement get unanimous buy-in every five years, otherwise it ends; and a proposal to settle disputes outside the World Trade Organization. "We've reached a critical moment, and the chamber has had no choice but to ring the alarm bells," Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a speech Tuesday that listed the items above as non-starters for U.S. business. "Let me be forceful and direct. There are several poison pill proposals still on the table that could doom the entire deal."

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Such proposals are also met with disapproval by Mexico and Canada. A top economic advisor to the Mexican embassy, Karen Antebi, said in a speech at Georgetown Law Center last week that the Trump administration has "a vision of zero-sum trade." "The risks of withdrawal are high, and we are preparing for that possibility," Antebi said. Congressional aides have raised doubts about the viability of the White House's proposals on the Hill, where any new, finalized trade deal must be ratified. Lawmakers have found defending the merits of existing trade deals  and avoiding disruption of supply chains and import-export relationships  to be a source of rare bipartisan agreement. "I definitely think there's a real chance this could fall apart," said Juan Carlos Hartasanchez, senior director at Albright Stonebridge. "There's been a lot of pressure in the last round of negotiations and going into this round, all governments are prepared to pull the plug if necessary. All the governments have a plan B. That plan being a non-NAFTA scenario." There's a lot riding on a new NAFTA agreement for all three countries, and some trade disputes have broken out during the process. For instance, the U.S. has already put tariffs on Canadian soft lumber, and the Commerce Department proposed tariffs on jets made by Bombardier after Boeing complained Bombardier undercut Boeing's price with the help of government subsidies. U.S. dairy farmers are also angry about Canada's pricing structure, which they claim make U.S. milk products more expensive. The renegotiation of the trade deal was prompted by the Trump administration, which has said the agreement was unfair to U.S. manufacturers and resulted in the loss of U.S. jobs. There have also been concerns that Mexico, a major exporter of auto parts, was being used as a back door into the U.S. by Chinese manufacturers. Another sore point for the Trump administration is that the U.S. has a more than $60 billion trade deficit with Mexico, while there was a $12.5 billion trade surplus with Canada in 2016. President Trump has threatened to pull the U.S. out of Nafta. This week, he was quoted by Forbes as saying he prefers bilateral deals and that NAFTA may have "to be terminated if we're going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you can't negotiate a good deal."

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"I think everyone knew that we were going to get to this point where the negotiations were going to get more difficult," said Dana Peterson, U.S. and Canada economist at Citigroup. Peterson said her base case is that a deal ultimately gets done but the negotiations are getting tougher. "This is so big . There are so many industries involved. There are three significant economies wrapped up in this and because we are getting into these more difficult areas, the rhetoric is going to ramp up." Analysts said as the talks continue, the odds of failure are rising just because the issues are more contentious. "I do think there's a chance the U.S. or Mexico could walk out. I don't rule that out at all. I think people would consider it a stunt and maybe we could resurrect the talks," said Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investment. Hartasanchez said some U.S. demands are viewed as unreasonable, including one that would require Mexico to raise the minimum wage for its workers. "There's definitely economic damage for all sides. A lot of jobs are on the line. A lot of regional competitiveness is on the line. I would argue the U.S. has the most to lose for a lot of reasons, particularly since it's the most developed economy," Hartasanchez said. He said under World Trade Organization guidelines for developing nations, the U.S. would be disadvantaged in a bilateral deal with Mexico. "It would have the most impact in terms of tariffs. Mexico would face lower tariffs to access the U.S. market than the U.S. would face to access the Mexican market." Valliere described NAFTA as being on "very thin ice" and said if it looks like the talks are failing, the peso would drop. "I don't think it's a positive for the markets if they're thinking we could get into a serious trade dispute. The Canadians are sort of the adult in the room, but they could see some smack down here because Trump can't go after China, and Canada is a target for him." Peterson said one of a number of issues for Canada is the fact the U.S. would like to drop an aspect of NAFTA under which the three partners could discuss any claims of trade abuses before taking action. "The U.S. is asking for access to protected and supply managed industries. That includes the dairy industry, poultry and wine in particular for Canada," said Peterson.

WATCH: Wilbur Ross says the big aim is a NAFTA deal, not the give and take
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To get to everyday low prices, you have to have everyday low costs. Wal-Mart touched on that point Tuesday as it met with the financial community in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. In the midst of reviewing its forecasts and strategic plans for the next couple years, the world's largest retailer noted how it has spent billions cleaning up and improving its store experience, lowering prices, paying employees more, and improving its e-commerce capability and efficiency. It's also cutting costs where it can too.

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"A simple change to our plastic bags at Walmart U.S. resulted in an annualized savings of approximately $20 million," explained Brett Biggs, its chief financial officer. "A decision to shorten the length of the receipts, saved over $7 million." The retailer has been disciplined with expenses, but Biggs warns the hurricanes and some back-end technology spending could cause total expenses to be slightly higher than originally planned. But after several years of heavy spending to improve e-commerce, those related expenses are expected to begin to come down. "When you are building out an online business, you are building a second business," Moody's analyst Charlie O'Shea explained in an interview with CNBC. "You are going to start to see those two businesses converge and I think you will be able to shake expenses out of the system and I think Wal-Mart is in the early stages of that."

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The Weinstein Company's future is more than bleak, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, told CNBC on Tuesday.

Over the years, company co-founder Harvey Weinstein has reached at least eight legal settlements with women over alleged harassment, The New York Times reported Thursday. On Monday, the paper reported that Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among those who say the Hollywood mogul harassed them.

Although the co-chairman was fired on Sunday from his position, Sonnenfeld still sees the company as doomed to failure.

"I can't see that this business is recoverable. Plenty of executives have missteps  there are many companies that hit a pothole  and there's no reason to give up for most of them. In this case, this is irretrievable," Sonnenfeld, a senior associate dean for leadership studies, told "Closing Bell."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders doubled down on President Donald Trump's claim that Sen. Bob Corker is responsible for the Iran nuclear deal, despite the Republican lawmaker's long opposition to the accord.

During a heated back-and-forth, Trump on Sunday tweeted that Corker "gave us the Iran deal," a 2015 agreement negotiated by the Obama administration that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. Trump has called the deal an "embarrassment."

@RealDonaldTrump: Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!

Asked during the White House press briefing on Tuesday to clarify the president's tweet, Sanders said, "Sen. Corker worked with Nancy Pelosi and the Obama administration to pave the way for that legislation and basically rolled out the red carpet for the Iran deal, and those are pretty factual."

"The claim is not true," Micah Johnson, communications director for Sen. Corker, told CNBC in an email.

Corker, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, actually led the Republican opposition to the Iran nuclear deal. He warned early on that the Obama administration would avoid negotiating the accord as a treaty, thus cutting Congress out of the process.

In response, Corker introduced a bipartisan bill that required Congress to review any agreement with Iran before the president waived sanctions imposed by lawmakers. The bill, which opened the possibility for Congress to effectively kill the nuclear deal, passed overwhelmingly.

@SenBobCorker: It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

A procedural measure that could have blocked the accord failed in the Senate by two votes. Corker voted against the Iran nuclear deal.

Some conservatives have argued that Corker's legislation, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, teed up the failed attempt to kill the deal. Sanders appeared to revive that argument on Tuesday.

"He worked with them on that INARA legislation that rolled that out. That's what helped, I think, put things in motion," she said. "He may have voted against the deal ultimately, but he not only allowed the deal to happen, he gave it credibility."

Trump will soon refuse to certify to Congress that the Iran nuclear deal remains in the country's national security interest, according to multiple reports. The president must certify to Congress that Iran is complying with the deal every 90 days. That is mandated by INARA, the legislation Corker introduced.
"2018 isn't about red vs. blue America, it's about the political class vs. everyone else. And the only way for establishment types in both parties to stave off early retirement will be to stop doing the same old, same old."

For some reason, the top establishment figures in both parties don't seem to have any clue that the public is roundly rejecting them. The first big clue was the way an outsider like then-candidate Trump whipped 16 much more experienced establishment Republicans in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries. The second clue was when Trump went on to defeat the Democratic establishment-picked candidate Hillary Clinton.

The third and even more telling clue is that no member of the leadership of either party barely merits a blip in the national opinion polls. In the widely-quoted Harvard-Harris poll from this August, nominal Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders came in as the most popular U.S. politician, with Democrat and Republican leaders like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan way down the list.

Meanwhile, President Trump remains stuck at historically low approval ratings, especially for a president in his first year in office. The fact is that Mr. Trump won the election not because of any strong popular support for him personally, but because of deep disdain for the establishment powers in both parties. And while Hillary Clinton did nothing to try to distance herself from that establishment image, Trump constantly did and continues to do so with every irreverent comment and tweet.

And the establishment leaders keep proving they're simply going to do more of the same. McConnell's failed efforts to get an Obamacare repeal and replacement bill passed were deeply rooted in his Washington-business-as-usual work with insurance company lobbyists to craft the bill in the first place.

Meanwhile, the establishment Democrats have done their part to continue playing the unpopular role of partisan politicians by refusing to do much other than pursue still-fruitless investigations of the administration and generally hoping to block all legislation and nominations.

This kind of behavior  corrupt at worst, pointless at best  is precisely why President Trump won, but it goes beyond him.

It's also why other non-political veterans like Oprah Winfrey and Mark Cuban are getting all the attention as potential presidential election challengers and almost no one is talking about someone with actual experience in political office. The country's voters, whether they're traditionally conservative or liberal, want something different... very different.

So if Steve Bannon and his Breitbart News buddies declare war on GOP incumbents and score a victory or two in 2018, chalk it up to a wise decision to swim with a very strong current going that way anyway. Bannon is no dummy, but it won't take a genius to succeed in this atmosphere.

The map of the playing field for 2018 in the crucial Senate elections is unusually tilted in favor of a continuing Republican majority because only eight currently GOP-held seats are up for re-election and 25 Democrat-held seats are up for grabs. Those 25 slots include 10 Senate seats held by Democrats in states President Trump won in the 2016 election and the obvious anti-establishment fervor is strong.

There are still establishment Republican incumbents Bannon and other Republican insurgents may target, like Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Senator Orin Hatch of Utah. But the list of establishment Democrats to go after is much longer and will be just as tempting for any anti-establishment forces to challenge. They include Missouri's Claire McCaskill, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, and New Jersey's Bob Menendez, who is currently on trial for bribery and corruption.

With the Republicans likely to keep and increase their Senate majority, look for the anti-establishment types to focus more of their energies on ousting Senator McConnell as majority leader in the months before and after the election, depending on how long he holds on.

2018 isn't about red vs. blue America, it's about the political class vs. everyone else. And the only way for establishment types in both parties to stave off early retirement will be to stop doing the same old, same old. That might seem like an easy fix to non-politicians. But for the entrenched perpetual D.C. candidates and bureaucrats, it's proving to be a hard change. Still, when people don't change along with changing times, they get pushed aside.

And Steve Bannon or no Steve Bannon, a lot of Washington's incumbents in both parties look like they are going to get pushed aside over the course of the next 13 months.

Correction: This column was revised to correct that McConnell and Trump had backed Strange over Moore in the special election.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
Iain Duncan Smith is a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, founded the Centre for Social Justice, and is MP for Chingford and Woodford Green.

We have just emerged from the most ridiculous farce following the conference, which did more to illustrate the gap between politicians and the general public beyond Westminster. Whilst some MPs see-sawed back and forwards with plots, denials, and accusations of villainy, the rest of Britain played bemused witness to scenes of tragic comedy straight out of Shakespeare.

As Theresa May got to her feet on Monday afternoon in the House of Commons, to the cheers of her backbenchers, I thought of Much Ado About Nothing and the words of Dogberry;

Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.

Amen to that.

All of that simply masked the most vital of issue facing the Government, which is still not fully settled. For following the Florence speech and the Prime Ministers conference speech, there is a nagging question over which interpretation of the implementation period shall hold sway.

After all, the word implementation means the process of putting a decision or plan into effect. That begs the question, what is the plan? Most commentators, having been taken into the confidence of the Treasury, know that the Treasury is at present working to a plan that leaves the UK inside the Customs Union during the implementation period. This would mean that although the UK leaves at the end of March 2019, almost immediately we would accept all of the common tariffs and regulations. This would make us rule-takers, as the EU would continue to hold the authority on all matters pertaining to the operation of the market, and imports and exports. I also understand that in the bowels of the Treasury, they still havent accepted that the implementation period should last for a maximum of two years. The talk is still of three or more.

A senior minister commented to me recently that the Treasury seemed locked into a state of permanent depression about the UKs ability to get a deal from the EU. Much of this stems it seems from a fear that the EU and Germanys plan is to punish the UK and make an example of us. Therefore, it follows for the Treasury (the architects of Project Fear) that we must have a very long transition in the hope that either the UK changes its mind on Brexit or that the pain could be spread out over a much longer period.

The problem at the heart of this is the Treasurys economic model, which seems to have got it wrong on a number of occasions. Even the NAO has been highly critical of their key assumptions. They have good reason to be so.

Take, for example, the Treasurys assumption that investment into the UK would fall after the referendum if the vote were for Brexit. In fact, the opposite has happened, with the OECD pointing to not only a surge in investment last year, versus 2015, but also that 70 per cent of this occurred after the referendum result.

Then there was their assumption on employment: that there would be some 500,000 job losses within a year of a vote to leave. In contrast, employment has risen sharply, particularly full-time employment. According to the Labour Force Survey, during May to July 2017 employment reached 32.14 million, with 75.3 per cent of people in work  the highest since records began in 1971  and employment was 379,000 higher than a year earlier.

In fact, many economists are now openly critical of the Treasury model. Graham Gudgin, the Cambridge economist, said, It is not obvious that these results can be applied to a well-developed open economy like the UK. Ryan Bourne went further, and pointed out what many now believe, that, gravity modelsare backward-looking and may simply not be well suited to analysing large long-term regime changes.

The Treasury estimates that membership of the EU doubles the level of goods trade between EU members (and that leaving the EU will thus lead to a loss of 50 per cent of trade). These seem huge magnitudes when the average tariff is around three per cent and UK firms must already be compliant with EU non-tariff regulations. These estimates also take no account of currency depreciation, and for service sector economies like ours it is no longer clear that gravity models will be best placed to explain future global trade, where globalisation and technical change suggest that economic borders, as we understand them, are going.

The reality for us is different from the fears of some in government. It is that the UK is leaving the heavily protected EU at a time when the combination of globalisation, instant mass communication and broader technological change is transforming the shape of the global economy at an unprecedented pace.

The extent of the shift is brought home by Professor Danny Quah at the National University of Singapore, who has carried out a series of calculations to determine the worlds geographical centre of economic gravity based on the changing GDP of various countries. In 1980, the mid-point of the world economy was out in the Atlantic Ocean, reflecting the importance of both the US, UK and Western Europe. By 2008, when the global financial crisis hit, that centre had shifted to a longitudinal mid-point between Izmir in Turkey and Minsk in Belarus, reflecting the growing pull away from Western Europe and towards Asia. Professor Quah now calculates that by 2050, the economic centre of gravity will have shifted eastwards even more, to between somewhere between Urumqi in China and Calcutta in India -in other words towards the heart of the Indo-Pacific region.

The UK is well set on leaving, to take advantage of the enormous growth potential of these markets in the East, who it is believed will be responsible for the lions share of growth for the rest of the world. The UK will only be able to take advantage providing we do not find ourselves tied to the EU unable to set our own deals. We are in a very strong position; we shouldnt be depressed about our prospects at all. That is why in the implementation period we must be out and not just in name only.

No, this is where the Government need to take a lead and send strong and simple signals to the EU that if they really do want to try and punish the UK (whilst punishing themselves) then we should know about it very soon. First and foremost is that the UK really does put the money and the time into ensuring we are ready to leave at the end of March 2019 without a deal and as such on WTO terms. So far it appears as though this is the subject in government that dare not speak its name. Yet there is no point in doing this unless the EU knows about it. We must prepare to let the EU know in no uncertain terms that this is happening and that unless the EU meets the Prime Minister halfway on the Florence speech and starts FTA negotiations then we must assume they do not wish to do so and that we will get on with our other plan.

I know that some civil servants will whisper into the Governments ear that this would upset the EU and make it worse for us. However the EU negotiators whilst protesting would know we were serious and it would force them to a decision. This is what Alec Douglas-Home termed limit diplomacy. If the other side doesnt understand that you have your own timetable, then they will feel free to follow theirs with impunity.

This is part of the problem with the discussion on this side of the Channel. Its been dominated by those who fear what the EU might or might not give us. In businesses across the EU they are also beginning to ask what the plans are for the EU if the UK leaves without a trade deal. I have been talking to a number of businesses in Europe, and those that sell their goods to the UK are growing worried about the outcome. To put this in perspective, the UK, as the EUs largest trading partner is a very compliant and profitable market for everything from machine tools to wine. Jobs and livelihoods matter just as much for them as for us.

That is why our negotiating tactic must be to publicly plan to leave the EU on WTO terms and force the EU to decide what they really want. If so-called punishment is their plan then then this will become clear soon enough and we can act accordingly. However, if it is not, then when they realise that we mean business they will have to decide. Compression is a standard negotiating tool and quite legitimate.

I read over the weekend that some civil servants are recommending we go to Brussels and offer to give in to many more of their demands, such as accepting ECJ rulings after we have left, in the hope of discussing an FTA. That would be the worst mistake we could make. They will bank that and figure out that the UK has lost its nerve. They would be right.

At the end of March 2019 we will have left and as such must be able to get on with our expansion into the wider world. All that remains to be decided is if the EU wants to remain as a strong trading partners and friends. The ball will then definitely be with the EU.
This site has long shared the Governments view that the best chance of the Brexit talks producing a good deal rests on making absolutely clear that the alternative is leaving the EU without a deal. Those who criticise the idea that no deal is better than a bad deal somehow fail to see that sending a message to Brussels that Britain will settle for anything  as the Labour manifesto suggested  is a fast way to ensure they offer us very little, at an extremely high cost. No negotiation that begins with one party telling the other name your price, Ill buy regardless ends well for the customer.

The crucial thing about threatening to walk away from a negotiation is that it must sound  and be  credible. David Cameron occasionally tried, somewhat lamely, to suggest that if the EU renegotiation failed then he might back Leave in the ensuing referendum. But the EU did not believe him, not least because he could never even bring himself to say the words out loud, only managing nothing is off the table as his most drastic threat. His negotiating partners saw straight through that line, and as a result he was only offered a pale imitation of the already very limited things which he had asked for. His negotiation failed, he backed Remain anyway, and lost. Had he banged the table and walked out, he might have got a better offer and history might be different  but Brussels judged that he would not do so, and they were right,

So it is essential that the Government demonstrate that the prospect of leaving without a deal is believable and believed. On that measure, the Prime Ministers statement yesterday and the accompanying white papers were very welcome. Contingency planning to manage the technicalities and practicalities of trade on WTO rules is underway and, if further progress has not been made by the New Year, spending will begin on the computer systems and infrastructure needed to implement it. Thats the responsible thing to do for the country, and the wise thing to do for the negotiations.

However, the Prime Ministers statement was more troubling on the question of how she envisages the legal regime in the hoped-for transition period after March 2019. It seems that the Government still plans for any deal to be ultimately overseen by a new arbitration court, potentially some form of sub-tribunal hosted by the EFTA court as floated over the summer. But yesterday May suggested that the move to such a system would take place during the transition period, not at the start of it  effectively delaying the point at which Britain escapes rule by the European Court of Justice to some point between 2019 and 2021.

This is dangerous territory. For a start, many of the 17.4 million Leave voters are naturally concerned that, having finally won their victory, the politicians in Westminster will seek to rob them of it through sleight of hand. Given that our laws was one of the holy trinity of things the Leave campaign said it wanted to take back control of (along with our borders and our money), ending the ECJs power over British law is highly important to most Eurosceptics. Indeed, in our recent survey of Conservative Party members it came second only to the freedom to strike new trade deals in terms of things people wanted to see happen during the implementation period  a full 19 percentage points more popular than reducing immigration. For many  me included  regaining domestic, democratic control of our laws is the single most important prize of Brexit.

The risk is not only that this phased withdrawal risks alienating Leave voters; it could also embolden those Remainers who still hope to blunt or even prevent Brexit altogether. The history of European integration is littered not only with the bodies of Conservative politicians, but also with the very persistent eyesores of supposedly temporary arrangements. If the ECJ is allowed to retain its power after Brexit Day in March 2019, even temporarily, some will conclude that it might be possible to retain it indefinitely, or even permanently. The Continuity Remain campaign has largely been an exercise in ill-advised fancy dress, and wild rhetoric from previously respected public figures, but there is no sense in offering it any encouragement in its misguided belief that there might be some technicality which offers a way to ignore the referendum result.

The Governments attempt to stave off the concerns of Leavers and dampen the hopes of Remainers is to say that this would be a temporary arrangement. As the Prime Minister put it, we have to negotiate what will operate during that implementation periodthat may be that we will start off with the ECJ still governing rules for part of that period. That might well be true, but it is neither reassuring enough to those supporters who are concerned nor clear-cut enough to those opponents who are hopeful. As a bare minimum, there must be far greater clarity about the timescale being considered, and the mechanism to ensure that it is held to. Even then, all of us who have witnessed the EUs tendency to simply ignore supposedly concrete agreements are unlikely to find it very soothing.

The same goes for the even weaker answer to concerns that during such a period Britain would be subject not only to existing EU law but to new laws, too. Simply saying that it is highly unlikely that Brussels will legislate during that time is not good enough. If weve learned anything from the last four decades, its that the EU does what it wants regardless of public opinion, very often to our detriment. The vote to leave was a pretty clear message that voters are no longer willing to simply trust in the beneficence of the EU institutions.

Its interesting to note how this is playing in Mays own Parliamentary Party. Various Eurosceptic backbenchers are reported to be unhappy about the prospect of staying under ECJ jurisdiction for a minute longer than we are EU members. But Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, key Brexiteers that they are, have publicly endorsed the Prime Ministers message.

This is a breach of Johnsons latest red lines, which supposedly included not following new EU laws or ECJ rulings, and not shadowing existing EU law during the transition. May appears to have persuaded him or called his bluff. Goves tweet casts this as a question of being pragmatic to secure the end goal of a proper Brexit. Both men chose to emphasise that they believe such a transition plan is necessary and acceptable to secure the end goal, free of the ECJ.

Of course, theres one caveat to all this: a transition period will only happen if theres a deal. If the Brexit talks produce an agreement on the future relationship, they will also settle the question of how to shift from membership to that new arrangement. If theres no deal, then theres no transition, which is all the more reason to ensure Britain is ready to operate fully on day one.
10/09/2017

Photo (c) 97 - Getty Images Nestle Waters North America, which owns Poland Spring, is seeking dismissal of a class action lawsuit that alleged the Maine-based company's bottled water did not come from springs.

The company introduced as evidence a number of documents, including a letter from the State of Maine Drinking Water Program (DWP) that affirmed all eight of Poland Spring brand springs in the state meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition of spring water.

In August, 11 plaintiffs filed a class action suit in Connecticut claiming that Poland Spring brand water is essentially filtered ground water, an accusation the company denied at the time.

The DWP, which is the state agency that enforces the implementation of FDA rules about bottled water in Maine, has issued these letters to us in the past, a Nestle Waters spokesperson told ConsumerAffairs. This most recent letter verifies that all eight of the spring water sources are approved in the State of Maine.

The spokesperson added that Poland Spring labels are accurate when they declare that the product is 100 percent natural spring water.

Accorrding to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, bottled water overtook carbonated beverages in U.S. sales last year. Michael Bellas, CEO of Beverage Marketing Corporation says that bottled water has effectively reshaped the beverage marketplace.

"When Perrier first entered the country in the 1970s, few would have predicted the heights to which bottled water would eventually climb, Bellas said earlier this year.

He added that bottled water sales have increased every year from 1977 to 2016, with the exception of two years during the Great Recession.
Three distinct cruise lines and a group of shipyards in Germany all under the same ownership paint a bright control-your-own-destiny style future for Genting Hong Kong.

Coming aboard in May, Kent Zhu, president of Genting Cruise Lines, has one of the biggest tasks of them all: building a massive distribution and sales network in mainland China.

Genting Cruise Lines was formed under Genting Hong Kong, specifically overseeing Star Cruises, Dream Cruises and Crystal Cruises.

It was created with the purpose of cross-sharing the resources and services of the three cruise line brands, where available and applicable, and capitalizing and maximizing on the strength of each brand to increase overall efficiencies, Zhu said.

Zhu told Cruise Industry News in an exclusive interview that a 10-year plan is in place, with ship deliveries outlined through 2021. These include not only the two Dream Cruises newbuilds, but two Star Global-class ships, and Crystal riverboats and expedition vessels.

Growing the companys cruise business in Asia for our respective cruise brands, especially for China, remains a top priority and our goal is to implement an effective distribution strategy, Zhu said.

Promoting three cruise lines will come down to creating a strong distribution network in mainland China, he added.

We are creating a nationwide network across the region by exploring a diverse range of distribution channel options, both offline and online, as well as innovating and enhancing our existing channels, he explained.

---

For insight and in-depth analysis of the Chinese cruise market, download the 2018 China Market Report.

About the 2018 China Market Report

The 2018 China Market Report by Cruise Industry News is the only resource covering the future trajectory of the Chinese and Asia-Pacific cruise industry, presenting the past, present and future in a concise 95-plus page PDF download.

It is the only forward looking and independently-researched data available on the Chinese cruise market.

Cruise Industry News profiles all the major cruise lines operating in Asia, from Carnival Corporation to Royal Caribbean and local operators.

In addition, there are discussions with leading Chinese travel agents about the charter model and pricing trends, port news and updates from across the region, and a look at the fleet of ships in Asia through 2027.

There is also exclusive analysis and statistics of the Asia-Pacific market going back to 1998 and supply projections through 2027, in addition to a break-down of Asia-Pacific and China by operator and market capacity. Click here to learn more.
Starting at the end of February the Majestic Princess open up its deployment, offering longer voyages to the international market and then move to Taiwan, with Princess Cruises citing the popularity of the ship's built-for-Asia features.

The ship will be on homeporting in Taiwan with sailings to Japan from April to July 2018, according to a statement, after which she will be deployed in Australia from September 2018 through March 2019.

Guests will no longer need to travel to Europe or the Americas to experience cruises on a Royal-Class ship offering luxurious accommodation and world-class facilities. Taiwan, Japan and Australasia are very popular cruise destinations among guests in this region as these ports are closer to home and easy to reach. As such, these new itineraries are expected to be very well-received, said Farriek Tawfik, Director Southeast Asia, Princess Cruises.

On February 25, the Majestic Princess will embark on a 14-day Grand Asia voyages sailing between Shanghai and Singapore, visiting Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand along the way, including a late night call in Hong Kong. The return voyage to Shanghai will depart Singapore on March 11.

From April to July, the Majestic Princess will be homeporting in Keelung (Taipei) offering three and four-day sailings to Okinawa and Ishigaki, and five- to seven-day voyages calling at an array of ports in Japan such as Kagoshima, Ishigaki, Kochi, Hiroshima and Miyazaki, the company said.

The highlight of this Taipei season will be two special six and seven-night Majestic Spring Flowers sailings from Taipei to Nagasaki, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokushima, Osaka and Miyazaki.

In late August, the Majestic Princess will sail on a 20-day Asia and Australia voyage from Shanghai and call into ports in South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Darwin, and Brisbane, and guests can also opt to sail into Sydney.

From September through March, the Majestic Princess will homeport in Sydney and offer six- to 13-day itineraries.
How can the police induce citizens to help investigate crime? By trying to make it cool and turning it into a game that awards points for hits. At least that is the premise for a Pokemon-like app called Automon that cops are developing to get citizens more involved in investigations.

That was one example of police of the future technology initiatives provided by Dutch Police Chief Erik Akerboom, who has previous experience working in intelligence and counterterrorism units. Akerboom told The Telegraph that citizens would use the Automon app to photograph license plates to help police locate stolen cars.

A loose translation of what Akerboom described is that citizens would photograph license plates to find out if the car is stolen via the Pokemon-inspired app Automon. If it is, then the citizen-turned-detective scores points. And if a vehicle is reported stolen, citizens in that neighborhood might also be tasked to search for that specific license plate. The more you find, the higher your score.

App enables citizens to find missing people

Another app the Dutch police are developing is a Search Together app, which citizens can use to help find missing people. The app keeps track of what areas have been searched by volunteers and what areas still need to be scoured. If a person wants to help search for a missing person, they must use the app. According to translations by both Google and Microsoft, Akerboom said something to the effect of citizens will see that we are serious about their role in helping out in investigations or that the cops take citizens roles in investigations 'seriously.'

Helping to locate stolen cars or missing people doesnt seem too terrible, but those are just a couple of the "police of the future" new tech initiatives. If citizens were more involved in police investigations, would that be a good thing? Or might it lead to the type of surveillance used by the Stasi  a network of citizens turned informants who didnt necessarily have any actual facts of wrongdoings?

Spiegel Online described the unofficial 189,000 Stasi informants as totally normal citizens of East Germany who betrayed others: neighbors reporting on neighbors, schoolchildren informing on classmates, university students passing along information on other students, managers spying on employees and Communist bosses denouncing party members.

The apps mentioned above are two examples of new initiatives being implemented by special think-tank like Q teams in police units. But they are not just focused on apps to induce the public to help in police investigations.

Another policing in the future initiative Akerboom mentioned is a new method for obtaining DNA from suspects that does not involve cotton swabs. With developer help from two universities in the Netherlands, the University of Twente and Saxion University, DNA could be obtained with nanotechnology patches. Patches are faster and more reliable than cotton swabs.

Software to detect corrupt police officers

Theres nothing new about algorithms that determine if a person is suspicious or a possible threat, but the Dutch police are going to apply something similar to their own ranks to find corrupt cops. They are developing software to detect corrupt behavior; the software is intended to prevent leaks and detect the misuse of tracking and other information. The Dutch police have often been in the news for misusing the Blue View detective system  for selling investigative information to the criminal underground.

The decision to involve citizens in investigations may be related to the fact that 15,000 Dutch police officers will retire and need to replaced in the next six years. New recruits will hit the streets after one year of training instead of the current three years. Additionally, there are plans to double the national High Tech Crime cyber squad over the next four years.

These four ideas were the only policing of the future plans mentioned during the interview, but there could be others, as the police seem intent upon recruiting citizen detectives.

Do you view the new initiatives to involve citizens in police investigations as a slippery slope? Do you think citizen detectives could slide into a Stasi-esque system of citizens spying on citizens?
Demanding our rights

Only through provision of basic services can the cycle of poverty be broken and the marginalised given a voice
A former employee of the $65 million Allentown Federal Credit Union was indicted last month for allegedly stealing more than $640,000 from member accounts through fake fees and wire transfers.

Federal prosecutors charged Julie Ann Turk, 46, of Washington Township, Pa., with bank fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.

According to the indictment, Turk held several positions, including teller, Master Card coordinator, teller supervisor and general ledger coordinator, at the Pennsylvania credit union, which gave her access to AFCUs general ledger accounts and member accounts.

From January 2009 to April 2016, Turk allegedly created fraudulent credit union fees, debited the fake fees from AFCUs general ledger account and credited the phony fees to her personal credit union account, prosecutors alleged.
STORY LINK EUR USD Exchange Rate Strengthens as German Exports Boom

Euro (EUR) Strengthened by German Trade Figures

US Dollar (USD) Weakened by North Korea Concerns

EUR USD Exchange Rate Forecast: FOMC Minutes to Strengthen December Rate Hike Odds?

Current Interbank Exchange Rates

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The Euro US Dollar (EUR USD) exchange rate continued to trend higher this morning as Germanys latest trade figures impressed investors.The Euro extended its gains further this morning as Germany posted some impressive trade figures in August.According to data released by Destatis Germanys trade surplus rose slightly from 19.6bn to 20bn in August.While the balance itself was not overly impressive on its own it was Germanys export data that saw the single currency push higher as seasonally adjusted exports increased 3.1% from July, easily beating expectations of a 1% rise and reaching a one-year high.Making it all the more impressive is that the jump in exports comes despite a strong Euro, something that would usually make Germany goods less attractive to foreign buyers.Carsten Brzeski, an ING economist said;While financial markets and the [European Central Bank] have been discussing the risks of a stronger euro, the country which often claims to be export world champion is still enjoying a strong export recovery. Despite the summer lull, the year 2017 should be the best year for German exports since 2010.Looking ahead, the biggest risks for the German economy and the export sector come from the outside. Geopolitical risks, a slowdown of the US or UK economy and a deflating euphoria could dent the strong growth momentum. However, for the time being, the German economy is enjoying the best of all worlds: strong domestic demand and surging exports.Meanwhile the US Dollar fell sharply overnight on Monday as investors feared that geopolitical tensions could flare once again.These fears were largely driven by concerns around North Korea as the secretive country celebrates the founding of its ruling party this week, with Pyongyang frequently marking such occasions with missile launches or nuclear tests, with many analysts speculating last week that North Korea was gearing up to conduct a long-range missile test.Adding to these concerns were recent comments from US President Donald Trump over the weekend as he alluded towards taking military action against Pyongyang, as he suggested on twitter that after years of making fools of U.S. negotiators that only one thing will work against the North Korea leadership.Doubling down on this on Monday Trump said;Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didnt work!Markets fear that such comments could escalate tensions between the US and North Korea even further, something that could negatively impact US relations with Pyongyangs allies in Beijing.Looking ahead the EUR USD exchange rate may begin to retreat on Wednesday afternoon with the release of the minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting as investors look for any further clues that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is moving towards anther rate hike by the end of the year.While CME Groups FedWatch tool already places odds of a December rate hike at over 85% markets will be hoping that the minutes will confirm market speculation, although conversely the US Dollar could retreat even further if the minutes are a little more dovish than expected.Meanwhile EUR investors are likely to be focused on a number of speech by a number of European Central Bank (ECB) members later this week, with markets hoping to hear about the banks plans for ending its quantitative easing programme, with any suggestion that tapering could start early next year likely to drive the Euro higher.At the time of writing the EUR USD exchange rate was trending around 1.1788 and the USD EUR exchange rate was trending around 0.8480.

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TAGS: Euro Forecasts
Pa. Dems could flip the House of Reps. Here's what that might mean
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The Buckle, Inc. operates as a retailer of casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for young men and women in the United States. It markets a selection of brand name casual apparel, including denims, other casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories, and footwear, as well as private label merchandise primarily comprising BKE, Buckle Black, Salvage, Red by BKE, Daytrip, Gimmicks, Gilded Intent, FITZ + EDDI, Willow & Root, Outpost Makers, Departwest, Reclaim, BKE Vintage, Nova Industries, J.B. Holt, and Veece. The company also provides services, such as hemming, gift-packaging, layaways, guest loyalty program, the Buckle private label credit card, and personalized stylist services, as well as special order system that allows stores to obtain requested merchandise from other company stores or its online order fulfillment center. As of March 11, 2022, it operated 440 retail stores in 42 states under the Buckle and The Buckle names. The Buckle, Inc. also sells its products through its website, buckle.com. The company was formerly known as Mills Clothing, Inc. and changed its name to The Buckle, Inc. in April 1991. The Buckle, Inc. was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Kearney, Nebraska.
FCAN demands immediate arrest of Gauchan's murderers

Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (FCAN) has warned of intensifying the protest if the government failed to arrest the murderers of its Chairman Sharad Kumar Gauchan at the earliest.
Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
Googles flagship sets sail

On October 4, in a high-anticipated event, Google launched a varied set of products ranging from smartphones and voice assistants to speakers, cameras and wireless earphones. In case you have been wondering about what exactly Google has laid out this year, heres a brief walkthrough.
Govt cant sack ministers or expand Cabinet, say left-leaning legal eagles

Legal experts close to ruling coalition CPN (Maoist Centre) and opposition CPN-UML have advised the top guns of the parties that the government cannot sack ministers or expand the Cabinet now.
Govt to hire 98,000 temporary police personnel for upcoming polls

The government has decided to hire 98,168 Myadi (temporary) police personnel for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections slated for November 26 and December 7.
The following companies are subsidiares of BorgWarner: Akasol AG, B80 Italia S.r.l., BERU AG, BW El Salto S.A. De C.V., BWA Receivables Corporation, BWA Turbo Systems Holding LLC, Borg Warner Europe Holdings (PDS) B. V., BorgWarner (China) Investment Co. Ltd., BorgWarner (Reman) Holdings L.L.C., BorgWarner (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner Aftermarket Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Alternators Inc., BorgWarner Arden LLC, BorgWarner Arnstadt RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Asia Inc., BorgWarner Automotive Asia Limited, BorgWarner Automotive Components (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Brasil Ltda., BorgWarner Chungju Co. LLC, BorgWarner Comercial e Distribuidora de Pecas para Veiculos Automotores Ltda., BorgWarner Comercializadora PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Componentes PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Cooling Systems (India) Private Limited, BorgWarner Cooling Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Diversified Transmission Products Services Inc., BorgWarner Drivetrain Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Drivetrain Management Services de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Drivetrain de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Electric Motors L.L.C., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems Holding LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Emissions Systems LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Portugal Unipessoal LDA, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Spain S.L.U., BorgWarner Emissions Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Emissions Talegaon Private Limited, BorgWarner Engineering Ketsch RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Engineering Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Esslingen GmbH, BorgWarner Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Europe Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Gateshead Limited, BorgWarner Germany Holding GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Holding Services GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REH GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REM GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, BorgWarner Global Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Heidelberg I RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg II RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg REH GmbH, BorgWarner Heidelberg REM GmbH, BorgWarner Holding Inc., BorgWarner Holdings Limited, BorgWarner Hungary Kft., BorgWarner IT Services Europe GmbH, BorgWarner India Holdings Inc., BorgWarner Investment Holding Inc., BorgWarner Ithaca LLC, BorgWarner Ketsch Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Ketsch REH GmbH, BorgWarner Ketsch REM GmbH, BorgWarner Kft., BorgWarner Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Korea Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Korea Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Korea LLC, BorgWarner Limited, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf REH GmbH, BorgWarner Markdorf REM GmbH, BorgWarner Massachusetts Inc., BorgWarner Mauritius Holdings Ltd., BorgWarner Mexico Holding BV, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings II LLC, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Morse Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Morse Systems Italy S.r.l., BorgWarner Morse Systems Japan K.K., BorgWarner Morse Systems Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Muggendorf RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner NW Inc., BorgWarner Netherlands Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Oroszlany Kft., BorgWarner PDS (Anderson) L.L.C., BorgWarner PDS (Changnyeong) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Indiana) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Livonia) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Ochang) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner PDS (USA) Inc., BorgWarner PDS Brasil Produtos Automotivos Ltda., BorgWarner PDS Irapuato S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Technologies L.L.C., BorgWarner Poland Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Pyongtaek LLC, BorgWarner Romeo Power LLC, BorgWarner Rzeszow Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Shenglong (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner South Asia LLC, BorgWarner Southborough Inc., BorgWarner Spain Holding S.L.U, BorgWarner Sweden AB, BorgWarner Systems Lugo S.r.l., BorgWarner Thermal Systems Inc., BorgWarner Thermal Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner TorqTransfer Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Tralee Ltd., BorgWarner Transmission Products LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Arnstadt GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Korea LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Tulle S.A.S., BorgWarner Trustees Limited, BorgWarner Turbo & Emissions Systems France S.A.S., BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems LLC, BorgWarner Turbo Systems Worldwide Headquarters GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Turbo and Emissions Systems de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner UK Financing Ltd., BorgWarner UK Holding and Services Ltd., BorgWarner US Holding LLC, BorgWarner USA Industries L.L.C., BorgWarner United Transmission Systems Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Waterloo Inc., BorgWarner Wrexham Limited, Cascadia Motion LLC, Creon Insurance Agency Limited, Delphi Technologies, Dytech ENSA, Gustav Wahler GmbH u. Co. KG, Haldex, Kuhlman LLC, Kysor Europe Limited, M. & M. Knopf Auto Parts L.L.C., NSK-Warner (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., NSK-Warner K.K., NSK-Warner Mexico S.A. de C.V, NSK-Warner U.S.A. Inc., New PDS Corp., Old Remco Holdings L.L.C., Old Remco International Holdings L.L.C., Remy International, SeohanWarner Turbo Systems LLC, Sevcon, Sevcon New Energy Technology (Hubei) Company Limited, and Transmission Systems AutoForm LLC.

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CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides expertise and technology to enterprise and mission customers in support of national security missions and government modernization/transformation in the intelligence, defense, and federal civilian sectors. It operates in two segments, Domestic Operations and International Operations. The Domestic Operations segment offers information solutions and services to the U.S. federal government agencies and commercial enterprises in the areas, such as digital solutions, C4ISR, cyber and space, engineering services, enterprise IT, and mission support. The International Operations segment provides a range of IT services, proprietary data, and software products to the commercial and government customers in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and internationally. The company designs, implements, protects, and manages secure enterprise IT solutions. It also offers software-defined, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-unmanned aircraft system solutions; and platform integration and modernization and sustainment, as well as system engineering, naval architecture, training and simulation, and logistics engineering. In addition, the company provides enterprise cloud solutions for classified and unclassified networks; and intelligence support that ensures continuous advances in collection, analysis, and dissemination to optimize decision-making. CACI International Inc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Hi Fly officials coming to discuss Airbus A330-200 details

A team from Lisbon-based airline Hi Fly, which has ordered two Airbus A330-200s on behalf of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on October 16 to discuss technical and other issues.
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. operates bookstores for college and university campuses, and K-12 institutions in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Digital Student Solutions. The company sells and rents new and used print textbooks, digital textbooks, and publisher hosted digital courseware through physical and virtual bookstores, as well as directly to students through Textbooks.com. It also offers First Day and First Day Complete access programs; BNC OER+, a turnkey solution for colleges and universities, that offers digital content, such as videos, activities, and auto-graded practice assessments; and general merchandise, including collegiate and athletic apparel, school spirit products, lifestyle products, technology products, supplies, graduation products, and convenience items. In addition, the company sources, sells, and distributes new and used textbooks; and sells hardware and a software suite of applications that provides inventory management and point-of-sale solutions to approximately 350 college bookstores. Further, it offers direct-to-student subscription-based writing services; and bartleby, a direct-to-student subscription-based offering that includes textbook solutions, expert questions and answers, and writing and tutoring services. The company operates 805 physical college and university bookstores; 622 virtual bookstores; 8 True Spirit e-commerce websites; pop-up retail locations; 73 customized cafes and 11 stand-alone convenience stores; and a media channel for brands targeting the college demographic. Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Crestwood Equity Partners LP develops, acquires, owns, controls, and operates assets and operations in the energy midstream sector in the United States. It operates through three segments: Gathering and Processing North; Gathering and Processing South; and Storage and Logistics. The Gathering and Processing North segment offers natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering, compression, treating, processing, and disposal services to producers in the Williston Basin and Powder River Basin. This segment owns and operates natural gas facilities with approximately 0.4 Bcf/d of gathering capacity and 0.5 Bcf/d of processing capacity; crude oil facilities with approximately 150,000 Bbls/d of gathering capacity and 266,000 Bbls of storage capacity; and produced water facilities with approximately 130,000 Bbls/d of gathering and disposal capacity. The Gathering and Processing South segment provides natural gas gathering, compression, treating, and processing; and produced water gathering and disposal services to producers in the Marcellus, Barnett, and Delaware basins. This segment owns and operates natural gas facilities with 2.5 Bcf/d of gathering capacity and 0.7 Bcf/d of processing capacity; and produced water facilities with approximately 75,000 Bbls/d of gathering and disposal capacity. The Storage and Logistics segment offers natural gas liquids, crude oil, and natural gas storage, terminal, marketing, and transportation, including rail, truck and pipeline services to producers, refiners, marketers, utilities, and other customers. Crestwood Equity GP LLC serves as the general partner of Crestwood Equity Partners LP. The company was formerly known as Inergy L.P. and changed its name to Crestwood Equity Partners LP in October 2013. Crestwood Equity Partners LP was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Dana Incorporated provides power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in four segments: Light Vehicle Drive Systems, Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems, Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems, and Power Technologies. The Light Vehicle Drive Systems segment offers axles, driveshafts, e-axles, electrodynamic and drivetrain components, and transmissions, as well as electric, hybrid, and ICE products for light trucks, sport and crossover utility vehicles, vans, and passenger cars. The Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems segment provides axles, driveshafts, e-axles, e-transmissions, electrodynamic and drivetrain components, and electric vehicle integration services, as well as software as a service for medium and heavy duty trucks, buses, and specialty vehicles. The Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems segment offers axles, driveshafts, transmissions, planetary hub drives, e-axles and e-drives, and helical and bevel-helical gearboxes, as well as electrodynamic, hydraulic, and drivetrain components for construction, earth moving, agricultural, mining, forestry, material handling, and industrial stationary markets. The Power Technologies segment offers gaskets and sealing, cover modules, heat shields, thermal management, e-thermal management, cooling, and bipolar fuel cell plates products for light vehicle, medium/heavy vehicle, and off-highway markets. The company was formerly known as Dana Holding Corporation and changed its name to Dana Incorporated in August 2016. Dana Incorporated was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Maumee, Ohio.
Israeli tourist dies in Manang SUV crash, 10 others injured

An Israeli tourist died in a jeep accident which occurred at Nasong Rural Municipality-1 in Manang district on Sunday evening.
Kantipur Swarnapur winner awarded 1kg gold

Kantipur Media Group (KMG) on Monday handed over 1kg gold to winner Kamala Rijal, 50, under the Kantipur Swarnapur Subscription scheme.
Global Payments Inc. provides payment technology and software solutions for card, electronic, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization services, settlement and funding services, customer support and help-desk functions, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security services, consolidated billing and statements, and on-line reporting services. This segment also provides an array of enterprise software solutions that streamline business operations of its customers in various vertical markets; and value-added services, such as point-of-sale solutions, and analytic and engagement tools, as well as payroll and human capital management services. The Issuer Solutions segment offers solutions that enable financial institutions and retailers to manage their card portfolios through a platform; and commercial payments and ePayables solutions for businesses and governments. The Business and Consumer Solutions segment provides general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit and payroll cards, demand deposit accounts, and other financial service solutions to the underbanked and other consumers, and businesses under the Netspend brand. It markets its products and services through direct sales force, trade associations, agent and enterprise software providers, referral arrangements with value-added resellers, and independent sales organizations. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Limited, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Limited, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AFD.TECH, AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, AIG Shared Services Business Processing Inc, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co. Ltd., Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Accenture (UK) Limited, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Agencia Interativa Ltda, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture B.V., Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BPS Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A., Accenture Canada Holdings Inc, Accenture Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Limited, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co. Ltd, Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Pty Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SASU, Accenture Customer Services Ltd, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Delivery Poland S.p. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance II Limited, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services S.r.l., Accenture Financial Advanced Solution & Technology S.r.l., Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Global Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Global Engagements Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Limited, Accenture Global Services Limited, Accenture Global Solutions Limited, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc, Accenture Holding Brasil Ltda, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SASU, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services B.V., Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture International B.V., Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea B.V., Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Lithuania UAB, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Marketing Services LLC, Accenture Marketing Services Limited, Accenture Middle East B.V., Accenture Minority I B.V., Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi Pty Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations GmbH, Accenture Operations S.p. z o.o., Accenture Operations Services Private Limited, Accenture Operations Services Sdn Bhd, Accenture Outsourcing S.r.l., Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations B.V., Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru SRL, Accenture Post Trade Processing SASU, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture Qiyun Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture S.p. z o.o., Accenture S.p.A., Accenture SASU, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sdn Bhd, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services and Technology S.r.l., Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Single Member S.A. Organization Information Technology & Business Development, Accenture Solutions Co. Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions S.p. z o.o, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc, Accenture Sub III Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions S.r.l., Accenture Technology Solutions SASU, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures B.V., Accenture Technology Ventures SPRL, Accenture Tecnologia Consultoria y Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co. Limited, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Ltda, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Advoco, Agilex Technologies Inc., Alfa Consulting, Allen International, AlphaBeta Advisors, Altevie Technologies S.r.l., Altima, Altima (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Altima Asia Ltd, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Altius Consulting Limited, Altius Data Solutions Private Limited, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Apis Group Pty Ltd, Appaloosa Technology SASU, AppsPro, AppsPro, Arca, Arca Ingenieros y Consultoria S.L., Arca Telecom S.L., Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Artio People (Payroll) Pty Ltd, Artio People Pty Ltd, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Automation Partners Pty Ltd, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc, Avanade Consulting Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Limited, Avanade Europe Services Limited, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SASU, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade Inc, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy S.r.l., Avanade Japan KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Middle East Limited, Avanade Netherlands B.V., Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain S.L., Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Limited, Avanade do Brasil Ltda , Avanade Osterreich GmbH, Avenai, Avieco, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCS Consulting, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BENEXT, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, BRIDGEi2i, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Zhidao Future Consulting Co. Ltd, Benext, Berico Technologies LLC, Bionic, Bionic Solution LLC, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Bow & Arrow, Bow & Arrow Limited, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, Byte Prophecy Private Limited, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CS Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, CS Technology (UK) Limited, CS Technology Group LLC, CS Technology LLC, CadenceQuest Inc., Callisto Integration Europe B.V., Callisto Integration Europe Limited, Callisto Integration LLC, Callisto Integration Ltd, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc, Certus Solutions Consulting Services Limited, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cirrus Connect Australia Pty Ltd, Cirrus Connect Limited, Cirruseo, Clarity Insights, ClearEdge Partners, Clearhead, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas Japan G.K., Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Limited, Cloudeasier SAS, Cloudpoint Limited, Cloudsherpas Inc, Cloudworks, Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc, Cloudworks Technology LLC, Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda, Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda, Context Information Security, Context Information Security LLC, Context Information Security Limited, CoreCompete LLC, CoreCompete Limited, CoreCompete Private Limited, Corliant Inc., Creative Drive LLC, Creative Drive US LLC, CreativeDrive, CreativeDrive Digital Content Services (Shenzhen) Co Ltd., CreativeDrive EMEA Limited, CreativeDrive Singapore Pte Ltd, CreativeDrive UK Group Limited, Cutting Edge Solutions Limited, Cygni AB, Cygni Norrsken AB, Cygni Stockholm AB, Cygni Syd AB, Cygni Vast AB, Cygni Ost AB, Cygni Ostersund AB, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V., Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations  Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut.

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The following companies are subsidiares of HP: 3Com, 3PAR, ABB CADE, AOME Holdings Ltd., Albacore Holdings Jersey Ltd, Alpha Holding One B.V., Alpha Holding Two B.V., Anatolus Holding B.V., Apogee, Apogee Corp, Apogee Corporation Ireland Limited, Apogee Corporation Jersey Limited, Apogee Corporation Limited, Apogee Europe Limited, Apogee France Holdings SAS, Apogee France SAS, Apogee Germany Holding UG, Apogee Group Limited, Apogee Rentals Limited, Apollo Computer, AppIQ, Applied Optoelectronic Tech, ArcSight, Arnon Holding B.V., Arteis, Artivision Technologies, Aruba Networks, Atos Origin, Atos Origin Middle East group, Autonomy Corporation, Avantek, BAS - Burosysteme GmbH, BT & D Technologies, Balreed Digitec Group Limited, Balreed Digitec North Limited, Balreed Digitec SE Limited, Balreed Digitec UK Limited, Bamberga Holding B.V., Bitfone Corporation, Bluestone Software, Boonton Radio, Bristol Technology Inc., Bromium, Bromium UK Limited, CEC Europe Service Management, CGNZ, CaLan, China HP Co. Ltd Hangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd., China HP Co. Ltd. Chengdu Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Guangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Jiangan Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Nanjing Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Shanghai Branch, Choose Packaging, City Docs Limited, City Docs Solutions Limited, Colorado Memory Systems, Colubris Networks, Colubris Networks, Compaq Cayman Holdings Company, Compaq Cayman Holdings General Partnership II, Compaq Information Technologies, Compaq Information Technologies LLC, Computing and Printing Global Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Computing and Printing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Consera Software, ConteXtream Inc, Convex Computer, David Vision Systems GmbH, Dazzle, Digipro Limited, Division, EDS (Electronic Data Systems), EEsof, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, ElseWare, Eon Systems, Eucalyptus Systems, Eunomia Holding B.V., ExcellerateHRO, Exstream Software, Extreme Logic, F&M Scientific Corporation, F. Smith & Co Office Equipment Limited, F.L. Moseley Company, Flame Holding B.V., Fortify Software, Four Pi Systems, GNA Biosolutions GmbH, HP Austria GmbH, HP Belgium BV, HP Bilgisayar ve Baski Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 01 Tambore, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 2 Sorocaba, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 3 Porto Alegre, HP Canada Co. HP Canada Cie, HP Canada Licensing L.P., HP China Holding B.V., HP Chongqing Co. Ltd, HP Chongqing Manufacturing Export Procurement and Settlement Co. Ltd, HP Colombia SAS, HP Computing and Printing Middle East FZ-LLC, HP Computing and Printing Nigeria Ltd, HP Computing and Printing Systems India Private Limited, HP Computing and Printing d.o.o., HP Deutschland GmbH, HP Deutschland Holding GmbH, HP Europe B.V., HP Europe B.V. - Abu Dhabi Branch, HP Europe B.V. Regional Dubai Branch, HP Europe BV Amsterdam Meyrin Branch, HP Finland Oy, HP France Holding SAS, HP France SAS, HP Global Trading B.V., HP Global Trading B.V. Kazakhstan Branch, HP Health Solutions Inc., HP Health Solutions Spain Sociedad Limitada, HP Hewlett Packard Group LLC, HP Inc AP Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Argentina S.R.L., HP Inc Bulgaria EOOD, HP Inc Chile Comercial Limitada, HP Inc Costa Rica Limitada, HP Inc Czech Republic s.r.o., HP Inc Danmark ApS, HP Inc Gulf, HP Inc Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Magyarorszag Kft., HP Inc Peru S.R.L., HP Inc Polska sp. z o.o., HP Inc Romania SRL, HP Inc Slovakia s.r.o., HP Inc Thailand Ltd., HP Inc Tunisie SARL, HP Inc UK Limited, HP India Sales Private Limited, HP Indigo B.V., HP Indigo Ltd, HP Information Technology R&D Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP International Pte. Ltd., HP International Pte. Ltd. Taiwan Branch, HP International Sarl, HP International Trading B.V., HP International Trading B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, HP Israel Ltd, HP Italy S.r.l., HP Jade Holding LLC, HP Japan Inc., HP KSA Ltd., HP Korea Inc., HP Licensing Holding LLC, HP Luxembourg S.C.A., HP Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., HP Nederland B.V., HP New Zealand, HP Norge AS, HP Onyx Holding L.P., HP PPS Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd, HP PPS Costa Rica Limitada, HP PPS India Operations Private Limited, HP PPS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Maroc, HP PPS Philippines Inc., HP PPS Sales Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Services India Private Limited, HP PPS Singapore Sales Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Sverige AB, HP Pakistan Private Limited, HP Panama Sales and Distribution S. de R.L., HP Print Services Ireland Limited, HP Printing Korea Co. Ltd., HP Printing Shandong Co. Ltd., HP Printing and Computing Solutions S.L.U., HP Printing and Personal Systems Hellas EPE, HP Production Company Limited, HP Puerto Rico LLC, HP R&D Holding LLC, HP R&D Singapore Pte. Ltd., HP Schweiz GmbH, HP Scitex Ltd, HP Singapore Private Limited, HP Solutions Creation and Development Services S.L.U., HP South Africa Proprietary Limited, HP South Africa Trust, HP Taiwan Information Technology Ltd., HP Technology Holdings LLC, HP Technology Ireland Limited, HP Technology Israel Ltd, HP Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP Technology Vietnam Company Ltd, HP Trading Kunshan Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Dalian Branch, HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Zhangjiang Branch, HP UK Development Limited, HP US Digital LLC, HP USA Manufacturing LLC, HPCP  Computing and Printing Portugal Unipessoal Lda., HPI Bermuda Holdings LLC, HPI Brazil Holdings LLC, HPI Federal LLC, HPI J1 Holdings LLC, HPI Luxembourg LLC, HPQ Holdings LLC, Heartstream, Hewlett-Packard A.O., Hewlett-Packard Angola Lda., Hewlett-Packard Company Archives LLC, Hewlett-Packard Copenhagen B.V., Hewlett-Packard Development Company L.P., Hewlett-Packard Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard G.K., Hewlett-Packard Global Holdings B.V., Hewlett-Packard Global Investments B.V., Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Solutions Europe BV, Hewlett-Packard Ireland 1 Limited, Hewlett-Packard Ireland Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Japan Holding B.V., Hewlett-Packard Japan NK Holdings C.V., Hewlett-Packard KSA Ltd. Qatar Branch, Hewlett-Packard Lisbon B.V., Hewlett-Packard MENA FZ-LLC Libya Branch, Hewlett-Packard Mercator B.V., Hewlett-Packard Sunnyvale B.V., Hewlett-Packard West Indies Limited, Hewlett-Packard World Trade LLC, Hiflex Software, HyperX, IBRIX, IndiGo, Indigo America Inc., Iseo Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, Knightsbridge Solutions, Kopiervertrieb Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, Lefthand Networks, Limited Liability Company HP Inc, Logoworks, Lyra Holding B.V., MacDermid ColorSpan, ManageOne, Manzana Bidco Limited, Manzana Holdings Limited, Melodeo, Mercury Interactive, Metrix Network Systems, NUR Macroprinters, Neoware, Nihon HP Nin-I Kumiai, Novadigm, NuView ManageX, OOO Hewlett-Packard RUS, Office Perfection Limited, OneFlow Systems Limited, Opelin, Opelin, Open Skies, Opsware, Opsware, Optimization Systems, Optotech, OuterBay Technologies, OuterBay Technologies, PERSIST Technologies, PIXACO, PROLIN, PT Hewlett-Packard Indonesia, Palm, Palm, Peregrine Systems, Perigee Holdco UK Limited, Perigee Midco UK Limited, Perseus Holding B.V., PipeBeach, Poly, PolyServe, PrinterOn America Corporation, Printware Limited, Qosnetics, RLX Technologies, Regor Holding B.V., SPI Dynamics, Samsung Printing Solutions, Scitex, Scitex Vision, Scope Communications, Security Force Software, Shunra Software, Shunra Software, Silverwire Holding, Simpress Comercio Locacao e Servicos Ltda, Snapfish, StorageApps, Stratavia, Synstar, Tabblo, Talking Blocks, Tall Tree Insurance Company, Technology Partners, Telegra, Teradici Corporation, Teradici Inc., Teradici UK Limited, The Danwood Group Limited, The Technology Partners, Tower Software, Tower Software Engineering Pty Ltd, Transoft Networks, Trellis Software & Controls, Triaton, Trinagy, TruLogica, Trustgenix, VeriFone, Verifone, Versatest, Vertica Systems, Vital Technology Pte Ltd, Voltage Security, VoodooPC, Xact Document Solutions Limited, and Xera-Logic Group Limited.

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Shakya is the founder CEO of beed, an international management consulting and advisory firm. He is the author of Unleashing Nepal and Unleashing The Vajra.
The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum: AMI Metals Aero Services Ankara Havaclk Anonim Sirketi, AMI Metals Europe SPRL, AMI Metals Inc. , AMI Metals UK Limited, Acero Prime S. de R.L. de C.V., Admiral Metals Servicenter Company, Admiral Metals Servicenter Company Inc., Airport Metals, Alaska Steel Company, Alaska Steel Company, Aleaciones Especiales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., All Metal Services (Malaysia) Sdn., All Metal Services India Private Limited, All Metal Services Limited, All Metal Services Ltd. (Xian), All Metals Holding, All Metals Processing & Logistics Inc., Allegheny Steel Distributors Inc., American Metals Corporation, Best Manufacturing Inc., CCC Steel Inc., Chapel Steel Canada Ltd., Chapel Steel Corp., Chatham Steel Corporation, Clayton Metals Inc., Continental Alloys & Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Continental Alloys & Services Limited, Continental Alloys & Services Pte. Ltd., Continental Alloys Middle East FZE, Crest Steel Corporation, Delta Steel Inc., Diamond Manufacturing Company, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts Inc., DuBose National Energy Services, DuBose National Energy Services Inc., Durrett Sheppard Steel Co. Inc., Earle M. Jorgensen Company, FastMetals Inc., Feralloy Corporation, Ferguson Perforating Company, Ferguson Perforating Company, Fox Metals And Alloys, Fox Metals and Alloys Inc., Fry Steel, Fry Steel Company, GH Metal Solutions, GH Metal Solutions Inc., Haskins Steel, Infra-Metals Co., KMS FAB LLC, KMS Fab, KMS South, KMS South Inc., Liebovich Bros. Inc., McKey Perforating, Merfish United, Merfish United Inc., Metals USA, Metals USA Inc., Metalweb Limited, National Specialty Alloys, National Specialty Alloys Inc., Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co, Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., PDM Steel Service Centers Inc., Pacific Metal Company, Phoenix Corporation, Precision Flamecutting and Steel Inc., Precision Strip Inc., Reliance Metalcenter Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Reliance Metals Canada Limited, Rotax Metals Inc, Rotax Metals Inc., Service Steel Aerospace Corp., Siskin Steel & Supply Company Inc., Sugar Steel Corporation, Sunbelt Steel Texas, Tubular Steel, Tubular Steel Inc., Valex Corp., Valex Korea Co. Ltd., Valex Semiconductor Materials (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Viking Materials Inc., and Yarde Metals Inc..

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Manuscripts at damage risk if archives shifted

As many as 50,000 manuscripts face risk of damage while moving the National Archives office from Singha Durbar to a new location, officials have warned.
Penske Automotive Group, Inc., a diversified transportation services company, operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships. The company operates through four segments: Retail Automotive, Retail Commercial Truck, Other, and Non-Automotive Investments. It operates dealerships under franchise agreements with various automotive manufacturers and distributors. The company engages in the sale of new and used motor vehicles, and related products and services comprise vehicle and collision repair services, as well as placement of finance and lease contracts, third-party insurance products, and other aftermarket products; and wholesale of parts. It also operates a heavy and medium duty truck dealership, which offers Freightliner and Western Star branded trucks, as well as a range of used trucks, and maintenance and repair services. In addition, it imports and distributes Western Star heavy-duty trucks, MAN heavy and medium duty trucks, buses, and Dennis Eagle refuse collection vehicles with associated parts in Australia, New Zealand, and portions of the Pacific. Further, the company distributes diesel and gas engines, and power systems. The company operates 320 retail automotive franchises, including 146 franchises located in the United States and 174 franchises located outside of the United States; 23 CarShop used vehicle dealerships in the United States and the United Kingdom; and 37 commercial truck dealerships in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, and Oregon, as well as Canada. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Wipro Limited operates as information technology (IT), consulting, and business process services company worldwide. It operates through three segments: IT Services, IT Products, and India State Run Enterprise Services (ISRE). The IT Services segment offers IT and IT-enabled services, including digital strategy advisory, customer-centric design, technology and IT consulting, custom application design, development, re-engineering and maintenance, systems integration, package implementation, cloud and infrastructure, business process, cloud, mobility and analytics, research and development, and hardware and software design services to enterprises. It serves customers in various industry sectors, such as healthcare and medical devices, consumer goods and life sciences, retail, transportation and services, communications, media and information services, technology products and platforms, banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, hi-tech, energy, and utilities. The IT Products segment provides a range of third-party IT products comprising enterprise platforms, networking solutions, software and data storage products, contact center infrastructure, enterprise security, IT optimization technologies, video solutions, and end-user computing solutions. It serves enterprises in various industries primarily in the India market, which comprise the government, defense, IT and IT-enabled services, telecommunications, manufacturing, utilities, education, and financial services sectors. The ISRE segment offers IT services to entities and departments owned or controlled by the Government of India and/or various Indian State Governments. The company was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Bengaluru, India.
The following companies are subsidiares of Quanta Services: (De) Lazy Q Ranch LLC, 1 Diamond LLC, 1Diamond AS, 618232 Alberta Ltd., 8246408 Canada Inc., Advanced Electric Systems, Advanced Electric Systems LLC, Advanced Utility Testing & Maintenance LLC, Alexander Publications LLC, Allteck GP Ltd., Allteck Limited Partnership, Apprenticeship Programs Inc., Arby Construction, Arcanum Chemicals LLC, Arnett & Burgess Oil Field Construction Limited, Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners (Rockies) LLC, Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners Ltd., B&N Clearing and Environmental LLC, Banister Pipelines Constructors Corp., Banister Pipelines Constructors GP Ltd., Banister Pipelines Limited Partnership, Brent Woodward Inc., Brink Constructors Inc., Brink Constructors Inc. A Corporation Of South Dakota, Brown Engineering and Testing, CAT SPEC Ltd., CAT-SPEC Limited Partnership, CAT-SPEC Limited Partnership (Regd Name) CAT SPEC Ltd., CAT-Spec Limited Partnership, Canadian Utility Construction Corp., Cat Spec Limited LP, Cat Spec Ltd, Cat Spec Ltd. L.P., Cat Spec Ltd. LP, Cat Spec. Ltd. LP, Cat-Spec Ltd (A Domestic limited Partnership), Cat-Spec Ltd LP, Cat-Spec Ltd., Cat-Spec Ltd. L.P., Cat-Spec Ltd. LP, Cat-Spec Ltd. Limited Partnership, Catalyst Changers Inc., Chatham Electric, Citadel Industrial Services L.P., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd. L.P., Citadel Industrial Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Coe Drilling Pty Ltd., Computapole, Conam Construction Co., Consolidated Power Projects Australia Pty Ltd, Conti Communications Inc., Crux Subsurface Canada Ltd., Crux Subsurface Inc., Cutting Technology - 1 Diamond LLC, DB Utilities Inc., DE Lazy Q Ranch LLC, DNR Pressure Welding Ltd., Dacon Corporation, Dashiell (DE) Corporation (Dashiell Corporation), Dashiell Corporation, Dashiell Corporation DBA Dashiell (DE) Corporation, De Mears Group, De Mears Group Inc., Delaware Quanta Technology LLC, Delaware Underground Construction Co., Didado Utility Company Inc., Digco Utility Construction L.P. Digco Utility Construction Limited Partnership, Dorado Specialty Services L.P., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd. L.P., Dorado Specialty Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Dorado Specialty Services. Ltd. L.P., Driftwood Electrical Contractors, EHV Power ULC, ELITE PIPING & CIVIL L.P., ELITE TURNAROUND SPECIALISTS LTD, Elite Fabrication Ltd. Elite Fabrication LP, Elite Piping & Civil Limited Partnership, Elite Piping & Civil Limited Partnership, Elite Piping & Civil Lp, Elite Piping & Civil Ltd L.P., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd. L.P., Elite Piping & Civil Ltd. Limited Partnership, Elite Piping and Civil L.P., Elite Turnaround Specialists L.p., Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Lp, Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Partnership, Elite Turnaround Specialists Limited Partnership, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd Lp, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd., Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. L.P., Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. LP, Elite Turnaround Specialists Ltd. Limited Partnership, Energy Consulting Group LLC, Enscope, Enscope Pty Ltd, FIC GP LLC, Field Personnel Services LLC, First Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC, First Infrastructure Capital GP L.P., Five Points Construction Co., G-Tek, G-Vac, GEM Engineering Co., Grand Electric Inc., Great Lakes Line Builders, Grid Creative Inc., Grid Manufacturing Corporation, Grid Training Corporation, H.L. Chapman Pipeline Construction Inc., Haverfield Aviation, Haverfield Aviation Inc., Haverfield International Incorporated, Heritage Midstream LLC, IM Electric Inc., IUC ILLINOIS LLC, IUC Nebraska LLC, InfraSource Construction LLC, InfraSource Field Services LLC, InfraSource Services LLC, InfraSources Construction LLC, Infraestructura ETP de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V, Infrasource Engineering Company PC, Infrasource Iowa Underground LLC, Infrasource Of Pa LLC, Integracion Tecnologica del Peru SAC, Intermountain Electric Inc., Intermountain Electric Inc. A Corporation of Colorado, IonEarth LLC, Irby Construction Company, Irby Construction Company Inc., Iron Mountain M.J. Electric LLC, Island Mechanical Corporation, J.C.R. Construction Co. Inc., J.C.R. Utility Construction Co., J.W. Didado Electric Inc., J.W. Didado Electric LLC, J.w. Didado Electric, JBT Electric LLC, Kingston Contracting Inc., Lazy Q Ranch LLC, Lazy Q Training Center LLC The Lazy Q Lineman School, Legend Foundation Services, Lex Engineering Ltd., Lindsey Electric L.P., Logical Link, Longfellow Drilling, M. G. Dyess Inc., M. J. ELECTRIC LLC IRON MOUNTAIN, M. J. Electric LLC, M. J. Electric LLC - Iron Mountain, M. J. Electric LLC DBA M. J. Electric Iron Mountain LLC, M.J. Electric LLC DBA M.J. Electric Iron Mountain, M.J. Electric LLC Iron Mountain, MTS Field Services, MTS Field Services (Richmond Co), MTS Quanta LLC, Manuel Bros. Inc., Marathon Construction Services, Mears Canada Corp., Mears Equipment Services LLC, Mears Group Inc., Mears Group Pty Ltd, Mears Installation LLC, Mearsmex S. de R.L. de C.V., Mejia Personnel Services LLC, Mercer Technical Services, Microline Technology Corporation, Mid America Energy Services Inc., NACAP Niugini Ltd., NC Northstar Energy Services Inc, NGI Construction, NGI Construction Inc., NGI Construction Inc. (FN), NLC CA. Inc., NLC FL. Inc. Northwest Lineman Center, NLC ID. Inc. Northwest Lineman College, NLC TX. Inc., NPC Energy Services LLC, Nacap Australia, Nacap PNG Limited, Network Communication Services, North Houston Pole Line L.P., North Houston Pole Line Limited Partnership, North Sky Communications, NorthStar Energy Services Inc., Northern Powerline Constructors Inc., Northstar Energy Solutions LLC, Northwest Lineman Center, Northwest Lineman College, Northwest Lineman Training Center, Northwest Lineman Training Center Inc., Nova Constructors LLC, Nova Constructors LTD, Nova Equipment Leasing LLC, Nova Group Inc, Nova Group Inc (CA), Nova Group Inc., Nova Group Inc. DBA NGI Construction, Nova NextGen Solutions LLC, O. J. Pipelines Canada Corporation, O. J. Pipelines Canada Limited Partnership, O.J. Industrial Maintenance, O.J. Pipelines Canada, One Call Locators Canada Ltd., P.D.G. Electric, PAR Electrical Contractors Inc., PDG Electric Co., Par Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Performance Energy Services Guyana Ltd., Performance Energy Services L.L.C., Phasor Engineering Inc., Phoenix North Constructors Inc., Phoenix Power Group Inc., Potelco Inc., Potelco Incorporated, Power Delivery Program Inc., Price Gregory International Inc., Price Gregory Services LLC, Probst Construction Inc., Probst Electric Inc., QEPC, QEPC Power Solutions LLC, QES GP LLC, QP Energy Services LLC, QPS Engineering LLC, QPS Engineering LTD., QPS Engineering PLLC, QPS Environmental, QPS Flint Construction, QPS Flint Tank Services, QPS Global, QPS Global Services, QPS Global Services (Richmond Ci), QPS Professional Services, QPSE, QS Mats, QSI Engineering Inc., QSI Finance (Australia) Pty Ltd., QSI Finance (Cayman) Pvt. Ltd., QSI Finance Canada ULC, QSI Finance GP (US) LLC, QSI Finance I (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., QSI Finance I (US) LP, QSI Finance II (Australia) Pty Ltd., QSI Finance II (Lux) S.a r.l, QSI Finance II (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., QSI Finance III (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance III (Lux) SARL, QSI Finance IV (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance IX (Canada) Limited Partnership, QSI Finance V (US) L.P., QSI Finance VI (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance VII (Canada) Limited Partnership, QSI Finance VIII (Canada) ULC, QSI Finance X (Canada) ULC, QSI Inc., QSN Lux Holdings I SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings II SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings III SCSp, QSN Lux Holdings IV SCSp, QTSL LLC, QUANTA FOUNDATION SERVICES, Quanta APL GP II Ltd., Quanta Asset Management LLC, Quanta Associates L.P., Quanta Aviation Services LLC, Quanta Canada GP ULC, Quanta Canada Holdings III Limited Partnership, Quanta Canada Holdings LP, Quanta Canada III GP Ltd., Quanta Capital GP LLC, Quanta Capital LP L.P., Quanta Capital Solutions Inc., Quanta Cares, Quanta EPC Services, Quanta Electric Power Construction LLC, Quanta Electric Power Construction Management Inc., Quanta Electric Power Services LLC, Quanta Electric Power Services West LLC, Quanta Energized Innovations Ltd., Quanta Energized Services U.S. LLC, Quanta Energized Services of Canada Ltd., Quanta Energy Services LLC, Quanta Environmental Solutions, Quanta Equipment Company LLC, Quanta Government Solutions Inc., Quanta Holdings I (Netherlands) B.V., Quanta Holdings II (Netherlands) B.V., Quanta Infraestructura de Chile SpA, Quanta Infrastructure Services LLC, Quanta Infrastructure Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Quanta Inline Devices LLC, Quanta Inspection Services, Quanta Insurance Company Inc., Quanta International Holdings (US) LLC, Quanta International Holdings II Ltd., Quanta International Holdings Ltd., Quanta International Limited, Quanta Kingsvale LP Ltd., Quanta Lines Pty Ltd., Quanta Maine Services LLC, Quanta Middle East LLC, Quanta Pipeline Services Inc., Quanta Power Australia Pty Ltd, Quanta Power Generation Inc., Quanta Power Inc., Quanta Power Solutions India Private Limited, Quanta Resource Development, Quanta Services Africa (PTY) Ltd., Quanta Services Australia Pty Ltd., Quanta Services Chile SpA, Quanta Services Colombia S.A.S., Quanta Services Costa Rica Ltda., Quanta Services Guatemala Ltda., Quanta Services International Holdings II LP, Quanta Services International Holdings LP, Quanta Services Management Partnership L.P., Quanta Services Netherlands B.V., Quanta Services Panama S. de R.L., Quanta Services Peru S.A.C., Quanta Services Puerto Rico LLC, Quanta Services of Canada Ltd., Quanta Subsurface Canada Ltd., Quanta Subsurface LLC, Quanta Tank Services, Quanta Technology Canada ULC, Quanta Technology LLC, Quanta Technology UK Ltd., Quanta Tecnologia do Brasil Ltda., Quanta Telecom, Quanta Telecom Services, Quanta Telecommunication Services, Quanta Telecommunication Services LLC, Quanta Telecommunications Services LLC, Quanta Underground Services, Quanta Underground Services (Culpeper Co), Quanta Underground Services (Spotsylvania Co), Quanta Underground Services Inc., Quanta Utility Engineering Services Inc., Quanta Utility Installation Company Inc., Quanta Utility Operation LLC, Quanta West LLC, Quantecua Cia. Ltda., R. R. Cassidy Inc., RMS Holdings LLC, RMS Holdings LLC (Delaware), RMS Welding Systems, RMS Welding Systems LLC, Ranger Directional, Realtime Engineers Inc., Realtime Utility Engineers Inc., Redes Andinas de Comunicaciones S.R.L., Riggin & Diggin Line Construction, Rms Welding LLC, Rms Welding Systems LLC, Road Bore Corporation, Ryan Company Inc. The, Ryan Company Inc. of Massachusetts, Ryan Company Inc.(The), Seaward, Seaward Corp, Seaward Corporation, Service EC (DE) Inc., Service Electric Company (DE), Service Electric Company Inc., Service Electric Company of Delaware, Servicios Par Electric S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios de Infraestructura del Peru S.A.C., Southwest Trenching Company Inc., Specialty Tank Services L.P., Specialty Tank Services LP, Specialty Tank Services Limited Partnership, Specialty Tank Services Limited Partnership, Specialty Tank Services Ltd., Specialty Tank Services Ltd. (LP), Specialty Tank Services Ltd. L.P., Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, Specialty Tank Services Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold General LLC, Stronghold Holdings (BVI) Limited, Stronghold Inspection L.P., Stronghold Inspection Limited Partnership, Stronghold Inspection Limited Partnership, Stronghold Inspection Lp, Stronghold Inspection Ltd L.P., Stronghold Inspection Ltd., Stronghold Inspection Ltd. L.P., Stronghold Inspection Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Limited Partnership, Stronghold Ltd., Stronghold Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Management Holdings LP, Stronghold Specialty General LLC, Stronghold Specialty Ltd., Stronghold Specialty Ltd., Stronghold Specialty Ltd. Limited Partnership, Stronghold Tower Group LP, Stronghold Tower Group Ltd LP, Stronghold Tower Group Ltd., Stronghold Tower Group Ltd. LP, Stronghold VI LLC, Subterra Damage Prevention Specialists Ltd., Summit Line Construction, Sumter Utilities Inc., T. G. Mercer Consulting Services Inc., TA Construction, TC Infrastructure Services Ltd., Taylor Built, Texas Specialty Tank Services Ltd. LP, The Aspen Utility Company LLC, The ComTran Group Inc., The Hallen Construction Co. Inc., The Massachusetts Ryan Company Inc., The Ryan Company Inc Of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Inc., The Ryan Company Inc. (Massachusetts), The Ryan Company Inc. of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Incorporated of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company Of Massachusetts Inc., The Ryan Company of Massachusetts, The Ryan Company of Massachusetts (FN), Tom Allen Construction Company Inc., Tom Allen Construction Company of Delaware, Trans Tech Electric, TurnKey Automation Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Ltd., TurnKey Automation Ltd. Limited Partnership, TurnKey Automation Ltd. Limited Partnership, TurnKey I&E Ltd., Turnkey Automation Ltd. L.P., Turnkey Automation Ltd. LP., UCC Underground Construction Co. Inc., Ucc - Underground Construction Co., Underground Construction Co. Inc., Underground Construction Co. Inc. (Delaware), Underground Electric Construction Company LLC, Utilco Inc., Utility Fleet Services, Utility Line Management Services Inc., Utility Testing & Maintenance LLC, Utility Training Services Corporation, VALARD Polska sp. Z o.o., Valard, Valard, Valard Construction (Ontario) Ltd., Valard Construction (Quebec) Inc., Valard Construction 2008 Ltd., Valard Construction Australia Pty Ltd, Valard Construction LLC, Valard Equipment (AB) Ltd., Valard Equipment GP Ltd., Valard Equipment Limited Partnership, Valard Geomatics (Ontario) Ltd., Valard Geomatics BC Ltd., Valard Geomatics Ltd., Valard Mechanical Ltd., Valard Norway AS, Valard Sweden AB, Valard Zagreb d. o. o., Wade D. Taylor Inc., West Coast Communications, Winco Helicopters, Winco Inc., Winco Inc. an Oregon Based Corporation, Winco Powerline Services, Winco Powerline Services Inc., Winco Powerline Services Inc., Winco Services Inc., World Fiber Inc., and mmit Line Construction Inc..

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NEA invites CTGC to sign joint venture deal

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has invited representatives of China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) to visit Kathmandu by October-end to seal their long-delayed joint venture deal so that the construction of the 750 MW West Seti Hydropower Project can begin.
Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops and provides a portfolio of healthcare products worldwide. The company offers peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis, and additional dialysis therapies and services; intravenous therapies, infusion pumps, administration sets, and drug reconstitution devices; remixed and oncology drug platforms, inhaled anesthesia and critical care products and pharmacy compounding services; parenteral nutrition therapies and related products; biological products and medical devices used in surgical procedures for hemostasis, tissue sealing and adhesion prevention; and continuous renal replacement therapies and other organ support therapies focused in the intensive care unit. It also provides connected care solutions, including devices, software, communications, and integration technologies; integrated patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies to help diagnose, treat, and manage a various illness and diseases, including respiratory therapy, cardiology, vision screening, and physical assessment; surgical video technologies, tables, lights, pendants, precision positioning devices and other accessories. In addition, the company offers contracted services to various pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. Its products are used in hospitals, kidney dialysis centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, doctors' offices, and patients at home under physician supervision. The company sells its products through direct sales force, as well as through independent distributors, drug wholesalers, and specialty pharmacy or other alternate site providers in approximately 100 countries. It has an agreement with Celerity Pharmaceutical, LLC to develop acute care generic injectable premix and oncolytic molecules. Baxter International Inc. was incorporated in 1931 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
RPP decides to extend support to Deuba govt

Exactly two months after it pulled out of the government, the Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) on Wednesday decided to extend its support again in what comes as a great respite for Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba
White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and other financial services in the United States. The company operates through five segments: HG Global/BAM, Ark, NSM, Kudu, and Other Operations. The HG Global/BAM segment provides insurance on municipal bonds issued to finance public purposes, such as schools, utilities, and transportation facilities, as well as reinsurance protection services. The Ark segment writes a portfolio of reinsurance and insurance, including property, marine and energy, accident and health, casualty, and specialty products. The NSM segment operates as a managing general agent and program administrator for specialty property and casualty insurance to various sectors comprising specialty transportation, real estate, social services, and pet. The Kudu segment provides capital solutions to boutique asset and wealth managers for generational ownership transfers, management buyouts, acquisitions and growth finances, and legacy partner liquidity, as well as strategic assistance to investees. The Other Operations segment offers insurance solutions to travel industry through broker channel and on a direct-to-consumer basis; and manages separate accounts and pooled investment vehicles for insurance-linked securities sectors, including catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance investments, and industry loss warranties of third-party clients. White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

The company is also engaged in the construction and operation of new facilities, specifically renewable power generation, storage, and delivery facilities, and can offer custom solutions tailored to any need. Offerings include tailored services to assist businesses with their transition to clean energy.

NextEra Energy also owns and operates 7 nuclear power stations in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin generating power for the wholesale market.

Unlike other companies that are targeting net-zero emissions, NextEra Energy has a plan to reach real zero and is investing heavily to reach that goal by 2045. The company had invested nearly $50 billion in green energy infrastructure and initiatives by mid-2022. The plan is to first work on reducing its own emissions and then take its knowledge and expertise to the world.
Navigant Consulting, Inc. provides professional services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Energy, and Financial Services Advisory and Compliance. The Healthcare segment offers consulting and business process management services to healthcare providers, payers, and life sciences companies. This segment helps clients respond to market legislative changes, such as the shift to an outcome and value-based reimbursements model, ongoing industry consolidation and reorganization, Medicaid expansion, the implementation of a electronic health records system, and product planning and commercialization expertise. The Energy segment provides life-cycle solutions that help clients businesses in changing energy environment, manage complexity, accelerate operational performance, and meet compliance requirements, as well as transform its organizations and systems; and various benchmarking, and data and market research services. This segment serves utility and energy companies, government and nongovernmental organizations, large corporations, product manufacturers, and investors. The Financial Services Advisory and Compliance segment provides strategic, operational, valuation, risk management, investigative, and compliance advisory services to financial services industry, including financial and insurance institutions. This segment also offers anti-corruption solutions and anti-money laundering consulting, litigation support, and tax compliance services. Navigant Consulting, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United states and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers workers' compensation, commercial automobile and property, general liability, commercial multi-peril, employers' liability, public and product liability, professional indemnity, marine, aviation, onshore and offshore energy, construction, terrorism, personal accident, and kidnap and ransom insurance products. This segment operates through select accounts, which serve small businesses; commercial accounts that serve mid-sized businesses; national accounts, which serve large companies; and national property and other that serve large and mid-sized customers, commercial trucking industry, and agricultural businesses, as well as markets and distributes its products through brokers, wholesale agents, and program managers. The Bond & Specialty Insurance segment provides surety, fidelity, management and professional liability, and other property and casualty coverages and related risk management services through independent agencies and brokers. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals through independent agencies and brokers. The Travelers Companies, Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.
Saud becomes new Nepse GM

The government has appointed Chandra Singh Saud, a relatively controversial figure, as the general manager of Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), the operator of the only secondary market in the country. The Cabinet on Monday appointed Saud for a four-year term.
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand. The company also provides home decor products under the West Elm brand; kids accessories under the Pottery Barn Kids brand; and an organic bedding to multi-purpose furniture under the Pottery Barn Teen brand. In addition, it offers made-to-order lighting, hardware, furniture, and home decors inspired by history under the Rejuvenation brand; and women's and men's accessories, travel, entertaining and bar, home decor, and seasonal items under the Mark and Graham brand, as well as operates a 3-D imaging and augmented reality platform for the home furnishings and decor industry. The company markets its products through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs, and retail stores. It operates 544 stores comprising 502 stores in 41states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 20 stores in Canada; 19 stores in Australia; 3 stores in the United Kingdom; and 139 franchised stores, as well as e-commerce websites in various countries in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, and India. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Yelp Inc. operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various local business categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services. It provides free and paid advertising products to businesses, which include cost-per-click search advertising and multi-location Ad products, as well as enables businesses to deliver targeted search advertising to local audiences; and business listing page products. The company also offers other services comprising Yelp Reservations that provide online reservations for restaurants, nightlife, and other venues directly from their Yelp business pages; Yelp Waitlist, a subscription-based waitlist management solution that allows consumers to check wait times and join waitlists remotely, as well as businesses to manage seating and server rotation; Yelp Knowledge program that offers business owners local analytics and insights through access to its historical data and other proprietary content; and Yelp Fusion, which offers free and paid access to content and data for consumer-facing enterprise use through publicly available APIs. In addition, it provides content licensing, as well as allows third-party data providers to update and manage business listing information on behalf of businesses. Further, the company offers its products directly through its sales force; indirectly through partners; and online through its website, as well as non-advertising partner arrangements. It has strategic partnership with Grubhub for providing consumers with a service to place food orders for pickup and delivery. Yelp Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
SC issues show cause notice over sacking of Sajha chair

The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause notice to the government for sacking Chairman and Managing Director of Sajha Publications Dolendra Prasad Sharma. A single bench of Justice Deepak Raj Joshi has issued the notice to the government while ordering both the sides to be present in the court.
This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more .

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE.

This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment.

What Were the Origins of the NYSE?

Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement.

An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds.

However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds.

Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865.

What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE?

As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends.

However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for.

An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE?

The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet:

The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders

The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month

The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million

The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue

However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO).

Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice.

At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1.

How are Trades Executed on the NYSE?

For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading.

However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange.

How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment?

Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position.

Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE

Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to.

The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange.

Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades.
SC seeks details on cap gains on sale of shares

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO), Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and Finance Ministry to furnish details on their decision to determine capital gains tax on the sale of Ncell shares by Niraj Gobinda Shrestha to another domestic investor.
Snake oil salesman

NOC chief Khadka should not be allowed to hide or tamper with evidences
When Hsiu-Ping (Patrick) Wu chose to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree at Dalhousie it was partially because Dal was familiar  he used to practise at the Arts Centre with the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. However, now that he's planning for a future in music, he's doing his best to avoid the familiar.

"I'm trying to follow the principle that my conductor in Taiwan told me this summer: do what people wouldn't normally do because in this competitive world, in order to stand out, you need to do something a bit special, he says.

So, he's made it a point to get out of his comfort zone.

Organized spontaneity



That's one of the reasons Patrick decided to get involved with the Society of Dalhousie Music Students' (SDMS) participation in Nocturne, an annual celebration of art at night that turns downtown Halifax into hundreds of venues for art in all forms.

Its all about putting yourself out there and gaining the experience. Its more than just music, and then you have to know how to budget things and write up the whole application.

This will be Patricks's fourth year at Nocturne and his second year working on an improvisational score for the project.

"For improv score we basically compose the skeleton of the piece  theres not much to it, its detailed on gestures, mostly commands  and we just tell the players what to do. For these projects, it's all very abstract. We try to make the music as abstract as possible for people to interpret in different ways.

This is helps with what Im currently learning from my composition prof  he says Im sometimes too detailed in my music."

This year, the SDMS is presenting Sculptures, a five-movement piece about the history of Halifax that includes an interactive light show. The performance will take place on Saturday, October 14 from 6 p.m. until midnight at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on Lower Water Street.

Diverse experiences



Before returning for his fourth year of studies as a Composition major in Dalhousie's Fountain School of Performing Arts, Patrick spent this past summer travelling, performing and composing.

First, he returned home to Taiwan for summer break and to participate in the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Camp, one of the top orchestra camps in the country.

"That camp really opened my eyes to see how we compare as musicians to everyone out there  especially in Asia because things are so competitive. It was very intense but it was an unforgettable experience."

After that, he travelled to Pavia, Italy for the highSCORE Festival, which brings composers from around the world to participate in masterclasses and premiere an original composition. Patrick composed a fantasia for clarinet and piano inspired by Edgar Allan Poes The Tell-Tale Heart.

"In that festival, there were 40 of us, all composing music. It was great because we all spoke the same musical language and when we interacted we absorbed knowledge from each other. Because we were from all over the world, I got to establish really important connections and I was exposed to all these different ideas."

Playing it by ear



Though hes not yet certain where his career will take him, Patrick knows that learning as much as he can about the arts and music industry will help him break into the competitive field. For starters, hell be staying at Dal for an extra year to brush up his violin technique. From there, hell continue to explore new ways to differentiate himself.

"You just need to find your own voice in your art, he says. You need to have a vision first, you can't just sit there waiting for opportunity, and you need to be passionate about it to convince the audience with your music."
Canadas ocean economy is poised for a major boost, with an industry-led partnership being shortlisted for a significant government investment.

The Ocean Supercluster  which includes leading ocean companies like Emera, Cuna del Mar and Clearwater alongside local ocean tech enterprises and research institutions like Dalhousie, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Ocean Frontier institute  is a finalist in the Government of Canadas Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, was at Dals Steele Ocean Sciences Building Tuesday morning to make the announcement, his first stop in a cross-country tour announcing the nine finalists.

A supercluster is an innovation hotbed that is home to one or more clusters that share technologies and infrastructure and cultivate a pool of talent, said Minister Bains. Think of Silicon Valley; think of a made-in-Canada Silicon Valley.

Strengthening Canadas ocean economy



Announced in the 2017 budget, the Government of Canadas Innovation Superclusters Initiative received more than 50 proposals, involving over 1,000 companies and 350 partners, including over 100 academic institutions. The government will choose up to five of the industry-led proposals, ones with the greatest potential to energize the economy and become engines of growth, and invest up to $950 million over five years.

The Ocean Supercluster proposal is focused on improving the productivity and global competitiveness of Canadas ocean industries, investing in digital ocean technologies and capabilities, driving growth across Canadas ocean sector, and fostering commercialization and ocean-related startup companies. Its a proposal that builds on Atlantic Canadian strength  15-20 per cent of the regions economy is based on ocean-related activity.



Minister Bains speaks at the supercluster announcement.



The supercluster promises to benefit all of the Atlantic provinces by maximizing the economic potential in substantive development of Canadas ocean economy, said Minister Bains. And it will invest in digital ocean technologies in industries such as aquaculture, captive fisheries, offshore oil and gas and clean energy as well. In doing so, all of its collaborators will help improve our ocean economy productivity and global competitiveness.

Dal President Richard Florizone welcomed the news that the Ocean Supercluster has been shortlisted.

Atlantic Canada is the best place in the world for an innovative ocean supercluster, with world-class companies, researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs, he said. The Ocean Supercluster builds on the momentum weve seen with the Ocean Frontier Institute [OFI], the Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship [COVE[, and other exciting initiatives in our region that bring together industry, government and research to propel ocean innovation forward.



Left to right: Treasury Secretary Scott Brison, Dal VP Research Alice Aiken, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, Dal President Richard Florizone.



Coming together



The early-morning event attracted many business leaders from Canadian ocean-related companies, along with President of the Treasury Board Scott Brison, who introduced Minister Bains; Halifax MP Andy Fillmore, who served as master of ceremonies; the Honourable Seamus ORegan, Minister of Veteran Affairs; Dartmouth-Cole Harbour MP Darren Fisher; Fundy Royal, New Brunswick MP Alaina Lockhart; and Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook MP Darrell Sampson.

Minster Bains presented the superclusters initiative as part of a broader strategy to build a future-focused Canadian economy, one that nurtures talent, attracts investment and puts diversity and inclusion front-and-centre.

Our diversity is our strength, said Minister Bains. Its Canadas value proposition, and it will ensure our success for years to come.

Learn more about the proposed Ocean Supercluster at oceansupercluster.ca



Researchers, government leaders and others celebrate the supercluster announcement.


Umbrella bodies condemn Gauchans murder

Different private sector umbrella bodies have condemned the gruesome murder of construction businessman Sharad Kumar Gauchan near New Baneshwor on Monday afternoon.
Those who pre-booked the JioPhone are taking to Twitter to express their discontent over delayed deliveries of the 4G feature phone. Some customers are also complaining that the toll-free number to check the JioPhone delivery status is not working.

Reliance Jio may just fall short on its promise of delivering 6 million pre-booked JioPhone units on time. JioPhone deliveries were supposed to start back in September, however multiple Jio customers have taken to Twitter with complaints of delayed deliveries.

When can i get my jiophone at hyderabad-500011 the phones have arrived at store. Yet no responce from the store @JioCare @reliancejio  Mani Kanth (@manikanth9550) October 9, 2017

@reliancejio Lootam lat macha ke rakha hai jio mkt paisa utha liya #jiophone ka pata nahi hai abhi tak 1.20 lakh 80 ph boking but mila nahi  Pintulal Sonkar (@pmsonkar) October 9, 2017

As a standard response to all customer grievances related to delayed JioPhone deliveries, the official Reliance Jio Twitter account has tweeted saying, We have started the delivery of JioPhones in phased manner to avoid inconvenience. The official Jio twitter handle further writes that all those who have pre-booked the JioPhone will receive it as soon with no indication of a delivery date.

We understand your concern. We have started the delivery of JioPhones in phased manner to avoid inconvenience to(1/5)  JioCare (@JioCare) October 9, 2017

our customers. Please be assured that all customers who have done the pre-booking of JioPhone will receive it as soon your(2/5)  JioCare (@JioCare) October 9, 2017

Multiple users have started expressing their anger on the microblogging platform, saying that they feel cheated. Some users are also demanding a refund of the Rs 500 they spent booking the smart 4G feature phone. In response, Reliance Jio keeps replying to these user complaints with the same Tweet thread about phased deliveries.

Reliance Jio users who have pre-booked the JioPhone have an option of checking the status of their phone deliveries by calling the toll-free number - 1800 890 8900. However, some users are also complaining that the toll-free number is not working properly. When we tried to reach the JioPhone toll-free number to check the status of multiple undelivered JioPhones (as per info obtained from Twitter complaints) we were able to get through, but each query was answered with the same automated response saying that the delivery status of the device will be sent through an SMS soon. Interestingly, a couple of users also claim that the JioPhone is more readily available if pre-booked offline. As per some users, JioPhones have started arriving in stores near them, but they still do not have any updated delivery status for their devices.

@JioCare @reliancejio Toll Free Number of Reliance Jio to check the Status of JioPhone is not working. #WTF  Manish Patel (@techexpresslive) October 9, 2017

The JioPhone is a smart 4G feature phone which can be used to access the internet at 4G speeds, stream movies and music, browse Facebook, and much more. The device also features a digital assistant which can be controlled using voice commands. Those who have pre-booked the device can expect to either get a unit with a Spreadtrum 9820A processor or a Qualcomm 205 chipset with a 1.2GHz Dual Core CPU.

The JioPhone is effectively free, but customers have to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500 to get it. As per Jios terms and conditions, the JioPhone will have to be recharged for a minimum of Rs 4,500 over a period of three years, else the deposit will not be refunded to users. News of this minimum recharge lock-in also irked many who booked the feature phone and thought it did not come with any caveats.

Delayed JioPhone deliveries could cost Reliance Jio precious time and money when it comes to subscriber additions. State-run telecom operator BSNL is also said to be working on a JioPhone challenger in partnership with local manufacturers Micromax and Lava. Bharti Airtel is also planning to launch a Rs 2,500 4G feature phone to compete with the JioPhone. If competition from telecom operators was not enough, HMD Global, the Nokia brand licensee, has also experessed interest in developing a 4G feature phone if the JioPhone manages to take off well in the country. This, coupled with competing data and calling plans from incumbent operators, can slowdown Jio's shooting subscriber growth and possibly spill water on its plans to convert 500 million feature phone users to 4G subscribers.
EasyHotel said on Tuesday that trading for the full year was a little ahead of the boards expectations as the good progress seen in the first half continued through to the second.

In a trading update for the year to 30 September, the owner and operator of budget hotels said total sales rose 39% to 29.7m. Meanwhile, like-for-like revenue for owned hotels and franchised hotels was up 13.7% and 8.6%, respectively. The company said that according to STR Global, its owned hotels significantly outperformed the competitor set.

Chief executive officer Guy Parsons said: It has been a year of accelerated growth for the group, endorsing our strategy of offering comfortable, affordable accommodation in key tourist and business locations in the UK and internationally.

"The strong like-for-like performance of both our owned and franchised hotels and their continued outperformance against the market is very encouraging. We are particularly pleased by the performance of our newly opened hotels, designed in our stylish new brand format, which are proving popular with our customers and trading ahead of expectations.

EasyHotels network, including pipeline hotels, rose by more than 1,100 rooms, or 32%, during the financial year, with 2,270 rooms now open and a committed pipeline of 2,400 rooms.

The company said its new 78 bedroom hotel in Liverpool is expected to open next month. Meanwhile, new hotel projects currently under construction in Ipswich, Barcelona, Leeds, and Sheffield, are all due to open in 2018.

At 1250 BST, the shares were up 6.8% to 94.50p.
South eastern Europe-focussed property and investment company Secure Property Development and Investment announced the proposed acquisition of up to a 50% interest in a portfolio of fully-let logistics properties in Romania on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded company said the portfolio - named the Olympians portfolio - currently generated a net operating income of approximately 4.5m per annum.

It said the proposed acquisition, which remained subject to a number of conditions and banking consents - including the satisfactory completion of due diligence and funding - was in line with the company's strategy to build a leading south eastern Europe property company with a diversified portfolio of prime income producing real estate.

The Olympians Portfolio was co-developed and owned by GE Capital and is now owned by GEC's development partner Myrian Nes, a leading developer of Grade A logistics properties in Romania, Secure Propertys board explained in its statement.

It comprises warehouses strategically located close to national highways, thus facilitating the transportation of goods throughout the country and the wider region.

The Olympians Portfolio is located across three key logistics areas in Romania, the board added, being the capital Bucharest, the industrial city and automotive centre of Timisoara on the Romania-Hungary border, and Brasov, a major city close to the capital.

The existing portfolio of around 100,000 square metres of warehousing and office facilities was fully let to largely multinational tenants.

SPDI's existing logistics terminal in Bucharest - the Innovations Logistics Park - was developed by Myrian Nes, and the Olympians Portfolio transaction - should it complete - is expected to further cement SPDI's longstanding relationship with the vendor partner, the board said.

The vendor partner intends to develop additional warehouse space, which SPDI is expected to have first right of refusal to acquire.

The proposed acquisition also complemented SPDI's existing logistics properties in Greece and Romania which, as the board announced on 28 September, generated net operating income of around 1.8m in the first half of 2017.

Subject to acquiring the full 50% interest, the Olympians Portfolio would increase the total lettable area of the company's logistics assets under management to 135,000 square metres.

The Gross Asset Value of the Olympians Portfolio is approximately 50m, and there is a senior loan liability of approximately 30m secured against the portfolio.

SPDI said the consideration for the 50% interest was expected to be approximately 8-9m, which would be finalised once the company completes its due diligence.

It said it already transferred, in aggregate, 3.6m to the vendor partner in the form of a 10% coupon loan, convertible into shares of the SPV that will be created to hold the Olympians Portfolio.

The board said it intended to raise the majority of the consideration necessary to close the proposed acquisition through the issue of a financial instrument with a value of between 3.5-4m, 35% of which consisted of a convertible loan and 65% of which is made up of a warrant.

It said the balance of the funding was expected to be provided in the form of external debt, over which the company was currently in discussions with providers.

The proposed acquisition of a fully let Grade A logistics portfolio underpins our strategy to increase SPDI's income generating capacity in one of Europe's fastest growing economies and in the strategically-important south east corner of the EU, said SPDI CEO Lambros Anagnostopoulos .

The commitments received to date from both existing and new investors for the Instrument represent an endorsement of our strategy and management's ability to execute it.

We continue to enjoy the support of investors who have backed us in the past to firstly generate above market returns on our investments; and secondly to build SPDI into a leading income producing property company in a region of the EU which has the highest growth potential.

Anagnostopoulos said the recent disposals at or above book value of Terminal Brovary and the pre-sale agreement regarding the Kiyanovski plot of land, both in Kiev, together with the plan to acquire the Olympians Portfolio demonstrated the companys ability to sell assets at prices that matched the value indicated in the company's accounts, and also to acquire quality income producing properties at attractive rates.

This serves to highlight the anomaly that is the 50% plus discount at which our shares trade at compared to our net asset value.

Furthermore our NAV does not take into account the capital value appreciation we expect to see in the medium term as income yields in the region, which still hover at levels double those of western EU countries, converge to those in the rest of the EU as the underlying economies, including Romania, continue their fast pace of growth.
Perceiving too much stock market pessimism about domestic UK banks, Credit Suisse upgraded Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland but downgraded HSBC in a note on Tuesday.

The Swiss bank's base case for UK-focused high street banks is for 'soft Brexit', seeing an increasing likelihood that the transitional deal proposed by Theresa May and backed by Chancellor Philip Hammond becomes permanent.

"Our central scenario of low growth, low unemployment and moderate rate rises is supportive for domestic banks capital generation and we continue to believe earnings risk is to the upside."

Lloyds was raised to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and a share price of 80p is targeted, while RBS was lifted to a 'neutral' rating from 'underperform' and given a target price of 275p.

Barclays was kept on an 'outperform' rating as downgrades are believed to be reaching a trough and of the UK banks it is seen as most sensitive to US tax reform with a potential near-8% earnings per share benefit after a one-off capital impact from deferred-tax revaluations.

Lloyds, which has de-rated relative to UK peers in the year-to-date, is seen by CS analysts as a likely winner from 'soft Brexit'.

In spite of 2018 EPS consensus upgrades of 20% the shares have risen just a 9%, whereas international UK banks have re-rated on more modest earnings upgrades.

"We would expect this domestic UK risk-premium to reduce as 1) a softer Brexit becomes the market base case and 2) Lloyds earnings and capital generation remain supportive."

For RBS, Credit Suisse welcomed recent positive developments on the capital side, notably on IFRS 9, and said short-term momentum in the business looks strong.

"That said, we continue to see uncertainties in the timing of capital return, and risks (eg on pricing pressure) to its UK growth strategy."

HSBC was cut to 'underperform' from 'neutral' as analysts said the market was pricing in an optimistic scenario, with shares having outperformed domestic peers by circa 10% in 2017 yet earnings revisions have lagged by around 5% on average.

"However, we are more cautious on NIM expansion (timing and competition) and capital return (UK subsidiary deficit is broadly equivalent to US surplus)."

Standard Chartered was left on an 'underperform' rating as its current valuation of circa 15 times 2018 earnings is "too generous given the return outlook and ongoing uncertainty on top line growth".
Wont tolerate changes in Cabinet: Oli

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has warned the government not to make changes in the Cabinet.
Employees from Bombardiers Northern Ireland plant will fly to Westminster on Wednesday in order to urge MPs into action following the US decision to slap a 220% trade tariff on the planemaker last month.

The workers are expected to unveil a banner calling on Theresa May to summon a meeting with Boeing, who have been accused of stifling competition after making the complaint about its Canadian rival.

Bombardier is one of the biggest employers in NI, employing more than 4,000 people across the region in four locations.

Both Downing Street and several trade unions have criticised the decision to introduce the tariff, with PM May saying she was 'disappointed' by the action.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner called on the government to do more to prevent job losses at Bombardier.

"The British government has a duty to defend UK manufacturing jobs against the bullying behaviour of Boeing," Turner said.

"A failure to do so will signal that any ambition ministers have for a coherent industrial strategy is effectively in tatters and that they are happy to put Trumps America First policy ahead of UK manufacturing jobs."

The US Department of Commerce handed down another 80% tariff on Bombardiers C-series jets in response to the competition complaint from Boeing, even though the US firm does not supply similar aircraft.

"Boeings case is without merit, a fact that prime minister Theresa May has herself admitted," Turner added.

"Theresa May and her government need to be battling for Northern Irelands Bombardier workforce which makes some of the most technologically advanced wings in the world."
Pfizer may sell off all or part of its consumer healthcare business, the US drug giant said as it began a strategic review of the unit on Tuesday.

Pfizer, which rose to fame and fortune on the back of its development of Viagra, has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley among a cabal of three advisers which will examine a range of options, including a full or partial separation of the unit through a spin-off flotation or sale.

The consumer healthcare business generated $3.4bn of revenues last year, with its Centrum vitamin and Advil ibuprofen brands two of ten biggest selling globally.

Its other brands include Preparation H haemorrhoid cream, Chap Stick balm and Robitussin cough medicine.

Pfizer Consumer Healthcare is a leading player in the largest OTC categories, with iconic brands, robust retail partnerships, global reach and strong fundamentals, said chairman and CEO Ian Read.

Although there is a strong connection between Consumer Healthcare and elements of our core biopharmaceutical businesses, it is also distinct enough from our core business that there is potential for its value to be more fully realized outside the company. By exploring strategic options, we can evaluate how best to fuel the future success and expansion of Consumer Healthcare while simultaneously unlocking potential value for our shareholders.
London stocks were set to nudge a touch lower at the open on Tuesday as investors eyed some key manufacturing and industrial production data.

The FTSE 100 was called to open five points lower at 7,502.

London Capital Group said: The UK's August industrial and manufacturing production data is due today and the analyst expectations are mixed. A satisfactory read could underpin the buy-side. However, the rising tensions at the heart of the Tories, heavy critics on PM Theresa Mays Brexit policies and chatter of a potential cabinet reshuffle could keep the pound appetite limited.

Manufacturing and industrial production figures are at 0930 BST, along with trade balance data.

Market participants will also be keeping an eye on Spain as Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont will deliver a speech to lawmakers on the independence referendum.

If Mr. Puigdemont softens his tone and takes a step back from the possibility of a unilateral declaration of independence, the Spanish stocks and bonds could rally on a temporary relief. On the other hand, a strong rhetoric from the Catalonian President could escalate the political tensions and push investors away from the Spanish regional markets, London Capital Group said.

Investors will be digesting the latest retail sales figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, which showed like-for-like sales rose 1.9% in September, up from a 0.4% increase in the same month last year. Total sales increased by 2.3%.

In UK corporate news, Whitbread announced that its Costa division has acquired 49% of its South China joint venture from its partner, Yueda, for RMB 310m (35m).

The company said the acquisition would provide full ownership in the important growth market, and was in line with its strategy to focus on key international opportunities. Costa currently owns 51% of the joint venture, which operates 252 stores in the south of China, including 93 stores in Shanghai.

Outsourcing group Capita has appointed former Amec Foster Wheeler boss Jon Lewis as chief executive to continue its turnaround.

Lewis, who had a 20-year career at oil services giant Halliburton before joining Amec last year and overseeing its takeover by John Wood, will take his seat at Capita from 1 December 2017, where he will allow interim CEO Nick Greatorex to resume his role as finance director.

Dominos Pizza Group posted its third quarter trading update, with group system sales rising 11.9% on an organic basis to 286.4m, or 20.8% on a reported basis.

The FTSE 250 company, which holds the master franchise for the American Dominos Pizza brand in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, said UK and Ireland system sales were ahead 11.7% organically to 261.6m in the third quarter, with like-for-like sales growth excluding splits up 8.1% in the UK and 13.1% in Ireland. International system sales rose 25.1% on an organic basis to 24.8m.
The government is examining whether Britain could attach itself to the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) in the event of a 'no deal Brexit', according to a reports on Tuesday.

The Department for International Trade has been working on "Project After", a programme weighing up best-case scenarios for the UK after the divorce from Brussels is finalised in March 2019.

Several bilateral deals had been bandied about, including with the US, Canada, Australia and Japan, but the Daily Telegraph reported Trade Secretary Liam Fox was examining the possibility of the UK joining Nafta in case a "no deal" scenario was to come about as a result of Brexit negotiations falling flat.

Were Britain to join Nafta, the group would account for almost one-third of global trade.

The news came a day after Theresa May set out plans on how the country would try to keep trade flowing if Brexit talks conclude in 2019 with no trade deal agreed.

With the European Union playing hard ball after the Prime Minister said the "ball was in their court", May told the House of Commons that the government had a duty to prepare for a failure of talks.

While I believe it is profoundly in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a government to prepare for every eventuality, she said.

Two new white papers were published after May's speech to MPs, which she said were necessary to minimise disruption in the event of talks collapsing, one on customs and another on trade from Fox's department.

The trade's paper recognises that any deals struck outside the EU will have to put on hold during any such transition and so focuses on what steps will need to be put in place to prepare for when Britain does eventually strike out on its own with new international trade deals.

May said the papers offered a creative solution to a new economic relationship with the EU.

We dont want to settle for a model enjoyed by other countries, said the prime minister. Instead I am proposing a unique and ambitious partnership that reflects our unprecedented position of starting with the same rules.

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said the government's plans to leave the customs union during the transition period were "unnecessary and unrealistic".

He added: This fudge has been dreamt up so Liam Fox can jet around the world trying to negotiate trade deals. Making these half-baked demands only increases business uncertainty and the chances of a disastrous no deal Brexit.

It seems Liam Fox is prepared to sacrifice British jobs so he can keep his own."
BAE Systems will cut 1,925 jobs from its UK workforce as the giant defence contractor attempts to keep production "at competitive costs".

Following rumours of a massive round of 1,000 job cuts a day earlier, the FTSE 100-listed group announced plans mid-morning on Tuesday to axe 1,400 roles from its Military Air & Information business as it lowers production rates for the Typhoon and Hawk jet fighters, 375 from Maritime Services and a further 150 from Applied Intelligence.

The changes will "drive competitiveness accelerate technology innovation and deliver continued improvements in efficiency and operational excellence", the company said.

As part of a "streamlining" of the organisation by new chief executive Charles Woodburn, the oil executive who joined last year as chief operating officer and was promotion to CEO this June, the management structures of the current Platforms & Services UK and international businesses will be removed, with new "and strengthened" Air and Maritime units created.

BAE said the changes did not effect its 2017 earnings, which remained for earnings per share to be up 5-10% on last year's 40.3p, with net debt to be reduced slightly.

A new role of chief technology officer has been created "to enable more effective prioritisation, investment and exploitation of technology", while finance director Peter Lynas will take on extra responsibility for UK shared services, procurement and mergers and acquisitions on top of his existing tasks.

Although an order for 24 Typhoon and six Hawk aircraft was won from Qatar last month, BAE has been downplaying the importance of the Eurofighter Typhoon to its business since the summer, with the fighter jet having been flying since the late 1980s and Woodburn and Lynas both pointing to the increase in work on Lockheed Martins F-35.

Berenberg analysts forecast BAEs Typhoon exports will halve in 2018 and again in 2019.

Trade union Unite said on Tuesday it would "fight for every job" at BAE, with assistant general secretary Steve Turner saying the job cuts "will not only undermine Britains sovereign defence capability, but devastate communities across the UK who rely on these skilled jobs and the hope of a decent future they give to future generations".

He added: Unite will not stand by and allow the defence of our nation to be outsourced abroad. These devastatingly short sighted cuts will harm communities, jobs and skills. Unite will fight for every job and support every community under threat in both BAE's aerospace and marine divisions.

"These are world class workers with years of training and expertise on which an additional four jobs rely upon in the supply chain."

The union feels too much taxpayers' money on defence spending finds its way overseas, calculating that a quarter of UK defence spending will find its way to American factories by 2020.

"The British government can and should do more to defend UK defence jobs by investing in Britain and committing that long term projects, such as the next generation jet fighter, future support vessels and Type 31e frigate are built here in the UK," said Turner.

Defence secretary Michael Fallon recently said Britain should increase its defence spending target above the current 2% of GDP and announced a 1bn support package for the Royal Navy fleet.

In September the government's National Shipbuilding Strategy was published, confirming a commitment to build eight Type 26 Frigates at BAE's Glasgow shipyards and continued support for export opportunities.
Work in progress

Softening its position on demands of Madhes-based parties, India now seems to support the constitution implementation process


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Helpshifts new Web Chat application uses artificial intelligence to help companies release scalable chatbots that can automate customer service through real-time interactions.

The new AI-based tool, released last week, will boost Helpshift customers ability to provide enterprise-grade support to their customers, according to Helpshift, which specializes in mobile customer support for the gaming industry.

We have taken our mobile expertise and built a mobile-first conversational chat experience with built-in AI chatbots to drive huge efficiency gains in large-scale chat operations, CSO Abinash Tripathy and CTO Baishampayan Ghose told CRM Buyer via email.

Web chat applications for the desktop have existed for years, they noted, but they typically utilized a synchronous phone call-like service that placed customers in a queue, essentially putting them on hold until a customer service agent entered the conversation.

Bringing in robotics and AI will help free human agents from having to answer questions that previously may have been answered, suggested Tripathy and Ghose, who pointed to data indicating that simple things like frequently asked questions could deflect 50 percent to 70 percent of customer queries.

Value of Customization

The Web Chat application allows routing of questions based on priority, skill and availability. It also allows prioritization of customer questions based on whether the customer is a premium user, on the value of items in the shopping cart, or on the status of an airline or hotel reservation.

It gives agents a 360-degree view of customer interactions  for example, allowing them to view all prior chat history  and provides other customized data from a CRM system.

The Web Chat interface has a look and feel similar to Facebook Messenger or Apple iMessage, with functions including typing indicators, chat avatars, and send and received receipts, according to the company.

The Helpshift chatbot types include the following:

An Answer Bot, which matches questions to relevant FAQs, sometimes negating the need for an agent;

A GetInfo Bot, which prompts users to enter their name, email and other information, so the agent doesnt need to request it; and

A Customer Satisfaction bot, which monitors customer satisfaction immediately following resolution of the issue.

Customers will be able to develop their own customized bots as well.

Need It Now

The AI-based Web Chat application comes at a time of increasing demand for faster customer service, particularly due to the increasing use of mobile phones and other portable devices for online shopping.

Customer expectations have shifted towards immediacy, and preferences for service through Web and mobile chat have increased, said Cindy Zhou, principal analyst for digital marketing and sales effectiveness at Constellation Research.

Chat is preferred over phone calls, which often entail voice response unites that route customers to multiple places before a single question is answered, she told CRM Buyer, or emails that can take days for a response.

Questions like hours of operation, location address, credit card balance and payment due are perfect for interaction with bots, Zhou noted. Adding AI can look at patterns of questions in order to speed up the entire customer experience.

Helpshifts applications already are installed on more than 2 billion devices worldwide, and the company claims more than 600 million active consumers engage with them every month.

Helpshift has made a major difference in Chatbooks ability to service customers, the startup said. Chatbooks converts photos from social media into photo books for customers.

Live chat is a game-changer for us at Chatbooks, said Angel Brockbank, director of customer support at Chatbooks.

If a customer has a question while making a Chatbooks photo book and she doesnt get immediate support, she may never return, she told CRM Buyer, noting that using live chat has allowed the company to reduce average time to resolve issues from nine days to 18 hours.
Once just a hangout for teenagers, Snapchat has matured into an engaging and effective social media platform. If youre trying to reach a younger demographic, its somewhere you probably want to be.

Snapchat is the best channel to reach young people, as they count for more than two-thirds of its audience and are very active users, said Melissa Sanchot, head of marketing and communication atMakeMeReach.

Snapchat is its own world, though, and using it for marketing and advertising means working creatively with its unique features. With that in mind, here are five ways you can use it to interact with your audience, find new customers, and build your brand.

1. Engage Directly

Snapchat users typically are highly motivated and engaged, and youll want to find ways to use that engagement to your advantage.

Its a way to leverage instantness, Sanchot told the E-Commerce Times. Lets say youre a clothes brand and youre wondering which fabric is the best for your next collection. You can directly ask your followers and have immediate responses.

Updating your content regularly gives users a reason to interact with you and enhances their direct engagement with your brand.

Snapchat users are engaging with the app at a very high rate, observed Dario Sheikh, strategic partnership manager at Bidalgo.

They use it throughout the day. While its user base is relatively small, it has a highly relevant user base thats engaging with the app on a regular basis at a high frequency, he told the E-Commerce Times.

2. Influence the Influencers

One of the key features of Snapchat is the ability it offers to reach the followers of influential users. The ability to work with influencers expands your scope, so that your message travels far beyond those who directly follow your brand.

Its an incredible channel for influencers strategy, noted MakeMeReachs Sanchot. You can ask followers to post stories using your product, and make viral campaigns at very low cost.

3. Make Use of Filters

Snapchat offers various filters to business that want to promote their brand, their location, a particular event or a promotion. Experiment with these filters, since theyre a way of personalizing your message and getting it out there  not just to your followers, but to the followers of your followers.

Its a really organic way for your users to self-advertise your business or your offering to their Snapchat followers, said Sheikh. Its a great way for your own users to be brand advocates within their own network.

4. Tell Your Story

Snapchat allows you to use video, photos and text to tell the story of your company. Just remember that its a casual, informal platform. Dont worry about using perfect photos, and avoid any sense of staging, preplanning, or even official messaging.

Snapchat works best for telling behind-the-scenes stories  giving a personal and authentic glimpse into the workings of your company and brand.

5. Be Snappy

If theres one thing thats unique to Snapchat, its the ephemeral nature of snaps and stories. Make use of the fleeting nature of these posts, encouraging quick and direct engagement.

That might mean offering coupon codes to be used almost immediately, or telling stories that are as close to real time as possible.

You only have a day to get your message across and make an impact, which means marketers are pushed to make ads more fleeting and creative, remarked Elizabeth Closmore, global head of product evangelism at Sprinklr.

Snapchats Unique Style

Most importantly, make sure to use the unique marketing and advertising features of Snapchat, and create content thats designed specifically for this platform. In particular, Snapchat users like to do things, and to engage them you have to be fun and interactive.

The ads on Snapchat can be  and have to be  focused on actions to take: product to buy, events to go, things to do, said Sanchot. You cant be descriptive  its not enough.

In other words, become familiar with the language and rhythm of Snapchat, and use that awareness to your advantage.

Snapchat ads are not one-size-fits-all-social-networks, Closmore told the E-Commerce Times.

Marketers cant necessarily copy and paste their Facebook and Twitter strategies onto Snapchat, she pointed out. As such, Snapchat demands that brands create fresh content for its platform and really become familiar with its unique language and style.
Linux offers so much for users to sink their teeth into that even among desktop and more casual users, its easy to get caught up in the tradecraft. Its only too tempting to put your systems technical capabilities to the test by trying out a new program or practicing a new command. As with any other interest, though, Linux is not much fun unless you can revel in it with fellow fans and enjoy the camaraderie.

Heres a short tour of some of the major cultural hallmarks of the vibrant Linux world, and some of the hubs where you can witness and indulge in the Linux life.

Distrowatch Is Your Distro Watchword

One pervasive trait among Linux users is curiosity, usually applied to trying out multiple Linux distributions. The most-frequented and central gathering place for doing just that is Distrowatch. While not a cultural movement per se, Distrowatch is a major driving force for a user base that concentrates and shifts over time. The site is where users go to keep tabs on the latest features of all the distributions, and to see which ones are gaining and declining in popularity.

It also provides a comprehensive database of distributions, their design principles, and their familial classification (i.e. which distributions are original projects and which are derived from others). If you havent found that perfect flavor of Linux, or are just hungry for a new one, Distrowatch offers the most trusted and time-honored means of finding it.

Free Software Makes Free Spirits

Because Linux rose at the inception  indeed, the forefront  of the free software movement in the 90s, the movements philosophy remains a central pillar of the culture around Linux as well.

Free software, or free-libre software, is the flip side of the same open source coin: If the latter characterizes the development model of publishing source code to facilitate communal contributions to the codebase, the former captures the ideological tenet of transparency afforded to users by the public availability of code.

It is because of this strong current of free software philosophy in Linux that Richard Stallman, free softwares most loyal champion, is more prevalent in Linux lore and popular culture even than Linus Torvalds, the Linux kernels creator himself.

Stallman is a frequent character in Linux memes, and the free software ideals he advances are a source of pride among a wide spectrum of Linux users. From the greenest neophytes to the most grizzled veterans, users appreciate the control Linux grants them over their digital life.

The non-hierarchical community focus at the heart of Linux has extended far beyond the development and into the social structures of the users themselves. One example of this is the predominantly Linux-focused podcast Hacker Public Radio. The series has no designated host, instead calling on listeners to submit episodes for the benefit of the rest of the audience.

In this way, community members dont merely have control over the media program, they are the program. This is just one example, but it illustrates how the ideology behind free software  structuring the community to guide itself in a transparent and equitable manner  proliferated from purely a software development approach to a cultural artifact.

You May Say Im a Themer

For those who leverage the freedom of Linux for aesthetics, in particular, there is a vibrant community of themers splayed across the Internet for users who want to solicit, appropriate and share ideas.

There are dedicated clusters of theme artisans on sites like DeviantArt and DotShare who publish not only high-resolution screenshots of their latest desktop creations, but also links to their GitHub pages so others can download a copy of the configuration files that produced them.

In the case of DotShare, the site is specifically tailored to posting configuration files right alongside the images, with all the necessary files for a given look curated in one place.

The comment sections of these and other Linux theme meccas can be found brimming with words of encouragement and requests for artists to share their techniques, and most will oblige when they can. Few spheres of Linux culture generate as much excitement, or engender as much cooperation, as the theme community, with its charms equally appreciated by themers and pure admirers alike.

LUGs Give You a Reason to Lug Your Computer Around

The bulk of Linux culture, like most of culture in general, thrives online  but there is a robust community that meets in physical space as well.

Long before the Internet became an indispensable tool for modern life, Linux User Groups (commonly known as LUGs) across the U.S. and around the globe hosted monthly meetings to bring together experts and newcomers, developers and users, and anyone else curious about free software.

To this day, LUGs still assemble to hold all kinds of events, whether technical ones like digital privacy workshops or social ones like casual hangouts or even movie nights. While all kinds of Linux forums abound, LUGs remain a place for new users to embrace the camaraderie of the Linux community and extend it to others in turn.

Just as there is a distribution for practically every Linux user, theres a corner of the community or a slice of the culture for everyone, too. If youve ever wondered where Linux fans hang out, and what they get up to when they do, the answer is only a click (or in-person visit) away. No matter what your experience with Linux, you havent seen the whole picture until youve tasted the culture that keeps it buzzing.
Ben & Jerrys announced it will stop using ingredients made with crops that are chemically dried with glyphosatethe primary ingredient in Monsantos widely used Roundup weedkillerand will source 100 percent organic dairy following reports that several of its flavors tested positive for the controversial chemical.

In a statement, the company said it was disappointed to learn of the test results even though only very low and safe levels were detected.

We were disappointed to learn that recent testing in the United States and Europe revealed trace levels of the commonly-used herbicide glyphosate in several of our flavors. Disappointed, but not totally surprised, the company said. Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in agriculture and is everywherefrom mainstream food, to natural and organic food, and even rainwaterand thats the issue.

Glyphosate, the most widely applied herbicide worldwide, has been found in everyday foods such as cookies, crackers, popular cold cereals and chips.

The chemical caught the worlds attention back in 2015 when the World Health Organizations cancer assessment arm classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans.

Monsanto has vehemently denied the cancer link and argues its product is safe.

Ben & Jerrys has a track record of supporting sustainable food systems. For instance, the ice cream brand only uses cage-free eggs, sources fair trade ingredients, has banned genetically modified organisms (GMO) ingredients by origin and supports mandatory labeling of GMOs. The milk and cream it uses comes from family farmers who do not treat their cows with the synthetic hormone rBGH.

Last year, the Burlington, Vermont-based company introduced a line of certified vegan ice cream made with almond milk not just satisfy the lactose-intolerant crowd, but environmentally conscious ice cream lovers, too.

At Ben & Jerrys, weve worked hard to be responsive to our fans desire for a more sustainable and less industrialized kind of farming, the company said. Thats why weve taken many steps over the years to move towards a less chemically intensive and more transparent food system.

The company detailed two steps it is taking:

1. No more ingredients using glyphosate-dried crops. Ingredients like wheat and oats are commonly sprayed with glyphosate as a drying agent before harvest. This practice is the most common and likely pathway for the presence of glyphosate in the food system. By no later than 2020, we will stop sourcing ingredients that have been made with crops chemically dried using glyphosate. We understand and share our fans desire to limit the amount of chemicals in the food system, which is why this step is important. In addition, we intend to advocate for policies that would end use of glyphosate as a chemical drying agent.

2. Sourcing organic dairy. We are excited to bring an innovative, new product line to market in 2018 that will source 100% organic dairy in the base mix. We believe this sends an important signal to our fans and suppliers of our support for a more sustainable approach to agriculture. We anticipate our new line will represent up to 6% of our total U.S. sales.
By Rina Herzl

Picture an animal enrobed in a fiery, jigsaw-patterned coat. A creature of such majestic height that it towers amongst the trees. As your eyes make their way up its long neck that appears to defy gravity, you find crowned atop its head two Seussian, horn-like protrusions framing dark, curious eyes fanned by lashes. In its truest sense, the giraffe fits the description of a creature plucked from the pages of a fantastical story. Even its species name, Giraffa camelopardalis, comes from the ancient Greek belief that the giraffe is a peculiar camel wearing the coat of a leopard. Meanwhile, the Japanese word for giraffe and unicorn are one and the same.

Today, we continue to walk the Earth with these awe-inspiring creatures, which range across much of Africa. But giraffes are facing what many are calling a silent extinction. Public awareness and global action is critically due. These gentle giants have been overlooked, appeals Sir David Attenborough in BBCs Story of Life documentary series aired in late 2016, urging that time is running out.

As word begins to get out about the difficulty giraffes are facing, a small, committed cohort are fighting for the species. They are working diligently in the field to learn more about the animals and their populations, cooperating with governments to preserve land giraffes depend on, and collaborating with communities to conserve their wildlife. Meanwhile, others are championing for giraffes on the legal frontlines, advocating for further protections. In particular, wildlife advocates have called for great protections at the international level, as well as domestic restrictions on trade in giraffe parts in the U.S.

The sharp decline of giraffe numbers over the past three decades led to an official change in their conservation status in December 2016, when the giraffe was uplisted from Least Concern status to Vulnerablemore specifically, Vulnerable to Extinction in the wildon the International Union for Conservation of Natures (IUCN) Red List. (Listings under the IUCN dont come with specific protections, but provide valuable information about species status as well as attention to the threats they face). In making the decision, the IUCN cited an ongoing population decline of 36 to 40 percent between 1985 and 2015. This represents a change from approximately 106,191 to 114,416 mature individuals in 1985 down to 68,293 in 2015. (Its important to note that this population count is of mature individual giraffes, as giraffe reproduction is inherently slow to replace lost population. A long gestation period of 15 months typically yields only one calf, and those calves are vulnerable to predation by wild dogs, hyenas, leopards and lions. Approximately 50 to 75 percent of all young giraffes perish due to predation, one of the highest mortality rates among animals).

Giraffes updated IUCN conservation listing is a wake-up call, said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Giraffe scientists and conservation NGOs are all working to raise awareness of the giraffe crisis and prevent it.

One of these efforts is currently playing out in the U.S. where the giraffe is not currently protected by law. In April 2017, the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, The Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Natural Resources Defense Council filed a legal petition to protect giraffes under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). An endangered listing under the ESA would come with a ban on most imports and sales of giraffe trophies, bone carvings and other giraffe products. A listing would also send an urgent message to the world community to protect this majestic species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not yet responded to the petition, though the 90-day period within which the agency is supposed to respond has passed.

The Endangered Species Act is one of the most effective tools for species conservation, said Sanerib. Given the significant imports to the U.S. of giraffe bones, bone carvings, skins, and trophies, the U.S. is undeniably a part of the decline of giraffes and an ESA-listing would raise awareness about this fact and increase scrutiny of our imports.

Aggregate giraffe populations are on a downward trend in Africa, but some of the nine giraffe subspecies are suffering worse than others. The Masai giraffe population, the tallest of the subspecies with a darker star-shaped pattern coat, halved between 1985 and 2015. The number of reticulated giraffes, which live in the horn of Africa and have a bright neatly-patterned coat, declined nearly 80 percent in the same period. Roughly 400 West African giraffe remain in Niger and Nubian giraffe number at only 650. Today, giraffes have become extirpated or locally extinct in at least seven African countries and have vanished from most of West Africa. Its not all bad news, though: Certain populations, including ones in Tanzania and and South Africa, are growing due to breeding for legal game hunting and tourism.

Biologists have found that, unlike other species, giraffe will not associate or interbreed between subspecies. For example, in Kenya, three species coexist, the Masai, Reticulated and Nubian giraffe, and though they may encounter one another they each maintain a unique genetic makeup and do not interbreed. Dr. Julian Fennessy comments that giraffe are so much more unique than many other species out there that do interbreed and have viable offspring.

This brings into focus that: While giraffe populations are plummeting, scientists are still making discoveries about giraffes. For example, giraffes are currently recognized as one species with nine subspecies. Each subspecies visually distinguishable by their different coat patterns. This understanding, however, may be changing: Recent scientific analyses suggest that giraffes may be four or even up to nine distinct species. Kirstie Rupport, who works on giraffe conservation in Kenya for San Diego Zoo Global, believes giraffes are finally gaining heightened conservation attention given these recent discoveries. She reminds us that this research shines a light on how little we know about a species that is so iconic and how little we know relative to other big species.

These genetic findings could be cause to separate the species taxonomically. Once separated, those species facing greater threats would merit protections under international law, including endangered or critically endangered listings on the IUCN Red List. In 2007, Dr. David Brown, a biologist who did an extensive genetic study on giraffe, said that lumping all giraffes into one species obscures the reality that some kinds of giraffe are on the brink. Some of these populations number only a few hundred individuals and need immediate protection. Ten years later, international protection is still lacking.

Changing their classification, however, wont be easy. Should it happen, it will be a very slow process and more work on classical taxonomy will be required before initiating this change, said Stephanie Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

So, what is ultimately causing the decline of giraffe populations? As with species the world over: human-created pressures. Giraffe declines across the continent are tied to to habitat loss, civil unrest, illegal hunting and poaching, and ecological changes (like those related to mining activity and climate change). In each country and region, the specific threats vary.

With respect to habitat, Rupport points to the need for conservation partnerships, both in the private and public sectors to protect those large tracts of land, not just for giraffes, but also for the many African megafauna that really need it in order to survive. Coexistence between humans and wildlife is a palpable issue in biodiverse regions across the globe. Giraffes are a species that do little to disrupt human livelihood in these regions and even still the establishment of community conservancies [in Kenya] really has given a lot of hope for coexistence between pastoralist people in this region and wildlife, Rupport said.

In Uganda, there is a growing interest in oil exploration, right in the heart of giraffe range. As a preventative measure, Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Uganda Wildlife Authority translocated or moved 18 Rothschilds and Nubian giraffes across the Nile in 2016, to protect giraffes from the potential impacts of prospective oil mining.

In Kenya, an ongoing drought is posing a problem. No longer an issue reserved for polar bears living at the edge of the planet, climate change is now impacting giraffes as well by exacerbating drought conditions. Across Africa and other parts of the world, climate change impacts vegetation through desertificationa process by which fertile land becomes desertnegatively impacting people and wildlife alike. Rupport described that [This] past year Kenya really faced an extreme drought and is still in the midst of it. She added, When [giraffes] face extreme drought in these places the regeneration of grass for livestock and for wildlife species is really compromised. This not only impacts availability of food for wildlife, but also that for humans, and can lead communities to resort to hunting wildlife for bushmeat, as found by Rupport and Derek Lee of the Wild Nature Institute. As well, with smaller ungulates perishing due to increased drought, lion predation increases on giraffe young. Rupport states climate changeat least, extreme drought and connecting that to climate changeis one of the most pressing challenges in this region that were facing on a daily basis.

Across central Africa and parts of eastern Africa poaching has been a really big threat in recent years, said Dr. Julian Fennessy. In Kenya and Tanzania giraffes are experiencing dramatic increases in illegal killing for their meat as well as for trophies. These are regions in which giraffe numbers are already under considerable strain, and illegal hunting is emerging as a real threat to the species. TRAFFIC, a leading NGO working globally on the trade of wild animals and plants, is prioritizing giraffes in their investigative work and is planning to carry out work on giraffe trade in parts of East Africa, in response to the rising number of reports weve encountered of giraffe parts in trade. And though illegal hunting is becoming a greater issue, many advocates, including Sanerib, argue that legal hunting is also contributing to the decline of giraffes.

Legal trophy hunting for all species continues to give rise to heated debate in the conservation community regarding whether it is a viable conservation tool. If well-managed, trophy hunting is a form of sustainable use that can provide direct income and benefits from wildlife resources to local communities, said Dr. Richard Thomas of TRAFFIC. The key term to question here is whether it is well-managed. However, evidence is mounting against hunting as a conservation tool. Research suggests that little money made from big game hunting actually goes to local communities and the amount dedicated to conservation efforts itself is negligible. That same study found that trophy hunting makes up as little as 1.8 percent of tourism revenues across the continent. Growing evidence also suggests that legal trophy hunting can compromise the genetic health of a species and that it engenders illegal hunting and wildlife crime. (Read more about the debate on legal hunting as a conservation tool here).

What conservationists agree on is that urgent action is needed for the protection giraffes. Currently, giraffes are not internationally protected by trade laws or by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). CITES regulates and restricts the international trade of threatened species; as giraffes are listed as Vulnerable, they just miss the mark to gain protection, despite the fact that some subspecies on the brink. Giraffes are not protected under CITES and we know that the U.S. is a significant importer of giraffe trophies, said Sanerib. Between 2006 and 2015, an average of 374 giraffe trophies were imported into the US per year. That is more than a giraffe a day.

The Center for Biological Diversity and their petition co-sponsors believe protection under the ESA is critical. The U.S. is undeniably a part of the decline of giraffes and an ESA-listing would raise awareness about this fact and increase scrutiny of our imports, said Sanerib.

And this fall, the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species will decide whether to protect giraffes, which periodically and cyclically cross international borders or did so historically, under that convention. Angola proposes listing giraffes on CMS Appendix II, which would require the establishment of agreements to protect and restore species habitat.

Though there is much to be done, it seems considerable strides are being made to learn more about giraffes and to protect them, from enacting greater legal protection and employing concerted anti-poaching measures to improving land-use planning and developing stewardship programs with local communities.

I think giraffes capture our imaginations to begin with, but the more we learn about these animals the more fascinating they become, said Sanerib. Raising awareness about the decline of giraffes is so important, we have to halt their decline before it is too late.

This is just the beginning of a giraffe recovery. With growing concern over their decline will hopefully propel the public to call on NGOs, governments, scientists, communities and advocates to come together to protect and elevate this remarkable species so that it may thrive on our planet once again.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Earth Island Journal.
By Gabriella Rutherford

In what its chairperson deemed one of the most difficult decisions the board has ever made, the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources last week approved construction of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on top of Mauna a Wakea (Mauna Kea).

The decision has been met with fierce criticism.

For the Kanaka Maoli Peoples, Mauna a Wakea is a sacred center, as much an ancestor as it is a home of deities. Created by their forbearers, the sky god Wakea and the Earth mother Papa, the 4,000-meter mountain is a place of unique spiritual connection between the Kanaka Maoli and their ancestors. It is in many ways a living temple, a site of numerous shrines and ceremonies and an important burial ground.

The Kanaka Maoli also believe the Mauna a Wakea mountain plays an integral role in Hawaiis water cycle, and use the water collected at its summit for healing and ceremonial practices. They fear these practices could be disrupted by the construction of the TMT and the concomitant possibility it brings of water pollution.

Twelve other telescopes have already been constructed on Mauna a Wakea, which has led to substantial, significant and adverse effects on local biodiversity as well as on the Kanaka Maoli cultural, archaeological and historic resources on the mountain.

All this did not, however, provide sufficient reason for the board to scrap the project. They found that the TMT would neither unduly interfere with ceremonial practiceswhich they note do not take place on the exact site of the TMTnor would it adversely affect the landscape, given the presence of numerous other local observatories currently in operation. They similarly rejected arguments regarding the threat of water-pollution and environmental damage, pointing to the zero-waste management policy that is to be adopted by the TMT and the annual sum the latter will contribute to environmental conservation in the area.

The board was further anxious to reassure the public that by attaching myriad conditions to the permit construction, they would be able to limit and make up for any environmental damage occasioned, as well as protecting and even helping promote indigenous culture. Additionally, they said that building what they described as the worlds most advanced telescope on Mauna a Wakea was a fitting homage to the Kanaka Maolis traditional astrological dependence for the purposes of navigation. As such, they concluded that the TMT was a project that honors Mauna Kea rather than injures it.

However, we should be cautious before joining the board in celebrating this decision as a fitting and fair solution that deftly reconciles tensions between scientific progress and indigenous culture. Clearly their stipulations are not derisory: as recompense for the cultural impact, the TMT will contribute an annual $1 million community benefits package (CBP). Similarly, a condition for the construction of TMT is that three other telescopes on the mountain will be decommissioned and no new ones will be built. Despite this, given the unavoidable environmental destruction that will be caused across the extensive 5-acre area during the TMTs construction, many of the concessions appear surprisingly paltry. Likewise, while the CBP promises much in name, it is yet to be seen what real positive effects it would bring for the community. Is this, as TMT petitioner Clarence Kukauakahi Ching noted on social media, all smoke and mirrors!?

For its opponents, one thing is clear: however much the board is keen to paint this decision in a positive light, this, moving forward with the TMT does not represent an example of science and culture synergistically existing as the board has led the public to believe. To Kahookahi Kanuha, co-founder of Hawaii Unity and Liberation Institute, the decision marks another instance of the Hawaiian state having once again shown themselves to be incapable of protecting, conserving and managing Hawaiis unique and limited natural, cultural and historic resources.

Thirty Meter Telescope protest, Oct. 7, 2014. Local police stand in the background as Mayor Billy Kenoi talks with Hawaiian cultural practitioner, Joshua Lanakila Mangauil, Kahookahi Kanuha and other protectors. Occupy Hilo

Kanuha and others are adamant that the decision jeopardizes cultural and national identity and indeed the Kanaka Maolis very humanity as a people. As such, it is a decision that calls for immediate action. As he noted on social media, We have once again been left with no choice but to resist and to take matters back into our own hands. Though it will not be easy, we will organize, strategize and exercise our un-relinquished rights and claims to our national lands. Any attempts by TMT, the illegitimate State of Hawaii or the University of Hawaii to ascend Mauna Wakea will be met with peaceful, non-violent resistance.

The extent of the struggle the Kanaka Maoli have on their hands cannot and should not be underestimated, but there are reasons for optimism. It should be remembered that opponents have successfully stalled the project before, and in some respects, the boards decision only puts the TMT project back before protestors halted the telescopes construction in April 2015. That December, following sustained pressure, The Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled in favor of indigenous and environmental activists, revoking the telescopes first construction permit. Opposition groups will undoubtedly mount a further legal challenge and seek to appeal this decision in the supreme court, affording a final opportunity for the Hawaiian state to reverse its decision and ultimately, as Kanuha would assert, make the right decision for Hawaii.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Intercontinental Cry.
United Nations: Pakistan once again in the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, once again without any reason the Kashmir rage was ignored, but India ignored it as a disruption for the agenda of the meeting. In the United States, the permanent representative of Pakistan, Maleeha Lodhi, raised the issue of Kashmir in a part of his speech while discussing colonialism in the meeting. In the lasting mission of India, Minister Shrinivas Prasad said in his speech, We reject the issue of Pakistani delegation here, which has never been on the agenda of the committee.

Prasad said, We consider it to be a distraction from the agenda and this distraction is not reactive. Kashmir has never been considered by the United Nations as a colonization or non-self-governance sector. Lodhi said that the United Nations colonialism agenda is incomplete without resolving the Kashmir problem. In Pakistan, Syama Sayed, Counselor of Pakistan, after the speech of Prasad, raised the right to reply to Pakistan (Right to Replay), again raising the Kashmir issue and citing the UN resolution on Kashmir in 1948. India did not use the right to answer Syeds statement.

This month, Lodi has raised Kashmir issue for the second time in the United States. During a discussion on the annual report of the United Nations, Lodhi had said in the General Assembly last week that surgical strikes had never happened to kill the terrorists by entering India and had said that New Delhi was provoking their country by saying this. is. In the response to Lodhis speech in the General Assembly last month in the General Assembly of India, in response to Sushma Swarajs speech, a Palestinian girl was seen to be confronted by Kashmiri.
Researchers in Japan are the first to add plasmonic metamaterials to spintronic devices to enhance spin-current generation from the heat produced in the mid-infrared regime

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10, 2017 -- Over the last few years, researchers have demonstrated that light can serve as a spin-current generator, creating currents of angular momentum, in optical nanostructures known as plasmonic absorbers, opening up a new branch of spintronics called opto-spintronics.

Recently, researchers have begun to use metamaterials, engineered composites that have unique properties not found in nature, to enhance the absorption rates of plasmonic absorbers. These properties include the size, shape and arrangement of the nanoparticles that manipulate electromagnetic waves, absorbed as light, to achieve what is impossible with conventional materials.

Researchers in Japan used a trilayered metamaterial to develop a wavelength-selective plasmonic metamaterial absorber (PMA) on top of a spintronic device to enhance the generation of spin currents from the heat produced in the mid-infrared regime.

The research, which could be incorporated in a range of applications from thermophotovoltaics and ultrathin film solar cells to light and thermal detectors, is reported this week in APL Photonics, from AIP Publishing.

"Our work is the first to combine mid-infrared plasmonic metamaterials with spintronic devices. This unique combination enables stronger light absorption and shows the excellent tenability of these metamaterials' resonance wavelengths," said Satoshi Ishii, a researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science and co-author of the paper.

The researchers created a spintronic device made up of separate layers of platinum (Pt) and yttrium iron garnet (YIG). They then placed layers of alumina and aluminum on the Pt layer to create the PMA on top of the spintronic device. In this case, Pt is used as the bottommost layer in the PMA and also as the top layer of the spintronic device.

The team in Japan showed that a spin current can be generated directly from the absorbed photons in the Pt film, a paramagnetic metal, that is placed over YIG, which is a magnetic insulator. Because light is confined in the subwavelength regime in the PMA, electromagnetic fields are strongly enhanced before the light is absorbed. After light is absorbed by the Pt film, it generates heat, which is also enhanced by the PMA.

In other words, when incident light hits the device in the mid-infrared range, the PMA exhibits a strong plasmonic resonance, which maximizes the absorption. A fraction of the absorbed light partially triggers the photo-spin-voltaic (PSV) effect in the Pt/YIG spintronic device, a relatively new method for directly generating spin currents via photons in a nonmagnetic metal layered with a magnetic insulator. The remaining light heats up the device to produce a thermal gradient across the magnetic material thickness, which in turn induces a thermally generated spin voltage in what is called the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE).

"In short, owing to the plasmonic metamaterial absorber," said Ken-ichi Uchida, another NIMS researcher and co-author of the paper, "the device allows the electrical detection of a specific wavelength through the PSV effect and the LSSE."

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The article, "Wavelength-selective spin-current generator using infrared plasmonic metamaterials," is authored by Satoshi Ishii, Ken-ichi Uchida, Thang Duy Dao, Yoshiki Wada, Eiji Saitoh and Tadaaki Nagao. The article will appear in the journal APL Photonics Oct. 10, 2017 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4991438). After that date, it can be accessed at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4991438.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

APL Photonics is the dedicated home for open access multidisciplinary research from and for the photonics community. The journal publishes fundamental and applied results that significantly advance the knowledge in photonics across physics, chemistry, biology and materials science. See http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/app.
Washington, DC - October 10, 2017 - A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues identified for the first time an extensive conserved group of bacteria within healthy humpback whales' blow--the moist breath that whales spray out of their blowholes when they exhale. The research is published this week in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

The discovery of this shared respiratory microbiome could serve as an important framework for monitoring the health of this and other whale species. Just like with humans, scientists say the assemblages of microorganisms that live in and on whales--known as microbiomes--may play a crucial role in their overall health, from maintaining a healthy immune system to fighting off disease.

Blow samples were collected from two different humpback populations: 17 from whales in coastal waters off Cape Cod, Ma. and nine from whales in waters around Vancouver Island, Canada. The team then sequenced the genetic material found in the blow samples to determine what kinds of microorganisms are living in a whale's respiratory tract. [image: humpback whale, credit: NOAA]

"The pulmonary system is a common site for bacterial infections in whales," says WHOI researcher Amy Apprill, lead author of the study published Oct. 10, 2017. The collaborative research team also included scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), SR3 Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research and the Vancouver Aquarium.

"We see evidence of respiratory illnesses frequently in stranded and deceased animals," Apprill adds. "Until now, little has been known about the normal respiratory microbiome of healthy whales."

After collecting their first sample in Patagonia in early 2015, WHOI biologist Michael Moore, NOAA researcher John Durban and SR3's Holly Fearnbach successfully used a new, minimally intrusive technique, a custom-made, remotely controlled, six-rotor hexacopter, to sample the blows from humpback whales off Cape Cod late that year.

"We were using the drone to take aerial images of the whales, so that we could assess body conditions," says Durban, a coauthor of the paper. "Because of the stable flight performance of our hexacopter, we quickly learned that we could reliably fly through whale blow without disturbing the animals."

"We were surprised to find a microbiome that looked very different from seawater," Apprill says. "That's really exciting because it demonstrates that we are obtaining a clear signal of a microbiome that's coming from the animal."

Apprill and WHOI laboratory colleague Carolyn Miller identified 25 bacterial groups present in all of the whale samples--a conserved or "core" microbiome.

"This strongly suggests that regardless of where the animal lives, or even their age or sex, they have a shared blow microbiome," Apprill says.

Within the core group of 25 microbial species, the researchers found 20 sequences similar to microbes associated with other marine mammals.

"From this study, we have a good idea of what a normal, healthy whale microbiome looks like. Now we need to understand what the microbiome of an unhealthy whale looks like," Apprill says. "This comparison is critical for health monitoring and disease detection."

It may also prove to be crucial to the survival of these endangered whales. The past year has been particularly difficult for both humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales.

"There are very few ways to gather useful data from live large whales at sea," Moore adds. "This tool has the potential to broaden our perspective of large whale health."

###

Funding for this project was provided through a grant from the Ocean Life Institute at WHOI.

The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 50,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications and educational opportunities. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.
Medical implants can save lives by correcting structural defects in the heart and other organs. But until now, the use of medical implants in children has been complicated by the fact that fixed-size implants cannot expand in tune with a child's natural growth.

To address this unmet surgical need, a team of researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a growth-accommodating implant designed for use in a cardiac surgical procedure called a valve annuloplasty, which repairs leaking mitral and tricuspid valves in the heart.

Currently, children who undergo life-saving cardiac surgeries, such as mitral and tricuspid valve repairs, may require several additional surgeries over the course of their childhood to re-repair or replace leaking heart valves. The novel growth-accommodating implant is meant to enhance the durability of pediatric heart valve repairs while also accommodating a child's growth, decreasing the number of heart surgeries a child must endure.

Beyond cardiac repair, the research team says the tubular, expanding implant design used in their proof-of-concept -- reported today in Nature Biomedical Engineering -- could also be adapted for a variety of other growth-accommodating implants throughout the body.

"Medical implants and devices are rarely designed with children in mind, and as a result, they almost never accommodate growth," says Pedro del Nido, MD, co-senior author on the study, who is chief of cardiac surgery at Boston Children's and the William E. Ladd Professor of Child Surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "So, we've created an environment here where individuals with expertise and interest in medical devices can come together and collaborate towards developing materials for pediatric surgery."

By partnering with Jeff Karp, PhD, a bioengineer and principal investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and an associate professor of medicine at HMS, his laboratory's expertise in chemical engineering and biopolymer materials was brought into the mix for this research. After vetting many different concepts for a growth-accommodating implant, the team took its inspiration from the braided, expanding design of a Chinese finger trap, selecting their first proof-of-concept to be a tricuspid valve annuloplasty ring implant.

"The implant design consists of two components: a degrading, biopolymer core and a braided, tubular sleeve that elongates over time in response to the tensile forces exerted by the surrounding growing tissue," says Eric Feins, MD, co-first author on the paper, who was formerly a research fellow in del Nido's lab and is currently a fellow in cardiothoracic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. "As the inner biopolymer degrades, the tubular sleeve is becomes thinner and elongates in response to native tissue growth."

To create the degrading core, Karp's team recommended the use of an extra-stiff, biocompatible polymer that begins to erode on its surface following implantation. The polymer itself is made of components that already exist in the human body.

"By adjusting the polymer's composition, we can tune the core to degrade predictably over a pre-determined amount of time," says Karp, co-senior author on the study.

Based on the promising in vivo experimental data presented by del Nido and Karp's team, the biomedical device company CryoLife Inc., is already developing their concept into a growth-accommodating annuloplasty ring implant for pediatric heart valve repair.

"In combination with the braided sleeve exterior, this two-part implant concept could have many medical applications beyond the most obvious ones to enhance cardiac valve surgery in children," says del Nido.

The proprietary design of the braided sleeve developed by del Nido and Karp's team doesn't just share resemblance to a Chinese finger trap but also to an organic structure engineered by nature itself. "We solved this problem of growth accommodation with a concept that already exists in nature: the octopus has a special ability to stretch its arms into confined cracks and spaces between rocks, in search of its prey," says Yuhan Lee, PhD, co-first author on the study and a materials researcher at BWH. "It can do this because of unique, braid-like crossfibers of connective tissue that enable the simultaneous elongation and shrinking diameter of its arms, allowing it to extend its reach two to three times beyond the original arm length."

This type of elongating movement is also found in natural tissue structure of the mammalian intestines and esophagus. "This concept could be adapted for many different clinical applications, with exciting potential to be converted into an actively -- rather than a passively -- elongating structure that could act as a tissue scaffold encouraging growth," says Feins.

###

Additional authors on the study are Eoin D. O'Cearbhaill, Nikolay Vasilyev, Shogo Shimada, Ingeborg Friehs, Douglas Perrin, Peter E. Hammer, Haruo Yamauchi, Gerald Marx, Andrew Gosline and Veaceslav Arabagi.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (GM086433), the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education of Korea (2012R1A6A3A03041166) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (N0002123).

Brigham and Women's Hospital is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 4.2 million annual patient visits and nearly 46,000 inpatient stays, is the largest birthing center in Massachusetts and employs nearly 16,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Brigham Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, more than 3,000 researchers, including physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $666 million in funding. For the last 25 years, BWH ranked second in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among independent hospitals. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative as well as the TIMI Study Group, one of the premier cardiovascular clinical trials groups. For more information, resources and to follow us on social media, please visit BWH's online newsroom.

Boston Children's Hospital, the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center. Its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. Today, more than 2,630 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 14 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 11 Howard Hughes Medical Investigators comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's is now a 415-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. For more, visit our Vector and Thriving blogs and follow us on social media @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Dependable scientific evidence has lagged worrisomely behind the rapid and widespread adoption of mindfulness and meditation for pursuing an array of mental and physical wellness goals, wrote a group of 15 experts in a new article in Perspectives on Psychological Science. The article offers a "critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda" to help the burgeoning mindfulness industry replace ambiguous hype with rigor in its research and clinical implementations.

Recent years have seen a huge surge not only in media and scientific articles about mindfulness and meditation, the authors wrote, but also in the implementation of medical interventions for everything from depression to addiction, pain and stress. The widespread adoption of therapies has put the field at a critical crossroads, the authors argued, where appropriate checks and balances must be implemented.

"Misinformation and poor methodology associated with past studies of mindfulness may lead public consumers to be harmed, misled and disappointed," they wrote.

Co-author Willoughby Britton, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University said: "We are sometimes overselling the benefits of mindfulness to pretty much any person who has any condition, without much caution, nuance or condition-specific modifications, instructor training criteria, and basic science around mechanism of action. The possibility of unsafe or adverse effects has been largely ignored. This situation is not unique to mindfulness, but because of mindfulness's widespread use in mental health, schools and apps, it is not ideal from a public health perspective."\

Lead author Nicholas Van Dam, a clinical psychologist and research fellow in psychological sciences at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said that the point of the article is not to disparage mindfulness and meditation practice or research, but to ensure that their applications for enhancing mental and physical health become more reflective of scientific evidence. So far, such applications have largely been unsupported, according to major reviews of available evidence in 2007 and again in 2014.

"The authors think there can be something beneficial about mindfulness and meditation," Van Dam said. "We think these practices might help people. But the rigor that should go along with developing and applying them just isn't there yet. Results from the few large-scale studies that have been conducted so far have proven equivocal at best."

Added co-author David E. Meyer, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, "Sometimes, truly promising fields of endeavor get outstripped by efforts to harvest them before they're really ripe; then workers there must step back, pause to take stock, and get a better plan before moving onward."

Future efforts to improve the quality of mindfulness and meditation research will be bolstered by a new research center at Brown University, led by Eric Loucks, an associate professor in the university's School of Public Health.

"The center's mission will be to perform high-quality, methodologically rigorous research about impacts of mindfulness on health, and to offer collaborative, evidence-based resources for hospitals, schools and businesses that are interested in offering mindfulness-based interventions," Loucks said.

A young, undefined field

Among the biggest problems facing the field is that mindfulness is poorly and inconsistently defined both in popular media and the scientific literature. According to the authors, there "is neither one universally accepted technical definition of 'mindfulness' nor any broad agreement about detailed aspects of the underlying concept to which it refers." As a result, research papers have varied widely in what they actually examine, and often, their focus can be hard to discern.

"Any study that uses the term 'mindfulness' must be scrutinized carefully, ascertaining exactly what type of 'mindfulness' was involved, what sorts of explicit instruction were actually given to participants for directing practice," the authors wrote. "When formal meditation was used in a study, one ought to consider whether a specifically defined type of mindfulness or other meditation was the target practice."

"Without specific, well-defined terms to describe not only practices but also their effects, studies of interventions such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) cannot provide valid and comparable measurements to produce reliable evidence." As part of its proposed remedy, the new article offers a "non-exhaustive list of defining features for characterizing contemplative and medication practices."

Greater rigor

Along with specific, precise and standardized definitions, similar improvements in research methodology must also come, the authors wrote.

"Many intervention studies lack or have inactive control groups," Van Dam said.

The field also has struggled to achieve consistency in what it is being measured and how to measure those things perceived to be of greatest importance to mindfulness.

Van Dam said the situation is akin to earlier psychological research on intelligence. This concept proved to be too broad and too vague to measure directly. Ultimately, however, psychologists have made progress by studying the "particular cognitive capacities that, in combination, may make people functionally more or less intelligent," he and his co-authors wrote.

Thus, the authors wrote, "We recommend that future research on mindfulness aim to produce a body of work for describing and explaining what biological, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social, as well as other such mental and physical functions, change with mindfulness training."

Clinical care

A wide variety of contemplative practices have been studied for an even larger variety of purposes, yet in both basic and clinical studies of mindfulness and meditation, researchers have rarely advanced to the stage where they can confidently conclude whether particular effects or specific benefits resulted directly from the practice. Measured by the National Institutes of Health's stage model for clinical research, only 30 percent of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have moved past the first stage, and only 9 percent have tested efficacy in a research clinic against an active control.

"Given the absence of scientific rigor in much clinical mindfulness research, evidence for use of MBIs in clinical contexts should be considered preliminary.," the authors wrote.

The proposed agenda for future research is rigorous and extensive, Van Dam said.

"Replication of earlier studies with appropriately randomized designs and proper active control groups will be absolutely critical," the authors continued. "In conducting this work, we recommend that researchers provide explicit detail of mindfulness measures, primary outcome measures, mindfulness/meditation practices and intervention protocol."

Researchers and care providers involved with delivering MBIs have begun to become more vigilant about possible adverse effects, the authors wrote, but more needs to be done. As of 2015, fewer than 25 percent of meditation trials actively monitored for negative or challenging experiences.

Contemplating contemplative neuroscience

Van Dam said recent efforts to assess the neural correlates of mindfulness and meditation with technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography, may perhaps have the potential to bring new rigor to the field. Nonetheless, he and his co-authors also express concern in the article that these technologies so far have not fulfilled this potential.

The authors note that technologies such as MRI depend on subjects remaining physically still while being tested, and image quality can be affected by subjects' rate of breathing. Experienced meditators may be better suited to maintaining ideal physiological states for MRI studies than are inexperienced individuals or non-meditators. Due to such problematic factors, between-group differences in brain scans might have little to do with the mental state researchers are attempting to measure and much to do with head motion and/or breathing differences.

"Contemplative neuroscience has often led to overly simplistic interpretations of nuanced neurocognitive and affective phenomena," the authors wrote. "As a result of such oversimplifications, meditative benefits may be exaggerated and undue societal urgency to undertake mindfulness practices may be encouraged."

Ultimately that's the authors' shared concern: Insufficient research may mislead people to think that the vague brands of "mindfulness" and "meditation" are broad-based panaceas when in fact refined interventions may only be helpful for particular people in specific circumstances. More, and much better, scientific studies are needed to clarify these matters. Otherwise people may waste time and money, or worse, suffer needless adverse effects.

"This paper is a coordinated effort among concerned mindfulness researchers and meditation scholars to rectify this gap to maximize benefit and minimize harm from MBIs," Britton said.

###
Like corals, sea anemones are animals that live in symbiosis with microscopic algae, which gives them their color, as well as with certain species of fish. Clownfish protect themselves from predators by sheltering among the anemones' tentacles, and each month lay eggs at their base. Equally, the anemones are also protected by the clownfish that they host.

Every other day, from October 2015 to December 2016, researchers and students visited thirteen pairs of clownfish and their host anemones in the coral reefs of Moorea Island (French Polynesia). This monitoring was conducted before, during, and after the El Nino event that in 2016 triggered a warming of the Pacific Ocean (+2C on Moorea Island compared to the 2007-2015 average -- a combined effect of ongoing global warming and the El Nino episode) and a coral bleaching episode worldwide. Half of the anemones monitored in this study bleached as they lost their microalgae. Among the clownfish living in the bleached anemones, the scientists observed a drastic fall in the number of viable eggs (-73%). These fish were laying eggs less frequently and they were also laying fewer and less viable eggs -- while these parameters remained unchanged among fish hosted by unbleached anemones.

Blood samples taken from 52 pairs of clownfish (including the 13 previously mentioned) showed a sharp increase in the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, and a significant drop in the concentrations of sex hormones (the equivalents of testosterone and oestrogen). The bleaching of the anemones due to increased sea surface temperatures is thus a stressor that reduces the levels of sex hormones and thus the fertility of the fish. These links have been found for the first time in the natural environment in which the fish live.

The health of the anemones and the fish improved between three and four months after the end of the warming event, long after the temperatures had returned to normal. But would this have been the case had the warming episode been more intense, or longer? And, faced with a new warming episode, will the clownfish that have already suffered this initial stress be better acclimatized, or on the contrary more fragile? To provide some answers to these questions, the team has decided to continue to monitor each individual during the next El Nino episode. Such monitoring is possible due to the fact that clownfish have a fairly long life expectancy and are sedentary (they move very little from their host anemone).

The clownfish are not an isolated case: 12% of the coastal fish in French Polynesia depend on anemones or corals to feed or to find protection from predators. In cases of prolonged bleaching, like that of the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, the renewal of all of these populations could be affected, and with them the stability of the ecosystems.

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TORONTO, October 10, 2017 - While memory loss is an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease, its presence doesn't mean a person will develop dementia. A new study at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found a clinically useful way to predict who won't develop Alzheimer's disease, based on patients' awareness of their memory problems.

People who were unaware of their memory loss, a condition called anosognosia, were more likely to progress to Alzheimer's disease, according to the study, published today in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Those who were aware of memory problems were unlikely to develop dementia.

"If patients complain of memory problems, but their partner or caregiver isn't overly concerned, it's likely that the memory loss is due to other factors, possibly depression or anxiety," says lead author Dr. Philip Gerretsen, Clinician Scientist in CAMH's Geriatric Division and Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute. "They can be reassured that they are unlikely to develop dementia, and the other causes of memory loss should be addressed."

In other cases, the partner or caregiver is more likely to be distressed while patients don't feel they have any memory problems. In Alzheimer's disease, lack of awareness is linked to more burden on caregivers. Both unawareness of illness (anosognosia) and memory loss (known as mild cognitive impairment) can be objectively assessed using questionnaires.

The study, believed to be the largest of its kind on illness awareness, had data on 1,062 people aged 55 to 90 from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). This included 191 people with Alzheimer's disease, 499 with mild cognitive impairment and 372 as part of the healthy comparison group.

The researchers also wanted to identify which parts of the brain were affected in impaired illness awareness. They examined the brain's uptake of glucose, a type of sugar. Brain cells need glucose to function, but glucose uptake is impaired in Alzheimer's disease.

Using PET brain scans, they showed that those with impaired illness awareness also had reduced glucose uptake in specific brain regions, even when accounting for other factors linked to reduced glucose uptake, such as age and degree of memory loss.

As the next stage of this research, Dr. Gerretsen will be tracking older adults with mild cognitive impairment who are receiving an intervention to prevent Alzheimer's dementia. This ongoing study, the PACt-MD study, combines brain training exercises and brain stimulation, using a mild electrical current to stimulate brain cells and improve learning and memory. While the main study is focused on dementia prevention, Dr. Gerretsen will be looking at whether the intervention improves illness awareness in conjunction with preventing progression to dementia.

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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in its field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.

For more information, please follow @CAMHnews and @CAMHResearch on Twitter.

For further information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Sean O'Malley

Media Relations, CAMH

416 535-8501 ext. 36663

media@camh.ca
UPTON, NY--Chemistry is a complex dance of atoms. Subtle shifts in position and shuffles of electrons break and remake chemical bonds as participants change partners. Catalysts are like molecular matchmakers that make it easier for sometimes-reluctant partners to interact.

Now scientists have a way to capture the details of chemistry choreography as it happens. The method--which relies on computers that have learned to recognize hidden signs of the steps--should help them improve the performance of catalysts to drive reactions toward desired products faster.

The method--developed by an interdisciplinary team of chemists, computational scientists, and physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University--is described in a new paper published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The paper demonstrates how the team used neural networks and machine learning to teach computers to decode previously inaccessible information from x-ray data, and then used that data to decipher 3D nanoscale structures.

Decoding nanoscale structures

"The main challenge in developing catalysts is knowing how they work--so we can design better ones rationally, not by trial-and-error," said Anatoly Frenkel, leader of the research team who has a joint appointment with Brookhaven Lab's Chemistry Division and Stony Brook University's Materials Science Department. "The explanation for how catalysts work is at the level of atoms and very precise measurements of distances between them, which can change as they react. Therefore it is not so important to know the catalysts' architecture when they are made but more important to follow that as they react."

Trouble is, important reactions--those that create important industrial chemicals such as fertilizers--often take place at high temperatures and under pressure, which complicates measurement techniques. For example, x-rays can reveal some atomic-level structures by causing atoms that absorb their energy to emit electronic waves. As those waves interact with nearby atoms, they reveal their positions in a way that's similar to how distortions in ripples on the surface of a pond can reveal the presence of rocks. But the ripple pattern gets more complicated and smeared when high heat and pressure introduce disorder into the structure, thus blurring the information the waves can reveal.

So instead of relying on the "ripple pattern" of the x-ray absorption spectrum, Frenkel's group figured out a way to look into a different part of the spectrum associated with low-energy waves that are less affected by heat and disorder.

"We realized that this part of the x-ray absorption signal contains all the needed information about the environment around the absorbing atoms," said Janis Timoshenko, a postdoctoral fellow working with Frenkel at Stony Brook and lead author on the paper. "But this information is hidden 'below the surface' in the sense that we don't have an equation to describe it, so it is much harder to interpret. We needed to decode that spectrum but we didn't have a key."

Fortunately Yuewei Lin and Shinjae Yoo of Brookhaven's Computational Science Initiative and Deyu Lu of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) had significant experience with so-called machine learning methods. They helped the team develop a key by teaching computers to find the connections between hidden features of the absorption spectrum and structural details of the catalysts.

"Janis took these ideas and really ran with them," Frenkel said.

The team used theoretical modeling to produce simulated spectra of several hundred thousand model structures, and used those to train the computer to recognize the features of the spectrum and how they correlated with the structure.

"Then we built a neural network that was able to convert the spectrum into structures," Frenkel said.

When they tested to see if the method would work to decipher the shapes and sizes of well-defined platinum nanoparticles (using x-ray absorption spectra previously published by Frenkel and his collaborators) it did.

"This method can now be used on the fly," Frenkel said. "Once the network is constructed it takes almost no time for the structure to be obtained in any real experiment."

That means scientists studying catalysts at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), for example, could obtain real-time structural information to decipher why a particular reaction slows down, or starts producing an unwanted product--and then tweak the reaction conditions or catalyst chemistry to achieve desired results. This would be a big improvement over waiting to analyze results after completing the experiments and then figuring out what went wrong.

In addition, this technique can process and analyze spectral signals from very low-concentration samples, and will be particularly useful at new high flux and high-energy-resolution beamlines incorporating special optics and high-throughput analysis techniques at NSLS-II.

"This will offer completely new methods of using synchrotrons for operando research," Frenkel said.

###

This work was funded by the DOE Office of Science (BES) and by Brookhaven's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. Previously published spectra for the model nanoparticles used to validate the neural network were collected at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory and the original National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven Lab, now replaced by NSLS-II. CFN, NSLS-II, and APS are DOE Office of Science User Facilities. In addition to Frenkel and Timoshenko, Lu and Lin are co-authors on the paper.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

Follow @BrookhavenLab on Twitter or find us on Facebook.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.

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The virus is mutating very fast in Brazilian patients. Appearance of new serotypes could hinder development of vaccines and efficacy of diagnostic tests, according to a member of one of the leading group of scientists on Zika-related investigations

Zika virus is mutating so fast in Brazilian patients that different serotypes of the pathogen could appear in the near future, as is already the case with dengue virus. This would hinder the production of a vaccine and impair the effectiveness of the diagnostic tests already developed.

The alarm was sounded by Edison Luiz Durigon, Full Professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP), in Brazil. Such assertion is based on a study carried out by a group of scientists from the institute under the auspices of the Zika Virus Research Network in Sao Paulo (Rede Zika), which is supported by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

"Today there's only one Zika, and people become immune after being infected once," says Durigon, "But the virus is constantly mutating, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Zika 2, 3 and 4 emerging before long".

For months, the team closely monitored three asymptomatic patients - two men and a woman - and collected samples of the patients' blood, saliva, and urine, as well as semen in the case of the two men, every week. The material was sent to the United States, where whole-genome sequencing of the virus was performed thanks to a partnership with the US Army.

"Week by week, we examined the data to see what was different in the viral genome," Durigon said. "In one patient, we found compartmentalized strains: the virus present in his semen was different from the virus in his urine. In all cases, the pathogen we found in the final stage of the infection wasn't the same as the virus that entered the patient."

According to Durigon, the male patients continued to excrete large amounts of Zika virus in their semen for up to six months. One was found to have the virus in his saliva for three months.

"Zika continued to replicate in the patient's testicular cells all this time, and using an electron microscope, we could see that the spermatozoa were formed already infected," he said. "This means a conception could occur with infected sperm. We have no idea whether pregnancy progresses in such cases, and if so, what the consequences would be for the fetus."

The possibility of sexual transmission greatly increases Zika virus's capacity to spread, Durigon added, stressing that in his view, medical culture must change, as the profession still focuses on antenatal care for women.

"It's no use testing only pregnant women to see if the virus is present, and advising only women to use insect repellent and avoid high-risk areas during pregnancy, while leaving men to go on with their lives as normal," he said. "Women could be infected by their partners. Doctors aren't paying attention to this possibility."

Serological test

During his presentation, Durigon recalled how Rede Zika was set up in Sao Paulo and how the swiftly organized network linking the scientific community and FAPESP ensured the advance of knowledge about Zika.

"The virus was first isolated in Brazil in November 2015 by Pedro Vasconcelos, a researcher at Evandro Chagas Institute in Para. Our group at ICB-USP requested a sample, which arrived by mail while we were still putting up Christmas decorations," Durigon said.

Researchers in Sao Paulo State then went into action. Between 2000 and 2007, they were part of the Viral Genetic Diversity Network (VGDN), a project supported by FAPESP that enabled an important infrastructure for virological research in Sao Paulo.

"In 2015, many members of that network had ongoing projects on other subjects with support from FAPESP," he recalled. "The agency quickly approved additional funding for these projects, and all efforts focused on the study of Zika. As a result, we were soon able to grow viral isolates in the lab and distribute them to several research groups around Brazil."

According to Durigon, the scientific community's swift response in Sao Paulo inspired groups in other states as well as other research funding agencies, enabling the creation of a nationwide Zika network.

The advances achieved since then include the development of molecular diagnostic tests (capable of detecting viral RNA in samples taken from patients during infection), proof that the virus causes a congenital syndrome that may or may involve microcephaly, the development of experimental vaccines, and finally the validation of a serological test that detects antibodies against the virus in blood samples even after the infectious stage is over and that does not cross-react with antibodies against dengue.

"After two years, we can at last say with pride that we've produced a genuinely effective serological test to detect Zika," Durigon said. "We've validated it in over 1,000 samples from the population of Sao Jose do Rio Preto in the interior of Sao Paulo State, and in 800 samples from patients in Salvador, Bahia, including women who had children with and without microcephaly and patients who had yellow fever and dengue. If this test can identify Zika in Salvador, it can work anywhere in the world."

The team that developed the serological method also includes ICB-USP researchers Paolo Zanotto and Luis Carlos de Souza Ferreira (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/23065).

The next step, according to Durigon, is to collect more samples in Sao Paulo State and its capital in order to find out how many people have actually been infected to date in the region. Because up to 80% of cases may be asymptomatic, without the serological test, it is impossible to know the real magnitude of the epidemic and the percentage of the population that is still susceptible to the virus.

"Sao Paulo has apparently had few cases of Zika so far," he said. "In Salvador, the tests are showing that a large proportion of the population has already been infected, including pregnant women, and that's why there have been many cases of microcephaly. Bahia, Pernambuco and Paraiba will probably have few cases for at least four years or so, until a significant proportion of the population is susceptible again. In Sao Paulo, we don't yet know."

The main concern today, he added, is children born to mothers who are infected unawares by Zika during pregnancy. "These children may have brain damage but not microcephaly, so they won't be carefully monitored. The problem won't appear until later when they start displaying motor or learning difficulties. We could have a generation of children with all kinds of complications, and we won't know how to deal with them."

As soon as the serological test is available on a large scale, the largest possible number of children born during the period should be tested. Positive results should be assessed with caution and confirmed by imaging. "What we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. We don't know what's underneath," he said.

###

About the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. For more information: http://www.fapesp.br/en.
DETROIT - A Henry Ford Hospital physician whose near-death patient experience inspired an organizational campaign to help health professionals communicate more effectively with patients has chronicled her story in a captivating memoir.

Rana Awdish, M.D., a critical care medicine physician and director of Henry Ford's Pulmonary Hypertension Program, describes in unflinching candor her experience as a patient on the brink of death in 2008 - on the last day of her fellowship training - when a tumor ruptured in her liver, leading to multisystem organ failure.

The book, "In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope," (St. Martin's Press, $25.99), goes on sale Oct. 24. A portion of the proceeds will benefit physician education and communication at Henry Ford.

"As a physician I fully expected to die in the operating room," she writes.

The care team worked frantically to save her but could not save the baby she was carrying at the time. Her two-year recovery would include five major surgeries and multiple procedures and intensive care admissions.

The transformative experience - witnessing highly-skilled, expert medical care that saved her life and delivered at times with cool indifference and lack of empathy - changed her vision of what medicine could be both for her personally and at her organization.

"Medicine cannot heal in a vacuum; it requires connection," she writes.

In an article about her experience published in the Jan. 5, 2017 New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Awdish acknowledged she was "privy to failures that I'd been blind to as a clinician."

"There were disturbing deficits in communication, dis-coordinated care, occasionally an apparently complete absence of empathy," she says. "I recognized myself in many of those failures."

Dr. Awdish came to understand that medical training has not traditionally prepared physicians to freely embrace the emotional bond between physicians and their patients. "We were trained to value efficiency over cultivating a relationship through trust and disclosure. We weren't trained to value the patient's story."

That is changing. Dr. Awdish's experience inspired her to champion a shift in culture for helping providers prioritize compassionate, values-driven communication with their patients at Henry Ford Hospital and throughout its parent organization, the Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System. She used her experience to drive home the point to leaders and others that "everything matters, always. Every person, every time."

Under her leadership, the Henry Ford's Physician Communication and Peer Support curriculum was launched in 2013. Facilitators provide tools to ensure that each conversation is guided by empathy and compassion, beginning with an understanding of what matters most to patients and aligning with their values. Courses include:

CLEAR Conversations. CLEAR stands for Connect, Listen, Empathize, Align and Respect. A course in which providers test their communication skills in stimulated conversation exercises with Detroit-based improvisational actors who portray patients and family members. It teaches how to navigate difficult questions and respond to expressions of emotion. Providers receive real-time feedback from their peers and situational feedback from the actors.

A skilled communication workshop based on the 4 Habits of Effective Physician Communication model.

Real-time shadowing. A trained observer shadows the provider during a series of patient interactions. Best practice behaviors and empathic communication skills are evaluated, and best practice feedback is shared during a one-on-one debriefing.

New-hire orientation, during which employees are taught their value and purpose within the organization. Discussions emphasize learning to recognize avoidable and unavoidable forms of patient suffering. New employees are tasked with reducing avoidable suffering.

"My experience changed me," says Dr. Awdish, who also serves as medical director of Care Experience, which directs the communications initiative across the health system. "It changed my vision of what I wanted our organization to be, to embody."

She says her experience is a teachable moment across the spectrum of health care as the focus shifts to truly seeing patients as they are, rather than someone with an illness or disease.

"By focusing on our missteps, we can ensure that the path ahead is one of compassionate, coordinated care," Dr. Awdish says. "When we are ashamed, we can't tell our stories. In the wake of painful experience, we all seek meaning. It is the human thing to do, but it is also the job of great organizations. The stories we tell do more than restore our faith in ourselves. They have the power to transform."

###

MEDIA CONTACT:

David Olejarz

David.Olejarz@hfhs.org

313.874.4094
Astronomers have shed fresh light on the importance of hydrogen atoms in the birth of new stars.

Only hydrogen molecules are thought to directly fuel star formation but research published today shows there are more hydrogen atoms than molecules even in young galaxies that are making a lot of stars.

Astrophysicist Dr Luca Cortese, from The University of Western Australian node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, said new stars are constantly forming in the Universe.

"New stars are born in dense clouds of gas and dust that are found in most galaxies," he said.

"Our own Milky Way forms about one new star a year on average."

In the local Universe close to us about 70 per cent of the hydrogen gas is found in individual atoms, while the rest is in molecules.

Astronomers had expected that as they looked back in time, younger galaxies would contain more and more molecular hydrogen until it dominated the gas in the galaxy. Instead, they found that atomic hydrogen makes up the majority of gas in younger galaxies too.

This is true even in galaxies under conditions similar to 'cosmic noon', a period about seven billion years after the Big Bang when the rate of star formation in the Universe reached its peak.

Dr Cortese said that in the last decade astronomers have discovered young, star-forming galaxies at cosmic noon with 10 times more hydrogen molecules than the Milky Way.

With such large reservoirs of molecular hydrogen, no room seemed to be left for a comparable amount of cold atomic gas. Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to detect hydrogen atoms at such large distances and verify this expectation.

Instead, Dr Cortese and his team discovered a population of galaxies three billion years younger than the Milky Way hosting gas reservoirs at least as large as those of galaxies at the cosmic noon.

"What we found is that despite hosting 10 billion solar masses of molecular gas these young galaxies turn out to be very, very rich in atomic hydrogen as well," Dr Cortese said.

"The balance between atomic and molecular hydrogen is pretty much the same as in the Milky Way. In other words, it's still dominated by atomic gas."

The research used data from two of the world's most powerful radio telescopes, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile.

ICRAR astrophysicist Dr Barbara Catinella, who was a co-author on the research, said the findings have tremendous implications for our understanding of the early Universe.

"It shows that we cannot neglect atomic hydrogen even in galaxies that contain tens of billions of solar masses of molecular hydrogen," she said.

"Only the advent of future radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array will allow us to get a complete picture of the role of cold gas in the star formation cycle."

A further finding from the study is that the galaxies rich in molecular hydrogen were not very turbulent.

Usually, these galaxies would be expected to be very turbulent to prevent the collapse of the gas into stars.

The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

###

Original Publication: 'ALMA reveals no change in the molecular-to-atomic hydrogen mass ratio of star-forming disks during the past three billion years.', published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on October 10th, 2017. Available via http://www.icrar.org/atomic

More Information:

ICRAR: The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, or ICRAR, is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia with support and funding from the State Government of Western Australia.

ALMA: Located in northern Chile, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the world's most powerful observatory for studying the universe at the long-wavelength millimetre and sub-millimetre range of light. It's designed to spot some of the most distant, ancient galaxies ever seen, and to probe the areas around young stars for planets in the process of forming.

Arecibo: The Arecibo Observatory is a radio telescope in the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The observatory's 305 metre radio telescope was the largest single-aperture telescope from its completion in 1963 until July 2016 when the Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China was completed.

The observatory has appeared in film, gaming and television productions, gaining more recognition in 1999 when it began to collect data for the SETI@home project. Recently, the telescope was damaged by Hurricane Maria when an antenna suspended above the dish fell, damaging the main structure in several places.

Multimedia: High-resolution images (plus captions and credits) are available from http://www.icrar.org/atomic

Contacts:

Dr Luca Cortese (ICRAR and UWA)

Ph: +61 481 358 114 E: Luca.Cortese@icrar.org

Pete Wheeler (Media Contact, ICRAR)

Ph: +61 423 982 018 E: Pete.Wheeler@icrar.org
World will have more obese children and adolescents than underweight by 2022

10 October, 2017 - London: The number of obese children and adolescents (aged 5 to 19 years) worldwide has risen tenfold in the past four decades, according to a new study led by Imperial College London and the World Health Organization (WHO). If current trends continue, more children and adolescents will be obese than moderately or severely underweight by 2022.

The study is published in The Lancet ahead of World Obesity Day (11 October). It analysed weight and height measurements from nearly 130 million people aged over five (31.5 million people aged 5 to 19, and 97.4 million aged 20 and older), the largest number of participants ever involved in an epidemiological study. More than 1000 researchers contributed to the study, which looked at body mass index (BMI) and how obesity has changed worldwide from 1975 to 2016.

During this period, obesity rates in the world's children and adolescents increased from less than 1% (equivalent to five million girls and six million boys) in 1975 to nearly 6% in girls (50 million) and nearly 8% in boys (74 million) in 2016. Combined, the number of obese 5 to 19 year olds rose more than tenfold globally, from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016. An additional 213 million were overweight in 2016 but fell below the threshold for obesity.

Lead author Professor Majid Ezzati, of Imperial's School of Public Health, said: "Over the past four decades, obesity rates in children and adolescents have soared globally, and continue to do so in low- and middle-income countries. More recently, they have plateaued in higher income countries, although obesity levels remain unacceptably high."

Professor Ezzati adds: "These worrying trends reflect the impact of food marketing and policies across the globe, with healthy nutritious foods too expensive for poor families and communities. The trend predicts a generation of children and adolescents growing up obese and also malnourished. We need ways to make healthy, nutritious food more available at home and school, especially in poor families and communities, and regulations and taxes to protect children from unhealthy foods."

More obese than underweight 5 to 19 year olds by 2022

The authors say that if post-2000 trends continue, global levels of child and adolescent obesity will surpass those for moderately and severely underweight for the same age group by 2022.

Nevertheless, the large number of moderately or severely underweight children and adolescents in 2016 (75 million girls and 117 boys) still represents a major public health challenge, especially in the poorest parts of the world. This reflects the threat posed by malnutrition in all its forms, with there being underweight and overweight young people living in the same communities.

Children and adolescents have rapidly transitioned from mostly underweight to mostly overweight in many middle-income countries, including in East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors say this could reflect an increase in the consumption of energy-dense foods, especially highly processed carbohydrates, which lead to weight gain and poor lifelong health outcomes.

Dr Fiona Bull, programme coordinator for surveillance and population-based prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) at WHO, said: "These data highlight, remind and reinforce that overweight and obesity is a global health crisis today, and threatens to worsen in coming years unless we start taking drastic action."

Global data for obesity and underweight

In 2016, there were 50 million obese girls and 74 million obese boys in the world, while the global number of moderately or severely underweight girls and boys was 75 million and 117 million respectively.

The number of obese adults increased from 100 million in 1975 (69 million women, 31 million men) to 671 million in 2016 (390 million women, 281 million men). Another 1.3 billion adults were overweight, but fell below the threshold for obesity.

Regional/Country data for obesity, BMI and underweight

Obesity:

The rise in childhood and adolescent obesity in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Asia, has accelerated since 1975. Conversely, the rise in high income countries has slowed and plateaued.

The largest increase in the number of obese children and adolescents was seen in East Asia, the high-income English-speaking region (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK), and the Middle East and North Africa.

In 2016, obesity rates were highest overall in Polynesia and Micronesia, at 25.4% in girls and 22.4% in boys, followed by the high-income English-speaking region. Nauru had the highest prevalence of obesity for girls (33.4%), and Cook Islands had the highest for boys (33.3%).

In Europe, girls in Malta and boys in Greece had the highest obesity rates, at 11.3% and 16.7% of the population respectively. Girls and boys in Moldova had the lowest obesity rates, at 3.2% and 5% of the population respectively.

Girls in the UK had the 73rd highest obesity rate in the world (6th in Europe), and boys in the UK had the 84th highest obesity in the world (18th in Europe).

Girls in the USA had the 15th highest obesity rate in the world, and boys had the 12th highest obesity in the world.

Among high-income countries, the USA had the highest obesity rates for girls and boys.

BMI:

The largest rise in BMI of children and adolescents since 1975 was in Polynesia and Micronesia for both sexes, and in central Latin America for girls. The smallest rise in the BMI of children and adolescents during the four decades covered by the study was seen in Eastern Europe.

The country with the biggest rise in BMI for girls was Samoa, which rose by 5.6 kg/m2, and for boys was the Cook Islands, which rose by 4.4 kg/m2.

Underweight:

India had the highest prevalence of moderately and severely underweight under-19s throughout these four decades (24.4% of girls and 39.3% of boys were moderately or severely underweight in 1975, and 22.7% and 30.7% in 2016). 97 million of the world's moderately or severely underweight children and adolescents lived in India in 2016.

Solutions exist to reduce child and adolescent obesity

In conjunction with the release on the new obesity estimates, WHO is publishing a summary of the Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) Implementation Plan. The plan gives countries clear guidance on effective actions to curb childhood and adolescent obesity. WHO has also released guidelines calling on frontline healthcare workers to actively identify and manage children who are overweight or obese.

Dr Bull added: "WHO encourages countries to implement efforts to address the environments that today are increasing our children's chance of obesity. Countries should aim particularly to reduce consumption of cheap, ultra-processed, calorie dense, nutrient poor foods. They should also reduce the time children spend on screen-based and sedentary leisure activities by promoting greater participation in physical activity through active recreation and sports."

Dr Sophie Hawkesworth, from the Population Health team at Wellcome Trust, which co-funded the study, said: "Global population studies on this scale are hugely important in understanding and addressing modern health challenges. This study harnessed the power of big data to highlight worrying trends of both continuing high numbers of underweight children and teenagers and a concurrent stark rise in childhood obesity. Together with global health partners and the international research community, Wellcome is working to help identify new research opportunities that could help better understand all aspects of malnutrition and the long-term health consequences."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The paper presents the first ever comprehensive data on underweight through to obesity for children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years. It provides findings on changing obesity rates in this age group worldwide.

The study calculated and compared body mass index (BMI) among children, adolescents and adults from 1975 to 2016, and made projections based on current trends in obesity rates.

BMI is a measure of a person's weight and body mass for their height, and indicates whether their weight is healthy.

Calculating BMI is the simplest way to assess a person's weight status, and the most common tool used to determine underweight, healthy weight and overweight and obesity.

###

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Caroline Brogan

Media and Communications Officer (Research) Imperial College London

Tel: +44(0)20 7594 3415

Email: caroline.brogan@imperial.ac.uk

Out of hours: +44 (0)7803 886248

Paul Garwood

Department of Communications

World Health Organization

Tel: +41 796037294

Email: garwoodp@who.int and media@who.int

ACCESSING EMBARGOED MATERIALS:

1. Embargoed copies of the paper and appendix can be downloaded here: https://icseclzt.cc.ic.ac.uk/pickup.php?claimID=mJCD2iC6G5jx4tmh&claimPasscode=Ve7Xnw4rUiJaZGHX&emailAddr=caroline.brogan%40imperial.ac.uk

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The article will be published here when the embargo lifts: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32129-3/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr

2. Embargoed interactive maps and ranking plots, and country by country data can be downloaded here:

Child/adolescent:

Pre-embargo visualisation: http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-visualisations-adiposity-childado-media-link.html

Post-embargo visualisation (PLEASE USE THIS LINK IN ARTICLE): http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-visualisations-adiposity-ado.html

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Post-embargo data download (PLEASE USE THIS LINK IN ARTICLE): http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-downloads-adiposity-ado.html

Adult:

Pre-embargo visualisation: http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-visualisations-adiposity-adult-updated-media-link.html

Post-embargo visualisation (PLEASE USE THIS LINK IN ARTICLE): http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-visualisations-adiposity.html

Pre-embargo data download: http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-downloads-adiposity-adult-updated-media-link.html

Post-embargo data download (PLEASE USE THIS LINK IN ARTICLE): http://www.ncdrisc.org/data-downloads-adiposity.html

3. "Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128*9 million children, adolescents, and adults" by NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), published 10 October 2017 in The Lancet. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32129-3

4. This study was funded by Wellcome Trust and the AstraZeneca Young Health Programme. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the report.

5. About Imperial College London

Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 16,000 students and 8,000 staff are expanding the frontiers of knowledge in science, medicine, engineering and business, and translating their discoveries into benefits for society.

Founded in 1907, Imperial builds on a distinguished past - having pioneered penicillin, holography and fibre optics - to shape the future. Imperial researchers work across disciplines to improve health and wellbeing, understand the natural world, engineer novel solutions and lead the data revolution. This blend of academic excellence and its real-world application feeds into Imperial's exceptional learning environment, where students participate in research to push the limits of their degrees.

Imperial collaborates widely to achieve greater impact. It works with the NHS to improve healthcare in west London, is a leading partner in research and education within the European Union, and is the UK's number one research collaborator with China.

Imperial has nine London campuses, including its White City Campus: a research and innovation centre that is in its initial stages of development in west London. At White City, researchers, businesses and higher education partners will co-locate to create value from ideas on a global scale.

http://www.imperial.ac.uk

6. About World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority on international health within the United Nations' system. The Organization's goal is to build a better, healthier future for people all over the world. WHO began when its Constitution came into force on 7 April 1948.
IIVS, supported by a grant from Colgate-Palmolive, held a training course this month in Goiania, Brazil focused on two in vitro methods with international regulatory acceptance status. The course, Alternative Methods for Evaluation of Toxicity, was attended by over 30 participants from industry and government who participated in both lectures and hands-on exercises. The training course was organized as a satellite workshop to the Congress of Brazilian Toxicology, CBTox, in Goias, Brazil.

In recent years, Brazil has been putting greater emphasis on non-animal test methods for the regulation of products - especially cosmetics. ANVISA, the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency, which is responsible for the registration of products, currently recognizes the use of a number of alternative methods. In 2014 CONCEA, a multi-institutional council responsible for controlling and monitoring the implementation of alternative methods in Brazil, officially adopted 17 alternative test methods with international regulatory acceptance, and established a five-year term for their implementation.

"IIVS has assisted many regulatory communities in the adoption and implementation of non-animal methods" said Erin Hill, Co-Founder and President of IIVS. "An important part of this process is building capacity and infrastructure for the methods so they can be readily available for industry use and subsequent regulatory review."

This isn't the first time Colgate-Palmolive and IIVS have worked together internationally. Support from Colgate-Palmolive has funded workshops for scientists and regulators from Brazil, Russia and China. Colgate-Palmolive is a founding member of the IIVS Industry Council for the Advancement of Regulatory Acceptance of Alternatives (ICARAA), which is widely recognized as a key program helping the Chinese government replace their mandatory animal testing requirements for cosmetics.

"Colgate-Palmolive helped support IIVS during its founding in 1997 and we have worked together on a wide variety of validation, education and outreach initiatives over the years" said Dr. Daniel Bagley, Vice President, Global Product Safety at Colgate-Palmolive and a member of their Animal Welfare Committee. "We appreciate IIVS' collaborative approach and commitment to quality standards when implementing non-animal methods."

###

About the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS)

IIVS is a non-profit organization wholly dedicated to the promotion of rapid and innovative non-animal test methods. Founded in 1997, IIVS is recognized as a leading provider of in vitro testing in support of toxicological safety evaluations. Rigorous scientific programs coupled with educational and outreach initiatives have established IIVS as a global leader in the advancement of alternatives to animal testing. For more information, visit us at http://www.iivs.org.
WOODS HOLE, Mass.-- Disruptions in the microbiome of the human gut are correlated with several diseases, including obesity and cancer. Yet little is known about the spatial organization of the nearly 1,000 bacterial species in the human gut, which can influence how the species interact with each other and with their host.

In a new collaborative study, scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, the Forsyth Institute, and Washington University in St. Louis established a simplified, model human gut microbiome in germ-free mice and revealed its structure through imaging technologies developed at the MBL. The study is published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We thought we would see clusters of bacteria, with some species congregating around food particles and others abundant in the mucus layer of the gut, which separates the bacteria from host tissue," says MBL scientist Jessica Mark Welch, the lead author of the study. "Instead, we saw a mixed community, where each cell tended to be next to cells of a different species." The bacterial communities near the mucus layer and in the gut's interior (the lumen), where digested food is pushed through by muscular contractions, looked similar.

"The study suggests the host is mixing the microbes and preventing large clusters of single kinds of bacteria from forming," Mark Welch says. "The host does this by sloughing mucus and epithelial cells into the lumen, and by mechanically mixing the contents of the gut. It may be that this mixing creates an evolutionarily stable microbial community."

"No one has looked at a complex microbial community in the gut this way before," says senior author Gary Borisy, a senior research investigator at the Forsyth Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "If we truly want to understand the role of the microbiome, it is not enough to know just which microbes are present. We must also learn what they are doing, who they are talking to and why. Part of the answer to that problem is to figure out who is next to who and who is next to what."

Understanding the spatial structure of microbiomes is a young field that these researchers are pioneering through their novel imaging technology. What they saw in the model gut contrasts with their prior study of human dental plaque, where they discovered highly organized assemblages of bacterial species.

"We don't entirely understand why microbiome organization is so different in the mouth and in the gut," Mark Welch says. "It may have to do with the rate of flow. In the mouth, if bacteria don't adhere to something - either to each other or the host -- they end up in the stomach in a matter of seconds. In the gut, flow of contents happens on a timescale of hours rather than seconds."

Mark Welch and collaborators are currently exploring microbiome organization in a number of human and marine ecosystems, including the human tongue, the cuttlefish gut, the surface of kelp, and on marine plastic debris.

Their imaging technology gives the researchers the unique ability to simultaneously image and identify 15 or more microbial taxa, using a technique called Combinatorial Labeling and Spectral Imaging - Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (CLASI-FISH). The team's model gut microbiome contained 15 bacterial species that are typically abundant in the human gut.

###

Citation:

Jessica L. Mark Welch, Yuko Hasegawa, Nathan P. McNulty, Jeffrey I. Gordon, and Gary G. Borisy (2017) Spatial organization of a model 15-member human gut microbiota established in gnotobiotic mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.: DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1711596114

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery - exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
In oxygen-compromising conditions like diabetes, the body grows new blood vessels to help, but the result is often leaky, dysfunctional vessels that make bad matters worse.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Oct. 9, 2017) - In oxygen-compromising conditions like diabetes, the body grows new blood vessels to help, but the result is often leaky, dysfunctional vessels that make bad matters worse.

Now scientists have identified a new target for reducing that dysfunctional blood vessel development in the eye in a common condition called diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults.

"If we block the adenosine receptor A2a, the blood vessels will not leak and not as many new blood vessels will grow," says Dr. Yuqing Huo, chief of the Vascular Inflammation Program at the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

An inhibitor of adenosine receptor A2a already is in clinical trials for Parkinson's disease.

Adenosine is a natural structural component of basic body essentials like DNA and RNA as well as the ubiquitous cell fuel ATP. It can help blood vessels expand, battle bad heart rhythms and even provide pain relief. Its family of receptors includes adenosine receptor A2a, which is important for the retina and found on the endothelial cells that line blood vessels, says Huo, co-corresponding author of the study in the journal Nature Communications.

When oxygen levels are good, their expression is low in endothelial cells. But in diabetes, where oxygen levels go down, adenosine A2a receptor expression goes way up and a vicious cycle is born.

Endothelial cells that line the blood vessels of the retina begin to shrink, even disappear in diabetes. Expression of adenosine receptor A2a increases, apparently to enable endothelial cells to take up more glucose that can be converted to energy to help restore good oxygen and blood flow. In this case, that means repairing existing blood vessels and growing new ones in a process called angiogenesis. But in a scenario where the cells don't use energy efficiently or build blood vessels well it's actually called "pathological angiogenesis." Old and new blood vessels alike readily bleed or contract, leading to hemorrhage and/or retinal detachment and blindness, the scientists write.

"They grow too much, too fast," Huo says. It's not yet clear whether it's the high glucose levels of diabetes and/or the resulting inflammation or other factors that increase expression of adenosine receptor A2a. Huo notes that adenosine's many actions include an anti-inflammatory effect.

But the work of Huo and his colleagues indicates that however it happens adenosine receptor A2a's higher profile role in this scenario makes it a likely treatment target.

A key problem appears to be that the receptor aids the inefficiency of endothelial cells. These cells generate about 85 percent of their fuel through glycolysis, a way to convert glucose to the cell fuel ATP without using oxygen. Even with plenty of oxygen handy, endothelial cells appear to like this method. By comparison, cellular respiration, which requires oxygen, produces nearly 40 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose versus only about two ATP molecules per glucose molecule with glycolysis.

When the scientists activate the receptor, it promotes the enzymes that promote glycolysis. Increased use of this inefficient energy production process of glycolysis has been shown to occur in endothelial cells in people with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Conversely, when the scientists knocked out or deleted adenosine receptor A2a from endothelial cells, it decreased glycolysis. Blocking glycolysis, in turn, dramatically inhibited blood vessel proliferation and sprouting of endothelial cells that overexpress the receptor.

When oxygen levels were more normal, knocking out or deleting adenosine receptor A2a didn't seem to have that much impact on glycolysis, possibly because the receptor's expression is not that high when oxygen levels are normal, the scientists suspect.

All the reciprocal cause and effect they found supports the new idea that the receptor promotes glycolysis, which promotes pathological angiogenesis in retinopathies, Huo says.

Much work remains. For example, they have not yet figured out the connection between the adenosine receptor A2a and VEGF receptors, but there has to be some synergy, Huo says, since as its name implies, vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, also is clearly important to endothelial cell repair and new blood vessel formation.

In the right environment, adenosine A2a receptor has a positive role in blood vessel formation as well: activation of the receptor in a mouse model of wound healing shows increased activation of healthy angiogenesis that aids recovery.

His lab also wants to try in their animal models and human retinal tissue, the adenosine receptor A2a inhibitor showing success and safety in patients with Parkinson's disease. In Parkinson's, expression of adenosine receptor A2a goes up in a part of the brain involved with voluntary movement.

Inhibitors under study for that degenerative condition appear to decrease uncontrolled movement and generally slow disease progression without significant side effects, Huo says.

It's the safety and effectiveness in that condition combined with his findings in the retina, that have Huo planning to use existing inhibitors in his studies. He's also working with co-corresponding author and chemist, Dr. Mei Hong, of the Drug Discovery Center, Key Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, to develop another adenosine receptor A2a inhibitor.

Endothelial cells likely opt to use glycolysis because during development, many are formed in a hypoxic, or no oxygen, environment, Huo notes. Many other cell types only turn to glycolysis when they are stressed. He adds that caffeine is a not-very-specific blocker of adenosine receptor A2a.

Nearly 10 percent of Americans have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Up to 45 percent of those individuals have some degree of diabetic retinopathy, according to the National Eye Institute.

The retina is inside the back of the eye, a multi-layered and vascular tissue, which receives light and transforms it to a neural impulse that goes to the brain. The optic nerve that transmits the neural impulses is in the center of the retina, and the retina's major blood vessels radiate from the optic nerve.

In addition to efforts to better manage blood glucose and blood pressure levels, current therapies for diabetic retinopathy include laser surgery to attempt to seal leaky blood vessels as well as surgery to remove vitreous gel, blood and scar tissue to better enable light to again focus on the retina. Direct injections into the eye of steroids may help with swelling and an anti-VEGF treatment may help reduce growth of the leaky vessels.

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Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Zhiping Liu is the study's first author. Huo is a professor in the MCG Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, the National Key Basic Research Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee and the Shenzhen Peacock Program.

DOWNLOADS: Click to download a high-resolution photo of Drs. Zhiping Liu (left) and Yuqing Huo https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgiaregentsu/37305850862.

Augusta University is Georgia's innovation center for education and health care, training the next generation of innovators, leaders and health care providers in classrooms and clinics on three campuses in Augusta and satellite locations across the state. Groundbreaking research at Augusta is dedicated to improving and enriching the human experience as we seek to create a healthier, more prosperous Georgia. Nearly 9,000 students choose Augusta for experiential learning that blends arts and application, humanity and the health sciences. Augusta is home to the state's only public academic health center, where world-class clinicians are bringing the medicine of tomorrow to patient care today. augusta.edu augustahealth.org
New research identifies four factors that help women ex-convicts avoid committing crimes, offering insights that can be used to help former inmates integrate more successfully into their communities after time in prison.

"In essence, we wanted to know what factors make women who have been in prison less likely to engage in criminal activity after they're released," says Sarah Desmarais, an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and co-author of a paper on the work. "This was a research question that prisoners themselves came up with. They wanted to know what could give them the best chance of successful community reintegration."

For this study, researchers conducted baseline interviews with 400 women shortly after their release from prison. The study participants then self-reported on their behavior over the course of the following year. Their reporting was confidential, and the research assistants the women talked to were all former prisoners. The study was conducted in Canada.

"We wanted these women to let us know what was helping them and what was not," Desmarais says. "That requires trust. And having them interact with women who had been through similar experiences seemed like the best way to establish that trust."

The researchers found four factors that were significant in helping women avoid recidivism: good nutritional health; good spiritual health (as defined by the study participants); having a high school education; and having been convicted of drug offenses, as opposed to incarceration for other crimes.

"The link was strongest for women who had been convicted of drug offenses - they were 70 percent less likely to return to crime," Desmarais says. "This highlights the fact that drug offenders would benefit more from treatment than from incarceration - the addiction is the biggest problem there."

Women who had at least a high school education were 56 percent less likely to return to crime than those without a high school degree. Having good nutritional health reduced the likelihood of recidivism by 50 percent, and good spiritual health cut the likelihood of recidivism by 40 percent.

"We don't usually think of health as something that can improve reintegration into society, so this was a surprising finding," Desmarais says.

"Altogether, these findings offer insights that can help us develop programs and policies to improve the ability of ex-offenders to rejoin their communities. That would be valuable for communities, government agencies and the ex-offenders themselves. The study also highlights the fact that ex-offenders are not just a voiceless group to be studied, but can also offer important insights into their experiences."

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The paper, "Factors that support successful transition to the community among women leaving prison in British Columbia: a prospective cohort study using participatory action research," was published in the journal CMAJ Open. Lead author of the paper is Patricia Janssen of the University of British Columbia. The paper was co-authored by Mo Korchinski, Lara-Lisa Condello, Jane Buxton, Ruth Elwood Martin, Marla Buchanan and Carl Leggo of the University of British Columbia; Arianne Albert of the British Columbia Women's Hospital and Health Centre; Alison Granger-Brown of Fielding Graduate University; Vivian Ramsden of the University of Saskatchewan; and Lynn Fels of Simon Fraser University. The work was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Behavioral and psychological symptoms are difficult for dementia patients and their caregivers, but despite research efforts, there are still gaps in knowledge about what causes or precipitates these symptoms, according to researchers.

In a review, the researchers analyzed previously published studies on the causes and precipitants of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). They found that while there have been many studies on patient determinants -- individual characteristics within the person suffering from dementia -- research was lacking in other areas.

"We found that there haven't been many studies done on how a patient's caregiver or environment can trigger or affect these symptoms," said Ann Kolanowski, professor of nursing at Penn State. "In order to best treat people living with dementia, we need to learn more about all the possible causes of behavioral and psychological symptoms, and further research into these specific areas is needed."

Dementia -- which affects 47.5 million people worldwide -- is almost always accompanied by BPSD. These symptoms, which include such behaviors as aggression and agitation, contribute to a poorer quality of life and a more rapid decline in cognitive and physical abilities.

Kolanowski said that not only are these symptoms difficult for the person, but that people who exhibit them also are placed into care facilities more often than those who do not.

"Families have a hard time responding well to aggression, or psychosis, or people wandering out of their homes at night. It's exhausting to them," she said. "We need to learn more about the factors precipitating these symptoms, so we can design approaches and interventions that will reduce them. Not only for the benefit of the person suffering from dementia, but also the caregivers."

The team gathered research on five of the most common BPSD in people with dementia: aggression, agitation, apathy, depression and psychosis. After compiling the available research on what causes or influences these symptoms, the researchers narrowed their focus to 56 high-quality, low-bias research papers. They then combined the study results into one report, published in Nursing Outlook.

The researchers found evidence that certain factors affected multiple BPSD, including neurodegeneration, the type of dementia and the severity of the cognitive impairments.

But the team also identified areas that are lacking in research, including how BPSD affect the progression of dementia and how environment and caregiver behavior can influence BPSD. They found that while there is some evidence for such factors as caregiver burden and communication skills affecting BPSD, there were not enough studies conducted, according to the researchers.

"Learning about how factors within the person affect BPSD is important, but less is known about how the environment or caregiver might influence these symptoms," Kolanowski said. "If we know more about how external factors influence BPSD, that could powerfully affect how we design treatments and interventions."

Kolanowski said that she hopes the report will help other nursing researchers both better understand what already has been discovered and to inspire them to branch out into other areas where research is needed.

The review is a pre-summit activity for the National Research Summit on Dementia Care, the first national summit on dementia care in the United States, taking place Oct. 16-17, and will help inform the direction of future dementia research.

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Marie Boltz, Penn State; Elizabeth Galik, University of Maryland; Laura N. Gitlin, Johns Hopkins; Helen C. Kales, University of Michigan; Barbara Resnick, University of Michigan; Kimberly S. Van Haitsma, Penn State; Amy Knehans, Penn State; Justine S. Sefcik, University of Pennsylvania; Wen Liu, the University of Iowa; Darina V. Petrovsky, University of Pennsylvania; Lauren Massimo, Penn State; Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Margaret MacAndrew, Queensland University of Technology; Glenna Brewster, University of Pennsylvania; Vycki Nalls, Optum Health; Ying-Ling Jao, Penn State; Naomi Duffort, Johns Hopkins; and Danny Scerpella, Johns Hopkins; also participated in this project.
In India, the sale of antibiotics requiring the tightest control and regulation is rising the fastest, according to an analysis by researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Newcastle University.

Indian government needs to do more to tackle rising sale of unapproved antibiotics

In India, the sale of antibiotics requiring the tightest control and regulation is rising the fastest, according to an analysis by researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Newcastle University. The correspondence published in The Lancet Global Health highlights serious hurdles for controlling antimicrobial resistance in the country.

In June 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a new classification for antibiotics, to combat rising antimicrobial resistance and preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are a 'last resort'.

The new model comprised three categories: 'Key Access' antibiotics that should be widely available, 'Watch Group' that includes critically important antimicrobials which should only be used for certain infections, and 'Reserve Group' antibiotics for severe circumstances when all alternatives have failed.

Dr Patricia McGettigan from QMUL said: "In India, total sales of antibiotics are increasing, and for the antibiotics that require the most careful control and regulation, their sales are increasing at the fastest rate. The increases are driven by sales of fixed dose formulations, many of them indiscriminately combining two antibiotics together. Even worse, most of these formulations were never approved by India's national drugs regulator so their sale is illegal. The government has done nothing effective to stop the sales."

India is a major drug producer with some of the highest sales of antibiotics globally and the highest levels of antimicrobial resistance. Contributing factors include failures of India's drug regulatory system which have been identified in government reports, the sale of antibiotics without prescription, and the use of fixed-dose combination (FDC) antibiotics - formulations composed of two or more drugs in a single pill.

The team analysed antibiotic sales in India between 2007 and 2012, and found that total antibiotic sales increased by 26 per cent, with the increase mainly due to the growth in sales of FDCs, which rose by 38 per cent. By 2011-12, FDCs comprised a third of total sales in India.

When taking into account the new WHO categories, sales of FDCs with Key Access antibiotics had risen by 20 per cent in five years, but those with Watch Group or Reserve Group antibiotics had risen more steeply, by 73 per cent and 174 per cent, respectively.

Of 118 different formulations of FDCs being sold, only 43 were approved by India's national regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), even though the sale of unapproved new medicines is illegal in India. Only five of the formulations were approved in the UK or US.

Looking at single drug formulations (SDFs) which are composed of a single drug on its own, the majority (58 per cent) of the 2011-12 sales were either Watch Group or Reserve Group antibiotics. Over five years, sales of Key Access antibiotics had risen by 13 per cent, Watch Group by 24 per cent, and Reserve Group by 69 per cent. Unlike FDCs, most of the 86 SDFs on the market in India were approved by the national regulator and were also approved in the UK and US.

The researchers say that the changes needed to achieve the WHO vision of good use of antibiotics include banning the sale of unapproved FDC antibiotics and enforcing existing regulations to prevent unapproved and illegal drugs reaching the market.

Improved access to health care to reduce non-prescription sales is also needed, alongside research to understand why doctors complicate problems by prescribing unapproved antibiotics.

Professor Allyson Pollock, Director of the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, said: "In India, rational use of antibiotics is imperative to limit antimicrobial resistance. It is of concern that sales of irrational and unsafe combinations are increasing and many have never been approved by the government. There are many calls from within the country for a new medicines Act and effective implementation of regulation to ensure rational medicine prescribing and use."

###

For more information, please contact:

Joel Winston

Tel: 44-207-882-7943

Mobile: 44-7970-096-188

j.winston@qmul.ac.uk

Public Relations Manager - Medicine and Dentistry

Queen Mary University of London



Notes to the editor

Correspondence: 'Access, Watch, and Reserve antibiotics: challenges in India for WHO stewardship intentions'. Patricia McGettigan, Peter Roderick, Abhay Kadam, Allyson M Pollock. The Lancet Global Health.

Available here after embargo lifts: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(17)30365-0/fulltext?elsca1=tlxpr

About Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the UK's leading universities with 23,120 students representing more than 160 nationalities.

A member of the Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our research. In the most recent national assessment of the quality of research, we were placed ninth in the UK amongst multi-faculty universities (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

As well as our main site at Mile End - which is home to one of the largest self-contained residential campuses in London - we have campuses at Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, and West Smithfield dedicated to the study of medicine and dentistry, and a base for legal studies at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Queen Mary began life as the People's Palace, a Victorian philanthropic project designed to bring culture, recreation and education to the people of the East End. We also have roots in Westfield College, one of the first colleges to provide higher education to women; St Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the first public hospitals in Europe; and The London, one of England's first medical schools.

Today, as well as retaining these close connections to our local community, we are known for our international collaborations in both teaching and research. QMUL has an income of 400m and a research income worth 137m (2015/16) and generates employment and output worth in excess of 700m to the UK economy each year.

About Newcastle University

Newcastle University, UK, is a thriving international community of some 27,750 students from over 130 countries worldwide.

As a member of the Russell Group of research intensive universities in the UK, Newcastle has a world-class reputation for research excellence in the fields of medicine, science and engineering, social sciences and the humanities.

Its academics are sharply focused on responding to the major challenges facing society today. Our research and teaching are world-leading in areas as diverse as health, culture, technology and the environment.

The Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF) placed Newcastle University 16th in the UK for Research Power and the vast majority of our research (78%) was assessed to be world-leading or internationally excellent.

Newcastle University is committed to providing our students with excellent, research-led teaching delivered by dedicated and passionate teachers. This is reaffirmed by achieving the best possible outcome - a Gold Award - in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Based on the evidence available, this means that the TEF Panel judged that Newcastle University delivers consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for its students of the highest quality found in the UK.
Male black-finned goodeid or mexcalpique fish know what they want when they pick a female to mate with; they prefer them big-bellied and as orange as possible. Interestingly, females displaying these traits are the ones most able to produce more offspring that survive, two researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico have found. The study by Marcela Mendez-Janovitz and Constantino Macias Garcia is published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

The black-finned goodeid (Girardinichthys viviparus) from Mexico is a very promiscuous species of fish, with males constantly seeking a suitable partner to mate with. The females are only sexually receptive for a few days every two months after giving birth. The black-finned goodeid is viviparous, meaning that young fish fully develop inside the female's body before they are born.

During courtship, males concentrate all their attention on only one female at a time. The wooing process is made even harder because females can be quite selective. Courtship consists of three basic elements, and is initiated when the male approaches the female he has chosen. His interest is signalled through his dorsal and anal fins standing erect. He then folds these fins over the female's body, in a type of embrace, before starting to swim in synchrony with her. The male will go on to occasionally attempt to grip the female more firmly and to copulate.

Mendez-Janovitz and Macias Garcia wanted to find out how male black-finned goodeid decide which female to single out for their attention. Ten males were held separately under laboratory conditions. Each one was presented with two pregnant females at a time for fifteen minutes. The females were photographed to catalogue their size, colouration and belly size. The researchers took specific note of how swollen the females' bellies were, as an indication of the number of offspring that they could be carrying.

Some of the females were visited for more than five minutes at a time and the time males spent with a female went hand in hand with the specific physical traits that she possessed. Males lingered longer with the wider bellied, and more orange-looking females. They also made more displays with their fins erect towards ones that possessed such traits. In a further experiment, it was found that the larger females were the ones who produced more offspring that ultimately could survive better. Colour did not play a role in this.

"Belly area had the largest and most positive influence on male behaviour," explains Mendez-Janovitz. "Males made longer visits and performed more courtship displays to the females with wider bellies, while spending less time with thin-bellied females. They also made a greater effort to court females with bodies of a more orange hue."

"Some attributes of the females are therefore linked to their reproductive value, and seem to influence how much time and effort males devote to court them," adds Macias Garcia.

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Reference: Mendez-Janovitz, M. & Macias Garcia, C. (2017). Do male fish prefer them big and colourful? Non-random male courtship efforts in a viviparous fish with negligible paternal investment, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology DOI 10.1007/s00265-017-2385-2
Trees in tropical forests are well known for removing carbon dioxide from the air and storing the potent greenhouse gas as carbon in their leafy branches and extensive roots. But a new analysis led by Stanford University researchers finds that large forest animals are also an important part of the carbon cycle.

The findings are based on more than a million records of animal sightings and activity collected by 340 indigenous technicians in the Amazon during more than three years of environmental surveys, coordinated by ecologist Jose Fragoso and supported by biologist Rodolfo Dirzo, who were working together at Stanford at the time. The team found that places where animals are most diverse correlate with places that have the most carbon sequestered in the soil.

"It's not enough to worry about the trees in the world holding carbon. That's really important but it's not the whole story," said Fragoso. "We also have to worry about maintaining the diversity and abundance of animals, especially mammals at this point, in order to ensure a well-functioning carbon cycle and the retention of carbon in soils."

Although scientists have long understood that animals - through ingestion, digestion, breathing and decomposition - are part of the carbon cycle, the work, published Oct. 9 in Nature Ecology and Evolution is the first to suggest the importance of animal biodiversity rather than just animal numbers in the carbon cycle.

If we want to increase carbon sequestration, we have to preserve not only high numbers of animals but also many different species, the authors said.

Mining an unprecedented data source

The inspiration for this work came from a conversation during a Biology Department happy hour years ago. The scientists knew that an ecosystem with more species generally functions better, which they assumed should include the carbon cycle. Proving the relationship between animal diversity and carbon, however, was not so straightforward.

"It is a very difficult idea to test regarding vertebrates in a real-world system such as the Amazon," said Mar Sobral, lead author of the paper, who was a postdoctoral researcher in the Dirzo Lab during this research. "The amount of data needed to test such an idea is massive and the type of data is a big challenge. The economic resources, time and logistics involved in our project are unprecedented."

In order to collect these data, people from the indigenous Makushi, Wapishana and Waiwai nations trekked through the Amazon, noting the number, diversity and potential carbon storage of trees - using size and rainfall estimates - and the presence and activities of vertebrate animals, including large mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Over a three-year period, they saw 132,995 individual vertebrate animals and recorded signs of an additional 190,369, representing 218 species. There was evidence of 43,448 feeding events, and for each one technicians recorded what was eaten. These data sets were cross-referenced with carbon levels that came from 825 soil samples taken in the final six months of the fieldwork.

The researchers found that soil had the highest carbon concentrations where they saw the most vertebrate species. When they looked for a mechanism that could explain this relationship, it turned out that the areas with highest animal diversity had the highest frequency of feeding interactions, such as animals preying on other animals or eating fruit, which results in organic material on and in the ground. The researchers suggest that these meal remnants bump up diversity and abundance of soil microbes, which convert the remains into stored carbon.

"Traditionally, it is plant biologists who have been asking questions about carbon stocks, and plants are the acceptable organisms to work with," said Kirsten Silvius, a senior research associate at Virginia Tech and co-author of this paper. "I hope this research will encourage a more holistic view of communities and a better understanding of large vertebrates as full participants in ecosystem function rather than as somewhat removed beneficiaries of that ecosystem function or victims of the loss of function."

Credit where credit is due

Fragoso, who has recently left Stanford for the California Academy of Sciences, Silvius and Sobral plan to return to the Amazon to further test their hypothesis, along with Dirzo and others. They want to know more about the soil microbes and are curious whether certain key species in the environment are critical for soil carbon rather than animal biodiversity.

The researchers will also test a new technique they hope will allow them to measure diversity through DNA collected from mosquitos and flies.

Fragoso said the indigenous people they worked with were critical for collecting such high quality data. In any given month, there were at least 70 technicians collecting data. Relying on their knowledge and local skills and bolstered by training in techniques to measure animal abundance, they were able to identify species by eye and other signs of their presence, including tracks, burrows and scat.

"Without the indigenous people, it would have been completely impossible to do this," Fragoso said. "My graduate students and postdocs would not have had the skills to walk into and detect animals in these remote, often mountainous or swampy tropical rainforest sites."

He also emphasized the importance of compensating indigenous people fairly for their work and for maintaining the forest and the animals within it.

###

Additional co-authors on this work are Han Overman, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Luiz F. B. Oliveira, Museu Nacional/UFRJ Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Ted K. Raab, Carnegie Institution for Science. Dirzo is also a is a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Stanford University.
Work in America has changed dramatically in the last century from Henry Ford's moving assembly line to automation today, but arguably the largest change is women. Women's participation in the labor force has nearly doubled from less than 34% in 1950 to 57% today (Federal Reserve Economic Data as of August, 2017). Working women became the norm in the U.S. in 1978 when it became more common to see women in the workplace than in the home (when the female labor force participation rate crossed the 50% line). This has fundamentally changed our homes as well as our workplaces and society. University of Akron Professor Amanda Weinstein finds that this change has benefitted everyone. Average wages for all workers, men and women, have increased as a result of women joining the workforce.

Economic studies abound trying to answer what exactly caused this change. For example, they have looked at the impact household appliances like the dishwasher had on freeing up women's time in the house (and reducing the cost of working outside the home) allowing women to enter the workforce. They have also looked at, for example, the impact of gender discrimination laws increasing wages for women (and the shrinking gender wage gap) that increased the benefit of women working outside the home. Economists are continually examining the effect of the economy on women, but this male-dominated field seems to be failing to ask what impact women in turn have on the economy? How have women changed work in America?

This is the very question that Weinstein has set out to answer in her new paper, "Working Women in the City and Urban Wage Growth in the United States," published in the September issue of the Journal of Regional Science. Specifically, Weinstein examines how women's participation in the workforce has affected economic growth and productivity in cities across the U.S. Weinstein estimates that every 10% increase in female labor force participation rates increases average real wage growth in cities by approximately 5%.

What this means is that for cities like Akron, OH where Weinstein works, average real wages would be nearly 7% lower had women in Akron not increased their participation in the labor force from below the national average in 1980 to above the national average (at 60.6%) in 2010. All else equal, higher real wages are generally indicative of workers that are better off and firms that are willing to pay those higher wages to employ workers they view as more productive. Women seem to be making Akron and cities around the U.S. more productive.

Why? Weinstein says that we can't have a competitive economy and firms that can compete in global markets when we ignore or discount half the population. When businesses are able to draw upon a larger pool of labor and hire the most productive worker (man or woman), they become more competitive and productive. Weinstein further suggests that it's not just the size of the labor pool but the demographics itself and the skills that women bring to businesses. One of the best predictors of a city's long run economic success is having a highly skilled workforce and women now earn 60% of the bachelor's degrees.

Furthermore, previous research suggests that the skill level of the workforce though important for all cities is even more important for cities like Akron in the rustbelt of the Midwest, cities looking for new ideas and looking for a change that can bring them into this new global economy. Thus, women provide important perspective for cities like Akron looking to make a comeback. This is why organizations such as Detroit's Kresge Foundation and managing director Wendy Lewis Jackson work to make cities a place where women can fully participate in all aspects of life.

Weinstein further suggests that it is not just the skill level but the specific skills women bring to a firm, because they are women. Women may bring to the table certain skills and assets that firms so desperately need in this ever-changing economy, an economy that some have started calling the "she-economy." Research suggests that women make about 75% of all household consumption decisions. So if businesses want to sell their products, they'd better be thinking about the female consumer. And who better to answer what women want than women? That dishwasher that made it easier for women to work outside the home, that is now so ubiquitous that most of us can't imagine life without it, was invented by a woman (Josephine Cochrane born in Ashtabula County, Ohio) when virtually no man saw the point.

When the best person gets the job, man or woman, firms and cities can thrive.

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Vance G. Nielsen, M.D., of the University of Arizona College of Medicine -- Tucson, has published results showing his carbon monoxide-iron-based therapy can inhibit snake venom's effects for up to an hour in animals

TUCSON, Ariz. - A University of Arizona researcher developing a therapy to prevent or delay the dangerous results of rattlesnake and other venomous snakebites in humans has shown that a combination of carbon monoxide and iron inhibits snake venom's effects for up to an hour in animals, a major advance in bringing the treatment to market.

Snake venom is hemotoxic--destructive to the ability of blood to clot--and can cause the destruction of fibrinogen, an essential protein that enables blood to clot and stop excessive bleeding. Snake venom enzymes also can cause abnormally fast clotting, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and damage to the body's organs. Both reactions are inhibited by the therapy.

Vance G. Nielsen, MD, professor and vice chair for research in the UA Department of Anesthesiology at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson, has confirmed that, if given soon enough after a snake bite, the carbon monoxide-iron-based therapy directly can inhibit snake venom's ability to block blood clotting in laboratory animals for as long as an hour. Dr. Nielsen also demonstrated for the first time in the test tube that the therapy blocks snake venom's ability to cause abrupt clotting. The findings recently were published in the journals Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology and the Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis.

Time is of the essence following exposure to rattlesnake venom because without fibrinogen, blood does not clot and the risk of internal bleeding increases, resulting in serious health consequences such as blood entering the brain or intestines. In addition, abnormally fast clotting in the blood vessels can deplete clotting factors and cause excessive bleeding or the clots can block blood vessels, causing lethal loss of blood flow to tissue.

Dr. Nielsen has found that the therapy works against the venom of more than three dozen species of snakes throughout the world.

"The excitement is that we have proven that carbon monoxide has the ability to directly inhibit essentially all hemotoxic venom enzymes in the test tube and that it blocks the effects of the Western Diamondback rattlesnake's venom in animals. The effects on coagulation of some of the deadliest snake venoms in the world--South American, North American and even African, such the cobra's--can be delayed by a treatment that could be delivered with a device much like an EpiPen used for allergic reactions," said Dr. Nielsen, who is working toward developing the treatment to work in humans.

To further advance the research, Dr. Nielsen is seeking commercial backing and is working with Tech Launch Arizona, the UA office that commercializes inventions stemming from university research, to protect the intellectual property of the treatment and strategize ways to get it into the hands of health professionals.

He also is collaborating with toxicologist Leslie Boyer, MD, founding director of the UA VIPER Institute and professor of pathology and pediatrician, who develops antivenom treatments for snakebite and scorpion stings. Dr. Boyer also is a member of the UA BIO5 Institute.

"Our aim is to bring to market a therapy that is safe for humans and animals, has a long shelf life, is readily available and can be stocked in ambulances, or even first-aid kits for campers or hikers, to save lives," said Dr. Nielsen.

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This research was supported by grants from the University of Arizona (Tech Launch Arizona Asset Development Award 15-160) and UA Department of Anesthesiology, and the National Institutes of Health's Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, Viper Resource Grant No. 5P40OD010960.

About the UA College of Medicine - Tucson

The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson is celebrating 50 years of innovation and advancing health and wellness through state-of-the-art medical education programs, groundbreaking research, and advancements in patient care in Arizona and across the United States. Founded in 1967, the College ranks among the top medical schools in the nation for research and primary care and is leading the way in academic medicine through its partnership with Banner - University Medicine, a new division of one of the largest nonprofit health-care systems in the country. For more information, please visit medicine.arizona.edu

About the University of Arizona Health Sciences

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs almost 5,000 people, has nearly 1,000 faculty members and garners more than $126 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu
How many robots does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer: just one, assuming you're talking about a new robotic gripper developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego.

The engineering team has designed and built a gripper that can pick up and manipulate objects without needing to see them and needing to be trained. The gripper is unique because it brings together three different capabilities. It can twist objects; it can sense objects; and it can build models of the objects it's manipulating. This allows the gripper to operate in low light and low visibility conditions, for example.

The engineering team, led by Michael T. Tolley, a roboticist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, presented the gripper at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (or IROS) Sept. 24 to 28 in Vancouver, Canada.

Researchers tested the gripper on an industrial Fetch Robotics robot and demonstrated that it could pick up, manipulate and model a wide range of objects, from lightbulbs to screwdrivers.

"We designed the device to mimic what happens when you reach into your pocket and feel for your keys," said Tolley.

The gripper has three fingers. Each finger is made of three soft flexible pneumatic chambers, which move when air pressure is applied. This gives the gripper more than one degree of freedom, so it can actually manipulate the objects it's holding. For example, the gripper can turn screwdrivers, screw in lightbulbs and even hold pieces of paper, thanks to this design.

In addition, each finger is covered with a smart, sensing skin. The skin is made of silicone rubber, where sensors made of conducting carbon nanotubes are embedded. The sheets of rubber are then rolled up, sealed and slipped onto the flexible fingers to cover them like skin.

The conductivity of the nanotubes changes as the fingers flex, which allows the sensing skin to record and detect when the fingers are moving and coming into contact with an object. The data the sensors generate is transmitted to a control board, which puts the information together to create a 3D model of the object the gripper is manipulating. It's a process similar to a CT scan, where 2D image slices add up to a 3D picture.

The breakthroughs were possible because of the team's diverse expertise and their experience in the fields of soft robotics and manufacturing, Tolley said.

Next steps include adding machine learning and artificial intelligence to data processing so that the gripper will actually be able to identify the objects it's manipulating, rather than just model them. Researchers also are investigating using 3D printing for the gripper's fingers to make them more durable.

###

This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research grant number N000141712062, the UC San Diego Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program (FISP) and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Grant No. DGE-1144086.

Video of the gripper in action: https://youtu.be/Hs14LALfmnQ

Flickr photo gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsoe/albums/72157689277342576

A Soft Robotics Gripper Capable of In-Hand Manipulation Augmented with Soft Sensor Skin for Tactile Sensing

Benjamin Shih, Dylan Drotman, Caleb Christianson, Ruffin White, Zhaoyuan Huo, Henrik I. Christensen and Michael T. Tolley, University of California San Diego

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByukIhRDgCTjZXlLTVJBMjlwVWc/view
The largest particle accelerator in the world - the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland - has a circumference of around 26 kilometres. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg (FAU), Germany, are attempting to go to the other extreme by building the world's smallest machine of this kind - a particle accelerator that fits on a microchip. The research team has now taken another step towards achieving this ambition.

The fundamental idea behind the miniature particle accelerator's development is to enable scientists to use laser beams to accelerate electrons. What sounds deceptively simple in theory raises a whole series of challenges in practice, extending across various fields of physics. For example, the scientists need to be able to control the oscillation of light and the movement of electrons with great precision in order to ensure that they meet each other at just the right moment.

One way of envisaging this is to imagine a ship on a stormy sea; to safely ascend the wave and come down on its other side, the helmsman has to watch the oncoming wave and judge when it will meet the vessel. It is equally crucial for the FAU's team of scientists to ascertain when and where the maximum crest of a light wave will hit a packet of electrons so that they can influence the outcome to a highly specific degree. This means they need to enable light and electrons to coincide within 'attoseconds' - that is, a billionth of a billionth of a second.

In an exciting first, this is exactly what the research group around FAU's Prof. Dr. Peter Hommelhoff have succeeded in achieving. The team has developed a new technique involving the intersection of two laser beams oscillating at different frequencies in order to generate an optical field whose properties the researchers can influence to an extremely precise degree. The key property of this optical field is that it retains contact with the electrons, effectively moving with them - hence its being termed a travelling wave - so the electrons can continuously sense, or 'surf', the optical field. In this way, the optical field transmits its properties exactly to the particles.

Not only does this process cause the particles to precisely reflect the field structure, it also accelerates them - to a strikingly high degree. This effect is crucial to the miniature particle accelerator's practical application, as it relates to how much energy can be transferred to the electrons across what distance. The acceleration gradient, which indicates the maximum measured electron energy gain versus distance covered, reaches the extremely high value of 2.2 giga-electron-volts per metre, much higher than that attained by conventional accelerators. However, the acceleration distance of only 0.01 millimetres currently available to the research team in Erlangen is not sufficient for them to generate the energy needed for achieving results of relevance to practical applications. 'Despite this, for particle accelerators in medicine, we would only need a tiny acceleration length of less than a millimetre,' explains Dr Martin Kozak, who carried out the laboratory experiment.

Particle accelerator on a microchip

Project lead Prof. Dr. Peter Hommelhoff of the Chair of Laser Physics at FAU considers accelerator miniaturisation to be a technical revolution analogous to the development of computers, which went from occupying entire rooms to fitting on people's wrists. 'This approach will hopefully enable us to make this innovative particle acceleration technique usable in a range of research areas and fields of application such as materials science, biology and medicine; one example might be particle therapies for cancer patients.'

In 2015, the FAU researchers teamed up with scientists from Stanford University and eight other international partner institutions in the Accelerator on a Chip International Program (ACHIP). The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has generously provided five years' funding to the project; of the total grant of 13.5 million dollars (approximately 12.5 million euro), 2.44 million dollars (approximately 2.26 million euro) went to FAU.

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Birds who live next door to family members or to other birds they know well are physically healthier and age more slowly, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The research, conducted in collaboration with colleagues at the universities of Leeds (UK) and Groningen (the Netherlands), is published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Much like humans, many wild animals 'own' a private piece of land, or territory, that they rigorously defend against intruders. Having good neighbours that respect the territory boundaries means less work and stress for territory owners - but are some neighbours better than others? Good neighbours come in two varieties. Firstly, when neighbours are extended family members, they share genes and therefore refrain from fighting over space or intruding into each other's territories. Second, if neighbours know each other well, they should keep the peace and cooperate with each other in order to prevent new neighbours, with whom they must resettle all the rules regarding territory boundaries, from moving into the neighbourhood.

Scientists studied a population of Seychelles warblers, a small island bird endemic to the Seychelles islands, to test whether territory owners with more related, or more familiar, neighbours had more peaceful territories and better health as a result. Territory owners were sometimes observed fighting with their neighbours, but never with family members or neighbours that they were neighbours with in previous years.

The researchers then measured the birds' body condition and telomere length (sections of DNA that protect an individual's genetic material but which erode faster during times of stress and poor health). Territory owners who had more relatives or familiar neighbours in their neighbourhood were in better condition and showed less telomere loss. If new or unrelated neighbours moved into the neighbourhood, territory owners lost condition and suffered more telomere shortening. Since telomere loss is a measure of how quickly an animal is ageing and may also predict how long that animal will live, the results show just how important keeping good neighbours can be. The scientists also found that the effect of having related or familiar neighbours was more important in densely-populated areas, where the number of neighbours (and hence the number of borders to maintain) is higher.

Lead author of the research, Kat Bebbington of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said: "Defending territory boundaries is crucial if animals are to hold onto valuable food and other resources.

"Territory owners who are constantly fighting with neighbours are stressed and have little time to do other important things - such as finding food and producing offspring - and their health suffers as a result.

"Interestingly, we show that it's not just relatives that can be trusted, but also neighbours you get to know well over time. Something similar probably occurs in human neighbourhoods: if you've lived next to your neighbour for years, you are much more likely to trust each other and help each other out now and then."

In a world where wild animals are increasingly squeezed into small areas of natural habitat, understanding how relationships between neighbours affects the health and lifespan of individuals is crucial. The discovery that territory owners can benefit from living next to relatives or familiar neighbours provides exciting new information about how conflict over space and resources can be resolved, the researchers said.

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Kinship and familiarity mitigate costs of social conflict between Seychelles warbler neighbors is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) on October 9, 2017.
An ichthyosaur first discovered in the 1970s but then dismissed and consigned to museum storerooms across the country has been re-examined and found to be a new species.

In 1979, after inspecting several ichthyosaurs from the UK, palaeontologist Dr Robert Appleby announced a new type of ichthyosaur called Protoichthyosaurus. He also named two species, P. prostaxalis and P. prosostealis. Other scientists, however, dismissed the discovery of Protoichthyosaurus and suggested that it was identical with Ichthyosaurus, a very common UK ichthyosaur.

Now a detailed study led by palaeontologists Dean Lomax (The University of Manchester) and Professor Judy Massare (State University of New York), has re-examined and compared Protoichthyosaurus and Ichthyosaurus. It found major differences in the number of bones in the front fin, or forefin, of both species. This fundamental difference probably reflects the way both species used them to manoeuvre whilst swimming. Differences were also found in the skulls. But it was another discovery about the fins that also got the team's attention.

Lomax explains: "This unusual forefin structure was originally identified by Robert Appleby in 1979, but some of the historic specimens he examined had been 'faked', and this fakery had been missed until now. In some instances, an isolated fin of an Ichthyosaurus had been added to a Protoichthyosaurus skeleton to make it appear more complete, which led to the genuine differences being missed. This has been a major problem because it stopped science from progressing. We also found some pathological fins, including Ichthyosaurus fins with pathologies that mimic the Protoichthyosaurus forefin structure".

Lomax and Massare also teamed up with former undergraduate student Rashmi Mistry (University of Reading), who had been studying an unusual ichthyosaur in the collections of the Cole Museum of Zoology, University of Reading, for her undergraduate dissertation.

"Whilst doing my dissertation in 2016, I studied several ichthyosaurs in the collections, including a very small skeleton. It had an unusual forefin that matched Protoichthyosaurus, which I understood to be a widely unrecognised genus. However, when I contacted Dean, he was very excited. He told me that this little skeleton is the only known small juvenile Protoichthyosaurus", added Rashmi.

Over 20 specimens of Protoichthyosaurus were identified as part of this study. This is significant as each specimen (with a forefin) has the same structure. The specimens are from the Jurassic Period, between 200 - 190 million years old, and come from Somerset, Dorset, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, England, and Glamorgan, Wales.

Whilst searching through collections, Dean also came across a skeleton at The University of Nottingham. This specimen is different to all other known examples of Protoichthyosaurus in the skull and humerus and it has been identified as a new species, which the team have called Protoichthyosaurus applebyi, in honour of Robert Appleby. It is currently on display as part of the 'Dinosaurs of China' exhibition at Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham.

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The new study has been published today in the scientific journal, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Younger primary school children are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than their older peers within the same school year, new research has shown.

The study, led by a child psychiatrist at The University of Nottingham with researchers at the University of Turku in Finland, suggests that adults involved in raising concerns over a child's behaviour - such as parents and teachers - may be misattributing signs of relative immaturity as symptoms of the disorder.

In their research, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, the experts suggest that greater flexibility in school starting dates should be offered for those children who may be less mature than their same school-year peers.

Kapil Sayal, Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University's School of Medicine and the Centre for ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan at the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham, was the lead author on the study.

He said: "The findings of this research have a range of implications for teachers, parents and clinicians. With an age variation of up to 12 months in the same class, teachers and parents may misattribute a child's immaturity. This might lead to younger children in the class being more likely to be referred for an assessment for ADHD.

"Parents and teachers as well as clinicians who are undertaking ADHD assessments should keep in mind the child's relative age. From an education perspective, there should be flexibility with an individualised approach to best meets the child's needs."

Evidence suggests that worldwide, the incidence of ADHD among school age children is, at around five per cent, fairly uniform. However, there are large differences internationally in the rates of clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Although this may partially reflect the availability of and access to services, the perceptions of parents and teachers also play an important role in recognising children who may be affected by ADHD, as information they provide is used as part of the clinical assessment.

The study centred on whether the so-called 'relative age effect' - the perceived differences in abilities and development between the youngest and oldest children in the same year group - could affect the incidence of diagnosis of ADHD.

Adults may be benchmarking the development and abilities of younger children against their older peers in the same year group and inadvertently misinterpreting immaturity for more serious problems.

Previous studies have suggested that this effect plays an important role in diagnosis in countries where higher numbers of children are diagnosed and treated for ADHD, leading to concerns that clinicians may be over-diagnosing the disorder.

The latest study aimed to look at whether the effect also plays a significant role in the diagnosis of children in countries where the prescribing rates for ADHD are relatively low.

It used nationwide population data from all children in Finland born between 1991 and 2004 who were diagnosed with ADHD from the age of seven years - school starting age - onwards. In Finland, children start school during the calendar year they turn 7 years of age, with the school year starting in mid-August. Therefore, the eldest in a school year are born in January (aged 7 years and 7 months) and the youngest in December (6 years and 7 months).

The results showed that younger children were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than their older same-year peers - boys by 26 per cent and girls by 31 per cent.

For children under the age of 10 years, this association got stronger over time - in the more recent years 2004-2011, children born in May to August were 37 per cent more likely to be diagnosed and those born in September to December 64 per cent, compared to the oldest children born in January to April

The study found that this 'relative age affect' could not be explained by other behavioural or developmental disorders which may also have been affecting the children with an ADHD diagnosis.

However, the experts warn, the study did have some important limitations - the data did not reveal whether any of the young children were held back a year for educational reasons and potentially misclassified as the oldest in their year group when in fact they were the youngest of their original peers.

The flexibility in school starting date could explain why the rate of ADHD in December-born children (the relatively youngest) were slightly lower than those for children born in October and November.

And while the records of publicly-funded specialised services which are free at the point of access will capture most children who have received a diagnosis of ADHD, it will miss those who were diagnosed in private practice.

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The research was conducted in collaboration with academics led by Professor Andre Sourander at the Department of Child Psychiatry at Turku University Hospital in Finland and was funded by the Academy of Finland, Finnish Medical Foundation, Orion Pharma Foundation and the Finnish Foundation.
Drone collected samples provide new tool for health monitoring

A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues identified for the first time an extensive conserved group of bacteria within healthy humpback whales' blow--the moist breath that whales spray out of their blowholes when they exhale. The research published Oct. 10, 2017, in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

The discovery of this shared respiratory "microbiome" could serve as an important framework for monitoring the health of this and other whale species. Just like with humans, scientists say the assemblages of microorganisms that live in and on whales--known as microbiomes--may play a crucial role in their overall health, from maintaining a healthy immune system to fighting off disease.

"The pulmonary system is a common site for bacterial infections in whales," says WHOI researcher Amy Apprill, lead author of the study. The collaborative research team also included scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), SR3 Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research and the Vancouver Aquarium.

"We see evidence of respiratory illnesses frequently in stranded and deceased animals," Apprill adds. "Until now, little has been known about the normal respiratory microbiome of healthy whales."

To collect a sample, traditionally researchers use a small boat to track the whale. Once close enough, they collect a sample by holding a long pole with a large petri dish at its tip, as close to the blowhole as possible. It is an efficient approach, but there's the potential to change the whale's behavior and stress level with the boat approach.

The collaborative team wanted a less intrusive way to gather the necessary data for assessing the health of whales in the wild, so they turned to the skies and some high-tech equipment--a custom-made, remotely controlled, six-rotor hexacopter.

After collecting their first sample in Patagonia in early 2015, WHOI biologist Michael Moore, NOAA researcher John Durban and SR3's Holly Fearnbach were repeatedly successful in using this technique to sample the blows from humpback whales off Cape Cod late that year.

"We were using the drone to take aerial images of the whales, so that we could assess body conditions," says Durban, a coauthor of the paper. "Because of the stable flight performance of our hexacopter, we quickly learned that we could reliably fly through whale blow without disturbing the animals."

Once the whale is visible in the frame of the camera that is mounted on the bottom of the hexacopter, high-resolution aerial images are taken for later analysis of body conditions and overall health.

With the help of Fearnbach's specific positioning directions, which are called out in a rapid pace that would rival that of a veteran auctioneer, Durban pilots the hexacopter several feet above the blowhole. Some of the blow lands on a sterilized petri dish that is attached to the top the drone.

"The whales don't seem to know the aircraft is there," says Moore, a coauthor of the paper. "We want to study whale health, but not affect their behavior. The drone helps us do just that."

Blow samples were collected from two different humpback populations: 17 from whales in coastal waters off Cape Cod, Ma. and nine from whales in waters around Vancouver Island, Canada. The team then sequenced the genetic material found in the blow samples to determine what kinds of microorganisms are living in a whale's respiratory tract.

"We were surprised to find a microbiome that looked very different from seawater," Apprill says. "That's really exciting because it demonstrates that we are obtaining a clear signal of a microbiome that's coming from the animal."

Apprill and WHOI laboratory colleague Carolyn Miller identified 25 bacterial groups present in all of the whale samples--a conserved or "core" microbiome.

"This strongly suggests that regardless of where the animal lives, or even their age or sex, they have a shared blow microbiome," Apprill says.

Within the core group of 25 microbial species, the researchers found 20 sequences similar to microbes associated with other marine mammals. The most shared characteristics were found in a microbiome dataset that came from the blowholes of bottlenose dolphins, which is also the most comparable dataset available at this time.

Next, the researchers will take samples from whales with poor body condition, possibly indicative of illness, to compare microbes found in their blow to that of the healthy whales. They'd also like to expand the sequencing effort to include viruses and fungi, since this study focused solely on bacteria and archaea, single-celled microorganisms similar to bacteria.

"From this study, we have a good idea of what a normal, healthy whale microbiome looks like. Now we need to understand what the microbiome of an unhealthy whale looks like," Apprill says. "This comparison is critical for health monitoring and disease detection."

It may also prove to be crucial to the survival of these endangered whales. The past year has been particularly difficult for both humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales. In the past 19 months, at least 53 humpbacks died along the Atlantic coast, prompting NOAA to declare an "unusual mortality event."

An unusual mortality event has been declared for the North Atlantic right whale as well. At least 15 North Atlantic right whales have died since mid-April in a population that is now fewer than 450.

More than half of right whiles die in collisions with ships or by becoming entangled in fishing gear. In addition, climate change and a warming ocean may be reducing and shifting the location of their main source of food--tiny crustaceans called copepods--leaving some right whales undernourished and less able to reproduce.

"There are very few ways to gather useful data from live large whales at sea," Moore adds. "This tool has the potential to broaden our perspective of large whale health."

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Funding for this project was provided through a grant from the Ocean Life Institute at WHOI.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit http://www.whoi.edu.
(Boston) -- Cancer researchers have come to understand that generating human tumors in mice by injecting cancer cell lines under the skin does not recapitulate how tumors normally emerge and spread to specific organs in the human body, nor how they respond to anti-cancer drugs. So, they turned to injecting tumor cells at the organ sites where they originated from in humans, so-called 'orthotopic' sites. Orthotopic tumors, such as those created by injecting breast cancers into the mammary fat pads of mice, exhibit growth and metastatic behaviors more like those seen in patients, however, these organ environments are still not human. It is also not possible to visualize how tumor cells grow, move and respond to therapeutics in these orthotopic animal models, which restricts our ability to understand how different organ microenvironments influence tumor behavior and thereby develop better drugs.

As reported in Cell Reports, a team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering led by Founding Director and Wyss Core Faculty member Donald Ingber now has leveraged its human Organs-on-Chips technology to confront this challenge. In previous work, the team successfully modelled two different regions of the lung -- the air-conducting small airway and the oxygen and carbon dioxide-exchanging alveoli at the tips of the small airways -- in microfluidic devices that are created with microchip manufacturing methods. The different lung cells inhabit one of two microchannels that run parallel through the chip, separated by a thin porous membrane from a microvessel lined by human lung endothelium in the second channel. Like in the human lung, the resulting small airway epithelium is thicker, stiffer and covered with moving cilia, while the thinner alveolar epithelium is more permeable to enable efficient gas exchange and it is exposed to cyclic mechanical deformations to mimic breathing motions in the chip. The researchers continuously stream cell culture medium through the vascular channel to support the epithelial and endothelial cell layers over many weeks as occurs with blood-flow in living lung. In addition to having engineered the basic tissue architecture and functionalities of these two lung regions on chips, the team previously showed that they can successfully model lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and pulmonary edema.

In this new study, the team developed human orthotopic lung cancer models using these two lung chips. Approximately 85% of all lung cancers are diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the team focused on the adenocarcinoma form of this cancer which roughly accounts for 40% of all NSCLCs. In the human body, NSCLC adenocarcinoma cells are known to arise at the interface between the human lung's small airways and alveoli. But the tumor then primarily grows within the alveolar structures.

Ingber's team showed that when NSCLC adenocarcinoma cells are grown in the Lung Airway and Alveolus Chips, the tumor cells grow rampantly in the microengineered alveolar microenvironment whereas they remain quiescent in the Airway Chip, just as is observed in human patients. "Our lung cancer-on-chip platforms can model central aspects of orthotopic NSCLC in real time and high-resolution, and much more closely than other in vivo and in vitro approaches. They offer a literal window on the biological tumor complexities," said Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. Ingber also is the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at HMS and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

To achieve this, the researchers developed co-plating and injection strategies that enabled them to stably integrate a small number of NSCLC cells into the two lung chips. "This approach allows us to recreate key hallmarks of this cancer, including its growth and invasion patterns, and to determine how they are influenced by cues from surrounding normal cells. In the Airway Cancer Chips, cancer cells remain dormant for up to 12 days before they started to grow, while in Alveolar Cancer Chips they commence their growth much more rapidly, and once they reach a critical mass, they separate themselves and invade the endothelium as part of their metastatic process," said first author Bryan Hassell, Ph.D., who as a SEAS Graduate Student on Ingber's team developed the lung cancer-on-a-chip platform.

The team next asked whether physiological breathing motions within alveoli might affect cancer cell behaviors. Suprisingly, they discovered that when cyclic mechanical forces are applied to the lung epithelial channel to mimic breathing motions, both cancer cell growth and invasion were potently inhibited. "This is the first time that a clear impact of cyclical breathing motions on cancer cell growth and invasion has been demonstrated in any in vitro system modeling NCSLC behaviors," said Hassell. The researchers think that when lung cancer cells grow and fill patients' lung alveoli, this interferes with their natural motions, which in turn could speed up tumor growth and facilitate invasive behavior.

Finally, they took their approach another step further by investigating whether breathing mechanics could affect the sensitivity of NSCLC cells to a clinically used anti-cancer drug, known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). TKIs target frequently mutated enzymes, like the so-called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which unleashes unfettered growth in NSCLC and other cancers. Because early-generation TKIs can lose their efficiencies when cancer cells become resistant to them by producing new EGFR variants, cancer researchers are trying to design ever smarter TKIs. However, the constantly morphing cancer cells learn to deal even with those, by genetically rewiring themselves so that they can activate alternative cancer mechanisms.

Importantly, Ingber's team found, that in the Alveolar Cancer Chip, NSCLC cells that are already resistant against a first-generation TKI, can still be stopped cold in their tracks by a third-generation TKI in the absence of breathing motions, as might occur within large tumors that fill the lung's alveoli and stops their motion. However, in breathing mode, they become impervious to the drug and continue to survive and grow slowly, essentially creating cancer 'persister' cells that are known to be the nemesis of cancer therapy.

The researchers also observed that the levels of cytokines, proteins involved in cell communication that are produced by epithelial and endothelial cells, as well as cancer cells, and known to be important prognostic indicators for NSCLC, reflect cancer growth in the Alveolus Cancer Chip and are modulated by breathing motions and drug treatment. "The effects of breathing motions on cancer cell behavior in our models could explain how tumor cells, which remain from a shrinking tumor after therapy, could become persister cells, able to defy drug therapy, linger and eventually cause the cancer to relapse. Our orthotopic in vitro platform thus could be well-suited for dissecting how these persister cells arise, and they may be a useful tool in future drug development efforts that aim to eradicate them," said Ingber.

###

Other authors on the study include Wyss Institute Associate Faculty member Christopher Chen, Ph.D., Wyss Postdoctoral Fellows Girja Goyal, Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps, Ph.D., and Esak Lee, Ph.D., who is mentored by Chen and Ingber, as well as Wyss Staff Scientist Oren Levy, Ph.D. The study was funded by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and fellowships from the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER) and the Lymphatic Education and Research Network to Hassell and Lee, respectively.

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The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University uses Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for healthcare, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing that are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances, and formation of new startups. The Wyss Institute creates transformative technological breakthroughs by engaging in high risk research, and crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers, working as an alliance that includes Harvard's Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Arts & Sciences and Design, and in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston University, Tufts University, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, University of Zurich and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Farming union NFU Scotland has called for politicians to "recognise and protect" the economic and environmental contribution of Scottish agriculture in the Brexit negotiations.

That was the message delivered at an NFU Scotland fringe event staged at the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference in Glasgow on Monday (9 October).

The fringe events are the first that NFU Scotland has ever staged at political party conferences. The union said it wants to portray a "clear indication" of the work and commitment that it is directing towards Brexit negotiations.

The SNP event was addressed by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, Fergus Ewing, and chaired by NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick.

Those attending the fringe event were rewarded with a feast of the Scottish produce including soft fruit from Blairgowrie; cheese including Mull cheddar, Strathdon Blue and Clava brie; and Dalwhinnie malt whisky.

Bigger than oil

Mr McCornick has just returned from the North American/European Union Biennial agricultural conference held in Washington DC.

His lobbying effort on Brexit has seen him in four parliaments in the past fortnight  Capitol Hill in Washington; the European Parliament in Brussels; Westminster and Holyrood.

Speaking from the SNP conference, Mr McCornick said: With a value of more than 14 billion, food and drink is a bigger driver of Scotland's economy than oil and gas.

"But with big ambitions to grow the industry to 30 billion by 2030, that means striking a Brexit deal that gives confidence to Scotlands farmers and crofters for the future."

'Booming'

He said Scottish farmers and crofters are the "foundation" on which Scotland's "booming" food and drink sector is built.

"Having toured the length and breadth of the country this summer, I can tell you we are up for the challenge, but to deliver on these ambitions we must be supported by all governments as we deal with the uncertainty of a future outside of the EU," Mr McCornick said.

The quality of debate at todays event further underlined the important role Scottish farming plays. But we cannot take this for granted. The whole industry must unite to deliver strong messages to all governments about what policy tools we need in the toolbox.

And setting out Scotlands Brexit priorities is a challenge that has taken me to Washington, Brussels, Westminster and Holyrood in recent days.

"Equally, Scottish farmers and crofters must make their voices heard in the debate."
The Prime Minister has cautioned the British public to prepare for a 'no deal' scenario when leaving the EU.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the country must be prepared for "every eventuality", as the government published papers on future trade and customs arrangements in the event of a 'no deal'.

She reinforced her long-held position that walking away without a deal is a possibility.

Ms May admitted she expected the deadlocked negotiations to drag on for another year before any possible breakthrough.

She told MPs on Monday (9 October) in the House of Commons: "While I believe it is profoundly in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a Government to prepare for every eventuality, so that is exactly what we are doing.

"These white papers also support that work, including setting out steps to minimise disruption for businesses and travellers."

Customs checks

According to the papers, steps to minimise disruption under a 'no deal' Brexit scenario would include customs declarations and custom checks.

The document read: Traders that currently trade only with the EU will be subject to customs declarations and customs checks for the first time.

The impact is likely to be greatest where goods are travelling in vehicles (eg HGVs, vans, etc).

It added: It would not be desirable to hold vehicles for any length of time at ports to present goods to Customs for export. Therefore, presentation would take place inland as much as possible, and at the port there would be a means to confirm that goods have left the UK.

A bill would ensure the UK can charge customs duty on goods (including on goods imported from the EU).

European supply chains are a key part of delivering the goods that UK consumers buy every day. The majority of those goods are ones that need to be transported quickly, particularly food.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said it is essential to ensure UK consumers are able to buy the products they want after Brexit.

With annual customs declarations in the UK estimated to rise from 55 million to 255 million from March 2019, a 'no deal' Brexit could mean new delays at ports of up to two to three days, the group warns.

'Alarmed'

The agricultural industry has demanded more details if farmers and growers are to have the certainty to plan and invest in their businesses in the future.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: "Farmers and growers are becoming increasingly alarmed at the prospect of a no deal departure from the EU.

"The resulting disruption to trade, access to labour and business stability would pose a fundamental threat to the viability of many of their businesses."

NFU Cymru president Stephen James said it was 'vital' for the UK to remain within a customs union with the EU until a comprehensive deal with agreed.

"Welsh agricultural businesses need some certainty to plan ahead," he said.

"Farmers, processors and everyone involved in the food industry in Wales need to make decisions now with some idea as to what marketing options will be open to them in 2019.

"A 'no deal' scenario with our main trading partner is not an option for Welsh agriculture," said Mr James.

'Benefit'

However, farming minister George Eustice said British agriculture would be 'fine' and may even benefit from leaving the European Union in the event of a 'no deal' scenario.

Mr Eustice, who was speaking at the AHDB meat exports conference in Warwick in July, said the agriculture sector would benefit from tariffs imposed under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

"It sounds surprising," he said. "The reason for that is the competition from Irish beef, competition from salads from Spain or vegetables from France, goes down and actually gives a firming of farmgate prices in the UK.

"Our priority is to get that Free Trade Agreement but if during the course of development of agriculture policy it became apparent that we might be coming out on WTO scenarios, obviously at that point we would start putting in some thinking as to what the domestic policy response to that situation would have to be."
There are now just a few days left to fill in an EU labour survey, which will help the pig industry inform the Government on its post-Brexit labour policy.

The survey closes on Friday (October 13), and the survey-makers the National Pig Association (NPA) has said the response has been valuable.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise the Government on how the UKs immigration system 'should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy'.

The MAC is now seeking views from across the UK economy on various issues, including the extent of EU labour employed and the type of work performed, the benefits and disadvantages of EU labour and the likely impact of changes to its availability in future.

It is also seeking views on the relationship between EU and domestic labour and the issues around employing domestic labour, including skill levels and the provision of training by our educational establishments.

The NPA has been asked for its opinion, which will help inform Government policy on post-Brexit migrant labour.

It has asked farmers, processors and allied businesses to fill in a short online survey.

"It is very important for us to be able to back up our concerns over the Government's current thinking on immigration and labour with evidence from members," the NPA said.

'Alarmed'

NPA senior policy advisor Ed Barker said the pig industry is "alarmed" by the Home Offices suggestion that migrant labour from the EU should be severely restricted, particularly those who fall under the unskilled definition.

He said: Many workers in the pig sector fall into this category but are in fact highly skilled and make a significant contribution to the economy.

We have made our position clear that migrant labour is integral to the businesses of NPA members; 58% of members indicated to the NPAs migrant labour survey that they employed at least one migrant labourer, with 20% indicating they would struggle to survive without it.

Whilst the paper refers to the ongoing work of the Migratory Advisory Committee, it is vital that the Committee is able to report its findings quickly, so that it can adequately shape Government policy.

We note that the paper recognises the need for a sector by sector approach to business needs on migrant labour, and the NPA would urge that the pig sector should be able to state its unique case for continued access to migrant labour for permanent, unskilled roles.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has called British people lazy  saying that an influx of foreign workers in the country proves it.

He said Brexit will shake Britain out of this laziness, and believes an end to the influx of migrants will give homegrown talent a chance to shine.

He told Radio Times magazine: That level of influx of multinational workers in this country has sort of confirmed how lazy as a nation we are  when individuals from across the seas are prepared to come and work twice as hard for less money.

If anything, its a big kick up the ass for the industry, and its going to get back to the modern-day apprenticeship.

So not only do I welcome that kind of change, but I think its going to put a lot more emphasis on homegrown talent, which I think we need to do.

The comments may well resonate with farmers and their fears. It comes at a time when the agricultural industry ponders over what a post-Brexit Britain may look like without access to the EU's migrant pool.

'Get on their bikes'

Some politicians and leading farming figures have sided with Ramsay's viewpoint, and have called Brits to do more work on the fields.

A Conservative MP has said young Brits should "get on their bikes" and take farming jobs to alleviate the shortage of migrant labour post-Brexit.

South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay, who backed the Leave campaign in the referendum of last year, told a fringe event at the Conservative party conference that British people need to fill roles vacated by EU workers after Brexit.

"I was struggling to think why wouldn't a youngster from Glasgow without a job come down to the south to work for a farm for the summer with loads of gorgeous EU women working there?" Mr Mackinlay said on Monday (2 October)," Mr Mackinlay said.

"What's not to like? Get on your bike and find a job."

'Rite of passage'

This is not the first time a major party has called for British people to fill farm jobs.

Ukip has said British students could provide labour for fresh produce industry to help cut migration.

The party's immigration minister John Bickley said the UK must "use up the human capital that exists in this country" before opening its borders.

He stated that reforms to the welfare and education system are needed to increase the number of home-grown workers available to the agriculture sector.

Mr Bickley said fruit picking was previously a rite of passage to earn extra cash for people about to go to university or at university.

However, according to recent surveys which have gathered public opinion on the subject of farm work, the situation doesn't look healthy.

'Cannot be relied upon'

For example, in the dairy industry, only 4 per cent of UK adults would consider all key aspects of working on dairy farms personally acceptable, according to a survey commissioned by Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF).

Mike King, chairman of RABDF, says the survey not only throws light on an image problem with dairy farming, but suggests the domestic workforce cannot currently be relied upon to plug labour shortages.

He explained: EU workers currently fill a large number of roles in dairy farming, which are varied and largely permanent. But post-Brexit, we could see access to that labour disappear.

The survey indicates many UK workers simply dont like the thought of some of the features of dairy farming, like the need for flexible hours or working outside.

The least popular task is working with machinery  only 17% of all UK adults would consider it acceptable if they were applying for a job now. Just 27% will consider a job involving animals, and working in a rural location is deemed acceptable by only 36%.

Mr King explained: This, coupled with the tail-off in interest when people realise the role is in dairy farming, shows we need to take a long term look at the image we portray but also secure access to the labour we need in the short term.
Defra Secretary Michael Gove has been criticised by Scottish ministers for shattering Brexit campaign pledges to protect rural funding worth hundreds of millions from the EU.

The Scottish government said Mr Gove had refused to guarantee 700million worth of funding for Scotland's hill farmers and crofters would still be paid out after the UK leaves the EU.

However, a Defra spokesman said these claims are "totally untrue".

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has previously written to the UK government to seek more detail on future funding arrangements for the farming industry post-Brexit, calling future planning "virtually impossible".

Mr Ewing sought a statement on what is guaranteed to support the devolved nations.

He said that without certainty of funding and the support schemes, forward planning is "virtually impossible".

He also said there is a lack of clarity surrounding the Conservative Party's commitment to match existing levels of farm support until 2022.

Livelihoods

The Scottish government said Defra had refused to offer long-term commitments on subsidies and grants covered by pillar two of the EUs CAP in a five-year programme due to end in 2020.

Those include grants worth 267m overall to Scottish foresters; the 82m Leader programme, devoted to supporting rural businesses, transport and green initiatives; 12m in funding for crofters in the countrys most isolated areas; and agri-environment schemes worth 308m.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Ewing told of his worry about the fate of 11,500 hill farmers, whose livelihoods depended on EU subsidies worth 65.5m a year.

Unless they do [protect that funding], there will be thousands of businesses which will just stop farming. There would be whole areas of the Scottish landscape left to abandonment, Mr Ewing explained.

However, a Defra spokesman said Goves commitments extended across all CAP funding. He said the government has guaranteed to match the level of farm support under both pillars of the CAP until the end of this parliament.

"It is totally untrue to say 700m support for Scotland is at risk. We have made clear that total cash for farm support, under both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2, is protected until 2022. This is a greater level of security than anywhere else in the EU, where funding is guaranteed only to 2020," the spokesman said.
Rome Holiday

Priyanka Chopra holidays in Rome, Italy along with her friends.

The Vatican

She even visited the Vatican and called it ,"Beautiful Vatican.. a moment of purity,faith and silence.."

Quantico 3

PeeCee is in Rome for the shoot of her upcoming television series Quantico 3.

Walking The Streets

She was spotted walking the streets of Rome like a commoner as well.

She's The Star

A lot of people recognised her and clicked pictures as well.

PeeCee In Rome

Priyanka Chopra captioned this image as, "No filter needed."

Walk Of Freedom

"There is no easy walk to freedom..." captioned PeeCee on Instagram.

Roman Holiday

It's cool that several fans got to click pictures of Priyanka walking the streets of Rome.

PeeCee

She'll be in Rome for a long period now as she's shooting for Quantico 3.

TV Series

Quantico is an American television series and Priyanka plays the role of an FBI officer.

Food First

She also visited the popular restaurants across the city with her girl gang.

A Good Time

PeeCee is seen having a chat with her girlfriends at a restaurant.

Priyanka Chopra

No matter where she goes, people always recognise her.
Mammootty, the megastar is joining hands with cinematographer Shamdat Sainudheen, for his directorial debut Streetlights. Recently, Mammootty released the official first look poster of the movie, through his official Facebook page.

The promising first look poster ensures that Streetlights will be an out-and-out stylish action thriller. Mammootty, who plays a police officer in the movie, looks a million bucks in the first look poster, which has been going viral on social media.

Reportedly, Streetlights is a bilingual movie, which has been simultaneously made in Malayalam and Tamil languages. The Malayalam and Tamil versions will feature different sets of supporting actors, while both the versions will have a few common faces.

The Malayalam version of the movie will feature Lijomol Jose, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Joy Mathew, Neena Kurup, Sudhi Koppa, Hareesh Kanaran, Sohan Seenulal, etc., will appear in the supporting roles.

The Tamil version, on the other hand, will have some popular actors, including Manobala and Black Pandi. Mammootty is appearing as a police officer who handles a murder investigation in Streetlights, which is scripted by newcomer Fawaz Muhammed.

Director Shamdat himself handles the cinematography. Debutant Adarsh Abraham composes the songs and background score. The movie, which will be distributed by Mammootty's Playhouse Release, is expected to be released in November.
NATO Parliamentary Assembly condemns Russias attempts of intimidation of neighbors who try to deepen relations with NATO - GeorgianJournal
Uber launches uberPOOL in Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad News oi -Priyanka Uberpool is already available Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Guwahati, Chennai and Kochi, and now it is live in Chandigarh (3rd October) and Jaipur (5th October).

US-based cab-hailing app Uber said that it is uberPOOL, in 3 cities - Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad this week taking the national tally to 12 cities.

The expansion strategy is an effort to promote shared mobility in India with uberPOOL allowing people heading in the same direction to take the same ride.

Prabhjeet Singh, General Manager, North, Uber India, said, "At Uber, we are constantly working towards redefining the urban mobility landscape in Indian cities which involves initiatives towards reducing congestion and pollution. We believe that uberPOOL is the future of urban mobility that allows ridesharing using technology, and in the process helps decongest cities by getting more people into fewer cars, letting riders move around their city more affordable and enables first/last mile connectivity."

Singh said that "We have received positive feedback from other cities and are confident that as Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad embark on their uberPOOL journey, the same will help contribute to the future that we have envisioned - smarter cities."

Uberpool is already available Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Guwahati, Chennai and Kochi, and now it is live in Chandigarh (3rd October) and Jaipur (5th October) followed by Ahmedabad.

According to Uber's Green Index, 30 percent of rides in Mumbai are on UberPOOL, 28 percent in Delhi, 29 percent in Hyderabad, 25 percent in Bangalore, 18 percent in Chennai and Pune and 15 percent in Kolkata.

The uberPOOL options connect the rider real-time with 1-2 passengers heading in the same direction. Riders can choose to use Cash, PayTM, Credit or even a Debit card

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Nokia 9, Nokia 2 and Nokia 7 to be unveiled at MWC 2018 News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu The second batch of Nokia phones to be launched in early 2018.

HMD Global has released four Android smartphones so far this year including the Nokia 8, Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. The rumors say that the company is in plans to launch three more smartphones.

Well, the three smartphones in the making are the Nokia 2, Nokia 7 and Nokia 9. While the previous reports pointed out that the Nokia 2 will be launched sometime in November this year, contradictory reports have started circulating on the internet now. As per a report by Gadget Pilipinas via Nokiamob, the Nokia 2 and Nokia 9 might be unveiled in early 2018 during the Mobile World Congress tech show.

The Nokia 2 is said to be an entry-level smartphone while the Nokia 9 is likely a true flagship model with high-end and premium specs. The specifications of both the smartphones were leaked several times in the past by numerous reports. Besides these phones, HMD Global is said to be working on a mid-range phone likely dubbed Nokia 7 too.

Now, an individual alleged to be an employee of a BPO company that executes the logistics for HMD Global has claimed that the new Nokia phones will not be launched this year. The person claims that the Nokia 9, Nokia 7 and Nokia 2 will be launched as the second batch of Android smartphones in early 2018. The person has spilled the beans regarding the upcoming Nokia smartphones on Facebook. The person has also uploaded an image of a lanyard from the company in the post to prove the association with HMD.

It was only two months back that HMD announced the flagship Nokia 8 and the device is yet to release the same in some of the global markets. Unveiling the next flagship model, the Nokia 9 within the end of this year can disturb the sales of the Nokia 8 badly. Apparently, we cannot expect the Nokia 9 to be launched soon.

When it comes to the leaked specifications of these smartphones, we do not have a lot of details about the Nokia 7. But the Nokia 2 is said to feature a 5-inch HD 720p display and make use of a Snapdragon 212 SoC paired with 1GB RAM and 16GB of storage space. The smartphone is said to get the power from a juicy 4000mAh battery.

On the other hand, the high-end Nokia 9 is believed to feature a bezel-less and curved edge-to-edge display. Under its hood, this smartphone is likely to equip a Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with 6GB/8GB RAM. It is also said to be launched with dual rear cameras with the Carl Zeiss branding as in the Nokia 8.

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Snapdragon 845 SoC to make its debut in Samsung Galaxy S9 duo News oi -Chandrika Snapdragon 845 SoC is the upcoming high-end processor from Qualcomm.

As Samsung is done launching all the flagships of this year, we are now looking forward to its 2018 flagships.

Dubbed as the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, Samsung is expected to unveil the smartphones in February next year at the MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2018. Moreover, the firmware for the Galaxy S9 duo is said to be already in the process the development. Naturally, the rumor mill has also started churning out juicy details about the upcoming devices.

Now, a Twitter user named Eldar Murtazin has made an interesting claim his post. Before we go into that, let's give you some background information about the user. He is the editor-in-chief at a publication called Mobile-Review.com. '

Furthermore, he has quite a lot of followers on his Twitter account. He is of course speaking from a place where he is well familiar with the technology world. Hence, it is unlikely for him to make a claim without any basis.

    845   s9/s9+   ,   . s9        Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) October 9, 2017

According to him, Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will be the first smartphones to feature the Snapdragon 845 processor. In other words, the entire first production batch of the new chipsets will be sold to Samsung for its S9 phones.

The tweet also states that Samsung Galaxy S9 would be launched earlier than usual.

If you recall, another report suggested back in August that Samsung had bought up almost all available Snapdragon 845 chips from Qualcomm for its Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus.

Of course, we can't guarantee you the authenticity of this information unless we get a solid proof. Unfortunately, both Samsung and Qualcomm have decided to keep mum on this matter.

Via

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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 India launch set for today: Watch the live stream here News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Watch the live stream of Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 India launch here.

Back in July, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi Mix 2 and released the device in its home market China. At the time of unveiling, the company announced that they will release the device in India soon. Later, there came a confirmation a few days back that the Mi Mix 2 will be released in India on October 10.

It is good news that the second generation Mi Mix is all set to be launched in India today while the first generation model did not make its way into the country. The highlights of the smartphone are its bezel-less design and 18:9 aspect ratio display. Xiaomi will live stream the launch event that is all set to start at 12:00 PM today on its official website and on YouTube as well. You can also follow the social media handles of the company for updates. Watch the live stream of the Mi Mix 2 from below.

The Mi Mix 2, the sequel to the Mi Mix will be exclusive to the online retailer Flipkart. For now, the device will not be available via the offline Mi Home stores. It was initially unveiled in three variants - 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM and 256GB storage. There will be a limited edition ceramic variant as well with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and this will be the most expensive one. For now, it is known that all the regular variants will be launched in the country but there is no word about the ceramic model.

To recap on its specs, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 will boast of a 5.99-inch FHD+ 18:9 display Under its hood, there operates a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with Adreno 540 GPU. The camera aspects comprise of a 12MP main camera with Sony IMX386 sensor and 4-axis OIS. Up front, the device makes use of a 5MP selfie camera with a selfie timer, FHD 1080p video calling and Beautify mode. The Mi Mix 2 runs on Android Nougat based MIUI 9 and gets the power from a 3400mAh battery.

Best Mobiles in India
Airtel launches VoLTE across MP and Chhatisgarh News oi -Priyanka Airtel VoLTE, which works over 4G, will offer customers HD quality voice calls along with faster call set up time.

Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has launched its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) across Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.

"We are delighted to announce the addition of VoLTE capabilities on our 4G network in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as it enables high definition voice qualities and faster call set up time,"Dharmender Khajuria, Chief Executive Officer, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Bharti Airtel.

He said, "We invite mobile users across the progressive states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to experience this advanced technology."

Airtel VoLTE, which works over 4G, will offer customers high definition quality voice calls along with faster call set up time, he added.

VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE and is a new protocol for transmitting voice data over the LTE network and the biggest advantage of VoLTE is that call quality is superior to 3G or 2G connections as far more data can be transferred over 4G than 2G or 3G.

The company has launched its first VoLTE in services September this year in Mumbai.

Airtel VoLTE will be available on popular 4G/LTE enabled mobile devices, which must have an Airtel 4G SIM. Customers can call any mobile, landline network using Airtel VoLTE.

There will be no additional data charges for VoLTE and calls will be billed as per existing plan or packs benefits.

The company said that in the case of non-availability of 4G, Airtel VoLTE calls will automatically fall back on the 3G/2G network to ensure that customers continue to stay connected at all times.

Airtel VoLTE will also allow customers to continue with their data sessions at 4G speeds while the call is in progress.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio is offering the VoLTE or Voice over LTE networks in the country ever since it started its operations. and that was the main reason why Jio is providing free calls to its customers.

Best Mobiles in India
Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 10, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 11 strikes consisting of 15 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit, destroyed a vehicle and a weapons storage facility.

-- Near Shaddai, a strike destroyed an ISIS vehicle-borne bomb and a fighting position.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes against ISIS targets consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, two strikes destroyed an ISIS improvised explosive device and an ISIS-held building.

-- Near Haditha, three strikes destroyed an ISIS IED and a supply road.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed an ISIS supply road.

Oct 8 Strikes

Additionally, three strikes consisting of four engagements were conducted in Syria on Oct. 8 for which the information was not previously available:

-- Near Raqqa, 2 strikes damaged an ISIS fighting position; and disrupted a line of communication.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike damaged an ISIS vehicle-borne bomb.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

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Army's planned modernization command supports DOD's primary lines of effort

By C. Todd Lopez, Army News Service October 10, 2017

WASHINGTON -- As part of an effort to face down the issues outlined in a complex problem statement, the Department of Defense has laid out three lines of effort -- one of which the Army has already moved out on in a big way.

At the Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition Monday, Acting Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy revealed that the Army has plans for a "modernization command," to stand up by summer of 2018.

Speaking during a press conference at the exposition, alongside Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, McCarthy said that existing Army systems are becoming outdated as compared to what adversaries might produce, and also that the processes the Army now uses to field potential new systems are themselves outdated and slow by comparison to how adversaries operate.

McCarthy pointed to systems like the Abrams tank, the AH-64 Apache helicopter, the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter as examples of systems that were developed long ago -- in the early 1970s -- and which have since been incrementally upgraded to keep pace with competitors.

But that incremental upgrade cycle, he said, is no longer enough.

"There is a limit to the incremental improvements that can be made before they no longer offer the degree of overmatch the Army requires," McCarthy said.

While modernizing those platforms "has yielded benefits," he said, "we're squarely on the curve of diminishing returns."

Peer competitors, he said, are developing new systems today -- and quickly.

"Our peer competitors have continued to invest in technologies that counter what have traditionally been the strengths of the American military, and they are doing it faster than us," he said. "The U.S. Army has to adapt."

The U.S. Army, McCarthy said, is now at an "inflection point," when it comes to modernizing its force. "To prevail in the future, we now must reform how we modernize the Army. The roles, responsibilities, structures, and organizations we have to address this challenge are disparate and in many respects, born of a bygone era."

McCarthy said to streamline the modernization process, he plans for the Army to have a modernization command. He said he has approved a 120-day task force, which starts this week, and which will be led by Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, "to frame and present decisions about the ultimate form and function of the new command."

Details about how the command will work, he said, are still to be decided. But he said the scope of the command "will extend from idea to delivery" of the gear and tools the Army will ultimately need to modernize.

Earlier at the exposition's opening ceremony, Secretary of Defense James Mattis touched on what it is the Department of Defense is facing today -- including terrorism in the Middle East, provocations from North Korea in the Pacific, and changing borders in Europe.

"In Europe, for the first time since World War II, we've seen national borders change by the force of arms, as one country proved willing to ignore international law to exercise a veto authority over its neighbor's rights to make decisions in the economic, diplomatic and security domains," Mattis said.

To face that security environment, Mattis said, "we must have militaries fit for their purpose, fit for their time, in these days of emerging challenges ... your Department of Defense is adapting."

Mattis laid out a complex "problem statement" that outlines how DOD sees the challenges it is facing.

"How do we maintain a safe and effective nuclear deterrent, so these weapons are never used, and our non-proliferation efforts can be recharged," Mattis asked. "Second, how to maintain a decisive conventional force at the same time as that nuclear deterrent, one that will include space and cyberspace capability to deter war or end it decisively if conflict occurs. And third, we must at the same time maintain an irregular capability so we can fight across the spectrum of conflict."

The secretary spelled out three lines of effort the Department of Defense is pursuing now as answers to that problem statement.

First, he said, "Everything we ... do must contribute to the increased lethality of our military. We must never lose sight of the fact that we have no God-given right to victory on the battlefield."

He said McCarthy and Milley are now examining "every personnel policy, our training times, our organization and more, to ensure they contribute and make us the most lethal joint force in the world."

Second, Mattis said, the Department of Defense is strengthening existing alliances with partner nations and allies, while at the same time working to build new partnerships.

And finally, Mattis said, the Department is reworking business practices "to gain full benefit from every dollar spent on defense."

The Army's effort to build a modernization command supports two of those three lines of effort, and Milley said that command will work to advance the Army's six modernization priorities, to include long-range precision fires, a next-generation combat vehicle, future vertical lift platforms, a mobile and expeditionary Army network, air and missile defense capabilities, and Soldier lethality.

"What do you want the Army to do? You want them to win," Milley said. "So in combat operations, you win on the offense."

That means, Milley said, mastering the fundamentals of "shoot, move, communicate, protect and sustain."

All the Army's modernization priorities are in line with those fundamentals -- fundamentals necessary to win wars, he said.

Long-range fires, for instance, support the fundamental of shoot -- "we assess there is a gap, or at least a closing of the capability overmatch we've had in long-range fires," he said.

A next-generation combat vehicle and future vertical lift platforms give Soldiers the ability to move, he said, and the Army's rotary-wing, wheeled and tracked vehicle fleets are at end of what can be done with product improvements. "That's why you see those in the top three."

The mobile and expeditionary Army network supports the communication fundamental, he said, and ballistic missile defense is a priority for protecting ground forces.

"We have to create a layered defense around our combat formations if we are expected to fight combined arms maneuver against a near-peer competitor in a dynamic environment," he said.

Finally, he said, "We want to go to great lengths to increase the lethality of our Soldier and their systems. Everything from small arms to body armor, you name it. Everything about the Soldier, we want to increase the lethality, to include their training, with things like synthetic training environments so they get multiple repetitions and they become much better at their skills."

The modernization command, Milley said, will deliver those priorities.

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USS Tucson visits Chinhae during Western Pacific Deployment

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS171010-02

Release Date: 10/10/2017 11:43:00 AM

By Lt. j. g. Thomas Patterson, USS Tucson Public Affairs

CHINHAE, Republic of Korea (NNS) -- The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Tucson (SSN 770) arrived at U.S. Fleet Activities Chinhae, Oct. 7, for a visit as part of its deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

With a crew of approximately 150, Tucson can conduct a multitude of missions and maintain proficiencies of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet.

"The Korean-American relationship is very important and our visit to Chinhae gives us the opportunity to strengthen the outstanding relationship that exists between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea," said Cmdr. Chad Hardt, commanding officer. "My crew and I are looking forward to experiencing the exciting culture of this great Korean city."

Tucson's crew operates with a high state of readiness and is always prepared to tackle any mission that comes their way.

"The performance and work ethic of this crew over the past several months has been nothing less than exceptional," said Master Chief Electronics Technician (Navigation) Juan Gonzalez, chief of the boat. "It is an honor to be a part of the Tucson family. Chinhae is a wonderful city for the crew to spend their well-deserved rest and relaxation."

For many of the crew members, this was their first time visiting the Republic of Korea.

"I am really looking forward to visiting the Republic of Korea for the first time," said Culinary Specialist Seaman Thomas Patras. "This will be the first port call of my career and I am looking forward to experiencing a new and exciting culture."

Measuring more than 360 feet long, Tucson is one of the stealthiest and most advanced submarines in the world. It is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Homeported out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Tucson is able to operate in all oceans of the world. Tucson is the 59th Los Angeles-class attack submarine and the 20th of the improved Los Angeles-class attack submarines to be built.

Twelve vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles and four torpedo tubes provide Tucson with great offensive capabilities and strategic value. Its stealth, endurance, mobility and responsiveness make Tucson a formidable force in multiple mission roles.



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Arab Coalition Fighters Target Positions of Pro Coup Militias, in Nahm, Sinhan

Saudi Press Agency

Tuesday 1439/1/20 - 2017/10/10

Sana'a, Muharram 20, 1439, October 10, 2017, SPA -- Arab coalition fighters bombed military positions of the pro-coup militias, south and east of capital Sana'a, while fighting continued in the field, in the Directorate of Nahm.

According to the website of (September Net) of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense, the coalition fighters destroyed, at noon today, military positions of the Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted Saleh, in the Directorate of Sanhan, south of the capital Sana'a.

It quoted, also, local sources as saying that the violent explosions have rocked the area, following the fighters targeteing of Camp Gerban.

On the other hand, the coalition fighters destroyed reinforcements, positions, gatherings and military equipment of the pro-coup militia, in Mahli area and the Yam Mountains in Naham Directorate, east of the capital, while the battles between the forces of the national army and the popular resistance, on one hand, and the Houthi militia, on the other, continued, in the areas of Madfoun, at the same Directorate.

The sources added that the militia of the coup secured a number of deaths and the wounded, due to the fighting in those areas.

-- SPA

20:39 LOCAL TIME 17:39 GMT

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Sweden Trains to Defend Its Neighbor in Finland's Biggest Air Drill

Sputnik News

12:36 10.10.2017(updated 15:13 10.10.2017)

This week, the Finnish Air Force is carrying out its biggest tactical training event of the year, the Ruska 17 drills. This year's Ruska also marks the first time that the Swedish Air Force will practice defending its neighbor.

The Ruska 17 drills began on Monday and will continue through Friday, October 13. It involves over 60 aircraft and about 4,500 personnel at Air Force bases across the Nordic country. In terms of the sheer number of troops, the drills are the largest of the year in Finland.

According to the Finnish Air Force, the objective of Ruska 17 is to train its air defense for emergency situations.

Finland's Air Force is contributing more than 30 Hornet fighters, 14 Hawk jet trainers and a number of transport and reconnaissance aircraft, whereas the Finnish Army is involving its NH90 helicopters.

This year, the Swedish Air Force will assist their Finnish colleagues with eight Gripen fighters and an Argus early warning aircraft. According to a press-release from the Finnish Air Force, the Swedish pilots and support troops will train alongside the Finns, while also assuming the role of opposing forces.

According to the Finnish daily Hufvudstadsbladet, Finnish and Swedish Air Forces began participating in each other's exercises last year. In 2016, both countries exercised in the role of each other's opponents, whereas this year is the first time Swedish aircraft will actually train to defend Finland.

The Ruska 17 flight exercise missions will be conducted between 8:00 am and 11:00 pm daily all week and are scheduled to be flown out of several air bases across the country, including Rovaniemi, Kuopio and Pirkkala. The Swedish aircraft will fly out of the Kallax Air Base in Sweden.

In September, Finland and Sweden joined forces for Aurora 17, which was touted as Sweden's largest exercise since the end of the Cold War. During Aurora 17, which also featured the debut of US tanks on formerly neutral Swedish soil, Stockholm practiced its defensive abilities against a fictitious enemy from the east, which bore striking similarities to Russia.

According to Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist, Aurora 17 was perceived as a clear signal that Sweden contributes to the stability in its part of Europe and is serious about giving and receiving assistance from other countries in a crisis situation.

"Aurora 17 is a clear sign that Sweden is now focusing on increasing the capacity of the national defense," Peter Hultqvist wrote in his analysis of Aurora 17, published by the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, stressing the need of in-depth cooperation with other countries.

To match Hultqvist's rhetoric, Sweden's defense spending will increase by 24.7 percent between 2014 and 2020.

 Sputnik

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Update: air strikes against Daesh

10 October 2017

The RAF are continuing to take the fight to Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

Summary

- Monday 25 September  a Reaper engaged four Daesh targets near Dayr az Zawr, whilst Typhoons attacked a fifth in the same area.

- Wednesday 27 September  a Reaper killed several terrorists near Dayr az Zawr; Tornados and Typhoons struck eight targets in Iraq near Ramadi, including a convoy of trucks carrying a large number of extremists.

- Thursday 28 September  a Reaper attacked three Daesh targets near Dayr az Zawr, while Tornados hit a command group south of Kirkuk.

- Friday 29 September  Tornados and Typhoons hit four terrorist positions south of Kirkuk, and a headquarters near Tikrit.

- Saturday 30 September  Tornados destroyed a truck-bomb factory in western Iraq.

- Monday 2 October  a Reaper struck a group of terrorists engaged in combat with Syrian Democratic Forces near Dayr az Zawr, Syria.

- Wednesday 4 October  Typhoons assisted in the liberation of Hawijah, destroying a Daesh mortar team and truck-bomb, while Tornados destroyed another truck-bomb near Bayji.

- Thursday 5 October  Typhoons attacked a terrorist base in eastern Syria.

- Friday 6 October  a Reaper hit three groups of extremists near Dayr az Zawr, whilst Tornados eliminated another group inside Raqqa.

- Saturday 7 October  Typhoons destroyed three Daesh positions in Raqqa.

Detail

A Royal Air Force Reaper remotely piloted aircraft patrolled some miles to the north-east of Dayr az Zawr in Syria on Monday 25 September. Its crew tracked two terrorists and conducted a successful attack with a Hellfire missile, then struck a Daesh-held building with a GBU-12 guided bomb. A second Hellfire was employed against a group of terrorists on foot, and a third destroyed a truck carrying more extremists. Two Typhoons flew a mission in the same area and, assisted by the Reaper, delivered an attack with a Paveway IV guided bomb on a position from which rocket-propelled grenades had been fired.

On Wednesday 27 September, a Reaper continued operations north-east of Dayr az Zawr, where it used a pair of Hellfires against a dispersed group of terrorists armed with rocket-propelled grenades. In Iraq, Tornados and Typhoons responded to reports of Daesh activity several miles south-east of Ramadi. Two groups of terrorists on foot were hit with Paveway IVs, as was a further group manning a trench. A convoy of trucks carrying a large number of terrorists had also been spotted, and our aircraft tracked down and attacked five of these vehicles using a combination of Paveways and Brimstone missiles.

North-east of Dayr az Zawr, a Reaper delivered three attacks on Thursday 28 September: Hellfire missiles hit a sniper team and another group of terrorists, whilst a GBU-12 was used to demolish a Daesh-held building. In northern Iraq, Tornados conducted a simultaneous attack with a Paveway IV and a Brimstone on a local terrorist command group who had been identified south of Kirkuk.

Tornados and Typhoons flew further missions south of Kirkuk the following day, when they hit a number of terrorists concealed in woodland, two entrenched positions, and a Daesh-held building. Our aircraft also used a single Paveway IV to destroy a small headquarters located in the hills to the north-east of Tikrit.

On Saturday 30 September, two Tornados, armed with Paveway IVs, destroyed a truck-bomb factory located on the southern bank of the Euphrates in western Iraq.

With Syrian Democratic Forces continuing to fight Daesh to the north-east of Dayr az Zawr, a Royal Air Force Reaper remotely piloted aircraft flew overwatch on Monday 2 October. An SDF unit reported being engaged in close combat with several terrorists, and the Reaper's crew intervened, successfully targeting the extremists with a Hellfire missile attack.

A flight of Typhoons supported Iraqi forces as they advanced to liberate Hawijah on Wednesday 4 October. Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to remove two threats which the Iraqi troops encountered: a terrorist mortar team, and a truck-bomb which was blocking a road to the north-east of the town. Meanwhile, a pair of Tornados were tasked to deal with a second truck-bomb which had been positioned by terrorists to the north-east of Bayji. The vehicle was destroyed by a direct hit from a Brimstone missile.

Intelligence had confirmed that a group of three buildings in eastern Syria, some forty miles south-east of Hasakah and close to a border crossing into Iraq, was being used as a base by Daesh. Two Typhoons conducted a carefully planned attack on Thursday 5 October, each of the three buildings being struck with a Paveway IV.

The following day, a Reaper again patrolled north-east of Dayr az Zawr; its crew delivered attacks with Hellfire missiles on three groups of terrorists, including one manning a heavy weapon, and also supported two further strikes by coalition aircraft. Two Tornados supported the Syrian Democratic Forces inside Raqqa as they cleared remaining terrorist positions in the north-west of the city. Despite the SDF being very close to the target, the Tornados delivered a precision attack with a Paveway on a Daesh group firing from a building.

On Saturday 7 October, Typhoons also operated over Raqqa, and bombed three further terrorist positions in the north-west of the city.

UK contribution to the fight against Daesh



Map of UK forces committed to Operation Shader

Campaign against Daesh



Map of Daesh losses and gains in Iraq and Syria since September 2014

Previous update

Saturday 23 September: Our aircraft were particularly active over northern Iraq. Typhoons destroyed a truck-bomb west of Hawijah, a terrorist-held building 30 miles west-north-west of Kirkuk, and a mortar team, that was firing on Iraqi forces, in the hills south-west of Zawiyyah. A second Typhoon flight successfully bombed a weapons stockpile south-east of Hawijah, then conducted a simultaneous attack on four truck-bombs blocking one of the routes of advance towards the town. Near Sudayrah, Tornados used one Paveway to destroy a pair of truck-bombs, a second Paveway to knock-out an armed truck, then a third such weapon south-east of Sharqat against a Daesh building. Another Tornado flight bombed a command post south-east of Hawijah, then used a combination of Brimstone missiles and Paveway IVs to destroy a shipping container and three truck-bombs blocking other roads into Hawijah.

Sunday 24 September: a Reaper kept watch over the area north-east of Dayr az Zawr in Syria, and used a Hellfire missile to destroy a truck-bomb. Over northern Iraq, Tornados demolished a Daesh-held building in Zawiyyah with a Paveway IV.

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Report: Rwandan Military Subjects Detainees to Illegal Detention, Torture

By VOA News October 10, 2017

Human Rights Watch says Rwandan soldiers routinely tortured detainees, engaging in beatings, electric shock and mock executions to extract confessions.

The New York-based group issued a 91-page report Tuesday that reveals 104 confirmed cases of people who were illegally detained in Rwandan military detention centers between 2010 and 2016.

Many of those arrested were suspected of either being members of, or working with, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a predominantly Rwandan Hutu armed group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some members of the group are suspected to have taken part in the 1994 genocide.

When asked about the report, Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said, "We no longer respond to Human Rights Watch."

"We in fact have no collaboration with them anymore," Busingye told VOA's Africa division via text message. "They make unsubstantiated claims that have no evidence or grounds to back them. This is not about Human Rights, it is about a motive against Rwanda."

Many of victims told HRW investigators that they signed false confessions because they could not take any more abuse, or believed they were about to die. The report says that systematic torture was often ignored by prosecutors and judges whenever the victims complained.

The group says the total number of victims is likely much higher than the number they have confirmed.

Human rights groups have accused President Paul Kagame's party of harassing opponents and using intimidation to stifle any dissent to his rule. Kagame has led Rwanda since 1994 and was re-elected to a third term in August.

Diane Rwigara, a women's rights activist and vocal critic of Kagame who ran against the president, has been in detention since her arrest on Sept. 23 on charges of "offenses against state security and forgery." Her family believes the only crime she committed was challenging Kagame's authority by running for president.

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Kenya's Opposition Leader Pulls Out of Rerun Presidential Polls

By Jill Craig October 10, 2017

Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga says he is pulling out of the October 26 rerun presidential polls, citing grievances with the electoral commission and President Uhuru Kenyatta's ruling party. And the country waits to find out what happens next in the election saga that has been ongoing since before the original August 8 polls.

The electoral drama continues in Kenya, after opposition leader Raila Odinga announced Tuesday that he and his NASA coalition would not be participating in the country's presidential polls later this month.

"We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel to ensure that the 'illegalities and irregularities' that led to the invalidation of the 8th August 2017 do not happen again. All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one," he said.

Odinga accused the country's electoral commission, known as the IEBC, of having "no intention to streamline the electoral system to accord with the constitution and electoral laws."

He also placed blame upon Kenyatta's administration for proposing amendments to electoral law that he said "go against international best practice that in the middle of an elections contest one cannot change the rules and put in place rules that seek to favor him."

In response, while speaking to supporters during a campaign rally in Kenya's Coast region Tuesday, Kenyatta said he hoped there would be an election on October 26.

"And the people of Kenya will have the right to choose and determine who their leader shall be," he said.

Odinga's team claims its withdrawal requires the IEBC to cancel the election and conduct fresh nominations, which should take place at least 90 days before a general election.

The IEBC released a statement that, "following the withdrawal of the NASA presidential candidate, the Commission and the legal team are meeting and will communicate the way forward."

But that way forward is becoming more and more murky for Kenyans, as they can only guess what will happen next.

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Thai Military Leader Says Elections to Be Held in 2018

By VOA News October 10, 2017

The head of Thailand's military junta announced Tuesday that the country will hold a general election next year, four years after the military seized power from the country's last democratically elected government.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters in Bangkok the election would be in November 2018 and the exact date will be announced next June.

Prayuth led the May 2014 coup that ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government, ending years of political instability and violent protests. The ruling junta has announced several dates for new elections during its rule, but has repeatedly canceled them as it drafted a new constitution.

The prime minister also said the junta was considering whether to allow political activity  which it suspended after taking office  to resume after funeral services later this month for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last year.

The coup that overthrew Yingluck Shinawatra capped a decade-long period of political turmoil that began when her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was himself forced out of office in 2006 by the military, which backed Thailand's Bangkok-based royalist-leaning, wealthy elite.

The anti-Thaksin forces, who protested in the streets of Bangkok wearing yellow shirts, gave rise to the pro-Thaksin Red Shirts, whose ranks included the rural poor who strongly supported Thaksin's policies. The two sides engaged in violent, sometimes deadly clashes in the streets of Bangkok during that era.

Thaksin himself has lived in exile since 2008 to avoid corruption charges brought against him.

Yingluck was convicted by Thailand's supreme court late last month on charges of negligence in connection with a botched rice buying program and sentenced in absentia to five years in prison. The verdict was initially scheduled to be issued last month, but Yingluck failed to appear for the hearing. Prime Minister Prayuth later said Yingluck had fled to Dubai to escape a prison sentence.

Yingluck has denied the charges, claiming they were politically motivated.

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Egypt Presses Fatah, Hamas for Final Reconciliation Deal

By Edward Yeranian October 10, 2017

Leaders of the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions were meeting in Cairo Tuesday under the auspices of the Egyptian government amid high hopes that both sides would finally reach a reconciliation deal after a 10-year schism

Top officials from the two Palestinian factions have been mulling the details of an Egyptian draft reconciliation deal, as both sides appear to be inching closer to an agreement that would bring the Hamas-run Gaza Strip back under the control of a Palestinian unity government. Egyptian intelligence officials, who have been pressing both sides for a compromise, have kept a tight lid on information filtering out of the talks.

Egyptian media quoted Fatah delegate to the talks Azzam Ahmed as saying the "key issue now is to allow the Palestinian government [led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah] to take the reins of control over Gaza, along with the implementation of a 2011 reconciliation agreement." That agreement failed, amid bickering on both sides.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told journalists in Gaza that Hamas' priorities in reaching a deal were resolving a festering economic crisis, along with finding a solution to security concerns.

He said that Hamas' main concerns are humanitarian ones, such as the electricity crisis in Gaza, along with the issue of paying the salaries of unpaid government employees in addition to resolving the dispute over the control of border posts.

Hamas has refused until now to allow Fatah security forces or European Union monitors to exercise control over Gaza's main border post with Egypt at Rafah, as per a 2005 agreement with Israel. Hamas purged Fatah officials and security forces from the administration of Gaza in 2007.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri raised one potential sticking point with both Egypt and Israel, telling Arab media that "the arms of the Palestinian 'resistance' are not negotiable." Various armed Palestinian factions continue to control swaths of turf inside Gaza and occasionally lob rockets into Israel.

Another point of contention, according to Egyptian mediators, is what to do with some 50,000 government employees and security forces whom Hamas hired since it broke with Fatah in 2007. Fatah would like to see many, if not most of those employees, laid off.

Discussions are also taking place over the issue of holding fresh Palestinian elections some time next year.

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California National Guard Mobilizes to Help Battle Massive Wildfires

By Steve Marshall National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 10, 2017  Following an emergency declaration by California Gov. Jerry Brown, the state National Guard was mobilizing resources today to assist civil authorities in the battle against massive wildfires that have already killed 10 people.

Helicopters Dispatched

Today, when fires broke out and rapidly spread due to dry conditions, the California National Guard dispatched three medevac helicopters and 100 military police officers, National Guard Bureau officials said.

Wildfires Destroy Homes, Businesses

The fires, many in California's iconic Napa Valley wine country, have destroyed more than 1,500 homes and businesses, and there were reports that schools were reduced to ashes.

Several residents and visitors were forced to evacuate, some in the middle of the night, according to news reports.

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Russia opposes US plans to label Iran's IRGC as terrorist group

Iran Press TV

Tue Oct 10, 2017 04:27PM

The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed opposition to US President Donald Trump's plan to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

Moscow does not consider the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Russia's Interfax news agency cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday.

The news comes a few days before the US president's expected announcement of a final decision on his Iran strategy.

In his planned speech on October 15, Trump is expected to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Moreover, he is reportedly planning to announce that he will not certify the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Tehran will take reciprocal measures against a potential "strategic mistake" by Trump to blacklist the IRGC.

"If American officials make such a strategic mistake, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take a reciprocal measure," Zarif said, adding, "Some measures have been thought out in this regard and will be taken at the appropriate time."

The IRGC chief commander, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Sunday that Iran would treat US troops like Daesh terrorists if the IRGC was designated as a terrorist organization by the US.

Trump's efforts to blacklist the IRGC come as the advisors of the Iranian elite force are currently assisting the Iraqi and Syrian forces in their anti-terrorism campaign against Daesh Takfiri militants and other terrorist groups in both countries.

While the IRGC's advisory military missions in Iraq and Syria, both hit by Daesh terrorism, have significantly boosted Iran's geopolitical influence in the region, the White House seeks to label Tehran's growing regional role as violation of the "spirit" of the JCPOA.

The nuclear agreement, however, is solely about Iran's nuclear activities and it does not incorporate non-nuclear issues.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration, which has long railed against the nuclear agreement, has failed to provide any evidence against the fact that Iran has been fully compliant with the deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the only official institution in charge of verifying Iranian compliance, and it has repeatedly confirmed Iran's adherence to its contractual obligations.

On Monday, IAEA Secretary General Yukio Amano reassured Iran that political developments, particularly in the United States, will not influence the organization's reporting on the Islamic Republic, noting that the agency's reports are based on objective assessments.

Washington, however, seeks to sway the IAEA, pressuring the UN nuclear agency to request access to Iranian military sites, a measure which Tehran has fiercely opposed to as a red line.

According to reports, the US president plans to declare that the nuclear deal is not in the national interest of the United States and send the issue to Congress. The US lawmakers will then have to decide whether to restore the anti-Iran sanctions that the US has agreed to waive as long as Tehran is compliant with the JCPOA.

The potential re-imposition of the nuclear-related sanctions on Iran would be a major breach of the nuclear deal by the US.

The European parties to the deal, along with Russia and China, have long expressed firm support for the deal, stressing they will adhere to the JCPOA even in case of US withdrawal.

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Why Former Israeli Intel Chief Calls on Trump Not to Quit Nuclear Deal with Iran

Sputnik News

17:38 10.10.2017(updated 21:16 10.10.2017)

The US President is facing an October 15 deadline to certify that Iran is complying with its terms under "the P5+1" nuclear deal. A senior US administration official said that the US leader is expected to quit the pact. Former Israeli intel chief Amos Yadlin, however, called on Trump to wait for better timing, which would create more pressure.

On Monday, former Israeli Defense Forces military chief Amos Yadlin, who is also the head of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), co-authored an essay with his INSS fellow and former National Security Council official Avner Golov, urging the US President against leaving the agreement.

Among the arguments provided by the authors was that any US steps at the moment "would lack European backing, let alone backing from Russia and China," who are also parties to the deal.

The former military intelligence chief explained that first the US "must get its allies lined up for new UN resolutions against Iranian ballistic missile testing," the Jerusalem Post quotes him as saying.

"However, as the expiration date on the deal's restrictions get closer, these countries will naturally become more worried about Iran trying to break out with a nuclear weapon and will be more ready to confront it," the authors suggested.

"Instead of trying to end the Iran nuclear deal now, the US should pressure Iran with the threat of leaving the deal at a more strategic moment," the authors concluded.

They also referred to a range of top US defense officials who oppose quitting the deal now, although they would support tougher inspections of Iran's military nuclear sites and restrictions on Iran's testing of advanced uranium centrifuges.

Ultimately, they say, "any decision by Trump to decertify the deal should be used by the US Congress and the West to raise pressure on Iran for a later battle, but not to leave the deal now and free Iran to go nuclear while blaming the US."

Last week, a senior US administration official said that President Trump is expected to announce that he will decertify the landmark deal, more properly called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed in 2015 between Tehran, the five Security Council powers and Germany.

The US leader had previously called the deal "an embarrassment" and "the worst deal ever negotiated."

 Sputnik

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Iraqi warplanes kill 17 Daesh militants near Syria border

Iran Press TV

Tue Oct 10, 2017 02:33PM

A high-ranking Iraqi military official says more than a dozen Daesh Takfiri terrorists were killed when Iraqi Air Force fighter jets bombarded their positions in the country's troubled western province of Anbar near the border with Syria.

Brigadier General Saleh Ali told Jordan's official Petra news agency on Tuesday that 17 Daesh militants were killed as Iraqi military aircraft launched precision strikes against a road linking the small town of Akashat to the militant-held town of al-Qa'im, located nearly 400 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad.

He added that the aerial assaults also destroyed a number of Daesh arms depots and vehicles in the surrounding areas.

Iraq recovers bodies of plane crew shot down by Daesh

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Air Force stated on Tuesday that the bodies of two pilots of a single-engine turboprop Cessna 208 Caravan plane shot down by Daesh terrorists over the northern town of Hawijah last year have been found.

"The [extremists] had hidden the bodies of Brigadier General Ali al-Ubudi and Major Mohammed al-Shikhli," the statement said.

It added that a search was under way for the body of the third crew member, Colonel Mohammed Abdel Kassar.

On March 16, 2016, Daesh said it used anti-aircraft artillery to down the plane, which had been bombing Daesh outposts in Hawijah, located 45 kilometers west of Kirkuk.

Hundreds of Daesh suspects surrender to Kurdish Peshmerga forces

Separately, several hundred suspected Daesh militants have turned themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces after Iraqi government forces and allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi, recaptured their last stronghold in northern Iraq.

A Kurdish security official, requesting anonymity, told Reuters on Tuesday that the suspects were part of a group of men, who fled toward Kurdish-held lines when Iraqi army and Hashd al-Sha'abi forces retook Hawijah.

On October 5, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraqi armed forces had liberated Hawijah, driving Daesh Takfiris out of their last bastion in Kirkuk province.

"I announce the liberation of the town of Hawijah," Abadi said, adding, "Only the outskirts remain to be recaptured."

Abadi described the latest gain as a "victory not just of Iraq but of the whole world."

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UN agencies launch cholera immunization campaign for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

10 October 2017  In a race to prevent a cholera outbreak among the more than half a million Rohingya refugee arrivals over the past six weeks in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, United Nations agencies launched on Tuesday a massive immunization campaign.

"Emergency vaccination saves lives. The risk of cholera is clear and present, and the need for decisive action apparent," says Dr. N Paranietharan, World Health Organization Representative to Bangladesh said.

The campaign, which is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by the WHO and The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), is being held in Ukhiya and Teknaf, where more than half a million people have arrived from across the border since August, joining vast numbers already residing in a series of settlements and camps.

Some 900,000 doses of the vaccine have been mobilized and are being delivered by more than 200 mobile vaccination teams, making it the second largest oral cholera vaccination campaign ever, according to the UN.

"WHO is committed to mobilizing its full technical and operational capacity to support the Ministry and our partners to protect, promote and secure the health of this immensely vulnerable population," he added.

After more than 10,292 cases of diarrhoea had been reported and treated from across the settlements and camps over the last week, WHO warned of the potential for a cholera outbreak.

"Cholera is a dangerous disease, especially among children living in cramped, unhygienic conditions. Prevention is essential," said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.

The International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Senior Regional Medical Officer for Asia and the Pacific, Patrick Duigan, welcomed the critically important initiative, but stressed, "there are still multiple and serious public health risks for this refugee population and a massive scale up of resources and the overall response is needed to mitigate further risks of life threatening illnesses."

To help meet water, sanitation and hygiene needs, UNICEF is scaling up its interventions and communication on safe practices, and prepositioning critical supplies for case management and supporting the Ministry of Health to set up diarrhoea treatment centres, among other response-oriented interventions.

Meeting the arrival surge

In parallel, against the backdrop of Bangladesh border guards saying that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land on Monday alone into south-eastern Bangladesh through several points, the Office of the High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters at today's regular press briefing in Geneva that "UNHCR is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit centre for a potential refugee influx over the coming days."

UNHCR sources say that many of the new refugees came from the Buthidaung area in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state. Some said they fled torching and killings back home; one boy was seen with a big gash across his neck. Others said they left in fear ahead of anticipated violence.

To reach Bangladesh, they walked for up to 14 days. Many were carrying children and baskets containing whatever they could pack at short notice. They waded through marshland before swimming across the Naf river that divides the two countries. Many women and children could not swim and had to ride piggyback on volunteer swimmers. Some used inflated plastic bags and UNHCR tarpaulins as makeshift flotation devices.

"The new arrivals have now been moved away from the border areas into established camps and settlements in the Kutupalong and Balukhali area. UNHCR has trucked in plastic sheets and jerry cans for water. We are also coordinating with the government and partners to provide urgent services  food, water and healthcare  to these new refugees," flagged Mr. Edwards.

In preparation for the possible new arrivals, UNHCR's Government counterpart, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), will lead preparedness activities with UNHCR in coordination with partners, including UNICEF, IOM, WHO and the World Food Programme (WFP).

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Syrian army, allies liberate entire southeastern Damascus countryside

Iran Press TV

Tue Oct 10, 2017 04:12PM

Syrian army forces, supported by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have established control over the southeastern outskirts of the capital Damascus, driving foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants out of the strategic area.

Syria's Joint Operations Command announced in a statement on Tuesday that Syrian troops and their allies had liberated 8,000 square kilometers of territory from the clutches of terrorists, Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

Syrian forces also regained control over all the hilltops on the border with Jordan.

Russian airstrikes destroy Daesh command center, kill 70 terrorists

Meanwhile, Russian fighter jets have destroyed a Daesh command center in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr and killed dozens of Takfiri militants.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday that Russian military aircraft have carried out 182 airstrikes against Daesh terrorists in Syria over the past 24 hours, killing a total of 70 Daesh terrorists in the process.

Konashenkov added that the slain militants came from Central Asian countries and Algeria.

"A Daesh command post and three groups of terrorists, who had arrived in the area from the Iraqi territory as reinforcement were eliminated. The killing of 34 militants, and destruction of five pickup trucks equipped with large-caliber launchers plus two vehicles loaded with munitions [have] been confirmed," the senior Russian military official pointed out.

Konashenkov further noted that the airstrikes took place near the village of Hatla, located along the Euphrates River and southeast of Dayr al-Zawr.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on October 5 that the Black Sea Fleet's submarines Veliky Novgorod and Kolpino had delivered two strikes outside the city of Mayadin, located about 44 kilometers southeast of Dayr al-Zawr, using ten Kalibr cruise missiles.

Konashenkov stated that the submarines fired the missiles while submerged.

"Daesh terrorist group in Mayadin suffered significant damage, both in manpower and hardware," he said.

Konashenkov further noted that Russian air and naval forces will continue to support the Syrian army's offensive aimed at purging Daesh terrorist group out of Dayr al-Zawr Province.

Since 2015, Russia has been conducting aerial attacks against terrorist positions in Syria at a request from the Syrian government.

Backed by Russian air power, Syrian ground forces have managed to make numerous gains against terrorists on various fronts.

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Russian Airstrikes Destroy Daesh Command Center, Kill 70 Terrorists Near Mayadin

Sputnik News

13:08 10.10.2017(updated 16:01 10.10.2017)

The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed a Daesh command center in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province and killed some 34 terrorists who entered the country from Iraq's western regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Russian aircraft carried out 182 airstrikes against the positions of Daesh terrorists in Syria in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. A total of 70 Daesh terrorists, who were later identified as nationals of CIS states and Algeria, were eliminated in the Mayadin area, according to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov.

The airstrikes were carried out after reconnaissance drones had discovered a large stronghold of Daesh terrorists on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river near the city of Mayadin. The terrorists had an artillery and tank projectiles depot, as well as a ramified network of underground tunnels there.

"A Daesh command post and three groups of terrorists who arrived in the area from the territory of Iraq as a reinforcement were destroyed. The elimination of 34 militants, the destruction of 5 SUVs with large-caliber weapons, as well as 2 vehicles with ammunition has been confirmed," Russian Konashenkov stated, commenting on airstrikes near the village of Hatla in the Deir ez-Zor province.

The spokesman went on by saying that a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 jet hit the same area 40 minutes later when Daesh militants arrived at the scene to evacuate wounded terrorists. As the result of that strike, more militants were eliminated.

Earlier in the day, Konashenkov said that the US forces had reduced its anti-Daesh operation in Iraq as the Syria army was conducting an operation to liberate the Deir ez-Zor province from terrorists. The spokesman stressed that foreign mercenaries from Iraq use armored vehicles and pickups with weapons to provide daily replenishment to Daesh troops in the Syrian city of Mayadin.

The city of Al Mayadin is the major Daesh stronghold in the neighboring province of Deir ez-Zor. Terrorists have used this hub to accumulate weapons and manpower to launch attacks on the cities of Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor.

It was reported earlier that the Syrian army was conducting an operation to encircle Daesh militants in Mayadin. Lately, Syrian forces have been on the offensive in the area around the city of Deir ez-Zor. Most militants have been pushed back several miles east and across the Euphrates. Daesh militants then started fleeing for Mayadin and further toward the northern outskirts of Deir ez-Zor.

 Sputnik

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Russian Su-24 Warplane Crashes in Syria, All Crew Members Dead

Sputnik News

10:49 10.10.2017(updated 15:22 10.10.2017)

The crash could have been the result of mechanical failure, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

"On October 10, when accelerating ahead of takeoff from the Hmeymim airfield in Syria, a Su-24 aircraft veered off the runway and crashed. The crew of the plane did not eject in time and died," the Russian Defense Ministry statement said.

No facilities were destroyed on the ground. A technical malfunction could have caused the crash, the ministry said.

On November 14, 2016 and December 4, 2016, a MiG-29K jet and a Su-33 fighter, respectively, rolled off the deck of Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and were lost at sea. Both planes were part of the aircraft wing of Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov during the operation in Syria.

A defense industry source told Sputnik in March 2017 that the loss of the fighter jets was caused by a break in the carrier's arresting wire.

Earlier in 2016, a Russian Aerospace Forces Mi-28N Havoc helicopter crashed near the city of Homs in Syria, killing both pilots, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

 Sputnik

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Ankara does not recognize John Bass as US envoy in Turkey any longer: Erdogan

Iran Press TV

Tue Oct 10, 2017 03:40PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara does not recognize outgoing John Bass as the US ambassador in the Anatolian country and boycotts all official meetings with him, as a newly erupted visa crisis between the two countries further unfolds.

"The ambassador is currently paying farewell visits but neither our ministers, nor the parliament speaker, nor myself have accepted these farewell visits because we do not see him as the representative of the US in Turkey," said the Turkish president in a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, on Tuesday.

John Bass, 53, has been Washington's envoy to Turkey since October 2014 and is set to leave Turkey shortly, after his nomination for the US envoy to Afghanistan was confirmed by the Senate late last month. It is unprecedented in the history of Ankara-Washington relations for Turkey to say it no longer recognizes Washington's ambassador.

His departure from Turkey comes amid a deepening visa crisis between Ankara and Washington, triggered on October 5, when Turkish authorities ordered the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish staff member at the US Consulate in Istanbul, accusing him of espionage and having links with the followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a coup attempt last year.

In response, the US Embassy in Ankara announced on Sunday that it was immediately suspending all non-immigrant visa services at its diplomatic missions in Turkey, citing security concerns. Washington's decision was not left unanswered. It prompted Ankara to freeze "all visa services" for Americans in the US in a tit-for-tat move.

"How did those spies infiltrate into the US Consulate? If they did not infiltrate, who put them there? No state would allow such spies that could threaten it from the inside," Erdogan said at the presser, adding that Washington should dismiss Bass if he made the decision to suspend visa services in Turkey.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also rejected Washington's criticisms of Ankara over the arrest of a US consulate staffer.

"Turkey is a state of law. Does the fact that he who committed a crime or is accused of a crime is (a member) of an American mission give him any privileges? Does that mean we have to seek the permission of the (US) gentlemen? Do we need their consent?" he said.

The Turkish premier also lambasted the US move in suspending the non-immigrant visa services for Turkish nationals at US diplomatic facilities in Turkey, arguing that the move was in fact a punitive measure against Turks.

"It is very inappropriate behavior to punish the citizens. It's behavior that doesn't befit  the US. We invite the US to act with more common sense," Yildirim said.

The diplomatic spat is the worst deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies in recent years, coming at a time of Turkish grievances over US support for Kurdish militants in Syria, which Ankara views as terrorists.

Erdogan has also slammed American officials for rejecting his requests to hand over Gulen, accused of being the mastermind of the mid-July 2016 botched putsch, during which almost 250 people were killed and nearly 2,200 others wounded. Gulen has already denied the charges.

In a post-coup crackdown, Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, policemen, teachers, and civil servants and has arrested nearly 50,000 others, a move that drew Washington's criticisms.

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Erdogan Defends Arrest of US Consulate Employee

By VOA News October 10, 2017

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is defending the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee, accusing him of being a spy.

"How did these spies infiltrate the American consulate? If they didn't infiltrate the American consulate, who put them there?'' Erdogan said, speaking Tuesday alongside Serbia's president in Belgrade. "No state would allow such spies that pose an internal threat.''

Last week, Turkey arrested Metin Topuz, a U.S. consulate employee and Turkish national, accusing him of regular communication with alleged leading members of what Turkey has deemed a terrorist network blamed for a failed coup against Erdogan last year. Turkey has said it will also be questioning a second consulate employee.

The arrest led to a diplomatic feud between the two countries in recent days. Following the arrest, the U.S. embassy in Ankara announced that it would temporary halt all non-immigrant visa applications - a move that was quickly mirrored by Turkey.

A statement Sunday from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara said, "Recent events have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. Mission facilities and personnel." The statement did not say how long the suspension would last.

The statement added, "In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey."

Hours later, Turkey retaliated by announcing its own suspension of visa services in the United States, using language that parroted the U.S. statement and reasons for the halt.

Applicants for these visas said that upon going to the embassy for their appointments, they were simply given a piece of paper instructing them to call a phone number for more information.

"I came here for my appointment, which was confirmed, I want to reiterate that," Ali Guney, a visa applicant, told VOA Turkish.

"But the security gave me this paper, saying we can contact them via the phone number written on it and get information. I've called this number over and over again but don't have any results. A voicemail operator answers, no real person behind, and no one gives any further information in the consulate. I don't know what I am going to do, just sitting in this cafe, waiting."

Omer Yavuz, who had planned to travel to Houston, Texas to visit his cousin, said he also was told to call the number but has received no response.

"No one is giving any complete information," he said, adding that he anticipates having to cancel his plans.

VOA Turkish contributed to this report.

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Time for a Career Change? Defense Giant BAE Systems Cuts 2,000 UK Jobs

Sputnik News

14:54 10.10.2017(updated 16:48 10.10.2017)

British defense manufacturers BAE Systems said on Tuesday, October 10, they planned to cut 2,000 posts as a result of weaker demand for Typhoon fighters and Hawk jets. Workers, who'll lose their jobs, should consider switching to industries that don't rely on war for profit, an activist told Sputnik.

Britain's biggest defense contractor, BAE Systems has announced 2,000 job cuts, amid a slowdown in orders for its flagship Typhoon jet.

According to the spokesperson for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), the skills of BAE employees should be "put to good use" in a different sector.

"It would be a more positive way of using these people's engineering skills, rather than the huge amount of support it provides for the arms industry," Andew Smith told Sputnik.

Mr. Smith stressed that the UK government should be encouraging British firms to switch away from producing arms to investing in "more sustainable industries which do not rely on war and conflict to make a profit."

BAE will cut 750 jobs at the Warton and Samlesbury plants in Lancashire, parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon are manufactured.

Job cuts were first rumored on Monday, October 9, and defense analyst Tim Ripley previously told Sputnik demand for Typhoons had dried up.

"The volume of work is not there so it's not a surprise that they need fewer people. They are trying to get another batch for Saudi Arabia. They have been negotiating, but as yet that has not materialized," he said.

Another 400 aerospace jobs will go in Brough, Lancashire, and 245 at RAF bases at Marham and Leeming, while 340 maritime jobs will be lost in Portsmouth, and 180 largely clerical jobs in London and Guildford.

"We are announcing actions at some of our UK sites to align our workforce capacity more closely with near-term demand and enhance our competitive position to secure new business. Those actions are necessary and the right thing to do for our company, but unfortunately include proposed redundancies at a number of operations. I recognize this will be difficult news for some of our employees and we are committed to do everything we can to support those affected," said BAE's Chief Executive, Charles Woodburn.

Trade Union Anger

The trade union Unite reacted angrily to the job cuts.

"These planned job cuts will not only undermine Britain's sovereign defense capability, but devastate communities across the UK who rely on these skilled jobs and the hope of a decent future they give to future generations," said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner.

"The UK government must take back control of our nation's defense and with it, play its part in supporting UK defense manufacturing jobs. Too much taxpayers' money earmarked for defense spending is going to factories overseas. By 2020, 25 pence of every pound spent on UK defense spending will find its way to American factories alone rather than being spent here in the UK," said Mr. Turner.

"This state of affairs is not only hollowing out Britain's sovereign defense capability and British manufacturing, but leaving the nation's defense exposed to the whim of foreign powers and corporate interests," he added.

 Sputnik

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Amazon has dropped the price on its flagship Echo Show by $30, taking it from the original $229.99 to the new $199.99.

The price drop comes shortly after the launch of new Echo products, with an updated Echo, and two new Echo devices, the Echo Plus and the Echo Spot.

The Echo Show was launched a few months back and was the first Echo device with a display. Along with having all the features of the regular Echo, the Echo show also has the ability to play back videos from various services, as well as make video calls to other Echo Show users. However, recently, Google famously blocked access to YouTube from the Echo Show, citing violation of terms of service, and the service has not been restored yet.

Source
Moto G5S Plus is $50 off once again, only until October 14 though

Last month, Motorola started taking pre-orders for the Moto G5S Plus in the US ahead of its September 29 release. And if you pre-ordered, you got a neat $50 off the usual selling price of the device, regardless of which RAM/storage combo you picked.

Now the same deal is back, for a limited time only though - it's valid until October 14. If you buy a G5S Plus straight from Motorola's online store before that, you can once again save $50.

So the version with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage goes for $229.99 instead of $279.99, while the model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage can be yours for $299.99 and not $349.99. Remember that you're getting an unlocked unit that will work with all major US carriers, including Sprint and Verizon.

Source | Via
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BlackBerry's latest Android smartphone Motion - which was made official by the company yesterday - is now available to pre-order. Inline with the information revealed during unveiling, the UAE is the first country where pre-orders are now live.

Carrier Axiom Telecom has the device listed on its website for AED 1,699, which currently translates into around $460. As for shipments, the listing says the handset will be launched on October 22, which is around a couple of weeks from now.

Aside from the Middle East, the BlackBerry Motion will also be available in Europe, where it's expected to cost 499. There's currently no information on the phone's US availability and pricing.

Via
McGrady to seek re-election

Related Stories

Rep. Chuck McGrady announced on Tuesday that he will seek re-election to another term in the North Carolina House of Representatives following meetings with Henderson County business and community leaders. McGrady has served in the state House for seven years and is a former Henderson County Commissioner and Flat Rock Village Council member.

After consulting with a wide-range of Henderson Countys business and community leaders following the recent legislative sessions, Ive decided to seek re-election, McGrady said. There is still work to complete on some difficult water and sewer issues affecting Henderson County, and my background in local government and as an environmental leader make me uniquely qualified to help resolve these matters.

Similarly, Henderson Countys craft brewers, cideries, and wineries seek changes to outdated state regulation of alcoholic beverages, and as co-chair of the House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee, Im well-positioned to help them continue to grow. These industries have a statewide annual economic impact of over $3 billion and provide tens of thousands of high-paying jobs.

McGrady admits to having vacillated on re-election in 2016 and this cycle. Two years ago, he said he was ready to retire if state Sen. Tom Apodaca would stay on. But when Apodaca, a more senior member, resigned in the summer of 2016, McGrady stayed on. This year, he said he would have been ready to go if a qualified candidate had come forward.

While it has been a great honor to represent District 117 in the NC House, I hadnt expected to run for re-election again, McGrady said in the news release. However, several well-qualified leaders in Henderson County indicated that they were not yet ready to run for the House seat in 2018. By 2020, I expect that several strong candidates will step forward to run for the seat.

McGrady is co-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which writes the states annual budget. In recent years, hes played an important role in securing funding for a number of local-area projects, including a new medical school, improvements at the DuPont State Recreational Forest, and renovations to both the WNC Farmers Market and the WNC Agricultural Center. Hes worked closely with Henderson Countys economic development arm, the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development, to attract new companies to Henderson County by reforming burdensome state regulations on business.

District 117 includes about two-thirds of Henderson County, and freshman Rep. Cody Henson (R-Transylvania) represents southern Henderson County. Sen. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson), who represents all of Transylvania and Henderson Counties and part of Buncombe County, is also a freshman, having replaced Sen. Tom Apodaca in 2016.

McGrady is the senior Republican House Member from western North Carolina and is a key lieutenant to House Speaker Tim Moore, who has tapped McGrady for a number of leadership posts. Former House Speaker and current U.S. Senator Thom Tillis also named McGrady to key positions, including co-chair of the House Education Appropriations Committee and, following the coal ash spill in the Dan River in 2014, the Houses lead sponsor of North Carolinas first-in-the-nation coal ash management law.

Henderson County has been blessed by a series of strong legislators that have represented the county over the past three decades  including Republican Senator Tom Apodaca and Democratic Senator Clark Plexico, and Republican Representatives Larry and Carolyn Justus  all of whom served as committee chairs while serving in the legislature. Im seeking reelection, in part, because Henderson County needs my experience and seniority in the legislature at this time.
Volleyball playoffs: Hubs, Blazers will play for state titles

North Hagerstown got past Magruder in four sets in the 3A semifinals, and Clear Spring swept Forest Park in the 1A semifinals. Finals are Wednesday.
The House by Elegant Hotels, an adults-only boutique hotel on Barbados" platinum west coast, recently completed an extensive renovation to modernize its current ocean-inspired design, and created a space for the addition of a brand new spa. The 34-room all-suite property, which has been named one of the "Top Hotels in the World" by Travel + Leisure, welcomed its first guests on October 3 following its transformation.

Inspired by Barbados" natural beauty and prime beachfront location, The House features a laid-back beach house aesthetic, creating its signature, home-away-from-home feeling. In an effort to foster a greater sense of arrival, the outdoor space was outfitted with lush landscaping, relaxing water features and a small yoga pavilion to encourage relaxation.

Beyond the courtyard, the open-air oceanfront living room was redesigned with a new layout, updated flooring, modern furniture, contemporary artwork and enhanced light fixtures. As the pulse of the hotel, and the gathering area for breakfast, afternoon canapes and sunset cocktails, the space now features a chic color palette of sophisticated white fabrics, complemented by ocean-inspired blue accents, and pale walnut and teakwood tones.

As part of the re-design, five of the existing one-bedroom ocean-view suites were converted into 10 ocean-view junior suites, the most popular room category at The House. Additionally, all existing rooms were renovated with new furniture, bed runners, throw pillows and area rugs, ensuring the chic tropical feel remains consistent throughout the property.

Hotel website
The grand dame of the Dominican Republic"s luxury hotel world has been given a new lease on life by the Barcelo Hotel Group, with a two-year, $40 million renovation that includes state-of-the-art enhancements and renovations. Now under the Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts banner, El Embajador, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, retains its old school Santo Domingo glamor, seamlessly blending past and present for guests to immerse themselves in.

Opened in 1956, El Embajador quickly became the place to see and be seen in the Dominican Republic, attracting famed personalities from the worlds of film, music, culture and politics. Its Embassy Club hosted the best musical performances in the nation; the facilities were used as the set of great films, such as Francis Ford Coppola"s The Godfather Part II and The Lost City among others. In 1965, it even hosted an assembly of the Organization of American States (OEA), which was attended by dozens of heads of state.

With this rich history and exquisite hilltop location in the exclusive Bellavista neighborhood, with the Caribbean Sea providing a spectacular backdrop, El Embajador, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, is shining once again. Its resurgence is thanks to the Barcelo Hotel Group, which acquired it in 2015, and to the exclusive Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts brand, which has made the property its top urban icon.

El Embajador"s luxurious suites have been rejuvenated, often highlighted by stunning views of the Caribbean. The suites boast exceptional spaciousness, ranging from 440 square feet in the smaller rooms to more than 5,000 square feet in the Presidential Suite.

The prestigious El Jardin and Los Porches restaurants continue to create culinary marvels under the guidance of the acclaimed chef Jose Soto .

. A new Wellness & Spa, featuring a private pool, gym and four treatment rooms, provides the perfect dose of peace and tranquility.

The property has added more than 10,000 square feet of ballrooms, including the Protocolo and Diplomatic event rooms, as well as the exceptional Signature Venue Embassy Garden .

and event rooms, as well as the exceptional . The hotel has set aside 40 percent of its 28,000 square feet for business travelers in a space featuring a sophisticated 800-foot glass enclosure

Hotel website
Expected to open in 2021, Holiday Inn & Suites Dubai Business Bay will be centrally located in Dubai's commercial and lifestyle hub and in close proximity to major attractions such as Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall.

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has signed a management agreement with Kingston Holdings International Limited to develop a new Holiday Inn & Suites in Dubai Business Bay. The signing will complement IHG's hotel pipeline in the area, which includes a Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza and an InterContinental Residences, and anchor the company's position as one of the leading operators in the Business Bay area.

Expected to open in 2021, Holiday Inn & Suites Dubai Business Bay will be centrally located in Dubai's commercial and lifestyle hub and in close proximity to major attractions such as Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. With 350 rooms, the hotel will offer guests two restaurants and a ballroom as well as one floor of dedicated meeting rooms to cater for business travellers. It will form part of a mixed-use development that includes 400 residences and a small boutique shopping arcade.

Pascal Gauvin, Chief Operating Officer, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG said: "We are delighted to have this opportunity to partner with Kingston Holdings International Limited to further expand our presence in Dubai, a city that continues to offer excellent growth opportunities for our hotels. Business Bay is the fastest growing district in Dubai and this signing is in line with our strategy to grow the well-recognized Holiday Inn brand in emerging epicentres.

He added: "Dubai is one of the most visited cities in the world and, as host of Expo 2020 and as a prospering leisure and business destination within the gulf region, there are significant opportunities for us to cater to the expected rise in business and leisure travel. We look forward
Deer Valley Resort

The newly formed entity controlled by affiliates of KSL Capital Partners, LLC and Henry Crown and Company today announced the completion of their previously announced acquisition of Deer Valley Resort. The Company, with Deer Valley Resort, also announced that Bob Wheaton will remain at Deer Valley Resort as president and chief operating officer.

Through this transaction, Deer Valley Resort is now part of a portfolio of 13 resorts with more than seven million skier visits, 22,000 skier acres, and significant land available for real estate development. The Company also includes Canadian Mountain Holidays, the world's leading heli-ski operator, and comprehensive aviation and real estate businesses. Its mountain resorts are geographically diversified across most of North America's major ski regions: Squaw Valley|Alpine Meadows, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and June Mountain in California; Deer Valley Resort in Utah; Steamboat Ski & Resort and Winter Park Resort in Colorado; Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Ontario; Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec; Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont; and Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia.

"We could not be more pleased that Deer Valley Resort is now a part of our new Company," said David Perry, president and chief operating officer of the Company. "We believe that this transaction not only adds tremendous value to our Company but also enhances the opportunities we are able to provide to our guests, our employees, and our communities. We are committed to maintaining the first-class experience and level of guest service for which the resort is known, and we look forward to what should be a fantastic 2017/18 ski season across our portfolio."

"Joining this impressive portfolio of resorts is a big step forward in the future of Deer Valley Resort. It will enable the resort to build upon its time-honored traditions while further enhancing the overall experience," said Bob Wheaton, Deer Valley Resort president and chief operating officer. "We are thrilled to be a part of the new Company and are excited to begin welcoming guests to Utah this winter."
EyeforTravels latest consumer research has some interesting findings, not least that travellers seem to prefer the online travel agent experience

The findings of EyeforTravels latest Chinese Travel Consumer Report 2017-2018, which surveyed over 2,000 consumers, are bad news for the direct booking charge.

According to the report 77.5% of web bookings are made through an online travel agent website, rising to 81.2% for app bookings. Only 17.6% of travellers booked direct through a website, and 12.9% used the airline app.

So, despite pressure from the Chinese government on airlines to drive more direct bookings, the majority of digital bookings in China are still made through OTAs!

The dominance of OTAs in China is in marked contrast to Western markets where airlines have been able to hold their market share or in some cases grow it. According to Alex Hadwick, EyeforTravel Head of Research, this outlines the unique dynamics at play in China, where smartphones and apps play a much larger role in the travel booking process.

The report found a similar pattern for accommodation bookings, with seven out of 10 Chinese travel consumers booking through OTAs versus around one in 10 using a hotels website or apps.

Going forward, there are two main challenges.

OTA concentration: There are just a handful of OTAs in China, with Ctrip, Qunar and Meituan-Dianping being the main ones. Ctrip and Qunar are particularly popular with app users, a growing segment of the market. Price sensitivity: Price is a major issue for Chinese travellers with more than nine in 10 turning to price comparison sites during research.

Accommodation trends

Meanwhile, on the accommodation front, the report notes that Tujia is primed for growth as the biggest player in the Chinese home rental market, with around 450,000 properties nationwide. It offers Airbnb type accommodation, but with services uniquely tailored to the needs of Asian tourists, which the company CEO has said are very different to those of Western tourists. In a widely quoted example, founder Melissa Yang has said that Chinese tourists wouldnt want to have to take out the trash.

Towards the end of last year, Tuija strengthened its position by acquiring the home-sharing businesses of both Qunar and Ctrip. Earlier in the year, it had bought rival short-term rental platform Mayi and established a partnership with Ctrip as well as HomeAway. Further proving that the push is to dominate Asia-Pacific rather than just China, it has also signed agreements with Japans homeshare portal Rakuten Lifull Stay.

Want to read more? Sign up for EyeforTravel On Demand to access the full report, which includes:

A survey of more than 2,000 Chinese travel consumers.

Economic analysis and projections for the Chinese economy.

Summaries and outlooks for Chinese domestic and outbound travel.

Consumer booking, research, and trip spending behaviours.

Lead times for flight, accommodation and tours and activities.

Geographic and demographic breakdowns.

Over 50 figures, tables and charts profiling the Chinese travel consumer.

This article originally appeared on EyeForTravel.
According to various reports online, including CBS Detroit, Doughboy Roc, a member of the Detroit rap crew Doughboyz Cashout, was shot and killed Monday afternoon on the west side of his hometown. He was 29 year young.

Roc was reportedly shot to death around 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon while sitting inside a white Hyundai at Stoepel Street and Westfield Avenue, near I-96 and Livernois Avenue. He was reportedly shot in the right ear and right shoulder, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police havent officially confirmed the victims identity just yet, but WWJ News radio 950s Charlie Langton has learned that the man is indeed Doughboy Roc.

Family, friends, and neighbors all gathered together around the scene on Monday afternoon, expressing their sadness and shock about the news. Everybody was so surprised, one local resident told WWJ Newsradio 950. They couldnt believe that someone they knew from the neighborhood, who also is famous and young, had been found dead in his car.

Unfortunately, investigators dont have any information about a suspect at this time, but theyre reportedly still looking into it obviously.

I cant believe Im talking about it, because it has destroyed us, said Tarence Goudy, Rocs uncle. It literally is destroying us. He cant be replaced. He loved Detroit, Goudy said. He loved the people. He loved even being around young fans, and not just the fans, but people. Thats just who he was. He always talked about family, Goudy added. Each album he had, family was in it. He loved his son, and he always said, I do it for me son.'

Roc had just released his latest mixtape Roc Vs Balboa back on September 15. It featured fellow Doughboyz Cashout members Payroll Giovanni, Big Quis, HBK and Doughboy Dre as well as Band Gang Paid Will.

Many fans have already taken to social media to express their condolences to the family of Rocs during this difficult time. Check out some of those tweets & posts (below).

R.I.P. Doughboy Roc.

Doughboy Roc
In Northern California, a collection of fourteen quickly moving wildfires have consumed over 50,000 acres and counting, and forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes. According to Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott, the fires ignited Sunday night (October 8th) and have since destroyed over 1,500 structures, including homes, and commercial building with the largest fires located in Napas wine country.

We need every resident to heed evacuation warnings and orders and move out quickly, Pimlott said. As of right now, with these conditions, we cant get in front of this fire and do anything about the forward progress, he added, noting that more resources to fight the flames would be arriving on Monday.

The California National Guard has since deployed three medical evacuation helicopters, six firefighting helicopters, and 100 police personnel to assist local authorities.

These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents, said Governor Jerry Brown in an emergency proclamation issued on Monday. These fires have damaged and continue to threaten critical infrastructure and have forced the closure of major highways and local roads.

So far, in all of the eight counties being affected by the inferno, only one casualty has been reported in Mendocino County, a result of the fire in the Redwood Valley. According to the spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Janet Upton, there have been other injuries and other individuals who have gone unaccounted for.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Hospital, have also had to evacuate all patients and personnel as a result of the blazes.

We have safely evacuated the Santa Rosa medical center due to fires burning in the area. Many patients were transported to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael and other local hospitals, said spokeswoman Jenny Mack in an email. All scheduled appointments and surgeries have been canceled for the day in Santa Rosa and the Napa medical offices.

Currently, about 45,000 people are without power and/or cellphone service as over 300 firefighters battle the flames.

Santa Rosa
LAGUNA SALADA, Dominican Republic -- When the summer draws to a close, it should be time for Elaihi Chalis, 15, to go back to school.

But without a birth certificate, she says she wont be able to enroll in her local high school and will have to stay home or find a job -- not only dashing her hopes to continue educating herself, but also limiting her ability to significantly contribute to national economy down the road.

Elaihi Chalis, 15, has no documents to prove her birth in the Dominican Republic. She now faces the threat of deportation.

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Going back to school is just one of Chalis' worries. Though she was born in this country, she and her mother say the hospital refused to provide documentation of her birth because her mother is an undocumented immigrant from Haiti. Like thousands of other minors, she does not have citizenship in either the Dominican Republic or Haiti, making her stateless. After the deadline to register with the Dominican government as a foreign national passed last week, Chalis now faces the threat of deportation.

"Why do they want to take us and send us to Haiti?" Chalis said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "I don't want to go. I don't know anything about Haiti."

A series of Dominican legal developments since 2004 have eliminated the concept of birthright citizenship here. A 2013 decision by the Constitutional Court applied the new standard retroactively, effectively stripping thousands of Dominican-born people of their citizenship.

Dominican officials have staunchly defended their widely criticized efforts to codify citizenship standards that exclude people born in the country to undocumented parents, arguing that sovereign countries have the right to decide their own citizenship laws. To highlight how reasonable their policies are, they point to a program that ended in February and was designed to restore citizenship to those who once held a Dominican national ID card or passport, and to allow people born in the country to register as foreign nationals with a two-year pathway to citizenship.

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Roughly 56,000 people who had previously held Dominican passports or other national identification documents will have their citizenship restored through the plan, which ran for over eight months, officials say.

But fewer than 9,000 people born in the country who lack proper documentation signed up for the naturalization plan, a figure that immigrant rights groups and international human rights organizations say falls short of the roughly 200,000 people they think may have qualified. A coalition of nongovernmental organizations including Save the Children and World Vision says 60,000 of those stateless people are children or teenagers. The overwhelming majority of the Dominican Republic's stateless people are of Haitian descent and black, leading critics to say racism has played a role in pushing these policies forward.

A second plan to normalize the status of undocumented immigrants passed last week, leaving those who didn't register no further options for obtaining legal residence.

A visit to the Dominican Republic's impoverished countryside highlights the number of children who, like Chalis, have a claim to Dominican citizenship and missed the change to register for naturalization. It's a problem that promises to expand with time, as new generations of children born here to undocumented or stateless parents will continue to lack access to Dominican citizenship.

Dozens of children and teenagers in Laguna Salada who were born in this country say they left the hospital without proper documentation.

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Part of problem is authorities who have refused to give birth certificates to children born to undocumented parents, people here say. Some parents say the hospital where their kids were born never gave them a record documenting the child's birth. Others say they gave birth at home -- which still occurs with some regularity in the Dominican countryside -- and that authorities said they had no way of proving the children weren't born in Haiti.

This 9-year-old girl, left, was born at home. Her mother is undocumented and has been unable to secure a birth certificate for the child, who is not recognized as a citizen of any country. Born and raised in Laguna Salada, she could be expelled to Haiti, where her mother was born.

Bureaucratic inefficiency also plays a role. Many parents with several children say some received documentation at birth while others did not, without explanation.

Stephania Joseph, 18, was one of the nearly 9,000 people who registered as a foreign national with a two-year path to naturalization even though she did not have proper documents showing she was born in the Dominican Republic. She says she wasn't given so much as a "constancia de nacimiento" -- a document Dominican hospitals give to children born to foreigners instead of a birth certificate. She has three siblings, one of whom was born in Haiti. Of the three, only one received a birth certificate.

"They gave one of us papers, and not the rest of us," Joseph said. "I don't know why."

For some, misinformation has taken a toll. Jose Luis Buena, 17, says he didn't know he qualified for the naturalization program until after the deadline had passed. He says he was born in the town of Castanuela, but was never given a document to prove it.

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Most people here say they're frustrated with the way authorities have carried out the process. Some, many of whom don't speak Spanish well, didn't understand how to register their children and set them on the process toward naturalization. Some didn't know the deadline to register had passed. Others fault interminable lines or inability to acquire needed documents. The high cost of seeking legal help also deterred parents, many of whom work as farm hands or servants.

"I went to ask for my children's papers at the hospital and they told me I had to go to a lawyer," said Lucile Alexis, the mother of three Dominican-born children. "I don't have money to pay a lawyer."

While government officials say activists' claims of the number of stateless people is overblown, Herodetes Gravia, a pastor who serves the Haitian-Dominican community, says the problem is widespread.

"Most places I've gone as a pastor, as a missionary, I confront this problem," Gravia said. "Places where there are many immigrants of Haitian origin, but people don't have a single document to say whether they're Dominican or Haitian."

Many Dominican officials are outraged at the criticism they've received from abroad. Dominican Foreign Minister Andres Navarro said Tuesday the government would announce a plan to counter what it calls "misinformation" being spread by the international media.

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Officials say the Dominican-born children who possess no citizenship in any country are not actually stateless because the Haitian constitution allows them to apply for citizenship based on their heritage.

Haitian President Michel Martelly, however, has said that his administration does not consider Dominican-born children of migrants to be Haitian nationals, according to Dominican daily Listin Diario.
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Parents on Instagram Are Making Their Kids 'Film' Them Dancing, Here's Why
1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities.

2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion.

3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact.

4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance.

Vote

View Results
Patna, Oct 10 (IBNS): In spite of an overall decline in the rate of marriage among young girls across most of Indian states, Bihar continues to have a comparatively higher percentage of marriage before girls reach the legally prescribed age of 18 years.

According to the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015-16) data, 39.1% of women within the age-group of 20-24 years are married before 18 years.

In simpler terms, 2 of every 5 adolescent girls are married off before they complete their higher secondary education.

A comparative analysis done by CRY  Child Rights and You, the trend recorded by two consecutive National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-3, 2005-06 and NFHS-4, 2015-16) reveals that the state has registered an improvement of 20 percentage points in under-age marriage over the last decade, as the findings of NFHS-3 recorded that 60.3% of women within the age-group of 20-24 years were married within their teens.



More worryingly, 12.2% of women within the age-group of 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey.

As per District Level Household Survey data (DLHS-4, 2015-16), the status of child marriage in the intervention areas of CRY-supported projects in Bihar, Supaul had the highest percentage of underage married, closely followed by Begusarai, Jamui, Samastipur and Gaya districts. Supaul accounted for more than 56% of girl child marriage, while Begusarai (53.2%), Jamui (50.8%), Samastipur (49.6%) and Gaya (47.6%) closely followed.

a more positive note, as the state government has recently announced the launch of a full-fledged state-wide campaign against child marriage and dowry system prevalent in the society.



Welcoming the govt. decision Mohua Chatterjee, Program Head, CRY (Eastern Region) said, Its indeed a positive move, as the government has actually taken into cognizance the gravity of child marriage situation in the state. According to her, Education can significantly play the role of a game-changer when it comes to adolescent girls getting married off and bearing children before they are prepared, both physically and mentally.



As the latest Census (2011) data reveals, there are over 13 million adolescent girls who are married between 10 to 19 years of age and a startling 3.8 million adolescent girls in India have children and are shouldering the responsibilities of motherhood. Of these 3.8 million underage mothers 1.4 million had 2 or more children, even before completing adolescence. A brief analysis of their education profile reveals that, 39% of girls who were illiterate had begun child bearing, compared to 26% among the girls who were literate, proving that even a little education goes a long way in empowering girls, she added.



According to Ms. Chatterjee, lack of access to school is a big reason why girls are often dropped out at the secondary and higher secondary levels. To address the issue, the state govt. should set up a residential school for girls at each block of all districts.



While the campaign shows a strong political will and commitment towards the issue of child marriage, there is a need to direct this campaign towards developing and strengthening womens agency and ensuring their access to all kinds of benefits, rights, entitlements, decision making  not only to reduce child marriage but also to bring in change in quality of lives for the girls and children, she added.

According to CRY, adequate focus on gender budget, and stringent monitoring of utilisation of resources can go a long way in empowering the girl child.

Saradindu Bandhopadhyay, State-Lead of Bihar Operations at CRY (Eastern Region) said, Following the mandate of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), formation and strengthening of Child Protection Committees (CPC) at the GP and block level needs immediate attention, and these units would have to be accountable to address issues related to child marriage.

He further insisted that, to address the issue of child marriage on a sustainable basis, the need of the hour is to ensure inter-departmental convergence where schools, ICDS, and panchayati-raj institutions need to play a pivotal role.
Guwahati, Oct 10 (IBNS): An Indian army camp suffered heavy casualties when a group of armed men from the Naga NSCN-K outfit attacked it in Arunachal Pradeshas Longding district on Tuesday.

Reportedly, a 70-member group of NSCN-K attacked the camp near Nyausau in Longding district at around 1 am, and the assault continued until 9am

While the Naga outfit has claimed that more than 40 Indian soldiers were killed, the Indian Army has denied any loss of lives of Indian security personnel.

Kohima based Defence PRO Colonel Chiranjeet Konwer said, at around 1-15 am last night Niausa COB was fired upon by under ground (UGs) cadres.

"Just 5 to 10 rounds of ineffective small arms fire and a Lathode grenade were fired upon the post. Own alert sentries retaliated forcing the UGs to run away. The fire had to be controlled keeping in safety of the villagers in vicinity. There were no casualties and no damage to property of COB. Operations are underway against fleeing cadres. All reports being circulated on social media by these UG gps are towards creating a sensationalism and are baseless and false," the Defence PRO said.

NSCN-K deputy army chief Col. Isak Sumi, MIP, NSCN/GPRN claimed that in a well orchestrated offensive against Indian Army, the combined operation command of Naga Army consisting of selected fighters and specialists from various mobile units, demolition units and GHQ, numbering around 70 cadres, commanded by an experienced, senior officer launched an all out attack on the India army camp located at Nyausau, Longding, Arunachal Pradesh at 1 am.

"The Indian Army were caught totally off guard and in for a surprise. There was no injury sustained or casualties on our side and our Army are now back to safe area," Isak Sumi said.



(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
New Delhi, Oct 10 (IBNS): Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Tuesday, inaugurated the bi-annual Indian Air Force (IAF) Commandersa Conference at the Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhavan), in New Delhi.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, welcomed Defence Minister Sitharaman and Minister of State- Defence, Dr Subhash Bhamre, and introduced the IAF Commanders to them.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) briefed the Defence Minister on the current status of the IAF and the efforts that have been made in the recent past.

During her address, Sitharaman said that the devolved powers given to the Service Chiefs should be fully utilised for achieving their capabilities.

The Minister said that Air Force along with Ordnance Factory Board and DRDO should make an assessment about indigenisation under Make-in-India programme.

She said that the budgetary allocations should not be viewed as a constraint and should be looked at to acquire what is absolutely necessary.

She said that the Government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade.

The Chief of the Air Staff while addressing the Commanders emphasised the need for continuous effort and training to maintain IAF's cutting edge.

He also reiterated the IAFs role as the first responder in most contingencies and thus the need to sustain the ongoing process of capability enhancement making use of the Governments thrust on 'Make-in-India' initiative.

The Commanders' conference will be held until 12 Oct 17.

The Conference will discuss the future trajectory of the Indian Air Force, which includes operations, maintenance issues and various administrative initiatives that will be taken to enhance the working environment of the IAF keeping in focus IAF's core principle of 'People First, Mission Always'.

In consonance with Government of India's Digital India initiative, two mobile Apps for Air Force Cellular Network (AFCEL) phones, called MEDWATCH' and 'AFCHAT', will be released during the Conference.

Various other initiatives such as Online Testing & Evaluation and Online Entrance Examination to further the initiative will be covered.

The new look Air Force Central Accounts Office (AFCAO) website with enhanced features will also be launched.

A book titled 'Aero India- Ascent through the ages' is also scheduled to be released during the Conference.

Image: PIB




Lucknow, Oct 10 (IBNS): Nearly 300 students of two schools fell unconscious after chemical gas emitted by a sugar mill in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday, according to media reports.

The children complained of eyes watering, nausea, vomiting, and itching, local reports said.

According to the police, the children were taken to the district hospital and also referred to hospitals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut.

As news of the accident spread, the District Magistrate and other senior officials rushed to the school, media reported.



Image: IndiaTomorrow/Twitter
Amethi, Oct 10 (IBNS): Bharatiya Janata Party President (BJP) Amit Shah, accompanied by Union Minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh Cheif Minister Yogi Adityanath, arrived in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to unveil a series of projects, according to media reports.

Amethi is believed to be a Congress stronghold being the parliamentary constituency of Rahul Gandhi, the party vice president.

Addressing a rally in Amethi, Amit Shah not only hit out at the Nehru-Gandhi family, he said that the BJP will ensure that Uttar Pradesh is as developed as Gujarat by 2022, media reported.

He thanked the people and reminded them that BJP had bagged four out of the five seats in Amethi in the Assembly election.

He asked the people that even though Rahul Gandhi has been there elected parliamentarian for so many years, then why is there no Collectorate Office in Amethi? according to a tweet by BJP Uttar Pradesh.

"Rahul Baba, Is this the way you show gratitude to the people who vote for you and your part?" the media quoted the BJP president as saying.

The handle also tweeted that Shah said, there are two models of development in the country, the Nehru-Gandhi model and the Modi model.

Smriti Irani, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi. said that Rahul Gandhi has no time for his constituency, media reported.

CM Yogi Adityanath said he is trying to develop Amethi and the entire state, media reported.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day visit to Gujara, which is a few months away from the state assembly election.

Image: BJP Uttar Pradesh/Twitter
Gandhinagar, Oct 10 (IBNS): Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day tour of Gujarat, too donned the election campaigning mode, just like his political opponents touring Amethi in Uttar Prdesh, according to media reports.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi paid his respect to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at Sankalp Bhoomi and attended a prayer session.

Speaking at a rally on Tuesday, Gandhi said that with the Congress government in power in Gujarat, the party "will work for the interests of farmers, small traders and the poor. Last time, he (Modi) waived the loans of the rich. We will instead bring a loan waiver for farmers."

While BJP president Amit Shah took a dig at Rahul Gandhi while addressing a rally in Amethi, which the latter;s parliamentary constituency, Gandhi too highlighted the alleged humongous rise in turnover at the firm run by Amit Shah's son Jay.

Tweeted Gandhi, "Amazing transition from Beti Bachao to Beta Bachao,"

In a tweet through Congress Live, he said, "#ChowkidarOfIndia quiet re: #AmitShahKiLoot. Why did a wildly successful company shut in 2016 given exponential profit & unsecured loans."

Congress Live tweeted Rahul Gandhi as saying, "BJP #Gujarat Gov has a poor women's empowerment record in terms of women's enrollment in higher education."

"Job creation is India's main problem. 29550 out of 30K new jobseekers are unable to secure their livelihoods," said Rahul Gandhi.

"Exploitative contracts pervasive in all sectors. Temporary employment system feeds job insecurity," he said.

Carrying with his Navsarjan Yatra, Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Dabhoi, he said that it was Gujarat that gave India the 'white revolution' and leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. If lead in the right way, the state had the potential to lead the entire nation on the path to progress, the media quoted the Congress vice president as saying.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Gujarat chief minister, Anandiben Patel has demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi regarding his comment on women's participation in RSS shakhas, media reported.



Image: Office of RG/Twitter
Srinagar, Oct 10 (IBNS): Suspected militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Sanat Nagar area of Srinagar city on Tuesday evening.

One militant was injured during the attack.

According to CRPF spokesman motorcycle-borne militants opened fire on a vehicle of C-29 Bn carrying troopers who were returning after their duty at Civil Secretariat in Sanat Nagar outskirt of Srinagar a summer capital of state.

The fire was retaliated effectively by our troopers, and we are sure one militant receive bullet the retaliatory fire, the spokesman said

Meanwhile, forces have launched a cordon and started searches in the area to nab the attackers.



(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)
New Delhi, Oct 10 (IBNS): President of India Ram Nath Kovind will preside over a two-day Conference of Governors on October 12 and 13, 2017, at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This is the 48th such conference to be held in Rashtrapati Bhavan and the first conference to be presided over by President Kovind.

The two-day conference will deliberate on important agenda items in different sessions.

The theme of the opening session will be New India-2022.

India will complete 75 years of independence in 2022. New India 2022 requires a number of initiatives in infrastructure to cater to the needs of citizens of the country.

Similarly, to build New India 2022, emphasis has to be given on various services viz. access to quality education, training and skill development, healthcare, cleanliness, open-defecation free cities and villages, pollution free environment, safety and security of citizens, etc.

The Vice President and the Prime Minister will be attending the sessions and addressing the conference.

The first session of the Conference will start with a presentation by NITI Aayog on the possible elements of New India 2022.

Then the Governors will have detailed deliberations on the subjects of Infrastructure for New India 2022 and Public Services for New India 2022 in two groups. In each group, concerned Ministers of the Government of India will be present.

The second session will be on the subjects of Higher Education in States and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to Make Youth Employable.

The Minister of HRD and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will make presentations covering the vision and roadmap for addressing the issues on the agenda. Governors will also give their remarks and suggestions on ways to achieve the goal along with their experiences from the States.

In the third session on the second day, Governors will make brief remarks on any special issues pertaining to their respective States/Union Territories. They will also highlight key achievements or initiatives started in Raj Bhavans, which can be adopted or replicated.

In the concluding session, a brief report on the deliberations will be presented by the respective conveners. The deliberations and outcomes of the Conference will be used by Governors to sensitise stakeholders in their respective States as well as for working towards New India 2022.

Twenty-seven Governors and three Lt. Governors of States and Union Territories will attend the Conference.

The Vice President; Prime Minister; Union Ministers of Home Affairs; External Affairs; Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology; Health & Family Welfare; Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Human Resource Development; Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; Railways & Coal; Defence; Minister of State (I/C) of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Minster of State (I/C) of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and Vice Chairman and CEO of NITI Aayog and other senior officials will also participate.

The Administrators of UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu as well as of Lakshadweep will participate in the Conference as special invitees.
New Delhi, Oct 10 (IBNS): TripShelf, Indiaas first holidays marketplace that connects travel-seekers with tour operators from around the country, today announced a strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi to encourage outbound tourism in the city.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of United Arab Emirates and a popular travel destination in the middle-east region with over 4.5 Mn tourists visiting it in 2016.

As a part of this partnership Tripshelf will encourage online discovery of Abu Dhabis exotic locations and provide the online traveller a variety of packages to choose from a large number of verified sellers.

Speaking about the partnership, Bejan Dinshaw, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority Country Manager said, We, at the Tourism and Culture Authority India Office, are very excited to partner with TripShelf as part of our ongoing efforts and promotions. We have noticed that more and more Indian customers are now venturing online for travel experiences. As a holidays marketplace, TripShelf offers more than 1,500 packages from over 350 verified sellers to Abu Dhabi, making them an ideal partner for us as we look forward to welcoming more Indian tourists to experience our country.

Dhruv Raj Gupta, CEO, and Founder, TripShelf said, We are absolutely thrilled to announce this partnership with Abu Dhabi at the beginning of festival and weddings season in India. The tour operator industry has for long felt neglected; they are now finally excited to embrace the change and sell their packages online. Abu Dhabis modern outlook towards the online world has us excited and makes them an ideal partner for our ongoing Diwali sale from 20th September 2017 to 20th October 2017.

During TripShelfs Diwali Dhamaka sale each customer is getting a free assured gift if they book a package with a verified seller.

He added, At TripShelf, we are relentlessly looking for ways to promote quality tour packages from verified sellers to our customers at competitive prices through automation, chatbots and machine learning. In the global travel space, India has been the number one source market for Abu Dhabi. Indians are also among the top spenders in Abu Dhabi, so tying up with them was a natural choice for us.

TripShelf is a tech-enabled online marketplace that empowers more than 350 tour operators through technology and helps them offer their budget and luxury services to travelers across India.

The one-year old startup provides a personalized experience to travelers by helping them discover, compare, enquire and buy tour packages from verified tour operators across the world. A consumer can now compare apple to apple how each package is different and see within the crevices to identify the best.

TripShelf stands apart from other online travel agencies by their unique feature of the chatbot, a technology that captures traveller interest, shows them package details, offers a range of highly-personalized options at the click of a button.

Image: Wikimedia Commons




New York, Oct 10(Just Earth News): Long seen as poverty traps, rural areas are in fact key to economic growth in developing countries when pegged to food production, according to a new United Nations agriculture agency report released Monday.





With 'sweeping transformations' that can unlock the potential of rural areas to help feed and employ a younger, more crowded planet, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report State of Food and Agriculture 2017 argues that millions of youth in developing countries who are poised to enter the labour force in the coming decades need not flee rural areas to escape poverty.



The overarching conclusion of this report is that fulfilling the 2030 Agenda depends crucially on progress in rural areas, which is where most of the poor and hungry live, said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva, in his foreword to the report.



The report says that between 2015 and 2030, people aged 15-24 are expected to rise to 1.3 billion, with the lion's share being in rural zones. However, it continues, lagging growth in the industrial and service sectors in many developing countries will not be able to absorb the massive numbers of new job seekers  nor will agriculture in its current form.



Rural people who relocate to cities will likely run a greater risk of becoming part of the urban poor, instead of finding a pathway out of poverty. Others will need to look for employment elsewhere, leading to seasonal, or permanent migration.



Policy-makers are urged to recognize the catalytic role of small cities and towns in mediating the rural-urban nexus.



According to the report, targeting policy support and investment to rural areas to build food systems and agro-industries connected to urban zones  especially small and medium size cities  represents a strategic intervention to create employment that would allow more people to stay, and thrive, in the countryside.



Too often ignored by policy-makers and planners, territorial networks of small cities and towns are important reference points for rural people  the places where they buy their seed, send their children to school and access medical care and other services, noted da Silva.



Policy-makers are urged to recognize the catalytic role of small cities and towns in mediating the rural-urban nexus and providing smallholder farmers with greater opportunities to market their produce and share in the benefits of economic growth, he added.



The report underscores that transformed rural economies won't necessarily be a panacea that solves all the pressures that drive people to relocate, but they will generate much-needed jobs and contribute to making out-migration more of a choice, rather than a necessity.



Food system value chains linking rural areas and small cities



While urbanization provides a golden opportunity for agriculture, it also presents challenges for millions of small-scale family farmers, the report stated.



As more profitable markets may lead to value chains dominated by large processors and retailers  to the exclusion of smallholders  supportive public policies and investments must be hard-wired into policies to harness urban demand as an engine for transformative and equitable growth, ensuring market participation by small-scale, family-farmers.



The study lays out three lines for action:



Put in place a range of policies designed to ensure that small-scale producers participate fully in meeting urban food demands;

Build up the infrastructure to connect rural areas and urban markets, including rural roads, electrical power grids, storage facilities and refrigerated transportation systems; and

Including not just mega-cities into well-connected rural-urban economies but knitting in smaller, more spread-out urban areas as well.



Photo: FAO/IFAD/WFP/Eliza Deacon







Source: www.justearthnews.com






New York, Oct 10(Just Earth News): The post plays an important role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as contributes to global social and economic development, the United Nations postal agency said Monday, marking World Post Day.





It is important to constantly remind ourselves of the role that Posts play in our societies on Monday, because some key trends are turning our world upside down, said Bishar Hussein, Director General of the Universal Postal Union, in his message for the Day.



He specifically mentioned Internet pervasiveness; ever-more demanding customers; e-commerce and light logistics; as well as the world economy and international trade.



Posts can only mitigate risks and seize opportunities if they engage in reform, he emphasized.



They need to reinvent themselves, embrace digitalization, redefine their value proposition, and develop new products and services. They also require political support and investments, as well as an appropriate regulatory framework for their activities, he underscored.



Future gains could include more satisfied customers, stronger postal markets and more cohesive societies, Hussein said, adding: With countries stepping up efforts to achieve the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we should not forget that the postal sector is an enabler of inclusive development and an essential component of the global economy.



In the remotest and the most populated areas of our planet alike, it remains a key platform for delivering public services, he continued.



As a specialized intergovernmental organization within the UN system, UPU strives to enable its 192 national networks of member countries to act as one.



We offer platforms that let our members exchange views and find multilateral solutions to global issues. We provide affordable technical solutions and assistance to governments, regulators and postal operators wishing to upgrade their national postal infrastructure. And we are the only global knowledge centre for the sector, building on the power of postal big data to the benefit of all, the Director General underscored.



Faithful to its mission, the UPU has chosen two main highlights for this years World Post Day celebrations. Firstly, to recognize the top-ranked countries in the newly released Integrated Index for Postal Development.



Providing a snapshot of postal development in 170 countries, this new index is a powerful tool which governments, regulators and postal operators can use to promote postal excellence, said Hussein  congratulating Switzerland, France and Japan along with the regional champions Brazil, Mauritius, Poland, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.



He also gave a nod to the younger generation, who are not losing the habit of writing even in this age of new technology, announcing Togos fourteen-year-old Eva Giordano Palacios as the winner of UPUs International Letter-Writing Competition, who in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, called for increased efforts to help poor countries abolish old practices which persist because of a lack of socioeconomic development.



As these examples show, he concluded the postal world is very much alive. So let us adopt new technologies, and embrace transformation!



Photo: Coomaar.N.Carthik, Courtesy of Photoshare











Source: www.justearthnews.com












New York, Oct 10(Just Earth News): At least 13 Rohingya refugees, 11 of them young children, fleeing violence in Myanmar have drowned when the fishing boat they were on capsized in stormy weather, the United Nations migration agency said.

Among those who perished were seven boys aged between three and 10, and four girls between two-three years old.

Based on accounts from survivors, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that there were approximately 60 refugees from the minority Muslim Rohingya community aboard the 20-metre wooden vessel with a normal capacity of 20 when it left Myanmar under cover of darkness  hoping avoid patrols there as well as in Bangladesh.

The vessel was headed for Shahporir Dwip, an island at the southern tip of Bangladesh, about 78 kilometres south of Cox's Bazar, when it foundered at Golar Para Char when the fisherman at the helm lost control and ran aground.

According to survivors, the fleeing Rohingya had paid the fisherman the equivalent of $30 a head for what should have been a short sea journey, IOM said.

About three hours after the boat initiated its journey from Dongkhalir Char in Buthidaung Township (north Rakhine province, Myanmar) Bangladesh Coast Guard were alerted of the disaster and launched a rescue mission.

Like many of the most recent arrivals in Bangladesh, the refugees caught up in last night's tragedy came from villages well inside Myanmar, they told IOM staff that they walked for eleven days before reaching the coast.

However, even after crossing in Bangladesh, the conditions remain extremely challenging for the refuges  having to in the open or under makeshift tents and shelters using polythene, tarpaulin or pieces of cloth, with limited food, water and sanitation facilities.

This latest tragedy follows on another mass drowning on September 28, when a fishing boat carrying refugees capsized near the same area, killing 23 people.

As of 7 October, 519,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh, including 467,800 identified by IOM assessments in the Cox's Bazar area.

In other news, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners announced the rollout of a vaccination campaign  the second largest of its kind ever  in Cox's Bazar beginning tomorrow. They aim to deliver cholera vaccinations to 650,000 people initially, followed by a second round to 250,000 children between the ages of one and five.

Photo: UNHCR/S. Alam (file)

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Dhaka, Oct 10 (IBNS): At least 11 people were injured in a boiler explosion at a steel manufacturing factory in Sitakunda upazila of Bangladesh city Chittagong on Tuesday, media reports said.

According to reports, the injured people were rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital for treatment.

The identity of the injured people are not known so far.

Rafiqul Islam, assistant manager of GPH Ispat, told The Daily Star a furnace boiler exploded in the factory around 5:30am.
Kabul, Oct 10 (IBNS): Explosion of their own bomb left at least seven Taliban insurgents killed and nine others injured in Alingar district of eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, media reports said on Tuesday.

Sarhadi Zwak, the governors spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News that the incident happened when explosives inside the militants car went off in Elga Gul area of the district on Monday evening.

According to reports, commander Qasim known as Abbas was killed in the incident.

Zwak told the Afghanistan media that the incident occurred when the terrorists were on their way to Elga Gul area for planning a terrorist attack.
New York, Oct 10(Just Earth News): In a race to prevent a cholera outbreak among the more than half a million Rohingya refugee arrivals over the past six weeks in Coxas Bazaar, Bangladesh, United Nations agencies launched on Tuesday a massive immunization campaign.





Emergency vaccination saves lives. The risk of cholera is clear and present, and the need for decisive action apparent, says Dr. N Paranietharan, World Health Organization Representative to Bangladesh said.



The campaign, which is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by the WHO and The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), is being held in Ukhiya and Teknaf, where more than half a million people have arrived from across the border since August, joining vast numbers already residing in a series of settlements and camps.



Some 900,000 doses of the vaccine have been mobilized and are being delivered by more than 200 mobile vaccination teams, making it the second largest oral cholera vaccination campaign ever, according to the UN.



WHO is committed to mobilizing its full technical and operational capacity to support the Ministry and our partners to protect, promote and secure the health of this immensely vulnerable population, he added.



After more than 10,292 cases of diarrhoea had been reported and treated from across the settlements and camps over the last week, WHO warned of the potential for a cholera outbreak.



Cholera is a dangerous disease, especially among children living in cramped, unhygienic conditions. Prevention is essential, said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.



The International Organization for Migrations (IOM) Senior Regional Medical Officer for Asia and the Pacific, Patrick Duigan, welcomed the critically important initiative, but stressed, there are still multiple and serious public health risks for this refugee population and a massive scale up of resources and the overall response is needed to mitigate further risks of life threatening illnesses.



To help meet water, sanitation and hygiene needs, UNICEF is scaling up its interventions and communication on safe practices, and prepositioning critical supplies for case management and supporting the Ministry of Health to set up diarrhoea treatment centres, among other response-oriented interventions.



Meeting the arrival surge



In parallel, against the backdrop of Bangladesh border guards saying that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land on Monday alone into south-eastern Bangladesh through several points, the Office of the High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters at on Tuesdays regular press briefing in Geneva that UNHCR is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit centre for a potential refugee influx over the coming days.



UNHCR sources say that many of the new refugees came from the Buthidaung area in Myanmars northern Rakhine state. Some said they fled torching and killings back home; one boy was seen with a big gash across his neck. Others said they left in fear ahead of anticipated violence.



To reach Bangladesh, they walked for up to 14 days. Many were carrying children and baskets containing whatever they could pack at short notice. They waded through marshland before swimming across the Naf river that divides the two countries. Many women and children could not swim and had to ride piggyback on volunteer swimmers. Some used inflated plastic bags and UNHCR tarpaulins as makeshift flotation devices.



The new arrivals have now been moved away from the border areas into established camps and settlements in the Kutupalong and Balukhali area. UNHCR has trucked in plastic sheets and jerry cans for water. We are also coordinating with the government and partners to provide urgent services  food, water and healthcare  to these new refugees, flagged Edwards.



In preparation for the possible new arrivals, UNHCRs Government counterpart, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), will lead preparedness activities with UNHCR in coordination with partners, including UNICEF, IOM, WHO and the World Food Programme (WFP).



Photo: UNICEF/Roger LeMoyne



Source: www.justearthnews.com










Mississauga, Oct 10 (IBNS): A Syrian family, who had turned out to be homeless after their Mississauga house was destroyed in a fire, found a new place as an Iranian offered them an apartment, media reports said.

On Sunday night, Alex Haditaghi, a local businessman, offered Khaled Alawad and his family an apartment free of rent for one year.

Haditaghi, an Iranian, who was also a refugee in Canada, called the Star to inform that he would help the family with an apartment.

Eventually, on Monday night, Alawad and his family met their benefactor on Sheppard avenue.

Though the apartment apparently appeared to be small for a family of five, Haditaghi promised to get it painted and cleaned by a week.

The Syrian family had become homeless after a fire struck a house and burnt completely in Mississauga on Saturday.

According to the report, the fire had struck in the house at 2 a.m. on Saturday.

Khaled Alawad, who was living in the house with his wife and three children, dialed 911 to seek help as the fire swept the entire house on Saturday midnight.

Describing the situation, Alawad told the Star: "I saw a light coming from the backyard, and I saw a big fire. I picked up my children and family and brought them outside and yelled, please help, help, fire!"

The firefighters, who came immediately to the spot, took complete five hours to extinguish the fire, which destroyed the house by then.

Though no family members received any injury, two of the firefighters sustained minor ones, who were taken to a hospital.

The police, who didn't find any evidence in the whole incident, is continuing the investigation.

"Weve gone two days without sleeping ... were very tired, Alawad earlier said.

You will find bad people and good people everywhere," he added. "I thank God that my family is safe.

The Burnhamthorpe Community Centre, following the fire break out, was opened for the family to access the washroom and serve as a rehab location.

Alawad had also created a GoFundMePage with an aim to collect at least $20,000, stating that he is new to Canada and needs help.

In an email interaction with the Star, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with all residents who are now rebuilding their lives as a result of this devastating fire.'

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)
Cause For Celebration This Native Americans Day

By Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R)

Since 1990, South Dakota has celebrated Native Americans Day. We were the first in the nation to establish Native Americans Day as an official state holiday, done at the urging of Gov. George S. Mickelson as a part of his Year of Reconciliation efforts.

A crowd of South Dakotans gathered at Crazy Horse Memorial to celebrate the states first Native Americans Day. There were prayers offered by the Keeper of the Sacred Pipe of the Sioux Nation and an Episcopalian bishop, the Sioux Anthem and Star Spangled Banner were sung, and speeches were given by Oglala Sioux Tribe President Harold Salway and Gov. Mickelson. Also at the event, Ruth Ziolkowski, the gracious hostess of the celebration, was presented with a reconciliation award.

This event was just one of the highlights of the Year of Reconciliation. Gov. Mickelson spent those months trying to form new partnerships with tribes and bridge gaps between Natives and non-Natives. He reactivated the Commission on Indian Affairs and put in the effort to work directly with individual tribes and consider each tribes unique issues and needs. Mickelson called on South Dakotans of all races to focus on areas of agreement, which led to successes in tribal tourism, health care and small business development.

Throughout my time in office, I have tried to mirror some of Gov. Mickelsons efforts. In 2011, I established the Department of Tribal Relations as a cabinet-level agency within state government. Every year, Tribal Secretary Steve Emery and I schedule tribal visits so we can meet with tribal presidents and council members to better understand the specific issues affecting each tribe.

In the last few years, Tribal Relations has worked diligently to facilitate partnerships among state agencies and the nine tribes. For instance, we have tax collection agreements with eight tribes and gaming compacts with eight tribes. In 2016 and 2017, the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks signed cooperative Memorandums of Understanding with the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe to improve communication and management of wildlife and lands. And the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has dedicated millions of dollars for the operation and maintenance of tribal drinking water systems.

In South Dakota, its Native Americans Day. SD was the first to make it an official state holiday. pic.twitter.com/5sauH1oXTv  Gov. Dennis Daugaard (@SDGovDaugaard) October 9, 2017

Legislatively, Tribal Relations holds an annual forum where tribal members are able to discuss their legislative priorities with current state legislators. I also signed a bill allowing for the exemption of elected tribal leaders from having to register as a lobbyist in order to testify or lobby for or against legislation.

On the corrections front, we have implemented a tribal parole program with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate that has been very successful. As part of the Criminal Justice Initiative of 2013, the program returns parolees to their tribal communities where family and community supports help parolees remain compliant. This joint supervision program has resulted in higher parole completion rates, fewer instances of absconding and culturally relevant support systems for parolees returning home.

Relations between the tribes and the State of South Dakota have improved over the last 27 years. Its normal to have diverse viewpoints and some disagreements, but we continue to move in a positive direction. Thats cause for celebration this Native Americans Day.

Also Today: Tim Giago: South Dakota governor remains ignorant of state's Indian history (October 9, 2017)

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The Pipeline Protest Before Standing Rock

Last years water protectors garnered worldwide attention, but several pipeline fightssuch as the Enbridge Sandpiper pipeline victorygot little public notice.

YES! Magazine

We live in an era of Trump, whose denial of climate science brings to mind a quote attributed to Louis XV: After me, the Deluge. The disdain of the Ancien Regime for change brought about the French Revolution and the end of their world. Trumps recent removal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement and his orders pushing forward both Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines makes one wonder if our present regime is capable of change or if, like the 18th century French ruling class, they cannot let go of their privilegein this case the outdated get-rich-quick schemes that drove colonization in this hemisphere.

The film First Daughter and the Black Snake shows this attitude on the baffled, even scornful, faces of Enbridge corporate representatives and Minnesota state officials during Inupiaq performance artist Allison Akootchook Wardens testimony at a pipeline scoping hearing. She dons a childs knit polar bear cap and white fur mittens to rap in a polar bear voice, There used to be so much ice. It was just really, really, really nice  Ohhhh, where did all the ice go? Where did it go? Do you know?

In her first full-length documentary, filmmaker Keri Pickett spotlights the fight that her longtime friend Winona LaDukethe internationally known Anishinaabe activist and two-time Green Party vice presidential candidateleads against the proposed Enbridge Sandpiper pipeline that threatens the lakes of wild rice that provide material and spiritual sustenance for her people on the White Earth Reservation. Before the encampment of 10,000 to 15,000 water protectors at Standing Rock garnered worldwide attention, several pipeline fights like this one, led by tribal leaders, got little public notice or coverage in the media.

After the polar bear testimony, Jamie MacAlister, a furious Minnesota state official, chastises LaDuke for insisting Warden be given time to testify. Standing over LaDuke, MacAlistera White womanlectures the Native American leader: This is not a performance art venue. I realize you perceive this all to be a giant performance art, I realize that. And if thats what it is, maybe the question is why are we even here doing any of this?

Considering that the real decision-making on the pipeline was taking place elsewhere, the bureaucrat's words held some truth. Is it all performance? When MacAlister reveals that her department has no clue about how to recognize the tribes sovereignty and right to government-to-government consultation on the pipeline, this becomes resoundingly clear.

In fact, as treaties are only entered into by sovereign nationsnot statesthe federal government should be facilitating the consultation between the Minnesota Ojibway tribes and the United States. The Sandpiper pipelines proposed pathway crosses the wild rice gathering sites on land that was ceded by the Ojibway (known in their own language as Anishinaabe), but to which the tribe asserts it retains traditional gathering and hunting rights. In the two treaties from 1837 and 1842, these usufructuary rights were explicitly mentioned. In the 1855 treaty, they are not. Despite this, the Minnesota v. Mille Lacs (1999) U.S. Supreme Court decision found in favor of the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa (another name used for the Ojibway) and their rights to hunt and fish. In the film, Ojibway tribal members try to challenge state jurisdiction and invoke those treaty rights.

The film shows the fight against the pipeline through the activism of LaDuke, the First Daughter of the title. In the film, the name is said to be Ojibway. However, it is borrowed from the Dakota/Lakota language, in which every child has a standard name based on birth order. Some focus is on LaDukes life story, including an interview with her mother, Betty LaDuke, a White Jewish woman who describes how she first met Winonas half-Anishinaabe father, Vincent LaDuke, in New York City. Winona was born in Los Angeles, where her father worked as an extra playing Indian roles in Hollywood films.

When the couple divorced, Betty LaDuke moved with young Winona to Oregon, where she became an accomplished artist and college professor. Oddly enough, the film fails to mention Vincent LaDukes controversial activities after the divorce: Using his Anishinaabe name, Sun Bear, he started his own tribe, the Bear Tribe. His 1980 book, The Medicine Wheel: Earth Astrology , was a take on Native American culture that made him a leader in the then-flourishing New Age movement, a role that the American Indian Movement and the National Indian Youth Council denounced.

In the film, LaDuke recounts how her proud father once visited her at Harvard and told her, Youre a smart young woman, but I dont want to hear your philosophy unless you can grow corn. The words made a deep impact on her, and some of the most gorgeous scenes in the film are of LaDuke and her family and staff planting and harvesting heritage corn varieties and collecting rice in canoes gliding silently through stunning blue lakes.

Lovely scenes of LaDuke with her children and grandchildren in a beautiful two-story lakeside home in an idyllic setting contrast with the grittier depictions of poverty and gang life on the White Earth reservation seen in 2015s The Seventh Fire, co-produced by Terrence Malick, Natalie Portman, and Chris Eyre. Poverty and the despair it brings to the communities LaDuke serves is never shown in First Daughter and the Black Snake. Neither is LaDukes third-place finish for tribal chair, a race that was ongoing during filming. These are missed opportunities for insights into tribal and reservation life and how a small community feels about its most famous resident.

In The Seventh Fire, Kevin Fineday, a teenager from the reservation town of Pine Point, says, No ones gonna come around here thinking they can change this neighborhood. Its always going to be the same. Thats the way it is around here. I was raised doing all of this stuffdrugs, violenceand its become a natural part of my life. Most likely its going to be worse. At a White House screening of the film, both Fineday and Rob Brown, a now-reformed drug dealer and gang leader featured in the film, told the audience they had to leave the reservation to change their lives for the better.

THE JUST TRANSITION ISSUE Issue 83 Fall 2017 The transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy is underway. Thats good news for the planet as well as the disadvantaged communities that bear an outsized burden of the extractive economy. As we make this transition, now is the moment to make sure the emerging economic system addresses the injustices of the old. Our fall 2017 issue looks at specific paths toward a just transitionone built on inclusivity and equity.

This is the same community where First Daughter shows LaDuke installing seven solar panels, and where she established a healthy Native food program at the local school. How could two such different depictions of early 21st-century Ojibway life be made? While Picketts film underscores many scenes with world music (most by Nahko and Medicine for the People) and the plaintive sounds of the Native American flute, in The Seventh Fire, the young people of Pine Point are listening to rap, not about polar bears, but of OG breaking down their reality: This is the real, the real cocaine crack sh-t, that killer smack sh-t.

In the end, Enbridge canceled the Sandpiper pipeline. The film notes this happened a day after the fourth annual Ride Against the Current of Oil, organized by LaDuke to fulfill a vision she had of horses crushing the Black Snake (the pipeline) with their medicine power. In a strange and tragic development, Michael Dahl, who is prominently seen on the rides in an otter fur hat and identified as an Anishinaabe traditional wild-rice harvester, was charged recently with felony neglect of horses from the ride that were found starved to death in January. In a recent interview, LaDuke announced plans to continue the rides in the fight against the proposed rerouting of Line 3, which follows the same pathway as Sandpiper.

In The Seventh Fire, Brown says, Tradition is drinking or gamblingthats a tradition. A long time ago, culture was a tradition. In contrast, LaDuke is coming from a more hopeful place, as described in her view of traditional self-sufficiency: Creator gives us this good life where you can get sugar from a tree and you can get food from the water.

LaDuke, raised by two college professors in a White college town, comes from a place very different from Fineday and Brown: a place of safety and security where anything is possible. When will the children in Pine Point have that sense of safety and security? Is this achievable in any Ojibway leaders lifetime? The film gives the appearance that the Sandpiper fight didnt garner widespread community support like Standing Rock, but this is never explored.

Public information hearings for Enbridge 3 began in June, with evidentiary hearings scheduled for autumn. Obviously, the fight to save the wild rice gathering beds from pipelines and climate change cannot wait for the Ojibway children to be healed from the trauma of poverty and colonization. What could have been explored in the film was how Ojibway people, coming from many different experiences, are reconstituting themselves like the Dakota/Lakota people of Standing Rock, and how their differing experiences affect the gifts they bring back to the circle, to the people. What first daughter LaDuke brings to it requires a full tribal and familial context to fully appreciate.

Jacqueline Keeler wrote this article for Just Transition , the Summer 2017 issue of YES! Magazine . Jacqueline is Dine/Ihanktonwan Dakota and editor of The Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears

This article originally appeared on YES! Magazine . It is published under a Creative Commons license

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The Narragansett Tribe didn't just surprise its own citizens by agreeing to supply water to a controversial power plant.

Officials in the town of Charlestown said they haven't been informed by anyone about the tribe's deal. The agreement calls for water to be trucked from the reservation to the Clear River Energy Center , about 45 miles away.

Theyre planning to take a lot of water and its the sole source aquifer for this whole region including public water supplies in Westerly and South Kingstown and Narragansett, Virginia Lee the president of the town council, told The Westerly Sun. It affects a lot of towns potentially, but we dont know, we dont have any information, we havent seen the contract, we know absolutely nothing other than whats been in the papers.

Tribal citizens also found out about the deal through the Rhode Island media. They said it was never brought up to a vote of the people, as required by the Narragansett constitution.

John Brown, the tribe's medicine man, has defended the agreement with Invenergy Thermal Development LLC , saying it will provide revenues to the community. According to The Sun, the tribe will get paid whether or not its water is used for the gas-fired power plant. Neither Brown nor Invenergy have said how much the tribe will receive.

The $1 billion project requires state approval. A public hearing is taking place in Burrillville, the site of the proposed plant, on Tuesday evening.

Read More on the Story: Town blindsided by tribal deal; Water agreement for power plant on Charlestown agenda (The Westerly Sun October 20, 2017)

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It looks like a long-running lease dispute between the Colorado River Indian Tribes and a non-Indian tenant is finally over.

Without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition in French v. Starr . The action, which came in an order list on Tuesday, clears the way for Roger French to be evicted from the reservation.

French, who is part of a group called the West Bank Homeowners Association , entered into a lease with the tribe in 1983. The permit required him to submit to the tribe's judicial system whenever disputes, such as evictions, arise.

French tried to get out of the arrangement by claiming the lot he was leasing was not part of the reservation. But the federal courts ruled that he was prevented from raising that issue because he paid rent without question for the first 10 years.

"Both the permit and the assignment of that permit to French described the lot in question as within the Colorado River Indian Reservation," the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a short memorandum in June. "French paid rent pursuant to the permit, first to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the benefit of CRIT and then directly to CRIT, from 1983 through 1993."

"French is therefore estopped from contesting CRITs title," the court concluded, citing a legal doctrine that bars French from making a claim that contradicts his prior acceptance of the lot as falling within reservation boundaries.

French hasn't paid rent since 1993 so the tribe started eviction proceedings in its judicial system. Before he could be removed, he filed a lawsuit in federal court, naming the tribe's judge and other tribal judicial officials as defendants.

Like other non-Indians on the reservation, French hoped he could convince the court to declare that certain lands on the California side of the Colorado River are not part of the reservation. The state's former attorney general Kamala Harris , who is now serving in the U.S. Senate , even submitted a brief in support of that claim.

But the judge who heard the lawsuit said French was estopped from raising the boundary issue based on the conditions he accepted in the original lease. For that reason, the court refused to accept the brief submitted by Harris.

President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order on March 3, 1865 that set aside a homeland for the Mohave people along the Colorado River in Arizona and California. Subsequent actions brought the Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo peoples to the reservation, resulting in the unique community seen today.

Over the years, the shifting course of the Colorado River has led to disputes with non-Indians over the boundaries of the reservation. The tribe and the federal government have consistently prevailed in litigation although some holdouts continue to believe the matter hasn't been settled.

"We are hopeful that SCOTUS will hear the case to prevent further harm to West Bank residents, reestablish our constitutional rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments, and bring an end to the legal abomination that exists on the west bank of the Colorado River," French's association wrote on its website after the petition was filed.

In a similar case, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in April upheld the termination of a lease on the reservation after the non-Indian tenant stopped paying rent to the tribe even as he entered his 90s. He died before the disputed was fully resolved.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision: French v. Starr (June 1, 2017)

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Its taken some time, but Microsofts $26 billion purchase of LinkedIn is finally starting to show some interesting results, with LinkedIn data starting to show up in tools like Outlook. Its the first sign of Microsoft using the social networks relationship graph, the complex data set that was the reason for one of Microsofts biggest Silicon Valley acquisitions.

Under the hood, a social network like LinkedIn is nothing more than a huge NoSQL graph database, using a schema-less approach to managing semistructured data. Each node in the graph is an individual, with all his or her profile data. Each node is linked to others, tens or hundreds for people with a few connections, thousands for highly connected individuals. Queries traverse those connections, letting you find all the people you know working on AI, or who are based in Ontario, or who used to work at LinkedIn.

[ Working with data in the cloud requires new thinking. InfoWorld shows you the way: How Cosmos DB ensures data consistency in the global cloud. | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorlds Cloud Computing Report newsletter. ]

Graph databases everywhere: Microsoft Graph, Common Data Service, Cosmos DB, and Security Graph

Microsofts interest in graph-based data is clear. CEO Satya Nadella described the Office 365 APIs, the foundation of whats now called the Microsoft Graph, as the companys most important bet. Its certainly a very powerful tool, and opening it up to everyone lets organizations explore how their internal teams evolve and how corporate knowledge is stored in documents and conversations  along with the tools to expose that information and making it usable.

Theres a lot of data in the Microsoft Graph, with tools both for consumer information and for business information. Elements associated with Microsoft accounts, like the new Activity Stream and the Device Graph, are the basis for device-roaming features like the Continue on My PC tools recently released for iOS and Android (similar to Apples iCloud account-based Handoff capability in iOS), and which Microsoft is encouraging Universal Window Platform (UWP) developers to build into their code as part of Project Rome and the upcoming Windows Timeline feature.

But the Microsoft Graph and LinkedIn arent Microsofts only graphs with APIs:

Dynamics 365 has the Common Data Service, a way of describing standard items in a business. With the Common Data Service, you can extend a standard schema with your model of a customer or your products.

Then theres the cloud-spanning Cosmos DB, which builds on a JSON document database with different API sets, including one for developing and managing your own graph databases at scale.

Although not completely public, Microsofts Security Graph is used to assess and manage threats, exposed to your apps through tools like Azure Active Directorys conditional-access feature.

Microsofts different approach: Querying multiple graphs

Where things get interesting is using graph queries across multiple graphs and using them to extract insights that can help drive business decisions. Ive often talked about the idea of right-time information: the right information at the right time delivered to the right people so they can make the right decision for the right business outcome. Being able to query the edges of a graph, rather than on the node, lets you understand the relationships between items, a key factor in delivering the type of information support a modern business needs.

By supporting multiple graphs, Microsoft is offering an alternative to traditional database-driven decision-support tools. By mixing internal staff and document data on the Microsoft Graph, external relationships via LinkedIn, core business information in the Dynamics 365 Common Data Service, and custom schema in the cloud-hosted Cosmos DB, you can make complex cross-graph queries focusing on not just than individual nodes in those graphs but also on the links between nodes. That lets you work with much more complex relationships than those exposed in relational databases.

One way this being exposed is in the new Bing for Business tool that adds information from a corporate Active Directory and other sources to Bing searches when a user is logged in to an Azure Active Directory account. Results are dynamically generated from Microsoft Graph queries that return details of, for example, where someone is in the organization chart, along with related content from the wider web and from documents theyve shared internally.

Its a different way of exposing the information thats been available inside Microsofts Delve tool, taking it from an application that had to be launched before you could make a query to the browser thats always open. As an industry, weve baked search into the browser, so its logical to make it one of the tools we use to explore the graphs that underlie our businesses.

The initial release of Bing for Business focuses on the Microsoft Graph, along with tools that let administrators add specific intranet links for specific queries. So, when you search for the current expense policy, youre directed to the appropriate self-service tools. Future releases will bring in more of Microsofts graphs, locking down searches based conditional-access feature and exposing external relationships via LinkedIn.

The Microsoft graphs flaw: They use different query grammars

Although the overall vision for Microsofts various graph-based properties is starting to come clear, there are still some issues with querying across multiple sources. Although they all offer REST APIs, the underlying query languages can differ. For example, the Microsoft Graph uses its own query grammar in its APIs, while CosmosDB builds on the widely used Apache Gremlin graph query language.

API-based queries tend be relatively simple, focused on specific searches. More complex queries tend to be handled using domain-specific languages like Gremlin that are designed for use with graph databases. One of Gremlins more interesting features is its ability to generate new maps from the underlying data that you can parse and use in your applications. Gremlin can also handle pattern matching, as well as working with large-scale data analytic tools such as Hadoop; so you can use it to deliver queries from Azures HDInsight big data tool alongside your Cosmos DB-hosted graphs.

If were to get the benefit of all the various Microsoft graph properties, were going to need a common query platform that can take queries and fan them out across various sources, asynchronously handling responses and ensuring that the queries are appropriately constructed to target specific APIs.

You could build your own multigraph query engine, but this really is something Microsoft needs to deliver, perhaps as an Azure service. That way, it can be integrated with existing subscriptions and with familiar authentication methods, either for users or for apps.
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Burma Central Govt Infringing Administration of KNU Regions, Say Leaders

Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo (left) with Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win (center) at the Karen Martyr Day ceremony in August 2017 at the headquarter of Karen National Union.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  Karen National Union (KNU) leaders have urged the government to consider the administration of areas controlled by the ethnic armed group as outlined in the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) signed two years ago.

KNU-controlled territory is comprised of seven districts in the Kawthoolei territory, including in Karen State, parts of Mon state, and parts of Bago, Irrawaddy and Tanintharyi regionseach with their own administrative mechanisms which often overlap with the central government.

Since bilateral ceasefires were signed in 2012, KNU-controlled areas have seen less conflict but still face administrative problems which should be addressed in accordance with the NCAs interim program for controlled regions KNU spokesman and general secretary Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

The implementation of the interim program is a challenge for us, because it is not yet being implemented despite the fact it is in the NCA text, explained Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo.

He said the KNUs 14 administrative departmentsincluding education, healthcare, and social welfarewere conflicting with the central governments administration in some areas.

While our administration departments are working, there has been complaints to the joint ceasefire monitoring committee accusing us of violating the NCA. Because of that, we need solutions through the interim management, the general secretary said.

The NCAs interim program included information on how to collaborate with the government on administrative affairs and environmental protection, he said.

Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo said the interim management of these areas was one of the two key issues discussed during an urgent four-day meeting of the KNUs Central Standing Committee held in Lay Wah last week.

The meeting was the first urgent gathering of standing committee members since the KNUs 16th Congress in March. Another key issue discussed was reviewing the peace process and how to proceed.

KNU leaders also discussed developmental projects and national parks and forest reserves in their territories.

A statement released on Oct. 7 said Karen leaders decided to delay allowing investment in development projects which may impact local communities and the environment as there are currently no specific laws and regulations in place to protect from effects of such project.

One of the challenges the group is now facing is the case of environmental preservation, said Mahn Ba Tun, head of the KNUs forestry department.

He explained that neither the KNU nor local residents were informed of central government efforts to extend the forest reserves and the national parks along the border with Thailand and Tanintharyi Region in 2015.

The central government in Naypyitaw has also allowed international non-governmental organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature Myanmar (WWF) and Fauna and Flora International (FFI) to study the areas without the consent of KNU, said KNU leaders.

In November last year the KNU signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Wide Fund for Nature Myanmar (WWF) to protect the forest in KNU-controlled territories.

Government efforts to set national parks and forest reserves in KNU Brigade No.4 area [in the Myeik-Dawei area of Tanintharyi Region] has caused obstacles for the current peace building process, the KNU statement released last week said, we will protect our forests based on our policies.

We have been protecting our forests and our wild animals and we will uphold our forest policy and regulations on further forests preservation and protection, Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo told The Irrawaddy, adding that they had begun awareness programs with locals to protect wildlife and timber forest reserves.
Burma China Eyes Mon State Investment

Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang meets the Mon State chief minister and other state ministers. / The Irrawaddy

MAWLAMYINE, Mon State  Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang indicated his country is considering investment in Mon State during a meeting with the state government on Friday.

According to the Chinese ambassador, investors are interested in rubber products manufacturing, fruit cultivation and the tourism sector, said Mon State minister for natural resources and environmental conservation Dr. Min Kyi Win, who was present at the meeting.

The Chinese ambassador thinks Mon State has good potential for economic development and suggested Chinese investment in Mon State. And weve welcomed his suggestion, Dr. Min Kyi Win told The Irrawaddy.

Thailand is the biggest investor in Mon State, with Thai petroleum firm PTTEP investing US$2.146 billion in an offshore gas field in the Gulf of Martabanthe largest investment among 18 international investors in Myanmars energy sector as well as the largest foreign investment in the state.

Thailands $414 million Mawlamyine Cement Limited (MCL) cement plant is also the largest investment in Mon States industrial sector.

The Chinese ambassadors visit to the area is the first on its kind under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

The ambassador said China is interested in importing fruits from Mon State, especially pomelo, pomelo juice and dried pomelo, said Daw San Wint Khaing, the Pa-O ethnic affairs minister for Mon State.

What we want is a market economy rather than their investment. We have to try to build a sellers market rather than a buyers market, she said.

The 15-member Chinese diplomat delegation led by Hong Liang met Mon State chief minister Dr. Aye Zan and other ministers. The Chinese ambassador also invited the chief minister to visit China, according to ministers.

In early 2017, Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) issued an announcement for the establishment of investment commissions at region and state levels.

According to the instruction, region and state governments are authorized to decide on investment proposals of less than $5 million for their areas but have to seek MIC approval for investments of more than $5 million.

Investment commissions at region and state levels have seven members, headed by chief ministers. Staff officers of relevant investment and company administration boards act as secretary, and five ministers as members.

Mon State received more than $5.433 billion in foreign investment from 1994 to the end of 2016, according to records of the Mon State Directorate of Investment and Company.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Segregation Fans Fears of Fresh Cleansing in Rakhine

People displaced by violence walk with their belongings, while moving to another village, in Maungdaw, Rakhine state, Myanmar September 12, 2017. / Stringer / Reuters

MYEBON, Rakhine State  Buddhist villagers in relatively peaceful parts of Myanmars Rakhine State are enforcing a system of local apartheid that punishes people trading with minority Muslims, fueling fears that violence in the far northwest could spread to new areas.

Ethnic Arakanese, who form the majority in central parts of the state, have set up committees in several districts that have meted out sanctions ranging from fines to public beatings and expulsions. They say the measures are necessary to protect their communities from self-identifying Rohingya Muslim militants.

Muslim residents say they are being cut off from essential supplies and accuse authorities of turning a blind eye. Aid workers fear thousands will attempt to escape via perilous sea routes to Thailand and Malaysia when the monsoon rains abate.

About 250,000 Muslims live in central Rakhine, an area not directly affected by a military offensive against militants who attacked security forces in the northern part of the state in late August. The army operation has forced more than half a million people to flee to Bangladesh, in what the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing.

In the current situation, its not possible for different communities to live together, said Ashin Saromani, a Buddhist monk in the central Rakhine town of Myebon, where one such committee was set up at a meeting in a monastery four days after the Aug. 25 militant attacks in the north.

The government cant reconcile them. Thats why we prohibited communication with the Muslims, to prevent conflict.

Rakhine State government spokesman Min Aung said he was not aware of efforts to punish Buddhists who had contact with Muslims. He said he thought tensions could best be eased by interfaith community groups.

Other states and regions have interfaith groups working for peace. In Rakhine theres no group like that, he said.

Tension between ethnic Arakanese and Muslims have simmered for years. Nearly 200 people were killed and 140,000 displaced in communal violence in the state in 2012.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the violence seen in the north of the state could easily spread.

The failure to address this systematic violence could result in a spillover into central Rakhine, where an additional 250,000 Muslims could potentially face displacement, said Guterres in a recent speech. They are outnumbered by Rakhine communities, some of whom have engaged in violent acts of vigilantism against their Muslim neighbors.

National Traitor

In Myebon, about 3,000 Muslims have been confined to a camp for displaced people since the 2012 violence, surrounded by tens of thousands of hostile Arakanese Buddhists. They have relied on aid from international agencies and fishing, supplemented by a small amount of trade in the town.

Since late August, loudspeakers mounted on tricycle rickshaws have rolled around the town, blaring messages from local monks and Arakanese community leaders exhorting Buddhists to avoid contact with Muslims.

One Arakanese woman who ignored the warnings, 35-year-old Soe Chay, told Reuters she was surrounded by a mob on Sept. 12 after buying goods at a market to sell to Muslims.

They beat her, cut her hair and marched through the town with a sign reading national traitor hung around her neck.

Kyaw Swar Tun, deputy director of the Rakhine General Administration Department (GAD) that oversees the local bureaucracy, said the case was an individual problem that was already being dealt with by the courts.

Two women and a man have been charged with assault on Soe Chay. The two women were members of the Arakan Womens Network in Myebon, which denied taking part in the attack.

People got angry because they dont have a nationalist spirit, even though they know that 30 police stations were attacked and locals from Maungdaw were beheaded, said Khin Thein, leader of the network in the town, describing the incident. He was referring to the Aug. 25 attacks, which concentrated in northern Rakhines Maungdaw Township.

Buddhist community leaders in Myebon have also blocked international aid agencies from reaching the camp, saying only the government can deliver aid, which must be checked by Buddhists.

We are concerned that if we dont check that boat of the NGOs communicating directly with the Bengalis, they might include weapons together with the aid, said Ashin Saromani. Bengali is a derogatory term for the self-identifying Rohingya implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

Similar community-enforced restrictions on aid have been in place elsewhere in Rakhine, according to aid workers.

Fear of Revenge

Anti-Muslim sentiment has been bubbling up elsewhere in mostly Buddhist Myanmar since the conflict erupted in Rakhine.

Police had to disperse a mob that attacked Muslim homes and businesses in the central Magwe division on Sept. 10.

In Kayin State in the east, Muslims were told last month they must get special permission from authorities before travelling outside of their villages, because of security concerns.

Closer to the conflict zone, Muslim villagers in Rathedaung Township say they have been directly pressured to leave by their Arakanese neighbors.

In Ku Taung village, near the besieged Muslim villages, a group of 46 Arakanese Buddhist elders has formed a disciplinary committee.

They have fined Buddhists as much as 500,000 kyat (US$370) for infractions including selling betel leaves to Muslims, according to farmer Tun Thar Sein.

Some Rakhine villages have set up security teams to protect against the spread of militancy. In Mrauk-U and Minbya, an area that saw several unexplained explosions last month, residents said Muslims were no longer allowed into Arakanese villages.

Kyaw Swar Tun, the local administrator, said authorities would deal with any cases brought to them according to the law, but was not aware of any such problems in central Rakhine.

Back in the Myebon camp for displaced people, Muslims say they will have to move away.

Its not possible for us to go back and stay together in Myebon because the Rakhine who destroyed our homes will be afraid to face us, said Cho Cho, a Muslim resident. They fear that Muslims will take revenge.
Guest Column India Chooses Security Over Compassion in Rakhine Crisis

Members of Hindu Sena, a right wing Hindu group, hold placards as they shout slogans during a protest demanding deportation of Rohingya refugees from India, in New Delhi, India, September 11, 2017. / Adnan Abidi / Reuters

Indias position on its community of self-identifying Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State has come under severe criticism from international organizations. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein accused India of lacking basic human compassion, in seeking to deport the refugees. Indias UN representative in Geneva termed the comments tendentious judgment based on selective and even inaccurate reports which do not further the understanding of human rights in any society.

Out of this mud slinging comes no clear winner, but the more worthwhile question of why India is displaying such rigidness on accommodating the self-identifying Rohingya. Why the sudden alarm, when the community has been living in the country for years?

Much debate has taken place over whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government under Narendra Modi is averse to providing asylum to Muslims, given that many in the right-wing party and its ideological fountainhead the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been called anti-Islamic.

But an anti-Muslim agenda would have seen the BJP opening post-1971 Bangladesh war files and attempting to deport many Muslim refugees from among the near 10 million people of various religious groups that came across to India. Deciphering the Indian governments position calls for a more rational examination of the factors at play.

Security Concern

Jihadi outfits with alleged connections to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) top the list of Indias worries about its population of self-identifying Rohingya.

The rise of the erstwhile Harakah al-Yakinnow calling itself ARSAhas seemingly rattled intelligence agencies in India, Bangladesh and other parts of the region.

Unlike the predominately Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, or Thailand, which often prefers to be a silent spectator, perhaps to conceal its own human rights record, India is voicing its many concerns.

Intelligence agency reports in India and Bangladesh reveal systematic efforts are underway to strengthen the Rohingya militant groups with more trained men and money.

Some would argue that reports of Rohingya militant groups associating with jihadi outfits in Pakistan and receiving funds from Islamic groups in Saudi Arabia are bereft of evidence. Even if that were the case, India could not ignore the blatant display of support for ARSA by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al Queda, and other Islamic groups.

Many international organizations and perhaps also a number of news outlets have chosen to ignore these messages of support from terrorist groups and instead speak of ARSAs rudimentary arms. India cannot afford to be as foolhardy and allow a Syria-like situation in the region.

Several longtime experts on Myanmar have cast doubt on the rag-tag nature of ARSA, deeming it a group guided by a calculated strategy executed to near perfection. Independent political analyst Richard Horsey who works with the International Crisis Group tweeted on Sept. 30 that ARSA is murderous and willing to sacrifice entire Rohingya population for a dubious political objective.

Horsey added that ARSAs clothing and weapons may be rag-tag but definitely not in relation to their objectives and impact: sophisticated & brutal.

Terrorism Network

Indian intelligence agencies have been working around the clock to piece together an ARSA terrorist network and authenticate claims the group has deep support from transnational jihadi outfits by various experts. Links between ARSA and other terrorist groups in Pakistan, and possibly in Afghanistan and Iraq have been reported. However, the modus operandi of ARSA vis-a-vis its terror network is not yet clear.

One name doing the rounds in intelligence agency reports as well as Indian media is that of Abdus Qadoos Burmi, a Pakistani of Rohingya origin based in Karachi who allegedly has links with LeT and received patronage from Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistani Islamist behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Burmi has been identified as the head of Islamic fundamentalist organization Harkat ul Jihad al-Islami-Arakan (HUJI-K) and has been instrumental in creating international support for ARSA and other groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front of the LeT in Bangladesh.

Sources in India and Bangladesh intelligence speaking on condition of anonymity shared some precise information which claim that JuD has spearheaded training for ARSA, instructing fighters on how to produce improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and strategizing with the groups leaders. JuD enjoys backing from the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan and is known to have deep resources in Bangladesh, its primary entry point to Myanmar.

Indian intelligence agencies believe that the JuD has a presence in refugee camps in Coxs Bazar along the Naf River although it is unclear whether JuD is involved in recruiting or training men from these camps. In India, the home affairs ministry has cautioned that illegal Rohingya immigrants from Rakhine are vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist groups.

Liaising for the training of ARSA began as early as 2008, with Burmi leading the activities under the banner of Aqa Mul Mujahideen (AMM). Intelligence agency reports have also linked Burmi to terrorist activities in Kashmir. Indian security agencies suspect others from Rakhine of being involved in nefarious undertakings in Kashmir.

For instance, intelligence agencies identified Chota Burmi, a member of Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who was killed in a clash in 2015, as a Rohingya from Rakhine.

As for ARSA leader Ata Ullah, there are ample reports that have appeared in almost all forms of news media, both within and outside Myanmar, which suggest that he was born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia, and formed the outfit after the 2012 riots between self-identifying Rohingya and Arakanese. Indian intelligence officials are of the view that ARSA has been working in close coordination with AMM, which is now led by Havistoohar, who reportedly underwent six months training by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Members of the Border Security Force (BSF) in India told this writer that they are sharing regular information with both Myanmar and Bangladesh security forces about suspected ARSA involvement in smuggling weapons to Rakhine with the help of different groups. BSF officials did not elaborate on who these groups could be.

Recently, Australian National University Associate Professor Greg Fealy was quoted by ABC radio as saying weapons can come through broader Islamists network, and that militants in Bangladesh could provide the weapons to the Rohingyas. It remains to be seen if ARSA is actually involved in smuggling weapons or a wider network used to transfer arms and ammunitions to Teknaf in Cox Bazar and into parts of northern Rakhine.

Al-Qaeda and ARSA

In its recent broadcast, Evidence of a link between Rohingya militants and jihadist groups, ABC Radio claimed Al-Qaeda is attempting to forge links with ARSA. Indeed, Al-Qaeda called on Muslims around the world to send weapons to the self-identifying Rohingya in Myanmar.

Al-Qaeda offshoot Ansar Ghazwat Ul Hind in Kashmir has been actively campaigning for the self-identifying Rohingya in India. Its leader Zakir Musa has warned Prime Minister Modi to stop any plans to deport the refugees from India.

The Kashmir Factor

The unprecedented support that the self-identifying Rohingya has received from separatist groups in Kashmir has certainly not gone down well with New Delhi.

Recently, Kashmir separatist leaders marched against the persecution of the Muslims in northern Rakhine. The separatists, however, did not condemn reports of killings of other minority groups like the Hindus and Mros at the hands of ARSA.

Many would say the Indian governments plan to deport the refugees is reasonable given its internal security situation. In response to the UN human rights chiefs claim that India and Pakistan had not engaged with his office on human rights concerns in Kashmir, India representative to the UN Rajiv Chander said, It is a matter of regret that the central role of terrorism is once again being overlooked. Assessments of human rights should not be a matter of political convenience.

Internationally designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed is suspected to have made attempts to recruit young Rohingya refugees in relief camps in Indonesia, on the pretext of providing them relief, into the LeT and send them to Kashmir.

While the threat of the militant Islamic movement cannot be used to legitimize military brutality, we also cannot lose sight of the fact that the militant Islamic movement has been troubling the region. This is exactly what New Delhi has been telling the world. The intellectual community in India has aired similar feelings.

Brahma Chellaney, a professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, in a recent article titled Myanmars Jihadi Curse, which appeared in the online portal Project Syndicate argued that the external forces fomenting insurgent attacks in Rakhine bear considerable responsibility for the Rohingyas current plight.

Chellaney, the author of nine books including Asian Juggernaut, notes the links between Rohingya militants and such external forces, especially terrorist organizations like ISIS, that have driven the government of India, where some 40,000 Rohingya have settled illegally, to declare that their entry poses a serious security threat.

Even Bangladesh acknowledges Rohingya militants external jihadi connections, he adds, in a possible attempt to vindicate the Indian governments stance on the issue.

Therefore, given the complexity of the issue, faulting Aung San Suu Kyi for drawing similarities between security issues in Myanmar and India would not be right. She argued that it has become difficult to sift militants from innocent civilians, as is the case in Kashmir. Perhaps leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi, Bangladeshs Sheik Hasina and Indias Modi realize how vulnerable their socio-political landscape is in the face of growing religious fundamentalism.

Rising Radicalization

The main Islamic political party in Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Islami, is officially banned, but it enjoys significant support in a country which has been angered by the treatment of Muslims in Rakhine. A change of guard in Bangladesh could well see the rise of Jamaat-e-Islami once again, meaning a possible increase in the radicalization of the region.

New Delhis recent display of seriousness in dealing with the exodus of self-identifying Rohingya is palpable. In the last week several key initiatives were adopted to ensure there is no attempt to push more of the refugees into northeastern India. None of the eight states in the area can afford more anti-foreigner movements, such as one of the 1980s that left the region reeling from communal violence and subsequent insurgencies.

Indias defense secretary Ashok Kumar Gupta visited the Indian-Myanmar border township Moreh on Oct. 3 in what was described by local media as a move to assess the law and order situation in the area in the wake of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Manipur shares a 398-kilometer border with Myanmar. Even though these areas are hilly and far from northern Rakhine, it appears that both the central and the state government of Manipur do not want to take any chances.

The visit by the Indian government official follows the decision to open two immigration checkpoints in Mizoram state along its borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh (Zorinpui checkpost in Lawngtlai district) and Bangladesh (Kawrpuichhuah checkpost in Lunglei district). In addition, the Indian government has beefed up its security along the India-Bangladesh land and riverine borders along West Bengal and Assam.

Indeed, the exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh and other parts of the region has turned into a sprawling humanitarian crisis. But it also has the potential of destabilizing the region, especially with the growing support for ARSA.

Bidhayak Das is a former journalist who has spent over a decade working on promoting democracy in Myanmar. He is currently working as an independent consultant on elections, media and communications.
Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017 (8:49 am) - Score 1,011

The telecoms regulator has today given Inmarsats plan to improve broadband connectivity on-board aircraft a boost by granting them a wireless telegraphy licence for ground based stations using the 2GHz band, which forms part of its Satellite based European Aviation Network (EAN).

The regulators decision supports a change in the use of spectrum (frequency bands 1980  1995MHz and 2170  2185MHz) with respect to Inmarsats complementary ground-based network (CGC), which will make use of both its Satellites and ground-based DA2G links to the aircraft. The effort has won support from British Airways (BA) and other airlines, which will use it to support faster in-flight WiFi.

Inmarsat plans to use the 1980  1995MHz frequency band (Mobile Satellite Services uplink band) for Satellite Terminal-to-satellite and for Ground-facing Terminal to Ground-based Station transmission. On the other side it plans to use the 2170  2185MHz band (MSS downlink band) for satellite-to-Satellite Terminal and for Ground-based Station to Ground-facing Terminal transmission.

However the EAN has also attracted competition complaints from rival Satellite operator ViaSat, which earlier this year accused Inmarsat of misusing spectrum and gaining an unfair competitive advantage by creating a monopoly for European in-flight connectivity (here).

Similarly Ofcom received representations which argued that Inmarsats EAN was not consistent with the EU legal framework on the basis that its ground-based stations did not fall within the definition of CGCs. In the end the regulator said it was satisfied that the ground-based stations would constitute CGCs, as defined in the EU Decision and the related Regulations.

Regulators Statement Based on the information provided by Inmarsat, Ofcom is satisfied that (if the EAN is implemented in the way described by Inmarsat) the ground-based stations will constitute CGCs as defined in the EU Decision and the Regulations; and will comply with the applicable common conditions. Ofcom has therefore decided to grant Inmarsat an authorisation to transmit on the Frequency Bands using the ground-based stations, pursuant to section 8 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (WTA). This authorisation will be issued shortly.

Back in March Inmarsat told ISPreview.co.uk that they were on track to make the new EAN operational during H2 2017 and this appears to be progressing. When completed, the Terrestrial Segment of Inmarsats EAN will comprise around 300 Ground-based Stations across Europe. Each of the Ground-based Stations has a range of 80-150km.

As at June 2017, some 41 sites had already been completed and Inmarsat was at the time estimating that the majority of their Ground-based Stations would be completed by 30th September 2017. A date is also given for when all Ground-based Stations would be in place but curiously Ofcom has chosen to redact that information.

However it is noted that some aspects of the new EAN arent quite ready yet. For example, the Compact S-Band Mobile Satellite Service (CSM Satellite Terminal) wont be commercially available until the end of December 2017 and the separate Cobham Satellite Terminal is expected to complete its aviation safety certification by March 2018. Mind you the EAN can technically be provided without the Satellite Terminal but to get the best coverage you need both the Satellite and ground side of the network.
Tuesday, Oct 10th, 2017 (10:52 am) - Score 1,343

SSE Enterprise Telecoms has scooped the 1Gbps fibre optic broadband network delivery contract for the 800m Countesswells Development in Scotland, which will create a new town with 3,000 homes and various spaces for business / schools near to Aberdeen.

One of the developments aims is to be the first community in Scotland to provide residents with access to a hyperfast 1Gbps broadband (FTTP/H) service, which will be supplied by local ISP Grain. Prices are expected to range from 24.95 per month for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric) package, with free UK evening + weekend calls, and rise to 59.95 for the top 1000Mbps tier (setup is free on all packages).

The plan was announced earlier this year and since then Grain has been running a competitive tender to find a network partner that had a strong enough national fibre backbone, which is needed to help support the networks high broadband speeds.

Rich Robinson, Managing Director of Grain, said: SSE Enterprise Telecoms reputation for reliability and service delivery were important factors in our decision, but equally important was its expansive network reach. We are thrilled to be able to offer Countesswells residents access to the countrys latest and most advanced communications technology. Together with SSE Enterprise Telecoms we are establishing a true fibre community network to Countesswells, delivering direct connections from the internet to the router in each property, ensuring absolutely no congestion is experienced at peak times.

Mike Magee, Director of Service Solutions at SSE, said: As the development progresses over the next 15 years, the fibre network will be available for all new residents as they move into their homes, ensuring they benefit from hyperfast broadband and a crystal-clear fibre connection from day one. Were glad to be able to use our expertise and growing network to work with Grain to offer cutting-edge connectivity.

One disadvantage of such networks is that customers will only be able to take their service from a single ISP, which will leave them with nowhere else to turn if something goes wrong. However its always possible that rivals may deploy into the same area with time and meanwhile the price looks like very good value for money, so long as the service quality is maintained.

Meanwhile the Countesswells community is already starting to take shape; with the major new infrastructure well underway, extensive tree planting and landscaping undertaken and 100 of the new homes already built and new residents moving in.
Remember Amazon's store in the US where you grab your stuff, walk out and the Amazon app automatically charges you? Invisible payments and other connected tech is coming and will grow big.

The latest research from the gurus at Juniper note that "Amazon Go and other invisible payment technologies, aimed at reducing or removing physical checkouts from the retail experience, will process more than US$78 billion in transactions by 2022, up from an expected US$9.8 billion this year."

We're told that these deployments are only "in single figures today", but will reach "over 5000 retail outlets over the next five years as retailers seek to make consumer experiences frictionless and more engaging".

Meanwhile, Juniper predicts "the number of consumers using checkout apps, which allows them to scan their own shopping, will grow from just under four million to over 30 million in the same period".

So, is this "Retail Revolution" worth it?

Juniper's report, dubbed "Future In-store Retail Technologies: Adoption, Implementation & Strategy 2017-2022" is, as always, on sale to relevant parties at relevant prices.

The report "found that the cost and complexity of infrastructure integration will constrain deployments of invisible payments systems in the short term".

It argues that, initially, the majority of revenues from new retail technologies would be derived from two elements:

Checkout apps

Automatic scanning

Juniper explains "these have lower upfront costs than setups like Amazon Go or Panasonics robotic checkout, and can be used as information and promotion platforms, which increases overall spending".

Thus, the company "estimates that these technologies will drive an average increase in revenue of over $300 per shopper per annum by 2022".

What about online stores going physical? Some are good at doing just that.

The research argues that "a collection of new technologies, from mobile point of sale to automated inventory checking, is transforming the role of retail staff from cashier to advisor, allowing them to provide a more mobile and personal service".

Research author James Moar said: "Retail technologies are all moving to make in-store retail more experience-focused.

This is ideal for online-first retailers as the store functions as an advert for an existing business. Offline-first retailers need to both have more personalised experiences and maintain the same transaction volume; a far harder task.

As always, there's a white paper to tempt you into buying the full research. It's entitled "How In-Store Retail Technologies Will Change the Way You Shop."
Wearables powered by Fujitsu's UBIQUITOUSWARE, an IoT package that senses the status of people and things and their surrounding environments, has helped the Belgian team prepare for its participation in the ongoing Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

The system can analyse the data quickly and provide actionable output.

The Belgian team is known as the Punch Powertrain Solar Team. The race, which is for students from around the world, began on Sunday and runs until 15 October, with participants expected to complete a distance of 3000 kms across the Australian outback.

The Fujitsu wearables have provided real-time vital signs monitoring during training to plan the optimum setup for the Belgian drivers.

The 21 students from the University of Leuven used Fujitsu wearables ahead of the race to track drivers heart rates, drowsiness levels, temperature and level of heat stress while on the move.

One of the members of the Belgian team ahead of the race.

This will help provide insights into the well-being of the driver and their ability to perform under the hot and demanding race conditions.

Jasper Schrijvers, a Punch Powertrain driver, said: Driver fitness plays a crucial role in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, as its important that the driver doesnt overheat at the wheel.

"But energy used on cooling cannot be used to power the vehicle. To put it into perspective, we are planning to achieve speeds of up to 90 km/h with the same amount of power that you use for a hairdryer.

"Therefore, use of any cooling at all will slow us down and could mean the difference between winning and losing.

James Maynard, Offering Management Director, IoT & Innovation, Innovative IoT Business Unit at Fujitsu, said: Fujitsu wearable solutions have enabled the Belgian team to provide previously unavailable insights into driver well-being  to see more, act faster and predict instead of react.

"The team used data collected during their preparation to advise their drivers on the optimum balance between performance and safety during the race.

"After all, driver well-being is a top priority  not just in events like the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, but for every driver when behind the wheel or anyone working in physically challenging conditions.

Photos: courtesy Fujitsu
Vodafone Australia is set to commence the next stage of deployment of its commercial narrowband Internet of Things network, making it the first Australian telco to launch such a service.

NB-IoT is a low-power wide area network technology and can wirelessly connect millions of devices that need low bandwidth.

The Vodafone network has been launched close to Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and at the company's offices in Port Melbourne and North Sydney.

Plans are afoot to extent the network across the Melbourne central business district and the city's suburbs in November.

In December, the NB-IoT network will be expanded to Sydney and Canberra before it is extended to other parts of the country.

Vodafones executive general manager of Enterprise, Stuart Kelly, claimed Vodafones NB-IoT technology would open up new opportunities for machine-to-machine connectivity that have not previously been economically sustainable.

NB-IoT offers customers a range of benefits including greater power efficiency, with devices able to run on batteries for 10 years or more on a single charge," he said.

"This means there is less need for investment in hardware and resources relating to sourcing and replacing batteries. The result is increased longevity for assets, reducing the need for site visits while devices are being used in the field.

The company claims that during trials in Melbourne's CBD, NB-IoT showed much greater coverage, in both distance and depth, compared to those offered by existing 2G, 3G or 4G technology, "penetrating two to three double-brick walls, and enabling connectivity of objects in underground car parks and basements. Testing in suburban Melbourne also achieved extended coverage of up to 30 kms".

Vodafone claims the main advantages of NB-IoT technology are:Vodafone claims the main advantages of NB-IoT technology are:

Extended coverage over large areas, even when devices are underground or deep within buildings;

Greater power efficiency, so devices can run on batteries for 10 years or more on a single charge;

Ability to support a huge number of devices in a single cell;

Lower cost communications hardware, enabling user devices to be built for less than the current cost;

Vodafone NB-IoT operates in fully licensed spectrum which guarantees quality of service; and

NB-IoT technology is 3GPP-based technology which has strong security features of mobile networks that is key for IoT communications.

The telco is working with two new customers to begin trials of the NB-IoT network before the end of 2017: Metasphere Australia and CCP Technologies. The former provides telemetry and control solutions to manage networks and assets. CCP has a critical control point management system with a focus on the food industry.
The pendulum is swinging away from the cloud for IoT, Dell Technologies believes, and so the company is promoting a three-tier architecture.

With the cost of sensors approaching $0, we soon will be "awash with rich data", Dell Technologies chairman and chief executive Michael Dell. Artificial intelligence and machine learning "will be the jet engines of human progress, and data will be the fuel".

He described a virtuous circle, starting with the way software makes products smart and allows services to be moved online. Those products and services produce data, which can be analysed by other software to identify ways in which the products and services can be improved. The new versions produce more data, and the cycle repeats.

Computing technology started with a centralised model (mainframes), but that gave way to a distributed model with the rise of client/server architectures, which were in turn largely replaced by a new centralised model in the form of cloud infrastructure.

Dell said that while some people suggest cloud is the final iteration, "we're not done innovating".

Cloud is fine for many consumer IoT applications, but some applications need to be able to respond more quickly than that allows. One example is that an autonomous vehicle needs to be able to identify hazards locally  by the time the data has been uploaded and the response received, a collision may have already occurred.

What's needed, he suggested, is a combination of edge processing (eg, for data triage and machine-to-machine messaging) with what Dell Technologies has dubbed a "distributed core" to handle events in real time and cloud systems to provide the bigger picture.

Dell Technologies is placing a US$1 billion bet on this architecture over the next three years.

Its new IoT division will be led by VMware chief technology officer Ray OFarrell, Dell said.

Dell believes the company is well-placed to take a leadership position in IoT: "We have the biggest ecosystem in the tech industry, we're number one in everything", and as a private company Dell Technologies can take a long-term perspective and focus 100% on customers.

IoT "will fundamentally change" what those customers do, said O'Farrell. Dell Technologies companies  Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream and VMware  have the building blocks along with others from the broader Dell Technologies ecosystem, and "we intend to make IoT real".

Existing components include edge gateways,PowerEdge C-Series servers, VMware Pulse IoT Control Centre, Isilon and Elastic Cloud Storage, Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF)and Pivotal Container Service, Virtustreams managed PCF service, Virtustream Storage Cloud, and Dell Boomi.

New IoT services initiatives announced by Dell Technologies will help customers identify and prioritise high-value business use cases for IoT data, and then develop the overall IoT architecture and roadmap for implementation. Customers can also visit the new Dell Technologies IoT Labs, the nearest being in Singapore.

The company is providing flexible consumption models through Dell Financial Services, reflecting the way IoT tends to bring recurrent, rather than upfront, income.

AeroFarms co-founder and chief executive David Rosenberg backed the Dell Technologies approach to IoT.

"We are as much a capabilities company as we are farmers, utilising science and technology to achieve our vision of totally-controlled agriculture," he said.

"We have worked closely with Dell Technologies to develop the tools to wirelessly track and monitor our product throughout the growing process from seed to package. Dell Technologies understands our IoT infrastructure and integration needs, and we see the opportunity to collaborate on additional solutions as we build our indoor vertical farms in major cities around the world."

A video of the launch event is available here.

Disclosure: the writer attended Dell's IoT Day in New York as a guest of the company.
Australian-listed school communications systems provider MGM Wireless has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars from an issue of new shares to existing shareholders, with the funds to be used to launch Spacetalk, its first hardware device.

MGM  which boasts how school-parent communications moved into a new era when it invented the worlds first SMS based automated communication solution for schools in 2002  raised $290 million from the share issue, and will put the funds to work for launch-related activities for Spacetalk, its new wearable for children and an all-in-one 3G watch, tracker and phone device.

MGM (ASX:MWR)  first listed on the ASX in 2004  says the share offer was a reward scheme allowing shareholders to increase their investment in the company at a discounted price, prior to the launch of Spacetalk, which it expects to generate significant growth in revenue.

MGM Wireless co-founder, chairman and chief executive Mark Fortunatow  who previously founded Linx Computer Systems, Timekeeping Australia and Netline Technologies  says MGM is a company with about 10 million shares and an enterprise value of less than $4 million, but an EBITDA of more than $0.7 million from its existing business.

We have no debt, about $1 million in cash and a solid, a well-established school business with a long track record of profitability thats underpinning our expansion into Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables," he said.

Over the last three years weve used our cash flow to fully fund the enormous undertaking of developing and manufacturing Spacetalk, an innovative new childrens wearable which will be launched very soon. Wed like to thank all the shareholders who have supported our move into hardware and we look forward to delivering them returns.

According to MGM, Spacetalk is the first Australian all-in-one 3G watch, GPS tracker and phone device and the first hardware product of a suite of Internet of Things (IoT) devices it plans to release.

And it says Spacetalk  developed by its AllMyTribe division  allows parents to stay in constant communication with children and doesnt require connection to a phone and is designed to be used with the AllMyTribe family locator, child safety app and server platform.

The company touts the fact that the new device has been specifically designed to operate in Australia on Telstras NextG 3G mobile network and MGM claims it supports two critical mobile frequency bands that will ensure Australia wide reception, high call quality, GPS tracking and overall performance when compared to competitor products.

Headquartered in South Australia, MGM now claims in excess of 1350 client schools across New Zealand, Australia and America, listing its products as including student absence notifications messageyou, absence analytics software Watchlists, school news MGM Wireless products including student absence notifications messageyou, absence analytics software Watchlists, school news and messaging app School Star, a content management and messaging platform for mobile school communication called Outreach, and student attendance management solution RollMarker.
The world's worst-kept secret was confirmed over the weekend: Windows Phone is dead and Microsoft will only look at maintenance support for devices that are in use.

The death of Windows Phone has been a recurring topic in the tech press as its share fell over the years. But this seems to be the definitive nail in the coffin.

A tweet from Joe Belfiore, a corporate vice-president in the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, laid any doubts to rest.

In response to a query on Twitter, Belfiore said: "Of course we'll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates, etc. But building new features/hw aren't the focus."

Of course we'll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates, etc. But building new features/hw aren't the focus. ? https://t.co/0CH9TZdIFu  Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017

Prior to that,whether it was time to leave the Windows Mobile platform, Belfiore: "Depends who you are. Many companies still deploy to their employees and we will support them!"

And he added: "As an individual end-user, I switched platforms for the app/hw diversity. We will support those users too! Choose what's best 4 u."

Asked by another user about the lack of apps for Windows Phone, Belfiore said it had been difficult to attract developers.

"We have tried VERY HARD to incent app devs. Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest," he said.

But Belfiore refused to acknowledge that the lack of Windows Phone would result in users also quitting Windows on the desktop.

"When people switch to iOS or Android they will switch ecosystems, too. No more need for Microsoft then. That'll be your next big problem," one person pointed out,

Belfiore responded: "Actually, a huge, huge majority of our Windows/Office (and Xbox) users are mixed-ecosystem. MOST people have a different phone than 'PC'."
Sydney-based national recruitment firm Finite has been named as Best Specialist Recruitment Business at the Global Recruiter Asia Pacific industry awards in Singapore.

For the Best Specialist Recruitment Business category, the judges said that Finite was a standout winner and had demonstrated a level of pride and intensity in the sector they work in.

They have a clear focus on IT specialisation with technical verticals, outstanding industry awards and peer testimonials, the judged noted.

Finite says the judges were also highly impressed by its inspirational CSR programme, serving indigenous Australians.

We are thrilled and honoured to receive this international award, says Finite managing director Tracy Thomson.

With almost two decades of successful delivery, it is very gratifying that Global Recruiter has acknowledged our extensive expertise in recruiting top tech talent as best specialist recruiter across Asia Pac, against very formidable competition.

Thomson says that with a database of more than 450,000 specialist Technology, Digital and Business Transformation candidates, we take great pleasure in helping our clients fill both hard to find skill sets and mainstream roles.

Our teams breadth and depth of ICT industry experience, means that we are constantly exposed to and looking for different ways to work that will result in improved client and candidate outcomes.

With our successful expansion from Australia into New Zealand a few years ago, we are very aware that clients across the wider Asia Pacific region are always on the lookout for great tech talent. Winning this prestigious award is excellent recognition of the Finite teams exceptional recruitment abilities within our specialist Technology, Digital and Business Transformation sector, connecting great people.
American office supply retailer Office Depot has become the second big outlet to remove Kaspersky Lab software from its shelves, with a ban coming in the middle of September.

The decision was announced a day after the US Government banned federal agencies from using wares from Kaspersky.

Multinational consumer electronics corporation Best Buy pulled Kaspersky products from its shelves last month and also offered customers assistance if they wanted to remove installed software.

At the time, Office Depot said it planned to offer an in-store service where anyone who had purchased Kaspersky software, even from another store, could have their computers switched over to McAfee ant-virus software for a fee.

The company said it had not determined how much to charge for that service.

Best Buy, which has its headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, also has outlets in Canada and Mexico. There is no indication whether Kaspersky products were also pulled in these countries.

A friend found this. Wow. pic.twitter.com/STJcSdzCLb  Gadi Evron (@gadievron) October 8, 2017

Moves against Kaspersky Lab in the US have been ramped up since the presidential elections of 2016, after claims that Russia had interfered to influence things in favour of Donald Trump.

Since then, the FBI has been briefing private sector companies and advising them to stop using Kaspersky products.

Comment has been sought from Kaspersky Lab in Australia.
Despite all the hyper-ventilation by politicians who paint grim scenarios of cyber Armageddon always being around the corner, Australia is yet to face malicious activity that would constitute a cyber attack, according to the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

In its annual threat report, the agency also said that the risk of terrorist organisations using a cyber attack to affect Australian interests was low.

With regard to cyber espionage, the report said Australia was a target of interest to foreign intelligence services.

However, the main drivers for this activity appeared to be in cases where Australia had a prominent role in contested international issues or where the interests of another country could be affected.

"Overall, the ACSC still assesses that our visibility across the range of malicious cyber activity conducted by sophisticated actors remains limited," the report said.

In February, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had asked the ACSC and its agencies to brief other smaller political parties about threats to the electoral process in the wake of news in the US that the 2016 presidential poll may have been influenced by external actors.

The report said one small defence contractor had been compromised in November last year. The attackers had been able to stay within the victim's system for a long time and had stolen a fair amount of data.

"Analysis showed that the adversary gained access to the victim network by exploiting an Internet-facing server, then using administrative credentials to move laterally within the network, where they were able to install multiple webshells  a script that can be uploaded to a webserver to enable remote administration of the machine  throughout the network to gain and maintain further access," the report said.

The ACSC said it had observed fewer major compromises of government networks, though this did not mean that the number of attempts had decreased.

"No federal or state government network is exempt from malicious cyber activity. Foreign states continue to possess the greatest intent and capability to compromise Australian government networks," the report said.

"Cyber criminals continued to pose an ongoing threat to government-held information, although much of it is opportunistic, rather than specific effort to compromise a given network. Nevertheless, relatively inexpensive and accessible cyber tools can achieve significant disruptive effects and embarrassment."

Graphic: courtesy Australian Cyber Security Centre
Road trauma in Australia and New Zealand could be significantly reduced by the adoption of rapidly developing technologies that change the way drivers use vehicles, according to new research from Austroads.

The report  completed by the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and funded by Austroads  also estimated the potential annual savings to serious injuries Australia and New Zealand-wide.

According to the report, road trauma is one of the highest ranking public health issues in both countries, and each year crashes result in about 1300 people killed and 35,500 hospitalised in Australia, while in New Zealand, 319 people were killed and 12,270 injured in 2015.

The "Safety Benefits of Co-operative ITS and Automated Driving" report investigated the benefits of key Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems and automated driving applications.

Austroads chief executive Nick Koukoulas said the report draws on an in-depth examination of data to understand whether real-world serious injury crashes in Australia and New Zealand could have been prevented if technologies such as forward collision warning, curve speed warning, intersection movement assist, right turn assist, lane keeping assist and auto emergency braking were fitted in all light passenger vehicles.

Australias road transport agencies see connected and automated driving as a key component of achieving road safety trauma reductions, Koukoulas said.

MUARC senior research fellow Dr David Logan, a lead member of the study, noted significant benefits projected on the basis of the vehicle safety applications being introduced in all light passenger vehicles.

The full adoption among the light passenger vehicle fleet of a selection of key automated driving and connected vehicle safety applications has the potential to prevent between 4100 and 6500 fatal and serious injury crashes in Australia and 310-485 fatal and serious injury crashes in New Zealand each year, he said.

The report also reveals that C-ITS applications were found to have the potential to significantly reduce road crashes and injury consequences, with the technology using wireless communications to alert drivers, intervene in dangerous situations, reduce traffic congestion and increase system efficiency.

And, according to the report, the full adoption of C-ITS could reduce 35-50% of adjacent direction crashes at intersections by warning drivers when there is a high risk of colliding with another vehicle.

Another substantial benefit of C-ITS was the ability to warn drivers of a potential collision with an oncoming vehicle, with this application projected to reduce opposing direction crashes by up to 40%.

The report also found that automated driving applications showed similarly beneficial projections in reducing road trauma, decreasing the studied crash types by up to 50%, with the applications taking over one or more aspects of vehicle control without driver intervention, and now found in many currently available vehicles.

The study researchers believe it could take 25 years for the automated driving and C-ITS applications to fully penetrate the on-road fleet.

Given the potential significant road trauma benefits, this report underlines the need to continue to invest in supporting physical and digital infrastructure, policy and trials to further understand what our future needs will be, Koukoulas said.

Austroads member agencies are currently involved in a range of trials to further explore these issues.

To read the full report click here.
Technology company InfoTrack, a provider of intelligent search and automated workflow tools for professionals and consumers, has acquired fellow Australian company and credit bureau solutions provider, CreditorWatch.

CreditorWatch founder Colin Porter says it is definitely time to partner with a larger group that understood our ambition and could invest in order to cement us as a truly legitimate alternative to the incumbent players in this space.

Three years ago we had a staff of six and now there are more than 50 people working for CreditorWatch. Our trajectory as a business has been incredible and the momentum remains amazingly strong.

We are really excited about becoming part of the InfoTrack family. Relentless client focus and technology innovation are hallmarks of our culture and strategy. And we have seen those traits demonstrated consistently in InfoTrack and among its staff and leadership. In addition to being able to leverage unique data across both businesses, InfoTrack will also provide us with excellent support across sales, distribution, marketing, technology and product development to accelerate our growth.

CreditorWatch aggregates data from multiple, high-quality sources to provide users with a clear and accurate understanding of credit risk across customers, prospects and suppliers, and its early focus was on small to medium enterprises which Porter identified as being under-serviced by traditional industry providers.

The executive chairman of InfoTrack, Stephen Wood, welcomed the completion of the strategic investment in CreditorWatch, the first since the $350 million raising in the Term Loan B debt market by parent company, Australian Technology Innovators.

Wood described the capital raising as a landmark deal for an Australian technology company.

InfoTrack and CreditorWatch are tremendously complementary and there is simply a huge opportunity to create value for our respective client bases. In particular, there is a very exciting product integration potential where we can bring data and insights from CreditorWatch together with our best in class search capability to deliver unique and unrivalled products and services for our customers.

We continue to win clients because of our technological advantage and the dedication of the Infotrack team to support our clients daily. Acquiring CreditorWatch is consistent with our broader strategy to be the leading provider of critical business information to professional services firms, corporates and consumers. The Term Loan B raise has given us the balance sheet flexibility to be opportunistic and invest in new assets and products.

Under the deal, Colin Porter and the existing CreditorWatch team will continue to operate the business on a standalone basis with existing branding retained.
NBN Co, the builder of the national broadband network, has boosted its team servicing regional and remote communities with the appointment of a dedicated unit aimed at improving the customer experience on its access network.

The team is made up of community relations professionals who NBN Co says will focus on educating residents and businesses about the status of the NBN access network, what they need to do to connect and what choices they have when switching over.

NBN Co says the nationwide team will spend time on-the-ground in regional locations around the country to better understand the telecommunications needs at a community level, and there will also be an extended team of network engineers and deployment specialists located in key regional hubs around the country to work with customer service representatives to help identify and resolve issues in a timely manner.



The company says the access network is more than two-thirds built in regional Australia and continues to gather momentum with up to 100,000 new properties being added to the national footprint each week.

Improved installation experience: accelerated in-house training facilities to provide hands-on experience for field workers with the aim of increasing quality assurance with the installation of the network to homes and businesses.

Advanced fault detection: leveraging big data, machine learning and existing capabilities to help NBN determine whether a fault can be dealt with remotely and immediately or whether a field technician needs to visit an end-user home to resolve it.

Enhanced case management: improved process for managing the timeliness of customer responses and resolution activities following escalations by retail service providers as well as ensuring user issues are case managed by NBN if they are not resolved on the second time.

National awareness campaign: educating Australians about the role of NBN and their retail service provider, the factors at home or work which can improve internet experience, as well as how to choose a speed and data broadband package that suits their needs.

Todays announcement of the new team follows a number of other initiatives from NBN Co designed to help improve customer experience including:

Peter Gurney, general manager of NBN local said the creation of the NBN local team is another step in our ongoing commitment to improve the customer experience with the NBN access network.

Well be providing dedicated resources who understand the needs and issues of local communities around the country from Cairns in Far North Queensland to Traralgon in Gippsland to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

The rollout of the NBN access network is one of the biggest transformations to Australias telecommunications industry to ever occur  it represents significant change for consumers and businesses as they make the move to the new network.

With the rollout more than halfway complete and around three million homes and businesses now connected to the network, it is more important than ever we continue to educate local communities on the status of the build, what they need to do to connect as well as how to resolve any issues.

Although retail service providers should always be the first point of contact for any resident or business having issues with their broadband connection, the new NBN local team will be dedicated to working with local stakeholders and community groups to help ensure local problems are identified early and addressed.
Ericsson and Swiss telco Swisscom "are now live with a full-stack telco cloud infrastructure, with the first service assisting small and medium enterprises."

The Swisscom cloud-based enterprise service "is deployed on Ericssons Network Functions Virtualisation infrastructure (NFVi) solution, and went into commercial operation in September".

The two companies say they'll now begin to "onboard other services to address further market segments and opportunities, while ensuring business continuity management and automation process evolution of live solutions".

The news is a result of last years announcement from the two companies, where "Swisscom selected Ericsson to transform its network infrastructure through the deployment of a full stack telecom cloud solution, including Network Functions Virtualisation and Software-Defined Networking".

Ericsson reminds us its NFVi offering "comprises Ericsson Cloud Manager, Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment, Ericsson Cloud SDN, Ericsson Hyperscale Datacenter System 8000, and system integration and support services".

Daniel Staub, head of Joint Mobile Group, Swisscom, said: Ericssons NFVi solution provides Swisscom with the speed, agility and efficiency that we need to deploy new services and capture the opportunities presented by 5G and IoT.

"Our first service is now live, servicing the small and medium enterprise market, and we will continue to work closely with Ericsson to onboard other services in the immediate future.

Ulf Ewaldsson, senior vice-president and head of Digital Services, Ericsson, said: Operators around the world are transforming their networks in preparation for 5G and IoT, and network virtualization is a key component of a 5G Ready Core network.

"Our NFVi solution helps Swisscom to rapidly address changing consumer demands with swift development and deployment of innovative new service offerings for a plethora of new use cases presented by 5G and IoT.

Live deployment of Ericsson NFVi signifies "an important first step for Swisscom to transform its network, and for the two companies to build the necessary infrastructure required to further their 5G for Switzerland programme activities".

Under the program, Ericsson, Swisscom and EPFL (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne) are "working with industry partners to develop and trial industrial applications with 5G and IoT technology in areas such as smart transportation, autonomous driving, automated traffic control systems, smart grids and manufacturing".
It happens in every company. Employees find a cool new online service that makes them more productive. They create free or low-cost accounts on devices they use for work, and get all their friends and colleagues to join up. The new cloud service is great. The interface is a joy to use, it comes with mobile apps, and it spreads like wildfire.

The bad news is that these unauthorized cloud apps and services become part of the organizations shadow IT, bypassing its IT, compliance, and procurement departments. The app may violate industry regulations or expose the company to significant security risks. Because its so entrenched, however, it's too hard to get users to stop using it.

How big a risk are shadow cloud services?

According to a cloud usage report Netskope, Inc., released last month, employees at the average enterprise use 1,022 different cloud services, and more than 90 percent are not enterprise-grade, meaning that they don't offer the management, security, and compliance features that companies need. For example, 67 percent of cloud services do not specify that the customer owns the data in their terms of service, and more than 80 percent do not encrypt data at rest.

A survey of 900 knowledge workers released last month by Harmon.ie found that 48 percent of respondents admitted that they used apps not sanctioned by their IT department, including apps for note-taking, project management, and file sharing.

Optiv Security, Inc., provides cloud risk assessment services where they'll monitor a company's web usage for a certain period of time and then report to the companies about the cloud apps being used. "We find literally thousands of applications being used inside an organization," says John Tuner, the company's senior director for cloud security. "That's often quite a shock to the IT folks. And it is often quite a shock when we detail out not just the thousands of apps, but the usage of those apps, the amount of data that's going back and forth, and the type of data going back and forth."

Trying to shut it all down just forces users underground, and the problem only gets worse  or there's so much push-back from the business units that the effort is abandoned. "In most cases, the productivity benefits are often business priorities of the organization," Tuner says. "If they block it, the team that blocks it will get four or five requests a week to unblock new applications. In many cases, they are overridden by someone above the security department."

"There is a proliferation of cloud-based solutions for almost any problem facing any company in almost any industry," says Alvaro Hoyos, CISO at OneLogin, Inc. "If one of your teams has a pain point, there is likely a solution out there for them."

It's a huge problem and only getting worse, says David Holmes, threat research evangelist at F5 Networks, Inc. "Every little service you can think of is getting cloudified," he says. "It's so easy to whip out your corporate Amex card."

The challenge of identity, security, and data protection in a cloud world

It first starts with user identities. When employees sign up for services on their own, they typically create a new, personal user account. "For a long time, all these cloud applications were relying on their own identification and authentication system based on user name and password," says Francois Lasnier, SVP of authentication at Gemalto. "If you wanted to sign up for Salesforce.com, you had to create an account within Salesforce.com. It was basically putting the identity system within these cloud applications."
Are Chromebooks on their way to becoming mainstream computers in the enterprise?

Not quite yet. But theres no doubt that laptops that run on Chrome OS have gained traction in the market and will continue to do so as enterprises move deeper into cloud infrastructures and apps.

There are several well-known reasons for adding Chrome OS devices to your arsenal, including tighter security, easier management and greater ease of use for your workforce. If users know their way around the Chrome browser, they can use a Chromebook. Here are seven additional reasons why your organization might want to consider Chrome OS computers in 2020.

1. Chromebooks are hot

In terms of traditional desktop and laptop device global sales, Windows is expected to comprise 83% of the market in 2020, with Chrome OS and macOS in second place at 7.5% each, according to Linn Huang, research vice president of devices and displays at research firm IDC.

However, Chrome is expected to sell slightly more units, 18.7 million, than macOS, at 18.6 million. If that happens, it would be the first time wed have a new OS in the No. 2 position for traditional PC sales, Huang says. Typically, macOS has occupied that second slot.
With Windows 7 a couple years away from its end of service date, January 14, 2020, many companies face Hobsons choice: Its the Win10 way or the highway. For those unwilling or unable to switch away from Windows, the path forward is clear. Barring a sudden turnaround in Microsofts stated intentions, or a Midas-sized bag of coins to fund a private extended support agreement, Windows 10 looms in your future.

Whether you embrace the change or abhor it, theres a handful of pesky observations and questions that you ignore at your peril. Speaking for those of us who have been slogging through (and writing about) Win10 for years, here are the Win10 migration warnings that come bubbling to the surface.

Unlike the versions of Windows youre used to  where big updates happen every five years or so  Win10 is locked into a six-month update cadence. Many of those updates wont have much thats important for you or your customers, but youre on the treadmill whether you like it or not.

[ Beware the 12 best practices IT should avoid at all costs while heeding the 9 forces shaping the future of IT work. | Get an inside look at 13 real-world digital transformations. | Get the latest insights by signing up for our CIO daily newsletter. ]

In a nutshell, new Windows 10 versions (which have appeared sporadically in the past) will, henceforth, appear every six months, in March and September. Each version will be supported for 18 months. Although we havent gone through a full six-month cycle as yet, and the terminology changed as recently as last month, Microsoft seems intent on synchronizing Windows, Windows Server and Office 365 rollouts, all in lockstep.

You may have heard terms such as Current Branch for Business and Windows Update for Business but they dont apply any more. We now have a Semi-Annual Channel and its variants. Organizations are expected to run pilot programs and start broad deployment of a new version based on the results of those programs (screenshot). Microsoft will no longer give a clear go-ahead signal with the for Business designation.

We dont have a lot of experience with this new approach, having seen it in action just once, on July 27, 2017, when Microsoft simultaneously announced the end of the Current Branch for Business designation, and declared that the Win10 Fall Creators Update is fully available to all our customers. It isnt clear how Microsoft will signal its blessing in the future, but it is clear that your organization will have to evaluate new versions without a definitive this is ready signal from Microsoft.

2. The Long Term Servicing Channel holds some respite

If the twice-a-year new version pace makes your head spin, theres some consolation in a separate version of Win10 called the Long Term Servicing Channel or LTSC (formerly Long Term Servicing Branch). Microsoft has promised that machines running the LTSC version of Win10 will receive security patches for ten years, but no feature changes.

Currently there are two LTSC versions of Win10: The 2015 Enterprise LTSC version, based on the original RTM version of Windows 10, commonly called version 1507; and the 2016 Enterprise LTSC version, based on the Anniversary Update, version 1607. Microsoft anticipates that new LTSC versions will appear every 2 or 3 years with the next one expected in 2019.

LTSC versions of Win10 are available only through Software Assurance, and only for Win10 Enterprise. Some of your machines may be relegated to LTSC, but be aware of the fact that Microsoft recommends they only be used in highly static environments:

Long-term Servicing Channel is not intended for deployment on most or all the PCs in an organization; it should be used only for special-purpose devices. As a general guideline, a PC with Microsoft Office installed is a general-purpose device, typically used by an information worker, and therefore it is better suited for the Semi-Annual servicing channel.

Also note that LTSC versions of Win10 Enterprise, to date, do not have Edge or Cortana, do not offer access to the Windows Store, and include none of the standard Store apps: Mail, Calendar, OneNote, Weather, News, Sports, Money, Photos, Camera, Music and Clock.

3. Application compatibility issues are supposed to be getting better

Microsoft says that upgrading your line of business (LOB) programs to Windows 10 from earlier versions of Windows should be much easier than any previous version upgrade:

Most Windows 7compatible desktop applications will be compatible with Windows 10 straight out of the box. Windows 10 achieved such high compatibility because the changes in the existing Win32 application programming interfaces were minimal. Combined with valuable feedback via the Windows Insider Program and telemetry data, this level of compatibility can be maintained through each feature update. As for websites, Windows 10 includes Internet Explorer 11 and its backward-compatibility modes for legacy websites. Finally, UWP apps follow a compatibility story similar to desktop applications, so most of them will be compatible with Windows 10.

In my experience, many traditional Win32 LOB programs come through a Win7-to-Win10 upgrade relatively unscathed  although you have to pay particular attention to .NET changes, and the Internet Explorer Compatibility View may save your bacon. When it comes to upgrading Win 8.1 UWP apps to Win10, thar be tygers.

If you arent sure whether a particular third-party application is up and working with Win10, and what version changes may be in store, Microsoft has an exhaustive list on the Ready for Windows site.

The problem, of course, is that you have to re-evaluate and re-test your programs every six months (or, if you decide to skip a version or two, every 12 to 18 months). That argues well for an automated app testing regimen.

4. Automate upgrades as much as possible

In fact, the whole process of testing version upgrades  Windows itself, programs such as Office, drivers, and LOB apps  is screaming for automation. Michael Niehaus  whos become the face of Microsofts Windows as a Service  recommends that you look at the process in three steps:

The never-ending six-month cycle that Niehaus recommends goes like this:

Plan and Prepare: run the Insider beta builds on test machines

run the Insider beta builds on test machines Targeted Deploy: when the new version is released, deploy it on 10% of your machines to see if there are any problems

when the new version is released, deploy it on 10% of your machines to see if there are any problems Broadly Deploy: For some organizations, broad deployment can begin quickly; for others it can take longer. It is up to each organization to determine when to make that transition.

Its important to realize that the steps overlap each other: If youre going to stay on the every-six-month schedule, you need to be at the Plan and Prepare stage at the same time youre on the Broadly Deploy stage, particularly if shaking out bugs takes four months.

If that sounds like a full-time job, youre likely right. In a larger organization, planning and churning through new versions of Windows every six months may well warrant a sizable staff. It will certainly require hardware and software resources.

David das Neves, an engineer at Microsoft Germany, has developed a detailed procedure to break out the steps and automate some of the process. At the core of his idealized deployment infrastructure: System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). His description is lengthy and complex, but larger organizations may well save time and resources if they can put the full mechanism in place.

5. Plan on a backlash

No matter what you do when you roll out a new version of Windows, youre going to get backlash. Some of its trivial, but a lot of it has to do with muscle memory and retraining. The initial step from Win7 to Win10 will draw howls of pain, frequently from your most experienced users (and staff!).

You can ease some training concerns by changing the way Win10 works, to align the Start menu more closely to the familiar Win7 Start menu. Two third-party tools draw a great deal of praise: Start10 and Classic Shell. They wont silence your harshest internal critics, but either will help bridge the gap.

6. Licensing gets hairy

Windows 10 brings new twists and turns to the arcane art of Windows licensing. You are no doubt familiar with the old world: Enterprise (and Academic) Edition, Volume Licensing, Software Assurance. In the new world, you get to work with E3 (roughly analogous to Software Assurance), E5 (includes Advanced Threat Protection), and many variations on those themes. And then theres Azure.

You can rent Win10 E3 and E5 with a Volume License from Microsoft, or from Cloud Solution Providers. In addition, you can rent the Win10 Secure Productive Enterprise E3 or E5 package, which includes Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. If you currently have a license for Win7 (or 8.1) and you jump to the Secure Productive Enterprise level, your older machines can be upgraded to Win10 free.

While your heads spinning anyway, you can now rent E3 with Azure Active Directory and other cloud support, through the Windows 10 Enterprise E3 in CSP program for $7 per user per month. You can rent E5 in a similar fashion, but the Cloud Solution Providers set the price. Both let you run Win10 Enterprise on up to five devices per user, but the rules for managing those devices is complex.

Licensing is a minefield. Best to consult an expert.

7. Security is better in Win10, but you need people who can manage it

To many people the No. 1 reason  arguably the only reason  for moving to Windows 10 is its improved enterprise-level security. Theres a great deal of merit to that assertion. Microsoft always claims that its latest version of Windows is the most secure ever. With Win10, though, the defenses have certainly ratcheted up.

In no small part thats because the nature of attacks has changed significantly over the past few years. In the not-so-good old days, the attackers were largely ad-hoc individuals or small groups, frequently with nothing greater than creating mayhem in mind. Nowadays, attacks run the gamut from ransomware to personal data mining on a massive scale. Attackers are frequently both well-versed and well-heeled.

Microsoft has a good high-level view of the problems and their Win10 solutions in Mitigate threats by using Windows 10 security features. As you read that article, keep in mind the caliber and commitment of individuals youll need to hire to make it work.

8. Your Win7 machines can likely handle the shift  but watch out for drivers

I hear a lot of complaints from organizations that tried to upgrade to Win10 but hit a stumbling block and quickly returned to Win7. Theyre once burnt and twice shy, dont want to head down that trail again, and for good reason.

If youve encountered problems making the move, and youre caught between a rock and a hard end of lifetime deadline, keep two things in mind. First, at least in my experience, drivers are responsible for a lot of the angst. Make sure you have the right drivers (and firmware!) before you try again. Many hardware manufacturers refuse to update their drivers for Win10  they stand to make more money by convincing you to buy a new machine (or new version of their product), rather than provide a free update for an older one. Unfortunately, there isnt much you can do about it, other than vote with your pocketbook.

Second, the Win10 installer is getting better. If you bounced off the version 1507 installer (thats for the original version of Windows 10 RTM), youre going to find the upgrade to 1703 (Creators Update) or 1709 (Fall Creators Update) may go much more smoothly.

Its quite unusual for a working Win7 machine, with updated BIOS and Win10 drivers at hand, to crash and burn on an upgrade to Win10 1703.

9. Dont try to go cold turkey

There will be many people  perhaps a majority, and especially your most experienced users  who dont want to dump the old, familiar machine and its quirks, replacing it with a new operating system, or even a flashy new machine. Bribing a stalwart Win7 user with a fancy new tablet may not be the best approach.

Several times, Ive seen a gradual approach work better. When influential users are given the option of running with their old machine at the same time theyre trying out a new machine, theyll frequently find themselves migrating to the new machine, even if they feel more comfortable in Win7. The biggest impetus Ive seen: They start using Win10 outside of work, and warm up to using it at the office.

Lots of carrots. Hold off on the sticks.

10. Expect everything to change, quickly

The concepts, terminology and approaches of Windows as a Service have all changed in the past couple of years. Some of the defining aspects of Windows as a Service, as it was first defined, no longer exist. Theres no Current Branch for Business, for example, nor is there a coherent Windows Update for Business framework. Both of those concepts were tossed away in the past few months, compliments of a handful of official blog posts.

You can think of the morphs as Microsoft making it up as they go along, or adapting to changing circumstances. Or you can view it as a result of stumbling to do something thats never been done before. Regardless of the backstory, what you know now about Windows 10 may well become obsolete in the next few months.

Unlike the days of XP and Win7 and 8.1, when you had a major shift at most every few years, the future wont be so stable.

That means you have to keep up to date. No, you dont have to don a Mixed Reality headset (although you may enjoy it!). No need to consult Cortana or ink a web page in Edge, write a Linux program, use emojis (much less animojis) or remix a story. Running the latest beta builds will drive you nuts, guaranteed, but thats always been the case.

The worlds changing fast. Even with Windows.

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Human Rights Watch |  

Houthi-Saleh Obstruction also Heightens Crisis

(Beirut)  The Saudi-led coalitions restrictions on imports to Yemen have worsened the dire humanitarian situation of Yemeni civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. The restrictions, in violation of international humanitarian law, have delayed and diverted fuel tankers, closed a critical port, and stopped life-saving goods for the population from entering seaports controlled by opposing Houthi-Saleh forces.

Houthi-Saleh forces, who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country, have also violated international legal obligations to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians and significantly harmed the civilian population. They have blocked and confiscated aid, denied access to populations in need, and restricted the movement of ill civilians and aid workers.

The Saudi-led coalition should end its unlawful restrictions on imports to Yemen, and Houthi-Saleh forces should stop interfering with aid, said Bill Van Esveld, senior childrens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Before even more children suffer and die of preventable causes, the warring parties need to allow fuel, food, and medicine to reach the families that need it.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, is enduring the worlds largest humanitarian crisis. Malnutrition and disease, to which children are particularly susceptible, are widespread. An estimated 1.8 million children are acutely malnourished. Half the countrys hospitals are closed, 15.7 million people lack access to clean water, and the country has over 700,000 suspected cholera infections, increasing by about 5,000 cases daily. From late April 2017 to mid-August, nearly 500 children died and 200,000 fell ill from cholera, a disease spread by contaminated water.

Human Rights Watch documented seven cases since May in which the coalition arbitrarily diverted or delayed fuel tankers headed for ports under Houthi-Saleh control. In one case, the coalition held a ship carrying fuel in a Saudi port for more than five months and had not responded to the shipping companys requests for an explanation. The oil cargo had to be unloaded in a Saudi port without compensation and crew members needing medical treatment could not leave the ship.

Under international humanitarian law, parties to an armed conflict may impose naval blockades to prevent arms and materiel from reaching enemy forces. Goods such as food, fuel, and medicines destined for civilians can be inspected but not excessively delayed. The blockading force must publish a list of contraband items, but the coalition has not done so.

[We] can only speculate what these prohibited items might be, said a shipping company official. We certainly dont carry any weapons on our ships. Three of his companys fuel tankers sailed to Yemen regularly and always received United Nations clearance, but the coalition subjected them to lengthy inspections on every trip, he said, with the delays costing the company up to US$10,000 per day per ship  costs passed on to ordinary Yemenis.

Human Rights Watch is not aware of any cases in which the UN monitoring body has issued clearances to ships on which the coalition later found weapons. The coalition and other naval forces have intercepted weapons shipments at sea intended for Yemen, but according to media reports, these were on smaller dhows, not container ships or fuel tankers.

Fuel  now often unavailable in areas under control of both sides  is needed to run the generators that most of Yemen depends on for electricity. The lack of fuel makes it more difficult to pump clean water, run hospital equipment, and safely store vaccines, aid officials said. The coalition closure of the fuel port of Ras Isa in June has significantly curtailed fuel deliveries.

An aid official said:

I have seen hospitals that cant turn on their generator. The labs cant function, hospitals have to close at night, the cold chain [continuous refrigeration during transport and storage] for vaccines cant function, and there are no air conditioners or even fans when the heat is unbearable for seriously ill patients.

A UN Panel of Experts reported in June that the Houthis had earned up to US$1.14 billion from fuel and oil distribution on the black market, and that fuel was one of the main sources of revenue for the Houthis. Houthi-Saleh forces apparently also use imported fuel for military purposes. However, preventing or excessively delaying fuel imports from reaching civilians is contributing to the collapse of the health system, a lack of access to uncontaminated water, and increased costs that make food and basic goods unaffordable for impoverished Yemenis. The substantial harm to civilians is disproportionate to any concrete and direct military advantage to the coalition, in violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.

The Houthi armed group and forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh have also blocked or confiscated aid intended for civilians and imposed onerous and unnecessary restrictions on aid workers and interfered with aid delivery. Aid groups have pulled out staff or ceased working in some areas due to these restrictions.

In Taizz, Yemens third largest city, a hospital official said that on April 17, Houthi-Saleh forces confiscated medical equipment from two trucks, including dialysis materials, that would have benefited at least 160 patients at his hospital. In February, the UN humanitarian chiefs relief convoy was denied entry into the city at a Houthi-Saleh checkpoint. On September 17, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that Houthi-Saleh forces had enforced a brutal siege on the city of Taizz. Houthi-Saleh forces have repeatedly laid landmines that have impeded aid workers from reaching certain areas.

All states should support efforts at the UN Human Rights Council to create an independent international inquiry into abuses by all sides in Yemen, including unlawful restrictions on imports and denial of aid access, Human Rights Watch said. Houthi-Saleh authorities should immediately cease denying aid access to populations in need, including in Taizz, and threatening, intimidating, or harassing humanitarian staff whom the authorities should ensure can carry out their work unimpeded and impartially.

The Saudi-led coalitions cruel restrictions on fuel to Yemen, effectively shutting water taps and hospitals, have turned an impoverished country into a humanitarian disaster, Van Esveld said. Meanwhile, Houthi-Saleh forces have repeatedly blocked groups bringing vaccines into Yemen and kept aid from reaching people who desperately need it.

Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen

The humanitarian situation in Yemen has significantly worsened in the past year. Even before the cholera crisis, the UN childrens fund (UNICEF) reported in December 2016 that one Yemeni child was dying from malnutrition or other preventable causes every 10 minutes. In July 2017, three UN humanitarian agencies found that nearly 80 percent of children in Yemen need immediate humanitarian assistance.

The Saudi-led coalitions restrictions on fuel have greatly contributed to the humanitarian crisis. Because fuel is needed for agriculture and transportation, the shortages also increase food scarcity. The UN estimates Yemens fuel needs at 533,000 metric tons per month based on pre-conflict levels. So far in 2017 the monthly average of fuel imports is 163,000 metric tons, but this fell in June to only 88,000 metric tons. Fuel prices have increased by more than 50 percent since the conflict began, and up to tenfold in some areas, and cash-strapped hospitals often cannot afford fuel to run generators, a humanitarian official said.

The militarily contested city of Taizz, where Houthi-Saleh forces have repeatedly blocked aid, including medical supplies, from entering, has been particularly affected by a lack of humanitarian access and a shortfall in fuel and supplies. In 2017, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) reported that:

Damaged hospitals and shortages of staff and essential supplies have resulted in the virtual collapse of Taizzs health service, severely compromising peoples access to life-saving medical care. A crippled health system, combined with increasingly harsh living conditions, has prompted a decline in peoples health, with particularly acute consequences for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborn babies, and young children. Most families now live with little or no electricity and insufficient food and water.

Coalition Interference with Fuel Tankers

In response to the coalitions blockade of Yemen, which began in March 2015, the United Nations established a Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) in 2016 to inspect and issue clearances to ships bound for Houthi-Saleh-controlled ports. If cleared  a process the UN says should take only a few days, though some shipping company officials told Human Rights Watch it was often longer  ships proceed to a demarcated coalition holding area in the Red Sea, to wait for the coalition to inspect or give them permission to go to port. According to reports by the World Food Programme (WFP), the average waiting time for fuel tankers at Red Sea ports was eight days as of July 15, but had increased to 14 days by August 20.

In August, a shipping company representative told Human Rights Watch that Saudi authorities had been holding one of the companys fuel tankers for more than five months after diverting it from Ras Isa. The ship received a cargo of oil in Djibouti, where UNVIM granted the ship permission to proceed to the coalition holding area in early April. The coalition boarded the ship to search for weapons. The ship was diverted to Jeddah, then to a second Saudi port, Yanbu, where it remained as of August 25.

Information obtained through a ship-tracking service corroborated this account, as did accounts from port officials interviewed separately by phone in Ras Isa and Hodeida. All the accounts said the ship received a clearance from UNVIM before the coalition diverted it.

The shipping company representative said neither the UN nor the Saudis had informed the company of the reason for the diversion or prolonged delay. He said that in the months that the ship has been forced to wait at the Saudi port, the coalition had prevented the crew from leaving the ship, even though some of them needed medical attention. The cargo is all lost now because the coalition forced it to discharge the oil [at a Saudi port] and that cost about $20 million without compensation, the representative said.

An official at another shipping company said three of his companys tankers had regularly carried fuel to Yemen before the conflict and had continued to do so. The companys ships are regularly cleared by UNVIM, but then subjected to coalition inspection and excessive delays when they try to deliver fuel to Hodeida, costing us huge sums of money in lost time.

Ultimately, rising shipping costs are passed on to consumers in Yemen, where nearly 40 percent of the population lived on less than US$2 per day even before the conflict. He said the coalition held one of the companys ships in the holding area for 19 days in July:

We didnt know what the problem was. The coalition navies have a number for commercial ships to contact them, but whenever we tried to call them and give them the permission number that we already obtained from UNVIM, they would reply that The permission number is not clear. Wait for further instructions.

In four additional cases, shipping industry officials, UN agency logistics updates, and ship-tracking information indicate that fuel tankers appeared to have been delayed by the coalition for excessive periods. For example, the UN reported that a tanker with 11,485 metric tons of fuel oil was expected to arrive in Hodeida on June 10, but it was in the coalition holding area for 49 days, from June 11 until July 29. Because of the costs of the delay, an official at Hodeida port said:

The ships owners wanted the importer to pay these expenses or else they wont deliver the cargo. The importer bowed to the inevitable and paid all additional expenses. The ship arrived at the port, but then the importer filed for a court order to hold the ship at anchorage until its owners pay back his money.

Other recent instances include:

A tanker carrying 4,105 metric tons of fuel oil was expected to arrive at Hodeida port on June 20, but instead was diverted to anchorage off Somalia, where it remained for 74 days, from June 10 until August 22. As of August 25, the tanker was off the coast of al-Mukalla, a government-controlled area of southeastern Yemen;

A tanker carrying 12,035 metric tons of gasoline was expected in Hodeida on June 29, but was held in the coalition holding area for 28 days and did not arrive until July 26; and

A tanker with 13,977 metric tons of gasoil was expected at Hodeida on July 9, but remained in the coalition holding area for 13 days, until July 21, before heading to the port.

The lack of clarity about whether a given ship might be inspected, denied, or seized by the coalition caused shipping companies to be reluctant to accept bookings for Hodeida port, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported. A shipping company manager told Human Rights Watch by phone that the coalition delayed a fuel tanker in the holding area for 28 days, from January 9 to February 5, and ultimately refused to allow it to proceed to port, and provided absolutely no reason. The ship had to discharge its fuel cargo in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which did not cost the company but did cost the charterer about US$500,000. The same ship discharged cargo at Hodeida in mid-2016 with no problems, but because of the risk of being blocked again, the company no longer shipped there, he said.

The coalition has refused to provide ships any justification for refusing to allow some to berth, including ships that had received UN clearance. Saudi and other coalition members have also not reported on inspections they have carried out, according to a UN Panel report, which Human Rights Watch has observed, in violation of Security Council Resolution 2216, paragraph 17.

Coalition Closure of Ras Isa Marine Terminal

On May 30, 2017, the coalition notified the UN it had ordered the closure of Ras Isa the previous week, due to concerns Houthi-Saleh forces were using the revenues from imports at the terminal. The coalition-backed Yemeni government subsequently sent the port authorities a letter, dated June 5, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, that ordered the closure of Ras Isa purportedly to protect the marine environment from pollution and oil leaks. The WFP, which coordinates humanitarian logistics in Yemen, reported that as of 14 June, vessels will no longer be granted clearance for Ras Isa port, and would be diverted to Hodeida. The agency noted UNVIM had stopped issuing clearances for Ras Isa.

Nabil al-Mutahar, the general manager at Ras Isa, told Human Rights Watch the coalition had imposed almost a full blockade on the terminal since July. Already in early 2017, monthly diesel imports at Ras Isa had fallen from between 80,000 and 90,000 metric tons per month in 2015 to between 20,000 and 24,000 tons per month. He said, In January 2016, we had six fuel tankers berthing at the terminal, but in January 2017, that number decreased to one. As far as I know, the coalition didnt give a specific reason, and the fuel tankers didnt violate any rules.

Hodeida port is incapable of making up the lost diesel capacity from the closure of Ras Isa. Ras Isa was designed for diesel imports and had specialized diesel storage tanks with a greater capacity than the Hodeida port, al-Mutahar said. Yahia Sharaf Addin, the deputy chairman of Yemen Red Sea Ports Corporation, said that Hodeida cannot accommodate large fuel tankers with more than around 18,000 metric tons of fuel. He said that the fuel imports to Hodeida were limited  mostly around 40,000 to 50,000 tons of petroleum per month  and can only cover the needs of Hodeida city and the local area.

Coalition Delays of Ships Carrying Humanitarian Assistance

Humanitarian agencies often contract with shipping companies to bring in aid in standardized containers, which are transported on container ships and require special cranes for unloading. The coalition has repeatedly delayed container ships carrying humanitarian cargo.

On March 4, the coalition diverted a ship carrying 129 containers of vegetable oil and blankets for two UN humanitarian agencies, from Hodeida to the Saudi port of Jezan, and held it there for nearly three weeks after completing an inspection on March 13. UNVIM had already cleared the ship.

Save the Children, an international relief agency, said in March that coalition warships had blocked three of its medical supply shipments from reaching Hodeida in January and February, and rerouted the shipments to the southern port of Aden, which is controlled by the Yemeni government, delaying their delivery to beneficiaries by up to three months.

Overall, only two container vessels entered Hodeida in May, one in June, three in July, and two in August, according to information published on the Yemen Red Sea Ports Corporation website, which matched commercial ship-tracking information that Human Rights Watch reviewed.

In a statement to the UN in January, Saudi Arabia asserted that the coalition has not refused to grant a permit to any shipment destined for a Yemeni port. The Saudi statement alleged that Houthi-Saleh forces had deliberately obstructed the entry of commercial vessels into ports under their control. Human Rights Watch is not aware of such cases, although in November 2016, Houthi-Saleh authorities refused for weeks to clear deliveries of PlumpyNut, a high-calorie treatment for malnutrition, as well as other humanitarian goods at the Hodeida port. In the cases Human Rights Watch examined in 2017, shipping delays occurred in the coalition holding area, which is the coalitions responsibility. However, from May 31 to June 4, the merchant vessel Mukaranas was blocked at Hodeida port from sailing back to Djibouti after it had discharged humanitarian cargo, the WFP reported.

In addition to restricting ships, the coalition has reduced the capacity for goods other than fuel at Hodeida port, through which 70 percent of all food imports enter Yemen, by refusing to allow imports of materials to repair or replace damaged infrastructure. Ras Isa terminal had been partly closed since coalition airstrikes damaged its Floating Storage and Offloading terminal in January 2016, Reuters reported.

The coalition has refused to allow the port to replace destroyed cranes or import spare parts needed to repair cranes that are worn-out and in need of maintenance, an official at the port said. In 2016, the US donated $3.9 million to the WFP to purchase four mobile cranes to unload dry bulk cargo  although not containers  from ships at Hodeida, but in January 2017 the coalition refused to allow a ship carrying the cranes to berth, humanitarian officials told Human Rights Watch.

The UN agency re-routed the cranes to a storage facility in the UAE, where they remain. Ships that berth at the port since then have needed to carry their own cranes, which take longer to unload cargo, increasing costs, a port official said. He told Human Rights Watch in late July that the coalition had also blocked a ship carrying six container chassis intended to move containers from the berth to the ports containers-yard area from entering Hodeida port.

Two humanitarian officials said the coalitions restrictions had made the Red Sea ports untenable and forced them to import aid via Aden, or to resort to cargo flights, which were up to five times more expensive. Importing aid through Aden can make it difficult for humanitarian agencies to transport assistance to some of Yemens major population centers, or areas in need of aid, as it requires crossing front lines and likely involves double taxation.

In September, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had again approached Saudi Arabia about the cranes, but Saudi Arabia still refused to allow them to proceed to Hodeida.

Houthi-Saleh Obstruction of Aid

Houthi-Saleh forces have diverted humanitarian aid and imposed excessive requirements on humanitarian agencies before allowing aid distributions, the UN Panel said in its report. Some humanitarian organizations have been forced to close operations in areas under Houthi-Saleh control. In March 2017, MSF announced it was withdrawing from a hospital in Ibb governorate, which is controlled by Houthi-Saleh forces, due to its inability to run activities according to MSFs principles of independence and impartiality. MSF said it had provided life-saving care to more than 41,000 patients in al-Thawra hospitals emergency room since 2016.

Houthi-Saleh forces have repeatedly frustrated humanitarian efforts to provide vaccines, including those intended for children. In October 2016, Houthi-Saleh authorities repeatedly refused permission for a plane carrying vaccines to land in Sanaa, forcing it to return to its point of origin, despite prior negotiations with aid agencies and the Yemeni Health Ministry. [The Houthi-Saleh authorities] want trauma kits, not vaccines, because those can be used for the war wounded, an aid worker told Human Rights Watch at the time.

In November 2016, 11 armed Houthi-Saleh fighters raided Health Ministry buildings in Sanaa, attacked a guard, and took five vehicles, including two refrigerated trucks that humanitarian agencies had provided for vaccines requiring cold storage, which they wanted to use to transport dead bodies, a Health Ministry official told Human Rights Watch.

Houthi-Saleh forces have also denied or confiscated food aid. A humanitarian official described incidents in 2016 when Houthi-Saleh authorities delayed one truck delivery of food for several days until the supplier gave them more than 20 bags of wheat for [their] war efforts, and detained a staff member for two days when he refused to hand over soybeans from a second delivery for distribution to Houthi-Sale fighters.

In August 2017, another official in Sanaa said that the Houthis had repeatedly harassed, threatened, and detained staff involved in health and food projects. The official said that, Whenever an organization receives funding and would like to start implementing an activity, the Houthis start bothering and blackmailing them, preventing them from working until they either give them the money or they give the money away to a local organization that belongs to them so the Houthis can take it easily.

Yemeni staff at an aid agency with a food distribution project said that Houthi-Saleh authorities had repeatedly detained staff members for short periods, accused them of spying, and confiscated their belongings. The main reason for stopping them was because they are working for an NGO, he said. In February 2016, Houthi-Saleh authorities in Hodeida detained six Norwegian Refugee Council staff as well as a contracted driver for one week on suspicion that they were distributing supplies from the coalition. A Taizz-based activist said Houthi-Saleh forces had arrested two humanitarian volunteers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city in February and March, detaining the first one for a month and the second for more than one year.

Houthi-Saleh forces have also imposed onerous restrictions on internal movements of both international and national staff of humanitarian organizations in areas of Yemen they control, including, at times, refusing permission to travel to certain areas entirely or asking staff to seek official permission to travel to individual directorates.

The cumulative impact of Houthi-Saleh obstruction and interference with humanitarian assistance has significantly harmed the civilian population, Human Rights Watch said.

Houthi-Saleh Forces Obstruction of Aid into Taizz

Houthi-Saleh forces besieged Taizz from August 2015 until the coalition opened a road into the city from the south in March 2016. However, the route along secondary roads is arduous, and access to Taizz remains extremely limited and residents continue to suffer, the UN human rights office reported in September 2017.

The human rights office report said:

The prices of basic commodities in Taizz have skyrocketed, leaving civilians unable to afford basic essential items even if they are accessible or available. To access basic services such as health care, residents report that they have to traverse routes mined with explosives and are exposed to the constant risk of shelling, airstrikes and snipers. Residents also report that if they manage to reach locations where health care may be available, they often find that the facilities have been destroyed or damaged in the fighting, or that they lack even the most basic supplies. No public health care facilities in the city, and few private facilities, are fully functional.

Yemeni human rights activists said by phone in late August that Houthi-Saleh forces continued to restrict access to humanitarian aid and civilian goods into Taizz. They restricted aid at the al-Ghurab and al-Wazeaia entry points, which connect Taizz to the ports of Mokha and Hodeida, and also from four entry points to the north: Sabir al-Moadem, al-Aqroudh, al-Dimnah, and al-Houban.

In August, at least 18 people were killed during heavy floods while trying to take the only major route currently open to Taizz. It is under Yemeni government control, and requires lengthy, arduous travel, including on roads that Houthi-Saleh forces mined before they withdrew from the area.

Houthi-Saleh forces outside the city have demanded large sums of money at security check points from people wishing to enter the city or bring in goods, one activist said. The activist also said government-aligned forces had confiscated aid and civilian goods that entered the city and re-sold it for inflated prices.

High fuel costs in addition to other problems have forced many health facilities in the city to close, causing severe harm to patients with kidney failure who regularly need dialysis. One researcher said, They have to travel outside of the city for treatment, and the journey to Aden is not easy at all due to bad roads, and is expensive and lengthy:

It is very difficult for the sick and injured to travel to get medical assistance, but there is no alternative in Taizz because most hospitals are closed and the rest lack medicines and staff. The last humanitarian aid that was delivered to Taizz was almost four months ago.

International Humanitarian Law

All parties to the armed conflict in Yemen are bound by international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. Applicable law includes Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, and customary international humanitarian law for a non-international armed conflict. The laws of war prohibit attacks against civilians that are deliberate, indiscriminate, or can be expected to cause harm disproportionate to the anticipated military gain at the time.

Under international humanitarian law, warring parties are obligated to grant humanitarian relief personnel freedom of movement, and protect them from attack and arbitrary detention. Confiscating goods necessary for the survival of the civilian population and blocking humanitarian aid are serious violations.

While a party may impose a blockade during an armed conflict, a blockade is unlawful if it has the sole purpose of starving the civilian population or denies the population goods indispensable for its survival. A blockade also violates the laws of war if it has a disproportionate impact on the civilian population, when the harm to civilians is, or may be expected to be, greater than the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.

A blockading party can only confiscate goods on board a neutral merchant vessel (or aircraft) if they are contraband. Contraband is defined as goods that are ultimately destined for territory under the control of the enemy and which may be susceptible for use in armed conflict. A blockading party must have published contraband lists, which may vary according to the particular circumstances of the armed conflict, but must be reasonably specific.

Via Human Rights Watch

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Al Jazeera: Yemen war: Millions face devastation, disease and famine
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The Republican Establishment doesnt want much in life, just for the wealthy to have ever lower taxes, for polluting industries to have ever less regulation, and for the health and welfare of the nations poor and workers to be someone elses responsibility, preferably that of the poor and workers themselves.

People like Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee supported Donald Trump for president because they thought he could help them hit the trifecta. And the truth is that on lowering taxes, for the super-wealthy, on unleashing the full polluting potential of coal and other industries, and on sticking it to the working people of this country, Trump is delivering on his pledges, big time. That is why Corker campaigned so hard for Trump. It was service to his social class and his filthy rich backers.

The 0.1% should be delirious with joy.

Theres just one problem. They are terrified of Trump, of his erratic behavior, his taunting of nuclear-armed enemies, his staff upheavals at the White House. They represent Capital, and Capital thrives on order. Corker and his colleagues see disorder and they quake.

In Johann von Goethes play Dr. Faust, a man eager to taste of all human experience makes a bargain with Mephistopheles, i.e. with Satan, signing his soul away in blood for his intellectual and emotional thrill-seeking. The devil remarks,

MEPHISTOPHELES Nor goal, nor measure is prescribd to you,

If you desire to taste of every thing,

To snatch at joy while on the wing,

May your career amuse and profit too!

Only fall to and dont be over coy!

Mephistopheles is Corkers Trump. Trump promised a wild ride, but a ride to the hearts desire of conservatives a hierarchical society with the rich firmly on top and further enriched by the hour through the abolition of graduated taxes.

He will fulfill his vow. But alongside these startling and unprecedented triumphs for the billionaires in the class war, Mephistopheles/ Trump offers something else.

Corker now thinks Trumps volatility and ill-considered Tweet storms threaten us with World War III:

PBS NewsHour: How Trumps feud with Corker reflects the GOPs shifting direction

However much Corker is going to like the tax cuts on the rich in Trumps budget this fall, he is also clearly deeply disturbed at Trumps bellicosity. He worries that the White House staff have to spend all their time containing Trump. He worries that the president will order up Navy Seals and set them to trying to sequester North Koreas nuclear stockpiles.

Such a mission is highly unlikely to succeed. And when it fails, what is the likely NK response?

And what will be the value of those tax cuts if Trumps adventurism spooks the markets or attracts dramatic violence down on our country?
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By Olga Pierce and Kate Rabinowitz | ( ProPublica) |  

The Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court claims to be about partisanship. But race is a factor in this case and many others nationwide.

The Wisconsin voting rights case before the Supreme Court has been cast as the definitive test of whether partisan gerrymandering is permitted by the Constitution. But a closer look at the case and others like it shows that race remains an integral element of redistricting disputes, even when the intent of those involved was to give one party an advantage.

Consider Gill v. Whitford, the Wisconsin case that was argued last week before the nations highest court.

During its journey through the legal system, the case has turned on whether Republicans secured an impermissible advantage over Democrats in the way Wisconsins Republican-controlled legislature redrew district lines after the 2010 census.

But because of the deep racial divides that pervade American politics, the story is not that simple.

Wisconsins Democratic Party includes a substantial number of African-American and Latino voters, particularly in cities like Milwaukee. When you look more closely at redistricting plans drawn in Wisconsin and elsewhere, you see that both parties have improved their statewide prospects by diminishing the political power of minority voters.

As they fight in court over lines drawn after the 2010 census, Democrats and Republicans alike are anxiously waiting to see what the decision in the Wisconsin case will let them do after the 2020 census.

Michael Li, senior counsel at the Democracy Program at New Yorks Brennan Center, said the ruling carries extra weight because we can expect the most sophisticated chicanery yet.

Im worried about a record level of gamesmanship in 2021, said Li. There could be an unprecedented redistricting war, and both sides are going into it fully armed.

Paul Smith, the attorney presenting oral arguments on behalf of the voters challenging the Wisconsin map, echoed this sentiment.

What the court needs to know is its  this is a cusp of a really serious, more serious problem, Smith told the justices. As computing power and data for redistricting continue to improve, he said, youre going to have a festival of copycat gerrymandering the likes of which this country has never seen.

While many voters would be affected by such a festival, not all voters would be affected equally.

The record shows that the reliably Democratic voters in communities of color are crucial chess pieces in the partisan game that is redistricting. Republicans often benefit from packing such voters into districts, making other districts safer for Republican candidates. Conversely, a states Democratic Party can benefit if it divides communities of color among many districts, giving each a reliable majority of voters who will support the partys candidates. This technique, known as cracking in map drawers argot, often harms minorities, voters who might have greater clout if they were kept in a single district. In some cases it has proved politically expedient for the party drawing the lines to both crack and pack minority voters.

The Supreme Courts 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder largely ended prior review of district lines by the Justice Department. That, along with rapidly improving technology that makes it ever easier to hide manipulation of communities of color for partisan gain, and the influx of massive amounts of dark money into redistricting, have put some of the voting power of minorities in jeopardy.

If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court decision in Gill, it will allow judges to evaluate, and possibly reject, redistricting maps based on a mathematical formula intended to identify partisan gerrymandering. It could offer those suing on behalf of minority voters a tool for fighting racial discrimination that wouldnt require the high standard of proof and commitment of resources a typical Voting Rights Act case would, said Leah Aden, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Upholding the lower court ruling in Gill would also reduce the incentive for political parties to use perverse (some would say cynical) interpretations of the Voting Rights Act and Constitution as a way to defend or attack partisan maps, Aden said. In Wisconsin, and also in Texas and North Carolina, gerrymandered maps have been defended by parties with an argument Aden called The VRA Made Me Do It.

Gill v. Whitford features a novel variation of this tactic. A brief filed by the Republican Party contends that using the suggested mathematical formula to flag districts drawn for partisan reasons would violate the Voting Rights Act because districts with a majority of minority voters  Democratic districts  could get flagged as unfairly drawn.

At times, Democrats have also invoked the Voting Rights Act for partisan reasons, according to Smith, the attorney who argued the Democrats side in Gill v. Whitford. The formula endorsed by the lower courts would allow Democrats to challenge redistricting lines without classifying their objections as a defense of minority voting rights, Smith said during oral arguments. This would reserve the important tools for protecting minority voting rights for cases in which they are legitimately needed.

Lets start with Wisconsin. It may indeed be a partisan gerrymander, but it still illustrates the complex intersection of race and politics.

Manipulating a map to move around Wisconsin Democrats also means manipulating a map to move around Wisconsin voters who are not white, said Malia Jones, an applied demographer at The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin is one of the most segregated states in the nation, Jones said. When we are talking about geography we are also talking about race.

One example can be seen in an assembly district on the western edge of Milwaukee, a city infamous for its near-perfect division between downtown African-American neighborhoods and white affluent suburbs. In an unprecedented move, Republican map drawers crossed the Milwaukee County line to loop 60 percent minority city neighborhoods into a sprawling suburban district that is, after the redistricting, 87 percent white, according to a ProPublica analysis.

In Highly Segregated Areas Like Milwaukee, Race Always Plays a Factor in Redistricting Proportion of white, black, and Hispanic residents in Milwaukee County





This is, in fact, a dilution of Democratic voting power. But it also places thousands of African-American and Latino citizens in a heavily white district where they have little hope of electing a candidate who will represent their interests.

Clearly there is an impact on minority populations, Jones said.

As in many gerrymandering cases, the attorneys defending the states redistricting have argued that the map reflects, among other considerations, an effort to comply with the Voting Rights Act and protect minority voters.

The first test of the Wisconsin map was a successful challenge arguing racial discrimination. In Baldus v. Brennan, federal judges ruled that two state assembly districts in the Latino area of Milwaukee were an example of cracking.

Depositions given by the Republican map drawers as part of the case show that this was hardly an accident. They sought input from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, but then disregarded it in order to limit consideration of Latino voters to two assembly districts and keep the rest of the map intact.

Emails surfaced showing the map drawers had worked with a political science professor in Oklahoma to manipulate the difference between the number of voting-age Latino residents in a district and the number who are citizens and eligible to vote.

While the court found that Latino voters rights had been violated, they only changed the two assembly districts.

The outcome of Gill comes at a time when minority voters are facing obstacles they havent faced in decades.

Before 2013, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required states and municipalities with a history of discrimination against minority voters to submit redistricting plans to the Department of Justice for review by attorneys, investigators, data analysts and sometimes political scientists.

The Department of Justice could reject the plan, preventing the proposed districts from ever being used in an election. The state or municipality could challenge the decision in federal court, but would be up against the formidable resources of the department.

Though it was imperfect, theres no doubt preclearance had a significant deterrent effect, said John Powers, a former Section 5 analyst at the agency who now works for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

It also forced jurisdictions to report changes to districts, Powers said. While a change to a congressional district is unlikely to go unnoticed, a change at the local level might  even though those lines can have a huge impact on citizens lives. Now, they can make changes and its possible no one will even know.

In 2013, however, the Supreme Court ended many protections of the law. Though Section 5 is still in place, nearly all jurisdictions once subject to preclearance are no longer.

States and other jurisdictions did not even wait for the next census to get to work on re-engineering their political maps. The state of Georgia and municipalities in Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas drew new lines, prompting immediate lawsuits. All would have required pre-approval before the Shelby ruling.

For example, Georgia currently faces a lawsuit from the NAACP over two changes in their mid-decade redistricting. Ahead of the 2016 election, legislators shifted over a thousand African-American and Hispanic voters out of Georgia House District 105, one of the most contested seats in the state, to a majority-white neighboring district with an uncontested seat. The Republican incumbent in District 105 won by fewer than 250 votes.

Republicans were trying to shore up districts that were too close for comfort by moving around African-Americans, said Li.

Georgias Mid-Decade Redistricting Plan Moved Around Minority Voters to Secure a Republican Seat Georgia Assembly Districts, 2014 vs. 2016

The effective end of preclearance shifted the burden of policing the system from the government to privately funded lawsuits, and it allowed contested maps to come into effect while those costly lawsuits wended their way through the courts  often, for years.

Anita Earls, an attorney who has handled many redistricting lawsuits  including the ongoing suit in North Carolina  said even simple cases that do not go to trial can cost tens of thousands of dollars. A recent lawsuit over city council redistricting in Pasadena, Texas, cost plaintiffs over a million dollars. Larger cases, like North Carolina House and Senate redistricting, can run up legal bills of millions of dollars and take many years. In some cases, the defendants can eventually be compelled by the court to pay the plaintiffs legal bills, but plaintiffs are required to front the money. Reimbursements are by no means guaranteed.

Earls said her group, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, has had to turn down requests for help.

There are a lot of different cases where we have to tell them we dont have money and staff, she said. There are places where people end up just kind of living with the unfair plan.

Redistricting lawsuits also take time  often years  a phenomenon that supporters of the Whitford plaintiffs hope will be ameliorated by removing the complication of challenging districts one at a time.

While the court challenges drag on, interim lines often remain in effect as votes are cast. North Carolina has gone through three election cycles using state legislative lines later found to be discriminatory.

In 2017, 19 North Carolina House Districts Were Overturned for Packing Black Voters Black population by North Carolina House Districts and overturned districts

When party operatives and legislators draw maps, they are aware that it could take years to overturn a redistricting plan, and intentionally use delaying tactics to make sure elections take place under the most favorable circumstances, Earls said.

In North Carolina, she said, state officials at every step of the way tried to delay litigation, did everything they could to stretch this out.

As ProPublica has previously reported, donors who supported the racially gerrymandered plan even used a front group to manipulate state judicial elections, so as to ensure redistricting cases would be heard by a Republican panel of judges.

Pressure on state judges further delayed the legal process, forcing the litigants contesting North Carolinas redistricting plan to turn to the federal courts, Earls said.

Such delays can pay political dividends. During the years North Carolinas maps were being challenged in court, the legislature under the disputed map passed laws that substantially affected African Americans. Lawmakers imposed stricter rules for voter ID and eliminated the states earned income tax credit, a provision that lowers the taxes paid by the poorest residents.

North Carolina has had a crazy few years in terms of legislation, said Li of the Brennan Center. You cant turn back the clock, whats happened has happened.

While citizen groups struggle to find resources to mount redistricting battles, state legislators use money from the state treasury to defend their redistricting maps. Regardless of the outcome, the taxpayers, not the political parties or campaign committees, end up on the hook for legal costs.

North Carolinas redistricting saga also illustrates the false distinction between race and politics that permeates redistricting.

In their secret map-drawing process, Republican operatives were explicit about their plan to achieve their desired political outcome: a 10-3 map that had 10 safe Republican congressional districts with only three for Democrats, a big change for a state that at the time had a delegation with seven Democrats and six Republicans.

And they were also pretty explicit  at least to each other  about how they planned to achieve their desired party breakdown.

In an email circulating two proposed maps, Tom Hofeller, a Republican redistricting expert sent in by the national Republican Party wrote that both incorporate all the significant concentrations of minority voters in the northeast into the first district.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court affirmed lower court decisions that found North Carolinas congressional and state legislative maps discriminated against minority voters, specifically by packing minorities into a small number of districts to achieve the maximum number of Republican-friendly seats.

Required to draw new maps, Republican state party leadership announced they would achieve the same 10-3 congressional delegation breakdown, and the same healthy majority in the state legislature, without looking at race at all.

Race was not among the criteria we considered when we drew these maps, David Lewis, the Republican member of the state assembly who served as the redistricting point person, told the Associated Press.

Hofeller, the same consultant who drew the original maps, would redraw the maps only looking at political data, with an eye to protecting incumbents elected under previous maps, Lewis said.

In other words, a strictly partisan gerrymander.

But the groups who originally sued against the racially gerrymandered maps said the new maps had simply become discriminatory against African-American voters elsewhere in the state. Once again, they asked the courts to strike those maps down. The case is pending.

You cant comply with Voting Rights Act and avoid racial bias by simply ignoring race altogether, said Bob Hope, Executive Director of Democracy NC.

Some states have been found to violate the civil rights of minority voters during multiple redistricting cycles. Texas district lines  drawn by both Republican and Democrat-controlled legislatures  have been thrown out on racial-discrimination grounds for nearly 30 years  during the redistricting of the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s.

Texas Is No Stranger to Overturned Gerrymanders Three decades of struck-down congressional district maps







Emails between those who drew the maps in 2010 show intentional exploitation of Hispanic voters to achieve partisan goals.

In a series of emails between map drawers, they discuss a phenomenon called OHRVS, an acronym which stands for Optimal Hispanic Republican Voting Strength. That acronym was defined by Eric Opiela, a Republican party operative, as a measure of how Hispanic, and Republican at the same time we can make a particular census block.





By substituting groups of Hispanic voters with low voter turnout for those with high turnout, Republicans were able to draw hypothetical maps that would create seemingly impossible political districts. One example is a 67 percent Hispanic congressional district that the map drawers projected would nonetheless likely have been won by John McCain or former Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

Texas, which in the 1990s was run by Democrats, also contradicts the notion that Democratic party interests necessarily align with those of minority voters, Aden said.

In current politics Republicans dominate state legislatures, so more recently its Republicans that have been accused of undermining the redistricting process, she said, but before this recent turn, districts in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi drawn by Democrat-controlled legislatures were found to be discriminatory.

Though scrutiny of statewide partisan redistricting (one of Gills possible outcomes) could be a useful tool to keep state parties from going overboard  and also to fight racial gerrymandering  it cannot detect the subtleties of racial gerrymandering like those that took place in Georgia and Wisconsin.

Those gerrymanders will still have to be challenged the old-fashioned way, and in order to do that, challengers will need access to information about how decisions were made in drawing maps.

But transparency in redistricting is the exception, not the rule.

One thing the states we reviewed have in common is that the public map-drawing process was largely a charade. Emails and documents that subsequently emerged showed the real drawing was done behind closed doors by party operatives and consultants.

In Wisconsin, for instance, the maps were drawn at a law firm associated with the Republican Party, and vetted by the Republican National Committee before anyone in the general public was even allowed to see them.

In North Carolina, the maps were also drawn at a non-government site and a wealthy donor was allowed to see drafts and offer input.

In Texas, Republicans in the state legislature turned to consultants operating in secret.

As more donor money flows into the process and mapmaking tools get more sophisticated, the importance of map drawing in the public eye will only become more important, said the Brennan Centers Li.

Regardless of the outcome of Gill v. Whitford, experts say it will be important for the public to have a detailed picture of the redistricting process. That goal, they say, can only be achieved when the map drawing process is truly public.

If communities arent being heard, or shut out, if a redistricting plan is rammed through or rushed, Aden said, That is a step that needs to be exposed.

Map Sources: National Conference of State Legislatures, The Brennan Center, U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia General Assembly

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for their newsletter.

Via ProPublica

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Gerrymandering: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - ATAC Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: ATC) ("ATAC") is pleased to announce results of an additional ten diamond drill holes from the Sunrise, Conrad and Osiris Zones within ATAC's 100% owned Osiris Project at the Rackla Gold Property, Yukon. The Osiris Project is located wholly outside of the area currently under option to Barrick Gold Corporation, as announced on April 10, 2017.

Highlights

High-grade gold mineralization intersected at Sunrise, Conrad and Osiris;

Hole OS-17-249 returned two intersections of high-grade gold -- 15.24 m of 13.52 g/t gold and 10.42 m of 7.97 g/t gold -- and has extended the Sunrise Zone at depth;

-- and has extended the Sunrise Zone at depth; Hole OS-17-244 intersected 12.19 m of 9.60 g/t gold and has added continuity to stratigraphically controlled mineralization at the Osiris Zone; and,

and has added continuity to stratigraphically controlled mineralization at the Osiris Zone; and, Hole OS-17-241 drilled within the 650 Fault corridor at the Conrad Zone intersected

5.60 m of 14.46 g/t gold.

"These encouraging results from all three zones are the outcome of the team's dedication to science-based exploration. In particular, the team has combined advancements in 3D modeling with lithogeochemical interpretations to target higher grade fluid corridors resulting in high-grade gold intersections," states ATAC's Technical Advisor, Ed Cope. "The high gold grades and thicknesses intersected in the Sunrise Zone in holes OS-17-247 and OS-17-249, along with increasing grade at depth is exciting and provides excellent potential for future exploration success."

Sunrise Zone Diamond Drill Results Drill Hole From

(m) To

(m) Interval*

(m) Gold

(g/t) Gold**

(g x m) OS-17-246 No significant intersections OS-17-247 311.50 319.13 7.63 13.70 105 OS-17-249 329.18 339.60 10.42 7.97 83 incl. 332.23 336.84 4.61 14.97 69 and 344.42 359.66 15.24 13.52 206 incl. 347.47 356.62 9.15 21.50 197

* The reported intersections are drilled thicknesses and are believed to represent approximately 50 to 70% true widths. ** Gram metres are calculated by multiplying the gold grade (g/t) by the interval (m) and rounded to the nearest integer.

Sunrise Zone

The primary objective of the 2017 drilling at the Sunrise Zone was to systematically step-out from previously defined mineralization and to test the wide gaps between previous drill holes. The initial 2017 Sunrise holes successfully extended gold mineralization at depth. Hole OS-17-249 was drilled on the eastern side of the zone and returned intersections of 10.42 m of 7.97 g/t gold and 15.24 m of 13.52 g/t gold. Results from hole OS-17-249 included the highest grade intersection received to date at Sunrise. Results also show a bifurcation of the mineralized zone and an increase in the gold grade with depth in this area. The Sunrise Zone remains open to depth and along strike.

Conrad Zone Diamond Drill Results Target Area Drill Hole From

(m) To

(m) Interval*

(m) Gold

(g/t) Gold**

(g x m) 650 Fault OS-17-241 106.68 143.26 36.58 2.10 77 and 276.34 281.94 5.60 14.46 81 650 Fault OS-17-243 No significant intersections Middle Zone OS-17-245 238.53 240.53 2.00 11.95 24 and 282.13 300.23 18.10 2.56 46 350 Fault OS-17-248 269.75 277.37 7.62 2.65 20 and 405.38 411.48 6.10 3.32 20

* The reported intersections are drilled thicknesses and are believed to represent approximately 60 to 100% true widths. ** Gram metres are calculated by multiplying the gold grade (g/t) by the interval (m) and rounded to the nearest integer.

Conrad Zone

Drilling at the Conrad Zone in 2017 was focused on targeting cross-faults such as the 350 and 650 Faults that are thought to be part of the hydrothermal plumbing system that introduced gold mineralization into Conrad. Results of the drilling completed to date suggest that both the 350 and 650 Faults play a significant role in the mineralizing system at Conrad.

Strong fluid alteration characteristics were observed in association with high-grade mineralization in hole OS-17-241 which intersected 5.60 m of 14.46 g/t gold, at the faulted contact between the limestone and siltstone units in association with the 650 Fault corridor. This confirmed that the cross-faulting created permeability networks that allowed for the transport of mineralizing fluids from depth. Broader intersections of mineralization, as found in hole OS-17-245 which returned 18.10 m of 2.56 g/t gold, are the result of lateral migration of the mineralization fluids away from the fault corridors along favourable horizons within host rocks. The Conrad Zone remains open in all directions.

Osiris Zone Diamond Drill Results Drill Hole From

(m) To

(m) Interval*

(m) Gold

(g/t) Gold**

(g x m) OS-17-240 246.07 255.27 9.20 3.28 30 OS-17-242 111.79 118.80 7.01 3.11 22 OS-17-244 118.26 130.45 12.19 9.60 117 and 148.74 154.84 6.10 3.80 23 and 176.17 189.92 13.75 1.64 23 and 206.65 217.20 10.55 2.50 26

* The reported intersections are drilled thicknesses and are believed to represent approximately 70 to 100% true widths. ** Gram metres are calculated by multiplying the gold grade (g/t) by the interval (m) and rounded to the nearest integer.

Osiris Zone

Osiris Zone drilling in 2017 was aimed at outlining continuity of mineralization on the northern portion of the zone where wide-spaced drilling in 2011 only initially outlined the mineralized trends. The 2017 Osiris drill results released to date confirm good continuity of the mineralization along the western limb of the Osiris Anticline. Mineralization appears to be most strongly developed near stratigraphic boundaries where mineralizing fluid-flow can become focused. This focused fluid-flow is demonstrated in OS-17-244 where 12.19 m of 9.60 g/t gold was intersected at the stratigraphic contact between the limestone and mudstone units.

Results from an additional 11 holes from the Osiris Project are still pending.

Technical information including cross-sections and plan maps for the Osiris, Conrad and Sunrise Zones, can be found on ATAC's website at www.atacresources.com and at Corebox.

The technical information in this news release has been approved by Julia Lane, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for ATAC and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

QA/QC

All drill core assaying is completed at ALS Canada Ltd. All samples were fine crushed before a 250 gram split was pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 microns. The pulverizing circuit was cleaned with quartz sand twice between samples. Pulps were then analyzed at ALS in North Vancouver, B.C. where gold determinations were carried out. Splits of the pulverized fraction were dissolved using a multi acid digestion and analyzed for 49 elements using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) together with mass spectrometry (MS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES). Gold analyses were by the Au-AA25 procedure that involves fire assay preparation using a 30 gram charge with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. Mercury analyses were digested with aqua regia and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Rigorous procedures are in place regarding sample collection, chain of custody and data entry. Certified assay standards, duplicate samples and blanks are routinely inserted into the sample stream of diamond drill samples to ensure integrity of the assay process. All diamond drill samples included in this news release have passed the QA/QC procedures as described above. All assay intervals presented in this news release are uncut.

About ATAC

ATAC is a Yukon-based exploration company focused on developing Canada's only Carlin-type gold district at the Rackla Gold Property. Recent work on the ~1,700 km2 property has resulted in a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tiger Gold Deposit, drilling of multiple high-grade Carlin-type gold zones and the identification of numerous early-stage gold exploration targets. ATAC and Barrick Gold Corporation recently partnered to explore the Rackla Gold Property's Orion Project, with Barrick having the option to earn up to 70% of Orion by spending $55 million in exploration. ATAC is well-financed with approximately $14 million in its treasury and recently completed a budgeted $10 million exploration program at the Osiris and Rau Projects (which are not subject to Barrick's earn-in right), while concurrently working with Barrick to advance the Orion Project.
TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integra Resources Corp. (TSX.V: ITR) (the Company or Integra) is pleased to announce that it has completed an initial resource estimate on the DeLamar Gold and Silver Project (DeLamar, the Project, or the Property) located in southwestern Idaho. This announcement follows recent notice of the proposed transaction (the Transaction) whereby Integra has agreed to acquire 100% of DeLamar from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K) (Kinross). Key Transaction terms of the acquisition are outlined in Integras news release dated September 18, 2017.

The Inferred resource is defined by 1,550 historical drill holes drilled to an average depth of only 120m and delineates the remaining open-pit oxide, partly oxidized and unoxidized mineralization at DeLamar, which is hosted within felsic volcanics. The resource estimate incorporates roughly 143,000m of historic drilling into the global resource for the Property. Resource work for DeLamar was completed by Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada. A sensitivity analysis of the grade and tonnage relationships at a variety of cut-off grades (pit constrained) is shown in Table 1 of this release. A final 43-101 Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR in the coming weeks.

Key Highlights:

Robust initial inferred resource for DeLamar: 0.3 g/t AuEq cut-off grade: 117,934,000 tonnes grading 0.41 g/t gold and 24.34 g/t silver, for a total of 1,592,000 oz of gold and 91,876,000 oz of silver, or 2,673,000 oz of gold equivalent (AuEq) averaging 0.7 g/t AuEq As demonstrated in the included sensitivity analysis below, increasing the AuEq cut-off grade to 0.75 g/t results in the following changes to the grade and tonnes; 33,716,000 tonnes grading 0.69 g/t gold and 48.69 g/t silver, for a total of 735,000 oz of gold and 52,747,000 oz of silver, or 1,356,000 oz of AuEq averaging 1.26 g/t AuEq Au Equivalent = Au g/t + (Ag g/t  85)



Project exhibits significant exploration upside, remaining open at depth, with limited historical deep drilling below 250 meters. The limited deep drill hole data available dating back to the early 1990s includes intercepts which have intersected the series of deeper high-grade veins, including: 105.4 g/t Au and 41.0 g/t Ag (105.9 g/ AuEq) over 10.7 metres; 10.1 g/t Au and 116.6 g/t Ag (11.5 g/t AuEq) over 18.3 metres; 10.1 g/t Au and 188.1 g/t Ag (12.3 g/t AuEq) over 18.3 metres



Excellent metallurgical gold-silver recoveries in historical conventional milling past production, and column leach test work designed to approximate potential heap-leaching, demonstrate the potential viability of both options for any future development.

Introduction of Max Baker, Ph.D., appointed as VP Exploration: Reno-based, over 35 years exploration experience in Low Sulphidation Epithermal deposits, previously worked with Newcrest Mining, Rennison Gold Fields and Mount Isa Mines.

In concluding comments regarding the project, MDA reported, Exploration potential for additional bulk-tonnage mineralization on the DeLamar project appears to be significant. Essentially all of the modeled mineralization is open at depth, and, considering the shallow extents of a high percentage of the historical holes, the potential to expand mineralization that is potentially mineable by open-pit methods exists. In reference to high-grade gold-silver at DeLamar, MDA stated, In addition to the bulk-tonnage potential, there is also strong potential for the discovery of high-grade vein-type mineralization similar to that mined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. MDA recommends further work to investigate the amenability to Heap Leaching, concluding that, It is possible that some portion of the current resources, perhaps a large portion, could be amenable to heap-leach processing.

George Salamis, President and CEO commented: With the maiden resource results in hand, we are excited by both this significant initial inferred resource estimate on the property, and the scenario that has been laid out for current and future shareholders. It is one that highlights significant potential for further near surface bulk tonnage low-grade resources as well as the series of high grade veins inferred from historic drill intercepts at deeper levels, to occur beneath the lower grade open-pit resource defined by MDA. The DeLamar Project comprises a key land position within the greater DeLamar-Florida Mountain district, which we believe hosts one of the largest gold-silver low sulphidation epithermal systems in the Western US. From our analysis of the database, we can clearly see where exploration needs to focus to test both the immediate extensions of low-grade near-surface gold-silver and deeper series of high-grade gold-silver veins, on a project that has only been drilled to an average depth of 120m from surface. Mr. Salamis added, We are also very pleased to welcome Max Baker as Vice President of Exploration for Integra Resources. Maxs track-record of discovery, familiarity with deposits of this type, and more specifically with the DeLamar deposit itself, make him the right choice to oversee exploration for Integra and its shareholders."

Summary of the Initial Mineral Resource Estimate

Table 1. Sensitivity analysis of grade and tonnage at varying pit-constrained cut-off grades on the DeLamar Project

Cutoff Tonnes g Au/t oz Au g Ag/t oz Ag g AuEq/oz Eq Au oz 0.30 117,934,000 0.41 1,592,000 24.34 91,876,000 0.7 2,673,000 0.40 94,172,000 0.48 1,418,000 27.77 84,395,000 0.81 2,411,000 0.50 71,060,000 0.51 1,200,000 32.57 74,805,000 0.89 2,080,000 0.60 51,818,000 0.58 981,000 38.74 64,691,000 1.04 1,742,000 0.70 37,637,000 0.65 791,000 45.94 55,666,000 1.19 1,446,000 0.75 33,716,000 0.69 735,000 48.69 52,747,000 1.26 1,356,000 1.00 16,028,000 0.89 451,000 69.26 35,770,000 1.7 872,000

1. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

2. Mineral Resources are comprised of all model blocks with gold-equivalent values greater than or equal to 0.30 g/t that lie

within an optimized pit and below the as-mined surface.

3. Gold equivalent = g Au/t + (g Ag/t  85)

4. Rounding may result in apparent discrepancies between tonnes, grade, and contained metal content.

5. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues.

6. The effective date of the mineral resource estimate is October 1, 2017.

Key Resource Estimation Highlights

DeLamar project initial inferred resource: 0.3 g/t Au Equivalent Cut-Off: 117,934,000 tonnes grading 0.41 g/t gold and 24.34 g/t Ag, for a total of 1,592,000 oz of gold and 91,876,000 oz of silver. In total, 2,673,000 oz of AuEq grading 0.7 g/t AuEq





At a 0.75 g/t Au Equivalent Cut-off: 33,716,000 tonnes grading 0.69 g/t gold and 735,000 oz of gold and 52,747,000 oz of silver ( 1,356,000 oz of AuEq grading 1.26 g/t AuEq)



The gold and silver mineral resources at DeLamar were modeled and estimated by: evaluating the drill data statistically; separately interpreting gold and silver mineral domains on sets of 320-looking cross sections spaced at 30.48-meter intervals; analyzing the modeled mineralization spatially and statistically to aid in the establishment of estimation and classification parameters; and interpolating grades into a three-dimensional block model using the cross-sectional gold and silver mineral domains to control the estimation



The reported resources have been constrained within an optimized pit shell using a gold price of $US1,300/ounce and a silver price of $US18/ounce of silver. These metal prices were also used to calculate gold equivalent cut-off grade and contained ounces



Additional inputs for pit-optimization include: Mining  $2.20/tonne mined, Milling  $10.00/tonne milled, G&A  $4,000,000/yr, Tonnes per year processed  4,760,000, Gold Recovery  95%, Silver Recovery  80%



The resource estimate is based on 1,575 reverse circulation holes, conventional rotary holes, and diamond core holes drilled from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s



The existing gold and silver resources, defined by the historic shallow drilling, are hosted in Miocene-aged porphyritic rhyolite/latite volcanic flows that represents the upper part of a well studied and recently re-interpreted low-sulphidation epithermal system



A technical report on the initial resource estimate will be prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and filed within 45 days of this news release on Integras issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

Figure 1. Plan map showing location of all zones on the Property, with the resource limit outlined





Figure 2. Idealized cross section with geological and structural interpretation at DeLamar





Focus of Future Drilling and Potential for Resource Expansion at DeLamar

Managements analysis of the data used in the resource estimate supports the view that strong potential exists for further resource expansion and new discoveries of low-grade and high-grade gold mineralization. This view is underpinned by a myriad of apparent factors including: a) the lack of overall deeper drilling (current average depth: 120m), b) the project was last drilled approximately 25 years ago and has not seen any modern exploration techniques employed, and c) past exploration focus was solely on near surface, bulk-tonnage low-grade mineralization despite the fact that the historical mining record at DeLamar reported underground high grade mining of a series of moderate to steeply dipping veins with reported gold-silver cut-offs above 15 g/t and average mined gold-silver contents sometimes in excess of 60 g/t.

With respect to this high-grade potential, numerous past near surface drill holes designed to test for low-grade open-pitable material in fact pieced through the rhyolitic host rock and into underlying basalt units, reporting high gold and silver grades within less than 200 meters of surface as seen in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Highlighted Drill Intercepts Below Current Mining Surface at the DeLamar Project

Hole_ID From (m) To (m) Interval* (m) Ag g/t Au g/t AuEq g/t Area D387 82.296 85.344 3.0 972.9 0.4 11.8 DeLamar SG39 149.352 160.02 10.7 41.0 105.4 105.9 Sullivan Gulch OH1 28.956 47.244 18.3 116.6 10.1 11.5 Ohio OH22 73.152 76.2 3.0 320.5 8.9 12.7 Ohio OH34 67.056 73.152 6.1 631.3 8.5 15.9 Ohio OH62 53.34 54.864 1.5 1493.9 1.7 19.3 Ohio OH85 83.82 85.344 1.5 681.5 1.0 9.0 Ohio R111 27.432 45.72 18.3 188.1 10.1 12.3 South Wahl R112 25.908 35.052 9.1 204.9 10.9 13.3 South Wahl R112 57.912 68.58 10.7 58.2 4.4 5.1 South Wahl R119 25.908 33.528 7.6 108.3 4.9 6.2 South Wahl R120 57.912 60.96 3.0 33.8 13.2 13.6 South Wahl R147 62.484 77.724 15.2 124.5 7.4 8.9 South Wahl R98 33.528 36.576 3.0 148.1 12.8 14.5 South Wahl

*Drill intercept lengths only are reported in the tabulations; it is estimated that true width will be approximately 60% or less of the reported drill intercept length.

Assuming completion of the Transaction, the Company will use a significant portion of the proceeds on a 20,000 meter (predominantly RC) drill program, tentatively scheduled to commence in Q1 2018, aimed at specifically targeting low-grade and high grade gold-silver mineralization on extension from previous drill intercepts in areas such as Sommercamp, Sullivan Gulch, South Wahl, and elsewhere. In addition to ground geophysical surveys, surface sampling, and reconnaissance work, Integra will conduct further metallurgical test work on near surface, low-grade material designed to further highlight DeLamars potential amenability to Heap Leaching. Data from metallurgical Column Leach testing conducted on neighbouring mineral claims in the past points to high gold leach extraction from oxidized and partially oxidized mineralization and suggests that heap leaching of crushed and/or run of mine mineralization may be a viable option to look at in future studies. Previous column leach test work conducted on surface mineralization from these claims (presumably partially or fully oxidized) yielded recoveries of up to 85% gold and 35% silver.

Assuming completion of the Transaction, planned extensive drilling campaigns and other technical studies will form the basis of future periodical resource estimate updates and development analyses that the company contemplates undertaking in the next 18 to 24 months at DeLamar. Given the past mining and conventional milling history of the project with economic recoveries derived from oxide, transitional and sulphide mineralization in the historical milling record and in test work, the company will undertake additional technical studies on both conventional milling and heap leaching.

DeLamar Project Resource: History of the DeLamar Data

The DeLamar Mine closed in 1998 due to low precious metal prices (below US$300/oz Au) after producing more than 1.6M oz of gold and 100M oz of silver within the district. Roughly half of the historic gold-silver production was produced from the underground mining of a series of high-grade veins between the mid 1800s to early 1900s, in stopes mined at a cut-off of over 15 g/t Au. The remaining half of DeLamars historical production was derived from near-surface low-grade bulk-mining and conventional milling of oxidized material and transitional mineralization which took place between 1977 and 1998. In 1998, as a result of low precious metal prices, the DeLamar Project was placed on care and maintenance. No drilling has been conducted on the Property since 1998 and substantial resources, as demonstrated in todays news release, remain on the Project.

The DeLamar Property is located in southwestern Idaho in Owyhee County, 80 kilometers southwest of the city of Boise, just west of the historic mining town of Silver City. The Property constitutes roughly 5,300 acres of patented and unpatented claims, and a further 4,100 acres of leased lands. MDAs estimated resource was constructed using approximately 1,550 drill holes and 143,660m of drilling, where average drill hole depth was less than 120m, with only four holes deeper than 350m. This database was created by MDA using original DeLamar mine digital database files obtained from the current mine site. The original mine-site information was then subjected to various verification measures, the primary one consisting of auditing of the digital data by comparing the drill-hole collar coordinates, hole orientations, and analytical information in the MDA constructed database against historical paper records in the possession of Integra.

Geology and Mineralization of DeLamar

The DeLamar project is situated in the Owyhee Mountains near the east margin of the mid-Miocene Columbia River  Steens flood basalt province and the west margin of the Snake River Plain. The Owyhee Mountains comprise a major mid-Miocene eruptive center, generally composed of mid-Miocene basalt flows and younger, mid-Miocene rhyolite flows, domes and tuffs, developed on an eroded surface of Late Cretaceous granitic rocks.

The mine area and mineralized zones are situated within an arcuate, nearly circular array of overlapping porphyritic and banded rhyolite flows and domes that overlie cogenetic, precursor pyroclastic deposits erupted as local tuff rings. The porphyritic and banded rhyolite flows and domes were interpreted to have been emplaced along a system of ring fractures developed above a shallow magma chamber that supplied the erupted rhyolites. This magma chamber was inferred to have been intruded within a northwest flexure of regional north-northwest trending Basin and Range faults, related to the North Nevada Rift.

Two styles of gold-silver mineralization have been recognized: 1) relatively continuous, quartz-filled fissure veins that were the focus of late 19th and early 20th century underground high-grade gold-silver mining, and 2) broader, bulk-mineable low-grade gold-silver zones of closely-spaced quartz veinlets and quartz-cemented hydrothermal breccia veinlets. This second type of typically low-grade gold and silver mineralization was bulk mined in the open pits of the late 20th century DeLamar and Florida Mountain operation, and was processed using conventional milling methods (crushing, gravity, agitated leach).

The gold and silver mineralization at the DeLamar project is best interpreted in the context of the volcanic-hosted, low-sulfidation type of epithermal model. Various vein textures, mineralization and alteration features, and the low contents of base metals in the district are typical of low-sulfidation epithermal deposits world-wide.

Appointment of Max Baker as Vice-President Exploration

Integra Resources is very pleased to announce the appointment of E. Max Baker, Ph.D., as the companys Vice President of Exploration. Max has led a 35-year career in the field of mineral exploration world-wide, and has been a key figure on many well-know resource discoveries. Max, based in Reno Nevada, holds a Ph.D. degree in geology from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. His career includes work with Renison Goldfields, Mount Isa Mines, and Newcrest Mining, throughout regions including Australia, Southeast Asia, South America, and Europe, following which he moved to North America to work on mineral deposits in the Western US and Canada. Max has a specific wealth of experience with respect to DeLamar, having worked as a consult to Kinross on the operation.

Details of the DeLamar and Florida Mountain Acquisition

On September 17, 2017, Integra announced that it will acquire 100% of the DeLamar Gold and Silver Project from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinross for C$7.5 million in cash and the issuance of Integra shares that is equal to 9.9% of all of the issued and outstanding Integra shares upon closing of the Transaction. The DeLamar Project is subject to a retained variable net smelter return (NSR) royalty payable to Kinross. Concurrent to the DeLamar transaction, Integra has also signed binding letters of intent (LOIs) with two private entities to acquire patented claims in the past-producing Florida Mountain area (Florida Mountain), which borders DeLamar to the east.

Qualified Person

Unless otherwise indicated, the scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by E. Max Baker Ph.D. M. AustIMM, of Reno, Nevada who is a "qualified person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is independent of Integra.

About Integra Resources

Integra Resources Corp., formerly, Mag Copper, is a development-stage company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in the Americas. The management team comprises the former executive team from Integra Gold Corp.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Oct. 10, 2017) - Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (the "Company" or "Osisko") (TSX:OR) (NYSE:OR) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Dalradian Resources Inc. ("Dalradian") pursuant to which the Company has agreed to purchase 19,217,687 common shares of Dalradian at $1.47 per common share for a total investment of C$28.3 million (the "Private Placement"). In addition, the Company plans to exercise 6.25 million warrants at $1.04 per warrant, bringing the total investment to approximately C$34.8 million.

Sean Roosen, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Osisko said, "We are very pleased to participate in the advancement of one of the world's top undeveloped gold projects in a new emerging gold camp. We look forward to working with Dalradian management, Orion and Dalradian's stakeholders to provide the necessary funding for the realization and development of the Curraghinalt Gold Project."

Upon closing of the Private Placement and subsequent warrant exercise, Osisko will own approximately 9.1% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares.

The agreement entered into with Dalradian contains various covenants and rights, including among other things, a standstill, participation rights in favour of Osisko to maintain its pro rata interest in Dalradian and rights to match other offers for project financing.

Accelerator Model Update

The Company also reports that it has divested its investment in Arizona Mining Inc. ("Arizona") for gross proceeds of $32.5 million, generating a gain for Osisko of $22.8 million on the disposal of the investment, based on the cash cost of the shares.

Following the divestiture, Osisko holds a 1% net smelter return royalty on all sulfide ores of lead and zinc (and any copper, silver or gold recovered from the concentrate from such ores) mined from Arizona's world-class Hermosa Project located in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, purchased for $10 million in April 2016. Osisko continues to hold 4.5 million warrants, each convertible into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.75 and expiring on October 25, 2017.

The Company maintains an investment portfolio in publicly held resource companies as part of its accelerator model. Principal holdings include:

15.7% interest in Osisko Mining Inc. ;

; 32.8% interest in Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. ;

; 13.3% interest in Falco Resources Ltd. ; and

; and 12.8% interest in Osisko Metals Ltd.

About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd is an intermediate precious metal royalty company focused on the Americas that commenced activities in June 2014. Osisko holds a North American focused portfolio of over 130 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes. Osisko's portfolio is anchored by five cornerstone assets, including a 5% NSR royalty on the Canadian Malartic mine, which is the largest gold mine in Canada. Osisko also owns a portfolio of publicly held resource companies, including a 15.7% interest in Osisko Mining Inc., a 12.8% interes
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 10, 2017) - Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX:DNA) (AIM:DALR) ("Dalradian" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into subscription agreements with each of Orion Mine Finance II LP ("Orion") and Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd ("Osisko") pursuant to which Orion will make an investment of C$50 million and Osisko will make an investment of C$28.25 million into the Company by way of a non-brokered private placement, for gross proceeds of C$78.25 million (the "Private Placement"). In addition, Osisko plans to exercise 6.25 million warrants at $1.04 later today, bringing the total funding to approximately C$84.75 million (approximately 51 million).

Pursuant to the Private Placement, Orion will acquire 34,013,605 common shares of Dalradian (the "Common Shares") and Osisko will acquire 19,217,687 Common Shares, each at a price of C$1.47 per Common Share (the "Issue Price"). The Issue Price represents a 7% premium to the closing price of the Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on October 6, 2017. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for general working capital purposes.

Upon closing of the Private Placement, Orion will own approximately 9.75% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares and Osisko will own approximately 9.1% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares, in each case after giving effect to the warrant exercise by Osisko.

Patrick F.N. Anderson, Dalradian's CEO, commented, "This is a strong vote of confidence in both the Curraghinalt Gold Project and in Northern Ireland as an investment destination by two highly respected mining finance groups. Today's placement, together with all recent warrant exercises, will provide the company with additional equity funding in excess of C$110 million. This means that the company is now well-funded to move Curraghinalt through permitting, while continuing to expand and improve the value of the project through further investment in exploration and engineering."

Michael Barton, Portfolio Manager at Orion Resource Partners said, "Orion is delighted to become a meaningful investor in one of the most exciting undeveloped gold deposits globally. We look forward to working with Dalradian as Curraghinalt moves through permitting and into construction."

Sean Roosen, Chairman and CEO of Osisko said, "We are very pleased to participate in the advancement of one of the world's top undeveloped gold projects in a new emerging gold district. We look forward to working with Dalradian management, Orion and Dalradian's stakeholders to provide the necessary funding for the realization and development of the Curraghinalt Gold Project."

The subscription agreements entered into with Orion and Osisko contain various covenants and rights, including among other things, a standstill, participation rights in favour of the investors to maintain their pro rata interest in Dalradian and rights to match other offers for project financing. In addition, Dalradian has granted Orion the right to designate one nominee to the board of directors of Dalradian and a period of exclusivity with respect to the negotiation of future project financing.

Closing of the Private Placement is anticipated to occur on or prior to November 30, 2017 and the subscription by each of Orion and Osisko are cross conditional. Closing of the Private Placement is also subject to certain other conditions, including the submission by the Company of its application to obtain planning permission from the Department of Infrastructure (Northern Ireland) to build a mine at the Curraghinalt Gold Project and the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the conditional approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Company intends to apply for the admission of the Common Shares issuable in connection with the Private Placement on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange as soon as practicable. All securities issued in the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory hold period in Canada of four months and one day from closing.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

About Dalradian Resources Inc.

Dalradian Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its high-grade Curraghinalt Gold Project located in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - October 10, 2017) - Continental Gold Inc. (TSX: CNL) ( OTCQX : CGOOF) ("Continental" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a project update and announce the commencement of the second long-hole trial mining test at its Buritica project located in northwestern Antioquia, Colombia.

Long-Hole Trial Mining Stopes (Figures 1 and 2)

The second trial mining test will occur in the Yaragua vein system where ore will be extracted using mechanized long-hole mining from the Hanging Wall vein ("HW2") (Figure 1). The trial mining test will extract 28.9 metres of total ore from two vertically-stacked stope blocks (see Figure 2). Production estimates for the stopes were calculated using the mineral resource estimate block model in the February 2016 Feasibility Study for the Buritica Project.

The upper stope block will extend 20 metres along strike with a drill height of 13 metres and is anticipated to produce approximately 552 ounces of gold and 1,000 ounces of silver. The lower stope block will extend 20 metres along strike with a drill height of 15.9 metres and is anticipated to produce 310 ounces of gold and 652 ounces of silver. The average stope width for both the upper and lower blocks will be 2.3 metres, calculated by aggregating the HW2 vein width of 1.7 metres and 0.3 metres of over-break material on each stope wall.

Table 1: Combined Production Estimate for Two Trial Mining Stopes Tonnes Vein Dip Stope Dimensions (m) (LxWxH) Gold

(g/t) Silver

(g/t) Contained Gold Ounces Contained Silver Ounces Upper Stope Design 1,734 83 20 x 2.3 x 13 9.90 17.93 552 1,000 Lower Stope Design 1,915 75 20 x 2.3 x 15.9 5.03 10.59 310 652 Totals 3,649 7.34* 14.08* 862 1,652 * Weighted average calculation

The objectives of this program include crucial technical and safety training for our workforce. In addition, the program will provide further validation, ahead of planned commercial production in 2020, of the mechanized long-hole mining method and its associated criteria for the Buritica project. Finally, the lower stope block will be drilled to a longer vertical height of 15.9 metres compared to the 13 metres vertical height for all mineable stopes outlined in the feasibility study. If successful, the Company will begin evaluating the feasibility of increasing the stope heights in the mine plan, which, if adopted, would reduce the amount of development required, potentially lowering pre-production underground mining capital costs and post-production sustaining capital costs.

Site Update (Figure 3)

Underground mine development continues to ramp-up well ahead of schedule, mitigating the potential risk of work not being completed in time for planned production start-up in H1 2020. Major development equipment continues to arrive at site and the mining fleet now includes three jumbos and two 10-tonne LHD loaders. Also, a mechanized bolting machine, for use in larger development headings, is scheduled to arrive in late October 2017. The Company is continuing its comprehensive training and safety programs for its employees as they transition from the existing small-scale conventional mine to mechanized mining related activities. Over the past quarter, significant increases in development efficiencies have been realized with expectations for continued improvements in the months ahead.

Upgrades to the site access road continue and is on schedule to enable major equipment deliveries to begin in the second half of Q4 2017. Site preparations are progressing as planned, with first concrete pour anticipated in late Q4 2017. A modular building supply contract for the majority of the infrastructure facilities was signed with a well-qualified local fabricator. Work is underway on a 3.2-km low-voltage transmission line to provide additional power for mine development and construction activities.

As announced on September 18, 2017, the Company increased its drill program for calendar year 2017 from 15,000 to 25,000 metres, with eight drill rigs expected to be in operation by early November. Drill program objectives include increasing and upgrading mineral resources to higher classification categories as well as overall mineral resource growth by drilling step-out holes along strike from the Yaragua and Veta Sur deposits. Additionally, greenfield geochemical anomalies located near existing and proposed infrastructure will be tested with a series of reconnaissance drill holes.

"We're extremely pleased with how rapidly the Buritica project is ramping up," commented Donald Gray, Chief Operating Officer. "Both underground development and surface construction are achieving our targets and meeting expectations for production start-up in the first half of 2020. As we move forward with this second long-hole trial mining test, we expect that it will add to the valuable information and experience gained from our previous long-hole trial mining success, which validated our confidence that the long-hole method is well-suited for the near-vertical vein systems we find here at Buritica."

About Continental Gold

Continental Gold Inc. is an advanced-stage exploration and development company with an extensive portfolio of 100%-owned gold projects in Colombia. Formed in April 2007, the Company - led by an international management team with a successful track record of discovering and developing large high-grade gold deposits in Latin America - is focused on advancing its fully-permitted high-grade Buritica gold project to production with first gold pour on track for early 2020.

For information on the Buritica project, please refer to the technical report, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, entitled "Buritica Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Feasibility Study, Antioquia, Colombia" and dated March 29, 2016 with an effective date of February 24, 2016, led by independent consultants JDS Energy & Mining Inc. The technical report is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, on the OTCQX at www.otcmarkets.com and on the Company website at www.continentalgold.com. Additional details on Continental Gold's suite of gold exploration properties are also available at www.continentalgold.com.
Science Communication Week features NPR science correspondents, National Geographic photographer

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017

NPR science correspondents Joe Palca and Maddie Sofia will visit Kansas State University as part of Science Communication Week. They will give public presentations and offer workshops for students, faculty, researchers and communicators. Photo courtesy of Meredith Rizzo/NPR. | Download this photo.





MANHATTAN  To communicate science and celebrate big ideas, Kansas State University and community partners have organized the first Science Communication Week from Nov. 6 to 11.



Highlights of the week include NPR science correspondents Joe Palca and Maddie Sofia and National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson. Palca will present "Explaining the universe in two minutes or less" at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. Richardson will present "Seeing science (and telling the tale)" at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, at the Flint Hills Discovery Center. Both events are free and open to the public.



Science Communication Week is part of the Kansas Science Communication Initiative and will incorporate other events such as Research and the State, Science Cafe, Science on Tap and Science Saturday.



The Kansas Science Communication Initiative, or KSCI, brings together Kansas State University and the community to engage people in talking about science and research. Community partners include the Sunset Zoo and the Flint Hills Discovery Center.



"We're using Science Communication Week to provide opportunities for K-State students, faculty and scientists to learn how to best communicate their research," said Michael Herman, associate dean of the Graduate School and one of the event organizers. "We organized the week to jump-start these conversations and let folks know about all the opportunities we have to talk about science."



"Science Communication Week is KSCI's first major collaborative since organizing this past spring and summer, and it will provide a foundation for moving our collective work further around science communication in our community and region," said Jared Bixby, curator of education at the Sunset Zoo.



Throughout the week, Palca and Sofia also will conduct workshops for students, faculty, researchers and communicators. Interested participants can register and RSVP for the workshops at k-state.edu/scicomm/events.



Palca joined NPR in 1992 and has covered a range of science topics  from biomedical research to astronomy. He currently is focused on the eponymous series, "Joe's Big Idea." Stories in the series explore the minds and motivations of scientists and inventors. Palca and Sofia organize Friends of Joe's Big Idea, or FOJBIs, which helps researchers improve their science communication skills. There are more than 500 FOJBI communities through the U.S., including one at Kansas State University.



Science Communication Week is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Graduate School, the Center for Engagement and Community Development, the Division of Biology, the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the Division of Communications and Marketing, the Department of English, Sunset Zoo and the Flint Hills Discovery Center.



Science Communication Week highlights include the following events. For a full list of events, visit k-state.edu/scicomm/events or check the Kansas Science Communication Initiative Facebook page at facebook.com/KansasScienceCommunicationInitiative.



 Monday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m., Flint Hills Discovery Center, 515 S. Third St., Manhattan, "Seeing science (and telling the tale)" with National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson. Presenting images and their stories, Richardson will share his National Geographic career covering science stories ranging from neolithic archeology, soil, agriculture and feeding the planet, geology in the Scottish islands, genetically modified foods, prairie ecology, light pollution, dark skies and more.



 Tuesday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m., Radina's Coffeehouse and Roastery, 616 N. Manhattan Ave., Manhattan, Sigma Xi Science Cafe: "Genomes, body plans, birth defects (and sea squirts!)" with Michael Veeman, assistant professor of biology. Learn how research in diverse model organisms is illuminating embryonic development and why it is relevant to diseases like birth defects and cancer.

 Wednesday, Nov. 8, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., USDA-ARS Center for Grain and Animal Health Research Open House, 1515 College Ave., Manhattan. Learn how Manhattan's largest structure and the research tools inside help improve the lives of the public at the open house for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, USDA-ARS, center.



 Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Tallgrass Tap House, 320 Poyntz Ave., Science on Tap: "Avoiding Controversy When Covering Controversial Science" with NPR science correspondent Joe Palca. Some science topics have become hot-button issues because they touch on politically or socially sensitive issues. How do you present these topics in a way that avoids appearing partisan? Palca will try to provide some answers to that question.



 Thursday, Nov. 9, noon to 5 p.m., K-State Student Union, Research and the State. Join the Graduate Student Council and the Graduate School as they host the 2017 Research and the State event. This campuswide research forum will provide an outlet for graduate students to share how their research is important to the state of Kansas.



 Thursday, Nov. 9, 5:30 p.m., Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union, "Explaining the universe in two minutes or less" with NPR science correspondent Joe Palca. The news media is frequently accused of "dumbing down" science, but that's an unfair criticism. Palca will provide examples of reporting on complex science topics and show how to pack information into two minutes. A reception and exhibition will follow the presentation.



 Saturday, Nov. 11, 1 to 3 p.m., Sunset Zoo, 2333 Oak St., Manhattan, Science Saturday. Science Saturdays offer families and guests of all ages fun, hands-on activities to discover this fascinating world. Featuring the Science Communication Fellows, this come-and-go event shares their research in a unique and exciting way. The zoo will offer free admission in honor of Veterans Day.
College of Veterinary Medicine announces new class of scholars in Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017

The 2017 Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas scholars at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, from left: Jared Heiman, Ashley Joseph, Izabella Carmona, Braxton Butler, Megan Westerhold and Lena Fernkopf, all with Bonnie Rush, interim dean of the college. | Download this photo.





MANHATTAN  Six first-year students in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University have been chosen for the largest veterinary scholarship program offered by the state of Kansas: the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas.

This year's recipients are Lena Fernkopf, Circleville; Ashley Joseph, Frankfort; Izabella Carmona, Manhattan; Jared Heiman, Summerfield; and Braxton Butler, Virgil. Also receiving a scholarship is Megan Westerhold, Rich Hill, Missouri.



"The Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas program fulfills both an educational mission and a service mission for the state of Kansas, and we are excited to be able to select an additional recipient this year," said Bonnie Rush, interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. "These students completed a rigorous selection process. I know the scholarship recipients and their future clients will truly appreciate how this program prepared them to serve in a rural area of Kansas where veterinarians are needed."



The Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas was passed by the state Legislature in 2006 to offer a financial incentive to provide rural areas in Kansas with committed veterinarians. Program participants are eligible for up to $20,000 in loans per year to pay for college expenses and advanced training. Upon completion of their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, each student is required to work at a full-time veterinary practice in one of the 91 Kansas counties with fewer than 35,000 residents. For each year the student works in rural Kansas, $20,000 worth of loans will be forgiven by the state. Students can work a maximum of four years through the program, receiving up to $80,000 in loan waivers.



Each student in the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas is required to participate in additional activities beyond what is required for their veterinary degrees. The scholars spend their summer breaks learning about foreign animal disease preparedness, natural disaster preparedness, rural sociology and public health.
On 9 October, a federal judge summoned former president Cristina Fernandez (2007-2015) to testify in relation to the alleged cover-up by her administration of the suspected involvement of Iranian government officials in the 1994 bombing of the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (Amia) Jewish community centre in the city of Buenos Aires.

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Economics wasn't on the original list of prizes envisioned by Alfred Nobel. In 1968, Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, donated money to the Nobel Foundation to extend a prize to economists. In 1969, the first Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded according to the same criteria used for the original prizes.

Here are the winners from 1969 to today:

2018: William D. Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul M. Romer of New York University were jointly awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, according to a statement from the Nobel Prize Foundation. Both economists looked at long-run macroeconomic analysis, or " projections of economic growth," as The Wall Street Journal explained it. Nordhaus got the award for "integrating climate change" into those projections, while Romer was awarded for "integrating technological innovations" into the economic growth projections.

2017: Richard H. Thaler of the University of Chicago, Illinois, "for his contributions to behavioral economics," according to a statement by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Thaler integrated human behavior and psychology into the study of economic decision-making. According to the Academy, "By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, he has shown how these human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes."

2016: jointly to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom "for their contributions to contract theory," according to a statement by the Nobel Foundation.

2015: Angus Deaton "for his analysis of consumption, poverty and welfare," according to a 2015 statement by the Nobel Foundation.

2014: Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation."

2013: Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller , "for their empirical analysis of asset prices."

2012: Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."

2011: Thomas J. Sargent, Christopher A. Sims, "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy."

2010: Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides, "for their analysis of markets with search frictions."

2009: Elinor Ostrom, "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons," and Oliver E. Williamson, "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."

2008: Paul Krugman, "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity."

2007: Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson, "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory."

2006: Edmund S. Phelps, "for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy."

2005: Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling, "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."

2004: Finn E. Kydland and Edward C. Prescott, "for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles."

2003: Robert F. Engle III, for "for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)," and Clive W.J. Granger, "for methods of analyzing economic time series with common trends (cointegration)."

2002: Daniel Kahneman, "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty," and Vernon L. Smith, "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."

2001: George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information."

2000: James J. Heckman, "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples," and Daniel L. McFadden, "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice."

1999: Robert A. Mundell, "for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas."

1998: Amartya Sen, "for his contributions to welfare economics."

1997: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes, "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives."

1996: James A. Mirrlees and William Vickrey, "for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information."

1995: Robert E. Lucas Jr., "for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy."

1994: John C. Harsanyi, John F. Nash Jr., and Reinhard Selten, "for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games."

1993: Robert W. Fogel and Douglass C. North, "for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change."

1992: Gary S. Becker, "for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket behavior."

1991: Ronald H. Coase, "for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy."

1990: Harry M. Markowitz, Merton H. Miller and William F. Sharpe, "for their pioneering work in the theory of financial economics."

1989: Trygve Haavelmo, "for his clarification of the probability theory foundations of econometrics and his analyses of simultaneous economic structures."

1988: Maurice Allais, "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources."

1987: Robert M. Solow, "for his contributions to the theory of economic growth."

1986: James M. Buchanan Jr., "for his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision-making."

1985: Franco Modigliani, "for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets."

1984: Richard Stone, "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis."

1983: Gerard Debreu, "for having incorporated new analytical methods into economic theory and for his rigorous reformulation of the theory of general equilibrium."

1982: George J. Stigler, "for his seminal studies of industrial structures, functioning of markets and causes and effects of public regulation."

1981: James Tobin, "for his analysis of financial markets and their relations to expenditure decisions, employment, production and prices."

1980: Lawrence R. Klein, "for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies."

1979: Theodore W. Schultz and Sir Arthur Lewis, "for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries."

1978: Herbert A. Simon, "for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations."

1977: Bertil Ohlin and James E. Meade, "for their pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements."

1976: Milton Friedman, "for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy."

1975: Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich and Tjalling C. Koopmans, "for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources."

1974: Gunnar Myrdal and Friedrich August von Hayek, "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena."

1973: Wassily Leontief, "for the development of the input-output method and for its application to important economic problems."

1972: John R. Hicks and Kenneth J. Arrow, "for their pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory."

1971: Simon Kuznets, "for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development."

1970: Paul A. Samuelson, "for the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science."

1969: Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen, "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes."

Further reading:
Efforts to resurrect long-extinct species like the woolly mammoth or carrier pigeon have garnered a lot of attention and debate, but in at least one case, a massive insect thought to be long gone has come back all on its own. DNA analysis has revealed that the insect, known as a "tree lobster," is still alive and kicking.

With its thick, worm-like tail and widened, blade-like back legs, the palm-size Lord Howe Island stick insect could easily have crawled out of a horror movie. After rats arrived and tore through the population in 1918, the critters were thought to be have been utterly destroyed, and they were officially declared extinct in 1960. But a few years later, remains of what seemed to be tree lobsters were found on the nearby island of Ball's Pyramid. The finding was largely ignored, however, because the insects looked different from any of the insects from Lord Howe Island, according to new research

It wasn't until 2001 that some live stick insects were found and collected from Ball's Pyramid, and new research published online Oct. 5 in the journal Current Biology confirmed through DNA analysis that the two types of bugs are in fact the same species  contrary to reports, the tree lobster never went extinct. [Gallery: Out-of-This-World Images of Insects]

"In this case, it seems like we're lucky and we have not lost this species forever, although by all rights we should have," study lead author Alexander Mikheyev, a professor in the Ecology and Evolution Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), said in a statement. "We get another chance  but very often we do not."

The "tree lobster" stick insect has a thick, worm-like tail and widened, blade-like back legs. (Image credit: Rohan Cleave/Melbourne Zoo)

The Ball's Pyramid population of the insect, Dryococelus australis, is a darker shade than its Lord Howe Island counterpart, with thinner legs and a longer tail. It's possible that the two islands, which are now about 12 miles (20 kilometers) apart, may have been larger and therefore closer together during an ice age, allowing a population of the stick insects to migrate and become separated from the group that was eradicated by rats, according to a 2011 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As such, the insects found on Ball's Pyramid are considered to be a so-called "relic population," according to the study.

The Australian government soon aims to enact a $10 million conservation plan on Lord Howe Island that includes eradicating its invasive rat population, in response to the widespread ecological damage the rats have caused to date, driving 12 (previously thought to be 13) invertebrates and five birds to extinction, according to the Lord Howe Island Board. The rats are also threatening another 70 species that are native to the island. Once that's done, conservationists plan to try to reintroduce D. australis to the island.

Bringing a new species to a habitat, even in the name of conservation and restoring a more natural ecosystem, can be rife with political and legal red tape. However, the scientists who verified that the Lord Howe Island and the Ball's Pyramid stick insects are one and the same, argue that their DNA evidence will make the process easier, because there are fewer legislative hurdles for reintroducing a species than there are for bringing in a new one.

Original article on Live Science.
The slender insect-like creature is the first entirely subterranean animal of its kind to be found in the country of Turkmenistan.

A two-tailed cave dweller seems to have a thing for cheese. Scientists lured the pale and eyeless creature from a cave in Turkmenistan using French Camembert cheese.

The animal, now called Turkmenocampa mirabilis, is new to science and is the first known underground land animal in Turkmenistan. The species name "mirabilis" means "unusual" or "remarkable" in Latin and highlights the insect-like creature's unique body shape (two tails and a pearl-like head and bottom), researchers said in a new study describing the findings. [Gallery: Out-of-This-World Images of Insects]

In May 2015, Sendra and two other researchers  Boris Sket, of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Pavel Stoev, of the National Museum of Natural History in Bulgaria  traveled to a remote cave known as Kaptarhana, located in eastern Turkmenistan. The cave, along with more than 300 others, is hidden in the Koytendag Mountains.

Kaptarhana cave is part of an extensive and deep system of ravines, sinkholes and crevices where many animals unknown to science likely live. This is where scientists recently found Turkmenocampa mirabilis. (Image credit: Aleksandr Degtyarev)

In an effort to find animals new to science, the researchers spent 8 hours placing pitfall traps in humid areas of the cave. They baited the pitfall traps with less-than-appetizing cheese. The traps were placed near guano heaps, which are piles of bat excrement.

"For attracting animals living in caves (where nutrition is highly limited), any smelly food would do the work," Stoev told Live Science in an email. "Speleobiologists [scientists who study cave-dwelling creatures] often use rotting fish or meat, various cheese or, in extreme cases, also their own excrements."

Their efforts paid off.

The creature they found was only 0.02 inches (0.6 millimeters) long, and because of its two long bristletails  which it uses to sense its dark world without eyes  the animal has been designated to the scientific order Diplura.

The discovery highlights the importance of Kaptarhana cave as a refuge for many local invertebrates (animals without backbones), the researchers said. As such, the scientists think the finding also indicates that the 35-mile-long (57 kilometers) cave system deserves protection under the laws of Turkmenistan.

The new species was first described online Sept. 21 in the journal Subterranean Biology.

Original article on Live Science.
Multiple fires

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty)

Today (Oct. 10), in California, firefighting efforts continued against multiple wildfires that began on the evening of Oct. 8 and quickly spread to consume 115,000 acres, causing at least 13 deaths, hospitalizing over 100 people, and forcing an estimated 20,000 people to evacuate, the New York Times reported.

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. declared a state of emergency yesterday (Oct. 9) in eight counties affected by the fires: Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange Counties, empowering state agencies to use all available resources for disaster response and relief, according to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES).

In this photo, fire consumes a barn as an out-of-control wildfire moves through the area on Oct. 9 in Glen Ellen, California.

Much to lose

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty)

A resident rushes to save his home in Glen Ellen, California, on Oct. 9. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in widespread wildfires blazing in Napa and Sonoma counties.

The devouring inferno

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty)

Flames consume a home in Glen Ellen, California. The small town in Sonoma County was especially hard-hit by the wildfires, with dozens of homes reduced to charred and smoking ruins, SF Gate reported.

Saving property

(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty)

Firemen douse the flames at a house in the Anaheim Hills neighborhood in Anaheim, California, on Oct. 9. A fire spread quickly through the area, destroying homes, and prompting mandatory evacuations and freeway closures.

Dousing the flames

(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty)

Firefighters spray water on a house that was destroyed by a fire in the Anaheim Hills neighborhood in Anaheim, California, on Oct. 9.

Road blocks

(Image credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty)

A police car blocks the 241 freeway, as smoke from the Canyon 2 Fire  one of 17 fires blazing across California  rolls over the road near Orange, California, on Oct. 9.

Highway to nowhere

(Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty)

In Orange, California, traffic was at a standstill as people fled from the Santa Ana winds, which blew fire and smoke toward them from the Canyon 2 fire, one of more than a dozen wildfires burning across the state.

Creatures in need

(Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty)

A woman evacuates a horse in Orange, California. Both wear protective gear against the ash and smoke carried by strong Santa Ana winds.

Charred remains

(Image credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty)

Remnants of damaged buildings are visible after a wildfire moved through California's Santa Rosa and Napa Valleys on Oct. 10, destroying homes and businesses, and leaving at least 10 people dead.

Scorched belongings

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty)

Smoke rises from the remains of fire-damaged homes in Glen Ellen, California.

Destruction in its wake

(Image credit: Peter Thoshinsky/ZUMA)

In Santa Rosa, California, a fast-moving wildfire destroyed hundreds of buildings. Fueled by high winds, the fire was just one of many in the region that burned thousands of acres and claimed at least 13 lives.
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated sending messages in a secure manner using high-dimensional quantum cryptography in realistic city conditions.

A quantum-encrypted message containing more than one bit of information in each particle of light was beamed through the air between two buildings in a real-life city for the first time, a demonstration that could simplify quantum communication and make it more viable in the future, according to a recent study.

Scientists previously demonstrated in laboratory conditions that a single particle of light, or photon, could encode multiple bits of information. But until now, the experiment had never been demonstrated in a real-world scenario.

"So far, people have done quantum communication in such a way that they can send either zero or one: one bit of information," said study lead author Ebrahim Karimi, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa. [The 9 Most Massive Numbers In Existence]

"The problem is that for every single letter, you need to send eight signals  eight zeros or ones. And that's really difficult," Karimi told Live Science. "One signal can get lost and then the entire letter, the entire message, is lost."

Encrypting information into the quantum states of particles such as photons in multiple dimensions would therefore considerably simplify the whole process, according to Karimi.

"Instead of sending many photons, or many electronic signals, I can send you a single pulse, which contains a file of information," he said. "That would be amazing. This is what we call superdense coding."

The method tested by Karimi and his team can reduce the number of photons required to transmit a message by 50 percent, according to the study.

During the experiment, Karimi and his team successfully sent photons containing two bits of information between two buildings at the University of Ottawa that were located 984 feet (300 meters) apart.

According to Karimi, using high-dimensional encoding would also bolster security, making the quantum-communication channel more resistant to "noise" from weather or other external influences.

"In one-dimensional quantum communication, if the noise reaches to 11 percent [of the signal], the channel is no longer secure," Karimi said. "However, the limit will increase to 19 percent, if you work with four dimensions."

The researchers would now like to experiment with sending and receiving high-dimensional quantum-encrypted messages at distances of up to 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers), in order to be able to use the technique on the city scale. However, there are significant challenges that will need to be overcome.

"The biggest difficulty is turbulence as the light transmits through the atmosphere," Karimi said. "In our experiment, we are sending a single photon, so that is really difficult. You need to send it to go under a certain angle and use a complicated telescope with sophisticated electronics." [Wacky Physics: The Coolest Little Particles in Nature]

The researchers used equipment developed by their colleagues from the University of Naples Federico II, in Italy, that was previously tested in the lab. The device relies on liquid-crystal technology to polarize a passing beam of light to encode the information. For the purposes of the experiment, the researchers had to build rooftop sheds to protect the equipment from weather.

The technology could one day be used as part of a global quantum-communication system that would include ground-based networks as well as satellites, the researchers said.

Scientists around the world are focusing efforts on quantum cryptography as a way to increase security in the digital world. All messages, transactions and data exchanges between Internet users are encoded via complex mathematical algorithms. However, with recent developments in quantum computing, experts fear such mathematical algorithms will no longer be secure in the future. Quantum computers, once they become a reality, are expected to be capable of performing multiple calculations at the same time. As such, quantum encryption could be the answer to security concerns, experts say, because it is inherently unbreakable.

"There is no cloning method that means you cannot copy information perfectly," Karimi said. "The second point is that in the quantum world, everything is undefined, everything is blurred. You don't know what is the value unless you measure it."

Measuring the particle, however, affects the particle and thus the message it contains, Karimi said. This means a third person eavesdropping on communication between A and B would be caught immediately.

Earlier this year, in July, Chinese scientists reported a major milestone in the development of quantum encryption when they successfully transmitted entangled photons from a satellite to a ground station.

The study's findings were published online Aug. 24 in the journal Optica.

Original article on Live Science.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 10 2017

Proclamations Declaring Firefighter Appreciation Day and Fire Prevention Week in Honor of Fallen Heroes.

Albany, NY - October 10, 2017 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that 118 names will be added to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Empire State Plaza to honor the memory and heroism of brave men and women who risked their lives to protect the citizens of New York. Of the 118 New Yorkers added to the Memorial today, 114 firefighters suffered injuries and illnesses as a result of their recovery efforts following the tragic events on September 11, 2001 in New York City.

"The courageous men and women who sacrificed their life to protect the people of this state will be remembered forever," Governor Cuomo said. "With the addition of 118 New Yorkers to the Fallen Firefighters Memorial, we express gratitude to the families and loved ones of these brave men and women, and honor their legacy for generations to come."

"The Fallen Firefighters Memorial honors the legacy of men and women who faced unthinkable danger and met that with incredible courage," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "This year, we not only add four names to this monument, but we are also adding the names of 114 firefighters who were taken by the injuries and illnesses that arose in the aftermath of 9/11. Each of their stories is a testament to the heroism that is part of everyday life for those who answer the call and put on their uniform."

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul and other state officials recognized the 118 courageous individuals at the 20th Annual Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony in Albany today as part of Firefighter Appreciation Day and Fire Prevention Week. The individuals added to the wall this year can be found online here

With the addition of these heroes, the Fallen Firefighters Memorial now honors 2,524 individuals who lost their lives in the line of duty. The Fallen Firefighters Memorial, dedicated in 1998, honors the memory and valor of New York's fallen firefighters at the memorial during Fire Prevention Week each year. The memorial pays tribute to the more than 100,000 New York State firefighters who put their lives on the line every day.

At today's ceremony, the Governor issued two proclamations to honor the state's career and volunteer firefighters, marking Tuesday, October 10 as Firefighter Appreciation Day and the week of October 8-14 as Fire Prevention Week.

In 2016, fire departments statewide responded to approximately 1,514,421 incidents - about 4,149 incidents each day, 173 incidents per hour, and approximately 2.88 incidents every minute.

"The individuals we honor today demonstrate the true meaning of courage and intestinal fortitude in the face of adversity," said New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Roger L. Parrino Sr. said, "We come together as New Yorkers today to honor their memories and give thanks for their devotion to duty. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten."

Senate Majority Leader John J. Flanagan said, "On this solemn day, we gather in remembrance and recognition of the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their fellow New Yorkers. As we honor their legacies, we also grieve with the family and friends left behind. Each name inscribed on this wall - all 2,524 of them - represents the heroism of those who lost their lives trying to help others. They represent the best of New York and their courage will not be forgotten."

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, "Today and every day, we honor the many brave firefighters who gave their lives serving their communities. Their selflessness has saved countless lives and allows each of us to rest easier knowing they are there for us and our loved ones in the face of danger. Many of the individuals honored today served not only their communities, but also our nation on one of its darkest days and made the ultimate sacrifice for their courage. Although we could never possibly repay them, we will continue to honor their memory and carry on their legacy."

Senate IDC Leader Jeffrey Klein said, "We will always remember the bravery and dedication of those who cared so deeply for New Yorkers that they sacrificed their lives. The 20th Annual New York State Firefighters' Memorial pays tribute to our bravest who died in the line of duty and is a reminder of the heroics and service of our first responders."

Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, "New York's firefighters are true heroes. As others run out of burning buildings, they rush in to save lives, protect property and help their fellow New Yorkers. Those firefighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice must be honored and remembered for their bravery and dedication. We owe a tremendous debt to all of our state's firefighters; they truly are New York's bravest."

New York State Fire Administrator Francis "Skip" Nerney said, "Each October, we gather at the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Albany to offer gratitude to all of New York's firefighters who risk their lives daily to protect our communities. On behalf of the men and women of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, I offer support and prayers to our fellow firefighters, friends and families of this year's honorees, as well as those from past years."

John P. Sroka, President, New York State Association of Fire Chiefs said, "Today, we gather at the Fallen Firefighters' Memorial to remember our fallen brothers and sisters who have made the ultimate sacrifice - their lives. It is our hope that today's tribute will somehow offer consolation and comfort to not only their loved ones, but also their fire service family. Their sacrifice and dedication should serve as a glowing example for all of us."

Kenneth Pienkowski, President of the Firemen's Association of the State of New York said, "Today we pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in the performance of duty, a sad reminder of the dangers that firefighters face on a daily basis in an ever changing world. To the families of those we have lost, we will never forget your loved ones' sacrifice. Know that their memory will carry on each and every day as their fellow firefighters come to the aid of New Yorkers in need."
Nature & Weather, Local News, Business & Finance, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 10 2017

Farming Industry Important to Long Island: Employs More than 10,000; Agri-Business also generates billions of dollars more for LIs largest industry: tourism/ travel/ hospitality.

Long Island, NY - October 10, 2017 - Senator John E. Brooks, the ranking member of the New York State Senate Standing Committee for Agriculture met with some of Long Islands most innovative agricultural producers and businesses on a tour with the Long Island Farm Bureau October 4th. Senator Brooks spoke with owners, operators and employees of vineyards, nurseries, greenhouses, farms and winemaking operations.

Farming and other agribusinesses employ well over 10,000 people in the Long Island region, and generate jobs for tens of thousands more in other industries ranging from food processing to trucking and travel. Long Island agriculture is a billion dollar a year industry and generates billions of dollars more for the Islands largest industry, tourism and hospitality.

Senator Brooks said, We need to do all we can to make sure New York and Long Island farmers can successfully continue their family businesses and provide employment for their employees and themselves. We must support an environment that provides abundant, healthy and fresh vegetables, fruits, poultry, livestock, wine and seafood to our residents and beyond.

Senator Brooks met with Premium Wine Group managing partner Russell Hearn and Juan Micieli-Martinez of Martha Clara Vineyards. Premiums operations are an example of local winemaking businesses using technology and working cooperatively to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Their operation allows twenty different vineyards to process, barrel and bottle at one location.

On the tour of Juniper Hill Greenhouses, a mid-sized bedding plant-greenhouse operation, owner/operator Fred Hammele demonstrated operational efficiencies that enable multiple growing seasons throughout the year and discussed methods of monitoring and avoiding soil contamination.

At all the enterprises, Senator Brooks discussed the nature and challenges of each of the farms and the unique segments of the agricultural marketplace they occupy. Many of the individuals he spoke with have long family histories in farming, some for hundreds of years, but all shared a goal of responsible stewardship of the land and the environment.

Their use of technology and dedication to protect the environment to maximize product yields also helps preserve wildlife habitats and enhance the natural beauty of Long Island, which in turn draw visitors who sustain the areas profitable tourism industry and related employment.

Senator Brooks was given a tour of Half Hollow Nursery, a 600-acre tree farm located on the Riverhead Southold border by Karl Novak, the general manager of Half Hollow Nursery and the president of the Long Island Farm Bureau. The Senator also toured the Philip Schmitt & Son Farm, an approximately 150-acre farm that grows mixed vegetables. The tour ended with a stop at DeLea Sod Farm with Frank Beyrodt, Jr. At all of these locations, Senator Brooks was impressed with their professionalism and vast knowledge. The operations have mastered exceptionally efficient use of water and fertilizer, and maximum efficiency of land use.

Senator Brooks added, I am committed to further improving agricultural operations by assisting in the development and passage of any needed legislation, and working pro-actively to keep Long Islands agricultural community growing and thriving. Like the farmers, we must nurture and nourish our agricultural industry if we wish to see it continue to thrive and grow.

Juan Micieli-Martinez said, Long Island has a rich agricultural history and the East End really is the last frontier. It is important that elected officials like Senator Brooks make the visits and understand agriculture and its continued importance. As an agricultural community we need support from patrons and elected officials alike to help ensure that agriculture will remain on Long Island for future generations to come.
On October 9th, 1967 Ernesto Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian army, backed by the United States. Fifty years later, Guevara remains one of the most popular revolutionaries amongst workers and youth around the world. To commemorate the figure of Che, but also, and most importantly, to understand the relevance of his life and ideas to today's struggles, we are publishing an edited version of an article written for the Italian Marxists theoretical magazine ten years ago on the 40th anniversary of his death.

Guevara was and still is, together with Fidel Castro, a symbol of the Cuban revolution and moreover of the struggle against oppression throughout the world. His spirit of self-sacrifice, his rigour and his intellectual honesty are a source of inspiration to us all.

It is not by accident that his profile and works find themselves time and again at the centre of political debate. In the year of the 40th anniversary of his murder, this is truer than ever.

Ches beginnings

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1928. He moved to the capital city, Buenos Aires, to study medicine. In 1951 he embarked on a motorbike journey through Latin America with his friend, Alberto Granado. In that period, a political consciousness began to take shape in his mind. Particularly important to this process was his stay in Guatemala, where he became involved in the resistance against a coup detat staged by the US against the elected President, Jacobo Arbenz, in 1954. The latter was implementing agrarian reforms that clashed with the interests of the US corporation, United Fruit Company.

In Guatemala, Che met Hilda Gadea, who introduced him to Marxism, and who later became his wife. But what kind of Marxism was Guevara becoming acquainted with while taking his first steps as a revolutionary? It could only have been an outlook heavily influenced by Stalinism, which at that time enjoyed enormous influence due the victory of the USSR in the Second World War, and also with the Chinese CP coming to power in the Chinese Revolution of 1949.

The origins of the cuban revolution

In spite of this, Castro and Guevara were not prepared to support the policy of the Stalinised Latin American Communist parties, which were extremely degenerate and followed a criminal policy of support for their own national bourgeoisies. And one of the most rightwing of these was the Cuban Communist Party which ended up participating in the first Batista government with two ministers. The Cuban revolutionary youth launched their own organisation, the 26th of July movement (Movimiento 26 de Julio), named after the failed assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953. The movement was to launch an armed landing in Cuba with the idea of sparking a mass insurrection against the dictatorship. That also failed, and they were then forced to embark on a protracted guerrilla war.

The goal of this guerrilla movement, when it began its struggle against the Batista dictatorship, was not a socialist revolution but a number of radical reforms aimed at the establishment of genuine national independence, while remaining under capitalism. This is clearly revealed in the famous speech History will absolve me, delivered by Fidel Castro in his own court defence against the charges brought against him after he led the failed attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953. Fidel proposed to grant workers and employees the right to share 30% of the profits of all the large industrial, mercantile and mining enterprises and the establishing of social justice, based on industrial and economic progress.

At this time Che Guevara had already developed a more radical perspective, that of socialist transformation, and in his Diaries he hints at the idea that after the victory of the revolutionary war he might have to break with his comrades and push further ahead.

In the first months of 1959, immediately after the seizure of power, even Che Guevara had illusions about a democratic development within the limits of capitalism, as he explained in this interview:

We are democratic, our movement is democratic, [we are] of a liberal consciousness and keen for cooperation throughout America. It is a classic deception of the dictators to call Communists those who refuse to submit to them. Within a year and a half, a political force will be organized with the ideology of the 26 July Movement. Then there will be elections and the new party will compete with the other democratic parties. (H. Thomas, Cuba: A history, page 831, Italian edition).

In Cuba, however, there could not be a "democratic" stage of capitalism. A clash with US imperialism due to its total domination over every aspect of Cuba's economic and political life was inevitable, given the fact that the US multinationals owned ninety percent of the islands industry and controlled the sugarcane crop!

From the minute the July 26th Movement entered Havana, the US began to hinder and sabotage the new revolutionary government. There was therefore no possibility of any economic or social development under capitalism. In the same period, the Soviet Union, China and the rest of Eastern Europe provided an important point of reference. And when the US government refused to buy sugar from Cuba, Moscow offered to buy it in its place.

On the basis of a massive revolutionary thrust, capitalism was eliminated in Cuba. The building of the new system, however, did not follow the example of the republic of the Soviets of Lenin's time, but that of the Soviet Union of Stalin and Khrushchev. That system, as a result of the backwardness and the isolation of the USSR, had seen a bureaucracy develop which usurped political power from the working class. All the bodies of a workers democracy, the soviets, the councils, and so on, were reduced to mere transmission belts of decisions by the state apparatus.

In Cuba in those early years there was a great desire on the part of the workers and oppressed classes to become politically active, with millions joining the mass organisations (particularly the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution), and hundreds of thousands taking up arms to defeat the imperialist Bay of Pigs attack. But there was no democratic structure through which they could have an input into the main decisions and exercise direct control over the economy and the running of society. Workers had no opportunity to elect officers and administrators from within their own ranks, nor the ability to recall those who failed in their duties.

The Cuban revolutionaries, having no other model as a point of reference, applied the one suggested by their Soviet advisers. In those early years, Che Guevara was genuinely convinced that this was the correct course, and there is much evidence to prove it. Take for example the "Reglamento de la Empresa consolidada" elaborated by Che when he was Minister of Industry. One can read that the manager, nominated by the Ministry, was entitled "to know and administer all the planning, the organization, the implementation and the control phases, all the functions and tasks of the consolidated enterprise, and to administer its means and its facilities and all that is involved in this, and to represent it in every circumstance" (E. Guevara, op. cit., page 509).

The Soviet Union, in spite of all the distortions that ultimately led to the collapse of the system at the end of the 1980s, could at that time boast great successes in the field of economics, science and culture. This was despite the bureaucratic control, and thanks to the abolition of the market system and the planning of economic resources. Here is an account of Ches first impressions on visiting the USSR: "Even I, coming to the Soviet Union, was surprised because one of the things you notice most is the enormous freedom that there is (...) the enormous freedom of thought , the enormous freedom that each one has to develop according to his own abilities and temperament" (E. Guevara, Scritti, discorsi e diari di guerriglia, Einaudi, 1969, page 946). These words were pronounced in 1961, five years after the military repression of the Hungarian workers revolution by Moscow.

And on the strategy of the development of socialism, speaking again about the USSR, we can see the confused ideas of the Argentine revolutionary: "Listen carefully: every revolution, whether we like it or not, we wish it or not, has to pass through an inevitable stage of Stalinism, because it must defend itself from the capitalist encirclement "(KS Karol, La guerriglia al potere, Mondadori 1970, page 53).

Stalinism here is treated as a disease of childhood. Instead, it was a process of political counterrevolution carried out by a political caste: the bureaucracy of which Stalin was the representative, and which did not exhaust itself upon his death. It involved the physical elimination of all the Bolshevik old guard, who had led the October Revolution. The thread of revolutionary tradition was interrupted in many countries: for this reason, anti-Stalinist positions in the Communist movement, including those of Trotsky, were weak in countries like Cuba, and were often explained in a caricatured manner. Che probably became aware of all of this in the last years of his life.

The problem for Cuba in the early years was that cooperation with the Soviet Union which was not only inevitable, but necessary, and resulted in the transposition of the Soviet model to the island. It was (mistakenly) believed that, under such a bureaucratic model, Cuba could carve out an unalterable and guaranteed role as supplier of raw materials and foodstuffs (sugar and nickel), without worrying too much about the harmonious development of the economy. The process of bureaucratisation of the Cuban revolution, however, was not without its problems. In the first stage there were many sharp clashes between the Cuban revolutionaries and the Soviet bureaucrats (and their followers on the island, in the old Communist party, PSP). These debates ranged from economic to foreign policy, to issues of Marxist theory to questions of the arts and culture.

The debate on the economy

Che began to develop his first doubts after looking at the problems afflicting the management of industry: the sector of which he was minister. In the debate on the "budgeting system" (sistema de financiamiento presupuestario) in which Che was accused of introducing capitalist measures, he explained: "There are many similarities with the monopolies calculation system, but no one can deny that monopolies have a very efficient one and criticized the system used by the USSR as one that produced inequalities by providing individual incentives (especially to managers) as the central axis.

The main plank of Ches heated argument with the Stalinists over economic planning was that he advocated a budgeting system, in which the central economic authority would allocate resources to different branches of the economy. Above all, he was concerned with developing industry, which he saw as crucial, inasmuch as it would also strengthen the working class.

The Stalinists on the other hand advocated giving enterprises more autonomy, using criteria of profitability to incentivise production in each enterprise and using market criteria in the relations between different enterprises.



In this Che Guevara was correct, although perhaps he had a position which tended towards voluntarism.

In the discussion about the incentives which was linked to it, Guevara criticized the exclusive use of material and economic subsidies by focusing on moral incentives.

One of the most important mechanisms in Ches organization of society was social emulation, considered as "a weapon to increase production and an instrument for raising the consciousness of the masses" (quoted in the book of Carlos Tablada Perez, Economia, etica e politica nel pensiero di Ernesto Che Guevara, page 209, italian edition).

However, the debate on the economy in those years in Cuba was flawed in one crucial respect. The key question missing was that the only moral incentive for production in a planned economy lies in workers democracy, the fact that workers not only are nominally the owners of the means of production, but rather that they feel they have real power in society, that they are in charge and that the decisions they take shape the development of society and therefore benefit themselves individually and collectively as a class. We always return to the issue stressed by Trotsky: "The planned economy needs democracy as the human body needs oxygen."

Guevara, on the other hand, always gave more importance to voluntarism: to the development of the new man, as can be seen in one of his most famous writings, Socialism and Man in Cuba. To try to build a "new man", free of alienation and selfishness, must certainly be one of the priorities of a communist when it comes to the development of a socialist society, but this process must have sound material foundations in society and must be based on the decisive role of the working class in the new system.

On the relationship between the leaders and the masses in the Cuban socialist state, Che provides an interesting perspective: The initiative generally comes from Fidel, or from the revolutionary leadership, and is explained to the people, who make it their own. In some cases the party and government take a local experience and generalize it, following the same procedure. (E. Guevara, Socialism and Man in Cuba)

And again: At the great public mass meetings one can observe something like the dialogue of two tuning forks whose vibrations interact, producing new sounds. Fidel and the mass begin to vibrate together in a dialogue of growing intensity until they reach the climax in an abrupt conclusion crowned by our cry of struggle and victory.

This description is very apt of the mood which existed, particularly in the first years of the revolution and the close and intense relationship between the leadership, which had an enormous moral and political authority, and the masses, which supported them enthusiastically. However, that is not enough. There were no real channels for the masses to participate democratically in the running of the state and the economy. The principles of a workers state as described by Lenin in State and Revolution (the election and right of recall of all officials, no official to earn a wage higher than that of a skilled worker, no standing army but the people in arms, the rotation of officers so no-one could become a bureaucrat, etc) did not exist in Cuba.

Later, in the same text, Che deals with the problem of the participation of the masses in the process of decision-making, when he explains that "it is necessary to deepen conscious participation, individual and collective, in all the structures of management and production". He is looking for "new revolutionary institutions": "This institutionalization of the revolution has not yet been achieved. We are looking for something new that will permit a complete identification between the government and the community in its entirety". However, he cannot indicate the means by which to do this. This indicates how deep was the bureaucratic break from the ideas of true Bolshevism and the October Revolution, when even sincere revolutionaries like Che failed to elaborate an alternative to Stalinism.

On this last point, the extreme position that Che developed on the question of the trade unions is symptomatic: About one thing I'm sure, it is that the trade unions are a brake that need to be destroyed, but not with the method of withering away: they must be destroyed as the State should be destroyed, in one go." (This and all the other quotations of the Unpublished works of Che are taken from articles by Antonio Moscato, published in the daily paper Liberazione between September and October, 2005).

The alleged uselessness of trade unions in the planned economy does not take into account that even the best system of workers democracy will never be perfect, because it will reflect the antagonisms of the different classes that have not yet disappeared. It may happen that workers will have to organize to defend themselves from abuses of power, even under a workers state. Hence, the need for a trade union structure in the transitional era. This was the position Lenin defended in the trade union debate in the Soviet Union in 1920. In that debate Lenin clashed with Trotsky, who later conceded he was wrong.

Internationalism or chauvinism?

The main conflict between Guevara (and, at least in the early period of the revolution, Fidel as well) and the Soviet Union was, above all, on internationalism. In the 1960s, Cuba launched several appeals for socialist revolution in Latin America; for example, in the Message to the Tricontinental and in the Second Declaration of Havana, both written by Che Guevara. The need to extend the revolution was one of Che's main insights, which could hardly be conciliated with the "peaceful coexistence", advocated by Khrushchev. As far as Guevara was concerned, socialism in one country was simply impossible.

Guevaras unpublished works reveal his very firm position: "Internationalism is replaced by chauvinism (of a weak power or small country), or by submission to the USSR, while maintaining the discrepancies between other popular democracies (Comecon)."

Ches later years are characterized by a growing mistrust of the role of the countries of "real socialism" (i.e. of the Stalinist bloc), and his unpublished works provide an even clearer context to his speech to the Second Afroamerican Economic Seminar, which took place in Algiers in February 1965:

How can it be mutually beneficial to sell at world market prices the raw materials that cost the underdeveloped countries immeasurable sweat and suffering, and to buy at world market prices the machinery produced in today's big automated factories? If we establish that kind of relation between the two groups of nations, we must agree that the socialist countries are, in a certain way, accomplices of imperialist exploitation. It can be argued that the amount of exchange with the underdeveloped countries is an insignificant part of the foreign trade of the socialist countries. That is very true, but it does not eliminate the immoral character of that exchange. The socialist countries have the moral duty to put an end to their tacit complicity with the exploiting countries of the West. (At the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria).

Along with these arguments we find a harsh critique of the bureaucracy, described as "a brake on revolutionary action," but also "a corrosive acid that distorts (...) economy, education, culture and public services" to the point that "it damages us more than imperialism itself".

Che Guevara and Trotskyism

The search for a different path towards socialism was certainly one of Che's main concerns during his last period. His tragic death interrupted this search, so today it is difficult to determine what would have been. But we can be sure that Guevara had broken with Stalinism.

For Guevara "proletarian internationalism is a duty, but also a revolutionary necessity", thus clashing with the nationalism of official Communist parties and with the strictly "Cuban" vision of so many revolutionaries on the island. Until the end of his life, the goal of Ches political activity was to spread revolution throughout Latin America. He had no confidence in the supposedly progressive nature of the various national bourgeoisies, defended by Moscow and Beijing:

On the other hand, the autochthonous bourgeoisies have lost all their capacity to oppose imperialism  if they ever had it  and they have become the last card in the pack. There are no other alternatives; either a socialist revolution or a make-believe revolution. (Message to the Tricontinental)

As we have seen, Che came into conflict with the Soviet bureaucracy on this and various other issues. But to state that he had become "Trotskyist", as some "alternative" historians claim, does not correspond to reality. To sustain this falsehood would do disservice to the figure of Ernesto Guevara, who considered honesty and intellectual rigour as core principles. Guevara was a revolutionary who thought deeply about his political experiences and about perspectives for the revolution. In the last period of his life, he read Trotsky, as testified by his notebooks, focusing on books such as The Permanent Revolution and the History of the Russian Revolution, from which he recopied entire pages.

But Ches reflection on these texts remained incomplete. The choice of using guerrilla war first in the Congo and later in Bolivia confirms this, backed by a few excerpts from his unpublished works. When Guevara asked himself whether the proletariat still represents the driving force behind the revolutionary process, his answer is categorical:

"The examples of China, Vietnam and Cuba prove the inadequacy of this thesis. In the first two cases the participation of the proletariat was none or poor, in Cuba the struggle was not led by the party of the working class, but by a multi-class movement radicalized after the takeover of political power.

As a matter of fact, in Cuba, the general strike, which paralyzed the country for a week, was a decisive factor in the seizure of power. The working class had entered the stage of revolution with force, but without any representative body, comparable to the Soviets in 1917. Instead, it put its trust in the peasant guerrillas. This hugely facilitated the rise of a bureaucracy that was placed at the head of the state apparatus. In China and Vietnam, the guerrilla struggle led to victory over imperialism and the collapse of capitalism, but the regimes that emerged were from the beginning deformed workers' states in the image and likeness of the USSR.

One of the lessons of the Russian Revolution of 1917 was that even in a backward country the proletariat plays a decisive role, no matter how small it may be from the numerical point of view.

Marxism does not underestimate the importance of the peasant movement. Without the support of the mass of poor peasants, millions of which engaged in the vanguard, the October Revolution would have never been possible. But it was the industrial working class - in spite of the fact that it represented a minority of Russian society (just over 10%) - who led the revolutionary movement. It is in industry, in every country where capitalist production relations have been established, where the decisive clash takes place. The leading role in the struggle for socialism is given to the working class not by divine law, but by the role it plays in production.

We find it quite understandable that Che Guevara, politically educated in the 50s and 60s, did not consider the proletariat of the Western countries as decisive, given the long lull in the workers' movement in those countries, facilitated by the post-war economic boom. But it was wrong to elevate a period of lull in the workers struggles to a general theory. Unfortunately, May 68 in France and the Hot Autumn in Italy came too late to allow Che to correct his analysis. In an attempt to create "two, three, many Vietnams" Guevara generalized the methods used in the Cuban Revolution. In his opinion, the struggle had to be developed outside of the city, there was no need to build a party as the vanguard of the working class. These theories, later adopted by others in many Latin American countries even when they had already been proven wrong by the experience of Che in Bolivia, led revolutionary organisations to take cadres from factories and cities and take them into the countryside, even in highly industrialized countries such as Uruguay or Argentina!

The Foco theory can be summed up in the following words of Che Guevara: It is not always necessary to wait for all the necessary conditions for a revolution, the insurrectionary foco can create them (E. Guevara, ibidem, page. 284). The history of the workers' movement shows the opposite: revolutionaries intervene in revolutions, they do not create them. And the experiences of the Congo and Bolivia confirm this hypothesis. Despite all Ches efforts, and also thanks to the corrupt character of the Congolese nationalist guerrilla leadership, the last period in the Congo would become "the year we were nowhere", according to some of Che's comrades.

Congolese student groups, trained in China and Bulgaria, as Guevara recounts, "had no intention of risking their lives in combat". On arrival, they asked for 15 days of leave and protested "because they did not have a place to leave luggage and there were no weapons ready for them. A really comical situation, had it not been so sad to see the attitude of those guys on whom the revolution had placed its hopes "(The year we were nowhere, by P.I Taibo II, F. Escobar, F. Guerra, 1994, page 233-234).

In Bolivia, the conscious boycotting role played by the Bolivian Communist Party leadership was striking. Even Fidel Castro, in one of his forewords to the Bolivia Diaries, excoriated the PCB leadership for "treason". But this factor alone can not explain the failure of the Cuban expedition in Bolivia.

Guevara went to create a guerrilla movement in the area around Nancahuazu, a depopulated area, unsuitable for guerrilla warfare, with virtually no supporters in the towns and cities. Here we see all the limitations of the Foco theory. Even if we admit that Che's intention was to create a "political-military school for Bolivian guerrillas" the substance of the question does not change at all. Forming a conscious vanguard, willing to make sacrifices, is one of the first tasks of a revolutionary. But equally important is that this vanguard does not separate itself from the masses, and above all that it operates among those masses that are the decisive factor for revolutionary change.

In Bolivia there was a strong workers movement, whose vanguard were the tin miners. A few years after the death of Guevara, a movement of the masses swept away the dictatorship in 1970, and opened the brief experience of the La Paz Commune in 1971. Where were the best resources, therefore, for a really effective revolutionary struggle?

Guevara paid for his mistakes with his life. To discuss today his political and theoretical legacy is an indispensable task. Guevara was a sincere revolutionary, and the study of his thoughts assumes meaning for the current situation: not least in relation to the past, present and future of the Cuban and Latin American Revolution.

We consider one of Ches conclusions more relevant than ever today: the need to spread the struggle for the socialist revolution throughout the Latin American continent, internationalism not as an abstract word, but as a central idea of the revolutionary movement. We think it is not an accident that Che and the Cuban Revolution in its early years were in fierce conflict with the Communist parties under Moscows influence on this particular subject. In internationalism lies the only salvation for the Cuban revolution. The international struggle is more relevant than ever. When we see mass mobilisations and revolutions taking place from Venezuela to Bolivia, from Ecuador to Argentina, we are committed to providing political and material support to the forces of Marxism in those countries.
By Nelson Wesonga:

Ugandans will pay Shs217 for the 183megawatt Isimba hydro power projects power, which is Shs73 more than earlier thought.

Different Energy officials had in the past told Ugandans Isimbas generation tariff will be Shs 144 the equivalent of 6 US cents per unit.

However, speaking during the Independence Day celebrations in Bushenyi yesterday, president Museveni said Nalubaale is US4 per unit, Kiira is 4, Agago will be6, Karuma will be 5, Isimba will be 6.

Bujagalis power has the cost of 11 (Shs398) per unit which the president promised to sort out.

He explained that the people who negotiated on Ugandas behalf for the Bujagali project opted for expensive money.

To rectify their mistake, Mr Museveni said his government is working to refinance Bujagali Dam with cheaper loans with a longer tenure.

Some critics have in the past said it is prudent to borrow money to repay Bujagali Dams now outstanding $470 million debt.

When the idea of refinancing Bujagali was first floated two years ago thereabouts, an official at the Treasury dismissed it.

The official said it would be better to use the money that would have gone to refinance Bujagali to build another power plant, and that Uganda should just wait out the Bujagali contract to end.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 9, 2017

A merger between wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint could harm consumers, particularly low-income ones, Senate Democrats say in a letter to regulators.

"Aggressive antitrust enforcement benefits consumers and competition in the wireless market," Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Al Franken (D-Minnesota) and seven other lawmakers write in a letter sent late last week to the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice. "A combination of T-Mobile and Sprint would raise significant antitrust issues and could dramatically harm consumers."

T-Mobile and Sprint, the country's third- and fourth-largest wireless companies, reportedly plan to announce merger plans by the end of the month.

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Klobuchar and the other lawmakers are urging regulators to begin a review now, even before a deal is announced. The senators contend that a merger would lead to price increases, which could ultimately lead low-income families to abandon mobile broadband service.

"Today, smartphones are not really just phones at all," the lawmakers write. "For many, they are the primary connection to the internet. An anticompetitive acquisition would increase prices, burdening American consumers, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, or forcing them to forego their internet connection altogether."

In 2014, T-Mobile agreed to be acquired by Sprint in a deal worth an estimated $32 billion. But the companies called off the deal after federal regulators raised concerns.

The lawmakers say it's "surprising" that the companies are again considering merging. "T-Mobiles acquisition of Sprint would very likely be presumptively anticompetitive," they write. "We are concerned that this consolidation would increase prices, reduce incentives to offer new plans, and allow the remaining carriers to curtail their investment in their networks."
eTurboNews, Tuesday, October 10, 2017 8 AM

Terror attacks in Istanbul have made if hard for Turkey to attract foreign tourists. Turkish tourism officials together with Turkish Airlines have been trying desperately to convince foreign tourists to visit. Now Turkeys quasi-dictator/president has reacted to anti-Turkey statements made by President Donald Trump and both countries have stopped issuing non-immigrant tourist and business visas.

Read the whole story at eTurboNews 
by Sara Guaglione , October 10, 2017

The Los Angeles Times has tapped Forbes Media Chief Product Officer Lewis DVorkin to become its new editor-in-chief. He succeeds Davan Maharaj, who was the editor and publisher of the newspaper before he was let go in August.

The LA Times has undergone many changes this summer. Parent company Tronc dismissed several senior editors  including Maharaj, managing editor Marc Duvoisin, deputy editor for digital Megan Garvey and assistant managing editor of investigations Matt Doig. Former Yahoo executive Ross Levinsohn was hired as the papers publisher and CEO.

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This week, Levinsohn also named Mickie Rosen, his deputy, the new president of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.

Levinsohn told the LA Times he considered 84 candidates for the top newsroom job.

This was as important of a hire as I could make, he said. It was important to find someone who had deep experience in journalism ... and also who had deep digital chops. He really remade Forbes, he has grown it dramatically.

At Forbes, DVorkin was responsible for pushing online initiatives to boost readership and revenue, such as paying online contributors based on the number of readers their articles attracted and expanding native advertising offerings, with a product called BrandVoice.

DVorkin's recent background in advertising and attracting visitors suggests increasing traffic will be a priority, though he told the LA Times in an interview: Traditional reporting has never been more important than it is today.

I also believe there are other kinds of content creation models that can work," he added. New kinds of models are definitely important. New types of content models, new types of advertising models and new types of revenue models. All of these things are critical to the future success of the media organization, he added.

DVorkin has served as Forbes' Chief Product Officer since 2010. He has previously worked at AOL, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Newsweek.

He will officially take on the new role starting November 1.

Interim editor Jim Kirk will continue through the transition.

Separately, National Journal announced editor-in-chief Stephen G. Smith will step down at the end of the year to become senior editor for Atlantic Media, focusing on special editorial projects for the parent company. Managing editor Ben Pershing will succeed him.

Smith was editor of National Journal when David G. Bradley, chairman of Atlantic Media, purchased the company in 1997. Smith was asked to return two years ago to lead the company through its digital transition.

Pershing joined National Journal in 2014 as Washington editor and was promoted to managing editor in 2015, when Smith returned to the newsroom. He has worked at the Washington Post and Roll Call.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 10, 2017

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to review a ruling that Power Ventures, a defunct aggregation service, violated a federal hacking law by scraping Facebook's site.

The court did not provide a reason for its move, which let stand a decision issued last year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court said in its ruling that Power violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by accessing Facebook after receiving a cease-and-desist letter. The anti-hacking law, which provides for private lawsuits as well as criminal penalties, prohibits people from accessing computers without authorization.

The battle between the companies dates to 2008, when Power was trying to grow a service that enabled people to use a single portal to log in to a variety of social networking companies -- including MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. To accomplish this, Power asked users to provide log-in information for their social networking sites and then imported people's information.

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In late 2008, Facebook sent a letter to Power demanding that it stop accessing the site. Power allegedly refused to comply with Facebook's demand. Instead, the company allegedly continued to draw on the passwords that users had provided in order to access their information.

Facebook accused Power of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Power -- along with an array of digital rights groups -- countered that it didn't violate the anti-hacking law, because users voluntarily provided their log-in credentials.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit said that Power violated the hacking law because it knew it wasn't authorized to access Facebook's computers after receiving the cease-and-desist letter.

Some of the same issues have come up in a recent battle between LinkedIn and HiQ, a startup that scrapes LinkedIn's publicly available pages, analyzes the information to determine which employees are at risk of being poached, and then sells its conclusions to employers.

LinkedIn contends that HiQ's scraping violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, also implemented technical measures aimed at blocking HiQ.

HiQ then sued LinkedIn for allegedly acting anti-competitively. HiQ sought a declaratory judgment that it wasn't violating the anti-hacking law, and asked for an injunction requiring LinkedIn to stop blocking HiQ.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen in the Northern District of California sided with HiQ. He granted the startup an injunction on the grounds that HiQ's business could suffer "irreparable harm" if prevented from accessing publicly available information about LinkedIn's members.

LinkedIn is now appealing that order.

The LinkedIn-HiQ dispute, like the one between Facebook and Power, centers on whether companies that access a site after receiving a demand to stop doing so violate a hacking law.

But the cases differ in at least one significant respect, according to internet law expert Venkat Balasubramani: The LinkedIn material isn't password protected. "The big difference is that Power Ventures involves password sharing and the material was behind a password," he says. "The question was whether users can delegate to third parties the ability to access the material."

HiQ is expected to submit its arguments to the 9th Circuit by the end of the month.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 10, 2017

Facebook has been hit with a new lawsuit alleging that it violates a consumer protection law by sending users unsolicited text messages about their friends' birthdays.

"Facebooks Birthday Texts are sent to increase revenue at the expense of violating the privacy rights of plaintiff," California resident James Meyers alleges in a class-action complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Meyers alleges that Facebook is violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using auto-dialers to send text messages to users without their consent. He says Facebook sent him a message last year about a friend's birthday, even though he hadn't consented to receive SMS messages.

His complaint lists a variety of ways the messages may have harmed consumers. He says that message recipients "have been required to pay cell phone service providers for unwanted text messages, lost use of their cell at the time of receiving the unwanted text message, wasted time on receipt of and reading of the unwanted text messages, and have been subjected to increased electricity charges from receipt of unwanted text messages."

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Meyers also alleges that Facebook obtains users' cell phone numbers "from other sources," if people don't voluntarily provide them.

Facebook is already facing a separate lawsuit over allegations that its birthday texts violate the robo-texting law. Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco rejected Facebook's arguments that it has a free speech right to send the messages.

Facebook appealed that ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The company also faces two other suits for allegedly sending illegal robotexts to people. District of Columbia resident Christine Holt, who says she doesn't have a Facebook account, is suing the company for allegedly sending her unwanted SMS messages after she obtained a cell phone from MetroPCS. Montana resident Noah Duguid, who apparently had been assigned a recycled phone number by his carrier, alleged in a separate case that Facebook repeatedly sent him messages stating that his account had been accessed, even though he never had an account with the social networking service.

A trial judge dismissed Duguid's allegations, but allowed Holt to proceed. Duguid appealed the dismissal, while Facebook appealed the decision involving Holt. Both of those matters are now pending in front of the 9th Circuit.
Researchers found that proton pump inhibitors, which are drugs used to reduce gastric acid, could promote the growth of a type of bacteria associated with chronic liver diseases. Share on Pinterest New research suggests that drugs used to reduce gastric acid reflux may promote a type of gut bacteria tied to chronic liver disease. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are drugs that reduce the production of gastric, or stomach, acid in the long-term. PPIs are often used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is a condition wherein gastric acid travels up to the esophagus, producing an uncomfortable burning sensation. One study suggests that PPI prescriptions in the United States are on the rise , despite the fact that they are tied to a series of adverse events . Another recent article even linked PPIs with an increased risk of death. Now, emerging research from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in La Jolla suggests that PPIs may also have a role to play in the development of liver diseases. Our stomachs produce gastric acid to kill ingested microbes, explains senior study author Dr. Bernd Schnabl, and taking a medication to suppress gastric acid secretion can change the composition of the gut microbiome. We found, he continues, that the absence of gastric acid promotes growth of Enterococcus bacteria in the intestines and translocation [transfer] to the liver, where they exacerbate inflammation and worsen chronic liver disease. The studys findings have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.

PPIs may promote Enterococcus population The team studied the effect of gastric acid suppression in the promotion of a series of chronic liver diseases  alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)  using mouse models. For every model, they either genetically engineered the animals to produce less gastric acid, or they reduced production by giving the mice the PPI omeprazole . Then, the researchers collected stool samples from the mice to see how the gut microbiome had been affected in each case. They found that in mice who had been administered the PPI, the Enterococcus faecalis bacteria, which are tied to inflammation of the liver, were more abundant. The animals were therefore more exposed to the symptoms of alcohol-induced liver disease, NAFLD, and NASH. Dr. Schnabl and his team also colonized a group of mice with Enterococcus to replicate the effect of PPIs on the gut microbiome. As a result, the scientists were able to confirm the bacterias role in causing steatosis  that is, the buildup of excess fat in the liver, which marks fatty liver diseases. An abundance of Enterococcus also aggravated alcoholic liver disease in the mouse model.

Abundant Enterococcus in guts of PPI users Finally, the researchers wanted to confirm the effect of PPIs in humans, analyzing stool samples from individuals who had been diagnosed with chronic alcohol abuse. They worked with a total 4,830 people, of whom 1,024 were taking PPIs, 745 had previously used gastric acid suppressors, and 3,061 had never taken PPIs. Once more, the team found abundant Enterococcus in the stool samples they analyzed. They also found that the risk of being diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease within 10 years was 20.7 percent for those currently taking PPIs, and 16.1 percent for those who used to take PPIs but had since ceased this treatment. Individuals who had never used PPIs had the lowest risk, at 12.4 percent. Our findings indicate that the recent rise in use of gastric acid-suppressing medications might have contributed to the increased incidence of chronic liver disease, suggests Dr. Schnabl. The results may point to a link between PPI use and the risk of developing or worsening a chronic liver disease, but the team admits that currently unidentified confounding factors may also play a role. Dr. Schnabl and his colleagues say that, in the future, a randomized controlled clinical trial should be conducted to confirm a causal relationship between PPI usage and the risk of liver disease.
Worldwide, allergies are on the rise at an alarming rate. How do our bodies mistake otherwise harmless substances for potential dangers and cause the unpleasant, and sometimes even fatal, symptoms of allergy?

Share on Pinterest Allergies affect millions of people worldwide, and the number is rising.

From the mother anxiously watching for signs of wheezing the first time her child eats peanut butter to the retirees sudden reaction to shellfish, allergies can strike at any point during our lives.

Hay fever affects 400 million individuals globally , with asthma affecting 300 million, food allergies between 200 and 250 million, and drug allergies affecting around 10 percent of the worlds population.

The World Allergy Organization (WAO) warn that the prevalence of allergic diseases worldwide is rising dramatically in both developed and developing countries.

Allergens, or molecules with the potential to cause allergy, are everywhere in our environment. They come in the form of tree pollen, food, mold, dust mites, snake or insect venom, and animals, such as cats, dogs, and cockroaches.

When the body mistakes one of these substances as a threat and reacts with an immune response, we develop an allergy. Nobody is born with allergies. Instead, the 50 million people in the United States who suffer from allergies developed these only once their immune systems came into contact with the culprit.

But how do our bodies mistake a friend for a foe? And what causes the symptoms that many are so familiar with?
Mysteries are still unfolding as a Kumasi-based Prophet Michael Kojo Poku, is calling on Kwadwo Nkansah a.k.a. Lilwin to start confessing all his sins and atrocities if the Kumahood actor wants to continue living.

The leader and founder Fire Time Prayer Ministry disclosed recently in a telephone interview that Lilwins hands are stained with bloodguilt and risks death if he fails to approach him [the prophet] for a powerful deliverance session.

According to the Prophet Poku, Kwadwo Nkansah-Lilwin has done lot of harm and the time has come for him to confess his sins.

Although, he was lip-tight in saying exactly the kinds of sins the actor has committed, the prophet said Lilwin knows and he is the best person to voice his sins out.

He insisted that, calamities will befall the actor if he fails to confess his sins to any powerful prophet in the country.

He said: Kwadwo Nkansah must approach any powerful prophet to confess his sins and all the harm he has done. If he fails to do so, what will befall him, we cant say.

As we talk, I am still seeing the spirit of death hovering around the actor. He must confess his sins now.

Watch the record interview


10.10.2017 LISTEN

It seems popular Ghanaian female musician, Becca, born Rebecca Akosua Acheampomaa just cant wait to see October 21 2017, a day she has set aside to celebrate her 10-year- journey in the Ghana Music Industry, at the National Theatre.

The songstress announced earlier in July, her decision to hold a concert, in collaboration with her management, Zylofon Media, to mark a decade in the music industry.

The celebration is dubbed Becca 10 Years and Counting and will see a lot of heavy weight Ghanaian, Nigerian and other African musicians  virtually all musicians she had worked with along her career  perform.

Becca is credited with hit songs including Daa Ke Daa, You Lied To Me Forever and Ever, Na Wash sang with Nigerians Patoranking.

She took to her twitter page to post:

"I got a feeling that 21st is gonna be a good night!!! I'm about to tell you one by one who's sharing my special stage with me. 10years..."
Ghanaian-born UK-based international Afropop musician, Fuse ODG has been appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as brand ambassador for Cocoa in Ghana.

This was made known during the 70 years anniversary celebration of the Ghana Cocoa Board which also coincided with the celebration of the National Cocoa Day, held in Kumasi on October 2, 2017.

Speaking at the event, President Akufo-Addo, who performed the official launch of the anniversary celebration, expressed confidence in Ghanas cocoa industry and reiterated governments commitment to initiate interventions that would raise the production and returns on the cash crop.

The President was also delighted to announce the appointment of Fuse ODG as the brand ambassador for Cocoa, who, according to him, has the responsibility of promoting the consumption of cocoa both in Ghana and across the world.

One of the worlds biggest Afropop artiste. Our very own Fuse ODG in addition to his other duties as tourism ambassador has taken upon himself to promote the consumption of cocoa products not only in Ghana but across the world. I thank him for this patriotic gesture, he said.

In a related development, Madam Catherin Afeku, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister has appointed Fuse ODG as tourism ambassador. Fuse ODG was part of the 30 Ghanaians appointed as tourism ambassadors.

These popular Ghanaian influencers have the mission of helping government to promote the growth of tourism in the country.

The new Tourism Ambassadors were out-doored at a ceremony organised by the Ghana Tourism Authority in Tamale in the Northern Region.

Among the 30 announced ambassadors are names like Agya Koo, Nana Kwame Ampadu, Okyeame Kwame, Van Vicker and D-Black.
Kumi Guitar, a contemporary Ghanaian high-life artist signed to Zylofon Media has released a touching tribute song for the victims of the weekends Atomic Junction Gas Explosion.

The unfortunate gas explosion in at the Atomic junction in Madina on Saturday 7, which has claimed 7 lives and injured over 132 people has left Ghanaians shockedwith many having joined hands to mourn the dead and pray for the injured.

Its in this regard that Kumi Guitar has quickly recorded a song, to aid in the national mourning and reflectiontitled, Victims.

Speaking about the tribute song, the rising star said; as a musician, I felt I can best contribute to the national mourning and reflection by recording a song for those weve lost and those who have sustained injurieswhile asking for Gods protection and guidance for Ghana.

A few months ago, Kumi Guitar featured some of Ghanas greatest music personalities, including; Nana Kwame Ampadu, Pat Thomas and Charles Amoah in the video of his hit single, Dream.

Listen to Victims
Ace broadcaster and the host of Okay FM Drive Time, Gilbert Abeiku Aggery, also known in the radio industry as Abeiku Santana, participated in this year's edition of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo.

This year's event which was held from October 3 to 5 brought together travel agents, tour operators, hoteliers and journalists from Kenya's key tourism source markets around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, America, among others.

The radio presenter was sponsored to the event by Kaya Tours Company Limited, Kenya Airways and Adepa Shoes Ghana Limited.

Held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, the Magical Kenya Travel Expo is one of the fastest growing tourism events in the region, and is currently positioned as the leading travel trade fair in East Africa.

Activities at the expo include a special session on the status of online bookings with guidance and advice on how to better sell online.

Commenting on his participation, Abeiku Santana said, My goal for this travel expo is to learn how to better leverage the worlds largest tourism communities, network with major industry players and navigate critical aspects of the tourism business.

Abeiku Santana has become one of the most recognised faces in destination marketing in Ghana. His love for tourism took him to University of Cape Coast Graduate School for a Master's Degree in Tourism Management.
The organizers of the biggest student festival in Ghana, Youth Web Ghana, last Friday officially outdoored the students who qualify for the 2017 Edition of the Universal Merchant Bank Ghana Tertiary Awards (The Fire Edition).

The CEO of Youth Web Group, Mr. Richmond Amofa Sarpong, at the nominees announcement night held in Accra disclosed that over 53,975 students picked up this years nomination forms nationwide to be part of the UMBGTA2017.

The UMB Ghana Tertiary Awards has a market jurisdiction of over 380,000 students, the organizers decided to nominate 10 students per category but due to number of students per each category with their evidence, it was tough for the board this year.

He continued that for example, the Most Influential Student Entrepreneur Category had over 9,000 Students who filed for that category, so not disfranchise any student who met the pass mark, the board decided to nominate more than 20 students in some limited categories.

He further explained the voting system, that every category has a code. Voters have to type the Category Code (with space) then nominees name and text it to 1736 across all network.

The name of the nominee can be either the first, last, full name, stage or popular name known by people.

He stated however that if no feedback is received after voting, it is due to the traffic jam on the server, he said it is a temporary problem and promised that the issue will be resolve in a short time.

Voting officially started on Friday night 15th September, after the release of nominees, Voting ends on the 24th of November, 2017 at 5pm.

Votes will be audited within an hour and the results are handed over to Youth Web Company Limited (organizers of the UMB Ghana Tertiary Award) at 7pm after it is being audited by the voting services providers, voting will be done in two folds  via SMS which costs 30pesewas.

Mr. Amofa Sarpong continued to explain that each category will be treated separately, which means in a case where a nominee is nominated in many categories his or her account will be done separately.

Artworks will be done for all qualified nominees, but in the meantime, nominees must design their own artworks as they still wait for the official artwork from the organizers.

He assured all the students that the award scheme is transparent, free and fair, refuting allegations that the scheme is dubious.
10.10.2017 LISTEN

The importance of building a business brand can not be overemphasized, it really can be considered just as important as setting up the business itself. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 4 tips to help effectively build a business brand.

Define Your Brand

To build a great brand, you need to first define that brand, know what it means, what it stands for and what concept or idea you want to equate it with. To define your brand, you can start by writing down all characteristics that describe what you want the brand to be or represent, and the exact way you would like the brand to be perceived. Once you have the list, you can progressively fine-tune it to enhance your brand and make it stand out from competitors. In the end, the list should give a clear understanding of what your business is capable of doing, what it should be known for and how it should sell products and/or services without compromising its values.

Encourage Your Employees To Be Brand Ambassadors

There is no better way to build a brand than to have your employees as brand ambassadors. It is important for your employees to understand the business brand, know what it stands for and embody what the brand stands for. This is because your employees are likely going to be the ones having direct interactions with the customers or clients, and if these employees dont fully grasp what your business brand is about or what it represents, the customers or clients are unlikely to do so as well. As a business, be sure to keep your employees engaged and informed about your business brand, train them to understand the business brand and encourage them to support the brand message in their interactions with customers or clients, and even in their interactions with each other. You can them reward them for acting in the brands best interests by way of incentives.

Think of Your Brand as a Person

This will help significantly in brand communications and positioning. Thinking of your brand as a person will help to guide the methods and manner you communicate your brand to the general public, especially target customers. This is because seeing your brand as a person helps to give it a personality, and this personality will determine how your brand will behave in different situations. It also determines, based on that personality, how best to communicate with the general public, and helps develop beliefs, values and purposes that further define that brand and how it relates with the public and target customers.

Be Consistent

Consistency helps to reinforce the character of your brand. It makes your brand seem focused and less clumsy to the public, and further helps to clarify your offerings so customers know or have an idea of what exactly to expect from your business. Additionally, it helps to establish the authenticity of your brand and build trust in your brand. Creating a brand guide can help with brand consistency. A brand guide will help to establish guidelines for your brand and ultimately keep your entire business on the same page.
Joy News has learnt governments policy to arrest the spate of gas explosions in the country has been resisted by some petrochemical workers.

Deputy NADMO boss, Abu Ramadan told Joy News Elton Brobbey Monday the Energy Ministry has been working on the document for the past five and a half months but it faced resistance from industry players.

He explained some petrochemical workers cautioned the Ministry to disregard the policy because its implementation will not inure to their benefit.

But after last Saturdays gas explosion at Atomic Junction near Madina in Accra, Mr Ramadan said the workers have shifted their position on the policy.

Deputy NADMO boss, Abu Ramadan

The Ministry said they are coming around [and] particularly with this incident, I dont think they wont support a plan of this nature, he said.

Safety standards at the various filling stations have come under scrutiny after the Atomic Junction gas explosion led to the death of seven people, with 134 others injured.

The Atomic Junction gas explosion

Some Ghanaians have blamed the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for granting permits to the gas station.

CEO of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi told Evans Mensah on Joy FMs Top Story, some people should be fired for the tragedy.

He noted people who have been put in place of trust need to feel the pain of letting down the whole country when their negligence leads to casualties.

The idea of having safety measures is good [and] we do not have any objection to that [because] it is something we have asked the Ministry before, he reacted to government decision to implement new safety measures.

In the coming days government will announce its new policy to combating gas explosions if Cabinet adopts the document at its Thursday meeting.

Although he refused to delve into details of the policy, Mr Ramadan has asked Ghanaians to support the new measures when it is made public.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | [email protected] | Instagram: @Realbrakopowers
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has said it had identified some safety lapses at the MANSCO gas filling station  the station that exploded last Saturday  and had in a letter prompted them to take measures in rectifying same.

Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Hassan Tampuli, who made the revelation on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, said the letter was given to MANSCO through the Oil Marketing Company (OMC) that supplied it with LPG, Hills Oil.

In the case of this particular station, we did the monitoring and inspection in April 2017, so it was part of Greater Accra inspection and monitoring exercise. We wrote to them a letter which was sent to them on 10th of July. What the letter said was that, we've done monitoring and inspection of your station and we come to the realization that they fell short of a number of things and we catalogued them. One of the things we said was that, their forecourt was too busy of activities which includes taxi rank, food vendors among others. So we thought that, that was unsafe so they should put in place the necessary safety measures, Mr. Tampuli told Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Mr. Tampuli said his outfit also wrote a letter to six other filling stations that had questionable safety measures.

Reading excerpts of the letter sent across, the NPA boss said: the exercise revealed that 7 of the LPG filling gas stations at Adjei Kojo, Tema community 9, Ada Bedeku, Kobekrom, Ada Kasei, Atomic Junction and Oyibi did not fully satisfy the standards of operation prescribed by AuthorityYou are required to address the identified shortcomings by close of business Monday, 4th September 2017, and notify the authority for an inspection of the seven LPG plants.

He also said three demands were made to MANSCO.

First of all, we said there was too much activity on the forecourt especially around the cylinder filling and auto gas area. Secondly, more safety signs should be provided at the facility and thirdly, customers should be prevented from assessing the filling area, a separate waiting area must be provided, he said.

7 die in Atomic junction gas explosion

About seven people perished, and 132 sustained varied degrees of injury when the MANSCO gas station exploded.

The incident has however ignited pressure on supervisory state bodies to put the various filling stations in country under constant check to forestall such explosions in future.

-Citifmonline
Pay attention.

If you do, you won't end up like Allan Jordan, who showed up for a recent Virgin Atlantic Airways flight from New York to London, only to discover he'd overlooked a small but important detail.

"The woman at the ticket counter very politely welcomed me, looked down at my ticket and said, 'Mr. Jordan, you are flying to London tomorrow. How can I help you?' " he remembers.

Jordan is no newbie. As a consultant based in Great Neck, N.Y., he travels constantly. He knew better.

That's the thing about travel errors. You don't have to be an occasional traveler to screw up. It can happen to anyone. This is a good time to think about travel troubles, before your next big vacation or business trip.

Jordan was lucky. A sympathetic supervisor rebooked him on that day's London flight at no extra charge. "She was very kind," he says.

Lesson learned? Double-check your dates before you leave.

When I say no one is immune to errors, I include myself. A few weeks ago, I gave my travel agent, Melissa, the weekend off and went DIY. I booked a room at a hotel in Portland, my next stop on a West Coast road trip. When I tried to check in, the hotel had never heard of me. Turns out I'd booked a room in Portland, Maine, instead of Portland Oregon. Oops.

Lesson learned? Work with a travel agent.

I'm in good company. Your travel mistakes are great learning opportunities, too.

You say 10/11, I say 11/10

Taylor Ann Giardina has spent years traveling around the world but keeps getting tripped up by date formats. In the USA, we would write Oct. 11 as 10/11/17; in the rest of the world, it's 11/10/17. Confuse that, and you could reserve a room or flight on the wrong day. "I once missed a flight, thinking it was the day afterwards, because I misread the reservation written in the European format  day/month/year," says Giardina, an interior designer from Austin. "Being an experienced traveler, I was overconfident that I had read it correctly and didn't double-check my dates." Lesson: Don't assume anything.

If it looks too good to be true...

That's what Kris Morton discovered when her mother found the perfect car rental in Iceland this year for the bargain price of $400 a week. "Everything was perfect until we returned it before our flight home," says Morton, a writer who lives in Detroit. "We thought we had already paid for the whole rental, but they said we'd only paid for one day. My mom dug out her confirmation email, and to our horror, realized that the rental agents were right. She had somehow only booked the car for one day." Morton ended up paying another $900 for her SUV. The takeaway: You can't rent an SUV in Iceland for $400 a week.

Trust, but verify

Mapping applications from Google and Apple are so helpful, except when they aren't. Andy Abramson, who runs a communication consulting firm in Los Angeles, discovered that on a recent winery tour in France. "In some of the more rural parts, where wineries normally are located, Google Maps will give you a few options, but not all are really roads to take a car on," he says. "On more than a few occasions, Google has taken me on roads best driven in a 4x4  or taken on horseback." The lesson: Never completely trust anyone or anything, even Google.

Notice a theme? No matter the mistake, there's usually someone on the other end making an incorrect assumption about times, dates, places and prices. You think you know something, but you really don't.

The fix is simple: Pay attention. Double-check the details of your next trip, or hire someone who can. Otherwise, you'll end up as an anecdote in one of my travel columns.

Three more timing mistakes you should avoid

 Paying attention to the time, not day. This is particularly important on international flights with long connections. Notice both the time and day when you're booking. Some stopovers can be lengthy, and that "+1 day" is easy to overlook, As a result, you could be stuck at the airport for more than 24 hours waiting for your connecting flight.

 No flight information on your rental car. Always share your flight number when you book a rental car at the airport. If your flight is late, your car rental company may hold your reservation as a courtesy. Otherwise, they'll cancel your reservation and ask you to make a new booking, almost always at a higher rate.

 Check-in and checkout dates in hotels. This is an easy mistake to make. You'll always check in one day and check out after you've overnighted, on the next day. Travelers constantly confuse their check-in and checkout dates, shorting themselves by a day. An experienced travel pro can help prevent this.

Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler. Contact him at [email protected] or visit elliott.org.
The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), a Ghanaian politically inclined non-governmental organisation, has repeated its call for the establishment of Multi-Party Democracy Commission (MDC) to strengthen and consolidate the country's democratic gains.

The MDC, according to Dr Kwesi Jonah, a Senior Research Fellow at IDEG would regulate the activities of the various political parties in the country.

They would also be tasked to look into the financial standings and how political parties raise funds for their activities, especially during the electioneering period.

Dr Jonah made the call during a stakeholders consultation meeting on transformational local governance reform and constitutional amendment in Sunyani.

It was organised by IDEG and attended by civil society organisations, security services, traditional rulers, the clergy and representatives of some political parties.

Dr Jonah noted that the activities of political parties were polarised as it was always difficult to control them.

This, the Senior Research Fellow explained was a contributory factor to the recurring threats of violence in Ghanas Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

Dr Jonah indicated the establishment of the Commission would improve on regulating activities of political parties by enacting laws to govern the electoral process and bring sanity into the electoral discourse as well.

He further observed that the recurring threats of violence were partly as a result of a systematic problem, where Article 55 (3) of the 1992 constitution excluded political parties from contesting in local government elections.

This, Dr Jonah added had led to a winner-takes-all system of governance that perpetuated exclusion.

He expressed dismay that the main focus of political parties in the country was to go for, and win general election, sidelining their developmental roles in nation-building.

Dr Jonah said MDC would ensure that political parties factored the priority needs of the citizenry that would spur rapid socio-economic growth and development.

"We must endeavour to streamline the activities of all political parties by ensuring that the political parties adhered to basic regulations during, before and after the electioneering" he added.

Mr Kofi Awity, the Director of Operations at IDEG, re-emphasised the importance on the need to elect Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) instead of their appointment.

In that direction, he said a constitutional amendment was required so that all political parties would elect a candidate to contest for that position.

Mr Awity called on other civil society organisations to help build and deepen the national campaign for the election of the MMDCEs.

He praised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for supporting the campaign, which according to him would help to push forward development at local levels.

Nana Kwaku Sabeng II, the Akwamuhene of Sunyani Traditional Area who presided over the programme asked political parties to allow national interest to supersede their political ambitions.

In an open forum, most of the participants lauded the idea of the election of MMDCEs but cautioned that more time was needed to deliberate on it.
Police on Saturday night arrested some three persons who tried to loot items from the scene of the gas explosion at Atomic Junction near Madina in Accra.

Police reports indicate that, in the midst of the chaos, some persons saw an opportunity to loot properties that had been left behind during the stampede.

The police were however able to nab three of the suspected thieves.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Sheila Abayie Buckman, confirmed that the three had been taken into custody, and would be brought before the court on Tuesday.

they tried to loot some of the properties people had left behind. We will be following due process and hopefully today [Tuesday], they will be taken to court, she said.

They will be charged with theft, she added.

Were working hard to ensure normalcy

Road access to the Atomic junction has since been cordoned off, as non-threatening quantities of gas still remain in the tanks sited at the affected filling stations.

The debris from the disaster also still remain at the scene.

Business activities in the area have also come to a standstill as investigations continue to ascertain the cause of the explosion.

DSP Buckman, however assured the public and road users on that stretch that efforts are being made to ensure that normal human and vehicular activities return as soon as possible.

The technical team is on the ground, all stakeholders are on the ground. We're here working frantically for life to come to normal. Tuesday morning, because we anticipate the traffic flow will be directed towards town, we have policemen on the grounds diverting the routes. Thankfully, authorities of the University of Ghana have allowed to access to their otherwise inaccessible roads without a special card, DSP Buckman said.

Atomic Gas Explosion

On Saturday night, a gas explosion occurred at a filling station at the Atomic junction in Accra, killing seven people and injuring some 132 other persons.

Two filling stations were totally consumed by the conflagration. Authorities are yet to firmly establish the cause of the gas explosion.



By: Marie-Franz Fordjoe/citifmonline/Ghana
The Association of Gas Tanker Drivers has alleged that Mansco Gas Station, where the huge fire explosion occurred last Saturday, failed to fix electric discharge pumps to detect leakage.

The Association, together with an allied group, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association, had jointly issued a directive to all of their members to fix the pumps at the various depots to ensure safety.

But it has emerged Mansco may have failed to adhere to the safety directive.

Public Relations Officer of the Association of Gas Tanker Drivers Bernard Donkor said: I can tell you that most of our members have fitted these pumps...from the happenings on Saturday definitely the Atomic Junction station wasnt using the pump. That is why we told the government that there are certain things we are doing already to ensure safety so even if it is the case that it is not enough, it should help us do it."

Eye-witness accounts of the fatal incident at Atomic Junction, in Accra, indicated that gas leaked while a tanker was offloading gas at the depot, prompting speculation that a naked fire close to the gas filling station made contact with the escaping gas and ignited the raging fire.

Mr Donkor, however, says henceforth, Association remains resolute in its determination to ensuring that safety measures are strictly adhered to in order to forestall a recurrence of last weekends disaster.

I can say over 50% of our members use the electric pump and after these happenings, we are going to double our efforts; we are going to impress on our members to make sure that safety standards, safety measures are really adhered to, he said.

'There was no leakage'

Meanwhile, the Manager of Mansco Gas Station, George Owusu, has denied reports the disaster was caused by gas leakage.

George Owusu relied on accounts of people at the scene of the fatal explosion and alleges that the incident was sparked by an unnamed grilled meat [Khebab] seller close to his depot.

George Owusu

Mr Owusu told journalists Sunday, "the time I came in, one of them [an eye-witness] told me that it was the Khebab guy who caused the fire.

The gas explosion has so far claimed at least seven lives and injured more than 132 people, according to official estimation.

More than 20 vehicles and other properties were also consumed by the raging fire.

I was here in the morning. There was no leakage, Mr Owusu said to dispell the rumour that the gas explosion was caused by a leak.

He added that I was at home and my sister called me that there is news that there was fire at Atomic Junction so as soon as I heard it, I called my accountant several times but he never picked up.he called me later and told me what has happened.

Investigations are still ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fatal explosion.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
Kigali (AFP) - Rwanda's military has used asphyxiation, electric shock and mock executions to torture confessions out of detainees, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Tuesday.

The rights watchdog confirmed 104 cases of people being illegally detained and tortured in Rwandan military detention centres between 2010 and 2016, according to the 91-page report, which estimates the true figure is much higher.

It said that systematic torture by the military was often ignored by judges and prosecutors whenever complaints were made.

"Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please," said Ida Sawyer of HRW, a US-based global watchdog.

The group's research found that most victims were detained on suspicion of being members of the FDLR -- a predominantly Hutu rebel group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo -- with some of its members suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide.

Others were suspected of having ties to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition group in exile composed mainly of former members of Rwanda's ruling party, or to the jailed Victoire Ingabire, president of a banned opposition party.

'I was going to die'

One former detainee told HRW how soldiers placed a plastic bag over his head so he could not breathe.

"I accepted (everything they told me to accept) because I was going to die. Then they stopped. I signed a document they put in front of me," he said.

The report comes just two months after a HRW investigation showed security forces, including soldiers, executed at least 37 petty offenders instead of prosecuting them.

A government press conference to address the previous report was due to be held Tuesday, however was cancelled at the last minute.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been in power since 2000 and won a third term in August with nearly 99 percent of the vote, after amending the constitution to remove term limits.

Prominent Kagame critic Diane Rwigara has been charged with inciting insurrection

He is hailed for economically transforming Rwanda after a genocide in 1994 that ravaged the country, but is criticised for clamping down on media freedom and the opposition while rights groups accuse his government of ruling through fear.

Earlier this month Diane Rwigara, a prominent critic of Kagame who was blocked from running in the election, was detained and charged with inciting insurrection against the state. She is due back in court on Wednesday.
10.10.2017 LISTEN

Gordon Offin-Amaniampong examines

In August 2014 Toledo Ohio in the United States snatched the headlines An estimated 500,000 metro Toledo residents scrambled for bottled water because the municipal water had become undrinkable and even unusable for bathing due to contamination by dangerous blue-green algae. The incident happened in Lake Erie the source of Toledos water.

Remember theirs was blue-green algae. Ours was blood-red!

Nsukwao the stream in Koforidua that turned blood-red on Saturday is the main source of drinking water for over a million people in that part of the region. Residents were stunned when they woke up early on Saturday morning to find their drinking source of water bleeding. The cause of the crimson colour for a while remained an enigma or mystery until the police said theyd the answer.

The major question on my mind today is: Whats been the residents reaction following the confirmation by the Police Chief that it was a powdered substance that caused the stream to turn blood-like image?

Chief Inspector Ebenezer Sekyi told Ghana web said the substance was poured into the stream by a tie and dye manufacturer. Weve been able to gather some evidence from the tie and dye factory. And were still looking into the matter and will take the appropriate action in due course, he said.

What kind of exhibits did the police gather?

Do they include chemicals such as sulfuric acid, chromium, copper and other metallic elements? These are all chemicals used by tie and dye factories and they could be harmful to human health if they arent properly disposed.

And that leads me to my next questions: How long would it take the police to look into this powdered substance? What kind of water will the residents in Koforidua and its environs be drinking? Is it from this contaminated water body? Or theres an alternative source?

Is this company registered? How long has it been operating in this area?

Where have they been dumping the factorys waste over r the period of its existence?

And I also I like to find out whether the Ministry of Environment Science & technology and EPA have commissioned an investigative body or yet to set up one to carry out its own investigations?

Kofpocalypse was it or was it not?

I think we can all heap a deep sigh of relief now. Why?

Armageddon is not here yet. As matter of fact no one knows when this will occur.

But the inevitable question is: Are we safe considering the way some selfish individuals or group of persons are destroying our environment lands, water bodies, soils and the rest?

Indeed what happened in Koftown isnt peculiar to her. There had been similar occurrences in China, Russia and in the United States. In September 2016 Russian city of Norilsk had similar experience. And as usual residents ascribed many reasons as to the course of the phenomenon.

Unlike Koforidua, Norilsk is a heavily polluted industrial city and its home to Norilsk Nickel, a mining giant that has a nickel smelting plant upstream. Thus the Russian authorities immediately launched a full scale investigation looking for a possible culprit that might offload the substance into the water, whe the incident occurred.

Soon Russias natural resources and environment ministry said that the blood red color was possibly caused by a "break in a Norilsk Nickel slurry pipe," according to The Guardians translation of the Russian press release.

Also in August 2011 when a Lake in Texas turned blood like Indiana preacher Paul Begley and his followers were quick to attribute it to a sign of apocalypse.

By early morning on Saturday 7 October 2017 residents of Koforidua the eastern regional capital (76.9km from Accra) had lined the banks of Nsukwao --a river that possibly takes its source from the Atiwa range to catch a glimpse of the surreal scene.

The blood-red images of the river by mid-day Saturday had stormed all recognised social media platforms amid speculation that there was a tie dye waste dumped into the river. That assertion would later be confirmed. Others also believed it was the sign of End Time.

Often industrial waste or pollution and mining are sources of such contamination. But that did not appear to be the case in Koforidua. Besides, theres no mining, quarrying or fishing in the Nsukwao River, my checks revealed. Its however, the main source of drinking water for the people in the locality according to the indigenes.

So what exactly is this so-called powdered substance and itshealth implications to the people who live along the stream?

Ronald Cohen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Colorado School of Mines gave a perspective in the aftermath of Norilsks incident. He said it was possible that the ore processed for the nickel contained high amounts of iron, which was then discarded as waste. And it also suggested that, the iron-rich waste could have ended up in the river, turning it red, Cohen further remarked.

According to him the same had happened multiple times in Sudbury, Ontario, where a local nickel factory had sometimes turned a nearby river a very similar bright red.

If its really a chemical leak, the town is in danger. Water with high concentrations of mine waste or any waste can be toxic, depending on what types of chemicals seep into the water and at what concentrations. When that color is that red, then that isnt water that you want to drink and that is not water you want to use for irrigational water, and you dont want your livestock to drink it either," , said Cohen.

History of Dyes

Dyes are used primarily in the production of consumer products, including paints, textiles, printing inks, paper, and plastics. They add colour and patterns to materials. Natural dyes extracted from vegetables, fruit and flowers have been used since 3500 BC to color fabrics and other materials. These dyes were replaced by chemical dyes that bond with the fabric, providing and retaining richer color throughout washing and exposure.

Many different types of dyes consisting of varied chemical compounds are used in production, depending on the type of textile or product being dyed. There are more than 3600 different types of textiles dyes alone. Other dye types include acid dyes for coloring animal fibers, basic dyes for use on paper, direct dyes for use on cotton-wool or cotton-silk, and pigment dyes used in paint and inks.These dyes are manufactured out of a number of different chemicals, but most notably, sulfuric acid, chromium, copper and other metallic elements are used. Dyes are mixed, synthesized in a reactor, filtered for impurities, dried out and then blended.
The mayor of Tamale, Honorable Iddrisu Musah Superior on Monday evening stormed some forests reserves in the metropolis to arrest and evict people who are using the forest as a place of abode or engaged in illegal activities in the forests.

The mayor who went with a team of military, police, CID and Journalists was to arrest and proxicute adults who uses the forests in doing all forms of illegalilties in the metropolis.

Prior to the exercise, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has done an aware campaign including media engagement and meeting of stakeholders in the area to a ensure that people comply with the directives of the assembly.

The team at the start of the four day exercise on Monday arrested 12 suspected wee smokers for interrogation and sanctioning.

They also destroyed all structures use by the smokers in the forests setting some ablaze.

Addressing press men after the tour, Mr Superior as he is partionately called noted that, the exercise was not to arrest and imprisoned people who are found in the forests, but rather to evict them from the forest to help rehabilitate them into the society.

The mayor explained that, the exercise was also aimed at helping to reunite people and their families especially, the younger ones.

He mentioned ignorance on the side of the populace as one of the major challenges facing the assembly in carrying out its developmental projects.

And appealed to the people in the area to all support the move by the assembly to ensure that, sanity, law and order are back to the society

He also said the assembly was working towards clearing all streets in the area off any sex trade activities. Adding that, owners of homes and hotels where prostitution and sex trade activities are takes place will be arrested and proxicuted accordingly.

Mr Superior also appealed to journalists to support the work of the assembly to bring development to the people.

He was however happy that, the people heeded to his wormings and urged them to always comply with the assembly so that the needed development Will be realized in the area
From 11th to 13th October, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)1 is holding a high-level Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels, i.e. biofuels2 in Mexico City. ICAO supports the aviation industrys quest for unending rapid growth, a quest which is incompatible with keeping global warming to 1.5oC or even 2oC per (a goal endorsed by the Paris Agreement). Greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation alone grew by 87% between 1990 and 20143 and are rising faster than those from almost any other sector.

Efficiency improvements lag far behind growth in the number of air passengers worldwide4 , and there are no available techno-fixes which would allow planes to fly without burning hydrocarbon fuels5 . The only way for the aviation industry to genuinely reduce emissions would be for it to stop growing and to reduce the volume of air travel worldwide, which would reduce profitability for the industry. To avoid doing so, the industry, with ICAO endorsement, has promised carbon neutral growth from 20206 , which it claims it can achieve largely through a combination of carbon offsetting and biofuels. ICAOs carbon offsetting plans were denounced by over 100 civil society organisations in 20167 .

Ahead of the conference in Mexico, the ICAO Secretariat has published a proposal for vast-scale use of biofuels in aircraft8 : it wants to see 128 million tonnes of biofuels a year being burned in plane engines by 2040, going up to 285 million tonnes (half of all aviation fuel) by 2050. By comparison, some 82 million tonnes of biofuels a year are currently used in transport worldwide9 .

Even if the figures proposed by the ICAO Secretariat are unrealistic, creating any new market for biofuels will compound the harm caused by existing policies promoting biofuels for road transport in the EU, US and elsewhere. Monoculture plantations of crops and trees for biofuel covered at least 30 million hectares of land worldwide10, but the indirect impacts of the steep growth in biofuels for road transport (mainly cars) since 2010 have gone far beyond the direct impacts.

The harm done by existing biofuel policies and subsidies11 includes increased land-grabbing in the global South; greater food price volatility, which undermines food security as well as food sovereignty; more deforestation and destruction of other biodiverse ecosystems as demand for vegetable oils, sugar cane and cereals increases; more synthetic fertilizer, pesticide and other agrochemical use; depletion and contamination of waterways; and overall climate impacts which are no lesser than those of fossil fuel oil (per tonne of fuel).

Large-scale biofuel use for planes would rely on palm oil. The only aviation biofuels which can currently be produced reliably and at scale  although they are still expensive - are made from vegetable oils and animal fats, using a technology called hydrotreatment12 . Any large-scale use of aviation biofuels made from hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) would almost certainly rely on palm oil. Palm oil is the cheapest type of vegetable oil available in large quantities13, and is cheaper to refine to HVO than other types of vegetable oil14 .

Since fuel is the single biggest cost for airlines15 , closing the still significant price gap between fossil-fuel based jet fuel and biofuels would be essential before the latter could be viable. Fuelling airplanes with HVO biofuels would thus almost certainly mean fuelling them with palm oil16 . Palm oil could even be used in planes under the guise of residues. Neste, the worlds leading HVO producer, is lobbying for support for large-scale aviation biofuels17 .

Neste uses an undisclosed fraction of crude palm oil, called PFAD, in its HVO biofuels18, which it controversially classes as a residue. PFAD accounts for around 5% of all crude palm oil, but its share could be increased if demand and prices go up19 . Hype about future aviation biofuels in itself could fuel plantation expansion and land grabbing worldwide. Mere expectation about a major future new market for biofuels risks playing into the hands of plantation companies and speculative land grabbers. ActionAid found that by May 2013, European investors had acquired 6 million hectares of land in sub-Saharan Africa for biofuel production for the EU20. Those large-scale land-grabs happened even though the EU has sourced virtually no biofuel feedstock from Africa21.

Promoting a vast new market for biofuels for aviation could thus have devastating impacts due solely to speculation, even in the absence of an actual market. We therefore call on ICAOs Member States to oppose the promotion of biofuels for aviation. They must, instead, take urgent measures to reduce the climate impacts of aviation by stemming and ultimately reversing its growth. This will require ending subsidies  including tax exemptions - for aviation, ending airport expansion, and investing in alternatives, including rail transport.

Signatories

International organisations and networks:

 ActionAid International  ACIDSE  ETC Group  Friends of the Earth International  Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (Gaia)  Global Forest Coalition  Mighty Earth  Oxfam International  Plataforma Internacional contra la Impunidad  Third World Network

Regional organisations and networks:

 Corporate Europe Observatory, Europe  Fern, Europe  Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Asia
Challenges with revenue mobilization and its impact on Ghanas programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will dominate some discussions as the Annual IMF-World Meetings opens in Washington DC.

The Meetings have been described as the biggest gathering of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors whose countries are members of the IMF and World Bank.

The meeting would also bring together economists, civil society groups, financial experts and bankers to deliberate on threats to the global economy and financial system.

Ghana and the Annual meetings

JOYBUSINESS has learnt challenges with revenue mobilization ending July 2017 will dominate some of the engagements that the delegation from Ghana will be having with the Fund.

According to persons close to the Fund, they are worried about the impact of this development in achieving the budget deficit for this year and some of the targets set out in the IMF program.

That is the reason they will be seeking some clarifications from government on additional measures it is instituting to improve revenue following the not so good July ending revenue numbers.

Government and challenging revenue numbers

Government, on the other hand, has maintained that it is optimistic of meeting the revenue target of about 45 billion by the end of this year.

According to the July ending fiscal numbers, government was hoping to mobilize some 24 billion in revenue, however, it just got 21 billion.

It has argued that venue numbers are normally not that good in first half of the year, but things would pick up the last quarter of year.

Persons close to government have also cited the good expenditure numbers for July ending as one of the ways it is hoping to contain the budget deficit.

Government was projecting to spend 30.5 billion in the first seven months of this year but has actually spent some 28 billion, putting the deficit at 8 billion as against the 8.2 billion targeted.

Delegation to the Annual IMF/Spring meetings

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta is leading governments delegation to the Annual IMF-World Bank Meetings.

The delegation is also made up officials of from Bank of Ghana, which includes the Governor Dr. Ernest Addison and his first Deputy Dr. Maxwell Afari.

Also in attendance are the Chair of Parliaments Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah as well as officials from the Finance Ministry.

Whiles the team from the finance ministry would focus on several technical engagements with the World Bank, the team from the Central Bank would also be engaged in several bi-lateral meetings with the IMF.

There would be other bilateral meetings with some other development agencies that the delegation would be holding in US.

The meetings would also offer the team opportunity to engage the World Bank over its decision to increase financial assistance available to Ghana to more than $1.5 billion.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline | George Wiafe | JoyBusiness | Washington DC
Two groups-True Drivers' Union and Concerned Drivers Union, comprising taxi drivers, have threatened to demonstrate against government for the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products in the country.

It would be recalled that the prices of petroleum products at the pumps were increased between 1 and 6 percent on September 22 this year.

The price of premium/petrol had been increased by 1.71 per gallon.

But leadership of the Road Transport Operators, after a meeting held on the same day the petroleum prices were increased, agreed to maintain the current transport fares nationwide, warning all commercial drivers not to increase their fares.

In a notice to the Ghana Police Service (GPS) jointly signed by Public Relations Officers (PROs) of 'True Drivers Union' and Concerned Drivers Association, Yaw Barimah and David Agboado respectively, the drivers disclosed that they shall hit the streets on October 16, this year.

We wish to inform you of our decision to demonstrate in Accra on 16th of October 2017 as a result of the rapid and insensitive increase in fuel prices, which has affected drivers' in diverse ways, the notice sighted by BUSINESS GUIDE, read.

They plan to start the demonstration from the Obra Spot in Accra to the Arts center from 9:00am to 3:00pm, and that is likely to leave some passengers stranded.

We will start at Obra spot, Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Kingsway through to Makola market and end at Art Center on the 28th February Road, Accra, they noted.

Commercial drivers have complained about the directive by umbrella body not to increase their fares recently despite the increases in petroleum prices, indicating that they are being suppressed.
A British investment consortium has invested in the first phase of housing at The Oxford, a turnkey residential development at Appolonia City, the mixed-use satellite city near Accra.

The consortium, led by prominent British investor Simon Edwards, has purchased 30 homes at The Oxford, with the intention to accelerate their availability to the Ghanaian market.

The consortium's homes are intended as an investment asset for resale or rent.

The Oxford will be developed to a total of 420 homes across a total area of 20 hectares (49 acres) upon completion, with over 50 homes already under construction at present.

We are very impressed with the Appolonia City site and the quality and construction of The Oxford, said Edwards.

We believe The Oxford provides value for money and an attractive solution for the marketplace.

Appolonia City offers buyers of The Oxford homes flexible payment terms, with a 40% payment upon signing and the balance over 18 months.

In addition, in partnership with Ghana Home Loans, Ghana's largest mortgage provider, Appolonia City offers buyers mortgages with a 20% down payment and 80% paid over 15-20 years.

The investment in the Oxford by Simon Edwards and his consortium underscores the strong product offering and value for money at Appolonia City, said Bright Owusu-Amofah, CEO of Appolonia City.

Edwards, the founder, CEO and majority shareholder in Midas Capital Partners Limited until its sale in 2007, has been working in investment and capital markets for over 30 years.

Originally from Liverpool, from 1997 to 2002 he was CEO of the Merseyside Pension Fund, one of the largest public sector pension funds in the UK, overseeing assets of over 5billion.

The park is designed to accommodate a range of uses, including manufacturing, processing, storage, logistics and service companies.
The Executive Chairman of Krif Ghana Limited, a leader in the provision of office equipment and stationery, Kennedy Okosun, has reiterated his companys commitment to fighting against counterfeiting in the country.

He made this known in Accra when Krif Ghana Limited launched its Olympia Money counting machines.

These machines are not only going to accurately count your bills but are also going to guard your businesses from counterfeit notes, Mr Okosun noted.

The head of engineering at the company also disclosed that the money counting machines have specific features that are great for our currency notes in our part of the world.

In our part of the world where our notes are weak and dirty, we need money counting machines that can accommodate that and Olympia is your pick, he asserted.

We have to commend the Central Bank over the years for putting in place so many anti counterfeiting mechanisms and features to reduce the occurrence of counterfeiting in Ghana, he disclosed.

Mr Oscar Ugoh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporate Guardian, unveiled the Olympia Money counting machines and prayed that churches, schools, banks, financial institutions, etc purchase these anti counterfeit machines to reduce and also discourage people from making counterfeit notes to cripple the country's economy.

Mr. Asafo Adjei, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana-Germany Economic Association, also commended Krif Ghana Ltd for introducing such a product onto the market to protect unsuspecting businesspeople.

By Melvin Tarlue & Akpene Darko-Cobbina
The police have apprehended three persons who were allegedly busily stealing car batteries and various valuables during Saturday night's gas explosion that killed seven persons at Atomic Junction, Madina, a suburb of Accra.

The three, according to reports, took advantage of the stampede that followed the explosion to steal various items, including monies, at the scene.

The suspects are Ibrahim Mahama, 23; Yaw Badu, 24 and Abdulai Magid, 30.

Mahama and Yaw Badu, according to reports, stole gas cylinders, stoves, food items, money and other valuables while Majid was busily removing car batteries of some of the victims who abandoned their vehicles and fled for their lives.

Police have indicated that they grabbed Majid in the act but the two others had transported the items to the Madina market the following Sunday morning and were selling them when the police had a hint of their activity and went to apprehend them.

Some of the items were retrieved from the suspects in the course of the arrest.

The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Efia Tenge, told DAILY GUIDE that Majid was detained at the Legon Police station while the two others were locked up at the Madina police station pending investigations.

She said the three confessed committing the offence and had provisionally been charged with stealing and would be processed for court.

Seven people were confirmed dead with about 132 others injured in the Madina Atomic Junction gas explosion.

Two of the deceased were said to have been knocked down by speeding vehicles during the chaotic situation.

More than 20 vehicles were also reported to have been burnt by the blaze.

Out of the number of persons injured, 64, according to reports, were treated and discharged at the various hospitals while 68 others are still receiving treatment.

Eyewitnesses' account indicated that the fire was sighted in areas like Legon, Dome, Achimota and Spintex.

Reports have indicated that students of the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies Accra and the Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School (PRESEC) had to rush out for safety while others living at Madina Zongo Junction and its environs abandoned their homes for their lives.

Billy Anaglatey of the Ghana National Fire Service said the cause of the gas explosion which extended to the Total filling station close by, had not been established yet.

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey

([email protected])
The Eastern Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Mr. Bismark Taiwan Boateng has endorsed former President John Dramani Mahama to lead the party again in 2020 general elections as their flag bearer despite the abysmal performance at the 2016 polls.

According to him, the visions and policies that the former president laid down during his tenure as the President such as the E- block schools, water supply projects, asphalted roads, electricity and others indicates that he was a selfless man.

He believes former president Mahama followed the foot steps of Ghanas first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to transform the nation through developmental projects and for that matter should be given another chance.

For me, we are democratic so if any NDC stalwart comes and contests for the flagbearership, I dont have a problem, but he who fetches water cracks the pot. John Dramani Mahama has fetched the water and cracked the pot, we should let him go and fetch the water again because we have to cook our food, he stressed.

The defeat of Former President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC in the last elections has destabilized plans by some presidential hopefuls of the now biggest opposition party nursing ambition to step into the shoes of the former President for the 2020 elections if he had secured his two term bid.

Ahead of the Partys primary, former majority leader and current 2nd deputy speaker of parliament, Hon Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, has emerged as one of the former Presidents contenders.

A retired Rector of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA), and Former Greater Accra Regional Minister under the Rawlings government, Prof. Joshuah Alabi is also reportedly lacing his boots to declare his intention to become the next flagbearer for the party.

Other persons include longstanding NDC flag bearer aspirant and former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio  Garbrah, Former speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho and Former National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) CEO, Sylvester Mensah.

Speaking to Otec FMs Kwaku Anane Junior, hon Bismark Tawiah Boateng advised party members to desist from blaming former President John Dramani Mahama for the Partys defeat in the 2016 general elections.

Mr. Tawia Boateng however is optimistic that though some of the Party structures were weak, the NDC can reorganize to win election 2020.
President Akufo-Addo has assured residents in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region that the Salaga Water Plant will be incorporated into urban water supply system.

Salaga has been part of the community based water supply system for a very long time, but the population has increased beyond 5,000 customers.

The president therefore directed that the Salaga Water Supply System be absorbed into the urban water supply system to make the supply of water regular in the area.

President Nana Addo gave the assurance that his government would address the numerous problems to improve their lives.

He added that the government would ensure the completion of the Salaga-Tamale Road and other government projects in Salaga.

Meanwhile, the president has revealed that government would support some Israeli investors, who are in the area to grow rice.

The President said the investors have expressed interest in supporting government to establish the university College of Agriculture, which would provide training in modern methods of farming and also help improve the yield of farmers in the area.

The president assured trainee nurses in the area that promises made to them would be fulfilled to improve the health sector.

Kpembe-wura Babanye Bismarck Haruna Deri commended the president for introducing many interventions and pro-poor programmes since assuming office.

My subjects and I are very happy about the interventions and are solidly behind you with their support, prayers and blessings.

However, Kpembe-wura Babanye Bismarck Haruna Deri stressed that over the years, the results of basic school children in Salaga have been appalling.

This, according to him, could be attributed to the limited number of trained teachers posted to the area.

Kpembe-wura Babanye Bismarck Haruna Deri also blamed the situation on bad roads in the area.

He therefore called on the president and his government to, as a matter of urgency, complete the numerous projects in the area.

From Eric Kombat, Salaga
The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has consoled President Akufo-Addo on the recent deadly gas explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra.

Speaking to his Ghanaian counterpart via telephone soon after the disaster, according to a release authored by Femi Adesina, Special Advisor to the President on media and publicity, President Buhari 'offered his heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Ghana on the gas explosions in the Legon suburb of Accra on Saturday, October 7, 2017.'

The Nigerian strongman prayed for those who lost loved ones and friends in the tragedy and wished the injured speedy recovery.

The Nigerian leader told his Ghanaian counterpart that his personal thoughts and prayers, as well as that of all Nigerians, are with our Ghanaian brothers and sisters as they mourn their loved ones.

President Buhari further prayed that Ghanaians, who he said are known for their extraordinary strength and resilience, will overcome the disaster and rise above the losses the country suffered in recent times from the gas-related explosions.'

President Akufo-Addo thanked President Buhari for his comforting and kind words.
Anthony Bells Kafui Kanyi has been elected the Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) after a fierce contest for the post.

Mr. Kanyi was elected by journalists in the region in a run-off on Friday, October 6, 2017.

At the end of the polls, Kafui, who works for the Ghana News Agency (GNA), polled 10 votes as against six votes obtained by Mary Anane-Amponsah of the Graphic Communication Group Limited (GCGL).

The run-off became necessary after both candidates polled eight votes in the elections held on September 28, 2017.

Mary, who is a new entrant, surprised many after she gave Kafui a good run for his money.

Many people have described her as Yaa Asantewa.

At the end of the run-off, the two candidates embraced and congratulated each other for a fierce contest.

They both pledged to work together to improve the lives of journalists in the region and also open up the association to many people who are eligible.

Mrs Anane-Amponsah called on all and sundry to support the chairman to improve the work of journalists in the region.

Mr Kafui Kanyi, who has been acting as the regional chairman for the past three and half years, thanked all for reposing confidence in him.

We will work as a team and bring everybody on board, we will unite the factions that popped up during the elections and rebuild the association, he disclosed.

He further assured that all the laudable ideas and concerns raised during the campaign by both parties would be incorporated.

At the national level, Roland Affail Monney was also re-elected as the President of the GJA.

From Fred Duodu, Ho ( [email protected] )
The Regent of Dagbon, Kampakuya-Naa, Yakubu Abdulai Andani has lauded Nana Addo, president of the Republic of Ghana for fulfilling his election promises made to Ghanaians.

Kampakuya-Naa, Yakubu Abdulai Andani commended the president for the implementation of the many pro-poor policies which were aimed at making life better for the people especially rural folks.

According to the Dagbon Regent, he had seen some of the promises of the NPP government at various stages of implementation such as the planting for food and jobs, Free SHS Policy, just to mention a few.

However, he drew the attention of the president to the water crisis in Yendi and Dagbon.

The only dam which supplies water to Dagbon is said to have been commissioned in 1953 and has since not seen any facelift or major works.

I appeal to you to consider replacing the treatment plant and have the Gnani water project come on stream, he pleaded.

The overlord stated that the measures will go a long way to solve the perennial water crisis in the Yendi municipality and its environs.

The Regent appealed also to the president to give the Yendi Government Hospital, which serves as a referral point for other hospitals in the area, a facelift. The hospital which has a bed capacity of 170 serves close to 70,000 patients in a year.

The Kampakuya-Naa called for the establishment of an emergency unit and other units in the hospital while equipping it with ultra-modern facilities and equipment to facilitate operations at the hospital especially when the eastern corridor roads are completed.

He was extremely happy about government's efforts in the fight against galamsey, a practice which has become a social and health nuisance in the country.

He drew the president's attention to some Chinese nationals who have invaded Pigu in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality with heavy machines and equipment to do quarry work without any lease or permits.

FROM Eric Kombat, Yendi
President Akufo-Addo will officially open the World Tourism Forum, the first to be held in Africa, at the Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City in Accra this morning.

Tourism Ministers from ten African countries are expected at the forum, along with other influential personalities such as former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Jack Straw, former UK Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair and BulutBag, president of the Executive Board of the World Tourism Forum.

The host Minister is Mrs Catherine Abelema Afeku, Ghana's Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture.

Speakers, including Craig Drysdale, head of Global Sales at Thompsons Africa, BugraBerberoglu, Group President and CEO of River Rock Hotels and Resorts, Henk Meyknecht, Chief Operating Officer of the Kempinski Hotels Group responsible for Middle East and Africa, Emmanuel Adu Sarkodie, Group CEO of CDD and Yoofi Grant, CEO of Ghana Investments Promotion Centre, will discuss critical issues such as 'The Political Impacts of Tourism on Africa Region', 'Destination Marketing in Africa', 'Regional Differences in Hotel Marketing and Management' and'Investments in Africa'.

Ahead of the official opening, travel writers, broadcasters and bloggers started arriving in the country at the weekend. Officials of the Ministry of Tourism, the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Ghana Tourist Development Company Limited, accompanied by some Ghanaian journalists will accompany them on a tour of the Central Region to visit heritage sites such as the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles and the canopy walkway at the Kakum National Park.

Tomorrow (Wednesday),the African Ministers and other delegates will be given a one day tour of Accra.

Mr Emre Caliskan, a Board Member of the World Tourism Forum, told journalists that Ghana's efforts in promoting tourism on a global scale are not enough. We believe that events like this would add to the efforts. We are bringing great personalities to witness the finest country called Ghana.

Held under the umbrella of the Young Tourism Leaders Association, the forum is organized four times every year at global centres around the world to chart plans to develop global tourism. It has been the world's biggest tourism forum since its inception in 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has given assurance that the promotions of police officers would not be delayed in the Ghana Police Service under the current Akufo-Addo administration.

The issue of promotions has been a major problem for the men in black over the years.

Addressing personnel of the service at the Western Regional Police headquarters in Sekondi yesterday, Mr Dery remarked the Police Council, chaired by the Vice President, has not worked for too many months, but you will testify that we have dealt with the backlog of promotions in the Ghana Police Service and we intend doing that going forward.

We think that the personnel must be given their due and we are not going to renege on that. So we have done it and we are looking lower down to make sure that it happens.

I know around the Inspectors side, I have said we have to find innovative methods of making sure that we do not hold promotions back because there are not sufficient rooms in the training schools.

I have asked the IGP to work out a mechanism by which we would have an in-out system so that we do not lose out.

Mr Derry mentioned that the Police Council was working to make sure the police discharge their duties in a secure environment, adding And even when you get injured or God forbid, you pass on, there will be something for your dependants.

He entreated the police to collaborate with the other security agencies to boost security in Ghana.

The Minister is in the Western Region for a three-day working visit during which he would interact with personnel of the various agencies under his ministry to learn at first-hand their challenges and how they could be tackled.

The first port of call of Mr Dery, who was accompanied by his deputy, Henry Quartey, was the Regional Coordinating Council where he interacted with the Western Regional Minister, Dr Kweku Afriyie and his deputy, Gifty Eugenia Kusi, as well as heads of some security agencies in the region to brief them on his mission in the region.

At a durbar organized in his honour by police personnel in Sekondi, the Minister noted that he was highly impressed with the performance of the police in the region.

Available statistics indicate that from January to September last year, the region recorded 91 robbery cases but the cases recorded within the same period this year was 39, representing 57 percent reduction in robbery cases.

He added that stealing cases also reduced from 3,101 in the third quarter of last year to 911 within the same period this year.

The Minister was convinced that the transformation agenda being pursued by the police administration would increase police-civilian interactions and help bridge the gap.

As part of efforts to bridge police-civilian ratio, more new personnel would be recruited to add to the current number of personnel, he revealed.

He assured the police that the government would continue to support them with the needed vehicles, rifles, accommodation and other protective gadgets to transform the service into one of the best in the world.

According to Hon Dery, effective policing thrives on quality information and therefore appealed to the citizens to provide the police with the requisite information to help reduce crime in Ghana.

The Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwesi Duku briefed the Minister on the chaotic incident that occurred at Wassa Akropong last Friday during which a Chinese national allegedly shot and killed one Nana Buah in the area.

The alleged killer has been arrested and calm has returned to the area as some security personnel continue to patrol the area. Some of the Chinese nationals who voluntarily wanted to leave the town were assisted to do so, he added.

From the police regional headquarters, the minister and his entourage visited the Regional Fire Service also in Sekondi.

Addressing the personnel, Mr Dery reiterated government's commitment to investing in the service to operate effectively.

The Minister also commended the personnel of the Service for their outstanding performance that had prevented rampant fire outbreaks.

Personnel must not hesitate to identify certain facilities that must be removed in certain areas in their fire investigative reports to help avoid massive casualties during fire outbreaks, he stated.

The Minister also interacted with personnel of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Ghana Prisons Service and National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
The new British High Commissioner to Ghana, Ian Walker, who succeeded controversial Jon Benjamin, on Friday paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament to express his preparedness to work with the legislature in strengthening and consolidating Ghanas democracy.

The British High Commissioner said apart from helping to sustain institutions of democracy in the country, he would also focus on enhancing trade between the two countries.

He said ties between the two countries with historic relations would continue to be strengthened for mutual benefits.

He commended the government for its vision to create the Special Prosecutor Office, which he said will help build investor confidence in the economy.

He announced that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association will be visiting Ghana in November while the next Commonwealth Summit will take place in April, next year.

The speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, who welcomed the new High Commissioner, said in order to deepen democratic culture in Africa, Great Britain should place sanctions on African leaders who want to perpetuate themselves in office by either changing their countries constitutions to run for endless terms or completely throwing away the constitutions to make them life presidents.

The first deputy speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, on his part, appealed to the new High Commissioner to impress upon the British government to reconsider its decision to freeze the accounts of all Ghanaians who do not have proper resident permits in the UK.

He said instead of freezing the accounts of those Ghanaians and asking them to come back to Ghana, it would be prudent to help regularise their stay to help contribute to the growth of the British economy.

The ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, expressed worry about the way the Consular Section of the British High Commissioner treats Members of Parliament when they go for visas to travel to the UK.

He also said the Consular Section must also treat Ghanaians with dignity when they visit the Commission to apply for UK visas.

The High Commissioner said he would look at the complaint by the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and take the necessary steps to correct any wrongs at the Consular Section.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr
The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Jim Baiden has told Citi Business News the bank is considering mergers with some banks in the country.

Even though Mr. Baiden did not name the particular bank Fidelity bank is targeting, he maintained that the move is a strategy to entrench the bank's position as one of the biggest indigenous banks in the country.

The Governor of the central bank, Dr. Ernest Addison during the announcement of the policy rate in September disclosed that some banks have proposed mergers and takeovers after the Bank of Ghana increased the minimum Capital Requirement from 120 million cedis to 400 million cedis.

Speaking to Citi Business News, Mr. Baiden stated that the bank has shown interest in some other banks.

Meeting the new minimum capital requirement of 400 million cedis is not a problem at all for Fidelity bank. We are looking in to the banking space. It is possible that we will be interested in a few banks and signal consolidation.

He added that it's likely that Fidelity will merge or invite other smaller banks to merge with us into bigger a entity.

Mr. Baiden pointed out that the bank is currently performing well financially with strong financial statement.

Fidelity bank is one of the two indigenous banks who have emerged as very strong because our capital adequacy is one of the highest. Our liquidity ratio is also one of the highest in the country, he said

Mr. Baiden spoke to Citi Business News at the sidelines of the launch of a book titled Developing Africa's Financial Services: The Importance of High Impact Entrepreneurship,.

The book which highlights the success story of Fidelity Bank was written by Prof. Dana Redford.



By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced the employment of additional 236 nurses after receiving financial clearance from the Finance Ministry.

The number brings to over 16,000 graduate nurses from public training schools who have been employed by government after years of staying home.

Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who disclosed this said, So far this year, we have employed just about 16, 000 of these nurses who were sitting home. In the course of this week, we got financial clearance to add 236.

The sector minister added, We have sent a request to Finance Ministry to enable us also recruit some of those sitting at home who did their training in private schools, and God willing if we get that one in the course of the next months left for the year to end, we will continue to recruit them.

Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that provisions have been made in next year's budget for the recruitment of trainees from private nursing schools should the request not pull through.

If we are not able to do that, come next year we have done adequate budgetary allocations, all of them will come on board, the minister explained.

He was speaking at the induction ceremony for the 2016 qualified nurse assistants, nurse and midwives and the commissioning of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's office complex.

The ceremony witnessed the swearing of the nurse's and midwife's pledge by registered midwives, mental health nurses, community nurses and general nurses.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Agyeman-Manu called for more specialisation in nursing, adding that it is sad that the country has a few specialised nurses and this has made it difficult to reach all persons who need specialised healthcare.

With the establishment of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, I am confident that more trained specialist nurses and midwives would be churned out, he said.

He added that while government provides the necessary infrastructure, the training of nurses is also crucial in working to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of reducing maternal mortality to at least 70 per 100,000 live births, reduce neonatal deaths and children under five years of age and reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being by 2030.

Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, giving the guest speaker's address, tasked the nurses to be truthful to the nurse's pledge and midwife's prayer to care for people in their most vulnerable moments.

You have a duty to care for patients, clients and their relatives who are entitled to receive safe and competent care, she said.

Prof Amfo, who is the Dean of the School of Languages, University of Ghana, also encouraged the newly-inducted nurses and midwives to seek professional development, which is important to the progress of their profession.

Note that your progression is not up to your boss, your progression depends on you. Develop yourself intellectually and practically if you graduated with a certificate, plan to do a diploma, if you have a diploma now plan for a degree, if you have a degree now, plan for a post-graduate programme, she highlighted.

Most Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante, Immediate Past President, Methodist Church, Ghana & Chairman of National Peace Council, prayed to officially commission the head office and unveiling of the Florence Nightingale Burst.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
The Ministry of Health has announced October 10, 2017 as the day for the launch of the restoration of the long-awaited nurses and midwives trainees allowances.

The allowance scheme when restored will benefit some 68,000 students across all public health training institutions in the country.

Under the new allowance system, every student is entitled to an amount of GH 400 monthly.

The restoration of the allowances is in fulfilment of the campaign promise made by President Akufo-Addo, then presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

This was contained in a press release signed by the Head of Public Relations at the Health Ministry, Robert Cudjoe.

Ever since the NPP took over power, many people have been worried that the president has been silent on when one of his campaign promises of restoring the allowances would be implemented.

The allowances which were scrapped by the then governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) was met with strong contempt from the nursing trainees who complained bitterly about the untold difficulties it had brought upon them.

The NDC government then insisted the continuous payment of the allowances would threaten the future of Ghana's economy.

But the Health Ministry has announced that all is set for the restoration of the allowances and the cost of the restoration duly captured in the 2017 budget.

The launch of the restoration of the allowances will be held at the Nursing and Midwifery Training School in Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

President Akufo-Addo is expected to grace the launch as the special guest of honour and the main speaker.
The autopsy report of the late Major Maxwell Mahama is still unavailable to police investigators, four months after his death.

The army officer was promoted posthumously to the rank of Major, after he was slain on May 29, 2017, by some youth of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region, on suspicion that he was an armed robber.

The incident reportedly happened after a snail seller spotted a pistol on him during what some claim was his routine morning jog.

She raised an alarm and some youth from the area pounced on the officer who was heading a team posted to the area as part of governments fight against illegal mining.

However, four months after his death, police investigators are yet to receive his autopsy report, frustrating their work on the case.

Joy News Joseph Ackah-Blay was in court on Tuesday and reported that State Prosecutor, DSP George Amegah told the court they had tried without success to lay hands on the report.

The prosecutor maintained, the report was central to the case forcing the State to make the application for an order directed at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

Magistrate Ebenezer Kweku Ansah granted the request directing that the report be handed to the Police investigators on or before October 26.

The pathologist who handled the autopsy Dr. Lawrence Adusei and the Head of the 37 Military Hospital's Pathology Department are to appear before the court on the said date if this order is not obeyed.

About 23 people are currently standing trial for the murder of Major Mahama.
10.10.2017 LISTEN

The Forestry Commission is set to hold the second national REDD+ forum on Thursday at the Accra International Conference Centre.

Speaking on the drive time show on JOYFM with host Lexis Bill on Monday, Roselyn Adjei who is the Deputy Head of Climate Change Unit at the Forestry Commission explained REDD+ is a group by the Forestry Commission that seeks to stop deforestation and to promote planting and conserving of trees.

We know that this is a livelihood for some people so REDD+ seeks to put a structure in place to prevent the deforestation and at the same time look for a way to prevent these people from going out of work, she said.

The second forum by the group; REDD+ comes off on 19th of October and the entire public is being invited to come and be part of the conversation to protect our natural environment.

The president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the special guest of honor and will be speaking to the issue next week Thursday at the Accra International Conference Centre.

We expect students, corporate bodies, the media and the entire public to be present at the forum, Roselyn Adjei said.
Accra, Oct. 10, CDA Consult  The Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria and the Coalition of African Lesbians, case thrown out of the African Court for Human and Peoples Rights.

The African Court, on September 28, unanimously ruled that it is not able to give the Advisory Opinion which was requested of it by the two Non-Governmental Organizations.

The African Continental Court explained that although the Applicants are African organizations within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the Protocol, they lack the second essential condition required by this provision as a basis for the Courts jurisdiction, namely, to be recognized by the African Union.

In a ruling made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) based in Accra indicated that Article 4 (1) of the Protocol, which lists the four categories of entities entitled to apply to the Court for an Advisory Opinion, provides as follows:

(at) the request of a Member State of the African Union, (the AU), any of its organs, or any African organization recognized by the AU, the African Court may provide an opinion on any legal matter relating to the Charter or any other relevant human rights instruments

The African Continental Court explained that the fact that the two NGOs which filed the request do not fall within the first three categories is not contested.

The African Court noted that the first question which arises is whether these NGOs are of the fourth category, that is, whether they are African organizations within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the Protocol.

On this issue, the African Court said, in its Advisory Opinion in Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), established that the term organization used in Article 4 (1) of the Protocol covers both non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations.

As regards the appellation African, the African Continental Court established that an organization may be considered as African if it is registered in an African country and has branches at the sub-regional, regional or continental levels and if it carries out activities beyond the country where it is registered.

The African Court also notes that the Centre and the Coalition are both registered in South Africa and with their Observer Status before the Commission they are entitled to carry out their activities beyond the countries where they are registered.

It however concluded that they are African Organizations in terms of Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

The second question that follows is whether these organizations are recognized by the African Union.

The African Court notes that the Centre and the Coalition have relied on their Observer Status before the Commission to contend that they are recognized by the African Union.

In this respect, the African Continental Court explained that Observer Status before any African Union organ does not amount to recognition by the African Union.

It has thus established that only the NGOs recognized by the African Union itself are covered by Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

The African Court has further established that recognition of NGOs by the African Union is through the granting of Observer Status or the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and/or Cooperation between the African Union and those NGOs.

In the instant case, the Centre and the Coalition have not claimed and have not provided proof as to their Observer Status before the African Union or that they have signed any Memorandum of Understanding with the Union.

CDA Consult reproduces the full ruling below:

REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION BY

THE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA AND THE COALITION OF AFRICAN LESBIANS

NO. 002/2015

ADVISORY OPINION

28 SEPTEMBER 2017

The Court composed of: Sylvain ORE  President, Ben KIOKO  Vice-President; Gerard NIYUNGEKO, El Hadji GUISSE, Rafaa Ben ACHOUR, Solomy B. BOSSA, Angelo V. MATUSSE, Ntyam O. MENGUE, Marie-Therese MUKAMULISA, Tujilane R. CHIZUMILA, Chafika BENSAOULA, Judges; and Robert ENO, Registrar

In the Request for Advisory Opinion introduced by the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria and the Coalition of African Lesbians,

After deliberation, renders the following Advisory Opinion:

I. THE APPLICANTS

1. This Request dated 2 November, 2015, and received at the Registry on the same date was submitted jointly by the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria and the Coalition of African Lesbians (hereinafter referred to as the Applicants).

2. The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (hereinafter referred to as the Centre) presents itself as a Department in the University and a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) established in 1986 and engaged in human rights education in Africa, wide dissemination of human rights publications in Africa and the improvement of the rights of women, persons living with HIV, indigenous peoples and other disadvantaged or marginalized groups across the continent. The Centre indicates that it has had Observer Status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) since December 1993; that in 2006, it received the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education; and in 2012, on the occasion of the celebration of its 25th Anniversary, the Commission conferred on the Centre its Human Rights NGO Prize.

3. The Coalition of African Lesbians (hereinafter referred to as the Coalition) presents itself as a network of organizations committed to the equality of Lesbians in Africa. According to the Applicants, the Coalition was established in 2003 and is registered as a Non-Governmental Organization in South Africa with its Secretariat in Johannesburg. They also indicate that the goal of the Coalition is to contribute to Africas transformation into a continent where women in their diversity, including lesbians, enjoy every element of human rights and are recognized as fully-fledged citizens. The Applicants further indicate that the Coalition has Observer Status before the Commission.

II. CIRCUMSTANCES AND SUBJECT OF THE REQUEST

4. In January, 2015, in its Decision on the 37th Activity Report of the Commission, the Executive Council of the African Union (hereinafter referred to as the Executive Council) requested it (the Commission) to delete from its Activity Report, passages concerning two decisions against the Republic of Rwanda and to give the State the opportunity to present its views in a public hearing on the two cases.

5. In July, 2015, in its Decision on the 38th Activity Report of the Commission, the Executive Council requested the Commission to take into account fundamental African values, identity and good traditions and to withdraw the Observer Status granted to NGOs which may attempt to impose values contrary to African values. In this respect, it requested the Commission to review its Criteria for Granting Observer Status to NGOs and to withdraw the Observer Status granted to the Coalition of African Lesbians.

6. The Executive Council also recommended that the Assembly of the African Union authorize the publication of the Commissions 38th Activity Report only after its update and incorporation therein of the proposals made by Member States.

7. The Executive Council further requested the Commission to observe the due process of law in making decisions on complaints received, consider reviewing its rules of procedure, in particular, the provisions in relation to provisional measures and urgent appeals, in consistence with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Charter) and to take measures to avoid interference by NGOs and other parties in its activities .

8. The Centre and the Coalition are seeking the opinion of the Court on how the term considered as used in Article 59 (3) of the Charter should be interpreted. More specifically, they raise the question as to whether, in the afore-cited decision taken in 2015, the Executive Council and the Assembly of the African Union have not exceeded the reasonable limits of their powers to consider the Activity Report of the Commission.

III. PROCEDURE

9. The Request was received at the Court Registry on 2 November 2015.

10. At its 39th Ordinary Session held from 9 to 29 November 2015 the Court considered the Request and decided to transmit it to Member States of the African Union, the Commission and to the African Institute of International Law for possible observations, pursuant to Rule 69 of the Rules of Court, (hereinafter, referred to as the Rules). The transmission was effected by letters dated 21 December, 2015, 27 and 29 January, 2016 indicating a time limit of ninety (90) days for submission of observations, if any.

11. On 2 March, 2016, the Commission notified the Court that the Request does not relate to any Application pending before it.

12. On 14 April, 2016, the Centre submitted to the Court an application for the intervention of four (4) other NGOs, in the capacity of amici curiae.

13. The Court rejected the Centres application because it was not the Centre itself that wished to act as amicus curiae; rather, it was the four NGOs. The Court, therefore, requested that each NGO file its individual application specifying its contribution in this regard. None of the four NGOs submitted its application.

14. At its 41st Ordinary Session, held from 16 May to 3 June, 2016, the Court decided to extend by sixty (60) days, the time limit for Member States and other entities to submit their observations on the Request, if any.

15. The Republic of Cote dIvoire and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia transmitted their observations to the Court on 6 June and 3 April, 2016, respectively.

16. On 20 October, 2016, the Registry notified the Parties of the close of the written procedure.

IV. JURISDICTION OF THE COURT

17. In terms of Rule 72 of the Rules: The Court shall apply, mutatis mutandis, the provisions of Part IV of these Rules to the extent that it deems them to be appropriate and acceptable.

18. In terms of Rule 39 of the Rules, The Court shall conduct preliminary examination of its jurisdiction

19. From the provisions of these Rules, the Court must determine whether it has jurisdiction on the Request before it.

20. In determining whether it has personal jurisdiction in the instant matter, the Court must satisfy itself that the Centre and the Coalition are amongst the entities entitled to institute a request for advisory opinion under Article 4 (1) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and peoples Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol).

i. Applicants Arguments

21. The Centre and the Coalition recall that Article 4 (1) of the Protocol lists four categories of entities entitled to bring a request for Advisory Opinion before the Court, namely: (1) Member States, (2) the African Union; (3) any of its organs, and (4) any African organization recognized by the African Union.

22. They maintain that they fall under the fourth category and that the expression any African organization recognized by the African Union should be interpreted within its ordinary meaning and in accordance with the objectives and purposes of the Protocol.

23. According to the Applicants, the term organization defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an organized group of persons with a specific objective is sufficiently wide to cover non-governmental organizations.

24. They assert that, apart from Article 4 (1), the term is also used in other articles of the Protocol such as Article 5 (1) in which reference is made to non-governmental organizations; thus showing that the use of the expression any African organization in Article 4 (1) is deliberate, intended to place various types of organization under the generic term organization.

25. The Centre and the Coalition further argue that, contrary to Article 5 of the Protocol which concerns the Courts contentious jurisdiction, Article 4 (1) does not make a distinction between Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations.

26. They therefore conclude that the term organization includes but is not limited to inter-governmental organizations, and that it also includes African Human Rights NGOs, such as the Centre and the Coalition.

27. As regards the adjective African, the Centre and the Coalition argue that the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as that which is related to Africa, that according to this ordinary meaning, this term can also relate to (i) the geographical situation of an organization which, according to them, is valid for organizations based in Africa, (ii) organizations with a predominantly African management structure even where they are not based in Africa, and lastly, (iii) international human rights NGOs with essentially African composition and mission.

28. They conclude that an organization is regarded as African under Article 4 (1) of the Protocol when it fulfills any of the criteria listed in the three aforementioned categories.

29. As regards the requirement of recognition by the African Union, the Applicants maintain that the recognition of an NGO by an organ or structure of the African Union should amount to recognition by the main body, namely, the African Union.

30. They maintain that it is customary in modern international law that an agent is authorized to act on behalf of his/her principal within the context of the mandate received from the latter; that it is therefore logical and practical to consider NGOs with Observer Status before African Union organs, such as the Commission or Civil Society Organizations represented at the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSSOC) as recognized by the African Union under Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

31. They contend that the Centre and the Coalition have had Observer Status before the Commission (since December 1993 for the Centre, and May 2015 for the Coalition) and that, for that reason, the two organizations should be regarded as having met the requirement of recognition by the African Union as set forth under Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

ii. Observations of Member States

32. The following are the observations of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of Cote dIvoire.

(a) Observations from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

33. On the question as to whether the Applicants are African organizations within the meaning of Article 4 of the Protocol, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia responds that they are not.

34. She states that the African Union adopted a Resolution on the Criteria for Granting Observer Status and a System of Accreditation, and that the term organization in the Protocol should be interpreted in light of the aforesaid system of recognition and accreditation defined by the African Union.

35. According to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Centre and the Coalition are not organizations within the definition of the term organization adopted by the said African Union Resolution. She indicates that according to that Resolution, an organization is a regional integration or an international organization, including sub-regional, regional or inter-African organizations which are not recognized as regional economic communities.

36. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia further submits that the Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) recognized by the African Union are accorded Observer Status in accordance with the Criteria for Granting Observer Status before the AU and neither the Centre nor the Coalition has indicated having been recognized by the AU or as having Observer Status in accordance with that procedure. Moreover, even if they have been granted the Observer Status, it would not confer on them the right to seek an Advisory Opinion from the Court because this is not one of the prerogatives recognized for them under the Executive Council decision.

37. She contends that recognition or acquisition of Observer Status before the Organs established by treaty, including the Commission, are not synonymous with recognition by the African Union and that no provision of the Resolution mentioned above envisages this.

38. She avers that the Commission was established by virtue of the Charter to oversee the human rights situations in Africa; that the Commission accords Observer Status to non-governmental organizations on the basis of its own Resolution to facilitate NGOs participation in human rights promotion on the continent; that this status allows NGOs to participate in sessions of the Commission, submit shadow reports and engage in constructive dialogue on the consideration of the reports of State Parties; that the Centre and the Coalition, as NGOs with Observer Status before the Commission, can enjoy the aforesaid privileges and institute a request without demonstrating that they have an interest in such a request; that such status does not however allow them to request the Court for Advisory Opinion on matters concerning another organization.

39. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia also argues that the Commissions Rules of Procedure establish a distinction between organizations with observer status and organizations recognized by the AU, and recalls Rule 32 (3) (e) of the said Rules of Procedure which provides that an organization recognized by the African Union, a national human rights institution with the status of affiliated member or a non-governmental organization with Observer Status, can propose items for inclusion in the provisional agenda of sessions of the Commission; that in the same vein, Rule 63 (1) thereof accords these two types of organization the right to request the Commission to include in the agenda of an ordinary session a debate on any human rights situation; that in light of the aforesaid provisions, the Rules of Procedure of the Commission treats the two types of organization differently.

40. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia concludes that the Observer Status obtained by the Centre and the Coalition before the Commission does not confer on them the capacity to seek an Advisory Opinion from the Court.

(b) Observations from the Republic of Cote dIvoire

41. The Republic of Cote dIvoire submits that under Article 4 (1) of the Protocol, Requests for Advisory Opinion are reserved for Member States of the Union, its organs and African organizations recognized by the latter; that contrary to the assertions of the requesting NGOs, the expression African organization recognized by the African Union used in Article 4 of the Protocol does not cover both African International Organizations and non-governmental organizations having Observer Status before the Commission; that if that were the case, the drafters of the Protocol would not have taken pains to enumerate in Article 5 thereof, these two entities as entitled to file applications against State Parties before the Court.

42. The Republic of Cote dIvoire contends that, in law, prohibition from making a distinction where the law does not do so, carries with it the obligation to make such a distinction where the law so does; that consequently, in the absence of specific mention thereof in Article 4 of the Protocol, as was the case in Article 5, NGOs with Observer Status before the Commission must not be considered as entitled to seize the Court with Requests for Advisory Opinion.

43. She further contends that the notion African organization as used in Article 4 of the Protocol concerns African inter-governmental organizations and not NGOs, and that the organizations concerned include, notably, Regional Economic Communities, like the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), Indian Ocean Community (IOC) and the East African Community (EAC).

44. The Republic of Cote dIvoire also maintains that to offer NGOs with Observer Status before the Commission, the possibility of seizing the Court with a request for Advisory Opinion, would enable them to target States, even those that are yet to make the Declaration prescribed by Article 34 (6) of the Protocol, that the initiatives of the Centre and the Coalition clearly falls within this logic; that the real target of their request is, in fact, the African Union which, through the Executive Council, has recommended the withdrawal of the Coalition of African Lesbians Observer Status before the Commission.

45. The Republic of Cote dIvoire therefore requests the Court to rule that it has no jurisdiction to examine the request for Advisory Opinion filed by the Centre and the Coalition.

iii. Position of the Court

46. Article 4 (1) of the Protocol, which lists the four categories of entities entitled to apply to the Court for an Advisory Opinion, provides as follows: [a]t the request of a Member State of the [African Union], the [AU], any of its organs, or any African organization recognized by the [AU], the Court may provide an opinion on any legal matter relating to the Charter or any other relevant human rights instruments

47. The fact that the two NGOs which filed the request do not fall within the first three categories is not contested.

48. The first question which arises is whether these NGOs are of the fourth category, that is, whether they are African organizations within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the Protocol.

49. On this issue, the Court has, in its Advisory Opinion in Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), established that the term organization used in Article 4 (1) of the Protocol covers both non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations.

50. As regards the appellation African, the Court established that an organization may be considered as African if it is registered in an African country and has branches at the sub-regional, regional or continental levels and if it carries out activities beyond the country where it is registered.

51. The Court notes that the Centre and the Coalition are both registered in South Africa and with their Observer Status before the Commission, they are entitled to carry out their activities beyond the countries where they are registered. It concludes that they are African Organizations in terms of Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

52. The second question that follows is whether these organizations are recognized by the African Union.

53. The Court notes that the Centre and the Coalition have relied on their Observer Status before the Commission to contend that they are recognized by the African Union.

54. In this respect, the Court has, in the afore-mentioned SERAP Advisory Opinion, indicated that Observer Status before any African Union organ does not amount to recognition by the African Union. It has thus established that only the NGOs recognized by the African Union itself are covered by Article 4 (1) of the Protocol.

55. The Court has further established that recognition of NGOs by the African Union is through the granting of Observer Status or the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and/or Cooperation between the African Union and those NGOs .

56. In the instant case, the Centre and the Coalition have not claimed and have not provided proof as to their Observer Status before the African Union or that they have signed any Memorandum of Understanding with the Union.

57. From the foregoing, the Court finds that, although the Applicants are African organizations within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the Protocol, they lack the second essential condition required by this provision as a basis for the Courts jurisdiction, namely, to be recognized by the African Union.

58. For the above reasons

The Court, Unanimously: Finds that it is not able to give the Advisory Opinion which was requested of it.

Signed: Sylvain ORE, President; Ben KIOKO, Vice-President; Gerard NIYUNGEKO, Judge; El Hadji GUISSE, Judge; Rafaa Ben ACHOUR, Judge; Solomy Balungi BOSSA, Judge; Angelo Vasco MATUSSE, Judge; and Ntyam O. MENGUE, Judge.

Others are: Marie-Therese MUKAMALISA, Judge; Tujilane R. CHIZUMILA, Judge; Chafika BENSAOULA, Judge; and Dr Robert ENO, Registrar.

Done at Arusha, this Twenty Eighth Day of the month of September, in the year Two Thousand and Seventeen.
Ghana's delegation for the 2017 IMF / World Bank annual meetings has arrived in Washington D.C, USA.

The delegation is expected to showcase Ghana's recent economic recovery efforts to international development partners as well as hold talks with stakeholders to secure more international support for Ghana ahead of the 2018 Budget.

The team is led by Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Mafo and includes Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, Planning Minister Prof Djan Bafour, Deputy Finance Minister Charlse Adu Boahen and Deputy Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

It also includes Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Ernest Addison and his first, Deputy Maxwell Afari.

A team of technical advisors from the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank is supporting the delegation.

Speaking to the media from Washington, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Mafo said: Our objective is to engage our development partners with evidence of the work we have been doing on the Ghanaian economy since our take over in January. Initially the world was hedging their investments in Ghana. But as evidence emerges of how we are daily improving the marco-economy while at the same time funding our key social interventions, it is a good opportunity to engage some more and attract more support for the Ghanaian economy.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta will be a key representative on a number of panels focused on addressing key challenges to developing economies like Ghana and shaping international finance policy in that regard.

He will also be briefing the International Monetary Fund and its directors about the steps in issuing Ghana's cedi denominated energy sector bond.

Other ministers will also represent Ghana at simultaneous meetings of the G20, ratings agencies the World Bank and other development partners.

They will also be pitching Ghana's new economic policy direction and inviting support from the global finance and development community.

The annual IMF / World Bank meetings are a platform to engage global finance and development agencies to secure commitment and support for a country's economic and development agenda.

Ghana's recent participation in similar international events have brought benefits such as inclusion in the G20 compact which will provide 120 million for the country.

The team is expected to return to Ghana by October, 18.
The Nyamedua herbal and foundation a non-governmental organization made up of herbal personalities whose work show exemplary leadership towards building a vision and a future for Ghanas herbal medicine platform in Ghana on Tuesday launched their flagship program for the year; Ghana National Herbal Awards 2017 at the Yagoala Hotel at Kumasi.

The awards will provide the platform to improve Ghana herbal products and create awareness, loyalty, recognition and prestige for the goods.

A statement issued by Mr Nyedua, Traditional Medicine Practice Council Asanti Regional Director said the event would promote locally made products to consumers and facilitate the discovery of new and interesting products.

We know that in Ghana the condition for start ups are not conducive but there are people who defy all odds and we think its time we recognize and reward these people. Setting up a business has never been easy but we need to encourage the youth to go into entrepreneurship. Its about time Ghana also sits up to appreciate our products.

He also called on other agencies and the ministries to support such initiatives so as to encourage more people.

The awards is about seeking Ghana made products and exposing them to Ghanaians across the country in an effort to market the goods and strengthening the economy.

Specific products that are adjudged by the consuming public as embodying the highest standards of quality will receive the Best Product Awards.

The awards bight is Slated for Saturday 6th January 2018at the Golden Tulip Hotel Kumasi.

VISIT WWW.GHANAHERBALAWARDS.COM FOR MORE.

GNHA 2017 Sponsors  Perfect skin & Body therapy, Sasso, DCL Damerko Company Limited and Gezut the Global Property Bay.

The product categories include: Best Malaria Herbal Mixture, Best Food Supplement, Best Kookoo Herbal Mixture, Best Alcoholic Beverage, Best Herbal Man Capsules, Best Stroke Herbal Hospital, Best Herbal Capsules Pakage, Best Herbal Lady Care, Discovery Herbal Alcoholic Beverage, Best Herbal Alcoholic Sales of the Year, Best Herbal Alcoholic Advert of the year, Best Herbal Soap, Best Herbal Medicine of the year, Best Creative Herbal Advert of the year, Best Herbal sale of the year, Best Diabetes Herbal Medicine, Best Ulcer Herbal Medicine, Best Herbal Tea, Best Distribution of the year, Best Menstrual Herbal Medicine, Best Garlic Bitters, Best STDS Herbal Medicine, Best Asthma Herbal Medicine, Best Herbal Sales of the year, Best Social Responsibility Award , Best Natural Skin Lotion, Best Herbal Clinic, Best Hepatitis Herbal Mixture , Best Herbal Ointment, Best Garlic Capsules, Best Typhoid Herbal, Best Herbal Capsules of the Year, Best Whole Seller of the year , Best Promising Herbal Star.
It has already been in the news that two of Ghana's most influential men of God will be honoured in New York at the upcoming 3G Awards 2017. One is known as; "The Nation's Prophet", the other is popularly known globally with the powerful line or catchphrase; "Thus Sayest the Lord".

They really need no further introduction; Apostle Dr Owusu Bempah and Prophet Akwasi Agyemang Prempeh will be in New York for a 5-day powerful prophetic service.

The theme starts from Nov. 7th-12th and taking place at the New Dominion Convenant Cathedral, 1145 Boston Road, Bronx. N.Y. 10456. Morning Services starts at 10 am and Evenings 7 pm.

The host is non-other than Archbishop Joseph A. Alexander, a very powerful and inspirational leader very well known in America.

Also joining them is Pastor Daniel Amoateng and Flyers are out and in circulation.

3G Media will be covering the powerful 5-day service. All are invited all to come and worship.

Source:Mr.CNN/ www.3gmediaonline.com
New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Assin-Central, Kennedy Agyapong says the Net2 cameraman who died during last Saturdays gas explosion at Atomic Junction, was destined to die.

He believes it was the late Mohammed Ashley Yakubus destiny to die because he ignored caution given to the workers at the time of the explosion.

According to him, when news of the explosion broke, lights at Madina-based Kencity media went out and workers were advised not to step foot outside until the situation calmed down.

They were even warned not to put on the generator but he decided to go to the scene to take footages and died in the process, he revealed.

The Assin-Central lawmaker expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and described the late Mohammed Ashley as irreplaceable saying he will be greatly missed by both management and colleagues.

Honestly from the angle that its coming, I dont know whether destiny is the same as an act of God, because I learnt that they were cautioned not to move out and stay calm but because of the love for his job, he went out to work which makes me think that he was destined to die that night, he said in an interview on Adom TVs morning show Badwam Tuesday.

The death of Mohammed came as a shock to the staff of Net2 TV and Oman FM, the subsidiaries of Kencity Media Limited on Monday.

Late Mohammed Ashley who has been working with Kencity Media for several years allegedly fell from the Atomic Junction flyover while filming the gas explosion that occurred last Saturday, 6th October, 2017.

He was the stations cameraman at the Flagstaff House, the seat of Government.
Dr. Thomas Mensah

10.10.2017 LISTEN

Dr. Thomas O. Mensah is the Chief Executive Officer at Georgia Aerospace Systems and also the world-renowned inventor with 7 US and worldwide patents in Fiber Optics over a period of six years. Dr Thomas Mensah, the Ghanaian American has at least 14 patents to his name, in general, and is the first black person to receive such a number of patents in a short number of years. in 2015, he was elected to the rank of Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors of USA. Dr Mensah will be joined by Hon. Fred Brown and Mr Bob Williams as honorees for the 7th Annual 3G Awards in New York.

The Honorable Fred Brown is the Chairman of The Black Republican Party of America. He was Recently Elected as the Head of the Republican National Committee In the Bronx. As CEO, he Is responsible for expanding the membership of the Black Republican Party and their critical role in Electing Donald Trump as the President of the United States.

Bob Williams

Mr Bob Williams is the Chairman of the Children's Education Fund for the Black Republican Party. Responsible for raising funds for Scholarship For African American Students.

Some of the Ghanaian celebrities who will be honoured at the event include, Vivienne Achor, gospel duo Willie & Mike, among others.

The 3G Media Awards 2017 is in recognition of exceptional leaders and their contributions to the Ghanaian and global communities. The event will be held on Saturday, November 11, 2017, at Pak Banquet Hall, 4229 Park Avenue Bronx, New York.

The event will be co-hosted by Bernard Aduse Poku of Kumawood Fam and Ageorgia. DJs expected who are expected to grace the event include DJ Jeff, DJ Prince, DJ Prekese and Naasei. There will be a live musical performance from Akrofi and a host of others.

This years event is being sponsored by KTA Moblie, Investigroup, Royal Olives, Royal Estates Group, 1st Family Home Care, MayJay Property Management etc. Supported by the Permanent Missions of Ghana in New York, the National Council of Ghanaian Associations, Ghana Chamber of Commerce USA, Vitalghradio, Highlife Radio, Golden FM, Worcester, Anokyekrom and Club Noamesco.

Source: www.3gmediaonline.com /3gawards
Sierra Leone Republic, is one of the West African nations which is suffering from various calamities leading to the death of many of its citizens. From 2007, it has suffered from floods, landslides, cholera, Ebola outbreaks and of late in August 2017, serious mudslides which occurred in that country buried many people in their homes. This led to the evacuation of many dwellers of Freetown and surrounding areas to live in make shift homes.

As is expected the government of Sierra Leone called for support from people and organizations around the world for the affected people. The government of Ghana responded by donating relief items worth $1million to the affected people. The relief items that included food, clothing and building materials were shipped by a government team led by the Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

The latest organization that followed up with a handsome donation to the people of Sierra Leone is Islamic Council for Development and Humanitarian Services [ICODEHS] a Ghanaian non-government organization.

ICODEHS which is noted for humanitarian services, building mosques, schools, clinics, and support for orphans in Ghana and Africa also donated relief items to the affected people in Sierra Leone worth GHC150,000.

The items which were given through the Embassy of Sierra Leone in Ghana included gents and ladies wear, school bags, books, Qurans, mens and ladys shoes, computers etc. The items were presented by the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu on behalf of ICODEHS.

The National Chief Imam prayed for the souls of those who lost their lives, the sick and those who lost their homes as a result of the calamities in Sierra Leone. He called on individuals and organization to go to the aid of the people in Sierra Leone especially those who need help saying that, doing good by donating to the needy constitute a vital part of worship. The representative of ICODEHS said the relief items are the widows mite of the organization and called on other people and organizations to emulate their example. Hajiah Azumih who represented the Chairman of ICODEHS at the function was also sympathetic to the cayuse of the women in Sierra Leone especially those affected by the calamity

The Ambassador of Sierra Leone in Accra, Ghana thanked ICODEHS and its workers for the donation and promised to send the items to those who need them.

2017-10-10 141422

2017-10-10 141446

2017-10-10 141534
The recent atomic junction LPG explosion that rocked North Legon and its environs is the latest testament to the fact that occupational safety and Health is the least thing of concern in this country and hence goes to institutionalize our lack of proper safe systems of work which should be backed by legal frameworks.

Even though there has not been a root cause analysis conducted on this recent catastrophe, a lot of conclusions and assumptions can be inferred owing to the fact that many similar incidents have occurred in like fashion what we witnessed on Saturday the 7th of October 2017.

According to research conducted by A.E.P Brown (2004), fatalities can occur within a 260 meter radius if there is LPG or natural gas infrastructure collapse. The researcher hinted that, secondary effects of exposure could also occur within these distances.

Piper Alpha was a large North Sea oil platform that produced both oil and gas in the 1970s. On the 6th of July 1988, there was a massive leakage of gas condensate on the platform which was ignited causing an explosion which left 167 people dead.

Lord Cullen was appointed with the responsibility to investigate this incident and proffer recommendations that will shape industry practice for safety within the UK. The committee made 106 recommendations with responsibility for implementation spreading across the regulator for Occupational Health and Safety in the UK (Health and Safety Executive) and the industry players.

Do we as a country have a regulator mandated by law to oversee the general Health and safety implementation strategies of general hazardous industries? What recommendations have been made from previous and similar LPG and other fuel disasters? Do we as a nation have detailed standards with implementation and guidelines? These are just a few questions we need to answer as a country.

Safe to say in recent years, the lack of standardized health and safety practices and regulations in Ghana has been exposed, albeit fatally, through incidents such as the June 3rd disaster, October 7th and various others across the nation.

While admittedly progress is being made, the slow pace of events and lack of rigorous regulations have made the number of people who are harmed at workplaces every year still representing a major challenge.

Preventing workplace injuries is a business imperative in any economic environment. And as a country, we have failed woefully in this regard.

It is ok to say we will pray and intervene for people who are distressed during these times, yes it is good, but the Good old book also says Faith without works is dead. We need as a country need to institutionalize rigorous Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Control Techniques. These should be at the heart of all our operations and these must become legal requirements for all organizations irrespective of the nature and scale of operations.

I am very certain in my mind that these factors, coupled with the lack of industry specific safety training, monitoring and auditing of companies involved in High risk activities has been our bane as a people.

Many jurisdictions have adopted the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 standard as a guideline in institutionalizing occupation health and safety locally. These standards globally have shaped the way organizations deal with hazards, control and improve health and safety performance.

What is the way forward for Ghana now?

Carlos Yaw Akyeampong (Tech IOSH)

Occupational Health and Safety Professional

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-akyeampong-tech-iosh-11078759/

+233 5436696675
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's cabinet reshuffle quashed opposition within his government, state media said Tuesday, as the 93-year-old leader prepares to stand again in elections next year.

Mugabe stripped Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa of his role as justice minister, reassigned the finance minister and created a new cyber-security ministry in a major reshuffle late Monday.

Mnangagwa is one of the top candidates likely to succeed Mugabe, but has recently been accused by undermining the president over claims that Mnangagwa was poisoned at a party rally.

The state-run Herald -- seen as the government's official voice -- on Tuesday hailed the reshuffle as "a welcome move that would send a reverberating message that the president is fully in control".

"Ministers to the new cabinet should also ensure that their loyalty is solely to their appointing authority, who is none other than President Mugabe. They should subordinate themselves to him," it said.

The paper castigated ministers for "squabbling" as in-fighting intensifies between rivals competing to succeed Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980 and is in increasingly frail health.

Mnangagwa's main opposition for the presidency comes from the "G-40" group led by Mugabe's wife Grace.

"This is a Grace Mugabe reshuffle. It's part of the succession plan and aimed at discrediting and emasculating Mnangagwa," Takavafira Zhou, a political analyst from Masvingo State University, told AFP.

"The reshuffle deflates Mnangagwa's plans. Mugabe has demoted those associated with him."

Mnangagwa -- widely known as "the crocodile" -- was hospitalised in Johannesburg in August saying he had been poisoned.

His supporters allege he was struck down by ice cream made on a farm owned by Grace Mugabe, who last week publicly denied poisoning him.

"It's the president's pleasure to introduce new blood into cabinet," Mnangagwa told reporters on Tuesday in Harare when the new ministers were sworn in.

Grace Mugabe, who is 41 years younger than her husband, is increasingly active in public life and speaks at rallies across the country, railing against anyone alleged to be disloyal to the president.

"The reshuffle is to deal with the factional and succession politics within the ruling ZANU-PF party," Bulawayo-based analyst Dumisani Mpofu told AFP.

"Mugabe has also created the cyber-security ministry as an attempt to clamp down on social media movements that pose a big threat to his regime ahead of the election."

Mugabe has already been named by ZANU-PF as its presidential candidate for the 2018 poll.
10.10.2017 LISTEN

The illustrious and ever indefatigable Deputy Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe Constituency, Hon. Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah has consoled victims of the recent gas explosion which threw people out of gear to run for their dear lives.

The gory gas explosion incidence which occurred on Saturday October 7, 2017 at Atomic junction in Madina in the Greater Accra Region was one of several gas explosions across the country which spans for a period of 4 years. The event which took 7 lives and injured 132 people broke the hearts of many Ghanaians who witnessed the incidence and thought the Biblical Armageddon was nigh.

According Hon. Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, darkness has befallen the country in view of the Atomic Junction gas explosion which occurred in the full glare of passers-by and those doing their business around the place where the event occurred.  I was shocked to the bone when I heard of the sad event which reminds all about the June 3rd disaster at Kwame Nkrumah circle which took 150 lives, the highest in the countrys history of disaster she remarked.

In a statement filed by the Honourable Member to the Hard Point Newspaper, she consoled the bereaved families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.  I have so much confidence in H.E Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic and as His Excellency has hinted; pragmatic steps will be initiated after cabinet meeting on Thursday to put an end to gas explosions in the country. This will surely be a thing of the past the statement said.

She urged all to remain calm as the situation is brought under control by government.
As the world marks the 2017 International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October under the theme empowering girls: before, during and after crisis, Girls Not Brides Ghana is calling for the government to step up investments to end child marriage in Ghana.

Mrs Aba Oppong, the Chairperson of Girls Not Brides Ghana, said urgent action was needed to prevent thousands of girls being forced into marriage in the next decade.

There is no more time for idle debates on this issue. We must take action now to eliminate child marriage, which violates girls rights and holds back development. That is why the partnership is holding ten regional stakeholder engagements on ending child marriage. said Mrs Oppong. Girls Not Brides Ghana is demanding that the government invest in solutions to end the practice, including funding for the Ghana National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage. But ending child marriage isnt just the responsibility of government: communities, traditional rulers, queen mothers, religious leaders, youth groups and women and girls themselves all have a role to play.

Across the world, 15 million girls are married each year before the age of 18. In Ghana, one in every five girls will be married off before their eighteenth birthday, and in regions such as the Upper East and Upper West regions almost 40 percent of girls are married as children.

Girls who marry as children are deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education and safety. Neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers, child brides are at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, contracting HIV/AIDS and suffering domestic violence. They will often drop out of school, trapping them and their families in a cycle of poverty.

At its heart, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that girls and women have less value than boys and men. It often goes unquestioned as a traditional practice that has happened for generations, said Mrs. Aba. Under the Sustainable Development Goals, Ghana has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030. Its time we turn this commitment into action by taking bold measures to overcome the complex drivers of child marriage in our country.

Child marriage has been shown to have a significant impact on the economies of developing countries like Ghana. A recent study by the World Bank and International Center for Research on Women found that the practice costs the global economy trillions of dollars.

To celebrate International Day of the Girl, members of Girls Not Brides Ghana across the ten regions are engaging stakeholders including the media on practical step to end child marriage in Ghana.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged Libyans, divided with rival governments and beset by violence, to work together ahead of hoped-for elections.

The 15-member council gave its full support to a plan by the new UN envoy Ghassan Salame for legislative and presidential ballots by July next year.

It "strongly urges all Libyans to work together in a spirit of compromise and to engage constructively in the inclusive political process," a declaration said.

Years of political turmoil in Libya have followed the 2011 overthrow of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

A mass of migrants have made the lawless country their launchpad into Europe, and the United States has carried out air strikes against Islamic State group jihadists in the North African state.

Salame, appointed UN envoy in July, last month outlined his plan under which a new constitution must be put before a referendum, paving the way for elections.

He also announced that a national conference would be held to reintegrate all the country's "ostracized or marginalized" actors.

After a 2015 UN-backed agreement, a unity Government of National Accord (GNA) with Fayez al-Sarraj as prime minister took office in Tripoli last year.

But it has struggled to impose its authority elsewhere, particularly in the far east, where military strongman Khalifa Haftar controls much of the territory and supports a rival parliament.

The Security Council expressed concern "at the deteriorating security, economic and humanitarian situation in Libya," and said it welcomes the UN's commitment to intensify its work on the ground "to help improve the living conditions of all people in Libya, including migrants."

Currently led by France, the Council expressed concern over the threat of terrorism, and trafficking in humans and illicit goods.

"In this regard, the Council reiterates the need for unified and strengthened national security forces, under a unified, civilian government."
Sunda International Ghana Ltd., a Chinese company operating in Ghana, has donated cash and relief items totalling forty thousand Ghana cedis (GHc40,000) to victims of Saturday nights atomic junction gas explosion at the 37 military Hospital in Accra.

The Sunda international donation comes in immediate response to appeals made to corporate Ghana by Vice president Mahamudu Bawumia on Sunday morning to assist surviving victims, most of whom are currently on admission at the 37 military hospital.

The devastating explosion, the cause of which is not yet known, claimed seven (7) lives including a cameraman of NET2 TV and severely injured 132 others. Managing director of SUNDA International, Mr. Isaac Hu explained that SUNDAs gesture which is in partnership with its sister company TWYFORD, who have invested tens of millions in a ceramic factory at Aboadze, Shama district, Western region, is a direct response to appeals from the vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to corporate bodies for assistance, but also added that, it also forms part of the companys corporate social responsibility policy to assist needy communities and victims of disasters in the country. SUNDA Int. & TWYFORD donate to gas victim I hope the whole country will join together to help the affected families go through this tragedy.

In the future, I also hope the whole country will work together to prevent this disaster from happening again, Mr. Hu added. The donation, made at the 37 military hospital was received by Colonel MA Yeboah-Agyepong on behalf of the hospital.

Well like to thank SUNDA and TWYFORD for this kind gesture. The materials you brought are actually the materials we need because many have severe burns and need cleaning materials. So far we are doing well and well still be very happy to have more donations coming in, he said.

He praised SUNDA for their generous donation to the hospital in aid of the gas explosion victims and appealed to other business organizations operating in Ghana to emulate the good corporate social responsibility practices of SUNDA by coming forward to make donations to the hospital since it will go a long way to save lives.

SUNDA Int. & TWYFORD donate to gas victim SUNDA International employs over one thousand people on their business operations in Ghana and one of the largest re-exporters of products from Ghana to several West African countries. Some seven SUNDA brands which were donated included Kleesoft Dish washing soap and washing powder, Kleesoft toilet rolls, FasKit insecticide killers and many more.

Twyford is also a Chinese company producing ceramic tiles and currently employs more than one thousand Ghanaians. SUNDA International has previously donated 14 tones of iron rods in the circle gas explosion as well as many other donations in the past including the Odorkor fire disaster.
Alindao (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The head of a notorious rebel group in Central African Republic (CAR) has brushed off allegations of atrocities, portraying himself instead as the defender of a neglected and persecuted minority.

In an interview with AFP in the town of Alindao, Ali Darassa hit back at accusations of abuse by rights watchdogs and said his group had acted to defend the Fula people, a largely nomadic group also called the Fulani.

In September, Amnesty International blamed a wave of brutal attacks in Basse-Kotto province on Darassa's Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC).

It accused the group of systematically using "rape as a weapon of war, and as a means of violently humiliating and degrading its victims".

"Where is the proof?" the 41-year-old commander asked, denouncing Amnesty for what he termed its "political" reports.

Darassa, who has commanded the UPC since 2014, said his group was a "necessity" in the strife-torn country.

"The state isn't doing its job, it does not guarantee the safety of local populations," he said.

"Farmers have always been victims of looting and violence, and the Fulani have been forever forgotten... marginalised," he said.

Darassa maintained the UPC fights "for their security and their freedom of movement".

"I offer a sanctuary of protection and support," he said.

The UPC is an offshoot of the so-called Seleka rebel alliance -- a coalition of Muslim-majority militias who overthrew president Francois Bozize in 2013.

The Seleka in turn were ousted by a military intervention led by former colonial ruler France.

Those events sparked some of the bloodiest sectarian violence in the country's history as mainly Christian and animist militias sought revenge, organising vigilante units called "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), in reference to the machetes used by Seleka rebels.

Thousands of people have died. According to the UN, more than a million people have fled their homes and 2.4 million people -- more than half of the Central African population -- are in need of emergency food aid.

Move to Alindao

In February this year, Darassa was forced out of CAR's third largest town, Bambari, in a region rich in gold, diamonds and timber, by the UN's peacekeeping force, MINUSCA.

He moved with his forces 120 kilometres (70 miles) to Alindao, a town in south-central CAR, about 300 km (185 miles) from the capital Bangui.

To reach the town to interview him required an 11-hour trip on a devastated highway, punctuated by 10 roadblocks held by his men.

His force now control about half of the town, which is now-defacto divided.

Thousands of people have died and more than a million people have fled their homes in the Central African Republic since sectarian violence erupted in the country in 2013

More than 15,000 displaced people -- the majority of them Christian -- have taken refuge around the town's Christian church.

Physically huge, Darassa sat on a wooden chair outside at his makeshift military base, a former public building downtown. He was surrounded by a dozen armed bodyguards and a select few "advisors" in civilian garb.

Darassa said that in CAR's provinces, "we are fully at war."

"Those who are attacking us are the anti-balaka ... who act on behalf of the government and attack farmers, villagers, merchants," Darassa said, describing himself as a "farmer from father to son" and a "Central African Fulani and general of the UPC".

He accused Bangui of feeding the anti-balaka ranks with "state representatives" in villages and towns, including neighbourhood leaders, deputies and prefects.

"The government encourages citizens to defend themselves and that's what will make a genocide."

In Alindao, Darassa seems to enjoy the support of some community leaders, former lawmakers and part of the population.

The group reportedly raises money by imposing taxes and other levies, although Darassa refused to give any details on funding, describing the issue as "confidential".

Divided country

Chronology of the violence in the Central African Republic since 2013.

Darassa's self-confidence highlights the clout of powerful militia leaders in a country that remains weak and divided among many lines since the election of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who took office in March 2016.

In August, the UN's then-aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council he saw "the early warning signs of genocide" in the deeply poor, divided nation.

Touadera disputes this, saying the violence is not sectarian but linked to battle for control over the country's resources.

Last month, he appealed for the UN to beef up its 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in CAR and for a 2013 Security Council arms embargo to be eased, to let his government purchase modern military equipment.
The Minority in Parliament has asked government to ensure that the Ghanaians who have reportedly joined the dreadful terrorist group, Islamic State in Libya, do not return to the country, without strict security clearance.

Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance, the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

A report issued by Libyas Attorney General's Chief Investigator, Al-Seddiq al-Sour, said Ghanaian migrants feature prominently as members of the terrorist group.

The report placed Ghana in the second highest category suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants are frontline fighters for IS in Libya.

Addressing the media, Mr. Ablakwa described the report as worrying.

.Rather worrying for Ghana, we are considered to belong to the second highest category of 50- 100. This has been explained by the Attorney General of Libya's office to mean between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants in Libya, have been identified as active frontline fighters of ISIS in Libya. Ghana appears in this category with seven other countries namely; Senegal, Gambia, Chad, Niger, Eretria, Mali and Somalia.

He further asked government to ensure that Ghanas international reputation is not affected following the report.

While it is obvious to us that many Governments and intelligence agencies across the world would find the content of the Attorney General of Libya's inquiry very disturbing, we in Ghana ought to be even more concerned due to the revelations made about our dear countryThe Ghanaian reputation  internationally acclaimed for being a peace loving people and a people who abhor and detest violence must be jealously guarded by all of us, he added.

The Minority also gave a nine point proposal to government to consider in addressing the issue.

In the proposal, the Minority asked government to provide the needed assurances on the security of Ghanaians.

Below is the nine point proposal:

Government must publicly react to this inquiry by the Libyan Attorney General's Office due to its grave ramifications to Ghana's image.

Government must provide the needed assurances to Ghanaians and our international security partners that this matter is receiving very high level. attention within a Ghana Libya Counter Terrorism Framework and the global fight against terror.

Government must take steps to ascertain to what extent the Ghanaian nationality claims in the report is accurate.

Ghana's national security apparatus must exchange intelligence with their Libyan counterparts on how these Ghanaians if indeed they are Ghanaians are being recruited and radicalized with the view to eliminating all such threats and conduits.

Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance.

Government should consider establishing a generous and enticing reward scheme for families, friends and loved ones who volunteer vital and credible information on any known ISIS ties of their loved ones either living in Libya or being recruited to go to Libya.

Government should provide details of all steps it is taking to work with other friendly countries who have previously provided intelligence support to monitor all terrorist recruitment activities and what steps it is taking to deal with the challenge to a joint Parliamentary committee of Defense and Interior and Foreign Affairs so that the peoples representatives can be assured that government is taking all necessary steps to protect the Ghanaian people.

Government should explain what steps are being taken to provide public information on how terrorist recruitment is conducted in order that citizens can be aware of how the signs of radicalization in our young people should be looked out for.

Government should engage religious leaders of both Moslem & Christian groups to get them to reach out to their congregations and develop programmes within their organizations to create awareness of attempts to radicalize young people and to prevent them from falling prey to ISIS propaganda.

KNUST graduate joins ISIS

In 2015, the Daily Guide newspaper reported that, a 25-year- old graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Nazir Nortei Alema, had joined the terrorist organization .

Extracts from Nazir's WhatsApp message, received by Kabir, his brother, read as follows: Pray for me, for I will never forget you in my prayer and it's my hope and prayer that we meet again if not in this world then in Jannah (paradise). I love you all. May Allah grant us understanding and guide us all to the straight path. Asalaamu alaikum.

I told you a lie to please my Allah. The deception was to go do some research work in far away Prestea while the main idea was to move far away from you all to the Islamic State (IS). I know it might sound kind of crazy for you but your son really had to take this bold step to get out of the corrupt system of Ghana which has democracy first on its list.

Nazir's family confirmed his disappearance, and he has since not returned.

German-Ghanaian who denounced ISIS faces war crimes charges

Harry Sarfo, a German Ghanian, earlier this year, also confessed to having been a fighter for ISIS . The 28-year-old, who is serving a three-year prison term in Germany on terrorism charges, said he had however avoided participating in the group's violence.

Click here for the Minoritys full statement:
The Deputy Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe Constituency, Hon. Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, has commended H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP government for working tirelessly to restore the nurse and midwife trainees allowance.

The restoration of the allowance which was launched today Tuesday October 10, 2017 in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana was graced by ministers of state, chiefs and elders; nurse and midwife trainees and tutors from various nursing and midwifery colleges across the country. The event was indeed colourful.

The nurse and midwife trainees who gathered at the launched were full of smiles as the allowance popularly refereed to by all in the college parlance as Alawa was restored by H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

In close up interview with the indefatigable and ever smiling Deputy Minister of Health who doubles as Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe Constituency, Hon. Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, she remarked that, the restoration of the nurse and midwife trainees allowance could have not been restored at a better time than now since it forms part of the major promises that the New Patriotic Party made to the people of Ghana. The restoration is in fullfilment of our campaign promise, which is to restore the nurse, midwife and teacher trainee allowance she stated.

She underscored the urgency for the restoration of the allowance.

She said, the allowance that has been restored by the President will eliminate all financial burden on the shoulders of parents and students that come along the course of obtaining training in nursing or midwifery. She added that the allowance that will be paid to them by government can be used to purchase academic or educational materials, among others to support students in their period of training.

The allowance will also serve as incentives to motivate young individuals who idle about in our society to pick up nursing or midwifery profession to work in hospitals to save lives and bring the gap of inadequate supply of nurses or midwifes across the country. She likened the allowance concept to the work and happiness concept which existed years back and said, trainees will now learn in happiness.

As a Deputy Minister of Health appointed by the able President, you have no idea of how happy I am to see this day that the long awaited allowance and the brouhaha around it is laid to rest, she stated vehemently. The restoration of the allowance has been a major concern to me, she stated without mincing words. I am proud of His Excellency.

The state woman thanked and commended the President for the bold initiative to lead the country to restore the nurse and midwife trainees allowance under his watch. She was grateful to the president for the restoration.
Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu has rejected criticisms that government's launch of the restoration of the nursing trainee allowance is a waste of resources.

He explained that an extensive publicity for its achievement is important in keeping the electorate informed and guarding against propaganda.

Critics say an announcement of the restoration of the allowance and subsequent payment to students should have been sufficient in demonstrating government's commitment to fulfilling the 2016 campaign promise.

But government granted the fulfilled promise a pomp and pageantry status at the Nursing and Midwifery College of Education in Brong Ahafo regional capital, Sunyani.

The President Nana Akufo-Addo was joined by ministers and students to celebrate the fulfilment of a political promise.

Students were lined up to say 'thank you' to the president and T-Shirts were printed and distributed freely among students.

This is one of several other launches.

The NPP has so far launched its One district One factory, the new National Identification System, as well as the National Planting for Food and Job programme.

The government launched a free SHS logo but it did not stop it from also launching free SHS implementation.

It has also launched a cocoa spraying exercise and there are indications that the establishment of Development Authorities will also be launched soon.

Some sections of the public are wearied about the constant launching and its cost implications for the taxpayer.

But the Health minister insisted the launch are important because what candidate Nana Akufo-Addo publicly promised to do, President Nana Akufo-Addo must publicly declare it done.

"Nana made pledges. He didn't hide in any room to make those pledges. It was in the open, campaign rallies with pomp and pageantry"

"So when he begins to deliver his promises that one should be indoors? Only for journalists to come and report for people to come and tell us that it is never true?"

He said after the NPP lost power in 2008, some communication experts told the media that the defeat was partly because of the under-publicised work of President Kufuor.

Eight years after that defeat, President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have learnt the hard way and want a change in communication strategy, he said.

"Let us communicate our successes that one too has become a problem?" he wondered.

Going down memory lane, the Minister said the former Foreign Affairs Minister Hannah Tetteh used state money to launch a booklet containing a government policy that was never implemented.

Listen to the audio below:



Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah|[email protected]
The Ghana Yam Sector Development Strategy was formulated in 2012 at the behest of the Government of Ghana. It was to support the development of the yam sector in terms of production, value addition and commercialization. The strategy was a public-private initiative and championed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The aim of the sector strategy according to Hon. Haruna Iddrisu was to assist all the value chain actors to lift up the industry and position yam from Ghana as food for the world.

The Yam Sector Development Strategy has identified the numerous challenges affecting the yam sector-lower returns for farmers, post-harvest losses and huge capital requirement. The cry by yam farmers especially in the Northern Region in the last quarter of 2016 to date has been loud. The price of yam has significantly declined and many farmers risk losing their investments.

What accounts for the sharp decline in the price of yam? It has not been that easy stating what might be responsible for the decline in the price of yam. However, the issue of demand and supply cannot be left out. Also, the usual NDC-NPP politics will not go away. Some political actors allegedly blamed the lower prices for yam on the NPP administration since yams appear to be competing with cocoa. Others also alleged that the declining prices are the result of the NDC corrupt dealings that has breached some international trade convention.

Regrettably, the farmers are the losers in this game and some positive moves must be looked at to make the sector thrive. The focus of the Nana Addo-Bawumia led administration is to create jobs for Ghanaians and the yam sector has the potential to create a number of jobs. As an immediate measure, the Government of Ghana should address the challenges associated with the exportation of yam. It takes a long time to ship yams to the international market. The delay usually causes the yams to get rotten. But shipping the commodity is one possible way to get large quantities out compare to using cargo planes.

Another way to address the sector challenges is for stakeholders to create demand for yam locally. It is a fact that yam can be processed into different edible products including flour, starch, cakes and biscuits. If public-private partnerships direct attention to adding value to yam, then farmers will need to up their game to even satisfy the home market.

Its expected that all stakeholders will work together to improve the lots of yam farmers across the country. In pursuit of this goal, it is urgent for government to look at the Ghana Yam Sector Development Strategy. Attention should be on improving yield and creating market for yams.

Zuberu Aliu [email protected]
Fast-rising UK-based actress, Oluwajuwon Quadri won big at the maiden edition of City People Movie Awards, which was for her recognition in the movie industry.

The event, which held at Balmoral Event Centre, Ikeja in Lagos attracted distinguished personalities and both old and young actors from the movie industry. Organised by a frontline soft-sell journal, City People Magazine, Juwon, who has been in the industry with so much contribution to the growth of the industry, carted home the coveted award, as the Best Producer in the Yoruba movie category.

The hardworking business women and movie producer, was in her element to savour the award. She has acted in numerous movies like Adanwo Nla and Igboran and has produced flicks that include Fikemi, Ewawunmi and Etan, marketed by Okiki Films.

Aside Juwon who is the CEO of TGL Logistics, Lizzy Anjonrin, Sotayo of BELLA to name a few shone at the annual awards which was attended by veteran actors like Dele Odule, Adebayo Salami, Jide kosoko, Kunle Afolayan, Femi Adebayo, Sukanmi Omobolanle, Gloria and Elvina Ibru to name a few.
River States Truck & Trailer has gotten itself a hat trick.

The full service Freightliner truck dealership will be named to the Deloitte Wisconsin 75 on Wednesday, the third year in a row the company has been honored in the list. River States, which has its headquarters in La Crosse, will also be honored as a Distinguished Performer by Deloitte for its handling the succession from founder Bob Frise to current President Joe Laux.

The Wisconsin 75 recognizes the largest privately held businesses in the state of Wisconsin. Along with revenue, the program also recognizes the businesses contributions to their communities, employees and the Wisconsin economy.

The Distinguished Performer award in the Business Succession Category of Deloittes rankings honored the work Frise put in 12 years ago to promote a smooth transition to Lauxs leadership. The award recognizes the hard work of the companys employees to navigate the transition period and continue to promote company growth and excellence.

Laux said he is honored and humbled by the succession award and dedicated it in honor of Frise. While income information wasnt given, all of the Wisconsin 75 companies have annual revenue of more than $50 million.

River States has full-service dealerships in Eau Claire, La Crosse and Roberts, Wis., and service outlets in Hudson, Wis., and Duluth, Minn. Founded nearly 45 years ago, River States has grown into a company with more than 275 employees.
'The big truck is still on ...
Three University of Wisconsin-La Crosse faculty have been given the opportunity to travel and learn abroad.

Economics professor Taggert Brooks, health education professor Robert Jecklin and history professor Julie Weiskopf received Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program awards to travel to the Slovak Republic, Azerbaijan and Tanzania, respectively. During their stays, theyll work to help solve economic challenges, improve public health and bring underrepresented authors into the pages of history.

The Fulbright program is the flagship international exchange program of the U.S. government and aims to build relationships between the U.S. and other countries to help solve global challenges. Recipients of Fulbright awards, which are sponsored by the U.S. State Department, are selected on academic and professional achievement, as well as service and leadership in their respective fields. Eleven faculty and students have earned financial awards through Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program while at UW-L since 2009.

Brooks will journey to Slovakia this spring, where he said he hopes to gain an understanding of the decades of social and economic change the country has undergone since it broke apart from former Czechoslovakia during the collapse of the Soviet Union. He will teach graduate-level macroeconomics at the University of Economics in Bratislava as well as bring his methods for conducting local-level economic analysis from Wisconsin to Slovakia.

He also hopes to help the university in its quest for Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation, an internationally-recognized accreditation for business and accounting programs. UW-Ls College of Business Administration has attained this recognition, and Brooks served as chair of the assurance of learning task force during the most recent re-accreditation process.

Ive been over there a bunch, he said. It will be nice to be more fully embedded in the country. And I am interested to learn about how the academics and students compare to here.

Weiskopf is in Tanzania and will be there through June on a 10-month Fulbright grant teaching undergraduate and graduate history students at the University of Dar es Salaam. Shell also work with masters students to gather oral history interviews as part of their field experience.

Her research work will focus on both the history of nationalism and the history of public health in Tanzania. These are topics she said she can translate into new material and ideas for courses she teaches at UW-L on African health and healing and African nationalism.

Im happiest as a scholar when there is dynamism between my teaching and research, so the prospect of this coming year is exciting, she said.

Jecklin said he hopes to contribute to the development of public health during his stay in Azerbaijan as well as building relationships. This will be his second visit to the country on a Fulbright award, and he will return to to Baku this spring to teach future science teachers about public health at Khazar University, a private university that hosted him during his last Fulbright in 2014.

Azerbaijan is a country of about 10 million people, and about 95 percent of the population is Muslim, Jecklin said. Azerbaijanis, like Americans, are not of one mind about the future of their society. Some long for the Soviet days, some are disappointed in Western influence, some are hopeful about continued influence from Europe and North America, and all expect progress.
Governor Jerry Brown View Photos

Update at 4:36 p.m.: Gov. Jerry Brown has issued another emergency proclamation; this one for Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties due to devastating effects of multiple fires ravaging these areas.

Among the fires noted are the Cherokee, LaPorte, Sulphur, Potter, Cascade, Lobo and Canyon fire incidents, which have damaged critical infrastructure and generated evacuations. He has now additionally requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support state and local response efforts to wildfires ravaging parts of Northern California that he addressed in an emergency proclamation issued earlier today for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties. The total of fatalities confirmed today is now ten; with seven more people reported dead in the five oclock hour in addition to three earlier reported today.

Original Post at 1:43 p.m.: Sacramento, CA  The states top fire officials are signaling more fatality reports are anticipated due to over a dozen fast-moving Northern California wildfires.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties due to multiple wildfires that currently have thousands of homes under threat. CAL Fire is so far confirming one death and serious injuries to at least two people in Mendocino County, one of several counties struggling in high wind conditions to contain several major fires burning out of control. In Mendocino County the Redwood Complex Fire  formerly the Potter and Redwood incidents  now combined, measure 10,000 acres, burning north of Highway 20, west of the Mendocino National Forest, which triggered evacuations in Potter Valley, Redwood Valley and Golden Rule to evacuation centers in Ukiah and Willits.

So far CAL Fire officials say the Northern California fires are estimated to have destroyed more than 1,500 homes, department stores, hotels and other commercial structures as firefighters must prioritize on evacuating residents and saving lives. According to CAL Fire Director Ken Pimlott current fire conditions are making it difficult to yet accurately assess damage, injuries and casualties. While he notes that October is typically the most dangerous month for California fires so far this year there have been 1,500 more wildfires than last year at this time.

Currently, the two largest Northern California incidents are the Tubbs Fire, currently at 25,000 acres, located off Highway 128 and Bennet Lane in Calistoga; and the Atlas Fire, roughly the same size, located off Atlas Peak Road south of Lake Berryessa for which there have been numerous new evacuations ordered. Other Napa/Sonoma fires include the Nuns Fire, reported to be about 5,000 acres on Highway 12 north of Glen Ellen; also the Patrick Fire, a 3,000-acre incident, which ignited west of Napa off Patrick Road. The Cascade Fire, off Maryville and Loma Rica roads in Yuba County at 7,200 acres is described as five percent contained while the Cherokee Fire in Oroville in Butte County is 7,500 acres with 20 percent containment.

CHP officials report numerous road closures within an eight-county swath of wine country north of San Francisco.

Late this morning a Santa Ana winds driven wildfire ignited, spreading by the noon hour to homes in a Southern California subdivision located in the Anaheim hills of eastern Orange County as evacuations were ordered for neighborhoods and two elementary schools.
Copperopolis Fire 2011 View Photos

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the Northern San Joaquin Valley (below 1,000 feet, excluding the Delta), through 5 PM Thursday.

Critical fire weather conditions over interior Northern California will continue into Thursday. Although the wind will not be as strong as Sunday and Sunday night, the dry northerly winds could rapidly spread current and new wildfire activity.

Winds of ten to twenty-five mph are expected with gusts ranging from thirty to forty mph.

Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly, especially over elevated terrain overnight. Outdoor burning is not recommended.

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.
- The second phase of the Nigerian army training tagged Operation Crocodile Smile has started in the southwest

- The exercise was launched in Lagos and Ogun state on October 7

- The operation is expected to end on October 28 and the public has been urged to support and cooperate with the troops

The troops of 81 Division of the Nigerian army on October 7, launched its 2017 training exercise tagged Operation Crocodile Smile in Lagos and Ogun state.

The southwest exercise is expected to last three weeks and end on October 28, 2017.

The spokesman of the division, Lieutenant Colonel Olaolu Daudu, in a statement on Monday, said that the exercise will also avail troops the opportunity to sharpen combat skills in the conduct of land base as well as joint riverine operation.

Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai arrived Takwa Bay Island, Lagos state to flag off CROCODILE SMILE II at the Tactical Headquarters of 81 Division army. Photo credit: Instagram, BuharSallau

Daudu added that the exercise may transform into real operations to deal with emerging security challenges such as kidnappings, cultism, armed robbery, pipeline vandalism, and insurgency, among others, Daily Post reports.

READ ALSO: Enugu APC to petition Buhari, Saraki over alleged lopsided appointments

He said: Law-abiding citizens are advised to go about their normal businesses without fear. Dates and locations of the various humanitarian activities, such as sanitation exercises and free medical interventions will be announced in due course.

The division also wishes to allay the fears of the public, as they will witness increased movements of troops and equipment during the period.

The army assembled its men in Lagos state to flag off CROCODILE SMILE II at the Tactical Headquarters of 81 Division at Takwa Bay Island area of the state. Photo credit: Instagram, BuharSallau

They are please requested to cooperate and support us, to ensure the success of the exercise, which is aimed at making the Nigerian army responsive to its constitutional roles."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian army announced the deployment of troops for the commencement of Operation Crocodile Smile II in the six Niger Delta states.

Enobong Udoh, the general officer commanding 6 division of the army, made this known on Saturday, October 7, while addressing troops.

STREET GIST: Is Operation "Crocodile smile II" necessary? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- The monkeypox outbreak is reportedly spreading fast in Nigeria

- The NCDC reported that the virus may have spread to no less than 7 states

- Samples from the suspected cases have been sent to laboratory for verification

The national coordinator of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Monday, October 9, announced that the monkeypox outbreak may have spread to 7 states in Nigeria.

The Cable reports that Ihekweazu said suspected cases of the disease have been reported in 6 states after the initial discovery in Bayelsa on September 22.

He listed the states likely to have been affected as:

1. Bayelsa

2. Rivers

3. Ekiti

4. Akwa Ibom

5. Lagos

6. Ogun

7. Cross Rivers

READ ALSO: Nigerian army begins Operation Crocodile Smile in southwest

Ihekweazu said sample of the suspected patients' blood have been taken for laboratory confirmation.

He said: Results are still being awaited. So far, there have been no deaths recorded

It is unlikely that many of the suspected cases are actually monkeypox, but all are being investigated.

All the suspected cases are currently receiving appropriate medical care, and the patients are all improving clinically in their various states.

NCDC has activated an Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) to coordinate the outbreak investigation and response across the affected states.

The EOC is currently supporting State Ministries of Health in their response to the outbreak through active case finding, epidemiological investigation and contact tracing.

Measures have been put in place to ensure effective sample collection and testing for laboratory confirmation.

Risk communication activities have been heightened to advise the public on preventive measures. All 36 states and the FCT have been notified for preparedness."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Ihekweazu has appealed to Nigerians to remain calm as the Centre is working very hard to control the Monkey Pox outbreak in Bayelsa.

Ihekweazu assured that the centre was taking all the required steps to manage the cases and prevent further spread.

He said that a Rapid Response Team (RRT) from NCDC was immediately deployed to support the Bayelsa state government in the investigations and public health response.

Check out FOUR IMPORTANT ways to avoid contracting Typhoid fever - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- Governor Nasir El-Rufai said about 21,780 out of 33,000 Kaduna state teachers failed the primary four test

- El-Rufai explained that the test was conducted by the state government to know the ability of the teachers

- He stressed that many teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the issue of teacher-pupil ratio

Nasir El-Rufai, the Kaduna state governor, said about 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers failed the primary four test administered to test their competence by the state government.

Governor el-Rufai made this known on Monday, October 9, while receiving a World Banks delegation in the state, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He said: ''We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four examination and required they must get at least 75 per cent but I am sad to announce that 66 per cent of them failed to get the requirements.

READ ALSO: 31 suspected cases of monkeypox recorded in 7 states

''The hiring of teachers in the past was politicized and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state.''

He stressed that teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the issue of teacher-pupil ratio.

According to him, We have a challenge with the teacher-pupil ratio in the urban schools; there is concentration of teachers that are not needed.

''In some local government areas, its a teacher pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places its 1-100.

The governor said that in a bid to improve the education sector, the school directors decided to enrol their children in public schools starting from this academic session.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

Speaking earlier, the World Bank representative, Kunle Adekola, expressed appreciation to the state for investing in education and for the priority given to the girl child.

Adekola said the Bank would invest N30 million in Rigasa Primary School, which has a population of about 22,000 pupils, as part of its support for the state.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the police staged a protest due to non-payment of their salaries in the state.

Who should get higher salary - doctors or teachers? - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng
- Junaid Mohammed has warned Igbos against engaging in another civil war

- The former lawmaker said some people tricked Igbos into a war in the past

- He said he has nothing but contempt for all Nigerian governors and the so-called northern governors do not speak for the region

Junaid Mohammed who is a second republic lawmaker has challenged the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) to start another civil war saying they are bastards if they dont.

Mohammed made this comment while speaking with The Sun saying the Igbos will be foolish to go into another war after what happened to them during the Biafra war.

READ ALSO: Kachikwu, Baru meet, discuss potential in oil sector

He said: We have to be very careful. We know the history of those who are making agitations in Lagos. At first, they told the Igbo: Go. When you go, we would go. The Igbo left. You know what happened? They took over all Igbo premises, all Igbo businesses, Igbo bank accounts.

If Igbo are not stupid, will they like to go and do the same thing again? It was MKO Abiola who said that if you volunteer your head for some people to break coconut, you will not be alive to eat the coconut.

The Biafra side lost about one million people and all the destructions. If the IPOB people want to try it again, I challenge them to try it. If they dont try it, they are bastards. Lets see what happens.

The social commentator also faulted those saying northern governors spoke on behalf of the north.

He said: First, I dont speak for any governor. And as a politician, I have nothing but contempt for all Nigerian governors. If you think those so-called Northern governors speak for the North, you are deceiving yourself. When the chips are down, those who speak for the North will emerge.

I believe no governor speaks for the North. If you think they speak for the North, why dont you say the governors in the South-south speak for their geo-political zone? Why must you say it is the Northern governors who speak for the North?

PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV

As far as I am concerned, I am prepared to engage in the debate on restructuring only if those who are clamouring and agitating for it can tell us what it is they want by restructuring and they define it so that somebody like me can understand. I am not prepared to engage in a discussion with people who are fundamentally dishonourable and dishonest.

In an earlier report by Legit.ng, Junaid alleged that the Igbos are using the agitation for Biafra to blackmail the north into giving up the 2019 presidency to them, The Sun reports.

He insisted that the move will only prevent the southeast from producing a president because, democracy is a game of numbers.

He wondered why the same people who caused the civil war that claimed the lives of over one million people will now turn around to demand for presidency.

Does the Biafra struggle end if IPOB is dissolved? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- The country of Turkey no longer recognises the US ambassador to Ankara

- Also the Turkish government says it has suspended the processing of visas in its embassy and consulate in the US

- The row escalated after the US announced it was suspending the processing of all non-immigrant visas in Turkey

As the row between Turkey and the US escalates, the Turkish government says it no longer recognises the US ambassador to Ankara.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced this on Tuesday, October 10, following the row sparked by the arrest of a US consulate employee.

Erdogan referring to John Bass, the ambassador during a news conference while on a trip to Serbia, said: We do not recognise him as the representative of the U.S. in Turkey, I say this quite openly. We did not start this problem."

On Sunday, October 8, the US stopped offering non-immigrant visa services in Turkey, citing security concerns. Hours later, Turkish missions in the US took a similar step and also froze US passport holders out of an electronic visa system.

A member of staff of the U.S. consulate in Istanbul was arrested last week. He is the second U.S. member of staff arrested this year, while a third employee is being sought for questioning and his family members are being held in custody.

Turkey's alleged focus on anti-American rhetoric in the media, notably in pro-government circles is part of the grievances the US has.

Erdogan says the sharp deterioration in relations was caused by Bass, who will soon take up a post in Afghanistan, after being appointed to Kabul by President Donald Trump.

According to The Guardian, Bass said the arrest of the US consulate employee arrested last week, has raised questions about whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing cooperation between Washington and Ankara.

At this time, we cant predict how long it will take to resolve this matter, Bass said.

READ ALSO: If you declare independence, you will starve - Turkey and Iraq warn Kurds

Meanwhile, US Department of Defence the Pentagon, told reporters a diplomatic dispute between the countries has not affected military operations or personnel out of Turkey.

I can confirm that these developments have not impacted our operations or personnel.

The Turkish air force base in Incirlik continues to fulfill an important role supporting NATO and coalition efforts.

Turkey was a close NATO ally and the U.S. would continue to coordinate joint and separate military activities with Ankara," spokesman for Pentagon, Robert Manning, a colonel, said.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col.Hameed Ali and Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, have agreed to cooperate to stop the export of harmful items into both countries.

PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV

Ali announced this in a statement by the service public relations Officer, Joseph Attah, on Tuesday, September 26, in Abuja.

Attah said the meeting was held due to concerns expressed by the general public over the recent seizures of pump actions riffles imported from Turkey.

THE SCOOP: IPOB proscribed, Nnamdi Kanu vanishes, 2600 rifles from Turkey - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Indigenous People of Biafra has raised allegations of looting against men of the Nigerian army and the Nigeria police force

- IPOB said the house of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was looted at Afaraukwu, Umuahia

- It also claimed that the alleged looting was captured on CCTV cameras mounted in the palace but was later destroyed by the alleged looters

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has on Tuesday, October 10, alleged that men of the Nigerian army and the Nigeria police force looted Nnamdi Kanus family house at Afaraukwu, Umuahia, in Abia state.

The allegation was made by Emma Powerful, IPOB's spokesperson in a statement, Punch reports.

READ ALSO: I challenge IPOB to start another civil war - Junaid Mohammed

Emma Powerful alleged that the soldiers carted away property belonging to Kanu and members of his family, including his wifes jewellery after storming Nnamdi Kanu's family compound on Sunday, October 8.

He claimed that the alleged looting was captured on CCTV cameras mounted in the palace.

He said: We, the Indigenous People of Biafra, worldwide, do hereby raise the alarm over the incessant raids on our leaders compound in Afaraukwu Umuahia by the Nigerian government and her security operatives, especially the Nigerian army and police, who have been stealing and looting the palace of His Royal Majesty Eze Sir Israel Kanu for weeks now.

The criminal activities of these thieves in uniform were captured on hidden CCTV cameras mounted in and around the compound.

The murderous Nigerian soldiers arrived with 15 Hilux vans to our leaders compound for the second time in a space of 24 hours and stayed for up to 5 hours inside the compound packing private properties belonging to our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his wifes clothing and jewelry and other items belonging to the rest of his family members.

We are still wondering what the Nigerian army and police had in mind before embarking on yet another invasion and attack on our leaders compound on Sunday, 8th October 2017.

Going further, IPOB alleged that the security agents returned to destroy the CCTV cameras, after realising that they were recorded while looting the palace.

Those responsible for the vandalisation of Kanus home were initially not aware that they were recorded until the footage started appearing online.

On realising they were captured on camera, they returned to the palace to destroy the CCTV cameras and loot yet more properties.

It was at this point the Nigerian army acknowledged for the first time that they have frequently conducted raids on the palace, he added.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the desk officer of the Operation Python Dance in Abia state denied claims that the army carted away properties and personal item of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The officer, however, confirmed the report that the army indeed visited the IPOB leader's home on Sunday, October 8, along with some police officers.

Nnamdi Kanu and Biafra agitation... the journey so far! - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng
- 25-year-old Ibrahim Olalekan Badmus has allegedly been killed by a South African policeman

- The deceased is a native of Lagos state

- His death was announced a week after Jelili Omoyele, a 35 year-old cellular phone technician was shot dead in the country

The Nigerian mission in South Africa has confirmed the killing of a 25-year-old Nigerian, Ibrahim Olalekan Badmus, a native of Lagos state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the killing occurred less than a week after Mr Jelili Omoyele, a 35 year-old cellular phone technician was shot dead at Doornfontein, near Johannesburg.

Mr Godwin Adama, Nigeria`s Consul General (CG) in South Africa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the telephone from Johannesburg that Badmus was allegedly killed on Tuesday at Vaal Vreneging, near Johannesburg.

READ ALSO: Looted funds being recovered are used to finance 2017 budget

 Information at our disposal said that the deceased was killed by a South African police officer.

 I led a delegation from the mission to visit the scene on receipt of the information. When we arrived the scene, the place was tensed up because Nigerians there were not happy, he said.

Adama said that the mission intervened and calmed down the situation.

 We immediately met with the station commander in the area with some selected Nigerians. The police assured that a thorough investigation would be carried out.

The investigation will be done by the independent police investigating department, he said.

According to the CG, an autopsy will be carried out while investigation on the killing is on.

Adama said that the mission urged Nigerians in the area to be calm and law abiding.

PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Nigerian Union in South Africa on Thursday August 17 said that another Nigerian, Uchenna Eloh, was killed in the Western Cape Province of that country.

Legit.ng gathered that Kanayo Onwumelu, chairman, Western Cape chapter of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Cape Town that Eloh was strangled to death by South African policemen.

Do you believe Nigeria is still the giant of Africa? on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng
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Sooty birds reveal hidden US air pollution BBC

The State of U.S. Infrastructure CFR

Airbus Corruption Scandal May Lead Straight to the Top Der Spiegel

Bombardier faces proposed 300% duty on plane exports to US Belfast Telegraph (Richard Smith). Richard Smith: This is the free trade paradise we want to enter via Brexit

Kobe Steel under the gun after firm admits data falsification Reuters

Round and Round It Spins  Our Latest Health Care Revolving Door Roundup Health Care Renewal

SoftBank deal with Uber encounters delay FT. If theres no price, is there even a deal?

Catalonia

Costa Gavras: I will make a film based on Adults in the Room Yanis Varoufakis

Brexit

Britain, divided Politico. Elites, who live and die by divide and conquer, shed crocodile tears at the consequences of their own strategy. Theresa May sets out trade plans for a no-deal Brexit FT

Puerto Rico

Hurricane Alley

After Hurricanes, Public Housing May Never Get Rebuilt Governing. Never let a crisis go to waste.

China?

Fearsome Plague Epidemic Strikes Madagascar NYT

North Korea

Syraqistan

New Cold War

Pierre Omidyar: 6 ways social media has become a direct threat to democracy WaPo

Trump Transition

Democrats in Disarray

New York Has Voting Laws That Are Just as Bad as Many Red States Mother Jones (Re Silc). In New York, to vote in next summers primary, you must register by October 13.

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Police issue warrant for black man beaten at Virginia rally Los Angeles Times

Imperial Collapse Watch

Guillotine Watch

Las Vegas: How White Rights, Neoliberal Isolation and a Little Incompetence Killed 59 or 60 People This Week Black Agenda Report

Class Warfare

Cybersecurity firm finds 90% crud rule rings true among 100 billion DNS records HealthCare IT (DK).

There Is No Nobel Prize in Economics Yasha Levine, Alternet. From 2012, relevant today.

Antidote du jour (via):

Working to make my cat game strong, here

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.

.
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By Peter Dorman, an economist and a professor at Evergreen State College whose writing and speaking focuses on carbon policy, child labor and the global financial crisis. Originally published at EconoSpeak

Mozi: scholar and activist

How do we think about the obligation of social justice? The dominant American political culture is based on individualist values: you have a right to do whatever you want, and the main problem is how to prevent you and other rights-bearing individuals from getting in each others way. Without extra considerations, social justice in such a universe is a matter of taste and inclination, which is to say charity. You offer help to others when you feel like it.

But there is an important extra consideration, debt: our freedom in an individualist world is constrained by obligations to repay the debts we have incurred. This may result from a purely financial transaction like a mortgage or a student loan, but we also recognize what might be called social or moral debts, where one person has benefitted at the expense of someone else and therefore owes compensation in return. This might not be recognized in a court of law, but it makes an ethical claim that can cause people to feel a sense of obligation.

The you-owe-it-to-them argument is used on behalf of coffee-growers, for instance. Those on the sipping end of the industry, when they hear stories about how hard these growers work and how little they get for it, rightfully feel obligated to go out of their way to make amends. They buy fair-traded beans and patronize cafes that share, or seem to share, these same values. If you benefit by drinking, you are indebted.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, who I discussed in an earlier post, strongly pushes this framing of racial justice in America. White people benefitted from centuries of un- and underpaid black labor, and from racial domination in general, and in this way they have accrued an immense debt. Justice will not be achieved until the debt is acknowledged and paid back.

In fact, the white privilege language used to analyze racial inequality implicitly draws on this same notion of debt obligation. Inequalities are assumed to all take the form of zero-sum relationships, where some (whites) have more because others (blacks) have less. Thus the difference in outcomes can be understood as a debt that the better-off owe to the worse-off. Its politically effective insofar as it appeals to this deep theme in our culture, justice as the retiring of debts.

The debt frame has considerable merit on an aggregate level. As a country, economically and politically, America drew much of its strength from racial and other forms of exploitation. This creates a historic obligation to reverse as much of the resulting inequalities as possible. The reality of slavery, for instance, and its contribution to American economic development, does obligate the country to adopt policies to make up for past injustice.

One problem with relying on debt repayment as a basis for social justice, however, is that it doesnt work well at an individual level. America has an obligation to undo the ravages of slavery and the racial exploitation that still continues, but what about me? How much have I personally benefitted from this history, and which individuals should I compensate? Theres no way to answer this, because the debt is collective, not individual. As a citizen, I have a responsibility to promote just policies, but I dont have calculable personal debts to other individuals. The fact that most racial inequality is not zero-sum pertains to thisindeed, if the divide-and-rule theory of class exploitation is correct, quite a few whites would be better off in a more racially equal society.

I suspect that a lot of the current unease around the politics of racial (and related) justice is due to the push to apply debt obligation to the daily life of individuals. There is a stream of discussion about whether one form of oppression is greater than another, as if to determine whether a given person is a net debtor or net creditor according to some moral calculus. The claim that you or I am personally responsible for and have benefitted from past historical crimes (whose existence I dont for a moment question) is almost always fictitious, but doubting it is interpreted as an attempt to avoid paying up. Worse, debt obligations are mandatory. They must be repaid. The casting of social injustice as accumulations of personal debt gives rise to the morally coercive tinge that justice activism has acquired.

But unmodified individualism is not the only basis for thinking about our place in the world, and debt is not the only source of personal obligation. Here are two more framings for social justice, solidarity and equal care.

Solidarity is based on the view that our well-being largely depends on the outcome of class and other social conflicts; this is how we might obtain democracy, a fairer economy, a sustainable environment, peace, and respect for human rights. For most of us, our power is not in wealth or position but in numbers, so to work for ourselves we need to work with each other. This mutual support is what we mean by solidarity: I stick with you in the expectation that you will stick with me. Racial justice, from a solidarity perspective, is part of a larger set of commitments that span multiple inequalitiesclass, gender, and nationality, to name just a few. White support for blacks confronting unequal treatment would be premised on a shared ethic of standing together. This, like historic debt, works best at an aggregate level, but it also applies to many individual situations. If you and I are both actively engaged in an array of political or social conflicts, each of us can benefit from the others solidarity. (Note the difference between solidarity and allyship, as discussed here.)

But the view of social life as an interlocking set of collective struggles that underlies solidarity is not an altogether accurate representation of how we really live. Collective gains through conflict are only one determinant of our well-beingwe do (and undo) a lot for ourselves individually as welland the peoples side in one conflict doesnt always match up with that side in others. Consider class conflict and the struggle for a better environment, for instance. In an ideal world it might be that the people fighting for economic equality and ecological values would largely overlap, but in this one they are often quite different. Returning to racial justice, I wouldnt want to hold it hostage to first achieving a congruence between this and lots of other movement constituencies.

The deepest problem with solidarity, however, is that intra- and intergroup commitments often conflict, even structurally. The logic of collective action is that individuals need to feel they can rely on the support of others in the cause, but meaningful support is a costly commodity. One can feel sympathetic to an unlimited number of collective struggles but provide material solidarity to only a few. In practice, a solidarity ethic tends toward balkanization of activism, despite the noble vision of the most eloquent activists. For every cross-racial or cross-national labor mobilization, for example, there are many others in which solidarity was only one-dimensional. This is often blamed on the political or cultural shortcomings of the people being mobilizedwith justificationbut appeals to what sets a particular group apart, not what connects them to others, are often the most effective at eliciting mutual commitment.

And there is a third way to think about justice. For this we can go back to Mozi, the legendary philosopher, political activist and opponent of offensive war who lived in China in the years surrounding 400 BCE. As he looked at inequalities of power and wealth, Mo argued that the core problem was unequal love, that people cared more for those in their own family or other social group than anyone else. In an extreme form, this led to wars of domination or conquest, since the rulers valued the soldiers and the population of the regions they were attacking less than their own kin. War, he thought, was obviously mass murder, and yet it was viewed as glorious. His remedy was to promote an equality of caring; given this, he thought, injustice could not be possible.

I realize there have been many formulations of this universalism in the intervening 2500 years, with greater sophistication over time, but its relevant that the equality-of-care basis for social justice goes back a long, long way. Perhaps more activists have drawn on it than on any other frame.

When we think of the most powerful appeals to moral action, they typically rest on our potential to care equally for people who might otherwise be distant from us. The famous schematic of a slave ship, used effectively by early English abolitionists, invites us to imagine ourselves or our loved ones shackled body-to-body in a nightmare cross-Atlantic passage. The photo of a young girl fleeing a napalm attack in Vietnam works on us to the extent we see her as worthy as any child of our love and protection. Arguably, the proliferation of cell phone videos has had a profound impact on justice activism by making oppression intimateclose visually and ethically.

Heres another example: consider the phrase black lives matter. Its a bit ambiguous; you could interpret it in more ways than one. Its most persuasive interpretation, however, goes like this: over and over, black people are killed by police, and the official response is inaction. Black victims of violence are treated as if their lives are worth less than others, and this is unacceptable. Black lives matter! There should be just as much outrage over such murders as if the victim were rich, white and famous. If Mozi were among us today he would immediately recognize this demand, and no doubt he would be out on the streets in support.

There are two problems with the equality of care framing, equality and care. Humans (and other socially cognizant species) have a penchant for distinguishing between the groups they belong to and those regarded as other. Family, ethnic and national preferences are widespread. But we have also demonstrated throughout history the capacity to transcend these divisions, and over long spans of time the circles of respect and care have widened enormously. It may be that mediated forms of communication like writing and now audio-visual depictions provide a cognitive basis for a more universal sense of who we are.

Perhaps the tougher nut is getting people to see they have an obligation to care. In theory, individualism does away with that: you are obligated to care for you, and Im obligated for me; anything else is extra. In practice, of course, we cant exist without care: care for the young, for the old, for the sick, for those under attack, and for people who are just stuck in one way or another, because all of us have been and will likely be in that type of situation at some point. In the high theory of individualismLocke etc.this was sidestepped because an invisible class of people, women, were assigned the role of fulfilling care responsibilities. Today there is no excuse for failing to see that responsibility to care has a claim on us alongside individual choice. But it takes time for this awareness to sink in and redirect a culture based on what was always a mythical universalization of self-regard. In the meantime, some people are more care-conscious than others, which means social justice activism has a double task: getting people to recognize that care is not optional and then getting them to extend it equally across social boundaries. It sounds like a lot, but activists have been doing this for generations.

To sum up, there are different ways to make the claim that we are obligated to act on behalf of social justice. The debt-based approach has merit at a collective level, but it has been overused as a basis for individual obligation and is largely counterproductive. Solidarity has much to recommend it, especially in comparison to allyship, but there are many situations in which it has little practical force, while in others solidarities may be in conflict. The strongest basis is equality-of-care. It is ethically consistent and universally relevant. True, it struggles to overcome ancient parochialisms and the presumptions of an individualistic culture, and this forces us to supplement it with other appeals when we can, but it is the value that best defines what we mean by social progress.
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1273 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser,what weve accomplished in the last year and our current goal, burnout prevention.

Preppers should find that they will have a great business opportunity in the UK once the great unwashed citizenry realizes how utterly unprepared the UK is for a disorderly Brexit. That outcome that looks more likely with every passing day.

The latest proof comes via two papers released by the Government that describe how the UK plans to handle trade in the event that Brexit talks fail. They apparently have the joint aim of reassuring businesses and the public and strengthening the UKs negotiating position with the EU.

To any discerning reader, these documents are a monster own goal. They demonstrate how the officialdom hasnt even begun to grapple with the enormous operational challenges that Brexit presents. The papers are so threadbare in terms of their discussion of rubber hits the road issues like what will happen at borders generally and with the Irish border specifically that they fall short of even qualifying as plans to come up with a plan. Those would at least would define issues to be tackled with deadlines, allocation of work, staffing levels, and clear end products.

If I were a businessman in the UK whose business had any meaningful exposure to imports and exports, Id be hitting the panic button.

And EU officials may be getting a form of double vision. On the one hand, the spectacle of the Brits unable to get past the analysis paralysis stage will only reconfirm that they have the upper hand and can hold firm to the positions they have already staked out. On the other hand, they have to be getting even more frustrated with dealing with the UKs bizarre combination of arrogance and gross ineptitude.

Normally, a performance this pathetic would lead third parties to want to help such an incapable counterparty, or at least not rough them up too much. But UK has acted for years as if it didnt need friends in the EU and has only doubled down on its high-handedness since the Brexit vote. Lack of preparation, bad faith, inability to settle on a strategy, and continued outright delusion are enormously trying to deal with. The EU was likely annoyed with the UK wanting to negotiate only one week out of a month because that was obviously far too little time to resolve the dense thicket of Brexit issues. They now are probably relieved, since they probably need that much recovery time to be able to keep their cool.

Normally, Id make at an effort to give the two documents a careful reading, particularly since neither one is very long. But both are such obvious handwaves that they arent worth any more than a quick look.

Its obvious even on a mere flip through that they natter on about principles or presen data that might have a place in a much longer treatise but isnt on point for the task at hand, figuring out how to handle the movement of goods if the UK has no exit deal as of March 2019. In keeping, it sketches the types of things a Customs Bill ought to include, as opposed to making recommendations or offering alternatives.

For those who are brave enough to have a look, its not hard to see that the first paper, Preparing for our future UK trade policy, is hot air with a few charts to give it an air of substance. The Twitterati could barely be bothered to discuss it:

OK I didnt learn anything new in the Trade White Paper (but trade policy wonks probs not the target audience). Onto Customs Bill White Paper  Allie Renison (@AllieRenison) October 9, 2017

Sad no direct mention of #food,#farming in #Trade White Paper. The impact new deals could have on farmers, land, food, livelihoods is huge.  Vicki Hird (@vickihird) October 9, 2017

There admittedly are a few tidbits but not many. Section 3.2 might rile Scotland, since it reads like a plan to abrogate devolved powers:

As parts of these agreements will touch on devolved matters, legislation will create powers for devolved administrations to implement them. These powers will be held concurrently by the devolved administrations and the UK government.

..but I was relieved to see I wasnt the only one scratching my head about that section:

I am struggling to make sense of the Trade White Paper section that says "we will transition EU 3rd country trade agreements".  Adam Jackson (@Adam_E_Jackson) October 10, 2017

The Customs paper at least occasionally skimmed the surface of border issues. But all you needed to do was encounter pablum like government is committed to developing solutions in the no deal scenario to know the officialdom has barely started to think things through.

And as weve pointed out repeatedly, trade isnt managed with clerks and green ledger paper any more. IT systems are the core of customs operations. The UK would have had to have had detailed specs completed months ago to have a thin hope of being ready by March 2019. There is no evidence here that the Government has begun to think though what goods might go through what channels and how.

Anyone who has even a dim appreciation of the systems requirements can see that the grand idea presented below couldnt possibly be in place for years, given large IT system lead times (and thats before you get to their high failure rates):

5.16 One potential approach the UK intends to explore further with the EU would involve the UK acting in partnership with the EU to operate a regime for imports that aligns precisely with the EUs external customs border, for goods that will be consumed in the EU market, even if they are part of a supply chain in the UK first. The UK would need to apply the same tariffs as the EU, and provide the same treatment for rules of origin for those goods arriving in the UK and destined for the EU. 5.17 By mirroring the EUs customs approach at its external border, the UK could ensure that all goods entering the EU via the UK have paid the correct EU duties. This would remove the need for the UK and the EU to introduce customs processes between them, so that goods moving between the UK and the EU would be treated as they are now for customs purposes. The UK would also be able to apply its own tariffs and trade policy to UK exports and imports from other countries destined for the UK market, in line with the aspiration for an independent trade policy.

Folks, a mirror system is still a new system, and one that has to handle vastly more goods than now, since EU goods going into the UK and UK goods going to the rest of the EU arent subject to customs or tariffs. Now admittedly, this is only one of several ideas, but that actually makes matters worse. The fact that UK bureaucrats havent the foggiest idea what path they might wind up taking means that they cant get going on any action plan. And the the fact that this mirror system scheme it tossed out as if it were easy-peasy should set off alarm bells.

And more generally, the handling of goods at the border cant be finessed for a whole host of reasons. For starters, any imports that will be incorporated into products for export have to have their content documented properly. Lord only knows what sorts of contraband, defective or adulterated goods or illicit money-movement via invoicing games could take place with slipshod border controls.

The section on the Irish border illustrates how insanely unrealistic the Customs napkin-doodle is:

5.22 In line with these shared objectives, the UK has already published a Northern Ireland and Ireland Position Paper. The paper set out nine key principles on which to base a future customs solution. These include aiming to avoid any physical border infrastructure; preventing any new barriers to doing business within the UK, including between Northern Ireland and Great Britain; and agreeing at an early stage a time-limited interim implementation period. Based on these principles, and in recognition of the unique circumstances of the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border, the UK government proposes two creative solutions to explore with the EU, as outlined in the Future Partnership Paper. The Northern Ireland and Ireland Position Paper also sets out that the UK will seek to ensure that individuals travelling to the UK from the EU, and vice versa, can continue to travel with goods for personal use as freely and as smoothly as they do now. 5.23 Under the highly streamlined customs arrangement, the UK believes it would need to go still further to agree specific facilitations for the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border. A cross- border trade exemption acknowledges that many of the movements of goods across the land border are by smaller traders operating in a local economy, and they cannot be properly categorised or treated as economically significant international trade. The cross-border trade exemption would ensure that smaller traders could continue to move goods with no new requirements in relation to customs processes at the land border. In 2015, over 80% of north to south trade was carried out by micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

Did you get what happened in these two paragraphs? This is assume a can opener. The text breezily acts as if there will be a highly streamlined customs arrangement when no one has the foggiest idea how to have that happen in the face of a hard border between the two Irelands.

And the excuse? Well, there isnt that much trading happening across that border now, so this isnt a big deal. This completely ignores the issue that the EU finds unacceptable: a porous border between Northern Ireland and Ireland post-Brexit will become a gateway for all sorts of goods and foodstuffs that dont comply with EU rules to get into the single market. The current trickle now is likely to become a flood.

And mind you, this is under the optimistic scenario, that the two sides work out some sort of transition period. The next section, on Preparing for a contingency scenario is just clueless. For instance:

5.35 In this scenario [roll on, roll off ports], the government would need to be able to confirm that businesses have complied with customs obligations. The government will work closely with industry on what would be required.

Yet another assume a can opener.

And on top of that, the UK has vastly more trade in the form of services than goods. Both papers are silent on this critical topic. Even worse, as any trade negotiator will tell you, trade deals are much easier to negotiate than services deals. So you can kiss the UKs current account balance, and with it, the pound, goodbye.

Even with the thin details, the Government couldnt hide the fact that life after Brexit, particulary a messy Brexit, would impose more costs on businessescontrary to earlier promises of a Glorious Brexit. From the Guardian:

Crashing out of the EU without a deal will impose a raft of new regulations on business, according to the governments first detailed contingency planning for Brexit Despite pre-referendum promises that Brexit would rid Britain of both excessive red tape and bureaucrats, Theresa May said the new proposals were necessary to minimise disruption in the event of talks collapsing. Among the hardest hit in such a scenario would be exporters and importers who trade between the UK and EU but potentially face more complicated consequences than anticipated if new border tariffs are introduced.

The Guardian also pointed out, as did quite a few tweets, that the papers had typos and the Customs paper, a duplicate paragraph. You also had to get halfway into the piece to learn Most of the methods of mitigating border chaos remain to be formulated however.

Sadly, the Financial Times treated the two documents with far more respect than they deserved. For instance:

The customs paper sets out a contingency plan in which traders would need to present goods for inspection as inland as possible because of space constraints at the majority of ports. It added that the UK could also manage a no deal scenario by introducing measures to replace border checks, such as businesses pre-notifying or self-assessing imports.

In other words, an honor system. Help me. But some snippets of reality sneaked through:

But British officials admit contingency planning is at an early stage and that the government has not started spending the large sums of money on staff, IT systems and real estate needed to build a new customs and regulatory system by March 2019 Some rightwing Conservative Eurosceptics are sanguine about Britain leaving the EU without a deal, since it would mark a decisive break from the blocs regulatory system and force Britain to change its economic model to compete globally. But it would require the creation of a new British bureaucracy to replace EU regulatory bodies and a vastly increased customs service and is seen in some European capitals as an empty threat. Far from having more for public services, Brexit Britain will have to spend tens of billions it doesnt have on new quangos  brilliant, tweeted James Chapman, former chief of staff to Brexit secretary David Davis.

British bureaucrats were once the envy of the world. To see what passes for leadership in the UK exposed as utterly unfit has to be a shocker even for hardened critics in Europe.

This is one of the costs of neoliberalism, particularly for early and enthusiastic adopters like the UK and US. Competent governments are valuable things to have around, particularly when you put yourself in the position of needing one badly.
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1271 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser,what weve accomplished in the last year and our current goal, burnout prevention.

By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street

Amazon battled states for years to avoid having to collect sales taxes. Walmart was on the other side of the fight, along with state revenue offices. Walmart had to add sales taxes to all its sales in California, whether online or brick-and-mortar, which at the time ranged from 7.25% to 9.75% depending on location. For shoppers, that price difference was reason enough to switch to Amazon. It was in essence a massive taxpayer subsidy for Amazon.

But Amazon lost that battle and started charging sales taxes in California in September, 2012. State after state followed. By early 2017, Amazon was charging sales taxes in all 45 states that have state-wide sales taxes and in Washington DC.

Still, even in 2016, online retailers dodged paying $17.2 billion in sales taxes on out-of-state sales, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For them, its a massive price advantage that other retailers didnt get.

The fight over sales taxes is based on a Supreme Court case of 1992  Quill Corp. v. North Dakota  that barred states from forcing companies to collect sales taxes if they didnt have physical facilities in those states, such as stores or warehouses.

For Amazon, this got increasingly complicated as it is building out its distribution network, with warehouses and facilities around the country. So now Amazon is collecting sales taxes.

Problem solved? Nope.

Amazon only collects sales taxes on sales of inventory that it owns (first-party sales). But Amazon is also a platform that sells merchandise owned by other sellers (third-party sales). About half of the goods sold on the Amazon platform fall into this category. Amazon leaves sales tax collections to the 2 million merchants on its platform. But they claim that its not their job to collect sales taxes, and most of them dont collect them. Hence, third-party sales still get the taxpayer subsidy.

Amazon isnt the only out-of-state retailer or platform. Its just the biggest one. eBay and many others are impacted by it too. Legally, this remains murky. But states and brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting to get the subsidy scrapped.

Its a fairness issue, Minnesota Senator Roger Chamberlain told Bloomberg. Right now, theres an unlevel playing field that disadvantages brick-and-mortar stores.

And December 1, just in the nick of time for the holiday sales season, could be a big turning point.

An amnesty agreement in 24 states  including Florida, New Jersey, and Texas but not California and New York  and Washington DC has been hammered out by Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) that would provide Amazon merchants partial amnesty from back taxes if they agree, among other things, to register and collect sales taxes no later than December 1.

Online sellers with potential tax liability could negotiate a settlement that could lead to some or all of their back-taxes being forgiven. The catch? Online sellers must meet certain eligibility requirements and apply for amnesty between August 17, 2017 [and] October 17, 2017. They must also voluntarily disclose their tax obligations by submitting a voluntary disclosure agreement.

Its not clear how many merchants will sign on, according to Bloomberg. Because so many have complained about the tight timeline, the states are holding a meeting on Wednesday [Oct. 11] to decide whether to extend the deadline.

And there are more complications  the promise of 50,000 jobs:

Amazon has launched a nationwide search for a second headquarters location that could employ up to 50,000 people. So states taking an adversarial position against Amazon by trying to collect taxes are simultaneously trying to lure the company for a major investment. Sellers fret that Amazon will have leverage to push the tax collection burden onto them.

Sellers are scared, Paul Rafelson, a corporate tax attorney advising these sellers on the amnesty agreement, told Bloomberg. They dont think they did anything wrong, but they dont know if they can afford to get caught. They want to know why the states arent going after Amazon like South Carolina.

South Carolina is not part of the amnesty agreement, but is among the states that have taken this into their own hands. Bloomberg:

South Carolina is going after Amazon directly in court, saying it owes $12.5 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest from third-party sales. Amazon has vowed to fight the case. Minnesota  in June enacted the countrys first law requiring companies like Amazon and EBay Inc. to collect sales taxes on goods sold by third-party sellers. Theyll have to comply in 2019  or even sooner in the event the Quill ruling is overturned. Washington followed with a similar law that takes effect in January. Massachusetts, meanwhile, got a court order forcing Amazon to turn over by mid-October the identities of marketplace sellers doing business on the site since 2012. That could set off a scramble among states competing to collect back taxes, says James Thomson, a former Amazon senior manager who now advises merchants how to sell on the marketplace. If Massachusetts succeeds, he says, its going to be a bloodbath. Amazon has yet to indicate if it will provide the records or challenge the ruling.

Congress could clarify the situation and create a set of rules for all states, instead of letting states create a cumbersome patchwork, but that hasnt happened yet. So, for now, as online sales continue to surge, its up to the states to determine who will be responsible for collecting sales taxes: The platform (Amazon) or the third-party seller.

In this battle, sellers want Amazon to collect sales taxes, while Amazon wants sellers to collect sales taxes. However this will ultimately be settled, they both appear to have lost the two-decade battle to dodge sales tax collections.

Other retailers have never been able to benefit from this vast taxpayer subsidy. They have to compete on price without it. Some of them have been driven out of business. Sales taxes are no fun for consumers, but a level playing field will give other retailers belatedly a better chance to fight off Amazon, but only after Amazon has already gotten so big, in part due to this subsidy, that practically no one can fight it off.

After Amazon acquired Whole Foods, the first thing that happened was a panoply of strategic price cuts, promoted by the media with enormous hoopla. It was ingenious marketing. The media fell for it. And consumers flocked to Whole Foods to see for themselves. Here are the numbers. Read Amazon-Whole-Foods Already Rattling the Grocery Sector
(Natural News) If you were to submit a research paper to a journal in the social sciences, it would typically go through an extensive peer review process and wouldnt be published for at least several weeks. This is not the case when it comes to the popular journal Whiteness and Education, however, which despite claiming to have an extensive peer review process, typically publishes papers within just one or two business days.

The journal, which is published by Routledge, claims to focus on issues surrounding crucial discussions of White racism, White identity, privilege, power, and intersectionality. Over the last few months, Whiteness and Education has supposedly reviewed and published numerous articles on social justice, one of which called for the destruction of whitestream intellectual habits. Another urged professors to dismantle whiteness. (Related: Hunter College in New York City will now require a course on the abolition of whiteness for political science majors.)

But a closer look at these articles reveals that both of them were accepted for publication only one day after they were received by the publisher, calling into question just how legitimate the journals peer review process really is. One article on deconstructing whiteness, for instance, was approved just two days after it was submitted. Another one, titled Im not racist, my high school was diverse, was accepted three business days after submission. Yet another, Using Intersectionality as a Tool for Teaching Social Justice, was both submitted and accepted on the same day, July 25th.

As pointed out by Campus Reform, all but one article published by the journal of Whiteness and Education this summer and fall were approved within just two business days of submission. Although Campus Reform reached out to all 21 members of the editorial board for details regarding the journals peer review process, none responded.

In psychology, it usually takes two to six months to complete a review process, explained Lee Jussim, a psychology professor at Rutgers University. Most journals shoot for it being two to three months, but stuff happens. It is hard for me to imagine a review typically taking much under six weeks. Even though Jussim acknowledged that advancements in technology might be capable of speeding up the review process, he added that if anyone has created a serious peer review system that can take less than two weeks, I would be dying to hear about it. It would be revolutionary.

So which is more likely to be the case? Did those working for the journal of Whiteness and Education really come up with a revolutionary way to speed up the review process so that it only takes a few days rather than a few weeks? Or do they just claim that their submitted articles go through a peer review process when in reality they are just looking to publish anything and everything that promotes social justice? At this point, it sure looks like the latter.

Jeffrey Beall, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver and an expert on predatory journals, told Campus Reform in an interview that he is concerned about the journals peer review process as well. If research articles [are] being accepted this quickly, then yes, something is wrong, he said. If it is accepting research articles within several days after their submission, then the journal is showing a characteristic of a predatory journal. He added that the peer review process exists not only to weed out unscientific research but also to make good articles better.

But thats the thing about social justice warriors and the progressive left  they dont care nearly as much about making sure that the information they put out is accurate and factual as they do about destroying conservatism and fundamentally transforming the United States of America. Thats how they always have been, and sadly, thats how they always will be.

Sources include:

CampusReform.org

Milo.Yiannopoulos.net
Many high-level movements are affecting the global health and nutrition industry, and several of these were highlighted at the 2017 SupplySide West trade show, held Sept. 25 to 29 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. In this podcast, Heather Granato, vice president of content for Informas discusses the trends she saw at the industrys largest gathering with Sandy Almendarez, editor in chief, INSIDER. They cover:

The growing opportunity for digestive health ingredients, such as probiotics, fiber and botanicals, that are finding applications across a wide range of health conditions

Consumer desire for more personalized nutrition products, and how smart brands are creating those products (and winning awards!)

Supply chain transparencys move from a buzzword to real practices, such as ingredient suppliers partnering with the farmers who grow their materials.

Join us in April 2018 for SupplySide East in Secaucus, New Jersey, to visit with more ingredient suppliers leading the way on these global trends.
What to Know Somerville police officer Louis Remigio, 55, died Monday after a crash on I-95 in New Hampshire on Sunday. He was a 30-year veteran.

Authorities said Mike Ricci, 18, crossed the median in a Mercedes-Benz while racing other cars, striking Remigio's Harley Davidson.

Ricci is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 20 on a felony reckless conduct charge.

A procession was held Tuesday for a beloved Massachusetts police officer who died of injuries sustained in a crash on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Somerville Officer Louis Remigio, 55, died at Portsmouth Regional Hospital late Monday night, Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Police Chief David Fallon said.

A procession was held Tuesday for an off-duty Massachusetts police officer who died from injuries sustained in a collision on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire on Sunday.

"If you want an officer responding to you when you're in need, you want it to be Officer Remigio," Fallon said. "Brave, courageous, gentle, empathetic, kind... he epitomized 21st century policing."

"We'll never fill the void of Officer Remigio," he added. "But we're going to do what we do every day. We're going to answer the bell."



Remigio received multiple awards for service to the community, including two Life-Saving Awards, a Meritorious Service Award, a Beyond the Call of Duty Award, and numerous commendations by his colleagues and community members.

"His loss will be immeasurable in the Somerville Police Department, and today we grieve as a community for Officer Remigio, for his family, and for his brothers and sisters in the Somerville Police Department," Curtatone said.

Somerville Police Chief David Fallon and Mayor Joseph Curtatone speak out on Officer Louis Remigio who died from injuries sustained in a collision on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire.

Remigio's body was taken from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to a Somerville funeral home on Tuesday in a hearse escorted by dozens of motorcycle officers from multiple departments.

His wake is scheduled for Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m. at Doherty Funeral Home in Somerville. His funeral mass is expected to be held on Friday.



Remigio, whose wife died last year, is survived by two adult daughters.

Fallon said the family is "doing the best they can" given the tragic circumstances.

"We're praying for them and will support them in every way we can," he said. "That's really our focus going forward."

A 30-year department veteran who lived in Tewksbury, Remigio sustained severe injuries in the crash on I-95 south in North Hampton, New Hampshire, on Sunday morning. He was off-duty at the time.

New Hampshire police said Remigio's motorcycle was struck by a Mercedes-Benz driven by Michael Ricci, 18, of Burlington, Massachusetts. Ricci may have been racing other vehicles and veered from the northbound lanes into oncoming traffic, police said. Ricci was not hurt.

Ricci was released on $10,000 bail pending his arraignment Oct. 20 on a charge of felony reckless conduct.

New Hampshire State Police

Following his release, Ricci was arrested at his Burlington home Tuesday afternoon on an outstanding warrant for violating probation in a juvenile court case. Because those cases are generally sealed, it's unclear what the initial case involved.

For the probation violation, Ricci will be arraigend Wednesday.

State police said Ricci could face additional charges as their investigation continues.

Ricci's Massachusetts driver's record shows that his license has been revoked in the wake of Sunday's crash. He has several previous license suspensions, and was involved in an accident in June in Burlington and had a speeding violation in April, also in Burlington.

Neighbors of Ricci in Burlington told NBC Boston they'd often see him speeding around the neighborhood. No one came to the door at his house on Monday, and a "no trespassing" sign is now up.
Iran's official IRNA news agency is quoting the chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard as saying the U.S. should move its military bases farther from Iran's borders if it imposes new sanctions against Tehran.

The Sunday report quotes Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying: "If new sanctions go into effect, the country should move its regional bases to a 2000-kilometer radius, the range of Iranian missiles."

Currently, U.S. military bases are located in countries neighboring Iran, less than 310 miles from Iran's borders.

Jafari also said that if the United States designates the Guard as a terrorist group, the Guard will also consider the U.S. army a terrorist group.

Revolutionary Guard troops are currently fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
The San Diego County Health and Human Services extended the local health emergency declaration and updated the number of people infected with the Hepatitis A virus Tuesday.

Eighteen people have died, and 490 cases have been confirmed as of Oct. 10, according to county officials. Of those cases, there have been 342 hospitalizations.

New #hepatitisA numbers out from the county - 18 people have died, 490 are infected. #NBC7  Megan Tevrizian (@megantevrizian) October 10, 2017

County officials announced that the local health emergency declared on Sept. 1 will remain in effect for another two weeks, while they work to get a handle on the outbreak.

After a review of the current health situation, the County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend the declaration through Oct. 24. The board is required to review the declaration every 14 days.

The county will keep increasing its efforts to provide the public with vaccinations, sanitation and education, said the county's public health spokesperson Wilma Wooten.

A third of the cases involved people who used illicit drugs and are considered homeless. Of the cases, 25 percent are neither homeless or drug users.

Officials said 68,500 Hepatitis A vaccines have been given by health care systems or pharmacists to date, including nearly 54,000 to people at high risk. Local health care systems, community clinics and pharmacies provided more than 36,000 out of those vaccinations. Mass vaccination events, mobile vans and foot teams handed out about 21,600.

Additionally, local food handlers and at-risk professionals received 10,800 shots.

The City of San Diego has installed new bathrooms in the East Village to help curb the spread of the virus. That area has a high concentration of transients. Those restroom facilities will be maintained at least twice a day, and will be monitored by full-time security, the city said.

There are currently 22 public restroom facilities in downtown San Diego, as listed here.

City crews have also sanitized sidewalks in the downtown area and installed hand-washing stations.

Currently, there are 99 handwashing stations around the county, said county officials. The majority are located in the City of San Diego.

County health officials have also notified 14,000 food facilities in the area as well as agricultural growers and public pools. An extensive education campaign is underway with food handlers and restaurants.

The groups most at risk are the homeless and illegal drug users, as well as people who work with homeless individuals, men who have sex with men, people with chronic liver disease, travelers to certain countries and people with clotting disorders, according to the county.

More than 6,400 hygiene kits were handed out to the at-risk population, said county officials. Those kits included hand sanitizer, cleansing wipes, bottled water, a waste bag and information pamphlets on Hepatitis A prevention.

Due to the ongoing outbreak, health officials have also encouraged food handlers and people who work with the homeless to get vaccinated.

Hepatitis A is a liver infection caused by a virus that is highly contagious. The Hepatitis A virus can be contracted by touching objects or eating food that someone with the Hepatitis A infection has handled or by having sex with someone who has an HAV infection.

Some people get the virus but have no symptoms. Signs of infection include fever, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, yellowing of the eyes (jaundice), stomach pain, vomiting, dark urine, pale stools, and diarrhea. Adults are more likely to have symptoms than children.

The California Department of Public Health suggests anyone who has been exposed to the virus, and who has not been previously immunized for Hepatitis A, should consider getting vaccinated no later than two weeks after exposure.

Click here to see a timeline of San Diego County's Hepatitis A Outbreak.

For more information, go to the county's website.
A man beaten at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is wanted by police after someone stepped forward and accused him of assaulting them the same day.

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia, have issued a warrant charging a black man beaten at a white nationalist rally for an alleged assault that happened during the confrontation.

Police said in a news release Monday night that a warrant was issued for 20-year-old DeAndre Harris. Harris was seen bloodied in viral photos and a video after he was attacked during the rally in August.

Months later, someone went to the magistrate's office and accused Harris of assault. Lt. Stephen Upman said the magistrate contacted police, who verified facts and issued the warrant for unlawful wounding.

According to WTOP, the alleged assault occurred the same day a group of people beat Harris.



Upman refused to identify the alleged victim or provide any other details.

Harris is not in custody.

Two men were charged with malicious wounding in September in the attack against Harris. Both are being held without bond.
What to Know Somerville police officer Louis Remigio, 55, remains in critical condition after an accident on I-95 in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Authorities said Mike Ricci, 18, crossed the median in a Mercedes-Benz while racing other cars, striking Remigio's Harley Davidson.

Ricci is facing a felony reckless conduct charge and was being held on $10,000 cash bail pending his arraignment Monday.

An off-duty Massachusetts police officer is on a ventilator and in critical condition after being struck by a teenager who was racing other cars during a collision on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire on Sunday, according to state police.



Authorities said Mike Ricci, 18, allegedly crossed the median in a Mercedes-Benz on I-95 southbound in North Hampton, striking Somerville police officer Louis Remigio, 55, who was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

[[450099453, C]]

State police said a Subaru Legacy rear-ended the Mercedes because it could not stop in time, and the driver of the Subaru, 63-year-old Wells, Maine, resident John Bamford, and his passenger, 61-year-old Jaclyn Bamford, were also taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Ricci was allegedly racing other cars before the collision, according to police.

Remigio, of Tewksbury, who is a 30-year veteran of the Somerville Police Department, is surrounded by family, friends and other officers at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, according to the Somerville mayor's office.

"Louis Remigio is exactly what you want in a police officer," Somerville Police Chief David Fallon said. "Big, tough, kind, empathetic ... everything you look for in an officer is Louis Remigio."

Remigio's neighbors said he is an incredible father who has been raising his two daughters on his own since the death of his wife.

"I'll be honest, I'm heartbroken," said neighbor Bill Fabiano. "Just a good guy... that you know."



[[450027103, C]]

"I really hope he recovers and everything works out well for him," said another neighbor.

Officer Remigio's Tewksbury neighbors said he loves riding his Harley.

"I've seen him going up the road with it a couple times," said neighbor Jennifer Saia-Costa.

In a joint statement from Fallon and Mayor Joseph Curtatone, the two said, "We are heartbroken for Officer Remigio and his family over this tragic, completely avoidable accident. Lou is a well-loved and valued member of our police force and our community, and has served Somerville with the highest honor for the last 30 years. We continue to pray for his recovery, and our thoughts are with his entire family at this very difficult time.

Curtatone said at a press conference Monday evening that Remegio has a long battle ahead of him.

[[450142223, C]]

Ricci, of Burlington, Massachusetts, was arrested on a felony reckless conduct charge and has since posted a $10,000 cash bail at Rockingham County Jail in New Hampshire.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on October 20 in Seabrook District Court. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.

The crash is still under investigation.
Chancroid is a sexually-transmitted disease that is caused by the bacterial pathogen Haemophilus ducreyi. The condition is characterized by the presence of non-indurated, ulcerated lesions on the genitalia, usually associated with painful inguinal lymphadenopathy.

Chancroid is a substantial public health problem in many countries of the developing world. The estimates are that approximately seven million cases of this disease are seen worldwide; however, under-reporting and misdiagnoses hamper accurate predictions of its prevalence and spread.

International Epidemiology

Chancroid was once a common isolate in clinics across Africa, Latin America and Asia, where its incidence exceeded all other causes of genital ulcers combined. Nevertheless, after 2000 there was an extensive use of syndromic approaches for the management of sexually transmitted infections caused by bacterial pathogens, which resulted in a rapid decline of chancroid and its near-elimination in certain parts of southern and eastern Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the overall prevalence of chancroid in patients with genital ulcers declined from more than 60 percent in the 1970s to less than 15 percent between 2001 and 2005. Moreover, the disease was undetectable in Zambia and Kenya between 2005 and 2010.

Although the disease is rare in the United States (US), outbreaks have been reported in urban areas. The case numbers are in decline since 1941, with only 24 documented in 2010, and 10 cases in 2013. But although the disease is considered infrequent in the US, it should be taken into account when assessing high-risk individuals presenting with painful genital ulcers.

The low prevalence of chancroid observed in Europe in the last two decades is linked to shifts in both public health and social conditions. Surveillance data has demonstrated Haemophilus ducreyi prevalence between 0.9 and 3 percent in ulcer patients from France and the Netherlands.

Since 2005, Haemophilus ducreyi has been implicated in chronic skin ulcers found in children residing in endemic areas for yaws (a chronic infection by the spirochete bacterium that affects bone, cartilage and skin) of the South Pacific region. Although similar to genital chancroid in appearance, this disease is not transmitted sexually, nor does it give rise to enlarged lymph nodes or bubo formation.

Age, Sex and Racial Differences

Chancroid is most commonly seen in non-white, uncircumcised individuals (which is not surprising considering its endemic prevalence in areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America). Circumcision has been shown protective against chancroid infections, but also for some other sexually transmitted diseases (such as syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus).

The transmission probability from an infected individual to an uninfected one is estimated as 0.35 for a single sexual exposure. The main issue is that in women ulcers tend to be subclinical, resulting in continuous sexual activities and frequent contacts that are needed for the spread of Haemophilus ducreyi within a population.

This disease is usually observed in commercial sex workers, travelers that visited endemic areas, and generally in people of lower socioeconomic standard. Furthermore, chancroid may affect individuals of any age, although it is usually found in younger, sexually-active individuals (aged between 21 and 30 years).

In any case, chancroid is not lethal, and the genital lesions tend to resolve spontaneously after 1-3 months  even if they are left untreated. However, if antimicrobial therapy is not instituted, suppuration of inguinal lymph nodes may ensue, which can even progress to rupture and formation of non-healing inguinal ulcer.

Sources http://www.antimicrobe.org/new/b80.asp

http://www.iusti.org/regions/europe/pdf/2017/chancroid.pdf

http://www.diseaseamonth.com/article/S0011-5029(16)00091-2/fulltext

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1744597/pdf/v079p00068.pdf

www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/.../pdf

ecdc.europa.eu/.../...-Sexually-Transmitted-Infections-Europe-2010.pdf

Sakuma TH, DalAsta Coimbra D, Lupi O. Chancroid. In: Gross G, Tyring SK. Sexually Transmitted Infections and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Springer Science & Business Media, 2011; pp. 183-190.

Further Reading
Captain Marvel and the X-Men crossover for Revenge of the Brood and Lord of the Brood

Captain Marvel and the X-Men are about to embroiled in a two-part Brood-centric story
It all depends on where you live. For California, repeal wont make much difference. For West Virginia, it could matter a lot.

When the Obama administration unveiled the Clean Power Plan in 2015, each state was given individual goals to slash power sector emissions. The aim was to shift utilities away from coal in favor of cleaner sources like natural gas, wind, solar and nuclear to help address global warming.

Even though the rule has never taken effect  it was temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court in 2016 and is now slated for repeal by the White House  dozens of states were making that shift anyway, driven by economic considerations and local clean-energy policies.

But the Obama-era regulation would have pushed a smaller handful of other states, like North Dakota and Indiana, to cut emissions more deeply than market forces alone are doing. Without the Clean Power Plan, those states may not take more forceful action on climate change.

A new analysis from the research firm Rhodium Group breaks down which states appear to be still on track to meet their Clean Power Plan targets even after repeal and which are not. Nationwide, the group projected that emissions from electricity would fall 27 to 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 even without the plan  but could have declined even further if the rule had gone into effect.

25 states are likely to beat their targets.

Wash. Me. Mont. N.D. Vt. Minn. Ore. N.H. Mass. Idaho Wis. S.D. N.Y. Wyo. Mich. R.I. Conn. Pa. Iowa Neb. N.J. Nev. Ohio Md. Ind. Del. Ill. Utah W.Va. Colo. Kan. Calif. Va. Mo. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ariz. Okla. Ark. S.C. N.M. Ga. Ala. Miss. Texas La. Fla. Wash. Me. N.H. Mont. Minn. Ore. Mass. Idaho S.D. N.Y. Mich. R.I. Conn. Nev. Ill. De. Utah Colo. Calif. Va. Ariz. Okla. N.M. La. Fla. Wash. Mich. Me. Mont. Minn. Ore. N.H. Idaho S.D. N.Y. Mass. De. R.I. Nev. Conn. Ill. Utah Colo. Va. Calif. Okla. Ariz. N.M. La. Fla. Minn. Wash. Me. Mich. Mont. Ore. N.Y. Idaho S.D. De. Nev. Ill. Utah Colo. Va. Calif. Okla. Ariz. N.M. Conn. Mass. N.H. Fla. R.I. La. Note: Vermont, Hawaii, and Alaska were initially excluded from the Clean Power Plan.

The repeal isnt expected to change much in the short term for these 25 states.

Many Democratic-controlled states have pledged to implement the Paris climate agreement, even as President Trump vows to abandon it, and are drafting their own policies to curtail pollution from power plants. Oregon and New York plan to retire their last coal units by 2020. Californias legislature has authorized a sweeping climate program to decarbonize not just electricity, but transportation and buildings as well.

A number of Republican-controlled states that filed lawsuits to block the Clean Power Plan are also likely to meet their targets anyway. In Oklahoma, a glut of cheap natural gas from hydraulic fracturing has displaced coal power, and wind turbines now provide a quarter of the states electricity.

Brian Alford, a spokesman for OG&E, a utility in Oklahoma, suggested the trends show that the industry can achieve meaningful CO2 reductions without a complex federal rule. But some environmentalists argue that this just shows the original plan should have been even more ambitious.

10 states may be close to hitting their targets but could miss.

Wash. Me. Mont. N.D. Vt. Minn. Ore. N.H. Mass. Idaho Wis. S.D. N.Y. Wyo. Mich. R.I. Conn. Pa. Iowa Neb. N.J. Nev. Ohio Md. Ind. Del. Ill. Utah W.Va. Colo. Kan. Calif. Va. Mo. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ariz. Okla. Ark. S.C. N.M. Ga. Ala. Miss. Texas La. Fla. Wyo. Pa. Md. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ark. S.C. Ga. Miss. Wyo. Pa. Md. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ark. S.C. Ga. Miss. Wyo. Pa. Md. Ky. Tenn. N.C. Ark. S.C. Ga. Miss.

The Rhodium Group analysis identified another 10 states that are reducing emissions in their power sector but might fall short of the Clean Power Plans original goals, depending on how technology and market forces evolve.

If, for instance, natural gas prices rise sharply in the future, existing coal plants in some states could suddenly become more competitive and run more often. (A recent proposal by the Energy Department to subsidize existing coal plants could also make a difference here.) And if the current growth in renewable energy slows unexpectedly, states like North Carolina and Maryland could end up with emissions higher than the Clean Power Plan would have required.

But, conversely, if natural gas remains cheap and the cost of wind and solar continues to fall sharply, these 10 states should hit their targets.

Ted J. Thomas, the chairman of the Arkansas Public Service commission, said that he expected Arkansas to beat the Clean Power Plan goals years ahead of the original 2030 deadline. But, he added, if the plan had remained in place and natural gas prices had risen, the state might have had to consider more wrenching changes to its power sector.

12 states may miss their targets.

Wash. Me. Mont. N.D. Vt. Minn. Ore. N.H. Mass. Idaho Wis. S.D. N.Y. Wyo. Mich. R.I. Conn. Pa. Iowa Neb. N.J. Nev. Ohio Md. Ind. Del. Ill. Utah W.Va. Colo. Kan. Calif. Va. Mo. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ariz. Okla. Ark. S.C. N.M. Ga. Ala. Miss. Texas La. Fla. N.D. Wis. Iowa Neb. N.J. Ohio Ind. W.Va. Kan. Mo. Ala. Texas N.D. Wis. Iowa Neb. N.J. Ohio Ind. W.Va. Kan. Mo. Ala. Texas Ind. N.D. Ohio Wis. Iowa Neb. N.J. W.Va. Kan. Mo. Texas Ala.

With the Clean Power Plan repealed, 12 states may not meet the emissions goals laid out by the Obama administration. Some, like West Virginia, a coal-heavy state, would miss the targets by a large margin. Others, like Texas, are projected to just barely fall short. Those 12 states produced 40 percent of the countrys carbon emissions from power plants in 2014.

Analysts say that the Clean Power Plan would have had the biggest effect in these states, spurring utilities and state regulators to include climate policy in their decisions and potentially encouraging solar or wind to expand into regions where they are currently less prevalent.

The C.P.P. would have forced every state to develop a power sector greenhouse-gas reduction plan, which likely would have resulted in a bunch of states opening up markets to solar in new ways  faster fossil plant retirements, renewable standards, etc., said Shayle Kann, head of GTM Research.

Not everyone is convinced that all of these states will miss the emissions targets. Bruce Nilles, senior director of the Beyond Coal campaign at the Sierra Club, said that Texas was currently considering the closure of another large coal plant, with more retirements possibly on the way. His group is trying to persuade utilities in the state that future climate regulations are inevitable, so they should accelerate investments in cleaner energy as a hedge.
MCOCA and UAPA: How the application of both are important in terror cases

1996 Sonipat bomb blasts case: Life imprisonment for LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda

India

oi-Madhuri

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1996 Sonipat blast case convict Abdul Karim Tunda gets life term | Oneindia News

The Sonipat Court on Tuesday pronounced life sentence for 1996 Sonipat bomb blasts convict Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb maker Abdul Karim Tund. The Court also asked Tunda to pay Rs 50,000 each in u/s 307, 120 B & section 3 of Explosive Substances Act.

Tunda, is accused of masterminding 40 related terror cases. He was on Monday convicted of triggering two bomb blasts in Sonipat more than 20 years ago.

On December 28, 1996 the blasts had gone off - one in the market area not far from the Sonipat bus stand and another near a cinema in which 12 people were injured, seven of them seriously. However, all the victims had survived. This was followed by blasts in Rohtak and Panipat soon after.

Tunda, 75, was among the 20 terrorists that India had asked Pakistan to hand over post the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. He was arrested by Delhi police from India-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16, 2013.

Tunda is also suspected to be involved in raising funds for the terror group in the Middle East and is also said to have forged ties with Dawood Ibrahim's network. He was also allegedly responsible for a series of blasts in the country including the 1993 Mumbai train blasts and the blasts between 1996 and 1997.

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Chennai: 4 college students arrested for brandishing knives on train

India

oi-Madhuri

Four students of Presidency College were arrested after they were seen playing with sharp weapons on a local train. The video of the entire incident was uploaded by one of the student of Pachaiyappa's college on social media which went viral.

The video shows students brandishing knives and metal rods on the platform as the train comes to a halt at the Nemmilichery railway station which is 35 km away from Chennai central.

The police arrested the students outside the Nemilicherry railway station after videos showing boys believed to be college students. Search for other students is underway.

Students of Pachaiyappa's and Presidency College, prominent institutions in Chennai, have in the past been involved in various instances of violence and rivalry.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 15:38 [IST]
Congress identified as Sultanate of corruption says Smriti Irani

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The people of India have identified the Congress party as the Sultanate of corruption, Union Minister, Smriti Irani said.

The Congress' attempt to divert attention from their own scams and misdeeds will not work as the people of India have seen through them repeatedly and comprehensively rejected the Congress' 'Sultanate of corruption'," Irani said in a statement issued by the BJP.

She said Congress should first resolve its internal strife before taking up the challenge of governing a country.

"The Congress party is advised to manage its own house, which is falling like a pack of cards. In Bihar, they insulted a Dalit leader and the state unit indulged in petty fights. In Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and several other places key leaders are unhappy. A party that can't manage its own house can hardly be expected to run an entire nation," she further stated.

Instead of engaging in political activity, Rahul Gandhi should devote time to Amethi, his Lok Sabha seat which needs immediate attention and more development works. The people of Amethi are asking for 'Vikas' even as the local MP goes around the nation mocking 'Vikas' and insulting the poor of India," Irani said.

The Congress will suffer a "historic defeat" in the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat after Rahul "insulted" the people of the state. The manner in which Rahul Gandhi has made fun of the dreams and aspirations of the people of Gujarat will lead to a historic defeat for the Congress party in the state election," Irani also said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 6:50 [IST]
Cracker ban in Maharashtra? Shiv Sena minister pushes for cracker-free Diwali

India

oi-Anusha

Taking a cue from the Supreme Court order on banning crackers in Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra minister Ramdas Kadam has pushed for a similar move in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena leader on Tuesday said that a request will be made to ban firecrackers in the state.

While environmentalists have been hailing the Supreme Court's order banning firecrackers to stop air quality deterioration in Delhi, firecrackers continue to be available in the region through online portals. Despite criticisms from various quarters to the order, Maharashtra minister for Environment and Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam has pushed for 'clean Diwali'. "I will talk to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and request if we can also ban crackers in Maharashtra on the lines of Supreme Court's order for Delhi," the minister said.

Barely a month ago, the Maharashtra government had vehemently fought against the Bombay High Court's order banning loudspeakers during Ganpati festival. The 'Awaaz foundation' an NGO that fights against noise pollution- which was also a party in the noise pollution matter- conducted a firecracker test earlier this week along with Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). According to their tests, series crackers violated the prescribed noise-pollution limit of 105 dB(A).

The prescribed noise limit for series crackers is 105 dB(A) and Awaaz claimed that most crackers exceeded this limit. The Awaaz foundation's tests also indicated that the noise, as well as smoke levels, are expected to read higher than last year setting the stage for a polluted Diwali.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 12:15 [IST]
Govt offices, schools and colleges in Bhubaneswar to remain shut after 1pm tomorrow for Prez visit

Depression in Bay of Bengal, more rains to drench Odisha

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Heavy to very heavy downpour is likely to occur at several places in Odisha in the next two days under the influence of a deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bay of Bengal, according to a bulletin issued by India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday.

Many parts of Odisha have been lashed by downpour for the last couple of days because of a cyclonic circulation and low pressure.

The depression system, which lay centred east-northeast of Balasore and northeast of Paradip, is likely to move west-northwestwards initially and then intensify into a deep depression during the next 24 hours, the meteorological centre here said.

Under the influence of depression, rainfall will occur in one or two places in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Sundergarh, Angul, Dhenkanal and Maurbhanj districts and heavy rainfall at one or two areas in Sonepur, Deogarh, Boudh, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts during the next 24 hours,

Strong gusty surface winds from the northeasterly direction in north coastal Odisha and wind from the westerly direction in south coastal Odisha with a speed of 45-55 kmph and even up to 65 kmph are likely to prevail along the Odisha coast.

A separate alert has also been issued for north-eastern states, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathawada, Konkan & Goa, Telangana, Rayalaseema, North interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for the next four days (till October 13) due to different weather phenomena.

Issuing heavy rainfall and high wind speed warning on Monday afternoon, the IMD advised fishermen along and off north Odisha and West Bengal coasts not to venture into sea during the next 24 hours.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 9:11 [IST]
Diwali 2017: Bombay HC says 'No' to firecracker sale in residential areas

India

oi-Anusha

No sales of firecrackers will be allowed in residential areas of Mumbai this Diwali. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that cracker shops will not be allowed in residential localities in Mumbai. The ban does not stop bursting of crackers in the city but only the sale of crackers in residential localities.

A day after the Supreme Court banned cracker sales in Delhi-NCR, the Bombay High Court followed suit but the ban will only apply to residential localities. On Monday, the court had refused to give temporary licenses to shops to sell fire crackers. The order of the Apex court on firecrackers has already started a debate across the country and the Bombay High Court's order is only adding to it.

A group of shopkeepers had approached the Bombay High Court seeking temporary license to sell firecrackers in the run-up and during Diwali 2017. The court, however, rejected the plea banning the sale of crackers in makeshift or temporary shops in residential localities.

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the party was against the cracker ban. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told the media that the industry had employed hundreds.

"The party is against cracker ban. It is a huge industry that had offered employment to many. We have to spare a thought for the families of those dependent on the industry. Our party opposes the ban," Sanjay Raut said.

The statement came hours after Maharashtra Environment minister and Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam told the media that he was in support of cracker ban. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's chief Raj Thackeray mocked the ban.

"Why are there restrictions only on Hindu festivals? Should we burn crackers on WhatsApp?" asked Raj Thackeray.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 18:21 [IST]
Firecracker ban: Delhiites can come to MP to celebrate Diwali, says minister

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

With the Supreme Court banning the sale of firecrackers during Diwali this year in the National Capital Region, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Tuesday invited residents of Delhi to come to MP to celebrate Diwali.

He said Delhiites can come to Madhya Pradesh as the pollution levels are much lower there.

Agar Delhi mein koi kathinai hai to Madhya Pradesh mein aa jayein Diwali manayein.MP mein pollution level Delhi se kamm hai-MP Home Minister pic.twitter.com/cmAWyfTrNz  ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2017

The Supreme Court on Monday banned the sale of firecrackers till November 1 in the National Capital Region. On Friday the Supreme Court had reserved its order on a plea for re-imposing a ban on selling firecrackers in the NCR.

In its order, the SC said that there will be no sale of firecrackers this year. It went on to bring back its order of November 2016 when it had banned the sale of firecrackers.

While passing the order, the SC said that let us try out at least one Diwali without firecrackers. The court also went on to say that firecrackers will be available in the NCR from November 1 onwards. The graded reduction in the sale of crackers will start from November 1 onwards, the SC also said.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that cracker shops will not be allowed in residential localities in Mumbai. The ban does not stop bursting of crackers in the city but only the sale of crackers in residential localities.

OneIndia News
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Five arrested in connection with Nigerian man's thrashing

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested five persons in connection with the thrashing of a Nigerian man on September 24.

In a video that surfaced on Monday, a person of Nigerian nationality could be seen tied to a street light post and thrashed with sticks and iron rods by a mob.

The Delhi Police on Monday said that thrashing of a Nigerian man in Delhi's Malviya Nagar area was not a 'racial' attack.

[Delhi Police rules out racial angle in Nigerian man's thrashing]

Delhi's DCP (South) yesterday said that the foreign national was assaulted on suspicion of a theft, adding that a person has been arrested in connection with the incident so far.

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Story first published: Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 0:09 [IST]
Green strictures for Chhat puja on the banks of River Mahananda in North Bengal

India

oi-Amitava

By Amitava

Darjeeling, October 10, 2017: Based on the directives of the National Green Tribunal, the district administration, Darjeeling has issued strictures that worshipers have to strictly follow during the forthcoming Chhat puja in areas through which the River Mahananda runs . Violation will invite stringent action the administration has warned.

Chhat puja is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival historically native to Bihar-Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh of India and the Madhesh region of Nepal. The devotees usually make offerings to the Sun God.

Water bodies namely ponds and rivers have an important role in the Chhat puja with bathing followed by offerings an integral part of the festival. Having a large Bihari population, Chhat puja is also commemorated on the banks of River Mahananda in Siliguri in North Bengal. The puja falls on October 26 this year.

Hearing a PIL filed by Kolkata based environmentalist Subhas Dutta, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took cognizance of the reckless dumping of waste in Mahananda river and issued notices to the West Bengal government, state pollution control board, Siliguri Municipal Corporation and its Deputy Commissioner in March this year.

The order issued by the District Magistrate, Darjeeling (order number 9/c dated October 9, 2017) states that the NGT, Eastern Bench, has passed orders to protect the River Mahananda from pollution and forbidden construction of temporary bridges on the occasion of Chhat puja.

The order for Siliguri and Kurseong subdivisions (through which the Mahananda flows) of the Darjeeling district include no construction of temporary bridges across part or whole of the river will be allowed at any place. No excavation of the river bed, dumping of sand bags inside the river or other changes affecting the course of the river will be allowed.

Devotees will have to ensure that no puja material and waste is dumped in the river. To avoid stampedes devotees should be spread across the banks and not crowd in pockets. Split bamboo or net barricades, if necessary may be built upto 3 feet from the river banks to allow access into the water.

A joint survey by the irrigation department; PWD; North Bengal Construction Division; representatives of the district administration, Siliguri Municipal Corporation and Pollution Control Board will take place before October 15 to identify the stretches on both sides of the river where devotees can congregate for the ritual.

"Any person who violates this order may be liable for imprisonment and fine of Rs 10 Crore and rigorous imprisonment of 3 years by a competent court (for violating the orders of the NGT.) Any excavators or other instruments being used to excavate or alter the river bed without prior permission will be seized" warned Joyoshi Das Gupta, District Magistrate, Darjeeling.

Vigilance teams comprising of officials of Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Irrigation Department, PWD, Pollution Control Board and the District Administration will be present to ensure compliance of the order of the NBT. Police will also lend a hand to ensure law and order and public safety.

A meeting was held between the stakeholders including representatives of Chhat puja celebration committees in Siliugri on October 6 and the strictures were communicate to them. "They have also been given copies of the order of the NGT" added the DM.

Following the October 6 meeting there was a hush hush campaign launched in Siliguri alleging that the district administration will not be allowing Chhat puja this year. This had caused great resentment amongst a section.

However sources claim that the rumor campaign was being done by the River mafia who have been indulging in unchecked quarrying and other illegal activities. "The order will be affecting the River Mafia also and so they are trying to create unrest" stated a commentator.

When questioned on this Dasgupta stated "Why won't Pujas be allowed? We will only ensure that it is a pollution free festival."

The Mahananda river originates in the Himalayas at an elevation of 2100m in Kurseong in the Darjeeling district. It flows through the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and descends to the plains of Siliguri. It then touches the Jalpaiguri district to enter Bangladesh and after flowing for 3km returns to India.

After flowing through the Uttar Dinajpur District it enters the State of Bihar and flows through Kishangunj and Kathihar in Bihar to enter West Bengal again in the Malda district. It joins the Ganges at Godagiri in the Nawabgunj district of Bangladesh.

A recent study on the quality of water has labeled Mahananda as the most polluted river in North Bengal.

The green groups have welcomed the move by NGT and the district administration but want it to be a year round affair to ensure a pollution free river.

"Encroachment on the banks of the river is the biggest problem. The encroachment has reached till mid river. From the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary to Phoolbari in the Jalpaiguri district there are around a lakh people who reside in encroachments on the banks. Along with this open defecation, cattle sheds, piggeries, illegal quarries, car washes make it the most polluted river in North Bengal.

Indiscriminate dumping of Municipal waste of Siliguri town into the Mahananda is a major cause of concern. Dirty linen of most of the hospitals and nursing homes are washed in this river. Most of the flora and fauna including fishes have already become extinct. We want the district administration and the Government to adopt year long measures to ensure a pollution free river" stated Animesh Bose of Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation (HNAF.) The Foundation has been spreading awareness to make river pollution free.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 17:13 [IST]
Gujarat political parties welcome use of VVPATs in assembly polls

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

All political parties have welcomed the introduction of VVPATs (Voter-verified paper audit trail) and they also emphasized the need to publicize its functioning ahead of assembly elections in the state, said the Election Commission (EC).

Achal Kumar Jyoti, Chief Election Commissioner, said the Commission has asked the State authorities to provide cashless facilities to all polling staff.

"License holders will have to deposit their licensed weapons with concerned SHO or police station and after the polling is overall licensed weapons shall be returned to the owners, said CEC.

The EC is on a visit to the state to review the preparedness ahead of the Gujarat assembly election due later this year.

The BJP demanded that the polls be held on after December, as the period between 5 and 14 December is considered auspicious for marriages.

The ruling party also sought a relaxation in the rules pertaining to polling agents and said the EC should provide a single-window system to the candidates so that they did not have to approach multiple officials.

It also said that arrangements should be made so that the items seized by the EC before the polls were returned on time.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) voiced a demand for a random count of the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips and that it be digitally established that the VVPAT machines were working properly.

(With agency inputs)

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 17:58 [IST]
Have renounced the world, have no money says Ram Rahim

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

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Ram Rahim cannot pay fine to court as he has renounced the world | Oneindia news

Gurmeet Ram Rahim told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he has renounced the world and has no money to pay the fine slapped on him by the special CBI court.

Ram Rahim had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against his conviction and sentence of 20 years imposed by the special CBI court in connection with rape cases.

He said that he has renounced the world and did not have Rs 30 lakh to pay as the fine amount. The HC while admitting his plea issued notice to the CBI. The court also admitted two appeals filed by the victims who have sought a life sentence for Ram Rahim.

The court, however, directed Ram Rahim to deposit the compensation amount within two months in a bank. It would be kept there and paid only after the court's direction. "Our appeal challenging the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been admitted.

The court has asked us to deposit the fine with a bank within two months. Also we will get the money back with interest if the decision after appeal favours us," his lawyer added.

We pleaded with the court to take a lenient view in awarding the sentence as the rape cases were old adding that the Dera chief has also worked for the women's cause, the Dera chief's lawyer SK Garg said. "We urged the court that a lenient view should be taken as the case was 18 years old and there was no other case during the period and appealed to award minimum sentence considering his works towards society" Garg said.

The counsel while seeking maximum punishment said 45 other victims are there who have not been able to come forward. They were raped for three years CBI special court judgement sentencing him to 20 years rigorous imprisonment and Rs 30 lakh fine in two rape cases, his lawyer said on Monday.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 6:36 [IST]
Honeypreet sent to three-day police custody

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Honeypreet Insan and her accomplice Sukhdeep Kaur were sent to a three-day police remand by a Panchkula court on Tuesday.

Honeypreet is accused of inciting violence after Ram Rahim was convicted on two counts of rape on August 25. She was arrested on October 3 on the Zirakpur-Patiala road in Punjab by the Haryana police.

The Panchkula police produced Honeypreet in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rohit Vats on Wednesday under tight security.

Honeypreet tops a list of 43 people "wanted" by the state police in connection with the violence following Ram Rahim's conviction in a rape case.

At least 41 people died and several were injured in the violence. Honeypreet, who calls herself "Papa's angel", had accompanied Ram Rahim from the sect headquarters at Sirsa to special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25.

After Dera chief's conviction that day, she also accompanied him in a chopper when he was flown to Rohtak jail. There had been no trace of Honeypreet after August 25.

On September 26, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Honeypreet's transit anticipatory bail plea. The court's order was based on the ground that she had been evading arrest and hence, was not entitled to any discretionary relief.

OneIndia News
Only those from political families can eye a CMs post in Congress: Amit Shah

Uniform Civil Code in Himachal if BJP comes to power: Amit Shah

Jay Amit Shah files defamation case against news website

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Jay Amit Shah, the son of BJP chief Amit Shah has filed a criminal defamation case in a metropolitan court here against a news portal over a report claiming his firm's turnover grew exponentially after the party came to power in 2014.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S K Gadhvi ordered a court inquiry into the matter under CrPC section 302.

In his application, Shah prayed for, "criminal action against the respondents for defaming and tarnishing the reputation of the complainant through an article, which is scandalous, frivolous, misleading, derogatory, libelous and consisting of several defamatory statements."

The seven respondents in the case are the author of the article Rohini Singh, founding editors of the news portal Siddarth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M K Venu, managing editor Monobina Gupta, public editor Pamela Philipose and the Foundation for Independent Journalism, the non-profit company that publishes the website.

The case has been filed under IPC sections 500 (defamation), 109 (abetment), 39 (voluntarily cause grievous hurt) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).

The news portal, in its report said that a company owned by Jay Shah saw a huge rise in its turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014. However, Jay Shah had rejected the charge, insisting the story was "false, derogatory and defamatory".

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 6:46 [IST]
Kerala Love Jihad: High voltage drama in Supreme Court

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Supreme Court witnessed heated arguments during the Love Jihad case. The Supreme Court objected to senior advocate Dushyant Dave's loud arguments.

The court also took objection to his accusation against the BJP members that they were trying to disturb communal harmony in Kerala by terming his client Shafin Jahan's marriage to Akhila alias Hadiya as Love Jihad.

Dave started off by slamming the Kerala High Court for annulling the marriage and handing over custody of the lady to the parents. He further criticised the decision to hand over the probe to the National Investigation Agency.

The Bench pointed out that it was looking for a logical and legal answer to the primary question and that was whether the HC could have annulled the marriage. The court told Dave that instead of answering the basic question you are running here and there and hurling all sort of accusations. This is not what we expect from you, the court also said.

Keep political personalities out of arguments unless you have proof that they are directly involved in this case," the bench said. The Additional Solicitor General pointed out that it had become a habit with Dave to browbeat others and prevent them from making submissions. To this Dave replied, " They browbeat us outside, so what is wrong if we do it inside the court room. Hearing on the matter has been adjourned to October 30.

OneIndia News
Navy sacks sailor for undergoing sex change

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

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Indian Navy sacked a sailor who underwent a sex change | Oneindia News

The Navy has sacked a sailor who underwent a sex change surgery last year. The Navy issued the order on the ground that Manish Giri, the sailor had violated rules and regulations under which he was recruited.

The Navy, which served the discharge letter on Giri on Friday, said "he was administratively discharged from service by invoking the clause of 'Service No Longer Required' under the Navy Regulations" after the defence ministry's approval.

Giri, who has grown her hair, taken to wearing saris and goes by the name "Sabi" now, however, says "she will definitely fight for justice" by approaching the courts. "I served the country for seven years. I did my job. Why should I be dismissed from service just because I changed my gender? I am not a thief or a terrorist," said Sabi, talking to TOI on Monday evening.

Claiming that the Navy had kept her in a psychiatric ward for six months, Sabi said, "My altered gender status is who I am, a transgender woman. It is sheer torture and horrible violation of my rights to expect me to remain in my male gender assigned at birth, and not to express my gender identity of woman."

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 8:59 [IST]
You don't talk to me: Sonia Gandhi told Smriti Irani in Parliament over 'rashtrapatni' row

Nehru-Gandhi family never intended to develop Amethi: Smriti Irani

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Highlighting the problems faced by the people in Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress. She said that Amethi has been a bastion of Nehru-Gandhi family, but still it continues to remain backward.

"The place which has been the constituency of three PMs is so backward...It has been a bastion of Nehru-Gandhi. People there are struggling even to get fertilizers," she told in an interview to DD News.

"There was no intention for development," she added.

In a veiled attack on Rahul Gandhi, Irani said, "You go around the world talking about development, look at your own constituency."

The Textile Minister said she met people of Amethi and they are very disappointed. Irani said she has assured them of help under BJP rule at the Centre and state.

"I am not working for votes," she added.

The minister also said that she got just 18 days to prepare for 2014 polls in which she contested against Rahul Gandhi.

"In those 18 days, I did remarkably well. Rahul Gandhi used to win by a margin of around 3 lakh votes, but that margin shrunk significantly. People in Amethi are looking for an alternative," she said.

She said people in Amethi have more expectations from her than from their elected representative Rahul Gandhi.

Irani, who is on a two-day tour in Amethi, said that due to its 'VVIP constituency' status everyone thinks that the area would have seen a huge surge in development over the decades, which was not the case.

The Textile minister along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP president Amit Shah launched various developmental programmes for the region. The minister said that the area lacked basic amenities and struggled to meet pace with India in terms of basic needs.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 20:07 [IST]
No action against TTV Dinakaran in sedition case, for now, says Madras High Court

India

oi-Anusha

The Madras High Court on Tuesday told the Tamil Nadu police that no action should be taken against TTV Dinakaran in a sedition case filed against him. The order comes as a relief to Dinakaran who faced arrest in the case.

17 people including TTV Dinakaran will not face any action of the charges against them till October 24 when the court will resume hearing in the matter. The Salem police had registered FIRs against Dinakaran and his supporters for distributing pamphlets allegedly bearing anti-government statements.

Sedition charges against TTV Dinakaran over pamphlets against state government

Despite the Supreme Court observation that criticism of the government does not constitute sedition, the Salem police had, last week, filed cases under multiple charges including 124 A for sedition, 153 promoting enmity, 500 for defamation, 504 intentional insults and 506 (2) for criminal intimidation against Dinakaran supporters.

Dinakaran was booked despite not being physically present at the venue of where pamphlets were being distributed. In his complaint, AIADMK leader Saravanan has alleged that September 29, a group of Dinakaran supporters distributed pamphlets to the public outside a venue where Palanisamy was present for an event. The pamphlet is said to have contained misleading information about National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The complainant has alleged that the pamphlet was instigating in nature and urged people to protest against the government.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 13:17 [IST]
Police initiate case against Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee

India

oi-Amitava

By Amitava

Darjeeling, October 10: Police have initiated a case against MP Ritabrata Banerjee based on a complaint against him at the Balurghat Police Station in South Dinajpur district of West Bengal by a woman pressing charges of sexual exploitation.

Ritabrata Banerjee, the Member of Parliament (MP) who on September 17 was expelled from the primary membership of the CPIM party for grave anti-party activities, including "moral degeneration in relation to woman" is knee deep in controversy with the woman alleging that the MP had sexually exploited her.

Accompanied by her mother, Namrata Datta, the software engineer from Balurghat, South Dinajpur, lodged a complaint at the Balurghat police station on Tuesday.

The complaint states that she has met the MP on a social network site in May 2016. A relationship developed and Ritabrata Banerjee said that he wanted to marry Dutta. He even came to Balurghat and met Dutta's mother.

Alleging physical relations, the complaint stated, "He lured me to his 104, South Avenue Apartment" where he allegedly physically exploited her.

They allegedly met a number of times. Dutta was studying in Netherlands since October 2016 and Banerjee paid her a visit in Netherlands in December 2016 claimed the complaint.

"During that time we had problems and I wanted to end the relationship. He threatened to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills. Thus I was forced to stay in the relationship" stated the complaint.

The complaint stated that now the MP is denying to marry Datta and was avoiding her calls. She also alleged that he was in a fresh relationship and has been threatening her with dire consequences.

"He also wanted to to bribe me by promising to give me Rs. 50 lakhs so that I do not talk to the media and keep our relationship a secret" stated the complaint.

"He used me, outraging my modesty and also transferred Rs. 2.5 lakhs to my bank account as compensation for having a physical relationship with me" alleged Datta in the complaint.

Later talking to media persons, Datta stated, "I want justice otherwise I will be compelled to commit suicide."

Sources at the Balurghat Police station stated that an FIR had been drawn up and a case has been initiated.

Incidentally the complaint comes on the heels of Datta tweeting on October 5 to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Salim alleging that the MP had sexually exploited her.

She had even tweeted her photograph with the MP in intimate positions.

Reacting to this Ritabrata Banerjee had tweeted "Hard Facts. Manufacture Lies. Will be combated. Will not succumb to politically aided threats."

The MP had lodged a complaint against Dutta at the Garfa Police Station in Kolkata.

He also lodged an official complaint at Garfa Police Station on October 6 in Kolkata and demanded stern action against the woman.

In his complaint Banerjee stated that Datta had projected herself as a hapless lady in urgent need for a loan from SBI.

"Thereafter, she continued to make repeated material demands. I was induced and allured to meet her material demands till I realized that her demands are boundless," alleged the MP in the complaint.

In his complaint the MP further alleged that she started exerting constant pressure when her material demands were not met.

In February-March, 2017, she informed the MP that she was suffering from Lymphoma and again demanded money for her treatment. Due to her threat, the MP was compelled to make a payment of Rs 2.25 lakhs on July 20, 2017 stated the complaint.

"I was left with no other choice but to distance myself from her, as a result of which she got more furious and vindictive and went to the extent of giving me threat calls. She also demanded Rs 50 Lakhs by October 15, 2017. She also threatened to lodge a false complaint against me if I fail to deliver the amount or if I marry anyone else other than her. Out of fear, I transferred another sum of Rs 2.5 Lakhs on October 4, 2017. I strongly apprehend that such malicious acts of hers are politically motivated and backed by influential political persons in order to cause harm to my life, property, career and reputation. Please take necessary action and rescue me from her evil clutches" stated the complaint.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 20:58 [IST]
CBI Recruitment 2022 Out: Check salary, eligibility, and how to apply

Great tolerance, the CBI is sitting idle in Goa says its SP

SC expresses displeasure over delay in coal allocation scam cases

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, October 10: Expressing displeasure over the delay, the Supreme Court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to expedite probe in the coal allocation scam cases, saying they should devise some method to deal with them.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur expressed displeasure over the delay by the agencies in not completing investigations in the coal block allocation scam cases in a time-bound manner.

"You need to expedite the investigation in these cases.

Some method has to be devised. You need to apply some out-of- the-box thinking. We understand that some delay is inevitable.

But the probe cannot go on for so many years," the bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, said.

The apex court fixed the matter for further consideration in the first week of December.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause, had earlier told the court that CBI has not expedited investigation in several coal cases despite direction from the apex court.

The apex court had on January 23 constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of "abuse of authority" prima facie committed by former CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to scuttle investigation and enquiries in coal block allocation cases.

It had observed that a prima facie case has "definitely" been made out for probe into the abuse of authority by Sinha.

It had later directed that no CBI officer, who is probing coal scam cases or officials from SIT probing allegations of "abuse of authority" against the former CBI director, would be transferred without its prior permission.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 9:04 [IST]
Sunanda Pushkar's Death: Experts to examine documents, Arguments on charges on Aug 20 and 22

Sunanda Pushkar's death: Cops say she was in mental agony because of Tharoor-Mehr affair

Delhi police gets time to go through Sunanda Pushkars tweets

Sunanda Pushkar death case: Delhi Police ordered to handover Hotel Leela suite's possession

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Patiala House Court on Tuesday issued a new directive to Delhi Police to handover the possession of the room, where the body of Sunanda Pushkar was found, back to Hotel Leela by October 16.

Last month, the House Court had directed the Delhi Police to de-seal the Hotel Leela's suite no. 345 where Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead, back in 2014. The court had ordered the concerned authorities to de-seal the room within four weeks.

Also, the police were denied an extension on the grounds that the suite has been sealed for three and a half years and that the applicant is facing huge financial losses.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead on the night of January 17, 2014.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 15:47 [IST]
Supreme Court bans fire crackers in Delhi NCR, shopkeepers unhappy

India

oi-Shreya

By Shreya

In a massive move to control pollution, the Supreme Court on October 9, banned the sale of fire crackers in Delhi and NCR until November 1. However, the ban is only on the sale, and those who have already purchased fire crackers can still burst them.

The latest SC order said that the temporary licences for the sale of fire cracker released by the police, pursuant to the SC judgment on September 12, have been 'forthwith' suspended.

The Apex Court in its judgment observed, "We are of the view that the order suspending the licences should be given one chance to test itself in order to find out as to whether there would be positive effect of this suspension, particularly during Diwali period. Insofar as adverse effects of burning of crackers during Diwali are concerned, those have been witnessed year after year. The air quality deteriorates abysmally and alarmingly and the city chokes thereby. It leads to closing the schools and the authorities are compelled to take various measures on emergent basis, when faced with "health emergency" situation. This very situation had occurred on the very next morning after Diwali in the year 2016. It resulted in passing the order dated November 11, 2016. This order prevailed during the year but the impact and effect of this order remains to be tested on Diwali days.

Going by these considerations, we are of the opinion that the judgment dated September 12, 2017 passed by this Court should be made effective only from November 01, 2017. To put it clearly, though we are not tweaking with the various directions contained in the Orders dated September 12, 2017, the effect of that Order would not be given during this Diwali and, therefore, we are making it effective only from November 01, 2017. We are conscious of the fact that after the said order was passed, the police may have issued temporary licences. Accordingly, those are suspended forthwith so that there is no 20 further sale of the crackers in Delhi and NCR. Further orders in this behalf can be passed on assessing the situation that would emerge after this Diwali season. "

The court also pointed out the the adverse air pollution levels after Diwali last year that caused inconvenience to the citizens and and led to a shutting down of schools and colleges.

According to sources, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a traders' body is going to submit a review petition in the Supreme Court post the ban on sale.

According to a report in The Indian Express, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said, "The Supreme Court has imposed ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR but there is no ban on bursting of crackers. Possibility of people buying crackers from other states and bursting them in Delhi-NCR cannot be ruled out. The distinction between Delhi traders and traders from the rest of India seems to be unjustified,"

While many welcome the SC's move and believe that this is a significant step towards curbing the deterioration of air quality in the capital, shopkeepers are not happy, as they said this Diwali - due to the ban, they are going to incur huge loses.

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 13:27 [IST]
Tejashwi Yadav appears before ED in connection with Railway hotel tender case

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 10: Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case, officials said.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister arrived at the central probe agency's office here where it is expected that the investigating officer of the case will record his statement, they said. It had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sometime back.

The ED had earlier questioned few people in this case including the wife of former UPA Minister P C Gupta. Tejashwi's mother and former state chief minister Rabri Devi has been summoned to appear before the ED tomorrow. The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint. In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others.

The ED will investigate the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said. Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR. The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government.

Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel. The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a benami company owned by Sarla Gupta.

The FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as quid pro quo. The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.

PTI
As 'RRR' performs well at Japan box office, SS Rajamouli confirms sequel to NTR-Charan-starrer

'Yashoda' 1st weekend box office collection: Here's how much it collected in 3 days

Photo of Hyderabad police with smiling baby who was rescued is winning the internet

India

oi-Madhuri

The picture of the Hyderabad inspector posing with the 5-month-old baby he rescued from kidnappers is going viral on the internet for all the right reasons. The infant was rescued 15 hours after he was kidnapped on Wednesday night.

According to media reports, Faizan was abducted by two men who were planning to sell him. The abductors were identified as Mohammed Mustaq (42) and Mohammed Yousuf (25) who were also arrested on Thursday.

In the picture, Inspector R Sanjay Kumar of Nampally Police Station is seen holding four-year-old Faizan Khan, and both are exchanging soul-stirring smiles.

The heart melting photo was first tweeted by Hyderabad IPS officer Swati Lakra on October 07 - It has been 'liked' over 22,000 times on Twitter and retweeted over 5,000 times since then.

Inspector Sanjay Kumar @shonampally rescued this child who was kidnapped. The smile of the child says it all. Love this pic! @hydcitypolice pic.twitter.com/zA1jZ2QGMx  Swati Lakra, IPS (@AddlCPCrimesHyd) October 7, 2017

With some calling it 'picture of the year', here is how Twitterati reacted to the photograph:

The smile on the kid after it was rescued from the kidnappers by the cops of Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/L2aPFpTFND  Vasu (@vasudevan_k) October 7, 2017

What a telling photo this? Nampally (in Hyd) Police Inspector Sanjay Kumar gets a smiley gift from a rescued infant, after being kidnapped. pic.twitter.com/eDBLGGzZh0  Anantha Krishnan M (@writetake) October 8, 2017

The Inspector holding the Baby in the pic is R Sanjay Kumar @shonampally .. whoever shot this photo, its an incredible picture.. would say photo of the year... pic.twitter.com/l8CFTvskVe  Rudy (@carnaticdude) October 8, 2017

This #photo in @TelanganaToday of a baby smiling at cops who rescued him from his kidnappers in #Hyderabad is so cute! #WorldSmileDay pic.twitter.com/szHHyPz2qh  Dennis Marcus Mathew (@dennismarcus) October 6, 2017

SHO Nampally also tweeted pictures of the baby after he was found. Their tweet read, "Nampally police arrested 2 child kidnappers MD Mustaq & MD Yousuf n Traced 4 months baby boy within 15 hours and handed over to parents."

Nampally police arrested 2 child kidnappers MD Mustaq & MD Yousuf n Traced 4 months baby boy with in 15 hours and handed over to parents pic.twitter.com/tmKegzBOkG  SHO NAMPALLY (@shonampally) October 5, 2017

OneIndia News
UP ATS picks up two more accused in Al-Qaeda radicalisation case

Madrasa survey in UP complete, next up is meeting with government: Minister

UP: 300 kids of Shamli School fall sick due to chemical leak

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Recommended Video

Uttar Pradesh: Over 300 students admitted in hospital after major gas leak in Shamli | Oneindia News

Over 300 students of Saraswati Shishu Mandir were hospitalised on Tuesday due to chemical leakage at a sugar mill near the school in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh.

The students were rushed to nearby hospitals as they complained complained of vomiting and burning eyes after chemical leakage in a sugar mill on Tuesday.

According to sources, more than 150 students have been referred to hospitals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut. Fumes emanating from a chemical container is said to have caused the irritation.

"Between 30 and 35 children are in a serious condition, 15 have been referred to Meerut," said Surjeet Singh, a senior district official.

Doctors say none of the other children are seriously affected. But at the hospital, there was panic among parents and teachers.

The Sugar mill, where use of chemical led to illness of 300 students at a school nearby, has been sealed by authorities.

In the meantime, parents of the students protested against carelessness of the sugar mill in disposing of its wastage and demanded action against the sugar mill administrators.

The Chief Medical Officer has ordered a probe in the issue. Police officials have reached on the spot and are probing the matter.

OneIndia News
WBTET 2017: Know eligibility criteria, relaxation details, marks here

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The WBTET 2017 is scheduled to be held soon, A five per cent relaxation on the Higher Secondary examination marks - qualification criteria - will be given to the reserved category candidates.

The West Bengal Teacher Eligibility Test (WBTET) notification was expected to be released for filling up around 30,000 vacancies in primary schools across West Bengal state. The West Bengal Primary Education Board will allow candidates who have completed two year teachers' training programme and secured at least 50 per cent marks in Higher Secondary examination for WB TET in state-aided primary schools in West Bengal.

According to Press Trust of India, the Primary Education Board today announced a five per cent relaxation on the Higher Secondary examination cut-off marks for reserved category candidates of West Bengal Teacher Eligibility Test (WB TET).

WBTET 2017: Know Eligibility Criteria, Marks Relaxation Details:

To apply for the WBTET 2017 examination, general category candidates would have to score at least 50 per cent and the reserved category aspirants - SC, ST and OBC- 45 per cent in the Higher Secondary examination to be eligible to appear in the WB-TET, Primary Education Board president Anik Bhattacharya told reporters at Kolkata today.

The WB TET 2017 is mandatory for getting teaching jobs in West Bengal state-aided primary schools.

Apart from the reserved category candidates, this relaxation of 5 per cent marks will also be applicable for family members of a state government employee, who died in harness, board president said.

According to Mr. Bhattacharya, there will not be any relaxation regarding the completion of a two-year teachers' training programme.

The WBTET 2017 candidates may logon to the official website of the exam to know more details about the exam and other details.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 7:38 [IST]
Govt convinced public to allow FDI in defence manufacturing: Jaitley

International

pti-PTI

Washington, Oct 10: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is in the US, has said the government has been able to change the public opinion in favour of FDI in sensitive areas like defence manufacturing which were earlier considered sacrosanct.

Jaitley is in the US to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. His remarks came during an investors roundtable New York jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the US-India Business Council.

"We have been able to invest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in almost every sector of the economy," Jaitley said as he highlighted investment opportunities in India.

"Areas that were earlier considered sacrosanct, like defence manufacturing, we have been able to convince public opinion that it is better to invite foreign expertise to set up manufacturing in India," he said.

Jaitley, who was the defence minister till recently, said suddenly a lot of joint ventures are coming up for investment in the defence sector. He also said that the body which Foreign Investment Promotion Board which sanctioned FDI proposals had outlived its purpose because of liberalisation in FDI rules.

"Ninety-five percent of FDI anyway comes in through the automatic route...I had spoken about doing away with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board," he said.

PTI
Thief calls cops for help after being caught by mob

Rohingya boat capsize in Naf river, death toll rises to 23

International

oi-PTI

Cox's Bazar, October 10: The death toll of Rohingya in boat capsize rose to 23 another nine refugees have washed up in Bangladesh after the vessel capsized in Naf river, which separates Bangladesh from Myanmar on Monday.

Eight bodies were found on the banks of the Naf river, which separates Bangladesh from Myanmar, and another was found miles away on the island of St Martin.

More than half of the victims in the latest disaster were children, said Mian Uddin, police chief for the border town of Teknaf.

He could not say how many people were missing, but survivors and officials have said the boat was carrying between 60 and 100 people. So far 15 have been rescued by Bangladesh coast guards and border guards, though authorities say some may have swum to Myanmar.

More than half a million refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25, fleeing a military crackdown that followed attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts.

The exodus had slowed, but in recent days government officials say there have been thousands of fresh arrivals, most coming from parts of Myanmar's Rakhine state that are far from the border with Bangladesh.

Many cross the Naf river at its narrowest point, but others are attempting to make the journey by sea, boarding often rickety fishing trawlers that are wholly inadequate for the rough waters in the Bay of Bengal. Nearly 160 have drowned.

Among the latest influx were two young boys aged two and three, who died due to hunger and exhaustion as they entered Bangladesh.

"Their parents told us that they died due to starvation.

Sultan Ahmed, a local councillor at Anjumanpara border village, told AFP, "They walked seven days and did not have anything to eat."

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 12:16 [IST]
4 killed after man goes on shooting spree across Memphis, gunman in custody

Thailand shooting: 34 killed in a shooting and knife attack at child care center, officials say

Police officer shot dead at Texas Tech campus: Killer apprehended

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

A Texas Tech student brought to the university's police station for a welfare check shot and killed an officer on Monday night.

Following the shooting he fled from the police station prompting officials to lock down the campus and urge students and staff to take shelter. He was however apprehended later and the lockdown lifted.

Police had found "evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia" in the student's room, the university told the student newspaper the Daily Toreador. After officers brought the student to the police station, that student pulled out a gun and shot one officer in the head, officials said.

The suspect was described as 6 feet tall and 140 pounds with blue eyes and red hair, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt.

OneIndia News
Franklin Lamb, Oxford

By ending a decade-old schism of strained relations with Fatah and finally reconciling also with Iran, Hamas would have an historic opportunity to achieve elementary civil rights for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Toward reconciling with Fatah, Hamas has disbanded its own administrative committee in charge of the Gaza Strip in favor of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) based in Ramallah and is ceding to the PNA the Gaza border crossings Israel and Egypt. While some Hamas leaders have maintained that the movement's military force is not up for negotiation, some in Fatah insist on an end to all military manifestations outside the control of the PNA.

Hamas' willingness to relinquish its authority in Gaza, shown by its agreement to disband its Administrative Committee there, increases the chances of a successful reconciliation. Hamas' governance of Gaza has become costly, as the siege has been tightened on the strip, external financial support has been cut, and as the Palestinian Authority (PA) recently imposed more sanctions.

Gaza based Hamas has a duty, as do all people of good will, to demand that Lebanon's sectarian political bosses permit Palestinian refugees the right to work and thus to earn a living for their families. Fortunately, given recent events, Hamas now has a unique, even historic opportunity to achieve for their sisters and brothers elementary civil rights.

Hamas is currently in high demand from various interests and has an excellent opportunity to demand a human rights consideration of Iran, Hezbollah, Fatah, and Syria. One phone call from Tehran or Damascus to Hezbollah's security zone in south Beirut can, after three decades of excuses, grant Palestinian refugees in Lebanon the most elementary civil rights enjoyed by every refugee on earth-even in occupied Palestine-but not in Lebanon.

Overdue Reconciliation

After half a dozen failed attempts, it now appears that all the concerned parties are finally supportive of Palestinian reconciliation including the various countries and their militias that continue destroying Syria and her people. Hamas is under heavy pressure to reconcile with Fatah given the escalating humanitarian crisis throughout the Gaza strip which has been intensified by the siege imposed by Egypt and Israel as well increasingly from Palestinian public opinion in Gaza calling for a better quality of life by lifting economic pressures.

The concept may appear deceptively simplistic. But this observer who has had the opportunity to work on this fundamental human rights issue the past several years with the Beirut-Washington DC based Palestine Civil Rights Campaign (PCRC) is optimistic it may well be achieved via the following steps briefly discussed below.

For seven decades since the 1948 Nakba, the anti-Palestinian prejudices of a majority of Lebanon's decision makers have blocked these rights in violation of numerous principles, standards, and rules of international humanitarian law. This has led to the damage of Lebanon's economy, social fabric and loss of self and international respect. Some Palestinian leaders in Lebanon and regionally have also failed their people in Lebanon among other ways by refusing pleas from Lebanon's 12 refugee camps to wage a street based civil rights struggle to achieve elementary civil rights. Rights that even the occupiers of Palestine grant to those they continue to dominate.

Sunni Hamas is willing to improve its relations with Shia Iran after a diplomatic gridlock caused by the Syrian crisis resulted in Iran cutting off aid to Hamas in 2012 with the exception of its 45,000 military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Iran wants the al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Hamas 'Foreign Legion" to join its own 100,000 plus Shia Popular Mobilization Brigades (PMU which comprise a significant part of Iran's own two year old regional "Foreign Legion." Tehran promises to someday liberate Palestine but today wants Hamas to assist with other regional projects including more than one in the Gulf. Also in Tehran's geopolitical sites is having Hamas' use its future increased power in the PLO to marginalize Fatah and dominate the PLO. Suggesting among other things that Sunni and Shia can cooperate when it's in their mutual interests and their religious differences are not manipulated for political purposes.

Palestinians in Lebanon can benefit from a Hamas deal with Iran

Hamas spokesperson Badran told the media last week that its relationship with Iran has a long history and, in fact, Hamas never cut ties with Iran. "It is true that for a while, we have seen some cooling in ties amid the situation in Syria, but we have no disagreements on the Palestinian question. Iran has always supported us and for the last two years we have been working on restoring our relations. We decided in Palestine that we would continue to strengthen our relations with Iran." For us, it is important." With respect to Hamas spokesman Husam Badran's comment last week that Hamas and Iran have no disagreements on the Palestinian Question he does not accurately represent the majority of Hamas members who according to a recent poll very much consider the achievement of the right to work and home ownership in Lebanon to be a pillar of the "Palestinian Question." Meanwhile, Palestinians are appealing to Hamas that Iran needs to support giving Palestinians in Lebanon, where Iran has major control, elementary civil rights.

Iran's role is overdue. The fact is that for more than three decades Iran has not acted on this elementary civil rights issue but rather has reportedly instructed Hezbollah to offer only "Resistance" words but nothing more substantive. Hezbollah has complied. From time to time Hezbollah does admit during 'privileged conversations' that Palestinian civil rights in Lebanon is not part of its political agenda. One reason is sectarian leverage but equally is instruction from Tehran based on the "Iran Model" for this region. One aspect of which is that Lebanon must remain broken and barring Sunni Palestinians in Lebanon from their civil rights helps advance Iranian interests and influence. Despite typical Al Quds and Ashoura Day rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding.

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Microsoft has joined Facebook in saying it is investigating whether Russian operatives paid for "inappropriate" pro-Trump ads on its Bing search engine and other platforms. Social media giant Facebook has said a Russian company placed thousands of ads on their network at a cost of more than $100,000, including some that targeted states crucial to Trump's victory. Last week, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said it reached the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Meanwhile, CIA Director Mike Pompeo has blasted Wikileaks as a hostile intelligence service that is often abetted by state actors like Russia, and Trump adviser Roger Stone declined to confirm to the House Intelligence Committee that he was directly in contact with WikiLeaks about damaging information on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. We get response from Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to get your opinion on all of the news that's breaking right now. On Monday, Google said suspected Russian agents paid for tens of thousands of dollars' worth of political advertisements last year aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential election. Managers at Microsoft said Monday they, too, were investigating whether Russian operatives paid for "inappropriate" pro-Trump ads on its Bing search engine and other platforms. Social media giant Facebook has said a Russian company placed thousands of ads on their network, at a cost of more than $100,000. CNN reports a number of ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Trump's victory in November. And Twitter reported last month that it discovered about 200 accounts linked to a Russian campaign to influence the election. This comes as the head of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said last week it's reached the conclusion that Russia did interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Republican Senator Richard Burr said his committee is still examining evidence to determine if there's any collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Your response to all of this, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, I think there's a very good article recently published in The Nation which goes through all of that, and it's shown to be nearly all fiction. The parts that you can actually determine, where you can compare with internally contradictory statements or other things, shows that it's nearly all fiction. Whether there's any truth to it, I don't know. We haven't researched that.

Yeah, I would say that I think it's very concerning to see this neo-McCarthyist hysteria, very, very dangerous in geopolitical terms. And, of course, it's an attempt to, you know, to unite the Democratic Party. CIA structures it together in -- and the media, in their assault against the Trump regime. But I think there's plenty of important things to criticize the Trump administration about -- for example, their promises to help the working class, but, in fact, trying to push forward enormous tax cuts for the rich. And these are the things that should be concentrated on, not leaping into an insane bout of anti-Russian hysteria.

AMY GOODMAN: Julian Assange, I wanted to ask you about Roger Stone. In March of 2016, he posted on Facebook that he, quote, "never denied that Assange and I had a mutual friend who told me Wikileaks had the goods on HRC" -- that's Hillary Rodham Clinton -- "and would begin disclosures in Oct. He did and they did. I didn't admit it -- I announced it," unquote. In a series of tweets, which he later deleted, Roger Stone also attacked a woman who challenged him on Twitter, writing, quote, "You stupid, stupid [B-word] -- never denied perfectly legal back channel to Assange who indeed had the goods on #CrookedHillary [sic]." I now wanted to talk about the latest, Roger Stone going to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee and what came out of that. Your response to that?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Roger Stone has been trolling Democrats all his life, and he's doing exactly the same thing, in order to elevate his profile. That's all. You can look at our statements at the time. He didn't say anything that I hadn't been saying in public at the time.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let me turn to Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff speaking at a hearing of the House --

JULIAN ASSANGE: I would just say that the effectiveness of that trolling just shows you how mad the U.S. political culture has become. Is Roger Stone presented as a credible character in his statements? Is that a credible person? Do Democrats think that he's credible?

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I think the issue is his closeness to Trump. And whether or not you think Trump or Roger Stone is credible, the --

JULIAN ASSANGE: Look, he's -- if he had something to worry about, why would he be deliberately playing it up, constantly? He doesn't have anything to worry about. That's why he's playing it up.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean?

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From WSWS

Donald Trump continued his campaign of incendiary statements over the weekend, threatening to launch a war with North Korea that could unleash a nuclear catastrophe.

On Saturday afternoon, the US president tweeted that past administrations "have been talking to North Korea for 25 years." This "hasn't worked," he wrote, adding: "Sorry, but only one thing will work!" Asked later to elaborate on what he meant, Trump replied, "You'll figure that out pretty soon."

These threats came three weeks after Trump's tirade at the United Nations General Assembly September 19, when he declared that the US was "ready, willing, and able" to "totally destroy" North Korea, a country of 25 million people. Four days later, Trump threatened to assassinate the North Korean leader. If the North Korean foreign minister's speech at the UN "echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man [Kim Jong-Un]," Trump wrote, "they won't be around much longer!"

On Thursday, Trump organized a White House dinner with US military leaders, which had all the hallmarks of a meeting of a war cabinet. During a photo op before the dinner, Trump, surrounded by generals in military uniform, likened the moment to "the calm before the storm." Asked what storm he was talking about, Trump would only say, "You'll find out soon."

To the extent that Trump's words are interpreted as a genuine expression of the policy and plans of the United States government, the inescapable conclusion is that the world stands on the brink of the most devastating military conflict since the outbreak of World War II. Were language and reality in correct political alignment, the present situation would be described officially as an "Imminent danger of war."

Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, embroiled in a political conflict with Trump, warned that the president's reckless threats were leading the United States "on the path to World War III." But despite Corker's statement on Sunday, there is, within the ruling elite and its media, a staggering disconnect between consciousness and reality. The public declarations emanating from the White House are being reported by the media as if they will have no consequences. The thinking seems to be that Trump doesn't mean what he says. The consequences of a war would prove to be so catastrophic that Trump is simply bluffing.

But what if he isn't? What if the North Korean government takes the threats of the American president, as it must, seriously? With Trump having publicly declared that he will destroy North Korea and that the doomsday hour is fast approaching, how will the Pyongyang government interpret American military actions near the borders of its country? With only minutes to make a decision, will the regime view the approach of a US bomber toward North Korean airspace as the beginning of a full-scale attack? Will it conclude that it has no choice but to assume the worst and initiate a military strike against South Korea? Will it fire missiles, as it has threatened, in the direction of Japan, Guam, Australia, or even the United States?

From a purely legal standpoint, North Korea can claim, in light of Trump's threats, that such action on its part would be an act of self-defense, a legitimate response to an imminent military threat.

Aside from the calculations of Pyongyang, one must assume that the regimes in Beijing and Moscow are also looking at the unfolding developments with increasing alarm. While the American media, as is its wont, responds complacently and thoughtlessly to Trump's threats, the Chinese regime cannot avoid viewing them with deadly seriousness. Trump is, after all, the commander in chief of the American military. He has the power -- which Congress has shown no interest in challenging -- to order military actions.

A US attack on North Korea would pose an overwhelming threat to China. As in 1950, a war against North Korea would -- even if it did not rapidly escalate into a nuclear exchange -- lead inexorably to an American incursion across the 38th Parallel. The last time the US military crossed the border into North Korea, the Chinese responded with a massive military counterattack. There is no reason to believe that the present-day regime in Beijing would remain passive in the face of a new US invasion of North Korea. It would view an American invasion as an unacceptable violation of a geopolitical arrangement on the Korean peninsula that has been in existence for nearly 65 years.

Beijing's reaction would be influenced by the already tense conditions that exist in the Asia-Pacific region. For years, the US has been systematically building up its military forces in the South China Sea under the "Pivot to Asia" initiated by the Obama administration. The purpose has been to militarily encircle China, which dominant sections of the ruling class consider the major competitor to US interests. Over the weekend, China's main regional competitor, Japan, declared that it fully backed Trump's threats against North Korea.

Thus, the outbreak of war between North Korea and the United States would inevitably involve China, which, in turn, would draw all of Asia, as well as Australia, into the bloody maelstrom. Nor would it be possible for Europe and Latin America, which have their own interests in Asia, to stand aside.

Little has appeared in the American media about the consequences of war with North Korea. An article in Newsweek in April concluded that a war would leave one million people dead, assuming that it did not involve the use of nuclear weapons or any other outside powers. In a comment in the Los Angeles Times last month, retired Air Force Brigadier General Rob Givens calculated that 20,000 South Koreans would die every day in a war on the peninsula, even without the use of nuclear weapons.

If the war were to develop into a nuclear exchange -- as the Trump administration has threatened -- the consequences would be catastrophic. In addition to the millions or tens of millions killed outright, climate experts warned in August that even a regional nuclear war would cool the planet by up to 10 degrees Celsius, potentially sparking a global nuclear winter that would wipe out agricultural production.

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Voices from Syria, disappeared by Western corporate-state media messaging and the on-going apparatus of criminal war propaganda, are increasingly reinforced as Syria's liberation from NATO terrorism continues.

Now that refugees are flooding back into the country that they love, the truths that contradict the Western lies are laid bare.

Western agencies that continue to propagate the lies -- including book publishers -- should be boycotted.

The truth that NATO terrorists engage in organ harvesting has now been reinforced by more primary-source evidence.

In 2016, Hossein Noufel, Director-General of Syria's Coroner's Office reported that

(b)ody organs of thousands of Syrian civilians have been sold in the international black markets over the past six years.1

Permanent Syrian resident Lilly Martin corroborated this evidence in a global Facebook posting. She reported that,

(t)he organ harvesting in Turkey is not limited to selling a part for cash. The majority of organ harvesting in Turkey is done by the terrorists, who are US supported. The terrorists take injured or kidnapped Syrians across the border to Turkey and instead of saving their life with medical care, the injured are shipped back to Syria with an explanation that they died in surgery, and couldn't be saved. However, they always have clear signs of organ harvesting. In many cases, eyes were removed. This info comes from survivors of the Aleppo battles, who are now in Latakia. 2

Now, Professor Tim Anderson, recently returned from a trip to Syria, provides more evidence to establish what we already know.

Photo by Prof. Tim Anderson

Anderson describes the photo above as a "small hospital used for organ trafficking by FSA-Nusra. Burned to destroy records and evidence (Source L.H.)"

Whereas the truth leads to peace, engineered lies, such as those propagated by "Bana Inc." create a foundation for more war and more misery.

Notes

1 " Coroner's Office: Body Organs of Over 15,000 Syrians Sold in Six Years." FARS News Agency. 17 November 2016. (click here). Accessed 8 October 2017.

2 Mark Taliano, "NATO Terrorism in Syria." Global Research, 2 May 2017. (.globalresearch.ca/nato-terrorism-in-syria/5588236) Accessed 8 October, 2017.

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From Paul Craig Roberts Website

Forensic Acoustic Analysis Points to Existence of a Second Shooter.

This analysis seems to make sense. If it has been done correctly, it is evidence of a second Las Vegas shooter. It is evidence not only of two sets of gunshots but of bullets hitting the ground from two different distances. So unless the bullets were being fired into the ground only, it seems people will have been hit.

On the other hand, we have what seem to be videos of crisis actors carrying pretend wounded people into a hospital, and we have videos of hospital visits with alleged seriously wounded people who have had an almost instantaneous recovery. As the letter from the purported military surgeon pointed out, quick recoveries from gunshot trauma are not the norm.

Remember also the Republican congressman, Steve Scalise, who was shot in the hip last June in D.C. He was in critical condition for some time, and was in no condition to be giving interviews a couple of days later. Yet, here is a video of a young woman allegedly shot in the hip at the Las Vegas concert all rosy cheeked and chatting away a mere three days after being "nearly paralyzed" by her gunshot injury.

If there are dead and injured, what is the point of crisis actors and interviews with victims who show no sign of trauma?

If there is acoustic evidence of two shooters from two locations, why is the official story insistent on one shooter from one location?

You can see how difficult it would be to try to get the truth. There are too many other things that need my attention, and for which I am better qualified, for me to commit any more time and energy to the Las Vegas shooting.

As in every other case, there is an official story, one that always seems to be ready in advance, and one from which authorities and media do not depart. The "investigation" looks more like the imposition of an official story. The media and the public authorities are content to dismiss suspicions by calling them conspiracy theories. This makes it impossible to clear up contradictions and anomalies.

I promised you an account of any qualified replies to the purported military surgeon's letter. Read the surgeon's letter here. This is from a person who identifies himself as a paramedic for 22 years:

"Sir,

After reading the letter from the retired surgeon addressing gunshot wounds, I wanted to comment that I, too, am mystified by the set number of fatalities and absence of fatal complications. I spent 22 years employed as paramedic and have seen many gunshot wounds. Granted, the distance of the shots can explain the lesser number of horrible, graphic wounds, but the publicized accounts of the wounded seem very inconsistent with my experiences with gunshot wounds and the recovery of those who have been shot. I understand we are not witnessing the day to day progress of those who who survived, but I agree with the surgeon that it doesn't add up. Thank you."

I have had two confirmations of the veracity of the surgeon's letter from trama RNs. However, one of them tells me she knows of someone who was killed.

I have not heard from any surgeons familiar with gunshot wounds. I would imagine that they want to stay clear of all of this.

People with extensive firearms experience call attention to the photo of the dead Stephen Paddock in the hotel room. Where, they ask, are the thousands of shell casings and empty ammunition clips from the extensive automatic fire? Others point out that the few casings in sight are mysteriously on top of Paddock's blood, not covered by it.

I can't explain any of this. We have an official story, and that is all we are going to get.


I Am My Guns

(Image by Akemi Ohira) Details DMCA



Regardless of race, creed, heritage, age, sexual preference or political persuasion, more Americans were shot to death, in Las Vegas Sunday October 1, 2017 than have been killed in America, by radical Islamic terrorists in the last ten years.

Growing up, holidays were loud: packing uncles and aunts, drinking, smoking, shouting rifle and shotgun owners -- all skilled, if not avid, hunters -- insuring I mastered both M-14 & 16 in Basic Training. Uncle Gino, however, had already taught me to respect guns, because once weapon and shooter were united, each were equally responsible for the union's conclusion.

Since 1967, more Americans have been killed by guns, than in all the wars in which America was involved since our Revolutionary War, and still"

Conservatives: Now is not the time to discuss it

NRA: more good men with guns

Responsible gun owners: some background checks

Schools: Armed police handcuffing & arresting children

Fed-up Americans: Repeal the Second Amendment

Media & Pollsters: Is America headed in the right direction

Arguably, beyond the illusion of handgun induced home security and the adrenaline rush accompanying killing a defenseless animal -- stonewalling and ignoring the body-count in American killing fields: concerts, nightclubs, movie theaters, parking lots, churches, schools -- petitions us to be The People's Storm, beckoning the wise to expose GOP/NRA as accessories after the fact.

While Trump and guns are inexorable parts of America's global definition, they are not the measure of heroism or liberty, but rather enablers of violent death -- yet, direction of any nation is determined by the moral fiber of its citizens.

Yes, America is moving in The Right Direction:

Uniformed shooting of unarmed men of color

Institutionalized bigotry of DOJ against LGBTQ Americans

Domestic and Foreign Gerrymandering of our Electoral System

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Fax Services Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2017 - 2022

Global Fax Services Market Analysis

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The global fax services market is likely to cross $2.8 billion by 2022Biscom, RingCentral, eFax, HelloFax, SRFax, Nextiva, Open Text, and Xmedius are the major players in the market. The increase in the adoption of cloud-based VOIP services is likely to lead to the growth of hybrid fax services, thereby declining the deployment of traditional on-premises fax services. The deployment of hybrid models is likely to increase during the forecast period. Regulated industries such as healthcare and financials are the major end-users of faxing services, followed by legal, manufacturing, logistics, and transportation sectors. The revenue contribution by the government agencies is also higher and is expected to grow during the forecast period. North America is expected to lead the market followed by Europe.View report: Fax Services Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2017 - 2022Link:Major vendors profiled in the report are as following:RingCentralBiscomeFaxHelloFaxSRFaxNextivaOpen TextXMediusOther prominent vendors include ActFax, Alhambra, Alt-N Technology, Cleo, Copia International, Concord Technologies, Crosby Fax, Data on Call, eComfax (Cloud Worldwide Services), Equisys, Esker, EtherFax, Extracomm, FaxAge, FaxCore, GFI Software, GoldFax, iFax, Imagicle, InterFAX, Joyhong Software, Kofax, Lane Telecommunication, Messagenet, MetroFax, Monfax - Bjt Partners, MyFax, Neotel (Lqiuid Telecom), OceanX Technology, Upland Software (Omtool), PamFax, Retarus, Softlinx, Sfax, Utbox.Scope of the ReportThe study considers the present scenario of the global fax services market and its market dynamics for the period 20172022. It covers a detailed overview of various market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study covers both the demand and supply side of the market. It also profiles and analyzes the leading 6 companies and 24 other prominent companies operating in the market.To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated by vendors in the market through subscription of fax services by end-users. It also considers geographical revenue via customer operating locations.The report provides the analysis of the key segments of the market by user, distribution channel, geography, and vendors. It provides a detailed analysis of revenue from various segments:Deployment TypeOn-premises faxOnline faxHybrid faxUser TypesIndividual and home officeSmall and medium enterprises (SMEs)Large enterprisesIndustry SectorHealth sectorBFSILegal sectorManufacturing, transportation, and logistics sectorOther sectorsApplicationProductionEnd-userMajor GeographiesAPACEMEALatin AmericaNorth AmericaKey CountriesAustraliaBrazilCanadaChinaFranceGermanySouth AfricaUAEUKUSIncreased adoption of cloud-based communication and collaboration platforms to drive the market growthIncreased awareness about operating green office environment, regulatory compliance requiring fax services, flexibility and scalability of internet fax, and increased adoption of cloud-based communication and collaboration platforms are the major factors that are driving the market growth. Further, the report includes the latest trends and opportunities such as high preference for green offices. With increasing adoption of fax services, the consumption of paper can be controlled to a large extent, which can lead to the greener and cleaner environment. Other trends explained in the report are migration to the cloud-based faxing model, availability of hybrid fax solutions, and vendor consolidation.Related Reports1) Online Fax Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2017 - 20222) 3D Printing Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2017 - 2022About AriztonArizton  Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.Arizton has gained a paramount standpoint in the market research arena as it offers top of the line solutions to clients to assess market landscape and to finalize foolproof business strategies. We are committed to provide inclusive market research reports and consulting services to clients from diversified industries including Consumer Goods & Retail Technology, Automotive and Mobility, Smart Tech, Healthcare and Lifesciences, Industrial Machinery, Chemicals and Materials, IT and Media, Logistics and PackagingArizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864
Coffee Market 2021 Share, Growth and Regional Forecast

Coffee

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This report studies sales (consumption) of Coffee in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player, coveringAlterra Coffee RoastersBaristasCaffe Vita Coffee Roasting CompanyCaribou CoffeeDeath Wish CoffeeDunn BrosDutch Bros coffeeGloria Jean's CoffeeHill's Bros. CoffeeStarbucksFor more information about this report:Split by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoSplit by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoCoarse grindMedium grindMedium-fine grindfine grindExtra fine grindSplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Coffee in each application, can be divided intoDrinkApplication 2Application 3Request a sample copy atTable of Content1 Market Overview2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Coffee3 USA Coffee (Volume and Value) by Type3.1 USA Coffee Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2021)3.2 USA Coffee Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2021)4 USA Coffee (Volume) by ApplicationAsk for Discount at5 United States Coffee Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis6 Coffee Technology and Development Trend7 Research Findings and ConclusionPurchase Complete Report atReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.Contact Us:533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.com
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Market: Leading Firms Working on Advanced Phases of Clinical Trials Likely to Stir the Growth Opportunities

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The market of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is anticipated to flourish with high pace and witness stiff competition, states Transparency Market Research (TMR) in its recent research report. The major players in the market are trying to come up with easy to use and cost-effective solutions to attain an edge over their competitors. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, AveXis, Inc., Novartis AG, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Cytokinetics, Inc. are some of the most significant players in the global spinal muscular atrophy market.Cytokinetics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in partnership with a Japanese firm Astellas Pharma, is working to on developing Tirasemtiv, which is a drug in its phase II clinical trials, being studied for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. Besides, after a long wait, a medicine developed by Biogen, SPINRAZA was approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that was working to come up with a treatment for spinal muscular degeneration in infants and adults.View and Download TOC of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Market Research Report@On the basis of geographical segmentation, North American region is gaining high traction owing to the advancement in the technology. Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to dominate the other regions with a strong CAGR in the coming years.The rise in the population suffering from spinal muscular atrophy is one of the key factors leading to high demand for SMA drugs in the market. For now, there is no proper treatment for the disease. The only treatment available are on the basis of the initial symptoms and not the actual medical cause. As the region such as Europe, and the U.S. have declared the drugs for the disease as orphan, the government initiatives have increased in this direction.Request and Download Sample Report@Moreover the other firms are also encouraged to work towards developing an efficient treatment for spinal muscular atrophy. Majority of the pipeline drugs are given various financial relaxations, for example preference in new drug application review and tax benefits in clinical researches are offered to drugs that are still in the development phase. These discounts are in turn are proving to be very advantageous for these pipeline drugs, allowing them to be tested at a faster pace.Another major driving force for the growth in the market is surge in number of carriers that have damaged spinal muscular atrophy genes. These factors are propelling the pharmaceuticals and healthcare firms to develop a cost-effective and efficient solution for the disease, along with working towards spreading awareness among the masses.Buy Full Spinal Muscular Atrophy Market Report@Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:TMR Blog:
Small Bone and Joint Orthopedic Devices Market to Cross US$8.2 bn by 2023

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As per the report, the global opportunity in the small bone and joint orthopedic devices market is likely to be worth US$8.2 bn by the end of 2023. On the basis of geography, North America is currently leading and is estimated to continue to do so through 2023.Asia Pacific will witness fast paced growth and emerge a promising market in the future. On the basis of device type, the fracture fixation systems segment will be leading till 2023. By application, the shoulder and other extremities segment will exhibit the highest demand in the near future.The global small bone and joint orthopedic devices market is largely consolidated, thereby limiting competition between the top three companies viz, Depuy Synthes, Wright Medical Group, and Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. These three companies accounted for 70% of the market collectively, in the year 2014, states a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR).The wide range of product portfolios of these companies has helped these players gain a strong presence within the global small bone and joint orthopedic devices market. TMR, in its report recommends market players to focus on R&D so as to introduce innovative and advanced products at minimal cost. This will help them to gain a competitive edge. Expert analysts from TMR also suggest that manufacturers start focusing on the developing economies of Asia Pacific, as the future holds many growth opportunities in this region.View and Download TOC of Small Bone and Joint Orthopedic Devices Market Research Report@The global small bone and joint orthopedic devices market is gaining impetus from the rising incidences of bone injuries and disorders. The growing prevalence of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis is fueling the demand for these devices. In addition to this, the growing geriatric population is also one of the factors aiding the growth of this market, as this population base is more prone and vulnerable to degenerative joint diseases.A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that by 2030, approximately 67 mn people will suffer from arthritis. This is anticipated to fuel the demand for small bone and joint orthopedic devices. In addition to this, the growing number of road accidents, sport injuries, and bone-related complications will drive the demand for small bone and joint orthopedic devices in the years to come.Request and Download Sample Report@One of the factors posing a threat to the growth of the small bone and joint orthopedic devices market is the high risk associated with orthopedic implants. Corrosion of metal in implants, loosening of the implants, and migration of these devices in the body are some of the factors that can prove to be fatal for patients.The increasing incidences of implant failure will also pose a threat to the demand for small bone and joint orthopedic devices worldwide. Moreover, the emergence of therapeutic options for osteoarthritis and osteoporosis will act as a blow to the growth of the market. In addition to this, the emergence of tissue engineering and bone substitutes will crush the demand for these devices in the years to come.Buy Full Small Bone and Joint Orthopedic Devices Market Report@Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:TMR Blog:
Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market To Witness Growth Owing To Rising Applications In Osteoarthritis, Opthalmic And Dermal Fillers Till 2020 | Million Insights

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Global Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market is segmented on the basis of product type, end user, and region. Hyaluronic acid, also known as hyaluronan or HA, is an organic compound which fits the branch of carbohydrates and further to its polysaccharides segment. HA is prepared in laboratory by numerousprocedures which includes extraction from rooster combs, in-vitro, and bacterial production.It is a non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan which is present in the connective, epithelial, and neural tissues of living organisms. Due to its hydrophilic nature, hyaluronic acid is used as a shock absorber and lubricant in various joint disorders, including osteoarthritis. The rapid growth of aging population coupled with significant increase of the disease conditions such as ulcers, osteoarthritis, and dry eyes are the key factors boosting the demand. On the other hand, allergic reactions, other cost effective treatments along with several regulations concerns could act as restraints in the growth of hyaluronic acid solution market.Full Research Report On Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market Global Analysis available at:Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market is classified, by product type into Single Injection, Three Injection, and Five Injection. Three-injection cycle accounted for the largest market share in 2015 and is expected to gain popularity over the forecast period. The dose is injected into synovial fluid of knee and hip to ease movement and improve joint pain. These doses are taken in the span of 3 to 5 weeks depending on the condition and severity of the disease.Single injection cycle is expected to be the fastest growing segment with a highest. This is accredited to the preference of patients to short duration of treatment and quick results. In 2016, Genzyme Corporation received the FDA approval for its single injection treatment regimen, Synvisc-One. The product contains high-molecular-weight polymers that act as a lubricant and reduce pain due to osteoarthritis.Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market is classified, by applications into Osteoarthritis, Opthalmic, Dermal Fillers, and Vesicoureteral Reflux. Dermal fillers accounted for the largest market share of the Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market and are expected to lead the market over forecast period. Vesicoureteral Reflux segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR over the forecast period. This is due to the change in lifestyle, injuries, and increased rate of surgeries performed. Endoscopic treatment with HA injection is gaining popularity as a treatment option.Opthalmology market segment is expected to witness increasing demand over the forecast period. This is mainly due to the increasing incidence of diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and dry eyes. There are more than 0.2 million opthalmologists globally. Moreover, the occurrence of dry eyes is very high in the U.S. with 40 million people suffering from it. This provides a huge opportunity for expansion of ophthalmology related applications of HA products.Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market is classified, by raw materials into Grade (Pharmaceutical, Cosmetic & Food, and Orthopedic), Source (Animal Based, Non-Animal Based). Pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid segment accounted for the largest market share of the global market and is expected to lead the market over forecast period. Whereas, cosmetic grade hyaluronan is expected to grow at fastest pace over the forecast period. Hyaluronic acid, due to its strong water retention properties, has become an integral part of cosmetics and skin care products.Non-animal based hyaluronic acid market lead the Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market in 2015. Conventionally, hyaluronan was extracted from rooster combs, but issues such as lack of standardization of the process and opposition from communities fighting for animal cruelty created a need to develop techniques to manufacture it artificially. Hyaluronic Acid Solution Market is segmented, geographically into North America, Europe (Eastern Europe, Western Europe), Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa.North America accounted for the largest market share of the Hyaluronic Acid Solution Industry in terms of revenue and is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. The U.S. is the most important market and accounts for majority share of the North America. The population in this region is more conscious about aging and is open to adopt new treatment methods.Asia Pacific is expected to develop as the fastest growing region over the forecast period. Japan is one of the highest contributors to the Asia Pacific revenue, due to its large geriatric population and growing awareness amongst people about aesthetics. Hyaluronic Acid Solution Industry key players are, Allergan, Anika Therapeutics, Sanofi (Genzyme), Salix Pharmaceuticals, Dentsply International, Seikagaku Corporation, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, GaldermaS.A, Zimmer Holdings, Smith & Nephew Plc and Ferring Pharmaceuticals.Request for Free Sample :This report studies Hyaluronic Acid Solution in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regions, covering Q-Med Abbott Medical Optics Seikagaku Lipo Chemicals Stanford Chemicals Allergan Novozymes Anika Therapeutics Hyaltech LG LIFE & SCIENCE CONTIPRO Shiseido Medicis Aesthetics Holdings, Inc Synvisc-One Genzyme Biosurgery Merz PharmaceuticalsMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Hyaluronic Acid Solution in these regions, from 2011 to 2020 (forecast), like North America China Europe Japan Southeast Asia IndiaRelated Reports of this Category available at Million Insights:At Million Insights, we work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions.Ryan ManuelResearch Support SpecialistMillion InsightsOffice No. 302, 3rd Floor, Manikchand Galleria,Model Colony, Shivaji Nagar, Pune, MH, 411016 IndiaPhone: 91-20-65300184Email: sales@millioninsights.com
Cupric Chloride Market Intelligence and Analysis for Period 2015 - 2023

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Cupric chloride is a copper salt with the chemical formula CuCl2. Cupric chloride and copper sulfate are the two most common copper salts. Cupric chloride is hygroscopic in nature due to which it can readily absorb water or water vapors. In anhydrous state it is reddish brown in color; however hydrous cupric chloride is greenish blue crystals. Cupric chloride is highly water soluble and forms a greenish blue solution when dissolved in water. Despite the abundance of copper in nature, cupric chloride is rarely available in traces in some minerals and near fumaroles of a volcano, especially in the arid areas. However cupric chloride is extensively manufactured commercially for its wide range of applications. Cupric chloride is manufactured by chlorination of copper metal in the presence of water. Alternatively, it is also prepared from copper sulfate in the presence of hydrochloric acid.Copper is more stable as compared to other metals hence its salts, such as cupric chloride and copper sulfate are less reactive in comparison to other metal salts. Owing to this, cupric chloride is an effective oxidizing agent in presence of stronger reducing agents. The oxidizing nature of cupric chloride is put to use in the industrial preparation of chlorine gas from hydrochloric acid. Copper metal has both primary and secondary valencies hence it is capable of forming coordinate bond. Due to this property, copper is a used as a catalyst in several organic and inorganic reactions. Catalytic and oxidizing properties of copper are driving the demand for cupric chloride as laboratory reagents. It is used as a catalyst in the industrial synthesis of several important chemical intermediates such as diols and vinyl sulfones. Cupric chloride is extensively used in the textile and printing industry as a mordant, which is an intermediary substance used to set dyes on fabric and paper by forming coordinating complex with the dyes. The glass and ceramic industry also uses cupric chloride as a mordant for effective designing. Due to the presence of chlorine, this compound is a disinfectant and is also used as a food preservative, herbicide, insecticide and fungicide.Request For Report Sample@There is high global demand for cupric chloride owing to is extensive applications. Asia Pacific accounts for the largest market for cupric chloride. Growing textile and dyestuff industries in the region have fuelled up the demand for this compound. Moreover the major manufacturers have shifted their production units to Asia Pacific owing to low production cost and cheap labor. Due to these factors, Asia Pacific has emerged as the largest manufacturer as well of cupric chloride. Economies in Asia Pacific such as China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are the dominating players in the market. Cupric chloride market is also emerging considerably in India owing to the growing textile and chemical industries in the country. Rest of the World region is the second fastest growing market for this compound. Textile and handloom industry in emerging economies of South America, such as Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina, is well established and boosting the demand for cupric chloride. The market for the cupric chloride in Europe and North America is growing despite the sluggish economic growth in these regions. This is primarily because of the well established manufacturing and chemical industries in these developed regions. North America and Europe hosts the laboratories and manufacturing units of some of the largest chemical and pharmaceutical industries, where cupric chloride is used as a reagent.Visit For TOC@Some of the major manufacturers and supplier of cupric chloride are BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, Brenntag North America, Inc., Tinco Group of Companies among others.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
Rex Tillerson is toast.

The secretary of State, repeatedly humiliated and undercut by President Donald Trump, is clearly on his way to a Rexit, probably by years end.

World leaders know he doesnt speak for the president, which reduces his credibility to zero. And Trump will never forgive him for calling the president a moron at a national security meeting.

But Tillersons downfall signifies something far more dangerous than the latest tick in the youre fired Trump reality show. It reflects the collapse of U.S. diplomacy under a president who thinks he can resolve global crises by bluster and threats.

In other words, under Trump, diplomacy itself has become toast. This leaves only bad options for dealing with North Korea or Iran.

Tillerson brought a fair share of his trouble on himself by adopting Trumps disdain for the institutions of the State Department, including a decimation of its budget and personnel. Critical positions and ambassadorships remain unfilled, leaving the administration hard pressed to implement key policies in Asia or the Mideast  if such policies exist.

Moreover, it was painful to watch the former Exxon Mobil chief abase himself last week in an extraordinary press conference in which he insisted he hadnt threatened to resign.

In order to keep his job, he lavished words of praise on Trump that sounded as if theyd been dictated by the White House. One can only assume Defense Secretary James Mattis begged Tillerson not to quit in the face of looming challenges on North Korea and Iran, and an upcoming Trump trip to China in November.

Yet Tillerson can be of little use when the president refuses to grasp that diplomacy isnt about being nice, in Trumps scornful words, but rather about achieving U.S. goals without having to resort to force.

Over and over, the president has contradicted Tillersons diplomatic efforts in words or tweets, the latest episode being the most telling. After key meetings in Beijing several days ago, where he was pressing the Chinese to further tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, the secretary told reporters he was exploring lines of communication with Pyongyang.

Upon hearing that news, Trump immediately tweeted I told Rex Tillerson ... he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket man. Save your energy Rex, well do what has to be done.

That astonishing public putdown reveals Trumps utter incomprehension of the options he faces with North Korea. Sanctions alone will not force Pyongyang to denuclearize nor will Trumps fire and fury threats. The only purpose of harsher sanctions is to force Kim Jong Un to the bargaining table, with the goal of containing his nuclear program.

At minimum, Washington needs a serious back channel means of communicating with Pyongyang  something Tillerson apparently was exploring  so each side understands the others intent.

Trump, however, appears eager to reduce the U.S. options on North Korea to two: more presidential insults and threats (with the risk that this provokes a paranoid Kim into making a dangerous military mistake) or starting a massive, hugely destructive war.

On Iran, Trumps detestation for diplomacy is equally dangerous.

Every 90 days, U.S. law requires the president to affirmatively certify whether Tehran is living up to the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord, which mothballed Irans nuclear program for at least 10-15 years. Trump, who has repeatedly denounced the deal, will reportedly deny that certification by Oct. 15, the next deadline.

Never mind that U.N. inspectors  along with the other parties to the deal, including our European allies, Russia, and China  all say Tehran is basically adhering to the deal. So does Mattis.

The decertification will not by itself blow up the Iran accord. But it will toss over to Congress a decision on whether to restore sanctions on Iran. If sanctions are reinstated, Iran will be free to restart work on a bomb. The United States will be blamed for the deals failure, and our European allies say they wont reimpose sanctions.

We could be headed for another nuclear crisis just as Trump whips up the rhetorical war with Pyongyang.

So there is good reason why Tillerson, Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joe Dunford all say the deal should be saved. Asked last week in Senate hearings whether he thought U.S. national security required remaining in the agreement, Mattis said, I do.

There are indeed problems with Irans behavior in the Mideast and with its testing of missiles. No one is happy with the sunset clause that lets key provisions of the deal expire in 10 to 15 years.

The way to approach these flaws is to organize a broad coalition that presses Iran to negotiate follow-on accords _ that add to the nuclear deal. Our European allies are eager to join in this tough but not impossible effort.

But choosing that path requires a president who has the patience for diplomacy and understands that it requires time and skill in building coalitions behind the scenes.

Trump on the other hand, thinks diplomacy is for sissies, and is open to ripping up the Iran deal (which practically guarantees that there wont be a future deal with North Korea).

Even if Tillerson stayed in place, its unclear that he could counter his bosss deepest instincts. Nor is it clear that any successor to Tillerson can convince Trump that diplomacy had value.

After Tillersons press conference. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Tillerson, Mattis and Chief of Staff John Kelly were those people that help separate our country from chaos.

That troika looks to be depleted soon. Who knows how long the other two will last.
Greek Yogurt Market 2017 Key Players are Yoplait, Stonyfield, Dannon Oikos and more

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Pune, India, 10th October 2017: WiseGuyReports announced addition of new report, titled Global Greek Yogurt Sales Market Report 2017.In this report, the global Greek Yogurt market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Greek Yogurt for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGET SAMPLE REPORT @Global Greek Yogurt market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Greek Yogurt sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingChobaniFageYoplaitStonyfieldDannon OikosYoCrunch Naturals YogurtStraus Family CreameryEllenosCabotBrown Cow FarmAnderson Erickson DairyHiland DairyYILIMorinaga MilkAlpina FoodsAuburn Dairy ProductsOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFull-Fat YogurtDe-Fat YogurtFat-Free YogurtOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Greek Yogurt for each application, includingChildrenAdultsTable of Content: Key PointsGlobal Greek Yogurt Sales Market Report 20171 Greek Yogurt Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Greek Yogurt1.2 Classification of Greek Yogurt by Product Category1.2.1 Global Greek Yogurt Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Greek Yogurt Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Full-Fat Yogurt1.2.4 De-Fat Yogurt1.2.5 Fat-Free Yogurt1.3 Global Greek Yogurt Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Greek Yogurt Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Children1.3.3 Adults1.4 Global Greek Yogurt Market by Region1.4.1 Global Greek Yogurt Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Greek Yogurt Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Greek Yogurt (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Greek Yogurt Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Greek Yogurt Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Greek Yogurt Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Greek Yogurt Market Competition by Players/Suppliers9 Global Greek Yogurt Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Chobani9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Chobani Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Fage9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 Fage Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Yoplait9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Product A9.3.2.2 Product B9.3.3 Yoplait Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.4 Stonyfield9.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.4.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.4.2.1 Product A9.4.2.2 Product B9.4.3 Stonyfield Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.5 Dannon Oikos9.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.5.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.5.2.1 Product A9.5.2.2 Product B9.5.3 Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.6 YoCrunch Naturals Yogurt9.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.6.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.6.2.1 Product A9.6.2.2 Product B9.6.3 YoCrunch Naturals Yogurt Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.7 Straus Family Creamery9.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.7.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.7.2.1 Product A9.7.2.2 Product B9.7.3 Straus Family Creamery Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.8 Ellenos9.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.8.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.8.2.1 Product A9.8.2.2 Product B9.8.3 Ellenos Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.9 Cabot9.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.9.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.9.2.1 Product A9.9.2.2 Product B9.9.3 Cabot Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.10 Brown Cow Farm9.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.10.2 Greek Yogurt Product Category, Application and Specification9.10.2.1 Product A9.10.2.2 Product B9.10.3 Brown Cow Farm Greek Yogurt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.11 Anderson Erickson Dairy9.12 Hiland Dairy9.13 YILI9.14 Morinaga Milk9.15 Alpina Foods9.16 Auburn Dairy ProductsContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
2017-2022 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications

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This report studies the Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of players, regions, product and end Application/industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and major regions, and splits the Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing market by product and Application/end industries.The global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.United States will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing.EU also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of XX.Download Sample Report Copy From Here:The major players in global market includeR & D Systems (a Biotechne brand)Thermofisher Scientific (brand: Life Technology)ZEUS ScientificAbbexaAbcamAbelisaAbnovaBhat Bio-techBio-Rad LaboratoriesBiorbytCalbiotechCayman ChemicalsCrystal ChemDiagenicsEagle BiosciencesGeographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaTable of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Overview1.1.1 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2012-2017)1.2.1 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.2.2 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.2.3 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.2.4 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.2.5 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.2.6 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Status and Outlook1.3 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Hospital1.3.2 Diagnostic Laboratories1.3.3 Research Laboratories2 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2012-2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data3.1 R & D Systems (a Biotechne brand)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 R & D Systems (a Biotechne brand) Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Thermofisher Scientific (brand: Life Technology)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Thermofisher Scientific (brand: Life Technology) Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 ZEUS Scientific3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 ZEUS Scientific Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Abbexa3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Abbexa Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Abcam3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Abcam Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Abelisa3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Abelisa Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Abnova3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Abnova Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Bhat Bio-tech3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Bhat Bio-tech Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Bio-Rad Laboratories3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Bio-Rad Laboratories Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Biorbyt3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Biorbyt Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Calbiotech3.12 Cayman Chemicals3.13 Crystal Chem3.14 Diagenics3.15 Eagle Biosciences4 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.2 Potential Application of Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing in Future4.3 Top Consumer / End Users of Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing5 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)5.3 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)6 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)6.3 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)7 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)7.3 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)8 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)8.2 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)8.3 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)9 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)9.2 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)9.3 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)10 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)10.3 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2012-2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions and Application (2017-2022)11.1 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size (Million USD) by Regions (2017-2022)11.1.1 United States Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.2 EU Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.3 China Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.4 Japan Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.5 Southeast Asia Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.6 India Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.2 Global Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Size by Application (2017-2022)12 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Dynamics12.1 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Opportunities12.2 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Global Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) Testing Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential Application13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs Trend/Customer Preference13.3 External Environmental Change13.3.1 Economic Fluctuations13.3.2 Other Risk Factors14 Research Finding /Conclusion15 Methodology and Data Source15.1 Methodology/Research Approach15.1.1 Research Programs/Design15.1.2 Market Size Estimation15.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation15.2 Data Source15.2.1 Secondary Sources15.2.2 Primary Sources15.2.3 DisclaimerBuy Now This Report From Here:Global QYResearch() is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit 1, 26 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London,E182AN, United KingdomCall: +44 20 3239 2407
Nuclear Power Plant Safety Market Analysis and Forecast Study for 2016 - 2024

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Global Nuclear Power Plant Safety Market: OverviewThe global market for the nuclear power plant safety is expanding steadily. A turning point in its trajectory has been the Fukushima-accident in Japan, triggered by a major earthquake followed by a 15-meter tsunami. The calamity disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, resulting in a nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. All three cores melted substantially in the first three days. Many governments, since then, have recommended use of backup generators for nuclear power plants to protect against floods and tsunami.Nuclear power plant safety primarily involves radiation detection and monitoring and it is seeing a sea change on account of the changing contours of nuclear power plants, homeland security, defense, and manufacturing industries. The different nuclear power plant safety measures are a combination of active and passive to purge heat from the core of the reactor, a robust containment to stem the release of radioactive materials, and shutdown systems for the reactors. At present, the competition in the global market for nuclear power plant is stiff on account of the presence of numerous small and large players.Request For Report Sample@Global Nuclear Power Plant Safety Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAt the forefront of driving demand in the global nuclear power plant is the substantial rise in the global demand for power in the face of depleting fossil fuels. This has been providing a fillip to the nuclear power industry and thus nuclear power plant safety backup market. New programs ushered in by governments worldwide to meet their nations energy needs by leveraging nuclear power plants are estimated to promote the nuclear power plant safety market. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts the demand for energy to increase by 4,700 GWe in the next 20 years. This will create a sustained demand in nuclear power plant safety market.Additionally, the Fukushima nuclear accident jolted authorities to frame rules to compel nuclear power plants to have robust safety measures in place to thwart release of radioactive materials. Many existing nuclear power plants have revamped their layouts in keeping with the rules stipulated by governments and new ones are being designed to lessen the impact of complex accidents, including multiple failures and severe accidents. Safety standards laid down by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also adding to the demand for nuclear power plant safety worldwide.Countering the growth in the global market for nuclear power plant safety is the lessened support for nuclear in nations such as the U.S, Germany, Japan, and France. The massive cost of maintenance of nuclear power plant safety systems and mechanisms is another challenge to the markets growth.Global Nuclear Power Plant Safety Market: Regional OutlookThe key segments of the global nuclear power plant safety market are Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America and Europe, among them, hold considerable share in the market. Besides, Asia Pacific is an upcoming attractive market that players are keeping a tab on. This is because of the insatiable demand for energy due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in the countries of India, China, and Japan, among others. This has made the nations invest in nuclear power plants which will create demand for nuclear power plant safety market.Visit For TOC@Global Nuclear Power Plant Safety Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the prominent players in the global nuclear power plant safety market are Southern Company, the Babcock & Wilcox Company, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Exelon Corporation, Florida Power & Light Company, and Vattenfall AB.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
Bacon Market Application, Competitive Analysis, share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 -2022

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Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT) , revenue (Million USD) , market share and growth rate of Bacon for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast) , coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Bacon market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Bacon sales volume, Price (USD/MT) , revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingBRF S.ACargill IncFarmlandFoster FarmsHormel Foods CorpJBS S.AKarro Food GroupOSI Group, L.L.CShuanghui InternationalSmithfield Foods IncTonnies FleischTyson Foods, IncOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoImmersion-CuredDry-CuredPumped BaconOtherOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Bacon for each application, includingDirect ConsumptionProcessing ConsumptionIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.For more information about this report atTable of Content1 Bacon Market Overview2 Global Bacon Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application3 United States Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Bacon Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Bacon Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Bacon Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Bacon Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationRequest a sample copy at4 China Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5 Europe Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Bacon Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Bacon Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Bacon Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Bacon Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Application6 Japan Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)Discount on report purchase at7 Southeast Asia Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7.1 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales and Value (2012-2017)7.1.1 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)7.1.2 Southeast Asia Bacon Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)7.1.3 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)7.2 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Players7.3 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Type7.4 Southeast Asia Bacon Sales Volume and Market Share by Application8 India Bacon (Volume, Value and Sales Price)9 Global Bacon Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data10 Bacon Maufacturing Cost Analysis11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers11.1 Bacon Industrial Chain Analysis11.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing11.3 Raw Materials Sources of Bacon Major Manufacturers in 201611.4 Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes Threat13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change13.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change14 Global Bacon Market Forecast (2017-2022)15 Research Findings and Conclusion16 Appendix16.1 Methodology/Research Approach16.1.1 Research Programs/Design16.1.2 Market Size Estimation16.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation16.2 Data Source16.2.1 Secondary Sources16.2.2 Primary Sources16.3 DisclaimerPurchase Complete Report atReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.Contact Us:533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.com
Smoking Cessation and Nicotine De-addiction Products Market to Cross US$20.55 bn by 2023

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The global market for smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products stood is expected to reach an overall valuation of US$20.55 bn by the fall of year 2023. The market is projected to achieve this growth at a CAGR of 13.7% over the course of the forecast period of 2015-2023. It is expected that during this forecast period, the sale of e-cigarette will rise as the customers will prefer this type of therapy to quit their smoking addiction or cut down the nicotine dependency. Thus, this product segment is expected to show a healthy growth with a CAGR of 20.5%. Geographically, it is projected that North America market will contribute majorly in the global market and reach the overall valuation of US$8.59 bn.The increasing issues of high dependence on nicotine and subsequent health problems have led to the creation of many opportunities in the global market for products of smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction. Some of the key players in the global smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products market include names such as Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, VMR Products LLC, Lorillard Inc., NJOY, and Nicotek LLC. These players are making considerable investments in carrying out clinical experiments to examine efficacy and safety to the products.Moreover, the companies are also bolstering their channels of distribution to expand their geographical reach of their products. Companies are taking strategic decisions such as mergers and acquisitions to enhance their market share. Recently NJOY LLC procured the assets of NJOY INC. as the former company completed its financial restructuring. This has marked a fresh financial start for the brand NJOY and is expected to function better in the market with added liquidity due to this acquisition.View and Download TOC of Smoking Cessation and Nicotine De-addiction Products Market Research Report@Ill Effects of Smoking Propel Demand for Smoking Cessation and Nicotine De-Addiction ProductsThe increasing awareness among cigarette smokers about the health disadvantages of smoking and nicotine such as cardiac diseases, lung cancer, and other different respiratory problems has propelled the global cigarette cessation and nicotine de-addiction products market. The initiatives backed by governments to create awareness about the ill effects of smoking with the help of information brochures, television advertisements, warning labels and discouraging imagery on cigarette packages, and newspapers are also helping to drive the market. Moreover, availability of a wide range of NRT products through online selling platforms and retail is also fueling the overall growth of the market.This rising awareness is also backed by de-addiction camps and help centers that make use of the smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products to aid smokers for long term. Retailing of such products has turned out to be an efficient strategy towards educating the masses and also generating high revenues and profits. The launch of new products is driving the global market as well as motivating smoking addicts to quit. The introduction of e-cigarettes has completely revolutionized the viewpoint towards de-addiction among numerous smokers.Request and Download Sample Report@Lack of Awareness in Emerging Economies Impede Market GrowthIn contrast, poor awareness about the smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products in the emerging economies such as China, Russia, and India are playing a significant role in impeding the market growth. Many smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products were launched very late in these markets and thus the growth in these market is at a very nascent stage. Moreover, the distribution and penetration of other smoking cessation and nicotine de-addiction products such as patches, inhalers, and lozenges is also significantly low. This has also led to slowing down the growth of the global market.Buy Full Smoking Cessation and Nicotine De-addiction Products Market Report@Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:TMR Blog:
Inhalation and Nasal Spray Generic Drugs Market to Cross US$35 bn by 2023

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Regional markets such as Asia Pacific and Latin America show immense growth promise for generic drugs owing to the cost-conscious consumer base. However, these regions present immense challenge for new companies owing to the presence of a large number of local and regional players. Nevertheless, strategic collaborations could enable international companies to establish their businesses. TMR estimates that the global inhalation and nasal spray generic drugs market will exhibit a 5.5% CAGR over the period between 2015 and 2023, rising to a valuation of US$35 bn by 2023.The global market for inhalation and nasal spray generic drugs features a largely fragmented, not to mention intensely competitive owing to pricing pressures, vendor landscape, with the top four companies accounting for a nearly 46% of the overall market in 2014, observes Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a recent report. These leading companies, namely Sandoz International GmbH, Mylan N.V., Allergan PLC, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., are focusing on growth strategies such as geographical expansion and mergers and acquisitions across high-growth potential regional markets.View and Download TOC of Inhalation and Nasal Spray Generic Drugs Market Research Report@Asia Pacific to Lead to Healthy Growth Avenues for Inhalation and Nasal Spray Generic DrugsOn the basis of drug class, the segment of combinations, which accounted for the dominant share in revenue in 2014 and 2015, is expected to remain the leading drug class over the reports forecast period as well. The segment is expected to reach the valuation of US$6.4 bn in 2016. In terms of geography, the market for inhalation and nasal spray generic drugs in Asia Pacific is projected to emerge as the regional market with the most promising growth opportunities over the forecast period. The two leading regional markets in the present scenario - North America and Europe, will continue to constitute the top share in terms of revenue contribution over the forecast period, but will lead to less promising growth opportunities as compared to Asia Pacific owing chiefly to mature marketplaces and more preferences to branded drugs.Cost Effectiveness of Generic Drugs Help Boost SalesLooming patent expirations of some of the leading drug classes prescribed for a number of inhalation-related conditions is one of the key factors boosting the sales of generic inhalation and nasal spray drugs. The substantially low costs of generic drugs are also a key factor behind the higher preference given to them across cost-conscious regions.Request and Download Sample Report@The increased awareness regarding the significant reduction in the cost burden of treatment of a number of commonly occurring diseases on the overall healthcare funds of a country are also compelling government and healthcare authorities to educate masses about the variety of generic drugs available in the market. Moreover, the vast rise in prevalence of breathing-related conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma across the globe and the rising demand to lower down healthcare costs are also expected to drive the market.Stringent Regulations in Emerging Economies Could Hinder Growth ProspectsOwing to the large number of companies foraying into the generics sector for inhalation and nasal spray drugs, quality and integrity of generic inhalers is increasingly becoming a cause of concern for the masses as well as authoritative healthcare bodies in emerging economies. Countries such as Brazil and India are increasingly featuring strict regulations concerned with the process of approving new generics. These regulations are expected to hinder the growth opportunities of the global inhalation and nasal spray generic drugs market to a certain extent in the next few years.Buy Full Inhalation and Nasal Spray Generic Drugs Market Report@Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:TMR Blog:
Regenerative Artificial Skin Market - Technological breakthroughs, Value chain and stakeholder analysis by 2026

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Skin is the biggest organ in the body also it is one of the most important organ in the body. Skin act as a barrier between outside environment and inside body environment. Skin help to maintain moisture level in the body. Skin is responsible for the temperature regulation in the body through sweating. Skin protects body by keeping harmful bacteria outside the body. Skin have many nerve ends, this helps to respond heat, pressure, touch, cold and pain. Skin helps to synthesis Vitamin D, which is required for normal bone and teeth growth. Skin has two layer epidermal layer and a dermal layer. The epidermal layer is the outer layer that acts as the bodys major barrier against uncertain conditions. The dermal layer is the layer of skin between the epidermal and the subcutaneous tissues. Accidental skin burns are increasing day by day. Life threatening skin injuries, traumas and burns requires immediate surgical procedure to restore skin and avoid future complications. Skin burn may be due to heat, fire, radiation or chemical. Skin burns are of three levels i.e. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns.A first degree burn affects the only outer layer of skin cause redness, pain and swelling, a second degree burn effects on the outer layer as well as under skin layer and may extends downward into the dermis. Third degree burn affects the all layer of skins and deep to the internal organs. Artificial skin are generally prepared from collagen which is easily resorbed by body helps to generate the new skin on the affected part. Continuous research are carried out by various companies to develop new technology in the artificial skin regeneration, such as autologous spray on skin by Avita Medical.Browse Full Report With ToC @Regenerative Artificial Skin Market: Drivers and RestraintsRegenerative artificial skin market is expected rise owing to rising incidence of the burns and increased accidents involved fire. Apart from this, increased skin diseases, harmful acid accidents and major body surgeries positively impact regenerative artificial skin market over the forecast period. However regulatory approve of regenerative artificial skin act as hamper the growth of market. Also acceptance by body, sterile product and nutritional supply to regain the natural structure hamper the growth of regenerative artificial skin market.Regenerative Artificial Skin Market: SegmentationGlobal regenerative artificial skin market has been segmented on the basis of material type, end user and region.Based on the material type, the regenerative artificial skin market is segmented into the following:Temporary skin materialSingle layer materialBi-layered materialPermanent skin materialEpidermal skin materialDermal skin materialComposite skin materialSkin graftAllograftXenograftEngineered skin materialBased on the end user, the global regenerative artificial skin market is segmented into the following:HospitalsClinicsBurn care centersRegenerative Artificial Skin Market: OverviewGlobal regenerative artificial skin market is undergoing changes due to the burn management reforms in several nations like United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Furthermore several companies in the market place increasing their product portfolio in regenerative artificial skin market may change the market dynamics over a given period of forecast. By material type, sub segment such as engineered skin material in the global regenerative artificial skin market are expected to grow in positive traction owing to its immediate capability composite skin material and success rate in artificial skin regeneration. According to The American Burn Association estimated that in 2015, 486,000 population receive medical treatment for minor burns and 70,000 population are hospitalized for sever skin burn for acute care.Regenerative Artificial Skin Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, regenerative artificial skin market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America and Europe will remain key markets for regenerative artificial skin market due to deeper market penetration of the procedures and strong presence of big players in the market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to register positive growth owing to increased cosmetic surgeries and rising incidence of the accidental burns.Request For Report sample @Regenerative Artificial Skin Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the Global regenerative artificial skin market are Integra Life Sciences Corporation, Mylan N.V., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. Smith & Nephew and Mallinckrodt plc.About UsFuture Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Contct UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market to Cross US$219.60 bn by 2023

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The opportunity in the global active pharmaceutical market was pegged at US$134.7 bn in 2015 and is poised to rise to US$219.60 bn by 2023, progressing at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2015 and 2023.The frontrunners in the global active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) market in 2015, according to a study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), were North China Pharmaceutical Group Corp. (NCPC), Zhejiang Medicine Co. Ltd and Zhejiang NHU Co. Ltd., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. Key players are banking on strategic mergers and acquisitions to expand their presence across different geographies. Besides this, players are also focusing towards research and development activities to deliver result-oriented drugs. The global API market features high entry and exit barriers owing to the large capital investment requirement for set-up, says TMRs lead analyst.North America to Lead Revenue Generation through 2023On the basis of therapeutic area, the global API market will be dominated by cardiovascular disorders throughout the forecast period. The segment is also expected to expand at a significant CAGR of 6.63% during the same period. Geographically, North America will be at the forefront of growth in terms of revenue until 2023. The domicile of some pharmaceutical giants and the advent of biosimilars is providing a competitive edge to North America over other regions. Emerging countries such as China, India, and South Korea will offer ample of lucrative growth opportunities to market players.View and Download TOC of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market Research Report@Rising Penetration of Information Technology in Healthcare Sector to Bode Well for Growth of API MarketWith exponentially rising demand for drugs, the global API market is expected to follow a notable growth trajectory during the forecast period. Considering the rapidly growing global population, technological advancements, and widening pool of patients suffering from chronic diseases, the pace of development of drugs is likely to increase by leaps and bounds, says a TMR analyst. The rising geriatric population worldwide is also escalating the demand for various types of drugs, which in turn working in favor of the global market.Moreover, the improving access to healthcare in emerging countries coupled with the increasing penetration of information and communication technology in the healthcare sector is positively impacting the growth of the market. In addition, the increasing healthcare budgets in both developed and developing countries are also triggering the sales of API. Besides this, the increasing efforts by Indian API manufacturers to comply with the U.S. FDA norms are also stoking the growth of the overall market.Request and Download Sample Report@Empowering Presence of Generic Drugs to Inhibit Adoption of APIThe burgeoning sales of generic drugs are acting as a major bottleneck in the development of the global API market. The patent expiry along with the shortage of blockbuster drugs, poor accessibility in remote areas of several emerging countries, and unaffordability are fuelling the consumption of generic drugs. However, several government organizations are taking measures to mitigate this issue. The European Union (EU) are setting up manufacturing facilities that not only help in improving the quality of the drugs sold in the market, but also in ensuring the sales of government-approved and quality-checked scientifically-developed drugs.Buy Full Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market Report@Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:TMR Blog:
Global market- Hemophilia A and B 2017 key players, share, trend, segmentation and forecast to 2026

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Hemophilia A and B MarketReportsMonitor has added a report on Hemophilia A and B Market.Hemophilia A and B are rare recessionary X-linked genetic need in the blood clotting factors VIII and IX, respectively, and are defined by the failure of blood to form normal clots after harm to veins and tissue. In the 7MM, patients with severe forms of the disease are increasingly treated on a prophylactic basis rather than on demand after bleeds. The frequent prophylactic infusions of rFVIII or rFIX begin from the first one or two years of life, often continuing through adulthood.If you want sample of this Report -SummaryThe hemophilia market has been dominated by short-acting rFVIII or FIX concentrates. However, in recent years the hemophilia market has become increasingly competitive due to the approval of extended half-life products that can reduce the burden associated with prophylaxis. These improvements have mainly benefited hemophilia B patients, while a substantial unmet need remains for hemophilia A patients and patients with inhibitors who do not respond to standard treatments.Key Questions Answered- What are the key drivers behind the increasing uptake and market penetration of the long-acting factor concentrates in hemophilia A and B, since their approval in 2014, and what is the trend in the use of long-acting factors in the forecast period?- The hemophilia market is characterized by a number of unmet needs. What are the main unmet needs in this market? Will the pipeline drugs under development fulfil these unmet needs?Scope- Overview of hemophilia, including epidemiology, etiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and disease management.- Annualized hemophilia therapeutics market revenue, cost of therapy per patient, and treatment usage patterns in nine patient segments and two treatment strategies (episodic and prophylactic treatment), forecast from 2016 to 2026.- Key topics covered include strategic competitor assessment, market characterization, unmet needs, clinical trial mapping, and implications for the hemophilia therapeutics market.If you want to check Discount on this Report -Table Of Contents1 Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 71.2 List of Figures 112 Executive Summary 122.1 Sales for Hemophilia A and B Recombinant Therapies by Region, 2016-2026 132.2 Long-Acting rFVIIIs Have Not Lived Up to Expectations 142.3 Inhibitor Segment to Devalue Post-Alternative Coagulation Promoter Launch 162.4 Roches Emicizumab to Radically Impact Hemophilia A and Inhibitor Segments 162.5 Treatment Cost to Remain a Major Unmet Need 162.6 New Comers to Take Over Market Space From Established Companies 172.7 What Do Physicians Think? 183 Introduction 193.1 Catalyst 193.2 Related Reports 203.3 Upcoming Related Reports 21Continue.......Full Report Access -Reports Monitor is a platform to meet the market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Address: Office C & D - 4th Floor, Siddhi Towers, Above Rupee Bank, Kondhwa Road, Pune 411048, Maharashtra, India
Endocrine Testing Market exhibiting a robust 8.50% CAGR between 2015 and 2023.

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Global Endocrine Testing Market: SnapshotEndocrine testing refers to a group of tests performed to assess the overall function of the patients endocrine system. The release of hormones is linked to a variety of diseases, which makes them a solid indicator to reveal the nature and extent of diseases. The rising awareness about the solid connection between hormones and diseases has led to steady growth of the global endocrine testing market in the recent past. The market is expected to rise to a valuation of US$12.8 bn by the end of 2023, exhibiting a robust 8.50% CAGR between 2015 and 2023.Rising Incidence of Diabetes to Propel Demand for Endocrine TestingOne of the key drivers for the global endocrine testing market is the rising number of patients suffering from diabetes. The crucial role played by insulin in the development and post-diagnostic management of diabetes makes it the key segment of the global endocrine testing market. The prevalence of diabetes is driven by the rising consumption of sugary foods across the world, accompanied by the widespread adherence to a sedentary lifestyle, particularly in developed regions such as North America and Europe.Request to Download and View Full TOC @The rising prevalence of obesity is another major factor contributing to the growth of the global endocrine testing market. Obesity can often be caused by hormonal imbalance, the treatment for which requires endocrine testing. Obesity is also a contributing factor to the rising incidence of diabetes, as it promotes a sedentary lifestyle and is usually accompanied by excessive consumption of high-sugar food.On the other hand, the high costs of some advanced endocrine testing technologies are a major restraint against the global endocrine testing market. Despite their utility in the diagnosis of a variety of diseases, endocrine testing remains unaffordable for a significant part of the population in developing regions, which is unlikely to change in the near future. The lack of general awareness about healthcare in underdeveloped regions has also held back the growth of the global endocrine testing market.Request to View Sample Report @Rapid Growth of Endocrine Testing Market Expected in Asia PacificGeographically, the global endocrine testing market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The presence of leading healthcare industry players in North America and Europe has resulted in steady dominance of these two regions in the global endocrine testing market. The rising awareness among the general population in countries such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, etc. regarding the importance of endocrine testing is likely to keep these the two leading regional endocrine testing markets in the coming years.Nevertheless, the endocrine testing market is expected to exhibit rapid growth in Asia Pacific in the coming years. The rising prevalence of diabetes in Southeast Asia is a major driver for the endocrine testing market in Asia Pacific. In addition to this, the rising government support to the healthcare sector in countries such as India, Thailand, China, Australia, Japan, and South Korea is likely to be a key factor in the development of the Asia Pacific endocrine testing market.Buy Full Endocrine Testing Market Report @By end use, commercial laboratories are likely to remain the dominant segment of the global endocrine testing market in the coming years. Hospitals, physician offices, ambulatory care centers, and home-based testing are the other significant end uses of endocrine testing techniques. The convenience of outsourcing testing procedures to commercial laboratories is the key factor driving their demand in the global endocrine testing market.Browse Full Report @Key players in the global endocrine testing market include Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., Agilent Technologies, Biomedical Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories, LabCorp, F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Siemens AG. Of these, Abbott Laboratories and F. Hoffman-La Roche are likely to continue as the dominant leaders in the global endocrine testing market through the forecast period.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453
Global Jute Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025

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IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Jute & Jute-Like Fibers - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025" ().This report contains an in-depth survey of the global jute market. Within it, you will find out the latest data on market trends and opportunities by country, consumption, production and price developments, as well as the global trade (imports and exports). The forecast displays the market prospects through 2025.Countries coverage: Worldwide - the report contains statistical data for 200 countries and includes detailed profiles of the 50 largest consuming countries (United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Russian Federation, India, Canada, Australia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Netherlands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Sweden, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Norway, Austria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Denmark, South Africa, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Egypt, Philippines, Finland, Chile, Ireland, Pakistan, Greece, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Czech Republic, Qatar, Peru, Romania, Vietnam) + the largest producing countries.Product coverage:JuteBast Fibers, OtherData coverage: Jute market volume and value; Per Capita consumption; Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term; Global jute production, split by region and country; Global jute trade (exports and imports); Producer, export and import prices for jute; Jute market trends, drivers and restraints; Key market players and their profiles.Reasons to buy this report: Take advantage of the latest data; Find deeper insights into current market developments; Discover vital success factors affecting the market.Source:IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QW
Global Vegetable Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025

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IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Vegetables (Primary) - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025" ().This report provides an in-depth study of the global vegetable market. Within it, you will find the latest data on market trends and opportunities by country, consumption, production and price developments, as well as the global trade (imports and exports). The forecast reveals the market projections through 2025.Countries coverage: Worldwide - the report contains statistical data for 200 countries and includes detailed profiles of the 50 largest consuming countries (United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Russian Federation, India, Canada, Australia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Netherlands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Sweden, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Norway, Austria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Denmark, South Africa, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Egypt, Philippines, Finland, Chile, Ireland, Pakistan, Greece, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Czech Republic, Qatar, Peru, Romania, Vietnam) + the largest producing countries.Product coverage:Cabbage And Other BrassicasArtichokesAsparagusLettuce And ChicorySpinachCassava leavesTomatoCauliflower And BroccoliPumpkins, squash And gourdsCucumbers And GherkinsEggplant (Aubergine)Chilies And Peppers, greenOnion, shallots, greenOnion, dryGarlicLeeks, Other Alliaceous VegetablesBeans, greenPeas, greenVegetables, leguminousString BeansCarrot And TurnipOkraMaize, greenMushrooms And TrufflesVegetables, FreshWatermelonsMelons, Other (inc. cantaloupes)Data coverage: Vegetable market volume and value; Per Capita consumption; Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term; Global vegetable production, split by region and country; Global vegetable trade (exports and imports); Producer, export and import prices for vegetable; Vegetable market trends, drivers and restraints; Key market players and their profiles.Reasons to buy this report: Take advantage of the latest data; Find deeper insights into current market developments; Discover vital success factors affecting the market.Source:IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QW
Global Goat Hides And Skins Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025

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IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Goat Or Kid Hides And Skins - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025" ().This report covers an in-depth analysis of the global hide market. Within it, you will find out the latest data on market trends and opportunities by country, consumption, production and price developments, as well as the global trade (imports and exports). The outlook outlines the market prospects through 2025.Countries coverage: Worldwide - the report contains statistical data for 200 countries and includes detailed profiles of the 50 largest consuming countries (United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Russian Federation, India, Canada, Australia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Netherlands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Sweden, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Norway, Austria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Denmark, South Africa, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Egypt, Philippines, Finland, Chile, Ireland, Pakistan, Greece, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Czech Republic, Qatar, Peru, Romania, Vietnam) + the largest producing countries.Product coverage:Raw Hides And Skins Of CattleData coverage: Hide market volume and value; Per Capita consumption; Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term; Global hide production, split by region and country; Global hide trade (exports and imports); Producer, export and import prices for hide; Hide market trends, drivers and restraints; Key market players and their profiles.Reasons to buy this report: Take advantage of the latest data; Find deeper insights into current market developments; Discover vital success factors affecting the market.Source:IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world. You can find more than 25,000 research reports in our web store, which cover global industries and regional markets. All the worldwide marketing data you need is at your fingertips.Company Name: IndexBoxContact Person: Kirill BezverhiEmail: kirill.bezverhi@indexbox.co.ukPhone: +44 20 3239 3063Adress: United Kingdom, 44 Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML11 0QW
Global Soft Magnetic Materials Market 2017 - TDK, DMEGC, VACUUMSCHMELZE, MAGNETICS, TDG, Acme Electronics

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The report studies the global Soft Magnetic Materials Market for taking the export and import data as well as the present industry chain & growth and development of supply and demand of Soft Magnetic Materials into consideration. The research analysis includes each and every characteristic of the global market, which begins from the description of the global market and concludes towards the global market separation. Moreover, every category of the global market is divided and examined based on types of goods, their uses, and the end-use companies of the global market.Read Complete Report @The geological separation of the global market has also been analyzed deeply in this report. The competitive background of the global market is based on the evaluation of production capability, various market contestants, the overall income generated by each company in the global market, and production chain of Soft Magnetic Materials market worldwide. The report is also examined based on the size of production for Soft Magnetic Materials, price of the product, the income gained by the goods, and information regarding demand and supply of Soft Magnetic Materials. Multiple methodical tools such as probability, asset returns, and analysis of pleasant appearance of market has been used in the analysis to give a complete study of the market for Soft Magnetic Materials worldwide.The report also estimates the manufacture capacity, properties of demand and supply, detail analysis, and the chronological presentation of the global market.The Soft Magnetic Materials industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Soft Magnetic Materials market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 1.84% from 2130 million $ in 2013 to 2250 million $ in 2016,analysts believe that in the next few years, Soft Magnetic Materials market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2021 , The market size of the Soft Magnetic Materials will reach 2360 million $.The report covers a deep analysis of existing policies, rules and regulations, and industrial chain. Along with this, other factors such as key producers, their chain of production, goods, supply and demand for these goods, price structures for global market as well as the revenue are also covered in this report.This report covers every point of the global market, starting from the basic market information and advancing further to different significant criteria, on the basis of which, the global market is classified. Key application areas of Soft Magnetic Materials are also assessed on the basis of their performance.Section 1: Free--DefinitionSection (2 3): --Manufacturer Detail (TDK, DMEGC, VACUUMSCHMELZE, MAGNETICS, TDG, Acme Electronics, FERROXCUBE, Nanjing New Conda, Haining Lianfeng Magnet)Section 4: --Region Segmentation (United States, Canada, South America, China, Japan, India, Korea, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Europe, Middle East, Africa, GCC)Section (5 6 7): --Product Type (Metallic Alloys Soft Magnetic Material, Soft Ferrites Material, , , ), Industry(Consumer Electronics, Household appliances, Communication, Automotive, LED) and Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) SegmentationSection 8: --Trend (2017-2021)Section 9: --Product Type DetailSection 10: --Downstream ConsumerSection 11: --Cost StructureSection 12: --ConclusionRequest for Sample Report @About Us:MarketResearchStore is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com
SEMIKRON Compact Soft Starter Modules at GD Rectifiers

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Product RangeSEMIKRONs SEMiSTART power modules are available in three housing sizes for overload currents ranging from 560A to 3080A. All overload current classes are available for voltages of 1400V and 1800V.Key Features- Up to 3080A- Qualified plug and play subsystem- Robust pressure contact technology- Double-sided cooling for high load cycle capability- Excellent thermal performance- 560A up to 3080A overload currentBenefitsSEMIKRONs SEMiSTART are power modules integrated with heat sinks, the provide an ultra-compact design for soft-start applications. They feature double-sided cooling along with pressure contact technology allowing for a high current capability with overload currents of up to 3080A for 20s overload duration. SEMiSTART is a robust plug and play subsystem that helps reduce development time and system costs.ApplicationsSEMIKRONs SEMiSTART range of anti-parallel thyristor modules are designed for soft-start applications.GD Rectifiers first started distributing SEMIKRONs semiconductors, heat sinks and power assemblies in 1964. With over 50 years experience in the power electronics industry, GD Rectifiers are one of the UKs leading SEMIKRON distributors, offering unrivalled high pricing, fast delivery and customer service.For further information on SEMIKRONs product range click here or call us today on: 01444 243 452 or email: enquiries@gdrectifiers.co.uk.GD Rectifiers is a Global Manufacturer and Distributor of products, services and solutions to commercial and industrial users of power electronic components.Established in 1964, GD Rectifiers has over 50 years of extensive experience across a large range of markets, specialising in new and current technologies for industrial power control applications. An extensive product offering has built GD Rectifiers exceptional reputation as the go-to power specialist with innovative experience across: Aviation, Automotive, Rail, Medical, Industrial and Electronics markets.GD Rectifiers have extensive experience in the rail industry and are RISQS Qualified.GD Rectifiers are an ISO 9001:2015 registered company that design and develop bespoke power semiconductor assemblies to control voltage, current and frequency for international industrial markets.Bentley House2 William WayBurgess HillWest SussexRH15 9AG
Global Sprocket Market 2017 - Tsubaki, Martin Sprocket & Gear, SCS, Katayama, Linn Gear, SKF, Renold

Sprocket Market

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The report studies the global Sprocket Market for taking the export and import data as well as the present industry chain & growth and development of supply and demand of Sprocket into consideration. The research analysis includes each and every characteristic of the global market, which begins from the description of the global market and concludes towards the global market separation. Moreover, every category of the global market is divided and examined based on types of goods, their uses, and the end-use companies of the global market.Read Complete Report @The geological separation of the global market has also been analyzed deeply in this report. The competitive background of the global market is based on the evaluation of production capability, various market contestants, the overall income generated by each company in the global market, and production chain of Sprocket market worldwide. The report is also examined based on the size of production for Sprocket, price of the product, the income gained by the goods, and information regarding demand and supply of Sprocket. Multiple methodical tools such as probability, asset returns, and analysis of pleasant appearance of market has been used in the analysis to give a complete study of the market for Sprocket worldwide.The report also estimates the manufacture capacity, properties of demand and supply, detail analysis, and the chronological presentation of the global market.The Sprocket industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Sprocket market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 2.09% from 328 million $ in 2013 to 349 million $ in 2016,analysts believe that in the next few years, Sprocket market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2021 , The market size of the Sprocket will reach 384 million $.The report covers a deep analysis of existing policies, rules and regulations, and industrial chain. Along with this, other factors such as key producers, their chain of production, goods, supply and demand for these goods, price structures for global market as well as the revenue are also covered in this report.This report covers every point of the global market, starting from the basic market information and advancing further to different significant criteria, on the basis of which, the global market is classified. Key application areas of Sprocket are also assessed on the basis of their performance.Section 1: Free--DefinitionSection (2 3): --Manufacturer Detail (Tsubaki, Martin Sprocket & Gear, SCS, Katayama, Linn Gear, SKF, Renold, Renqiu Chuangyi, G&G Manufacturing, Allied Locke)Section 4: --Region Segmentation (United States, Canada, South America, China, Japan, India, Korea, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Europe, Middle East, Africa, GCC)Section (5 6 7): --Product Type (Stainless Steel Sprocket, Aluminum Sprocket, , , ), Industry(Chemical Industry, Textile Machinery Industry, Food Processing Industry, Instrument Industry, ) and Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) SegmentationSection 8: --Trend (2017-2021)Section 9: --Product Type DetailSection 10: --Downstream ConsumerSection 11: --Cost StructureSection 12: --ConclusionRequest for Sample Report @About Us:MarketResearchStore is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com
Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) Market Expected To Be Worth US$ 285 Billion Globally By 2024

Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) Market

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In this report, the global TIC market is segmented by type, sourcing activity, end-user industry, and region. On the basis of type, the market is segmented into testing, inspection, and certification. The market on the basis of sourcing activity is segmented into in-house and outsourced. The TIC market is segmented on end-user industries, namely, petroleum, environmental, consumer goods, agriculture, mining, construction & infrastructure, manufacturing, oil & gas, and chemical.The global testing, inspection and certification (TIC) market is expected to reach US$ 285 billion by 2024, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% during the forecast period.A glimpse of the report structure is provided in the report description available on the website.Rising trend of outsourcing TIC services to third party service providers and stringent regulations to ensure the quality and safety of products are driving the market. In addition, increasing product diversification in several industries and globalization are expected to fuel the growth of the TIC market. However, different regulations and standards across various regions are expected to hamper the growth of the TIC market.The Testing, Inspection and Certification Market has been segmented as below:By Application AnalysisTextileAutomationAutomotiveFood and beverageAerospaceOil and gasOthersBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldBureau Veritas SA, Intertek Group PLC, SGS Group, ALS Ltd., ASTM International, AsureQuality Ltd., Dekra SE, Underwriters Laboratories Inc, Lloyd's Register Group Limited, DNV GL, TUV SUD AG, and TUV Rheinland Group are the most active players in the TIC market.This report covers the TIC market, in terms of value, and forecasts the market size till 2024. It includes the market segmentation by type, sourcing activity, end-user industry, and region. In addition, the report identifies key growth segments and opportunities in the industry. This report also covers detailed competitive outlook including the share and company profiles of the key players in the global market. Company profile includes company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis, and current developments.Request Free Sample Report:This deep-dive study on the automotive sensors market will help customers identify new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans.Table of Contents1. INTRODUCTION2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Data2.1.1 Secondary Data2.1.1.1 Key Data From Secondary Sources2.1.2 Primary Data2.1.2.1 Key Data From Primary Sources2.1.2.2 Key Industry Insights2.1.2.3 Breakdown of Primaries2.2 Market Size Estimation2.2.1 Bottom-Up Approach2.2.2 Top-Down Approach2.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation2.4 Research Assumptions3 Executive Summary4 Premium Insights6 Industry Trends7 TIC Market, By Type8 TIC Market, By Sourcing Activity9 TIC Market, By End-User Industry10 Geographic Analysis11 Competitive Landscape12 Company Profile12.1 Introduction12.2 SGS Group12.3 Bureau Veritas S.A.12.4 Intertek Group PLC12.5 TUV SUD Group12.6 Dekra Certification GmbH12.7 ALS Limited12.8 ASTM International12.9 BSI Group12.10 Exova Group PLC12.11 TUV Rheinland A.G.12.12 TUV Nord Group12.13 SAI Global Limited12.14 Eurofins Scientific12.15 Mistras Group, Inc.12.16 UL LLCAbout UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Global Market Study on Frameless Brushless DC Motors: Medical Devices Application Segment Projected to Gain Significant BPS During 2017-2025

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The exhaustive research report titled Frameless Brushless DC Motor Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2025 will give a broad spectrum of all the aspects involved along with forecasts to identify major revenue pockets in the future as well.Request For Sample Report :The research report on frameless brushless DC motor market covers product portfolios, pipeline analysis of key companies, their strategies to maintain their present scenario in the market, their global presence and future expansion plans, mergers and acquisitions, distribution channel analysis, pricing analysis, product positioning tactics, etc. An entire section is dedicated to the competitive landscape, which includes information on the key players in the frameless brushless DC motor market both from the manufacturing side as well as the demand side. Alongside competitive scenario, the research report also focuses on the application side. The end user analysis is equally important as they are the revenue generators in the market. With this analyses, it would be easier to identify potential prospects, understand their behavior, spending power etc. The end user intelligence provides insights that can be used to devise strategies in order to achieve growth and tap more revenue pockets.Understanding the global market  a worldwide perspectiveThe research report on frameless brushless DC motor market provides exhaustive analysis on market share, demand and supply analysis, sales volume and value analysis of various products, competition etc., with respect to important geographies of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America, and Middle East and Africa (MEA) along with a regional breakdown. These regions are analyzed keeping in view several aspects that influence the growth of the frameless brushless DC motor market. The report contains an outline of forces that affect the global market scenario. Porters Five Forces analysis is also covered along with PESTEL analysis for the regions covered.This gives an idea of how to plan market entry strategies, establish connect with various customers and target audience and to establish a foothold in that area. The unbiased holistic 3600 view of the frameless brushless DC motor market is what the research report puts forth and assists in making informed decisions basis the market survey.A robust intelligence backbone underpins the studyFor every research, a plan is essential to make it more fruitful. A more robust, unique and effective research methodology is followed in the market study that enables a near 100 percent accuracy from all angles. The research process uses primary research, secondary research and expert opinions to get a thorough understanding of the market. Initial secondary research is used to understand and analyze a broad view of the market, basis which primary interviews are conducted and data is gathered. Expert opinions are also tabulated and the data is cross verified. Each data point is rechecked and re-evaluated as the primary interview progresses. This enables the analysts to craft the research report with optimum accuracy. With this study it is possible to obtain actionable intelligence that can be used in the execution phase directly.An extensive segmentation is mapped during the research around the frameless brushless DC motor market. This ensures that all angles are covered in the research making it even more credible giving a realistic view of the market with an all-inclusive feature.Enquire About This Report :How can this research report add value to your research?Each organization has its own integral research team. Persistence Market Research extends support to organizations by doing all the heavy weight lifting and coordinating with their research teams to assist them in their tasks and overcome their challenges. Our report offers an unbiased third party opinion and explores every facet of the market that can be used as a tool to gain competitive edge. From product idealization to product launch and extending to product commercialization  the report adds huge value. Some of the features of our report include expert opinions and recommendations for valuable insights and a thorough analysis of the trends and opportunities shaping the market.Browse Full Report with TOC :About UsMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTelephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Global Induction Cooker Detailed Analysis on Size, Status & Application Forecast 2022

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Global Induction Cooker Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market, highlighting opportunities, risk analysis, and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. This study recognizes that in this quick-evolving, competitive environment, up-to-date industry information is essential to monitor performance & make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, and on the changing structure of the Market.The Market consists of different international, regional, and local vendors. The market competition is foreseen to grow higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the future. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Get Access to sample pages @Global market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includes(Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Home CommercialThe research study is segmented by Application such as with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.(Thousands Units) by Application (2016-2022)Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringThis independent 176 page research with title Global Induction Cooker Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 guarantees you will remain better informed than your competition. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions/countries like Rosewill, United States, Secura, United States, Gourmia, United States, TAYAMA, United States, Inducto, United States, Ensue, United States, LOSCATO, United States, MIDEA, United States, GasOne, United States, NuWave PIC, United States, Imusa, United States, Aroma Housewares, United States, Chefs Star, United States, NutriChef, United States, Duxtop, United States, Midea(China) Joyoung(China) SUPOR(China) Shangpengtang, China, Lecon, China, POVOS, China, AUX, China, Taigroo, China, CHIGO, China, Haier, China, KONKA, China, DUVOG, China, Ating, China, SEKO, China, PHILIPS, Netherlands, and important players/vendors such as . With n-number of tables and figures examining the , the research gives you a visual, one-stop breakdown of the leading products, submarkets and market leaders market revenue forecasts as well as analysis to 2022Further it focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @The study is organized with the help of primary and secondary data collection including valuable information from key vendors and participants in the industry. It includes historical data from 2012 to 2016 and projected forecasts till 2022 which makes the research study a valuable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry related data in readily accessible documents with easy to analyze graphs and tables. The report answers future development trend of on the basis of stating current situation of the industry in 2017 to assist manufacturers and investment organization to better analyze the development course of Market.The research insights solutions to the following key questions:What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022?What are the key factors driving the market?Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the market?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the market?Buy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the market.Chapter 1, to describe Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of , with sales, revenue, and price of , in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of , for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in Rosewill, United States, Secura, United States, Gourmia, United States, TAYAMA, United States, Inducto, United States, Ensue, United States, LOSCATO, United States, MIDEA, United States, GasOne, United States, NuWave PIC, United States, Imusa, United States, Aroma Housewares, United States, Chefs Star, United States, NutriChef, United States, Duxtop, United States, Midea(China) Joyoung(China) SUPOR(China) Shangpengtang, China, Lecon, China, POVOS, China, AUX, China, Taigroo, China, CHIGO, China, Haier, China, KONKA, China, DUVOG, China, Ating, China, SEKO, China, PHILIPS, Netherlands, ;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application [], from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get customization & check discount for report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact US :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218
Global Smart Antenna Sales Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis of Top Key Player Forecast to 2022

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SUMMARYWiseGuyReports published new report, titled Global Smart Antenna Sales Market ReportGeographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Smart Antenna for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanKoreaTaiwanGET SAMPLE REPORT @Smart Antenna market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Smart Antenna sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAccel NetworksAirgainMolexNovAtelTrimble NavigationHemisphere GNSSLairdHexagonNavicoZAPIAlien TechnologyMotorolaBroadcomPhilips SemiconductorQualcommNavini NetworksKyoceraOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growthrate of each type, primarily split intoSIMO (Single Input, Multiple Output)MISO (Multiple Input, Single Output)MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output)On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Smart Antenna for each application, includingWi-Fi SystemsWimax SystemsCellular SystemsBroadband and Wireless Access Networks (BWA)Table of Contents1 Global Smart Antenna Sales Market Report 20172 Global Smart Antenna Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application3 United States Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4 China Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5 Europe Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6 Japan Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7 Southeast Asia Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8 India Smart Antenna (Volume, Value and Sales Price)9 Global Smart Antenna Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data10 Smart Antenna Maufacturing Cost Analysis11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Global Smart Antenna Market Forecast (2017-2022)15 Research Findings and Conclusion16 Appendix..CONTINUEDWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPh: +91 841 198 5042info@wiseguyreports.com
Smokeless Tobacco Global Market 2017: Key Players  Altria Group, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Gallaher Group Plc, Universal Corporation

Smokeless Tobacco Market

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Smokeless Tobacco Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds Smokeless Tobacco Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:The report provides in depth study of Smokeless Tobacco Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The report identifies the strength factors of the organization that will help organizations to acquire a prominent market share, to rectify where the organization is lacking or some hole which is creating glitches for development product. Look out for more opportunities in the market, get up to date to avoid any threats, competitors and substitutes.The Smokeless Tobacco Market" report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.Global Smokeless Tobacco market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer;The top manufacturers/key players including,Altria GroupBritish American TobaccoImperial Tobacco GroupGallaher Group PlcUniversal CorporationReynolds Tobacco Company...Request a Sample Report @By types, the market can be split intoSnuffDipping TobaccoChewing TobaccoOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoPersonalCommercialBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points from Table of Content:1 Industry Overview of Smokeless Tobacco2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Smokeless Tobacco3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Smokeless Tobacco4 Global Smokeless Tobacco Overall Market Overview4.1 2012-2017E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis2012-2017E Global Smokeless Tobacco Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis2016 Smokeless Tobacco Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis2012-2017E Global Smokeless Tobacco Sales and Growth Rate Analysis2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis2012-2017E Global Smokeless Tobacco Sales Price2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 Smokeless Tobacco Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Smokeless Tobacco Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Smokeless Tobacco Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Smokeless Tobacco8.1 Altria GroupCompany ProfileProduct Picture and SpecificationsProduct AProduct BAltria Group 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin AnalysisAltria Group 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 British American TobaccoCompany ProfileProduct Picture and SpecificationsProduct AProduct BBritish American Tobacco 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin AnalysisBritish American Tobacco 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Imperial Tobacco GroupCompany ProfileProduct Picture and SpecificationsProduct AProduct BImperial Tobacco Group 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin AnalysisImperial Tobacco Group 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Gallaher Group PlcCompany ProfileProduct Picture and SpecificationsProduct AProduct BGallaher Group Plc 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin AnalysisGallaher Group Plc 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Universal CorporationCompany ProfileProduct Picture and SpecificationsProduct AProduct BUniversal Corporation 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin AnalysisUniversal Corporation 2016 Smokeless Tobacco Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Smokeless Tobacco Market10 Smokeless Tobacco Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Smokeless TobaccoContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Personal Care Packaging Market to Pegged At US$14.3 bn by 2020

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Leading market intelligence company Transparency Market Research has announced the release of a new market report, detailing the global personal care packaging market. The report, titled Personal Care Packaging Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013  2019, presents a comprehensive overview of the market, providing reliable market projections based on accurate historical data.Personal care packaging consists of various packaging options used to store personal care products such as soap, shampoo, oils, body lotions, and other cosmetics. While these items can be packaged in relatively simple materials such as paper or plastic, many personal care products require the packaging to be designed in such a way that not only is the product kept safe from damage, but it is also easy to remove and use. This necessitates the usage of bottles, pumps, or sprays for personal care packaging.View and Download TOC of Personal Care Packaging Market Research Report@The global market for personal care packaging is expected to be driven by the rising demand for personal care products. Skin care and hair care products are particularly in demand in developed as well as developing economies. The rising disposable income of consumers in developing countries has benefitted the personal care packaging market massively, as it has allowed consumers to splurge on luxuries such as personal care products.Rising awareness about the high levels of pollution in many developing countries and their adverse effect on skin and hair health is also a major factor propelling the global personal care products market, indirectly driving the market for personal care packaging.Accordingly, Asia Pacific held a dominant share in the global personal care packaging market in 2012. The rising urbanization in Asia Pacific is expected to keep the share of the region high in the coming years. North America and Europe followed Asia Pacific in the regional hierarchy of the global personal care packaging market. The Asia Pacific market for personal care packaging is expected to be valued at US$14.3 bn by 2020.Skin care and hair care were the largest application segments of the personal care packaging market in 2012, with the former emerging as the dominant segment. Since the skin and hair are left exposed to the elements as the first line of defense of the human body, the effects of pollution, UV rays, and other contaminants on them are the most conspicuous. Hair care products are expected to be the fastest growing application segment of the global personal care packaging market in the coming years due to the rising attention paid by almost all demographics to the health and appearance of hair.Request and Download Sample Report@By product type, the report projects the flexible packaging and rigid plastics segments to continue their dominance in the global personal care packaging market in the coming years. The two segments collectively accounted for around 80% of the global personal care packaging market in 2012, a level of dominance expected to remain largely unchanged in the forecast period. Paper, glass, and metal are the other major types of personal care packaging products in the global market.On the competitive front, the report profiles and describes the operations of major players in the global personal care packaging market, such as Amcor Ltd., Saint Gobain, Bemic Company, Inc., and Mondi. According to TMR analysts, the high scale of fragmentation of the global personal care packaging market is expected to remain unchanged in the coming years.Buy Full Personal Care Packaging Market Report@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Spray Antiperspirant Market Insights: Premium Market Research Report 2017

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Reports Monitor adds Global Spray Antiperspirant Market Research Report 2017 Its Database.In this report, the global Spray Antiperspirant market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Global Spray Antiperspirant market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingHenkelLorealUnileverBeiersdorfGodrejAmwayClinique Laboratories, llcA.P. DeauvilleP&GClarion Brands, LLCWalgreen CoGET SAMPLE REPORT @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Spray Antiperspirant in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMore detailed information, please feel free to contact :On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPhysical TypeChemical TypeMicrobial TypePlant TypeCompound TypeOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Spray Antiperspirant for each application, includingHouseholdHospitalOthersTable of Contents1 Spray Antiperspirant Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Spray Antiperspirant1.2 Spray Antiperspirant Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Spray Antiperspirant Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Spray Antiperspirant Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Physical Type1.2.4 Chemical Type1.2.5 Microbial Type1.2.6 Plant Type1.2.7 Compound Type1.3 Global Spray Antiperspirant Segment by Application1.3.1 Spray Antiperspirant Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 HouseholdBROWSE FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS and REPORT DESCRIPTION @About Us :Reports Monitor is a platform to meet the market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact Information:Jay MatthewsDirect: 1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Global Spirometer Market 2017 - MIR, Carefusion, NDD, MGC, Medikro

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Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Spirometer Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Spirometer Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global Spirometer industry, and estimates the future trend of Spirometer market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Spirometer Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportCarefusionSchillerCHEST. MI.MIRPMD HealthcareCosmedFukuda SangyoNihon KohdenGanshornMedikroNDDMGCKonica MinoltaWelch AllynVitalographAnhui Electronics Scientific InstituteM&BSichuan SikedaThe market research report explores the Spirometer market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Spirometer Market". The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Spirometer market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Spirometer. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Spirometer market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Spirometer is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Spirometer market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Spirometer market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Spirometer market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Spirometer production volume, data pertaining to demand and Spirometer supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Spirometer along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Spirometer across the world.Apex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Frank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite -
Armor Protection Systems Market Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2017-2025

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Armor protection systems are used to protect armored vehicle and soldiers from enemy attacks. The global rising concern for security is resulting into the need for armor protection systems for vehicle and soldiers safety. The market is expected to witness strong growth during the forecast period.There are several factors driving the demand for armor protection systems globally. The rising concern for terrorist activities in countries like Belgium, the U.S., and France among others has led to need for body armor and armor protection systems for the armed forces. Furthermore, these armor protection systems are flame resistant and shield the soldiers from heat during bomb attacks. Moreover Kevlar body armors are light and extremely strong against bullet attacks. Hence these are also preferred for the defense and law enforcement agencies. In addition, the traditional body armor is gradually being replaced with interceptor body armor systems which include ballistic plates. The body armor system includes collar device which protects the collar and throat, groin protector, axillary protection systems, back extender, combat diapers, side plate carriers and upper leg protector. The ballistic plate protects the armor from bullets from handgun and submachine gun. Furthermore it can also withstand lower velocity fragments. For vehicles, the armor protection systems are built with steel and heat absorbing materials which are soft and elastic in nature. These armor protection systems are even capable of countering anti-tank missiles, RPGs and roadside bombs. These factors are aiding to the growth of armor protection systems and the market is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period.Request Report Brochure @However, there are certain factors which are pulling the growth of the market to a certain extent. These armors are very heavy and hence slows the speed of the vehicle and soldiers considerably which is risky certain situations. Hence the factor is posing as a restraint for the global armor protection systems market. Furthermore, the high cost of armor protection systems is hindering the demand for protection systems in developing regions like Middle East & Africa and Latin America considerably.Nevertheless, research and developments are being conducted to develop light weight yet strong hybrid armor protection systems. These protection systems will be capable of providing necessary protection from small caliber weapons and the new form of weapons such as biochemical weapons. Hence the market for armor protection systems is expected to grow significantly in future.The global armor protection system can be bifurcated into types and geography. By types, the market can be broadly segmented into soldier protection systems and vehicle protection systems. The vehicle protection system is expected to dominate the global market in terms of revenue due to the increasing adoption of these systems by defense bodies in countries like the U.K., France and the U.S. among others. However, the rising threats of terrorist activities are expected to surge the demand for soldier protection systems significantly during the forecast period.By geography, the global market for armor protection systems has been segmented into five primary regions which include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. North America and Europe are actively focusing on using armor protection systems for their soldiers and vehicle and hence the regions are expected to be dominant during the forecast period. However, the Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa regions are also expected to drive the demand for armor protection systems in future due to the ongoing terrorist activities in countries like Iraq and Syria. Hence the demand is expected to rise during the forecast period.Visit For TOC @The major players in the UAV surveillance systems market include Rheinmetall Defence, ArmourWorks International, AirBoss Defense, Force 21 Equipment P Ltd., C.P.E Production Oy, Clifton Steel and International Armor Group among other manufacturers.About Us  Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Wireless Power Transmission Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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The exhaustive research report titled Wireless Power Transmission Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 will give a broad spectrum of all the aspects involved along with forecasts to identify major revenue pockets in the future as well.Request For Sample Report :This report analyzes and forecasts the market for wireless power transmission at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast based on revenue (US$ Mn) from 2017 to 2025. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global wireless power transmission market. It also covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on demand for wireless power transmission during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the wireless power transmission market at the global and regional level.The report comprises a detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global wireless power transmission market. Porters Five Forces model for the wireless power transmission market has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The report provides the estimated market size of wireless power transmission for 2016 and forecast for the next nine years. The global market size of wireless power transmission has been provided in terms of revenue. Market numbers have been estimated based on key technology, range, application, and regional segments of wireless power transmission market. Market size and forecast for each major technologies, ranges, and applications have been provided in terms of global and regional/country markets.Global Wireless Power Transmission Market: SegmentationThe study provides a decisive view of the global wireless power transmission market by segmenting it in terms of technology, range, application, and region. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for wireless power transmission in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for individual end-user segments in all the regions.Global Wireless Power Transmission Market: Competitive AnalysisThe study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global wireless power transmission market. Key players in the wireless power transmission market include SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS Co., Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd, and others. Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments. The market for wireless power transmission is primarily driven by the growing demand for wireless charging devices, increase in purchasing power, high degree of suitability, operation efficiency, low maintenance cost, digitalization, growing infrastructural activities, innovations of several technologies and ranges to form a complete wireless power transmission solution for various applications, such as consumer electronics, healthcare devices, and automotive.Global Wireless Power Transmission Market: Research MethodologyIn order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, and SEC filings, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases, national government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market, National government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, World Economic Forum, CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Factiva, etc.Enquire About This Report :Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews, and face-to-face interviews for each market, category, segment, and sub-segment across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators in order to validate the data and analysis. Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape, and outlook, etc. These help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Browse Full Report with TOC :About UsMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTelephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Global Refrigerated Display Cases Market to Rake in Nearly US$16.3 bn by 2019

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A new research report published by Transparency Market Research states that the global refrigerated display cases market is expected to grow at a rapid pace due to technological developments in advanced refrigerators with unique temperature control features. The report, titled Refrigerated Display Cases Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013  2019, discusses the various types of refrigerators in the market and explains in detail the reasons supporting the growth of this market.View and Download TOC of Refrigerated Display Cases Market Research Report@According to the research report, the global refrigerated display cases market was valued at US$8.8 bn in 2013 and is expected to reach US$16.3 bn by 2019, growing at a CAGR of 9.60% from 2013 to 2019. Refrigerated display cases or cabinets are mainly used for storing food products and other products that have to be kept or preserved at low temperatures. Furthermore, the sudden increase in the number of cafes, restaurants, bakeries, and retail stores has given an impetus to the global refrigerated display cases market. The growth of this market is also being encouraged by changes in the eating habits of people, which are shifting towards frozen or chilled food items. The rising disposable incomes of consumers are also expected to augment the demand for refrigerated display cases market across the globe.The global refrigerated display cases market is segmented on the basis of type of product, design, and geography. The types of products in the global refrigerated display cases market are plug-in (self-contained) and remote. In terms of design, this market is segmented into vertical  front open and horizontal  top open, and others such as hybrid or semivertical. Geographically, this market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World.Request and Download Sample Report@Analysts predict that the demand for medium-sized and small stores will trigger the demand for plug-in refrigerated display cases, as they fit the constraints of a small budget, limited floor space, and power consumption. This trend will also be supported by the low installation time these units take and the ease of portability they offer. These reasons are making plug-in refrigerated display cases popular amongst store owners.Geographically, Asia Pacific holds a major share in the global refrigerated display cases market due to the contribution of emerging economies. The growth of the commercial sector with respect to restaurants, hotels, the catering industry, and the retail sector is fueling the demand for refrigerated display cases.Some of the important players in the global refrigerated display cases market are United Technologies Corporation  Climate, Metalfrio Solutions S.A., Daikin Industries, Ltd., Beverage-Air Corporation, Epta S.p.A., Dover Corporation, Illinois Tool Works, Inc., Controls & Security Unit (Carrier), Hussmann International, Inc., AHT Cooling Systems GmbH, Lennox International, Inc., and Blue Star Ltd. The report explains the competitive landscape of the global refrigerated display cases market along with sharing details pertaining to the financial overview, research and development activities, and investment outlook of key companies for the coming years.Buy Full Refrigerated Display Cases Market Report@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Hard Drive Market (Sandisk, OWC, DELL, G-Technology) Cost Structure & Strategic Assessment and Forecast Till 2022

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HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for marketing managers, analysts, industry executives, consultants, sales and product managers, and other key people who are in need of ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [ Home & Commercial], products type [By Rotational Speed, By Connection Type, By Cache, By Hard Drive Size] and various important geographies like United States, Europe, China, Japan & India].Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers such as Buffalo Technology, Adata, Western Digital, Sandisk, OWC, DELL, G-Technology, Kingston Technology, Promise Technology, Seagate Technology, Western, CalDigit, Freecom, Lacie, Lenovo, Netac, Newsmy, Aigo, Kesu, Eaget, Ithink, THTF, Kingdisk, Kingshare, Oshibat, Hitachi, Sony & Samsung Electronics. The in-depth information by segments of Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 Market, some of them listed here are Buffalo Technology, Adata, Western Digital, Sandisk, OWC, DELL, G-Technology, Kingston Technology, Promise Technology, Seagate Technology, Western, CalDigit, Freecom, Lacie, Lenovo, Netac, Newsmy, Aigo, Kesu, Eaget, Ithink, THTF, Kingdisk, Kingshare, Oshibat, Hitachi, Sony & Samsung Electronics. The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such asBy Rotational Speed, By Connection Type, By Cache, By Hard Drive Size. Further the research study is segmented by Application such as Home & Commercial with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States, Europe, China, Japan & India and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @The research insights solutions to the following key questions: What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022? What are the key factors driving the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market? Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market? What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market?Buy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the Global Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market.Chapter 1, to describe Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022, with sales, revenue, and price of Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in United States, Europe, China, Japan & India;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application [Home & Commercial], from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Hard Drive Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022 sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get customization & check discount for report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218
Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software Market 2017 Top Players - Cerner Corp, McKesson Corp, CareCloud Corporation

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Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software market report issues the latest industry data and future trends permitting you to discern the products and end users driving Revenue growth and benefits. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Ask for Sample Report:Backed by extensive primary and secondary research, the report Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software Industry delivers valuable market insights. The report has been prepared using inputs from industry experts and features valuable recommendations from senior analysts. The report offers a comprehensive overview of the Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software industry.The reports includes market drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, investment potential, leading technologies, future roadmap, player profile, regulatory ecosystem and strategies. The report also delivers market size forecasts for Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software Industry. The forecasts are further mentioned for the top segment of the Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software market. This report comes with several charts, graphs, and graphics to make it an interesting read.The report is divided into product segment analysis, application segment analysis and regional segment analysis. Geographically, the global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software market is designed for the following regional markets:The industry research is disperse over the world which includes Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software market in USA, Europe, Japan, China, India and South East Asia.Access Full Report With TOC:This report includes industry definitions and types, regions, Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software industry analysis like industry revenue, growth rate and price analysis, market share by players and regions, supply chain analysis, various company profiles, globalization and trade inclusive of business locations, supply channels, marketing strategy and barriers to entry, Import, Export, Consumption and Consumption Value by Major Countries.Thus, the research study provides a comprehensive view of the global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Software market, offering market dimensions and evaluations for the period from 2017 to 2022, keeping in mind the aforementioned factors.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.
Global Surgical Tables Market Expected To Reach Us$1,014.3 Mn By 2022

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Surgical Tables Market Expected To Reach Us$1,014.3 Mn By 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The report on the global surgical tables market presents a detailed assessment of the market and reliable forecasts regarding its likely growth trajectory in the coming years. The global surgical tables market is assessed on all fronts, including the hierarchy of its segmentation, the major factors influencing its growth, and the leading players staking a claim in it. The comprehensive view provided in the report is backed up by solid facts collated from reliable first- and second-hand sources and reliable market figures. The latest figures for the global surgical tables market are elaborated upon in detail in the report in order to provide readers a clear picture of the markets current standpoint. The analysis of the current figures is combined with insight derived from analysis of the global surgical tables markets historical trajectory to derive solid projections regarding the way the market is likely to progress in the coming years.Surgical tables are a key need in the healthcare sector and have thus benefited significantly from the growing investment in the healthcare sector in developed as well as developing countries. The surgical tables market has also benefited from the steady technological development embraced by the healthcare sector, which has resulted in the development of consistent progressions in design, boosting the demand from the surgical tables market. The rising economic prominence of the healthcare sector in the coming years is likely to ensure stable growth of the global surgical tables market in the near future.The global surgical tables market was valued at US$837.1 mn in 2017. Exhibiting a steady 3.9% CAGR in the 2017-2022 forecast period, the surgical tables market is expected to reach US$1,014.3 mn by 2022.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Surgical Tables Market: DynamicsThe report provides a clear look into the dynamics of how various influential factors affect the global surgical tables market. The most important factors affecting the market are provided with great attention, with its relationship with the surgical tables market analyzed carefully to derive useful insight. Factors hindering the global surgical tables market are also assessed in detail in the report, which becomes a key tool for players to know what pitfalls to avoid. In dynamic markets such as the surgical tables market, with rapid influx of investment resulting in an unstable landscape, small matters can make a difference.The steady growth of the healthcare sector across the world is likely to remain the prime driver for the global surgical tables market. Healthcare industry players have started to pay attention to the growing need for advanced and innovative design in the medical devices industry, which has driven the development of innovative variants of various surgical implements, including the surgical tables market.Global Surgical Tables Market: SegmentationNon-powered surgical tables dominate the global surgical tables market in terms of product type. The non-powered surgical tables segment was valued at US$619.1 mn in 2017, representing 74% of the market. Growing at a CAGR of 4.3%, the segment is expected to grow to US$765.7 mn by 2022, accounting for 75.5% of the global surgical tables market.Geographically, North America is the dominant contributor to the global surgical tables market due to the widespread adoption of advanced surgical equipment in developed countries such as the U.S. and Canada. The North America surgical tables market was valued at US$246.9 mn in 2017 and is expected to exhibit a steady 4.1% CAGR in rising to US$301.5 mn by 2022.Global Surgical Tables Market: Competitive DynamicsLeading players in the global surgical tables market are analyzed in the report in order to provide readers with a clear picture of the competitive dynamics of the global surgical tables market. Regulatory factors influencing the major competitive trends in the global surgical tables market are assessed in the report. Key companies examined in the report include AMTAI Medical Equipment, Inc., Allengers Medical Systems Limited, C-RAD AB, Getinge AB, Skytron Inc., STERIS, Elekta AB, Span America Medical System Inc., and Stryker Corporation.Browse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
SD-WAN Market Is Expected To Grow At 51.4% CAGR BY 2025

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This report on the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market provides analysis for the period 20152025, wherein 2016 is the base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period. Data for 2015 has been included as historical information. The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints opportunities, and trends expected to influence the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market growth during the said period. Technologies that are playing a major role in driving the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market have also been covered in the study. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of value estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies.Request Free Sample Report :The report also includes key developments in the SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market. Porter Five Force analysis and funding received are also included in the report. The report also covers segment wise comparison matrix, market attractiveness analysis and market share analysis for all regions covered in the scope of study.Comparison matrix includes segment growth matrix, 2015 - 2025 (%), segment value share contribution, 2015 - 2025 (%), and segment compounded growth matrix (CAGR %). Market attractiveness identifies and compares segments market attractiveness on the basis of CAGR and market share index.Global SD-WAN Market: SegmentationThe SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market has been segmented on the basis of component, deployment, service, vertical and geography. Based on component, the market has been divided into virtual appliance, physical appliance and hybrid segment. Based on deployment, the market has been divided into on-premise and cloud. Cloud based deployment could be defined as delivery of hosted services over the internet. Cloud based deployment model can include Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud whereas On-Premise deployment model would refer to the computation that is located within the physical confines of an organization.Based on service, the market has been divided into managed services and professional services. Managed services could be defined as the outsourcing of management responsibilities and functions in order to cut expenses and improve operational efficiency while professional services could mean the intangible product sold by a vendor or a contractor to a customer in order to help them manage their businesses. The providers of such services have specialized knowledge about different areas of interest. The market on the basis of vertical has been segmented into BFSI, Retail, Healthcare, Government, IT & Telecom, Manufacturing and Others (Oil & Gas and Mining & Transportation).Geographically, the report classifies the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of market revenue. Furthermore, region wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following - the U.S, Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., China, India, Japan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.Global SD-WAN Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also includes competition landscape which include competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market based on their projected value share, and business profiling of major players. The Competition Matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities and future outlook are attributed to companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.Company profiling includes company overview, major business strategies adopted and SWOT analysis. Major players in the SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market include Silver Peak, Inc., Talari Networks, Inc., Nuage Networks, VeloCloud Networks, Inc., Versa Networks, Inc., Viptela, Inc., Riverbed Technology, Inc., Cloudgenix Inc., Fatpipe Networks Inc. and Citrix Systems, Inc.Browse Full Report With TOC :The global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market is segmented as below:Global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By ComponentVirtual AppliancePhysical ApplianceHybridGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By DeploymentOn-PremiseCloudGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By ServiceManaged ServicesProfessional ServicesGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By VerticalBFSIRetailHealthcareGovernmentIT & TelecomManufacturingOthers (Oil & Gas and Mining & Transportation)Global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By GeographyNorth AmericaThe U.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeThe U.KGermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaJapanIndiaRest of APACMiddle East and Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaUAERest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaEnquire About This Report :Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTelephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comGoogle+:Linked in:
Global Household Vacuum Cleaners Market to Rake in Nearly US$14.6 bn by 2018

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The key players operating in the global household vacuum cleaners market are TTI Floor Care, Dyson, Stanley Black & Decker, Electrolux Group, LG Electronics, Haier Group, Eureka Forbes, Miele, and Panasonic Corporation.The featured report, titled Household Vacuum Cleaners Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share And Forecasts 2012  2018, from Transparency Market Research (TMR) offers a 360-degree view of the global household vacuum cleaners market. According to the report, the global household vacuum cleaners market will progress at a 4.90% CAGR during the forecast period from 2012 to 2018. In 2012, the global household vacuum cleaners market was estimated at US$11.0 bn and by 2018, the market is projected to be worth US$14.6 bn.The two key drivers of the global household vacuum cleaners market are the rising disposable income levels and advancement in technology. Rising disposable income is encouraging consumers to invest significantly in advanced home appliances in order to improve their lifestyles. Furthermore, the growing awareness about the benefits of using vacuum cleaners is rapidly encouraging households to invest in appliances that fulfill their cleaning needs. Advancement in technology has led to effective and affordable household vacuum cleaners. This had led to consumers increasingly replacing traditional brooms with advanced household vacuum cleaners and other related equipment.View and Download TOC of Household Vacuum Cleaners Market Research Report@In addition to this, innovation in the global household vacuum cleaners market will also be fueled by the growing demand for eco-friendly and energy-efficient household vacuum cleaners. Besides in-depth analysis of these key drivers, the study also offers analysis of the key constraints on the global household vacuum cleaners market. It studies the threat of new entrants and from substitutes and the rivalry among existing competitors, which will challenge the growth of the global household vacuum cleaners market.Product-wise, the global household vacuum cleaners market is divided into wet/dry vacuum cleaners, drum vacuum cleaners, robotic vacuum cleaners, central vacuum cleaners, canister vacuum cleaners, upright vacuum cleaners, and other vacuum cleaners such as handheld and stick vacuum cleaners. In 2012, the global household vacuum cleaners market was dominated by the segment of canister household vacuum cleaners, which held a 35% share in the global household vacuum cleaners market and is projected to continue its dominance during the forecast period. The robotic household vacuum cleaners segment is projected to enjoy significant growth in the coming few years due to innovations such as acoustic sensors, automated mapping capacities, self-charging cleaners, and sweeping brushes.Request and Download Sample Report@According to retail selling price, the global household vacuum cleaners market is segmented into those costing less than US$200 and over US$200. Dyson dominates the segment of household vacuum cleaners costing more than US$200 in the global market.Region-wise, the global household vacuum cleaners market is classified into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Asia Pacific dominated the global household vacuum cleaners market with a 30.5% share in 2012 and will continue to be the market leader during the forecast period. The Asia Pacific household vacuum cleaners market is driven by the rapid urbanization in nations such as Malaysia, China, India, South Korea, and India. In these countries, consumers are increasingly able to afford vacuum cleaners, driving the APAC household vacuum cleaners market.Buy Full Household Vacuum Cleaners Market Report@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Physical Security Services Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017 - 2022

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Physical Security Services Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017 - 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The global physical security services market is envisioned to embrace a strong adoption rate owing to the growing incidences of criminal activities in the recent time. While access control and surveillance systems could be the primary equipment used in physical security services, there could be a substantial adoption of cloud-based services and solutions. Such solutions are prophesied to receive a massive attention as they help to dodge data burglary and theft and ensure data security. With a view to maintain the physical security of business critical data, government organizations are increasingly adopting a number of software and hardware devices. Physical security services could also be crucial for avoiding an organizations loss of brand value.Global Physical Security Services Market: DynamicsThe world physical security services market is envisaged to possess a telling potential for growth on the back of rising concerns due to soaring crime rates and threats of terrorism and social insecurity. There is an urgent need to protect information, employees, and assets in almost all types of businesses. The expanding infrastructure of retail outlets such as malls and even corporate complexes would require more manpower to secure them efficiently. Furthermore, the elevation in the level of retail shrinkage because of administrative errors, supply chain theft, shoplifting, and employee theft could mean an increase in the demand for physical security services.One of the most significant trends gaining traction in the world physical security services market is forecasted to be the advent of thermal cameras which could be best for supervising unique or large-scale outdoor environments.Global Physical Security Services Market: SegmentationThe analysts authoring the publication foresee the international physical security services market to be stratified into various segments according to type, viz. video surveillance as a service (VSaaS), access control as a service (ACaaS), remote monitoring services, and security system integration. In 2017, ACaaS physical security services accounted for a larger share in the market. The dominance of this segment could continue until the end of the forecast period 20172022, where a 42.2% share is expected to be earned by 2022.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @By vertical, the international physical security services market is predicted to see a classification into 10 different segments, i.e. banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), education, healthcare, government, manufacturing, retail, residential, transportation, utilities and energy, and commercial.On the geographical segmentation front, the international physical security services market could be divided into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific except Japan (APEJ), Latin America, Japan, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Out of these markets, North America is projected to secure its lead until the final forecast year. In 2017, the regional market earned a valuation of US$31.1 bn.Global Physical Security Services Market: CompetitionAs per the analysis of the report, some of the leading names in the worldwide physical security services market could be Tyco International Limited, The ADT Corp., SECOM Company Limited, STANLEY Convergent Security Solutions, Inc., United Technologies Corporation, SOHGO SECURITY SERVICES CO., LTD. (ALSOK), Bosch Sicherheitssysteme GmbH, Honeywell International, Inc., S-1 Corp., and G4S PLC.Table of Content1. Global Physical Security Services Market - Executive Summary2. Global Physical Security Services Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Physical Security Services Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Physical Security Services Market Definition2.2. Global Physical Security Services Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Physical Security Services Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Physical Security Services Market Dynamics2.4. Cost Structure Analysis2.5. Value Chain Assessment and Profitability Margins2.6. Region Wise Market Positioning Assessment2.7. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By RegionBrowse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Interactive Textbooks Market 2017 Top Players - Apple, Metrodigi, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson Education, Kortext

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Interactive Textbooks market report issues the latest industry data and future trends permitting you to discern the products and end users driving Revenue growth and benefits. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Ask for Sample Report:Backed by extensive primary and secondary research, the report Global Interactive Textbooks Industry delivers valuable market insights. The report has been prepared using inputs from industry experts and features valuable recommendations from senior analysts. The report offers a comprehensive overview of the Global Interactive Textbooks industry.The reports includes market drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, investment potential, leading technologies, future roadmap, player profile, regulatory ecosystem and strategies. The report also delivers market size forecasts for Interactive Textbooks Industry. The forecasts are further mentioned for the top segment of the Interactive Textbooks market. This report comes with several charts, graphs, and graphics to make it an interesting read.The report is divided into product segment analysis, application segment analysis and regional segment analysis. Geographically, the global Interactive Textbooks market is designed for the following regional markets:The industry research is disperse over the world which includes Interactive Textbooks market in USA, Europe, Japan, China, India and South East Asia.Access Full Report With TOC:This report includes industry definitions and types, regions, Interactive Textbooks industry analysis like industry revenue, growth rate and price analysis, market share by players and regions, supply chain analysis, various company profiles, globalization and trade inclusive of business locations, supply channels, marketing strategy and barriers to entry, Import, Export, Consumption and Consumption Value by Major Countries.Thus, the research study provides a comprehensive view of the global Interactive Textbooks market, offering market dimensions and evaluations for the period from 2017 to 2022, keeping in mind the aforementioned factors.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerOffice-102, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Ansell, Church & Dwight, Diamond Products, and Reckitt Benckiser are the leading players in the global sexual wellness market. The market is expected to reach $37.19 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.03% during 20162022. Factors such as an increase in per capita discretionary income of people globally and rapid growing number of dual-income households in developing as well as developed markets are major growth factors for the global sexual wellness market. While the sex toy segment is going to be the major revenue contributor to the global sexual wellness market, the condoms segment will post the highest growth rate during the forecast period. APAC will remain the largest market followed by Europe. Although the online distribution channel is going to witness a huge growth, the retail sale will constitute the major market share.



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Major vendors included in the report area as following:



Ansell

Church & Dwight

Diamond Products

Reckitt Benckiser

Other Prominent Vendors Beate Uhse, Beijing Aimer, Bijoux Indiscrets, Billy Boy, BioFilm, BMS Factory, Bodywise, B. Cumming, CalExotics, Calvin Klein, Convex Latex, Cosmo Lady, Cupid Limited, Doc Johnson, Eau Zone Oils & Fragrances, Embry, Empowered Products, Fuji Latex, Good Clean Love, Guy & ONeill, Hathor Professional, HBM Group, HLL Lifecare, ID Lubricants, Innova Quality, Innovus Pharma, IXu, Karex Berhad, L Brands, La Maison Lejaby, La Perla, LELO, Lise Charmel, Live Well Brands, Lovehoney, Mayor Laboratories, MD Science Lab, MTLC Latex, Orient Industry, PHE, pjur group, Sagami Rubber Industries, Sensuous Beauty, Shandong Ming Yuan Latex Co, Shanghai Dahua Medical Apparatus Co., Silk Parasol, Sliquid, StaySafe Condoms, STRATA Various Product Design, Suki (OhMiBod), Tenga, Thai Nippon Rubber Industry (TNR), The Yes Yes Company, Tianjin, Topco Sales, Trigg Laboratories, Triumph, Female Health Company, XR.







Scope of the Report



The study considers the present scenario of the global sexual wellness market and its market dynamics for the period 20172022. It covers a detailed overview of various market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study covers both the demand and supply sides of the market. It also profiles and analyzes the leading 4 companies and 59 other prominent companies operating in the market.



Sales of major sexual wellness market companies (sex toys and condoms) were aggregated to arrive at an estimate of the market size in terms of volume. The same approach is used to calculate the market size in terms of revenue. The report provides the analysis of the key segments of the market by product type, distribution channels, geography, country, and vendors. It provides a detailed analysis of revenue from various segments:



Product Type



Sex toys

Condoms

Sexual lubricants

Exotic lingerie

Others



Distribution Channel

Retail

Sex specialty stores

Mass market players

Drug stores/pharmacies

Grocery stores

Online stores



Major Geographies

APAC

Europe

North America

RoW



Key Countries

Canada

China

France

Germany

India

Japan

UK

US



Sex toys to remain the most dominant segment



Sex toys are witnessing a high demand from countries such as the US, China, and Japan. The segment is likely to account for a market share of 59.90% in 2022. The sex toys segment is followed by the condoms segment. The exotic lingerie and sexual lubricant segments are witnessing increased demand among end-users. Women are the majority buyers of these products worldwide. Sexual wellness products are mainly sold through retail distribution channels such as sex specialty stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, mass market players, drug store or pharmacies, and grocery stores.



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1)Sexual Lubricant Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2017-2022

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2) Sanitary Protection Market in China - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2017-2022

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Global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services Market 2017: Aegis Technology, Arconic, Kittyhawk Products, Bodycote, Techform Advanced Casting Technology

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Global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services Market 2017-2022QY Market Research include new Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market research report "2016-2022 Report on Global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services Market Competition, Status and Forecast, Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market is highly useful as it covers all the aspects which are important in determining the future of this industry. The Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services report is collated by experienced analysts who have made use of their market intelligence to cover all basic and important data about the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services industry.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:The Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market report makes use of tables, charts, graphs, maps, and statistics to present the data in the easiest to understand way. The Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market report is a comprehensive analysis of the key factors impacting the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services industry. This Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market report includes both the driving factors as well as the restraining factors that are influencing the market's performance positively and negatively, respectively.Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research Report,1. Bodycote plc2. Aegis Technology Inc.3. Pressure Technology, Inc.4. E.H. Schwab, Inc.5. Kennametal6. Arconic7. Engineered Precision Casting Co., Inc.8. Kovatch Castings, Inc9. Lake City Heat Treating Corp.10. Ortech Advanced Ceramics11. Xiamen Innovacera Advanced Materials Co., Ltd12. Ceramic Magnetics, Inc13. Quad City Manufacturing Laboratory14. Harken Manufacturing15. Kittyhawk Products16. Techform Advanced Casting TechnologyThe current trends shaping the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market and how it will influence the Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market in the future are also studied. In addition to this, the future opportunities within the Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market that have the potential to help the market to expand are also given in the Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services report.Enquire Here:The segments within the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services industry and their sub-segments are also studied in detail. This ensures that the entire Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market is covered. The leading segment along with the declining segment and the most promising segment has been given in this Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services report. This helps the investors, readers, new entrants and prime sellers to decide which segments or sub-segments to invest on so as to reap maximum profits.The Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market report discusses the degree of competition, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, and a threat of substitutes, both internal and external substitute of Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market. The threat of new entrants or the barriers faced by new players in entering the global Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market has been discussed. This gives new vendors an idea as to whether they can survive in the competitive Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Services market.About Us:Business Worldwide is a trusted brand in the research industry with a capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Business Worldwide, we believe in building long-term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals and Materials, Automotive and Aerospace.Contact Us:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
Probiotics in Animal Feed Industry Sales,Supply and Consumption 2017 Global Analysis and Forecast to 2022

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Probiotics in Animal Feed Industry Sales,Supply and Consumption 2017 Global Analysis and Forecast to 2022.This report studies Probiotics in Animal Feed in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringCHR. HANSEN HOLDING A/SKONINKLIJKE DSM N.V.LALLEMAND, INC.LESAFFRE GROUPE.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANYCARGILL, INCORPORATEDNOVOZYMESNEBRASKA CULTURESCALPIS CO., LTD.ADVANCED BIO NUTRITION CORPGet a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLactic Acid BacteriaDouble ColiThermophilesOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoCowPoultryPigAquacultureOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaAsk Query @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsGlobal Probiotics in Animal Feed Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.1 Definition and Specifications of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.1.1 Definition of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.1.2 Specifications of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.2 Classification of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.2.1 Lactic Acid Bacteria1.2.2 Double Coli1.2.3 Thermophiles1.2.4 Other1.3 Applications of Probiotics in Animal Feed1.3.1 Cow1.3.2 Poultry1.3.3 Pig1.3.4 Aquaculture1.3.5 Other1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Probiotics in Animal Feed2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Probiotics in Animal Feed2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Probiotics in Animal Feed2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Probiotics in Animal Feed.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Probiotics in Animal Feed8.1 CHR. HANSEN HOLDING A/S8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 CHR. HANSEN HOLDING A/S 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 CHR. HANSEN HOLDING A/S 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 KONINKLIJKE DSM N.V.8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 KONINKLIJKE DSM N.V. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 KONINKLIJKE DSM N.V. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 LALLEMAND, INC.8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 LALLEMAND, INC. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 LALLEMAND, INC. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 LESAFFRE GROUP8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 LESAFFRE GROUP 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 LESAFFRE GROUP 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 CARGILL, INCORPORATED8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 CARGILL, INCORPORATED 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 CARGILL, INCORPORATED 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 NOVOZYMES8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 NOVOZYMES 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 NOVOZYMES 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 NEBRASKA CULTURES8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 NEBRASKA CULTURES 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 NEBRASKA CULTURES 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 CALPIS CO., LTD.8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 CALPIS CO., LTD. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 CALPIS CO., LTD. 2016 Probiotics in Animal Feed Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinue.Buy 1-User PDF@currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2377193For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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Smoked Salt Market: Challenges and Opportunities Report 2017 - 2025

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Smoked salt is used to improve integral flavors of a dish while also divulging a smoky flavor. As Smoked salt is quite different from smoke-flavored salt and is very suitable for vegetarians, frequently act as a substitute for bacon crumble. Smoked salt is sea salt thats been smoked over wood fires, it is of light grey or of dark brown in color. Smoked salt is used to add flavor to foods and smoky aroma smoky. Smoked salt is an aromatic salt, which is smoked over wood fires for up to 14 days. The woods which are used for smoking influences the flavor of the salt. The most common woods which are used in the processing of smoked salt are apple wood, oak, alder wood, hickory and mesquite. The natural salt is smoked slowly over woods until the salt crystal has captured its smoky, unique and flavorful aroma, the woods chips are placed in the smoker box and is heated till the smokes comes. The sea salt is spread on aluminum foil in a thin layer and is placed on the grate away from the fire and the smoke grill is covered.Smoked salt adds a smoky and gentle flavor to anything, it is added foods. Meat, seafood, cooked vegetable or salad, the food becomes more delicious when smoked salt is added to it.Request For Report Brochure@Market Segmentation: Smoked SaltThe smoked salt market is segmented on the basis of its applications in food industry. Smoked salt is used as a dry rub for meats, a substitute for bacon crumble in salads, as a savory to sweets like toffee fudge and ice-cream, a taste enhancer in snack, in sauces and garnishes and a compliment to cocktails etc. Application of smoked salt in food as a taste enhancer is increasing as a result of trending of various flavours for foods.The smoked salt market is segmented on the basis of its end-products in food industry. Smoked salt is used in preparation of beverages such as islay whiskey, mattha, smoked beer and Suanmeitang etc. Preparation of smoked chees like cheddar cheese, Circassian smoked cheese and Mozzarella etc. Smoked salt is also used in preparing deserts, fish products, meat, hams, sausage and spices etc.Smoked salt market is segmented on the basis of its distribution channel as supermarkets/hypermarket, online stores and retail stores. For easy retiling of smoked salt, companies are leaning towards online store options which plays crucial role in driving the market.Global Smoked Salt Market: Regional OutlookDepending on geographic regions global smoked salt market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC and MEAsia-Pacific is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period as the economies are emerging, living standards are rising, demand of processed food is increasing and ratio of health conscious consumer is rising as smoked salt is generally lower in sodium and high in essential minerals as compared to unrefined salt.North America is also expected to be the fastest growing market over the forecast period as consumer preference is changing, U.S. global market is highly fragmented in nature.Global Smoked Salt Market: DriversThe global smoked salt market driving factors are increasing demand for smoked salt in many consumers pantries as Smoked sea salts add extra flavor to recipes. Different wood varieties imparts different flavors in salts. Increasing opportunities in snacks industry is also another factor in driving the global smoked salt market. The rising number of supermarkets and retail stores are rapidly increasing the demand is expected to observe robust growth for global smoked salt over the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Global Smoked Salt: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified across the value chain of the global smoked salt market include The Original Smoke & Spice Company Pty Ltd, San Franscisco Salt Co., Maine Sea Salt Company, Steel City Salt Company, Hepps Salt Co., Maldon Salt Company, SaltWorks and Artisan Salt Company etc. The global smoked salt companies are anticipated to increase their business by improving their product portfolio. The companies are projected to frame certain strategies in future in order to gain the competitive advantage in global smoked salt market till 2025.About Us  Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Market in China to decline at a CAGR of (28.78%) during the period 2017-2021

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"The Report Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Market in China 2017-2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Business-to-Consumer E-commerceOnline sales of products including apparel, footwear, accessories, consumer electronics and electricals, cosmetics, and food and beverages to individual customers are considered the business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce market.Get Sample copy of this Report @ The business-to-consumer e-commerce market in China is segmented based on the following products: Apparel, footwear, and accessories; consumer electronics and electricals; beauty and personal care products; infants and mothers products; publications; food and beverages; and other products.Technavios analysts forecast the business-to-consumer e-commerce market in China to decline at a CAGR of (28.78%) during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the business-to-consumer e-commerce market in China for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.Technavios report, Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Market in China 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.View Report @ Key vendorsAlibaba Group HoldingDangdangJD.comSuning Holdings GroupVipshop HoldingsOther prominent vendorsAmazon ChinaBeijing Chuangrui Culture MediaGOMELightInTheBoxOverstockRakutenSun Art Retail GroupBrowse more Retail Market Research Reports @ Market driverIncrease in internet and smartphone penetrationFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeRising instances of product returnsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendIncrease in popularity of digital payment servicesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportRequest for Enquiry @Key questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Solvent-based Inks Market 2016 - 2024 : By Applications - Packaging, Books & Catalogue, Advertising, Tags & Labels

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Latest industry research report on: Global Solvent-based Inks Market : Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsThis research study analyzes the market for solvent-based inks in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (kilo tons). The solvent-based inks market has been segmented on the basis of product, printing type, end use applications, and geography. The report features a detailed regional segmentation with market growth forecasts for the 2016?2024 period. For the research, 2015 has been considered as the base year and 2016 the estimated year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2016 to 2024.Complete Report Details @Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional and country-specific levels from 2016 to 2024. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the development of solvent-based inks technologies for the solvent-based inks business. The report also includes key market dynamics such as the drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the global solvent-based inks market. These market dynamics are analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive analysis of the market with the help of the Porters Five Forces Analysis model, which helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the structure and profitability of the global solvent-based inks market. The forces analyzed are the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition.Request For Sample Report @The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the solvent-based inks business globally. There are currently several drivers for the market. The most prominent drivers include rapid growth in the packaging industry along with growth in the digital printing industry. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the solvent-based inks market on the basis of product type, printing type, application, region, and country. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market.On the basis of printing type, the market has been segmented into lithographic, gravure, flexographic, screen-printing, letterpress, and digital. On the basis of product type, the market has been segmented into vinyl inks, vinyl-acrylic inks, epoxy inks, polyurethanic inks, and cellulose inks. By application, the solvent-based inks market has been segmented by various end-use applications, including packaging, advertising, tags & labels, books & catalog, office stationery, magazines, newspaper, and other applications.Have Any Query? Ask Our Expert @In terms of geography, the market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. China is expected to remain the dominant market for solvent-based inks, with demand reaching 275.7 kilo tons by 2024. A zero tax agreement between ASEAN and China has created a stable position for ASEAN, which is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.2% between 2016 and 2024.India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Favorable government regulations and emergence of medium and small enterprises in India have contributed significantly to the solvent-based inks market.Key players in the solvent-based inks market are Tokyo Printing Ink Mfg. Co. Ltd., Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd., Sun Chemical Corporation, Flint Group, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., Lawter Inc. , Yansefu Inks and Coatings Pvt. Ltd., Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, Sakata INX Corporation, Huber Group, Zeller+Gmelin GmbH & Co. KG, ALTANA AG, Wikoff Color Corporation, SICPA Holding SA, Fujifilm Sericol India Private Limited, Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son and T&K Toka Co., Ltd. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.Solvent-based Inks Market: By Printing TypeLithographicGravureFlexographicScreen-printingLetterpressDigitalSolvent-based Inks Market: By Product TypeVinyl InksVinyl-Acrylic InksEpoxy InksPolyurethanic InksCellulose InksSolvent-based Inks Market: By ApplicationPackagingBooks & CatalogueAdvertisingTags & LabelsOffice StationeryMagazinesNewspaperOthersAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market 2017 Global Analysis By key Players SES(imagotag), Pricer, Displaydata, Opticon Sensors Europe B.V, Altierre, Hanshow Technology, Panasonic, LG innotek, Solum

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This report studies Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringRequest a Sample Report @Key PlayersSES(imagotag)PricerDisplaydataOpticon Sensors Europe B.VAltierreHanshow TechnologyPanasonicLG innotekSolumMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoLiquid Crystal Display (LCD) DisplaysE papers DisplaysSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) in each application, can be divided intoDepartment store/Mass merchandiseGrocery/supermarketDrug storeSpecialty storeOthersAccess Complete Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Research Report 20171 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL)1.2 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) by Type in 20151.2.2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Displays1.2.3 E papers Displays1.3 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Segment by Application1.3.1 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Department store/Mass merchandise1.3.3 Grocery/supermarket1.3.4 Drug store1.3.5 Specialty store1.3.6 Others1.4 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) (2012-2022)2 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Korea Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 Taiwan Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)4.1 Global Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Korea Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 Taiwan Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)ContinuedPurchase Now @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps Market to Represent Significant Revenue Growth 2024

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Global LRVP market will witness promising growth in the first half of the forecast period (5.5% CAGR), which will incur a slight dip post-2020, (4.9% CAGR). However, the overall CAGR of the market estimated for 2016-2024 is estimated at 5.2%.View Full Report: Research Analyst, Industrial Automation Domain, Persistence Market ResearchAccording to Global Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016-2024, the global liquid ring vacuum pumps market will reach US$ 2,871.3 Mn by the end of the forecast period.Regional analysis indicates that the US$ 535 Mn North American market will rule the roost with an estimated 6% CAGR over 2016-2024. Towards the close of 2024, this region is expected to attain revenues worth US$ 851.1 Mn. Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific are identified to be the next key markets for LRVP. North America, Europe, and APAC will collectively hold a whopping 75% share of the total market size in 2024.In developing economies within Asia Pacific, leading LRVP manufacturers are tackling the competitive pricing issue in order to deliver customer-centric products. Moreover, China and India host a swelling number of small manufacturers specifically serving pharma and chemical process industries. These factors will play a vital role in pushing the sales of liquid ring vacuum pumps in near future within Asian markets. Reaching a value beyond US$ 504 Mn, APAC market is likely to expand at a moderate CAGR of 5.3% over 2016-2024.Request to view Sample Report:LRVP market expanding at the backdrop of a slew of factorsIncreasing demand from oil & gas, and power industriesGrowing preference for high capacity-high cost liquid ring vacuum pumpsExtending applications in chemical and general process industriesConstant innovation by manufacturersStrict EPA regulationsPromising emergence of low water consuming pumpsBurgeoning M&A between key playersLucrative opportunities in Asia countriesSegment analysis: Consumption by oil & gas segment crossing US$ 931 Mn by 2024In terms of capacity, 500-1500 cfm segment will continue to lead with the maximum revenue sales, followed by < 500 cfm segment. However, < 500 cfm segment will possibly thrive fastest at a CAGR of 5.2%, followed by > 1500 cfm segment with an estimated 4.4% CAGR over 2016-2024.Request to download and view full ToC Considering material type, cast iron segment will continue dominance with over 60% value share, reaching a value of US$ 1,718.2 Mn in 2024. This segment will also demonstrate the fastest CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period. Stainless steel segment will also grow moderately at 5%, attaining a value worth US$ 876 Mn in 2024.Based on the end-use industry, oil and gas sector will retain dominance over others, with over US$ 931 Mn by the end of 2024 in terms of revenues. Chemical processing and general process industries will continue to maintain the second and third largest segments respectively. Among these, general process industries will display a higher CAGR of 5.8% over 2016-2024, bagging the revenues of over US$ 511 Mn. Paper and pulp, and power segments are expected to grow steadily throughout the assessment period.Buy Now This Report @View Report Table of Contents, Figures, and TablesReport analyzes the key company profilesDekker Vacuum Technologies Inc., Busch Vacuum Technics Inc., Flowserve Corporation, Tsurumi Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Atlas Copco Airpower N.V., Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems, and Graham Corp. are some of the key players that constitute the competitive landscape of the global liquid ring vacuum pumps marketplace. Persistence Market Researchs report includes in-depth profiling of key companies.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Sodium Metal Market is Expected to Represent 127,400 MT by 2024

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Global consumption of sodium metal will grow at a sluggish CAGR of 3.3% through 2024, according to Persistence Market Researchs report entitled, Sodium Metal Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016 - 2024. In 2016, over 98,400 MT sodium metal was consumed globally, and it is estimated to surpass 127,400 MT by 2024.Click to View Complete Report @The sluggish demand for sodium metal is attributed to hazardous effects of highly reactive sodium element. Challenges with handling and storage of sodium metal will continue to negatively impact the growth of the market. Further, limited availability of sodium metal on account of fewer players has resulted into introduction and use of alternatives, such as magnesium for use in industrial applications.Key players in this market are concentrating on expansion of their production capacities and making long-term contacts with end-use industries, especially in near proximity, to incur growth opportunities. Manufacturers are also focusing on introduction to new grades of application-specific sodium metal. Inner Mongolia Lantai Industrial Co. Ltd. held the highest volume market share in 2015. Other leading players in the global sodium metal market include Wanji Holdings Group Limited, Shandong Moris Tech Co. Ltd., and MSSA S.A.S.View and Download TOC of Sodium Metal Market Research Report@In terms of volume, chemical synthesis application of sodium metal held 70.4% share of the market in 2016; by 2024, this is expected to reach nearly 72%. Sodium metal is also used in the production of dyes, and it is projected that this application segment will grow at 4.7% CAGR in terms of volume through 2024. The weakness in demand will be offset to a certain extent by applications in chemical synthesis and textile industry.APAC is projected to be the most lucrative region for the global sodium metal market followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific forms a hub for textile industries owing to the ever-growing population and demand for a wide range of textiles, resulting in steady demand for sodium metal. Over 53,690 MT of sodium metal was consumed in APAC in 2016. The North America sodium metal market was around US$ 60 Mn in 2016, and it is expected to reach around US$ 80 Mn by 2024. Consumption of sodium metal in Europe, pegged at over 19,700 MT in 2016, is expected to surpass 24,200 MT by 2024.Request and Download Sample Report@Key Market Drivers and TrendsThe demand for denim clothing has witnessed a robust growth in the recent past resulting in higher demand for sodium metal for textiles and apparelsSodium metal forms a key constituent in the manufacturing of indigo dyesSteady growth in global biodiesel production is one of the primary driving factors as sodium methylate is widely used as a catalyst for large-scale biodiesel productionApplication of sodium metal as a reductant in metals manufacturing and refiningGlobal sodium market is characterized by competitive oligopoly, wherein few manufacturers hold major shares in the overall market supplyBuy Full Sodium Metal Market Report@About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Marine Biotechnology Market By Players, Regions, Product Types & Applications 2022

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The global Marine Biotechnology market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.This report offers an overview of the market trends, drivers, and barriers with respect to the Marine Biotechnology market. It also provides a detailed overview of the market of different regions across United States, Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia and Others. The report categorizes Marine Biotechnology market by Category01, by Category02 and application. A detailed analysis of key players, along with key growth strategies adopted by them is also covered in this report on Marine Biotechnology market.View Report @This report focus Global market, it covers details players regions product type and other details as following:Key PlayersMarinovaNEBBiotechMarineGlycoMarMarine BiotechNofimaSamsAquapharmKey RegionsUnited StatesEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaChinaJapanIndiaSoutheast AsiaGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Marine Biotechnology Market, by TypeMarine Animal TechnologyMarine Plant TechnologyMarine Biotechnology Market, by ConsumerCosmeticsPharmaceuticalsFine ChemicalNutritional SupplementsSend An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentsChapter One, Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source1.2.1 Secondary Sources1.2.2 Primary Sources1.3 DisclaimerChapter Two Marine Biotechnology Market Overview2.1 Market Coverage2.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-2022Chapter Three, Marine Biotechnology by Key Players 2012-20223.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Volume Market Share by Key Players 2012-20223.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Share by Key Players 2012-20223.3 Global Key Players Marine Biotechnology Key Product Model and Market Performance3.4 Global Key Players Marine Biotechnology Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Four, Marine Biotechnology by Regions 2012-20224.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20224.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20224.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Regions 2012-20224.4 United States4.5 Europe4.5.1 Germany4.5.2 United Kingdom4.5.3 France4.5.4 Italy4.5.5 Spain4.5.6 Russia4.5.7 Others in Europe4.6 China4.7 Japan4.8 India4.9 Southeast Asia4.10 OthersChapter Five Marine Biotechnology Market by Product Types5.1 Marine Biotechnology, by Category01 2012-20225.1.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Category01 2012-20225.1.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Category01 2012-20225.1.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Category01 2012-20225.1.4 Marine Animal Technology5.1.5 Marine Plant Technology5.2 Marine Biotechnology, by Category02 2012-20225.2.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Category02 2012-20225.2.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Category02 2012-20225.2.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Category02 2012-20225.3 Marine Biotechnology, by Category03 2012-20225.3.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Category03 2012-20225.3.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Category03 2012-20225.3.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Category03 2012-20225.4 Marine Biotechnology, by Category04 2012-20225.4.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Category04 2012-20225.4.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Category04 2012-20225.4.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Category04 2012-20225.5 Marine Biotechnology, by Category05 2012-20225.5.1 Global Marine Biotechnology Sales Market Share by Category05 2012-20225.5.2 Global Marine Biotechnology Revenue Market Share by Category05 2012-20225.5.3 Global Marine Biotechnology Price by Category05 2012-2022About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Water Pumps Market Predicted to Grow at a Moderate Pace Through 2024

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The demand for water pumps across North America and Latin America continues to grow in parallel with the growth in the regions population. More households emerging in countries such as the US, Canada, Brazil or Mexico will certainly require water pumps for domestic purposes. Concurrently, agricultural, administrative and industrial sector in these regions will also adopt such pumps to keep up with the surging demands of consumers. Water pumps being deployed in the residential sector of North America and Latin America are projected to grow as municipalities & county authorities from this region will strive to improve their drinking water facilitation and upgrade the wastewater treatment plants.View Full Report:Nevertheless, a recent study developed by Persistence Market Research projects that revenues garnered from sales of water pumps across Latin America and North America will soar at a moderate CAGR of 4% over an eight-year forecast period. After amassing an estimated US$ 9,422.9 million revenues in 2016, the water pumps market in North America and Latin America is anticipated to reach a valuation of US$ 13,412 .8 million by the end of 2024.Request to view Sample Report:Key Deterrents for Adoption of Water Pumps in North & Latin AmericaAvailability of cheap Chinese water pumps: North American and Latin American manufacturers of water pumps are constantly at risk of losing market presence to newly-entered Chinese pump makers. Consumers in these regions end up opting for cheap Chinese water pumps, which tend to go kaput in short span of time. On the other hand, availing Chinese water pumps becomes more practical for consumers with tight budget, especially for deploying them in agricultural activities.Durability & energy efficiency of centrifugal pumps: Manufacturers of centrifugal water pumps in this region are improving the operating life of their products. This has decelerated the rate at which water pumps get replaced. Low replacement rate has dragged down the aftermarket sales of water pumps in North America and Latin America, thereby impeding the aggregate market revenues.Budget limitations in industrial and agricultural sectors: Expenditure on water pumps fares on a tightrope in North America. Submersible pumps are also expected to impact the adoption of centrifugal water pumps in this region. Latin Americas industrial sector is likely to trim its gross expenditure, which will incidentally impact the sales of water pumps in this region. Low profit margins in North Americas agriculture industry have also slowed down the rate at which water pumps were being installed or replaced in farming activities.Request to download and view full ToC In the report, titled Water Pumps Market: North & Latin America Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024, Persistence Market Research predicts that more than 90% of water pump revenues in Latin America and North America will be accounted by sales of centrifugal pumps. While over 936 thousand units of positive displacement pumps are estimated to be sold in the Americas during the forecast period, sales of centrifugal pumps will be raking in revenues worth over US$ 12 billion by the end of 2024. In 2016, centrifugal pumps worth nearly US$ 3 billion were estimated to be consumed by wastewater and water treatment plants across North America and Latin America. Oil and gas industries in this region have been predicted to have consumed over 200 thousand units of positive displacement pumps in 2016.View Report Table of Contents, Figures, and TablesCompared to Latin America, North America will continue to have a large share in their collective regional market for water pumps. In 2016, the US water pumps market accounted for more than two-third of North Americas water pump revenues, while Brazil and Mexico attributed to more than 50% growth in Latin Americas water pumps revenues. US-based companies Xylem Inc. and Flowserve Corporation are the leading native players in North America and Latin Americas water pumps market. The market will continue to witness higher participation from European water pump manufacturers such as KSB AG, Weir Group Plc., Grundfos, and Sulzer AG. Japanese water pump manufacturer, Ebara Corp is also observed to be a key participant as the company has established two manufacturing plants in North America and one in Latin America.Buy Now This Report @ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Car Bumpers Market 2017 - Tong Yang, Hyundai Mobis, Plastic Omnium, HuaYu Automotive, Seoyon E-Hwa

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Car Bumper is usually a metal bar or beam, attached the vehicle's front-most and rear-most ends, designed to absorb impact in a collision. The main function of a bumper is to protect the car's body in a slight collision, typically at parking speed. Front and rear bumpers on today's cars generally consist of a plastic cover over a reinforcement bar made of steel, aluminum, fiberglass composite or plastic.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Car Bumpers in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request For Sample Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversTong YangHyundai MobisPlastic OmniumHuaYu AutomotiveSeoyon E-HwaJiangnan MPTEcoplasticSMPZhejiang YuanchiBentelerMagnaMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversPlastic BumperOthersAccess Full Report With TOC @Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPassenger VehicleCommercial VehicleThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Car Bumpers market.Chapter 1, to describe Car Bumpers Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Car Bumpers, with sales, revenue, and price of Car Bumpers, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Car Bumpers, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Car Bumpers market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Car Bumpers sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.About Fior MarketsFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:
Food Encapsulation Market Global Industry Analysis, size, share and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Global Food Encapsulation Market: OverviewThe growing emphasis on increasing product appeal by enhancing flavor, taste, and color is one of the vital factors augmenting the global food encapsulation market. There is a widespread adoption of food encapsulation in industries such as beverages, meat, poultry, and seafood. It is also being increasingly used as encapsulated sweeteners in confectionary items such as candies and chewing gums. Moreover, the growing investments in the research and development of food preservatives are working in favor of the growth of the market.This market intelligence report on the global food encapsulation market serves as a reliable business tool for both new as well as existing players. It includes an in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape of the market. It profiles the key players in the market along with their business strategies, market shares, and latest development. It performs SWOT analysis that reveals the potential growth trajectory of each prominent player. It provides a detailed description of the market dynamics and the extent to which they impact the growth.Global Food Encapsulation Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising consumer preference for healthy and convenient food owing to the increasing health consciousness is projected to have a phenomenal impact on the growth of the global food encapsulation market. Changing lifestyles are leading to a wide diversification in food items and are triggering the demand for processed and ready-made meal, thereby driving the demand for food encapsulation. Moreover, the advent of preservation techniques such as nanoencapsulation and microencapsulation technologies is encouraging the growth of the market.Request Report Brochure @However, these technologies are at their nascent stage and the on-going technological advancements are yet to gain significant traction. This is influencing the growth of the market negatively. Furthermore, the difficulty associated with maintaining the stability of encapsulated food especially during processing and packaging is restraining the growth of the market. On the other hand, emerging economies present immense growth opportunities due to the improving economic conditions and rising government support.Global Food Encapsulation Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key regional markets analyzed in the report are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America will account for a large share throughout the forecast period. The high availability of shell materials such as hydrocolloid and emulsions and the presence of a large number of manufacturers are contributing to the growth of the region. However, the market in this region is saturated in nature and is, therefore, expected to exhibit a sluggish growth during the same period.Asia Pacific is poised to progress at a noteworthy CAGR during the same period owing to the increasing demand for processed food and flourishing food and beverage industry. The growth of the region is also fuelled by the rapid urbanization, rising disposable income, improving living standards, particularly in emerging countries including China and India. The growth of Europe can be attributed to the increasing advancements in technologies used in the processed food sector.Visit For TOC@Global Food Encapsulation Market: Competitive LandscapeThe supply chain of the global food encapsulation market comprises of raw material suppliers, equipment suppliers, distributors, government authorities, and end users such as industries and researchers. Key players in the market are increasingly focusing on research and development of new products in order to strengthen their foothold across different regions.Some of the prominent players in the global food encapsulation market are Advanced BioNutrition Corp., ABCO Laboratories Inc., Balchem Corporation, Firmenich Inc., Aveka Group, Blue California, Cargill Inc., Coating Place Inc., Encapsys Microencapsulation, FrieslandCampina Kievit, and GAT Food Essentials GmbH.About Us  Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others.Contact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Dental CAD/CAM System Market Analysis, Research and Outlook Report by Radiant Insights

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The global Dental CAD/CAM System market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.This report offers an overview of the market trends, drivers, and barriers with respect to the Dental CAD/CAM System market. It also provides a detailed overview of the market of different regions across United States, Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia and Others. The report categorizes Dental CAD/CAM System market by By Type, By Material, and application. Detailed analysis of key players, along with key growth strategies adopted by them is also covered in this report on Dental CAD/CAM System market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Download Full Research Report of Dental CAD/CAM System Market @This report focuses Global market, it covers details as following:Key Players Institut Straumann AG Zimmer Biomet Holdings Danaher Corporation Planmeca OY Roland DGA Corporation 3Shape A/S Zirkonzahn GmbHKey Regions North America United States Canada Latin America Mexico Brazil Argentina Others Europe Germany United Kingdom France Italy Spain Russia Netherland Others Asia & Pacific China Japan India Korea Australia Southeast Asia Indonesia Thailand Philippines Vietnam Singapore Malaysia Others Africa & Middle East South Africa Egypt Turkey Saudi Arabia Iran OthersRequest a Free Sample Copy of this Report @Main types of productsDental CAD/CAM System Market, by Type Milling Machines Furnaces Integrated SystemsDental CAD/CAM System Market, by Material Zirconia Glass-Ceramics Alumina-based Ceramics Lithium DisilicateDental CAD/CAM System Market, by Key Consumer Hospitals and Clinics Dental Laboratories Academic Institutes OthersRead more related reports by Radiant Insights: Patient Monitoring Equipment Market Dental Braces MarketAbout Radiant Insights, IncRadiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services. Market research studies are designed to facilitate strategic decision making, on the basis of extensive and in-depth quantitative information, supported by extensive analysis and industry insights. Using a patented and robust research methodology, we publish exhaustive research reports covering a host of industries such as Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. Radiant Insights has a strong base of analysts, consultants and domain experts, with global experience help for delivering excellence in all research projects.Media Contact:Michelle Thoras201 Spear Street 1100,Suite 3036,San Francisco,CA 94105, United StatesTel: 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Mail: sale@radiantinsights.com
Escalation in the Utilization of UV LED Printer for Package Printing to foster the Growth of UV LED Printer Market in future, according to Research Nester

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UV LED Printer Market: Global Historical Growth (2012-2016) & Future Outlook (2017-2024) Demand Analysis & Opportunity EvaluationThe global UV LED printer market is segmented into application such as plastic printing, metal printing, ceramic printing, wood printing, glass printing and others. Among these segments, plastic printing segment is expected to occupy the top position in the market. Plastic UV LED printing segment is anticipated to grow on the back of growing packaging and label market. Moreover, development of technologically advanced UV LED printers such as 3D printing is expected to garner the growth of plastic printing market.Global UV LED printer market is expected to grow at a noteworthy CAGR over the forecast period. Moreover, the global UV LED printer market is projected to attain significant revenue growth during the forecast period. The market is expected to expand owing to the wide scale utilization of UV LED printers.Asia Pacific captured the largest market share of global UV LED printers in 2016. Furthermore, Asia Pacific grabbed more than 60% share in overall UV LED printer market. In Asia Pacific, China is the prominent market of UV LED printers. Additionally, export of UV LED printers to European Union and other countries is growing the market of China UV LED printers.Wide Scale Application of UV LED PrintersFactors such as rising utilization of UV LED printers for packaging printing, label production and others is one of the key factors driving the growth of the global UV LED printers market. Further, versatility of UV LED printers such as durable imprints on wood, glass, metal, stone, plastic, fabric, vinyl and other substrates is envisioned to bolster the growth of the UV LED printers globally.Request Report Sample@Technological Advancement of UV LED PrintersDevelopment of advanced UV LED printers such as small size flatbed UV LED printer is expected to fuel the demand for the UV LED printers during the forecast period. Recently, 3D UV LED printers have been developed which further, is expected to substantially raise the demand for UV LED printers during the forecast period.Although, high cost of UV LED printer and Eurozone economic crisis are some of the factors that are likely to inhibit the growth of the UV LED printer market in the near future.The report titled UV LED Printer Market: Global Historical Growth (2012-2016) & Future Outlook (2017-2024) Demand Analysis & Opportunity Evaluation delivers detailed overview of the global UV LED printer market in terms of market segmentation by application, by price range, by ink system and by region.Further, for the in-depth analysis, the report encompasses the industry growth drivers, restraints, supply and demand risk, market attractiveness, BPS analysis and Porters five force model.Request Table of Contents Here:This report also provides the existing competitive scenario of some of the key players of the global UV LED printer market which includes company profiling of Impression Technology, Roland DGA Corporation, Shenzhen Maxcan Printing Machinery Equipment Co. Ltd., MeiTu Digital Indusrty Co., Ltd., Direct Color Systems, Sun Innovations, Gateway Technology Industry Co., Ltd., Axis Enterprises, Techwin Technology Co., Ltd., YOTTA UV Printers. The profiling enfolds key information of the companies which encompasses business overview, products and services, key financials and recent news and developments. On the whole, the report depicts detailed overview of the global UV LED printer market that will help industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to the ongoing and expected trends in the future.For more info Ask The Analyst:Research Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.Contact for more Info:Ajay DanielEmail: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comPhone: +91 120 660 5495
U.S. Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market to Raise at a CAGR of 3.2% by 2025

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Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the commercial refrigeration systems market in its latest report titled, Commercial Refrigeration System Market: U.S. Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025. According to the report, the U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market is projected to expand at a healthy CAGR of 3.2% in terms of value over the forecast period. Commercial refrigeration systems are refrigerators with remote or self-contained condensing units. These refrigerators are designed especially for commercial use with a wide range of temperature control (typically from -18C to +10C) options.Click to View Complete Report @Commercial refrigeration systems are mainly used in hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, warehouses and distribution centres, foodservice industry and food & beverage production units. Commercial refrigeration systems include products such as ice machines, vending machines, beverage refrigeration equipment, refrigerated display cases, trailers, trucks, containers and walk-in and reach-in refrigerators. Commercial refrigeration systems also include various components such as compressors and refrigerants. Refrigerants mainly used in commercial refrigeration systems include R507A, R417A and R422A. The selection of a refrigerant depends on various properties such as non-corrosiveness, global warming and ozone depletion potential, inflammability, toxicity, cost, erosional properties, leak-detection capability and thermodynamic properties.View and Download TOC of U.S. Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market Research Report@Growing demand for frozen and chilled products, expansion of cold chain capacity, technological advancements in commercial refrigeration systems and rebates for energy-efficient products and practices are some of the major underlying factors anticipated to fuel growth of the U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market between 2016 and 2025. This is forecast to create unprecedented opportunities for commercial refrigeration systems manufacturers, distributors and HVAC contractors. The U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market is segmented on the basis of application and product type. By application, the market is segmented into foodservice, food & beverage distribution, food & beverage retail and food & beverage production. On the basis of product type, the market is classified into transportation & refrigeration systems, refrigerator & freezers, beverage refrigeration equipment, refrigerated display cases, ice machines and refrigerated vending machines.By application, foodservice segment accounted for the highest share of 30% in terms of value in the U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market in 2014. This segment is expected to remain dominant in the market over the forecast period. Ice machines segment and beer dispensing equipment sub-segment are projected to play an important role in the foodservice industry due to various factors such as increasing per capita food consumption and rising number of foodservice restaurants in the country. By product type, transportation refrigeration systems segment is projected to expand at the highest CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period due to expansion of cold chain capacity in the U.S. By region, Southeast region represents the largest market potential, followed by the Middle-east and Far West regions. California, Texas and Florida represent a huge potential for refrigerated systems due to high density of restaurants and convenience stores in these states. Other high-growth markets include Arizona, Georgia and Utah due to rapid growth in the restaurant industry in these states.Request and Download Sample Report@Key trends identified in the U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market include rapid adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), compatible commercial refrigeration systems for enhancing system output, government initiatives to support utilisation of eco-friendly refrigerants and continued advancements in energy-efficient products. However, declining replacement rate of commercial refrigeration equipment and stringent government regulations could pose major challenge for tier II & III players.The report analyses the U.S. commercial refrigeration systems market in terms of value (US$ Mn) and volume (000 units) by product type and end-use application, and provides insightful information regarding market dynamics, value chain, competitive landscape, current trends, market estimations and forecast.It is observed that customisation holds the key for tier 2 and tier 3 players in order to further penetrate into the market, thus creating a competitive threat for tier 1 suppliers in the market. Meanwhile, key players are strengthening their market positions through both organic and inorganic growth. Also, acquisition of HVAC contractors is leading to the addition of a new customer base for commercial refrigeration systems manufacturers. Key market participants covered in the report include Daikin Industries, Ltd., Standex International Corporation, Whirlpool Corporation, United Technologies, Dover Corporation, Ingersoll-Rand Plc, Hussmann Corporation, Lennox International Inc., Manitowoc Company, Inc., Emerson Electric Co. and Illinois Tool Works Inc.Buy Full U.S. Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Packaging Machinery Market Growth and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Global Packaging Machinery Market: OverviewTechnological advancements and the emergence of innovative machinery have contributed extensively towards the development and growth of the global packaging machinery market. Packaging is one of the essential processes before presenting the final product to consumers. Some of the primary applications of packaging machinery are pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, chemicals, and personal care products. With innovations in the market, the application base is expected to expand, resulting in a high demand for packaging machinery across the globe. With these factors, the global market is anticipated to exhibit a healthy growth rate in the forecast period.The research study offers a detailed analysis of the global packaging machinery market. The growth drivers, current trends, opportunities, and challenges in the global market have been discussed at length in the scope of the study. In addition, the key segmentation, primary application, and the competitive scenario of the global packaging machinery market have been presented in the report to offer a strong understanding to readers and market players. The company profiles, business policies, financial overview, product portfolio, and the recent development have been included in the study.Request Report Brochure @Global Packaging Machinery Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing demand for attractive and innovative packaging from the food and beverages industry is one of the important factors expected to fuel the growth of the global packaging machinery market in the next few years. In addition, the growing demand for multipacks, single-serve, and sustainable packaging is projected to accelerate the growth of the overall market. Furthermore, the rising popularity of robotic packaging is expected to contribute substantially towards the development of the global packaging machinery market.On the flip side, several issues related to the safety and hygiene of machinery parts and the growing focus on energy-efficient packaging machinery are anticipated to restrict the growth of the overall market throughout the forecast period. Nevertheless, the rising focus of companies to offer innovative packaging in order to attract a large number of consumers is predicted to offer lucrative opportunities for the leading players in the global packaging machinery market.Global Packaging Machinery Market: Region-wise OutlookFrom a geographical perspective, the global packaging machinery market can be classified into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest of the World. As per the research report, North America is expected to witness substantial growth throughout the forecast period and account for a key share of the overall market. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the presence of a large number of players operating in the market.Visit For TOC@Furthermore, the leading players in the North America packaging machinery market are emphasizing on research and development activities to offer effective solutions for consumers. Moreover, the rising number of mergers and acquisitions is expected to encourage the growth of the market throughout the forecast period. On the other hand, Asia pacific is expected to witness significant growth in the near future, thanks to the increasing number of players investing in this region and the growing demand for packaging machinery across diverse industries.Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:The global market for packaging machinery is extremely competitive and fragmented in nature with a presence of a large number of players. To attain a leading position in the market, the prominent players are focusing on new product development and innovations. Some of the leading players operating in the packaging machinery market across the globe are Crown Holdings Incorporated, Bosch Packaging Technology, Coesia, Mamata Enterprises, Dover, Tetra Pack, Nordson, Barry-Wehmiller, Krones, Multivac, Illinois Tool Works, and Reynolds Group. With the rising number of players, the competition is expected to get intense in the next few years.About Us  Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others.Contact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Road Sweeper Market boosting the growth Worldwide: Market dynamics and trends, efficiencies Forecast 2022

Road Sweeper Market

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New report of Road Sweeper market Report communicates about the manufacturing process. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process of whole Enterprise Road Sweeper market. The Enterprise Road Sweeper Industry research report is a resource, which provides technical and financial details of the Enterprise Road Sweeper Market (Volume and Value).Road Sweeper is designed to sweep roads and control pollution. It is widely used in urban roads, construction plants, airports and seaports. It can be used indoor or outdoor, wet or dry. At first, it was refitted from general automotive and now its used as a kind of special automotive. So the main structure of Road Sweeper is same as general automotive.Get Sample PDF of Road Sweeper Market Report @Road Sweeper Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: Bucher (Johnston), Nilfisk, FAYAT GROUP, FAUN, BRODD, Aebi Schmidt, Hako, Alfred Karcher, Disab Vacuum Technology.In this introductory section, the Road Sweeper industry research report incorporates analysis of definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure.Road Sweeper Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Columbia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Road Sweeper Market Segment by Type, covers: Small-sized Road Sweeper, Large-sized Road Sweeper.Road Sweeper Market Segment by Applications, covers: Municipal, Airport, Private, Others.Pre Order Enquiry for Road Sweeper Market report @Next part of Road Sweeper Market Research Report contains additional information like key vendors in Market space, Road Sweeper Market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Road Sweeper Market , opportunities, market risk and market overview. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process.The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Road Sweeper markets in 2022 is also explained. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption tables and figures are also given.About UsReports Monitor (ReportsMonitor.com) is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. The prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.com
Sausage Hotdog Casings Market boosting the growth Worldwide: Market dynamics and trends, efficiencies Forecast 2022

Sausage Hotdog Casings Market

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New report of Sausage Hotdog Casings market Report communicates about the manufacturing process. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process of whole Enterprise Sausage Hotdog Casings market. The Enterprise Sausage Hotdog Casings Industry research report is a resource, which provides technical and financial details of the Enterprise Sausage Hotdog Casings Market (Volume and Value)."According to GIR study, the United States revenue of Sausage/Hotdog Casings was valued at 6311.57 Million USD in 2016, and is forecast to reach 7639.22 Million USD by the end of 2022Viscofan accounted for 14.21% global Sausage/Hotdog Casings market share in 2016. Other players accounted for 7.34%, 6.17%, including Viskase, Devro.Get Sample PDF of Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Report @Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: Viscofan, Viskase, Devro, Kalle, Shenguan, Atlantis-Pak, Beijing Qiushi Agriculture Development Co., LTD, International Casings Group, DeWied International.In this introductory section, the Sausage Hotdog Casings industry research report incorporates analysis of definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure.Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Columbia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Segment by Type, covers: Natural Casings, Artificial Casings.Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Segment by Applications, covers: Edible, Inedible.Pre Order Enquiry for Sausage Hotdog Casings Market report @Next part of Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Research Report contains additional information like key vendors in Market space, Sausage Hotdog Casings Market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market , opportunities, market risk and market overview. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process.The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Sausage Hotdog Casings markets in 2022 is also explained. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption tables and figures are also given.About UsReports Monitor (ReportsMonitor.com) is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. The prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Keyless Entry System Market: New Study Offers Insights for 2017 - 2025

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Keyless entry system is technology that provides physical access to an individual inside any premises or automotive without the use of a mechanical key for performing the locking and unlocking operation.A sample of this report is available upon request @Keyless entry system provides an enhanced convenience and security to the users. In case of a keyless entry system, the users get secure and authorized access to an automotive or premise with the use of various external devices or gesture such as a keyless fob or a smart card, or by the use of their own voice, fingerprints or facial recognition among others. Owing to rapidly increasing adoption of smart technologies across various application sectors, keyless entry systems is increasingly installed among users especially in the transportation sector, government sector, banking financial services and insurance (BFSI) sectors and hospitality industry among others. The global Keyless Entry System market is anticipated to experience a robust growth during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, due to rising demand for hassle free access across the world.For the purpose of providing an extensive and in-depth analysis of the market, the global Keyless entry System Market has been segmented on the basis of product type and end user. Depending on the technology in which a keyless entry system majorly operates, the market has been categorized into RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based keyless entry system and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) based keyless entry system among others. In addition, information related to application of keyless entry system across various end user segments including automotive industry, government sector, BFSI sector, healthcare industry, transportation sector and hospitality industry among others is also highlighted in this report. Moreover, cross sectional analysis of various product type and application segment of keyless entry system across various regions such as Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle-East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America is also provided in this report.Increasing adoption of keyless entry system in the automotive sector is one of the key factor anticipated to boost the market growth of keyless entry system during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. Global demand of passenger car is largely influenced by the ease of operation of the vehicle. With the rising growth of the global economy coupled with increasing standard of living especially for the middle-class population, the demand for value added features in the passenger car segment is anticipated to increase at an exponential rate. Keyless entry system is one of such value added feature in the passenger car segment that provides enhanced safety and ease of operation. This is turn, is expected to drive the market growth of keyless entry system in the coming years. Moreover, introduction of keyless entry system in the hospitality industry for providing a user friendly experience to various guests, is also predicted to create a better opportunity for various keyless entry system manufacturers in the coming years.Among the different types of keyless entry system available in the market, Bluetooth passive keyless entry (PKE) system held the largest market share in 2016 owing to its extensive utilization in the automotive sector.On the other hand, based on the demand of keyless entry system across various end user segments, the healthcare sector is anticipated to pose the most promising demand in the coming years. Implementation of stringent regulation by the government for maintaining patience privacy is of the most important factor expected to trigger the demand of keyless entry system form the healthcare sector. Healthcare fraud, inaccurate patient identification and medical identity theft have witnessed a rapid decline since the adoption of keyless entry system systems in the healthcare sector.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the major players operating the global Keyless Entry System Market includes Atmel (The U.S), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan), 3M Cogent (The U.S) and Delphi Automotive (The U.K) among others.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact Us-U.S. OFFICE:State Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207
Global Military Communication Systems Market by Key Vendors Like Aselsan, Karel Electronics, Reutech, INVISIO, Racal, Stanford Telecommunications, Raytheon and others

Military Communication Systems Market

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Market Overview on Global Military Communication Systems Industry:The research report titled Global Military Communication Systems Market offers useful insights into the trends and the factors that propel this Global market. This market study comprehensively discusses the salient features of the Global Military Communication Systems market in terms of the market structure and landscape, the challenges, demand factors, and the expected market performance.Download Sample Copy@The Global Military Communication Systems Market report examines this market on the basis of its market sections, major geographies, and present-day market patterns. This report covers regions like Global, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This Military Communication Systems Market report gives an extensively wide-ranging analysis of the market expansion drivers, factors regulating and avoiding market enlargement, existing business sector outlines, market association, market predictions for coming years.Scope of the ReportFollowing Key players are covered:Aselsan, Karel Electronics, Reutech, INVISIO, Racal, Stanford Telecommunications, Raytheon, Thales Group, Rockwell Collins, Harris Corporation, BAE SystemsMarket segment by Type, Military Communication Systems can be split intoSecurity System, Military Satcom, Radio SystemMarket segment by Applications,Underwater Communication, Airborne, Air-Groundadditionally, this report recognizes pin-point investigation of adjusting competition subtleties and keeps you ahead in the competition. It offers a fast looking perception on different variables driving or averting the development of the Military Communication Systems market. It helps in understanding the key product areas and their future. It guides in taking knowledgeable business decisions by giving complete constitutions of the market and by enclosing a comprehensive analysis of market subdivisions. To sum up, it equally gives certain graphics and personalized SWOT analysis of premier market sectors.This Study on the Global Military Communication Systems Market is an all-inclusive study of the business sectors up-to-date outlines, industry enhancement drivers, and manacles. It provides market projections for the coming years. It contains an analysis of late augmentations in innovation, Porters five force model analysis and progressive profiles of hand-picked industry competitors. The report additionally formulates a survey of minor and full-scale factors charging for the new applicants in the market and the ones as of now in the market along with a systematic value chain exploration.Make Enquiry for this Report @Table of ContentGlobal Military Communication Systems Market Research Report 20171 Military Communication Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Military Communication Systems1.2 Military Communication Systems Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Military Communication Systems Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)2 Global Military Communication Systems Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Military Communication Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)4 Global Military Communication Systems Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global Military Communication Systems Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Military Communication Systems Market Analysis by Application7 Global Military Communication Systems Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Military Communication Systems Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analyses, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Military Communication Systems Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixesView Complete Report@About Reports Monitor:Reports Monitor is a platform to meet the market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Jay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Why is Lighting Ballast witnessing Significant Demand in the Global Market During 2017 - 2025?

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Ballast control circuit is a device that is placed in line up with a load in order to limit the amount of electricity or current flow in an appliance for improving the overall efficiency and to achieve different regulatory compliance. The primarily used building blocks that are majorly found across a ballast control circuit includes, an Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) filter, a full wave rectifier, an active PFC front end, a digital control section and a resonant lamp output stage.A sample of this report is available upon request @A ballast control circuit generally works as a fixed or variable resistor. Rising demand for ballast control circuit from different compact fluorescent lamps or from high intensity discharge lamps across the globe is one of the key factor anticipated to trigger the demand for ballast control circuit at an exponential rate during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.In order to provide an in-depth and exhaustive analysis of the market, the global Lighting Ballast Market is a Segmented on the basis of product type and application. On the basis of material used in an electric ballast, the market has been classified into electronic ballast and magnetic ballast. In addition, information related to the demand of lighting ballast across various fluorescent lighting and LED lighting is also highlighted in this report. Moreover, data related to current market condition along with future expected demand trend of lighting ballast across various regions including Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle-East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America is also provided in this report.Rising demand for LED lighting is one of the most important factor anticipated to boost the demand of lighting ballast at an exponential rate during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. LEDs outperform the performance of conventional CCFLs (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps) and LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) in term of energy efficiency, size, mechanical ruggedness and reliability.Moreover, the overall operating cost of a LED is low as compared to other lighting devices since LEDs consumes less power. Thus, consumers are increasingly adopting LEDs across various application segments, which in turn is expected to accelerate the demand of lighting ballast in order to integrate different advanced protection features for improving the longevity of various LED lighting devices. In addition increasing adoption of intelligent lighting system is also predicted to create a better opportunity for various lighting ballast manufacturers in the coming years. Digital innovation that is taking place in the lighting industry is expected to accelerate the demand of lighting ballast that enables the lighting appliances to perform various functions such as daylight harvesting, automatic shut-off, personal dimming and demand response among others.Among the different types of lighting ballast circuit available in the market, magnetic ballast held the largest market share in 2016 owing to its extensive use in across various fluorescent light fixtures. On the other hand, demand for electronic ballast is anticipated to experience a robust growth during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.Geographically, the global Lighting Ballast Market is expected to be primarily driven by Asia Pacific region during the forecast period both in terms of market share holding and growth. Huge concentration of lighting ballast manufacturers in this region coupled with its increasing demand from well-established LED light manufacturers is the most important factor behind this regions rapid growth. In addition, Asia Pacific region is also expected to become the hub for various industries such as hospitality, retail and healthcare. This in turn, is anticipated to increase the demand for different lighting ballasts across various commercial segment as well. The lighting ballast circuit market of Asia Pacific region is followed by North America in terms of revenue generation in 2016.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the major players operating in the global lighting ballast market includes STMicroelectronics (Switzerland), Intermatic (U.S) and Infineon Technologies (Germany) among others.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact Us-U.S. OFFICE:State Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207
Indian Online Pharmaceuticals Market 2017- 2022 Key Players: Apollo Pharmacy, 1MG.com, PM Healthcare and Netmeds.com, among others.

Online Pharmaceuticals Market

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Online Pharmaceuticals Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Online Pharmaceuticals Market 2017 Indian Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.Executive SummaryTechnological prowess in healthcare indtry has empowered consumers with emergence of E-pharmacy. E-pharmacies can aggregate supplies by having simultaneo access to inventories of multiple pharmacies which leads to availability of hard-to-find medicines at finger click. This has led to phenomenal increase in accessibility of healthcare services to far-flung areas in otherwise ubiquito pharmaceutical indtry in the country. Vario E-pharmacies biness models have been operating in the nation such as Inventory Led model, Hub and Spoke model, Hybrid Model and Local-Channel Model. These models have been analyzed in the report in context to Indian market.Growth of Indian online pharmaceutical market is propelled by surge in internet penetration, convenience provided to consumers, increasing healthcare awareness, government initiatives and rising disposable incomes. However, there are vario factors restraining growth of the market which includes lack of proper regulatory framework, opposition from offline retailers, high logistics costs and quality assurance issues. The market is characterized by leading trends such investments in E-Pharmacy and online presence of existing Brick-and-Mortar drug retailers.The report Indian Online Pharmaceuticals Market Outlook 2022 provides in-depth analysis of the current scenario, detailed market outlook of the Indian online pharmacies market with coverage on market regulations, SWOT analysis and biness models existing in the market. Future forecasts of Indian pharmaceuticals market overall and online pharmaceuticals has been provided in the report. Furthermore, major indtry players have been prudently analysed in the competitive landscape section of the report in order to provide key comparative insights.Major indtry players operating Indian online pharmaceuticals market include Apollo Pharmacy, 1MG.com, PM Healthcare and Netmeds.com, among others. These players are profiled herein based on attributes such as biness overview, product segments and financial analysis. It also compiles performance comparison of aforementioned companies and other leading companies in the segment based on vario parameters in the competitive landscape section. In totality, the report provides detailed market analysis, with relevant forecasted datasupported by key market dynamics. This information will be helpful in evaluating opportunities in Indian online pharmaceuticals market.Request Sample Report @Table of Contents1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Indian Pharmaceutical Market3.1 Overview3.2 Pharmaceutical Distribution3.3 Pharmaceutical Value Chain3.4 Market Analysis3.4.1 Market Size by Value (Actual & Forecasted)3.4.2 Market Share by Segment4. Online Pharmaceutical4.1 Introduction4.1.1 Benefits of Online Pharmaceuticals4.1.2 Comparison of Offline & Online Pharmacy4.2 Online Pharmacy- Biness Model5. Indian Online Pharmacy Market Analysis5.1 Market Sizing (Actual & Forecasted)5.2 Market Share by Competitors6. Market Regulation7. SWOT Analysis8. Market Dynamics8.1 Indtry Trends & Development8.1.1 Investments in E-Pharmacy8.1.2 Online Venture of Brick-and-Mortar Retailers8.2 Growth Drivers8.2.1 Surge in Internet Penetration8.2.2 Convenience for Consumers8.2.3 Increasing Healthcare Awareness8.2.4 Government Initiatives8.2.5 Rising Disposable Income8.3 Challenges8.3.1 Lack of Proper Regulatory Framework8.3.2 Opposition from Offline Retailers8.3.3 High Logistics Cost8.3.4 Quality Assurance Issues9. Competitive Landscape10. Company Profiles10.1 Apollo Pharmacy10.2 1MG.com10.3 PM Healthcare10.4 Netmeds.com11. RecommendationsContinuousBuy this Report @Contact Us:Norah TrentContact Us: sales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Underground Utility Locator Market Analysis, Trends and Competitor Analysis upto 2025

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Report Title: Underground Utility Locator Market Analysis  Forecasts To 2025By Product (Electromagnetic Induction, Radio Detection, Acoustic Locating, Ground Penetrating Radar, Magnetic locators, Wires & Markers, and Others); By Services (Vacuum Evacuation, Specialty Services, Private Utility Locating, Leak Detection, and Others), By Application (Telecommunication, Electricity, Water, Natural Gas, Sewage, Oil & Gas Pipelines, Transportation, and Others); By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa); End-use Landscape; Vendor Landscape and Competitor AnalysisRequest a sample copy of the Underground Utility Locator Market report @:Market Insights:The underground utility locator market is anticipated to witness a lucrative growth over the forecast period. It is further anticipated to witness a healthy CAGR due to its simple placing mechanism, reliability, better insights and easy deployment techniques.Utility locators follow electric currents that pass through lines below the surface. Each line transmits a different signal. The locators are designed accordingly to receive that signal which further helps in identifying the exact location of an underground utility. Magnetic utility locators are anticipated to gain a lot of traction in the global underground utility locator market as it saves time and helps in achieving more accurate results.These locators have a wide application in various sectors such as Telecommunication, Electricity, Water, Natural Gas, Sewage, Oil & Gas Pipelines, and Transportation. Their effectiveness and accuracy are the best attributes that contribute to the growth of the global underground utility locator market.The high cost associated with these utility locators equipment is anticipated to hamper the growth of the market.Product Insights:Based on the products, the underground utility locator market is segmented into Electromagnetic Induction, Radio Detection, Acoustic Locating, Ground Penetrating Radar, Magnetic locators, Wires & Markers, and Others.Acoustic pipe locators market is likely to register a significant growth over the forecast period due to its ability to accurately locate unmarked, underground piping systems. These locators require a transmitter that is attached to one exposed end of the pipe, and function according to the vibrations produced in the pipeline.Factors such as the distance between pipe detectors and location of the transmitter along with inappropriate soil type reduce the quality of the sound waiting to be detected. These factors are likely to limit the growth of this segment over the coming years.Ground Penetrating Radar segment is also projected to witness a steady growth rate over the forecast period as it minimizes the chances of damaging other utilities. The initial high costs of these locators are anticipated to restrain the growth of this segment.Services Insights:On the basis of services, the underground utility locator market is divided into Vacuum Evacuation, Specialty Services, Private Utility Locating, Leak Detection, and Others. Leak detectors segment is projected to gain a significant market share over the forecast period attributing to its wide application across industries. The leak is detected where the sound emitted from the transmitter is higher. The Higher cost of these detectors coupled with the outside externalities is anticipated to limit the growth of this segment. The private utility locating segment is also likely to grow due to the advancements in technology.Application Insights:By application, the underground utility locator market is segmented into Telecommunication, Electricity, Water, Natural Gas, Sewage, Oil & Gas Pipelines, Transportation, and Others. Telecommunication application segment is anticipated to experience a rapid growth over the forecast period. This growth is primarily attributed to the advent of GRRS. It uses non-destructive testing equipment to track piping, power-lines, underground storage tanks, and grave sites that are barely seen.Regional Insights:The markets in North America and Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness an accelerated growth over the forecast period attributing to the increasing number of industries in this region. Europe is also expected to register a significant growth rate owing to its advanced technologies combined with good surveying practices and favorable government regulations.Check the Research Methodology of the Underground Utility Locator Market report @:End-Use Landscape:The end-use landscape includes a list of current and prospective consumers prevailing across the regions. This section provides company addresses, contact details, products, and regional presence of companies who are purchasing or are likely to purchase products from the global underground utility locator. The major consumers of the product are AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., and AT&T Inc.Competitive Scenario:Major players profiled in the underground utility locator market include USIC, Ditch Witch, Tracer Electronics, Subsite Electronics, The Utility Locators Inc., and McLaughlin among others.In July 2016, Vivax-Metrotech introduced THE NEW VM-510FFL cable & fault find locator system which provides power lineman with an all-in-one cable & fault-find locator system.Pre-Book the Underground Utility Locator Market Report @:Table of Content:1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY1.1 DESK RESEARCH1.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH1.3 ANALYSIS AND OUTPUT1.4 FINAL OUTPUT FROM DESK AND PRIMARY RESEARCH2 ECOSYSTEM OVERVIEW3 TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS IN UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR MARKET4 DEMAND AND SUPPLY MATRIX4.1 INTRODUCTION4.2 DEMAND SIDE ANALYSIS4.2.1 MARKET DRIVERS4.2.2 MARKET RESTRAINTS4.2.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES4.2.4 MARKET CHALLENGES4.3 SUPPLY SIDE ANALYSIS4.3.1 FUTURE SCENARIO (CAGR% VS. COUNTRY)4.3.2 MAPPING KEY MANUFACTURERS4.3.3 PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS4.3.3.1 Threat of new entrants4.3.3.2 Threat of substitutes4.3.3.3 Bargaining power of buyers4.3.3.4 Bargaining power of suppliers4.3.3.5 Intensity of competitive rivalry4.3.4 TREND ANALYSIS4.4 PESTLE ANALYSIS4.5 IMPACT ANALYSIS4.6 PATENT LISTING4.7 BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS4.7.1 KEY MACRO INDICATORS4.7.2 KEY MICRO INDICATORS5 REGULATORY FRAMEWORK6 UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR MARKET, BY PRODUCT6.1 INTRODUCTION6.2 ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION6.3 RADIO DETECTION6.4 ACOUSTIC LOCATING6.5 GROUND PENETRATING RADAR6.6 MAGNETIC LOCATORS6.7 WIRES & MARKERS6.8 OTHERS7 UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR MARKET, BY SERVICES7.1 INTRODUCTION7.2 VACUUM EVACUATION7.3 SPECIALTY SERVICES7.4 PRIVATE UTILITY LOCATING7.5 LEAK DETECTION7.6 OTHERS8 UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR MARKET, BY APPLICATION8.1 INTRODUCTION8.2 TELECOMMUNICATION8.3 ELECTRICITY8.4 WATER8.5 NATURAL GAS8.6 SEWAGE8.7 OIL & GAS PIPELINES8.8 TRANSPORTATION8.9 OTHERS9 UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATOR MARKET, BY REGION9.1 INTRODUCTION9.2 NORTH AMERICA9.2.1 BY PRODUCT9.2.2 BY SERVICES9.2.3 BY APPLICATION9.2.4 BY COUNTRY9.2.4.1 U.S.9.2.4.1.1 By product9.2.4.1.2 By services9.2.4.1.3 By application9.2.4.2 MEXICO9.2.4.2.1 By product9.2.4.2.2 By services9.2.4.2.3 By application9.2.4.3 CANADA9.2.4.3.1 By product9.2.4.3.2 By Services9.2.4.3.3 By application9.3 EUROPE9.3.1 BY PRODUCT9.3.2 BY SERVICES9.3.3 BY APPLICATION9.3.4 BY COUNTRY9.3.4.1 U.K.9.3.4.1.1 By product9.3.4.1.2 By services9.3.4.1.3 By application9.3.4.2 GERMANY9.3.4.2.1 By product9.3.4.2.2 By services9.3.4.2.3 By application9.3.4.3 FRANCE9.3.4.3.1 By product9.3.4.3.2 By services9.3.4.3.3 By application9.3.4.4 ITALY9.3.4.4.1 By product9.3.4.4.2 By services9.3.4.4.3 By application9.3.4.5 SPAIN9.3.4.5.1 By product9.3.4.5.2 By services9.3.4.5.3 By application9.4 ASIA PACIFIC9.4.1 BY PRODUCT9.4.2 BY SERVICES9.4.3 BY APPLICATION9.4.4 BY COUNTRY9.4.4.1 CHINA9.4.4.1.1 By product9.4.4.1.2 By services9.4.4.1.3 By application9.4.4.2 INDIA9.4.4.2.1 By product9.4.4.2.2 By services9.4.4.2.3 By application9.4.4.3 JAPAN9.4.4.3.1 By product9.4.4.3.2 By services9.4.4.3.3 By application9.4.4.4 SOUTH KOREA9.4.4.4.1 By product9.4.4.4.2 By services9.4.4.4.3 By application9.4.4.5 AUSTRALIA9.4.4.5.1 By product9.4.4.5.2 By services9.4.4.5.3 By application9.5 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA9.5.1 BY PRODUCT9.5.2 BY SERVICES9.5.3 BY APPLICATION9.5.4 BY COUNTRY9.5.4.1 BRAZIL9.5.4.1.1 By product9.5.4.1.2 By services9.5.4.1.3 By application9.5.4.2 ARGENTINA9.5.4.2.1 By product9.5.4.2.2 By services9.5.4.2.3 By application9.5.4.3 CHILE9.5.4.3.1 By product9.5.4.3.2 By services9.5.4.3.3 By application9.6 MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA9.6.1 BY PRODUCT9.6.2 BY SERVICES9.6.3 BY APPLICATION9.6.4 BY COUNTRY9.6.4.1 SAUDI ARABIA9.6.4.1.1 By product9.6.4.1.2 By Services9.6.4.1.3 By application9.6.4.2 SOUTH AFRICA9.6.4.2.1 By product9.6.4.2.2 By Services9.6.4.2.3 By application9.6.4.3 EGYPT9.6.4.3.1 By product9.6.4.3.2 By Services9.6.4.3.3 By application10 END-USER LANDSCAPE (CONSUMER PROFILE)10.1 INTRODUCTION10.2 NORTH AMERICA10.3 EUROPE10.4 ASIA-PACIFIC10.5 MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA10.6 CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA11 VENDOR LANDSCAPE (SUPPLIERS/MANUFACTURERS/DISTRIBUTORS)11.1 NORTH AMERICA11.2 EUROPE11.3 ASIA-PACIFIC11.4 MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA11.5 CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA12 COMPANY PROFILE12.1 USIC12.1.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.1.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.1.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.1.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.1.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.2 DITCH WITCH12.2.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.2.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.2.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.2.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.2.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.3 TRACER ELECTRONICS12.3.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.3.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.3.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.3.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.3.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.4 SUBSITE ELECTRONICS12.4.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.4.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.4.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.4.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.4.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.5 THE UTILITY LOCATORS INC12.5.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.5.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.5.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.5.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.5.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.6 MCLAUGHLIN12.6.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.6.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.6.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.6.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.6.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.7 RIGID PROFESSIONAL TOOLS12.7.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.7.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.7.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.7.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.7.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.8 3 M12.8.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.8.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.8.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.8.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.8.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.9 BLOOD HOUND L.L.C...12.9.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.9.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.9.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.9.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.9.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.10 B&B LOCATING, INC.12.10.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.10.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.10.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.10.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.10.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.11 MAVERICK INSPECTION LTD.12.11.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.11.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.11.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.11.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.11.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.12 RYCOM INSTRUMENTS INC.12.12.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.12.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.12.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.12.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.12.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.13 PEGASUS UTILITY LOCATING SERVICE INC.12.13.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.13.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.13.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.13.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.13.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.14 SIDEWINDER UTILITY LOCATORS12.14.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.14.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.14.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.14.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.14.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES12.15 SIDEWINDER UTILITY LOCATORS12.15.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION12.15.2 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE12.15.3 SWOT ANALYSIS12.15.4 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED12.15.5 STRATEGIC INITIATIVESWere constantly identifying and analysing high growth markets and revenue pockets. In consultation with various industry experts, our team of highly-skilled industry analysts study these markets through sophisticated tools and fail-safe, industry-approved methodologies.Name: Global Market Estimates Research & Business ConsultantsAddress: A-9, Silver Croft CHSL, Mumbai:400064, IndiaContact No,: +91 9146632316Email Address: sales@globalmarketestimates.com
Patisserie Packaging Market Global Industry Analysis and Forecast Till 2016 - 2024

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=14996

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=14996

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Patisserie products are popular among all age groups and the sales are independent of occasions or seasons. Packaging plays an important role in patisserie products in increasing shelf life, marketing, prevention from mechanical damage, displaying food safety related warnings and nutrition value. Packaging vendors who provide innovative and creative packaging solutions are preferred by patisserie dealers, as it helps to strengthen sales by enhancing product visibility. Apart from protecting and containing the items, the packaging must be irresistible enough to appeal to a buyer and ultimately lead to a sale. Packaging supplies come in more sizes, shapes, textures, materials and printing options than ever before, hence containers that achieve a quality or feature that is extremely impressive can set any product apart from its competitors.Sale of patisserie is most commonly noted at retail outlets. In order to create a longer shelf-life, retailers have demanded the packaging manufacturers to improve the process of wrapping up such food items.Sales of patisserie have increased as urbanization has led the population to opt for food that is readily available. Increase in cases of stomach disorders are responsible for the dynamics of the global patisserie packaging market to go through unfavorable reforms. The key challenge restraining the fluent production of packaging products is the varying pack-sizes. Consumers prefer reusable plastic pouches as the ideal packaging product, which is in turn hampering the sales of traditional packaging products and declining the demand. The uneven culinary habits of the target population is also accounted as a major factor impeding the growth of the global patisserie market.Request Report Brochure @Based on type of material, the patisserie packaging market can be segmented as follows:PlasticPaper and cardboard boxesCorrugated boxesFlexible packagingOthersSmall plastic patisserie packs, plastic cupcake boxes and plastic cake containers are widely used as they protect the contents from damage and leaking. Paper and cardboard boxes are used by the manufacturers in order to differentiate the product as well as to provide mechanical strength. Taken as a whole, corrugated boxes are considered to be an eco-friendly and sustainable form of packaging compared with other forms of packaging, including plastics. Huge investments are made to develop innovative solutions in corrugated box packaging. Overall, packaging manufacturers are expected to come up with resistant quality packaging materials in the coming years keeping prime focus on environmental protection and sustainability.Based on type of product, the patisserie packaging market can be segmented as follows:CakesCream bunsGateauxPastriesBased on geography, the patisserie packaging market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Overall, Asia Pacific (APAC) is expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. In countries like China, India and Japan, growth comes from an increase in the demand for poly bags. North America is expected to substantially contribute towards market growth on the grounds of rising demand for digitally-printed packages which creates a hyper-personal buying experience. Significant growth in bakery and confectionary in China will have a positive impact on the patisserie packaging market. Furthermore, growing demand for packaged foods and consumer goods is expected to increase the growth. Europe is further anticipated to boost the market growth over the upcoming years with regards to the rising demand for home delivery of patisserie products. Increase in sedentary lifestyle and eating habits in Latin America and MEA are expected to propel patisserie packaging market demand in the region.Visit For TOC@Some of the top players operating in the patisserie packaging market are Papiers Paviot, Amcor Limited, LINPAC Senior Holdings Limited, Graphic Packaging International, Inc., Coyne & Blanchard, Inc., Mahalaxmi Flexible Packaging, Berry Plastics Corporation, Sealed Air, WestRock Company, AR Packaging Group AB and others.About Us  Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others.Contact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Yerha.com launches Grand Gadgets Festival' this festive season

New Delhi, October 09, 2017 Yerha.com, an e-commerce platform for technology products, today announced the launch of Grand Gadgets Festival that starts from October 5th and runs until 15th. Starting from just Rs 90, the e-tail site offers irresistible deals on over 50 products with a special discount of up to 80%. The top products include the IMCO Watch, EMOI, istage, Travel Kit, PIECE, Talkase Mobile Phone, Elari Nano Phone C and Mesuit.Commenting on the launch of the Grand Gadgets Festival, Mr. Manikant Jain, CEO of Yerha.com said: "With Diwali around the corner, Yerha.com goes all festive with its 'Grand Gadgets Festival'. Shoppers scouting for the best deals, discounts and freebies can browse through our site where they can find some fab products for their loved ones. With a significant discount of up to 80%on a range of innovative tech accessories & gadgets, we want to make online shopping an unforgettable experience this festive season.Designed for a smarter way of life, the iMCO Watch is the worlds first Alexa enabled smartwatch that boasts a powerful arsenal of apps and features that include Alarm, Alternate Time-zone, Calendar, Music Bluetooth Control, Notifications, Step Counter, Heart Rate Monitor, Stopwatch, Timer, Weather, Speed Dial, and If-This-Then-That (IFTTT) Integration.Emoi, on the other hand is a smart touch Lamp with Bluetooth speaker. Shaped like a mushroom and a globe, Emoi Lamp has 4.0 Bluetooth enabled speakers that deliver brilliant audio quality and bring a warm glow to any space. Users can play their favourite music, change colours and brightness with a single tap and can even capture the colour of their room with their smart phone.Mesuit is the worlds first and only smart hardware that runs Android OS on iPhones in the form of an app and supports one-key hot swapping. The most popular product, PIECE is the future of Dual SIM technology. It is a tiny companion device that holds any GSM card, allowing you to add an extra number to your existing smart device via Bluetooth.Exclusive Mobile Phone like Elari Nano Phone C and Talkase are very compact and trendy. These are among the best Anti-Smartphone options available in market. These provide Bluetooth calling option which is rarely available in India.In addition to these products, there are some more amazing and trendy accessories as well as smart gadgets that you can buy at a special price. Orders once placed can be tracked within 48hrs with a guaranteed refund option during the same period. The company is registered with consumer forum for better customer payment security.Yerha.com is a new age E-commerce start up that specializes in bringing the latest in technology from all around the world to India. Headquartered in Delhi and backed by a diverse group of individuals and seasoned veterans of trade, The Company calls itself a creative design and Technology Company, rather than just an e-store and believes in working with passion and being driven with hunger for technology.Yerha has built a complete ecosystem around the international products and kick-starter products by providing cash on delivery & multiple payment options, 6 months replacement guarantee, door step repair service pan India & easy return options. The ground-breaking products coupled with advanced e-commerce services, warranties & repairs have made it one of the most reliable and exclusive shopping destinations in the e-tail consumer electronics market.!204, Netaji Subash Place, New Delhi, 110034011-47529583
Intra-cranial pressure monitors Market Research By methods, By Application, By techniques Forecast to 2022

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/intra-cranial-pressure-monitor-market

Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitors are devices used for treating severe brain injury by recording the pressure (swelling) inside different areas of the brain. This devise segment is growing rapidly due to increase in number of cases related to neurological disorders, along with technology advancement and awareness about different types of treatment in the market. Other factors leading to the increasing growth of the device market includes increase cases of sleep disorders, brain disorders autoimmune disease and depression cases in the present generation.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Key players of Global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market: Covidien plc (Ireland) Compumedics Limited (Australia) Natus Medical Incorporated (US) Integra LifeSciences Corporation (US) Codman & Shurtleff, Inc. (US) Raumedic (USA) VittamedStudy Objectives of Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market: Providing detail analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years on various segments and sub-segments of the global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market. Providing insights about factors affecting the market growth. Analyzing the global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, Porters Five Force analysis etc. Giving past and predicted future revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Providing country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and predicted future growth. . Giving country level analysis of the market for segments by methods, by techniques, by application and by end-users. Giving an overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies and drawing the current competitive scenario of the market Tracking and analyzing competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments along with research and developments in the global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market.Browse Full Report Details @Segments:The global intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market is majorly segmented on the basis of techniques, methods and application. Based on techniques, market is segmented into invasive and non-invasive ICP monitoring. Based on methods used in screening these are classified into intra-ventricular catheter, subdural screw and epidural sensor. Further on the basis of application the market is again classified into traumatic brain injury, intra-cerebral hemorrhage, meningitis and others.The report for Global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regionsContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Intra-cranial pressure (ICP) monitor Market Research Report- Forecast To 2022 related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Car Wash System Market 2017 : Industry Safety Automotives, Key Manufacturers Analysis & Regions

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Car Wash System Market Research Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The global Car Wash System market is driven by a variety of regional and global trends, an elaborate assessment of which is given in the report. The in-depth research covers key market dynamics, share and size of various segments, scope of recent technological advancements, major opportunities, and strategic dynamics in various regions. The study analyzes vendor landscape, the potentiality of buyers and suppliers, key strategies adopted by market players to gain a competitive edge over others. Recent mergers and acquisitions expected to shape the trajectory of the Car Wash System market are highlighted. Current offerings by various players in major regions and their adoption rate across demographics are evaluated in the study. Various product development initiatives by key players and the ways in which they are likely to stir demand are also analyzed. Emerging business models adopted by various vendors help market participants gain a tangible idea where the market is headed toward.Global Car Wash System market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingWashTecDaifukuOtto ChristIstobalRykoMK SeikoTommy Car WashTakeuchiAutobaseCarnurseBelangerZonyiHaitianSiang ShengBroadway EquipmentIn recent times, various types of strategic and business risks have emerged which are anticipated to bring new opportunities to the fore. The study tracks these developments and offers an in-depth evaluation of various governmental regulations influencing the growth of the Car Wash System market in various regions. Company leaders and business owners looking for reliable inputs on the basis of which they can recalibrate their strategies will find the report an invaluable asset. The study not only evaluates the trends that are picking up pace but also those which are most likely to lose their steam in the coming years. The major developments in the end-use industries and disruptive technologies that may play a profound role are given a cursory look in the report. The well-researched findings mirrors the concern of emerging and established players and helps them with evidence-based insights to address these concerns. Various market participants looking to gain a simplified and credible view of the growth of the Car Wash System will find the analysis helpful.Get Free Report Sample and Customization:Table of Contents1 Car Wash System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Car Wash System1.2 Car Wash System Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Car Wash System Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Car Wash System Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.3 Global Car Wash System Segment by Application1.4 Global Car Wash System Market by Region (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Car Wash System (2012-2022)2 Global Car Wash System Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Car Wash System Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Car Wash System Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Car Wash System Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Car Wash System Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Car Wash System Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Car Wash System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Car Wash System Market Competitive Situation and Trends3 Global Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Car Wash System Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Car Wash System Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Car Wash System Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 United States Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 EU Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7 Global Car Wash System Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 WashTec7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Car Wash System Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.3 WashTec Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Daifuku7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Car Wash System Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.3 Daifuku Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Otto Christ7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Car Wash System Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.3 Otto Christ Car Wash System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewView TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Car Wash SystemFigure Global Car Wash System Production (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2012-2022)Figure Global Car Wash System Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2016Figure Global Car Wash System Consumption (K Units) by Applications (2012-2022)Figure Global Car Wash System Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2016Figure Global Car Wash System Revenue (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Car Wash System Capacity, Production (K Units) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Car Wash System Major Players Product Capacity (K Units) (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
IoT in Europe: Market Opportunities and Sizing up the main Applications : A New Path to European Prosperity

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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " IoT in Europe: Market opportunities and main applications " to it's Large Report database.IoT in Europe: Market opportunities and main applicationsSummary"IoT in Europe: Market opportunities and main applications", a new Telecom Insider Report by GlobalData offers a thorough study of the size of the IoT market and different strategies of telecom operators in the European region. The report analyses the strategies pertaining to IoT verticals.The high penetration of smartphones has favored the mass usage of IoT-related applications and has appeared as an essential IoT device for the IoT ecosystem. The storage capacity provided by cloud computing and the analytics stemming from big data have also foster growth of IoT. Europe will boast the most IoT connections worldwide in 2017, followed by the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Africa and Middle East, and will remain leader through 2020. GlobalData expects total IoT connections to reach 3.1 million in 2020 supported by businesses needs to optimize resources, enhance customer experience and generate new revenue streams. Cellular M2M connections are gaining traction among total SIM cards in Europe, representing 7% of the market in 2017. In terms of IoT applications in Europe, GlobalData forecasts the share of smart metering in total connections to decline to 28% in 2020, from 52% in 2017, as industrial and finance applications boom. European telcos have invested different IoT applications with telematics, fleet management, smart cities and smart home being four specific example illustrated in this report.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:The report consists of the following sections -- Introduction: This section briefly examines the definition of IoT and M2M and offers a snapshot of the different IoT standards.- Key Drivers: This section highlights the three main drivers behind the proliferation of IoT connections, namely the high take-up of smartphones, cloud computing and bidg data analytics (BDA).- Market sizing: This section provides an estimate and forecast through 2020 of total IoT connections worldwide and in Europe. It also take a dive into the size of IoT in Europe by connectivity, vertical and applications- Case studies: We continue with a review of the IoT applications that leading telecom companies - Vodafone Germany, Orange France, Telefnica Spain and O2 UK - have been following to increase presence in the IoT environment.- Key findings and recommendations: We conclude the report with a summary of key findings and a set of recommendations for telecom operators and network vendors to grasp full opportunities on the IoT market.Browse more details @Table of ContentsTable of contents 3List of exhibits 4Executive Summary 5Introduction: Definitions and standards 6Defining the IoT and M2MIoT standardsMain challengesSection 1: Main opportunities and challenges 10Smartphones growthCloud computingBig data analyticsSection 2: Market sizing 14IoT Connections - International BenchmarkIoT by connectivity - EuropeM2M in total SIM cards - EuropeIoT by applications - EuropeIoT by vertical - EuropeSection 3: Case Studies 20Vodafone Germany - TelematicsTelefnica Spain - Smart citiesOrange France - Fleet managementO2 UK - Smart housesSection 4: Key Findings and Recommendations 29Appendix 32About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMoz's service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket Ghumare90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Automated Analytics Market - NextGen Technological Advancements, Professional Survey and Future Industry Trends : 2025

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Analytic is the tool useful for interpretation, communication and discovery of meaningful patterns in data. The automation of above mentioned process is said to be automated analytics. An automated analytics process often includes data retrieval, data management, model scoring, optimization & insights & reports, and media planning among others. Wherein, once the new data is gathered, many data management steps become necessary. For instance, data merging, clearing, aggregation filter, and transformations. If all these mentioned process are manual, then work efficiency is anticipated to hamper. However, implementation of automated analytics sets off all required data management processes and hence improvise the data analysis to make effective business strategies. Automated analytics helps to take firm and right business decisions. Unlike manual analytics, automated analytics provide recommendation to a human. In prescriptive analytics, automated analytics itself takes an action on the output of their analysis.Few instance consider airline companies reviewing the price changes for airline seats, banker reviewing applicants applications for personal loan, if they use employees for tasks, they would need to increase their employee strength. However, these mentioned processes are automated using automated analytics tools. Automated analytics play crucial role and are becoming necessary in the world, to feature real-time data analysis. Automated analytics, to function efficiently, it is required to be embedded into the other systems that brings forth data to the analysis and developed to take necessary action in real time. Organizations are increasingly adopting automated analytics inside of data warehouses.Get Sample Report:The growing trend of rapid innovations and technological advancement in digitization and hence automated analytics implementation is witnessing the growth for global automated analytics market and anticipated to show similar trend during the forecast period. The adaptation of automated analytics in big data analysis is anticipated to drive the global automated analytics market during forecast period. Automated analytics increases agility through faster integration of enterprise data warehousing and business intelligence applications. Across big data automated analytics reduces the manual human efforts and access to timely and accurate business analytics. It maintains the complete control over end-to-end data flows. Furthermore, it also saves time and reduce risk with high performance managed file transfers. However, more initial developer time requirement for customized automated analytics feature, and increase tooling needs is anticipated to obstruct the automated analytics market during the forecast period.Additionally, automated analytics feature which includes real-time automatic computation and instant data processing is anticipated to seek significant opportunities across retail, finance, gaming, and telecommunications industries among others to grow the overall market in the coming years.Automated analytics market is segmented as by technology, by type, by end-use, and by geography. The technology segment is further classified as fraud detection, complex competitive analysis, call center optimization, consumer sentiment analysis, and intelligent traffic management among others. Based on type segment, the global automated analytics is subdivided into predictive, diagnostic and descriptive among others. Furthermore, end-use segment of automated analytics market is classified as publisher analytics, advertiser analytics, and both publisher & advertiser analytics. Global automated analytics market, based on geography, is divided into five regions which includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), South America. On regional basis the North America segment is anticipated to contribute largest market share in the current market. Europe is anticipated to show marginal growth with significant compound annual growth rate during the forecast period. Asia pacific, Middle East & Africa are expected to witness the similar growth in near future.View TOC for this Market Report @Some of the major players in the global automated analytics market, who provide the automated data analytics tools includes, Actian Corporation, Adeptia, Inc., Altova, Astera Software, Informatica, IBM Corporation, Pentaho Corporation, Talend, Oracle Corporation, SAP, Elixir Technology Pte Ltd., CloverETL, QlikTech International AB, Lead Liaison LLC, and SnapLogic, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Fault Tolerant Server Market Projected to Grow at a Steady Pace During 2017 - 2025

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Fault-tolerant technology involves the capability of a computer system, electronic system to deliver uninterrupted services, despite failing of one or more of its components. It is basically the ability of a system to respond gracefully at the time of an unexpected hardware or software failure. Fault tolerance resolves potential service interruptions in case of logic errors as well. The main purpose for these server and technology is prevention of catastrophic failure that may result from a single point of failure hampering access to the complete data putting at risk the unsaved data by user.A sample of this report is available upon request @During virtualization of critical applications, it is important for understanding the protection related to server assets as problems in a single virtualized platform means failure of everything in case of platform failure which is the reason for the application of fault tolerant servers. The fault-tolerant platforms helps in avoiding this complexity further delivering simplicity and reliability especially in virtualized implementations. Four phases are involved with fault tolerance that completes the whole process which includes error detection, damage assessment, state restoration and continued service.The global market for fault tolerant server has been segmented on the basis of type, techniques, application and geography. Based on type, this market has been segmented into hardware fault tolerance and software fault tolerance. Systematic and application specific fault tolerance form the two main techniques on the basis of which this market has been segmented. For the application segment this market has been further segmented into industrial automation, government offices, smart buildings, financial services, telecommunication, transportation, retail and healthcare among others.Global fault tolerant server market based on geography includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa.The virtualized implementations in fault tolerant server eliminating the unplanned downtime thereby preventing data loss has formed a critical element in most automation environments along with being extremely important for analytics. This forms a major driver for this market further having a positive impact over the demand. The fault-tolerant software and hardware solutions also provides minimal unplanned downtime along with high levels of availability at the time of a trade-off.The fault-tolerant servers also achieve high availability with a minimal amount system for delivering a superior level of performance in originations especially when huge crunching of data is involved. These have formed some of the major drivers for this market. Besides these there are also certain restraints that negatively impacts this market. One such key factor being the high costs associated with it. In addition this, it is the non-disruptive change management related to the isolation and diagnosis of the information along with the human influences that may affects the reliability and availability of data further forming a few key restraints for this market. It is expected that the automation along with growing dependency on internet based services that will provide growth opportunities in this area in the next few years.Based on geography, North America and Europe has formed some major regions contributing to the growth. The growing opportunities in the current dynamic business environment along with dependency on cloud based services has been a few major reasons that has boosted the overall demand. Asia Pacific has formed another key region also accounting for one of the fastest growth. Japan, China, India and South Korea has been few important countries contributing to the growth. Rise in automation along with growing dependency on server based information in case of small, medium and large companies have been a few key drivers boosting the market demand.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the key players that are operating in the global fault tolerant server market include NEC Corporation (U.S.), One Net Communications (Singapore), Stratus Technologies (U.S.), Microsoft Corporation (U.S.) and IBM Corporation (U.S.) among others.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact Us-U.S. OFFICE:State Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207
Wood Interior Doors 2017 Global Market Key Players  Masonite, Lemieux, TruStile Doors, Lynden Door, Maiman Company, Sierra Door  Analysis and Forecast to 2022

Wood Interior Doors Market

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Wood Interior Doors Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds Wood Interior Doors Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:This report studies Wood Interior Doors in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringMasoniteLemieuxTruStile DoorsLynden DoorMaiman CompanySierra DoorStallionWoodharborWoodgrain DoorsArazzinniJeld-WenSimpson Door CompanyAppalachianKaronaRequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSolid WoodLaminated WoodOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoResidential BuildingCommercial BuildingOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points in Table of Content:1 Industry Overview of Wood Interior Doors1.1 Definition and Specifications of Wood Interior Doors1.1.1 Definition of Wood Interior Doors1.1.2 Specifications of Wood Interior Doors1.2 Classification of Wood Interior Doors1.2.1 Solid Wood1.2.2 Laminated Wood1.2.3 Other1.3 Applications of Wood Interior Doors1.3.1 Residential Building1.3.2 Commercial Building1.3.3 Other1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Wood Interior Doors8.1 Masonite8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Masonite 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Masonite 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Lemieux8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Lemieux 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Lemieux 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 TruStile Doors8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 TruStile Doors 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 TruStile Doors 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Lynden Door8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Lynden Door 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Lynden Door 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Maiman Company8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Maiman Company 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Maiman Company 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Sierra Door8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Sierra Door 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Sierra Door 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Stallion8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 Stallion 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Stallion 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Woodharbor8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Woodharbor 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Woodharbor 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 Woodgrain Doors8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 Woodgrain Doors 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 Woodgrain Doors 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Arazzinni8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Arazzinni 2016 Wood Interior Doors Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Arazzinni 2016 Wood Interior Doors Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinued.Buy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Sales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
US, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement Market Forecast 2021 & Future Industry Trends

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market has been compiled by research analysts of the industry, with a primary aim to offer relevant information on the current market conditions for the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement. Its objective is to talk about the growth prospects of the market and reach out to a wider range of audience such as government agencies, manufacturers of Internet Advertisement, and multiple consultancy services. The research report offers comprehensive analysis of the vital driving factors that will have a huge impact on the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market. It also studies the impeding or restraining aspects, upcoming and latest trends in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market which the prominent players in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market should make a note of to enhance their market presence. The potential of other factors of the Internet Advertisement market can be assessed by studying its multiple segments such as products, end users, types, application, services, and others, whichever are applicable. The report also studies the future conditions of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market in all the important regions across the world, such as Latin America, Middle East and Africa (MEA), North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.The report of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market gives out the projection of the market size in terms of its revenue (USD billion). Top-down as well as Bottom-up approaches are applied in the study report to give an estimate and confirm the size of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market and of its other different sub-segments. The research report also extensively discusses the opportunities that may arise in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Internet Advertisement by type and application in the manufacturing countries, and provides a prediction for the period of 2017-2022.This report studies the global Internet Advertisement market, analyzes and researches the Internet Advertisement development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeFacebookGoogleLinkedInTwitterBCCDeutsche TelekomIACPinterestTumblrSome of the prominent companies in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market have been mentioned to attract the market shareholders. These companies are profiled respectively so as to give out their product portfolio, recent strategic decisions, and overall market share. The chapter also tries to grasp the possibility of the entry of upcoming players in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Internet Advertisement market. The leading companies of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market have been spotted with the help of secondary research methodologies and their dominance in respective areas have been evaluated with the help of detailed primary as well as secondary research.Get free complimentary Research Summary Of The Report:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Internet Advertisement1.1 Internet Advertisement Market Overview1.1.1 Internet Advertisement Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Internet Advertisement Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 Internet Advertisement Market by End Users/Application2 Global Internet Advertisement Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Internet Advertisement Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Facebook3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Internet Advertisement Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Google3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Internet Advertisement Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 LinkedIn3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Internet Advertisement Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments4 Global Internet Advertisement Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Internet Advertisement Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.2 Potential Application of Internet Advertisement in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Internet AdvertisementBrowse full table of contents and data tables of Report @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Internet Advertisement Product ScopeFigure Global Internet Advertisement Market Size (2011-2016)Table Global Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure Global Internet Advertisement Market Share by Regions in 2015Figure United States Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure EU Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure Japan Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure China Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure India Internet Advertisement Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Data Center SAN Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Data Center SAN Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia market for Data Center SAN has been perceived on a couple of points of view and have adequately patched up the market situation. The report also verbalizes unmistakable experiences and data identified with the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Data Center SAN market. The key reason for the report is to detail out certain positive and negative focuses about the market circumstance with the objective that potential examiners have a correct thought and learning about the market they are hoping to put resources into. Exact factual information have been furnished with a particular ultimate objective to give a total understanding and current status of the market, to the clients of the report. The market ponder report additionally merges highlights, for example, prospects, market figures, portions, restraints, and drivers for measuring their outcome that are honest to goodness for both the close-by and overall level. The examination likewise incorporate the basic market purposes of premium, which contains unmistakable features of the central perspectives which are foreseen to trigger improvement in the market or reasons that may have a negative effect too.This report studies the global Data Center SAN market, analyzes and researches the Data Center SAN development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeCiscoDellEMCHPHuaweiLenovoNetAppNECNimble StorageOracleOverland Storage (Sphere 3D)Pure StorageXIO TechnologiesIBMFujitsSilicon Graphics International Corp.The report is lacking without a careful estimation of the particular scenario of the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Data Center SAN market, which contains the facts and estimations, and degrees of progress of the cream of the thing in the United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Data Center SAN market. For each segment, the report presents the collection of movement up until this point and degree of what money related masters can be finish over the coming years.Get A Free PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Data Center SAN1.1 Data Center SAN Market Overview1.1.1 Data Center SAN Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Data Center SAN Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 Data Center SAN Market by Type1.4 Data Center SAN Market by End Users/Application2 Global Data Center SAN Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Data Center SAN Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Cisco3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Data Center SAN Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Dell3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Data Center SAN Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 EMC3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Data Center SAN Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments4 Global Data Center SAN Market Size by Type and Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Data Center SAN Market Size by Type (2011-2016)4.2 Global Data Center SAN Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.3 Potential Application of Data Center SAN in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Data Center SANGet more information from Research Report Press Release:List of Tables and FiguresFigure Data Center SAN Product ScopeFigure Global Data Center SAN Market Size (2011-2016)Table Global Data Center SAN Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure Global Data Center SAN Market Share by Regions in 2015Figure United States Data Center SAN Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure EU Data Center SAN Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure Japan Data Center SAN Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)Figure China Data Center SAN Market Size and Growth Rate by Regions (2011-2016)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Chagas Disease Management Market: Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-chagas-disease-management-market/#ulp-4H8Z4LpNMLEuOnnx

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-chagas-disease-management-market/#ulp-c654SbFYO64MsOhu

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-chagas-disease-management-market/#ulp-14mlyhjMGhVjZqa3

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-chagas-disease-management-market/

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com

The Chagas disease is majorly present in the Latin America and spreading to North America and Europe region. Increase in the Chagas disease population in Latin America region, rise in the prevalence of Chagas disease due to unhygienic conditions might fuel the growth of Chagas disease management market over the forecast period. In addition, increase in the research and development of new products are one of the main factors that drive the growth of chagas disease management market. However, lack of awareness regarding the chagas disease treatment, a limited number of approved products in the current market, and supply chain issues with chagas disease drugs will hamper the growth of the chagas disease management market over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Chagas disease management market is segmented on the basis of treatment type, drug type, and end userBased on treatment type, the Chagas disease management market segmented into the following:Antiparasitic treatmentSymptomatic treatmentBased on drug type, the Chagas disease management market segmented into the following:BenznidazoleNifurtimoxBased on the distribution channel, the Chagas disease management market segmented into the following:Hospital PharmaciesOnline PharmaciesRetail PharmaciesTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Chagas disease management market is still in the budding stage. Currently, very few players are actively involved in the development of new products for the Chagas disease treatment. Currently, there are only two drugs are available in the market for Chagas disease management namely, Benznidazole and Nifurtimox. Several products are in pipeline that may enter the market near future. Increase in research and developments for new products, acquisitions & mergers, collaborations and providing funds to various organizations for research and development activities might fuel the growth of Chagas disease management market. For instance, in March 2012, Dundee University partnered with GSK, Wellcome Trust for neglected tropical disease research. In June 2012, Japans Astellas Pharma signed an agreement with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) to collaborate on drug discovery research for three neglected tropical diseases: leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness. Increase in the incidence Chagas disease in Latin America, and the unavailability of adequate treatment, spell opportunities for pharmaceutical companies across the region to develop new and improved diagnosis and treatment methods over the forecast period.Need more information about this report @Geographically, the Chagas disease management market segmented into the following regions Viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Chagas disease is dominant in Latin America region and nowadays it is developing in the rest of world owing to the population mobility from Latin America. According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 8 million people are suffering from Chagas disease in worldwide, and majority of the people living in Latin America region. In addition, about 10,000 people die every year with the Chagas disease. Less number of products available in the market for treatment, and poor diagnostic methods to detect in the Latin America region are the major challenges for the Chagas disease management market in Latin America region. North America and Europe are the key regions for Chagas disease management market owing to increase in the prevalence of Chagas disease according to CDC, approximately 300,000 people are suffering from the Chagas disease in the North America region.Get access to full summary @Some of the players in chagas disease management market are AstraZeneca (U.K), Bayer AG (Germany), Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd (Japan), Eisai Co Ltd (Japan), GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (U.K), Grupo Praxis Pharmaceutical SA (Spain), KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (U.S.), Kancera AB (Sweden), Novartis AG (Switzerland), Laboratorio Elea S.A.C.I.F. y A (Argentina), Oblita Therapeutics BVBA (Belgium), and Sanofi Aventis (France) to name a few."About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Precision Business Insights mission is to provide high-quality market research reports and generate key insights to our clients. PBIs approachable strategies are to help clients to make key decisions for business growth.Precision Business Insights vision is to become most valued partner to fortune 500 companies by providing agile, accurate, and actionable market insightsPrecision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free(US): +1-866-598-1553Website @"Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free(US): +1-866-598-1553"
Heat Shrink Packaging Machines Market Research & Development with Capital Expenditure & Product Development

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https://www.reportsmonitor.com/global-heat-shrink-packaging-machines-market-professional-survey-report-2017/

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In this report, the Heat Shrink Packaging machines market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market analyses is provided for global market including development trends by regions, competitive analysis of the Heat Shrink Packaging machines market. Heat Shrink Packaging machines Industry report focuses on the major drivers and restraints for the key players.For requesting a sample copy of this report, please visit @Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Heat Shrink Packaging machines sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including:-Advance Packaging, Swift Pack, Sontex, E-shrink Packaging, Qingdao Ausense Packing Equipment, Xunjie.On the basis on the end users/applications, this Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Heat Shrink Packaging machines for each application.Split by Types: PE Film Heat Shrink Packaging Machine, POF Film Heat Shrink Packaging Machine.Split by Applications: Medical Packing, Food Packing, Chemical Products Packing, Others.Geographically, this Heat Shrink Packaging machines Industry report split global into several key Regions, with sales (Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market for these regions from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering: North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, IndiaBrowse full table of contents and report description @Table of Contents:Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Sales Market Report 20171 Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Heat Shrink Packaging machines1.2 Classification of Heat Shrink Packaging machines by Product Category1.2.1 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Industry Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.3 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Heat Shrink Packaging machines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Heat Shrink Packaging machines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Heat Shrink Packaging machines (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Heat Shrink Packaging machines Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About UsReports Monitor (ReportsMonitor.com) is a platform to meet the market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Will Wireless Printers Market Size Observe Significant Surge during 2017 - 2025?

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Wireless printers refers to those printers that the customers can connect to their devices such as smartphone, and tablets with the help of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mediums such as AirPrint and Cloud. The global wireless printers market is expected to witness a steady growth during the forecast period due to its increasing adoption by the consumers as it helps them to operate multiple devices as a single unit. Consumers can use their tablets or smartphones to print bills, office documents or any other documents.A sample of this report is available upon request @The global wireless printer market is expected to witness a progressive growth in the coming years due to the rising demand for wireless printers in the IT industry coupled with low operating cost. Moreover, the increasing demand for laptops and PCs in offices and homes is boosting the demand for wireless printers market. The newage wireless printers such as inkjet printers are capable of ultra-high volume printing and they also reduce the average cost per color impression thereby increasing their demand across various end users. In addition, the rapid rise in the number of internet users across the globe have also revolutionized the wireless printer market. People have now access to vast amount of data that needs to be printed.However in spite of so many driving factors, the wireless printers have high maintenance cost and can also give access to confidential and critical information due to the fact that they are exposed to various network vulnerability risks. This is predicted to inhibit its growth rate to some extent in the coming years from 2017 to 2025.To provide detailed research report, the global wireless printers market is classified on the basis of technology, end user and geography. By technology the wireless printer market is segmented into wireless inkjet printers and wireless laser printers. Among the different technologies that are available in the market, the wireless inkjet printers segment is expected to grow at a highest rate during the forecast period as the inkjet printers can print faster than laser printers and are better prepared to handle high volume print jobs. In addition the recent advancement in wireless inkjet printers that include the invention of UV curable inkjet printers have increased their demand.This technologically advanced wireless inkjet printers are used mainly in industrial sector due to the factors like quality, low cost and durability. The integration of wireless technology with inkjet printers have led to the fast adoption of these printers among the consumers. The end user segment is further divided into educational institutions, healthcare, IT sector, industrial, banking and financial and others. IT sector is expected to hold the largest market share due to its low cost in printing various documents through wireless that helps them to save time as these are able to print large number of documents at a time. In addition the trend of integrating wireless device with office infrastructure is likely to increase the growth rate of the global wireless printer market in this sector.Geographically, the global wireless printer market has been further segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. North America held the largest share of the Wireless Printer market among the different regions in 2016 owing to the high demand for wireless management frame protection (MFP) in this region. On the flip side, the wireless printer market of Asia Pacific is majorly driven by the Japan owing to the presence of a large number of wireless printer manufacturers in the country.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the key vendors operating in the global Wireless Printer market includes Brother Industries (Japan), Canon Inc., (Japan), Hewlett Packard (The U.S), Seiko Epson (Japan), Kyocera (Japan), Ricoh (Japan) and many more.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact Us-U.S. OFFICE:State Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207
E-commerce in Russia: Recent Overview and Trends

http://www.balalaika-bs.com/en/blog/e-commerce-in-russia-what-you-need-to-know-to-sell-online-in-russia-in-2017-/

http://www.balalaika-bs.com/en/

Moscow-based Balalaika llc published a report on e-commerce in Russia aimed to help companies all over the world that want to sell their products online in the Russian Federation from abroad.With an Internet penetration rate of 71.3% and 66 million people connected per day, Russia has become one of the most tempting markets for those who want to do business on the Internet. Russians are buying online more and more and they are increasingly making their online purchases from abroad.The Internet is definitely a tool that will allow companies to expand their business and sell their products in Russia. But it is not as simple as it seems: Companies need in-depth knowledge of the market, its dynamics and such aspects as customs, shipping, delivery and accepted payment methods in order to implement effective sales strategies.In the report, titled E-commerce in Russia: What You Need to Know to Sell Online in Russia in 2017, are discussed some aspects of e-commerce in Russia and Russian online customers behavior. The author defines trends and also gives few tips that can help to manage and promote a successful e-commerce in a region so vast and far away as that of Russia.View Full Report:Balalaika llc is an international team of professionals who have been living and working in Russia for years. We provide professional translation, marketing, advertising and business services and support companies at every stage of development in the Russian market.Balalaika llcUl. Avtozavodskaya, 1115280 Moscow, Russiainfo@balalaika-bs.comContact Person:Fausto Baficof.bafico@balalaika-bs.com
FLOW WRAPPING SOLUTIONS CAN EASE LABOUR SHORTAGE IN FRESH PRODUCE

www.tisomi.com

Labour shortages already impacting on the fresh produce industry can be addressed in part by embracing automated packaging machinery, says Tisomi, one of the UKs leading specialists in horizontal flow wrapping solutions.Flow wrapping technology from Tisomi can reduce growers labour requirements in the pack house and release staff for picking duties, thereby helping to fill the void caused by any shortfall of seasonal workers from overseas.A survey of growers carried out by the BBC* during May and June 2017, as harvesting started to peak, found that just over 50% werent sure if they had enough seasonal workers or had fewer than they needed, with 78% saying recruitment had been more difficult than last year. There seems to be a variety of factors, one of them being the uncertainty created by Brexit.However, while the overseas workforce seems to be shrinking in the UKs fields, demand for British produce is growing, making the need for cost-effective flexible packaging solutions to ensure speed to market even more essential once crops have been picked.The extensive choice of flow wrapping equipment for fruit and vegetables is leading many supermarkets to make it their preferred packaging. Fresh produce suppliers, irrespective of size, might have to consider investing in flow wrappers if they are to remain competitive when dealing with high street chains.No two fresh produce packaging applications are the same. Tisomi provides flexible flow wrapping systems that can safely and quickly wrap a whole range of different shaped crops in any configuration, while at the same time maximising performance and visibility on retailers shelves.From edge to edge packaging, to personalised wrapping, Tisomi has an extensive choice of flow wrapping solutions to meet the needs of growers and suppliers of fresh produce, from heavy bulk items like turnips to delicate fruit such as raspberries.Flow wrappers can comfortably handle an immense array of products and is used to pack hundreds of thousands of essential salad, vegetable and fruit products, including tomatoes, lettuces, strawberries, apples, courgettes, potatoes, cabbages and carrots along with numerous related items.Businesses cannot stand still. With Brexit looming over the horizon, fresh produce companies ability to meet increasing demand with a potentially reduced workforce will be a test of the fittest  using machinery that facilitates less manual handling, better pack presentation and performance will have immense long-term value.Yorkshire-based Tisomi can supply a full range of top quality flow wrapping systems, supported by an excellent after sales service, for a variety of food products. They can improve productivity, enhance pack presentation and performance to market, protect the integrity of goods and offer prolonged shelf life.Tisomi offers comprehensive product trials at its Wetherby facility to ensure accurate product alignment, a secure seal and the best possible product presentation, in effect we support the customers needs from start to finish.Tisomi Packaging Machinery is the trading name of Tisomi (UK) Ltd, a leading supplier of European manufactured, rugged and low-cost flow wrappers designed to offer high performance and latest generation packing for the food industry.With a range of options including labellers, date and time coders, collators and conveyors, Tisomi can provide fully integrated flow wrapping solutions and excellent customer services from its UK facility in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.The company offers a complete package to meet the exacting needs of its customers, from large multi-nationals to small craft bakeries.Peter MillerManaging DirectorTisomi (UK) LtdUnit 4Moat House SquareThorp Arch EstateWetherbyWest YorkshireLS23 7FBTel: 01937 541643Email: peter.miller@tisomi.comWebsite:
Child Predators Can Appear To Be Like Everyone Else Says Virginia Sollars, Author Of New Book About Correctional Mental Health, 'And Some Will Triumph'

Author Virginia Frusteri Sollars

http://www.virginiasollars.net

It goes without saying that parents today face monumental challenges. One of the most terrifying dangers is child predators. While this type of criminal has always been lurking on the fringes of society, the age of social media and internet connectivity makes protecting children extremely difficult. Our kids are addicted to technology, and their use of this technology can open doors to a type of threat we've not seen before. Simultaneously, the predator's methods have become far more sophisticated with the ability to easily create a non-threatening persona, both in person and on social media. Like predators in the animal kingdom, camouflage and deception are the mechanisms whereby the child predator creates an opportunity to strike.Virginia Sollars, author of a new book about correctional mental health, 'And Some Will Triumph', worked in the criminal justice system for many years. She recently issued a statement that compares these types of criminal to the predators we find in nature. It is a sobering call to action for parents."Many four legged creatures are predators," Sollars stated. "However, the two legged ones are out there also, waiting to destroy your life, and are as real as the animals in the jungles. They watch, they stalk, and they strike.""When I worked in the jail and these criminals were arrested, I was so sure there would be something about them that would make them stand out, letting me know their true nature. Unfortunately, it was not the case. They looked like us, normal people able to look you in the eye and smile pleasantly. There was nothing to tell me that they were different - that they were monsters.""I remember my friend telling me of an experience she had. She was walking with her young daughter in an outside market. She was shoved into a cart, by a running boy, and when she again had her footing, she saw her daughter being led by a man to a waiting car. Luckily her screams caught the attention of someone, who immediately understood the situation and was able to grab her daughter before she was taken. Was the boy who knocked her into the cart involved? We have speculated on this for years. My gut feeling says yes.""They will use any ruse, trying to catch you off guard, no matter how vigilant you believe yourself to be. It only takes a few seconds of you letting go of your childs hand at an amusement center, or your eyes drifting away at a park. They will distract you and will use anything at their disposal to obtain their prey."Virginia Sollars believes there is a real opportunity for print and film media to help create awareness of such issues in the mind of the public. As a psychiatric nurse working in the correctional system, Virginia journeyed inside the minds of the mentally ill. Her book, 'And Some Will Triumph, is a dramatic retelling of the heartbreaking situations she encountered every day. It is Virginia's fervent hope that her book will be made into a movie or television series. If she can accomplish that, the result could be record shattering. It would shine a bright light on the problem and would enlighten the public as to the mind-boggling problems law enforcement must deal with on a daily basis.virginia sollars cover'And Some Will Triumph' relates the journey of Elizabeth, a compassionate nurse who comes to California from New York with her teenage daughter to work at the fictional Raine Correctional Facility. Elizabeth finds herself interacting with some of societys most troubled and challenging inmates and shows how she must at times fight the system to give the best care to her patients. Elizabeth tells the stories of both the psychiatric inmates as well as the nurses who have problems in their lives as well. Since the book is based on my professional experience, it is an insiders look into the minds of psychiatric inmates revealing their secrets, regrets, frustrations and hopes and how they cope with their life in jail. But my book is more than just the story. It explains the many mental health disorders in such a way that people without a medical background can understand, points out the broken mental health system and describes the reasons why the mentally ill are incarcerated.""I believe my book has great potential for a television series or a movie," Sollars said, "My book is very informative, it is written in such a way that everyone will finally understand what is means to be burdened with a psychiatric disorder, how the thought process is so different from ours and how it sometimes leads to involvement with law enforcement. My book is so different from any undertaking that has been taken before, its potential is great and I think that people will be amazed at what I have to say. I just need the right people to believe in me to get the word out. I know my book can make a difference. "Sollars' book has received rave reviews from readers. Kirkus Reviews said the book is . a remarkable timeline of the treatment of mental illness in the past 40 years, and its a triumphant account of her boldness as a mother, nurse, and woman. At a time when mental health is in the forefront of conversations about our health care system, her story is one of hope."One reader stated, "Absolutely the best book Ive read in years, uncensored look into correctional mental health, patients, inmates and the professionals who deal with some of societys most troubled criminals, their day to day struggles all interwoven within a gripping story of murder and suspense. A must read!" Another said, "Awesome story! While the story keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next, the real plight of the mental health patients in a correctional setting is heartbreaking.Virginia Sollars is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at virginiasollars@yahoo.com. 'And Some Will Triumph' is available at online retailers. More information is available at her website.Virginia Frusteri Sollars was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and became a registered nurse in 1980, working as a psychiatric nurse for most of her career. She worked in the jail system for twenty-six years, caring for and treating the mentally ill. She continues to advocate for the mentally ill though her presentations and radio shows advising people of the plight of the mentally ill.PO Box 1613Shallotte, NC 28459
Breakfast Cereals Market : Moving Towards a Brighter Future 2017 - 2025

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Global Breakfast Cereals Market: SnapshotHectic pace and busy lifestyle are the key factors fuelling the demand for breakfast cereals, in turn giving impetus to the global breakfast cereals market. Changing food habits of people, increasing number of convenience stores, and growing rate of urbanization are helping the market grow with greater momentum. Various players in this market are manufacturing instant breakfast that require just hot water to get consumable food product. These types of products are more convenient and are expected to boost the overall market over for the forthcoming years. Rise in consumer awareness regarding the benefits of healthy breakfast cereals and increasing demand for low calorie products are further expected to propel this market. Companies are innovating these products and are offering various flavors to attract more customers.Geographically, the global market for breakfast cereals is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World. Due to developed retail infrastructure and hectic lifestyle, North America and Europe hold significant share in the market. In addition, Asia Pacific exhibits remarkable growth opportunities due to factors such as increasing population, developing infrastructure, and adoption of western food culture.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Presence of numerous players and opportunities are intensifying the competition amongst the market players. To provide consumers with better food options and expand the market share, players are introducing new food items and using natural raw materials for manufacturing to enhance health benefits. Some of the prominent players operating in this market include The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle Inc., General Mills and Post Holdings, Kellogg Co., Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), and PepsiCo Inc.Global Breakfast Cereals Market: OverviewBreakfast cereals are a kind of convenience food made from processed grain. Often eaten in combination with fruit, milk, nuts, or yoghurt, these foods claim to contain vital minerals and vitamins. The production of breakfast cereals typically involves five stages  processing, mixing, extrusion, drying, and shaping. Breakfast cereals can be flaked, shredded, or puffed. They can also be coated with chocolate or frosting before drying.Request TOC of the Report @Global Breakfast Cereals Market: Key TrendsHigher influence of Western food trends across the Eastern part of the world has been responsible for the greater preference for these processed foods in this region. Growing rate of urbanization, increasing number of convenience stores, and changing food habits of people are the major growth drivers of the global breakfast cereals market. Rising number of product launches featuring new, tastier flavors and higher nutritional content will lure more customers, driving the growth of the market.On the contrary, the presence of refined carbs and high amounts of sugar in some products might prevent several health conscious customers from buying these snacks, restricting growth. However, the introduction of more options such as muesli, pinole, and ragi might lead to greater demand for breakfast cereals in several countries.Global Breakfast Cereals Market: Market PotentialEmergence of new market players in the global breakfast cereals market might intensify competition amongst the market players. A number of new products have been cropping up recently.Get Discount @For instance, in March 2017, Native State Foods, a 2014-born company, announced that it will introduce an ancient Aztec power food created over 500 years ago, called pinole in its new breakfast cereals. Pinole is a rich source of protein, antioxidants, and fiber, at the same time being gluten-free, non-GMO, and with lower sugar content. It debuted at the food and beverage industrys largest show, Natural Products Expo West, in March 2017 in Anaheim. The mouthwatering flavors such as brown sugar and cinnamon, chocolate mocha, berry boost, Maqui berry, and coconut and almond developed by this firm are powerhouses of energy and nutrition.In India, new brands such as Patanjali and Soulfull have emerged in recent times. Soulfull, previously called Kottaram Agro Food Pvt Ltd, offers whole-grain breakfast cereals and ragi (finger millet) flakes, flavored with natural ingredients such as cocoa.Global Breakfast Cereals Market: Regional OutlookThe global market for breakfast cereals has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World (RoW). North America and Europe, being major consumers of breakfast cereals, will display considerable demand over the forecast period. However, these markets might soon reach saturation.Asia Pacific presents a whole new terrain for further expansion as the increasing per capita incomes of people, growing inclination toward ready-to-eat food, and new product launches are boosting demand. The hot cereals segment will hold a major share in the global market, driven by the increasing preference for hot cereals in India, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, China, and Japan.Global Breakfast Cereals Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the major companies operating in the global breakfast cereals market are PepsiCo Inc., Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), Kellogg Co., General Mills & Post Holdings, Nestle Inc., and The Coca-Cola Company.Leading companies such as General Mills & Post Holdings hold a major share in the global market for breakfast cereals. Product diversification and exploration of untapped regions are the key business strategies adopted by several market players. Mergers and acquisitions are also established by some leading companies. For instance, in January 2015, Post Holdings announced that it will acquire MOM Brands Co., a small sized, private company producing breakfast cereals.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Current Trends and Future Growth of Cleanroom Consumables Market 2017 - 2025

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Global Cleanroom Consumables Market: OverviewConsumables for cleanrooms not only ensure safety, but also maintain a controlled environment during operations. Avoiding contamination by covering hands, hair, face, and shoes becomes easier with these products. Cleanroom consumable manufacturers provide a wide range of products for coverage from head to toe. Wipes, apparel, gloves, disinfectants, face masks, bouffant caps, specialty cleaners, shoe covers, goggles, tapes, mops, and swabs are some of the commonly used cleanroom consumables.Global Cleanroom Consumables Market: Key TrendsNanotechnology, an area that studies minuscule components, harbors a high risk of contamination. As a result, rising demand for cleanroom consumables is likely to originate from this application segment. Another key application area that will exhibit high demand is the electronics industry. In the healthcare sector, cleanroom consumables are increasingly being used in laboratories, hospitals, along with biotech and pharmaceutical product manufacturing, as concerns about safety and quality of products and services have risen.Request Sample Copy of the Report@On the other hand, the complexity and varied nature of regulations applicable to cleanroom consumables might lead to obstacles in international trade, slackening the growth of the market. However, significant opportunities will be presented on account of the production of cheap, minuscule electronic components in countries such as India and China.Global Cleanroom Consumables Market: Market PotentialA number of mergers and acquisitions can be observed in the global market for cleanroom consumables. For Instance, Ansell Ltd, a major global provider of protection solutions, announced its acquisition of Nitritex Limited in January 2017. Nitritex Limited is a U.K.-based firm manufacturing healthcare life science consumables and cleanroom consumables.One of the key acquisitions in Asia Pacific is that of Aurum Healthcare by Singapore-based Accuron Technologies, a Temasek Holdings-owned technology and engineering firm. The acquisition aims at manufacturing plastic medical consumables used in procedures such as angiography and heart bypass surgeries. Under this business deal, Aurum will also offer sterilization services, assembly services and cleanroom manufacturing to Advanced Materials Technologies (AMT), a contract manufacturer, which is under Accurons portfolio.Request TOC of the Report @Similarly, in July 2017, U.K.-based Fenland Laundries acquired the remaining 50% of its joint venture with Microclean, a specialist in cleanroom apparel. Microclean in turn announced the acquisition of Critical Environmental Solutions. These acquisitions will enable the participants to grow considerably, boosting their profits.Global Cleanroom Consumables Market: Regional OutlookEurope and North America have dominated the global scenario since quite a long time, owing to stringent regulatory policies. However, as these regions might soon reach saturation, the demand for cleanroom consumables is likely to decline. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, furnishes vast opportunities for growth of the cleanroom consumables market as the industrial sector in this region flourishes. The growth of this region can be attributed to the robust development of the electronics, biotechnological, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are slated to exhibit moderate growth over the next few years.Get Discount @Global Cleanroom Consumables Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the major companies operating in the global market for cleanroom consumables are Valutek, Nitritex Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Royal Imtech N.V. Micronclean (skegness) Ltd., Taikisha, Ltd. Contec, Inc., Berkshire Corporation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Texwipe, Cantel Medical, KM Corporation, DuPont, and Micronova Manufacturing, Inc. The global market for cleanroom consumables appears to be highly fragmented in terms of competition. The strong hold of the leading market players over the market has made the entry of new firms difficult. Numerous companies have set their sights on highlighting their presence in the market via product extensions, partnerships, merger and acquisitions, and investments in R&D.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Internet of Things Market is Expected to Witness Highest Growth During 2017 - 2025

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Global Internet of Things Market: OverviewInternet of Things (IoT) refers to an advanced technology featuring intelligent network that connects everyday devices and objects ranging from light switches and door bells to self-driven cars. It is aimed at enhancing user experience and efficiency, using data-gathering sensors, machine-to-machine communication, and cloud computing.By technology, RFID, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, near field communication (NFC), and Bluetooth low energy can be the key segments of the global IoT market. Whereas, by application, the major segments can be energy management, manufacturing, consumer application, media, energy management, medical and healthcare, and others.Global Internet of Things Market: Key TrendsIncreasing use of smart devices such as smartphones, smart cars, and smart home appliances will ensure that the global market for IoT will keep flourishing over the forecast period. A rising number of business organizations and industries are increasingly deploying IoT solutions for enhancing their efficiency via process optimization. With the emergence of numerous low-cost smart devices such as media players, video cameras, portable navigation devices, and smart watches, the demand for IoT is likely to witness an upsurge. Increased need for efficiency and cost reductions, government initiatives, and technological advancement in healthcare are some key growth drivers of the market.Request Sample Copy of the Report@On the contrary, prospective security and privacy threats, along with concerns related to increased reliance of technology might restrict market growth. However, as big data analytics is being increasingly used across a number of industries such as transportation, energy and utilities, manufacturing, and healthcare, the market is likely to expand further.Global Internet of Things Market: Market PotentialSeveral new products and services have been launched recently in the global IoT market. For instance, in March 2017, Express Logic announced the launch of the first-ever industrial grade IoT device-to-cloud solutions, which boast high performance and small footprint.Smartron, an India-based startup, announced that it will introduce as many as eight new smart IoT products during the forthcoming period, with a view to strengthening its Tronx platform. This platform is primarily concerned with verticals such as personalized health, enterprise, smart home, smart energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and intelligent vehicles.Request TOC of the Report @Global Internet of Things Market: Regional OutlookBased on geography, the global market for IoT has been segmented into the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and North America. The advanced nature of healthcare, automotive, and industrial sectors in North America has been contributing towards the expansion of the market in this region. The U.S. might lead this regional segment. The government regulations in countries such as Sweden, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany are triggering the growth of the IoT market in Europe.Asia Pacific exhibits vast potential for expansion, with countries such as Singapore, India, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, China, and Indonesia accelerating market growth. The booming manufacturing industries in these countries, rising adoption of technology, and growing economies are the key market drivers of this region.Get Discount @Global Internet of Things Market: Competitive AnalysisThe market appears to be highly fragmented on account of the presence of a large number of players, indicating the intense level of competition among them. A few new firms might enter the global market for IoT, further heightening the competition between the players. Several leading companies, core M2M vendors, and Internet and network service providers are engaging in mergers and acquisitions in order to extend their customer base.Some of the major companies operating in the global market for IoT are Amazon, Qualcomm, Alcatel- Lucent, Google Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., AT&T, Rockwell Automation, Dell, Schneider Electric, GE, PTC, Tech Mahindra, National Instruments, Texas Instruments, Huawei Technologies, Oracle, Tieto, Bosch Software Innovations, Zebra Technologies, Broadcom, Accenture, Ericsson, Samsung Electronics, HP, Telefonica, Siemens, Echelon, and Juniper Networks.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Homeopathy Product Market To Make Great Impact In Near Future by 2025

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Global Homeopathy Product Market: OverviewHomeopathy is a medical practice and philosophy based on the principle that the human body has the innate ability to heal itself. Established in late 1700s in Germany and developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy has been widely practiced in Europe. Homeopathic medicines contain exceptionally dilute amounts of natural substances that aid in treating a wide range of ailments. Homeopathic medicines are manufactured by a process of succession and serial dilution.Global Homeopathy Product Market: Key TrendsThe global homeopathy product market is driven by factors such as rise in demand for suitable dosages of a variety of medicines, aversion to allopathic medicines, and growth in consumer confidence about alternate treatment methodologies. Plus, cost-effective homeopathy medicines are propelling the market growth.However, the market growth will be negatively impacted by the complete absence of quality control and regulations within the global homeopathy products market. Every manufacturing industry needs to follow certain manufacturing practices, but the global homeopathy products market is not following suit. To a great extent, this is invariably compromising the quality of medicines and creating negative consumer experiences and reducing demand.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Global Homeopathy Product Market: Market PotentialThe benefits of homeopathy medicines are known worldwide and have managed to change the perception about alternative medicines. In a recent development, a research team led by Dr Kushal Banerjee and researchers from the University of Oxford, the Homeopathy Research Institute, London, and the Imperial College, London came together to test the effectiveness of homeopathy for the treatment of a condition called Allergic Rhinitis (AR).Affecting 500 million people globally, AR is being increasingly considered as a predecessor to the development of bronchial asthma. The symptoms of AR include blocked and running nose, sneezing, and watering and burning eyes. This condition is very common to those living in urban areas with high levels of pollution. By collecting the data from trials, the researchers came to a conclusion that homeopathic treatment can be used effectively for treating the symptoms of AR. GalphimiaGlauca - a homeopathic medicine from the herb of the same name is effective in treatment of AR symptoms. A homeopathic nasal spray was also found to have some positive outcome.Request TOC of the Report @Global Homeopathy Product Market: Regional OutlookOn account of escalating population and high demand for alternative low-cost medicines, Asia Pacific is expected to hold a significant share in the market during the forecast period. In addition, increasing sales of homeopathic products and stiff competition among homeopathic product manufacturers across key developing and developed countries in the region will supplement the demand growth.The Middle East and Africa will register a strong CAGR during the forecast period as over the last few years there has been a rise in disposable income and this has consequently led to a surge in the number of consumers able to pay for homeopathy product.Global Homeopathy Product Market: Competitive AnalysisStandard Homeopathic Company (Hyland's, Inc.), Homeocan inc., Boiron Group, A Nelson & Co Ltd, Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, GMP Laboratories of America, Inc., Mediral International Inc., Washington Homeopathic Products, Inc., Hahnemann Laboratories, Inc., and Ainsworths Ltd are the leading players operating in the global homeopathy product market.Get Discount @There are other prominent vendors that are struggling to uphold their position in the market due to intense competition. Through strategies such as increased emphasis on strong promotional and marketing activities and optimum usage of highly persuasive e-commerce marketplace, players will gain increased traction in the global market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Recent Research: Plastic Meal Tray Market Analysis to 2024

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Today increasing number of restraints, convenience stores, food suppliers, caterers and other food suppliers including online food delivery services find advantages when they switch from traditional paperboard, Styrofoam and aluminum material trays to plastic trays. Few major cities in USA has already banned the use of Styrofoam because of their disposable problem and it is very difficult to recycle them. Many food industry players are searching for alternative for Styrofoam packaging. Plastic meal trays are the solution for them. These kind of plastic meal tray also allows vacuum and gas packaging. It is now becoming a widely excepted product because of its benefits such as easy to seal and it allows vacuum and gas packaging.View TOC for this Market Report @Due to socio-economic advancement all over the world and changing lifestyle, ready and packed meals has become a widespread solution for modern people. This is acting as one the important driver for plastic meal tray market. Demand for readily available fresh food, frozen food, dry fruits etc. is also driving plastic meal tray market. Attractive visual appearance and convenience to use are additional aspects which are expected to drive the plastic meal tray market. Moreover because of its environmental benefits recyclable plastic meal trays it is being used in college, schools and office canteens extensively. The plastic meal tray market is driven by the trend of shifting interest of consumers towards processed and specialty food. High raw material cost in less developed countries can act as restraint for this plastic meal tray market.Introduction of more eco-friendly tray material like sugar cane or bagasse trays may act a threat to this plastic meal tray market.Based on the type of plastic used the plastic meal tray market is segmented into:PolypropyleneCPETOthers (RePET, HIPS, HDPE and APET)Based on the application the plastic meal tray market is segmented into:Cold and Frozen foodPrepared foods (hot) and ready to eat mealsKosher mealsMake an Enquiry @In terms of geography, the plastic meal tray market has been divided in to five key regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The plastic meal tray market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period. North America is anticipated to be the dominant market for plastic meal tray market followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. The market in Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at highest CAGR over the forecast period. Countries with more population like China, India, USA etc. are likely to provide abundant opportunities for the growth of the plastic meal tray market.Some of the key players in the plastic meal tray market are Food Packaging (GREENDALE), Sonoco Products, Pactiv LLC, Cambro etc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Research Delivers Insight into the Global Outlook for Medical Device Labeling Market

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Labeling is defined as the particular information associated with a device targeted to the end user or patient or lay caregiver. Medical device labeling helps patients or end users in understanding the device, its operation, care and maintenance. The medical device labeling also provides information about the way device interacts with the body to accomplish its purpose, its place and patient care and treatment program. Medical device labelling gives the adequate directions for operating the devices which are needed for safe and effective use. Basically, the medical device labeling is driven by the rules and regulations specified by the regulatory authority U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has specified the sections based on the usage and applications of the devices.View TOC for this Market Report @The global medical device labeling market has expected to register the significant growth over the forecast period due to the increasing demand of end use market of medical devices which drives the global medical device labeling market. The increasing awareness about the need of information regarding device, its safety and effective usage also drives the growth of the global medical device labeling market. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the global regulatory body has specified some mandatory guidelines and regulations for the medical device labeling which also drives the global medical device labeling market.However, as per the FDA guideline and regulations, maintaining the standardized format of labeling throughout the medical device industry has become difficult which could restrain the growth of the global medical device labeling market.The global medical device labeling market is segmented on the basis of the code of federal regulations, type of medical devices, label position, packaging practices and geographical region.In terms of geography, the global medical device labeling market has been divided into five key regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The global medical device labeling market has expected to register a significant growth rate over the forecast period. North America has contributed the major share to the global medical device labeling market as the demand of ultimate end use medical device market is anticipated to grow across the forecast period.Europe is also growing at a decent growth and expected to register the significance CAGR over the forecast period due to the strict government regulations about medical device labeling. APAC is expected to register the healthy growth rate due to increasing healthcare facilities and increasing demand of medical devices. Latin America and MEA are at a nascent stage and anticipated to register the moderate growth rate over the forecast period in the global medical devices labeling market.For more information on this report, fill the form @Some of the key players of the global medical devices labeling market are SGS SA, Loftware Inc., UBM Canon, Quality Tech Services, Inc., Weber Packaging Solutions, Inc., Seagull Scientific, Inc., Master Control, Inc., Euro Plus, Registrar Corp and Pharmaceutic Litho & Label Company. Various global companies are contributing descent growth to the global medical device labeling market. The key players from North America are contributing major share to the global medical devices labeling in terms of value and volume.Over all the global medical device labeling market has expected to register a significant growth over the forecast period.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Report 2017 : Schiller, CHEST, COSMED

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split Asia-Pacific into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Respiratory Medical Device for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), includingChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanIndiaSoutheast AsiaAustraliaAsia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Respiratory Medical Device sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingCareFusion(BD)SchillerCHESTCOSMEDNDDnSpire HealthMGC DiagnosticsMinatoM&BAESRIGanshornMorgan ScientificSikedaRSDQOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPortable Respiratory Medical DeviceComplete Respiratory Medical DeviceOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (K Units), market share and growth rate of Respiratory Medical Device for each application, includinHospitalsPhysical Examination CenterPhysician GroupsOther ApplicationsIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.For Free Sample Report, Fill the Form @Table of Contents1 Respiratory Medical Device Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Respiratory Medical Device1.2 Classification of Respiratory Medical Device by Product Category1.2.1 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Types (2012-2022)1.2.2 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.3 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market by Application/End Users1.4 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market by Region1.5 Asia-Pacific Market Size (Value and Volume) of Respiratory Medical Device (2012-2022)2 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device (Volume and Value) by Type2.3 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device (Volume) by Application2.4 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device (Volume and Value) by Region3 China Respiratory Medical Device (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 China Respiratory Medical Device Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 China Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 China Respiratory Medical Device Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 China Respiratory Medical Device Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 China Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.3 China Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume and Market Share by Application10 Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data10.1 CareFusion(BD)10.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.1.2 Respiratory Medical Device Product Category, Application and Specification10.1.3 CareFusion(BD) Respiratory Medical Device Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)10.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview10.2 Schiller10.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.2.2 Respiratory Medical Device Product Category, Application and Specification10.2.3 Schiller Respiratory Medical Device Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)10.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview10.3 CHEST10.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.3.2 Respiratory Medical Device Product Category, Application and Specification10.3.3 CHEST Respiratory Medical Device Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)10.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewInterested in report: Please follow the below the links to meet your requirements;List of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Respiratory Medical DeviceFigure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume (K Units) by Type (2012-2022)Figure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Sales (K Units) by Application (2012-2022)Figure Asia-Pacific Sales Market Share of Respiratory Medical Device by Application in 2016Figure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Sales Volume (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Asia-Pacific Respiratory Medical Device Market Major Players Product Sales Volume (K Units)(2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Research Focused on the Coffee Premixes Market Forecast up to 2024

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Overview:Coffee premix is a fusion of different ingredients made from premium quality coffee beans with distinct flavors and aromas, which produces a unique result for consumption. It contains caffeine, coloring agents, preservatives and other ingredients. The use and necessity of coffee premixes are rising both at individual level and at Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), thus, adding more to the demand for the particular market at a substantial rate over the years. The consumption of coffee is high, and, to meet the most of the growing demand, new flavors are being introduced in the market.Coffee premixes have a relatively longer shelf life because it is sealed, which prevents it to absorb moisture. In case of revenue, instant coffee premixes mixed with milk or water captured the largest market share among all other instant beverage premixes and is projected to be the leader during the forecast period. The coffee premixes market growth is largely connected to the growing end user industry of coffee. Coffee premix can be consumed with milk or water, as per individual preferences. Seasonal menu components served in restaurants and quick serve restaurants (QSR) is an opportunity for coffee premix market. For instance with desserts, sweet coffee premixes is preferred generally as toppings or granules.View TOC for this Market Report @Global Coffee Premix: Market SegmentationCoffee premixes is intermediate which can be directly purchased by end users for their own consumption and, it can be also used in vending machines. The global coffee premix market is segmented on the basis of type, brewing, flavors and forms. Different types of coffee beans used to make premixes are green, black, brown and white. Coffee premixes on the basis of brewing style can be mainly segmented into instant, cappuccino, mocha, latte, espresso and regular. Among all the brewing style, regular occupies the largest market share followed by cappuccino. Flavors are segmented into chicory, chocolate, maple walnut, honey cinnamon and rosemary. Chocolate occupies the largest market share among all the flavors available in the market. Different forms of coffee premixes market are roasted/grounded, blended and soluble.Global Coffee Premix Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the coffee premixes industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Coffee premixes consumption is highest in Finland followed by Norway and Netherlands. Production of coffee premixes is highest in Brazil followed by Vietnam and Colombia. The plantation of coffee covers 25,000-30,000 square kilometers of the land in Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Parana which are the south eastern states in Brazil and it contributes 40% of the worlds total coffee supply.Global Coffee Premix Market: Growth DriversCoffee is the major application of coffee premixes which is the main growth driver for this market. The changing and varying life style is one of the driving force behind the coffee premix market. People are going experimental, so they tend to try different flavors of premixes available in the market. Health awareness is also a driving force in the market. Black coffee premixes are calorie and fat free, containing soluble fibers, which help fighting diabetes and boom mental state. Other driving health issues are, overcoming depression, improve physical stamina, burn fat, regulate blood pressure level, and the antioxidants enhance brain activity. The packaging of coffee premixes is also one of the drivers. Packaging in small sachet, provides the consumers ease of carrying it, anywhere. With the growth in service sectors and rise in number of work places, there is a high demand of coffee premixes across the globe.Make an Enquiry @Global Coffee Premix Market: PlayersSome of the key players identified across the value chain of the global coffee premix market includes Nestle (Nescafe), The Coca Cola Company (Georgia), Starbucks Corporation, Unilever, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited, European Coffee Federation, Paulig Juhla Mokka, Vending Updates India Pvt. Ltd. And others. The companies are expected to expand their business by enhancing their product portfolio in global Coffee premix market. The companies are projected to frame certain strategies in future in order to gain the competitive advantage in global Coffee premix market till 2024.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Contract Research Organization Market - Global Deals and Operational Strategies

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Contract Research Organization Market Research Report 2017 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.GBI Research's latest report, "Contract Research Organization Market - Global Deals and Operational Strategies" discusses the deal making activity during the past five years and in-depth analysis of the key deals involving more than 40 public and privately held CROs. The operational strategies adopted by key players in the recent years have been listed. A heatmap analysis of the key companies was done based on their firm utilization and capital management. SWOT analysis and profiles are given for the key companies in the market.Companies mentioned in the report are Quintiles, Covance, Parexel, Catalent, ICON, PRA Health, Charles River, INC Research, WuXi PharmaTech, CMIC Holdings, EPS Corporation, Recipharm, Novotech, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Consort Medical, Meiji Seika, Eurofins Scientific, Simbec Research, Hangzhou Tigermed, MPI Research, Sun Pharma, Noble Life Sciences, Chiltern International, BioPharma, Carlina, Euprotech, Protagen, Assign, Aurigon, Celonic and PharmaLex, Cromos Pharma, Avillion, Pfizer, Sanofi, Harlan Labs, Almac Group, Jubilant BiosysRequest a Sample copy atScope of the ReportThe scope of the report includes -- Overview of key reasons behind outsourcing, outsourcing service models- Examples of operational strategies- Global deals analysis by type and value- Major acquisitions and partnerships- Regional analysis of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Emerging markets- Company benchmarking based on heatmap analysis- Vendor positioning- SWOT analysis and profiles of key playersComplete report is available atKey Reasons to PurchaseThe report will enhance your decision-making capability by allowing you to -- Identify the top players in the CRO market, financial revenues and key services offered- Analyze the key geographies that are lucrative markets for deal making, market-entry and market expansion strategies- Analyze the trends in acquisitions, licensing and other type of deals and explore potential investment opportunities- Understand the operational strategies of key playersExecutive SummaryIntroductionMarket DynamicsOperating ModelsExamples of Operational StrategiesGlobal Deal AnalysisCollaborations and AcquisitionsMajor AcquisitionsMajor PartnershipsRegional AnalysisNorth AmericaDeal AnalysisService Delivery and OperationalStrategiesPartnershipsRevenue and Growth LeadersEuropeDeal AnalysisService Delivery and OperationalStrategiesPartnershipsRevenue and Growth LeadersAsia-PacificDeal AnalysisService Delivery and OperationalStrategiesPartnershipsRevenue and Growth LeadersEmerging MarketsMarket AssessmentAcquisitionsFirm UtilizationFirm Utilization and Capital ManagementCompany BenchmarkingVendor PositioningProfiles and SWOT AnalysisAppendixContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Research Focused on the Military Helicopter Seats Market Forecast up to 2024

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The demand for military helicopter seats is increasing due to rising demand of military helicopters and it is likely to witness high growth due to several reasons such as increasing threats from terrorism and extremism among others.Based on product types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into ejection seats, crashworthy seats and others. In 2015, the ejection seat segment anticipated to be the major market and anticipated to be the same during the forecast period of 2016  2024. The major factor boosting the demand of the market is increasing use of military helicopter in developing regions such as Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa. Some of the other factors boosting the demand are the raise in the fleet of helicopters.View TOC for this Market Report @Based on the various maintenance types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into airframe maintenance, field maintenance, engine maintenance, component maintenance and others. In 2015, the component maintenance segment expected to be the most important market and anticipated to be the same during the forecast period.Component segment includes maintenance of foams & fittings, seat actuators and among others. These are very important components of military helicopters seat and should be maintained according to the standards set by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In 2015, the field maintenance and repair market is highly influenced by the growing orders of military helicopters from developing regions. For instance, in 2015, Korean Aerospace Industries to build up next generation light civil helicopter and light-armed helicopter and South Korea awarded a contract to airbus helicopters.Based on the various component types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into foams & fittings, seat actuators and others. Among different types of components, seat actuator is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period of 2016  2024, due to rise in the designed seats from the actuators. The others segment accounted for highest share in 2015 and expected to be the same during the forecast period of 2016  2020 which includes metals, thermoplastics, plastics and fibres among others.Based on the regions, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa. North America holds the major market share followed by Europe. In addition, Europe is the second largest market for military helicopter seats market followed by Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America. The U.S. is the key contributors to the military helicopter seats market in North America. Military helicopter seats is high in North America is due to concentrated funding for military helicopter procurement will positively affect growth in the maintenance market.Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period of 2016  2024. The demand for military helicopter seats is increasing in developing countries such as India, China and Japan among others due to border problems among countries such as China and India and India and Pakistan among others. One of the major factors fueling the market for military helicopter seats market is Brazilian Army is investing enormous amounts for advancing its military.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Some of the important players in the military helicopter seats market include are ORO Manufacturing Company (Carolina), B/E Aerospace, Inc. (U.S.), Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) and Zodiac Aerospace (France),). These top players are aiming to penetrate increasing economies and are adopting various methods to drive their market share. Some of the others players are Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. (United States), Thompson Aero Seating Ltd. (U.K.) and Aircraft Seating (U.K.), Acro Aircraft Seating Ltd.( United Kingdom), HAECO Americas (United States), Stelia Aerospace (France), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel) and Martin Baker (United Kingdom) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Future Energy East Africa Industry Awards to recognise regions top energy reporter

Time to honour journalists that have taken a keen interest in the energy sector

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East Africas top energy reporter will be honoured at this years edition of the Future Energy East Africa Industry Awards that are taking place on 29 November in Nairobi.The Energy Reporter of the Year is a new award category says Future Energy East Africa event director Claire OConnell, and we felt it is high time that we honour those journalists that have taken a keen interest in the energy industry and have followed and reported the sectors on-going challenges and successes. The media remains a key partner in Africas journey towards available and affordable energy for all on the continent.She adds: we invite all East African energy reporters to either nominate themselves or for news and industry organisations to put forward their top choice for the journalist that has covered the sector in an innovative yet objective manner. We look forward to honouring the Energy Reporter of the Year along with the other award winners in categories ranging from Outstanding Energy Project Award to Innovative Technology of the Year Award.The hugely successful awards, formerly known as the East African Power Industry Awards, take place during this years rebranded Future Energy East Africa conference and exhibition from 29-30 November at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi. The glamorous gala dinner brings together 180 of the regions most renowned power professionals to recognise and celebrate the leading industry pioneers and projects in six different categories.The nomination form can be downloaded on the event website and the deadline for all submissions is Thursday 19 October.The Future Energy East Africa Industry Awards categories are:- Outstanding Contribution: PowerThis award celebrates the accomplishments of an individual in a senior position from a utility, public or private company who has displayed passion and commitment to the power industry, whilst also demonstrating leadership, vision and success.- Energy Reporter of the YearThis award recognises a professional journalist who produced outstanding work in 2016/17 for the public, either independently or as an employee of an editorially independent news entity through their reporting on the power sector in East Africa.- Future Energy Leader AwardThis award recognises a person under the age of 35 who has made an outstanding contribution to the energy industry. This young professional has had outstanding career achievements to date and a strong potential to play a leading role in their sector going forward.- Outstanding Energy ProjectThe Outstanding Energy Project rewards a project launched by a utility, off-grid producer, IPP, government, minister, regulator or investor within the last 24 months (August 2015  July 2017).- Community Initiative of the YearThis important and prestigious award honours an organisation that demonstrates high standards and initiatives that enrich East African citizens. The award aims to recognise the values that form the cornerstone of a good business from its approach to knowledge transfer, suppliers, the environment and a sustainable future.- Innovative Technology of the YearThis award will acknowledge a business that has achieved commercial success from energy-focused advanced technology, research or developing products, services, or solutions relevant to the energy sector.East Africas energy journeyFormerly known as the East African Power Industry Convention or EAPIC, which was a firm, favourite fixture on the regions power calendar for the last 19 years, Future Energy East Africa, with the official support of the Kenyan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, will once again host many of the regions leading energy decision makers from 29  30 November 2017.The event is recognised as being a distinctive gathering of stakeholders within the power value chain which includes governments, power generation companies, transmission and distribution companies, off takers, developers, investors, equipment manufacturers and providers, technology providers, EPCs, legal and consulting firms all with a shared goal of supporting the on-going implementation of finding lasting solutions to East Africas energy challenges.Industry supportThe 19th edition of the event once again enjoys widespread support from the industry with Lucy Electric, a global secondary distribution leader in the electricity sector, already confirmed as platinum sponsors.Future Energy East Africa dates and location:Strategic conference: 29-30 November 2017Venue: Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, KenyaFuture Energy East Africa is organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon), Future Energy Uganda, Agritech Expo Zambia, Kenya Mining Forum, Nigeria Mining Week and DRC Mining Week. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.Senior Communications Manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsite:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 7947, South Africa
New Report Examines the Growth of Aircraft Ejection Seats Market Forecast to 2024

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Aircraft ejection seat is a type of system designed to rescue the crew/pilot of an aircraft during emergency situation. In an aircraft ejection seat, the seat is boosted out of the aircraft by an explosive charge carrying the pilot with the seat. Once the seat is ejected out of the aircraft, it deploys a parachute so that the pilot lands safely on the ground. The main purpose of the ejection seat is safety and survival of the pilot and crew. Ejection seat is one of the most complicated pieces of equipment on an aircraft. Airplanes flying at low speed and low altitude use a dissimilar sequence from that of jets flying at high altitudes and high speed. Pilots do not need to freely fall at low altitude; hence, the main parachute opens immediately. The decisions are based on altitude, weight of passengers, speed are already made for the pilot before he vacates the aircraft.View TOC for this Market Report @The aircraft ejection seats market is primarily driven by the innovation of the aircraft fleet. Aircrafts are now developing an improved layer of technologies and are reviewing new fuselage patterns. The new technologies help in customizing cabin components with integrative and lightweight design by using refined design solutions. Another major driver for this market is the increasing adoption and development of two-seater fighter jets. These jets are being developed and manufactured widely across the globe. This fuels the growth of the market for aircraft ejection seats.The market growth is restrained by injuries sustained at the time of ejection. At the time of ejection, there are possibilities that the seat ejection malfunctions, due to which injuries are caused to the pilot/crew. This factor is likely to have medium impact in the short term of the forecast period.One of the major opportunities in the aircraft ejection seats market is application of these seats in light commercial aircrafts and combat helicopters. Companies are now coming up with new developments in the design of aircraft ejection seats to improve the safety of pilots. Hastening the activation of the parachute after ejection and increasing trajectory height of the seat in a favorable direction would ensure the safety of the pilot and crew. Martin-Baker has developed an ejection seat with multi-tube rocket packs, which are designed to fit precisely in the small space between the lowermost part of the cockpit floor and the seat bucket. This design provides more thrust of the ejection catapult and expands the trajectory to provide more time for the parachute to open.On the basis of application, the aircraft ejection seats market has been segmented into combat aircraft ejection seats and training aircraft ejection seats. The combat aircraft ejection seats segment accounted for the maximum share, followed by the training aircraft ejection seats in the global aircraft seats market. Based on components, the market has been divided into seat actuators, foams & fittings, and others. On geographical basis, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. Increasing demand for military spending in countries such as the U.S., India, China, and Russia is likely to lead to development of fifth-generation fighter jets and aircraft components during the forecast period.For more information on this report, fill the form @Moreover, major Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have increased their investments in modern combat aircrafts, due to constant threats from the militant terrorists group. France and Russia would be a key contributing factor in the growth of the market for the development of new fighter jets with advanced ejection seats.Some of the major players operating in the global aircraft ejection seats market comprise Martin Baker, NPP Zvezda, SEMMB, UTC Aerospace Systems, Airborne Systems NA Inc., Survival Equipment Services Ltd., and Neomega Resin.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Intelligent Evacuation System Market Research 2017 - Global Industry Demand, Trends, Growth, Analysis and Forecast 2023

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The intelligent evacuation system market is in its growth phase, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period. Organizations focus on improving their product offering to cater to the rise in market demands, which drive the market growth during the forecast period. Europe was the highest shareholder in terms of revenue, while Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Intelligent Evacuation System Market by Type, and End-User: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2016-2023, the global intelligent evacuation system market was valued at $504 million in 2016, and is projected to reach $775 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2017 to 2023. The commercial segment is anticipated to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period.Get Flat 20% OFF on this Report: -Europe generated the highest revenue in 2016 due to adequate infrastructural development for the adoption of intelligent evacuation system. The Asia-Pacific intelligent evacuation system market is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, owing to the remarkable economic growth in Southeast Asia, India, & other economies and growth in trend of integrated building technologies.The voice evacuation system business segment contributed the highest share in 2016. This segment accounted for $362 million in 2016, and is projected to grow at the CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period. However, the intelligent evacuation system market for emergency lighting segment is projected to grow at the highest rate of 10.6%. The commercial segment accounted for the highest revenue share in 2016, while the residential segment is anticipated to grow at the highest rate of 11.0%.Get the PDF brochure of this Market insight: -Technological innovation in product offerings, rise in adoption for building automation and control system solutions, increase in application areas among end users, supportive and evolving regulatory framework among developing and developed economies, and heavy venture capital investments in R&D activities to develop solutions with enhanced capabilities drive the market. In addition, government organizations and companies enhance their emergency response building infrastructure due to rise in number of hazardous events. This in turn boosts the intelligent evacuation system market growth.The report features a competitive scenario of the global intelligent evacuation system industry and provides a comprehensive analysis of key growth strategies adopted by the major players. The key players profiled in the study are Robert Bosch GmbH, HOCHIKI Corporation, Honeywell International, Johnson Controls International Plc, Siemens AG, Legrand, ABB Group, Automated Logic, Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, and Eaton Corporation Plc. These players adopt competitive strategies, such as geographical expansions, mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, and partnerships & collaborations, to augment the growth of the intelligent evacuation system market.Enquiry before Purchase: -Key Findings of the Intelligent Evacuation System Market: The commercial segment accounted for the highest share of the global intelligent evacuation system industry in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2017 to 2023. The voice evacuation system sector of the intelligent evacuation system market generated the highest revenue share in 2016, and is projected to grow at a rate of 5.4%. The Europe intelligent evacuation system market generated the highest share, valued at $200 million, in terms of revenue in 2016. The intelligent evacuation system market for residential segment is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period.Get More Information about this Report & Full Summary: -About UsAllied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.Contact US5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect: +1-503-894-6022Toll Free: +1 (800) 792-5285 (U.S. & Canada)
New Report Shares Details about the Thermochromic Ink Printing Market

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Thermochromic ink printing is a type of printing, which is sensitive to change in temperature. The print changes color with rise and decline in temperature, which helps for indicating whether the beverage is hot or cold. The inks used for thermochromic ink printing contains thermochromic pigments that are subjected to color change when there is a temperature difference. In the recent past, the manufacturers are seeking for innovative packaging solutions as a marketing strategy, the thermochromic ink printing technology is one such innovation which is being widely used by manufacturers to endorse their products.View TOC for this Market Report @Global Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe growth of global thermochromic ink printing market is driven by the demand for innovative printing technology in the packaging industry. Thermochromic ink printing is commonly used by food & beverages and alcoholic beverages manufacturers in order to identify the temperature state of the beverage by looking at the cans and bottles. Furthermore, the use of thermochromic ink printing is being used as a measure by the beverage manufacturers to gain customer attractions. Thus, the growth in packaging industry and innovative printing needs in packaging industry is anticipated to primarily drive the global market for thermochromic ink printing.Thermochromic ink printing is not limited to the packaging industry, thermochromic ink printing technology has found its potential in wallpaper printing, textiles, and specialty market, which is further augmenting the demand for thermochromic ink printing technology. On the plus side, the demand for Thermochromic ink printing in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) is expected to rise over the forecast period, which in turn will propel the demand for thermochromic ink printing market globally. Trends noted in the global thermochromic ink printing market is the technological innovations for delivering state-of-the-art packaging solutions.For instance, Print Pack a leading packaging company has developed thermochromic ink with color to color change combinations, which allows the product manufacturers to alter the graphics of their labels according to their promotional needs. However, the thermochromic ink printing is a costly affair as compared to the traditional ink printing and the liquid crystal thermochromic inks which are highly sensitive to small changes in temperature due to which it is not recommended for packaging. These factors might hamper the growth of global thermochromic ink printing market globally.Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, global thermochromic ink printing market is segmented into five key regions- North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, North America accounts for significant share for thermochromic ink printing market, owing to the flourishing growth of smart packaging industry in the region as compared to other regions. Furthermore, the North America region accounts for healthy share in terms of consumption of alcoholic beverages, thermochromic ink printing being commonly used for printing in beer cans, the alcoholic beverage consumption in the region is anticipated to further add value to the thermochromic ink printing market in the region.Europe market for thermochromic ink printing is followed by the North America market for thermochromic ink printing market which is trailed by the Asia-Pacific market for the thermochromic ink printing. Over the forecast period, Asia-Pacific market for is anticipated to grow significantly owing to the growth of packaging industry in the region. Overall, the global market for thermochromic ink printing is expected to grow significantly by the end of forecast period.For more information on this report, fill the form @Global Thermochromic Ink Printing Market: Key PlayersSome of the few players identified in the global thermochromic ink printing market includes B&H Colour Change, CTI, AB Print Group Limited, MELMARC, SFXC | Special Effects and Coatings., QCR Solutions Corp, NanoMatriX International Limited and Hammer Packaging, Corp., among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
The Offline Remote Global Market in the UK 2017-2022

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ReportsWeb.com published Offline Remote Market from its database. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market."The Offline Remote Market in the UK 2017-2022", report offers comprehensive insight and analysis of the market which is made up of the mail order, telephone and door-to-door channels as well as a view of spend influenced by the TV channel in the UK and provides forecasts of these to 2022.With spend shifting online, the offline remote market, which includes spend via mail order, telephone and door-to-door channels, is forecast to continue to decline, decreasing by 850m over the next five years bringing the market to just 1,145m by 2022, accounting for 0.4% of offline retail spend (and 0.3% of total retail spend).For more information about this report atRetailers which have traditionally marketed products via dedicated television channels with the option to place an order over the phone are now directing shoppers to buy via their websites. As a result spend influenced by the TV channel is included within the total online market, though is only a small part of it and is declining year on year, forecast to fall to 453m by 2022, accounting for 0.7% of all online spend.Scope-As online remains the fastest growing channel within retail, forecast to rise 35.0% over the next five years, and consumers become more confident purchasing via this channel, key players in the offline remote market such as N Brown and Findel are focussing on improving their digital offers while still serving the core catalogue shopper by providing the option to pay via a postal order form or over the telephone. To compete in the fast paced online market, retailers who previously operated primarily in the offline remote market are now required to consistently improve and invest in their online proposition to meet changing consumer needs.-Despite retailers attempting to generate interest in TV selling channels by partnering with well-known personalities such as QVC offering ranges by Amanda Holden and Ruth Langsford, the growth of video content online will negate the need for television channels devoted to selling products.Request a sample copy atReasons to buy-Utilise our five year forecasts to 2022 for the offline remote market and spend influenced by the TV channel to gain strategic insight.-Review our analysis and understand the factors affecting the market.Companies MentionedN BrownFindelQVCJacamoASOSAmazonIdeal WorldAvonAnn SummersInquire for Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global HCS Software and Services Market Expected to Expand at a CAGR of 6.9% during 20172022 Insights Shared in Detailed Report

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The global high content screening (HCS) software and services market is foreseen to invite a host of promising opportunities while riding on technological developments in HCS solutions, cost containment in pharma research and development, and cellular research funding. Developed regions such as North America could propel the demand for HCS software and services with high government support, swelling presence of large life sciences companies, and rising research and development expenditure.HCS software and services could find application in lead specificity, the assessment of bioavailability, and qualitative assays to omit compounds with unintended modes of action.Request Free Sample Report-The global HCS software and services market is foretold to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast timeframe 20172022.By the end of 2022, the market could be valued at a US$1,164.8 mn. In 2017, it held a valuation of US$832.7 mn.As stated by the authors of the report, the world HCS software and services market is envisaged to be classified according to product, industry, and application. In terms of product, the market could see a classification into two segments, viz.HCS services and HCS software. Amongst these, HCS services are prophesied to secure a larger share of 71.6% in the market by 2022 end. The absolute growth achieved by HCS services could surpass that of any other segment of the market under the same classification.According to industry, the world HCS software and services market is forecasted to be segmented into bio, educational institutions, government organizations, independent contract research organizations (CROs), and pharmaceutical and healthcare.By application, toxicity studies, target identification and validation, primary and secondary screening, and compound profiling could be important segments of the world HCS software and services market.North Americas Dominance that Rests on Loftier Revenue GrowthOn the geographical front, the international HCS software and services market is envisioned to be divided into different regions such as North America, the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific except Japan (APEJ) and Japan. The analysts are of the opinion that North America could possibly lead the market with a revenue of US$426 mn expected to be achieved by the end of the forecast period.Browse Full Report with TOC-Europe followed by Japan could be another market for HCS software and services with a strong revenue growth anticipated to be garnered by 2022. Europe is projected to reach a valuation of US$301.2 mn by the final forecast year.However, the MEA is envisaged to be on the slower side of growth throughout the course of the forecast period. Between 2017 and 2022, APEJ could create an absolute revenue prospect of US$66.3 mn.Global HCS Software and Services Market: CompetitionSome of the important players of the worldwide HCS software and services market are expected to be Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., General Electric Company, Becton, Dickinson & Company, PerkinElmer, Inc., Olympus Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Danaher Corporation, Thorlabs, Inc., Sysmex Corporation, and Yokogawa Electric Corporation.Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of market research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Global Application Development and Deployment Software Market Projected to Expand at a CAGR of 25.6% during 2017 to 2022 Published by Leading Research Firm

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The demand in the global application development and deployment software market is projected to expand at an exceptional CAGR of 25.6% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022. This market is chiefly driven by the sheer efficiency and integration benefits it offers, gaining traction in various application sectors such as BFSI, IT and telecommunications, and retail.As far as revenue is concerned, the global application development and deployment software market is anticipated to be worth US$346,434.0 mn by 2022, significantly up from its evaluated worth of US$110,650.7 mn in 2017.Structured Data Management Software Emerges as Profitable Type SegmentBased on type, the global application development and deployment software market is segmented into structured data management software, application development software, application server middleware, data access, analysis, and delivery, integration and process automation middleware, and quality and life cycle tools.Request Free Sample Report -Among these, the segment of structured data management software accounted for 37.7% of the total demand, which was worth US$41,760.1 mn. During the forecast period of 2017 to 2022, this segment is anticipated to experience an above-average CAGR of 31.5%, reaching a valuation of US$164,196.1 mn by 2022.The structured data management software segment of the application development and deployment software market is producing a revenue of US$24,487 annually during the said forecast period.Cloud-based Deployment Gaining Rapid PopularityOn the basis of vertical, the global application development and deployment software market has been bifurcated into IT and telecommunications, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), energy and utilities, transportation and logistics, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, and others. Based on deployment, the market has been categorized into cloud-based and on-premise.While on-premise currently accounts for the most prominent chunk of demand, cloud-based application development and deployment software are gaining popularity at a rapid rate and is expected to turn into a highly profitable category towards the end of the forecast period.North America and Europe Identified as Most Lucrative RegionsGeographically, besides the country-wide market of Japan, the report takes stock of the potential of application development and deployment software market in the regions of North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific except Japan (APEJ), and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). In 2017, the North America application development and deployment market accounted for US$31,691.3 mn, which was substantially more than any other region.This region is projected to possess a revenue of US$96,213.1 mn by the end of 2022, exhibiting a CAGR of 28.9% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022. Europe makes for the second most lucrative region for the vendors operating in the application development and deployment software market, promising a worth of US$73,973.4 mn by 2022, expanding at an above-average CAGR of 25.9% during the same forecast period.On the other hand, the region of Asia Pacific except Japan has been predicted to expand the demand at most prominent compound annual growth rate of 29.3%, with the estimated worth projected to reach US$74,959.7 mn by 2022.Browse Full Report with TOC-Competition Intensifying as New Entrants are Making a MarkThe global application development and deployment software market is moderately consolidated with a few players holding strong positions. Some of those prominent companies are: Microsoft Corp., IBM, Salesforce.com, Inc., Oracle Corp., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, SAP SE, Alphabet Inc., CA Technology Inc., Compuware Corp., and ServiceNow, Inc.However, newer players are creating a niche for themselves by catering to domestic requirements and are expected to eat out good chunk of shares from the market leaders. Product innovation and acquisitions of promising players are the two most common strategies of the established players.Global Application Development and Deployment Software Market: SegmentationsOn the basis of software type, the global application development and deployment software market has been segmented into application development software, structured data management software, application server middleware, integration and process automation middleware, data access, analysis, and delivery, and quality and life cycle tools. On the basis of vertical, the global application development and deployment software market has been bifurcated into IT and telecommunications, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), transportation and logistics, energy and utilities, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, and others.Based on deployment, the market has been categorized into cloud-based and on-premise. For each of these segments, the TMR report provides revenue in terms of US Mn comparison by region, market share, and year-to-year comparison.Geographically, the report takes stock of the potential of application development and deployment software market in the regions of North America (The U.S. and Canada), Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina), Europe (Germany, France, Spain, The U.K., Italy, and Nordic), Asia Pacific except Japan (China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and Singapore), The Middle East and Africa (GCC countries, Nigeria, South Africa, and Israel), and in the country of Japan.For each of these countries, the report provides revenue comparison on the basis of type, vertical, and deployment.Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of market research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Networked Audio Products Market Analysis, Future Demand & Outlook to 2022

Networked Audio Products

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The Global Networked Audio Products Market Research Report 2017 to 2022 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Networked Audio Products Industry on a global level that primarily aims the core regions which comprises of continents like Europe, North America, and Asia and the key countries such as United States, Germany, China and Japan.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Networked Audio Products Market on a regional as well as global level. The report constitutes qualitative and quantitative valuation by industry analysts, first-hand data, assistance from industry experts along with their most recent verbatim and each industry manufacturers via the market value chain.The research experts have additionally assessed the in general sales and revenue generation of this particular market. In addition, this report also delivers widespread analysis of root market trends, several governing elements and macro-economic indicators, coupled with market improvements as per every segment.Global Networked Audio Products market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including:PioneerSamsungElectronicsSonosYamahaCambridgeAudioCirrusLogicDenonGraceDigitalLogitechNaimAudioOn-HoldPlusQSCMarantzAmericaRokuSherwoodSonyTEACTOAElectronicsBrowse Complete Report with TOC @The report is generically segmented into six parts and every part aims on the overview of the Networked Audio Products industry, present condition of the market, feasibleness of the investment along with several strategies and policies. Apart from the definition and classification, the report also discusses the analysis of import and export and describes a comparison of the market that is focused on the trends and development. Along with entire framework in addition to in-depth details, one can prepare and stay ahead of the competitors across the targeted locations.The fact that this market report renders details about the major market players along with their product development and current trends proves to be very beneficial for fresh entrants to comprehend and recognize the industry in an improved manner. The report also enlightens the productions, sales, supply, market condition, demand, growth, and forecast of the Networked Audio Products industry in the global markets.So as to fabricate this report, complete key details, strategies and variables are examined so that entire useful information is amalgamated together for the understanding and studying the key facts pertaining the global Networked Audio Products Industry. The production value and market share in conjunction with the SWOT analysis everything is integrated in this report.Check for Discount @Some points from TOC:-1 Networked Audio Products Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Networked Audio Products1.2 Networked Audio Products Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Networked Audio Products Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Networked Audio Products Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 AirPlay1.2.4 Bluetooth1.2.5 Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)1.2.6 Play-Fi1.2.7 Sonos1.3 Global Networked Audio Products Segment by Application1.3.1 Networked Audio Products Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Household1.3.3 Commercial1.3.4 Office1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Networked Audio Products Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Networked Audio Products Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Networked Audio Products (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Networked Audio Products Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Networked Audio Products Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Global Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) Devices Market Analysis,Size & Forecast till 2024

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Global Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Devices Market was valued at US$ 1,626.3 million in 2015 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period (20162024), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Better clinical outcomes and faster patient recovery facilitated by NPWT devices significantly drive their adoption.NPWT devices are used on wounds that are too large or deep to be secured using staples and stitches. Wound therapy is an absolute necessity post-surgery and thus, has a potential application base that includes millions of people undergoing surgery across the globe each day (312.9 million in 2012, WHO). NPWT which works like a vacuum seal, offers faster and safer patient recovery with minimal risk of infection as compared to conventional wound therapy devices such as staples, sutures, and biological dressings. Availability of reimbursement is further fueling demand for NPWT devices, especially in developed economies such as the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands, to name a few.Request for the trending sample of this report:Unlike conventional wound treatment systems that need to be replaced every day, NPWT devices need to be replaced just three times a week, significantly reducing patient stress and aiding speedy recovery. Moreover, advancements in technology have led to introduction of canister-less NPWT devices. ConvaTec Group plc, launched its first NPWT device, Avelle, in August 2016. The company launched its product in the U.K., which utilizes AQUACEL technology (prevents periwound maceration) and is a simple, canister-less, disposable system with a 30-day life.PICO, from Smith & Nephew plc, received the 2016 French Galien Award. PCIO is a single-use NPWT device that significantly reduces total cost and care needed for patients with pressure ulcers, dehisced surgical wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, leg ulcers, and trauma wounds. The Prix Galien award acknowledges advances in pharmaceuticals and medical devices that improves the quality of human life.In 2016, studies published in the WOUNDS journal concluded that use of zinc-coated foam and silver-impregnated dressings along with NPWT in complex wound therapy demonstrated better clinical outcomes and faster recovery in patients as compared to conventional wound treatment methods. This further encourages the use of NPWT as an adjunctive therapy in wound treatment. To add to this, use of non-powered or mechanical MPWT devices allows a silent delivery of therapy with a much lighter weight than electrical NPWT devices.Ask for customization:Key takeaways of the negative pressure wound therapy devices market:The global negative pressure wound therapy devices market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period. Better clinical outcomes, reduced total therapy cost and availability of reimbursement are some of the major driving factors for negative pressure wound therapy devices market growth.The portable negative pressure wound therapy devices market is expected to gain traction at 5.8% during the forecast period (2016  2024). High demand for these devices is mainly attributed to the fact that these provide the flexibility to continue therapy at home.Diabetic foot ulcers is projected to be a major revenue contributing application segment, owing to high prevalence of diabetes and lack of proper management of the disease leading to increasing incidence of related foot ulcersNorth America lead the global negative pressure wound therapy devices market with a share of over 50% in 2016. Rapid adoption of new technologies, availability of reimbursement and high patient awareness are factors attributable to its leading market shareIntense competition is witnessed among the leading players such as Smith & Nephew plc, Devon Medical, Paul Hartmann AG, Talley Group Limited, Coloplast A/S, ConvaTec Inc., Molnlycke Health Care AB, Medela AG, Kinetic Concepts, Inc., and Cardinal Health, Inc.Companies are launching devices with advanced technology, offering high convenience and cost benefit to the patients (example PICO by Smith & Nephew plc and Avelle by ConvaTec Group plc)To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in the negative pressure wound therapy devices market, click the link below:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
How to create an integrated social media and digital strategy for patients, through effective content

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Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry conference will be bringing a global presence from GSK, Pfizer, IBM, Janssen, Roche Diabetes Care, Bristol-Myers Squibb, MSD, ABPI, and more. With an agenda full of exciting and new approaches for communicating with patients online, dive deep into topics surrounding social listening, interactions and engagement, writing effective content and tracking ROI from social media.Hear from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb as they explore the strategies and activities used when creating content and engagement on social media, as well as determining the correct social platform for businesses.DAY 2: Building integrated, impactful social media strategies which engage HCPs and patients as part of the multi-channel mix. - Speaker: Sarah Holiday, Social Media Strategy Lead, PfizerSarah will explore how pharma brands can integrate and adapt social media for greater levels of impact and relevancy as part of the wider digital and multi-channel mix. Presenting examples, this session will help to understand the patients journey. This could be by posting certain infographics and posts on specific days for example, success stories on a particular pharmaceutical product, hosting live talks and creating urgency, which is heavily used and impactful on social media. Many companies struggle to gain traction and engagement from their 'followers', especially startups which can be a problem at times. Gaining visibility is great, but whats the right platform for brands?DAY 2: Content is key to creating an excellent digital strategy and engaging patientsSpeaker: Tughan Demirbilek, Strategy & Operations Director, Bristol-Myers SquibbTughan's session will focus on creating high quality engaging content despite some shifts towards influencer marketing, as content is still key to engineering a successful social media strategy. Posting valuable content is key as audiences like to hear the current trends in the industry which can be done by providing free reports, whitepapers, articles, vlogs and more. Moreover, the shifts and patterns to how social media has evolved by knowing which activities work well and doing this on a regular basis, all in order for companies to become a 'leader' in their minds. Tools used to gather the data through customer insights is a popular method used in today's marketing. One popular social platform is LinkedIn, who are leading in providing leads for businesses around the globe through various sponsored content and PPC campaigns.For more information on all sessions, view the full agenda:For those looking to attend there is currently a 200 early-bird saving by October 31stSMi Presents the 10th Annual Conference:Social Media in the Pharmaceutical IndustryDate: 22nd  23rd January 2017Location: Kensington, LondonWebsite:---end---Contact Information:For all media inquiries contact Pavan Solanki on Tel: +44 (0)20 7827 6048 / Email: psolanki@smi-online.co.ukAbout SMi Group:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the world's most forward-thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at1 Westminster Bridge Rd, London SE1 7XW
Tooth Regeneration to Take Center Stage in Dental Industry as Research Activities Globally

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The Global Tooth Regeneration Market is expected to address more than 4,600 million dental procedures by 2024, according to a new report by published by Coherent Market Insights. Patient focused innovation along with rise in geriatric population is expected to create lucrative growth opportunities for market players.Historically, the dental industry has been highly lucrative for industry players, with average 5.5% annual growth rate. Growth in the dental industry has been on upward trend since last two decades. As a result, industry players have generated high ROI over the last two decades, despite the industry being highly fragmented.The future, however, is completely different  with disruptive dental technology underway. The companies are investing lump sum amount towards development of biologically engineered tooth regeneration for better dental treatment modalities.Request PDF of Sample Report @Tooth regeneration market outlook seems optimistic with potential to completely transform the dental industry perception.Tooth regeneration market revenue is expected to be primarily driven by various macroeconomic factors ranging from increased geriatric population, high per capita spending, and higher fund allocation on stem cell based tooth regeneration by companies and increased dental procedure worldwide. As per the World Bank estimates, geriatric population is growing three times higher than overall population growth in U.S. Same trend is prevalent across Asia Pacific and Europe. According to Europa, over 25% of population in Europe is expected to be aged over 65 years by 2020. As such, there is huge addressable market for players in the market.Research activities in tooth regeneration market is expected to create favorable market opportunity for industry players in near future. Various studies are conducted by research institutes to understand the tooth regeneration market feasibility. For instance, Nova Southeastern University is conducting research on tooth regeneration from stem cells. Similar initiatives are taken by Tufts School of Dental Medicine and Columbia University (U.S.). Growth in tooth regeneration market scenario is expected to be further supported by increasing number of dental implant procedures performed annually is a significant opportunity for tooth regeneration techniques and products. Around 2.6 million dental procedures are estimated to be carried out in 2017 that would grow at 7.1% during 20162024.Key takeaways of the market are:Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the dental procedures throughout the forecast period, suggesting higher addressable market opportunity for players. Much of the dental procedures are expected to be carried out in China, followed by India and Japan respectively. There are over 5,000 dental laboratories with around 300 dental institutes and 200,000 dentists in India. Increasing consumer base along with high economic growth is expected to create lucrative market opportunity for industry players. Moreover, the market in the region is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period.By population demography, geriatrics population is expected to be the prime users of tooth regeneration product once it get commercialized. As of now, much of the need for tooth loss in geriatrics population is being met by dental implants.Enamel erosion is one of the most prevalent dental issue worldwide, which also results in other dental problems related to dentin and pulp. Researchers at the University of Southern California, are working on developing a technique using matrix metalloproteinase-20 (MMP-20), an enzyme found only in teeth, and an amelogenin-chitosan hydrogel to repair early tooth decay by growing an enamel-like layerInstitut Straumann Ag, DENTSPLY Implants, Unilever and Datum Dental are key tooth regeneration market players. As of now, this is a research based topic. However, companies are expected to gain double digit return on investment (ROI) once the product gets commercialized.To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
Batten Disease Treatment Market Trends Opportunity Analysis,2025

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Batten disease is a rare, inherent, and fatal autosomal recessive neural disorder that begins in the childhood but may take a few years to show symptoms. Batten disease is one of the approximately 50 diseases that fall under the category of lysosome shortage disorders. The batten disease also referred as Neuronal ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs), which is a class of life-limiting genetic neurogenerative diseases that are caused due to abnormality of genes resulting in their inability to synthesize required protein. This disease is characterized by malfunctioning of body, which usually appears around the age of 2-10 with symptoms, such as seizures or gradual onset of vision problem. The early signs may show subtle changes in behavior and learning, however over time, the child suffers from mental impairment, progressive loss of sight, speech and motor reactions, worsening seizures, eventually leading to blindness dementia, and finally death. These disease is diagnosed with the help of certain tests, such as blood or urine tests, skin or tissue dampening, brain scans, and imaging techniques, which includes, computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The batten disease is characterized into four types as follows:Request Sample Copy of the Business Report:Infantile NCL: more than 2 yearsLate Infantile NCL: 2-4 years (Life span of child varies between 8-12 years)Juvenile NCL: 5-8 years (Life span varies between teens to early 20s)Adult NCL: more than 40 years (Variable lifespan)European countries facing rising prevalence and incidence of batten diseaseAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Batten disease is observed in 2-4 per 100,000 live births in the United States on an average. The Batten disease although is rare but has high incidence rates in Finland, Sweden, and other parts of the Europe as compared to rest of the world. According to the Batten Disease Support and Research Association, the batten disease has often been encountered in more than one children of the same family. The Daily News and Analysis article published in June 2016 suggests that, over 20 million children in India suffer from rare diseases, having expensive treatments. This creates opportunities for the sustaining as well as upcoming market players by understanding the potential held by the global batten disease treatment market.The global batten disease treatment market is segmented on the basis of therapy and geographical regions.On the basis of therapy, the global batten disease treatment market is segmented asOccupational TherapiesPhysical TherapiesAs of now, there are no established drugs and treatments to cure and prevent the disease. However, the severity of disease can be reduced and controlled by certain therapies. Few clinical trials and studies are being carried out in the North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific to identify therapies that would help reducing the disease outcome.Request a Customization:Attempts by collaborations of research bodies for introduction to reliable treatment options for batten disease giving hopes to commonersThe batten disease treatment market is not dense on the global level, however the developed economies of North America and Europe are expected to contribute to the growth of the market. This attributes to the increasing incidence of batten disease and high prevalence rates in American as well as European countries. For instance, a joint study between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital, and Kings College London have discovered a treatment that has helped to improve the neurological symptoms in the mouse model of juvenile batten disease. This research held a novel approach of counteracting the accumulation of the cellular waste in Batten disease by acting on TFEB, which is a master transcription factor that stimulates the production of lysosomes by the cell body and directs cellular apoptosis. This has brought a ray of hope to patients and families affected by battens disease.Improper treatment facility for batten disease responsible to attract the attention of various players to enter the untapped potential batten disease treatment marketThe rising incidence of the batten disease without effective treatment option for the prevention and cure of the disease is the primary driver for batten disease market, due to which several companies are vying to enter into the untapped global batten disease treatment market. However, the lack of awareness among manufacturers and patient population as well as unavailability of treatment for this disease are greatly hampering the growth of the global batten disease treatment market.Although, the global batten disease treatment market is very scarce, few key players offering cell regeneration therapies and few other forms of medication include Seneb BioSciences, Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and ReGenX Biosciences LLC. The U.S. FDA has recently approved BioMarins first ever drug to treat batten disease known as Brineura in 2017.To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in Batten Disease Treatment Market click the link below:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Steam Generator Irons Market Report 2017  Delonghi, Hoover, Russell Hobbs, Breville, Kalorik

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report 2012-2022 Report on EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Steam Generator Irons Market Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global Steam Generator Irons market is a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the market in its current scenario and provides exhaustive analysis of all the factors that are expected to influence the demand for Steam Generator Irons, positively or negatively. And based on that, it anticipates the future scenario during the forecast period of 2017-2022. The report, prepared by a ground of professional and experienced market research analysts, has gone through proven research methodologies and explores some of the recent trends of Steam Generator Irons market that participants connected to the value chain must take note of in order to formulate business decisions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report, Steam Generator Irons Market Research Reports aspires to act as a reliable business document for organizations and individuals connected to this market, several of whom have also been profiled for their share of the pie, regional presence, and recent strategic developments. The report also detects the most lucrative country-wide markets for Steam Generator Irons.To evaluate the size of the global market for Steam Generator Irons, the report has taken account of critical data points such as regional segment and market categories by product type, application-wise, by service, and by source. Qualitative insights from primary respondents were incorporated in order to calculate suitable market estimates. The forecast presented in this report on the global Steam Generator Irons market forecasts the overall revenue that is expected to be produced across the Steam Generator Irons market in the forthcoming future. While developing the forecasts for the market, the initial stage involved sizing up the current market, which has formed the basis how the global Steam Generator Irons market will take shape going forward. Given the features of the market, data has been triangulated on the basis of several analysis pertaining to both sides, supply and demand.Table of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Steam Generator Irons Market Report 20171 Steam Generator Irons Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Steam Generator Irons1.2 Classification of Steam Generator Irons1.2.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Pressurised Steam Generator Irons1.2.4 Non-pressurised Steam Generator Irons?1.3 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-20221.3.2 Commercial1.3.3 Household1.4 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market by Region1.4.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)Browse Complete Report with TOC @2 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Share by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sale Price by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Steam Generator Irons (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sale Price by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Steam Generator Irons (Volume) by Application3 Europe Steam Generator Irons (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Steam Generator Irons Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)4 Middle East Steam Generator Irons (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application4.1 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.2 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Type4.3 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Application4.4 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries4.4.1 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.2 Middle East Steam Generator Irons Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)5 Africa Steam Generator Irons (Volume, Value and Sales Price) by Players, Countries, Type and Application5.1 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Africa Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.2 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Type5.3 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales and Market Share by Application5.4 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries5.4.1 Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.2 Africa Steam Generator Irons Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.3 South Africa Steam Generator Irons Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.4.4 Nigeria Steam Generator Irons Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Get discount copy @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Steam Generator IronsFigure EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume (K Units) by Type (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure Pressurised Steam Generator Irons Product PictureFigure Non-pressurised Steam Generator Irons? Product PictureFigure EMEA Steam Generator Irons Sales Volume (K Units) by Application (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Sales Market Share of Steam Generator Irons by Application in 2016Figure Commercial ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in CommercialFigure Household ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in HouseholdFigure EMEA Steam Generator Irons Market Size (Million USD) by Region (2012-2022)QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Air Cargo Container (GACC) Market 2017-2021

Air Cargo Container (GACC) Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Global Air Cargo Container (GACC) Market 2017-2021.The analysts forecast the global air cargo container (GACC) market to grow at a CAGR of 3.89% during the period 2017-2021.Containerization refers to a standardized transportation system, that uses an enclosed container made up of materials, such as aluminum, steel, and composites. Air cargo containers are special type of containers, generally made up of aluminum and composite materials. These containers are made in a way that they can withstand transportation and handling of goods during transit, and protect the cargo or goods enclosed inside the container.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global air cargo container (GACC) market for 2017-2021. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe report, Global Air Cargo Container (GACC) Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors Envirotainer Nordisk Aviation Products VRR Aviation CargoComposites DoKaSchOther prominent vendors Air Cargo and Containers CSafe Granger Aerospace PalNet Satco Zodiac AirCargo EquipmentMarket driver Growth of e-commerce market increasing demand for air cargo containers For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Growth of sea-borne trade as substitute of air-borne trade For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Innovative and technological advances in air cargo containers For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space?Ask Query @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTION Market outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market overview Market size and forecast Five forces analysisPART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY END-USER Segmentation of global air cargo container market by end-user Global air cargo container market by manufacturing industry Global air cargo container market by pharmaceutical industry Global air cargo container market by FMCG and retail industry Global air cargo container market by other industriesPART 07: REGIONAL LANDSCAPE Geographical segmentation Regional comparison APAC  market size and forecast Americas  market size and forecast EMEA  market size and forecast Market opportunityPART 08: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 09: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challengesPART 10: MARKET TRENDS Innovative and technological advances in air cargo containers Growing demand from APAC Growth in demand for perishable products requiring cold chain logisticsPART 11: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Competitive scenario Envirotainer Nordisk Aviation Products VRR Aviation CargoComposites DoKaSch Other prominent vendorsPART 12: APPENDIX List of abbreviationsContinue.Buy 1-User PDF@For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Professional Survey Report 2017 : FANUC, KUKA, ABB, Yaskawa

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Professional Survey Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The research report on global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot market provides highly accurate examination for it, over the forecast period from 2017 to 2022. The report accommodates an investigative approach to manifest the importance of every element that affects this market. The research report offers a descriptive analysis of the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot which is corroborated with the help of tables and figures given in the report. It comes complete with the definitions, classifications, and descriptions of characteristics of the several key aspects of the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot. This includes an introduction to the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot in a way that allows the reports users to comfortably scan through and grasp the various factors that can influence this market, including the end-users and the applications of its products.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The research report has used both secondary as well as primary methodologies of researching the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot. It has also used the SWOT analysis along with Porters five forces analysis for an accurate and in-depth critical evaluation of all the critical elements that govern this market. The former analytical method helps users determine the various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot, while the latter analytical method produces a precise evaluation of the significance that new entrants could hold, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, and intensity and effects of competitive rivalry.The report explores the progress as well as factors that apply deceleration to the overall development rate of the 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot within all its segments, regional and otherwise. The regional analysis further aids the reports users to grasp specific elements, such as regional policies and socio-economic dynamics that can affect the Japan 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot market.Table of ContentsGlobal 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.1 Definition and Specifications of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.1.1 Definition of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.1.2 Specifications of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.2 Classification of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.2.1 5-Axis1.2.2 6-Axis1.3 Applications of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot1.3.1 Electrical and Electronics1.3.2 Machinery1.3.3 Rubber, Plastics & Chemicals1.3.4 Food & Beverage1.3.5 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 IndiaRead Comprehensive Overview of Report @2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot2.4 Industry Chain Structure of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Major Manufacturers in 20164 Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Overall Market Overview4.1 2012-2017E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2012-2017E Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2012-2017E Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2012-2017E Global 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Price4.4.2 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Analysis5.1.1 North America 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Share Analysis5.2 China 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Analysis5.2.1 China 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Overview5.2.2 China 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Overview5.3.2 Europe 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.3.3 Europe 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales Price Analysis5.3.4 Europe 2016 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Share Analysis5.4 Southeast Asia 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Segment Market Analysis (by Type)6.1 Global 2012-2017E 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Sales by Type6.2 Different Types of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Product Interview Price Analysis6.3 Different Types of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Product Driving Factors Analysis6.3.1 5-Axis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.2 6-Axis of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot Growth Driving Factor AnalysisTo Get Discount Of This Report Click here @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated RobotTable Product Specifications of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated RobotTable Classification of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated RobotFigure Global Production Market Share of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot by Type in 2016Figure 5-Axis PictureTable Major Manufacturers of 5-AxisFigure 6-Axis PictureTable Major Manufacturers of 6-AxisTable Applications of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated RobotFigure Global Consumption Volume Market Share of 5-Axis and 6-Axis Articulated Robot by Application in 2016Figure Electrical and Electronics ExamplesTable Major Consumers of Electrical and ElectronicsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market 2017-2022 Smiths Medical, Medtronic, Inc, St. Jude Medical

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global Non Medicated Pain Management market has been compiled after conducting extensive primary and secondary research through seasoned hands. Primary research has covered a bulk of the efforts taken to prepare the report, including key discussions with several important opinion leaders and industry experts and significant data collected with the help of thorough interviews conducted. Secondary research, on the other hand, has covered studies of the most vital national and global databases, analyst presentations, investor presentations, press releases, annual reports, and company websites. With such in-depth research performed using cutting-edge techniques, interested parties have been anticipated to gain a comprehensive and definite understanding of the market.To Download Sample Report With TOC:Researchers authoring the publication have provided near-accurate estimations of the global Non Medicated Pain Management market, along with those of key segmentations, for the forecast timeframe under discussion. The revenue generated by each segment, the potential of different markets within the global market, and various macro and micro environment factors have been presented in the publication. In terms of geography, the researchers have studied the adoption rate, awareness, and industry trends taking shape or about to show face in the key regions of the market. Market opportunities prevailing in different segments have also been identified and assessed by the researchers.Besides profiling leading players in the global Non Medicated Pain Management market, the report has evaluated their various chief attributes and provided information pertaining to recent developments, business strategies, product portfolio, financial overview, and company overview. Buyers of the report have also be informed about the percentage shares of different companies deduced using market share analysis.Table of ContentsGlobal Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Non Medicated Pain Management1.1 Non Medicated Pain Management Market Overview1.1.1 Non Medicated Pain Management Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Non Medicated Pain Management Market by Type1.3.1 Medical Device1.3.2 Spinal Cord Stimulator1.3.3 Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation1.3.4 Others1.4 Non Medicated Pain Management Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Adult1.4.2 EldersView TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:2 Global Non Medicated Pain Management Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Boston3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Non Medicated Pain Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Medtronic3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Non Medicated Pain Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Nevro3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Non Medicated Pain Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 St. Jude Medical3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Non Medicated Pain Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Greatbatch4 Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Non Medicated Pain Management in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Non Medicated Pain Management5 United States Non Medicated Pain Management Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)To Get Discount Of This Report Click here @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Non Medicated Pain Management Product ScopeFigure Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Southeast Asia Non Medicated Pain Management Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Non Medicated Pain Management Market Share by Type in 2016Figure Medical Device Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Agaroses & Acrylamides Market Is Projected To Expand At A Steady CAGR Over The Forecast Period 2022

Agaroses & Acrylamides

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The Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Market Research Report 2017 to 2022 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Agaroses & Acrylamides Industry on a global level that primarily aims the core regions which comprises of continents like Europe, North America, and Asia and the key countries such as United States, Germany, China and Japan.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Agaroses & Acrylamides Market on a regional as well as global level. The report constitutes qualitative and quantitative valuation by industry analysts, first-hand data, assistance from industry experts along with their most recent verbatim and each industry manufacturers via the market value chain.The research experts have additionally assessed the in general sales and revenue generation of this particular market. In addition, this report also delivers widespread analysis of root market trends, several governing elements and macro-economic indicators, coupled with market improvements as per every segment.Global Agaroses & Acrylamides market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including:BiolineBio-RadKowa ChemicalsAMERICANBIOAMRESCOCube BiotechAlfa AesarBiomol GmbHLonzaSigma-AldrichBrowse Complete Report with TOC @The report is generically segmented into six parts and every part aims on the overview of the Agaroses & Acrylamides industry, present condition of the market, feasibleness of the investment along with several strategies and policies. Apart from the definition and classification, the report also discusses the analysis of import and export and describes a comparison of the market that is focused on the trends and development. Along with entire framework in addition to in-depth details, one can prepare and stay ahead of the competitors across the targeted locations.The fact that this market report renders details about the major market players along with their product development and current trends proves to be very beneficial for fresh entrants to comprehend and recognize the industry in an improved manner. The report also enlightens the productions, sales, supply, market condition, demand, growth, and forecast of the Agaroses & Acrylamides industry in the global markets.So as to fabricate this report, complete key details, strategies and variables are examined so that entire useful information is amalgamated together for the understanding and studying the key facts pertaining the global Agaroses & Acrylamides Industry. The production value and market share in conjunction with the SWOT analysis everything is integrated in this report.Check for Discount @Some points from TOC:-1 Agaroses & Acrylamides Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Agaroses & Acrylamides1.2 Agaroses & Acrylamides Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Agaroses1.2.4 Acrylamides1.3 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Segment by Application1.3.1 Agaroses & Acrylamides Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Food Industry1.3.3 Chemical Industry1.3.4 Pharmaceutical Industry1.4 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Agaroses & Acrylamides (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Agaroses & Acrylamides Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Report for Period 2022 Sempertrans, Bando, Fenner, Yokohama, Hebei Yichuan, Smiley Monroe, Anhui Zhongyi, QingDao Rubber Six, Shandong Phoebus, Wuxi Boton and Others

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Global Rubber Conveyor Belt market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Zhejiang Sanwei, Shandong Phoebus, Wuxi Boton, Zhangjiagang Huashen, HSIN YUNG, Fuxin Shuangxiang, Anhui Zhongyi, QingDao Rubber Six, Hebei Yichuan, Smiley Monroe, Continental AG, Bridgestone, Fenner, Yokohama, Zhejiang Double Arrow, Sempertrans, Bando, Baoding Huayue and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). This report mainly focuses on the Rubber Conveyor Belt. The covering material of Rubber Conveyor Belt mainly used rubber and the skeleton material is nylon, Polyester, cotton and steel wire etc. Rubber Conveyor Belt are widely used in steel, coal, cement, electricity, ports, mining, building materials and other industries.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:Continental AGBridgestoneFennerYokohamaZhejiang Double ArrowSempertransBandoBaoding HuayueZhejiang SanweiShandong PhoebusWuxi BotonZhangjiagang HuashenHSIN YUNGFuxin ShuangxiangAnhui ZhongyiQingDao Rubber SixHebei YichuanSmiley MonroeOthersGlobal Rubber Conveyor Belt Market: Key Product TypeMultiply Fabric Reinforced Rubber Conveyer BeltSteel Cord Reinforced Rubber Conveyor BeltsPVG Solid Woven Rubber Conveyor BeltsOthersGlobal Rubber Conveyor Belt Market: Key Application TypeMiningIndustrialConstructionTransportationOil & GasOthersGlobal Rubber Conveyor Belt Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Rubber Conveyor Belt Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Multiply Fabric Reinforced Rubber Conveyer Belt1.2.2 Steel Cord Reinforced Rubber Conveyor Belts1.2.3 PVG Solid Woven Rubber Conveyor Belts1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Mining1.3.2 Industrial1.3.3 Construction1.3.4 Transportation1.3.5 Oil & Gas1.3.6 Others........................Continue (Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Composite Insulators Market Report for Period 2011 till 2023 SEVES, Lapp Insulators, Pfisterer, Gruppo Bonomi, Pinggao Group, Shandong Taiguang, Exel Composites, Zapel, Goldstone Infratech and Others

Composite Insulators Market

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Global Composite Insulators market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely FCI, Siemens, Exel Composites, Zapel, Goldstone Infratech, Yamuna, Shenma Power, Pinggao Group, Shandong Taiguang, China XD Group, SEVES, Lapp Insulators, Pfisterer, INAEL Elactrical, Gruppo Bonomi, ABB, Saver Group, MR and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Composite Insulators are special insulation controls, which include core and housing. The core is usually made of resin-impregnated glass fibers. The housing can be manufactured from a variety of materials including elastomers, resins, or fluorocarbons. Compared with ceramic insulators and glass insulators, composite insulators are less costly, lighter in weight, and have excellent hydrophobic capability.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Composite Insulators Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:SEVESLapp InsulatorsPfistererINAEL ElactricalGruppo BonomiABBSaver GroupMRFCISiemensExel CompositesZapelGoldstone InfratechYamunaShenma PowerPinggao GroupShandong TaiguangChina XD GroupOthersGlobal Composite Insulators Market: Key Product TypeSuspensionLine postBraced line postHorizontal veePivoting braced postInsulated cross-armOthersGlobal Composite Insulators Market: Key Application TypeLow Voltage LineHigh Voltage LinePower plants, substationsOthersGlobal Composite Insulators Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Composite Insulators Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Composite Insulators Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Composite Insulators Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Objectives of Research1.1.1 Definition1.1.2 Specifications1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 by Type1.2.1.1 Suspension1.2.1.2 Line post1.2.1.3 Braced line post1.2.1.4 Horizontal vee1.2.1.5 Pivoting braced post1.2.1.6 Insulated cross-arm........................Continue (Global Composite Insulators Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Pet Insurance Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Hartville Group, Pethealth, Trupanion, Petplan NorthAmerica(Allianz), Petplan UK (Allianz), Nationwide, Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) and Others

Pet Insurance Market

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Global Pet Insurance market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Embrace, Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA), Direct Line Group, Agria, Petsecure, PetSure, Anicom Holding, ipet Insurance, Japan Animal Club, Petplan UK (Allianz), Nationwide, Trupanion, Petplan NorthAmerica(Allianz), Hartville Group, Pethealth, Petfirst and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Pet insurance is a type of specialty property and casualty insurance policy that pet owners purchase to cover the unintended costs that arise in providing care for a pet, including veterinary services such as surgical procedures, injuries from accidents, and prescribed pet medicines. Pet insurance is purely a reimbursement program. A form of property and casualty insurance, pet insurance provides reimbursement to the owner after the pet has received required care and the owner submits a claim to the insurance company.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Pet Insurance Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:Petplan UK (Allianz)NationwideTrupanionPetplan NorthAmerica(Allianz)Hartville GroupPethealthPetfirstEmbraceRoyal & Sun Alliance (RSA)Direct Line GroupAgriaPetsecurePetSureAnicom Holdingipet InsuranceJapan Animal ClubOthersGlobal Pet Insurance Market: Key Product TypeLifetime CoverNon-lifetime CoverAccident-onlyOthersGlobal Pet Insurance Market: Key Application TypeDogCatOthersGlobal Pet Insurance Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Pet Insurance Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Pet Insurance Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Pet Insurance Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Market Segment Overview1.1.1 Product Definition1.1.2 Market by Type1.1.2.1 Lifetime Cover1.1.2.2 Non-lifetime Cover1.1.2.3 Accident-only1.1.2.4 Other1.1.3 Market by Application1.1.3.1 Dog1.1.3.2 Cat1.1.3.3 Other........................Continue (Global Pet Insurance Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Airbag Market Report for Period 2022 East Joy Long, Autoliv, Takata, Hyundai Mobis, Nihon Plast, ZF TRW and Others

Airbag Market

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Global Airbag market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely KSS, Hyundai Mobis, Nihon Plast, Ashimori, East Joy Long, Autoliv, Takata, ZF TRW, Toyoda Gosei and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Airbag is a soft pillow to land against in a crash. Airbags can inflate in less than a tenth of a second to protect people from the forces of a head-on collision. Since introduced in the early 1980s, airbags have saved thousands of lives. Now, airbag has been a necessary part of automotive.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Airbag Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:AutolivTakataZF TRWToyoda GoseiKSSHyundai MobisNihon PlastAshimoriEast Joy LongOthersGlobal Airbag Market: Key Product TypeDriver Front AirbagPassenger Front AirbagSide AirbagKnee AirbagOther AirbagGlobal Airbag Market: Key Application TypePassenger VehicleCommercial VehicleOthersGlobal Airbag Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Airbag Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Airbag Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Airbag Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Airbag Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Driver Front Airbag1.2.2 Passenger Front Airbag1.2.3 Side Airbag1.2.4 Knee Airbag1.2.5 Other Airbag........................Continue (Global Airbag Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Electrical Steels Market Report for Period 2017 till 2023 NLMK Group, AK Steel, ThyssenKrupp, Stalprodukt S.A., CSC, Voestalpine, Benxi Steel, Posco and Others

Electrical Steels Market

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Global Electrical Steels market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Posco, Cogent (Tata Steel), Voestalpine, Benxi Steel, APERAM, Nucor, ATI, Stalprodukt S.A., CSC, Shougang, TISCO, NSSMC, NLMK Group, AK Steel, ThyssenKrupp, Ansteel, Masteel and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Electrical steel is an alloy that contains iron and silicon. It can be manufactured by modifying the magnetic properties of steel for efficient magnetism and electricity conversion. Also called silicon steel, lamination steel, relay steel or transformer steel, this type of steel is very often used to build the cores of transformers as well as the stators of generators and motors. An electrical steel sheet is a functional material used as an iron core material for electrical equipment. There are two types of electrical steel sheet grain-oriented electrical steel sheet and non-oriented electrical steel sheet, and t are used for different applications. In this report we researched the two types of steel sheet respectively.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Electrical Steels Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:ShougangTISCONSSMCNLMK GroupAK SteelThyssenKruppAnsteelMasteelPoscoCogent (Tata Steel)VoestalpineBenxi SteelAPERAMNucorATIStalprodukt S.A.CSCOthersGlobal Electrical Steels Market: Key Product TypeOriented Electrical SteelsNon-oriented Electrical SteelsOthersGlobal Electrical Steels Market: Key Application TypeTransformerPower GeneratorElectric MotorOthersGlobal Electrical Steels Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Electrical Steels Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Electrical Steels Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Electrical Steels Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Objectives of Research1.1.1 Definition1.1.2 Specifications1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 by Type1.2.1.1 Oriented Electrical Steels1.2.1.2 Non-oriented Electrical Steels1.2.2 by Application1.2.2.1 Transformer1.2.2.2 Power Generator1.2.2.3 Electric Motor1.2.2.4 Other........................Continue (Global Electrical Steels Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
The Global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market - Key Players AB Electrolux, Frigoglass S.A.I.C, Dover Corporation

Commercial Refrigeration Equipment, Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market, Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Application

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Global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market Research ReportGlobal Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market, by Type (Display Cases, Beverages Refrigeration), by Application (food service, food preservation, bars), by End Users (food manufacturing industries, hyper market, super market) - Global Forecast 2027Request a Sample Report @Study Objectives of Commercial Refrigeration EquipmentTo provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next ten years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market.To provide insights about factors affecting the market growthTo Analyze the Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW)To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospects,To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by Type, Applications, End Users and its sub-segments.To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market.To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment marketMarket Synopsis of Commercial Refrigeration EquipmentMarket ScenarioThe Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market is driven by surging urbanization and expansion of hypermarket and supermarket in developing countries of Asia pacific and Latin America. The significant growth in the number of supermarket and hypermarket in developing market has boosted the demand of energy efficient refrigeration equipment in recent years. The market in Europe is heading towards the maturity; however the short product life cycle of the refrigeration equipment in developed regions coupled with increasing floor area of hypermarket and super market and restaurants chains, the market for commercial refrigeration equipment is expected to witness considerable growth over the coming years.Key FindingsGlobal Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market is driven by the growth of supermarket, hypermarket, and organized food retail chains.Global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market is expected to strengthen the product life cycle owing to the continuous improvement in minimum energy performance standards (MEPS).The European Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market is heading towards maturity and the growth is mainly expected from the emerging countries of Asia-PacificSegmentsSegmentation by TypeSegmentation for Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market involves the following types such as Display Cases, Walk-in Coolers, Beverages Refrigeration, Ice-Making Machineries, Parts and othersSegmentation by ApplicationsSegmentation for Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market involves the following technology such as hospitals, bars, food service, hotels, and food and beverages preservation.Segmentation by End UsersSegmentation for Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market involves the following End Users such as food manufacturing industries, hyper market and super market.Key PlayersThe key players that are involved in Global Commercial Refrigeration Equipment market areUnited Technologies CorporationHussmann CorporationAB ElectroluxFrigoglass S.A.I.CDover CorporationDaikin Industries LtdAHT Cooling Systems GmbHAli Group S.p.AIllinois Tool Works IncJohnson Controls, Inc.Browse Complete reportTable of Content:.1 REPORT PROLOGUE2 GLOBAL COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT: INTRODUCTION2.1 DEFINITION2.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY2.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE2.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS2.2.3 LIMITATIONS2.3 MARKET STRUCTURE2.4. MARKET SEGMENTATION2.4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION ON THE BASIS OF SECURITY SOLUTIONS2.4.2 MARKET SEGMENTATION ON THE BASIS OF SECURITY SERVICES3 GLOBAL COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 RESEARCH PROCESS3.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH3.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH3.4 MARKET SIZE ESTIMATION3.5 FORECAST MODEL4 GLOBAL COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT: MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 DRIVERS4.1.1 INCREASED DATA PRIVACY CONCERNS AMONG CONSUMERS4.2 RESTRAINTS4.2.1 LACK OF TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS ABOUT IOT THREATS AMONG HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS4.3 OPPORTUNITIES4.3.1 GLOBAL REACH4.4 MEGA TRENDS4.5 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS4.6 IMPORTANT POINTERS BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS4.6.1 ASIA-PACIFIC AS FASTEST GROWING MARKET4.6.2 GROWTH PROSPECTS4.7 REGULATIONS/ACTS4.8 PATENTS4.9 CONSORTIUMS5 GLOBAL COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT: MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS5.1 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS5.1.1 PROBLEM RECOGNITION5.1.2 SECURITY SOLUTIONS PROVIDERS5.1.3 SECURITY SERVICES PROVIDERS5.2 PORTERS5.2.1 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS5.2.2 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS5.2.3 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS5.2.4 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES5.2.5 RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING FIRMSContinued@..............................................................................................................................................At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 524/528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar
Learn details of the Global Computer Vision Market Research Report 2017

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This report studies Computer Vision in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringCognex CorporationBasler AGOmron CorporationKeyence CorporationSony CorporationTeledyne Technologies, Inc.Texas Instruments, Inc.Allied Vision Technologies GmbHIntel CorporationBaumer Optronic GmbHJAI A/SMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Computer Vision in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoPC SystemsSmart Camera SystemsRequest for Sample Copy of this Industry Insights @Table of ContentsGlobal Computer Vision Market Research Report 20171 Computer Vision Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Computer Vision1.2 Computer Vision Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Computer Vision by Type in 20151.2.2 PC Systems1.2.3 Smart Camera Systems1.3 Computer Vision Segment by Application1.3.1 Computer Vision Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Automotive1.3.3 Pharmaceutical1.3.4 Food and Packaging1.3.5 Others1.4 Computer Vision Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Computer Vision (2012-2022)2 Global Computer Vision Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Computer Vision Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Computer Vision Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Computer Vision Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Computer Vision Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Computer Vision Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Computer Vision Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Computer Vision Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Computer Vision Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Computer Vision Production by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Computer Vision Production Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Computer Vision Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Korea Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 Taiwan Computer Vision Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Computer Vision Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)4.1 Global Computer Vision Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Korea Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 Taiwan Computer Vision Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Computer Vision Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Computer Vision Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Computer Vision Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Computer Vision Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Computer Vision Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)Browse Complete Report with TOC @QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Industrial Packaging Market Demand for Plastics to Remain Strong

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A large pool of established players, including, Greif Inc., International Paper Co., and Sonoco Product Co., is headquartered in North America, finds a new research study by Transparency Market Research (TMR).Apart from the above mentioned companies, Smurfit Kappa Group Plc. and Cascades Inc. have occupied the leading position in this market. Researchers expect these players to remain on the top, thanks to their stronghold on their respective regional markets, notes the research study.According to TMRs estimations, the opportunity in the global industrial packaging market, which was worth US$53.03 bn in 2016, is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 4.10% over the period from 2016 to 2024 and attain a valuation of US$73.2 bn by the end of the forecast period.Obtain Report Details:The manufacturing industry is the leading end user of industrial packaging solutions and is projected to remain so over the next few years, states the research report.Demand for Plastics to Remain StrongIn this report, fiber, paper, wood, plastic, and metals have been considered as the key industrial packaging materials, available across the world. Among these, the demand for plastic material has been higher than others, thanks to its easy availability at cheaper rates. The high flexibility of plastics will maintain its preference among consumers, ensuring its dominance over the next few years.Geographically, the study has considered Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and North America as the key segments of the worldwide market for industrial packaging.Europe and North America, with their advanced industrial infrastructure and better and streamlined procedures of transportation and delivery, have emerged as the current leaders of the global market. Both the regional markets are witnessing a steady growth rate, which ensures their future dominance.Asia Pacific is also projected to experience a high demand for industrial packaging goods in the near future, thanks to the high volume of industrial activities, states the report.Rising Industrial Activities to Fuel Demand for Industrial Packaging SolutionsWith the tremendous rise in industrial activities in emerging economies, the market for industrial packaging has gained a significant momentum across the world, says a TMR analyst. The factor is expected to continue to influence this market over the next few years.Make Enquiry @Apart from this, the market is anticipated to benefit greatly in the near future from the augmenting usage of high value containers, fueled by the rise of industrial prosperity and the enhanced utility these containers offer.On the flip side, the extremely low and still declining profit margins is compelling manufacturers to step out of this market, which eventually, will reflect negatively in the years to come.However, the trend of customization of products as per consumers requirements may normalize the effect of the restraint over the forecast period, reports the study.Get TOC @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Induction Cooktops Market Intelligence Report Offers Growth Prospects 2017  2027

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In this 21st century, mankind is blessed with multifarious advanced technologies for nearly everything which makes life simpler. Similarly, there are cooking appliances, which make cooking easy, convenient and environment-friendly. Induction cooktops can be considered as one of the advanced technological innovations that work on electricity and is extremely safe to cook food effortlessly.Request a Sample Report @Induction cooktops, also known as induction hobs, use induction technology to generate electromagnetic field and transfer heat directly to the bottom of the metal vessel that must be made of ferrous metals such as cast iron or steel. Since, the cooking pan or vessel is heated by a magnetic field rather than heating the bottom of the cooking vessel with an electric heating element or flame, energy wastage by heating up the surrounding air around the cooking vessel is very less and it makes the induction cooktop energy efficient. The cooking surface of induction cooktops are generally made from tough, heat resistant ceramic or glass.There are numerous advantages of using induction cooktops. Firstly, they are more energy efficient appliances (around 90 percent) when compared to other traditional cooking appliances. Induction cooktops help cook food quicker than conventional ones. Moreover, they are usually built from glass or ceramic cooktops that are strong, durable and very easy to clean. Induction cooktops can cook food even at low temperatures. Additionally, these induction cooktops come with a safety function feature and shut off automatically when cooking vessel is not present on the top.Induction Cooktops: Market DynamicsRapid urbanization and rising awareness among consumers to opt for energy efficient kitchen appliances with advanced safety features are the major driving factors for the induction cooktops market. In addition to that, induction cooktops are relatively safe than LPG cylinders because of the absence of open flames. Owing to the rising prices of conventional cooking fuel, people are choosing induction cooktops as an alternative option. Moreover, induction cooktops have become a part of lifestyle standards for healthy and safe cooking.However, cost is the major restraint for induction cooktops market as they are two to three times more expensive than an ordinary gas or electric cooktop. Moreover, induction cooktops can work properly with cooking vessel made up from cast iron or steel. Aluminium, copper pans and glass cookware do not work on induction cooktops, which is also a restraint to the market growth.Induction Cooktops: Market SegmentationBased on product type, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:Free standing induction cooktopsIntegrated induction cooktopsBased on size, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:SmallMediumLargeBased on surface, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:Flat surfaceConcave surfaceBased on Power, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:Less than 5 KWBetween 5 KW- 10 KWMore than 10 KWBased on Distribution Channel, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:SupermarketsSpecialty StoresOnline StoresOthersBased on application, the global induction cooktops market is segmented into the following:HouseholdCommercialInduction Cooktops: Regional OutlookIn terms of geography, Europe holds a major market share in the global induction cooktops market. However, Asia Pacific region is becoming a fast growing region in the global induction cooktops market owing to rising disposable incomes and rapid urbanization that lead to increase in sales of induction cooktops majorly in India and China.Induction Cooktops: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of global induction cooktops market include:Avantco EquipmentAlluservAPW WyottEurodibBajaj ElectricalsInalsaPhilips IndiaStovekraftTTK Prestige Ltd.PanasonicLG ElectronicsHaier GroupHatcoVollrathWaringBon ChefGlobeCal-MilInduction cooktops manufacturers are focusing on improved quality products development with additional new features in order to increase their market share in the global induction cooktops market. Introduction of induction cooktops with multiple hot surfaces and advanced auto cook features are gaining traction in the market.Visit For TOC @ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Lipstick Packaging Market Report for Period 2011 till 2023 Baoyu Plastic, RPC GROUP, ILEOS, HCP, World Wide Packaging, Quadpack, IMS Packaging, Yuga and Others

Lipstick Packaging Market

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Global Lipstick Packaging market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely COLLCAP PACKAGING LIMITED, GCC Packaging, IMS Packaging, Kindu Packing, SPC, Quadpack, Yuga, Alba, ILEOS, HCP, World Wide Packaging, LIBO Cosmetics, Baoyu Plastic, RPC GROUP, The Packaging Company (TPC) and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Lipstick Packaging refers to cosmetic containers or tubs for packaging of lipstick products. Materials used for Lipstick Packaging are mainly Aluminum and various kind of plastic materials. Other materials like bamboo, paper, Platinum and silver, thick wall glass are also but very less used.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Lipstick Packaging Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:AlbaILEOSHCPWorld Wide PackagingLIBO CosmeticsBaoyu PlasticRPC GROUPThe Packaging Company (TPC)COLLCAP PACKAGING LIMITEDGCC PackagingIMS PackagingKindu PackingSPCQuadpackYugaOthersGlobal Lipstick Packaging Market: Key Product TypePlastic PackagingMetal PackagingOthersGlobal Lipstick Packaging Market: Key Application TypeHigh-end ConsumptionOrdinary ConsumptionOthersGlobal Lipstick Packaging Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Lipstick Packaging Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Lipstick Packaging Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Lipstick Packaging Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Objectives of Research1.1.1 Definition1.1.2 Specifications1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 by Type1.2.1.1 Plastic Packaging1.2.1.2 Metal Packaging1.2.1.3 Others........................Continue (Global Lipstick Packaging Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Global Agriculture Equipment Sales Market Report 2017- Deere & Company,Mahindra Group,AGCO Corporation,Agrostroj Pelhrimov

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Global Agriculture Equipment market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Agriculture Equipment sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingDeere & CompanyMahindra GroupAGCO CorporationAgrostroj Pelhrimov A.sConcern Tractor PlantsEscorts LimitedChina National Machinery Industry CorporationValmont Industries Incorporated.Weifang Euroking MachinerySame Deutz-Fahr Group (SDF)On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoAgriculture tractorsHarvestersSoil preparation & cultivation equipmentIrrigation & crop processing equipmentAgriculture spraying equipmentRequest for Sample Copy of this Industry Insights @Table of ContentsGlobal Agriculture Equipment Sales Market Report 20171 Agriculture Equipment Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Agriculture Equipment1.2 Classification of Agriculture Equipment by Product Category1.2.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Agriculture Equipment Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Agriculture tractors1.2.4 Harvesters1.2.5 Soil preparation & cultivation equipment1.2.6 Irrigation & crop processing equipment1.2.7 Agriculture spraying equipment1.2.8 Hay & forage equipment1.2.9 Other agriculture equipment1.3 Global Agriculture Equipment Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Farming1.3.3 Animal Husbandry1.3.4 Forestry Industry1.3.5 Fishery Industry1.4 Global Agriculture Equipment Market by Region2 Global Agriculture Equipment Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Agriculture Equipment (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Agriculture Equipment (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Agriculture Equipment Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Agriculture Equipment (Volume) by Application3 United States Agriculture Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Agriculture Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Agriculture Equipment Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Agriculture Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Agriculture Equipment Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Agriculture Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Agriculture Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Agriculture Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationBrowse Complete Report with TOC @QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Hoverboard Scooters Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 MonoRover, Powerboard, Phunkeeduck, Better Wheels, Space board, Megawheels, Bluefin, Street Saw, Jetson, Fiturbo and Others

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Global Hoverboard Scooters market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Leray Two Wheel, Cyboard, Chic Robotics, Street Saw, Jetson, Fiturbo, Vecaro, Space board, Megawheels, Bluefin, HOVERZON, IO Hawk, Swagway, Phunkeeduck, Better Wheels, Razor Hovertrax, MonoRover, Powerboard, Skque and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.A self-balancing scooter or self-balancing two-wheeled board, commonly referred to as a hoverboard, is a type of portable, rechargeable battery-powered scooter. They typically consist of two wheels arranged side-by-side, with two small platforms between the wheels, on which the rider stands. The device is controlled by the riders feet, standing on the built-in gyroscopic, sensored pads.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Hoverboard Scooters Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:IO HawkSwagwayPhunkeeduckBetter WheelsRazor HovertraxMonoRoverPowerboardSkqueLeray Two WheelCyboardChic RoboticsStreet SawJetsonFiturboVecaroSpace boardMegawheelsBluefinHOVERZONOthersGlobal Hoverboard Scooters Market: Key Product Type6.5inch8inch10inchOthersGlobal Hoverboard Scooters Market: Key Application TypeTeenagers useAdults useOthersGlobal Hoverboard Scooters Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Hoverboard Scooters Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Hoverboard Scooters Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Hoverboard Scooters Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Hoverboard Scooters Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 6.5inch1.2.2 8inch1.2.3 10inch1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Teenagers use1.3.2 Adults use........................Continue (Global Hoverboard Scooters Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Hitachi, Radiall, Nexans, Gore, Rosenberger, Volex, Hengxin Technology, Trigiant technology, Sumitomo and Others

RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market

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Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Huber+Suhner, Trigiant technology, Sumitomo, TRU Corporation, Volex, Hengxin Technology, Hitachi, Radiall, Nexans, TE Connectivity, Molex, ZTT, Amphenol, Gore, Rosenberger, Carlisle and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.RF coaxial cable assemblies are assembled together by RF coaxial connectors and cables. They are mainly used to connect all kinds of signal transceiver equipment or transmitter, ensuring that the signal during transmission precision, low loss, high efficiency, high quality.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:TE ConnectivityMolexZTTAmphenolGoreRosenbergerCarlisleHuber+SuhnerTrigiant technologySumitomoTRU CorporationVolexHengxin TechnologyHitachiRadiallNexansOthersGlobal RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market: Key Product TypeSemi-Rigid RF Coaxial Cable AssembliesSemi-Flexible RF Coaxial Cable AssembliesFlexible RF Coaxial Cable AssembliesOthersGlobal RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market: Key Application TypeTelecomMilitary/AerospaceMedicalComputer and PeripheralsTest and MeasurementOthersGlobal RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Semi-Rigid RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies1.2.2 Semi-Flexible RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies1.2.3 Flexible RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies1.2.4 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Telecom........................Continue (Global RF Coaxial Cable Assemblies Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Control Valves Market : Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights

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The global market for control valves is fragmented in nature on account of the presence of a copious number of well-diversified regional and international manufacturers. The market is also highly competitive, in which keen players are seen growing their shares through mergers and acquisitions. Such inorganic manner of growth not just helps them to expand their market share but also to add to their existing product portfolios.Serving to boost growth in the global market for control verves is the power sector. Besides, the rising oil and gas exploration activities are also having a positive impact on the market. Overall, the growth in the pipelines worldwide on account of fast paced industrialization is majorly fuelling market growth.Obtain Report Details @As per a report by Transparency Market Research, the global control valves market will likely rise at a CAGR of 6.4% during the period between 2017 and 2025. At this rate, the market which was worth US$6.01 bn in 2016 will likely become worth US$10.46 bn by 2024. In terms of volume, the global control valves market is expected to reach 13,734.6 thousand units in 2025.The global market for control valves can be segmented based on different parameters. For example, by control valve type, the key segments of the market are ball valve, butterfly valve, cryogenic valve, globe valve, etc. The butterfly valve segment, of them, raked in maximum revenue in 2016. In the next couple of years, the segment is predicted to expand at a healthy clip. The cryogenic valve segment is also projected to see good growth in the upcoming years. In China ball valve segment is expected to grow at CAGR of 8% over the forecast period.Make an Enquiry @From a geographical standpoint, North America currently dominates the global control valves market on the back of booming shale gas exploration. Control valves play a crucial role in shale gas extraction by helping to regulate the pressure or temperature throughout upstream, midstream, and downstream activities. The market in North America is being primarily driven by the U.S., followed by Canada. The TMR report predicts the market in the region to grow at a 5.1% CAGR from 2017 to 2025 to gross a revenue of US$2.936 bn by 2025.Powered by China and Japan that contribute the most to the revenue, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to clock maximum growth in the forecast period. The market will gain maximum market share by registering a CAGR of 7.3% from 2017 and 2025. The steadily growing chemical Industry is at the forefront of fuelling sales in the region.Honeywell International Inc. Emerson Electric Co., KITZ Corporation, Burkert Fluid Control Systems, Schlumberger Limited, Flowserve Corporation, AVK Holding A/S, Rotork Plc., General Electric Company, and Goodwin International Ltd. are to name a few prominent participants in the global control valves market.Get ToC@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Managed File Transfer Market : Recent Industry Developments and Growth Strategies Adopted by Players

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Digitization, mobilization, globalization, and virtualization are bringing about a major change in the way many operations are executed, communications take place, and enterprises work. These changes are also churning out vast volumes of data, which is transferred across enterprise and even global boundaries.Maintaining the safety of critical business data while it is being transferred across diverse digital paths has made it imperative for organizations to have reliable file transfer solutions and mechanism in place. Managed file transfer (MFT) has come ahead as a viable alternative to conventional file transfer ways such as e-mails and File Transfer Protocol (FTP).TMR findings state that the global MFT market will exhibit a favorable 7.7% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 as companies increasingly embrace this file transfer mechanism. The market is expected to rise from a valuation of US$774.3 mn in 2014 to US$1,637.3 mn by 2024.Obtain Report Details @BFSI Sector Leads the WayThe highly critical nature of data in the BFSI segment is vulnerable to security breaches such as hacking and phishing attacks, theft of storage devices, and employee frauds. Thus the BFSI industry has traditionally remained a major procurer of efficient MFT solutions, representing a dominant 20.82% of the global MFT market in 2015. Recent incidents such as the loss of HSBC Bank compact discs containing sensitive consumer information and the loss of back-up tapes of Zurich Insurances U.K. branch have affirmed the need for effective MFT solutions in the BFSI sector. The sector will continue to be a major driver for the market and represent over 21% in the global market by 2024.Known to provide excellent security to data, on-premise deployment has traditionally been the most preferred way of deploying MFT solutions, especially across data sensitive fields such as BFSI and defense. On-premise deployment presently holds the largest share in the global MFT market. The segment is projected to remain a major contributor to the overall revenues of the market in the future years as well, owing majorly to revenues generated from maintenance and after sales services.However, cloud-based deployment is expected to emerge as the most preferred MFT deployment methods from 2016 to 2024. The rising awareness regarding cost and flexibility benefits of cloud-based deployment services, and the rapid enhancement being achieved in the field of data security are granting cloud-based deployment services an upper hand. The hybrid mode of deployment, allowing combined benefits of cloud and on-premise deployment modes, will also witness huge demand from small- and medium-sized companies over the said period.Set to revolutionize the MFT market dynamics, cloud-based deployment will expand at the highest, 9.0% CAGR and hybrid deployment will expand at an 8.7% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. On-premise deployment will achieve the least traction, and will exhibit a 6.8% CAGR over the same period.Make an Enquiry @Developing Economies to be Key Determinants of Success for Managed File Transfer TechnologyRapid digitization of organizational processes across developing parts of Asia Pacific and Latin America has highlighted the need for effective safety mechanisms governing the digital file transfer routes and are thus driving the increased demand for MFT systems and solutions. Digitization is especially rampant in government organizations and the banking sector in Latin America and Asia Pacific.In response to this trend, major MFT vendors are aligning their strategies towards these regions and are expected to earn a major share in revenues from sales of services and solutions in these regions over 2016 to 2024. The MFT market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at the fastest CAGR of 10.3% over the said period. The MFT market in Latin America will witness growth at the second-highest pace, a 9.2% CAGR over 2016 to 2024.Companies such as Biscom Inc. are targeting niche segments such as small- and medium-sized enterprises by developing customized solutions that cater to the specific needs of these companies. Leading international players such as IBM are fostering their MFT businesses by forming alliances with regional companies and venturing in the cloud-based products and services field.In the highly competitive market, large vendors will benefit from the acquisition of dedicated regional companies. Smaller companies will have to focus on product development and alliances with regional end users.Get ToC@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Cannabis Market Expected to touch USD 3 billion and its CAGR over 30% between 2016 and 2021.

Cannabis Market, Cannabis Market Report, Cannabis Industry Report, Cannabis Market profit

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Cannabis Market Research ReportNorth America Cannabis Market Information, by Derivatives (Marijuana/Flowers, Industrial Hemp, Other Concentrates/Products), by application type (Applications of Marijuana, Applications of Hemp) - Forecast from 2016 to 2021Objective Study of Cannabis Market:To provide detailed analysis of the cannabis market along with historic data from 2011 and forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the North America cannabis marketTo provide insights into the factors affecting global market growth.To analyze the cannabis market on the basis of factors such as price analysis, supply chain analysis, and Porters five force analysis.To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and prospective by 2021To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by derivatives, applications of cannabis.To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketTo track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the North America Cannabis marketRequest a Sample Report @Market ScenarioThe report on North America cannabis market focuses primarily on the major markets in the region such as the U.S. Canada and Mexico. The market size of cannabis stood over USD 3.5 billion in 2015. It is expected to expand at a CAGR over 33% over the period of 2016 to 2021.Key PlayersSome of the major players in North America Cannabis Market include:Canadian Cannabis CorporationPlandai BiotechnologyTweed MarijuanaAffinor GrowersCannabis SativaCannavest, Canna BrandsOmnicanna Health Solutions1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Definition1.2 Scope Of The Study1.2.1 Research Objectives1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitation1.3 Research Structure2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 NORTH AMERICA CANNABIS INDUSTRY: MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 Market Definition: Cannabis Market3.2 Demand & Supply Analysis4 NORTH AMERICA CANNABIS INDUSTRY: MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints4.3 Opportunities4.4 Mega Trends4.5 Supply Chain Analysis5 NORTH AMERICA CANNABIS MARKET: REGULATORY FRAMEWORK6 NORTH AMERICA CANNABIS INDUSTRY: PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS6.1 Threat Of New Entrants6.2 Threat Of Substitutes6.3 Bargaining Power Of Buyers6.4 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers6.5 Degree Of CompetitionKey Findings:Among the derivatives marijuana accounts for the largest market share. The revenue of this segment stood more than USD 2.5 billion in 2015.The U.S. being the largest market in the region accounted for over 95% of the market size of the North America cannabis market.Rapid growth of cannabis and its applications in medicinal purposes has driven the growth in this market.SegmentsNorth America Cannabis Market can be segmented as follows:Segmentation by Derivatives: Marijuana/Flowers And Industrial Hemp, Other Concentrates/Products which include keif, hash, hash oil etc.Segmentation by Applications type: on the basis of applications the market is segmented asApplications of marijuanaMedicinal applicationsRecreational applicationsOthersApplications of hemp.Food and baby careClothing and textileOthersRegional Analysis of Cannabis Market:Cannabis market in North America was over USD 3.5 billion in 2015. This industry was mainly operating in the black market; however, with developments in the medical applications of the derivatives such as marijuana and hemp this market experienced significant growth over the past few years. Presently, the cannabis market is not a bare collaboration of the growers or producers of marijuana and hemp; it is rather a conglomerate of science and technology. The U.S. being the largest market in the region was valued over USD 3 billion and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR over 30% between 2016 and 2021.Regional CoverageNorth AmericaUSRest of North AmericaThe report for Cannabis Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of the current market scenario which includes historic and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancements, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides detailed information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Browse Complete report @The report for Cannabis Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of the current market scenario which includes historic and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancements, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides detailed information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 524/528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar
In-flight Autopilot Systems Market : Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights

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Most of the aircraft manufacturers are currently in a phase of evolving their pilot guidance and autopilot systems to implement the latest ones available. This falls in line with their drive to increase the scope of automation in aircrafts. This is a key driver for the demand for in-flight autopilot systems.Another factors that works in favor of in-flight autopilot systems providers is the overall improvements made by aircraft makers in enhancing operational efficiency, including the implementation of autopilot systems. This also includes the implementation of performance-based navigation, a new concept that improve the description of an aircrafts usage of fuel efficiency as well as maintenance of passenger safety. Another advantage that aircraft companies seek from in-flight autopilot systems is the reduction of pilot fatigue through the use of enhanced autopilot systems.The resultant progress shown by in-flight autopilot systems revenues from a global perspective is a CAGR of 4.0% from 2015 to 2021. This market is expected to reach US$8.14 bn by the end of 2021.Obtain Report Details @North America has consistently provided the highest demand for in-flight autopilot systems over the recent past. It is expected to continue this trend till 2021, by the end of which it is expected to take up 45.50% of the in-flight autopilot systems revenue share. The biggest contributor to this demand is the U.S. defense industry, which is rapidly increasing the number of defense modernization programs for all sectors. This gives most key players a chance to introduce the latest systems to the automated aviation vehicles in the defense industry.The demand for in-flight autopilot systems in Europe is also on the rise, thanks to the highly developed network of airways that make it easier to introduce automation in the aviation industry. At the same time, the rising number of air travelers in Asia Pacific is fueling the demand for in-flight autopilot systems, thereby generating a higher interest from global players.Make an Enquiry @By 2021, the revenue generated by in-flight autopilot systems players in commercial aircraft applications is expected to reach US$5.2 bn, making it the largest one till then. The key reason for the high demand for commercial aircraft in-flight autopilot systems is the increasing number of air passengers across the world, for both domestic and international flights.This will have a highly positive effect on most of the key providers of in-flight autopilot systems in the coming years. The commercial aircrafts segment is also showing a greater focus on the use of autopilot systems to reduce the scope of human error during flight as well as landing, further boosting the demand for in-flight autopilot systems.Key in-flight autopilot systems makers include BAE System Plc., L3 Communication Holding, Inc., Garmin Ltd., Honeywell International, Inc., and Rockwell Collins, Inc.Get ToC@About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Software Licensing Market Size 2017: Industry Witness Huge Growth with 8.6% of CAGR by Forecast Period 2017-2023

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Market Research Future published a research report on Software Licensing Market Research Report- Global Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market Synopsis of Software Licensing MarketMarket ScenarioThe global software license market will grow with the demand of large IT enterprises like Microsoft, Accenture, and IBM. These software licenses are required to comply with relevant laws and regulations, non-adherence of which can cause heavy penalties. While, there are several organizations providing the free and open licensing domain which provide the guidelines and definitions regarding software licenses. However, the implementation of software license solutions helps in providing the control over piracy to a large extent. Moreover, the software license management involves in keeping track of the software and its maintenance. The key growth driver is the need to reduce piracy issues.Get Sample of Report @The study indicates that the on-premises segment is dominated the software license market in 2016, accounting for a total market share of more than 53%. However, this segment will drop during the forecast period due to its high maintenance costs. It has also been observed that the vendors who do not offer cloud-based solutions will face increased competition in the coming years as businesses, are preferring cloud over on-premises solutions.The global Software Licensing Market is expected to grow at USD$ ~14.34 Billion by 2023, at ~8.6% of CAGR between 2017 and 2023.Key Players:The prominent players in the Software Licensing system Market are Accenture Plc. (Ireland), IBM Corporation (U.S), Agilis International (U.S), HP Inc. (U.S), Dimension Data (South Africa), Inishtech Technology Ventures Ltd (Ireland), Flexera Software (U.S), Microsoft Corporation (U.S), and Moduslink Global Solutions, Inc.(U.S), Safenet Inc. (U.S) among others.Segments:The global Software Licensing market has been segmented on the basis of Licensing Type, Deployment, end -users and region.Software Licensing Market by Licensing Type: Proprietary license GNU General Public License End User License Agreement Workstation licenses Concurrent use license OthersSoftware Licensing Market by Deployment: Cloud-Based On-Premise OthersSoftware Licensing Market by End-User: Healthcare and Life Sciences Human Resources Manufacturing Government and Defense BFSI Education and Research OthersSoftware Licensing Market by Regions: North America Europe APAC Rest of the WorldStudy Objectives of Software Licensing Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Software Licensing Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyze the Software Licensing market based on various factors- supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country level analysis of the Market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the Market for segment by Capacity, Battery Type, Power bank Type, No. of USB ports and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the Market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To Track and Analyze competitive developments such as Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, Mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Software Licensing Market.Get Complete Report @Regional Analysis:The regional analysis of Software Licensing market is being studied for region such as Asia pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. Europe is one of the leading region across the world in terms of largest market share in Software Licensing market due to the deployment of the market, that has been divided into cloud-based and on-premises. North America is the leading region for the licensing market by revenues, due to the presence of major vendors. Whereas, Asia-Pacific countries like China, Japan and South Korea is an emerging market for Software Licensing market. But this market has huge potential for growth of Software Licensing market.Intended Audience Software Licensing Providers Government and licensing Providers Law enforcement Consultancy firms/advisory firms Technology investors Research institutes, System Integrators Research/Consultancy firmsAbout Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Chronic Diseases Management Market Strategies, Shares, Revenue, Analysis and Forecasts Till 2027

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Worldwide Chronic Disease Management Market has been segmented on the basis of Medical Condition which consists of asthma, cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, stroke and others. The Global Chronic Diseases Management Market report analyses the various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. The report provides strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. Chronic Disease Management GP services on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) empowers GPs to plan and organize the health care of patients with chronic or terminal medical conditions, comprising patients by means of these conditions who need multidisciplinary, team-based care from a GP and no less than two other health or care providers.Get Sample Copy @Chronic diseases are on the rise universally and are driven by the factor of ageing population and variations in societal behavior which are underwriting to a steady increase in these mutual and costly enduring health problems.Chronic Diseases Management Market Key Players: Some of the major key players are: Infosys, Ally Connected Care, m Health Alert, Propeller, toSense, Science Soft, Health Smart, Alberta Health Services, AFFINIA Healthcare.Regional Analysis of Chronic Diseases Management Market: Globally North America is the largest market for Chronic Disease Management, large share of this market is focused on the increasing urbanization and people are who are adopting a more sedentary lifestyle.The report for Global Chronic Diseases Management Markets of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance.Get Discount @The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regions.Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Shenguan, Atlantis-Pak, Beijing Qiushi Agriculture Development Co., LTD and Others

Sausage Hotdog Casings Market

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Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Shenguan, Atlantis-Pak, Beijing Qiushi Agriculture Development Co., LTD and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.According to GIR study, the United States revenue of Sausage/Hotdog Casings was valued at 6311.57 Million USD in 2016, and is forecast to reach 7639.22 Million USD by the end of 2022Viscofan accounted for 14.21% global Sausage/Hotdog Casings market share in 2016. Other players accounted for 7.34%, 6.17%, including Viskase, Devro.Global consumer market share are mainly distributed in Asia-Pacific. It has unshakable status in this field. Asia-Pacific takes the consumption market share of 46.36% in 2016, Europe followed by with 24.83% in 20Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:ViscofanViskaseDevroKalleShenguanAtlantis-PakBeijing Qiushi Agriculture Development Co., LTDInternational Casings GroupDeWied InternationalOthersGlobal Sausage Hotdog Casings Market: Key Product TypeNatural CasingsArtificial CasingsOthersGlobal Sausage Hotdog Casings Market: Key ApplicationEdibleInedibleOthersGlobal Sausage Hotdog Casings Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Sausage Hotdog Casings Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Natural Casings1.2.2 Artificial Casings1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Edible1.3.2 Inedible1.4 Market Analysis by Regions.......................Continue (Global Sausage Hotdog Casings Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Surgical Instrument Tracking System Market Review and Forecast 2023

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http://www.reportsweb.com/surgical-instrument-tracking-system-global-market-status-and-trend-report-2013-2023

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ReportsWeb.com published Surgical Instrument Tracking System - Global Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 from its database. The report reviews top companies involved and enlists all trials pertaining to the company. Report provides latest news for the past three months.Surgical Instrument Tracking System-Global Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 offers a comprehensive analysis on Surgical Instrument Tracking System industry, standing on the readers' perspective, delivering detailed market data and penetrating insights. No matter the client is industry insider, potential entrant or investor, the report will provides useful data and information. Key questions answered by this report include:Market PlayersBecton DickinsonAesculaCensis TechnologiesInforStanley HealthcareSynergy HealthHaldorGetingeKey SurgicalApplied LogicXerafyTGX Medical SystemsGet complete access to Reports:Global Surgical Instrument Tracking System Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-2023):North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanRest APACLatin AmericaGlobal Surgical Instrument Tracking System Market: Type Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2013-2023):SoftwareHardwareServiceGlobal Surgical Instrument Tracking System Market: Application Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume and Market Share 2013-2023; Downstream Customers and Market Analysis)Private HospitalsPublic HospitalsOthersGet Sample of this Report @Table of Contents :Chapter 1 Overview of Surgical Instrument Tracking System-GlobalChapter 2 Global Market Status by RegionsChapter 3 Global Market Status by TypesChapter 4 Global Market Status by Downstream IndustryChapter 6 Surgical Instrument Tracking System-Global Market Competition Status by Major ManufacturersChapter 7 Surgical Instrument Tracking System-Global Major Manufacturers Product Introduction and Market DataChapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Surgical Instrument Tracking System-GlobalChapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Surgical Instrument Tracking System-GlobalChapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Surgical Instrument Tracking System-GlobalChapter 11 Report ConclusionChapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceBuy Report @Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Glass Door Refrigerators Market: Industry Analysis And Detailed Profiles Of Top Industry Players

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The intense competition between small-scale regional manufacturers characterizes the competitive landscape of the global Glass Door Refrigerators Market, finds TMR. The market demonstrates a highly fragmented structure with just a few established names, including Dover Corp., Hoshizaki Int., Carrier Corp., and Hussman Int.Emerging economies are the current target of the leading manufacturers of glass door refrigerators to sustain the competition. As key retail chains are focusing aggressively on expanding in developing countries, these players are seeing potential opportunities for growth in these regions.Worldwide Proliferation of Supermarkets Boosts Glass Door Refrigerators MarketThe rapid proliferation of retail supermarkets across the world is the key driving force behind the significant growth of the market for glass door refrigerators, reveals an analyst at TMR. With the increasing competition in the retail sector, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores are compelled to utilize glass door refrigerators to keep their products visible in order to ensure their sales.Sample With Latest Advancements @Looking forward, the emerging economies are likely to present ample growth opportunities to glass door refrigerators manufacturers. Stimulated by the saturation in the developed nations of Europe and North America, a number of retail chain operators are targeting the emerging economies of Asia and South America for further growth.The global leaders in the retail sector, including the U.S.-based WalMart, France-based Carrefour, the U.K.-based Tesco, and Germany-based Metro are now expanding to developing economies such as Brazil, India, and China. The entry of such retail supermarkets in these countries are likely to help their domestic glass door refrigerators evolve considerably, supporting the local manufacturers.On the flip side, the availability of alternative cooling solutions is anticipated to negatively influence the demand for these refrigerators in the near future. As compared to large refrigeration systems, alternative cooling solutions, such as temperature-controlled packaging systems and cold chain solutions are highly preferred among small-scale retailers on account of their low cost.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @Hypermarkets to Remain Leading Distribution Channel for Glass Door RefrigeratorsGlass door refrigerators are registering a remarkable rise in in their global demand, finds TMR. Analysts estimate the opportunity in these refrigerators to increase from US$6.5 bn in 2014 to US$13.7 bn by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 8.60% during the period from 2015 to 2023.Currently, Asia Pacific leads the demand for glass door refrigerators across the world. At a CAGR of 9.50% between 2015 and 2023, it is expected to register the fastest growth in the coming years. In 2014, Asia Pacific held an opportunity of US$2.6 bn in glass door refrigerators, which is likely to increase to approximately US$6 bn by the end of 2023.Glass door refrigerators with a capacity of 3.1 to 6.0 cu ft. were the most preferred refrigerators in 2014 and are expected to remain the same during the forecast period. Hypermarkets will remain the leading distribution channel for these refrigerators in the coming years.Browse Our Table of Content @The study presented here is based on the findings of a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled Glass Door Refrigerators Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023.Key Takeaways:Asia Pacific leads Demand for Glass Door RefrigeratorsEmerging Economies to Present Ample Growth Opportunities to Glass Door Refrigerator ManufacturersIntense Competition between Small-Scale Regional Manufacturers Characterizes competitive landscapeThe global glass door refrigerators market is segmented as follows:By Capacity5 - 3 ft31  6.0 ft31  9.0 ft3OthersBy Retail ChannelHypermarketsSupermarketsConvenience StoresRestaurantsOthersBy RegionNorth AmericaThe U.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeEU7CISRest of EuropeAsia-PacificJapanChinaOceaniaSouth AsiaRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)GCC CountriesNorth AfricaSouth AfricaRest of MEALatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Panasonic, Bristol, Samsung, Emerson and Others

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Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Panasonic, Bristol, Samsung, Emerson and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.This report studies the Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors market. A reciprocating compressor or piston compressor is a positive-displacement compressor that uses pistons driven by a crankshaft to deliver gases at high pressure.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:EmbracoHuayi CompressorTecumsehPanasonicBristolSamsungEmersonHitachiSecopDanfossLGOthersGlobal Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market: Key Product TypeSingle-cylinder CompressorsMulti-cylinder CompressorsOthersGlobal Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market: Key ApplicationCommercial AppliancesResidential AppliancesOthersGlobal Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Single-cylinder Compressors1.2.2 Multi-cylinder Compressors1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Commercial Appliances1.3.2 Residential Appliances1.3.3 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions.......................Continue (Global Reciprocating Hermetic Compressors Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
PLGA Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Corbion, Mitsui Chemicals, SDSYXS and Others

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Global PLGA Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Corbion, Mitsui Chemicals, SDSYXS and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.PLGA (poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid)) is a unique base polymer for controlled release of drugs and medical implant materials. It is both biodegradable and biocompatible, and since both monomers occur naturally it has minimal toxicity. PLGA is naturally amorphous (not crystalline).Request for Free Sample Copy of Global PLGA Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:EvonikPCASCorbionMitsui ChemicalsSDSYXSJinan Daigang BiomaterialOthersGlobal PLGA Market: Key Product TypePLGA 5050PLGA 6535PLGA 7525PLGA 8515OthersGlobal PLGA Market: Key ApplicationSutureFracture FixationOral ImplantDrug Delivery MicrosphereOthersGlobal PLGA Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global PLGA Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global PLGA Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global PLGA Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 PLGA Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 PLGA 50501.2.2 PLGA 65351.2.3 PLGA 75251.2.4 PLGA 85151.2.5 Other1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Suture1.3.2 Fracture Fixation1.3.3 Oral Implant1.3.4 Drug Delivery Microsphere.......................Continue (Global PLGA Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Report for Period 2017 till 2022 Nippon Express, World Courier, SF Express and Others

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Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely Nippon Express, World Courier, SF Express and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc.Pharmaceutical Logistics is the logistics of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical supplies, medical devices and equipment, and other products needed to support doctors, nurses, and other health and dental care providers. Because its final customers are responsible for the lives and health of their patients, medical logistics is unique in that it seeks to optimize effectiveness rather than efficiency. Medical logistics functions comprise an important part of the health care system after staff costs, medical supplies are the single most expensive component of health care. To drive costs out of the health-care sector, medical logistics providers are adopting supply chain management theories.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market 2017Top Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:Deutsche Post DHLKuehne + NagelUPS (Marken)DB GroupFedExNippon ExpressWorld CourierSF ExpressPanalpinaCEVAAgilityDSVKerry LogisticsCH RobinsonVersaColdAir Canada CargoOthersGlobal Pharmaceutical Logistics Market: Key Product TypeNon-cold?Chain?LogisticsCold?Chain?LogisticsOthersGlobal Pharmaceutical Logistics Market: Key ApplicationBio?PharmaChemical?PharmaSpecially?PharmaOthersGlobal Pharmaceutical Logistics Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)The Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Pharmaceutical Logistics Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Non-cold?Chain?Logistics1.2.2 Cold?Chain?Logistics1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Bio?Pharma1.3.2 Chemical?Pharma1.3.3 Specially?Pharma1.4 Market Analysis by Regions.......................Continue (Global Pharmaceutical Logistics Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market 2016-2027: By Key Player Altria Group, Ballantyne Brands, Bull Smoke

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Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market by product types (disposable e-cigarette, rechargeable e-cigarette, ego and tanks, personal vaporizers and mods and others): forecast to 2027Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market: OverviewThe E-Cigarette (Electronic Cigarette) was first introduced in the year 2003, by Hon Lik in China and was available commercially in the market by 2006. The recognition of e-cigarettes touched instant base with the US and European markets. Since then this industry has been growing at a rapid pace convincing players from Tobacco industry and Pharmaceutical industry to implement several strategies to grow and sustain in the market. While top established tobacco players are securing their market positions with acquisitions and rolling out new brands. The Pharmaceutical monoliths have been acknowledged as opposing the rising trend of e-cigarettes in this fresh or fledgling market.Request for Sample Report @Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market: Market Growth InfluencerThe Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer market has been mainly driven by a flurry of activities mainly including Mergers & Acquisitions, Patent Warfare, and increasing customization in products. Additionally, the emergence of Vape shops is engaging more users through their extensive variety of products and improved assistance while shopping the preferred products. However, the state and local governments proposals to charge heavy taxes on e-cigarettes is emerging as a key challenge for the Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer market. Also, the compatibility issues and the unfettered manufacturing process in China are other restrictive factors in the e-cigarette market. The e-cigarette industry has come into limelight after 2012, when the tobacco giant Lorillard acquired the US based e-cigarette company, Blu Ecigs. The market was then taken over by the top tobacco giants through a series of mergers & acquisitions which has brought immediate value to the fledgling market. The giants of tobacco companies has started competing aggressively by acquiring the top e-cigarettes brands and rolled out their own brands in the market with newer and advanced technological products. Furthermore, an overall non-uniformity of regulation and taxation policies has allowed large number of players to enter into the market.Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market: Market SegmentationFor the purpose of this study, MRFR has segmented The Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer market into product type. On the basis of product type, the market is differentiated into disposable e-cigarette, rechargeable e-cigarette, ego and tanks, personal vaporizers and mods and others.Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market: Regional AnalysisAsia-Pacific- Asia Pacific prolongs to be the manufacturing center for e-cigarette industry, making the region a predictable player in the supply side. More than 78% of the global production of e-liquids and e-cigarettes is done in China. On the other hand, a major share of the production and manufacturing are meant for export to the US and European market. Many Asian countries are ranked very high in the global tobacco consumption and the government is taking initiatives to bring turn down in such countrys smoking population.North America- North America is considered as the largest revenue generator in the Global E-cigarette market, with a major share contributed by the US. The relentless growth of the market can be primarily credited to the non-uniformity of regulations and the growing perception of e-cigarettes as possible smoking Cessation aid. Moreover, the study of the competitive landscape in the US has brought forward the occurrence of some of the giant e-cigarette brands which are rolled out by tobacco giants such as Philip Morris, Altria, and Lorrilard and among others.Browse Complete Report @Table of Content.1 INTRODUCTION.1.1 DEFINITION1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS1.2.3 LIMITATIONS1.3 MARKET STRUCTURE2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH PROCESS2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH2.4 MARKET SIZE ESTIMATION2.5 FORECAST MODEL3 GLOBAL E-CIGARETTE & VAPORIZER MARKET : OVERVIEW3.1 INTRODUCTION OF GLOBAL E-CIGARETTE & VAPORIZER MARKET3.1.1 DEFINITION OF GLOBAL E-CIGARETTE & VAPORIZER MARKET3.1.2 MARKET SEGMENTATION OF GLOBAL E-CIGARETTE & VAPORIZER MARKET3.1.2.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION ON THE BASIS OF PRODUCT TYPE4 MARKET DYNAMICS.4.1 DRIVERS4.2 RESTRAINTS4.3 OPPORTUNITIES4.4 MEGA TRENDS4.5 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS4.7 IMPORTANT POINTERS BY INDUSTRY EXPERTSGlobal E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market: Key PlayersThe key players present in the Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market Include : Altria Group Ballantyne Brands British American Tobacco Plc (Bat) CB Distributors Bull Smoke Cigavette, Clearette Electronic Cigarette Co Cloudcig, Gamucci Electronic Cigarettes Electronic Cigarettes International Group Fontem Ventures Fin Branding Group LLC and others.Market Research Future introduces about Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market during the forecast period 2017-2027 which mainly includes the growth drivers, trends and restraints and how the market will grow in the future across the globe. In this report, Market Research Future has focused on the current market scenario which includes market segmentation, market dynamics, and competitive landscape along with company profiles.Every report of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Continued@..........................................................At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 524/528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar
Suppose you got beaten up by white supremacists, and the thrashing was recorded. Suppose it was obvious, even in the sight of the blind, that your rights and your well-being had been violated by stick-wielding Nazis. Suppose you were the victim, and suppose that enough time had passedtwo months or sothat a reasonable victim might reasonably think that justice was due. You would be mistaken. Justice arrives slow, if ever. But injustice is always right on time.

A young African-American man, DeAndre Shakur Harrisa school teachergot stomped by a gang of white supremacists in a parking garage during the Nazi Rally in Charlottesville. Harris now faces the possibility of a felony charge, as decreed by a magistrate in Virginia. According to the Post:

A local magistrate on Monday issued an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris on an unlawful wounding charge after an accuser, whom police did not identify, claimed to have been injured by the 20-year-old during the brawl, authorities told local media. S. Lee Merritt, a civil attorney for Harris, told The Washington Post the charge was clearly retaliatory and described the accuser as a member of a white supremacist group. He maintained that Harris did not instigate the fight. We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but whats more jarring is that hes been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him, he said.

According to reports, it is strange for a warrant to be rendered by magistrates instead of the police themselves. As Merritt points out, the charge suggests that the accusers were trying to implicate Harris in the violence. According to his attorney, Harris plans to turn himself in.

Per NBC News:

The beating, which was captured on camera and quickly spiraled across the internet, occurred after a white supremacist tried to spear a counter-protester with a flag pole, the Washington Post reported in August. Then, Harris  a former special education instructional assistant  swung a flashlight at the man, possibly striking him, according to the Post. Several white men descended on Harris in the East Market Street parking garage in Charlottesville, and images showed them kicking and hitting him with what appeared to be poles while hes curled up on the ground. An account of the beating posted to a fundraising website started by Harris said that he was chased and repeatedly knocked unconscious.

According to Intercept writer Shaun King, Harris accuser was an alleged white supremacist whod been arrested in the scuffle. King reported that the police, whove viewed every photo and video imaginable, told him they had no intention on charging DeAndre. One of the alleged attackers couldnt get the police interested in arresting Harris. Since the police failed him, the alleged attacker went to a judge who up and decided, without appropriate investigation, to drag Andre in. According to King, Local police are now in a position to enforce a warrant they expressly told me they dont believe in.

Miscarriages of justice have been habitual in Harris case:

This is fucking unbelievable. I STILL have not been interviewed by #CVille PD or the @FBI about his attack. They have NO interested in it. pic.twitter.com/oZBr7NFEV3  Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) October 10, 2017

What of the men who allegedly attacked Harris? We have reports on two of the suspects. Per the Daily Progress:

Last month, a judge denied bond for Alex Michael Ramos, 33, of Jackson, Georgia, who is charged in the felonious assault of Harris, who said he suffered a concussion, a broken ulna and had eight staples to close a scalp wound. He also said he had cuts across his eyebrow, a chipped tooth and abrasions on his knees and elbows. Daniel Patrick Borden, 18, of Mason, Ohio, also is charged with malicious wounding in the Harris assault. He was arrested in the Cincinnati area on Aug. 25 and held in Ohio, initially indicating he would fight extradition. On Sept. 15, he waived extradition and was sent to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. On Sept. 21, he was denied bond.

According to The Root, Harris head injuries were so severe that he required eight staples. He also suffered a broken wrist and a chipped tooth.

As of this writing, it was unclear whether the government of Virginia was seeking the arrest of other victims of Unite the Right.
Letters to the Editor: Election deniers and threats to democracy

Also: Really think about the future of short-term rental policy
Governor Jerry Brown declares a state of emergency, as the fires of destruction wreak havoc on the much-loved landscape.

Fourteen large wildfires burn across wine country uprooting an estimated 20,000 residents and consumed 107,000 acres by Monday afternoon. The fires have ignited since Sunday night, Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said at a news conference. The fires have destroyed more than 1,500 homes and businesses.

The most massive fires are burning in the Napa wine country. Evacuation is the first concern on fire officials' minds as the fires move rapidly toward residential neighborhoods. Two hospitals in Santa Rosa were already evacuated. Napa, Sonoma and Yuba Counties have been hit the hardest.

"We need every resident to heed evacuation warnings and orders and move out quickly," Pimlott said. Fire officials pooling efforts to combat the blaze, which unfortunately, show no end in sight. High winds and dry climate are another element that are working against the fire fighters.

At least one person is dead and more suffer serious burns. Other fatalities are expected, but it is hard to determine as the fires continue to burn. More than 100 people were treated for burns and smoke inhalation. Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said, "As of right now, with these conditions, we can't get in front of this fire and do anything about the forward progress," he said, adding that resources from across California were to begin arriving in the area later Monday. The National Guard has sent 3 medical evacuation helicopters, 6 firefighting helicopters and 100 military police personnel to assist local law enforcement.

Napa really hurting right now. I pray everyone gets home safe and we pull together as a community to help those who are affected. pic.twitter.com/Gr47w9ZITu

 Cakes (@MikaylaSegura) October 9, 2017

"These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents," said Governor Jerry Brown. "These fires have damaged and continue to threaten critical infrastructure and have forced the closure of major highways and local roads."

"Fires continue today. We have a red sun, very eerie," one resident reports. "We have friends who lost their winery and their grapes. Sad day for Napa Valley."

Taken from home before evacuating, looking toward Sears Point in Sonoma County, CA

The Tubbs Fire between Santa Rosa and Calistoga alone grew from 200 acres to 20,000 acres by Monday morning, CalFire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox according to KTVU. "This fire is explosive," he said

In Santa Rosa, Ron Dodds, who told KTVU he was helping his uncle evacuate said people were running red lights, and "there is chaos ensuing."

"It's a scary time," said Dodds. "It looks like Armageddon."

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://media.rbl.ms/image?u=%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2Fnapa-fire-041.jpg%3Fw%3D620&ho=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com&s=908&h=c2d059567a007b359b6af713e22f35de7b423e36a1d69c635215a75389494348&size=980x&c=4045203721 image-library="0" caption="The smell of smoke... The Mercury News" pin_description="" crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//media.rbl.ms/image%3Fu%3D%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2017%252F10%252Fnapa-fire-041.jpg%253Fw%253D620%26ho%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mercurynews.com%26s%3D908%26h%3Dc2d059567a007b359b6af713e22f35de7b423e36a1d69c635215a75389494348%26size%3D980x%26c%3D4045203721%22%7D" expand=1 photo_credit=""] The smell of smoke... The Mercury News
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Global Analgesics Market: OverviewAnalgesics, or painkillers, are used to reduce and treat aches and pains. Internal and external analgesics are used to combat pain resulting from inflammation, cancer treatments, physiological injury, neuropathic conditions, surgeries, wounds, and phantom aches. The most prominent therapeutic classes of analgesics are local anesthesia, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and opioids. The growing incidence of cancer worldwide and the rise in chronic diseases are mainly responsible for the consistent growth of the global analgesics market.The research publication offers clients a comprehensive summary of the global analgesics market and elucidates the various factors driving and hampering its growth during the forecast period. The report also evaluates the chief players competing in the global market for analgesics and profiles them on the basis of a number of key attributes, such as company and business overview, recent developments, product portfolio, business strategies, and financial strength.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Global Analgesics Market: Key Trends and Competitive LandscapeThe increasing therapeutic benefits offered by analgesics, in addition to effective and fast relief from pain, have significantly driven the demand for analgesics over the years. The development of innovative drugs and rising awareness about these treatment options have also supported the analgesics market. Moreover, the rise in recurring aches and pains owing to an increase in the prevalence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and other chronic and acute diseases has propelled the demand for analgesics. Other key factors positively impacting the global analgesics market include the growing prevalence of pain worldwide, the rise in effective treatment options, a surge in the aging population, and the growing acceptance of analgesics by a wider target audience.Eli Lilly and Company, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Bayer AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Pfizer Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Reckitt Benckiser plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis AG, and GlaxoSmithKline PLC are some of the major companies actively participating in the global analgesics market. In the quest of increasing their share in the analgesics market, an increasing number of firms have been adopting acquisitions as their main development strategy.Global Analgesics Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global analgesics market has been categorized into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World based on geography. North America is presently the leading market for analgesics and is projected to retain its dominant position through 2024. Recent regulatory changes in the U.S., accompanied by new marketing strategies by analgesics companies, have greatly benefited this regional market. After declining sales owing to frequent recalls, the analgesics market in the U.S., in particular, has been stabilizing on account of the return of prominent brands, the rising occurrence of aches and pains, the rise in the average age of the population, and an alarming rate of obesity. These demographic and lifestyle developments have significantly propelled the North America analgesics market.The Europe analgesics market is also anticipated to expand in the coming years owing to the rapid commercialization of new drugs and an increasing geriatric population. Although analgesics form one of the largest product areas in over-the-counter drugs, this segment has been negatively affected by the growing trend of improving health instead of merely treating symptoms. An increasing number of consumers in the U.K., for instance, have restricted their consumption of analgesics with this trend in mind, thereby negatively impacting the sales of analgesics.In contrast, consumers in several Asia Pacific countries seem relatively less concerned over the possible side-effects of analgesics. A higher willingness to self-medicate instead of visiting a trained physician for mild pain and fever is a trend that is common in a number of countries, more prominently in India. Moreover, the immensely stressful lifestyles in most urban parts of the region have resulted in consumers looking for quick and easy solutions to combat pain. This, combined with the surge in purchasing power, has enabled the demand for as well as sales of analgesics to remain steady over the years.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
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Damage to the nerves that control the regulation of involuntary function due to high levels of blood glucose may cause a condition called autonomic neuropathy. An example of body functions such as heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, sexual activity, and perspiration. Cardiac autonomic neuropathy occurs when the heart is affected by nerve damage. Diabetes mellitus patient commonly suffers from cardiac autonomic neuropathy. More than 26 million people in the Unites States get affected by diabetes mellitus. With the increase in age and duration of diabetes mellitus, a prevalence rate of cardiac autonomic neuropathy increase. Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy is the reason for several cardiac dysfunctions and many medical symptoms which include exercise intolerance, silent ischemia, postural hypotension, resting tachycardia, perioperative instability, and cardiomyopathy.Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy treatment market involves aggressively treating cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension. Cardiac autonomicdeficiency of essential fatty acids, increased oxidative stress, autoimmune damage, and formation of advanced glycosylation end products. Other therapies include in Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment include Aldose reductase inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14518 Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsIn diabetic patients, Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy characterizes one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality as well as is responsible for cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death which is increasing the demand for cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market. Increase in aging population as the well societal influence and changing lifestyles are also the cause of increasing Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market in the world. According to WHO report, more than 23 million people in the United States and an estimated 250 million worldwide are affected by diabetes mellitus. In diabetic patient Cardiac autonomic neuropathy is very common and leads to abnormalities in heart flow rate as well as vascular and peripheral dynamics and reduced quality of life are the drivers for Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market. Some of the Cardiac autonomic neuropathy therapies has shown promising initial result but yet to be validated as well Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment management depends on aggressive strategies due to the absence of direct treatment could be the possible restraint for the Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market. Poor reimbursement policies by government and private players also challenge the Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market.Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy Treatment Market: OverviewDue to increasing aging population and diabetes mellitus, the global market for Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market is expected to gain pull during the forecast period. It is expected centrally acting Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market segment to hold the dominant share in the global Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market due to increasing number of diabetic patients. Also, the increase in number launches of the new drugs cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market is increasing globally. Increasing competition among ading drug firms in the market to develop newer drugs tends to drive the cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market towards the growth rate.Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy Treatment Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geographic region, the Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market is segmented into seven significant regions:North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-pacific, and Middle East & Africa.North America is the largest in Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market, owing to high number of diabetes mellitus patient and awareness among patients regarding the harmful effects orpulation as well as growing healthcare expenditure is the reason for significant revenue generation from this region in Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market. Europe is the second largest in Cardiac autonomic neuropathy market due to advancement in technologies and change in lifestyles.Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at faster rate in the upcoming period due to the increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus thus boosting the Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market growth.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14518 Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy Treatment Market: Key Market ParticipantsSome of the key players in Cardiac autonomic neuropathy treatment market are Pfizer Inc., Roche Holding AG, Novartis, Amgen Inc., Privi Pharma Limited, Silverline Chemicals Limited, Anthem Biopharma, Praxis Pharmaceutical.
The Global Chromatography Instrumentation market has been estimated at USD 7.50 Billion in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 10.04 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period from 2016 to 2021.

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Chromatography is a technique of separation of mixtures into organic and inorganic compounds. The main types of chromatography are liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, thin layer chromatography, and paper chromatography. Increasing use of chromatography techniques is creating rise in demand in global chromatography instrumentation market as well.View Full Report @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-chromatography-instrumentation-market-2211/ The market for Chromatography Instrumentation is mainly driven due to increasing spending on pharmaceutical R&D, growing food safety concerns, availability of public and private funding for life science research, and continuous technological advancements in analytical instruments. But, the market growth can be hindered due to presence of alternative analytical technologies, high cost of instruments, and dearth of skilled professionals.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-chromatography-instrumentation-market-2211/request-sample Global market for Chromatography Instrumentation is segmented based on System, Consumable and Application. By System, the market is further sub-segmented into Liquid Chromatography (LC) Systems (High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Systems, Ultra-High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) Systems, Flash Chromatography (FC) Systems, Medium-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (MPLC) Systems, Other Liquid Chromatography Systems), Gas Chromatography (GC) Systems, Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) Systems, Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC) Systems, Other System Components (Autosamplers, Detectors, Pumps, Vials). By Consumable, the market is further sub-segmented into Columns, Syringe Filters, Vials, Tubing, Other Consumables. By Application, the market is further sub-segmented into Life Sciences, Food & Beverage Testing, Environmental Testing, other applications. The columns segment accounts for the larger share of the chromatography consumables market. Other application areas accounts for the largest share of the chromatography instruments market, while, Environmental testing is the second large application area.Inquire before buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-chromatography-instrumentation-market-2211/inquire Geographically, Global market for Chromatography Instrumentation is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Middle-East and Africa. North America is the biggest market in terms of market share across the globe, followed by Europe. The market in North America is highly driven due to factors like increasing usage of chromatography in the purification of monoclonal antibodies, growing use of chromatography in proteomics, and green chromatography. The Chromatography Instrumentation market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest CAGR, which is greatly due to increasing disposable incomes, rising food security awareness and increasing government funding on biochemical research in countries.Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Agilent Technologies, PerkinElmer, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Waters Corporation, Novasep Holding S.A.S., Pall Corporation, JASCO, Inc, GL Sciences, Inc., Phenomenex, Inc., GE Healthcare, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Life Technologies Corporation, Pall Corporation, Regis Technologies, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Helena Laboratories, Phenomenex, Inc., Tosoh Corporation are the major players of Global Chromatography Instrumentation market.About Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and sksillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions.
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Global Clot Management Devices Market: OverviewAccording to an article published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, the awareness about venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains alarmingly low. What makes this scenario more concerning is that nearly 10 million VTE cases are estimated to occur every year across the world making this condition among the leading causes of disability worldwide. The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Inc. states that while the United States reports anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 deaths resulting from VTE every year, this number is as high as 544,000 in Europe. A blood clot is several times more dangerous when it breaks away from the blood vessel wall (where it may have formed) and travels to the heart or lungs, creating a fatal blockage.Request Sample Copy of the Report@However, it is now widely believed that VTE-related hospital death is preventable, as the majority of VTE cases occur during or just after hospitalization. Medical experts are stressing on the use of the right clot management devices and therapeutics so that concerns about VTE as a public health problem can be alleviated. This realization has helped created appreciable demand for clot management devices across the world.As awareness about deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism rises, it is expected that more people will also become aware about VTE as a condition that could prove fatal if not addressed in time.Moreover, with approvals for self-monitoring devices coming in a faster rate than before, the global market for clot management devices will gain traction and stay firmly on the growth path in the coming years. In this report, this market is discussed at length and estimates are provided for the best-selling clot management devices. The overall revenue that clot management devices will generate worldwide by 2024 is also projected in the report.Global Clot Management Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsNewer approaches to clot management are now receiving greater acceptance among the medical community. This is expected to create a favorable environment for the growth of the global clot management devices market. The demand for effective clot management devices is also increasing because patients are wary of the many risks and discomforts associated with open-heart surgery and other highly invasive procedures. The demand for clot management devices will also rise with many medical surgeons now recommending percutaneous devices as an alternative to open surgeries.Despite the conditions currently indicating a positive outlook for the global clot management devices market, a gap between the demand and supply of trained physicians in many parts of the world will act against the markets growth. Moreover, reimbursement policies are not well-defined in many developing countries, which could also hamper the growth of the global clot management devices market.Global Clot Management Devices Market: Segmentation and Region-wise OutlookThe global market for clot management devices can be broadly segmented on the basis of end users and the type of device used. By device type, the market can be segmented into: Embelectomy balloon catheters, neurovascular embelectomy devices, catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) devices, percutaneous thrombectomy devices, and inferior vena cava filters (IVCF).The demand for percutaneous thrombectomy devices has been rising at a healthy rate over the last few years. It is expected that several new research initiatives exploring new types of percutaneous thrombectomy devices will be reported through the reports forecast period. By end use, the key segments of the clot management devices market are hospitals and diagnostic centers.From the geographical standpoint, the global clot management devices market can be split into: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. The United States is projected to remain at the forefront as far as innovation in clot management devices is concerned. Neurovascular embelectomy devices are expected to give the clot management devices market in the U.S. a further upward thrust.Among the top players in this market are: Straub Medical, Argon Medical Devices, Edwards Lifesciences, DePuy Synthes, and LeMaitre Vascular.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
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According to the report Europe Food Grade Industrial Gases Market, published by Market Data Forecast the Market was worth USD 1.39 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 6.46%, to reach USD 1.90 billion by 2021. Europe is an established market for food grade industrial gases.The gas properties and the interface of gases with the food ingredients is to be considered while choosing a specific gas for packaging, such as solubility in the foodstuff should be taken into account when selecting a specific gas composition.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Europe Food Grade Industrial Gases Industry to 2021 @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-food-grade-industrial-gases-market-1572/ Increasing consumer demand for packed foods of high-quality, diversity, and brightness is driving the market for food grade industrial gases. Owing to this rising demand, packaging technologies such as adapted atmospheric packaging and chilling & freezing are progressively being adopted more by food & beverage manufacturers. With rising demand and increase in consumption of packaged foods including carbonated beverages, dairy & frozen products, meat, fish & seafood, bakery & confectionery products and fresh fruits & vegetables, the consumption of food grade industrial gases is growing.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-food-grade-industrial-gases-market-1572/request-sample Europe Food Grade Industrial Gases Market is segmented by type into Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen and Oxygen. Based on application the market is segregated into Freezing and Chilling, Packaging and Carbonation. On the basis of product type, the market is bifurcated into Meat, Fish & Seafood, Dairy & Frozen Products, Beverages, Fruits & Vegetables, Convenience Foods and Bakery & Confectionery. The demand for nitrogen as a food grade gas is increasing as modified atmospheric packaging (MAP) is gradually being implemented in the food processing & packing industry.Inquire before buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-food-grade-industrial-gases-market-1572/inquire Geographically the market is segmented into Germany, France, Italy, Spain and U.K. France and Germany are dominating the market with the highest number of shares.Some of the key players in the market are The Linde Group (Germany), Tri-Gas Inc. (U.S.), Air Liquide (France), Air Gas (U.S), Matheson, Air Products (U.S.), Taiyo Nippon Sanso, AHG Co. Ltd., Praxair (U.S.), Emirates Industrial Gases (U.A.E.), AHG Co. Ltd., Messer Group (Germany), Sol-SPA (Italy), and Gulf Cryo (Kuwait). Expansion of the market is estimated to endorse new investments and open new markets for food grade industrial gases manufacturers in the coming years.About Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and skillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions.
Global Craft Beer Market By Production (Amber Ale, Amber Lager, Indian Pale Ale And Others), By Segments (Brewpubs, Microbreweries, Regional Craft Breweries And Contract Brewing Companies), By Distribution (On-Trade And Off-Trade) And By Region - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts (20162021)

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The Global Craft Beer Market was worth USD 85 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 21.3%, to reach USD 271 billion by 2021. Craft brewery produces small amounts of beer unlike the typical large scale production breweries and is independently owned. It started in United Kingdom in the 1970s producing craft beers alongside regular beers and it quickly spread to Europe and other parts of the world later.Craft beers produced by craft breweries are typically known for the most part described by their accentuation on quality, flavour and brewing techniques. Sellers in this market compete primarily on elements like price, product differentiation, distribution, promotion and quality.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Global Craft Beer Industry to 2021 @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-craft-beer-market-3079/ Global Craft Beer Market is driven by factors like rising demand for low alcohol by volume drinks and flavoured beers, growing awareness of consumers about various flavours and styles of products, rising disposable income, rising consumption of alcohol and rich beer culture in a few European countries. However other factors like high price of craft beers as compared to ordinary beers, their production requiring a lot of clean water and health concerns since they are produced by pressurised tanks with caustic chemicals are some restraints for this market. These factors may act as growth hurdles for the Craft Beer Market in certain regions.The Global market for Craft Beer is broadly categorized by style of production into amber ale, amber lager, IPA (Indian pale ale) and others. By segments this industry is segmented into brewpubs, microbreweries, regional craft breweries and contract brewing companies. These breweries differ in the percentage of beer sold off-site. By distribution the market is divided into on-trade and off-trade. Off-trade sales of these beers are on the rise in developing countries since the per capita income is less and price of beers is high compared to on-trade sales. IPA segment accounted for the largest share in Europe in the year 2016 owing to various exotic flavours available in this segment.In the Global Craft Beer Market, Europe has the largest share with a share of around 30% owing to high preference to flavoured beers over conventional beers. Germany and United Kingdom account for 25% of the revenues generated. Middle East and Africa has the highest growth in this market valued at 29.1% as a result of its increasing penetration in South Africa and United Arab Emirates. In North America this market is expecting growth as consumers preference for flavoured beers is increasing. United States has the largest market share while Mexico has the fastest growing rate in this region. The industry has high growth rates in Latin America which is comparable to Middle East and Africa region.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-craft-beer-market-3079/request-sample Some of the major competitors dominating the Global Craft Beer market are The Boston Beer Company, The Gambrinus Company, D.G. Yuengling and Son, Stone & Wood Brewing Co., Chimay Beers and Cheeses, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Lagunitas Brewing Company.Market Segmentation1) Production Amber Ale Amber Lager Indian Pale Ale Others Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Production Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Production Market Share Analysis, By Production2) Segments Brewpubs Microbreweries Regional Craft Breweries Contract Brewing Companies Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Segments Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Segments Market Share Analysis, By Segments3) Distribution On-Trade Off-Trade Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Distribution Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Distribution Market Share Analysis, By DistributionInquire before Buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/global-craft-beer-market-3079/inquire Reasons to buy Global Craft Beer Market Research Report: Regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analyzing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout Market Data Forecast:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, they cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. From all-encompassing umbrella markets to extremely specific niche markets covering all the major regions across the globe as part of the research scope, their research services offer one of a kind specialties with competitive pricing options.For more information, kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit Market Data Forecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for GreenBank Capital Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - GreenBank Capital Inc. (CSE:GBC). has issued a press release with the following headline:GreenBank Affiliate Reliable Stock Transfer Complies with New CDS Qualification StandardsTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on GreenBank Capital Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/GreenBank Capital Inc.Source: GreenBank Capital Inc. (CSE: GBC, OTC Pink: GRNBF, WKN: A1W8UJ, ISIN: CA3935762029)Date: October 10, 2017Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of GreenBank Capital Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
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Group of diseases that tend to mutate the cells in the body resulting into uncontrolled division of cells forming a mass or lump called as tumor. Cancer is generally named after the body part from where the tumor originates. The breast cancer originates in the milk production glands that are present in breast tissues called to be as lobules and also originate in the ducts that are connected to lobules. Cancer that originates in the lobules are known to be lobular carcinoma while which begins in the ducts is ductal carcinoma. According to the report published by ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) in 2014, ductal carcinomas contribute to about 75% of all breast cancers.The breast cancer that spreads beyond the ducts or lobules is known to be infiltrating ductal or invasive carcinoma. For invasive cancer, a hospital laboratory test is carried out, wherein HER2 levels are measured particularly, in a sample of breast tissue obtained from a biopsy or surgery. HER2 is also known to be as ERBB2 which is Erb-B2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2. HER2 or ERBB2, is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 which plays an important role in view of breast cancer. HER2 or ERBB2 gene is responsible for coding HER2 or ERBB2 proteins which are the receptors on the breast. Three common test employed to test for HER2 levels are chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH).Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14566 Depending on the levels of HER2 or ERBB2 in the laboratory test breast cancer is classified as HER2 or ERBB2 positive or HER2 negative breast cancer. In HER2 or ERBB2 receptors in a normal breast maintains growth, division and repairing while in HER2 or ERBB2 positive breast cancer over-expression of HER2 or ERBB2 is seen. In case of HER2 negative breast cancer the levels of HER2 protein is in normal. About 80% of all breast cancers in the U.S are diagnosed as HER2 negative breast cancer, as reported by ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) in a clinical practice guidelines update published for HER2 negative breast cancer in 2014. HER2-negative breast cancer is most common among patients with metastatic breast cancer.The treatment for HER2 negative breast cancer includes chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and hormonal or endocrine therapy. Hormonal or endocrine therapy is generally an adjunct therapy given to patients after surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. For treatment of breast cancer receptor testing plays an important role for deciding the treatment for the patient. HER2 negative breast cancer can be ER (Estrogen Receptor) positive if it is tested positive for estrogen receptors; PR (Progesterone Receptor) positive if it is tested positive for progesterone receptor; while breast cancer can be TNBC (Triple Negative Breast Cancer) if there is absence of all three receptors i.e. HER2 or ERBB2, estrogen and progesterone. Generally hormonal therapy is employed for HER2 negative breast cancer. Hormonal therapy works on two basic wherein hormonal drugs or medications that brings down the estrogen level in body or the growth and function of breast cells supported estrogen is blocked. Thus, hormonal therapy is helpful only if the breast cancer cells have hormone receptors that can be targeted in the therapy. But in cases such as TNBC (Triple Negative Breast Cancer) wherein the breast cancer cells are negative for estrogen, progesterone as well as for HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2), the hormonal therapy is of no use for treatment.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14566 The driver for HER2 negative breast cancer treatment market is the high incidence and growing prevalence of breast cancer in women worldwide. Also there are many drugs in pipeline for the treatment of HER2 negative breast cancer and for treatment of breast cancer in general. While the restraints in HER2 negative breast cancer treatment market is the side effects of treatment such as chemotherapy; there is a threat of reoccurrence of the tumors in majority of treatments; and treatment of cancer requires few or more treatments together which is stressful and expensive for the patient.
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Hyperlocal services refers to online business models that provide various products and facilities that rely on the platform of smartphones with GPS technology. The offerings include food delivery from restaurants, grocery from superstores or hypermarkets, logistic services, and home utility services such as electrical repairing, plumbing, carpentry, laundry, and personal tutors.Request sample of Hyperlocal Services Market: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/625 Increased adoption of smartphones featuring internet connectivity is the prominent factor driving the industry growthAccording to GSM Association Intelligence report in October 2016, around 44% of the total smartphone users, had subscribed to internet connectivity which is projected to account for around 60% by 2020. Moreover, hyperlocal services market participants are increasingly enhancing search options and application support for better consumer experience. Proliferation of improved and secured mobile payment gateways such as, Android Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc. has led to significant increase in consumer confidence for the application of mobile platform for transactions. These factors are expected to provide strong industry growth prospects through the forecast period.Hyperlocal services Market TaxonomyOn the basis of service offerings, the global hyperlocal services market is classified into:Grocery and food delivery servicesHome utility servicesLogisticsLarge discounts on first purchase and competitive product offering costs are expected to present potential growth landscapeThe hyper local services market is characterized by the presence of large number of local players venturing for better business growth prospects. Moreover, some competitors have entered into significant private ventures offering capital investments to the start-ups for enhancing their presence through marketing and promotional activities for acquiring large consumer base. This has led to increased competition among the global and local players in the industry, in turn leading to frequent major discounts and competitive pricing strategies for consumer retention. Large savings on purchases and increased consumer convenience owing to easy accessibility to resources is expected to present solid growth prospects for hyperlocal services market.Get discount on this report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/625 Grocery and food delivery segment dominated the global hyperlocal services market shareGrocery and food delivery segment participants perform the aggregation of local restaurants and superstores through smartphone applications and provide products on demand. This helps participants gain the trust of the local shops through online shopping. Moreover, owing to presence of large untapped potential consumer base and almost everyday requirements of foods and groceries will drive growth of these market segments.Expansion of product offerings to rural and remote locations is expected present consistent challenge over the forecast periodCatering to customers with best product quality with access to marginal profits is major challenge hindering the market growth. Increasing consumer base and business activity may also lead decline of the product quality that can result in loss of consumer retention. Industry is characterized with large number of global and local choices available in the industry, causing increased consumer volatility. Moreover, customer catering potential of these hyperlocal service market is limited to urban regions only. These factors are expected to consistently challenge the business growth of the players.Developed economies such as the U.S. and countries in Western Europe have witnessed major adoption of hyperlocal services and are leading the market in terms of revenue and consumer base. However, with the increasing proliferation of mobile devices in emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil is expected to offer significant growth opportunities for market players over the forecast period.Check the trending report of Hyperlocal Services Market: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/hyperlocal-services-market-625 Industry is characterized by the presence of large number of players acquiring small hyperlocal services market shares. This is expected to continue over the forecast period, however, few industry participants have gained competitive edge over other participants. These participants include GrubHub, Just-Eat, Swiggy, Delivery Hero, Foodpanda group, BOXC, Shipster, and HelloFresh Group.
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Global Keloid Treatment Market: OverviewThe British Skin Foundation describes a keloid scar as an overgrown scar that spreads beyond the original area of the damaged skin. It is a growth of extra scar tissue in the place where the skin has healed post-injury. Keloids can appear anywhere on the body and affect an estimated 10-15% of all wounds. There are several established treatment options available for keloid scars, including laser treatment, surgery, radiation, steroid injections, cryotherapy, and interferon. Moreover, there are a number of products available in the market today to hasten the healing of keloids. These include creams, sprays, gel sheets, ointments, elastic wraps, oils, and topical gels.While most keloid scars are benign, the continuous growth of the scar may result in skin cancer and this is a key factor driving the market for keloid treatment. Several pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, medical centers, and universities have been conducting clinical trials for the development of drugs and treatment options for keloid scars.Request Sample Copy of the Report@The report offers readers a detailed assessment of the ongoing economic, technical, consumer, regional, and political trends impacting the trajectory of the global keloid treatment market. The bargaining power of prominent buyers and suppliers, the threat presented by new entrants and substitutes, and the intensity of rivalry among key players have been thoroughly evaluated in the report with the help of the Porters Five Forces analysis model. An extensive overview of the competitive landscape of the keloid treatment market has also been provided, which focuses on the business overview, recent developments, product and service portfolio, and financial outlook of the leading companies.Global Keloid Treatment Market: Growth Drivers and RestraintsThe global keloid treatment market is primarily driven by rapid technological advancement in skin care as well as in keloid scar removal and the growing awareness among patients regarding the availability of these products and treatment options. Changing lifestyles, the ever-rising focus on appearance and aesthetics, and the increasing expenditure on personal care products and services have also significantly contributed toward the expansion of the keloid treatment market. Demand for radiation therapy, surgical intervention, and steroid injections is supported by the growing trust and acceptance of the patients, thereby ensuring that the keloid treatment market registers a healthy growth over the forecast period.On the flip side, however, this market is being hampered by the possible side effects of keloid treatment, the high cost of various treatment options, and the risk of extreme pain and complications during treatment.Global Keloid Treatment Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global market for keloid treatment is segmented on the basis of geography into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America is the dominant regional market for keloid treatment and is likely to retain its lead through 2024. High disposable income of people in this region, coupled with the comparatively high availability as well as acceptance of new technologies, products, and treatment alternatives are responsible for the rapid growth of the North America keloid treatment market. Europe is also a major market for keloid treatment driven mainly by the favorable reimbursement scenario for skin treatment and the increasing awareness of the consumer.Asia Pacific is an immensely promising market for keloid treatment owing to the increased focus on appearance and aesthetics in several emerging economies. The rapid growth in population, increasing disposable incomes, and improving healthcare facilities in the region are also anticipated to boost the market for keloid treatment in Asia Pacific.Global Keloid Treatment Market: Competitive LandscapeThere are a number of players competing in the global keloid treatment market. These include Pacific World Corporation, Revitol Corporation Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Novartis AG, Renovo Group plc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Galena Biopharma, Inc., RXi Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Avita Medical.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
Lain America Hydroponics Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 09:37:19

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According to the report Latin America Hydroponics Market by Equipment (HVAC, LED Grow Light, Communication Technology, Irrigation Systems, Material Handling, Control Systems & others), by Type (Aggregate (Closed Systems (The Water Culture System, The EBB and Flow System, Drip Systems, and The Wick System), Open Systems) & Liquid (Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), Floating Hydroponics, and Aeroponics)), by Crop Type (Tomato, Lettuce & Leafy Vegetables, Cucumber, Pepper & Strawberry), & by Input Type (Nutrients, Growth Medium), and by Region  Industry Analysis, Share, Size, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2016-2021) published by Market Data Forecast, the Latin America Hydroponics Market had a market value of USD 38.21 million in 2016 and is forecasted to exhibit a CAGR of 16.7% and reach USD 82.01 million by 2021.Browse details of 132 pages research report on Latin America Hydroponics Market @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-hydroponics-2118/ Hydroponics is a part of hydroculture where plants are developed with their roots suspended specifically into water with no soil. This is just a type of hydroponic cultivating known as N.F.T. and there are many methods known as hydroponic cultivating. Hydroponics removes the restrictions for growing crops like seasons or climate.One of the important drivers is that hydroponics gives higher yield compared with conventional agricultural techniques. It additionally gives farmers the capacity to develop crops in regions that can't support crops in soil. Moreover, hydroponics removes the use of counterfeit maturing operators and pesticides, which helps in making nutritiously superior vegetable items. Lack of awareness about the hydroponic agriculture system and high investment are some of the factors restraining the market growth to an extent.Latin America Hydroponics Market is segmented based on Equipment, Type, Crop Type and Input Type. Based on Equipment, market is segmented into HVAC, LED Grow Light, Communication Technology, Irrigation Systems, Material Handling, and Control Systems. Based on Type, market is segmented into Aggregate & Liquid. Based on Crop Type, market is further segmented into Tomato, Lettuce & Leafy Vegetables, Cucumber and Pepper & Strawberry. Based on Input type, market is further segmented into Nutrients, Growth Medium. On the basis of Aggregate hydroponics systems, market is further segmented into Closed Systems, Open Systems.Avail Sample Market Brochure of the report for more information, Get a Copy @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-hydroponics-2118/request-sample Based on Liquid Hydroponic systems, market is segmented into Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), Floating Hydroponics, and Aeroponics. On the basis of closed systems, market is further segmented into The Water Culture System, The EBB and Flow System, Drip Systems, and The Wick System. HVAC has the largest market share, followed by LED grow lights, in 2014. HVAC is dominating the market as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning are the major elements required to create a controlled environment for hydroponic cultivation.Geographically, market is further segmented into Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Developing regions like Brazil are creating new opportunities owing to increase in food demand, advancing agricultural technique and growing economy.Major Players dominating the Lain America Hydroponics Market are: Argus Control Systems Koninklijke Philips NV Greentech Agro LLC Logiqs B.V. Lumigrow, Inc.Inquiry before buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-hydroponics-2118/inquire About Market Data Forecast:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, they cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. From all-encompassing umbrella markets to extremely specific niche markets covering all the major regions across the globe as part of the research scope, their research services offer one of a kind specialties with competitive pricing options.Media Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626; Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit MarketDataForecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/
Europe OTC Orthopedic Braces Market By Product, By Indication And By Region-Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts 2016 to 2021

Europe OTC Orthopedic Braces Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 08:33:40

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The Europe OTC Orthopedic Braces Market is estimated to be growing from 294 million in 2016 at a CAGR of 5.15%, to reach USD 377 million by 2021. The market is showcasing evident growth potential in the mentioned forecasting period and is also predicted to grow in the future years because of the developments in medical sector.Browse more details @ http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-otc-orthopedic-braces-market-3059/ Orthopedic braces, also known as orthopedic splints, provide the joints with protection, stabilization and correction of injuries or abnormal structure of bones. They have a wide range of applications including injury rehabilitation, prevention, and more. The braces are also designed in a way to compensate for muscles which have little or no strength in them. They also provide corrections in the structural anomalies and help the doctors to detect cerebral palsy, spina bifida, as well as to treat the symptoms of stroke.Increasing geriatric population, developing research activities, advancement in technology, rising disposable income and growing awareness of public regarding different treatment options for orthopedic conditions are propelling the growth of the OTC orthopedic braces market in the Europe region. However, high cost, insufficient reimbursement scenarios and growing preference towards other treatment alternatives are the factors that prove as major constraints for this market.The Europe OTC Orthopedic Braces market is broadly categorized on the basis of Product into Lower Extremity Braces, Knee Braces, Foot & Ankle Braces, Upper Extremity Braces, Shoulder Braces, Elbow Braces, Wrist Braces, Back & Hip Braces and Other Braces. Based on Indication, the market is segmented into Prophylactic, Injury, Osteoarthritis (OA) and Other Indications. The prophylactic braces segment is expected to hold the largest share of the Europe OTC orthopedic braces market in 2016 owing to increased participation in sports, studies proving the efficacy of prophylactic braces in decreasing the injuries, and increased awareness.Download Free Sample Report @ http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-otc-orthopedic-braces-market-3059/request-sample On the basis of region the Europe market is analyzed under the regions U.K, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. These countries are highly developed in the medical sector and hence prove to be a major hot spot for the growth of OTC Orthopedic Braces Market.Some of the major competitors dominating the market are DJO Finance LLC, DeRoyal Industries Inc, Breg Inc, Bauerfeind AG, BSN Medical, Otto Bock HealthCare, Medi GmbH & Co. KG Thuasne Group, and 3M Company.Market Segmentation :1) Product2) IndicationInquire before buying @ http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-otc-orthopedic-braces-market-3059/inquire Scope of the Report: Regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analysing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, they cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. From all-encompassing umbrella markets to extremely specific niche markets covering all the major regions across the globe as part of the research scope, their research services offer one of a kind specialties with competitive pricing options.For more information, kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact us:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail:abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit Market Data Forecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases
Middle East And Africa Flavored Water Market By Product Type (Flavored Water And Functional Water) And By Region - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts (20162021)

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PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 12:14:04

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According to the report Middle East and Africa Flavoured Water Market, published by Market Data Forecast the Market is worth USD 3.86billion in 2016 and estimated to grow at a CAGR of 21.8%, to reach USD10.34 billion by 2021. The global Flavoured Water market is developing at an exceptionally quick pace. Flavoured water is made of various combinations and substances like minerals herbs crude products etc. It uses many natural and artificial sweeteners.These added substances and cancer prevention agents give additional healthful esteems and advantages to functional water. Emerging health concerns has prompted the move from carbonated or simulated soda pops to other choices including flavoured and functional water.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Middle East and Africa Flavoured Water Industry to 2021 @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-flavored-water-market-3434/ Reduced switching costs and health benefits are primary reasons for the popularity of functional water. Increasing awareness & Growing prevalence of obesity and about healthy lifestyle among population is expected to remain the key force governing the growth of the global flavored and functional water market. Also there are many flavors and options available are driving the market. Though prices of these functional and flavoured water are more than others, increasing income are able to compensate for that. Campaign against plastic is causing a trouble to this industry.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-flavored-water-market-3434/request-sample The Middle East and Africa market for Flavored Water is segmented on the basis of type and region. Based on type, the market is segmented into Flavoured water and Functional water. Of these, functional water is expected to grow at a better pace as more people are inclining to healthier drinks instead of ordinary water/beverages.The market has been geographically segmented into Middle East and Africa. The market is anticipated to keep thriving in both created and creating districts. The development is additionally credited to the developing interest in flavoured and functional water. The CAGR IS 21.79% which is highest among all the countries and regions.Inquire before buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-flavored-water-market-3434/inquire Hint Water, Kraft Foods, Balance Water Company, Nestle Water, Herbal Water, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Groupe Danone, New York Spring Water and Sunny Delight Beverage Company are the leaders in the global Flavoured Water market.About Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and skillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions.
North America HIV Therapeutics Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 09:10:28

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North America HIV Therapeutics Market was worth USD5.25 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 1.1%, to reach USD5.55 billion by 2021. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) refers to a kind of retrovirus that causes (AIDS). HIV affects some immune cells and it weakens immune system bringing about loss of capacity to fight against the organisms that causes diseases.HIV spreads through exchange of fluids with some infected individual, for example, blood exchange or imparting needles to somebody who is HIV infected. What's more, HIV can spread from infected mother to child during pregnancy. Here are some of the symptoms of HIV disease are weakness, slight fever, swollen glands, cerebral pains and muscle hurts.Get a comprehensive overview of the HIV diagnosis and therapeutics Market:The leading business intelligence provider Market Data Forecast has released its latest research report, entitled HIV Therapeutics Market to 2019  Limited Pipeline Efficacy Improvement, Patent Expirations and Stringent Healthcare Spending to Suppress Market Growth. The report provides insights into the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) therapeutics market including market forecasts up to 2019. It provides an in-depth analysis of the major marketed products, as well as insights into the HIV therapeutics R&D pipeline. The report provides in-depth analysis of the unmet needs, drivers and barriers that affect the global HIV therapeutics market. The report analyzes the market for HIV therapeutics in eight major markets of the US, the top five countries in Europe (the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), Japan and Canada. The report discusses the global pipeline for all the HIV molecules across various stages of development.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the HIV diagnosis and therapeutics Market. Request a sample to stay up-to-date on the main trends affecting this market:Major factors driving the north America market are Increasing number of HIV affected cases, innovative advancement in HIV diagnosis and therapeutics, ascend in research exercises for developing HIV immunizations and not aware about the methods of transmission of the infection. Moreover, increase awareness about the accessibility of HIV therapeutics in the market and cost effective sedate treatments for HIV are driving the worldwide HIV therapeutics market. Be that as it may, different variables, for example, disappointment of treatment sometimes, absence of gifted experts and presentation of non-specific medications in the market are major restraints the HIV therapeutics market.Inquire Before buying: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-hiv-therapeutics-market-2074/inquire About Market Data Forecast:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, they cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. From all-encompassing umbrella markets to extremely specific niche markets covering all the major regions across the globe as part of the research scope, their research services offer one of a kind specialities with competitive pricing options. For more information, kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 12:56:29

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Acute pain is caused due to an attack on shingles by varicella zoster virus, which usually stops when the shingles rash is cleared and it continues after cure this situation is named as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). The condition is more prone in the people with the age more than 70 years. Furthermore, the pain is either regular or noncontinuous and is typically painful. Allodynia is a condition refers to the cessation of pain by any stimulus without pain, which is often a stressful feature of PHN. Sleep disturbance and clinical depression are common in this condition. PNH is a commonly occurring condition and frequently encountered in the clinics and various other diagnostic centers globally. According to Journal of the Japan Medical Association, it has been reported that the number of patients is 140180 per 100,000 population and around 20% of the population suffers from PNH at any age during the lifespan. In Japan, around 500,000 people were affected by herpes zoster in a year.Another view advocates that neuralgia following herpes zoster should be collectively considered post herpetic pain (PHP), in which PHN is only one constituent. This view regards PHN as differentiation pain due degeneration of the nerves. According to this theory, transition to PHN is presumed to occur about one month after the onset of herpes zoster and to persist thereafter. However, in many cases of herpes zoster, neuralgia as a form of PHP may be present for 23 months after the successful treatment of eruptions, and therefore, it is difficult to form a clear distinction between PHP and PHN.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14506 Drugs which have a direct effect on the nervous system are the most helpful. Drugs used to treat depression can be effective against the nerve pain of post herpetic neuralgia. Antidepressants such as amitriptyline or nor-triptyline must be taken regularly for benefiting the improvement in the condition. Specific problem in patients whose pain remains as post herpetic neuralgia reduced quality of life, which includes correlation between increasing in severity of pain along with the extent of post herpetic neuralgia negative impact on life quality. Furthermore, pain interferes with general activity such as sleep and mood, more severe pain leads to symptoms of anxiety and depression. Instruments involved in health-related quality of life consists four key health domains such as physical, psychological, social, and functional. Both herpes zoster and post herpetic neuralgia have effects on patient life across all the health domains.Unfortunately, there are currently no absolute prophylaxis for post herpetic neuralgia. However, since post herpetic neuralgia occurs as a sequel to herpes zoster, the prevention of herpes zoster can be useful. In dosage therapy types of antiviral drugs the renal function is considered as an important issue. Dose adjustment strictly necessary for geriatric population along with people with any renal disorder. Furthermore, the dosage regimens of parenteral formulations are described in detail by instructions given by the manufacturer of such dosage forms of the respective drugs, and the treatment of patients should follow the given instructions. In case of renal dysfunction, the dose of the drug is determined as per serum creatinine clearance. Practically, the serum creatinine clearance can be obtained by analyzing serum creatinine level with body weight and age of the patient in terms of a derived formula.Revenue growth in the post herpetic neuralgia treatment is expected to gain traction in the near future owing to favorable environmental cues in the market such as rise in prevalence of disease caused due to herpes virus. Taking in account all options for treating post herpetic neuralgia are neglected available at different levels is the major factor hindering the market.Various antiviral drugs for the treatment of post herpetic disorder have been developed and are being used widely in clinical practice currently, although the efficacy few antiviral agents have been denied for post herpetic neuralgia. However, methods of handling patients and the antiviral agent usage in a clinical setting should be taken into account further considering both the prediction and prevention of the onset of herpes zoster and post herpetic neuralgia. Also various topical agents are being approved to cure post herpetic neuralgia, agents such as lidocaine patch applied with a local anesthetic. The treatment can cause local irritation but it is relatively benign in nature. Lidocaine also comes in ointment or cream form in a variety of strengths.By region, post herpetic neuralgia treatment market is segmented into five regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global post herpetic neuralgia treatment market due to rise in awareness of the disorder and introduction of novel drugs.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14506 Some of the player in the post herpetic neuralgia treatment market are Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Depomed, Inc., Acorda Therapeutics.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 17:57:43

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Global Practice Management Systems Market: SnapshotMedical practice is characterized as the science and the specialty of mending as per logical determination of the infection. Restorative practice along these lines, requires huge volume of patient information which is hard to keep up over the long haul particularly if it's recorded in the physical type of archives and documents. The passage of computer programming and programming frameworks like SaaS (Software as a Service) has extraordinarily aided the general procedure of patient information and restorative practice information administration. Medicinal Practice Management System (PMS) is a product that helps restorative association (or facility) to record persistent information, settle meetings with specialists, keep up record of protection installment organizations (and reaching them when required), perform charging related undertakings and create last reports. PMS these days are incorporated with Electronic Medical Records (EMR) that arrangements entirely with understanding therapeutic information (restorative and treatment history) as a comprehensive information administration framework.Request Sample Copy of the Report@PMS is planned by the volume of information that should be kept up, the measure of the association and their money related limit. For the most part PMS are named; desktop variations for restricted PCs, client server (physical servers) for expansive foundations with solid fund and prerequisite for simple access to patient's private information, and web server (virtual/cloud servers) for establishments that require cost sparing options. Software companies offer administrations in various value ranges differing from couple of hundreds to thousands of dollars relying on previously mentioned parameters. Incorporated frameworks (EMR and PMS) are more costly in contrast with independent administrations.Practice Management Systems Market: OverviewMedical practice is defined as the science and the art of healing in accordance with scientific diagnosis of the disease. Medical practice therefore, requires significant volume of patient data which is difficult to maintain in the long run especially if its recorded in the physical form of documents and files. The entry of computer software and software systems like SaaS (Software as a Service) has greatly assisted in the overall process of patient data and medical practice data management. Medical Practice Management System (PMS) is a software that helps medical organization (or clinic) to record patient data, fix appointments with practitioners, maintain record of insurance payment companies (and contacting them when required), perform billing related tasks and generate final reports. PMS nowadays are integrated with Electronic Medical Records (EMR) that deals strictly with patient medical data (medical and treatment history) as an all inclusive data management system.PMS is designed according to the volume of data that needs to be maintained, the size of the organization and their financial capacity. Generally PMS are classified as; desktop variants for limited computers, client-server (physical servers) for large institutions with strong finance and requirement for easy access to patients confidential data, and internet server (virtual/cloud servers) for institutions that require cost saving alternatives. Software companies offer services in different price ranges varying from few hundreds to thousands of dollars depending upon aforesaid parameters. Integrated systems (EMR and PMS) are more expensive in comparison to standalone services. Some companies that provide these services are Acrendo Softwares, Allegiance MD, WRS Health, Practo Ray and Athena Health to name a few.Practice Management Systems Market: Opportunities and TrendsPMS have a great future ahead, as medical institutions worldwide see it as a better alternative to physical document records which have a very high error rate bringing into light the nature of human incompetency, that are minimized to a great extent in PMS. Also, medical errors result in severe adverse events and death, this is efficiently tackled by the presence of automated programmed software. Cost saving is another financial reason for a shift into PMS, it reduces data management costs and as a result the overall medical treatment costs. Medical insurance claims and payouts also see a positive change with fast processing times. Countries like the U.S. also offer subsidies to hospitals opting for such systems.Practice Management Systems Market: RestraintsPMS however, is useful only as long as the personals are trained in the dynamics of the software, this requires training and practice. Many countries also have strict patient confidentiality laws, any breach or leak patient records may pose a great threat to the integrity of the whole process and shall render an institution liable for prosecution by the law. In such a situation, PMS becomes more of a liability than assistance. However, with entry of Asian software companies like Practo Ray who have developed portable android based software systems can be easily accessed and require minimum training. Cost effective alternatives are on the rise along with better algorithms to integrate the complete process of medical practice.Practice Management Systems Market: Regional InsightPMS market is expected to increase owing to the presence of virtual/cloud based service systems, these enable companies far offshore to provide services at competitive prices. Service providers are at present largely based in the North America and European region, where the demand is the highest owing to large population patients with health insurance. The PMS market in Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR owing to more number of companies establishing business in this region coupled shift in service providers from the North American region to emerging economies. Also, with greater returns on investment a large number of Asian medical institutions are now opting for PMS.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 08:41:40

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Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Global Process Liquid Analyzer Market: OverviewIn the manufacturing sector, the precise measurement of liquids and gases is crucial. This report focuses on how the demand for process analyzers for liquids has changed over the years and the factors that have brought this change into effect. Process liquid analyzers may be used for measuring a wide range of dissolved ingredients, the conductivity of liquid materials, their pH levels, turbidity, or other factors that are integral to manufacturing operations.Since these devices lend themselves to a myriad of operations, their use is not limited to a particular industry. They are a ubiquitous part of the following industries: Electronics and semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, metal and alloys, pulp and paper, textiles, waste water and water management, power and refineries, and oil and gas. Because of these wide-ranging uses of process liquid analyzers, their demand is projected to remain consistently high worldwide. TMR projects a positive outlook for the global process liquid analyzer market till 2024.With manufacturing operations being increasingly governed by demanding standards and specifications, using devices that offer accurate readings are a priority for manufacturers. This need will augur well for the global process liquid analyzer market in the years ahead.Get Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11678 The report on the global process liquid analyzers market makes use of meticulous primary and secondary research to highlight the changes that are occurring in this space. Untapped opportunities are also determined using both qualitative and quantitative analysis. A dedicated chapter on the top players in the market helps companies map the competitive landscape.Global Process Liquid Analyzer Market: Trends, Drivers, and RestraintsThe use of process liquid analyzers has seen an uptick in recent years in developing countries where industrialization is spreading fast. Moreover, larger companies acquiring niche market players to include specialized products in their portfolios is a defining trend in the global process liquid analyzer market. The launch of smart and integrated sensors is the biggest trend currently in developed countries. The adoption of intelligent sensors may take a few years in developing markets.As the number of vendors in the global process liquid analyzer market is high, competition across the world is intense. Thus, companies that have been able to ace product differentiation have emerged as leaders. Yet, the market will have to counter forces such as a shortage of specialized process technicians and the lack of adequate professional support for maintenance projects.Global Process Liquid Analyzer Market: SegmentationThe global market for process analyzers for liquids can be segmented based on geographical regions, on the type of analyzer, and by application or end use. The key geographical segments of the market are: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America currently represents the largest regional market for process liquid analyzers. The region, which is home to large industrial bases, will likely continue to exhibit a high demand for process liquid analyzers. Moreover, the massive manufacturing sectors in countries such as India and China will also boost sales in the global process liquid analyzers market.View TOC for this Market Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=11678 Countries in Europe are expected to fare well as far as demand for process liquid analyzers is concerned. The strong performance of the pharmaceutical and allied industries can be credited for this. The report analyzes the market for process analyzers for liquids in a detailed manner to help readers uncover emergent trends and opportunities.The market is characterized by a remarkably high number of vendors operating both locally and internationally. Top companies that have been profiled in the report include: Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), Cemtrex Inc. (U.S), Emerson Electric Co. (U.S), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), AMETEK Process Instruments (U.S.), and others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 09:34:49

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Improving sanitation levels, low energy, and labor costs are driving the market for sanitary ware products. Also, changing consumer preferences is boosting the development of new luxury sanitary wares like private spas, shower systems, saunas, and larger baths among others. Asia Pacific leads in the production of ceramic sanitary wares due to low cost manufacturing and presence of large number of small and medium players in these regions. Asia Pacific region holds the maximum market share followed by Europe, South America and North America.Visit For TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=402 China, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, and Columbia are among the top manufacturing countries of ceramic sanitary ware products. Asia Pacific is expected to continue its dominance on the global market due to the steady growth of ceramic sanitary ware industry in China, India, and Thailand.The global market for ceramic sanitary ware is set to grow due to the changing lifestyle, increasing spending on hygiene, and growth of real estate market. With the passing time, ceramic sanitary products are valued as life style products.Market SegmentationBased on TechnologySlip CastingPressure CastingBased on ProductThis research report analyzes this market based on its market segments and important geographies. Major geographies analyzed under this report areNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the WorldMarket projections for upcoming yearsThis report also includes analysis of recent technological developments in this market, Porters five force model, and complete company profiles of top industry players. Report provides review of micro and macro factors significant for existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Request Report Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=402 Market PlayersSome of the key players dominating this market include American Standard, Annwa Ceramic Sanitary Ware, Ceramica Althea, Cersanit SA, Corona Organization, Duratex SA, Duravit AG, Ideal Standard International, Kohler Co., Lecico Egypt SAE, Lixil Corporation, Roca Sanitario SA, Sanitec Corporation, and others.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 09:42:47

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Tomato ketchup is a widely popular condiment made from tomatoes, vinegar, sweeteners, and salt. The simple yet versatile formulation of tomato ketchup has made it popular in various cuisines, with the growing demand for fast food enabling smooth expansion of the tomato ketchup market. Tomato ketchup is commonly served with fast food items such as sandwiches, burgers, fries, and grilled or fried meat. It is also commonly used as a base for other sauces, since its flavor is popular and agreeable.Visit For TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=524 The report examines the historical development trajectory of the global tomato ketchup market. The historical data is combined with detailed information about the present condition of the market in order to derive useful insights into the probable growth trajectory of the global tomato ketchup market in the coming years. The various factors affecting the trajectory of the tomato ketchup market are examined in detail in the report, with detailed analysis given for each notable driver and restraint acting on the market.Global Tomato Ketchup Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global tomato ketchup market is primarily driven by the growing demand for fast food across the world. While North America is the prime market for fast food, the growing adoption of the Western culture across the world is leading to significant demand for fast food in Asia Pacific and Latin America, where the market stands to grow rapidly owing to the increasing disposable income of urban consumers. The convenience of fast food means the burgeoning middle class is likely to remain a key consumer demographic for the fast food industry in the coming years, leading to strong growth prospects for the global tomato ketchup market.Ketchup is a staple with traditional fast food items, but the agreeable flavor of tomato ketchup has also boosted its use with local fast food items in emerging regions. As a result, leading producers of tomato ketchup have been able to successfully create regional variants of their products based on the cultural preferences and compatibility with the local cuisines. This is a key driver for the global tomato ketchup market, especially given the rising demand for ketchup in Southeast Asia and the Far East, where local street food remains widely popular.While tomato ketchup is primarily used in commercially sold fast food, a significant part of the total demand for tomato ketchup comes from families. As tomato ketchup is a versatile condiment and works with a wide range of flavors, the demand for tomato ketchup from the residential sector is growing rapidly.On the other hand, the rising use of other condiments such as mustard and barbecue sauce is a key restraint on the tomato ketchup market. The success of the tomato ketchup market has also encouraged the commercial production of local condiments and sauces, which have emerged as alternatives to tomato ketchup in many regions. Many tomato ketchup manufacturers have thus diversified their product catalog to compensate for the possible reduction in the demand for tomato ketchup.Global Tomato Ketchup Market: Geographical SegmentationDue to the widespread prevalence of fast food joints and quick service restaurants in North America and Europe, these two are the leading contributors to the global tomato ketchup market and are likely to retain a dominant share in the coming years. However, the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets for tomato ketchup have exhibited promise in the last few decade, and with many countries in this region steadily climbing the rungs of economic progress, the fast food industry is also growing smoothly in these regions. This is likely to present promising growth prospects for manufacturers of tomato ketchup in the coming years.Request Report Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=524 The report also profiles the leading companies in the global tomato ketchup market in order to provide an overview of the markets competitive landscape. Key players profiled in the report include Nestle India Ltd., H. J. Heinz Company, Campbell Soup Company, Tate & Lyle plc, ConAgra Foods Inc., Lee Kum Kee, General Mills Inc., and Premier Foods Plc.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 07:44:37

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Global Skin Replacement Therapy Market: SnapshotEver since its advent by John F. Burke, synthetic skin or artificial skin has proved to be a boon for victims of burns and other skin diseases. Synthetic skin protects a patient from infection and dehydration and is readily accepted by the immune system, and thus, the global skin replacement market is witnessing a growth. Synthetic skin can be easily sterilized at room temperature and is excellent for combating chronic or acute skin wounds and infections. The skin is the largest organ in the human body and serves the body in various was, but protection is its main function.The skin protects the various organs and tissues inside the human body form disease carrying bacteria, toxins, cold, heat, and similar other external threats. Thus, it is important to ensure the good health of the skin and any loss of the skin due to severe burns or trauma of any kind can pose a threat and expose the inside organs and tissues to potential dangers. This can also lead to impairment or inability of an organ to perform its functions. All these factors are slated to drive the demand for skin replacement. The large scale production of artificial skin can lead to instant availability for grafting and this will make it economical for burn patients to opt for artificial skin. Extensive research and development, growing importance for aesthetically appealing skin, and increasing disposable income are some of the factors boosting the global skin replacement market.Get Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11672 Skin replacement therapy helps treat severe skin burns or chronic skin wounds. Skin cancer, eczema, and psoriasis are some of the skin diseases that can be painful and can compromise the quality of life led by a person. Thus arises a need for skin replacement therapy. The skin is the largest external organ of the human body and is one of the organs most vulnerable to injuries and damages. Since the skin protects the musculoskeletal system, the organs, and also helps maintain the temperature of the body, it becomes very essential for the skin to function properly. Moreover, the skin also regulates the level of fluids in the body. Thus, any skin disease or injury needs to be treated immediately as the lack of it can impact the persons ability to lead a normal life.The global skin replacement therapy market is segmented on the basis of material used, end user, and geography. On the basis of material used, the market is segmented into spider silk and collagen. By geography, the global skin replacement therapy market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest of the World.The report is a professional and detailed study on the current state of the market, taking into consideration historical figures. The future projections of the global skin replacement therapy market is forecast for the period from 2016 to 2024. The report offers accurate data and compiles fruitful information with the help of primary and secondary research methods, enabling enterprises and interested individuals to have a competitive edge above the rest.Overview of the Skin Replacement Therapy MarketAn increasing prevalence of skin diseases and injuries among people and subsequently the rising consciousness among them to have healthy and beautiful skin are driving the global skin replacement therapy market. The continual expansion of product range available in the market enables consumers to access specific skin replacement therapies in line with the skin condition they are suffering from. The ability of consumers to spend on these therapies or products has motivated manufacturers to develop and introduce newer products, thus helping the global skin replacement therapy market to grow.The global skin replacement therapy market is challenged by the availability of low-cost substitutes. The lack of clinical support is another probable factor that may threaten the growth of the global skin replacement therapy market. However, bio-engineered skin replacements will open new opportunities for growth in the market. These replacements are capable of closely mimicking almost all functions of the natural skin and are thus expected to be in huge demand.View TOC for this Market Report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=11672 By geography, North America contributes a significant portion to the skin replacement therapy market revenue. The demand for skin replacement therapies in Asia Pacific is expected to rise in the coming years as many countries in the region are offering attractive medical tourism packages.Companies Mentioned in the ReportThe report studies key players operating in the global skin replacement therapy market. The challenges faced by companies and the strategies adopted by them have been thoroughly studied. The report includes the business and financial overviews of the companies. It also includes the recent developments regarding mergers and acquisitions of the companies, new product developments, and the product picture, price, and specifications. Such in-depth analysis of each of the companies enables readers to make smart and informed decisions regarding investments in the skin replacement therapy market. The companies profiled in the report include: Cellular Dynamics International, Tengion, Cynata Therapeutics Limited, Platelet BioGenesis, and TissueGene, Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 17:58:22

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Global Sperm Bank Market: Overview and DynamicsThe global market for sperm banks has been witnessing increasing growth since the last few recent years, primarily owing to the surge in social acceptance and awareness among the general population. Rise in the number of young sperm donors, legalization of and increase in same-sex marriages, various technological advancements in the field of assistive reproduction, and strong support on the part of governments toward donor offspring and sperm donors are also projected to boost the sperm bank market. However, this market continues to be challenged by the negative mindset toward sperm donation, high cost of artificial insemination and assistive reproduction, and several government regulations in developing and underdeveloped countries.Sperm donors can be of several types: Directed donor, client donor, anonymous donor, and known donor. Sperm banks offer a range of services such as sperm storage, genetic consultation, sperm donations, and semen analysis for a variety of end users such as pre-vasectomy patients, police officers, high-impact athletes, cancer patients, military personnel, firefighters, and transgender people.Request Sample Copy of the Report@The report on the global sperm bank market offers clients an in-depth assessment of the emergence, popularity, need, and forecast of sperm banks across the globe. Various factors driving the demand for sperm banks, those that act as impediments to the market growth, and several policies and laws impacting sperm donation as a service have been carefully studied in the report. The research also highlights the present status of the vendor landscape, identifying the major players competing at a global level and evaluating their performance over the years.Global Sperm Bank Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global sperm bank market has been segmented on the basis of geography into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Considering that North America has the highest number of sperm banks with the highest number of licensed labs, this regional market for sperm banks is one of the largest in the world. Other factors such as the availability of advanced assisted reproductive technologies, higher disposable income and spending on health care, growing awareness among the general population, and high rate of miscarriages have also significantly contributed to the growth of the sperm bank market in North America.Europe is a growing market for sperm banks given the surging demand for the same. However, the high unmet need is presently the only lucrative attraction for market players in the region, since there is a severe shortage of sperm donors as compared to the increasing demand. Countries such as the U.K. have been investing in new and innovative advertising plans to increase awareness among the male population in the country and encourage them to actively participate in sperm donation.The sperm bank market in Asia Pacific holds immense opportunities owing to a high rate of infertility and miscarriages in the region. In China, For instance, the alarming levels of air pollution in China have caused a decrease in sperm quality, count, and motility, thereby driving the demand for sperm donors and sperm banks.Global Sperm Bank Market: Vendor Landscape AssessmentThe vendor landscape of the global sperm bank is consolidated to an extent, considering very few large players control a majority of the overall sperm bank market. New England Cryogenic Center Inc., Cryos International Sperm Bank, FairFax Cryobank, and Androcryos are currently the most prominent and dominant companies operating in the global sperm bank market. Orlando, a Florida-based Cyros International Sperm Bank, is presently one of the largest sperm banks in the world. With an additional base set up in Mumbai, India in 2008, Cryos has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the Indian Council of Medical Research. Recognizing the immense potential that the sperm bank market possesses, an increasing number of players have been undergoing continuous upgrade to withstand the competition presented by industry giants.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-10 17:58:19

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Global Telepharmacy Market: OverviewThere is no doubting the exponential surge of the telemedicine and telehealth market. The market is poised to expand at a significant rate in the next few years. Additionally, the advent of telepharmacy is expected to substantially impact the telemedicine and telehealth market in terms of enhancing its rural reach as well as worldwide penetration.Telepharmacy includes the delivery of pharmaceutical care and performing medication order verification via telecommunications from a remote setting. Using telepharmacy, pharmacists are able to provide pharma care to patients at a different geographical location than theirs. This state-of-the-art technology ensures easy access to quality health care, primarily in rural and medically backward areas.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Remote pharmacists are benefiting from the latest technology launched by San Francisco-based PipelineRx. Apart from making pharmacists task simpler and more efficient, the platform is also designed to receive orders from computerized physician order entry (CPOE), fax orders, and others. This remote pharmacy program has been providing hospitals located in rural areas with 24x7 access to services of licensed clinical pharmacists. The technology also enables virtual medication review and verification in real time.The innovative telepharmacy solution launched by PipelineRx has been significantly gaining momentum in the market. The solutions are tailor-made to help hospitals manage their pharmacy operations better. The report presents an overview of the potential impact of these technologies in simplifying the prevalent hospital and pharmacy operations. Their contribution in enhancing patient care and treatment administered has been examined in detail. The influences of recent advances in technology on the overall telemedicine and telehealth market are also studied.Global Telepharmacy Market: Key Opportunities and ThreatsA pharmacist is not always present for a good percentage of the day on site to review and modify medications ordered by other pharmacists and administered by nurses. The situation is same in a significantly large number of hospitals worldwide. This has marked the genesis of telepharmacy programs. Hospitals and health care centers located in rural regions could neither find nor afford pharmacists in the community to be onsite. PipelineRxs telepharmacy solutions fulfilled this requirement.As with the majority of telehealth solutions, telepharmacy practices have since expanded from rural health care centers to hospitals, long-term care facilities, military bases, prisons, naval ships, physician offices, etc. The latest telepharmacy systems employ novel technologies to seamlessly communicate with pharmacy management systems and ensure the best possible experience. This has encouraged the deployment of telepharmacies across numerous locations to provide more convenient access to patients and health care units.Telepharmacy also helps pharmacists to work from home or from a secure location, as identified by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in the U.S., and monitor four to six hospitals at one time. Thus, multiple hospitals can split up the cost incurred on telepharmacists on a labor sharing basis. This, in turn, will enable small and rural hospitals to save significant costs. Furthermore, the turnaround time of reviewing and monitoring medication order verification using telepharmacy is way lesser. Thus, the time spent on reading prescriptions and delivering them to patients rooms is significantly reduced. Increasing awareness about such intrinsic benefits of telepharmacy is also boosting the penetration of the market, particularly in rural regions. Implementation of telepharmacy has been impressive in the U.S.Global Telepharmacy Market: Competitive InsightPipelineRx is one of the leading medication management service platforms. The company focuses on clinical telepharmacy. It recently announced US$ 9.1 Mn round of funding by Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc., McKesson Ventures, and AMN Healthcare. The investment will be used by the company to strengthen its technology offerings such as integrated delivery network (IDN) and expand workflow models for better patient care. Currently, PipelineRx is available across 200 hospitals; it helps them improve patient care, medication efficacy, and satisfaction.Other companies operating in the market include Medication Review, Inc., Telepharmacy Solutions Inc., and North West TelePharmacy Solutions.Request TOC of the Report@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
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Third party logistics (abbreviation TPL or 3PL) in a supply chain management or logistic is an outsource service provider company. The increasing globalization for trade offers a worldwide networking platform for manufacturing companies. To keep up the productively, the demand for third party logistics companies is raised by production companies. The increasing e-commerce industry become one of the major river for the growth of global third party logistics market in the most recent couple of years. In 2016, the global B2C ecommerce market generated revenue of US $2.1 trillion up from US$ 1.8 trillion in 2015 and is expected to reach up to US $2.4 trillion by the end of 2017. The e-commerce companies which adopted the online platform to sell their products and not all have their own logistics services. The increasing number startups in this industry, majorly not able to afford their own logistics services have increased the demand for third party logistic service companies. Moreover, the convenience of shopping online for the consumers have also increased the demand for the third party logistic services in e-commerce industry. Hence, this will remain a key factor for the third party logistics market as the emerging economies are expected to increase the ecommerce industry in the next few years provides a growth opportunity to the third party logistics market. In addition to this, the increasing fall in shipping rates further drives growth of the global third party logistics market.Request Sample copy of this Report: https://goo.gl/GyKveN Third party logistics market taxonomyOn the basis of service type, the global third party logistics market is classified into:Dedicated Contract CarriageDomestic transportation managementInternational transportation managementWarehouse & distribution managementIT service and logistics softwareOn the basis of mode of transportation, the global third party logistics market is classified into:WaterwaysAirwaysRailwaysRoadwaysGet Discount on this report: https://goo.gl/yvSj7Z On the basis of end users, the global third party logistics market is classified into:ManufacturingRetailHealthcareAutomotiveOthersThird Party Logistics Market Outlook  Asia Pacific holds the largest market of the global third party logistics market.On the basis of geography, global third party logistics market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Asia Pacific holds the dominant position in the global third party logistics memory market in 2016 and is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The increasing disposable income and rising investment by e-commerce leaders and increasing internet penetration have increased the e-commerce industry in the emerging economies such as India and China. This helps to increase the market for third party logistics in the Asia Pacific region. In addition to this, North America also holds the largest share of the third party logistics market due to increasing demand from automotive industry and ecommerce sector. The U.S. and Canada are the major countries which derive the North America region. The rising demand for low cost services and rapid delivery services have surge the third party logistics market in the U.S.To Check the Trending Report of Third Party Logistics Market: https://goo.gl/bX1Qbp Key companies of global third party logistics marketAmeriCold Logistics LLC, BDP International, Burris Logistics, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, CEVA Logistics, DB Schenker Logistics, DHL Supply Chain, FedEx, GEODIS, J. B. Hunt, Kintetsu World Express, Inc., Landstar System, Inc., Nippon Express Co., Ltd, Panalpina World Transport Ltd., Ryder Supply Chain Solutions, Schneider National, Inc., SinoTrans (HK) Logistics Limited, Total Quality Logistics, Inc., Transplace Texas LP, Unyson Logistics, Inc., UPS Supply Chain Solutions, XPO Logistics, Inc. are some of the key companies of the global third party logistics market.
United States 3D Dental Scanners market competition by top manufacturers/players, with 3D Dental Scanners sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share.

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- Festive Month Offer -20% discount on purchase of reports from 1st October to 31st October.For more offers post 31st October, kindly contact us. Terms & Conditions apply!!Contact No. : +16269994607 (US), /+91 7507349866 (IND)Email: sales@ researchtrades.com United States 3D Dental Scanners Market report splits the United States market into seven regions:. The West, Southwest, The Middle Atlantic, New England, The South, The Midwestwith sales (volume), revenue (value), market share and growth rate of 3D Dental Scanners in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast).Browse complete report at https://www.researchtrades.com/report/united-states-3d-dental-scanners-market-report-2017/1254255 United States 3D Dental Scanners market competition by top manufacturers/players, with 3D Dental Scanners sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including. 3M, Danaher, Dentsply Sirona, PLANMECA OY, 3Shape, AICON 3D Systems, AGE Solutions, ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, Amann Girrbach, ASAHIROENTGEN, Carestream Health, Carl Zeiss Optotechnik and OthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of 3D Dental Scanners for each application, including. Carrier, Freight Broker, Messenger, Courier, Logistics, Dispatching Service ProvidersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request for sample at https://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1254255 Table of ContentsUnited States 3D Dental Scanners Market Report 20171 3D Dental Scanners Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of 3D Dental Scanners1.2 Classification of 3D Dental Scanners by Product Category1.2.1 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market Size (Sales Volume) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market Size (Sales Volume) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Routed And Scheduled Work1.2.4 Warehousing1.2.5 Distribution1.2.6 Cross-Docking Operations1.3 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market Size (Consumption) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Carrier1.3.3 Freight Broker1.3.4 Messenger1.3.5 Courier1.3.6 Logistics1.3.7 Dispatching Service Providers1.4 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market by Region1.4.1 United States 3D Dental Scanners Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 The West 3D Dental Scanners Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Southwest 3D Dental Scanners Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 The Middle Atlantic 3D Dental Scanners Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 New England 3D Dental Scanners Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 The South 3D Dental Scanners Status and Prospect (2012-2022)...Who we areResearch Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.We distribute customized reports that focus on meeting the clients specific requirement. Our database consists of a large collection of high-quality reports obtained using a customer-centric approach, thus providing valuable research insights.
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Global Varicose Vein Treatment Market: Overview and ScopeThe global varicose vein treatment market is primarily driven by the rising incidence of varicose veins. This condition of enlarged, gnarled veins, appearing mostly in the feet and legs, is caused by several factors including pregnancy, hormonal changes, genetic disorders, obesity, sleep disorders, high blood pressure levels, and lifestyle-associated factors such as prolonged standing and increased stress levels.Some of the latest advances in varicose vein treatment technology are laser ablation systems, intense-pulsed-light therapy, incorporation of closure systems, radiofrequency systems, and ultrasound guided systems. These technologies and devices present a host of benefits such as fewer incisions, faster recovery rates, higher success rates, less patient trauma, low adverse side effects, improved efficacy, and fewer post-operative complications. Key varicose vein treatment products include ultrasound guided sclerotherapy devices, endovenous ablation devices, and surgical stripping devices.The research publication examines the global varicose vein treatment market by segmenting it on the basis of key parameters such as product and technology type and geography. Each segment and sub-segment has been evaluated in depth to give readers a clear understanding of the structure and scope of the market. Various market dynamics such as drivers, opportunities, and restraints have also been studied in the report. A detailed assessment of the vendor landscape makes for an interesting read and gives clients sharp insights on their competitors.Get Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11714 Global Varicose Vein Treatment Market: Key Drivers and ChallengesThe global market for varicose vein treatment is fueled by factors such as reduced trauma, greater exposure to the site of application, high operative success rates, and faster blood flow restoration.Demand for endovenous ablation treatment devices is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace in the next few years due to factors such as short treatment time, improved blood circulation, minimal invasion, and complete closure of the treated area. Ultrasound sclerotherapy devices have also been witnessing strong demand owing to benefits such as time and cost efficiency, reduced risk of collateral damage to surrounding tissues, painless procedure, increased penetration, no requirement of anesthesia, fewer post-operative complications, less scarring, and minimal need for incisions during the procedure.In contrast, the market for varicose vein treatment faces a few challenges in the developed regions of Europe and North America. Factors such as the high cost of varicose vein treatment procedures, lack of training for vascular surgeons, implementation of health care reforms, immensely competitive market leading to difficulty in maintaining sustainability, and inconsistent reimbursement scenario pose a threat to the development of the global varicose vein treatment market.Global Varicose Vein Treatment Market: Region-wise Outlook and Vendor Landscape EvaluationThe global market for varicose vein treatment covers four key segments: Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America is the clear leader in the overall varicose vein treatment market. The rapid growth in this market can be attributed to a number of factors including advanced health care infrastructure, continuous lifestyle-associated changes, growing health care awareness, increasing government spending, rising prevalence of varicose veins, high disposable income, and growing significance of esthetics. In addition, favorable reimbursement policies, especially in the U.S., have significantly boosted the market for varicose vein treatment in North America.The Asia Pacific varicose vein treatment market is anticipated to witness impressive growth in the near future owing to factors such as surge in disposable income, improvement in health care infrastructure, and increase in patient awareness about the advantage of seeking early treatment.View TOC for this Market Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=11714 Some of the prominent players competing in the global varicose vein treatment market are VNUS Medical Technologies, Astra Tech, Covidien PLC, Kreussler Pharma, InaVein, B.Braun Melsungen, Vascular Solutions, Dornier MedTech, and AngioDynamics. Most of these players have been adopting various strategies to gain market share. Key strategies adopted by leading companies include mergers and acquisitions, product line and geographic expansion, R&D investments, and competitive pricing policies.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Penguin Random Houses Vintage Books imprint will release another book in E.L. Jamess Fifty Shades series on November 28.

Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian will be the second book by James that examines the Fifty Shades story from the perspective of the male protagonist, Christian. In 2015, Vintage published Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian. The original Fifty Shades books were written from the perspective of the character of Ana. According to PRH, Grey sold about four million copies across all formats.

The inside of Christian Grey's head is a fascinating place to be, said James in a statement. In Grey we got the first glimpse of what makes Christian tick, but in Darker we go deeper, into his most painful memories and the encounters that made him the damaged, demanding man Ana falls in love with.

Vintage/Anchor Books publisher Anne Messitte said the new book is full of surprises.

Darker will be released simultaneously in the U.S. as a trade paperback, e-book, and audiobook. A U.S. Spanish-language edition, published by Vintage Espanol, will be available in December. In addition to being published in the U.S. on November 28, Darker will also be released that day by Penguin Random House Canada, Penguin Random House UK, and soon after, PRH said, in territories around the world. 
WWE RAW REPORT: SISTER ABIGAIL ARRIVES, THE SHIELD MAKES A STATEMENT, ASUKA HAS AN OPPONENT, AND COREY GRAVES MIGHT BE THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN WWE

We begin with a look back at Miz versus Roman Reigns from Raw and how Miz tried to get in a few shots at Roman's past with the Shield. Then we see Miz, Sheamus, and Cesaro hit the Cerberus Bomb.

We are in Indianapolis, Indiana and your announcers are Booker T, Corey Graves, and Michael Cole.

Miz is in the ring with MizTV and he is joined by Curtis Axel. Miz invites us to the Mizzies part two. Miz says last week, he went from the A Lister to The Guy. He will not take all the credit. He will pay credit where credit is due. The Miztourage is real family. You attack one, you attack us all. The first Mizzie goes to someone who has shown perserverance in the face of adversity. The winner is Curtis Axel.

Curtis dedicates his Mizzie to Bo Dallas.

Miz tells Bo they are thinking of him and he tells Bo to get well soon.

It is time for the Mizzie for Best Supporting Actor. Last week was one of the greatest nights of his life. He called it the Destruction of Roman Reigns. We have a tie and the winners are Sheamus and Cesaro. They come out to accept their award.

Sheamus says they appreciate it and he says that is an honor. They brought the bar to new heights and they proved they can go anywhere. They can go to the stratusphere, the ionosphere. They can go anywhere. Sheamus says he wants to thank the man who made it possible . . . Roman Reigns. Watching you lying in the ring, struggling to get up, gasping for air . . . it made him want to beat up Roman even more. You made this possible and then he says Roman . . . we did it!!!

Cesaro says they forgot someone. Cesaro thanks Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Without you knocking his teeth out of his jaw, they wouldn't have put them in their place.

Miz says that they have heard the buzz on social media. You can look and stare at each other all you want and you can fantasize about reforming The Shield. They were great in their time, but they don't want any of this. He saw the look that Dean, Roman, and Seth shared. Their faces said that their time had passed and there is a more revolutionary group in WWE. They did what Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena couldn't do. They put an end to Roman Reigns.

Some times hard work pays off.

The final Mizzie goes to the Big Dog of WWE and it is not Roman Reigns. His name is The Miz.

They all celebrate their Mizzies and Miz dedicates his victory to his unborn child and anyone who needs a role model.

Roman Reigns' music plays and he makes his way onto the stage.

Miz says hello to Roman on the stage with his tail between his legs.

Roman tells Miz to shut up and he is not here to play games. He says he will give them one chance to get out of his ring.

Miz says he thought Roman was all about talk is cheap and he is all about action. There is nothing you are going to do since there are four of them and only one of you.

Miz gets the crowd to stop cheering for the Shield. Miz tells Roman to get Dean and Seth because the rumors of the Shield reuniting is just like Roman . . . a lot of hype.

Roman says who said anything about rumors.

Dean Ambrose's music plays and he makes his way to the stage.

Seth Rollins' music plays and he joins Roman and Dean on the stage.

They make their way to the ring and they surround the ring while Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, and Axel assume defensive positions.

Miz heads for the floor while Sheamus, Cesaro, and Axel battle with Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose.

Reigns with a superman punch to Sheamus and then to Cesaro. Dean with a rebound clothesline to Cesaro.

Miz begs for mercy but Ambrose and Rollins keep him from escaping and Miz goes into the ring and is hit with a double underhook DDT.

They hit a Cerberus Bomb on Miz and then they stand over Miz with the fist salute.

We go to commercial.

Match Number One: Jason Jordan versus Karl Anderson (with Luke Gallows)

They lock up and Jordan with a fireman's carry. Anderson gets to the ropes. Jordan with a waist lock take down. Anderson gets to the ropes. Anderson with a punch and side head lock. Jordan tries to power out of the hold and he applies a side head lock. Jordan with a shoulder tackle and he catches Anderson on a leap frog attempt and he drops Anderson on the mat. Jordan sets for the running shoulder but Gallows distracts Jordan and Anderson with a running boot to the knee.

We go to commercial.

We are back and Anderson with an arm bar. Anderson with an arm wringer to send Jordan to the mat. Anderson runs into a boot from jordan but Anderson with a spinebuster for a near fall. Anderson returns to the arm bar. Jordan with forearms but Anderson with forearms. Jordan fires back. Anderson with a European uppercut followed by a suplex and both men are down. Anderson asks for a tag. Jordan with a running forearm and he runs Anderson into the corner a few times.

Jordan with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex followed by a shoulder into the corner. Anderson sends Jordan into the turnbuckles and gets a rollup for a near fall. Jordan knocks Gallows off the apron and then Anderson misses a splash into the corner. Jordan with a toss neck breaker for the three count.

Winner: Jason Jordan

We go to commercial with Elias walking in the back.

We are back and Miz is being checked out in the medical office. Kurt Angle checks to see if Miz is okay. Kurt says this is what happens when you provoke people. You are getting what you wished for. You are in the main event of TLC. It will be you, Sheamus, and Cesaro versus the Shield in a TLC match.

Miz cannot believe that Angle is rewarding their behavior and Angle says it's true.

Elias is in the ring and he has a song for Indianapolis. He says he has one question for everyone. Who wants to walk with Elias? He says Apollo Crews does not and it is getting embarassing. It is like he is driving the Titus Worldwide car at the Indy 500. He is driving around in circle and no one cares. Elias says that after the crowd reaction, he won't do a song, but he says he likes the sound of his voice too much so he starts his song.

Titus O'Neil comes out with a banjo. Titus asks who wants to walk with Titus Worldwide. Titus wants everyone to Follow Apollo because Titus has a song for Elias. Elias does not appear to be a fan of Titus' performance.

Match Number Two: Elias versus Apollo Crews (with Titus O'Neil)

The match is joined in progress and Elias is on the floor. He gets back into the ring and Elias punches Crews. Elias drops Crews' arm on the apron. Elias with a wrist lock and he goes to the ropes and he does the Spoiler Walk and connects with a forearm. Elias with an arm bar. Crews with an arm drag and elbow. Crews with a back heel kick and boot to the head. Crews with a flying clothesline and kip up. Crews with a standing moonsault for a near fall.

Elias goes to the floor and Crews follows. Crews is sent to the ring and then Crews lands on the apron and hits a moonsault off the apron. Crews with punches and kicks in the ring. Elias sends Crews into the middle rope and Elias hits Drift Away for the three count.

Winner: Elias

Enzo Amore walks in the back as we go to commercial.

coverage continues on next page.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Body cameras for the Mooresville Police Department have arrived. Find out when they will be used.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told world leaders that the time to end Russia's war in Ukraine is "now" and called for the extension of a grain-export deal due to expire shortly, as heavy fighting continues in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

"I am convinced that now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped," Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15.

"It will save thousands of lives," he said.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine would not allow Russian troops to regroup after their withdrawal from the southern strategic city of Kherson, and said there would be more fighting until Ukraine reclaims control of all of its occupied territory.

The liberation of Kherson over the weekend was one of Ukraine's biggest successes in nearly nine months since the start of the Russian invasion.

Zelenskiy urged Moscow to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine and reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, warning that Kyiv would not compromise its sovereignty, territory, or independence. He also called for all Ukrainian prisoners to be released.

Zelenskiy outlined several approaches to achieve peace, including ensuring nuclear and food safety, the ending of hostilities, and a prevention of escalation.

He blasted "the crazy threats of nuclear weapons that Russian officials resort to," referring to rhetoric employed repeatedly by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskiy thanked the "G19," pointedly excluding Russia, for making clear that "there cannot be any excuses for nuclear blackmail."

Putin has shunned the gathering and sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Bali in his place.



A deal struck in July between the United Nations and Russia that allows the export of Ukrainian grains and other food products from ports blocked by Russian warships is due to expire on November 19.

Zelenskiy said the deal, which according to the UN has allowed the export of 10 million tons of grain and other food, should be extended indefinitely.

"I believe our export grain initiative deserves an indefinite extension -- no matter when the war ends," Zelensky said.

"The right to food is a fundamental right of every person in the world," he said, proposing to expand the deal to more Ukrainian ports.



Zelenskiy accused Moscow of an "attempt to turn the cold into a weapon" by launching waves of air strikes against key infrastructure ahead of the coming winter.

He also spoke in favor of a U.S.-led push for a price cap on Russian oil exports "so that energy resources are no longer used as weapons."



The Ukrainian military reported early on November 15 that its forces repelled waves of Russian attacks on positions in the Donetsk region, including Bakhmut and Belohoryivka, and on Novoselivske in Luhansk.

According to Ukraine's General Staff, the Russian military is accommodating recently arrived reinforcements in abandoned private houses in Luhansk.

The General Staff had previously said that in Luhansk, occupying Russian forces plan to carry out a complete evacuation of the civilian population from three settlements.

The Russian Army is also trying to hold captured territories and continues to equip defensive lines on the left bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region, the military said.

In the parts of Kherson region recaptured by the Ukrainian Army over the past week, Russia has destroyed "all critical infrastructure," Zelenskiy said in his regular nightly address on November 14.

Zelenskiy said there is no electricity, no communication, and no television in Kherson, saying the withdrawing Russian troops destroyed everything intentionally.

Earlier on November 14, Ukrainian national energy company Ukrenerho said Russia had destroyed key energy infrastructure supplying the entire right bank of the Kherson region and a significant part of the Mykolayiv region.

"Most of the liberated Kherson region has been without electricity since November 6," Ukrenerho chief Volodymyr Kudrytskiy said. "We are doing our best to supply people with electricity as soon as possible."



Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy said he spoke with U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on November 14 and told him that the Ukrainian military will not accept any negotiations, agreements, or compromise decisions regarding the end of the war.

"I assured that we will fight as long as we have the strength. Our goal is to liberate all Ukrainian land from Russian occupation," Zaluzhniy said on Facebook. "There is only one condition for the negotiations: Russia must leave all captured territories."



The White House announced separately that CIA Director Bill Burns met in Ankara, Turkey, with Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Burns underscored the consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, according to a White House spokesperson.

The Kremlin confirmed a U.S.-Russia meeting had taken place in Ankara but declined to give details.

Russian officials have alarmed Western governments by raising the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and BBC
BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament's foreign affairs committee is calling for tighter sanctions on Russia and a mechanism for bringing Eastern Partnership countries such as Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine closer to the European Union.

The committee approved the recommendations in an October 10 vote ahead of an Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Brussels on November 24.

They are nonbinding and could be ignored when EU heads of state and government meet with their counterparts from the six Eastern partners -- which also include Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus -- but the full European Parliament plenary is set to endorse the document shortly before the summit.

It includes a call for the EU to consider "an attractive longer-term EaP+ model" for countries that have already concluded association agreements "that could eventually lead to joining the customs union, energy union, digital union and Schengen area."

It also urges "more immediate measures such as additional unilateral tariff preferences, a concrete time-frame for the abolition of roaming tariffs between the partners and the EU, and the development of high-capacity broadband."

Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have concluded association agreements tightening ties with the EU.

Moscow's Growing Military Presence

While the EU member states currently are stuck in negotiations about whether to acknowledge the "European aspirations" of the trio in the final summit declaration, the European Parliament committee sounded a more supportive note.

It reiterated that "the association agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine do not constitute the final goal in their relations with the EU."

Other ideas endorsed by the committee include the establishment of a trust fund for Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova that would focus on private and public investments, and the possibility of holding a donors' conference for Ukraine "in support of its humanitarian needs induced by the conflict in the East and the annexation of Crimea.

In 2014, Russia seized control of Crimea and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine, where an ensuing war against Kyiv's forces has killed more than 10,000 people.

The parliamentary committee endorsed the imposition of more sanctions against Russia while noting that, despite existing punitive measures, Moscow's "military presence in the region has nevertheless grown over the last years."


Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has vetoed amendments to the constitution that would shift the government to a parliamentary-style system, with the president elected by lawmakers.

Parliament, which is dominated by the Georgian Dream Party, adopted the changes last week despite objections from Margvelashvili and the opposition.

In a televised statement on October 9, Margvelashvili said he remained in favor of direct presidential elections.

Margvelashvili also said he supported scrapping the voting "bonus" system under which votes of parties that failed to secure enough support to enter parliament would be transferred to the winner of the election.

Lawmakers from the Georgian Dream said that they were willing to compromise on two of the president's objections -- allowing the parties to form electoral blocs and scrapping the voting bonus system.

The draft constitutional amendments now go back to parliament, where the ruling party has a constitutional majority, allowing it to overcome the presidents veto.

The changes also include a measure to legalize the purchase of land by foreigners.

Georgia will hold its next presidential election in 2018. Margvelashvili has not stated whether he will run.

Based on reporting by Reuters and agenda.ge
The first-ever Pride Parade in Kosovo took to the streets of Pristina amid tight security. President Hashim Thaci joined with the marchers on October 10, telling them that Kosovo was built on the principles of equality and freedom for all communities. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service)
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov's campaign team has accused election officials of obstructing his campaign and backing the candidate favored by outgoing President Almazbek Atambaev.

The allegations came hours before the Central Election Commission (BSK) issued a warning to Babanov about an alleged campaign violation, which could lead to an attempt to bar him from the ballot in the October 15 vote.

"We believe that the BSK is working exclusively for only one candidate who is the main opponent of Omurbek Babanov," Babanov's spokesman, Mirsuljan Namazaliev, told reporters in Bishkek on October 10.

Namazaliev also accused the Kyrgyz authorities of intimidating Babanov's supporters and openly using the levers of power in support of ruling Social Democratic Party candidate Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who is Atambaev's former prime minister.

Namazaliev asserted that the "bias of the electoral commission has been proven by those warnings that the BSK has given Babanov," referring to what it said were two notifications of alleged campaign violations.

Speaking ahead of a BSK meeting, he said that the commission was about to issue a third warning based on alleged complaints from voters and that the warnings amounted to "attempts by the authorities to prevent Babanov from running for office."

Under Kyrgyz law, a candidate can be disqualified after three warnings -- but disqualification is not possible later than five days before the election.

Later on October 10, the BSK met and issued a third warning to Babanov, based on claims from citizens who said recent remarks he made to ethnic Uzbek voters in southern Kyrgyzstan risked inciting ethnic discord.

But the commission made no immediate attempt to bar Babanov from the election.

Atambaev, who is barred from seeking a second term by the constitution, has openly supported Jeenbekov and publicly accusing Babanov of putting his business interests above Kyrgyzstan's statehood.

Jeenbekov and Babanov, who is also a former prime minister, are seen as the front-runners in a field of 12 candidates.

Two previous presidents were driven from office by popular protests in the former Soviet republic in 2005 and 2010.

The European Union and rights organizations have urged Kyrgyzstan to hold the election in an open, inclusive, and democratic manner.

Government critics say the campaign has been marred by a criminal conviction handed down to opposition Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party leader Omurbek Tekebaev in August after a trial his backers say was politically motivated.
BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz court has handed a five-year prison term to former Prosecutor-General Aida Salyanova, who is now an opposition lawmaker, but postponed her imprisonment until her 2-year-old daughter reaches age 14.

The abuse-of-office conviction of Salyanova, a legislator from the Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, came amid political tension five days before a presidential election in the Central Asian country.

In addition to the postponed prison sentence, the Lenin District Court ruled that Salyanova's property must be confiscated.

Salyanova was accused of illegally prolonging the license of a lawyer with links to then-President Kurmanbek Bakiev's son Maksim shortly before Bakiev's ouster in 2010, when she was prosecutor-general.

Salyanova told RFE/RL that she and her lawyers proved her innocence during the trial, which she said was politically motivated.

Authorities targeted Salyanova for investigation in March, days after Ata-Meken leader Omurbek Tekebaev was arrested on what his supporters say were trumped-up bribe-taking allegations.

Tekebaev, who was named as Ata-Meken's candidate in the October 15 election shortly after his arrest, was convicted in August and sentenced to eight years in prison.

His supporters say the conviction was aimed at preventing him from running in the election.

President Almazbek Atambaev, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, has faced criticism from opponents for openly backing the candidate from the ruling Social Democratic Party, former Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
BRUSSELS -- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov has said that he is confident his country will get closer to EU membership "in the next year or so," as Skopje pursues efforts to improve strained ties with EU members Bulgaria and Greece.

Speaking at the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels, Dimitrov said on October 10 that it is important for Macedonia to "make the next step."

"We have institutions ... that have seen what happens when there is no engagement with the region, when there is no perspective. We have member states that are now, I think, more willing to be engaged. We want to have a very clean plate so that the [European] Commission has an unconditional recommendation."

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004. The following year, the European Commission issued a favorable opinion and the European Council decided to grant the country candidate status.

Since 2009, the Commission has recommended that accession negotiations be opened, but Macedonia's neighbors Greece and Bulgaria, which are also NATO members, have blocked the process.

With the next recommendation due in the spring of 2018, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaevs new government hopes to make progress toward improving ties with Athens and Sofia.

In August, Zaev co-signed a friendship treaty with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Skopje in an attempt to end years of feuding.

In the document, Bulgaria pledged to support Macedonia's efforts to join both. The two countries said they would also improve economic ties, renounce territorial claims, and improve human and minority rights.

In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki last week, Dimitrov held talks with Nikos Kotzias, his counterpart from Greece, in an effort to solve a long-standing dispute involving the name Macedonia.

"We are fully aware that we cannot fight our way in by making Greece an adversary," Dimitrov said in Brussels "We have to talk our way in and use the process to get even closer and be a close friend and future ally with Greece."


Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for regulation of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying they carry "serious risks."

"Cryptocurrencies are issued by an unlimited number of anonymous bodies," Putin said in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on October 10. "Thus buyers of cryptocurrencies could be involved in unlawful activities."

He told a meeting of finance officials that digital currencies could be used in money laundering, tax evasion, and in the financing of terrorism.

The Russian president called for building a regulatory environment based on international experience that would defend the interests of business and the state and provide legal guarantees for those using the increasingly popular financial instruments.

"Its also important not to put up too many barriers," Putin said.

Putin's sentiments were echoed by Central Bank First Deputy Governor Sergei Shvetsov.

Shvetsov told a conference in Moscow that the currencies were "dubious" and investors needed to be protected.

"We cannot stand apart. We cannot give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail [investors]," he said.

Cryptocurrencies were created to offer a secure, digital method to conduct financial transactions, but they have been dogged by doubts and a more than 700 percent rise this year in the market capitalization of digital coins to $150 billion has exacerbated those concerns.

Russia has treated digital currencies as illegal because they are issued by non-state approved institutions, but Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last month that the existence of such currencies had to be accepted.

"There is no sense in banning them, there is a need to regulate them," Siluanov said, adding that his ministry was working on a law including the registration of those willing to buy the virtual currencies.

With reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters, Interfax, and the Financial Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed that all investigations into election violations detected in elections in Russia last month will be completed.

Russian media said Putin made the pledge during a meeting on October 9 in the Kremlin with Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission.

Russians voted in local polls in many regions on September 10 in the last major elections ahead of next years presidential vote.

Kremlin-backed candidates for regional parliaments and governorships performed strongly, although voter turnout was low. Opposition candidates did poll well in Moscow, picking up seats in district councils.

An independent Russian election monitoring group, Golos, said it had received reports of documented election rigging from a number of polling stations during the September 10 elections.

"We have practically tied up many 'loose ends' of that campaign, but small 'ends' still remain," Russian media quoted Pamfilova as telling Putin.

"I really would like our Prosecutor-General's Office and the investigative committee to bring the matter to completion in a number of cases," she said, referring to inquiries into local election violations.

She did not elaborate.

"All orders will be given regarding this issue," Putin replied.

Putin is the strong favorite to win reelection in March, although he has so far declined to say if he will run.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
The Kremlin says an agreement to sell Russian missiles to Saudi Arabia does not pose a threat to any other country.

Speaking on October 9, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the deal to supply the long-range S-400 air-defense missile systems to Riyadh "isn't directed against any third country." He was responding to a question asking if the deal could pose a threat to Iran.

The agreement was one of many weapons deals reached during Saudi King Salman's first visit to Russia last week.

Observers say the king's talks with Putin marked a thaw in relations between the countries, which have often been tense since the Cold War.

Saudi Arabia is a long-standing U.S. ally in the Middle East and its arms deals with Moscow have caused concern in Washington.

Soon after the arms deals with Moscow were announced, the Pentagon said the U.S. State Department had approved the possible sale of a THAAD antimissile defense system to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $15 billion.

Peskov was asked by reporters on October 9 whether the possible U.S. deal with Riyadh might impact the Russian arrangement.

"We can speak only for ourselves," said Peskov. "[But] contacts to implement this contract have been very positive and have had very good preliminary results."

Maria Vorobyova, an official at a Russian government agency dealing with military and technical cooperation, was cited earlier on October 9 as saying that a firm agreement had been reached with Saudi Arabia on the S-400s.

"An agreement has been reached with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to deliver the S-400 air-defense system, antitank Kornet-EM rocket systems, TOS-1A (multiple rocket-launcher) systems, AGS-30 automated grenade launchers, and Kalashnikov AK-103 assault rifles," the RIA Novosti news agency cited her as saying.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and RIA Novosti
The Pentagon has dismissed as "absolutely false" Kremlin accusations that the United States is "pretending" to fight Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, in the latest sign of rising tensions between Moscow and Washington.

In a statement on October 10, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the U.S.-led coalition carried out fewer air strikes in Iraq in September when Syrian forces -- backed by Russian air power -- had started to retake Deir al-Zor Province.

"Everyone sees that the U.S.-led coalition is pretending to fight Islamic State, above all in Iraq, but continuing to allegedly fight Islamic State in Syria actively for some reason," said Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning described the Russian accusations as "absolutely false."

"We remain committed to killing ISIS and denying them safe havens and the ability to carry out strikes in the region or globally," Manning said, using another acronym for IS.

The Pentagon said that the U.S.-led coalition posted data every day on the number and result of strikes for the public to see.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP


ON MY MIND

Vladimir Putin has been firing a governor almost every day.

He has already sacked two this week. Last week, he dismissed four. And he canned three more in late September.

As I noted yesterday on The Daily Vertical, this amounts to an attempt to give the regime a fresh appearance in advance of presidential elections in March.

The reshuffle is also consistent with media reports that have suggested that Putin's election campaign will focus on populist themes and present the Kremlin leader as the champion of ordinary people against corrupt officials.

Which is pretty laughable when you think about it. But the Kremlin's media machine will pull out all the stops to make it work.

What this indicates is that the Kremlin understands that Russia is not immune to the antiestablishment anger that is shaking up politics in the West -- and is spooked by Aleksei Navalny's ability to tap into that anger.

In a piece featured below, Nabi Abdullaev argues that the reshuffle is designed to showcase "Putins commitment to improving and modernizing governance." But Abdullaev adds that the new governors have neither plans to conduct reforms nor a mandate from Moscow to do so.

Which means this is a Potemkin solution to a problem that is not going away.

IN THE NEWS

The director of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation, Roman Rubanov, was briefly detained and told to return to a law enforcement agency for questioning on October 13.

Colleagues, friends, and relatives of Boris Nemtsov have honored the slain Russian opposition politician on what would have been his 58th birthday, vowing to continue pressing for justice.

A Russian warplane veered off a runway at the country's air base in Syria and suffered damage, killing its crew, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.

The Kremlin says an agreement to sell Russian missiles to Saudi Arabia does not pose a threat to any other country.

Vladimir Putin has vowed that all investigations into election violations detected in elections in Russia last month will be completed.

Putin dismissed Ivanovo Oblast Governor Pavel Konkov today in the latest step in a shake-up of regional leaders ahead of a March 2018 presidential election.

Putin yesterday dismissed the governor of the Omsk region, Viktor Nazarov.

Putin has signed a decree that allows foreign citizens serving in the Russian Army on a contractual basis to take part in Russian military operations abroad.

The Washington Post is reporting that Google has for the first time uncovered evidence that Russian operatives used the Internet giant's platforms in an effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Ukraine's top prosecutor has claimed that the killing of a former Russian lawmaker who was shot dead in Kyiv in March was ordered by a former partner of the victim's wife, and suggested that the Russian Federal Security Service was behind it.

The Russian Justice Ministry has warned Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that it may impose restrictions on some of the broadcaster's operations in Russia and Ukraine's annexed Crimea region in response to what Moscow claims is pressure on Russian state-funded outlets in the United States.

NATO does not want "a new Cold War" with Russia, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the end of a four-day parliamentary assembly of the alliance.

EU sources say that for the first time, the bloc is ready to welcome Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to its Eastern Partnership summit next month.

During a visit to Kyiv, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country will continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

WHAT I'M READING

The Siloviki And The Business Community

In Republic.ru, Dmitry Travin asks why Putin has not prevented the security services from pressuring private businesses.

The Lessons Of The Serebrennikov Case

Also in Republic.ru, Boris Pastukhov looks at the lessons the Russian intelligentsia is drawing from the arrest of film and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov.

And in a column for Raam Op Rusland, Anna Arutunyan explains why artists in Russia often wind up in the crosshairs of law enforcement.

Regional Reshuffle

Nabi Abdullaev, an associate director at Control Risks, has an op-ed in The Moscow Times looking at the mechanics of Putin's reshuffle of Russia's governors.

Weaponized Passports

Novaya Gazeta has published an interview with Federation Council deputy Konstantin Zatulin in which the lawmaker explains proposed legislation to grant Russian citizenship to ethnic Russians and Russian speakers abroad.

The National Guard's Growing Pains

Vladimir Vashchenko has a piece in Gazeta.ru looking at the problems resulting from the National Guard's absorption of OMON and SOBR forces.

The House On The Embankment

In The New Yorker, Joshua Yaffa explores the history of Moscow's House on the Embankment, the building made to house the first generation of the Soviet elite.

No Colored Revolutions In Belarus

In PONARS Eurasia, Arkady Moshes of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs explains why a colored revolution is unlikely in Belarus.

NOTE TO POWER VERTICALISTAS: I will be speaking at the Georgia Defense and Security Conference in Batumi from October 11-13. No Power Vertical products will appear on those days. The regular schedule resumes on October 16.
Turkmenistan's authoritarian president is reshuffling a rubber-stamp assembly that helps him put policies in place.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov told a session of the Council of Elders on October 9 that it will be transformed into the People's Council, state media reports said.

Berdymukhammedov said the change would enable citizens of different ages and from different social strata to get involved in policy-making.

The move by Berdymukhamedov, who has been in power since the death of his autocratic predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006, comes as the isolated, natural-gas producing Central Asian nation faces economic troubles.

The Council of Elders makes decisions by a simple majority of votes in an open ballot and operates separately from Turkmenistan's parliament -- the Mejilis.

It meets when Gurbanguly wants it to, but at least once a year, rotating among Turkmenistan's regions and the capital, Ashgabat.

The decisions of Council of Elders are officially considered advisory, but it is often used by the president to create the impression of support for proposals that later end up becoming law.

In 2016, the council approved draft amendments to Turkmenistans Constitution that abolished age restrictions for presidential candidates.

The amendments were later passed by lawmakers, allowing Berdymukhammedov to seek to remain president for life.
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This is the first in a three-part series of articles about the Affordable Care Act. This article examines Form 1095-C, which the law requires large employers to distribute to employees and file with the Internal Revenue Service.

This is the first in a three-part series of articles about the Affordable Care Act. This article examines Form 1095-C, which the law requires large employers to distribute to employees and file with the Internal Revenue Service. Outsourcing the processing of Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, is common. But employers remain responsible for the accuracy of the form, which is cumbersome to complete, and should be knowledgeable about it when employees have questions. To show that full-time employees were offered health care coverage compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers with 50 or more employees must provide the form to workers by Jan. 31 and subsequently to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by Feb. 28 (paper filing) or March 31 (electronic filing, which is required of employers that file 250 or more information returns). The form uses indicator codes (e.g., 1H or 1E), listed in the form instructions, to show the type of health care coverage that was offered to the employee. Form 1095-C is filed with transmittal Form 1094-C. The IRS released final versions of Form 1095-C and Form 1094-C, along with instructions, during the first week of October.



Fear of Liability Given the high probability of an error processing the 1095-C in-house, "most employers have outsourced this process to third-party firms specializing in this area," said Fernan Cepero, chief human resources and diversity officer at The YMCA of Greater RochesterAssociation Office in Rochester, N.Y. Greta Engle, a consultant with BB&T Insurance Services, headquartered in Frederick, Md., said most of her clients have outsourced filling out the form. Yet they still fear liability, she added. That fear is somewhat diminished since it's possible that President Donald Trump's administration may delay the requirement, said Chatrane Birbal, senior advisor, government relations, with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). For now, the ACA is the law of the land and employers must continue to comply with its reporting requirements, said Arthur Tacchino, J.D., principal and chief innovation officer with SyncStream Solutions. "There are serious penalties for late filing or intentional disregard," he noted. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., SyncStream Solutions helps employers comply with complex regulations.



Ready to Answer Employees Employers should also be able to explain Form 1095-C to their employees. "This includes what the indicator codes mean," Tacchino said. "Employers are often asked by employees what they should do with their form, so it's a good idea for employers to prepare a document with common questions and answers." "Perhaps the most common question from employees is whether they must file Form 1095-C with their individual tax return," said Penny Wofford, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Greenville, S.C. "The answer is no." But she said employees must use the information on Form 1095-C to complete their tax returns. "The employee should, but is not required to  retain it in the employee's records to verify that the coverage information the employee filed on [a] tax return is accurate," she said.



Proper Coding Tacchino said the indicator codes on lines 14 and 16 in part 2 of the form are by far the most complicated component of Form 1095-C. Employees may ask what the codes on lines 14 and 16 mean, Wofford said. The instructions on the back of the form contain a key for the codes, she noted, adding that "Employers can direct the employee to that part of the form." "There are many varying combinations, and it's the responsibility of the employer to ensure reporting is accurate for each employee," Tacchino said. "A big part of the accuracy is contingent on how well the employer tracked key payroll and benefits data throughout the year, as this information will dictate the appropriate indicator codes to apply on the form."

Line 14 has 10 indicator codes that an employer will select from to say whether it offered coverage to the employee and, if so, what type of coverage was offered for each month of the calendar year, Wofford noted. Line 16 has eight codes for employers to use to explain why they did not offer coveragefor instance, if a worker was unemployed that month. The codes for line 16 can also indicate that the employee enrolled in coverage and, if not, whether the employer offered affordable coverage to that employee for each month of the calendar year. "Sometimes more than one code will apply, and a priority system outlined in the instructions directs the employer as to which code to use over another," she said. Most companies use just two codes on line 14, according to Adam Miller, HR compliance manager for Passport Software Inc., headquartered in Chicago. 1H means coverage was not offered, he said, and 1E indicates qualifying and affordable coverage was available to the employee and that qualifying coverage was also available to the employee's spouse and all dependents. The family portion does not need to meet the affordability standards, he noted. Miller said some people get tripped up by line 15, where the IRS seeks to find out the employee's share of the least expensive employee-only qualifying plan. The IRS is seeking what the employee could have paid, not the actual amount the worker is paying for a better or family-inclusive plan, he said.



Waived Coverage Most of the confusion on line 16 stems from employees who waive coverage, Miller said. Wofford said there is no specific code to enter on line 16 to indicate that an employee waived coverage. She added, "We really would like a code to clearly say, 'Hey, the employee waived coverage, so don't assess us a penalty!' " Codes typically used here, according to Miller, are 2F, 2G or 2H, depending on which method is used to estimate an employee's income for the affordability calculation: W-2 wages, the federal poverty level or the rate of pay, respectively. Miller recommends distributing draft versions to employees as early as possible. "If you discover any mistakes in the data, even a name change or incorrect Social Security number, it is much easier to correct it before you file the official copies with the IRS," he said.



Some Manual Changes May Be Needed The form can be unwieldly for those with plans not based on the calendar year. "Our plan runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31," noted Crystal Frey, vice president, human resources, at Continental Realty Corp. in Baltimore. In this case, the service provider needs to pick up the records for the prior plan year to report a full calendar year. "Our service provider hasn't resolved this successfully," she said. This results in many participants appearing to have coverage only from Sept. 1 through the end of the year, even when they had coverage all year. The company has to manually edit most of the records. "Thank goodness we are permitted editing rights. Otherwise, virtually every 1095-C would be incorrect," Frey said. But she noted that the manual editing is "a time-consuming process."


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Straight shot up U.S. 31 to I-94 finally open in Berrien County

Last few miles had been unfinished since 2004 because of a lack of money to pay for it.
The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, after splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Exiting the helicopter from left to right are Fred Haise, James Lovell and John Swigert.

Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface.

During the mission's dramatic series of events, an oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew was able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth, before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown.

The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11 2020.

Related: NASA's moonwalking Apollo astronauts: Where are they now?

Apollo 13 crew

The Apollo 13 astronauts were commander James Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise, and command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert.

At age 42, Lovell was the world's most traveled astronaut when he joined the Apollo 13 mission, with three missions and 572 spaceflight hours under his belt. Lovell participated in Apollo 8, the first mission to circle the moon, and flew two Gemini missions  including a 14-day endurance run.

Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, 36 year-old Haise served as the backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions. Haise was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining NASA as a test pilot. He was selected for the manned space program in 1966, at the same time as Swigert. Apollo 13 was Haise's only trip to space.

Apollo 13 was Swigert's first trip to space, at age 38. He had been part of the support crew for Apollo 7 and was initially Apollo 13's backup command module pilot. He was asked to join the crew 48 hours before launch time after the original command module pilot, Ken Mattingly, was exposed to German measles.

Jim Lovell (left), Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise pose for their official portrait. Swigert had just replaced Ken Mattingly as command module pilot after Mattingly was exposed to German measles. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

Apollo 13: "Houston, we've had a problem"

Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970. The Apollo spacecraft was made up of two independent spacecraft joined by a tunnel: orbiter Odyssey, and lander Aquarius. The crew lived in Odyssey on the journey to the moon.

On the evening of April 13, when the crew was nearly 322,000 kilometers (200,000 miles) from Earth and closing in on the moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey.

The signal could have shown a problem, or could have indicated the hydrogen just needed to be resettled by heating and fanning the gas inside the tank. That procedure was called a "cryo stir", and was supposed to stop the supercold gas from settling into layers.

Related: This stunning 4K video re-creates Apollo 13's perilous trip around the moon

A view of the damaged Apollo 13 service module after separation. (Image credit: NASA)

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Swigert flipped the switch for the routine procedure. A moment later, the entire spacecraft shook. Alarm lights lit up in Odyssey and in Mission Control as oxygen pressure fell and power disappeared. The crew notified Mission Control, with Swigert famously saying, "Houston, we've had a problem." (Note that the 1995 movie "Apollo 13" took some creative license with the phrase, changing it to "Houston, we have a problem" and having the words come out of Apollo 13 commander James Lovell's mouth).

Much later, a NASA accident investigation board determined wires were exposed in the oxygen tank because of a combination of manufacturing and testing errors before flight. That fateful night, a spark from an exposed wire in the oxygen tank caused a fire, ripping apart one oxygen tank and damaging another inside the spacecraft.

Since oxygen fed Odyssey's fuel cells, power was reduced as well. The spacecraft's attitude control thrusters, sensing the venting oxygen, tried to stabilize the spacecraft through firing small jets. The system wasn't very successful given several of the jets were slammed shut by the explosion.

Fortunately for Apollo 13, the damaged Odyssey had a healthy backup: Aquarius, which wasn't supposed to be turned on until the crew was close to landing on the moon. Haise and Lovell frantically worked to boot Aquarius up in less time than designed. Aquarius didn't have a heat shield to survive the drop back to Earth, so as Lovell and Haise got the lunar module up and running, Swigert remained in Odyssey to shut down its systems to conserve power for splashdown.

Apollo 13's cold, miserable trip home

The crew had to balance the challenge of getting home with the challenge of preserving power on Aquarius. After they performed a crucial burn to point the spacecraft back towards Earth, the crew powered down every nonessential system in the spacecraft.

Without a source of heat, cabin temperatures quickly dropped down close to freezing. Some food became inedible. The crew also rationed water to make sure Aquarius  operating for longer than it was designed  would have enough liquid to cool its hardware down. And Aquarius was pretty cramped as it was designed to hold two people, not three.

On Earth, flight director Gene Kranz pulled his shift of controllers off regular rotation to focus on managing consumables like water and power. Other mission control teams helped the crew with its daily activities. Spacecraft manufacturers worked around the clock to support NASA and the crew.

It was a rough journey home. The entire spaceflight crew lost weight, and Haise developed a kidney infection. But the small vessel protected and carried the crew long enough to reach Earth's atmosphere.

In the hours before splashdown, the exhausted crew scrambled back over to the Odyssey powered it up. The craft had essentially been in a cold water soak for days, and could have shorted out, but thanks to safeguards put in place after the Apollo 1 disaster, there were no issues.

Lovell, Haise and Swigert safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, on April 17.

Staff members in Mission Control celebrate the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Dr. Thomas Paine (center) applauds the successful splashdown while Dr. George Low (right) smokes a cigar. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

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Apollo 13's legacy

Numerous design changes were made to the Apollo service module and command module on subsequent missions in the Apollo program. According to former mission controller Sy Liebergot in an article by collectSPACE (opens in new tab) the changes included:

Another cryo oxygen tank that could be isolated to only supply the crew.

Removing all cryo tank fans and wiring.

Removing the thermostats from cryo tanks, and changing the type of heater tube.

Adding a 400-amp-hour lunar module descent stage battery.

Adding water storage bags to the command module.

A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glenn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room during Apollo 13. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

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As for the astronauts, Haise was assigned to command the Apollo 19 moon mission. However, it and two other missions were canceled after NASA's budget was cut. He later piloted the space shuttle Enterprise (opens in new tab) during its test flights.

In 1982, Swigert was elected to Congress in his home state of Colorado. However, during the campaign, he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and he died before he could be sworn in.

In 1994, Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger co-wrote a book about Lovell's spaceflight career that primarily focused on the events of the Apollo 13 mission. The book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 (opens in new tab)" (Houghton Mifflin, 1994), spurred the 1995 movie "Apollo 13," starring actor Tom Hanks. The movie won two Academy Awards and was filmed in cooperation with NASA.

The agency gave the movie crew access to the 1960s-era Mission Control in Houston to reconstruct the site as a set, and also let the actor "astronauts" fly aboard NASA's Vomit Comet airplane to simulate weightlessness. Lovell made a cameo at the end of the film as the captain of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima; Marilyn Lovell and Gene Kranz made short appearances as well, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Other biographical accounts of the Apollo 13 mission include Liebergot and David Harland's "Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime (opens in new tab)" (Collector's Guide Publishing, 2003) and Kranz's "Failure Is Not An Option (opens in new tab)" (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Several non-fiction books have also examined Apollo 13, such as Andrew Chaikin's "A Man On The Moon (opens in new tab)" (Penguin Books, 1994), which included interviews with all of the surviving Apollo astronauts.

Additional resources

Read more about Apollo in this in-depth article from NASA (opens in new tab). Explore the "successful failure" mission with this virtual exhibit from Space Center Houston (opens in new tab). Discover other great stories from the Apollo missions with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (opens in new tab).

Bibliography

"Space is hard - mission control after Apollo 13". 17, April. 2020. ESA (opens in new tab)

Lovell, Jim, and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 (opens in new tab).

Kauffman, James. " A successful failure: NASAs crisis communications regarding Apollo 13. (opens in new tab)" Public Relations Review 27.4 (2001): 437-448.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 53 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei is pictured working outside the International Space Station during the first spacewalk of his career on Thursday (Oct. 5). He and Cmdr. Randy Bresnik spent almost 7 hours working outside the International Space Station to replace an aging "hand" at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. The two astronauts will head out for another spacewalk together on Tuesday (Oct. 10).

Two NASA astronauts will head outside of the International Space Station today (Oct. 10) for the second of three planned spacewalks this month.

Expedition 53 commander Randy Bresnik and flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, who took a spacewalk together last Thursday (Oct. 5), will spend another 6.5 hours working outside the orbiting laboratory today.

They'll continue working on the Latching End Effector (LEE), a "hand" at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which they replaced last week, and install some new high-definition cameras outside the space station. You can watch the spacewalk in a livestream here, courtesy of NASA TV.

NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik (foreground, with red stripes) and Mark Vande Hei work to install a replacement latching end effector, or hand, on the Canadarm2 robotic arm outside of the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Oct. 5, 2017 (Image credit: NASA TV via collectSPACE.com)

Bresnik and Vande Hei are slated to exit the Quest airlock around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). Live coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT), as the astronauts put on their Extravehicular Mobility Units, or spacesuits, and get ready for the day. NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli will help the spacewalkers get suited up and out the door.

As EV 1, Bresnik will wear the suit with red stripes. Vande Hei is designated EV 2 and will wear a plain white spacesuit with no red stripes. This will be the fourth spacewalk of Bresnik's career and the second for Vande Hei. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 53 Mission Crew in Orbit]

See more

Bresnik's first objective during this spacewalk will involve "rotating a spare pump flow control subassembly that's located on the external stowage platform 1 (ESP-1)  to set up for a future ammonia vent of that unit and eventual relocation," Judd Frieling, NASA's spacewalk flight director, said at a news conference Monday (Oct. 2).

Meanwhile, Vande Hei will retrieve a foot restraint from the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart and install it to Canadarm2. "In order to do that, he'll have to first install a new socket onto the newly repaired latching end effector and then insert his foot restraint," Glenda Brown, the lead EVA officer for today's spacewalk, said during the briefing.

With Nespoli operating Canadarm2 from inside the space station, Vande Hei will use the foot restraint to "stand" on the robotic arm and reach a group of high-definition cameras that he'll replace.

While conducting a spacewalk during shuttle mission STS-123 in 2008, NASA astronaut Rick Linnehan is anchored to the end of Canadarm2. Expedition 53 astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba will also "stand" on Canadarm2 during spacewalks on Oct. 10 and Oct. 18. (Image credit: NASA)

Using a type of grease gun known as the ballscrew lubrication tool, or BLT, Vande Hei will then squirt grease into the new LEE that he and Bresnik swapped out during their previous spacewalk.

At the end of the spacewalk, Bresnik will briefly head over to the Tranquility module to remove two handrails to prepare it for the installation of a new external wireless communication system, a type of Wi-Fi network that will be installed on another spacewalk in the future, Brown said.

The third and final spacewalk this month will occur next Wednesday (Oct. 18), when we'll see Bresnik head out with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba to finish lubricating the LEE and replace a few old HD cameras.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
HOUSTON  The last time that it was in Houston, the spacecraft that flew the first humans to walk on the moon was purposely kept away from the public. On its first return to the city in 48 years, the Apollo 11 command module will be available for all to see.

Columbia, the NASA capsule that carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon and back in 1969, is the centerpiece of the Smithsonian's "Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission" traveling exhibit. The vehicle and 20 other artifacts from the first lunar landing will debut on Saturday (Oct. 14) at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas.

"Our guests will be the first to trace the steps of the first voyage to [land humans on] the moon in this spectacular new exhibit," said William Harris, the president and CEO of Space Center Houston. [Apollo 11: The Historic Moon Landing in Pictures]

The non-profit science and space learning center will host Columbia through March 18, 2018, when the "Destination Moon" exhibit will move to the Saint Louis Science Center in Missouri. Over the next two years, the command module will also travel to Pittsburgh and Seattle before returning to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where it was on exhibit for the past 40 years.

The tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and provides an opportunity for the Smithsonian to display Columbia as the National Air and Space Museum prepares a new gallery for its ongoing exhibition.

The opening of "Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission" also marks the return of Columbia to "Space City" since it spent 15 days in Houston in 1969.

The Apollo 11 command module Columbia will debut on display at Space Center Houston on Oct. 14, 2017. (Image credit: Eric Long/Smithsonian)

Layover from the moon

Prior to the Apollo 11 mission launching on July 16, 1969, Columbia had no reason to be in Houston. Though the city was home to the astronauts and was their point of contact back on Earth (hence, "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed") the spacecraft was built in California and was shipped directly to Florida, from where it departed for the moon. [Watch: NASA Archive Video of Apollo 11 Moonwalk]

Post-flight, Columbia was due to go back to its assembly facility southeast of Los Angeles to be analyzed, but first it had to make a layover in Houston due to a concern over "moon germs." Together with the crew and the moon rocks they brought back, NASA quarantined the capsule for 21 days from the point of splashdown, to ensure  however unlikely the chance  that no contagions were returned from the lunar surface.

Recovered from the Pacific Ocean by the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier, and after stops at Ford Island and Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii (for deactivation of its on board pyrotechnics), Columbia was flown on a C-133 aircraft to Houston, where it arrived at 6:17 p.m. Central (2317 GMT) on July 30, 1969.

NASA built a dedicated facility to quarantine and study the moon rocks, examine the crew and continue safing the Apollo command module at its Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston (today, Johnson Space Center). The command module arrived after the crew and rocks and was brought into the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) through its own garage door-style entrance.

Though sealed off from the inside, the command module bay door is still present at the former site of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston today. (Image credit: collectSPACE.com)

Columbia's cove

Most of the 83,000-square-foot (7,711-square-meter) LRL was devoted to the crew's reception area, sample labs and an administrative area. Only one small bay was dedicated to supporting the command module. [NASA's 17 Apollo Moon Missions in Photos]

"The command module was moved into the bay on the trailer we used after recovering the spacecraft," recalled John Hirasaki, the sole engineer to be quarantined with the crew and Columbia, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "We set it on a trailer so we could move it around."

Hirasaki said that the bay was configured to allow limited work on the spacecraft, including work stands, lighting and tools needed to access its interior. The room was also kept at negative pressure with respect to the exterior ambient atmosphere, like many areas of the building, to ensure that any escaping lunar material would be contained.

"There was a ledge that you went down to descend to the floor, but we had work stands arranged so we could walk up and access the command module itself," he said.

Hirasaki began working on Columbia while it was still at sea on board the Hornet, on its way back to shore. Once it arrived at the LRL, he removed the flight data recorder and decontaminated the spacecraft's atmosphere.

Hirasaki was the only person to work on Columbia while it was at the LRL. He could not recall if Armstrong or Aldrin came by to see their spacecraft, but Collins  who was command module pilot  did stop by, climbed inside and inscribed on a wall, "The best ship to come down the line."

Bay today

Columbia left Houston on board a Super Guppy aircraft at Ellington Air Force Base (Ellington Airport) for delivery to North American Rockwell's facilities in Downey, California, on Aug. 14, 1969, the same day the Apollo 11 crew were celebrated with a massive ticker tape parade in New York City.

The closest Columbia came to returning to Houston (until now) was in March 1971, when it visited Austin, Texas for three days as part of a 50-state tour that culminated with its donation at the Smithsonian.

The LRL went on to host two other spacecraft, Apollo 12's Yankee Clipper and Apollo 14's Kitty Hawk, before it was decided that the returning command modules and crew no longer required quarantine. The LRL, originally housed in Building 37 at the Johnson Space Center, continued to be used to store and study lunar samples until 1979, when a more capable facility was opened nearby (in Building 31N).

Building 37 was repurposed for NASA's Life Sciences Lab and the command module bay was for some time used as a research laboratory. Ultimately though, it became a lunch room for the building's occupants, with tables, chairs and a refrigerator.

Today, the bay  and the entire building  stand empty. The life sciences division was moved to a new facility and Building 37 is slated for demolition, possibly as soon as by the end of the year, while Columbia's display at the nearby Space Center Houston continues.

Follow coverage of the debut of "Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission" touring exhibit at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2017 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Two NASA astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station today (Oct. 10) to tackle the second in a series of three spacewalks taking place at the orbiting laboratory this month.

Expedition 53 Cmdr. Randy Bresnik and flight engineer Mark Vande Hei spent 6 hours and 26 minutes working on a number of maintenance tasks, including the lubrication of a new latching end effector (LEE)  the "hand" on the Canadarm2 robotic arm  which the two spacewalkers replaced during their last extravehicular activity (EVA) on Oct. 5.

After working together on a single task for the entirety of last week's spacewalk, the two astronauts spent much of their day flying solo while tackling a multitude of chores around the station. While lubricating the new LEE was a main objective, they also replaced and repaired external cameras and did some routine maintenance on the station's thermal control system. The astronauts breezed through their main tasks and accomplished some optional "get-ahead" tasks before wrapping up their work for the day. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 53 Mission Crew in Orbit]

This photo of NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik was taken by a new external camera that he and his crewmate Mark Vande Hei installed during a spacewalk on Oct. 10. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Today's EVA officially began when the two spacewalkers switched their spacesuits over to battery power at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1156 GMT), after which they emerged from the Quest airlock and split up to conquer separate tasks.

Vande Hei started off by heading up to the station's truss to the Mobile Transporter cart, where he retrieved a foot restraint and installed it on the Canadarm2 robotic arm. To do that, he first had to install a special socket onto the newly replaced LEE.

"I have a little bit of adrenaline going on right now. This view is amazing!" Vande Hei said as the space station passed over Rio de Janeiro. [Gallery: Amazing Photos of Earth from Space]

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei works on the latching end effector, or the "hand" at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Bresnik kicked off his EVA by heading over to the high-pressure tanks just outside the airlock, where he reconfigured a handle that was "ever so slightly out of the locked configuration," NASA TV commentator Rob Navias said during a live webcast of the spacewalk. Four high-pressure tanks filled with nitrogen and oxygen are used to depressurize and repressurize the airlock before and after spacewalks, Navias said.

With the latch on the high-pressure tank back in place, Bresnik made his way over to the port side of the International Space Station (ISS) to work on a spare Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS) outside the Destiny module. Vande Hei met up with Bresnik at the PFCS to help him rotate the assembly into an orientation that will allow an ammonia pad to be vented during a later spacewalk, NASA's EVA officer Glenda Brown explained in a briefing on Oct. 2.

Then the spacewalkers briefly split up again, with Vande Hei heading back to Canadarm2 and Bresnik going to fetch a tool bag for his crewmate. That bag contained a replacement camera group to be installed on the Port 1 (P1) truss segment.

Vande Hei mounted the end of Canadarm2 using the foot restraint he installed earlier in the spacewalk. Inside the space station, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli operated 58-foot (17.6-meter) robotic arm to bring Vande Hei right in front of the camera port where he needed to be to replace a failed camera group.

See more

The camera group that was swapped out had a faulty color wheel that added a pink hue to the images, Navias said. During the next spacewalk on Oct. 18, Bresnik and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba will replace another faulty camera group that is causing a similar problem, producing images with a yellow hue.

Following Vande Hei's struggle to bolt down one of two secondary bolts that affix the camera group to the space station, the ground control team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston decided it was alright to leave that bolt as is. "No worries, that new camera group is firmly affixed and will not float away," Navias said. With the new camera group in place and functioning properly, Bresnik returned to the Mobile Transporter to replace a smudged camera lens cover with a clean one.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei holds the ballscrew lubrication tool in front of Canadarm2's latching end effector in this view from his spacesuit's helmet cam. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Meanwhile, Nespoli used Canadarm2 to bring Vande Hei back to the forward face of the truss, where he dismounted the robotic arm and fetched another tool bag for his next big task: lubricating the LEE. For this he needed to pick up a device called a ballscrew lubrication tool more commonly referred to as a BLT. The BLT looks a lot like a caulk gun, but instead of squirting a sealant around sinks and windows, the BLT is used to inject grease into various mechanisms on Canadarm2.

Vande Hei worked so efficiently lubricating the LEE's center ball screw that he had extra time to work ahead on tasks slated for next week 's spacewalk, like lubricating four latch ball screws inside the grappling fixture. This will help take a load off next week's spacewalkers, who will finish lubricating the LEE on Oct. 18.

See more

Before heading back, Bresnik relocated two handrails to make way for an antenna that will be part of a new external wireless system that will be installed on a future EVA.

After spending a total of 6 hours and 26 minutes working outside the ISS, the astronauts returned to the Quest airlock and concluded their spacewalk at 2:22 p.m. EDT (1822 GMT). It was "a very productive day for Bresnik and Vande Hei," Navias remarked at the end of the webcast.

Today's EVA marks the fourth in Bresnik's career and brings his cumulative spacewalking time to 25 hours and 11 minutes. Bresnik previously did two spacewalks during the space shuttle mission STS-129 in 2009. (He finished his very first EVA just hours before his wife gave birth to his daughter back on Earth.)

Vande Hei, a first timer aboard the ISS, has now completed his first two spacewalks, giving him a cumulative spacewalking time of 13 hours and 21 minutes.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
New York (UN), Oct 9, 2017 (SPS) - Mr. Carlos Costa, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Mozambique to the United Nations, has said that the lack of progress in the decolonization of Western Sahara continues to be a cause for grave concern to Mozambique, in his statement to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly.

"The lack of progress in the decolonization of Western Sahara, the sole African country still to exercise the right to self-determination continues to be a cause for grave concern to Mozambique. Regrettably, all the efforts deployed by the United Nations, the African Union and other actors to bring about an accepted settlement aiming to grant the people of Western Sahara their inalienable right to self-determination and independence has not yielded results," he said.

Granting the inalienable rights of self-determination to the people of the territory of Western Sahara remains the noble objective of the International Community, and in particular, the United Nations and the African Union. In this regard, the principle of self-determination and right of freedom should also be a reality for the sister people of Western Sahara.

We would like to seize this opportunity to call upon the Security Council, the General Assembly and the international community to exercise their responsibility by implementing their own resolutions, as well as to support the African Union and its Special Envoy to Western Sahara, Mr. Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique.

We would like to express our full support to the joint UN-AU Framework for enhancing Peace and Security, signed this year, and the recent appointment of Mr. Horst Koehler as Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, representing additional efforts which will contribute to put forward concrete actions for a durable and sustainable solution for the question of the Western Sahara, concluded Mr. Carlos Costa, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Mozambique to the United Nations in his statement to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly. (SPS)

062/SPS/




R ecruiter Robert Walters today shrugged off fears the Catalonian political crisis could threaten its booming Spanish business after reaping the rewards of post-crisis labour law reforms.

Eponymous chief Robert Walters said he cant see Spains runaway growth for the company changing despite the Catalan breakaway bid.

It wont make any difference for us other than any indications on trade in what is now Spain changing, he said.

Were left with a bit of an unknown but in any event I cant see how it would affect us.

Spanish net fees rose 40% this quarter, building on a 70% leap in the six months ending June.

That makes it the best performer for Walters in Europe this year.

The independence bid has triggered political turmoil this month, with banks like Sabadell considering leaving the north-east region.

Robert Walters group net fee income grew 21% in the three months ending September to 90.7 million, thanks to a 39% rise in European fees. The UK put on 15% fee growth to 26.9 million.
T he Bakka brothers are back from Valhalla. Agust and Lydur Gudmundsson, dark lords of the Viking warrior class, crashed spectacularly out of the City in the Noughties after a decade of Icelandic debt-fuelled expansion.

Their tale is a classic of Norse business mythology: from their origins as petty fish processors 30 years ago, they went on to buy a flurry of food companies across Europe, all backed by the magic money of Icelands debt markets. British giants Katsouris, Wine & Dine and even Geest all fell to their swords.

But the Icelandic iceberg cracked, sending the country and all who sailed on it into a sea of debt and bankruptcy. Some  including Lydur  fell further, serving criminal sentences.

Bondholders left being owed 300 million by Bakkavor agreed to a monster restructuring including a debt-for-equity swap. To the anger of many Icelanders, it was their pension funds and banks which held the bonds that ended up propping up the business.

Last year, the US hedge fund, Baupost bought out the Icelandic institutions and today it is selling part of its stake with a glorious London flotation.

With a track record like that, potential investors here have to weigh whether they want to be buying anything from the Bakka brothers, let alone a business that nearly collapsed so recently.

It wont just be those burned by their foods empire wholl be fretting. The duo were the biggest backers of Kaupthing, the bank that collapsed leaving a trail of destruction here. It was for events relating to Kaupthing that Lydur served a community sentence.

Presumably to lift reputational worries, theyve put in a new chairman, but Simon Burke, too, has Icelandic connections from his time selling Hamleys to Baugur before Baugur went bust. Theres no suggestion of wrongdoing, but it does seem a tad incestuous.

The Bakka boys today refused to say how much stock they or Baupost are selling, or why the hedgies want out. Just trust us, they seemed to be saying.

Perhaps its worth taking that leap of faith. Bakkavor is hugely dominant in fresh ready meals. It is well respected by supermarkets for its quality standards and R&D, in which it has invested heavily. So, competition from new entrants is unlikely. Own-label ready meals are a growth market despite the consumer downturn.

And, for all the sins of its past, Bakkavor is coming to the market with admirably low debt levels of 1.8 times underlying profit. Against Greencores 2.7, the Icelanders look positively conservative.

So, its safer than it was.

I guess the call is this: are you ready to trust the vikings this time, and how foolish would you feel if it all went wrong again?
T WO business Viking brothers who were caught up in Icelands banking crisis are floating their UK food business at a value of up to 1.5 billion.

Lydur and Agust Gudmundsson are the majority owners of Bakkavor, a food supplier to major UK supermarkets including Tesco and Waitrose.

Lydur was found guilty of financial crime in connection to their investment in failed Iceland bank Kaupthing. Bakkavor, which provides ready meals, pizzas and hummus, was founded in 1986. The Gudmundssons own 59%, with the rest held by US hedge fund Baupost.

The American fund, an investor for less than two years, is looking for a partial exit, but will remain a shareholder after the November float.

The sandwich tycoons say they will sell very few shares, but could cash in some of their stake. They are looking to raise about 100 million to pay debt and fund expansion.

The Gudmundssons held a 45% stake in Exista, the largest shareholder in Kaupthing and one of its biggest customers before Icelands banking crash. Lydur, 50, was sentenced to eight months in prison for share-related offences, though in the end served only three weeks of community service.

The Gudmundssons borrowed to fund Bakkavors expansion and came unstuck when the financial crisis hit Icelands banks in 2008. They were forced into a debt-for-equity swap in 2010 that shrank their stake in the firm, but linked with Baupost last year to take back control.

Lincolnshire-based Bakkavor has 19,000 staff, making a pre-tax profit of 63 million on revenue of 1.76 billion in 2016.

Simon Burke, who is to join as chairman, said: Over the past 30 years, Bakkavor has grown to become the clear leader in the UK market for fresh prepared foods and a vital partner for retailers. Through that time, the business has retained its entrepreneurial edge while putting in place a hugely experienced management team.

The float will be led by HSBC and Morgan Stanley. Barclays, Citigroup, Rabobank and Peel Hunt are involved.
A few years ago, you might have balked at the idea of wearing an all-in-one anything, mostly because the thought of stripping down to your ankles every time you needed to use the loo was a bit daunting, or maybe just because you felt more like you were wearing a babygro rather than adult clothing. Both totally valid points. But fast-forward to 2017 and most of us have discovered the joy of the jumpsuit as a brilliant alternative to a posh frock or as a modern way to rev up our workwear.

Following hot on the heels of fashions all-in-one obsession, the boilersuit takes pole position this season. Once synonymous with Winston Churchill and your slightly oily local car mechanic, these practical overalls are the looser, more casual cousins to their smarter silky counterparts. To qualify as a boilersuit, your industrial one-piece should be made from a sturdy, thick cotton such as denim, have a loose fit  the kind that would allow you to shimmy under the chassis of a car in comfort  and have long sleeves and legs (terminology check: short sleeves = dungarees; short legs = playsuit).

If the boilersuit seems like a worrying prospect, let me put your mind at ease. Last year I discovered its advantages for myself when I came into possession of one by London denim specialist MiH Jeans. I assumed that, at 5ft 3ins, I was too short to wear an oversized boilersuit successfully, but as soon as I tried mine on I was hooked. It was roomy (in other words, VERY comfy), yet it was also surprisingly flattering, and looked better with the hems and cuffs turned up, alleviating my short- person concerns.

Sure, its unlikely youll get away with wearing one of these with strappy sandals and a clutch to your best friends wedding, though it is possible  see the shot of the stylist Florrie Thomas at London Fashion Week for details  but its an ideal option with trainers and a skinny roll-neck layered underneath at this time of year. I even wore mine in Paris last week (and got a ton of compliments from fellow fashion eds, I might add).

MiHs new season boiler has already sold out once this autumn, though you can put your name down to be notified when its back in stock. Meanwhile, head to unisex label MC Overalls for an impressive selection of alternatives. As the name suggests, this brand is something of an expert when it comes to mechanic-chic, and its trademark overalls are available in black, cream or an on-trend pink for men and women (sizes range simply from XS to XL). ASOS is also accelerating to the front of the pack with its offering of all-in-ones, and has a pink version of its own  though only limited sizes are left  as well as camouflage and pale denim options. In addition, it stocks the American workwear brand favoured by skateboarders for its durability, Dickies, in the form of a navy oversized suit. And Caramels plum-coloured offering bridges the gap between jump and boiler nicely with its flattering V-neck and tie-waist.

Florrie Thomas wears ASOS pink twill boilersuit, 48 (asos.com)

So how to wear? Rule number one: pop something on underneath. Not only is it cool to catch a glimpse of a classic white tee, but it makes that whole stripping off in the toilet thing a little less traumatic, especially when the mercury drops. Next, grab your favourite retro white trainers  ideally a pair of Converse All Stars, Vans, or something unassuming, such as unbranded, neutral coloured plimsolls from Spring Court or Novesta (try Pam Pam London).

Finally, dont attempt to dress it up too much; the look youre going for is actual car mechanic, albeit one that hasnt done a hard days labour in their life and is wearing a brand new pink whistle. You could even consider really going for it and try tying the top half around your waist, as seen at Sportmax in Milan last month. Bearing in mind that overalls were also spotted on the catwalk for next season at Max Mara and Stella McCartney, you can be sure that this trend wont be stalling any time soon.
I ts that time of year again: Summer has come and gone, Christmas ads are already starting to crop up everywhere and youre wondering where on earth the last nine months went.

After a pretty strong summer of film, movie fans everywhere are starting to eye up Christmas release dates. However, they needn't look so far ahead in the calendar to find films to book tickets for.

While there are some huge releases set for this December (not least the return of a little-known franchise by the name of Star Wars), there are plenty of things to check out at London cinemas between now and then.

From bombastic blockbusters to intriguing indie movies, these are the best films to see in London cinemas this autumn.

Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 - TV Spot - Trailer

Released date: October 6

Already one of the biggest films of the year, Blade Runner 2049 is set to run and run and run in London cinemas this autumn. The follow-up to Ridley Scotts sci-fi classic is getting rave reviews, and attracting huge amounts of film fans all over London. The film is showing just about everywhere, so spend some time with your favourite Replicant retirers Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling by getting your tickets now.

The Snowman

The Snowman - Trailer 2

Released date: October 13

Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson star in this adaptation of Jo Nesbos thriller about a serial killer whose calling card in building you guessed it, snowmen at the scene of the crime.

Fassbender and Ferguson are backed by a strong supporting cast featuring the likes of JK Simmons, Chloe Sevigny and Val Kilmer. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy filmmaker Tomas Alfredson directs too, so the early signs are looking good.

The trailer might look a bit like a John Lewis Christmas ad at times, but dont be fooled; things are about to get very dark and twisted indeed.

Happy Death Day

Release date: October 20

Think of a cross between Halloween and Ground Hog day and youve got Happy Death Day; a quirky US slasher movie released on October 20. Student Tree Gelbman (played by rising star Jessica Rothe) is hunted down and viciously stabbed on her birthday by a mysterious masked figure. Rather than dying though, she wakes up in the same college bed as the morning before and the daily cycle repeats itself over and over again.

It feels wrong to describe a film in which a young woman is repeatedly killed as fun, but if the trailers anything to go by, the movie does look like a little sparkier than your average horror.

Only The Brave

TODO: define component type brightcove

Release Date: October 20

Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and Miles Teller star in this epic true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters, who protected the town of Yarnell, Arizona from the hugely destructive Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013. Its sure to be a stirring viewing experience, which wont pull at the heartstrings so much as to rip them out your chest altogether. Bring a pack of tissues along; things are about to get emotional.

Thor: Ragnorak

Thor: Ragnarok - Comic-Con Trailer

Release date: October 27

Chris Hemsworth and his big hammer are back for the third solo outing as Thor this autumn. Old friends become enemies in the upcoming movie, which sees two of the Avengerss biggest names Thor and the Hulk turn against one another. It's set to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, and we can expect huge spectacle and explosive superhero showdowns aplenty.

Breathe

Release Date: October 27

Andy Serkis has finally stepping out of the CGI body suit hes been wearing pretty much non-stop for the last 15 years to make his directorial debut Breathe. Andrew Garfield stars in this tearjerker as real-life character Robin Cavendish, who was paralyzed with Polio at the age of just 28 and required a mechanic ventilator to breathe. The Crown star Claire Foy plays his loving wife Diana Cavendish, who helps him to live a happy and fulfilled life.

Murder on the Orient Express

TODO: define component type brightcove

Release date: November 3

The latest in a long line of 2017s Hollywood reboots, Murder on the Orient Express does pretty much exactly as it says on this tin: Theres been a murder on the worlds most luxurious train service, and the worlds best detective Hercule Poirot is faced with solving the crime. This remake of Agatha Christies classic murder mystery features one of the most star-studded cast lists youll see all year.

Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Olivia Coleman, Derek Jacobi and Josh Gad all star as suspects in the mystery and Kenneth Branagh (playing Poirot with a rather fetching moustache and a wicked French accent) is the one charged with solving it. If you havent seen the original, just make sure you dont spoil the new film for yourself by looking on Wikipedia to see who the murderer is.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

TODO: define component type brightcove

Release Date: November 3

Following his turn in excellent 2015 movie The Lobster, Colin Farrell continues his unlikely new status as an indie movie poster boy by starring in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The psychological horror/thriller also stars Nicole Kidman and went down very well at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival in May. The movie revolves around an unsettling friendship between a surgeon and a 16-year-old boy in what promises to be one of the most disquieting movies to be released in London cinemas this year.

Paddington 2

Paddington 2 - Trailer

Release Date: November 10

The first Paddington movie was a real joy, and now the marmalade-loving bear is back for a sequel. Ben Whishaw returns to voice Paddington, while Hugh Bonneville and Hugh Grant also team up for what must be one of the most quintessentially British film cast lists ever assembled. If its half as good as the first film itll be worth your time, and it could well be the ideal choice for an afternoon of family fun.

Justice League

Justice League 2017 Trailer

Release Date: November 17

Well, it took years, but it looks like Warner Bros. have discovered how to make good DC superhero movies again. Many thought the much derided Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice might have killed the companys chances of competing with Marvel for good, but the success of Wonder Woman could have changed all that. Gal Gadots character returns to the action this November alongside the likes of Superman, Batman and new heroes Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg, played by Game of Thrones Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher respectively. Can DC make the film a success and turn things round for good? Find out by booking your cinema tickets now.
M ike Skinner has announced that hes reuniting with The Streets for a series of shows in 2018.

The rapper will lead the group on a string of six 'greatest hits' gigs next April, which is being dubbed The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light tour.

Ive missed tour buses very much, Mike Skinner said, which is the least of the reasons why I have decided to tour The Streets again.

The group will perform in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds, before finishing up with two shows at Londons O2 Brixton Academy on April 25 and 26.

Tickets for the shows go on sale at 9am on Friday, October 13 and can be bought here.

The group changed the face of urban British music with the release of Original Pirate Material in 2002 and have since released four more studio albums, including 2004s hugely successful A Grand Dont Come For Free. Mike Skinner previously announced that he was disbanding The Streets in 2011.

The full list of dates are:

April

19  Birmingham O2 Academy

20  Glasgow O2 Academy

21  Manchester O2 Apollo

23  Leeds O2 Academy

25  London O2 Brixton Academy

26 - London O2 Brixton Academy
N ick Clegg is an unlikely revolutionary. If anything he has always been the face of dull, moderate politics. No one can imagine him losing his temper; he wears V-necks over open-collar shirts; uses descriptions like naff and a pig in brown stuff. He even wrote a book entitled Politics: Between the Extremes. Everything about Nick Clegg screams Centrist Dad (the Corbynista insult for out-of-time metropolitan liberals). But a lot has happened to the former leader of the Lib-Dems since he disappeared from the Westminster stage through the trap door of the June general election.

For a start he is angry  angry about Brexit, angry about the stagnant state of politics, a little bit angry at the world. He has channelled this into a radical handbook called How to Stop Brexit. It instructs fellow angry, politically impotent metropolitan liberals  who have lost all their power to the extremes of Left and Right  to stage a coup using the revolutionaries own method: mass entryism. If every one in 100 Remain voters joined the Conservatives, he argues, they would more than outnumber the membership. Those who cant stomach being a Tory  even in name only  should infiltrate Labour. Its what Momentum did to Labour, its what Aaron Banks did to the Conservatives. Clegg the unlikely revolutionary has issued a call to arms: its a middle-class momentum, the alt-bourgeoisie.

At 50, Nick Clegg looks older than when I met him four years ago as Deputy Prime Minister. This is not the famous accelerated ageing process that goes with being in government  from that he emerged well preserved. Its because this has been a year of hell. Last autumn his 15-year-old son Antonio was diagnosed with lymphoma (blood cancer) in his neck and chest. Nine months later Clegg lost Sheffield Hallam, the seat hed represented for 12 years.

He wrote most of How to Stop Brexit in July, in what he describes as compressed time but sounds like a torrent. The motive was to debunk the pernicious myth that a democracy is not entitled to change its mind. I deliberately put at the front page of the book the quote from David Davis that says: A democracy that cant change its mind ceases to be a democracy.

He follows with a quote from John Maynard Keynes: When the facts change, I change my mind. The Brexit we face, he argues, bears no resemblance to Leave. David Davis said we would have trade deals equivalent to 10 times the size of the European Union. That is statistically impossible.

The book also makes the very specific proposal to ask John Major and Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, to set up a new convention to re-integrate the UK into a reformed European Union, an idea worked on at Open Reason, the think tank he set up in 2015.

Ive come to his home in Putney, where he remained while in government with his wife, the lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez and their three sons, Antonio, Alberto, 13, and Miguel, eight. Its a pretty Regency townhouse which has just been painted today  for which Clegg needlessly apologises.

Better together: Nick Clegg and wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez. / Getty Images

In the loo there is a paperback of UK citizenship tests entitled How English Are You? And in his office, huge windows overlooking the street, someone has colour-co-ordinated his books: red on one shelf, blue on the next, then yellow. When I point this out he swivels in his chair and takes fright. I havent done that. That has happened miraculously. I find that alarming.

Apparently the family were offered a flat in Admiralty House, a socking great big thing overlooking St Jamess Park. And Home Office officials were keen he take it, reasoning that David Cameron and George Osborne had moved into Downing Street. He hadnt finished the sentence suggesting the move when Miriam flat-palmed him.

And I said, But darling And she said, No. I went back the following day and said, My wife said no. They said, But surely Deputy Prime Minister And I said: No, you dont understand. My wife said no. That means no.

Miriams argument, quite rightly, was that the children needed the cocoon of normality, of going to the primary school at the end of the road, of maintaining local friendships. Their home was overhauled by security and police were dispatched. The phrase Miriam says no became a useful shorthand in the office. They knew it had a certain sort of absolutism about it.

The commute to Whitehall nearly bloody killed me, but it was worth it. We talked about the children, but never used them as political ornaments.

Indeed, when he and Miriam were recently interviewed by ITVs Lorraine Kelly to raise awareness for the charity Bloodwise, Antonio, now in remission, suggested he go on too. We said: No youre bloody well not. Youre staying here and doing your homework.

He describes the terrible helplessness when you discover your child is so sick. The most stressful moment is the diagnosis. When you first hear the c word its like a bomb. Its an almost unhelpfully paralysing term. Then you go online  urgh  and start chasing the worst possible outcomes.

Nick Clegg and wife Miriam have revealed their son Antonio was diagnosed with blood cancer. / ITV

He felt an irrational but visceral urge to take on the disease himself. Every fibre in your being is saying: Can I take it. Give it to me. Then you ask why and of course theres never an answer.

Tapping the wood of his desk he says that the treatment for Antonio seems to have been successful. But its brutal. You have chemicals poured into you for half a month, then half a month off to recover in order to take the next blast. Its napalming the body to kill the disease. Side-effects were horrible. At one point he was neutropenic. He lost his hair; his appearance changed. Your glands get brittle, he was taking 21 pills every day.

Clegg felt more useful once immersed in the routine. Pills, scans; the back of the kitchen door was adorned with all these charts and graphs  is he taking the right pill at the right time? Is it me or Miriam taking him to UCH this time? Those practicalities make you feel like you are doing something.

Antonio pops in to say hello. His hair is back and hes a handsome 6ft 3in, with feet so long, Clegg jokes they have to buy him special shoes. I said to the oncologist the other day: Did you put plant fertiliser in the chemotherapy? Hes shot up.

Antonios brothers were matter-of-fact about his illness. Their attitude was as long as he is going to get better. They still teased him. He was still the bossy older brother. They are amazing kids, much more straightforward than adults. We tie ourselves up in knots.

With all this going on, I cant imagine how he fought his seat. With hindsight I wasnt as focused on the campaign as you need to be, he says. About the result he is fairly sanguine, saying the real kick in the teeth happened in 2015 when the Lib-Dems were effectively whacked. This time his heart hadnt really been in it  in part because of Antonio, but also I was never much of a Commons man.

The Jacob Rees-Moggs of this world love the pomp, the ceremony, the leather benches, the wooden panelling. It reminds them of high tea. None of that ever appealed to me.

Actually he is bored with the bullshit of Westminster, with the equivocation and the messing about. Do you know why I like Alastair Campbell so much? he asks. His fearlessness. He just goes for it. I love that. Its rare in politics.

Emboldened, he supplies a savage account of Mays time as Home Secretary. He saw her more than other politicians: they sat next to each other in Cabinet, at the National Security Council, and they met regularly, aides in tow, to discuss the many flashpoints between Home Office and Liberal Democrat policy

And though she was punctual and polite, he struggled with her manner. Maybe Im too much of a touchy-feely person, but there was just no... He massages the air for the word to describe this nebulous feeling but  perhaps ironically  finds nothing. And her aides were irritating, he continues. They would speak in her stead, she would defer to them, or they would interject. But it was worse after he requested meetings without them. May was exposed. She didnt have the confidence or the wherewithal  Ive never to worked out which  to say Yes, lets do that. Time and again shed have to go back to the office, consult [with aides], then write a letter. It just took soooo long. It drove me crazy.

About Boris Johnson, too, he is scathing. He accepts that Boris is pretty clever but sees him as a greatly diminished figure. When he was London Mayor, he says, people would scurry around saying: Weve got to give Boris whatever hes asking for. But I dont think people are afraid of him any more. Hes become a media phenomenon.

I badger him about the future of the centre ground and he jokes, Im Centrist Dad with an ideological paunch. But later he revises this: The British liberal tradition is rich, muscular and self-confident. Its not a split-the-difference insipid Centrist Dad; its optimistic, reforming and restless. Im all for vigorous centrism.

Would Clegg return to politics?

No.

Never?

Well who knows? Im only 50, maybe when Im 60.

How to Stop Brexit (And Make Britain Great Again) by Nick Clegg is published by Bodley Head on Thursday
A roofer has been jailed for life for stabbing his fiancee to death as he ranted about "releasing demons" and "drinking blood" in south London.

Ivan Griffin, 24, had claimed he was mentally ill when he killed Sabrina Mullings, 38, at her home in Upper Norwood.

But in a trial at the Old Bailey, jurors rejected his explanation and found Griffin guilty of murder after deliberating over two days.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said Griffin had shown no remorse as he jailed him for at least 16 and a half years.

Sabrina Mullings, 38, was murdered in her home in Croydon / Met Police

He said: "Sabrina was attacked in her own home where she should have been safe and in horrible circumstances with terrible things being said."

Griffin appeared for sentencing via video link from Belmarsh prison having declined to come to court.

Before the killing, Griffin and Ms Mullings appeared to be "loved-up" and talking about getting engaged and planning a honeymoon.

Just 12 hours before, the couple were photographed dancing together by Ms Mullings' daughter Hayleigh, jurors heard

Sabrina Mullings (right) with her daughter Hayleigh on New Year's Eve 2016 / Met Police

On the morning of March 13, Hayleigh was woken by shouting coming from her mother's room at the one-bedroom flat they shared.

She and her boyfriend Chaise Gore went across the corridor and witnessed a scene of "fear and extreme violence", jurors heard.

Mr Cray said: "At the start, Sabrina was still alive because they heard her speak.

"Some of the words they could hear from her were to the effect that the defendant was hurting her and she was asking for help.

"It was the defendant who was doing the shouting and his words were strange, talk like they had never heard from him before, along the lines of 'releasing demons' and 'drinking blood'.

"He would not let Hayleigh and Chaise into the room to see what was happening and their first view of what happened was through a pane of reinforced glass in the door that was broken in the struggle to get in.

"They also saw blood start to seep out from under the door."

By the time Griffin opened the door, the front room and kitchen were covered in blood and Ms Mullings' naked body was lying on the floor.

Although she had a weak pulse, she was "minutes or seconds from death" having suffered two stab wounds to her stomach and chest, the court heard.

Griffin told Hayleigh and her boyfriend that he stabbed her mother because he loved her and stabbed himself in order to "join their blood together".

The defendant, who had superficial wounds, was picked up by police later that day walking around south-east London wearing nothing but a jacket.

Griffin had a previous conviction for assaulting a former girlfriend who described him as having a controlling and aggressive personality.

Mr Cray rejected the suggestion Griffin had developed a sudden and previously undiagnosed mental illness.

He told jurors: "The twist or unusual feature here, that you are going to have to consider, is that the defendant has, at least to some degree, tried to disguise what he did in the language of mental illness, even though we argue he is not mentally ill, in the hope that everyone, including you, will take that as a partial excuse for murder."
B uilders armed with shovels teamed up with restaurant workers to foil a moped gang who targeted a West End jewellers in a brazen raid today.

A maitre d and his staff joined a group of construction workers to chase off the robbers and help detain one who was tied up with cable from a building site by the have-a-go-heroes.

The gang struck in Avery Row, just half a mile from where robbers on scooters plundered Rolexes in a smash and grab at Mappin & Webb on Regent Street last night.

The thieves struck with sledgehammers and axes at around 11.20am today.

Restaurant wokers and builders helped subdue a suspect after a raid at a West End jewellers

A restaurant worker said: "We looked out and they were trying to smash the glass but not getting anywhere. Then the builders ran out. We were scared, but we piled in as well and chased one of them down.

"That place has been tested before. We stick together around here."

Have-a-go heroes foiled the attempted smash and grab in central London / @JewellersMarket/Twitter

Naz Prince, 29, a construction worker said: "There were five or six on scooters, they had three sledgehammers and three axes, they were trying to smash the window.

"As we were struggling they said 'stay back, we will cut you'. But workers with me got their shovels and tools and ran after them.

A man is detained at the scene of the smash and grab in New Bond Street

"One of our boys tied one up with cable ties and the others got on their bikes."

The thieves failed to smash their way into the shop and threatened locals before one was chased off and restrained by members of the public.

Head of security at Watchfinder & Co James Strouts said: "Our doors did not open.

Armed police arrested a man and took him into custody / @JewellersMarket/Twitter

"Staff are fine and so are the customers in the shop. It's material damage to the glass.

"I am grateful to local people for helping. It shows that people won't stand for this. Hopefully it puts a dent in one of the groups terrorising London and the UK."

Armed police surround a man after members of the public thwarted a smash and grab / @Daveyboymarra/Twitter

A dramatic photo posted on social media shows a crowd of men  some wearing high-vis jackets and others in suits  surrounding a man who has been pinned to the ground.

Further images show armed police at the scene, while another shows a moped lying on its side.

A moped lies in the street following the incident off New Bond Street

A Met Police spokesman said: Police in Westminster were called at around 11.13am on Tuesday October 10 following reports of a smash and grab raid at a watch store in Avery Row.

At this early stage officers believe there were five suspects riding three mopeds, armed with a sledgehammer. All had helmets and balaclavas on.

The men were seen to make an attempt to break the glass frontage of the shop but failed to do so.

As they fled the scene, one of the men fell off his moped and was detained by a member of the public for a short time until officers arrived at the location.

This man was arrested and taken to a central London police station where he currently remains in custody. The moped he was riding on was seized by police.

There have been no reports of any injuries.

Last night a gang of six moped robbers raided a luxury jewellery store on Regent Street armed with a sword.

Police told how during the raid, at 7.20pm, members of the public confronted the gang, who also wielding bats, hammers and machetes, causing them to abandon the robbery.

Passers-by even tried to pursue them through streets crowded with commuters and shoppers.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101. Alternatively contact crimestoppers anonymously via 0800 555 111, or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.
A n attacker is on the run after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed on a busy west London high street.

Police were called to Kings Road in Chelsea just before 7.30pm to reports of a stabbing.

A Met Police spokesperson said a 16-year-old boy was found with stab wounds. He was rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance and taken into theatre.

Police were awaiting an update on his conditon on Tuesday evening. No arrests have been made, the spokesperson added.

Kings Road was closed off between Beaufort Street and Edith Grove / @Coconutinbahama

A police cordon was erected and Kings Road was closed off between Beaufort Street and Edith Grove.

Pictures from the scene showed police cars and police officers lining the busy street, with tape blocking off the pavement.

In a separate incident, a man in his 20s was stabbed earlier in the day in Wandsworth.

A separate stabbing took place in Wandsworth earlier in the day / Barney Davis

Police were called at around 2pm to Wandsworth Road where they found the man suffering stab wounds. He was assessed in hospital and was not in a life-threatening condition.

There have been no arrests and a police investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wandsworth CID via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
P olice are hunting a man wanted over a sex assault on a 15-year-old girl on a train in west London.

Tasim Qinami, 19, was charged after the teenager was attacked while travelling between Twickenham and Richmond in November last year.

Qinami was due to appear at Blackfriars Crown Court on June 28 charged with sexual assault but failed to turn up, British Transport Police said.

A number of attempted to arrest him failed, a spokesman added.

Officers have today released an image of Qinami in a bid to trace him.

Anyone with information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 156 09/10/2017. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A young shopkeeper has been jailed after hundreds of thousands of pounds was mistakenly paid into his bank account and he said nothing.

Sandeep Singh, 34, was wrongly credited 766,098 over the course of two years when his details were confused with those of a casino in Wolverhampton.

Both had cash points on site which dispensed money that was later reimbursed by a third party, but an error led to the shopkeeper receiving funds intended for the casino.

Singh, of Leicester, kept quiet about the mistake, using some of the cash to buy a house and transferring about 80,000 to India, the Leicester Mercury reported.

He was jailed for 12 months at Leicester Crown Court after pleading guilty to the offence, the paper said.

Prosecutor Lynsey Knott reportedly told the court: There were multiple opportunities to notify [the company] DC Payments of the error, including during site visits from the company.

Much of the mistakenly wired money was frozen when the error was uncovered but Ms Knott said in excess of 260,000 was taken from the account.

Martin Liddiard, mitigating, said a lions share of about 600,000 would be returned, adding that Singh had tried once or twice to phone and flag up the mistake but then left it.
T he ex-boyfriend of TOWIE star Ferne McCann wore a t-shirt emblazoned with the word 'KILLER' as he threw acid three times on to the crowded dancefloor of an east London nightclub, a court heard.

Arthur Collins, 25, was caught on CCTV launching the corrosive liquid into a man's face after a minor "flare-up" in the packed club, it is said.

Sixteen people were injured in the alleged attack, at the Wringer and Mangle nightclub in Dalston over the Easter Weekend.

Wood Green crown court heard Collins, whose now-former partner Ms McCann is carrying his child, went to the club on April 17 with friend Andre Phoenix, 21, for an event called Love Juice.

"A popular night at a popular club in east London. It is the Sunday night of the Easter weekend, and people are out and about like it is a Saturday night", said prosecutor Luke Ponte.

Arthur Collins / Metropolitan Police

"The dancefloor is crowded, it's packed. People are enjoying themselves, just like any other club in the country.

"And again, just like anywhere else, a bit of trouble flares up. Nothing much at first, the beginnings of an argument. It doesnt amount to much, some pushing, some shoving, some young men, some raised voices, but it quickly escalates.

"It is not clear how this trouble started. But it is very clear how it ended - suddenly and decisively, and not at all in keeping with what had gone before.

"One of the young men, perhaps perceiving the threat of a knife, threw a bottle or a container of acid into the face of another young man.

"As that man went down in pain, the aggressor threw acid at them a second time, and then a third time."

Collins, who arrived at the club with Phoenix, could be seen on CCTV wearing the 'KILLER' t-shirt as he entered the dancefloor moments before the alleged acid attack.

Mr Ponte said Collins was the man throwing the acidic liquid, while Phoenix was involved in the argument that led to the attack, just before 1am.

"These two friends came to the club together, armed with acid together, they stayed together, got drunk together, got in a fight together, threw it together, stayed around together and finally left together", he said.

Victims of the alleged attack have been named as Kwami Licorish, Makai Brown, Ruam Mota, Sophie Hall, Phoebe Georgiou, Scarlett Marshall, Tamara-Jane Castle, Jay Lanning, Nadia Pascal, James Bloor, Lauren Trent, Laura Hester, India Rose-Sykes, David Mills, Alex Enever, and Megan Usher.

Collins, from Broxbourne, Herts, and Phoenix, from Tottenham, both deny five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and 11 charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Collins says he did not know what liquid he was throwing, while Phoenix argues he was not involved in a planned attack.

The trial continues.
A n east London business park has promised to store much-needed bedding and toiletries for homeless people free-of-charge during a winter charity campaign.

Londoneast-uk Business and Technical Park in Dagenham has signed a five-year deal with homelessness charity Crisis to continue storing dry goods for its Christmas appeal.

The annual Crisis at Christmas operation provides food, warmth and medical help to thousands of homeless people every year.

The business park will give 15,000 square feet of space to the charity for the next five years  as well as an extra 17,000 square feet for the charity to either use or rent out for extra funding.

Keith Felton, the director of corporate services for Crisis, said: We are grateful to Londoneast-uk for their generosity in supporting our commercial arrangement with them by donating this additional storage space.

This has the potential to generate much-needed funds for our work to end homelessness.

More than 10,000 volunteers are needed every year to run the Crisis at Christmas appeal.

Across Britain, 13 centres are being opened to offer food and clothing as well as advice and support for rough sleepers to get them out of homelessness.

Last year around 4,700 homeless people visited Crisis centres over the festive period.

John Lewis, the head of the site, said: Crisis has been utilising space at Londoneast-uk for the past 15 months for storage connected to their Crisis at Christmas programme.

John Lewis, managing director of Dagenham-based Londoneast-uk, said he was 'delighted' the five-year deal had been reached.

We are delighted that this arrangement is now being extended for a total of five years which includes a donation from us which virtually doubles the space capacity available to the charity.

This additional space can be sub-let by Crisis to other organisations with rental funds raised going to the charity during the term of this agreement.

We feel this is a novel way to provide support to a body that does such marvellous work to end homelessness.
A west London council has passed a landmark decision to find ways to ban pro-life campaigners from harassing women attending an abortion clinic.

Ealing Council voted on Tuesday night to take action to prevent campaigners approaching people as they enter a Marie Stopes clinic on Mattock Lane.

The vote came after more than 3,000 campaigners signed a petition put forward by womens rights group Sisters Supporter to create a buffer zone around the practice.

It would see protesters banned from being within a certain distance of the entrance.

Founder of the group Anna Veglio-White told a full council meeting at Ealing Town Hall how one teenage client had been told by protesters that she would be haunted by her baby as she went for an appointment.

Speaking before the meeting, Ms Veglio-White told the Standard: The clinic in Ealing suffers particularly severe 'vigils' from pro-life groups as it is a late term clinic, and has a large patch of grass opposite allowing for enormous prayer groups to congregate outside.

This has been happening in Ealing, six days a week, for over 20 years.

In the first motion of its kind to be passed in the UK, the council will now consider steps to stop protesters harassing women outside the clinic.

Richard Bentley, Managing Director at Marie Stopes UK, said following the meeting: This ground-breaking move by Ealing Council sets a national precedent for ending the harassment of women using legal healthcare services.

We respect and support the right to free speech, but it absolutely does not give strangers a free pass to bully and intimidate women.

The majority of women who arrive at our clinics have already had a consultation with a trained professional in which they have talked through their options and have come to a decision thats right for them.

Strangers harassing them as they enter and leave the clinic does nothing to change that. All it does is upset women on what can already be a difficult day.

We are grateful to Ealing Council for recognising this and taking action, and to Sister Supporter and Rupa Huq MP for their campaign.

A statement from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service added: We welcome Ealing Councils commitment to talking all actions within its powers to prevent the harassment of women attending their local clinic.

We urge the government to follow the example set by Ealing Council, take responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of women seeking abortion care, and put forward legislation to introduce buffer zones as a matter of urgency.
Australias prime minister said yesterday that he was confident that government lawmakers would win a court challenge this week that threatens his administrations slender majority.

Seven High Court judges will decide whether seven lawmakers should be disqualified from Parliament because of a constitutional ban on dual citizens being elected. The three-day hearing begins today.

The fate of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is most crucial to the government in an unprecedented political crisis.

If the court rules that he was illegally elected in July last year due to New Zealand citizenship he unknowingly inherited from his father, the ruling conservative coalition could lose its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where governments are formed.

Joyce could stand in a by-election, having renounced his Kiwi citizenship. But with the government unpopular in opinion polls, voters in his rural electoral division could take the opportunity to throw both the deputy prime minister and his administration out of office.

Two of the six senators under a cloud are government ministers. Fiona Nash inherited British citizenship from her father and Matt Canavan became an Italian through an Australian-born mother with Italian parents. Disqualified senators can be replaced by members of the same party without need for an election.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has given no indication of what his government would do if the court rules against any of the three ministers.

The government, based on the legal advice we have from the solicitor-general, is confident that the [deputy prime minister] and the other two senators, Nash and Canavan, will be found not to be disqualified from sitting in the Parliament, Turnbull told reporters.

But several constitutional lawyers are less confident that the government lawmakers will survive the court scrutiny. Decisions made by illegally elected ministers could also face court challenges, although laws passed by the votes of ineligible lawmakers would not be changed.

The courts have been pretty strict about this in the past and certainly havent been terribly sympathetic to the I didnt know argument, Sydney University constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said.

Given that theyre confronted with so many people who seem to have the problem, maybe theyll think that they need to do something about it, who knows? she added.

Public attention has focused on lawmakers eligibility since July 14, when Scott Ludlam, the then-deputy leader of the minor Greens party, revealed he was still a Kiwi and had been unlawfully elected to the Australian Senate three times since 2007. The other six lawmakers soon discovered they were also dual nationals.

Three parliamentary investigations recommended in the 1980s and 1990s that the prohibition on dual citizens be removed from the constitution through a national referendum.

But successive governments have failed to act, perhaps because of the difficulty in persuading Australians to change their constitution. Of the 44 referendums Australia has held since 1901, only eight have been carried, and none since 1977.

George Williams, Dean of Law at the University of New South Wales, said the dual citizen ban effectively allowed the citizenship laws of other countries to determine who could stand for the Australian Parliament. Rod McGuirk, Canberra, AP
A n NHS worker who suffered a fractured lower spine after a colleague yanked her chair away in a spur of the moment prank is suing hospital bosses for 58,000 in compensation.

Meeta Patel, 29, landed heavily onto the floor when her pharmacist colleague Rashid Khan whipped the seat away as she went to sit down.

Mr Khan insisted that it had been a random act for a joke but Ms Patel suffered a badly injured coccyx, Central London county court heard.

Ms Patel is suing bosses at Homerton University Hospital, claiming the hospital should bear responsibility for Mr Khans actions.

To this day, I still dont really know why I did it, Mr Khan told the court. I think I thought it would be funny and I thought she would laugh. It was an unexplained spur of the moment decision, which I now very much regret. He said he and Ms Patel had always got on well and that he believed she had noticed the chair being pulled away.

We always managed to add some humour in the office, he said.

Abigail Holt, Ms Patels barrister, said she had been so engrossed in her work that she had no chance to spot the chair being moved in the incident in August 2012.

In moving the chair the moment before Mr Khan knew she was about to sit down, he committed an obvious breach of the duty of care that he owed Ms Patel as a fellow employee, she said.

Homerton University Hospital NHS foundation trust denies liability for the accident, insisting that Mr Khans motives remain unclear and that what he did was not part of his job.

The hearing, before Judge Heather Baucher QC, continues.
T he architects who created New Yorks High Line have been tasked with designing the planned Centre for Music that will become home to Sir Simon Rattles London Symphony Orchestra.

The Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) studio, which helped to transform the disused rail line in Manhattan into an urban park, will work with UK architects, acoustics experts and theatre designers on the building at London Wall.

Sir Simon said the announcement was an exciting step forward for the planned concert hall, which will be built on the site of the current Museum of London.

He said: I am sure this outstanding design team will deliver plans for an exceptional new place for the enjoyment and understanding of music that is welcoming and open to all.

It will be DS+Rs first building in the UK, but they have worked across the United States, South America, Russia and China. They are currently working on a new arts centre in New York as well as renovating the citys Museum of Modern Art.

DS+R partner Elizabeth Diller said: The new building will meet the needs of artists and audiences today with a keen eye toward the future. It will be sensitive to the inherited character of the Barbican and its vital role in Culture Mile while directly engaging the contemporary urban life of the city. We aspire to make a hub where people want to spend their time, with or without a ticket.

The City of London Corporation gave 2.5 million to fund a detailed business case and made the land available after the museum moves to its new home at West Smithfield.

The development is being led by the LSO, the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. A concept design for the building will be submitted to the City of London Corporation by December next year.
S outhwark Council was today facing calls for an urgent independent inquiry after it emerged a woman jailed over the London July 21 bomb plot was given a high-profile job.

Mulumebet Girma, 33, rose through the ranks and was even put on the cover of a council magazine after failing to disclose her criminal past when applying for the position.

The Ethiopian former model was jailed in 2008 for 10 years for helping brother-in-law Hussain Osman flee after his plot to kill Tube passengers, two weeks after the July 7 attacks killed 52 people.

She hid him at her home in Brighton before he fled the country, and did not report the plot to the police.

Her sentence was reduced to five years on appeal, and in 2013 she was recruited by the Labour-run south London local authority as a trainee customer services assistant, The Sun reported.

The Ethiopian former model was jailed in 2008 for 10 years for helping brother-in-law Hussain Osman flee after his plot to kill Tube passengers

Details of her convictions are easily discoverable online with a simple search.

Girma became a systems and performance analyst in the housing department, and even was a poster girl for the council, which put her on the cover of Southwark Housing News to promote an apprenticeship scheme.

Liberal Democrat councillor Anood Al-Samerai, leader of Southwarks main opposition party, called it particularly shocking.

She said: Clearly something has gone very wrong. There must be an urgent independent inquiry. We are very concerned that the HR processes seem to have failed completely.

It makes you wonder what else they have not picked up on?

She said they have had concerns that the council had outsourced a lot of its HR work in recent years, and added: The council holds a lot of data about very vulnerable people. It is really important that they now have a look very closely at all the checks that should have been done.

Southwark Tory councillor Michael Mitchell added: This is a truly shocking blunder. Allowing someone with that background to work with potentially vulnerable clients is an entirely avoidable risk. Its a huge error.

Senior staff said she was not given any access to police watch list information and a review of her computer usage uncovered nothing suspicious.

The council said she has now been sacked.

Chief executive Eleanor Kelly said: The individual concerned no longer works for Southwark Council.

As soon as her background came to light we took immediate action and terminated her employment. She did not disclose her full offence to the council.

During her employment this individual never had access to police watch list data.

We have fully reviewed her activity while she was employed at the council, including her computer usage, and no wrongdoing was uncovered.

We have also undertaken a robust review of our processes and procedures in light of this incident.
M odern slavery is a barbaric crime. Each and every case is both a tragedy and an affront to our values of decency and kindness.

With the creation of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015, this Government threw a light on this truly horrific form of abuse and exploitation. This landmark piece of legislation represented a step change in the way we pursue offenders and identify and support victims.

But each day the Evening Standards excellent investigation into modern slavery highlights further examples of exploitation, which serve as a reminder of how much more there is to do. These stories can often feel far removed from our daily lives. But the truth is that we are all connected to modern slavery; and we all bear the solemn responsibility of seeing it wiped out.

It is troubling that modern slavery can be hidden in the supply chains of goods and services we use every day, and that the money we spend could be driving demand for slavery.

The International Labour Organisation now estimates that there are more than 40 million people in slavery worldwide today. What that means is that modern slavery should be a pressing concern for all businesses  and for all consumers.

We know that if businesses are not taking serious and sustained action to check their supply chains, then they could be profiting from slave labour  whether its on their premises or in a factory thousands of miles away.

The Modern Slavery Acts transparency in supply chains provision requires businesses to publish an annual statement outlining what steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery. I am encouraged by the thousands of statements published, which set out a range of innovative activity.

Nonetheless, many businesses need to be more proactive and even those who are already taking action should think about what more they could do.

I want to see businesses identifying where the highest risks of modern slavery are and taking targeted steps to address those risks.

That is why I was proud to chair the first Business Against Slavery forum yesterday, which brought together chief executives from a range of sectors to discuss how we could accelerate progress to tackle this.

We know that collaboration is crucial. Even the largest businesses might not have enough leverage to change a supply chain on their own. But when businesses work together they can effect real, meaningful, sustained change.

The Ethical Trading Initiative has brought textile brands and retailers together with spinning mills, NGOs and local government in Tamil Nadu in India to improve working conditions and empower vulnerable young women caught in debt bondage.

In addition, many businesses have expertise which could be brought to the fight directly. For example, the ILO estimates that modern slavery generates $150 billion (114 billion) in illicit profits each year. This money is not hidden under the mattress. So banks have an important role to play in identifying the financial footprint left by modern slavery and stopping perpetrators from laundering their proceeds.

How to spot the signs of slavery

Business can also support the victims of modern slavery. The Co-op Group and the charity City Hearts have launched the Bright Future programme, which offers survivors paid work placements, with the possibility of full-time employment at the end. Opportunities like this can help victims rebuild their lives, reintegrate them into society and reduce the risk of their being re-trafficked.

So the challenge for all businesses is to think creatively about what role they could play. And the challenge for all of us is to motivate those businesses through our role as consumers.

This Government will do everything in its power to pursue the despicable criminals behind modern slavery and protect their victims. In April we invested 2 million in the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and granted it new powers. Since then, 28 operations have identified 621 workers suffering abuse and led to 40 arrests.

The National Crime Agency has also intensified enforcement activity as part of Operation Aidant. Recent work has targeted key industries in the UK where vulnerable people are enslaved, including car washes and agriculture.

Meanwhile the Modern Slavery Taskforce, created and led by the Prime Minister, brings together criminal justice experts, security services and law enforcement to drive forward the domestic and global response. This sends a clear message: those who profit from modern slavery will have nowhere to hide. We will investigate and expose them, and we will safeguard victims and bring offenders to justice.

But we can only truly succeed by working together, with Government, businesses, NGOs and consumers all playing their part to consign slavery to history, where it belongs.
M Ps joined activists for a cannabis tea party yards from Westminster Palace amid calls for the drug to be legalised for medicinal use.

Campaigners smoked cannabis and ate cakes and scones laced with marijuana as they told ministers how it could help those suffering from chronic conditions including multiple sclerosis.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran joined Labour MPs at the event in support of the cause.

The representative for Oxford West and Abingdon admitted taking the now class B drug whilst at university but insisted she no longer did.

Speaking out: Labour MP Paul Flynn / PA

According to the Daily Mail she said: I don't any more, I'm a grown up now, but for god's sake.

Taking a swipe at Theresa Mays naughtiest moment, the 35-year-old joked: 'I've never run in a wheat field, that I can say.

Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and Paul Flynn who are trying to get cannabis made legal for sufferers of conditions like Parkinson's and MS were also pictured at the event.

Protest: Campaigners called for cannabis to be legalised for medicinal use / AFP/Getty Images

It came as veteran lawmaker Mr Flynn called on the ministers to vote to legalise the drug for medicinal purposes.

Speaking at the protest he declined to try a cannabis scone and said: I've got to make a speech at 2pm."

He later told the Commons the "tide of world opinion" was moving towards legalising the class B substance which he described as the "oldest medicine in the world".

Campaigners: A man smokes cannabis during a tea party outside the Houses of Parliament / EPA

He acknowledged cannabis side effects exist but said there had been "no problems" that have arisen in countries which have legalised the drug for medicinal purposes.

Mr Flynn said: "If we do legalise drugs we reduce the side effects by taking the market out of the hands of the criminals and the scammers, and put it into a legal market that can be run by doctors on medical priorities."

Moving tales: A woman reads notes with people's thoughts about the use of cannabis for medical purposes / AP

Moving his Legalisation of Cannabis (Medicinal Purposes) via a 10-minute rule motion, the former frontbencher said he had the support of the MS Society and two Police and Crime Commissioners for the move.

Mr Flynn said: "It's time for us, I believe, to lead public opinion rather than follow it.

"I believe it would be an act of compassion and courage for us today to pass this Bill and allow the change - and it's a very minor change - moving the cannabis from schedule one to schedule two, because at the moment the law says that cannabis has no beneficial effects and we all know it does."

The Newport West MP dubbed the legislation the "Elizabeth Brice Bill" after the multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferer who campaigned as Clare Hodges for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis before her death in 2011.

He was given permission to bring in his Bill and he asked for it to be given a second reading on February 23.

It is unlikely to become law in its current form without Government support or sufficient parliamentary time.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
T heresa May has admitted she cannot guarantee the status of UK nationals living in other EU countries if Britain fails to strike a deal with Brussels.

An estimated 1.2 million people would be affected if a withdrawal deal is not reached.

The Prime Minister also warned that rights held by more than three million EU nationals in the UK could "fall away" if the hoped-for agreement is not sealed by the date of Brexit in March 2019.

Answering questions from callers on an LBC radio phone-in, Mrs May was challenged by a woman from north London called Nina, who has been in the UK for 30 years, over whether the PM could guarantee her right to stay following Brexit.

Mrs May said she wanted people like Nina to be able to remain and was seeking agreement with the remaining 27 EU states on reciprocal rights for Britons living on the continent.

Theresa May's Brexit statement in 90 seconds

But she said: "The point is that there are certain rights that pertain to somebody who is an EU citizen here in the UK by virtue of being an EU citizen - things like benefits they are able to access in relation to their home country and in relation to the UK.

"Some of those issues would fall away if there was no deal because there wouldn't be agreement between us and the EU about how those things would be looked at, so we would have to look at these issues separately in a no deal scenario."

Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest 1 /16 Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest Demonstrators head towards Parliament Square. REUTERS Signs include 'I love EU' REUTERS The pro-EU march began in Hyde Park Corner. Si Carrington 'NHS? Brexit Wrexit' Oliver Day The march took protesters through the streets of London. Oliver Day One protester brought along a papier mache Queen, in reference to the blue and yellow hat she wore at the State Opening of Parliament. Peter Bailey 'Exit Brexit' Jonathan Hawley The September sun shone as activists marched through the streets. Martin Tod Roads were blocked during the protest. Maggie Jones The campaigners set off shortly after 11am from Hyde Park Corner. Maggie Jones The rally saw the activists march through the streets of central London. Johann Ketel EU colours of blue and yellow were seen throughout the march. Judi Conner

And on the status of British nationals in Europe if no deal is reached, Mrs May added: "We don't know what would happen to them. The EU member states would have to consider what their approach would be to those UK citizens.

"By definition, if there isn't a deal we won't have been able to agree with the EU what happens to UK citizens currently living in countries like Spain and Italy and other members of the EU."

Mrs May made clear on Monday that the Government is making active preparations for a "no deal" scenario, publishing policy papers setting out how Britain would deal with trade and customs arrangements if no agreement is reached.

But European Council president Donald Tusk said that Brussels was making no plans for what would happen if talks fail and Britain crashes out without a deal.
T he conservatives look too old and white to win over London voters, the Scottish party leader Ruth Davidson says in an explosive intervention today.

The woman who led a Tory revival in Scotland argues that Conservatives in London need to copy her by showing real differentiation from the national party.

Writing in tonights Evening Standard, she urges them to have a separate manifesto in future, plus a bespoke election campaign fronted by Londoners who reflect the capitals diverse population and ambition.

We also need to look and sound like the people we want to represent, said Ms Davidson. While we do much better at this at a community level, I would argue that, nationally, the Conservative party still looks fairly old and very white.

Her warning comes at a time senior Conservatives in London are saying they risk long-term decline in the capital without urgent action.

They lost four seats to Labour in the general election, including Kensington and Chelsea, and are braced for heavy losses of councillors in Mays 32 borough elections.

Senior Tories even fear losing control of flagship local authorities including Margaret Thatchers favourite council, Wandsworth, which could go Labour, and Westminster.

Ms Davidson led the Scottish Conservatives in an astonishing turnaround, from a lowly fourth place north of the border to their best Westminster results since 1983.

The 38-year-old said London Tories would also succeed by reflecting the concerns of local people rather than echoing the message from the centre. With a city that is more liberal, diverse, constantly growing, younger and more multi-cultural than the UK as a whole, the Conservative message needs to reflect the aspirations of Londoners, she writes. The message carriers need to reflect those whose votes they are courting.

She revealed it was vital to her success in June that Scottish Tories had their own manifesto, which was shorn of policy disasters like Theresa Mays dementia tax and cuts to winter fuel allowance.

The differences werent a rebuke to the offering for other parts of the UK, they were simply a demonstration that wed put genuine thought into Scotlands needs, she writes.

London Conservatives need to look more like London, rather than indistinguishable from the national brand, if they are to avoid defeat and succeed.

In an interview with the Standard last week, London MEP Syed Kamall warned that the party could be left with no safe seats in London if it failed to modernise. He hailed Ms Davidsons successful strategy in Scotland as the way forward.

Senior party sources told the Evening Standard that the party was already campaigning for the borough elections, with pan-London action days in Wandsworth and other key boroughs.

The vice-chair for London, Stephen Hammond, is overseeing 32 separate borough campaigns and has ruled that can be no no-go areas in the five Labour-dominated councils that currently have zero Conservative members.

The party also aims to reassure European Union citizens, who can vote in local elections, that their rights are being protected.

The key Tory battlegrounds are Wandsworth, where Labour could gain control, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, plus Kingston and Richmond where the Liberal Democrats aim to make gains.
J ohn Humphrys has sparked a furious backlash and calls for him to resign after he suggested "the scales have been tipped a little too far" in favour of victims in sexual assault cases.

The Today programme host, 74, was interviewing the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, when he made remarks this morning, which prompted an angry backlash from campaign groups.

The pair were discussing the findings of a report, published today by the Crown Prosecution Service, which suggests a record number of people in England and Wales are being prosecuted for sexual offences.

Humphrys went on to say that the "problem" with sexual assault cases is that the accused person is named publicly while alleged victims are provided with anonymity, claiming there was "at least, anecdotally" evidence of a rise in the number of false claims.

He also suggested it was "regrettable" that former British Prime Minister Edward Heath's reputation had been "besmirched" by recent child sex abuse allegations.

Listeners hit out at Humphrys, calling his line of questioning "wholly inappropriate" and saying he "should do mandatory training or be retired".

The EVAW (End Violence Against Women) campaign tweeted: "Stop Humphrys doing these [interviews], they're not "sex cases", they're sexual assaults & "anecdote" isn't basis for presuming false [allegation]".

Ms. Saunders described a review of 5,500 sexual assault and rape cases which had found only a "small minority" made false or malicious accusations, to which Humphrys responded: "And were these women prosecuted?"

"We do prosecute people for false and malicious allegations and have done so in the past. These people receive heavy sentences, quite rightly, to reflect the seriousness of the their claims."

"But the concern of some people," Humphrys said, "is that the scales have been tipped a little too far in one direction."

Ms. Saunders clarified: "I don't think so. I think the fact that we are seeing more convictions than ever before belies that. We still see a lower conviction rate for rape and serious sexual offences compared to other crimes, which suggests there is probably still a long way for us to go to improve."

The CPS's annual report revealed that one in five cases brought before it are alleged sex crimes and domestic abuse offences. The rate of convictions for VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) crimes had also increased, from 69 per cent in 2007-08 to 75.3 per cent this year.
C atalan president Carles Puigdemont has said he has a mandate to declare independence from Spain - but will delay the process.

In a highly-anticipated speech on Tuesday evening, he said he was suspending the declaration of independence in order to negotiate a solution with Madrid.

Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament the disputed referendum vote, in which 90 per cent backed independence, gave them the grounds to break free from Spain.

But Madrid said the vote was illegal and it was suspended by the countrys constitutional court.

Supporters of Catalan independence listen to Carles Puigdemont's speech broadcasted on a television screen in Barcelona / AFP/Getty Images

He said: "I assume the mandate that Catalonia should become an independent state in the form of a republic... I propose suspending the effects of the declaration of independence to undertake talks to reach an agreed solution.

He added: "It has become obvious that it is not an internal issues any longer. Catalonia is now an European matter."

He said he is "not planning any threats or any insults" but instead wants to "de-escalate the tension".

Mr Puigdemont's speech was highly critical of the Spanish government's response to the referendum but he said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.

Catalonia crisis explained in 60 seconds

"We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he said.

At the end of his speech, Mr Puigdemont was applauded by standing separatist lawmakers.

The opposition leader in Catalonia's parliament said Mr Puigdemont's statement that he has a mandate to declare independence from Spain "is a coup" and has no support in Europe.

Ines Arrimadas of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party said the majority of Catalans feel they are Catalans, Spanish and European, and that they will not let regional officials "break their hearts".
P olice have made a significant change to the timeline of the Las Vegas mass shooting, saying the gunman shot a hotel security guard before he opened fire on concertgoers.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo had previously said the guard was shot after gunman Stephen Paddock fired at the country music festival and that the guard's arrival in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel may have caused Paddock to stop firing.

It was not immediately clear why the timeline of the shooting changed and what the impact could be on the investigation.

On Monday, Mr Lombardo said security guard Jesus Campos was in a hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel responding to a report of an open door when he heard drilling from the room of 64-year-old Paddock.

Las Vegas Shooting - In pictures 1 /18 Las Vegas Shooting - In pictures People run for cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival Getty Images Concertgoers carry a person away Getty Images Police officers telling people to take cover near the scene AP Broken windows seen on a high floor in the Mandalay Bay hotel facing the scene of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA Concertgoers scramble for shelter Getty Images Festival-goers run while ducking for cover Getty Images A police officer takes cover behind a patrol vehicle AP A couple comfort each other Getty Images Las Vegas police stand guard along the streets outside the festival grounds of the Route 91 Harvest Getty Images Concertgoers fleeing Getty The crowd at the festival Getty Images Concertgoers fleeing Getty Images A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip AP Police and rescue personnel gather at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard Getty Images

Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security officials, Mr Lombardo said.

A few minutes later, Paddock began a 10-minute massacre that killed 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Authorities also said on Monday that Paddock targeted aviation fuel tanks, stocked his car with explosives and had personal protection gear as part of an escape plan.

Paddock had power tools and was attempting to drill a hole in an adjacent wall, perhaps to mount another camera or to point a rifle through, but he never completed the work, Mr Lombardo said.

He also drilled holes and bolted a metal bar to try to prevent the opening of an emergency exit staircase door near the door of his room.

Mr Lombardo again expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation, but not with the investigators who have yet to pinpoint the motive behind the shooter's decision to fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino on a Las Vegas Strip concert crowd of 22,000 on October 1.

"It's because this individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Mr Lombardo said.

"We believe he decided to take the lives he did and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."

There is still no evidence Paddock was motivated by ideology, or that there was another shooter, he said.

Investigators have found 200 incidents of Paddock moving through the city, and at no time was he with anyone else, Mr Lombardo said.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the victims and other concertgoers who survived returned to the scene on Monday to reclaim prams, shoes, phones, backpacks and purses left behind in the panic as they fled.

The personal effects being recovered were strewn across the massive grassy concert venue where country music fans attended the Route 91 Harvest festival have become sentimental memories of loved ones for some and haunting reminders of the night of terror for others.
French carmaker Renault said Friday that half of its models will be electric or hybrid by 2022 and its investing heavily in robo-vehicles with increasing degrees of autonomy.

A strategic plan released Friday aims to boost Renault annual revenues to 70 billion euros (USD82.2 billion) by 2022 from 51 billion euros last year, in part through an effort to double sales outside its traditional markets in Europe  especially Russia and China.

The plans reflect the vision laid out last month by the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance, the worlds No. 1 carmaker by sales. Many of Renaults new aims depend on saving money through sharing platforms and development with Nissan and Mitsubishi.

CEO Carlos Ghosn said Renault is aiming to sell more than 5 million vehicles annually by 2022 from 3.2 million last year. The plan relies in part on boosting low-cost car production in emerging markets, notably with the Dacia Logan and Kwid mini-SUV.

As regulators crack down on emissions from combustion engines and as drivers seek cars that can do more by themselves, Ghosn wants to position Renault as a major player in mass-market electric and driverless cars.

We are confident we can turn upcoming [] challenges into significant business opportunities for Renault, he said.

The company pledged to offer eight purely electric vehicle models and 12 hybrid models by 2022, compared with its 19 diesel or gasoline models sold worldwide, Ghosn said.

The worlds major carmakers are rethinking their strategies to profit from pivotal changes in the industry: autonomous cars, connected cars that share data, car-sharing where you dont own a vehicle but order one by app, and low-emissions vehicles demanded by the European Union to fight climate change and by China, where many cities are fighting rampant pollution.

Investing in electric vehicles has hurt profitability in the past, but Ghosn says that should change as they grow in scale. He said electric cars are turning into a significant contributor to our performance while other automakers are just starting the journey.

Ghosn said Renault would retrain 13,000 people over the next five years to adapt to changing markets.

Renault is aiming to produce 2 million cars per year outside Europe compared with 750,000 cars in 2016, with a heavy push in Russia as its economy picks up.

Asked about challenges to Renaults activity in Iran amid the possibility that the U.S. could reintroduce sanctions, Ghosn said: Obviously if it becomes impossible to deal with Iran we will put a plan together for the suspension of our business there, but thats not at all to say that we will leave Iran.

Renault was active in Iran before the West imposed sanctions over its nuclear program and was among the first major companies to relaunch its Iranian business when the sanctions were lifted after the 2015 accord to curb Irans nuclear activities.

Ghosn insisted that Irans market has major potential. If we cant work there immediately, then we will work there in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years because I dont think that this is a situation that can last forever. Jeffrey Schaeffer, Angela Charlton, AP
A young businessman who risked his life to witness Rohingya ghettos in Burma today called on Londoners to donate to the Red Cross as he set out to raise awareness of the crisis.

James Lavender, 24, spent time in September in Rakhine state, where it is alleged the military has carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim Rohingya people.

Mr Lavender, the founder of social enterprise incubator IDEAS Globally, was in Burmas old capital, Yangon, launching a scheme for tech entrepreneurs and felt he could not be there and ignore what was going on.

Led by a guide, he managed to access a Rohingya village banned to foreigners and media.

Mr Lavender, who is to give a talk at University College London on his experiences, said: When we were driving to the Rohingya village it was so dangerous and we were passed by convoys of armoured cars every five minutes. I had to find someone who was willing to help me navigate the various checkpoints to get there.

James Lavender has urged Londoners to donate to the Red Cross.

"The Rohingya are being enclosed and labelled and without any chance to move around. If they leave and go into the little town nearby, they will be killed on sight by the local people. This happened to four people the week before I arrived there, I was told.

This means there are no jobs. There was an old man just sitting in a chair dying because he couldnt get any medicine. Some of the children are looking after babies because others are not able to. There was very little food.

I asked the leader what they needed and he replied jobs. I thought it was incredible and heartbreaking at the same time. I thought these guys were in the depth of suffering and still had a sense of pride and want to earn the basic provisions and not be given them. I asked if they could defend themselves and my translator got very angry and said, No, we have no knives, no weapons, we are peaceful. He was saying they would rather die than impune their name in Myanmar [Burma].

Despite international headlines, Mr Lavender said the Red Cross was the only charity he came across making an impact in providing food to cut-off Rohingya areas. He said: The only organisation that had not left was the Red Cross. The night before I came one of their boats was attacked by Rakhine Buddhists because it was taking supplies to the Rohingya.

More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. The Red Cross has joined the UN and other organisations in providing shelter to the refugees there. After donating 25,000 to the cause, the City of London Corporation has appealed to businesses to follow its example. Mr Lavender will speak at 6pm on October 25 at UCL.

More details at facebook.com/ideasglobally.
A man accused of tricking a woman into flying to Amsterdam for a cruel pull a pig prank says he is the victim of a witch hunt.

Heartbroken Sophie Stevenson claims she spent 350 on a 400-mile trip to the Dutch capital after meeting Jesse Mateman while on holiday in Barcelona.

The 24-year-old says she was stood up when she arrived at the airport and, when she got to her hotel, received a text message saying: You were pigged.

Mr Mateman, 21, has now come forward, claiming the "whole story is fully invented.

"I do not know that whole game... I'm just being broken here," he told Dutch website Metro.

He claimed that his parents and sister feel threatened, adding "it's a witch hunt".

He said: We actually met in Barcelona, but I never had a romance with her. Ive been in the hotel room with her, but I never slept with her.

We are or were not in love, as suggested After Barcelona, I did not have any telephone contact with her.

"In fact, I wonder if Sophie has been at Schiphol [Airport] anyway. I have no idea.

Miss Stevenson previously told The Sun that she believed she was involved in a proper romance" after pair slept together during the summer.

She claimed the pair stayed in touch, and talked about having a long term relationship.

However when she travelled to see Mr Mateman she received the you were pigged text message, alongside two pig images and a laughing face emoji.

The devastated young woman said: Pulling a pig is where a guy tries to pull the fat, ugly girl. I felt sick.

"I was so upset I changed my flights and headed home the next morning."
D onald Trump has pledged to support California in this time of terrible tragedy after devastating wildfires left at least 15 people dead.

The president said he talked with Governor Jerry Brown to "let him know that the federal government will stand with the people of California. We will be there for you in this time of terrible tragedy and need".

More than 100 people have been injured and at least 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by the wildfires in northern California.

Mr Brown said the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded promptly to California's request for help.

A car sits in the middle of property destroyed from fires at Journey's End mobile home park in Santa Rosa / AP

He declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties and requested a presidential major disaster declaration to help battle at least 18 blazes burning throughout the state.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Remains of a burned property is seen along Highway 12 during the Nuns Fire in Sonoma / REUTERS

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away.

Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing-person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.

A wildfire burns in California's Napa valley / AP

Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a far larger and more developed city than usually finds itself at the mercy of a wildfire.

The city is home to 175,000 residents, including the wine-country wealthy and the working class.

California is plagued by wildfires

The flames were unforgiving to both groups. Hundreds of homes of all sizes were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass in cars and turned aluminium wheels into liquid.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry, who runs an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa, was forced to flee in minutes with his wife, two daughters and a son just over two weeks old.

A home is engulfed in flames in Napa / AP

"I can't shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barrelled down on us," Mr Lowry said.

The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures to the fire.

Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled when flames reached one side of the centre's sprawling campus in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen.

The sun rises as flames from a wildfire burn on Monday / AP

Crews got the more than 200 people out of the threatened buildings, one firefighter said, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.

Fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides. Fire engines raced by smouldering roadside landscaping in search of higher priorities.

The flames were fickle in some corners of the city. One hillside home remained unscathed while a dozen surrounding it were destroyed.

A large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area. Two were in critical condition and one was in serious condition.
T he Last Jedi trailer has dropped after months of anticipation - and it has left Star Wars fans questioning whether Rey is about to make a move to the Dark Side.

The two minute teaser sparked a flurry of fan theories after it was aired at half-time during the NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears in Chicago, before being shared on the franchise's Twitter page.

The latest instalment follows on from 2015s The Force Awakens which saw dark warrior Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) attempt to recruit Rey (Daisy Ridley) before wrapping up with her face-to-face encounter with Mark Hamills Luke Skywalker.

The Last Jedi trailer sees Rey brandishing a lightsaber as she trains with Skywalker, telling him: Something inside of me has always been there, but now its awake and I need help.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - In pictures 1 /49 Star Wars: The Last Jedi - In pictures Daisy Ridley as Rey in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm John Boyega as finn battling with Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Carrie Fisher as General Leia in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca and a Porg in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Daisy Ridley as Rey in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) Carrie Fisher as General Leia in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm John Boyega as Finn in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Adam Driver as Kylo Ren 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017)) LucasFilm Adam Driver as Kylo Ren 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Porg in 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Adam Driver as Kylo Ren 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Daisy Ridley as Rey in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Daisy Ridley as Rey in ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) AP Daisy Ridley as Rey in ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm John Boyega as Finn with Kelly Marie Tran as Rose in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm John Boyega as Finn with Kelly Marie Tran as Rose in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm BB-8 in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm Daisy Ridley as Rey in ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017) LucasFilm

Skywalker replies: Ive seen this raw streak only once before. It didnt scare me enough then  it does now.

But the trailer teases a turn to the Dark Side for Rey as it wraps up with Kylo Ren extending his hand to the young Jakku scavenger as she begs: I need someone to show me my place in all this.

The teaser also sees Supreme Leader Snoke, tell Kylo Ren: When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special.

First look: The new poster for the hotly-anticpated film (Lucas Film)

Kylo Ren then battles with whether or not to destroy a spaceship carrying his mother, General Leia Organa, after previously killing his father Han Solo in The Force Awakens.

The trailer also features John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron and the late Carrie Fisher as Leia. The film will also star Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO.

Fans deemed the trailer 'the greatest ever made' with many hailing it as epic.

One fan tweeted: The new Star Wars trailer is f****** epic i seriously cant wait to see this movie #TheLastJedi.

Another posted: I just want to break out all of my old Star Wars toys and be 7 years old again. That trailer was amazing. #TheLastJedi.

The film is slated for UK cinema release on December 14.
T he woman at the centre of the pull a pig story has hit back against claims shes lying about the cruel prank in a candid interview on This Morning.

Sophie Stevenson told presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that she was "upset" by accusations that shed fabricated the story.

It upsets me more. The only reason Ive said about this - its humiliating - I dont want this to happen to other girls, she said.

Stevenson claims to have been the victim of a nasty joke in which Dutch student Jesse Mateman invited her to meet up with him in Amsterdam only to fail to turn up, sending her a text explaining she had been pigged.

The 24-year-old told explained that shed messaged Mateman everyday since originally getting to know him while on holiday in Barcelona.

We would message every day from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep, she said.

She then described her disappointment after she travelled to Amsterdam to see the Dutchman but he failed to show up at the airport to meet her.

"I waited two and a half hours [for him]. I tried to call him and message him. He blocked me already which I thought was weird. After about 20 minutes I started panicking," she said.

Around the World in TV Shows 1 /6 Around the World in TV Shows p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17 Walter Presents p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17

Stevenson also detailed how Mateman had only got in touch with her several hours later, to tell her it was all a joke.

So, about 11.30pm at night, he finally messaged me back. It said youve been pigged. Its all been a joke. I paused for a minute and thought what. I replied and said, how can you be so cruel and then he blocked me. It instantly made me feel sick.

But Mateman has denied Stevensons account, telling press that the story was 'rubbish' and the accusations have ruined his life.

In a statement, he said: This is fantasist rubbish and its ruined my life. After Barcelona I have had no phone contact with her.

His lawyer added: Jesse denies playing the pulling a pig game. He has no recollection of sending a text saying pulling a pig.

This Morning continues weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
H it war drama Our Girl returns to screens for a third series with Michelle Keegan back as army medic Georgie Lane.

After a successful five-episode run last year, the BBC has decided to more than double the offering, with a the third series of 12 episodes.

And this time the 2-Section squad is off to Nepal to help out in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Here's what to expect from the series three.

1. There will be 12 episodes in total  aired in three blocks

While its true that series three will be longer, theres a catch. The 12 episode run will be split up into three chunks of four shows, with each focusing on a different mission.

The first follows Georgie Lane and co to Nepal, while the second sees them head to the Belize/Guatemalan border, and the final will be based on the Myanmar/Bangladesh border  the area that's currently at the centre of a mass exodus of Rohingya people.

Old flame: Luke Pasqualino in character / BBC/Marcos Cruz

3. The first tour sees Georgie head to Nepal

In a slight change from the war zones of previous series, this time 2-Section is deployed to Nepal on a humanitarian mission to assist in the aftermath of an Earthquake.

So far so straightforward, except its not long until the gang get involved with the issue of child-trafficking in the area. Plus, there's a potential new romance for our heroine on the cards, which could prove interesting when ex-boyfriend Elvis Harte (Luke Pasqualino) inevitably arrives on the scene.

2. Elvis and Georgies romance will be in the spotlight again

The finale of last years series saw Lane turn her back on the love triangle between her ex-boyfriend Harte and then fiance Jamie Cole, and head off on her own.

But as Lane discovers, its not that easy to escape her past with Harte. He just so happens to be on the same mission to Nepal as the medic, and the pairs chemistry shows no sign of abating.

Keegan has teased a 'bust up' between the pair, saying it was her 'favourite scene to film'.

"We have a row where theres a lot of frustration and a lot of jealousy but the love is still there. It was a great scene to film," she explained.

4. Filming took place in Kathmandu and Cape Town

The cast and crew headed out to areas of Nepal's Kathmandu that had been affected by the huge 2015 earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured almost 22,000.

Scenes from the upcoming series were even filmed in a village that had been affected by the quake.

2-Section: this year the unit will be stationed in Nepal on a disaster relief mission / BBC/Steve Brown

Producers also called upon the local community to get involved, with a villager even playing a local child in the show.

Some locations in South Africas Cape Town were also used as stand-ins for locations in Nepal.

5. Theres some new recruits including specialist driver Maisie

While were waving goodbye to Lane's ex-fiance Cole, and the original 'our girl' Lacey Turner is still yet to make a comeback, there will be some new faces joining 2-Section.

First up theres free-spirit Maisie Richards (Shalom Brune-Franklin)  a specialist driver, whose reckless approach could land her in trouble with Captain James.

Viewers ill soon discover she's also got history with Harte, which we imagine wont endear her to Lane.

Theres new recruit Rab too, who causes a stir by out-smarting Brains, and a fresh love interest for Lane  Milan (Rudi Dharmalingam), a Nepalese engineer who catches her eye.

Our Girl returns Tuesday, October 14 at 9pm on BBC One.
G ood Morning Britain host Susanna Reid was forced to apologise after a guest dropped an 'f-bomb' while being interviewed live on Good Morning Britain.

Dutch student Noa Jansma was appearing on Tuesdays episode of the breakfast show to discuss her Instagram page @dearcatcallers when she used the world 'm**********'.

Jansma was explaining the abusive nature of some of the comments she has received since starting the account, which shames men who cat-call women in the street.

She told the hosts: I made this project about respect and how you behave with the people on the street, you just treat them in an equal way and then there are these comments that say, yeah, you should respect everyone and then also this m********** should die.

Rude remark: Susanna Reid apologised after a guest swore on-air during an episode of GMB / ITV

Reid responded by apologising for the term Jansma had used, telling viewers: Apologies for the use of that language on television but thats an example of the sort of thing people have been posting.

The presenter told Jansma that she identified with her situation, saying: Cat-calling was a phenomena that was weird from a young age.

Meanwhile her co-host Piers Morgan commented that he felt some of the behaviour Jansma documented in her project was harmless.

I think most people know where the line is. Youve definitely got a valid point. I only felt slightly for the guys, that really is that worth exposing them for? Some of the examples to me seem harmless.

The biggest and best TV shows of 2017 1 /13 The biggest and best TV shows of 2017 Doctor Who The classic sci-fi show got a new lease of life with new companion Bill Potts BBC Line of Duty The BBC's acclaimed crime drama moved up to BBC One with more twists than ever before World Productions / BBC / Aidan Monaghan Broadchurch Chris Chibnall's mystery drama came to a close with a compelling final series ITV The Moorside Sheridan Smith puts in a stellar performance as she returns to TV in the BBC's Shannon Matthews drama Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC Apple Tree Yard Emily Watson starred in the BBC's gripping psychological thriller BBC/Kudos/Nick Briggs Fortitude, Series 2 Sky Atlantic's original Nordic noir-inspired chiller is back for more bloody mysteries Sky Atlantic Sherlock, Series 4 Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return as Holmes and Watson in the BBC's mega hit PA Taboo Tom Hardy's dark thriller is unlike any period drama you've seen before FX Networks No Offence, Series 2 Paul Abbott's comedy-drama continues to walk a tonal tightrope with total ease Channel 4/Ian Derry The Voice A move to ITV has given singing contest The Voice a new lease of life ITV

Good Morning Britain continues at 6am weekdays on ITV.
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For decades, Chinese patients have struggled to gain access to cutting-edge medicines thanks to bureaucratic delays that have hamstrung drug development. Now a sweeping government overhaul of drug approvals is poised to change that.

Beijing this week announced new rules that will speed up approvals of medicines and medical devices, easing bottlenecks in introducing new treatments. The move is also a growth opportunity for international and local drugmakers in the worlds second biggest pharmaceutical market. It also parallels the acceleration of approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Under Chinas new rules, data from overseas clinical trials can be used for drug registrations in the country. That removes the need for manufacturers to conduct added tests in China after receiving overseas approvals and will likely cut delays in the launch of new drugs by several years.

Faster approvals could deliver a revenue boost in coming years to Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and other multinationals that are expanding there. China spent USD116.7 billion on medicine in 2016 and the market is second only to the U.S. in size, according to researcher QuintilesIMS. China is revamping its drug regulatory system as demand for new therapies surges due to an aging population and rising incidence of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

For multinational and leading local innovative drugmakers, the anticipated acceleration of approval will improve patients access to new medicine and increase revenues for pharmaceutical companies, said Jialin Zhang, senior health-care analyst at ICBC International Research Ltd. Foreign manufacturers control about a quarter of the Chinese pharma market, with the rest held by local players, he estimates.

The changes were announced by the State Council, Chinas cabinet, just days before a key leadership gathering in Beijing next week. On Oct. 18, delegates will gather for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, a twice-in-a-decade shuffling of Chinas political decks.

Shares of Chinese drugmakers researching new medicines jumped on expectations they will also benefit. Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. advanced 3.4 percent and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. rose 2 percent in Shanghai yesterday. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8 percent.

Due to insufficient innovation, the pharmaceutical and medical device products marketed in China fall short of international advanced standards, according to the State Council policy statement. The reforms aim to promote restructuring and innovation in order to meet the publics clinical needs, it said.

In the short term, foreign drugmakers might be the prime beneficiaries because theyre already starting to see quicker approvals for their drugs and have deep pipelines of medicines in development, Zhang said. Most local drug companies are still climbing the innovation ladder. That said, Chinese rivals might be bigger beneficiaries over the long-term thanks to expertise in the local market and cheaper costs, he said.

For now, most international pharmaceutical companies get only a small fraction of their global sales from China. But they still count on the country to serve as a growth driver given its vast unmet medical needs and a burgeoning middle class that can increasingly afford cutting-edge treatments.

Local and multinational drugmakers have for years struggled with delayed approvals in China as a surging number of applications and a relatively small team of government reviewers resulted in a regulatory backlog. The delays in access to life-saving therapies led Chinese patients to buy drugs from grey markets over the Internet or from bootleggers, putting them at risk of receiving counterfeit drugs.

Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca said they welcome the new rules.

China is a key growth market for AstraZeneca and we are working closely with authorities to ensure our medicines are accessible by the many patients who can benefit from them, the Cambridge, England-based company said in a statement.

The policies will pave the way for Chinas integration into the system for multiregional clinical trials that supports global drug development, New York-based Pfizer said in its own statement.

The changes had already been widely telegraphed by the Chinese government, which earlier this year said it was considering overhauling the approval process. The China Food and Drug Administration has been introducing bold reforms in recent years, and the latest policy appears to have received the blessing of top-levels of the central government, said Zhang.

More recently, the China FDA has already been working to reduce the backlog. That has already led to speedier approvals for some treatments like AstraZenecas lung cancer therapy called Tagrisso, estimated to become a global blockbuster next year.

As more innovative drugs make an entrance, foreign manufacturers will still have to manage rising price pressures in China. The government has sought to cut prices to manage costs in its public health insurance system, putting foreign drugmakers through more negotiations with hospitals and local governments and squeezing margins.

The reforms announced last weekend include other measures to speed up approvals for clinically needed drugs and equipment, establish a compulsory-licensing system and make it easier for research institutions to conduct clinical trials, according to the document.

The government said it will also explore a new system linking drug approvals to patent status. This could potentially delay the introduction of generics when there are legal challenges posed by the patent holder.

Chinas protection of intellectual properties is still lacking, and this is also an important reason that restricts the development of our medical innovation industry, said Wu Zhen, vice minister of China FDA, at a press briefing webcast yesterday.

Measures on patents were previously adopted by developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan, and their implementation helped boost both innovative companies and generic drugmakers, Wu said.

In the U.S., the FDA is taking advantage of policy groundwork laid in past years to speed drug approvals. Thirty-four new drugs have been approved so far this year  on pace to nearly double from last year. Bloomberg
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In early September Poland ordered 118 locally made LPU-4 long range reconnaissance vehicles for $212,000 each (including maintenance and training support). The LPU-4 light tactical vehicle was introduced in 2012 as the LPU-1 and described as easily adapted to different uses. Thus the LPU-4 recon version which was modified to meet Polish forces requirement for very light and fast high mobility 4x4 vehicle. The LPU-4 weighs 2.6 tons (loaded with up to 900 kg of cargo and weapons and three troops). Such a configuration was thought to provide its crew autonomous operation capability for seven days. The LSU-4 is air transportable by C-130 or by slung under a helicopter and capable of withstanding parachute drop.

The LSU-4 has an open design with a roll cage and flexible floor ballistic material that will protect passengers against landmines (NATO level one STANAG 4569). To ensure sufficient off-road capability the LPU-4 has a 190 hp engine and run-flat tires. Moreover LPU-4 characteristics are more like an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) than your typical hummer type 4x4 military vehicle. Its turning radius is very low, ditches or bushes are not a serious obstacle. The cabin is open, but there is an option to enclose it. The original LPU-1 was based on Toyota Hilux chassis but LPU-4 uses modified Mitsubishi L200 chassis. LSU-4 has a range of 400 kilometers cross country (at a top speed of 100 kilometers an hour) and 800 kilometers on roads (at top speed of 140 kilometers an hour).

LSU-4, as many have already noted, is sort of a cross between the ATVs popular with Western special operations forces and the hummer vehicle. For example one of the more popular special operations ATVs is the MRZR4. This vehicle weighs 1.5 tons (loaded with nearly 700 kg of fuel, passengers, and cargo) and is also a 4x4 vehicle. It is 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) long and has no doors, four seats, and a steel framework on top which is usually left open for maximum visibility. The vehicle is optimized for cross country operations and also has an 88 horsepower engine. Fuel capacity is 7.25 gallons (27.4 liters) and range depends on what sort of terrain is being crossed. MRZR4 can tow a load of up to 680 kg.

LPU-4 is only one of many vehicle procurement programs because underway in Poland. One of the largest is the purchase of at least 913 high-mobility transport vehicles (with an option for nearly 2800 more) to replace Cold War era HONKER and UAZ Russian designs. Poland is currently undergoing the very costly process of phasing out Soviet type Cold War era equipment from its armed forces and replacing it with more modern designs similar to what other NATO members use. -- Przemysaw Juraszek
In Thailand the military government is being asked embarrassing questions about an aerial surveillance system they purchased in 2009. This system never worked properly and was still around, despite failing to perform as it was supposed to in 2010. The army responded by having the surveillance system used in the 2009 system transferred to the air force for use in manned aircraft and for the truck and other equipment used by the failed system to be auctioned off. The military would have preferred to simply ignore this problem but the military government is making a big deal about government reform and reducing corruption and is forced to respond in situations like this.

This all began back in 2009 when the Thai government authorized the army to purchase an aerial reconnaissance system to deal with the growing Islamic terrorist violence in the south. The problems began when a vendor who went bankrupt before all of the equipment for the aerial surveillance system could be delivered. At that point the military said it would try to find out who screwed up, and whether corruption was involved. One interesting revelation was that the company providing the blimp system the army purchased also made cheaper aerostat systems, which the army ignored in favor of a more expensive system that proved unusable because of the vendor bankruptcy.

Back in 2009 when the Thai army decided to buy an aerostat system for use in the south it was first believed the obvious choice would be one of the aerostat systems the U.S. had been using with such success in Iraq and Afghanistan. This type of system consisted of a truck carrying the gear which can inflate the aerostat within an hour, and get it up to an altitude of 320 meters (1,000 feet) which means its cameras can see out to about sixty kilometers. The aerostat can carry day or night cameras (including a thermal sensor). In rural areas, the aerostat enables security forces to quickly get persistent aerial surveillance over a large area (2800 square kilometers.) A camera with a powerful zoom lens enables the operator to get a close look at anything down there.

But instead the Thai military bought a more expensive manned blimp type system; the Aeros 40D. The army was paying $10.5 million for each of two systems, more than twice what unmanned aerostat systems cost. The blimp itself cost $7.8 million, while the cameras cost two million dollars, and the ground communications systems $600,000. A third company, Aria International, acted as a middleman, and bought a large hanger, the Aeros 40D blimp, but was unable to pay for the cameras. The Aeros 40D arrived and after three months and Thai army personnel were trained to operate it. But the Aeros 40D never worked as advertised and was often grounded for repairs that were expensive because it usually involved replacing the expensive helium gas that was lost due to leaks. In 2017 the warranty on the blimp expired meaning future problems with helium leaks would cost even more to deal with and it was too expensive to replace the blimp in a system that never actually worked as the army said it would. When news of this leaked out the military quickly acted to dispose of the system and hoped no one would make an issue of it. That did not work and now it was widely known that even expensive gear that does not work is kept around and paid for because someone (still unidentified) is getting a percentage.

This was not the first time the military has had to deal with situations like this. Back in 2009 the army purchased of 96 wheeled armored vehicles from Ukraine. This was held up because a German firm was prevented from shipping the needed engines, because the German government wanted to show its displeasure with a 2006 military coup in Thailand (there have since been elections in Thailand, but the Germans are still upset.) The Ukrainian vehicle manufacturer eventually obtained engines from an American supplier. Meanwhile elections were held in Thailand during 2011 and the military government ended. But the generals were not pleased with the new elected government and staged yet another coup in 2014, saying it was necessary to do so because corruption was out of control. Apparently it still is.
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, said yesterday that there will be an increase in the budget allocated for the areas he supervises in 2018. Questioned by reporters, Tam said that the budget this year was not increased because of the economic downturn faced by the MSAR economy in 2016. However, he said that the economic situation has improved sufficiently and that there is now room to invest in the construction of medical facilities and the expansion of services for the elderly and children. Tam also said that the budget for initiatives to benefit students with special needs will be improved. The proposals are now under study and will be announced next month during the Policy Address presentation.

Building not contaminated by legionella

The Health Bureau (SSM) revealed that the building where a resident diagnosed with legionella lives is currently not contaminated. On September 8, SSM said that a case of legionella had been detected in Macau. After an epidemiological investigation, it was found that the source of contamination was in the pipe system of the Hou Kong Building, where the patient lives. The SSM carried out a full cleaning and disinfection of the buildings water supply system on September 22. Between September 25th and 26th, after total disinfection of the system, the SSM carried out tests on the buildings water supply system. Water was collected from the patients residence, and also from other flats. Following an analysis by the Public Health Laboratory, all samples were declared as negative for the presence of legionella bacteria.

DSEJ wants to promote health education

The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) has organized a session to present its Platform for Health Education. During Sundays session, DSEJs director, Leong Lai, noted that the platform was created this year in order to support measures to improve the physical and mental health of students in the basic and secondary levels.

Local architects featured in Seoul exhibition

Macau-based architects Carlotta Bruni and Rui Leao, both partners at LBA Architecture & Planning, were selected to be among the 100 Architects Of The Year 2017 featured in an exhibition included in the recent UIA World Congress of Architects. The event was held between September 5 and 8 in Seoul. According to a statement issued yesterday by the local architects, the exhibition is always seeking a new architectural paradigm through the selection of works of 100 architects and their philosophy for contemporary architecture.

Press association launches first website

The Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM) yesterday announced that it had launched its first ever website at the web address www.aipim.org.mo. The website contains news about the association and reports on the freedom of the press in the territory. The information is available in English and Portuguese. AIPIM was established in July 2005, and has now grown to encompass a membership of over 80 people, most of whom are journalists working for Macau-based Portuguese and English-language media outlets.
American air support in Afghanistan is continuing to increase. In September 2017 aircraft used 751 smart bombs or missiles, which is up sharply from 503 in August. Aerial weapons use (or weapon release) hasnt been this high since August 2012. This trend began in February 2017 and if it continues the number of weapons released will approach levels not seen since 2012. The U.S. Air Force has also increased the number F-16s in Afghanistan from 12 to 18. B-52s, which have longer endurance and larger bomb capacity than any other aircraft are spending more time over Afghanistan. If there is a major operation requiring a lot of airstrikes, one B-52 can handle that for most of a day, using dozens of smart bombs in the process.

A growing number of airstrikes are carried out by the Afghan Air Force, which has a dozen A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft and over twenty attack helicopters (armed MD-530F). The helicopter depends on laser guided missiles while the A-29 can use JDAM (GPS guided bombs) as well as unguided rockets. The Super Tucano is a single engine turbo-prop trainer/attack aircraft that is used by over a dozen nations. This aircraft carries two internal 12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine-guns along with 1.5 tons of bombs and rockets. It can stay in the air for 6.5 hours at a time. It is rugged, easy to maintain and cheap. The U.S. is paying $17.7 million for each Super Tucano, which includes training, spare parts and support equipment and giving all this to Afghanistan as military aid. These aircraft are more useful to the Afghans than jet fighters (which the Afghans would like to have, if someone else would pay for them.) All twenty are to be in service by the end of 2017.

With the growing availability of air support more Afghan troops (and some police units) can go on the offensive. In fact this year the Afghan security forces have a record number of units carrying out offensive operations and doing so all over the country.

Meanwhile Pakistan, or at least the military and ISI intelligence agency, continue to deny that they are providing sanctuary and support for any Islamic terror groups. This despite much evidence to the contrary. Many Pakistanis believe these accusations continue as a way to persuade the elected officials in Pakistan to continue pressuring their military to submit to civilian authority.

Ignorance Preferred

There are now 30 million Afghans, but 70 percent of them still live in the countryside. That means it is difficult to safely promote education for everyone. As a result increasing the literacy rate (the lowest in Eurasia) is stalled. Despite over a decade of building schools (currently nine million Afghans are in school) the illiteracy rate is still 60 percent. Since 2002 over six million Afghans have received at least a basic education and 60 percent of those have been female, despite vigorous Taliban efforts to block that. In the last few years the Taliban have put a priority on destroying schools, especially those that educate girls. As a result the number of girls getting an education is declining.

Nearly all the newly literate are young, creating a growing problem as now there is one more item dividing the younger and older Afghans. But in the rural areas 90 percent of women are still illiterate. That has become less of an issue because since 2002 cell phone service has become available for nearly all of the rural areas. For a largely illiterate population this is a big deal. At the same time half the population has access to the Internet but unlike cell phones the Internet is most useful to those who are literate. By increasing literacy efforts, especially among adults, the government hopes to speed up economic growth. More literacy means more economic growth and while most children are growing up literate, without more literacy among adults economic progress is limited. This is acceptable to the Taliban who base their strategy on Islamic fundamentalism which regards most technology introduced since the 8th century as un-Islamic. For many Moslems this is a belief worth killing and dying for. A growing percentage of literate Afghans are no longer willing to fight traditionalists like the Taliban and concentrate on moving to some other part of the world. This is making Afghan smugglers rich.

Smuggling has long been a major part of the Afghan economy. While the drug smuggling is still doing well, despite growing attacks, the people smugglers are seeing less business because fewer of those who pay to be smuggled out are allowed to stay in the West and that discourages more from trying. Nearly 10,000 Afghans were forcibly returned by European countries in 2016, about three times more than in 2015. The number being returned continues to grow. More illegal migrants are also returning from Iran and Pakistan, often voluntarily (or semi-voluntarily). Afghans still want to leave but first they have to find a destination they can expect to settle in, not just visit.

So Much For So Little

The Taliban, or local drug gangs have, after two years of strenuous efforts come to control ten percent of the 407 districts (each of the 34 provinces is composed of districts) in the country. The gangs are a growing presence in another 35 percent of the districts, although officials in some of these districts only suspect Taliban or drug gang presence. Part of this is the corruption. If the national government lets it be known that additional resources are available to districts threatened by the Taliban local and provincial authorities will sometimes cooperate to make a case that there is a threat so that the officials involved can steal the additional aid. The Taliban are active mainly in the south (Helmand and Kandahar, where most of the heroin is produced), the east (where many Pakistan/ISI supported Islamic terrorist groups operate) and the ancient northern trade routes (that go through Kunduz).

SAS Returns

Britain confirmed that they had special operations forces (especially SAS commandos) operating in southern Afghanistan (Helmand province) again, for the first time since 2014. About 600 British troops are involved in an operation to hunt down and capture or kill key Taliban operatives, particularly bomb builders.

October 9, 2017: In Kabul police raided a Taliban bomb making workshop, seizing over 100 kg (220 pounds) of materials for making roadside bombs, suicide bombs and so on. Two men at the site refused to surrender and were shot dead.

The Red Cross announced that it was shutting down much of its Afghan operations, especially in the north (Balkh province). Afghanistan is the most dangerous country where the Red Cross operates and they have lost seven people so far this year and been subject to numerous attacks. This was not a sudden decision and began in December 2016 with kidnappings in the north (Kunduz province). It got worse in February in nearby (Jowzjan/Jawzjan province, on the Turkmenistan border) when the Red Cross temporarily suspended some emergency aid operations because an aid convoy, bringing food and other supplies to villages cut off by heavy snow falls, was attacked and six Red Cross workers were killed. The local Taliban and al Qaeda groups denied responsibility and it was eventually discovered the attackers were from a small band of ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) members trying to survive up there. Even local bandits tend to leave aid convoys alone, especially in bad weather. That sort of violence is how blood feuds begin and even the Islamic terrorist groups have learned to respect that. But ISIL members tend to disregard all the rules, even the ones that will make it easier to operate among the local tribes.

There are many areas in Afghanistan where there are few Afghan or foreign troops. Here, the bad guys do what armed men usually do in Afghanistan, behave badly. This angers the foreign aid NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations, like the Red Cross and so on), who believe the locals should be more appreciative and the foreign troops should provide more protection. But no one has enough troops for guard duty, and the NGOs are warned to hire their own security and beware of the "loot mentality" that is so popular in Afghanistan. Loot is anything you can steal from foreigners (someone not from your tribe or clan). Taking loot is a big deal in Afghanistan, right behind owning a gun and going out with some of your buddies to see what's over the next hill. ISIL is right at home in Afghanistan and survives by recruiting the more extreme members of religion-based groups like the Taliban.

October 7, 2017: In the north (Kunduz province) a weeklong army offensive to clear the Taliban out of a prosperous agricultural district (Imam Sahib) on the Tajikistan border has apparently succeeded, for now. About a quarter of the local population is Pushtun and the Taliban have taken advantage of that to establish control of several villages near the border. This is an important base for smuggling heroin north into Central Asia and beyond. The recent fighting has left about a hundred Taliban dead and as many wounded. The Islamic terrorists have fled several villages so far. Some Taliban and ISIL leaders have met and discussed working out some kind of truce and cooperation deal but so far that does not appear to have gotten past the discussion phase.

Further south, in central Afghanistan (Uruzgan Province, just north of Helmand and Kandahar) the Taliban were on the offensive and a week of fighting left 24 soldiers and police dead along with about 80 of the attackers. Both here and in Kunduz air power (both Afghan and American) has been a key weapon in defeating the Islamic terrorists.

In the east (Nangarhar province) ISIL suffered heavy losses (20 dead, 12 wounded) when three of their camps were hit with missiles from American UAVs. At the same time police found and disabled five roadside bombs or mines ISIL had recently placed. Despite setting up bases in an area with populations that contain many fans of Islamic terrorism, ISIL has many more enemies. This is largely because ISIL seems unconcerned about local civilians getting killed by their operations. Planting landmines, especially anti-vehicle mines in roads, is particularly frowned upon. Thus many locals who might support the Taliban are willing to pass information to the security forces about what ISIL is up to.

October 6, 2017: The U.S. removed limits on the number of American troops that can be in Afghanistan. Senior U.S. commanders, like those running CENTCOM and operations in Afghanistan now can agree on additional forces and order them in without worrying about limits imposed after most NATO forces left Afghanistan in 2014. Until now there was a limit of 8,400 American troops (set by a previous U.S. government) that has already been exceeded by the new (since this year) American government. There are currently about 11,000 U.S. troops in the country and at least that many contractors plus several thousand non-combat training and technical personnel from other NATO nations. Before the end of 2017 there will apparently be about 15,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and an even greater increase in American air support. Some of the troops scheduled to arrive soon will be delayed for several weeks as they were diverted to help with disaster relief (several major hurricanes after hardly any for twelve years).

In August American commanders were again allowed to determine the ROE (Rules of Engagement) for U.S. troops overseas, especially in places like Syria and Afghanistan. For example in Afghanistan U.S. troops can now fire on the Taliban even when the Taliban are not firing on them and at long distance. Afghan civilians, the most frequent victims of Taliban violence, complained when the U.S. gradually changed its ROE after 2008 to make it impossible for Americans to fire on the Taliban when Afghan civilians were nearby. When asked Afghan civilians pointed out that was when they most needed the Americans to open fire.

October 5, 2017: In the north (Jawzjan province) there was yet another clash between ISIL and Taliban forces. In this case ISIL lost 11 dead and the Taliban nine. This fighting has been going on here for most of 2017 and is pretty brutal, with ISIL often beheading captured (or recently killed) Taliban. All this is over control of drug smuggling routes across the border. There have been clashes between ISIL and Taliban in other parts of the country but it has worst in Jawzjan.

October 4, 2017: In the east (Nangarhar province) someone fired into Pakistan (Kyber region) and killed a soldier and wounded another at a newly established border post. The Afghans complain that more than 80 rockets have been fired into Afghanistan from Pakistan in the last two days. There were apparently no casualties in Afghanistan.

September 27, 2017: In Kabul the Taliban fired several rockets and mortar shells at the airport, apparently in an attempt to hit the transport that just brought in some senior American defense officials. There were no casualties at the airport but the location of the fire was found and surrounded. An airstrike with a missile suffered equipment failure and a missile hit another building wounding some civilians.

September 26, 2017: There is another major effort to vaccinate Afghan children against polio and it will end on the 31st. The Afghan Taliban have openly supported the vaccination program but there still some rural areas where local Moslem clerics or teachers continue to denounce the vaccinations. Despite this continued resistance Afghan polio cases continue to decline. There have been at least six so far in 2017 compared to 13 for 2016 and, at the time, a record low (eight) in 2015. This compares to 54 in neighboring Pakistan for 2015. In 2016 there were 37 cases worldwide (all in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Nigeria). Most of those (21) were in Pakistan where Islamic terrorists have been most successful in disrupting vaccination efforts. In the 1980s, when the polio elimination effort began there were 350,000 cases in 125 countries. In both countries Islamic terrorists (especially the Taliban) ban polio vaccinations and attack anyone trying to deliver the vaccine to vulnerable children. Islamic terrorists in general tend to believe the vaccination teams are spying for the government and that the vaccinations are a plot to sterilize Moslems. This is what causes the problem in Nigeria as well.

September 24, 2017: In the east (Nangarhar province) an American UAV used missiles to attack an ISIL camp, killing five of the Islamic terrorists including a known leader.

In Kabul a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy killing himself and wounding three nearby civilians. Some vehicles were damaged.

September 23, 2017: In the east (Nangarhar province) someone fired into Pakistan (Kyber region) and killed a soldier at a newly established border post. Pakistan blamed this on Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan while the Afghans pointed that a lot of Pushtun tribes on the Afghan side of the border object to Pakistan building new border posts.

September 21, 2017: In the east (Nangarhar province) someone across the border in Pakistan fired 37 mortar shells into Afghanistan. Two civilians were killed and three wounded.

September 20, 2017: Senior Pakistani and American officials met in New York to discuss the Islamic terrorism problems in Afghanistan and South Asia. The Pakistanis continued to blame India for continued Islamic terrorist violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Americans have openly sided with India and Afghanistan on this issue and now Pakistan is being forced to decide. The U.S. threatens to cut off all military aid to Pakistan and treat Pakistan as a hostile nation if Pakistan continues providing sanctuary for Islamic terror groups it controls (and attacking those it does not control). Some Pakistani military leaders want to push back on this but this is another issue where Chinese advice gets in the way and the Chinese advise everyone to be pragmatic about the situation.

September 18, 2017: In the south (Kandahar province) Pakistan closed the Chamman border crossing because a suicide bomber on the Pakistan side attacked the Pakistani guards near the crossing itself, leaving 22 people wounded. The Chamman crossing was closed for several hours. Chamman is the second most active border crossing with Afghanistan. The most active crossing is Torkham Gate in northwest Pakistan and that one was subject to a bomb attack a week ago.

Elsewhere in Pakistan the new prime minister (Shahid Khaqan Abbasi) agreed that three of the four Islamic terrorists who carried out a major attack in Afghanistan during May (that killed 150) came from Pakistan. The Afghans determined that early on but Pakistan denied it until now. Abbasi admitted that the Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban were still a problem but denied (despite ample evidence going back to 2002) that Pakistan was providing sanctuary for these two groups. Abbasi got his job when his predecessor was removed from the job by a Supreme Court decision that confirmed the previous prime minister was involved in corrupt practices. The military denies that they had anything to do with that court decision but few Pakistanis (or anyone outside the country) believe that. Meanwhile the military is pressuring the courts to allow Pakistani Islamic terrorists (as recognized internationally but not in Pakistan) to run for seats in parliament and, in effect, obtain another layer of protection from extradition and prosecution for their past (and often ongoing) terrorist activities.
Nvidia on Monday published new GeForce graphics card drivers featuring optimizations for a handful of upcoming games. Chief among them is Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to 2014's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from Monolith Productions and Warner Bros. Interactive.

Set for launch on October 10, Shadow of War players running the latest Nvidia drivers will enjoy performance optimizations as well as support for the Nvidia Ansel game photography tool.

Speaking of, Nvidia is running a Shadow of War Ansel contest for a chance to win a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti bundle featuring the aforementioned card as well as a Mithril Edition of Shadow of War.

The new Game Ready drivers have also been tweaked for The Evil Within 2 (October 13), VR shooter Arktika.1 (October 12) and Forza Motorsport 7 which launched last Tuesday. SLI profiles have additionally been added or updated for Earthfall, Lawbreakers, Nex Machina, ReCore, RiME, Snake Pass, Tekken 7, We Happy Few, The Evil Within 2 and Shadow of War.

Nvidia's latest is also notable in that it introduces full support for OpenGL 4.6 and DirectX Intermediate Language (DXIL).

The new drivers resolve several known issues including low GPU usage when using SLI on X299 boards as well as problems with YouTube and Discord. More than half a dozen issues persist, however, across both Windows 10 and Windows 7. Full details on those can be found in Nvidia's changelog.
We're often assured that programs on official online stores are safe, but there are times when malicious software can slip through the cracks and appear as legitimate products. The latest example involves the Chrome Web Store, where a fake Adblock Plus extension was downloaded over 37,000 times before being removed.

The excellent cybersecurity expert who goes by the Twitter name SwiftOnSecurity discovered the phony extension, which has since been taken down by Google. It fooled people into thinking it was the real deal by mimicking the original Adblock Plus page, only with a capital "B" in the title and using a different developer name.

One element that made the extension stand out as a fake was the numerous keywords in its description, placed there in the hope that the listing would appear in unrelated search queries. Some users also left reviews pointing out it was a fraud that brought invasive ads and opened tabs without permission.

"Google allows 37,000 Chrome users to be tricked with a fake extension by [a] fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords," tweeted SwiftOnSecurity. "Legitimate developers just have to sit back and watch as Google smears them with fake extensions that steal their good name."

Google allows 37,000 Chrome users to be tricked with a fake extension by fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords. pic.twitter.com/ZtY5WpSgLt --- SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017

Google clamped down on malicious software in 2015 by stopping Windows and Mac users from downloading Chrome extensions not hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Google said the move resulted in a 75 percent drop in the number of customer support help requests for uninstalling unwanted extensions.

A similar naming technique was used in a sophisticated phishing attack earlier this year. It consisted of a third-party web app named Google Docs that tricked users into handing over access to their contacts and Gmails.
Best known for durable phones with long battery life, Nokia has announced that it will be making several changes to reduce costs. The OZO virtual reality camera will be the first of the expected cuts. Patent licensing and health products will receive higher priority for Nokia and up to 310 employees may be laid off.

There are currently 1090 employees at Nokia Technologies, making the lay offs account for almost 35% of the division. Finland, United States, and United Kingdom employees will account for the majority of the reductions in staff.

"Nokia Technologies is at a point where, with the right focus and investments, we can meaningfully grow our footprint in the digital health market, and we must seize that opportunity," states Gregory Lee, president of Nokia Technologies. Lee affirms that Nokia remains "committed to providing the needed support to those affected."

Virtual reality is still a growing industry, just not growing fast enough for Nokia. Instead of working on VR cameras, digital health products such as fitness trackers, blood pressure monitors, and smart scales will be a focus. Nokia acquired Withings for $200 million a year and a half ago to enter the digital health business. Withings built the aforementioned products but has since been rebranded under the Nokia name.

In addition to patent licensing and health-related products, Nokia Technologies will continue to develop 5G and Internet of Things technologies.
Panos Panay, corporate vice president of Microsoft's devices group, denies that the company has plans to pull the plug on the Surface line.

During a panel discussion on Monday attended by Business Insider, Panay said that talks of Microsoft shutting down the Surface by 2019 are nothing more than "tabloid rumors," and are "so far from the truth it's laughable."

His comments were in response to reports that industry analysts do not see a future for the Surface past 2019.

Canalys CEO Steve Brazier hosted a panel at the Canalys Channels Forum last week. During the discussion, Brazier predicted that Microsoft would pull production of Surface products by 2019 or sooner. He cited "choppy performance" from a sales standpoint as the primary indicator.

"Overall they are not making money," Brazier said. "It doesn't make sense for them to be in this business."

He insists that the margins are just not there for Microsoft and when they realize that, the Surface will be the first to the chopping block.

Brazier was not alone in his views. Lenovo COO Gianfranco Lanci and Dell CCO Marius Haas agreed that the Surface was a money-losing venture for Microsoft. Barring a sudden sharp boost in market share, Lanci said that he would not be surprised to see an exit before 2019.

"Frankly speaking, it is difficult to see why they should keep losing money."

Not everyone agrees with this assessment. Our own Rob Thubron pointed out that Microsoft is not likely to want to suffer the hit to its hardware reputation, especially after its smartphone failure. With the latest Surface offerings released just last June, a 2019 exit seems too soon.

Furthermore, the Surface is more important to Microsoft than just sales. It is a platform Redmond uses for improving other products as well. The Surface Pen is a good example. Improvements in the software for the stylus have bled into Windows 10 so that now the Pen works better even on PCs from other manufacturers.

A weak quarter here and there is not going to deter Microsoft from producing the Surface. Panay points to the $900 million loss suffered in 2013 with the Surface RT. That was a "short-term setback" that only served to make Microsoft try harder. The company is set in its resolve to keep the Surface on the market and continue to improve it.

Panay reflected, "[Microsoft] is in hardware for the long haul, and Surface isn't going anywhere."

Surface image courtesy Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld
Brazil's vice-president-elect and coordinator of the transition team of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government, Geraldo Alckmin, asked Jair Bolsonaro's government for access to complete... | Read More
The new chairman of Chinas Communist Party, Hua Guofeng, has ordered the arrest of four leading radicals in Peking.

It is a sign that China is changing political direction following the death last month of Chairman Mao Zedong.

The so-called Gang of Four is led by Chairman Maos widow Jian Qing, and includes Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, and Zhang Chunqiao.

They were active proponents of the Cultural Revolution instigated ten years ago by Chairman Mao.

This was a political and ideological campaign aimed at reviving revolutionary fervour and resulted in enormous social, economic and political upheaval.

Ideological cleansing began with attacks by young Red Guards on so-called intellectuals to remove bourgeois influences. It is believed millions were forced into manual labour, and tens of thousands were executed.

Mr Zhang rose up the ranks during the first year of the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai and was until recently chief political commissar of the armed forces.

Mr Wang had less power but was regarded a wonderboy  he rose to number three in the party in 1973 while still only in his late thirties, relatively young by Chinese standards.

Mr Yao, also a member of the Politburo standing committee, is regarded as dedicated, if not fanatical, in his belief in Maoist ideals of social development.

Jian Qing, formerly an actress, became Chairman Maos third wife in 1939. She is regarded as a radical and active proponent of Maoist principles but in the years before his death, had led an independent life from her husband.

News of the arrests have not been confirmed by Chinas officials but it is believed the four were attempting a coup in the wake of the death of Chairman Mao on 9 September.

Some reports say Jian Qing was in the process of forging Chairman Maos will placing her as Maos successor, when she and her associates were surrounded by Hua Guofengs personal bodyguards and placed under house arrest.

They are being questioned about their campaign against former prime minister Zhou Enlai, who died in January.

Commentators say the arrests might lead to a liberalisation of foreign, cultural and economic policy -the Times newspaper editorial calls this latest move the most potent sign of a new political direction following 27 years of Maoist dogma.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

The Gang of Four were kept under house arrest and, following a propaganda campaign against them, were expelled from the Communist Party in July 1977.

By the end of 1978 reformist Deng Xiaoping had effectively wrested power from Hua Guofeng  although he did not assume the title of premier of China and chair of the CCP until 1982.

On 20 November 1980 all members of the Gang of Four were put on trial charged with attempting to overthrow the government and establish a hardline Communist dictatorship.

They were sentence to death, later commuted to long-term imprisonment. After a period of political indoctrination Jian Qing was released in 1991 and died soon after  some reports say she committed suicide.

Wang Hongwen died in 1992, Zhang Chunqiao died in April 2005 and Yao Wenyuan died in December 2005.
The government, through the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA), launched a trial plan that aims to collect at least 50,000 electronic devices, including computers, mobile phones, sound systems and other communication devices. The announcement was made yesterday by the chief of the Environmental Infrastructure Management Centre of the DSPA, Chan Kwok Ho at a press conference.

According to the same official, the trial plan will be carried out over one year and will include the collection of the mentioned items from public entities, individual citizens and schools and education institutions as well as other private non-profit organizations. It will aim to properly treat all of this solid waste that has been growing due to the rapid technological evolution.

Chan, when questioned by the media, mentioned that at the current pace they have been collecting electronics is around 7,000 tons/year of such products and that a good part of these products up in being destroyed by an incinerator.

The DSPA proposes to change this scenario, putting in place a scheme that includes a series of collection points that include the headquarters of the DSPA, some fixed collection points located at the current green points, as well as the inclusion of a program of moving collection points using a special vehicle prepared for this purpose.

After the collection the products will be dismantled, separated and sent abroad for further treatment, Chan explained, noting that materials such as aluminum and plastic will be sent to mainland China and circuit boards will be sent to be treated in Japan. We do not have capacity to treat this kind of products locally, he remarked.

In charge of all this process of collecting, separating and forwarding the materials for further treatment will be a Hong Kong based company. Chan has said that this company has wide experience in this field and working together with several companies in HK. The chosen company, Zhongxing Vannex (Macau) Limited (a subsidiary of the HK based Vannex International Limited), will receive an amount close to MOP4Million in a contract directly awarded by the DSPA without the need of a public tender.

Chan mentioned that this amount can vary according to the quantity of products collected and treated.

Questioned on the topic, Chan justified the choice by saying that the contract is for a one-year trial plan only, noting that according to the results obtained the government will evaluate the possibility to continue with such plan and at that time a public tender would be considered.

For the future, the DSPA department chief said the government has an interest in including other products such as electrical appliances, an extension that is not possible for the time being, due to the lack of land resources needed to establish a location on where to process such a large number of items.

For now, citizens can dispose of their unused or obsolete information technology and communication devices to the bureau. Some of those devices will not be recycled. Those who fit some criteria and are more up-to-date can be repaired or refurbished and will be delivered to [charitable] institutions, Chan clarified.

As for the collection points where the truck will pass, interested parties can check the DSPA website for the complete schedule of all locations and times of the 12 locations in the peninsula and four in Taipa.

During the trial period, the collection vehicle will operate during Thursday and Saturday afternoons.

Adding to this and regarding public entities, schools and non- profitable organizations, these organizations can request a curbside collection every time they have gathered a certain amount of these products. The company will send the collection vehicle at a scheduled time to collect them.

Excluded from this trial plan were private companies. We think that the private companies have a social responsibility that they need to assume [on their own], Chan explained, adding that not including these companies has the purpose to allow the current market operators [collection people] to continue to operate without major interference. Chan noted that in the future all these factors will be considered as the trial run of the projects serves exactly, to gather experience that will allow the launching of other possible plans, serving [this] as reference.

Battery collect plan already reached 5,600 kg

Addressing a previous plan launched last year by the DSPA that aimed to collect domestic use batteries, the chief of the Environmental Infrastructure Management Centre of the DSPA, Chan Kwok Ho noted, so far we have reached a total of 5,600 kilograms of collected batteries.However, these batteries still wait for a final destination and therefore remain untreated since there arent conditions to do so. We will soon to do a pre-treatment [on those batteries collected], Chan added.
Photo: Arthur Fellig/ICP/Getty Images

The Cut continues to receive stories of abuse. We believe there is power in the specificity of each womans account as well as in acknowledging just how commonplace these experiences are. You can read them all here.

Im a coward.

Years ago, I went to a meeting in a hotel room with a powerful man. We started talking. He asked me about my sexual past, and I laughed and told some funny stories. I expect to talk about relationships and love and sex in meetings, since thats what I write about. It was just the way he was asking me  he was pushing for details. I was suddenly aware of how alone I was in that room. Then he pointed to the bed next to us and said, You know theres a bed in here. Like a young Dorothy Parker, with eloquence and wit beyond my years, I responded: Yeah. I see that! Cool bed, man!

Eventually the meeting was over, and he walked me to the door of the suite. I was starting to feel relieved it was over, when he suddenly grabbed my shoulders and held me in front of the gilded hallway mirror. I couldnt move. He was watching me through the mirror. I could barely bring my head up. He said, Look. Look at yourself. Do you see how beautiful you are?

7 High-Profile Men Accused of Sexual Harassment Over The Past Year

It was at that moment that I did something insane. I started laughing. Like, uproariously laughing. It was not a fun laugh. It was one of those crazy, terrifying laughs. Suddenly, I was Laura Linney in an Oscar clip. I turned my head and looked at him, still laughing, and said, This is my worst nightmare! That must have surprised him or offended him, because then he let me go. I headed for the door, walked through the lobby of the hotel, and didnt stop walking until I was back inside my apartment downtown. I walked the way I walk in dreams, without feeling my feet on the ground. I was buzzing. I didnt feel real.

It must have been my fault. It must have been something I said. Was I flirting with him? I shouldnt have told that story. I shouldnt have gone to his hotel room. What can I do about it? Who do I tell? I dont have enough money for a lawyer. I dont want to suddenly become unemployable because of something he chose to do to me. Was it that big of a deal? Did I make it up? It wasnt an assault  it was just, like, an aggressive mirror hold. There are no laws against forcing people to look at themselves in the mirror. Im fine. Im tough. Im one of the guys. It was just a weird thing that happened, and now its over, and Im fine. What if I said something and he stopped me from getting another job? So I made a decision: I chose to stay quiet. I kept working with him. As I said, Im a coward.

I had never imagined myself as the kind of woman who stayed quiet in these situations.

I know. It was a selfish choice. I was leaving him free to act this way again with someone else. My career was just starting, and I was ambitious and self-serving, and I made excuses for myself. Why was it my responsibility to change the world? I had just never imagined myself as the kind of woman who stayed quiet in those situations. I thought I was like the characters I wrote about  I thought I was a plucky young girl who fought back against injustice. A rebel. A feminist. An avenger. It turned out that I was none of those things. He held me for a few moments in front of a mirror, and what I saw was a coward. I just wanted to keep doing the thing I loved. I wanted to keep writing. The price I had to pay was my sense of self. But, as one anonymous male filmmaker was quoted saying in Vulture last week: Waaaaah, Welcome to Hollywood.

Just FYI, if youre ever working in the movie business, and someone says welcome to Hollywood to you, that person is truly the worst. Its bad Entourage nonsense. Hollywood isnt a magical place that exists in a dreamscape. Hollywood is made up of the people who work here, and we are all (for the most part) human beings capable of making choices. Men who witness other men doing these things to women also have to make difficult choices. They are cowards too. I dont know, maybe some of them feel guilty too. This guilt is how the system works. This is how the powerful stay powerful. It reminds me of the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, where everyone in the town has to throw a stone so everyone is to blame. Silence is as destructive as it is contagious. If we tell ourselves that no one and everyone is to blame  if we shrug our shoulders and say welcome to Hollywood  nothing will ever change. All of us cowards need to take this moment to think about our choices and speak out in whatever way we can. The women who are standing up and actually pointing fingers are unimaginably brave.

And yet, when something like Harvey Weinsteins behavior comes to light, the same arguments are repeated over and over again: Why did the women wait so long to report it? Why did they take money and sign nondisclosure agreements? Why did they keep working at the company? Why did they accept roles? Why did they stay friends with him? Why didnt they kidnap Harvey and lock him in an S&M harness like the ladies in 9 to 5? I dont know. Maybe they decided they wanted to keep working, keep supporting themselves, keep doing the thing they loved. Maybe they were ambitious and angry, and, yeah, maybe they wanted some money for having to deal with all of it. This kind of thing doesnt only happen to heroes. It happens to normal women  women who are cowards, ambitious jerks, talented artists, lonely girls, girls who put out, girls who dont, girls who dont like being called girls, wonderful and complicated and still-forming creatures who are forced to make impossible choices that follow them forever. Life isnt a Miramax movie. Life is a mess. Yes, I am a coward, but lets be clear: The man in the hotel room is to blame.
Hunewill Ranch in California is One of the Rare Places in America Where the Cowboy Life PersistsAnd You Can Go Experience It
Workers board up a broken window at the Mandalay Bay hotel, where shooter Stephen Paddock conducted his mass shooting along the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 6, 2017. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Brother of Las Vegas Gunman Met With Investigators: Report

The brother of Stephen Paddock met with Las Vegas police over the weekend as part of a search to find clues or a motive.

Paddock, 64, opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Eric Paddock, the brother, said that he is cooperating with investigators, but he declined to say what he was asked about.

Im trying to get them to understand Steves mindset, Eric Paddock told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I dont want them to chase bad leads.

FBI searches Stephen Paddock's home and questions brother again https://t.co/BJGXIWABWb pic.twitter.com/9bL5kcHWwf  New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) October 9, 2017

He arrived in Las Vegas earlier this week to meet with investigators including FBI agents, police detectives, and a psychologist.

Im here to help them move forward with their investigation, Paddock, 57, added. I want to help them understand what theyre seeing.

Las Vegas FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault would not elaborate on the nature of the questions or contact the agency had with Eric Paddock. As with any ongoing investigation, we cannot confirm or deny, she said.

Stephen Paddock was seen on numerous occasions in Las Vegas without any person accompanying him and he gambled the night before the shooting, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference. He killed himself after the attack, Reuters reported.

This individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find the answers, said Lombardo, who said he was frustrated with the speed of the investigation.

In coordination with the FBIs behavioral analysis unit, a comprehensive picture is being drawn as to the suspects mental state and currently we do not believe there is one particular event in the suspects life for us to key on, Lombardo said.

There is no indication anyone other than Paddock fired on the crowd, Lombardo said, adding investigators are talking to family members and the girlfriend of the gunman.

Paddock shot and wounded a security guard who came to his floor at the Mandalay Bay resort to investigate an open door down near Paddocks suite, Lombardo said, providing new details on what occurred immediately before the mass shooting.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Food stock lines the shelves of a foodbank in the UK. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Cardiff Foodbank Receives 46-Year-Old Tin of Soup

'It's a record'

A foodbank in Cardiff is kindly reminding people to check the use-by date on any donated food items after it received a 46-year-old tin of Heinz soup.

The tin even had a price sticker of 10dor 10 penniesthe currency used before decimalisation in 1971. Its a record!! the Cardiff Foodbank wrote in a tweet. Never had a donation to @CardiffFoodbank with 10d on before!

It's a record!! Never had a donation with 10d on before! Please could we remind everyone that food donated needs to be in date! Thank you  pic.twitter.com/EVf5qMulA6  Cardiff Foodbank (@CardiffFoodbank) October 5, 2017

In a later tweet, the foodbank remarked that people are very generous, but that they havent always checked the dates when clearing out cupboards.

It seems that the mystery donor made just that oversight.

The foodbank tagged @HeinzUK in its tweet, to which Heinz replied, Wow! That soup was discontinued over 35 years ago. Should be in a museum rather than a food bank! :)

Helen Bull, the partnership and fundraising officer at Cardiff Foodbank, said that a can of sweetcorn from 1982 was also donated to the charity.

Probably whats happened is that it is harvest time and lots of people clean out their cupboards and donate items that they have never used and dont really look at them, she said, according to Sky News. Unfortunately what sometimes happens is that when an older person dies the family will clean out the cupboards and they want to donate and dont necessarily realise that it was out of date.

35 year-old tin of sweetcorn donated to foodbank; they decide to open it (via @cardifffoodbank) pic.twitter.com/W6aikQDsRS  Julian Druker (@Julian5News) October 6, 2017

Its not the first time that generous souls have donated food thats well past its use-by date. Earlier this month, Colchester Foodbank in Essex received a 40-year-old pack of macaroni pasta.

The manager, Michael Beckett, called it an interesting discovery according to the Gazette News.

We have received quite old items before which were from the 80s, but this pasta is the oldest we have had, he said.

He told the Gazette News that the foodbank often receives food that is past its use-by date, but usually only by a few days.

We were thinking wow, this is the oldest thing we have ever come across Forty years is quite a long time and it is the biggest example we have of people giving us out-of-date food.
A reception marking the 64th year of the Chinese Communist Party's takeover of China, in Beijing, on September 30, 2017. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Chinese Leader Axes More Officials Associated With Opposing Faction

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is not letting his guard down.

The upcoming 19th National Congress on Oct. 18 will unveil the new generation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership for the next five years. Xi is expected to stay on as top party boss, but he is vigilant about his enemies in the opposing faction who might undermine him: those still loyal to former leader Jiang Zemin.

Under Xis anti-corruption campaign, Jiangs allies have been taken down one after another. The latest to get axed are two high-level officials in Chongqing and one official from the central law enforcement apparatus.

On Oct. 9, the CCPs disciplinary body announced that the former police chief of Chongqing, He Ting has been expelled from the CCP, while the former head of the political department in the Ministry of Public Security, Xia Chongyuan and former deputy mayor of Chongqing, Mu Huaping were demoted and stripped of their administrative posts.

All three have close ties to top party members who were Jiangs associates.

Xia Chongyuan

In the CCPs official announcement, Xia is charged with using public funds to arrange vacations for his relatives, using his position to gain personal profit, and participating in non-organizational activities. Interestingly, when two of the highest level Jiang faction members were ousted from the Party, Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, the CCP also used such wording. The two were plotting a coup to replace Xi.

Xia got his early career boost from Zeng Qinghong, Jiangs right-hand man and former vice-chair of the entire Party. As both hailed from the same hometown in Dayu County, Jiangxi Province, Zeng helped Xia get promoted through the ranks while at the CCPs Organization Department. In 2013, Xia finally got a high-ranking position in the Ministry of Public Security.

Zeng helped Jiang solidify his power by ruthlessly destroying his opponents. Jiang became known for his cronyism that led to unfettered corruption, and employing violent tactics to strengthen his power base, among them supporting a crackdown on student democracy activists during the Tiananmen Square massacre and launching a nationwide genocide to eliminate adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

Xias demotion is proof that the Ministry of Public Security, a powerful arm of the Party, is undergoing a major overhaul to clean up any remaining Jiang influence.

Mu Huaping

Mu was a close confidant of the recently ousted Sun Zhengcai, who in turn was allied with Zeng.

Radio France Internationale reported that Mu helped arrange for one billion yuan (about $150 million USD) to be transferred to a shell company in Hong Kong owned by Suns mistress. It was done under the guise of money for Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project.

China commentator Jiang Weiping also noted that Mu is close friends with Huang Qifan, a former mayor of Chongqing and henchman of Bo Xilai. This time, Mu was caught for bribery, but his most significant crime was likely his staying loyal to the wrong side.

He Ting

He Ting was charged with squandering public assets, using his power for personal profit and relatives businesses, among other wrongdoing.

Having spent his career in the CCPs law enforcement system, He Ting was a disciple of Zhou Yongkang, the fallen coup leader mentioned above. He Ting gave huge sums of money in bribes to win Zhous patronage.

Zhou was the top Party boss in charge of the states security apparatus at the time. He was the one who recommended He Ting to become Chongqing police chief.

Zhou was instrumental in carrying out Jiang Zemins persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, overseeing arrests and detainment across the country.

He Ting was one of his underlings: he is listed as a person under investigation by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong.

According to the CCPs latest numbers, as reported on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, more than two million officials have been disciplined since Xi came to power.

Gu Qinger contributed reporting.
Elderly Texas Woman Attacked by Home Healthcare Worker

An elderly Texas woman was reportedly attacked by her home healthcare worker on Friday in an attempted robbery.

The 85-year-old was beaten and stabbed by the worker, Fox News reported.

Lesia Ann Coco, who had formerly cared for the 85-year-olds husband, showed up to her home unannounced on the night of Oct. 6 for the third time, saying that she wanted to find some jewelry that had gone missing from the home.

Coco then convinced the woman to drive her to an area in Arlington, where she pulled out a knife.

She just said, Were not going for your jewelry. This is a robbery, the victims daughter told Fox News. Im going to kill you, the woman said.

She was stabbed several times and beaten, the daughter added, saying that she had quite a few injuries.

The woman is gonna be okay, her daughter said, adding that shes a tough lady.

The daughter explained that her mother fought off Coco for more than an hour in the car, and managed to get the knife away, after which the Coco started beating her.

The 85-year-old then started singing a spiritual song and got a conversation about God, the daughter added, saying it was amazing.

Were all very concerned. Were locking our doors, she added.

According to Fox News, Coco still has a nursing license.

Elder abuse is increasing, according to a report from AARPthe American Association of Retired Persons.

Financial, physical and emotional abuse is on the rise, if the number of arrest warrants and abuse complaints is any indication, AARP says. Research suggests that 1 in 10 Americans 60 and over have experienced some form of elder abuse. But even as prosecutors around the country target elder abuse, many cases go unreported.

Some older adults fear that if they complain, they will end up in a nursing home, the report stated. Those with dementia may not be able to remember that they have been abused: Studies show that more than a third of people with dementia suffer psychological or physical abuse at the hands of people providing care.
Harvey Weinstein, the sharp- elbowed movie producer whose combative reign in Hollywood made him an Academy Awards regular, was fired from The Weinstein Company on Sunday following an expose that detailed decades of sexual harassment allegations made against Weinstein by actresses and employees.

In a statement, the companys board of directors announced his firing Sunday night, capping the swift downfall of one of Hollywoods most powerful producers and expelling him from the company he co-created.

In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company  Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar  have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately, the companys board said in a statement on Sunday night.

Weinstein had previously taken an indefinite leave of absence following the revelation of at least eight allegations of sexual harassment uncovered in an expose Thursday by The New York Times. The board on Friday endorsed that decision and announced an investigation into the allegations, saying it would determine the co-chairmans future with the company.

But the Weinstein Co. board, which includes Weinsteins brother, went further on Sunday, firing the executive who has always been its primary operator, public face and studio chief. Under his leadership, the Weinstein Co. has been a dominant force at the Oscars, including the rare feat of winning back-to-back best picture Academy Awards with The Kings Speech and The Artist. In recent years, however, Weinsteins status has diminished because of money shortages, disappointing box-office returns and executive departures.

Weinstein on Thursday issued a lengthy statement that acknowledged causing a lot of pain. He also asked for a second chance. But Weinstein and his lawyers also criticized The New York Times report in statements and interviews, and vowed an aggressive response. The New York Times said it was confident in the accuracy of our reporting.

The New York Times article chronicled sexual harassment settlements Weinstein made with film star Ashley Judd and former employees at both The Weinstein Co. and Weinsteins former company, Miramax. Weinstein made his name with Miramax, the company he founded with his brother Bob in 1979. They sold it to Disney in 1993 for USD60 million. The company was a fixture of the 1990s independent film movement, launching the careers of filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and Steven Soderbergh, and winning best picture with Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient.

The allegations triggered cascading chaos at the Weinstein Co. Numerous members of its all-male board have stepped down since Thursday. The prominent attorney Lisa Bloom, daughter of well-known Los Angeles womens rights attorney Gloria Allred, on Saturday withdrew from representing Weinstein, as did another adviser, Lanny Davis. Harvey Weinstein, AP
A policeman stands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2016. (Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images)

Mother of Detained Canadian Citizen Tries to Sue Beijing Police for Torture, Imprisonment

A Canadian citizen remains imprisoned in China for her spiritual beliefs, but her mother is determined to seek justice from within the Chinese judicial system.

Sun Qians mother has attempted to file charges in China against Beijing police authorities for imprisoning and torturing her daughter. So far, the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate in Beijing has refused to allow the complaint to be filed.

Sun, 51, is a Canadian citizen who resides in Vancouver. She is the founder of the Beijing Leadman Biochemistry company, and made it onto the Hurun Reports list of Chinas top wealthiest people from 2012 to 2016.

After Sun began practicing the Falun Gong self-improvement and meditation practice in 2014, she recovered from chronic health conditions like depression, heart palpitations, and liver problems. Family members said she became a more tolerant, kind person as a result of the practice.

Although the Chinese Communist Party once supported Falun Gongand it spread rapidly, having 70 million practitioners in 1999, according to a state surveythe practice is now banned in China.

Seeing its growing popularity in the 1990s, the Chinese regime feared the Chinese people would find the teachings of Falun Gong more attractive than Party ideology and launched a nationwide persecution against practitioners in 1999. Millions have been arrested, detained, and tortured.

Sun traveled regularly between Vancouver and Beijing for work. While she was at her Beijing residence on Feb. 19, more than 20 plainclothes security agents barged in, ransacked her home, and took her away.

She has since been imprisoned at the Beijing First Detention Center, a facility notorious for its brutal treatment of detainees.

In the detention center, Suns hands and feet were handcuffed to a metal chair so she could not move. On one occasion, a police officer continuously used pepper spray on her eyes and face, while other officers began to punch and kick her, according to Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that tracks the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

She was also made to wear special handcuffs where both hands are linked together, 24 hours a day for 13 consecutive days. She was not allowed to change her clothing.

Lawyers representing Suns case say the persecution of Sun and other Falun Gong practitioners for their beliefs is against Chinese law.

Chinese authorities often implement Article 300 of the Chinese criminal law when arresting Falun Gong adherents. Article 300, using a heretical religion to undermine the implementation of the lawis the piece of legislation the Chinese regime uses mainly to prosecute practitioners of Falun Gong. As previously reported by The Epoch Times, according to Yiyang Xia, senior director of research and policy at the Washington D.C.-based Human Rights Law Foundation, Article 300 and the Interpretation are legally invalid because they contradict Article 36 of the Chinese constitution.

Article 36 guarantees the religious freedom of Chinese citizens. When the regime uses legislation to target Falun Gong practitioners, Xia added, it is not the enforcing of laws, but the perpetuation of a suppressive political campaign. The Chinese regime, Xia said, also lacks legislation which authorizes its government departments or Party organs to identify heretical religions, and hence the Supreme Peoples Court and the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate dont have the jurisdiction to define heretical religions in the Interpretations, much less empower other departments to do so.

Besides, the Chinese courts have never shown which laws implementation was undermined by Falun Gong practitioners, Xia said.

Sun Qians mother first tried to bring the case to the Procuratorate herself on Sept. 11, but her attempt was not successful. She tried again through a lawyer on Sept. 14, filing a criminal complaint against the Public Security Bureau of Chaoyang District of Beijing that is responsible for the arrest of Sun Qian, and the Beijing No.1 Detention Center where Sun Qian is currently being detained and mistreated. Again, the Procuratorate refused to accept the complaint being filed.

Suns family continues to appeal to the Canadian government to help release her.

Additional reporting by Joan Delaney
Members of the U.S. Army deliver boxes of food and water up a makeshift ladder to residents in Utuado, Puerto Rico, who were cut off after a bridge collapsed, on Oct. 5. (JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES)

FBI Looks Into Complaints of Local Government Corruption in Distribution of Relief Goods

The FBI is looking into complaints that local government officials in Puerto Rico may have engaged in corruption while distributing U.S. relief goods after Hurricane Maria.

According to Carlos Osorio, the FBI media representative at the San Juan field office, the FBI has received several complaints of alleged corruption in the distribution of relief goods. The agency is required to look into criminal complaints.

I cant say how many complaints weve had that local officials are misappropriating supplies, Osorio said.

Were looking into [the] complaints, as we do with any complaints that may have a criminal violation nexus.

Osorio noted, however, that looking into a complaint shouldnt be confused with conducting a full investigation, and that the typical answer on whether the FBI has an open investigation is we cannot confirm nor deny.

According to protocol, he said, the FBI will follow the allegations, and if they find anything substantial, theyll consult with the U.S. Attorney on whether they should move forward.

The U.S. government recently took over efforts in Puerto Rico to deliver relief goods including food, water, and medicine directly to those in need. On Oct. 8, U.S. troops began handing out the goods directly.

This was a break from protocol, in which typically the United States would bring the goods to regional staging areas and let local mayors distribute the goods from there. The Miami Herald reported this was done since some of the local mayors stumble on the job.

The role of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz Soto in the relief efforts has been questioned.

Related Coverage US Military Delivers Goods Directly in Puerto Rico as Local Government Falls Short

Cruz made headlines for accusing President Donald Trump of not delivering relief to the island. It was soon shown, however, that not only was the Trump administration delivering large amounts of supplies, but in San Juan these supplies were sitting at the port under Cruzs control and not being delivered.

There were close to 9,500 cargo containers of medicine, food, and other goods stuck at the port of San Juan on Sept. 28, according to CNBC.

Guaynabo Mayor Angel Perez Otero called out Cruz, saying the San Juan mayor was not joining meetings between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. military officials, and Puerto Rican leaders.

Ive seen other mayors participating. Shes not, Perez Otero told The Washington Examiner, adding, We are receiving a lot of help from FEMA and the Red Cross.  There is lots of help coming to us.

Trump visited Puerto Rico on Oct. 3, and said the roads were cleared, but we need their truck drivers to start driving trucks. He noted that locals were helping in the efforts, but a lot of them lost their homes, and when you lose a home its not easy to say, Hey, Im going to start delivering water.
Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal Clooney attend the "Money Monster" premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on May 12, 2016. (Clemens Bilan/Getty Images)

George Clooney on Harvey Weinstein: Never Seen Any of This Behavior

Actor George Clooney has responded to the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Clooney said that he got his first big break from Weinstein, reported the Daily Beast on Monday.

Its indefensible. Thats the only word you can start with. Harveys admitted to it, and its indefensible, he added.

Ive known Harvey for 20 years. He gave me my first big break as an actor in films on From Dusk Till Dawn, he gave me my first big break as a director with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Clooney added.

Weve had dinners, weve been on location together, weve had arguments. But I can tell you that Ive never seen any of this behaviorever.

He elaborated on the situation surrounding Weinstein, who is being accused of decades of sexual harassment and misconduct. The New York Times first broke the story.

A lot of people are doing the you had to know thing right now, and yes, if youre asking if I knew that someone who was very powerful had a tendency to hit on young, beautiful women, sure, Clooney said. But I had no idea that it had gone to the level of having to pay off eight women for their silence, and that these women were threatened and victimized.

Clooney said that the sexual harassment is a society-wide issue.

This is a moral issue. Were all going to have to be more diligent about it and look for any warning signs. Before, people werent paying enough attention to it. Now we have to. This is the moment to start scaring people like this into not acting this way anymore, he said.

This week, Weinstein was fired from his own company after the harassment reports surfaced.

The directors of The Weinstein CompanyRobert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammarhave determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately, a statement from the firm said on Sunday evening, CNN reported.

Two lawyers who were also advising Weinstein, Lanny Davis, and Lisa Bloom, said they would stop working with him. My understanding is that Mr. Weinstein and his board are moving toward an agreement, Bloom tweeted.
L: A missile is launched during a long and medium-range ballistic rocket launch drill in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on Aug. 30, 2017. (KCNA/via Reuters); R: Hawaii. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

In the Event of a Nuclear Attack, Starts Email From University of Hawaii

A disconcerting email landed in the inboxes of University of Hawaii students and staff on Monday, Oct. 9.

In the event of a nuclear attack, the subject line read, Hawaii News Now reported.

In light of concerns about North Korea missile tests, state and federal agencies are providing information about nuclear threats and what to do in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack and radiation emergency, the email said.

Talks of preparing for the eventuality of a nuclear attack have cropped up in Hawaii in reaction to North Koreas increasingly threatening actions and rhetoric.

Hawaii officials were discussing how to brace residents for a possible atomic attack, The Washington Post reported. But as word got out of the reportedly secret meeting on Sept. 19, members of the meeting started informing the public.

Now its time to take it seriously, Hawaii state Rep. Gene Ward, a Republican, told Washington Post. Not to be an alarmist, but to be informing people.

State Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi (D), who also attended the meeting, said Its very unsettling. There are people who are concerned.  The best way to deal with it is to be prepared for any scenario.

North Koreas foreign minister said on Sept. 21 that there may be a hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean, Yonhap news agency reported, after dictator Kim Jong Un vowed to take the highest-level action against the United States.

It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters. We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un.

Experts consider North Koreas ballistic missiles capable of reaching Hawaii.

If North Korea were to attack Hawaii, its likely target would be Honolulu. But impact on a neighboring island also could not be ruled out, according to Vern Miyagi, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Officials believe there would be up to 15,000 casualties.

Once a missile is launched from North Korea, there will be less than 20 minutes warning, Miyagi said.

President Donald Trump has escalated pressure on North Korea to abandon its missile and nuclear programs. New U.N. sanctions were passed on Sept. 11 in response to a sixth underground nuclear test by North Korea. The sanctions ban all natural gas sales to the North, limit the amount of oil that can be sold to the country, and ban its exports of textile products.

Trump may visit the border between North and South Korea next month and send a significant message to North Korea, either verbally or kinetically, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported, relying on a defense source.

NTD.tv contributed to this report.
U.S. film producer Harvey Weinstein during a photocall as he attends the De Grisogono Party on the sidelines of the 70th Cannes Film Festival, at the Cap-Eden-Roc hotel in Antibes, southeastern France, on May 23, 2017. (Yann Coatsaliou/AFP/Getty Images)

Malia Obama Interned at Harvey Weinsteins Company Months Before Scandal Broke

Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood producer, and Democratic donor was accused last week of three decades worth of sexual harassment. Weinstein had ties to former President Barack Obama who as of writing on Oct. 10, has remained silent.

As both Republicans and Democrats joined together to blast Weinstein, some mentioned another connection the former president had with Weinstenhis daughter Malia Obama just interned with his company, Newsweek reported.

Malia, 19, Obamas eldest daughter got an internship at the company after her dad left office earlier this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She worked for the New York City office and according to TMZ, Malia was ensconced in the production/development department, her job involved reading through scripts and deciding which ones move on to Weinstein brass.

The New York Times investigation into Weinstein also mentioned Malias internship and revealed he had paid off at least eight women who accused him of sexual harassment.

The Weinstein Company fired Weinstein on Sunday last week after the story broke.

Frank Rich, an executive producer for Veep and a New York writer questioned Malias parents decision to send their daughter to work there in the first place.

Biggest mystery of @nytimes Weinstein story: How exemplary parents like Obamas let their daughter work there. The stories were out there, Rich wrote on Twitter.

Biggest mystery of @nytimes Weinstein story: How exemplary parents like Obamas let their daughter work there. The stories were out there.  Frank Rich (@frankrichny) October 6, 2017

Weinstein was a major donor to Democratic candidates and a few of them, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, vowed to give their equivalent sums to charity, Newsweek reported.

The Obamas also had their own history with Weinsteinthe producer gave to Barack Obamas campaign and in November 2013, First Lady Michelle Obama thanked Weinstein at a career event.

This is possible because of Harvey. He is a wonderful human being, a good friend and just a powerhouse, she said at the time.

Weinstein in a statement to the The Times last Thursday did not seem to deny the allegations, instead, he apologized.

I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though Im trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go he wrote in a statement.

Hillary Clinton, who also received contributions from Weinstein, had initially remained silent on the scandal until five days later on Oct. 10, when she finally issued a statement CNN reported.

I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior the statement said. It made no mention of returning contributions from Weinstein.

According to CNN, Weinstein donated the most to Hillary, totaling over $15,000 across multiple races and elections.

As the controversy pulled in reactions from both politicians and celebrities, Corey Lewandowski, the ex-campaign manager for now-President Donald Trump, wrote in a column for The Hill that Harvey Weinstein Democratslive one way and preach that everybody else live by a different set of standards.

From NTD.tv
Marine Vet Who Stole Truck to Help Victims Gets a Surprise

The Marine vet who stole a truck to help the victims of the Las Vegas massacre is getting a shiny reward for his heroism.

A car dealership owner was so moved by Taylor Winstons actions after the shooting on Oct. 1 that he reached out to the 29-year-old to offer him a silver Ford F-150.

Its very, very courageous what he did, Shane Beus, owner of B5 motors, told The Republic. He was willing to risk his life and run back into the storm and help out.

Winston was dancing with his girlfriend at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival when the first shots rang out. After escaping over a fence, he looked for a car with keys inside to help transport victims.

First one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital, Winston told CBS. There was just too many, and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere.

The Las Vegas shooting became the deadliest in U.S. history with 58 people killed and almost 500 wounded.

Winston made two trips to the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center before the first ambulances arrived. Photos of the truck he used show the back seats smeared with blood from the victims.

Winston returned the key to the truck he used to the owner.

Beus said that he doesnt care what Winston does with the truck. Winston plans to sell his current car and donate the money to the victims of the shooting. He is expected to visit B5 Motors, located near Phoenix, on Monday.

Pence Offers Solace

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 7, stressing unity and offering solace as police appealed to the public for help in uncovering a wealthy retirees motive for massacring 58 people at an outdoor concert this week.

We are united in our grief, in our support for those who have suffered and united in our resolve to end such evil in our time, Pence said, joining Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other local leaders at a City Hall commemoration for victims of the shooting.

Participants trod seven miles along four separate paths to the event amid tight security. President Donald Trump paid a visit to Las Vegas earlier in the week.

Las Vegas Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus was the only speaker who touched on the subject of gun violence and politics, saying, Let us also pray for those who have power that they will have the wisdom, the courage, and the resolve to find ways to end the gun violence that plagues our nation.

The commemoration came as Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators remain largely in the dark about what drove retired real estate investor and high-stakes gambler Stephen Paddock to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

We have looked at everything, literally, to include the suspects personal life, any political affiliation, his social behaviors, economic situation, any potential radicalization, McMahill told reporters late on Friday.

We have been down each and every single one of these paths, trying to determine why, to determine who else may have known of these plans.

McMahill said investigators had uncovered no nexus between ISIS and Paddock, even though the terrorist group had repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

A piece of paper found in Paddocks room at the Mandalay Bay hotel appeared to calculate the distance and height from his window to help target victims below, the CBS News show 60 Minutes said in a news release on Saturday, ahead of a broadcast on Sunday featuring interviews with Clark County Sheriffs officers, including one who said he saw the paper.

The Sheriffs Office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Investigators have stressed that no suicide note had been found.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A North Korean soldier (back) stands guard at the Military Demarcation Line in the border village of Panmunjom between South and North Korea in Panmunjom, South Korea on Oct. 9, 2016. (Jeon Heon-Kyun-Pool/Getty Images)

Media: Trump May Visit DMZ Between North and South Korea

SEOULU.S. President Donald Trump may travel to the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea when he visits South Korea next month, the Souths Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday, citing a defense source.

The White House sent an advance team of working-level officials in late September to check candidate sites for Trumps special activity in South Korea, the source was quoted as saying.

Trump was expected to send a significant message to North Korea, either verbally or kinetically, during his first trip to the peninsula as U.S. commander-in-chief, the source said.

The truce village of Panmunjom and the observation post, both inside the DMZ, were among locations Trump was considering visiting, the source said.

Yonhap did not elaborate and the White House did not comment.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been engaged in an increasingly bellicose exchange of rhetoric, with Trump suggesting the military option was the only way to halt the Norths missile and nuclear programs.

A trip to the DMZ, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Barack Obama, and Vice President Mike Pence, would bring Trump within yards of North Korean soldiers, who stand eyeball to eyeball with their South Korean enemies, and likely be regarded by the North as highly provocative.

South Korean (R) and North Korean soldiers stand guard at the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, on March 6, 2009. (AHN YOUNG JOON/AFP/Getty Images)

In recent weeks, North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test, all in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and may be fast advancing toward its well-publicized goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

Trump repeatedly has made clear his distaste for dialogue with North Korea.

Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didnt work! the U.S. president said in a Twitter post on Monday.

Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States.

Trump is scheduled to visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines starting from Nov. 3.
Katie Evans with her premature twins (left frame) and with her husband and four boys (right frame) (YouCaring)

Mother of 6 Returning from Visiting Her Premature Twins at Hospital Killed in Crash

A mother of six who was returning home from visiting her premature twins at the hospital was killed Friday in a head-on crash with a suspected drunk driver.

Katie Evens was just a mile away from her Santa Clarita, California, home when she was killed, FOX 8 reported. The driver of the other vehicle hit a curb near Golden Valley Road and Valley Center Drive, lost control, side-swiped another car, crossed the median and smalled into Evens vehicle.

She sideswiped one car and then hit the other one head on, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriffs Station Sgt. Dan Dantice told the Signal. They found alcohol containers in the vehicle.

Evens leaves behind her husband Jacob Evens and her six children. The father is left alone to care for the four boys: Spencer, 12, Travis, 11, Nathaniel, 9, and Gideon, 2, and the premature twin girls, Hanna and Sarah, almost eight weeks old.

The suspected drunk driver is a 22-year-old female. She was taken to an area hospital and then to the sheriffs office where she was charged with driving under the influence and released pending further investigation.

She was released pending further charges, said Dantice. They wouldnt have filed anything more than a DUI that night.

According to a YouCaring page set up to help the bereaved dad with expenses, Evens couldnt go a day without visiting her premature twins.

She was a devoted mother, sister and wife and will be immensely missed, the page states.

The donations page gathered over $160,000 by Monday afternoon. When the page reached its $100,000 people kept on messaging the family to raise the limit so they could donate more.

Jacob and family are incredibly grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support and love, the family wrote in an update.

Jacob, the husband, Evens parents, and her sister, Stephanie, visited the premature twins at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after the crash.

We want to share with you some good news, the family wrote on YouCaring. The twins are doing surprisingly well. Both Sarah and Hannah have doubled their birth weight and doctors are planning for them to come home in four to six weeks.

The driver of the third vehicle did not require an ambulance.
People watch a TV broadcasting of a news report on North Korea's missile launch, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea on April 29, 2017. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

North Korean Hackers Reportedly Stole US and South Korea War Plans

North Korean hackers may have stolen a trove of documents from South Korea, including plans to assassinate communist dictator Kim Jong Un.

South Korean lawmaker Rhee Cheol-hee, who sits on the defense committee, confirmed the hack to BBC. The hackers stole 235 gigabytes of documents, 80 percent of which are yet to be identified.

The documents were stolen from the Defense Ministrys Integrated Data Centre, BBC reported. The ministry did not confirm the claim.

The hack happened in September 2016, but was first confirmed Tuesday. South Korea said in May this year that data was stolen and that it suspected its communist neighbor as the culprit.

North Korea denied the claim, saying that South Korea was fabricating allegations.

The documents included wartime contingency arrangements drawn up by the United States and South Korea, plans for special forces, reports to allies senior commanders, and information on South Koreas key military facilities and power plants.

South Korea was subjected to a stream of cyberattacks from North Korea over the past several years, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported. The specially trained North Korean hackers are based overseas and in China and tend to attack government websites and military facilities.

The hacking revelation comes amid heightened tensions between the reclusive communist regime and the United States. President Donald Trumps administration spearheaded an effort to impose the toughest United Nations sanctions on North Korea yet in an effort to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program.

But the communist dictator appears undeterred. Pyongyang tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb earlier this year and fired rockets over Japan as it pursues the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States.

Trump warned North Korea that the United States was ready to totally destroy North Korea should it endanger the United States or its allies.

Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing, Trump wrote on Twitter. Policy didnt work!

In a follow-up message, Trump hinted to Kim, whom he refers to as Little Rocket Man, that agreements and negotiations have done nothing to resolve the conflict and that only one thing will work. The White House later clarified that Trump was referring to military action.

Trump is a fierce opponent of communism and has often referred to it as a deadly and destructive ideology. North Korea is a typical late-stage communist regime, with millions of people living in terror and the majority of the populace destitute under a corrupt elite class. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are feared to have perished in the nationwide network of forced labor camps.

From NTD.tv
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presides over a target strike exercise conducted by North Korean Special Forces at an undisclosed location, in a file photo released on Aug. 26, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

North Koreas Special Forces Practice to Infiltrate Joint Command Center With Paragliders

The North Korean communist regime held drills to infiltrate the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command in Seoul by having its Special Forces soldiers paraglide into it.

Defense officials in South Korea say that, for the first time, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency, North Koreas Special Forces soldiers have carried out paragliding infiltration drills aimed at the allies command post.

It cited unnamed defense officials, who said the practice missions were part of broader North Korean army drills that lasted several days in mid-September. It included Special Forces teams from its Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The officials also said the paragliding drills were at a North Korean training ground that has a model of the Combined Forces Command building.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un unveiled his countrys Special Forces soldiers during a military parade in April. The soldiers were laughed at by many in the defense community for wearing non-combat sunglasses and for the large helical magazines on their rifles.

Images released by North Koreas Central News Agency on April 14 showed its Special Forces soldiers parachuting out of Soviet An-2 biplanes.

South Korea is taking the drills seriously. It notes that the paragliders are easy to operate, and the Special Forces soldiers could paraglide from a summit to their target. It also noted that the South Korean Armys radar may not be able to detect a paraglider attack.

The paraglider attack drills were allegedly the reason that South Korean and U.S. forces held a joint short-range air defense drill in Septemberthe first of its kind in South Koreait notes.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed on Sept. 6 that the United States would defend itself and its allies from any threats, during a call with South Koreas Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo.

Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W. White said that Mattis assured Song that, according to the Pentagons DOD News, the United States remains ironclad in its commitment to South Koreas defense.

He further emphasized that any threat to the United States, its territories or its allies will be met with a massive, effective and overwhelming military response, White said.

In a show of force against North Korea, the U.S. Air Force flew B-1B Lancer bombers off the coast of North Korea on Sept. 23. The planes were escorted by U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighters from Okinawa, Japan.

White said in a statement that This is the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Koreas coast in the 21st century, underscoring the seriousness with which we take [North Koreas] reckless behavior.

He added that the mission demonstrated the U.S. resolve, and a message from President Donald Trump that the United States has many military options to defeat any threat.

North Koreas weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community, he said. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies.

This followed a previous show of force operation on Sept. 17, which was in response to North Korea firing an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan just three days prior.

The Sept. 17 operation was held in South Korea, and was joined by aircraft from the United States, South Korea, and Japan.

According to a release from U.S. Pacific Command, the live-fire exercise included two B-1B Lancer bombers, four U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II fifth-generation advanced fighters, four South Korean F-15K fighters, and four Japanese F-2 fighters.
The senior management of JW Marriott Macau and the Ritz-Carlton Macau said that the local human resources issue is currently a challenge for the two hotels. They are expected to open in the first half of next year. Both general managers also revealed that they have provided special training to cater for the needs of various types of guests, including those from mainland China.

Speaking on the sidelines of a cocktail party, Rauf Malik, vice president, operations of both JW Marriott Macau and Ritz-Carlton Macau, said that the two hotel projects currently under construction in Cotai are happening in the right direction. He said that senior management personnel at both hotels are working hard to attract Macau-based specialists to work there so that they can hire as many locals as possible.

Mr Malik also dismissed the recent downturn in local gaming revenue as a short-term issue, as he did with the protests currently taking place in Hong Kong. I think with China really booming and Chinese travelers really enjoying Macau, we are not going to have an issue, he said.

Meanwhile, Brian Tong, the general manager of JW Marriott Macau, believes that recruitment has always been a challenge in Macau. With other new resorts reaching completion in the upcoming years, he believes that recruitment is always competitive.

As is the case with vice president Malik, Mr Tong said that they are trying to maximize their local recruitment. This is our key focus because we want the locals from other properties to come to us and really learn about the luxury service standard. As you know, there are so many hotels in Macau, but the service standard is still behind, he said.

Moreover, the general manager said that they offer special training and workshops to employees on how to cater to guests from the mainland. He said that the training sessions will allow his associates to understand the Chinese culture and the cultural differences to which they have not been exposed to before.

Meanwhile, the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Macau, Juan Samso, revealed that 80 percent of the people already recruited for the upcoming hotel are locals. He said that they are looking for employees with passion. With passion and knowledge and good training, [we can] develop good leaders for the future, he said.

First all-suite hotel in the world

Vice president Rauf Malik said that one of the highlights of Ritz-Carlton Macau is that it will be the first all-suite hotel in the world. This means that all rooms will include a living room. The JW Marriott in Macau will also be the largest of the Marriott hotels in the Asia-Pacific region. He believes that both of his hotels, which cater for affluent clientele and MICE (meeting, incentives, conference, exhibition) market guests, will yield high returns for stakeholders.
Police: 13-Year-Old Shoots 12-Year-Old After Facebook Dispute

Police in Taunton, Massachusetts, said that a 13-year-old boy was arrested after shooting a 12-year-old following a dispute on Facebook, CBS Boston reported.

As I understand it may have been a form of bullying that had taken place, maybe via Facebook, said Taunton Police Lt. Paul Roderick.

The suspect and the victim live close by one another.

The 13-year-old apparently felt threatened and went home, went to his moms locked gun cabinet, and took out a .22 caliber rifle, local officials said.

BREAKING: 12-year-old boy shot by 13-year-old boy in Taunton. https://t.co/5BgmOscMrW #7News  7News Boston WHDH (@7News) October 10, 2017

They engaged in an argument in the backyard, at which time he went into the house, obtained the weapon, and as the argument ensued, he fired one shot, Roderick told the Boston Herald.

The boy found the victim in a wooded area and shot him in the arm. The bullet became lodged in his chest.

After the shooting, police found the 13-year-old boy nearby.

The victim was rushed to Hasbro Childrens Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, and is now in stable condition.

The teen suspect was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and discharging a weapon within 500 feet of a dwelling, The Associated Press reported.
Police say Explosion in LA County Seriously Injured 1 Man

An explosion in a residential area in Azusa, California, prompted the evacuation of nearby homes.

Nearby Longfellow and Hodge elementary schools were put on lock down. A bomb squad and HAZMAT team, and the LA Co Fire Department responded along with police.

The blast took place in the 1000 block of North Sunset Avenue at around noon.

The blast seriously injured one person, police in Azusaa city in Los Angeles Countysaid.

Officers located a 37 year old male resident who was suffering from burn injuries to his upper body and face, the Azusa police said in a press release.

He was treated at the scene by paramedics and later taken to a local trauma center, the department said.

Upon investigation, police said the explosion occurred in the rear yard of the mans residence, and only caused burn damage to a truck that was parked in the back yard. No structures were damaged.

They reported finding chemicals that were flammable or explosive on the property.

Azusa PD detectives, along with the aforementioned personnel are conducting a detailed investigation into the cause of the explosion. It has not yet been determined what role the chemicals found at the residence had in the explosion, the Azusa Police Department said.

Hodge Elementary will be released from lockdown at the district's discretion. Pickups need to come in from the west and leave to the west pic.twitter.com/cjRCNPJVbl  Azusa Police (@AzusaPD) October 9, 2017

Police also aided in the evacuation of Longfellow Elementary School. Longfellow students were taken to Mountain View Elementary School.

Everyone is safe, the Azusa Unified School District wrote on Facebook about the Longfellow students.

Investigating an explosion in residential area in the 1000 blk N Sunset. One person seriously injured. LA Bomb Sq and Fire Hazmat assisting pic.twitter.com/tlSv9Z9RYu  Azusa Police (@AzusaPD) October 9, 2017

At Hodge Elementary School, classes resumed like normal after the lockdown.

From The Epoch Times
People march in the streets of Budapest during the Hungarian uprising against communism in 1956. (FOTO:FORTEPAN / Nagy Gyula / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

The Hungarian Revolt: When the World United Against Communism

Remembering the 'Freedom Navy' that rescued refugees fleeing communist Hungary

A revolt began in 1956 against the communist dictatorship in Hungary, and as freedom fighters held off the Soviet army, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children poured across the border to freedom. The Soviet tanks would retake the country, but the example of the brief Hungarian revolt swept the world and united people in hope against tyranny.

Stories reached free Europe and the United States of the freedom fighters who tore the communist emblems from their coats, overthrew the Hungarian communist regime, and who would now hold off the Soviet forces for 10 days while people rushed to the borders to escape.

The Einser Canal ran through the border between Hungary and Austria. It was here that Hungarians would attempt to flee to the free world, and it was also here that many from the free world braved the freezing cold and the patrolling guards to rescue them.

Radio host Barry Farber, now 87, was among those youths who traveled to the border of Hungary to help save people fleeing from tyranny, and he was recently given an award for his work by the Hungarian Embassy in New York City.

We had long been hoping for rebellion behind the Iron Curtain, because we knew those countries were horrible, Farber said, noting that all people in the Soviet Union were living under a terrible dictatorship. It eventually reached a point where the Hungarians werent going to take any more.

A Poets Uprising

It all began on Oct. 23, 1956, with the memory of a long-dead general.

A poetry club laid a wreath in Budapest at the foot of a statue of General Jozef Bem, who had fought for Hungarian freedom in the 1830s and 1840s.

This act, meant to commemorate the general on his birthday, emboldened the Hungarians who were living under the tyranny of the Soviets. When the people saw that the communist secret police didnt throw the students in jail, Farber said, the control of fear was broken and more people joined the protest.

The group with its newfound numbers began marching towards the Parliament building for freedom, and the communists got nervous.

A father was carrying a baby in the march, and the secret police fired down, hitting the baby, Farber said. Once the father raised his baby in the air and showed the terrible thing that happened, the freedom fight was on, and all of a sudden there were no more communists in Hungary. Everyone became a freedom fighter.

That shot began an uprising, and news of the incident was carried by radio, books, newsreels, and articles in the United States and Western Europe.

Hungarian soldiers joined the uprising, and gave their weapons to the freedom fighters. Students hung off the sides of buildings to remove communist emblems. All flags bearing the communist emblem had the hammer and sickle cut out.

The rebellion won, and Hungary was free. But it wouldnt last. The Soviet Union saw the loss as a blow to the image of communist leadership itself, and soon Soviet soldiers were marching and tanks were rolling toward the Hungarian borders.

After the Soviets struck to retake Hungary in early November, the freedom fighters held them for a heroic 10 days.

Once the Red Army broke through the freedom fighters, the Soviets were split between regaining control in the cities and shutting down the borders. Meanwhile, the worlds eyes were on those still trying to flee. 200,000 would eventually make it out.

As Farber noted, Hungary didnt fall to communism until it was overrun by the Red Army in 1945. The Soviets never knew a better life, but the Hungarians did, he said, noting that for those who were able to escape, They were so happy to be reconnected with freedom. It was very, very real over there.

Journalist to Humanitarian

Farber was a journalist in North Carolina at the time, and brought a Norwegian girl on a date to the movies on a Saturday night. Newsreels played before the films at the theaters and told of the tragedy unfolding, and of the people from around the world who went to help in the rescue operations.

The next day, Farber got approval to cover the story. He received a phone call from the Air Force saying they could take him as far as Munich where he could cover the Air Force evacuation of refugees to the United States.

But they knew well, Farber said, that you couldnt take American journalists that close to the Hungarian border and not turn us loose.

It was Christmas night of 1956 when Farber reached the Austria-Hungary border. It wasnt long, however, before the journalists including Farber found a new purpose to be there.

Ive never seen anything like this, Farber said. When we got to the border we were journalists, but when we saw what [was] going on, all the journalists put their pencils and papers and cameras away, and instead of taking notes, they were lifting babies out of rafts.

The people fleeing Hungary were filled with gratitude, Farber said. They were kissing the ground of the free world.

It was at the Einser Canal that Farber joined the Freedom Navy volunteers who helped ferry refugees across the freezing canal near the Bridge of Andau that would later be immortalized in the 1957 book by the same name, which told of the events.

Sound travels far when its cold, Farber said, We could only speak in whispers, and everybody was so bundled up, you couldnt tell whether the person on the rope in front of you was a male or female.

He said he leaned forward and introduced himself, and as fate would have it, the girl in front of him was the sister of the Norwegian girl he had taken to the movies just five days prior. He said among the humanitarians, there was an air of friendship, determination, and hope.

The system established by the volunteers was crude, yet effective. Two men paddled a small rubber raft across the canal. They filled the raft with refugees, then left one of the two boatmen on the other shore so they could then pull the raft back and forth between shores using a rope.

The Freedom Navy

Guards patrolled the coasts, and beams from their flashlights could occasionally be seen. Sometimes the guards swept fields with machine gun fire. Farber noted that refugees knew not to come when the sun began rising and we got them across in a hurry.

He said on one occasion, after getting close to 48 refugees across, and after loading the rubber raft back in the Land Rover, an Irish boy said another group of refugees had arrived on the other bank.

Like an animated cartoon, we got the boat down, ran back to the canal, and the boatmen bellyflopped into it. When they reached the other shore, however, they loaded the refugees and each boatman thought the other was on the far bank.

They rescued another 26 people, but the boatmen were left on the Soviet bank, with the boat and no paddles on the other.

Farber was the second person pulling the rope, and a young Norwegian man named Torvald Stoltenberg was in front of him. Without a thought, Stoltenberg bellyflopped into the raft and tried paddling across using just his hands.

It was hopeless, Farber said, the current was pulling him downstream.

Yet by a stroke of fate, a pole was sticking up in the water, and Stoltenberg was able to use it to cross. Farber said, There were religious people there among us who thought God put the pole there. None of us saw it sticking there in the middle of the river.

Then a light shone out of the woods, and as Farber noted, the only people who would have had a light were the bad guys. Because of Stoltenberg, who today is a Norwegian politician, Farber observed, the boatmen were rescued before the patrol could reach them.

At the time of the revolt in Hungary, Farber noted that communism was riding high, and the Hungarian revolution hit them in a way that they never recovered. Its impact, he said, was felt right until the people of East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall.

The refugees helped the world see more clearly, he said, that communism is a fraud, and those who are trapped inside it hate it, and they will do anything they can to get out of it.

When it comes to freedom and communism, Farber said, far too many people have learned the difference the hard way.

Freedom is worth fighting for, he said. Communism cannot be allowed to sharpen its teeth and start taking countries again.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders at a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Oct. 10, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Trump Says US on Right Path When It Comes to North Korea

WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump countered claims by Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) that the United States is on the path to World War III, saying that the United States is on the right path when it comes to North Korea.

We were on the wrong path before. All you have to do is take a look. If you look over the last 25 years through numerous administrations, we were on a path to a very big problema problem like this world has never seen, Trump said on Tuesday.

Trump has been critical of previous U.S. administrations for being unable to prevent North Korea from developing its nuclear weapons program.

In recent weeks the North has made several claims that its nuclear weapons program is nearing completion. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un stepped up the program after coming to power in 2011 following the death of his father Kim Jong Il.

Corker criticized Trumps foreign policy in an interview published with The New York Times on Oct. 8.

The fact is, this president has been an incredibly strong leader on foreign policy and national security. And hes been a leader on this front, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Oct. 10 when asked about Corkers comments.

Related Coverage North Koreas Special Forces Practice to Infiltrate Joint Command Center With Paragliders

Sanders pointed to the fact that over 20 countries have significantly reduced economic and diplomatic ties with North Korea since Trump came to office. After months of diplomatic pressure on China, Trump was able to get the Chinese regime to agree to impose new sanctions on the North in September.

The new sanctions, which were approved by the U.N. Security Council on Sept. 11, prohibit all gas sales to the North and limits the amount of oil that can be sold to it.

Chinas Central Bank also took the unprecedented step of informing Chinese banks to no longer provide financial services to the North. China also informed North Korean businesses operating in the country that they have to close within 120 days.

His vision of principled realism is creating calm around the world and defeating our enemies, Sanders said.

Iran Deal

President Trump said last week that he has made a decision on what to do with the Iran Nuclear deal reached in 2015.

Trump has said that Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement.

The deal, named the the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was passed in 2015 between Iran and the U.S. as well as other world powers. The agreement provided Iran with a relief in sanctions as well as billions of dollars in exchange for a sharp reduction in its uranium enrichment. Critics, however, have pointed to the terms of the agreement which allow Iran to install thousands of advanced uranium centrifuges after ten years. At that point Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in as little as 6 months.

President Trump has criticized Sen. Corkers role in the agreement, saying in a tweet on Oct. 8: Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & thats about it.

Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

He wrote in a different tweet that Corker is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!

Corker authored the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review of 2015, which helped pave the way for the Iran nuclear deal through Congress.

With reporting by Charlotte Cuthbertson
Participants hold their laptops in front of an illuminated wall at the annual Chaos Computer Club (CCC) computer hackers' congress, called 29C3, on Dec. 28, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. (Patrick Lux/Getty Images)

Virtual Terror Is the New Face of Terrorism and Cybercrime, Says Expert

The reach and potential of cybercrime grows with every new device thats connected to the internet, and with every industry that moves to an online platform.

Cybercrime is no longer just about corporations losing intellectual property. Today, its hospitals having their equipment locked by hackers until a ransom is paid; its hackers being able to seize control of cars while we drive them; and its our personal information being sold online to the highest bidder.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said at the Cambridge Cyber Summit on Oct. 4 that the cost of global cybercrime is expected to grow from $3 trillion in 2015 to $6 trillion in 2021, citing research from Cybersecurity Ventures.

Rosenstein also noted that as he spoke, the United States was dealing with one of the largest breaches ever of a private company holding sensitive financial data after 145 million people were affected by the breach of credit-reporting agency Equifax.

When Trump declared October as National Security Awareness month on Sept. 30, he noted that All Americans are affected by threats to our Nations cybersecurity, and called on people, companies, and institutions of the United States to recognize the importance of cybersecurity.

According to Daniel Wagner, the threat of cybersecurity has gone beyond the realm of cyber. He registered a new term to describe it, which he also used as the title of his new book, Virtual Terror.

Wagner noted that when terrorism enters the realm of cyber, all of those traditional measures are surpassed. Its not just about political objectives and causing physical damage to promote your meansit goes into another realm that encompasses literally everything.

New Form of Terrorism

Virtual terror is a much broader definition, he said. It encompasses anything related to digital snooping, stealing, creating war, causing damage or harm to individuals, businesses, governments, or groups.

When you have 145 million people who have essentially had their identities breached, that impacts so many aspects of their lives, Wagner said, referring to the Equifax breach.

He asked who would call that breach terrorism, according to that terms usual definition. But then he said, by virtual terrorisms definition, thats right in the bullseye.

Cyber only seems to encompass theft and security, what virtual terror does is encompass fear and damage, he said. The one thing traditional terror has gone on is its ability to scare people, to have an impact on their psyche.

Wagner noted that when it comes to technological developments, the world is teetering between the glossy, high-tech future, and the nightmarish digital dystopia.

The problem is that were pushing more and more of our lives into the digital space, and allowing technology to play a greater role in managing our lives and societies, but the security and protections of individuals are not keeping pace with developments.

It seems to me like were at a pivot point. Its very bad, but not so bad that we cant turn the tide, he said.

Some companies are now looking at biometric fingerprints or facial recognition to work as passwords for devices. While these technologies seem flashy, however, Wagner noted that unlike the current passwords, your face and fingerprints are relatively permanentif someone steals them, they have access forever.

He noted cases in Japan, where Japanese police have uncovered at least nine instances where Chinese citizens had surgically replaced their fingerprints to take on someone elses identity. Some of these individuals even went to Japan and married Japanese people who thought they were someone else.

Thats already happening, he said. People are getting around biometrics.

Technology and its impact on our lives doesnt stop at banks and finances, however. Wager noted that major countries including China are talking about the militarization of space, and If you have the ability to militarize space, what would prevent you from nuclearizing space? Nothing.

Even when it comes to the helpful technologythe type that doesnt cause us direct harmif we become overly reliant on it, whats the impact if a virtual terrorist suddenly disables the system? Many nations already have capabilities for electromagnetic and energy-directed weapons for this purpose.

When it comes to the American power grid, he noted, It could cripple our grid for years, because most of our grid technology is based on 1970s-era technology.

Changing Our Lifestyles

The shift that needs to take place is something that is often heard among circles within the cybersecurity community, but that rarely echoes beyond it. We need to move from reactive security to proactive security.

Wagner noted some of his own experiences when he had his identity stolen while living in Singapore in 2002. He received a call from CitiBank saying he owed them $22,000 for two credit cards he never took out.

Someone had taken out my identity, gotten a drivers license, gotten an apartment, and got a job in my name in Floridawhile I was living in Singapore.

More charges soon followed in Malaysia and the Philippines. He got another call soon after, saying he spent $1,200 in a beer hall in China. Wagner said, joking I must have bought a lot of beer, and I wasnt even in China.

Hes still left guessing what happened, but knowing the cybercrime industry he said its likely he handed his credit card to a waitress at a Singapore restaurantat a time before credit cards had the three-digit codes on the backand she passed the information along to a network of criminals.

Today, crimes like these are even more common, and much more sophisticated.

Some cybercriminals, he notes, will steal 50 cents from each persona small enough amount that almost none of them will detect it, but from a large enough group of victims that the hacker can live a life of luxury.

Other cybercrime networks work on a real-time basis. They can steal $10,000 from your bank account, and when you login to check your balance online, they can alter the data to still display that the money is in the account. He said They have the ability to change the appearance online in a real-time basis.

Wagner noted that financial institutions have thrown billions of dollars at the problem, but they cant prevent it from happening.

He notes, however, that this is where virtual terrorism comes into playcriminal acts conducted on a large-scale that can throw the lives of its victims into disarray. He said its all about internet-based and remote-control terrorism.

If more people understood this threat, he said, maybe theyd be more cautious of handing over their credit card data. And if people started becoming more cautious, maybe the banks would also be forced to change the way they work.

Most people, they want the newest, latest, most expensive gadget, which simply opens them up to a greater possibility of having problems, but they dont think about that, Wagner said.

Now that millions of Americans have had their identities breached, until it affects their pocketbooks theyre not going to do anything, he said.

There is some very basic stuff people can do, Wagner said. Instead of presuming its somebody elses problem, or presuming its something in the future, presume its your problem and you need to fix it now.
Kim Jong Un has promoted his younger sister to a new post within North Koreas ruling party.

The promotion of Kim Yo Jong came at a meeting of senior party members as North Korea marked the 20th anniversary of Kim Jong Ils acceptance of the title of general secretary of the ruling Workers Party of Korea.

Kim Yo Jong was made an alternate member of the decision-making political bureau of the partys central committee. The late Kim Jong Il, North Koreas eternal general secretary, is the father of Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong.

Thousands of people, mostly students, packed Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to dance and watch fireworks to mark the anniversary on Sunday night. Earlier in the day, North Korean state media announced that the countrys top leadership had gathered the day before, headed by current leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim repeated Pyongyangs defiance of the U.S. and its determination to push forward its nuclear program, while bringing a fresh upswing in the countrys economy to show its strength despite the international trade sanctions and isolation the nuclear program has generated.

Kims younger sister, believed to be either 28 or 30, was elected as an alternate member of the political bureau of the partys central committee, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency. She is believed to be one of Kim Jong Uns closest confidants. They were born to the same mother, Ko Yong Hui.

Michael Madden, founder of the influential NK Leadership Watch website, said the appointment shows the sisters daily activities are more substantive and more important than some analysts had contended. He said it also indicates that the Ko Yong Hui line, when taken with the killing of Kims half brother, Kim Jong Nam, has been conclusively established as the sole succeeding branch of the Kim family.

Though attention has been focused on Kim Yo Jong and North Koreas nuclear weapons, Madden said the reshuffle displays a great deal of attention to the Norths economy, which has been expanding but could be hit hard by new and tougher sanctions the country is facing.

He said Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju appears to be exercising enormous influence in the appointments of officials he has mentored and said the seeming return of Thae Jong Su, a technocrat who held several key positions until last year, is of note because Thae has good relations and long-standing ties to China.

North Korea relies heavily on trade with China, but Beijing has been increasing its pressure on Pyongyang to try to ease tensions with Washington. AP
The Philippine defense department has apologized to China for the grievous but purely unintentional mistake of using Taiwans defense ministry logo during a ceremony where the Chinese ambassador turned over thousands of assault rifles to the Filipino defense chief and top military commanders.

The Department of National Defense said yesterday that Secretary Delfin Lorenzana issued an official apology to China through Beijings ambassador over the technical lapse in last weeks ceremony, which was covered by the media at military headquarters.

The defense department did not say in its press statement which country owned the defense logo it displayed instead of the emblem of the Chinas defense ministry.

A Philippine official told The Associated Press it was Taiwans, adding that Chinese officials called the attention of the Philippines about the faux pas. The wrong logo was printed on a huge banner that was hung prominently above Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua, who was sitting on a red carpet and planked by Lorenzana and the Philippine military chief of staff.

It took a few days before officials discovered the error.

During the symbolic handover ceremony of 3,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition last week, the Department of National Defense committed a grievous but purely unintentional mistake of using a different logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of Defense of the Peoples Republic of China, the Philippine defense department said.

The defense department stressed that it and the military adhere to the One China policy, wherein the Philippine government recognizes only the Peoples Republic of China as the sole sovereign state.

It is our sincere hope that this very unfortunate incident will not affect the cooperative and friendly relations between our two countries which has grown warmer over the past year, the department said.

After he took office last year, President Rodrigo Duterte immediately took steps to revive once-frosty relations with China while taking an antagonistic stance toward security policies of Manilas treaty ally, the United States.

Duterte has sidelined long-raging territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea in an effort to attract Chinese investment and infrastructure funds. He has promised, however, to take up with China at an unspecified time in the future an international arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijings claims to most of the disputed waters. Jim Gomez, Manila, AP
Ryanairs flight-cancellation crisis enters its fourth week with no sign of abating after the public furor over 20,000 scrapped services claimed the first senior manager at the Irish discount carrier and pilots stepped up moves toward unionization.

Chief Operating Officer Michael Hickey is leaving at the end of this month after almost three decades at the airline, Ryanair said late Friday, without naming a successor. Calling him a hard act to replace, Hickey will remain in an advisory role while Ryanair searches for a suitable successor.

The botched response to a pilot shortage, the result of sloppy vacation planning and defections to other carriers, has engulfed Ryanair for several weeks and enraged customers, regulators and politicians alike. Michael OLeary, the hard-talking chief executive officer, took the unusual step of making a personal pledge to pilots last week, offering improved pay and career prospects to avert an open rebellion among employees.

OLeary, who said previously that villainizing him or someone else down the company food chain wasnt a priority, praised Hickey for his enormous contribution to Ryanair, which has turned itself into Europes largest discount carrier with its rock-bottom fares and fast aircraft turnarounds.

The exit of the executive and the CEOs direct appeal to flight crew appears not to have headed off employee moves toward seeking collective bargaining. The Irish Independent reported that some pilots are seeking to create an unofficial union in the form of a pan-European employee representative committee  the name Ryanair uses for its own in-house negotiating councils.

The newspaper cited a letter circulated over the weekend which it said laid out an action plan for establishing a central structured body, estimating that the move has the backing of pilots from at least 15 Ryanair bases. That communication also appeared on the Pilots Unite website, which claims to represent the carriers pilots, though no names for its backers were given.

Ryanair has previously said it will not respond or accede to anonymous demands made via unsigned communications, cautioning that prior emails have been drafted by pilots and unions at rivals who are pursuing an industrial relations agenda at the expense of Ryanair.

A separate note published on the Pilots Unite site yesterday said flight crew wont consider pay offers for staff at 60 of Ryanairs bases before the carrier appoints a third party to handle disciplinary action and provides paid leave for people engaged in representative activities.

OLeary has made a name for himself with his hard-charging approach that long prioritized cheap tickets and low costs. In recent years, hes worked to redefine the public perception of his airline by improving in-flight service and the check-in experience to widen the appeal to business travelers as competition for low-cost travel intensifies.

The cancellations, first announced last month, have affected flights for about 700,000 customers and reduced the companys growth plans by 6 million passengers this year and next. In order to focus all management attention to the response, Ryanair also scrapped plans to bid for insolvent carrier Alitalia SpA, which would have given it access to long-distance routes, among OLearys long-term expansion aspirations. Bloomberg
Voting by UNESCOs 58-member executive board starts today (Macau time) and continues through the week until a candidate wins a majority. The choice then goes to the full UNESCO general assembly next month for final approval.

Leading candidates include Qian Tang of China, former Egyptian government minister Moushira Khattab and Qatars former Culture Minister Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari.

A top priority for the next director will be shoring up finances at UNESCO, best known for its World Heritage program to protect cultural sites and traditions around the world. The agency also works to improve education for girls in desperately poor countries and in scientific fields, promote better understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust, and defend media freedom, among other activities.

The U.S.  once UNESCOs biggest financial contributor  and Israel suspended UNESCO funding when its members voted to make Palestine a member state in 2011. Many saw the vote as evidence of ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.

No. 2 UNESCO funder Japan then withheld its dues last year, saying it wanted to make sure UNESCO properly fosters trust among member nations  a decision widely viewed as a response to UNESCOs listing of Chinese Rape of Nanking documents as a memory of the world. Japan disputes Chinas historical views on the 1937 massacre, and a win for China in the director race could further jeopardize Japans financial contribution.

In interviews with The Associated Press, candidates insisted they would set aside national interests and lead UNESCO with neutrality. But votes for the agencys top job are routinely overshadowed by national and regional divisions.

Some candidates are even meeting resistance at home. Six Egyptian rights groups protested Khattabs candidacy over the weekend, suggesting she was complicit in the Egyptian governments repressive policies. She insists in her UNESCO candidacy statement that she will uphold freedoms enshrined in the agencys values.

Meanwhile the dispute between Qatar and its neighbors over allegedly sponsoring Islamic extremism threatens to weigh on Qatars candidate  along with media reports suggesting Qatar is trying to buy support among UNESCO members.

With the U.S. role in UNESCO under question, some are speculating that China is trying to take advantage of the vacuum to dominate UNESCO and the U.N. agencies more broadly.

Chinese candidate Qian insists however that China does not want to replace the role of the United States.

I went to the State Department and I had a long discussion with officials there. I said I really dont think you Americans should give up your global responsibility especially in UNESCO, he said.

We need America. AP